#lore problems 101

[tinygryphon-58570]

The real question - should this Everlux be friends with my Fae & Veilspun chaotic magic duo or with my grumpy old Dusthide who wants people to stay off his lawn

[daeneryseastar]

i think the biggest problem i have with the whole team discourse in f&b + hotd is that it isn’t just about which characters you like more/who you want to sit on the throne at that end; it’s that each side is fighting for completely different ideologies, regardless of one members personal beliefs. grrm could not have made it anymore clear.

team black isn’t just fighting for rhaenyra to be queen, they’re fighting for the monarch’s right to choose an heir, for the oaths they swore years before, for the complete opposite of precedent/tradition: the king’s word is law. team green isn’t just fighting for aegon to be king, they’re fighting for tradition, that no matter the words of a king being law sons will always come before daughters, that oaths are fickle and don’t matter. each side is in some way fighting back against what’s already been established for the kingdom, but the end goal is completely different.

we’re not given as much insight into why most of the houses initially sided with rhaenyra, but we do have an inkling into how the green council felt and acted, however. jaehaerys choosing baelon over rhaenys (against andal tradition, the king can choose his heir) is one point. the great council of 101 is another. alicent, despite being the leader of the council, is removed from the equation and shoved off to the side when it comes to swearing oaths of loyalty between the members on account of her womanhood. daemon being a second coming of ‘maegor’ (despite what we know would be a better suited title for aemond, but i digress) is also used. when discussing who would side with them the vale is automatically disqualified from the list, due to them presently being ruled by a woman, jeyne arryn. she doesn’t choose to fight for rhaenyra for the sole reason of them being kin, but because her own right to rule can and will be put into question if aegon steps over rhaenyra. because she is a woman. she does so in spite of her dislike for daemon (and his supposed maegor-ness) too.

even if one were to look at each characters personal feelings about the succession the fact of the matter is that rhaenyra is usurped because she is a woman. it’s stated almost blatantly multiple times before and during the war. the greens use scapegoats and smokescreens in attempts justify it (her ‘bastards’ chief among them, but legally her sons live and die as the trueborn children between her and laenor, with the reminder that septon eustace refutes this claim to begin with). even when she is killed grrm has her breast pricked to arouse a dragon that doesn’t want to kill her (and why is that?). aegon ‘wins’ against her and is king, but then why is jaehaera, as his last living remaining child not named his heir? why is aegon iii put ahead of her, despite being the enemies son? these are rhetorical questions. aegon had no plans to ever consider her his heir, he made it clear with how excited he was to marry cassandra baratheon and produce more ‘strong’ sons. his dragon (who had fought and bled for him the entire war) wasn’t mourned properly, he couldn’t wait to hatch a ‘new dragon, prouder and fiercer than the last.’ yet he wasn’t even capable of doing that in the six months before he too was killed.

it’s also safe to mention that grrm created an entire separate lore story, one that would seem to have no bearing on the original story unless you’re capable of understanding symbolism. the amethyst empress is usurped by her younger brother the bloodstone emperor, and the first long night ensues from this decision. rhaenyra (amethyst = arryn blue + targaryen red) is usurped by her younger brother aegon ii (bloodstone = hightower green + targaryen red) and the dying of the dragons, the very creatures needed to stop the next long night, are eradicated, along with the magic needed to hatch them and keep them alive (until). the war is the blacks (power, death, grief, rebellion, restraint) versus the greens (ambition, greed, jealousy, anger, wealth). the amethyst empress is important to the main story in the same way that rhaenyra is important, that snubbing the women (an integral aspect to the power the targaryens held) of house targaryen can lead only to disaster. daenerys is the key, the one to break the cycle and fix the wrongdoings caused by her ancestors obsession with power. mother of dragons, mhysa, breaker of chains, slayer of lies, daughter of death, the dragon queen, azor ahai come again, the prince that was promised will bring the dawn.

you can argue for technicalities sake all day, but there is a meaning to this story beyond the scope of rightful heirs. and it shouldn’t be shoved off to the side just so you can praise your favorites and hate those who go against them. it makes for a poor consuming of the actual story. fire and blood was created as a history book to expand on daenerys as a character. her family, what and where she’s come from, and how she relates to them. she’s the antithesis to every targaryen that’s come before her, a hero in her own right. the only targaryen’s we can say are radically important to dany’s story are the conquerors (aegon the conqueror with teats) and rhaenyra (the amethyst empress). i don’t know, just some food for thought.

edit: i have revised some of my opinions on this through a further reread but the gist of it is still the same.

[danger-bird]

Touchstarved Astrology Headcanons🌠

Mostly based on my own irl observations over the years, as well as my bookworm era a few years ago . Also taking into account my own impressions & feelings for the LIs, so sufficiently biased and I'm not sorry. In the words of Danny DeVito: "I'm right, you're wrong, and there's nothing you can do about it!" /lovingly❤️

Ais

Venus in Virgo. Period. I'm dying on this hill. Fight me. No but fr, first he's a diehard animal lover and will jump into a dog fight to save a puppy. Second, he's giving "mother hen" behavior - says "watch your step", then grabs you when you trip and scolds you "told you to watch your step"(Virgo 101); sends you off with an ESCORT, jumps in fists first when the roughneck tries fighting you then hides you from the purple gang later and escorts you back himself - need I say more? Not to mention he VERY likely helped Kuras save us (his scent lingers in the clinic when MC wakes up), and helps in the clinic regularly (so a part-time nurse, most likely helped save Mhin too). Also, he was definitely watching over us even before the Seaspring (the scarred woman knew our name from somewhere, also the Unnamed can feel Ocudeus' presence outside the clinic). He craves taking care of someone - people, animals, soulless, poor unfortunate souls - you name it. And it's not for show - that's just how he is. That's how he shows love - by being attentive. All my favorite people have this placement, they're all like him in this regard - best Venus placement imo (yes, I'm a biased Venus in Taurus, BUT I'm also right, lol)

Scorpio Ascendant I mean... come on. Come on. He's LITERALLY a gang leader! Not that anybody needs convincing, but aside from the sharp, intense eyes and the fact he oozes sex appeal, this would place his Sun in 10th House- he is known publicly as a leader, his presence demands respect and attracts attention. BDE for sure. Also he's very smart, intuitive and observant. Very aware of his surroundings, can pick up on people's moods & intentions like it's nothing. I'm convinced he can literally read our mind. A smart, sexy and caring bastard, lord help me...

Kuras

Virgo Signature sign Kuras is very service-oriented, focused on helping the community and always looking for ways to assist others. Very mindful of people’s problems and what they’re in need of - and ready to provide it, no matter what it may cost him. He’s also very polite, but comes off rigid, like he’s read “Social Etiquette for Humans 101” and is following it to the letter lol. Also kinda nerdy – has his special interests, and if you let him he’ll talk about reductions and concoctions all day, every day. I don't think it's a specific placement that influences this behavior, it's the whole picture, thus - a signature sign!

Saturn Dominant This man is a Capricorn already, sure, but there’s a difference. Capricorn placements have an inner spark, a fire about them – they’re ambitious and driven while being practical and disciplined. Saturn, however, is a dry and dark, malefic - almost apocalyptic planet. It’s the last visible planet – the gatekeeper of the divine knowledge (depicted by the outer planets). It represents time, boundaries, a sense of duty and responsibility, guilt and the consequences of one's actions. A symbol of Kronos and the Devil, it represents the falling of God, the grotesque expression of divinity. Kuras has a curious mind, fascinated by science and humanity, and in light of the Kuras character lore (and his not-too-subtle mischievousness) he def has strong Uranus & Jupiter influence as well. But the Saturnian themes in particular parallel the themes and main conflict in his story most strongly.

Mercury Retrograde I had to. The way he's so precise and eloquent, but roundabout when he talks? How he's so tight-lipped and takes his sweet time before answering a question? Mercury retrograde, 100 percent. I don't make the rules.

Mhin

Moon in 1st House. How do I know? I have it. The color of printer paper (the sun hates us), emotions written all over their entire existence and impossible to hide, as well as rather intense emotional outbursts? Yes, yes and yes. Big-time tsundere? Yes. Big softy, too? Yes. We could be twins, honestly. I stg they have a crush on Ais, but unlike with Kuras they're not happy about it. I dunno, call it twin telepathy. The Christmas photo doesn't help either.

Water moon, most likely in Cancer. Not Scorpio, because their emotions fluctuate rapidly, and are overtly moody. The difference between big waves and a rip current, for example. But more so, this makes for a Sun-Moon square - the dissonance and lack of harmony between their outer persona and their inner needs and desires is clear. They have difficulty expressing their emotions, not difficulty as in showing them, but in a way where they come off wrong and get interpreted the wrong way. Very protective, like a smol soft crabbie shielding themselves with their shell. Pushes people away consciously, but hoping for someone to have enough of a "spine" to handle them and protect them, giving them a safe space to finally relax. Most of all they need love, reassurance and acceptance (my poor little meow meow💙)

Mars square Mercury That Mercury is in Aries, you can't tell me otherwise. The extra 'angry' coming from Mars in Capricorn is helping, too. But not only that, it also makes a square to their Sun AND an opposition to their Moon - a T-square, a highly difficult & stressful configuration. The Mars is in Capricorn because they like a partner with authority and attitude (Cap in 7th), and it makes for good synastry with Kuras (my cutie patooties). Also for how small they are, they're very agile and skilled with knifes (ruled by Mars).

Leander

Venus conjunct Pluto. Sexy. Magnetic. He pulls you in with the gravitational force of his tits. These people are the definition of an intense lover. Obsessive and hungry for love - and pain, equally, very big on extreme and overwhelming sensations. You have a terrible curse? Oooh, danger - gimme! You can never give them too much attention - they want it all, and they're not sharing. Possessive, wants to draw you into their little world and keep you for themselves.

Leo Ascendant, for a few reasons. I was initially thinking Libra, but after looking at everything, I decided on Leo. He has a noble presence - not surprising considering his upbringing. He's a very charismatic talker, well-spoken, lovely voice, can charm anyone into trusting him (Libra in 3rd coming through). To his credit, he takes his work seriously and comes off as a reliable boss (Cap in 6th, also Taurus in 10th). He wants to take care of people... or rather, wants to be seen as a savior. I really see him as a Gemini-Cancer cusp, but technically he's a Cancer so his sun will be in 12th house. It’s a house of self-undoing, the afterlife, illusions - ego and reality go to disintegrate here. All that connects into the life-and-death theme surrounding him and his design. The sun here becomes a fantasy, a goal rather than reality – a dream of being a leader, a hero, someone who people look up to for help and answers. He’s really giving Jesus-wannabe, with the resurrection and savior complex he has going on, as well as the over-the-top generosity. A big red crab, with a big red flag... and the tits to match (Cancer rules the booba).

Vere

Venus conjunct Midheaven, Midheaven being in Scorpio. With Sun in Scorpio. Lots of Scorpio. He’s so pretty! Pretty in an elegant, sensual, effortless yet manicured to perfection way. Apparently, the BBC (Big Bulky Collar) on him does not signal “DANGER!” to the rascals who take him for an easy target, because all they see is the approachable, delicate face and inviting voice. He knows the effect he has on people, and he’s using it to his advantage – to get a free drink, or to make people trust him juuust enough to get what he wants. He is attracted to power, powerful people, and wants power for himself – and he’s ruthless about achieving his goals, too (Scorpio in 10th); there’s a lot of gossip surrounding this man’s public image, his reputation. Venus conjunct Midheaven places a focus on art – he is an artist, appreciates art as well as creating it himself. He IS the art, or that’s the perception of him anyway.

Venus in Scorpio As Venusian as he appears, Venus is in detriment here – there’s conflicting emotions regarding his looks, and the perception of him – or rather, the expectations placed on him because of it. He'll break rules on purpose, act outrageous, play coy, use his beaty for all its worth – he’ll purposefully play the ‘bad guy’ as a form of rebellion, a defense mechanism. He can’t find comfort in a traditional relationship dynamic and has a hard time liking someone who likes them back - he’s afraid of commitment. I believe his confidence is a façade; there’s an underlying fear of betrayal and rejection, and a paranoia that any good thing that comes his way is a trick, a trap, or a lie. That he doesn’t deserve love or care, really. Buuut… if you’re like Ais and see him for all his ‘ugly��, and accept him anyway… then you’re really something💜.

1525 words. Yikes. I tried keeping the word count down.

Unsuccessful. Obviously.

If you’ve read this far, go have some water, a snack, a stretch – you deserve it! Doctor’s orders!!!

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P.S. : Ais' side profile sprite is giving me "ex-punk mom wearing a cozy cardigan", is it just me? Anyone? Are you seeing it? Am I crazy? Do I need help?...

...I'll see myself out.

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[beware-of-pity]

House of the Dragon suffers from the deep problem of purposely misunderstanding the world they are adapting and changing it to satisfy their own demands.

From the little things such as the lack of ladies in waiting, changing the dragon lore to fit whatever idea they came up with and had to insert in their weird made-fanfiction style story, the importance of oaths, the ignorance of the canonical past of the same dynasty the show is based on. Little things that do not seem to matter, but when gone every little piece starts to fall and before you know it everything is crumbling.

From the way the council of 101 was portrayed, to the use of the game of throne formula of simplifying the feudalist politics of Westeros, when it comes to politics, which is supposed to be the show's primary foundation and the cause of the main conflict, it comes across as completely lacking in the area.

Hell they didn't even bother to replace Lyonel Strong with a new master of laws after he was made hand, and you want me to believe they care about politics??? Do you truly want me to believe that neither Rhaenyra nor Alicent ever became friends with anyone else after their friendship fell apart? Especially Rhaenyra, the literal heir to the throne, future queen, and daughter of the king, who in the books had an entire army of ladies in waiting and lady friends,only so you could milk out the tragedy of the relationship between these two???

[asleepinawell]

I've seen a lot of back and forth about the latest chapter of firmament and the conclusion I've come to is that people who have a basic knowledge of some specific parts of fl lore are more likely to have enjoyed it. the problem here being that fl rarely outright tells you big lore things but instead tries to give you bits to piece together, some of which are in ES or the sunless games. and then the lore continues to build on top of that lore. and you end up at lore point 5 where you don't know anything about lore points 1-4 and are hopelessly lost

you then have people who haven't played the other games or gone through the wiki or reddit not having a solid foundation to start from in terms of understanding not only what is going on but why it's important and what the implications of it are

i rambled about it before once somewhere but i think fl would greatly benefit from having a codex that filled in as you went through the main story. something that's an optional storylet at your lodgings with a disclaimer that you can safely skip it if you prefer not to use it. the codex would only give you very basic info (the great chain 101) and could even say things like hey if this lore point seems cool check out the sunless games or these specific ES for more story about it (obligatory statement that this is just wishful thinking and i know the devs are very busy and don't have time to implement everything)

i really enjoyed the latest chapter of firmament, but I've also done the wiki deep dive AND saw a spoiler about what certain things were before i hit the end of the chapter (and to be fair to the people claiming the writing was hard to follow, I'm not sure i would have put the pieces together on my own there) and it greatly increased my enjoyment of the big final conflict in it because i had some grasp of the stakes and the players involved. i don't know what will come of the decision i made (which is good!), but i do understand what decision i made. that's the key bit to me

like i was saying in the first paragraph, it feels like some of the frustration with firmament is partly coming from the fact that fl is a game that rarely outright explains big lore points and rather expects you to suss them out as you play (which probably worked great way back at the start), and that as the game has gotten bigger and longer, people are going to spend less time delving into things from the early game as they rush to get to the cool later stuff and get increasingly more confused when the game bases story off those lore points later on if they haven't stopped to research them. the more the end game lore expands, the more this becomes true. thus my codex idea, a 'here's what you need to know in order to be immersed in the next layer of mystery' guide

[banqanas]

HIGH&LOW EASTER EGGS: MERCY’S HOUSE

In another post, I highlighted that most graffiti in the movie’s backgrounds is a reference to Exile Tribe songs, but in this post I want to focus on easter eggs that’s actually related to the characters in the series.

In Mashii Takehiko’s character profile from the official website, it says:

Suzuran Boys High School 3rd Year student who is also known as Mercy. He lives in a small rundown apartment together with his mother in Toaru city. He has been best friends with Raoh ever since Jr High School and one of the few people Raoh can open up to. Academically smart, Mercy is more than capable to apply to a better school but decided to follow his instincts and enrolled in Suzuran with Raoh. Peculiar guys started gathering around the two, and before they realised, the elite Raoh Faction was formed. He is known as the calm and collected No.2 of the faction. His personality is alike to Housen’s Odajima. The two get along and sometimes exchange information with each other.

The picture above is the scene where we are introduced to Mercy’s home.

If you look closely, the room on the right is full with graffitis, and if you look closer, you can see Mercy’s name written on the walls.

TL note: One point breakthrough is something from Sun Tzu’s Art of War. It has no relevance whatsoever. The person who wrote it probably just wanted to write the most sophisticated phrase they knew and it’s not even the full phrase.

BUT!

In the next scene, we see that Mercy’s house is the one next door, 102.

Which brings the question, why are all those threats and graffitis written at the wrong house?

My personal headcanon is that the Mashii family originally lived in Room 101. They probably had some financial problems and started getting harassed for the owed money. So instead of directed to Mercy, the graffiti around their front door were probably threats for the Mashii family in general. At one point they decided to run away to a different city (or so they say), except that they just moved next door. Notice how they make it look deserted with random things and accumulated trash in front of the house.

I also think that the broken doorbell for 102 is a way to make outsiders doubt that anyone lives there and only Mercy’s the one who answers the door (in case their cover is blown, he could somehow manage whoever that comes).

But I don’t think that the ‘Die Mercy’ graffiti was written by the money lender, instead its probably done by a different party (someone who got their ass beaten by Mercy in the past) who just thinks that he still lives there.

Tl;dr: high&low real lores are stored in the background walls 👍

[officialdaydreamer00]

ꜱɴᴇᴀᴋ ᴩᴇᴀᴋ ᴛᴏ:

Child Of Wisdom, Legacy of the Dreams

irene lore, twst x pjo

in which the prefect has kept a secret from her friends, a rather godly one, to say.

character: irene lovejoy (aka the prefect), grim, ace, deuce

content: greek mythology and its questionable lore, monster attacks, weapons, it's PJO what do you expect (spoilers)

to ace and deuce, the prefect was a rather peculiar person.

it was not the fact that her being a girl enrolled and was studying at NRC, a all-boys private college. no, it was because there was just something that never made sense about her.

for starters, she had this aura around her that made everyone, especially those who interacted with her feel a strange kind of inferiority, as if she wasn't entirely human. no one could ever put a finger on it, however.

her appearance was another mystery they had yet to solve. she was tall, taller than both of them by a couple centimetres, and rather athletic-looking. she had a light tan complexion which glinted nicely in the sun. her hair was ink black with a single streak of white framing the left side of her face. at first, they thought it was dyed as a fashion choice, but when they asked her about it, the prefect only chuckled and left.

deuce didn't know if his eyes had problems, and he was sure as hell didn't. sometimes when he stared at the prefect's eyes for long enough, he swore he saw the sea green slowly bled into a startling shade of grey, like storm clouds rumbling in the rain. pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she was analysing the best way to throw headmaster crowley off of his throne.

ace didn't know how the prefect did it, but she had somehow renovated ramshackle dorm into what seemed to be a pantheon by the time school's festival and the vdc approached. everyone was pleasantly surprised to see the simple yet intricate designs of the marble walls and the detailed paintings on the ceilings, and the marvellous library filled to the brim with books in english and a language they didn't recognise. housewarden vil commended her creative mind and efforts nonetheless.

the prefect was indeed strange. she was seen with the owls surrounding her serene laughing figure, as she treated each owl with such care that could only rival jade leech's obsession with mushrooms and nature. she sacrificed the best part of her dinner to the hearth that always burn brightly in ramshackle's living room. and someone swore they saw her with a bronze sword running into the forests, and leaving with golden dust clung to her uniform, but they could never provide any evidence afterwards.

that was what ace and deuce got from their observation. it didn't make much sense to them, but they wouldn't want to pry, no matter how curious they were. they trusted the prefect, and the prefect trusted them. she would tell them one day, right?

... right?

my brain decided to give up early, so here's half of the lore for yguys :) reblogs are very appreciated!

taglist🏷️ @azulashengrottospiano @aqua-beam @shyhaya @identity-theft-101 @siren-serenity @dove-da-birb @cookiesandbiscuits @minimallyminnie @ceruleancattail @axvwriter @leonistic @moonlit-midnight @krenenbaker @red-viewe @twistwonderlanddevotee @bun-lapin @savanaclaw1996 @mermaidfanficlibrary @xen-blank @eynnwwyjth @loser-jpg @taruruchi @cave-of-jade @thehollowwriter

[mackmp3]

tell me about christopher ecclestons doctor vs david tennats doctor

or explain what the hell is goin on with the daleks

or you could tell me about (insert musician)’s influence on music

just some options for you to lore dump to :)

RAHHHHHHH OKAY THANK YOUUUU this will be um. super spoilery for doccy whomst.

okayyyy so christopher eccleston plays the ninth doctor who tragically only gets one season AND HE'S SO FABULOUS he's really funny and sarcastic and he says 'fantastic! :D' a lot and is also a massive dork and yayyyy i love him - the interesting thing with nine is that we dont see his regeneration. like we don't see him come into being but its implied that the incarnation before him was horribly injured in The Time War and then became nine, who wanders around alone for a bit racked with guilt and lonely and full of regret and all that fun stuff until he meets ROSE :DDD who pretty much says you're super weird & offputting but also the most interesting thing that's ever happened to me and he's like cool uhm. maybe i do need friends after all so then he takes her on a date to the destruction of her planet to show off that he wasnt kidding about the time machine bit. he also has a really cool leather jacket. and a northern english accent and a sliiiiightly butch lesbian buzzcut. anyways he's very fabulous and also kinda tragic but yeah!! i love him.

BUT THEN universe under massive threat from daleks etc the only way to save the world will be massively catastrophic etc etc so he sends rose home to save her. and she is understandably super upset by this so she ABSORBS THE HEART OF THE TARDIS (pro tip : usually people dont survive that) so she can get back to him, resurrect this other guy who kissed them both and rewrite time so that this will definitely always happen & also destroys a whole lot of daleks. this is called BAD WOLF (<- the capital letters are important. to me.) and its killing her so nine kisses her to pull it out of her (she doesnt remember this) so it kills him instead. then *magicical girl transformation* he explodes into golden light and becomes david tennant!!!!!

david tennant is the tenth doctor and I LOBVE HIM FORVER ADN EVER my specialest little scrunkly girlboy pathetic wet cat terrifying alien guy-shaped-being <33333. rose is understandably like wtf who're you (because the doctor Never does timelord 101 and tells them about regeneration and the two hearts thing) and he is sad about it. so he takes her home. then passes out in front of her mother and sort-of-boyfriend who're also like wtf. anyways he's fine and rose pretty immediately is like wow this guy is actually beautiful & way less grumpy now and they go n do a whole bunch of stuff and they very clearly love each other A Lot (like she loves him when he's nine too of course but it changes) and in my head it's teenage lesbian undefined relationship mutual obsession b/c those be the vibes. a Thing happens and she end up trapped in an alternate universe from which she can never return and the doctor manages to hologram himself in there for a minute to say goodbye and HE ALMOST SAYS I LOVE YOU TO HER but the connection runs out. a lot of other stuff happens and ten is actually pretty scary at points in a way that nine never gets to and A Lot happens to him. my beautiful babygirl she has Every Problem.

see cos the doctor is actually massively emotionally repressed and while nine was a lot closer time-wise to destroying his own planet, ten was coping a whole lot less. ten is often described as the most emotional and most human of the doctors and thats probably true but he's also the most afraid of that vulnerability - he just cant help showing it. he's full of love but he's also full of a desperate sadness and guilt. a lot of guilt. nine has this guilt and the love he just has found a way to not be so raw with it. he is far more measured with his emotions. i reallllllllyyyyyyyy wish we could have seen what would have been done with his character had we got more time with him but alas t'was not to be.

like a good example of that is when we meet nine he's been alone for some time and appears to be more or less okay with that, maybe not super happy but more or less adjusted and functioning. when ten is alone for a while he sort of loses it a bit until he find someone..... like after he and rose get separated, and i mean IMMEDIATLY AFTER, he meets donna who I LOVE :D but he's still so racked with grief that he kills a whole race of spider things and canonically would've destroyed himself along with them if she hadn't been there to tell him to stop. (like legitimately there's an episode, Turn Left, about what would've happened if the doctor died and it's uhm. its unnerving to say the least). ten can't deal with being alone but Also can't deal with loving someone. especially when he is so very aware that he has to lose them.

ten has three seasons & then a year of specials, and he has and then loses the most companions of the doctor and the way he deals with this is Fascinating. he is separated from rose, martha leaves of her own volition b/c she realises that she cant spend her whole life living For Him and that she deserves her own life too, and then he has to wipe donna's memory to save her (she gets it back like. fifteen years for her and ~1000 years for the doctor later but thats a whole thing). like nine does the whole 'no one can get close to me because i will always end up hurting when they die/leave and that will usually be my fault' thing BUT TEN. TEN feels the same way he just can't help himself from making friends and falling in love (grayaroace) with everyone he meets and still being emotionally destroyed when they die. nine's way of coping with the guilt of the time war is to push people away in the first place and ten's is Never Stop To Think Never Stop To Examine Feelings. so yeah. lots of fun.

ALSO the daleks!! theres a ton of lore to them as well, but in short they're genetically modified creatures who have been selectively bred by this guy davros (who has major darth vader vibes. down to the voice and the mechanically supported body) to only feel hate and want to destroy everyone who is not a dalek. they're these weird little things that kinda look like rubbery octopuses inside the metal thing (they're not robots they are actually alive) and they suck. also they're really hard to get rid of like. i swear at least five times the doctor says 'this is the last of the daleks' like bestie just you wait about half a season. the daleks and the timelords (the doctor's species) fought The Time War which really really sucked and they're mortal enemies. so yeah!

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Ok so weird thing: Puppet Zelda. I mean, it was pretty obvious as a player Imo? But what I don't get: The tears show her ONCE! and it's the scene right before Ganondorf gives Sonia a backbreaking back massage. It's alluded to that she (he) did some other weird stuff to mess up for Sonia and Rauru, and it's not expanded upon at all. I was so put off by that, because it feels like that would have been a big chance for ACTUAL character development for ALL the characters from the past. What did P-Z do? Where was Ganondorf? Was he hidden, or was he inside the castle? How did Sonia react to it? How did Rauru react to it? How did Sonia catch on? Why was it only Sonia and Zelda confronting P-Z? Why wasn't Rauru somewhere hidden as well? I doubt Rauru would have dismissed such a serious accusation. Sonia confronts P-Z, Zelda comes out, then Rauru lies in wait to check for extra danger. The time it takes for Rauru to arrive also kinda makes me think he wasn't that far away? P-Z is a cool concept, but I'm still just so baffled by the absolute "non-story" they built by alluding to her bullshit.

Okay so. Yeah. I completely, 100% agree, and I want to use the opportunity to air out a very particular complaint I have not really seen a lot of people talk about, because I just rewatched that scene and I am shocked all over again.

The teacup scene, after Ganondorf submits, is, in my opinion, horrendous. Like not because of secret Problematisms (though yes also this, we just saw them asking their enemies to kneel and the very next scene they're having a little tea party with cake between royals while armed guards protect them and it's not supposed to be a red flag and it's wild to me), but because the actual writing, at a craft level, reads like a first draft at best. There are three narrative information beats that matter in this entire scene:

The war has stopped

Zelda wants to help her ancestors and not only return to her own era (??? okay, she already did and the problems are technically over already as far as they know??? and it's not a choice she's making since she still can't master her powers and never learn to btw)

Rauru learns Link's name

I'd argue the only real important thing is that Rauru learns Link's name, and it could have been done in a much more interesting and dynamic way.

Instead the scene just goes on and on with lore dumps that never go anywhere, reiterations of the bond between Zelda and Sonia we had already established, dialogue that is... shockingly bad...

Actually, let's examine just one case: "Ah. I can see that you have absolute faith in him."

Like, just, general pro-tip: if you use "I can see that X" in dialogue and it's not ironic or used as de-escalation and just there to reiterate what we have just immediately established, cut that line. It's doing nothing, it's dead weight, it's just grinding the pace of a scene to a halt for no reason (unless you want it to be about stagnation, like I could see a David Lynch dinner scene where every character restate each other's actions by saying "I can see that you really like the gravy." over and over but it's not.... very applicable to more generic situations). This is writing 101, and the scene is full of these nothing sentences that go nowhere and establish nothing about the characters or the world and set up nothing and pay off nothing and it's driving me wild!

(also it does my least favorite thing in game writing aka the game praising the player character for an unreasonable amount of time, but I realize this is a pet peeve and not as important but it always makes me roll my eyes incredibly hard when it's not earned and it wasn't earned or useful here, the fact that the scene ends on everyone being like yaaay link!!! is... completely disconnected from the actual story happening in the past and shouldn't be the focus of the characters at that moment --it would be more powerful if Zelda used Link as an image of strength to inspire Rauru after Sonia's death later, for example)

It's a scene that completely undermines the tension built in the previous memory, makes the timeline of events confusing, and it leaves a ton of questions open, like: where the hell is Ganondorf? What is he doing? What did Rauru mean by "keeping him close", if he isn't actually close? Do they think he returned to the gerudo lands while he actually stayed hidden in their palace to do his Puppet Zelda shenanigans? I don't know! There is no way to know, because we're being told about teacups and how Link is amazing instead of anything relevant to the plot!

So yeah. Would have *gladly* done away with that teacup scene and focused more on a very tense moment of Sonia and Puppet Zelda where she acts very suspiciously and maybe aborts a first attempt at stealing the stone that goes nowhere, and this is when Sonia catches on that something is off? Honestly, I would also have killed for an actual scene of tension between Zelda and Ganondorf where they, like. Talk to each other. Instead of this actual current version of the story where they never do. And maybe this is how he realizes that she has a special connection with Sonia and it's how he tries to get her.

But yeah. Sorry, I kind of hijacked the ask into a "this damn teacup scene!!!" *shakes my first at clouds*, but I think it mirrors the thought that priorities were not given to the actual tension points laid down in the story. Puppet Zelda inherently calls upon ideas of fear of imposture, of abuse of power, of insecurity, of a twisted version of what Hyrule *could* be, which is so interesting and ripe with conflict and counterpoints.

I would have done unruly things for a Zelda arc where she is struggling to be a ruler and she's still very insecure and wrecked by guilt over the Calamity thing and feel disconnected from the land because of the whole "being locked 100 years away fighting a demon" thing and her daddy issues, and this is this insecurity that Ganondorf picks up on and preys on by trying to dismantle Hyrule using her very image as he plans his Big Comeback, and our role is to unite all of Hyrule against this weird nasty caricature of her created by an envious man who was furious to see his rule rejected and his rebellion considered less important than peace, then go to her acknowledging the immense and unjust sacrifice she made becoming a dragon and being like "hey Zelda we all love you and we will all fight for you because we made the choice to believe in the future you want to build" and it would have been soososo powerful and I would have perhaps shed a tear or two or ten. ;_;

[theboarsbride]

"A Court of Thorns and Roses" Reading Update I

Page 101 - 24%

So, some major notes so far:

-I refuse to believe SJM knows how to write poor people. I refuse to believe that Feyre's family has been poor for a decade. How tf can the sisters be so dainty and act so oblivious and bitchy about work for survival after NEARLY 10 YEARS OF ECONOMIC DESTITUTION???????Just their mentalities, how they react to being poor, how they treat their belongings, how they treat their food, how they handle their money, etc. doesn't really line up.

-I can't stand SJM's writing style. SO MANY MF EM DASHES HOLY FUCK AND THEYRE IN PLACES WHERE THEY'RE UNNECESSARY. And also she reuses the same sentence structure, and it bothers meeeeee. (ex.- i was going to the bathroom, which was white and clean and shining. Then, I went to school, a place that was dull and bland and boring.) Like jfc. I wholeheartedly believe the conspiracy that no one actually edits SJM's book because good LORD.

- Feyre is dumb and deserves death. Like the instance with the Pooka. She suddenly sees her crippled father on Tamlin's land in Prythian in the middle of the night??? Given the wary hostility and aggression and distrust she's been displaying towards everyone and everything so far in Prythian, why isn't she doing the same in this instance???? She's said herself she is wary of faerie tricks, and acknowledged that not even whole, able-bodied humans are able to survive in Prythian without the help of a faerie, so why would she think her DISABLED FATHER, who is helpless in the mortal realm, be any different??? And why would she CARE that her father has come for her??? Did she not hope that her family starves without her, so that they realize she's important to them and she holds them in such an embittered contempt?????

- I LOVE Lucien <3 I like this fox-boy, he is funny and actually treats Feyre like the murderer she is (because yes, she's a murderer, and takes PRIDE in having killed a faerie. Which Feyre has some nerve being hostile to faeries who have been nothing but courteous and gracious with her, and thinking THEY are in the wrong when she was the one that MURDERED their friend).

- why couldn't Tamlin remain more like his beast form, making this more of a BATB retelling? I literally imagine him looking like Legolas but JACKED. This is where my ire of 'BATB but the beast is just a hot guy that growls or has behavioral problems' first began. It's such a shallow version of the story and completely misses the point. And the fact that this is also a retelling of The Ballad of Tam-Lin, a Scottish folktale, and does really nothing that's an homage to the story aside from Tamlin's name, the fact he shape-shifts (albeit BARELY), and there's (poorly written) fae really irks me.

-for once I want SJM to actually describe paintings rather than describing what the painting is of. I don't believe for one minute that SJM did more research into art, style, etc. because for the life of me I couldn't tell you what Feyre's art style is, nor do I really care because her having painting as a hobby is so pointless and has no effect on her character whatsoever.

- SJM is lazy as fuck with her world building. ex.- Lucien saying capital 'h' Hell, as in Christian Hell, when humans are agnostic/atheist with a sparse number of fae-worshiping cults (and were once implied to have had a polytheistic religion) and fae worship the Cauldron and other faerie deities so like.....why not use a few extra braincells to create her own version of Hell rather than using lazy cultural shorthand that, by the logic of this book's world, doesn't work????; underutilizing fae lore so now they're either underdeveloped spectral entities or LOTR elves... BORINGGGG!! GIVE US ACTUAL FAE IN LITERATURE AGAIN!!!! (*applauds Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries and Krystal Sutherland's House of Hollow*)

These are my major thoughts for the first quarter of the book.... See y'all again at 50%!

[lazywitchling]

Review: The House Witch by Arin Murphy-Hiscock

3.5/10 - This could have been a zine. As it stands, I was not the target audience for this book.

Maybe I'm just being mean since I read this one directly after Queering Your Craft, but my goodness I don't think I was the target audience for this one. I am cis-adjacent girl-not-woman, single, living at home with my highly conservative christian parents, and keep my craft in the closet. This book is for a cis-woman who is probably married, runs a household, has a couple of children, and is the spiritual-head-of-household who teaches the kids to say their prayers to the abstract Divine every night before they turn on their essential oil humidifier for bedtime.

It sure would be lovely to live in the world that Arin does, where I could consult with the other family members about their particular Spiritual Beliefs (TM) and integrate those into an Altar in the kitchen where we all make our offerings and say our prayers to the household spirits, but that is not the world I live in. If I tried to start that conversation at home, I'd very quickly wind up with a very aggressive visit from the local pastor who spoke at a rally for 45. Thanks, Arin, but I'm... gonna skip the build-an-altar-in-your-kitchen-and-invite-your-family-to-participate step.

So here's the thing. (And I'm starting to notice that this is a pattern with a lot of the witch books I read...) I would probably have loved this book if it were more of a personal memoir than a How To Witch 101 guide. And I get the feeling that this was more of a problem with publishing than with the author. I mean I could practically feel Arin bursting at the book-seams to tell me about how she practices her witchcraft spirituality in her home, but instead she's stuck trying to write about Hearthcraft (TM) as if it's a universal thing, since that's what's easiest to sell. The whole book feels like it's formatted and marketed to be a Witchcraft 101 book, but it doesn't do it well at all. In fact, in the beginning of the book, Arin practically scolds the reader by saying 'this is a spiritual path, not a magic one, and if you want a magic one, go get a book about magic.' Like... Arin, honey, your book is called The House Witch. I thought I was reading a book about witchcraft.

Furthermore, it feels like this book is filled up with a whole lot of pillow fluff to fill in the gaps. Did we need a whole chapter of cauldron mythology that we never ended up tying into anything else in the book? Did we need that? It seems like there's a lot of stuff in this book that was just put in for a page count; something to make the book seem like it has the wide-appeal of a Witchcraft 101 book. But it just came across as... idk, not genuine.

I just keep coming back to how much I would have loved to hear about Arin's own personal practice that she's so clearly passionate about!

Hey, but also... this book was an organizational mess. Why was the cookie recipe in the chapter with the cauldron lore instead of in the recipe chapter? Why were the instructions on making a clay figure of a household spirit in the chapter with the imaginary altar instead of in with the chapter on household spirits, or the chapter on crafts? Why was there a section on ethics sandwiched in between a section about talking to a tree spirit and a section about talking to a blender spirit, instead of in with the cooking chapter when we actually referenced ethics?

-sigh-

Look, while there wasn't really anything in this book that made me go "Oh wow that's a great idea, I need to use that!" there were a few sections that made me say "Hey, that particular thing is not of use to me, but the idea behind it absolutely is, and I should look into that." Which, once again, comes back to how much I wish this book was a personal memoir. Finding the little nuggets of information that told me what Arin does and how and why were so much more useful than the vague-and-generic step-by-step instructions of... whatever the instructions were for.

BTW, I read through this whole book, and I still am not sure of the definition of "spiritual" nor of "hearth" that we were using. I never did figure out if "hearth" meant "fireplace" or "center of the home" or "kitchen" or what.

Ultimately I came out of the book more confused than I was going in. It's not the worst witch book I've read -- [waves to Skye Alexander] -- and I did get at least some things out of it that I can ponder on my own. But man... idk what that book was for. I'm tired. I'm going to bed.

[bangtanloverboys]

life support // knj

summary - namjoon likes to think he’s the embodiment of the perfect example of a theurgists: positive and enthusiastic. however when his professor asks him to help tutor one of her secondary students, only then is that pushed to the limit

pairing - tutor!namjoon x neurodivergent!reader

genre - fluff; wizard 101 au

word count - 4.0k

warnings - dip’s made up lore, namjoon says one mean thing, thoughts of fraternization 

guide - theurgy = life magic, divination = storm magic; marlybonian = british dog people; pigswick = another wizarding academy; 

author’s note - last names for reasons. and this was a bit personal for me as i do have adhd and i struggled a lot with theoretical teachings. this is based off my own personal experience with school and having adhd, not everyone’s is the same

the seven schools of ravenwood

Best in class. That is how Namjoon has always been described ever since he was a novice theurgist. It came easy to him, with a glance at a textbook he could perform the spell in an instant. Life magic was simply in his blood. So when Professor Wu asked him to tutor some of her less than stellar students, he wasn’t surprised. It took a while for each of the other students to catch on, but one by one, he helped them understand the material and soon enough, they raised their grades. Namjoon’s track record was stunning, there wasn’t any student he couldn’t help.

That was until he met you.

Normally Professor Wu only offered tutoring for her novice primary school students; young theurgists that either did not grow up where magic was practiced or simply fell behind a few lessons and needed a bit of help to get back on their feet. Never before had he had to tutor a secondary school theurgist. But he was willing to step up to the challenge. 

Pushing open the heavy oak doors of the Life School, he was greeted with the familiar sight of Professor Wu standing at the top of the platform. Standing right at the bottom of the stairs before her, was you, dressed in purple and gold. A diviner, Namjoon thought to himself. Life magic sat in between Storm and Fire, so one normally would expect a student of those primary schools would easily understand and excel at theurgy. He wondered what could be the problem. 

“Ah, Namjoon!” She smiled as he approached you both. “Y/N, this will be your tutor; Namjoon Jadeshield. Namjoon, this is Y/N Raindreamer,” she introduced.

“Pleasure,” he greeted, holding out his hand for you to shake. You don’t shake his hand, only giving him a tight lipped smile. “Okay. . .” he dropped his hand. “What exactly are you struggling with so that I can help?”

You opened your mouth to speak, but Professor Wu cut you off. “Everything, really. They’re supposed to start their initiate program, but unfortunately they must repeat their apprenticeship.”

Namjoon tried to hold back his shock. Failing the apprenticeship class?  You’d have to repeat the whole two year process, probably never catch back up to your primary school level. “Okay. So how often shall we hold tutoring sessions?” He glanced between you and Professor Wu.

“Ideally every day after class,” the professor answered.

Your head snapped in the direction of her. “No!” Turning to Namjoon, you began to plead with him. “Monday, Tuesday, Thursday. I need Wednesday and Friday free. I have-“

“You know very well that any or all after school activities are suspended until your grades rise, Raindreamer,” Professor Wu tisked.

But you didn’t acknowledge her, only keeping your eyes trained on Namjoon. “I’m sorry, but Professor Wu is right. Until you have sufficient grades to prove it, no after school activities.”

As the words left his mouth, Namjoon watched in slow motion as your face fell. Like the world had crashed around you. Quickly, your face steeled and a frown was etched onto your features. “Fine.”

“Alright,” Namjoon nodded, wanting this meeting to be over and done with. “We’ll start tomorrow. Meet me outside the Commons Library? Sound good with you?”

“Yeah, fine. Whatever,” you huffed as you shouldered your book bag and left the school building, leaving Namjoon and Professor Wu alone. 

“I swear, with a name like Raindreamer, it’s no wonder they have grades like this,” she sighed. “But thank you again, Namjoon. I know you’ll be a great help.”

“I’ll do my best.” 

The following day, Namjoon waited for you just outside the Commons Library. He was there a full 10 minutes before you finally arrived. He opened his mouth to berate you for being late but words failed to come out at the sight of you; fresh scrapes and bandages covering any exposed skin. 

“What?” You raised a brow at him.

“Are you- what happened?”

You looked down at the bandages before shrugging. “Fell.”

Whilst that didn’t feel like the full reason, Namjoon didn’t push any further, simply wanting to get the tutoring session along. You trailed behind him as he climbed up the final steps to the library, pushing open the doors. Namjoon waved hello to Harold, the old Marleybonian that served as the librarian, as he scribbled away in his ledger. 

“This way,” Namjoon said to you as he walked down the theurgy wing. Other life students, dressed in robes of greens and browns, were seated at the tables that were strategically placed alongside the tall bookshelves. He made his way over to his usual table, it sat right between the initiate and journeyman textbooks. Granted those might be a bit out of your range, but perhaps it could serve as a bit of motivation to help you move forward. 

Placing his book bag down, he looked at you, straggling along still. A bit further than he would’ve liked, but you were soon catching up. Your eyes were trained on the books as they flew across the shelves, rearranging and reorganizing themselves. There was a small smile etched into your face as you watched the books and scrolls float about, reminding Namjoon of a child on Christmas. Clearing his throat to gain your attention, he watched as that smile faded away, back into a look of displeasure. You picked up the pace, taking the seat beside him.

“Professor Wu didn’t give me any specifics as to what you need help with. So are there any particular parts that you need help with?” Namjoon asked as you pulled out your scrolls and text books. 

“Everything, I guess. It just. . . doesn’t make sense. I can’t figure out how to get from Point A to Point B,” you explained. 

“So conceptualizing it?”

You blinked at him. “I- uh, I guess that is one way to put it.”

“Okay, that gives us a starting point then.” He smiled at you. “So let’s go to basics. See if that can help.” 

“Alright,” you muttered, learning forward as he began writing.

“So theurgy is a bit different than the other schools, when using magic we don’t summon or coerce the creatures into appearing. We breathe life into them through the Song of Creation. Are you familiar with that?” When he turned to look at you, you were staring blankly at the paper. He waited a few moments for you to respond, but you didn’t. Namjoon snapped his fingers twice, you jerked back to attention.

“Sorry, I- uh. . . what did you say?”

It was then when Namjoon realized how you were able to fail your apprenticeship so miserably and how you earned your last name. 

You could not focus at all.

Every time Namjoon was going over spell casting and or creation, he would turn to you to check to see if you were following, only for you to have a blank look on your face or your eyes to be trained on the floating books again. Every time he would have to snap his fingers to regain your attention. On some occasions, he saw you scribbling away into a notebook. At first he thought you were actually taking notes, but anytime he tried to take a look at it, you shut the book in his face.

By the end of the second hour, when your session was coming to a close, you had finally managed to understand one spell. It was just a shield spell, so it wasn’t too complicated, but not enough for Namjoon to be satisfied with your progress. 

As the two of you left the library, you were about to make a break for the right, no doubt returning to your dorm room in Ravenwood, but he quickly grabbed onto your wrist. 

“What?”

“I want you to read over the History of Life Magic, chapters one through four. Just the basics, that should help at least a tiny bit.”

“You’re giving me homework?” 

He blinked at you, caught off guard by the question. He’s always asked the students he tutored to reread certain materials, and they did so without question. “It’s not really homework, just helps to go over the material again,” he sputtered out in response. “I want to see you succeed and catch up in your secondary school. And reading helps.”

“Yeah, sure,” you huffed with a roll of your eyes, then walked down the pathway through the Commons.

Over the next two weeks, the two of you had fallen into a routine; every few days you’d be late by no more than 10 minutes to each session (how he had no idea, considering the initiate divination class would get out around your scheduled time) with fresh bandages, he’d try his damndest to help you understand the material, and then you’d part ways, heading off towards the right. And it was agonizing for Namjoon. You read at a snail's pace, mixing up the pixie and fairy spells, scrambling words and wand motions together. It wasn’t by lack of effort either, Namjoon could see you were trying, genuinely, but no matter how much reading he assigned you, nothing seemed to stick. You got one spell for every ten he went over with you. He simply could not believe how you managed to even get enrolled into Ravenwood in the first place.

When he expressed his frustrations towards Professor Wu when it was time for a follow up, she finally told him that you were a new student, only coming in within the past 6 months, after being kicked out of Pigswick for poor performance. He was shocked at the information, but it made sense. You were a troubled student and needed a firm hand. So he went to work, putting together another lesson plan that was more strict to try and see if that would help you at all.

It didn’t.

Barely a full session in, he watched as you failed to recite the proper incantations to summon a leprechaun, something you nearly had the day previous. 

“What isn’t clicking for you?” He found himself asking you at the end of the session.

“I’m sorry?”

“I mean, why can’t you do this? This is basic theurgy, and you’re a storm student! This should come easy to you, right? So why are you struggling so much?” He felt like he was at the end of his rope. If he couldn’t teach you, then what hopes could he ever have about being a professor?

“I mean, it just. . . doesn’t. It’s hard to explain. . .”

“Well if you don’t figure it out, you’re gonna get kicked out from another school,” Namjoon muttered under his breath.

“What?”

He froze. He cringed to himself as he turned around to look at you, regretting even thinking the words. Once he laid eyes on you, he saw that same broken look he saw when Professor Wu said you couldn’t continue with your afterschool activities, only worse. Your shoulders sagged, and Namjoon swore he could’ve heard your heart break, shattered by him. Then your face hardened as you tightened your grip on your bookbag.

“Then I guess there’s no reason for us to really continue these sessions, considering I’m just gonna get kicked out anyways.” Then you turned on your heel and stormed off.

“Y/N, wait- I’m sorry!”

He wanted to follow after you, but he couldn’t find it in him to. He watched as you disappeared into the crowded Commons area, wishing he never even opened his mouth. 

The following day after class, Namjoon made his way over towards the Storm School. You deserved an apology, Namjoon knew that. What he said was mean, and something he never should’ve said as your tutor. It was just his luck that his mastery class ended at the same time the Storm initiate class ended, giving him the perfect opportunity to find you and apologize. He eyed through the students as they made their way past him, on their own way towards their next class or any after school club. But he could not find out. He knew he had the right year, you were supposed to go into the initiate class this year, you were the proper age for it. Where were you?

Perhaps you stayed inside to talk to the professor, he thought to himself as he approached the heavy oak doors. Thunder boomed overhead from the gathering storm cloud that resided inside the classroom. It had been years since he’d ever stepped foot in the school of storm, the first and only time being from when he was trying to find a secondary school, all those years before he finally landed on balance. 

Namjoon glanced around the room, trying to catch a glimpse of you but you weren’t in the room. Only Professor Balestrom resided in the classroom, standing on top of his desk as he gathered papers.

Taking a deep breath, he entered the school, clearing his throat to gain the frog professor’s attention. He turned on his flipper as the sound of Namjoon and bounced up to his full height of three feet. 

“Ah! How can I be of service to you?”

“Hi, I’m tutoring one of your students. Y/N Raindreamer? They would be in your initiate class.”

A frown etched itself onto Professor Balestrom’s face. “Raindreamer is my student yes, but they’re not in my initiate class.”

“What?” 

“Raindreamer advanced into the adept class about 3 months ago! They’re a brilliant student, one of the best diviners I’ve seen in a while,” he explained.

The information shook Namjoon to his core. You were an advanced student? But how could that be, considering your grades in theurgy? It didn’t make any sense. “I-I didn’t know that.”

“First time in my class, they struggled though. Came in on a reading day, which is everyone’s least favorite part of the curriculum. But as soon as we got to spell casting, they nearly blew the roof off this place!” The professor continued, leaping up in the air for dramatic effect. “They weren’t even here a week before I took them to the headmaster and demanded they advance to the journeyman course, only that was also too easy! They’re getting a real challenge in adept, I’ll tell you that.”

Namjoon couldn’t believe his ears. Here he was, thinking you were a walking failure, doomed to be kicked out of a second school. Only to learn that you were nearly two years advanced in your studies! “Oh. . . well, do you know where they might be? I do need to talk to them.”

Professor Balestrom looked at the clock on the wall. “Should be in the arena by now.”

“The arena?”

“Yes. The arena! They’re a duelist, did you not know that?”

Only then did it dawn on him that he never did ask what you wanted to do so badly that you wanted to schedule your tutoring sessions around it. Then he remembered what days you were late on, the fresh bandages you always had on. . . You were still dueling. Under the school’s nose too.

“Thank you, Professor Balestrom. I appreciate it.”

“Of course, of course!” The frog man called out to Namjoon as he all but ran out the door. As fast as he could, he made his way through the tunnels to the Commons and then to Unicorn Way. He pushed open the doors of the arena, the snapping of puppets and growls of different summoned monsters filled his ears as he approached Diego, the dueling master.

“A newcomer? Are you interested in learning the art of the duel?” The unicorn asked, raising a brow at him.

Namjoon shook his head no. “Sorry, I’m actually looking for someone. Y/N Raindreamer?”

“Ah, yes! They’ve been short on their dueling practice lately, but they’re in the next dueling chamber over. Come, I shall show you.” Diego led Namjoon down a hall towards an empty arena, where sure enough you were, dueling against a puppet. 

He was blown away with the sight before him. You waved your wand with practiced ease and the creatures you summoned did your bidding with little to no struggle at all. It wasn’t at all how you were when he was tutoring you. How could you manage to do so good in one class that you advance two classes, but struggle to advance in your secondary?

“Pretty good, eh? Came in from Pigswick, good school and all but they don’t actually teach magic there. It’s all theoretical. But as soon as Raindreamer was enrolled here, and with a little help from your’s truly, they advanced in no time!” Diego explained as he and Namjoon watched you battle the puppet. “They come in here as often as they can, practicing all the spells they learn in class. See the scrolls?” He pointed off to the side of the dueling sigil where sure enough, were piles of spell books and scrolls, mainly of storm magic, judging from the purple lining. But Namjoon could see some greens in there. 

You weren’t just practicing.

You were studying.

Raising your wand again, this time the life symbol appeared. Up until the last wave of your wand, it was perfect. You had twisted your wrist in the wrong direction, causing the spell to fizzle completely. You let out a curse as you stepped away from the sigil, the puppet standing still. You pulled open the life scroll, reading over it again, no doubt trying to find your mistake.

“You’re supposed to twist your wrist towards the right, not the left!” Namjoon called out to you. Your head snapped up in his direction, mouth open to probably yell at him. But you didn’t say anything, your eyes focusing on Diego behind him. 

“He’s right, you were perfect up until that last move,” Diego confirmed as he trotted down the stairs towards you, Namjoon following after. “He was looking for you, I hope you do not mind I brought him here.”

“It’s alright, thank you, Diego.” You gave the unicorn a slight smile, who nodded before stepping away, giving the two of you some privacy. Once your attention was fully towards Namjoon, your lips pressed into a thin line. “What is it, Namjoon?”

“I wanted to apologize, what I said was out of line. As your tutor, it should’ve been my priority to build you up, not to tear you down.”

You regarded him cautiously. “Doesn’t change the fact that what you said really hurt. I did try, but studying like that just. . . it doesn’t work for me. Sitting there and telling me how to cast spells, I have to see and do it to fully understand. Do you get that?”

“Yes, I can see that now.” Namjoon stepped toward the pile of scrolls and books that you had at the side of the arena. Picking up the one that was open, he flipped through it. There were a bunch of notes and scribbles in the margins, he recognized the chicken scratch as yours but what you wrote were what he would go over and teach you in your tutoring sessions. “This is why you wanted those days off, so you could practice your spellwork and could try to actually grasp what you were learning?”

Slowly, you nodded. “I will admit, I did continue dueling, but without the proper amount of dedication to practice and study, it just. . . I couldn’t do it.”

“Then we’ll hold our tutoring sessions here.”

You looked at him in shock. “What?”

“If this is what helps you learn, then this is what we’ll do to help you,” Namjoon started, “I’ll tell Professor Wu about the change and reserve an arena with Diego. We can meet here instead of the library, does that sound good to you?”

“I- yeah! That’s- that’s perfect, thank you!” You said, beaming widely at him. It was the first time you actually smiled at him, and he was going to deny the little flutter he felt in his chest. 

“Okay, so I’ll see you here tomorrow?”

“Yeah, tomorrow!”

Just as he said, Namjoon talked with Moolinda about having you study via dueling.

“I don’t know, Jadeshield. . . they’re failing, and the rules are no extracurriculars unless a student is of a passing grade.”

“I know, but this is how they learn! I didn’t understand it at first, and that’s my fault. But they’re actually really smart! Did you know they’re two classes advanced in divination?” Namjoon countered. 

Professor Wu was taken back by that knowledge, judging by the way her eyes narrowed down and focused on him. 

“Please, just give them a chance.”

She was quiet, before placing her hooves together and nodding. “Very well. You may hold your tutoring lessons in the arena.”

Namjoon was so ecstatic, he would have jumped for joy. But there was one more thing that he had to ask. . .

 Due to his meeting with the professor, Namjoon was running late to meet you at the Arena. He saw you were sitting on the grass outside the building, looking down at that book you would scribble in during your tutoring sessions, flipping through the pages. 

“Hey!” He caught your attention as he approached you. “I have great news!”

Looking up from your book, you furrowed your brows together. “What?”

“I talked to Professor Wu and she gave the green light for us to do dueling tutoring sessions and she agreed!”

You jumped to your feet. “Really?!”

“Yes, and she agreed to something even better.” 

“Spit it out then! Don’t leave me here in all this suspense!”

“If you test well enough on the next exam that’s in a few weeks, you can join the initiate program!” It took a lot of convincing on his part, and staking his whole career as a tutor on the line, but he was wrong to ever doubt you in the first place. He knew you could do it.

“You-oh my stars! Thank you!” Dropping your book, you threw yourself onto Namjoon, wrapping your arms around his neck and squeezing him tightly.

He stilled at the sudden contact, feeling heat rush to his cheeks. “You’re- you’re welcome,” he said, patting your back gently. He’d never been thanked in such a way before, usually a quick handshake or a smile. Never a hug. 

As quick as you hugged him, you released your hold on him, smiling brightly at him. “Come on! Exam may be a few weeks away, but I wanna be sure I have everything right so I can ace this test!” You said, before racing inside the arena. 

Namjoon stood back for a second, still feeling the heat on his cheeks. He took a step forward to join you, only to accidentally step on your book that you’d dropped. Kneeling down, he picked it up. Curiosity gaining the best of him, he took a peek inside. It was doodles and drawings of different creatures and spells, with little notes dotted along the sides. Still flipping through the book, he began walking towards the arena, but he stopped as he turned to a page that took him by surprise. It was a drawing of him, incompleted, but was very obviously Namjoon. He felt the heat on his face return, crawling up his ears too. Reading along the sides of the page, were your own personal anecdotes about him. Calling him all sorts of names, but also things he had said; Stuff from his lessons. You had remembered, you were trying. He just couldn’t see it.

“Ahem.” 

Namjoon’s eyes broke away from the sketchbook, meeting Diego’s gaze. The unicorn said nothing, only winking at him as he tossed his head in the direction of the arena doors. 

Breaking eye contact, Namjoon pushed open the doors, hoping you wouldn’t see the embarrassment on his cheeks. He spotted you almost immediately, talking with some other students he could only presume were your friends. Taking notice of him, you smiled at him again, and he swore he could see a twinkle in your eye-

No. No. No.

You had an exam to study for and he was your tutor. He couldn’t fraternize with you like that. However, he wouldn’t be for long if you ace that exam. . . 

“Raindreamer, let’s go!” 

[springcatalyst]

5 & 17 for liliana and 15 & 20 for reiji? 👉👈

OH YEAH BABY

5: Does your oc have a signature weapon and/or attack? How long did they train to master it?

Yeass so she typically just has these two curved cutlass-type swords that she uses and she is. very good at it. Swordfighting is a sort of tradition among sailors, a holdover from navys before the cataclysm, and as such her father Kane (follower of history, teller of stories, keeper of otherwise lost knowledge) taught it to her from a fairly young age. He, of course, never really intended for her to use it- their ship, under Kane, was a vessel of exploration, not conquest. She learned formal swordfighting to real skill, but little actual experience, until much later in life. She learned a offensive, more dual-wielding style as opposed to a defensive one (like with a parrying knife) because it was theoretical first, as opposed to a more practical fighting style which places higher value on defense like those that other sailors who may expect to actually fight would.

17: Does you oc have an enemy? What happened between them? Is it mutual or one-sided? Petty or serious? Revenge? Does one hate want the other dead or hate them from afar?

HMM IMPOSSIBLE TO TELL (lie). Yeag alright babey here is Liliana Lore 101- finally telling you what her fucking problem is.

Nadia was on Kane's ship, the Halcyon. She served as the navigator for a few years in Liliana's early adulthood. During that time they grew close. Nadia has her own cast of goals and reasons, but from Liliana's perspective (very trusting, very gullible, no reason to believe anything out of the ordinary), one day out of nowhere when they were docked, she grabbed Liliana from the town to walk out along the cliffs on the seaside, where she told her she'd killed Kane, the ship was hers, and made a solid attempt to kill Liliana as well. She was lucky- it was high tide and she missed the rocks at the bottom. Nadia doesn't know this. She leaves with the ship.

this then goes exactly as you'd expect. Liliana loses literally everything in a very short period of time and what else could she possibly do other than devote the next year+ of her life to tracking/chasing down Nadia to get revenge and her ship back? It takes a good while, because all she has is word-of-mouth and intuition based on anything she can gather, but it's not impossible because Nadia does not know she's alive, and so doesn't know she's being hunted

It's not... one-sided, but it is definitely unbalanced. Liliana flips a complete 180 on Nadia, which is fair, because she tried to kill her. But Nadia never hated Liliana. She was a means to an end. She grew to sort of... resent her? Because she had all this good- adventure and freedom and the ship itself as her home and a father who is both a larger-than-life legend and exactly the man they say he is and also incredibly kind- and it's all just hers. Naturally. Because she was lucky. She is granted grace and understanding in a way Nadia didn't really think existed. And the only way Nadia knows to get that for herself is to take it. Liliana also represents a sort of freedom from form that Nadia doesn't know what to do with for a long while after it becomes apparent, and so she chooses to instead destroy it.

15: What places hold significant meaning or memories for your oc? Do they have positive or negative association with those places?

Yeah. Reiji follows this cycle- choose a destination, decide it means something, reach it, be disappointed, repeat. It gets worse with time and circumstance as the continuous finding nothing weighs on him, but also as events make him need the Thing He's Looking For more. At first it was: we need a destination. He's a wanderer by circumstance and it is fairly important to actually cover distance instead of just cycling the same familiar area. He was aimless for a time, but that's so much worse than Traveling, so: a destination. Let's reach the ocean. It meant consistency and restart and friendship and continuing. Once they got there, it meant press pause- overwintering in larger communities is necessary for survival. This one brought with it a shaky kind of upset and the feeling that you did something wrong. Something changes.

Then was the mountains. It meant understanding something that he still didn't. It meant deciding, though he didn't know that until they got there, because it wasn't him making the decision. He'd hoped it would mean certainty, but it didn't quite yet. It brought with it the worst it's been in years, but not the worst it'll be.

Then was the caldera. It was a promise he'd made to someone he hoped to see again. It meant finding a link, some sort of connection to something he lost a long time ago. And it meant understanding the history of it. It was empty when he got there, no one waited for him, and it raised more questions than answers.

Then, after the worst, it's the rift. Once again, it promises a link, history, whatever is between the past and the present. It promises belonging. Once again it does not deliver. He finds what he was looking for in a more literal way, but it's crueler, then, that it doesn't give him what he wanted. He still doesn't have all the answers, and he still doesn't belong there. He's back at the beginning of the cycle without another destination. He's left aimless again. Places are promises that consistently are broken.

20: Has your oc ever done something terrible and lied about it? Did they run away or blame someone else? How long did they maintain the lie and did the truth ever come out?

Ach. Reiji has blood on his hands but the nature of it is that he couldn't lie about it even if he would have. Reiji is one of those people that's genuine to a fault; even people who aren't liars usually have something they're hiding, but funnily enough considering, hiding in this way doesn't come naturally to him. And it was his action but it wasn't his fault-is the blood really on your hands if you had no other choice? Has he done something terrible? Yes. Has he lied about it? He couldn't.

OC ASK GAME :]

[duxbelisarius]

The Dance of the Dragons, A Military Analysis: Conclusion

This is the fourteenth and final part of my analysis (2 parts for each of the Seven, heh); thank you so much to everyone who has followed this series from the start, and those of you that have come across it and followed along! Here's the Master Post for anyone that's a first time reader, as well as links for my AO3 and Reddit uploads of the series!

I've been quite harsh towards George R. R. Martin throughout this series, perhaps more so than he deserves; the man has been writing professionally since 1970 at least, and has probably forgotten more about the World of Ice and Fire than any of us fans could ever hope to learn. Responsibility for continuity issues within the story and between it and George's larger mythos can be laid at the feet of Linda and Elio, George's continuity and editing team, and likely the publisher as well. Rightly or wrongly, George has taken plenty of flak from the fandom and beyond for a variety of reasons (cough cough Winds cough cough), but it was not my intention to heap any further calumnies upon him with this series.

I began my first re-reading of ASOIAF while working on this series and have enjoyed it immensely; GRRM is an excellent writer, and deserves every ounce of acclaim he has received despite his flaws. If you'd told me five years ago that I'd wind up watching HOTD, purchasing F&B along with Rogues and Dangerous Women, watching theory/lore videos regularly and rereading ASOIAF, let alone doing an c.30k word military analysis of the Dance, I would've looked at you like you had a third head. While I might have read the books again at some point, my interest in George's series was casual at best after I stopped watching GoT following season 6, and witnessed the season 8 debacle from the sidelines. For all it's flaws, I enjoyed House of the Dragon and interacting with fans online has been a fun experience (albeit not always). I would never have poured so much time and thought into this analysis if I didn't care about the series, or considered George to be a vastly superior writer than F&B would indicate. The problem with the Dance of the Dragons is not the idea itself but it's execution, with contradictions, contrivances and inconsistencies within the story weighing it down at every turn. This does not mean the Dance is unworkable; in fact there are numerous ways to fix these issues and make the story work.

Instead of Aegon, Aemond, Helaena and Daeron being Viserys' biological children, you could have Aegon son of Baelon survive childbirth and marry Alicent instead. Alicent's children become nephews to Rhaenyra instead of half-siblings, and their father could die before or shortly after Daeron's birth. Viserys could then marry his youngest brother's widow to placate those demanding that he remarry, thereby placing Alicent's children and Rhaenyra between Daemon and the Iron Throne. This means that Viserys still has no biological children that could threaten Rhaenyra's claim, and it could be argued via Widow's Law that these new children are Alicent's by blood and not Viserys' and thus cannot disinherit Rhaenyra of her claim. On the other hand, the Greens can argue that the marriage of Alicent and Viserys makes them the king's children by law, and can point to the Decision of 92 and the Council of 101 choosing a male claimant over the female claimant, regardless of whether the female's claim was stronger legally.

Introducing Aegon son of Baelon to the story as a dragonrider further improves the narrative, by making him Silverwing's rider after Alysanne. This gives the Greens an additional dragon under their control, and would also allow Ulf the White to play a more active role in the Dance by having Ulf be recruited by Larys following the 'Red Sowing.' After defecting to the Greens by providing information about Jacaerys's planned attack on King's Landing, this information could assist the Triarchy's attack on the Gullet, earning Ulf the trust of the Green Council and the opportunity to claim Silverwing. With Meleys and Vermax dead, Caraxes in the Riverlands and Syrax unlikely to participate in an attack due to the risk to Rhaenyra, this leaves only Vermithor, Sheepstealer and Seasmoke to attack King's Landing. Aemond's strategic gamble is easier to justify in this timeline (ITTL), with Aemond marching on Harrenhal while Ulf remains to protect the city, while the Blacks could attack after Harrenhal has fallen and take the capital thanks to Ulf's treachery.

Giving the Greens another dragonrider makes it easier to justify Aemond's Riverlands campaign, and would made better by having Aegon's supporters there continue the fight after TTL's Burning Mill. With Lannister forces to the west, Cole and Aemond to the east and Green supporters fighting a guerrilla war, it would make more sense why Cole and Tyland Lannister would support this plan than in our timeline (IOTL). Daemon could then withdraw his army north of the Trident and fly to Dragonstone via the Vale, to further support the idea that he had gone North. When Daemon reappears to attack King's Landing, this would enrage Aemond like it did IOTL), esp. if we assume he felt some responsibility for Aegon's injuries at Rook's Rest and Blood & Cheese. The Winterwolves' arrival could then see the Black forces march south to attack the Westerlands army; Cole wants to march west to join Jason Lannister, whereas Aemond wishes to draw out his uncle, with the two men falling out as IOTL. Cole marches west and is defeated alongside Jason Lannister, which could be the result of the Winterwolves falling upon one of the Greens flanks amidst a snow storm, ensuring that the encroaching winter weather matters to the plot while demonstrating the prowess of the Northerners without making them superhumans. Cole and Lannister are killed, with the remnants of the Westermen withdrawing over the Red Fork while those of Cole's forces defect to Rhaenyra, and Aemond begins his campaign of razing the Riverlands.

The situation at sea can be improved by simply having the Ironborn intervene earlier in the conflict; the Hightower and Redwyne fleets can thus be occupied by the Ironborn and the Shield Islands, as well as supporting the Hightower army. Combined with the poor autumn weather mentioned throughout ASOIAF causing storms in the narrow sea, and the risk presented by Rhaenyra's dragons on top of the strength of the Velaryon fleet, the Hightower and Redwyne fleets have sufficient reason to remain in the Sunset Sea without their existence being ignored by the narrative. Events in the Reach can be further improved by having the Tarlys support Aegon initially, agreeing to protect the lower Mander with the Florents and the Peakes against the Rowans and Caswells marching south. Ormund leads his own forces and those of House Redwyne, Cuy, Bulwer and Blackbar to besiege the Mullendores, Beesburys and Costaynes, but the Tarlys betray him and route the Green forces to the north, leading to the Battle of the Honeywine and Daeron's intervention. Houses Tarth, Fell and Buckler can take up arms against Borros Baratheon in support of Rhaenyra, with raids by the Velaryon fleet further accounting for the Stormlands' delayed support of the Greens. The raids by the Vulture King could be retained with the suggestion that Daemon was involved, as we know historically that the Vulture King movements were not supported by the Martells. Having Daemon's contacts in the Free Cities smuggle funds and weapons to the rebels allows him to create trouble for the Greens, while getting payback for Dornish support for the Triarchy during the War in the Stepstones.

The strategic positions of the Blacks and the Greens as of Maiden's Day 130 AC ITTL would be almost identical to IOTL; if Aemond is allowed to actually inflict serious damage on the Riverlords, this can also explain why Cregan Stark would avoid sending more troops south via the Neck. Joffrey Velaryon and Tyraxes leaving the Vale for King's Landing could also lead to a revolt by House Royce, in retaliation for Jeyne Arryn making common cause with Daemon, providing set-up for their support of Arnold Arryn following her death in 134 AC. This along with the threat of Aemond would explain the absence of the Vale's armies; having House Royce join forces with the Mountain Clans would strengthen this plot point, while giving a prelude to the raids by the Clans after the Dance. The Two Betrayers actions at Tumbleton are more plausible with Ulf being Larys' agent from the start; a more sensible choice for Nettles and Daemon's story could be to have them both battle Aemond, with Nettles being the lone survivor. Addam Velaryon finds Nettles and warns her of Rhaenyra's intentions, with Nettles fleeing as IOTL while Addam remains to rally what forces he can to oppose the Greens at Tumbleton.

The Tumbleton plot can be fixed by having the command crisis revolve around Daeron and the Two Betrayers from the start. While Unwin Peake, Hobert Hightower and other Greens fall-in behind the prince, former Blacks in the Hightower army turn to the Betrayers in light of Aegon's disappearance and Rhaenyra's downfall. The sides attempt to negotiate for a march on King's Landing while TTL's 'Caltrops' plot to murder the Betrayers and vice versa, devolving into fighting between the 'Daeron men' and the 'Betrayers brood.' The Riverlords would arrive during this struggle, leading to Addam and Daeron opposing the Betrayers together, creating interesting possibilities for the story. Ulf and Hugh's fates could be the same as IOTL, leaving Daeron and Addam to oppose Vermithor, or Hugh could fight them while riding his dragon. All four riders could fight atop their dragons and be killed as well, with Silverwing dying alongside Vermithor or fleeing to Red Lake as IOTL. In retrospect, Second Tumbleton could be seen as where the rifts of the Dance began to heal, with the town's postwar recovery being driven by veterans of both sides visiting to pay respects to the graves of Addam and Daeron.

The losses from Tumbleton and the Ironborn raids in the Sunset Sea can prevent the Reach from aiding Aegon II, while Cregan Stark's army could assist the Lads in defeating Borros Baratheon before marching on King's Landing. As suggested in Part 13, Cregan's army and the Valemen could be sent west to crush Dalton Greyjoy, with the Dance of the Dragons ending on July 7th 131 AC as IOTL or at some point after that date. A final change I would make would be to have Aegon II's murderers remain anonymous, with Corlys returning to Driftmark and Larys being dismissed as Master of Whispers and denied a seat on the Council of Regents. Clubfoot's fate could be as the first victim of Harrenhal's new 'witch queen,' his bastard half sister Alys Rivers.

This is a basic outline of the changes that could be made to fix some of the Dance's issues while retaining much of the story and characters as written by George. There's still elements such as Rhaenyra's tax policy that I haven't discussed, which would require further alterations, but I maintain that the story itself can work. HOTD has already made changes of it's own, and it will be interesting to see if Condal and co. take the Dance in any new/interesting directions. Regardless, I hope you've enjoyed this analysis of the Dance or at the very least found it interesting.

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: "Rebel Assault"

Everything goes so very, very wrong.

Hoo BOY this opening slow pan across the Empire's current gathered forces above Lothal is ah... Very Concerning.

Were there this many ships in the finale? Did Thrawn call for reinforcements just for this one event?

This was an amazing shot in the trailer but once you put it up against that opening pan...

Yeah this attack was doomed.

Mart! Hi! It's so good to see you! Sad that Gooti and Jonner couldn't be here but hey. At least you have a couple redshirts flying with you.

Imperial March briefly excepts into the organs that signify that Thrawn's onscreen. Both he and Hera have identified the fuel depot as the primary target, being both the softest and least defended, and also the most important. No fuel, no production line, no output. This is basic War 101.

"24 ships, Grand Admiral." (squints, checks back in the caps) That is not 24 ships, guys. C'mon, nerds will be checking this.

And now the Empire gets to indulge in its favorite strategy:

Spam TIE Fighters at problem until it goes away. Lol.

No seriously this is going to bug me now, were there that many ships in orbit above Lothal for the finale?! Weeeeeeew lordy, Ezra might have the highest kill count of anyone on the show if that's the case.

Really liking the deep dusk lightning here on the ground with the others. It's very soft.

Aaaaaaand Duke is clearly just Freddie Prince Junior enjoying his Western Drawl voice again lol.

Ohhhhhhh I know I've heard this cue, they used this before in.... ghfkhfhj I can't remember! I think it was another spacebattle? Maybe?

Zeb still antagonizing Ezra like a bullish older brother lol.

Jeez is that pollution or lingering dusk? Hellish red.

The Main Theme kicking in as Hera attempts her heroic X-wing move here.

Thrawn. Thrawn, pal. Buddy. Compadre. That is an ace, you do not just let him get himself stupidly killed. You know full well what Hera is about to do, explain it to Skerris and then he might listen to you. Giving a cursory, "Hey you better obey me." does not suffice, as you well know from Konstantine's defiance back in "Zero Hour".

Maybe if your people skills were better, you wouldn't have people so eager to thumb their nose in your face.

Oh! Ohhhhhhhhhhh! Oh you absolute whore, Skerris didn't even need to die, you could literally have just not had your batteries fire! Oh my gosh this is his exact attitude in the finale. "Gee it's too bad about that guy, anyway shoot to kill." SKERRIS COULD STILL HAVE HAD INTACT SHIELDS WHEN HERA MADE HER SURPRISE ATTACK IF YOU HAD JUST NOT FIRED AT BOTH OF THEM, THAT WAS AAAAAAALLLL YOU, THRAWN, YOU ASS.

"How unfortunate." my foot.

Yeah, uh... X-wings can't actually fire like this with the S-foils closed. It's a known technical lore detail. Yeah the husband was pretty pissy about this one. I mean good for Hera but they should have really let her foils open.

Right so that means that this extra collision here is Thrawn's fault because he let Skerris die to prove a point. Stop doing that, you're gonna lose all your troops!

You know what I think Thrawn absolutely wanted to get to spring his second wave of TIEs on the attack squad and that's why he aggravated Skerris's blunder. He does seem to have a penchant for theatricality.

Again, very on-point lighting.

:(((((((

The defeat is almost muted in tone. We get only a suggestion of the massacre of the attack force, see them as nothing but streaks of flaming, falling comets of light. There's utter silence at first, and then strings ramping up as the horror descends, along with the ships.

All that effort and heroism, fizzled into nothing. With barely any effort on Thrawn's part.

The worry in Kanan's voice as he tries to call Hera. :(((((((

Ryder's resigned defeat, contrasted against Ezra's cautious optimism.

It's not often that it's Ezra comforting Kanan, but it works to pull Kanan out of his head enough to vacate the area with the others.

Ooooh the camerawork in that shot! And the sound design of Chopper's electronic panicked scream!

Seeing Hera hurt is always awful. Fortunately a gaggle of civilians are around to help.

The score flaring up in mournful cello notes as Kanan lets his fear and worry take over, which makes him halt and turn full tilt around to go back.

Ezra lets him go, even though he has to know what a bad idea it is. Better to let him try, I guess, and I know Ezra relates.

Still can't get over how hellish red Capital City looks at night.

Pryce is still Not Fond of Rukh lol.

RIP R3-A3. :(((((((

He died protecting Mart too.

Good on Mart, by the way, for being useful in this ambush, immediately grabs a blaster and shoulder-checks one Trooper and shoots another, I love him.

Zachary Gordon's voicing Mart a bit deeper this episode, apparently we hit puberty lol. (Mart, I mean. Zachary was 20 when this aired.)

Hhhnhnhnhhghfhh what was that noise, Rukh, jeez!

His theme coming in as he finds Mart and Hera and Chopper, heralded by that deep woodwind note.

Hera's not a slouch in the combat department, but Ruhk is very quickly on the offensive again, takes Chopper zapping the crap out of him for him to break off.

The white Loth-wolf meanwhile, is once again just kind of being ~mysterious~ and doing its thing. I have no idea why turning off all the other streetlights were necessary, it's not like Kanan can see it.

Kanan sounding very frustrated. I'm actually reminded of Ezra's behavior in the early part of "Legacy", impatient, impulsive, snapping randomly at the easiest target.

The Loth-wolf does not take kindly to it. But this gets Kanan to calm down again and clear his head.

Some excellent teamwork here between Hera, Chopper, and Mart.

"I'll catch up!" CURSED WORDS, HERA. CURSED WORDS.

The "Shenanigans" cue once again being put through an action wringer, notes staggered, off beat.

THE WAY THIS PARALLELS "CALL TO ACTION" WITH HERA SHOOTING OUT THE DOOR CONTROLS TO SEAL THINGS BEHIND CHOPPER AFTER ORDERING BOTH HIM AND MART TO GO.

Kanan being remarkably chill about all of this after his pep talk with the wolves.

And the wolves leitmotif to close us out, replacing over the ending credits.

Boy this episode is a downer. The attack we've hinged all our hopes on since Season Two fails, Hera is captured, and Lothal seems utterly lost. Now imagine having to wait about oh... six months to see the resolution. Yeah that was fun.

The animation and camerawork is wonderful this episode though, music appropriately somber, and the dark parallels to Season One's finale would continue, to a horribly subversive end. This is all serious from here on out. We have to face the darkest night before we can push through to the dawn.

See y'all next episode. It's uh... gonna be a thing.

[jinxthejubilee]

So I have a question that I feel as if you're the only one who'll get it well:

So imagine this, a world with the stories is the same but sometimes after the villains have a final curtain call of their motives, but one thing is drastically different... And that's their recruiters are fully evil. Not only that but are so wicked and far not even their once masters can stop them

Either some were abandoned or betrayed by their villains or others simply didn't get their villains help from the beginning, but the end result is the same, they are cruel and ruthless

My question is, if this case scenario was true, what would you think their villain arcs are like?

First off, I'm sorry that it took so long to answer this ask. Life has been quite hectic for me these past few months, so I took a bit of a break. So, to make up for it, let's have some fun here!

Second, it really depends on what established lore you've set for them. Some people have different interpretations of their characters, but if you're going by my personality pages, I have some ideas:

Apple 🍎

Apple seems like the type to claw his way to power no matter what. If he didn't meet the Evil Queen/Grimhilde, he probably would've served under other corrupt monarchs before somehow manipulating them or the people around them to overthrow that monarch and take his "rightful" place as the new ruler.

Very politically oriented than outright murderous.

Jack Heart ❤️

Jack is kinda hard to imagine being strictly "evil" since he's more of the "fun guy who doesn't care about the consequences" type.

But, if you want to lean into him being more insane, I can totally see him becoming more and more unhinged as time goes on.

He craves chaos. He craves destruction. Similar to Kefka Palazzo from Final Fantasy, but less existential and nihilistic.

I doubt that he'd take out the Queen of Hearts, but for this case, let's say he did: He'd make it a spectacle. To show everyone in Wonderland who the true king is.

No longer does he want to be a pawn at her disposal. He'll have it all, one way or another.

Mr. Dalmatia 🐾

Even if this is the 101 Dalmatians universe, where animals are way smarter than we know, I don't see Dalma becoming a supervillain.

Maybe a gang leader of street dogs or something if he was never adopted by Cruella.

Or, more likely, if he was ever betrayed by Cruella, he would plot his revenge, killing everyone, even Pongo, Perdita, the puppies, and the others by burning Hell Hall to the ground and closing any escape routes, then disappear into the woods. Never to be seen again.

Eight Foot Joe 🐙

MURDER.

He finally snaps from exhaustion and has a full-on Death Note-style murder plot to kill Ursula.

Whether he uses an ancient artifact, potions, or goes along with Ursula's plot, only to steal the trident from her after she accidentally kills Flotsam and Jetson, that betrayal is coming full force.

He becomes the new king of the sea. Finally earning the respect he deserves.

Malfi/Malfie 🪞

Malfi, at least in my headcanons, was an actual bird who was later turned human-ish by Maleficent.

Considering how powerful she is in comparison to everyone on this list, I doubt that Malfi would be brave or powerful enough to take her on in a fight.

Malfi is more of an opportunist. He'd lie and wait for Philip to kill Maleficent. Then, once she's out of the way, he'd kill Philip himself.

Unfortunately, while he was trained by the Mistress of All Evil, he knows Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather would cause problems, so he'd capture them somehow and drain them of their magic, so he could use it to curse the kingdom once again.

Malfi would have everything he's ever wanted: Power, a kingdom, a beautiful bride, and servants and subjects that cater to his every whim.

Pretty Scar (Mzuri) ✨️

I've talked in length about what would happen at the end of The Lion King if PS was there to witness or take part in the killing of Scar, and I honestly don't see her in a leadership position of any kind.

But, if we want to change it up a bit, instead of giving up on Scar after he dies, we find out later that she joined Zira and helped raise Kovu.

Like Zira, she believes Kovu will one day become the great king destined to overthrow Simba and avenge Scar

This Mzuri, despite the fact that Scar betrayed her fellow hyenas, still worships Scar because she's used to the abuse she suffers from her family. She blames Simba for placing Scar in a position where he would have to throw the hyenas under the bus to save his own life.

Ms. Hades 🔥

As I've stated before, I see Ms. Hades as a creation of Hades, so her betraying him is kind of pointless, seeing as he could easily destroy her if he wanted to.

If she was to go all-out villain, though, she'd probably wait to reveal herself as the true villain until Hercules was far enough into the River Styx to die of old age. Then, she'd most likely push Hades down there or use some enchanted item of some kind to bind him, then throw him into the river.

Her motive? She despised working for someone who treated her like an object. She was created for the sole purpose of working beneath him, and she could stand it no longer.

I see her as someone who doesn't focus on the petty things, and that's what makes her so deadly.

She's so calm, collected, and controlled that she doesn't let any weakness of hers slip through the cracks. She looks through every possible option, every little detail. She makes good work of using any opportunities Hades never thought to use.

She is a force of nature; an untamable fire. There is no question that she will take over the living world and Mount Olympus. All hail the queen.

Veil 🔔

If Veil had never met Frollo, I don't see the possibility of her becoming a villain simply because she wouldn't have the resources to raise her status as a "lowly commoner." That, and her personality. She was essentially groomed to become Frollo's loyal follower. That wouldn't have happened otherwise

So, if we work with the opposite of what I wrote as an ending for Veil on her page, similarly to Pretty Scar, Veil would be so brainwashed that she'd still defend Frollo and continue his reign of terror in his absence. Only this time, it's even more dangerous than before.

Lady Hock (Hook) 🪝

Again, I really don't see her as a supervillain personality-wise, and even if Hock was betrayed by Captain Hook, I see her going down a more heroic path than anyone else.

Even if she never met the captain, I don't see her becoming a villain either. She's remarkably chill and goes with the flow in most situations.

The best I can see is that if you altered her personality a tad, she'd allow Captain Hook to kill the Lost Boys and Wendy.

Unless she finally got fed up with Hook's cowardice and decided to get rid of him, then the kids. But again, that's less likely.

Faja 🌹

I'll give Jafar this: He never betrayed Iago. They were practically best buds in the first movie, so I don't doubt that he might be the same with Faja.

However, if all three of them became trapped in the lamp, they'd all drive each other crazy. So much so that later on, once they learn about Iago's escape and betrayal, Faja realizes how power-hungry and abusive he's become. Should this happen, she will help defeat Jafar with Aladdin and the gang once and for all, but she'd immediately turn on them all afterwards.

Or, if we go with the option of her never meeting Jafar, unlike Veil's situation, magic exists in this world, so I can definitely see her taking a similar path as Jafar and learning magic on her own to escape her life as a street rat. Except more erratic and unhinged.