#meta-ing

[originalaccountname]

I did quickly go through the manga, with the help of the fanwiki, to see how much that "Atsushi's orphanage headmaster visions have been caused by Q" twist holds up (as sometimes, new plans come up as you write, especially if your series is over 10 years old)

In the first chapter, Atsushi has a flashback of the orphanage staff kicking him out, but they do not have individual identities. The first apparition of the headmaster as himself is when Atsushi is under the influence of Dogra Magra, in chapter 25, "Q":

His next apparition is in chapter 28, when Atsushi is being held in the Moby Dick, right before Lucy comes in and chooses to help him (note: that scene also compares Atsushi's abuse is to another person's, Lucy's.)

After that, there's chapter 39, "Portrait of a Father", where Atsushi doesn't hallucinate him, but we learn about who the man was to Atsushi, and witness his funeral.

His next hallucination is in chapter 52, at the very end of the Cannibalism arc. He explains to Akutagawa that the headmaster has been been haunting him less since (the final fight on) the Moby Dick, but has been silent since the funeral.

There are a few more mentions of the headmaster that I haven't mentioned, but a very notable one is that Atsushi saw becoming stronger and his upcoming fight against Akutagawa as a way to free himself from the headmaster's influence, much like Akutagawa saw it as a way to gain Dazai's approval.

I don't think we see Atsushi hallucinating the headmaster after this until chapter 122, but the Dazai hallucinations start showing up in chapter 63, so really not that long after the previous one. The next Dazai ones I could find were in chapters 78, 105 and 121.

The conclusion is therefore that Atsushi hallucinating the headmaster has been a very active and purposeful part of his journey as a character since very early on. It started manifesting after Atsushi's breakdown while under the influence of Q's ability, and it's taken various approaches as Atsushi faced different struggles, but it's always been there.

While wearing Dazai's face, the hallucination was given more credit in Atsushi's eyes, but its words were barely less sharp and hurtful. However, they did tend to push Atsushi into acting, rather than cowering and giving up.

We're seeing Atsushi heal in real time, no matter how messy it is, and I'm so proud of him.

[egophiliac]

Hi it's just to let you know that the official romanization of Revaan's name is Raverne ! Also they have romanized Baul's name to Baur !

Twst coming back at us again with the least expected romanization! thank you everybody (oh god my inbox) (no it's great, I literally asked for this and the reactions have been INCREDIBLE, thank you all!)

I do like Raverne though, I think it's got a nice fancy sound to it! (I had kinda suspected it was going to be an R instead of an L, so the fact that it's SO close to Laverne except for that is hilarious to me personally.) and Dragoneye Duke is honestly probably the best translation for his title, I wasn't envying the localizers that one. :') Baur instead of Baul I was NOT expecting, but in retrospect I think his name's supposed to be a reference to the Bauru crocodile, so that actually makes way more sense!

someone else also said Meleanor has become Maleanor, which is the REALLY weird one to me, because I was so surprised it was written as Mel instead of Mal in the first place?! oh god no I can't decide which one I like better. 😭 (I wonder if they might change it to Mal...they have made romanization changes before) (like I remember House of Distraction being corrected to House of Destruction in Playful Land) (I did check and she's still Mel for now, but I dunno, they might Mal her up and some point and save me from having to make a decision about which one to use) (HECK I CAN'T DECIDE)

uhhhh thank you for letting me ramble about anime names, let's just say MONOGRAMMED SWEATERS FOR EVERYONE

[thestarlotus]

(hands u a domestic hudson sketch)... Take this.......... for the journey...............

[mx-anthony-janthony-crowley]

aziraphale's relationship with heaven vs crowley's relationship with hell in S2 serves as this beautiful, heartbreaking metaphor for the choice that so many queer people with unaccepting - and in many cases abusive - families find themselves forced to make. crowley has made the leap. he's cut himself off, and when they've tried to stay in touch or even bring him back, he's always resisted. "we're better than that, you're better than that!". in a way he's been through it before - he was rejected by heaven, and so it makes sense to him to take the opportunity to reject hell on his own terms. it doesn't come without consequence, of course. so many queer people find themselves having to suppress their identities until they're financially independent - cut to crowley living in his car. but he's made the choice, and he's free to do his own thing now. aziraphale, at the start of the season, is also more or less completely separate from heaven; we know from crowley "they don't talk to him anymore", and he's not making any effort to get in touch with them. but then when they ask him to come back, they manipulate him again. the metatron offers him coffee and then tells him "i've ingested things in my time, you know" - a world away from gabriel's "why do you consume... that?". he's assured that the things which he thought made him too... different, too not-good for heaven, are in fact okay. aziraphale was finally living his own life, far away from them, and doing the things he enjoyed, the things that they always shamed him for. but now he thinks, maybe he can go back and this time they'll accept him - it doesn't have to be like it was before! he's changed and maybe they have too, and if they haven't then maybe they'll listen to him! he can show them how to be better, he can make a difference. he isn't yet ready to face the reality that he can never be the person (well, angel) that they want him to be, not without losing sight of what makes him him. he might wish he could bring himself to say no, to cut them off, but he can't do it. because despite it all, he still has hope that they can change. and of course he does - years of trauma have told him time and time again that they're the good guys, after all. so he thinks, if they can't change, then who can? if they can't accept him, who will?

[rare-prism-s]

YIPPEE

[fatcatlittlebox]

Yay!! It’s more meta time! I had previously wrote short metas about the bond between Sauron and Galadriel and the creation of mithril as a corresponding metaphor. And interestingly enough, the showrunners JDP and McKay were proud to highlight it in their interviews. And the reason I want to bring this up is because if the writers are so keen to highlight it, it’s not just because they are proud of its cleverness. It’s because it reveals something about the characters’ psyche and portends what will play out in their future.

Let’s start with Galadriel and Sauron’s joining when she first made the proposal. I think the minute she uttered those words, “Bind yourself to me”, it was as if she primed the cosmic milieu that would spark the alchemy of their connection. She was the missing piece, Valinor’s purest silver and gold. And the actions and accidents that happened during the events on the Sundering Sea were the other necessary ingredients of that merging. And I agree with Morfydd that most of it was by chance. But not all of it.

Choices were made. Galadriel extending her hand in compassion and trust to someone who had (in her mind) already proven less than worthy. Halbrand/Sauron forgoing self-preservation to save his great adversary. These were offerings made and placed in the crucible — true creation requires sacrifice. The storm is the force that coaxes these two hostile entities, these elements together. The lightning signifies the serendipity and rarity of their pairing. The whole scene is one of electric chaos.

But that element of chance is an absolutely critical ingredient. Galadriel is a being used to wielding strength and power and is suddenly rendered the opposite. Sauron is a creature of order and control and, at that moment, has none. These circumstances of nature or divine providence had stripped them bare and it was only in this state would these two immortals be drawn to each other. Note that many of the shots in this scene emphasize how these two Middle Earth juggernauts are so small compared to the wide sea. And the shots include birdseye views of them from seemingly 10000 feet above, suggesting that others’ eyes are watching. Are they watching their handiwork? Is it a test? Or are they watching with bated breath the union they didn’t predict.

As I have said before, their joining was a confluence of unexpected variables and choices: namely, Galadriel was not expected to choose Sauron and Sauron was not supposed to choose Galadriel. And those elements of chance, luck (bad or good), and anomaly are highlighted especially in season 2. Because after Sauron is rejected by Galadriel, he tries to recreate that alchemy, metaphorically and interpersonally with Celebrimbor. He falsely believes that it is something that he can control.

First, he comes to Eregion in his Halbrand form, low and humbled, and is immediately rebuffed. This is the first ingredient and it is rejected. The "alloy" here is off to a bad start. Then Sauron tries to force their meeting together: not at all like how he met Galadriel which happened because of a storm at sea. So Sauron conjures up a storm of his own. And I think he cast that spell as you can see here:

His eyes turn black and clouds immediately start churning and gathering overhead. This storm is artifice, an imitation. Celebrimbor and Sauron's partnership is already being formed with hollow filler. It is not genuine.

And if you look at the above gif, which is Galadriel's vision of Sauron in the same scenario, there is a subtle but noticeable difference. The horse is not in the foreground as it is when Sauron casts the spell in the audience's real time. There, the horse is in focus and at his shoulder. I think this is meant to signify Sauron invoking the memory of Galadriel. We know that Galadriel is represented by a horse frequently and is often conjured in Sauron's visions where Galadriel's presence is felt. In this scene, the horse is present again and is right there next to him. He's thinking of her.

Later, Sauron quickly abandons the "Halbrand" form and assumes the glamoured ruse of a noble elf. Many people disagree but I think when Sauron was Halbrand with Galadriel, this was the most honest, "purest" form of himself he had taken in ages and is the reason why Galadriel (the gold and silver here) was drawn to him. It was that "rightness" as I had mentioned in previous posts, that allow her soul to embrace him. To meld and intertwine. And we can debate whether or not Sauron was a corrupted element that hence produced a tainted bond. But for the purposes of this metaphor, I don't think he needed to be perfectly good. He only needed to be true to himself. And in that moment, that brief, impulsive, unforseen moment, he was. He was Mairon and it was captured and intertwined in an everlasting connection. And just as quickly, the window closed. In all the relationships he had before this and since, he has never been able to reproduce it.

The second season, I believe is meant to contrast that. As Annatar, there is nothing true or genuine he offers. It isn't real. This alloy is not going to take. It is destined to fracture. And you can see that. Because as he grows in power, his control over others, his control over his environment and even himself starts coming apart. The audience sees that manifest in his repeated failures at forging the 9 rings himself. Even when Celebrimbor is able to complete the rings alone, the results are flawed and the connection between Celebrimbor and Annatar immediately breaks and withers like the lies and illusions they were founded with.

Now where do we go from here? Now that Galadriel has been impaled by Morgoth's crown and Sauron's blood now mingles with hers, what will become of their connection, this "alloy" they had formed? We have to look at what will come of these 9 rings and what their effect will be on those that bear them. They are also poisoned with Sauron's blood and we already know what happens in the book. This will be his fated Achilles heel. Because he can't help but try to control what he can't. The bond between him and Galadriel was unique because he was not the hand that coaxed them together. He was not it's smith. In trying to grasp control over it, over her, over what he was not meant to instead of recognizing his greatest accomplishment was achieved by surrendering to the forces greater than himself, he will be destined to lose it all. A strong alloy requires balance.

[croquettish]

Fandom: KCD

Pairing: Hansry

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 8,296

Hans is nine years old the first time he hears the tale of Lancelot and Galehaut from a wandering French minstrel.

Chapter 1/5

[allthemurders]

post inspired by this one from @owl-by-night & @anneofkeys bc i was gonna reblog but then i got a bit off-topic hgjkhfggks

i feel like sullivan's father showing up was the catalyst for his sudden extreme "police good, criminals bad" mentality (and just general ruthlessness in his work) in s12?

like,, sullivan's always been pretty black-and-white with regards to his policing — "i'm the detective so i solve cases; father brown is a priest so he doesn't" (except father brown does, and this doesn't fit into sullivan's very rigid worldview, so he gets angry and lashes out about it). but this was somewhat softening in the past couple series, with him accepting help a little more readily, especially after he and isobel started seeing each other. it wasn't perfect, by any means, but we could at least see the start of him undoing a lifetime of "us versus them" thinking.

and then enter walter sullivan. right from the start, he's reinforcing sullivan's fading beliefs that the police solve the cases and everyone else needs to stay the hell out of it. he even holds the things sullivan loves — including his actual wedding — over his head to try and force him to echo this. walter also clearly has a very extreme "us versus them" mentality himself, and an unwavering belief that all criminals are Bad and will never be anything But a criminal (see how he treated irene). and, although it's not explicitly stated, it's implied (and logical) that sullivan and his father have been in contact throughout the series — "we've been at somewhat of an impasse for weeks".

so this whole time, sullivan has presumably had his father's extreme beliefs repeatedly, forcefully, unrelentingly pushed on him, with threats of severe consequences (again, the wedding) if he doesn't act on it. and this is something he must've grown up with too, must've had hammered into him since he was a child — "us versus them", with no room for nuance.

it's a lifetime of conditioning, a lifetime of desperately trying to make his father proud, up against the first few tentative steps away from these beliefs. honestly, it's no wonder it affected him so much

[clovemaysilee]

rue's death is written so beautifully and with so much emotion as the catalyst for katniss's character growth

it's sort of a pivot point in katniss's attitude/how she approaches the games because up until now she proved to be quite bloodthirsty in her internal monologue but this tragedy quiets that killer instinct the careers and her rage provoked out of her. the death of this small child that she deeply connected with has a sobering effect where she can return to her more empathetic roots by giving rue the proper goodbye she deserved and finding it difficult to blame her killer.

it is also a natural turning point in how she responds to her conflict because up until now she was willing to keep her head down as necessary since the priority was the survival of her and her family. it's this important event that changes everything for her and how she views her own role in the story, her rage and grief driving her to seek out justice. i really appreciate that this is when gale and peeta's perspectives on the situation come to her mind too, with her understanding them both and wanting to emulate peeta's philosophy of defying what's being done to them in seemingly small but still significant ways (hence the flowers over rue)

another notable thing about what just happened is that katniss parallels her mother here. the loss of this sister-like figure is great foreshadowing of how she will ultimately lose prim as well and how that will change her, and opens the door for a more empathetic perspective on mrs everdeen too.

once again, she recalls peeta's words and how they demonstrated quiet bravery and strength of character. her sibling connection with rue takes precedence right now (even over her promise to prim, to some extent) which is beautiful, and the return of her thoughts to peeta shows how he inspires her and they're on the same page about their values.

another reason i really like this scene is because it gave me material to write about for an English assignment a few days ago lol

[gretahayes]

badly phrased but nobody is “saving the batkids from bruce”. they have their own agency. they choose to be devoted to their mission or utterly devoted to him. they don’t need to be saved. they do not want to be saved. you can call them a tragedy because if things were just a bit but fundamentally different it would be better for them, but it isn’t and this is how their story goes. they’re hurt and always come back, but they’re hooked on it. this is the path they’ve chosen time and time again and don’t know why this rubs me the wrong way but like. there will be no “seeing the light and walking away from bruce and/or vigilantism fully” in comics, and there should not be. if there is, it won’t be with the batkids. that would be taking away from the very heart of their stories, of their beings. they’re not...innocent babies. abuse doesn’t work that way, even if we all agree bruce is their abuser, especially when you get The Mission tangled up in it. just...i get the soul of the statement, the wish for a “perfect happy ending”, but this isn’t the genre or story for it and stripping away all nuance and context and background in favor a black-and-white view of something that is complex isn’t. a good read on it? and this is a bad take sorry

[barkrocks]

i get why everyone is obsessed w the other rat grinders (criminally underused in canon get those children a personality STAT) but mary ann skuttle is one of the funniest people in the world to me. every day since the finale i have thought about her asking gorgug if it "made him mad in real life" when she destroyed him at bloodrush. an icon if we are all being honest

[essektheylyss]

Alright, deeply circumstantial conspiracy theory time.

Remember how we never fucking figured out Vence Nuthaleus's deal? Ludinus's annex, who supposedly was working outside of Ludinus's knowledge or orders?

The Nein found two Abyssal Anchors in Xhorhas while chasing the Angel of Irons cultists, ostensibly to cause chaos and distraction during the war. These anchors were created by Vence based on tech used by demon generals during the Calamity to invade the Material Realm with more ease, and Vence created crude approximations of them, that Obann then deployed in Asarius and Braan.

(If only Caleb hadn't incinerated that goblin in Braan. We could've cracked this case wide open years ago.)

under a cut, as this is long—and does contain spoilers for c2:

The last anchor the Nein come across directly is in the Chantry of the Dawn; Jester scries on Vence delivering it to Cardinal Respa, along with two scrolls that are supposedly from the vaults of Vasselheim that provide guidance for establishing a ritual in the Chantry, upon a fane that was one of six holding Tharizdun at bay. Respa notices the scrying, and ends it, and the Nein immediately head to the Cathedral, though Vence has already left, and the anchor is set up as a distraction, while the main ritual happens elsewhere.

This is primarily notable because the timeline is fairly compressed. Jester scries on Vence while they're already in Rexxentrum; they go to the Chantry and fight assorted cultists under Respa's watch, the demons coming out of the portal, Obann's crew of cultists, and then Obann the Punished. They exit the basement fairly quickly and talk to several officials who have arrived at the Chantry, and then are immediately marched to Dwendal's throne room for an audience.

This is the conversation in which Ludinus admits that Vence had "recently" asked for an Amulet of Nondetection, and he granted the request. Given that Vence hadn't been attuned to it prior to going to the Chantry, he evidently takes the time to attune to it within the two hours (accounting for travel times around Rexxentrum) between those periods.

Here's where we start to get circumstantial: if Vence had obtained the amulet before, why hadn't he attuned to it immediately? It's possible he hadn't even gotten the amulet until then, at which point there was already a Kryn attack underway, as well as a significant disturbance at the Chantry of the Dawn. This seems an odd time to request such an item, as well as a rather foolish move on Ludinus's part to grant the request with little information.

With that in mind, let's go back for a moment to the Abyssal Anchors.

They're said to be crudely-reconstructed versions of Calamity-era technology. They create a planar rift between realms. They were not designed to assist in the ritual to summon Tharizdun, and instead seem only to have been a distraction—though a rather odd one, as they created minor nuisances that were, in both cases, dealt with by the Nein, and never on the direct orders of the Dynasty's leadership. The war itself seems as though it would've been distraction enough.

We also hear that there have been similar anchors discovered across the Empire, collected, and destroyed—words that come only from Ludinus's mouth.

The Nein had considered that perhaps Ludinus knew what Vence had been up to, but they had no tangible evidence of that, and he of course denied it. I recall considering the possibility at the time that he had even been involved, and mostly discarding it because he seemed to have no motivation to do so.

But now we know that something notable happened about six years ago, in the timeframe of the Material Plane: according to the Calloways, Ruidus became visible in the sky in the Feywild, and presumably with it, the Shadowfell.

We know that at the time, Ludinus was using the findings from his stolen beacons to create the dunamantic liquid that was used to make an assassination attempt on Keyleth. We also know that at some point, an annex of Ludinus obtained scrolls from the vaults of Vasselheim that gave instruction on creating a ritual to "release the fane" beneath the Chantry. (Fanes are, generally, places of power—which is similar to the list of locations across the Feywild that Ludinus looked into in order to absorb power from, per the notes that Team Wildemount discovered in Gildhollow Tower.) Incidentally, we also know that Ludinus oversaw, in 835 PD, the excavation of crash site A2 in Eiselcross, which held both the corrupted forest akin to the Savalirwood, and a threshold crest just beyond that. All of this happened roughly around or just before Ruidus was tethered to the Feywild.

Though we may never know for sure that these things are related, my theory is that these crude iterations of the Abyssal Anchors were the test run for whatever arcane device that Ludinus used to tether the moon in the echo planes, finally allowing him the ability to put his long-considered plan into motion.

[wizardofahz]

Saw a Criminal Minds gifset and suddenly started thinking about canon vs. fanon JJ.

TL; DR: Fanon JJ is the facade canon JJ puts on to hide trauma.

(This discusses JJ's sister, so content warning for suicide)

The obvious starting point for understanding JJ's characterization is her sister's suicide. That's a traumatic event for anyone, and even more so for an eleven year old child. So it's quite understandable that JJ decides she will do whatever she can to avoid experiencing hurt like that again.

In episode 3.17, JJ tells Will about their relationship, "I didn't want to tell anyone because the minute I do it becomes real, and when it becomes real, people get hurt, and I've always run from getting hurt. Always."

But JJ didn't only lose her sister.

In episode 14.12, JJ's mom admits, "I got so caught up in all my troubles that I forgot there was another little girl under my roof who had just lost her sister. You needed me, and I wasn't there."

At eleven years old, JJ was a traumatized child without a support system. So she learned to rely on herself. Other people were just avenues for hurt, and she decided that wasn't worth it.

All of which leads to this confession from JJ in the season 14 finale: "There are only four people I trust in this world."

My three non-negotiables are Will, Hotch, and Emily. The fourth is between Reid and Garcia, but I lean towards the former given Garcia's penchant for invading people's privacy.

Even if anyone disagrees with that list, there's not a lot of room for choice. At any given time, the BAU usually has seven members, and given the amount of turnover they've had, JJ hasn't learned to trust most of them.

Do they know that? They probably know her facade masks trauma, but I doubt they know the extent of it. There's a reason that episode starts with the team playing poker, and JJ showing Reid he doesn't know her as well as he thinks he does.

So let's talk about that facade. In contrast to Reid, who wears his trauma on his sleeve, JJ buries hers as deeply as she can. She takes care of the people around her, and while it's not disingenuous, it's part of a prettily painted reinforced fortress wall that says, "hey, look at me, such a put-together person that doesn't have problems of my own, so I can help with yours."

And it does the job because it has fandom fooled too.

[punkforkos]

Hullo!!! Can I please ask about Dante?? :D what's their story?? :D

Hi!! Yes ofc you can!! <3

Here's a really brief overview that I wrote in another post (which also includes their tattoo lore and some fun facts, if you were interested in reading that!)

Dante Inferno (they/he) is my drow fathomless warlock, pirate captain, and awful babygirl who wants the world to burn. Dante took on their warlock pact to gain power and bring suffering to those who wronged them and hopefully find the daughter that was stolen from them many years ago. However, this pact comes at a price... it's actually Dante's misery that their patron is most interested in. 🥀 Unfortunately, they may be in too deep to figure this out!! For years, they've been self-destructing and falling deeper into corruption... and are quickly hurtling towards a future where they may be left with nothing of who they once were.

But I'll also include a longer version below the cut that goes into some of the details of their story!! (Also- I wrote a section at the bottom explaining why I think Dante would get along with Bad End Husk :D )

-- HERE'S THE LONG(ER) VERSION -- (This is still a shortened version of events, go down below this if you want like. the FULL version. I threw in their toyhouse link there!)

Dante comes from a rough part of the Underdark where they grew up impoverished and neglected, but the only thing that really kept them going was a dream to one day get out of that shithole. And in a way, they got their dream,,,! However, they only clawed their way out of the Underdark when they realized they were pregnant and needed to save their kid from the upbringing he was subjected to. Dante wanted far better for his daughter. She became their entire world, their incentive, something good to look forward to. She gave their life meaning,,, For three years, they were able to live on the surface in a local kingdom populated by other drow who also escaped from the Underdark. Those were the happiest years of Dante's life, but they weren't to last. Unfortunately, it was discovered that Dante didn't come into the surface kingdom through the proper channels, so they decided to send them back. However, they would keep Dante's daughter because she never became baptized under Spider Queen society... They dragged Dante away from their daughter kicking and screaming. However, he managed to cut an X into his daughter's cheek as a desperate last resort, promising that they would find her again someday. And then they were brought back to the Underdark and sent reeling into a deep depressive spiral. The only thing that motivated them was the thought of returning back to their daughter..... and making everyone who hurt them pay. This anger, grief, and desperation eventually made them seek out a patron who would help give them all the power they needed to leave the Underdark again and achieve all of their goals. They stumbled across Znn'lusca, a demon who feeds on despair... and she only asked that Dante cause as much misery as possible in exchange for her powers. He agreed, immediately having a plan in mind to kill two birds with one stone-- They ended up making another pact with the Spider Queen herself, promising to send all of the escaped drow back into the Underdark (because if they didn't let Dante escape, he wouldn't show them any mercy either). In exchange, the Spider Queen wouldn't pursue Dante and try to force them back either, so long as they brought her "lost children" back. With these new pacts formed, Dante makes it back to the surface and they are told to focus on gaining power before going after their kid. Zinn played into their fear of being forced back into the Underdark again, planting seeds of doubt in their mind that kept them from attempting to seek out their daughter. Every time Dante would bring up going after her, Zinn would talk them out of it and reroute their thoughts. Because... little did Dante know but their despair was the tastiest of all, and the longer they went without their daughter, the richer it became. 15 years pass. Dante is now an established cutthroat pirate captain who uses a submarine as a ship... trafficking escaped drow back to the Underdark on the side, forgetting their original goals and who they were before the hurt with each day that passes. And then they get thrown into jail and the campaign starts from there,,!! TLDR: Dante is in SO much trouble AFSGH they're stuck in a web they can't get out from,,, being in a pact with not one but two demons who do not wish anything good for him. And he's still missing his daughter so bad,, and he is miserable and angry and hates everyone.

✨📌 If you wanted even MORE details that I left out here (a lot of the in-between stuff and more about Dante's actual campaign, party members, etc), you can read all about it here on their Toyhouse!! <<3

(Thanks for reading all of this if you got this far btw!!)

-------------------------------------------------

WHY DANTE WOULD LIKE BAD END HUSK:

Also, to elaborate on why I think Dante would enjoy bad end Husk-- Husk is exactly the type of patron Dante would have gravitated towards, being the lord of "secrecy and cunning revenge" and plotting the downfall of their enemies. That's the kind of thing Dante wants oh so badly rn!! It's the reason why they ended up making a pact with their actual patron. The desire for power, the ambition, but most of all-- feeling so wronged and wanting everyone who ever hurt them and their daughter to suffer.

Dante is a conniving backstabber, the ultimate betrayer... a liar by nature. The word 'treachery' has been carved into their back in Abyssal/Deep Speech. They have only learned how to survive and sometimes that means using everyone around you as a stepping stool. In the end, the only people who matter are themself and their daughter. (But truly deep down, they're just a REALLY hurt person who is lashing out in the wrong ways. They're just scared, angry, and sad. And they easily fall into corruption and pacts with big bad entities SGHDJK)

-------------------------------------------------

My tags if you wanted to go see more of them!! >> #oc dante | #dante meta <<

Aaand their Toyhouse again!

[firefly-suite]

thinking about a tdp au where ezran gets an arcanum - most likely earth - and all the SYMBOLISM behind this

so, i ranked each arcanum (and dark magic, for reasons) with ezran and the order from most to least:

earth, sun, star* dark magic, sky* ocean and moon

*okay quick note, so i struggled with where to put sky and star so if anyone wants to throw their two cents in feel free BUT

sky is associated with freedom and harrow's quote 'a child is freer than a king' exists but ezran kind of exists in the middle of this, and while there is admittedly something with 'breaking free from the chains of history' i would put this lower because sky and earth are parallels to each other like callum and ezran's relationship - like in atla with air being more grounded but earth valuing freedom more than anything but not quite

the tdp website says those with the sky arcanum are 'quick and clever and prize the freedom to make their own choices in life.' but ezran talks about doing the right thing, in comparison to callum who has no such duty to a kingdom, only a devotion to his loved ones.

and then for stars, the kind of association with royalty and stars - that they're unattainable, above others and the divine right of kings, all that jazz. in callum's spellbook 'knowledge' is associated with stars and ezran is called 'wise' quite a lot so i think it fits pretty neatly

then there's the star motifs with ezran - the novablade, on his clothes and bag, and then the lore of the orphan queen and aaravos. also the whole thing about vision and truth and EYES??

the eldritch horror of it all like c'mon gimme

okay maybe i am pretty solid with these choices haha

mOVING ON-

so i think earth would be his arcanum - at the very least, his first - as it's what he's associated with most of all - his ability with animals, the traits it's associated with (strength, endurance, stubbornness, deep history, patience, healing, growth, balance) yadadada

'Earth magic draws on the power and energy within the land itself. Earth magic comes from two major domains: the stone, minerals, crystals, and gems of the land, and the flora and fauna of the living world. Creatures connected to the Earth are patient, sometimes stubborn, and care deeply about the history and balance of the natural world.' - ezran, and zym by extension symbolise the unity between the two lands, beyond the border and so it seems fitting that ez should literally have the arcanum for the earth itself. and he's always trying to look to the future, without forgetting the past but not letting it control him - the balance.

i think he would have the stone-mineral-and-crystal domain, as a nice little parallel to the fact he already has an ability with animals. also because there's a lot about him and metals - the sword and the crown and forging. but at the same time i am a SUCKER for plant/forest/earth related abilities haha

no but for symbolism reasons i would go for the earthy earth abilities

second place is the sun arcanum for its associations with aditi, the orphan queen's title symbol, how his arc is so entwined with the sunfire elves and their storyline and janai especially in the past but also the future, how his family is now part of the sunfire royal family with janai and amaya's marriage but how the orphan queen's rise was from aditi's death

'Sun magic has a dual nature: it can conjure spells of light, growth, nurturing and transformation — or it can call upon fire, heat, and destruction. Sun-connected creatures are often intense and charismatic and make natural leaders.' - i mean he's a KING and the sun is big on leadership lol. truth, guiding light, and optimism fit him pretty well - especially as the first two are also almost very star esque. but again, the duality of him being a king and then his moments of rage but both are still HIM.

but i think he would probably have the light abilities. soren does call him a 'kindling flame' and 'little light' in strangers so i think this would tie in pretty well

OKAY NOW, you may be thinking, "dark magic in the middle? what a cop out" butbutBUT i raise you: ezran's abilities of communicating with animals almost - for lack of a better word rn - parallels dark magic, which, to quote the tdp website lol 'draws upon the power within magical creatures themselves.' and USES them (ezran claudia youngest sibling parallels my beloved)

there's something there okay but i am writing this on a whim lolol

and in fourth place it's ocean! give it up for the ocean arcanum, guys!!!

i put ocean down low: it's about hidden depths and accepting them - among other things - but that's something that ezran is famously not very good at doing, running away from the truth of his dad and his own kingship, him and runaan ect

then moon is last - largely it didn't quite fit ezran but i think the moon serves to highlight certain things about him, rather than associate directly with him

AND I DON'T KNOW IF YOU NOTICED

and im pretty proud of this ahaha

but the order is palindromic, in the sense that it uses the opposites on the key of aaravos

earth and moon wHICH I THINK IS INTERESTING FOR EZRAN AND RUNAAN BUT ANYWAY- (it's the symbolism, guys), sky and star and sun and ocean

so that's why it's earth first then moon last, then sun second and ocean penultimately

also if ezran was to get earth arcanum first, sun second that would parallel callum's opposites of sky first then ocean second (with some smatterings of dark magic, naturally)

but also as someone who watched atla (20 years wOAH) i feel like you can pair earth and sky, sun and moon - there's tdp lore somewhere that calls sun and moon sisters which is just fueling me and my nonsense at this point

(like do not get me started on lady justice, wisdom (athena), ezran, opeli and katolis religion - i have a whole system which totally wasn't an excuse for me to write epic and tdp things nope)

this fic inspired some of this and honestly ever so slightly lives rent free in my head but i'd like to write my own, and i probably will do so

i'm writing another long term tdp fic but i could do two at the same time right?

right?

anyway thank you for reading my rambles x

[pridetempt]

lu's touch being enough to burn demons when he's angry ? maybe. maybe. something to do with his angelic nature vs the damned.