#i know a lot of people are thinking or hoping that error is jon but i really dont think it is

[newspecies]

trying to think of a reason [ERROR] is so possessive of the OIAR crew and my current theory is that since the Archives are gone, this thing that might be a remnant of the other universe's Beholding is searching for something else to be the seat of the Beholding's power and took notice of the OIAR because Sam and Alice are the ones that released it (however unknowingly). The OIAR is not only doing something very similar to the Archives, but also clearly has SOMETHING akin to the Beholding attached to it with all the recordings we're hearing and the use of Jon, Martin and (possibly) Jonah's voices. So TLDR I think [ERROR] looked at the OIAR, said "close enough", and claimed everyone there. Anyway I think the tape recorders should bite more people

[ziploc849]

Another wall of text on my thoughts for episodes 70-78, I’m gonna make a seperate post for 79 and 80 having listened to them already cause there is just. So much.

I wrote all of these notes after listening to the original episode, not any further, so enjoy my thought process though the last quarter of this season!!!

Ep 70: More death discussions, oh joy!! These are the episodes that make me the most uncomfortable, the ones that talk about the nature of death more than just the fact that it exists. I am curious where these books are coming from, if it’s not just Leitner’s involvement that makes them fucked up. Also Not-Sasha’s laptop having “authentication errors” definitely sounds accurate, even the technology can tell she’s not really her.

Ep 71: Another example of a story with a focus on claustrophobia. Most of the ones we’ve heard by now are from people who are very clearly scared/panicked by the occurance, but Karolina was suuuper chill about it all. Even not being afraid of death, as she mentioned. It feels strange to not be at least a bit perturbed by the idea of your own death, especially in such an untimely way. That’s coming from me though, who absolutely has a fear of death in some capacity, so I’m probably projecting a bit

Ep 72: Basira you better still be alive and not murdered by darkness demons or some shit you’re too cool. Also kindly what the fuck is this episode. I know there’s been some episodes to do with large amounts of meat or body parts, the room in the man upstairs, the teeth in thrown away. A part of me wants to say this is just a story about a crazy fucking murderer, but I am far to familiar with this fucking series by this point to think it’s just that. So seriously what is the fucking deal with all the meat. The link to the Tom Hahn in Killing Floor is interesting though much like Jon I have no clue what it means.

Ep 73: There are officially too many cults and I cannot keep track of them. Once again phobia themes!!! Darkness!!! Plus the idea that a space was much smaller in reality than it seemed while going through it, which sounds at least similar to a lot of the endless/infinite stuff we’ve seen before. I’m a little worried about Basira now, since like Jon mentioned being involved and in the know with these things in the way they are seems to offer some level of safety, at least more than if they’re not part of an official organization. Iirc Natalie was the weird girl who kept unscrewing the lightbulbs in that one episode, and Rayner was mentioned in Fathers Love?? I think??

74: Totally unexpected change of events, something fucked is in the tunnels!!! Never would’ve guessed!!!! Snarkiness aside though, this episode is interesting. Michael being there was confusing at first, but I’d wager a guess the drawings mentioned are fractals, or something similar, and he seems to like things that go on forever and fold in on themselves. The idea of the thing in the tunnels somehow removing and replacing the floor is interesting, I don’t know if we’ve seen things like that happen in places that are not somehow extradimensional or unreal in some way (like the spaces Michael likes so much). The fact that the person is taking files is also concerning, I would hope Jon would check to see if anything important is missing, or what was taken in general. Clues n such. Also we’re finally getting more confirmation that Not-Sasha is up to some sketchy shit!!!! Catch on Jon please god!!

75: Michael Crew what the hell have you become. The mention from Jon about wondering if the books take power from the people reading them instead of the other way around makes sense, but what does that mean for people like crew? People who died because of something to do with the book and are just. Inexplicably back? I can’t remember if there are other examples of something like this or if it’s just that there’s been so many books and so much death that it blends together. Basira really came through bringing the tapes, and it’s a much more satisfying goodbye to her character than just “fuck it I’m done buh bye”

Ep 76: Melanie King my beloved!!! I love that she and Jon are able to, for lack of a better term, infordump together lol. Hearing them literally finish each others sentences in the end talking about the research King was doing gave me a special kind of happiness lol. I do hope she doesn’t get murdered by ghosts in India though. Also she doesn’t recognize Not-Sasha!!!!! She knows she isn’t actual Sasha!!!! And now Jon has a real and true inkling of what’s going on. C’mon Jon you remember Graham from Across the Street, put the pieces together please god.

Ep 77: we have answers on whatever is up with Not-Sasha!! The Not-Them, apparently just one weird creature. Gertrude mentions “The Stranger”, which idk what it means but I know Mary Keay mentioned “The End”. I really don’t know what this could be about, but the way they talk about them like creatures or something is curious. Jon putting pieces together at the end even I hadn’t realized!!! Distortion and Strange Music both had Sasha’s voice. God I already knew the voice actor for Jon is fucking incredible but the panic and horror in his voice as he puts the pieces together of what Not-Sasha is, and what it must’ve done to actual Sasha? Phenomenal. But also I REALLY want Jon to clue the others in on what’s going on. They might not believe him right away and it might take a lot of explanation but there is real logic and evidence in what’s going on, they’ll pick up on that I assume

Ep 78: God the grief in Jon’s voice is awful. VA is too good. But also listening to the statement, hearing such explicit confirmation that the people attacked by the Not-Them are dead, not simply missing or lost, was so hard to hear Jon read. Just realizing that was probably the first time he got proper confirmation of it as well. Also god DAMN it he needs to tell Tim and Martin what the fuck is going on they can HELP. And maybe then he can get help from his friends instead of going through Michael’s fucking doors to escape the now unbound(???) Not-Them. Fucking wild

[east-polaris]

Some thoughts on the last few Magnus Protocol episodes as I’ve just now gotten caught up

SPOILERS!! Obvi

- feels rather cruel to have Alice be shaken up by her experience with The Horrors and worried that she’s going to get hurt by interacting with them and then give her a statement about someone who was shaken up by their experience with The Horrors and then died because of their interaction with them

- also return and voice of Ink5oul! Hey girlie!

- the fact that Madame E’s last video was just titled “help” made me giggle at first but then o thought about it more and. This is a person who uses excessive words on everything she says. Her vocabulary is loaded with filler and slang, so for this video to just have a one word title? Yeah you know shits about to go down

-Gwen girlie I hate to agree with Lena but they are Calle externals for a reason

- I am so curious about what’s going on with Celia. Like did she just wake up on a railroad track like an old times super villain put her there?

- And where does Celia keep disappearing to? She missed her date with Sam, she had to run out on her child, what’s going on?

- The statement in 17 is wild I was so confused at the beginning and I’ll be honest I’m still not sure what was happening there

- I know for a fact that people have pointed this out already but Jon and Martin?? In the therapy waiting room? Little Jon and Martin as a treat?? I hope it was them god knows they need the therapy

- MAGNUS INSTITUTE MENTION 🚨‼️🚨‼️

- this statement reminds me of when Jon said man I wish we had that guy who could take peoples bones out and Melanie said you’ll never guess who were keeping in the basement

- shout out to that housekeeper for getting the hell out of there I respect her for that

- making eye contact while falling down the stairs and breaking all your bones sounds very impressive and also hilarious someone please animate that

- CELIA HELLO??? Is this conformation that she’s from the other dimension??

- haha jmj error

- also WHAT JMJ ERROR

- I like to imagine that a jmj error happens when Jon Martin and Jonah are arguing about which case to give them

- “no Jonah you can’t give her that one that’s way too similar to what she went through she’ll freak out” “exactly we can watch her fear” “no you elitist prick that’s so rude cut it out or I’ll kill you again”

- why is Celia saying she’s seen Colin?

- Teddy is being so suspicious why is he saying everything like he’s looking from side to side shiftily the whole time

- Lena you can’t call a child an it that’s rude

- unless she knows something that we don’t…

- can’t believe they started to open up to each other and it went horribly wrong

- I don’t think we’ve ever heard Sam like that before, like I couldn’t tell who it was for a second

- actually, i couldn’t confidently tell you that we’ve ever heard someone laugh that hard in the entire podcast

- can you really blame him though? “Monsters are working for our government organization and one of them is Barney.” Wild.

-I do hope he apologizes though cause that wasn’t really cool of him

- Also is that our first f-bomb of the season?

- GEORGIE WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE

- I think that Georgie might also be from the other dimension. Why else would she be so concerned about the government stalking her? That does beg the question, where is Melanie?

Thank you for listening to me ramble I had a lot on my brain

[confoundedpangolin]

What the fuck. I'm sorry, I don't understand why I never give myself time to process before getting in here and writing out posts, but Nikola? A plastic manikin from a seemingly random mall who stole a voicebox somehow just to talk? That's such an odd season protagonist, not that it's bad, it just leaves so many questions, like how she has sentenence, how she can even move her plastic limbs, if she's a soul trapped in s manikin or just genuinely alive. I think it's a sign of what to come, that fact she's a literal manikin is, I think, not do subtle symbolism that she working for something much more dangerous. And Mike or The Spiral, and Gertrude... was she that desperate? How did she figure out where to find the secret spiral of entities, how did she map the endless hallways to have an end? You can't exactly use trial and error, and she succeeded! She bound a primordial figure, something with the power to kill her and everyone around her, to an archival assistant that was eventually killed, and I hope The Spiral as well, though I doubt it can be killed. Breekon on Hope is proven to ship much more, quite a lot actually, and have connections to Nikola Orsinav's dad, I assume, the ringmaster. I actually think that the manikin is being possessed, since I don't get how having a plastic child would work. I think that, when the whole crew had to get off The Arctic while it disappeared, that it was going to the secret, hidden place where the patrons swirled... for some reason, I don't know what. I also think that one of the secret, hidden places that they got flung off to might be the staircase in the coffin, especially since Breekon and Hope delivered it. So, Helen Richardson, the one who vanished into the hallways, what is she now? She's not the sitter, she's not Helen, but she helps. She rescues Jon from death by Spiral or Circus, I assume she's truthful at least. Gertrude somehow stole a vital skin that would be worn by Nikola at the ritual, but that means the manikin is very important... maybe she's more powerful than I thought? She knows where Georgie lives, and I think Georgie will be bound to the Magnus Institute as well. That weird, loud, screeching sound, I think it means Nikola, or the Circus, or even the Stranger, because it appears when Nikola is there, and never anywhere else (I think) and it's not even the finale. I should've known that something big was coming after episode 100, completely full of random people giving (most likely) fake statements, but I didn't expect this! And why did Nikola think Jon is Elias? Can she not distinguish between two avatars of the Eye? An I just confused? I checked the credits, and Elias isn't even in this episode. I assume this is the same circus from Gertrude's tape, the one that makes weird amalgamations of human parts like messed up legos, in that case I think everyone is fucked completely. Maybe with those cool new eye powers Jon can persuasive essay the Stranger to death, ohhhh if this is only halfway through then the season finale is going to be fucking crazy... and there's two more after that.. aaaaaaaah noooo

[charon-cries]

Hope it’s okay to ask for art tips…? If not, you can totally ignore this! Just wanted to know if you have any tips on drawing fanart/making you drawing look like a character? Think your drawings are so so pretty and I can totally see which character you’re drawing when I see your art, but I’m finding hard to make my drawings look like the characters I’m trying to make 🫠

a lot of it has to do with trial and error— sometimes i'll get it perfect the first time (like when i was designing Martin) and sometimes i have to do it over and over again until it looks right. try to be patient with yourself!!

with my tma designs, i try to bring out any of their canon physical traits. but when they have very little description, i like to use their personality to heavily influence the design.

again using martin as an example, he's a very sweet but very serious character, and he's been through a lot. i wanted to give him softer style influences from both emo and punk subcultures without going all-in on it. that way, i could make him look like the sort of person who has been typically extremely friendly and welcoming towards me in the past, while also bringing forward what i think is a very important part of his personality— he's kind of a rugged guy, canonically carries a knife in his backpack, has great survival skills, is not afraid to manipulate people (and is really good at it), etc.

it's also important to remember that your design doesn't necessarily have to reflect what you think that character's reality is!! i don't think jon has eyes in his hair (martin definitely would've mentioned it) no do i think he dyes it with blue streaks (that was just for the gay) but those two things end up both making him more recognizable, and tell the viewer something about me and my art (i 💚 jmart)

[snowxstormworld]

Hi!!! I’ve been thinking about who to ask this and thought maybe y’all might know 😭 (because of y’all hosting the Jonerys events a lot) so, sorry if y’all have no idea but…

Anyone know what happened to wolfmaid??? I was going through the many (many, many) fic tabs I have open and clicked on the tab for their fic “Forget the World” and I got an error page 😔 then I searched for their AO3 profile & it’s also gone! 🥺

They’re one of my favorite fic writers. I couldn’t tell you how sad I am to see them gone like this!

So, please, if you know what’s happened or can share this and maybe someone who knows can let the people know! 🫶🏽

Hi Anon,

Unfortunately, no one we've spoken with knows what happened to Wolfmaid and we're as perplexed as everyone else that she left the fandom. We're holding out hope she'll return someday because many people miss reading her wonderful stories.

In the Jonerys discord server we belong to, some of her fans had the foresight to download her fics before deletion and they've been kind enough to share copies with each other. You're more than welcome to join the server and ask around.

[witheredoffherwitch]

I think a lot of the anon hate you've been receiving is from team black crazies. The Tatemond thing is a meme they've started on Twitter (just search for that term there and you'll see) and it looks like they've moved onto Tumblr to harass people. For some reasons they seem to believe Aemond and Aegon are the Westerosi equivalent of the Tate brothers...

Hi nonnie, hope you're doing well!

I have already made a post on how this notion is absolutely ridiculous but going off from here, I would simply say this to my fellow TG fans: IGNORE these idiots! I received one more ask hammering on that same 'Tatemond' line (I assume it was the same anon from earlier) - and have promptly ignored it after addressing it the first time. These idiots will be laughed off just like that 'pearl of the realm' tweet... BECAUSE literally for everyone else, these claims are downright absurd!

I think most of us fans forget that normies don't consume media like the rest of us who get too deep into the sauce. We barely make 2% of the total viewing class, and these kinds of absurd claims only get circulated amongst us losers who still lurk in these corridors long past the building's been vacated LOL. I remember how some Sansa fans were genuinely shocked at how popular and well-liked her character is during this recent Sophie Turner's divorce fiasco. Similarly, the other side was just as shocked by the pushback when Emilia's old quotes resurfaced where she said that Jon was let go easy because "he literally got away with murder". The common reply on that side was 'Jon didn't do anything wrong - killing a genocidal queen was the only decent thing he did all season.' I think it's important to remember that most viewers don't become so invested in a single character that they forget about the bigger picture.

While Aegon might not retain much favourability with the normies, Aemond is definitely a fan-favourite post season 1. His motives are well established, and unlike B&C, Luke's death followed after years' worth of bad blood and their king's jurisdictional error. Even though we felt Aemond did wrong, we can still empathize with him because of their complicated history.

I have trust in both Ewan and TGC to deliver the most gut-wrenchingly tragic storylines for their individual characters. Despite how Aegon is portrayed, it is fair to say that he is second only to Aemond on the popularity scale from that third-generation line-up... and this guy is shown to be an absolute piece of shit! So let them say whatever they want at this point because we know how the story will actually end during the Dance and for the Targaryen line in general.

That's all! 🤗

[enden-k]

Hey hi this is... high-key ridiculous of me, but! How? Do? Friends work in genshin? I haven't even co-oped yet, like at all, cus I don't understand the like. The etiquette? Obviously there's a bunch of tiktoks where some Childe main joins worlds to leave partial lyrics and see what happens and thats funny and all but what? Is the done thing here? I'd like to be able to do co-op, my absurd social anxiety aside, cus it seems like a lot of fun but I can't figure out the... rules for lack of a distinctly better term djdjdn not to be cripplingly socially inept but you've got a bunch of friends on genshin and you've shared your uid so people can add you so clearly you know how this works and so like. Oh my god. *pinches the bridge of my nose* this is genuinely the stupidest ask I've ever sent istg.

TLDR: how do friends and co-oping work in genshin cus I am entirely too skittish to find out via trial and error and you seem to know what you're doing djdhsksl

this not a stupid thing to ask, dont worry!! i can understand your question!

ok so basically, in coop/with friends you can:

join low level players and help them with progress/bosses/farming/etc. sometimes you find people in the coop list that literally have "need help with bosses" or anything similar in their signatures so theyre actually hoping for someone to join and help them out! i have a few low level friends and they often ask me for help which is v fun, i really enjoy helping people out

ask friends or join strangers if you need any mats you ran out! my friends ask me whenever they need smth if they can pick that in my world and if i dont need those mats myself, theyre free to pick. obv the other way around too; if i need smth (for example when i needed dandelion seeds back then) i just ask friends or even here. if you join strangers and are in need of mats, its better to ask them first if you can pick those!

farm together with friends! i tend to farm with irl friends or my close friends on here for artifacts/bosses; for me its more fun to do that together, especially if all of you need the same thing (shared pain over a shitty artifact is half the pain, as a saying goes ajsbsb) you can also coop in domains w random people, the game will match you up with whoever needs to run the same domain! ive never tried it (like i said, i usually farm alone or with friends) but yea, thats also an option if youre bored farming alone or need help and wanna play with others

do whatever you want w your friends, like mini concerts or photoshootings AHHA YEP! my best friend and i sometimes do little photoshootings with our ships (since u cant really take pics of two of your characters jasbc); i have really cute pics of our zhongli and childe on the bridge under the tree in the harbor <3 (he often neglects his childe, esp now that he finally got his fav boys together so i guess i need a new childe AKJBCKAJ </3)

jon others and just-- chill and chat? i had a xiao come in my world (they were the first random stranger i ever accepted bc i was also super anxious about ppl joining) and they didnt need anything, they just wanted to chill. turned out they just joined random peoples worlds and asked them about their current fav song (mine was teardrops by bmth, btw HAH i managed to share a song with yall) and turned out we share the same music taste so we ended up running around, fighting a little and chatting about fav songs and art and got super excited over stuff and boom, were friends now HAHAH (it was a really nice first coop w strangers experience for me!) but yea, never did that myself, i guess most people who dont mind/shy away from talking to others enjoy just popping in and have a chat, they just have to find the right people who are up for that i think ahbhjhja

i threw in a few things i do or experienced as some kind of example but yea! there are not really any rules; just talk to people! i think many people tend to kick others if they join their world and then just pick mats or do whatever without even a greeting or asking or anything, which is understandable

also: if it helps, depending on your server we can play together too and you can see how its like? on EU im used to help others and on america i absolutely dont mind getting help with exploration or anything since im so behind with everything and it can get a bit boring lmfao

[agentem]

Sansa and Ned stuff

For @panur

Okay so like we often see multiple generations go through similar trials in Westeros. (Insert George Lucas, "it's like poetry they rhyme" meme).

It's obvious to everyone who isn't a showrunner on Game of Thrones that Arya is on the same path as her mother. They are losing themselves in a quest for revenge. Now I HOPE that the wolf dreams and Nymeria will keep Arya from ever truly being able to be "No One" and that she will have to return to the Riverlands and confront what is left of her mother. But GRRM has a darker view of humanity than I do.

Sansa and Ned were also on similar paths. They went to the King's Landing. They were naïve. They both tell Cersei things they shouldn't (Sansa about the boat to Winterfell and Ned that he knows the truth). A lot of people blame Sansa for what happened to Ned. But it wasn't either of them spilling the beans to Cersei that got him killed.

It was Ned trusting Littlefinger to keep his word about the Goldcloaks, that got him killed. Sure it would've started a war with Tywin to send her into exile, but in that moment if he had enough men (he certainly would've had the support of Barristan Selmy and I count him as multiple men) she would've been the one arrested. Keeping her arrested is difficult as the Faith will tell you, but regardless, the main error wasn't telling Cersei.

I would hope that Sansa will come to realize it is madness to trust Littlefinger. She's not stupid.

But speaking of madness, Varys asks Ned what madness made him tip his hand to Cersei and he says mercy. I think Sansa is fundamentally a more merciful person than Cat (or Arya).

For example, some people have suggested there will be some kind of clash between Sansa's faction and Rickon's or Jon's for the North. (I don't think Jon will die, but let's say he's not going to keep playing politics from the Wall.) The smart thing to do about Rickon would be to have the kid killed. There is already a false Arya Stark. It would be highly likely that anyone claiming to be Rickon Stark would be a pretender. Yeah, sure, Stannis Baratheon's Hand found him and brought him to the Manderlys. That makes no sense unless you know Davos.

But I don't think Sansa would want him killed even if he were a pretender, he's still a child and Ned's thing with Cersei was about protecting the kids, his whole arc with Jon, same. We also see glimpses of that in Sansa. She doesn't like Robert Arryn (he's a little brat) but she cares for him anyway.

I guess I just think Sansa has a lot of hope and love, and I like that about her because when awful things happen to characters in Westeros (Cersei is a good example) they then WANT those things to happen to others. But Sansa still retains a childlike heart and would try to keep other kids from going through things she went through.

[shieldofrohan]

I agree with your opinions on pov struggles. Bran and Sansa had least chapters considering the starks are heart to asioaf. Heck Jaime had more chapters than bran. I think Sansa really had to have much more to do in last two books if we think about last 3 seasons so maybe she will got more povs. I don't know how she will deal with her trauma but one thing is certain that she will not end up with her abusers. I'm more curious about how will grrm handle bran arc.

[for previous ask about this: PoV struggle ]

Hello Anon,

Sometimes Martin's "claims" and his writing don't match.

For example; he insists that he tried to create a historically accurate world but fans who know what they are talking about can easily find the historical errors in his world. Sometimes a simple Google search can prove him wrong. His world is ironically filled with historical cliche myths. Or him saying that Arya was the odd bird in the family but the writing tells that Sansa is the different one with no family support. His whole Jaehaerys the Ideal King with Tax Policy failure and etc.

Long story short: He might say that Starks are the heart and centre of the story, and don't get me wrong he totally loves them and sees them as his centre characters, but without his "Starks are the heart" statement or "Bran is the protagonist" explanation these two aspects of the series could have been easily missed.

Some "simple" (!!!) reader would see Tyrion (he is everywhere), Arya (because of her high number of chapters), Dany (has her own arc and story) and Jon (for his parentage secret and Others drama) as THE protagonists. And Arya and Jon alone are not enough to support his "Starks are the heart" claim. Yes we had Ned and Cat too but they died and they were never the protagonist characters in the first place. Starks are definitely in the middle of major plots but tbh Tyrion IS THE ASOIAF. Not Bran. Not the Starks.

Btw when he says Starks are the heroes/centre he only means the "current" Starks. Not House Stark. I would say House Targaryen is his main (?) house. He builds his entire world around them and their history. At this point we should stop kidding ourselves. Martin adores his problematic weirdos. All of his side books are still about Targaryens (TWOAIF -the lack of House Stark content in this book was really insulting... they were kings for 8000 years ffs-, DUNK & EGG, FIRE AND BLOOD).

Well it's his choice ofc, if he wants to build everything around the villain house then he should do it. But a bad choice... Imagine Tolkien focusing on Melkor and his minions instead of the Children of Iluvatar. He could at least give us their Valyrian era but nah... we had to learn about Westeros through them.

You might say: "But he ended that house and look at House Stark ruling the whole Westeros in the end". And I would say: "So what?". We will never learn more about House Stark's history or FUTURE. We don't even know why "exactly" they became legendary kings in the first place. We don't know how their history shaped the current Starks... Cat and Ned (and other influencer characters they meet during their journeys) shaped our current Starklings... NOT House Stark Legacy.

Ned was raised by Jon Arryn and you see Lord Arryn in his honor and everything (Martin literally refused to give info about Ned's mother because she was irrelevant) and Cat is a Tully lady. We see "so little" House Stark influence in our Starklings. Like "our way is the old way" kind of stuff.

And please compare this how Targaryen ideals had a part in Dany's characterization/story and how we can draw parallels between her and her ancestors (thanks to side books). When I say current Starks are the centre characters but House Targaryen is the centre House, I mean this exactly.

I said that we'll probably never know about House Stark's future and I want to explain in further and it will also give my answer about how lack of Bran and Sansa chapters are going to be a problem in the end.

OK. So we don't know much about House Stark but they (some Stark characters) will end up victorious. "END UP" is the key phrase. There is no way that we'll see a lot about Bran and Sansa's reigns. After 300 years Starks are monarchs again but we still won't know more about their ruling. WHY? Because the lack of Bran and Sansa chapters in the books. With Sansa we can at least imagine her queenship thanks to her KL and Vale education. But Bran was a boy lord of WF for like... "one book" (??) and his story became very mystical and paranormal later thanks to Bloodraven (HEY! Another Targaryen... can you believe?)

And we have (?) to assume that they will become King/Queen in the "end" (I have my own theories about this but right now show is my only canon material). I doubt that Martin will give us an "after 50-100 years epilogue" for us to see Bran/Sansa's influence in the Westeros/North.

If Sansa and Bran are his final monarchs they should have been at their last corner of their journeys by now (again compare it with Dany's bad but still narrated queenship). Sansa should have been in the North long ago and Bran's mystical arc should have ended in the beginning of ADWD. Because Martin can't suddenly start focusing on them in the last TWO books without cutting his other 50+ POVs entirely.

People were SHOCKED when Bran became king because right now his story has nothing to do with being a Westeros King. Will only two books be enough to redirect his story? Sounds unlikely. Martin needs at least 3 books to put everything in order to create a well developed story but we'll only have two.

OR he should have focused on them LONG AGO to remedy this. More Sansa and Bran chapters in the previous books would had been helpful but a little too late.

And especially when I look back at Sansa's chapters I see so many unnecessary drama. Like all of her interactions with Sandor. What did they add to Sansa's story? Sandor couldn't break Sansa's spirit but in the end Sansa shamed him so all of their interactions were about Sandor... not Sansa. They shaped Sandor.. not Sansa.

Martin giving too much attention to Sandor in Arya and Sansa chapters is so annoying. I would rather read Sansa being sad and bitter about her father and Robb abandoning her tbh. It would be a better subject for a young lonely little girl instead of her being molested by some old pervert(s). Like I said... even in her limited number chapters she was misused by the author.

And Bran simply doesn't exist when you compare it with other characters. Everything starts with him but Twincest drama handled without him. He has no part in that or anything that is happening in Westeros right now. And this is our future King of Westeros.

Back to your ask... Sansa will deal with her trauma in subtext like she did(n't) with whole Unkiss thing. And hooooop she will go back to North, deal with LF, rebuild WF and her legacy---- BOOOM!!! War and Others etc. Homegirl has a lot to do. And her healing will have a very little part in her future chapters because author didn't deal with them when he should have in previous books. Instead he threw one trauma after another to crash her more. I guess she'll magically be OK and ready to become a Queen. And yes... she won't end up with any of her abusers. Does anyone still believe that sh*t?!!??!

Like I said, lack of Bran and Sansa chapters will be another part of missing House Stark history. If Starks were truly the heart then Bran STARK and Sansa STARK would had more chapters (between 30-50: Dany has 31 and Tyrion has 49).

Just saying they are the heart/centre doesn't do the job alone. If characters who are not the heart have more chapters than them, this will tell me that focus of story is on them and not on so called heart characters. And this brings me back to my first sentence: Sometimes Martin's "claims" and his writing don't match.

I repeat: Starks might be the heart and in the centre BUT the amount of focus that Martin shows for some Stark characters (Bran and Sansa) is not enough to make them surpass the characters who are not the heart.

So we are talking about an imbalance here. And this is creating a problem. Two main characters aren't getting the attention they need and therefore fandom ignores them... and these two are THE characters that will shape future of the Westeros. They are actually the most important characters but author treats them like they don't matter as much as other main characters (And I know that this was not his intention.. just a mistake in his writing plan). Sad.

Anyway, we'll see how he will deal with Sansa and Bran problem in next books. I hope he'll manage it well.

Thanks for the ask.

[dangerous-disposition]

On Tragedy vs. Bad Endings

[Image ID: user @frostyfrogz​ replied to your post “my mag171 #thots: I fully agree with. I love jonmartin I want nothing but the best for them. I know my answer today was an obvious twisting of dialogue but its just frustrating sometimes because it seems like people dont understand some sort of tragedy will indeed happen. I have never and will never suggest that something will happen to Jon and Martin’s relationship I’ve just been saying the shows not going to end well no matter what.]

So I have a lot of thoughts about this very subject, and too much for the replies on my post, so allow me to try to articulate what I mean, and what a lot of us mean when we say “it does not make sense for either Jon or Martin to turn evil in the end,” even in a show that has been advertised from day one as a tragedy.

First of all, no one thinks this is going to end happy. The few who do are usually unaware that this show is billed as a tragedy, and are quick to be corrected. I didn’t know it was a tragedy until I was on season 3 and someone told me. It’s overall just best to assume that the OP knows it’s not going to be a happy ending, because “reminding” people or “explaining” to people that the ending is going to be sad is a fast way from people to get annoyed and defensive.

Anyway! It appears, above all, that people have either fundamentally different ideas of what a tragedy is or accomplishes, or that people have a fundamentally flawed understanding of tragedy and it’s place as a narrative device/theme.

My thoughts are that tragedies hurt, and tragedies can be devastating, but they have to have a message and they should not be cruel to the audience.

A cruel ending would involve leading the audience to believe one thing for the entire book, show, movie, podcast, what have you, just to rip it away at the last minute like a big “fuck you” to the audience. Those sorts of endings are inherently mocking of the audience, and ultimately disrespectful. The only people in the audience that “benefit” from this sort of writing are the cynics who spent the entire show talking down to everyone for seeing the silver lining in the impending tragedy, even if, up until the finale, the silver lining was always part of the narrative. Like it took actual twisting and outright ignoring of the narrative as it’s written to be cynical and sceptical all the way until the end.

That is, plain and simple, bad writing. Jonny Sims is not a bad writer.

Now tragedies often have “happy endings,” they just also have an element of sadness colouring that ending. A good, tragic ending should, in my opinion, feel bittersweet. We should see it coming, we should know it will hurt, but it should be for the greater good and should further the narrative that has been told from the beginning.

I said a few weeks ago that a tragic ending without a silver lining is just torture porn, and I stand by it.

Now, if Jon or Martin are revealed to be Actually Evil in the end, where is the silver lining in that? What narrative has even possibly hinted at this outcome, without putting on cynic glasses?

Every single plot point and plot “twist” in TMA has been clearly detailed, never relegated to pure subtext that you would have to comb through a single interraction and analyzing the tone in which it was said (which could easily be actor shortcomings or error). They have always been obvious, at least in hindsight. This is why, for a while, I subscribed to the Web!Martin theory, but due to recent episodes I’m more inclined to believe those “obvious things” were red herrings.

Throughout The Magnus Archives, the common theme in every. Single. Season finale is that “we are stronger together.” What do I mean by that? Well, here’s the general idea:

Season 1: The one time someone gets separated by the group for any significant length of time, like I mean the main group, she gets killed by the NotThem and replaced.

Season 2: Jon is alone, due to his intense paranoia and his reluctance to reach out for help. This leads to a disastrous series of events that leaves him a suspect of murder, and his friends even more doubtful of his character.

Season 3: In the episode just before they deal with the Unknowing, Jon literally says that isolation was his downfall, and he was going to work on trusting his friends more. When they got separated during the Unknowing, things went to shit. When they found each other again, they were able to rally and they “succeeded.” Conversely, they are also teamed up with Melanie and Martin who hung back to bring down Elias. They were successful, working as teams on separate objectives, etc.

Season 4: This is, by far, their most “successful” feats while simultaneously their least. The whole season was again showing the downfalls of isolation. In the season finale, Jon has Basira and Daisy’s help, and while bolstering himself with their strength, and the strength in his conviction to save Martin to be with Martin, Jon was successful in stopping Peter Lukas and saving Martin. Conversely, Martin and Jon’s isolation in Scotland could be, theoretically, implicated in how Jonah Magnus was able to succeed in the end like that.

Now evidence of this same train of thought in season 5? Jon literally says it: Gertrude would not have done well in this post-apocalyptic world, because she had no friendships, no anchors, no reason to stay human. And then Jon says “you are my reason” to Martin.

It is in the text of the story that the only way to succeed, or win, or survive, is through trust, friendship, and love. One of the main factors in so many of the statements, on why the statement givers succumbed to the fear in their story, for even a moment, had to do with very little personal ties to anyone else. Many of the statements feature isolation and, as Jon put it, “lack of corroboration.” On the flipside, many of the statements that ended with the statement giver escaping successfully, and surviving long enough to be reached out to for follow-up questions, involved them having close personal ties to someone else that kept them safe, somehow. Like the girl from Italy; remembering her mom saved her from the Lonely. Or, more ridiculously, the guy and his dog that escaped the spiral because he was so distracted by his dog and had to be home for dinner. In MAG170, it was Martin’s love for Jon, and his trust in the love from Jon and his friends, that saved him from the Lonely again. Jon’s incredible amount of love, and respect, and trust in his friends is what’s kept him from becoming another Jared Hopworth or Jude Perry. In MAG155, Cost of Living, he expresses open disgust in how that particular avatar of The End justified her actions, killing and killing and killing again because she viewed herself as more worthy of life than that person. In that same episode, he talks of not blinding himself because he hopes to use his powers to protect his friends, that without them they’re too vulnerable. Honestly, this is the same reason Peter Lukas is unsuccessful, because Martin only helped him at all to protect his friends. The fact that he didn’t see his failure coming was hilarious.

Gerry said in Family Business that there is no “entities of love”, and that might be true, but love and trust is literally what saves you from fear. How many of us deal with things that are scary in our lives, if only because we have some level of trust in the people or things around us. How many of us have been brought out of a panic attack by someone we love and trust?

So all of this has been presented to us, over and over and over again, which is what I, and others, mean when we say “it does not make sense for one of them to be evil.” That’s what we mean when we say “it would be Bad Writing to make one of them evil in the end.” The entire show has driven home the message that we need love, we need personal connections to survive fear. To rip that away from the main characters at the last minute and call it “tragedy” would be a spit in the face of every single listener who took the story at face value, without picking it apart and reading lines out of context. And Jonny Sims and Alex J. Newall have both said they hate lazy writing.

Now, none of the JonMartin fans I follow are deluding themselves to think this show will have a happy ending outside of very self-indulgent fix-it au fanfics.

The way I see this going down is that Jon and Martin will figure out how to put the world back to the way it was, but Jon will not be able to be part of the new world with Martin. That’s the tragedy; that the world gets saved, and Jon helps save it, but he doesn’t get to benefit from his efforts in any way. The tragedy is Jon loves Martin so much, and they deserve their happy ending, but they don’t get it. But, they still saved the world so others can have their happy endings.

Idk about you, but between the “Jon turns evil in the end” and “Jon stays good and sacrifices himself to save the world” endings, only one of them has me in tears right now as I type this out, and it’s not the former.

I’m not against sad endings,I’m against bad endings that punish the audience for having even a bittersweet hope. I’m against sad endings that are just sad for the sake of being sad, with zero pay-off or reason to happen, especially when those endings throw out 5 years of hard work.

And hey, I might just be forced to eat my words in the end, but not before I fly all the way to England and make Jonny Sims eat a knuckle sandwich.

This was a lot longer than I meant for it to be, but I just have a lot of feelings.

[thattimdrakeguy]

I’m honestly so confuse if Tim is really Robin again or not. In joker war, he was called Red Robin despite having a Robin costume on and he was called Drake in one of the nightwing issues. Also Jorge Jimenez and Tom Taylor have been hinting a new supersons project, so maybe Jon will be deage and Damian will be Robin again unless it’s just out of continuity. Do you think it’s possible that Tim and Damian are both going to be Robin?

I'm pretty sure Tim is Robin again. Editorial just messed up and didn't keep it consistent. Cause Joker still referred to Tim as "Little Robbie", while in Batman he got the "Duck Boy" joke. So I think they just didn't know.

Cause Tim is still Robin in future slate, was said to go back as Robin in Y.J., was called Little Robbie by Joker, and was referred to as Robin by Babs in Batgirl.

More things point to Robin than Red Robin or Drake. So it's easier to me to just assumed the others are errors. Robin Eternal seems pretty blunt to me and that's still months from now.

And I sure hope Tom Taylor doesn't get another series with Damian, cause even though people like him, I don't like his Damian cause rather than a genuine sense of development (at least for younger Damian. Lots can happen for older Damian) he just panders to people. And I know that's what's in his head because he panders a lot.

He wrote a Joker story were the Joker set up a child's birthday because he felt bad for the kid. The Joker set up a birthday party.

I don't like his uses of false sentimentality to make it seems like his work has more depth, despite it not properly connecting to the characters actual dynamics or personalities, and rather fan service to get himself attention or "make the fans happy" or what ever his goal is. It just feels cheap and ooc to me.

I heard his Spider-Man stuff was good, but that's generally irrelevant given his present stuff.

I figure the hypothetical series would be out of continuity given he already writes those two.

Plus idk if it any longer makes sense for Jon to be aged down, because he's currently getting his own life and finding love. At this stage it would feel kind of uncomfortable because it would be now taking away from Jon rather than giving him something back.

Like I feel like it's gone on for so long now that it wouldn't work anymore storywise, and if it did happen it would be insanely awkward and uncomfortable.

They're in a corner with that.

As for rather for not they could be Robin at the same time they already were last year when Tim was Robin again the first time before they retconned him back into Red Robin before "Drake".

I'd rather Damian not be Robin again even if he becomes good again, cause he didn't really do anything Robin is supposed to after awhile. Like I get he's younger, but Robin doesn't actually have anything to do with age, and regardless Tim is still a kid. It's just how Dick felt, but not how Tim felt or anything. I feel like Damian quickly became his own thing so fast that he doesn't actually need to be Robin, as it doesn't have a purpose for him anymore. Where as Tim is the kid that says Batman needs a Robin.

[rest-upon-the-morning-light]

JonMartin fic

So I’m trying to get back into fic writing, especially for TMA, and have a multi chapter fic planned but wanted to start with a smaller one shot style fic to warm up. It’s been an age since I’ve written anything, much less something that wasn’t just reader based or smut lmao. I’ve added trigger warnings but if I missed any do let me know! 

Any feedback would be great and if you like this, please send me prompts! Happy to write anything from fluff to smut, just as long as its TMA based :D 

So! Here is my cute fluff JonMartin fic! Enjoy~ 

Everybody Wants To Be A Cat 

Word Count: 2240 

Trigger Warnings: Mentions of Animal Abuse, but nothing to graphic. Anxiety. Self Worth Issues. Season 1 Jon being Season 1 Jon. Season 1 Martin being Season 1 Martin.

Fandom: The Magnus Archive

Pairings: Jonathan Sims/Martin Blackwood 

Summary: Martin was certain of two things. One, he had an enormous crush on his boss. Two, his boss hated him. Who knew a one eyed beast of an alley cat would bring them closer?

Martin Blackwood has two problems.

Problem number one. He was absolutely certain he was more than a little bit in love with his boss.

Problem number two. His was absolutely certain said boss hated him.

 Well, hated was probably a strong word. Hated implied that Jon thought of him at all, and it was far more likely that Jon thought of him very little throughout his day. Except, of course, when Martin did something wrong. Then those piercing eyes of his would be solely fixed on him whilst he shouted about how inept Martin was or how stupid his mistake had been.

It hurt, those moments. It hurt that the only time Jon ever truly seemed to see Martin was when he was angry at him. Not when Martin did an amazing follow up on a statement. Not when he’d created a great rapport with a statement giver or their family. Not when he brought Jon tea. Just when he did something wrong.

It was a running theme in this annoyance Martin called his life.

He still couldn’t help these feelings though. Jon was an arse half the time that much was true. It infuriated Tim to know end when Jon would lash out at Martin. “He has no right Martin. Mistake or not he’s your boss, he’s supposed to help you, not act like a massive dick all the time”

It was harder for Tim and Sasha in a way. They’d been Jon’s equal for a long time, working together. Moving to the Archive was always going to be a bit of a challenge. To have friend become boss. Especially for Sasha, who everyone thought was going to be become Head Archivist. But neither had held any real resentment over Jon for the change. After all, it wasn’t his choice, it was Elias’s.

But Jon’s sudden shift from rude but mostly recluse and occasionally friendly colleague to rude very recluse and stick constantly up arse boss was harder than any of them expected.

Martin could understand. It was big position and Jon seemed like the type to take everything he did very seriously. This meant holding everything in the archive to a high standard. His assistance included.

So yes, Jon was awful to him a lot of the time. But he was passionate. He cared. For all his blustering that none of this was real, Martin could see how much he empathised with the people who had given those statements. How he looked like he’d personally failed them when a follow up revealed they had died not longer after they’d come to visit the institute.

His crush probably wasn’t the most healthy but sue him! He liked being a bit in love. He liked having inspiration for his poetry. He enjoyed the fluttery feeling in his stomach when he came into work.

He just wished Jon didn’t quite hate. No. Didn’t quite dislike him so much.

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

There is a cat that has been hiding the alleyway behind the Institute for several days now.

Martin noticed the poor thing when he’d been taking out some rubbish that accumulated in the Archive. Usually that sort of thing wasn’t his job, but he’d been done for the day anyway and he liked to be useful, even if no one really noticed.

It was a mangy young thing. Light brown fur matted, one eye seemed to be damaged and it hissed every time Martin so much as approached it.

He couldn’t just leave it though. Poor thing needed help. It was out here, lonely, forgotten, damaged by the people that probably at one point said they’d love and protect it.

Was he projecting onto a stray cat now? God this was a new level of sad.

So he did what someone in his position did best. He researched.

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

There is a surprising number of places to buy cat supplies near the Institute and the workers in the shop were incredibly helpful with his questions.

Approach slowly. Don’t try to touch or hold the cat. Leave out food and water. He’d also bought a small plastic hut and shoved a warm blanket inside for the large cat. He didn’t know what breed it was. Just that it was grumpy and hurt.

It didn’t take a great deal away from his own funds either. His job paid well enough and he didn’t exactly go out with people very often, buying expensive drinks or tickets to shows.

His special treat was usually some sugar drenched coffee.

He couldn’t see any physical injuries on the cat, apart from its eye, so he put some treats in the hut, left out the food and water, then left.

He came back everyday with more supplies to keep the large growling cat comfortable. Every day that passed the cat came a little bit closer to him. He grinned at that. Hoping one day it would come close enough to pet.

He’d read somewhere that when cats blink, once and slow, it was a sign that they trusted you. Martin waited for that day with bated breath.

Tim and Sasha were a little bit suspicious as to where he was going on his lunch breaks. He told them he just taking a long walk, getting some fresh air away from the dusty old archives but he knew it wasn’t the best lie.

Lying for the sake of his job was one thing. Lying to his friends for no good reason was another.

It wasn’t like he doing anything bad. It was more that he wanted this for himself. He wasn’t even too sure why. Part of him wondered if he was worried the cat would somehow take some natural liking to either one of them or both. He didn’t want to lose all his hard work.

Or, if he was being more honest with himself, he didn’t want the cat to abandon him for someone better.

Yeah. New level of pathetic had been reached.

But one lunch, a few weeks after he’d first spotted the broken but massive feline, that the lying and the ill feeling became absolutely worth it.

Because the cat approached him.

Martin didn’t move a single muscle. He was sat on a small wooden box in the alley. Far enough away as to not frighten the poor thing, but close enough that the cat could make contact if it wanted to.

And today it did.

He held his breath the closer it got, keeping eye contact with its good eye the whole time. It paused for a moment, right in the front of his bent legs, before it let out a small mirp noise and butted its head against his knee.

“Oh hello” Martin laughed, chest feeling lighter than it had in an exceptionally long time.

He reached out his hand slowly to pet its head and let out another sign of relief when the one eyed cat let him.

“Well” he began

“I can’t very well keep calling you cat or beast in my head, you’ll need a name”.

It didn’t acknowledge his words in any way, just continued to let him scratch behind its ears and watched him with its one working eye. He could almost imagine its thoughts.

“Silly Martin, just come up with one already. Stop wasting time”.

He let out a soft chuckle at the thought, a name ready on his lips.

“Jon” he smiled gently.

“I think I’ll call you Jon”.

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

 It went well after that. Martin made plans to keep the cat. It would help the dreariness of his lonely flat, and he was lucky his landlord allowed pets in his building.

He couldn’t afford proper insurance but the workers at the pet shop knew an emergency vet that wasn’t too expensive, so he could get Cat Jon’s eye checked out soon.

Giddy as he was with his newfound friend, he didn’t realise that he’d been less subtle than usual about where he was going on his break.

It was one grey, wet Wednesday that it all came to ahead.

He’d been sitting crossed legged on the ground, his coat below him as a sort of makeshift blanket to keep his trousers dry, when Human Jon found them.

He hadn’t even noticed Jon had followed him until the backdoor that led the alley burst open with a bang that echoed down the narrow way.

“Martin�� shouted Jon, looking at some papers in his hand.

“I need you to take your lunch late and follow up on this report. You made several errors in your research that, frankly, a child could spot. I don’t know what you’re doing out here but if you have time to sit around then –“

Jon’s rant was cut short as he finally looked up to the picture that greeted him.

Cat Jon had leaped into his arms from the loud noise, clinging to Martin’s bright yellow sweater.

Martin froze, cat in arms as Jon stared at him with a look of equal shock.

“Oh” began Jon softly

“Sorry” Martin practically shouted.

“I – eh – this is, well um, a cat, I found? A few weeks ago, actually. I’ve been sort of taking care of it? Getting it food and water and um” he gestured to the plastic hut and blanket he’d laid out.

“He was hurt you see. Only one eye and really badly taken care of. Abandoned, I recon. So I’ve been out here on lunches making sure he’s, um, that he’s okay? Is that..is that alright?” he trailed off nervously.

He couldn’t look at Jon. It wasn’t exactly something to be ashamed of, taking care of a stray cat. But he could imagine Jon being the sort of serious no nonsense person who would see it as a waste of time, his lunch break or not. God would this make his relationship worse? Would Jon scold him for it? Did it make him seem more pathetic than before? Christ, was that even possible?

He didn’t notice the movement until Jon was sat beside him on the floor.

Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, sat on a dirty alley floor with Martin K Blackwood.

He watched with bated breath as Human Jon reached his hand out to Cat Jon and let out a small sound of relief when Cat Jon didn’t bite, scratch or run away.

“You poor thing” murmured Jon, eyes only on his (unknowing) cat counterpart.

“What have they done to you? Well, you look better now than you probably did before. Thank to our Martin here”.

Martin couldn’t help but blush deeply at that. Hot all over his face. He couldn’t handle this. Jon being all, all soft and gentle and calling him “our” Martin.

“You’ve been taking care of him then?” Jon looked up at Martin now. Eyes soft and kind for once. It nearly took all of Martins brain power to respond after receiving such a look.

“Yes” he began.

“Like I said, I found him a few weeks ago. Planning on taking him back to mine soon, get him out of the cold properly”.

Jon nodded, eyes never leaving Martins, hand firmly petting the cat in Martins arms.

“I’m sorry, about the work” Martin nervously bit his lip.

“I’ve been really worried about him so I rushed it to get out here on time. It’s no excuse and I know you don’t exactly think highly of my work in the first place. I’ll make sure I stay late tonight so I can catch up”

“Martin” interrupted Jon, eye straying on the bitten lip, a slight flush to his cheeks.

“I’m the one who should be sorry. I haven’t been fair to you these past few months. It’s been unprofessional at best and, well, and downright cruel at worst”

“Your job is stressful” Martin tried to defend

“And we both know I’m not exactly at the same standard at the others”

“Still” Jon continued.

“It’s my job to help you, not, berate you at every mistake. You came from the library, not research, so you have different skill set and – well, its been hard for us all. Not fair of me to put all that blame on you. God knows Tim could stand to be a bit more professional at times” Jon grumbled out the last part, a small pout to his lips.

Martin laughed at that, smiling wider than he could last remember.

“Tim just likes to keep you human, I think” he winked and watched with fascination as the flush came back to Jon’s dark cheeks.

Cat Jon leap out of his arms after that, toddling off to who knows where.

“Well” Martin began, getting up from his cross legged position on the floor.

“We still have time for lunch, we could, um, maybe eat together? If that’s okay I mean! You could help me figure out a name for him?” “You don’t have one already?” replied Jon, surprise in his voice “Uhhh not any suitable ones, no” Martin laughed awkwardly.

He couldn’t exactly say he’d name the poor blighter after Jon. He doubted Jon would take it as a compliment and he didn’t want to ruin whatever fragile peace they’d stumbled onto.

He held out his hand to help Jon off the floor. Jon eyed it, before bringing his own hand up and placing it into Martins larger ones. Martin pulled him up and held back a small gasp as Jon shot forward quicker than intended, his smaller hand landing on Martin chest.

Jon looked up at him, a small shy smile gracing his lips.

“Beautiful” Martin couldn’t help but think, face and ears bright red.

Jon pulled back, coughing every so slightly into his fist.

“Yes, well, I’ve named a cat or two in my time, it won’t be too hard” “Oh?” teased Martin

“What about Magnus? We did find him here” Jon shook his head at that, crinkling his nose slightly.

“Absolutely not, something more dignified. The Captain maybe?” “Captain?” countered Martin

“The Captain” continued Jon as they began to head back inside

“I suppose the one eye does give him a bit of a pirate look” Martin couldn’t help by laugh slightly as he said it.

“Yes” Jon laughed back

“Dignified but still fitting his nature” And off they went, back into the Institute. Unaware of any monstrous eyes watching them as they simply watched each other. A new, wonderful feeling developing between them.

Neither noticed that they still held each others hands as they made their way to the break room.

And if they spoke of cat names, and toys and flushed deeply when they did notice the hands still entwined, well.

Those moments were only for them.

[batfamily--headcanons]

I really want to understand this universe(the golden era I think) so could you guide me on which comics I should read

I will first admit that I am no expert on comics and I’m not particularly good at keeping track of the different eras. However, I can give you a list of what I think are some of the most classic Batman/Batfam/DC stories and the ones I just adore.

Batman: A Death In the Family-Classic story, everyone pretty much knows of this story but not everyone has read it. This is when Jason Todd (Robin #2) is brutally murdered by the Joker and it is the first introduction to Robin #3, Tim Drake. It gets really weird in the middle, when the Joker becomes an ambassador for Iran, but stick with it because Tim’s introduction is one of the most interesting Robin origin stories.

Batman: Death Of the Family-This is a different story despite the way too similar name. It’s newer and more gruesome than you might expect. This is the story where the Joker taunts the entire Batfamily and kidnaps them all. It has the whole Batfam in it which is what made me want to pick it up and read it in the first place and is definitely a great way to understand the characters as all of their greatest fears are revealed in this story. There are multiple issues spanning across different series from Batman to Red Hood and The Outlaws, so I definitely recommend getting the trade paperback of it because it’s easier than hunting down each issue in order.

Batman: The Long Halloween-This is such a classic story with lots of Batman Rogues running around and causing mayhem. They’re also speculating that this is potentially what the new Robert Pattinson Batman movie is based on, so it might be good to read if you’re excited for that movie (I have mixed feelings, but I’m hopeful). Also as a huge Agents of SHIELD and comic fan in general, I love so much of what Jeph Loeb does.

Tom King’s current Batman run-Pretty good until the wedding issue and then shit goes off the rails fast and it angered a lot of fans, myself included. Nevertheless, it did have some great moments. He also wrote Heroes in Crisis, which I do not recommend at all.

Batman:The Killing Joke-The animated movie did this story so dirty and I will always be mad. It’s one of the many possible Joker origin stories and the most popular by far. It’s not a very long story, but it absolutely regarded as a classic and it is when Barbara gets shot by the Joker so it’s also important for a major change in canon as well. Solid writing, beautiful art. I could go on about this forever. If you do decide to watch the movie, skip the first half, it’s ridiculous filler (with a ridiculous 90′s stereotypical gay character to boot).

Dick Grayson as Agent 37-This was a pretty fun storyline all things considered. It’s great if you want to fully understand Dick’s character without getting confused about the baggage that is having all of the Batfam characters around. For some people, they get the Robins easily confused (part of that is DC’s fault for literally drawing the same character but just taller or shorter) so it shines the spotlight on Dick.

Red Hood and The Outlaws (The one with Roy and Kori)-I so badly want to recommend this because I love these characters together, but Lobdell’s writing is not always spot-on and his depiction of Kori is comic book misogyny at its finest at times. Maybe read the first few issues just to get a better feel for post-Lazarus pit Jason, but it’s not the best series.

Red Hood:The Lost Years:I am a slut for Jason Todd angst, I won’t lie and so this is one of my personal favourites and it helps to establish resurrected Jason’s character to new readers. You really see how he struggled after his death and Talia al Ghul is there too which is even better. Jason is one of the most interesting and complex characters in all of DC comics and they almost never do anything exciting with his character so this series is a breath of fresh air. 

Batman:Under the Red Hood-This is about Jason’s return to Gotham after being resurrected and it’s great. The conflict between him and Bruce once he learns that it’s Jason under the hood is so well-written and you find yourself agreeing with both of them to an extent. Another great Jason Todd story. There’s also an animated movie based on this as well and it’s pretty good all things considered (I have Jay’s speech to Bruce at the end memorized so that should tell how much I enjoy it).

A lot of the new 52 stuff is not great. Tim’s new 52 Titans team were just kind of meh and like I said, Red Hood and the Outlaws had potential but was brought down by not so great writing. I wish I could remember some good Tim or Damian stories right now, but I’m blanking. Super Sons is newer, but I liked it quite a bit. It’s about Damian, Bruce’s blood son, and Jon Kent, Superman and Lois’ son fighting crime and going on adventures together. It’s a nice bit of fluff in the darkness that comics has become these days.

Harley Quinn (The Jimmy Palmiotti/Amanda Conner series)-This one is probably one of my favourite new 52 releases. I love where they’ve taken Harley’s character, she’s more than just the Joker’s girlfriend and this series shows it. It’s not too serious and most of the time, it can be downright weird, but it’s so fun you can’t help but love it. I own every single issue from the Conner/Palmiotti run. I haven’t read it since they left, so if anyone has, let me know if it’s any good because from what I did see of it, I wasn’t super impressed.

I do have some non-DC recs too so I’ll put them here as well because why not

House of X/Powers of X-The best X-Men story in recent memory and I love the X-Men so much so this makes me so happy. They’ve done some very interesting things with the characters and I love the acknowledgement that Franklin Richards is technically a mutant and the catty way that Cyclops does it is great.

House of M-One of the best X-Men stories and probably what WandaVision will be taking a lot of inspiration from. If you like alternate universes and reality bending, this is for you.

Matt Fraction’s run on the Hawkeye solo series-This is what made me fall in love with Clint and Kate as characters. It shows that the Hawkeyes are not useless Avengers and it has a bit of humour to it, which I love. The Kate Bishop follow-up to this is pretty good too, but I haven’t finished it yet so I can’t vouch for the whole series.

Deadpool Killustrated Series-This is just Wade murdering his way through the Marvel Universe and then through the classic literary characters that those characters were based on. It’s dark, funny, strange story that’s a whole lot of fun without having to worry about keeping up with 80 years of canon. 

I hope this helped in some small way. I am always up for talking comic recommendations since none of my real life friends care about comics. If anyone has any recommendations for me, I am all ears. I read stuff from all over so brand is no issue. I don’t really feed into that Marvel vs DC stuff anymore. Both companies have their strengths and weaknesses and that’s okay. It’s really late here and I’m procrastinating writing a paper so do forgive any spelling errors or completely incoherent sentences :) Stay safe everyone!

[moonlitgleek]

Thank god someone finally said it! Catelyn was a HORRIBLE wife, a worse mother, and an even worse person. The most tragic and overlooked aspect of Ned's story is that he got saddled with her. It made his life miserable, and brought ruin to his house and seven kingdoms as a whole. Getting his head cut off might even be a mercy compared to coming back home and living the rest of his life with THAT. Then again, if it weren't for her, his head wouldn't have been cut in the first place.

Sometimes I really hate this damn site.

You know, it’s people like you that cripple discussion of nuanced or complicated characters through the tendency to take every bit of criticism as a confirmation of your hate and an invitation to spew it all over everyone. I shouldn’t be wary of openly criticizing a character for fear that those who hate them would misconstrue my words and use it to fuel their nonsense arguments, which happens near every time I think to criticize someone, especially when it’s a female character. Even when I specifically say that that I don’t think this character a bad person like in this case. Did you miss the last paragraph of my post? Did you miss the entirety of @secretlyatargaryen‘s post? Because it has been reiterated that Cat is not a bad person or a bad mother. The point is not to bash Catelyn as you seem interested in doing but to point out that her actions with Jon are wrong and that they affected more than just Jon. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that someone who calls a woman “that” as if she is some thing and who seems invested in blaming her for everything she does is only interested in using our criticism to disparage and vilify Cat.

By the way, your message is as factually inaccurate as it is disgusting, anon. Let’s break it down.

Fallacy #1: Ned was saddled with Catelyn.

In a society that cares not a whit about women’s consent or feelings, it’s almost amusing that you think that it’s the man who gets saddled with the woman. Between Ned and Catelyn, guess which one had any kind of power in the situation? Ned. Hoster Tully might have demanded that Ned honor the betrothal to Catelyn as a price for his support in the war but it was still Ned’s choice to accept or refuse. But the rebels needed the Riverlands if they wanted to win the war, you say. Sure, and Ned made a choice for strategic reasons, but he still had the space to make the choice. Do you think that Catelyn did? Do you think Hoster bothered to ask her if she minded marrying the brother of the guy that she has been betrothed to for years and grew up expecting to marry? Do you think he bothered to consider that it’s callous to marry his daughter off so soon after her betrothed died and to his own brother? And even if he did, a woman who was raised with Family, Duty, Honor so hammered into her psyche and who, like every other woman in Westeros, was raised on how her place was to marry someone of her father’s choosing stands no chance. The system is broken and Catelyn Tully is as much its victim as any other woman in Westeros.

Fallacy #2: Catelyn made Ned miserable and his death was a mercy compared to being with her.

What an egregious (and delusional) thing to say that Ned is better off dead than being with the woman he loves and the children he adores. What an awful thing to say that anything pertaining to Ned’s death is a mercy. The man’s death was a knife to the hearts of his wife and children, but you think it’s better for him than the company of the wife he literally spends a book yearning for. That’s messed up.

I don’t know what book you’ve read or what you’re basing your claims on, but in my copy, Ned Stark is a man who clearly loves and values his wife as a person. He builds a sept for her because he respects her and wants her to have the comfort of her gods. There is a great deal of affection and comfort that shines through their interactions, and clear evidence in Catelyn’s second chapter in AGoT that Ned seeks and enjoys her company. In my copy, I see a guy who shows tremendous political trust in his wife that he leaves Winterfell and the North in her hands when he leaves with the expectation that she would continue Robb’s education and who trusts her to start mobilizing the Northern banners. I see a guy who reacts in wonderment to seeing Catelyn in King’s Landing, and constantly reflects on how he wishes he is with her during his tenure as Hand. I see Catelyn occupying Ned’s thoughts in his imprisonment that one of his regrets is that he’ll never see her again. If that’s being miserable, sign me up. For more of Ned’s so-called misery in his marriage, please refer to this post.

But Jon Snow, right? Yes, but Jon Snow. Jon’s presence has always been a point of conflict between Ned and Cat but that does not change the nature of their relationship. No one says that a loving happy marriage doesn’t have its problems or that it has to be perpetually conflict-free. Also, don’t forget that Jon’s presence in Winterfell was by Ned’s own decision. I’m not saying that Ned was wrong to bring Jon to Winterfell and I’m very sympathetic to his reasons and respectful of his desire to do right by an innocent child, I have a lot of respect for the man precisely because he acted as a father to Jon and gave him a family. But I’m under no illusion that this didn’t come at Catelyn’s expense, which is something that Ned himself was aware of. I am critical of how Cat treated Jon Snow, but it’s important to see that she wasn’t in the best situation either, because this is just another sign of how little control or say she had, even in her own home. The entire situation was inherently imperfect but while I do fault Cat for taking out her lack of control on the one person who had less control that she did and who also happens to be an innocent child, I’m not unsympathetic to her pain and anger over Ned’s indiscretions or to her fear for her children. The patriarchy says that Catelyn should accept that her husband would cheat on her, that this is a situation that she has to accept and has no right to change because her husband has the power, that she can’t be angry and resentful of Ned for the situation. For the sake of her marriage, for the sake of her children, Catelyn had to let go of her anger towards Ned but that anger does not disappear just because she pushed it down, so she redirected it onto the living reminder of her husband’s nominal infidelity who also happens to be a reminder of her lack of control. That is not an excuse for her actions with Jon that are objectively wrong but it is an explanation that shows that Catelyn is not inherently a bad person. She is a victim of her society and its social construct, which is one reason that makes her abuse of Jon gutting to me, since Jon is also a victim of their society and its social construct. Cat took her own disadvantage on the one person who was more disadvantaged than her. I can’t fault anyone for having negative feelings towards her over that particular situation since she was essentially kicking down at Jon and taking her problems out on a child, but this is far more complicated than “Catelyn is an evil person”.

Fallacy #3: Catelyn was a bad mother and person.

People are more complicated than the binary of “infallible” and “monster” that you seem to be operating on. Good people can make grievous mistakes regardless of their good intentions, and it’s not like those mistakes suck out their morality with them. Catelyn’s parenting wasn’t perfect. She pressures Arya to conform out of a conventional viewpoint and a desire to see her daughter lead a good life (as does Ned, btw), but ends up harming Arya. Her grief over Bran’s fall and coma and her exhaustion in keeping a vigil by his bedside puts pressure on Robb and hurts Rickon. Her abuse of Jon echoes through the family and inadvertently hurts her own children. Even the well-intentioned fail sometimes. Would you care to hear about the times Ned did too?

However, it remains that Catelyn’s entire character is build around her love for her family and her dedication to her children. She throws herself between an armed man and her comatose child with no thought to her life. She is constantly tormented by her distance from Bran and Rickon and blames herself for not being there for them. She is literally the only one who thinks that Sansa and Arya’s lives are worth trading against Jaime Lannister’s. She wants nothing but to send Robb to safety when she meets up with his army but recognizes that this would be extremely bad for his position. She bargains for Robb’s life while injured and spares no thought to her own life in the process. She refuses to accept that Arya is dead and holds out hope for her return. She champions Robb’s cause and does her level best to guide him, but also affords him space to grown on his own and is greatly proud of his leadership. No, I don’t consider Cat a bad parent at all, even with her mistakes. Those errors were a result of parental frailty and misguided protectiveness.

Questioning Cat’s personality in general doesn’t hold up either. She defends and befriends Brienne. She tries to reassure Edmure that their father loves and is proud of him. She feels guilty after Rickard Karstark kills the Lannister prisoners and feels his accusations acutely. She empathizes with Jeyne and reassures her of her place despite her displeasure with the marriage. She feels sadness for Mya Stone’s innocence over her doomed love with Mychel Redfort. There are places where Cat’s empathy fail her but if I denounce everyone who has a moment of failed empathy or who ever does a morally questionable thing, I’d be dismissing every single character in this entire series as a bad person. There are no perfect people in GRRM’s narrative, so what makes Cat’s imperfections specifically worthy of condemnation?

Fallacy #4: Catelyn should be blamed for Ned’s death, the ruin of House Stark and the Seven Kingdoms.

Right. Tyrion’s arrest. That did not start the war because the war was already in the works before the royal family even arrives in Winterfell.

I’m growing increasingly irritated with the tendency to blame any random Stark for the war which builds on deliberate dismissal of what everyone else was doing that led to the war. Sorry to say but the war was inevitable even if Catelyn never seizes Tyrion. It was inevitable because Stannis knew that the royal children were illegitimate and was preparing for war. It was inevitable because Renly knew that the royal children were illegitimate and was preparing for his own takeover. That guarantees a showdown with Tywin and the rest of the Lannisters no matter what, and puts Stannis and Renly on opposite sides. Don’t forget that Littlefinger and Varys were invested in pitting the Starks and the Lannisters against each other for their own gain as well. The entire situation was a powder keg waiting to blow long before any Stark stepped a foot in King’s Landing.

Blaming Catelyn, or any Stark really, for the War of the Five Kings and all it brought only serves to exonerate those who are responsible for it. Jaime and Cersei have an affair, pass their children as royal heirs and kill to maintain that fallacy. Jaime pushes Bran out of a window and Joffrey tries to have him killed. Cersei plots to have Robert killed and puts her plan into motion before Ned even finds out about the twincest. Baelish encourages Lysa to poison Jon Arryn and frame the Lannisters, then lies about the owner of the dagger used in the attempt of Bran’s life. He betrays Ned to Cersei and conspires till he gets Joffrey to kill Ned. Tywin Lannister sends men to burn and pillage the Riverlands, then plans with the Freys and the Boltons to murder Robb and his army at a wedding. Balon Greyjoy decides that avenging himself on a dead man is the height of power and embarks on an idiotic campaign in the North. Theon betrays the Starks and seizes Winterfell. Imagine having all that awfulness and all these contributing players to the war, but somehow finding the war Catelyn’s fault. Yes, I know the reasoning is that her arrest of Tyrion put the Starks and the Lannisters in open conflict and “made” Tywin attack the Riverlands. Except that Catelyn is not responsible for the fact that the Lannister go-to method is to commit war crimes and go stabby. A normal person could have protested Tyrion’s arrest to the king and painted the Starks as the aggressors but no, Tywin Lannister makes his own laws and he chooses to take it out on the Tullys’ smallfolk. That’s on him. Also, are we going to pretend that the Starks and the Lannisters weren’t already poised for a conflict after two attacks on Bran’s life? Or that Ned’s discovery of the twincest and his execution on Joffrey’s orders wasn’t going to drag the Starks into the war anyway?

Fun fact: of all the fighting factions in the War of the Five Kings, it’s Catelyn Stark who tries repeatedly to put a stop to the war. She pleads for peace in Robb’s council. She tries to broker an alliance between Robb and Renly, and points out that no one but Robb is doing a thing to protect the people against the Lannisters. She tries to get the Baratheon brothers to unify and reach an accord because common sense says that they all of them have the same enemy, and their conflict benefits no one but the Lannisters. Catelyn does not start the war, but she sure tries to end it. Sadly, no one listens to her.

Now please don’t come to me again with your victim-blaming, character bashing arguments.

[unexpectedreylo]

Vanity Fair Summer Issue:  Let’s Break It On Down

reOkay, first off, I can’t think of the last time I was really happy to be wrong about something.  I didn’t believe for one second they’d play the Reylo card this early in the game.  I didn’t think they’d play it AT ALL before the movie’s release.

Instead, they hopped on a big Reylo semi-truck and crashed it through the front windows of all doubt.  Sure VF Senior Writer Joanna Robinson is an admitted Reylo but it’s not like she ordered writer Lev Grossman and photographer Annie Leibovitz to pull a gun on the cast so that they’ll give us all the Reylo we want or else.  If you can’t figure out by now that Reylo is central to this trilogy and the answer to life, the universe, and everything, I can’t help you.  

The cover photos are of course, stunning.  Robinson said there is a hidden meaning in the covers that she wonders if anyone will figure out before the film is released.  (I know, LOL, these are Reylos were talking about here.)

They are obviously in the same environment (this new desert planet) and Kylo looks all Lawrence of Arabia/princely/dashing, exactly how you want your villain to appear, am I right?  She looks emotional.  Maybe they are looking at each other.  Notice how light and shadows, twilight and sunrise play across both images.  

There’s a lot of debate about this image going on right now.  Some are saying they are NOT fighting each other but this looks like it might be the same “duel” portrayed on the Art of TROS cover (notice she’s in the desert, he’s in water) AND on the Loungefly pin art .  The difference is in the latter two, Kylo is in a helmet.  In this photo, Kylo is not wearing a helmet. 

Let me just say this...the above photo is NOT a movie still.  Annie Leibovitz always stages her Star Wars photos.  It’s not to say this scene won’t happen in the film but it may play out/look differently.  For example, look at this photo from the TPM spread in 1999:

Yes, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul fought in the movie but not on Tatooine and defintely not with Obi-Wan leaping about while still wearing his cloak.  

Anakin and Padme wore those costumes in a scene together in AOTC and they were standing on that Naboo balcony but they didn’t cuddle in that scene like they do in this photo.

I could point to other VF SW photos that weren’t literal depictions of anything that goes on the movies but are truthful about the character, relationships, and so forth.

What’s really interesting is what the actors and the VF people had to say about Reylo:

“The most important relationship in the new trilogy”

"Their relationship is the closest thing the new trilogy has to a star-crossed love story on the order of Han and Leia: a source close to the movie says that their Force-connection will turn out to run even deeper than we thought.”

“I think there’s a part of Rey that’s like, dude, you fucking had it all, you had it all,” Ridley says. “That was always a big question during filming: you had it all and you let it go.”

"They’re uniquely suited to understand each other, but at the same time they are in every way each other’s inverse, down to Kylo’s perverse rejection of his family, which is the one thing Rey craves most."

"And then he had been forging this maybe-bond with Rey,” Driver says, “and it kind of ends with the question in the air: is he going to pursue that relationship, or when the door of her ship goes up, does that also close that camaraderie that they were maybe forming?"

"By the emotional logic that governs the Star Wars universe—and also our own—Kylo Ren is going to have to confront the past, and his fears, whatever they are, or be destroyed by them."

"If Kylo Ren can’t be redeemed it will almost certainly fall to Rey to put him down, in spite of their maybe-bond.”  (Okay, none of that Jonerys stuff better happen but Rey failed twice to take him out when she could’ve.  So that’s something.)

“Will Kylo Ren and Rey reforge their own connection?  And if they do, will it be love or simply friendship that unites them?  The answer, Driver says, is incredibly complicated:  ‘I don’t think it’s any one thing.  The strength in what Rian (Johnson) wrote and J.J. (Abrams) wrote is it’s never all one thing.”

From Grossman’s Reddit AMA chat:

“I got a strong sense that this movie goes deeper into the Kylo/Rey dyad but that’s about all I can say.”

From Grossman’s answer to Twitter user Riri:

“I have no spoilery knowledge but I would be surprised if they didn’t take that further.  There’s so much powerful feeling and tension there.”  Plus a hope that this doesn’t end up like Jon and Dany and being unsure about what Jedi can do with romantic feelings.

Other interesting related tidbits.  VF.com first claimed that it can confirm Kylo was fighting the now-revealed Knights of Ren in the TROS teaser but then it claimed it was an error.  Riiiight.  An error in giving out a spoiler.  Driver talks some more about having a clear ending in mind, likely for his arc.  Rey finds kind of a quasi family with her pals but is separated somewhat from them because of her Force abilities.  Keri Russell was confirmed to be playing Zorii Bliss, who is so obviously a bounty hunter and Richard E. Grant will unsurprisingly play a FO bigwig named Pryde.  Fifty bucks says he and Hux will conspire to oust Supreme Leader Kylo.  Mysterious omissions:  Rose and Palpatine.  I think the Luke shot reveals perhaps a full retelling of what happened on the night of Murdergate.  Either that or Luke is in hell.  Billie Lourd insisted on having scenes with her late mother.

The mag hits the stands on Jun. 4 (May 30 in L.A., NYC, and London) and there’s a crapload of video to pour through over the weekend.

Hat tip to @sleemo, Johnamarie Macias, Riri, klaudia, and benscalligraphy for transcribing, screenshotting, and so forth.