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esther-dot · 13 days ago

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It all begins way, way back in 2012…

[I'm doing screenshots or select quotes for those who don't click through + linking as well for those who will, but please, do not, do NOT harass anyone over their takes. No rude comments or weird anons! Talk to your fellow Jonsas instead, and of course, hopefully, post some thoughts about the theory yourself!]

2012 AUGUST Sansa's Suitors Align with the Fair Maid's Champions - (Assumes Aegon is the Targ but is a Sansa x The Hound theory)

2014 The Tourney at Ashford and Sansa's Future Husband (Sansa x Aegon theory)

It's been implied that this Redditor took the idea from the Sansan theory since it was posted months later, but their read is a bit different, focusing on the idea of the Targ suitor for Sansa rather than focusing on Dunk/claiming the Hound will interrupt the events or be a suitor himself. Whatever the truth there, many of the convos I've seen about the theory whether it's from Sansa x Aegon truthers, Jonsas, or those who don't buy into it at all, stem from this post, this reading and often link to it as the source.

The theory was eventually copied over to Westeros.org, several posts in quick succession of each other.

2014 JANUARY I've just read a new theory about Dunk and Egg... (Arguing for a Sansa x Aegon pairing)

2014 JANUARY TL;DR Aegon and Sansa will be paired up sometime in the future. The ending's not going to be good.

2014 JANUARY How Aegon might end up as Sansa's Suitor

2014 MAY Sansa Stark and Lady Ashford (much more thought given to Jon as a serious contender than I saw elsewhere around this time)

Now Littlefinger’s supposed plan is to marry her to Harry Hardyng.

GRRM may or may not be foreshadowing here, but I believe a clear analogy was intended. But there is a correction here that I have noticed: What do all of the men and betrothals Sansa finds herself have in common? They’re all frauds. ... And next we have Jon Snow. At this point R+L=J is canon except in name (fitting much?). His survival was achieved by the most honest and honorable man in the 7 Kingdoms pulling off what is arguably it’s grandest act of deception in living memory. A lie he even convinced his wife and best friend to believe. If Rhaegar and Lyanna were married (remember, polygamy used to be a thing for the Targaryens, so it’s possible), then his real name would Targaryen. But either way, Jon is, you guessed it, a fraud. I do not see how Sansa could end up in a betrothal to either Jon or Aegon (the latter option in particular sounds like it could lead to terrible things), but then again who would have guessed that Jorah would end up with Tyrion in Essos?

2015 APRIL I don’t normally reopen closed threads of mine... (Jonsa post!)

It is hypothesized that GRRM hid clues regarding who Sansa would marry in The Hedge Knight which indicate that the last person she will be betrothed to is a Targaryan.

2015 JULY Sansa and Aegon Gifset

2015 SEPTEMBER Sansa and Aegon Gifset

2016 JUNE Jon or Aegon Gifset

2016 JULY Sansa and Jon Gifset

2016 JULY Aegon and the Ashford Theory in connection to GoT (Jonsa post!)

Could Aegon be Sansa’s Targaryen suitor? In the show, no. In the books, we used to think so. However, it appears that the books are leading towards a potential Aegon/Arianne partnership, and if things begin to go badly for Aegon, he may try to go back down the Aegon/Dany path that he abandoned at Tyrion’s insistence. Besides this, Varys is the mastermind of Aegon’s rise to power, and Littlefinger is the mastermind of Sansa’s potential reclaiming of Winterfell and ownership of the Eyrie - the two men hate each other ferociously, and it’s unlikely that they would trust each other enough to give their pawns to them. Whilst I don’t doubt that Littlefinger is going to try and murder both Sweetrobin and Harry (who she is to be betrothed to in The Winds of Winter), I doubt any of Varys’ men will attempt to do the same to Arianne incase of a Dornish retaliation.

2016 JULY Five Suitors for Sansa (Jonsa fic based on the theory)

2016 AUGUST Jon or Aegon Gifset

2016 SEPTEMBER Will Sansa marry Jon Snow? Alt Shift X video

Although already beloved by Jonsas, Alt Shift's video took the theory to a whole other level...

TIME September 2016

Harpers Bazaar September 2016

RadioTimes October 2016

"bring him luck in love" lmao. If only. Glamour October 2016

....you get the idea.

Jonsas weren't necessarily thrilled for this specific theory to get all the attention, but from here on out, perhaps because of the huge influx in Jonsa shippers after s6 of GoT, a show in which Aegon didn't exist and instead Jon was dubbed Aegon, the theory kinda became perceived as a Jonsa theory. And weirdly, although Alt Shift wasn't a Jonsa, Jonsas were accused of "stealing" the theory (even though all corners of the ASOIAF fandom linked to the old Reddit post as the originator, and even though the Game of Thrones fandom heard about it through Alt Shift + all the subsequent articles...). Regardless of all of that nonsense, Jonsas ran with it and it became pretty commonly referenced bit of proof that Jonsa was real here on tumblr (examples from 2017, 2018, 2019). By this time it looks like it also became accepted that Brienne, not the Hound, is the canon parallel to Dunk (this post claims to be the first to bring Brienne into the convo in 2015, GRRM confirmed Brienne is a descendent of Dunk, this fic was written based on the Sansan take but inserted Brienne instead of the Hound in 2016).

2016 What is "Ashford Tourney Theory" and what does it have to do with Sansa Stark? (answer on Quora by the most popular GoT/ASOIAF person on the site so wanted to include, but this is not referenced by Jonsas much)

2016 NOVEMBER The Tourney at Ashford and Sansa's Suitors

Okay, I know that Ashford is used as evidence for the Jonsa ship and while I don’t think its enough to say whether Jonsa is endgame or not. It is suggestive of some kind of partnership between the two.

2017 JUNE Besides Jon, who do you see as a candidate with a good chance of being a romantic interest for Sansa? (not much focus is on Jon in this post although it is written by a Jonsa, but in 2018 it's reblogged with these interesting observations by @starwarsprincess1986

Prediction: Jon Snow aka Prince Aegon Targaryen Possible Supporting evidence: How each of these men have some connections to Jon Snow: Joffery Baratheon -is seen as a true born son and heir to iron throne, but is really a bastard (Jon is seen as a Bastard, but is really a true born son and heir to the iron throne) Tyrion Lannister -gets his face practical cut off at the battle of Blackwater (Jon gets his face torn up by orell’s eagle) both Tyrion and Jon receive these wound in Book 3: A Storm of Swords Willas Tyrell -has a bad leg (Jon gets shot with an arrow in his leg when escapes the wildlings) Willas is semi-engaged to Sansa and Jon received this wound in Book 3: A Storm of Swords Harrold Hardyng -It is said that Harrold has the look of Jon Arryn in his youth. (Who is JON Snow named for? The man who fostered Ned Stark as a young boy maybe?)

2017 OCTOBER Possible reference to it on Game of Thrones by @thelawyerthatwaspromised

2017 NOVEMBER a helpful jonsa graphic by @ladywolfmd

2018 MARCH Sansa: Five Suitors For Her Claim and One For Love by @storyswept

[much more, click to read]

2018 APRIL One point (plus some extra ones) on the Ashford theory and Jonsa by @occupyvenus

The most common argument goes something like this: “What matters is the surname they are known as. Duh. Joffrey counts as the Baratheon even though he’s a Lannister. Duh. Or rather a Waters or a Hill. Duh. And Jon would count as s a Snow. Duh. Not a Targaryen. Duh. It’s not about their secret, real name. Duh. ... So let’s look at who Sansa actually gets betrothed/married to … She is promised to Joffrey “Baratheon” (even though he isn’t actually one), to Willas Tyrell, Tyrion Lannister, Harrold “Hardyng” (even though he’s supposed to take on the name Arryn once he ascends as Lord of the Vale) and since Sansa wouldn’t get engaged/married to her supposed half-brother Jon Snow, but to her cousin Jon (or whatever) Targaryen … I would say it fits the pattern just fine. It fits perfectly even. This interpretation also eliminates any issues that come with Joffrey being the “Baratheon” champion and since at least three out of five names do indeed fit perfectly without question, I really see no reason to try extra hard to discredit it. She wasn’t betrothed to Joffrey Waters or Hills or Lannister, but to Joffrey … Baratheon. Just as she wouldn’t be betrothed to Jon Snow or Stark, but Targaryen.

2018 APRIL Have you heard of the tourney of Ashford theory? by @viking-hel

It became a historically important tourney due to the death of Prince Baelor, heir to the IT. I think that is another aspect that should be considered, perhaps for the show, though that is only my thought: the death of a Targ heir revolving around this theory is interesting to say the least.

2018 JULY Aegon or Jon Gifset

2020 SEPTEMBER How would you respond to detractors of the Ashford Tourney theory... by fedonciadale

There is also no representation for Theon Greyjoy who at one point wanted to marry Sansa Stark, there is also no representation for several other men who play a part in Sansa’s storyline and have a ‘romantic’ interest in her.

2020 SEPTEMBER I don’t ship Jonsa, but I don’t get people who deny the ashford tourney parallels. by fedonciadale

2020 OCTOBER JON SNOW X SANSA STARK - BOOK HINTS by @ladyofasoiaf

[much more!]

I searched some of the popular/neutral tumblr blogs and at this point they were maintaining it was a coincidence (example, again, DO NOT HARASS ANYONE FOR THEIR TAKES). I also noticed that this theory was so ubiquitous and self-explanatory, people started merely linking the Tourney at Ashford Wiki with no reference to AltShiftX or the two dueling origins. This brings us to the most comprehensive look at the theory yet which comes almost a decade after it was first introduced to the ASOIAF fandom...

2021 MARCH THE BLACK PRINCE WITH THE WHITE GUARDIAN by @butterflies-dragons

[much, much more, you gotta read the whole post]

2021 APRIL Another criticism of the Ashford theory by fedonciadale

“Prince Valarr died!” Jon: *is dead*

2021 MAY Alt Shift X (again, this time confessing he accepts jonsa - I'm linking Stumpy's reaction here.)

2021 JUNE About the Ashford Theory by @istumpysk

About the Ashford Theory, it should be noted that Lady Ashford didn't end up getting forcibly married to Tybolt Lannister, and yet that did happen to Sansa. The Ashford Theory already doesn't apply fully to the letter. So no the Targaryen suitor doesn't necessarily have to die just like Valarr nor does it mean Sansa will end up alone. It is all up in the air.

2021 JULY Another parallel... by @istumpysk

Another parallel between the Ashford tourney and the Vale tourney: Dunk was falsely accused of kidnapping a prince and we all know Shadrich is almost certain going to try to kidnap the northen princess. I think he is the third and last anti-Duncan knight in Sansa history together with The Hound and Dontos, hopefully his interference in the Vale tourney will lead Sansa to her true Duncan-like knight: Brienne.

2021 JULY Lyonel means Lion by @esther-dot

2021 JULY The way i laugh every time i think about the Ashford theory... by @istumpysk with an interesting reblog by @ladyqueenofwinter

Valarr = The Black Prince Jon: Dark-haired Prince of the Seven Kingdoms = a Black Prince Loras = Knight of Flowers Jon: Night's Watchman = Black Knight on the Wall Jon: the Blue Winter Rose, growing on the Wall in the House of the Undying = A flower Jon = Knight of Flowers Jon is a Black Prince and a Knight of Flowers!!!

2021 JULY We really should have spent more time obsessing over the Ashford champions by @istumpysk

1. Lyonnel Baratheon: A Baratheon lion that declared himself Storm King for a short while. 2. Leo Tyrell: Oberyn says the reason why Willas was allowed to participate in a tourney so young is because his father wanted him to be another Leo Tyrell. Willas is twice Sansa' age which is something that bothered her but end accepting since "he might be the only champion she would ever have", in The Hedge Knight, Leo is describe was having "silver in his hair and a grey beard" which together with the fact he has old enough to comand forces in the First Blackfyre Rebelion thirteen year before suggest he was the oldest between the champions in the Ashford tourney. We dont know the exact year Willas was born but by fans calculation is probably the same year as Tyrion, which may make him the oldest of Sansa suitors just like Leo is the oldest champion. 3. Tybolt Lannister: we don't know much about him besides the fact that he made a alliance to the Starks to defeat rebelling Greyjoys but we know that he had a younger brother who has exceedingly clever, quick of wit, a notably bookworm and has also suspect of commiting kinslayer by murdering his niece which made him hated by the nobles and the smallfolk. 4. Humfrey Hardyng: The last name is already a big thing since he and Harry is the only Hardyngs in the books but there the possible foreshadowing that just like him, Harry will be injured in the Vale Tourney. 5. Valarr Targaryen: Dark haired half Targaryen, son of the heir to iron throne, wear all black and is accompanied by a white protector. Do i need to say anything more?

2022 SEPTEMBER Ashford Tournament! (long post, scroll down for all the relevant quotes!) by @istumpysk

But they were all dead now, even Arya, everyone but her half-brother, Jon. Some nights she heard talk of him, in the taverns and brothels of the Ragman's Harbor. The Black Bastard of the Wall, one man had called him. - The Blind Girl, ADWD x Six pups they'd found in the late summer snows, him and Robb; five that were grey and black and brown, for the five Starks, and one white, as white as Snow. - Jon XII, ASOS x The last pavilion was Prince Valarr's. Of black silk it was, with a line of pointed scarlet pennons hanging from its roof like long red flames. The shield on its stand was glossy black, emblazoned with the three-headed dragon of House Targaryen. One of the Kingsguard knights stood beside it, his shining white armor stark against the black of the tentcloth. [...] And the black-and-white knight, Lord Gawen Swann, challenged the black prince with the white guardian. - The Hedge Knight

That last line makes me laugh each time. Why do we even need any meta lmao.

2023 NOVEMBER lysa wanted to marry sansa and robert arryn, does that debunk the ashford theory?

...Sansa is about to be present at a tourney in TWOW, she's talking about her favor, there's this whole pre canon thing about a Stark girl and Targ at a tourney, so it doesn't feel weird to think maybe Sansa was on Martin's mind. And of course, in canon, Sansa is the maiden fair which is interesting when the Ashford girl is referred to as fair maid, and this idea of a revolving door of champions is very reminiscent of Sansa's unfortunate experiences thus far, with men who help her, fail her/hurt her, and then on to the next (the Hound, Tyrion, Dontos, LF...). A potential match with Sweetrobin doesn't feel like an obstacle to everything that does make this feel like a thing, especially when, it is not merely the matching names that connect the two, it's the details that create all sorts of parallels with Jon, making him seem like the canon Targ this will ultimately be about. Let's revisit that revolving door of "champions" for Sansa, who is the guy who killed her monster in canon?

2024 JANUARY Sweetrobin also doesn't count as a suitor because... by @catofoldstones

2024 MARCH The Ashford Theory and my patience running thin by @catofoldstones

[much more!]

2024 APRIL Jon or Aegon Gifset

2025 JUNE baelor breakspear at the tourney at ashford meadows by @transdimensional-void

something that stood out to me about the manner of baelor's death at the tourney is how reminiscent it is of rhaegar's death at the trident. [... ] it's also notable that baelor's name is linked to the story of bael the bard, yet nothing we know about baelor himself calls to mind any part of that myth, except perhaps the part about him being murdered by a family member. rhaegar, on the other hand, is one of the series's best-known bael the bard figures. [...] if baelor is meant to call to mind rhaegar, then it seems very likely that baelor's son, valarr, is meant to call to mind rhaegar's son...

Obviously this isn't comprehensive, but I wanted to collect a variety of posts on this topic into one spot, so we could easily see how it evolved. While reading through old Jonsa blogs to find these posts, I was really struck by the way the initial "it's the names" was enough to convince a lot of people of the possibility of canon Jonsa, but then, instead of it ending there, Jonsas just kept on growing the theory. As recently as this week we're getting new posts about it, strengthening the theory even though it is now nearly 13 years since that initial observation was made.

(Illustration at the top by Howard Pyle )

#jonsa #book jonsa #ashford theory #I really tried to keep this within reason so people could get through it all and then still linked 40+ posts 🫣😂

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dunmesh · 1 year ago

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laios and shuro's relationship is so important to me it's not funny anymore... the fact shuro kept believing in laios during the latter part of the manga, then searched for him after laios became a monster and defeated the winged lion- although it was unclear what exactly had become of him- is haunting me because of how it contrasts with him choosing to give up on saving falin after he saw her as a chimera. like, laios was so sure that their fight in chapter 38 was the end of their friendship while in reality it was the beginning of it in shuro's eyes. laios kept agonizing over losing the one friend he cared for the most but it's because he didn't understand the significance of that little thing he kept carrying with him in every step until the very end of the series: the bell.

shuro gave him that bell as a token of his trust in him and his love: "we grew apart and i'm no longer fit for the position by your side, but no matter how far you go, i'll be there for you when you need me". their conflict over how to deal with falin forced them to go in different directions, but despite accepting leaving falin behind, shuro couldn't bring himself to abandon laios as well. and it's no coincidence that the bell shuro gave him was the proof that laios was still alive after all that happened, or that it's what pushed mithrun and kabru to go deeper into the dungeon instead of returning to the surface (which quite literally changed the entire chain of events afterwards).

yes, shuro decided to stop pursuing falin and report her condition to the governor so she could be stopped, even at the cost of her life. he gave up on her. but the same man also defied the canaries and fought for laios without knowing how messed up things had gotten because he chose to believe in laios above all else. and that, in my opinion, solidified just how important laios became to him- more than falin's, more than his own life, it's laios's he didn't give up on.

at the very end, when he met laios again after the latter defeated the winged lion, he gave him a hug filled with the pure, unrestrained joy of seeing his first and best friend on the island alive and well. hell, i mean, it's easy to forget that shuro didn't really have anyone close to him too- and laios might very well be the first person he was this disgustingly direct and truthful with since he was a child. and when he goes back home, there won't be anyone else like laios there; his home is still the same. it's him that changed. and later on when he will recall all those years he spent on the island, he will realize how surprising it is that all the crazy stuff he witnessed don't hold a candle to the impact those few people he befriended there had on him.

of course, laios didn't realize it until then- shuro's reaction was indeed the one that surprised him the most- but at that moment he could absolutely feel how foolish he was to be so sure he will be hated and rejected after everything they went through. it's so important that it was shuro who greeted him so affectionately, after we saw laios brooding over their fight so much: it's shuro's acceptance that he was longing for the most.

with all that being said, the one last thing that drives me crazy is that the bell laios was given to use when he needed assistance most was still with him even after turning back into his human form. that tiny item he was shown to be quite careless with and yet never let go of until he wanted to be completely alone, thinking he should run away from everyone he loved; but it was too late, his friend already heard his cry for help.

and they all answered.

#😃😭😭😭😭#dungeon meshi #laios touden #toshiro nakamoto

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rooksamoris · 5 days ago

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this is an analysis of jamil's solo song snippet!! im going by the fan translation of the wonderful @winterspellsfrozenkit who has provided fan translations of the other snippets as well!! without further ado, here is a copy of their translation followed by the analysis.

蛇と瞬き-JAMIL:

Jewels and magic cannot Fulfill the wishes in me Knowing no end To days filled with misery. Gasping as I just try to breathe Desires creeping out, trying to leave The more that I desire, The more narrow this place is The light will never fade in me My anger will never cease to be If only I could expose it all Ah ah ah! A shadow is dancing Listen to the insatiable voice Freedom’s in my hand, Like I’m cursing and To the end I’ll FLY-yah-yah Ah ah… Not enough to get by-ah-ah The Snake and Blink

let's do a line by line analysis of the song and then i'll share my thoughts!!

"jewels and magic cannot/fulfill the wishes in me" immediately what comes to mind is marx's theory of commodity fetishism which he writes about in capital volume one.

"A commodity appears, at first sight, a very trivial thing, and easily understood. Its analysis shows that it is, in reality, a very queer thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties. So far as it is a value in use, there is nothing mysterious about it, whether we consider it from the point of view that by its properties it is capable of satisfying human wants, or from the point that those properties are the product of human labour" Karl Marx, Das Kapital

basically, commodity fetishism is what happens when we value commodities outside of the labor that goes into creating them. it is most blatant with things like designer items because we are so separated from the labor and yet put some idealist value onto the product for the label. commodity fetishism begins in the supply chain when the capitalist, who owns the means of production, separates the commodity from the laborers who make it. it happens when you purchase clothes and don't acknowledge the labor and raw material extraction that went through making those clothes.

in this case, jamil is acknowledging that commodities are not what he wants, even though in his book seven dream we see that he merely replaces his hierarchical position with that of the al-asim family, whom he is loyal to through the caste system. deep down, jamil knows that it is not what will fulfill him which is why in the wish event all he asks for is one trip where he can go some place where no one knows him and the curse of his caste lineage cannot oppress him. what jamil wants is freedom, not wealth and power.

jamil himself deals with commodity fetishism, in which his labor/labor power is the commodity. his time, effort and his very life are commodities, and because of this, he is heavily alienated from his work and others. jamil's position in society allows for him to be dehumanized and that is an alienating experience. he is nothing more than what he can bring kalim.

"Presupposing private property, my work is an alienation of life, for I work in order to live, in order to obtain for myself the means of life. My work is not my life. Secondly, the specific nature of my individuality, therefore, would be affirmed in my labour, since the latter would be an affirmation of my individual life. Labour therefore would be true, active property. Presupposing private property, my individuality is alienated to such a degree that this activity is instead hateful to me, a torment, and rather the semblance of an activity. Hence, too, it is only a forced activity and one imposed on me only through an external fortuitous need, not through an inner, essential one. My labour can appear in my object only as what it is. It cannot appear as something which by its nature it is not. Hence it appears only as the expression of my loss of self and of my powerlessness that is objective, sensuously perceptible, obvious and therefore put beyond all doubt" Karl Marx, Comment on James Mill

the last line heavily applies to jamil since his work, serving the al-asim family, is a loss of himself. he lowers himself, his intelligence, his abilities, and his strength for the sake of kalim. he is powerless in this situation, as he has stated previously, since upsetting kalim's father could drag his entire family into the streets or worse. his work is not something he does because he sees value in it for the betterment of society or for personal enlightenment, but because he is forced to.

a lot of this can be attributed to the english translation being so bad and censoring so much?? here's some examples that come to mind!!

chalking things up to just "im loyal to kalim" really lowers the stakes and it blurs how bad things truly are for jamil.

"Knowing no end/To days filled with misery" i find this issue comes a lot with the fandom, but we forget that jamil born into an unfair caste system and has no real way out of it. his suffering is endless and if he marries and has children, he will just be dragging them down with him.

unlike a wage laborer, jamil is stuck working for the al-asim family because of his lower caste. we don't know if he earns money at all, but i highly doubt it. his situation is like other caste situations in which he and his family have their home tied to the al-asim's. jamil is doing "well" but at the price that his family serves kalim's. sure, he is housed and fed, but at the cost that his life be at risk to save kalim's. since caste is tied to lineage and tradition, there really is no escape for jamil from this.

also, reminder that if jamil literally dies taste-tasting something for kalim, there will be no consequences. imagine being a child and learning that another kid's life is more sacred than yours because of your unlucky birth?

"When one individual inflicts bodily injury upon another such that death results, we call the deed manslaughter; when the assailant knew in advance that the injury would be fatal, we call his deed murder. But when society places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death, one which is quite as much a death by violence as that by the sword or bullet; when it deprives thousands of the necessaries of life, places them under conditions in which they cannot live – forces them, through the strong arm of the law, to remain in such conditions until that death ensues which is the inevitable consequence – knows that these thousands of victims must perish, and yet permits these conditions to remain, its deed is murder just as surely as the deed of the single individual; disguised, malicious murder, murder against which none can defend himself, which does not seem what it is, because no man sees the murderer, because the death of the victim seems a natural one, since the offence is more one of omission than of commission. But murder it remains." Conditions of the Working Class in England, Friedrich Engels

i share this quote with you guys because i want to remind you all, if jamil dies in service of kalim, it is murder since people knew it was possible that he would die. i remind you of this argument because further lyrics have a more revolutionary spirit to them. what jamil did was wrong, but violence only creates more violence, and violence against one's oppressor and oppressive state is a reaction, not unwarranted. poverty and caste are violent. it is my belief that if someone dies in poverty because of the state's refusal to provide these people with healthcare, housing, or food, it is murder with the blood being on the hands of the state.

in this case, the violence done to jamil is due to caste. there is a constant threat of his family being thrown to the streets if he dares to rebel. jamil has been doing an adult's work since before he could properly even reach over the stove. what jamil did was cruel, knowing that kalim trusted him, he betrayed him, but that betrayal did not come from a place of pure malice. as a child, he knew kalim was deemed more important than him and was stripped of his autonomy because of it.

"Gasping as I just try to breathe/Desires creeping out, trying to leave/The more that I desire,/The more narrow this place is" here, jamil is restarting his desires and depicting his life experience as suffocating. he desires just as anyone else does, but he has no means of reaching these desires.

marx writes a lot on the way "want" is a motivation which keeps the workers alienated and working for the possibility of earning enough to enjoy the things that bring true fulfillment in life.

"Self-renunciation, the renunciation of life and of all human needs, is its principal thesis. The less you eat, drink and buy books; the less you go to the theatre, the dance hall, the public house; the less you think, love, theorise, sing, paint, fence, etc., the more you save – the greater becomes your treasure which neither moths nor rust will devour – your capital. The less you are, the less you express your own life, the more you have, i.e., the greater is your alienated life, the greater is the store of your estranged being. Everything ||XVI| which the political economist takes from you in life and in humanity, he replaces for you in money and in wealth; and all the things which you cannot do, your money can do. It can eat and, drink, go to the dance hall and the theatre; it can travel, it can appropriate art, learning, the treasures of the past, political power – all this it can appropriate for you – it can buy all this: it is true endowment. Yet being all this, it wants to do nothing but create itself, buy itself; for everything else is after all its servant, and when I have the master I have the servant and do not need his servant. All passions and all activity must therefore be submerged in avarice. The worker may only have enough for him to want to live, and may only want to live in order to have that." Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, Karl Marx

ultimately, these wants further push us into positions of submission to capitalism and labor. it is like the concept of working to live. you do labor, have your surplus value extracted, and maybe eventually you'll get the chance to take your family on a nice vacation. since jamil is not a wage laborer, and instead a member of a servant caste, this manifests a bit differently in his case, but marx's point of self-renunciation still applies. jamil is a creative person, like we know he is good at dancing and cooking, but the latter is in service of kalim and the former he tries to lower to not outshine kalim. he has the ladder to reach for the stars but he isn't allowed to.

he is alienated from himself in this way. i don't think anyone just performs their creative arts for the sake of praise, but praise is nice. artists post their art, writers post their writings, dancers and actors and singers perform, because art is something to be shared. art is also something which is infamously bought and gate-kept by the wealthy.

how much has jamil really been able to explore his creative passions? every waking hour is spent making sure kalim is alive and satisfied. kalim can dance and make music because he has the time and resources to, jamil has much less of that since his existence is tied to the well-being of kalim. his "passions are submerged in avarice" because it is through wealth and visibility that kalim get the time for his art, which is exactly what jamil does not have. it makes the point of his book seven dream so much more interesting, because even though he truly does not wish for wealth, but instead freedom, subconsciously, he acknowledges the power and blessing that is great wealth.

what jamil is saying here is that the more that he wants, the more that he yearns and longs for things, such as freedom, the more suffocated he becomes. capitalism creates the disparities for this want to exist, waves possibilities around, and then pulls the goal post further and further from us. jamil sees the freedom of others every day, he sees the privilege of kalim all the time, and the finish line just gets farther and farther away from him. "this place" becomes more and more narrow the bigger he dreams, so he may as well make himself and his ambitions as small as possible to fit into his caste.

"The light will never fade in me/My anger will never cease to be/If only I could expose it all" here jamil acknowledges that despite his attempts to not want, to make himself smaller for the sake of kalim, his desires will truly never cease, nor will his anger.

"if only i could expose it all" is a rebellious cry and it makes me wonder if the caste system is deemed unacceptable by others. is this, like in our world, an archaic form of oppression that people deem barbaric? or is he talking about exposing his resentment and finally taking back his autonomy by violent means?

"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes." The Manifesto of the Communist Party, Marx and Engels

marx is not saying that revolution is inevitable, but that it is always a possibility, and if revolution does not happen, the oppressed class will just be further oppressed. jamil is the oppressed and the al-asim family are the oppressors. as we see, he is fearful of what could happen of kalim's father got wind of him rebelling. jamil's overblot was the manifestation of all the violence done to him, releasing in a violent revolutionary act. what he did was cruel, but i would argue it is even more cruel to let a child believe that his life is lesser than that of his peer.

now im gonna get into frantz fanon and the wretched of the earth, i couldn't help myself </3

"And it is clear that in the colonial countries the peasants alone are revolutionary, for they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The starving peasant, outside the class system, is the first among the exploited to discover that only violence pays...The exploited man sees that his liberation implies the use of all means, and that of force first and foremost... non-violence. In its simplest form this non-violence signifies to the intellectual and economic elite of the colonized country that the bourgeoisie has the same interests as they and that it is therefore urgent and indispensable to come to terms for the public good." The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon

these lines read to me like a cry for freedom. it is the young revolutionary raising his gun in the face of his oppressor, it is the peasants arming burning down the manor, the villagers destroying the basileos's estate and taking the economy and politics in their own hands. his anger will never be satisfied until he gets what he is owed, his very own life. all those years spent taking care of kalim have just been years of the constant reminder of his status.

under a caste system, your lineage is what decides your fate, and for jamil that means he will serve the al-asim's till he dies. he cannot escape this. many caste systems, such as the one in yemen, make it so that you cannot even marry out of your caste, and no matter how much wealth you accumulate, you will still be considered a member of the servant caste. while it is fun to imagine jamil marrying out of his caste and moving away somewhere, the reality is that it is most likely not plausible. his parents probably married because they were both in the same servant caste, and if he ever ended up married, it would probably be to someone in his same caste.

i've repeated it a million times, but there is no escape. he is suffocating and violence is the only way out, it seems.

"A shadow is dancing/Listen to the insatiable voice/Freedom’s in my hand, /Like I’m cursing and/To the end I’ll FLY-yah-yah/Ah ah… Not enough to get by-ah-ah" for the sake of time, i'm going to analyze this all together since i feel like i've been writing this since the release of those snippets.

now, the shadow can be many things. im most convinced it is referring to the manifestation of his resentment, the overblot phantom. @estcaligo has this post discussing blot as a physical manifestation and the cultural depictions of negative emotions as something physical. and i reblogged it with this post adding onto the islamic/sufi depiction of nafs and how it relates to overblot.

here's what i said on the topic and i will relate it back to these last few lines of the fan translation:

"the word nafs is derived from nafas which means breathing. nafs, colloquially means self/person. for example, in my dialect of arabic, we say "nafsi" to mean "myself" since the "ee" sound makes a phrase possessive. theologically, nafs is most often referring to the soul. i think the idea of nafs coming from the word nafas/breathing is important in this case. you breath in and out. you take in and then you release. in islam, nafs is cannot be bad or good or beautiful and so on, but it is more like your health, something you nurture. you feed your nafs bad things, it will have a bad reaction and release bad into the world. when it comes to the blot and overblot in twst, we can imagine the blot accumulation is their nafs being corrupted and their overblot is the release of their tainted nafs. the whole idea of the phantoms being created from the blot, and the characters having to fight them off (like jamil arguing with his phantom that he is not imprisoned like a genie). this concept exists within the quran, the idea of battling that which corrupts your nafs through jihad. and no, not jihad like the crusades, but general struggle. jihad just means struggle... ultimately, this struggle is what helps clear the nafs of corruption, and when we battle the mages who have overblotted, we are faced with the negative emotions which led them there, and they struggle against them to survive."

the blot is fed by external experiences that deepen the negative feelings of the mages, which corrupts their magic. for example, leona has a scene of blot accumulation when jack says something that reminds him of his elder brother, who he resents.

right after this, the ink spills.

like leona and the others, jamil's blot has been fed by all sorts of negative experiences which nurtured the seeds of his resentment until it grew too much to be held within the confines of his soul, and so it burst and released into the form of the phantom. this is exactly the way nafs is depicted in islam. to counteract it, you try to feed your nafs good things.

the negative voices in jamil's head, the voices of his parents and the figures of authority who keep stacking heavier things onto the boulder he's rolling up the mountain fighting against his reason. the "insatiable voice" is the urge to just say 'fuck it' and go wild. to attack those who oppress him, to hurt kalim, the symbol of his disenfranchisement, and forget about his responsibilities to his family. it's tragic. "freedom's in my hand" at the cost of so much, but he has been pushed to the point where it seems worth it to just release it all. he wants to drop the boulder and let it crush whoever was climbing the mountain behind him. "cursing" may refer to the cost of his freedom.

like he says, he cannot just drag his family into the streets for his own freedom. imagine the devastation of his family, of his sister if he decided to defect. they would face the consequences of his actions, cursed by his need for freedom, while he was off away doing whatever it is that he wanted. the cost is a curse, and it is too great.

of course, "fly" is commonly used to depict a state of transcendence and escape, so i won't stick too long on it. the next part, "not enough to get by" reminds me a lot of the story of icarus. it seems like that despite his desire for freedom, jamil subconsciously sees it as a doomed ambition. even if he does fly, his wings will melt. something will pull the ladder out from under him as he reaches to grasp the stars, something will grab him by his hair and drag him back down the hellish life he's been living.

i've been wracking my brain for a while about "the snake and blink" part of the song and here's the ideas i've got so far before i conclude:

a) the usual christian symbolism of snakes being the temptation of knowledge, corruption--you guys know the garden of eden story. john milton's paradise lost snake.

this analysis suggests that the snake is some sort of temptation, and the moment jamil blinks, it disappears.

b) other cultures don't view snakes in a negative light. i talk about it more here, but in islamic culture, snake iconography is used in hospitals and some art depicts snakes stinging away evil spirits. the islamic story of adam and eve does not feature a snake and instead the whispers of iblis/satan.

there's the middle eastern folktale of shahmaran, queen of snakes. she is a half snake half woman creature who is never portrayed as good or bad. sometimes she is an oracle and other times she is respected or tricked into being killed. kurds specifically have her symbolize good luck and many depictions of her death regard her sympathetically.

in ancient egypt, wadjet, the cobra goddess is a protective goddess who was the nurse to the infant horus, and protected isis. in many iterations, she symbolizes greenery and fertility. the aztec deity quetzalcoatl is a "feathered snake" whose domain is rain, wind, learning and agriculture. he brings life and had a role in bringing about the world. the naga is a half-human half-cobra who is often depicted as the protector of siddhartha gautama and the buddha. they are powerful and dangerous when angered, and protective.

im gonna make a full post about snake symbolism and jamil some other day, but for now, these interpretations of the snake make things seem less sinister and more hopeful.

these snakes are instead symbolizing life, protection, and the possibility of a future, but these hopes are gone away in a blink "snake and blink" as he says at the end of the snippet.

for just a quick conclusion of my overall thoughts. i think the rest of this song will further play on this idea of freedom and desire. i like it a lot. no, i LOVEEEE it omg the vocal performance??? that high note is constantly replaying in my mind like jeez the rent was due. the themes are loyal to jamil's character and i wonder how the song will end, yk?? will any of these songs have a positive/hopeful conclusion? personally, i think i prefer the ideas of all the threads not being completely tied. as much as i felt sad during the kalim and jamil interactions in book five, i felt like it was best that it ended that way. i agreed with silver's "let them fight it out" sentiment during book seven as well because i dont think anything can truly fix the issues between them.

IM DONE!! hope you guys enjoyed this long ass analysis of that like less than two minutes snippet of jamil viper's solo song!! idk if i have the energy to do the other ones as well, but malleus' and leona's brought some interesting eco-criticism stuff to mind.

#💝 — lore and theories #twisted wonderland #jamil viper #twst analysis #twst jamil #leona kingscholar #twst spoilers #jamil solo song #malleus draconia #mythology #culture #karl marx #friedrich engels #frantz fanon #twst x reader #jamil viper x reader

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its-me-your-bicon · 3 months ago

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Jealousy, Jealousy - Sam Wilson x Reader

Summary: As Joaquín spends more and more time with you and Sam, the latter begins to feel nothing sort of positive at the new friendship forming in Captain America’s new team.

Word count: 2550.

She/her pronouns used for reader.

Warnings: Pre-relationship; Alcohol mentions.

Author’s notes: No BNW spoilers! I’m so glad to be back 🤭 reblogs and comments are appreciated in case you enjoy the story!

You met Joaquín through Sam and without really planning it instantly became friends. He made it easy, really. Joaquín was a kind, talkative and excitable young man. Although it was for work, Sam knew you two would get along, but not quite like this.

The three of you were sitting in a bar, Joaquín gloating about the success of their last mission. You could only smile while listening to him, just like Sam would’ve done if he wasn’t busy working on Redwing.

“Uhh, I love this song!” Said the young man sitting next to you “C’mon, (y/n) let’s dance!” He offered you his hand, a salsa song starting to play in the background.

Sam looks up at that and how you smiled incredulously at him before you accepted, which Sam miss purposely interpreted as you blushing at the invitation. He continued working, looking at you and Joaquín dancing every now and then.

The song ends, and Joaquín whispers something in your ear before walking to the barman. You walk up to Sam instead.

“He’s getting us some drinks. I’m assuming a beer for you?” You let him know.

“Right…” Says Sam before putting on a smirk for show. “Didn’t know you had that in you. Great footwork out there.”

“Thanks?” You say laughing with your brows furrowed at him. “I can always teach you if you’re interested.” You offer.

“Nah, I’ll let the spotlight to you youngsters this time.” He smiles genuinely this time.

You roll your eyes. You’re older than Joaquín but still younger than Sam, and sometimes he just wouldn’t let it go.

“Didn’t know you inherited Steve’s age with the mantle.” you joked. “No drinks for you then, old man?”

Sam chuckles at your poor attempt at a joke, but you don’t know that, so you chuckle along, just as Joaquín comes with the glasses and falls back in conversation with you.

Sam and you have been close since your Avenger days, flirty even, as Sam feels he has been shooting his shot forever; But it seemed like something always stands in the way of you two getting together. Sam hates the idea that Joaquín could be the one thing telling him to quit. He doesn’t dare to pry on whatever relationship is developing between the two of you, and he’s not the type who would date a past fling of the young falcon.

He sighs and drinks in silence, going unnoticed by the two of you at the moment.

###

You ended up in the infirmary a few days later, with just a few scratches, as you would describe it. Sam figured he should bring you some flowers (your favorites at that), considering it was under his orders that you got hurt. So he walks up to your room, not knowing that a certain someone is already sitting next to you.

Sam stops himself to assess the situation, just barely out of view from you two. Joaquín is telling you something, his hands moving in an exaggerated manner as a way to aid him in his story. Meanwhile, Sam looks at your perfect smile and listens to your boisterous laugh… The only thing he can recognize among the conversation.

He doesn’t wish to intrude, so he backs away and asks a nurse to deliver the flowers to you. No tag or letter with his name.

###

The next time you get to see Sam was in his base of operations. You were standing in front of his suit as he quietly entered and saw the scene.

“Feeling better, Sugar?” You look behind you at the sound of his voice, “You’re in one piece, I see. That’s good…”

“Yeah… I’ll live,” you said with a smile on your face.

“What are you doing here so early, anyways? I thought we’d meet later after lunch.” Sam wonders.

“Oh nothing, just reminiscing about the past… it’s kind of a habit whenever a concussion wears out.” You say absently, trying to laugh about yourself.

Sam doesn’t find it funny, all things considered. But he humors you with a smirk and a shake of his head.

“I’m still wrapping my head around working under another Captain America and his new Falcon.” You admit, “But it’s been… Fun, I guess.”

“Fun? Seriously?” Sam looks at you like you’re crazy. “Better keep that in mind next time I call you for backup. ‘She does not take this line of work seriously.’” He pretends to write in an invisible notebook.

You come close to him with a tight smile and punch his shoulder, “I’m serious, Sam!” You continue. “I’m just glad I get to spend time with you and Joaquín… It eases my mind that we can have fun after the show is over. Considering there’s so much gloom in the world lately.”

There it is. Even though he shouldn’t, Sam feels a certain something every time you mention Joaquín, as he used to be the one to make you laugh the most when he was the Falcon. He thinks especially of the time when you were fugitives… When he could see your eyes spark with a special something every time you were assigned on missions together. But those days are gone, and he has to be a different man now that he is Captain America. He supposes Joaquín is as good as any in replacing him if he could ignite that something in you. Doesn’t make the realization hurt any less, though.

“Sam…” you get his attention among all that thinking in his head, “what’s going on? You seem to zoom out lately whenever we talk…”

“I—” but he never gets to finish that sentence, as Joaquín enters the room quite loudly, as usual.

“Oh! Hi everyone!” He flashes a smile along with that greeting, “I guess we all had the same idea of getting together for lunch. Nice!”

“Joaquín, we are not really—”

“No, no, it’s cool. I brought enough food and snacks for everyone.” Joaquín lifts the couple of bags that occupy his hands. You smile at his antics as Sam fights the urge to roll his eyes.

“Suit yourselves. I have somewhere else to be before our meeting.” That was a lie. One that comes to Sam from a place of comradeship with you and Joaquín. Definitely not jealousy. Besides, it’s too early to get his ears talked off by your conversations with the Falcon.

He somehow regrets having introduced you two, but not for reasons he thinks or is willing to admit.

He doesn’t get to see your frown of sorrow as he gets out of the room…

###

Another day, another mission Sam was ready to embark with his partner.

“No (y/n) today?” Joaquín asks.

“Not today. She’s been sent away for another raid.” Sam says to him.

“Oh.”

“Figured she would’ve told you.”

“Not a word.”

“Not a good look, Torres.”

“What— Whatever do you mean by that?” Inquires Joaquín, genuinely curious.

“I mean, I just thought you two were close like that… She passed by to say goodbye to me.”

“That’s good, right? She knows you for longer. It’s only natural.” he states as if it was obvious.

“Yeah, but if you really want to keep her interested, it’s the little things such as knowing her schedule that would do the trick,” Sam explains to him, willing to give Joaquín a little push to what he thinks is inevitable.

“What are you on, Sam? I wouldn’t dare to meddle in between you two. That’s crazy!”

“What? There’s nothing between us.”

“Dude!” Joaquín stops walking as he hears him, “Oh man… I really screwed up, haven’t I? It’s so obvious, I thought— Never mind.” He takes a deep breath, “Look, I have nothing going on with (y/n), and I think it’s insane you two aren’t together! I mean, the way you look at her…”

Sam thinks about it long and hard. Could Joaquín be right? He guesses anything is possible, given his history with you. But even if Joaquín isn’t interested in you, it doesn’t mean there’s no interest the other way around…

“Cap?” Says Joaquín next to him.

“Let’s not talk about that. There’s work ahead of us.”

###

Joaquín should’ve let it go like Sam asked. But how could he live with himself knowing you and him haven’t confessed your feelings for each other? He swears he’s been shipping you guys since before he entered the air force.

So, as soon as you were back in DC, he gets the two of you to meet at the central base.

-quick!! There’s been a breach in security. Meet you in 5 (18:49)

Or something like that. You and Sam are used to Joaquín’s antics. He can send a message like that, and you can’t tell whether it is serious or not. Sam has given up on talking him out of it.

You were the first to get to the place… only to be joined by Sam a few minutes later. The two of you stare at each other for a while, only you greet him with a wave of your hand and a smile before speaking your mind.

“Sooo you think Joaquín will show anytime soon? It sounded quite serious…” you said, not as convinced, but you couldn’t let the silence fill the room any longer.

“The hell if I know.” Spouts Sam, “That kid’s been getting on my nerves lately.”

“Believe me, I noticed.” You laugh.

Sam is left wondering about the true meaning behind that statement. Could you mean just the simple banter they have together every other day or the conflicted feelings he’s been harboring as of late?

Before he can ask you about it, red lights fill the room as you hear the doors and windows close under the safety protocol. Joaquín’s voice can be heard soon after:

“Yoo, can you guys hear me?”

“Yes, kid. We can hear you.” Sam groans, “Mind telling us why you got us here in the first place?”

“Oh yeah, of course. I mean— I just thought we could test the emergency program, and you two have lots to talk about while we are at it!” As confused as you are, you can picture Joaquín’s smile as he says this information, “Two birds with one stone, am I right?” He claps as he finishes.

Sam closes his eyes and exhales a deep breath of frustration. There’ll be lots to talk about between him and Joaquín once this is all over.

“Sam?” he looks in your direction as you come close to him, “Have any idea what he’s talking about? I mean, I was only gone for one month… Nothing remarkable about it.”

“Just ignore him. He’s playing us right now.” Sam assures you as you hear an ‘ouch’ from Joaquín on the speakers.

“Alright, I’ll give you two some privacy.” You hear Joaquín say before turning off the connection.

For a few minutes, there’s really nothing to say. Joaquín swears he’s not listening to you, so you think he’ll let you out eventually. Talk or not talk. Sam, however, is not as patient and walks up to the computers to try and cancel the procedure.

“Sam, I don’t think that’s necessary—”

“That damn kid blocked access from the inside! Unbelievable…”

You chuckle, and oh boy, if looks could kill… Sam is not at all impressed with your reaction.

“You were in it too?”

“What? Of course not. I just got here!” You defend against his accusation.

For a while, there is only silence. You couldn’t know for sure what Joaquín wanted out of the situation, but you supposed there are a couple things you haven’t talked about with Sam since Joaquín was always around nowadays… As mad as he was, it was nice, like in the old times, to spend some time with him.

“Sam…”

“Hmmm?”

“I know it was you who sent me those flowers.” You started. He looks at you a little softer now, listening to your every word, “Not a lot of people know my favorites. And I remember having told you in Greece.”

“You did…”

You come closer to where he’s standing and grab one of his arms.

“Why didn’t you come? I know you’re busier now and all but… I would’ve loved to get them from you personally.” Your smile is contagious, and it gets to Sam before he speaks.

“You seemed to be in good company at that moment… I didn’t want to intrude.”

“You mean Joaquín?” You say, going back to that day in your head.

“The one and only.” He sighs.

“Why is he such a touchy subject for you lately?” You start by asking, “He’s your partner…”

“I have nothing against the kid.” Except for your current situation, perhaps.

“Then what is it?” You grab Sam’s chin so he’s looking at you, not to the side, in a cloud of frustration.

“I just…” He thinks he might regret it but says it anyway. “It’s just weird seeing you two so close like that, y’know?”

You frown, more full of questions than before, “I don’t. Please, enlighten me.”

“I guess I just miss the old times… when I’d see your smile go my way almost every day.” It’s hard to look in your eyes when he says it, but he powers through.

You on the other hand, start laughing at his statement. Not at him, per se. But it’s a distinction Sam doesn’t know about.

“You’re so unserious!” He says as you hold your stomach in laughter.

“Sorry, I’m sorry, Sam.” There’s still laughter in your voice as you apologize, “Is the great Sam Wilson jealous?”

“I wouldn’t say—”

“You are! You absolutely are!” You felt bad at finding this entertaining, but how could you not? Captain America was jealous of his own protégée.

“Okay, okay, and what if I am?” He finally gets the word, “Does it change anything between us?”

You smile at him, loving this vulnerable side of him you don’t get to see often.

“It does.”

And just like that, you grab his face and put his forehead against yours. Enjoying the feeling until you get even closer for a kiss. It’s slow at first. Tentative, even. But once Sam grabs you by your hips and follows your cue, everything falls into plan. You two have been close, but never like this. The kiss expresses all those thoughts and feelings kept deep down in favor of saving the world, always in such a fragile state, a reflection of your own relationship with each other.

“Now I get to do that, knowing you feel the same for me as I do you.” You say, referring to the kiss you just broke. Making Sam smile incredulously at you.

“Oh, NOW you get the credit for moving this relationship forward. Not like I’ve been trying for years or anything…” Sam exclaims with still the silliest smile on his face.

“You may not like what I’m about to say, but technically, Joaquín gets the credit for making this moment possible…”

“Girl, shut up!” You laugh until he captures your lips again.

“Wait, she’s right! You know she is!” Joaquín speaks through the comms.

You laugh, supporting your head on Sam’s shoulder, while Sam gives a murderous stare towards the cameras in the room.

“I’m going to kill that kid.”

#sam wilson x reader #captain america x reader #marvel x reader #avengers x reader #mcu x reader #sam wilson imagine #captain america imagine #marvel imagine #avengers imagine #mcu imagine #sam wilson fanfiction #captain america fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #mcu fanfiction #avengers fanfiction #my fics

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red5cars · 2 months ago

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happy easter to those who celebrate.

tags: lingerie, power imbalance (but not really), implied age gap, drinking mention

“c’mon price, we had a bet.”

you sit there in his bed, waiting impatiently for the man of the hour to come out of his bathroom. looking back, you don’t know how you ended up here, your captain’s bedroom. it started after some op months ago, clinking your glasses together at the crummy bar by the base. the night got a little foggy as you kept downing drink after drinking. all you can remember is waking up in his bed the next morning, your insides feeling as if you taken a battering ram rather than your captains cock (and, whose to say they’re any different?)

it was supposed to be a one time thing, price discussing how it would be inappropriate to fuck his sergeant. days later, you managed to squirm your way back into his bed and days after that he squeezed his way into yours. the inappropriate-ness of it all just made it more enticing.

today marks what you think is your 20th visit to his flat, dressed in nothing but his shirt. you’ve just begun to keep some clothes at his place, but you enjoy the way his pupils expand when he sees you in one of his. he’s like a wolf, territorial.

except, he won’t be today.

“price,” you say his name again, hoping the door will open or he’ll respond. preferably the former.

expectantly, he goes with the latter, “i don’t want to come out,” it has you rolling your eyes, his tone reminiscent of a petulant child rather than an esteemed captain. leaving your post, you walk over to the door, leaning against it.

“you’ll have to come out eventually, not good for a man of your age to stay cooped up,” his annoyed huff is audible, and you can almost hear his teeth grind together, “besides, you’re not one to go back on your word, are you?”

he isn’t, and you both know it. even when there were promises he couldn’t keep he made up for it, whether it be the head of someone else or giving you £30 instead of the £10 he owed a month ago. that’s why it makes this all the more delicious because as much as price hated it, you knew he wouldn’t back out.

another silence passes between y’all, and you begin to wonder if you pushed him too far. it’s only then that he opens the door, and you wished you pushed him farther.

there, in all his glory, is price, dressed up like a bunny. a slutty bunny.

a white lace bodysuit hugs his form with a matching garter-belt and stocking. pink accents line neckline, a sweetheart cutout that teeters more on a v-neckline with the way it plunges. and to top it all off, a fluffy bunny-ear headband adorns his crown.

it’s by far the best thing you’ve seen today, a grin comically stretching across your face.

“holy shit,” your eyes traverse up his body, noting the pink tint on his cheeks when you reach his face, “it’s better than i imagined.”

“oh fuck off you cunt,” he growls, but it’s hard to be intimidated when he looks like he should be on the cover of playboy. you let out a laugh much to his dismay, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the bathroom and towards the bed.

you let go before you reach the mattress, sitting on top of it while he stands before you, “go on, do a spin for me,” you gesture along with it, sticking out your arm and twirling your pointer finger.

his mouth sets into a firm line, and you can only imagine all the things he wants to say and do, but slowly and surely he begins to spin. it’s comical, a man like himself wearing such a dainty piece of clothing, of lingerie. the costume aspect of it adds to the humor, and you wish you didn’t swear off taking pictures.

it’s when his back faces you is the true cherry on top. there’s a cutout where his ass is, putting his hairy cheeks on display but that isn’t what you’re paying attention too. no, it’s the bunny tail thats nestled between them. if you were grinning before, you’re absolutely cheesing now.

“stop,” and he freezes, stiffening at your voice. you leave your spot on the bed, kneeling in front of his ass. your hands cup rhe two globes, fingers skimming around the hem and threatening to go under the lace. “you know, i don’t know if anyone’s told you this before, but you look quite pretty in lace.”

he attempts to huff but it comes out as a ragged breath, slightly trembling under your fingers, “you’d be the first, sgt,” he mumbles, his fists clenching by his side. you can only nod in response, before spreading his cheeks apart. that has him jolt, swatting at your hands and turning around “don’t do that.”

your hands slowly fall back onto your lap, an innocent expression crossing your face as he stares down at you, “do what?” your mocking confusion only irritates him more, and he’s turning around, stomping towards the bathroom. not eager on ending your fun so soon, you scramble up, “price-“

“can’t believe i fucking agreed to this,” he says through gritted teeth. you manage to grab his wrist, dragging him to a stop, “okay, okay i promise to be nice just, let me enjoy this a little longer,” you beg, hand worming it’s way into his, interlacing your fingers together.

he considers it, his grasp switching between tight and loose. with a sigh, he nods, turning back around for your amusement. it’s one of his greatest weaknesses, his inability to say no to you.

in return, you give him your sweetest smile, squeezing his hand before letting go and letting them explore his body. he keeps up a strong front, but shivers when you lightly trace his sides, eyes closing and opening at the feeling. they keep wandering, making their way down to his peeking cock. he’s half-way hard, but even then he’s still the size of your wrist. no surprise the body suit couldn’t contain him, the third leg he’s packing is no joke.

your thumb brushes his head and he groans, relaxing just barely at your touch. he must be going through so much, his tiny hole stuffed, balls suffocated under lace, and his cock rubbing against his thigh.

“poor bunny,” you mutter, your thumb becoming your whole hand, stroking his cock slowly, “seems we got you all worked up, haven’t we?” he doesn’t respond verbally, but the furrowing of his brow is enough.

you continue to tease him, whispering sweet things all the while one hand strokes and squeezes his cock, the other wandering, occasionally groping is ass or chest. at some point, he’s got you backed up against the doorframe, bracing himself with his forearm as he pants deeply. you’re strokes have gotten faster, his cock pulsing in your palm. a few more tight pulls is all it takes for him to cum, coating your fist as he moans into your hair.

price’s spent form slumps against you, the doorframe being the only thing preventing the both of you from falling. it’s maddening, seeing him like this. you’re tempted to pounce, but he probably wants to get out of this outfit. it’s the least you can do, seeing how you got him into it in the first place.

“well,” you begin, wiping his cum onto your shirt (his shirt), “gotta say that was better than i imagined,” you turn into the bathroom, “maybe we should have you play dress up more of-“

his hand finds the back of your shirt, yanking you towards him. even though you jerked him off no less then five minutes ago, he’s hard, stiff cock rubbing against the back of your thigh.

while not unwelcomed, it surprises you, “price-“ “quiet,” he mumbles, hands crawling underneath your shirt, squeezing the plush skin of your tummy.

“jus’ shut up, for once,” it’s said into your skin, his breath making your skin shiver. his hands trail downwards, spreading your thighs, “made me dress like a bunny, but you forgot one thing, sgt,” his voice gets lower.

“rabbits got great stamina.”

#capt price #price x reader #easter #reds writes

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romanology · 6 months ago

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which of these jegulus fics would you like me to begin writing? and/or which one is the most interesting

it turns out I can't make another poll. idk how to feel about that. anyway, well, I'll just write them down then, heehee.

also, I didn't add Winston Morgue because that one is already being written & people like it so... here is The Duality of man as well as A Shutter in the Shuddering as some morbid replacements.

LONG GREY LINE Regulus Black is a retired Lt. Col. in the army. He's blind and impossible to get along with due to his bitter nature. Draco Malfoy is at school and is looking forward to going to college. To help pay for a trip home for Christmas, he agrees to look after Regulus over Thanksgiving, as Regulus is Draco's uncle (sort of) after all, and they had never met. Draco's mother says this will be easy money, but she didn't reckon on Regulus spending his Thanksgiving in New York. [ movie reenactment - Regulus is Draco's Uncle - James comes in at the end :( though ]

CONTRA MUNDUM It's a bit of an issue when you're a month away from proposing to your girlfriend and suddenly develop a debilitating crush on the publisher of your book. [ publisher Regulus / author James - Awkward moments - Coworkers to Friends to MORE MAYBE??? ]

ANGELES' ANGEL When filming a biopic in LA, the star of the movie James Potter is playing the part of model Regulus, and upon realising he has no idea how to play Regulus, they both go for dinner to learn more about each other. For work, of course. [ famous actor James / famous model Regulus - Coffee Shop AU but it's so luxurious you can't help but hate them for it - Secret Relationship ]

SETTLE DOWN & EAT YOUR PANCAKES After getting into a car crash James finds himself unable to remember anything but his name, and, distressingly, he can't recognise his husband right in front of him. As Regulus helps the naive James, the latter begins to fall in love all over again with the love of his life. [ 50 First Dates AU - Memory loss/Amnesia - Falling in love again ]

A SHUTTER IN THE SHUDDERING When James Potter, a famous Ghost Photographer visits the so-called haunted house "Shuddering", he doesn't expect to see the face of a beautiful yet very clearly dead boy in the mirror behind him. [ nonbeliever photographer James Potter x Picture-Of-Dorian-Gray-Esque muse Regulus Black - modern gothic literature ]

DUALITY OF MAN The Bloodletter Murderer is still on the loose, and James Potter, a resident private investigator, is on the case. When the Malfoy Family is viciously murdered and Come Find Me, Jamesy is written in their blood, James decides enough is enough and brings backup on this increasingly disturbing case. Soon enough, Regulus Black, a nationally celebrated forensic scientist, is beside James while they examine the bodies of his relatives. Of course, the one thing that James doesn't know about his dear friend Regulus is that the man has a secret hobby of calligraphy. Only, the ink always seems to be in blood. [ Murder mystery except we know who the killer is - Hero / Villain ]

KISS THE CHEF Regulus is the loud and proud owner of a Michelin-star restaurant by the name of Au Bon Vivant. It's been in his family for generations, and after his eldest brother held no interest in taking it over, the reigns were given to Regulus instead. But the boy quickly found out what exactly was supplying his family with so much money over the years. [ chef Regulus Black / mafia boss James Potter - restaurant AU x mafia AU ]

MY CLOSEST YET FURTHEST FRIEND Regulus has always thought the Sun to be his only friend. Always a warm hand on his face while he goes about doing his daily duties, that is who the Sun is to him. He wants to meet the Sun, wants to meet the beauty that is that glowing brightness. Desperately, Regulus Black constructs wings to see his best friend. A pity that wax melts when too close to a fire. It turned out the Sun was James Potter, and he was so beautiful, so lovely, that it burned. [ mythology retelling - Regulus is Icarus and James is Apollo/The Sun - Sirius is Daedalus ]

A SPECTRE IS YOUR "MORTAL SOUL" There isn't enough room in this town for the both of them. When Vampire Regulus Black, posing as a Sheriff, saunters into the town of bandits looking for new prey, he doesn't realise his archenemy James Potter, a renowned Vampire Hunter, as well as actual Sheriff, is running the town. [ Western AU - Vampire / Vampire Hunter ]

IN THE CLOUDS, YOU LIVE STILL As the Wizarding War continues to surge on for far longer than anybody expected, the Death Eaters, now the losing side, lost their General, Regulus Black. Regulus, now captured and wondering if he is going to be tortured to death by some lackey, is met with horror to see James Potter, his old friend, assigned to Regulus' case without any knowledge of what, exactly, James has to do to the man he cared so much about. [ Friends to Enemies to Friends-Lovers? Forbidden Love AU ]

WRITTEN IN THE SUN (& THE STARS) After being professional (and exceeding famous) Quidditch stars, Regulus Black and James Potter finally retired after nearly fifteen years of playing. Now in their thirties, they're asked to co-teach a high-level Quidditch class in Castlebruxo. The one problem? They absolutely detest each other. [ Past-athletic rivals to friends to lovers -- Everybody Lives AU ]

#would've been a poll but #it seems i can't make any #probs because i already have one up #anyhow #jegulus #marauders era #james potter #starchaser #regulus black #fanfiction #sunchaser #sunseeker #sunkisser #regulus x james #james x regulus

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i-eat-deodorant · 1 year ago

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🎵😡❓🚶‍♂️ for any of ur characters. whichever's on your mind atm

🚶‍♂️-> for a habit-themed headcanon

Narinder rubs his wrists a lot, a habit he carried over from his TOWW days where his manacles constantly chafed at his wrists. With them gone his arms feel light, but the ache still serves as a reminder of who he once was. Rubbing provides some relief, but ends up exacerbating the problem in the long run.

When he’s anxious he also grooms himself to the point of excess, especially around his arms and shoulders. Earlier on, it wasn’t uncommon to see Narinder with missing patches of hair from where he overgroomed and licked off all the fur there. Nowadays he redirects his tick by grooming Lamb instead, but their wool is a little too thick for him to handle and he keeps getting his tongue snagged in all the fluff.

🎵 -> for a music-themed headcanon

At first, music was entirely overwhelming for him. The Gateway deadened all things living: smell, sound, sense of touch. It took him a while to even begin to tolerate the cacophony of noise that constituted music, much less enjoy it. He still prefers dead silence, but the problem with having big-ass ears like his is that he never really gets dead silence. Living is far too noisy for that.

If asked to pick a music, he is partial to the bhajans he heard back when he was a bishop. It’s familiar, even if it comes from a time that hurts to remember.

😡 -> for a headcanon about something that makes them angry

He hates being helpless. No, he doesn’t fear it, he just hates it. Nobody will pry the latter confession out of him no matter how hard they try.

That’s what power boils down to, really. What control reduces to. The ability to have the deciding factor in every situation imaginable. Death proved as reliable as it was a confounding factor—he could change the manner of death, delay it, ease it, but never stop it. That was why resurrection ended up being so tantalizing in the end; the ability to have his domain under his complete control by removing its permanence entirely. Entire legions brought back to life under his reign. He could be powerful, and his kingdom would last forever.

(He discovered, perhaps too late, that there was no state of true control. A god, reduced to chains, degraded to a mortal. Then from Lamb he learned about the little things, finding autonomy in a world where so much was out of his control. This too, was power. He serves death in life, and when inevitability comes for him eventually, he’ll die in their arms like an old friend.)

❓-> for a headcanon of the receiver's choice

No matter how badly or how often Lamb pisses him off, he can’t help but feel a sort of pride that they’re the one who’s the owner of the Red Crown. After all, he’s the one who chose them, who trained them, who’s the reason they ever got as far as they did. And if anybody can earn his respect, it’s the godslayer who killed all four of the Bishops before ousting him in a fight.

#my shit #my asks #sorry for taking this long to answer!#currently stuck in a cramped apartment w 5 others struggling with jet lag so i haven't had much time to write #but ty sm for the ask i had so much fun elaborating on some of these #definitely a cool character-building exercise

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blrecs · 1 month ago

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09/50: manic panic ("healing paradox," "color recipe")

Reader, I may have misled you with my Tumblr url, which seems to imply that everything I write up will be a recommendation. And I do endeavor to be positive. This week's entry is not a pan—far from it, I was interested in both stories and have a Lot to Say. But I come, also, armed with confusion and critique. It had to happen at some point, so it may as well be this week.

Kuroiwa Naoto is an ad man who is in need of some serious rest and relaxation. Unable to actually achieve any kind of meaningful work-life balance (this is manga Japan) and armed with a former baseball player's inherent masochism, he stumbles across Kishibe Kazuma, a chiropractor/physical therapist/masseuse hybrid who is able to immediately zero in on Kuroiwa's pain points. Their first session ends with Kuroiwa finally relaxed and fully asleep and Kishibe jerking off on Kuroiwa's face. So begins "Healing Paradox."

"Healing Paradox" is, surprisingly, Hirune Cyan's debut work, which beggars belief, because she has the veteran artist's understanding that bl is one of the genres where you can just sort of throw a thing out there and never full address it as long as you keep hitting the other genre notes. It'd be one thing to make a move on a customer, as Kishibe does by chapter two with a nipple massage that leads into full-on sex, and another, far more disturbing thing, to ejaculate on a sleeping customer without even the barest whisper of consent or fair warning. The former is business as usual; any bl that is too specific about the details of a character's profession is intending to use that profession as a lead-in to sex. The latter, on the other hand, is off-putting, even disgusting. So "Healing Paradox" wisely moves us forward very quickly, with Kuroiwa experiencing pleasure like he's never experienced under Kishibe's insistent touches, Kishibe managing to restrain himself so that Kuroiwa ultimately makes the next move, and a revelation that Kishibe and Kuroiwa met as children, in a confluence of events that set Kishibe on his current career and life path.

Kuroiwa and Kishibe's backstory is, of course, nonsensical, and I'm not just saying this because I hate when characters meeting as children is an important plot point. I emphatically love Scarlet Beriko's "Fourth Generation Head Tatsuyuki Oyamoto" after all, which features a very similar setup, where one character's childhood weakness becomes the other character's inspiration to become resilient, strong, essential. But Tatsuyuki and Nozomi met briefly in circumstances that understandably made it difficult for Tatsuyuki to recognize Nozomi, and Nozomi is straightforward when they are reunited. On the other hand, Kuroiwa and Kishibe hang out together as kids, to the point where Kishibe even practices his amateur massage skills on a young Kuroiwa, and Kuroiwa gives Kishibe a meaningful gift, and you want me to buy that Kuroiwa doesn't remember him at all?

The problem is that "Healing Paradox" is a manga of half-measures. Kishibe starts strong as a verified creep who has mansplained, malewifed, and manipulated Kuroiwa into the palm of his hands, but midway through the story Hirune Cyan gets cold feet and instead turns him into a man helpless in the face of his childhood hero, the only boy who ever showed him kindness and a weakness that could be monopolized. There's also a vagueness to Kuroiwa's character, which gestures in the direction of thwarted sports shounen dreams but has in his adult form become just another generically stressed salaryman. Without the backstory, there would be no reason for Kishibe to be interested in him, and maybe that's why Hirune Cyan went a little too hard on the childhood backstory to give cover to Kishibe's otherwise inexplicable actions.

In this way, "Healing Paradox" is like an alternate universe version of Wagase Wagimoko's "Afterglow": man has trauma, man overworks, man is picked up by an extremely hot top that rails him into health and well-being. The naivete on display by both Higuchi and Kuroiwa is concerning. But in the world of bl manga, horniness is a moral imperative—it would be wrong to break up with dick this good. Ultimately, we must conclude that the story is very simple. Kishibe is a freak and Kuroiwa really likes sex. And who are we to argue with that?

Which brings me to Harada's "Color Recipe," a manga that also features one character ejaculating on the sleeping face of another in the first chapter (and likely second as well). Harada is never one to do anything by half-measures; in fact, where other mangaka will go the whole nine yards, she will go an extra eleven just to make sure nothing outdoes her. If Kuroiwa is a workaholic, Shoukichi has based his entire life on being a hair stylist. Where Kuroiwa's past self was shounen-adjacent, Shoukichi is doggedly trying to turn "Color Recipe" into a seinen special interest manga where the sport of choice is cutting hair. And where Kishibe was a soft yandere, heavy on the "malewife," Fukusuke is blatantly a fucked-up mess. Like Kishibe, when viewed from a squinting distance, he seems better adjusted than his prickly, panicky counterpart Shoukichi, but dig too deep and you find so many landmines and maladaptive behaviors that you might as well be standing in a pit of vipers.

This may sound crazy, but walk with me: the appeal of "Color Recipe" is not dissimilar to a moral commentary/meditation like Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the d'Urbervilles." The narrative tension comes from seeing Shoukichi, the virtuous victim, dragged down by Fukusuke. We are outraged, we are repulsed, and yet we the hungry readers eat up Harada repeatedly sending Shoukichi into the lion's den of Fukusuke's psyche. Harada's theme is debasement, the erotic and repulsive appeal of one person so desperately desiring something pure that they are willing to crawl around in their own emotional filth, pulling out every underhanded trick, in order to get it. But in the process, have they irrevocably destroyed what made the object of their desire so pure, so innocent, and will either party recognize just what has happened to them both? This is love as emotional predicament bondage. Shoukichi was doomed the minute he entered into the scenario, and we watch Fukusuke and Harada tie him into knots.

I don't want or expect "Healing Paradox" to be "Color Recipe." It's enough that Harada is Harada; we don't need everyone else to be Harada. But holding "Color Recipe" up to "Healing Paradox" makes me realize I was too hasty earlier when I concluded that "Healing Paradox" is just a story about a certified freak who seduces the object of his affections and lives happily ever after in mutual horniness. If "Color Recipe" is predicament bondage, "Healing Paradox" is roleplay, maybe a little spicy ravishment fantasy, where you can engage in transgressive desires without the negative consequences. Kuroiwa can be groped and molested by his physical therapist (a very common porn trope) without it turning into assault. He can have the manipulative man who plays you like violin, and instead of it ruining his life it only improves it. He can be a totally ordinary person and still have someone extraordinary devoted to him. The healing is not just an indulgence for Kuroiwa; it is also for us.

#50 weeks 500 words #harada #hirune cyan #color recipe #healing paradox

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director-yomi-hellsmile · 1 month ago

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@makotokagutsuwuchi So I could have just made a quick list of vague Weird Stuff that DotC is comprised of but that wouldn't be nearly enough for what this blight upon the universe this arc is. You could take a shot every time something outrageous happens on page and by book 2 you could be granted either mercy; to die before you could get any further or get so wasted you forget everything you just read forever. I need to make this post a whole Thing or else I would never be free but mostly I just wanted to write it

Actual DotC post below the cut, before that some content warnings I didn't forget: colonialism, abuse including domestic & child abuse + death as result of it, descriptions of gore, torture, very violent misogyny, fatphobia, ableism, sexual assault, incestuous grooming implications, lots of cats getting maimed and killed but this one's more of a given within the series though in this case it's very influenced by previously listed things so it's kinda Worse.

I. DotC HATES adoption + Bio Family Matters Most (no matter what, no exceptions)

I think this is like, the least terrible thing about DotC only because it's overshadowed by much worse which I'll get to later.

Point is, DotC really hates adoption. It's seen as illegitimate next to Magic Genes, and that no matter whether your biological parent willingly abandoned or abused you, or perhaps beat your mother bloody several times, while your adoptive parent was the one that actually raised you or that you even knew for your entire life while your sperm donor was a complete stranger; the latter bond will always be inferior to the Special Connection you have with your ~true~ parent.

It's mainly in the arcs of Thunder, Sun Shadow (to a lesser extent), and the litter Sparrow Fur/Pebble Heart/Owl Eyes. When Thunder was like, probably a few weeks old at most, his mother died (after leaving his father because of him being violent and controlling and also getting cats mauled and killed) (her name is Storm) and they were there found by Gray Wing, Thunder's uncle, who took him to his father, Clear Sky -- however Clear Sky did not want him, so Gray Wing decided to adopt Thunder instead and raise him as his own.

Gray Wing also wasn't his sole guardian (since he doesn't have any milk) and his other parents were Hawk Swoop who has recently given birth and her mate Jackdaw's Cry. Hawk Swoop according to Thunder is nice and all but she just doesn't feel "right" because she's not his real mom, and Jackdaw's Cry never liked Thunder, he was against him even being accepted into their group as a baby and was pretty open about how he thought he was "stealing" milk from his bio kids. Thunder gets a magic dream from his dead bio mom who "feels Right and Loving" unlike his fake mom Hawk Swoop or something, in which she assures him that he will save Clear Sky, "his father" from himself one day. Which 1.) he does not know that man also he literally abandoned him and 2.) Clear Sky doesn't need "fixing" from his teenage son lmaooo but ok it's ok.

His relationship with Gray Wing is eventually strained because he can never be his Real Dad, is also pushed by Gray Wing to reconnect with him, and he eventually leaves to go join Clear Sky's camp and get to know him. Or, it's more like Clear Sky begins manipulating him by telling him that he's so strong now and how he only abandoned him as a "test" that he passed and he's worthy of his love now, that he would do so much better living in the forest with him and that he should hurry up with the goodbye and go with him already. And he makes Thunder feel good so of course he agrees and leaves with him after which he gets emotionally abused by him every single day and watches him murder people, before ending up leaving after Clear Sky shoves his face into a reeking, festering wound and dares him to lick it in front of a crowd as another part of his abuse game after he dared to question him

But like it's fineeeee. Afterwards Gray Wing is never described as his father again (the title now belongs to Clear Sky fully. Because of Magic Genes), and gets screeched at and belittled for not wanting to interact with his father (to go fetch him for something) after he's cut ties with him already, told to stop "sulking" and acting like a baby and reconcile with him already then lectured about how anger is bad and to have some pity for how hard it must be for Clear Sky right now. Fucking help me

Sun Shadow's story wouldn't be bad per se if it didn't exist in this arc (in fact it would be somewhat interesting in a different one), where every single adoptive family is portrayed as negative and biological ties as the only thing that actually matters. These aren't written in a vacuum the entire three times (we'll get to the third one momentarily) that happened someone purposefully included these to make a point cause that's how stories work. But anyway Sun Shadow's father left his mom when she was pregnant and his step-dad abused him because of course he did. He's exploring cause he got exploring blood from his Magic Genes once again and ends up running away to find the other guys his father went with (he died but Sun doesn't know) cause he felt like only he could truly understand him. Whatever moving on

Third one is. I think the actual most egregious. Sure, Thunder is constantly treated badly for not connecting and making up with Clear Sky, but like, at least they never really get close with each other afterwards if I did not forget something. Enter Sparrow Fur, Pebble Heart, and Owl Eyes, the kits of Turtle Tail and Tom; though Tom was their bio dad, they never knew him, and instead Gray Wing (again) was considered their father and raised them with Turtle Tail. They were born and brought up as Gray Wing's kits, and Tom didn't even know they existed because they hid it from him.

Some context for who Tom is and why no one (well. mostly) let that guy near Turtle Tail or the kits; he was a textbook wifebeater as other people put it, being a cat adopted into Bumble's (Turtle Tail's friend) house while Turtle Tail was staying over with her; when Gray Wing asked her what she thought of him she is noted to "hesistate" before saying that "they got along fine" while "giving her pelt a shake". Tom eventually got her pregnant and upon finding out, she said he "changed" though quickly assured Gray Wing that he didn't hurt her or anything (though we know that he did actually beat her and Bumble then). He intimidated Bumble into not telling Turtle Tail that humans typically give the kits away once they reach a certain age, and when Turtle got Bumble to eventually tell her, Turtle left them. Afterwards, Tom started taking it out on Bumble, frequently beating her bloody until she couldn't take it anymore and ran away from him, starved in the woods just so she wouldn't have to see him anymore, was denied any help by every cat she met (including Turtle) before she eventually was brutally murdered by Clear Sky. More on her later I got an entire section just on the treatment of Bumble by these books alone

Ok so. I think we can agree that he should be left out of their life right? Well NUH UH, that's wrong, because you see we have to account for the fact that he and the kids share the Magic Genes. He's their Real Daddy and they Need his special presence or else they will never be happy

Tom ends up finding the kits (after Gray Wing accidentially reveals their location to him like an idiot) and after telling them that he's their actual dad proceeds to kidnap them. Though they do come with him "willingly" because as soon as they learned this weirdass stranger is their sperm donor it's like a switch flipped and activated their sleeper agent or whatever the hell and they already care immensely for him just from knowing that. He's their Real Daddy now and Gray Wing was just Playing Pretend because he could never substitute for their Real Biological Daddy. Gray Wing is never mentioned as their father again at least in that book since Tom entered the picture because Tom is their Real Daddy Now. And actual adult cats in the group don't wanna actually take them back from him because uhh, "Now that they know he's their Real Dad™ we can't snatch them back" like it's some fucking spell??? What. And that they "have to leave them". Oh actually one of them did straight up allow one of the kits to run off into the woods to go find Tom because . He's their Real Dad. Yes let's. Let's let Tom get a hold of these three children he's famously got these very gentle and fatherly vibes also have I mentioned that he's their Real Dad actually I feel like I didn't say that enough,

Anyway I also forgot to mention that he was responsible for Turtle Tail fucking dying before he took her kits away, and that the kits must "see him as their only option (after Turtle died)" which is actually on page and it's ok it's ok. Like he got their mom killed (not directly directly but does it even matter) just like he was responsible for Bumble's death. Anyway Gray Wing and the other rescuers idk decide they can't just snatch the kits back and instead emotionally manipulate them that living as house cats is gonna just suck sooo much. Specifically they had to do that because apparently them sharing Tom's Magic Genes made them unable to ever utter a bad word about him near them and they're just so powerless to bring them home or something. But like it's ok. It's ok.

Ok anyway Tom eventually later joins Clear Sky's camp (who knew that he kidnapped kids though denied it later or perhaps got his mind wiped or something) and the kits also find out about it. And guess what nobody fucking tells them what Tom actually did, cause apparently they don't want to ruin their "Special Blood Connection" with their biodad by informing them that he BEAT THEIR MOM AND GOT HER KILLED. Thunder specifically notes that they shouldn't feel surprised if the kits "feel curiosity towards their father and even loyalty" what theftuck are you saying please can I go home. Sparrow Fur (one of the kits) eventually says that she will go looking for Tom again.

Can you go grab a snack or something now cause we;re fucking. Getting to the best part. Do you wanna know what they eventually do with Tom, you know, The Tom, Tom the Wifebeater, who has only two personality traits ever which are "cruel" and "extremely violent" with zero good traits or depth aside from that?

He gets redeemed by the narrative.

Yes he gets to have a heroic Redemption By Death while saving his daughter.

Sparrow Fur vows to Avenge Him as that's what he Deserves. He was her Real Daddy and he Truly Loved her enough to Die For Her which is what All True Bio Parents Just Do no matter what. Tom is more respected than either of the women he battered that are currently cold in their graves all because of him that he does not feel bad for At All, that he laughs about and taunts everyone on how he got away with it. You should still love your bio dad actually even if he's abusive because he's your Bio Dad who matters the most in the whole wide world . It's ok

And like, Gray Wing was never the true father of any of the kits he literally raised, be it Thunder, or Pebble Heart, Sparrow Fur and Owl Eyes, because he's not their real, biological father. The books say loudly that he does not currently have any real children to be a father to, so, they conjure up a fertile woman out of thin air to be his love interest and birth kits for him that he can experience True parenthood by raising, he deserves it, it's his reward. And then he doesn't even raise those reward babies because he dies at the end, and yet they get to be considered Gray Wing's "real kids."

So yeah uhh. I would say that's the pretty much state of adoption in DotC and well you can see that- Hold on, I just got a phone call. Oh my. Oh it appears I had made a huge oversight and forgotten the fourth example of adoption in DotC! They are Birch and Alder, adopted by Petal, one of Clear Sky's most fanatical supporters, after Clear murders their mother to steal her land and considers killing the newborns too as "mercy", before Petal and Thunder prevent him from that and so they just decide to take them. Here they never find out about their bio mother and are treated as Petal's kits, and she is praised so much by being such a great person by taking them in, while Clear Sky also steps in to help raise them, his favourite activities to do with the children who he orphaned and stole being: getting so distracted by beating one of them in front of the other that the latter is threatened by a dog while also othering both of them for not being fully camp/clanborn. But they're one of the good examples of non-campborn cats. It's so cool they got adopted it was so kind and merciful of Clear Sky to not fucking kill them as newborns after he was done with their mother, shouldn't they be just so grateful to him for taking them in. I hereby cancel all of my previous statements. This is the best positive adoption representation in any media ever it was so foolish of me to doubt their vision I fucking love DotC (you can faintly hear me brutally strangling a subordinate with my whip in a fit of blind rage)

II. Cat colonialism

This will be more brief not because I think it's not severe, but because like, what do I even say?? Makoto we got cat colonialism here. Not surprising considering their uhh, track record, but it's definitely THE most glaring in the arc of DotC specifically. It's not even subtext it's pretty explicit, actually.

A group of cats from the mountain group leave the mountains in order to live in the forest instead, which is already inhabited by other cats. They could move freely along the territories and hunt everywhere before the mountain cats came. The mountain cats frequently treated the forest and moor cats there as if they're inconveniencing them by.... I don't know, being there first. Being really aggressive and insulting towards them for not immediately moving out to accomodate for their group(s), with the emphasis on how "dirty" and "lawless" as well as uniquely brutal they all were with no culture of their own before the mountain cats came along.

Clear Sky's camp immediately establishes borders around the forest, driving out any cat in their way and continuously expanding their territory, while threatening or straight up tackling any "trespasser" the find inside or near it to the ground, if not just outright mauling or killing them. Any cat that previously lived there is forced to either assimilate into one of the mountain cats' groups or to get out; that's assuming if Clear Sky doesn't kill them for their territory before that either.

I already said that Clear Sky killed Misty, random native to steal her land and then wanted to kill her kids too to "spare them their suffering" before changing his mind and instead just taking them. Bumble is also murdered by Clear Sky because he wanted to expand his territory and she happened to just be near, it wasn't even his territory then officially he was just making it so. Wind and Gorse are cats that have been living on the moor before the mountain cats came along, but once their group (not Clear Sky's, Tall Shadow's, this one is where Gray Wing lives) decides that they want to live here, they are forced to assimilate into the group and change their names to fit there so they won't get chased out of their home for "stealing" from the mountain cats. There is a character Milkweed who is upset that Clear Sky killed her friend (the first cat listed, the one with kits), and she is told that they can "make up for the pain and suffering" by telling her to join Clear Sky's camp too. Clear Sky's. The group of a cat who killed her friend and stole her kits. And she ends up doing just that and gets treated Bad.

Two villains are conjured up into thin air to contrast Clear Sky and how he wasn't actually that bad next to them: One Eye and Slash. They are portrayed as "true, born evil", described as unwashed and stinky, with their groups having zero morals, that the mountain cats have to valiantly defend themselves from lest they plunder the land and kidnap their women and harm their children and whatever else.

To emphasize how brutish and fucked up the natives were, Slash is portrayed as perverted, domineering and child-abusing savage, who proceeds to kidnap a young pregnant woman and sensually lick her face in front of her mountain cat partner on page, which sure was one of the things I've ever read (Not the only woman he harasses/assaults on page)

Hmm I think I'm forgetting something... I keep calling them "mountain cats" though that does seem a bit clunky and I don't think it's quite right... Oh I just remembered, I guess I should mention that the "mountain cats" are unironically, deadass, in source, referred to as "The Settlers". Yes they called them The Settlers Officially. I'm not making this shit up. I just thought I should mention that right at the end

Normal series

III. Bumble

I did mention her a lot earlier. She deserves her own section. I don't even know how to start this one out. She's got to be the victim of the most SEVERE misogynistic and fatphobic writing I straight up ever saw in any media I ever engaged with. To describe her fate as "torture porn" would be horribly inaccurate as that would imply any sort of enjoyment for whatever the fuck is going on here. Child me actually stopped reading on this part I was Flabbergasted

Bumble is a sweetheart, kind to everybody she ever meets, no matter how rude they are to her. She's straight up so cheerful every time we see her, in contrast to the rest of the cast, who are significantly more serious and downright cynical slash mean-spirited. She's a house cat, and canonically described as fat and clumsy. She becomes friends with Turtle Tail, which angers Gray Wing (he is very controlling of Turtle Tail, and straight up hates Bumble for that plus is disgusted at how fat she is every time he sees her. Even sneers at her suffering), and eventually, Turtle Tail moves in with her. Tom comes along. He beats them both, and once Turtle Tail gets pregnant, he gets Bumble to stay silent (under threat of violence) about what humans plan to do with the kits once they're born -- which she does tell Turtle Tail, resulting in her leaving, which angered Tom.

He started taking everything out on Bumble every day for at least an entire month, beating up until she bled and had scratches all over her body -- she says that "he's clever enough to do it where the (humans) won't notice unless they really look hard". She ends up running away from Tom one day, finds Turtle Tail and Gray Wing (in Tall Shadow's group. mentioning her once again) and asks them if she can live with them now because she doesn't want to go back. They internally wince because they do not want her here, not caring that she's in literal danger.

Turtle Tail tells her that she would want to help her, but, Bumble would just be better off going back because she would be useless in the wild, because she's just so fat and lazy. Gray Wing internally agrees, noting how fat Bumble is, and how she would be nothing but a burden, especially now that she has been so traumatized by all the abuse ("And she has lost all her former confidence, hardly able to meet their eyes, her voice shaking as she spoke."). These are the good guys Gray Wing is the protagonist this is what the Erins wrote into their childrens' book series assuming something did not fucking possess them

So Bumble begs them to let her see their leader, Tall Shadow, so she can then go beg her to give her a place to stay. Turtle Tail and Gray Wing wince internally once again because they do not fucking want her. Gray Wing is still angry at Bumble for "stealing" Turtle Tail from him earlier, btw.

"Gray Wing felt a pang of resentment against Bumble, for interrupting his time with Turtle Tail and the kits" felt a pang of resentment for......... being interrupted on a walk by a bloody, battered woman seeking asylum.................. remind me again how we are supposed to sympathize with any of these people and yes you are supposed to sympathize with Gray Wing

Turtle Tail then whispers to Gray Wing that she wants Bumble to talk to Tall Shadow, because she's setting her up to fail and knows that Tall Shadow would never agree, and then Bumble would understand she has no place here and would go back to Tom (WHO TURTLE TAIL HERSELF RAN AWAY FROM SHE KNOWS HOW ABUSIVE TOM IS). Gray Wing says that Turtle Tail was so kind to her. Turtle Tail says tee-hee you know I can't hold a grudge. We need to euthanize these two

^Bumble literally did NOTHING to you, she was always kind to you and was your friend and was there for you when you were both living with Tom. She never did anything to anybody. She has done nothing to deserve anything that is happening, and about to happen to her, and somehow, we are supposed to agree that she would be "useless" and a "burden" in the wild, not even worth keeping safe without a chance to get something out of her in return

Tall Shadow's group (calling it TSG now) immediately regards Bumble with hostility and contempt for being a house cat. Gray Wing thinks "ohh she thinks she can just stroll in >:(((" after she tries to act tough to the TSG cats so that she would be convincing enough for them not to get sent back to a place where she knows she will be abused. Jagged Peak asks who is she, and insults her for being fat.

^I just remembered screenshots exist. Anyway Gray Wing kill yourself challenge + "a few moments ago she couldn't even look Turtle Tail in the face!" a few moments ago she wasn't arguing for her damn life what is your problem. This is treated as a WISE thing, Gray Wing's defining character trait. Being "wise."

Tall Shadow proceeds to blame Bumble for her abuse. She asks her if there is really no way she could stop Tom from beating her and Bumble says no. Tall Shadow then says: "Well then... Why not make yourself extra nice to your twolegs, purr at them, or whatever kittypets do." No one in the TSG clearly gives a single fuck about Bumble but she still tries. Immediately afterwards, a cat (Wind) jumps out from the crowd and says Bumble could never live with them, calls her soft and lazy to her face, and says there is no place for a weak cat like her in the wild, before turning to Tall Shadow and asking her if she agrees. It should be noted that Bumble isn't even the focus of that moment; the real important thing here is the Wind and Tall Shadow politics. Bumble is just secondary, she's just Here Too ig, who cares about her.

They turn Bumble down; not only that, but she is then being PHYSICALLY DRAGGED BACK TO HER ABUSER. Bumble screams at Turtle Tail for letting (and watching) this happen to her, and we're supposed to be mad at Bumble here too for daring to be mean to her. This is treated as an unreasonable thing for Bumble to be mad at. Gray Wing is annoyed at the sight, and thinks that "he'll never understand kittypets".

And the scene wants you to agree. It's supposed to be about how Tall Shadow's indecisiveness led to Wind taking control of the situation and how much better she's at leading than her, and how much Bumble deserved it for being useless and fat -- but most of all this is not a story about how Bumble was failed by the only people who could have helped her, it's one where you are meant to agree she would have never fit in and that it was a right choice in the end. It also gets worse. Somehow.

They don't see Bumble for a while afterwards, but she spends weeks starving in the woods, alone, after running away from Tom a second time; but then their group (comprising of both Gray Wing and Turtle Tail too) comes across Bumble again. She is slowly bleeding out on the ground, horrifically injured and currently dying from a literal death of a thousand cuts, with slits all over her belly and sides. Clear Sky did this to her, because he wanted to expand his territory, and Bumble just happened to be in the area too. The first thing that Gray Wing even does, still next to her, is to defend Clear Sky and buy into his shitty lie that "well a fox did it. Not Me".

^he even starts outright swooning. While Bumble is dying a few centimeters away. Who wrote this.

He starts vehemently defending Clear Sky even if the rest of his group doesn't, thinks that if they attack his precious brother then they would be "just as bad as him". Clear Sky. The. Clear Sky. And CAN WE ADRESS THE BUMBLE LITERALLY BLEEDING OUT ON THE GROUND NEXT TO THEM

Clear Sky literally confessed that he beat the shit out of her and she was so weak from starvation that she fainted, but that it was an :((( Accident :(((( He just Wanted to Give Her A Warning :(((( Oh and also I didn;t kill it was the Fox that actually came here after I left. Gray Wing says "yes king so true" and you are meant to take this seriously

Bumble, slowly dying from blood loss on her fucking death bed, apologizes to Turtle Tail for possibly ever hurting her. And you know how Turtle Tail responds. By telling her that she wishes she could have found happiness somehow... but she could never possibly live with them with the wild. She's literally about to die and Turtle Tail still finds a way to somehow rub it in ever further how much of a shitty friend she is. Her living in Tall Shadow's camp, where she felt was her only choice to go to because that's where her friend, Turtle Tail was, and she thought she would actually help her or something. That was her only shot she ever had and she's literally about to die now because she was turned away, "you could have never lived with us in the wild unfortunately" said to her while she's literally dying as a result of her not being allowed to live with them at least temporarily is actually crazy.

But it does not matter, why should anyone care about a severely abused woman dead on the ground as result of everyone's actions? It was inevitable anyway. What really matters in this scene is Clear Sky, and how hard it must be for him to get blamed for killing her. Which he did, by the way. Won't anyone please think of Clear Sky's feelings??

"this isn't just the death of a kittypet." It isn't just about Bumble getting brutally murdered for no reason. It's actually about misunderstood precious baby Clear Sky, who we will get to shortly because hahahaha I'm going to become violent you will understand my thirst for extreme violence towards Clear Sky once we get to what the authors decided to do with him afterwards it's worse than fucking Tom Redemption Death.

Truly, fuck Bumble right. Her audacity to ask Turtle Tail for asylum while she inconvenienced her and her boyfriend's morning jog and got their sandals dirty with her blood. Isn't she just so stupid that she thought The Settlers would want her anywhere near them while being so weak and fat and lazy and fat have I mentioned how disgustingly fat she is enough. How dare she ruin Clear Sky's reputation by making him slip on a banana while he was holding a kitchen knife and fall directly on her 28 times what was she thinking. She should have went back to Tom and just thought up a way to make him stop beating her it can't be that hard she's just lazy and dumb

Far from the only female character that gets butchered in this arc, they kill off so many major female characters for the development of the male characters or even simple shock value (Fluttering Bird, Bright Stream, Storm, Petal, Turtle Tail, Bumble, Rainswept Flower) that they have to make up a bunch of brand new ones at the end to marry and birth babies for the guys in the cast.

Later that book Gray Wing comforts Turtle Tail that there is nothing that neither of them could have possibly done anyway. Both Tom and Clear Sky get exonerated by the narrative for this and go to cat heaven while Bumble is barely mentioned ever again (aside from a scene where Tom found and disrespected her fucking grave), killed for the crime of being fat and asking for help or something. Normal series. Normal series

IV. CLEAR SKY

Okay, so I'm going to quickly list a tally of every abuse, crime against humanity, atrocity and bad thing that Clear Sky ever did (but ONLY up to the book 3 finale, there are 6 books in this total), just to quickly paint a clearer picture. We need that for context

Screamed at his younger brother, Jagged Peak (who was still a kit) thorought the journey and consistently put him down

Upon moving into the forest, he immediately enforced borders for no reason, getting several people injured and killed (got more into it at the colonialism section), continued to expand them despite having enough food, overhunts to the point where there are several piles of meat in his camp about to spoil

Controlling of his pregnant mate Storm (also got into a public fight with her), who has to leave the camp because of him making it unsafe

Threw Jagged Peak out of his camp because of becoming disabled, and therefore not useful anymore regardless of whether he's his brother, continues to humiliate him by calling him useless

Watches Fox (one of his cats) maim Gray Wing, and does nothing

Abandoned his son as a baby

Later on wanted Thunder back, telling him that abandoning him was a "test" and that he's worthy now and then emotionally manipulates him into leaving with him immediately, and once he agrees to go with him, proceeds to subject him to abuse in his camp

Guilt trips Thunder and brings him over to a personal propaganda session over him not believing that they are close to starving or something (they aren't), later lovebombs him over the corpse of Misty (after killing her in front of him) and makes him feel as if he's threatening him.

Brings Thunder into a bunch of random unsafe charred trees for "jumping practice", making Thunder scared of breaking his leg there just like Jagged Peak, and then screamed at him whenever he's not jumping fast enough or jumping too fast, blaming him whenever he fell like how some weird mind game.

Slaughters a random native (Misty) to steal her land. Upon finding out she has newborn kits, he considers killing them to to "spare them their suffering" but Petal instead says she will adopt them.

Brutally murdered Bumble by slitting her belly and sides until she slowly bled out. Because he wanted to expand his borders where she happened to just be standing there

When one of his notoriously loyal cats, Frost, becomes disabled and gets an infection in his leg that went untreated for weeks in his camp, he also plans to immediately discard him and let him die

^Thunder is like, 6-months-ish, the warrior cats equivalent of a 13 year old, when he dares to question Clear Sky by saying "dad can we kill less natives maybe" after Bumble's death, which angers him so much that he summons Frost whose wound still hasn't healed and commands him to flash it in front of all the cats in the clearing, before saying that he's useless now and must be exiled -- telling Thunder to go escort Frost out and "leave him where the maggots will find him", and when he refused, he shoves his son's face in that infected wound commanding him to "lick it clean if he cares so much".

A fox (animal. not the guy) attacks the camp, and Clear Sky blames Thunder for attracting it there somehow, before pushing Thunder at it

Thunder decides to leave (and also bring Frost to an actual doctor), and when Clear Sky overhears Falling Feather saying goodbye to him and calling Clear greedy, he slashes her face and publically humiliates her (also noted to look 'pleased' at seeing the guilt in her face) then declares to his whole camp "Any cat may give Falling Feather orders. Any cat may take her prey if they wish. She is lower than a snake until she has earned our trust again."

Brings Alder and Birch (the kits that he wanted to kill but Petal took in. Alder is a girl and Birch's a guy, this is important because of how the majority of all cats he throttles are female characters) to the woods where he forces them to run as fast as him and shaming them for not keeping up despite them being like 6, forces Alder to do a surprise ambush on Birch and when she's uncomfortable he smacks her, then leaves Birch alone in the woods where he's attacked by a dog.

Takes a hostage and starves him for 3 days after lying that he would keep him fed

Does not allow cats to choose their own food, he flings carcasses at them so that they only eat when he allows it.

Forces cats to train with their claws out so that everyone there is constantly covered in scratches and bruises

Before "the first battle" in book 3, it was supposed to be a peaceful negotiation between Clear Sky and Tall Shadow's group, Jackdaw's Cry catches a bat (after being starved for 3 days by Clear Sky despite rotting piles of food in his camp) which offends Clear Sky so greatly (he decided it's his territory too now) that he himself started the battle (he was also the reason for the negotiation too)

Tells Thunder "But don't forget, you mean nothing to any cat, no matter how much you try to prove yourself. No cat trusts you anymore! You might as well not exist." before commanding his cats to attack him

"That's right, stay up there and watch your friends die."

Rainswept Flower does not attack him but simply calls him out on being greedy, which throws him into such a rage he murders her. Then proceeds to boast that if he hadn't killed her then some other cat would. Later on, he makes up a lie that he apparently "blacked out" and "didn't remember it"

Total cats that ended up dying in the battle he started: Fircone, Frost, Rainswept Flower, Jackdaw's Cry, Falling Feather and Hawk Swoop (6)

Manipulates, controls and is violent towards literally everybody in his life

Alright so you might ask. Why am I listing this. This seems like normal villain stuff, he's purposefully written to be evil right. We are supposed to hate him for this and think that he's A Baddie for this right

[feebly grabs you by the shoulders]

We Aren't

He's supposed to be misunderstood. At every turn, the narrative begs you to sympathize and understand his every choice, explaining all of his actions by saying that He Was Just Scared :( and that He Just Cared Too Much :(( which makes no fucking sense if you read all that. All of that was because he was just so scared of starving you guys, nevermind the rotting piles of food all over his camp. He thought that he was doing the right thing, and so..... that makes it okay I guess?? "he was just so Protective" was he exercising protectiveness when he showed his son's face in a festering wound. Like who gaf about Clear Sky why are we powdering his ass so much I legitimately don't understand. He would be FINE as a villain!!! What are you doing!!!!!!

Let's. Detail the whole Clear Sky Exoneration Arc and also why he literally never changes. Aside from "killing less people" I guess, but the bar is so fucking low.

Clear Sky stops the first battle, because he was just about to kill his brother, Gray Wing, and this was too far for him. Apparently. Disregard everything else he did, Gray Wing being hurt is where he draws the line, because I guess he sees him as a person or something I don't know I can't. This is here to show that he still has some goodness deep inside of him. After the battle he suddenly feels Really Bad :((( and so Gray Wing jumps to comfort him and have a friendly chat.

Gray Wing thinks to himself "We let it get too far" WHO THE FUCK IS WE?? This is literally 100% Clear Sky's fault. He then continues to defend him. But do not worry, Gray Wing is not the only cat to think he was just misguided. StarClan cats come down from the heavens, and his dead girlfriend #2, Storm, briefly criticizes him for killing people ig, but then after he sniffles a bit and says he didn't meannnnnn itttt :(( she agrees that he was Just Scared. Suddenly, "her gaze softens", and she said that "Fear is what drove you. Fear is a powerful instinct that only the strongest cat can resist. But now you see there's no need to be afraid. We have shown that death is nothing for you to fear. It's not the end." Guys abuse is okay if you're scared. You know what will fix Clear Sky? Assurance of religion with an eternal afterlife. Piety will fix him guys. He keeps all of his power and influence and gets off scot-free, since it's apparently decided that the most suitable consequence for literal tyranny is just guilt.

And they also find some way to SOMEHOW blame the nearest woman, Tall Shadow, for this too. Which the battle was not her fucking fault, it was literally solely Clear Sky but that would make him look bad so we need to both sides this shit. Angels come down from the heavens and shun Tall Shadow for somehow causing this, and for killing Fircone, one of Clear Sky's cats, in the battle. In self defense, because Fircone attacked her first. Clear Sky's cats were instructed to kill these people, she was defending herself from getting killed by him. But she's just as bad as Clear Sky guys!!! Next time don't be a woman in DotC!!!!!!!

God FORBID they imply that Clear Sky was ever responsible for anything ever. StarClan tells them that "ALL of you need to make amends" because it was actually all of them. Not Clear Sky. All of them. Despite the fact that Clear Sky caused literally everything that led up to this and Tall Shadow's camp did fucking NOTHING. This is like if a bully stabs you twenty times, waterboards you in your own blood then kills your dog, so you punch them back, and you both get equally punished because retaliation is Just As Bad. I can't do this. And this is only the beginning. THUNDER also expresses sympathy for him.

^ ???????? WHAT.

^ WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!!!!!!!! THE HELL DO YOU MEAN???????????

Your honor he was just. A little cinnamon roll he did nothing wrong. He's just a poor little meow meow won't we please think about Clear Sky's hurt feelings :((

Quoting tumblr user Bonefall for this, since it's correct and relevant, before getting into the second half of DotC:

"Because of this, of all this set-up for the "redemption" arc they're trying to tell in the last three books, DOTC is Clear Sky's story. Everything primarily exists to benefit and serve his arc. Thunder and Gray Wing might have POVs, but HE is the character who truly drives the plot. So in order to HAVE conflict for that back half, two evil foreign cats, Slash and One Eye, are summoned to act as contrast.

Their narrative purpose is to display "true evil" to make Clear Sky look less bad in comparison. Unfortunately, Clear Sky is the most malignant, deadly character who has ever blighted Warrior Cats.

The "pure evil" examples they summon aren't effective contrasts because they're flat. Clear Sky is what real abusers look like.

His rhetoric is what it sounds like when a cult leader is trying to keep control over a group. He lies when it benefits him, justifies his actions with his tragic backstory to assuage his guilt and manipulate others, and violently lashes out when his feelings are hurt before blaming his victim for making him angry.

He only made "some mistakes" in that SOME of his actions were accidents-- the vast majority of them were malicious, self-absorbed, intentional choices to punish, hurt, and kill others."

Getting into "The Blazing Star", fourth book in DotC, in which One Eye and Star Flower are introduced and everyone is besties with Clear Sky now. He takes in Tom into his group, who he had no way to NOT know was also the one to kidnap Turtle Tail's kits before, because he promised he could "show him how to fight dirty". Clear Sky also implies that Tom is not even a "real cat", because he's fat and a former house cat. Makes a lot of comments about his weight but I think it's more of the authors speaking through him and not a conscious writing choice for Clear specifically. Along with Tom comes along One Eye, the most cartoonishly evil guy you could possibly ever imagine but he stroked Clear Sky's ego a few times so he doesn't care now.

(Oh and also I was wrong about Thunder earlier when I said that "but hey at least he and Clear Sky never make up or anything". He did actually end up forgiving Clear Sky for everything and is now back full force into chasing his approval. Because of the Magic Genes. This is painted as a good thing btw. Disregard Clear Sky telling Thunder that he shouldn't exist earlier this day or a few days ago where he shoved his face in an infected wound that doesn't matter anymore everyone's minds are successfully wiped in The Blazing Star)

One Eye spawns in here (From where? Who knows. Probably a similiar Evil Foreigner spawner that Slash came out of) just to contrast Clear Sky, and show how he wasn't That Bad. Clear Sky was simply misguided, while One Eye is pure evil and LOVES murder . Slash is there, albeit way later, for the same exact reason, except it's even worse with him. Suddenly, Clear Sky's biggest "mistake" wasn't everything he did in books 1-through-3, it was letting One Eye into his camp and letting him overthrow him. There is a character, Snake, who was part of Clear Sky's camp and loyal to him for the entire time, up until One Eye takes over (because of Clear Sky) and permanently branded him with a mark on his paw while in there. Snake, of course, is furious at Clear Sky and refuses to forgive him -- which is treated as Snake being bad and unreasonable and treasonous somehow for DARING to be mean to innocent baby Clear Sky, and then later joins Slash in being another villain of the latter arc, which by the way makes zero sense.

And it's not really like Clear Sky even changes all that much after The First Battle. He does not actively try to kill people. But he's still controlling, abusive, and violent, especially towards female characters as he always is, like that one time he smacks around Quick Water to relieve stress in Forest Divided and that one time he gouged Willow Tail's eyes out as punishment in a super edition which makes him look Very redeemed. All of the people he killed directly were women, and even if we count the numerous time he did so indirectly/accidentially, they're still the majority. He gets pissy and screams whenever someone dares tell him that he Did Something Wrong Maybe. Still the narrative cannot shut up about how great and hard-working he is and how everyone loves him and that if someone doesn't love him, then they're probably evil because who wouldn't love that guy.

Thunder actually once calls him out on that he was a murderous dictator a few months ago, but then he immediately feels bad about it and has to apologize to Clear Sky -- during this scene Clear also invokes his dead sister for sympathy points, which is definitely not manipulative just like all the other times he interacted with Thunder at all. He even continues to mistreat Thunder anyway, but it doesn't matter apparently cause his redemption arc is done and so he does not have to do anything anymore.

Let's get into Star Flower just to end this one because I Can't. Of course, Clear Sky's exoneration arc cannot conclude without a reward wife that can birth him more babies that he will be able to actually raise, as a reward, as previously mentioned -- two of his girlfriends, Bright Stream and Storm, already died for his man pain, one while pregnant and another shortly after giving birth. He needs a third one, to give him "a second third chance at being a daddy", and so enter Star Flower. She is One Eye's daughter, roughly the age of Thunder, and her story is just so depressing.

Originally, Star Flower and Thunder (Clear Sky's son) were kind of a thing, in that they flirted with each other but Starf was pretty much using him on One Eye's orders, and ended up "betraying" the Settlers by warning her father about an ambush they were planning to do on him -- and Star Flower considers herself a terrible, irredeemable person for this who deserves punishment. After a bit of convincing from Thunder, Clear Sky takes her in to his camp, where she starts to offer herself to him. She starts pulling more than her own weight "without complaint", putting on additional jobs like babysitting Milkweed's kits (in spite of Milkweed's discomfort) and willingly putting herself in unpleasant conditions like taking a wet sleeping spot.

Thunder himself feels sick that Clear Sky is romantically interested in her; pointing out that Star Flower is all this time trying to revictimize herself by seeking another abusive tyrant to replace her father. She stays with Clear Sky because she thinks it's what she "deserves" and that she "understands" him because her self-hatred really runs that deep.

Okay, but why does Clear Sky like her? Oh well. In his own words:

she's young.

she will never betray him.

she had "complete faith in him" and "would follow him without question"

she would obey him.

(He thinks to himself, on page, "finally. he had a mate worthy of him". Fucking normal. Let's kill him)

All of these things -- Clear Sky tried to instill onto Thunder:

Regarding age: happily exploited that by denying him having any opinion.

Regarding betrayal: he considers "disobeying" as betrayal, and "questioning" as disobeying. For Thunder's betrayal, he tried to murder him and his friends.

Regarding following him without question: constructed humiliating games in retaliation for that.

Regarding obedience: causes explosive reactions even after his "redemption arc" and Thunder becoming an adult, good example of that is the beloved Festering Wound Face Shoving scene

Essentially what I'm trying to convey is that he was grooming the traits he considers attractive in a young woman onto his child. But according to DotC that's incredibly romantic and awesome and not worth thinking about for very long.

She's essentially an abused 18 year old who thinks she's so awful she deserves a serial killer, while his mouth starts watering that his reward has finally come. So anyway she gets kidnapped during her pregnancy where Clear watches her get sexually assaulted in front of him for drama reasons and then has a graphic birthing scene where they describe pain and viscera in a near obsessive manner and then has 1000 babies with him forever normal series

V. Misogyny summary

I won't even list all of the other baffling terrible writing choices that ruined any semblance of a story still left in DotC. Like oh yeah Gray Wing tries to proselytyze to Wind Runner over the corpse of her stillborn baby (that he said was a good thing he died because it was weak) and Clear Sky's reverse leper colony suggestion what else is new. But one of it's most egregious elements is how the female cast is treated and it's actually insane even for Warriors standards like Look At This

8 women in total have died to serve male characters' arcs: Fluttering Bird, Bright Stream, Storm, Misty, Bumble, Rainswept Flower, Petal and Turtle Tail. Only a couple of them ever get to be their own people aside from that, and that's being generous.

Bright Stream, Clear Sky's first dead girlfriend, got eaten by eagles when she was pregnant because Gray Wing was too busy staring at his brother's muscles to notice her being in danger. Now she's a forever mommy for her dead fetus angel babies in heaven (no she did not even give birth yet these are fucking fetuses)

Storm, Clear Sky's second dead girlfriend and also Gray Wing's crush for some reason, gets pregnant then leaves his camp after being subjected to his controlling behavior for so long, then has a building collapse on top of her and her dying words is her apologizing to Clear Sky, because she should have never left her abusive husband apparently.

Gray Wing treats Turtle Tail like shit and also tries to control everything she does, hates the fact she has friends outside of him that he doesn't approve of (Bumble) and insults them on every occassion. This is very cute and awesome and he gets to date both her AND his new wife Slate in heaven. Oh yeah and she does get ran over by a car in book 3 (specifically a Ford Model T) (I don't know either) for the usual man pain reasons and they can't even bury her body

The entirety of Bumble

^and how TOM is treated with more respect than her. TOM. EVERYTHING about his "redemption arc". The authors even defend him outside of the books, getting heated over a fan not understanding it.

Clear Sky kills Rainswept Flower when she wasn't harming him in any way (other than telling him that he is greedy and sucks) which is then retconned to make him look better, into: him actually blacking out and not remembering it, it being predestined actually and just an accident, that he had no control over(???) while Rainswept Flower herself I don't think is ever even mentioned afterwards.

They find a way to somehow blame the nearest woman, Tall Shadow, for The First Battle. Her and Clear Sky are equals apparently, because well you see, he might be a bloodthirsty, abusive tyrant but you know what Tall Shadow is? a Woman

Storm only ever shows up as a fucking ghost so she could suck Clear Sky's toes and reassure him forever while being his perfect dead wife #2. These are all her appearances after she died

Clear Sky can abuse, smack around and kill any woman he ever wants without consequences; but the line is drawn where he starts harming male characters too. That's where he's going too far.

Clear Sky's fucking innocent old dying mother is blamed for how he turned out. Because she was mean to her son after finding out about everything he did, the characters "realized" that his cruelty must come from her. Guys it was all his bitch mom's fault we swear

Women can't be allowed to be mothers and ambitious at the same time in DotC. Wind Runner nearly completely loses her personality after she gives birth, and Gray Wing thinks to himself that he's so glad that she's "more focused on her husband and kids now instead of trying to tell other cats what to do"

Kind of related to above, but Wind Runner and Tall Shadow, who are presented as the like "strong female leaders" of the arc (as literal founders of WindClan and ShadowClan), are continuously treated lesser than their male leader counterparts: their groups lack confidence in their actions, Gray Wing is considered more of an authority than them, are given more family-related obligations than their male counterparts, etc etc.

For even more man pain for Clear Sky, Slash kidnaps pregnant Star Flower, and in front of him, pins her down and licks her face, while threatening her fetuses and cutting her cheek open.

Clear Sky is so distraught by this he has to smack (or, more accurately, rake the face of) the nearest woman, Quick Water, to blow some steam off. But it's okay, he was Just Stressed.

Even with Star Flower, they gotta tease that Clear Sky might loose another wife with how they wrote her birthing scene. Gray Wing is witnessing her bleeding out, and thinks to himself that he's been thinking about Star Flower too much while this was happening. Even while she's actively bleeding out while giving birth (if I gotta write any variation of "giving birth" here one more time I swear to god-), because what abOUT CLEAR SKYYY??????

Violet Dawn's entire existence is to solely be a girlfriend to Thunder; who fall in love with each other in the span of two chapters. Even more bleak by the fact that Violet was being harassed by Slash into agreeing to be his mate for so long, and then this stranger comes along and also is immediately obsessed with her.

Slate and Violet Dawn (reward wives of Gray Wing and Thunder, respectively) have to be conjured out of nowhere because they killed every potential woman for someone's man pain.

Female characters are treated so poorly in this arc, they're practically "objects" to be "won" and "deserved". All of the main and major male characters' arcs are concluded by them getting a wife at some point -- Gray Wing with Slate, Clear Sky with Star Flower, Thunder with Violet Dawn, Jagged Peak with Holly. All of the main and major female characters either get fucked over for another guy's man pain (usually by dying), get pregnant which ends up defining their whole character by the end, or are Tall Shadow who doesn't do any of these things and is continuously demonized for breathing the wrong way

So yeah TLDR; chickem nunget

#finally............#set to unrebloggable just so it doesnt breach containment #like some of my posts have been doing lately #for me and mutuals only.................

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