#its ok to like the character but to defend his actions is something else.

[lilac-udon]

oh no I’m clowning myself again

As a basil defender

Most people stand w sunny and how often I see online is “basil ruins Sunny’s life ” . Would argue sunny ruined his life unintentionally, and basil actively chose to jump into the water with him. I can imagine basil never think that far into the consequences of his actions but the first instinct is to help Sunny. I can’t understand why basil did what he did ,and for me I do felt it’s overkill. My explanation is the writer needs it to be this extreme to connect the plot(and shock value . If sunny and mari are both basils friends, I cannot think of why he would throw Mari into the bus like that(I’m saying, thinking mari is already dead, need to save Sunny, but not in the point or any idea of, saving mari. He see Sunny action , but on the other hand he accepts mari is dead already too quickly in my taste)(I mean I don’t understand basil a lot a lot, I just don’t make sense but also he probably get push to do something because he think he is the only one to rely on when Sunny is suffering at that moment,add the point of he never really have parents supervise him, I guess that add a possibility of him not seeking others (parental figure) help but trying to fix stuff on its own. I have theory of he mostly solve stuff on his own, and no one helps or guides him, and he might be the one taking care of his grandma more than his grandma taking care of him

(((no , I will tell u this, a lot of people don’t like to think about any reason for basil bc they “hate basil” . I read other ship involving sunny and see how many write basil should get hate by his actions))))(((not that u can’t hate a character but , write it from another character lens(besides hero), ok cool?) (ah I know I ask too much, cute ship fluff no canon involved because it’s too much sure whatever)

I want to point out how much he valued to “help ”Sunny in that moment than anything else. Even it’s a very very awful idea. But I also want to say, as passive as Sunny is, didn’t he also ruined basil life. And the lack of people see it this way just annoys me, what did you mean basil deserved it, where if basil never met sunny he could at least had a normal childhood ; but for Sunny , sunny still needs to face the reality of mari is gone, wether or not basil is there to help him “cover up ”?

I always see both of them are in the wrong, even though so many people see them as cute little meow meows , nooo . Especially sunny, sunny is passive, but he is not entirely blank(I don’t know how to explain but I always use “cute” to explain?) this is more of my taste I guess, but I really like to put Omori characters into sunny as well, I see omori as what he is thinking, sunny just has the issue to showing all those thoughts he have. They are good kids but sunny has this attitude (read Omori note) removing it from him making him so cute and eepy as soft is just not how I imagine sunny I guess; ; ( where is his dark thoughts and edginess?

Basil being overall kind ? Huh, there is also this very weird thing of Basil literally shut off himself to only interact with sunny a tiny bit. After the incident he cut off from most of his friends. I think I don’t know how to think about him because there is too little information then from Omori point of view of dream basil (I can believe omocat probably don’t know too or probably very simple but I or the fandom over complicated him) I just always felt he do favor sunny, but that also can be explained he doesn’t know what to do and can only open with sunny because sunny literally causes them both in the dumpster. Or can think as he IS really this kind, waiting for sunny to do something than just snitching sunny, you know if he hate sunny or anything, he can twist the story or just tell it before sunny think through his trauma but he didn’t

Also to point out, sunny at the end of the game did somehow get a conclusion of his thoughts but not basil, just pointing out, we don’t know how he feels, he probably has unresolved trauma +the guilt of hurting sunny, also we are not sure if he is ok sunny just spell the beans like that, he might just want to talk with sunny but haven’t prepared to share it w his friends yet so yeah, I hope they are on the same page (someone reminded me that his something disappeared , so they are both fine)

Add

So sunny eye, I always see it as an apology of ruining basils life, but most people think it’s too much

[cartoonrival]

Now, I maybe misremembering bc I haven’t watched nart in years, but thinking back on it it’s crazy how little Sakura mattered to team 7s overall dynamic. It makes me so mad bc this team should be like a family but she was barely even friends with sasuke pre shippuden.

she is literally Never friends with sasuke ToT they get MARRIED and i still find it hard to believe he even likes being around her. i genuinely cannot remember a SINGLE one-on-one interaction she has with sasuke that can't be effectively described as "sakura is in love with him and he doesn't give a shit". gen the closest we get to that is after his fight with naruto when he apologizes to her for being such an asshole and she tells him that he should be sorry. THAT WAS EPIC. but anyways he def does care about her in the sense of "she is part of team 7 and i don't want her to die", but he doesn't consider her a friend. kakashi cares about her, but even though he trains one on one with both naruto And sasuke and teaches them both important skills that become staples of their fighting styles, he never does this with sakura, and she ends up training mostly under tsunade instead once team 7 dissolves for the 2.5 year naruto is off with jiraiya (i do like that she trained under tsunade and i like the stuff she learned (also because i love tsunade <33) but it def does emphasize how she just for some reason does not get solo lessons from kakashi)

i will defend her friendship with naruto though because those two def are like real actual friends and i think they're very cute, i love their interactions in shippuden especially during the arc where sai first joins them when theyre both grappling with sasuke being replaced, its just just suchhh a good display of how close they are and how much they love each other and how they rly are in this thing together. but ofc that said, esp because their best interactions are all in shippuden where team 7 is more or less dissolved, this doesnt really like. make her feel like a big part of team 7 bc as soon as sasuke is there naruto kind of forgets she exists mostly. so her contribution to the overall dynamic like you said is not really saved by the fact that naruto considers her a close friend.

whats especially frustrating is at the very start of the series, she's BETTER at controlling her chakra than naruto and sasuke. she immediately aces the walk-up-a-tree assignment, kakashi comments on her cleverness, etc, but as soon as the action starts she gets sidelined, Every Time. she spends half the battles they have as a team either 1) immediately incapacitated or 2) in the back guarding someone/something so that she can't be part of the actual combat. i did ofc ofc love love love the final scene in the fight vs kaguya when she joins naruto and sasuke in landing the final blow and kakashi is watching from the sidelines thinking about how much he loves them, oohouuh he loves them .. but ofc she'd been sidelined the whole battle with a feeew epic moments here and there so it did sort of feel like ok ladies ill throw you a bone. she can do one (1) punch ^_^ then she's getting ditched again though while naruto and sasuke collaborate on the most heartwrenching scenes of the entire series.

it rly is because kishimoto refused to define her character beyond having a crush on sasuke whenever they're on screen at the same time so her ability to contribute to the team dynamic was rly hurt. kakashi and sasuke SAYING that they care about her is great etc but i really wish they'dve SHOWED it more beyond having to protect her when she inevitably gets taken out faster than anybody else. this is why ep 101 (kakashi's mask ep) will always be famous

[sorenlionheart]

B*kugo stans freak me out

[demigoddreamer]

Why are Y'all Hating on My Boi Tao Xu?

Come at me if you want after you read this post. I'm ready for the smoke. I don't give a fuck. You send me death threats and bully me for this I'll laugh in your face.

Why do people hate Tao?

I actually quite like tao a lot. He's funny, he's savage, sarcastic, feisty, caring, protective and I found him quite relatable. I'm Chinese too and I have short hair so basically if i cut my hair even shorter and let the sides and bangs flow out more it'd look like his hair. (I like his hair don't come for me)

For some people its racism because Tao isn't some shy quiet asian guy in the background. He isn't desexualized, girls are interested in him and he will probably get in a relationship.

For a lot more people it's the inability to understand him and his motivations.

It makes more sense in the books for some people. Because the show doesn't spell it out for people and it's more implied.

I swear if some bitch tries to tell me he's homophobic just for not approving of Charlie and Nick getting together-

*Bro that's not homophobia it's called not liking Nick*

Try to think about it from Tao's perspective for once(some of you never want to hear other people's point of views)

Tao(along with Charlie) are severely bullied. Tao's bullying gets worse because he defends Charlie from Harry and his goons. I think that's a trait you can all admire, he stands up for people he cares about and refuses to back down. He's not scared to verbally call out Harry.

Charlie never sticks up for him in return but that's ok with Tao because Tao knows Charlie is not one for confrontation. But it's when Charlie starts leaving him to deal with the aftermath alone. Charlie starts hanging out with Nick more and neglecting their friendship more which isn't to say Charlie's a horrible person because he's not. It's just he forgot, he made other plans and has to cancel, it's ok, stuff happens.

With Charlie hanging around Nick more, Tao starts to become even more of a target for bullies because Charlie's not there to bear the brunt of it. Nick hangs around the bullies, they're his friends, and he didn't ditch them till the end of series. It took Nick so long even before Harry said a slur for him to realize Harry was a bully even though there were massive red flags. And that's not a dig on Nick because when your friends with someone it's hard to see they're toxic sometimes. But it perfectly explains why Tao hates Nick because Nick is complicit, Nick is the person who watches and therefore agrees with Harry's actions.

He's overprotective of Charlie because Nick is exactly the kind of person who looks like he would bully Charlie.

He's understandably afraid that Charlie will leave him behind. Elle has technically left them behind so it's understandable that he feels their friendship is crashing down around him.

People thought he was entitled, rude, petty, passive aggressive, whiny, petulant, whatever you can think of you name it

For some people they can't stand some traits in Tao that they like in white characters.

For a lot more people it's not understanding why they perceive Tao's traits as these and over exaggerate Tao's personality.

Of course Tao is not entitled to all of Charlie's time and energy but it does suck when your friend repeatedly blows you off for a romantic interest. Charlie started eating lunch with Nick alone, not bringing Tao along which would be fine if Charlie learned to split time between his friends and boyfriend more evenly. And Tao's fears are eventually answered when he being Charlie's best friend was left out of learning the truth and stuck in the dark unlike everyone else.

It sucks have your friends know about something before you. And for Tao who already felt like he was being left behind, it felt even worse. Because what would it mean for Charlie one of the only people he had left to leave him. He wasn't very close with Issac and Elle has gone to a different school.

Tao is a relatable teenage boy to me. He deals with loneliness jealously and insecurity like any other person. It's not great to project but it's not outside the realm of being human. I'm not saying you have to like him but don't expect perfection from him or any other character because you're going to be let down and disappointed by most characters you see. Just maybe consider giving him a chance.

His conflict is also pretty different in the books. I enjoy book version of Tao because they kind of better explain the bathroom scene where he confronts Charlie. But I like both versions for my own reasons.

[leianaberrie]

I like how anons are pointing out how TVD essentially ruined itself by not exploring Bonnie's personal life. When you think about it, the most successful/highly rated tv shows provide development in all its characters . For instance, The Walking Dead does it right by giving everyone a backstory even if they are side characters, bc logically the world didnot revolve around Rick Grimes alone. I don't see how anyone can defend The Vampire Diaries writing in general, it's basically a joke. Bonnie was involved in 90% of the show's villain & mythology because she's a Bennett...yet we only get brief dialogue & see short scenes of her either in physical/mental pain or sacrifically agreeing to and/or being strongarmed/threatened to save others (anyone but herself). I use to get this excitment in early seasons wherever Bonnie came on screen & expected to see how she was dealing with everything thrown at her. Just like how we get plenty of Alaric, Caroline, Matt...hell even Rose's story & death got more meaning than our show's supposed "regular" actor. The problem with the writing is not that Bonnie suffered, it's that she suffered without purpose. Why couldn't we get to see how Bonnie felt about Kai saving her? How would that play out if they ever addressed it (which writers never did). Why was she so fiercely loyal to undeserving people who didn't return the favor? Obviously this would impact one's mental health. Yet we never see she copes with any of that trauma. The network continually promoted Kat as a credit regular, so you would think we'd get to see her character in action & treated like everyone else all the same. That's the problem, it's the fact that they were ok with false advertisement. I know this has been discussed a million times over among the Bonnie fandom & we'll perhaps never get an honest answer. But sheesh TVD could have been way better if they were so irrationally dumb!

The problem with the writing is not that Bonnie suffered, it's that she suffered without purpose.

^^^This.

Bonnie isn't treated as a person . She's treated as a thing. I think it was Paul who said that if the writers write themselves into a corner, they just have Bonnie do a spell and fix it. And that won't be a problem if she's fleshed out in every other way, but she's not. What is worse is that sometimes the show seems to go out of its way to hurt her, inflict abuse on her or otherwise demean her, and it apparently has no effect on her in anyway. Someone pointed out that the show never gives us stuff that she's good at, we're just repeatedly shown the things she's bad at (e.g. guitar playing), and they make 'cute jokes' about it. It's textbook microaggression.

Damon repeatedly calling her useless, cutting her out of the inner circle, and this goading her into doing Expression, Dark Magic and dangerous magic in general just to prove herself should have meant something to their relationship, but it's swept under the rug.

And that's another thing ---- we can easily see why these people are friends with Bonnie, and want to keep her in their orbit but the show never explains why Bonnie is friends with these people. Take Damon for example: his experience in the Prison World with her helped him appreciate her as a person, her loyalty, her kindness, her optimism, her courage. So he stopped seeing her as just a useful tool to help protect Elena and a person of value in her own right. But how did Bonnie come to care for Damon? He never stopped insulting her, or diminishing her. He was constantly getting her down, and acting petty. Kai points out how everytime they quarrel and split ways, it's Bonnie who comes back to Damon, not the other way around.

Now we Bonnie fans can head canon and connect plot dots and realize that Bonnie has abandonment issues that date as far back as her mother. That she's used to not being valued and prioritized, and it really takes crumbs of affection and appreciation for her to become anyone's best friend. But the show never actually says this. Or deals with it or explores it in anyway. It's just assumed that of course, Bonnie will like Damon once he starts liking her back. That she literally just needed him to care for her to return that affection. What he actually does to earn it is not necessary!

And of course, why the Black girl has abandonment issues that are: a, never defined as such, b, never explored, and c, she never grows out of them is another matter all together. Caroline actually starts the show with abandonment and image issues, but she gets all the above that Bonnie doesn't.

[hyperfixationspam]

ok im just gonna give a summary of my opinion on the situation re ofmd and historical stede bonnet. not bc i think my opinion matters but just so ppl know and if anybody wants to unfollow they can

basically i think it was a shitty ignorant decision but it was likely made in good faith. im pretty sure what happened was that david jenkins thought "haha wouldnt it be cool if i named some characters after real pirates like a cute little reference" and just... didnt analyze that any further. like this is the guy who said he doesnt care about pirates and refused to look up when pinocchio was written. the producer read one sentence on wikipedia and closed it forever. knowing the shows approach to historical accuracy as a whole, he probably just went with his standard "who cares im not doing research" approach which. sometimes works! and in this case it very much doesnt! like im all for 1700s leather jackets but like maybe when it comes to fucking SLAVERY just think about it a little more before you decide its not relevant to the story so it doesnt matter?

my main concern is HOW DID NO ONE POINT THIS OUT TO HIM. the writers room is like. half poc if im not mistaken. and within the show itself racial issues are handled decently. so why did no one say "hey can we change the characters names?" bc thats literally it thats all it wouldve taken. best case scenario no one else thought to look it up. worst case scenario someone did point it out and got shut down. if something comes out that thats the case, then thats a whole different situation. but for now im leaning towards thinking that this was a snowball of laziness

and listen im very hesitant to declare ANY media "irredeemable" so i find it impossible to put a show where the main issue that the characters have insensitive names due to creator idiocy in that category. and as warranted as the criticism is... some of yall have no idea how to process gray areas. the show can be both progressive and problematic at the same time. bad things can be done with innocent intentions. and that goes for you too "we stan david jenkins he did nothing wrong shut up" crowd!!

but like its not really a fixable mistake bc like. its the characters names. how the fuck do you retcon that. you dont. i mainly think the best course of action is this. to the fandom: STOP FUCKING EQUATING THE CHARACTERS WITH THE HISTORICAL FIGURES. thats it!!! its very easy!!! just fucking separate reality from fiction as much as possible. dont even bring up the historical figures unless its to point out how awful they were. your blorbo isnt a slaveowner? cool stop fucking comparing him to one then

and for the show going forward? really the main thing is that david jenkins needs to apologize. if youre pissed about this, @ him on twitter. preferably politely bc no matter how justified it is pointed insults make ppls brains shut down from criticism. he really needs to understand that he fucked up on this one. i dont think hes a bad dude i think hes just an idiot with good intentions. ofc if he defends his decision or makes some passive aggressive apology this is all out the window. i dont know the dude, i cant say for sure whats up with him. but im leaning towards hanlons razor on this

there are also some little steps for the show to make. mainly straying even more from biography (which considering the way hes talking about it im 100% sure is going to happen to some extent, but the more the better). honestly just dont introduce any more characters with historical names unless theyre completely ~unproblematic~ which. idk if an unproblematic famous pirate actually existed but they can try. idk what was up with anne bonny

so tldr love the show bully david jenkins

[re-x]

So.. on that closing of 3x01

Her phone buzzes. It’s an Instagram DM from an anonymous account, it says, “You better watch out Devi, Paxton Hall Yoshida is not who you think he is.” 

Oh. Finally, a mystery. Or, is it? For this kind of interpersonal conflict to be worth the audience’s concern, the person behind this action has to be a character that is well-known to them. But who is it? Well, I don’t know for sure. I do know, however, that it may not take us that long to find out. I believe we’d be able to figure out who it was by watching the first episode of the new season. Of course, itt’s going to depend so much on the acting, and at the end of the day the performance is precisely what’s going to either foreshadow the identity of this individual or rule them out entirely.  

On the one hand, could it be someone completely unimportant, like, say, Zoe or Shira or one of those brainless characters? Yes it could. But then, why bother and who cares?

But on the other hand, wouldn’t it be more likely for the culprit to be someone far more important and closer to the center, like, I don’t know, Ben Gross? For better or worse (I think worse, but hey nobody’s asking me), the “love triangle” (again, I must acknowledge the sheer absurdity in our viewing a bunch of teenagers this way, but that’s on Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher) will remain central to the show throughout its entire run (Fisher, 2021). So, what better way to continue this multi-season arc than to organically have Ben be an important factor (if not necessarily the cause) in whatever relationship shenanigans Devi will encounter this season?

Also, it’s FAQ time!

Q: “Ben loves Devi. He would never?” 

A: He’s 16 and hurting. He’s clearly not doing well. You’d be surprised. Children have done far worse under far less stressful life circumstances. Not defending it. I’d be happy to call this character out if he genuinely did something that was out of line. But as always, context is key. 

Q: But Jaren said Ben would never! So he tricked us?

A: First of all, it’s Mr. Jaren Lewison. Secondly, read again what he said: 

“Ben is also really emotionally intelligent. I think that you can see that he really does understand deep, complex emotions and situations that kind of drive those emotions. So I think if he sees Devi’s really happy, and while it may pain him, I think Ben would respect that. I don’t think that he’s going to come flying in if he sees Devi’s happy. I feel like that’s what his number one priority is, maybe even possibly over his own happiness. I don’t think that he’d go flying in there trying to disrupt everything if she’s genuinely happy, so I think that it will be a tough situation to navigate for Ben” 

We don’t yet know to what extent this anonymous message will disrupt everything re: the Daxton bliss, or whatever it is. In any case, ask yourself whether  Devi is really happy? Isn’t that the prerequisite from the above statement? If somehow Ben’s decided that she isn’t, all bets are off (within reason).

Q: I knew it. I knew this idiot Ben Gross was nothing but trouble!

A: Ok let’s simmer down a bit here. If you’ve never liked this character and have closed your mind to him, then nothing he’d ever do would ever be good enough. So why are you here? Find something else you like. 

Q: OMG he loooooveees her so much he wants only the best for her and wants to make sure she won’t be hurt!

A: Once again, let me remind you that he’s 16 and hurting. He’s clearly not doing well. Acting out (and this is a kind of acting out, if it did turn out to be Ben’s doing, which I believe it is) is only a symptom of something deeper. Do you honestly not think that everything that happened to this kid last season would not leave any lasting impact? Perhaps this is a clear manifestation of it. 

Concluding statement: 

I am about 90% certain this is Ben’s doing. I think it would give Mr. Jaren Lewison some really meaty stuff to work with (plus, they might even decide to spend sometime exploring things from his own point of view!) , and I’m kind of excited to see what the season has in store. 

[masterthespianduchovny]

At the beginning of age of avengers, someone assumes that Tony is the leader and he corrects them and say that it’s Steve.

And that surprised me because I assumed that Steve and Tony were co-leaders, but no, Steve was CHOSEN as the leader of the avengers. I was about to say that Tony was second in command, but I’m assuming that’s Nat.

But, as surprised as I was about this revelation (I literally hadn’t seen the movie in 8 years until 3 days ago), it instantly made sense.

As much as the anti Steve crowd hates on Steve, on several occasions we’ve seen Steve not only inspire people, but also get them to follow him. After someone commits to following Steve, they’re typically loyal to him.

We do not see this with Tony.

The issue with Tony isn’t that he’s flawed and has trauma, it’s how he treats others and how he processes trauma. When you lash out at others, ignore them, insult them (for your own amusement); don’t consider anyone else, etc, you more times than not will alienate people who are ok your side or, at least, want to be. A person having trauma doesn’t excuse how they treat others. And there is only so long most will people up with that behavior before leaving, which is their right.

I believe the only person who stayed by Tony’s side no matter what was Happy. Tony and Rhodey commonly fought and Rhodey even sided against Tony as well. Pepper had to take a break from Tony due to his own actions.

People can forgive flaws, but often struggle to forgive habitual poor behavior and various transgressions that comes with it.

We cannot except people to respect Tony or want to follow when he makes a joke about the PTSD (Capsickle), their traditional clothes (Thor), job endangerment (Rhodey; Tony made a transphobic joke about an event that didn’t happen), as well as sexual remarks (Natasha). And that’s not all that he did. This goes beyond being flaws, especially when you’re supposed to work with these people and they’re allegedly your friends.

He also doesn’t tell anyone about his trauma and OFTEN deflects, which may include insults or cracking inappropriate jokes. No one should have to deal with that all because someone is traumatized, especially as ALL OF THEM are dealing with their own and equally valid trauma.

Comparatively, Steve does not do that.

The people who work with Steve and are friends with him take him seriously. They support him and he supports them.

We see this going back to the 1940s. Peggy believed in Steve based off of his resilience and faith of convictions. She challenges him when he accepts his current circumstances.

After Steve saves literally over 400 men by himself, he earns the respect of not only colonel Phillips, but the men he saved as well. When he says he wants to pick his own team, in addition to the wish being respected, the chosen men flat out say that they’d follow Cap anywhere.

This must be stressed: these men were held prisoner and knew they’d encounter the most dangerous weapon and men in the entire war and readily agreed because Captain America asked.

In winter soldier, Steve is declared a criminal and is on the run. When he breaks into the shield headquarters, he gives his speech and EVERYONE minus hydra agents refuse to launch the coded because Captain America explain to them that some dangerous shit was going down. They believed his word because his actions and his character is THAT respected.

See the trend here: people listening and following Steve because they believe he’s genuine and wants to do what’s right.

In age of ultron, we hear a reference that he was chosen as leader. The events in this movie proves why Steve was chosen and Tony wasn’t.

Whether or not you believe Tony was right to crested ultron, he still should’ve told his team what Wanda made him see AND explained why he wanted to create this tech/weapon. Instead, he deliberately kept it a secret and pressured Bruce into helping him. Ironically, despite the claims that Steve feels like he knows that’s best, this is exactly what Tony assumes.

Let’s be clear: not only are Steve, nat, Bruce, hawk eye, and Thor adults, they are also avengers as well. They don’t need Tony to protect them and they all of the capabilities of deciding if they want to do something dangerous and risk their lives. And it’s ego centric as hell for him to actually believe that Steve, of all people, would guilt him by saying he should’ve saved them. Steve wouldn’t have done such a thing both saying that or even making Tony feel bad if he did all he could do.

Despite creating his murder bot due to not consulting his team because he knew they’d say no, Tony did it AGAIN.

Again, where’s the leadership? Where’s the accountability? Where’s the understanding that he may not like the answer, but he does owe it to his team to talk to them? And, again, he thinks he knows what’s best.

What does Steve do in this same movie? The twins start fighting besides him, which he doesn’t interfere with because ultron is the bigger threat. But, rather than fight them like his instinct tells them, he stop and listens to what they have to say.

I want to note that people like to say (and some are thinking), it’s good that Tony built what eventually became ultron, well, it’s good that Steve extended a hand to the twins. They also played a huge role in why the world didn’t lose half its popular, which was a consequence of Steve’s decision making.

Once Steve heard them out and was willing to let them into the fold, he defended them when other avengers tried to attack them. He didn’t leave them out to dry.

Then, when the actual fight happens Tony reveals a few minutes in that they have no other options but to abandon civilians and let them die.

Steve flat out refuses that as an option and makes the PERSONAL decision to stay until every civilian is safe. Not one person will be left to die.

I don’t know about anyone else, but Steve comes off as the clear leader and Tony doesn’t.

What happens next is that literally every current avenger and the twins stay to help. Nat literally tells Steve that this would be a beautiful place to die and explicitly says she’s fighting alongside him.

Whether or not Steve spoke to people, he inspired them to follow him by his actions.

Who is inspired to follow Tony?

Tony flirts with retirement, which no criticism against that.

But, alongside nat, Steve personally trains Sam, Rhodey, and Wanda for team avengers. After accepting Wanda into the fold, he treats her life everyone else.

In civil war, Steve was hands on with wandas training so she could control her power and made sure was protected. He accepted responsibility for not accounting for unforeseen threats, such as the explosives and explained to Wanda the realities of their job. He was realistic with her, but used that as motivation as to why they should strive to be better. Steve was outraged when he found out that she was locked up and freed her from Tony’s unlawful imprisonment.

Even if someone argues she should be locked up, Tony did not talk to her. Wanda didn’t consent to being confined to the house. This is another example of believing he knew what was best for people rather than talking to them and seeing how they feel. He isn’t giving others the right to make informed decisions for themselves and in general.

Steve, on the other hand, consistently considers what people feel because he TALKS to people. He has meaningful conversations with people, such as nat and Sam. Steve formed connections to people, which made them feel close to him.

But, let’s circle back to Tony, he takes a MINOR without the explicit consent of his guardian. Not only does he take Peter without May’s permission, he takes Peter OVERSEAS and to fight at that.

To make matters worse, Peter doesn’t know WHY he’s fighting or what for.

Where’s the oversight or accountability in any of that?

During the fight, someone flat out asks how old Peter is. Tony follows up after the fight, during homecoming, with almost inviting Peter to stay at the avengers compound. As a reminder, Peter was still a literal teenager and Tony still DID NOT ask peter’s guardian if this was okay.

Where as Steve explicitly tells people what they are getting into. He lays out what to expect and that you have a choice in it. Steve never pressures people into helping him and they usually volunteer. And, whatever happens afterwards, he’s there for them.

How was Tony’s mentorship with Peter?

He’s not actively involved with Peter after taking him in as a mentee, pawns him off in Happy, thinks at status reports are sufficient, and ignored Peter’s concerns. Peter was a minor who just had the most surreal experience of his life and Tony doesn’t think this kid would be amped and itching to do more?

Tony doesn’t think Peter might need some hands on mentorship? Tony thought he could mentor from afar with updates and camera footage, but it actually engage.

Them damned accords!

Tony signed the document due to guilt and tried to get others to sign it despite him being mostly responsible for why the accord even exist or, at least, did a lot of shit that is now being penalized. I’m not sure if he actually read it OR if someone summarized the point.

Whereas Steve DID read the accords and his stance wasn’t one of guilt, but concern and ethical issues with what’s in the accords. Steve was prepared to retire because his beliefs didn’t align with what was being asked of him and others. He didn’t ask anyone to back or follow him.

But, people do eventually back him and follow his lead. They know exactly what they’re getting into. And, despite knowing the risks and eventually getting arrested, they stick to their convictions.

When Tony finds out that Bucky killed his parents, despite knowing that Bucky was brainwashed for LITERALLY decades, he tries to kill him. When cap realizes this, he constantly tries to neutralize Tony.

Let’s go back. Steve knowing that Bucky needs to be arrested, decides to save Bucky both for Bucky’s protection AND so those trying to bring him in doesn’t get hurt/killed. Once Bucky is safely arrested, Steve lets the situation go.

Oh, before I really get into infinity wars, there is no mention of Wanda harming other people even accidentally. :)

Tony, as usual, ignores what others wanted, like strange, and think he knows what’s best. He plans to fight thanos henchman by himself as well as thanos completely ignoring the concept of teamwork. (He also jumps to insulting others for his own shits and giggles—keep in mind, these are people he doesn’t know).

What does Steve do?

He was successfully on the run with nat and Sam and they worked together as a TEAM to save vision. They then meet up with rhodey and formulate a plan as to how to stop thanos. Steve coordinates with various people to have the battle in Wakanda. He doesn’t assume he can fight thanos by himself or should.

Steve refuses to trade lives because every life is valuable.

When the Snap happens, Tony fucks up into his cabin in the woods and lives his life.

And what does Steve do?

Run a support group to keep hope alive for people who are trying to see the best in a shitty situation.

He stays an avenger and does whatever needs to be done because he’s there to serve the people regardless of the despair he feels.

Don’t get it twisted, Steve is not perfect, but he constantly led by example, put the wants and needs of others before himself, was a hands on mentor, listened and supported others, and refused to leave anyone behind and/or die. He was always willing to be the only man fighting the battle and even to die for his beliefs.

And this man is called selfish by some.

Where as Tony consistently believed he knew what was best for others, was willing to let people die, was a shit mentor, mocked and ridiculed others, put his own feelings first, etc.

And this is seen as a leader???

Let’s not forget that dangerous tech he left to a MINOR after he died. Peter was so overwhelmed by the responsibility, he gave it to the first person who listened to him and who he believed to be responsible. This isn’t a condemnation of people. Again, his a literal minor—15 or 16. Who is overwhelmed about the shit stark left on his shoulders.

When old cap spoke to Sam, he gave AN ADULT, his shield. One with loved experiences and who knew how to handle complicated feelings. He knew what Sam was willing to handle and could handle.

And another thing: the fact that people were willing to go on the run with Steve says a lot. This is the second time Steve has been on the run and people, Sam and nat, were willing to follow him and assist (both times).

Tony couldn’t even get people to stay faithful to the legal accords. Rhodey said peace out as soon as cap returned. Nat abandoned Tony to join Steve. Vision questioned his life choices, and then went black to be with Wanda. And Peter didn’t know what the fuck was going on.

And Tony stans think he should’ve been leader based off of using his money for the avengers and giving them a place to crash.

LOL!

People want Wanda to apologize to Tony for invading his mind when he should apologize for her parents dying. If you’re a weapons manufacturer, there’s no such thing as believing only the “good guys” will use your weapons. You know your weapons could and will get into the wrong hands. And you also know that without war, you’d be out of a job. But, also the “good guys” are usually imperialist who fuck over other countries as they undermined these government structures to steal resources from them and other shit.

Just because starks stopped manufacturing weapons doesn’t mean he can escape accountability for what his weapons did to others.

Tony also ratted out that Clint had a family and was fine with them being jailed because they took the “wrong” side. Did he apologize to any of these people? The ones he had jailed and the ones who were forced to go on the run for a bill he supported, and then admitted was fucked up? (The same law he later broke twice.)

But, he’s a leader???

[haleigh-sloth]

Hello,

I just found your page and after reading some of your mha posts had a couple things I wanted to ask if that's ok.

1. Since you feel Hawks is not justified because he could have chosen options other than killing Twice, do you think he would have been had he genuinely been made to choose between killing him and saving others? I.e. do you think it's just this killing in particular that was not justified and thus murder, or do you think heroes killing can never be justified, even if in self-defense or defense of others? If we take the "Heroes save people" maxim to its limits, it might be reasonable to argue for a deontological approach to ethics rather than a utilitarian one, so that killing one to save others is not justified because you actively break your code (as opposed to risking not being able to save others, which would be considered a lesser moral wrong under this mindset).

2. This might very well be a stupid question, but if we consider that heroes shouldn't treat others as an it and put them down for the "sake of society", do you feel this ought to extend to AFO too? I really don't mean to use this as a gotcha moment or anything like it, but I feel like if MHA is trying to move away from a punitive justice system in favour of a rehabilitative/restorative one, we ought to consider where people like AFO fall into this system as well. AFO is seemingly entirely unlike any of the other villains in the show, but if we judge that he deserves a different fate for this it also feels like playing into the "Some people just can't be saved" notion that's been perpetuated by hero society. It is of course entirely possible, if not likely, that he'll fall in battle, or that Shigaraki himself will kill him eventually, but I feel like that skirts the issue rather than answer it. As someone who does not seem to show any remorse, desire or even ability to be saved, and in fact feels rather inhuman, what should a reformed society even do with him? Even if we could convincingly argue him to be fundamentally different and thus deserving of punishment, it is much easier for us readers who have more information to make this call, rather than in-universe characters whose judgement will inevitably be based on something less than the full truth. So even if AFO's case in particular was easily answered, it would set a precedent for cases that may appear similar, but in truth be less clear cut. Basically, I believe you feel the villain league deserves another chance because they were victims of their circumstances, and thus not necessarily beyond salvation, because they never knew normality to begin with, but what about those who were not victims, those who by their nature have insurmountable trouble fitting into a peaceful society? Perhaps it's just my mistaken assumption that such people exist and I'm reading AFO wrong, or perhaps it's the opposite and I'm giving people like AFO undue consideration, or perhaps my assumption that AFO ought to be treated as a person rather than a carocature, a symbol, is flawed to begin with, but I just really don't think a manga that wants to argue that villains are people too should go "but here's THIS vile piece of shit, let's kill him!". Am I making sense here?

3. On another note, what do you think of Endeavor's recent speech and general recent development? I've seen some people who were upset by his "Would it fix everything if we showed you our tears" line, but rather than him being dismissive or callous I just see it as him awkwardly saying that he doesn't think anything other than actions can help him atone for what he did. He's still got a lot to work through, but him recognizing that he's got something to atone for and freely talking about what he did to his family is, as I find, certainly a huge step in the right direction.

WHOO hey! Sorry for taking a while to respond. You gave me some really well thought-out questions and I wanted to return the favor with well thought-out answers. Also I was heckin busy yesterday when you sent this. So, here we go:

To answer this question about Hawks, I first need to clarify what it means to be a hero in the eyes of the story that is BNHA:

This honestly doesn’t even make a dent in the amount of panels in BNHA that reiterate time and time again that heroes SAVE people, but I don’t feel like I should have to spend too much time looking for them, these I used above should suffice. The one with baby Midoriya and baby Tenko doesn’t even have any words in the panel, and it’s still powerful enough to get the message across. And make me cry.

Almost every story has its own “heroes” in it. And every story’s definition of a hero is different. In Marvel and DC superhero comics and movies, the heroes usually end up killing the villains, yes? I can’t say I’m familiar with these stories because they aren’t interesting to me in the slightest, but from the ones I HAVE seen, the final boss at the end dies. But all of the heroes get to keep their title of “hero”. That’s not really the standard we have in BNHA.

“Do you think it's just this killing in particular that was not justified and thus murder, or do you think heroes killing can never be justified, even if in self-defense or defense of others?”

So this is a fair point and I feel that the best way to answer this is by asking what you consider self defense? Say Hawks is at home mad chillin and not prepared for a fight in the slightest, and somebody breaks into his house and starts trying to hurt/kill him. He’s unprepared and at this point just trying to keep himself alive. If he ends up killing the guy, is he wrong? In my opinion, no. In real life this happens to people, and they aren’t considered murderers, as they shouldn’t be. To me, self defense is a situation where:

It’s either you or me. It’s one or the other.

I think it’s fair to say what happened with Hawks and Twice was absolutely NOT self defense. I’m not going to go into detail about how deciding to kill Twice was absolutely 100% premeditated, because there’s a wonderful post by someone else that already explains that in great detail here. But I’ll end this thought by saying that Hawks was not committing an act of self defense.

Nothing about this says “self-defense” to me.

“If we take the "Heroes save people" maxim to its limits, it might be reasonable to argue for a deontological approach to ethics rather than a utilitarian one, so that killing one to save others is not justified because you actively break your code (as opposed to risking not being able to save others, which would be considered a lesser moral wrong under this mindset).”

To make it simple for some people to understand these terms:

“Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that determines right from wrong by focusing on OUTCOMES.“ In a nutshell, utilitarian ethics means you make a decision based on how it will affect everything else.

“In moral philosophy, deontological ethics or deontology is the normative ethical theory that the morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules, rather than based on the consequences of the action.” In a nutshell, deontological ethics means you make a decision based on whether it follows rules or not.

So this is a complicated question, and my answer to this is....both? Throughout BNHA we’ve had this dilemma over and over again:

Break the rules and save the day? Or follow the rules and possibly suffer the consequences? Well, BNHA just says “Yes” lol. Do both. Break the rules and save the day. Make a decision based on the consequences of said decision, but also try to follow the rules as best as you can. Even in reality, people do this to get through life. You really can’t live life under a strict utilitarian approach or a strict deontological approach. If Midoriya hadn’t persisted against his classmates and the law to go save Bakugo, he WOULD have gotten kidnapped AGAIN. They were actively trying to take him with them. If Midoriya didn’t break the rules to save Kota, Kota would have straight up DIED. Muscular was actively trying to kill Kota, not to mention Kota had zero ways of defending himself. But here’s where I don’t think this is a fair comparison:

Hawks claims his killing of Twice was to save others. I don’t completely disagree with this logic, if the situation was more dire and dangerous for Hawks. The league was taking peoples’ lives. Somebody had to do something. The problem is that Twice was RUNNING AWAY when Hawks killed him. Twice wasn’t fighting Hawks back, he wasn’t endangering Hawks himself. Hawks stabbed him in the back. AND Hawks had Dabi to worry about, who was actively trying to attack Hawks. But Hawks chose to murder Twice instead of fending off Dabi. And if you refer back to the post I linked above about how it was a premeditated decision to kill Twice, you’ll see that Hawks had the capability of knocking Twice unconscious. He should have done this from the get go. And honestly? There are other heroes who could have captured Twice. There SHOULD have been other heroes to capture Twice. If Hawks was the only hope for the heroes in that war then jeez, the heroes suck at their jobs.

So TLDR for this question: Hawks’s circumstances were not drastic enough for him to be justified in killing Twice. As I said above, self-defense is one thing, where yes I could understand how if a life is lost while defending oneself is probably inevitable in some cases. But this wasn’t self defense. Twice was running away. Hawks should also be able to rely on his hero comrades to help him out.

Instead Hawks chose to be law-enforcement, judge, and executioner all in one moment.

I hope this answers your question? I tried my best. If I misunderstood or missed a talking point, feel free to shoot me a message or another ask.

Next question:

Believe me. I have thought about this! What about AFO? He’s human too isn’t he? You have a point. Should the restorative justice system extend to AFO? I would say yes. If I’m going to stick to my guns that the villains deserve restorative justice and not punitive justice, I should be fair and say it should extend to all villains.

The problem is not in the idea of exploring saving AFO, it’s just that there simply isn’t enough time to explore this in the story. If Horikoshi had said “I’m not going anywhere guys! We’re in this for the long haul!” I’d say it’s possible to explore that route. We don’t know anything about AFO except from what we’ve seen on screen, and what we’ve been told by All Might and the other OFA holders. Which still isn’t much to go on. You’re not giving AFO undue consideration. It’s definitely a deserved consideration. There are people in the story (and the real world) who may not be victimized in any way and end up being villains. Do they deserve a chance? I’d say yes. It’s in my nature as a social worker irl to give people the benefit of the doubt and give them a chance to learn. You’re right that in the end, the league being saved and the characters not considering what could have led AFO to villainy is just “skirting around the problem.” And honestly, that’s probably what we’re going to get. I wouldn’t be surprised for the thought to pass in Midoriya’s head. After saving somebody like Shigaraki, who everybody in the story (and many readers) considered to be “too far gone”, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Midoriya entertained the thought for a brief moment. “What could have saved AFO from himself?” So honestly I don’t have an answer to this question that qualifies both sides. I can’t say that AFO is “too far gone” without undermining that fact that I never believed Shigaraki was “too far gone”, simply because we don’t get to decide what “too far gone” is.  All I can say is that in the eyes of the story, there are far too many differences between AFO’s circumstances and Shigaraki’s circumstances to compare the two, and say they deserve the same type of sympathy from us readers.

Truly I have no sympathy for AFO, because the story doesn’t ask for it. The story wants sympathy for Shigaraki, Toga, Touya, Spinner, and even a tiiiiiny bit for Overhaul. It asks for NONE for AFO.

Another post I’ll link here that isn’t by me but by another awesome meta blogger (@hamliet​) is this.

In a nutshell it says:

It’s not that AFO can’t be saved, it’s that he won’t. That’s the best answer I can give to that question honestly.

As for the third question:

That press conference was just...eh. I mean yeah, Endeavor not denying the allegations was good. Not that he really could anyway. It sucks for the rest of his family though. But at the same time Touya deserved his revenge, even though it was at the expense of his siblings and mother. It sucks, it’s a double edged sword because somebody is hurting no matter what was gonna happen. Endeavor was an asshole to that lady but I don’t really care too much. I’m really torn on what I think is going on inside Enji’s head because the Todofam is either extremely dense, or Horikoshi is writing their dialogue extremely vague on purpose to keep reader’s on the edge of their seats regarding what they want to do about Touya. I really don’t know. I’m not thrilled with the way the Todofam plot is being written right now, even though I’m 100% sure Touya is going to get his happy ending. But right now anything to do with the Todofam that isn’t Shoto and Touya just bothers me. I don’t think Enji really understands yet what he has to do for Touya. Yes he recognizes that he has to atone, but he’s not recognizing HOW he has to atone. Right now he’s still stuck in that “I have to be a hero to absolve my crimes against my family” headspace and I don’t think he’s going to get out of that headspace until he comes face to face with his son and realizes that he can’t just fight villains and go home to a happy family that he terrorized for 20 years. He’s going to have to let his family go, let them decide when to let him back in, if they ever do (I think they will just because of the way the story is being written.) As a reader, Enji is just a character that I cannot vibe with, no matter what happens. I definitely appreciate his role in the story. His role is vital to Touya’s saving and redemption. Touya is in my top 3 favorite characters from this series and I’m emotionally invested. So while I appreciated Enji’s role in the story, I don’t like his character or anything to do with him, at least until it comes time to help save his son. Also the trio of Hawks, Best Jeanist, and Enji just gives me major back the blue vibes and I just can’t read their chapters and be in a good mood lol.

Thank you for the ask! I hope I answered everything! This was fun to answer!

[mytwdblog]

the negan stans are so funny because they’ll say stuff like:

“[said character did this bad thing that isn't on the same moral level as negan's actions]

[this bad thing that said character did that is treated in canon as the bad thing it is and said character is held accountable for, when negan's actions aren't treated as such nor is negan held accountable for]

[a character did a bad thing that is understandable in a zombie apocalypse, unlike negan's actions, e.g., r*ping women and intentionally creating a system that exploits them, especially disabled or sick women]

[a bad thing said character did that isn't as bad as negan's actions, yet they have suffered far worse for it than negan has for his]

[some comment along the lines of ‘negan was just murdering and terrorizing people to keep people in line/to create order in a post-apocalyptic world’ and they somehow think this is ok despite seeing multiple communities live in peace with each other and fairly trade for food and supplies without the violence negan caused]

[abuse apology]

[rape apology]

[racist comments]

[something that is the result of writing that doesn't make sense that anyone one with the most basic critical thinking skills should be able to see]

[something that is false]

[misogynistic comments]

[something ableist]

[victim blaming statements]

[something a character did that the negan stans have intentionally taken out of context to make said character look like they are on the same moral level as negan]

[something that amc wants viewers to believe because they know they can get more money if they get people to believe it]

[something they wouldn't believe if amc wasn't pushing it and making money off of it]

[some comment along the lines of ‘negan isn’t a r*pist because he says he’s not a r*pist’ like thousands of r*pist haven’t gotten away with r*pe because of statements like that]

[some statement defending negan’s misogyny, ableism, fat shaming of olivia and/or abuse while claiming to be against those things]

[some comment in which they admit they do not understand the difference between a totalitarian dictator and the people who are subjugated, despite most of them living in and/or witnessing the horrors of a totalitarian state]

[some fatphobic comment against ann mahoney (olivia's actress) for saying something true (i.e., something they don’t want to hear), but gets mad when someone rightfully calls out jdm for the problematic things he says and does (e.g., the time jdm wore a ‘blue lives matter’ shirt and posted a rant against people who rightfully called him out on it. but they say that listen to lizzo and they think it makes their fat shaming ok]

[something a character did that they don't see as bad when negan does it, even if he does it worse than said character]

[some derogatory and/or misogynistic comment about sherry, tina, amber, frankie, and the other women negan r*ped, as well as any woman who doesn't like negan, discrediting them when they say something true (i.e., something that they don't want to hear) about negan]

[some comment about how they think the alexandrians are abusing their poor precious innocent little baby negan and about how they think the alexandrians need to suffer because the negan stans think anything that isn’t them letting negan r*pe anyone he wants, go wherever he wants, do whatever he wants, talk to anyone he wants, and murder anyone he wants for any reason he wants whenever he wants (i.e., not being punished at all) somehow constitutes as abuse. somehow doesn't see their hypocrisy]

[some comment along the lines of 'all rick and co had to do was fall in line with negan no matter how cruel and brutal he was, let him kill and terrorize innocent people, rape, and kill children’]

[a racist and misogynistic comment towards michonne about how they think he could run alexandria better that her, despite negan losing a war, several of his own people turning against him, simon (his own right hand man), being unable to keep simon in line TWICE (that we know about), people running away from the community he ran, knowingly sending his own people to die, the community he was leading falling, and none of his former followers coming to his aid because these are totally qualities of a good leader (note the sarcasm)]

[them saying a statement that basically boils down to 'of course i love female characters, but they have to love negan, worship negan, make their whole lives revolve around negan, do whatever negan says no questions asked, let negan r*pe them whenever he wants, and not call negan out on his flaws' and if you call the negan stans out on it they'll call you the misogynist]

[brings up something that the negan stans themselves do and a lot worse than said character]

[some comment about how they think rick fairly negotiating with hilltop for a fair trade is on the same moral level as negan threatening, killing, and terrorizing innocent people]

[judges maggie's morality solely on one of the most justifiable murders in twd but thinks negan should get away with murdering innocent people. somehow doesn't see the hypocrisy of this either]

[some comment that shows the negan stans conveniently "forget" anything that doesn't suit their own narrative, e.g., the fact that the saviors attacked rick's group first]

[something that is actually negan's fault, but isn’t framed as such]

[something that jdm said because he knows he will stay on the show and get paid more money if he can get people to believe negan walks on water, and because he gets paid by amc, who makes money by getting people to believe a certain narrative]

[something another actor, a producer, chris hardwick, or someone else associated with twd and/or amc said because they'd get fired if they said otherwise]

[something that ignores the character development of the character they are slandering]

[some comment that shows they don't have the most basic grasp possible on the geography of the country where a lot of them live]

[additional comments that show they don't have critical thinking skills]

[some comment along the lines of ‘i liked glenn but [justifies negan killing him/unfairly criticizes the love of his life/says things glenn wouldn't believe]']

[some comment along the lines 'i don't hate maggie but [some comment about how think they know better than her/ some misogynistic comment about her/unfair criticism of her/some comment that show they they are unwilling to sympathize with her on the most basic human to human level possible]']"

and think its irrefutable evidence that negan is the moral heart of twd 

[gopeachllama]

Why I think Feysand were OOC in ACOSF

I hope that no one misunderstands from the title but let me say this is a 100% PROfeysand post. so if you hated feysand even before acosf, then this post isn't for you.

So i've seen a lot of interesting theories about feysand's and in particular rhys' behaviour and choices throughout acosf. and while alot of them seemed possible and may have been the case canonically speaking, even as a feysand stan i just couldn't seem to wrap my head around some of the things they said and did in the book. they just both seem OOC, its the only pausible explanation for me.

To understand why feysand were OOC in the book we have to look at this through a narrative perspective. as in we have to ask why would the author write the character/s in this way?

a quick overview of what a character arc is

so there can be a lot of variations of a character arc in a story but the basics is as follows (how does the character go from point 'a' to point 'b'):

the 'big lie' - the views/beliefs/actions the character has at the start which will be challenged throughout the story (this is point 'a')

the 'incident' - a plot point in which starts development of the character. something that spurs the character into action, this most ofter happens when they are placed in an unfamiliar situation. this usuallyy is the intial challenge to their 'big lie'. at this point the story will move forward and theres no going back.

the midpoint - the character changes conciously or subconciously, they start to recognise their own flaws in the 'big lie'.

world collaspes - this is usually on the heels of a victory, the character reaches the lowest point in their journey. they finally confront 'the big lie' and forces to stop this deception they inflict on themselves. they can destroy it or it will destroy them.

the climax - the reason for the story. the reason why the character had to take this journey in order to get to this moment. the moment that the character will decide once and for all whether they will go forward to point 'b' or regress back to point 'a'

the resolution - the character reaches point 'b'. their view/beliefs/actions have changed, they no longer believe in the 'big lie'.

So obvisouly the main character in acosf is Nesta. What sjm does in her books is that every plot point and development of secondary characters is in service to the arc of the main character. None of the character's outside of Nesta have their own development. Not even Cassian, any sort of changes or developments he undergoes is in service to Nesta (a complete missed opportunity for Cassian but that a whole other point). And before anyone tries to say otherwise, you can have development for characters even if they are secondary ones (and for a book that is 800+ pages long it is definitely possible). An example is with his can also be seen with Gwyn. Her leaving the library for the first time was a huge moment for the character, but she did so, in order to comfort Nesta after her big fight with Cassian. It was also so that Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie could all be together in Illyria so they could be kidnapped and forced to enter the blood rite (where the final showdown occurs with Nesta and the villan).

so what has this got to do with feysand and why are they OOC?

In fact the entire plot with feyre's pregnancy was made to give chracter developments for Nesta. There was nothing written in the book that suggested any developments for feyre and rhys. it did nothing for them. Nesta needed to become central to the story and the only way sjm thought to keep feyre side lined was to make her pregrnant. It was also just lazy writing and world building bc there is no way that rhys would have though of this when he and feyre were trying for a baby.

SIN #1 The Shields

Rhys practicing shields (shield thats doesn't even allow anyone to even touch her) on feyre, which she just allows. the book explains because of the fact that there is more danger to her now that she's pregnant. Narratively, this would make sense if there is a payoff. Like later in the story if feyre was in physical danger and the shield saves her or if the shield became a detriment to her in some way. But no nothing like this happens. Rhys 'practices' the shield on her and thats it. Rhys, who was the same person that trusted feyre enough defend herself against the weaver. It was totally out of character that he would shield her to the point that Cassian can't even kiss her on the cheek (sounds familiar huh). and the same goes for feyre, who has no problem with this (*cough* tamlin locking her up *cough*). Thats is some OOC behaviour.

So what were the point of the shields? well since sjm made it canon that fae can smell when a female is pregnant, the biggest way they came into play was in the scene when rhys lifted it long enough so that everyone could sense that that feyre was pregnant. And It could have been just that, feyre and rhys were expecting a baby, and Nesta can go along with her development, they did not need to intersect. But it did, and we'll come back to that later. This scene is a lighthearted moment in the book, one of the rare few where all the characters are happy and celebrating a good thing. acofas we knew that rhys and feyre decided to try for a baby, and seeing it pay off here was enjoyable for the readers.

But what else does this scene do? through Nesta's perspective, we can read her thoughts on it, and though she doesn't reveal much its an important character moment for her. the readers can see that she can feel happiness for someone else beyond the self-loathing she guards herself with, it shows that she is a character worth rooting for.

SIN #2 Rhys concealing the dangers of the pregnancy from feyre

oof this one is a doosey. this was the most baffling thing to come out of acosf for me. there is literally no reason or explanation that would make sense for rhys to lie to feyre like that. It offers no development for the two character it affects the most: rhys and feyre. there no fallout on rhys' end for lying to her, and there is no turmoil for feyre such as falling into depair like we told she would (the whole reason that rhys was hiding it in the first place).

When Nesta finds out that the pregnancy was most likely going to kill feyre and the baby. instead of Nesta disagreeing and urging Rhys to tell feyre, she doesn't say anything and forms a temporary truce with him, a character she has always had conflict with. It also serves as the incident that allows Nesta to have her 'world collapse' moment in her character arc. How else was Nesta going to realise what a shitty person is was being if she didn't do something so absolutely shitty? in a fit of rage, Nesta reveals to feyre that the pregnancy was going to kill both her and the baby. she get taken away on a hike in illyria (because???) and she reaches rock bottom after she comes to term with what she did. the story is taken away from velaris and the inner circle, and any conflict and resolution that happens between feyre and rhys, if it even happened at all, happens off page. again furthering my point about the pregnancy having no impact on the two characters is affects the most. After Nesta's fleeting moment of enlightenment, and her swordplay sex marathon with Cassian (urgh) she returns to velaris and nothing has changed between rhys and feyre. there isn't really much of a development with Nesta's relationship with feyre, their 'reconciliation' occurs all of less than one page and doesn't even happen out loud, just mind to mind. Now that Nesta has had her important character moment, nothing else matters (again lazy writing).

SIN #3 Everyone dies

ok so yes everyone has said their two cents about this and i agree with it. Feyre and nyx had to die so that Nesta could have her climax moment. It is the climax of the story since it is the big story development right before the resolution. and about the bargain - feysand decided in acofas that they were going to try for a baby. meaning that it was after this decision that they struck the bargain that they would die together. so at some point they would have thought of the fact they would have a child/children when the both die. im sorry but do they seem like the kind of ppl that would make a suicide pact even if it meant leaving their children behind? TOTALLY OOC for me. and i dont know i guess also the stakes weren't high enough with just the threat of feyre and nyx dying.

So feyre and nyx are dead and rhys will soon follow and Nesta intervenes to save them. Its also a self-sacrificing moment bc she has to give up her powers in order to do this... Showing that she does truely love her family and the depths of her powers. (seriously idc how you stan or hate how does anyone this good book?). don't doubt that in the future books sjm will find a way for Nesta to get her powers back (whatever they are (pure death WHAT DOES THAT MEAN???))

So Nesta saves the day, everyone is fine and nothing has changed except Nesta is nice now probably. the end.

welp this got way longer that i expected but anyways long story short there was nothing about the pregnancy that gave development to feysand characters and it was all for the development of the main character.

i don't claim acosf!feysand and sjm better fucking leave them alone in the rest of the books.

[stanknotstark]

Astral Pt. 13 (Loki x Reader)

I’m introducing ANOTHER character :D Morgan is very interesting and her powers are like Kang’s I’m very curious as to who would win in a fight tbh i wish i could’ve written an action scene because she can mind control and OH the drama that I could have played with! You guys are lucky cuz i had something worse written >:D

You and Loki are eating breakfast together in silence. When you finish your plate Loki tells you to grab a book from his quarters, while he finishes, so he can help you research Asgard. Then meet him in the common area since no one is there right now. 

Loki likes to teach you and watch your curiosity flare as you read up on Asgard, its customs, how healers work, how royalty works, instead of telling you. It’s the least he can do since you’ll never actually see Asgard in person. He’s a fantastic storyteller but you know he has a weakness, that weakness being that when you truly concentrate on something sometimes you stick your tongue out a bit and narrow your eyes. Other times you look at the book with guileless fascination. Plus, Loki knows there’s more satisfaction from learning on your own. He’s always there to answer your questions and debate with you though.

You walk back into the common area after grabbing the book, Loki looks at you, then a cloud of dark green appears between you both. Before you can react accordingly feminine arms are yanking you into the cloud of magic and you’re in someone’s arms definitely not at the tower anymore. You can only imagine what Loki is thinking. The last thing he probably saw was the book fall when you dropped it. Now he’s probably thinking the worst is going to happen, that you’re going to die, and honestly you don’t know what’s going on. For all you know you might actually be about to die. 

You try to wave off the nausea and dizziness following the teleportation you endured and assess your surroundings but someone is roughly pulling you somewhere. Just as you get your wits back there is a tight rope constricting your hands behind your back and around your ankles. You’re shoved into a rocky wall, twisting, back first causing you to let out a breathless grunt and slide into a sitting position on the ground.

Looking up you see a beautiful woman. She stands tall, her chin out in confidence. Her pale, petite face is framed by pitch black hair, the long tendrils held in braids resting on her chest and trailing to her hips they’re so long. She wears a green and black corset that flows into thigh armor that is engraved. No not engraved, made of actual scales, you shiver at the thought of what could have scales that big, nothing from Earth that’s sure. To end her amazing outfit, her green with black lace boots are thigh highs. You can faintly smell leather and something sweet you’ve never smelled before. You’re pretty sure this woman could be a really good dominatrix if she wanted to.

“That was much easier than expected. If the Avengers are Earth’s best defenders I’m disappointed, to say the least.” The woman tells you looking at her nails in boredom. You pick out her British accent.

You realize you’re not in immediate danger and say, “While I don’t mind getting kidnapped by beautiful women I usually like to know their names first, maybe take me on a date before you bring me back to your place.”

The woman chuckles. “My name is Morgan Le Fay of Britain, the world’s strongest sorceress, Morgana. That is until you came along.”

You frown. “That’s a mouthful.” 

Morgana shakes her head with a small smile. “Cute.”

“Look I’m not that powerful, I think you have the wrong person, most of the magic I use I can’t use for long because it gives me migraines.” You say while shifting around to get more comfortable. 

You finally take in your surroundings. All you can assess is that you’re in a cave, no telling how far from New York City, home. You know Loki could track you down if you could astral project but you don’t trust Morgana enough to take your eyes off of her. Maybe Tony is tracking your cell phone which you feel sitting in your back pocket. 

“Such a shame you’ll never discover your true potential. I’m here to kill you, child, but I had to get a taste of what runs through your blood before I do.” Morgana says kneeling in front of you. 

Morgana brings a hand to your head and when she touches you she gasps and closes her eyes. You simply watch from under her hand as she shivers. When she pulls her hand away her eyes are bright with curiosity but far away in thought. 

“Why would your mother want to kill someone so powerful, I would think having you on her side would be more preferable.” Morgana says under her breath. You only hear her because she’s so close to you. 

“My mother sent you?” You say trying to stall now that you know her intentions. 

Morgana hums. 

“I know my mother doesn’t love me but I never thought she’d send a glorified assassin after me. I’m honored, honestly.” You say your fingers playing with the rope around your wrists seeing if you could escape somehow. “How does my mother know you anyways, she doesn’t have any powers why would she know a sorceress?” 

Morgana frowns at you, “I like your humor in the face of death.” She quips with a hint of annoyance at your nonchalance of the situation, “When a celestial tells me to do something I tend to not question it.” You look at Morgana like she’s crazy then you watch as realization dawns on her face. 

“My child...You truly do not know?” 

You stop fiddling with the rope and look at Morgana with a raised eyebrow. “Know what? And I’m not a child.”

“Your true birth mother, celestial Madonna.” Morgana says ignoring your plea to be respected.

At this you freeze and lose all the breath in your lungs. 

Thor was right, you’re adopted.

“It was prophesied that celestial Madonna would give birth to the most powerful being in the universe. Kang wanted to be father to such child and hunted her down. He impregnated her, held her captive until she birthed you. She fled when she had the chance but couldn’t take you with her.” Morgana explains while standing and pacing the cave’s floor. “Kang, who was being chased by the Avengers, planted you in an alternate universe and time. No one has known where you were until a few years ago when you used magic for the first time.” Morgana finishes, stopping and looking down at you.

She gives you a look of pity as you process everything. It all made sense now. Kang wants you to be his weapon of destruction. Why your parents have always hated you and treated you like shit. 

“My mother wants me dead and sent you to do her dirty work...Meaning she’s alive somewhere?” You ask trying to not panic with the influx of information.

“She’s here on Earth until she knows you’re dead. Said you’re more of a liability than anything. I’m being paid handsomely for your head.” Morgana says. She then brings a hand up and flicks it. Dark green magic flows and through the smokey magic you see a quin jet then see flashes of Loki, Steve, Natasha, Tony, and Thor talking, concerned and frightened looks on their faces but hear nothing. 

“Your friends are near.” Is all Morgana says like it’s an afterthought. She makes the magic disappear and looks at you with determination. “I have a proposition for you, child.”

You’re not really in the position to argue so you nod at her.

“Promise me you’ll hunt down Kang and right before you deliver the last strike on his miserable life you call on me and let me do it. While I love your mother dearly I have a penchant for revenge.”

“Fine.” You say. At this Morgana looks at you, sizing you up, but decides you’re harmless enough and makes the rope around your wrists and ankles disappear. When you stand she magics a gold ring with a square emerald on it and gives it to you. 

“When the time comes throw this on the ground and stomp on it with your foot then stand back, I shall appear where the ring is.”

You nod and slip the ring onto your right ring finger finding that it fits perfectly. 

“Do not use it for anything else, it is a one time use. If you use it for something trivial I will kill you without hesitation, our deal will be void.” Morgana says, she frowns and without asking places a hand on your head again. This time you feel her magic search your mind and gasp when she does something that makes you feel energetic and calm.

When Morgana pulls her hand away she explains, “Your powers were behind a barrier, I simply destroyed it. You should be able to wield magic without headaches now but you’re going to use your full power unless you learn how to tame it. Do not kill yourself or I’ll bring you back to life just to kill you again.”

You look at Morgana in disbelief and annoyance because she keeps threatening your life.

 She gives you a sympathetic look. “I’m truly sorry such a fate has fallen on you, child.” And then she’s gone and you’re left in a dark cave. 

You hadn’t even realized Morgana had used magic to light up the space you both inhabited until you’re left standing in pitch black. Without hesitation you light up both fists with fire and start to make your way out of the cave. You plan to contact Loki when you truly know where you are. However, when you reach the entrance you see the quin jet landing in an open field not that far from the cave’s entrance on the side of a mountain. The first person out of the ship is Loki and he is sprinting towards you, Thor not far behind with Steve and Nat pulling the flank. 

When Loki reaches you you open your mouth to tell him you’re ok but he pulls you into his chest hard and squeezes you till you’re breathless. Then he holds you at arms length and looks over your face first, then body.

“Are you hurt, did she use any magic on you?” He asks urgently.

“I’m fine, Loki, we just talked, she’s not a danger to us.” You say with a small smile that you’re sure doesn’t reach your eyes because Loki doesn’t lose the concerned look on his face. He doesn’t push it either though. Thor stays suspiciously silent when he reaches you both. He touches you as if to check that you’re real but drops his hand and claps Loki on the back more for calming him instead of camaraderie.

You look at Steve and Nat with a small wave and embarrassed grimace when Loki, Thor, and you reach them as you all walk towards the quin jet. After you’ve told them multiple times that you’re fine they all relax a bit but not by much. You mostly feel embarrassed you were taken so easily. You didn’t even put up a fight.

You’re sitting in the quin jet quiet other than to answer their questions without going into details because you’re still trying to unravel what you’ve been told. 

“Why did she take you?” Steve asks, standing in front of you, arms crossed, with Nat next to him while Loki sits at your side, holding your hand. You know he has questions because his fingers keep playing with the new ring on your hand and he gives you looks you can’t decipher. Thor is speaking with Tony in the cockpit so you’re free of their questions until later thankfully.

“She wants me to find Kang so she may kill him.” You say.

Thankfully Loki and Thor had told the group of superheroes who Kang was after the incident with the Growing Man. They told them what they knew of the man which honestly wasn’t much. 

At your words you feel Loki stop playing with the ring. He understands its purpose now. He must have used his magic to look over the ring and see if it was a danger to anyone but especially you, sensing it had magic dwelling in it.

“That doesn’t explain why she took you specifically. She could have told all of us. She didn’t have to kidnap you.” Natasha says knowing you enough to know you’re hiding valuable information. 

You frown and look at your feet. “I-”

You go quiet and everyone stays quiet too, you listen to the engine of the quin jet and Thor and Tony bickering in the background. You think about how Loki’s hand fits perfectly in yours and is soft but has rough patches of callouses from his use of daggers. You take a deep breath in through your nose, closing your eyes, and smell leather, sweat, and that smell the quin jet emits like a new car. 

When you open your eyes you look up at Steve and Natasha and ask, “How did you find me?” 

Natasha frowns at your very obvious deflection. Steve answers. “Tony tracked your cell phone but it’s thanks to Loki we found you so fast. He used his magic to track your magic or something.” Steve says uncrossing his arms and shrugging while glancing at Loki.

You look at Loki who raises a brow at you. “Our bond.” Is all he says at your inquisitive look. You nod in understanding. 

“Where are we, exactly?” You ask them.

“The border of New York and Pennsylvania.” Steve says. That explains why they were able to reach you so quick. If Morgana teleported you so close that means your stalling is the only reason you’re alive. She planned to make you a quick death.

When Nat opens her mouth to ask you another question you shake your head at her. “I’m exhausted can I take a nap before I tell you everything?” You ask, realizing you’ve got at least 45 minutes of free time since the jet isn’t going full speed.

Nat looks a little apologetic and Steve nods and says, “We’re happy you’re ok.” and then they both make their way to the opposite side of the quin jet. 

You and Loki settle into the quin jet’s seats as comfortably as you can. He stays suspiciously quiet about everything but brings an arm up and around your shoulders and lets you lay your head on his shoulder where it meets his neck. When you’re settled he keeps holding your hand but his free hand around your shoulder comes up to stroke your hair. It doesn’t take long to fall asleep. 

Pt. 12.1/Pt. 13/?

Tage list: @justfangirlthingies​ @emelieh99​ @high-functioning-lokipath​ @loveableasshole​ 

[listless-brainrot]

how exactly would you say jet and sokka are foils?? I never thought of it that way!

i’m so glad you asked anon!! ok ok so let me try my best to get my thoughts in order it’s been a while since i’ve touched on this! this got kinda long so lemme put it under a read more to save your dash:

(side note: a large majority of this analysis stems from what i believe is the original writers’ intent. the demonization and vilification of jet and his extremism  in order to portray sokka as someone morally superior/a better leader is something i personally don’t agree with. these are all just analyses and observations derived from the presented text, and that’s just something to keep in mind while reading this. the following is less my own opinion, and moreso me trying to extrapolate the writer’s intentions directly, as i can’t write this analysis without acknowledging said intent.)

so i’m gonna open this post with the idea that jet’s episode is inherently a sokka episode. the events that happen are to contribute to his development and the main conflict centralizes around him. i say this because of what the episode opens with: sokka struggling to prove himself as a competent leader to the rest of the gaang. this is early on in season one, so sokka hasn’t necessarily “proven” himself yet as the braniac, common sense leader guy who helps keep everyone else in line. emphasis on yet, hence where this episode comes in.

the beginning scene has the following exchange (thanks avatarspirit.net):

Sokka (to Aang): I know you all want to fly, but my instincts tell me we should play it safe this time and walk. Katara: Who made you the boss? Sokka: I'm not the boss—I'm the leader. Katara (incredulous): You're the leader? But your voice still cracks! Sokka: I'm the oldest and I'm a warrior. (tries to speak deeper) So...I'm the leader! Katara: If anyone's the leader, it's Aang. I mean, he is the Avatar. Sokka: Are you kidding—he's just a goofy kid! Aang: He's right.

Katara: Why do boys always think someone has to be the leader? I bet you wouldn't be so bossy if you kissed a girl. Sokka: I-I've kissed a girl—you...just haven't met her. Katara: Who? Gran-gran? I've met Gran-gran. Sokka: No—besides Gran-gran. Look, my instincts tell me we have a better chance of slipping through on foot and a leader has to trust his instincts. Katara: Okay, we'll try it your way Oh Wise Leader.

here, we see sokka struggling to be taken seriously (mostly by katara). we get the sense that the others don’t see him in any sort of responsibile light. sokka, as of right now, is sort of in the role of “older brother who takes charge just because he’s the oldest”, and neither aang nor katara seem to really take this resulting attitude seriously.

enter jet.

jet is the self assured, confident, charming, adaptive, competent leader who is, as of right now, everything sokka is not. jet’s first introduction is he and the freedom fighters decimating a fire nation camp that they all stumbled into, and jet even takes down one of the soldiers he was trying to go after. this puts sokka in a light of incompetence. he then experiences jealousy and mistrust when jet is around, as aang and katara immediately trust this stranger’s judgement over his own, which is suspicious and arguably hurtful, especially when he has known aang and katara for much longer than jet has and has been trying so hard to prove himself to them, only to have all his efforts shoved off to the side the moment they meet some guy.

Jet: One day, we'll drive the Fire Nation out of here for good and free that town. Katara: That's so brave. Sokka (Sarcastically): Yeah, nothing's braver than a guy in a treehouse. Katara: Don't pay any attention to my brother. Jet: No problem. He probably had a rough day.

something to note is just how one-sided this jealousy is- jet acknowledges that sokka is smart and has valuable skills, especially later on when he has him come along for a mission. a lot of sokka’s struggle in this episode is pretty internal, outside of the many times he has sarcastically commented about jet and shown visible disdain. he has nothing to actually hold against jet- as of right now, his biggest grudge is that jet is a better leader than him.

at least, until sokka’s suspicions of him are confirmed and his plans reveal themselves to be “nefarious”, and this is where the divide between jet and sokka becomes more clear.

i’ll just quickly recap what happens but jet: attacks and beats up an old fire nation man and presumably planted a knife on him and said he was an assassin, lied to and used both katara and aang to fulfill his own plans and hid his true intentions from the both of them, and he also attempted to destroy the village of gaipan that he was saving through flooding it and killing everyone in it.

more importantly, though, is that sokka discovers jet’s plans and spies on him, which eventually leads to this confrontation.

Sokka: I heard your plan to destroy the Earth Kingdom town. Jet: Our plan is to rid the valley of the Fire Nation. Sokka: There are people living there Jet—mothers and fathers and children. Jet: We can't win without making some sacrifices. Sokka: You lied to Aang and Katara about the forest fire! Jet: Because they don't understand the demands of war. Not like you and I do. Sokka: I do understand. I understand that there's nothing you won't do to get what you want. Jet: I was hoping you'd have an open mind, but I can see you've made your choice. Jet: I can't let you warn Katara and Aang. Take him for a walk--a long walk. Sokka: You can't do this! Jet: Cheer up, Sokka. We're gonna win a great victory against the Fire Nation today.

here, we see a conflict of morality between jet and sokka, despite having a shared goal: to destroy the fire nation. this is a moment that the narrative is trying to show that jet is someone sokka could’ve become, should he lose sight of his own principles. sokka and jet are put in direct contrast with one another, and what follows is supposed to be a testament of that morality. we get to see the inner conflict of who is a good/better leader become an external one. 

sokka refuses to let the innocents of gaipan drown, even though there are fire nation present within the village. previously, sokka has been shown to be extremely quick to anger, especially when firebenders are even mentioned, much like jet. but here, he is refusing to let this happen because of his own morals and principles, which jet is shown to lack. he is being upstanding as a leader through his example and restraint, even when no one is around. he is defending what he believes is right, as is jet, except: the moment their views and beliefs don’t align, is when jet decides to turn on sokka.

and it takes the deception of jet and the severity of his actions for aang and katara to realize who they should’ve believed in and trusted.

Aang: Sokka's still out there—he's our only chance. Katara: Come on, Sokka. I'm sorry I ever doubted you. Please.

the episode ends with the village flooded, but its occupants still alive, thanks to the actions of sokka, who took the time to warn and save these people he didn’t know, even though some of which were fire nation. sokka proves himself to be both selfless and competent, thus reaffirming his friends’ belief in both him and his leadership, which he has now proven to be just and sound.

unlike jet, who has shown that he leads through deception and lies, and as such, is not sokka.

as much as jet sokka could’ve been, jet can never be sokka because of what he lacks morally. and in this episode, sokka makes a conscious choice to ensure that he will not let himself become what jet has shown himself to be, now that he’s seen it, and is allowed to develop as a leader from that point on. 

tl;dr: sokka and jet are intentional character parallels, and jet services sokka’s development and growth as a leader through existing as his opposite.

[melohax]

Ok so I just realized that I can send long ask so I will just copy paste my last meta here, it will kinda be a mumble jumbo wall of text so I hope you don’t mind

I have never personally perceived what shadow Basil said about us as he was deeming is as cruel or evil toward them tbh. Shadow Basil seems to be there to ground Sunny back to reality more by recalling him of the past and calling out his escapism to me more. Him saying “but after everything, you left me” is less him calling out on Sunny being evil toward him but more on him calling out how Sunny just mentally completely shut off from reality, him dropped out of school irl and become shut in paralleling to him building an entire imaginary world on “black space” and suppressing the black space as the light bulb locking other half of Basil who knows away, leaving Basil both irl and in dream to be left alone dealing with his own guilt.

You talking about Basil irl and black space Basil occasionally has the same overlapping dialogues of “will you forgive me?”/“do you hate me?” also raised up possibility of Basil irl has also said these to Sunny in the past thus his manifestation saying the same thing to him. Basil in dream world acting completely carefree and sweet is more of him just want to live in his idealistic, good old day of the past tbh (evidence in how 4 years have passed yet the citizen in the dream world never age, dream HERO still 15 years old haha why are you so small) and Omori acting “cold” or “strange” isn’t entirely exclusive to Basil either since we saw the same instance with Mari who was trying to guide Sunny to the truth at the beginning of Last Resort arc, as he is the manifestation guardian who “guards” Sunny’s psych so to speak and the irl instance where Sunny hurt Basil is when them both are in panic and fist fight each other to dead so I think it’s an understandable reaction tbh SFGHVJBK.

There is a lot more but the biggest reason why a large part of me feeling like Sunny doesn’t exactly “hate” or blame Basil for anything he did is also because the way the narration portray him coping with thing, he completely and utterly rejects it, denies it from being real, being “I do not see it” (the closet door lead to the toy book with his broken violin completely disappeared irl in his pov despite other character still comment about it, when Basil was tying the noose to uh do the thing Sunny chose to pretend that he did not see what was happening, when he witnesses Basil’s death in one of the bad end if you try to interact with the door lead to Basil’s room again it will completely disappear with Sunny notes that “there is nothing there”) than blaming it on someone or something else and when he finally forced to face the truth he just blames himself the most, how he just took away everyone happiness irrc

ALSO SORRY AGAIN FOR A LONG WALL OF TEXT AFHJGJJ

Yeah, I’ve already talked in my other posts about Sunny’s coping through extreme avoidance and how it intertwines with him burying the truth in his subconscious and so forth. It doesn’t cancel out how his subconscious does see the truth to the point that Blackspace keeps leaking into Dream world.

Daddy Longlegs mentions this, how Sunny and Omori do all they can to pretend they don’t see the truth, repressing as much as possible BUT Blackspace still ends up leaking into the Dream world regardless.

As much as Sunny’s mind keeps working to get rid of all that hurts him, blackspace keeps seeping into his dreams and yet he still seeks Dream Basil out when he disappears from his mind. This is counterproductive in that it interferes with his own coping mechanisms of “I do not see it” and Omori’s attempts at defending his mind. It tells us that Sunny’s thoughts and feelings are conflicted, he both wants to suppress the truth while his mind simultaneously has him trying to save the person that represents said truth to him.

Sunny and Omori want to keep the good parts of Basil in his dream, the parts that remind him of the good ol days of innocent childhood. Meanwhile, he tries locking away the parts of Basil’s existence that hurt him (Basil giving him the Mari idea, Basil hanging Mari, the monsters Basil sees etc etc) but he always fails.

Daddy Longlegs, the Blackspace void people and the tree in the deepest well tells us Sunny’s mind has never been able to separate his ideal Basil from the parts of Basil that force him to acknowledge what happened.

I kinda also disagree with your other arguments too tbh.

Like I said before, monsters with Basil’s dialogue keep calling Sunny a liar (like the one on the train) and Sunny’s subconscious he tries to represskeeps focusing on how he hurts Dream Basil: Basil telling him he doesn’t feel safe, the invisible shadows in the main room of Blackspace calling Omori and Sunny evil, commenting on Sunny’s mistreatment of Basil and their fears that he’ll do something to real world Basil if he’s not “uncorrupted”.

Sunny’s mind specifically clings to Basil’s “do you hate me?” + his apologies for a reason. Real Basil very likely said these things to Sunny this mind keeps going back to it for a reason. Mari commenting on Omori being cold isn’t the same at all cus Basil commented on it in a context where he was about to be killed and his next words are about how he doesn’t feel safe with Sunny.

When I talk of dream Basil’s almost angelic persona, I don’t mean just him being the way he was in the “good old childhood days” all carefree and sweet. I’m talking about things like how even when he’s being killed, Sunny portrays Basil in his mind as still trying to be kind, understanding and passive even to the things actively hurting him (like how Dream Basil keeps trying to be nice to the spiders even while they’re eating him alive).

Real life Basil isn’t only made of infinite beatific patience like Dream Basil is. He cries, gets angry and really upset at times, tells Sunny it’s not fair that Sunny left him behind. Basil calls Sunny out on lying about promising to always be there for each other and begs in desperation for Sunny not to leave him, once again coming back to him asking “Do you hate me?”.

Dream Basil is also shown as very helpless and someone who would never resort to violence. This is shown not to be true in the real world.

Basil will resort to violence if he feels it’s absolutely necessary to protect the person he loves, like how he physically attacks Sunny at the end, possibly gouging Sunny’s eye out in the process. Basil does this believing he’s genuinely going to save Sunny from the “Something” behind him so it shows he’s not just this eternally passive, soft, helpless being Sunny’s mind portrays him as.

Real Basil is willing to do anything it takes (including resorting to physical violence) if its for the sake of the person he loves most. It’s a contrast to how Sunny in his dreams goes as far as putting his ideal of Basil on this pedestal of “purity” at times. This goes back to how one the invisible strangers walking in Blackspace void tells Omori it hopes real Basil is uncorrupted or else it fears what Sunny will do to him.

Then there’s shadow Basil. He doesn’t just “ground” Sunny, he also reminds Sunny of the consequences his actions have on others. This shows that Sunny’s subconscious (Blackspace) acknowledges the truth even though real Sunny keeps trying to pretend it’s not there and Omori keeps trying to bury it.

These are all parts of Basil that Sunny doesn’t want to see and that he keeps trying to lock away deep in Blackspace so that only his perfect version of Basil remains in his mind. All of the trouble Sunny goes through to shut his eyes and yet when Omori finds Basil in the alternate rooms in Blackspace, it’s as if Sunny’s mind keeps trying to guilt trip itself over how he’s been treating Basil by showing Basil constantly suffering and dying in horrible ways.

So imo the points you made are easily attributed not only to extreme avoidance but also to entangled feelings of hatred, love, fear and pain. Sunny isn’t a completely innocent character when it comes to his mind and certain actions (being able to stab real world Aubrey and stuff) but that’s ok. It doesn’t mean he’s simply a villain, it just means he’s complex and with complicated emotions the same as most human beings.

Of course at the end Sunny blames himself the most, I talked about this in my first post too. It’s by then that he’s accepted his main role in the tragedy with Mari (the fact it was an accident, Basils good intentions, why he isolated himself, etc) and he’s moving towards facing the most painful parts of it. That’s part of the whole point.

None of this means Sunny generally just cruel or callous, of course. Again, I’ve already said before that this doesn’t make Sunny objectively “evil” or anything of the sort. His own mind is the one calling him evil due to all his guilt and so on.

Also P.S. Please be mindful and don’t spam my inbox with so many messages tho 😣 I got this entire message sent thrice in my inbox and then you also sent it as a submission and then you also sent a few other asks as well all in the span of one day. They were all kinda the same subject over and over too.

If it’s tumblr being fucky and sending that many messages repeatedly, I understand and it’s ok but then I’d rather you come off anon instead cus boy it spams.

[sonia7atm]

BRIDGERTON BOOK SERIES REVIEW.

So here it is, before I start I just wanted to say that I’m in no way shape or form an expert in english or literature for that matter. English is my third language and I’m studying science. Having said that, I have read all eight books in less than two weeks and I have a lot of opinions that I wanted to share so here they are. Obviously: SPOILERS AHEAD

The series in its entirety

The bridgerton series is probably the best written series that I have ever read. I loved the fact that it is made up of 8 books, but also the way the books are structured. In each of the books we focus on one of the siblings and their significant others, and even when the side characters are there, they are not really a main focus of the story. This means you can pick up a random Bridgerton book without having read the other ones and you would not feel like you are missing something. I really liked this because it meant that with each book you were getting to know a different sibling, thus you are never really bored and there wasn’t unnecessary drama happening with the already established couples, which is refreshing at the least.

However, it does have setbacks. In some of the books, you find that this side characters really change from the way they appear in the background or the other novels, and it can be difficult to digest at first. Another flaw that I found is with the brothers' books. When I was reading some of the books dedicated to the men of the family sometimes I found that we don’t spend enough time with them and when you finish the books you don’t have an understanding of who they are. Maybe I’m not making sense but I’ll elaborate in each book a little bit more.

But in the end, even these little flaws, I had a great time reading the books and finding out what was happening with the family.

My favourite book - AOFAG

I know some people have trouble ranking the Bridgerton books, especially, the favourite one, but I’m not one of them. I am obsessed with “An offer from a gentleman”, I love the story, I love Sophie, I love Benedith and I love Violet Bridgerton with all of my heart. This book is great from the start, even though b, the third book you know a happy ending is what the book is leading to, it still excites you and makes you wonder. AMAZING DARE I SAY.

Sophie is one of my favourite characters in all of the books. She has a strong morals system and you get really inspired by her. All of the things she goes through are horrible, but she still remains such a calm and kind individual that I cannot help but stan. HARD. She has very strong ideas and morals and she sticks with them even when they mean losing Benedict. I found this message really important and powerful because we usually see the opposite: people changing their views for their significant other, and I don’t think it's right. So, hereby I declare Sophie QUEEN of the Bridgerton clan.

Moving on to Benedict, I heard a little bit of criticism with his actions in this book and I see where they are coming from, but I don’t share them. I think Benedict is one of the brothers that suffers from a really deep female counterpart and as such his thoughts are not fully explored. In my opinion Benedict is tormented by the fact that he is the second Bridgerton and nothing more (similar to Colin and kinda Gregory really), and also by the fact that he lost the woman at the ball. On top of that, Sophie comes along and he starts falling for her and he feels guilty that he is falling for someone else, so he doesn’t fully commit to Sophie but also doesn’t really leave her. It’s a messed up situation and he doesn’t make the best decisions but I understand his actions and I support him. The only thing that really annoyed me about Benedict is that he doesn’t recognize Sophie at all. I wanted to hit him, hard, in the head, with a fucking piano.

Now the best of the best: Violet Bridgerton. She was the surprise character of this book in that prison scene. In the previous book you still see her and like her but she saves the day in this one, and I felt like I really knew her after that. She is not the typical ton mother, she really values their children’s happiness and takes everyone under her wing. She knows who she is and the importance her family has and she uses her powers for good. I gained so much respect for her. A surprise character and a great one.

To sum it up, Benedict and Sophie are perfect to each other, like this mellow entity. Two kind souls, always happy, always calm. Of course they live in the countryside, they could not live anywhere else.

Top tier books - WHWW, RMB, TVWL

WHEN HE WAS WICKED

This book wrecked me, I have to admit I was a mess, I could not deal. A tragic story with so much longing and guilt and despair, I love a drama, man this is great. I went in knowing the basics of it but I was not prepared.

The poor Francesca has the most devastating story in my opinion: she suffers from infertility, her husband dies, she doesn’t feel like she fits in her family, and when she falls in love Michael is sick, WHY?!. Throughout the book you get to see how strong she is, how strong-willed she is. We are not talking about this enough. She loves with all her heart and she suffers with all of it too. She and Michel have a really strong chemistry and it translates really well. I think she was really clever to wait and think before committing to Michael, and I see how she would need to see him in danger to really let herself fall completely. In the end, she knows what losing someone you love feels like and she doesn’t want to feel that again. I understand. Also, an important part of Francesca's journey is to realize that loving someone else doesn’t diminish her feelings for John, and I love how Michael acknowledges it. 

Michael is a really interesting character who falls in love at first sight with the wrong woman. He is fully aware of this fact and it is really good to see that he doesn’t doubt his love for her, but is instead aware of the impossibility of doing something about it. Even when he can do something about it, his respect for his cousin is always present. The guilt he feels for loving Francesca both when John was alive and after he died is so different but so well written. It’s eating him up and It is painful to read to be honest. However, I found that said guilt disappeared rather quickly after his conversation with Colin. I may be the only one but I was a little bit put off by it, and that’s why this is not my favourite book in the series.

THE VISCOUNT WHO LOVED ME 

The bees, I could talk about the bees for days after reading this one. This one has a lot of Bridgerton backstory, and it explains so much of the rest of the bunch even if not directly. So I would say not to skip it (but why would you skip any of them?).

Kate Sheffield is one of the best written characters in this series. She is complex, fierce but delicate, confident but self-conscious. I would kill for her, she deserves it. Her family dynamics are impeccable. You feel the love between these three women and the roles they have, and you get them really quickly: Edwina is the little sister, a little naive but good-hearted, Kate is the fierce older sister and Mary is the compassionate step-mother. I really enjoyed their dynamics. The introduction of Kate’s character is by presenting her goal for the season: defend her sister. When Anthony enters the pool of suitors, she obviously opposes and their back and forth shows she is very witty. But as the story goes on we get to see her insecurities and fears, in a way that it’s so in character but at the same time so different from the start. It’s amazing and I can see why she is such a fan favourite.

Anthony is a baby.We can see how Edmund’s death really scarred him, and those wounds are deep. He believes in his own demise so blindly that it is conditioning all of his decisions.He grows a lot until he is able to share them with Kate and they bond so beautifully over it. Getting to see that, was something that I loved and enjoyed so much. It makes you really connect with both of the characters and it explains so much of his behaviour, that even if he frustrates you, you can’t be mad because you understand where he comes from.

Newton is the guest star in this one and I would like to take our time to appreciate the captain of the Kanthony ship. This little dog is such a plot device, put there to cause havoc and bring Kate and Anthony together, it is so funny. He smelled Anthony and decided he wanted a new dad. Put a plan in march, probably alerted his friend, THE bee.

ROMANCING MR BRIDGERTON

The message of this book is amazing. The journey they both go through to re-know each other is beautiful. Penelope and Colin have known each other for years, and they both have a version of the other in their minds but as the story progresses they unveil hidden personality traits about each others and I love how it is acknowledge and developed into a clear message of “people are flawed and not the perfect individual you wish them to be, and that’s ok”. It is really necessary and it made me reflect on my own relationships and how I could improve them. Colin and Penelope have to be my favourite couple of the series, but, because they were because of the show and not the books, when I finished this book I was left feeling like I wanted more, and that is why it is not my favourite one.

This is the book where readers find out Penelope is Lady Whiseldown and it is a big plot line. However, this revelation is maybe halfway through the book and until then, Penelope's inner monologue doesn’t reveal anything. I would have loved to really focus on it and know from the start how she really did it but at the same time, we get to see so much of Pen’s growth anyways. She is shy and kind but when she is with someone she trusts (in this case Colin and Lady Danbury), she is full of wit and boldness. I see myself so much in these characteristics that I cannot help but make her my favourite character in the series (totally biased but it is what it is). She starts with a sense of discontent about her, she knows her fate and accepts it but, she doesn’t necessarily like it. She is trying to change the way people see her and Lady Danbury helps a lot with it. She and Colin spend a lot of the book kind of on opposite sides in part because of their own demons, she wants to prove herself and at the same time is faced with the realization that the Colin she made up in her mind is not the real one. It really makes you wonder if it’s a happy ending at the end of it, because they both have such strong points but they are so diverse. At the end, after they talk about it, their relationship is full of devotion and you feel how they are making each other focused and better. I would die for them.

Colin is such a tumultuous character and it is a stark contrast on how we get to see him in the previous and following books. He is used to putting the charm on and fooling everybody but, of course, in this book we explore his inner workings and now we know the truth. He is just a lost puppy, looking for something to do with his life, and he is so focused on this search and runnin away for his family that he doesn’t see that there is already something that he is good about: writing. His relationship with Pen is obviously key in all of this searching because it pushes his limits and makes him think. His realization, of both his vocation and his love are slow and steady. He sometimes jumps to conclusions and rushes things *ahem*the proposal*cough* but not love, and once he commits he does it fully. The “stay, stay, stay” scene is a monumental hallmark in the book. We see Colin really deciding and choosing Penelope and Lady Whistle down with all that it entails. And later on, he opens out about his jealousy over her work, but he does it when he is ready, and Pen allows him to come to her when he needs without judgement. They are so perfect it hurts. 

The lack of Eloise is an insult to my soul but we get Lady Danbury as the guest star. She is on Penelope's corner helping her navigate the ton and her relationship with Colin, as a mother figure would. I believe she at least has a big suspicion that she is LW, but I might be wrong.

All-nighter books - OTWTTW, IIHK. ON THE WAY TO THE WEDDING

Gregory’s book is full of twists and turns that you just cannot put it down. Not the fact that the main female character is Lucy and not Hermoine, like Gregory thinks half of the book, just because you don’t. It is pretty clear that Lucy is our heroine so the fact that Gregory falls for her is not a twist itself because we (and Kate) already know. But in my opinion, the fact that it starts with Gregory interrupting the wedding and then it goes back and explains the backstory to you, so it is constantly leading up to it. 

Lucy is not the most interesting of the female leads but it is part of her charm. She is a normal girl, her life is already arranged, so she doesn’t feel the pressure the rest of them do, she is just enjoying herself. She doesn’t believe in love, and it is so funny how in denial she is about it, until it all explodes. 

Gregory’s life was influenced by her brothers before him and his big family but he feels so alone because of the age difference. He is trying to find his place in life and, because he saw all of his siblings fall in love he wants the same thing so badly, that he confuses desire with love. He is so precious, and must be protected at all costs.

The last few chapters are action packed, there’s an urgency in everyone's actions: Lucy, trying to save her family and Gregory, trying to save Lucy. I couldn’t figure out what was going to happen and that hooked me. The fact that the wedding actually takes place is the most shocking plot of all of the books.  

To conclude, Gregory owns my heart and I trust him with it.

IT’S IN HIS KISS

This story is another “all-nighter”, because it revolves around a mystery and the search for Gareth’s grandmother lost jewels. This quest brings Hyacinth and Gareth together, with a lot of Lady Danbury’s help. It’s really interesting to read about the felonies they commit, all of them instigated by Hyacinth, who, in my opinion, is chaos personified. 

Hyacinth is the most forward-thinking woman of this series. She is outspoken, confident, loud and apologetic. All of these traits really set her apart, because she doesn’t play by the rules of society, she does what she pleases, and she should. She is the typical little sister, a little spoiled but with a good heart. Her conversations with Violet are really touching. 

Gareth on the other side, is not in a good place with his family, and it is endearing to see how shocked he is by the Bridgerton’s closeness. He has a severe lack of self love, and sees himself as an imposter, and not worthy of Hyacinth. But when he falls, OMG, HE FALLS. His attitude towards Hyacinth’s personality is amazing because he loves her exactly as she is, and knows he will be following her orders for the rest of his life. Adorable. (He is the “That’s my wife” meme).

Lady Danbury is again the guest star and it only helps to cement her as the cool grandma that we all aspire to be. An honorable mention is Anthony getting super-duper happy that all of his sisters are married and therefore he is free (my poor guy).

However, the main issue I have with this book is that the decision of getting married is really attached to Gareth’s need to vex his father, who is a horrible person, and it makes me mad. 

Not my favourite books - TSPWL, TDAI

TO SIR PHILIP WITH LOVE

In this book Eloise decides running off to meet a possible husband is a great idea. Her brain, I can’t. Obviously the Bridgerton brothers follow her and force the two to marry anyways, although they were already falling in love when they found her. Phillip, Eloise's love interest is a loner and lives outside of the ton and I think that these traits really work with her because they are polar opposites but at the same time they fit so well. The relationship Eloise has with Amanda and Oliver is so cute, because you can see that these kids just need some attention and help navigating the world without her mother and Eloise is there for them.

However, even though I loved their storyline and I wanted to rank this higher I couldn’t. The other Bridgertons are a big part of this book and when I was thinking back on it the parts that I remember fondly the most are when Anthony, Benedict, Colin and Gregory arrive to kill talk to Philip, and then when Charles is ill and we get to see Benedict and Sophie as parents. So, I like this book because of side characters and not the main ones, even though I know there is nothing wrong with them. However, I do think the book is ok and I would recommend it nevertheless.

THE DUQUE AND I

I don’t have much to say about this book. The r*pe is completely unnecessary in my opinion. Daphne and Simon have terrible communication skills, but so do Kate and Anthony, for example, but still, the repercussions are not that severe. It is so much worse in the books and it has no consequences whatsoever. Up until that point, the enemies to secret dating to falling in love is such a classic thorpe that I usually like, but I cannot separate the two of them. In fact, I would advise to skip this one.

Hapily Ever After

Thank you to the heavens for this book. It is just a little exploration of all of the sibling’s future and an extra story for Violete.

Daphne’s story revolves around her last pregnancy. A surprise one when she is quite old. I found it really sweet and it looks like she and Simon are really happy with their life so good for them. Also, Colin and Penelope visit with all of their children so I’m obligated to like it.

The TVWLM continuation is a get together in Aubrey Hall for a Pall Mall rematch. I had so much fun reading it and getting to see all of the Bridgertons interact in a “relaxed” manner.

Sophie and Benedict’s story focuses on Posy and her search for a husband. She is lovely and I do want her happiness but getting to see Sophie and Benedict interact while actually together was a treat. I feel very blessed to see them be the balls of sunshine they both are.

Then we get to see how Eloise found out Lady Whisheldow’s identity. It was fun, and we get to see Pen and Eloise being friends, which we don’t get enough of in their respectives books. Colin and Penelope leaving the wedding early, was a gem. They are a couple of horny idiots and I love to see it. After that, we focus on Eloise again and we get to see a little bit more about Amanda and Oliver.

One of the main things about Francesca in her book is the fact that she wants a baby, and it is never resolved. In this one, we get to see how Francesca and Michael become parents and it's another heartbreaking one. We get to see how worried Violet is for her and also how Michael and Francesca talk and understand each other. They are one of the best relationships on this series, I said what I said.

In IIHK the diamonds are never found, but we find them here. It is great to know they were not missing and also a relief to know that Gareth was able to rescue the family even without them. The fact that Isabella actually finds them and proceeds to say nothing is hilarious. But when Hyacinth finds them the happiness she feels is so wholesome.

Then we get to see Gregory and Lucy’s twins be born (their 8th and 9th children). It is not an easy task and for a moment I was afraid for Lucy but it all works out in the end. It was filled with great moments but the one that I like the most is when Gregory says that Katherine gave him purpose in life, because he was meant to be a dad. I cried ngl.

And lastly, we meet Edmund. He is very present throughout the book but I was not expecting to grow so attached to him with this little story. It is divided in different stages of Violet’s life and obviously we get to see her romance with Edmund. I loved the little details, his behaviour reminded me of Gregory but he eats a lot like Colin so it is great to see where they get their traits from. The later parts, after he dies, show you how much importance Violet puts on remembering him and preserving his memory. They were truly soulmates, and it is such a shame that their time together was cut short.

[everygame]

Lords Of Midnight (ZX Spectrum)

Developed/Published by: Mike Singleton / Beyond Software Released: 5/1984 Completed: 12/11/2021 Completion: Destroyed the Ice Crown with Fawkrin on Day 12. 22 Lords under my command. Trophies / Achievements: n/a

It’s rare to say I’m stunned by something, and it’s pretty surprising to say I’m stunned by a ZX Spectrum game from 1984, but holy hell am I stunned by Lords of Midnight.

I’m so stunned by Lords of Midnight I immediately regret not playing it properly earlier (for reasons I’ll detail) because it absolutely deserves a place on the Insert Credit list of Best British Games. It actually gets a tiny mention (alongside Mike Singleton’s later game Midwinter) during our discussion of Damocles, but it deserved so much more. So let’s just all agree that Sonic R isn’t on that list any more and Lords of Midnight is.

So why didn’t I play it properly earlier? Well, because I’ve always been completely baffled by it. I was sure I’d played it on Amstrad CPC--and I may well have--but I can’t see it having been put on any Amstrad Action covertapes of the period where I was religiously buying Amstrad Action, so I am pretty sure it must have been put on a PC Gamer (maybe PC Format?) coverdisk (or coverdisc?) at some point in the mid-late nineties in the form of one of Chris Wild’s ports, either DOS or Windows. It made no sense to me then either.

So let’s discuss what Lords of Midnight is before we get to why it baffled me and why now it astounds me. Lords of Midnight is a big ol’ rip-off of Lord of The Rings, basically, where a “fellowship” featuring an Aragorn, Gandalf, Frodo and Legolas are tasked with two different possible solutions to defeating a Sauron: either by successfully attacking and taking the citadel his forces stream from, or by destroying his one ring analogue (the “ice crown”) which can only be done by the Frodo in combination with another character (possibly the Gollum that’s kicking about, if you can find him.) You lose if the Sauron takes the “citadel of Xajorkith”, or the Aragorn and Frodo are killed.

These characters all have their own names: Luxor, Morkin; the baddie is called Doomdark, but honestly, it’s quickest to make sense of it if you just think of it all via the Lord of the Rings. But here’s where things get crazy. The game begins and Luxor (Aragorn), Morkin (Frodo), Corleth (Legolas) and Rothron (Gandalf) are all standing about a tower on the east side of the map, and the game goes: ok, play me.

And you’re like “wait what?”

You see, Lords of Midnight comes from an era when no one really beholden to any genre, and, to be honest, probably didn’t know what else had even come out. So sure, by this point Wizardry’s come out; Ultima has reached it’s third instalment; but if you’re a guy like Mike Singleton working on the ZX Spectrum, you might not even know that, never mind be thinking “ok, well, I do dungeons like this and character development like that”.

Instead what you do is you decide every character will view the world in first-person, be able to turn in eight directions, ensure the graphics always show a relative viewpoint that extends as far into the background as possible, and design a huge open world with plains and mountains and nothing even slightly like a corridor to traverse.

It is, in its own way, a work of actual genius, it just works extremely differently from anything I experienced then and to be honest have experienced now. It has some echos of a board game: you move each character until they run out of movement/action points and “night falls” for them, once that’s done you end your turn and the forces of Doomdark move. And move they do! It’s a simplistic AI, but you’re in a race against time: either to move Morkin into position to nick and destroy the Ice Crown, or to get the other characters to recruit enough lords that you can defend and then push back Doomdark’s forces (or more likely, try to do both.) If you just stood still, you could literally watch the forces move across the map, sacking fortress after fortress.

Well, sort of. You see, the original Lords of Midnight only came with a paper map that roughly marked out where everything was, so you were forced to map something that (honestly) feels ten times more complex than a wizardry map even with warps and wrapping and all that shit. If you weren’t extremely dedicated, you’d just wander the map, get lost, and die--not helped by the fact that every screen had to redraw, meaning that you could quickly lose the sense of where you actually stood. So you had better get the graph paper out.

But of course, it’s 2021 and sack that. So I didn’t actually play this on the Spectrum, I played this via Chris Wild’s most recent build of his PC version, which is extremely faithful to the original though might have some bugs (there’s a GOG thread that claims that the battle calculations are off, and either it’s a bug or I missed something in the UI but I feel like there was more information available to me on things like the amount of enemies at a character’s location I could never find, which made the game a bit harder.). The reason to play Chris Wild’s version, bugs or not, is that it includes an amazing automap that fills itself in across successive games and means you can click about each character, know where they are and where they’re actually going.

I think there’s a really good argument to be made, however, that that’s actually a little unfaithful. You see, Lords of Midnight is very much about the experience of, I guess, “real” medieval warfare. A commander might have a crappy map, sure, but he sees the battle from the ground. He doesn’t look at a map and see an enemy approaching; he looks to the east, and tries to work out how many regiments are approaching.

I suspect that’s why the map doesn’t record where Doomdark’s regiments are (even if you can see them) and only tracks things like where wolves and horses are (which don’t move) and while I kind of wish I did, but I respect the decision to keep the thematic spirit of the original while updating it so looking around makes more sense.

That said, this game is taxing. Recruiting lords is as simple as meeting them with a character that they are willing to speak to, building their armies as simple as hitting “recruit” in keeps and citadels, and entering combat as simple as walking to face an enemy army and hitting attack--at which point the combat continues across days until you choose to run away or one side dies. If you’re playing for a military victory, you’ll be tracking the movement of up to 32 lords, each with individual numbers of warriors and riders, facing off against enemies that you also have to track mentally. In my winning game, I was tracking 22 lords and only a couple of active battle grounds, with the majority of my lords just retreating to the citadel of Xajorkith to defend it.

(Chris Wild’s PC version also doesn’t actually have an ability to save, too, increasing the absolute stress of a game where overnight an army can suddenly kill one of the two most important characters. You can restart a day, and take back a single move, but… woof.)

Alright, maybe I’m not selling this to you. Singleton positioned this as an “epic game” rather than something as simple as an RPG, and once you grasp the systems and understand how to navigate the world, it’s undoubtedly the best description. There’s something so much bigger to the story that you tell in a playthrough of Lords of Midnight than there is to (say) the average roguelike, where the story you tell often hews closer to diagetic (“I walked into a trap that spawned this enemy and I died”). Here, I failed loads of games trying to defend the mountain-ridged choke-point above the plains of Blood, but in my successful game I had my miltary forces withdraw to Xajorkith, keeping a secondary force at the Fortress of Kumar (yes!!!!) ready to strike. Morkin recruited Lord Shadows to defend him while Rothron went to recruit the legendary dragon Farflame. Lord Shadows got entangled in a battle in the plains of Ogrim, meaning Morkin had to wind his way around the mountains, eventually recruiting the skulkrin Fawkrin who followed behind him--close but not too close, much like Gollum. I intended Farflame to destroy the ice crown, but right before the tower of Doom Morkin found himself facing a regiment of Doomdark’s men; Farflame flew from Lord Shadow’s side to take them on, dying in the process but allowing Morkin to escape, get the ice crown to Fawkrin, who destroyed it.

Ok, look, it’s not Shakespeare; it’s not even Tolkien. But that’s not all to the story--I haven’t told you all about Corleths’ desperate flight to unite the Fey against Doomdark, ending in (likely doomed) battle of Kor keep, or… I’ll stop.

It’s wonderful. I’ve talked many a time on this site about how these early games are imagination engines, and I understand now why people obsess over this game still nearly 40 years later. It could desperately do with giving the player more information in a more succinct UI, but if you suddenly cluttered the main screen with all that info it wouldn’t just be these wild, spectrum vistas full of possibility. It’s a bit hard to recommend Lords of Midnight to any but the historian, but if you want to be amazed at what was possible, and imagine another future (imagine if this had become a huge hit in Japan instead of Wizardry?) you’ve got to experience this once. Just remember that it’s a first-person video game. I genuinely think that I couldn’t grasp that on that first screen you’re viewing the world through Luxor’s eyes back in the day!

Will I ever play it again? So, look, I’ll be honest: I probably won’t play this again, simply because as I said above trying for a military victory is so mentally taxing and also brutally long (I was amused to see the difference between an optimal ice crown victory and a completionist military victory youtube videos: fifteen minutes vs. over six hours) that unless a new version of this was to dilute the concept with a tactical map with full information I don’t think I’ll ever do it. However, Doomdark’s Revenge was out at the end of 1984, so I’ll play it, why not!

Final Thought: Mike Singleton very sadly passed away in 2012, and Lords of Midnight is another game with a complicated lack of a legacy, as a singular vision that broke the boundaries of its hardware to the point where no was really capable of ripping it off. I mean, it’s probably more sensible to just make an adventure game, or an RPG, or a war game. But here’s to a guy who went for it anyway and fucking smashed it. Support Every Game I’ve Finished on ko-fi, either via a one-off donation (pay what you like) or by joining as a supporter at just $1 a month and get articles like this a week early.