#love of and knowledge about the same characters

[starshinedreamer]

Alrighty y'all, grab a chair and get comfy whilst I yap about my son, my pride and joy, the greatest thing to ever happen to me, my D&D OC: Raymond Foxwood. He is a Wood Elf Druid with the Researcher background and a Neutral-Good alignment (Images at the very end).

I haven't figured out what his voice sounds like yet. I'm thinking he may kind of have an accent? But like it's barely there. I do have an idea for a possible Japanese voice claim: Souta from the movie Suzume.

His best friend? I guess it would be my friend's D&D character. Her name is Topaz and she is a Dragonborne. Not besties, but pretty close.

Ooooooo boy, I got a whole playlist my friend and I have been cooking up for this sad little fella. Here's a couple of them that I think describes him best:

-"The Moss" by Cosmo Sheldrake

-"Rom-Com Gone Wrong" by Matt Maltese

-"When She Loved Me" by Sarah McLachlan

-"Home" by Cavetown

-"Valentine" by Laufey

-"Love Like You" by Rebecca Sugar

He's like, dealing with a heavy breakup until "Valentine" when he meets his current partner :)

4. "I do Adore" by Mindy Gledhill

5. Nope! But I actually thought about it when I was first creating his character just to see how he would act with other dynamics.

6. A scientist. More specifically, an ecologist. He loves nature and learning about all there is to know about life and the world. He also likes finding ways to help others, so maybe even a pharmacologist?

8. Writing, researching, reading, gardening, and making little insect and animal models because he is a NERD™ /lh<3

9. He generally takes good care of his physical health. Although, his flaw is "Most people scream when they see a demon. I stop and take notes on its anatomy," soooo. "For science" he says. "It's for the greater good" he says.

10. Well he's trying his best. But sometimes anxiety just surprises you and all of the sudden you're spiraling and things seem much worse than they are and pfffft whaddya meeeeaaaan I'm sorta self projecting? But he is the kind of person who feels bad about asking for help and then sort of holds it all in.

11. Inspirations were taken Link from The Legend of Zelda series (mainly BOTW) and Howl from Howl's Moving Castle for his design. Everything else was based purely on my own self indulgences for a nerdy elf character (and the songs my friend keeps sending my for him).

12. Same response as question 2 :)

13. No not really, but he is fighting against an organization that keeps threatening and trying to burn down the library he works/lives in with the librarian: Amanita (Ama, Anita, or Nita for short). Amanita is the person who raised and took care of Raymond after his family died in a fire. A fire caused by the same organization who's trying to harm them now. This is his main reason for joining a campaign; to get stronger and protect his loved ones.

14. This one flippin poison dragon we fought. Or maybe that's just me because I really didn't want to let them leave alive. I don't think Raymond necessarily hates anyone.

15. That all honestly depends on how the rest this campaign will play out. My friend has told me that they all did die a couple times, and we almost died to the STINKIN DRAGON but that's not important right now. But L O R E wise, he'd probably still do his researcher stuff until he's really old. Then he'll write books and share his stories :)

16. If they were alive, then I could see him having a great relationship with his parents since they were also big nerds like him. His relationship with Amanita is also great, and he really wants to protect her since she has done so much for him.

17. YESSSSSS! He loves sharing his knowledge with others and would do such a great job teaching kids. Ohhhh this is such a good one, yes he would feel bad if he had to leave them.

18. He/Him :>

19. Biromantic Asexual. His love language in giving is Acts of Service, and Quality Time for both giving and receiving.

20. A longbow and rocks. He has a cantrip spell called "Magic Stone" which lets me make a ranged attack by throwing small pebbles or stones. I like to call this spell the "RAYMOND, STONE 'EM" spell because its funnnnyyyy.

21. hmmmmmmmmmm Actually, I'm not sure! I guess maybe "Nothing You Can Take From Me" from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

22. Will generally go for the non-violent option (more of a lover), but if initiatives are rolling, he'll fight.

23. Extremely. He'll show up with a new tire to fix the flat one, and an extra one for any future situations.

24. Undecided

25. Not singing out loud, but he would definitely hum to himself! :)

26. Irises, forget-me-nots, and bluebells

27. Symbolism wise, a deer. 'Just because' wise, a rabbit, a fox, and a kitty cat :3

28. The Nerds™ (found at the end of this post:) ).

29. Cozy stuff, lo-fi, books, plants, leather notebooks, and an overall sort of cottage core mixed with academia aesthetic. (Mood Board made in Canva :>)

30. Accepts this as their new life(yippee!). They have now been adopted. Will try to find a way to bring up their interests in conversations.

Fuck it, OC brain rot won. Get ready for the Secret Ask List

1) Does your OC have a voice claim, if so who?

2) Who's your OCs best friend? How did they become best friends?

3) What song describes your OC?

4) What song describes your OC and their partner/love interest?

5) Do you ship your OC with a Canon character? If so who?

6) If your OC is in a fantasy setting, what profession would they be in the modern day?

7) Vice-Versa! If your OC is in the modern day, what fantasy class would they be? Would they be a different race?

8) What hobbies does your OC have? What do they do to unwind?

9) How does your OC handle their physical health? Do they take care of themselves?

10) How does your OC handle their mental health? Do they take care of themselves?

11) What was your inspiration for your OC?

12) Does your OC interact with other people's OC? If so, who's their best OC friend?

13) Does your OC have a rival? How did it start?

14) Who's a character your OC cannot stand! It's on sight when they see them!

15) Will your OC ever retire? Do you see them making it?

16) How's their relationship with their parents? Are they alive?

17) If your OC has kids, are they a good parent? Do they ever feel guilty if they have to leave them?

18) What are their pronouns? What would they like to be called?

19) What's their sexuality? What's their love language both giving and receiving?

20) If they fight, what's their weapon of choice?

21) What song best describes their relationship with their enemy?

22) Fight or Flight? Are they a lover or a fighter?

23) Is your OC reliable? Can I call them up at two in the morning if I have a flat tire?

24) Can they play any instruments? If so, what do they play?

25) Are they the kind of person who can't resist a good song? Can I catch your OC singing to themselves while they do the dishes?

26) What flower do you associate your OC with?

27) What's their spirit tamagotchi? Or an animal you associate them with?

28) What clique would they be in? (Draw them in the clothes of said group!)

29) Imagine a mood board for your OC! What's on it? (Make it if you want!)

30) My OC and your OC are friends. This isn't a question. I'm not asking. (How do they respond?)

[nestaians]

that post reminded me; nesta did in fact work in the cabin

nesta chopped wood, cleaned the dishes and probably cooked for them or least help in the kitchen

bc it was mentioned feyre does not know how to cook

but it is not seen as work by feyre, who shared about their life in cabin from her pov nor inner circle question it

they all make it seem like nesta and elain did nothing, like feyre hunting was the start and the end of any kind of work and feyre alone took care of them when they were in that cabin

they literally act as if all nesta and elain did was spend feyre’s money on luxuries

which is a lie bc feyre had an attitude about her sister wanting to spend money on new shoes bc the old ones was completely worn out and had holes in them

let me make it clear: feyre chose to go hunting

it has never said “nesta made her do it” and nesta is only like 2-3 yrs older than her, she was a child too but everyone is quick to forget that

in the beginning of acotar we see nesta try to look out for feyre and feyre had an attitude about it

if u have multiple siblings it makes sense why nesta is more everything of and with elain than feyre when you read their early acotar scenes. u are obviously going to be closer to the one who is accepting

it was their father who should be blamed but nesta is held accountable and blamed, till this day, for his failure as their parent

feyre painted him but not nesta. not until she “got better” srs words fail me on this

inner circle are a group of 500yrs old with all the knowledge in the world and they don’t see how stupid they are?

holding a grudge and beefing with a 20-21yrs nesta, who -in their world- is just a baby, over feyre choosing to hunt. what a bunch of pathetic losers

there’s something sad yet makes sense about nesta’s character is that she never argues or tries to prove that she did in fact work when they shit on her

feyre listening to mor’s story and the horrible things she went through and feyre immediately thinks “i get why rhysand can’t forgive nesta” as if they are anywhere near the same thing!

feyre is such a nasty person for it, for how she made nesta out to be again and again, you can’t change my mind, she is

to make it worse bc i can, before feyre went back for tamlin, she and nesta were better, in a way

feyre and nesta talked, feyre learned nesta knew she was taken and that nesta went to wall for her. nesta supported feyre and what she wanted to do

and after feyre was turned, when she was with rhysand, she undid all that progress by making nesta seem like a selfish person who does not care about her

feyre was also nasty for saying her sisters only cared about money and social standings

who knew you were taken and risked her life in the middle of winter to go to the wall for you? who supported you and your love for a fae? nesta! she cared about u!

who brought you paints? elain!

is feyre resents them for not doing more then she should just say so

feyre made it worse by bringing 3 faes, who humans fear for very good reason, into their house and let one of them invade nesta space, insult her and parroted feyre’s views on their life in the cabin

there is obviously more things like feyre constantly making nesta do things she does not want to do and making her be in presence of men she does not want to be in but that isn’t related to this topic

feyre has to sets things right, she set nesta up for failure in the eyes of her new family and now wants nesta to be a part of that said family that does not like her nor are quiet about it

nesta and feyre’s relationship is never going to actually heal without feyre taking accountability and apologising. it can’t be just nesta, it shouldn’t be just nesta who has to do it

nesta did work in that cabin. nesta did look after feyre. nesta did care about feyre

feyre wasn’t alone in looking after them, nesta and elain did too, they just had their own different ways of doing it

feyre had thoughts about her sisters marrying off and then it just being her and their father and she can paint, but then who would cook? who would chop wood for fire and keep them warm?

the reason they survived in that cabin bc they had each other. they did it together

but it’s not seen like that by feyre’s pov, by inner circle, by most of the fandom

nesta deserves better

[teddywesworl]

different anon but re: sex scenes ask, i’m curious to see how you lay out things to outline for continuity of characterization, and what the drive and stakes are in a scene to avoid the sexual archetypes. would you mind sharing what that process looks like for you? really admire your technical breakdowns of writing (yes even and especially when they end up being ‘controversial’)

ok so. I had to take this ask to a word doc to get all my thoughts in order, so that’s your fair warning about how involved my answer is going to be.

First off, I gotta say I always think it’s funny and strange which “takes” of mine get people in a twist, because it’s very frequently the really basic foundational stuff that you would be taught in the first week or two of any introductory fiction writing class. One time, multiple people blocked me on twitter for saying that every paragraph should serve the whole and that readers will get bored if you go on tangents that have nothing to do with the core drive of the story. There was a qrt with the ‘no fun allowed’ robot. I was basically explaining what “kill your darlings” actually means, but even that was too much.

That said, I think the key to continuity of character in sex scenes is very simple: treat sex as any other action, and treat sex scenes like any other scene.

Naturally, that’s easier said than done, because it contains within itself a pair of mandates:

Get your character fundamentals down before attempting to apply them to sex, and

Deconstruct your own relationship with DHSM archetypes.

Yes, sorry, the almost three hour long Contrapoints Twilight video really is the best framework I’ve ever encountered for breaking down cultural norms concerning sex in fiction (and irl tbh), and I think it’s required viewing for anyone who really wants to deliberately subvert those norms.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Step one: character fundamentals.

In the simplest possible terms, good smut is character work. You’re taking blorbo and putting them in a situation. Often, this is a deeply vulnerable situation wrapped up in a lot of emotions. What kind of emotions are they feeling? Do they feel vulnerable? How do they respond to that vulnerability? Are the blorbos boning out of love? Affection? Frustration? Fear of loss? Is it a hatefuck? Multiple of the above? That’s layer one.

Next layer down: are both (or however many) parties here for the same reason, or are their motivations and experiences different? Everyone in a story has their own drives which may be in conflict with one another or, at the very least, play off of one another in interesting ways; the same principle should apply to sex scenes.

Example.

This is from chapter 2 of baseless fabric:

Rook’s fingers bury themselves in Lucanis’s hair, her nails scraping his scalp. “I’ll show you,” she says, and then—oh, yes—tongues and teeth and spit! Rook’s arms around Lucanis’s neck. Arching backs and sweet sighs and a pleasure that fogs Lucanis’s mind. Rook pulls at Lucanis, and Lucanis tries to keep his hips away. He is embarrassed at how quickly he has grown hard; he is alarmed that he could be so forward, so presumptuous as to expose himself in this way and to seek this kind of pleasure in her. Why? asks Spite. It is for her. She came to you for this. Lucanis struggles against this reasoning, though he knows that Spite is correct. That strange despair deep within grows fat on this knowledge. He is still afraid, and it was such long and difficult work to accept that he would never be desired in this way by a person he desired in turn.

Three parties are involved in this scene: Spite, Lucanis, and Rook.

Spite has no sexual attraction or sex drive per se, because he is a non-corporeal entity to whom those concepts are kind of alien, but he enjoys physical pleasure and has an emotional attachment to both Lucanis and Rook, so there’s no reason to believe he wouldn’t enjoy sex. He experiences everything Lucanis’s body does, and he has a front row seat to the inner workings of Lucanis’s fucked up little brain. In the video game as written, one could argue that Spite’s core drive is essentially to help Lucanis first survive and then recover from extraordinary trauma (out of. Spite. literally). He picks apart Lucanis’s fear and self-hatred and exposes all of it to Rook, in full confidence that Rook can fix it.

Lucanis, meanwhile, is a big ol’ demi virgin who (I was just talking w @ofcrowsanddragons about this last night) has come to view his own basic human needs as monstrous. It’s dangerous for him to need anything. Even sleep! He’s had both physical and emotional vulnerability drilled out of him from a very young age! He can’t let anyone know he needs! What if his needs are exploited? What if someone notices he needs something and takes advantage? For Lucanis, I imagine that allowing himself to be vulnerable in a safe, controlled way that feels good, with someone he trusts entirely, would be… woof. Very intense.

Rook is the wild card in terms of fanfic and character study, because, as a customizable PC, she could be anything. And she might be physically undescribed in my fics, but the character choices I’ve made aren’t by mistake; I’m writing about The Lucanis Romance, after all, and that provides opportunities for Rook to play both partner and foil. And so: my Rook is sexually experienced, shameless, and a bit vulgar, and she grew up poor. She’s Lucanis’s opposite in a lot of ways, and she serves to highlight his hangups by contrast. He talks down at himself for “seeking pleasure in her,” while her desire for him is uncomplicated. She wants this guy. She cares for him. It feels good when he touches her. On its own, maybe that’s not super interesting fodder for fiction, but she and Spite force Lucanis to reckon with his irrational self-talk and maladaptive coping mechanisms. She can get away with being a bit two-dimensional, because her main function in the story is to challenge his perspective.

The climax (lol) of the fic is arguably the following line in chapter 3: “The despair of fulfillment, the anguish of joy—he thinks he is not made for such things, and so he fights them, even desperate as he is to submit.” Everything in this first encounter between Lucanis and Rook builds toward that final evolution of the idea that Lucanis fears his own emotional needs and resists their fulfillment.

Et voila: Lucanis’s character is examined and has the opportunity to develop through sex!

Still, I admit, all of this is easier said than done. Character study of any kind takes practice to get a feel for, and writing effective character-driven sex requires that you be aware of your own relationship with culturally imposed norms.

Step two: becoming an archetype understander

Watch the Contrapoints video if you haven’t. Yes, in full. I promise it’s worth it. But if you want to save it for later and keep reading this post now, DHSM stands for Default Heterosexual Sado-Masochism, and it’s an extremely useful framework for understanding how patriarchal romantic and sexual roles are organized.

Natalie Wynn defines DHSM as “a division of sexuality into bipolar roles,” as follows:

She goes on: “In reality, none of these roles are interchangeable or even necessarily correlated. Being masculine does not imply being a top, and neither imply being dominant. […] But in DHSM, these roles are assumed to be bundled together and assumed to belong to the sexuality of men.”

I contend that when we are reading E-rated fanfiction and we cross that jarring threshold from in-character plot to out-of-character smut, we have most often just encountered the author deferring to cultural sex scene-writing norms prescribed by DHSM. And, importantly, the sex scene doesn’t have to be heterosexual for DHSM to be in the room!

One of the most important things you can do as you’re writing sex is to ensure that you are aware of the cultural pressure to conform to this false dichotomy.  Notice I didn’t even say ‘don’t conform;’ there are certainly ways to examine & play with DHSM while nominally conforming to it. However, DHSM is omnipresent as a basic assumption in mainstream romance and romantic subplot, and you may be surprised at the extent to which the average person automatically reaches for it while writing. In fact, once you start seeing it, you may not be able to stop.

One of the things I really like about Lucanis as a character is his relationship to DHSM. He’s an assassin, arguably a professional predator. He is extremely rich, and he ends the story with a nation-shaping amount of political power. He is also, quite literally, possessed. His whole personal arc is about his fraught relationship with agency. His romance arc requires that you, the player, pursue him to a much more dramatic degree than any of the other companions, just to get to the point of acknowledged flirtation. He breaks the assumed role. He looks like the Latin Lover trope sprouted wings; but that’s not him.

This is, frankly, why a large proportion of the Rookanis ao3 tag bums me out: there’s so much fic in there that pulls back toward that assumption of bipolarity, flattening him as a result. Lucanis as an aggressive or dominant lover does nothing for me, because I feel that it misunderstands his approach to intimacy.

Now what?

I’ve just said an embarrassing number of words about writing pornography. But how does one synthesize all this stuff?

Here’s an exercise I recommend:

Pick a pairing of your choice and consider each character’s relationship with the DHSM dichotomy. Deliberately run down those columns above and decide which character more closely matches each descriptor in each pair, individually—if they match either, which they may not! Examine the ways in which that pairing might break bipolarity.

Then, try to come up with a sexual scenario that demonstrates that break in DHSM. This is a valuable exercise because it attacks both points simultaneously: it forces you to think of your character fundamentals, and it directly challenges the archetypes.

To use the same baseless fabric example, Rook is clearly the pursuer, but she’s got an exhibitionist streak, and she very much desires penetration:

She leans back, rests her weight on her hands, and deliberately opens the vee of her thighs. Her chemise drapes across them, and it hides very little. There is a shadow beneath, intensified by the flicker of the hearth, and Lucanis’s eye is drawn inexorably down—

Later in the same scene, Spite's POV refers to the act of penetrating Rook as surrender:

The body knows what to do. The instinct for it is ancient and innate, and the rhythm is made at the conjunction of Lucanis’s flesh and heart and mind. It is surrender, a hopeless exposure of underbelly and throat, and it feels good. Lucanis plants one hand on the table and rolls his hips.

Lucanis also acknowledges, multiple times, that he had his own preconceived notions about how sex is supposed to go, which Rook has challenged. For example:

Rook hums and smiles and closes the narrow gap between them. What begins as a simple press of lips develops into the luxuriant slide of tongues, Lucanis pushing the hem of her chemise up so he can bury his hand between her thighs. Rook hooks a knee over Lucanis’s hip and tugs him in until he acquiesces and thrusts into her. It is all slow and lazy. Soft. It feels the way Lucanis always thought it should, except in the ways he couldn’t have foreseen. His body aches from the violence of the previous day, and Rook’s must, as well; the pleasure cuts through the pain, colors it, transforms it into something almost sweet. Rook’s arms coil around him, and she makes the most beautiful little sounds.

(Uh oh, buddy! That's a little masochistic of you!)

If you are working deliberately to improve your character-driven sex scenes, I strongly recommend starting with short (up to like 3k words) ficlets as practice. Pick a trope or two to toss in for extra “put the blorbos in situations” sauce. Forced proximity! Drunken confessions! Hurt/comfort! Fuck or die! Etc. All great fun. Alternately, sometimes you will simply be possessed by the knowledge that certain characters will have certain kinks. Like Lucanis and somnophilia (you get it, right? I don’t even have to explain why. Isn’t that neat?).

As a side benefit, doing this exercise thoughtfully will make you better at character writing more generally. No, really. Spending this time analyzing characters’ relationships to intimacy will help you understand what makes them tick in so many other ways.

Let me sum up.

So, in summary: good smut is character work, and you need your character fundamentals first. However, cultural norms impose the division of sexuality into bipolar roles. Breaking that bipolarity subverts a subconscious expectation, adds tension and interest, and forces both writer and reader to really think about the characters in front of them.

Does that……. Does that answer your question about process?? I swear I didn’t start with the intent to write two thousand earth words about this. And also, I don’t typically sit down and think to myself “how will I break DHSM today?” I have enough practice at this point (and a deep enough obsession with the function of social power) that my disdain for DHSM automatically inserts itself into basically everything I write. I do think these two pieces (1. character first and 2. fuck DHSM) make up the foundation of how I approach smut, though, so hopefully this has been a useful response!!

[bubbipond]

Thame has become my favorite bl character in such a short time. So let's talk about why I love him and ThamePo's use of showing vs telling. This might be long so sorry in advance! Part 2 Part 3 (coming soon & will be linked once they are posted, enjoy!...)

First time we get to see Thame he is arguing with the CEO. With no further knowledge about him, except for what Po hears, we are to believe he is a menacing character. In the romance world, bad boy x innocent/sweet boy/girl isn't shocking. So we are first introduced to Thame as a character in a high position, with an ego, and a bad attitude. Not only that but, the show makes sure the conversation with the CEO makes Thame look like a jerk by denying going to a charity event. Then in the same scene, we see him turn his anger on Po.

He doesn't give Po time to explain and from the looks of it, it would seem he was upset by seeing someone with a DSLR filming him, concluding he was a sasaeng (Korean word for psycho/stalker fans). Even if Thame was a jerk, that is an understandable reaction as an idol. After that we have Thame enter the dressing room, speak to no one, and the whole glam team leave the other MARS members and rushes to him; irritating his members, and something Po picks up on very fast.

After that were given information about why there seems to be turmoil amongst the members. Thame got offered a chance to debut in SK and is leaving the group behind. But, we also see the beginning of Thame's facade crack when the members are walking off the stage. So maybe everything is not what we are being told and the scenes we have seen of Thame.

So we know now that the direction of the first episode is to give us the same idea that Po has, that Thame is not that great of a person, which Po believes wholeheartedly.

But like I said, the show will tell us one thing, but show us something totally different. So while the show gives us big fallouts, arguments, and peeks into Thame, we are only seeing it through the eyes of others. So now, it's time to show us the truth, and how is looks through Thame's eyes. In actuality, he hates the position he has been put in and is hurt to have to leave his members behind.

Then we get perhaps my favorite scene in EP 1. and that is Thame's first time speaking gently to Po. He's dropped the angry tone, the yelling, and the threatening. Instead, he's opted for actually hearing Po out because up to this point, Po really hadn't done anything sasaeng-related. He also filmed the members in a way Thame hadn't seen in a very long time.

Moving on, we have to say thank you, Joong(idk his character name lol) for giving us the answer we knew to be true. Thame lets people think he's awful, self-centered, and hard to work with because he thinks it's easier that way.

When in fact, he is very agreeable and does as he's told, typically without any lip. He even knows when to turn on an off the anger and who to turn it on and off for.

A major factor of Thame and Po that I love is that the telling is almost always done by Thame or in relation to Thame. Then through Po's eyes, we are shown the truth behind the lies built around MARS. No one is happy about the situation, least of all Thame. But they all put on a pretty believable facade that they are cool with this.

But even that isn't entirely true because what we are told from Thame's perspective is that the members are tired of being in MARS as it doesn't align with their individual images. But what we see thanks to Po is that this was more than likely not true and instead a ruse to manipulate Thame. As Po reveals someone is living at the MARS house and keeping up with cleaning and watering their wish tree.

Gonna end this here and pick up for part two later today. But I just think this scene is probably the most important scene that tells us about Thame's character in general. His paper on their tree, as the leader, is that he will make everyone's dreams come true. The undercurrent of that is that he will do it at any cost, even at the cost of his own happiness. But we know that the members are not happy and instead are confused by Thame's 180 personality switch. So, even though Thame is doing everything in his power to make them happy, we've seen that what he's actually doing is pushing them away.

a/n: okay so that was way longer than expected but we are given so much info in eps 1&2....this is it for now! Hope you enjoyed! I'll post part 2 later!

[balrogballs]

This! (OP im so sorry in advance for writing an essay on your post)

I always say, as someone who writes a ton about the intersections of grief and ‘madness’, that the most compelling, interesting and devastating part of the Oath to me is the way Tolkien himself described it, according to TolkienGateway: an oath that should never have been taken.

And I think that is what adds such a tragic richness to that entire sequence, because a Fëanor who likes his fancy stones and made his children swear a dooming oath and led his people into a long, drawn out war because he wanted them back, is frankly insulting to the outstanding way said sequence is laid out:

“Then Feanor ran from the Ring of Doom, and fled into the night; for his father was dearer to him than the Fight of Valinor or the peerless works of his hands; and who among sons, of Elves or of Men, have held their fathers of greater worth? …Many there grieved for the anguish of Feanor…”

The guy went fucking insane, because the first person to have been killed in Valinor was his fucking dad. All his bullshit before was, certainly, annoying as fuck, and his decisions after were the cause of terrible violence — and tbh he’s frankly ridiculous a lot of the time, but at that moment he was clearly out of his fucking mind. The way the speech was written, the frantic, rabbit-thump prose of that entire section, you can almost see the trance state he’s in.

And that isn’t to say anything he did as a result of that was justifiable or good, this isn’t an “insanity defence” but I just think the whole Fëanor cinammon roll vs serial killer debate is so flat because, to me, someone going utterly insane with grief and doing something that dooms his own sons, is the kind of tragedy that defines the Silmarillion to me!

The entire legendarium features instance after instance (of varying severity) of desperate, impossible choices made in moments of complete mindlessness by characters rendered utterly inarticulate by grief and fear — Elwing, Isildur, Frodo, Denethor — and the long, terrible shadows of those devastating decisions none of these people should have been in the position to make.

Denethor, driven mad by grief and paranoia, walked into his son’s funeral pyre, and Fëanor walked into his father’s, leading all seven of his sons to walk into his own. The damage these choices caused are at completely different degrees, but a thing doesn’t have to cause the same amount of damage to be a similar circumstance.

It doesn’t mean the choice was good, mind you, the whole thing was an utter disaster, the Oath was the worst thing that could have happened to both ME and Valinor because there are literally zero situations in which having seven sons swear a blood oath would ever work out. Because none of the seven really seem to give a fuck about the stones and they’re all doing it for their dad, so the oath would bind them with that love, rather than their love for the Silmarils, etc.

But to acknowledge the circumstances the speech was made under does not negate the damage it caused. In fact it only makes it worse, the knowledge that a split-second choice caused All of That, the knowledge that a choice made in the wake of his father’s death would one day lead to all seven of his sons’ deaths. If he’d done it for memes and jewels, the following events just would not have had the same literary impact!

But yeah. It’s the worst yet most compellingly and devastatingly written part of the Silmarillion, and yet I so often see it flattened out as either “Fëanor made a great strategic choice and he was right” or “he did it because he’s a greedy fuck” and it’s just 😭😭😭

TL/DR: I was thinking about this ficlet someone requested from me a couple months back about Fëanor finding Finwë and how writing that provided such an insight into the wild place his mind must have been, and this word vomit is the result of that.

We all know Fëanor as “the guy obsessed with his Silmarils” but it’s quite something to remember that when he first discovered Morgoth had broken into his house, he wasn’t even thinking about how the Silmarils were most likely stolen. He immediately burst into tears not over the jewels, but over his dad.

[bokunodumbassery]

I know I usually stick closer to canon on this blog, but I have some random trans BNHA considerations (interaction notes at the end):

- Transfem Shinsou. That kid is the Ultimate Egg. I see a lot of nb headcanons for Shinsou, which I think make sense, but honestly I read them as a trans woman.

- Transmasc Yaoyorozu. Again, I see a lot of transfem Yaoyorozu headcanons, but my gut tells me that they're someone who is Performing Perfect Girlhood very well, and possibly even takes pride in being elegant/knowledgeable/etc, but largely does it for the sake of being who they are supposed to be. Give them cargo pants, an energy drink, and a ticket to a rage room and they'll crack eventually. I know their hero costume SUCKS but honestly something about it reminds me of how trans tape works.

- Transfem Bakugo Masaru. They get about five seconds of screentime, if that, but in those five seconds they gave egg vibes so strong I can still sense them now. There could be a fun AU where both Katsuki and Masaru are transfem; it could play out very interestingly. You could also have interesting character work with the nickname 'Kacchan' ('chan' being typically feminine) and repression/Katsuki lashing out at any hint of their own femininity.

- I would LOVE a transmasc Mic since there are a few interesting masculinity-adjacent things going on with his character, but he's possibly too repressed to ever work out that he's trans, so you'd have to make it fit with canon Somehow. You could actually argue transfem Mic for the same reasons, but it's not my personal preference with him.

- Genderfluid (or transmasc) Toga. Something something wanting to "become" someone else who performs gender differently to you... that, or I could even see a genderfluid transfem Toga, with her schoolgirl fit being an attempt at reclamation of the girlhood she never got to have.

- Aizawa is either a cis man who is very firm and unwavering in his masculinity or pre-realisation but very much Not Cis. That, or he's a trans man who was actually held as a child.

- unpopular opinion, but I don't feel like Kirishima is trans? He COULD be, and I understand the logic behind a transmasculine Kirishima, but honestly I've seen cis boys overcorrect like that and I think he's just being pushed as The Trans Man because he fits the obvious stereotype, which is lazy and annoying and it pisses me off.

- Lady Nagant is NOT CIS. Idk what's going on there—I could see transmasc egg, I could see agender/nb, I could see transfem 'this-isn't-the-kind-of-woman-I-wanted-to-become'—but SOMETHING's going on.

I'm aware trans headcanons aren't everyone's cup of tea, and since it's a sensitive area of self-reflection and identity navigation we can all be a bit protective of our own trans headcanons and get uncomfortable when a headcanon contradicts/clashes with something that matters to us. In light of that, I'd just like to state for the record that this is all in the name of introspection and fun; if someone else has thoughts regarding these characters, wether or not they align with mine, feel free to add to the conversation! I also welcome questions. As always, if you don't like it, just don't engage.

[oakheartedmuse]

Lily Evans defined by life, not just love:

A woman of strength, light, and action

okay. so, i’ve been thinking about this a lot, and i decided to write it down for the sake of my own sanity. forgive me if it lacks a bit of coherence. here it goes:

Much has been said about Lily: as a mother, wife, best friend, member of the Order, and how her love is the foundation of the entire saga. We all know that it was her love that saved Harry and allowed the whole story to unfold. But there is a question that lingers: who is Lily beyond the roles she is inevitably placed into? Who is Lily for herself? I know there are many discussions about the need to portray Lily as a flawed character with her own will. Unfortunately, Lily was constructed to always be tied to a man—whether her husband, her best friend, or her son. But today, I want to talk about Lily as a person, about Lily as a woman.

When I write my stories about Lily, I always try to portray her as a living character. And I don’t mean "living" in the sense of being physically present —of course, in my stories, she isn’t dead— but rather in the sense of someone full of vitality. Here, I’d like to bring in some testimonies from the characters who knew Lily to support my perspective.

One of the first accounts we have of Lily's image comes from Hagrid, who tells Harry that his mother was one of the kindest, most talented people he had ever met. Hagrid even says that some of the greatest wizards he knew were Muggle-born and asks Harry to keep his mother in mind. In other words, Lily, as a person, had a natural talent. We see this even when Harry buys his wand, and Mr. Ollivander tells him that his mother had a wand suited for charms, indicating that Lily already had a predisposition for great magical talent.

In my opinion, the fact that someone is born a wizard does not automatically mean they are highly gifted in magic. Lily’s talent suggests something deeper: she had a profound connection with magic and, even more so, with life. Lily had a lot of life within her. She had a greater dimension of magic, a deep connection with it. Unintentionally, she even performed ancient magic—something barely studied even by the most knowledgeable wizards. This only reinforces how deeply connected Lily was to the magical world, in a vivid way, not just through predisposition.

When I talk about "vivacity," I mean this fluidity of energy within a person, the ability to see life as something vast and rich. Sirius also possessed this; despite the adversities he faced. Even in the most difficult moments, such as when he was locked in Azkaban or at Grimmauld Place, Sirius had this vibrant energy that pushed him forward. And Lily, like him, possessed this vivacity that made her life radiant, a force that always propelled her forward.

However, Lily's vivacity was not restricted to the fact that she was a witch. It was directly tied to her humanity. Above all, Lily was an extremely human person, but at the same time, she had a brilliant facet of humanity. She knew how to recognize beauty in small things, in moments of genuine happiness. An example of this is when Harry describes the scene of Lily, arm in arm with James at their wedding, alight with happiness. Of course, it was their wedding, and both would naturally be happy, but the fact that Harry specifically highlights how Lily was particularly illuminated by happiness indicates her unique perception of life and how she could transmit this to others – even through pictures. Being filled with happiness is something profoundly human, even though humanity's destiny is often far from that. This only shows how exceptional Lily was—more full of life and humanity than most.

Another point that highlights Lily's vivacity is that she was a righteous person. She had the courage to tell James directly about his mistakes without worrying about possible repercussions. She also confronted Snape, telling him that she did not agree with his association with the Dark Arts and that she could not support his choices because her perspective was different. This act of standing her ground, with her own opinions, is deeply connected to Lily's vivacity. Many other wizards or muggles would have chosen to remain silent. An example of this is Remus, who, although also brave and just, often distanced himself from this vivacity due to the circumstances he faced. He preferred to wait in silence, unlike Lily, who would not hold back.

And once again, I’m not referring to Lily as a member of the Order because it is clear that all members followed Dumbledore’s orders. If he said something should not be done or should be delayed, people would obviously follow. But I see Lily as someone who, perhaps, would be troubled by certain orders. She would follow them, no doubt, but her vivacity would cause a disturbance regarding what she believed was right.

(Here, it would be interesting to discuss the different notions of justice and how they were perceived in contrasting ways by Lily and Sirius—but that is a conversation for another time.)

Returning to the books, we have Slughorn’s testimony, where he tells Harry that Lily was one of the most brilliant witches he ever taught. She gave him an aquarium with a flower that turned into a fish. She was charming, lively, and captivating. Lily had an energy that not only made her live intensely but also made everyone around her feel her vivacity. One can imagine that people at Hogwarts wanted to be near Lily because of this energy she radiated. Yes, she probably suffered for being muggle-born, but those who did not harbor prejudice against her certainly saw in her a symbol of joy. This becomes clear in the last book when we see Lily as a child, swinging on a playground. She had this vivacity from an early age, pushing her own limits without worrying about getting hurt or facing consequences. I’m not saying she was reckless, but rather that she was open to challenges.

I believe that Lily's vivacity, this vibrant energy flowing through her veins, made her more than just a student or a young woman at Hogwarts. It led her, at 18, to volunteer for a secret organization fighting against Dark Wizards—a completely subversive act. Yet, Lily did not hesitate, and this decision reflects her vivacity, her sense of justice, and her desire to fight for a better world. She put her body and spirit into battle to make a difference, to try to build a fairer world, even knowing the dangers she faced.

The analogy between Lily’s vivacity and her willingness to fight for a better world is clear. Fighting for a world that is trying to destroy her is a sign of someone who is truly alive, who has something within them that drives them forward. Ultimately, this is also a demonstration of love.

To conclude, I would like to emphasize that Lily’s love is directly connected to her vivacity. Lily was not alive because she loved, but rather, she loved because she was full of life. This life, this pulsating energy, made her see the world as something worth fighting for, and this nurtured her with love—not just for the world, but for her family, her friends, and especially for Harry.

In conclusion, Lily Evans Potter was, is, and always will be a symbol of love, courage, determination, and, incomparably, of life.

| a canon compliant meta for @lilyfesthp ♡ |

[saateco]

I found this post about Sokol very interesting, and I, as a person who really loves this character and, as it happens, is russian, would like to discuss this topic.

I in no way want to seem like I'm attacking or being negative in my post, I just want to express my point of view.

One of the reasons that a lot of people like him, especially from CIS, is that he plays very often on Russian stereotypes, showing off as an absolutely typical Russian dude who rides bears, drinks vodka, plays balalaika and such shit, еhe kind of thing that foreigners usually think about when they represent Russians. It’s even funny how smoothly it works in his case and how often it is taken seriously by others. TO BE A RUSSIAN ≠ CHARACTER TRAIT, no one likes looking at stuff only referred to stereotypes, in which the national affiliation of a character to a country should not somehow affect his perception as a person. The same applies to real people. Again, Sokol often pretends to be stereotypical Russian for his own gain, for example in his pager responses. This strategy does work (speaking as a Russian who has spoken to people around the world) just as well as it works in his case.    There is nothing strange in the fact that a person (russian person, since it is so important) combines sports interests and knowledge of some technical sciences. There were a lot of kids at my school who were professionally involved in sports and at the same time had deep knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computer science. For me personally, this is quite a common set, many guys are interested in sports and technical sciences, and I don't see anything strange in the fact that Sokol could build a BFD. Yes, he did it only once, and I can assume that it was ordered by Bain. It's not like he built some kind of flying thing that can read minds or control minds. It's just a drill, just really big. In fact, BFD is not a new invention that was completely developed from scratch and designed by Sokol. It fell on his shoulders to assemble this drill from a disassembled form. Potentially, if you have the drawings of the BFD in your hands, which are shown during the planning of the Golden Grand Casino, both Wolf and Houston and Chains could assemble it. Most likely, this robbery was his trial and the assembly was assigned to him as a “test task.” He doesn't show extraordinary engineering skills, which is why his dialogues aren't based on that, because it would just be pointless.

The description of Sokol consists of the fact that he is a talented robber, and not just a dumb Russian hockey player who only knows how to shoot and use brute force. “Despite his youth, Sokol has everything to become a legendary player. A gifted athlete, Sokol also has a sharp mind and understands his role in the team. He's fearless and physically strong, and he uses that to get to the enemy, whether it's a hockey team or special forces.”

He also engaged in robbery alone, and never caught the eye of the police until a certain point.

“Like Hoxton, Sokol began a life of crime at a fairly young age. By the time he was accepted into the gang, Sokol had already had many successful robberies of banks and casinos.”

Bain invited him to join the gang, and Bain would not invite a man who is just a hockey player and does not represent anything else.

“Despite this, the Russian police surrounded him. Sokol eluded them, but knew that his time as an independent robber was coming to an end. Only one person had the resources and insight to identify him: Bane. Sokol was offered a place in the Payday gang and a ticket to Las Vegas for the robbery of his life."

What does communism have to do with it?????

“russian which means jacket wouldn't like him”

There was not a drop of negativity or hate in any of Jackett's remarks addressed to the Sokol. All of Jackett's remarks to Sokol are neutral. Besides, the Jacket from pd2 is not a Jacket from h&m, I don't see any reason for him to hate Russians. 

If the developers wanted to show that Jackett hates the Sokol, they would have added replicas to it, as they did in the case of Hoxton and Houston. There is an obvious mutual dislike between them, when, as in the case of Sokol and Jacket, Sokol is simply infuriated by the fact that Jackett communicates through a dictaphone.

Overall we wanted to say that every community will be better without harmful stereotypes, since it’s making real people's life worse tbh (at least me and a lot of my friends had a bad experience in different shapes and forms with those stereotype stuff)

sokol is a fucking hilarious character

the purpose he serves as a character in payday 2’s story is so fucking funny his skillset is so god damn funny. but like. not even unrealistic

he has so many gimmicks

hes relevant for three seconds in the grand scheme of the payday story

hes.. russian. he is a professional hockey player. he- he can. build. shed-sized laser cutting drills

why can he do that who let him do that

he never mentions his engineering prowess in any of his voice lines (iirc)

he just. can do that

it gives someone with adhd taking their adderall for the first time and it kicking in right as theyre browsing the wikipedia article for nuclear fission and next thing they know theyre wanted by the fbi

its not like its unrealistic for people to have more than one interest but its just so funny how unrelated and irrelevant sokols engineering knowledge seems when put next to everything else about him. especially since theres already other characters who fill the role of awesome engineer dude already

houston isnt THE engineer but hes the mechanic and wolf literally has his own workshop

sokol made. the fucking bfd.

and his primary character trait isnt even that

its communism

his engineering smarts are like the last thing anyone remembers about his personality and it is the reason in lore why he is in the payday gang

sokols attributes in the order most often noticed by people who get into this game

russian

hockey

russian which means jacket wouldnt like him

burgers

prison nightmare voice lines

HE MADE THE FUCKING BFD..

THE BFD!!

[intermundia]

i just read about the "narcissism of small differences," aka the idea that the more a community has in common, the more likely the people in it are to engage in interpersonal feuds and mutual ridicule because of hypersensitivity to minor differences perceived in each other, and i knew there was a reason my time in academia and fandom felt oddly similar lmao

[juaneloriginal]

silly thingy

@blackkatdraws's sillies

[valzhangism]

i know i said i was happy about how mel's story went, but the more i think about it the less i'm sure about that. this is very much connected to how the themes of classism and wealth disappeared in s2, but mel in the beginning was the epitome of piltover. she wanted to advance piltover to prove herself to her mother. to "put piltover—" and by extension herself, "—on the map."

she wanted wealth just to have it. and i'm not blaming her for anything that happened, especially with hextech! she, just like jayce and viktor, could not have known what it would lead to. i mean yeah heimerdinger said so but who the hell listens to heimerdinger? but anyway i think mel changed throughout s1, much in thanks to jayce. by the end she's become more cognisant of the mistreatment of zaunites. she's the first to vote for their peace. she was a good person all along but now she knows how to act on it. it's also seen more in s2 act 1. when she covers her painting with gold, it's symbolic—she won't act according to what her mother might think. she won't let her desire for approval dictate her anymore.

so somehow i wish those themes were. continued, somehow? like again they were dropped not just with mel but the whole show and it makes her story a off to me. there's no meaningful commentary on war or classism or how her ideology stands opposite to her mother's. like some people have said, it feels like she doesn't have much agency, even if she is really cool. and that to me is a shame because agency felt like her thing. "to shape your own destiny" as she says to jayce in s1. i know her collaborating with the black rose (but not fully joining them) and learning magic is supposed to represent becoming independent from her mother, taking her own path, but some other aspects of her character were thrown away... the more i think about it the more i'm thinking they kind of #girlboss-ed her a little bit. maybe to sell another champion. i can't help but feel like even though i enjoyed seeing her on screen, the payoff didn't feel proportionally satisfying compared to her setup in s1.

[essektheylyss]

re: the fiction/nonfiction kinsey scale poll. just know that I am barely restraining myself from giving nonfiction book recs at all times. there is SO MUCH FUN NONFICTION THAT IS SUPER READABLE AND INTERESTING take my hand we can go pick out some books together

[medilies]

Do you ever watch s3 and s4 and realise you're not enjoying it that much

[katyspersonal]

Thinking about that time when a popular artist was a prick to me personally (claimed that I "baited" them for a conflict when all I did was pointing out something in lore contradicting their claim, without any rudeness or condescension, and basically told me to go hang out with other autists instead of bothering them) but the reason I blocked them was not that, it was the fact that they've admitted on not even caring about the source material and just using scraps from it to do their own thing. Priorities hfngkfngj

[lixenn]

begging on my knees...what kind of dress did Marina make Dan wear...please, in the name of science...

LMAO 🤣🤣🤣 I'm actually surprised that I haven't yapped about this properly yet, I think I did in dms once?

Anyways Dan has strict standards when it comes to a dress because he might not be able to avoid Marina using him as dress up doll (she has too much dirt on him and could make his life very unpleasant if he refuses her too often), he can at least pick a dress that's not horrible to wear for him. Therefore, Dan is choosing his battles and came up with these guide lines for dresses.

Needs to be warm

Needs to be practical

Needs to be easy to move in

Needs to have pockets! (one of the most important criteria)

Should preferably be green but he's willing to negotiate on that one

Come near him with a pair of heels and he will hiss at you like a demonic cat

Follow these rules and you can convince him to wear a dress BUT unless you are Rina, you will need to fucking pay so much money to get him to wear it cause making him dress up ain't cheap. Also, you either deliver him a dress that fits these criteria or you get jackshit because he refuses to go shopping for this.

Now.

As for what dress Marina picked for him, @rahxe-things actually send some in the server (unrelated to this) that i thought were super chiefcore so let me grab an example:

It's something like this, longsleeved and with turtleneck for warmth. I imagine that the material with this is fairly stretchy so it's comfortable. Just imagine the pockets though I doubt this one has them lmaooo. (also it was green because Rina can accomendate for her brother's preferences lol)

Basically think Ada Wong RE4 Remake kinda dress and then you have it🫡

I think it's acutally hilarious that Dan is so picky when it comes to dresses, like he won't care about colour with his normal clothes as long as it's not bright but with dresses he's like: Ummm actually 🤓☝️ I think he just wanted to make Marina's life as difficult as possible (it wasn't difficult for her at all, she had a blast finding one that fit all the criteria).

The thing about Dan and fashion is that he actually knows quite a lot about it, purely due to osmosis from listen to his sister ramble on (and later on from Dave's babbling). So technically, he could dress up in a fancy way, he has the knowledge and the money but he just has no fucks left to give. Which is why when he cleans up (for example if he needs to attend an offical Vongola Family function) he actually looks pretty damn good because in this scenario he's forced to wear something proper and his professionalism doesn't let him halfass it. But he won't do it purely out of his own violition which is why he just sticks to the uniform and the same type of outfits in his free time.

[fallloverfic]

So... on the subject of relative age in Delicious in Dungeon and Mithrun and fandom "jokes" I've seen folks complaining about. General manga and anime spoilers for character ages and names in the manga and anime below the read more:

On the one hand, I do get that people are (or at least were, I see it less these days) mad at the "Mithrun grandpa/old man" jokes/comments because "it's just cause he's disabled" and "relatively speaking, he's the same age as Chilchuck, and no one treats Chilchuck like he's an old man/something about how Chilchuck dislikes being treated differently, mentally, for his presumed age/state of mind".

Okay, yes. Relatively speaking, sure. There's a conversation to be had about the intersection of ableism and ageism and how we often baby (in a patronizing way) disabled people and the elderly, and how we prioritize youth and treat middle-aged people like their lives are over. (And maybe something about how he has silver hair, I don't know). On a more positive note, I love that, relatively speaking, possibly by Elvish standards, Mithrun is at/near middle-age (elvish age of maturity is 80 years, their average lifespan is 400 years), because that's a fascinating bit of world-building.

...On the other hand (please rest your pitchforks momentarily), Mithrun is literally 185 years old, he is the fifth oldest cast member for characters whose age we know as of the English release of the Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer's Bible (after the Elf Queen, who's 372, the elder Flokes, who are in their 200s, and Milsiril, who's four years older than Mithrun), and he is the oldest member of his group of the Canaries (he's literally 103 years older than his subordinate, Pattadol, and still 39 years older than Cithis, the next oldest Canary after Mithrun). And speaking of Chilchuck, who is, yes, a married father of multiple adult children... and also 29. Mithrun has lived over six times as long as Chilchuck has. (All ages come from Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer's Bible; Sissel + the other Golden Country residents don't have listed ages there, though they're at least 1000 years old, and the other elves don't show up). Mithrun was in recovery after the central watchtower dungeon for longer than at least five characters have been alive.

Age chart:

Elf Queen: 372

Tansu Floke: 210

Yarn Floke: 204

Milsiril: 189

Mithrun: 185

Cithis: 149

Otta: 137

Fleki: 130

Lycion: 126

Senshi: 112

Noor: 98

Totan: 95

Pattadol: 82

Gillin: 79

Brigan: 78

Holm: 76

Fionil: 62

Namari: 61

Daya, Invar: 58

Marcille: 50

Maizuru: 41

Chilchuk: 29

Laios, Toshiro, Hien: 26

Rin: 24

Falin, Benichidori: 23

Kabru, Mikbell: 22

Zon: 21

Kaka, Kiki: 20

Kuro, Doni: 18

Izutsumi, Inutade: 17

Leed: 14

Mithrun is older than Senshi, older than Marcille, older than Kabru's entire party, including Holm and Daya, and older than the oldest human we have an established age for, Maizuru (again, the first Adventurer's Bible doesn't list the Golden Country resident ages, and Mithrun is definitely younger than them, but also they're generally minor characters except for Yaad and Delgal). He's older than Senshi's former dwarf comrades were when they died. He's also apparently older than Flamela, the vice commander of the Canaries (she's 170, at least according to the fanwiki, which is possibly going off the Complete Adventurer's Bible).

He is of course younger than Obrin, his older brother, whose age we don't know, but we do know that Mithrun is the younger brother. He is also obviously much younger than the demon.

I also find it interesting that people are jumping to the big assumption that he's middle-aged (relatively) due to... I guess just chopping the average lifespan of elves in half and assuming that's what they think middle-aged is? We know the average lifespan of elves and when they come to maturity. We do not know what elves think of Mithrun's age or what their concept of being middle-aged is, if they have one. He could be considered young by elf standards. He could be considered old. We have no idea.

Thinking about the conversation in Volume 8, Chapter 51: Dumplings 2, it's just about total/average lifespan and how near the characters are to dying by average race age, not middle age.

Chilchuck on p.37: "What's the difference between our actual ages and how old we look?"

Laios: "Well, dwarfs do live two and a half times as long as tall-men."

Chilchuck: "If our actual ages affect our looks, then... ...I'm curious about remaining life. Will we age at the same rate we did before? Or will it match our bodies now?"

They never get an answer for this. We do get rough estimates for what one race's age means to another by comparing Laios' actual age (26) to what Senshi thinks dwarf!Laios is, age-wise (his 60s), and both ages put him near but not at assumed middle-age for the respective race (for tall-men it would be 30, for dwarfs, 100), but otherwise they don't come to many conclusions about anything. They just guess and try to change back before something worse happens. Marcille doesn't even say anything in this conversation about elf culture. She just panics because half-foots live shorter lives.

I would not personally call Mithrun a grandpa and I don't particularly connect with jokes about it. By Elvish standards, and relatively speaking, he is perhaps not, arguably, old. ...But he's no spring chicken, either, despite how strong and fast he is. By the standards of most characters he is interacting with in the story, he is the oldest person in the room, by a substantial margin (heck, the age gap between Mithrun and Cithis is more years than Chilchuck has lived). That doesn't make him a grandpa, either. But I do find people getting mad about folks pointing out this literally 185-year-old being is you know... 185 years old... odd...? Especially when he's around all these by and large substantially younger people (younger people who are adults by and large!!!) for most of the story. Again, there's definitely a conversation to be had about the intersection of ageism and ableism, and how we treat people who are middle-aged as if they're elderly even when they're able-bodied, and about the way other characters in-universe treat him (though the one time I think his age is pointed out, it's about the stuff he knows, not to mock him for it; mostly people treat him badly due to his disabilities (e.g., Fleki with his aiming in chapter 55, Cithis in the Adventurer's Bible), not because of his age)... but it does feel very much like people are ignoring that he is honestly one of the oldest characters in the story, and not by dint of being the oldest youth, but because he's a character who has lived to be nearly 200 years old.