#it shows just how much the writers thought through the corruption and power dynamics at play in the kingdom
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lestats-ovaries · 1 year ago
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been thinking about how ambrosius is largely shown commanding and acting as a leader to the knights for most of the movie, especially in the movie's climax. I also keep thinking about how he graduated at the same time as bal, and the time jump between then and the rest of the plot can't be longer than a few months.
all this to say that chances are, ambrosius was immediately forced into a position of leadership on account of his lineage, which puts his internal rant to the director in a whole new light
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101maverick · 4 months ago
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Hi! Saw your newest post, so thought I might as well try to help with your writers block :)
How about headcanons of the bat boys dating a broke reader? Alternatively, batboys x bimbo!reader?
Hope this helps you get out of your slump, enjoy the rest of your day and take your time if you ain't up for it :]
A/n: Tysm for the request! Hope you enjoy :)
Dick Grayson
Being resident in Bludhaven, he's financially independent and certainly not rich. He refuses to depend on Bruce.
This means he hasn't got any trust fund money to give you, but he'd definitely help you out any way he can
He'd buy you practical gifts as well as normal ones whenever he's got the chance, and if you're living together the way you divide the living costs would definitely be proportional to your spending power
Dick isn't rich but he's not broke either: the average annual salary for cops in the us is roughly $66.000, but he owns the two-bedroom apartment you live in so the only thing you guys need to pay is taxes and bills, no rent to worry about. You're also not at home for most of the day, seeing as he works as a cop and you have your own job that takes up a good chunk of your day, so the electricity bill isn't very high.
I personally think Reader would not enjoy not having to pay for anything seeing as the money comes out of Dick's own pocket, so she'd at the very least insist on paying for groceries and helping out more in the house with laundry, dishes, cleaning et cetera, to even out the responsibilities as much as possible
He'd support you as much as possible if you're getting a degree, he'd be like your own personal cheerleader, and after you get it he'd organise this huge surprise graduation party for you and then help you get a job in the field of your degree
like if you became a lawyer he'd hook you up with some judges/attorneys he knows aren't corrupt and get you a job in their law firm (paid intern of course, after having worked so hard you want to make it yourself in the world)
I think you two would have tons of fun at the thrift! You wouldn't feel bad about him insisting to spend his money, and you would have the best time just perusing the racks and laughing at all the insane stuff you find plus trying on some genuinely nice clothes
One thing he splurges on though is making sure you have a state-of-the-art home gym, in fact that is why he buys your building's basement and equips it with every work-out machine under the sun plus a trapeze and equipment to practice a ton of other dynamic sports of the sort
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Jason Todd
He's a crime lord so it's safe to say this dude is filthy rich
He obviously doesn't show it though and apart from having a lot of it as an emergency fund for when he needs to defend himself in gang wars I believe he anonymously donates the rest to charities
I go with the canon of Jason being catholic so I believe he gives to the Church, but it could obviously be something else like one of the many Wayne foundations (cause as much as he holds a grudge against his father he knows he's obviously not corrupt and actually helps people)
apart from this he definitely still has a lot of money
He'd refuse to see you struggle financially
He's been through that, he knows how awful it is and does not hear no for an answer when he goes to hand you insane amounts of cash
If you live together then he makes sure to get a nice apartment in the respectable parts of town, blending in with the rest of the neighbourhood to make sure the location is safe and as untraceable as possible
He handles everything and refuses to even let you pay for groceries, insisting that you concentrate on your studies and not worry about having to sustain yourself
To him you guys being a team means that you hold each other up any way you can, and you already support him immensely just by being by his side and loving him, so to him this is just doing his part and supporting you (on top of loving you like crazy of course)
One thing he'd do is make sure your house has enough space to host an insane amount of books though
On this topic I think he'd absolutely spoil you with book hauls, just taking you to every book store you can find and buying piles and piles of books
I'm talking those beautiful gold-leaf covered editions of centuries-old classics, and it doesn't matter if you already have the stories per-se in your library cause it's the edition that matters in this case, ya know?
Like sometimes you want to feel regal and distinguished reading the gold-lined hardcover Commedia, sometimes you want to feel quirky with your penguin edition Jane Eyre, other times you just want to embrace your inner sewer rat and read Macbeth from the shitty mass-produced paperbacks and Jason acknowledges and embraces it
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Tim Drake
Tim, like Jason, is also filthy rich, in virtue of being the owner of Drake Industries and the representative C.E.O. for Bruce at Wayne Enterprises
You'd both live in his Nest, and given the horrendous amount of electricity it consumes it's all already paid for by his company so no need to worry about that
He would only accept "payment" for everything he does for you in the form of you making sure he goes to sleep at decent amounts of time when he's elbow-deep in a case (and tons of love, obviously)
Like Jason, he'd just hands you wads of cash
EXCEPT! He does it for the most mundane stuff. Timothy Jackson Drake is a nepo baby, no way around that. Sure, while he spent his time stalking Batman and Robin through the rougher parts of Gotham he learnt street-safety 101, but he always carried anything he needed for those nightly strolls in his backpack, and he never really learned the real value of money. "$2.70 for a small bottle of water? Sounds reasonable!" is his thought process to this day.
You two would often have these moments of 'culture shock', with Tim slowly discovering how much things should cost every time you two go out to run errands together and you discovering about the insane things the rich buy and do just because Tim decided to recount some childhood stories/told you about some stuff socialites did ad a gala
Since I think Tim's love language is quality time I think he'd take you on these absurd trips whenever possible, that to you are to absurd places but to him it's a very normal trip because "my parents always went there twice a year? It's an extremely normal vacation spot?" Meanwhile it's the Maldives or a private island in Greece or something
This being Tim you also HAVE to have a state-of-the-art phone, with tons of features you will never need to use since you're a civilian but it makes him more at ease, knowing that if the need arises you have the ability to disarm a bomb with the click of a button on your display
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Damian Wayne-Al Ghul
Oh he'd absolutely refuse to have you living anywhere but a castle
It'd take convincing for him to have you living in anything less than a penthouse in the diamond district
He's not against the idea of you working, but he doesn't think that it's necessary for you to slave away at a minimum-wage job while you could be spending all your time in luxury while studying for your degree
After you get your degree he'd help you find a job at one of the most important places for your specialisation, pulling the needed strings just to make sure your resume isn't overlooked (nothing more, he's of the idea that his partner should be strong, plus he believes you to be extremely capable and so thinks that pulling strings to get you the job would be a disservice and an offence to you)
Absolutely spoils you with gifts, and by that I mean: clothes, jewellery, if you like cars he'll buy you a carpark, anything you look at for more than two seconds he'll buy
Damian's way of showing love is through gestures, so you rejecting his gifts would hurt him and he'd take it to mean that you are rejecting him/are unsatisfied with him
Like with Tim, you both would have "Culture shocks" over stuff like the worth of money, lifestyle and stuff like that
Because Damian is basically a royal (or at the very least was raised like one, I don't know what's happened to the LoA in current canon) I think he'd lowkey try to get you an armed guard for when you need to go out as a sign of love lol
"Damian I've been feeling watched while going out as of late" "Don't worry Beloved, that's just the armed guard" "Oh ok-I'm sorry what?!"
Things like anniversaries, birthdays and big events are celebrated in the most lavish settings but in a private way still, like he'll absolutely spoil you and take you to visit this super famous castle for your birthday, matter of fact he'll rent it out for the occasion
For real he does this because when you're alone he can be himself and he loves doing that when you're both experiencing something that makes you happy-- But! Those are head canons for another time hehe >:)
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Bruce Wayne
I believe he's the only one in the bat family who knows the worth of money while having being rich his entire life (ya know, having to use all the disguises he does and going undercover as a normal person a lot of the time)
He definitely offers you a job at Wayne Enterprises, and if you accept he agrees to keeping your relationship under wraps so that no one will start saying that you 'sleep with him for the job'
On that topic if the relationship ever goes public and people start saying that, he will fire them without hesitation
And if it's business partners joking with him about it, he won't stop dealing with them for the sole purpose of covertly crippling their reputation so badly they'll have no choice but to sell their companies to him
You obviously live with him at the Manor, and he insists that everything be paid for by himself only (ya know, richest man in New Jersey and probably the world soooo....)
Bruce is really bad with his emotions, he tends to really repress them whenever he deems them something he's not 'worthy' of feeling or whenever he perceives he has failed at something or failed someone, so the mere fact he confessed his feelings towards you and that he doesn't shun your love is a huge step forward for him. This doesn't mean that he's good at expressing his emotions when he doesn't repress them though, especially not with words.
This is why his main love languages are gift-giving and acts of service, because he shows his love through actions.
Gift-giving as an important love language for him happens because he's very busy both during the day and the night, so sometimes your schedules just don't align or he even has to go off-world with the Justice League and stuff, so he 'makes up' those missed acts of service with lavish gifts
Usually this could be seen as 'throwing money at the problem and hoping it fixes itself' but the thing is that Bruce's gifts are pretty much always spontaneous. He's out and about in his public persona or patrolling as batman, and he sees a storefront with something that reminds him of you or that he thinks you would like. The next logical step is obviously buying it for you as soon as possible and getting it to the manor. Because Bruce is really bad at showing it but the people he loves are always at the forefront of his mind (when he's not being an asshole and repressing his emotions as if the fate of humankind depended on his ability to give his family the cold shoulder and communicating only in grunts and sighs)
———————————— A/n: this was so fun! I love writing head canons because there is no pressure with story flow and how much description and feeling you're putting into it, it's very similar to sharing your thoughts with a friend and that's what endears the format to me so much :) Hope you enjoyed! If you like my work, please consider reblogging and checking out my other works through the master list in my pinned post<3 Love you all🩷
Total word count: 2009
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plum-pitt · 8 months ago
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oooo, figured i’d reblog bc i think alot of these r really interesting! side note: won’t be commenting on versions i haven’t watched/read, or the ones i just.. don’t have much of anything to say about. I put these in numbered order matching with which take im responding to, if a number is skipped then it’s corresponding take is one i didn’t feel the need to comment on.
1: Yes and No on 2012 April. I think she’s definitely over hated by a fanbase that hyper-dramatizes how “awful” she is (i feel like how people tend to look at Donnie as a victim and make excuses for his weird behavior by making her look worse by comparison def feeds into this, at least from the discourse i’ve witnessed personally) I think she’s got some interesting ideas behind her, like having the kraang dna, but i just don’t think she has a super strong identity to me, like she feels more like a plot device and eye candy for Donnie and Casey to fist fight over than an actual character. Just an unfortunate byproduct of male writers who haven’t yet learned that objectifying women is wrong.
2: Eh, I kinda agree with this one too. I feel like he could’ve been INFINITELY better if we just got more time with the guy and got to see more of his personality shine through outside of the consistent crisis-mode the plot necessitated. His design totally fucks tho, the mask with Leo’s markings, the chainsaw hockey stick? Straight HEAT.
4: Valid, but also I think in some instances (importantly ones where they’re the same age) Casey and Raph can be a cute lil combo. But only on occasion, sometimes the vibes are there but sometimes they’re not.
5: I FEEL THIS SO HARD. She’s so intriguing but her arc is so infuriatingly paced that it makes me want to pull my hair out. I couldn’t even put to words why i hated it until i saw a video by godzilla mendoza that laid out the show’s overall pacing problem by using her arc as an example, showing EXACTLY how long everything took and how often they’d dangle development in front of the viewer just to rip it away with some contrived bs so they don’t have to commit to a status quo shift.
6: Eh it’s alright but yea definitely overdone at this point. I like that they give eachother shit all the time and have this cautious nerd vs. reckless jackass dynamic going on but i hate that so much of their onscreen interaction and most of their rivalry just comes from both of them wanting to get with April.
7: I agree, but i think the reason is that Mikey just didn’t get nearly enough focus in Rise to properly stand out. I really liked what little we got of him and think they definitely could’ve taken what we see in the show to some really cool places if given the proper time to flesh them out, but it just never came to be which is a damn shame.
8: BASED. I’m so fucking sick of April being shipped with the turtles you have NO IDEA BRO😭😭😭 It’s never once been done well imo, Mutant Mayhem was definitely the least egregious but i have this sinking feeling in my stomach that this might change with the series coming up soon. I feel like this franchise as a whole can do without shipping for the turtles, at least in the canon source material. Fanworks can go crazy, more power to em, but i feel like most of the romantic relationships we’ve seen attempted across the franchise proper have just never quite stuck the landing, and at least for me that can really bring down my enjoyment of a show.
9: Also based as fuck, 80’s shredder is so funny I love him and his dynamic with Kraang.
12: I agree! I think it’s a super fucking cool idea to have Casey start out as a cop. Then some inciting incident could happen that maybe exposes some corruption or something to make him realize that operating inside that system is not what he thought it would be, and that if he wants justice to truly be served he needs to take it into his own hands, thus becoming a vigilante. But hooooooly shit did they do this concept dirty. His casting is a big factor here too, no offense to that actor but he just did not fit this character well at all, and his writing was abysmal.
14: I actually do kinda feel this. It’s like you’ve got the other 3 turtles of mildly varying size and builds, and then Raph, who’s just this absolute fucking behemoth. It’s not necessarily his size that’s the problem to me rather than how he looks grouped together with his siblings. I feel like it could’ve worked if they pushed the varying body types a bit more (maybe make mikey just like this teeny lil goblin, Donnie could be taller than raph since spiney softshells irl also get pretty big, but much slimmer by comparison, while Leo keeps a build closer to what we see in canon) Either level the playing field a bit by making Raph a lil smaller or go ALL IN on making them completely different body types from one another. As it stands the lineup is just a lil bit awkward to me.
15: I think the worst part about 2012 Mikey is that sometimes he’s shown to be incredibly competent and then the next he’s like “baby drinking the chemicals in the cabinet under the sink” levels of stupid. Like idk how i’m supposed to be attached to this guy when the writers can’t seem to decide what he even is. Him getting slapped around is definitely excessive, but also he’s an annoying jackass sometimes who needs to learn common sense, and i can’t say i wouldn’t be in the brother’s boat of just getting irritated with him if i was in their position a lot of the time.
16: ABSOLUTELY. The crossovers never do their individual characterization justice because they’d rather make the same “haha look at these dumb 80’s guys, they’re so incompetent and can’t take anything seriously” jokes every time. Just because their series of origin is lighthearted and they’re all capable of doing the funny doesn’t make them all the same character. You saw people making this exact same shitty ass argument when Rise first came out and people saw them all just having fun together and not taking a threat they did not know the magnitude of super seriously. It’s an argument so clearly born of ignorance i feel stupid even dignifying it with a response. The only reason anyone would make this argument is if they just haven’t watched the show.
17: I actually really like them together in 2003, i think their slow burn development is a super fun little side plot to follow that ends really cathartically. Otherwise, 2012 was ass for obvious reasons, I think Rise!April getting with Cassandra is a pretty cool idea, aaaaaaand well the others i just don’t have any strong opinions about. I think they’re pretty boring most of the time but when done right they can be super cute.
18: I feel like a lot of Mikey’s i can see totally vibin with just having a bunch of friends. Like I wouldn’t go as far as saying I think he’s aromantic necessarily, but i don’t see him as being the kind of guy who feels like he needs a romantic connection to be happy. So long as he’s got his buds in the blunt rotation, my guy is perfectly content in life.
19: Based, people using her actions under MIND CONTROL to justify not liking April is yet another example of people bending over backwards to make her look like a bad person when- she’s really not? Like i personally find her a bit irritating but even i can point out that a lot of the criticism made against her are hypocritical at best and downright bad faith at worst.
20: I honestly can’t say i have a favorite canon ship in for this franchise, it’s not really what i come to it for in the first place, but i can see the appeal of Raph and Mona, even if there’s a couple elements of it i’d personally tweak.
Some of My TMNT Hot Takes 🔥
Warning: Opinions
2012 April was a good character and a fun version/take on April. Y’all are just mean.
Casey Jr. in the Rise movie was a bland and uninteresting character. He did not feel like/deserve to be called a “Casey Jones”.
Jennika in IDW, while a cool concept/character, is overused/overrated.
I don’t like shipping Raph (any version) with human characters. I prefer him dating other mutants or aliens.
2012 Karai is the best/most interesting version of Karai, but she’s also one of the most irritating recurring characters in 2012. I love and hate her.
Jonatello in 2012 is overrated as hell.
Rise Mikey is very forgettable (to me).
April needs to stop being shipped with the Turtles and being their love interest.
87 Shredder is the BEST version of Shredder!
I liked the Irma being a robot twist in 2012. It was an injustice to the Irma character but it was still shocking, and I do like her kinda return as Rook, so there’s some credit to that.
2007 Splinter was a bad dad.
Casey being a cop in the bayverse movies was an interesting take that could’ve worked for his backstory of becoming a vigilante, but it was executed poorly.
IDW Donnie x Mona Lisa is stupid and a completely pointless ship to include in the comics. It feels very forced.
Rise Raph is too big. That, or the other characters are too small. Either way, while I like Rise Raph, his design feels off sometimes.
2012 Mikey is actually annoying and often deserves to be scolded by his brothers for doing dumb immature shit. He’s 15, not 5, he should know better.
The 87 Turtles DO have individual and unique personalities, that includes 87 Leo!
Capril is not a good ship, but I’d still much rather ship April with Casey than with any of the Turtles.
While I love 2012 Renetangelo and 87 Kalangelo, Mikey is the one Turtle that I don’t think needs a love interest. I’d much rather see him be single.
If you’re mad at/hate 2012 April for “killing Donnie” when being possessed in that one episode, but don’t feel the same towards Raph, Karai, Slash and Rockwell for torturing/hurting their friends/family when brainwashed, the you’re a massive hypocrite.
Raph x Mona Lisa in 2012 is the BEST TMNT ship that came out of the four TMNT franchises that Nickelodeon has made. Maybe even the best overall couple in all of TMNT.
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arcane-ish · 3 years ago
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Timebomb (Jinx x Ekko) and Ekko bunnies
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I’ve been thinking about the Jinx x Ekko scenes (and yeah I will forever be pissed that Riot left the majority of their characterization in supplementary material, so most people likely aren’t even aware of it: Enemy Music Video, Ekko Cinematic, True Genius short, original Get Jinxed music video) . It hurt my shipper heart how down on Jinx he was and how little faith he had in her, and how his words were so gruff and had comparatively little melancholy (and how later after the fight he becomes pretty focused on other stuff and doesn’t really mention her anymore). Yes even though I guess he was just frontin and we see in the fight that she does get to him. And again his point of view makes sense considering Jinx shot one of his people, somebody who was basically a child right in front of him, so he probably had to steel himself against her to keep going. 
In my mind, Jinx and Ekko were kind of set up as opposites. Ekko is more like the gentle revolutionary hope for the Undercity. Like a lot of people were worried about how the show would handle the whole revolution aspect and how many media pieces say “yes but the people arguing for violent revolution like Sylas or Silco are all assholes, so let’s keep the status quo”. Ekko’s community gives me strong vibes of modern leftist anarchist community projects that try to figure out new ways of living together. 
And on the other side you have Jinx who likely blew their peace deal to bits and might be the reason why the war with the topside will go on violently. 
This could set up a really interesting dynamic between the two of them, very two sides of the same coin, very across the trench/romeo and juliet but violent. And though I don’t like Ekko being so hard on Jinx, I guess that offers the potential for a character journey as he softens to her or as she goes against his perception of her, which I guess if written write could be healthier than just he pines and she doesn’t care. If there is something on his side that she could conceivably work for or that he could work on. 
Basically, plz Riot, just give me some quality Timebomb, I want to ship them so bad, but you gotta give me stuff. 
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Anyway, here are some Jinx x Ekko plotbunnies. 
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As mentioned, I’m not much of a fanfiction writer (English is not my first language and I’m flat out not very good), but if I could write, these are the plotbunnies on my mind after that season 1 ending. (in the unlikely case that anybody wants them they are all up for adoption, do with them what you will)
Things that arguably should have happened
Okay, so a lot of people have commented that rather than leaving with Cait, Vi should have stayed with Jinx and Ekko should have taken Cait to safety. So that, Ekko basically does Vi’s storyline. Ekko reacts to the Kirammann mansion and how Caitlyn’s lives, maybe Ekko has some thoughts on the end of Marcus and how naive Cait was about the corruption, Ekko gets to face the council and rant at them, maybe Ekko and Mel share a look, Ekko grumpily goes to Jayce and tells him where the Shimmer plant is. 
Ekko vs Silco
Ekko hated Silco. Silco had a reason to hate Ekko since the Ekko fight caused Jinx’s injuries on the bridge. They really would have deserved a confrontation. Maybe after the bridge an angry and desperrate Ekko decides to attack Silco after Singed’s lab? 
Or after Silco wakes up at Singed’s lab and Jinx is gone he is angey and decides to go after Ekko? Maybe he gives a villain speech that he always knew where their hideout was but before he let them live because it was useful to him to have them as a scapegoat? 
Maybe Ekko is all “you poisoned her!” and Silco is all “this is the real her! I set her free! that was always her” and Ekko is all “No, I knew her!”. 
Jinx at the topside but she hates it
So in my Silco post I came up with an AU where Silco lives, the deal with the topside goes through (maybe in this version they actually manage to talk Jinx down instead of just Mel’s power saving the council), but anyway the point is that the cities are at relative peace and Cait makes her parents take in both Vi and Jinx. 
Vi and Cait of course are schmooching it up, but Jinx feels like an outsider, doesn’t feel accepted, feels homesick and sneaks back to the undercity and meets up with Ekko
Expanded version: Jinx on medication
A more complex version would be maybe if there actually was some traces of psychiatry in this world and maybe there is medication or the magic equivalent to maybe bind the voices in Jinx’s head? But it’s all still very new and unsure how it works and Jinx isn’t sure she likes it. 
And she sneaks back to the undercity to talk to Ekko (I do want to see he rreaction to Ekko’s mural). 
Maybe Ekko is all gruff like “well that can’t undo the things you did” or grumpily asking her whether she likes her nice life in the big mansion now. 
Ekko musings
Would love to get an Ekko point of view of Jinx shooting the Firelight. 
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Would love to see an Ekko point of view on him having captured Vi and her being back and being unsure what her loyalties are. 
Would love an introspective piece on Ekko gazing at the mural of Powder before going to face Jinx in battle. 
Would love an Ekko point of view on the Vi and Cait hug (in my head it would be something like “good for them”). 
Also wouldn’t mind an Ekko perspective on Sllco. Maybe he tracks them. 
Also, mabye at some time Ekko thought about giving jinx a birthday present. Either he leaves it somewhere for her to find, or he decides against it and places it in front of the mural instead. Maybe he’s always been giving the mural Powder birthday presents and one day Jinx finds them. 
Mob queen Jinx versus Ekko (with smut)
So after Silco is dead Jinx takes over (maybe somebody else is running operations in the background, but she is the big scary figurehead) and her and Ekko are in a battle within the city. 
Like I can picture this really tense scene where Jinx attacks the sancuary and is shocked to see the mural there and just then Ekko and the firelights ambush her and Ekko is like seething with rage like “You attacked my home, I will never forgive you”. And then Jinx uncharacteristically calls a retreat. And then in her office she has an extended conversation with her voices and then decides to to sneak to wherever Ekko is and try to seduce him. 
I could picture either her trying to be seductive or just straight up tying him and trying to torture him a bit. Ekko would of course gruffly resist with like “I hate you” and “you are not of sound mind” and “I love Powder, not you” (up to anybody how successful he would be). 
[I sure hope Ekko likes cb torture if he ever brings up Powder in a situation like this]
Speaking of dark smut, Ekko thinks of Jinx while (non-lovingly) being with somebody else
In my head canon Ekko is basically a sweet guy, so if he was dating somebody he would do it because he cared for them and he wouldn’t think of Jinx while with them. But somehow my head goes, what if it was a sexual situation that wasn’t very loving. 
Like either he is at a brothel or maybe a topsider invited him to a sexy bath house to negotiate (yes this is inspired by Mel’s mom, but doesn’t have to be her) and while it happens Ekko keeps seeing Jinx and he doesn’t want to and he tries to think of something else. 
(bonus angst points if Jinx is there spying on the situation and overhears him say Powder’s name, being torn between being angry that he said Powder’s name and being intrigued because that’s how she finds out that he’s into her)
Speaking of which...
Jinx versus Powder
I think a really interesting shippy fic between the two of them would be that Ekko taunts Jinx that he doesn’t like her, he liked Powder. And at first Jinx is hurt by that, but then she begins to realize that he’s lying and so she taunts him back and tells him that he is into her after all. 
And he like denies it and she is like “Powder was never this free and you love it, Powder would never have ridden the skies with you” and he insists like “I knew Powder” and tells all this stories about how Powder was fun loving and creative too (like in the enemy music video or in Vi’s flashbacks of the really young powder) and Jinx is like “I’m still all that (but with a darker twist)”. 
And Jinx is like all “Powder was weak, you would never have been happy with her, you would always have tried to protect her” or like “Powder was a dream, we both know the world isn’t sweet like that”. 
And it effectively comes to a stalemate or Ekko going pensive “Hmmmm” as Jinx walks off. 
Going to school AU: both Jinx and Ekko go to topside university
Basically happy AU where the relationships between undercity and topside are a bit better and both Jinx and Ekko get a scholarship upside and it’s basically their freshman year experience with them having trouble fitting in and liking each other and they begin dating and they help each other study. 
Maybe Jace and Viktor show up as their professors. 
Going to school AU: only Ekko goes to school
Okay, also going to school AU, but here only Ekko goes because he has nice/acceptable parents, as per Ekko’s universe story. So they managed to get one of the rare scholarships topside and Ekko and Powder have this really tragic and touching goodybe as he leaves for school. Maybe Viktor is there  to greet him since he was a previous scholarship kid and he explain to Ekko what it is like as a Zaunite in a Piltover school. 
Lot’s of introspective stuff about Ekko being torn between two worlds, missing his home. 
Maybe Powder comes to visit him and he shows her some of his inventions and it hurts because Ekko can tell she is so talented, but she flunks the entry tests because she gets nervous. Maybe he keeps sneaking her in when it’s forbidden, maybe he tries to teach her in secret what he learned but it’s hard to juggle that and his school work. Maybe he begins arguing with the university that the system is unfair and VIktor warns him that he might get kicked out. 
Everybody goes to a Seraphine concert
Okay, so one of the more contentious lore bits of League of Legends is that canonically there is a happy pretty Zaunite pop superstar named Seraphine. 
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Cait is canonically a huge fangirl of her. 
Caityln:Seraphine! Would it be inappropriate to ask you for an autograph?"
Caityln: "I was so looking forwards to your next concert, Seraphine."
So, Seraphine is giving a concert to bring people together. Cait and Vi of course are there too, Cait is fangirlling out and Cait and Vi are smooching it up in the audience. Some of Ekko’s friends want to go and he decides to come along though maybe he is a bit snobby about not liking the music or thinking Seraphine is too idealistic. Ekko is there bobbing along, when he sees that Jinx has snuck into the concert, too. 
Ekko leaves his friends behind to follow Jinx and confront her (maybe he worries that she is there to attack the concert?). They trade words, maybe they bond, maybe they both pretend they don’t like the music, but actually do kinda like it. Maybe they smooch and then part and agree to pretend it never happened as soon as the concert is over. (maybe Jinx immediately breaks that agreement and teases him about it whenever they come across each other again)
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moonlit-sunflower-books · 3 years ago
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creating sympathetic villains
[@/moonlit_sunflower_books on ig]
hi everyone! today's post is about creating sympathetic villains, because let's be honest, the antagonist is the best part of any story /hj. a sympathetic villain is essentially one whose intentions are understandable, but whose actions are not. i hope this post helps!
disclaimer: i am not a professional writer and everything here is based on personal experience and opinion. i am always open to respectful discourse and constructive criticism!
give them reasons
and i don't necessarily mean a tragic past. give them genuinely sympathetic reasons. maybe they want to save the world by burning it down. maybe they want to wage war on the politicians that have denied them life. maybe they want to secure peace for the people in their country, if they're a ruler. or maybe they've been denied and ignored their entire life and just want to be recognised.
whatever your character's motivation, it should be something that the reader can sympathise with.
give them a past
yes, we all love characters with a tragic backstory, but don't stop at 'their parents were killed when they were young' or 'their girlfriend betrayed them and now they're a bad person' (yes this is me attacking the shadow and bone tv show no im not sorry). any character's backstory should have depth and reason to it.
take loki from the first avengers movie, for example. he's a sympathetic villain because we have seen him before in thor movies and we know his relationship with his adoptive father and brother. he was constantly pushed aside and watched his mother die in front of him, neither of which could have been fun. and his relationship with thor is a really strong dynamic that makes the viewer want him to get something out of the conflict.
his past gives him context and reason and the depth of it makes him seem like a character rather than a symbol, which made it easier for the viewer to sympathise.
give them humanity
make your antagonists funny. make them awkward. make them bad at flirting. make them walk into a grocery store and not understand how the self check-out works. i understand the appeal of having an all-powerful fantastical being be the villain, but if your aim is to create a sympathetic one, it's important that they are shown to be human because that's what allows the reader to relate to them.
i know i'm using all marvel examples, but if you take hela from thor: ragnarok - she is undoubtedly the evil antagonist, but she's funny, for goodness sake. also cate blanchett is gorgeous but that's unrelated, i just had to point it out.
they are not morally gray
there is a very important difference between a morally gray character and a sympathetic villain. a sympathetic villain is one who is, undoubtedly, a Bad Character - they just have understandable motives. they do the wrong things for the (arguably) right reasons - or their reasons have been corrupted by events and/or people, causing the reader to sympathise with them.
a morally gray character, on the other hand, often has the wrong reasons and justifies them anyway. they do a combination and Good and Bad things, unlike the villain who does solely Bad things.
helene aquila from an ember in the ashes is morally gray because she makes hard decisions in the face of crises and is often on the opposite side from laia and elias. she's arguably a good person with hard luck, and circumstance drives her to make questionable decisions that play on her mind.
the darkling, however, is a sympathetic villain, and i'm going to elaborate on this much more now.
case study: the darkling
okay before we get started: i am NOT a darkling apologist and i do not think any of his actions are excusable. but the fact that so many people on this hellsite think he's a good person just proves how well leigh bardugo created a sympathetic villain, and i'm going to explain how i think it worked. and yes, this has shadow and bone spoilers.
the darkling is grisha, and through his lifetime he was hunted and therefore hiding and living in perpetual fear (his past). he wanted to create a safe place for the grisha to live and thought the only way they could be safe was if they were feared (his reasons). he also supposedly fell in love with alina (although his is arguable) and that could be seen as his humanity.
rule of wolves spoilers: the end of the rule of wolves where he agrees to make a sacrifice for the good of ravka also gives him some amount of humanity.
all of the above make the reader sympathise with his intentions and are probably smitten with ben barnes' face which makes it easier. however, literally none of his actions are excusable. he manipulated teenage girls, kissed alina pretending to be mal, literally bound her to his power with an amplifier that completely eliminated her agency, created creatures that blinded his own mother and cut off one of his students' arms, and attempted to expand a physical darkness to take over the entire world. excusable? i think not.
his initial desire for safety is what the reader sympathises with. but the darkling uses that as a jumping-off point to go completely off the rails and essentially lose any sense of boundaries or limits on even his own power, which undoubtedly makes him the villain. not a single one of his actions are excusable.
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pale-silver-comb · 4 years ago
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So I know absolutely nothing about Leverage except what I've been seeing you post lately and I have to admit you're making it look tempting to watch! Can I ask what are some of your favorite things about the show/reasons you would suggest people watch it? And is there really a poly relationship that is canon?
Okay. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. I am going to do my best not to just “asdfghkjl” at you and answer coherently.
In a nutshell, Leverage is about 5 people. 4 are criminals (Parker, Hardison, Eliot and Sophie) with different and unique skill-sets and 1 is an ex-insurance investigator (Nate) who, at one point or another in his career, has tracked down (or at least attempted to) the other 4. The whole show is essentially: man reluctantly reforms 4 criminals to use their criminal powers for good and 4 criminals move into man’s life and stubbornly refuse to leave because, goddammit, now they have morals. 
I’ve got a lot of favourite things about the show but the main ones are as follows:
1. Found family. And I’m not talking about loners who come together to fight crime and happen to co-exist to the point where they realise they happen to have found themselves a family. I mean, Nate and Sophie are the Drunk Uncle and Wine Aunt who somehow become Mom and Dad to 3 beautiful criminal children. Mom and Dad love their criminal babies and the kids love them (as well as each other, but we’ll come to that in a moment). You get amazing family moments such as: Mom and Dad packing the kids lunch before sending them out to kick corporate greed’s ass; Mom and Dad giving the kids ridiculously expensive and personal Christmas presents causing their most Grumpy Kid to go very very quiet and soft as he runs off to gleefully play with his new murder toy; the kids interrupting Mom and Dad’s big Movie Style Kiss to ask if they can please keep their new underground layer and huffing and puffing when Dad tells them no.
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2. Found family: the OT3 edition. To answer your question, the OT3 is indeed canon, confirmed by the creator. Now, usually, “confirmed by the creator” infuriates me because most of the time it’s a way for a creator to be seen as “progressive” without doing anything to actually be progressive. That isn’t the case here. The OT3 are built up carefully and while it is obvious the creators didn’t originally intend for all 3 of them to become a relationship in the romantic sense, by mid-season 5 we are given a very clear picture of where Parker, Hardison and Eliot are heading in their relationship. There aren’t any kisses at the end to signal this but there are solid marriage vows in not only one but two episodes. (And by marriage vows I mean literal equivalents of marriage vows: “for better or worse” and “’til death do us part”. I’m not even exaggerating). The OT3 also doesn’t need explicit romantic narratives to convey how much they love each other. Their love is laced through the whole show, from the way they teach each other things to the way they respond to each other and work as a unit. The way they fiercely protect and admire each other. Like someone once said, if you need characters to kiss or say I love you to let the audience know they love each other, you are writing them wrong. 
Aside from that, each of the parings in the OT3 are just. Gah. They are so well done, with friendship being the solid basis for them all. The creators never expect the audience to assume anything about them or fill in the gaps. They give us their relationships on screen and reference many things off-screen to show us how these relationships continue to build in between episodes.
Hardison and Parker are a canon couple and date in the show: it’s approached slowly and they are so goddamned sweet. They are basically every fluffy slow-burn trope with a healthy dash of mutual pining in the mix. They are basically that quote “love is patient, love is kind”. (I would like to add their romance never becomes the focus of the show or overrides the importance of any other relationship they have with the other characters, especially Eliot.)
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Hardison and Eliot are the Old Married Couple and from day one are already bickering and looking at each other/making comments that are found in every UST fic ever (not to mention Hardison has a very good knack for making Eliot grin like a little kid, when usually he’s basically an Angry Little Chef Man). They argue, they play, and love each other plain as day. 
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Parker and Eliot are more subtle but every bit as wonderful. They have an unspoken connection and understand each other on a level no-one else can. Parker and Eliot are not good with giving themselves over to affection for different reasons (and Hardison plays a central role in helping them realise it’s okay to want it and have it- that boy has endless patience) but there is something so beautiful in the way the two of them come together on their own and develop their own special bond that works for them. Parker and Eliot are that trope where the characters don’t need to speak to understand each other perfectly. They just do. Their love language is a lot of the time non-verbal but speaks volumes. (Parker also likes to annoy the hell out of Eliot and Eliot....just.....lets...her. Because he’s soft. The softest, grumpiest boy.) 
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I could go into so much depth for each pairing and their dynamics as a 3 but that's for another post.
3. Subverting stereotypes. There is the occasional hiccup in the show regarding stereotypes but ultimately, Leverage gets an A+ when it comes to writing characters and making them 3 dimensional people who are not defined by certain characteristics or events. Nate could so easily fall into the White Man Pain trope where he uses the trauma of losing his kid as a reason as to why he is entitled to act like a dick. Nate is a dick but he doesn’t use his pain to excuse it and I appreciate that. Hardison is a black man who is soft and nurturing. Easily the most empathetic and patient of the group. He’s nerdy, an actual genius, and has the biggest heart of all the characters. Nate is maybe the glue but Hardison is definitely the heart. Media’s usual aggressive, amongst other, racist stereotypes can fuck right off. Parker is canonically autistic (I am sure this was confirmed by one of the creators) and she is not defined by it. It’s not written as some kind of singular personality trait. It’s part of what makes up Parker but it’s only one facet of who she is and not once is her actions, thoughts or feelings treated like a joke. Sometimes people don’t understand why she does and says the things she does but it’s met with patience and fondness over the course of the show. Equally, it’s not met with over-caution. Parker is just Parker. No-one tries to change her. The other nice thing is Hardison, who always makes sure Parker knows she’s amazing because of who she is and not in spite of it. Finally, Sophie is in her 40s. She’s not treated like she’s past her prime. Ever. She’s sexy, smart and never is she pitted against or compared to Parker (who is younger) for anything. Sophie is amazing and there’s never even a conversation of “I may be older but I am still *insert adjective typically associated with younger women here*”. Sophie is possibly the first female character I’ve ever seen who isn’t just unapologetic about her age but has never had to apologise for her age. It’s a non-issue and that’s that. The women on the show are written so well, right down to secondary characters and it’s beyond refreshing.  
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4.) It’s just fun. The show has a “monster of the week” type format. Except instead of a ghoul or a ghost, the monster is some corrupt wealthy and powerful individual or organisation. The show draws on real-life individuals to do this and therefore closely parallels real-life people and events. It addresses important political, economical, social and environmental issues while at the same time remaining fun and light-hearted. The characters constantly get the chance to play dress up and by GOD do they have fun with it. You get to watch Eliot beat up bad guys in the most delightful of ways, usually after a witty non-sequitur and with a weapon you’d never think could be a weapon. The dialogue and back and forth between the characters is everything. And finally - my favourite thing- the team can never resist striking a dramatic pose after they’ve taken down the bad guy, making sure the bad guy sees them. I mean, they COULD just walk away, satisfied they’ve taken the person down, but nope. They gotta be dramatic bitches 24/7 and pose like they are models for every single month of this year’s Criminal Calendar.  
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5.) Competence Porn. So. Much. Competence Porn.  
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Honestly, I could list a thousand reasons for why Leverage is amazing but to list them would to be spoiling so many amazing moments you’d get to discover for the first time on your own if you do choose to watch it. It’s the kind of show you can watch with an eagle-eye and sink your teeth into. But it’s also the kind of show if, you would prefer, put on in the background for something entertaining while you do something else. Each episode is about the job at hand but it’s made up of so many moments between the characters that show how much the creators and writers care about them. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll do whatever it is you do when something Soft and Wonderful happens that makes your heart melt. I am so beyond grateful for Leverage. It’s everything I always wanted in a show. Nearly every show I’ve watched in the past 10 years has disappointed me in some way, usually either because the writers run out of steam or characters who I love are treated poorly or given some kind of unnecessary “shock value” arc. Leverage doesn’t do that. Leverage is what it says on the bottle. Fandom isn’t something I joined because I needed canon fix-its. Fandom only enhances and celebrates an already excellent canon. 
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metvmorqhoses · 3 years ago
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Hi! I just found your blog and I love your take on shadow & bone! How do you feel about soc being incorporated into the s&b netflix show? I have mixed feelings since their presence felt contradictory. For example, Alina's story is black and white while the crows' story is gray. They literally break into the Little Palace to kidnap Alina and this is never seen as a bad thing, yet the Darkling is accused of trying to make Alina a prisoner because of what Baghra said even though there's no real proof. What are your thoughts?
I completely get where you are coming from anon, yet the problem you are presenting here immediately felt to me much less of an artistic choice than a rather... imperative one?
I'll explain.
Even without having ever read Six of Crows and therefore having only the show and some random facts about the books as a parameter, I could absolutely tell we were talking about a series that stood on a completely different skill level compared to The Grisha Trilogy.
Shadow and Bone in particular is the less novel... well, novel, that I have probably ever read. It feels much more like a story study than an actual finished product, a plot summary with some punchline thrown here and there at best. Even if the general idea had indeed potential (let’s pretend to believe in its originality - it is a very blatant bastardization of Deathless), even if the protagonists were drawn from ancient and deeply interesting archetypes, the whole thing wasn’t really thought-through nor harmonic within itself to be considered a compelling enough story worthy of its own premises.
Let’s be honest, the content of Shadow and Bone wasn't enough to even carry the weight of the brief YA novel it was conceived as, let alone a Netflix show. If the writers had decided to faithfully adapt those books on screen the way they were written, the whole thing would have collapsed into nothingness at episode one.
As far as I am concerned they had two possible choices - either following the plot of the novel in its main pivotal points yet inventing from scratch the entire characterization and the detailed twists and turns of the story (thing that I personally would have preferred and loved if done with intelligence), or using some other already available source material to fill the many gaps. And that’s why I ultimately think Six of Crows was brought into the equation: it gave the show dimension and dynamism.
I completely agree that the sentiment and depth levels of the two series don’t seem quite to match: the crows are all more or less complicated and very nuanced antiheroes, while as you correctly pointed out Alina’s story seems to be based upon a pretty blind tyrannical series of absolutes. Yet, this said, what I actually believe is that Shadow and Bone wasn’t so much intended as a high tale of moral dichotomy as much as it merely... failed to delve even a little deeper into itself while it really should have.
The plot of The Grisha Trilogy, its characters and symbols, actually call and demand for complexity and greyness. Everything about it is portrayed as very complicated and dubious from the very first word.
There is racism, there is war. Every party seem to have valid points and yet no one really has. The heroine is supposed to be an ordinary girl and a saint at the same time. The heroine and the villain have matching powers and a special connection. The villain actually thinks himself the hero of the twisted story and has spent lifetimes to try and protect a persecuted minority. The heroine fears her power would corrupt her and yet is constantly craving more. I mean, what better premises for moral dubiousness, for deep meaning?
Instead, we are presented with a pretty shallow narrative that repeats itself endlessly, meaninglessly and implausibly in utter black and whiteness, without ever making much sense nor matching its own very themes.
I absolutely think that the lack of depth and nuance, fundamental things that the plot actually seems to set from moment one, is ultimately the reason of failure of the entire series. Those books possess a shallowness that is truly appalling.
Also, if you ask me, the author constantly seems to have double standards regarding her own characters. She holds the ultimate saying in how the readers are supposed to interpret her story and gets mad when they don’t follow her bizarre views. Characters are not judged nor held by their actions, but by how much she merely... likes them.
As you correctly pointed out, the crows can go around kidnapping people, cheating and thieving and lying (killing even), but they are funny and quite adorable and intended as heroes and have tragic backstories, so it’s totally fine.
Baghra literally abused and dehumanized her own son for literal ages, to the point the man doesn’t even remember who he is or his own name, purposely robbing him even of his one slim chance of happiness (people, if you think she “warned” Alina because she gave a damn about her or what “terrible things” Aleksander would do with her power, think again), and yet she’s a saviour and a victim and so brave and helping because the author decided she was correctly thwarting the villain she arbitrarily appointed.
The Darkling literally gave Alina a home, protection, a purpose, tried to save her from an eternity of loneliness, had spent literal lifetimes protecting a dehumanized and persecuted minority while being dehumanized and persecuted (and abused by his own mother) himself, but the author decided his tragic back story doesn’t count, that he’s in fact just evil and beyond salvation, mainly because he didn’t confess his darkest secrets to an angsty teenager right the moment he met her and wanted to make decisions for her she wasn’t mature enough to make on her own and for the literal sake of humanity.
Okay, I guess.
Indeed double standards are absolutely at work in those series. I’m afraid the author doesn’t seem to understand what storytelling is actually about. In my opinion the show-runners actually did a very good job with the absolute mess they were presented with and the funny ideas I’m sure LB kept throwing at them in her involvement.
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killianmesmalls · 3 years ago
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On your comments about Jack: ye-es, in the sense that Jack is a character who definitely deserved better than he was treated by the characters. The way Dean especially treats him reflects very badly on Dean, no question. But, speaking as a viewer, I think the perspective needs to shift a little bit.
To me, Jack is Dawn from Buffy, or Scrappy Doo. He’s an (in my opinion) irritating kid who is introduced out of nowhere to be both super vulnerable and super OP, and the jeopardy is centered around him in a way that has nothing to do with his actual character or relationships. He’s mostly around to be cute and to solve or create problems — he never has any firm character arcs or goals of his own, nor any deeper purpose in the meta narrative. In this way, he’s a miss for SPN, which focuses heavily on conflicts as metaphors for real life.
Mary fits so much better in that framework, and introducing her as a developed, flawed person works really well with the narrative. It is easy for us to care about Mary, both as the dead perfect mother on the pedestal and as the flawed, human woman who could not live up to her sons’ expectations. That connection is built into the core of SPN, and was developed over years, even before she was a character. When she was added, she was given depth and nuance organically, and treated as a flawed, complex character rather than as a plot device or a contrivance. She was given a voice and independence, and became a powerful metaphor for developing new understandings of our parents in adulthood, as well as an interesting and well-rounded character. You care that she’s dead, not just because Sam and Dean are sad, but for the loss of her development and the potential she offered. So, in that sense, I think a lot of people were frustrated that she died essentially fridged for a second time, and especially in service of the arc of a weaker character.
And like, you’re right, no one can figure out if Jack is a toddler or a teenager. He’s both and he’s neither, because he’s never anything consistently and his character arc is always “whatever the plot needs it to be.” Every episode is different. Is he Dean’s sunny opportunity to be a parent and make up for his dad’s shitty parenting? Yes! Is he also Dean’s worst failure and a reminder that he has done many horrible things, including to “innocent” children? Yes! Is he Cas’s child? Yes! Is he Dean’s child? Yes! But also, no! Is he Sam’s child? Yes! Is he a lonely teenager who does terrible things? Yes! Is he a totally innocent little lamb who doesn’t get why what he is doing is wrong? Yes! Is he the most powerful being in the universe? Yes! Does he need everyone to take care of him? Yes! Is he just along for the ride? Yes! Is he responsible for his actions? Kinda??? Sometimes??? What is he???
Mary as a character is narratively cohesive and fleshed-out. Jack is a mishmash of confusing whatever’s that all add up to a frustrating plot device with no consistent traits to latch on to. Everything that fans like about him (cute outfits, gender play, well-developed parental bonds with the characters) is fanon. So, yes, the narrative prioritizes Mary. Many fans prioritize Mary, at least enough that Dean’s most heinous acts barely register. To the narrative (not to Cas, which is a totally different situation), Jack is only barely more of a character than Emma Winchester, who Sam killed without uproar seasons earlier. He’s been around longer, but he’s equally not really real.
I debated on responding to this because, to tell the truth, I think we fundamentally disagree on a number of subjects and, as they say, true insanity is arguing with anyone on the internet. However, you spent a lot of time on the above and I feel it's only fair to say my thoughts, even if I don't believe it will sway you any more than what you said changed my opinions.
I'm assuming this was in response to this post regarding how Jack's accidental killing of Mary was treated so severely by the brothers, particularly Dean, because it was Mary and, had it been a random character like the security guard in 13x06, it would have been treated far differently. However, then the argument becomes less about the reaction of the Winchester brothers to this incident and more the value of Jack or Mary to the audience.
I believe we need to first admit that both characters are inherently archetypes—Mary as the Madonna character initially then, later, as a metaphor for how imperfect and truly human our parents are compared to the idol we have as children, and Jack as the overpowered child who is a Jesus allegory by the end. Both have a function within the story to serve the Winchester brothers, through whose lens and with whose biases we are meant to view the show's events. We also need to admit that the writers didn't think more than a season ahead for either character, especially since it wasn't initially supposed to be Mary that came back at the end of season 11 but John, and they only wrote enough for Jack in season 13 to gauge whether or not the audience would want him to continue on or if he needed to be killed off by the end of the season. Now, I know we curate our own experiences online which leads to us being in our own fandom echo chambers, however it is important to note that the character was immediately successful enough with the general audience that, after his first episode or two, he was basically guaranteed a longer future on the show.
I have to admit, I’m not entirely sure why the perspective of how his character is processed by some audience members versus others has any bearing on the argument that he deserved to be treated better overall by the other characters especially when taking their own previous actions in mind. I’m not going to tell you that your opinion is wrong regarding your feelings for Jack. It’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it, it harms no one to have it and express it. My feelings on Jack are clearly very different from your own, but this is really just two different people who processed a fictional person in different ways. I personally believe he has a purpose in the Winchesters’ story, including Castiel’s, as he reflects certain aspects of all of them, gives them a way to explore their own histories through a different perspective, and changes the overall dynamic of Team Free Will from “soldiers in arms” to a family (Misha’s words). In the beginning he allows Sam to work through his past as the “freak” and powerful, dangerous boy wonder destined to bring hell on earth. With Dean, his presence lets Dean work through his issues with John and asks whether he will let history repeat itself or if he’ll work to break the cycle. Regarding Cas, in my opinion he helps the angel reach his “final form” of a father, member of a family, lover and protector of humanity, rebellious son, and the true show of free will. 
From strictly the story, he has several arcs that work within themes explored in Supernatural, such as the argument of nature versus nurture, the question of what we’re willing to give up in order to protect something or someone else and how ends justify the means, and the struggle between feeling helpless and powerless versus the corruptive nature of having too much power and the dangerous lack of a moral compass. His goals are mentioned and on display throughout his stint on the show, ones that are truly relatable to some viewers: the strong desire to belong—the need for family and what you’ll do to find and keep it. 
With Mary, we first need to establish whether the two versions of her were a writing flaw due to the constant change in who was dictating her story and her relationship to the boys, which goes against the idea that her characterization was cohesive and fleshed-out but, rather, put together when needed for convenience, or if they both exist because, as stated above, we are seeing the show primarily through the biased lens of the Winchester brothers and come to face facts about the true Mary as they do. Like I said in my previous post, I don’t dislike Mary and I don’t blame her for her death (either one). However, I do have a hard time seeing her as a more nuanced, fleshed-out character than Jack. True, a lot of her problems are more adult in nature considering she has to struggle with losing her sons’ formative years and meeting them as whole adults she knows almost nothing about, all because of a choice she made before they were born. 
However, her personal struggles being more “mature” in nature (as they center primarily on parental battles) doesn’t necessarily mean her story has layers and Jack’s does not. They are entirely different but sometimes interconnected in a way that adds to both of their arcs, like Mary taking Jack on as an adoptive son which gives her the moments of parenting she lost with Sam and Dean, and Jack having Mary as a parental figure who understands and supports him gives him that sense of belonging he had just been struggling with to the point of running away while he is also given the chance to show “even monsters can do good”. 
I’d also argue that Jack being many ages at once isn’t poor writing so much as a metaphor for how, even if you’re forced to grow up fast, that doesn’t mean you’re a fully equipped adult. I don’t want to speak for anyone else, but I believe Jack simultaneously taking a lot of responsibility and constantly trying to prove to others he’s useful while having childish moments is relatable to some who were forced to play an adult role at a young age. He proves a number of times that he doesn’t need everyone to take care of him, but he also has limited life experience and, as such, will make some mistakes while he’s also being a valuable member of the group. Jack constantly exists on a fine line in multiple respects. Some may see that as a writing flaw but it is who the character was conceived to be: the balance between nature or nurture, between good and evil, between savior and devil. 
Now, I was also frustrated Mary was “fridged” for a second time. It really provided no other purpose than to give the brothers more man pain to further the plot along. However, this can exist while also acknowledging that the way it happened and the subsequent fallout for Jack was also unnecessary and a sign of blatant hypocrisy from Dean, primarily, and Sam. 
And, yes, Jack can be different things at once because, I mean, can’t we all? If Mary can be both the perfect mother and the flawed, independent, distant parent, can’t Jack be the sweet kid who helps his father-figures process their own feelings on fatherhood while also being a lost young-adult forcing them to face their failures? Both characters contain multitudes because, I mean, we all do. 
I can provide articles or posts on Jack’s characterization and popularity along with Mary’s if needed, but for now I think this is a long enough ramble on my thoughts and feelings. I’m happy to discuss more, my messenger is always open for (polite) discussion. Until then, I’m going to leave it at we maybe agree to disagree. 
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rachelbethhines · 4 years ago
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Tangled Salt Marathon - Secret of the Sun Drop (Part 1)
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Were now at the season finale folks and it’s the beginning of the end. This is the series’ highpoint, it’s all downhill afterwards. However, while this episode is good, it’s still got flaws so let's get to it. 
Summary: On Rapunzel's nineteenth birthday, Frederic tightens his grip on the Rapunzel and the kingdom, while Varian makes his move to attack. 
More Indication of the Timeline 
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Remember, Varian said that it would be matter of months until the rocks reached the island in QfaD and today is the day that they reach it. Now Raps is saying that Frederic has been lying to her for months. At least since TWoRR, which makes more sense if you remember that that particular episode was meant to slot between QfaD and this episode. 
The show has a bad habit of making the passage of time an important plot point but failing to showcase how much time has past. Showing episodes out of order didn’t help, but even more than that the audience shouldn’t have to rely on one line exposition to gain knowledge of what’s going on. The show fails to use actual visual indicators of what’s going on. There’s little visual change in seasons, next to no change in character models, and all we have are made up holidays to go by.   
Also yes, Rapunzel has left a fourteen year old alone for three months. This isn’t something that can be excused. Seriously, stop trying to do so people. It just makes you look bad when you do.  
Wow, Way to Victim Blame, Raps. 
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“Unstable”? We’re seriously going to use ableist terms to describe a grieving young teenager who’s been persecuted and neglected for months on in?
And Rapunzel knows he’s been persecuted and abandoned for months at this point. She’s read the note. She’s been attacked by same the guards that attacked him. She’s heard the rumors. She seen his father’s corpse. She has just admitted in this very spiel that Frederic has been lying. She knows how people are unfairly treated by Corona’s legal system and that ‘treason’ is a death sentence to anyone but herself.  
Yet, all she can do here is whine about how all of this only affects her. This entire speech is just me, me, me, and I, I, I. Don’t tell me she’s a kind and compassionate person when her hypocrisy is made into a fundamental plot point for the season’s main conflict. 
But let's get to the real reason for this little recap. It’s to create bias in the viewer. 
The viewer is aware that Varian might be up to something, but Rapunzel logically, should not be. Varian technically hasn’t done anything wrong yet. The worst he’s done is feed people truth serum, which is no different than Xavier drugging folks with the mood potion. Given how Raps didn’t care about Xavier doing that she shouldn’t care about Varian doing it either, especially since it didn’t physically harm anyone. Also Varian very much is in the right to take the flower and she knows the only thing he’s going to use it for is to free his father and possibly stop the rocks. He’s been very upfront about that. 
Also don’t you dare bring up the stupid reprise! Intent isn’t action. You can't condemn people for having negative thoughts. You can only condemn people for acting upon their negative impulses, which, once again, has not happened yet. 
Furthermore, Rapunzel isn’t privy to Varian’s innermost thoughts and hasn’t been present for those instances where he did voice negative intent. Ergo, him singing a misplaced reprise does not excuse her behaviour. 
The characters in the show treat Varian as a villain before he ever actually becomes a villian, and that’s only because the creator wants you to side with his self-insert instead of actually addressing the moral conundrums that he’s written into the show. 
Does Anyone Else Besides Me Find the Glorification of Classism In the Show Disturbing? 
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So supposedly all of these gifts have been given to Rapunzel by the regular citizenry of Corona. There might be a few from a couple of lower nobles or royals from outside of Corona, but for the most part it’s implied that all of theses presents are from poor people. 
Rapunzel is a princess. She’s literally the richest person in the whole kingdom and holds people’s lives in her hands. Giving a thoughtful gift because you like her is one thing, paying tribute to her very existence just because she technically owns you is another. 
Keep in mind people have been brainwashed for nearly two decades to worship Rapunzel. They’ve made a holiday out of her birthday. Later on we see the townspeople defend the King even when it’s been proven that he’s done them wrong. They follow Rapunzel blindly through out season three. ect. 
The people of Corona are dangerously loyal to feudalism, royalty, and authoritarian rule long past sanity, and given the other authoritarian messages in the show, it takes what is meant to be a sweet scene of a girl who grew up with nothing suddenly gaining acceptance and turns it into a creepy endorsement of the class system. 
More Evidence that Frederic is the Worst 
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This scene makes it clear that Frederic is the one who is threatening Cassandra here, not her dad. It was never Cap who held the convent thing over her head. Now you can hold Cap accountable for choosing loyalty to the crown and his job over his daughter’s well being, but that is one of the few things that is actually addressed in the show, in this very episode in fact, so why would you? 
Also, why only now? Frederic has known about Cassandra’s involvement since TWoRR when he first read Rapunzel’s diary. It’s strange he’d go out of his way to silence Varian for months on in but waits until the last episode to persecute Rapunzel’s bestie. You could argue that maybe he didn’t wanna risk tipping off Rapunzel but then why didn’t this happen during TAR instead?  
Once again the writer is playing favorites in order to create bias. It’d be suddenly a lot harder to excuse Frederic if he was hunting down Cass along side Varian as she’s a main character and you couldn’t keep that as a ‘read between the lines’ scenario. Which, incidentally, is why we never get a Varian focused episode to show his time on the run. You couldn’t get away with having the main character siding with your dictator self-insert if you actually visually showed him persecuting a helpless child. 
Don’t Expect This to Go Anywhere
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Rapunzel is rightly angry about this clear abuse, but then never brings it up ever again. It’s completely forgotten about after this point. Frederic is never held accountable for his actions. 
This is the Point Where Varian Actually Becomes a Villian
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Not the flower, not the truth serum, not the damn reprise, but here. This is the point where his actions cross the line. Violence, particularly violence against people who aren’t currently hurting you, is wrong. Varian is a villain, he does do bad things, and I’m not going to ignore that. 
However, knowing where, when, how, and why he becomes a villain is extremely important in not only understanding the story but in also navigating the moral minefield that is this show. 
Because Varian is still the victim even as he slides into the role the antagonist. There’s been no change in the power dynamics. His life is still under threat from the king. Every action he takes is a step to either free his father and/or defend himself from a corrupt government that would see him hanged just for daring to defy it’s dictator.   
People defend Varian to this day, not because he has a tragic backstory, but because he’s been forced into a dangerous situation with little way out. There’s nothing else he could have done that wouldn’t have lead to his eventual untimely death. Because indirect violence is still violence. Frederic is no less evil just because Varian fights against the king’s indirect violence with direct violence.  
Varian’s Life was Forfeit the Moment He was Turned Away During the Storm and This is the Show Confirming That
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This is a grown man, with all the power in the world, threatening a child. A child who he has cannonly persecuted for three months before this incident. A child that was neglected by Rapunzel despite him being her responsibility. 
Any excuse you give to defend either Frederic or Rapunzel is already made invalid by the simple fact that they are both adults and Varian is not. They are both in charge here, not the fourteen year old. 
We do not hold people under legal voting age to the same standards as adults for two simple reasons. One, they are powerless in making the laws that they are accused of breaking, and two, they haven’t reached the point of development where they can take care of themselves and be expected to make rational decisions within a functioning society. Now we could have an argument all day long about the pros and cons of when the rights and responsibilities of adulthood should be granted to people (16?18?21?), but at fourteen/fifteen, Varian isn’t there yet regardless. 
You can not in any good moral consciousness hold people lacking rights to the same responsibilities as those with rights. 
That isn’t to say that kids can’t do bad things. They obviously can and have before. But when enacting judgement and the punishment that goes along with that, you have to keep their lack of rights in mind and make the sentence proportional to both their age, circumstances, and their crime. This is why courts that try teens as adults are absolutely vile. I do not care what crime they commited, you don’t do that. 
I’m not criticizing Rapunzel and Frederic here because I personally dislike them or something. I’m criticizing them because I’m opposed to the messages that they become mouthpieces for. When you defend these two characters you defend their stance to persecute and abuse a child. Ergo, you spout the same authoritarian beliefs that are currently tearing my country apart and I will hold you accountable for it. 
Like them all you want, but liking a character does not mean blindly going along with their bullshit. 
This Still Abuse
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In fact it’s the same abuse that Gothel did to her. It was wrong then and it’s wrong now and there’s no excuse for that. 
What a lot of people don’t seem to understand is that you can be both a victim and a bully at the same time. What differentiates Rapunzel, Frederic, and Varian from one other is their level of respective power in the situation and how their trauma actually impacts the rationale behind their actions. 
Frederic is the most accountable in this whole conflict because he’s the one with the most power and because his personal trauma isn’t grounds for what he does. They’re a reason that’s been given, but past trauma isn’t an excuse to hurt others who had nothing to do with that trauma. He is, ultimately the instigator of all of the conflicts in season one. 
Rapunzel is not as accountable, but she’s not entirely blameless either. As both an adult and a princess, Rapunzel held the power to save Varian and stop things from getting this far and she choose not to do so. Rapunzel’s trauma is a reason for why she fails in her responsibility but it’s still not an excuse as Varian has nothing to do with her personal insecurities.��He’s not responsible for getting her to fix her shit and had he done nothing she would have continued on ignoring both his and her own problems. Frederic’s abuse would have still been there with or without the black rocks or Varian’s involvement. She’s not deserving of how her father treats her, but neither is Varian deserving of how she treats him.
Varian is the least accountable. Sure there are somethings that he does wrong, but as a child he holds no power in the situation. His only means of fighting back is his own intelligence, but being the smartest person in the room isn’t necessarily a power imbalance. Also his trauma is currently ongoing and his actions are directly tied into making his abusers stop. Because yeah, both Frederic and Rapunzel are abusive to Varian. Neglect is a form of abuse.
Eugene is the Only Person in this Situation with the Right Response, Shame It Won’t Amount to Anything
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After all this, Eugene has no reason to ever trust Frederic again.  Neither does Rapunzel, nor the rest of kingdom. He should have been shunned from here on after. This isn’t promoting ‘cancel culture’ or whatever, this is acknowledging that ‘forgiveness’ isn’t and shouldn’t be a shield from the personal consequences for your actions. 
But Frederic is the Creator’s Self-Insert and Therein Lies the Problem
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I keep calling Frederic the creator’s self-insert not because I’m making assumptions or accusations but because this is something that Chris has admitted to publicly on numerous occasions. If you want a reference than just check out his interview during D23. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ECeflBTS58
There’s also more confirmation on his twitter and in other interviews. Though I’d personally recommend that younger fans stay away from him and his twitter, given his past behavior. (more on this later)
Chris has also publicly made excuses whenever criticism of Frederic has reached him. The same excuses that he then puts into the show itself. That’s why he and the show is so desperate for Varian to be the hated villain instead and goes out of its way to create a bias in how characters and conflicts are presented. 
Look, having a self-insert or a character you relate to isn’t in of itself a bad thing. Nor does having such a character mean that you personally avocate all that they do. I mean Varian is my favorite character in the show, partly because I’m a political activist, but that doesn’t mean that I approve of attacking government officials in their homes or something. Yet, if you want to make your self-insert likable to the audience then why on earth would make them an abusive dictator and then never hold them accountable to that? 
I cannot say what goes through Chris’s mind nor what his actual beliefs are, but the very fact that show won’t acknowledge corruption for what it is and constantly excuses abusers is worrisome enough on its own. It either means that Chris is woefully incompetent, actually encourages authoritarian thought, or some combination of both. Add in his bullying of younger fans, to the point where his was kicked off the Tangled discord, and what is left is not a flattering picture of the man. 
The Show Completely Assassinates Arianna’s Character Here
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You’re telling me that the Queen has no power? You’re telling me that the only mother in the show is going to stand aside and do nothing while her only daughter, who has been missing for 18 years, is abused? You’re telling me that Arianna only exists in the story to excuse her husband’s actions? You’re telling me that this ‘strong, independent, badass’ woman you co-opted from the movie is only here to be subservient to a man and you’re going to act like this is a good and noble thing, that it’s ‘true love’? You’re telling me that if she’s not only willing to do this, right now, then she apparently has done it before in his 18 long years reign of terror and oppression? 
Fuck whoever wrote this! This is an insulting to women everywhere and a slap in the face to people who were actually victims of abuse.  
This is Enabling Abuse, Don’t Do This! 
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BULLSHIT!!!
This is the line abusers feed their victims all the damn time!!!
The movie smartly made the decision to keep Gothel’s personal feelings towards Rapunzel ambiguous. That’s why she is one of the best villains in Disney history. If we only look at the movie than she may have ‘loved’ Rapunzel too. Who knows? It doesn’t matter. 
Abuse Is Abuse Regardless of the Abuser’s Reasons or Personal Feelings Towards Their Victim
Many abusers think that they love their victims. It’s a lie that they sell to both themselves and their victims. But it’s a twisted, toxic, and possessive ‘love’ that doesn’t actually care for and respect it’s recipient. Ergo, not love at all. 
There’s not enough words to express my disgust with this exchange. There are children watching this. It’s directed right at them and sadly, yes, there are undoubtedly some watching who are trapped in abusive homes. The show just reinforced the beliefs of those abusers and helped to keep those children trapped in that situation by confirming what they’ve already been taught. 
This is beyond irresponsible, and someone higher up should have stepped in before this. It’s clear that this show lacked any sort of real oversight. You have a million dollar series being showrunned by two newbie producers with zero writing credit and no one thought  that there should maybe be a senior executive and editor involved?
That’s Not Enough
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Admitting that something is wrong, right after excusing it, isn’t enough. You need to show the characters taking action and changing their ways. If Arianna truly believes that this ‘isn’t right’ then why does she not do anything about it after this conversation? 
So What Did the King Do to Monty?
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He runs off the tell the king the very thing that said king has gone to great lengths to hide and has yet to admit his involvement in. Also Monty doesn’t re-appear until after Varian blows Frederic’s cover. So what happened in between now and then? Did Frederic persecute Monty as well, lie to him, or did Monty not ever reach the King before the scandal was revealed, because any one of those answers would conflict with Monty’s actions later in the story. 
Watch as Cass Forgets Her Motivation 
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We’re at the end of the first season and the audience is only just now getting this important insight into the deuteragonist, a reveal that’ll only be walked back on in later seasons. 
If Cassandra’s whole motivation and reasoning is just to earn her father’s approval, which she does gain by the way, then how come she gives a crap about what other people besides him thinks? If being a guard is her true goal then why is she after praise from strangers constantly? You don't get praise from being a guard. It’s a thankless job and she should know that from see what her dad has to do all the time to stay in Frederic’s good graces. Also why not make her dad more central to her arc and resolution, then? 
What I’m getting at is that Cassandra isn’t consistent. What she wants changes conveniently to suit the story’s needs rather than being based in any actual logical progression of events. Often flip flopping from one supposed ill-defined goal to another and back again; till in the end she winds up with no goal at all.
Set Yourself Free is the Only Point Where Rapunzel’s Arc Works
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This is the only lesson that Rapunzel actually learns. How to be assertive. This is set up, is build up to throughout the season, and then culminates into this climax/reveal. For once there’s an actual resolution here to a previously established problem. A resolution that isn’t then walked back on. Rapunzel remains assertive throughout the narrative and grows no further past this point. There’s nothing else learned, even as she takes this lesson and runs it into the ground by overstepping her bounds and going into full on bully mode in later seasons. 
Undermining Tension 
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I talked about this in What the Hair, but Cassandra conveniently ignoring orders without consequence, or even any real effort on her part, showcases that the convent was never really all that much of a threat as it was built up to be. It goes from being a ‘threat to her safety’, a basic need, to a ‘threat to her sense of belonging’, a psychological need. One is less of an immediate threat to her physical being and ergo holds less tension. 
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Even Hookfoot Admits He’s Useless to the Story
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Look, pointing out the flaws in your story doesn’t make them any less of a flaw. I like Hoofoot, but he adds literally nothing to the series. There’s was no need to include him if you weren’t actually going to tie him to the plot. Just like Monty, Friedborg, Willow, and Axel; Hoofoot is a character who could have been exercised from the show and it wouldn’t have changed much of anything other than to give more screen time to the actual plot and main characters. 
And for those who want to come at me for saying they should get rid of the tokenistic disabled rep, just remember there was no reason why Lance couldn’t have served both functions in the story. He could have been both disabled and black, while carrying all of Hookfoot’s episodes and being part of the ongoing plot. Much in the same way that Xavier and Monty should have been streamlined; combining both Lance and Hookfoot into one person would have left us with a more rounded character and a more focused show overall. 
Varian Isn’t Lying Here
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Look, just cause he’s the villain doesn’t mean he’s exaggerating the truth. Someone on tv tropes tried to claim that Varian was being unreasonable in accusing Frederic of ‘villfing’ him, but uh, no, that’s exactly what the king did. We got the on screen evidence for it back in Quest for Varain. It’s also true that he’s been keeping the rocks secret, lying to the populous, and has thereby endangered many of his citizens.   
Cap is the Only Parent on this Show to Get Called Out, Recognize his Failings, and Actively Change His Ways....and the Show Still Messes this up by Having Cass Apologize to Him?
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Cap is the best parent in the show, hands down, but that’s a very low bar to clear. What makes him the best parent is that he admits his faults and goes to great lengths to fix them. He never goes back or reverts to old ways and doesn’t offer excuses for his behavior. 
But the show seems to think that you should forgive dad’s just because they’re dad’s, not because they’ve actually done anything to earn that forgiveness. That’s why Cass interrupting Cap’s apology to apologize herself doesn’t work here. She, and no other other child on this show, owes him (or any parent) such an apology and Chris can go stick a rusty nail up his butt for ever suggesting otherwise.  
Oh, Look, Cassandra Getting What She Wants, Again
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What is this? The fifth or sixth time now that Cass has been rewarded by the narrative? Gee, it’s almost like she doesn't really have anything to complain about in seasons two and three. 
Varian isn’t Harming ‘Innocents’ Here
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Remember when I said that Varian is both the victim and the villian? That’s reflected in who he actually attacks. Arianna, the guards, Cass, Eugene, ect. are all enablers for his abusers. They’ve knowingly chosen to side with a dictator who has repeatedly done unacceptable things. The guards and the main cast at least are very well aware of the truth. As to whether or not Arianna knew of the full details behind Varian’s treatment, she does know about Frederic’s past actions and has excused them for years.   
That doesn’t make Varian treatment of her, or others like her, right, but Arianna isn’t blamess either. 
If you’re a person with power who is attached to a system of government who goes on to uphold corruption, and remain silent in the face of that corruption, you become a part of the problem. You become the oppressor even if you’re not directly involved in the more violent events yourself or even personally hold the views of the person committing those violent acts. 
A queen is responsible for a her people and she abandons that responsibility by staying with Frederic and supporting him. 
Turning his Pet into a Mutant Monster is the Only Time Varian Hurts Someone Who Isn’t Involved 
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As I said, Varian is a villian. I’m not going to act like he doesn’t do bad things or that all of his actions are justifiable. The reason I’ve gone into great detail about Varian’s reasonings into what he does isn’t to excuse his actions; it’s to point out that ‘heroes’ are every bit as much to blame as he is. 
Everyone is at fault here; not just Varian, not just the King, not just Rapunzel ect. But the show forces Varian to carry all of the blame regardless. Which is why the show fails. You can’t set up a morally complex situation like this and not follow through on it completely. Failing to do so winds up reflecting poorly upon the writers and those that try to excuse them. 
Conclusion 
Dang, this took forever. This is why I’m following Disney’s lead and splitting the review into two parts. Come back tomorrow, where hopefully part two will be up. 
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life-rewritten · 4 years ago
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Manner of Death: A break down of Suspects
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So it's finally here. The show I've been waiting for all year since it was announced. Manner of Death is here! So far it's excellent, I'm ready for the thrills and the ride, I'm prepared to be on this roller coaster of angst, emotions and stress. But warning I'm not good at mysteries. I know, right? Me who's always on the lookout for clues, symbols and foreshadowing devices? I never get the correct answer for mysteries because too much information is withheld, the hints don't add up to a big picture for me for some reason, and I stress out every time I could be overthinking or missing something. So yeh not a murder mystery person but I am so excited to analyse this show, hopefully, study dynamics (seems like there are interesting ones) and repressed feelings between our couple, the suspects and why they could be our murderer, the manner of death, and the victims and why they ended up in the situation they are in. I'm hoping we have something each episode to flesh out and notice, more plot twists but also more clues that help push us in the right direction. Without further or do here is my suspect list: analysis and first thoughts about the manner of death of Jane, and why no one should be trusted (you all already know this). 
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The Death of Jane
Jane is our victim; she was murdered in a way that looked like suicide by hanging. However, she had similar symptoms to her previous student, who also died a week ago. Needle marks (suggesting drug use), bite marks (indicating assault/abuse) and signs of drug intake: diazepam for anxiety and depression. Hers was much lighter, and the bite marks were more on Natty than her. Also, before she died, she admitted to wanting to be responsible and do the right thing. The last people she spoke to was Bun (our main character and faux detective), Tan (her boyfriend), Pued (her ex? or acquaintance) and Pat (an intrusive reporter who she was going to give information to). So who is the suspects of this show so far and what is their motive/clues?
Ratings: From 1 to 5 (1 being least , 5 being most,) how suspicious are they? What the show is showing vs What I'm thinking:
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Red herrings are one of the biggest reasons why mysteries are intricate for me because if you're a good mystery writer, you litter red herrings. You trick the audience into believing someone is guilty whilst overlooking the person who is. And this is why I'm on edge each time these characters show apparent hints that they are meant to be suspicious. For me because you've hinted at that, they're not the killer, what's the fun of going through these 14 episodes only to know who the killer is by episode 2? Like sure it's fun to find out why, but with these red herrings, it's pretty obvious why if they are the killers. So yeah I don't believe in these red herrings, but this probably is my downfall for this series because they probably are the killer. Anyhoo, Let's break them down.
We have:
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PUED
Puedy; he's bad, handsome and suspicious. He's been a little bit of a problem; clearly had caused some chaos with Tan and Jane before she died, and is definitely up to something and also determined for her death to be silenced and the reason to be hidden. Thing is Pued obviously knows so much more than he's letting on, he probably connected to Jane's death with the way he tries to stop Bun from finding out more, the way he is a prosecutor but seems involved in a shady 'family' business, the way he was harassing Jane and causing Tan to lose it. But also the secret stare he shared with Tan as they walked past each other in episode 2. The way he played of their relationship. He definitely is a source of knowing more about this murder. So we need to think about his involvement, his relationship with Jane and his reason for why he'd want to get rid of her. 
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So my theory is he's the one who's sending the stalker to Bun, to warn him off and make him stop trying to discover why Jane died. But I also think he's in it with Tan, does this make them murderers? No. Actually forced accomplices or pawns of the murderer. 
First Pued is just so evident as the murderer: like a secret love affair with Jane, she wanted to expose him, and then he lost it and killed her. I can see that. But I do think his reason for wanting to hide her manner of death is reputation and uncovering/destruction of higher places/ organisations that have the power. I think he's greedy, obsessed with wealth and status (from the watch that he and Tan share) and so the uncovering of Jane's death would cause him to lose all this not because he's the murderer but because he profits from them some way. 
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So I think it's pretty obvious I'm thinking it's to do with the mafia and drug rings, and I think Pued's family is essential as well, they're higher-ups who may be the ones that are corrupt, manipulative and behind all the justice systems. I think Bun showed at the party how small the town was and he pointed out all the higher-ups, the judges, the police officers, the prosecutors, but I thought that was a clue, the justice system in this town is shady, they're doing things behind the scenes that they don't want to be uncovered. Jane tried to expose it, and thus she was killed. So yeh Pued is just a pawn, maybe she did die for love (little mermaid foreshadowing) for him but not because of him you get me? Like they may have had an affair, or she needed help with his prosecutor knowledge (for probably Natty's case), but he didn't want her to be successful, and he ended up snitching. Bam! She's dead. 
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So yeh he's involved I just don't think he's the murder.
Ratings: 
The show: Right now 4/5- the most shadiest and predictable person for the suspect of the murder
Me: 2/5: A red herring/ pawn under the actual murderer 
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TAN
Oh, Tan, you are so gorgeous it hurts. I mean no surprise being played by Max will do that, but I can't trust Tan. Obviously, I don't think he's the murderer, if he is, it was to help end her suffering, or she was shadier than we think. But I do think he's also a pawn/involved. I guess whatever organisation Pued is part of, he's part of it, might even be a lackey. He's shown moments of violence, and shadiness, he's expressionless, and emotionless when it comes to her death, he moves on and continues teaching like its nothing. Only when his students find out does he look worried like he doesn't want her manner of death to be exposed.  
Now the thing with Tan is I think he's the suspicious/dangerous Dam that Sorowit was speaking about in episode 2, someone dressed in black which if you meet them you don't come back out okay, you get hurt. I think the person who we see the most in an all-black ensemble is Tan. So he's definitely connected to violence and secrecy. Does this make him the murderer?
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To understand, we have to look at his relationship and story with Jane before she died. He's introduced as her boyfriend who's very protective and watchful of her, we also see him lose his mind at Pued and beat him up terribly, Pued pushes off as he was interested in Jane and it was for possessiveness and jealousy that Tan beat him up. I don't believe in anything Pued says, in fact, I find the whole fight suspicious. Also, Jane promises to tell Tan what's going on; she says he'll soon find out which means he even doesn't know everything about her manner of death. There's some stuff he's not part of like her murder. 
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But with Tan, I have to question if he even loved Jane or cared for her. Because the way he's acting; moving on quickly, emotionless and just accepting her suicide was weird for me. It's like they're not dating but faking it. I could see that obviously if he was hired to keep an eye on her, or they both agreed to fake date to protect her from a particular organisation or danger. 
I also feel this is also something he could be doing with Bun now, being hired to keep an eye on him on the guise of wanting to find out what happened to her. Also bringing me back to did he even love Jane, we see he's pretty much attracted and flirty with Bun, he's not even trying to hide it, he flirts openly, and they both act like the kiss didn't happen. It's suspect, very, like he doesn't feel guilt, worry or angst about Bun and him having these weird feelings he's just like flirty and bold with it. 
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Reasons why Tan, if he was dating Jane, is the murderer is because again the foreshadowing with little mermaid, Jane says the mermaid died because of love/ for love. And although I do believe this, I don't think its Tan she was in love with, but it is interesting if as her boyfriend he was the reason for why she died. Since he's one of the only love interests, we know so far that she had. 
Ratings
Show: 3/5 Very suspicious, very shady, very violent but he probably has connections, family (either them being in danger or their reputation also getting ruined if the truth comes out), threats or he was groomed into the life of being part of the organisation. If so, then he'd be forced to become emotionless and hide his feelings concerning death and hurt, so he doesn't seem vulnerable.
Me: 3/5 He definitely knows more, definitely was defeated at her death but he also didn't want her death to be found out or taken seriously. I don't think he's the killer, but he might be involved in the reason for why she got killed. 
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PAT
Here is someone who I can't stand. But we're going to have to get used to him. Frustrates me so much every time this guy shows up, one because he has no respect for the dead, he also has no respect for privacy, and he just ends up being everywhere. I think he's important. Him being portrayed in a negative light screams red herring to me, definitely isn't the killer, maybe a snitch since she probably wanted to expose the truth to him. But I don't really see him as the suspect, I think he's important and will have information for the future secrets, he probably has been watching and keeping an eye on this case. Reporters have good intuition, and so he probably noticed, last whereabouts, conversations and hidden agendas that Jane had before she died. 
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Yeh but I don't like him,  he is a red herring because he's one of the last people she spoke to. I don't see him as the murderer because the motive makes no sense when we think that the justice system, Mafia and other things are involved with this, where would he get the knowledge about the drugs and why would he kill and rape one of the girls and be so nonchalant and annoying? He just wouldn't be essential for me to to the final reveal unless he's hiding his agenda and identity and using being a reporter as a cover. Nah. There's more to it than that. But being a snitch with his personality after being maybe threatened? Yeh, I can see that. 
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Ratings: 
Show: 3/5 He was one of the last ones in contact with her, she probably wanted to expose something because she wanted to be responsible and she felt guilty about hiding it. He could have snitched and caused her death. 
Me: 1/5 Probably helpful to uncovering the mystery. He doesn't seem that important, but he does have intuition and information that he probably knows about the case though. 
The suspects so far:
For me suspects are the people who are hidden and have shown reactions or facial gestures that piqued my interest. These are just theories I have to keep an eye on them for now, but it all revolves around this organisation not wanting their secrets to be exposed.
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CAPTAIN
I mean you have to think the people part of the justice system is corrupt. Mostly because whatever the reason for Jane's death is, the killer doesn't want it to be found, the only reason for why that is: because of the chance of going to jail but even more the possibility of losing power and fame. If the black market/ mafia organisation is controlling this little town's justice system, then the higher-ups won't want anyone to know. Also, we're shown two police officers and Captain screams suspect just because he's quieter, the camera lingers on his facial expression sometimes and he'd be a shocking plot twist because he's meant to be good. Oh no! So this show has promised a lot of plot twists where we won't trust who's good or bad, we won't know what's right or wrong so Captain being the murderer is a great twist for the shock. That's all it is so far with him, so that's why I'm not sure what his role is here, all I know is if he is a killer its because he was threatened by her exposing his system. 
Ratings
Show: 1/5 No hints that he's the killer apart from facial expressions when Inspector M speaks, but he could just know more than he lets on. (as with everyone on this show)
Me: 3/5 Suspect will keep an eye on him to see if we get more camera time.
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PUED’S FATHER
Okay so Pued might not be the killer so what about his father? Maybe it's his father Jane actually got to know when Pued thought she was with him or whatever. Like I said  I feel like Pued's family have a good reputation but are shady, so they're probably part of the group that trades the drugs or lures the girls. I won't be shocked.  I also think he's a higher-up who has enough influence to manipulate and want to hide secrets about his organisation, so his reputation isn't messed up. Won't be shocked if he's a r*pist, abuser, killer because he has traits of someone who's powerful and gets away with anything, seems like he has enough influence to control the justice system, to put his son as a prosecutor, to hire more people (maybe Captain) to be police officers.
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 It makes sense to me; it's like what always happens whenever a girl is hurt and killed in a murder mystery you always distrust the elder/influential person. Also, I don't know if it was just me, but Pued seemed a bit scared of him? And he appeared defensive/ too curious about what happened with Pued and Tan. I also think the watch is a symbol of his organisation and so I guess Tan and Pued work with him in this organisation. 
Ratings
Show: 2/5 Yeh the show obviously shows him, but we don't really know enough to infer his relationships or his influence
Me: 4/5, Ding! Ding! Ding! Probably a massive chance of him being the higher up who messed around and now wants to hide his mistakes. 
DAM: GANG OR MAFIA?
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Dam is part of the organisation. The control of drugs, the abuse, the shady businesses all screams to me Mafia. So if Tan isn't Dam and Dam is the killer, someone else is and they  did something to lure these women in to be drugged (still deciding if they're the ones who come willingly or if they're injected non-consentially repeatedly  I think it's the latter though why they got involved in drugs, I don't know), they also could have kidnapped and kept the girls hidden whilst abusing and hurting them and stabbing them with the needle. But that's a lot ( a sex trafficking ring? see why I hate mysteries my mind just goes everywhere without getting an answer).
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 So whatever Dam is we know he’s violent, whoever gets to face them gets hurt and don't come back, they have a scary reputation and don't mess around. If Jane felt curious about Natty and then tried to find out what happened, they may have killed her to shut her up. But I don't think Dam is the killer (cause I think it's Tan), part of the organisation that traffics drugs probably, so far with this I think its do with family organisations, like Pued's family is one of the Mafia, Tan's family is one as well, and others right? Maybe the watch is a sign of membership. Hence why they both wore it? 
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Ratings
Show: 4/5 this organisation or group or Dam is definitely connected to whatever Jane found out. Still wondering how the girls are roped into this, is it the need to run away from things so they take the drugs willingly but things go too far, and they regret their choices or did she find out about a kidnapping/capturing women ring, and she was going to expose it? 
Me: 3/5 Like I don't think Dam is an organisation I believe it's Tan, so it's probably involved, but it's not like the whole organisation that killed her. 
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Non-suspects but still suspicious
Inspector M: Because he seems determined and not secretive to find out and actually understand what's going on. Not because he's trying to prevent information from happening but genuinely wanting to discover who murdered her. I trust him for now, if he does realise that his justice system is in jeopardy of being exposed as wrong he'd probably start to waver and stop being right, he'd probably want to keep his job, or he'd be 100% against Tan. 
Rungtiwa: It's her sister I'm not actually fully trusting her because she's the only person who's actually shown overreactions and emotions at Jane's death. Thing is she's her sister, so she's meant to be that way but if someone says "let me know what you find out as soon as possible" a bit shady, obviously she'd want to know more about her sister but like it could also be a so I know how much you know agenda, especially because after he told her about it being a murder he started to get threatened by a stalker. However, I can't figure out her motive, or how she did it and why she's connected to Natty, so she's innocent for now. 
Oat: How funny would it be if it's him? Like you know he knows information about drugs and what they're for, he's someone who is everywhere and readily available and trustworthy to the victims, but why would he kill her? Why would he be part of a drug ring or Mafia? Just the motives don't make sense. I don't think he's involved with Natty at all, so he's probably innocent too and only our comedy relief. 
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Who are you guys thinking it is that’s the suspect? Did I miss someone? Let’s discuss and scream about this show! I think I’m definitely slowly becoming obsessed, even we get theories wrong it’s still fun to break down everything and throw out our own ideas and options. I like that. But can’t wait till we finally out why, who and what killed Jane and how it affects our love story building.
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laufire · 4 years ago
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Supernatural s3
It’s so unfair that the season that has Ruby AND Bela is so short :(((. I was done with it waaaay too quickly, and now I’m speed running through s4 xD (which, like the first time around, is Strong Mixed Feelings territory).
-My girl Ruby!!!! I was so happy to have her back, I kept grinning like a loon every time she was on screen. It’s quite interesting watching the 1.0 and 2.0 versions so close to each other, instead of as they air. I have... Thoughts, on whether Ruby as a double agent was something planned or that they decided as they went, but that’s for the s4 post. s3!Ruby really doesn’t come across as one (“I don’t believe in the devil” oh I wish sometimes xD, I love my nonbelievers), imo, but the beauty of such a device is that you can rationalize anything she does as devious if you want to xD
And it goes without saying that I love her interactions with Sam. THIS SHIP ISTG. I love how immediately ~attuned to her he is lol, his present and instinctive concern for her even if he tries to mask his interest as “practical”. And all the repeated times Sam’s conflicted between her and Dean -like when he deviates Dean shot (wasting one of the Colt’s bullets lmfao) or during the argument about the virgin sacrifice xD. And the “that’s my boy”/ “little fallen angel on your shoulder” quotes!!! Ruby 1.0 deserved to be railed by Sam too, smh.
My favourite episode of hers is “Jus in Bello” (which would be my fave of the season just by virtue of having both Bela and Ruby in the same episode lol. Not interacting, of course, the world as we know it wouldn’t have survived). I just love that she gets that final moment of I TOLD YOU SO to the brothers xD. I really like how she expands on the demonic lore of the show- I love, LOVE the detail about how all demons used to be humans, how they’re souls corrupted in hell. And that in her past life she was a witch (there was this really good fic in Spanish fandom about it... I need to hunt it down).
BTW, though I think her interactions with Dean in that episode are interesting, it really hammers home how much I hate him sometimes xD. Can you stop saying misogynistic slurs for TWO GODDAMN MINUTES, DEAN (and as we know from as early as this season, only HE can have demon/monster friends!! What a fucking hypocrite xD). I freaking love the moment in the finale when she viciously yells him about how she wishes she could see him in hell lmao (and how it foreshadows that when she shows sympathy later, it’s actually Lilith in disguise lmfao). I hate Dean gets the last word in their dynamic, tbqh. Until the s15 cameo, at least xDD
One thing that’s been bothering me xD: the French fries. Demons are vulnerable to salt, like other spirits, right? (and hey, look what a nice piece of foreshadowing that was). How does that translate to food lol. Because Ruby adores French fries, and they obviously contain salt. It’s like spicy food for humans? Or like pineapple? Inquiring minds etc. xD
-I still cannot believe Bela Talbot was only on the show for six episodes lmao. Her presence still lingers in the watchers’ heads so much?? Which is understandable because she’s Lead Girl Material if there was ever any lol. The care with which they styled her even?? You don’t do that for just any character lmao (I mean, just look at most of SPN’s female characters for comparison xD).
Her ship with Dean could’ve really been something, too -even if I hate Dean in it, I can’t deny it packs a punch, narrative-wise. I mean, the Batcat undertones alone!! The fake married undercover shenanigans!! And I think it’s really interesting that she’s such a blind spot for him; Dean’s unusually intuitive about people, but with Bela he takes everything at face value and she can fool him like no other (while, OTOH, is Sam who questions her facade and wants to see more). If he hadn’t been such an idiot (and such an asshole) he could’ve had a really powerful ship. Sucks to be him lol.
Anyway. Man, I love her. So much. I love how Gordon’s threats to kill her don’t work on her, and I love that the show basically said “Bela killing her abusive parents is good, actually” (I’m so tired of forgiveness narratives, you guys. This entire show is founded on revenge, so let me get my revenge fantasies in peace!!) xDD. And I love, LOVE that she withheld that truth from Dean, that she decided he wasn’t worth it. OTOH, you know, fuck the fans that got her written out, definitely; but on the other, I do love how her story ended (and that it was a clear "fuck you" to shitty fans). Doesn’t stop me for wanting to read and re-read (and maybe write!) even more “Bela escapes hell” fix-its, but still.
Also, very important question: what happened to her cat?? It’s the cat alright?? I’m going to headcanon that she left them with that cougar friend of hers lol.
-So. THE DEAL. Okay. Oof. I love this storyline, a lot. A loooot. I love the conflict it creates between the brothers (as long as there’s still conflict and Sam hasn’t yet started taking everything lying down I can enjoy that part of their narrative lol). I love Dean’s initial forced giddiness about “making the most out of his last year” and I love the moment Dean decides he does want to try to live because it makes the last few episodes all the most desperate and cruel (and hey, I’ve heard he only went to hell because the season was cut short due to a writers’ strike... if that’s true that’s so funny lmao).
My absolutely favourite part however? That you can FEEL Dean’s unvoiced resentment towards Sam. For Dean having to die for him, even if Sam never asked him to. He lashes out to Sam repeatedly through the season, but it really came to ahead in the dreamspace episode, where Dean confronts another version of himself that talks about how Sam was “dotted on” (the revisionism asldfkaf). This show is absolutely ruthless when it comes to showing you its characters’ ugly, unfair reactions to things and it’s my favourite thing evah.
Speaking of the dreamspace episode, OMFG. I loved both brothers there. Dean’s hallucination, seeing himself as a demon? And how he let out his anger about John?? Beautiful, truly (regarding John, I also loved their different reactions when it looked like his spirit had contacted them: Dean jumping on it and Sam detached skepticism). But my favourite part has to be when Sam uses the villain’s abusive father against him. Like. Damn. That was cold-blooded o.0
The second-to-last episode, when Sam tracked down that Frankenstein doctor to try and make Dean immortal was ABSOLUTELY HORRIFYING OMG. I loved that. I love that Sam wanted to use it for both them. It was some scary shit. I also love the scene where the crossroads demon questions whether Sam really wants to break the deal, I’m gathering it’s going to be nice foreshadowing later on in the show lol.
Anyway. I also found Dean’s death scene more impactful than Sam’s. Partially because of the horror of it, but mostly because I think at this type of scenes, Padalecki is better. Sam’s grief felt more real, Dean’s got me out of the scene (it’s the voice, I think. Sometimes Ackles’ voice takes me out of scenes, it sounds... forced).
I also really enjoyed how the time loop episode wrapped around this subplot. It managed to be both heartbreaking and mind-numbly hilarious lmfao. Like?? All the deaths?? Were so pathetic?? I tip my hat to Ackles because I don’t think most actors could carry plots like this half as well lmfao.
Sidenote, it’s always a trip to see The Trickster God knowing that fucker is Gabriel. Archangel “hey Mary do you accept God knocking you up” Gabriel. Which I guess isn’t exactly a thing in this show?? Since according to the wikia SPN Jesus was “just a man” (and let me tell you, I’m tickled pink by the fact that out of ALL mythological figures, specifically all CHRISTIAN mythological figures, the show decided to go “nah” on Jesus Christ. I mean, I guess he’d take away from Dean’s, Sam’s and Castiel’s resurrection narratives, but still. It’s so funny!!).
-Gordon Walker remains a superbly acted and fascinating character with extra racist nonsense alsdkfjasdf. But I can’t deny I loved seeing him as a vampire. He was terrifying. And I’m definitely shipping him with Kubrick, ouch xD
-The Ghostfacers episode is... something. As in, incredibly exploitative and homophobic and with an egregious case of BYG (and the first where I’d say it’s incontestable to claim the trope was used. s1 and s2 are muddy territory given the circumstances, IMO, but this one is 300% BYG), but so successfully manipulative my heart hurt for Corbett and Corbett x Ed still. Fuck them for that ngl. I do still enjoy how anti-Winchesters they all are though xD
-3x01 introduces the one nice marriage of hunters so far, between a black couple. The man dies in a gross, horrifying way within the episode ofc (because he was Mean to the the brothers duh). She makes it out alive, and since she doesn’t reappear in the show she gets to live. So for now black women have a sliiiiiightly better track record in SPN than track guys there: they get to appear in a few more episodes and be more fleshed out (Victor, Gordon), but as long as they’re only in one episode they get to live!! (Cassie, Tamara).
-Rufus and Bobby are exes, right? Right?? Probably still married in some state? You know that post about how when gay marriage was legalized across the USA there were a lot of issues because some couples had split and never bothered to divorce, since it was only legal in one place? That post was made for them. Pity Rufus is a black man, and as such has a limited number of allowed appearances before he’s killed off ¬¬
-I would’ve enjoyed Dean’s moments with Lisa and Ben more (it’s just so RIGHT that in this moment he’d want Ben to be his) if my knowledge of future spoilers didn’t perpetually have me in a state of “pls keep this guy away from kids” lol.
-They had Harmony’s actress (BTVS) and they made her a vampire!! The show’s hard on for the Buffyverse is a bit of a hit and miss but I can’t say I don’t relate xDD.
-I know Jensen Ackles can sing (in fact thanks to youtube I know a few of the actors can... is there a musical episode. Does this show have its own OMWF. I need to know). So why. WHY. Does he sound like that during “Dead or Alive”??? I actually like the scene but he sounds so off-key lmao.
-BTW, I found out that apparently Katie Cassidy and Lauren Cohan originally auditioned for each other’s roles añslkdfjasf. I can’t picture it. Ruby 1.0 is Ruby 1.0 and Bela is Bela xD. Although I’ve seen each playing roles that could meld with the other, just. Nope. Good choice on the casting there lol.
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jcmorrigan · 3 years ago
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001 - Tales of Zestiria?
Favorite character: It's a tough call between Maltran and Symonne, and Lunarre is trailing right behind both. I tend to call them the "Heldalf Squad," but make no mistake, Heldalf himself isn't part of it. I just like his swagalicious minions. The dry and sarcastic political manipulator, the sadistic and wordy theater nerd, and the flamboyant cannibal who hates everything. Yes. LOVE. But I have to give a shout to my boy Dezel on the hero side! Angsty/stoic characters are very hit-or-miss with me, but Dezel is the flavor I love - obvious soft spots and quirks, and slowly he builds from being antisocial to showing how big his heart is. When he stops the woman from leaping off the Guinevere tower...that's one of my favorite scenes in the entire game, because you can see when the switch flips, when he realizes that he CANNOT stay aloof any longer when there's a stranger's life on the line. He's still a grump about it but a compassionate grump.
Least Favorite character: Heldalf. His backstory is really clever, and I like the curse on him. But he himself just feels like Ganondorf but more boring. I kinda hate that he's so vanilla when his three lieutenants are in my arsenal of pet villains from the vastness of fiction. Also shout-out to Chancellor BART in the opening Ladylake act, because I distinctly remember liveblogging this to a friend, and I played Zestiria *after* Berseria (I'd loved Berseria and that's why I eventually sought out Zestiria) so here I am just comparing up the corrupt church in Ladylake to the Abbey's suave rogues gallery like "Yeah no BART has nothing on Lady Teresa Linares." Thankfully BART was never seen again.
5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): DezeRose, SorMik, Symonne x Coco Atarashi (The World Ends With You), Alisha Diphda x Sergei Strelka, and...I swear you have to bear with me here...Zaveid x Anna (Frozen). I also kinda wanna note a couple ships I'm on the fence about for my other favies - those being Maltran x Ebony Maw (Marvel Cinematic Universe or Marvel Ultimate Alliance) and Lunarre x Arkham (Devil May Cry).
Character I find most attractive: Dezel. It is a scientific fact that guys with pointy teeth are just hotter.
Character I would marry: Maybe Dezel, maybe Sergei. I wouldn't want to take them from those I see as their wifeys, but at the same time, they are husband goals, both of them.
Character I would be best friends with: Catch me clinging to Maltran's train and she drags me along annoyedly as I yell "PLEEEEAAASE LET ME HANG OUT WITH YOU GUYS" and Lunarre is losing it laughing while Symonne rolls her eyes
a random thought: So I toyed around with basically every accessory I picked up, and I decided to put the sideburns on Rose because fuck gender roles. Well then I just got used to seeing her with facial hair in every cutscene where her 3D model was used, and now I headcanon that she does get it. Maybe nonclassical CAH intersex? Like, I don't necessarily see her as trans (but I support everyone who hc's her as such) but moreso "a cis woman, but I grow this stupid damn facial hair like a dude and I don't get why." And this is why you shouldn't let me play with customizable accessories on RPG characters because I can and will abuse my privilege to headcanon.
An unpopular opinion: That this is actually a very good game. Listen, I think I get it - the initial marketing promised something far different. And that's disappointing. But coming back to it several years after its release, after the release of its PREQUEL, when I never had that hype building up...it actually exceeded my expectations. I held off from it for a while because I thought Eizen's fate would make me too sad, but that didn't end up the case at all. I actually had just come off playing a more recently-released triple-A game that was hyped up for years, and I completed it to my satisfaction in 20 hours. $80 for 20 hours. Zestiria gave me my money's worth in comparison; it took me about 60, and I loved just how MUCH story it had to offer me. I honestly like Rose better than Alisha anyway (Rose was one of the biggest aspects that interested me about playing it in the first place). I've also seen complaints that the characters weren't well-developed enough? Which I just kinda take to mean "They didn't angst enough." Listen. There are PLENTY of games out there if you want angst and sad stories. I don't really like sad stories in my games. I like adventures where the party is a goofy foundfam that jokes around with each other and helps each other work through shitty situations, and that's EXACTLY what I got. (And Berseria really worked on me too because it kinda started at the bottom of the angst barrel, then worked its way up through "The edgy and tortured protag has gained a party of idiots and oh noooooo she's learning friendship and happiness.") Dezel's death is one of the few game deaths that just made me SATISFIED to watch instead of depressed because of the closure he got and the themes tied into his final moments and sacrifice. I loved going on this adventure, I loved the idiots who I went on it with, and I loved seeing what Glenwood had to offer me in world design the further I explored.
my canon OTP: There's not much for canon romance in this game, come to think of it. Just subtext and some flirting. So I'm blanking on if there actually were any canon couples at all.
Non-canon OTP: DezeRose! Which maybe can be considered almost-canon based on the amount of subtext, but still. It's adorable. (And it's the exact same dynamic as EiRoku except M/F and a thousand years later. I need these four to double date...the dual-wielding goofs with their edgy, grumpy Reapers...)
most badass character: Rose! Not only able to wield the Shepherd's Armatization powers, but also to be a dang good assassin on her own, able to hold her own against Heldalf before she even had her eyes opened to seraphim! Though a shout-out goes to Edna because her armatization was my favorite to play with. There's something just satisfying about bashing the enemy in front of you with a pair of GIANT FISTS
pairing I am not a fan of: RoseAli. To be honest, it was at one point something I kinda enjoyed as a third-tier ship for Rose (Dezel first, then Lailah in second). But then...Alisha's Story. I didn't actually purchase it, thank goodness, just watched it on YouTube, and it was the most grating addition that anyone could've made to this game. First of all, I can sum up the issues with Alisha's Story by reminding everyone that it canonized a secret entrance to Camlann that was much easier to get to and wasn't protected by Muse's sacrifice. But the real thing that hurt to watch was how far down they had to knock Rose and Alisha's friendship to get them to rebuild from scratch. Rose claiming she was never Alisha's friend because she's grieving Sorey? The two of them getting into a PHYSICAL FISTFIGHT over it? Nope nope nope. That's not my Rose. Even less my Rose is that whole scene where she...you know...pounces on Alisha to dress her in the silly noblewoman's dress, and it's framed like...let's just say it's really uncomfortable to watch if you don't know the punchline is just a silly outfit. Even though Alisha's Story isn't canon in my head, it still really killed any buzz I had for RoseAli. I will also say I'm not a big fan of Eizavie - first of all, EiRoku or bust in this house, and second, I have a little bit of a hard time seeing Zaveid as mlm due to how much he goes on and on about The Ladies(TM). (Though I could see Eizen as having a tiny crush on him, though. Just like "Oh no he's hot but he's connected to Aifread's disappearance help")
character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Mostly just in Alisha's Story. I was mad about the aforementioned Rose stuff, but also...like...they undid Lunarre's original cathartic death, they did so to team him back up with Symonne and then do a whole fakeout that they had Maltran with them too, but Maltran is just an illusion and immediately after this, Lunarre and Symonne just decide "Yeah, we're not gonna work together anymore, have a nice life." Why does Maltran need to stay dead if LUNARRE somehow survived EXPLODING? And just...look to next question for more clarification:
favourite friendship: I just want to imagine that Maltran, Lunarre, and Symonne were weird evil friends. The kind who'd take artistic selfies and caption them "Murder and mayhem with my besties!". Maybe they even had a sibling dynamic. They were all pretty dang jaded, so I like to think they sat around sometimes talking about the things in this world that did them wrong. The reasons they were drawn to Heldalf. Heldalf himself wouldn't have cared, he would've kicked them around like disposable tools, but the three of them were too entrenched in his dogma to see it. Maybe if they met up again after he was off the board...then they'd sing a different tune. Realize they're all three better than this, and now they're gonna do things THEIR way, because remember when they made a three-point attack on Glenwood and Sorey was barely able to keep up with them wrecking Lastonbell AND Pendrago AND Glaivend? Remember when Lunarre and Symonne had each other's backs the night Dezel died? Now they can do what they want on their terms! And I just - I have many MANY feelings about these three.
character I want to adopt or be adopted by: Okay silly self-insert time but the thing is, Archibald Snatcher (The Boxtrolls) and Roman Torchwick (RWBY) are my two favorite parental f/o's (and also my OTP to end all OTPs), and I have this thing about how they'd be PERFECT crime dads to Symonne in particular because she's like a little, more theatrical Neopolitan. So there's a universe in my head where Symonne is basically already my little sister, and I look out for her - well, okay, she's a seraph with powerful Artes and I am a powerless mortal so really she looks out for me because "I suppose SOMEONE has to make sure you don't die" and I am grateful to her for it.
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luckyricochet · 4 years ago
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I want you to answer A-Z on the fandom asks so I can peer into your psyche 👀
Wow I love you. This actually took around three hours since I wanted to think about the answers. See them under the cut!
A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.
From Hanyou no Yashahime — Sesshomaru and Rin
From The Mandalorian — The Mandomera’s been creeping up a little bit. 
B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.
Honestly can’t think of one. I’m very set in my ships. 
C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.
From Naruto — SasuSaku. Sasuke was cute as a kid so I get Sakura having a crush on him then, but I think she would have gotten over it when he became a homicidal clown who abandoned the village and tried to kill her and her teammates multiple times.
D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.
From Harry Potter — Ron x Hermione. I’ve always thought their personalities didn’t match and not in the good “opposites attract” kind of way.
E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?
I only know how to write angst, drama, and introspective musings so no. 
F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?
Over fifteen years in the Harry Potter fandom, but I’ve had to separate that from JKR herself in the recent years. 
G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it?
“Have I ever had an OTP”? *laughs from shipping hell* 
From The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare — Nat and Kit were my first OTP. Read this book in fifth grade and was immediately loved them. Boy literally risks banishment from the colony to help prove she’s not a witch. 
H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?
I love visual media, so TV, anime, and film
I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?
I’m not going to let tumblr dot com put me off of a particular show/book/etc. itself, but it has definitely made me think less of certain types of fans who are in a fandom. 
J - Name a fandom you didn’t think about until you saw it all over Tumblr. (You don’t have to care about it or follow it; it just has to be something that Tumblr made you aware of.)
The...period drama fandom? More widely, the history fandom. They both create some of the most beautiful edits celebrating history and I love it. 
K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?
 From Avatar: The Last Airbender — It’s gotta be Prince Zuko
L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)
From Harry Potter — I think Ginny is a Mary Sue but I loved when she stood up for herself in Half-Blood Prince when Ron was trying to slut-shame her. 
M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.
From Parks and Recreation — Leslie Knope. Unending positive affirmations, thoughtfulness, and support!
N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).
I don’t really have a main fandom but I haven’t mentioned Free! yet so let’s go with it for this one. 
1. Less Nitori because I can’t stand him.
2. More female characters! I get half the appeal is the boys, but I’d love to see a girls swim team in some capacity. 
3. More Haru and his family dynamics! Doesn’t have to be a ton, but I want to know what his relationship with his parents like, especially as an adult.
O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?
Salt and the Sea - The Lumineers. “From the destruction, out of the flame. You need a villain, give me a name.” Such an Odesta song. (Finnick x Annie from the Hunger Games)
P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).
For The Mandalorian — A historical AU set in early 1900s New York City where Mando’s just some government agent sent to “report” on slum conditions to satisfy some housing law. He goes meaning to write up a generic report but then finds the orphaned Baby Yoda abandoned in one of the tenements. Shocked by the conditions of the slums, Mando goes from being an apathetic, middling-level bureaucrat to being an anonymous investigative journalist reporting on the corruption in the government that allows for the city’s most vulnerable citizens to live in squalor, leading the government on a search to find who within their ranks is exposing them. 
Q - A fandom you’ve abandoned and why.
Sherlock, because it just took so long for the third series to come out. I had moved on to other fandoms by the time it did. Still have fond memories of when I was active in it, though. 
R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?
From Lord of the Rings — Aragorn and Legolas. This is played up a lot more in the films but I love it. 
S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)
For Lord of the Rings — Boromir definitely taught Faramir swordplay when they were little kids since their father didn’t want to. 
T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?
From Hanyou no Yashahime — Rin made the first move. Sesshomaru would be way too clueless to even know how to go about it. 
U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.
From Pirates of the Caribbean — James Norrington: Commodore in the Royal Navy during the 18th century, must I explain any further? Cool, calm, and collected on the job while looking v good while he does it but a nervous wreck in front of the woman he fancies. Tell me that’s not straight out of Austen.
From Star Wars (OT) — Luke Skywalker: An unapologetically good person in a crapsack world, doing his best to bring light into the world. A classic hero archetype who grows out of his naïveté to become a cunning—but still benevolent—Jedi. 
From Prince of Tennis — Yukimura Seiichi: His duality is *chef’s kiss*. Super scary and in charge on the court, gentle sweet boy who loves art and culture off the court. He struggled for so long but was able to overcome it all through his hard work and willpower.
Bonus favorite, because I couldn’t resist...
From Band of Brothers — Doc Roe: He’s doing the MOST for his guys but he really just needs a hug. Plus he’s got the accent.
V - Which character do you relate to most?
From Little Women — Jo March, especially as portrayed by Saoirse Ronan in the 2019 adaptation. Writer, holds grudges, opinionated, stubborn, eschewed “girliness” in her youth but is more open to it and romanticism as an adult. 
W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.
I’ve gotten to the point where even the hint of a love triangle tests my patience.
X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.
It’s about the yearning: Longing Look
Also will definitely always ship the Brooding Boy and the Gentle Girl
Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)?
Anything in the MCU or general superhero content.
Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.)
I love fandom so much. I’m sort of facetious about being obsessed with people who aren’t real on my other social media accounts, but in all seriousness, being able to escape the real world to get excited over characters and relationships that face their own struggles, triumphs, and emotions is such a gift. So often they speak so powerfully on the human experience—How can you read, or watch, any of Tolkien’s work and not be moved by what he has to say about humanity and the power of good? Even if the stories are fictional, the messages they impart about life aren’t, which is what I love so much about them.
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driftbending · 4 years ago
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i keep writing and rewriting my reaction to vincenzo because there are a lot but also i'm not certain i articulate everything i hated about the ending.
i will say that i knew no matter what that i wouldn't like the ending because murdering a character as punishment for their misdeeds is not something that appeals to me. i grew up watching kirikou et la sorcière, avatar: the last airbender, lilo and stitch, and (more recently) moana. all of these are stories that say "here is an evil character that we'll stop in a way that doesn't involve jail/murder," and the only exception i make for this is light yagami's death in death note and that's because ryuk killed him as a way to end their relationship, not as a punishment for his crimes. (and gothic lit is exempt bc they have to be resolved with murder.) so, whatever happened, regardless of how much violence the babel four did, none of their deaths would have held any emotional satisfaction for me. yet i prepared myself to be unimpressed by the finale since this is what the set up has always been: vincenzo will kill hanseok, and maybe myunghee, seunghyeok, and hanseo.
i knew this from the beginning. the narrative repeated it so often i got annoyed. there were so many close calls with vincenzo pulling a gun on hanseok that that got boring. by the time ep. 20 rolled around i was just fed up and wanted someone to die because this show had already failed me so many other times with their set ups that i wanted at least one good payoff.
lo and behold, they did end up killing the four characters i thought would die. hanseo died, and though he was my favorite character, and though i felt sad he didn't get any funeral scene or help while he was fending off his brother and that his death served as a sacrifice for vincenzo instead of literally anything else, i didn't cry or even get mad about it. he died and i felt free to stop caring about the rest of the story. yay me! i do understand the fans who hated that he was killed and that he should've survived bc abuse victims don't deserve the storyline hanseo got, but this is not a show i expected to actually care about victims. despite what it says, i knew i wouldn't get this for hanseo waaaaay back in ep 8 when they brought up the victims of that gay banker and just used it as a way for us to root against the banker. they didn't treat those victims with any respect at all and so i was already prepared for them to do it all over again. and they did and it sucks, but again for me i couldn’t get as angry as i normally would about this bc i always knew that the deaths from this show would never mean anything to me bc there was just so much of it it became meaningless.
another thing i knew that was going to let me down about this show is that it didn’t have a single “good” character for me to root for. mr. hong existed, but he was murdered early on. every other character on the show is too corrupt to be the ones i would want handling a reconstruction project for a more ethical world. yes, they made hanseo go through a redemption arc, but they didn’t let him stay did they? they focused so much on deconstruction they never cared about reconstruction. so when they got to the ending where vincenzo just leaves, chayoung and the tenants are thrown into a familiar cycle of court cases and defending their plaza from it being redeveloped, vincenzo just goes on to be a mafia boss again, and the guillotine file is back in the hands of the corrupt intelligence agency that created it on the orders of their president. the only thing that changed was babel group was destroyed bc their two ceos were murdered and the lawyers of their legal rep. were also murdered.
and yet, despite my expectations being so low they were basically non-existent, i was still disappointed. they didn't let chayoung do anything (which i knew would happen because i knew something about her characterization never felt fully fledged to me the way it did to fandom, so i wasn't surprised when they delegated her as a damsel-in-distress/love interest.), they killed myunghee the way we used to burn witches (which how fitting for a female character that is cunning and cruel), and the way they killed hanseok literally made me feel faint and nauseous (i wish this was an exaggeration; the second i saw the drill pointed at him i started feeling this way and i couldn't listen/watch his death scene because it was so brutal).
so, the ending satisfied nothing for me. if people who shipped the main characters were satisfied, whatever. i was never interested in them as a ship (i tend to ship vincenzo and chayoung with other characters), so the ending was even more disappointing bc it really held nothing that mattered to me.
i was also not a person that liked the way each character idolized vincenzo because i preferred his relationships with other characters to be filled with more tension* and the narrative just told me that the writers didn't, that vincenzo's word was what mattered, that the other character's conflicting needs were meant to be eclipsed by vincenzo's needs. so when the characters were all looking into the horizon hoping that vincenzo would some day come back (for what, i ask you?) i was just like :|
(*what do i mean by tension? i mean my favorite version of chayoung/vincenzo was the early eps when she hated him for being liked so much by her father that her flaws as a daughter were highlighted more and chayoung's own hesitancy with murder bumping up against vincenzo’s lack of hesitancy. mr. cho/vincenzo were most interesting when mr. cho wanted the guillotine file to use for his own purposes. the tenants/vincenzo were the most interesting when the tenants wanted to take the gold and vincenzo was trying to stop them. even hanseo/vincenzo was the most interesting when they had the "will you kill me? will you betray me?" tension as they worked together to get rid of hanseok. these dynamics added layers to the characters and reminded us they had their own motivations that were as equally important as vincenzo’s, but not enough of these tensions lasted past a few episodes and almost always would vincenzo's needs prevail with most of the other characters going along with his plans in the end.)
and this is all without mentioning how fandom sort of ruined a lot of the show for me, too. they took the characteristics that made the myunghee/hanseok dynamic one of my favorites and gave it to chayoung/vincenzo to the point where i was always left baffled and feeling like i was watching a different show. (a good point about the end for me is that i feel vindicated watching the scene where chayoung was basically like "i don't like your methods, vincenzo, but i needed to use them as the lesser of two evils to destroy hanseok," bc it did sort of reinforce for me my own reading of chayoung which was that she doesn't mind being corrupt and blackmailing people or scaring them into compliance, but that she was not going to get her hands covered in blood or dance over the corpses of her enemy. those traits belong to myunghee who accepts her role as a villain in a way that is as cool and collected as vincenzo. and lord, imagine what a show it would've been if the writers had made the kings chayoung/hanseok, the last ones that should ever be taken, while the queens were vincenzo/myunghee who would be the ones that would make all the moves, kill all their enemies pieces, and try to destroy one another first as the two most powerful players in the game? imagine if fandom had been able to read chayoung and myunghee accurately enough that i wouldn’t have to read post after post talking about how they needed to see myunghee brutally murdered/tortured by chayoung because they would understand chayoung’s character isn’t going to do that, posts which i hated seeing bc, as i said before, violence for violence’s sake means nothing to me? imagine if the writers cared enough about chayoung/myunghee to develop them more fully? sigh.)
i feel like i'm going nowhere with this and that i'm repeating myself a lot or not making much sense. but i'll end with this: i knew the last two episodes were going to be garbage when they all gathered at toto's restaurant post-fight in ep 19 and all they were talking about was vincenzo this and vincenzo that instead of worrying after the ones that were momentarily kidnapped/injured. like thanks show, for instead of pushing the narrative along we get a vincenzo fan club meeting and another round of "i never had anything to fight for until you came along" which is a convo we've had plenty of times before.
(footnote: i edited this on may 6, 2021 for clarity.)
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ansheofthevalley · 5 years ago
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Do you like Lindsay Ellis? Even though her points on Sansa and Dany were completely off? She basically bashed Sansa and defended Dany treating her like an actual hero. That’s just wrong.
I haven’t heard of her until her name started to pop up on my dash because of her “hot takes”, especially on Sansa. So, to give you a proper answer, I went and watched her video. And, oh boy...
 You may take this as a counter-argument to hers. I’ll take her approach; first I’ll speak about power citing Important People™, and then I’ll head straight to the rebuttals. (You may skip the philosophy lecture if you want. I’ll actually use it to justify my answers, so, it’s up to you. In case you don’t want to read the whole thing - which is totally understandable and, you know what, even recommend - I’ve put the key points at the end of first part of this meta.)
 She starts the video talking about the nature of power, quoting the writer Robert A. Caro:
 “We’re taught Lord Acton’s axiom: all power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely [...]. I believed that when I started these books (about Lyndon B. Johnson), but I don’t believe it’s always true anymore. [...] What I believe is always true about power is that power reveals. When you have enough power to do what you always wanted to do, then you get to see what the guy always wanted to do”.
Let’s take a second to analyze this. First off, it starts with a quote that GRRM likes to go back to a lot. After all, ASOIAF is a work of (fantasy) fiction that analyzes the nature of power and its dynamics and just how much it can corrupt a person, even those with good intentions. That’s the core of GRRM’s work, the nature of power and what it can do to a person.
I agree with Caro when he says that power reveals, but power does not only reveals what a person wants to do, but how that person does that. The how is just as important as the what, especially when we’re talking about political figures (fictional or not).
(I talked about Daenerys and what is it that she does with her power in a couple of metas - some are mine, the others are from awesome people in which case I’m just putting my two cents on the matter - : X, X, X, X, X)
There’s a very interesting conversation between Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze, called “Intellectuals and power”. Here are some excerpts that I believe are important when talking about the nature of power:
M. Foucault: [while talking about the prison system and can power be found its raw form in prisons] What is fascinating about prisons is that, for once, power doesn’t hide or mask itself; it reveals itself as tyranny pursued into the tiniest details; it is cynical and at the same time pure and entirely “justified”, because its practice can be totally formulated within the framework of morality. Its brutal tyranny consequently appears as the serene domination of Good over Evil, of order versus disorder.
What Foucault is that we can find power (in this particular case, in prisons) that is tyrannical but, at the same time, manages to justify its ruthlessness, all because it was built in a framework that enables it to do so. So, we can see people punishing other people, sometimes in the most brutal of ways, all in the name of morality: because Evil must be punished by Good, as to set an example that Good will always dominate over Evil.
M. Foucault: [about the nature of power] (Power) is at once visible and invisible, present and hidden, unbiquitous. [...] The question of power remains a total enigma. Who exercises power? [...] We now know with reasonable certainty who exploits others, who recieves the profits, which people are involved [...] But as for power... We know that it is not in the hands of those who govern. [...] Everywhere that power exists, it is being exercised. No one, strictly speaking, has an official right to power; and yet it is always exerted in a particular direction, with some people on one side and some on the other. It is often difficult to say who holds power in a precise sense, but it is easy to see who lacks power”.
In this excerpt, in which Foucault disscuses the nature of power and how it works, I’d like to highlight two sentences; the first one being “Everywhere that power exists, it is being exercised” and the second being “ [...] It is easy to see who lacks power”.
Regarding the first sentence, it shows power as something that is always active; there’s always someone with power, using that power. There is a person/group regarded as the powerful. But given the dual nature of power (visible/invisible,present/hidden), if there’s the powerful, then there’s also the powerless. And that’s where the struggle appears. Because power is a force with no master, yet it seems someone/some specific group has it. So, there’s always a struggle to obtain power.
Regarding the second sentence, Foucault distinguishes that the most recognizable characteristic about power are the powerless. When you have something that can hide and disguise itself, which is the case with power, then it’s clear that it’s easier to spot those who lack that something. That’s why when trying to understand power dynamics, we always talk about things like “true power”, “the person behind the curtain/calling the shots”, etc., but we don’t have phrases like that regarding those who lack power. The powerless are just that: people who lack power. Powerlessness doesn’t hide to the eye, it’s always present in its true form, unlike power itself.
G. Deleuze: [...] How is it that people whose interests are not being served can strictly support the existing power structure by demanding a piece of the action? Perhaps, this is because in terms of investments, [...] there are investments of desire that function in a more profound way and diffuse manner than our interests dictate. But of course, we never desire against our interests, because interest always follows and finds itself where desire has placed it.
Here, Deleuze presents an intriguing thought. How is it that people that have no power support a system that won’t change their situation (in relation with power) and still be active in said system? Deleuze argues that desire weights more than interests when it comes to the powerless; so, when driven by desire, people act according to them. But there is something that’s worth keeping in mind: whether be powerless or powerful, people never desire against their interests, because desire can act as a tool to protect those interests.
TL;DR:
Power can be tyrannical while disguising itself as being moral, all because it exists in a framework that allows it to do so. With this kind of power, ruthlessness is justified as Good dominating Evil.
Where there’s power, there’s always a person/group exercising said power, even though power belongs to no one. So, with the exercise of power, comes the making of two distinct groups: the powerful and the powerless; both groups then struggle to control that power: the powerless fight to gain power, the powerful fight to keep their power.
Powerlessness doesn’t disguise itself. It’s easy to recognize. So, the powerless appear just as they are, they have no reason (or means) to disguise their true nature.
Sometimes desire can weight more than interests, but people never desire against their own interests.
So that’s that on (some of) the philosophy of power. Now, let’s get into the what you asked, nonny.
I’ll start with the things that I agree with.
Problems with characterization
I think we can all agree on one single fact: D&D (and the entirety of the writer’s room) downplayed the characters’ defining traits in order for them to fit within the plot/drive the narrative forward. This is something that started around S5, when D&D ran out of books to adapt. So, the problem D&D were presented with at that time is that they knew the endgame to all the core characters, but had no step-by-step guide to help them reach said endgame.
Flash-forward to S8, and we’re in the middle of a whole mess. We get to certain plot-points, but we reach those by the way of the narrative explaining us how the characters or the story gets there, instead of the characters reaching those plot-points organically. The characters’ endgame is treated more as a destination (somewhere we must reach) and less as something that would wrap up the characters’ arcs in an organic* way.
* By organic, I mean that we (the audience) see the characters make certain choices (or not), say things (or not) that will eventually lead them to their endgame. A story like Thrones is character-driven, it always was. It was the decisions these characters made that had a ripple effect on the storyline, either personal or political (or both). By season 7, and more explicitly in season 8, the storyline was driven by plot-points, so it was not the characters influencing the story, but the story influencing the characters acted
So, what we end up with is various examples of “tell, don’t show”, which really is a sin in storytelling, especially in a visual medium. That’s why a lot of people weren’t sold by Jonerice, because it was so easy to spot the “lie”.
 Now, time for the counter-arguments! (I’ll focus on some of the “arguments” she makes that stood up for me).
 “Sansa has no pathos”
Well, that’s actually true. First, let’s start with some definitions of pathos:
 Pathos is a quality of an experience in life, or a work of art, that stirs up emotions of pity, sympathy, and sorrow. Pathos can be expressed through words, pictures, or even with gestures of the body.
Pathos is an important tool of persuasion in arguments. Pathos is a method of convincing people with an argument drawn out through an emotional response.
Emotional appeal can be accomplished in many ways, such as the following:
 -by a metaphor or storytelling, commonly known as a hook;
-by passion in the delivery of the speech or writing, as determined by the audience; and
-by personal anecdote.
One of the characters in GOT/ASOIAF that appeals to the emotion of others (uses pathos in their rethoric) is Daenerys. I’ve written a little thing about it here
Sansa, instead, uses ethos in her arguments. That’s how she appeals to people. But, what is ethos?
Ethos represents credibility, or an ethical appeal, which involves persuasion by the character involved. [...]  The credibility of a speaker or a writer relies on his or her authority on the subject matter, as well as on how much he or she is liked and deemed worthy of respect.
Ethos forms the root of ethikos (ἠθικός), meaning "moral, showing moral character"
Speakers must establish ethos from the start. This can involve "moral competence" only; Aristotle, however, broadens the concept to include expertise and knowledge. Ethos is limited, in his view, by what the speaker says. Others, however, contend that a speaker's ethos extends to and is shaped by the overall moral character and history of the speaker—that is, what people think of his or her character before the speech has even begun.
For Aristotle, a speaker's ethos was a rhetorical strategy employed by an orator whose purpose was to "inspire trust in his audience" (Rhetorica 1380). Ethos was therefore achieved through the orator's "good sense, good moral character, and goodwill", and central to Aristotelian virtue ethics was the notion that this "good moral character" was increased in virtuous degree by habit (Rhetorica 1380).
Lindsay Ellis refers to pathos (or the lack-of) in Sansa’s arc meaning that she’s never shown to emotionally process what she’s been through. But if we were to properly use the word pathos, Sansa never appeals to us, the audience, in an emotional way. That’s her criticism. And it’s fine, but there’s something she’s missing while making this criticism: all of Sansa’s storylines were based around other characters, oftentimes male characters. Sansa has never been at the center of her own narrative, unlike Daenerys.
 “New Empowerment Sansa spends the whole battle trash-talking Daenerys, who, unlike Sansa, is out there risking her life”
(I’ll do this one in parts because there’s a lot to unpack here)
First of all, it’s not trash-talking if it’s true. As I pointed out before with the conversation between Foucault and Deleuze, there are two things to keep in mind regarding the Sansa-Daenerys clash in S8:
 “Everywhere that power exists, it is being exercised”; and
“We never desire against our interests, because interest always follows and finds itself where desire has placed it.”
The struggle between Sansa and Daenerys is political, they both seek to have power over a specific territory (the North). That’s their interest and their desire. It’s Sansa’s desire to keep Northern Independence and it’s in her best interests (and those of her people). Sansa’s desire and interests clashes with Daenerys’, since having the largest region of the Seven Kingdoms to remain independence goes against her interests (and desires) as a Conqueror.
Secondly, the living only had a fighting chance because of all the efforts made by the northerners and the KOTV, all under Sansa’s leadership as Lady of Winterfell. In S7, most of the northern lords were ready to jump out of the USS Jon Snow, but it’s because of Sansa’s leadership skills that the North remained a united front. The people fighting outside Winterfell were vital in the Battle of WF, but so were the efforts of the people tasked with assembling the barracks with dragonglass, the people putting leather on the armours, the men forging dragonglass weapons, the people tasked with feeding the soldiers and the refugees from all parts of the North. All of that was possible because of Sansa.
 “New Empowerment Sansa won’t shut the fuck up about how much she doesn’t like Daenerys”
Seeing Sansa express her discontent with Daenerys is actually good, especially when you remember that she has been surrounded by enemies basically by the entire run of the show. That means she always had to keep her true feelings to herself, relying on very few people (trust issues are a big thing in Sansa’s overall arc). Sansa voicing her opinions shows us, the audience, she’s finally at a place in the story in which she finally feels safe to do so.
 “Sansa’s evolution mirrors the Starks as a whole. The compassion and nobility that defined the Starks is one of their biggest assets, but in the end, they’re no better than the fucking Lannisters”
Ok, here’s the thing. Time and time again, we had different characters tell us, the audience, that northerners are loyal to their own, that they’re distrustful of outsiders (there’s a reason why “The North remembers” is basically their cathphrase). We’ve seen it with Robb, Cat, Sansa and Jon.
If one had to single out a theme for S8 (something weird to do, since D&D don’t believe in themes, but themes are present in every single story, whether you believe in them or not), the theme could very well be survival. At this point, everyone’s looking after their own. All those that made it this far had been through so damn much, have seen so damn much, that what they all want is to survive.
People have this misconception about the Starks: they’re this very good, very noble group of people. That’s true; if you talk about how the Starks are with the people they love and trust. And we’ve seen that trust issues are a big thing for the remaining Starklings. Ever since the start of the show, all of the Starks were separated: you had Ned with Sansa and Arya in the South; Cat with Robb, Bran and Rickon in WF; and Jon at the Wall. As the story moves forward, the Starkling find themselves alone; it’s all so they can learn to fend for themselves and once they reunite, act like a Pack of Wolves, each with a particular skill. From the beginning, the Starks were the one family that was beaten time and time again, only to get up and get beat one more time. People talk about the Starks acting like the Lannisters in S8 because we, as an audience, never had the chance to watch them act as a unit. And is it really so surprising to watch a family taking care of each other  when every single person in the show is doing the exact same thing?
The Starks, for the first time since reuniting, are acting like a Pack. Like Old Papa Stark used to say: the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. The Starklings are after survival, just like everyone else. The difference with, let’s say, northman #3 is that the Starks are aware of the political struggle in the near future with Daenerys and what that political struggle means fro everybody. Take S8E4 as an example. Tension is growing between the Starks and Daenerys. We, the audience, know that. Northman #3 doesn’t.
Going back to the subject of power, it’s really noteworthy how the powerful players use their power regarding others:    
We see Sansa put the food issue on the table
(an issue no one seems to worry about or even remember, not even the writers).
She insists for the gates to remain open until the last northerner arrives for shelter. She is constantly fighting for the freedom of her people
(the northerners chose Robb as KITN, then chose Jon).
She also uses her power as Lady of Winterfell to protect her family
.
She tells Tyrion about RLJ not because she wants to cause trouble, but because she knows if the truth gets out, Daenerys won’t be able to hurt Jon
while they’re in the South.Since it’s difficult to make a clear reading of Jon’s arc in S8 (
since D&D butchered his character
), this will be more of an assumption. What
I
get from Jon in S8 is
Sacrificial!Jon
.
He does whatever he has to do to secure the alliance with Daenerys and to protect his family
. Ride a dragon? He’ll do it. Try to ease her temper regarding his family, namely Sansa? He’ll try his damnest. Tell her she’s his queen and that he loves her? A thousand times. Ride South to help her get the Iron Throne? Well... that didn’t go as he has hoped. What I’m trying to say is that
Jon tried to manage the situation at hand with the little power he had
(and he had
very little
power).
What we see is Jon trying and failing, and ultimately, he has this huge dilemma presented in front of him
: kill Daenerys and save the Starks; or let Daenerys roam free, knowing she will most likely burn Sansa (and all of those she feels like it) for treason? But the answer to this dilemma has been there since the beginning.
Jon Snow fights for the North. All his life, he wanted to be a Stark
. We know what happened next.
Ned says something that captures the essence of the Starks:
Ned: (to Arya) You’re a Stark of Winterfell, you know our words. (Winter Is Coming) You were born in the Long Summer, you’ve never known anything else but now Winter is truly coming, and in the winter we must protect ourselves, look after one another. 
“So Sansa is a northern separatist now for some fucking reason even though now is not the time”
Sansa has been “a northern separatist” since this moment:
Tumblr media
She’s been a central part of the Northern Independence plot. In case some of you don’t remember, Joffrey used to command his Kingsguards to beat her every time Robb won a battle (which was pretty much all the time). 
The Red Wedding only intensifies her desire to go home and rebuild it (RE: Northern Independence). S5 happens (let’s leave it at that). In S6, we see Sansa reclaim her identity as a Stark, leading her House alongside Jon and fight for the North, for her people. In S7, we see her in a place of power, we see her leading her people. And in S8, we see her fight for Northern Independence, just like her brother before her. The only difference between her and Robb is that she doesn’t use a sword, she uses words and politics. 
Northern Independence is a key plot-point all throughout the story. It’s what drives the political side of the story forward. It’s when the North declares itself independent from the Iron Throne that shit gets real for Joffrey and Cersei (and the rest of the Lannisters). From there, we have the War of the Five Kings, which ends with all five kings dead. We have a fractured Westeros, divided by war and power and sides. You can’t talk about Thrones without talking about the Northern Independence plot.
About the timing. If one argues that Sansa’s timing is off, then one could also say the exact same thing about Daenerys in S7. By S7E7, she has already seen the Night King and his army, she has seen what they can do. But still, she insists on a truce. Even as of S8E2, she doesn’t see the Battle of Winterfell as her duty as Protector of the Realm (since she calls herself Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, PoR is one of her many, many titles) but sees it as “Jon’s war”. Sansa, representing the North, has to give away their independence (and yes, I say Sansa and not Jon because the true political power of the North is Sansa, not Jon Snow) to a foreign Conqueror. And even then, after having to give away their hard-earned independence, their new Queen still don’t see defending them from a life-threatening situation as her duty but as something her boyfriend has to deal with and she’s so cool by helping him. 
Also, seeing that the supernatural threat was dealt with by episode 3, we had 3 90+ minutes episodes to deal with the political side of the story. And what has been an integral part of that side of the plot? The North.
Lindsay Ellis mentions Torrhen Stark in her video, as someone Sansa should’ve taken as an example when dealing with Daenerys. But I disagree with this thought.
Torrhen and Sansa are supposed to mirror each other. Not parallel, not follow, not imitate. Why? Because they achieved the same goal when in the (basically) same situation, only by doing the opposite of what the other did. 
Torrhen Stark, “the King who knelt”, bent the knee to Aegon, a Targaryen Conqueror, so his people would be safe. Sansa Stark, “the Queen who never knelt”, who pushed for Northern Independence did the same by not kneeling to Daenerys (a Targaryen Conqueror), because she knew she would’ve been the same (or worse, if we’re actually being honest with ourselves) as any other Southern ruler.
Also, the last King in the North was Robb Stark. 
“What do dragons eat anyway? You know what, Sansa? It doesn’t matter. Don’t worry your empowered little head about it. Enjoy those dragons and supplies from other regions now that it’s fucking winter and you all have a common enemy”
RE: the food. Daenerys burned all the food from the Reach (y’know, the harvest that was meant to be stored for the longest winter to date) in S7E4. Maybe people forgot about the first war crime Dany committed in Westeros?
But I already talked about the food issue. If you want to read more about it, here you go.
The line “what do dragons eat anyway?” is a subtle way to do two things at the same time: Daenerys threatens Sansa (basically saying anything that I might set my eyes upon will be mine, because you cannot overpower me and you can’t do nothing about unless you want become my enemy) and it showcases just how different Sansa and Dany are when it comes to “everyday ruling”. It’s been established back in Meereen that these “trivial” things bore Daenerys to death, but what she failed to comprehend back then and fails to comprehend again once she’s in Westeros is the fact that those “trivial” things are what solidifies her rule. How she rules and what she does has a direct impact on her people, noble and smallfolk alike. That’s why she failed in Meereen: she failed to meet the best interests of both the smallfolk and the nobles. In Westeros, she faced resistance in the nobles. After the Battle of Winterfell, sure, she won some nobles over. The smallfolk felt indebted to her. But her role in the Battle of Winterfell doesn’t erase her previous actions: it doesn’t erase her treatment of the meereenese, it doesn’t erase her burning the Tarlys (father and son, just like her father did to the Starks), it doesn’t erase her willingness to burn a city to the ground (and a million innocent people with it) just to win the war, and it most definitely doesn’t erase her promise of “liberating” the world, from Winterfell to Dorne, from Lannisport from Qarth, from the Summer Isles to the Jade Sea.
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I already mentioned the Night King and his army, but what the hell, I’ll do it again. They do have a common enemy in the Night King. But that enemy is half of the story. That’s the Ice of the famous Song for the Prince that was Promised. The other half is Fire. And that Fire is Daenerys. The NK and Daenerys are the ultimate Big Baddies the heroes (the Starks) have to face off.
“Sansa’s only purpose this season is to have an unfounded suspicion of Daenerys, which only proves to be founded when Daenerys does something nonsensical”
Sansa’s role in S8 was to further the Northern Independence plot, as well as to be a resisting force in Daenerys’ quest for absolute power in Westeros. Like I mentioned before, Sansa’s desires and interests clash against Daenerys’ own, so there ought to be a power struggle. 
Sansa’s suspicions are founded. Let’s me rephrase this. Any type of suspicion Sansa might have of someone that doesn’t come from the North are founded in her own mind, and that’s what matters. Because it’s the character driving the story forward using previous stages of the character’s arc as justification. Sansa has been held prisoner since S1; she was at the mercy of the Lannisters, the Tyrells (yes, I include the Tyrells because incriminating Sansa was a very important part in Olenna’s plans for the Purple Wedding), her aunt Lysa, Littlefinger and the Boltons. She was used for her claim, she bled and was tortured for the North, every time Robb “I’ve won every battle but I’m losing this war” Stark would win, Joffrey would order one of his Kingsguard to beat her for it. It makes sense for her to be distrustful, especially of someone who came to claim something that wasn’t hers. Now, we can go on a merry-go round about whether Daenerys deserved this treatment or not, but facts are facts: it made sense for Sansa as a character to act that way, even if the execution (RE: the writing) was a bit off.
And Dany’s actions in S8E5 weren’t nonsensical. I’ll just leave these pictures:
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And how can we forget her infamous speech to the Dothraki in S6?
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So, if anyone says that Dany’s actions were nonsensical or out of nowhere, that’s because they weren’t paying attention. I mean, getting what’s “yours” with Fire and Blood? I don’t know what people expected... Rainbows and sunshine and a happy song? The Targaryens are villain-coded for a reason.
“Otherwise, Daenerys has essentially given all of her resources to defend Winterfell based on the promise of the guy in charge and Sansa is still like “Hmmm... I don’t know. I don’t like the cut to her jib”.
I’ll try to keep it short because this is getting repetitive:
Sansa had reasons not to trust Daenerys
Jon Snow might had the title, but Sansa was the true political power of the North
Daenerys did take her armies and dragons North, but that was her duty as Protector of the Realm, since she’s claiming to be the rightful Queen of the Seven Kingdoms
I’ll expand a bit on this part, though: “otherwise, Daenerys has essentially given all of her resources to defend Winterfell based on the promise of the guy in charge”
Since the northern lords elected Jon Snow as King in the North, the true (raw) power lies with the lords. To quote Michel Foucault from the excerpt I transcribed at the beginning of this meta : “But as for power... We know that it is not in the hands of those who govern.” Power is an ever-changing force. It’s always in flux. Political power might be one one side, then on the other (just as it was with the Boltons/Lannisters, then with the Starks), but the true, raw power lies with the people and their desire. The people choose who they want to rule them. As of S7, they wanted Sansa to rule them, but she declines their very kind and subtle offer at treason siding with and supporting Jon. That is until Daenerys arrives and she’s able to form an opinion of her. As of S8E1, she doesn’t trust Daenerys, doesn’t believe her to be their Queen, and even questions Jon’s reasons for bending the knee (something she, and the lords didn’t approve of). Her purpose in the story, since S6, is to play an explicit role in Northern Independence, to finish what Robb started. Daenerys is to Sansa what Tywin and Joffrey were to Robb.
“By the end of the stupid, dumb Battle of Winterfell, Daenerys has proved herself worthy of being a Queen about as well as one can expect in this universe. She’s forging alliances, doing battle, keeping her promises to her followers and to her allies. So Sansa’s stink-eye over Daenerys makes no sense”
As to Daenerys being worthy of being Queen of the 7K, I’ll say it one more time: she did her duty. As claimant of the titles Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, she’s also claiming the title of Protector of the Realm.  The title of Protector is a military one, basically it gives her command of the armies of Westeros. So, it’s part of the job to defend the Realm from any and every threat: that includes ice zombies and the dead, making her war, too, not just “Jon’s war”.
Also, she did what Stannis Baratheon did in S5. Did he do the right thing by aiding the Night’s Watch? Yeah. Was he fitted to be King? Well, he burned his only daughter alive so he could win a fight, so I’d double check that one. It all boils down to the same fact that I’ve been talking about time and time again: doing the right thing for the right reasons. Stannis didn’t do the right thing for the right reasons. And he didn’t make a good king. Sure, he was far better than all the other options available, but he still wasn’t good. Same thing with Daenerys. She did a lot of good things, but all for selfish reasons. Was she a better option from all the others she was fighting against? Yeah, maybe. But she didn’t put any effort in doing right by those people, by doing something that benefitted them and only them. So, was she fitted to be Queen? The answer is no.
Daenerys forged alliances when it benefitted her (she made a deal with the Greyjoys – which included independence btw, since a lot of you seemed to have forgotten – because she needed ships to get to Westeros; Varys forged alliances in her name with Olenna Tyrell and Ellaria Sand – she needed Westerosi allies, otherwise it would’ve been too simple for Cersei to win the war – bringing two powerful regions into her command). But, once Yara and Ellaria were captured, she didn’t even lift a finger to rescue them. It was a great opportunity to show the rest of the nobility that she wouldn’t forsake her allies, that she wouldn’t leave them at the mercy of her enemies. Alas, she did leave them to the mercy of Cersei and Euron. And her reaction to the Lannister forces taking Highgarden? Burn all the food, in a spectacularly stupid way of saying “if I can’t have it, then no one can”.
And since we’re in the subject of allies; ­Olenna actually sided with Daenerys not because she believed her to be the rightful heir to the throne or because she thought Dany would be a good Queen. Olenna wanted some plain old and simple revenge. She wanted to watch Cersei and everything she worked (and bled and disgraced) for to burn, just like Cersei did with House Tyrell. And what better way to do achieve your revenge plans than with a Targaryen with three weapons of mass destruction? Same goes for Ellaria and the Sand Snakes, they just wanted revenge for what the Lannisters did to Oberyn and Elia Martell (oh, the irony of making the people that want to avenge Elia Martell side with a woman that belongs to the family that was just as responsible for what happened to her and her children as the Lannisters. THE IRONY, I TELL YOU). 
So... that’s all I can think of.
I’m sure you expected something shorter, nonny, but when it comes to defending Sansa Stark, I gotta do it properly.
So, I apologize. I know this got out of hand. But the thing is, when it comes to Sansa (and people treating her as an Evil Bitch That Needs To Calm Down™, while claiming D is someone who Did Nothing Wrong™):
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Thanks for the ask! 
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dorkshadows · 4 years ago
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Why do you ship pharoga? (Asking this here because I want to share it with the world. I feel like you can explain all the awesome things about the ship better than I can 🤣❤)
Ah, thanks so much for the ask! OK, I’ll try to be coherent lol. I feel like I’ve shipped pharoga since forever but that wasn’t always the case. The first time I got “into” the phandom, I shipped Erik/Madame Giry and various writers’ EOCs. My mind blanks over how strongly I felt about it, but I do remember preferring them over other Erik ships because there was more trust involved between both parties and because Madame Giry knew Erik was just a person from the start, it leveled the power dynamics out. 
I always like mutual trust and equal footing in my ships. Both parties have to know the other person, all sides- good and bad- and work through those issues. I can read fics that don’t follow that dynamic for other ships, but for my OTP, it’s got to fall into this rule ;)
So flash forward, I finally read the Leroux novel (I had an idea of who the Daroga was, but Kay’s Nadir tended to be a more popular characterization of him than Leroux’s so I thought he was this really patient Dr. Watson-ish character). And I was 1) blown away by the toughness of this character 2) completely taken with his dynamic with Erik. Even Madame Giry in the musical/movie shows some fear of crossing Erik. The Daroga didn’t. This man was unafraid of yelling at Erik, physically yanking him left and right, and overall had an incredible spine. 
And he had that spine because to him, Erik was just some Guy. But no matter how lowly he speaks of Erik, the Daroga can’t help but feel compassion for him (he just doesn’t voice it the way, say, Christine could) and some degree of responsibility. So on one level, he accepts Erik and his flaws and understands them, but on the other level, he refuses to put up with these flaws. 
It’s more complicated on Erik’s side of things, but I think it works the same way. He claims to find the Daroga annoying, doesn’t seem to grasp the importance of what the Persian’s done for him, and is overall a very shitty friend (also a shitty enemy and frenemy). But this is Erik- it’s a miracle there’s someone out there he’s comfortable enough with to address by the informal “tu.” It’s a miracle that he lets the Daroga scold him so much, that they survived this long together, that he managed to get the Daroga to care about him so much that he saved him from death row.
And this might be a controversial take, and it’s also a revelation I had very recently, but the Daroga feels so much responsibility over Erik because he might actually be at fault to some degree. Their relationship is in fact, not one-sided. He didn’t try to guide Erik away from the corruption of the rosy court/whatever else was happening (unfortunately, it’s only in Kay’s book and fan-on that any explicit attempts were made- Leroux seemed to imply that the Daroga watched it all happen like driving past a car accident). He, like everyone else, didn’t think Erik was his problem. (As an aside, the rosy court wasn’t “corrupt” because it was Persian- it was corrupt because Royal courts are inherently corrupt; I believe Erik could have gone to the British, Austrian, etc royal court and have come out the exact same brand of messed up)
I feel that’s the most plausible explanation for why he felt compelled to save Erik from execution in the first place. Not because he thinks Erik is innocent and probably not just because he thinks Erik’s a “genius,” but because he felt that he didn’t do enough to prevent it. When he talks to Erik, he always implies that Erik needs to turn a new leaf because he OWES the Daroga for saving his life, not because Erik himself deserves another chance. That might not be how the Daroga actually feels, but it’s how he sounds to Erik.
Which brings us to the present, where the Daroga’s fully ready to take Erik down himself but still refuses to call the actual gendarmes on him (fear for his own pride? fear for Erik? fear for these strangers he doesn’t know? could be all of the above). 
And the interesting/ironic part about this is that Erik doesn’t hold the Daroga responsible for getting him involved in the rosy hours. Which explains why he’s so annoyed with the Daroga snooping around his personal life.
So in conclusion, Erik and the Daroga have a TON of personal history, truly know each other (the good and the bad), and chose to keep each other around anyway. I just see so much potential there for something stronger and also the Daroga is capable of keeping Erik in check. Their dynamic is super unique to me, and appealing for the reasons above, and though I doubt it was Leroux’s intention (or was it lol?), the tragedy of their potential boils down to the Daroga being too hard-assed to express his care in a way that wasn’t condescending, and Erik being too fucked up to process any relationship other than his idea of a heterosexual marriage.
And I ship it because I want to explore what would happen if they were able to recognize the affection they have for each other and take it one step further.
Obviously, Erik, being Erik, will never have a completely healthy relationship with anyone, but he would have the best chance at trying to maintain one with the Daroga because that’s the one man who understands his flaws best. And for his part, the Daroga would be emotionally and physically mature enough to figure out compromises for the two of them. 
Okay! That’s all the thoughts I pieced together and I hope they made sense :’D
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