#lenore speaks

[theplasticman]

:)) me a couple of weeks ago!

[blacknedsoul-blog]

Montresor is the Bad Ending of White Raven

So Montresor has a religious trauma. And from what little we know of the flashback to his death, the man was apparently a corrupt preacher.

What that tells me about his life made me crack my knuckles, because holy shit, this guy is an even better villain than I expected. And not for the reasons I thought at first.

Montresor's possible backstory

A fun fact: "unholy men" used to be called "sons of Belial". Same as Monty's Spectre type, so there's the initial connection, but with what we saw in chapter 87, this phrase from his mother resonates quite a bit:

Montresor was most likely a bastard (literally), and if he was raised in a religious community, that immediately made him and his mother outcasts. Possibly his mother hated him for "ruining her life". Whether this is true or not, the implication is that he grew up a victim of a system that decided he was sucked by the devil from birth.

In this light, Montresor's attitude towards the world is actually a logical consequence: he has decided that abuse is the only way to relate, and you can either be the victim or the victimizer. Of course, he is now the victimizer.

But he decided that because life taught him two lessons that were important enough to make him the person he is now.

"I know this game better than anybody"

We know from the clothes and hat in his flashback, and the cross around his neck, that Montresor was a preacher. And I would venture to say an excellent one: he has heard all his life that he is a demon, he knows better than anyone what terror hell produces in people, so he knows exactly what to say (or not say) to manipulate others through that fear.

Montresor, like Annabel, is someone who exploits his own traumas.

Annabel has been almost conditioned to behave like the perfect high-society lady, and that includes going to impressive extremes if it means getting something in return. She has engineered her way through life by identifying the currency of the people around her and knowing exactly what to give them so that they will, in her words "kissing her rings".

Loyalty gained through fear vs. loyalty gained through pretended sympathy.

Same goal.

If the world has made them that way, both Annabel and Montresor will use every last footnote of knowledge gained through trauma to get what they want.

But then there's something else they have in common: this deep knowledge of the rules of the game has also made them both know that the odds are too stacked against them to ever win. In the past, we've seen Annabel throw in the towel on her arranged marriage, but Montresor took a different path, much more along the lines of…

"So I'm not afraid to cheat."

Montresor decided that if people wanted a demon. He would give them one. The worst demon of all, because this one knows the rules: he knows how to play the game, he knows how to cheat and get away with it. We don't know the extent of his atrocities, but given what happened in the flashback and the fact that his idea of a sleepover is stuffing someone behind a wall to slowly suffocate, this guy must have a long rap sheet.

So long, in fact, that he was tied to the tracks of a train to be torn to shreds without even a trial.

Because if the rules are just there to screw you, then screw them: the only option left is to cheat.

Which is exactly what Lenore did when she burned down her house and pretended to be a man to go after Annabel. Lenore jeopardized everything Annabel said was important to her.

And she got away with it. At least until they were both killed (or, if those of us with our chips on Annabel's childhood friend, they may have both died without anyone knowing).

Now, in Nevermore, Lenore is still doing that, as we can see in her reluctance to kill or destroy Montresor: she refuses to play the game, refuses to follow the rules.

She will look for ways to cheat here, as she did before (something Annabel actually expects her to do). The woman is too stubborn to bend, and so far she seems to have the wind at her back (the question is, for how long?).

The bad ending

These elements make Montresor a complete exhibition of the ultimate consequences of taking Annabel and Lenore's attitudes to the extreme: a person who instrumentalizes her own traumas to unravel and try to inflict them on others, and who is not afraid to cheat for her own benefit if it means getting what she wants.

The only thing that separates Annabel and Lenore from Montresor is that they both still use these attitudes in the name of other people: Annabel for Lenore herself, and Lenore for the people she cares about. That both of them (still) seem to have their hearts in the right place.

But if Annabel continues to use her vast knowledge of this twisted game to work her way through people without caring, and Lenore still believes she's above all rules, here's Montresor to show them (and us) what's waiting for them at the end of the road.

[moonstreak]

By my count we have been in this "divorce arc" zone for about six fucking months and yet STILL I feel like my heart gets ripped out and stomped on with big heavy boots every few pages. Fucking LOOK AT THIS:

Annabel was losing her mind earlier this same morning thinking she'd lost Lenore forever, finally seeming to get that she'd gone too far. Then, after much work to salvage things with her little minion squad, Lenore asked to talk. She perked up, seemed to think all must surely be within the plan. Lenore just played her part with more fervor than usual, or maybe she was miffed at having a valuable piece taken off her board without warning. Surely she's calmed down, given how things turned out!

Lenore, meanwhile, has been trying all night before this to reconcile how this girl she loves could be such a monster and do such harm to the other people she cares about. She's now spent a morning of fury and desperation saving Duke, followed by playing up her role again with an edge of "no I actually mean this rn, I'm MAD." By this point, though, adrenaline wearing off, it feels like she's trying to rationalize this away as one of Annabel's more typical schemes gone *way* past the line at some point along the way. Surely she didn't actually *intend* for Duke to die, right?

Then, this scene comes along. Lenore gets it driven home one final, agonizing time that Annabel really does view the other misfits as nothing but pawns, at best. No matter how much Lenore truly cares for them, they are *nothing* to Annabel. And, in turn, Annabel is having it confirmed, beyond the power of any denial, that Lenore is horrified and disgusted by this. By her.

GODS this hurts.

[baltharino]

The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. 1x18 - "Hard Rock"

[coconut530]

LET THE DIVORCE ENSUE

[jockw]

Oof friendly (headcanon) reminder that Lenore's spectre is deadass a raven with a suit and her cane is a (definitely plausible) weapon

Guessin' that 'cause she's a curse since ravens are a sign of death. Or 'twas a crow, just know snakes are rebirths

Damn I could go for a drawing sob sob

[howiscallmewhateveridctaken]

So now that the seasons over, I figured it’s as good a time as any to reread nevermore from the beginning again and I want to point something out really quick.

So during the final chapter we get left on a cliffhanger with Annabel seemingly in danger of the hunt and keep seeing people freaking out everywhere worried about wether or not she’ll be safe, and I’ve also seen a few point out that hopefully it won’t do anything because it smells Lenore in her. Now what I HAVENT seen anyone point out yet is one crucial detail in the first chapter…….

Annabel was WITH Lenore when they first encountered the hunt. It most likely remembers her. It’s like we all just forgot that part ( unless this was extremely obvious and I was the only one who forgot which is entirely possible and extremely likely)

What I haven’t seen anyone question yet is this….

I think everyone is generally under the consensus that the orbs were trying to help them in the beginning but what hasn’t really been questioned yet is why did the react to Theo (which is the leading theory) this way? What did he do to them? What’s his role on the island?

[sparkknightella]

so glad both Lenore and Annabel are finally playable in Genshin Impact !!!

[staryarn]

My animals

[beevean]

N!Alucard swearing in particular doesn't mske sense because he was raised by the two people in the whole show who actually never swore once and were really refined, not to mention he presumably lived in pretty isolated conditions so there could be no way for him to gain any rude behavior

The show tries to sell the idea that Trevor's behavior rubbed off on him but he was calling his ancestors brain dead hillbillies and overall acting like a cunt as soon as he met the guy

It literally makes no sense for him to be this way even in-universe

Yes, exactly.

It's the same logic of that S4 scene where Sypha goes on a rant because "I said shit, you did this to me!" when this woman literally snarked that she was going to make Trevor drink her piss by telling him its was beer, like, 10 minutes after meeting him. No, you made nearly everyone talk the same, you don't get to paint Trevor as the "crass one"!

Funnily enough, Alucard insulting the Belmont heritage by more or less calling them primitive savages for their techniques does fit the idea that he's a haughty spoiled prince who thinks he's so much superior than the low class. Probably not what the writers intended, though :P

overall acting like a cunt as soon as he met the guy

In S1E4, he literally asks Trevor if he's "a runt running around with the Belmont crest" before even fighting. And I get the idea that Alucard wanted to test him to see if he could help him, but the antagonism is so forced. I honestly don't know why Alucard would hate Trevor on sight: their personalities are not that opposite.

It's shit like this that pisses me off:

Alucard: This is a simple remote viewing mirror. A little of the activating language is chipped. A few of the runes need re-cutting, but workable. You have the most fascinating family junkyard, Belmont. Trevor: You are a cockwart, Alucard. Sypha: Stop it. *drags Trevor away* You are an adult. You do not have to rise to his every barb. Trevor: He's pissing me off like it's his job, Sypha. Sypha: Grow up, Trevor.

Alucard attacked Trevor first for literally zero reason, Trevor insults him back (less elegantly but whatever, I'd call him a cockwart too) and Sypha reproaches him and tells him to grow up? And then the scene transitions to Trevor explaining the origins of his name... which leads to the two flirting? Bro? The fuck? This is literally "be nice to your bully" logic??

This is the forced framing of the show. It wants to tell me Trevor is the immature, rude one, because Alucard is justified:

Sypha: But it's like he's a cold spot in the room. It's not like your sadness. Trevor: I'm not sad. Sypha: Yes, you are. But I can shout at you, or tease you, and get a reaction that lets me know you're still in there. His sadness is like an icy well. It's bottomless… and it swallows up your voice and anything you try to drop into it.

Trevor's depression is funny, Alucard's depression is tragic. Comic relief vs. real protagonist. You can't make this shit up.

And then this other shit:

Sypha: Stop testing him, Alucard. Alucard: I am concerned I have thrown my lot in with a demented infant. Sypha: I imagine he has similar concerns about you. Alucard: I am also concerned that you enjoy him too much. Sypha: And what is that supposed to mean? Alucard: He is unreliable, emotionally damaged, and apparently very distracting to you while you should be focused on the task at hand. Sypha: Oh. Am I not working hard enough? Hmm? Alucard: And he's a drunk and he's self-destructive and anybody trying to hold on to him may well simply be dragged down with him. Sypha: You're afraid. You worry that you might have made the wrong choice. So you're trying to make him prove himself again and again by constantly provoking him. You forget, Alucard. Trevor didn't get to finish out his childhood. He is not the man here who may not have grown up.

This is not testing. Sypha joked about finding a book with penis spells, and Alucard unprovoked threw a jab at Trevor. He just decided to insult him as soon as he saw an opening. (although, hilariously enough, it lowkey sounds like he's crushing on Sypha and he's jealous that she and Trevor had a decent chat the other night)

Hey, asshole. Trevor literally brought your ungrateful ass to a place that holds all of his heritage, a heritage he was shunned for, because you need help to kill Daddy - and I don't give a shit if you feel attacked in your vampire identity which makes zero sense and makes you look really callous, you want a vampire hunter for the job, you get someone who kills people like you for a living. You have seen him fighting: you have seen that he is very competent at his job, which is what you need. On the other hand, in S2 we barely if ever see him drink like in S1. You literally, literally, have zero reasons to speak that way, unless you're just looking for excuses to be a dick. And if you're that insecure about your choice... leave. Find someone else. Go fight Dracula alone, since in any case you ended up doing all the work. And Sypha, why the fuck did you go and bang Trevor when you clearly prefer Alucard over him. Look, she's defending him, but she's still calling him a manchild! What's with Ellis and his obsession with manchildren and humiliating them!

... I'm sorry, I know I strayed away from the point of him swearing, but N!Alucard is such a rude prick! I hate him! It's not Trevor's fault, he was born that way! He's not even that pretty that would justify him becoming the fandom's blorbo! I want to slap him and Sypha so much and then rescue Trevor who needs much better friends than these two 😭

[hashtagnevermore]

my heart literally just stopped beating

[sapphicnerd]

Nevermore the bell tower chapters (63 and 64 in particular) are driving me absolutely bonkers insane. You have Annabel who clearly loves Lenore more than anything, she is so smart and selfish, and will manipulate others and do whatever it takes to get her and Lenore out together. Then you have Lenore who cares deeply about all her friends and allies, who is brave, and selfless, and genuine. This game that Annabel is playing doesn’t sit well with her, she hates lying and will fight so that everyone she cares about can get a second chance at life. She’s gone through hell to get to that tower and the weight of everyone who helped her get there sits on her shoulders. Annabel tells Lenore that she must remain underestimated, she can’t ring that bell because all eyes would be on her, therefore Annabel’s plan to get them a new life wouldn’t work. Annabel can kiss her and they will be fine, the plan will remain intact. Then LENORE manipulates ANNABEL by leveraging how Annabel feels about her in order to reach directly through her heart and ring that bell. Insane.

[juliettecaisgf]

sorry i binge read 44 chapters of nevermore and now all i can think about are those dead gay bitches in that creepy gothic manor my normal schedule will resume shortly

[moonstreak]

[maydazey]

cannot listen to love me dead anymore without being afflicted with nevermore brainrot it’s actually a curse (blessing)

[froggutzsillyyippie]

this is where i post from, if you even care