#it just seems like a no-brainer thing to include for story and character

[goatsorcery]

ill never be over the fact that inquisition doesnt have any sort of prologue. in origins you get your warden’s origin plus ostagar to establish your character before the main story begins. in dragon age 2 you have the fight outside of lothering and choosing to work for the mercenaries or the smugglers in kirkwall. and then inquisition just drops you in and its like if origins just started with waking up in flemeth’s hut and the only way you learn about the deaths of cailan, duncan, the wardens, and loghain’s betrayal is through other characters. i would have loved if there was even a brief bit at the beginning where you get to actually attend the conclave, establish your character outside of the world ending stakes, and have the chance to meet some of the people whose deaths you’re about to be blamed for.

[luvfy0dor]

Bsd and Book Tropes/Types!

╰┈➤ Atsushi, Dazai, Kunikida, Ranpo, Yosano, Akutagawa, Chuuya, Higuchi, Fyodor, Nikolai, Sigma

CW: None!

Description - Book types and tropes I think various bsd characters would enjoy. These are just some of my opinions, if you feel I've incorrectly characterized any of them please tell me! Also, this is based off of the main storyline, I haven't read Stormbringer, 55 Minutes, etc yet.

Atsushi Nakajima ☆

╰┈➤ Comic books, found family, childhood friends to lovers ☑

I feel like these are a no brainer, but I think Atsushi, if given the chance to read them as a child, would have really liked comics and grown up with them. I think he would like super hero/action stories. Specifically because of the Odasaku-Man show/series/franchise in BSD Wan. He'd probably enjoy DC, Marvel, The Avengers, etc.

Atsushi, to me at least, seems like the type of person to really want to connect to whatever he's reading and be moved by it. I think found family is probably a big thing for him because of Dazai bringing him into the agency and all. I think he likes sentimental and happier story lines that can make you cry solely because they have to end at some point.

Atsushi would probably like to watch the characters grow up together, probably torn apart by some unforseen event and eventually rekindling. Like I said, I think he would really like sentimental stuff, and seeing people rejoice and fall in love is probably really heart warming to him.

Osamu Dazai ☆

╰┈➤ Poetry, soulmates, MAJOR plot twists ☑

To be honest, I feel like if Dazai were to sit and read anything, it would most likely be a poem. I don't think Dazai is the type of guy to analyze poetry for fun, but I think he has a subconscious habit of doing it. Either he's pretty into it or he's skimming through it and tossing it to the side the second he's bored.

If I had to pick a romance trope that Dazai would like, I do think it'd be soulmates. Or maybe like, right person wrong time. I think he would like the angst of it should the book take a turn and end in tragedy, or he might also enjoy a fulfilling and satisfying ending. I think he likes the idea of two people being destined to be together, one soul two bodies type thing, you know? ;]

I think he likes major plot twists but only if they catch him off guard,which is probably pretty rare. He likes the feeling of surprise when a book takes an unexpected turn.

Doppo Kunikida ☆

╰┈➤ Slow burn, historical fiction ☑

Kunikida likes slow burn because it's something he can read through for a while. I think he likes trilogies and series, especially if he really enjoys the storyline and characters. He probably likes the reliability of being able to pick the same thing up for a while after dealing with whatever nonsense takes place at the agency.

I think he likes reading about things that he has at the very least surface level knowledge about. He likes when authors stay true to the actual events while creating a storyline around it. Like, for example, a love story that takes place between two soldiers in a war. So long as it stays true to the actual events, I think he would read it.

Edogawa Ranpo ☆

╰┈➤ The "Chosen One", Found Family ☑

Ranpo definitely has a hard time finding books that he'll actually enjoy. I can't remember if he said he did or didn't like mystery books though because they were to easy for him to solve? I don't remember, so I'm not gonna include mystery books for him. I think he would really like books where the main character is a "Chosen One" though. I don't really know why, it just seems like the type of story he'd sit through while simultaneously making fun of it.

"This guy thinks he's so special all because he can ____! I can do that too."

I think he'd also like found family because, like Atsushi, he found his family in the detective agency. He and Yosano are like sister and brother and Fukuzawa is like his father. I think they would have a special place in his heart for sure.

Yosano Akiko ☆

╰┈➤ Bad Girl/Good Boy, one of us is famous ☑

I think Yosano would feel as though the good girl/bad boy trope is way over done. She would probably be happy to see it switched up once in a while. I think she really likes the contrast of the two types of personalities and characters, but she also wants to see the characters be smart rather than immature or stupid. She probably wouldn't want to read the same stereotypical "Character A trips and falls, landing right on top of Character B." She likes when stories can stand out and be unique.

She also probably like the idea of one of the characters in the relationship being able to uphold themselves without their partner, that independence seems like something she'd find interesting to read. I think she would really take interest in the plot and how it could come out, maybe angsty because of the famous ones busy schedule? Maybe it ends with the famous one's career coming to retirement because they felt it's more important to make time for their partner? I think she'd find all of the possibilities interesting.

Ryunosuke Akutagawa ☆

╰┈➤ "I hate everyone in the world but you", childhood friends to lovers, nonfiction ☑

Honestly, I have like, a big list of tropes in front of me and it was really hard to pick for him because none of them really seemed very him to me. If you catch him reading a romance book though, it's probably "I hate everyone but you" or childhood friends to lovers. I think they could both go hand in hand for him. The "I hate everyone but you" trope reminds me of like, only being able to trust this one person thoroughly. Trust like that is gained through years of companionship such as childhood friendships into adolescence and adulthood. I think his childhood probably would have an effect on this preference.

"We've already been together so long, you know me and I know you and there is trust. Why would I ever want to start all that over?" Type of thing.

While I think he doesn't mind fiction occasionally, I think he prefers to read about real things. It's more serious.

Nakahara Chuuya ☆

╰┈➤ Workplace romance, second chance romance, secret romance ☑

Chuuya seems like the type of guy to like romance and moderate thrill, so I think he leans towards romance stories that could build up suspense or get the characters into a little bit of trouble. As for office romance, I think he likes the idea of falling in love with someone in a place he kind of has to be every day, that person making his day better. It also means he would get to be close to his s/o and I think he'd knowing that they're okay, which is why I think he'd like that trope. The thrilling part is that maybe it's against a code of conduct in the office? Maybe they get caught dating, what happens after that?

Second chance romance to me is exciting because you get to see characters learn and grow from their mistakes, and I think Chuuya finds acknowledgement on wrongdoings really important. But characters might also mess up again, which is always interesting to watch go down.

Secret romance is self explanatory on the thrill factor. It can give you so many questions that are most likely answered in the book itself, like why is it a secret?

(I also think he enjoys super hero comics but wouldn't admit it in fear of being called immature because of that Odasaku-Man scene in bsd wan)

Ichiyō Higuchi ☆

╰┈➤ Workplace romance, YA rom-com, bad boy/good girl ☑

She definitely likes the idea of workplace romance because of her massive little crush on Akutagawa. Like Chuuya I think she'd like the idea of being around your s/o even while having to work, whether the work is boring or not. I think her crush also influences the bad boy/good girl thing, although I don't know if I'd call her a good girl. I think she would like to consider herself a good girl.

YA rom-com also seems like her thing, like she would read it while laying in her stomach, kicking her feet, twirling her hair, and giggling.

Fyodor Dostoevsky ☆

╰┈➤ Philosophy, poetry, life's hardships ☑

Oh boy. He doesn't even get tropes, I don't think he'd read fiction. I do think he'd read philosophy books though, like he's probably read up on Confusious and Aristotle or something like that. Even if he doesn't agree with the philosopher he's reading about, I think he'd find it interesting.

He definitely appreciates poetry, HE'S the type of guy to analyze it in his free time. I think he'd find poetry beautiful when done right.

Because the real Dostoevsky grew up poor, I think bsd Dostoevsky has an appreciation for books written about struggles an author has faced. Fyodors past hasn't been mentioned in the main storyline of bsd atleast, so I'm just going assume he grew up poor until other information comes out. I think hearing about other people facing the same thing he did in childhood might give him a sense of humanity. He said during his "happy group counseling hour" that only he and Dazai could understand each other because of their levels of intelligence. Maybe seeing other people having something in common with him would be something he would like.

Nikolai Gogol ☆

╰┈➤ Independent mc ☑

Nikolai doesn't seem like the type to read a lot, but because of his ideology associated with freedom, I think he'd like books with a strong lead character. I don't think he'd like books with main characters that rely heavily on other people or have a bland personality outside of their significant other. He'd like characters that solve their own problems and obtain their own goals.

Sigma ☆

╰┈➤ Magazines, cook books, friends to lovers ☑

I think Sigma reads like, the people magazine so he can understand what's going on in pop culture and have some knowledge of what's going on. He probably likes knowing what's trending. I think he'd also like the "Home Decor" sections of the magazines or like the scratch and sniff parts. I don't know why, I just do.

He'd also probably read cookbooks occasionally and memorize recipes when he's not memorizing every detail about his customers.

I think Sigma would find romance stories endearing, specifically friends to lovers. Kind of similar to Akutagawas, I think he would like the idea of already having that trust built through friendship. Because Sigma is so naive and how much he's been used, he likes reading about characters who already have a good friendship that is built on reliability and trust. That friendship turning into a romance eventually.

[hero-of-crefeld]

I just read this article and I couldn't calm down out of joy. We all know what's going to happen to John in the upcoming books, but it seems David is (finally) stepping up to the main ranks and getting the scenes he deserves. And it's going to be great!!!

„One of the great confluences of these rivers in season seven is the love triangle of Claire, Jamie and Lord John Grey (David Berry). Both Claire and John love Jamie "desperately and passionately," Roberts says. "There are so many layers and dynamics between these three people, and this season it'll definitely come to a head. I think a lot of people will fall in love with John again."

For her part, Davis says, "I cannot wait for everyone to see David Berry's performance in season seven. He's outstanding. He just kills it in this role, especially this season. He's really stepped it up."

Perhaps his performance this season will help seal the deal on the long-gestating idea of a Lord John spinoff. "Just speaking for myself, I think the Lord John series is a no-brainer," Davis says. "I would love to see that series. The books are great, and he's such an interesting character."

OMG! ❤️

Full article link:

https://www.emmys.com/news/features/onward-outlander

LOVE your blog! 🥰

Thank you so much for sending this, anon! <3

Here's a direct link to the article for anyone who wants to read it: https://www.emmys.com/news/features/onward-outlander

I apparently had many thoughts on the subject, so the rest is under the cut. :D

I have to begin with: hell yes people are going to fall in love with John! The character is so interesting, and although I find it a bit tedious that we often sometimes only get to see him as this lovesick dude who conveniently shows up to solve Jamie’s problems, I think the show actually does a decent job of portraying him. Because he’s the character you want to know more about. In a show where you have so many characters, he is the one that kind of feels like a main character even though he isn’t one. He feels nuanced and you get a sense of him actually living his life in between making appearances in the show. And that’s something I don’t necessarily get with a lot of the other characters. (Okay, I may be super biased but still!)

Introducing him more firmly into the main story through a love triangle is a good way of at least getting more LJG in our lives. I hope they change the story a bit and tone down homophobic-punches-John-in-the-face Jamie, and I think they will, since they’ve done a great job in making Jamie less conservative in other aspects, too. With regards to what happens later with John, I wonder how much they plan to include in the show. But whatever they do, I hope they don’t run through a million things in a half-assed way and then just go “anyway, that situation resolved itself, don’t worry about it.” But we’ll see.

In any case, it makes me so happy to know that there is support for an LJG spinoff! It’s so true that there is good material to draw from if they were to make it, and I think it would be really great to get a historical show that had an LGBTQ+ main character. But simultaneously, I have to admit that my expectation for such a show would be sky-high, and I would probably throw a tantrum at the smallest historical inaccuracy. (So they’d better do their research unlike DG…) I know it’s historical fiction, but it can be accurate and entertaining. (Fun take, I know) My expectations would anyway be really high because David Berry deserves the world, and that includes flawlessly written shows where he is the main character.

And speaking of David. Oh my god, anon, when I read the words “I cannot wait for everyone to see David Berry's performance in season seven. He's outstanding. He just kills it in this role, especially this season. He's really stepped it up.” my heart skipped a beat. Like I don’t have praise kink, I have a ‘praise David Berry’ kink. I cannot even begin to describe how wonderful it is to read those words. He deserves it so much. I don’t even know what to say… I just… I don’t even know. Like he doesn’t seem like the most confident person in the world, so it makes me so indescribably happy to read about people explicitly saying that he’s amazing. And also the fact that there is talk of a spinoff shows that there is sooo much love not just for Lord John but for David as well. He is the perfect LJG. My heart is so full, anon! So full! And I absolutely get why you can’t calm down out of joy, because hard same!!!

[eggwithaneye]

Spidersona dumping cause I forgot to post it on here lol

Meet La Mostola Pulchra(⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)

Name after the spider Grammostola Pulchra

I call them Paul lol

Miguel: you're and abomination

Paul: *finger guns* thanks you too

Story:

This universe sun is just unforgiving and just straight up fucking with people psych like looking at it just make you feels like you're losing your mind

(I live in Vietnam and the sun is unyielding and I'm a little bitch that go out in all black and complain about the heat).

The people in this universe version of the big apple don't know that, most of them don't even know that the sun even exist, living in a city covered constantly in dark raincloud (think Gotham city) the government also made a serum contain with a symbiote that would prevent the people from going full on psychotic break if they were exposed with the sunlight but side effects include being mutated by the symbiote but the government also made sure that people don't know they were basically monsters.

And Paul here (not their real name) had the unfortunate faith of being a lap rat for their friend to test the new serum on because the two were friends for a long time and trusted them "What's the worst that can happen". The new serum contain spider DNA of sort which accompanying the symbiote of crouse mutated them, second and third pair of arms but not looking very monstrous. Becoming a spiderperson, at that point was a no brainer cause the new serum also seems to boost their body to the fullest, stronger, faster more energetic, only for a period of time though, but it also come with a undying hunger making them eat a lot but never seems to be truly satisfied, also end up being a bit of a junkie relying on the serum for the temporary brust of energy.

The spiderpeople don't mind Paul not being a serious Spiderman cause their universe out of all the others seems to have the most hand on way to prevent crime. Besides the extra limps the other spiderpeople don't really see them any different from a regular looking person but Miguel, I headcanon have such enhanced sights that he can see tiny bits of the deformation and almost the whole monstrous form and a bit on edge and freak out about this.

I wanted this character to be morbid af but also joke cause I have problems and I like the idea of Miguel having worst thing taking first place from Peter.B.Parker to deal with

Still fleshing it out mostly on the universe part. Their personality is playful ignorance and blunt honesty cause they have zero social cues just like me lol, but they sometimes can tell what tick someone off and used it for fun and of course morbid. When I was imagining how their relationship with Miguel would progress, I imagined them actually antagonizing Miguel to the point where he almost loses it.

[pbjelly90]

This was fun! It really made me think about my stories a lot. I used purple where it shows up in a lot of my writing, including my current novel, and blue for where I've mainly done it in RPs/other writing but not my novel. I put light purple for one because it's probably upcoming in a scene I'm working on.

Just some notes/reflections for myself below here:

One thing this made me reflect on was how black/white a lot of the significant conflicts are in my novel, which I guess isn't necessarily a bad thing, but was interesting to me to note. Like we do see why and how the main villain ended up this way/going down this road, but at no point does he seem correct in what he chose to do. Maybe in the writing of more of it, there will be more interpersonal arguments where both characters have a point (I could see that happening a lot with one duo in particular who have already been butting heads.) I have done this in other writing, like the Star Wars RP I have going with friends, where two characters are arguing over the training of one of the padawans they both care about and both make good points.

I'm not sure when the line gets crossed into qualifying as a lot of medical care, so jury's out on if that counts for the novel. There's a side character who's a doctor and he does patch some folks up particularly early on, but TBD there as things progress (he certainly does a lot post-canon once freed, but that's not all technically in the novel.) Then I thought about my writing in general more and realized uh yeah, my first main Star Wars RP OC is a healer, herbalist and medic, that's her entire job. Most of her short solo stories are related to some medical assignment she's on that we see in detail, so check.

Unexpected panic attacks will be TBD as I write more of the novel, not sure if they'll qualify as unexpected, will have to see how I handle that. There's definitely a lot of opportunities for these given what goes down.

I barely show anyone sleeping unless they're in the med bay in the novel so far, so we'll see there too lol. I can think of at least one another location the characters will be at soon where they don't have enough beds/sleeping bags/etc. most likely, and the squad's all pretty close, particularly the shifters, so they'd have no trouble being all huddled together (with maybe a few exceptions.)

I questioned if I had meal time in the book and then remembered I just wrote one of those scenes lol. Also SWRPG short stories have frequently involved a campfire meal.

Glowy magic, magic tied to emotions, and lots of jewelry/accessories were no brainers for me, my writing is chock full of those ones. x3

Marr's Writing Bingo

Most of my stories won't have all of these things, but most of them probably have most of them.

Play bingo: how much do your stories look like mine?

[stayatsam]

DM tips to make your game better for you and your players

I've been having a lot of thinking lately of how i've seen complaints from both DMs and players of having bad experiences with each other, games falling apart, etc. Put together some tips for DMs out there to help communicate with your players and keep a game from dying. This tip-sheet isn't about campaign-building or storytelling, it's more meta out of game stuff.

Listen to your players and pay attention

This might seem like a no-brainer, but your players probably are not familiar with some of the finer details of D&D, and they certainly don't know what your campaign has in store for them. Be flexible and willing to bend parts of your campaign to suit them.

Listening to your players includes keeping note of how they talk to each other in the game, not just how they talk to you. If a player makes a quick quip about how everyone else in the party has cool magic items and they don't, slip something in for them in an upcoming session that would suit them especially.

2. Be annoying about planning, I mean it

It's easy to feel like you're annoying the group chat or server by constantly asking "Hey wanna get together this weekend?" but it's just something that has to be done. Your players want to play D&D just as much as you do, but it's the Dungeon Master that has to pull the schedule together. DMing comes with a leadership, organizer role that your players automatically look to for scheduling.

3. Post-session talks.

Plan some time after you end your session to talk with your players. Discuss recent developments in the story, comment on their use of technique and spells, ask them where they want to go next, and open a discussion to let everyone (DM included) talk about the game. Even if it's just one or two of your players, it's super helpful and gives a lot of insight

4. Establish a Session 0

This probably should go under 1 but I wasn't thinking of it until right now but: Session 0 is so important. It lets the party get to know each other, talk about their characters' relationships, aspirations, shortcomings and strengths before you dive into the game. This is a pretty solid Session 0 checklist.

5. You are a player too

Dungeon mastering is hard, and can often go un-appreciated. But you are also playing this game to have a good time, and that's something that should be communicated to your players. Be willing to open up a dialogue if a player is doing something bothersome to your game, chances are said thing is bothering the other players too.

6. So, D&D

It's fine to get off-topic and start talking about life and random things outside of D&D while you're in the game, and I'm guilty as both a DM and player of getting very off topic but inevitably I say the line "So, D&D" or "Dungeons and Dragons" to get our attention back on the game. There's usually at least 1 or 2 players in your group that is mildly annoyed when the group gets too off topic, and chances are you're on a time limit before it gets too late in the day/night.

7. Session Summaries

A lot of parties don't take notes, or won't remember every little detail. Hopefully, you'll remember most of these details. At the end of every session, or before every session, write down what happened that session.

Before we start playing, I start each session with a quick summary of the previous week's events. It gets all our brain juices flowing and reminds all of us about important developments. There'll probably be a "Oh I forgot about that!" moment when you're going over past events.

Put these summaries in a place your players can see them too, like a channel on Discord.

8. If you're not having fun, your players probably aren't either

Know when to end a session or game entirely. It's ok to need a break and refresher. And if the campaign itself is just not clicking, sometimes you'll just have to start over. It happens, but it's better to start fresh on a game people enjoy then try to churn out a mediocre campaign. Have fun with your players! You're all in this together.

[that-bl-bitch]

Ok so I decided to do a favorite bl dramas of 2021 even though no ones asked lol, although looking back at everything I watched this year I really didn’t watch that many at least compared to 2020, like I really slacked on my bl watching this year like at one point I was watching 12 or 14 at one time (this included like older completed ones too as well as airing shows) now if I’m watching 5 or 6 I feel overwhelmed which is so frustrating so if I was setting a bl related resolution it would be to get back to that 12-14 territory, anyways I've watched around 20 something dramas give or take some short films and movies but just to focus on the dramas of it all for this list, although I didn’t watch that many this year I still feel like I watched some very good ones and I very very happy with every single show on this list that being said let’s get into it.

**DISCLAIMER** these are not in any specific order like best to least or anything like that cause it would absolutely break my brain and my heart to rank them

**P.S** spoilers for some of the shows I’m gonna talk about if you haven’t got to them yet

#1) WE BEST LOVE: NO. 1 FOR YOU

Ok not much to say about this one just really solid and I really enjoyed it and the fact that it’s only 6 episodes but felt like a full long series is really something, great story, great acting, great chemistry a full chefs kiss

#2) WE BEST LOVE: FIGHTING MR.2ND

Same thing like the first one I really enjoyed it and the angst in this one is next level like just the right amount for me personally, so so good chefs kiss again

#3) I PROMISED YOU THE MOON

Really very good for obvious reasons I liked this one a lot cause we got to see Oh and Teh actually in their relationship and all the struggle that comes with transitioning from dating in high school to dating in college and honestly didn’t really expect them to get back together at the end so that was very nice cause I love a happy ending

#4) HISTORY4: CLOSE TO YOU

Great show love a HIStory so this was a no brainer great acting great chemistry sometimes the story got a little ehhhhh?? But honestly I could look past that

#5) TO MY STAR

Hands down probably my favorite Korean bl or at least top three, I’m SOOOO EXCITED for season 2, can't wait

#6) BE LOVED IN HOUSE: I DO

A very cutesy show perfect balance of enemies-ish to lovers it was just very cute and I really liked that the big bad turned out to not really be a big bad

#7) MANNER OF DEATH

Now technically this one came out in 2020 but I finished it in 2021 so I’m including it

Great show! at first I did not want to watch this show at all like when it was announced I immediately wrote it off cause it just didn’t seem like a show that I would be interested in, I love maxtul and that almost got me but....it was around 4 episodes in that I decided to binge them to get caught up cause I saw some gif that caught my attention and as soon as I started it i was so sad I wasn’t watching it from the beginning it was literally so good. I’m very excited for whatever maxtul next thing is cause they are do something together right? It’s something not sure of the details, fingers crossed for a sequel tho

Ok now for the next two I felt kinda weird about putting ongoing series on this list cause part of brain thinks well yeah it’s good right now but it could get bad or have an ending that completely ruins the whole show for me, which doesn’t happen often but happens (*cough cough* modc) but honestly these two are just so so so good that there is no way that I couldn’t put them on this list

#8) PAINT WITH LOVE

Paint with love honestly really took me for a shock cause I was not expecting to like it SO much like it's got some sort of Je ne sais quoi like I have no idea why I like it so much like I love the story, it’s so funny, I love all the characters, got my girl Yiwha from together with me you couldn't ask for anything more perfect, the chemistry I love it it’s all so cute, it blows my mind that some people don't like this show

#9) BAD BUDDY

Do we really even got to talk about tho one like if you’re watching bad buddy right now and not enjoying it enthusiastically then babe something is wrong with you, I could name so many fucking reasons why this is the best fucking show ever but then this post would be even longer than it already is, if ykyk

#10) MY BEAUTIFUL MAN

Now this bitch probably the most shocking to me that I even enjoyed this a little bit let alone put this on my overall 2021 list like huh? I absolutely hate the whipping boy trope it’s makes me sad and angry and makes me feel bad for everyone involved but this shit right here was in-fucking-credible now I didn’t get obsessive over this one until episode 4 cause the first three episodes were all iffy but not enough for me to call it quits so I kept going and bitch let me tell you episode 4 made up for all the shit in episodes 1-3 like episodes 4-6 oh my lord I was literally so close to not even starting this show and I’m very very very glad that I just randomly had some free time and wanted to watch something cause, and not to be to dramatic or anything but if I would have left this earth without having experienced this show what a disappointing waste of living fucking fire, like watch it if you havent cause you won't regret it

Ok there you have it long as hell and probably the most energy, preparation, and effort I ever put into a tumblr post in a long time but worth it cause while I didn’t watch that many bls/gls this year I watched some really good ones and I’m very happy with what I did watch, im looking forward to all the new ones to come honestly a little stressed about it low key cause there are so many shows to check out but very excited nonetheless

[writergeekrhw]

An Elementary question for you: how did the writers' room choose which classic Holmes stories to adapt? I assume Irene, Moriarty, the Hound of the Baskervilles, and Reichenbach were no-brainers because they're things Everybody Knows About Sherlock Holmes. But what appealed to the writers about--for example--Kitty Winter and Shinwell Johnson that led to those characters' arcs?

There was no particular science to it. We'd just pitch Rob D. things from canon that we enjoyed and then include them if he went for it. With Shinwell and Kitty, they seemed like interesting characters with the potential for expansion. We had internal discussions about them as a staff until we landed on stories Rob liked, so we went for it.

We had discussions like this for most major canonical characters. One we talked about a lot but never quite figured out was Holy Peter. At one point, he was going to be the big bad of the Shinwell arc, but we never quite landed on a way to make it work.

[overthinkingfandom]

Cards on the Table - Breaking down the tactics in L'manburg Independence

/rp /dsmp

Much has been said in the fandom about L'manburg's independence. It is, after all, arguably the most important moment in DSMP's history, as the rest of the story wouldn't have existed without it. 

In light of the recent anniversary of it, yes I know I’m late, I wanted to throw my hat in the ring and add something to the discussion surrounding it. However, as the morality of the situation has been discussed to death I'll be taking a slightly different approach to it. 

Due to the nature of the DSMP's medium, the story has many unique quirks. One of those quirks is how realistic the tactics used in the story's portrayal of politics are. The independence conflict is a great example of it. While on the surface things seem to be rather simplistic in nature, there's a lot more going on that’s less obvious.

Both Wilbur and Dream are brilliant politicians who get to show both their strengths and weaknesses in dealing with an equally skilled opponent in this encounter. There’s actually quite a bit to go into, despite their interactions being so short.

When most people think about the L'manburg's independence, they think about the moment the declaration has been written up and the subsequent declaration of war. While this moment is certainly iconic, it's not really all that impactful in the grand scheme of things. Both declarations are the culmination of decisions that have been made beforehand. It's the moment when those decisions were made that really influenced things.

Conveniently, Wilbur and Dream only hold a single conversation about L'manburg before the declarations are drawn up, so we don’t need to look far in order to figure out where those decisions were formed. 

Wilbur has been working on L’manburg, collecting materials and building the wall surrounding it, for almost an hour when he spots Dream lurking. “Get [Dream] into the VC, I need to talk with him. He’s the leader of the other nation, I think we need to have a congress.” (52:44)

Dream: “Hello?”

Wilbur: “Hello Dream. Welcome to our great nation of L’manburg.”

Dream: “L’manburg?”

Wilbur: “Yes. We are seceding from Dream SMP. This is our own server now. This area, just this part [between the walls of L’manburg], is our server.”

Wilbur doesn’t waste any time before getting right down to business and talking about the matter at hand. However, the way he speaks about it here and in the rest of the conversation is fairly interesting. Wilbur is talking about L’manburg as if it’s something which already exists. They are seceding. This is their land. This conversation is merely a courtesy to give Dream a formal notice of their separation.

Yet, a bit later Wilbur shows he knows they need Dream’s acknowledgement in order for L’manburg to be its own entity. Independence is not a concrete thing that can just be taken or created on one person’s whim, after all. It only exists when the people with power agree it exists. 

Wilbur: “Dream, basically all we want from you is just acknowledgement that we are an independent nation now. That’s all we need.” (56:20)

So if Wilbur knows they aren’t independent yet, why is he talking like that? 

It’s because he’s using a salesman technique called an Assumptive Close. Instead of posing it as a question and putting the choice of agreeing or disagreeing in Dream’s hands, Wilbur acts as if it’s already true and leaves the burden of challenging his claims on Dream’s shoulders. He even moves on to ask secondary questions on how Dream feels about having embassies in his land (and notably he frames it as a question, unlike how he frames the topic of L’manburg’s independence) as if L’manburg is already a political entity. 

Wilbur: “Dream, I’ve got a proposition for you. How do you feel about having Tommy’s land being an embassy? Like it’s an enclave in your own land.” (59:01)

Wilbur’s use of this technique has an interesting side effect in that it signals to Dream Wilbur is taking a non-compromising position in this negotiation. In essence saying “L’manburg is independent, take it or leave it.” 

A non-compromising position is the game theory term for when someone goes, "I'm going to do that, this is going to happen and nothing can dissuade me from this course of action." It's a strong tactic which forces everyone to react to that person's position, reducing the others' options into a binary of either accepting that position or rejecting it. 

This is a very common tactic and various manifestations of it can be seen all over history and media. From Martin Luther who refused to recant or compromise with his famous words of “Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise” to groups who cultivate a "with us or against us" mentality to heroic characters who say they would die before giving in to whatever Evil the story focuses on.

This is the situation Dream is facing here. He can either accept Wilbur's assertion that L'manburg is an independent entity by either encouraging them or even doing nothing, or he can reject Wilbur's assertion by acting against it.

As we all know, he ended up choosing the second option but what were his considerations for doing so?

For that we would need to know what his goal was here, something we don't really get a sense of from his conversation with Wilbur. However, he ends up stating what it was in a later conversation with Skeppy. 

(Emphasis added by me and wasn’t part of the original dialogue.)

“Everyone can build wherever they want. [L’manburg] just decided to say that they get to determine where they can build and we can’t and we said well no, you can’t do that. And that’s what the whole war was over.” (31:44)

“[L’manburg] can’t tell us that we can’t go in their land. That’s all we wanted to say. That they’re not independent, they are a part of the Dream Team SMP. They’re just a delusional, small part." (34:26)

Dream lies a lot, so just because he says something doesn't mean it's necessarily true. However, this seems to be genuine. Dream has no problem telling Skeppy “we burned down their houses and blew up the whole land.” (32:36) later on in the conversation, so we can rule out that he's trying to paint himself in a better light, and there aren't really any other reasons for him to lie to Skeppy here about this. 

When looking at Dream's options with his goal we can see the choice is pretty much a no-brainer. 

Accepting is a total lose scenario for him. Not only will it fail to fulfill his goals, it would actively encourage the sort of behavior he doesn't want to happen, as Wilbur would set a precedent that so long as someone insisted hard enough and implied Dream is a bad person he would fold in negotiations and give them what they want.

Rejecting gets him far closer to his goal of railing against L’manburg’s exclusion. Going to war means he has to invest much more effort and resources into his reaction than if he just accepted as well as deal with the risks any war has, however the sheer difference in ability between Dream's side and Wilbur's side make the risk minimal. 

Going to a war he’s pretty sure he can win VS encouraging the sort of thing he disapproves of, isn’t really a hard choice.

This is actually the result of a mistake on Wilbur's part. CC!Wilbur called his character naive (37:49) and he's not wrong. Wilbur has a tendency to act as he wishes and not take into account that people might disagree or retaliate. We see it with him saying they could just ignore the Americans (1:51:17) or during the elections when he told Quackity his scheme and got blindsided by Quackity deciding to run against him. 

Historically, non-compromising positions worked best when the person who used it made sure rejection would be more costly than acceptance in one way or the other. In essence, narrowing down the options for others even more and leaving them only with acceptance. 

Wilbur may have managed to wipe off the table all other options and put pressure on Dream to accept with his use of Assumptive Close, but he didn't do anything to prevent Dream from rejecting. In fact, it seems like Wilbur didn't even consider it as a valid possibility as he outright dismissed it when Dream brought it up as an option.

Dream: “What happens if the rest of the server decides to take over your land?”

Wilbur: “They can’t. It’s literally not how servers- Dream you’re supposed to be smart man, that’s not how servers work. You can’t just take over another person’s server.” (54:33)

But, you may be asking, if it was better for Dream to go to war against L'manburg rather than grant them independence, why did he end up giving into their desire for independence in the war? Wouldn't it have been better if he just saved everyone the trouble and gave it to them when they asked for it the first time? Or maybe Dream’s obsession with Tommy and his discs is just that strong?

We can find the answer to all those questions at Punz’ video where he shows the behind the scenes of the independence war, including some of the planning which went into it from the Dream Team’s side of the war. Specifically, this quote:

Dream: “[The L’manburgians] are never gonna give up. So then in the end the resolution will probably just be, we won but they can think whatever they want, we’re just going to ignore them because they’re essentially like- You want to think you’re independent? You’re not, you’re still part of the SMP, but if you want to think you’re independent, you can.” (9:04)

“They’re never gonna give up.”

Whether it’s true or not doesn’t matter, as this is what Dream thinks and so this is what dictates his actions. Perhaps he’s overestimating his opponents here, or maybe he’s talking about how even if L’manburg is defeated this time they would try again for independence in the future. In either case, it’s clear Dream thinks the best case scenario for him - completely preventing people from fighting for L'manburg's independence - is impossible. 

So, he tries for the second best case. If he can’t prevent L’manburg, he’s going to allow it but only under Dream’s terms. That’s what his “they can think whatever they want” line is all about. He intends on giving them token independence here, something which would satisfy them but wouldn't pose a real threat. Which is exactly what he ends up offering them during the bow duel.

Dream: “Let me just clarify: if you win, we grant L’Manburg independence.”

Tommy: “Alright.”

Dream: “But we recognize it still as a part of the Dream Team SMP.”

Wilbur: “That’s fine, that’s a fine condition.” (40:54)

The token independence thing didn’t work out so well for him. L'manburg quickly grew to be seen as an entity separate from Greater Dream SMP by everyone, and so Dream was forced to concede and treat it as one as well. 

However, despite this part of his plan failing, overall the independence war was a glowing success for Dream. 

By giving L'manburg independence after winning the war, Dream sent a very clear message. L'manburg only gets to be independent so long as they stay on Dream's good side. If they don't adhere to the terms Dream sets out for them? He can and will kick their asses, as the war so aptly demonstrated.

This message is received loud and clear. During his entire presidency Wilbur went out of his way to treat Dream with respect and try not to piss him off. Something he clearly demonstrates a number of times, like when he asked if he should call Dream “king Dream” (59:08) or during the railway skirmish (24:16).

In fact, it can be argued that this message lasted all the way up to Tubbo's presidency. Unlike Quackity, who was perfectly fine with starting a fight with Dream, Tubbo knew first hand what a war against Dream looks like. He knew that they could not win a war against him, especially in their weakened state at the time, and that influenced his decision. 

As Dream once said: "L'manburg can be independent but it can't be free."

[silver-wield]

Okay, so we got a lot of stuff yesterday and I've had a few thoughts...

Let's talk subtitles first.

We know the subtitle for part two is Rebirth, which follows the same "re" prefix as part one's remake.

If the devs continue this theme, that means the subtitle for part three will begin "re".

Since they've placed the subtitle in the space beside the meteor this limits the amount of letters they can use before the word becomes so compressed it looks stupid. This means the likelihood of the part three sub being between 6-8 letters long, and combining that with the "re" prefix, that cuts down the list of possible subtitles a lot.

Also, taking into account other titles in the series also using subtitles *coughCCreunioncough* and other well known game and movie franchises that have "re" prefix titles that they also wouldn't wanna cross over, this leaves us with very few words that could be used for part three's subtitle.

That's if they stick to this formula.

Dictionary time!

Recall, Redeem, Reset, Reboot, Refocus, Rematch, Requiem, Restore, Reprisal, Revenant.

I generally stuck to words that are active over passive, so while ones like "repose" fit, I don't think that's how the devs would wanna go. Also basic no brainers like "revenge" or "return" seemed too easy, so I ignored those too.

But I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Next thing I noticed is how the hidden part three title has the lifestream all over it. This could be a potential hint that the lifestream scene is in part three.

This means the content for part two will likely include everything up to the northern crater and meteor being summoned.

I know this looks like a lot, but I think the devs will remove fort condor and place it over in part three since that's where the bulk of the story for it takes place.

I also think they'll move Wutai because the GS is gonna be a lavish location and I can't see them wanting it to fight with the natural beauty of Wutai. They're both gonna be stunning locations that deserve their own focus, so by moving Wutai to part three we get the GS front and centre for part two and then an equally gorgeous location in part three with Wutai.

So, those could move. What about the rest? I know people claim "all the action happens in disc one". Well, part two can't be too big or they'll never get it on spec.

Meeting Yuffie is a five second cut scene, so that'd no prob. Junon and the cargo ship we know happen cause of ToTP.

Corel, the GS and prison are all one event.

Gongaga is gonna be a short trip with some cut scenes.

Cosmo canyon is gonna be a good chapter long.

Nibelheim is gonna be a big one too.

Then you've got rocket town and the GS date, and after that is all the plot heavy stuff which should cover at least five chapters. The rest is after Aerith dies and heading up the crater, so once you break it down, there's a lot happening but not too much.

Also, the story is very linear at this point, with only one backtrack to the GS. It's possible the devs combine that with the Corel arc and have everyone take a break after they escape the prison. Although they could also go back, as we saw with part one, the party returned to wall market to gather intel with the trio and other characters.

Final interesting point about the title, they used the same bg as the edge of creation. Idk what it means, maybe they just liked the colour 🤣

For anyone curious what that means for part three's content. It's all the huge materia missions, the lifestream scene, a lot of main plot stuff and sidequests. This is why I think they'd move Wutai and fort condor to this part because it has room to breathe and develop more of these events. They also have room to expand other parts of the plot with locations from CC like Nojima said he'd like to do.

Shameless plug time: If you like my content and wanna support me rambling away then plz buy me a coffee! It's all I exist on besides spite 🤣

[a-secret-bolton-vampire]

The Coming War for the North, Part 3: The Battle of the Bastards

To see the previous installments of this series, part 1 and part 2 are available to read here and here, respectively.

The idea that Jon and Ramsay would fight has been around for a while, even before the TV show. There are a lot of signs pointing to a similar confrontation in the books, but how it unfolds might be a little different from the show. In this final section, I'll get right down to business on this final battle for Winterfell, and the purpose and themes this plot line.

Two Snows & Winterfell

Jon and Ramsay are two very different, and somewhat very similar characters. Throughout ADWD Jon has letters sent by Ramsay detailing events transpiring in the North, including the retaking of Moat Cailin, and the marriage of Arya Stark (really Jeyne Poole) to the newly legitimized Ramsay Bolton. Stannis also begins his campaign to take the North, and sends letters to Jon detailing his movements and what he is doing. When confronted by Melisandre, Jon learns that Mance Rayder was actually Rattleshirt in magic disguise, and Rattleshirt is actually Mance in magic disguise, and with Melisandre's nudging, agrees to send Mance and six spearwives to rescue Arya from Winterfell.

Then Ramsay sends the pink letter and tells Jon that he defeated Stannis, has captured Mance, and demands Stannis's family and allies or he will attack the Night's Watch. Don't forget that Jon is the one who started this, not Ramsay. He was the instigator, helping Stannis and taking Arya away from Ramsay. Not to say Ramsay is in the right here morally (quite the opposite), but Jon did break his vows for this to happen, and he wasn't really on Ramsay's radar until this happened. Thus, ADWD has set up a rivalry between the two. However, the two characters have a lot in common to be set up as foils to each other.

Both are bastards of a very prominent noble lord of the North. Both resent their bastard status and yearn for approval to be a trueborn member of their House. And both want Winterfell. Ramsay already has Winterfell and is declared the Lord of Winterfell, while Jon nearly took Stannis's offer to be Lord of Winterfell, before rejecting it to keep his vows to the Night's Watch, while still yearning to have Winterfell. However, from there, they are complete opposites.

Ramsay is a demon in human skin, a sadistic serial killer and rapist who enjoys torture and murder, and has no regard for the laws of men. Meanwhile, Jon, as raised by Ned, is a noble and honourable person who tries his best to keep his oath and honour intact (although he does forsake it at the end of ADWD). In the season 4 DVD extras for Game of Thrones, GRRM himself even talks about this.

The relationship between Roose and Ramsay is, in some ways, a dark counterpoint to the relation between Ned Stark and Jon Snow. In both cases, a noble father with a bastard son. Jon and Ramsay are literally the opposite to each other. Jon is very noble and honorable. And Ramsay is none of those things. Roose himself is a cold and calculating man. A dispassionate man. "I placed far too much trust in you." But their treatment of the bastard son is very different. Ned keeps Jon Snow at Winterfell and he's raised with Robb and Bran. For all practical purposes, he is one of Ned's sons. Ramsay gets nothing from Roose.

Given the fact we have good build up between a rivalry between them, and that they are foils of each other, a confrontation between the two seems very likely. And even more so when you look both at the past history and at ADWD. The Stark-Bolton rivalry is the longest and most prominent feud in the North, supposedly dating back to the Long Night. Numerous wars were fought between the Red Kings from the Dreadfort and the Kings of Winter from Winterfell, some of them ending in Bolton victory. At least twice, two Bolton kings (both named Royce) took and burnt Winterfell (and it happened a third time in ACOK when Ramsay did it). The Boltons also were alleged to have flayed and worn the skins of Stark princes as cloaks.

In a way, this rivalry is a very dark, yet still grounded fantasy version of werwolves and vampires. There are quite a lot of stories including werewolves and vampires that have the two be natural enemies, with feuds that go back centuries sometimes. Of course, both the Starks and Boltons take on very clear roles as werewolves and vampires. Starks have warg blood in them (even if not all of them were wargs), and many of them have dreams at night of being a wolf and rampaging around, which sounds very much like old werewolf legends. The Boltons being vampires, on the other hand, is less magical and more implied.

The Boltons have this unearthly, sinister feel and look to them that makes them appear somewhat inhuman, with pale eyes variously described as dirty chips of ice or pale moons, and a look about themselves that is similar to some descriptions of vampires. Then of course there is the Dreadfort, a spooky old castle ruled by a very spooky and yet somewhat cultured man (Dracula anyone)? Then of course we have all the very creepy images of Boltons flaying people, and Ramsay sometimes writing using human blood as ink.

Basically, what I'm saying is that ASOIAF has done what Twilight did but better.

To go back to the future, it makes thematic and narrative sense for the Starks to retake Winterfell from their ancient nemesis. The rivalry began between a Stark and a Bolton, and will end with a Stark bastard and a Bolton bastard, fighting over dominance of the North and of Winterfell.

The Battle of the Bastards

At first glance, it seems like it's a no brainer for how this battle will unfold. Ramsay is gonna lose a lot of support, and Jon will have all the support and completely demolish Ramsay. However, while I do think it will end in victory for Jon (and not without outside help), I think that both are going to be in rather desperate positions, Jon maybe more so.

After Jon's resurrection, there is no question in my mind that he is going to head south. Those were his last thoughts and actions as he died, similar to how Catelyn killing a Frey and her grief of losing her family was the last action and thought before she died, and Beric protecting the smallfolk from the Mountain was his last act before dying. Given the strong implication he is inside Ghost, coming back, we should expect a darker, different Jon, one who doesn't give a shit, is more violent, and more determined. Of course, if he is to retake Winterfell, he should need support.

Fortunately, right before he died, he got all the free folk to cheer for him and agree to join him. Mix those free folk with the giants and mammoths that were recently let past Eastwatch, and he might have a formidable force. However, of the 4,119 or so free folk that are currently south of the Wall, not all of them are fighters. If we take the estimate for 20,000 warriors and 100,000 free folk in total, then we should expect around 820+ free folk capable of fighting. Not a lot. He will need some outside help. Of course, there is already set up for that in ADWD, when he marries Alys Karstark to Magnar Sigorn of Thenn.

He tells a captive Cregan Karstark to send word to his relatives at Karhold and yield to prevent their deaths, but Cregan stubbornly refuses. Alys believes Karhold will open their gates to her, and Alys is thankful for Jon Snow providing her refuge at the Wall and a marriage to get out of an even worse one she did not want. The strength of Karhold may not be the best, but it seems very likely for Karhold to join Jon and his cause, under the banners of Alys.

As for the other houses of the North, I don't expect much more support. Think about how Jon will look to the Northmen. He is a bastard, and those are already quite condemned throughout the North (and Westeros in general). He broke his vows by leaving the Night's Watch, and since the North takes vows and oaths and honour much more seriously than the rest of Westeros, being an oathbreaker who abandoned the Wall is not going to make him popular. And finally, he is leading a band of wildlings south. The North despises the free folk, thinking of them as savages, thanks to centuries of conflict with them. So the picture of Jon painted as an oathbreaking wildling bastard is going to be a major problem for him. At worst, he would be viewed just as evil and treacherous as Ramsay, the other prominent bastard in the North.

In fact, even if Ramsay loses a lot of support from his own actions (more later), he could use this to his advantage. At best, the northerns who hate Jon will remain neutral in the conflict, but at worst, they might even ally with the Boltons. The clansmen have a deep hatred of House Bolton, but they also have a very deep hatred of the free folk, so they may actually remain neutral. The Umbers are another House that deals frequently with wildlings, and many years prior, Crowfood lost his daughter to wildlings raiding south of the Wall. So instead of Jon's presence invigorating the Umbers to fight against Ramsay, their own vehement hatred of the wildlings might lead them to simply stick with Ramsay.

However, that isn't to say everything will go swimmingly for Ramsay. Their hold on the North is tentative, and if Ramsay kills Roose and Walda and their child, it could become even more unstable. For one, Lady Barbrey Dustin isn't loyal to the Boltons, but instead loyal to Roose. Her sister was the former wife of Roose, and Domeric was her nephew, so Lady Dustin has reason to be on friendly terms with Roose. On the other hand, she despises Ramsay, blaming him for Domeric's death, and not even allowing him to step foot in Barrow Hall because of it. In turn, Ramsay also holds her in contempt.

"It should have been you who threw the feast, to welcome me back," Ramsay complained, "and it should have been in Barrow Hall, not this pisspot of a castle." "Barrow Hall and its kitchens are not mine to dispose of," his father said mildly. "I am only a guest there. The castle and the town belong to Lady Dustin, and she cannot abide you." Ramsay's face darkened. "If I cut off her teats and feed them to my girls, will she abide me then? Will she abide me if I strip off her skin to make myself a pair of boots?" "Unlikely. And those boots would come dear. They would cost us Barrowton, House Dustin, and the Ryswells."

If Roose dies, not only would Lady Dustin probably suspect Ramsay, but she would simply not follow Ramsay. So already, just by becoming Warden of the North and Lord of the Dreadfort, Ramsay would lose the Dustins and the Ryswells. Of course, since Lady Dustin does have a grievance with the Starks because Ned never brought her husband home from Dorne, I think she would probably remain neutral in the conflict.

Other houses might leave Ramsay too. Some might stay simply out of fear of retaliation for betrayal. It will depend on the House, their head, their own needs and goals, etc. As for the actual battle itself, who knows what will happen. However, I do think that Ramsay will likely try to lure Jon into some sort of trap rather than give him a direct face to face confrontation. There is also very interesting foreshadowing and even direct confirmation that the battle is going to be possibly more magical than we might believe it to be. Not only are there giants and mammoths... in the final script GRRM wrote for the show, he put in this note:

[N.B. A note for future reference. A season or two down the line Ramsay’s pack of wolfhounds are going to be sent against the Stark direwolves, so we should build up the dogs as much as possible in this and subsequent episodes.]

So the hounds are going to fight the Stark direwolves... wait, direwoves? Not direwolf? Curious...

The Pack Survives

I purposefully avoided the other factions of the North there, because the heart of the conflict will be Ramsay vs. Jon. But Jon won't be alone, at least not entirely. There is Rickon, who is to be touted as the Lord of Winterfell by the Manderlys so they can support Stannis. He isn't even the only Stark who could join in. Sansa is in the Vale under the guise of Alayne Stone. Arya keeps warging into Nymeria, who leads a massive pack of hundreds of wolves throughout the Riverlands. Bran is training his demigod greenseeing powers beyond the Wall with Bloodraven and is definitely manipulating events far south of the Wall.

So, the plural of direwolves makes me think Ghost won't be the only Stark direwolf fighting against Ramsay. We could get Nymeria's wolf pack joining as well, and Shaggydog, or even Summer (if Bran is in the North at this time that is). In fact, the idea that Ramsay will fight against Rickon is something that is heavily hinted at in ADWD.

The next litter to come out of the Dreadfort's kennels would include a Kyra, Reek did not doubt. "He's trained 'em to kill wolves as well," Ben Bones had confided. Reek said nothing. He knew which wolves the girls were meant to kill, but he had no wish to watch the girls fighting over his severed toe.

And then, more directly...

"Stark's little wolflings are dead," said Ramsay, sloshing some more ale into his cup, "and they'll stay dead. Let them show their ugly faces, and my girls will rip those wolves of theirs to pieces. The sooner they turn up, the sooner I kill them again."

Ramsay may be impulsive and unaware of intricate politics, but he seems prepared for what to do should Bran or Rickon show themselves again. This makes me worried for Rickon, honestly. Will Ramsay capture Rickon and keep him prisoner as hold over Jon Snow? Will he kill Rickon like he did in the show? I really, really hope not, but I'm afraid that's exactly what will happen.

There is a line that Ned spoke in AGOT that George says will eventually be very important, that I think perfectly applies to this situation.

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives."

Ned speaks to Arya about this in King's Landing, to get her to understand that the Starks should not fight one another in times of danger, or be isolated from each other, but look after one another, protect each other. Winter has now come, the snows are falling and the white winds are blowing. Who is the lone wolf in this scenario? While Jon certainly fits the bill (he literally is a lone wolf, it's very clear at the end of ADWD he was prepared to ride to Winterfell all by himself until he got the wildlings to his side), I think Rickon could too.

Rickon is very isolated from everyone else, even when he was at Winterfell. He was only 4 years old, and didn't understand why everyone was leaving him. Given the plan to use Rickon as a pawn to reinstall Stark rule of the North being something we can cheer for and expect to happen, I don't think it will happen. Rickon, the lone wolf, will be used to try to depose Ramsay, but it won't go well, and he will die because of it.

Jon will probably find himself in a bad position in battle too, and very nearly die as the lone wolf... but now that winter is here, and everyone is starting to converge on Winterfell at some point, I think that it won't be Jon who ultimately retakes Winterfell: it will be all the Starks. Sansa may be in the Vale, but Littlefinger plans to use her to take Winterfell back at some point (even if it won't go exactly to plan).

"When Robert dies, Harry the Heir becomes Lord Harrold, Defender of the Vale and Lord of the Eyrie. Jon Arryn's bannermen will never love me, nor our silly, shaking Robert, but they will love their Young Falcon . . . and when they come together for his wedding, and you come out with your long auburn hair, clad in a maiden's cloak of white and grey with a direwolf emblazoned on the back . . . why, every knight in the Vale will pledge his sword to win you back your birthright."

Arya is having a lot of wolf dreams as Nymeria, and GRRM has said that her wolf pack will one day be used as a Chekov's gun. Bran may be far away, but he is getting more powerful and beginning to influence events as far south as Winterfell. The pack comes together to survive in winter, to help Jon and the North by defeating their enemies.

So as Jon fights against the bastard he so deeply despises, it won't just be him. It'll be the Knights of the Vale, led by Sansa. It'll be Nymeria and her wolf pack, piloted by Arya. It'll be Bran, skinchanging into whatever is around. TWOW may end up being the darkest book in the series, and the retaking of Winterfell won't be as glorious as we imagine or even as I spelt it out (Rickon's death and the perception the North has of Jon should play very big roles in making it not entirely happy), but this will be maybe one of our only moment of deserved catharsis we might get from it.

[hlupdate]

On November 18, 2019, a website promoting a mysterious place called Eroda (“No Land Quite Like It”) arrived on the internet. Two days later, the official Twitter account for this fictional frown-shaped island began teasing local seaside attractions. You may have missed it, depending on which corners of the internet you choose to lurk, but not if you were a Harry Styles fan, a group that went into pure overdrive trying to figure out what it all meant.

I, for one, missed it at the time. I was unaware this account was cryptically quote tweeting fans as they tried to piece together what was happening, what it meant, and what it could be connected to (Greek Mythology and Lostwere a couple of theories posed in comments, Twitter threads, and Reddit). Meanwhile, the Columbia Records marketing department had been hard at work for months, devising this specific and highly-detailed campaign around the music video for Styles’ second single, “Adore You” from his second solo album, Fine Line, ever since he shot the video in Scotland in August 2019 (Eroda = Adore backwards — clever!).

But it was all leading up to the morning of Friday, December 6 when the video was released, one week before the full-length album arrived. Up until that point, I had never seen an entire Harry Styles music video, but what happened next was inevitable. Somehow, as a self-proclaimed boy band scholar, I had never paid much attention to One Direction. I kept a distant eye on Styles since they disbanded, intrigued by the decisions he was making in his solo career. But I hadn’t yet realized I’d been in the ring all throughout the fall of 2019, fighting to resist the inevitable fascination that awaited. First came the jab of Rob Sheffield’s Rolling Stoneprofile, followed by the cross of “Lights Up”, a song that cracked my Top 20 most listened to songs of the year despite being released just two months before Spotify so thoughtfully compiled that personalized playlist. Then there was the hook of his SNL hosting stint in November (and bless you Bowen Yang for that Sara Lee sketch), which then leads us to the “Adore You” video, the uppercut and ultimate TKO. I surrendered in what felt like a near instant. I was now a Harry Styles fan. (If we’re following this analogy, I sat up to spit out some blood after seeing that cover of “Juice” before my head quickly hit the mat again with a loud thud).

Maybe it’s not quite remarkable that I took time out of a Friday morning to watch a music video, but that I sat at my desk, in an office, with other people around (back when we did those kinds of things) and proceeded to wipe away a few tiny tears from under my eyes by the end of it, was an experience I had not been through… maybe ever? In a world of lyric videos and TikToks, actual, thoughtful, impactful music videos with a full (and sweet!) story are about as rare as a glowing and growing fish these days.

Ultimately, “Adore You” does everything a music video should do. In nearly eight minutes, this video uses excellent visual effects in a cool and interesting way, tells a compelling and heartfelt story, is anchored by an irresistible leading man and an adorable sidekick, is backed up by the catchiest song you could ever dream of, and culminates with a touching and hopeful ending. It’s a treat for the eyes and the ears and the soul. It’s innovative and the kind of thing that begs you to watch it more than once to catch all the details (and yes, I do tear up every time).

So one would think that an award show with the specific purpose of celebrating this type of creativity would be extra sure to nominate such a charming and effective clip, but alas, “Adore You” was overlooked in the MTV Video Music Awards main categories this year. Of course, some could argue that that fact only adds to the video’s credibility but I’ll do my best to not be that petty as I’m still rooting for it to win in the three technical categories where it picked up nominations: Best Visual Effects by Mathematic, Best Art Direction by Laura Ellis Cricks, and Best Direction by Dave Meyers, who remains one of the most inventive and influential directors of all time and whose videos with artists such as Missy Elliot, Pink, and Kendrick Lamar have been racking up nominations for nearly 20 years now. He also saw four other videos he directed get recognized this year: Normani’s “Motivation” (Best Chorography), Travis Scott’s “Highest in the Room” (Best Hop Hop and Best Visual Effects), Anderson .Paak’s “Lockdown” (Video For Good), and Camila Cabello feat. DaBaby’s “My Oh My” (Best Cinematography).

But I reached out to Meyers to specifically ask about the intricate details of “Adore You” and how it all came to be; how he captured such a vibe with the overcast and dreary weather, mixed so wonderfully with the charming oddities of the people that make up this world of Eroda. In addition to directing the video, he also co-wrote the story with Chris Shafer and said, “It’s the first idea that popped to mind after the first listen to the song, and the first idea I pitched to Harry. It was a story that underscored my understanding of what Harry stood for and felt it was necessary to tell it as a narrative to convey his optimism.”

The extended version of the video starts with a two-and-a-half-minute introduction to the world of Eroda, narrated by Rosalia. This includes the “peculiar” people and their professions on the island, meeting The Boy (Styles) and his glowing smile that most people try to avoid, and the quirky superstitions these people continue to live by. “It all served a purpose,” Meyers said of the details. “The superstitions were a set up for how society generally reacts to different things. They fear change or oddity, even if it’s what’s best for them.”

Meyers, however, did not share in that fear, as much of this video provided for interesting and new opportunities he had yet to experience throughout his decades-long career, which he listed off: ”Compelling narrative, CG character, remote location, Scottish crew (nothing fazed them),” also noting that all of the other characters in the video were locals as well. So perhaps they were less fazed by the atmosphere across the four-day shoot in Scotland, but as Meyers recalled, the “weather was nuts. It rained every 20 minutes, then the sun, then cloud over.”

However, it’s likely that Mother Nature is also a Styles fan, as Meyers recalled, “I seem to remember going up on the hill for Harry’s picnic with the fish and being worried that it was so gloomy. By the time we came to shoot, the sun came out. And then the sun went away as soon as the scene was over. Similarly, we had the worst storm when Harry was contemplating suicide at the start. Pouring rain, drenching him. So I guess in that sense it was fun watching how Scotland provided a backdrop for the emotions we were after.”

And hey, at least they had the weather on their side to add to the mood while shooting the video, as one of their main characters, well, didn’t exist. “It was very odd shooting with no fish,” Meyers admitted. “But was quite rewarding later seeing it dropped in and making empathic sense to the story we were after.”

Of course, the main character they did have on hand is an awfully useful and appealing one at that. Fans became enamored with the moment Styles uses the back of his hand to check the temperature of a coffee pot before dumping the fish inside the water so it could stay alive. I asked Meyers about this particular moment and he said, “The problem we had was apparent when Harry ran in and threw the fish in the pot. We all sorta felt — well, what if it was hot? So I believe Harry improvised that as a solution and we felt it was perfect for the character’s sensitivity and consideration for this poor fish.” And that’s not the only nice thing he does for his fish friend — he also serves him a tiny taco! “The taco was a whimsical way to express friendship between Harry and the fish,” Meyers offered. It looked pretty tasty, too.

The entire video serves as a showcase for what Styles does best and what makes him such a unique artist: his music, his acting, and his charisma, which Meyers knew would offer him a lot to work with. “Harry is a leading man. I felt that from my first meeting and wanted to play with his wonderful range of emotions. So finding a story with a real character arc was part of my focus in building this world.” Meyers described working on “Adore You” as an “all-around memorable shoot: awesome location, lovely Harry, compelling story, great effects, and… it worked.”

It did. And it was a risk: a video this complex and detailed (and one has to assume, costly), attached to a marketing campaign that proved to be even more involved, still came with no guarantee that the fans wouldn’t shrug it off. But as Manos Xanthogeorgis, SVP of Digital Marketing & Media at Columbia Records told Billboard last year, “When you have a video and a piece of art at such a level, it’s an incredible challenge for the rest of the team to build a campaign at that same level of artistry and creativity.” Oh, and that was only step one, as the marketing team engaged in “real-time marketing” with fans online, ensuring they would continue to remain engaged by dropping clues and clips in the lead-up to the video premiere and subsequently the album. “This whole campaign was around mystery and sometimes mystery is more powerful than knowledge,” Xanthogeorgis said. The Twitter handle has remained active throughout 2020, used as a continual marketing tool for Styles’ next videos including the Meyers-directed “Falling” and this summer’s hit, “Watermelon Sugar.”

With that kind of fan engagement, “Adore You” seemed like a no-brainer for the fan-voted categories of the VMAs this year, as they surely would’ve turned out to vote just as feverishly for this video as they did when searching for clues (about a made-up island, at that!). But hey, maybe MTV was just not interested in massive fan engagement this year — after all, it’s not like everything Styles does, including growing freakin’ facial hair, has the internet in a tizzy for weeks. Ultimately, as the impact of music videos (and certainly the ceremony celebrating them) continues to lose relevance, the disregard of this specific project simply feels like a missed opportunity to acknowledge a rare achievement in the art form.

While Meyers was sure to describe his inclusion in the VMA nominations this year as “lovely and flattering” (and he better have a moonperson in his possession this time next week, MTV!) it’s still puzzling why “Adore You” wouldn’t be included in the big categories, considering Styles is squarely within their demo, at the very least. That “Adore You” is also a technical and storytelling masterpiece, as well as a full moment that was used as inspiration both for the experience online and in-person at the Fine Line Spotify listening party last December, that also comes packed with one of the most enthusiastic groups of fans around, well, that should have had the entire network drooling.

Of course, some of this can simply be chalked up to a perfect storm. As far as his singles go, “Lights Up” was a nice appetizer, but “Adore You” remains the delicious entree (you already know what’s for dessert). “Adore You” is a perfect pop record if I’ve ever heard one (and I have) and deserved a special video. A Chris Isaak “Wicked Game” sexy vibe wasn’t going to work here. The song tells the story of such passionate, pure, and heartachingly naive and innocent love that it almost had to be directed toward a non-human being. Instead, Styles chose to inject those same carefree, sweaty, sticky, delicious, whimsical beach vibes into the “Watermelon Sugar” clip, which was the right choice, and not just for the summertime season (MTV has since added the Song of Summer category to the VMAs and included “Watermelon Sugar”).

But it’s “Adore You” that has melodies that bring a smile to the faces of babies, get your toes tapping even when you hear it in the dentist’s chair, and likely has my neighbors rolling their eyes when I sing along to it in the shower. The song is so simple it’s deep, a theme reflected in the video, as is the central reminder to help and care for others, a thoroughly 2020 message.

However, not all is lost. Both “Adore You” and “Watermelon Sugar” continue to rack up major spins at radio with the latter hitting number one on the Billboard charts earlier this month. Grammy voting kicks off at the end of September and Academy members should take note. Not only is Fine Line more than worthy of being acknowledged, but having Styles on hand to potentially collect trophies and perform is in your best interest when it comes to viewers and online chatter. Do not wait to take him seriously. This is the album, this is the time. Prove that you aren’t a bunch of stodgy old white men who think he’s just for teen (and um, thirty-something) girls, but that you understand the music he enjoys, is inspired by, and subsequently makes, is the same rock music you appreciate as well. An artist like Styles can be both of those things at the same time, and really, the best of both worlds. Give the album a listen, and then one more to let it all sink in. If you have not yet succumbed to the force that is Harry Styles fandom, I truly can’t recommend it enough — and please know that it will get you eventually.

[musingsofvenus]

I don’t like how Renee didn’t call to check up on her kid. I mean your kid was nearly killing herself

All we saw a moment of this was in the first movie

tldr: that's actually smeyer's fault because of lazy writing. renee is essentially a throw away character. her only real purpose in the story is 1) to give the reader a quick and dirty reason for bella's decision to go to forks, and 2) to lay the groundwork for the path of least resistance when bella decides she wants to be turned.

that's literally it. smeyer just didn't bother to include that kind of interaction because it was easier not to.

more below the cut bc i have many thoughts.

We don't see any motherly behavior from Renee because that's how smeyer intended her to be. Renee's aloof parenting style was written to support the romantic plot.

Smeyer needed to bolster the narrative of Bella's maturity, self-sufficiency, and "I'm not like other girls" energy by having her be the adult in the relationship. It was more convenient for Bella to lack strong family ties to make her eventual choice to become a vampire a no brainer to write and make it seem like a reasonable choice to the reader. How?

The intention behind Bella being the mature one is to make her choices appear more thought out rather than just another impulsive decision of a teenager in love. She acts so grown up so she must know what she wants! She's an old soul among her peers! She knows vampirism is for her! What other choice is there to keep the man of her dreams? If you were reading those books as a kid, you probably had a similar train of thought regarding Bella. It's intentional.

At the same time, Bella is gaining a new family who [she believes] loves her in a way that she was missing out on for a long time. By having already distant parents, she can feel at peace leaving them behind because they have people to take care of them and be there for them, which is something Bella doesn't want to be responsible for anymore. Especially when it's supposed to be the other way around.

By establishing Charlie and Renee as uninvolved parents, the reader can easily dismiss them and not expect much from these characters. They fall into the background and don't pay much attention to her actions or intervene, and it sets up the story for Bella and Edward's romance with the least complications.

That is lazy writing. And boring!

Realistically, it's a terrible parent-child relationship. For Bella, it's the perfect situation as someone who's about to become a vampire and fall off the grid. For smeyer, it's an easy set up for a neatly wrapped happy ending.

Things just conveniently fall into place for Bella so she doesn't have to give up anything or anyone she cares about. We don't get to see her struggle much with the consequences of her decisions, which honestly would've been nice to see because it would be more real than just "oh, look, this thing happened and fixed all my problems!"

And while that's great for Bella, it's not exciting to read. Every roadblock Bella faces gets resolved without any real conflict. It's not the least bit satisfying.

Renee doesn't check on Bella, so Bella never has to think too much about her or deal with her. How convenient! One less thing to write!

Lazy. You see what I mean?

[rpmemesbyarat]

Smart Villains

If you intend to write a smart villain, you have to do more than claim that they’re smart. Now, if they’re the “inventive/scientific/mathematical/etc” kind of smart, that’s one thing; you can easily show them at work and have the products of their intelligence utilized as their weapons. But the kind of intelligence I’m talking about here is more along the lines of a strategist or a manipulator. Someone whose intellect may not produce sci-fi weaponry or mutant monsters, but will prove an obstacle to the heroes because their schemes are difficult to defeat or figure out. Mainly, if they have a plan, it can’t be something easily solved. This sounds like a no-brainer, but a great deal of writers (including me) have a hard time coming up with airtight villainous plots. A common ploy that many writers use to compensate is to just make the heroes suddenly really stupid. There are any number of obvious solutions, or even just one obvious one, yet no one on the team thinks of it, despite the fact that they obviously should. They may have previously been shown as very intelligent problem-solvers, or have a background in a relevant area, yet it’s like they suddenly have very specific amnesia and just can’t access the information that should be in their own heads. Thus, with the heroes baffled, it’s expected that the reader will go “Wow! This villain is sure smart!” Except, usually that’s not what happens. Readers are usually not impressed with the villain in this situation, so much as frustrated with the heroes or the writers themselves. If they’re familiar with these characters, they know this isn’t normal or realistic for them. If they’re new readers, they are still probably saying “but why don’t they do [thing] to fix it?” This applies not only to individual villains, but also other plots, conflicts, etc. If the solution is something that can easily be spotted to the characters, the answer is NOT to dumb the characters down; the answer is to start over and give your villain another plot, one that can’t be as easily solved, or to add reasons (GOOD reasons, that is) why the obvious solution actually CAN’T work. Perhaps even have them try to apply the obvious solution, only to discover some new facet of the plan that blocks them. This will help show that your smart villain has thought this through and accounted for these things! And it doesn’t make the baddy OR the heroes look like idiots for not seeing this huge glaring hole in the plot! This is difficult and it will probably take a few rehauls to get the plan right, but no one said being an evil mastermind was easy! The same goes for manipulative villains—you can’t rely on making the heroes stupid in order to sell your bad guy as smart. All it does is make readers think this whole story is stupid instead. For instance, let’s say Villain McBadGuy tells Hero Man that his Love Interest has been cheating on him, in an attempt to make Hero Man become evil. And, gasp, it works! What a brilliant psychological attack! Except, it’s not. Firstly, unless Hero Man has some REASON to believe Villain McBadguy, why would he take the word of a bad guy? Even if Villain brings along proof, such as photos, wouldn’t Hero Man still question WHY his enemy is telling him this? It should all seem fishy from the start to Hero Man if he’s not a total dunderhead. And even if Hero Man believes him, why would Love Interest cheating on him make him evil? Was his motive for being a hero “because my significant other likes it”? If not, then the two really shouldn’t be connected. If Hero Man is the type of person to become a supervillain because one bad thing happened to him or one person treated him poorly, and these things are very normal things that many people go through, then he doesn’t seem like much of a hero to start, does he? So if Hero Man is a fairly morally good person, has a motive related to doing good that has nothing to do with keeping Love Interest as his significant other, and has never before shown the desire to do evil just because he’s upset, then readers will probably be VERY unhappy if he turns to the dark side over this. Heck, it’d be weird even if he just stopped being a hero because of this, let alone became a villain. It could be a single stepping stone in a longer plot towards a fall from grace, maybe, a gradual pile-up of things that begin to psychologically wear him down and make him doubt himself,  but something like this generally has to be EARNED, otherwise readers will feel they’re being cheated and that the character they enjoy is being mishandled. They certainly won’t be thinking how incredibly clever Villain McBadGuy was for getting so deeply into Hero Man’s psyche and using it against him. If you want to write a Hannibal-style “bad guy gets in hero’s head and preys on all his weaknesses” by all means go for it, I love that shit, just, again, it has to feel earned, and it isn’t earned if basic logic and characterization have to be tossed out the window for it to work. Not to mention, it’s so much more satisfying to read that way!

[mindynichole]

I’m not buying that these new controversial spoilers are just being thrown into the SL randomly for shock value.

I know everyone across TWD fandom is reeling from the recent spoilers but I fear the shock over the abruptly changed narrative is preventing us from understanding what possibilities this opens up. Just hear me out...

I’m about to dive deep into spoiler territory here so quit reading now if you don’t want spoiled!

First off....let’s just think about these Daryl spoilers concerning Leah a minute.

Long story short, Daryl is wandering the woods in a depressive state, looking for Rick’s body, setting up camp, and just being all sorts of mixed up emotionally. Then apparently he meets this Leah woman in a cabin, they have some sort of run in, eventually some sort of romantic relationship develops (including a highly implied sexual one), and in some sort of way at the end of it all, the ideal of living in the cabin with this woman forever starts to sound pretty good to Daryl. But alas, it can’t be because she ends up leaving him.

HUMMM...,. Why am I getting a huge case of Dejavu - complete with even the damn dog involved?

Of course we still don’t know the context or complete details of any of this but already this story sounds way too familiar - minus the whole sexual relationship thing. 

Well, at least that we know about anyway....

*Because I remember back when some fellow Bethylers argued that something had to have at least happen between this scene...

*and this one...

*if not in-between Still and Alone as well...

Now, most Bethyl peeps (including your truly) didn’t believe this happened at all if not for any other reason than...well... how NR and TPTB were so adamant on what Daryl’s sex life would have to look like, you know? I mean, it always seemed like it would be this big virginal-like event (not that many actually fancied him a virgin but rather just not intimate) taking place onscreen, with someone very close who would probably have to really reassure him a thousand times because he’d be so terrified, right? I mean, NR said he’d probably just cry.

And you know exactly what I’m talking about because chances are you’ve read the scenario over and over again in various fanfictions. I mean everyone throughout the fandom knows Daryl wouldn’t just jump into the sack with just anyone. That’s just a no brainer!

Well until apparently we find out in the coming 10C episode that he did just that...and all of this is going to be shown to us in a...a....flashback? Like the event itself is not even that big of a deal at all...

And between the tears, broken dreams, and the countless exclaims of “WTF?” going on across the fandom right now, I can’t help but ask myself: “Why in the hell would the writers feel the need now after all this time to show us Daryl is perfectly okay in a sexual relationship after all?”

Because believe me when I say regardless of who Daryl ends up with...THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!

While also seemingly being way out of character, the ideal that Daryl is not who we thought he was sexually also opens up a treasure trove of possibilities from both the past and the future that before seemed....well impossible. Once I got over my initial shock and anger, I found myself left with many, many questions.

 As the wheels in my head began turning, the more I was able to imagine different kinds of off screen Bethyl scenarios being played out in ways I never thought about before.

Have I actually changed my mind about what might have gone on between Beth and Daryl in the woods all those years ago? Hell, I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on anymore. But I do know this new thing means “stuff and thangs” could have happened.

And I believe by showing this now...during these particular episodes...has to also mean Angela and crew must be wanting us to keep this in mind moving forward into the last season.

[stylesnews]

On November 18, 2019, a website promoting a mysterious place called Eroda (“No Land Quite Like It”) arrived on the internet. Two days later, the official Twitter account for this fictional frown-shaped island began teasing local seaside attractions. You may have missed it, depending on which corners of the internet you choose to lurk, but not if you were a Harry Styles fan, a group that went into pure overdrive trying to figure out what it all meant.

I, for one, missed it at the time. I was unaware this account was cryptically quote tweeting fans as they tried to piece together what was happening, what it meant, and what it could be connected to (Greek Mythology and Lost were a couple of theories posed in comments, Twitter threads, and Reddit). Meanwhile, the Columbia Records marketing department had been hard at work for months, devising this specific and highly-detailed campaign around the music video for Styles’ second single, “Adore You” from his second solo album, Fine Line, ever since he shot the video in Scotland in August 2019 (Eroda = Adore backwards — clever!).

But it was all leading up to the morning of Friday, December 6 when the video was released, one week before the full-length album arrived. Up until that point, I had never seen an entire Harry Styles music video, but what happened next was inevitable. Somehow, as a self-proclaimed boy band scholar, I had never paid much attention to One Direction. I kept a distant eye on Styles since they disbanded, intrigued by the decisions he was making in his solo career. But I hadn’t yet realized I’d been in the ring all throughout the fall of 2019, fighting to resist the inevitable fascination that awaited. First came the jab of Rob Sheffield’s Rolling Stone profile, followed by the cross of “Lights Up”, a song that cracked my Top 20 most listened to songs of the year despite being released just two months before Spotify so thoughtfully compiled that personalized playlist. Then there was the hook of his SNL hosting stint in November (and bless you Bowen Yang for that Sara Lee sketch), which then leads us to the “Adore You” video, the uppercut and ultimate TKO. I surrendered in what felt like a near instant. I was now a Harry Styles fan. (If we’re following this analogy, I sat up to spit out some blood after seeing that cover of “Juice” before my head quickly hit the mat again with a loud thud).

Maybe it’s not quite remarkable that I took time out of a Friday morning to watch a music video, but that I sat at my desk, in an office, with other people around (back when we did those kinds of things) and proceeded to wipe away a few tiny tears from under my eyes by the end of it, was an experience I had not been through… maybe ever? In a world of lyric videos and TikToks, actual, thoughtful, impactful music videos with a full (and sweet!) story are about as rare as a glowing and growing fish these days.

Ultimately, “Adore You” does everything a music video should do. In nearly eight minutes, this video uses excellent visual effects in a cool and interesting way, tells a compelling and heartfelt story, is anchored by an irresistible leading man and an adorable sidekick, is backed up by the catchiest song you could ever dream of, and culminates with a touching and hopeful ending. It’s a treat for the eyes and the ears and the soul. It’s innovative and the kind of thing that begs you to watch it more than once to catch all the details (and yes, I do tear up every time).

So one would think that an award show with the specific purpose of celebrating this type of creativity would be extra sure to nominate such a charming and effective clip, but alas, “Adore You” was overlooked in the MTV Video Music Awards main categories this year. Of course, some could argue that that fact only adds to the video’s credibility but I’ll do my best to not be that petty as I’m still rooting for it to win in the three technical categories where it picked up nominations: Best Visual Effects by Mathematic, Best Art Direction by Laura Ellis Cricks, and Best Direction by Dave Meyers, who remains one of the most inventive and influential directors of all time and whose videos with artists such as Missy Elliot, Pink, and Kendrick Lamar have been racking up nominations for nearly 20 years now. He also saw four other videos he directed get recognized this year: Normani’s “Motivation” (Best Chorography), Travis Scott’s “Highest in the Room” (Best Hop Hop and Best Visual Effects), Anderson .Paak’s “Lockdown” (Video For Good), and Camila Cabello feat. DaBaby’s “My Oh My” (Best Cinematography).

But I reached out to Meyers to specifically ask about the intricate details of “Adore You” and how it all came to be; how he captured such a vibe with the overcast and dreary weather, mixed so wonderfully with the charming oddities of the people that make up this world of Eroda. In addition to directing the video, he also co-wrote the story with Chris Shafer and said, “It’s the first idea that popped to mind after the first listen to the song, and the first idea I pitched to Harry. It was a story that underscored my understanding of what Harry stood for and felt it was necessary to tell it as a narrative to convey his optimism.”

The extended version of the video starts with a two-and-a-half-minute introduction to the world of Eroda, narrated by Rosalia. This includes the “peculiar” people and their professions on the island, meeting The Boy (Styles) and his glowing smile that most people try to avoid, and the quirky superstitions these people continue to live by. “It all served a purpose,” Meyers said of the details. “The superstitions were a set up for how society generally reacts to different things. They fear change or oddity, even if it’s what’s best for them.”

Meyers, however, did not share in that fear, as much of this video provided for interesting and new opportunities he had yet to experience throughout his decades-long career, which he listed off: ”Compelling narrative, CG character, remote location, Scottish crew (nothing fazed them),” also noting that all of the other characters in the video were locals as well. So perhaps they were less fazed by the atmosphere across the four-day shoot in Scotland, but as Meyers recalled, the “weather was nuts. It rained every 20 minutes, then the sun, then cloud over.”

However, it’s likely that Mother Nature is also a Styles fan, as Meyers recalled, “I seem to remember going up on the hill for Harry’s picnic with the fish and being worried that it was so gloomy. By the time we came to shoot, the sun came out. And then the sun went away as soon as the scene was over. Similarly, we had the worst storm when Harry was contemplating suicide at the start. Pouring rain, drenching him. So I guess in that sense it was fun watching how Scotland provided a backdrop for the emotions we were after.”

And hey, at least they had the weather on their side to add to the mood while shooting the video, as one of their main characters, well, didn’t exist. “It was very odd shooting with no fish,” Meyers admitted. “But was quite rewarding later seeing it dropped in and making empathic sense to the story we were after.”

Of course, the main character they did have on hand is an awfully useful and appealing one at that. Fans became enamored with the moment Styles uses the back of his hand to check the temperature of a coffee pot before dumping the fish inside the water so it could stay alive. I asked Meyers about this particular moment and he said, “The problem we had was apparent when Harry ran in and threw the fish in the pot. We all sorta felt — well, what if it was hot? So I believe Harry improvised that as a solution and we felt it was perfect for the character’s sensitivity and consideration for this poor fish.” And that’s not the only nice thing he does for his fish friend — he also serves him a tiny taco! “The taco was a whimsical way to express friendship between Harry and the fish,” Meyers offered. It looked pretty tasty, too.

The entire video serves as a showcase for what Styles does best and what makes him such a unique artist: his music, his acting, and his charisma, which Meyers knew would offer him a lot to work with. “Harry is a leading man. I felt that from my first meeting and wanted to play with his wonderful range of emotions. So finding a story with a real character arc was part of my focus in building this world.” Meyers described working on “Adore You” as an “all-around memorable shoot: awesome location, lovely Harry, compelling story, great effects, and… it worked.”

It did. And it was a risk: a video this complex and detailed (and one has to assume, costly), attached to a marketing campaign that proved to be even more involved, still came with no guarantee that the fans wouldn’t shrug it off. But as Manos Xanthogeorgis, SVP of Digital Marketing & Media at Columbia Records told Billboard last year, “When you have a video and a piece of art at such a level, it’s an incredible challenge for the rest of the team to build a campaign at that same level of artistry and creativity.” Oh, and that was only step one, as the marketing team engaged in “real-time marketing” with fans online, ensuring they would continue to remain engaged by dropping clues and clips in the lead-up to the video premiere and subsequently the album. “This whole campaign was around mystery and sometimes mystery is more powerful than knowledge,” Xanthogeorgis said. The Twitter handle has remained active throughout 2020, used as a continual marketing tool for Styles’ next videos including the Meyers-directed “Falling” and this summer’s hit, “Watermelon Sugar.”

With that kind of fan engagement, “Adore You” seemed like a no-brainer for the fan-voted categories of the VMAs this year, as they surely would’ve turned out to vote just as feverishly for this video as they did when searching for clues (about a made-up island, at that!). But hey, maybe MTV was just not interested in massive fan engagement this year — after all, it’s not like everything Styles does, including growing freakin’ facial hair, has the internet in a tizzy for weeks. Ultimately, as the impact of music videos (and certainly the ceremony celebrating them) continues to lose relevance, the disregard of this specific project simply feels like a missed opportunity to acknowledge a rare achievement in the art form.

While Meyers was sure to describe his inclusion in the VMA nominations this year as “lovely and flattering” (and he better have a moonperson in his possession this time next week, MTV!) it’s still puzzling why “Adore You” wouldn’t be included in the big categories, considering Styles is squarely within their demo, at the very least. That “Adore You” is also a technical and storytelling masterpiece, as well as a full moment that was used as inspiration both for the experience online and in-person at the Fine Line Spotify listening party last December, that also comes packed with one of the most enthusiastic groups of fans around, well, that should have had the entire network drooling.

Of course, some of this can simply be chalked up to a perfect storm. As far as his singles go, “Lights Up” was a nice appetizer, but “Adore You” remains the delicious entree (you already know what’s for dessert). “Adore You” is a perfect pop record if I’ve ever heard one (and I have) and deserved a special video. A Chris Isaak “Wicked Game” sexy vibe wasn’t going to work here. The song tells the story of such passionate, pure, and heartachingly naive and innocent love that it almost had to be directed toward a non-human being. Instead, Styles chose to inject those same carefree, sweaty, sticky, delicious, whimsical beach vibes into the “Watermelon Sugar” clip, which was the right choice, and not just for the summertime season (MTV has since added the Song of Summer category to the VMAs and included “Watermelon Sugar”).

But it’s “Adore You” that has melodies that bring a smile to the faces of babies, get your toes tapping even when you hear it in the dentist’s chair, and likely has my neighbors rolling their eyes when I sing along to it in the shower. The song is so simple it’s deep, a theme reflected in the video, as is the central reminder to help and care for others, a thoroughly 2020 message.

However, not all is lost. Both “Adore You” and “Watermelon Sugar” continue to rack up major spins at radio with the latter hitting number one on the Billboard charts earlier this month. Grammy voting kicks off at the end of September and Academy members should take note. Not only is Fine Line more than worthy of being acknowledged, but having Styles on hand to potentially collect trophies and perform is in your best interest when it comes to viewers and online chatter. Do not wait to take him seriously. This is the album, this is the time. Prove that you aren’t a bunch of stodgy old white men who think he’s just for teen (and um, thirty-something) girls, but that you understand the music he enjoys, is inspired by, and subsequently makes, is the same rock music you appreciate as well. An artist like Styles can be both of those things at the same time, and really, the best of both worlds. Give the album a listen, and then one more to let it all sink in. If you have not yet succumbed to the force that is Harry Styles fandom, I truly can’t recommend it enough — and please know that it will get you eventually.