#i'm not going to declare the show racist

[error501blog]

Question for the Ninjago fandom?

Are there any other Asian VA's for Ninjago than Vincent Tong? I love Mr. Tong, but I'm just curious.

Even if they're not East Asian in particularf. Hell! Even if they're half Asian or part Asian. Is there one other person?

Follow up, are there any Asians in the writing room of the show?

[tinystepsforward]

like a lot of articulate autists who aren't conflict-averse, i have had many a one-sided nemesis in my life. 99% of those situations were clown car level convoluted drama that revolved around a white queer person getting mad at the uppity brown bitch who dared to speak authoritatively in a space that now is ~unsafe~ bc someone brought up race (and was right to do so tyvm) and decided to devote way too much time to ruining my life, sometimes without me noticing for years

[victoriadallonfan]

I don't agree with a lot of Sanderson's politics - and they aren't, in fact, based in Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints doctrine, but rather Utah culture - but it also makes me pretty uncomfortable to hear you badmouthing the church I'm part of?

I badmouth religious organizations in general, Catholic Church included (in which I was raised) because they tend to be overwhelmingly corrupt and abusive towards their own church members (and especially towards people outside of them)

Mormonism in particular is especially bad for how being part of the church requires “tithings” from paychecks plus their treatment of women, minorities, and even men in ways that are almost so explicitly manipulative and cultish that it feels like it comes out of parody.

(For example, I simply declared, “I am no longer catholic” and that was it. Done. You cannot generally do the same in LDS without incredible backlash and slander by its members)

And it’s very obvious when it shows up in fictional books by a lot of Mormon writers, because it’s so conservative that it’s a step or two behind the times.

It’s not as bad as Westeros Westboro Baptist Church or Scientology, but that’s not a high bar to clear.

If your time in the church was different, I’m happy for you, because it means you likely avoided the worst parts of their abuse.

Still, if you have the time, I’d suggest watching these videos (in no particular order):

Why I Left Mormonism - Video covering the creation of the channel “Cults to Consciousness” and her abusive home life under the church

The BITE Model - Simple PowerPoint explaining the reoccurring factors of cults

Ex-Mormon Cast Reacts to Mormon Debates -Cast of ex-Mormon members react to a Mormon debate and highlight various lies and falsehoods presented, as well talk about teachings/history Mormon Church does not want revealed publicly

How the Mormon Church ‘Help Line’ Hid Child Abuse - Exactly what it says. Survivors speak out and the church has done nothing for them or worse.

If you don’t want to watch these videos, if you can’t stomach the testimonies, ask yourself and others these questions:

- How often are you allowed to preach about Heavenly Mother?

- How often do you see women in power within the church, as in, deciding doctrine and not just playing piano or making food for the men?

- How often do you see minorities in power within the church, as in, deciding doctrine or being treated as a token?

- How often does your church talk about the incredibly high suicide rates for children and how it’s associated with its practices?

- How come when a racist, anti-Semitic, misogynistic etc Prophet speaks its “the word of God” and doctrine, but then another Prophet can simply claim it was mere “policy”. Was ‘God’ lying to the prophets? Were the prophets lying about God? How can you trust what is their words and what is God?

- How come the church hid $30 Billion dollars from the public and even its own lower members?

- How come the founder lied about what was on the Egyptian papyrus, claiming it was a translation from God, but people who can actually read Egyptian pointed out he was lying?

- How come you get treated differently for asking these supposedly easy to answer questions?

I do not go after Brandon or you because you happen to be religious. I think belief in a higher power is one’s own choice and prerogative.

I instead care far more about the religious system that is using well-intended people like pawns for goals that pretty much boil down to money and power.

[maeaniseyas]

The Star Wars fandom has never gone this hard or been this invested in any Asian or Black character, ESPECIALLY a Black woman. The Star Wars fandom has never been going this hard for an interracial relationship involving no white people. So for me yeah, it is pretty telling that now is the time some people are deciding to declare everyone lacks media literacy because allegedly we can't tell or admit a man is a bad person because people are sooo blindsided by his looks.

It's the same exact way people adore Anakin/Vader, Maul, Kylo, Revan, Shin, etc. But now that a South East Asian man is playing the Sith y'all suddenly have to "suffer" seeing him a lot and people enjoying his character? When I called out the person who made the og post, they said "I didn't mention Qimir and wasn't only talking about him" like k bro....I know you think everyone but yourself is an idiot or something but just know I'm not and that I know there's no coincidence you literally TAGGED that post as "the acolyte". The claim it was only tagged as "The Acolyte" because it's the "most recent example" is total BS. You purposefully tagged The Acolyte, Acolyte Spoilers, Qimir, Osha Aniseya, ALL OF IT because you weren't talking about the fandom with ships and dark side characters as a whole, you were specifically talking about The Acolyte, Qimir and Osha.

And yeah, it definitely does feel racially coded. Everyone knows this show, the creator and the actors have been enduring a MASSIVE racist, misogynist, and homophobic hate campaign against this show for literally over a year before it even aired, and you have people making posts about how UNBEARABLE it is that they're going to have to see the fandom be obsessed with a sith played by a handsome Filipino and be excited over Oshamir, an interracial ship involving no white people but a Black woman and an Asian man, as if Star Wars fans have a good track record of treating characters of color well. It IS adding to the overall negativity of the show and convincing others not to watch it for your petty little reasons when this is without a doubt the best show Star Wars has released yet on Dinsey+ and by far the most diverse. Have any criticisms you want about The Acolyte, it's totally fair, but this "criticism" I'm referring to was just an attack on people enjoying the show, claiming stupid shit like a "lack of media literacy" over something everyone already knows like the fact Qimir isn't a good guy. Here's something that might shock y'all: we know, AND WE DON'T CARE.

Anyway I hope Oshamir, Qimir, and Osha continue to pop up on these peoples timelines and continue to make things unbearable for them. Because if enemies to lovers is all good when it involves someone like Shin and Sabine, but not when it involves Qimir and Osha, then you're a hypocrite and not to be dramatic your life deserves to be unbearable if that's really what does it.

[supershot73199]

Hey everyone here is chapter 4 of my Dawn's Big Daddy story. This is the actual Gala from a few different characters perspectives.

I'll also put it under the read more

Jason Todd usually hated going to galas but tonight might just be the best he's ever been too, and it's all thanks to his baby sisters new paramour. This man who made his sister so happy was attending the Gala in a dress, especially since he looked better in that dress than many of the rich bitches that would try to cause trouble for his sister.

Honestly the two were sickeningly sweet, almost like gomez and morticia and it was hilarious how mad it made the high society stiffs. Jason stifled s laugh as Danny clearly said something that the socialites were offended by and he smiled like the cat who caught the canary.

This continued with the socialites getting more visibly upset and Cass getting more amused until a cheerful laugh came from across the ballroom.

Damian had Dawn standing on his feet while they "Danced" together. Seeing Damian interact with the little girl definitely showed that he was Bruce's kid more than any declaration of being "The Blood Son" ever could.

There was a sudden chill that had Jason turning back towards Cass and Danny their posture had changed from dopey in love to glacial wrath, from the rapidly paling face of one of the more racist leech that exist in Gotham high society they must have said something about Dawn and Damian.

The rich prick quickly rushed off dropping a hastily written check into one of the staffs waiting hands. Cass and Danny watched them go before returning to their Addams family act as they went to the dance floor though Jason could see the icy rage still in their eyes.

Tim was used to galas having been in high society all his life though he doubts he would ever enjoy them. He and Bernard were schmoozing with some of the investors for Wayne Techs newest project when his sister and her boyfriend start dancing.

Tim narrowed his eyes no matter how much he looked he couldn't find any history on Danny or any of his family, it's like he's a ghost. He didn't like his sister being so close with an unknown no matter how nice he seems.

"Stop glaring at your future brother in law. You're being overprotective." Bernard said as he bumped shoulders with Tim.

"I'm not overprotective I just don't like that we don't know anything about him." Tim defended.

"Look babe, we both know that is just an excuse because you don't want to admit you are worried about someone breaking Cass' heart. But look at them he adores her." Bernard gestures to the couple who have their eyes locked on their dance partner adoration clear to see.

"Just because he seems like he adores her doesn't mean he can't hurt her. Besides there are plenty of people with mind control abilities in the world who says he hasn't been brainwashed. That's why I won't give up until i find what he's hiding." Tim responded as Bernard sighed.

"Have you tried asking him?" Tim snorted at that.

"Oh please like that would work."

The night was coming to an end and Barbara was about to hit Dick.

He was moaning and groaning about how "that harlot is corrupting my poor innocent baby sister look at him in that dress hanging off of her" all damn night.

"If you don't stop whining about Cass falling in love I swear to God I won't be the only one who needs a wheelchair!"

She finally snapped.

"I'm sorry Babs but she's my baby sister."

Barbara sighed "I know but look how happy they are. Doesn't Cass deserve someone who makes her smile?"

The two watched the dancing couple for a few more minutes until the song ends. With the songs ending this one particularly annoying trust fund baby approached the couple and asked to cut in. Dick was about to jump up as this particular brat has harassed Cass before. However before he could take more than a step Danny had said of course before taking the man's hand and pulling him into a dance while he had a look of bafflement on his face.

Cass made her way towards the two vigilantes with humor clear on her face.

"I don't think he will bother me again." She said as she reached the table.

"What do you think Danny will do?" Barbara asked.

Cass looked at the two before responding. "He's unnerving him triggering his fear responses without doing anything else. Rich will be paranoid but otherwise will be left alone.

Barbara and Dick looked at each other before looking back to where Danny and Rich were dancing and it seemed like Cass was right about Danny somehow freaking him out if the way his eyes were darting around were any indication.

As the song ended Danny clearly gave an expected farewell while Rich all but ran away looking over his shoulder as he did. Danny after walking over to the table pressed a soft kiss to Cass cheek.

Barbara couldn't help the warm feelings bubbling up in her chest as she struck up a conversation with the pair of lovebirds.

Duke Thomas was many things, the only Meta on the team, the only dayshift hero, Hal Jordan's self proclaimed worst nightmare, etc, but one of his own personal favorites was Cass least likely to be beat up brother if only because he knew how to mind his own damn business. Despite that he couldn't help but be intrigued by the newest additions too her life.

Danny and Dawn looked rather unique to his power granted sight. Dawn was the easiest of the two to figure out her aura strengthening her body and vice versa, while not confirmed he assumes that she's a Meta with some unique energy manipulation power. (Duke would later look back at this and decide it was a pretty close guess.)

Her father though? While initially very similar to Dawn, Danny's power seemed too radiate out of him often covering people around him, if it wasn't for the fact that the energy very clearly does not actually enter anyone Duke would have been worried there might have been mind control involved.

As he watched the happy couple he enjoyed the way Danny's aura seemed to dance around Cass coating her almost like her cape does in her suit. He also looked at the energy that seemed to coat his daughter, resting on her like a warm hug or beloved blanket.

It was then Duke finally realized what the aura was seemingly doing. It was radiating safety in a unique way to each person it touched. The aura around Damian looked almost like what Duke would describe as respectful armor.

Duke gleefully watched and cataloged the way it interacted with people. When he noticed one of the more drunk guests started trying to cop a feel on a waitress. But before he could do more than take a few steps he saw a tendril of aura reach out and cover the girl right as Danny called the drunk out.

Duke only listened to the ensuing verbal smackdown with half an ear much more interested in the way the aura was behaving. It was honestly giving off what Duke could only describe as brotherly protection keeping the bulk of its energy on the side of the waitress that was nearest to any patron.

Duke really hopes Danny comes around more often, this aura show might just be Dukes new favorite use if his power. (OK second favorite cause fucking with Hal Jordan will always come first.

[chaos-chloe]

Drunk ban appeals?

Summary: drunk ban appeals, what more can I say

Tw: Established relationship, cursing, alcohol, lmk if missed anything

“ALRIGHT CHAT, we are doing “drunk” ban appeal today!” Pezzy introduced “Imma sip on this thing, and when it gets racist or-uh there’s any bigotry or like anything that’s like messed up. Like stuff like that; I'll take a shot of this.” Pezzy informed chat

“We do have 55 ban appeals, we do have a lot of them.” He moaned out, “We are going to start at the oldest one because these people have been waiting forever.”

“OOoh a snitch, yeah no deny, bye bitch.” Pezzy said starting with a loser chat.

“OP-ew, why would you make that joke? Was he referencing something? I feel like this person would have told us what he was referencing?” “Yeah no, bye.” Pezzy denied��

“OOO guys we have a __ ban. No, why was this person banned?” Pezzy asked looking deeper into the situation 

“Uh, __ are you here in chat? Or are you home?” Pezzy asked while his eyes shuffled through chat.

Mod2: Mod comment?

Mod1:OO this guy, was weird in Droids

userhub-2:Pezzy look at older messages from him! Wth

Mod3: Oo YEAH, old messages weirdage

__users: YEAH NO KEEP HIM BANNED PLS

“Babe there you are, yeah no keep him ban-” “Check mod comment, okay.” Pezzy started reading older messenger

“EW WHY ARE SAYING THAT TO __! YEAH BYE NOOPE!” Pezzy denied

“Wait, that's a shot. Ugh okay” Pezzy poured and took the shot like a champion. 

“Thanks babe, by the way you didn't answer me, are you home?’ Pezzy repeated

__users: almost, grabbing a slushie and some more alcohol for ya why?

“Chat, stop chatting for a second. I'm trying to read- almost- oo thanks to whoever pinned it.” Pezzy expressed his appreciation .

“Wanna join me when you get home?” Pezzy asked “Girl why is it taking forever for you to respond?”

__users: Uhh yeah, sorry had to think if i worked tomorrow morning 

__users:BOY i had to check my schedule also i was paying for our shit!

mod5:Tell em

userchat:Ooo pezzy gonna be in trob

“Chat behaves, I'm joking around with her; she knows this.” Pezzy scolded 

“Now, Moving onto the next stupid person.”

When you arrive, the atmosphere is chaotic and hilarious. Pezzy is in front of a computer with a shot glass in one hand and a bottle of soju in the other, trying to pour another shot because of a ban appeal being racist. “You should see these __! Half of these chatters are begging to be unbanned for the most stupid reasons!”

You lean over the keyboard, trying to focus on the screen, but Pezzy’s giggles are contagious. “Look at this one! ‘I was just testing my spam skills for fun!’ Who even says that?” 

You both dissolve into laughter, occasionally spilling a drink as you read through the increasingly absurd excuses. “Oh, this one’s even better,” you say, barely able to control your giggles. “‘I didn’t mean to spam; I thought it was a secret squad ritual!’” 

As the night goes on, the two of you descend deeper into silliness, sharing stories of all the ridiculous bans you’ve handed out. You start creating outrageous appeals for jokes, filling the screen with wild tirades about cat photos and conspiracy theories. “To unban me is to embrace the feline overlords!” Pezzy declares dramatically.

“Mew-sic to my ears,” you chime in, and the two of you erupt in a fit of laughter again. 

Time slips away as the ban appeals become an excuse for a ridiculous comedy show. You can hardly remember who you banned, and the lines between valid appeals and imaginative tales blur delightfully. 

By the time you look at the clock, its way past midnight, and you both realize you’ve completely failed at the task. But neither of you cares; the joy of laughing together over silly nonsense is far more rewarding than any ban appeal process.

[lover-of-mine]

This is gonna be a little long but here we go.

Not one of the regular spies but I’ve been keeping my eyes on things the last few days and I can tell you in the discord group I’m in, it’s mixed between buddie fans and BT fans. There are a couple…loud (nice word for it) ones especially who are very much trying to push hard core right now that between the messed up fics and that tumblr account the other day, Buddie fans are “out right declaring war” against gay men specifically due to their “homophobic attitude” toward Tommy. Like the amount of times in of them said “against gay men” in their latest rant in discord, if it was a drinking game we’d all be hammered.

If someone asks questions because they aren’t familiar with what’s going on because they have things blocked or filtered then it’s immediately on the defense of “you need to clam down” and “maybe if you didn’t burry your head in the sand over buddie you’d see how this is affecting real life gay men” or the fan favorite rhetoric of “if your a woman then you don’t need to speak on the matters and you should be supportive of Tommy right now”

It’s honestly getting really wild how much they are losing it. And even when myself and other queer have said something we just get ignored and accused of being “self hating homophobic”

Then on the TikTok and Twitter side, they seem to have launched this rhetoric that kinda goes along with what LW was saying about changing the narrative about Lou/Tommy and mental health. One of the louder BT fan TikTokers even made this wild video today about how people need to really try and step back from their hate and understand that when we saw Tommy in the begins episodes

“it was 2005 and that kind of stuff was just the normal hazing and stop reading into it.”

So pushing the racism/misogyny as just normal hazing now instead of what it is.

There has been some push back against that video by both POC creators and white creators being like uh no that’s definitely not hazing and it’s definitely not your place to dismiss it as such etc. but the comment section is unfortunately mostly with people agreeing with the BT creator and that people need to “let it go and try and understand Tommy better”

Twitter they are trying to push hard on the narrative that they know they aren’t going to see Lou until either 8.01 or after 8.01 “but it’s for his mental health to not be seen so it’s for the best”. And it’s of course the buddie fandoms fault he needs to take such actions and can’t be seen until then. But very big push right now on trying to get them all on board with the “it’s for his own good and we should be proud of him for standing up for himself and staying where he needs to be so he can be safe and happy”

That’s all I got for now

🅰️

Hello darling ❤️

This was a lot. Be supportive of Tommy? When he's a canonically bigoted character and people keep saying gay excuses racist while attacking real life queer women and poc people for having opinions on a fictional character? I'll pass. When the show gives me real proof he evolved as a human, maybe, until then ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

I did see the calling the comments he makes "normal hazing" which is out of touch to say the least and considering tiktoks algorithm, unfortunately, that only gonna show up for people who agree.

And, look, I think he's gonna be in the season too, but this narrative that we are so bad for Lou's mental health is... Tommy and Lou are not the same, so like, opinions on Tommy are not attacks on Lou as a person and I'm still waiting to see proof of this awful bullying we are doing to Lou that leads to this. Even more when we've seen multiple of them attack Ryan very explicitly.

[hermitw]

(anime-only friendly post)

I'll have to reread JJK0 to rly have a stance on this but

At this point I feel like Geto did nothing wrong, even if the worm curse was not drugging him like banana fish (explained here).

Geto was misunderstood. He didn't declare that he was planning to kill all non-sorcerers. Gojo said that. Geto called him ignorant for it and walked away for not being listened to. To have a world of sorcerers could take a gradual path by teaching, by finding those like Nanako and Mimiko (one of the guys in their family was in a similar position, I forget his name rn). Geto traveled far for a family of sorcerers and to remove cursed spirits.

I think his parents weren't killed for being non-sorcerers, but for being a part of that cycle of violence toward them. Geto might have given them a second chance, taking the twins to his parents house, when they got violent. We don't know exactly what went down with them.

Gojo continues to have negative rizz (this analysis contains manga spoilers. Tldr, Gojo misunderstands another lover, potentially) so it feels like a pattern to me.

We've often pointed out that Sukuna's love language would be violence, that using his stronger techniques is a sign of respect toward his opponent.

But I'm realizing now, Gojo is the same way - it shows that a partner can keep up with them. We know that Geto and Gojo used to get into fights at school (and Geto even used his curse manipulation technique without notifying the staff first, like he usually would because of the unregistered cursed energy). Geto said fuck the rules, I'm on your level (by your side).

BUT AT THE KFC, Geto didn't pull out a curse. He didn't fight (for) Gojo - not even when he pulled out the hollow purple hand. Geto just told him to choose his own path, there would be meaning in that. That he's no longer by his side. Geto said there would be a point to killing him, but I think it was to follow the order of his execution, to feed into the oppressive system on jujutsu sorcerers. Geto decided to be the one who diverges from the rules of jujutsu society, to decide that some non-sorcerers have so much power that they are as dangerous as curse users, even if they have no cursed techniques.

Geto had come to terms with the separation - they'd been sent on missions alone too often, and he felt left behind by Gojo's growth (along with how different he was since the fight with Toji - they didn't grow closer from that traumatic event, but became distant from there).

I would love to see someone who's fluent in Japanese break down their conversation - to me it reads like Geto is telling Gojo, I have a family now. I have to look after them. And if my parents were just like the group that killed Riko, or the village that beat up and locked kids in a cage for having abilities... Then it's irresponsible of me to let the cycle of hate continue there, just because they are my parents.

Anyway, Geto killed people. He targeted those in power, those with money, those who exploit the weak for their own greed, those who scapegoat innocent children and criminalize sorcerers for the curses' atracks (when the curses are only born from the non-sorcerers in the first place).

First, the village with Nanako and Mimiko.

Then his own parents (which I'm going to assume were the same way, I have my own headcanon that he left his family early for a monastery and then went to jujutsu high but I'm not rly sure what's up).

And the cult - he specifically calls to the stage and kills the man who hired Toji to kill Riko. And had Shiu gather to that meeting the members in positions of power and money.

There's also the deal with Geto calling non-sorcerers monkeys, which carries a gross and racist feeling (at least through a western lense, I've seen so many jokes about him being racist and planning a genocide, but I don't think that's really accurate). We can say that it was sleep learning from Toji. I think it stuck with him for a very simple reason.

Yuki Tsukumo gave Geto an existential crisis by telling him that curses only exist because of non-sorcerers (except for when a sorcerer dies and becomes the curse). Geto knows what curses taste like. Think about going to the zoo - you can smell the monkey area already, can't you? It's very distinct and memorable. It stays with you. The curses that Geto swallows are like that, but even worse. I posted here about the smell lingering in his sinuses and that's why he uses sanitizing spray after seeing Mrs. Sa(i)to and her daughter.

So just like monkeys live and poop and are associated with the stench, non-sorcerers get emotional and leak cursed energy. Others might see and hear curses, and occasionally they might smell (sorry Eiso I know you're insecure about having a musty back but I can't think of another example, maybe this doesn't happen with cursed spirits), but Geto is alone in knowing the taste and making this connection.

Edit to add: "monkey mind" is a term that refers to struggling with meditation, and I am now convinced that's what Geto is so upset about. A monkey is simply someone who does not control their cursed energy, and contributes to the formation of curses. Since Maki doesn't rly have CE, nor a visible heavenly pact like Toji, Geto is assuming that her cursed energy leaks out just like a non-sorcerer's would.

Anyway, Geto still clearly believes that the strong should protect the weak, whether they're sorcerers or not, that's what he spends his life doing.

And when he died saying that he still hates those monkeys - hate is different than genocide. He's been basically eating their vomit for the majority of his life. Not to mention the curses that killed his friends.

Ultimately, though, we don't get to see anyone Kenjaku uses as a vessel live their own life except for Geto. And I don't believe that the worm would have been necessary for most victims - but Geto and his best friend were 2 of the strongest sorcerers. Whoever Kenjaku was living as at the time had to be calculating and careful.

I don't know when Toji got the worm, but I think that Kenjaku needed to use it on Toji himself, and not only as a mediator to pass it onto Geto.

Idk much about Toji's life, but it seems like he was healing with his wife, and maybe he was still taking out curse users (though I want to use that term lightly bc ultimately it's the higher ups who decide who is a sorcerer vs a curse user), but I'm not sure he would have gone after Gojo or Geto or the star plasma vessel without the sudden grief or the worm.

Kenjaku likely was the founder of the time vessel association (which makes me laugh when Toji says thank you founder and shiu is like, ugh he is not the founder dumbass), which is from the Nara era. At the least we know that he was trying to destabilize Tengen. He needed someone to kill Riko. He needed Toji to lose his sense of reality, responsibility. (kenjaku was probably either in that group or sending them messages that they believed were like a sign from god)

So i feel more confident now in believing that Kenjaku did cause Megumi's mother's death. It seemed to happen by the time of Gojo and Geto's first year in jujutsu high.

In the end, love wasn't the greatest curse of all. It was the failure to understand Geto -

And Geto decided that he didn't need anyone to understand. He was giving up on Gojo, and on the rules.

It seems like Yuki Tsukumo and Geto kept in touch, judging by the end of the Shibuya incident. I wouldn't be surprised if one of their goals was to teach more people to become sorcerers or at least control their cursed energy, even if they can't see spirits.

Even if Geto were now curse user witn a death sentence, he still used his technique to absorb curses, a way to remove them from non-sorcerer victims without the stress or violence of exorcism (he didn't have to keep swallowing curses, instead of manipulating the ones he already had. But most people don't have resistance to curses, so he prioritized making things easier for the weak).

I imagine that some of these people got hyped about it, asking to learn, and were able to join a class that might focus on breathing techniques, visualization, etc (even if they could just control emotions better, that would help}. Larue's ability would make him a good teacher, and we really don't know what role he would have played otherwise.

[raxistaicho]

To spork a hatefic

Hey all! A while back I became aware of an anti-CF shortfic that attempts to analyze Edelgard and Hubert's treatment of Byleth in Crimson Flower. The long and short of it is the author (hereafter referred to as "Function", to shorten their AO3 username) interprets Byleth as a Human/Nabatean mixed-race individual, and so takes personally what they perceive to be some anti-Nabatean sentiment espoused by Edelgard and Hubert.

I'm not going to get into that issue during the course of this sporking; I've made a post on this ages back, but I personally interpret Byleth's dichotomy more as a split between mortals and the divine. The game proper focuses more on the Nabateans as a divine family than it does a race.

In any case, it's far more interesting to analyze why Byleth reacts to the things Edelgard and Hubert say, since there's a great deal of groundwork that Function just ignores in favor of detailing why Edelgard and Hubert are awful people. They've kinda forgotten that their shortfic gets into a story that didn't just begin where the shortfic does. That's more what I want to focus on.

Before we continue, do not go looking for this fic to bug the writer, I implore you. I didn't link it, name it, or name the author for a reason.

With that out of the way, let's get started!

*Byleth goes by they/them in this fic

Noted. And honestly it's easier that way, I'm already used to calling Byleth they/them as it is.

*This fic is not favorable towards CF

That's fine, I won't be favorable toward the fic either :)

We open up with,

“I will save this world from those creatures and give humanity its freedom back!” The words strike a discordant cord in Byleth’s chest.

Byleth remembers how Edelgard used to be and how unusual it is for her to speak so openly, capping off with,

Was she always so… comfortable?

No, not until treehouse got hold of her.

A lot, and I mean a lot of the times Edelgard calls the Nabateans "creatures" was an invention of the localization. In the original JP, what she says here is either,

I will bring down the lies of the Goddess, overcome countless sacrifices, then grasp and show everyone the true meaning of a world of man.

or,

I’ll defeat the false goddess, overcome our many sacrifices, and seize a world that’s truly for humanity.

The sources are linked in the quotes.

Now while Edelgard does bring up specifically humanity at the end of both quotes, it's in direct contrast to the falsities of the goddess. It's that human/god contrast I mentioned earlier with regards to Byleth.

To give another common example, the lines that spawned the dialogue Edelgard's haters always point to as an example of her being an evil racist, "Should the one leading the people of the world be someone with humanity or a creature that can merely masquerade as a human at will?" started as,

[Seiros and Nemesis fought to decide] whether those who stand atop humanity should be human, or non-human…

or,

Should the one who rules over humans be a human, or should it be something that is not a human…?

Again, Edelgard's issues are with the church and its false teachings of the goddess. It's more humans v gods here.

Rhea, and Seteth, and Flayn… they have made their stance against those three clear now, but enemies as they may be… creatures? Has Edelgard always been so… willing to speak of them in such a way?

Yes, she has.

(Interestingly, this is one of the few times the localization didn't make up Edelgard calling Rhea a monster! I'll go into the interesting implications a little further down)

You know, right after Rhea declared,

And then transformed into a frankly horrific-looking creature.

Rhea ain't a fluffy divine dragon ala Tiki, she's covered in spikes, she's got claws as long as a man is tall, she's got white pupil-less eyes, and her maw is lined with a jagged "beard" of spikes.

Speaking from experience, it's not easy to disregard things I know but my characters wouldn't when I write, but Function hasn't tried very hard at all to dispense with the Audience Awareness Advantage. They know dragons are generally forces for good in Fire Emblem, especially in modern games, but the characters in Fodlan would only have experience with them in the form of Demonic Beasts, which rampage mindlessly and slaughter people. The word "dragon" doesn't even exist in the game's script, just in UI elements and the name of one weapon.

We see Rhea and think, "oh, divine dragon!" while the people in-universe would think, "she's a white Demonic Beast!"

In any case, it's a definite strike against canon that Byleth would just forget the things Edelgard said previously and what Rhea said, did, and tried to do that prompted Edelgard's harsh description.

If someone viscerally declared their intent to rip out the heart of someone I loved, I'd be pretty liberal with dehumanizing them, too. That's serial killer behavior.

Her words are spoken with such a fervor, a vigor and vitality she would usually reserve for her ambitions and ideals, something dear to her, important to her, close to her heart, and yet… this… This feels different. This feels deeper.  

No they weren't and no it doesn't.

Tara Platt didn't even slip into Edelgard's "speech-voice" when giving that line, she speaks it calmly and softly. This is especially bad since you can easily check the voice lines now, this took me about a minute to confirm.

And just to be sure, I checked the original line in JP. Ai Kakuma, Edelgard's jp va, also gives the line calmly.

Now, for contrast,

If you dare walk this path with me, take your first step. It's now or never!

THAT was spoken with vigor and vitality.

Anyways, Byleth gets uneasy,

That resolution, that drive, that heart - it’s so close to sounding right. So close to being something they can believe in. But under the sincerity lies… No. No, they were thinking too much. They look into Edelgard’s eyes and see that same softness they remember her having, and they know that everything is fine. Everything is fine.

Judging by what we'll see later on, the implication is clearly that Byleth is catching on to the notion that they might be included in the list of "creatures" who need to be removed. This is an exceedingly common claim from Edelgard's more outspoken detractors, that she should turn on and kill Byleth once Rhea is out of the way, because she's just that much of a hater of the Nabateans.

This is just straight up mistaking Edelgard for Thales. Her haters' (mis)understanding of her character is that because she's willing to use violence, violence is her only answer when life asks her a question. It also ties into the nonsensical "she never tried diplomacy!" argument. It's also mistaking why Edelgard fights Rhea and her kin to begin with; it's not because of who they are, but what they do and have done to Fodlan. She has no reason at all to fight Byleth, they're on her side. Even the quotes Function uses later in an attempt to bury Edelgard only supports her point!

But to raise another point, why would Byleth be internalizing Edelgard's supposed anti-Nabatean arguments to include them? This isn't Silver Snow, Byleth hasn't learned anything about Sitri. Though they do know via Sothis that Rhea caused them to live a joint life, that doesn't necessarily mean Byleth themself is even part Nabatean. For all they know, they're just a normal human that Rhea tampered with during the mysterious passing of their mother.

Anyways, the scene then cuts to a rendition of Hubert's A support. I've gone into this support in great detail in a recent post and I encourage you to read it to get the context Function is going to deny us. I'll keep things brief(er) here, but tl;dr: what Hubert's about to say is a sign of trust, not distrust.

“It's absurd to preach to others what you cannot practice yourself.” A conversation with Hubert, after reconnecting. Talking of Rhea’s hypocrisy, of the need for Edelgard to rule in her place; ironically, they speak in the cathedral, the unrepaired hole in the roof letting in dim sunlight.

All right, so Function has just completely denied us all context and the fact that Hubert's saying gods have no fight to be hypocrits, great. It's much easier to frame a conversation the way you want it when you remove all context from it, after all.

“Sometimes it’s necessary.” Sometimes the circumstances call for hypocrisy - isn’t that concession something they all had to live with, for Edelgard’s war? How the only way to stop the need for sacrifices in the future is to indulge in the need for sacrifices now? How the true peace they build on this necessary suffering will erase the false peace Rhea had built?   It is hypocritical, but… that can’t always be avoided.

No, what Edelgard's doing isn't hypocritical. It'd be hypocritical if she decried violence and killing in all circumstances while using violence and killing to achieve her ends.

You know, that thing Dimitri does constantly!

“That is logical, but I am afraid your logic is informed by your humanity. That is not the case for inhuman creatures with lifespans well beyond our own.” The cord is struck again. They look at Hubert - he is staring them directly in the eye.

Again, Function removed the context behind this; he's contrasting humans against the goddess. Gods and mortals.

And again, Byleth doesn't have a reason to internalize what Hubert's saying.

“We must fight to preserve what makes us human.” They feel the hairs on the back of their neck rise. A chill races up and down their spine. Hubert still has that neutral smile, that calculating stare, that even tone.

No, he's actually rather agitated when he says this, because he's discussing his enemies. Rhea and her kin who've abused their long lives and great powers to force laws upon people that they don't practice themselves.

"What makes us human" is just the fallibility, the excuse to make logical mistakes and hypocrisies. Byleth has already compared what Edelgard's doing to being a hypocrite, and they themself are on her side. This Byleth has chosen their human side; they should be agreeing with him.

“You are the one closest to the enemy. I wonder if you will be able to maintain your humanity to the end.” They don’t swallow. They breathe in, then out, as they always do. They blink. They look at Hubert. “If I’m unable to…” Then Hubert - and Edelgard, and the Black Eagles - they would bring them back, right? They would help them. They would stay by them, just as Byleth has always come back to them. Or Hubert will say not to worry about such an impossibility - that it would never happen, because he knows them, and knows they would never��� lose their humanity… even if Byleth didn’t understand what Hubert means they would never let that happen, and he knows that-

Let's not forget what it would mean for Byleth to lose their humanity. Because Function was obsessed with race to the point of being blinded by all else while writing this, they seem to think that Byleth failing to preserve what makes them human would mean Byleth just... becoming more of a Nabatean or something. Living too long, or changing into a dragon.

But, again, Edelgard and Hubert are concerned about what the Nabateans are doing, not what they are. Where Byleth losing their humanity leads, based on how Hubert discusses it, is the path of becoming an eternal despot over the people, abusing powers they can't hope to match or understand and forcing them to live in a manner Byleth themself wouldn't.

Byleth fearfully wonders if the Black Eagles would "bring them back, right?" Function means "bring them back from being a Nabatean," when in reality it means "bring them back from being a tyrant." And how does Fire Emblem handle characters fearing their own power and their ability to wield it wisely?

Well, look to Anankos. When he understood he would become a mad dragon, he didn't bleat, "set me back on the straight and narrow, okay?" he empowered his own would-be killers. Which is precisely what Byleth does in this scene if you choose to take that dialogue option, as a final logical evolution of Hubert's threats to kill them earlier in the support line. "If I become corrupted by my power like Nemesis and Rhea did, stop me. Whatever it takes."

Of course, there's a dialogue option here in which Byleth just asserts they'd never do that, and Hubert admits they make him want to believe them, but that doesn't fit Function's narrative so we're ignoring that.

“Does that mean you know I will do what must be done? You must trust me a great deal.” His smile becomes relaxed. His posture loses tension. His gaze is warmer. As if they passed a test. They want to ask what he means. What must be done - what must be done? What does he plan on doing? If they- if they lose their humanity, if they become too close to the enemy, if they- if they what?

So yeah, Function is not remotely interested in any of the context here. They just want to demonize Hubert for being so very racist :(

Also, I'm to believe this Byleth's been interacting with Hubert for a year and change? This Byleth taught him, understands his mindset? They're acting like they've only just met him.

Hubert’s mouth keeps moving. He- he must mean he would help them, right?

"He'd help me stop being a tyrant, right? :( He'd give me a good tongue-lashing and make me knock it off?"

Function's Byleth comes across like... I don't know what. They just can't follow a conversation to save their life.

He wouldn’t- but why phrase it like that? What does he mean closest to the enemy,

Function, you'd know the answer to that if you knew anything about the support that takes place than the part where Hubert implies he'll kill Byleth!

This would be like me picking a random line in Dimitri's A support and going from there. I could probably make him look weird if I did that, too!

they- they left the Church of Seiros! The one safe haven they’ve ever known! They went right back to Edelgard, stayed by her, fought by her side, fought by everyone in the Black Eagles’ side,

The fact that Byleth immediately goes to them leaving the Church of Seiros as if to lay Hubert's concerns to rest exposes Function's thought process and what they think Hubert's talking about.

For Function, "You are the one closest to the enemy," runs like:

Byleth is half-Nabatean

Nabateans are associated with the Church of Seiros

Hubert thinks Byleth might rejoin the Church of Seiros before the battle is over.

For one, it wouldn't make any sense at all for Byleth to even try to rejoin Rhea, given Rhea's vow to brutally kill them, but even setting that aside, Hubert doesn't just ignore threats if they aren't likely to manifest within the next five minutes. He sees further than most people, and he knows once the war ends it will be his responsibility to help safeguard the world Edelgard is trying to build.

"You are the one closest to the enemy," means that once Rhea and her church is gone, Byleth will be the most powerful individual in Fodlan. Will they use their power wisely, as the Church of Seiros says people should but fails to do itself, or will they become the next Rhea? That's why Hubert isn't going to be just be instantly assuaged by Byleth being on Edelgard's side right now; he has to look further ahead.

Is it cold? Yes, but that's just how Hubert is. The fact he's speaking frankly with Byleth about this and is willing to accept Byleth's assertions that they won't fall prey to their own power demonstrates a lot of growth on Hubert's part.

Also, this Byleth wouldn't think of the Garreg Mach of 1180 as necessarily a safe haven anymore, they'd think it as the domain of the woman who tried to groom them into an obscure ritual that would have done something unknown to them and now wants to brutally murder them for protecting their student.

They went right back to Edelgard, stayed by her, fought by her side, fought by everyone in the Black Eagles’ side, against the pleas and cries of students who once looked to them as a guide, killing those students who refused to see Edelgard’s dream,

We're no further than Derdriu, so none of the students so far have been required kills.

Ignatz and Leonie are optional targets in ch13 even if unrecruited, and when Judith falls Edelgard calls for a cessation of hostilities over the bridge. Judith has to die, but why would Byleth care about Judith? They don't know her, she's just another noble to them.

Lysithea can be spared and recruited even if encountered as an enemy in ch14, and Hilda is both optional and easily avoided in the same.

Look, Function, if you wanna play Crimson Flower like the Genocide Route in Undertale, knock yourself out, but don't turn around and blame Edelgard if named characters start dropping like flies.

They’ve done everything they could to stand by Edelgard. What else could they do? What does he mean? What does he mean?

He means it's time to crack open a book about philosophy and see what absolute power absolutely does, Byleth.

Next is the intro to... Linhardt and Leonie's paralogue.

We all know where this is going, folks.

A lot of this can be skipped, but Byleth mentions that the days have been muggy recently, so I guess Function just forgot this is taking place in the middle of winter. A definite strike against canon.

But. Just before they try to leave to inform Edelgard, Linhardt places a hand on their shoulder. “If we're going now, I do suggest leaving Edelgard and Hubert innocent of our quest.” His words are spoken in that casual, disinterested tone that they’ve long grown to find endearing. But there‘s a look in his eye - oddly serious, oddly grounded, for the man Byleth knew to often visit the land of dreams. “Lake Teutates is a place that concerns the saints of the Church of Seiros. It may become bothersome should the two of them find out…” And Byleth wants to protest that idea - Edelgard and Hubert, they have their deep grievances with the Church of Seiros, yes, but surely… surely not so bad as to need to leave them out? Whatever awaits them in this visit was clearly of no harm to anyone - they’ve received no reports of Lake Teutates being dangerous, no bandits or enemy scouts. They may not even engage in any fighting, so, surely, it would be fine…

He starts to yawn as he gets to "the two of them", which really says everything about why he doesn't want Edelgard to know; he just doesn't want to bother getting approval for a trip to church grounds. He even says Byleth should tell her about the trip once it's over.

Leonie… yes, they nod and agree, because yes, yes, after. Edelgard and Hubert can know of this deviation after it is done.  After Linhardt used up all of his motivation to find Saint Indech. After he, the one person who knows the way, would remember the way, will ever want to say it again.

Wait, what? Finding Indech didn't even come up in this scene! The only time Indech is even mentioned is when Linhardt vaguely alludes to a legend about him and that the bow ties into it. Linhardt doesn't even piece together the truth and hypothesize that the Immovable is him until he encounters him in the flesh. This is one of the worst examples of Function applying their knowledge onto the characters in this entire fic, and that's saying something.

Also, "the one person who knows the way"? Lake Teutates is on maps of Fodlan. All you have to do is find the lake, and you'll find the shrine after looking around.

Edelgard won’t get mad at them for investigating this legend about a likely child of the goddess behind her back.

Edelgard does not utter "children of the goddess" often. Just in a battle dialogue in Enbarr and late in Crimson Flower. That's another strike against canon.

Hubert won’t accuse them of growing closer with the enemy and… do what must be done...

Yeah, see? Function thinks Byleth losing humanity means rejoining the Nabateans. I understand they think this is supposed to be all about race and that's why this fanfic is obsessed with race and blood, but that's not what the game itself is worried about. And that's why it's so easy to knock all these points down.

They wouldn’t have regardless, of course, Byleth trusts them to know that they wouldn’t, but… now they can’t. Now, Byleth is…  Assured.

Press X to doubt.

Next we jump ahead to chapter 15, the Garreg Mach defense.

“The time is now! As long as we stand here, you shall not pass!” There she is. Flayn.

You know what this means, dear readers!

Sweet, kind Flayn. Small, weak-bodied Flayn. Flayn, fainted and pale from blood loss, kidnapped in her own home. Flayn, bright and shining, holding up the fish Byleth had reeled up to make her feel better. Flayn, shocked and joyous, over having won the White Heron Cup. Flayn, supportive and happy, when they had first come back after merging with Sothis.

Fuck, I think that gave me diabetes. But remember this glowing detail Flayn gets for later on, because the contrast against Byleth's other students will be stark.

Small, weak-bodied Flayn.

Who are you calling frail!?

Flayn, fainted and pale from blood loss, kidnapped in her own home.

You're gonna mention how Edelgard helped you rescue her and willingly gave her up, right, Byleth? No? Okay.

Flayn, bright and shining, holding up the fish Byleth had reeled up to make her feel better.

Pfft, I reeled that fish up for the renown, thank you very much.

Flayn, shocked and joyous, over having won the White Heron Cup.

Oof, Byleth's out a dancer. Poor planning there, Teach. Also of course it was Flayn, can't let Dorothea have anything, heheh.

Flayn, supportive and happy, when they had first come back after merging with Sothis.

Given the implication that Flayn knew about Rhea's inhumane experiments to revive Sothis, this isn't the cute little thing you think it is, Function.

They swallow. Their hands are shaking so hard they can barely hold their sword. They can’t stop blinking. They- they can’t do this. They can’t do this. Flayn, she- they saved her, brought her back to Seteth before he had broken down completely,

Yeah, shame she's choosing to fight on Rhea's side against the future of Fodlan. Maybe get her to knock it off?

helped her gain some closure in killing Solon, and now… 

What? Flayn doesn't even come up in regards to Solon's death. But of course Byleth killed him for her, and not for his other victims, past and potentially in the future. Flayn is important.

Now they have to kill her?

No? Do what Edelgard does, try to get her to surrender.

Function, Byleth jumping right to thinking they have to kill her isn't a good look.

End her kind, precious life? Destroy Seteth’s one reason for living, after giving her back to him? It’s- it’s cruel, they’ve bloodied their hands so, so much in this forsaken war, but, they just can’t-

Ah, yeah, who cares about all the people you've killed so far, they weren't main characters! But this is Flayn and Seteth, we mustn't hurt them :(

Function, Byleth only giving a shit when it's people they know personally and they, in the context of this fanfic, share a race with is. Um. It's like. Ah. Terrible.

No seriously, Byleth comes across as kinda racist. "Who cares about all the humans I've killed so far, there's plenty of those and I didn't know them, but this time it's different, they're my people :("

“Come at me, so that I may put you out of your misery!” They. Turn to Edelgard. She’s glaring- no. She’s glowering.

Oh baby.

So in the context of this fanfic, she's saying that to Flayn, but in the game itself she just says it to whichever group of hidden enemies spawns first. One of them, the closer of the two, pointedly doesn't have Flayn mixed among them. Just Function, again twisting things to make Edelgard look worse.

She isn’t seeing the sweet, kind girl that had once been her classmate. She isn’t seeing Flayn holding a fish in her hands with an unbridled happiness. She isn’t seeing Flayn smile brightly at being given the traditional dancer garb.

Yeah, she's seeing an enemy commander leading troops to retake the monastery and kill her soldiers, men and women who she has a responsibility for and for whom she cares about. Unlike Byleth.

She… sees her victim that got away. From the kidnapping she sanctioned.

Oh, never mind.

And yeah, I guess Byleth did forget how Edelgard helped to rescue Flayn in the first place. And also how Edelgard didn't take Flayn captive at the Holy Tomb when she could have.

They rush ahead, sprinting to Flayn, Edelgard tries to keep up but her armor wears her down and Byleth is running, their grip becomes sweaty and loose and they are running, their eyes burn and their sight blurs and they are running- And before they knew it, Flayn was in front of them. 

Very dramatic. Where are all Flayn's soldiers, having a smoke break? Did Byleth just mentally blot out killing them because they're not Nabatean and thus mean nothing to them?

Her stare grows more wavering; they could swear her eyes are shining more of what little light shines through the clouds than they should.

That map isn't overcast, Function, Empathic Environment isn't in effect.

Unless it's cloudy from all the smoke the church caused with its fire attack.

They exchange Flayn's battle dialogue, then Byleth beats the shit out of Flayn, holy crap.

They make it quick; Flayn was always better known for her healing than her fighting. The pommel of their sword, the flat end of their blade, fists and kicks - it is violent. It hurts. Try as they might, they still hear the distinctive crack of bone from one strike to her arm, Flayn’s petite body simply too weak to withstand the blow. They see her bite down hard on her lip, the blood trickling to her chin, her eyes squinting past the pain, they hear the muffled whimper, the soft thmp of her staff hitting the ground, her quiet sniffle.

Don't you dare try to blame that one on Edelgard, Function, that was all on Byleth for going full Doom Slayer on Flayn, jesus christ.

Oh and also, I guess Edelgard's also having a smoke break, because she vanished.

She looks at them, and suddenly, her eyes go wide. Understanding seems to dawn on her in that moment, and she takes a step back.  “Farewell, Professor. I do not imagine we shall ever meet again.”

Flayn's understand is that Byleth is letting her go, but in the game it's just presented that Flayn and Seteth choose not to fight to the death if they encounter Byleth. All the power is in their hands, it's just a question of whether or not they intend to needlessly throw their lives away for Rhea.

And she retreats. Bruised, bleeding, and battered, but alive. They can only hope Seteth does the same. Those two, they… They don’t deserve this.

Everyone else can fuck off and shut up and fuck off and die, though.

It’s fine. They defeated her, and will defeat Seteth.

I wonder how Function feels about how Byleth doesn't need to be the one to defeat Seteth and Flayn to get them to back off? Yeah, in case you didn't know, having Byleth engage in battle with them once is all it takes. After that, anyone, even Edelgard, can finish them and they'll be just fine. That revelation seriously upset some of the Edelgard antis, given I'm still seeing them trying to argue against it even to this day.

Those two will never be seen again, hiding away from the world Flayn had so desperately wanted to see, and that’s… okay.

Sometimes, in Fodlan, you end up in Abyss. That's the world Rhea made. Flayn shouldn't be special just because she's cute and has a name.

That’s good. It makes it okay to spare them, and Byleth won’t hear anything from Edelgard or Hubert for this.

This is written as if to be defiant, but Byleth won't hear anything from Edelgard or Hubert for this because they don't react negatively to the pair surviving, because killing them is not a goal for the war. Hell, killing Rhea isn't, either. Just removing her from power is all that's needed.

Thank god that's over!

“You, like Rhea, share a bloodline with the so-called goddess. Your mother likely had some connection to the goddess, whose power has always been sleeping within you. Five years ago when your power awakened, I was afraid you would choose to join with Rhea.” They don’t know. They just don’t know.

You've made that abundantly clear, Byleth.

They had never talked with Rhea more than they had to.

Good thing, too, otherwise you'd have to endure her sexual harassment and getting punished for trying to assert boundaries in her A support!

They had always spoken to Edelgard at every opportunity. They had done everything to push Rhea away from them despite her open arms,

This is portraying Rhea as being oh so very kind, but I've see it argued with some credence that her behavior throughout White Clouds is her lovebombing Byleth.

Right from the start, she strongly suspects Byleth of being the child who escaped from her twenty years ago, so she gives them a job to keep them nearby and showers them with compliments and praise. Then, after Byleth demonstrates they can wield the SotC and thus appear even more likely to be Sothis reborn, suddenly her C support opens up, and she offers Byleth weed herbal remedies to give to give to the students, targeting a major point of Byleth's affection.

It's easy to read Rhea's shows of affection as carefully planned and controlled to get Byleth to open up to her to better steer their course.

and everything to stay with Edelgard despite her radical ideals.

Maybe we should improve society somewhat is radical in Fodlan, I guess.

When Edelgard had tried to kill them and the Black Eagles in the Holy Tomb, they didn’t kill her.

Don't mind me, just dropping those.

Function seems to have forgotten that this Byleth is supposed to be a Byleth who experienced the story as it exists, not as they (Function) headcannon it to be.

They barely hurt her. They did everything to simply incapacitate her, to hear her out, to understand why she would do this.

If Byleth experienced every moment they could and would have experienced with Edelgard, Dorothea, Bernadetta, Petra, and many others, they would know why Edelgard would do this. Despite what her antis would have you believe, what you see really is what you get with Edelgard when she's talking about her ideals. She's very open with Byleth.

“You thought I would join her?” And Edelgard will say that of course she did, because she had done something so drastic. She had brought in an army - her army - and gave the order to kill them and the Black Eagles. She had brought in mindless Demonic Beasts, after Miklan, after Remire’s massacre, after the chapel and their father’s murder. She betrayed them, in every sense of the word - of course, that was why she had thought they would have joined Rhea. 

What Function is missing here is that breaking away from one's "intended" path is a major theme of Crimson Flower, and this scene is directly pointing that out.

Edelgard was "meant" to be Thales's tool, but with her connection to Byleth and the other students, she escapes this fate.

Byleth was "meant" to be Sothis reborn, but by connecting to the students and the people of Fodlan, they choose to keep their humanity and not become a god.

As Fantasy Invader loves to say, you're "changing the story", and that reflects in breaking away from Edelgard and Byleth's appointed fates, where the other three routes see both embracing them, to Edelgard's death and Byleth's fated loneliness of immortality.

“I did. As you know, my goal is to free our world from the control of Rhea and the other children of the goddess. I seek to obliterate her, as well as those around her who use the church's power to control Fódlan. I swore to free the people from Rhea by striking her down, whether or not it meant making an enemy of you.”

Emphasis mine.

Again, the subject of Hubert's A support with Byleth is not about which race they choose to be, but how they use their power after Rhea is no more. It's all about abuse of power, not having too-pointy ears.

And the world starts spinning. Their chest pangs. Their spine chills. Their gut churns. I will save the world from those creatures That is not the case for inhuman creatures Rhea and the other creatures, she means. To obliterate her and those creatures around her. And she thought they would join Rhea, because they are a creature like Rhea.

The creatures who abuse their power, Byleth, you really need to try paying attention when you talk to people.

But yes, given how Byleth seemed all set up to become an avatar of the goddess's will, it seems natural for Edelgard, sworn enemy to the church, to assume Byleth would choose not to walk at her side.

“And yet...you came to my aid and chose to walk with me on the path against Rhea. I was overjoyed of course, but I was also confused. I thought that perhaps it wasn't the path you were meant to take. But I chose to trust in you, to rely on you and your strength. And now, here we are.” They chose to trust in Edelgard. And they were given this in return.

Love? Trust? The freedom to choose?

A trust Edelgard tentatively gave to this… creature.

Oh, of course, Function is obsessed with race so they think Byleth and Edelgard should be as well, right. Where did Byleth get the idea that Edelgard's trust was tentative in that speech? Hubert's is, based on the choices Byleth makes going forward, but that's not the case with Edelgard.

This creature that should be distrusted, despite everything it's done for her, despite opening its heart to her.

...No? At no point did Edelgard say her initial uncertainty was correct. Just that it was how she felt.

This creature that Hubert will do what must be done should it lose its humanity, damn whatever friendship and love it held before. 

If anything, it's because Hubert considers Byleth a friend that he has to do it, now. Who does Hardin trust to set him straight if he loses his path? The Wolfguard, the men he trusts most.

“Thank you for listening, my teacher. I'm glad I finally had the chance to talk to you about it. After Rhea is gone from this world, I don't know what will become of you." They want to laugh. They want to cry. They want to run away screaming. They want to strangle her.  All this time. All they’ve done for her. All they’ve given to her. All they’ve lived for her. All they’ve loved her completely. And she doesn’t know what will become of them.  Does she doubt what will become of Hubert? No; it wasn’t even a question. Anyone could tell how much she trusts the man. He has proven he will walk off the ends of the earth for her. She has no reason to doubt his dedication to staying by her side.

Function chooses the weirdest times to just forget that they played Crimson Flower.

Edelgard's worry here is meant to foreshadow Byleth collapsing after Rhea falls. She knows Byleth is tied to the goddess through their mother, so she fears what will happen to Byleth should they take the final step in defying Rhea. Fear of loss tied into her future is one of Edelgard's main character traits, Edge of Dawn is all about this. Her instincts tell her something dangerous might happen to Byleth, and it very nearly does.

I know exactly what Function is getting at: Edelgard antis love to rant about how Edelgard should totally kill Byleth the minute Rhea goes down, but she obviously doesn't, because she trusts them in Crimson Flower, and her trust is rewarded.

Edelgard doesn’t know them. And… they didn’t know her.

Yeah that'd be because you're operating off Function's probably 5 years old memories of the route and their poor;y-constructed headcanons.

Didn’t know the depths to her hatred.

Man, if hearing Edelgard say mean things about Rhea is enough to count as hate, just imagine if Byleth heard half the rancid shit Dimitri says!

Didn’t know how lowly she must have thought of them, all this time.

Edelgard wept and hugged Byleth when they returned. She said her heart felt broken to think Byleth had fallen. This whole fucking scene is about how deeply Edelgard cares for and trusts Byleth, but sure, Function.

“But whatever happens, I hope you know that you're very special to me. You are the one person in this world who can share the heavy burden I must carry. Someone without equal who I can always speak my mind to…” And her eyes are so soft, her voice so gentle. Admitting to having been willing to kill them so easily and so casually,

She never said she felt she could easily kill you, you really need to try paying attention, Byleth. She only said she was willing to risk making an enemy of you.

that she hadn’t thought they should be here,

Past-tense, Byleth, as in, directly after you made the choice. She was briefly and understandably confused, but that was five years ago.

All for some blood connection to this woman that they have never done one thing for that hadn’t been forced upon them by obligation - a connection based on an assumption about a mother they’ve never met and never seen…

The cognitive dissonance coming from Function is wild. Yes, it does seem remarkably petty for Edelgard to distrust Byleth based on some familial connection not even they are fully aware of, it's almost like that's not actually how she feels!

But they’re special to her. So, so special. Special for a human? Or special for a creature?

No, you're just special, Byleth, because you're you. Fixating on race is Function reading way too far into Edelgard's motives.

They look out one of the many holes in Garreg Mach’s walls.

(sigh)

This scene doesn't take place at Garreg Mach, Function.

It takes place at Fhirdiad. This is immediately after a scene showing the BESF arriving at Fhirdiad.

Another bonafide strike against canon, and another sign that Function only read the game script and probably doesn't remember the route nearly as well as they think they do.

The clouds are heavy and gray, turning the air a thick orange.

It's not cloudy either! Empathic Environment isn't in effect, Function!

Come the night, there will be nothing but darkness.

Yeah, that's what happens when the sun goes down.

Also, Darkness of the Unknown Goalposts, again.

Walking that darkness with Edelgard, treading the ocean of blood that was her righteous ideals - it had once been as easy as breathing. They loved her. They did everything for her. They had known that path would be easy, as their hand would always be locked with hers. They… can’t. They can’t. Not anymore.  It’s too much. The flashes of hatred that switch so quickly to loving gazes, the willingness to kill them, the needling words, the need for secrets, they… they can’t do it. They can’t do it anymore.

So it all became too much once it started personally impacting you, Byleth? Function, it REALLY doesn't look good that you consistently write Byleth as crumpling like a paper tiger the second the war starts to hurt them personally.

Edelgard turns and walks off. She leaves.  They stand there.  Alone.

I mean if you want to be alone then don't whine when you're alone. Also, Edelgard wouldn't just tromp off, leaving Byleth alone.

The Sword of the Creator as a weapon cannot be sheathed, so they take a blanket and curl it inside.

That's... sheathing it... If the SotC will passively cut through a sheath, it'll cut through a blanket. This reminds me of how in Bleach, Nimaiya had to keep Sayafushi in a jelly-like liquid because its edge is too sharp and its sides too slick to be sheathed, only stupider.

Anyways, we jumped back to Garreg Mach and Byleth is planning to run away from Edelgard.

It was easy enough to find a secluded, unused alleyway that led to an unmanned section of the outer walls. Once, the entirety of Garreg Mach’s outer layer was heavily manned and heavily armed, preparing for any siege that may befall it; now, there is nothing. No one.

What? Is the war already over? Did Edelgard abandon Garreg Mach again for some reason? What's going on!

Edelgard will look for them, they know; they’ve heard of her frantic searchings for them during those five years they slept, how absolutely desperate she was to find them. Before it had moved their heart, knowing of her devotion; now it is a warning, letting them know they will be hunted.

Yeah, duh Edelgard will look for you. You're running off without warning in the middle of the night during a war, that's going to look like enemy assassins kidnapped you, of fucking course Edelgard will be desperate to save you!

Function's so incredibly self-defeating.

She couldn’t find them when they were sleeping, however. As good as it is to know she will be searching, there is nothing she can do against the flow of time itself fighting her.

...What? Is Function/Byleth under the assumption that Byleth will get whisked off to some negative hole in space if they go into another long sleep? That's not how it appears to work. Also this reads like Byleth's happy she'll outlive Edelgard, so that's a lovely image. If I may quote Engage,

Living an immortal life is consistently portrayed as very sad when the only relationships a person can hope to hold is with mortal beings who'll grow old and die, leaving you behind. Rhea herself was tortured by this very loneliness.

If not also… lonely, already, knowing that they'll likely never again experience Caspar’s rambunctious shouts or Dorothea’s lovely singing, Ferdinand’s confident boasts or Bernadetta’s silent gratitude. Petra, talking about her homeland; Linhardt, as they last saw him, napping in places strange and forgotten. They will likely never see Leonie and Alois again, the last living memories of Father. Hubert’s private longings to fly pegasi. Edelgard’s loving and warm gaze. It hurt. It all hurts, leaving everything, every one, behind. But they have to.

Oh, hey, nice of Byleth to finally think about the Black Eagles, I was starting to wonder if she gave a shit about them!

Also, really? Is that how Byleth chooses to remember them?

Caspar fails and falls, but he never gives up, he always gets back up and tries again. That part of him is inspiring. Byleth remembers him for being noisy.

Dorothea's whole support line with Byleth is about how she yearns to be loved for something deeper than her voice or her looks. Byleth doesn't think about her incredible compassion that came from a background of unfettered cruelty and loss, they think of her voice, just like all the other shallow nobles who showered her with gifts.

Ferdinand's boasting hides a deep unease, but he grows past that and comes to embody in spirit and in truth the nobility he once claimed. Byleth remembers him for the shallow bravado.

Bernadetta grows so much over the Crimson Flower route, getting out of her room and exploring the lands in one of her CF-exclusive endings. Byleth remembers her as the quiet, demure little lady Count Varley wanted her to be.

Petra comes to view Fodlan as a second home, and the people she met there, her family. Byleth remembers her only thinking of Brigid.

Linhardt proves himself much more than the sleepy dreamer he first seems, but Byleth only sees him as the forgotten sleeper.

And Leonie and Alois? Byleth doesn't even think of them; they think of Jeralt.

This Byleth doesn't seem to have a genuine relation with any of the Black Eagles at all!

Besides, Edelgard said she wants to be rid of all of the indomitable enemies, these creatures plaguing humanity. What place would they truly have, in her pure human world?

Function is trying to convey Byleth as unjustly prejudiced because of their part-Nabatean background, but all they've done is demonstrate Byleth as very lacking in character and incapable of connecting with humans. Oh how they weep for poor Fwayne while recounting what a bright ray of light she was, but with the Black Eagles? Byleth knew them for much longer than Flayn, but even still they can only think of the most basic character traits as they're about to leave them forever.

They don't care about normal people, just themselves and the Nabateans they have to fight. Hubert's right to distrust them, and not because of their blood, but because of their actions.

So yeah, maybe it's best they go away, they won't have anyone to care about but themselves once Rhea is gone.

Byleth shakes their head; it's too late to linger on such thoughts. It's too late for anything to matter anymore, in truth, but... they still look to the sky. It barely lets any light through the thick, heavy, gray clouds hiding away the stars and moon, just as they had thought, casting the very air around them in darkness...  Except for one, sole ray of light. A small, small gap in the curtain, allowing in a blinding trickle of moonlight. A sword, cutting through the ink that has coated everything, the trees and leaves and grass blessed enough to bask in this splendor bursting alive against all else damned to the shadows. It is fleeting; the clouds threaten the edges, ready to consume the light at a moment's notice. That doesn't matter. It is something more. And Byleth walks, lighter, hopeful, free, having now seen all they need.

Empathic enivronment again! I mean sure, Byleth is leaving Fodlan in the hands of a villain (Function's thoughts, not mine), but they'll be safer separated from her, and that's all that matters, right?

And really, poor Edelgard. Seeing as how she and Hubert acted in accordance with their canonical characterization, I can't help but picture her wracked with worry about what the church assassins did to Byleth, never learning that they just didn't get non-Nabateans and worked themselves up into a fit of paranoia before running out on her.

There's a darkfic in there, frankly.

We're almost done, but not quite. The author's notes are still left.

so yeah as a mixed-race person i fucking hated playing through CF and having to put up with Edelgard and Hubert's open and unashamed racism going uncontested

So yeah, that's really where this all came from. Because of their personal stake in the matter, Function failed to be objective, which is why a story about ideals and the loss of connection to other people became about race and nothing else. This was a very nice example of something I've always believed, that Edelgard antis don't know the story nearly as well as they think they do.

Also, for what it's worth, I spoke to a mixed-race friend of mine whether they agreed with the mixed-race interpretation of Byleth, and she simply replied, "hell no."

so i wrote Byleth

Being a coward who only cares about the Nabateans?

not taking their "you're one of the good ones" shit well mentally until they eventually just fuck off entirely (even if what they're fucking off to isn't, ah. the most optimal situation to fuck off to. to say the least lmao). as best as i could anyway

You didn't do very well. As I said before, all they did was take it personally when Edelgard and Hubert castigated Rhea for her abuse of power, which doesn't reflect well on Byleth.

And we're finally free! It wasn't all that long, but it sure felt long. Hope you at least enjoyed my breakdown of it. Later, everyone!

[yuugen-benni]

''Black tears''

Prompt: Coming from Natlan, you didn't expect that one day you would be here engaged to Diluc Ravgnvindr... TAGS: gn, black!Reader x Diluc; Racism; Intrusive thoughts; Messy write; angst and a slight fluff; small drabble A/N: I got this ''inspiration'' from the thoughts I had lately about my skin color and the situation in which I suffered racism because of my black features, etc. As you all know, I was born in Brazil and it is a very mixed country, which - in my opinion - makes it difficult for brown people to identify as black and that is what has been going through my head lately. Just enjoy, I appreciate.

White portraits.

The Ragnvindr clan is beautiful, has more than a thousand years of history and remains influential even today in Mondstadt. Each picture hanging on the staircase walls showed the families of each generation - tall, white skin, German blood, faces sculpted by privilege and wealth. You climbed the stairs at a measured pace, and your eyes never left those faces, staring back at their judgmental looks. That old feeling of not belonging emerged and oh it's been so long since it haunted you.

The opulence of the mansion stood as a stark reminder of a world you was about to enter — a world built on traditions that had unfolded without you. As you neared the top of the stairs the most recent painting of Crepus, Diluc and Kaeya was positioned there, and pausing before the image your fingertip grazed Kaeya's painted skin; perhaps he understands it ? Maybe he once tried to warn you ?

In that sea of white people from the family, from the city, everyone around- Would you really find your place in the high society ? What if your relationship with the citizens would change when you married Diluc ?, The rumors would arrive

''He followed his father's example''

The comments

''You know...I'm not racist but...''

The whispers

''I thought they would keep the pure blood of Mondstadt''

The stares

''Curly hair is beautiful, but I think it's difficult to take care of, right ?...I recommend you straighten it''

The jokes

''Did you and Adelinde reverse roles?''

Ah....

....

Was that all a mistake?- ''No! Don't even think about that…If someone says something stupid to you I will make it disappear, I will make them pay'' Diluc declared once, his eyes aflame with love and anger, his resolute hands clasping your shoulders. What was the use of feeling terrible when you had him by your side the whole time?

Like it or not, tears would fall from time to time, black tears. The world is cruel and you know it very well, insecurity makes you lose confidence, makes you doubt…but he would be there to wipe them away and

''I love you, when I say that I mean every inch of you''

[pluckyredhead]

Hi! I've been reading through your character profiles recently (they're incredibly well done, and I love learning about less popular DC characters, so thank you for making them) and in one you said Hawkman mutilated his own godson, and now I'm overflowing with curiosity. Did he actually do that? Why? That sounds horrific.

It is SO BAD, friend!

So this happened during a 2004 JSA/Hawkman crossover called Black Reign in which Black Adam decides to liberate his home country of Kahndaq from a brutal dictator (and become, um, a benevolent dictator, but that's neither here nor there). To do so, he assembles the following squad:

Atom Smasher (Al Rothstein), who is there because he's frustrated that the JSA won't kill bad guys and also because he's hot for Black Adam

Brainwave (Hank King Jr.), who is there because he has a worm in his brain making him evil (yes really)

Alexander Montez, who is there because he's possessed by Eclipso

Nemesis, who is there because she's a random forgettable villain

And Northwind (Norda Cantrell), who is there because...

Well, we don't know! Norda, like Al and Hank, is a former member of Infinity, Inc. with a particularly goofy backstory: his father is Black human man and his mother is a bird lady who kind of looks like a sexy version of Woodstock from Peanuts. So Norda is a Black biracial man who is also part bird. He used to look like this:

He pretty much hadn't been seen for like a decade after Infinity, Inc. disbanded, but Black Reign reintroduces him like this:

Note his head and how much more animalistic it looks. Note the narrative box explaining that he can't speak anymore, because something something evolution.

Geoff Johns decided to take a Black character who had always been characterized as gentle, thoughtful, sensitive, and kind, and turn him into a savage, murderous animal, who is literally incapable of speech. He's the only character in this story given absolutely no motivation, because he cannot speak to express one. He's already been thoroughly dehumanized, and we haven't even gotten to the mutilation yet!

(It's also implied that Norda is the only one of Black Adam's squad, besides Adam, who knows that Hank has a worm in his brain that's controlling him/eating said brain, and just literally doesn't care. That's his friend! What the fuck!!)

Anyway, even though the people of Kahndaq welcome Black Adam as a liberator, the JSA decides to go into another sovereign nation and attack its new ruler with zero authorization from either the US or the UN, because obviously a Middle Eastern nation couldn't possibly have self-determination and a bunch of very very VERY old white American men know best. I'm not saying this is a simple political or ethical situation but I AM saying the story treats it like it is, and like the JSA completely and totally has the right to fart on over to another country and declare war. Probably worth pointing out that this was only three years after 9/11.

ANYWAY. Hawkman ends up fighting Norda, who is his godson, a fact which Hawkman reminds Norda of before doing this:

Jay is, correctly, horrified, and the following dialogue takes place:

It's okay! Sure, Carter ripped one of his godson's limbs out of its socket, but it'll probably grow back! Maybe!

It does in fact grow back, and it's worth acknowledging that Norda was totally ripping out random dudes' entrails at the beginning of this story so he's not exactly innocent here. But for me this particular moment has three key takeaways:

The obsession that comics in the post-9/11 era had with showing heroes doing ever more gruesomely violent, morally suspect things is just as exhausting now as it was back then, and ultimately contributes very little of substance to any conversations about heroism, justice, or the wars in the Middle East.

The treatment of Norda in this story is racist, full stop.

Norda has not appeared in any significant way in the 20 years since. He was never going to be a character with a major spotlight, but this sure didn't help.

[matan4il]

Thank you for your daily posts. And for keeping up the updates. I'm exhausted by the war and the hatred and the gaslighting and I appreciate you so much.

מקווה להיפגש על אמת יום אחד, בזמנים טובים יותר. יישר כוח. שולחת המון אהבה.

(I hope it's okay, because of my health, I've been falling behind on replying to asks, so I wanna respond to a bunch of lovely ones here...)

Awwww, hi lovely! :D It's so wonderful to get this message from you! Thank you SO MUCH! I appreciate you as well, and I am sending you the biggest of hugs!

I think we're all emotionally drained by what has been going on, not just Hamas' brutal massacre, or the war it forced us into and the pain and loss it is causing us continuously, or the terrorist attacks that keep on killing us and hurt even more after the massacre, or having to deal with the impossible choices Hamas has forced on us, but also the wave of hatred towards us that started on Oct 7, while our people were still being massacred.

It's even worse when we remember that this wave was enabled by antisemitic propaganda, which has been spread for so much longer, way before they could have used the current war as justification. But it really shows how Jews are treated worse doesn't it? All land back movements should be supported, but Jews returning to their native land is evil and racist, all violence and killing is bad, but killing Jews for living in their native land is "resistance," rape is bad and victims should always be listened to, but Jewish victims of rape are to be doubted and ignored if they're living in the Jewish ancestral land, colonialism is horrible and practically any act is justified in resisting it, but Arab colonialism can be easily ignored and even denied, at the same time as Jewish people being native to Israel will be erased, so that the anti-colonial narrative can be comfortably misapplied to Israel and justify the crimes perpetrated against Jews in and outside our homeland, genocide is the worst of crimes, making it incredibly serious, but when it can be used against Jews, suddenly every keyboard warrior is an expert on it and does not hesitate to falsely apply it to Israel in a manner that minimizes and disrespects actual genocides and their victims (including Jewish ones), intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime, but it's fine if Hamas declares its intent to kill every Jew in the world, most of whom are civilians, because *throws out another false slogan, but hey, it rhymes*...

אני גם מקוה להיפגש יום אחד, כך שאם את מתישהו בירושלים אנא אל תהססי ליצור איתי קשר, ואני שולחת מלא אהבה בחזרה!

Hey, I want to thank you for everything you've been doing. I'm not Jewish, but I have been trying to be as supportive as I currently can be, and I feel it helps me do that to actually know what's happening. I hope you haven't been being sent a bunch of horrible things because of the war, even though I know you probably have. Thank you again.

Thank YOU so much for this kindness, both your message and your support for Jewish people! I know it's probably the worst time to be an ally to Jews, which is why I appreciate each and every single one of you even more than I usually already do. I'll do my best to keep updating, and I also now have, in addition to my general Israel tag, a resources tag which I tried to fill with some of the more important subjects I've covered, and for which I provided links to reliable sources. I hope this is also something that's useful to you! As for hate, I've gotten a lot of it. But if those people think they're doing anything other than exposing themselves as cruel, and not caring about humaneness at all, and if they think I'm more scared of their nasty messages than I care about the well being of my own people, they obviously have no idea about who I am as a human being (which I guess is not surprising, if they don't really acknowledge me as one).

Thank you again, I'm sending you love and nothing but the best wishes, always!

next time Im at Yad Vashem Im gonna ask every staff member if they are you it would be an honor to meet you in person

That's so very kind, Nonnie! But I'm honestly nothing special. Yad Vashem itself is an incredibly powerful place to visit, anyone who would guide you through it will give you a prfound experience, I have no doubt of it. But if you ever are there, and you tell the guards you're looking for me (the head of security is actually one of my best friends, so I know he always keeps an eye on me and my whereabouts), it would be nice to say hi! :D

thank you for all your daily updates

No, Nonnie, thank YOU! I seriously appreciate the kindness of your message and encouragement!

From @blu-eyed-demon -

Thank you so much, my lovely Jace! This is so kind and sweet, and you have been an amazing, continued source of comfort. You have so much kindness at a time when that's so scarcely found, I just with you that will always be met and wrapped with just as much kindness in return, everywhere you turn! *sends so much love*

From @yelenasbuddie -

Hey.. I'm just passing by to give you 💐💐💐 so you can have a much more wonderful day. Even if we don't talk much, I'd like to say that you are loved and mattered. I believe in you and you got this 🩷🩷🩷

and also -

Hope you are loved 🩷🩷🩷🧡💜🥰

Sweet Yelena! Thank you so much for all of your messages, I can't tell you how much I treasure them. I'm sure you feel like you're caught up in the middle of a storm, and I know it's not easy remaining strong in the middle of that, but you have, and I hope you give yourself a lot of credit for that, I def do. I'm also hopeful that you always see the measure of your own kindness reflected back to you! Sending lots of hugs and kisses and all the cutesy emojis in the world, to make you feel loved! (sorry, as a Jew I don't celebrate Valentine's Day, but I hope you had a lovely one...)

Been following you since the Robron days. Proud to still be following you now 🦾

Nonnie, this is so lovely! I can't believe you're still here since then! I'm the one who's proud to have such a wonderful follower. IDK if we've ever talked, but I hope I always made you feel appreciated if we did, and welcome and enriched even if we didn't. Thank you for sticking it out with me through the best and worst of times, it means so much! Sending you love!

From @dominikadecember -

sending you lots and lots and lots of love

Thank you so much, my lovely Dom! I hope you know you've been a real help throughout all of this, and that I manage to show you how much I appreciate you. I'm sending you tons of love back!

here to put some jewish love and kindness in ur inbox 💗✡️🇮🇱

Thank you so much, Nonnie! This is so gorgeous, I love it, and I appreciate you for the beautiful human you are. I'm assuming you're Jewish as well, so I hope it's okay if I send Jewish love, pride in the way we're standing up to all this hatred, and kindness right back to you, and I hope you're doing well throughout all this!

hey just wanted to say i really appreciate you and your blog.

Thank you wholeheartedly, Nonnie! I really appreciate this kindness, and I hope you know that you put a smile on my face, and that you really help and make a difference! Sending hugs and hope you're well!

To the Nonnie who doesn't know or follow me, but still had a look at my blog instead of just blindly accpeting the notion that I'm a bad person, and then added -

You're not a terrible person. My sympathy and support. It's awful how tumblr is suddenly full of antisemitic sheep.

Thank you so very much! I seriously don't know how to express to you how much it means to me, to know that there are people out there, who don't automatically participate in judging and silencing others, when it has become the more popular thing to do. IDK if you'll see this, since you're not following me, but I hope you do, because to me, you're the person who refuses to do the antisemitic salute just because everyone else is, and knowing that people can still have that strength, integrity and kindness really matters to me, and to other Jews who watch with horror the ease with which we're being vilified and de-humanized. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart for that, I seriously can't wish you enough good things...

Thank you to everyone who says, does, supports Jewish people, no matter how much you think it might be a small gesture. It all matters, you make the world a better place, and you give Jews hope! xoxox

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[gingerylangylang1979]

Black women who ship Carmy x Sydney, please take care of yourselves

This is written from a place of love, not condescension or trying to spank or belittle anybody. 

I guess I’m just growing concerned about many black women in this fandom feeling bad about this ship in a number of ways and some trends I see that aren’t healthy and uplifting. What I say may make some people angry. Some people may feel I’m dismissing legit concerns or lived experiences. I’m sure I’ll get blocked by some. Oh well. I'm gonna speak my truth. All I’m trying to do is give much needed perspective and say the quiet parts out loud.

When I see black women repeatedly literally letting this shit make them upset and enraged at every turn, daily, it’s a bit alarming to me. If one's happiness is so swayed by the whims of perception of a ship it’s a bit unsettling. Why let this shit have so much power over your mood and enjoyment? It’s just a show. But I think for many it’s way deeper than that and that’s not being kind to oneself or fair to the creators and performers. 

I’ll say this, I know there is misogynoir, and both conscious and unconscious bias involved in a lot of the reactions we are seeing about this ship. I’ve spoken to it. But I think a lot of us are failing to see the nuance of the whole picture and are making everything literally black & white and a cause for outrage and panic. Where I see misogynoir is most at play is in how fans view Ayo/Syd and as an extension Carmy x Sydney. Where I don’t see it particularly in play is how the cast and crew speak about the ship. 

Every time an article comes out denying the ship the knee jerk reaction is hating on Storer and Calo like they don’t want the ship to happen because Syd is black. I just don’t see any evidence of that or need to assume bad intentions. If you trust what you are seeing and think it’s endgame that contradicts Storer and Calo not wanting the ship for racist reasons.

I know what has happened with other BW/WM ships but I just don’t see that here. The romantic undercurrents are just too heavy and they greatly respect Syd as a stand alone character and Ayo as an actress and creator in her own right. Are they going to get everything you want right? No. But they are trying. Does that mean we will get everything we want with her/them? Not necessarily. The same can be said for any of these characters. Just trust what you're seeing, the intentionality is there even if it isn’t validated in media about the show. 

But because she is a black woman we are more invested and more focused on her treatment. That’s fine, let’s uplift her, and protect her. But what I see is a somewhat unhealthy attachment to viewing her as somehow being wronged at every turn. I get it. But I also think it’s not beneficial to be almost looking for her to be wronged in places where it isn’t true. If the ship isn’t being validated in the media and Carmy isn’t kissing her and declaring his love next season it's not sidelining, it’s storytelling, and it’s a slow burn. Some of the same people talking about they want a slow burn I guarantee will be up n arms if Carmy x Sydney are further apart next season, which I think will happen. That's what happens in these romances. But the first thing people will jump to is the writers don't want them together because she is black and the first article denying the ship will have people ready to ride at dawn.

I think it’s just difficult for some to come to terms with how this is going to play our over time and what that really means because she is a black woman character and we want the most for her. They will have ups and downs. Yes, Carmy dated someone else. There is pressure to validate her in so many ways that just aren’t necessarily going to be satisfied on all levels and I think some are making it way personal to a degree that isn’t necessarily warranted. 

Whatever happens with Syd isn’t going to correct the history of the black woman's experience in the media or real life. It will be a monumental event if they go canon, for sure, but I think some people are getting way too emotional and angry if every little thing doesn’t go how they want with her and Carmy. I also see a bit of trying to make other elements validate Syd as a black woman and by extension validate oneself. 

The insistence from some that Ayo and Jeremy have something going on or Jeremy’s performance is rooted in feelings for Ayo is so strange to me. Why? I think some people need to feel like Jeremy has feelings for her because he’s the hot white lead to validate her as a black woman. As excellent as Jeremy is as an actor do people really think he has to actually be in love with Ayo to get the performance we are seeing? He’s just extremely good at his job. I don’t think he has to do that with any other emotions he is portraying so why this need to have him be in love to make the performance resonate? 

I’ve also seen people trying to make a connection with the fact that he’s been seen with a biracial black woman as somehow meaning the next step is he should be with a monoracial black woman and connecting that with him and Sydney. Why? I saw a post that was questioning why this woman isn’t dark skinned with kinky hair as if he’s obligated to date someone that looks “black enough” to validate the attractiveness of dark skinned black women. This post also seemed to be super invested in that because that’s what they look like and want to feel Jeremy should be attracted to them. It’s not the first time I’ve seen this and it always makes me cringe and feel deeply sorry for that person.

I think it’s cool he’s dating a WOC but I have no entitlement or expectation that he go darker and nappier to prove anything to me or the public. And it has no bearing on if he would find someone who looks like me attractive in a sexual way or the same for his character. Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn’t. What does it matter? If he is told to kiss Ayo onscreen, he will, because he’s a professional. Why are people making it so personal who he chooses in his real life? It just seems extremely insecure and projecting. If he dates someone else who is white white or another race that’s not black, is that going to hurt feelings? He doesn’t like “belong” to black women now. Jokes about it are funny but internalizing it as validation is dangerous. 

I also see this in an intense desire to have another white character be in the love triangle. If you just want someone else in the picture, fine. But I feel like there is this big desire to have it be another white man when Marcus has been there the whole time. I don’t ship her with Marcus (well, I did for a minute when I was enraged with Carmy) but it’s because I don’t think it’s where her heart is. But I also don’t see Marcus as a non-viable option. But since he’s not the white boy of the month, it’s not as appealing or viewed as big of a win for some if she’s with him or he’s the only suitor. People have mentioned Connor as a potential. Ok, yeah, I can see it based on the evidence presented, but I hope it isn’t viewed as a like let’s boot Marcus so this white boy who sorta superficially looks like Carmy is the rival. Maybe it can be a love square and three men fight for Syd, but I don’t want to discredit Marcus just because another curly haired white boy with blue eyes shows up. 

And lastly, if your emotional well being is so super effected about what happens to Sydney and it’s so entangled with feelings of being marginalized to the point that it’s distressing and your hyperfocused on every detail as a win or lose, I think you need to consider why and understand her being with Carmy isn’t going to heal anything. A lot of fans project personal issues onto characters and it’s just never going to fill an emotional hole or be a substitute for racial justice.

I saw someone post recently that this ship is a coping mechanism. And honestly it shouldn’t be. Just like Claire can’t fix Carmy, shipping Carmy x Sydney and hoping they are canon isn’t going to fix anything. If this is a fun outlet for you and a way to spend free time, great. But I wouldn’t link being in the fandom and shipping with self care. It’s too volatile to be tethering your emotional well being to. That’s like putting your healing in the hands of writers, media, and fandom when you should be in control of your journey. I think it’s cool to relate to the characters and be invested in their story but it can get kind of messy and parasocial if you put too much personal weight on outcomes regarding the show.  

So, I just want us to be more positive and focus on the wins with this character and Ayo. And also focus on the future. That doesn’t mean ignore the shenanigans. But I think so much attention is focused on the negative that not enough credit is being given to the bravery of having a dark skinned black woman as the co-lead, having her be her own person with her own struggles and nuances, having her most likely also be an unconventional romantic lead, having Ayo be the breakout star she is, having her get EP credits and directing next season, how she is a cover star, how she is multi-talented, how she is praised by everyone who works with her, how she is the IT girl. And I think this story will do her justice in the end.

[voxofthevoid]

Some people seem to forget that Yuji isn't the classic golden-hearted talk-no-jutsu forgive-and-forget-everyone MC like Naruto or the likes

Yes, he's incredibly kind and if given the possibility he can be open to giving a second chance (like we see with Sukuna at the end) but he also won't hesitate to punch the shit out of those who end up on his (s)hit-list

Yuji meeting Geto "Cult Leader Genocidal Racist (towards non-sorcerers) Delusional Queen" Suguru would absolutely hate him, and yes, maybe it could change over time if Geto showed signs of genuinely changing his views and methods for the better... But otherwise he would be kinda like Yuta was in the movie, who listened to him talk at first because he was hella confused when Geto first arrived but as soon as Geto started insulting Maki he switched immediately and basically told him to fuck off

I also don't think he would take it upon himself to make Geto a better person, either Geto gets his shit together on his own (or maybe with Gojo's help since, when it comes to Geto, Gojo is much more likely to actually care if he changes for the better) or Yuji isn't gonna do shit I fear

And now I'm imagining Yuji and Geto fighting/sparring (Gojo probably convinced Geto into partecipating) and since Geto hates non-sorcerers so much I could see Yuji punching the shit out of him with his raw strength, no divergent fist or curse energy-enhanced hits, just the pure strength he had when he was a "monkey" like everyone else

Negative talk of "sunshine Yuuji" characterization and Getou Suguru to follow. I'd recommend stopping here if you're a fan of either.

And previous anon, my rant below isn't directed at you but at certain JJK fandom trends I hate. I know you were just trying to help.

Some people seem to forget that Yuji isn't the classic golden-hearted talk-no-jutsu forgive-and-forget-everyone MC like Naruto or the likes

Would you care to guess why I say I don't read much fic in JJK? Because this is why. Sunshine Angel Yuuji, who shits out rainbows and cries if he hurts a fly, is going to be my villain origin story.

(Yes, there are plenty of stories that do characterize him right differently, but they're in the minority. I ran out of patience very quickly in the tags and no longer bother.)

He's a very compassionate, very forgiving kid who's boyishly charming and easy to love—the sunshine elements are certainly there, and I enjoy them. But reducing him to those does him a gross disservice. Yuuji's also extremely comfortable with violence, whether that's lethal violence toward curses or training/sparring with peers and mentors. The little we know of his pre-canon backstory features him beating up bullies, and he may not have been as dramatic about it as Megumi was, but the look on his face was sure something else. This is also the same kid who declared his intent to kill Mahito and said that it felt so true that it made everything else he'd ever said feel like a lie. And toward the end of the manga, we have him straight-up admitting that he could've been like Sukuna if not for luck and the man who raised him.

I find Yuuji to be such a fascinating character because his capacity for compassion is matched by his capacity for violence. He actively chooses the former over and over, but dear lord, he's not shy about using the latter. Even outside of physical violence, his personality isn't what I'd call soft. He's friendly and good with people, but he's also snarky, blunt, and at times rude. Also pretty damn insane. I could also go into how a lot (but not nearly all) of Yuuji's cheery demeanor seems like a mask; that kid is repressed as hell, it's just not obvious the way it is with other characters.

Anyway, the people Yuuji wants/resolves to kill are few and far in between, and he's fairly quick to forgive slights against himself, but he's got his lines in the same when it comes to other people's lives and he's willing to enforce them violently.

Personally, I think how he treats Sukuna at the end shows a degree of leniency he wouldn't extend to most people who'd kill indiscriminately. That was influenced significantly by his and Sukuna's respective situations in life and also possibly the intermingling of their souls. Like, nothing Mahito could've done would've spared him from Yuuji.

Getou would likely fall in between the two. His ideology is destructive and cruel (and fucking stupid, how the hell has no one poked holes the size of Texas in it), but it arises from a place of pain and compassion, which opens up certain avenues for discussion that would be lacking with, say, Mahito. Plus, in that fic scenario, Getou's essentially neutralized, and Yuuji's not confronting the direct effects of his actions the way he did with Mahito or Sukuna. In sum, he's not the kind of person Yuuji would write off, but he's also someone who thinks people like Yuuji's grandpa are "monkeys" who should die. I have zero intentions of wrangling their relationship into something good, functional, or mutually beneficial.

Re sparring, Getou's CE is blocked in that fic. Yuuji would devastate him. That's not even in question seeing that, without CE, no one except Tōji and post-awakening Maki would be able to handle Yuuji. This is also likely to make the situation worse, given Getou's experiences with Tōji. That whole angle will depend a lot on how Gojou handles/arranges the situation, which is something I'll likely only find out when I outline or write this properly.

[saintmeghanmarkle]

Archewell 2024 donation, grant and publicity master thread

I've left this comment on a couple of posts and someone suggested I make a post about it. I'm happy to do so in order to keep it all together in one place. I've even added a couple of new items.

These are results I got in Google after restricting the search from January 1, 2024 - May 10, 2024. According to the Daily Mail, "Records show it was declared delinquent in January for not filing its annual registration renewal fee reports or renewal fee since February 2023". [Archive link - https://archive.is/wgrzc] This would mean any publicity or donations / grants that were announced would have happened AFTER it was declared delinquent.

I did not even go into activities from Feb - Dec of 2023. The following items are just since Jan 2024. (Meaning the new 'check is in the mail' cover story is as legitimate as their foundation. [Archive link - https://archive.is/wip/fjOM8]) They are not necessarily in chronological order.

The Archewell / NAACP award for $100K was announced in March 2024:

"Prince Harry and Megan's [sic] Archewell Foundation has announced the new winner of an annual award meant for figures who have overcome racist and sexist biases in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).

Each year, the winner of The NAACP - Archewell Foundation Digital Civil Rights Award is awarded $100,000 to advance their work in civil and human rights."

March 14, 2024: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13199041/Archewell-Foundation-announces-NAACP-foundation-award-harry-meghan.html [Archive link - https://archive.is/FKRzS]

Question: Did Archewell give the $100K themselves?

In March it was also reported that Archewell had been funding a San Antonio Afghan refugee women's charity "since last July".

"San Antonio is one of the foundation’s 11 active Welcome Projects across the U.S." [Archewell archive link - https://archive.is/JWErN]

March 12, 2024: https://sanantonioreport.org/prince-harry-and-meghan-markle-visit-afghan-refugee-women-in-san-antonio/ [Archive link - https://archive.is/tRgsS]

Also from March 7, 2024 in Vanity Fair [Archive link - https://archive.is/7A8bS]:

"On Thursday, the Duchess of Sussex and the nonprofit Moms First are announcing the results of a study on television moms with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media...

...The duchess is teaming up with actor Geena Davis and Moms First, a longtime charity partner of the Archewell Foundation, to raise awareness about the ways television depicts characters who are mothers, backed up by data gathered from programming across 2022."

https://momsfirst.us/news/gdi-motherhood/ [Archive link - https://archive.is/wip/yJeFD]

April 2024: "African-American art earned a royal endorsement when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — also known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex — hosted “An Evening of Art” on Thursday, March 21, honoring The Kinsey African American Art and History Collection at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, California, where the exhibit debuted during Super Bowl LVI 2022. Last month’s event was the result of a partnership between the Sussexes’ Archewell Foundation and The Bernard and Shirley Kinsey Foundation for Art and Education." [Archwell archive link - https://archive.is/61uYX]

April 3, 2024: https://thegrio.com/2024/04/03/meghan-markle-and-prince-harry-amplify-black-art-with-a-star-studded-special-event/ [Archive link - https://archive.is/gdyiF]

May 10, 2024 announcement:

"What a joy to welcome to Nigeria our dear partners Prince Harry & Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and their Archewell Foundation team to celebrate our new partnership to provide mental and menstrual health workshops to teens and youth on an ongoing basis!!"

https://www.facebook.com/GEANCOFDN/posts/833274995502687 [Archive link - https://archive.is/wip/U3h8C]

As for publicity / PR in this timeframe (not including additional tie-ins with Invictus, Sentebale and BetterUp-related events), I found the following...

The Daily Express reported the following on January 14, 2024 regarding Harry being named a "Legend of Aviation":

"The Archewell Foundation, founded by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, says it is 'categorically untrue' that any money exchanged hands concerning the 'Living Legends of Aviation' title."

https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1855510/prince-harry-publicity-stunt-living-legend-aviation [Archive link - https://archive.is/bGxVa]

Archewell sought publicity in February by announcing:

"Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Archewell Foundation honored Black History Month with a group outing.

A new post on the Archewell Foundation website marked Black History, sharing that the team visited a photo exhibit chronicling the Civil Rights movement in Los Angeles."

February 27, 2024: https://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/meghan-markle-prince-harrys-archewell-163043509.html [Archive link - https://archive.is/rrHHZ]

Archewell was also name-dropped on April 2, 2024 when Meghan made an appearance to read at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles as part of the "Make March Matter Campaign", but I cannot find anything that mentions an Archewell donation or grant.

https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/meghan-markle-reads-to-patients-at-childrens-hospital-los-angeles/ [Archive link - https://archive.is/wip/0FG27]

Then on April 12, 2024 the Daily Mail reported:

"The Duke of Sussex is thought to be working with his PR advisers at Archewell to do all he can to manage photographs and videos from his public appearances - with any output being edited by Archewell or event organisers before being released."

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13300557/Prince-Harry-royal-experts-Archewell-Netflix-Meghan-Markle.html [Archive link - https://archive.is/GmilF]

New addition from the Archewell website [Archive link - https://archive.is/2kNu1]:

"On International Women’s Day, The Archewell Foundation co-hosted a keynote panel “Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen” at South By Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas.

Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, and Co-founder of The Archewell Foundation, spoke at the festival’s keynote panel alongside fellow female visionary leaders Katie Couric, Brooke Shields, and Nancy Wang Yuen in a conversation moderated by The 19th’s Errin Haines."

"This session is presented by The Archewell Foundation and The 19th, the national nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy."

March 8, 2024: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2024/events/PP1145814 [Archive link - https://archive.is/4WMsU]

Also consider the following dates in the above 2024 timeline.

Charles and Catherine's hospital stays and surgeries were announced on January 17th, 2024.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68009259 [Archive link - https://archive.is/1U7rK]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68010563 [Archive link - https://archive.is/t5sZr]

Catherine's cancer announcement was March 22nd, 2024.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68641441 [Archive link - https://archive.is/yaf5K]

I'm sure there is more that I've missed so please feel free to add in the comments. I will try to keep this updated with any new information as I can.

Needless to say, for a foundation that has failed to file its reports and pay its renewal fee dating back to February 2023, they have certainly found the time in 2024 to seek publicity, put out public relations announcements, and solicit / spend.

post link

author: Boomer00002

submitted: May 14, 2024 at 10:32AM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit

disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[creature-wizard]

Once again, I'm blocking out part of the URL because I don't want to give free advertising to assholes.

So first of all, I'd like to state that I don't think the question "is this a cult?" is particularly useful, because what is and isn't a cult is debatable.

I think useful questions include:

Are there any red flags?

What are the political agendas associated with the beliefs they're spreading?

We don't have to look very far to see that this is yet another New Age spirituality site. Stuff like "angelic love consciousness," "pineal gland activations," and "galactic cosmos ambassador," "great love awakening," and "divine healing ascension" are all dead giveaways.

The galactic cosmos ambassador tab and the stuff about crop circles immediately tells us that the person behind the site is into that alien conspirituality; which if you've been keeping up, you already know is racist and antisemitic as hell. (And if you haven't been keeping up, please check out my pinned post.)

Clicking on the Q&A link under the Library tab, we can see that it's more New Age stuff. Among many other things, we can see mentions of:

A Galactic Federation (referencing that New Age Galactic Federation of Light stuff)

Weird pseudoscientific shit about DNA (talk of transmuting "conflict DNA" into "higher DNA frequencies")

Mentions of Atlantis and Lemuria (nonexistent places that are central to New Age mythology)

And then there's this:

Jesus shone the light out to many and revealed truth, which was not liked by those of the clergy priesthood in those days because he showed they did not walk in truth.

This is just typical Christian antisemitism woven into a New Age paradigm; it's the whole "Jesus was killed by those wicked corrupt Pharisees!" rhetoric. (Early Christians shifted blame for Jesus's execution away from the Romans and onto the Pharisees to avoid Roman persecution.)

We can see the page go on with Christianity repackaged into a New Age paradigm. Despite the page denouncing "the Church," it sure repeats your standard Christian rhetoric; EG:

Jesus also knew that he was the ONE sent from Divine Realms to be in union with the mind of The Great Divine Father EMMANUEL, and that through no one else the Great Father would come through to speak as ONE was created.

And then, there's this:

He knew that he most likely would return as a ‘woman’ for he often heard the Great Father EMMANUEL saying: ‘A new nation would come forth through a woman.’

*Looks at the lady running this website* And which woman would that be, ma'am?

To make a long story short, after many paragraphs of New Age BS, the person behind this site declares herself to be the next incarnation of Jesus.

Who would rise now out of the dense grids to be the Messenger of Ultimate Truth, the Great Father EMMANUEL? While many prayed for baby Jesus to be born, it would be a ‘Woman’ who would be called (by the name of [NAME REDACTED] in the year 2009, but this remained hidden until it was necessary for this information to become revealed) to allow the people to rise out of the dense cave where the hidden treasures of memories lay hidden, until she would ‘activate’ them.

I could keep going, but honestly, I don't think I need to go much further than "this is literally a New Ager who thinks she's the Second Coming of Christ" to demonstrate that this is a site to stay far, far away from, lol.