#it could have been so interesting

[randomnameless]

Doro and Edel sorta come off as "let me be evil" while also asking the audience to pity or validate their actions.

I actually disagree.

I think both of them genuinely think they are doing what they are doing "for the greater good" or "for the people" because they're convinced of the "goodness" of their goal - even if the means to reach that goal are a bit... more messy than breaking 6 eggs to make an omelette.

And for Supreme Leader, I never thought she was the one asking the audience to throw a pity party or to validate her actions - it's the games themselves that twist themselves in a pretzel to completely dodge - and by dodge I mean jump to another continent levels of avoiding - all the obvious implications her actions lead to -

Sure, Supreme Leader was written by those devs and put in those games, but imo, with the way she was written, the character never asks for forgiveness or uwu - it's the game that serves it on a platter, Crust system? You have to piece tidbits of backstory and hear it from a DLC character that Miklan wasn't kicked out bcs no crust, but bcs he tried to kill his younger brother and has been busy "seducing" women with his merry band of dudes. Ditto for foreign royalty that will never be mentionned in relation to the "crust = nobility, if no crusts no nobles anymore" paradigm.

Which leads to really interesting stuff when Supreme Leader is in a game where she can be challenged (not counting Engage bcs for some reason no one knows, it's Dimitri who talks to Zelestia about a place where people can live together regardless of their race), Supreme Leader doesn't make excuses or brings the pity party, she's too stubborn (or too determined) to reconsider her path.

(Supreme Leader inherited Poor Dumb Willy's fierce will?)

The only time she sorts of tug at the player's heart string, imo, is with the revelation she had siblings and her infodumping her backstory to Billy - iirc in the C+ support, just when Billy got the SoC - but as some people theorised, Supreme Leader's supports are unlocked at key moments, and I really like how - if following this theory - some characters try to fool/manipulate/"gaslight" as young people say nowadays/trick the player -

I've said it enough times regarding the Nabateans and Fodlan in general, but i don't think I've said it regarding Supreme Leader : the worst character hit by the uwu hammer and Hresvelg Grey is Supreme Leader herself - if Supreme Leader has been able to be a "traitor" character à la Tales of you can side with in CF for a vilain route, or like Togame in Katanagatari - her goal first her feelings second, and her feelings are a means to reach her goal but then she falls in her own trap - or even Baten Kaitos's Kalas, I think she would have been one of the best and most memorable characters in the franchise.

But the waifu and uwu hammer hit her, and all those opportunities fell on their faces because the devs wanted a waifu first and foremost, controversial maybe, but at the end of the day, a waifu to pander to a certain demographic and plays on the usual and tiresome "only u can defrost the ice queen" trope.

As for Doro...

It's a bit more nuanced, I think Doro genuinely wants to help people, but Doro, due to her backstory (and maybe experiences in Mittelfrank?) wants to help herself most - securing a successful marriage to a wealthy "noble" (tfw Ignatz, who's from a super rich family, isn't on her list) and become the "friend" of the Emperor - who should represent - status wise - everything she hates about nobles, if Ferdie was so hated, then why isn't the Hresvelg Heir, the Imperial heir, isn't as hated? Because Supreme Leader didn't see her bath in a fountain? Did Supreme Leader tone down her "if the weak remain weak it's because they are too used to rely on the strong to survive" discourse around Doro, one of those "weak ones" who only managed to make a name for herself through bribes, heavily implied prostitution and countless hours of hard and gruesome work that will be ruined anyways when she gets "older" so that's why she tries to find a noble and rich husband asap?

I love messy characters, I hc Saias as someone who will see the world burn as long as he can serve his younger brother, and he has to reconsider everything when he learns 1/lil bro dgaf about him and would rather kill him himself + 2/lil sis is actually alive - but the Fodlan games refuse to do anything interesting with the BESF members, in FE8, Ephraim gets a wake-up slap by Seth about what is expected of him now, and what was expected of him then, so he has better polish his father's armor because playtime is over, there's work to do, and Ephraim realises how much of a fool he has been.

Doro will never reconsider (her support with Lorenz is very good in that sense - much like Supreme Leader, Doro is sure her pov and way are the only ones that work) her POV, her most ridiculous takes about "y church never helped people like me in Adrestia" or "military academy makes us fight real fights and kill bandits i thought we weren't in a fire emblem game :(" or even "why is the goddess making us fight like this sure i joined the imperial army who conquers the world and tried to kill you many times but if you attack us it's only bcs of the goddess :(" are never tackled, compare them to Lorenz thinking the church promotes isolationism and Claude correcting him by remembering Dedue and Petra exist(ed?) in Garreg Mach...

TL;Dr : I wouldn't say those characters spend their time going "sad uwus about my life" or ask the audience to validate their action - but that's what their games did, just count how many times (maybe only 1?) people vow to take down the mole people "for Supreme Leader bcs she was manipulated too :(" or the lol-tastic "can't we walk with her (and trample Fodlan)?" ; Supreme Leader doesn't even need to "pity" herself, the game does it itself by giving those "pity" lines to multiple other characters.

It can sound like it's the same thing, after all both Supreme Leader and Doro are characters designed to fit in that game, but it's a bit more nuanced, and it's that nuance - the game severing one of its limbs to prevent them from being seriously challenged about their opinions - that's actually really, imo, annoying. When characters like Dimitri or even to a point, Rhea herself, are dissected and held accountable/are challenged for the weather, the double standard really stings, and that's what pisses me off with these characters.

[lulu2992]

The majority or all of the cultists’ children are in John’s Gate, according to a note he wrote to Nick, but I’ve always imagined the reasons we didn’t see kids in Far Cry 5 were mostly technical and/or moral.

There were children in the previous title, Far Cry Primal, I believe for the first time in the series, and there are kids in the sequel, Far Cry New Dawn, but they can only be encountered in very controlled, weapon-free zones. Far Cry 5 doesn’t have these kinds of safe areas, so I guess the devs didn’t want to risk having wild animals, hostile NPCs, or even players hurt children in their games, which probably at least partly explains why they didn’t include them.

Another possible reason is that kids are small and need custom animations because they don’t interact with their environment the same way adult characters do, so I imagine it’s much easier for the devs if everyone is the same height. Children and teenagers would also have required new lines and voice actors, and maybe they didn’t have enough time or money for that...

I suppose Kim, who is pregnant and smaller than the rest of the characters (with the exception of Faith), can’t be seen outside of cutscenes for the same reasons: so no one can harm her (and her baby) and it doesn’t look awkward when she interacts with objects with her shorter-than-average arms. I think that also explains why, in New Dawn, in which she’s a “normal” NPC, she’s as tall as everyone else.

Zip mentions this issue, though! There are chances the devs wrote this line to humorously address the absence of children in their game, but here’s what he says:

Let me ask you something. You see any kids around here? Don't you think that's strange? I've been talkin' about it for years, but nobody listens. You know why that is? Baby Farms. It's all the rage in silicon valley. They're growing babies just to harvest them for body parts. I've seen it with my own eyes. Elon Musk has his personal farm half hour north of here. Terrifying stuff. Even worse is what they do with the unhealthy babies. The unhealthy ones are sent to the pits. The ultra elite love to gamble on baby pit fights. They attach little scalpels to their tiny hands and the babies have a Battle Royale until only one stands. I wouldn't have believed it myself, if I didn't discover the boxscores coded in Oprah's book club. Those poor poor babies.

And I like your idea of a group of Resistance teens or the Deputy meeting orphaned children! Narratively speaking, that sounds great!

I have a question, like a actually one for the fc5 community.

Where are the kids?

Nick mentions a school when talking about his soon-to-be born kid (we know daughter) calling Joseph "father". But where are the kids? Sure, the cult has been around for like 16 years and they probably grew up or like Jess, had dealt with the bad side of the cult (as if there is any good) or even left before! But like kim and nick, they were expecting while dealing with it. So, makes me wonder. If anyone else was expecting or was born during it. And were these kids orphaned? Not that many grown ups lived and if they did, it was few or in the cult.

I like to believe there is a group of kids (mainly teens) out in hope country that act like the resistence. Grown ups fail them so they end up protecting themselves and others like them.

[voltaical-art]

do you guys ever think about how Wyll is introduced as an archetypal fantasy hero, but then it turns out he’s a warlock, who made a pact with a devil. Do you ever think about how Ansur is described as this fantastical dragon of myth, but then when you find him, he’s turned into an undead monstrosity. Do you think about how when Wyll does the right thing, he is punished to become more monstrous. Do you think about how as Wyll’s warlock powers grow, his spells get more horrific. Do you think about how Ansur was killed by his closest friend. Do think about how Wyll was cast out by the most important person in his life. do you guys ever think about Ansur and Wyll.

[mangozic]

archivist be upon ye

[leonardcohenofficial]

cobel went back to the town that forced her into literal child labor and mourned the immense and visceral loss of her mother and got high with one of the only people left who remembers her from when she was an eight year old kid named harmony before she was essentially severed from herself this episode was about her reintegration with her own humanity and to reduce that to a take about them shoehorning in a love interest is deeply unserious

[what-am-i-doing-in-this-fandom]

Listen, this came to me in a dream

[rookanisstuff]

The Dellamortes

[hinamie]

*catboys ur shounen protag*

[mohntilyet]

still i think the one of the more fun differences drawn between illario and lucanis that was lost would be illario's ability to endear himself to others but serious lack of empathy, vs. lucanis' (self perceived) inability to be charming but how much he cares. it's interesting that the game has gone with the "lucanis' ability vs illario's lack thereof" because i think illario being the dellamorte 'best in show dog' vs. lucanis' attack dog would have made me so unwell.

lucanis is... awkward. he's not unlikable, because he is usually very polite, but he doesn't speak much and only seems to care about the other dellamortes. he once sent viago de riva a knife with no note (who knows what he could have meant by this). he does what caterina asks of him, and by his own admission, cannot say no to her. he is a dramatic and prolific killer, and that makes how untouchable he is even worse.

and the crows like illario, sure, AND he's a good assassin! he's even a good crow! he's so good that he can make lucanis smile, and so he is the charming, sociable one. he's the one that stays in treviso and can be relied upon to care, illario's even the one people prefer over caterina and lucanis!

but illario is decoration. he's the prize poodle, and even if poodles were bred to be working dogs, nobody will ever pick him to protect the house over the german shepherd that regularly mauls intruders. anyways the analogy is getting away from me. the point i'm trying to make is that i want illario to have a different kind of jealousy/hatred that's not just over 'being bad at killing' but also an arrogant loathing for everyone around him that is getting harder to hide, because they've forgotten he can bite and is just itching to rip someone's jugular out. illario is very good at hiding his family resemblance to caterina, while lucanis suffers under his grandmother's, and his own, reputation.

[welcometogrouchland]

[ID in ALT] I've made posts before about Talia/Dick co-parenting Damian moments (will never happen but let me dream) and this came to me in a vision. Took me ages to finish for some reason 😭 and then even longer to post

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Ghouls night out

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[minnobyy]

side order doodle! based on the first trailer and concept arts from famitsu

i really liked the brown hair color that agent 8 had and the long tentacles that was in the concept art! i really wished we had a long hair style for our octolings 😭

[l4tchk3y]

BANG!💥BANG!💥BANG!💥

[arsenicflame]

Bonus round! Do you use a queue tag?

[timethehobo]

Self-indulgent doodle. Saw an unused storyboard panel of an Emmrich kiss scene (I think?) and had to doodle it out with my Rook. 🫣

[flwrkid14]

Eternal Bonds: Tim and Danny’s Infinite Realms Marriage

In the Infinite Realms, marriage is an unparalleled commitment. Unlike the mortal world, where love can be fleeting and easily undone, marriage in the Realms is something far more sacred. It’s not just about vows or ceremonies—it’s about merging souls, creating a bond that not even the vast stretches of time can sever. The very idea of marriage in the Realms is rare, almost mythical, because it requires two beings to love each other so profoundly that they’re willing to bind their very existence to one another.

For the ghosts and entities that reside in this realm, eternity isn’t just a poetic idea—it’s a reality. Time is meaningless when you’re no longer alive, when your very essence is bound to the afterlife. And because of this, relationships are viewed through a different lens. There’s no such thing as divorce, no “time apart.” Once a couple is bound, their souls are intertwined forever. To dedicate your entire being��past, present, and future—to another means accepting that their joys, sorrows, triumphs, and failures will be yours too. It’s a partnership where breaking the bond is simply impossible.

It’s why marriage is such a rare occurrence in the Realms. The ghosts, who have already lived one life and often seen the frailty of mortal promises, don’t enter into this kind of bond lightly. It’s only for the strongest of loves, for the most steadfast of commitments. Because once you marry in the Infinite Realms, that bond holds through eternity itself.

And yet, despite the gravity of it all, Tim and Danny find themselves willing to make that very commitment. Tim, a mortal tied to a world where things end, where nothing lasts forever, steps into the unknown. His love for Danny is so deep, so unshakable, that he agrees to a traditional Infinite Realms marriage. He knows full well the weight of it—he’s not just vowing to love Danny in this life, but in every life after. In swearing to this bond, Tim is offering his entire being to Danny, for now and all of eternity.

For Danny, this choice means even more. As a halfa, he exists between two worlds, knowing both the mortality of the living and the permanence of the ghostly afterlife. His love for Tim is powerful enough that he’s willing to make this eternal commitment, knowing that there’s no one else in any world—mortal, ghostly, or beyond—he would rather be tied to. For Danny, the bond is as natural as breathing. It’s a connection that deepens their relationship in a way that transcends the limitations of their two worlds.

Their marriage isn’t just a declaration of love—it’s a merging of souls, a binding that makes them two parts of the same whole. It overwhelms them with the sense of safety and belonging that they’ve both craved in their lives. In each other, they find the kind of love that doesn’t just endure life’s difficulties but thrives beyond them. Their bond ties them together forever in a way that no one else could understand, but to Tim and Danny, it’s everything.

They are each other’s home. And in the Infinite Realms, there is no greater honor, no stronger connection, than to be bound by love for all of eternity.