#i still prefer the theory that stone will be the next villain.

[themandolinscrimblo]

Uh....

...guys?

[little-mad]

Downsides of Thievery Pt. 8

~ Previous Part ~ Next Part ~

Maybe after all the shit Gavin had experienced ever since he’d been dragged from his prison cell back on Earth, he should have been used to giant related weirdness. He’d been held in a fist, toted around in a cage, and pinned down to the ground by a massive hand. In theory, riding around in Rael’s hand wasn’t that much stranger in comparison. And yet, Gavin felt unimaginably uncomfortable with his current position.

It wasn’t really that Gavin felt he was in any particular danger. Weirdly enough, he actually believed Rael’s claim that he would be careful. No, he wouldn’t say he was necessarily afraid. What he was feeling had more to do with the fact that he was almost surrounded on all sides by one single person. He was sitting on Rael’s palm, with the alteon’s chest behind him and his other hand directly in front of him. Not to mention the fact that the guy’s head loomed far above, able to look down at the person in his hand whenever he wanted. Long story short, Gavin felt smothered. And what was weirder than being smothered? Being smothered by the same person who had so far expressed nothing but distaste and disinterest in him since their first meeting.

“I guess it's an improvement from threatening to crush me,” Gavin thought to himself. He supposed this was preferable. The problem was, he didn’t know how to respond to this kind of behavior. Gavin was an expert at reacting to people not liking him much. Even if he knew Rael did like him, he might have some idea of what to do and what to say. However, Gavin couldn’t make heads or tails of how the big guy felt!

“Uh, I guess I should thank you for saving me,” Gavin finally said, breaking the silence that had developed ever since they’d departed from the stream. He fidgeted, trying not to think about the fact that the thing he was sitting on was literally alive. “Maybe this would seem less weird if I’d ever ridden a horse before…”

Rael didn’t take his eyes off the path in front of him aside from shooting a quick glance down at his passenger. “I was just doing my job,” he stated.

Maybe Gavin was getting ahead of himself thinking he’d made any progress with Rael. Maybe the guy really was just doing his job, and any increased kindness Gavin had detected was just an extension of his job.

As pathetic as it undoubtedly was, Gavin didn’t want to believe Rael really didn’t give a rat’s ass about him. He was completely alone in this dimension, cut off from anyone and everyone who had given at least half a shit about him. And so maybe Gavin was desperate to find someone he could imagine was on his side. He wanted a friend, and Rael was quite literally his only option. “God, I need to snap out of it! I’m supposed to be a hardened criminal damn it!”

Gavin craned his neck to look up at Rael’s face. “Well, I gotta admit, you were pretty badass back there.” It was very uncommon for Gavin to root for any type of law enforcement, for obvious reasons, but for once he was on the side of authority. How ironic was it that he, a thief who had been undone by his own greed, had almost been abducted in order to satisfy someone else’s greed? Fate really was a funny thing, huh?

A perplexed expression crossed over Rael’s face. “Badass? That’s intended as some form of compliment, correct?”

Gavin had to stifle a chuckle. He kind of forgot the alteon only had a very vague knowledge of human slang. He suddenly felt like he was holding a conversation with Spock, Rael even had the pointy ears to match. “Yeah...it sort of means you were impressively tough,” Gavin explained.

Rael gave a small nod of understanding. “I see, well...thank you I suppose.” The little note of awkwardness in his voice was enough to cause Gavin to break out in a grin. Rael sounded like a person and not some giant robot of formality and meanness.

Unwilling to let the break in Rael’s facade go to waste, Gavin initiated his mouth’s blab feature. “You know, next to that Kaydin guy, you’re like a saint,” he started, not even realizing he was now reclining back in Rael’s palm. “I’d pick hanging out with you over him anyday.”

With a light scoff, Rael rolled his eyes. “Being preferable over a brigand like that man is not as high of praise as you seem to think it is,” he said, though his tone was lacking in any real bite.

Gavin snickered. “I guess so, but to be fair I’ve only ever met three alteons.” None of them had made an especially great impression though, so he was beginning to think a part of alteon culture was just being naturally shitty at introductions. Of course, Gavin couldn’t really judge, he wouldn’t say he was all that great at first impression either.

“I’m surprised you weren’t more taken with the ruffians, considering you’re both criminals and all,” Rael replied, a nearly imperceptible smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Hey, not all criminals get along. That is a very common misconception,” Gavin stated matter-of-factly.

Rael snorted. Gavin was surprised someone like him could even make such a casual sound. “How very educational you are,” he said, sending another brief glance down at the human in his hands.

Gavin could hardly believe what was happening. He was actually taking part in back and forth banter with Rael, the guy who had seemed like an impenetrable stone wall of crankiness. If Gavin closed his eyes and ignored the feeling of flesh beneath him, he could almost imagine he was talking to a human and not an eighty foot colossus.

-

Rael had no idea what the hell he was doing. It was almost as if he’d been possessed or something, because he never would have imagined himself engaging in repartee with a human of all people. And yet somehow, it felt so natural and effortless. Rael would never consider himself a particularly talkative person, but with Gavin carrying the bulk of the conversation, it was easy to keep banter going.

Honestly, Rael wasn’t even sure what had triggered the change in his own behavior. Perhaps seeing the human’s life threatened by another alteon had had some kind of mirror effect. It was possible that witnessing the fear Kaydin inflicted upon Gavin had given Rael a new perspective on his own threatening behaviors.

Kaydin had obviously been the villain in the scenario. Did that mean Rael was the villain in his previous interactions with Gavin? He was a member of the Imperial Guard, he was supposed to be a hero--but it was becoming increasingly clear that he hadn’t been acting as such.

“I do not get paid enough to do this much self reflection on the job,” Rael thought sourly. This whole situation would be a lot simpler if he could just keep on ignoring Gavin and disregarding his feelings. It was a shame his conscience had gotten so loud all of a sudden.

“It is kind of flattering that I’m apparently so valuable that that guy was about ready to risk it all to get his hands on me,” Gavin said. Rael looked down to see a playful smirk on the little guy’s lips.

While Gavin had obviously been intending to be humorous, Rael couldn’t help but frown slightly. It was troubling how desperate Kaydin had been to get a hold of a human. What was even more troubling, was that Rael knew the desperation was sensible. Gavin would fetch a hefty sum on the black market, and Rael could only imagine the sort of things one might want to buy a human for. After the encounter with Kaydin and his partner, Rael wouldn’t be assured of Gavin’s safety until they were within the palace walls.

“You’re currently the only human in this realm, that makes you something of a rarity,” Rael told Gavin.

Most alteons had never seen a human in real life before, and unless things changed drastically, most never would. Typically, only those close to the Emperor were able to even catch a glimpse, hence why it was something of a status symbol. Of course, Rael had never really seen it that way himself.

“I guess I should feel honored,” Gavin quipped. “Although, the fact that I’m a prisoner kind of ruins things.” Rael fought the urge to twitch as he felt the human reposition himself on his palm. He still couldn’t believe such a tiny body could hold such a large personality.

“Perhaps crime doesn’t pay quite as much as you thought,” Rael retorted. He still found it stunning that the little guy he was currently holding in his hand had managed to rob an alteon.

Gavin scoffed. “Hey, it paid just fine until I took the diplomat job.” That caught Rael’s attention. He had been under the impression that Gavin had stolen the ring from the diplomat for himself, likely with the intention of selling it. However, the way Gavin had phrased it made it seem as though he had done it at someone else’s request.

“Wait, someone hired you to steal that ring?” Rael inquired, his gaze jumping back and forth from looking ahead and looking down at Gavin.

A dry laugh came from the human as he leaned back on his hands. “Like I ever would’ve thought of stealing from an alteon myself,” he said sarcastically. “Obviously someone hired me to do it.”

Rael’s eyebrows shot up. So Gavin had just been doing someone else’s dirty work? What he’d done had still been illegal, but still, wasn’t the one who had employed him the one truly in the wrong? “You took the fall for the one who hired you?”

Gavin gave a shrug. “Not exactly, but I didn’t know the real name of the guy who gave me the job, so there was no point even bothering to tell the cops.” He said it so nonchalantly. Did he not realize he might not be in the situation he was in, being escorted to the Emperor by an alteon, had his employer been identified and arrested?

“You don’t seem to care all that much,” Rael noted.

“I chose to take the job when I didn’t have to, blaming it on someone else isn’t gonna help anything,” Gavin replied. Rael was stunned by how...mature he was being. Initially, Gavin had struck him as nothing more than an honorless thief, devoid of any sense of responsibility. And yet here he was, accepting culpability for his own actions even when there was a perfect scapegoat right there for him to blame.

“Will wonders never cease,” Rael breathed.

“What?” Gavin called up. Rael had forgotten how sensitive to even the quietest noises human ears were.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.”

[scarlettriot]

Welcome to my Fantasy MHA AU Fic!

I'll be posting specific content warnings at the start of each chapter just to give you a heads up but you can expect swearing in almost every chapter and some NSFW 18+ content down the line.

Plan for ships though I don't know which ones just yet.

An OC or two might pop up. In the chapters they appear I'll be sure to give you some information on them.

Hope you enjoy it!

CHAPTER ONE

WARNINGS: SWEARING

The king stood atop the hillside, admiring the vast expanse of his kingdom laid out before him.

King Enji couldn't have been more pleased with the results of his tedious plans and tireless efforts if he tried. In fact, everything had gone off without a hitch!

Flames engulfed buildings. Smoke and embers choked the sky as well as the lungs of his citizens, and King Enji watched it all happening on high.

The sword of the once famed paladin rested on his shoulder. There'd be no one else now in his kingdom for anyone to worship other than him. He'd finally be treated with the respect he deserved.

Magic and projectiles soared through the sky, chasing down every last dragon they caught sight of. The beasts were the perfect villains for his plan. They'd be killed or chased out and once over the magical barrier he'd been working for years to create, they'd never be allowed back.

Two of his biggest problems were taken out in a matter of minutes.

King Enji Todoroki had won.

The celebration of the Phoenix King took place on the same date each and every year. The day that their kingdom had once burned to the ground was now celebrated with dancing and food, music and costumes as a way to remember how their great King chased off the fearsome dragons and did what he could to protect the Paladin of Might.

Izuku could hardly remember the day. What he could recall was filled with smoke and a burning in his lungs. He also remembered his best friend, Katsuki vanishing on that day.

His mother told him that many had died, that sadly, young Katsuki was probably among them. But, Izuku never believed it. Katsuki had been the strongest person he knew and so, even 18 years later, Izuku held out faith that his best friend was still out there... somewhere.

The festival was in full swing, Izuku's stomach was stuffed and his chest felt light seeing everyone around him so happy. His mother, Inko, was using vibrant colors to paint a beautiful flowered mask on a young boy. She'd already marked Izuku's own face, swirls of green in various shades that went over the bridge of his nose and extended down onto his neck. It had been his preferred design since he was a boy.

Horns sounded in the distance at dusk, the signal for everyone to turn their gaze towards the large grey stone castle and witness the light show presented by the top mages in the land.

The first flash of color, bright orange, flooded the sky and Izuku felt a hand in his own tugging him backward.

He turned, noticing a hooded figure but more importantly, the red and white bangs that were just barely visible beneath it.

"Sho?" He breathed the name and it was lost over the sound of the lights exploding. "You're supposed to be-"

"I know." The man mumbled, "But this was my best chance of getting out... getting this out."

He pulled back the cloak just enough for Izuku to see the gleam of a golden hilt. "Shoto, is that what I think it is?"

"Yeah, yeah Izuku, I finally found it."

The two men slipped through the crowd unseen, their eyes transfixed on the light show high above to notice two figures slipping in between buildings. Izuku begged Shoto to keep the sword hidden. The last thing they needed was for someone to see it and recognize what it was.

"He lied." Shoto gritted out. "You were right all along, Zu, my father lied. It was never stolen, he kept it hidden right under our noses. In the damn treasure vault for fucks sake!"

Izuku rarely had seen the young royal so livid but when he got this way his father was usually the cause. Izuku had hoped more than anything that he'd been wrong about the King and what happened 18 years ago. He really hoped that a dragon had been the one to hurt the Paladin and steal the sword, that the King had just arrived too late but something about the story had never sat right with him.

As he grew older, the more he learned about the Paladin, it made him question things. Everyone thought he was mad, Izuku hardly had any friends thanks to him voicing his opinions when he was too young to know better but, to his surprise, a boy with two-toned hair listened. He listened to Izuku's theory long before Izuku knew Shoto was the prince, and he believed him.

"I remember my father coming home that night," Shoto had confided in him, "He just had dirt on his clothes, no scorch marks or burns. Not even blood. He couldn't have fought a dragon!"

Izuku had just thought it odd that the Might Paladin had been taken down by a dragon. Sure, the King said it'd been a horde of them but the man had left without another word, he'd only made a brief appearance at the King's side and then was said to have wandered off into the woods alone; his will to fight and protect, gone.

He couldn't believe a man who slew hundreds of vile creatures could go down so easily, not that handling a horde of dragons was easy but the Might Paladin was practically a God!

What Shoto had told him as kids only further solidified the idea in his mind that things didn't add up. Of course, Shoto wasn't allowed to ask questions. Hells, he was barely allowed to leave the castle grounds but he promised Izuku he'd search for answers. He wouldn't stop until the truth was uncovered.

"I also found this with it, tucked away inside the scabbard."

Shoto handed over a piece of aged parchment folded up small enough to fit in the palm of Izuku's hand. It was scribbled designs, spilled ink blotched out a couple of words and the rest didn't make any sense to Izuku.

"Any idea what this is?"

Shoto shook his head. "No clue but there are some witches that live out past the woods. Maybe they can help?"

Izuku looked at his friend with knitted brows. "You know as well as I do that witches practice unsanctioned magic. And if either one of us were to engage with one, we'd be thrown in jail at the least!"

"Then you better be sneaky about it, Zu." A slight smirk played on his lips. "We can't go to official mages with this, so, witches are the next step to solving this mystery."

Izuku sighed and hung his head. "Fine. Fine, I'll leave in the morning. I'll tell my mother I'm helping you with your power analysis again." He looked at the slightly taller man in his oddly mismatched eyes. "You better make sure she says safe while I'm gone."

In truth, it took very little to convince Izuku to investigate and explore. He loved it actually and if it wasn't for his mother, he'd have the whole damn continent mapped out by now! But, it was just the two of them and he couldn't leave her for too long at a time to tend to the farm all by herself.

"I'll be sure a few guards come by to assist her in the field." Shoto unhooked the sword from his belt. "Take this too. Maybe a witch will know where the Paladin has gone and you can return this to him."

Izuku almost refused but Shoto shoved the weapon into his hands and the moment his fingers wrapped around the hilt, he felt... something. What exactly, he couldn't find a word for it but there was a feeling of magic to the weapon. Shoto had to have known that, that had to be another reason why he wanted him to take it and so, with some hesitation, he strapped the sword to his side.

"Write to Sir Iida with anything you find. Use the code though, just in case." Izuku nodded. "Be safe. Let's get to the bottom of this once and for all."

A/N: If you feel inclined, please let me know your thoughts. I might delete and rewrite this depending on how I'm feeling. Thank you for reading :)

[taziidcvil]

My Thoughts on RWBY’s new intro and chapter 1

This is going to be long so is there’s someone or something specific you want to read, I’d suggest using ctrl+f

WHITLEY

ngl i just want to start with my boy bc I’m so glad to see him back. Half of this is speculation and theorizing with no real merit ngl, but it’s something I’ve been thinking of for awhile

First of all this is a,,, very uncertain and conflicted look on his face here. He has his arm wrapped around his stomach and he looks very pensive. imo, Whitley’s going to be faced with a choice, one with no easy answer for him. And an answer that

might not bode well for the schnee family

Those clouds are, of course, Salem’s. Which makes me fear that Whitley may fuck up badly, and end up siding himself with the wrong people and it is likely going to be up to Weiss to bring him back.

Whitley isn’t a fighter. and if Whitley does cause the downfall of the Schnee family, he wont be at use for long. And once Whitley outlives his usefulness, there is no reason for her to keep him around.

But there’s a line that has been in my head for the last couple days. Namely Whitley’s line of ‘what could one huntsman do that an army cannot?’

Again, Whitley is no huntsman, but what it boils down to is ‘what can one person do?’ And I think Whitley is going to have to answer that question himself. 

I do think that Whitley is going to have to act at some point. Do something that puts him out for the greater good. I don’t expect him to suddenly join the fight, but I do think he will have his Pacifica moment. Where there’s something that he is physically capable of doing, but emotionally and psychologically it’s a mountain to him. Something only he can do, and Whitley will have to be the one person who changes the outcome of something dreadful. And most likely, i do believe it will involve Weiss

NORA & REN & RENORA (but mostly Nora)

ngl i am STOKED for this divide here

I love renora. it is one of my favourite ships. probably my third favourite i have to admit. 

what I don’t like is how its been going lately. while i do have the initial shipper reaction of ‘YES’ to the kiss, nora forcing it on ren sits wrong with me. Even more so their song last volume. It’s a bop of a song, true, but so much of it is nora telling ren to tell the truth only for her to tell him to love her. and while i’m sure he does love her, nora’s forcing it out of him and assuming is not healthy for either of them. Ren needs to come to terms with his own feelings, and these two need a wedge between them for a moment to develop separate from one another. 

and while i think ren will come to understand and accept how he feels

i think nora might give up on the pursuit and will put their mission above her feelings

But I do absolutely love the focus on Nora and I hope that’s a sign we are getting her backstory this volume. Nora is going to be a major piece in all of this and I personally cannot WAIT

I will say tho that I think her siding with Ruby’s plan is a little,,, strange to me. She was all gungho for protecting mantle last volume and i find it odd that she’s not on team ‘protect mantle first’. i get that she needs to be in that group because of what is shown in the trailer, but personally i would prefer her reluctantly forced into that group because of her usefulness. to keep the devive, that would mean ren would need to side with the ‘protect everyone’ but I don’t think it would have been that hard to spin his mindset that way

I’ve seen some talk about winter maiden nora and, while i personally would have preferred it, giving the power to penny only to give it to nora next volume is a little,,, cheap to me. ignoring the fact that it would likely mean penny would have to die and i am not about that life

i still think penny shooting lightning bolts at nora to power her up would be OP as FUCK tho

CLOVER

NO I AM NOT USING THE ONE SCREENCAP OF CLOVER THIS VOLUME YOU CAN’T MAKE ME

WARNING: Talk about dead bodies. Both fictional and real.

now i won’t lie, i am avoiding that shot like the fucking plague so I’m working mostly from memory here

I have seen bodies hours after someone has passed. Unless the body has something what effects the colour, here’s a greyness to the skin. Yes, this includes all skin colours. there’s also a distinct blue colour to the lips though clover doesn’t,,, exactly have distinctive lips. 

But seeing his body gave me the same nauseous and horrified sensation as seeing a long dead body. Of course not nearly as strong as he’s fictional and it’s animated, but it was the same. that sick greyness I’d expect from a body. ngl that shit,,, i wont say it triggered me, but it got damn close. it brought back memories and left me feeling very sick. It’s obvious he is very dead.

but even with that feeling, that didn’t stop me from being very fucking confused when I realised where the body was.

Now there’s a number of reasons that clover’s body would be there

They could have tried to save him and failed. They’re in a state of emergency and all the doctors are brought to one collective spot to deal with the potential rise of people needing medical attention. Maybe Atlas just works this way who the fuck knows. Most likely, they just wanted the Ace Ops to witness James and having Clover there just makes it easier to do that. but jfc if you’re going to have bodies in the medical area can you not install curtains??

ngl if i was at the hospital and they had a dead body uncovered and in full view of my room i would be 

I didn’t want to go back and see that image again, so i poked around the clover tag to see what people were saying in case i’m dumb and missed something. but i think if they were trying to bring clover back, they’d make it more obvious. and they sure as hell wouldn’t have coloured him that way. but I don’t blame people for being confused about if he’s dead or not when they literally put him in with people getting medical treatment and give him a patient number

but talking about Clover fuck i miss you so much brings me to

THE STAFF OF CREATION (with mentions of ‘that’ theory)

Ozpin: [mentions that using the staff will make Atlas fall]

Joanna: [talks about plans to move mantle citizens into atlas’ crater]

While it is debatable what the staff will be used on, I think we can all agree this bitch is coming down. Personally I think it’s how the volume will end. with the staff used, and atlas dropping. It’s a fantastic cliffhanger but fuck imma be so mad if that’s really where it ends. 

let me,,, get to that theory first. we all know which one i mean.

I’m not going to lie, i haven’t read much into it. mainly because i’d rather not get my hopes up and be pleasantly surprised than get my hopes up and be disappointed. Do i think it’s plausible? Well... after steven universe i think anything is possible. If it has even the slightest merit behind it I wont rule it out.

Do i think it will happen? debatable. i don’t think it was their plan but i also wouldn’t be surprised if they added it after the reaction to clover last year. but i’m not holding my breath. i’m leaning far closer to ‘no’ but i’m open to being wrong Do i want it to happen? god yes i fucking miss him okay i’m sorry i’m selfish i love my dumb fisherman himbo

the problem though is, if it can be done, there needs to be some form of payment. I know there’s been talk about a life for a life, and these are the options that come to mind: James: Don’t like this. James is a character rooted deep in the story and I think trading his life for Clover’s is,,, questionable. idk something about this doesn’t sit right. Especially when he has far more history with qrow than clover did. Tyrian: this feels cheap. trading a villain for a hero? that’s not even a payment, that’s hitting two birds with one stone. I do believe Tyrian wont survive the series, but this way is,,,, very cheap Qrow: pppppppppffffffttttt honestly this would just be a dick move that’s some monkey paw shit right there

either way, reviving clover would drop atlas and put both the people on atlas and under in danger. so the question is, is reviving clover worth it.

ethically, no. it’s not. one life will never outweigh thousands.  but would my selfish ass rather risk thousands of lives for one comfort character? you bet your sweet ass i would. it’s fiction, see if i care. storywise tho, we probably shouldn’t

But there’s nothing in the OP to suggest that Qrow is after the staff. and while it could be left for volume 9, i don’t see this volume lasting without dropping atlas after this volume started with the reminder that’s what would happen.

but ruby is shown reaching for it. (also is it just me or do those look like nuckelavee arms?) which makes me wonder just what she could want it for. Sure, she could be reaching to protect it, and that’s highly possible. but if we’re already talking about bringing characters back, i would not be too surprised if ruby considers the same idea. Namely with summer (though pyrrha is also an option). If she does consider that though, I don’t think she’ll succeed. and I doubt she’d really try if she knows atlas would fall. 

though if she wants to use it to save the world, if there’s something she can make with it that will stop salem, then i might believe she’d risk it. but even then i have a hard time believing she’d risk peoples lives.

but who else could and can get her hands on the staff?

PENNY

our sweet and dear penny, who has already suggested giving herself over to salem. and who is shown divided and framed opposing the team

While her being hacked is an option, and one i think james would consider letting watts do, from a story point I believe it’s far more interesting if penny is the one to decide this for herself.

Penny is a protector. And she wants to protect everyone. And one way she could possibly do that is by cooperating with salem. And with that gd whale having docking stations and a whole damn room inside it, penny going to salem fits with the whole ‘being eaten by a whale’. 

and if penny is the cause of atlas dropping, that girl is going to be dealing with even more guilt than she already has.

JAMES

me: okay, i know james shooting oscar was a big dick move, but james has done so many good things too. imo it’s questionable writing, but james’ stance is understandable. he’s still a good person-

listen. listen. listen. I... i don’t know what the fuck the writers are doing with this one. it would have been just as easy to arrest him but we just... gun happy i see. but james being gun happy makes me very nervous for qrow and that ‘if you were one of my men, i’d have you shot’. qrow’s out for james’ blood, but I don’t think qrow could ever actually kill him. and normally i don’t think james could try and kill qrow, but these are,,, not normal circumstances, and james has a semblance that will absolutely help him pull the trigger

i still love james. and i still understand both sides of the fight. and i still believe james is a good person. there’s so many good things james has done, but fuck if the writers aren’t trying their hardest to make the fandom hate him. and for the most part, it’s working. my gf already hates him lol

when all is said and done, there’s a lot that james is going to feel guilt for, but it’s guilt he’s willing to bare

while i understand the reason behind making james the bad guy, i will admit that i’m bitter about it. namely because in volumes 2 and 3 there were so many people expecting james to be bad, only for him to prove himself as a good person. and now the story is doing its best to take that back

THE ACE OPS

Again, one of the main reasons i think they put clover there and confused the fuck out of people. I think there’s going to be a divide in the ace ops, and i think we see which side people fall on here

harriet and vine are going to be harder to turn, but i think this moment just planted some uncertainty in elm and marrow. I dont think it’ll be an instant thing, but this isn’t something they’re going to forget. this is going to bother them for a good long while. yeah, the writers are trying to turn the fandom on james, but storywise it’s planting the seeds of betrayal and giving the ace ops a reason to switch sides. but i don’t think they’ll come into fruition until the end of the volume

And while we’re talking on betrayal, Winter is edging herself closer too. but while i think she’ll turn faster than the ops, i also think she’ll be the most understanding and caring of james of them all. 

Yang vs Ruby

pitting them together is honestly a good thing for yang’s character. they still love each other. they’d still fight for each other.

they may see things differently, and they may go their own paths, but there’s no animosity. they can work together and have each others backs, even when they don’t agree. 

and that’s something team rwby/ornj and friends and james/aceOPs need to work towards

Yang was never happy with Ruby keeping secrets, and personally i think it’s good for her to voice it and go a path she sees as right

Tyrian (and nuts and volts)

we’ve seen a lot of tyrian’s smiles. he is a very animated person who broadcasts his emotions. in fact, the only time he ever quiets down is in front of salem

this smile is the most ‘you bitch you’re lucky mum is here’ smile ive ever fucking seen on this man grhueiorfubgnjfroe

look, i don’t think tyrian and arthur are romantically involved. but i do think tyrian is fond of arthur. whether that’s romantic or platonic is up for debate, but tyrian has always spoken foldly of arthur. tyrian obviously does not like cinder or her crew, though he does love picking on them while i dont think he has that level of dislike for hazel, hazel is the sort of person to not like unnecessary killing, so i don’t see them getting close. Arthur crafted him his tail, and he organized a plan where tyrian got to murder often. out of the bunch, i think it’s rather obvious arthur is the person closest to him, and I also think he’s absolutely looking forward to seeing arthur again

Emerald/Mercury/Neo

first of all, FUCKING FINALLY! MY KIDS HAVE NEW OUTFITS! now there’s things i like and don’t like about mercury’s. personally, i like his old outfit better, but he NEEDED new clothes so i don’t miss it! Emerald is looking GOOD!! i don’t give a fuck what anyone says, she looking fine as hell

hazel tho, what the FUCK did they do to your hair?? who the fuck did this?? how DARE YOU

that’s all i have to say about hazel bc boy is quiet but WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?? while we talking about new looks, winter is looking FIIIIINE too

Neo is, very obviously, finding this whole situation fucked up. i know a vast majority of us thought Neo would turn on Cinder, but at this point i believe she was content with finding a new reason to live. but the more cinder brushes her aside, and the more she gets to know salem, she’s looking more and more disturbed and annoyed with it all. 

emerald is an obvious turn. with her whole Aladdin tale, i wont be surprised if she takes the lamp from salem and uses the last question. (i’ll admit though that i’m curious what salem’s question(s) is). now i still think neo will want to kill ruby, but i don’t see her staying sided with salem and cinder.  i will say tho that I find it fucking HILARIOUS that salem has no fucking idea who she is. how much of cinder’s plan did salem even know? did she know about roman? did she know about mercury and emerald before they went to pick up her silver eye’d ass? Salem cut Cinder down for ‘acting without salem’s say so’ but how much of that has cinder already been doing before now pffffttt

but mercury’s the only one that isn’t showing that much hint to turning. and personally, that makes sense. Mercury’s been shown plenty of times being disturbed by it all. he’s always stood beside emerald, equally frightened or distrusting. but if salem is calm and mercury’s in no real immediate danger, mercury has always tried to play with the big boys. he has a better poker face than emerald and neo, but he doesn’t belong there nearly as much as he pretends to.

but mr pokerface isn’t perfect. the moment he notices cinder, his attention goes back to emerald, and he watches her. he’s told her before that cinder doesn’t care for them. he’s tried to break that to her, and when they come to face cinder he’s not happy. less so when emerald instantly runs back to her. he knows emerald’s goiing to get hurt, and while he’d like to think he’d be the type to say ‘i told you so’, he’s not going to take pleasure in seeing her hurt

but one think about emerald is that she reminds me a lot of nora. they were both starved and homeless, and were ‘saved’ by someone else. but cinder is no lie ren, and emerald’s gone a very different path. not to mention her ‘saviour’ came much later in her life, and nora is on equal footing with ren and has saved him right back. but nora has been shown to empathise with mantle and its condition. which makes me wonder if emerald will too. she described the attack on vale as ‘sad’. So emerald, how will you feel when you take in the situation in mantle?

CINDER

i’ll be honest, i don’t like cinder. I’m sorry ;n; she just never interested me. she has a nice design, but other than that i just,,, never clicked with her. but i am happy we’re getting a backstory for her. mostly because it’s damn well due, and for her fans. y’all enjoy your food

that is,,, where i’m going to leave it. it’s late and i need to sleep. there’s probably things i missed, and if there is i’ll add to it in the morning. but these are the immediate thoughts that come to mind.

please feel free to discuss. and remember these are just personal opinions and thoughts, many of which probably will lead to nothing. 

[the-sympathetic-villain]

You Belong With Me - Chapter 4

AO3 | First | Previous | Next | Masterpost

Description: Much to his surprise, after being released from prison for a crime he didn’t commit, Logan has been appointed as a the prince’s new advisor. 

Word Count: 4941

Chapter Warnings: None (Let me know if I missed anything!)

Roman seemed to know that Logan wasn't feeling up to talking and was filling the silence as they walked. He spun grandiose stories about the history of the castle and the kingdom. Logan’s thoughts drifted. He appreciated Roman’s attempt to distract him with his stories, but he could feel anxiety beginning to take root in the pit of his stomach as it started to sink in how little he knew about their country’s history. Any history Logan had learned had come from the jaded old men of the small town where he’d grown up and by his own admittance, they were hardly reliable or extensive sources of information. Not many people spent time studying history when they were struggling just to make it to the next day. Roman’s stories were more fanciful than the stories he knew. He spoke of old wars and great rebellions. He recounted the stories of heroes and the fall of empires.  Logan smiled as he watched Roman light up telling stories of heroes and villains and their conquests and adventures.

Roman led him through the various rooms, talking as he weaved through the crowds. Logan glanced around the crowds as he followed Roman around yet another corner. Business around the castle moved about as usual. People bustled about through the halls of the tower going about their normal routines. Logan swallowed. The sheer magnitude of his new position threatened to overwhelm him as he realized that he’d eventually be responsible for welfare of the people moving about around them.

 How can I be an advisor of any value when I know so little about my country and the people within it?

Roman noticed that Logan seemed distracted. “What are you thinking about?”

Logan looked over at him cautiously. “Are you sure you thought this through?”

“Thought what through?”

“Appointing me to be your advisor.”

Roman slowed his pace, raising an eyebrow as he looked over at Logan. “What makes you think I haven't?”

“My knowledge of the kingdom is rudimentary. The little information I did have access to doesn’t even come from particularly credible sources. It’s just stories I heard or read when I was younger. I barely know the basics of how the politics here work, let alone the intricacies of the system.” Logan paused. “How can you trust my advice to make decisions that are going to affect thousands of people?”

Roman shrugged. “You'll learn.”

“Perhaps, but why choose an advisor of my knowledge level when you have your choice of any of the top scholars in the country.  You have access to people who have devoted their entire lives to understanding this kingdom and it's intricacies. Their education far exceeds my own knowledge.”

“I've had scholars at my table. I've worked with people who have spent their whole lives dedicated to the study of political practice and theory. I couldn’t stand it. It's all theory to them. They sit in their cushy studies, reading away their lives while servants bring them their food and wash their clothes. They can't possibly grasp the true consequences of the decisions I make every day.”

“So, you were looking for someone who knew what it's like to be at the bottom of the barrel.”

Roman stopped in his tracks. “No! That's not—"

Logan waved off his concern. “It's perfectly fine, Roman. I’m not offended. I appreciate that perspective from you as a leader. Not many people with authority have that capacity for empathy.”

“I suppose.” Roman ran his fingers through his hair, unsure of how to handle Logan’s praise. “I don’t want you to misunderstand me. I do prefer my advisors to have real world experience but it’s more than that. That is only a part of my reasoning for appointing you. You've proven yourself to be intelligent, resourceful and you clearly have a passion for learning. I have no doubt you'll be quick-witted enough to keep up. Given time, I don't doubt you will surpass many of our scholars.”

Logan looked down at the stone floor, pondering Roman's assumptions. “Your intuition for my tendencies is impressive. Given access to the resources, I imagine the problem will be pulling me away from studying to do my job.” Logan smiled at Roman.

“I figured that may be the case, which is why we’re here.” Roman smiled, turning to face an enormous set of oaken double doors. He grasped the brass handle and pulled the heavy door open, gesturing for Logan to lead the way.

Logan walked through to door and had to stop for moment to let his eyes adjust. The room was filled with bright light, pouring in from tall windows on the north and west walls. After a moment, his vision cleared, leaving Logan speechless. They stood at the entrance of a massive library. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling in bookshelves. The shelves towered above them at such a height that the higher shelves required long ladders to reach. Logan slowly walked into the room, barely managing to keep his jaw from hanging agape. Resting between the bookshelves sat ornately carved desks with delicate gilded flower designs. He let his hand drift over the smooth, polished woods as he wandered along the edge of the room. He inhaled, taking in the smell of the old books and it was beautifully, wonderfully quiet. Logan was speechless, in awe of the room around him.

Roman smirked as he watched Logan’s reaction. He leaned smugly on the doorframe behind him. “I figured you would like it here. A few hundred titles should keep you busy for a while.”

Logan nodded, still struggling to form words.

“It's not the only library in the castle, and honestly, it's not even the largest.” Roman laughed softly. “But it's quiet and a good place to focus.”

“It's amazing.” Logan said breathlessly as he wandered through the rows of shelves. “This is more books than I imagined I would see in my lifetime.”

Roman raised an eyebrow as he idly followed Logan. “I suppose you didn't have access to many books where you lived before.”

“I'd be lucky to track down two or three books a year and I'd read them until the spines fell apart.” Logan stopped at one of the shelves, reaching out to feel the spines of the books as he perused the titles.

“Honestly, I’m impressed you even learned to read. It's unfortunately not a common skill most places. Not many have the opportunity, let alone a decent teacher. Unless you grow up with enough privilege to afford a decent education.”

Logan shrugged. “I was fortunate. I didn't have much family around growing up, but my grandmother taught me the basics. Since then, I've read everything I could get my hands on.”

Roman was quiet as Logan walked along walls of books, deep in focus, pulling out a few titles and taking mental notes of the locations of books he wanted to read later. Roman nodded and stepped back, leaning back on the bookshelves as he watched Logan browse. He watched as Logan’s focus leave their conversation, narrowing in to the books in front of him. Roman saw the tension melt from Logan’s body as he lost track of the world around him.

Roman smiled. His heart warmed as he watched Logan relax for the first time since they’d met. He whispered to himself sadly, too quietly for Logan to hear. “Oh, Logan. I definitely made the right choice.”

Half and hour had passed when the chime of the distant bell tower jolted Roman away from watching Logan, lost in his own thoughts. He listened closely, counting the bell chimes. Roman frowned. He hesitated, reluctant to interrupt Logan. He cleared his throat and Logan looked up at him. “Unfortunately, we can't stay longer. I’m expected upstairs for some military planning shortly.”

“What would you like me to do in the meantime?”

“You’ll join me.” Roman said idly, eyeing Logan’s reaction. “I'm serious about you not being alone. You'll be free to do what you like tomorrow. Today though, I don't want you out of my sight.”

“Yes, sir.” Logan said dryly, as he stood to follow Roman.

Roman frowned. “Don't be like that, Logan. You’re welcome to come back whenever you like. This place isn't going anywhere, and you have full access now. It's one of the perks of your new position.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, Roman.” His voice trailed off to a whisper. He glanced over at Roman cautiously. Roman frowned as he watched a tense, nervousness return to Logan’s demeanor.

“What’s concerning you, Logan?”

Logan was quiet but he glanced up at Roman. Words hung at the tip of his tongue.

Roman moved closer to him. “Please, I want you to speak freely with me.”

Logan hesitated but he couldn't help but give in to Roman’s pleading look. “I don’t want to give you reason to doubt my capabilities but I feel ill-equipped to engage in a discussion about a subject I know so little about. I know it’s my job but I don’t know that I’m ready to be a participant in a meeting like this.”

Roman relaxed, smiling at him playfully. “Is that all?”

Logan crossed his arms and nodded nervously.

“You know that you’ll need to be at all of these meetings, eventually.”

Logan looked down at the ground, gritting his teeth. “I am aware. I just didn’t expect my participation to be so immediate. I haven't even had a full day in my new position.” Logan looked away, trying to hide the anxiety burning in his chest.

Roman moved toward him, resting his hand on Logan’s shoulder. He waited for Logan to look up at him. “Neither did I, Logan. When I offered you the job, I told you would be given time to adjust before I held you responsible for your position and I fully intend on following through on that promise. I’m asking you to join me today solely as an observer. I’m not asking you to participate. Unless you choose to, I don't expect you to engage in our discussion. Just listen and observe. Okay?”

Logan relaxed significantly, dropping his arms to his sides. He smiled appreciatively at Roman. “Very well, Roman. I believe that’s within my capabilities.”

Logan trailed closely behind Roman as he turned into the meeting room near the top of the tower. Red tapestries hung from the ceiling along the walls of the room. The room opened wide. No natural light entered the windowless room. Ornate wall sconces lined the room lit, casting the room in an soft amber light. A round table covered in maps occupied the center of the room. Individual markers were placed strategically across the table, indicators of placements of troops throughout the country.

Logan’s gaze followed Roman. He watched curiously as Roman’s demeanor changed. His normally carefree jaunt became confident and focused. He moved aside the maps and cleared space on the table. He pulled a roll of parchment from a small pile off to the left of the main map and began to make some precursory notes.

Logan followed with less confidence. Shifting nervously in the doorway, he was unsure of what to do, but unwilling to disrupt the prince’s focus. He hesitated for a moment before following Roman to the far side of the room. He quietly leaned against the wall behind Roman, watching him work. Curiosity welled in Logan’s chest as he watched the prince move about the room. Roman’s soft demeanor that Logan had come to know disappeared under an air of authority. It was a strange experience to watch this new side of Roman.

Logan stood up off the wall, occasionally glancing at the door. He anxiously awaited the beginning of the meeting.

A few minutes passed before the other attendees began to filter into their seats. Logan watched as they took their seats. Most didn't give Logan a second glance, though he caught a few flashing him suspicious looks. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to be willing to question his presence in front of Roman. The seats around the table filled quickly and they spoke among themselves in hushed tones. Logan breathed deeply, watching the dynamics of the people around him.

Lost in thought, he almost missed the last person entering the room, but a familiar laugh jarred him from his thoughts. He looked up and instinctively bit his bottom lip as Remus walked in, followed closely by one of the same minions who had assaulted Logan earlier that day.

Logan’s muscles tensed. His heart beat rapidly in his chest. He clenched his jaw, keeping his face neutral, determined not to let his discomfort show.

Logan’s knees went weak when Remus finally noticed him. Remus gaze narrowed in on Logan. The amber light cast from sconces on the wall flickered, intensifying the menacing smile stretching across Remus' face. Panic welled up in Logan’s chest. He crossed his arms to hide his shaking hand and pushed the anxiety down, determined not to let Remus influence him.

Remus dropped into the seat directly across the table from Roman. He crossed one leg over the other and slouched in his chair, flashing a dangerous smile up at Logan. A sudden chill surged through Logan’s body as Remus stared at him. The room quieted as Remus took his seat.

“Is everyone prepared to begin?” Roman asked, looking up from his notes.

Everyone mumbled their agreement, except Remus who merely raised his eyebrow.

“Very well. We'll begin by recounting the events from the previous meeting.” He gestured to the man sat beside him. “Please, will you do us the honor of recounting the last meeting?”

“Yes, your hi-" he began.

“Forgive my interruption,” Remus said, unapologetically sneering at Logan. “Are we just going to ignore the elephant in the room?”

“To what exactly are you referring, Remus?” Roman asked, his voice neutral.

“I'm sure I'm not alone in my distrust of the stranger in our midst.” He gestured to Logan. Logan held Remus’ gaze, ignoring the others as the turned to focus on him.

“Logan has been appointed as my personal advisor. He has a place here. Unless you have a legitimate concern, I insist we move on.” Roman's voice was stern as he stared at Remus.

Remus seemed unconcerned. “He was to be executed for treason less than a fortnight ago. He’s been out of prison for little over a day. Is it really wise to allow him to hear our country’s most privileged and confidential information? Is this not a legitimate cause for concern?”

Some of the others murmured in agreement.

“Logan was pronounced innocent beyond a shadow of a doubt. On top of that, his actions saved my life, and in doing so, he saved the kingdom from considerable strife. These are not the actions of a traitor.” Roman stated dryly. “I’ll say again, if anyone has a legitimate concern, I would be happy to hear you out.”

“Surely, he can speak for himself.” Remus raised an eyebrow at Logan, barely concealing a smile as Logan shifted uncomfortably.

“I—" Logan began.

“No, Logan.” Roman interrupted, staring sternly at Remus. “You do not have to dignify that comment with a response. Let me be perfectly clear. Any problem with Logan is a problem with me. You either trust my judgment or you don’t.”

Silence filled the room. Roman met the gaze of each person at the table and one by one, they looked away. Finally, he settled on Remus but unlike the others, he did not look away.

“Alright… alright. I meant no offense, my dear Roman. I only thought we should talk about it since it was clearly on everyone’s mind." He conceded, sounding bored, apparently unconcerned about the disturbance he'd caused. "Curiosity has a way of derailing even the most diligent of souls.”

Roman ignored him and proceeded to start the meeting. He led the discussion of the strategic placement of troops throughout the outer regions and spoke on the political relationships developing with neighboring countries. Logan watched as Remus leaned back in his chair, uncharacteristically quiet as the meeting moved on. Logan focused in on Roman's words, analyzing what Roman was saying and following as they moved the markers around the map. The meeting continued in this manner for well over an hour before it seemed that the meeting was slowing. Logan sensed that the end of the meeting was drawing near. Only one final matter remained at hand. Logan leaned over Roman’s shoulder as he discussed changing relations with a neighboring country to the north that had begun to show signs of aggression on the border. Their armies seemed to be growing their presence at vital points along the border. As the conversation progressed, Logan noted that Remus was starting to show interest.  He no longer slouched in his chair. His gaze was focused as he leaned forward in his seat.

Remus interrupted Roman's discussion. “Perhaps, if we send our closest troops through the northern pass, an increased presence will deter further pressure on the border. No one likes to feel threatened.” Remus wiggled his eyebrows up at Logan while everyone turned their gaze to Roman for a response.

Logan looked back at map as bile rose in his throat from Remus’ taunting. He analyzed the map as he listened vaguely as they discussed Remus' suggestion. He follow where Remus had suggested they moved the troops. A gasp escaped his throat, which he immediately regretted, attempting to cover his mistake with a cough. all eyes in the room turned towards him, except Roman who was continuing to take notes on his piece of parchment. His cough hadn’t been enough to disguise his surprise.

“Do you have something to say to me, kid?” Remus said slyly, almost encouraging Logan to step out of line.

Logan stood a bit taller, pulling his shoulders back and standing his ground against Remus' dangerous taunts. “I am not a child. Do not refer to me as such. I was merely surprised you would make such an obviously fallacious suggestion.”

“Oh, please. Tell me more.” Remus invited, smiling sarcastically.

“That pass is dangerously precipitous due to the amount of snow and ice that occur at that high altitude, especially during this time in the season. Not to mention that the troops closest to the pass are basically new recruits. Your suggestion would likely only weaken our hold on the northern border by causing the needless deaths of our own troops.”

Roman finally looked up from his notes at Remus, smiling at Remus. “He’s right, Remus.”

Remus clapped his hands slowly, unfazed by Roman's satisfied grin. "Very good, kid."

“Remus…” Roman warned.

Remus ignored him, smiling up at Logan. “Perhaps, I haven't given you enough credit, Logan.”

Logan’s skin crawled when Remus said his name, but he held his ground at Remus' stare.

“You're very amusing.” Remus paused, smiling innocently at Logan. “Of course. I had considered that scenario. I merely wished to see Roman's brilliant new advisor in action.”

Logan maintained eye contact but remained silent.

“Of course. Our best course of action would be to send those same troops to the east to meet up with more experienced troops. Then, they can head north, circumventing the pass altogether and securing the border. Wouldn’t you agree, Logan?”

Logan hated hearing Remus say his name. Disgust and rage boiled in his stomach but all the same he couldn't argue with the logic of Remus’ second suggestion. “That suggestion seems satisfactory.”

Logan couldn’t see it but Roman smiled. “I think that was the final matter at hand. We have determined our course of action. I expect orders will be sent to the proper authorities in the north. If there are no objections, I move that we end this meeting."

The room was silent.

“Very well. This meeting has been adjourned. We will reconvene in a week's time to reevaluate our positions. Good night to you all.” Roman stood, rolling up his parchment full of notes. He gestured for Logan to follow him and led him out of the chamber.

They walked a few minutes in silence, putting distance between them and the military chamber. Logan could feel his hands shaking as the adrenaline coursed through his veins.

“You did well today, my friend.” Roman said, placing his hand on Logan's shoulder. The contact pulled Logan out of head.

“Thank you, Roman. It wasn’t much really.” He replied absently. His heart was still racing.

“Of course, it was.” Roman said encouragingly. “You pointed out a fatal flaw in our military planning. In your first meeting, no less.”

“I suppose I did.” A small glimmer of pride fluttered in Logan's chest.

“And on top of all that, you stood your ground against my brother.”

Logan’s heart dropped. The hair on his arms raised as another chill swept through his body. Suddenly, he felt a lump in his throat. “Your brother?”

“Admittedly, we aren't much alike except in looks.” He said, mistaking Logan's discomfort for confusion. “He's rarely as antagonistic as he was today. Hopefully, you'll meet him on one of his better days soon.”

“I get the impression that he isn't fond of me.” He said, trying to get a gauge on Roman's perception of Remus' reaction to him. He tried to focus on Roman but thoughts of Remus in the dark corridor and the pain in his stomach from his assault kept interrupting his thoughts.  The memories replayed back in his head and Logan was unable to force the thoughts from his mind.

“I wouldn’t concern yourself too greatly with that. Honestly, all things considered with recent events, I think we we're lucky that's all the resistance we faced today.”

“Yeah.” He said, dejected.

Roman reached out, gently turning Logan towards him. He stopped, resting his hand on Logan’s shoulder. Logan looked up to Roman’s serious expression.

“Don't let yourself despair. Winning their approval will be an uphill battle but today was a win for you. You did extraordinarily well today.”

“Thank you, Roman.” Logan blushed.

“No need to thank me, Logan." Roman smiled. "I'm only stating the truth.”

“Still, it helps to hear it.” Logan admitted.

“Then, I’m glad to help.” Roman smiled sweetly. He turned to continue down the hallway and Logan followed close behind. They walked in silence for a few seconds before they reached Logan's door.

“Wait here.” Roman left Logan at the door to his chambers and disappeared around a corner. Logan waited patiently until Roman returned. Two guards followed shortly behind him. They dispersed to the far ends of the hall as Roman approached Logan’s side once more.

Roman looked over at him with a tired smile. “I think it's time for us to part ways for tonight, unfortunately. I've instructed the guards to keep a close eye on your room tonight. They will be stationed at each end of this hall.” He gestured to the ends of the hall, where the two guard stood, fully armed.

Logan nodded, looking between the guards. “I should be okay for the night.”

“Keep your door locked all the same. I don't anticipate anything happening but I don't want you to take any risks tonight. Your personal guard will meet you in the morning and we will be able to let our worry rest.”

“Thank you. I appreciate your concern.” Logan spoke shyly.

“My pleasure.” Roman took Logan’s hand and gave a short, dramatic bow. “Until tomorrow, my friend.”

Logan smiled. His face flushed bright red with embarrassment. “Until tomorrow, Roman.”

Roman returned his smile, turning to leave. Logan watched him for a brief second before turning back to his door, slipping inside and locking the door behind him. He sighed deeply, leaning on his doorframe, taking in the strange day. He finally worked up his energy to began his new nightly routine.  A new pitcher of water had been delivered to his room and everything in his room had been freshly cleaned. He smiled. Admittedly, he could get used to some of the perks of his new position.

After he'd changed, he lay down in his freshly washed blankets, thinking about his day. His racing thoughts began to slow and, eventually, he drifted off to sleep, wondering what tomorrow had in store for him.

Roman finally approached his own room, feet dragging on the stone floor. His body was ready to collapse into his bed the second he entered his personal chambers. He knew he couldn’t, though. Not yet. He had one more meeting to take.

He let himself into his room, locking the door behind him. He hung his cloak on the rack and walked down into his main chamber.

A fire was already roaring in the fireplace and a figure in dark clothing lay on his couch. He sighed and took a seat in the large chair opposite the couch.

“You’re here early tonight.”

“Got bored.”

"Not much going on in the castle tonight?"

"Nothing worthy of reporting."

“You know. Anyone else would be in prison, if they broke into my chambers.”

“Good thing I’m not just anyone then.” The figure said, sitting up straight on the couch. Brown hair hung over his eyes, disheveled from lying on the couch. He wore a dark, black cloak that had deep maroon accent that was nearly purple in the light. As the figure's face came into view, Roman could see the dark shadows under his eyes.

Roman leaned in close. “Virgil, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“You usually do, princey.” Virgil leaned against the back of the couch.

Roman rolled his eyes. Virgil was the only person in the kingdom that Roman allowed to speak to him in such a manner. “You've heard of the man who recently became my advisor?”

“Of course. He’s all anyone is talking about right now. Our own local traitor-turned-hero.” Virgil looked over at Roman lazily.

“That would be the one.”

“What about him?”

“He was attacked today. They grabbed him in an empty corridor and assaulted him.” Roman paused. “Fortunately, all his wounds will heal. Physically, at least, but it could have been much worse.”

“So, what? You want me to track down his attackers?” Virgil raised an eyebrow at him, draping his arm over the arm of the couch.

"No. He wouldn’t say anything about who attacked him, but I have my suspicions on who was responsible.”

“Then what do you want, princey? Out with it.”

“I need someone to protect him.” Roman looked at him sternly.

“No.” Virgil said defiantly. “I'm not a babysitter.”

“Please, Virgil.” Roman pleaded. “He can't be with me all the time. I need someone I can trust to protect him.”

“Have one of the guards follow him around.”

“I can't, Virge. Recent events have proven not all of them are on my side.”

“They wouldn’t openly defy you by hurting him.”

“Virgil, he was just released from the dungeons.  Would you be comfortable if you had a guard following you around after that? I don't want him to feel like he's still a prisoner here.”

Virgil sighed. His expression softened. “That doesn’t mean he’ll be any more comfortable around me.”

“He’s been through so much already. The guards are trained to engage in combat. I don’t want him caught in the middle of that and your training is much better suited for evading trouble before it starts." Roman paused. "Virgil, I’m pleading with you. Do this for me.”

Virgil sighed. “Why does this matter so much to you, princey? A short while ago you didn’t even know this guy existed.”

“I'm not sure, Virge. I just have a feeling. Power is shifting in the kingdom. Things are changing and my gut is telling me that he has a part to play in what's coming our way."

“Listen, I know you can't walk away from someone in need,” Virgil sighed, defeated. “But this isn't what I signed on for, princey. I’m not good with people. I work best alone. I don't know if I can handle this kind of responsibility.”

“I think you’ll find he's not as hard to handle as you may assume, Virge.” Roman paused, looking over at Virgil. “Do you trust me?”

Virgil sat up, rubbing his temples. “Come on, princey. That's not in question. You know I’d follow you anywhere.”

“You'll do it then?” Roman's voice was hopeful.

Virgil rolled his eyes. He threw his head back, dramatically. “Fine.”

“Thanks, Virge. I'd like you to start as soon as possible. His room is—"

“I know where he is.” Roman looked at him in surprise. Virgil shrugged and leaned into the corner of the couch. “I've been keeping an eye on things around the castle and he’s all anyone's been talking about.”

“Very well then. You're dismissed. I'll expect to hear a report from you tomorrow afternoon when I relieve you.” Roman paused, considering his words. “Just fair warning, I suspect he's being tailed. I wasn't able to confirm it but there’s no way that they just happened to get lucky and grab him the moment he was alone.”

Virgil looked over at him, surprised. “Okay, princey. I'll figure out what's going on.”

“Good. And, Virgil?”

“Yeah?”

“Try not to scare him.”

“No promises, princey.” He laughed and pulled up his hood. Before Roman could say anything, he was gone through the door.

Yawning, Roman walked to his bedroom, rolling his eyes at Virgil’s ambivalence. His body ached for sleep, ready to collapse into his bed. He managed to change his clothes and crawl under the blankets. He was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

You Belong With Me Taglist: @cas-is-a-hunter @insert-cool-blogname @ironwoman359 @i-know-im-smart

[mintypineapple]

dw ask game 1-36 and 38-100 DON'T ANSWER NUMBER 37 I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT CRYING

DaThanks, anon who is probably @truestoriesaboutme!

CHILDHOOD

1. Did you like DW as a child?

Depends. What do you consider a child? I saw Doctor Who for the first time when I was 16 or 17. Does that count? Let’s say that it does. I did enjoy it.

2. Your age at the time of the revival?

16.

3. First DW episode you ever saw?

An Unearthly Child. I wanted to watch it all in order! Still do! My first New Who episode was “Blink,” as forced upon me by @raisegrate. I did enjoy it.

4. Did you have any of the toys?

I didn’t at the time, but I do now. I have a couple of screwdrivers, a Fourth Doctor, an Ice Warrior, and not-quite-Legos of Doctors 1-11. (-WD)

5. Which DW character did you play on the playground?

N/A.

6. Monster(s) that scared you most as a child?

N/A. Nothing scares me.

7. Joke/story you didn’t get as a kid?

N/A. I get all jokes/stories.

8. DW opinion that has changed since you were a kid?

That the only way to watch it was from the very beginning. I eventually gave in and watched New Who before finishing Classic Who.

9. Who introduced you to DW?

Pretty sure I heard about it initially on a forum I went to called The Douglas Adams Continuum. That’s when I started watching the First Doctor. Again, @raisegrate showed me my first New Who. Eventually, I started watching New Who in its entirety with @catastrofries and they started watching Classic Who with me for @rassilonwatchathon.

10. Did you like Sarah Jane Adventures as a child?

Didn’t even know it existed as a child. But I liked it as an adult.

Read more under the cut. There’s a lot!

DOCTOR

11. Who is your Doctor?

One. He’s the first I saw and I’ve went through some of his more than once, due to the podcast, so he has a special place in my heart.

12. Your favourite Doctor?

It varies depending on the day. I quite like Two, Eleven, and Twelve, though.

13. Least favourite Doctor?

Possibly 5 or 13? More because they don’t get a whole lot to do, than them being bad.

14. Best regeneration?

Technically speaking, there’s something about that first one that is still so good. Emotionally speaking, Two’s regeneration is terrifying and I quite like Twelve’s speech before regenerating.

15. Do you like “Doctor-Lite” episodes?

Yeah! They’re all pretty good! Even “Love and Monsters!” Yeah, I said it! (The end is bad, but the rest is good.)

16. Who is the most human Doctor?

One calls himself human a handful of times. Does that count? If not, definitely Five. He seems the most like a regular guy in a weird situation out of all of them.

17. Best multi-Doctor story?

The Day of the Doctor, for sure.

18. Best Doctor monologue?

Eleven’s speech to young Amy in “The Big Bang.” That episode is just solid all around.

19. What do you think TenToo/MetaCrisis Doctor is doing now?

He’s definitely fucked off somewhere and abandoned Rose. He runs a cat cafe that is definitely a front for something, but no one can quite figure out what.

20. Best Doctor/companion pairing?

One/Barbara, Two/Jamie, Three/Jo, Four/Leela, Five/Tegan, (haven’t seen enough of Six, any of Seven, and I honestly don’t remember the companion for Eight), Nine/Rose (that’s the only option!), Ten/Donna, Eleven/Amy-Rory, Twelve/Clara, Ruth/Thirteen.

COMPANIONS

21. Favourite companion?

Classic Who: This is hard. Jamie? Sarah Jane? Leela? New Who: Donna Noble.

22. Favourite secondary companion?

Not sure what this means exactly... My second favorite? If so, I gave three for favorite Classic Who, so one of them. New Who: Rory.

23. Least favourite companion?

Classic: Ben Jackson or Peri. New: Ryan.

24. Best TARDIS Team?

Classic: Two, Jamie, and Zoe. New: Eleven, Amy, and Rory.

25. Most underrated companion?

I love Steven Taylor. I feel like he doesn’t get mentioned enough.

26. Most overrated companion?

Probably gonna get some hate for this, but Romana II. She’s good and I like her, but I was expecting a lot more. I honestly prefer Romana I.

27. Favourite companion’s family?

I love Rory’s dad.

28. Who should have been a companion but wasn’t?

Kamelion. AM I RIGHT? But seriously, Amelia Rumford from “The Stones of Blood.”

29. Favourite (canon or non-canon) DW universe relationship?

Amy/Rory.

30. Who did you not used to like, but really like now?

I hated Tegan when she first came on, but now I love her.

EPISODES

31. Favourite episode ever?

“Heaven Sent.”

32. Least favourite episode?

“Time-Flight” gave me a literal headache.

33. Which episodes do you skip?

NONE. Of course, I’ve not done any rewatches. YET.

34. Best two-parter?

“The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances” are the first New Who episodes that fully sold me on the show.

35. Historical, present day or futuristic episodes?

Give me the future and make it weird!

36. Episode that will always make you smile?

“The Myth Makers.”

37 HAS BEEN REDACTED.

38. Best run of episodes?

“Vincent and the Doctor” through “Day of the Moon” is pretty solid.

39. Best cliffhanger?

“Vengeance on Varos.” Hands fucking down.

40. Favourite Christmas special?

The answer to question 37. “A Christmas Carol.”

SERIES

41. Classic Who or New Who?

Yes please! (Though New Who will take this a little just because the pace is generally a lot better.)

42. Favourite series?

I’m not sure about Classic (I have a harder time thinking of them as different series), but New is definitely 5.

43. Least favourite series?

11.

44. Which series do you skip?

See 33.

45. Favourite series opening?

“The Eleventh Hour.” It’s just a lot of fun.

46. Favourite series finale?

“The Big Bang.” IT’S A GOOD SERIES.

47. Best series arc?

So I don’t sound repetitive and say Series 5 again, Clara’s arc in her last season is great.

48. Thoughts on series 11/12?

I find it largely boring and not well-written. Though there are some things I like! I love Ruth a bunch.

49. How much of Classic Who have you seen?

I’ve seen from “An Unearthly Child” to “The Two Doctors.” And the movie.

50. Who should have had another series?

Doctor: Nine. Or Eight. Or Ruth. Companion: Kamelion, but done better.

MONSTERS

51. Favourite monster/villain?

I love them Fuzzy Chicken Nuggets. (The Yeti.)

52. Most creative monster?

The Silence are an interesting concept.

53. Monster(s) that scares you most?

OAK AND QUILL from “Fury From the Deep.” Fuck those guys.

54. Monster you think is too easy to defeat?

I hate power level questions. Next.

55. Least favourite monster/villain?

I get really tired of the Daleks sometimes, y’all.

56. Monster you want to return?

Chumblies or quarks.

57. In your opinion, what makes a monster good?

The writing. You can do great things with most of them. Even the ones you dislike. Like, I hate the farting aliens, but they are occasionally used well.

58. Daleks, Cybermen or Weeping Angels?

If I had to pick, I’d say... Cybermen. Daleks are very samey and loud. Weeping Angels get less interesting every time they are used. But there’s a human element to the Cybermen that, when utilized, can be very effective and unsettling.

59. Best Dalek story?

The one where Two rides around on ones he made nice.

60. Best one time villain/monster?

I don’t know what it is, but whatever it is in “Midnight.”

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

61. Torchwood or Sarah Jane Adventures?

SJA is more consistent, but the highs of Torchwood are higher.

62. Favourite Torchwood Team member?

Owen. But like... not season one Owen.

63. Which Torchwood death made you saddest?

See 62.

64. Do you rewatch COE or MD?

I haven’t rewatched anything yet. But I would rewatch COE before MD.

65. Favourite SJA Team member?

Clyde.

66. Mr Smith or K-9?

Mr. Smith is way more interesting. He had a villain arc!

67. Maria or Rani?

Rani.

68. Do you read the comics/novels or listen to Big Finish?

Some. I’m doing them as Patreon bonus episodes for @rassilonwatchathon​. I haven’t done much though.

69. If you do, your favourite additional stories?

“The Chimes of Midnight.” I’ve listened to it twice.

70. Do you like DW analysis (video essays, fan theories, etc)?

I do DW analysis for @rassilonwatchathon AND The Dipp. So yes. My fave is TARDIS Eruditorum, though.

I’LL ANSWER THE REST AT A LATER TIME. I MUST BE WITH MY PEOPLE NOW.

[yasumi222]

KILLING STALKING ANALYSIS :D PART UNO

Ayz, u ppl r so nice, luvz :D

And I was thinking for some days already, about that bizarre plotline in the recent chapters, so I came up with theory – or more likely a perspective. I love Killing Stalking – but only psychological aspect of it – the part of investigation is… bad. Real bad. Still, plot holes are there to stick a finger in them. And I have a lot blabbering to do, so I suppose I won’t post it all at once XD Still, I’ll make kinda tl;dr to maybe at least announce what I have in mind and we will see how it goes.

So tl;dr – last chapters are (not 100% aware) Sangwoo suicide attempt, he did not “murder” Chief Kwak, he has inner demon fight – inside his head - Seungbae is something – and I will call it a villain.

And for the beginning – I’ll start with the analyse – what made Sangwoo to be in the situation he is right now, and why he called it upon himself. I’m saying that right now XD ill divide part one in two parts, because it will be long ass shit, and I will be crazy surprised if someone read one part in one go.

I will go for the more juicy plot holes later, after I make a point in that suicide of Sangwoo matter – because – in my opinion it is the opus magnum of that story.

PART I – SANGWOO CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Let’s start with Sangwoo. Within chapters in S3 its vivid that he cares no more about his wellbeing, he is not scared of death – he is scared of one particular way of dying – the painful one. Risky way of driving, talking about his crimes out loud, lack of joy in the thing that should provide some sort of warmness inside his broken heart.

I think Sangwoo after such traumas is divided between two personalities. Either it is some strange dissociative identity disorder, where the split is not fully achieved, but its present, or its very severe case of borderline disorder. Either way - I will assume – that indeed – inside his head lives two characters, which are fighting over leadership. And one of them is 90% of the time victorious. Let’s call him KILLER – that crazy, murderous personality, without empathy, full of himself – absolute and terrible monster. That “Killer” is the one who has hallucinations about his mother, that “Killer” believes he killed not only a mother, but a father too. That “KILLER” was created the day – when his mother put a knife in her throat, and is surviving till today. And that KILLER is the schizophrenic one – who hears bangs on the door, who reacts with aggression with every hallucination that appear. I’m pretty convinced that the first killings from Sangwoo – were not committed with the full sanity of the act. They were not accident, of course, but he was killing over and over his mother - then his mind needed to accustom to such horrific act. And the KILLER matured. Killings were most probably soothing shattered mind, he killed hallucination after hallucination – letting himself for a moment of peace – in such horrific manner.

And Bum was the one, who managed to snap the KILLER out of his mania – with very simple words. I love you. Because if mother of the KILLER was indeed loving him, even after rape, she wouldn’t die. She wouldn’t get the knife inside her throat. She wouldn’t reject him in such disgusting act. She hated him so much, she preferred death over letting herself love him. She would be still alive, alas KILLER wouldn’t be born.

And the KILLER stops. Bum survives.

But stopping the KILLER is way different story than overcoming him. He is pushing every way possible – to force Bum to hate him – testing him, trying him – and still like a child, who kicks his dog – he still expect that the dog will come back – lick his face, wiggle tail in happiness.  It’s not logical. But Sangwoo expect absolute love – even in the face of true terror.

Maybe because he regrets, he didn’t show his love to his mother – even during the most disgusting act – because he loved her unconditionally, and maybe – maybe if he didn’t complain – she would not reject him.

And KILLER is angry when Bum rejects him. But then, try after try, when our fucked up in the head Bum manage to still show his attachment to Sangwoo – the KILLER starts to shine less, and something old – something long forgotten is starting to look at Bum with different eyes. The moment of Bum attempted suicide is crucial moment, when the KILLER is for the moment gone. Hidden. Bum is trying to get rid of himself – not because he do not love Sangwoo – but because Sangwoo is not loving him. And Sangwoo see for the first time – himself in small figure of Bum, he sees that rejected, scared boy, who cries his out eyes, and who is ready to give up his life – not for him, but as an act of rejection of the world without him. Sangwoo for the first time believes Bum – because there is no lie in the blood. There is no lie in the tears.

Sangwoo hurt him. And he is aware of that.

And that Sangwoo – of that moment – is the man who will sustain on doing any harm to his beloved Bum. That is the second persona, who will lose again and again in the battle with the KILLER. But it’s the persona that I love. The persona who tries, and tries. But that persona needs help, needs constant sustain, needs the directions – to learn again how to behave, how to notice others. When I’m in pain – for example – having an headache – I’m really focused about my wellbeing. It’s easier to get upset over someone, because during pain I’m more self-centered. And Sangwoo agony is going on and on and on and on, without any pauses. And him trying to see through his trauma other person is almost impossible – and yet – he tries. Not as a hero, he won’t get any applause for doing that. And – even during tries – he is fully aware he will fail. Again. And again. Victory was never an option.

And we can all agree – KILLING STALKING – shouldn’t have a happy ending. And there was never an intention of getting one - as Koogi showed us. Sangwoo is suicidal. He was, he is and he will be. But there was one thing – the most painful death – that he feared with all his mind, wholesome of his heart. The lonely, painful death. And it was a curse placed upon him. The dagger poking his neck. And he was well aware it will never go away. Then – he asked the only person – which reached his softer, calmer persona for one thing. To die with him. To be with him – even in the most scary moment – to be with him – and in that way – even if he was devoured alive but monsters, drenched in the well, crushed to the bones – he would not die the most painful way. He needed Bum to protect him from alone, dark and scary death. And in that way he would – no matter what – be protected from the curse, that his mother placed upon him.

Still – the perspective of death was not so… vivid back then. It was in front of him, but not clear, close but not too close yet. They were drown in the ceremony of their own bonding, their honeymoon before actual wedding. And I truly believe – he wanted to cherish those moment, but his broken mind was not able to fulfill any boxes of happiness. Dysphoria. Sangwoo lost an ability to feel actual happiness, but still – seeing such joy in the eyes of Bum – forced his own mind to borrow a little of that light. And that was the moment I truly loved Bum. That was his strength that Sangwoo lacked, the ability to still light that fire. Joy. Happiness. Love.

But I can only imagine what an actual feeling that was for Sangwoo. The realization of the hollowness of your own being.

And he was shattering.

And I’d like to think that – the murder of the lady during ski trip – was an actual parallel to the first time – when Sangwoo killed someone. Haunted with the pictures of his mother, with trembling hands, and tears in his eyes – it was not a KILLER who killed her. It wasn’t thought through, it wasn’t calm and ironic. It was madness, absolutely terrifying madness.

And Sangwoo ran. Shattering more and more of the defenses he set years ago. He was naked in his own filthy, murderous self, in his own disgusting, horrid trauma, and drowned in the fear of dying – most painful, most painful, most painful… way…

And he ran to Bum. He cried next to Bum. Even if he didn’t expect him to answer, his presence was his safe place. He believed he won’t be rejected, or maybe at least hoped so. Even if he expected silence – it was the first time – when he – in very clumsy way – reached to Bum for help. Dependence was set hard in the stone. For the first time – Sangwoo was really vulnerable – and in the future – that vulnerability will only grow stronger.

 Thank you if you reached the bottom of that mindsea :) I hope, even if it’s some rambling of anon in the internet – maybe a tiny bit of it was entertaining for you; as it is part one ill try to post second asap :D even if only for myself :’D cheers!

[the-desolated-quill]

Avengers: Infinity War - Quill’s Quickies (No Spoilers)

Sometimes I think back to when the MCU first started. How excited I was that the Avengers were finally on the big screen. The attention to detail in regards to world building and character dynamics. There was no limit to the possibilities involved here. Us geeks were living the dream. Compare that to the MCU now. A bloated, cynical sequel factory churning out blander and blander movies each year, over-saturating the medium with what is, essentially, glorified B movies. Whenever I think about the MCU nowadays, I recall that scene near the end of The Dark Knight when the Joker says to Batman; “I think you and I are destined to do this forever.” That’s how I feel about Marvel movies now. I just feel this permanent sense of ennui. It’s like being trapped in a loveless marriage. Once there was passion and fireworks, but now the spark has gone out of the relationship and I’m silently praying for some kind of respite that will never come.

Avengers: Infinity War is a landmark movie in more ways than one. It represents the culmination of 10 years worth of collaborative filmmaking, it’s quite possibly the most ambitious crossover to date, but it also in many ways signifies just what a stupid, dull, incoherent mess this shared universe has turned into.

As you can probably tell by now, I didn’t exactly go into this film with high expectations. Going through the MCU in recent years has been like walking through a scorching desert without end. Black Panther provided a kind of temporary oasis, full of palm trees, beautiful lagoons and a luxury spa, but sadly I had to leave this paradise behind to brave the desert wastes once again. And having experienced that moment of sheer bliss in that oasis, the harshness of the desert sands feel all the more unbearable. But even then, as I took my seat in the cinema, I foolishly had a small glimmer of hope. Maybe, just maybe, Infinity War wouldn’t be so bad. It’s directed by the Russo Brothers after all. They made the brilliant Captain America: The Winter Soldier and pleasantly surprised me with Captain America: Civil War. I remember going into Civil War with the same pessimistic feeling, and while it wasn’t a perfect movie by any means, it was a lot better than it had any right to be. If anyone could make Infinity War work, surely it would be them, right?

Sadly it seems we’ve finally found the Russos’ breaking point. Avengers: Infinity War was utterly tedious to sit through. I was bored to tears. Not only was I struggling to make sense of what was going on half the time, I didn’t care about what was going on neither.

Let’s start with the most glaring and obvious problem. The characters. There are WAY too many of them. I swear you could easily have gotten a whole trilogy out of this. In fact I honestly would have preferred that. It would have given the story more room to breathe. Instead everything is just crammed into one overly long film that constantly jumps to different locations every couple of minutes as though the filmmakers have some form of ADHD, and none of the characters are allowed to get any kind of development. In fact they’re not characters at all. They’re chess pieces. They show up on screen, do what the script requires them to do, and then disappear once their purpose has been fulfilled.

There were some moments that could have been more impactful, like scenes involving Thanos and Gamora, Vision and Scarlet Witch, or Loki and Thor, but they don’t have nearly the emotional resonance they should have because they’re essentially fighting for space in this gigantic clusterfuck. Other characters, like Captain America and Black Panther, are forced to become these dull, shallow caricatures because the story just doesn’t have any room for them to really shine or come into their own. The focus isn’t on telling an engaging story or developing the characters, but instead on these massive, computer generated action scenes that I simply don’t give a shit about (in fact the final fight in Wakanda reminded me rather horribly of the battle on Naboo in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace). Not to mention, due to how poorly this whole arc with the Infinity Stones has been handled over the course of these movies, Infinity War spends most of its time explaining to the audience just what the fuck is going on and reminding everyone where all the characters are at. Doctor Strange in particular seems to only be there to provide exposition. (Quick side note, the Eye of Agamotto is an Infinity Stone? I’m sorry, have Marvel Studios ever even so much as glanced at a Doctor Strange comic before?!)

Oh yes. After all my ranting over the years about what a racist piece of shit the Doctor Strange movie is and how I stubbornly refuse to watch it despite being a huge fan of the comics, you’re no doubt wondering what I thought of the Sorcerer Supreme considering this is the first time I’ve properly got to see him in action. He’s... fine, I guess. Benedict Cumberbatch was about as good as I expected him to be, given what he has to work with here. Aside from a bit near the end, they don’t go nearly as psychedelic or as imaginative with the magic as I would have liked them to. All Strange ever seemed to do was just use these glowing disc things or this energy whip. Also the Cloak of Levitation seems to have a mind of its own. I don’t get the purpose behind that at all. But do you know what the biggest problem is with Doctor Strange? The same problem as most of the other male characters. They all sound exactly the fucking same. This is something a few people on Tumblr have commented on before, and it’s really noticeable in this film. The dialogue is practically interchangeable to the point where characters like Strange, Iron Man and Star Lord start to just blur together. There’s no two ways around it. This is just bad writing.

The crappiness isn’t limited to the protagonists neither. No, the villain Thanos is just as shit, although that didn’t come as much of a surprise. He’s meant to be the supposed Big Bad of the MCU, and yet there’s been no buildup whatsoever. In these 19 Marvel movies, Thanos has only appeared twice, both in post credit scenes. We have no idea who the fuck he is or what he’s doing. So the Russos have to shove in a hackneyed backstory and motivation for the fucker, and good God is it bad. Like... insultingly bad. Marvel often like to brag about how they planned all of this from the beginning, but Infinity War proves otherwise. His whole plot doesn’t make any sense and was clearly just pulled out of some hack screenwriter’s nether regions, we don’t fully understand what’s driving him to do something so mind bogglingly daft in the first place, and any attempts to wring any emotion out of us and make us empathise with the prat just end up falling flat on their face. I know Marvel have always had a villain problem, but this is just embarrassing now.

And then there’s the ending. Holy fuck do I hate the ending! Marvel have done some bad shit before, but this has got to be the most insulting thing I think I’ve ever seen from them. Without giving too much away, critics and fans (aka idiots) have been using buzzwords like ‘shocking’ and ‘gamechanging’ to describe the ending, but that’s objectively bollocks. For one thing, the Russos have had ‘gamechanging’ moments in their movies before and they never seem to stick (think back to SHIELD being destroyed in Winter Soldier or Iron Man’s dubious morality in Civil War), but the big pisstake for me is that Marvel have already announced their next set of movies. So we know what happens at the end of Infinity War isn’t permanent... and yet they still expect us to be emotionally devastated by it. Fuck off!

I’ve said a few times in the past that Marvel need to take a break. I’m now going to go one further. Marvel need to stop making movies altogether. 

The Marvel Cinematic Universe needs to end. 

I’m sorry, but I’m just so bloody sick of this. I’m sick of these cut and paste movies with no thought or effort being put into them. I’m sick of Marvel’s cynical greed and utter contempt for their audience. I’m sick of fans and critics kissing their arses and saying that MCU movies are the best when they’re so clearly fucking not. Ever since Doctor Strange came out, I’ve come to the conclusion that nobody is actually watching these movies. They’re basically the cinematic equivalent of dangling your keys in front of a toddlers face. Just show a few pretty colours, some punch-ups and bad jokes, and that should keep the plebs quiet for a couple of hours. But if you were to actually engage your brain, these movies quickly fall apart. I mean just look at the sheer bloody number of news articles discussing what happened leading up to Infinity War and posing theories as to why certain characters behaved the way that they did in the movie. Shouldn’t that give just a little bit of a hint? if your story has become so stupid and convoluted that people have to read news articles and stuff to make any sense of the fucking thing, maybe you’re doing something wrong.

No. That’s it. I’m done. I’m not watching anymore of these bloody movies. Infinity War sucked donkey balls and I never want to see it or any other MCU movie ever again.

[storytime-reviews]

Avengers: Infinity War Review

I’ll start off with a brief non-spoilery review, and then the spoilers will be below the cut.

I saw Infinity War a week and a half ago...and it was incredible. There’s nothing like experiencing a movie alongside so many other fans who love it so much, and I’ve felt that during all the Marvel movies, yet it stood out so much more this time. You could literally feel the tension in the room, as everyone watched with bated breath, right until the very end. I’m definitely glad that my friends and I marathoned the earlier films prior to seeing Infinity War, because it gave us much better context and we were better able to remember pivotal plot points. 

You’d be forgiven in thinking that constructing a coherent, not to mention interesting, narrative would be difficult, given the number of characters involved. As such, there is little character development, and certain characters receive significantly more screentime than others, though this imbalance may be partially improved upon in part 2. Yet, even with the amount of screentime given to them, all of the actors provide powerful performances, particularly during the film’s devastating conclusion. I’ve seen Infinity War described as a third act, and this is no exaggeration, although it does mean that everything feels heightened. 

However, Infinity War is generally well paced for such an expansive film and brilliantly flicks between the different groups of superheroes at various locations. Though it lacks the incredible level of detail explicit in the more recent Marvel films, Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok and Spiderman: Homecoming; the tension and suspense is perfectly built up. It is to the credit of the directors, writers and actors that this tension is palpable throughout the film, and does not let up. 

If I were to describe this movie in one word, it would be stressful. At times, it feels that you don’t even have time to react to something before another emotional thing happens. Not to mention the number of times something completely unexpected happens seemingly out of thin air, completely changing everything you had previously thought. 

The film’s conclusion was insane, yet for me at least, it’s the anticipation of what’s next that is most frightening. We all have our theories, but it’s the fact that I have to wait until next May to find out the truth that really gets to me. Either way, I can’t wait until then! 

Spoilery thoughts below:

I must admit that I was not convinced by any attempt to make Thanos a somewhat sympathetic villain. I was disappointed with his motives in particular, and would have preferred instead a villain simply intent on destroying worlds for his own pleasure, rather than his particular brand of smug imperiousness. The obsession with overcoming over-population through multiple genocides did not help to create an interesting villain, something that Marvel particularly struggles with. This, plus his purported love for Gamora and the abuse she suffered at his hands simply made me more frustrated. Instead, this movie was much more about our favourite heroes and their struggles against Thanos, which was interesting on its own, but it was clear throughout the movie that something was lacking because of the inferior construction of the villain. But then again, we have not come to expect much of the MCU villains.

I was in such a state of tension throughout the film, which began during the Marvel intro, when all you can hear is dark and intense music. This tension did not lift even after the film’s conclusion, nor after the end credits scene. Though the multitude of deaths was particularly shocking, it’s the anticipation of what is next that truly causes the most tension. I was not concerned when we saw so many Avengers disappear as ash into thin air, due to the fact that this film was clearly just setting up Avengers 4. Given the fact that most of the characters that disintegrated were the newer ones, many whom have upcoming sequels, it’s obvious that these ‘deaths’ are not going to last. It’s simply a storytelling device to ensure that the Avengers that remain are the originals. I assume that this will be the last time that all of the originals fight together, that Tony and Steve will end up dying for everyone else. It will be the end of an era, leaving a gap to be filled by later Avengers. I am interested to see how Captain Marvel shakes things up, in both her solo film and Avengers 4. 

Yet, even though I was convinced straight away that these characters would return, there were still some incredibly painful scenes. Easily one of the hardest would have to be Peter’s death. Because of his spidey sense, he could not only feel that he was dying, but also that half of the world was. Tony had to watch him slowly die, whilst everyone else’s deaths happened almost instantaneously. What stood out the most in this moment however, is how truly alone Tony is on this planet. Everyone but he and Nebula is dead, and his nightmare (which he told Nick Fury in Age of Ultron) has been fully realised. Not only does Tony blame himself for his friend’s deaths – the worst part is that they died and he didn’t. Thankfully, he will learn that at least some of his old friends are still alive on Earth. Rocket however is going to have an awful time once he learns that he is the only one of the Guardians still alive. 

Though I am convinced that Gamora too will come back, as much as I hope that Loki and Heimdell will as well, the chances of this seem slim. It was upsetting that only several minutes into Infinity War that Loki was killed off so easily. I’m certainly not the only person who has continually expected and been disappointed by a lack of emphasis on Loki’s significant powers throughout the MCU films. I am glad however that his character development did not regress in this scene, that though Loki tried a bit of trickery, he remained on Thor’s side until the end. I love that Loki also embraced the side that he is on, saying ‘we have a hulk’. It’s such a change since the Avengers, and I wish that we got to see more of him working on the side of the Avengers as the snarky ally, rather than this predictable death (I’m still hoping for the best)!

The surprising Red Skull reveal got a major reaction from the audience, as did Thor’s arrival on Wakanda in thunderous glory. The best part about seeing Infinity War in the cinema was being able to hear the reactions of everyone else to all of the surprising and depressing events, as well as the great humour. I also really enjoyed Okoye and Nat showing up to help Wanda, and I hope that we get to see more scenes with ladies kicking ass together in the next film. 

One major aspect of this film that I struggled to accept was all of the emphasis on not sacrificing one person for the good of world. My sister and I are both sick of this trope in which the supposed heroic thing to do is to never let someone you love sacrifice themselves for everyone else, such as Gamora and Vision in Infinity War. I’m sure others will disagree, but this trope is overused and ridiculous, and I couldn’t help but remark to my sister that I would go through with it if it was her, and she said the same of me. 

What I did find interesting is how this trope works in Dr Strange sacrificing himself for Tony, when he had previously said he would let them all die for the stone. At first glance, this may seem contradictory, or as if Strange has changed his mind now that he’s gotten to know the Avengers and Guardians. Yet this is not the case. It is clear that this is a case of losing the battle to win the war. I really enjoyed this plot twist, that Strange happily sacrificed both himself and the stone, knowing exactly which possible future they would need to follow to finally beat Thanos for good. I am really interested to see how all of this plays out in Avengers 4 and being able to connect everything together. 

[aion-rsa]

Doctor Who: What Do We Actually Know About the TARDIS?

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We all know the TARDIS. Blue box. Travels in space and time. Bigger on the inside. May contain a hat stand. For the Doctor and her friends it is home, it is a safe port of call from monsters and cracks in time and the combined hordes of Genghis Khan. But how well do we really know the TARDIS? In many ways it is the most mysterious part of Doctor Who lore. After all, every other mystery in the universe is one the Doctor quickly sets about trying to solve- even those about herself. The TARDIS, however, is just how she hops between mysteries. The Doctor has no time to worry about the inner workings of the TARDIS because she’s always leaving it to go somewhere else.

However, over the years we have gleaned some tidbits about the workings of this marvelous time ship, so let’s answer a few of the big questions.

What’s it called?

Let’s start with what it’s called. That’s “the TARDIS” which stands for “Time And Relative Dimension In Space”. Or sometimes “Time And Relative Dimensions In Space”. The name was coined by the Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan, although also we’ve seen people refer to TARDISes by the name before Susan could have come up with it. The Big Finish audio “The Beginning” tries to reconcile this by having Susan come up with a name herself that coincidentally is also the name Time Lords used for them anyway.

Only as Bill points out when she first learns about the TARDIS, the acronym “Time And Relative Dimension In Space”, spelling out the word “TARDIS”, only works in the language of English on the little-known planet of Earth. In German, for instance, it would be called the ZURDIR, so goodness knowns what Gallifreyans actually call it.

So the answer to our first question is “We don’t know”.

Why does it look like a police telephone box?

All TARDISes (or whatever they’re called) come equipped with a Chameleon Circuit as standard. As the Doctor explains in one of the TARDIS minisodes from the Season 5 DVD box set, “Every time the TARDIS materializes in a new location, within the first nanosecond of landing, it analyzes its surroundings, calculates a twelve-dimensional data map of everything within a thousand mile radius, and determines which outer shell would blend in best with the environment… And then it disguises itself as a police telephone box from 1963.”

This has been a long-term problem for the Doctor. The TARDIS transformed into a police telephone box when it landed in London in 1963, and remained that way when it was discovered by first companions Barbara and Ian in “An Unearthly Child“. When the TARDIS teleported backwards through time, however, the Doctor and his granddaughter were confused to see it was still the same shape. It has stayed that way ever since, despite some attempts to repair it, and we largely get the sense from the Doctor these days that she prefers the TARDIS that way.

But there is still some puzzlement over why the TARDIS got stuck that way in the first place. One theory has been presented in the 50th anniversary comic story in Doctor Who Magazine. In “Hunters of the Burning Stone”, the 11th Doctor goes back in time to the events of “An Unearthly Child”, sneaks into the TARDIS and busts the chameleon circuit so that the “blue box” would become a recognized image throughout history.

Except, now we’re thinking about, if you were a super powerful alien AI landing in a junk yard in Shoreditch in 1963, and you wanted to seem as inconspicuous as possible, you’d probably look like a dustbin, or a wrecked car, or just “some rubbish”. A police telephone box… stands out a bit?

Only it gets weirder. The events of “The Fugitive of the Judoon” and “The Timeless Children” introduce us to Ruth, or “the Fugitive” Doctor. Some have suggested this might be a secret Doctoral incarnation between the first and second Doctors, but it is looking increasingly likely that this Doctor is one of the previously forgotten versions that predate William Hartnell.

And she travels in a TARDIS shaped like a police telephone box, years before it ever landed in Shoreditch 1963. So the answer to our second question is “We don’t know”.

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How big is the TARDIS on the inside?

We know it’s bigger on the inside, but how much bigger? Most of the time the only room we see of the TARDIS is the Console Room (or one of the console rooms, anyway). This can vary between being the size of a cathedral, to the size of a soundstage in Wales.

But we also know, either through seeing them directly, as in Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, or through hearsay from its passengers, that the TARDIS contains many other rooms. These include an unknown number of bedrooms for the Doctor’s companions (some with bunkbeds), a library, a swimming pool, an enormous walk-in wardrobe, a garage, the cloister room, a “Zero Room”, squash courts, a kitchen, a garden, an art gallery, a salon, a sick bay, a boot cupboard (that is enormous), water slides, boating lakes, a rainforest, and perhaps most bafflingly of all, some bins.

These are all handled by the architectural configuration system, which as near as we can tell allows the Doctor to add and delete rooms at will, like a house in the Sims. So any of these rooms might have been deleted, or deleted and re-added later, any number of times. So we don’t know how many rooms are inside the TARDIS, but we should at least be able to guess at the dimensions, right?

Fan-favourite companion Sarah Jane Smith asks this question in “The Masque of Mandragora”. The exchange goes:

SARAH: Just how big is the Tardis? DOCTOR: Well, how big’s big? Relative dimensions, you see. No constant. SARAH: That’s not an answer. DOCTOR: How big are you at the moment? SARAH: Five four, just, and that’s still not an answer. DOCTOR: Listen, listen. There are no measurements in infinity.

And then the Doctor goes on to insult puny human minds, because he’s like that. But the trouble is, he’s right. As far as we know, the TARDIS interior exists in its own pocket dimension, outside of our universe. Which means there is nothing to compare the TARDIS interior with. That, or maybe the Doctor is just covering up the fact that he doesn’t know. So take your pick. “There are no measurements in infinity” or “We don’t know”.

How many people can the TARDIS transport?

The Doctor famously nicked her TARDIS all that time ago, when it was in a scrapyard waiting to be decommissioned. At the time its passengers were the Doctor, the Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan, and according to the Big Finish audio mentioned above, a guy called the Quadrigger who was a sort of TARDIS mechanic.

This is not even close to a full crew complement. As we discover in “Journey’s End”, the TARDIS console is hexagonal precisely because there should be six people manning it at any one time, explaining why the Doctor pilots it by running around like a headless chicken, occasionally having to resort to pieces of string or an outstretched umbrella to activate controls on two sides of the console at the same time.

But in “The Invasion of Time” the Doctor’s TARDIS is able to transport a full Sontaran army, while in “Revolution of the Daleks” the Doctor tricks an entire Dalek army into trapping themselves in another TARDIS.

As we’ve already said, the interior of the TARDIS has unknown and possibly unlimited dimensions, so there’s no reason we know of why you couldn’t fit an entire civilization in there. It does make you wonder why more Doctor Who episodes don’t feature the Doctor organizing an entire planet’s population into an orderly queue to evacuate. So once again the answer is “We don’t know”.

What powers it?

Sure, why not. We’ve failed hard at what it’s called, why it looks like it does and how big it is. Why don’t we just flat out ask what powers the dimensionally transcendental spacetime machine? That’ll be an easy one.

Well it’s the Eye of Harmony, an exploding star preserved at the moment it collapses into a black hole. The Fourth Doctor story, “The Deadly Assassin” revealed that it can be found hidden under the floorboards of the Panopticon on Gallifrey, except that Gallifrey has blown up (at least) twice, and in the Doctor Who movie we discovered that actually the Eye of Harmony is on board the TARDIS under a big stone trapdoor and can somehow be used to steal all of a Time Lord’s remaining regenerations, but then in “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS” we find that actually its just hanging in this massive space void inside the TARDIS with a walkway going through it. Are these all the same Eye of Harmony? Did the Doctor pinch it, or were all the TARDISes connected to the Eye of Harmony through wormholes or subspace or something, allowing it to be in multiple places at once?

I will let you guess.

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Doctor Who Series 13 will air this autumn on BBC One and BBC America.

The post Doctor Who: What Do We Actually Know About the TARDIS? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[hptrek314]

My OUAT Season 7B Theories

1) Drizella/Ivy is Regina’s daughter

For one, the girl looks JUST LIKE HER. Like dang, right down to the side braid in flashbacks/short dark hair and fire red lipstick with that devilish smirk. She literally parallels Regina in every way. She despises her “mother” Rapunzel/Victoria enough to seek out magic to get away from her just like how Regina was with Cora. Rapunzel/Victoria resents her and prefers Anastasia for some unknown reason the writers haven’t explained yet. Victoria has yet to show any sign of magical abilities, whereas Drizella is just as powerful as Regina despite having hardly any training, so she ought to come from a powerful magical family. Also the show keeps dropping hints, like Rumple referring to Drizella as “Princess” and Rapunzel not embracing Drizella when she returned home in 7x09. 7x10 was the biggest indicator for me when Victoria used “blood magic” to turn Drizella to stone. Eight years later when Gothel turned her back human Regina was shocked beyond belief and even said “That’s impossible! Blood magic can’t be reversed”, thus proving Bictoria likely didn’t use blood magic! Also later in the episode during the battle Regina asked Drizella if she was still having “mommy issues”. I’m not sure why nobody’s talking about this but the odds are stacking up in favor of this mother/daughter connection. My questions are: How is she hers? Did Victoria kidnap her? Victoria must know, that’s why she hates her, so why did she raise her? Does Drizella know? Does Rumple know? Is she possibly Wish!Regina/Robin’s child? If she’s Robin’s daughter, does that make her and Robin Jr sisters AND 1st cousins? How is this going to play into this already extremely complex season? I NEEED to know!

2) The White Elephant Sent Hook on a Wild Goose Chase

So, at the last minute, Hook gave Cinderella the elephant that would ensure Hook had his daughter Alice as his daughter under the new curse. In HH, Hook believes his daughter to be Eloise Gardner, and has a journal of hers with the symbol of the Coven of Eight in it. WHAT IF in the Land Without Magic, Eloise Gardner is Robyn’s alias. That would explain why she knew the Coven of Eight symbol, because she heard her mom and aunt talking about it in 7x10. This would mean he thinks Kelly/Zelena is his ex, which would be completely hilarious. Hook can’t find her yet because something happened when Robyn worked for Regina that made her decide to leave, which caused Zelena and Hook to split, Zelena moving to San Francisco and Hook becoming a cop to try and find Robin/Eloise. He remembers playing chess with her because Robyn and Alice likely played together, and under the curse he’s befriended Alice because she reminds him of his daughter *wink wink*.

3) My Coven of Eight Theory

Here’s who I think will be in the Coven of Eight:

1) Gothel (confirmed, also I’m 80% sure she’s Mother Willow in Pocahontas because she’s referred to as mother AND the witch in Brave)

2) Anastasia OR Drizella (If Drizella takes back her powers, and she’s a badass from a line of powerful witches (see Theory 1), so I expect nothing less)

3) Regina

4) Zelena

5) Robyn (daughter of Zelena AND a hella good archer, definitely)

6) Alice (daughter of Gothel, again from a powerful line of witches)

7) Tiana OR Cinderella (I’m hoping for Tiana because of all the magic in Princess and the Frog, maybe we’d see more Louisiana bayou culture and some of the cool magical medicinal practices, also Tiana’s a badass whereas Cinderella’s a whiny pansyass that annoys me to no end)

8) Tiger Lily/Pocahontas (Slightly OOC, but after that brief cameo in 7x10 I could easily see Native American magic being brought in to the story, that’d be really cool!)

Here’s who I think WAS in the Coven of Eight:

1) Cora

2) Ursula

3) Maleficent

4) Snow Queen

5) Gothel

6) Cruella DeVil

7) Lady Tremaine?

8) Evil Queen? (Could he Wish!Timeline, or honestly it wouldn’t be a stretch to say Regina was in it but isn’t telling, it’d finally explain why Ursula, Maleficent and Cruella all equally hated her, she may have been the reason the Coven was destroyed in the beginning, especially if it’s when she was creating the Dark Curse and was looking for help)

I will say I feel like it’s passing on the baton from the old, classic female villains to the newer ones, which I’m pretty hype about.

4) Robyn and Alice

This isn’t a theory, just a short note to say I personally love this pairing for all of the two scenes we’ve seen of Robyn. I appreciated the genuineness of how Robyn felt uncomfortable and awkward when her mom was gossiping with her aunt Regina in front of her about how she was experiencing “young love”, and really felt Robyn’s awkwardness accurately portrayed the love Robyn has for Alice. Robyn’s the character that would do anything for Alice, and the love and happiness they had for one another in that one scene they had together had me gushing so hard my fairytale/history obsessed gay heart could hardly take it, and I’m looking forward to seeing where this couple ends up!

Overall though, I really like this season and wish people would give it a chance. Yes, it’s EXTREMELY confusing, the time jumps and lack of ageing is driving me insane, and I think Cinderella’s the most whiny/stereotypical damsel in distress/non-badass woman in the entire 7 seasons of the series and makes me cringe because she doesn’t fit the epic feminist themes of the show. That being said, the rest of this season has been phenomenal. Regina and Rumple are fire, I’ve never been so excited for two characters. I was never really a Hook fan until now, and I really think they’ve made his character more likable. I like how with the new realm, ANY character can be brought back and able to cross any racial/cultural/gender/age lines. Suddenly daring thieves like Robin Hood can be a badass girl who happens to like other badass girls, or POC are able to be represented through stereotypical white fairy tale figures. This show likely won’t last till season 8, and it’s really a shame, because I think it’s really doing a great job of bringing in social commentary, and I look forward to seeing where the writers decide to go next!

[xkatnisstylinson]

Avengers: Infinity War Review [SPOILERS]

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

Let me just start by saying I've watched it twice so far and I think this movie is awesome. There's a perfect balance between the comedy line and the emotional heaviness of the events happening in it and the different storylines are very well alternated until the climax of the movie. The fights are never dull or boring (and I’m usually one who gets bored quite easily with fights), the characters get depicted very well despite the limited screen time and it's brilliant because it changes the rules of the genre by making the villain win and the question you're left with by the end of the movie ("why did Doctor Strange said giving up the time stone was the only way if they lost?") is the perfect bridge between Avengers 3 and Avengers 4 because the eagerness to find that out is what will drive us to the movies for the final chapter next year. Thanos won the battle, not the war, but considering how this movie ends HOW can the Avengers win the war? The situation we're left with makes us all extremely curious to find out and invested in speculating and making up theories to explain it all as we wait for the answer. And don't even get me started on the VFX, because I'm a fan, I mean, I cry watching VFX breakdowns.

BUT: I've been watching and reading reviews praising the whole movie, even the ending... I might have agreed if they hadn't chosen to blow away (I can't say kill and you'll soon find out why) characters who have their stand-alone sequels already confirmed (if not in pre production). The problem here is that if you're a Marvel fan you know the can't be actually gone because you know the plans of the Franchise. And to really feel those characters' death (like I felt Loki's and Gamora's) I I shouldn't have known that Spiderman, Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy all have a sequel confirmed. When Bucky started to disappear I got tears in my eyes, I was genuinely about to cry but about 0.2 seconds later Black Panther ended up the same way and in that moment I realized that they definitely weren't really dead, they just couldn't be. There is definitely going to be a way that will bring them back and that killed my emotion. I might be a bit of a masochist, but I would have preferred if they had killed fewer characters but among those who could have actually stayed dead to our current knowledge of what the next movies will be. It would have still been pretty clear the process would have to be reversed because at the end of the day of course Thanos can't win, but I least I wouldn't have been so sure about all of those characters coming back. It would have been so much worse emotionally, but isn't that the point of a movie like this one? I understand it's not the same for everybody, and as a matter of fact I've crossed path with people who said it was still devastating to them but as emotional as the scene was, that knowledge killed the mood for me. For example the second time i went to see it the girl who was sitting next to me started crying. She was sobbing. As much as I understand it's still very emotional, and I felt the emotion as well especially thinking about the characters who stayed alive and watched their loved ones disappear, but for me it's just not the same. Sometimes knowledge really is a curse. Characters will die for good in Avengers 4 as well, and of course many may be among those that disappeared in Infinity War and briefly came back for the fourth chapter, so i'm not saying the endgame will be merciful with everyone, just that I don't fully understand this choice.

Regardless, no movie has ever made me feel like this one before when the lights came back on... in one word: confused. As in "WTF just happened?" but also as in "WTF am I feeling?" because I was a real emotional mess: I was suffering for the characters we lost (Loki, Gamora and probably Vision as well) and for those who stayed alive at the end thinking they had just lost the war as well as so many people they love plus half the population of the Universe, but at the same time I had this feeling of apathy for the context in which this all went down (they are definitely coming back), I was in shock because Thanos had won this one and also I was feeling a bit trolled, in the sense that I honestly hadn't realized 2 and a half hours ad already gone by so I was convinced they were gonna let the actors names roll and then the movie was gonna continue for a bit playing with the post credits scene(s) tradition. Finally, I had my brain working at full speed to process all the information as fast as possible to come up with theories about what is going to happen next.

[mysilverylining]

The Case for Vivian Stoll Being the Big Bad...

*Disclaimer:  I’m a forever Jason Dohring stan, who’s afraid if he goes back up in those fruit trees we’ll never coax him back down again.  So when it comes to Chase Graves?  There’s a bit of confirmation bias here.  I’m pulling for him to survive the next episode, preferably outside of a cell or a freezer.  I can’t believe I spent almost 3 days rewatching and writing this up.  I like to tell myself I’m being Veronica Mars, but I’m probably closer to Bo John.  

Personally, I LOVE Vivian Stoll.  There aren’t enough ruthless female villains in fiction, by far.  I was really looking forward to what lying liar, RT was planning to do with her this season, and was really disappointed when she was “killed” off.  

Her motive?:  Zombie Island won’t be ready for another 1.5 years, and she is  beyond ready for D-Day.  For somebody who could rattle-off the time span between the July 4th retreat and Wally’s murder (21 months and 21 days), I can’t see her sitting around waiting for disaster.  She peddles worst-case scenarios, and would want to take the fight to the humans before they had the opportunity to gather in numbers or call in the National Guard.   As a secondary motive, I think she was staging a coup with Fillmore Graves, a company she married into.  

Point-by-point analysis under the cut.

Helicopter Crash:  

We never see Vivian get on the helicopter.  Was her body recovered?  Burned beyond recognition?  Scattered in tiny pieces over the countryside?  We’ll never know, because Liv conveniently mutes the television during the news report.  

Harrison Graves

Vivian’s beloved “deceased” husband.  First scratched and extorted (by Blaine?).  He wanted to selflessly leave her so that she wouldn’t have to be celibate, but while he slept, she scratched herself and became a zombie.  He found his own source of brains, and a week later, he never returned home again -- implication, killed by Blaine.  Vivian vows revenge.

Some Possibilities: 

Harrison died at the hands of Blaine or another party.  Vivian died in helicopter crash.

Unsatisfying story-telling.  You shouldn’t tease a vendetta and then kill off the injured party before they can get answers or revenge.

Harrison died at the hands of Vivian.

Infinitely more interesting.  Did Harrison learn of Vivian’s plans to escalate a zombie/human war?  Did he have to be silenced?  Did he inform his thoroughly-ripped, but absent brother of his suspicions?

Who would make a better scapegoat than a formerly criminally-opportunistic amnesiac?  He can’t even defend himself.

Harrison is alive and being held prisoner somewhere.  

Vivian’s prisoner?

On Zombie Island?  

Harrison is alive and pulling the strings from behind the scenes

My #2 theory, if Vivian turns out to be dead after all.  The lack of closure on his death really stands out for me.

Additionally, why does she volunteer the information that Harrison was going to leave her.  “He didn’t want her to lead a sexless life” is valid reasoning, but a bit TMI for complete strangers.  Had Harrison drawn up divorce papers at some point?  Was she trying to get out in front of it  in case those papers surfaced?

Contracting Zombie-ism:

We only have Vivian’s word for how it went down.  A General in Equitorial Kundu (ha!) turned biological weapons on his own people and a dozen Fillmore Graves employees.  Two weeks later, later at the annual 4th of July retreat, every single Fillmore Graves employee contracts the virus.  Vivian, motherly saint that she is, cures them all with a scratch.  

Where else do we hear about biological weapons?  Oh yeah, Ravi tells us in ‘Looking for Mr. Goodbrain’ that ‘Aleutian Flu’ is code for biological weapon. And Katty Cake is doing the investigation.  

Did things go down at the retreat like Vivian said?  Or did she turn a biological weapon on her own employees as an experiment in creating super soldiers?  A pre-Max Rager Super-Max?  She owns the formula for that, by the way.   

Another theory - does she hope to infect Seattle’s humans with the bio-weapon to force a join-us-or-die situation?  

Vivian and Chase 

Vivian volunteers plenty about her husband and her employees.  Just one great, big, happy family, she says.  But she never mentions Chase even once.  

Right after the news report of the helicopter crash, Major tells us that Chase is taking the reins, and is flying back from Tripoli (via Paris, perhaps?).  

Our first glimpse of Chase is at Vivian’s wake, where he has a bit of a temper tantrum, shutting off the music and berating everybody for their revelry.  

Is Chase the enemy of fun?  Does he have a stick up his existent and totally adorable ass?  Only Liv knows the answer to that, but a few episodes later, we see him at Finnegan’s and Coons’ wake, laughing and smiling in the background while Major sings with his crew.  What makes this wake different?  #NotVivian.  

When first introduced to Liv, he sharply cuts her off when she’s attempting to express her condolences for Vivian.  But relaxes enough to give her the Dohring-smolder, once she lets the Vivian subject drop.   While Vivian seems to have a “Bring it on/Come at me” attitude towards D-Day/Chase seems much more cautious and disciplined about about discovery, doing everything possible to maintain zombie secrecy.  He worries exposure will lead to extinction (is he lacking confidence in his army?)

He immediately quizzes Liv on the Tuttle-Reed murders.  His language is specific.  He wants hard evidence to have the culprits “put away”.   

In a later scene, he  worries about the safety of the Chaos Killer victims, but he never says a peep about catching Vivian’s killer.  Which, I suppose, could be an argument that he’s her killer (revenge for killing his brother?)

Some possibilities

Before his death, did Harrison Graves confide in Chase about concerns with Vivian?

Does Chase suspect Vivian of less-than-pure motives for zombifying the Fillmore Graves employees?

Assuming Vivian is the Big Bad, is Chase the fall guy?  Once he’s killed/arrested/neutralized, will she come out of hiding with a sob story about how she tried to stop him from starting a zombie/human war, but he overpowered and imprisoned her?  

Tuttle-Reed Murders

We start the season immediately after the Max Rager massacre.  Vivian learns that Clive Babineaux, a human with connections, knows about zombies.  She has three choices.

Do nothing - Pray that Clive keeps his mouth shut, and doesn’t ruin everything.  Walk on eggshells, hoping not to make him suspicious.   

Kill him.  Make it look like an accident - Too risky when she doesn’t have anybody inside the ME’s office.  If caught, she could make some powerful enemies. 

Turn him into an ally 

We know that Vivian went with option number three.  First, she gave Clive/Liv/Major a tour of the campus.  Humanized the experience with warm stories of her love for her husband, her employees, her family. She’s caring, nurturing, and has all the PowerPoint slides to put a mind at ease.   However, Clive isn’t so easily convinced.  After the tour, while still on campus property, he expressed his uneasiness with the secrecy of a private army, “armed to the gills”.  He needed an incentive.  How sweet was it, the way he peeked through the classroom window to make sure little Wally was getting a proper education.

Of all the zombie families in all the gin joints, it just happens to be the family Clive shares an emotional connection with that wound up dead.  

A visibly sad Vivian hears the news about the Tuttle-Reed murders, but was she sad about the murders themselves, or in the necessity of sacrificing Wally and his fam?  Liv visits, and in dialogue-less montage, allies Team Z to Fillmore Graves.

Vivian fans the flames in the aftermath, selling the “humans want us dead” tale to her employees.  

Zombie Truthers 

Where are they getting all of their information?  

Assuming Vivian wants this war to begin sooner rather than later, are the Truthers her unwitting ace in the hole?

Did she post the Tuttle-Reed address on the zombie message board?  

Did she anonymously give Harley a heads-up about the tracker in his vehicle?  

Baracas 

Is utterly crucial to Fillmore Graves in a post D-Day world.  In 3x1, we learn that the Chaos Killer victims were whisked away from Max Rager to Fillmore Graves, where they’re debriefed and sold a cover story.  

Vivian hand-picks Baracas as her mayoral pawn, and will do anything to get him elected. 

While Chase Graves is understandably invested in helping Baracas win the mayoral race, the writers go to the trouble to show us they have no past association.  

Chase:  “Carey, I should probably meet this candidate we’re bankrolling”. 

Baracas: (when told Chase wants to meet him:  “Who?”  Carey Gold:  “Only the most important zombie on this planet.  Endeavor to impress.”  

Did Chase arrange the shooting of Baracas?  Possibly.  It definitely helped win the election, but I don’t get that impression.  The best response for the mastermind would be to let the shooter get away, but Chase fires WAY too many bullets up into that balcony.  He’s not trying to miss.  

I’m with Peyton when it comes to Roxanne’s murder.  Baracas doesn’t want his predilections getting out, but he doesn’t seem to be complicit.  

Weckler 

We know Vivian put security details on the Chaos Killer’s victims, including her pet politician Baracas.  Presumably, security reported back to her about Baracas’ visits to Roxanne the Dominatrix, and the peeping tom who witnessed everything.  

It’s two birds with one stone - turn Weckler’s daughter into a zombie, and then blackmail him with her safety.  “Keep your mouth shut about Baracas, and while you’re at it, we’re going to need you to steal the memory card evidence.”   Oops.  You weren’t supposed to murder her.

I’m guessing that the second lawyer’s whispered comment to Weckler had been for him to confess and halt the investigation in exchange for Tatum’s safety.  

The prison guard is almost incidental. Anybody could have paid him to kill Weckler, and anybody could have paid the second killer who killed the guard.  

Stolen Cure 

Why did Vivian learn that Major was human again?  She didn’t do anything with the information.  In fact, she was dead ten minutes later?  So why did the writers go to the trouble of showing us that scene?  

Major, right before the crash:  “She wants to talk to Ravi about how I was cured when she gets back.”  

***Sidenote.  Ravi doesn’t share a single scene with Vivian or Chase.  I’m predicting this is on purpose, and he’ll do something undercover in the finale.

Assuming Vivian wants to start a human/zombie war, a cure for zombie-ism is her worst nightmare.  She can’t have her fighters being captured and cured.  

Chase, on the other hand, doesn’t ask about a cure.  He seems to assume Major was human all along, and just really fucking lucky.  

Aleutian Flu

So Aleutian Flu is code for a bio-weapon, and this particular strain has been traced a specific Paris - Seattle flight.  At the time of Katty’s killing, all passengers have been interviewed, with the exception of four first-class passengers.  

Old racist woman, who knows nothing.

Sikh father with a baby, who heard a barking dog nearby

Miserable husband, whose wife ended up in coach due to a mixup.  To appease her, he traded seats with 17D, Patrice Gold.  

???  

Between the barking dog and the napkin with Katty’s name written on it, my boy Chase is looking awfully suspicious here.  

On the other hand, (1) Liv and Clive have a list of the four passengers, and would both recognize his name if he used it.  (2)  is he stupid enough to leave evidence connecting him to a murder on his nightstand?  (3) is he even more stupid to bring the woman investigating the murder back to his bed, knowing the napkin was there?  

Possibilities

If Chase was on the flight, did he also switch seats with another coach passenger?

Or had Katty already interviewed him and cleared him from suspicion.

Is that why he had the napkin with her name on it?

He clearly did not have sex with her.  His scene with Major earlier makes it clear that he knows Zombie/Human sex is off limits.

And Catty wasn’t a zombie at her time of death.

But SHE wouldn’t know the danger of sleeping with him, and there was nothing stopping her from shoving a napkin at him with her room number.

I mean, I WOULD!!!

Or is the napkin there for another reason?  He jotted the info down while listening to a voice mail?  He thinks their luggage got switched?  Vivian manipulated it somehow?  

Assuming Vivian is the Big Bad, she would know the date of her “death” in advance, and would have time to send Patrice to Paris to await further instructions.  

Like “Chase will be on flight xyz at this time.  Make sure you’re on the same flight, and release the toxin then.”  

Vivian Stoll vs. Chase Graves 

Most of this analysis rests on the assumption that Chase remained in Tripolli prior to Vivian’s death.  It’s completely possible that he came back to Seattle weeks or months earlier in order to wreck mayhem everywhere.  

Where Vivian edges Chase out, is that we’ve been shown her connection to the different entities:  the Tuttle-Reed family, Harley John and the tracker in his car, Baracas and the other Chaos Killer victims, the cure, and her admission of infecting all of the FG employees.  If Chase shares any of those connections, we haven’t been shown on screen.  

Where Chase edges Vivian out, is we’ve been shown a connection to Katty and the Aleutian Flu through the napkin and White Fang.  If Vivian shares this connection, we haven’t been shown on screen.  And if Chase was in fact on this flight, that negates the idea of him being in Seattle all along.

Potential Accomplices:

Zack Stoll:  Share’s a last name with Vivian, but seems genuinely decent.  Also, caught in the blast, though it looks as if his upper half makes it out.

Carey Gold:  Maybe?  A little TOO convenient, especially with Clive learning she’s Patrice’s mother.  Has constant access to Chase.  Capable of slipping Katty’s napkin in his pockets while he’s naked tanning (thank you Rob Thomas!).  At least mildly involved, as Tatum is living in her home, and her daughter was on the flight from Paris.  Still, I don’t think she’s the main accomplice.  She seems surprised too often, and only owns one everyday dress.  Pay your employees better, Chase.  

Patrice Gold:  Probably capable of conspiring without her mother’s knowledge.  Her seat number was written down on Katty’s napkin, and she was obviously the passenger Katty was killed to keep from interviewing.  Also, Tatum seems more frightened of Patrice.  

Justin:  My choice for most likely suspect.  

Becomes Major’s Insta-BFF at a time when he needs one the most.

Convinces Major that he’s a great guy, then targets Liv for romance with Major’s blessing.  

The cans of Super Max.  Liv initiated that request, but from Chase’s reaction to the theft, I’m guessing they were under lock and key.  

Not saying Chase wasn’t an asshole to shoot him, just that I feel like there’s something more to the Super Max angle.  

Who found the guns in Harley John’s truck?  Oh yeah.  This guy.  

Who worked the Baracas party where a shooter fired the same guns?  You guessed it.  Justin.

In Conspiracy Weary, Justin lies and tells Liv that Harley John’s compound wasn’t worth checking out.  It hadn’t been used in months.

Liv questions this statement aloud once she gets a look at it. 

Harley’s been building his underground bunker for all this time.

And the machinery was so loud, even the neighbors could hear it.  

 Justin conveniently pulls Major out of the party mere moments before the explosion.  

Too. Good. To. Be. True.   Nobody’s that sweet and pleasant.  

[ramajmedia]

Thor: Love And Thunder - 10 Ragnarok Characters We Want To See Return

Most fans don’t consider the Thor solo series from the MCU to be a complete whole. They mostly disregard his first two standalone movies and see Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok – which drastically changed the tone of the character and his stories – as the beginning of a new one.

RELATED: Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3: 5 Ways Thor Could Make It Better (& 5 Ways He Could Hold It Back)

It’s not that Ragnarok ignored the events of the previous two films (they heavily informed its plot, actually), but it feels like its own beast, and with Waititi being hired to come back and direct the fourth one, Love and Thunder, it seems as though this series will stand on its own. Here are 10 Thor: Ragnarok Characters We Want To See Return In Love And Thunder.

10 The Grandmaster

Fans were relieved in the post-credits scene of Thor: Ragnarok to find that Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster character was still alive. He was surrounded by his liberated subjects on Sakaar, who were probably about to brutally slaughter him, but as long as he’s alive in the MCU canon, Taika Waititi can find a way to get him into the plot of Love and Thunder.

Goldblum won over fans immediately with his eccentric, flamboyant portrayal of the Grandmaster and he clearly relished the opportunity to play such an extroverted, self-justifying villain, so no one would object to his return in the next movie.

9 Loki

Ever since he disappeared into another timeline with the Space Stone in Avengers: Endgame, MCU fans have been dying to see what happened to Loki. They will have all their questions answered in his upcoming six-episode series on Disney+, but it would be great to see him in Thor: Love and Thunder, too.

The strength of Loki’s character has always been his complex love-hate relationship with Thor. Kevin Feige has been stressing that those streaming shows will link very closely with the films, so maybe there’s hope that Loki’s Disney+ series will lead him into an appearance in Love and Thunder.

8 The Hulk

It remains unclear exactly what the Hulk’s future in the MCU will be, since his character arc came to a pretty natural conclusion in Avengers: Endgame. Bruce Banner and the Hulk merged in a gamma radiation chamber (or something – he explained it very quickly) and he emerged as “Smart Hulk,” who has the best qualities of both.

RELATED: 10 Times Hulk's Characterization Completely Changed In The MCU

Banner built strong relationships with Thor and Valkyrie in Ragnarok that we haven’t seen followed up yet, save for Valkyrie telling Smart Hulk, “I think I preferred you either of the other ways,” so maybe an appearance in Love and Thunder is in order.

7 Skurge

Skurge is better known by the supervillain alter ego “the Executioner,” a name that he was given by Hela when she first recruited him to join her evil squad in Thor: Ragnarok, and he was played brilliantly by Karl Urban.

What made him stand out in Ragnarok was the fact that he wielded a pair of M16 automatic rifles he acquired in “Tex-ass.” Urban is an underrated actor who should be a bigger star than he is, and although Skurge died during his heroic redemption in Ragnarok, it would be great if the New Asgardians can find a way to resurrect him.

6 Doctor Strange

Thor and Doctor Strange didn’t get a chance to talk during the events of Infinity War or Endgame – they were on different planets in the former and the Sorcerer Supreme was busy fending off a tidal wave in the latter – but they developed a bond in Thor: Ragnarok.

The God of Thunder stopped by the Sanctum Sanctorum to see if Strange could help him track down his father. Not only did Strange manage to do this; he gave Thor a beer to knock back while he was waiting. These two understand each other, since they’re both magical figures, so it would be great to see them on-screen together again.

5 Hela

Cate Blanchett has been hinting at a possible MCU return for Hela in recent weeks as the deals for Thor: Love and Thunder have been coming together. Thor’s evil half-sister seemed to die along with Asgard at the end of Ragnarok, but as we should all know by now, no one is really dead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (except for Iron Man – he doesn’t seem to be coming back – but even Black Widow is about to get her own movie).

Blanchett relished the opportunity to play a classical villain in the mold of Maleficent or Cruella de Vil, so she’d probably be more than willing to come back.

4 Fandral

It seems unlikely that Shazam!’s Zachary Levi will want to return to his MCU role as Fandral in Thor: Love and Thunder now that he’s one of the DCEU’s most beloved stars.

However, there is a slim chance that he will want to come back if he’s given the larger role he deserves – at one point, Levi was eager to do a Warriors Three trilogy of MCU spin-offs – and if there’s one thing that Taika Waititi is great at doing, as evidenced by Ragnarok (although that movie only gave Fandral a cameo role), it’s taking characters that were marginalized or mischaracterized by earlier MCU movies and giving them a makeover.

3 Heimdall

The last time we saw Heimdall, he was resurrecting the Hulk and sending him to Earth before getting murdered by Thanos, who then declared, “No resurrections this time.” So, it’s unlikely that we’ll ever be meeting Idris Elba’s all-seeing Bifrost-protecting Asgardian badass again.

RELATED: Thor: 10 Fan Theories About Chris Hemsworth's Role In Love And Thunder

However, Elba was always woefully underused and fans were really taken with that character (he was one of the few good things about Thor: The Dark World), so if there is a way to bring him back, Taika Waititi should consider it. Heimdall was Thor’s best friend, after all, so he’d be more than willing to do whatever it would take to bring him back to life.

2 Valkyrie

This one is actually confirmed to return. And not only that, she’s promised a huge role in the plot. After Thor passed on the title of King of New Asgard to Valkyrie at the end of Avengers: Endgame, she will spend Thor: Love and Thunder searching high and low for a queen to rule alongside her.

Tessa Thompson made such an impression on fans with just one appearance in Ragnarok that there was mass disappointment when she was nowhere to be seen in Avengers: Infinity War. Thankfully, Marvel rectified this by having her ride a Pegasus and kick serious ass in the final battle of Endgame. It was a no-brainer for her to return in Love and Thunder.

1 Korg

With Taika Waititi back at the helm and the character he plays more popular than ever, it would be very surprising if Korg didn’t make an appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder. When we caught up with him in Avengers: Endgame, he was crashing on Thor’s couch in New Asgard and spending his days playing Fortnite.

Thor is off on cosmic adventures with the Guardians of the Galaxy (which we have to assume will get picked up in Love and Thunder), so we might not see much banter between him and Korg, but he could contribute to Valkyrie’s love-seeking storyline as a supporting player.

NEXT: Korg's 10 Funniest Quotes In The MCU

source https://screenrant.com/thor-love-thunder-ragnarok-characters-want-return/

[aspiestvmusings]

ENDGAME SPOILERS

This is for everyone, who was unhappy with certain characters story arc endings. Here’s my fanfic version of how that could be “fixed”... at least in fics

SPOILERS & LONG POST WARNING! 

I hope you get which characters, and which scenes and which arcs I am referring to, because I am being deliberately very vague & confusing, because I’ve decided to delay posting spoilers as much as I can. 

Originally, before seeing the film, I had one wish for the characters... Mid-way to the movie I knew that wasn’t an option...for these characters, but I had a certain vision on how it would end, but then, of course, it did not go as I would have written it if I had made the choices. 

But, while I would have preferred the story arc endings to have been handled a bit differently, I am ok with how it went down. Because it kinda fits. And if we look at two specific characters (whose endings fans might be most vocal about...based on the posts/comments I’ve seen online), then one got the ending they had earned, the other (though it may seem they got it) didn’t actually. And a few paragraphs below I’ll explain why & how. 

We also knew that several of the cast members didn’t plan to return for anymore movies, so their characters stories kinda had to be completed. 

For one of them the ending was a massive thank you to the actor, and the character (Tony/RDJ). For the other... it was such bad decision from writers (Cap/CE). But at the same time...if I look at it from the characters POV, then all I see is that other character (who got the “WIN” ending) basically giving the finger to the other one (who got the “SEEMS LIKE WON, BUT ACTUALLY LOST”). You ask how? Well... they reversed their roles...or rather finally revealed that their roles have always been reversed. They proved who was “right” & who was “wrong”. He did not actually grow, learn, develop...as a character..instead stayed the same. Unlike the characters, also in this film, who did good. And yeah, I am one of those who thinks this ending was not fitting*, but actually kinda “ruined” the character development thus far. (and that’s sad) or to put it better: it was fitting, because it revealed the character flaws that were being masked until now, it just showed that the “good guy” can actually not grow asa character & rather “regress”. That’s what I didn't like about it. 

Also... remember... “in order to get the soul stone, you must give up that which you love the most - a soul for a soul stone”.  (also consider  where the soulstone was at the end of Endgame... before this characters end scene)  And you cannot change the past/what’s happened. The things that have happened (including the 2018 snap) cannot be undone. It’s not how things work - it’s not possible for them to prevent the snap in their past happening:  

Then think about where that Old Man came from. The one, who sits by the lake. If we presume that he went on the mission he said he was going (when he took that briefcase & that other thing with him), and assume he completed the mission, then how did he end up where he did? All those years after the snap? How did he get to the “future”? To that precise location? To that precise moment? Perhaps he changed, and perhaps he went to Vormir & returned without the Old Woman (the one he loved the most), but with a Soul Stone? And what if he also had collected the other stones (time stone, which we saw Thanos use in IW to reverse/”travel in” time) & projected himself to the future that way - cause we know that he knows where the stones are...(Yeah, I know... impossible, because of what Team Avengers did, but... this is a superhero universe after all...) Cause...just going back... and either staying in one of the timelines where he returned the stones or creating a new timeline by going to a different time & place ... and then living there til the moment where that universes Pym particles & Stark tech help him jump to the MTL...is too boring...

What if he’s the next villain? In disguise (a hidden in plain sight end credits scene)? Just like Goose in CM was not what it seemed to be.  Because so much is missing from his story that it allows for different interpretations...as to why the writers chose to make him make the choices he did in the end. Cause unlike our heroes...his actions (based on the ending the way they wrote it for him) really make him a selfish asshole. I wish I didn’t have to say this, but after seeing it several times I still can’t wrap my mind around why the implied happened - why didn’t he leave that white house right after that scene...like he should’ve ... if he’d gotten a “win” ending. (cause now we have a set-up for a prequel for him) 

Like.. I didn’t pay much attention to this character in MCU, and I kinda thought he was cool and all & I had no issues with him til this (I’m not anti- him), but I am with those who have said that his ending (the way it seemed to imply this went) was a massive dis-service, and even under the rules the film set up it did not make sense... It kinda seemed off. It kinda seemed unexplained. It kinda seemed... not him.... (and even though I think that the fan theories that explain why this ending fits him perfectly & how it all makes sense...do make some sense & I see the writers trying to say those things through those scenes, but still...something seems off to me.... and the writers explanations just make it...worse) 

I hope that if this post does nothing more then it at least cheers you up a bit or gives inspiration for a fanfic... if you are not happy about how that characters story was handled. And as I've checked the tags, I've seen many have issues with it... so hope I brought you a bit of that silver lining... ;) 

I understood the rules set up in the film. I know that everything that has happened, happens..no matter what, so none of them can change anything that has happened in the past (even if they wanted to.... even if they could get their hands on a time stone & try to go back in time to undo some things or wand people about coming things... it’s not possible)  This isn’t some "Back to the Future”. So unlike we saw Thanos do in IW with Vision, what’s done is done and they can’t prevent anything that they’ve had to live through...not happen. This is also why I don’t agree with those who ask...why did he didn’t try to “go back & prevent things from happening”? Because... this is Avengers movie, not prevengers & because the past will always remain in the past & it simply cannot be undone.... None of it... But I still have issues with HOW they handled his ending.

And to anyone, who thinks this is unfair complaining, I’d like to use a quote by someone, who knows about storytelling/writing: Happy endings (the cheesy Disney ending this character got... just to include this type of fairytale ending is what bother many...) are overrated & not good. Hence why this one should not have been added, cause it feels...off... 

Everybody wants a happy ending, but it shouldn’t always go that way. 

[teaandforeshadowing]

The “Mary is a Villain” Meta

Alternative Title: Redemption Arc, Schmedemption Arc

[also posted to reddit - go upvote!]

Mary might be Moran, or she might be Moriarty’s replacement, or she might be the real Moriarty, or his secret twin sister, or--whatever, the details aren’t important. What is important is that Mary is an evil person, and even though she died, the events of season 4 are fake (to an extent), and her story arc is far from over. 

“But Mary sacrificed herself to save Sherlock!” you say, “They were all friends, the Watsons love each other!” I hear ya buddy. You can think that if you like, but there is undeniable proof that Mary is not as good a person as everyone thinks she is. (And I mean besides the assassin-for-hire part.)  Mirroring and subtext tells us that her redemption arc was bullshit and you should not believe a word of her martyrdom because she was coded as a villain all the way up to - and after - her death.

And this meta is going to show that to you.

As a wee bab of a blogger way back in 2014, I wrote my very first meta about how seasons 1 and 3 are narratively similar and proved that Mary and Jim Moriarty served the same narrative purpose in terms of TJLC and Johnlock. Now, in light of season 4 (to be compared to season 2), I will use this meta to update that theory and expand on it better using my improved observational and meta-writing skills (thanks TST hell week!). In addition, I will list all the other ways Mary has been coded as Generally Evil in ways not directly connected to Moriarty, linked with appropriate metas written about those points!

This meta has 7 parts, numbered 1-7 for your convenience.

#1: The Part Where I Talk About Jim Moriarty #2: The Part Where I Talk About Mary Morstan (briefly) #3: The Part Where I Take a Short Break to Talk About the Abominable Bride #4: The Part Where I Talk About Mary Morstan (again) #5: The Part Where I Take Another Short Break to Talk About Shermit #6: The Part Where I Tie It All Together #7: Additional Potentially Superfluous but Equally Important Resources

TL;DR: Mary is a Villain. If you want to know how, you’re gonna have to read. [If you really must skim, the most important points I make are bolded, though I recommend reading everything for context.]

I apologize if a lot of this is copying off other metas, this is mostly building off things I’ve compiled in my “Maryarty” tag and sorting out thoughts about posts I’ve seen, but I will try to cite as many other metas as I can find that relate. If you find one already written about a specific point I mention, please link me so I can give proper credit!

The part where I talk about Jim Moriarty

Let's take a trip in the time machine and revisit the first season to explore Jim Moriarty's motivations. Moriarty is a consulting criminal that loves to play with Sherlock - he'll cook up the cases and Sherlock will solve them. That is, as long as he always holds the controls and Sherlock doesn't get too close - he'll have fun with the relationship as long as Sherlock doesn't find out what he's really doing behind the curtain. If he does, there will be consequences. The consequences for getting too close the first time involved strapping John to some semtex. Next time, he says he'll burn out Sherlock's heart. 

On the roof at the end of season two, Jim admits he's become fed up with playing with Sherlock. Sherlock has become ordinary and boring like everyone else, and he's ready for the game to be over. But he's not going to just let him go. No, he's going to make sure the game ends with a bang. If Sherlock won't smarten up and play with him, then he can't be allowed to continue with anyone. (Sounds a lot like a Jealous Ex-Girlfriend if you ask me.) Jim has taken his friends hostage in order to get him to do what he wants, and he seals Sherlock's fate by shooting himself in the head and destroying Sherlock's only chance of saving them. By killing himself, Jim ensures that Sherlock dies too. 

Jims narrative purpose in these two seasons was to present him with the opportunity to live his life removed from the mundane drivel of regular people that he’d gotten himself acquainted with. (Of course on a subtextual level, "people" means John.) With Jim, they could dance around each other playing clever games that no one else could hope to understand. Both Jim and Sherlock think Sherlock wants to be intellectually superior, above feelings and emotions, infinitely clever, but we both know that's not quite true. By choosing to jump and save his friends, Sherlock seals the deal that he doesn’t want what Jim is offering.

Conclusion: Jim represents the life that Sherlock thinks he wants. Jim realizes that Sherlock prefers his new life with John instead, and he is willing to kill John in order to keep Sherlock to himself.

The Part Where I Talk About Mary Morstan (briefly)

Fast forward through The Hiatus and we meet Mary, whose usefulness as a character effectively ends when Sherlock comes back to life unless she’s a villain. John mentions several times that Mary was a rock for him as he was grieving Sherlock's death, that she really turned his life around. But he doesn't stop there - for the record, there were only two people who have ever done that for him, and Sherlock is the other.

The comparisons between Mary and Sherlock are rampant in The Sign of Three, with John saying "The two people I love most" (with no distinction between platonic and romantic love), Mary saying "Neither of us were the first" (again, the first what?? Friend?? Romance?? No distinction is made.) and Sherlock using the word "companion" in reference both him and Mary back to back (again again, with no distinction between platonic and marital companionship). Sherlock and Mary are equivalent in everyone's eyes - Mary is replacing Sherlock just as much as Sherlock could easily fit into Mary's role as the bride. 

As you can see it's pretty hard to talk about Mary's role in the show without also talking about Johnlock, but that's not why I'm here. It is important to understand, though, how much Sherlock threatens Mary's life with John. Enough, apparently, to take advantage of a golden opportunity when Sherlock finds her in a compromising position. By shooting and killing Sherlock, she kills two birds with one stone - she eliminates the competition, and she gets to reprise her old role of being John's shoulder to cry on. 

Conclusion: Mary represents the life that John thinks he wants. Mary realizes that John prefers his old life with Sherlock instead, and she is willing to kill Sherlock in order to keep John to herself. 

Sound familiar? This conclusion allows us to assume that in season 4, Mary will continue to follow Jim's season 2 arc by dishing out the consequences of John's choice. (The consequences in Jim's case was The Fall.)

Except, that's not really what happens, is it? Mary dies a martyr in episode 1, helps John come to terms with his guilt surrounding his almost-affair, and lovingly narrates the culmination of this penultimate season, sending her two Baker Street Boys into the adventurous future with a smile from the Great Beyond. 

Of course, we would accept this as truth if it weren't for all the evidence presented to us that continuously suggests the opposite.

The Part Where I Take a Short Break to Talk About The Abominable Bride

Before we dive into season 4, we need to take a short detour to The Abominable Bride, which served as a bridge between the two seasons and a sort of "decoder ring" for a lot of what happens in the show - it’s a dream that can be used to interpret what’s going on in “real life”, just like our dreams. It set up mirrors and parallels so that we saw certain characters (*cough* Mary) a certain way and could interpret their confusing and misleading actions and behavior the way they were meant to. The surface reading of season 4 is not a truthful one, and TAB is a big part of understanding why that is. 

The title The Abominable Bride refers to the bride Emelia Ricoletti, who shot herself in the head, and then seemed to come back from the dead. It's foreshadowed throughout the episode (the he/she mixup, "virus in the data") that Sherlock is really just trying to figure out how Moriarty could have come back to life from shooting himself in the head. In the end, the bride draws back the veil to reveal that it really was Jim all along! This explicit reveal, which was the point of the entire episode, gives us an obvious comparison: Emelia Ricoletti is Jim Moriarty. She even dies to kill her husband, like Jim did on the roof. Sherlock subconsciously connects Emelia to Jim, so we should too.

But there's another mirror to be found here. A subtexual one: Mary is also a bride. 

The show even reminds us of this as Bride Mary confronts Sherlock with her gun in his mind palace in HLV, instead of like, the assassin gear she's actually wearing when she shoots him. Sherlock subconsciously sees Mary as a bride, so we should too.

Even before the episode aired, this connection was made, and people speculated that Mary was The Bride that is referenced in the title of the episode. As it turns out, they were only partially wrong. When she is introduced in the episode, she's dressed as a widow (purely for the purpose of impish humor, but the subconscious connection of a being a wife is still there), and many first believed that this "client" was The Bride from the case. But when the veil is pulled away - shocker, it's Mary! 

Using this evidence and the Transitive Property of Equality, we can assume that Mary is supposed to be subtextually compared with Moriarty. If Emelia = Jim, and Emelia = Mary, then Mary = Jim.

(In addition, even though Mary is shown not to be a part of The Conspiracy, it's shown to us through out the episode that Mary fits right in with them: she's joined the women's suffrage movement, feels neglected by her husband, and is far cleverer than anyone gives her credit for.)

The Part Where I Talk About Mary Morstan (again)

Ok so that short break wasn't really so short, but hopefully you've got a better understanding now how they show Mary's connections to Moriarty because it's time to move onto season 4!

Kind of. There's a lot of confusing stuff that happens in this season. Most of it has to do with subtext that seriously conflicts with Mary's "redemption" arc in The Six Thatchers. I think the easiest way to do this is to put everything in a list:

During setlock, shark imagery was seen that viewers began to associate with Mary because of the scenes they appeared in. There's a shitload of sharks swimming around when Sherlock narrates the tale of Samarra, a tale which turns out to be about Mary. Previously, Sherlock describes CAM as a shark from the London Aquarium, where Mary dies. This makes it sound like Mary is a victim and the Villainous Sharks are coming to get her, but if you take a look at this series of tweets from Mark Gatiss to Amanda Abbington, you'll see that the context changes entirely: Mary is the shark. Mark also describes Moriarty as a shark, so if he and Mary fulfill the same narrative purpose, then, well....

"You can't arrest a jellyfish." There's a huge tank of jellyfish behind Mary as she leaps to save Sherlock.

Mary is a receptionist. So is the villain of the episode, it turns out. Also worth nothing that Ajay thought Mary was the one who betrayed A.G.R.A.

Sherlock's made-up story about Mr. Kingsley's wife being a spy sounds a lot like Mary. (Mr. Kingsley’s reactions to his deductions are also a bit unconventional, like John’s are.)

As Sherlock follows Ajay's Thatcher trail, he assumes that Moriarty is behind the whole thing. It turns out he's wrong, and it's about Mary.

Mary jokes about her daughter being the devil, then the antichrist, which would make her the devil.

She shows up to the desanctified church all ready to go with a paper full of chemical sedatives, just in case, right?

She assumes the identity of Gabrielle Ashdown, who is a character in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes that Sherlock does not trust.

Honestly the whole "running away" scene just screams that Mary is not done with her past as an assassin. If she really was a repentant housewife she wouldn't be so eager to return to her old ways of espionage.

She even insists on naming her daughter after herself and her "real" name that she used in the good old days of A.G.R.A. Yep, definitely done with that dark past, ready to leave it behind for good.

Sherlock never actually tells Mary to meet him at the aquarium. He tells John, but his message to Mary only reads "The curtain rises. The last act. It's not over." which is a line he uses to when presented with Moriarty's first pip in TGG, and in TAB when he's about to dive into Moriarty’s Emelia Ricoletti's case.

Again, Norbury, the villain, says she's the merchant in the story, but we just finished watching the part where Mary attempts to escape her fate at the hands of Ajay. And then Mary dies. 

A DVD shows up at Baker Street marked "Miss Me?" - Moriarty's trademark phrase. But who's on it? Mary. “To Sherlock: Please watch this. From, Mary” would have worked just as well.

An after-credits scene has Mary telling Sherlock to "Go to Hell", which is completely out of context, but it still caused us to doubt the seemingly benevolent message of the DVD for an entire week before TLD aired.

TL;DR: We are supposed to second-guess Mary’s intentions for the entire duration of this episode. Mary’s redemption arc and death are not what they appear to be.

Even after Mary dies, she continues to have a pretty dominating presence in the show. She haunts John subconsciously, not dissimilar to the way the ghost of Moriarty haunts Sherlock. She also sets the entire events of The Lying Detective in motion with a single, pleading DVD. A DVD which purposely leads Sherlock to his death.

The Part Where I Take Another Short Break to Talk About Shermit

Ok well not specifically Shermit, but the #SherlockLive twitter event held on January 10th. 

For those unfamiliar, this was an official event Sherlock (Mark and Steven) "hijacked" the official BBC One twitter account. He used the time he had to present us with a case he had recently solved in order to test our detective skills. You can see the case’s conclusion here, but in the end, it was revealed that the victim had done it! Just like Sherlock predicted in his Clue game with John.

Daniel Collard was a man who "had a violent past, but apparently has redeemed himself and isn't that person anymore,"; however, evidence proved that he was still an unpleasant person (see above bullet points). His wife, Sophie, was unhappy with him and was secretly in love with someone else, “Joey”, an affair that Daniel soon found out about. 

Then, being the clever man he was, Daniel came up with a plan to get revenge involving doctored photos, phony tweets, and faked security camera footage that framed his wife's secret lover for his death. Since Sophie was not content in their marriage, Daniel meant for his death to destroy the relationship she really wanted.

Now, looking at the other details of this case, a very easy connection can be made between Daniel and Mary: "brilliant sociopath commits suicide in such a way that it is intended to frame and destroy spouse and spouse's lover, conveniently initialed S and J, while incidentally implying that brilliant sociopath was also having an affair that ended when one of the parties became pregnant". [see: The Baby Isn't John's.] 

The Part Where I Tie Everything Together

While reading this, it might have become clear to some of you that there is a recurring theme here, which I will point out to you soon, but in order to fully understand what I'm about to drop on alla-y'all right now, you need to understand how mirrors work as a literary device (because recently this lack of understanding has been causing some fandom drama). If you already understand this, feel free to skip the next paragraph.

A mirror is a character that is used to highlight certain traits in another, typically more important character. We can draw parallels between these two characters based on traits they have in common and make inferences and predictions about them based on what they don't have in common or what happens to them. Sometimes the story will explicitly tell us that the two characters are similar, but a lot of the time it will be more subtle, such as having the characters wear very similar outfits, or having them say the exact same conversation with/phrase to the same character. As a literary device, mirrors can foreshadow events, reveal background information that was previously unknown/unconfirmed, or show us how a character really feels about a situation without having them tell us outright. See here for some quick examples. 

Now I will lay it out for you as clearly as I can:

Moriarty killed himself on the roof in order to condemn Sherlock to suicide after he became too boring as posthumous revenge.

This mirror alone should be enough to conclude that Mary's death was intentional and served a bigger purpose. But TPTB were kind enough to provide us with yet another mirror:

Emelia Ricoletti faked her death - with witnesses - so she could kill her neglectful husband as posthumous revenge.

Emelia and Moriarty's deaths both had similar meanings, so since Mary mirrors both of these characters, it's actually kind of obvious that Mary's death did not have good intentions. HOWEVER!! TPBP were extra super kind enough to provide us with YET ANOTHER mirror!

Daniel Collard killed himself in a way that framed his wife's lover in order to ruin their relationship as posthumous revenge.

This one occurs after Mary's death in The Six Thatchers, as if to frame it from both sides that there's more to it than meets the eye.

And if you take that last one into consideration when thinking about Mary’s role last season, Jim’s role in season 2, and The DVD, it becomes almost painfully obvious that Mary’s death served as a way to separate John and Sherlock permanently.

Additional Potentially Superfluous but Equally Important Resources

Before I link you to all the resources I've amassed, I think that it's vital to point out that it's been two months since Mary's arc finally ended in The Lying Detective, and BBC is still putting out new content related to Mary, as if they don’t want us to forget about her just yet:

First, after she died in The Six Thatchers, they released some promo pics which, before the context of The Lying Detective, suggested that Mary was still alive.

Then was her completely unnecessary second DVD in The Final Problem. The last thing they present to us in this season finale is a voiceover of a character that is long-dead and irrelevant, as if they want her presence to stick in our mind

For the special cinema screening of The Final Problem, they included extra bonus content that was basically a mini documentary about Mary.

The BBC worldwide Showcase on February 20th gave us this charming little dancing-Sherlocks routine in front of a backdrop of... Mary deductions...

Masterpiece PBS posted this video on February 28th, in which Martin and Amanda talk about their characters' relationship, accompanied by clips that don't really support their claims. At all.

There's a lot more that points towards Mary's villainy other than the parallels and connections I've pointed out above, but frankly the issue has already been beaten to death, so instead of reiterating what's already been said, I'm going to link you to as many metas as I can - metas that inspired this post and contributed to it as I was writing it up. They do not have any direct connection towards what I've already said, but simply exist as more proof that Mary is a villain on the show.

If you have a favorite that I’ve missed, please let me know and I can add it!

In no particular order:

Mary and Jim are not only narrative equals, but also serve to symbolize the two biggest obstacles in homosexual relationships; Mary represents heteronormativity, and Jim represents homophobia.

She's first shown to us with a black hat on (which makes her look like Sherlock for one thing), but in Old Western movies, viewers are able to easily identify Baddie Outlaws from the good guys by the colors of their hats. (See: Westworld)

Mary is The Woman in Green, a villain from another Holmes adaptation, and a femme fatale.

She's frequently shown onscreen in her fiery red coat/cardigan, which is not necessarily the type of color that is warm, comforting, or inviting. Brown is non-threatening, blue is trustworthy, red is warning, wrong, bad.

She says "You should put that on a T-shirt", which is later mirrored by Magnussen.

Mrs. Hudson is a John mirror, so Mr. Hudson (the criminal) is meant to symbolize Mary - John and Mary had known each other for less than 6 months before he proposed.

The scene at the end of The Abominable Bride parallels almost perfectly with that of Mary's reveal in his Last Vow: "Isn't that right Lady Carmichael/Smallwood?" but is actually Moriarty/Mary.

They left out the Garridebs brother named John in their canon nod in TFP, which makes Mary Killer Evans, the villain from the story.

Mary is Eurus and the true East Wind.

Mary is a "shoot first, ask questions later" kind of girl. And she might have actually killed the flight attendant.

Mary lies. A lot.

Her arc and musical themes mirror those of Irene, another villain.

There's a lot of stuff here if you want to just scroll down to "These are the facts", they've got the links laid out very nicely.

References to Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe indicate that Mary is a plant by Moriarty to get between Sherlock and John.

Mary's death was posthumous revenge, video proof.

Sherlock texts Mary the same way he texts Jim.

The Six Thatchers is an inverted retelling of ACD's The Final Problem, with Mary as Professor Moriarty.

Remember that time when John had something strapped to his chect and a villain compared him to a pet?

Mary's view of what "trust" is isn't exactly encouraging, and she uses love as a weapon. I know there are other more extensive metas out there, so if anyone would like to link me to them I'd be grateful!

Certain musical motifs used at certain times indicates malicious intent.

Mary is described as satanic in the script. And guess what? So is Moriarty.

A short list of why we should be side-eyeing Mary's redemption arc and death.

Mary's single tear and trembling gun hand in the His Last Vow script (which doesn't make it into the aired version) conflicts with what happens immediately after.

Mary's death scene is.... weird.

Parallels to Lady Smallwood gives us more reason to think Mary is trying to drive Sherlock and John apart

If we assume that Mary is American, then it's possible that she could have plans to stalk/menace John after framing him for her death.

After some pretty great foreshadowing, Mary's redemption arc is very poorly executed.

Making those DVDs is actually super irresponsible and doesn't make any sense narratively.

Mary was never nice to John before The Six Thatchers.

There's a trademarked Villain Head Tilt in the show, and Mary does it.

Sherlock is really only dramatic in the presence of Mary.

Mary's death being faked is foreshadowed using canon hints.

The Black Pearl of the Borgias case draws parallels between Moriarty and Mary.

More parallels between Norbury and Mary.

There are Moriarty symbols in the nursery.

Mary is probably responsible for Tablisi going "wrong"

Honestly her death was just really unrealistic.

Connections between Mary and the number 58 suggest she's evil, but Sherlock can't see it because he's in love with John.

The game is never over, John. But there may be some new players now.

I cited a LOT of meta (71 links total!!) in here that I tried my best to link back to OPs and major contributors that I’ve tagged here. Thanks for having such great analyses!

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