#is this why she stopped talking to me???

[lunamond]

Honestly, the biggest downfall in the writing of Hotd is that the writers seem barely aware of the actual politics behind the Dance other than the misogyny.

And even that they only touch on in the most surface level way completely divorced from the context of the actual feudal system it exists in.

[bookwormangie]

Defending Lily

As someone involved in the Snape fandom, I’m frustrated by the unfair criticism Lily receives. It’s disheartening to see so much disdain directed at her character, especially when many of these judgments overlook the complexities of her situation. Despite being a minor character in the books, Lily is often misunderstood and unfairly vilified, and as a Snape fan, I feel compelled to defend her. Lily deserves a fairer assessment that considers her full context, rather than being unfairly vilified.

Lily ending her friendship with Snape

Lily was fully justified in ending her friendship with Severus after he called her a slur. Although Snape was being bullied and humiliated at that moment, such a hurtful term doesn't slip out easily—it was already part of his vocabulary. He used and associated it with Muggleborns in general among his Slytherin friends, as Lily pointed out when he attempted to apologize.

““…But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?””

It's important to note that the slur wasn't the sole reason for the end of their friendship. Their relationship had been strained for some time. Snape had long been involved with a gang of Slytherins who aspired to join Voldemort and were deeply involved with the Dark Arts. Given that Lily, his best friend and a Muggleborn, was part of the very group his associates aimed to terrorize, his affiliations were deeply troubling. Despite Lily’s efforts to distance him from his dark associations with Mulciber and Avery, Snape remained entrenched in his choices. She had been excusing his behavior for years because she cared about him deeply and did not want their friendship to end. However, everyone has their breaking point. When he called her a Mudblood, it was the final straw. She could no longer overlook his behavior or excuse it.

“It’s too late. I’ve made excuses for you for years.”

And:

“I can’t pretend anymore. You’ve chosen your way, I’ve chosen mine.”

Ending the friendship was a painful but necessary decision. It's unfair to expect Lily to bear the burden of continuously trying to "save" Snape when he was unwilling to change his ways. Despite her attempts to guide him and communicate her concerns, his own choices ultimately drove them apart.

The "Smile" During SWM

Another point of contention is the exaggerated focus on Lily’s supposed 'smile' during Snape’s bullying. It wasn’t a smile—it was a very brief twitch of her expression. When James flipped Snape upside down, Lily’s expression twitched momentarily before she continued to defend him. Some people are really blowing this out of proportion.

““Lily, whose furious expression had twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile, said, “Let him down!””

From my perspective, her reaction seems to be an involuntary response to the sudden shock of seeing Snape's underwear. It's not uncommon to smile or refrain from smiling at inappropriate times due to shock or unexpectedness. Alternatively, it could be seen as an indicator of a shift in her and Snape’s relationship, considering their strained friendship. However, Lily's subsequent actions—defending Snape and admonishing James—demonstrate her clear disdain for bullying. Furthermore, the assumption that Snape called her "Mudblood" because of her reaction is also unlikely; Snape was too preoccupied with his own humiliation to notice a fleeting twitch. Harry, observing his parents closely, might have been the only one to catch it.

Criticizing Lily for this brief, involuntary reaction and portraying her as evil is deeply unfair. It shows that she is a flawed human being like the rest of the characters.

Lily's Stance Against Bullying

Another argument I’ve heard is that Lily didn’t defend Snape from the Marauders' bullying at all or does a half-assed job. While our information is limited, we do see her stand up to James when he and Sirius insult Snape on the train to Hogwarts in their first year. Before that, when Petunia called her a freak, Lily stood her ground and told her sister it wasn’t a nice thing to say.

"“Lily sat up, rather flushed, and looked from James to Sirius in dislike. “Come on, Severus, let’s find another compartment.””

And:

“—you think I want to be a–a freak?” Lily’s eyes filled with tears as Petunia succeeded in tugging her hand away. “I’m not a freak,” said Lily. “That’s a horrible thing to say.”

Lily is depicted as a person who stands against injustice and bullying. She consistently demonstrates moral courage and empathy, defending those who are mistreated, even when it involves confronting her peers or family members. Her actions reveal a strong sense of fairness and a willingness to speak up for what is right, showcasing her integrity and compassion. Given this, it's likely she defended her best friend on numerous other occasions. Additionally, Snape probably kept most of the bullying incidents a secret from her, viewing it as humiliating. Even Sirius noted that Lily wasn’t aware that James continued to hex Snape in their seventh year. This suggests that it’s not far-fetched to assume Snape may have kept much of the bullying from her.

Lily's Marriage to James

At last, I understand why some might feel uneasy about Lily marrying James Potter, given his history as a bully toward Snape. It's completely reasonable to feel conflicted, as reconciling her choice with her past can seem challenging. However, it's important to note that by the time Lily had gotten with James, she and Snape hadn't been in touch for about two years. Their friendship had ended, and she was no longer involved in his life. This doesn’t mean she was dismissing her past with Snape; rather, she had moved on from that chapter of her life. As I mentioned earlier, Lily likely wasn’t fully aware of the extent of Snape's bullying. Additionally, she saw qualities in James that indicated he had matured to a point she could accept. Lily is not a grudge holder; she is a forgiving person who is willing to give second chances when she perceives change, which she probably saw in James.

All of this doesn’t diminish Snape’s suffering or the challenges he faced, but it highlights the complex realities of both their situations. It’s crucial to consider Lily’s perspective and avoid unfairly condemning her. She shouldn’t be demonized; her actions reflect her own limitations and struggles. Just like all the characters in the series, Lily was flawed and real. Recognizing this can help us move past the simplistic view of her as bad person and appreciate her as a multidimensional character who, like everyone, had her own battles and growth.

[pyrobot1cs]

you’d think the reoccurring problem of vivs’ defining women characters solely by their relationships to men characters would be fixed when the women characters are in a wlw relationship with each other. but they’re just as two-dimensional AND THEY ARE THE MAIN CHARACTER AND LOVE INTEREST

[m-ete0ra]

—————Beachside Dreams: The Start of Forever —————

It’s the wonderful @bunnions BIRTHDAY YALL (July 13) so from the bottom of my heart I wish her the happiest birthday, CHEERS 🥂 To one of the prettiest, kindest woman I’ve met. And you should celebrate her too!!!

She commissioned me a a little bit ago and when I heard the idea it hit me just right in my heart, loving partners and a romantic love story and I am super excited because it challenged me once more, but I also feel like I could make someone’s wish come true on their birthday 🥳 because she deserves the world and more on her special day💕🤲 

And of course is it a m-ete0ra commission if you don’t find the Easter egg!? Find it if y’all can! Hint: it’s hidden in the background…. Or is it…

[skeletoninthemelonland]

This was supposed to be posted yesterday for Women’s International Day :’D sorry I don’t know how to draw bed sheets 😭

[angellic-critique]

Reminder that this is the level of drag 'representation' angel dust gives :/

This is bottom of the barrel feminization towards drag performing arts :/

And since helluva boss fans are only do passive as to read everything at surface level only here is the Spitting definition of drag queens/kings

At no point is it intrinsically all about just sexual performance or sexual drive, it can be a factor or a small portion but it is not just a large generalization as much as people are trying to make drag performing seem to be.

Drag is an art form. It is a statement. It is a person of beauty and the love and appreciation of fashion and expression!

Angel Dust is the complete opposite of sex workers or drag performers at all! If AD is supposed to resemble the theme of abuse in industry [something she already failed to portray with fizzerolli] and the toll that sex workers and addicts within the industry for that matter, we have no clue how he will act in Hazbin but the sneak peek of him in leather gives me no hope if the implication is that he will purely be centered around valentinos abuse. Considering someone on the team ship's and actively adores the ship that is Angel x Valentino

How can you claim to support sex workers while actively seeing them as purely fetishism gay yaoi bait THAT YOU ACTIVELY MERCHANDISE AS """SEXY""":/

There is nothing to angel dust besides the appeal of a feminine man being sexually abused.

[nevertheless-moving]

“The other day,” Skar added, “he was talking about what he’s doing there. It sounded an awful lot like he was learning how to read.” The men shifted uncomfortably. “So?” Kaladin asked. “What’s the problem? Sigzil can read his own language. Storms, I can read glyphs.” “It’s not the same,” Skar said. “It’s feminine,” Drehy added. “Drehy,” Kaladin said, “you are literally courting a man.” “So?” Drehy said. “Yeah, what are you saying, Kal?” Skar snapped. “Nothing! I just thought Drehy might empathize.…” “That’s hardly fair,” Drehy said. “Yeah,” Lopen added. “Drehy likes other guys. That’s like … he wants to be even less around women than the rest of us. It’s the opposite of feminine. He is, you could say, extra manly.”

Different possible explanations for this scene, to be taken up depending on which headcanon would be the funniest for a given fic:

While being gay is more broadly acceptable than being unmanly, conflating gender roles with sexuality is not uncommon; the other guys have just gotten more than one drunken lecture from Drehy about how he hates being treated womanly just because he likes dick. Kaladin was obviously working those nights.

Under Vorinism, Gender roles are rigid, but a range of sexualities are perfectly fine. The ardent who visited Kaladin's hometown was just a freak who hated gay people so much it was unreal, and took great pains to explain to the boys of this isolated rural town the unhinged idea that marrying a man was OBVIOUSLY womanly and therefore Bad. He mostly unlearned that shit after joining the army but is a bit confused. It doesn't come up often.

There was one (1) elderly queer couple in heartstone growing up, and one of the men was super gnc, which made people uncomfortable but his parents always told him that you shouldn't shame people for harmless joy. so, yeah, Kaladin just sort of figured that in a relationship between guys, one of them is the woman. He assumes Renarin is gay and I mean. He's not wrong. Part of the reason he never accepted friendly offers of soldier companionship. Not that there's anything wrong with it. He never asked Drehy who was who, because its none of his business and he didn't want to know.

the only times Kaladin has personally ever noticed being attracted to another man is when the guy was doing something womanly. Is it a kink? Is it an extremely dense man needing someone to stand on top of clearly marked social signposts and wave their arms for him to even register them as a sexual being? who knows! not Kaladin! he doesn't have time to unpack any of that. anyway he assumed that all same sex attraction worked the same way and obviously never actually talked about it with a living person. actually I'm expanding this to cover all of Kaladin's sexuality just to make him extra stupid. first time he noticed Tarah was when she punched a dude.

[slutneto]

i have been stewing in the hate crimes md content for almost a month now, why did nobody tell me that house's subconscious (the Amber hallucination) literally told him to tell wilson he loves him. that happened on my screen. i rewatched it 5 times with my volume all the way up bcs it felt like a fever dream. pain and repression show.

[doctorbeans]

once again thinking about cloud “there’s someone in me that isn’t me,” “i have to leave, i’m afraid I won’t be able to stop him next time,” “i’m sorry i couldn’t be your cloud,” “maybe one day you’ll get to meet the ‘real cloud,’” “i was never hunting sephiroth, he was always calling me,” “please give me a number professor,” “tell him that when you see him again, it’ll mean the world to him, okay?” “back then we got by with scraped knees,” “hey, tifa” strife.

[impish-ivy]

Thinking back on it, it’s so obvious Solomon isn’t as emotionally intelligent as I additionally thought he was. Which knowing his childhood and background…yeah that makes a whole heck of a lot of sense.

[americankimchi]

it's so hard to take star wars seriously nowadays because i'll watch someone get skewered by a lightsaber and then somehow walk it off with a bacta patch and a slap on the ass. like you're telling me a weapon that can carve furrows into foot-thick solid durasteel doors, dripping melted slag in its wake, when applied to the flesh of a sentient being leaves behind nothing more than superficial damage. like be so ffr. "it cauterizes the wound instantly" this is not a little cut. this is not minor burns. you were IMPALED BY A BEAM OF PLASMA. your ORGANS have been COOKED. your BLOOD has BOILED. your BONES were INCINERATED. what are you TALKING ABOUTTTTTT

[allthegothihopgirls]

i love all the new-age queer pop girls who do charity work by making Actually gay music that sounds like it was ripped straight from 2012, to compensate for how straight-dominated the music scene was during that time.

[iamhereinthebg]

I LOVE THEM SM THE CLOCK KEEPERS FAM AAAAH

Mirai is so cute here I am ascending

Anyways, I will be honest I have some mixt feeling rn :00

About the clock keepers themselves?? I don't have that much fear tbh, they are supernaturals in their boundary, and contrary to number 3 they don't have hearts that Tsukasa or anyone else can consume. I think they will be fine (or I am being delusionnal to protect myself, you choose rip) I love them very much they will always live in my heart.

I was REALLY not happy with chapter 109, having to be focused on little crumbs was really hard when I have been waiting for their focus for more than 4 years. Having the joke that is chapter 109 absolutely destroyed me, they are my fav mysteries and I want something good for them, unfortunately I am not sure they will get it.

Chapter 110 gave me some hope because yes what is happening is not normal, and I am glad it was adressed. For me it was obvious af it' wasn't, but I really needed confirmation from the author to be sure.

I have always said that the clock keepers were unique and Teru confirms it in this chapter with the official translation:

'The clock keepers are clearly unique even among the school mysteries, and go beyond the average supernaturals'

They are n°1, the only mystery with three beings in it and with a human, one of the last two mysteries left with the other one being the main focus on the manga. Of course something is strange with how they are treated right now. What is happening?

None of them used their time powers expect for Mirai once as the judgment. The stuff they are saying to punish Tsukasa seems more like jokes and they aren't treating the trial as they should be (but this may be just because chapter 109 is bad af lol). Mirai can litteraly see the future if she wants to.

The owls, their shikigami/familiars don't move at all when their masters are attacked, they are in their own boundary, their shrine. Maybe their powers are related to the clock Natsuhiko destroyed (and I would be sad af if this is the reason and nothing can be done) we just don't know what is happening. Do they have a plan? Are they playing a part (which would be funny because some stuff about the clock keepers are related to theaters and plays) Did someone forced them to do something? We don't know anything about the clock keeper, them being in the same spot as n°6 before we got to his story.

We just know they are special among the mysteries, they are the oldest ones, Kako and Mirai are made of gears and a human has a seat in it.

I am pretty sure Teru had this conversation with Akane here because he knows the clock keepers are special.

The two mysteries being the more visible here being the god of death and the clock keepers.

It's also the only mystery Hanako didn't want to destroy right away because they could be useful. All mysteries had their yorishiro destroyed/were planned to be destroyed once they got students in danger. (expect for Tsuchigomori who just, accepted it as a precaution rip) The clock keepers are the only ones who got a free pass on this even after getting the whole school involved.

Their powers are just above a lot of the others, and everyone know how useful it can be, so once again why aren't they using it?

Not caring about their yorishiro is also super strange. Especially when the one the most against Hanako's plan to destroy the yorishiros in the manga is Kako.

A mystery has to choose a yorishiro to be a proxy of the gods, to be able to have this status.

They have to choose a yorishiro so they don't run away from the job, it's the thing the most important to them so they would never destroy it. They have to protect it. Teru assuming they don't care is just so so strange. Why wouldn't they? That's the whole point of what a yorishiro is! They even hide it in one of them as an extra precaution! A lot of things go against what has been established before for yorishiros it's just plain out suspicious.

Kako and Akane are also really really duty centered characters. Akane will do a job even if he doesn't want to if he is asked to do it and Kako is the one being represented as the observator over the mysteries to see if they are respecting their sworn duty.

I also don't know what to think about their yorishiro for now. What does it open? A door to another room? Is it to protect something? Is it to activate another automaton? Can it be related somehow to the old clock keeper of the present? (delulu land again)

Idk I am really curious. I really hope we won't have the answer right away though, they were defeeated way too quickly and I hope they have more stuff to them. We got Hakubo's and Sumire's story and a part of the Yugi twins beforec their yorishiro got destroyed, so I hope it will be the same for them. That we will have time to get to know them a little bit more.

And after all, neither Nene or Hanako want to destroy any more yorishiro for now, and Tsukasa apparently lost it at the end of the chapter (we can see the hand who had it being empty. But AidaIro has sometimes a problem of coherence with their right and left and objects disappearing and appearing which I can understand with the rythm they have to keep with the manga, so I am not sure)

I have a lot of fears about this tbh, because maybe AidaIro will just give us the reason why they are weak rn and continue the story without explaining anything about them, not giving them the spotlight I think they truly deserve. The worst for me would be they work for Sakura, I really really hope it's not this, but I am really scared :///

So I will go for this for now, even if this is really depressing for me, but I don't want to have my hopes up with how the writing have been really ups and downs since the start of this arc (the only good chapter for me being chapter 108).

I am still really intrigued by what is Akane's real duty and why is he so reluctant to do it but still does it? Why Akane said they had to do the trials now? Honestly I have a lot of questions and I know no matter what happens, the clock keepers make me super sad (in a good way) and happy at the same time. And this last chapter with Mirai and Akane was a blast (I am actually writing a whole document on them rn it's long I will link it later ahah)

I also wonder if any of the clock keepers can use the others' clocks or not? Does this mean like Kako can go full OP while using all three powers at the same time? (let's go grandpa give us everything) I am curious since they are a mystery where having an object is important for their powers (Kako and Mirai being able to use their with bare hands because they have their clocks on them, I can be wrong about it though)

We are also left with only Akane as n°1 rn and idk what it will mean for him.

So yes full of fears, but also I know I will find crumbs to go delulu on :DD I would try to stay full positive but with the focus being on Tsukasa and on how secondary characters rn are mostly as 'objects for the plot' (I mean, look at Nene :')) I can't really ://

But be sure, I will forever love the clock keepers even if the plots are not respecting them

[narugen]

i seriously need more narumi and mina moments because just imagine the relief mina felt when narumi joined, similar age to her and was also considered a prodigy in the force.

to have someone to share the burden of the defence force’s future with must’ve felt so freeing. because before he joined it was just her, age 18, being told that she was going to change kaiju extermination with her exceptional synergy with firearms. and she was so, so scared.

narumi doesn’t have the kind of skills or talent for long range combat like she does, but he’s also a top candidate (despite his behavioural issues- which aren’t much of a hinderance anyway) and mina doesn’t have to carry the burden of the future alone anymore

(although she’d never admit, given she probably views narumi as someone completely shocking i just think it’s so funny how she stood there like O_O when she first saw him)

like i LOVE seeing the contrast. mina who was sent onto the battlefield for the first time and was deathly afraid vs narumi who was sent out and immediately took action because that’s how he always lived (fighting)

and now they’re the top two strongest captains in the force and they will be the ones to lead the new generation..

[spite-of-the-grifter]

Look.

Ace Attorney fandom.

I know why people don't like Turnabout Bigtop. I am among the people who dislike Turnabout Bigtop.

But I GET why people like the case. I'm not going to be one of those annoying people who just blindly dump on it because I hate those mfs too.

Thing about Bigtop isn't that it sucks. Thing isn't the weird grooming stuff (though that is a huge part of it). It's not that it could've been good.

It's that - in my personal OPINION - it could have been *great*.

I think it had the potential to be one of the best third cases in the trilogy. It had everything; a fun and goofy setting fit for a pretty dang goofy lawyer game - where the environment itself had jokes and quips and one-liners and mishaps and tomfoolery written all over it, it had the previous case introducing a very interesting and important plotline that gave background for one of the more well-loved characters while also introducing an equally fucked up and lovable new one who was a child forced into a shit childhood of naivete in a CIRCUS with another character who was very naive and childish - whose interactions could have been funny and cute and reflective of said shit from the previous case (seriously she becomes such an important character in the 4th case, WHY would they not include her in this one for some character development? How did they fuck up letting a CHILD explore a CIRCUS?? That would have made the interactions flow MUCH better).

They had a pretty good, sympathetic killer imo, a morally dubious victim, an asshole of a client (who was pretty flat admittedly in-game, but I like his weird, topsy-turvy reasoning for it in the anime. Also, I think Max being kinda a dick would have bode well for the themes of Farewell since most of his clients up to this point have been like...nice? Not nice, but sympathetic, but him having to defend someone who's innocent but a prick would have shown him that just because someone is an asshole, doesn't mean they deserve to suffer for it and that they have the potential to grow as people, which is almost a complete opposite of what Matt was. Ultimately, I would have loved the contrast of them as clients and I think it would have also served as character development for Phoenix, especially with his low-empathy tendencies).

They just didn't think that far ahead. They just didn't execute it well enough. They just decided to make three of the adult characters fight for the hand in marriage of a teenage girl. (Bat's part of the story was actually kinda good if he was just YOUNGER, I think him doing that for Regina would have been a stupid thing someone in the circus would do to impress their crush. Damn you Ace Attorney and your weird treatment of underage girls!!)

It just flopped and that's ok.

Even though it kinda sucked, it can still mean something to me.

Also I'm a Moe Curls apologist. I liked him, shut up.

[ganondoodle]

as i was awake in the middle of the night for like 2 hours bc i felt sick i had more somewhat random totk thoughts

one being that i really hate how raurus response to concerned zelda is, after sonia died in that almost funny how little impactful it was way, "im sure you are here for a reason" (actually, i hate how often this sentence is used in general to .. idk i guess its supposed to be inspiritational???)

bc what does that mean actually? him saying that to someone who got there absolutely by accident really just sounds like "i dont care go figure it out yourself bc i dont want to think about anything concerning you or your troubles lol" i guess its meant to sound like OOOOH fate has BROUGHT you here bc you have to furfill a role you dont know yet (spoiler its being a sacrifice girl with no personality) and besides me hating the 'inescapable fate' trope in general (at least the way its usually done in these games, which is not to struggle against it but willingly accept whatever you are told and pretend thats good) its really jsut goddamn boring and is really only an excuse to well .. ignore her and her trouble; shouldnt you, if you were actually such a cool guy like the game wants me to believe so bad, do everything in your power to get zelda back to her own world before shes pulled even further into the war you caused now that her only ""mentor"" that could help her get more use of her pretty much useless sudden powers is gone too?? i know shes basically dead wife sonia replacement (can of worms ugh) but it still grinds my gears whenever i think of that cutscene, bc i cant help but hear it as the lamest excuse in existence to not care about her and just kinda .. see what happens which in this case means leave zelda completely on her her own since both rauru and mineru die as well (honestly shouldnt rauru have thought about like .. any plan to defeat gan besides dying himself, given hes the oh so cool and goodest guy king whos only mistake was not stabbing gan the second he stepped into their kathedral castle thing, like even if you had a plan it can still fail but it seemed like he just kinda went in with a handful of people that didnt seem to know each other at all, never got names or faces -or unique voices for that matter- to fight gan face to face inlcuding the girl that came from a different time and had nothing to do with any of this conflict and couldnt even really control her sudden new powers just seems pretty stupid)

thought 2

how totk really feels like botw but for the people who didnt like shiekah tech, its not a sequel, its botw again, but version of only sonau, its like a pokemon game that had two versions but one has weirdly incoherent story and acts like the other never existed jsut as a whole its like retreading the same points but worse, all shiekah tech that was so integral to the world and had such a long history just vanishing and no one caring about any of it like it never happened, HELL the titans were called divine beasts in english but i guess they werent divine or important enough to keep around LOL champions WHO and isntead a never before seen or even heard of race for that matter showing up and planting their ass in every place the shiekah were before, dare i say it feels weirdly manipulative, like either them or some outside force erasing every fact about the ancient shiekah and replace them with sonau stuff bc they are the hot new shit now

this is a point that just doesnt stop bothering me, how the shiekah tech seemed so carefully designed and integrated into botws world and story, its a difficult to keep balance after all, integrating high tech stuff into a medieval setting, but they made it work! and then totk comes around and throws a bunch modern day tech into it puts some vague greenish stone filter on its exterior and call that even better more ancient tech; why did they even bother to make pottery inspired laser shooting spider legged robots so well integrated when they throw a car and rockets into the next game without a thought and call it a day, what was the fucking point

it feels like someone was dead set on having a set of legos thrown into the game it had no place in, if you want players to build whatever they want make a building game instead!! especially if you are just gonna throw it in with seemingly no consideration how out of place it feels togehter with the fACT THAT YOU ALREADY HAD AND ANCIENT HIGH TECH CIVILIZATION WITH A VERY DISTINCT AESTHETIC THAT WAS ALREADY WELL INTEGRATED INTO THE WORLD YOU ARE PLANNING TO REUSE WITH ALOT OF MYSTERY AND UNKOWN STUFF ABOUT THEM TO EXPLORE FURTHER YOU COULD HAVE USED!! but i guess they just "didnt want to play with you anymore" and that so much so that they went out of their way to erase every trace of it, i dont think the words shiekah tech are ever used in the game, and the purah pad and her towers just drive me more isnane bc they are the same shit but called different and also much worse, liek the purah pad isnt some more developed shiekah stone, no its a glorified camera with a teleport function and thats it

(i know i said this before but i really cant stand how obsessed every single NPC is with sonau shit, you get told to your face every second line of dialog that they are so cool and are so mysterious that it just makes me annoyed of them even more, the game is obsessed with shoving them everywhere and telling you over and over you too should obsess over them, they werent weird like that about the shiekah stuff in botw?? the biggesst talking point in botw was calamity ganon ..... which makes sense and in totk its like ... gan is mentioned what, in a newspaper article??? once???and then not even by name i think???)

aside from that big point which will never let me go, its also just .. its not moving forward anything, it actively walks BACK the progress that was made in botw, call me dumb but i dont really count moving one step up in the social roles of each race as a character development (for the side characters like the champions desc- ahem SAGES) but mainly zelda ... god how dirty she was done, totk pretty explicitely makes her regress any development she made in botw aside from she likes link uwu and some people like her too, but also not enough to notice that that weird zelda being all evil and weird isnt her (INLCUDING THE CHAMP- SAGES WHO YOU ARE SUPPOSEDLY FRIENDS WITH??? you dont have to be a genius to pick up on that my god, were you all given the mc dumbo potion or what)

she gets put back to square one, back into the little itty bitty princessy maiden role forced upon her by her royal parentage, this time rauru edition, back into a white little dress, back into the scared puppy eyed teenager, back into a situation she cant handle, back into losing everyone around her (tho honestly botw made me care more about rhoam than totk did about rauru), back into being forced to do a big sacrifice- but worse actually

in botw she went to FIGHT AND HOLD GANON IN THE CASTLE SO LINK HAD TIME TO RECOVER AND IT WOULDNT DESTROY THE LAND!! and you are telling me in totk rauru takes up her botw role and she bascially killed herself to ... restore the mastersword.

......... she ... she did that only to be a glorified version of the stone pedestal in the forest. and then she gets returned to normal itty bitty girly no problem via magic sparkle beam at the end and

DOESNT

EVEN

REMEMBER.

it really is just botw but worse, you even get yet another ghost king of hyrule to guide you around (rhoam did it better fight me ... we dont talk about the questionable choice to make himself darker skinned when posing as just some guy)

i honestly dont think i was ever truly taken aback by anythign that happened in botw, while in totk, the further i played, the more i had to fight with myself to keep the feeling of unease, disappointment and betrayal down

its such a god damn shame, totk should have stayed a DLC, i will forever mournfully dream of a game that explores more of the ancient shiekah, doesnt erase integral parts of the world, developes characters more instead of making them regress back and make them end up even less developed than at the start of the game, dives into buried secrets and mistakes of dark pages of history without giving into a weirldy nationalist(imperalisitc?) narrative and lets characters have some agency for once

if it werent for the yiga i might have actually considered refunding the game, just to be at peace with myself

anyway, aboslutely incoherent word vomit.