#if he wasn’t in a story that ultimately believed in Us vs Them and in the inherent Rightness of the nuclear family

[kybelles]

NOTES FROM PACAT’S LATEST M&G

(FEB 1, 2025, SYDNEY)

Akielos Research: She joked that her main historical research question was "what era had the hottest weather/clothes?" leading her to choose ancient Greece for Akielos. She discovered historians haven’t figured out if ancient Greeks wore underwear—deciding Damen must for practical reasons, like preventing chafing while riding.

Vere’s Setting: She was fascinated by late medieval France and chose "Laurent" for the name, so he had to be French. Akielos and Vere were inspired by various historical settings but don’t strictly adhere to realism. They are pastiches of many different places. She had to avoid certain anachronisms, like naval technology, to keep the world-building consistent.

Capri’s Origins & Writing Journey: She started writing Capri on LiveJournal without expecting it to be published, and wasn’t concerned with being politically correct or censoring herself. Having grown up with a violent childhood, fantasy offered her an escape. The final books are almost identical to what she posted online, except for a few name changes (e.g., Rabat became Vere, Margaret became Jokaste).

Writing for Comics & Paragons: She found writing a hero like Superman much harder than villains, as heroes require deep moral consistency—something harder for her because morality is complex and subjective. She believes paragons are essential in literature because they are aspirational figures who show us what good can look like, something missing in the current trend of grimdark and anti-heroes. Her favorite paragons are Wonder Woman followed by Superman.

Romance & Fantasy: As a kid, she resented love interests in stories because she just wanted to read about horses. Despite writing romantasy, she doesn’t read much of it because a lot feels derivative (like Twilight or ACOTAR). She’s critical of the genre’s lack of evolution beyond common tropes—essentially bodice-ripper romance, but with fantastical elements added, and wonders what will come next once readers have exhausted these clichés.

Queer Representation: She’s excited about the current "golden age" of queer publishing, noting how things have changed since her early career, when publishers wouldn't even depict the content of Capri on the cover. However, she’s frustrated that many queer stories still center on sex. She’d love to see stories where a queer character just exists (e.g., a queer detective), without their sexuality being the plot's main focus.

Capri's Writing Process: Capri was originally meant to be one book, but the characters’ deep hatred and evolving relationship required more time to develop into pure love without feeling forced. She intentionally crafted Laurent and Damen as opposites, with each possessing qualities the other lacked. This made them complementary and drew them together, reflecting the “opposites attract” dynamic, where their differences ultimately made them perfect soulmates for each other.

Romantasy vs. Fantasy: She defines romantasy as a subgenre where the romance is so central that the fantasy plot wouldn’t exist without it, whereas in traditional fantasy, the hero's journey can stand alone. Even though she writes romantasy, she doesn’t fully love the genre because it can lack depth beyond the romance.

Book Recommendations & Influences: She enjoys books like American Psycho (a critique of capitalism), The Alexander Trilogy by Mary Renault, Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, The Bell by Iris Murdoch, The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, and everything by Dorothy Dunnett.

[bestworstcase]

@tumblingxelian from here

As the person who started the "Give that girl a cult" tag, I kind of disagree. RWBY Beyond already made it clear Ruby has a lot of people focused on her in a Great Uniter sense. Add in how many issues she's been having and judging by the movie continues to have with playing the role needed of her. & that there's a nationalistic/fascist movement being aided by the villains & I feel like Ruby being admired not playing into it makes zero sense. The memes of Jax just screaming in frustration cos Ruby is much, much, much closer to the icon he only pretends to be are just memes and not realistic expectations for the volumes story. I should also clarify, cult was just picked cos "Fan club" doesn't have the same connotations.

mm to clarify where i’m coming from, my main point of disagreement with the "ruby gets a [celebrity] cult" angle is with Where and How it will have narrative impact (i think ruby’s celebrity will be more of a personal stumbling block for her tied into the summer rose mystery and an issue that exacerbates the nascent civil war, not smth she can take advantage of in the political conflict vs the crown) and how prominent it’ll be in terms of the amount of specific focus put on people adoring her.

but the main bone i have to pick is with specifically the "ruby is literally going to be deified / silver-eyed ascended savior / tea as communion wine" type stuff (like this other anon) where "cult" is being used explicitly to mean religious veneration. THIS variant makes me want to bite people 

but anyway, to your actual points: i get that the jax meme-ing is largely exaggerated joking around, but at the same time the main thrust of all the real speculation in this vein is that ruby’s celebrity functions to set up a personal conflict between herself and the asturias twins and strengthens her coalition’s hand against the crown because she’s admired, an inspiration to the people, etc. 

in the same way that "salem’s gonna show up a year late with starbucks to explain her ninety step plan for beating the gods" is an unserious joke that follows from things i do seriously believe, that salem’s ultimate goal is to get rid of the brothers and the heroic side will hear her side of the story as probably the last major narrative turning point… no one is joking about jax going "NOOOO!!" while he bleeds supporters to ruby’s accidental cult of personality because they don’t think her celebrity is going to play a meaningful part in defeating the crown, yeah?

i’m also using the memetic joke phrasing in the prev post mainly because i didn’t want to just repeat stuff i’d already said in the one right before, but—well, okay:

1 - the crown isn’t a vanity project. jax is arrogant, but he does also fundamentally believe that he’s doing what is best for his nation; it’s an ideological project. and the ideology is more or less, "vacuo was broken and exploited by foreign invaders long ago. outsiders and those who aren’t willing to fight to the death for vacuo make this nation weak; to become strong again, loyal vacuans must band together to get rid of these people and fight for ourselves and our way of life." when jax imagines the "old ways," he envisions himself as the kind of king who holds himself equal to all his people ("he wasn’t going to hold himself above them")—he’s tying himself in a mental knot here to hold this belief while also putting half his forces under mind control, obviously, but the cognitive dissonance here is buried very deep. 

2 - the MAINSTREAM, NORMATIVE city vacuan cultural view—expressed by many different vacuan characters, including sun—is "we lost our identity and our way of life because people were too soft and content; we let the other kingdoms come here and take what they wanted, and then they left us with nothing but sand, heat, and bitter memories. but hardship and fending for ourselves for so long has made us strong, so we don’t need anyone telling us what to do!" <- i am condensing but much of this is lifted verbatim from the speech sun makes to rally eleventh hour support against the crown. in that speech, he rhetorically equates the twins to the "other kingdoms" who, like the crown, "promised prosperity and paradise."

3 - now. i don’t believe rwby is going to play straight this idea that vacuans were to blame for the conquest of vacuo, because a) the nomadic vacuans in after the fall hold very different cultural attitudes, b) in the 9.11 animatic oscar explicitly refers to all this as a "history of colonization," and c) rwby doesn’t blame faunus for being persecuted or the people of mantle for being repressed, why would vacuo be different?—these are cultural views that i expect to be challenged in v10.

4 - notice how similar these normative/mainstream views are to the crown’s ideology! the crown is more extreme, more violent, but it’s really not that far off from stuff the good-guy vacuans say. before the 9.11 animatic, this was the whole basis for my thinking that the crown would be the arc antagonists in v10—at the end of the book, the defenders turn the tide by flipping the nationalist rhetoric around; ideological victory to the crown. dump tens of thousands of refugees from another kingdom into this situation, and what happens? popular support for the crown explodes. 

5 - BTE is a villain origin story. it’s just the prelude that sets the stage for this explosion of popular support; the main event is in v10, and i think this time the crown is going to be much stronger. in the book, it’s a fringe movement extremists and a roughly equal number of unwilling "recruits" under jax’s thrall, but almost every city vacuan character we meet expresses hostility toward "outsiders" and "traitors" and a lot—not all, but a lot—of what the crown believes is normalized to some extent; a really significant number of vacuans were just one refugee crisis away from breaking for the crown. vacuo has had two refugee crises in swift succession and there’s atlesian and mistrali warships allied with the faction that welcomed the refugees flying over vacuo now.

6 - it doesn’t matter that those foreign ships are there to defend vacuo too; vacuan nationalism is grounded in centuries of colonial occupation and the optics are really, really bad for the coalition. here is what jax is going to be screaming from the rooftops: "half or more of vacuo’s population is outsiders now, people from atlas and vale who never lifted a finger to help us but expect us to sacrifice everything to save them—give up our food and water when we scarcely have enough to sustain ourselves, give up our homes, spill our blood and defend them with their lives. they’re weak, pathetic cowards who came running to hide behind us instead of fighting for their kingdom, and they expect us to believe they’ll fight for us when the time comes? no, they’re just here to do what the other kingdoms have always done to us—they’re the real threat. are we really going to sit by and let these foreign invaders take our country from us again?"—and a lot of vacuans are gonna buy that bullshit.

7 - not least because a lot of it is… kind of true. vacuo has a very long, very real history of suffering at the hands of these other kingdoms whose people it is now being asked to make very real sacrifices for. both CFVY novels emphasize that food and water are already scarce before the kingdom doubles in size and vacuo is weathering onslaught after onslaught of grimm because of the refugees. it’s a really tough situation, and for someone like jax it is a massive political windfall because it’s so easy to twist that reality into a justification for hatred and violence.

SO,

here’s what really stands out to me about the 9.11 animatic and ruby’s celebrity in B4:

nora’s section: establishes that the vacuans are really angry, like "throwing junk at small orphaned children in a screaming rage" angry

oscar’s: the shade coalition is holding on by its fingernails against grimm drawn to the city in droves.

ren’s: the asturias twins get broken out of prison, and he reflects that salem has the advantage because it’s easier to exploit fear and anger than to overcome them. 

winter’s: popular support for the crown is booming ("atlas go home" and "long live the crown" grafitti)… and then the second refugee crisis arrives, provoking what is quite likely another days-long unrelenting assault of the city by grimm. also, when the shade coalition isn’t running itself into the ground fighting grimm, they’re distributing food and water to refugees. (=the crown’s talking point here is "see? they only care about helping THEM, not US")

qrow’s: he feels optimistic because he sees the refugees coming together, trying to support each other through this crisis and atone for past wrongs. the old divide between atlas and mantle is healing. every single character in this section is a refugee, and the "remember her message!" mural seems to be something the happy huntresses organized. 

"it was a relief for us," says nora of reaching vacuo, "but for the vacuans…"

and boba: yang takes ruby to specifically a boba shop that relocated from patch to vacuo after vale was evacuated; so this is likely a neighborhood where a lot of valean refugees settled and that means the vacuans who live here are going to mostly be the type of people who were willing to open their community and absorb that second wave of refugees, i.e. the shade coalition’s support base, people like the nomadic vacuans in ATF who would never be swayed by jax’s rhetoric at all because they weren’t already xenophobic… which BTE implies pretty strongly is a minority position within vacuo proper.

B4 is a character-driven piece focused on ruby’s personal struggle, and the beyond spots are all pretty light, pretty hopeful, and pretty opaque about the situation in vacuo for reasons of being optional side content.

the 9.11 animatic, on the other hand, was meant to be an episode of the show proper, so it does not hold back on the foreshadowing / setup at all: from nora to ren to winter there’s a pattern of escalation with vacuan support for the crown gaining ground, getting louder and bolder, and then qrow’s optimistic conclusion is focused very tightly on the refugees, with an acknowledgment that things are "bad, probably never been worse" beyond the small good he chooses to focus on… which conspicuously does not include any vacuans participating in these small acts of kindness or atonement: it’s klein and willow and the happy huntresses looking out for other refugees.

here’s what i think is going to happen with ruby’s celebrity in v10: the refugees from atlas and mantle will adore her—she’s the girl who rallied the whole world to come help them, and got them out alive when salem attacked and their general lost his mind. the refugees from vale will love her—she’s theirs, after all, born and raised in vale, and look at what she’s started. the minority of vacuans who threw open their doors to welcome the refugees will think the world of her—if atlas hadn’t fallen so quickly, these are the people who would have done whatever they could to send help, and her example is an inspiration. 

and the rest of vacuo is going to fucking hate her. she’s the girl who asked the whole world to come running to help atlas and then the very next day dumped atlas and its problems into vacuo’s lap. is it fair to pin the blame for everything on ruby? fuck no, but she’s the face of this crisis for better and worse.

she’s not a threat to jax; he literally could not ASK for a more perfect scapegoat. she’s the girl from beacon who abandoned her school instead of fighting to save it. (<- explicitly how the crown and basically the entire shade student body views the beacon survivors.) she’s the girl who begged the world to come help atlas and then not even a full day later ran away AGAIN, dumping atlas on vacuo. she’s the reason the sky is crawling with atlesian and mistrali warships. she’s the reason grimm attacked the city every few days for months on end. the satellite she used to send her message is a fuckoff huge battleship looming over vacuo now. she keeps asking vacuans to set aside their differences and work together with the tens of thousands of refugees burdening the kingdom, and all of those refugees think she’s the best thing since sliced bread…

i think ruby will be a polarizing figure—possibly divisive enough that her return might be the final straw that rips the kingdom in half. ’cause like. the people with the most reason to admire her are also the ones the villainous nationalist group despises and wants to get rid of, and the 9.11 animatic flags hard that the crown’s support among vacuans has skyrocketed since the refugee crisis began. they’re not a fringe group anymore.

so on the one hand, the pressure put on ruby is going to be orders of magnitude more intense than ever before because she’s a celebrity beloved by the coalition’s supporters, most of whom are refugees, and between that and finding out vale is just gone now right after getting back, to judge by her characterization in rwby x jl2, ruby is NOT going to be coping well in the wake of her resolution to be all summer was and more. 

and on the other hand, to the crown’s supporters, who could very well now be the majority of vacuans living in the city proper, she’s the perfect scapegoat and they’re going to utterly despise her, inflaming the existing divide and maybe splitting what fence-sitters still remain at this point one way or another. ruby is both the girl who united the world and the girl who tore vacuo apart—rwby does love its contradictions!—which is a) not going to help her mental health situation at all, and b) a problem she and the rest of the shade coalition can only solve by winning the ideological argument. 

to put vacuo back together again they need to beat the idea that "outsiders" make vacuo weak and therefore to be strong vacuo has to drive out everyone deemed un-vacuan. more to the point, they’ll need to overcome the feeling that vacuo is suffering because the rest of the world came together for the refugees. which… is difficult and unfair, because the crown are the ones refusing to play ball and making everything harder than it needs to be, and because if the crown goes into open revolt then the coalition is going to have to fight back and that will make it even harder to make a convincing case that the coalition really does want to be fighting for vacuo, for all vacuans, not against them. it SEEMS impossible. but saving everyone in atlas and mantle seemed impossible, too. 

also, waves vaguely, i expect the vacuo arc will mirror atlas in various ways and this is one of them: the ascendant political movement are bad guys this time, reactionary nationalists, and the heroes are going to defeat them the hard way, no cheating, which will incite the healing of vacuo.

[arkus-rhapsode]

I guess this is still a controversial opinion in 2023, but… I think Micaiah is a good character. Like yeah I understand there are a lot of newer FE fans who are getting introduced to her through stuff like Engage and Heroes, but if you’ve been around as long as me you know that Micaiah probably was the “love or hate her” character of FE pre Edelgard/Rhea discourse.

I’m probably not gonna sway anyone who has already picked what side they fall on. I’m just gonna give you my opinion as one guy on the internet who has lived through a lot of discourse and what he thinks.

I think there are three primary complaints that people still pull out with her: She’s a Mary Sue, she’s dumb, and she’s a bad unit.

Now look, I’ll give you the bad unit. She’s a lord character that doesn’t have a lord build. She’s a light mage. Now Radiant Dawn is infamous for its difficulty and stat variation, so pairing an interesting idea of a lord who’s not a combative unit is an interesting idea on paper. But in execution it’s just really hard to play. So I get why people don’t like her as a unit.

The Mary Sue argument I’ve never been a fan of however. Yes, she has special healing powers, future sight, and all the apostle powers. But like… That’s kinda just what a lot of FE lord characters get? They get a special weapon only they can use, they have a magic blood that gives them power, they are secretly the descendant of some ultra important person or god and they’re destined for something. Like it’s kinda always just been there with FE lord characters. Hell, even non lord avatar characters like Robin and Byleth are just secretly reincarnations of gods. I think with Micaiah the issue comes in that she’s in the same game as Ike. Who was bucking the trend as a playable character that wasn’t a lord, wasn’t magically destined for anything, and isn’t secretly a child of some Uber royal. So Micaiah does feel like an oddity, but I’d argue this does create an interesting conflict of a traditional MC vs a non traditional one.

And finally the “she’s dumb” argument. So I understand that games are an interactive medium. And people value being able to make their own choices. But in the intersection of narrative and gameplay focused games, there are characters and events we don’t have control of. Micaiah makes a choice to liberate her homeland but doesn’t want to be its ruler. When Pelleas the son of Ashnard comes along and seems like a good guy, she gives it to him. This makes sense from Micaiah’s perspective-despite loving her country she doesn’t want to rule it. So when a seemingly good individual with recognized lineage comes in, she’s willing to give it up. But we the audience can see this is flawed, Sothe in game mentions this. And ultimately Micaiah’s choice is what brings Daein under Begnion. Where now she has to do things she doesn’t like in a desperate war.

I feel like in media there’s a criticism of “why don’t these characters do the logical thing that I would’ve done in this situation.” And I think games as an interactive medium enhance that as they want to make their own choices. But in a narrative a character doesn’t always need to make logical sense. A character can exist independent of what the player wants and takes actions that the viewer may disagree with. But an action a character takes that they may disagree with isn’t inherently a sign of bad writing. I personally believe that if it makes sense for the character within the context of the story, they are capable of making mistakes. And often times these flaws are what facilitates character development/introspection.

So when Micaiah makes her choice to not be ruler, it makes sense from the perspective of someone not interested in ruling. However, her choice has consequences, ultimately forcing her to do more of the things she was trying to avoid. And even if Pelleas lives or dies, Micaiah by the end of the story is now queen out of obligation rather than personal interest. The game at least seems self aware of audience would react to a flawed decision by having Sothe be the voice of obvious concern. But let’s for a moment think if she did the logical thing. Had Micaiah just held onto power at first and did nothing, there really wouldn’t be a plot for Daein or a journey for Micaiah. And it probably be a much more dull story.

Characters are allowed to be flawed and make mistakes. Make choices we don’t personally agree with. But the important thing is that flawed actions have actual consequences to them. And basically all of Daein suffering from someone who made a bad choice and is now living through it and ultimately has to rise to the position that she denied in the first place is a suitable consequence.

I think actual bad choices in narratives tend to be actions that have no real conflict as the plot needs to bend to make that choice make sense or justify a bad choice. Rather than an action having a tangible consequence that needs to be dealt with internally or externally.

So yes, Micaiah made a dumb call in Radiant Dawn. And it led to an interesting story and character development.

Now I do have issues with Micaiah: I don’t like that Yune ultimately takes over for most of part 4. I don’t like that there are no supports in RD so I had to wait till Engage to see how she may feel about certain characters. Yes, I think that she is ultimately eclipsed by the true MC of the game Ike. And yes, I don’t like her future sight. I have never liked precognition as a storytelling concept. I’m just not a fan of its inclusion.

That said, I don’t dislike Micaiah. I do actually find her an interesting character who was allowed to be flawed and not fall into the newer FE game trap of trying make her more likeable/actually secretly in the right the whole time. And maybe it’s weird that something like this discourse is still kinda around. But with stuff like Engage and talks FE4 reboot and just a general Tellius conversation still existing I felt like I might as well say where I stand on who used to be the most controversial FE character.

[ivanttakethis]

End of Round 2 - Tov’s Log

Vera (54) vs. Moran (45) -> Vera Win

————————————————————

“Do you believe in fate, Tov?” A voice nearby asks.

Tov doesn’t have to look up from her book to know it belongs to Moran. She hears it all the time.

Like yesterday after lunch, when Solei sat on the wooden stool in front of Moran’s makeshift advice stand and asked: “Moran, what happens after we die?”

“I do.” Tov says with a nod, “It’s all written in the stars.”

She sees wild red hair moving closer in her peripheral. “Do you think our fates can be changed, or do we have to follow them to their end?”

Tov looks up at Moran then. She’s deep in thought, as usual. Though her downturned blue eyes look a bit sorrowful.

It isn’t Tov’s place to pry.

“Fate isn’t set in stone. It’s always changing. Just like the stars.” She points at the swatch of night sky printed in her book.

“The stars are always changing. Old ones die out, new ones are born, sometimes a star will brighten or dim. Our fates can change in the same way.” She explains. “Even the smallest action can alter your ultimate fate.”

Moran is quiet for a moment. Thinking.

Tov waits patiently.

A slow, shaky smile spreads across Moran’s face as she meets Tov’s gaze again, “Then maybe there’s hope for all of us.”

Tov wouldn’t learn until years later the fate Moran wanted to change.

————————————————————

The final scores for Round 2 flickered to life in the hologram above the stage.

Vera 54. Moran 45. The same split that killed Azure.

Moran’s fate was decided.

Tov felt like a liar.

As the camera zoomed in on Moran’s face, like the scope of a sniper shooting to kill, Tov could see her shaky smile and the tears streaming down her cheeks.

Tov squeezed her eyes shut just before a single shot rang out to the raucous delight of the crowd.

She didn’t want to know if Moran’s blood matched the red of her hair, or the blush of her cheeks, or the autopsy markings across her chest and abdomen.

They dressed her like a corpse. She had been doomed from the start.

Just like Guardian Rheya wanted.

Tov hadn’t eaten in hours. There was nothing in her stomach to expel. But the bile clawed it’s way up into her mouth regardless.

She wished she could spit venom instead of acid.

This time Tov didn’t say anything as she left. Cassio didn’t say anything either.

She locked herself in her room and sunk to the floor, pulling her knees up and leaning her head back to rest against the door.

Any minute now, Guardian Rhyea would release a statement about Moran’s loss (not her death, she didn’t care about that).

She would spin a story about how Moran was in love with a boy named Adam. That Moran risked her life and entered Alien Stage hoping to win the competition and finally gain his attention.

But it wasn’t true. None of it was true.

Not that it mattered to Rhyea. All she wanted was a fame boost for Adam.

Tov knew he would be entered the following season. Moran had told her the whole plan.

White hot anger burned bright in Tov’s chest. She’d watched another person she knew die right before her eyes.

The last moment of Moran alive — with her smile and tear stained cheeks — burned itself into the backs of Tov’s eyelids.

Right alongside sea-green eyes that only sparkled under the open sky.

There would be another round tomorrow.

Another death to haunt her.

For now, she would grieve in silence.

Rhyea might’ve thought Moran was expendable, but Tov didn’t.

She wouldn’t let her friend go unmourned.

Sweet dreams, Moran.

I know you did your best.

————————————————————

So chat 🥹 how are we feeling 🥹 after Round 2? I’m barely holding it together, thanks for asking 🥹✌️

Tov’s reactions to the deaths of those close to her are starting to get more intense. It’s especially concerning because Tov doesn’t experience extreme emotions very often.

Her feelings are loosely tied to the stages of grief. Tov’s current stage of grief is anger.

We’re 0/2 right now on who I thought would win, so I won’t be making any predictions for Round 3 just to be safe.

Moran “The Thinker” belongs to @geospiral (I also referenced her art in the log here and here)

Solei belongs to @shakingparadigm / @solei-eclipse

Azure belongs to @4listr / @azureitri

[omegaremix]

Dede, 2000.

I met Dede at the turn of the millennium through the channels of community college’s media wing. He wasn’t just as enthusiastic about music as I was, he was part of a two-piece synthpop outfit which I won’t mention. He stood out as he was into Depeche Mode, New Order, Joy Division, darkwave, brit-pop, and industrial. Two out of six to me wasn’t bad and I was alien to the others, but we became quick friends along with the other writers who also were musicians themselves. Long story short: he had summer backyard parties, held performances which I (was forced to be) frequented, and even went as far as getting me a job at his pool place, simply because he was really awesome.

As an up-and-coming local musician, Dede always poured it on me to hear this, hear that, hear what he’s into at this moment, at this minute, and this lifetime. Coming from Port Jefferson, he was raised on the Music Den where they sold the best in obscure and underground titles and the town population wore their trendy shoegaze, indie, and brit-pop medals with pride and discrimination. So it was no surprise he would offer me a free mixtape because he eminated awesome. He was the ultimate tastemaker who believed he knew what’s best for everyone that came into contact with him. In other words, he was center of the universe.

Outside our time as friends, it was a heavy rotation of post-performance diner nights amidst never-ending drama with the community-college demographic. Cock-blocking by friends ensued. An interest who severely burned me and played a great game with her friends against me ended up in one of my classes. Not good. All was not lost in a still-burning hell. I kept in touch with a New Jersey girl over chat rooms during the dawn of “the internet” who sympathized with all I was going through, which was the only thing I wanted to look forward to. So it wasn’t a total flush. 

Perhaps Dede’s mixtape was one of the only few good things I have from an era of uncertainly, unease, and awkwardness. At the time I was very heavily into DHR, The Prodigy, Underworld, Autechre, and started getting into noise. Dede’s tape is a reflection of polarizing musical tastes between us; a mix of what was happening around him, his personal favorites, and how one new-wave brit-pop band endured the decades while never shaking off the Eighties tags forever with them. A mixtape where Covenant’s “Tour De Force” (1999) was his voicemail music, Apoptygma Berzerk’s “Eclipse” was played tirelessly on WUSB, and Eminem, Moby, and Robbie Williams enjoyed endless spins on radio and television.

Dede’s mixtape:

Apoptygma Berzerk “Eclipse”

Robbie Williams “Millenium”

Covenant “Tour De Force”

Wolfsheim “Lovesong”

Moby “Honey”

The Cure “Maybe Someday”

OMD “Tesla Girls”

Pet Shop Boys “Radiophonic”

Apoptygma Berzerk “Love Never Dies”

Eminem “Bad Meets Evil”

Radiohead “Karma Police”

Pet Shop Boys vs. Village People “New York City Boy”

Pet Shop Boys “The Ghost Of Myself”

[cienie-isengardu]

Hello, may I bother you for a bit?

This is something regarding Lord Liu Kang. At the beginning of the story mode, he's narrating that he gave everyone free will but later in the story mode, Geras says that Liu Kang forged everyone's destinies and that Shang Tsung and Quan Chi were defying theirs.

Which means that Shang Tsung was destined to live in poverty, Quan Chi was destined to grueling work in the mines and Shao was born sickly child if it weren't for his father's program that shaped him into the warrior he is now.

Which leads me to believe he is deliberately punishing them for things they did not do, all because of the memories of his mortal life.

In one of the intros between Shang Tsung and Geras, it is implied that Shang Tsung also had a horrible childhood.

What do you think?

Hello there and you do not bother me at all!

The destiny vs free will is one of the universal questions that humanity has tried to solve for ages and the answer for sure will vary from one person to another, always colored by religion (or lack of therefor) and culture each of us is part of. However, within Liu Kang’s timeline, I strongly believe destiny and free will aren’t mutually exclusive, because both terms refer to different aspects of a mortal's life.

When Liu Kang says he crafted for each person's destiny, it does not mean there is one and only one script to how things and people’s reaction will play out while he is gonna pretend to be surprised by the turn of events and having fun in the middle of a crisis invented out of boredom eons ago. 

What Liu Kang decided for each character is the setting that no one has choice over and designed role to play - Raiden is destined to be current Earthrealm Champion; Bi-Han, Kuai Liang and Tomas are destined to be Lin Kuei; Mileena is destined to rule Edenia; Shao is destined to serve loyalty to Queen Sindel; Shang Tsung is destined to not have any power whatsoever. None of them must like the circumstances they were born into nor the role bestowed upon them or faced adversity on the way, however how they will use the given time and live their life is greatly up to them. 

Raiden accepted Liu Kang’s training and worked hard to earn the right to represent Earthrealm in the Tournament - if he didn’t dedicate himself to the task, Kung Lao, Johnny or Kenshi would take his place. Bi-Han was trained from childhood to protect Earthrealm but he ultimately rejected the traditional role of Lin Kuei and chose to be loyal only to his clan instead to Fire Lord and the realm. In contrast, Kuai Liang decided to honor father’s teaching and aided Liu Kang, even if that meant going against his own brother - as Geras said, the brothers weren’t destined to be enemies yet both make their own choices that from now on will define their relationship. Tomas was forced by circumstances (Keeper of Time’s choice) into Lin Kuei and raised alongside Sub-Zero and Scorpion by their father, however as his BIO states, “Smoke chose to make the Lin Kuei’s mission his own. But as he lacked his brothers' innate supernatural abilities, he set out to master practical magic. Having done so, he now joins them in Earthrealm's defense” and this implies he wasn’t forced to master smoke powers by his adoptive family and that he was not necessarily considered as a material for Lin Kuei warrior but he made a conscious choice to learn magic so he could join his brothers in their duties. 

Shao and Shang Tsung jumped on occasion to rise in power for their own gain but no one physically forced them to betray the Royal Family or to inflict cruelty on others. According to Liu Kang’s design, they weren’t meant to have the opportunity to take over Edenia and still they could refuse to aid Damashi’s plot when the offer was made to them or at any given time after that. Shang Tsung managed to create a serum that does not heal Tarkatan sickness yet allows to control the unwanted symptoms, thus giving a sick person a chance for more or less normal life. He could share that with sick people or work with other imperial mages to find cure - and go into edenian history as a great hero and savior - but he chose not to, because his own plans were more important to him, than the well-being of other people. 

As a first-born, Mileena inherited the throne after mother’s death yet she still has an option to abdicate if she doesn’t like the burden bestowed on her by fate. 

What Liu Kang chose for each character is not set in stone and can be altered by people’s personal choices, for good or bad. Of course, that does not mean he has never interfere with mortal’s life to steer said person on the path he planed, as it is the best seen with Kung Lao and Raiden unknowingly prepared by Madam Bo for their role of Earthrealm Champions and Shang Tsung’s destiny to have as mediocre life as possible. So yes, Liu Kang is not above his personal favoritism and bias and I suspect it is the result of him being mortal turned into god, not the other way around. He definitely threw some serious obstacles on characters’ path, like sickness for child Shao (though did he plan to keep Shao unfit to be warrior and the outcome was changed by Shao’s father refusing to accept son’s sickness/disability or did Shao was born as sick child so the father could teach him discipline and raise him with an iron fist to become a loyal soldier is up to debate) or death of family for Tomas. However some of the hardship characters faced may as well come from their ancestors' choices alone, be it the dark history of Kenshi’s family that joined the Bakuto, a predecessor of the Yakuza for protection or Nitara’s people slowly starving because of their foolish choices (“The Vaeternians thrived, building a great society. But as their comfort grew, so did their shortsightedness. They overfed on Vaeternus’ creatures, disrupting the natural order. They now starve as it collapses.”, Nitara’s BIO)

In all fairness, the line between Liu Kang’s chosen destiny for characters and choices of mortals affecting the outcome may be pretty thin and in result, not so clear to us. Shang Tsung is the best example of this, because story mode alone gives the impression the man was born into poverty and neglect - he is on his own, using deception to survive in harsh outworld wilderness. Him being so miserable and angry makes sense to jump on the first occasion for anything better than what he has; to cling to the one person offering him not only power but also kindness, a praise for any progress made, be it the progress in the realization of plan or Shang Tsung’s own skills and knowledge.

Yet his official BIO

Shang Tsung grew up in Outworld’s backwaters. Too lazy for hard labor and too shifty for honest work, he eked out a living selling quack cures and fake magic. Though his wares were useless, Shang Tsung’s easy charm always closed the deal. Shang Tsung was resigned to this hardscrabble life. But then one day a mysterious stranger came, promising to make Shang Tsung a powerful sorcerer. Though suspicious of the offer, it was one he couldn’t refuse.

 and intro dialogues 

Shang Tsung: We're both small-town boys at heart. Raiden: Then why is yours so infected with evil? 

or

Shang Tsung: The squalor I endured as a child- Geras: Do not lie. I know the truth.

contradict the idea he was destined to live in poverty or even born in an abusive environment solely because of Liu Kang’s spite. The Bio alone put a blame on Shang Tsung’s own laziness and reluctance to do honest work, Geras calls his claim of bad childhood a lie and for all we know, there were plenty of opportunities for Shang Tsung to take and live his life in peace he turned down for whatever petty reason. The source material is so weirdly contradicting that I still don’t have an idea who we should trust on that one and how much it is Liu Kang’s fault and how much Shang Tsung’s own. 

(I’m gonna hold my judgment for the Quan Chi’s backstory until NRS will release further official material. Working in mines was always a hard job, however it is not clear to me if he was there by force - as enslavement or penalty? - or was he just born in a rural town where everyone worked as miners and he did what his family and/or all townsfolk did for generations.)

Geras saying Shang Tsung and Quan Chi defy their destinies may simply mean they got hold of power they should not have according to Liu Kang’s original plan. At the same time, Liu Kang specifically said to Sindel that Shang Tsung, Quan Chi and General Shao were groomed to be evil again by powers outside his control, so again, the chosen destinies for those three weren’t set in stone, as Liu Kang’s design could be - and was - altered.

For now, until proven otherwise, I will trust Liu Kang’s words that all characters indeed have free will and their choices matters, as supported by intro dialogues

Sindel: Until your revelation, I felt in control of my destiny. Liu Kang: You still are, Your Highness. 

or

Ashrah: I must know, Geras. Is my future set? Geras: There is no fate but what you make. 

or

Geras: Any advice for when I control the Hourglass? Liu Kang: Let all people be masters of their fate. 

but also for the fact alone that Liu Kang did not use his Titan powers to rewind time and alter the last events for his liking, as in making sure bored Titan Shang Tsung did not corrupt his alternative self and the rest of bunch, like Kronika did countless time before.

We will see how future tie-in material will challenge my outlook at this issue, but for now I'm gonna think that Liu Kang's planed destiny and characters' free will to what do with given time co-exist.

[kamenrideryeets]

Okay let’s close the tab I had open, STARLINE ANAYLSIS/RANT.

I honestly find it hilarious that there are people who actually wanted Starline to win in issue 50 (particularly the league of “professional” Flynn hate-readers,) because they clearly have no real understanding of his character OR his arc. They agree/follow along with everything he says because they don’t understand what it means.

Starline’s DEFINING CHARACTER TRAIT was, in fact, "I believe I know way more than I actually know.”

Everything Starline did, everything he claimed to have known from “diligently studying” the heroes and villains, was based on surface-level assumptions - Pontac and Graff-level assumptions. Surge and Kit’s personalities are twisted and ruined mockeries of Sonic and Tails’ from the outside, but as far as Starline knows or cares they’re exact 1:1 copies. His entire plot to take over the Eggman Empire was built on the assumption that Eggman ONLY knew how to use brute force, ONLY KNEW HOW TO FIGHT SONIC, and would be completely helpless against another “genius” or having his technology hacked. (And Starline assumed that doing this would immediately humble Eggman and cause him to forgive him for everything and finally offer to suck his dick.) Even his methods of controlling Surge and Kit had absolutely zero backup plan - he considered “constructing a bit of backstory,” but never went through with it because he didn’t consider it important enough.

Even DURING the Metal Virus, BEFORE Starline was supposedly “derailed,” he brought in the Deadly Six under the ASSUMPTION that him simply HAVING the Cacophonic Conch would render them his loyal servants forever. The entire final arc of the saga, Eggman ultimately TRULY losing control of the virus and having to team up with the heroes, was SOLELY Starline’s fault, and he never acknowledged this, because he couldn’t possibly admit he was wrong about anything.

Even outside of Starline vs. Eggman, Surge and Kit were doomed to lose as well. In spite of being built to kill Sonic and Tails, they only knew how to fight robots and Badniks - they had NEVER fairly fought a living, breathing opponent before, especially someone with Sonic or Tails’ experience. Starline also clearly never expected Tails to know how tech like Kit’s backpack worked, going on how he only gave Kit surface-level tech knowledge and MASSIVELY prioritized his sidekick role. Bring up their fight with Metal Sonic? Not only is he still a robot, but he was thrashing Surge’s ass without Kit backing her up - they had to fry his system with a combo attack to beat him. Sonic and Tails were 1v1 fights against living creatures with more skill and knowledge than Metal. As much as we all wanted to see Sonic get a giant slap of “reality” to the face right away… looking at everything realistically, this wasn’t it.

Starline’s instantaneous mental breakdown when Eggman revealed the truth was his immediate reaction to, in layman’s terms, having his head pulled out from so deep in his ass it had popped back out of his own mouth before being slammed to earth from his space-elevator high-horse at terminal velocity. He had only become more delusional over the course of the arc as more and more of his plan succeeded - I’m pretty sure he was dreaming his entire life by the time he actually uttered the phrase “Starline Empire.” Most of the people treating his beliefs on Eggman and Sonic as gospel were already reading solely to insult the comic and its character portrayals. As far as they cared, the characters in IDW were already boiled down to the flat stereotypes Starline proudly declared them to be. But they weren’t. Starline was just fucked in the head.

The entire point of Eggman utterly obliterating him was to show what Starline’s entire plan, Starline’s entire character really looked like from the outside. Everything involving Starline up to that point, from comic stories to SOLICITATIONS, had been told from Starline’s own POV. His own twisted, deluded POV!

(Hence the hate-readers I’m flogging basically appointing him as their self-insert, and then complaining about him being “derailed” in Imposter Syndrome when the comic actually made it clear that he, and subsequently they, were wrong about everything.) 

And that was the one and only reason for the constant grating affirmation that EVERYTHING in his plans, before and during Operation Remaster, was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT and COULDN’T POSSIBLY FAIL. Because if you look at anything involving him from ANY perspective other than his own, ESPECIALLY from that of a veteran villain like Eggman… you see Swiss cheese.

He wasn’t above it all. He wasn’t a philosophical mastermind. He wasn’t a superior villain to Eggman. In the end, he was nothing more than a sociopathic, child-abusing yandere who believed he could walk into the Sonic series out of NOWHERE, take over the world with his SUPER COOL EDGELORD OCs, and make Eggman his trophy husband, when his only actual knowledge of the characters came from browsing Wikipedia for 20 minutes.

And that’s exactly what Ian Flynn intended for him to be.

He was a great villain, and we all loved to hate him, and still do. But in spite of the “Sonic Cycle” being a thing… Dr. Starline was WRONG.

[imagionationstation]

I've seen a lot rottmnt separated aus and I'm thinking 2012 tmnt separated au. Like Donatello and Mikelangelo are left with the Shredder. Whilst Raphael and Leonardo are left with Splinter. What do you think would happen let's say they got separated by kidnapping, Shredder heard rumours of a "giant eat monster" in the sewers , initially he didn't think much of it until he saw on the news a shuriken with the Hamato clan symbol. He sends trained ninjas to investigate. Splinter still not used to his new form loses an eye and two of his sons . The B team are taken to The Foot headquarters to Shredder who decided to use them against Splinter , I mean he already took one child what's two more? They are raised along Karai as Deadly Weapons . What do you think?

I have a Mutant World au, MW AU, which is my 2012 separated AU-type project. Tis my baby. So young, but so full of trauma

Basically: In a world of mutants, Leo and Donnie are the only humans, raised and experimented on by Kraang until they escape. Outcasted and scared, they learn to stay out of sight, and take refuge in the sewers. A year or so later, two turtle brothers stumble upon their home. After Donnie stops Leo from trying to straight up murder them, a friendship is born, and not long after, in an hour of need, they meet the turtle brother’s adopted father. Soon, the only two humans find themselves a little less alone.

Yk.

And stuff- wait, did I just accidental write a decent summary that wasn’t a million paragraphs long??? I didn’t know I could do that so how did I-?!

I have a bunch of notes, but no real story. Kinda prefer it that way tho. Leaves it open for possibilities~

AS FOR YOUR AU IDEA-

I like it! When I think of separate Shredder AUs, I’ll admit that I usually think of Raphael getting taken with another brother. The rivalry of Leo VS Raph and Raph having a younger sibling who can keep him from turning completely to the dark side is a fav trope of mine. I can’t see him keeping them around unless he knows that they belongs to Splinter, because that’s what he took Karai. He felt like he had some right to her.

Shredder kidnapping two small children and using them against their father is definitely a road that I can see him going down.

It’s rumored that Mikey is the most naturally skilled, and it’s apparent that Donnie is a lil’ genius even as a tot- so maybe that has something to do with him not just doing away with the two freaks.

Maybe they’re toddlers- conscious enough to know when they’re being kidnapped by scary men, and old enough to have some memories that can be repressed for future “hey, wait, have we met?” familiarity stuff. So Shredder sees that they have potential to be useful and decides to keep them, teaching them to fear and hate Splinter and the Hamato clan.

Suddenly so in love with this idea- What if! While he’s repressing memories, Splinter is encouraging his sons to remember the brothers they lost. Then when they run into Donnie and Mikey on the surface, there’s just this ultimate moment of those are our little brothers that passes between them without question. I can see Donnie and Mikey are actively trying to kill them, and Leo and Raph sticking to defense because those are their missing little brothers! They can’t hurt them!

Mikey would definitely be the first to believe Leo and Raph’s insistence because come on, no matter what timeline he’s in, he’s Mikey- and Donnie takes longer because he’s the most loyal creature ever and “Mikey, they owe everything to the Foot! They’re still Yoshi’s disciples, and biology doesn’t actually make a family!”

And their big sis is a big bundle of jealous because these turtles are trying to take her little brothers away from her. I can totally see Karai bonding with Leo until Leo’s abruptly like: Hey wait, those are my brothers! >:0

Welp, playtime’s over now because she ain’t giving up her little brothers without a fight- wait, what do you mean she’s-? No, she’s Karai, not Miwa!

I’d like to think something monumental happens that changes Donnie’s and Karai’s mind- or maybe it’s just as simple as the series. They pretend to be life them to find the lair, only to discover by the photo or some other means that the Hamatos have been telling the truth. One things leads to another, and they all realize that they have a ✨true family✨ that has more than enough love to share.

And then Shredder gets mad and Karai gets turned into a snake and New York is taken over by Kraang and chaos ensues 0-0

Oooh, losing big sis trauma-

“Karai?”

Michael’s in a daze, staring out the the fiery building beside Don as if expecting to see her emerge from the flames. Don gently pulls him back, tucking him into a hug as if to shield him from the sight. Very slowly, Mikey’s arms wrap around the scrawny shell, and he allows himself to break. Don’s misty gaze shares the same tint as the roaring flames. “We failed her.”

Michael chokes on a sob, squeezing himself closer, and Don says nothing. Leo sets a hand on his arm. “No, you didn’t.”

“You did all you could.” Splinter whispers as he comes up beside his eldest. “How could we have known… He called her daughter.”

“He was never much of a father.”

Don’s tone is detached, and Raph’s response dares the world to challenge him. “That tinhead has never been much of anything. We’ll find her- we’ll find her and we’ll fix this.”

“We found our brothers.” Leo agrees as he sets a hand on Michael’s carapace. “No matter what she looks like, we’ll find our sister too. We’ll bring her home.”

“Home?” Michael pulls away from Don to peer at him with watery eyes, and Leo offers a gentle smile. “Yeah. Come on.” He glances at the warehouse, devoured by flames and hate, and then to the horizon, where some hope might hide. “Let’s go.”

Splinter glances around the rooftops, checking for an sighs of further danger, his tone hardening enough to encourage them forward. “Yes, Leonardo. It is time to go home.”

Michael steps away from the still Don, and Leo consents to take his hand, leading him away from the horrors behind them. Raph slips an arm around his shell, turning him away, helping to lead him somewhere that he’ll feel safe enough to release the vulnerability that he keeps locked away.

Eventually, he does, and Mikey breaks harder still, but their family is right there for them when they do. Nothing changes, the nightmare is still a reality…

…But it helps.

[tatdritt]

This is a perfect opportunity to tell everyone about my big theory that Deltarune ultimately has major themes of religious impact!!!!!! It all clicked together when I saw a post about mettatons name being similar to an angel or something like that… wich is huge, considering it’s implied to be mettaton behind the door; you know what I’m talking about.

also, the thing about the darkener-lightener higharchy. Ralsei talks about how it’s a Darkener’s purpose to serve lighteners, which I think will be an important theme later on. About how he dosnt value himself at all, such as the unused (but probably will be used) door sprite for his room.

It’s completely barren and boring, also reminding us of the fact that he dosnt really know who he is. He knows Susie and Kris so well, and he’s done so much focus on them, that he basically thinks he’s just a toy for lighteners to play with, just like other darkeners. He maybe thinks so because he knows that darkeners are literally objects. Maybe later in the game, itll speak more of this, and that they are people despite that. He dosnt seem to see himself as a person, though, continuously letting you bully him if you choose to do so, and being happy when Kris calls him a lackey rather than referring to him as a friend. He’s okay with whatever the lighteners do, including destroying his manual (he only sticks up for himself when Susie takes his glasses, which I believe might be the shadow mantle or something else integral to the lightener’s story rather than his mmm just using them to see). Perhaps Your chooses in the game will impact ralsei quite a bit, but won’t impact Susie as much, wich is why ralsei says your chooses matter but Susie says the opposite. Or maybe, your choises don’t *really* impact the lightworld.

The prophecy is also kinda a religious theme, ralsei stricktly believes in it and only locks up king, who is the only person who directly opposes lighteners. You could argue that’s just him being a bad guy… but why is he still considered a bad guy despite really caring for lancer just not showing it and being rather sympathetic? He opposes lighteners. Sure, he dosnt treat his subjects well, but queen dosnt either. Assuming it wasn’t noelle that traumatized all the darkeners we saw, it was probably queen, not to mention she forced her “willing peons” to do her bidding by attaching plugs to thier facing and mutating their bodies. Whereas king just… didn’t pay them very well.

and we can’t forget there’s literally a church in deltarune. Like, Toriel takes Kris to church and Asriel was in the choir. I think chapter 6 or 7 will take place in church, and it will be a big event. Possibly fighting the titans there. not to mention the themes of puppetry and not being in control, and as Kris is associated with things that are evil/devilish, so are Jevil and Spamton, which both show themes of both freedom and controll, or a loss of those things.

before you say it, yes, I know I can’t spell. I’d like to talk about the inconsistencies between the prophecy that Rals told Vs. what’s actually happening, which I do think is relevant considering the actual bible and stuff. so yeah. Haha.

I think normal human things I swear.

[sciencestyled]

Sleeping Beauty vs. the Physics Bros: My Quantum Comeback Tour

Oh, my faithful Tumblr audience, we meet at last—though I must confess, I’ve been awake for quite some time. You see, the world has this persistent misconception that one dramatic smooch was enough to rouse me from my legendary nap. Truth be told, I’ve been up and about for years, trying to make sense of the utter nonsense that is modern life. Spoiler alert: it’s not easy when you’ve missed a century of societal progress only to find yourself thrust into a world of TikToks, avocado toast, and physics Twitter wars.

Let me take you back. My cursed nap wasn’t the idyllic spa retreat the bards like to sing about. Imagine being conscious but unable to move, trapped in a never-ending dreamscape filled with poorly choreographed interpretive dances (metaphorically speaking, of course) and existential dread. Time stopped for me, but the rest of the world kept on spinning—an observation that stuck with me, even after I woke up to Prince Charming’s clammy-palmed attempt at CPR.

Fast-forward to my reawakening: while Charming flailed about trying to find the nearest Starbucks, I turned to the real mystery of my life—time. What was it? Why did it seem so rigid for everyone else while my cursed body existed outside its grasp? Why did my royal advisors still believe leeches were a viable cure for everything? Clearly, time wasn’t just marching forward—it was mocking us with its supposed linearity.

Then, one day, during a particularly aimless scroll through a library of 21st-century science journals (pro tip: quantum physics is a fantastic distraction from existential ennui), I stumbled upon the concept of time crystals. My curiosity lit up like a firework over an overpriced castle wedding. Here were these rebellious entities that existed in perpetual motion, flipping the bird to the so-called "laws" of classical physics. They didn’t conform to the standard rules of time. They were, in a way, me: inconvenient, misunderstood, and shockingly hard to explain at parties.

But what really sold me on time crystals wasn’t their scientific complexity—it was their chaotic energy. Frank Wilczek, a Nobel Prize-winning physics wizard, dreamed them up in 2012, much to the dismay of stodgy physicists everywhere. He claimed time crystals could maintain motion without consuming energy, a claim that sparked more outrage than my decision to wear Doc Martens under my royal ballgown. Classical physicists declared them impossible, like an enchanted nap with no morning breath. Enter quantum mechanics, the ultimate plot twist, to prove that sometimes, the impossible is just a poorly phrased hypothesis.

Of course, I wasn’t content to let this be some niche academic squabble. No, dear followers, I saw an opportunity—an irresistible chance to tell the story of time crystals in a way only I, the OG time traveler, could. After all, who better to dissect the quirks of temporal mischief than a princess whose life is one giant anachronism?

But here’s the thing: my passion for time crystals wasn’t just about the science. Oh no, it was also about the delicious irony. While modern society obsesses over productivity hacks, hustle culture, and making every second count, here comes quantum physics to announce that some systems can exist forever in a state of glorious rebellion against time itself. It’s the ultimate clapback to the LinkedIn influencers telling us to "grind 24/7."

So, here we are. This article isn’t just a love letter to time crystals—it’s a battle cry against every outdated notion, from classical physics to patriarchal fairy tales. The next time someone tries to tell you that time is linear, immutable, or inescapable, just remember: if a princess can defy it, so can you. Now, let’s get scientific.

[david-talks-sw]

Hi! I’m a big fan of your SW takes (particularly ones addressing the criticism towards Jedi) lol

I was wondering what you thought of the Deception arc in TCW? Personally with most of the Jedi’s decisions during TCW i feel like they’re making the best choices they can, but with this arc it seems almost uncharacteristically cruel. Even if Anakin had not been attached to Obi-Wan (which the council surely knew he was?), his death would’ve been very painful to Anakin. Doesn’t that kind of go against Jedi compassion and the kindness we consistently see?

Again I’d love your take on this, but either way I’ll continue to enjoy your blog in the future!

Hey @soopisoop! Thank you very much for the kind words 🙌! I'm glad to hear you enjoy the posts!

So I lightly touched on the "Obi-Wan undercover" arc in this older, more general post about Anakin's relationship with the Jedi Council, but, hey, let's zoom in!

Not telling Anakin... was wrong. Plain and simple.

Yoda says so himself.

But the train of thought was:

"The chancellor - leader of the free world - is gonna die if we don't do this, so the stakes are high. We gotta send Obi-Wan deep undercover behind enemy lines, but Anakin is very close to him and known for being volatile, so there's a 50/50 chance he'll go AWOL and fuck the mission up and those are unacceptable odds."

It's not an excuse, but a justification.

And, in a slightly different context, Anakin seems to use this justification too.

Hell, if anything, Anakin thinks the Jedi should employ even harsher methods in the war and that their values are holding them back.

It's just that, in this case, it hit closer to home.

There's a "hypocrisy" argument to be made, but honestly... that's the Clone War in a nutshell for you!

The Jedi repeatedly told the Senate and the Chancellor "please don't ask us to fight, we're not made for this, we're diplomats, we act on compassion not violence”...

... because they knew that's what the war would force them to do: compromise on their values, tarnish every principle that defines them and that they hold dear, turn them into hypocrites.

Yes, the Jedi are compassionate, but they're also at war, and they're forced to pick between two shitty choices on the daily.

And the deciding factor, EVERY time, is not "which option is the better/more compassionate one" but "which option does less damage?"

Lying to Anakin is just one of these hard "no other choice" choices.

And EVERY time they see an opportunity to step back from the fighting and let diplomacy start again, guess what Palpatine says?

"Fuck you, go back to the front."

And when you listen to Dave Filoni's commentary on this arc, it turns out that this whole plan by Dooku and Morallo Eval was actually engineered by Palpatine to:

1) Distance him even further from the Jedi so Palpatine can swoop in and manipulate him more and more.

2) Set the board for another Anakin vs Dooku confrontation, to gauge how much more powerful Anakin has become.

"Y’know, ultimately, what we realize is that the whole thing is a fake-out on the Jedi. That Dooku is conspiring with Sidious to set-up this whole bounty hunter plot to make the Jedi believe that they have once again saved the day, and it’s all an effort to get Anakin isolated. So what I really liked about this story that, y’know— as George handed it out, was: we tell the story that’s really about Anakin and Palpatine trying to tempt him to the Dark Side… and we tell it more from Obi-Wan’s point of view. And you see this whole other tale that’s going on, and we check in with Palpatine and Anakin every now and then, until finally, it’s really about them and their struggle. And we see that this is a point that Anakin really wasn’t ready to become the Sith apprentice. He wasn’t strong enough, I think there’s a possibility that Dooku would’ve killed him here." - Dave Filoni, The Clone Wars: “Obi-Wan undercover” video commentary, 2012

So, again, like... sure. The Jedi made a mistake.

But ultimately, had Palpatine not hatched this particular plan, hell, had he not engineered a whole war designed to corrupt the Jedi's morals... that mistake would never have been made in the first place.

To use an analogy:

If a dude tries to make his way in a pitch black room (the Jedi playing catch-up to Sidious' plans) and steps on a Lego brick (their mistakes)... you don't blame him for it, you blame the guy who turned the light off and emptied the Lego box on the floor in the first place (Sidious).

[dathen]

Honestly I attribute most of the "Jon is stupid" takes to the Just World Fallacy. People want to believe he's stupid or cruel or misguided, because if his decisions are ultimately obvious mistakes, they can rest assured they would not make the same choice and would be safe from the terror and pain he goes through. It runs counter to /literally everything else/ about the podcast and the stories we're shown but if he "deserves" it somehow, then all they have to do to be safe is not "deserve" it

This has been in my inbox for a bit but it's ALWAYS RELEVENT because it constantly keeps coming up.

This is SO TRUE THOUGH. It's a lot less prevalent post-160, but pre-160 it was common to see Elias's "you didn't know what you were choosing, but you DID choose this" unironically brought up as Wise Words to Live By in nearly every Jon analysis. Every torture, every violation, every heartbreak was "something Jon chose." Hell, I've even seen his Mr. Spider trauma at eight years old blamed on him, because "if he wasn't so picky he wouldn't have been given so many books."

After 160, when "Jon chose all of this" became "oh wait Jonah orchestrated this," the fandom takes turned on a dime to be about how stupid Jon was vs. how evil he was. Only a stupid person could be manipulated like that! (ignore how literally every other character has been manipulated, such as Basira being sent 'round the world over and over following Elias's orders) Only a stupid person couldn't protect his friends! (ignore how long he DID do everything to protect the others, how "Gertrude lost all her assistants" didn't repeat for him because he valued them so much, how several of them owe their lives and happiness to him) There's some weird unattainable gold standard of What Should Have Happened out there, and because the story doesn't go that way, Jon has to get the sole blame for it.

An especially aggravating instance was related to the Lonely mark. Martin chose not to kill Jonah, and was sent into the Lonely as bait, and Jon chose to follow and save him. Neither of them knew the stakes. Immediately after, Jon started getting saddled with fandom blame because "he should have known that he had been marked by every fear except the Lonely, and that something bad would happen if he saved Martin."  I don’t think that Martin chose to end the world, but his choice was part of the whole horrible manipulated domino effect, and...he just gets skipped over as a non-factor.  I've seen Jon get more blame than *Peter Lukas*, who allowed all this to happen by making the bet in the first place, and who could have just told Jon what Jonah was planning (but apparently he'd rather die instead), but....unironically gets framed as an "unsung hero" who tried to prevent the end of the world? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE

But it's easier to just say Jon brought it all on himself by not being smart enough or good enough, than to face the horror of a decent person doing as well as any of us could hope to, but still going through what he did.

(also every time I make a post like this a dozen vagueposts pop up in the tag about how I'm "excusing everything Jon ever did" and "am allergic to nuance" and "am trying to pretend he's a perfect hero," so I am heading all those off with the should-be-obvious assertion that I'm not pretending Jon is perfect, but rather insisting that the suffering he went through is undeserved, and that the blame that fandom and the characters saddle him with is disproportionate and unfair)

[mswyrr]

andor s2 speculation/predictions

I’m working off three assumptions: (1) that change and character growth is constant in this story. Even minor characters like Kinto went through dramatic changes in S1, and the season was driven by showing how Cassian became a person who joined the Rebellion. (2) That the themes and events of Rogue One are the place S2 is intended to take us, but s2 won’t be a simple repetition of what RO does. (3) These writers are good and aren’t going to completely go off the rails.

-Luthen’s more nihilistic pov is not how the Rebellion ultimately functions. It is not the pov Cassian internalizes and shares with Jyn. We already know there’s competing ideologies and practical approaches. We know Cassian constantly challenges and moves in the circumstances he finds himself in; now that he is Rebellion that won’t stop. There will be some kind of a battle for the heart and soul of the Rebellion in S2.

-We’ll meet new people, but Cinta and Vel are the Rebellion fighters we’ve known best and longest. The conflict is already present in their personal dynamic and will be explored further. We will probably also see the Rebellion through the eyes of Bix, Brasso, and Bee, since they are the “heart” of Ferrix and Cassian’s surviving family. All of these characters will change and grow as part of whatever the larger sequence of events/conflicts is.

-I wasn’t convinced of this at first, but other people have me half believing that a baddie will at some point make a “face turn.” If it happens, I could see it being part of the above conflict over what the Rebellion is.  Not sure who. Not rooting for anything in particular. Hopeful that whatever approach they take will be well done.

-Since Rogue One ends in such a bittersweet place, with a lot of character deaths, I don’t anticipate S2 will be 24/7 sorrow and despair. There will be conflict, struggle, pain. But there will be some more “up” endings for characters as well as down and a lot of the love and hope that animates things. My fingers are crossed for Cinta & Vel coming out of this alive and reasonably okay, but we’ll see.

-People who start out in a “low” place are more likely for their change arc to take them “up” vs further down imo though, which means where we leave Cinta & Vel makes their future more promising rather than less. I think Bix will live as well and have a reasonably good ending, given she’s gone to her darkness/underworld place this season and can only (narratively speaking) rise from here. This is, at the end of the day, a Star Wars story.

[tinnictheguardian]

Fire Emblem: Engage (spoilers)

So I just finished Engage and I have thoughts! I am putting them below the cut because I don’t want to be accused of spoiling. I also make some references to Three Houses. So expect spoilers for Three Houses too!

Let me start by saying that Engage is an extremely good introduction/reintroduction of the Fire Emblem tactics mechanics. The story mode, for the most part, is basically a very long tutorial on what FE is all about.

I love how you get the direct damage/healing rings at the beginning, but then they are taken away from you. So you are forced to use the new six rings, which are more advanced and involve you putting your characters in the right position on the board.

It’s pretty clever, and of course, you must wait until Chapter 22 to get all the emblem rings. At which point, you can, if you want, stop the story and just play Tempest Trials, skirmishes and the like. Certainly, you can keep playing after the game is cleared because, ultimately, Engage is about the tactical gameplay of Fire Emblem.

That said, it's obvious to me that the story of Engage is an allegory for the series as a whole. I mean, it ends with an explicit invitation to engage with the previous entries in the series. But also, Sombron says that he wasn’t trying to destroy any world or “conquer” other world but was looking for the “Emblem of Foundation”.

It seems obvious to me that this mythical “Emblem of Foundation” is supposed to be us, the players. He does see Alear and Veyle through a light filter. So you could say that Sombron realised his daughters were the Emblem he was looking for after all. However, given how brutally Sombron keeps rejecting Alear, Veyle and any connections he had in-universe, it’s obvious to me that what Sombron was looking for was us, the players, as personified in-universe by the protagonist Alear.

Alternatively, the players he was looking for were the players that fell off the Fire Emblem train in the last 23 years.

So I can see why Nintendo is pushing Engage so heavily in Japan, the only country that got all the Fire Emblem games. This game is designed to introduce Fire Emblem, the tactical game, to new players, hopefully rekindle the love for Fire Emblem in old players and also satisfy the players who never left.

The main story of Engage is Alear’s story, and it’s good enough. It is a classic coming-of-age story where the reborn Alear finds her place in the world as a divine dragon who believes she has to save the world.

Near the end, she could have believed Sombron and stopped fighting because Sombron said he had no plans to destroy Elyos. But letting him go would have meant making him someone else’s problem, and good dragons don’t do that. Also, Alear is the deity of Elyos. She wouldn’t be much of a deity if she just let Sombron walk away after all the damage he did. Especially in front of the four future rulers of the land closest to her seat of power.

This is a good time to talk about Engage vs Three Houses. Many people have commented that Engage has a worse story than Three Houses. But others have pointed out that Engage’s story is more tightly written. I have a different proposition. What sets Elyos apart from Fodlan is world-building.

Fodlan has a better build with more thought-out history. It also feels like a small part of a large planet.

Plus, you are not actually fighting to save the world in Fodlan. No one in Fodlan is trying to destroy the world. They are trying to shape the world and, through shaping it, control it. Even Thales and TWSITD don’t want to destroy Fodlan. They want to be colonisers who extract wealth and resources from Fodlan at large for Shambala. For much of Engage, you believe that you are saving the world. This is a different stake because if Alear doesn’t act, Elyos is destroyed.

On the other hand, if Byleth (or Shez) stay out of it, Fodlan still exists. But someone unsavoury gets control of the wheels of its development and, if it’s Thales, purposefully hobbles Fodlan because it is not to the benefit of extractive colonisers for colonies to develop beyond a certain point. This is different from Rhea because Rhea wanted to arrest Fodlan's technological development because she didn't want humans to reach the great filter point again. People forget that Fodlan is explicitly a post-apocalypse world where technological advances backslide literally into medieval times after a devastating war. Elyos doesn't hint towards anything that grand in its past.

Also, in Fodlan, everything has some sort of explanation. Why do crests exist? There is an explanation for that. Why is Dedue, Petra, Shamir or Claude in Fodlan? There are explanations.

On the other hand, Elusia and Solm retainers especially seem to suffer from the “we thought they looked cool” problem. There is a randomness that I feel undermines world-building but not necessarily interpersonal drama.

Take Merrin, for example, you meet her in the desert, but she’s wearing fur. Is she Solmic? Is he from the borders, and like most border people, she doesn’t bother identifying with either Elusia or Solm? I haven’t seen any support conversations that explain these things, but more importantly, it also doesn’t matter. She’s with Timerra because they randomly met after Merrin ran away from her village because she wasn’t ready to be the matriarch. It’s entirely personal and not related to any big movements of the world. This is both a strength and a weakness. Because Merrin meeting Timerra is a self-contained thing. But that means the story of their meeting doesn’t add anything to the world. It's an event that happened.

I commented on a post on Reddit that people think Three Houses characters are deep because their trauma is largely related to the events of the main story. Meaning that the threads of their personal story weave together to enrich the tapestry of Fodlan. I stand by that.

Engage’s characters have depth, but they don’t add to the tapestry of the story. Even knowing that Kagetsu is from Pale Sands, which does NOT appear to be part of any of the nations we see, I feel like Elyos is only the things you see, and that sort of kills my curiosity for the world. While we know Fodlan is just one part of a living world, and I always want to know more about the other nations!

Finally, I spent most of the game wondering what the Emblems were. Were they the actual souls of the heroes or just constructs? By the end of the game, Emblem Marth confirms that he is a construct and there is a real Marth somewhere. Even though Lucina is 2000 years in the future from Marth, by travelling between worlds, Sombron can come upon a living Marth and then go to another world and find a living Lucian. Not dissimilar to Fire Emblem Heroes, where every world and every time in those worlds are accessible through the Askr gates at all times.

The problem is that the Emblems talk for a large part as if they were the heroes. Byleth talks about being a walking lost and found service. Tiki talks about someone putting her to sleep. Not to mention they talk as if they have experienced all the events of the other games, including variations. The best way I can describe it is that Emblems feel like Woody, from Toy Story, who knows he is a toy but at the same time, they are also Buzz Lightyear, who doesn't know he is a toy. So for me, this is all immersion-breaking.

Still, I think we can all agree that Emblems are magical constructs. Then the next question is, who created them? When did they create them? We know in-game that the mage dragon Zaphia can create powerful artefacts. She or another mage dragon probably created the time crystal that allows you to have divine pulse-like abilities in Engage. So did a powerful mage-divine dragon create the emblems?

However, you can also interpret how the game talks about the emblems as something that’s always existed in Elyos. But this vagueness, in many ways, weakens the world-building of Elyos because rings are not organic. They have to be crafted, leading to the question, why were they crafted given they seem to pre-date Sombron?

Every question like this is totally unimportant and inconsequential to the gameplay but does weaken the world-building of Elyos.

The last bit of weakness comes from the divine dragon themselves. Engage is very religious in the sense that it is a story of where you take your place as the God-Ruler of Elyos. But there is a big sign that Lumera wasn’t a perfect queen.

She let Brodia continue to invade Elusia, which probably explains why Elusia worshipped Sombron. If I was a citizen of Elusia who lost my land to Brodia and Brodia was a follower of the Divine Dragon, who my people also worshipped but who didn’t do anything to help me, I too would find a new God. It’s one of the problems with having a living God walk among the people.

Ultimately, a God who lives among the people becomes like a really powerful ruler. Someone who controls your life but who can become an oppressive figure because they control your life. But exploring any of that is beyond the scope of Elyos, and there is nothing wrong with that.

However, if you are coming from Three House and you supported anti-church factions because you don’t like the idea of a deity ruling over you, well, you will get whiplash from Engage!

Overall, I think Engage was worth the 100+ hours I put into it. I probably will continue to play Tempest Trials and other things. Also, I did pay for the DLC, so I will be looking forward to getting the additions when they are released. I certainly recommend it to anyone who enjoys Fire Emblem's game mechanics!

[spif-lol]

I just finished replaying opposing force for the first time, and I am once again struck by the futility of it all. Every other half life game is about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances struggling against incredible odds with so much outside of their control, but ultimately their struggle and their determination pays off - Gordon frees the Vortigaunts even if he doesn’t stop Earth from getting overrun, Barney escapes Black Mesa with a few other scientists, Gina and Collette lessen the resonance cascade and assist Gordon with his things, Alyx manages to [redacted] plus all the Half Life 2 whatever whatever. 

But Adrian, what was the point of his journey? What does he achieve in the end? I can’t think of a single thing he does in his game that ultimately makes a difference in the grand scheme of things. 

Sure, he defeats the pit snake whatever its called and stops the gene worm from manifesting inside black mesa etc and he disarms the bomb but hey guess what g man turned it back on so whether adrian had been there or not everyone involved wouldve been nuked to hell (I do like the idea I saw earlier that Adrian doesnt kill the Gene Worm but simply gets it to retreat, and if thats true, I guess he saves its life but considering how many Race X guys he kills... idk if thats ultimately a good thing). 

The worst part is that its not even a case of oh Adrian was doomed anyway he was in the facility and wouldve died, at least he died fighting for something or whatever, because he had the chance to leave. If G man hadnt stopped him getting on the plane he wouldve survived. and the whole Adrian had seen too much didnt apply there because all he’d seen at that point is a few headcrab zombies and vortigaunts, there were heaps of people who saw those and of course then after the 7 hour war the whole world saw that anyway so who cares. But G man, for whatever reason, chooses to put Adrian through hell. I wonder how much insight this gives us into G man’s character, especially since we only ever see him acting in the interests of his employers besides this - he explicitly states at the end that he is going against his employers wishes because of his respect for Adrian, hmm.... And then he spares Adrian at the end, despite the fact that he couldve just, spared him earlier.

I mean, I’ve also seen people say that its implied the plane Adrian was going to leave on exploded after it leaves but I didnt see or hear anything on my playthrough so I’m going to believe that’s not true. 

What is my point again? I guess that this is still the most fascinating Half Life game to me simply because of its setting in a hopeless struggle against so many warring forces. Adrian wasn’t meant to be there, he’s not supposed to be working with the scientists, he wasn’t supposed to let Gordon get away, he’s witnessing Xen guys vs Race X vs Black ops vs his fellow soldiers vs security guards and he doesnt even have a place in this. There’s all the references to Half Life 1 and the changes to the facility in the few hours since the resonance cascade, so many people who’ve survived against all odds only to die anyway. 

Actually, another interesting thing about this game is Race X - who were added mainly because Gearbox wanted to use their own mechanics and add new stuff rather than just reuse Valve’s HL1 aliens - who in universe do differ from the Xen guys. The headcrabs, houndeyes, bullsquids etc, theyre there by accident, got swept up in the resonance cascade, and the vortigaunts are there by a combination of that and the nihilanth controlling them, the nihilanth itself having been used by the Combine (or something else idk if thats been canonised) and trying to ESCAPE to Earth rather than invade there. But Race X is there purely by choice, clearly taking the chance to invade (Vortigores are a whole nother story I can’t derail too many times on this extremely long post sorry not sorry), the shock troopers are SOLDIERS, and they have a portal on xen specifically set up for such a situation as this, plus the gene worm is there to terraform earth for Race X purposes. Ok this couldve been a separate post but I think it does add to the futility of it all. Final hours of Black Mesa and all that, Race X makes a last minute arrival and just get nuked along with everybody else. 

Anyway RIP Adrian Shephard, you deserved better

[gffa]

To answer this (and, as always, if anyone disagrees, that’s fine! when i speak with a strong meta voice that isn’t the same as getting mad if people see things differently!), I think it first helps to establish what the Force is, how it works, and what the light and the dark are, which is covered more thoroughly here, but basically:  balance is not an in between of light and dark, but instead that the light is the balance.  That we all have darkness within us and we must work to train ourselves away from it, to face it and let it go.  That is the Force according to Star Wars’ worldbuilding. This isn’t Jedi teachings (though, that is what they teach) but that George Lucas directly says, “Only way to overcome the dark side is through discipline.“  The characters are absolutely meant to overcome it, to be brought face to face with it and defeat it.  Not to never have it, not to never deal with it, but to choose the light again and again. This is why the Jedi younglings are taken to Ilum and shown their fears in the caves, this is why the Jedi Temple on Lothal shows Kanan and Ahsoka their fears, this is why Yoda talks to Ezra about the anger and fear he has in him and Ezra is willing to admit it and work on it, when Yoda says, oh, you might be a Jedi yet, this is why Yoda has to wrestle with and defeat his dark side in the immortal arc, this is why the Jedi teach their younglings in the creche that the dark side is part of them,  “[Qui-Gon] knew [the dark side] was a thing all beings carried within them, a part of himself he would learn to guard against—the crèche masters had taught him all that.“ I argue that even Mortis, which on the surface looks like “equal light and equal dark is balance” is more about trying to get Anakin to face the darkness within himself and defeat it, that the dark side will always be there, but he has to learn to acknowledge it before he can overcome it. So, having Anakin be the in between of the light and the dark is not balance.  I mean, that’s the role Bendu has in Rebels (immortal beings are not vulnerable to the same consequences of the dark side that mortals are--the story group has reiterated that mortals cannot use the dark side without consequence) and Bendu doesn’t bring balance, he sits on the sidelines and does nothing.  His last appearance is Kanan yelling at him that he’s doing jack all to help the galaxy, that he’s a coward for not actually doing anything.  The middle of the light and the dark has a role in the galaxy, but it’s not the balance or to the health of the galaxy in the way the light is. Further, we don’t really know much about the Guardians of the Whills.  In the canon, Qui-Gon learns about immortality from the Force Priestesses who do not appear to be the same thing as the Guardians of the Whills, we see Yoda’s journey with them which brings it back to--face the darkness within, overcome it, and then you can start on the path to immortality. So, what do we know about that path?  It requires overcoming the darkness within you, but it also requires (and word of god supports this, about how Anakin’s final moments were about selflessness) absolute selflessness, you have to be able to reach a place of caring completely about others--which is precisely what the ultimate light side is: “The core of the Force–I mean, you got the dark side, the light side, one is selfless, one is selfish, and you wanna keep them in balance. What happens when you go to the dark side is it goes out of balance and you get really selfish and you forget about everybody … because when you get selfish you get stuff, or you want stuff, and when you want stuff and you get stuff then you are afraid somebody is going to take it away from you, whether it’s a person or a thing or a particular pleasure or experience. [….]    “Only way to overcome the dark side is through discipline. The dark side is pleasure, biological and temporary and easy to achieve. The light side is joy, everlasting and difficult to achieve. A great challenge. Must overcome laziness, give up quick pleasures, and overcome fear which leads to hate.”  --George Lucas, The Clone Wars writers meeting “Not by the cave you were but by your mind. Lessons, you have learned. Find courage, you did. Hope, patience Trust, confidence, and selflessness.” --Yoda, “The Gathering” “The Jedi choose the light for all that it reveals.” --Jedi texts, Poe Dameron comics Ultimately, I think the Jedi were probably the best place for Anakin, their philosophies on the Force match him very well with George Lucas’ explanations of how the Force work, their teachings echo his beliefs on happiness vs joy, his beliefs on the best way to teach (and GL believes that education is THE most important issue, compared to how the Jedi are fundamentally teachers at their core, etc.) and because they weren’t just the most famous users of the Force, but they tended to be the strongest. We don’t really even know much about the Temple of Kyber, if the people there are Force-sensitive (I know, I hate it, too, but canon says Chirrut wasn’t Force-sensitive) and the Church of the Force definitely seemed to not be Force-Sensitive, if Lor San Tekka is anything to go by. Which is important because there is a very, very key difference between strong Force-sensitives and lower level Force-sensitives/non-Force-sensitives:  The Force literally works based on the emotion and mindset you put into it.  What you put into it is what you get back out of it. The Force is an echo chamber, it’s a sponge that absorbs all of that, it holds onto those feelings you’re pouring out of you when you use the Force with it, so if you’re a high level Force-sensitive and you’re pouring out anger into the Force, into your kyber crystal, into the very walls around you, as Kanan tells Sabine in Rebels, their thoughts and actions become part of the blade, then that is staying with you, it’s always whispering in your ear, it’s dragging you down into the dark side. For someone like Anakin, who has this connection to the Force that’s stronger than probably any Guardian could possibly understand, he would be hearing those whispers as increasingly loud shouts just because of the nature of the Force and his incredible connection to it.  He would have had an even harder time not being dragged down into the dark, he would have had a harder time overcoming it, if the teachings he received weren’t about letting all of that go as best he can, if he wasn’t being trained to overcome the dark. The whole way Force-sensitivity works is that it’s based on your mental health and that you have to get past the darkness within you to embrace being selfless, to embrace loving other people rather than your own desires and fears and possessiveness, and the stronger you are in the Force, the more that’s going to be screaming inside your head and you have to work even harder to choose the light because you’re going to hear everything so loudly.  And the Jedi understood that, but, as GL said, “[everything changes], which is a basic Jedi philosophy that he isn’t willing to accept emotionally”. Anakin’s problem isn’t the light isn’t enough, it’s that he didn’t want to accept that things change, he didn’t want to accept when he needed to be able to let go, rather than burning the galaxy down because of his own fears and desire to hold onto something even when it was time to let go. The Jedi were the best place for someone like Anakin, even GL says, “If he’d have been taken in his first year and started to study to be a Jedi, he wouldn’t have this particular connection as strong as it is and he’d have been trained to love people but not to become attached to them. “ --George Lucas, Attack of the Clones commentary which says that the Jedi methods are actually pretty in line with How The Force Works.