#later arc so it;'s not the same as his sister who died and had no further development)

[evenmorefatallyobsessed]

Non-RWBY/ MLP models I wanna do and how I'd explain them in Remnant.

01. Felix Argyle (Ferris)

Would Probably use a similar story to how he met his princess but set and altered to fit Remnant.

Felix was simply born with two physical Faunus traits. While I say simply this would be more on pair with a condition/ mutation like Polymelia a genetic anomaly that results in people having extra limbs.

The difference being that in Felix's case he's simply born with a extra trait. However the effects it has on him are more detrimental For instance racist see him as even more of a animal then most faunus.

While some faunus see him with contempt for seemingly being to them what Faunus are yo racist. His parents ashamed and afraid of redicue lock him up I their house

Things would play out similar to how they did in their book but instead of Crusch Jaune and the Arcs noticing the families odd behavior find and rescue the boy.

2. Toga (My Hero Academia)

Her circumstances can be similar to her series. Given that Neo can form illusions and Xanthe can quite literally transmutation seemingly anything to gold I don't see why Toga can't take on the apperance/ voice and even eventually semblance of those whose blood she ingest.

Though I would alter the reasoning to that of that she needs the others aura to mimic them. Blood is just the easiest way to injest it as while the blood cells are still there is no reason they shouldn't theoretically still retain their aura.

03. Najimi Osana (Komi Can't Communicate)

This one's fairly easy too, Najimi simply grew up with Jaune (Or one of his sisters) as a classmate. He befriended everyone like in his own manga/ anime.

And simply got a crush on Jaune convincing himself he'd confess at graduation... Only Jaune wasn't there and had left for Beacon.

04. Rebecca (Cyberpunk 2077)

Rebecca's is a bit harder but off the top of my head, I can see her and the gang she rolled with in Mantle. Not as techy as they had been in Cyberpunk though, or maybe they were. Not really too important for the relevance her, point is Rebecca nearly dies. And only survives because Pietro can't help but try and save her on principle.

Using his technology... And even his semblance he does manage to save the girl, though the result leaves her more mechanical then human. Rebecca as we know is loyal, arguably to a fault.

So once she hears the old man quite literally tore his soul apart to save her she grows attached to him and his... daughter Penny who insist on calling her sister.

05. Midna (Legend of Zelda, Twilights Princess)

Honestly, I got nothing for this one, doesn't mean I wanna make it any less. Maybe Jaune falls into the Twilight Realm instead of the Everafter... Or Midna is sent to Remnant instead of Zelda's world. Or Jaune and the Arc's as a whole could be Link's Ancestors who could be guarding the Mirror of Twilight to this day.

06. Amy Rose, Rouge the Bat & Blaze the Cat (Sonic Franchise)

Jaune fell into Mobius instead of the Everafter

07 Hideri Kanzaki (Blend S)

Him and Jaune come from the same village were his parents are farmers. Hideri unlike Jaune adored getting dressed up and praised and dreamed of the big city and becoming a cute idol.

Jaune supported his dream, encouraging his friend who in turn encouraged him to be a Huntsman as well. He left for Vale with Jaune who fought off several Grimm on their way there. He aimed to start his career as a idol while Jaune tried for Beacon...

Several months later he's crossdressing at a cafe and Jaune steps in to see how his friends doing.

08. Fujiwara Sisters, Maki & Nagatoro's Crew

These are actually super easy, their civilians, lets say Mistral, since both shows are based in japan and Mistral seems to be the asia of Remnant.

I can see two simple ways of doing it, Senpai and Shirogine can be related to, or friends of Jaune's parents. Hence why when visiting Mistral Jaune decides to see how his old friend/ Cousin are.

Also maybe I should give a brief summary of three others I've already maid.

Louise de La Vallière (Familiar of Zero)

this one as a commission already has a setting... Basically the Valliere family fought with the Arcs in the Great War where her grandfather fought besides Jaeger Arc.

The two grew close as brothers and agreed to marry their children, unfortunately Julius fell in love with Juniper and caused friction by cancelling his engagement to the two elder daughters.

Thankfully Jaeger did have a younger son, Jaune, who would become Beacon's Prof. Arc.

This is a reference to Louise fiancée Jean-Jacques Wardes

who looks about the same ages a my Prof. Arc model, the irony being that Jaune supported, trained and helped his fiancée however he could unlike his traitorous counterpart.

He never intended to actually make the young girl follow through with their wedding either. Perfectly willing to break his word and dishonor himself so she could be free to love whoever she chooses.

Because of Jaune's influence and the fact that she's not considered a failure magician in Remnant and in turn ostracized Louise isn't as violent as she is initially.

And while Jaune doesn't notices it, Louise doesn't see their engagement in a negative light.

Manami Aiba/ La Brava (My Hero Academia)

Born with dwarfism Manami always felt different, self conscious and misunderstood. She yearned for connection and affection from a young age and could always feel others look at her differently...

She was quite sharp and capable, but there was another facet to her... She Loved HARD. When she got a crush it wasn't a simple crush, but instead utter affection.

Her pure little heart was so filled with affection on her first ever that the immense emotion awoke her aura and semblance... Love. The ability to multiple the targeted individual dependent on her feeling towards them.

Given her semblance she saw it as proof that she needed to pursue him, cherish and learn about him. Unfortunately it resulted in her freaking said boy out, viewing her as a stalking, and rumor spread over the tiny lil' weirdo stalker.

She ended up leaving school, shutting herself off from others, and surviving in private using her impressive computer skills to make money. Whether that be a regular computer job, hacking systems for less savory people or selling information she managed to dig up to Hei Xiong.

But nothing healed her heart, made her reach out, there was no Gentle Criminal who filled her world with light in Remnant... No instead one day, where she'd been forced to leave her home on a rare occasion she was stopped by several thugs... And then saved, by a random, kind... Cute, tall... Knight.

Ilulu (Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid)

I'm thinking of doing something similar to the series but instead of Toru being injured and found by Kobayashi it's Ilulu who is found and healed by Jaune.

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

More random Claremont stuff:

I admit, Claremont does some of the same off-panel development that I complain about with Duggan. Like Storm and Jean become fast friends, to the point that Storm loves her like a sister, very quickly. And we mostly don't see it happen on-panel, although we get a lot of them hanging out after the relationship is established. On the other hand, I think Claremont balances the team pretty well. Poor Lorna and Alex get pushed aside, but for the ones that stay, we get a lot of development. Even Banshee gets a lot of attention before Claremont takes him off the team.

Wolverine getting his ass kicked:

Like I said, I appreciate Wolverine so much more when he's allowed to occasionally be humiliated, to fail, to have other characters put him in his place. If he's an asshole, the rest of the team should react to him being an asshole, and they do. Colossus, Storm, Cyclops and Jean all tell him off at various times. At the same time, we see Wolverine grow and develop and show more of his better side, like this scene with Colossus, where Colossus has got a kind of mental block against using his full powers.

Colossus is such a sweet-heart, by the way. He's not really someone I pay a lot of attention to, but early Colossus is just a really kind person who always wants to help, and gets sad when he fails (especially getting tossed around by Magneto). He's also described as "the youngest X-Man" before Kitty joins. Bobby is not there, so I'm not sure how Piotr compares to her, but he's presumably younger than everyone else.

We actually get a few X-Men ages. There's an annual where Nightcrawler turns 21. Jean's tombstone shows that she died at 24, so Cyclops is presumably a similar age. Much later in the mid-90's, Scott will declare that he's 25, so I guess Marvel just completely froze them in time, or else Scott lost Jean, got married, had a baby with his wife, left them both, and sent his baby to the future all in the course of a year. It's okay, we all know most X-Characters aren't allowed to age beyond their mid-to-late 20's.

Scott and Jean at a seedy nightclub looking for a new mutant (who turns out to be Dazzler) is like Brad and Janet in Rocky Horror:

Oh no, that guy has a pierced nose, scandal! Jean of course doing the standard Claremont "I'm disgusted by this but part of me is also attracted to it!" I know it's part of her corruption arc, but Claremont seems to love doing this.

Also Claremont:

"And then Storm gets naked again, because she loves being naked, she is in tune with the elements!"

Also Claremont:

"And then there's an extensive scene of Storm getting a lock-pick out of her head-dress, and we need a close-up of her tongue working it into her mouth!"

This definitely isn't weird or anything:

And of course, there's the whole Jean Grey in lingerie living out a weird colonialist fantasy. It gets really distasteful when Jason casts Storm in the role of a slave, c'mon dude.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Shaw always immediately ready to take his shirt off:

Storm lowers the temperature in a desperate attempt to get Shaw to put his shirt back on, to no avail. He choose to be shirtless and he will REMAIN shirtless!

Despite all this, and the obvious Claremont fetish stuff, I actually think women in these older comics were less sexualized than in the era of Liefeld and later Land. Like, the proportions are idealized, but they are still body proportions I could imagine on an actual, real-life woman. We don't have ridiculous wasp waists and massive balloon tits, and constant sexy poses. Emma is in lingerie for her first appearance, and still feels less sexualized than her later appearances, especially getting into the 90's and 2000's. Storm is basically in a bathing suit with cut-outs, but it covers her entire butt, unlike Psylock's later buttfloss costume. Kitty Pryde actually looks like a thirteen year-old (and yeah, I realize some kids develop faster than others, but she's not drawn in a way meant to be overtly sexy, thank God, because she's thirteen.) Of course, the sexiness is there, it's obviously there with the Hellfire Club stuff and Jean's seduction, but it doesn't feel quite as in-your-face as in some later comics. It doesn't take me completely out of the story like Land art does.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Who are some characters that you think should've survived the killing games and why?

//Well, here’s how I’d put it.

//For Danganronpa 1, I think Taka should have survived instead of Hiro. Despite my complaints, everyone who survived in DR1 can stay except for Hiro for all I care. Despite my individual problems with Hina, Toko and Byakuya, all of them redeemed after they became stronger characters overtime. But Taka has probably the worst emotional arc out of every character that has one, since he becomes depressed over Mondo’s death, transformes into whatever the fuck Kiyondo/Ishida was supposed to be, and the FUCKING DIED. He deserved better

//Game 2′s surviving group are MOSTLY fine, and I wouldn’t change it much. If I had to pick one character to live to the end, it’s an odd choice, but I would say Ibuki. I know that sounds like a bad idea, given that Ibuki’s personality would really break away the tension in the game’s final moments (something that Hajime, Akane, Sonia, Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko as a group play really well to, which is why I think they’re a pretty solid final group) but bare in mind that every game already has one “comedic” character make it to the end (Hiro, Akane and Himiko) and also keep in mind that Ibuki is CRIMINALLY undervalued in that game. She doesn’t do a SINGLE plot-relevant thing throughout the entire time she’s alive for, and then she dies one of the shittiest deaths that the series has put out. She’s also one of the few Danganronpa comic-relief characters who are ACTUALLY funny, and consistently at that. And I don’t really see the ending of DR2 being much different with her there, even despite all this.

//Game 3, as in V3, I would say Ryoma, which I know most people in the fanbase agree with, since a vast majority of V3 rewrite fics have Ryoma survive (ITMLFY and TPS for example) He has so much potential for a good arc, but once again suffers from the age old problem of NOT getting one because it gets cut off by his death. While I do believe the order of events of Case 2 in V3 did make sense in the grand scheme of things, that doesn’t stop me from feeling a tad let down by them. Ryoma could have been something man.

//In case it wasn’t already obvious, I hate pretty much every member of the DR3 cast save Seiko, and I think she should have gotten out in the end instead of going out the way she did. I needn’t elaborate.

//As for the Another games, for Another 1, I would love to have seen Kanata survive for basically the same reason as Ibuki and Taka. She’s easily one of the best members of that game’s cast, and dies a crappy death that kinda shouldn’t have happened. I mean, looking at that game’s third case, Kinji had already killed Kakeru, and didn’t need to murder Kanata afterwards. There was no risk of her being a witness since she was unconscious, and not only that, but her death was brutal as well. She also deserved better.

//And for Another 2, while I would say it’s my second least favourite group of survivor’s, I don’t like any of the SDRA2 characters enough to claim that one or the other should have survived. If we’re going on which character I think didn’t deserve the end that they got and had the potential to be really strong later on, then my verdict goes to Hibiki. As sad as it is to say, Hibiki is TERRIBLY written. She doesn’t contribute a single thing for the vast majority of the game, playing second fiddle to fucking Kanade throughout the entire thing, and then dies in an execution that she shouldn’t have even been part of. The idea of having twin sisters in a DR game is interesting, but it’s horrifically wasted on the Otonokoji’s, when only one of them, the vastly more terrible of the two, is the one who gets all the attention from the fans.

-Mod

[skeleton-in-a-hoodie]

In some ways, The Road to Hell Leo takes on 2012 Splinter's role - he's Yoshi's sensei and one of his beloved uncles, as well as the head of the clan. This also means that he (and the other Turtles tbh, but Leo especially) gets the dupious honour of being the well-meaning parent who nonetheless manages to fuck up their kid.

Like 2012 Splinter and TRTH Leo both love their kids more than anything, but that doesn't mean these two are perfect or without fault, and 2012 Leo and TRTH Yoshi both end up dealing with issues partially caused by their parents.

So, y'know how 2012 Splinter told Leo at the end of season 1 to do whatever he had to in order to finish the mission? TRTH Leo doesn't say the exact same thing to Yoshi, but he says something similar and oh boy does that mess Yoshi up.

TRTH's timeline isn't the exact same as 2012's - some things had to be moved around for things to make sense e.g. there's no way in hell the turtles would leave earth so an alternate timeline's version of themselves could raise their nephew, and I don't like writing child death, so the way we get to the space arc has aspects of the 2003 show + some earlier episodes of 2012. Essentially, TRTH Turtles, April and Casey break into TCRI to destroy the portal there and hopefully set back the invasion, but the six of them end up stranded in space light years away from earth and have to fight their way back.

And before that mission, after which they went missing for months, Leo sat his nephew down, who wasn't much older than 6 or 7 at the time, and tried his best to say goodbye without saying goodbye.

Leo had a feeling the mission was going to go bad, and had decided that if it meant keeping the earth safe, he was willing to sacrifice himself, and his self esteem was bad enough at this point that he didn't think his absense would affect his family as badly as if Raph or Mikey died, for example.

So Leo wanted to prepare Yoshi. But, in case Leo survived, he didn't want to freak Yoshi out by essentially saying "I'm going to die" then two hours later being like "pysch! I lived!"

And so Leo decided to explain to Yoshi that protecting the Earth and finishing the mission was of the utmost importance, and being a leader meant having to sacrifice whatever or whoever was necessary to save the world. This conversation left Yoshi really really freaked out, but the kid had faith his aunts and uncles would return, and decided to put a brave face on for them, because Hamato Yoshi more than anything wants to be a good nephew.

Which means, when his uncles and aunt don't come back that night, Yoshi begins to panic.

And those hours turn into days turn into weeks turns into months.

Yoshi is so happy when, after the Triceraton Invasion ends, his uncles and aunt come home. He is so relieved to see them again and all they can really do is hold him whilst he breaks down, because he'd been coping by looking after his sisters and helping aunt Robyn and avoiding thinking about his own emotions as much as possible.

Getting stranded in space wasn't Leo's fault, but that combined with what he said prior to the mission did a lot of damage. But, again, Yoshi wants to be a good nephew, and he doesn't want to worry his parents, so he buries it and it's not until he's a teenager that he talks to Leo about it.

[noa-ciharu]

Better sister? Kotori or Hokuto?

I had to double-take for this one because I almost jumped to discuss who is better written character. That'll be whole different kettle of fish which can be summed up with: TB and X are different genre-vise, storytelling, pacing and amount of characters, so even if they're in prequel-sequel relation it's unfair to compare them.

Now as to who was a better sister, I'd say Hokuto. But not because Kotori was a bad sister or failed to address Fuuma's needs, not that. But because she was never given the opportunity by narrative to be flashed out or receive character development.

Also there's a thing of TB vs X plot setting and difference in Subaru's and Fuuma's (I'm referring to early X Fuuma prior to transformation) personality and emotional needs. I'll keep the rest under cut:

Let's start with Hokuto first.

What I'd say right off the bat is that her bubbly extroverted personality brings a good contrast to Subaru's timid nature. She encourages him to want things, to be selfish for once. To be human. When Subaru is feeling down (which is often), she knows exactly how to cheer him up and what to say.

The thing is, Subaru is prone to self-blaming tendencies and self-destruction as result (this comes out in form if self neglect during TB where he puts other's needs over own even if it inconveniences him). Hokuto grounds those anxieties mostly by consoling him and pointing out facts. Subaru feels understood by her and allows himself to open up and be vulnerable. And I'd say that's what Subaru needs the most.

Hokuto understands Subaru in a way he cannot understand himself. Subaru needs this sort of comfort. We all know what self destructive mess he turned into without Hokuto around him after TB end (ofc that wasn't the only reason, but was one of reasons).

Hokuto wanted Subaru to have something for himself, something he selfishly wanted. That's why she took a gamblit even if knowing Seishirou was dangerous and encouraged their relationship. Needless to say it turned disastrous. She felt like she was one to blame.That combined with desperate wish to protect her brother resulted in Hokuto seeking Seishirou out so she’d put her life spell on him. 

Now, she knew it was risky but she encouraged Subaru’s and Seishirou’s relationship; but Hokuto wasn’t reckless about it or some ‘mindless rabid fangirl’. There were quite the few times like these, where he jokingly cut their moments short or told Subaru to think about what he feels for Seishirou.

Very obvious interruption.

She even put knife to Seishirou’s throat and threatened to kill him if he ever hurts Subaru. Also when Seishirou joked (or not?) about seducing Subaru for real Hokuto told him she’s fine with it only if Subaru is first.

Was her decision to sacrifice herself so Subaru would come back a right one? I don’t believe there’s a clear-cut answer to that. Was it the only possible way to wake Subaru up? Was that the only guarantee Seishirou would leave Subaru alone and never kill him? Did her death caused Subaru to live through fate worse than death? Perhaps tragedy of her death is exactly in fact that it was avoidable. Still, Hokuto herself said it was selfish and hypocritical of her to wish for Subaru to live no matter what when she was about to basically commit suicide by proxy to reassure that.

That ‘I love you so much I’d gladly sacrifice myself for you’ is type of logic we see in X later on. However I’d say Hokuto was aware what sort of state Subaru would be in aftermath of her death but thought Subaru being beaten down and depressed was better than being dead to the world. Plus not to mention she believed in Seishirou and Subaru potentially getting happily together. Yes, Hokuto said ‘there’s no person who can’t love’ but in my opinion love sometimes isn’t enough. Especially if you cannot accept it. Optimistic of her yes, but very unrealistic.

Still, most major issues in TB are Seishirou’s fault, directly or indirectly, so if it weren’t for him Sumeragi twin would remain together. Even if Hokuto can be pushy sometimes in order to tease or push Subaru’s boundaries (like in Karaoke chap where she dared him to sing duet(?) with Seishirou but he got really anxious at idea), she’s caring and understanding. I’d say someone with intuitive knowledge of how Subaru’s mind and empathy work with enough of empathy and kindness of their own and rationality to ground his anxieties is exactly type of sibling/friend he needs.

Now let’s move onto Kotori.

While in TB I’d say all three characters were equally well written, with X that isn’t the case. CLAMP themselves said they created Hokuto with intention of killing her; they did so with Kotori too, that’s obvious. Both of them died and that served as one of traumas to Subaru/Kamui. But the difference is that CLAMP made it beyond obvious with killing Kotori for Kamui’s character development.

When X starts it becomes obvious characters don’t live in ‘normalcy’. Kamui has powers of gods and is constantly tormented by ‘fate’, Hinoto is a dreemgazer, Sorata, Arashi, Yuzuriha etc. all of them have powers and so on. Fuuma and Kotori as exception: before X timeline started they were just your regular teenagers.

Except not exactly:

I don’t want to put any DSM label on it but it clearly is trauma response. As she grew up Kotori didn’t consciously remember what she saw (probably it was such traumatic event she blocked it out as self-preservation mechanism) but that doesn’t mean memories aren’t there; causing mental issues in the shadows. It’s implied Fuuma knew the truth what happened to their mother but lied to Kotori that she died out of sickness. No wonder why Kotori lost it completely when she saw Tokiko’s corpse later on. Keep one thing in mind: even if X characters don’t react to gore scenes, that doesn’t mean those scenes aren’t traumatic irl. If someone saw head rolling they’d need years and years of therapy. In that manner it’s Kotori who has more adequate reactions then, let’s say, Kamui or Fuuma who saw Tokiko exploding and were effected by her death but not manner of death. Nonetheless I’d say it’s plot convenience she’s the only one affected. Also there’s her temporary insanity which I’d address later on.

Kotori is flashed out personality-vise; sweet, innocent girl who cares for others. She also had connection to nature, even allegedly could communicate with them (I’m not entirely sure on this one or how it worked). Her heart condition kept her from pushing herself too much. Also she had a ‘sweet but weird girl’ vibes:

Maybe this is just how being 16 and having a crush is.

Now, those two sibling bonds are different at their core because not only Hokuto and Kotori are hardly anything alike in terms of personality and experiences, but Subaru and Fuuma too. For example, all those comforting moments and Hokuto talking senses into Subaru - we don’t have those between Kotori and Fuuma since Fuuma doesn’t have same character flaws as Subaru does (low self-worth, tendency towards self-blame etc.). She expressed her care and love for brother differently:

Sweet and caring. Kotori probably knows she can’t do much for Fuuma or anyone else as well... X plot is tragic. But she’s showing care in little things like mentioned above. Plus seeing Kotori being in good mental, emotional and physical state is all Fuuma asks for. Their parents are dead and all they have is each other. Plus their sibling interactions are really cute and innocent. And to think how it all turned out...

In bond he has with Kotori (and Kamui) Fuuma takes the role of a protector and someone who offers comfort. That’s neither good nor bad, it’s simply their dynamic that was naturally established due to their personalities and needs. So in that manner Kotori was also a good sister. She’s there for him in all ways she can. To be fair, Fuuma is in far better mental shape than Subaru so Kotori doesn’t really need to offer reassurance and ground his anxieties in manner Hokuto does to Subaru. Neither siblings understand what’s going on with whole fate of world thing and why Kamui is avoiding them/ is doing what he’s doing.

However, my main beef with her character arc (not Kotori herself, I’d say her personality and bonds with Fuuma and Kamui were established well over first 5-6 volumes) is how it was handled from volume 6 to 8; from moment she saw Tokiko’s head to her death (which we still don’t know why happened; my guess is because she said ‘if Earth were to shatter I’d rather shatter myself’ which litteraly happened considering how her body was torn to pieces). She falls into temporary state of insanity and talks to Kakyou about Fate and stuff. Those conversations occurring within mindscapes were nicely handled, but what was happening in reality wasn’t, in my opinion.

There’s nothing wrong with needing protection and physical/mental/emotional support, but it felt like plot device to me so she can be killed later on. Don’t get me wrong, each story is filled with plot devices, minor plot holes that are never addressed so plot can flow smoothly, etc. - but in this case skeleton in behind was beyond obvious. I feel like her entire character turned into plot device in certain point and her sole purpose form there on was to set a stage for another tragedy which would serve as Kamui’s character arc. He’s the protagonist, I know. It’s common in stories to see one character getting killed for other’s character development (alot of minor characters in rg veda for example) but I wish her final moments before death were handled differently. I’m sure more can be added here but I can’t think of anything more at the moment.

So in conclusion I’d day both of them were pretty good sisters in way that their brothers needed the most. Of course circumstances were way different along with their personalities and we didn’t get to see too much of Monou siblings in X. If I had to choose based on who’s the better written character, doubtlessly it’s Hokuto; partially because she undergoes certain character development and we get to see her in various situation, whereas Kotori was never given opportunity to because of X plot and her fragile heart and mind.

But we shouldn’t be putting girls in competitions like these. They both rock and I think they should kiss <3 Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[prankprincess123]

Anyone up to ramble about Arthurian mythology, specifically Morgan Le Fay with me? Cause I've been doing research for a paper for my Medieval Literature class, and keep getting sidetracked by this character.

Like even in most modern retellings everyone knows her as this crazy witch whose goal in life is to torment the Knights of the Round Table and make their lives harder. But that characterization didn't start until later medieval legends and retellings! And additionally alot of people get her mixed up with her oldest sister Morgause (who is the mother of Mordred and Gawain and usually 3 other knights but sometimes more or less) and/or don't even realize that the legends have an average of 3 but sometimes upto 9 sisters (though only Morgause and Morgan and their sons are important characters) of whom Morgan is the youngest, which further complicates her character. And though her villianization in later works was totally due to misogynistic writers trying to make Merlin (who's actually super sketchy) look better, it actually kinda works as a story arc, if you ignore some of the more WTH things in certain later retellings.

Listen, Morgan Le Fay was having visions of walking through a battlefield seeing the corpses of her son and nephews, and then finding her little brother and holding him while he's dying, all as a result of her sister-in-law being a slut, from the time she was a child with only older sisters. And then in the span of mere weeks: her father is killed, her mother raped by and forced to marry his killer, her sisters are married off to foreign kings, and she is sent to a nunnery until she's old enough to do the same (which only meant 12yo in the time the story takes place!) And then the setup for her visions starts; her brother is born, and her nephews and son follow suit (including a nephew twice over, and how on earth do you react to that?!?!) And at some point she finds out that her husband cheated on her and named his illegitimate son after theirs so he wouldn't get caught if he mixed them up. And then her brother is king and marrying the girl whose cheating is gonna start a war that will kill 90% of their family, and not listening to her when she's telling him that Guinevere is bad news (and ok fine if you're going to marry her at least dont be best friends with Lancelot too, and keep her away from your accidental incest son who has alot of mommy issues cause that could only end badly even without everything else!) Meanwhile all of her brother’s other friends - including the creepy old wizard that kidnapped him as a baby - are constantly at least hitting on and at worst sexually harassing her. She is definitely totally justified in going a little crazy, making a magical island specially to hide from creepy men, and plotting a couple strategic murders designed to protect or avenge her family.

Like she's a young woman who is very clearly traumatized by alot of things, and has magic powers that few even semi understand. Given that she was married off before Uther died when Arthur was 2, but not immediately like Morgause and Elaine were, we can presume she's about 10y older than Arthur. (And if Uther's death soon after her forced wedding at 12yo was suspicious, would you really blame her?) And based on the fact that most of the Knights of the Round Table are portrayed as peers despite the familial generations between them - and specifically that her son Ywain is closest friends with Gawain who is the oldest of Arthur's nephew-knights - we can presume that she had him VERY young. And given that Arthur takes the throne while still a young boy, and all of his nephew-knights are squires when introduced, she would still only be like mid/late 20's in the earlier parts of the story! And even the end of the story when Mordred is grown, is still only another 20ish years down the line, so she's like 50yo at absolute maximum.

In the earliest recorded/surviving Arthurian legends she's just a healer, not even related to Arthur or the Knights but exasperatedly healing them after every quest nonetheless. Combine that with the familial structure and characterization from about 1100's and on, and earlier legends are basically her sitting there in her 20's & 30's, separated from her husband, constantly patching up her already 'adult' teenage son, brother and nephews after their inane quest of the week, while trying to get/keep cheating SIL out of the picture and avoid over zealous 'sutors', and desperately hoping that this battle isn't the one everyone dies in. She deserves to go a little crazy as she does in the later stories, and do things like her Green Knight 'prank'/attempt at literally scaring Guinevere to death. Heck even her attempted coup against her brother makes sense in the context that he and Lancelot and/or Mordred can't start the war(s) over Guinevere that she knows will kill 90% of her family if they don't have armies anymore! Some of her scemes definitely majorly backfire and speed up exactly what she's trying to prevent, but they make sense! Not always rational rightminded sense but storyline sense at least.

And at the end of the day, her visions come to pass, and she walks the battlefields where her family lays dead and dying. First three nephews Agravain, Gaheris, and Gareth killed by Lancelot and his men for exposing the affair, before the final battle. And then Camlann: Her son Ywain killed by her nephew Mordred, one of the last knights to fall defending his uncle/King, Gawain dead or dying beside him from the same. Mordred dead at Arthur's hand, and Arthur dying beside him of their mutually inflicted wounds. And she sobs, and holds them, and takes her dying brother (and when he's not dead yet, still surviving nephew) with her to the magic relam she created, designed to be a place where nothing can ever hurt them again, to try and use her healing magic to change at least one aspect of the horrible visions that have plagued her entire life.

[palaceofpassion]

Truth Or Dare Night

Some things to preface, asks have to be done in a way from character to character.  So you can send it as say May Dares Pyrrha to so and so.  

They can’t be anything that takes longer than a few minutes, due to this entirety being done in a single day/night.

This will be base RWBY, but with side characters!

I will probably write my own story around a Truth or Dare Night for fun, you can expect that one to be sorta mean cause well ya know.

So I’ll probably get a lot of asks, but they’ll have to be based on the last character who did the dare to a new one.

More characters may be added later, but for now only a few.

Oh try to start small by the way!

So let’s begin!

Starting With Nora as the asker!

I’ll use the RWBYTruthORdare tag and try to number them in the heading.

“Yes yes yes yes!”  

“Nora, can’t you calm down a little?”

“Oh come on fearless leader!  Aren’t you excited for this?!  You’re going to get to do truth or dare with a bunch of pretty girls!  And it’s going to be all here!”  

She ignored the blank stare he gave her, “Nora, I don’t think it’s going to be as amazing as you say.”  Not like he would know of course, he’d never had the opportunity to join a Truth or Dare, and the few times he was involved tended to involve him getting pranked or punked by his sisters friends, so no he didn’t have very good memories.

“Besides, it’s not like anything exciting is going to happen.”

“Boo!  You know everything’s allowed!”  

“I... that’s not a good idea, I don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable.”  

Jaune’s nerves were allieved a little as Pyrrha placed a firm confident hand on his shoulder.  “It’s alright Jaune, we’ll pull out of it makes that person too uncomfortable, alright?”

Jaune bit his lower lip, “Alright.”  He ended up giving into Pyrrha’s urging.  

However, as he turned away he missed the devious glint in her eye.  Pyrrha also never had the chance to do things like this, but now?  NOw she was given the chance, the power to REALLY let loose the perverse monster inside of her, and she couldn’t wait.  Her eyes zeroed in on Jaune’s rear end.

“Pyrrha, you’re drooling.”  

Ren stoicly spoke next to her, throwing her off her vibe.  “Oh!  Sorry.”  

“Anytime, just don’t break his Hip if you get the chance.”

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“Sure you don’t.”  

A knock came at the door breaking their conversation.  Thankfully Jaune was already there opening it.

“Hey Jaune~”  

Ruby sauntered in, a rather large smile plastered on her face.  “This is going to be so much fun!  I finally get to play with the big kids!”  

Her sister followed, “Calm down Ruby.  You’re old enough now, but don’t do anything you’re not comfortable with.  Though~”  Yang made her way over to ren, giving him a quick hip bump, “If you want to ask me something saucy Renny, feel free to.”:

“Hey no getting ahead!”  

Nora threw herself between them, “Save it for the game.”

“Ah what a buzz kill.”  

“This is a terrible idea, a most terrible one.”

“Weiss, you don’t have to be here.”  

Though he said it, Jaune felt the same, “I can only assume it’s cause Neptune’s going to be here?”  

“S...shut it ARc!  You better not try to take advantage of me either.”  

Jaune rolled his eyes, Neptune and Weiss had been a rather hard pill to swallow but he’d gotten over it.  For now he just wanted to be friends, “Yeah, don’t worry.”  

Pyrrha however, had a small grin on her face, ‘Oh you poor Heiress, it’s not Jaune you have to watch out for.”  

Blake simply entered, ignoring Jaune and taking a seat close to the corner.  “This is stupid.”

“Sure it is Blakey, I bet you’re all excited about watching some sexy times going on, aren’t you?”  

She ignored her partner, but her ear twitched.

Soon, Sun and Neptune showed up.  “Hey guys!  I brought the bear!”  

“HELL YEAH GIMME!”  

Sun was nearly tackled to the ground as Nora launched herself at him.

“Hey ladies~  Whose ready to have some good times with Neptune tonight~”  

Perhaps smoozing on the other girls wasn’t perhaps the smartest idea, as most of them turned away and Weiss let her mouth hang open.  He either didn’t notice or didn’t pay attention.

“He...hello?”  

“You can go in May.”  

“Yeah!  It’s partaaay time!  I’m sad Flynt couldn’t make it but hell yeah!  Dicks to ride!”  

“Agreed, we should continue inwards before we take up the hall... however I can smell the lust radiating from this room.”

Jaune’s attention was brought to the four strangers of the group.  May Zedong, Reese Chloris, Neon Katt, and Ciel Soleil.  The four of them had been invited to pad numbers, and well cause they’d seemed interested, which was shocking coming from Penny’s partner.  Who... was actually looking at him now.

“Ye...yes?”

“You’re violating me with your eyes, aren’t you?  I can feel the lust practically radiating off of you.” 

“Ooh~  Is the big boy packing?   SNIFF SNIFF  Oooh I think I see what you mean.”

His face scrunched, confusion hit him, and words failed him as the four entered wordlessly after. 

Well except May, “I’m sorry Jaune.”

“Hey it’s no problem.”  

Well he knew May, if only because they’d taken a few classes together and had the chance to talk.

“Friend Jaune!”  

Jaune’s attention quickly fell as he nearly well fell over.  Penny’s loud and surprising arrival caused him to grab his ears.  

“I have brought the last three members of our merry band!”  

“Sup hoodie, good to see you’re doing well.”  Coco Adel and Velvet Scarlatina entered after the robotic girl.  And yes, everyone already knew Penny was a robot.

“Hey Jaune, sorry for intruding.”

“It’s no problem Vel, hope you have a good time.”

Velvet smiled looking at the group, “I think I will.”

“This is so dumb!”  

Emerald shook her head, “Can’t believe I got dragged into this.”

“Ah, sorry... it’s a bit crowded, but i hope you have a good time.”

The foreign student eyed him for a bit before relenting.  “Well it’s better than hanging with Mercury at least.  Oh by the way, he’s pissed he wasn’t invited.”

“Maybe he shouldn’t have been trying to harass Nora that one time.”

Emerald smiled, “Ahhh, seeing his legs get broken again was pleasant.”  

The girl gave in and entered, causing Jaune to close the door and lock it, to avoid any intruders who may come in.  

He gazed at the room, everyone having finally formed a circle, “Good thing we moved around the beds.”  Said beds were pushed to the side... for specific reasons.

“Yep!  I knew we’d have enough room!”  Nora gleefully motioned for her team leader, who took a seat between May and Pyrrha.

“Alright, whose going first?”

“I am!”  

Nora smiled brightly.  

“Well let’s get to it then.

[stagwhisker]

Actually off the top of my head here’s some small stuff I’d keep or change in no paticular order. Most of it is first arc since I recently reread that and its fresh in my mind.

Graystripe stays in Riverclan until PoT. He’d return to Thunderclan when he returns to the Lake Territory due to both of his kits no longer residing in Riverclan. Also just make him a better father in general as well as have his loyalties run around his family. I also wanthim to be a positive force in Briarlight’s life later. I do want to keep Millie behaving the way she does but have it clear that you know that isn’t a good way to react and have her develop past it.

Also the Spottedleaf romance plot simply won’t exist I have had it nope not doing it again. In fact I have a better role in mind for her in TNP anyway so I may have someone else take her place though I don’t think there IS anyone to hmm. I just know I want to change Spottedleaf REALLY badly.

I think I’d still “canonize” Longtail being Robinwing’s son with Frostfur and Brindleface as his older sisters. PERHAPS have Cherrypaw and Chestnutkit come from the same litter as him. Ravenpaw would also still be Robinwing’s son.

Speaking of Brindleface, I know for a fact I don’t want her to be Sandstorm’s mother. I want to try to limit relationships that are incestuous which honestly is a tall order but god Ashfur and Squirrelflight is bad enough as is they don’t need to be related. On that note, Runningwind would be her father instead of Redtail. I don’t know who her mother would be and honestly it doesn’t matter I don’t think she ever appears as a kit in the series.

I’m so torn on Cinderpelt because on one hand I let her become a Warrior because she is completely capable of doing so but then I’d have to pick a new med cat and I can’t think of anybody off the top of my head around the time Yellowfang dies who could take her place. Maybe Cinderpelt takes it temporarily before returning to her Warrior duties but that doesn’t feel correct either idk I know I want to change something about it.

I’d like the Warrior Code to begin being challenged in the first arc starting with A Dangerous Path. I want it to lead to the events of The Broken Code to be a massive world changing culmination of every flaw present in the code as well as the resolution to the years of questioning. I would also change Dawn of the Clans to come out AFTER AVoS so we can see the formation of the code and it’s deconstruction back to back.

I want to make Leopardstar and Blackstar's motivations surrounding Tigerstar more clear to the reader. Everything we hear is ideas from Firestar which normally is fine but the way these characters are forgiven so easily when all we see is compliance from them it's.... strange. I'm not going to make them any more sympathetic/unsympathetic but I want the reader to have a better understanding of these two leaders. Furthermore I want there to be resistance from their own cats and cats from other clans because of their past allegiance to Tigerstar (and Brokenstar for Blackstar).

Piggybacking off the previous point I want the rancid undertones of the way these cats view each other and outsiders to continue through all the arcs. The first arc feels so separated from everythibg else and Tigerstar's reign is treated a s afreak eventeven though he was just taking advantage of the mindset of clan cats that have existed for decades and continues to exist long after his death. There will be cats who pin the blame solely on Tigerstar while others can see Tigerstar was a PART of the problems that continue to exist. Maybe have that cause conflict between these two groups over the years.

I have no idea how to word this but I want Cloudtail's aetheism to challenge the idea that cats NEED beleif in Starclan to have morals like the books imply later in the series. And I want that to be expanded upon by Mothwing who beleives in an existance of Starclan but doesn't beleive they hold power over the lives of cats and could be untrustworthy. Just the idea that faith does not equate to morality or blind faith can be a detriment to those looking to abuse that power.

Making a more religiously complex series overall. I want the Tribe, The Guardians, and The Sisters to be treated with FAR more dignity and respect by the Clans and the Narrative. I want to have the clans reconized as flawed by the narrative and not as the "Correct" way to live in the series.

Uhh I want more buildup to Bloodclan. I want Bloodclan's existance to be known before The Darkest Hour and have there be foreshadowing to the pain train of death that Scourge would turn out to be. First mention would most likey come from Barley.

That's what I have off the top of my head I have more in mind but I have been fighting with this for 2 hours I need a break if yall want me to elaborate further (to the best of my ability) on anything specific then yall can shoot me an ask but for now that's all

[warriorsbutnotreally]

Sandstorm Is Tigerstar's Daughter AU

So, to preface this

a lot of changes had to be made to canon

but in the end it came to a result that made me happy

and to add - this isn't super long

I don't even span the full first arc

Self edit before this is even posted; I got carried away and this is longer than I expected

this was a fun idea and [admittedly] I almost ignored it - cause I was worried I would have no ideas - until a bunch of cool ideas hit me at once and then I got excited about it

There's also changes to some relationships for very obvious reasons!

Sandkit is born alongside her brothers Swiftkit and Lynxkit [who are not Patchpelt's kits. You cannot convince me they're Patchpelt's. I have a lot of negative emotions towards the retconned family relationships in Warriors]. They are born about six moons before Rusty / Firepaw joins, meaning Swift and Lynx are older than they are in canon.

Sandkit is very proud of her heritage, as is her brothers and the three are close. Lynxkit is the most level-headed as his brother and sister can be stubborn and hot-headed.

When they're apprenticed, Tigerclaw goes out of his way to have his kits apprenticed to cats he considers his friends by convincing Bluestar and Redtail that it's a good idea. Sandpaw goes to Whitestorm, Swiftpaw goes to Longtail, and Lynxpaw goes to Darkstripe.

When Firepaw joins ThunderClan, Tigerclaw is quick to make sure his kits do not like and do not trust this kittypet and allows them to openly antagonize Firepaw. This gets so bad that apprentices den is split into two factions; the group who likes Firepaw; Firepaw, Graypaw, and Ravenpaw and the group who wants him gone; Sandpaw, Swiftpaw, Dustpaw, and Lynxpaw.

However, after their first patrol together, Lynxpaw is the first to change his mind about Firepaw. He becomes more welcoming, but expresses to Firepaw in private that he doesn't want his siblings to turn against him. Firepaw and Lynxpaw bond quietly behind Sandpaw and Swiftpaw's backs.

Sandpaw sticks close to her father or her mentor most days and as Bluestar's mental health starts to slowly decline, Tigerclaw is planting the seeds of disloyalty into her head. This only gets worse when she learns that Lynxpaw and Firepaw are friends and she lashes out at her brother

Swiftpaw is still on Sandpaw's side, however, and refuses to budge, though he's unsure about being angry at their brother.

When Fireheart and Graystripe become warriors, Sandpaw is even more outraged and - with some prompting from her father - starts making plans to make Fireheart's life just a little worse every day

Sandpaw sticks with Tigerclaw and it's thank to him that Bluestar finally gives her and her brothers their warrior names while Fireheart and Graystripe are out saving WindClan; Sandstorm, Swiftfang, and Lynxclaw.

When Tigerclaw tries to clear Bluestar on the Thunderpath, Sandstorm does manage to stop Cinderpaw from going as she knows the apprentice isn't the target.

After Bluestar fails to show, however, Sandstorm and Tigerclaw start up a different plan. Sandstorm openly blames Fireheart for the fact she didn't show, despite her being sick with greencough.

They do try to drag Swiftfang into their plans, but he expresses concern. He only agrees after Sandstorm peerpressures him into it, but it's clear that he believe they're going too far.

When Bramblekit and Tawnykit are born, Sandstorm becomes like a guardian older sister who spends time with them. This has her thinking of starting a family, but she wants to wait until she finds a proper mate - she is considering Dustpelt - and when her father is finally Tigerstar

Swiftfang does eventually tattle on them before the rogues attack and turns Sandstorm and Tigerclaw in as traitors, as he finds himself unable to just sit back and let them kill Bluestar and Fireheart, especially as he believes Lynxclaw loves the former kittypet.

Sandstorm is outraged as she and her father are exiled from the Clan. She tries to get Dustpelt to join, and for a moment she thinks he will until he reveals he'll never be able to stand beside someone who willingly walked with Redtail's killer.

After joining ShadowClan, Sandstorm assists her father in working hard, though she dislikes ShadowClan's territory. She starts considering having kits, not for a family, but for strong warriors that are loyal to her and her father.

When he becomes Tigerstar, he makes Blackfoot his deputy and Sandstorm is irritated but decides that gives her time to work out her own plan.

She starts carefully deciding which cat is the strongest in ShadowClan and, after being rejected by Blackfoot, settles on Boulder to sire her kits.

While she's courting Boulder, she learns of BloodClan and tells Tigerstar. The three go and meet Scourge and her plans change as she starts talking with Bone.

She's early into expecting Bone's kits when Scourge kills Tigerstar and she lashes out at the BloodClan cats. She isn't killed and ShadowClan ends up exiling her after she refuses to renounce her father's crimes.

When Scourge and Bone are killed, Sandstorm sneaks into the ranks and quickly earns favor with BloodClan as they know who she is and she reveals that the kits she's close to having are the proper heirs of BloodClan.

Cats try to challenge her, but Sandstorm allows herself to be brutal and relentless, which soon catches the eye of a certain one-eyed molly.

Fury becomes co-leader as she teaches Sandstorm the shaky customs of BloodClan and the two become close by the time the kits are born.

There are four kits born to Sandstorm; a dark calico tabby she-cat named Omen, a pale ginger and white tom named Talon, a mostly black tom named Bane, and a dark tabby with white patches named Tiger

Sandstorm instantly favors Tiger more than any other of her kits and is determined that he'll take over BloodClan when the time comes.

As the kits grow older, Fury and Sandstorm grow closer and eventually the two becomes mates and work together to help BloodClan grow better and stronger.

Sandstorm starts spying on the Clans again and learns, angrily, that Firestar and Lynxclaw are mates now and that the two have had a litter of kits together; Squrrielkit, Leafkit, and Spottedkit [Squirrel is dark ginger, Leaf and Spotted are both tortoiseshells] [how is also up for interpretation]

Sandstorm starts making plans again to take down ThunderClan and Fury is more than happy to help.

This comes together in an idea to steal the kits and hold them hostage until Firestar comes to get them.

The first attempt doesn't go well and many BloodClan cats are wounded in trying, but that doesn't stop either leader and they try once more. This time they manage to steal two of the kits; Squirrelkit and her brother Spottedkit.

While watching the two kits, Sandstorm is overtaken by rage at her brother becoming mates with 'the enemy' and for a brief moment she actually considers killing one of the kits. She actually almost kills Squirrelkit before she is stopped by Bane [he and the others being the age of older apprentices].

Bane becomes the watcher of the kits and he bonds well with his cousins and feels pity for them. When he learns his mothers' plans, he convinces Omen to help him carry them back home before any needless death happens. Omen is hesitant at first, but agrees and the two carry the kits back to ThunderClan.

When she learns about this, Sandstorm is outraged and she considers a regular punishment until Fury insists that Bane needs to be made an example of.

Sandstorm allows Fury to publicly kill their son and Omen feels like she's the only one truly horrified at this. Talon seems openly interested in the violence and Tiger was never easy for her to understand, as they are rather withdrawn and never talked to her or their brothers as they were being trained to take over BloodClan.

Sandstorm goes on to not allow Omen to be alone and Omen has a guard with her at all times.

Eventually Omen escapes her guard and flees to the Clans, being taken in by ThunderClan, who promise to protect her.

There she meets her cousins again, plus Leafkit, and gets to know her uncles, Lynxclaw and Brambleheart. She is treated with love and welcoming for the first time in her life and she finds herself about to cry.

She chooses to join ThunderClan after a moon of thought as well, as she fears what will happen if she ever encounters her mothers again. She is given the name Lightpaw.

Eventually Sandstorm does attack again and Lightpaw tries to hide, only to be found by her brother Talon and attacked. He almost kills her only to be killed by Firestar.

This outrages Sandstorm even more.

She attacks Firestar and takes away one of his lives, but before she can do more harm, she is attacked by Lightpaw.

Lightpaw fights her mother off and Sandstorm swears that she'll have her revenge and that ThunderClan will never be forgiven

Lightpaw tries to reason with her sibling, Tiger, but they push her away and lash out, angry that she let their brother die She tries to reason more, but it's useless

She watches as they leave

.

BloodClan does return in the form of Tiger, eventually, but my brain didn't plan that far, but Sandstorm eventually does pass away and Tiger kills Fury in a silent retaliation against her as they never forgive her for killing Bane.

She and Fury do also end up with another litter; a ginger tabby she-cat named Wrath, and an albino tom named Wisp.

Lightpaw eventually earns the name Lightstep and she's the one chosen to represent ThunderClan in the Great Journey.

Spottedkit/paw ends up being killed by BloodClan in a random, aggravated attack and Squirrelflight almost dies in the same attack, but survives, unlike her brother

Squirrelflight eventually becomes mates with Shrewpaw/heart, who survives in this AU and they have a very happy and healthy relationship

Lightstep originally is crushing on Feathertail, but she passes away. Later she actually becomes mates with Daisy and the two are very happy and comfortable wives to help take care of kits who need help raising.

Swiftfang leaves ThunderClan and ends up joining WindClan to get away from all the drama involving his family. He never takes a mate or has kits and he's perfectly happy just living a nice life.

[aspoonofsugar]

I hope this is not too much of a hassle but by any chance could you do an analysis on Watts, Tyrian, and Hazel.

Hello anon!

Sure, no problem :) I think I have shared some thoughts on these three characters in other metas, but I’ll get this chance to organize them and to put them all together.

In general, I would say Watts, Tyrian and Hazel are not extremely deep characters and they mostly work as foils to others, drive subplots in specific arcs and highlight themes.

Here is a list of their major narrative roles, as for now.

1) They symbolize three parts of Salem:

Each member of Salem’s inner circle represents one side of her.

Watts is her entitlement.

Tyrian is her desire of destruction for the sake of destruction.

Cinder is her wish to be free.

Hazel is her inability to grieve.

They are Salem’s three flaws. The reasons why she ends up the way she is.

Salem’s journey starts because she is unable to grieve:

Salem: No! No! What did you do?! BRING HIM BACK!

And because she feels she deserves better than others:

God of Light: When you first came to me, I did pity you. But it is clear now that your selfishness and arrogance have led you astray.

Finally, she enters the pool of Darkness and embraces destruction:

Jinn: Instead, it created a being of infinite life with a desire for pure destruction.

At the same time, Tyrian and Hazel also represent Salem’s inability to understand the cycle of life and death:

God of Light: You must learn the importance of life and death. Only then may you rest.

The cycle is about loving life and accepting death. However, Salem initially refuses death (like Hazel) and then starts despising life (like Tyrian)

Interestingly, Hazel is eventually able to understand Gretchen’s choice:

Hazel: I'm doing what Gretchen would have done!

And dies sacrificing himself for others, just like Gretchen did.

I wonder if Tyrian’s death will be something which will instead be linked to him finally aknowledging the importance of life. Since Tyrian is a very negative character (and I do not think he will have a redemptive or particularly empowering death) it might be something as simple as him begging for his life.

2) Watts, Hazel and Tyrian all act as the main secondary villain of a specific arc and they are linked to the main theme of that arc.

a) Hazel fights in the Battle of Heaven and he is linked to Knowledge:

Oscar: Did she know the risk of being a Huntress?

Hazel: She was only a child! She wasn't ready!!

Oscar: She made a choice!

Knowledge is complementary to Choice. It is what you must aquire to choose wisely. However, initially Hazel does not understand it. He dismisses Gretchen’s choice as a her being tricked and he himself lacks the knowledge to make the right decision.

This is why his turning sides is linked to the relic of Knowledge:

Jinn: Why, hello again, old man. Did you have a question for me?

Hazel: Actually, I think all my questions are answered now.

He finally understands the truth and is able to choose:

Oscar: What are you going to do?

Hazel: What Gretchen would have done.

b) Watts displays his hacking abilities to its fullest in the Atlas Arc. This connects him to the theme of Creation and in particular to its negative declination aka Control:

Cinder: You said in your message that you have control over Penny.

Watts: I said I had Penny under control, not that I could telekinetically force her to do whatever I want.

He hacks Penny and overwrites her will. Moreover, he himself ends up manipulated and “controlled” by Cinder:

Cinder: You deserve this, Arthur. We'll be back.

c) Tyrian has roles both in the Mistral Arc and in the Atlas Arc. However, he misses from the climaxes of both, so I think he will be important in Vacuo and maybe he’ll find his death in that arc. Moreover, the theme of Destruction seems to fit his character.

Finally, when it comes to themes, Hazel, Tyrian and Watts all explore the theme of trust (aka one of the main themes of the Atlas Arc) in a minor way.

To be more specific, the theme of trust is explored throughout the story in different ways. I have explained it better here and here.

It is interesting because the theme of trust is explored starting with Ozpin, Oscar’s foil, who does not trust others, so our protagonists feel betrayed. However, in Atlas they find themselves in Ozpin’s shoes and must choose if to trust Ironwood or not.

Here, we explore a form of conditional trust. This idea is presented by Ruby, who wants to be sure it is safe to trust Ironwood. So she keeps secrets and studies him until she decides she can trust him… only to discover that was not the case immediately after. This happens because trust can never be completely safe. Actually, in its most negative declination, this kind of trust becomes the control symbolized by Ironwood.

No matter what, trust is always a leap of faith. This is why trust is a risk. Oscar shows this concept well. He decides to still trust Ironwood at the end of volume 7, but it does not work. Still, he does not stop and decides to trust Emerald and Hazel. This time his trust and faith are repaid. He is fred and gains a new ally.

Anyway, even if trust is worth it, the exploration of this theme in Atlas actually ends on a negative note. It ends with Cinder who is an enemy of trust because she uses others’ trust and feelings against them.

In short, we are shown what trust is through Oscar, what it happens when there is no trust through Ozpin and how trust can be twisted and manipulated through Cinder.

Well, Hazel, Watts and Tyrian explore these same ideas in their subplots.

Tyrian takes advantage of the lack of trust among Robyn, Clover and Qrow:

Tyrian: It's taking a very long time for this show to get to the good part.

He exploits it and manages to kill Clover because of it.

Hazel shows the power of trusting others instead:

Oscar: You want him to trust us? Then trust me.

Oscar’s trust makes him willing to listen and later on he decides to help the kids escape.

Finally, Watts is used and discarded by Cinder, who fakes trust and friendship towards him and Neo.

3) Hazel, Tyrian and Watts all foil a member of Ozpin’s group and show their flaw in a clearer way.

Hazel foils Ozpin himself:

Hazel: He didn't tell you my tale, did he, boy? I thought you looked familiar, to think that evil was inside you when our paths first crossed. Your blood won't be on my hands, it'll be on his.

On one hand Hazel accuses Ozpin of sending kids to their deaths, while hurting children himself. On the othet hand Ozpin speaks about the importance of making choices, but does not give all the knowledge necessary to make an informed choice. So, both characters earnestly believe in their ideals, but they are also hypocrites about them.

Watts foils Ironwood.

Watts accuses Ironwood of having used his genius only to dismiss him later on and does not aknowledge how he himself has taken advantage of Atlas society that leaves those below (like Cinder) to rot. Moreover, both Ironwood and Watts frame themselves as rational, but lose precisely because they dismiss the importance of feelings for both manipulation (Watts) and trust (ironwood).

Finally, Tyrian foils Qrow.

In particular, Tyrian embodies Qrow’s self-destructive tendencies, which are Qrow’s true flaw. As a matter of fact Qrow ends up hurt in both fights (the first tiem physically, while the second time emotionally) not because Tyrian is stronger than him. He ends up hurt because of his flaw.

In Mistral, his misunderstanding with Ruby leads to him being poisoned. This happens because Qrow is so scared of his semblance that he keeps others away and does not explain himself.

In Atlas, his cynism leads him to make a pact with Tyrian and this leads to Clover’s death.

4) Finally, Hazel, Watts and Tyrian all foil a member of CEM:

I have discussed Emerald and Mercury’s foiling with Hazel and Tyrian here and here.

Hazel and Tyrian step in as Emerald and Mercury’s parental figures once Cinder leaves them behind.

Hazel is Emerald’s positive parental figure, but he is blinded by his flaw, just like she is.

Tyrian is Mercury’s negative parental figure, but he also tells the boy truths he needs to accept.

At the same time, Hazel is what Emerald really wants (an adult who looks out for her), while Tyrian is who Mercury thinks he wants to be (a big bad man). In both cases, they are not what Emerald and Mercury really need. Emerald must learn to be more independent, while Mercury needs to nurture his positive relationship(s).

I have discussed Cinder’s foiling with Watts here, here and here.

Watts embodies Cinder’s flaw (her hunger for power) enveloped in everything she hates, but also deep down envies (being an Atlas elites).

It is interesting that Watts is not really a mentor figure for Cinder (differently from Hazel and Tyrian for the murder kids). He is a colleague, so they are on equal footing. Interestingly, though, they both try to discredit the other and to act as the other’s superior.

In general, this is another way to convey that Cinder is less child-coded than the two kids she took in.

At the same time, it shows how Atlas makes relationships between equals difficult because in Atlas everyone always tries to be on top and discards the ones below.

5) Hazel, Watts and Tyrian’s arcs, when they exist, are very short and simple.

Moreover, they are built on what ifs.

What would happen if Hansel lost Gretel?

He would stay a prisoner of the Witch forever, until he manages to free himself doing what his sister would have done:

In a sense, Gretchen still frees Hazel, not physically like in the fairy tale, but psychologically because she inspires him.

What would happen if Watson were envious of Sherlock?

He would join Moriarty and end up consumed by his own envy:

Watts is shown eating a green apple while controlling a falling Atlas. This is interesting because Atlas is the house of our titular Snowhite and green is a color associated with envy. It is as if Watts has taken the bait Cinder offered him using his feelings of entitlement and jealousy:

Cinder: You have everything you need?

Watts: Oh, believe me, this is everything I've ever wanted.

His arc is also a clear case of wants versus needs. He gets what he wants, ignoring that this is not what he needs.

What would happen is the Scorpion killed the Frog, but survived?

The answer is that he would keep making pacts he breaks (like the one with Qrow) and would keep poisoning others (both physically or psychologically).

This until he leads himself to his own demise, just like his fable counterpart.

Thank you for the ask!

[melis-ash]

have you watched elite's season 4 finale already? what are your takes on caye and phillipe? no judgements here tho, just want to know your opinion on them

 Hello, nonny! Yes, I did. My opinion about Caye and Philippe has several different aspects (which a litle bit conflict with each other).

Lets write long post.)) Sorry for mistakes and typos, English is not my first language and I`m not really good with grammar.

1) Caye and Philippe story is feminist retelling-reverse of the Beauty and the Beast, where main characters didn`t became couple and The Beauty left her Beast not for Gaston other romance, but for her own path. And their relationship helped the Beast to realize his past mistakes and make to want to fix it, even if it`s too late . Comparing with many other things in that season that storyline was not bad. Really. There MANY problems with s4, I think the best stolyline had Rebe and Mencia, it was really good, and in my personal opinion, despite many flaws, Caye and Philippe storyline is second one for me. Kinda it was not really good, but it had plot, idea, composition and message. Writers knew very clear, what they tried to say, and despite obvious lack of screen time, they handle it, and this story, despite it doesn`t connect with main plot, resonate with main storyline on the level of their ideas. (About it later.) I know, Georgina is feminist, so I wonder, could she give some advice writers? Kinda “it can work better if...” something like it.

2) Personally I`m very disappointed how OOC was Caye in that season and how few screen time she had. For me Caye from s4 feels like too much different person than in s2-3. I wanted character development for her, but something more slow and realistic. S4 Cayetana feels like all her character development happened between s3 and s4 (and partly in special, which really was very good), and I don`t believe in it. Caye from s4 is good character, but there is no real connection with Caye from s2-3.

I knew, she was very upopular character in s2-3, so maybe creators afraid to gave her too much screen time. But also they still wanted she was part of story and write redemption arc for her. And honestly, anon, these two thing can`t work together well. When you write redemption arc for well written nuanced character that Cayetana was in s2-3, you need give character enough screen time and nuances. But it seems, s4 writers don`t care enough about writing S1-3 characters in character. In s2-3 Caye was bad girl, but also she was comedy relief (but s4 has very few comedy moments), she had family (where the fuck her mother and granddad now? We know only that her mother cannot work in Las Ensinas, but don`t know, why), we saw, that she did`t sleep almost, because she learn in Las Ensinas, worked as janitor and still hung out with rich kids. (I think I began feel compassion for her, when realized it). It that seson she almost has not other scenes than with Philippe. OK, she was pariah in school during previous year, but if writers began that things with Caye and Rebe friendship, can they continue it. Rebe and Caye both had problem with their love interests and they never discussed it. Only time they speak about Philippe was in 402. Also Benjamin fired Azucena, and wanted to expel Samu and Omar, but Caye still works there? And Benjamin still protects her even? Why? I mean, after whole thing with scam in s2. Maybe it because protection of Polo`s mothers, but it never was said in s4 even. It seems, Benjamin knows things about her story with Polo (like he knows about Philippe`s past), and it could be really interesting possiblity to bring on scene that aspect of situation and Benjamin`s character and him and Caye interaction. 

Also there is something with Georgina`s acting in s4, in most of scenes she acts as different character, so maybe it was and her (as actress) decision too. I wrote before, she is feminist, and maybe she wanted to bring more feminists vibes in s4 Caye, because it makes storyline works better? Given how few connection with previous seasons on script level her s4 story had, it make sense even, it`s just feel OOC for me, because Caye is not feminist at all. She is strong and ambitious, but she is not type of women what call themselves feminists, and when she said “I became my own Fairy Godmother” in s2, she meant that she was forced to do it. Caye was girl who wanted to be princess from old school Disney animation. In s3 she wanted to live and study on Polo mother money in London and was fully OK with it. When she refused their proposition, it was because thoughts, that Polo could be alive and even more or lesser happy in other school without those her messages, haunted her. Plus when Polo died, he thought Caye was with him more because his money than because Polo himself. I remember, in her first scene Caye read  The Second Sex, but it was spectacle for her schoolmates. And when she spoke with them about her fake rich life, it always was “look how rich and glamour I am”. Partly she spoke in this way because she knew very few about rich people`s life, but also there were some of her dreams. She wanted to be rich and and be part of this glamour life. In s3 she became in some way, and she had a lot of possiblities to understand how many shit, pain and tragedies can hide for glamour facade. Theoretically she knew it before. But she was exctremely poor, so it was a little bit difficult for her to think about it too much.

3) So I think more mention of Caye`s story from s2-3 could make her and Philippe story better. Philippe himself have same problem as Polo in some way: he is rich guy, and his mother indulged him too much. Caye saw how Polo`s mother indulged him and saw where it ended. Not good for Polo and many other people. Marina and Polo could be alive and Samu`s family could live with him in Spain, if Polo`s mothers raised their son better. Even if Caye don`t care much about Guzman or Samu and she never knew Marina, she had enough time between seasons to reflect of situation. So with more s2-3 reference that “matter of education thing” Caye says to Philippe`s mother could sound not only as sort of feminist  slogan, but as something very personal and painful for Caye. She was in love with boy, who was spoiled too much by his parents (like Philippe), and it brought a lof pain him, his friends, Caye. I don`t say there are not at all attempts include previous Caye experience in s4. For example, when Caye does google research about Philippe and finds nothings, she is still suspicious because she know, how easy money could erase some thing.  Also that thing with Pilippe`s mother. I think after conversation with her,Caye realized that Philippe`s and Polo`s promblems had very much same roots. But such moments really have not enough space. Guzman had at least one scene, where he speak about his reflection on s1 evens (where he compares Mencia and Marina). I would like to see something like it with Caye.

4) Many things in Caye and Philippe storyline feel offscreen. We know they regularly talk in school, but see very few of it etc. Actors have good chemistry, and since they both like fashion design, it feels enough for beginning of communication, plus Caye had crush on Philippe long before they met, plus she was first who was really friendly with him in new school (in some way it`s repeat of Caye and Polo story, but with more positive vibes). But I want to see more illustration, why Philippe fell in love with Caye so much.

5) Now about Philippe himself. I saw many hateposts and hatecomments about him, and it`s really funny, because I constantly see how many people in this fandom love Polo and think he deserved better, despite Polo is murderer. Yes, he killed Marina out of emotion, but she is fucking dead. She will never resurrect. Guzman will remember till grave that his best friend killed his sister and then was killed by Guzman`s ex-girlfriend, because policy failed to handle their job well. Samu`s brother was forced to left Spain because it. But it took 2 seasons for Polo to understand he needs go to policy and confess he killed Marina. Caye didn`t understood how wrong her actions were till Polo`s death. I don`t know how long was Elodie`s rape, but at least Philippe didn`t need someone`s corpse to realize his mistakes. Inside standart of this show that guy isn`t hopeless. “Everybody deserve second chance” was important point in Caye`s story in s2-3, so now I wonder how writers will play this card in s5 in relationship between Philippe and Caye. 

Also I want to say I was wrong, when doubted in Pol Granch acting, he`s good additon to Elite cast.

6) Caye x Philippe storyline and main storyline. In that seson Elite brings of scene, in additon of another murder and drug traid, sex crimes. Prostitution, rapes. It`s interesting, that connection here takes place through Ari, girl, who has serious problem with sexual behavior, when she`s drunk. She`s know it`s perfectly, but also she knows, that when woman says “no”, it`s means “no” and end of story. I really like her role in Caye and Philippe story and I hope in s5 there will be at least some scenes with her and Caye. Also interesting point were Ari`s word that she never report to the police without prove. It feels ambigous. She knows, Phillippe is not angel at all. But also there is other side of coin. I think, she also knows, reputation can be ruined very easy. During s4 there was subplot with discussion club. And Samu speak that ex-criminals cannot become somebody else, even if they wants. Their reputation in society was ruined. In final of Philippe story he sent Elodie his confession. So maybe writers tried to write about theme “can criminal, who admitted his mistakes, to became somebody else?” through season and I think they will continue it in s5.

Sorry if this all sounds muddled and too long. Maybe later I will make some additon into reblogs to this post, I don`t know.

[sokkagatekeeper]

do you have an analysis on sokka's repression?

basically my entire blog. akkakasja i have rbed this post and made these two however the ones that are mine are way too short for my taste so! here’s a bunch of mainly subtextual proof that sokka self-represses like a fun little kendoll in a box made of masculinity and eldest sibling disease:

sokka won’t talk about his emotional distress whether it’s anger, sadness, grief, anything willingly, (except when it comes to identity issues and self-worth) and if someone explicitly asks he will give a vague answer and talk around the actual issue. mostly when talking about grief and claiming sokka actively supressed his grief over his mother’s death, we must take yue’s death as a reference.

sokka’s reaction to yue’s passing is the direct textual representation of the manner in which sokka grieves. it is shown this way for a reason; this is how he grieved kya. it’s merely making a reading the subtext when realizing sokka doesn’t talk about yue’s death even when he “think(s) about her all the time” as he expresses so during the swamp, for example. it’s safe to assume this is a practiced copying mechanism. he does not talk about yue directly to anyone unless he’s under pressure (as seen thru suki during the journey to ba sing se) and even then the information he gives is incredibly vague. he wouldn’t talk about her mother at all if it wasn’t in order to help katara. (and claiming katara’s grief towards kya was bigger or more real than sokka is incredibly disingenuous and kinda dehumanizing to both of their characters By The Way). sokka feels incredibly guilty as the vision of yue in the swamp calls him out on it, particularly using the term “protect” (coming back to this fun little word later). sokka could not protect yue, so yue had to die. he sees this tragedy as his absolute and entire fault — once again comparing it to katara, who not once blames herself for the murder of her mother, the same way sokka never blames anyone, not zhao, not zuko, no one but himself for yue’s passing.

sokka doesn’t believe it’s his place to rely on other people. rather he must be the one everyone can rely on. sokka was raised as a protector of his sister as the last living bastion of their culture, he was left as the only warrior (man) in his village at thirteen, who was apparently expected to hunt and fight the fire nation soldiers and protect the rest of the village. he internalized this role of the protector and provider and the so-called “man” and while incredibly sexist, it did put a certain pressure on his shoulders that doesn’t allow him to express his emotions because he internalized he needed to be strong, and even though he gets over his fundamental sexism by the fourth episode there’s this unconsious belief in him that emotions (girls womanhood etc etc) are weak, and sokka cannot afford to be weak.

this is visible as through the many many times “protect” is a key word in certified sokka character & arc defining moments. sokka’s idea of masculinity is the idea of the warrior and the protector and part of the source of his insecurities that manifest more clearly during “sokka’s master” is (apart from feeling unspecial) that he feels unworthy because of his supposed lack of utility in certain specific matters that only benders like the three radioactive preteens he’s trying to keep alive can handle. in his head the way he can protect equals his utility in the group and therefore his duty being fulfilled.

for this, sokka has things to do, people to keep safe and focused, a man to become, and he cannot afford an emotional crisis like katara or zuko can go on a revenge murder mission or curse the universe at the top of a mountain weekly. he only stops and actually thinks about how miserable he is when he feels he’s slowing the group down at times when he’s in the middle of an identity crisis (which is also caused by his wretched self-image of the man protector etc etc it's an old story). when it comes to grief and loss he never demands justice, he never asserts his grief even though he does suffer for it, even though he is absolutely not indifferent.

now, sokka being miserable as he is can easily be seen whenever he’s alone, or without aang or katara or toph to keep a light atmosphere even though they are constantly on the verge of dying, by yelling at incompetent adults or making conversation with the universe, or simply making self-depreciating comments. most of his jokes are merely a copying mechanism for when he feels emotionally distressed and a method of distraction and therefore protection towards aang, toph, and katara, or a self-aware joke at his own expanse for his own personal amusement. his jokes ground the situation, acknowledge the ridiculousness of it and make it more manageable and palatable for everyone involved. instead of panicking or losing his mind, he makes plans, he makes jokes. he tries his absolute best to keep the situation afloat, like a good leader should.

sokka complains about trivial, petty shit more than any other character in the show, but when it comes down to it, sokka never actually copes with stuff. when he is genuinely torn up about a situation, when something truly moves something in him, it doesn’t get much verbal acknowledgement from anyone. let's make a list: when yue dies, sokka never truly opens up about it until suki zuko comes around and even then it’s kinda vague. sokka forgets how his mother looked like but paranoically remembers the details of the flag that invaded his home the day she died. when sokka remembers the day his father left, he doesn’t bring it up at all, and he quietly reflects on it by the campfire instead. there’s plenty of signs that his nonbender status is something that makes him insecure long before he ever actually comes out and says it in sokka’s master. showing this in visual media can be a complicated thing, but honestly to god believing sokka plain doesn’t have much emotional depth or worse, thinking he “doesn’t care” is such a shallow and lazy analysis to make. so in conclusion # sokka antis dni

[demonslayedher]

Your content on Kny is interesting, being a Kny fan I would like to share a cusiority. During the final battle did you notice that the Hashira were passive about the death of some? When Shinobu died only Tanjiro had a reaction because of how busy he was; Mitsuri didn't seem sad and when Iguro remembered who died in the middle of the final battle he didn't even mention her. What did you think? It would have been nice if Gotouge had shown us what the Hashira's thought when the others died

[cont.] I'm the anonymous person who asked you the question about the Hashira who fell in the fight, Tumblr makes people write very little. Apart from Tanjiro they seemed cold to me, even for Tokito; the only one affected was Himejima; when always Iguro mentioned him during the clash with Muzan it was like he was thinking normally. There wasn't time to mourn for the dead but I was expecting a slightly deeper reaction. Anyway for Shinobu yes there was Inosuke and Kanao but the pillars are important too

  Thank you for the Ask, time to get into it! This served as a good excuse to flip back through of a lot of the later volumes... or rather, a huge chunk of the series. Short Answer: I don’t think Mitsuri knew about Shinobu’s death.  Longer Answer: A walk-through of the Pillars’ situations in the final showdown and a partial analysis of Kimetsu-style story pacing. 

Disclaimer: I finished this around 2am. I chose to leave it rambling and unedited and typo-ridden. HAVE MY FEELS, I’M DISHING THEM.

(Disclaimer: This isn’t meant to be a plug for my own fics, but since they are born out of my emotional experience of canon, mentions will make their way in. U fu fu.) First, absolutely yes on there being no time to mourn. From the moment the Ubuyashiki Mansion blows up in volume 16 to the actual end of the fighting in volume 23, that is one hell of a night; this final arc(s) had NO CHILL. Like, wow. It’s been a long time since I followed another battle-driven manga, but that seems like a lot, especially for a relatively short series.  And I was initially happy to dismiss all the lack of satisfying sadness as being due to the fact that they are in *PANIC MODE* and entirely focused on fighting, but that is also not necessarily the case; they do come off slightly cold.  I want to touch a bit on what we want to see the characters mourn each other, but also why I think it works out a bit better that we didn’t; from a purely narrative standpoint.  LET THEM BE SAD: Parasocial Needs Science says we form bonds with fictional characters that affect our brains in very similar and impactful ways, so our feelings are legit when they get killed off. It affects us like a breakup or other goodbye and makes us crave closure.  As for my own assumptions, we look for proxy characters in-universe to give those characters we love the attention we wish to; their sadness validates our sadness, watching them get emotional can be super cathartic, and a good mourning arc can provide satisfying closure.  This is something we got with Rengoku, canonically loved by like, everyone. Hell, even the guy who killed him was sad. Just to rub salt into it, the most recent fanbook that includes a section about how the Pillars see each other, and it drives home that even if we never saw much or any canon interaction between him and any other given character, they’re all like, “Oh yeah, Rengoku, he’s a great guy.”  And, he’s the only character we really get space to mourn, pacing-wise. First, because of when it happens in the plot, this gives the story time to show us each and everyone one of the Pillars hearing the news; it gives them times to process it (which Tokitou clearly needed), and most of us, it takes us in depth through how it affects Tanjirou, our main character whose emotions that we, the readers, are most in touch with. Rengoku got star treatment in the way he was mourned, and we readers get to lap that up.  So then when we don’t get that in-universe star mourning treatment, it does feel a bit jarring by comparison. Gotouge did say she was sorry to hurt everyone, but these are the conditions the little humans were up against all along and a point driven home again and again; even with power on par with demons through the attainment of a mark; even Pillars are just breakable humans who will never be able to regenerate like demons can, hence why their stakes are so much higher in every battle they go into. Furthermore, the Pillars are more ready for this than anyone else, they of all the characters would be the best at keeping their emotions in check in the heat of a battle.  Which means they had to keep them in check for seven volumes of near constant battle, love it or hate it.  KIMETSU LOGIC: The Writing Sins That Make This Manga What It Is I could go on and on and on and on about the writing sins this manga commits and how it shows that it’s Gotouge’s first time writing something of this length. In manga not all of it can be blamed on the author alone because the editors have a very significant influence, but yeah, this is not the most amazingly crafted story out there, by a long shot.  Would I change any of it, though? Well, a few things, yes, of course, out of personal preference. But on the whole, no. It’s the collective errors that stamp KnY with its style and make it what it is, and I find it as endearing as all the randomly super goofy art.  Now, when it comes to the lack of Pillars reacting to new of each others’ deaths, I wouldn’t necessarily classify that itself as a fault, and if I were Gotouge’s editor, I probably would have encouraged her to keep it to a minimum too. After all, I would be considered with selling a new shot of tension with every week’s installment to keep any readers from getting bored with the constant battle. And dang it, THAT TENSION WAS HIGH, those battles were remarkably emotional and tense through and through.  The breaks in tension that we got were necessarily and not distracting, with the notable exception of Iguro’s past. That was clumsy placement. I’ll be honest, I didn’t bond with Iguro as much as a character because he lost his earlier chances to be appealing to me, and by the time the chapter with his flashback came out, I DIDN’T CARE, I waited anxiously all week to see what was happening to Tanjiro and was invested enough to have an appetite for the additional Sumiyoshi and Yoriichi bits, but dang it, Snake Pillar was getting in the way of what my emotions were primed for at that point.  But, such is the way of fickle weekly readers; with THAT MUCH tension going on, readers crave a little breather here and there with a look at who else might taking in a breather in a flashback. We got bits and pieces of that mostly through flashback, like Tamayo’s memories of conversation with Shinobu experienced in real time through Muzan, as well as in-real-time moments with the characters having very slight chances to catch their breath (no pun intended).  But, how well those breaths worked depending on each character, and how the readers’ emotions were getting slammed week to week. Just like how I as a weekly reader (by that point) had no appetite for an Iguro flashback while eager to move forward, there likewise would have been limited appetite for mourning, and we’re stuck with who we got as proxy characters to react through.  ACTION, REACTION: The Rhythm of Basic Writing Advice It has often been said that in writing, something should happen in a scene, and the next scene should be a reaction to it. In the next scene something new happens, and likewise, there is a reaction. We could also thing of this as stages within the same scene, like the part when the music changes or the moment the battle has ended but we’re still on the battlefield.  In Rengoku’s case, we got one big happening, and then a whole lot of reaction drizzled through the story after that.  In the Infinity Fortress case, we get a big happening with the Ubuyashiki Mansion blowing up and then--a big happening!--a big happening!--a big happening--! A--uh oh, there’s a reactio---NEVERMIND, THINGS ARE STILL HAPPENING, GOTOUGE, PLEASE, THIS HURTS, OW, OW, HOW ARE YOU SO CRUEL, WE GET IT, THIS SITUATION IS AWFUL, PLEASE STOP HURTING THEM---

The reactions are there, scattered throughout. They’re short, but they sure make themselves count.  While Tanjirou is our Empathy Personified hero, it’s natural that we get more of his reactions, but the lack of them in other characters is, I would say, a natural fault of having a huge cast to work with it. Once you start dragging too many other characters into the reactions, the actions have trouble moving forward, and with the level of seven volumes worth of tension it’s the actions that keep readers hooked and buying magazines.  THEY’RE ONLY CORVIDS, OK: Now We’re Actually Looking At Canon Details Now that all being said, although it’s easy to dismiss a lot of Kimetsu Logic as amateurish at first, on further reflection, the little worldbuilding logic does excuse itself for not plunging each of the characters into a period of reaction to actions happening elsewhere.  Not all the birds had Yushiro’s papers. Not all birds were created equal. It’s really hard to navigate that place. Ergo, communication was probably highly imperfect; not all the crows knew everything going on. We don’t feel that as readers because we’re seeing Kiriya and his sisters get all the available communications.  In Iguro and Mitsuri’s case in particular, I suspect that might not even had been Mitsuri’s crow (as that one has a distinct personality and accessory) giving her orders to gather where Muzan is. It was probably any old down-to-business crow working with the information it had as clearly as it could in the battle that was most difficult to physically navigate. If Mitsuri’s crow (named Urara in the most recent fanbook) had been there, I imagine she’d have been having difficulty that whole time to even stay within a close range of that battle. Furthermore, a crow like that with a strong bond with Mitsuri might had also judged that telling her about Shinobu’s death was a dangerous distraction, and chosen to withhold information.  The fanbook specifies that Iguro’s crow Yuuan was the one who told him about how Tokitou got a red blade (in fact, this is basically the only thing said of this crow besides its name and gender). To able to report in such detail that Iguro could analyze that Tokitou attained the red blade by the strength of his grip, that probably quite an accomplishment to have either witnessed that much, or to pass on crucial information that detailed and quickly. At that time, Iguro and Mitsuri were physically separated and she was distracted by the crow giving her orders to gather where Muzan was, so she might not even have overheard that Tokitou had died. As for Iguro, the second fanbook tells us that because Tokitou was young he had hoped he wouldn’t die. There was no opportunity to mourn him, and they weren’t close enough for that to throw him off much from battle, but on a Pillar to Pillar level, I think the amount of thought Iguro did dedicated to Tokitou showed a certain level of esteem for him and regret at this passing.  What would have been nice? Maybe a little look over his shoulder to Mitsuri like “I hope she didn’t hear that.” That would have revealed a tender side of Iguro in a very short use of panels.  I want to come back to analyzing Mitsuri’s reaction later, so let’s keep focusing on the loss of Tokitou. Once he attained more of his sense of self back, it seems he preferred the company of Corp Members closed to him in age (if we go by his little flashbacks, which in true Kimetsu Logic, are things we didn’t know about until they come up in flashbacks). Most of the Pillars weren’t especially close with him, even if they did care about his wellbeing, as they seemed particular aware of how young he was. Sanemi probably had never interacted much with Tokitou until that battle, and *OKAY, HERE IT IS, THE UPCOMING FANFIC SELF-PLUG* one of the things I really liked working with in my post-canon fic is that there’s a point at which thinking about Tokitou forces Sanemi to deal with all the trauma he’s buried from that battle. I figure it would hit him later; he had a good excuse of a distraction. Ugh. Man. My heart hurts again thinking of that chapter.  Let’s also not forget, after Himejima showed his respects for Tokitou both quickly and sincerely, he couldn’t allow Sanemi to deal with Genya’s death until after everything was over. All the Pillars had to think like this.  What would had been nice? I liked this reaction scene to two simultaneous and horrific deaths exactly as it was. Ow. Ahhhh. Owwwwww, it’s hurting again. This is catharsis exactly the way I like it.  Let’s keep going with Himejima, the only one to have known to expect all this, and who stayed ready and likely hoped to bring down Muzan all by himself without any other sacrifices (welp, so much for that). There’s a scene in the novels that implies he had some idea that Shinobu wasn’t intending to make it out of the upcoming battle(s) alive, and I imagine he felt the same regret and bitter acceptance in advance that he also felt with Ubuyashiki. If we heard the news about Shinobu like Tanjirou and Giyuu did, I imagine he was hurt but it wouldn’t have been noticeable, and he probably would not be surprised even at how quickly it happened.  What would had been nice? Anything. Just a “How pitiful” and some tears as he runs through the halls woulda’ been great.  So since Giyuu did hear it loud and clear with Tanjirou, I first want to point out that whether that was Tanjirou’s crow or not (might not had been, because his crow was busy with a letter delivery from Senjurou at the time too), that crow must had loved to shared details; maybe even details that were not necessary. Like, would telling the lower level Corp members everything really help? Wouldn’t the loss of each Pillar make them lose their nerve? Was it because that crow was wearing one of Yushiro’s papers that it had to report extra detail for Ubuyashiki HQ? Whatever the case, Giyuu is initially shocked about Shinobu and then is like, “what is that paper the crow has? It sure is reporting things fast.”  What would have been nice? ANYTHING MORE THAN ONE PANEL OF SHOCK. Come on, Giyuu, give the GiyuuShino shippers S O M E T H I N G. Granted, if Tanjirou had been killed in battle with Akaza, I believe Giyuu would have had an initial outburst of emotion, but then gotten himself under control real quick and stayed that way until it was safe to break down (which he did immediately later on, since the threat was gone--but he was just as soon picking up a sword and stabbing him, so again, Pillar-mode must come before experiencing emotions). I interpret canon as that even though Giyuu might had found it easily to address Shinobu in conversation due to frequency in how much they had conversed and the fact that she would usually talk to him first, he would never had considered himself especially close with her (since he never saw himself close with any of the Pillars). I feel their relationship had potential to grow closer if Giyuu had actually gone out of his way to communicate more with her, and he probably would had if they both survived, but at the time she died he probably still felt a distance, which is why it did him harder when Tanjirou--someone who Giyuu did actually get to a point of enjoying conversation with--was dead right in front of him.  (Side not, oh man, OH MAN, being a weekly reader was so tough then. I still have so many emotions from that week. Oh man. Oof. Ouch.)

Of note, Giyuu had the best opportunity for reflection on a comrade’s death since he had enough recovery time once he woke up to build a fire and treat wounds, and Tanjirou took that chance to read a letter. 

What would have been nice? AGAIN, GIYUU, ANYTHING, but after that battle I think he deserved to disassociate a bit.  Also of note, I don’t know that they had complete information either, because NO ONE (by “no one” I mean Tanjirou and Inosuke) seemed to hear anything about Zenitsu single-handedly killing Upper Moon Six and surviving it. What would had been nice: “Good for you, Zenitsu, I hope you’re okay” or “Six? Again? Didn’t we already do that? There was a third??” or “well I got Upper Moon Two SO THERE” or “..........are you sure?” or even way, way after all is said and done, off in epilogue times, “you fought WHO by YOURSELF???” but I digress. Now back to Shinobu, losing her so early on in this marathon of high-stakes battles made her death seem forever ago by the time we got to another Pillar death. It would had been nice for more of them to react both with “no, not Shinobu!” and “we are in deep trouble” sort of ways. That made the glimpses we got of her in flashback feel way, way more nostalgic, since for our experiences as readers, she had already been gone a very long time. I like that the battle with Douma got stretched over so long a span of the manga, they really showed the stakes in how difficult of a foe he was, even if that battle was itself was relatively shorter than others. And as stand-ins for the readers to mourn Shinobu, I love how we got that both through Kanao and through Inosuke.  But yes, it sure would had been nice to get something from... Mitsuri.  Now, if I had only read the events of canon, manga chapter to manga chapter, and even the Taisho Secrets, I still never would have guessed that Shinobu and Mitsuri had such a warm friendship. I know this purely from the fanbooks and novels, and that is something I find a writing error that detracts a lot from the work. Some of the most apt criticism I’ve heard of the Kimetsu pacing is that it could have stood to give us one of more arc to bond with the characters at least a little more, so we could really, really be emotional over loosing them. We get all our spare Pillar interactions in works outside of canon and after Tanjirou initially gets to know Shinobu, he has no more on-screen interactions with her; she mostly appears in Taisho Secrets.  Pillar Training was fun and all, but maybe another arc with stakes in it that occurs closer to home and brings out some different sides of the Pillars in Tanjirou’s presence, instead of each of them getting one dance each with our protagonist. That would had been a chance to show Shinobu and Mitsuri’s friendship, in which case, we would had really, really wanted to see Mitsuri’s reaction.  But, Mitsuri had a job to do in the very, very, very heavy tension and battles that ran in weekly magazines for months on end. She carried the very heavy weight of needing to provide brevity. Her silliness contrasted against all that tension was fresh air for readers who had been holding their breath (no pun intended! kinda) through so much. And man, our reliance on her for that made it hurt all the more when things suddenly got very serious for her.  But, that means she was also unable to play a heavy emotional role too early on. There wasn’t room to give her a satisfyingly emotional reaction to Shinobu or Tokitou; when after all, this is the girl who was fretting about dearly beloved Oyakata-sama, was horrified to see the explosion, angirly attacked Muzan, but was saved from certain doom almost immediately after she was taken by surprise in the Infinity Fortress, and then she’s BACK TO 100% FANGIRL MODE. Like, giiiiiiiiiirl, Oyakata-sama just diiiiiiied, tone it down a notch.  I feel like I had more to say.  OH YEAH.  WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?: To fanfic, duh.  Going back to reaction and action and producing something with sellable pacing, again, I wouldn’t risk bogging down the tension-heavy final arc with too much open sadness (less is more definitely applies when the reaction scenes were often SO GOOD), but it clearly set up the desire for it. And, the length and intensity with which a work of fiction can live rent-free in audiences’ minds is a measure of its success.  If we MUST turn to fanfiction to get that emotional closure (or force the Pillars to get theirs), then this is proof of a job well done in making us care.   Herein lies the freedom with fanfiction: It doesn’t have to be good. It doesn’t have to sell. It doesn’t have to fit a regular serialized format. Fanfic is whatever it wants, all it has to do is indulgently scratch an itch.  I have way more stomach for sappiness in fanfic than in original canon, because I have higher expectations of canon to honor writing conventions, and to make decisions that will serve the overall story, not necessarily cater to my tastes.  But fanfic? Fanfic, you are here to serve me. Dive into those characters’ dry eyes with a jackhammer and gives me their tears. I don’t care how much you have to fry their brains to do it, give it to me.  I mean, I don’t write fanfic like that, noooo. At least, not that I post publicly. Ssh. No one needs to know aaaaaall my particular canon itches I wish to have picked raw. But all the more power to people who DO post that publicly and provide a great service to all the other people with that same need.  But, in the spirit of writing fic that tries to honor the spirit of canon, I try to sprinkle the juicy emotional potential canon could have had around as needed, to draw out what I feel canon just didn’t have the opportunity to give us. It’s ultimately self-servicing for what I wish canon would had done, but my style of published fic does try to stay widely appealing as a gen fic. Everybody’s got their own balances and tastes, and that’s cool.  And that is freedom canon authors don’t have.  I’ll conclude by saying that, although we as readers collectively earned it, the ending of Kimetsu no Yaiba was too bright and happy and specifically chose bittersweet moments that would be easy to swallow (pretty smart for a quick ending), but entirely skipped all the really heavy stuff in the immediate aftermath.

And yes, as difficult (and even dull) as it would be to slog through, there’s a part of me that wants to see all that, for the sake of closure. 

And now I sleep byyyyezzzzzzzzz

[the-ghost-king]

I have to do this in a few reblogs because tumblr added a stupid character limit to their posts, so please check the reblogs for more.

Basically this is based off of @sukisgirlfriend's post about how people were just discovering the parallels between PJO and the original myths, so I compiled everything I could possibly remember in my own head bewteen PJO and the myths.

TLT - I think this is probably the literal story of Theseus and the Minotaur, it deals with the idea of family and "the son" being framed for a false crime, Luke seems to be the representation of suicide in the original- however instead of suicide he chooses the other side. There's also a slight Orpheus reference here but he tried to save his mom not his lover, different type of love but the point stands. Sally in this myth functions as an allegory for Alcemene, Heracles mother who was killed walking between two places (for Sally this could be the car and camp or the beach vacation and camp) and there was a debate over what to do with Alcemene's soul and Sally's too. Annabeth is symbolic of Andromeda (who was a favorite of Athena), Perseus had to gain the winged sandals and Medusa's head before he was able to win Andromeda's hand. So we would know from book 1 and that implication that romance is the end game for the two of them. SoM - Literally just the Odessy he didn't even try to make this subtle, it's essentially the same story... The Gray sisters Taxi Ride where Percy is holding their eye is literally something Perseus did in the original myth to gain information about the Hesperides (Zoe + sisters). Perseus in his original myth was also told by the Gray sisters that he needed the shield of Athena (owned by Thalia), the winged sandals (given my Luke), and Hades Helm (brought by Nico), hence making the 4 of them essential pieces to the war. He earned the Winged Sandals in TLT, Thalia's shield is earned in this book, and he "technically" earns the helm in TTC. There's also references here many times to the Golden Fleece, and Percy is told he can't go and that Clarisse will instead go by Tantalus- this is the origin of the word tantalizing and we see the quest being "held over Percy's head". Eventually Percy (acting as Jason's myth) sneaks off to collect the Fleece, Tyson steals the Fleece from the tree, and Clarisse returns the Fleece to the tree- freeing Thalia and "unlocking" Athena's shield which is needed for Perseus's arc. TTC - I don't know what this specifically references but it includes Talos which in some versions of the myth was a gift given to Minos, we see Minos in BoTL so there's a connection there. Zoe's father is Atlas, which parallels a part of the Illiad in which Agamemnon angers Artemis and must sacrifice a daughter to her, there's the parallel of Artemis' grief here as well. There's an important connection here but I'm missing it. We also know that Nico will bring the Helm of Hades later on in the series, this helm is the 3rd part which Perseus needed in his original quest- we also know in the original Perseus's quest he had to locate the Hesperides aka Zoe for information. I can't find a huge overarching myth to connect this too, so this seems more like a bunch of small myths compiled to make a large one. Talos was originally defeated by Jason and Heracles, Bianca is symbolic of both of him here- she not only takes a treasure (the Hades statue) but she also is the one who uses Talos's weakness against himself (his heel). In the beginning before the group eaves for the question Phoebe is unable to attend because she was covered in Centaurus blood which also happened to Heracles, and her being unable to go on the quest was her "killing off". Nobody dies in the original myth defeating Talos, so this means Bianca's death is symbolic of a sibling death in mythology in relation to Nico, but I can't figure out which, I know Achilles slaughtered Hectors siblings, and I know Hyacinth's sister was killed as well... I'm sure there's more but it's 3am I'm confused.

(1/?)

[professionalwritingnerd]

What are the major changes you've made in your rewrite so far?

I been waiting for this. LET’S GO. I’ll put this under a keep reading in case anyone doesn’t want spoilers and just wants to discover everything with the story.

Plus, there’s a lot here, so this is also in case you don’t want a WALL OF TEXT. Bear in mind these aren’t ALL of the changes I have so far, just the major ones for now.

I’ll address how Danny gets his powers at a later time cause that’s a whole other. Thing.

Danny is a He/They Non-Binary, but he hasn’t figured it out yet. Give him time.

He also has ADHD and is fully medicated. Medication or not, though, it still makes life difficult for him.

Maddie and Jack are fully employed as independent inventors and technical/electrical engineers, selling inventions and doing for-hire tech work on the side. This wealth enables them to fund their ghost hunting side-business, and enables them to fully support their kids.

Alongside Jazz, Danny now has a younger sister, Noelle; we call her Noa. She’s eight, autistic, is a tiny blonde haired, blue-eyed spitfire who looks like a Barbie Doll but absolutely knows that she’s at “prime ball punching height” with everyone. She looked death in the face and laughed as a newborn.

Everyone in the Fenton family has an animal companion they usually bring everywhere with them, if possible. It’s kind of a tradition where each Fenton gets one when they turn ten; whether Jack started it or inherited it from generations has yet to be decided.

Danny’s is a blonde ferret named Lola.

Jazz has a pet bunny named Molly. She had another one named Buster, but he tragically died somehow. 

Maddie has a barn owl; I haven’t named him yet.

Jack actually has a few. He has a pig, a sheep, and a Highland Pony. The Fenton’s backyard is MUCH bigger than it was in the show, so he has the room.

Noa doesn’t have one yet, but she does have a service dog named Buffy. He’s the shared family dog who kinda lazes around the house doing nothing until he needs to “go to work”; aka put on the vest for Noa.

The Fentons have an AI companion who lives in their house and is connected to most of their phones/devices: Apex, a semi-sentient AI. Honestly, her backstory is completely unknown to me, since she was a sporadic, spur of the moment addition literally as I was writing chapter 1. But she’s very sweet and caring for the Fenton family, and very polite, and has a little bit of sass to her. She’s a peach.

Amity Part is set in Washington state. I wanted the setting for Amity Park to be somewhere that gets a lot of fog and rain. It was either that or Oregon, but I already have somewhere set in Oregon and I don’t wanna repeat Gravity Falls either, lol.

Not only that, but instead of the 90′s, this story takes place in 2055, where the setting is much more technologically advanced. Watch as Danny’s family STILL manages to stick out like a sore thumb.

Tucker is the rich kid this time instead of Sam, and is transgender FtM. Little else has changed about him except for him being a bit more fleshed out and more supportive.

Sam went through the most revisions. Instead of the rich girl whose parents don’t understand her, she’s a foster child who circled through foster homes until she was adopted by a couple living in Amity Park when she was about 11. She’s been living with a relatively normal, nice couple for about three years now, but if you know anything about the foster care system, you know that foster care doesn’t breed trusting children. She’s still defensive, pessimistic and sarcastic, but a lot of her hypocritical, controlling behavior has been toned down by a SHIT ton. She’s infinitely more supportive of Danny and Tucker, and is extremely protective of them for “I was a foster kid and had zero friends until now” reasons.

Dash’s bullying is toned down slIGHTLY? He and Danny don’t really make good first impressions on each other at freshman orientation, and due to personal reasons for Dash, heated emotions and a giant miscommunication, Dash REALLY doesn’t have a high opinion of Danny. Not for stock bully “weak nerd” reasons, but for “wow what you did to someone else was really not okay” reasons. Dash does get a redemption arc.

As does Paulina! She’s still a little bit of a self-focused airhead and a little flighty, but she’s mostly pretty sweet to the people around her in her own well-intentioned but not-very-well-thought-out way. 

I AM ALSO PRESIDENT OF THE “VALERIE DESERVED BETTER” FAN CLUB AND YOU BEST BELIEVE I’M GONNA GIVE HER THE ARC SHE DESERVED, DAMNIT.

Oh and Vlad’s a little less campy. Get ready for a guy who does a SCARILY good job at convincing you that Masters and Plasmius are two separate people while he’s in the same fucking room as you.

There is a LOT more that I haven’t touched on here. This is just kinda the surface level stuff before Danny gets his powers... except for the Vlad shit, but come on. I had to mention that. Plus if I was gonna mention EVERY LITTLE IDEA, I was gonna be here writing this post all night. I can go into more detail on anything or anyone specific if ya’ll want! 

This isn’t even getting into the inclusion of a new character we’re adding to the main cast.

I’m super excited to talk about/write more of this. I’m editing chapter 1 as we speak!

[natsubeatsrock]

Should Lisanna have come back? (Part 1)

This might be a sign that I don't have much to talk about regarding Fairy Tail. I'm not sure that I would talk about this years ago. 

But that's a good thing, right? After all, I'm a lot more suited to write this now than before Fairy Tail ended. My writing has greatly improved over the years. The kinds of posts I made back in the day are not as well written as the stuff I’m writing now.

Not to mention, I have the perfect template to structure my answer to this question. I don't think it's as simple as answering that one question. So, similar to my post about Stain from last year, I've decided to answer this by answering three questions: "Does it make sense that Lisanna didn't die?", "Has Lisanna impacted the series much since coming back?" and "Is there any benefit to Lisanna coming back?" Despite what fans will say, these are three different questions. And each question deserves its own distinct answer. As such, I've decided to break up each part into its own post. (read: I've learned from my dealing with the Stain question.)

Question #1: Does it make sense that Lisanna didn't die?

Answer: Yes!

Oh? You thought I'd have a different answer? 

As it stands, this is not the first time I've answered this question. And every time I come to answer this question, I become more convinced that this is the right answer. It makes sense that Lisanna was still alive after the series.

Naturally, this is a controversial statement. Lisanna's return to the series has been treated as a bad thing. This is seen as one of, if not the worst things that Mashima has done for Fairy Tail. He took a character that had an obvious death and brought her back seemingly for no reason. 

Of course, the latter half of that charge is the point of the next question. But, for now, it's worth talking about the first half.

If you read Fairy Tail, the idea that Lisanna was missing was hinted at long before we learned what happened. There are hints towards it even as early as the second chapter. Mirajane talks to Lucy about the scars Fairy Tail members have and hinted at her own scars. Later on, in the Lullaby arc, Natsu is asked by Kageyama why Mirajane has stopped working, somewhat rhetorically. (Consider that this exchange happened on a train.) We even learn that before the series started, Mira was an S-Class Mage. Something serious had to be responsible for that to have stopped. 

Of course, the anime handled things differently. The episode before the Phantom Lord arc properly starts is "Natsu and the Dragon Egg". Lucy learns the story of how Natsu and Lisanna hatched Happy out of an egg. That episode ends with Lucy wondering why she hasn't seen Lisanna around the guild. There's a bit of an extra kick to this. If you've been watching the endings up to this point, you'll know the second ending ends with a frame of Natsu, Happy, and Lisanna. If you're watching this for the first time, you finally know who this is. And hopefully have an idea of what's up.

Fast forward to the Phantom Lord arc, and the truth is revealed. Mirajane and Elfman lost their sister after a mission went wrong. He attacked his sister after losing control of a take-over form. None of them have been the same since. Their sister was dead.

Only there's one problem with this. We're never shown that Lisanna died.

We're told that Lisanna is dead by her siblings. She's mourned over by her friends and family. She's presumed to be dead by the characters of the series. We even get to see the events that lead to her untimely demise expounded on in the anime. But even then, it never goes as far as showing that Lisanna was actually dead. 

That may sound like a random and pedantic point, but it really isn't.

Consider this. Two arcs after Phantom Lord, we learn about Erza's past. An important person in her life was Rob. He's the one that taught her about magic and inadvertently led her to Fairy Tail. In Erza's backstory, he also shares a tragic demise, which works as the trigger for Erza unlocking her magic.

But there's an important difference between Rob and Lisanna: we actually see him die. We see his body drop dead, and his loss of life. It's not just something we hear characters talk about. It's something we see happen for ourselves.

This is one of the more frustrating things about character death: if there isn't a body, it's not confirmed. There are exceptions to this, but death isn't permanent unless you see the person in question die and confirmed dead. Mashima has gone on record to say that he doesn't feel he would ever bring characters back from the dead. At the same time, he does enjoy writing characters that seemed to have died come back seemingly from the dead. 

One of the most famous examples of this is Captain America from Marvel. If you didn't know, Steve Rogers is a character that predated the Stan Lee era of the company. (They were known as Timely Comics at the time.) He was popular when the US was in World War II. Soon after it ended, he didn't find much sustainability. 

However, as Marvel started to gain a new mythos and identity, he was formally reintroduced with the backstory that fans likely know about him now. He was on a mission and went under the ice for decades. Eventually, he was revived and became the leader of the Avengers.

Though, how is Lisanna's disappearance explained?

She was taken up as part of Anima in Edolas. When we finally see what happened that day, we see that her body was teleported to Edolas. With everything that happened to her, the other Strauss kids weren't unjustified for thinking their sister died, even if she wasn't with them. It's not as if what happened to her could have been more believable to them.

But the most important character in solving this entire situation may be one you'd expect: Mystogan. In the Phantom Lord arc, he's most well known for taking down all of the extra Phantom Lord branches. However, he's also responsible for collecting Makarov's scattered magic after Aria took it away from him. And, naturally, the character he tells these things to happens to be Porylusica.

And later in the Fantasia arc, he is revealed to be an alternate form of Jellal. In fact, he happens to be the Jellal that Wendy knew when she was younger. If there are two Jellals and one is clearly from Earth, where did the other come from?

These things are all clarified in the Edolas arc. He comes from an alternate dimension where people are almost the opposite of how they are. People in Edolas can't use magic freely. Therefore, their king has been using Anima to take magic from Earthland so he can use it for him- 

I mean... so that the people of Edolas will be able to use magic as they want.

As you can imagine, Mystogan has problems with this, especially when it means turning the Earthland version of Fairy Tail, and the rest of Magnolia, into lacrima. Much of Edolas involves his orchestration of the plot to save both worlds. However, this also involves him sending people to Edolas from Earthland. He sends Gajeel and Lucy to Edolas and presumably could have helped Wendy and Carla. He even goes to Edolas himself at the end of the arc.

When Natsu, Happy, Wendy, and Carla go to Fairy Tail's version of Edolas they actually meet Lisanna. They believe that it's just Edolas Lisanna, even as Edolas has versions of Lucy, Wendy, and plenty of other members of Fairy Tail. Though, there are some subtle hints regarding her true origin. As the guild is explaining their plight to the team, Natsu notices that Lisanna is leaving the guildhall. She'd have no real reason to leave if she wasn't somehow connected to them and we learn that's the reason she left. 

Also, there's a fun little detail that I admittedly picked up from TVTropes.com. In the chapter cover for Bye, Bye Fairy Tail, the chapter where the characters start to return from Edolas, the members of Edolas Fairy Tail are symbolically wishing the other members goodbye. You'll never guess who's missing from this cover: Lisanna. Of course, other members are missing, including Mira. However, Lisanna isn't an insignificant omission from this cover.

Now I understand what one complaint might be. I'm able to make all of these explanations for Lisanna returning because we have the complete context for the series. Even if any of this makes sense, there's no way that someone who was reading Fairy Tail as it was coming out could have come to the conclusion that Lisanna not actually dying makes sense.

Consider the following: the director of Fairy Tail originally planned to treat Lisanna as if she hadn't actually died. Of course, that might not mean much to the anime we got considering she would be revealed not to have died in the manga either. However, consider that Shinji Ishihira, without the benefit of the Edolas arc, came to the conclusion that the most reasonable way to handle Lisanna was that she wasn't dead.

To be continued...