#i think she’s a fascinating character btw… like i always think about how her actions w/ kdj are reproduced by him. agh agh agh <- sounds of

[anthyies]

kind of a milf. reblog

[chaifootsteps]

its really hard to take any comparisons of stolas to other abusive characters seriously because i genuinely dont think viv comprehends shes written an abuser, the same way other authors can comprehend theyve written abusers. she self projects so heavily onto him and acts like his sass is justified to the point pretty much everyone, even fans and critics, knows that s3 will just end up with him living with blitz and working for IMP (which was foreshadowed just oh so subtly in the helluvababies season 2 premiere,) after losing everything (oh no, the consequences of my actions!) because of the full moon deal HE decided to start. he started out doing something bad, acknowledged it once (didnt even apologize to blitz for the deal btw,) and got go back to his life of luxury after his former sex slave said no to his love. he took advantage of the main character in the very first episode and will still be rewarded with him presented as stolas's knight in shining armor, a family who will unconditionally love him because of fucking course they will even though they know their boss had to fuck him or else they wouldnt have their "meal ticket", and eventually, most probably, his daughters forgiveness after she cut him out of his life for.. taking antidepressants. not for neglecting her, not for not teaching her anything about the book she was solely created for, for 17 years, before letting someone else have it without a single worry of what could happen to it, and certainly not because she cheated on his mom with some "weird red dickhead" i can watch other shows with the understanding (most of the time) that that character probably will receive some kind of growth, karma, acknowledgement, or change of their terrible behavior if theyre intentionally written as toxic. or, if their toxicity is supposed to be the point, for them to go full ham with it. helluva boss is neither to me; its abuse tactics and toxic patterns presented as good, like gaslighting, triangulation, and codependency. and an audience like vivs will digest these ideas subconsciously as good if they have no critical thinking skills of their own, which most of them dont. and all while being too afraid to actually hold abusers accountable in a setting like hell of all places. thats why none of the characters even acknowledge the actually shitty things stolas does and arent allowed to not forgive him- because the creator herself is an abuser who doesnt understand, or doesnt want to understand, that being held accountable is about ALWAYS acknowledging the mistakes you made and STILL trying to be better, even if the people you hurt still hate you. not apologizing once, and then getting pissed someone didnt automatically forgive you, as if your remorse means you're entitled to forgiveness. thats how stolas thinks, because thats how she thinks, and thats terrible. i cant even watch these shows in a "im a messy bitch who lives 4 drama" way as much as i want to because watching an abuser get everything he wants after a season of straight up cloaca sucking is NOT drama. its just incredibly depressing and makes me think about the piles of money that couldve been used to make anything other then this, instead of the creators self insert fanfiction of "no one is allowed to judge my character based on my past selfish actions: the overpriced, overstuffed with expensive celebs while i claim i cant fairly pay my animators i force to work exclusively on my shows the musical!"

I think you're spot on, unfortunately. If it weren't for the fanbase slavishly, cultishly lapping up everything Viv gives them and making it a point to incorporate it into their own lives, it would be a fascinating look at how an abusive person sees themselves. Stolas's justifications really are Viv's justifications, and she'll never see him as an abuser for the same reason she'll never see herself as one.

[natasha-in-space]

'Why do you love rika. I love rika myself as well. Tbh for me its like, the more I stay in mysme fandom the more my love and appreciation for rika grows. It initially started as me being angry at the double standards of the most asian media fandoms in general cuz i realised that rika would have been more well loved if she was a man, people would use the male!rika's trauma to justify his actions and this thought has made me angry and made me "appreciate" rika out of spite. But it eventually has grown into a genuine appreciation for her. Idk how to explain but something inside me makes me want to protect her and save her from everything happened to her leading upto the current situation. And more hate she gets more i feel the desire to defend her.

Actually my no 1 is another character and he has a place of his own which no one could take (its yoosung btw) but rika...i think she might be a close second fave i guess - anon'

I accidentally messed up your ask, so I'll be replying in this way instead!

Thank you for the question, dear anon! I'm always giddy to chitchat about these things. I do want to prelude this by saying that this is not really a proper analysis, but more of me just writing out my personal feelings. I might try my hand at actual analysis one day, but, for now, I'm just sharing my own interpretations!

Mystic Messenger is probably the only fandom I have been in since... well, since it has formed, basically. It's wild to think about sometimes. Things are very different in our little space now, compared to how it was before. Public perception of Rika is one of those things. I can totally resonate with your frustrations on that front, unfortunately. I know many folks miss the time when the fandom was bigger, but... personally, I don't. Especially as a Rika fan. It was borderline exhausting trying to curate your fandom space as a Rika fan at the time. Hell, we had full blogs dedicated to solely hating on her, a fictional character, and people who expressed their love for her. And that's just here on Tumblr. People used to full on write hate comments under every single seasonal CG with Rika in it. It was terrible, and very, very disheartening to see. Especially since most Rika fans I've met over the years are the sweetest people. Granted, there is a case to be made for practically every mm character, and how the fandom may have misinterpreted them in one way or another, so it's not just a Rika problem. Just that she was majorly disliked.

If anything, I'm very happy Cheritz still continued to include Rika in the seasonal events despite it all. Props to them on that front.

Right now, thankfully, things are much more peaceful and respectful. Rika is definitely not the more popular character, but now you can openly express your love for her in the fandom space, without fear of being harassed. I'd say that's a great win for us!

That being said, as to why I love Rika... Hm, it's interesting to put it into words. I didn't have a strong opinion on her until V's route came out. I never really shared the collective hatred of her, but I didn't love her either, you know? V's route came out during a pretty rough patch in my life, and I think that helped me get personally invested in what it had to tell. Rika actually feels like a fleshed out character with many nuances, and that instantly made me interested in paying close attention to what they wanted to do with her.

Rika is complicated, to say the least. She always was, but, with all the added content to her story that Cheritz have put out over the years, her complexity only evolved further. I love that about her. I love morally dubious characters who's mind you have to carefully study and pick apart piece by piece in order to understand them. I love how she is not really a villain in a traditional sense. She is not actively pursuing harm on anybody, not in her eyes. It is fascinating to me how different her view point is, compared to those around her. How skewed her perception of the world around her grows over the years. It's both scary and captivating.

So, it started with fascination. Appreciation for her character and a desire to delve deeper into what makes her who she is today. I think... my appreciation has grown into love when her Behind Story came out. I know many folks have very complicated feelings towards it, especially since it came out alongside V's After End and its unfortunate push for forgiveness, but I never really viewed Cheritz establishing Rika's past as an attempt to wash her of her sins. It just came out at a very bad timing is all. If her Behind Story came out a bit later, I think public opinion of it would have been different. It's a shame that their huge mess up with the message in V's After Ending sabotaged it like that.

Thing is, Rika wouldn't be as compelling and interesting as she is, if she was truly innocent. That being said, I... relate to her struggles on a deeply personal level. Not as deeply as I do with Saeran, but her story and her struggles do make me choke up to this day. Because, in a way, I see my past self in her. Being able to read through her story, her thoughts, and her feelings have really made me form a genuine fondness to her. Her religious trauma, her painful path of learning to survive in an environment that actively tries to harm you at every possibility, her fears of being the devil everyone says she is, her inability to accept and love herself, because all she has ever known is pain, danger and hatred... It hurts. I think, everyone has that little voice inside their head. Telling them that they are bad and undeserving of the love people close to them are expressing. That everyone actually hates them. That there is something inherently wrong with them. It's heartbreaking that, in Rika's case, this voice has eventually consumed her to the point of no return.

When you are an abused child, who knows nothing but the hostile world they have at home, it will follow you into every crook and cranny of your life. Even when you're not home, even when you're 'safe', your mind and body will still be on high alert, as it's natural to try and keep yourself safe from harm. Rika's fear of the world around her, her deep inner self-hatred is something I have experienced as an abused child/young teen. It's debilitating, and it's heartwrenching to think that so many people have to suffer like this.

I think the beauty of her story to me is the sheer tragedy of it. It's a tough pill to swallow, but people are not born evil. She has done horrible, immoral and unforgivable things, and yet, in some twisted sense, her heart was not filled with malice as she did so. She believed she was saving Saeran, she believed she was providing her believers the safety and love they couldn't get elsewhere, she believed she was trying to show her old friends the truth by taking them to her side. Of course, none of those things are actually true. Her real intentions were selfish, albeit not evil. A desperation to be loved and not abandoned. That dichotomy is both beautiful and tragic to me. (Some of these are very bad quality bc I can't screenshot stuff right now)

Of course, there's also the whole V/Rika debacle. Personally, I never put all of the responsibility onto either one of them. That takes away the beautiful tragedy of their shared bond. V - or, Jihyun - genuinely cares deeply for her. He is heartbroken at all the suffering he sees her go through during his route. Of course, it's not just his care for Rika at play, but we're not talking about him right now. While, for Rika, he was her only anchor, her light, the one person who saw the real her and accepted her instead of forsaking her. At least that's what she thought. Rika and V are two very hurt and troubled individuals who have met each other at the worst possible time. And that makes it so sad to me. Neither him nor Rika truly wanted to harm one another. Whether there was any romantic love between them or not, they did care for one another deeply. Too deeply, even. Clinging to one another in order to satiate the emptiness they had inside, each in their own toxic way. It was not healthy. But it was genuine.

And I love tragic bonds, be it romantic or not. There is something compelling about two people who do want the best for one another just causing more harm than good. It's also painfully truthful. Not to such an extreme, but the struggle of doing what's best with no direction is one many can relate to.

I guess, to conclude this all, I'd say I love Rika for her complexity most of all. There are so many layers to her, and her story is truly a heartbreaking one to behold. But, God, is it beautiful, too.

Also, may I just add, her voice actress is absolutely amazing? She puts her all into playing Rika, and her story wouldn't be as moving if it wasn't for her breathtaking work. Her voice acting made me cry a whole lot of times.

[harrowharkwife]

ill go with sex pal :P but if that's already done, gideon :)

HIIIIII!!!!!!! hi friend!!!!!

favorite thing about them: PALAMEDESSSSSS my boy palamedes. my little guy. man, okay, what do i love about him. i love the way he loves. i am fascinated by his clumsy and imperfect and well-meaning but inherently flawed attempts/approaches to things like agency and ethics and fairness and respect. i love that he pays attention to everything. i love his drive. i love his gambling streak, his tendency to play the odds. i love that he's a boy who writes love letters™. i love how open he is about his affections and his feelings. i love his penchant for using terms of endearment. his love for teaching. his willingness to get up on a soapbox for things he believes in, even if he winds up stumbling sidelong into insufferable preachy condescension half the time. i love that he tries. i love that he sometimes fucks up and hurts the people around him. i love his boldness. i love his sweetness. i love his kindness. that boy could make friends with a brick wall if you gave him enough time. i love that he canonically writes weird erotica to cope. i love his taste in women. i love his gender. i just love him

least favorite thing about them: i mean, i could go on forever. he's deeply annoying sometimes, and as much as it's part of his charm, it also makes me want to thwap him upside the head from time to time, like. boy. shut UP!!! but the real answer is honestly his position as sixth house scion. master warden is an unspeakably rancid title in vibes alone and i sincerely hope we dig into the backstory behind that a little more in AtN. i find it fascinating, and troubling, and tragic, and frustrating, all the ways in which he talks the talk re: cavaliers and agency and free will, but when the rubber meets the road, do his actions really back that up? arguably, not always. and the guilt and complicity and codependent toxicity there re: camilla, is like catnip to me. he loves her, he respects her, she's his best friend, he's in awe of her and her abilities and her strength. and yet, time and time again, he puts her through harrowing things and thanks her each time she shoulders his burdens. it's a self-fulfilling prophecy, it makes me so sad, it's a snake eating its own tail, it is a mobius strip of toxic power imbalance codependent enmeshment and it is FASCINATING to think about. if i keep going we'll be here all night, but just. i think fandom has a tendency to write him as The Good Person™ (him and Camilla both) and, like, i love him as much as the next girl, but he's a head of state in an empire, with all the implications that brings with it.

favorite line: "how god takes, and takes, and takes." "fool us twice, shame on god." "thank god for that mad, stubborn, lovely girl." "it's not you, it's me wearing you." (moira quirk's inflection on that line is literally fucking haunting, btw.) "do you know, i miss harrowhark terribly." "and, most personally, this is for dulcinea septimus." god. i just love him

brOTP: harrow, and also gideon.

OTP: im shy <3

nOTP: im struggling to think of a pal pairing that i Couldn't find compelling or at least interesting, if written the right way, in the right light. he's just my interesting little guy. he's a barbie and im making him scissor all the other barbies. who said that

random headcanon: glasses chain. earrings. palamedes can have she/her pronouns, every now and then, as a treat. contrary to the initial assumption of everyone he's ever met, he's actually Not autistic. (cam is; he's just got wicked bad adhd.) jewamedes is also fun

unpopular opinion: i mean i guess just what i said up top re: people sometimes acting like he's never done anything wrong in his life? i love him but i love him Because he is an interesting and deeply morally gray (ha) character.

song i associate with them: what you can't look up by walk the moon, tiny moves by bleachers, to someone from a warm climate by hozier, chateau lobby #4 in c for two virgins by father john misty, shiver shiver by walk the moon, star by mitski, hopedrunk everasking by caroline polachek, GAMBLER'S PRAYER BY CAROLINE POLACHEK my ultimate palamedes song

favorite picture of them: ive tattooed every single piece of palamedes art ive ever seen on the inside of my eyelids. except white palamedes fanart which is always such a jumpscare

[winchesternova-k]

31 Days of Dragon Age - Day 3

favourite dao companion

my favourite companion from origins is wynne!

she reminds me a lot of my ma and i’m ngl that’s the main reason she’s my fave. a lot of her beliefs and actions read to me as being based in trauma, both from her time in the circle (and what she witnessed there), and from before. i don’t agree with a lot of the conclusions she draws from those experiences, or the views she expresses (mainly about mage independence), but i think it’s a really interesting aspect of her character. she also clearly means well and wants to help as many people as she can, especially mages, and protect people with less power. tbh its the same reasons i find in vivienne, as well as anders on the opposite side, that make them compelling to me. i can see where they’re all coming from, and how they got there, for better or worse.

also the fear of the self and of accidentally harming people is catnip to me. i think a lot of mages, especially circle mages, in thedas have similar trauma and therefore writing and i really love it with all of them. with wynne in particular, the way she tries to pass on the ‘lessons’ she’s learned from her traumas is really interesting, especially when it’s more abstract like with a non-mage warden and the concept of power generally. the lessons she’s trying to pass on aren’t always healthy per se (trying to convince the warden to break it off with their love interest because any attachment could lead to the end of the world), but to me that’s compelling in itself. her affair and the birth of rhys/immediately having him taken away clearly fucked her up and i’m really hoping to see more of that explored in asunder (though given who the author was, i’m not holding me breath). also the spirit of faith/abomination stuff that she has to reconcile with the what she’s been taught, who she is, and her belief that she’s not a dangerous person is just a fascinating arc. i’m really looking forward to seeing how that could be contrasted with anders and justice (and how it differs or is similar to the friendship or rivalry dialogue). a full deconstruction would have been really interesting there too, especially if it included religion or chantry hierarchy, but what we got as it was always makes me think a lot.

i also get why all of that makes her seem preachy or hypocritical to some people. and she can be hypocritical! but i personally find that really interesting about her. i do genuinely like the contradictions of her life long beliefs being brought into direct contrast with something that she’s now living, and that she had to really look at herself and work through some stuff. unfortunately being mid character arc with no real end point is not an experience everyone will enjoy, especially if religious trauma is a sore point.

(i say this all completely genuinely btw. i Get why a lot of ppl have issues w her, i just wanted to explain completely that those problems are exactly why i like her, and exactly why i like vivienne. i also know the tone here could come across as like bitter or directed but it truly isn’t.)

i also thought the way she protected the younger circle mages, and the children in particular, is very sweet, and again, it reminded me a lot of my ma. her relationship with my canon warden actually ended up mirroring my relationship with my ma A LOT because of all this. idk i just find her very easy to love and it’s also so nice to see an older woman going on an quest to save the world. like she basically saw the warden, with the world on their shoulder, and said ‘is anyone else going to show love and care to that kid?’ and didn’t wait for an answer. and i really love her for that.

(also as an added bonus, her specialisation and starting spells really suit my play style!)

[web-novel-recs]

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Thoughts, Chapters 101-150

Likes

“–She isn’t the person I remember. I knew it. Still, I wanted to believe for a moment that the woman in my memories was still alive. I wanted to be with her again.”  - Yoo Joonghyuk about Lee Seolhwa, Chapter 82

(1)

The establishment of Yoo Joonghyuk’s belief in his companions (41st regression Shin Yoosung) and difficulty ignoring the past rounds. Yoo Joonghyuk feels tired as a character, and I think questioning whether he will actually improve if he regresses enough connects with going through the motions and giving up too soon. 

It’s also shown how quickly he trusts those he shouldn’t - Lee Seolhwa and Disaster Shin Yoosung - due to his past regressions. He isn’t seeing things as they are now, which almost killed him, and regression isn’t always useful. 

(2)

The way ORV has set up the invasion of privacy - selling one’s story like how Lee Sookyung sold her/Kim Dokja’s story - as almost an act of violence or a betrayal. I think it was a brilliant decision to reveal this part right before the Peace Land arc, especially how we see the desperation of the constellation from a small planet as not only desperation but being rebuked by Kim Dokja for the monetization of people’s lives, if only for 10 coins. It also ties in to how Asuka Ren’s story was used as an act of violence itself, going directly against her own ideas of Peace Land. 

(3)

Speaking of…The Peace Land arc!!! Kyrgios Rodgaim is a fascinating character that I want to study under a microscope, but ORV managed to really show how ordinary people & victims become the victimizers. A lot of drama revolving around “having to make a hard decision” usually involves someone important to the person making the decision, but the people of Peace Land are complete strangers! They’re literally small and insignificant, and it would be pitifully easy to defeat them. The constellation from a small planet themself can only donate a measly 10 coins compared to the 200,000 coin compensation for [Main Scenario #6 - Abandoned World]. They have no emotional connection to the main characters. There isn’t a character or plotline highlighted to show their humanity: it’s just immediately assumed. 

It would be so easy for a lesser story to show the main character’s brutality or self-righteousness when they first appear, but Kim Dokja’s narration focuses on the people of Peace Land themselves. Chapter 121 focuses on the lives of the people of Peace Land and the brutality of the Japanese incarnations almost equally, and we see how a small person managing to inflict the smallest wound on one of the Japanese incarnations brings hope, only to be crushed by the dokkaebi Ganul almost immediately. And it’s not just Ganul being a villain - the constellations themselves are enjoying and encouraging the bloodshed. Ganul is simply giving them a story they want, similarly to how Paul forcibly turned the 41st regression Shin Yoosung “evil” to continue the scenario.

(4)

I do appreciate the instant willingness to kill a colonizer, btw. Zero justification needed; it very much felt like a “while we’re on the way to kill the snake” type thing, and I think we need more of that. I don’t even agree with punitive justice, but some stories are way to comfortable focusing on oppressors over the oppressed, and I respect ORV for not fucking with that

(5)

Han Sooyoung practically getting stereotypically isekaied to Peace Land via getting hit by a bus & Gong Pildu falling into a river. Convenient? Yes, probably. Funny? Most definitely.

(6)

Kim Dokja genuinely apologizing to Gong Pildu. It’s a small thing, but I’m personally just not a fan of stories that almost seem to justify treating certain people like shit just because they’re ALSO terrible people (which. I mean. ORV isn’t free of this sin so far, but it isn’t as bad as other similar action/genre stories I’ve read 💀 & I think it actually feeds into Kim Dokja’s characterization) 

(7)

The way the Salvation Church preached itself as “freedom from the scenarios” via the same ideas of power & “salvation” as the scenarios/constellations (stories & living in the “now”). 

(8)

Aughhh…. The way Kim Dokja being the strongest incarnation isn’t even a consideration for the rest of the cast despite being the truth… him going to Han Sooyoung of all people to kill him…

Neutral

Nirvana in general was a pretty interesting character that I want to know more about, especially with the way they were compared with Kim Dokja. I think so far the swallowing of Nirvana, albeit abrupt, makes sense narratively with Kim Dokja’s own suicidal self-loathing regarding himself, but I do want to see more of Nirvana as a symbol of Kim  Dokja’s own desire to live within his desire to die. Getting real sick of Kim Dokja killing off people who remind him of himself- I’m trying to learn about you, boy /joking

Dislikes

Rebirthing the 41st regression Shin Yoosung as a dokkaebi. 

I know others have brought it up, but I hated the way Jung Heewon being forced to relive her trauma was framed almost solely as a method of “awakening” Lee Hyunsung. Lee Hyunsung’s awakening itself was very interesting and compelling by itself - the line about reaching another heart originally being difficult (Chapter 139) & Kim Dokja offering to carry part of LHS’s burden - but it was undercut by the complete lack of agency or emotional connection with Jung Heewon. He didn’t reach her “heart” as much as just give her a hug under extremely non-optimal conditions 

The weird Iris (from Russia) hate with no explanation… I don’t think it’s necessarily out-of-character, but why… let her be a brat… what does KDJ have against mean children…

[gumdefense]

Iris Fey <3

THANK YOU FOR ASKING ABOUT IRIS I’M TAKING THIS OPPORTUNITY TO TALK ABOUT HER AS MUCH AS I WANT APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE (and apologies for answering late)

I love her so much idk how to describe it. She is everything. She’s such a kind and gentle person, and she cares and loves so much which fits so well with Phoenix. She helped dahlia make the initial plan to steal the diamond and get away from their fucked family, she kept helping her with criminal plans from then on because she just loves her sister even if she wasn’t particularly happy about the path she was starting to go on, she volunteered to get the necklace back for her. You know the necklace full of poison. That dahlia used to (nearly) kill someone. She knew what it was, and still wanted to help her (at her own risk, might I add) because dahlia is and always will be her sister, and if she soiled her own hands to try to get her “off the sinful path” or however she worded it, so be it.

And then Phoenix. I think a lot about how she came to fall for him. Because she can’t have loved him immediately, there must have been a period where she didn’t have any feelings and just wanted the damn necklace, but was unable to get it. Can you imagine ? Realising she was getting attached to this man ? Realising she was actually falling for him, the very last thing that she should do ? I wanna know what this specific period of time was like for her so bad.

And in subject to how she loves— we all know the rest. She knitted that horrible sweater for him, which is by itself insane btw like that takes an enormous amount of time, effort, and money (with how much yarn has to be used). And it looks like a really complicated sweater honestly ! Like it looks quite thick instead of being a simple single layer, and— idk what the right wording would be, but ”doesn’t have holes”-y. It looks really well made. That is absolute smitten behaviour it’s hilarious and adorable

But most importantly, she went against her sister’s wishes, because of how much she ended up loving him. The same sister she loved so much as well. We know she wasn’t really happy with dahlia’s actions at this point, and she wanted to save her from sinning further etc, but as established, that was from a source of love. She knew dahlia could be different in the right environment. She believed in her. But somehow, for some reason, she loved Phoenix enough that, as she says, if she knew dahlia’s plan to kill him- she would have stopped her even if it meant one of their lives

There’s another thing about iris that I love, which is that she’s just as crazy as everyone else. We always joke about every character being insane and she is no exception

I do have thoughts about the decision to have her portrayed so… gentle, specifically in regards to how ace attorney treats women in general. I do think it’s kind of meh that the perfect female love interest (as she is sort of depicted I think, based on how the game ends hinting at her and Phoenix still having feelings for each other) is a “loves others so much she makes herself suffer” character. While her evil twin is an evil woman !! Who hates men and people in general !! And is mean and the opposite of caring !! (I’ve grown to really like dahlia too and to find her fascinating as a character, but I think with the way the game was written and how it portrayed her, you’re meant to dislike her)

But, in my biased purely subjective opinion, she is so fucking amazing and I just love her

And this part of her of caring about others to the point of self sabotage makes her connection with Phoenix so interesting. Because that’s exactly how he is, too. He loves and cares so deeply, and he constantly puts others before himself and places his own self-esteem and self-worth on how much he can help people; especially those he loves, i.e. maya, edgeworth, trucy… even apollo and athena based on how much he looks down on himself for his errors as a mentor in aa5. But of course, also iris. As he denied even after the trial that the woman at the witness stand was her, that she could have killed Doug and said those cruel things to him, and that she could have killed Misty, even after 5 years of not having seen her. Their relationship is built with two people who care so, so deeply, and for whom this amount of devotion they always show to loved ones ended up dooming their relationship to each other. Phoenix couldn’t give up the necklace, iris couldn’t take it away from him. I’m a narumitsu endgame kinda guy, but feenris is so incredibly compelling and narratively interesting I’m so unwell about them

Ahem. This long rant aside. What I mean by “most fandom takes are incorrect” is that !! No !! She is not some evil liar that didn’t give a shit about Phoenix and just cared about her selfish desires !! What the fuck !! And she did not fucking “rape him by deception” holy shit !! Like that’s such an insane thing to say, and shows a lack of understanding of what rape by deception is. ALSO: she is a huge victim of… how shall I call it. Gay shipper misogyny ? Let’s go with that. The phenomenon of people hating the guts of a female character for no reason other than “she gets in-between the two men I ship”. I’m not saying it would be the only reason someone would hate her; if you hate her that’s your business and it’s fine, but I’ve definitely seen people acting like she is wayyy worse than she is, and not so subtly showing what their real problem is is that there’s another character who could be a love interest for Phoenix instead of edgeworth. Tldr people are so mean to her :(

And what I mean by lost potential is that I think she could’ve been a lot more. This ties into the kinda misogynistic writing I touched on earlier. I don’t have a great explanation for this honestly, I just have this feeling she could’ve been a top 10 character if she was given a bit more time and more depth. Like if her fucked up parts like being willing to kill dahlia or herself was shown a bit more idk. Like I said I don’t really know how to explain this part. She should’ve been written more as her own character, a bit less as Girl In Love With Phoenix. Which ties with “not enough canon”

And for underrated, well that’s because no one appreciates her rip

This ended up being long as hell lmao anon I hope this is a good answer for you !! And thanks again for asking me I am so happy to talk about iris. Genuinely one of my favourite characters <33 I hope this is coherent I wrote all this late at night when I really should be sleeping as I’m supposed to wake up early tomorrow. But iris is of course more important

[mot-hesbian]

TBF, I never saw her as being intentionally manipulative or that being her intention. She was in a horrible situation and made a choice. However, intention doesn't change result or action. I don't really hate her, I was going through a lot while writing the original post (memories were resurfacing) but her actions remind me too much of my abusers for me to truly love her as a character. I find her fascinating and an excellent exploration of a good woman in dire circumstances.

You are right that she and Pen are interesting foils for each other, and not in the way that one is in the right and the other is in the wrong. It's a great method of storytelling.

I never saw Marina's interest in Colin as ever being romantic, she was completely in love with George. In fact, what I like about her early storyline is that I genuinely believe she spent time with Colin for the same reason she actively sought out Penelope even after her confinement: she liked them as people. I always saw Marina as seeing Colin, who is nice and genuine and charismatic, as a potential friend, something she was in dire need of.

Choosing Colin is understandable, but if she was trying to do what was best for her and her children he wasn't the best option. Colin is still very immature and an emotional man, he would not take her betrayal well. He wouldn't abandon her but he wouldn't be the best option.

I love Colin, he's a great man, but in all likelihood, he would've run off to travel as often as possible, he had a tendency to try and escape his problems physically. It wasn't until season 3 that he did all of that important introspection (with the help of his family, particularly Eloise, kanthony, and his mother). When he talked to people and faced his troubles and identity crisis head on. Those children would have grown up with a, purposely or not, distant father. He'd be there for them when he was there, he would write to them when they were old enough, but he wouldn't always be there. And the guilt of that would kill him.

You have to remember, how Colin thinks he would act is often different from how he does act. Their marriage would have soured quickly and I don't know if they would've recovered. He forgave Penelope because he knew her for years, they understood each other, he loved the LW parts of her because they were already there. Marina is a woman he feels great affection for but doesn't know on a deep level. They hadn't gotten to the point where they spoke of those things. That's neither of their faults, it's just how the timing worked out.

Marina may not have targeted him with malice, but I don't think she thought everything with him through, despite her claims of knowing exactly what she's doing.

Bridgerton is great at creating complex and nuanced characters that can spark debate. Especially the women, they do things wrong, they are extremely flawed, and do have to deal with the aftermath. Except for Edwina, she is an angel who has never done anything wrong in her life and I love her.

Also, the plan to seduce him gives me the ick. It isn't as bad as the Saphne scene but her planning on doing so when he couldn't consent makes me feel queasy. Informed consent is necessary for it to be a consensual encounter.

That's when I start seeing the relationship as abusive btw, she starts saying "I love you" and making false promises. Personally I see the way she starts doing on him constantly as love bombing, but that's just my opinion.

From my perspective, Marina seemed more and more uncomfortable when Colin visited. Which is understandable, but the fact she doesn't think she has anything to apologize for isn't great. She and Colin and Penelope all handled the situation poorly, and out of the three she is the only one who doesn't own up to it. Another later to get character I find interesting, but that still hits too close to home.

Marina is a traumatized character but that isn't an excuse for her actions. Penelope is traumatized from growing up in an emotionally abusive household, it doesn't excuse her actions. I could keep going honestly, they're all traumatized.

Ultimately, Marina is a character that fascinates me but that I can't truly enjoy on a personal level, I still respect others who do like her though. I truly wish she could have had a happy ending, but I genuinely believe that was never a possibility without George. She's content but there's always going to be something missing.

I also feel the need to say that I don't view their relationship through a polin lens. I love polin, but looking at one half of a ship's other love interest through the shipping lens is pretty reductive as far as I'm concerned.

Marina Crane, Nuance, Human Decency, and Differing Opinions

Let's talk about things that might make people mad on the name of addressing important issues

Let's start with some facts

Facts:

The hate Ruby Barker got is inexcusable. She's a human being and deserves to be treated as such. She has no control over her character and her character's actions overall.

Marina is a nuanced character with an interesting and tragic story. You can hate her and acknowledge this.

Marina is a flawed character who does bad things. You can love her and acknowledge this.

You can love or hate her without taking it out on other people or being disgusting about it. Loving her doesn't give you some moral superiority OR justify her actions. Hating her doesn't give you some moral superiority OR edge.

Some of the hate directed her away is because she's black and if you're one of those people you need to do some introspection.

Now, let's get into the opinion portion of this

Personally, I hate Marina. I don't wish a horrible death on her because that's horrible. I wish her circumstances were better. In fact, had her actions been slightly to the left I'd probably like her. My hate towards her also has nothing to do with racism, unlike some people.

I hate her because I've been on the receiving end of her actions. She's emotionally abusive and does not feel the need to apologize for it. She uses actual abuse tactics, many of which I have been the target of.

I see my abusers in her in those moments, outside of those moments I enjoy her story and character. I would have loved to see her play some Lord looking for a match of convenience. Instead I got to see some scenes that are extremely triggering to me. Marina is a traumatized characters, that doesn't give her the right to add to Colin's trauma.

So many of his actions in s2 and s3 are direct results from this, she traumatized him. This pain and hurt doesn't go away easily, I've been trying for 7 years to move on and I'm still a work in progress.

I don't hate her because she got in the way of my ship (I'm a hardcore polin fan), I don't hate her for existing, or for her situation. I hate Marina because of her actions. She had other choices in gentlemen who were close to her age and might look the other way with regards to a child that wasn't their own. Let's not discuss that topic today, I only mention this in regards to her treatment of Colin and how that choice led to it.

Colin was a romantic and felt an attraction to her, she saw that and took advantage. She singled him out, she was desperate and thought the love of her life had deserted her. Part of her draw to him was his family, both connection wise and, likely, in terms of family dynamic.

She love bombed him. It's that simple. The compliments, laughing at jokes she clearly finds unamusing, and the constant attention.

She manipulated him and his feelings, she's good at playing his thoughts and feelings against him. He wants to be seen as a man and taken seriously. What better way than for him to take a wife? In her obviously. She lets him think it's all his idea. He has a hero-complex so she mentions how horrible the Featheringtons are to her. It's calculated. (Again, if she did this to someone who didn't have feelings for her, I'd be cheering for her to get that bag.)

She isolates him from his family. With a tinge of gaslighting regarding his mother's feelings as Violet wouldn't have opposed their marriage if it made Colin happy. She creates this “us against them" mentality to separate him from his family. The Featheringtons are cruel to her and his family does not approve, there is no way this could work.

Does any of this justify hating on people who love her character? No.

Does this justify hating on the actress who played her? Absolutely not, she's not her character.

Until next time 🫡

[borisbubbles]

Character analysis: Vivienne de Fer (Dragon Age Inquisition)

So, if you’ve wondered where I popped off to the past two months or so, I’m going to give you an answer - I finally bought Dragon Age Inquisition (legit on my gaming wishlist since its 2014 release) and I’ve been obsessed with it ever since. 

The main draw to this game however, isn’t so much the gameplay (if you want a game that feels similar but has better gameplay - Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is what you’d want instead), but the storytelling and particularly the character development are top notch. All nine companions are fascinating and fleshed out in such a realistic manner I’m still gasping in awe on my fifth playthrough.  Thus, a post on it is in order. It’s a bit different from my usual content, but don’t let that discourage you - clearing my head from Dragon Age will allow me to let Eurovision back in and continue my unfinished 2020 ranking.  In this post, I will be analyzing one of DAI’s most interesting characters - none other than Madame de Fer herself, Vivienne.  Now, I’m under the impression that this is a rather unpopular opinion but I absolutely love Vivienne. And no, I won’t apologize for it. As a Templar-thumping elitist with a icy, sardonic demeanor the sheer ‘Idea Of A Vivienne’ is meant to make your head spin. Dragon Age has always been a franchise in which mages are a socially surpressed group and to be confronted with a socially confident enchantress who likes Templars and seemingly supports the social shunning out of her own ambition is the walking embodiment of flippancy. 

and yet, I feel a lot of sympathy for Vivienne. 

Yes, she’s a bitch. She knows she’s one and she’s a-ok with it. I won’t argue with that. Sadly, the “Vivienne is a bitch” rhetoric also drastically sells her short. Vivienne is highly complex and her real personality is as tragic as it is twisted. 

Madame de Fer

So let’s start with what we are shown on the surface. Vivienne is a high-ranking courtier from an empire notable for its deadly, acid-laced political game. She seemingly joins the Inquisition for personal gain, to acrue reputation and power, and eventually be elected Divine (= female pope) at the end of the game. She presents herself as a despicable blend of Real Housewife, Disney Villain, and Tory Politician, all rolled into one ball of sickening, unctuous smarm. Worse, the Inquisitor has no way to rebuke Vivienne’s absurd policies and ideas. You can’t argue with her, convince her to listen to your differing viewpoints or even kick her out the Inquisition. She has a way with words where she can twist arguments around in such a fashion that she lands on top and makes the other person look like the irrational party.

“Thus speaks the Inquisitor who has made so many mature and level-headed choices so far. Such as releasion malcontents upon the population without safeguards to protect them should they turn into abominations. Very wise. I rearranged some furniture. Lives aren’t thrown into jeopardy by my actions. Perhaps a little perspective is needed.”

She’s Cersei Lannister on creatine, Dolores Umbridge on motherfucking roids. If you look at merely the surface, then yes, Vivienne looks like the worst person ever created. I love a good anti-villainess however, and she’s definitely one. 

Yet, she never actually does anything ‘evil’? Yes, she is ‘a tyrant’ as a Divine, but 1) the person saying this is Cassandra, whose dislike for mage freedom is only matched by her dislike of being sidelined 2) Divine Vivienne isn’t bad to mages either? (hold that thought, I’ll get to it). She never actually sabotages the Inquisition, no matter how low her approval with the Inquisitor gets. She never attempts to stop them, no matter how annoyed she is. She’s one of the most brutally honest companions in the cast, in fact. (It always surprises me people call her a ‘hypocrite’ - you keep using that word and it doesn’t mean what you think it means.) The ‘worst’ display of character is when she attempts to break up Sera and the Inquisitor and even then - are we going to pretend Sera isn’t a toxic, controlling girlfriend with a huge chip on her shoulder? I love Sera, but come on.  

Vivienne is a character where the storytelling rule of Show, Don’t Tell is of vital importance. The Orlesian empire is an empire built around posturing and reputation. Nobody really shows their true motivations or character, and instead builds a public façade. It’s like how the Hanar (the Jellyfish people) in Mass Effect have a Public name they use in day-to-day life, and a Personal Name for their loved-ones and inner circle. Vivienne’s ‘Public Visage’ is that of Madame de Fer - this is the Vivienne who openly relishes in power, publicly humiliates grasping anklebiters with passive-aggressive retorts, the woman who is feared and loathed by all of Orlais, and this is the Face you see for most of the game.

The real beauty of Vivienne’s character and the reason why I love her as much as I do (which is to say - a LOT) are the few moments when - what’s the phrase DigitalSpy love so much - Her Mask Slips, and you get a glimpse of the real woman underneath the hennin.

This is the Vivienne who stands by you during the Siege of Haven and approves of you when you save the villagers from Corypheus’s horde.

This is the Vivienne who comforts you when you lament the losses you suffered.

This is the Vivienne who admires you for setting an example as a mage for the rest of Thedas.

This is the Vivienne who worries about Cole’s well-being during his personal quest, momentarily forgetting who or what he is. 

This is the Vivienne who, when her approval for the Inquisitor reaches rock bottom, desperately reminds him of the suffering mages go through on a day-to-day basis because of the fear and hatred non-mages are bred to feel towards them and how this can spiral into more bloodshed without safeguards. 

This is the Vivienne who shows how deep her affection for Bastien de Ghislain truly is, by bringing you along during his dying moments. I love this scene btw. This is the only moment in the entire game where Vivienne is actually herself in the presence of the Inquisitor - needless to say, I consider anyone who deliberately spikes her potion a motherfucking psychopath ^_^)

“There is nothing here now” fuck I *almost* cried at Vivienne, get out of my head BioWare, this is WRONG -- people who delude themselves this is an irredeemable character. 

So, who is Vivienne really?

Understanding Vivienne requires recognizing that the mask and the real woman aren’t the same person. I think her relationship with Dorian is the prime example of this. I love the Vivienne/Dorian banter train, obviously - an unstoppable force of sass colliding with an unmovable wall of smarm is nothing short of a spectacle. However, there’s more to it than their highly entertaining snipes. As the incredibly gifted son of a magister, Dorian represents everything Vivienne should despise, and should be a natural enemy to her. And yet, she doesn’t and he isn’t.. Their gilded japes at each other are nothing more than verbal sparring, not dissimilar to how Krem and Iron Bull call each other names when they beat each other with sticks. In what I think is one of the most brilliantly written interactions between characters in DAI, I present Vivienne’s reaction when the Inquisitor enters a romance with Dorian:

Vivienne: I received a letter the other day, Dorian. Dorian: Truly? It's nice to know you have friends. 🙄 Vivienne: It was from an acquaintance in Tevinter expressing his shock at the disturbing rumors about your... relationship with the Inquisitor. Dorian: Rumors you were only too happy to verify, I assume. 🙃 Vivienne: I informed him the only disturbing thing in evidence was his penmanship. 🙂 Dorian: ...Oh. Thank you. 😳 Vivienne: I am not so quick to judge, darling. See that you give me no reason to feel otherwise.

Madame de Fer can never be seen directly expressing approval to a relationship between the Herald of Andraste and an ‘Evil’ Tevinter ’Magister’. By this subtle, subtle conversation, Vivienne indirectly tells Dorian that she considers him a good match for the Inquisitor and approves of the romance. It’s one of those reasons why I could never truly dislike Vivienne - between the layers of elegant poison lies a somewhat decent woman who never loses sight of the bigger picture. Not a good person maybe, but not one without some redeeming qualities.

The crux of Vivienne’s personality is that she, like all DAI companions, is a social outcast. She’s a mage in a fantasy setting where mages are psionically linked to demons, and grew up in a country where the majority religion has openly advocated the shunning and leashing of mages (’Magic exists to serve man’ - the Chantry is so, so vile in this game.). Vivienne’s “gift” was discovered so early in her life that she can barely remember her parents. Vivienne grew up in a squalid boarding school, learning from a young age that she’s dangerous and her talents need to be tamed and curbed. She is also terrified of demons, as her banters with Cole point out:

Cole: You're afraid. You don't have to be. Vivienne: My dear Inquisitor, please restrain your pet demon. I do not want it addressing me. Inquisitor: He's not doing any harm, Vivienne. Vivienne: It's a demon, darling. All it can do is harm. Cole: Everything bright, roar of anger as the demon rears. No, I will not fall. No one will control me ever again. Cole: Flash of white as the world comes back. Shaking, hollow, Harrowed, but smiling at templars to show them I'm me. Cole: I am not like that. I can protect you. If Templars come for you, I will kill them. Vivienne: Delightful. 😑

Vivienne’s Harrowing is implied to have been such a traumatizing event to her that she’s developed a pavlovian fear of demons ever since. (Hence her hostility towards Cole.). Vivienne is fully aware of the inherent dangers of magic, and projects this onto all other mages. 

Besides, given how Dragon Age has a history with mages doing all sorts of fucked up shit, ranging from blood magic, murder, demonic possession and actual terrorism (yes, *ElthinaBITCH* had it coming, but let’s not pretend like Anders/Justice was anything other than a terrorist), Vivienne’s policies of controlled monitoring and vigilance are actually significantly more sensible than the options of ‘unconditionally freeing every mage all over Thedas’ and ‘reverting back to the status quo before the rebellion’. They’re flawed policies, obviously. When Vivienne says “mages” she pictures faceless silhouettes foremost and not herself. Regardless, unlike Cassandra and Leliana, Vivienne is aware of the fear others harbour for her kind, and how hard it is to overcome such perceptions.  

Additionally, Vivienne’s a foreigner. She is an ethnic Rivaini, a culture associated with smugglers and pirates (Isabela from DAO and DA2 is half-Rivaini). This adds an additional social stigma, again pointed out by Cole:

Cole: Stepping into the parlor, hem of my gown snagged, no, adjust before I go in, must look perfect. Vivienne: My dear, your pet is speaking again. Do silence it. Cole: Voices inside. Marquis Alphonse. Cole: "I do hope Duke Bastien puts out the lights before he touches her. But then, she must disappear in the dark." Cole: Gown tight between my fingers, cold all over. Unacceptable. Wheels turn, strings pull. Cole: He hurt you. You left a letter, let out a lie so he would do something foolish against the Inquisition. A trap. Vivienne: Inquisitor, as your demon lacks manners, perhaps you could get Solas to train it.

This is the only palpable example of the casual racism Vivienne has to endure on a daily basis - Marquis Alphonse is a stupid, bigoted pillowhead who sucks at The Game, but remember - Vivienne only kills him if the Inquisitor decides to be a butthurt thug. She is aware that for every Alphonse, there are dozens of greasy sycophants who think exactly like he does, and will keep it under wraps just to remain in her good graces. 

Finally, there’s the social position Vivienne manufactured for herself, which is the weak point towards her character imo. Remember, this woman is a commoner by birth. She doesn’t even have a surname. Through apparently sheer dumb luck (or satanic intervention) she basically fell into the position of Personal Mage to the Duke of Ghislain. Regardless, ‘Personal mages’ were the rage in Orlesian nobility, and the prestigious families owned by them like one may own a pet or personal property. By somehow becoming Bastien de Ghislain’s mistress and using his influence, "Madame de Fer” liberated herself from all the social stigmata which should have pinned her down into a lowly courtier rank and turned the largely ceremonial office of “Court Enchanter” into a position of respect and power. This is huge move towards mage emancipation by the way, in a society where, again, Mages are feared and shunned and are constantly bullied, emasculated and taught to hate their talents. Vivienne is a shining example of what mages can become at the height of their power. Power she has, mind you, never actually abused before her Divine election. Vivienne’s actions will forever be under scrutiny not because of who she is, but because of what she is. The Grand Game can spit her out at any moment, which will likely result in her death. 

Inquisitor: “You seem to be enjoying yourself, Vivienne?” Vivienne: “It’s The Game, darling. If I didn’t enjoy it, I’d be dead by now.”

Whether Vivienne was using Bastien for her own gain or whether she truly loved him isn’t a case of or/or. It’s a case of and/and. The perception that she was using Bastien makes Vivienne more fearsome and improves her position in the Grand Game, but deep down, I have no doubts truly loved him. Remember, Vivienne’s position at the Orlesian court was secure. She had nothing to gain by saving Bastien’s life, but she attempted to anyway. That Bastien’s sister is a High Cleric doesn’t matter - Vivienne can be elected Divine regardless of her personal quest’s resolution. She loved him, period. 

No, I don’t think Vivienne is a good person. She treats those she deems beneath her poorly, like Sera, Solas, Cole and Blackwall (characters I like less than Vivienne), which I think is the #1 indicator for a Bad Personality. But I don’t think she qualifies as ‘Evil’ either and I refuse to dismiss the beautiful layering of her character. I genuinely believe Vivienne joined the Inquisition not just for her personal gain, but also out of idealism, similar to Dorian (again, Cole is 100% correct in pointing out the similarities between Dorian’s and Vivienne’s motivations for joining, as discomforting it is to her). 

In her mind, Vivienne sees herself as the only person who can emancipate the mages without bloodshed - her personal accomplishments at the Orlesian court speak for themselves. Vivienne isn’t opposed to mage freedom - she worries for the consequences of radical change, as she believes Orlesian society unprepared for the consequences. Hence why she’s perfectly fine with a Divine Cassandra. Hence why her fellow mages immediately elect her Grand Enchanter of the new Circle. 

Hence why Vivienne is so terrified by the Inquisitor’s actions if her disapproval gets too low. The Inquisitor has the power to completely destroy everything she has built and fought for during her lifetime. Remember: Vivienne’s biggest fear is irrelevance - there’s no greater irrelevance than having your life achievements reverse-engineered by the accidental stumbling of some upstart nobody. This is the real reason why she joins, risks her life and gets her hands dirty - the only person whose competence Vivienne trusts, is Vivienne’s own. 

Even as Divine Victoria, I’d say she’s not bad, at all actually. Vivienne has the trappings of an an Enlightened Despot, maintaining full control, while simultaneously granting mages more responsibility and freedom, slowly laying the foundations to make mages more accepted and less persecuted in southern Thedas. Given that Ferelden is a feudal fiefdom and Orlais is an absolute monarchy, this is a fucking improvement are you kidding me. (Wait did he just imply Vivienne is secretly the best Divine - hmm, probably not because Cass/Leliana have better epilogues - but realistically speaking, yes, Viv should be the best Divine and it’s bullshit that the story disagrees.) 

Underneath the countless layers of smarm, frost and seeming callousness, lies a fiercely intelligent and brave woman, whose ideals have been twisted into perversion by the cruel, ungrateful world around her. Envy her for her ability to control her destiny, but know that envy is what it is.  

The flaw in Vivienne’s character isn’t so much the ‘tyranny’ or the ‘bitchiness’ or the 'smarm’. Her flaw is her false belief that she is what the mages need the most. Her belief that her competence gives her the prerogative to serve the unwashed mage masses... by ruling over them. For all intents and purposes, Vivienne is an Orlesian Magister and this will forever be the brilliant tragedy of her character. She was created by a corrupt institution that should, by all accounts fear and loathe her but instead embraced her. It’s that delirious irony that makes Vivienne de Fer one of the best fictional characters in RPG history.  the next post will be Eurovision-related. :-) 

[bookwyrminspiration]

(pyro here! this is very ramble-y so no obligation to read through, but im constantly thinking about the council and cant help myself)

im not sure how to start this, but there's a phrase from a song i like that i feel really describes the council, in a way? said phrase is "now, sympathy has no place in a righteous heart" and i feel like that just...really fits with the council as a whole, kinda?

im sorry for being a broken record at this point, but i find it endlessly fascinating how the council is more and more divorced from what you'd imagine them to be (in the earlier books you'd expect them to be good and kind bc Good Government but they're actually pretty horrible, and then in legacy they're actually working with the crew and are very much people, and then the oralie reveal that just sets you right back and the whole thing with kenric. just. yeah.)

like, they seem to think they're in the right, since because they're working to make their world better, but they definitely don't care about the fine details as long as everything is running smoothly on the surface (like how exillium and banishment is a thing that happens to children.) even if some are hurt by what they do, the council are still duty-bound to do what's needed to keep their people safe, and if they have to sacrifice a minority for what they think is the correct course of action, they won't be afraid to take it.

i think it's a neat detail. like, i dont think SM did it on purpose, but it's still cool to think about!

also the lyric is from the song comfort zone by ferry. sorry for the really rable-y ask with zero point to it though :|

pyro you need to stop apologizing for talking about the things that interest you /srs. You aren’t bothering me, it’s not too much. I genuinely love receiving your asks, and I love reading rambles /g (all of this is /nm and gentle btw)

you’re absolutely right, when you first start reading the books there’s this idea of ah yes, everything is perfect. Everything is working well. Including the government. They’re kind, benevolent, righteous leaders whose goodness spreads to the people and world and make it better. And then you look a little closer and see wait a minute, it’s all an illusion.

they make decisions that negatively affect the main character, they have no qualms with leaving a few out of the group to fend for themselves (exillium) for the sake of maintaining this illusion of perfection and protecting others. Good of the group is greater than that of the individual.

then Sophie starts working with them more closely and you see they’re really…human. (As in real people. I know they’re elves). They debate their decisions, they talk them out and consult others. They put things to a vote. They delegate tasks. Which in a way, can make it more horrifying because those decisions they made were intentional. It wasn’t just a backhanded “uh maybe do that and it’ll help,” it was a deliberate, conscious, agreed upon choice.

And maybe it reveals a skewed sense of right and wrong. They think they’re helping but really they’re just covering up problems that will fester beneath the surface. Or maybe the morality of their decisions is the further thing from their mind. They just want certain results and do whatever it takes to get them regardless of the implications. Sophie’s ability restrictor might be a good example of that. Locking away her powers and badly affecting the functioning of her body (with headaches and nausea) doesn’t matter to them. It’s not ideal, but not a dealbreaker. It got her to stop using her powers as long as she was wearing it, so it was worth it and the right decision to most of them. It fixed some of their interspecies problems too.

it probably wasn’t intentional, but it fascinating to think about the elven government. All the little details and things that were probably never even meant to be thought about but provide so much depth.

it’s a really interesting topic of conversation, so thank you for bringing it up!! I’m always down to talk about the council /g

[jaynovz]

Black Sails night with Lauren @boatsfordays

2.3

Miranda gives James Don Quixote: -Lauren starts singing the man of la mancha(1972)- “I actually hate that show”

Vane’s crew “that guy needs a shower... yeah I don’t think those are purposeful dreadlocks”

Ned Lowe talking about how Vane is the one you don’t fuck with

Lauren: thank you for noticing that I’m a bad bitch

about Vane and Eleanor “Oh he’s conflictedddd. tough pirate side doesn’t want to but lover boy side wants to win her over”

about MaxAnne sex scene re: cunnilingus “her face is uhhh not low enough for that. I mean I know it’s acting but...”

Flint and Silver going ashore “Oh is it just the two of them together on shore? ohhh this is where the ship really starts to sail huh? I seeeee” (indeeeeed)

“Max is calling Vane out how he’s simping in 4k”

Flint: He must be removed from that fort:

“ohhh boy I don’t think that’s gonna happen. and Flint doesn’t know about that other captain that’s giving her trouble that Vane is trying to fix”

James opens door to Miranda “he looks so confused lol”

“he look so young without his beard”

about Miranda “she being sus”

Hornigold: how can you stand so close to him knowing what he’s done and sooner or later you’ll be next?

Lauren: cuz he wants to fuck.

Silver: five million pieces of eight

Lauren: nah it’s ass reasons

about the fort nonsense “Flint does Not want to deal with this right now, he is so annoyed”

about Jack failing to get a new crew “just stay in the brothel, live a happy brothel life. You’re doing so well there!”

“There’s a lot of simping happening in this show. it causes ppl to make questionable decisions” (listen you’re not wrong)

about Jack and Vane public reconciliation: “Jack’s like ‘I dunno if I should be excited or terrified. I’m a little afraid of getting my heart broken, please don’t break my heart sir.’ are they gonna hug, are they gonna make out. OH THEY HUGGED IT HAPPENED”

about James “he does not look like a good kisser” (RUDE)

about Toby Stephens/Flint  “listen here’s the thing, I support him, no okay I do not support him, but like, red head solidarity. But like, I can’t. He looks like my father, that’s what my dad looks like. His like freckle situation is the same freckle situation as my dad. It’s never gonna happen” (I was fucking LOSING IT)

“Everybody wants to be at sea, why?? it’s scary”

about new low “what is going on with his teeth”

“They don’t play music on the action scenes and it makes them way scarier”

“Eleanor are you still sure this is the business you want to be in?”

“Vane def had that ‘I’m bout to get LAID’ look in his eye”

“Why does everyone want to sail?? they had a good thing goin”

“Jack needs Max to show him her ways so he can be better at sex. Jack needs a teaching session” (lmaooooooooo)

(Lauren is cheering for the MaxAnneJack ot3)

“Everyone is getting laid this episode... except for Flint” (I meannnn James got laid in the flashback)

About Flint and Silver: “Is it time for them to fuck now? I mean this is the fuck episode, everybody simping in 4k”

“I guess not... Flint is still upset that he’s stuck with Silver as his new right hand man. Silver has too much sass for him, he’s too young. Flint is not here for it” (BAHAHAHAHA Lauren’s commentary is always So Interesting)

Flint speech “is he LYING to them AGAIN. This motherfucker”

“Oh god he’s goin after Vane, this is not good, don’t do it”

“Oh Flint has nice handwriting”

about Flint and Vane “Why can’t they just be friends??” 

2.4

“I still don’t like Flint, I don’t want him to succeed. He has not done anything to make me like him.” (HARSH but I get it) 

“This is so stressful, I would not want to live this life”

MaxAnneJack morning after “many feet! they had a good time”

“More peen! they like to show his peen don’t they, that’s the second time” (this is about Jack naked LOL)

“My prediction is that Jack is going to be the key to all this, the one to devise a plan and take Flint down. Jack is my favorite character btw” 

“Yeah Vane sucks but he’s not a manipulator. He’s straightforward, you know what he’s about--super violent and kinda rash but he’s not a liar. 

But Flint is like a big time liar and manipulator (Me: so is Silver) yeah but he’s not the Captain, he’s just tryna get by, survive, make some money and maybe get his dick wet” (BAHAHAHHA that’s... not a bad summary)

“stupiddd... stupid men oh my god”

(Me: I’m really fascinated that you like Vane more than Flint, I wonder if that will change)

“Well, there’s some honor among pirates and Vane understands that and Flint does NOT”

Do you see me as the villain here? convo: “Yeah you are the villain sir. but it’s okay he wants to fuck the villain. Sorry... I just like viewing everything through a horny lens” (pffffft eyes emoji)

“I like this trio. I want them all to be happy and I want them to succeed more than anyone” (about MaxAnneJack)

“His hair is so curly and clean wtf”

“Jack has so many conflicted feelings about Max, I mean I don’t blame him. She’s fuckin his girl but also she’s helping him.” 

about Alfred Hamilton, “-sarcastic- well doesn’t he look like a pleasant person”

‘James is like ‘don’t do it ho don’t do it’ and Thomas is like ‘I did it’ ” (about Thomas telling his dad about the pardons)

“I mean... I agree with him too but it’s not gonna go well” (about James talking shit at Alfred Hamilton)

About shelling the fort “Flint listen to Mr. Scott, he’s right. You better back down sir but I know you’re not going to... oh god, he can’t. oh godddddd”

--

Lauren’s larger thoughts right now:

“Okay okay so Flint and Silver are both manipulators, but they’re in different ways right?”

“Okay so we know what’s up with Silver right? He wants to get rich, he’s not a man in power, he’s just the cook, he’s not responsible for the good of the crew. Okay he has some power but it’s subtle. He wants to get his money and get out. And I can sort of like... I get that, that’s forgivable to me. He’s a sneaky little shit who’s going to keep doing sneaky little shit things.”

“But FLINT. He’s in power, he has so much responsibility, and he’s using his crew for his own purposes. He’s like, lying to them constantly and using them and he killed his best friend. It’s really shitty, like way shittier to me. He’s so like... dishonorable.”

[silverducks]

Game of Thrones - Jaime Lannister

A rambling character study of Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones.

Part 1a – Jaime’s Character Arc

This post is going to look at my thoughts on exactly how I see Jaime’s character arc in Game of Thrones, based on just the show. But it’s also to set up my future posts where I explain why I find it so darn hard to understand why he had the ending they gave him. At least beside the obvious - because the writers wanted to.

Yeah I know; I’m late to the GoT train wreck of a final series. But I have a lot of thoughts and hence why I’m here typing away.

(And this is where I start to really go all English Lit exam analysis on you, so a warning for anyone who actually might be reading this post, LOL!)

My Intro to this series of posts btw, is here.

So, spoilers be below.

Ok, so to help explain why Jaime’s ending makes no sense, I firstly need to explain what exactly his character arc is in the show, or at least how I perceive it. As mentioned in a previous post on honour vs loyalty, for Jaime I see his character arc being about two, interconnected things – redemption and identity.

In series 1 and 2, he’s not a nice character – he’s a self-righteous, proud, full of himself, snob. He’s arrogant and cocky and says pretty cruel, snide things to characters we do like. And as we see him through the PoV of characters like *Mr Honourable Eddard Stark, Jaime is pretty despicable to say the least. And that is before we even get started on the whole pushing a boy out of a window because he caught Jaime having sex with his own twin sister. Oh and just as an FYI, Jaime is also called the Kingslayer because he killed the King he was sworn to protect. So yeah, most people watching the show don’t like him at the start, and neither do most of the other show characters we do like.

And from a story telling perspective, Jaime’s character can either get worse, better or stay the same as the show goes on. And in this story, he gets better, with a few slip ups along the way, and it’s fascinating and glorious!!

Like, I can think of nothing that even comes close to the amazing way Jaime Lannister’s character develops in Game of Thrones and how we as a viewer change in our perception of him.

But that only makes his ending so much more frustrating and disappointing…

Before I start rambling away though, just as a point to note; I’m using terms like good and better person and right and wrong quite loosely here. Obviously the world, even in a fictional world, isn’t all that simple. As that would be a whole other massive thematic and philosophical thesis, and it’s not really that relevant, just take the “general” meaning of the ideas, but with the understanding I know it’s a bit more complicated. Where I think it does become more relevant, I’ll expand on the ideas in that particular context. If I sound a bit flippant at times, it’s because of the whole black vs white vs grey, and how there are “rules” in storytelling that wouldn’t necessary apply to our own, real life reality. There are things that we need to take into account when we analyse characters in stories vs actual, real people. And on a side note, this is one of my favourite things about Game of Thrones, the complexity and moral ambiguity of both its characters and its story themes. But yeah, that’s a whole thesis in its own right.)

Redemption Arc

So, redemption. In order for us to start to like this character, and see him as a good guy, he has to go through a redemption arc. Like pretty much rule number 1 of storytelling. That means we have to watch him and believe in him becoming a better person. Conversations like the whole oath vs oath issue, or his chat with his father about his nicknames in series 1 makes us take notice of a character, maybe even be more invested in a character and their shades of grey, but it’s not really redemption. And considering how far in debt he is in the good vs bad guy department, he has a lot of work to do.

And my goodness, he does it. Like, I mean, this guys’ redemption arc is astonishing! He goes through so much, rethinks and challenges everything he once thought/knew about himself and his world, faces all his past wrongs and bad character traits and becomes not even a better person, but a hero! He goes from a bad villain who kills kings and pushes kids from windows, to becoming one of the main heroes we’re rooting for by the end of the story.

(A quick disclaimer here, like I’m not saying Jaime is ever, or ever will be perfect, heck, he’s human and this is Game of Thrones and Jaime’s more messed up than most. But when you think back from where he started and where he’s been, it sure is impressive – if we ignore his actual ending that is, LOL!)

And his glorious redemption arc all pretty much starts around the time he starts his fun road trip with Brienne in series 3.

So, just to give a few of his finer redemption points (and just remember his series 1 and 2 actions and our opinion of him in contrast):

He stops Brienne from being raped and gets his hand cut off for the trouble (Ouch! But suffering, especially from doing something good, gives lots of redemption points.)

He risks his life to save Brienne from being mauled to death by a bear. Like, he’s recently lost his sword fighting hand and has no weapon, but he jumps in the bear pit anyway and puts himself between the bear and Brienne. He then helps Brienne out of the bear pit first and then only just makes it out alive himself. Oh and if that wasn’t enough, he basically tells the bad guys that he’s leaving with Brienne, or they will have to kill him. Like he says this to the guy who not so long ago chopped his hand off. (Just think on that one a minute ok.)

He keeps to his promise/oath to Catelyn Stark and continues to help her daughters by giving Brienne a priceless sword and some stunning armour so she can find and help them. (This also helps Brienne, because he knows she’s not safe in Kings Landing, and gives her a purpose, because he knows that’s what she needs.)

Firstly offers to sacrifice his own life needs and goals and those vows he’s now starting to hold more dear to save his brother. When said brother then screws up that opportunity, Jaime then also helps said brother escape from being killed, going against his sister and father, who want his brother dead. (Yeah, the Lannisters are an interesting family… And you wonder why Jaime is a little messed up?)

Takes RiverRun without any bloodshed. (Like pulls off the perfect bluff in GoT siege history so that he can make sure his army succeeds, but no one is killed. (I don’t count the Blackfish, who chose to fight to the death rather than escape/get taken prisoner.)

Joins the fight for the battle against the dead, even if it also means renouncing his entire house and lineage and putting himself at the mercy and judgement of pretty much all his enemies and all he has wronged. (One of which has a habit of roasting her enemies alive with Dragon fire)

Oh and also risks his life in above mentioned battle against the dead.

A pretty impressive list imho, lots of redemption points there and that’s not even including everything else he does. Following the general storytelling themes of forgiveness and redemption, Jaime basically ticks all the boxes by all the good deeds he’s now done. And that’s one of the major reasons why we as viewers now love him so much as a character.

But that’s not all, of course. As we discover also in series 3 (a pretty important series for our Jaime), it’s not even just about him doing good things, but we realise as an audience we’ve (intentionally by the show) completely misunderstood him! Yes, he did kill the King he was sworn to protect, but only because said King was mad and was about to blow up the entire capital city where hundreds of thousands of innocent people live. And not only did he do this incredible honourable thing, but because it did go against his vow as a Kings Guard, he’s ever since been derided as the Kingslayer, Oathbreaker, Man without honour. A horrible set of nicknames that he’s borne, because he doesn’t think people would care or understand anyway. (Of course, I want to add in here that it’s partly the negative trait of pride too, thinking himself as the Lannister Lion, above having to explain himself to the sheep.)

Anyway, all this has worn him down a lot over the years and it’s messed him up good and proper. It kinda makes your own initial dislike of Jaime through *Mr Honourable Eddard Stark’s eyes seem a little unfair. Especially when the guy was barely more than a kid at the time (16 or 17 I think). And his defence mechanism to deal with this is one of the reason’s he is so cocky and arrogant – he uses his dry, often cruel humour, to mask that he does actually still care. In fact, it’s worked so well, I think at the start of the show, Jaime believes it himself; that he is a horrible, hateful person. But he did have that honour inside of him once; he did care and try to do what was right. And when you think back to his scenes in series 1 and 2, they take on new meaning now. He’s no longer such an evil arrogant, cocky knight we all pretty much immediately hated.

And as this revelation happens around the same time as he starts doing all those good deeds, it all helps work together to make us re-evaluate Jaime and grow to love him and become invested in his redemption arc even more.

(*I feel the need to add a disclaimer here, I do like Ned Stark a lot as a character. But it is interesting that as the show goes on, he almost does the opposite to Jaime – we see he actually isn’t always as good as we thought, that perhaps honour tripped into bitterness and prejudice a few times. That perhaps Ned, as much as we like him, is less full white and more speckled in shades of grey after all...(which makes him a more interesting and nuanced character imho, so rather than undermine him, it makes him more human.))

And when I rethink Jaime’s scene with Robb Stark when he’s captured, where he gives Robb the choice of ending the war if Robb can beat him in single combat, well, it adds even more depth to his character. Of course, Jaime knew he would likely win, as did Robb, so Robb refused. And as a viewer who was all Stark=Good, Lannister=Evil (except Tyrion) at the time, I was glad Robb wasn’t stupid or arrogant enough, like the Kingslayer Mr Jaime Lannister, to fall for that.

But then I remember the parallel in series 6, when Jon Snow (Stark=Good) gives exactly the same choice to Ramsay Bolton (Bolton=Spawn of Satan). Ramsay can either fight Jon in single combat, or they can all send their troops to die in their war. And as a viewer now, NOW! I think Ramsay is weak and awful for not agreeing (because he knows he can’t win too) and so sending all these soldiers to an early grave. Which is like 100% opposite for pretty much the same scenario of its series 2 counterpart. Of course, we HATE Ramsay and he has no, I mean literary NO! redeeming qualities, unlike Jaime, who we never, ever hated in the same way. But it does make you think about the whole idea of perception as well as actual deeds here. And that actually Jaime, you could argue, was doing the honourable thing by asking Robb for single combat, to spare the lives of both of their armies… I mean, obviously he wants to win the war, but maybe, he also wanted to spare as many lives as he could, too – like Jon in the series 6 equivalent. Maybe not so arrogant a request from our Jaime after all…

And another point to add in here, which further adds up to Jaime’s redemption arc, is Lady Brienne of Tarth. Yes, I’ve saved her to last for a reason, as she is, imho, THE catalyst for this amazing change we see in Jaime. If you’ll notice, a lot of Jaime’s good deeds involve Brienne and start happening around the time the two characters meet. And that very fact further proves that Jaime was and can be a better person.

He does not like her at first and she’s not quite your typical maiden. Not only is she a “beast” (to quote Jaime), but she’s a fighter, full of honour, self-sacrifice and steadfast in her purpose, and more than a match for him. Oh and she’s also his captor, dragging him to Kings Landing with a rope around his hands so they can trade him for the Stark girls.

So yeah, not the most cordial of first meetings. He pokes fun at her, trying to get her to snap, to prove she’s not as good as she seems. But she doesn’t, because she is that person, she is true to herself and not pretending. Unlike so many people Jaime knows, she is genuine.  

And he’s impressed by her skill and courage as a fighter as well. She is able to best him in the sword fight (granted when his hands are tied and he’s been sat in a cage for over a year, but he is like renowned for being one of the best sword fighters in the entire realm). Also when she fought the men who had murdered the women they found hung along the road – both as justice and to give the murdered woman a proper burial. She isn’t all talk, she can, and does fight. I bet Jaime wasn’t expecting that! And as sword fights are his thing, what he pretty much defines himself by and is most proud of, that’s a pretty big for tick from Jaime for Brienne right there.

Basically, she is a) an honourable person b) sticks to her oaths c) also able to fight (and therefore protect people) and d) refuses to let him get the better of her. The perfect, chivalrous embodiment of a brave, honourable Knight. A true Knight in all but name, whilst Jaime is now a Knight in nothing but name.

Now, I’ll discuss this more in the identity arc bit, but basically all this challenges Jaime, makes him rethink his own bitter images of himself and his world. She reminds him of his younger self, when he wanted to be that honourable Knight. And seeing this reflection of his younger, naïve and less world weary version of himself in Brienne, it helps to trigger this change in Jaime. It makes him remember who he once was, what he once stood for and believed in; that ideal that Jaime once believed is actually possible - of the brave, worthy Knight people sing songs about. And it started to make him want to be that person again. And this in turn, makes him want to start to do the right thing, to start to put honour first, which paves the way for his redemption arc very nicely.

I won’t talk too much more about Brienne here, because I think her relationship with and influence on Jaime deserves its own post. But I do think it is the specific personality of Brienne, together with the very fact that she is an ugly, “beast” of a woman, that triggers Jaime’s arc in just the right way and enables it to be so profound.

One last note on his redemption – I’ve said before it was partly his Lannister Lion pride that caused some of his suffering in relation to his nicknames. And indeed part of his arrogance is because he does think he’s better than everyone else (although not to the extent we first thought). He is the Lannister’s golden son after all and the Lannisters are basically the most powerful and wealthiest House in Westeros. It is a bad trait, yeah. But even this, even this! gets sorted out in series 8. From my list of redemption points, see the second to last point above – he faces judgement. Like a guy who had too much pride to admit he actually killed a King to help save hundreds of thousands of lives, actually, of his own volition, faces his enemies to be judged and to atone for what he has done wrong. Yeah, he also offers excuses at said trail, but if I’m honest, they do sound quite genuine to me. Is it any worse than what your typical soldier would do in a time of war? Fight in a battle and kill people? Try to capture the person (Ned) who’s wife captured your brother to avert a war? And we already know now he was justified in his killing of the mad King.

So, all in all, with this new insight into Jaime’s character, especially also seeing him through the increasingly positive eyes of Brienne (more on that later), who we know really is good and honourable, we have both a better understanding of his past actions, see his ongoing internal struggles and conflicts as he strives to do what is right and along with all his good deeds as the show goes on, we see him slowly (with lots of unfortunate set backs as well) become a better person. So come series 8, his redemption arc up to THAT scene, is glorious and basically complete.

And then there’s his identity arc. The other side of his character development, which is just as important for me and very much interconnected with his redemption.

(Like, seriously, there’s so much going on with this character that I could write essays, no a whole thesis I bet! I seriously can’t wait until I get to read him and Brienne’s chapters in the books and discover even more sides and shades to this character.)

But I’ve rambled on for far longer than I intended on his redemption arc, so I’ll save his identity arc for another day. (And hopefully it won’t be as long). Then we can get into the fun stuff like that hand he lost, that famous bath scene and his, how to put this, interesting relationship with his sister…

#If you were brave enough to get this far #Thanks for reading #And hope this made sense #Just my rambling thoughts #Yeah, I have a lot

[ihopethisendswell]

My Computer Is Terrible So I'm Stating My Story Ideas Here Part 10: The Part 2 of the other Part

So so so

Part 2 of the other part which is part 9 and this is part 10 so it's a sequel part

Okay okay okay

Here we go!

Going full ramble again! You have been warned!

So right now Leon, Sonia and Raihan aren't on the best terms after their Big Fight™

So except some back handed insults now and again.

And soon they get to the point where they're just tearing at each other

But not yet

That's for later :)

But they still have to co-op to together if they want to save their kingdom

So yeah they're pretty sour at the moment

They eventually reach the sea side where the ordered(?) a ship to reach to Eternatus. Cause it's on a isolated island

And the ship captain is none other than Nessa, the most feared captain of them all.

She takes after her cousin Archie

Yes I'm making them cousins in this Au fight me

She is often called The Siren given her beauty and deadliness

So why would she be the one to help a royal like Leon

Well she was the only one willing to go and Leon had to pay a lot to get her to cooperate so-

Yeah

But you'll never guess who else is one the ship

Hop and co!

The only reason they're even on I'd because Piers is friends with Nessa

They go way back

So it's like a favour or something

Now Hop didn't know that Leon was going on this specific ship

So you could imagine the reunion

Leon isn't happy btw

Bede is being smug about it like " I told you so" but Marnie shuts him up

Piers tries to defend Hop which honestly cause Leon to relent

So now not only Sonia is with them, but now three teenagers and a thief( I decided to make Piers the head of a big thieves guild....and possibly former duke?)

Which is just so many casualties

This is the part where we really drive home that Leon has this unhealthy way of thinking that he has to take care of everything as king.

This as always been a thing, since his parents died and Rose ( unintentional or not) telling him that everything is on him, and only him.

He didn't even want Raihan to come since he feared how would get hurt or worse

But Raihan is a strong fighter, the best in the kingdom so he can count on him

But Sonia? Sonia quitted becoming a knight a long time ago. She may know the basics but she can't really hold her own

At least that what he thinks

And now his precious little brother is one the same ship with him plus Roses mentor and two thieves( though they do seem chill)

He can't risk them getting hurt. He can't

But we don't have time to unpack all of that!

Cause ya wanna know who else is on the ship? Alexis and co! Boom!

But they actually snuck on because they heard this ship was going where they needed to go to save Naomi and honesty they rather not pay so-

Sneaking it is! Though it's hard cause N is very tall and green hair is quite noticable

But they manage

Until Alexis hears Hop trying to explain why he's on the ship in the first place

And he mentions word of a girl named Naomi

Who is his cousin( I should mention that in Alexis' and Elliot's dream Naomi tells them her name for reference)

Tis triggers something in Alexis and causes his powers to go haywire

Causing him to expose himself and the other two

And everyone is about to attack him cause he's an intruder

And Elliot gets defensive cause " that's my brother you fuckers!"

And N is trying to calm the situation down ( as a means to not get anyone hurt and to atone for his actions as a former prince)

Then Leon is like " wait your the guy from the market!" And before Alexis can respond his powers end up sparking a lot which causes him to double over in pain

And by this point Elliot is panicking cause her brother could possibly die

N is trying to heal him but him alone isn't enough

Then Bede says he could help!

And it's revealed that the boy is half fae!!! Since his hair covered up his ears most of the time!!!

He was told to repress his fae side by Rose in fear of getting hurt( and that having a fae would cause some chaos that he can't control and Rose must have control over thingd to make sure things are good)

So Bede and N heal him, Bede being half fae REALLY helps

So much so that it seems that whenever Alexis uses his powers they don't hurt him as much as it did before

Which is cool and all but he can't really in a child forever that would be wrong

So for now it's a temporary solution

Now everyone is a bit calm now, minus the million questions that Hop and Sonia is asking Alexis

Eventually the two parties( Alexis and Hop) spill they're story and when Alexis confirms that Naomi is very much real Hop is overjoyed and is like " See!!! I told you!! I told you she was real!!!" And everyone rightfully apologizes to Hop

Honestly the revelation that Naomi is in fact real made is already terrible mental state worse cause that means he's been discouraging his little brother for so long and he starts going through what Alexis went through in game canon as " What if I was a better brother,"

And Nessa is over here a bit annoyed that there's a bunch more people than expected but Leon reassures her that they'll pay more and Sonia suggest that they'll work on the ship as well and Nessa ain't complaining to that!( Especially because one of them is a cute red head)

So now bonding time!

Leon, Raihan and Sonia still aren't on the best terms

In fact they've been avoiding each other a lot

They're all stubborn

Though they do miss each other a lot

Hop and Sonia bombard Alexis with questions that he honestly doesn't know the answer to

Elliot is a bit of flirt, flirting with both Nessa and Sonia

She managed to get Nessa flustered at some point and will never live it down

But then she notices that the two of them have a connection and she's like " oh I see" and she's not even mad about cause that just means she has more victims to tease endlessly

Which also somehow worked into them getting together but that's for later

Marnie forces to Bede and Hop to talk out they're issues cause she's grown tired of it, and they do and reach a better understanding of each other

Hop the tells them about Naomi and about his dreams

They take it the wrong way, because of course they do, but he assures them that he only see's her as a friend.

Marnie is shown to be the most curious about who Naomi is.

Raihan and Piers start to bond

Piers was a former duke of a failing/dying nation(? Idk what to call it) and had to resort to thievery the keep things a float. Hence meeting Nessa

He doesn't hate Leon by any means but is always ready to point out his privileged lifestyle before bonding with Leon himself as older brothers

He also bonds with Alexis and Elliot for their mutual love for music

This is where the shipping starts

Alexis and Leon haven't properly interacted before this point. It's mostly small talk

But! Leon has always been fascinated by Alexis, given his tendency to keep to himself and his curse

So one night on deck Leon wakes up( woke up from a nightmare of loosing everyone. Y'know. The usual) and was about to go back to bed when he hears singing

At first he thought it was Piers,as he's known to sing and they've all heard him sing before BUT!

When he listens closely he realizes that it's not Piers

So he goes out to investigate

And it's revealed to be Alexis!!!

And his voice is so beautiful!!!

It's a contrast to his speaking voice , while still quite, his singing voice is more softer and smooth.

His singing voice is much more sadder than his usual stoic monotone voice

And Leon is completely enamored.

Not to mention that Alexis isn't wearing his cloak that covers the majority his body, so this is the first time Leon has gotten a clear view of him and

The man is , mm, I would say infatuated. A small crush begins to form

Alexis' song is a sad one

He sings about the pain he's going through and how he wishes he didn't involve those he cares about

Which really spoke to Leon. Like a lot

Because parelles babeyyyy

But when Alexis notices Leon's snooping he calls him out, pretty embarrassed

Cause the only person he ever sang in front of is Elliot, Cheren, Bianca and his parents

So having Leon there, a stranger,is embarrassing

Not to mention that he's not very proud of his appearance via the curse

He's been called a monster by someone on the ship prior and while Nessa was quick to snap at that person it still took a blow to his already low self-confidence

Leon begs to differ but he doesn't know that, and even if he did it's more of a him thing that he needs to get over .

After a quick back and forth they end up talking and just....spilling everything

Alexis talks about his time as a chosen one, his battle with Ghetsis, his scar his curse, and especially his want to do this alone to protect others

While Leon talks about his fight with Raihan and Sonia, the disconnect between the three, how he feels like an awful older brother to Hop, the pressure if being a king after his parents, the guilt he feels for dragging everyone into this mess

Both of them don't know why they're saying this. They're both pretty secretive about how they truly feel, but it's incredibly late, and the two are in a vulnerable spot so it kinda just comes out

After a while they both go to bed with a strange but welcomed friendship!

I just wanna say, if I ever do write this, it's not gonna be entirely romance focused.

The ships will be there, but like, the amount of character set-up I did prior demands a lot more attention soooooo

Especially with Sonia, Raihan and Leon's whole conflict!

I hope I didn't misrepresent their characters here!

But yeah

This got very long very fast so part 3 is in order!

TDLR: Leon and Alexis needs a hug, and I feel like this is going to be a series within a series

[tsuki-sennin]

Mina-san, bonne lecture~! (Tsuki recaps his feelings about Kamen Rider Saber, a personal essay.)

So, Saber... what a wild ride it's been, huh? Just a quick heads up, this is very long and rambling, and also contains spoilers for everything in Saber. It's fine if you don't wanna read all this, but I just wanted to get my thoughts out there.

TL:DR, Kamen Rider Saber's an undercooked hot mess I absolutely adore, warts and all.

Speaking as objectively as possible, it's a 6/10. Probably closer to a 5 than a 7... it's not great: All the different plot elements are cluttered and weirdly paced; character focus is disjointed and clearly biased toward certain characters, leaving great ones like Kento and Ogami, interesting ones like Kamijo and Hayato, and underdeveloped ones like Sophia and especially the Shindais in the dust; not to mention its balance of comedy and drama is off, and while both are very effective, there's a lot of mood whiplash that can take you out of the story. I also feel like a lot of the easily avoidable character conflict could've been easily resolved, even in universe, by simple conversations. Be careful Fukuda, I think Inoue might sue you if he finds out you've been biting his style and doing it worse.

Rider shows have a very frustrating tendency to drop cool form ideas and not do anything with them, and I don't think it's ever been more the case than with Saber. There's a similar argument to be made with the majority of Heisei Phase 2 after Gaim, but wow. The suits are expensive to make without just straight up recycling everything, I get that, but man, I really wanted to see more Wonder Rider forms. How come Touma got all the fun, eh? Of note are the Blades King of Arthur forms (which look amazing by the way), Espada's Jaaku Dragon forms (one of which I even drew last night), even the non-elemental random Wonder Ride Books all have awesome design elements that go tragically unused. Even if the other Swordsmen just kinda have the ones they do get to use slapped onto them, that's at least something. Touma also just straight up only uses Diago Speedy twice and never again. You have cool props guys, don't waste them like that!

Speaking of waste, Espada, goddamn. Since most of the Wonder Ride Books are Story Type and he needs one very specific Story Book to transform, he doesn't get much of... anything, really! No Wonder Rider forms like Blades, Lamp Do Cerberus being exclusive to Ganbarizing, only getting to use the Ride Gatriker like once, he even spends the second and third arcs as a completely different Rider, then once he comes back he doesn't get a King of Arthur-granted upgrade or even a Necrom Espada form. ...at least, not yet anyway. I'm holding out hope for Espada x Necrom and the eventual Saber V-Cinemas. Extra Rider stans, we will be well respected someday.

The Unreal Engine CGI used for fights in early Chapters was pretty good but wow it feels disconnected and they really drop it quick. I feel like if the animators had more freedom to use as many forms as they want, we'd have gotten a lot more mileage out of the books beyond... decoration basically. I actually really liked the CGI sequences, they felt creative and were fun to follow along with.

The soundtrack is pretty great on its own and conveys what it needs to, but they seriously overplay the orchestral themes. It honestly feels kind of... stock at times. I think my favorite parts of the score are when it winds down, since it feels a lot more natural and lets the cinematographers and actors speak for themselves.

As awesome as I think Falchion's design and the Mumeiken Kyomu are, The Phoenix Swordsman and the Book of Ruin comes up short as its own standalone thing. You'd think 30 or so minutes of non-stop action would be awesome, and it almost is? It's as good as a typical episode of the series with a higher action budget, but it kinda drags on a bit too long; and although I think Emotional Dragon looks cool, it feels a bit tacked on. Coming off of the incredible Zero-One REAL×TIME, it doesn't give you much room to breathe, which Rider films are typically great at handling. I also thought the resolution for the kid's subplot was kinda forced. He does an okay job at acting considering his age and doesn't overstay his welcome, but I really don't see how 20 minutes of violence and action is enough to convince him to be brave enough to go play with the other kids. 5/10, it's closer to a 4 than a 6 and I think that maybe Zero-One should've stood on its own if they really had to push back Kiramager Bee-Bop Dream because of the pandemic.

Alright, with all that said... As imperfect and undercooked Saber was, like Ghost I can consider it a personal favorite, 10/10. Call it a guilty pleasure if you want, but holy hell it's just the show I needed. Takuro Fukuda has a talent for creating fun, wonderful characters and utterly fascinating worldbuilding and concepts. It's a shame he doesn't utilize them fully, but hey!

The action and fight choreography are pretty top notch as usual. Lots of beautiful shot composition and set pieces, and plenty of great angles to help keep up with the extra busy action. I love watching the suit actors perform and they deserve all the respect in the world for their hard work in those hot, sweaty, and heavy costumes. Their visual design is also top notch, with lots of unique and fascinating forms and cool weapons I desperately want to play with despite being broke, all with spectacular finishers and hype jingles with the voice of Akio motherfucking Ohtsuka calling them out. A real feast for the eyes. Not a single bad suit among them, yeah I said it, fight me.

The crossover specials are soooo good too.

-I went over my feelings on the Zenkaiger crossover episodes in a separate post (good luck finding that btw), but to sum it up, they were great character moments for Zox and the Shindai siblings with lots of great screwball comedy and some good old fashioned meta humor.

-The Ghost crossovers are great little side stories all about how Daitenku Temple somehow had the Ghost Ijunroku Wonder Ride Book? I genuinely have no idea why it was there, or how Makoto had the Specter Gekikou Senki, and as far as I remember neither of their origins are explained. Did Luna or Tassel hand them off to them and told them to wait for a sword guy? And why do these generic French Revolution Gamma villains working for Danton get their asses handed to them so easily by Kanon, who literally just became a Rider? I thought that Makoto deciding to adopt all the Kanon clones into his family was both hilarious and adorable though; considering all the crap they went through, I think it was a good ending to this plot. Gimme Espada x Necrom already Toei/Bandai/Fukuda/whoever I need to yell at, give Kento things to do, I beg you.

-I haven't actually seen Super Hero Senki since it's not available for subbing yet, but apparently there's a Journey to the West plot starring the Taros and Ohma Zi-O and I want to see that so badly.

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra? Yoohei Kawakami? A match made in heaven, that's what they are. All of their themes are absolute bangers. All of them. Almighty, Kamen Rider Saber, Sparks, Taju Rokou, all excellent and empowering pieces. Rewrite the Story, Will Save Us, and The Story Never Ends are all amazing inserts done by the cast, and it makes me wish we had even more of them to help break up the monotony of the score.

The characters are what easily make this show such a great watch though. For the most part, they have great personalities and chemistry, consistently fun and interesting scenes, well acted and... sometimes well-written development, and deeply investing personal stakes.

Narrating it all is the delightfully eccentric Tassel/Viktor, portrayed by Romanesque Ishitobi "TOBI" of the Paris-based Les Romanesques. I was utterly confused by his presence at first, wondering why there needed to be a narrator when the story would've been perfectly fine without it. He even got a special spot in the opening despite having no stake in the plot despite seeming to live in Wonderworld, who the hell is this guy? But then I thought "OH MY GOD, HE'S THE MAIN VILLAIN USING TOUMA AS THE HERO IN HIS OWN TWISTED STORY, THE BASTARD". I thought it'd be some subversion of expectations, true form, "That Was His Mistake!" shit. Trust me, it made a lot more sense in my head. I'm very happy that they didn't do that, as I grew to love having male Yuuka Kazami as my narrator, and when he was shown to be actually important by being friends with Yuri my mind was blown. And doubly so when I realized just how deeply necessary to the plot he really is.

Rintaro/Blades is up there as one of my all time favorite secondary Riders, since his curiosity is always consistently funny and adorable, his forms are all gorgeous and impressively designed, his relationships with Mei and Touma are absolutely sweet and compelling to see unfold, and his arcs about becoming willing to call out those he views as family and coming to terms with his feelings of inadequacy and both moving past and using them to strengthen himself are always great lessons to pass on to kids. ...even if they took like 10 goddamn episodes to be conveyed in what could've been 5, but hey, Takaya Yamaguchi does a stand-up job all throughout. Rider veteran Eitoku's refined, almost logical movements with the Suiseiken Nagare absolutely beautiful to see in action, and his final form having the same white and blue color scheme as Zooous's base form is an amazing touch I don't see appreciated enough.

Mei Sudo's also absolutely wonderful, serving as the perfect emotional core of the story, responsible for most of the funniest lines, sweetest character moments, and some of the most deceptively compelling drama. Asuka Kawazu brings the perfect energy for such a dynamic and well rounded character, and absolutely nails her scenes of quiet turmoil. As much as I would've loved her to become a Rider, I don't think she really needed to. She's already done so much to help, and as cool as it would've been to see her pick up a sword and fight alongside them as Espada, Calibur, or Falchion she's already endeared herself to me as one of my favorite supporting characters in the whole franchise.

I can't get enough of my homeboy Kento Fukamiya/Espada. Like Rintaro and everyone else for that matter, he also suffers from Saber's pacing issues; and like his predecessor Valkyrie from Zero-One, he doesn't get a proper upgrade aside from his Wonder Combo, instead becoming an anti-villain using a completely different powerset and shifting the Raimeiken Ikazuchi out of focus for the Ankokuken Kurayami, and I feel there's a serious missed opportunity to see him use Jaaku Dragon with Alangina. However, Ryo Aoki's performance is probably among the most easily praiseworthy in the whole cast, managing to convey both Kento's kind and knightly stoicism as Espada and his emotionally unstable despair as Calibur perfectly, in conjunction with Yuji Nakata's experienced and expressive stuntwork.

Ren Akamichi/Kenzan's a dark horse favorite for sure. I remember back when Saber was first picking up, people hated this breezy mad lad for being such a simple character at first. Overly concerned with strength? Black and white world view? Annoyingly energetic? Agh, real-feeling character flaws, I hate them, get him away from me! But then y'all came crawling back. Eiji Togashi's apparently a bit of a rookie actor, and it really shows with some stilted delivery and the way he sometimes bobs his head when giving his lines, but man he improves dramatically as the series goes on. His inexperience ironically ends up really selling his character development, and his unexpectedly beautiful relationship with Desast is special evidence of that. The Fuusouken Hayate's three modes and Satoshi Fujita putting them to excellent use through his stellar acrobatic movements are also really cool.

Why did Luna have to be a child for so long? Does Wonderworld not age whoever inherits its power? Well since Luna randomly becomes an adult in Super Hero Senki and some of the final episodes, I guess so? Miku Okamoto does a fine job for a kid actor, but she's basically done all the heavy lifting for the whole series and doesn't give Mayuu Yokota enough time to get a feel for her character as an adult. How did she choose Touma to inherit the power anyway? Does she just subconsciously decide to trust him with it upon seeing how kind and passionate about storytelling he is? Well if that's the case, why didn't Kento get at least some of that power too? He's just as important to the merchan- I mean Luna-chan, isn't he? Why did Tassel pick her over someone who isn't a literal child who'd be understandably terrified about basically becoming an embodiment of storytelling?

Sophia also kinda suffers from the same problems. Rina Chinen's voice is very pleasant to listen to, but she doesn't really do much beyond serving as a source of exposition and support. I think her dynamic with Mei's adorable, and given her kindness I can certainly understand the respect Northern Base has for her, but she doesn't really contribute a whole lot. If she could use the Kurayami and become Calibur all this time, then why didn't she take it from Kento and Yuri and do so earlier when Kento decided to go back to being Espada? I know she's not much of a fighter and as the closet thing the Sword of Logos has to a leader after Isaac's death I'd understand not wanting to put her at risk, but considering Storious is destroying the world, and she's very evidently kicking a lot of ass in the first part of the final battle even in the basic Jaaku Dragon form, I think it would've helped a lot, just sayin'. Tassel at least has the excuse of being unable to interact with the real world, but Sophia obviously didn't just be put in charge of Northern Base just because she's a pawn in Isaac's plans right?

Ryou Ogami/Buster is also a victim of the disjointed character focus. I have no problem believing he's an excellent father and fighter thanks to Yuki Ikushima and Jiro Okamoto, respectively, but he feels a bit flat and simple in comparison. His rivalry with Desast is randomly dropped, his wife doesn't even show up until the final episodes, he's kinda sidelined in terms of action a whole lot. I imagine that must've sucked for the Rider Dads out there. He does get to star in his own manga, and that was pretty good, so I guess I can't be too mad.

Tetsuo Daishinji/Slash fares better though. Hiroaki Oka, being a Kamen Rider fanboy himself, manages to make him among the most relatable characters in the series. Not only are his hyperfixation on swordsmithing and anxiety played surprisingly believably, Hirotsugu Mori letting him cut loose is extremely cathartic and hilarious, and you really feel for him when the Onjuuken Suzune becomes the first victim of Calibur!Kento's sword sealing.

Yuri/Saikou's another dark horse favorite, for me at least. "Oh great, Avalon guy's got even more merchandise to sell, I wonder what his Sword of Light is- it's himself. Well... that's different." I admit, I didn't like him at first. He felt like he was there to fill out character dynamics in the absence of both Rintaro and Kento, I thought his gimmick was too silly even if his design and jingles were bangers, I didn't particularly care for his power set. But then XSwordman came around I totally got it. He's an endearing, hard-working man trying his best to catch up on all the cool shit he missed, unafraid of experimentation, ready to throw down at a moment's notice, serving as a wonderful bit of consistent support for our heroes, a truly knightly individual, an absolute Chad. and goddamn does he make me worry. Tomohiro Ichikawa, I salute you good sir.

Even if they fall short compared to the rest of the cast, the Shindai siblings are at least cool enough to not wanna write out entirely. They kinda devolve into comic relief after they become allies, something that villainous Riders from Chase onwards are very prone to doing, and it's especially awkward in their case because I think that they kinda get off scot-free for obeying the obviously sinister and crazy Isaac for so long, as well as driving a wedge between a lot of people and threatening children in Reika's case. I think their sibling dynamic is nice though, even if Fukuda recycled it from Makoto and Kanon and has some... questionable possessive undertones as a result. It's cool how they're basically foils to Touma and Rintaro though. The dispassionate and methodical Reika/Sabela is beautifully played by Angela Mei and her moments of emotional depth are fascinating to watch. Her Rider form is a thing of beauty, and its use of literal the Eneiken Noroshi's smokescreens and Yuki Miyazawa's precise and deadly stinging strikes are a joy to watch. And while Ken Shonozaki's not given the best direction as the undercooked plate of 7-Eleven fried fish that is Ryoga/Durendal, he manages to sell him as an experienced and hardened warrior with an awkward side that's especially evident in the Zenkaiger specials. His goddamn RWBY weapon that is the Jikokuken Kaiji is absolutely sick, I'm a sucker for transforming weapons and its combination of time and water powers is really cool, especially with Yasuhiko Amai's deliberate and forceful acting in the suit.

Daichi Kamijo/the Second Calibur, for as brief as his story was, was a pretty cool starter villain. Hiroyuki Hirayama brings this poor bastard to life in a genuinely touching way. I love how as Calibur he goes full force on his creative use of Wonder Ride Books for attacks, and his debut as Jaou Dragon got my blood pumping. His end is also deeply tragic, and I really felt for him when he realized just how badly he fucked up. Hayato Fukamiya also does wonders for the backstory, and while he also doesn't get much to work with, Mitsuru Karahashi makes his regrets and love for Kento feel genuine.

Legeiel and Zooous are both very intimidating and entertaining villains. On top of being just the right balance of goofy and threatening, Kairu Takano and Koji Saikawa's stage presences are both very strong, and their mixture of camaraderie and in-fighting is extremely believable. Zooous's rivalry with Rintaro feels incredible to see through to the end, and although Legeiel doesn't get quite the same treatment, Elemental Dragon had such a cool debut that it more than makes up for it. Their final fights are also absolute spectacles. I don't think their sympathetic angle works even close to as well as it does with MetsubouJinrai or even the Gamma, but I get it, power corrupts, and you probably feel a lot of sadness and regret for things you've done when you die unless you're a right bastard.

Isaac/Master Logos/Solomon is kinda generic. As wonderful as Keisuke Soma is, he doesn't get much dimension to work with. The result of that is while he nails being as smug and punchable as possible, he feels almost... comically generic. Genta Umemori from Shinkenger was full of personality! He was also basically some guy, but he was fun, he felt connected to the rest of the cast! Meanwhile the only real time we get to see Isaac's depth is when we see him crying over his failures. I almost appreciate him being unapologetically evil though, since I've seen way too many shows where redeemed villains get off scot free for way worse things, and some where they outright demand you to sympathize with them despite them doing nothing to warrant it.

Bahato/Falchion surprises me by not just being a movie villain whose actions affect the main plot, but also being a movie villain who actually gets to appear in series as a recurring threat! ...and it's not a particularly great showing on his part, sadly. Masashi Taniguchi does a wonderful job with what he's given, but his character feels like a retread of Eternal without any of what made Katsumi Daido a compelling and frightening villain. I'd like to believe Yuri when he says that he used to be a good person and a hero to the people, but I can only hear so many anime villain monologues about the pointlessness of life and the beauty of destruction before I can never take them seriously again. ...I think that's his biggest problem, actually. I thought he was an overall uninteresting and generic villain in the movie, and the cartoon nihilist he's shown to be in series is only a small step up. He still feels like filler. If only there were a far better written and much cooler villain who takes on the Mumeiken Kyomu after his de--

Desast is probably one of the finest anti-villains I've ever seen in recent years. On top of an absolutely badass character design and the excellent combination of Kazuya Okada/Danki Sakae's suit work and Koki Uchiyama's stellar voice acting, his story being so thoroughly intertwined with Ren's makes their shared journey and bromance a borderline Shakespearean tragedy. His struggle for identity despite Storious treating him as nothing more than a failed experiment and the Sword of Logos treating him as a mere monster really gripped me, and the way he uses what little time he has left to encourage Ren into blossoming on his own is absolutely beautiful. I think his enmity with Ogami is criminally underexplored in series, considering he killed several of the previous Riders and how Ogami's in desperate need of screentime.

Then there's our main villain, Kamen Rider Storious. Robin Furuya brings an incredible amount of charisma to this character, expertly portrayed as both a sinister, manipulative bastard , and as a lonely, tragic figure that arguably makes him feel even more villainous. Speaking as a struggling writer myself, it's easy to feel stuck in the idea of "fuck it, who cares, maybe everything is predestined", but I can't imagine what it's like to know that as the truth and carry it with you for all that time. All of your grand ideas have roots from your experiences, and you're not the only one who even could have those experiences. It's easy to just fall into despair and give up trying, but would that make you happy? Sure, Storious is sadistic, he may be fulfilling his goals, he may be ungodly powerful... but it's not enough for him, is it? All of his friends are gone, one of them even at his own hand, he probably doesn't have any idea what to do after he destroys all the world's stories, Touma even reached his full power before he did, and his downfall is so predictable that even a blind person could see it. He even seems to welcome it, what's up with that? But then I realized... OH MY GOD, HE'S THE MAIN VILLAIN USING TOUMA AS THE HERO IN HIS OWN TWISTED STORY, THE BASTARD. He's so far gone, he's so desperate to stick it to the Almighty Book, he's willing to twist the archetype of the Hero's Journey so hard, it snaps in two. What I think is interesting is that he's ironically trying to chase the trend of "edgy superhero story" that became super popular in the 21st century. The Boys, Brightburn, Kamen Rider Amazons, The Sentry, No More Heroes, Magical Girl Site, even mainstream comics from DC and Marvel... Surely Storious must've seen the cruelty and tragedy these stories are filled with, but he chooses to go through with trying to force the world into this direction anyway. Did they, along with seeing the ever-popular tragedies of legendary playwrights and bleak satire of the twentieth century fuel his despair?

And yet... there's one who stands in determination against his ideals.

Our hero, Touma Kamiyama, the titular Kamen Rider portrayed by Syuichiro Naito and Kousuke Asai, he speaks to me on a personal level. There're plenty of jokes to be made about his procrastination in early chapters, his godless fashion sense, and him doing the funny run up the slope, that's all fine and dandy, but I rarely feel so connected to a character the way I did Touma. The struggle to create, find companionship, live your life, reach out to others... these're things a lot of people struggle with, and of course you see them depicted a lot in media about creators, but Saber gets to the root of what the greatest thing about storytelling really is. Giving people hope, while using the pain of the past as fuel for the future. Sure, Storious may be right about how every story has been done as far back as human civilization gets, he may even be right about how any spin or creativity humanity has is outright predestined. It should be pointless to even try, right? That's where Touma Kamiyama disagrees. He didn't spend all that time fighting and creating just to give up at the idea of predestination. His novel writing-fueled creativity in his early training, his devotion to his friends that let him surpass Kamijo as Dragonic Knight, his compassion for the Primitive Dragon that let him combine their powers to destroy Legeiel as Elemental Dragon, his resolve that let Xross Saber dethrone Solomon, and his passion for the craft of storytelling that let our heroes channel their wishes into Wonder Almighty... all stemming from the belief imparted onto him by his predecessor that "Hope lies beyond your resolution." And that you decide how your story ends. He may not be the greatest Rider to some, he may be as lame as others think he is, he may not even be my favorite, but I have no issue calling Touma Kamiyama... Kamen Rider Saber, one of the all time greatest carriers of the Kamen Rider name.

The final chapter's definitely not as great as some other Rider finales, but goddamn. Primitive Dragon consciously choosing to save Touma is so sweet and such a great emotional payoff, I loved jamming out to the opening theme while our boys lay the smackdown on Storious. Wonder Almighty's a fitting final bit to close the main series out with, if not exactly a great one. I think the cover is great, and the book's body is a lovely shade of candy apple red, but I really don't like how its pages are just the covers of the other books copy-pasted onto onto the pages, that feels lazy. Maybe if it were a panorama of all the books' characters, I'd like it a lot more as a symbol of how unified the Swordsmen are, but eh, what can you do? On a related note, does this mean all the "last episode extra final forms" of the Reiwa Era are gonna be named after their series's opening? That's a neat idea.

I felt a lot of feelings seeing all those video messages of Rider fans all across Japan talking about their favorite stories, and how their passion and fond memories help reshape the world. Mei's monologue at the ceremony about is also really touching and- IS THAT A HUMAGEAR!? :O

Y-yeah dude, it is! Wow, where have you guys been for the past 48 episodes?! Are you guys doing okay? How come you're like... the only one here? Is the technology of Hiden Intelligence only really that prevalent in that very specific metropolitan part of Japan and they're just not coming around much over here? Is it like Dragon Ball where anthropomorphic animals are just vibin' with humans while the heroes are off kicking ass? Apparently he's played by Hasegawa Keiichi, who wrote this episode and had the award ceremony named after him. ...is Hasegawa Keiichi a HumaGear in this universe then? Did he set up this award ceremony in Touma's honor? If so, why is it named after him? Did reading one of Touma's books lead to his Singularity? I know this is just a cameo, but... god, I have so many questions that probably will never be satisfactorily answered.

Overall, if I had to compare Saber to anything, it'd probably be Sam Reimi's Spider-Man trilogy. It's awkward, stupid, overwrought, undercooked, illogically written, scattershot, cheesy as fuck, and has a tendency to squander its otherwise fine execution; but the sheer passion for storytelling, sense of spectacle, deeply fascinating characters, and belief in the ideals set forth by the cast, crew, and fans are absolutely admirable. Improvements would certainly make it an overall better experience, to be sure, but there's something deeply captivating about how wonky this series is. Seeing everybody get their happy ending after all they've been through felt extremely gratifying though, and I may have to wait another for the epilogue to and then wait for Revice, but... man. I'm hella proud of our awkwardly-emoting, fashion disaster novelist and all of his heavily flawed friends for carrying the Kamen Rider name on to the future. Here's hoping Revice will keep it going.

Alright, that's everything I wanted to talk about. Sorry this was so long and ramble-y, I had a lot to say. I'll probably be liveblogging Revice as episodes of that come out, so... look forward to that, I guess. See ya.

[1nsaankahanhai-bkr]

Oye sissy! You like karna too? I love my boy. I have always been too afraid too say that out loud because everyone in the fandom hates him. I dont think he is innocent but I don't think hr is bad either. Also I just started reading asoiaf and Jamie is absolutely a white karna. Problematic but in general a good person. Btw what's your thought on Jamie?

Hi.

This have been in my ask box for nearly two months .

Disclaimer: This is going to be very long. And as always I will be contradicting myself in every other sentence.

Sentence 1 : I love karna.

Sentence 2 : he is an asshole.

And this is absolutely not a case of cognitive dissonance.

Don't read further if you are a karna hater. Dont read further if you are thinking I am going to defend him at all.

Okay here I go.

I love karna a lot. As you mentioned sissy! He is not a great man but he is not a monster either. I hate when his fans whitewash him and when his haters blame him even for things he is not responsible. He have some redeeming qualities , he have many good qualities but that does not justify his actions. As I have said before a man should be judged by his actions and not his qualities. He has all qualities of a hero but yet he refuses to be hero.

Talking about redemption, I dont know whether I want him to have a redemption arc or not . You see I find all these redemption arc , parallels , foils and deconstruction thing to modern and western and should not be applied to ancient Indian text.

He is definitely not a hero but neither a villain. I dont think he is a tragic hero either. Is he tragic? Sure as hell . But so was ashwathama, does that mean he is a hero too? No . He is an anti hero at best. I like his character because he is so interesting and so complex ,not because he a good man. I hate touse words like he is so "human like" or anything like that . No a normal human like you and I won't ask for a woman to be disrobed or make enemy of a person years younger than him for no reason. Only a twisted mind would say so. He is not meant to be humane. He is literally a demigod much like his five brothers. All these characters are not meant to be relatable or human like. They are larger than life characters. Again I am saying all these terms are related to western literature . If you want humane characters go read ramayana or ramcharitra manas. They have characters who teaches you to be ideal not mahabharata. Also there ar no good or bad characters in mahabharata. It's ironic that despite having all the characters as "grey" it is based on good and bad.

He is tragic. He suffered but tell me one person who didn't suffer in mahabharat for no fault of theirs. Kunti abandoned him but she made sure that he was safe by asking shreya for kundal and kavach as a boon. Also remember she suffered all her life for this sin of abandoning her baby even though she made sure he is protected.

Yes he was victim of castist slurs all his life . Everyone was castist and sexist at that time. Now I am not saying that if everyone does a bad thing then it becomes good. I hate when people say that draupadhi deserved it or that karna is justified for doing so. Why should draupadhi be the only one to suffer for a thing that everyone did. Also remember she didn't say that out of hatred .It was an non intentional joke on her behalf. He was raised with kurus and pandavas. He was later made the king of ang by duryudhan.

As much as I hate yudi , you should remember that karna and yudhishthir, two of the most hated people in fandom didn't have lord vishnu himself guiding them at every step. Maybe they would have been as good or likeable as arjun if they did. I hate the part when Krishna and kunti tries to manipulate him . They know that he is the greatest warrior on kuru side and they try to bring him here or stop him from fighting on his side . I live Krishna but my hoe is so cunning . Kunti loved and cared karna as I mentioned earlier in the post but here she clearly want sto manipulate him. Why did she tell him that he was her son and had five brothers at 11th hour. Because of this karna promises her that her five sons will be alive at end. It's either him or arjun. I love how petty he is here. He always sticks to his promise . If she wanted she would have told this to pandavas too but she didn't. I am sure arjun would have not killed him if she told him. Karn might have started this but arjun could finish it , if only he knew. He is clearly the better man .

Here he decides to stay with duryudhan. Now I always had conflicting opinions about this. I dont know whether this is a quality that he decides to fight for duryudhan because he is loyal despite knowing every thing or a flaw of blind following that he decides to be with duryudhan despite knowing everything. I think it's both.

Now regarding second part of your question.( I love Jamie too)I am a bit hesitant to compare historical/ mythology characters to modern day literary characters but I will try. Obvious similarities-

1.Assholes

2.Have all qualities of hero but refuses to be a hero

3.Often whitewashed by their fans

4.Only good qualities are fixated

5.Their haters think they are monster

6.Great warrior/ knight

7.Looses their most important/ precious thing( hand and kundal kavach respectively)

8. Related to gold(en)

But the similarities end here. They are two completely different type of assholes. Besides Jamie is getting a redemption arc I guess.

Lastly I want to say that karna is a fascinating character. He is not someone to be romanticised nor some who should be demonised either . He should be seen as he is.

I love him but I refuse to see any character ,even Krishna through rose tinted glass. They are not meant to be seen like that.

God. This is the longest thing I have ever written or will ever write.

Tagging @luncheon-aspic @chaanv @avani008 and @medhasree @enigma-the-mysterious @glyphenthusiast @soniaoutloud for their opinions .

Tagging @incurablescribbler and @allegoriesinmediasres because they are or used to be in asoiaf fandom too so they can help you with comparison of characters.

[countessofbiscuit]

thank you for the reply to the codywan ask! I've been a long time admirer of your fics and the way you write, and i adore the way you engage with sw lore, characters and relationships. i'd love to pick your brain about something - how do you write and see characters with all their flaws without being "turned off" by it? i recently read meridian, and was fascinated by your exploration in the power dynamics btw ahsoka and rex, but also discomfited because ahsoka is one of my favourite characters1/

Hey there — you’re very welcome and it’s always an honor to shepherd someone into the Rexsoka fold ♥ There’s a lot of meaty stuff here and I’m kinda hungover from Christmas Adam, but I’ll pitch in a little on what I think are your two main questions:

1. How do you write and see characters with all their flaws without being "turned off" by it? . . . . I frequently am turned off by it — if by ‘turned off’ you mean, that I feel my instinct to stan diminish. It’s almost bound to happen when one stops privileging their POV by exploring them from the perspective of somebody else, especially when said character is privileged in and by the narrative, too. And I don’t think transforming and complicating one’s relationship with the source material in that way is a bad thing; it makes for stronger writing and more empathetic stories. It’s interesting that you mention Ahsoka, though, because where I used to enjoy her pretty easily as a character with flaws, in the sense that she was written as being real (and therefore, relatably human), I have struggled to reconcile myself to her as a character who now seems flawed by inconsistent writing — or perhaps I should say, inconsistent framing. There’s a dissonance (imo) between how she’s elevated by the Powers That Be, and what her late actions in canon beg us to believe about her. There’s a chasm in the treatment of her character that I’ve felt somewhat compelled to fill with fic (as I am sure others have), while at the same time, I’m sitting under a disappointment that’s not very inspiring, lol. 

(n.b. Interestingly, Bo-Katan has lately been subject to a similar inconsistent treatment from On High; but as she’s never been practically deified by the creators or the fandom, I don’t find the discordance so jarring, since I’m used to admiring her as a difficult anti-hero with dips into villainy.)

2. Escapism vs Critical Engagement: There’s a doozy. Let’s just say we contain multitudes, and acknowledging that as individuals is hard enough sometimes, let alone when people come together to enjoy (or not) A Thing (especially A Thing as big as Star Wars). I don’t have the answers on how to make it less unsettling when someone critiques or criticizes something that you (general ‘you’ here) just want to casually imbibe for the feel-good factor, except to allow yourself to be comfortable with being unsettled. It’s a popular adage in fandom that people come to the table for different things: some folks want a five-course meal complete with palate cleansers and wine pairings, some folks want a bowl of Easy Mac, and other folks want a rigidly healthy Paleo plate; as long as we’re all sitting down and engaging in good faith with each other about our choices, knowing when to leave the table or just swap seats or try something new, all to the good. The problem comes when one person demands that everyone should have what they’re having (usually the Paleo person, lbr), and lashes out when they meet opposition. We understand this pretty well in day-to-day life, yet when it comes to something as intensely personal as consumption and production of fictional material, everybody’s got an opinion about how others are doing it wrong — undoubtedly because, for so many of us in fandom, our identity and self-worth are so wrapped up in it. I catch myself doing this all the time; to reference Codywan again, I feel my lip curl when people write it with no reference to the ~reality~ of those characters’ situations as I see it (as I am sure plenty of people recoil at ships that I like) … but then, I recognize this feeling as irrational and selfish and I just channel my frustration into doing my own thing instead and hope it touches somebody else who feels the same. 

To bring this back round: “Let people enjoy things” and “think critically” should be able co-exist, and beyond saying that yeah, it’s difficult and takes maturity, I’m hesitant to add any other sort of proviso to that statement (“should be able to co-exist, so long as X Y Z” &c.). Do I think people have to performatively genuflect in the direction of all the ~problems~ with something before they are allowed to engage casually with it? No. Do I think acknowledging war crimes in a google doc about a some cartoon space siege will stop actual war crimes? No. Do I personally appreciate when even casual engagement displays some element of critical thought, and do I find myself drawn to those creators in particular? Yes and yes. Everyone’s escapism looks different. 

But if I can make one random value judgement statement about critical engagement here, without equivocating: the anti preoccupation with defanging sex and interpersonal romantic relationships in fiction, to the exclusion of other topics concerning humanity and the myriad ways it can be shitty, as part of some progressive movement is so bizarre to me; not only do the goalposts constantly change for what’s “pure” between two or more people, but it’s a very myopic way to regard characters who exist in the complex round, and, imo, a really privileged Western mindset. Also, it’s boring as fuck. I like intellectually playing in the dirt; someone who tells me to wash my hands while I’m sitting ass-deep in mud just makes themselves look supremely dense.

Not sure I really answered anything here, but I did appreciate the chance to noodle over your thoughts. It’s always a good exercise. And thank you for taking the time to engage with my writing : )