#i just wish there were more people in this fandom that were enjoyers

[wedgggs]

man, everyday i go on the internet looking for very specific content for minor characters and rarepairs, and yet I am so shocked when there is no content for them.

[croquettish]

Sexuality, Acceptability, Risk, and Medieval Bohemia

Someone commented on my Hansry fic recently about how a good number of fics in this fandom apparently feature the sort of modern protestant homophobia emblematic of the United States. This was baffling to me.

More recently I've seen a bit of backlash against this rather normative, America-centric approach to the historical homophobia (deeply entrenched in Catholicism, mind you) that they would have been subject to back then. And, as is quite normal with the internet, naturally the pendulum has swung way too far in the other direction. Jokes were made and then taken seriously by others. I've now seen sentiments floating around like "oh they wouldn't have cared at all," (not on tumblr) which is wild to me.

My doctoral studies have to do with queerness in the High Middle Ages, so seeing as I've spent the last several years of my life living on archive.org, knee-deep in this research, I feel like it's my academic responsibility to correct the record some. As usual, the answer lies somewhere in the middle of the two extremes.

All my sources are listed in the text (in the case of art) or at the very end of the post. For those of you just interested in what all of this means for Hansry, feel free to jump down to the purple heading.

I will start by saying that the "queer medieval utopia" you're looking for didn't exist. The closest you're going to get to that is the late 11th century / early 12th century, and even then there were limits to this general social acceptability. Paris and Florence were commonly considered to be gay dens of iniquity by people outside of those places, but even that was a bit of an exaggeration.

So where does this misconception come from?

Within the Catholic landscape, the body was considered separate from the spirit. Only one's "mystic sensorium" was supposed to be involved in spiritual intercourse with Christ and each other, and the overlap of the real and the ideal was… problematic at times, a genuine threat to chastity. Physical affection was meant to not broach certain limits. Kissing was acceptable. Metaphors were acceptable. In ancient Christianity, it was normal for women to kiss other women and for men to kiss other men as part of mass in the name of exchanging the kiss of peace, the pax. The idea here was to meet with the Spirit of Christ. Ambrose likened it to "lovers who, unsatisfied with the mere enjoyment of the lips, kiss so deeply as to interchange their spirits with one another." Which is all well and good, but this leaves a lot of leeway. How much physical affection was considered acceptable?

Anselm, the closest thing we have to a gay man of this time, would write things like this, in this case a letter addressed to two biological brothers that he hoped to join him in the monastic life:

"My eyes long to see your faces most beloved; my arms stretch out to your embraces; my lips long for your kisses; whatever remains to me of life desires your company . . . . Oh, how my love burns in my marrow . . . . [In coming to Bec] you have fused my soul with yours. If you now leave me, our joint soul will be torn apart, it can never again become two."

He had never met them before, nor should this suggest that they were about to enter a sexual relationship. In fact, around this time we see quite a few such expressions of affection coming out of the monastic space. Alcuin, writing to Arno of Salzburg, felt entirely comfortable writing that his love could not be prevented, even in the face of death, from licking Arno's innermost parts, a reference here (most likely) to Christ's side wound. In another letter, Alcuin is even more overt:

"It is exquisitely sweet to remember your love and intimacy, holy father; I wish the dear moment would come when I might embrace the shoulders of your love with the arms of my longing for you. . . . with what speedy hands I would rush into your fatherly embrace, with what pressing lips I would kiss not only your eyes and ears and mouth, but each knuckle of each finger, of each toe, not once, but many, many times!"

It would be extremely easy to assume that these letters suggested more than meets the eye, but historically speaking, as far as we know, this was not the case. Because this level of affection was considered to be in line with the "Christian" thing to do between brothers (no, I'm not joking). And there were harsh punishments if you breached these limits. Bear in mind, these letters could easily be seen by others!

Moreover, it should be noted that we don't see this level of affection outside of the monastic space (though it does still come up, albeit to a much lesser extent). You can think of it as code switching, essentially. Verbiage that would be considered insanely sexual in one space would not be considered as such within a monastic context prior to the shift in the 12th century.

Some scholars suggested that the use of such language implies ignorance or naivety about how this physical affection could look to the outside world, but we do know that Anselm at one point became worried enough that he might be misunderstood that he censored himself after leaving Bec for Canterbury. Even if his inclinations were chaste, he knew they could be viewed through the lens of homosexuality.

The ideal sexual state for a person to be in at this time was rooted in asceticism: chastity in the face of desire. You'd think asexuality would be a quick workaround for that, but unfortunately the lack of desire would just mean a lack of necessary effort on that person's part. Bear in mind, suffering is what's rewarded here. A gay man plagued with homosexual desires is just being tested by God. By denying himself those desires, he's rising in the ranks of holiness. A great example of this is Brother Lucas from KCD1:

According to the Rule of Pachomius, kissing boys on the lips was forbidden and punished by whipping, imprisonment, fasting, shaving, and six months of humiliation. In Fructuosus of Braga's Rule, a monk kissing or even being "too attentive to young men or boys would result in a very similar six month sentence as well as six additional months of manual labor, separated from his brethren, always under watch of at least two spiritual brothers. Never again was he allowed to enjoy private conversation or companionship with those younger than him.

"But Tam!" you might say. "This is just about monks! What about real people?"

I'm so glad you asked! Because we know that as well!

Penitentials, which were quite in vogue until around the 11th century and then again after the passing of Lateran IV in the early 13th century, were very punishing of all manner of sexuality, but especially homosexual acts, and, among them, especially oral sex. (The mouth is considered, to a certain extent, sacred. Don't ask me why, that alone is like twenty pages in my dissertation, though I could be lowballing tbh.) The Penitential of Theodore punishes it with 7 years of harsh penance and 15 years if the practice is habitual. Sometimes, however, it was "until the end of life" and considered to be the "worst evil," worse than fornication with one's mother. Harsh!

Ye olde penitentials were used as guidelines for later confession as well as those from before the 12th century. Conveniently for us, the late, great James A. Brundage came up with a fantastic chart/guide on when and how it was acceptable to have sex at all:

Did people follow this? My god, absolutely not. We wouldn't have the confessional records if this wasn't a problem in the realm of ~sin. But the guidelines were there and expected to be adhered to.

Don't get me wrong, the late 11th / early 12th century was a watershed moment in history in terms of overall acceptability of queerness, a time when Ovid and other Ovidian literature flourished. Punishments were rarely enforced. But the come-down from that era led us to a very rough landing. Lateran III kicked off the official canon ratification of outlawing homosexuality explicitly, and this, together with the outlawing of clerical marriage and the sudden flourishing of courtly love as a genre, led to a very dramatic shift in society from homosocial to heterosexual (which is, incidentally, what my dissertation is about).

The long 12th century was a red letter event in terms of history, not least because some of history's most notorious homophobes spread their ideas like wildfire. I am, of course, talking about Alain de Lille, renowned author of De planctu Naturae ("The Complaint of Nature"), which reminded everyone that homosexuality was against nature, and Peter Damian, who doesn't even deserve being commented on. The idea of homosexuality being "against nature" was far from new. The early church fathers like Augustine and Jerome condemned it pretty outrightly, and in the 13th century St. Thomas Aquinas was more than happy to further entrench the idea. Here, sodomy disrupts nature so much as to dissolve the soul.

We saw this in literature as well. Dante's Divine Comedy (early 14th c) slapped sodomites into the 7th layer of hell, but a real standout here is the Debate Between Ganymede and Helen, where the two have a very lengthy argument wherein she convinces Ganymede (often associated with homosexuality) that heterosexuality is infinitely superior to the alternative. She throws in such lovely arguments as insisting that he at least respect Nature, that he's been deceived by well-disguised filth, that he's been squandering his love between the thighs of men, and that he's been treating himself like human garbage as a result. In the end, he suddenly sees his crime for what it is, and the gods agree with him, stating that they've now also come to their senses. Sodomy is thus left behind by the gods and the choir swells in cheer at this tremendous success.

Canon law more or less exclusively had its grubby little fingers in the pies of what was and wasn't deemed acceptable in terms of sex until about the early-14th c, while afterward the government was delighted to also get involved in your bedroom activities. Particularly in the late 14th century homosexuality was increasingly legislated against, and in increasingly brutal ways at that. This wonderful and not at all problematic marriage of church and state is how we ended up with the Trials of the Knights Templar.

Let's say you're King Philip IV. The people have been revolting, you're running low on funds, you owe the Templars as it is, and you have a penchant for pogroms. You want money and land. What do you do? Well, naturally you write a letter to the pope about how you have all these horrible suspicions about these people you employ and who have come to your aid quite often!

Boy, oh boy! Wasn't that a fun time for them. Before, they'd been well-respected and well-off, supported by the king, with zero doubt in their respectability. Naturally, it all came tumbling down with that letter. Because the investigation was ready to find them at fault for something no matter what, under pain of torture of course. There's a particularly striking letter from a father to his daughter, written during the Bamberg witch trials (much later), wherein he explained that, after a particularly rough torture session, the executioner pulled him aside and told him this: "Sir, I beg you, for God's sake confess something, whether it be true or not. Invent something, for you cannot endure the torture which you will be put to; and, even if you bear it all, yet you will not escape, not even if you were an earl, but one torture will follow after another until you say you are a witch. Not before that will they let you go, as you may see by all their trials, for one is just like another."

Were the Templars recreationally homosexual? Maybe. For their sake, I sure hope so, because then they might have at least had some fun before going out. But either way, they were arrested, their territory, funds, and belongings seized, were convicted of heresy, sodomy, and black magic, and eventually burned at the stake. Two men were later burned at the stake as relapsed heretics after saying that they'd only confessed under duress and were actually innocent.

It even led to fun art like this one in 1350:

De Longuyon, Jacques. Voeux du Paon Manuscript. 1350. Morgan Library and Museum, New York. G.24 fol. 70r.

It was also around this time also that homosexuality was increasingly associated not only with heresy, but also with bestiality, suggesting that this crime against nature was effectively also a crossing of special boundaries (species-based, not extraordinary). In line with this, while homage to one's liege used to be sworn with a kiss on the lips (!!), over the course of the 14th century that was summarily done away with as well in a change that quite frankly swept across Europe (and we all wept).

In 1327, Edward II, who had a few boyfriends, was supposedly murdered by having a red hot poker shoved up his rectum. Even if this didn't happen, the chroniclers wanted us to believe it, and knowing what we do about Edward's sexual proclivities, it seems like this was a Statement if nothing else.

Where Bologna used to punish homosexuality with a fine, after the late 13th century the punishment was death by burning. The Portuguese, meanwhile, castrated convicted homosexuals and then, three days later, had them hanged by the feet until dead. In Siena, death by hanging was also the answer, but in this case, it was hanging by the dick until dead (not kidding). A particularly horrifying case was this one, happening just six years after when KCD canon takes place:

Which reminds us that this was most likely an issue that very much associated the clergy (known to be corrupt, especially around this time!). You'll recall the little comments made about this in the game, like Godwin casually committing heresy in front of the whole crew. "Do you think you need a priest for God to hear you?" Well geez, Godwin, according to the Catholic Church, you sure as shit fucking do! What a fantastic and not at all risky thing to say!

(Sidenote, this one is particularly upsetting to me personally in a fandom context because, not only is Augsburg not far from Bohemia, it really reminds me of the many associations between Hans and a caged bird.)

All of which isn't to say that sodomy didn't take place. Boy did it fucking ever. A great example of this comes from out of Switzerland, where, in 1475, a priest reportedly told his lover that "if everybody who committed [the act of sodomy] was burnt at the stake, not even fifty men would survive in Basel." ("Vnd solt man alle die so das tuend verbrennen, es bliben nit funffzig mannen jn Basel.") So, 1% of Basel. This is almost certainly a massive fucking exaggeration that this man pulled out of his ass in order to convince his partner that sodomy is fine, actually, but it does tell us something about the perception, if not the actual prevalence of sodomy in urban centers. (So, you know, if anyone needs to justify that Jadder have fucked at least once, if not more… when in Kuttenberg...)

It should be noted that Basel was very lax in terms of punishing homosexuality, but that was by and large not the most common outcome, as homosexuality was generally associated with divine punishment (I'm sure you've heard that drivel yourself before even in the modern day). Hilariously, it was the generally held belief that if someone learned of "the vice against nature" they'd naturally want to do it, and so priests were advised never to talk about it, even to preach.

So then, what does this mean for Hansry and co?

It means that this was at worst very much a fucking crime that you could very much be convicted for, in brutal fucking fashion at times, and at best the quiet part that you don't say out loud. But even then, it was fucking risky. Riskier if you're a member of the clergy (do recall how worried Brother Lucas was about his secret getting out, despite having never committed the sin himself), but risky even if you're not. All you have to do to see this reflected in canon is to look at Barnaby, the herbalist/hermit. As he explained it, he turned down a girl, she complained to her brother, and "he put two and two together":

Remember how I said that homosexuality was increasingly associated with bestiality? I find Barnaby's word choice fascinating here. Animals like him.

Of course, he beat them up and thus... uh, was able to survive:

Not that it didn't massively affect his quality of life. There's a reason he's a hermit! After all, he was unwelcome no matter where he went, no doubt because the brother and his friends ensured that this knowledge spread:

You might say, oh, it's different among the nobility! And to a certain extent, you're correct. Talking to the scribe in Troskowitz, he at one point gets to a part in the story about George the Lion of Wartenberg where he says this:

And then later, at the banquet where Hans loses his mind from jealousy, it comes up quite a lot in the conversation with Black Bartosch. First, he brings up Florian of Lomnitz:

And then, of course, we get the legendary conversation that follows, where the comment about Florian's sexuality makes Henry question Bartosch about his own:

It's soooo subtle. So, so easy to turn to plausible deniability. If anyone questions it, you can easily argue that your intentions were entirely chaste. And Henry can ignore it or even outright respond with a claim of heterosexuality:

But he can't question it like he can with the scribe:

Where the scribe then brushes it off as nothing and refuses to elaborate:

Even here this is a case of IYKTYK, like homosexuality is a club and in order to enter you have to know what's up. Because if you don't know and have to be informed, that presents a risk, namely that of suspicion being cast on you. Why do you know this information? What were you doing at this sodomitical devil's sacrament?

Honestly, at least among the nobility I'd liken it a bit to prohibition, but on a much less... widespread level. Oh, and literally everyone and anyone could be a cop. You could get away with it until you were caught. The risk was just a lot more pronounced. Even with Edward II the consequence of the very accurate rumors surrounding his sex life was public denunciation and possibly a poker up his ass. And if you're a noble involved with a commoner, multiply the risk exponentially, which is unfortunately relevant for both Hansry and Jamuel. If it really was as casually acceptable as some people claim it to have been (again, not on tumblr, I'm not here to stir up drama), I think Henry wouldn't have necessarily pushed Hans away, nor do I think they would have been as careful in their end-game conversation about what they do and don't say.

If anyone has any questions on this, tangentially-related topics, my sources, or literally anything else, by all means feel free to ask. I have the resources at my fingertips and the research very much at the forefront of my mind and will for the foreseeable future. On request, I've also added a list of further reading after my list of sources if anyone is curious to learn more of this for themselves.

Sources used:

Abraham, Erin V. Anticipating Sin in Medieval Society: Childhood, Sexuality, and Violence in the Early Penitentials, Amsterdam University Press, 2021

Anselm. The Letters of Saint Anselm of Canterbury. Translated by Walter Fröhlich, Cistercian Publications, 1990.

Brundage, James A. Law, Sex, and Christian Society in Medieval Europe. University of Chicago Press, 1987.

Dronke, Peter. Medieval Latin and the Rise of the European Love-Lyric, Vol. 1, Oxford University Press, 1965.

Major, J. Russell. “‘Bastard Feudalism’ and the Kiss: Changing Social Mores in Late Medieval and Early Modern France.” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, vol. 17, no. 3, 1987, pp. 509–35. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/204609. 

Mills, Robert. Seeing Sodomy in the Middle Ages. University of Chicago Press, 2015

Moore, R. I. The War on Heresy: Faith and Power in Medieval Europe. Profile Books, 2014.

Murray, Jacqueline, and Konrad Eisenbichler, editors. Desire and Discipline: Sex and Sexuality in the Premodern West. University of Toronto Press, 1996.

Perella, Nicolas J. The Kiss Sacred and Profane: An Interpretative History of Kiss Symbolism and Related Religio-Erotic Themes. University of California Press, 1969.

Puff, Helmut. “Localizing Sodomy: The ‘Priest and Sodomite’ in Pre-Reformation Germany and Switzerland.” Journal of the History of Sexuality, vol. 8, no. 2, 1997, pp. 165–95. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3704215.

Puff, Helmut. Lust, Angst Und Provokation: Homosexualität in Der Gesellschaft. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993.

Southern, R.W., Saint Anselm: A Portrait in a Landscape, Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Stehling, Thomas. Medieval Latin Poems of Male Love and Friendship. Garland Pub, 1984.

Recommended further reading:

Bailey, Derrick Sherwin. Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition. Archon Books, 1975. Originally published by Longmans, Green & Co., 1955.

Barbezat, Michael D. “Bodies of Spirit and Bodies of Flesh: The Significance of the Sexual Practices Attributed to Heretics from the Eleventh to the Fourteenth Century.” Journal of the History of Sexuality, vol. 25, no. 3, 2016, pp. 387–419. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44862359. 

Brundage, James A. "Playing by the Rules: Sexual Behaviour and Legal Norms in Medieval Europe". Desire and Discipline: Sex and Sexuality in the Premodern West, edited by Konrad Eisenbichler and Jacqueline Murray, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996. https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442673854-004

Bullough, Vern L. “Heresy, Witchcraft, and Sexuality.” Journal of Homosexuality, vol. 1, no. 2, 3 Mar. 1976, pp. 183–199, https://doi.org/10.1300/j082v01n02_03.

---. “The Sin against Nature and Homosexuality.” Sexual Practices & the Medieval Church, edited by Vern L. Bullough and James A. Brundage, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY, 1994, pp. 55–71.

Bullough, Vern L., and James A. Brundage, editors. Handbook of Medieval Sexuality. Garland Publishing, 1996.

---, editors. Sexual Practices & the Medieval Church. Prometheus Books, 1994.

Burger, Glenn, and Steven F. Kruger, editors. Queering the Middle Ages. NED-New edition, vol. 27, University of Minnesota Press, 2001. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctttszw5.

Clark, David. Between Medieval Men: Male Friendship and Desire in Early Medieval English Literature . Oxford University Press, 2009.

Dinshaw, Carolyn. Getting Medieval: Sexualities and Communities, Pre- and Postmodern. Duke University Press, 1999.

Fradenburg Louise, et al., editors. Premodern Sexualities. Routledge, 1995.

Frassetto, Michael. Heresy and the Persecuting Society in the Middle Ages: Essays on the Work of R.I. Moore. Brill, 2006.

Gilbert, Arthur N. “Conceptions of Homosexuality and Sodomy in Western History.” The Gay Past: A Collection of Historical Essays, edited by Salvatore J. Licata and Robert P. Petersen, Harrington Press, New York, NY, 1985, pp. 57–68.

Goodich, Michael. “Sodomy in Ecclesiastical Law and Theory.” Journal of Homosexuality, vol. 1, no. 4, 20 June 1976, pp. 427–434, https://doi.org/10.1300/j082v01n04_06.

---. “Sodomy in Medieval Secular Law.” Journal of Homosexuality, vol. 1, no. 3, 20 June 1976, pp. 295–302, https://doi.org/10.1300/j082v01n03_04.

---. The Unmentionable Vice Homosexuality in the Later Medieval Period. Ross-Erikson, 1979.

Jordan, Mark D. The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology. University of Chicago Press, 1997.

Karras, Ruth Mazo. “Attitudes to Same-Sex Sexual Relations in the Latin World.” A Companion to Crime and Deviance in the Middle Ages, edited by Hannah Skoda, Arc Humanities Press, 2023, pp. 84–101. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.3716022.9. 

---. From Boys to Men: Formations of Masculinity in Late Medieval Europe. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003.

---. “The Regulation of ‘Sodomy’ in the Latin East and West.” Speculum, vol. 95, no. 4, 1 Oct. 2020, pp. 969–986, https://doi.org/10.1086/710639.

---. Sexuality in Medieval Europe: Doing unto Others. Routledge, 2012.

Kruger, Steven F. “Queer Middle Ages.” The Ashgate Research Companion to Queer Theory, 1st ed., Routledge, New York, NY, 2009, pp. 413–434.

Kuefler, Mathew, editor. The Boswell Thesis: Essays on Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality. University of Chicago Press, 2006.

Lees, Clare A., et al. Medieval Masculinities: Regarding Men in the Middle Ages. University of Minnesota Press, 1994.

Pierce, Rosamond. “The ‘Frankish’ Penitentials.” Studies in Church History, vol. 11, 1975, pp. 31–39, https://doi.org/10.1017/s0424208400006276. 

***Please note: my omission of Boswell's CSTH here is entirely intentional. I know that if people here got a hold of him he'd be considered a tumblr darling, easy. If I could, I would wear merch with his name on it. And normally I would list him loudly and proudly. But I'm not, because the man loved reading into things that at times aren't there, and there are countless critiques that have been leveled against CSTH, many of which Boswell himself agreed with. So. If the general tumblr population wasn't constantly pissing on the poor I might trust it in their hands, but as it is, I know that nuance is lost on people!

(would you believe me if I said I tried to restrain myself in curating this list? no?? well I DID)

[jayktoralldaylong]

One of my favourite things about Arcane is that all the couples can be read as toxic, which is GREAT.

I'm tired of people bringing morality debates into dark media. Let dark media be fucking dark. You guys wouldn't survive a day in the TMA fandom, needing everyone to be as good as gold. How are they going to make for enjoyable complex characters if they're not morally grey. In fact, I wish there'd been more expansion on just how morally black they can become!

"CaitVi is so toxic" According to lesbian statistics, that sounds just about accurate. 💀 Heck, I wish Caitlyn had done more (Not really, but it would have been nice to further explore the darkness in her heart). Isn't it adorable how she immediately folded as soon as Vi called her cupcake? Caitlyn's like one of those villains that will consistently do the most....until it comes to someone else hurting her girlfriend. The only one allowed to hurt her girlfriend is her. 💀

Then let's talk about Vi. Someone pointed out how Vi never cared about Zaun's independence in the first place and many people yelled that they were wrong. But actually, they were right. Vi never wanted Zaun. Zaun was Silco's dream, and Jinx inherited that dream cause Silco would never shut up about it. Vi wanted Piltover to take responsibility for all the shit they allowed to happen in the Undercity. That's a part of the reason she joined up with Caitlyn in the first place. Let's not forget she wasn't dissuaded when she dragged Jayce down to fight with her and he killed a child. Children been dying, it's been her whole life. Someone needed to do something about it, and Zaun would have just isolated the people from all the privileges that Piltover SHOULD have been providing for them. Some people just can't accept that Independence cannot in fact solve every problem, and sometimes independence is colonisers running away from the responsibility of fixing the mess that they started in the first place.

Besides, we all know Vi joined up with the Enforcers because "I feel like I am worthless if I can't be of service." She'd already run out of family members to serve, Caitlyn was the next best thing. She's just like Jayce.

And speaking of Jayce, let's talk about his violent levels of codependency with anyone who'll give him attention. People LOOOOVE to talk about Mel, but it's there with Viktor too. When bro wasn't basing his worth on his inventions, he was centering it around Viktor.

Viktor who decided at some point in his life that he would not LIVE without Jayce. He was fine dying without him, but living without him was unacceptable. Oh how healthy. 🙄😂 Viktor be the kind of toxic ex to threaten divorce 500 times over, then burn the world when you actually leave him. Jayce is no better cause he's the kind of guy to keep going back to his toxic Ex.

Yes, Mel is manipulative. That's what I love about her. How are you guys failing to give this woman the praise of being an outsider in Piltover, but running their entire council. 💀 Girl raises her hand once and the whole government starts spinning. She was the best sugar mummy Jayce and Viktor could ever ask for. She kept the whole city running. Literally the entire of Piltover dancing on her palm. And yes she manipulated Jayce but let's not forget she thought that was a love language. 💀 You wanna be mad at someone, be mad at Ambessa for raising her that way.

I also don't think it's fair to blame her for the Undercity situation, she's not native. Monkey see, monkey do, and not a single one of those Council members actually cared about the situation down there, it was deplorable. 💀 Jayce did way more in his two weeks as Councillor than any of those drug pushing, money laundering, Piltovian heads of government.

And that just covers MelJayVik, we don't even need to get fully into TimeBomb, cause we know what's wrong there. 💀 Surely we have not forgotten the many teammates Jinx has killed, but making sure to never kill Ekko cause that's her man. Ekko has a lot to unpack, like how his consistent and unwavering love for Jinx is an indication of a lot of doors he might not be ready to open. I know they dynamics go crazy and I love to see it.

Ambessa and Sevika are a crack ship but I'm sure we all know bedroom dynamics go crazy with Mrs. Warlord and Miss Liberation. I love it when characters clash in a toxic heap. It's insane and should be explored.

Quit saintifying my toxic ships with your woke morality debates. If you want everyone to be sunshine and rainbows then you should be watching literally anything else. 💀 "It's not healthy." GOOD, I like it that way. 💀 Angst, spice and trauma are the recipe for a plethora of explorative fanfiction. Any of their dynamics can be taken in any toxic direction and I want that EXPLORED.

[vivelegalite]

dear dead boy detective (especially paynland) enjoyers: have you yet heard of the biggest gift bestowed upon the fandom so far, aka jayden's charles playlist? the one he mentioned in interviews? well, he dropped it on twitter at 19th of may. and man, do i have stuff to say about it.

there's a lot of 80's bangers, for sure, great to get into the mood and character, but some of the choices...

i'm gonna focus on a few of my favourites, songs that made me go insane when i saw them. honorable mentions: - category 1 (so devoted the lines blur): ain't no mountain high enough by marvin gaye and tammi terrell, there is a light that never goes out by the smiths, inkpot gods by the amazing devil - category 2 (family life): family line and summer child by conan gray, seventeen going under by sam fender, matilda by harry styles, father by the front bottoms - category 3 (being queer in the 80s): smalltown boy by bronski beat, boys don't cry by the cure - category 4 (there's no heterosexual explanation for this one): good luck, babe! by chappel roan, yellow by coldplay, fight or flight by conan gray (is this about monty? the cat king? i need answers!), the prophecy by taylor swift, arms tonite by mother mother, sweet by cigarettes after sex, head over heels by tears for fears

this list is by no means complete or comprehensive!

and now, the songs that made me go the craziest: (they're predominantly in charles' pov as it's his playlist)

found heaven by conan gray

the only reason this song made it into the list and not the honorable mentions instead of smalltown boy is that it makes almost the same point, just so much more explicitly. i don't think i have to say much about it, it's a story of a young person griping with their queerness, being forced to leave home, a common theme of the playlist. "you're in love, you found heaven" when he chose edwin over his own afterlife, heavily implied to be heaven, and built his heaven with him on the mortal plane? ouch! (and we see this same notion repeated in another bop from the playlist, heaven is a place on earth by belinda carlisle).

2. like real people do by hozier

"i miss kissing" charles rowland, 202X romantic meaning aside, the verses show a sort of a common understanding the boys have around the manner of their deaths and their lives before it. we already know from the show they don't really talk about it, with edwin not knowing about the severity of the abuse charles suffered. it feels like one of them saying "let the past be past, we're together now, yeah?". but also, jayden: can there ever be a platonic explanation for this? ghosts can't touch, can't feel, so they wish they could just kiss like "real" (alive?) people do?

3. flaws by bastille

not the most romantic song, but i absolutely love how well it fits their dynamic. despite his edwardian brand of repression, edwin truly is the one that's more open about his feelings (recognising of course that in this case, the bar is so low it's in hell. haha, get it). edwin has worn his flaws upon his sleeve, and charles has held them buried - eg. bottling up all of his anger and resentment towards his family and his own death. the song presents a very sweet outlook, in which their flaws are brought up to the surface (for example, charles' outburst against the night nurse in episode 4), but they learn to accept them as they are, an extension of themselves.

4. a pearl by mitski

you know it's gonna get intense if there's a mitski song in the mix.

the song is about a person who finds love in their partner, someone who treats them way better than they've ever been treated - and yet they cannot bring themselves to reciprocate the affection ("it's not that i don't want you, sorry i can't take your touch") despite reciprocating the feelings themselves because of the trauma. charles is known to bottle things up ("you're growing tired of me and all the things i don't talk about"). the person in the song recognises the love the other person holds for them ("you love me so hard and i still can't sleep"), which reminds me of charles' response to edwin's confession. not a "no", but a "maybe, as time passes".

5. fair by the amazing devil

this one made me genuinely gasp when i first delved into the lyrics. it's simply so sweet, such a genuine and domestic portrayal of love. at first i thought it was way too open about being a love song (normal text instead of the subtext i'd be used to) for jayden to choose it with edwin in mind, but... there's no one else it can really be about. it's far too domestic, too "established" to refer to crystal. refers to a relationship that's laster for a longer while.

the narrator in the first verse is a person deeply in love with the other person, someone who loves to make his lover laugh and simply drinks in their presence. the "he" in the song i believe is charles, while the "she" refers to edwin. edwin promises to fight off anyone - or any feelings pulling charles down (we can see this in the first episode: "you ever think... what if death did catch us? she'd force us to go to the afterlife and split up" "i will make sure this never happens."). charles feels left behind by the world (seeing as he clings to crystal at first, refering to her as "someone their age who's still alive") and believes edwin to be so much stronger than he's ever been. i'm not going to break down the song verse by verse, but if you read it yourself while subbing out "he" for charles and "she" for edwin you'll see just how sweet (and... strangely very in character?) the song is.

6. work song by hozier

if the previous song made me gasp when i saw the lyrics, this one made me go "NO WAY" out loud when i saw the title. the first one verse is just pure toothrotting sweetness, but the chorus is what i want to draw attention to:

when my time comes around lay me gently in the cold, dark earth no grave can hold my body down i'll crawl home to her

HELLO? charles, who keeps escaping death and afterlife to be able to stay with edwin? charles, as he literally takes his last breath with edwin right there, choosing to be by his side rather than move on? charles, who keeps choosing him despite night nurse's promises and threats? charles, who literally crawled through hell for him?

verse 2, to me, can be interpreted as referring to when charles died. edwin found him at his worst, and he "woke" up with his presence comforting him. he was shivering due to hypothermia and his injuries. edwin didn't ask him about what happened or pushed him, he simply listened. the lines "i didn't care much how long i lived, but I swear, i thought i dreamed her" are pretty self explanatory.

in verse 3 we still see the same attitude of "damn the afterlife, at least we have each other" as charles portrays througout the series. they're free, and heaven and hell are simply words to him.

7. orpheus by vincent lima

i literally have no words for this one. it fits too well. if you want commentary for this one, just... i don't know, rewatch the staircase scene.

8. francesca by hozier

(cracks knuckles) this is the big one. the album francesca is from, unreal unearth, is based on dante alighieri's divine comedy, a fourteenth century poem about a man venturing into hell, purgatory and eventually heaven. the eponymous francesca is one francesca di rimini, a woman who was politically married off to a man older than her, called giovanni malatesta. francesca didn't love him, and eventually fell deep in love with giovanni's younger brother, paolo. the two carried on with the affair for years, before being murdered by giovanni upon his finding out. francesca and paolo are mentioned in canto v of the first book, inferno, as two souls damned in the second circle of hell, lust. their punishment is to be permanently locked in a hurricane, swept away by the winds the moment they manage to get close enough to touch one another.

as opposed to their portrayal in the poem, the song is from the perspective of paolo, explaining that no matter the punishment, he wouldn't change anything about his life because he got to know, and love, francesca.

the first verse brings to mind the scenes in hell, especially on the staircase ("do you think I'd give up? that this might've shook the love from me? or that I was on the brink? how could you think, darlin', i'd scare so easily?" as an echo of charles' "sorry. no version of this where i didn't come get you"). "my life was a storm since i was born, how could i fear any hurricane?" could relate to charles' tumultuous family life, an assurance that nothing he has to deal with while by edwin's side will faze him given the things he's lived through. no, despite everything he's suffered through, charles wouldn't do anything differently - because his (admittedly shitty) life led him to edwin ("i'd tell them, put me back in"). we already know charles would choose him over heaven, willingly sacrificing his own afterlife to stay with a boy he's known for hours, someone kind enough to keep him company as he drew his final breath. all of it - his father's abuse, his schoolmates' bigotry, the pain of his own death, as well as everything he's gone through since - he'd do it all again, for edwin.

"for all that was said of where we'd end up at the end of it" could be taken as an allusion to the fate the boys would meet at "at the end of it", when they're finally caught by death and separated, or as more of a general "if you sin, you will go to hell when you die" (up to you to decide what the sin itself would be - an interpretation that would work with other songs on the playlist is that one such sin would be same sex attraction). then their hearts ceased, they never knew "peace", nor did they want to find it in death. their deaths were too soon, them being ripped away from life, but even though it would break his heart: charles would ask to do it all again.

the outro, i think, beautifully pulls it all together: heaven is not fit to house a love like theirs.

to wrap it all up:

jayden, what were you cooking in there? what do you know??

[annerb-fic]

If you would but indulge this fandom elder for a few moments, I'd like to point out a few things that I think can make all of our fannish experiences on this hellsite (affectionate) so much more joyful.

Try not to treat yourself or others as "content-providers."

This happens when you allow yourself to be influenced by real or imagined expectations and demands of others. "But I know people want..." "But people would expect me to..." "But they might not like it if I..." "It's been too long since I've written/posted anything..." "What if people get upset if I..." These are the joy killers. The only questions you should ask yourself when posting stuff to tumblr (or not) is "does this bring me joy right now?" and "would this cause harm?" That's it. You can also tag liberally so people can block stuff if they want. That's also a nice thoughtful thing to do. But try not to let the nebulous concept of "people"--your followers, your readers, the internet at large, or whatever--become a bogeyman in your own head. Most of us already have enough internal critics trying to trip us up at any given moment. Try not to invent more.

Treating others as "content-providers" happens if you send asks or comments to someone on this site demanding more content of a specific type, or insinuating that you are entitled to something from that person. You are communicating to that person that they only have value as a content-provider, and only when providing whatever it is you want. This is dehumanizing and ignores the thousands of reasons that person might choose to be here. Tumblr is not a subscription service. No one is paying for anything here. Most people here are just doing stuff that makes them joyful and we are lucky enough that sometimes they share it with us too!

2. Fandom is not a marriage.

The concept of "being in a fandom" is actually incredibly nebulous, as it should be! There is nothing you need to do or declare to be "in a fandom." There is no minimum threshold of love, or time, or interaction, or "production." It's just a feeling. A place. A space that brings joy. (And sometimes, heartbreak, but that's another topic all together.)

Fandom is also not a marriage. You can't cheat on a fandom. You do not have to have formal divorce proceedings and let go of one fandom before messing around with another one. There's no such thing as fandom infidelity. Neither is fandom a job. You don't have to give two weeks' notice. You don't have to post public intent on the town hall. You're not banned once you step out, never to return. You can "take a break" without any moral implications or risk of becoming the focus of a pop culture debate about whether or not you were justified to mess around with another fandom during that time. You can leave a fandom and never go back, all without having to consciously decide to do so. You can fall out of love with a fandom and then fall back in love with it later. It's not a marriage/job! There are no rules!

3. Take ownership and curate your own experience.

If there is a thing, or a blog, or a person who once brought you joy, but on balance no longer does, or makes you more disappointed or annoyed or upset than not, you do not have to keep interacting with them/it. Following someone on tumblr is also not a marriage. You can follow/unfollow as you like, no harm, no foul. It's just curating your personal joy, and I hope we will always wish each other the best with that. If you are scared of "missing out on something," then you will either need to block tags enough to make it enjoyable, or decide unfollowing is worth the risk if it makes you too unhappy to keep following!

The ultimate thing is, it's up to you to curate your fannish experience. It is not up to the person you are following to change to fit your expectations or hopes. (See point #1.) You can feel ways about this, of course! But those are your feelings, which are yours to handle. Do not put them on the other person. Do not send them asks demanding things or lashing out. It won't make you feel better and it definitely won't get you what you are looking for, unless your actual aim is to kill the joy of another person so you are not upset alone. In that case I'm not sure what to tell you other than you might want to spend some time meditating on that one and think about if that's really the kind of person you want to be. Or if this kind of space is actually good for you.

That's it for now. Thank you for indulging me. Don't be a dick on the internet, friends. Take no shit and do no harm. Take care of yourselves! 💕

[teh-nos]

okay, so the thing with wishing we could kudos every chapter of a fic.

i get it, we all want to hit the little like button more than once, it's the easiest way to express our approval/enjoyment/gratitude. i am going to address this to a generic 'you' (hello Y/N!) and assume that 'you' has either never posted fic to ao3 or hasn't posted both oneshots and multichapter works.

hits, kudos, comments, bookmarks. every marker of popularity (which many will interpret as quality) on ao3 is inadvertantly weighted in favour of works with more chapters. no, not longer necessarily, but with more chapters. go and sort a few fandoms by any of those stats and you'll probably be able to spot this trend in action right away.

oneshots are only at the top of a tag (by the default date sorting) once, and even if you re-read it you can only leave one kudos on it.

a multichapter can stay near the top of the update-sorted results for months if you time your chapter drops right, and of course every time someone comes back for the next chapter that's another hit, and being seen more it is more likely to end up with more kudos. you can still only leave one per work, though, which limits the effects to some extent. multichapter works still tend to overall outperform oneshots on stats, and the longer they are the more likely that becomes, but you'll still usually see a couple of oneshots on the first page if you sort that list by kudos.

and a lot of people (percentage unknown) do sort by kudos (or some other stat) and works at the top of 'by kudos' will thus attract more readers and more kudos. so there's an incentive to get as many kudos as you can on your fic, and if cutting it up into 250 chapters will help... well it already does, and that's had an effect whether writers will admit to dragging fics out a bit on purpose or not, but imagine if that effect were to become orders of magnitude more intense.

even if you personally prefer longer fics cut into fairly short chapters, you probably don't want to get your 150k epic in chapters of only a 100-300 words, do you? you don't want the oneshot writers to just give up when every page, no matter how they're sorted, is full of 5000-chapter works to the point that readers now riot when asked to read a whole 2000 words in one go. your fave author is now feeling insecure because chapter 12 didn't get as many kudos as the last one did.

and this is why ao3 will never let you leave kudos on every chapter. they're aware that the site already incentivises chaptering works and doing that more than you otherwise might. so you're just going to have to learn to put an emoji heart in the comment box.

[lady-ashfade]

Can I request yan muichiro with a reader that escaped but was found months later by mere coincidence.

If that's not okay I also may want Muichiro with a sleepy head reader!

Only you.

Yandere Muichiro Tokito x Reader.

Hope this was enjoyable! Thanks for the request💕 I changed the plot a bit where he goes out looking for the reader.

Requests are open for this fandom!

Yandere rank: Medium.

Yandere: Kidnapping/Being kidnapped, Obsession, overprotective behavior, Yandere Tendencies, being hurt.

Muichiro looked and looked for any signs of you. Behind every door, in every room and nook & cranny. But he saw no sight of you anywhere, panic and angry filled within him. Everything he saw was red. He screamed out and ran out the house, he called your name for hours hoping to find you. Muichiro had no clue why he was holding his sword so close or how he wished harm. He wasn’t himself when he lost you.

For months he left his services as a demon slayer and became obsessed with finding you, and if there was a demon in the way? Then he did his job but he didn’t care about it. He lost his mind from lack of sleep and the worry of finding you, he wondered if you were hurt somewhere, or dead- Or if some demon had took you. He had already lost his family, his mom and twin brother. The only one he had left was you.

And he intended to keep it that why. With only you in his life.

He looked around the crowded market in the village full of people screaming and rushing around. The area was overflowing with people and it brought him to be annoyed, it was too noisy and non of these people were you. Muichiro had lost all hope again when he searched all the streets and markets for you in that town. He would grow more and more angry when he left a town without you.

Then a sweet voice echoing through the alley he was in and slowed the world around him, his ears perked up. Blood flowed through his body and veins pulsed, his mouth going dry and head spinning. It was your sweet voice. It only took a second of surprise and relief before his feet moved and ran towards the sound.

“Please take it,” he saw your hand go in the merchants hand and placed a few coins, “You deserve it.” That smile you flashed was like the air in his lungs had returned. But the confusion hit him. That was his smile, how could you flash that smile when you had been away from him? His demeanor changed and his mouth frown and his eyes glared.

“Y/n.” He called your name loud enough to get both of your attention. Turning your head at the dark tone and when your eyes hit his frame your body tensed. The beautiful smile on your lips disappeared and your eyes widen in shock. “My dear,” he stepped closer “I have missed you.”

A apple came flying in his direction and he watched you sprint away as fast as you could around the corner. He just followed you quickly, he could have moved faster but he waited for you both to be far away from the public. Somewhere he could be himself with no one to try and stop him.

You ran and ran down all the back alleyways to try and get away from him or try and get home. Your heart beat out of your chest in terror, your legs ached at how fast and hard you were running. Soon you came to a stop when you didn’t see or hear him anymore. Your hands leaned on your knees as you took a breath trying to get air back into your lungs.

A scream left your lips as your throat was grabbed and were sent flying back onto the stone wall. The impact made you chock out in pain. “Tsk, tsk, tsk.” He said from before you. Slowing opening your eyes you saw him glaring hard, “You know you couldn’t run away from me forever.”

Tearing up you struggle against his grip to try and get away from him, knowing deep down you couldn’t. His hands squeezed your throat and slammed your head back onto the wall making you close your eyes in pain, wanting to scream but he was cutting you off. If only you could scream, yell for help then maybe you could get away.

A groan came from his lips. “Don’t struggle or this will hurt more then I want it to.” He pulled you closer to his face. The same red glint in his eyes as when he first took you away from your life. “I gave you everything and this is how you repay me? Had I not done everything right?” He asked like he was pained, like this was hard for him. The thought making you want to laugh.

“I would appreciate it if you come back with me without a fuss,” he unhooked the rope from his belt and titled his head “I would hate to break your legs.” He watched the tears fall from your eyes and your lip quivered. It did pain his heart. “Don’t cry, I promise this will be over.” He leaned down and kissed your forehead softly.

“I will do it right this time. Make sure you can never escape or even think about it, doesn’t that sound nice?” A squeal came out of your mouth as something pierced your leg, the numb sensation quickly coming over your body. Soon your legs gave out and your body fall into his arms. The last thing you saw with a light smile on his lips.

“My, sweet darling. You’re home now.” 

[wikiangela]

Hi, a bit late but joining in on the @alliwantforchristmasislou project 🫶

I decided to donate to a polish organisation called the stonewall group (which is why the pic is in polish lol)

chose this one just because im the most familiar with this one, and they do amazing work in support of lgbt+ people and fighting for our rights in this... not so queer-friendly country 🫶

now, ive been in the 911 fandom for almost 4 years now (gonna be 4 in i think February), and i only started after the episode Buck actually bc it was allll over my dash. i binged the whole show in a week, before the next episode is even aired, I loved it SO much.

as most of y'all know, I initially shipped buddie - it was the big ship, ofc i did, i wrote so much fic for them and i had so much fun and met so many moots i still love seeing on my dash 🫶❤️ but it might've been obvious (or not, idk) i was kinda getting bored and losing enjoyment, more and more of my fics and snippets were focusing on other characters with buck or eddie, i wasnt really as into it anymore - but i still loved it and wanted to enjoy it (which ironically was killed dead later on by the buddie fandom itself lmao)

and then came bucktommy and everything changed. initially i tried not to give in but within a few days i had two fics and more ideas lol they completely took over my thoughts. ive never been this inspired to write, to create, I even learned how to make gifs for them (with lots of help from amazing talented friends 🫶🤣) during fall and winter I always get so depressed and sad and having very dark and depressing thoughts (last year my buck driving fic was a result of that lol), and its so hard to find motivation to do anything, even write. but this year, even tho I had a lil crisis moment, i wrote through it and im as inspired as always - i havent stopped writing since april. they're literally the most inspiring ship ever - and fun fact, usually i prefer writing about fanon ships, so this was a huge change and surprise

I always related to buck a lot, and especially once we got his bisexuality canon - checking out and appreciating hot people of the same sex and not realizing what it means is too real lol - and Tommy is so compelling and theres so much potential for so many stories there, I wish the show would do something interesting with him 😭 despite being so confident and cool, he feels like he's holding back some sad, maybe (probably) traumatic backstory that could be so good and interesting - and lou is such a good actor and itd be amazing to see more from him in this role

they wrote tommy as the perfect love interest for buck, and it was amazing to see it on screen, it was such a breath of fresh air to see this kind of queer representation on a network show, it was so gentle and adorable, and they initially handled it with so much care, and id love to see where they'd go from there 😭 the break up broke my heart not only because it happened, but because it felt ooc and abrupt and not at all like that's where the story was going. wish they'd fix it and give us tommy back 😭🙏

and lastly but most importantly - thanks to bucktommy, i met so many amazing friends ❤️😭 even when I was writing fics and interacting with mutuals on here, i was never really talking to a lot of mutuals, not for longer than a few messages, and now i got this wonderful community that i feel so comfortable in, everyone is so nice and friendly, and I love y'all so much, this is the best fandom experience ive ever had ❤️

thank you all, ive been having so much fun since april, i love y'all. here's to more bucktommy in 2025 ❤️

[clfixationstation]

sorry guys, I'm just gonna rant to myself for a bit about the AoT twt fandom. So, there's a post EMs are sharing around of an Eremin shipper saying Eren hugged Armin tighter than he did Mikasa, multiple times. They're angry, saying it's a misrepresentation of Eremika and that it's "clearly shitting on Mikasa." (Apparently this was the impetus for the "half of Eremin's content is talking about Mikasa and fighting" post I responded to earlier)

And I must ask, how is it a misrepresentation of the story (and Eremika) to say Eren hugged Armin tighter? That's just what happened. It's canon, plain for anyone to see, and it's not derogatory towards Mikasa to say so. Eren and Mikasa's moments are more subtle and tender, and more rare. Eremin has a fierceness to it; Eremika has a steady comfort. It is certainly a slight slight (lol) to EM, to use the tightness and number of hugs as a comparative metric for romance - so, their argument should focus on breaking down that premise, if they care to make it.

It's a fairly simple takedown: different people find different things romantically compelling. So, if Eren and Mikasa's tender hug appeals more to you, that's wonderful! If Eren and Armin's fierce hugs appeal more to you, cool! If both appeal to you, even better! Best of both worlds :D Accept your differences and move on.

My personal view of what is romantically compelling is shaped by being queer, a lesbian on the aro/ace spectrum. Ships between friends, with high levels of understanding, honesty, support, intensity, shared goals, casual physical affection - those are what appeal to me most (a ship being queer is also enticing). But I understand it's different for every person and I don't expect everyone to adhere to my standards.

Someone responded to me, saying: "The tweet is obviously shitting on Mikasa, but you're too much of a fake-ass hypocrite to ever judge anything fairly. Btw blocking me like a coward, proves how insecure you are. Hope this help"

I have no idea who this person is. I did not block them - they blocked me. Someone's alt account, maybe? I just blocked a bunch of people who were denigrating Eren and Armin's bond under a different post, so perhaps I blocked their main. Maybe this was a poor move on my part, but I've responded to their (unblocked) main: "who are you? I just blocked a bunch of people being cruel/misrepresenting canon on another post, so perhaps I caught you there. It's called curating your timeline so you can coexist in peace. If you think that post is shitting on Mikasa, take it up with Isayama for writing it so"

It's more combative than I like to portray myself, and I don't have hope for having a civil discussion anymore, so why did I say anything at all? I don't know. I wish character limits were longer so I could add my piece acknowledging the slight to EM and fully elaborate the flaw in the premise...but they wouldn't take it in good faith regardless, seeing as they ignored my previous (neutered) attempt: "...Eren & Armin were very physically affectionate throughout the series. it's not delusional, it's canon & it isn't derogatory to Mikasa to say so. Eren & Mikasa have tender moments too, just differently"

What if I told them I don't even primarily ship them romantically, but as queerplatonic soulmates? Think it would break their brains lol

Wish I could simply block every (obnoxious) EM on that forsaken app, but that doesn't stop people from seeing you now, and I do want an audience for my Mikasa posts, lol. Legitimately, I've had my post about Mikasa's growth and perception of Eren - a fairly straightforward reading, emphasizing Eremika's bond - in my twt drafts for months. I'm nervous to post it, lest I be harassed for acknowledging the darkness in their relationship. Then I feel bad for saying so, because I've also encountered many lovely, normal Eremika enjoyers :/

With all of this said, I'm very thankful to the people of Tumblr who've interacted with my thoughts in good faith. I truly appreciate every person who takes the time out of their day to add their thoughts, ask questions, send an encouraging like. Y'all are the best :)

take me back to the days of twt EMs largely leaving us alone because they were too busy fighting EH and JK shippers I'm so serious (this is a joke, I don't wish anyone to be harassed). the price of EA becoming slightly more popular on twt </3

[inc0mple]

Reiterating this on Tumblr. (These are my own thoughts and opinions that I am expressing for myself.)

You are allowed to be excited about a piece of media, and want to scream about it to the heavens. That's the mark of a good author.

You are also allowed to feel negatively towards media! It's your brain and your opinions!

But if your opinion is positive, I think it cultivates a better community environment to leave positive/affirming comments. Yes the new episode has us all feeling the feels, and I know hyperbole comments like "Author when I catch you author" are very common on Webtoon, especially with big plot events, and are written to be complimentary.

But sometimes threats and accusations towards the author, even meant in a positive way, can start to look like a slew of pure hate mail. You can, generally, say whatever you want on the internet without major retribution (a block or a deleted comment at most, usually). And if it's a well used/obvious hyperbole, like "OMGGGG HOW DARE YOU I'M NEVER GOING TO FORGIVE THIS" or "IM DROPPING THE COMIC" or even wishing misfortune onto the creator of a series (which is never okay to do online, by the way), there likely will not be repercussions because the understanding is that it isn't serious. However, in masses, these comments feel very heavy. I'm not saying you aren't allowed to scream in the comments (and to be fair I'm not allowed to make any rules, I'm just expressing my opinion and easing my own consciousness, but I ask you to at least hear it out), but simply keeping expressively negative language about hating the comic and telling the author to stop making it out of digital spaces can cultivate an equally excited community that feels much better to look at. You can type "AHHHHHHH SCREAMING ABOUT THE NEW EPISODE" without adding the /nrs toxic stuff, sucky words about hate and anger directed towards the comic or creator. This goes for more things than just Cinderella Boy.

And if you do dislike it you're allowed to do that. Just remember nobody owes you. We are reading this comic for free, and we are not entitled to the enjoyment of it. If you want to drop it, drop it; you're allowed to. If you have a grievance with it you can maintain that! But spamming public forums just because the plot didn't go your way isn't really cool. And if you are typing the types of comments y'all know I'm talking about and mean them, check yourself. Those are not okay things to say. Be a good person.

The internet doesn't take away the people behind the screen. I thought this was something we learned in elementary school. You are not just talking to a profile picture and a username. This also doesn't just go for statements directly towards Punko; let's all just be nice to each other and make sure we aren't stepping over people's conversational boundaries that they would have with any reasonable, human stranger - because most of us are strangers, or vague acquaintances. And you wouldn't be yelling at people like that if you were standing in front of you irl, unless they were your friends. And you do not have that level of familiarity with most people online.

How big of an issue this is in this fandom depends on who you ask - for the most part people are so nice here and it's so great - but I just wanted to make a blanket statement because it's something to keep in mind and I've been seeing a lot of it as the finale approaches. If you don't like a piece of media it's probably best to just disengage with it. Also, threats are not okay.

[thealmightyven]

Hi. I really. Really. Wish I didn’t have to make this post. But I feel sick to my stomach. A while ago, I was informed by a member of my Discord server that one of the people who had joined, user @/evelinespeaks (eveline_speaks on other platforms), was creating some… concerning materials regarding the Mother series. And it gets so much worse.

CW/TW: inappropriate content of minors, SA

Firstly, I would like to warn ANYBODY who searches up this person’s username, you are going to get bombarded with the content in question if you don’t have safesearch or do a little digging.

Eveline has an account where she has posted a multitude of inappropriate images of underage Mother characters, and states in their bio that they are a “lolisho enjoyer.” Pretty cut and dry, they aren’t even trying to hide it.

Not only to they draw this content, but I flipped through some of the textposts she had made as I searched for accounts of hers to report. This included one where she gleefully described a scenario of an adult committing SA on a minor. Absolutely deplorable. This was in the midst of a bunch of posts of her describing inappropriate scenarios between minors. She’s 21.

On top of all of this, I found a thread she had posted in, where she said this:

Considering the fact that she hid her true colors and camped out in my server while we were none the wiser, I can’t help but feel she was just trying to find more art styles to project her sick fantasies onto.

If ANYBODY is in a server with her in it, please report her to the moderation team immediately. If they request more evidence, feel free to connect me to them.

Yeah, you are a black sheep, Eveline. The Mother fandom doesn’t want you here. You think you’re so clever sneaking into our spaces and acting like our friend. We wont let you get away with that.

[lestatthelioncourt]

Okay it's my birthday today and Sinners is coming to streaming, I fucking love that movie, absolute sinnerma... but ... Fandom we gotta lock in I have some opinions/topics I wish more people would talk about I can't let go of. 🧍🏾 Cry to the wall if you disagree or actually we can talk about it.

Disclaimer: I'm used to fandom spaces, I just really like complaining and pointing out shit intensely

1. Why is Remmick the fandom's main focus and y'all genuinely think he is hot, like his only enjoyable scene to me is when he was a bit sassy about hearing of a party. And then the Irish music and dancing was lit. However I think people need to talk about his role as a villain instead of just want that Irish cream or whatever y'all say.

In this context his role isn't even seductive, after he turned Mary she takes that dynamic with Stack to turn him. But he is an apex predator, he PREYS on the main cast and it's supposed to be disgusting how he wants a young black man's music to a point of disrupting his connection to his ancestors and thinking he has the right to do so. He thinks that because he was colonized in his youth he understands Sammie's and everyone else's BLACK/POC struggle, I want more people to express their disdain for that mindset. more than just saying they want him bad and if he talked to you all nasty, because yes you can be attracted to him (if you insist...) but it really gets to a point for me. 😭 He ruined black joy how is that what got y'all bent

Especially on ao3, it can't be that serious for him to dominate the sinners land there. Guys please stand up, that's where my anger really lies. Like nope stop 🧍🏾I've seen enough already and it's barely been 2 months.

Okay I started off strong but I really had to express my disappointment ☠️

2. The hate towards Mary is being displaced by some, now guys... Yes she was annoying. Her introduction was her literally walking up to Stack who is a BLACK MAN IN A PUBLIC TRAIN STATION AND ALL UP IN HIS FACE, that makes me so nervous EVERYTIME. Like no don't do him like that, he could have actually gotten in big trouble with those white folks with how she was all upset at him. But that's the point, it's unfortunate that during the time period Stack and her couldn't be. It was tearing her apart, even after he tried to push her away. We can't deny they are in love.

And I don't like how people try and blame her for what happened when Remmick the guy who is being glazed was the one who bit her, manipulated the fact she lost her mom because duh he is a vampire. Like no one in the main cast is at fault for REMMICK being the root of the issue, not like people from Arkansas were actually gonna find Mary and cause issues like Stack feared. And I do agree that she should have listened to him and left him alone, for his and everyone's safety cuz reminder she is white- it's set in Jim crow. However she didn't plan for Remmick to turn her, she was attacked 😭 she wasn't the fault for the nights events, she just happened to kick shit off.

3. more on remmick and my utter despise for him and how y'all wilding, AND IM SO GLAD I AM QUEER SO I CAN YELL IN TERROR AND YOU CANT SAY IM CRAZY. YK WHERE I AM GOING WITH THIS.

Why the fuck DO YALL SHIP SAMMIE AND REMMICK, WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YALL. LIKE ACTUALLY. GET THAT UTTER ABSOLUTE SHIT AWAY FROM ME.

Not only does it make NO sense, because clearly the point is that Remmick is intruding on black joy. So if it was a story where he won and actually got to Sammie, it would just be tragic and he would know his music and his soul. Sammie would forever be trapped within that pain, and tainted with all that Remmick knows and would be fucked over.

How is Remmick preying on Sammie isn't a toxic yaoi or tragic tribulated gay tale, it's not like iwtv where everyone is flawed and annoyingly queer.

Sammie would be a slave to Remmick's hive mind 🧍🏾 so.

Yeah wow so gay/SARCASM

4. Building off 4, I'm not anti LGBT head canons for Sinners TO A POINT. okay? If you like the thought of Bi Stack, I'm there with you. I think the concept is hilarious, maybe he topped a bit in Chicago who knows ☠️☠️ BUT he loves Mary y'all. Shipping him with Louis (from iwtv) and no one else makes me chuckle, that's all I allow.

I have a personal headcanon of enby (nonbinary) Annie, but she just keeps that close to heart. She would be fine with she/her pronouns and presenting female because she would be comfortable in her body, and I like to think she was just chilling knowing to herself that she was more than what she was born. Yk? Very self-indulgent headcanon

Like the point is, you can have head canons but they should heavily affect the actual story. 🧐 WHY THE HELL WOULD SAMMIE WANT REMMIC- oooo I already talked about this .... Oh...

WHY WOULD STACK WANT REMMICK??? 🧐 shit like that idk, gays within the main cast doesn't make sense 😞 it's too tragic and also either would be nasty and weird, but we should be happy the twins love their girls why is that not enough, why isn't Grace and Bo enough? Why isn't just poc love enough guys?

5. THE FULL ON INC*ST IDEAS I SEE WITH THE BROTHERS. I FUCKING HATE THE INTERNET. that's all. One on here traumatized me real bad. Stupid pro shippers don't let me catch you.

Imma stop there but can share so many more opinions, if you made it this far and somehow understood all I talked about. Congrats ☠️

[saurons-pr-department]

I was reading a Reddit thread earlier (I know, my first mistake) where people were getting into a rather heated debate about whether or not the Jedi got what was coming to them, were their actions in the lead up to Order 66 appropriate, should they have even been involved in the war, yadda yadda... Anyway, I was struck with how much it felt like reading people discuss the actions of a real-life institution, whose actions had real-life implications for real-life people. It also reminded me of reading discussions on here about actions taken by the Feanorions, Elwing, the Valar etc etc. It got me thinking about how stories and characters are often discussed in fandom as if we lived in their world and how I don't always... get it? I suppose.

What I mean is, for me, characters and their arcs are tools in the craft of storytelling. Yes, I do get emotionally invested in them (as anyone who was around during my peak Sauron girlie moment, or who's currently following the Tech obsession on my main will know), but I'm not interested in making a personal judgment of their actions as if I lived in their world too. To me a character is 'good' if I feel they fit their niche in the story well. A wonderfully slimey antagonist brings me just as much joy as a warm and kind-hearted hero. A 'good' ending to me could be happy or tragic or bitter sweet, as long as it fits the overall tone and message of the story.

I'm not here to say much of anything against the types of debates that I've mentioned above. Do fandom your way. It's just that, they are quite common in fandom and I find that I really can't get into them and felt like musing on it this moring. These conversations just don't make sense to me. I can't get angry at this flawed character's terrible decisions because this is a story of how a flawed person's life ends up going to shit. The flawed decisions are the point. I'm only going to be annoyed at their decisions if I find any of them character breaking in order to force the story to where the author wants it to be. And at that point what I'm annoyed with is poor story construction and not the character themselves. Conversations where people state that their dislike for a character, fictional institution or group stems from a personal disagreement with their actions, and where they seem to get genuinely angry about it just... confuse me.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm reading or watching stories dispassionately. I too think "wow, this guy makes terrible decisions", "that organisation's actions are vile", "this character is so sweet I would do anything for them". I love when a story can make me feel real feelings towards a character, despite them never having been a real person. It's something that takes great skill and I admire people for posessing it (I greatly wish I had this skill). It's just that my enjoyment of a character or story is almost completely detached from my agreeing or disagreeing with their actions. It's why you'll never find me being anti/pro Valar, Jedi etc. They're not real. There is nothing to be anti or pro towards.

I say 'almost completely detatched' because of course, characters can commit the mortal sin of being annoying to me personally! In which case they can fuck right off. And, on a less silly note, I can also disagree with an author's depiction or framing of something based on my own personal opinions. And, like every other human on the planet, I am flawed and come to a story with my own biases and presumptions. These will colour my interpretions of characters and their actions, and will affect my enjoyment of them.

Again, I'm not really going anywhere in particular with this. It's just I saw people interacting with stories in a way that is very different from how I choose to do it and felt like thinking out loud. Maybe other people feel like joining in (we don't join in on tumblr as much as we used to I feel). In short though, conversations like the one I saw this morning on Reddit don't really make sense to me. I don't really see the point in getting caught up with whether or not I agree or disagree with a charcter's actions because sometimes the disagreeable actions are the whole point of the character and their story. If I like the story, why would I go getting angry at it's point?

[olenvasynyt]

✨ Thank you for being in the fandom! ✨

Being here, you have contributed so much and have made so many people happy and excited. Now, just so we can get to know you better:

What made you first read the books, and which SJM series did you begin with first?

What character across all of her books do you relate to the most and why?

What inspired you to begin contributing to the fandom (i.e., fanfics, artwork, commissions, analysis, all of the above, or something else?)

Are there any accounts that you’d like to shoutout that have either inspired you, or made you feel the most welcomed and loved here?

💕 Thank you again for all that you do 💕

Awwwww thank you 💕

1. What made you first read the books, and which series did you begin with?

I found ACOTAR on tiktok in 2022. I remember that it was the same time the Barnes and Noble SF exclusive edition came out because I was buying one book at a time as I read and when I got to SF I was going to get the exclusive B&N edition but it was black and it didn’t match the rest of my copies haha. I read CC after I finished ACOTAR and officially joined the fanbase via a discord server around the same time.

2. What character across all of her books do you relate to the most and why?

I relate to both Nesta and Elain. Nesta has a lot of feelings of self-hatred which I relate to, and I think her mental health journey is very relatable and inspiring. I relate to Elain because she’s very much a people pleaser who keeps her thoughts to herself. I love both of them so much and I’m so excited for Elain’s journey because I just know she’ll be even more relatable.

3. What inspired you to begin to contribute to the fandom?

I have been writing for years but I always kept it to myself because idk, I kind of treated writing as an extreme version of daydreaming and I felt like daydreaming was embarrassing 😂😭 but I work so hard on ACOEAS for nearly three years and I was inspired by writing friends I met online both inside the fanbase and outside the fanbase, so I got the courage to finally post my stuff! I think accepting that you’re a nerd among nerds is so helpful: we’re all passionate and in love with these ships and characters, and when you talk to likeminded people, you just feel inspired. Both @zenkindoflove , @fierling , and two friends outside the fanbase were the first to read my writing and give me advice and encouragement, and that was so helpful.

And for art, I always was into art, I have been doing art classes for so many years. But art school really destroyed my mental health and creativity, so I dropped out and fell into a 6 year art slump where I couldn’t finish ANY of my projects. I felt so disheartened and sad, but I really think fanbases help with creativity and inspiration. I have so many headcanons and characters and ships I’m passionate about, so I felt compelled to get back into drawing and painting. Getting my drawing tablet for Christmas was an absolute game changer, and so many of my friends and mutuals are so encouraging and inspiring! @jadedbugart is so creative and has the same passion for Pinterest as I do and her pumping out so many gorgeous watercolor sketches was so motivating! And @bonecarversbestie ‘s organization, passion, and humor is so enjoyable and inspiring, @works-of-heart is incredibly talented, and I wish I could paint that gorgeous glowing lighting she always has in her art, and @fierling ‘s talent and expertise is such an amazing help!

4. Are there any accounts that you’d like to shoutout that have either inspired you, or made you feel the most welcomed and loved here?

I did a few shoutouts but I have so many more!!

@buffy-vanserra @jon-snows-man-bun @yaralulu @the-darkestminds @starsreminisce @yennas-stuff @sapphiresandgold @ethereal-lionheart @themadmorrigan @clarafae @thrumbolt @highlordofkrypton @clockwork-ashes @what-about-elvenis @separatist-apologist @goghwilde @crazy-ache @queercontrarian @speakingintothesilence @acourtofthought

[romans-empire]

Honestly, I could talk about Lucky Patch for hours. I didn't expect to like their dynamic when I played UTY for the first time, yet here we are.

To be honest, I did not like Flowey prior to Undertale Yellow. To me he was merely a side piece to the overall story of Undertale, I disregarded him and focused on the Dreemurr family which in hindsight does include him, just not in the way that I could comprehend back when I was younger. UTY really helped me in understanding his character and realized just why he was so compelling. Now he's one of my top favorite UTDR characters. I still hate this stupid flower though, I wish the worst for him /j /pos.

And Clover, I did not expect to attach myself to this child so much. Clover's personality is rather hard to get unless you were really looking in between the lines and other easily missed dialogue or in-game narration. Thankfully, I am the kind of player that remembers really small details, especially when it comes dialogue and narration. I do admit that I project to Clover a lot, my fics are a testament to that. However, I did enjoy them as a character and protagonist in their own right, removing all biases will not change that. They are one of my comfort characters and favorite characters of all time.

Combining the two, we get Lucky Patch. I do see why most people I've seen in the fandom might not like this dynamic, it's not for everyone especially if you aren't into peeling off layers upon layers of a character. Though, I am really happy that the Lucky Patch enjoyers are much more present here on Tumblr. If you don't look closely or take things at face value, Lucky Patch is a toxic dynamic built on lies and cruelty. Even when looking further, you cannot deny that aspect. But what makes them compelling is that this dynamic is mostly driven by the characters and their psychology. Especially Flowey's. If you do not understand the character, you will most likely miss the intricacies that make them, them.

Clover and Flowey's relationship span across all timelines and routes, so taking their relationship from one route only is not the way to go. That's the reasoning to the most common complaint I see when it comes to them, most non-Lucky Patch enjoyers only see their relationship from one angle or route. Most of the time, they take it from the vengeance route or neutral. My reply to that is that their relationship develops as the routes change. From vengeance, neutral, to pacifist, their dynamic changes in accordance but you can see why when you look closely at the context being given to us throughout their interactions in each route. At the end, you will understand why Flowey lets Clover go. Why he spew his little speech at the end of the true pacifist end.

In other words, I love these tragic doomed toxic codependent flowers so much and I will commit atrocities to defend them.

[alexandraisyes]

What would happen if you were a writer for TSAMS?

I mean we'll never know unless we try, however-

God the temptation to make jokes about shipping ajfsdkg;ljfasd;l

In all seriousness I'm good at finding and fixing plot holes and writing consistent storylines. I've been writing solo for years, and recently I've been co-writing fics for this fandom. And stars I'll say it now, obviously I wouldn't drag fan ships into the canon lore, that would be stupid considering most of them just wouldn't work with canon.

If I had the chance to write for TSAMS I would definitely try to influence the way certain things (specifically things like mental disorders) are portrayed, because I understand being part of the audience and the frustration of only seeing part of the story and missing an entire important perspective. I personally find so much enjoyment in that because I get to tear everything apart, dissect it, and put it back together so the fandom can understand what the story is portraying, but the fact that someone is required to tear it apart to get what should have been an obvious message most of the time is an issue, in my opinion.

A consistent problem I've noticed with TSAMS is that it's overly omnipotent on some things while being too closed about others. This is a narrative problem that stems from not having enough time to figure out the best approach for new situations they want to incorporate. This is because the writers/VAs are so bogged down by personal projects, stream schedules, their servers, life, etc that they just don't have time to figure these things out. Especially when the company is pushing for more content/lore episodes and they're just a team of four. Four very very busy individuals that have to write AND voice act the entire cast of characters. I feel like having someone who is just a writer would help with a lot of the inconsistency and unresolved plot holes.

There's a lot of strong potential for things that would stem back as far as two years that would be so interesting to see incorporated, but they just don't have the time to work through those and it's easier to keep jumping on new boats and abandoning the ones they have to sink because of unresolved tears in the plot letting more inconsistencies trickle in like so much water. So I would absolutely work to correct those and clean up the holes and resolve unanswered questions.

I'd also push for more consistent characterization, or rather better worded, deeper characterization. Not that they don't have good characterization now, overall I think they do a decent job, but there are just some things that I wish they'd touch on more. Likes, dislikes, disorders, complications, relationships, etc. What really makes up these characters; I'd probably end up with a complicated character web for the main cast at the very least to help with consistent storytelling. I do this with my own AUs to keep characters consistent, including quirks (For example Solar Flare always refers to people by their full name in my writing). It would also be interesting to dig deeper into what makes the characters them. Their personalities, beliefs, interests, morality/standards (for those without morals), and what they did and didn't find traumatic (as well as what level of trauma).

God even just the thought of how I could potentially fix the dumpster fire (/affectionate /positive) of TSAMS and co is a little exciting because there's just so much potential lying around untampered with that I would happily dig my grubby little claws into.