#it doesn't make shield straightforwardly bad

[raisengen]

Getting back into Elden Ring after all the side dungeons burned me out, and turns out I wasn’t that far from Malenia.

Hoo boy this is a funny boss design. I only ever saw the shadows of discourse, but her being divisive is extremely unsurprising. Fortunately, I’m enjoying it, and it’s really interesting to see how they’re messing around with boss fight design.

Current favourite design choice is having the boss heal every time she lands a hit, even if you block with a shield, then giving her a superblender with a billion hits that you can very easily block with a shield.

[alarajrogers]

I think it's also kind of important to understand what Zionism even is, because it's become this huge bugaboo?

People seem to think "Zionism" means "I support everything the state of Israel does, including bombing innocent children in order to forcibly take their land," and... no. Not what it means. Zionism means "I believe the Jews have the right to have a homeland, and on the whole, the best place for that homeland is probably their ancestral lands, which they were largely forced out of 2000 years ago by imperial Roman colonizers because they wouldn't stop fighting against occupation and they wouldn't give up their culture."

Those who believe Israel has no right to exist are either massive fucking hypocrites because they believe the USA, Canada, Australia, and all the nations of South America have a right to exist, when none of those nations involved taking back ancestral land -- they're all straightforwardly occupying colonizers took over indigenous land, no "but it was ours before colonizers threw us off of it" complexity -- or they're as weirdly obsessed with "blood and soil" as Nazis and they think somehow it would make sense for all the white people in the US to move back to Europe, like we aren't all mutts with twelve different European countries plus maybe some native or African genes or maybe both in our ancestry. By the true definition of Zionism -- Jews have a right to their own homeland, on the territory they're indigenous to -- you are, 75 years after the existence of Israel was established, either a Zionist, a hypocrite, or so weirdly extreme in your leftism you've gone all the way around to the Nazi position.

You can believe that and still believe that Benjamin Netanyahu is a fuckhead who ought to die in a landslide, that what Israel is currently doing to Gaza is unforgivable (but not worse than what the US did to Iraq or any number of other places in our history -- Israel's not a special snowflake of evil here, and thinking they are is antisemitic), that whether you want to call it a "genocide" or not it is still war-crime-o-rama and no, "but Hamas uses civilians as human shields" is not an acceptable excuse for carpet bombing the fuck out of children. You don't have to excuse Israel or make up reasons why they're justified, any more than Americans had to make up reasons why what we were doing in Iraq was ok. You can be disgusted by the actions of Israeli leadership. But if you then take it out on Israelis, you better not be from the US -- or Britain, which has done far worse -- or you're an antisemitic hypocrite. And if you take it out on Jews because they believe Israel has the right to exist -- or because they haven't been sufficiently vocal about appeasing you and claiming it doesn't -- then you're kind of a textbook definition antisemite.

So yeah, if you're against Zionism -- the belief that Jews deserve a homeland and probably the best place for it is where it was already established, on the lands they are indigenous to -- then you're either someone who has no idea what Zionism even is and you're willing to spout uneducated opinions on the Internet, or you're an anti-semite. (And if you are Christian or you were raised Christian and you spout shit about "no, actually the Jews are not indigenous to Israel", oh my God are you being antisemitic and stupid, because every part of the Old Testament is about the Jews being from Israel. Also, all the archaeological evidence. Also, all the independent historical evidence.)

Note: I'm not Jewish! I was raised Catholic and am now an atheist (or at the very least, an agnostic anti-Christian; I'd be willing to accept the existence of a Creator, but that entity cannot be the Christian God, because the Christian God shows no special love for beetles and tries to encourage sexual taboos and gender-based behavior that are actively bad for human beings and counter our evolutionary niche.) I consider myself an ally to Jews, but I am very much a goy. So if you're the kind of asshole who discounts everything Jews say on the topic, maybe listen to me.

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[mikhardwheat]

Mike Wheeler Theory. DM to Paladin pipeline.

People here were talking about the reason why Vecna attacked only when Mike left the Hawkins. And how he was straightforwardly called "a heart" by Will later in the season.

He's the one holding the shield here, while everyone else backs him up. And while we have Lucas on the right, who was and is a Knight (warrior) too, Mike chose to be a Paladin (knight of honor).

Which is interesting, because:

He was DM before, right? He practically wrote the whole story while it was happening. (Also, it's worth mentioning that he canonically wants to be a writer).

And what happens after is: Will goes missing and Mike totally loses his mind, trying to find him. And then there's El, and he wants her to bring Will back, but the whole thing just keeps going down. Mike doesn't have control over the situation and it freaks him out

They, obviously, do not play DnD while Will is somewhere missing.

But when they get him back, and by the end of the s1 Mike's is DMing again (he is writing the story).

This got me thinking (I came up with this theory in September, so correct me if I'm wrong):

In s2 he's not constantly freaking out, despite El going missing. He's got his usual life back. Notably, he isn't playing, he DMs.

Now, we know Wheeler siblings are control freaks, right. They like when things go the way they want them to and hate the change, especially if it's an uncomfortable or/and an unexpected one.

Skipping 2nd season, in the 3rd season Mike isn't the one hosting the game, which, considering the two seasons and his personality, is weird.

Will does it instead, and Mike not only doesn't want to play, he makes a show out of how much he isn't interested in participating. 3rd season Mike doesn't have a leading position for the first time in the show, and we're just ignoring it somehow??

Or y'all figured it out and I'm just being slow. In any case...

4rd season Mike is the first one we get as a full-time player, and he choses a "Trusted Leader" (ref. the picture above). Safe option for his pride, if you ask me.

1st season again: Will throws the dice and gets 7 (meaning, Demogorgon takes him), and Lucas offers him to cheat, because Mike didn't see the number, but Will decides he'd tell him the truth.

Lucas said, Will could've lie and Mike wouldn't possibly know he did. This lie would've saved Will's life. And it doesn't have to do anything with Mike, who supposedly is in the lead. Because if Mike doesn't know, it didn't happen. Mike's influence goes as far as his knowledge goes.

Off-top: I also think, the dice scene was foreshadowing Will's fake death, because Mike didn't believe Will is dead even after he saw the body. Mike didn't witness Will die = Will is alive. Simple as that.

Finn said Mike's role was passive in s4 and he is right! Mike wasn't the one to initiate anything since s3 where he lost/abandoned his hosting privilege.

However, as I mentioned before, in s4 Mike is a player (both in ell Fire and in real life). As soon as El gets taken away - she was the reason he stopped playing, keep that in mind - he starts doing conscious decisions again. He plays the game.

El's "From El" letter hit him hard not only because it was his own medicine shoved down his throat. He is forced to "look at the table".

He has been clearly avoiding his responsibilities before, but this makes him realize his mistake. It reminds him of how bad he actually is at losing control and how damaging it appears to be. Not only for him, but for the others too.

Side note, literally nothing happened when Byhop siblings left Hawkins. The only two people in the show who are connected to the Upside Down and were proved to be capable of surviving it. Why Vecna didn't attack as soon as the worthy opponents weren't here anymore?

Instead, he waited for Mike to leave, before he took the first shot. (On the afterthought, Vecna's victims were experiencing the symptoms while he was still in the town).

And now we can go back to the painting, after all of my points were made:

Mike Wheeler is the Shield of Hawkins. He protects the town as well as his companions. The way he holds his sword - upright and forward, causing the beast to stay away, can easily mean that he's one of the few things that keep Upside Down hidden from others.

It's his little world that he was slowly loosing control of ever since s1. And now he's forced to fight to get it back.

This theory has no conclusions, only observations, but I know that there are smart people over here, who can make something out of it.

If you've read it all... Thanks.