#it's the purists and the people who are so literal about it or are always looking for a loophole and a way to outsmart people

[thefabelmans2022]

tolkien fans are truly either the best or the worst people ever like they're either dorks who love his characters and stories and took the messages to heart or actual supervillains.

[sapphosclosefriend]

~ Nerd! Nat Headcanons p2 ~

This is 18+ content. Minors DNI!

Part 1

SFW

Nerd! Nat who begs Yelena to teach her how to change the background of her phone to be able to always see a random selfie you have taken with her phone on a date at the park where you officially got together. You only notice it after a couple of days and just silently acknowledge it after seeing her turn as red as a tomato at the prospect of being teased for it.

Nerd! Nat who can't see shit without her glasses and squints in the cutest way possible when she wakes up next to you. She wishes she could see your face in the clearest way possible, but she can't physically wait to put on her glasses before giving you your “after sleep” peck, so she just blindly aims for your lips.

Nerd! Nat who loves immensely both cats and dogs and always rants about how she cannot even fathom people not liking one or both of them. She only has a cat, because she unfortunately doesn't have the time to properly take care of a dog, but she always rants about how one of the first things she will do after graduating is finally get a dog to keep Liho company.

Nerd! Nat who is a tea purist and is utterly shocked when one time you are too lazy to put on the kettle and heat up a mug of water in the microwave instead. (You use it as an excuse to make it up to her in a…better way). She makes it her mission in the next couple of days to thoroughly explain to you how to properly make the perfect tea “for your sake” because “you deserve only the best”.

Nerd! Nat who, doesn't mention it to you of course, but LOVES when you use her hoodies or sweaters, even more so when you wear them to go out. Your styles sometimes clash quite a bit together, but seeing pieces that remind her of herself on you makes her heart flutter so much she can't help but kiss you all the time.

Nerd! Nat who, when the weather starts to get warmer, literally wears a short sleeved button up tucked in some bermuda pants, a bucket hat and birkenstocks with socks. True grandpa fashionista.

Nerd! Nat who loves keeping you company during her free periods. She sits next to you in class and is incredibly interested in the lessons you attend, considering you study something completely different than her, but she physically can't keep her eyes away from you for too long and often ends up distracted by all your little expressions as you write down your notes. (Of course she always ends up blushing when you catch her staring without fail.)

NSFW

Nerd! Nat who could instantly die the moment you wrap your hand around her neck while you ride her. Poor thing doesn't even know how to speak anymore and looks at you with teary eyes to silently beg you to give her more. It's even worse if you choke her while you rub your pussy on her hard cock until she pathetically cums all over her own stomach.

Nerd! Nat who gets a little embarrassed and blushy when you joke about giving her a rimjob because of how much she'd actually like you to do it. The first time it happens, she's sitting at the foot of the bed with her legs open while you kneel on the ground and it is probably one of the times she's cum the hardest in her life. She's a little shocked at first and she doesn't wanna do it again, but it only takes her a couple days to come back to you begging for more.

Nerd! Nat who looks up at you with doe eyes as you gently hold her chin to make her open her mouth and moans out loud when you spit her own cum into her mouth after sucking her off.

Nerd! Nat who tries to eat you out one time and is surprisingly SO good at it. She makes you cum so many times and is so addicted to your taste that you have to physically push her off after a while or you won't be able to walk for a week.

Nerd! Nat who (as the ass girl that she is) ends up with you lying on your stomach while she pushes her cock between your ass cheeks. At this point you love to see her desperate for you so much that you gladly let her do anything to you to get a show of her pretty face as she cums all over your ass.

Nerd! Nat who invites you over at her parents’ house for the weekend and can't help but get hard when she sees you in a bikini. You spend some time in the pool to chat with Yelena and once you get out, water dripping down your body, you notice Natasha's eyes widening before she runs inside. After drying up you find her in her bedroom, trying to calm down until her hard on goes away, but you have a better solution and jerk her off through her swim shorts, making her keep all of her cum in her trunks until you tell her so.

Taglist: @fxckmiup @natashasilverfox @fawnedolly

[roach-kinnie]

canon barricade boys as they’re introduced

honestly reading this part of the brick is basically reading a list of headcannons off tumblr but i digress

Enjolras

…a charming young man who was capable of being a terror.

- essentially both a nerd and a jock

- very very pretty

- cares about justice, not women

- his speech can be harsh and intense

Combeferre

He was learned and a purist, precise, eclectic, hard-thinking, and at the same time imaginative ‘to the point of fantasy’, his friends said.

- very close with Enjolras, and really balances his out

- believes that education is really important in society

- gentle, and while he could fight would rather not

Jehan

Jean Prouvaire was a lover; he cherished a pot of flowers, played the flute, wrote verses, loved the people…

- learned Italian, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew to be able to read poetry

- likes to walk through meadows of wild flowers

- he likes to contemplate social issues and the immensity of the heavens

- kind in a way that kindness is like greatness

- an only child

- awkward and shy and fearless

Feuilly

There is no more powerful eloquence than that of indignation based on true conviction, and his was the power that he possessed.

- makes fans

- an orphan - he likes to say that his country took the place of his mother

- he taught himself how to read and write

- affectionate and warm hearted

- is really passionate about issues beyond France (greece, poland, hungary, etc)

Courfeyrac

He possessed that youthful ardour that may be termed the infernal beauty of the spirit.

- ditched the de part of de Courfeyrac because it was too bougie and he wanted to be like lafayette

- he’s essentially the heart of the revolution

- he’s “decent” (victor hugo did him dirty here)

Bahorel

He was a born agitator: that is to say, he enjoyed nothing more than a quarel except a rebellion, and nothing more than a rebellion except a revolution.

- wears crimson waistcoats

- connected the ABC to other groups

- his motto is “no lawyers”, he would literally button up his coat every time he walked by the law school to avoid ‘contamination’

- he has no regular habits but likes to stroll through paris and go to different cafes

Bossuet

Bossuet was a cheerful but unlucky young man, notable for the fact that he succeeded in nothing. On the other hand, he laughed at everything.

- so very bald

- he’s poor, as in basically always broke but still finds a way to squander money when he can

- merry and cheerful and good humoured

- studying law

- couch surfs, but mostly lives with Joly

- bald

Joly

For the rest, he was the gayest of them all.

- med student

- disabled and uses a cane

- jolly and eccentric

Grantaire

Grantaire was a young man who made a point of believing in nothing.

- goes by R because of grand R (aka capital R because he’s such a nerd)

- knows where all the best alcohol is

- so fucking ugly

- a boxer, gymnast and dancer

- completely and utterly in love with Enjolras

[scarletsinsblog]

idk why it needs to be said, but Kimiko and Frenchie have never been platonic 😭 since that finale, I’ve seen mostly positivity about their confession/kiss, but I have also seen people claiming that the writers are “pandering to a minority” by making them a couple…??? THEY HAVE BEEN BUILDING UP TO THAT SINCE THE MOMENT THEY MET!

Frenchie has always been queer, yes, but it’s SO obvious that he’s been pining for Kimiko since the very beginning. and when she told him he was “family,” it didn’t necessarily negate their romantic vibe. family is simply comfortability and love between two or more people, and it isn’t reserved to platonic relationships.

and for those who claim they were “more like siblings,” I beg of you to answer this: what does your relationship with YOUR siblings look like?! because if it looks anything like the dynamic between Kimiko and Frenchie…that’s concerning.

he literally calls her “my heart” exclusively for the better part of three seasons. which, in French, is typically a romantic endearment.

needed to speak my truth because I’m tired of this debate and the strangely purist takes people have expressed about these two and their relationship. they are allowed to like each other as more than friends, and I’m not sure why it’s such a taboo thing for two fucked up people to find their soulmate in one another. 🤷‍♀️

[rainy-writers]

When are y’all gonna get it through your heads that no one actually cared if the Velaryon boys were bastards or not? They could have come out with white hair, violet eyes, the whole shebang and the rumor still would have been spread because it was meant to undermine RHAENYRA and her claim, nothing else!!

It was a misogynistic attempt to paint her as reckless and irresponsible and another way for the greens to push for Aegon. It was fear mongering, meant to say “Hey! Choose Aegon because you guys don’t want a bastard on the throne, right?” And it didn’t fucking work, save for on the idiot audience that still eats this shit up and genuinely believes that the dance happened bc Harwin and Rhaenyra weren’t married, rather than realizing the whole theme is MISOGYNY!! ITS ABOUT USURPING A WOMAN NO MATTER WHAT SHE DOES, SOLEY BC SHES A WOMAN AND NOTHING ELSE!!

If she had no kids = Vote for Aegon cause she’s barren!!

If she had kids = Vote for Aegon cause they’re bastards!!

If she has kids that look exactly like her = Vote for Aegon bc her kids are clearly Daemon’s bastards am I right? Vote Aegon bc he’s clearly the more responsible of the two with his trueborn kids!!

It. Does. Not. Matter.

And it makes me so mad, especially when people say that the realm wouldn’t have accepted Jace like DUDE. Nobody is just casually going around saying these kids are bastards, save for the people that KNOW they can get away with it if they’re caught bc Viserys wouldn’t dare punish them. Aka:

Alicent, Otto, and her nightmare kids. That’s it. No, some random Lord in the Reach wasn’t preaching about Jace, Luke, and Joff being bastards. I sincerely hate to burst your bubble (NOT!) but you guys as an audience care more than the actual people that live in this world and it’s so funny.

Basic media literacy will tell you that NO, Westeros did not care. How do I know? Well it’s simple really. If they cared then majority of them simply wouldn’t pledge to support Rhaenyra, clearly knowing that Jace is her heir??

I mean, these are all of the houses that supported Rhaenyra AND Jace:

I mean do yall honestly think Cregan Stark thought Jace was a bastard when he swore an oath in BLOOD with Jace, marched PERSONALLY to the south AFTER Jace was dead, and tried to literally kill the CHILDREN of the Lord’s who rose up against him and Rhaenyra?

Do you think Lady Jeyne gaf when she personally pledged to support him? Lord Manderly? Hm.

No, they didn’t lmao.

So please, kill this narrative that “There was going to be rebellion if Jace ascended the throne” and “The realm wouldn’t accept him bc all of them secretly knew he was a bastard despite having no proof because his father, his grandfather and THEIR KING never said otherwise.”

It would not have happened y’all. And one day you blood purist, Velaryon boys haters are going to get it through your head that YES !! They were legitimate because no one ever said otherwise. It was never proven. Rumor isn’t proof. Hair isn’t proof for fucks sake. You need actual words from Laenor himself saying that RHAENYRA cheated and those boys are Harwin’s. You need Corlys passing over Luke for Driftmark and outright saying it’s because he’s a bastard to even get a SHREAD of doubt from the great houses.

One day you guys are going to realize that those boys were loved and no matter how much you try and discredit them, they will always be legitimate. Whether you like it or not, Viserys was content with Jace being on the throne after him, THE REALM was content, and Corlys Velaryon was ready to die peacefully knowing Luke was going to be after him. Hell, he damn near handed that boy the keys so don’t you dare say Luke didn’t deserve to inherit anything.

And sorry for the long post but some of yall are really starting to piss me off. Never mind that this is fiction, your attitude towards these boys is disguising and saying that they don’t deserve a good life, that they dont deserve things that were literally GIVEN to them with no complaints, and even going as far as to call them dirty or saying they deserve to die all because their mommy and daddy weren’t married is fucking disgusting.

This “bastards don’t deserve anything,” attitude needs to stop being preached by real life people. Hell, some of the people saying this are literally in the wedding photos of their own parents wedding LMAO. It concerns me on how much disregard you guys have for adopted kids (which is basically what they are to Laenor), and I’d hate to see the shit you preach in real life. Acting like blood actually matters in order for someone to be considered family.

Because regardless of what you believe, had their mother not been usurped because she was a WOMAN, Jace would have ruled, Luke would’ve gotten Driftmark and, yes, the world of Westeros would’ve kept fucking spinning.

By law these boys were legitimate and people seem to forget they came out of Rhaenyra’s coochie so REGARDLESS, they are Targaryen. Like unless Viserys or Daemon was their father, they were always going to be half NOT Targaryen lol…Just like Alicent’s kids. It just so happens that they’re half Strong, but again, it doesn’t matter, because Jace gets his claim from RHAENYRA, not his father, so even if Harwin was married to Rhaenyra he still would’ve been the heir?? Even if it wasn’t Laenor who was his father, he’d still be heir because of his mother and being married to someone does not change that.

Some people even go as far as to argue that they’re not Targaryen so Jace shouldn’t be the heir which is stupidest thing I’ve ever heard and the most blatant case of misogyny ever. Like unless your father cloned himself then you STILL get half your genes from your mother dumbass. They are as much Targaryen as the Hightower kids with their DARK HARIED PARENT, it just so happens that their Targ side is from a woman, not a man. Which, like I said, if you don’t consider them Targaryen just bc they don’t get their claim from their father then we know what you are. 🙃

But anyways, to make a long post short, yes these boys are legitimate, they were recognized as such by:

The King himself (who they’d be inheriting from)

Rhaenyra

Laenor (their father, who they’d be inheriting from and wanted Luke to have Driftmark)

Corlys (their grandfather, who Luke would be inheriting from and wanted Luke to have Driftmark)

Rhaenys

The Realm

History

And if you still don’t believe me, here’s the official Targaryen family tree from Fire and Blood which all of Westeros sees :)

You see how they’re listed as Velaryon? You see how they’re directly linked to Laenor and there’s no little astric saying how they’re bastards? Yeah me too.

PS - Read Fire and Blood as well. This whole argument about them being bastards is literally stemmed from no more than two paragraphs, IF that. And their legitimacy is never brought up again.

[cerastes]

Can you explain what you dislike from Pepe's design? I'm fairly neutral on her, and sure there are plenty of more interesting NPCs people have wanted, but I'm honestly shocked at how vehement some people (not you specifically) are about her.

This might sound purist but she does not look or feel like an AK character in the slightest. I don't mean that from a rigid standpoint of purism, I really don't, it's just, when a friend showed me her art months ago (this character has existed in the game since before this banner), I asked him what game was that character from, and he said, no, yeah, Arknights. I thought he was pulling my leg until he showed me exactly where she shows up in the game (not in Global as of the making of this post) and it was really jarring.

Basically, there's two main pillars here:

The first is that I am not the demographic. I don't think Namie is a bad artist but I'm not the demographic for her art, so to speak. It's merely a matter of taste and I don't think her art is bad, it's just not for me, and that's not even an absolutist statement, I like Mizuki a lot! But yeah, in general, I'm not the demographic.

The second is that the design just feels like... Very alien to the setting of Arknights, putting her more in the Conviction category (who is explicitly a joke character) than anything else. Being different is not bad at all, but I think there's got to be at least some cohesion in either the design philosophy, shapes, or elements in a design that grounds it as Someone that I could feasibly meet in this world, even in the case of eccentricity. If you showed me Peppe in a vacuum without me knowing she's an AK character off rip, I would Not At All guess she is an AK character. There's a lot going on with that design, and nothing conveys "Arknights" besides the monitor on her thigh. She's closer in design to a Final Fantasy Tactics Advance character than she is to an Arknights character:

Even the more cutesy designs, such as Suzuran or Eyjafjalla, have surface tacticool design choices included in them to ground them as characters that live in a world like Terra and work with its dangerous, hostile elements, be that merely the wilderness or the deadly cancer rocks, with Suzuran wearing several tactical/survivalist pouches and Eyja having a gasmask as a collar and heavy duty goggles on her arm.

Now, it's absolutely no surprise that Namie was going to design a limited character, in fact, I'd say it was inevitable: Namie is one of the most popular and beloved artists that have worked in Arknights, people have waited in lines for literal hours at events to meet her and buy something from her, and her characters are fan favorites in Arknights. I'm just a bit surprised that this is the design they roll out as the limited one, and I'll assume they were lax or just didn't check up on her design choices at all since She's A Big Name, and reckoned, we let her cook however she wants because she's always cooked success so far, but I think a little bit of a review process would've benefited the design.

I hope this explains my opinion on the character's design clearly. I don't feel negatively towards Namie, I just think this one ain't it, chief.

[percyposting]

Now while I am of course critical of them as characters, I’m not that crazy about when people, when talking about Percy and his family, either put all the blame on one side or the other. Like, when people who don’t take the time to understand Percy’s perspective will say he was unjust and didn’t love his family and a scorn upon the Weasleys, which is obviously a very black and white and incorrect perspective on his character which literally is incorrect when you reference the canon. But on the other hand, I don’t always agree with some of the ways people defend him, either, because a lot of those statements are also black and white; for example when people say Arthur is a terrible father, or that Percy’s siblings are unwaveringly cruel, or that Percy didn’t make any mistake/he was imperiused. I especially hateeeee that last theory specifically because it really undermines everything that he was going through during the course of the story and does more damage to his character than anything. He made the choices he did not because he’s a bad person but because he was like nineteen and wasn’t being listened to and he was being manipulated by the individual Minister’s he worked under because they were targeting his biggest weakness which is that he comes from a poor family that have been labeled as ‘blood-traitors’ and because of that, he was not born with as many opportunities that others are, and this clearly effects him as he brings it up during his argument with Arthur. He blames Arthur for their struggles, while he is wrong about this it’s not like he’s given much help to see why he’s wrong. Percy is naive and believes he’s smarter than he is (not slander of course, like these are very reasonable things to be as a 18-19 year old) so it leads to him thinking he understands how the world works but really he’s stuck in this box his government/society has built around him. And I think the rest of the Weasley’s are only a tad bit more enlightened, because they don’t seem to recognize this. They just don’t realize that Percy is just as much a victim of this system as they are, and can’t help but point fingers and resent one another.

I wouldn’t say any one of the Weasley’s are really at any major fault here. Percy misunderstands that the reason he’s struggling is not because his father’s lack of effort in his work or in providing for his family, but it’s because his father is actually a decent employee but the institution he works for will never give him any benefits or a raise because they hate him and his family. This is one of the major reasons for Percy’s split between his family, and it’s not his fault, nor his family’s fault, it’s the fault of the pureblood aka oppressive and corrupt society that they live in that actively promotes their downfall. Along with any other person that doesn’t match their blood purist beliefs.

I don’t think any of the Weasleys hated each other. I believe they loved each other VERY much, and the forces actively and canonically working against them nearly succeeded in tearing their family — but in the end they ultimately failed because that the Weasley’s truly do love each other and never wanted to be split apart. That’s what I think people miss when they attempt to defend one or the other: they misunderstand that no one is the villain but corruption, manipulation, and misplaced blame. Percy was young and tricked into believing something hopeful after his entire future was almost crushed (Barty Crouch Snr’s death and the subsequent investigation). Arthur didn’t want to believe his son would actually align himself with the enemy and tried to get Percy to understand the truth, but this only causes more friction because he goes about it wrong, instead insulting Percy’s capabilities, which are his most tender subject. And Percy’s siblings grew up in a loud, chaotic house where there wasn’t enough validation to go around, so they accidentally began resenting each other as time went on, most of the time because one was getting what the other wanted or (like Percy getting constant praise and attention for his academic achievements while the twins watch, waiting to be scolded for ‘not being successful like Percy.’) These are common family difficulties! They’re very realistic. And I don’t think it points to anyone being the bad guy, just that they may have said and did some bad or hurtful things, but by the end of the book most of these things are resolved because the Weasleys find each other again and go “I’m sorry, I love you, and I forgive you.”

[agirlwithbigdreamsforher]

FOUND YOU IN A WORLD OF CHAOS: PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE

Pairing: Eric (AQPDO) x Mary (OFC)

Summary: Eric met Mary on the ferry that was taking them away from New York. What would the future holds when you are living the end of the world?

Warnings: Any mistakes are my own. For the purpose of the story there will be elements that probably are not in the franchise, sorry about that. We are not purist here hehehehe.

A/N: Literally obsessed with Eric after I watched the movie. He is so freaking cute. I hope you enjoy this.

Disclaimer: I do not give permission for any of my works to be copied, used, translated nor reposted anywhere else but here on this blog. Do not steal what you didn’t work for. Minors and ageless blank blogs don’t interact with me or my works. Reblogs and likes are always welcome. Remember reblogs do more than likes. Thank you for reading this work of fiction.

Word count: 965

GIF'S NOT MINE, YOU CAN FIND THE CREDITS UNDER IT.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Eric was running to get to the ferry that was going to take him out of the city while Sam distracted the creatures. He was holding Frodo against his chest and then he jumped into the water just as one of the creatures was about to catch him.

His entire body was tired, he hadn’t eaten or slept properly in the past couple of days; he didn’t know where he got the strength to swim. As he reached the ferry the people on it helped him to get on the boat.

“You’re safe.” A dark man told him as he patted his shoulder. “You’re safe.”

Eric’s eyes watered when he saw the smiles of the people surrounding him. He moved to a corner to rest for a bit holding his cat. Where are they going? He had no idea, all he knew was that he was still alive and it was all thanks to Sam. He knew himself, he knew that if he were alone the past few days he would’ve died at the hands of those things.

It was amazing how life can change so drastically in mere hours. He woke up that day to go to school to follow the path his father told him he needed to follow. A lawyer seemed like a grown up job and that’s what his dad expected from him, he wanted his son to grow up. The next thing he knew was that he was running for his life, hiding in the craziest places; and helping her friend to get pizza in the middle of a destroyed city.

As he read the note Sam left for him the words she wrote to him resonated in his head, he wished she had come with him. Sam was dying, he was aware of that, but he would hoped she died in a peaceful place and not in the middle of that chaos, and most importantly not alone.

“Hey.” The voice of a lady brought him back to reality, he was still shaking and tears were streaming down his cheeks. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” It was a middle aged woman with grey hair who smiled lovingly to him. For a moment Eric thought he was seeing his mom but of course that wasn’t possible. “You’re the one who just got here?” Eric nodded. “I’m Lucy, come with me.” Her voice was of a normal volume, no whispers, and no passing notes. Lucy walked passed him but he didn’t move.

“Come on.” Lucy told him.

Eric stood up and followed her to a lower level in the ferry; it will be the part where the cars would normally be. He noticed it was an improvised medical ward. Some men, women and children were there with bandages in different parts of their bodies.

“Sit.” Lucy said pointing to an empty chair. “What’s your name?”

“Eric.” He whispered.

“You don’t need to whisper here. You are safe, you can talk.” He nodded and looked away.

“I want to check on you. See if you are injured. Is that ok?”

“I’m not hurt.” His British accent passed his lips.

“I’ll feel better if you let me check on you. I’m a nurse and I wanna help.” Eric nodded and let her checked on him. Lucy tried to take his yellow sweater off of him but he flinch and grabbed her hand. “Not gonna hurt you.” Eric’s fear was shown through his eyes. “We’ll keep it on, ok?”

He nodded and let go of her hand. Lucy’s voice became distant as he looked around the room. Everyone was awake except for one person, a girl. This girl was sleeping on the floor next to the chair he was on, a blanket was covering her lower half. She seemed at peace, her brown hair all over the floor, dirt and dried blood on her face.

“You are not from around, are you?” Eric shook his head, “Did you have any family with you?”

“They’re in England… were… I don’t know.” Lucy nodded. “What happened to her?” He said pointing with his head towards her.

“She saved a kid and was attacked in the process. Her leg was injured.”

“Attacked by the creatures?”

“Yeap.” Lucy put a cotton with alcohol on a cut Eric had on his hand making him hiss.

“How is she alive?”

“Well the creature was going to attack the child, and she got in the way.” Lucy sighed, “That thing only managed to scratch her right leg with its claws or whatever they have. After that we hid and waited so we could scape and got here.” She smiled at Eric, “She passed out when we were stitching her wound. I gave some pain killers and she fell asleep.”

“Will she be alright?”

“I hope so.” Eric kept looking at her and Lucy noticed it. She finished bandaging his hand, “You’re all set.” She smiled proudly. “Nice cat, by the way.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re most welcome.” She stood up. “Now, I think you should go and tried to sleep too for a bit, you look like you need it.”

“I don’t know where…”

“Go one level up, and find a spot where you can lay down.”

Eric stood and got closer to see the girl, he noticed her things were above her head, a tote bag, her tennis shoes, a sweatshirt, and something that look like bloody ripped pants.

“You can come back later if you want. She will be here when you wake up.” Lucy smiled at him and he blushed when he was caught staring.

“Sorry.” He turned around and practically ran out of there. Lucy just shook her head.

“Hey Mary.” She whispered as she kneeled to check on her neighbor, “I believe someone wants to meet you.”

[midnightstargazer]

Not to defend the overall narrative surrounding house-elves, but probably the #1 reason I'm so sympathetic to Regulus is that he didn't make Kreacher drink the potion.

House-elves are the lowest of the low in Wizarding society, and virtually nobody questions or objects to the way that they're treated. The narrative wants us to believe the Blacks were kind to Kreacher, but what we're actually shown says otherwise: his living conditions leave a lot to be desired, he harms himself as punishment for disobedience or failure, and then of course there's the whole beheading thing. I don't blame Regulus for any of this, because he was a child and would've had no say in it. But I think it's important to understand, where house-elves are concerned, his family wasn't that different from the Malfoys.

And yet, while I know some people do interpret his actions in a very uncharitable way (he was just upset that his property was damaged, etc.), I think there are signs that there was more to it than that. Kreacher himself states that "Master Regulus always liked Kreacher" (DH ch. 10), which implies that from an early age he showed him kindness and affection. Regulus described Kreacher's task for Voldemort as an honor for both of them; how many wizards would even consider whether or not something was an honor for their house-elf? And, while it's suggested he loaned Kreacher to Voldemort willingly, I don't think it's a coincidence that he ordered him to come home afterwards. He might not have suspected the task would be a death trap, but he knew it would likely be illegal and possibly dangerous. I interpret the order as an intentional precaution.

The exact reasons why Regulus turned against Voldemort are very open to interpretation. It could be he believed that making a Horcrux was going too far. It could be, as Sirius suggested, that he got squeamish about the reality of what being a Death Eater involved. But I do think protectiveness towards Kreacher must have been at least part of his motivation.

Why? Because he drank the potion himself.

This isn't an accident, either. It's emphasized by the narrative: Harry initially assumes Regulus ordered Kreacher to drink it, only to be corrected. It's portrayed as a shocking twist, and for good reason.

For most wizards, especially ones with Regulus's background, making the elf drink the potion would be the obvious solution. Hermione is right when she says what Voldemort did isn't that far outside the norm. Slughorn, who is generally one of the more positively portrayed Slytherins, used a house-elf to test wine for poison. The Blacks' family tradition is, specifically, "beheading house-elves when they got too old to carry tea trays" (OotP ch. 4) - so, they don't just preserve them that way after their death, they kill them as soon as they are no longer useful. Brutal physical punishments seem to be common, and their enslavement is accepted as normal and right by literally every character except Hermione. Wizarding society as a whole does not value the lives or welfare of house-elves.

But in the cave, Regulus prioritizes Kreacher's safety above his own. He drinks the potion himself rather than ordering Kreacher to do it, and once they've got the locket, he tells Kreacher to leave him behind. Regulus could very likely have made it out of the cave alive if he had been willing to sacrifice Kreacher, but instead, he ensured that Kreacher would be the one to survive.

Despite everything he had ever been taught about house-elves and their place in society, despite openly holding blood purist beliefs, despite it meaning the all-important family name would die out, he put Kreacher first. He kept Kreacher safe at the cost of his own life.

[darklinaforever]

I'm on the black team, yesterday I read a discussion in which a person from the green team explained that she understands what George wanted to convey, they just don't agree with him. What do you think about it? After all, in fact, the author's opinion is really only his opinion, readers do not always have to agree with him if, for example, they have other views on life or moral values.

So... There is a difference between a simple opinion and what is directly written on paper. The Greens are simply canonically a group of misogynistic, law-breaking usurpers, fighting for patriarchal, blood purist traditions, with some members being rapists like Aegon II and Aemond. It's not just an idea that the author wanted to convey. It's just canon. And if some people understand that perfectly and still don't agree with the author... well I want to tell you wtf? What is their problem? They literally understand these things, that it's canon, that it's written in the text, but refuse to accept it? Well, as I said before, surely they simply refuse to accept loving bad people and try to give themselves better moral reasons to love them? It's very common. Because you can like the Greens as a villain. But understanding that they are evil and refusing to accept the canon even if it is perfectly coherent, it's very strange... Apart from demonstrating the fact that many do not accept loving non-virtuous characters who seek any excuse to allow yourself to love them, I don't see what else it could be. Because you can understand what the Greens are and love their role in the story. But understanding what Greens are and refusing it? Well that's just weird... Unless they think they can write a better fanfiction than HOTD in terms of whitewashing the Greens, I don't know. And like I said before, by seeing the Greens in a different way than in canon, they screw up the entire core story moral about Rhaenyra being usurped because of misogyny. And that... well it's disgusting. And I bet most of them spit on Rhaenyra...

[atlasdoe]

so so curious as to why you dislike dora being a rosier? sorry i’m just rlly nosy and wanna know <3

HI! please never be sorry for being nosy omg i love it when people ask me questions about headcannons!!

There are many reasons why I don't like Pandora being a Rosier but the main one is that there isn't much wiggle room with it

When I first joined this fandom my hc for Pandora was that her maiden name was Jenkins because in the first fic i read that was her name (and she had a younger sister who will always remain one of my favourite characters ever) At that time not many people cared about Pandora, this was before people started headcannoning her to be friends with Regulus and the Slytherin Skittles were a thing

When the discussion of Pandoras maiden name began I couldn't really get on board with what people were suggesting, mostly because a lot of the names were names that belonged to characters we already knew, like Rosier, Lestrange, Malfoy, Ollivander i even saw a few Pandora Lupin headcanons. I didn't like having her be related to a character we already knew I kinda just wanted to see her as her own person without any resemblance to other characters (I thought the same about Alice too for a while)

I've since changed my mind on that and my main headcannon for Pandora is that she's an Ollivander. I think it suites her well and that having someone who experiments with spells be the daughter/granddaughter of a wandmaker makes sense and gives potential for Pandora to have an interesting backstory

But the death eater families I can just never get behind. It automatically gives her a storyline which is already canonically other characters. The whole growing up in a purist family and then leaving is kinda the Blacks thing and part of me also likes the idea that the Blacks are just pure chaos and can't keep their kids in line when everyone else is acting perfect

It is also very much because I don't like the idea of Pandora being the sister of Lucius or Rodophus and Rabastan and Evan

The Pandora and Evan being siblings hc I especially dislike, partly because I just don't like what it does to both of their characters. Evan in my mind will always be a complete dickhead who was always a purist and always a wanker and I cant see that when Pandora is standing by him as his sister. I see them as friends but in my hcs Pandora isn't just friends with the Slytherins but also with Edgar, Amelia, Benjy, Caradoc, Fabian and Gideon from her own year and because of that she's able to easily cut Barty, Evan and Regulus off the moment they start showing signs of acting on their prejudice, unlike Dorcas who didn't have any other friends and was really holding and hoping to the idea that they would change their minds

On top of that I can't see anything that we get from the Rosier twins that we don't get from any other siblings in the era. Like we already have the Black brother, Black sisters, Bones twins, Prewett siblings, Carrow twins, Lestrange brothers and Evans sisters who all have elements that have been ignored and given to the Rosiers. From ending up on different sides of the war, to being separated by magic, to one of them dying during the war and leaving the other, to even being low-key incest. There's nothing new that they bring to the table.

(and that's only from the cannon siblings. We still have so many characters that we know had siblings like Marlene or characters with the same last name who could be siblings like Hestia and Gwenog Jones and Olivia and Toby Gleves)

And I hateeeee what this does to Pandoras character it reminds me of how Marlenes character was created. Instead of Pandora being someone based on what we know about her in cannon (which isn't much but still) she's been crafted to best suite the men that we've put around her (Evan, Barty and Regulus) Like we don't even talk about her and Xeno anymore who she literally marrys and has a kid with

Also I cannot see Pandora as being younger then The Marauders. In my hcs Pandora is a year above the Marauders while Evan and Dorcas are in the same year as them and Barty and Regulus are in the year below, I simply cannot see it any other way

Yeah there aren't many headcanons that would stop me from reading a fic but this is definitely one of them. There is nobody I hate more then Pandora Rosier

Thank you so much for asking and please never hesitate to ask anything else :)

[saruin]

I can agree that Veilguard has its issues, there are some things I’m not a big fan of and some choices that as someone who’s played through the entirety of the series multiple times and read the books/comics don’t make a lick of sense to me, but overall it’s a good game imo. I’ve been taking my time and exploring in it but to me it read like if DA2 was given time to be fleshed out properly while still being new. I think because of the lore and previous writing they wrote themselves into a bit of a corner, but that’s was inevitable at some point. If this is supposed to be a soft reboot then maybe that means the next game goes back to having that more open choice RPG feel people are saying it’s missing

Personally, I went in with no expectations because I love this franchise and I know most of my headcanons and thoughts aren’t EA’s world state, which is fine. But I’ve been really enjoying the game. The combat is a bit of a learning game curve compared to what we’ve had before but the heart of the games has always been the story and the interaction you have with your companions but that’s just me. People can be mad and upset and complain about being a “DA purist” or complain that they don’t like the art style but at its core everyone has a different experience and connection to the game and no single DA game looks like another. The styles are all different! And if something doesn’t match with your story for your player character you can literally write fix-it fics and headcanons if you’re really mad about it *cough cough all of us who wanted the Hawke/Varric romance that they scrapped*

At the end of the day, I’d say take everything everyone’s been saying about the game with a (large) grain of salt. Take your time, explore, and enjoy it. It’s a got beautiful scenery, you can pet the cats and Mabari, and the cc for both Rook and the Inquisitor made me tear up because I literally haven’t seen my girl in 3 years and here she is with pretty flowing hair and still (in my mind because I haven’t seen her in game yet) is a rebel with a cause

Sorry for the long rant and rambling also, it’s just neat seeing creators and blogs I follow on here get excited about what is pretty much my favorite game series when in my offline experience is that it’s a very niche series to like. Also love your content for sims btw! I always get excited seeing when you’ve got something new cooking

Thank you for this. I think it's easy for people to forget that everyone doesn't experience games the same way. I don't listen to critics and I ignore people's opinions on stuff I'm genuinely excited about because I want to judge it with my own two eyes. I appreciate other people's perspective but I don't have to agree with them, what fun is that.

I remember when I was about to start playing Mass Effect and was asking friends for input (cause I didn't understand at the time that people could be extremely biased) I was told over and over again that ME3 was the worst game ever and to not even play it, to just get the story online somewhere. Well I ended up playing it despite their opinions and ME3 is my favorite game in the series.

Thank you again for giving me your opinions and I'm so happy you're enjoying the game. Also thanks so much for liking my content 🩷

[not-poignant]

Out of curiosity, when did the, 'fanfic doesn't need to adhere to canon, everything is valid and good, don't give concrit unless specifically asked for' attitude become the norm? Genuine question.

I was active in fandom back in the LJ days, when sporkings and comms viciously mocking Mary Sues were the norm, but then I sort fell out of fandom spaces for the past (checks notes) fifteen years holy shit. The current attitude seems diametrically opposed to what I remember fandom being like (kinda shitty, it was 'cool' to be an asshole back then), and I'm just curious as to when and how the shift happened. I mean, I assume it was a gradual thing, but is there anything in particular that stick out to you?

(Also, because tone doesn't convey very well through ask, and I don't want to leave you with a poor impression-- this is by no means a defence of the 2000s attitudes, nor an aspersion on the current ones. I'm genuinely only curious about the evolution from one to the other; I hope that comes across.)

Hi anon!

TL;DR because my response got LONG -> Anon this existed before Livejournal as an attitude, in fact modern fandom was literally born out of being not canon compliant (*waves aggressively to Spirk shippers*) and this existed on Livejorunal too and there have always been big pockets of fandom that really frowned on sporking even there, like that was not cool when I was on LJ, unless you were a certain age, or in certain spaces in fandom.

But also AO3 was its kind of final death knell re: making it cool to bully 13-16 yo writers (who were largely the victims of sporking) and killing dreams, which was born out of meta happening on LJ and in other places about like... not trying to make people miserable for writing a free fic out of the love in their heart that someone else didn't like or think was good enough.

Anyway, the longer version of this under the read more!

(For everyone else, welcome to some of the uglier aspects of 00s fandom!)

So there was actually criticism around all the stuff you mention 15-20 years ago as well. I was also on Livejournal during that time and there was a pretty big proportion of people in certain fandoms who recognised even then that like... setting up communities to mock say, Mary Sue writers, was actually a pretty weirdly cruel thing to do to people who were providing free labour and the literal only 'payment' they could get in a kind of energy exchange was people just not being complete dickheads to them.

So things were already changing, especially in many LJ communities and awards communities. There were a lot of big debates over whether concrit should be asked for, and a growing movement of authors who said they welcomed constructive criticism for example, instead of assuming it should automatically apply. There was also a lot of meta around the function of fanfiction and whether it should even be 'good' by published standards if the author was just doing it for themselves, and for fun (esp if they were just going to get punished for it by folks who were elitist, judgemental, grammar purists etc.)

Things really changed around the time of AO3 (2009-2010 - literally around 14~ years ago, you may have just missed the big change anon!), Strikethrough and the Dreamwidth exodus. There was a massive swing away from leaving concrit unless the author specifically asked for it, and fandom became a lot more generally able to recognise that a lot of labour goes into fanart and fanfiction and that paying with public criticism is shitty actually. Also people were just more able to recognise that like most fanfiction writers aren't trying to become professional writers and many don't want to be.

(I would actually say things changed around the time of fanfiction.net too - rude comments there were definitely noticed and could create some pretty forward 'hey why are you doing this on something you literally don't have to read' responses from fellow readers - idk what fic sites you were on. The small indie fic sites where you could often only comment via email for example, definitely drew a lot more critical attention than sites that tended to have public comments).

The 'fanfic doesn't need to adhere to canon' literally exists since the very first Spirk slash fic in modern fanfiction in the last few decades. Literally, as soon as you write Kirk/Spock, you're not adhering to canon. Our fanfiction 'ancestors' literally paved the way for a legacy which is about not adhering to canon in order to see the world/s and thing/s you want to see, be entertained by, by turned on by, or enjoy, from the very beginning. You may not have been in slash circles anon, but the foundation of queer same sex fanfic is in many ways the foundation of fandom. But yeah, this is literally where fanfiction started! As soon as you're shipping characters that aren't canon for fun (or for whatever reason), you're making it pretty clear that you want stories different to canon, and you have to change things to often keep those characters in-character.

So yeah! That's been there for decades. Idk what circles you were in on that front! While it was fairly common for a while to criticise characters for being OOC (Out of Character), imho, a lot of folks started to recognise that they literally weren't paying for what they were criticising, and they could just walk away and potentially not like...blast the fanfic. Some folks started to recognise more that people were writing with ESL, or were teenagers (some 40 yos in fandom realised they were mocking literal 15 year olds in their proto-podcasts and websites and realised actually that's just...mean? Really mean? Not the way to nurture new generations of fanfiction writers. Definitely in no way encouraging), or were writing for themselves, or writing for like one other person, or writing for fun, or writing for free, or writing for personal reasons etc.

'Don't Like Don't Read' wasn't just about political stuff, it was also about just walking away if you feel the urge to slam a fanfic in the comments.

I've been in fandom for around 2.5 decades anon, and there were so many spaces that were not actually as shitty or mean-spirited as the ones you were in? Or ones that at least had a lot of different thoughts etc. Like, sporking (mocking/bullying badfics and sometimes the folks who wrote them) was disapproved of by a lot of people in fandom even while sporking was at the height of its popularity (the Fanlore page goes into more detail about this). It might have just been the fandoms you were in, or the people you were hanging out with (and that might have been dependent on your age or just if you were around people who wanted to be 'cool' back then - in the same way that being an 'anti' is cool among certain crowds today. It's possible to spend years in certain crowds and never get an image of broader fandom for example - we can all end up in spaces like that! I know I have.)

When I started writing fanfiction (which no one will EVER find lmao), generally giving positive comments was normal. Constructive criticism was actually pretty rare and there were already fanfiction aggregate sites that generally disapproved of it in their Rules of Conduct. People were encouraging and polite. And this was around 20 years ago on Livejournal and private indie fanfiction websites.

I would actually say there was never exactly an evolution from 'one to the other' because like thousands of people in fandom already believed this and argued in defense of supporting fanfiction and transformative works via accepting that people are labouring for free and that not everyone wants to become a 'better writer' etc. - the meta was there on Livejournal in the 00s. There were communities where sporking was seen as hip/fun, and communities where it was literally banned or at the very least, super frowned upon.

There were meta fandom communities where sporking was the subject of discussion and you know eventually in a lot of those meta communities, that's where a lot of folks decided actually that calling out the fanfiction of 16 yos as 'cringe' or 'badly done' maybe said more about us as human beings and what we wanted fandom to be, than it did about the actual fanfic itself. By the time AO3 came around, people built it with this in mind.

To this day on AO3 it's mostly considered appropriate to say you want concrit in your author's notes, and to otherwise assume as a reader it's never welcome if it's unsolicited. That started during the LJ era. And it was talked about at great length. There's obviously going to be people who disagree! But for the most part I'm a big believer in compassion and 'not everyone is here for the same reason' and 'they literally gave this to us for free and it's meant to be fun' (like yourself! What we do/think/argue 10 years ago on LJ is sometimes different to what we do 10 years later lol, I used to be against trigger warnings pre-AO3! Times change a lot :D )

So yeah, this was definitely something that was around before you and I came to fandom, and it was something that continued to grow as an attitude during, until finally it kind of won out on AO3. But yeah fandom as we know it was born in people literally not being canon compliant to make some gay dreams come true (Spirk shippers bless them all), at a time when there was no representation.

Even in the earliest days of fandom where comments could only happen via email, one of the earliest phrases authors used were things like 'flames will be used to roast marshmallows.' For those reading who don't know, flames are hate comments, critical 'this fic is bad because' comments etc. Except you emailed them directly to the author, because there was no place for comments on a fic.

And this started because authors in part got death threats for writing gay stuff.

So you know, from the very beginning, authors in fanfic have by and large had a very low tolerance for criticism / hate over something they're doing for free and making no profit out of, when they're changing/altering the canon as they please to create representation (or hotness lmao), that is literally a labour of love in a world of very little representation. From there, things have just grown. The whole 'flames will not be tolerated' existed even before Livejournal did.

Honestly there are still people who love sporking and you could probably find groups and Discords dedicated to that even now (actually you literally can, there's a Dreamwidth group for it), it's kind of wild but it started to get cool again. Just like 90s clothing :D (Which is also wild because I can just take that crap out of my closet and wear it again).

But yeah it also sounds like you may have been in some pretty crappy pockets of fandom! When I was on LJ in the 00s I avoided those places and still got to experience fandom across multiple fandoms (mostly NCIS, Captive Prince, HP, Profiler, The X-Files and some others) and communities.

I was super active in some fandom communities and saw a lot of meta happening, and my view during the early and late 00s was that sporking was largely pretty frowned upon after a very brief (like 3-6 month) era where it was cool for only some folks, and then everyone (including some - but not all - of those folks) was like 'heyyyyyyy hang on a minute.' It was something that the bullies did, and enjoyed, and otherwise folks kind of stayed away from it, especially once they learned people were becoming too scared to write fics, which is the inevitable outcome of mocking/bullying folks and fics that have been made purely out of love for something.

Like, publicly making a spectacle out of what a 13 yo (they were often teens - and it's kind of sad how many 40 yo women were doing the sporking :/ ) wrote out of love, just for fun/clout was not considered cool by everyone even back then, because like, a lot of us saw that as killing new generations of fandom (some folks who sporked considered it a win if a fic or account got deleted, this is not based behaviour), not actually creating good writing, internalised misogyny (Mary Sue hatred and self insert hatred), etc. It's hard to explain because I do really think we were in different corners of fandom at the time, but I don't know anyone personally from my time on Livejournal who actually liked sporking as an idea or enjoyed it or enjoyed listening to it or reading articles mocking fic.

I knew about it from very lively 'is this okay' 'actually no it's not even if it's just for fun this is trying to hurt people and saying 'it's just the fic' is not going to be the bandaid a teenager needs to understand why older folks (generally) in fandom are mocking them for being new at a skill' discussions on LJ in meta fandom communities. So this is how much I could be in fandom and not be a part of it and also have like a wildly different experience to your LJ experience!

I think if I'd been a teenager during that era it would have seemed a lot more appealing (in the same way that many teens are antis now before they grow out of it), and fuck it if I was a more bitter person who was just around people who liked to make fun of what other people created, perhaps I would have enjoyed it too, I can see a lot of reasons why a person would fall into that in LJ -> but I was an adult on LJ trying not to be mean to people or what they were creating, so yeah I was maybe just in very different spaces! (Don't get me wrong, I have my giant fucking character flaws, but I was very scared of people hating me so like I didn't want to do things that would make that happen, lol, and also I was scared to put up fic myself during the era of active sporking. I know for myself that sporkers didn't just scare away writers of 'badfic' - they...intimidated a LOT of people).

Before AO3 I was on FF.net, posting fics on LJ, posting on Schnoogle, gossamer, and a couple of other archives. So I don't think my experience was that 'narrow,' I just think I wasn't around like... anime at that time or other places where it might have been happening. I also avoided like...Draco/Malfoy where CC drama was happening and I know sporking was popular in that specific arena / pairing for a while as well (er, as well as anything to do with Mary Sues).

So yeah! That's about where that is. Generally gatekeeping fandom is just seen as not a great thing to do to people, and that creates other kind of beliefs that are generally upheld as being more inviting/nurturing. After all, if someone truly wants to get better at writing, they can ask, or do courses, but as we all know, everyone has to write some bad stuff to get good at it, but not everyone wants to be good. Folks are in fandom for different reasons. I'm rambling now so I'm going to finish my lunch! :D

[padfootastic]

Some people are not ready to admit that we actually are introduced to a character who offers a gray perspective on the people involved in this war (as opposed to strict black-and-white) and that’s Sirius (and yes, this is spitefully motivated by the fics where Harry is a Slytherin, meets other gray characters, and Sirius is shown as an immature idiot). Has everyone somehow forgotten the scene in GOF when Sirius is telling people that he’s not sure if Snape was a Death Eater even though Snape hung out with people Sirius for sure knew were Death Eaters, and then says that he can’t be sure if BCJ was actually guilty or if he just had the bad luck of being near the Lestranges at the worst possible time?? Sirius outright admits that he wasn’t the only one who didn’t receive a trial, he knows it’s entirely possible that other “convicted” Death Eaters were innocent just like him. Sirius is the main person we see actually acknowledging that the villains are people too, the world’s not black-and-white, good-vs-evil. Say what you want about Sirius, but at least dislike him for what he actually did (and I will never shut up about “Sirius hated Slytherins,” show me where we see him insulting either Slytherin House or using that House as an insult, and him hating blood-purists who happened to be Slytherins doesn’t count, that’s just hating bigots. Maybe I forgot a scene [and no, the train scene doesn’t count because it’s James insulting Slytherin, Sirius doesn’t], but somehow I doubt that)

i was literally just asking ab this in the server today bc i saw that opinion floating around hey again and like—how?? where??

it’s weird that j&s become a single entity in exactly the worst possible way in a lot of marauder interpretations bc people see james being black & white and hexing people & fucking with snape and immediately paste the same traits onto sirius, even when we have the literal opposite evidence. why do we think sirius hated slytherins???? have i just completely forgotten that bit from canon?

ok also omg stop. you just brought back SO MANY years old flashbacks of me devouring slyth harry fics and almost every single one of them, without fail, had harry interacting w these worldly, complicated, morally grey characters vs being ashamed of his embarrassing one dimensional prejudiced godfather :/// ‘sirius will u stop calling my friends slimy snakes!!!!’ just. yeah. loved those fics. always had to click out of those bits lol

[silyabeeodess]

DB Analysis: Thoughts on the "Sympathetic" Zamasu

I'm going to be honest: I'm not quite sure how to start this analysis. I'm doing it solely to get my thoughts down on the character somewhere, because something always comes up in discussions about Zamasu that has always bothered me since I first learned about him, getting back into Dragon Ball about two years ago: A lot of people have a habit of labeling Zamasu as not only being a sympathetic villain, but go so far as to say he was never truly evil in the first place.

Personally, however, I have never once seen Zamasu as being traditionally sympathetic. If anything, when it comes to this character, I feel nothing but absolute disgust--even when compared to the uncontested evil of characters like Frieza. At least watching Frieza is entertaining, because we know the good-hearted Goku will always win in the end. When people both in and out of the story make excuses for Zamasu's behavior, however... It's sick, and I'm going to do a full breakdown why.

Let's start this analysis by recapping on Zamasu's feelings toward mortals and all of the crimes he's committed. Zamasu views mortals as impure beings forever marred by sin, completely irredeemable, and that it is more of a mercy to kill them rather than to allow them to continue on in that sin. He stole Goku's body; murdered his own teacher, Gowasu; and committed mass genocide, declaring himself supreme over all as "the wisdom, the law, and the power of the universe" and "the sun that lights this world" to quote Fighterz. His actions are egregious, and they aren't really any different than any of the other villains we see in Dragon Ball. Why do people excuse them?

"He meant well." "His teacher didn't do enough." "He's sympathetic."

Unlike other sympathetic villains, it's not like any evil was done to him personally. He doesn't have some typical, tragic backstory. So, why is he considered sympathetic? Well, it comes from a single thought we've all shared at some point: The world is a terrible place.

Zamasu is someone who only focuses on the negative in the world and in people (specifically mortals). Yes, we can point to Gowasu's failed attempt at showing their good side; however, it's clear that Zamasu doesn't want to really see any differently than what he already believes either. When he met Goku, arguably one of the purist mortals in the entire multiverse, he was too offended by the so-called lack of respect Goku showed to even register that he was, while careless, ultimately a good person.

Moreover, what makes Zamasu any better than the mortals he bashes? Yes, he is a god, but what are the distinguishing factors between a god and a mortal in the Dragon Ball universe? They're not omnipotent, as we've seen countless times throughout the series. They're not all-powerful, as the likes of Goku, Vegeta, and Jiren have shown overpowering different deities. (Even before acquiring god-ki, Goku was stronger than Shin.) Many of them used to be mortals, as we see shown through the hakaishin's passing-of-the-torch. We can even argue that they're still technically mortals, because many of them have been killed or erased and Zamasu literally had to wish for immortality.

Making a real-world comparison, this isn't an Abrahamic godhood: A case of a pure, all-knowing being who can see into the hearts of every person and leads the world with patience and unlimited wisdom. Instead, Dragon Ball shows us gods who have limited knowledge, constantly make mistakes, are insanely impulsive, and tend not to ever bother questioning themselves. And out of all of them, Zamasu is basically a rookie, a supreme kai in-training. Why do we still give him a pass?

Again, because he believes what we believe: People suck. It's such a broad, undirected hatred that we rarely stop of think of what we actually mean by that. Do we hate the evil actions that humanity commits, or do we hate humanity itself? If you hate evil, you look to uproot it, including when it appears in yourself. If you hate humanity, then you never see the good in others and never self-reflect.

All that being said, let's give Zamasu a comparison to another villain: Frollo from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. Frollo "saw corruption everywhere except within," viewing himself as a man of the Church and a righteous judge. He was always coming up with excuses for his own sins, even going so far as to blame the very God he claimed to serve. Zamasu acts much the same way, except he doesn't even entertain the idea of a figure of morality being over him: The only god Zamasu "worships" is himself. He's an absolute megalomaniac, a fact we see visualized through his interactions with his partner in-crime, Goku Black, who is literally just himself in another timeline.

Gowasu serves as the prime example to this mindset. Despite being another kai, the person that mentored him, someone who always strove to see the good in others... Zamasu murdered him without a second thought. Why? Because he dared to disagree with him. This is-turn would've also killed Rumshhi, the GoD of their universe. Even Zeno is not an exception even though he fears him, as shown in his team-up with Hearts in Super Heroes. Despite Zamasu's view of "gods good, mortals bad," he will slaughter anyone that doesn't march in lock-step with his ideals.

Not only does he kill other gods and commit all of the same sins he accuses mortals of--even going so far as to revel in the deaths of others--but he had to rely on Goku's mortal body for his Zero Mortal Plan to work in the first place. Shown in the Xenoverse games, if the player joins Zamazu, he's shown to have no issue accepting their help either even though he promises he'll still kill them later. Zamasu is a hypocrite, another trait he shares with Frollo.

Still for some reason, we never call Frollo sympathetic. Well, not all of us have burned down a city, tried to purge an entire race, and lusted after someone not even half our age.

But we all desire justice. We all want to make the world a better place, don't we?

We feel sympathy for Zamasu because he represents the evil we stare in the face every single day. He represents the demon whispering in our ears that any atrocity we can commit is excusable so long as we have a "good reason." Because we're better people. We're smarter people. We're good people... right?

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Mind where you walk.

[deepseasmetro]

so, here's the thing: eating meat in 2024 is just… embarrassing. like, i’m sorry, but it is. i get that some of you are super attached to your steaks or whatever, but can we stop pretending it’s some kind of heroic act? “oh, but humans have always eaten meat!” okay, and humans used to do a lot of things we’ve learned to stop doing. maybe it's time to evolve a little?

the whole "but i need protein" excuse is tired. it’s literally the same energy as people who insist on using outdated tech because they’re "purists." we have plant proteins, legumes, nuts, and, i don’t know, a little thing called science that’s made it easier than ever to get all your nutrients without, you know, killing animals. but sure, keep acting like you’re the pinnacle of health because you eat a burger.

and let’s talk about the environmental impact for a second. factory farming is a nightmare. it’s one of the biggest contributors to climate change, deforestation, and water pollution. if you’re still choosing to eat meat, you’re literally saying, “yeah, i know it’s destroying the planet, but i just really like bacon, okay?” that’s not just lazy—it’s selfish.

like, i hate to be blunt, but if you’re still eating meat, you’re just a bad person. there’s no excuse for it anymore. we have all the info, all the resources, all the alternatives, and yet you’re still choosing to support an industry that causes immense suffering, pollutes the planet, and wastes resources. it’s not ignorance at this point; it’s a choice, and it’s a bad one.

(written with chatgpt (^_−)☆)