#i've had a brainworm on this topic for ages

[dunewizard]

Wish Granting Alignment Chart

Good: These wishes align with the wisher’s intent, often bringing positive outcomes without cruel twists. If there’s a catch, it’s minor or benign.

Neutral: These wishes may fulfill what’s asked, though not always with finesse or flair. There’s no purposeful malice or benevolence—they’re more hands-off.

Evil: These wishes either distort the intent or add a harmful twist, often leading to regret. They might fulfill the wish but only in a way that causes hardship or sorrow for the wisher.

Lawful: A lawful wish grants fulfillment through clear rules, formalities, or structures. These wishes are often predictable and direct, if not always beneficial.

Chaotic: Chaotic wishes have an unpredictable or loose approach, often straying from precise intent. They might be granted spontaneously, twisting outcomes due to the granter’s whimsy or creativity.

[butchxenomorph]

I love Caleb Wittebane because he's got like... 5 seconds of screen time and everyone is obsessed with him. he's got a whole personality that we all just like, made up.

Anyway, on the topic of Caleb, I think his character has the potential to be incredibly complex. The way i usually see the brothers talked about is basically: Caleb good, Phillip bad. And while yeah, thats true, its also more complex than that.

Though we know very little about Caleb's story, we do have this: he is Phillip's older brother, who became his caretaker after their parents died (i think their parents died? not sure where i read it). We don't know what their age difference is, but I'm guessing around 3 years, give or take. We know they're puritans who came from Europe. We know that eventually Caleb left Phillip to live in the demon realm with Evelyn. And we know Phillip killed Caleb (leaving Evelyn alone w/ her unborn child). thats about it for what we have in canon.

Its pretty clear that Caleb and Phillip cared a lot about each other. They were the only thing the other one had in the human realm, and Caled would've had to devote a major part of his life to raising Phillip on his own.

I can see why Caleb would've wanted to leave with Evelyn. first of all, it couldn't have been too amazing to live in an early puritan colony. It would've been quite terrible, actually. Not only did Caleb love Evelyn, she also showed him that life could be different from the strict community he had been in his whole life.

Not only that, though Caleb clearly loved Phillip, he probably really wanted a life of his own. He didn't want to abandon Phillip, he just wanted some individuality. Phillip didn't want this, though.

We don't know (at least I don't think we know) how old Phillip was when he lost his parents, but after that event, Caleb would've been the only role model in his life. Caleb was the only thing Phillip really had, and seeing him leave must've been incredibly painful.

Not only did his brother leave him behind, he left to be with a witch, and to live in what their community saw as Hell. Just an immense betrayal. But still Phillip followed Caleb into the demon realm. He walked through what he thought was hell only to get his brother back. and what is that if not an act of immense love?

We don't have a concrete reason as to why Phillip killed Caleb, but there are many theories. I think a particularly interesting one is that Phillip originally intended to kill Evelyn (thinking she had 'tempted' Caleb), but stabbed Caleb after he tried to protect her. Or maybe Phillip was just overcome with anger from being abandoned.. who knows. maybe we'll find out in the finale, maybe we won't

tl;dr: i've got the wittebane brothers brainworms and i wish we could get a whole spinoff just about them there is so much potential there........

[davendorks]

Hello I am asking you about the timeline of Lab Rats cuz what the actual fuck is up with that ???

I read through the fandom wiki for some semblance of an idea and even that is confusing.

Leo's age I think makes sense ? He turns 14 in S1 and he's 16 in S3. That seems pretty straightforward. BUT THE REST ???

And this is probably cuz of William Brent's height + the fact he looked and sounded younger at the start of the show (makes sense he was 17 but after S1 the ageing is a bit less obvious) but it just feels like Bree would be closer in age to Adam than Chase. Idk maybe I'm going insane and the brainworms have fully taken over but I've been going insane over this show for the past week and a half.

i love you thank you for asking

i honestly don’t expect anyone to read this. i tried structuring this as best i could but with the nature of HOW POORLY STRUCTURED it is anyway it’s really hard to do so.

okay so i’ve always felt (it’s never EXPLICITLY stated but implied) that the three are close in age so if ANYTHING. year difference between each.

this is gonna be really poorly thought out because there’s a lot to talk about and NONE of it makes sense. when it comes to ages though, here is what I know

Chronologically speaking, it makes sense for the show to start in August. Chase, being the only canon birthday, hasn’t had his birthday in the show, so it was before the show started. Our first christmas episode isn’t until the END of season two which sucks so canonically speaking the first five months of them being in the outside world suck absolute ass. Anyway, Chase’s birthday had to have been right at the beginning of the show which by extension means Leo’s canon birthday is Mid August (most likely answer) to Early September because his birthday was 8 episodes in.

That same episode, Davenport claims to be 38 which I’m just gonna say he’s telling the truth because it makes it easier on us for this first bit. It’s canon information that this here season takes place in 2012 (Chase, Chore Wars) which means Davenport was born in 1973-1974. Therefore, he was only 18-19 when he founded Davenport Industries (Bree, Twas The Mission Before Christmas.)

Stepping away from Davenport for a second we come to the episode Mission Space where Leo reveals both Bree and Marcus are Sagittarius’. That gives us an idea for Bree.

Now, I’m writing this whole thing off of the top of my head but I can’t remember a single instance of Adam’s age or birthday. The closest thing I would count is in Trucked Out where Davenport leaves Adam alone to buy a car. Legally, California Law in 2012 states you have to be 18 to buy a vehicle (yes you can now too but this takes place in 2012 so i looked it up for 2012).

If we wanna talk about Marcus for a second, I believe he is 15 at the moment. Douglas claims he isn’t 16 yet, and we know his and Bree’s birthdays haven’t come up yet so I assume that’s when he was turning 16 (*cough cough* back to my claim that marcus was built specifically to get adam bree and chase and was gonna be thrown away after the job was done).

Back to Davenport, in Memory Wipe, Leo erases 24 years from Davenport’s memory reverting him back to his 15-year-old self. He is 39 here. Why the most egotistical man in the world didn’t have an episode dedicated to his own birthday is beyond me but we know he did have a birthday recently. That places his birthday most likely between LATE LATE august-early october if anything.

It’s a little weird with our “The Haunting Of Mission Creek High” episode, the episode looks as if it’s a Halloween episode (it is right before the christmas one) but it’s for the homecoming dance. Now, I’ve never been to public school but I was sure homecoming was during september? Either way i’m confused so we’ll say early october.

Off topic but in Trent Gets Schooled it’s CANON that Trent is early-mid twenties and i think that’s crazy.

Here’s where we start to get weird. In You Posted What?! Davenport claims to be a 43 year old which means he’s aged four years since Memory Wipe. He was 39 in that episode which is as close to canon as possible so why is he making himself seem older than he actually is? He also admits to keeping Adam Bree and Chase in the basement for 16 years. So if he was actually 43 he would’ve been 27 when he saved them but since i still believe he’s 39 he was 23.

Merry Glitchmas rolls around and Leo claims to be 16c which isn’t plausible if his birthday is really Mid August Early September he’d only be 15.

More lore kind of off topic Kerry comes back to the island and Leo says “this is the monster that owned you two last year” or something of the sort even though we’ve been through TWO christmas episodes since then?

AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR FUCKS ME UP because they contradict each other in the span of 20 seconds. Douglas says Daniel is 13. He also states that Daniel was only a baby when Donald took Adam Bree and Chase. It's been confirmed that Donald took them over sixteen years ago so Daniel being a baby at that time and 13 now would be impossible.

Chase says he already had a 16th birthday. Adam also says it's after Labor Day so this episode takes place after the beginning of September which means Chase just had a birthday and Leo, Davenport, and Bree are expecting birthdays soon. (although i’m not too sure about Leo)

Do we want Elite Force I can go into Elite Force

this is so so so so poorly written like I started writing this an hour ago i’m just yapping at this point. I swear I can come up with something better if i had more time i apologize.

[eilinelsghost]

I've been thinking a lot about oaths lately, due in large part to @thelordofgifs' wonderful The Fairest Stars and also my own wrangling with this in Atandil. And this has gotten me once again brainworming about Finrod's oath and why that oath, sworn by that specific character, with that specific relationship to the world around him mattered for the outcome of the whole First Age.

Buckle up and apologies in advance for the length of this, it's one of my absolute favorite topics.

So basically the overarching premise is this: the only Silmaril that is wrested from Morgoth without the Valar's direct intervention (and pivotally that Silmaril is the means by which their subsequent intervention is pleaded for and won) is only acquired because a second oath from the doomed House of Finwë is fulfilled that serves as a counter-balance to the first (and primary) Oath on which that doom hinges.

(Caveat before we move forward: we're talking about the Oaths here and how they and their resulting actions operate within the narrative. None of this is to imply that the sons of Fëanor, for example, do not operate from other motivations in tandem with their oath, or to claim that Finrod is always a representation of the Good. Like most of Tolkien's characters, these are all complex individuals who act outside of this as well.)

Some Oath Analysis

So. To dive in. Oaths by the House of Finwë basically drive the First Age of Middle-earth—and key to this, I believe, is the striking similarity between the structure of these two pivotal oaths and where they diverge within that structure. So let's look at these side by side:

They both move in three parts (color coded below for reference in the text):

1. the action the oath promises 2. the group it is promised to 3. the relation of the swearer to an associated object

1. The Action the Oath Promises

Thus we can see that in Fëanor’s oath, the action promised is pursuit with vengeance and hatred, a pledge of destruction and revenge. While in Finrod’s oath, the action promised is “abiding friendship and aid in every need,” a pledge of love returned and in fact returned exponentially for what was given.

Both are promised actions that escalate far beyond the inciting event: a stolen possession repaid with pursuit to the ends of the earth, and a life once saved repaid with the promise of help in every need to a whole bloodline rather than a one-off return to pay the debt.

2. The Group it is Promised To

Also in both oaths, the group it is directed toward expands far beyond the inciting event to include people/generations who do not exist at the time of the swearing.

In the Oath of Fëanor, the subject moves out from Morgoth who stole the Silmarils to include literally any creature you can imagine who might exist throughout history and have the audacity to come into possession of a Silmaril—even if they merely found one. (Of course one can quibble over the technicalities of what exactly that means and how it is interpreted by the bearers of the Oath, but the way it plays out—especially at Sirion—I think speaks for how it escalated as time and desperation drew on.) This trail of wreckage ends up including entire kingdoms, repeated treachery, multiple kinslayings, and even, in what is arguably its darkest moment, children left to perish in the wilderness.

In Finrod’s oath, the recipient moves from Barahir to include any of Barahir's kin as well. It expands beyond a “you had my back, now I have yours” return to encompass any current and presumably future generations. Furthermore, it isn't aid in any need, it's aid in every need. An immortal being making a promise like that means Finrod was knowingly signing up to be potentially fulfilling this oath repeatedly for thousands of years to a shit ton of ever-multiplying Barahir-descendants—if it hadn’t claimed his life within the first generation.

3. The Associated Object

And finally, you have the contrast between the relation of the swearer to an object involved in the oath:

In the Oath of Fëanor, it’s all about the swearers retaining (or regaining) possession of the valuable item(s) they consider central to their identity. If anyone else holds a Silmaril, it is a direct affront to their power, property, and birthright.

In Finrod’s, he instead takes the item that serves as a visible representation of his identity (the ring his father gave him that signifies his place in the family, his inherited position, and his father’s blessing—the badge of the house of Finarfin) and he gives it away to another.

So in effect, you have an oath of taking going up against an oath of giving and in some way they seem to at least temporarily cancel each other out. Or at any rate, the oath of giving holds the oath of taking at bay as it is being fulfilled, which allows the quest to succeed.

Possession vs Sacrifice

To me, this all comes down to the primary animating power behind each oath: possessive love vs sacrificial love.

Or, to put it another way, it hinges on each oath-swearer's relationship to power and how it's used—a theme we see time and time again in Tolkien's writing.

Fëanor and his sons (by their co-swearing of the Oath) are driven by a desire to be the sole possessors of the "unsullied light, and masters of the bliss and beauty of Arda.” This leads them even so far as to bring in racial supremacy as they add that "no other race shall oust us."

This, of course, is an outgrowth of the whisperings of Melkor regarding the coming of Men: that they would supplant the Firstborn Children of Ilúvatar and that the Valar were party to this disinheritance. And this sets them immediately in a posture of suspicion toward any new people(s) they encounter.

Whereas from the moment Finrod discovers the Edain, for example, "love for them stirred in his heart" and he works consistently as a mediator to establish peace and friendship between the various Elven peoples and Men, actions which undergird his oath and bond to Barahir.

Put more succinctly: the oath of Fëanor is undertaken in the pursuit of supremacy and the oath of Finrod is undertaken in the pursuit of relationship.

Both oaths ultimately lead to the swearers losing their realms, treasures, power, freedom, and ultimately their lives. But pivotally, those losses are the costs extracted by the oath of Fëanor while they are losses willingly relinquished by Finrod as he seeks to fulfil his.

This is especially of note as Finrod uses the symbol of his own inheritance as the mark of his oath. He gives his own birthright to the Edain and thus even his familial crest becomes known to history as "the ring of Barahir" rather than the ring of Felagund.

He therefore serves as the antithesis to the racial supremacy of Fëanor's words in Tirion and simultaneously as a model of what was intended for the Elves: to prepare the way for the Secondborn and pass the world on to them freely. Tolkien notes this aspect of the Elves in his letter to Milton Waldman where he discusses the connections between the Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings:

“The doom of the Elves is to be immortal, to love the beauty of the world, to bring it to full flower with their gifts of delicacy and perfection, to last while it lasts, never leaving it even when ‘slain’, but returning – and yet, when the Followers come, to teach them, and make way for them, to ‘fade’ as the Followers grow and absorb the life from which both proceed.”

Letter 131 to Milton Waldman

Again it is that very Tolkienian contrast of taking up power to master something versus laying power down to preserve something. And that, far from being Finrod "swearing a foolish oath" or "throwing away his kingdom because of his pride," is once again that "fool's hope" upon which so much of the estel of Arda is built.

[bluebudgie]

Snatching this character ask game to answer it in its entirety bc I'm currently sick in bed and this sounds like good distraction.

Here's your chance to read some lab rat character snippets.

Answering for Lahpp bc the brainworms got me bad the last 2 years.

A. What nicknames do they get called?

None, really. Unless employee numbers count as nicknames. I've made a joking comment about how Petthri would start calling him Gecko for absolutely no logical reason other than me being amused that the man's voice claim actor played a character with that name in a super niche musical. This isn't canon. But it makes listening to relevant songs funny.

B. Describe their family dynamic.

Non-existant. Didn't even have an official legal guardian until Rata Sum authorities required related paperwork for school stuff. There was the subkrewe that handled surveillance of his 'progress' and the head of the project was sort of 'in charge' of him but whatever relationship they had was nothing remotely comparable to a family. I think to this day he's got the hardest time wrapping his head around the concept of family relationships, other than of course the purely biological explanation.

C. What’s their weirdest habit or quirk?

Does consuming more coffee than anyone feasibly should count? I'm not even sure this man drinks anything else. Probably, but seriously unsure. Just don't question it, it hasn't killed him yet.

D. What was their high school college experience like?

This is one of those "20k essay; 1000 different amv scenarios" topics. In short: difficult, exhausting, but not as bad as it could have been.

On a social level he always felt like the odd one out and didn't have much contact to the other students, but he was never actively disliked or anything of the sort. Him being generally rather distant and observant probably intimidated a few people, as well as him being Inquest. Group projects went smoothly though, and interactions were superficially friendly. Just comparatively rare.

Work-wise he had to put in so much more effort than many others because of his disabilities, all while trying to be as stealthy as possible about it so noone would notice. He excelled in many challenges, didn't manage to hide all of it however; some things he simply couldn't do. Uncomfortable for him.

He was a really good student overall.

Also as a side anecdote, he got the typical "can you speak up please" a lot even though he was a front row regular. Soft-spoken guy.

E. What is their love language?

He's the "invite someone to go out for dinner" type. Spend some good quality time. He might get invested in the relevant person's interests too. Ask about them, enable some rambling, or ideally an interesting discussion.

F. How do they handle conflict?

That depends entirely on the kind of coflict and who or what is involved. Can range from "take the lead and try to find the most efficient solution" to "remove himself from the situation and just not deal with it at all".

G. What’s their greatest talent?

Developed mad acting & pokerface skills. He can smile through the most annoying social situations and you wouldn't guess he hates every single second of it. If he actively wants to give you that impression, that is. Sometimes he just doesn't bother.

H. Where is their favourite place to be?

Not sure if he has a consciously picked favourite place but he's comfortable enough in the small studio room connected to his lab. Made it a decently livable place. It's tiny (very tiny) but that's fine, he doesn't need much space. It's a place of peace and quiet, and that's what matters.

I. What makes them feel safe?

Good question! Next question.

J. What is their greatest weakness?

He's a coward who resigned himself to a life in a corrupt, hateful, criminal system. He was target of that very same system's bigotry for ages but he turns a blind eye on it out of fear and a lack of willingness to change anything. He's content being a simple cog in the machine, not caring about what its greater purpose is. is this what Camus calls philosophical suicide

Maybe one day he'll overcome the cowardice to face some difficult truths. Probably not.

K. What is their greatest strength?

If he says he'll get shit done, he gets it done. He's got an incredible amount of perseverance.

Especially in his teenage years this often meant choosing the path of more resistance simply to spite the people who would assume he wouldn't manage certain things. Even if those people would never actually know. He had to at least prove it to himself under the guise of acting out of spite. Is that even a strength anymore or actually a flaw? A strength born from flawed thinking?

L. What is their secrets to happiness?

Don't have anything change, find comfort in living the convenient lie. The illusion of happiness is good enough.

M. How do they handle competition?

If it's the kind of "who wins the monthly nonfatal pool by putting the most life subjects in a vegetative state" small-ego-competition then he simply doesn't care. Not because he has any moral issues with it but because he think it's a waste of time and just distracts from the actual tasks at hand.

If it's "the events in Cantha have put you in a physical and mental state that prevents you from working; and staying away on sick leave for a prolongued amount of time will eventually get you replaced despite decades of dedication" sort of competition then he doesn't handle it well at all. And he doesn't even believe anyone else could do his job better than him. Somehow that actually makes it worse.

N. What are their hidden talents?

Music. Got curious about the general topic in college. And in true spiteful (big fat disclaimer: asshole statement) "Oh you're severely HoH so this is clearly not for you" fashion, he decided this is exactly for him to get invested in. He got really into the theory part especially but also picked up an instrument (undecided which one. the decision has been haunting me for months.) to play.

Later when he met Luqqah they found out it's an interest they have in common so they spent a lot of time just either discussing or analyzing theoretical concepts or actually making some music. Luqqah taught him how to sing over the years! It's something he had wanted to learn well before he met her but very much lacked the confidence to start on his own.

He hasn't lost that passion over all these years, even if he didn't get to share it with anyone in a while. Post-EoD music trio incoming?

O. What motivates them?

In the past: Mostly fear with a good portion of spite.

Now: Mostly habit. Some underlying fears.

P. What advice would they give to their younger self?

If he could look past his own facade he'd likely tell his younger self to keep kindling at least a bit of that spiteful fire he had.

He does sometimes feel like he's lacking more "bite" the older he gets.

Q. Do they have a signature look or fashion?

Always got that eye piece on covering his left eye. You'll not encounter him without it. If you do, something's either wrong or you've somehow invaded into private space.

He spends the majority of his time working which means the majority of the time you'll find him in a labcoat. He also keeps his hair tied up for practical reasons.

His "casual" outfits are still surprisingly formal looking. He wants to leave a decent impression, you know. I'm awful at describing clothes so I'll skip this one until I one day inevitable draw it, but he's big on waistcoats and likes different shades of brown.

R. How tall are they?

Listen friends I'm really bad at understanding the gw2 race heights and putting them in perspective, but I assigned him a confident 98 cm (3'2") which in my world view is somewhere in the average middle. Not super short, not tall.

S. What’s their relationship like with their parents?

Somewhat answered in the family dynamics question. As for his biological parents, he never knew them. His -on paper- legal guardian wasn't much of a parental figure. Did it fuck him up growing up without any real guiding figure to look up to? Sure. Did it take time for him to understand that this is not the normal experience every child has? Unsure if he actually ever fully understood. Rationally he does, but emotionally this is a different matter.

T. What are their favourite foods?

He's really gotten into wasabi.

U. What do they like to do in their spare time?

See the music answer. Also reading an interesting book in a quiet environment is always a good pastime.

V. What’s their biggest pet peeve?

So he's generally really good at keeping his cool but he's got absolutely zero (0) patience for several people talking over each other in the same time. There's a reason he demanded his own lab space when everyone moved over to the CoE.

W. What’s their favourite sport?

If dancing is considered a sport (I believe it is?) Petthri might eventually get him to be interested enough as a spectactor. Let that be a future arc.

Otherwise literally no interest in any at all.

X. What’s their biggest fear?

Death. And I don't mean it in a 'most people find thinking about their own mortality uncomfortable' way, I mean it in a seriously phobic way. It keeps him up at night. He's had numerous seriously bad panic attacks over it. Based important decisions on it.

There was a time of his life it got somewhat better but it's catching up to him again recently.

Y. What physical object do they value most?

Whatever omious instrument I'll decide on that he owns will probably be valuable to him. I have no idea otherwise.

Z. What’s their relationship status?

Officially single (and it will stay that way). Unofficially complicated.

For the really curious: I suppose their current relationship is best described as "friends with benefits". No they have not kissed yet. I'm gonna first have to figure out when and how and why and if at all and

That said I have this shitpost scene-that'll-never-happen in my head of Luqqah meeting Lahpp and Petthri during the whole EoD disaster and in a moment of quiet she and Lahpp sit together. And she looks him in the eyes and goes "So are you two boyfriends?" And before he can even try to defend himself she continues "You break up with me because you figure out you're gay. And then you're gay for that?" Poor Petthri.