#i'd like to argue that this is not canon because its not confirmed if she married the farmer for convenience or romance

[aretheyqueer]

Is she bisexual?

disclaimer: this is a hc, not speculating on what the writers intentions were.

[crazyexdirkfriend]

Hi Tony i want to ask something of you. In fanon more often than not i see Jake becoming slightly more unhinged and unnerving as he gets older. Do you think this would hpapen canonically? Or are all these fanartsits and writers just projecting what they want from jake on jake

This isn't a hate on it by the way, I just realised the other day I see more often the idea of Jake becoming more unnerving as he gets older alongside Dirk and that i'd accepted it and I'm unsure if its canonically viable or not.

I actually think the nature of Jake is that people project what they want on to him-- be you an author, an audience, or a character within the text. It's an interesting concept because Jake is a character who is never afforded free will and even in fanfiction and transformative works made to give Jake free will, he's still a character doing an author's bidding ultimately.

There's a bit in Meat that discusses this with Calliope and Dirk iirc. Calliope wants Jake to have free will, but Dirk argues that Jake is incapable of free will. And truly, even on a metatextual level, the existence of a narrative voice renders basically everyone, but especially Jake, incapable of free will within a narrative.

I don't know if you've seen Revolutionary Girl Utena, but there's an exchange in Utena that I believe they're referencing intertextually here between Utena and Touga about Anthy. Utena insists that Anthy does not want to be the rose bride, and Anthy confirms this. But when Touga defeats Utena and takes Anthy as the rose bride himself, Anthy claims being the rose bride is all she's ever wanted. Touga then says Anthy is incapable of free will and her expressions of "wanting to be a normal girl" when with Utena were just Utena projecting her own wants on to Anthy and claiming them to be free will.

(pinch of salt, I haven't rewatched Utena in a few years, but this is how I remember the scene)

In many ways, this is what Calliope, and us as authors, do to Jake, and what in text Dirk is criticising as a concept. He's like, well I'm projecting my desires and wants on to Jake and you say that's bad but at least I'm being honest about it. I'm treating Jake like a puppet, but that's all he's ever going to be anyway.

Er. I think I've got wildly off topic from your actual question.

I think getting older in many ways is realising that being 14 is a state of mind and that's just who you occasionally are for the rest of your life. So yeah, I think ageing does come with this element of derangement. I have a lot of thoughts about Jake as effectively this ageing child star, put on a pedestal on Earth-C at 16 and it becoming insidious, exploitative.

Jake is self aware of his lack of agency on a literal level within the narrative, perhaps even of the narrative itself-- like a gilded bird cage of his own making and he probably could slip out between the bars but then who would he be, where would he go, would everyone hate him and abandon him? He'll just stay trapped, stay pretty on display, stay hurt until everyone probably leaves anyway because an audience is a very very fickle thing.

And I think that does sort of lead to an angle for me of Sunset Boulevard, tearing the yellow wallpaper, the starlet breakdown. Which is the depressing, almost Swift approach to it. And then you have the Ultimate Jake approach to it, the Snap. And yeah, I think historically Jake takes and takes and takes and bends and bends and bends and is called selfish for that and eventually that would snap anyone. If on top of that, he's aware of Dirk's actions and of the narrative, of being on display constantly even if he escapes that little bird cage, if the only way to ensure people stop fucking looking at him is to destroy the audience itself-- yes, I would accept that story as viable for his character.

[catgirl-catboy]

Mastermind Whit Essay

Okay, I'm really unsure of how to begin this post. I know most people in the DRDT fandom suspect Teruko as the mastermind due to her secret, but are we perhaps playing right into the masterminds hands?

I feel like if Teruko was genuinely the mastermind, she wouldn't give David of all people a note confirming she is. Due to how misleading the secrets have been with other people, it makes far more sense to read this as a frame by the true mastermind.

Maybe Teruko would deliberately make herself suspicious if it were chapter 5 or 6, but in chapter 2??? I'm not buying it.

I feel like this red herring of Teruko is hiding another, far more suspicious character.

Before we get into our theory, the mastermind should match up with the killing game's mascot.

Monokuma and Junko are the obvious pair, since Junko herself chooses to look like Monokuma. There are also hints in Monokuma theater about her true identity.

Monomi and Izuru also have some parallels, especially since Usami's transformation into Monomi could be considered a nod to Hajime's transformation into Izuru.

Monokubs are cheap ripoffs of Monokuma. Tsumugi is a cheap ripoff of Junko.

This trend also tends to apply to fangans, but I'd rather not spoil any for you.

So what does Monotv say about our mysterious mastermind? Monotv's personality tends to focus on one thing: ratings. He will also fake ineptitude on occasion to make things more interesting.

What if I told you that there was a DRDT character whose every action happens to increase ratings?

That's right, ladies and gentlemen (and Nico!), I'm talking about Whit.

Whit is one of the few characters we see before we get an introduction for him. And what do we see him doing? Turning Hu against the group.

Hu is one of the few characters that isn't willing to trust the group with her secret in chapter 2, and this could very well be because of the bad first impression Whit helped make. This has a side effect of having her emotionally dependent on David by trial 2, which I'm positive will have bad results when the hiatus ends.

When we get to his introduction proper, he spends most of it trying to force Teruko and Xander closer together. This isn't his only notable interaction with Teruko either, since he's the only one that prods her to talk about her past pre-trial 1.

It's hard to say for certain about Whit's intentions, but most of his actions appear to have negative concequences later on in the game.

When it comes to Whit, he claims most of his actions are guided by his intuition, like Sayaka before him.

But when you look at things from an objective point of view, his intuition might not hold up. This is the person that hid David's secret from the class for as long as practical.

Why?

In-universe, Whit claims its to help David's career.

But if you look at it closely, does this claim make any sense? This killing game is televised, so it'd be reasonable to suspect that the in-universe DRDT audience knows all the secrets before the characters do.

Besides, how good can Whit's intuition be if he believed in the good of someone as suspicious as David.

So, if Whit's stated motive for keeping that secret doesn't hold up (to me.), what would? Why, MonoTV's motive! Everything Whit does intentionally or unintentionally ups ratings.

Teruko distrusting and being isolated from the group? Is good for ratings.

(Whit didn't bring her back into the group like he did with Charles, which reads as OOC behavior to me. But do you know who canonically doesn't want Teruko talking with the group? MonoTV.)

Hu and David getting close and having a falling out? Is good for ratings.

You could even argue his relationship with Charles is good for ratings.

Speaking of David, I find it interesting that Whit used the same tactic as David to avoid sharing his secret, but did it better.

Unlike David, Whit dropped multiple possible secrets, and admitted the possibility that it could be none of them upfront. This makes him dodge the suspicion David got when his stated secret wasn't on the list.

Whit's secret wasn't even given much attention in the trial itself.

I also feel like Whit's secret was worded a lot more plainly than most of the other secrets. Compare "your mother is dead, you always omit that truth" to "Your older brother died, but you don't remember him at all." or "Your younger sister killed herself because of you. You should have never left."

It could just be because the secret isn't plot-relevant this chapter, or it could be because Whit's secret isn't what it seems.

Another thing, Whit is pretty strange around corpses. He made a dark joke about Min's execution, and under reacts to every corpse in the game so far. Many people think this has something to do with his mom, but I have one question for those people. Would that really explain why he's worse than Veronika, who canonically enjoys the game?

This concludes the main part of my analysis, but here are some details that could be questionable with Mastermind!Whit in mind. (Or maybe I just think everything he does is suspicious, who knows!)

In chapter 1, he deliberately threw the arm wrestling contest to Teruko. Could be hiding his true strength?

He chooses NOT to break up fights that were going nowhere. This seems contrary to what an ideal matchmaker should do in this context.

His name. Whit is one letter away from Wit, meaning intelligence. That could be an example of some very clever foreshadowing. But... its a reach.

He was one of the 3 to get redesigns, along with the protagonist. However, he got specific attention done to his eyes. Every Mastermind in canon does something cool to their eyes upon the reveal.

Out of all of the canon Danganronpa characters, Whits talent is the closest to Toko's. Charwit could be an inversion of Togafuwa, with feelings being one-sided on Toko's (Whit's) end this time.

[chuuwtoy]

i remember discussing with my friend if rebecca was really the blushing virgin that everyone in the fandom makes her out to be. at the time i just shrugged it off and said yes, because i didn't know much about her character (not that there is much anyway.) but after thinking about it, my opinion's changed a bit. so here's my random opinions about rebecca.

incoming airstrike: incoherent rambling.

initially i felt like rebecca was only really put into the first game to be jill's opposite, and also i guess to make it even and put a girl on the other team.

i haven't played RE 0 (and with the complaints i probably won't..) but she isn't exactly squealing and blushing whenever billy looks her way - if anything, billy is more of a flirt. maybe him giving her all these cute nicknames is just in his nature? or perhaps he just really likes her. who knows!

you could argue that everyone on her team died and she's going through this hellish nightmare on her first mission - so why on earth would she have goo-goo eyes over some inmate who supposedly slaughtered 23 people?! haha, i love analyzing these guys.

rebecca isn't afraid to put anyone in their place, she demands respect, "but that's officer chambers to you", "and dont call me little girl!" one thing i love about these lines is how it's delivered, she isn't stomping her feet and throwing a tantrum. she keeps her soft tone and says it sharply! i wish people saw her as spunkier and dominant, rather than an innocent, helpless baby.

suprisingly, she doesn't fall for chris either. i mean can you blame me for expecting her to? he's protecting her throughout the game and vice versa. she's tired and scared but atleast she has chris to lean onto. that's the perfect set up for a predictable (one-sided) romance. the same arguement could be made - she's tired, and got thrusted into another nightmare, she doesn't have time to be flustered over chris..

something that's a little odd but rebecca has respect for chris in the sense that she refers to him as "sir", when she doesn't even do that for enrico. though, im sure its because she's familiar with enrico, but not chris.

she's oddly professional for her age, but no one in the fandom gives her credit for it— and yes i know it's probably because she's a child prodigy, so perhaps she had to grow up quicker? i assume she was around adults much older than herself. ( ≧ᗜ≦) !!!

i know it's common for people to call her a tomboy because "girl + short hair = tomboy" (sarcasm). though, if i'm being honest, i never saw her as one. rebecca (and jill) are just girls, they can't really be placed into boxes - they're not clichés. you see the duality with rebecca loving basketball but also being a chemist? i LOVE that so much. she's in this male-dominated field with an age that still end in -teen.

rebecca is described as "androgynous" in her uniform and while i agree to some extent i don't really like that word too much, because it implies that jill's uniform isnt androgynous when i think that it is.. so what because jill's chest is prominent she can't be androgynous too? hmph, it always left a bitter taste in my mouth.

also i really love that she's wearing makeup in 0, it's her first mission and she's all dolled up 笑笑笑笑笑 but they stopped using ayumi's model and i guess wanted to rework her face.

this isn't meant to disprove or bash that very popular ship "rebilly" by the way! do i ship it? not quite, sorry but i dont ship anything besides myself and a certain bioterrorist えへへへへへへへへ

the novel, caliban cove, portrays her as your typical teenage girl. she gets embarrassed a lot, blushes at the slightest contact, etc etc. it's not canon though, so i didnt bother to mention it.

i haven't discussed this either but i'd like to see discussions about her sexuality, nothing is confirmed but options are always open (ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ.ﾟ

[blubushie]

I am still terrified of shipping Scout × Pauling because i'm afraid some idiot will come @ me like "nooo shes a lesbian!! You're being--" n im like. Yeah for a lot of people she is but then again the expiration date stuff & her agreeing to go on a date with scout. Just let people enjoy what they like man. Some guys just want to force all o that bullshit on other people and they all fight over it and I'm here like what's the point of sharing stuff anymore if the friendly part of the fandom is meticulously being picked and erased from existance by other people who think their headcanons are the best and are imposing it

Poorly worded but ya get my point i hope.cheers m8

Nah yeah that's how I feel. Something something ship and let ship, literally none of this matters IRL and people need to stop arguing about fictional fucken characters. Who cares

Even if Jay Pinkerton confirmed her as a lesbian (on Twitter, not even in canon), Jay doesn't speak for Valve. He wrote the comics and Jungle Inferno, he had no hand in Expiration Date which outright ships the two on-screen and has Pauling enthusiastically agree to a second date with Scout, nor Pauling's prior writing (such as her newspaper clipping where she's seeking a romantic partner and never specifies the necessary gender of said partner). If Valve itself comes out and says Pauling is strictly a lesbian then maybe I'll change my tune, but I'm not taking a standalone writer's word on something he didn't even write into canon, and until that's done or Valve itself says so, I don't see why people can't just let people fucken enjoy things.

It just breeds toxicity and people wonder why no one wants to interact and shit. It's because fandom jumps on anyone who goes against the grain and drives them out through toxicity and hostility. And it's sad to see cuz I love this fandom, but the fandom never seems to love itself or its artists/authors/etc

ETA: Also for what it's worth, I never really see this issue for SniperPauling. Just ScoutPauling, which is weird. Also while I'm an author I don't write anything for Pauling ships. I think her and Scout make a cute couple but that's about as far as my shipping goes. I'm really not that much into shipping, so all of this being said and judged as an outsider looking in and how I've seen people attack each other. I'd rather stay on the sidelines

[laventadorn]

Hi. Me again. In canon Umbridge finds out about Dumbledore's Army/Defense Club due to Umbridge giving Marietta Edgecombe (I think that was her name), Cho's friend, truth serum. But, I was speculating the nuance of actual betrayal, and forcing the younger generation to re-asses their house biases. Like, maybe b/c of the presence of a Slytherine, people just assume the worst of them. Harriet defends them. Only, for it to be a fellow Gryffindor, or Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw who sells them out to Umbridge. Whether you go there or not in your fanfic, I was just curious about what you think of the nuance of the positive/negative extremes of ALL the houses. I think it was confirmed Umbridge was in fact in Hufflepuff, which shows the fine line between loyalty and fanaticism. Pettigrew was Gryffindor; the fine line between bravery and ego. Ravenclaw can probably be so practical that they sometimes don't think about people's feelings. And through Snape (especially the way you write him ; chef's kiss) we see the nuance of Slytherine. And since you're keeping Cedric, I hope we get more POVs (however brief they may be) of the other house characters. I LOVE that you're expanding Harriet's circle of friends, slowly but surely. Hermione and Ron will always be her closest friends. But, I loved how we saw Cho, and even Fleur in 4th yr, Asteria - I hope we see more Millicent - so, I look forward to more of that goodness. I think that's one of the reasons why I keep coming back to your fics for re-reads. You've added nuance that I felt was lacking in canon. Anyway, thank you for writing such a beautiful story.

hello again! someone once said "JKR divided the human race into four groups and then ignored two of them," which i think is pretty accurate... and the older i get, the sillier the whole house system seems. my brain is not operating at its peak today, so some of this might be garbled nonsense or just repeating the obvious, but:

to me, the houses don't have any inherent value as a means of determining character. i think it would be more accurate to say that people are sorted based on how they want to appear to others or how they think of themselves. this isn't a bad thing per se -- i think it's neutral and natural. it might not even be conscious, especially when they're young.

we can read harry's experience this way, for example. dumbledore says "it's our choices that determine who we are" and cites the example of harry turning down slytherin and choosing gryffindor, but i would argue this is not because slytherin is inherently evil or gryffindor inherently good; harry made his choice based on how the houses were described to him. the sorting hat frames it differently than hagrid did (slytherin is the "way to greatness" vs. the bad people house). harry doesn't want to be bad*, so he just says "not the bad people house" until the sorting hat gives up. it's more like the house system reinforces beliefs or biases because you get 4 separate groups who establish what behavior is "the best," and then what could have been a minor inclination (or even a major one) gets reinforced into something bigger. hufflepuff seems to have the least issue with this, as helga is described in one of the songs as "tak[ing] all the rest," i.e. the kids that didn't sort into the other three houses with their prized qualities of courage, intelligence, and ambition. a person doesn't have to be smart to get into ravenclaw, they just have to prize intelligence (or want to be perceived as wise or intelligent). in her mind, umbridge could believe that she is very loyal to traditional wizard values, but in reality, she's just a sadist who loves control (fanaticism). peter probably wanted to be seen as brave because he was scared of everything all the time -- but then he wasn't actually brave, and this could've reinforced his inferiority, especially adding in james and sirius' bullying behavior and his own clearly mixed admiration and resentment.

idk, i'd like harriet to just realize the house system is so deeply flawed and largely based on pure perception as to be inherently meaningless. maybe she doesn't make a big platform out of it, but she's already pretty much decided this on a subconscious level from her interactions with asteria and snape. so if someone were to ask her, she'd say, "i dunno, it doesn't really seem to matter. just do what you think is right."

and: thank you! c:

ETA:

*it could be argued that harry doesn't want to go to the bad people house because the dursleys have always labeled him as a nasty, rotten boy etc. and he doesn't want to wind up in that position in the wizarding world. (plus, what child wants to be seen that way?) then he meets malfoy, who makes him feel small, and this reinforces his No Slytherin point of view. these are very child-appropriate concerns, so i'm not saying this is narrow-minded of the text; it feels quite honest, really. of course, this is just about Not Slytherin; the Hat puts harry in gryffindor based on what it senses in his personality. so maybe i'm undermining my own point :)

[waitingforsecretsouls]

I'll always maintain that (Crown Prince!) Fëanáro gave his sons names befitting Princes and future Kings of the Ñoldor, as (King!) Finwë himself did for his sons. They're basically dynastic names and given how his sons are Princes and it's the schema he and his half-brothers were named for as well, it's difficult for me to see anything wrong with that. These people are royalty afterall, which means they're figures of public and to a certain extent political life by matter of birth.

It always seemed to me that father-names are the official names used for the political sphere (honestly something like titles almost), at least among the Finwëans (not least because their fathers tend to be the members of the royal family while their mothers marry in). Something I feel supported by the announcement of it in an official ceremony (Essecarmë), and which makes the contrast between the Fëanorians general tendency to prefer their mother-name and their half-brothers/cousins general preference for father-names very interesting (Obviously you can argue that it's simple personal preference or speculate about parental relationships (such as is canonically the case in at the least Fëanáro's case, though it's also still partly a political statement in its own right), but the point of this post is to go a little more political).

The Fëanorians are heirs to Finwë as the Elder House, but alone out of their wider family they're not primarily or even tangentially associated with one of the royal residencies. Rather, they spend their time travelling Aman to its outermost edges, and when not busy with exploration, are guests in Aulë or Oromë's Halls. They do not seem to have been involved in "politics" at all, prior to the Unrest, much less established in Tirion. In light of the abovementioned hypothesis regarding father-names political associations, the primary use of their mother-names serves to contribute to this air of an already rather casual conduct and presentation (see also Maitimo's comparatively 'casual' epessë (compared to eg. Artanis' or Gil-Galad's) in use specifically among close family, or the Ambarussa's nicknames (Given how they're not described as epessë) of 'First- and Second-Russa', which is not even mentioning the Fëanorians shortened father-names which could be considered potential 'nicknames' as well and even if not certainly imply a certain disregard for formality).

I'd argue that their unique status as not only descendants from someone confirmed to be neither royalty nor nobility nor associated with Tirion in any particular way in Nerdanel (which is not to claim that all Ñoldor of Tirion were career-politicians as a matter of course), but also the general fact of a less official and courtly daily environment and social contacts, e.g. seen in both Fëanáro's and Maitimo's notably close relationship to Nerdanels father Mahtan, both via kinship but moreso shared close relations with Aulë (with whom the Sons of Fëanáro additionally likely would have had closer contact growing up than Finwë, given aforementioned shared close association with Aulë and his halls yet Fëanáro explicitly not associated with Tirion as residency and noted to be living apart from the Finwë and Indis family unit even prior to founding his own family-branch) would have played an additional role in the development of their more informal manner (not that I see them as incapable of courtly manners, mind you (+ given Fëanáro's 'let them sa-si' comment were weaned on linguistic discourse at the very least, so no slouches in the academic department as well (Carnistir becoming economist prime in Beleriand as just one of the more concrete examples)) , they just canonically are very frank and to the point. Something I can see working favourable in the establishment of their many cross-cultural alliances in Beleriand).

I also think Nerdanel's lack of royal status might have played a role in keeping the mother-names she gave comparatively simple for the most part, making reference to their appearance and disposition (or, in Makalaurë's and the Ambarussa's case, prophetic insight, but even in the latter only because Fëanáro insisted on giving them separate names rather than just 'Ambarussa') in a less pompous or high-brow manner (compared to the mother-names given by noble-born Indis or of equally royal lineage Eärwen to their eldest in particular, Obviously this is more of a general tendecy, as we e.g. also get a prophetic name in Aikanáro, but I stand by Nerdanel keeping it notably simple by comparison).

The Ñolofinwëans in contrast are associated primarily with Tirion via Ñolofinwë, who, unlike Arafinwë, isn't mentioned to have had close contacts and frequent visits to Alqualondë, or primarily travel like Fëanáro and sons. Lack of additional crafts also leaves his later political plotting as only point of reference we get on his potential activities prior, making him a likely career-politician (which coheres with his better PR-management choices in the eventual feud and his kingly ambitions). Ñolofinwë married Anairë, who is most likely a Ñoldor of Tirion, given the lack of additional information on her (that mostly tends to get reserved for noteworthy deviations from "the norm", see also descriptions of hair-colour, where only deviations from the standart dark brown get explicit descriptions, or even regarding Finwëan wives, e.g. Indis, aside from the circumstances of her marriage, most noted for being a Vanyar and Eärwen a Falmari, Nerdanel for falling outside the beauty norms expected of the wife of a prince). Given that we do not get her children's mother-names, it's impossible to tell whether she added similarly ambitious/declaratory touches into them as Indis seemingly did for her sons.

The only child of Ñolofinwë singled out of the bunch during life in pre-Unchaining of Melkor Valinor is their daughter Írissë, for often going hunting in the forests with the sons of Fëanáro (to the point the narration sees fit to clarify that no romance was involved). While undoubtedly a free and adventurous spirit, the likely fact that she lived life in Aman primarily in Tirion would also add a neat layer to her readiness to accompany Turukáno (and eventually return) to Gondolin, the Tirion replica par exellence. While less overtly ambitious than her brothers or father I still propose that she was more comfortable in or at the very least used to the more formal environment of politics and appearances than often credited to her. Leaving its history of development aside, the fact that her father-name has a sindarized form (Íreth) which does not correspond to her Sindarin name actual in use (Aredhel) the argument can be made that her father-name wouldn't have been her preferred Quenya name, but rather her afaik unknown mother-name.

Given that we get no additional information on their whereabouts, it therefore also seems likely her brothers would have primarily been active in Tirion, and indeed later emerge as some of their fathers chief political supporters, Findecáno as primary Ñolofinwëan leader in the first half of the exile, and in Turukano's case commanding an eventual large following in his own right (thus fitting the pattern of favouring their more politically loaded names due to primary involvement in said social sphere).

The Arafinwëans are interesting, due to echoing Ñolo- and Arafinwë, descending from two royal lines, in their case both Nõldor (Arafinwë) and Falmari (Eärwen), yet firmly self-identifying as Ñoldor. Which I'd argue their deliberate use of father-name over mother-name signifies or at the least in effect serves to enhance, in addition to general royal gravitas. Given Melkor's warning to Ñolo- and Arafinwë that:

"Beware! Small love has the proud son of Míriel ever had for the children of Indis. Now he has become great, and he has his father in his hand. It will not be long before he drives you forth from Túna!"

, it also seems like, despite his distance from the family feud and marriage into the Falmari of Alqualondë, in whose company he often shared ("[...]he often sought peace among the Teleri, whose language he learned"), Arafinwë and his family still primarily resided in Tirion rather than Alqualondë. We later also see that at least Findaráto and Artanis out of their siblings harbour grand political ambitions such as ruling their own realms in Middle-Earth (mentioned as their motive for participating in the exile), while of Artanis we furthermore get told of a steep and ambitious participation in Ñoldorin academia (As for Arafinwë, given how Eärwen gave his own mother-name (Ingoldo) to their son Findaráto, it feels safe to say it wasn't the one her husband was primarily using. But in his case I'd even argue that his mother-name was the more explicit political statement, so there was no escaping the drama. As eventually happens, with ruling over the remnants of the Ñoldor-in-Aman. Though, funnily enough, it's Arafinwë rather than Findaráto for whom one can argue for a prophetic rather than strictly political nature of said name, even if I myself do not consider it as such).

Basically, I think that keeping in mind the more official nature of the Finwëan father-names adds fun potential additional layers to the world-building and characters in question.

[thornfield13713]

so, what's the deal with Georgia and Hancock? I mean, I know they end up together, but the early stuff seemed to suggest they were not going to be friends.

When I get around to writing the fic, her early relationship with Hancock is going to be a very fun exploration of some of Georgia's character flaws. Namely: she makes a lot of snap decisions about people, she's stubborn as all hell, and she's prone to confirmation bias.

Hancock makes...his canonical first impression. And Georgia, who hasn't been out of the Vault that long at this point and whose exposure to violence so far has mostly been in kill-or-be-killed situations, takes it really badly. And from then on out, she takes the least charitable interpretation of everything Hancock says or does...right up until the end of the Big Dig quest. Which- Georgia might've been entirely up for robbing Hancock...if it weren't for needing to kill Fahrenheit and her men to do it. No love lost there either, Georgia's just...she feels like she needs more justification for killing than just money, and that's all Bobbi is giving her. Even then, she's not keen on Hancock and she's pretty sure when she heads up to the Old State House, that this is going to end in a confrontation that is probably going to end bloodily and almost certainly going to lead to her never being able to come back to Goodneighbour.

And then Hancock starts worrying aloud about letting power get to his head, and actually decides to leave Goodneighbour over it. And that just- it's not something that fits at all with the image of him she's built up in her head. She was wrong about him - maybe not entirely wrong about him being dangerous, but he does at least mean what he says, and even if he's a bit more comfortable with violence than she'd like...well, so are a lot of people she now calls friends. It's a more violent world now than she'd like. Basically, it's the big 'Darcy's letter' moment in this relationship, when Georgia realises that she made that first judgement too hastily, and that she might be completely wrong about Hancock's character, motives and intentions.

In the fic, I'd probably put them going to rescue Kent from Sinjin...between Hancock deciding to leave for a while, and Georgia asking him to come with her/him formally announcing it. They're in the middle of that conversation when Kent being kidnapped comes on the radio, and they pause that whole conversation to deal with it. And in the process of that whole business, they find that they work well together, have a very compatible sense of showmanship and its uses, and Hancock is the one who gets the shot that stops Sinjin from blowing Kent's brains out while Georgia is busy putting the fear of the Silver Shroud into his goons. All of which, plus Hancock's little pep-talk to Kent afterwards, gets them pretty solidly to 250 approval and that first affinity conversation back at the Old State House, which leads into Georgia offering that, since he's planning on going for a walk anyway...she does kinda need help with the whole 'getting into Fort Hagan to face down Kellogg and save her son' thing, if he'd be up for it. She's not...really expecting him to say yes, because she's pretty sure she's burned her bridges there, and is kicking herself for it...but he does.

After that, they're friends, and even if they argue, there's a bedrock of trust there that, even if they disagree on methodology, they are agreed about what sort of world they want to create and what sort of things they want to do in it. The romance...sort of builds from there.

[acourtofthought]

I know its reiterated a lot but can I just say again how FAST az goes from thinking about elain to switching to gwyn in his bonus chapter lol the moment she's out of the scene and he's not being scolded by rhys, elain's out of his thoughts and he's thinking about gwyn's smile and how happy it would make her to have that necklace 🥴 if I was an e/lriel I'd be feeling pretty Bad about that (which clearly they are which is why they hate gwyn so much and see her as a threat. her smile is a secret thing of lovely beauty) but its funny how they simply don't acknowledge the latter half of his chapter at all and try to convince themselves they're going to have a grand forbidden romance.

And that's the point, isn't it?

Cassian's POV started with thinking about Nesta.....and ended thinking about Nesta.

I realize that the first part of the Az Bonus Chapter felt like validation for E/riels because it is confirmation. But the only thing it's truly confirmation of is that Elain and Az wanted to kiss. We still don't know why because physical attraction and only physical attraction (especially on her end) is a completely real possibility. SHE could simply be trying to forget her troubles just as Nesta did with all those other males.

I think Az not giving a future with Elain thought beyond his sexual fantasies is also proof that he's not really invested in Elain for the right (or at least lasting) reasons either but I know some in the fandom argue that point.

But what can't be denied is that he left the River House in a shitty mood but ended his bonus chapter feeling better after having spent time with another female, thinking of another female and that is the part I think we're supposed to be paying attention to.

And what is sometimes overlooked is that Az isn't even calling Gwyn's smile a thing of secret lovely beauty. Az isn't focused on Gwyn's appearance right now (which is a good thing because the guy needs to stop lusting after hot women and start focusing on their personalities. It is canon that Gwyn is beautiful but as Az seems to have a problem with looking beyond Elain's face to actually grasp who she's growing into and that she's more than a pretty little doll to keep safe, his noting Gwyn's charming irreverence and how far she's come is so much more important than him saying, "check out the hot red head").

These are the lines:

How Gwyn's teal eyes might light upon seeing the necklace. For whatever reason...he could see it.

But Azriel tucked away the thought, consciously erasing the slight smile it brought to his face. Buried the image down deep, where it glowed quietly.

A thing of secret, lovely beauty.

Az is not thinking of Gwyn as or her smile as being the thing of secret lovely beauty.

The AUTHOR is telling us that the image of Gwyn's happiness that made Az smile which he then tucked away in his subconscious (because I don't think he's truly ready to think about what that could possibly mean) is the thing to focus on, the secret. A secret for the readers.

Why is it a secret thing?

Because what is proven in his bonus chapter is that Az desperately wants his own mate. But he's fixated on Elain and not truly ready to deal with his past with Mor. And as a result, he's kind of clueless as to what could be standing right in front of him.

If Az had really taken the time to reflect on why the thought of Gwyn's happiness brought him so much happiness, (a female he's not even friends with yet) he might have started to put that puzzle together but he's a blind man right now because he's too wrapped up in wanting the wrong things for the wrong reasons.

SJM is telling the readers that the reason for Az feeling happy over the thought of Gwyn's happiness is the the thing of secret lovely beauty and that thing is most likely the mating bond. Az is clueless right now but she's telling us to sit up and pay attention because the simple act of him gifting her the necklace and the way it lit him up inside is going to be important to future books. Something Az himself will finally figure out in his own book.

[randomnameless]

"even if IS just said she was the villain and needed to be stopped, clear as day, people would reject it." Let's be real: the moment people started using "death of the author" to reject the Nintendo dream interview where IS confirms Supreme Leader is the villain, that's when we should've realized that people have already made up their minds and don't care anymore. It's like telling a flat-earther that the earth is not flat or trying to debunk a conspiracy theory to believers of that theory.

Tbh, I agree sometimes with disregarding the author's intent, especially in some games where the "author" wants to push "feels" and tells the olayer how they should react.

Take Berkut for instance, for a reason I still don't understand, SoV wants to paint him as a tragic figure, who ultimately redeems himself dying. You're supposed to feel bad for Berkut and sad for what happened, to the point where Alm, the Hero - who was challenged on earlier opinions - plainly states Duma is the reason why Berkut turned sour, and no one is here to tell him "uh no sorry to tell you but your cousin was a bona fide asshole".

Ditto for the devs's lunar interview about Clout's story being a "heart-warming story", like no, sorry, no matter how much you push for it, I personally don't think his story is heart warming, rather it's blood boiling.

Does it mean I use the "death of the author" like the people we're talking about?

Yeah, maybe!

But what is more gratting about those people isn't how they use DoA to make up their own canon and story (everyone can make headcanons!), but how they push their headcanon on everyone's lawns and asking for everyone else to treat it as the truth - the Aeneid is the perfect example, people really rec this fanfiction to have a "better understanding" of canon characters, or some people said it understands the characters better than the canon does. For a fanfic, sure, it's cool and all*, but to treat this as canon?

Like, there is no discussion possible between people who argue canon and others who argue using headcanons and imo that's the crux of the discourse bcs FE Fodlan is vague about 70% of its worldbuilding.

I don't like Berkut and believe he toasted Rinea because he loved being Rudolf's heir more than he loved her, but FE15 makes it uwu clear that Berkut apparently loved Rinea a lot and apparently torched her just because Duma promised him power, which makes somehow Duma the reason why Rinea was Bernie'd.

But you won't see me pop up in a discussion about FE15 or people talking about their favourite ships in that game to point out how Berkut burnt his fiancée at stake for "power" on his own volition - canon is canon - even when it blows - I'd rather rant about it and have my own HC in this space rather than piss canon-lovers/users with it.

Saying in your hcs Supreme Leader isn't the villain of the game?

Sure, do whatever you want, have a nice day, eat a sandwich, whatever. Maybe some people will join you, share your sandwich and you'll have fun developping hcs!

Saying in canon Supreme Leader isn't the villain and disregarding the dev's interviews?

That's going to be more problematic, in a way that this specific interview isn't subjective or open to interpretation (thus hcs, like Sylvia being FE4!Claude's relative or not), so people are going to disagree and be more vocal about it.

Some other blogs already explained it, but it seems like FE Fodlan attracted a lot of persons who aren't used to fandom, as in a place with transformative works and where making OCs and fics and having headcanons isn't "BaD" - so they try to retrofit canon in their headcanons because "fanfics" and transformative works are BaD etc etc (insert the general dislike for fanfictions from the early 2000s (?) and the regular/usual insults towards people who write fanfiction from the same era (them being fujos, etc etc)) so they're not writing fanfictions or arguing headcanons, no, they're just writing "totally meta pieces that are better than the canon".

Imo, the second you're disregarding canon to write something about a work, you're writing a fanfic (let it be a "real fic", random hcs, etc etc etc) and that's totally fine! You're not a "fujo degenerate" for not liking the canon and "rewritting" scenes, or building more stories about a character your like!

What's not "fine" is forcing everyone to adopt your headcanons and fanfictions - if the flower is red, you cannot force people to admit the flower is blue, otoh, if you write a story where the flower isn't red but blue, it's your story and you can whatever you want with it! Ditto with fanfic writers when someone argues canon against them, dude, you're reading a story where the author wrote the flower to be blue, like they gaf about the flower's canonical colour to be red - it's a fanfic!

Don't like, Don't read!

*not withstanding with the actual quality and body of the Aeneid, which isn't something I'd personally call cool or "alright", but that's another debate.

[dawnofplumeria]

I'm a bit curious about this (don't hate)

Why do you ship Kokunaki? While they don't have any interactions and moments with each other?

Even I see some of its shippers always say that it is canon but it has never been confirmed like that, which makes me somewhat displeased with the ship.

If you like it then I'm fine with that because I respect everyone's preferences

(You can scroll down all the way to the bottom for TLDR if you're short on time😉)

Sorry it took so long to answer...🙇🏻‍♀️😓

I'm glad you asked! In the past, i had a few people asking me why I ship Kokunaki, I'm happy to answer this one! This response will be a bit long since I have so much to say on Kokunaki 😊

Kokunaki is not my first rare pair, so I've been a believer that characters don't need to interact in order for the ship to be valid or good. True, we never got them to see them appear in the same scene together at all. The only time we ever got to see the two next together in any official kny media is in kimetsu gakuen chapter 20 (and they didn't even talk to each other). However, there's so much potential between them to explore in fanworks that I simply can't ignore.🤔

I'm not even sure what source these other shippers use to say that Kokunaki is canon. As far as I know, I couldn't find such source and none provided any. I'm guessing you highly prefer canon ships over fanon ones (which, is your choice and that's ok🤷‍♀️).🤔

At least you're a pretty good sport.🙂

Oh right, here's why I am obsessed with Kokunaki...😊

-I find them appealing to look at together from a visual standpoint. 6 eyes and one eye? So adorable🥰. Pretty much the first reason many people (and myself included) find themselves to ship Kokunaki💕. Also, the height difference is cute(Ik Nakime's official height is unknown, but I'd like tot hink she's 5"0 tall)☺️.

-They share similar personality traits. Both are aloof, quiet, stoic introverts who are surrounded by idiots😆. Due to both of them being the more sane or normal among the UMs, I'd like to believe they at least don't mind each other's company in canon. They'd love to talk to each other and overall spend time together. Their similar personality traits leads them to think and act similarly-so, they'll rarely fight or have major disagreements between them.

-We get to explore sides of both characters that the canon couldn't. In canon, Kokushibo does have very tiny bit of humanity left. If he doesn't have any humanity at all, he would've dispose of that flute that he managed to carry with him for 400+ years. At the very least, Kokushibo does indeed love and care for his brother the entire time (even though he won't admit it). As for Nakime, it's difficult to tell if she had any humanity at all since we the audience don't know much about her. The story has not presented us with any redeemable or sympathetic qualities for her. It could be argued that her ex-husband might've been abusive. Even then, we don't know much about her ex-husband either. What I'm trying to say is that by putting these two together in a relationship together, we can explore their human sides individually and together. Love in any way among demons is extremely rare,so imagining Naki & Koku as romantic partners can help bring out the softer, gentle nature deeply buried in them. Exploring the idea that they aren't 100% heartless monsters can do wonders to their characterization in fanon.

The potential of them as a power couple. Kokushibo has been UM1 from the start and has kept his title since. In Nakime's fight, two hashiras struggled to land a single blow on her. We haven't seen Nakime fight outside of the infinity castle, so we wouldn't know how much she'll do well outside of her domain. However, she's a powerful demon in her own right, and Kokushibo might see potential in her. Under his guidance, Nakime might still get to be powerful outside of the infity castle. With her and Kokushibo side by side in combat, they can operate as an offense and defense duality. Nakime can be the offensive force, while Kokushibo can be the defense force. Ultimately, they'll have someone to fight for😍

-Both were in unhappy marriages. Although not explicitly stated, it can be implied that both were in arranged, loveless marriages. I find it hard to believe Nakime willingly chooses to tie the knot with a gambling addict. From what we can read of her backstory from the fanbook, her ex-husband did nothing to contribute to household finances. In fact, he usually flushes Nakime's earnings down the drain-which is why the two are poor. Nowhere does the fanbook ever mention any positive memories the two have together. Given that the reason Nakime murdering her ex-husband is because he gambled away her only nice kimono, it must've been the last straw from her. Nakime pretty much had to put up a lot emotionally (and perhaps physically) to being stuck with a man who has trouble with money.

As for Kokushibo, he has a stronger case for being in an arranged, loveless marriage. He's the eldest son of his clan with a lot of expectations placed on his family. Of course, his family would set him up with a daughter from another wealthy family. Canonically, he did describe his marriage as "boring". This leads me to doubt he and his ex-wife lvoed each other at all from the beginning. Due to a lack of love or interest towards his ex-wife and kids from his memories, he most likely formed a family purely out of societal obligation (still not a free pass for him to go out and buy milk though).

During the times when Koku & Naki were humans, arranged, loveless marriages were the norm. Unfortunately for our unusual eye couple, divorce isn't an option in their human years. When the two become close and comfortable to be vulnerable to each other, they'll open up and relate to formerly being in unhappy marriages.

-The forbidden/tragic love aspect. They're not in a Romeo and Juliet type situation, but their romantic relationship can bring them a lot of risks. Like I said earlier, many demons don't even get along (mainly because Muzan makes it difficult for mutual bonds among demons to happen). Romance is highly unheard of among demon kind. Given as to their backgrounds and roles in the 12 kizuki, it's a perfect recipie for heart-wrenching angst. Due to them both most likely never having romantic feelings towards anyone before, it'll take them quite a while to realize or admit to such feelings (Kokushibo would be more stubborn and in denial in this aspect than Nakime). Kokushibo and Nakime are very lucky to be Muzan's favorites so that their relationship can be approved. Although Muzan trusts them to not backstab them, he'll secretly spy on them here and there. Since Muzan Witnessing demons being in love is a once in a blue moon phenomenon, he'll probably toy with our love birds for his own sick entertainment. One of the conditions Muzan would give them to continue being romantic partners is to always put him first before each other.

As if it wasn't enough to get Muzan' approval, Naki & Koku will have to keep their relationship behind closed doors from EVERYONE. Luckily, I don't think either of them would be into PDA. In fact, they strike me as a couple who prefer to be affectionate in secret. However, they're still gonna have to be cautious about potential spies and nosy beings. Afterall, they can' let their relationship get in the way of their duties.

-Ultimately, all they'll have is each other. One of the reasons the two will be drawn to each other is vulnerability. Think about it, Nakime is quite quiet, unsettling individual with a very strong "don't come any closer type of nature. As for Kokushibo, he's UM 1 and one of the oldest and most feared demons in existence. As much as both of them are content with their roles among the 12 Kizuki, it can get pretty lonely. Nakime does feel safe in the domain she created to her own liking, but her role as Muzan' lackey can get quite isolating and she'll be in her thoughts most of the time. As much proud Kokushibo is for being the apex predator of the demon hierarchy, he's extremely unapproachable to many.

Due to their similar personalities, they can easily listen and understand each other. When close enough, they'll even know what each other is thinking just by very subtle body movements. The start of a beautiful friendship turned romance is them realizing that they don't need to be completely alone 100% of the time.

TLDR: The reason I ship Kokunaki is because of the potential these two could have together. They are pretty similar in personality and thinking, interesting exploration for their characters and there is room for possibilities to explore demons in love. Kokunaki provides a potentially angsty slowburn fest as a result of two characters coming from troubled, broken backgrounds who are trying to navigate the unnerving world around them. I hope I answered your question successfully well🥰

👀👀👀💘👁

[greatwyrmgold]

I still haven't found/made time to watch the Spiderverse movies, but a lot of people had fun speculating about how Skitter might look as a spiderperson, so I decided to look up a list of Canon Events to figure out what Wildbow characters fit them best. According to the wiki, known Canon Events not associated with any specific character are:

Becoming an orphan or losing at least one parent or one loved one.

Being bitten by a radioactive spider or gaining spider-powers by another means.

Causing (directly or indirectly) the death of a loved one (ie., Ben Parker) early in their superhero career.

The death of a police captain close to them (ie., George Stacy).

Becoming bonded to a symbiote.

Separating from the symbiote, which becomes Venom.

The symbiote and spider-power stuff are Marvel gunk that's about equally sane to slap on any non-Marvel character, which leaves us with losing at least one parental figure, causing the death of a loved one, and the death of a police captain they care about.

The police captain thing is obviously going to be a problem if we take it literally, since the only named police captain/chief/etc across all of Wildbow's works is Laird. With that caveat in mind, let's get to theorizing!

Spider-Worm

Alright, hear me out: Spider-Bitch. Obviously, Rachel was taken from her mom at a young age, and we have no idea what happened to her dad. Close enough. And she felt guilt over her part in Rollo's death, so that could count. And as for the police captain stand-in...her last adoptive mother was a hell of a disciplinarian?

Alright, clearly we need to start with the "police captain" thing if we want that to be anything. IIRC, closest thing to a police captain who dies in Worm is the PRT captain who Coil shot before getting a vial. If Piggot liked him enough, that would qualify handily. And we know basically nothing about her life before Ellisburg, so sure, maybe she's an orphan and accidentally shot her aunt in a fight with a Master or something.

PRT Directors Calvert and Tagg are also kinda police-chief-y, but not great choices because they're both assholes with no friends. Maaaybe the Undersiders count as close to Coil, for a twisted version of the Canon Events? It's probably a good angle to take for Spider-Taylor, but not very strong on its own.

If we broaden the "police captain" to include leaders of superhero teams...well, surprisingly few of them die in Brockton Bay. Excluding bit-parts like Bastion, I think it's basically just Aegis and Alexandria? Alexandria doesn't have many friends, the ones she does have don't have any loved ones whose deaths they caused, and the ones who you could maybe argue something in there for would make boring spider-people. Oh wow, Contessa has her PtV and webs? What now?

Which leaves Aegis. The most obvious potential spider-people to care about his death would be his fellow Wards. The Brockton Bay Wards who are not known to have two living parents are Clockblocker, Shadow Stalker, and Aegis himself. Shadow Stalker is unlikely to care much about people she killed early in her superhero career unless it's, like, her little sister or something, and Clockblocker's confirmed parent is dying of cancer, so I'd say he fits better.

Bonus: Clockblocker is the most likely Brockton Bay resident to embrace Spidey's quippiness.

Spider-Pale

Lucy. She has a dead parent, there are plenty of people whose deaths she (and Avery and Verona) been unable to stop which weigh on them, and you could make a pretty compelling argument that John was the Kennet council's equivalent of a police captain.

It wouldn't surprise me if there was a side character who fit better, but Lucy is a main character and she fits better than most characters I'll be mentioning today.

Spider-Ward

The fun thing about Ward is that it's set after the apocalypse. Basically anyone without two parents confirmed alive could qualify if they get along with police officers and/or senior heroes.

Rain is probably the best choice. He's wracked by guilt for killing people during the mall fire, he's raised by his aunt and uncle, and he has so many powers that adding weak precognition and wall-climbing and stuff wouldn't seem out of place. The only problem is the police chief equivalent, but one of the Fallen officers can probably qualify.

Spider-Twig

...I can't think of any authorities who aren't either mad scientists or literal nobility. I guess you could pick an experiment, but I don't remember any who both die, have meaningful relationships with other people, and have the seniority to substitute for a police captain.

Spider-Pact

Laid is a police chief and he dies. Pick a Behaim, any Behaim. Chrono-Spider.

Conclusion

If you want to make Spider-Skitter, I don't think that's a bad idea. But there are plenty of other alternatives, from Bitch to Clockblocker to Precipice. And that's neat.

[cryptideye]

"yona was obviously only added because of homophobia!!!" do you really think nintendo cares enough about sidIink to add an entire character just to deter shippers. like, are they aware of the ship??? probably, but people really jumped to conclusions because the fan content made them think sidIink was canon all along when it... really wasn't 😭 you can argue its heteronormative (but even then I'd argue her addition itself isn't even good evidence for NINTENDO being homophobic because it makes sense for royalty to get married to continue the bloodline... it happens in the real world too), but homophobia? you think Nintendo not only hates sidIink so much that added an entire character to get in the way of it, and you ALSO think they genuinely thought this would stop shippers??? who cares about canon, nobody can stop you from making ship content. but calling it "homophobia" because you decided to essentially queerbait yourself (there REALLY aren't as many hints in canon as people say they are... like, sidon even says that link might have ended up as his brother in law and calls him his family... and the sage vow was also given to link by riju tulin and yunobo so that's really not a "clear confirmation" anyways. the statue "argument" is just silly as it's clearly meant to be non sexual, and WAS a representation of what literally happened in zoras domain because link needed sidons swimming ability to shoot vah ruta) is absolutely ridiculous (especially when it's coupled with misogyny... you don't have to ship yona and sidon but it's really weird to hate on her or say she is obviously being a bitch (loaded term when talking about women) when her biggest crime is like. being boring??? I guess???)

[cescalr]

thalia x reyna from percy jackson for the ask (i'm pretty sure you've read heroes of olympus but if i'm wrong, ronance from stranger things)

I will answer both and this is gonna be soooo controversial (for the second) lol ack

Also; I'm on mobile, and this is going to get long, and i cant link any suppirting posts that explain my perspectives better than i can, lol. If you want, i'll dm the metas. I hope I get the keep reading thing right, but if it doesn't work... sorry. Summary:

Tl:dr; I could see reynalia working, maybe, but I'd need to read some to get a proper feel for it. It might be one of those cases where I prefer it in polyamorous form, aka reynaliabeth. Reynabethalia. Or maybe when put alongside pipabeth (idk piper/annabeth...) Idk. As for ronance, just not my cup of tea for a variety of reasons. I prefer robin crossover ships, like my tiny little dingy of tarabin. (Tara Maclay/Robin Bucley).

Reyna/Thaila (reynalia??) Is not something I've ever considered, to be honest. I'm not sure how compatible they'd be, but I do ship annabeth/thalia (I should really look up pjo ship names, huh) and I've even given thalia/percy a go, because I'm firmly in the camp that you should give most ships a chance before you write them off completely (as it stands, the most controversial pjo ship I've ever read would either be luke/percy or nico/Sadie - that was written before he was confirmed as gay, though, so it's a grey area, like pre-confirmation romantic stobin fics, or willow/oz content, though differently so for the latter*).

Given all the above, I can't say I don't ship it, but I can say I'm not sure. I think given I like thaliabeth (??) and reynabeth, it wouldn't be a stretch to ship reynalia, though!

(*willow is controversial because of a clash between people who interpret her being called a lwsbian as biphobic vs people thinking calling her bisexual as lesbiphobic, its a whole deal I don't want to her into rn but... eeh, I guess I should state that I'm in the camp that her being bisexual is the most logical reading of canon, her status as a lesbian is a self-identifier because she swore off dating men, not because she isn't attracted to them - she cheated on Oz with Xander for purely lust related reasons, her whole thing with the will be done spell, and her actions with Amy when she goes off the rails (magically forcing men to dance half naked In cages in the bronze, along with other questionable acts) is... uh, not particularly lesbian behaviour, generally speaking; imo, Willow uses being gay as a mask for her insecurities same as she does her witchy power and her choice of fashion - to distance herself from the 'pathetic' girl she used to be. Its a whole psychological thing tied up in era-typical bigotry, unfortunately. It was the 90s. She wasn't going to be addressed as bi, even though she so clearly was. There's a reason I really like 2000s doctor who - it was the first positive representation of a bisexual I'd seen on screen, and being bisexual is clearly going to affect my opinion, here. Like. Duh. Same with lesbians who interpret her as lesbian. I don't think we should be arguing- at the end of the day, we all technically want the same thing; personal representation of our own lived experiences, and that's not a bad thing. Theres a good video on youtube about the controversy, which. Theres always a good video on youtube, lol.)

Um. Oops, rambling. Anyway.

So, ronance. Oh boy.

I see Nancy as straight. I'm also not fond of how she treats Robin in the little time we see them together. Im also not a fan of robin dating the ex that broke her bestie's heart. So, ergo, I don't ship them. I'm genuinely, as much as it probably doesn't seem that way, more of a fan of friendship, at the end of the day. I would see it as a betrayal (same way I see scolia and stydia as a betrayal). I tend to use romantic/sexual relations as a way to explore character because that's easiest to get my points across, but I prefer friendship. Romance is, at the end of the day, conditional. Friends can be friends still after three years of no contact, but that's a signal for the end of a romance. So what I'm getting at here - you can be tentative friends with someone the way robin and Nancy act (as is their canon dynamic), but I wouldn't be conformable with them dating. Nancy barely tolerates Robin. She displays annoyance at pretty much everything she does, from rambling to venting to expositing her mental state, Nancy's countenance just screamed 'I'm waiting for this to stop'. I don't like that in friendship, and I like it much less in romance. Even with my most controversial ships, there's still a kind of passion. Hate is not the opposite of love - it's apathy. Nancy seems often apathetic to Robin's mental state, her worries and concerns. She dismisses a lot of what robin says and does, at least from my perspective watching them. And it must be said - and I'll freely admit - I'm not Nancy's biggest fan, but I love Robin, she's my girl. That's going to cause some problems. Even with ships that are objectively questionable, I have to like both characters for me to get behind it, or I have to like both characters when in the context of the ship. This makes little sense, so I'll extrapolate.

In the Vampire Diaries, I don't really like Stefan Salvatore, and unpopular opinion time, I hate Klaus. I really, really hate him. At this point, it's straight-up loathing. But I greatly enjoyed their dynamics, from 20s to modern day, and that they shared an ex was funny to me (same way it is with Zutara, and making jetko kinda-canon for that reason alone half the time, akfjqlfjwk) as well as being an interesting thing to happen. (I mean, what are the odds, really?). So there's that. I also liked stefan and Katherine's whole weird deal, which played an aspect. What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that there's a certain respect even in my most dubious ships (jetko, steo, fuffy, spuffy, etc) that I feel is completely lacking in ronance. There's a video by Jill Bearup about enemies to lovers ships that might give a good reason to one aspect of why I like it - they take each other seriously. There's an understanding of competence, an acknowledgement of thought processes, a certain level of understanding. Nancy has none of that for Robin.

When I compare the two ships of the 'fruity four', as people have taken to calling them, steddie and ronance strike me as two very different kinds of ships. And I only half get steddie (very not fond of popular portrayal) - there's no real chance for me to get ronance. It is what it is, I suppose. People like what they're going to like. If you want me to extrapolate on any of this, I'd be happy to! My thoughts are oft all over the place and need a bit of direction to make sense, though, fair warning. I think about a lot of stuff and only rarely coherently akdhlwkfkq but I think there is a throughline. At the end of the day, mutual respect is mandatory for me, in romantix relationships especially, but not only for that. If I can't really get behind ronance platonically, there's no hope for romantically. And for the record, as stated above, I did give it a shot. Read the most popular fics and then a couple of the most recent, as I always do. They didn't agree with me, and they left me feeling distinctly... well, not so distinctly because I can't find the right word, but I couldn't help feeling the way I do about the popular portrayal of Hermione is happening to nancy? She's perfect and flawless and a girl boss and has never made a mistake ever and I just.... eeh. Also the treatment of Robin is... not always great. But that's a whole 'nother topic I've already rambled long enough, I don't need to add that.

Basically, tl:dr; ronance is kind of disquieting, probably because I'm not fond of their characterisations within ronance fics, and I'm often affected by the fanon regarding a ship. I never liked Sterek, for example, but I could've tolerated it if a) it wasn't so prevalent in fandom that it appears often untagged like an accepted part of canon when it is not and b) if it didn't so wildly misinterpret the characters, plus didn't include a character that doesn't sit right with me (Derek - Nancy) and a character I love but portrayed in a way that doesn't even remotely align with my interpretation of them 95% of the time (Stiles - Robin).

Er. Yeah. Oof.

Tl:dr; I could see reynalia working, maybe, but I'd need to read some to get a proper feel for it. It might be one of those cases where I prefer it in polyamorous form, aka reynaliabeth. Reynabethalia. Or maybe when put alongside pipabeth (idk piper/annabeth...) Idk. As for ronance, just not my cup of tea for a variety of reasons. I prefer robin crossover ships, like my tiny little dingy of tarabin. (Tara Maclay/Robin Bucley).

:).

(As you can probably tell, I have... lots of very complicated feelings about shipping Robin (and like, shipping in general, being honest) with canon ST characters. I'm much less strict abt Riordanverse characters as a whole, for reasons I'd be perfectly willing to extrapolate on/discuss if you'd like to do so!).

♡♡

[whitecrossgirl]

Just a thought but 'Heart of Stone' from Six! the Musical gives me total Haley Hotchner-Brooks vibes. Obviously not all the lyrics fit but many could be interpreted to suit her. Mainly because I was listening to the Six! soundtrack and got thinking.

You've got a good heart But I know it changes A restless tide, untamable You came my way, and I knew a storm could come too You'd lift me high, or let me fall

Essay under the cut

Even back in season 1, Haley knew that their safety couldn't be guaranteed just because Hotch promised it would be. In 'The Fisher King', you can see how rattled she is that the Fisher King could track down her and Jack at home. Even if Hotch is in denial at this point that anything would happen, she starts to think differently.

But I took your hand, promised I'd withstand Any blaze you blew my way 'Cause something inside, it solidified And I knew I'd always stay

Even if she didn't always stay because the marriage did break apart, the argument could be made that something did solidify. As season 2 progresses and moves into season 3, we see that she is struggling with the case always coming first. Although I doubt he ever told her what really would have happened at the shopping mall, even if she and Jack had been there, the fact remains, the cracks are starting to show.

You say we're perfect A perfect family You hold us close, for the world to see And when I say you're the only one I've ever loved I mean those words truthfully

Ok, here's the thing. The idea of Haley having an affair is implied but never explicitly stated. Personally, if there was an affair (which I doubt) it would have most likely been more a physical than emotional. Not that that makes it OK but since we never get canon confirmation that it even happened, we can argue for hours or move on.

Point is, their family isn't perfect. It's falling apart and she's the only one who can see it. Haley knows she has to be the bad guy and be the one to step away. She and Jack can't come second to the case anymore.

But I know Without my son your love could disappear I know it isn't fair, but I don't care 'Cause my love, will still be here

This is the main part which doesn't fully fit. I think even if they hadn't had Jack, Hotch still would have loved her so we'll move on. I've left the chorus until now to look at.

You can build me up, you can tear me down You can try but I'm unbreakable You can do your best, but I'll stand the test You'll find that I'm unshakeable When the fire's burnt The wind has blown The water's dried, you'll still find stone My heart of stone

As I mentioned before, even in the season 1 finale, Haley knows that her and Jack's safety can never be guaranteed and this only is reinforced from that point on. Elle is attacked in her home in the same episode. In the season 2 finale, Gideon's friend Sarah is murdered in his apartment, just because she was someone he cared about. TBH, I see this rather that Hotch's suspension as the final straw for Haley. They can never be sure of their safety, danger comes for the BAU at every turn and by extension she and Jack aren't safe. I see it as the real reason why she wants Hotch to leave the BAU and when he doesn't, she walks away. It comes across as cold hearted but she makes her choice and sticks to it. If Hotch can't make a sacrfice to try and protect their family; she will. She'll be unjustly blamed and vilified for it (come at me Haley hate squad) even though honestly, how many would say that they wouldn't do the same? If it meant the safety of your child, would you not want your spouse to change careers that would at least make you slightly more safe.

We also know that Haley hates the gore and doesn't want to know the details but during the fight, Hotch mentions it anyway; mostly to reaffirm his point but it also shows how different their viewpoint is. To her, its horrible and unbearable to hear. For him, it's normal. Slightly more grotesque than usual but still, normal.

It also means that when the inevitable happens, when the danger does come to Hotch's door, she and Jack aren't safe. The only way for them to be safe is to leave their home and family behind and in the end, it's still pointless.

We hear it being said several times, by Hotch himself "You practically raised Jack yourself" and Jess "You and Haley didn't split up because you stopped loving each other." I see it as Haley being the one to see what he refused to, until it was too late. He couldn't guarantee her and Jack's safety. The day would come. And it did.

Soon I'll have to go I'll never see him grow But I hope my son will know He'll never be alone 'Cause like a river runs dry And leaves it's scars behind I'll be by your side 'Cause my love Is set in stone

Obviously, this was the main part that started me comparing the song to Haley. From the moment she heard Hotch's voice on the phone in 100 and realised she and Jack had been lured into Foyet's trap; she accepts her fate. Once again, she accepts what Hotch is unable to until it's too late. She is going to die. Whatever happens, he won't get there to safe her, something she knew could happen way back in season 1 and so her priority, as always, is Jack.

Hotch and the team won't get there in time to save her, Haley is going to die. She knows it, they know it and so the unspoken agreement is to get Jack to safety. Hotch tells him to hide, Haley makes Hotch promise to take care of him, to show him how to be happy and how important it is that Jack knows love and that his parents did love one another at one point. Indeed, her last words to Jack are that she loves him so much, she hugs him that tightly that he remarks on it, that 'Mommy, you hug me too tight'. She accepts her fate and knows that Jack will be alright, he and Hotch will cope without her and that she will always be a part of them.

If you haven't noticed, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this and I would love to hear what you guys think. Feel free to send me messages about what you think and like I said, if you hate Haley, feel free to call me an idiot, I'll just laugh anyway.

Endnote: Haley deserved better.

[thelegendofclarke]

Besides Jon, who do you see as a candidate with a good chance of being a romantic interest for Sansa? I don't know if George Martin will even include that in an endgame but considering Sansa does want someone to love her for who she is, I'd hope he'd at least allow her some happiness in that regard.

Hey Anonny!

I am actually pretty optimistic about Sansa getting a happy ending; primarily because “no one will ever marry me for love” and “life is not a song,” and “there are no heroes, in life the monsters win” are so incredibly prevalent in her arc. Sansa’s character arc is basically a “Captive Princess in the Tower”— but deconstructed, and then reconstructed, and then ~kind of~ deconstructed again and also ~kind of~ flipped on it’s head. But regardless, a fairy tale is still a fairy tale. Honestly the entire ASoIaF series is one ridiculously long, intricately detailed fairy tale. Which leads me to believe that, for the most part, all the protagonists will get their happy (or at least bittersweet) endings.

Above everything else, Sansa wants to be loved; and through out the series she has become more and more convinced that she never will be, that she is unlovable. Aside from retuning home to Winterfell, its still her heart’s dearest desire. She does still want a loving, happy marriage, she just doesn’t think it’s possible anymore:

 But then she remembered what Dontos had told her in the godswood. Tyrell or Lannister, it makes no matter, it’s not me they want, only my claim. —Sansa, ASoS

It is not me she wants her son to marry, it is my claim. No one will ever marry me for love. But lying came easy to her now. “I … can scarcely wait to meet him, my lady. But he is still a child, is he not?” —Sansa, ASoS

It’s not that Sansa has given up on love, its that she thinks love has given up on her. It’s not necessarily that she’s rejecting the idea of falling in love and being happily married, she just doesn’t see it happening for her. Which breaks my gd heart oml. 

Now moving on to your actual question (I know, I ramble. It’s so terrible!)…

The Tourney at Ashford Theory

So, one of the things that I have considered possible foreshadowing for Sansa’s romantic prospects is the Tourney at Ashford Theory. It’s the story of the Tourney at Ashford Meadow, told from the perspective of Ser Duncan the Tall (Dunk from Dunk & Egg) in GRRM’s short stories The Hedge Knight and The Sworn Sword. The idea is that Sansa is a parallel to Lady Ashford whose father threw her a tourney for her 13th nameday tourney. Lady Ashford’s suitors coincide perfectly with Sansa’s, in order, by last name and House. 

Lady Ashford’s suitors were:

Lyonel Baratheon

Leo Tyrell

Tybolt Lannister

Humfrey Hardyng

Prince Valarr Targaryen

And Sansa’s suitors, as of ASoS, are/were:

Joffrey Baratheon

Willas Tyrell

Tyrion Lannister

Harry Hardyng

Some people think that this is merely a coincidence; but like, come on, they line up perfectly. The surviving potential prospects of Sansa’s in the series are: Willas Tyrell, Tyrion Lannister, Harry Hardyng, and presumably whoever the Targaryen suitor will be.

In previous years when the theory began spreading, the most popular theory was that Aegon (aka f!Aegon) was going to the the Targaryen suitor and Sansa’s final prospect. However, Aegon, Arianne, and Jon C’s absence from the show has cast some doubt upon their overall importance in the end game. And at this point, I think the same could be said for Harry Hardyng. That being said, I think any of the remaining suitors could potentially be Sansa’s endgame pairing.

The details are a little fuzzy on how exactly the Tourney went down, because Dunk (the POV from which the story was narrated) gets his butt tossed in jail on the second day. It’s important to note that the tourney is canceled; there technically is no real winner, and no one receives Lady Ashford’s hand. I also think this was done intentionally so as not to give away too much. 

In my opinion, from the series so far, I think the strongest cases could probably be made for Tyrion Lannister and whoever the Targaryen suitor ends up being.

Sansa’s Baratheon suitor, Joffrey, as we all know is dead.

I think that sadly the ship has officially sailed on the Tyrell potential, which is a bummer because I think Sansa would have loved High Garden.

Humfrey Hardyng was in the final five because Aerion Targaryen was forced to forfeit to him after Dunk kicked his ass for attacking a young girl (hence, why Dunk was in jail.) I think this could maybe be foreshadowing of a reversal with Harry Hardyng having to forfeit his betrothal to Alayne Stone once her true identity is learned, but that’s just me speculating. 

Humfrey Hardyng also dies later on at the Tourney in Aerion Targaryen’s Trial. by the Seven (discussed below). So I think that also may not bode well for a Sansa/Harry endgame, again. if I’m just speculating. 

That leaves Lannister and Targaryen still standing.

The one thing I think that Sansa/Tyrion has going for it is that in the series they are ~technically~ still married. I could also see it being a classic GRRM move to have Tyrion got through a kind of ~transforming narrative journey of self actualization~ and in the end be the kind of husband that could be good for Sansa. GRRM does love a good underdog, and a good Find Yourself Story!

Although, going along with the Tyrion/Sansa note, I think the fact that they got married could also possibly be even more evidence for and Jon/Sansa canon pairing. In GRRM;s  original outline for the series, there was supposed to be a Tyrion/Arya/Jon love triangle. To me this says that 1) GRRM ain’t afraid to go there; and 2) that because Sansa ended up with that aspect of the original story line, said triangle/love story could still play out somehow.

Honestly, I have pretty much ~always~ seen Jon/Sansa as having canon potential from the time I first read the books, even before I ever got into fandom; it’s one of the things that drew me to the ship in the first place. I see so many parallels and so much potential foreshadowing that I feel like it has to be a deliberate indicator of something. These are some of the metas that I have read that really delve into a lot of detail on it for anyone who is interested. I was already curious when I first started looking around to see if anyone else had noticed Jon/Sansa, but was really @blindestspot‘s A Time for Wolves - The Case for Jon and Sansa that convinced me in the end. 

Other Possibilities

Sandor Clegane/The Hound

I could totally see this playing out. There is a lot of speculation and foreshadowing that The Hound will end up at Winterfell at some point and probably remain there. This relationship also plays into sooo many tropes (i.e. “The Princess and Her Knight,” “Beauty and the Beast,” ect.), and as I discussed earlier, GRRM loves a good trope. While I’m not necessarily sure how ~romantic~ or ~official~ it would end up being, I could see these two being devoted to each other until the end. Sandor has a really strong protective instinct when it comes to Sansa; so I feel like in any relationship they had, his role could end up being more of a protector rather than a primarily romantic partner. 

Brienne of Tarth

Speaking of the “Princess and Her Knight”… Some people argue that the real champion of The Tourney at Ashford was actually Set Duncan the Tall. An altercation occurred between Ser Duncan the Tall and Prince Aerion Targaryen when the prince assaulted a girl, Tanselle. This resulted in Duncan striking the prince, claiming that he was only following the knight’s vows to defend the weak. Prince Aerion demanded a Trial of Seven to clear his name and in the end Dunk’s side ended up winning.

Last year at Balticon GRRM actually confirmed that Brienne is is the descendent of Ser Duncan the Tall. Some people have speculated that therefore, in the end, it will be Brienne who is Sansa’s true champion. Which I am down for tbh.

So yeah, I think there is plenty of potential for Sansa to get her happy ending. Whether or not she’ll actually get it in canon though is very questionable, I guess I can see it going either way. It wouldn’t be unlike GRRM to take the most romantically minded, eager for love character in the series and never let her truly fall in love or have anyone truly fall in love with her. But like I said in the beginning, the extent to which this theme is basically beaten to death in Sansa’s arc is, for me, also evidence to the contrary. It also wouldn’t be unlike GRRM to have a character become completely disillusioned and hopeless, and then throw them a narrative curveball that makes them question everything they think they have learned. I do think Sansa wants a happy, loving marriage, and I hope she gets it because after everything she has been through I think she more than deserves it.