#metaish

[jewish-skitter]

Honestly, the biggest evidence against Taylor being a leftist imo, aside from the fact that Wildbow just wouldn’t consider writing her that way, is how limited her focus is. She cares about doing the right thing for the people in her immediate life. She sort of cares about humanity as a whole, but not out of any particular love for it, just because she feels like she has to. She supports unions because that’s what her dad does and she’s theoretically seen the benefits of it. She hates bullies, but she doesn’t think about systems of capital. She gets that money let’s you get away with shit because of how that’s intersected with her life personally, but she never stops to think maybe she can do anything about money itself. Despite how creative she is with her power, she really does think within the box when it comes to political systems and she doesn’t really try to break out of that box? Once she’s gotten pretty much full control over Brockton Bay, she doesn’t consider maybe trying to abolish her own office even when she’s leaving.

One thing that’s always baffled me is how little curiosity she has with Cauldron. Doylistly, that’s because if she asks Tt too many questions and gets answered, the mystery would be unraveled too early, but even once you get to the Echidna arc where you’ve got a couple of interludes revealing more about Cauldron, her reaction to Tt figuring out that all of the Triumverate are Cauldron is pretty much just “you’re going to get yourself killed, are you okay?” and not, “if they’re part of a conspiracy giving people powers related to the Case 53s, that’s kind of a problem.” But it’s not to her, because it’s not an immediate threat to her people. She criticizes Brian for having a limited number of people he’s willing to go to bat for, lowkey thinks it makes him a bastard, but she’s exactly the same. She’s got zero solidarity with Case 53s, with all of the people in other cities that’re presumably being screwed in the same way Brocktonites were/are. Let alone internationally.

I think a bit of anarchism would be good for her. Make her eat her ideological fruits and veggies.

[barid-bel-medar]

TBYS-Whether you write it in story format or wikipedia descriptions, it probably would be interesting as not only would it be world building that makes sense in MHA in general, you would also explain the differences between the American and Japanese school systems, especially since most of us English speakers are used to the American system. It also make sense given that Heroics System was first develop in the US, the country most likely to withstand the rise of quicks due to gun laws.

(Honestly it's more at this moment a bit of a ramble here, but Nedzu will at some point in-story go in more depth, probably in a discussion of it with certain future-appearing characters, as well as possible HPSC discussion)

Yeah, the heavy US bias is simply a result of the fact the overall heroic system originates in the US. We're told at one point the first true pro-heroes were in the US (the Rhode Island New State Statute, which interesting choice in state commonly if a US state effects all the others/anything international law wise it's California). As a result of that law, and the system in a sense starting out in the US, when the WHA is founded a lot of it and it's founding stuff is heavily influenced by the US; after all, they've simply had the most time to experiment and figure out what works and what doesn't at that point (assuming it takes say, more than a decade for shit to calm down). That includes a potential education system (actually hero programs may be closer to vocational schools now that I think of it in the US...)

(@pocketramblr as a teacher I'd like your opinion if you please~)

A lot of this is also me attempting to justify how the hell heroes can apparently work over international borders without any sort of required additional training or certification. Like, All Might did not graduate a hero program in the US. Koichi did not graduate a hero program in the US (or admittedly Japan). However neither have any issues in working as a pro hero in the US. None of the heroes seem to have any sort of issue working internationally. In all likelihood, that's because there's an international standard for education, and yes, it would likely also effect what sort of punishments are in place. It also allows for a lot more clarity when say, doing an international licensing thing when you can check transcripts/academic records and see a standardized set up like that.

[talktonytome]

the fact that will is sipping blood-red wine as hannibal is bleeding in twotl drives me insane

[0xjuro]

preserving @focusfixated s tags for posterity:

#never ever over seeing this the first time#thomas' kiss casting shadows on james' face#and flint's speech later that there is freedom and discovery in shadows#it's beautiful it's tender it's everything#black sails

What are you talking about? What voice? The one telling you to be ashamed of yourself… for having loved him.

BLACK SAILS. XIII

[collieii]

idk it's like. tho both vash and knives are arguably pretty rigid in terms of their beliefs, bc vash lets himself form relationships w other people he ultimately learns and grows from that. knives...doesn't. he doesn't get close to people in a meaningful way, which neuters his chances of learning and changing. (not that it's impossible for a person to change on their own obv but we know what knives is like. i don't think he's interested in deep personal self reflection)

[yuyumatsulily]

also there was a tiny crumb of maitazu in the event (i'm still on the third part) where tazusa thinks she should "do as mai-sama said and wait for the cat to approach her"...... i love the implication that she spends enough time with mai that she receives some advices like that... i also headcannon (and i think maya too, since we did talked about it on ds from time to time) that these two regularly meet and nap together from time to time..... i'm betting on mai being the reason why tazusa was napping in the first scene of the event too, hehe

[jewish-skitter]

The funny thing about Taylor is that despite rapid escalation being kind of her thing, she’s actually not super proactive until she’s pushed into it? Like, she will go along with a lot until she sees an opportunity. She doesn’t go out of her way to start shit, which ironically ends up causing some of the escalation. She lets herself be pushed to the point that the only remedy is to snap back, hard.

You can see this with C*** especially— she didn’t need to agree to work for him. She didn’t need to do the bank robbery. But by the time she was ready to fight him, when he broke the promise she knew was bullshit from the start, there was no way out other than murder (which incidentally let Noelle out). Not that her trying to address the problem head on from the beginning would’ve resulted in a better outcome, I don’t think it would’ve. Still, a different person would’ve given up on the idea of infiltrating the Undersiders when the bank robbery came up or never had that idea to begin with. A different person would’ve freaked out and tried to start a fight instead of just storming out at the Dinah reveal.

But that’s not Taylor. Taylor is an incredibly patient person, right up until the point where she can’t be anymore. And every time she reaches that point, what she’s willing to do gets a little more extreme.

[starriskiesstuff]

Actually, I'm pretty sure lumping Direct Interference in with those first two laws is Zeus's invention anyway. Why? Because there definitely seems to be a hierarchy within these "Ancient Laws". Two that are literally impossible, even for Titans (who would not be listening to anything Zeus came up with, so those definitely predate the Olympians). They seem like fundamental rules of the universe. Then we have the other three, which in terms of enforceability are pretty much the same (someone has to do something to enforce them) but considering 4 tends to work itself out and 5 can be left up to whichever god's sacred animal they are, 3 is the only one Zeus cares about. Now, not that he can actually convince everyone it's like the first two, because enforcing anything automatically betrays that you have to enforce it and the universe won't do it for you, but it's a rhetorical tool. The intent, of course, is to make people less likely to break it. The title "Ancient Law" helps with this, much in the vein of "Operation Iraqi Freedom", or "pro-life" ("pro-choice," on the other hand, kind of failed at this) but there's a fairly obvious vulnerability that someone could possibly exploit, although that may require an actual arena for political rhetoric, in multiple directions, and since Olympus is more of an autocracy than anything... maybe we should just throw Zeus into Chaos instead.

What even are the ancient laws?

I've been meaning to get around to this one for ages.

Anyways! Good question, guys! Answer: nobody fucking knows. Sure, we have good ideas. The laws are mentioned every now and then as a "oh, no little mortal child I can't help you - that's against the ancient laws. But hey! You can help me."

Let's be honest: the ancient laws, while there might be legitimate reasons for some of them, have transformed into yet another way that the gods hold themselves as the high and mighty overlords of the world, and keep their mortal offspring below them at all costs. But... why? Are the demigods really that dangerous to the gods? The answer: yes, but not to the gods - to Zeus.

Let's start from the beginning and list out everything we know about the laws. I did the hard work, you're welcome:

1. Gods cannot steal each others' symbols of power.

2. A god cannot initiate a fight with a mortal.

3. No direct interference - gods are not allowed to interfere in the lives and ongoings of mortals or monsters.

4. No more than 3 people are allowed on a quest.

5. Harming the sacred animals of a god is forbidden.

And that's it. Those are the only true mentions of the Ancient Laws in the entirety of the Riordanverse (at least, the Greco-Roman books).

And I think we all know what the most important one is. Direct Interference is the only one we see Zeus actively enforcing (or at least attempting to). But why is that? Well, stealing another god's symbol of power and initiating a battle with a mortal are physically impossible for gods, and the ban on harming a sacred animal is very commonly accepted already, as it's a guaranteed way to get your ass whooped. And the rule about having 3 on a quest isn't really something Zeus is going to spare the effort to enforce - starting a quest with more than 3 will typically guarantee that you come home with only 3, if at all.

But Direct Interference is the most interesting law, simply because it's the one that our demigod narrators are affected by the most, either in the ways their godly parents violate it, or refuse to do so.

There's plenty of instances where this law has had quite a bit of impact on the story and relationships. For example, Hermes used this law as a major reason why he could not help Luke or prevent him from raising Kronos. But let's be honest: besides Zeus himself, Hermes might be one of the only gods that actually obey this rule, despite the fact that he wants to break it. Just off the top of my head, I can name an instance in the series where every single Olympian at least toed the line of violating Direct Interference, except for maybe Demeter. And I'm not sure Dionysus counts, since he has contact with his half-blood children because of his position at CHB.

But there's something interesting even about the ways these gods break the law of Direct Interference. In most instances, these interactions with mortals happen when the god is in disguise, or through dreams. And, based on how little it seems like the gods get punished for breaking Direct Interference, we can only assume that Zeus is not aware of when gods talk to demigods via dreams. I mean, he's probably aware that it happens: Apollo, Poseidon, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hera, Ares (who occasionally follows the rule, but only as an excuse to not help a demigod out), Artemis (although she is subject to exceptions due to her domain), Dionysus, Athena (I think?), and Hades all do it at least once in the RRverse. I mean, you could also argue that dreams are a more indirect means if interference, but I can also see how that's an iffy argument at best.

So, what does this mean? If there is one thing I know about laws and rules in general is that people tend to break laws if the direct consequences of their own actions don't directly apply to them. Gods would probably respect the law of Direct Interference more if there was an immediate negative effect on themselves, aside from just the punishment.

Think of a law or a rule that people break all the time. Littering, for example. People do it all the time, even though it's bad. But why is it bad? A person who doesn't have a lot of forethought will drop a piece of trash and say 'hey, that doesn't affect me. The planet will suffer and this will be a pain in the ass to clean up, but I'm not the one cleaning it up, so why do I care?' If you don't care about the planet or other people cleaning up your trash, the only reason you have to not litter is that you're afraid of the punishment.

I think the attitude towards Direct Interference is similar. The only reason a god would obey is if they're afraid of the punishment, or if they respect Zeus enough to follow his laws (which, clearly, is not the norm in godly society). And even then, what is a punishment to an immortal being? The only way Zeus punishes gods that really matters to them is turning them mortal - and that's a very rare occurrence.

By that logic, we can assume that a violation of Direct Interference does not actually negatively affect gods all that much. To be honest, it doesn't negatively affect mortals either. Maybe monsters have the short end of the stick, but monsters didn't write the law of Direct Interference - Zeus did. So... why? Why does it exist?

My first thought was the Fates and prophecy - if gods can interact in mortal life without recourse, then it might fuck with the way the Fates operate. But gods have been interfering for the entirety of civilization. If they really had a the power to alter the future just by dipping a toe in mortal life, don't you think it would have been obvious? Even in the RRverse, there are plenty of instances, as I've mentioned, that gods have interfered in a quest, and said quest wasn't severely fucked over because of that interference. Take, for instance, Percy's quest to save Artemis - Apollo intervened, but where were the consequences of that? Where were the earth-shattering effects?

So what gives? Also, I'd argue that the gods would actually obey the law more if they knew it had such a negative effect on the proper functioning of the Fates, especially Apollo since that's his domain. So I'm going to say that's not the case.

So we're back to the first question: why does the law against Direct Interference exist if it has no effect on the gods or the Fates? In all references to the law against Direct Interference in the Riordanverse, never once is it explained why this law exists. Why would Zeus create it if violating it doesn't have some major world-ending effect? Gods are gods: what could make this law so important that it's the only one Zeus makes a true effort to enforce?

Well, it makes sense to me that Zeus would create the law if he's the one who has to bear the immediate consequences of it. Which raises the question: what are the immediate consequences? What reason could Zeus possibly have to separate half-blood children from their godly parents? HMmmmmmmMMMM.

Well, there's another interesting thing about the Ancient Laws: some of them don't apply to mortals. Mortals can steal a god's symbol of power, and mortals can initiate battles with gods. Imagine with me a scenario in which your enemy has an army that is not subject to the same laws you are. Gods are (as far as I know) physically incapable of stealing symbols of power and starting battles with mortals, but what does that matter if they have half-blood children that reach the power of minor gods, like Percy, who can do that for you?

It's a terrifying premise, if you're Zeus. And before you start telling me that I'm going down yet another far-fetched rabbit hole (listen - I always make sense in the end), we've seen Zeus go down this line of thought before, all the way back in The Lightning Thief. Remember???

Chiron said that the reason Zeus blamed Percy for stealing the Master Bolt was because the mines the Cyclopes used to forge the bolts is close to Poseidon's domain, and he thinks Poseidon has it out for him. Now, there's a theory running around the TOA fandom that gods can control how much power they hand off to their children (as seen with Apollo's children, who rarely inherit the power of prophecy, which we're willing to bet is something Apollo is controlling from behind the scenes), and if Zeus knew that Poseidon had had a child, it's possible Zeus thought Poseidon was trying to create a super-child just for the sake of overthrowing him. I'm willing to bet that one of his greatest fears is that an über-powerful child of one of his brothers would be used to steal his symbol of power and then overthrow him. He views demigod children like weapons that his enemies can use because they could be inherently dangerous to the standard structure of godly society. His main fear is somebody with the motivation of Luke having the power of Percy. And what do paranoid kings do when presented with the idea of their greatest fears? Make laws against them.

The only way Zeus could be sure that Poseidon would never intentionally have a child like Percy, then bring him under his wing just in time to start a rebellion against him is to ban that kind of interaction at all.

Counterpoint: you could also say that the law against Direct Interference was a way to protect the mortals against the gods who might harm them or do them dirty. Like getting women pregnant while in the form of a swan. Ahem ahem. Do you get my point, though? It's not like Zeus has any real reason to protect the mortals in this way, since he was one of the main perpetrators anyways, but it is a damn good excuse if he also wanted a reason to prevent a potential revolution led by demigods.

Now, if you'll bear with me for a little bit longer, there is one more interesting thing I'd like to point out: In the entirety of Trials of Apollo, Apollo (a god, obviously) only mentions following the Ancient Laws once. Unsurprisingly, at the time he's mentioning the law against Direct Interference, he's also violating it - when he kills Commodus to save lives, Rome, and for his own peace of mind. So, to me this basically means that Apollo doesn't give two single shits about following laws against Direct Interference.

Connect that with everything else we know about Apollo post-trials: he loves his kids, doesn't want to see them hurt, and is trying to distance himself from Zeus and godly society. Even pre-trials, he doesn't have any trouble admitting that Zeus makes his rules and laws difficult to follow - nobody is good enough in Zeus' eyes. I truly believe, if there's any person who, given the proper means and motivation to overthrow at least some aspects of the Direct Interference law, he would.

Just saying. Feel free to add on if anybody else has more thoughts!

[a masterlist of my other metas]

[thyandrawrites]

Blog housekeeping

Hey o/ as a heads up, I have finally sorted my bllk stuff with proper tags. This fandom doesn't produce a lot of meta (yet?) but you can now find it filed under #blue lock meta. As for my two cents on the series, be it meta or random rants/commentaries, they can now be found under #bllk thoughts. I will be updating my pinned post to reflect this o/ thanks for your attention and have a nice day/night

[skinnyscottishbloke]

so Nick had watched this movie called Bullet Train and he thought I might like it so we watched it together last night….and, well, suffice to say I didn’t like it. And I think it was because it was too bro action movie. For one thing it starred Brad Pitt, who just does nothing for me. I find him boring as mud. All of the characters were supposed to be “quirky assassins” and they all fell flat. Like it was a very tongue in cheek kinda metaish kinda Deadpool vibe, but…I predicted most of what was going to happen and all the “quirkiness” felt forced and like it was written by extra straight bros. And look, I like Deadpool. I like Rush Hour. I liked Kick-Ass. It’s not unusual for me to enjoy over the top action movies. But the writing in this was just…not good. I think living so heavily in Good Omens land has spoiled me for absurdist humor lol.

I feel bad cause Nick was really excited to show me this movie and I know I disappointed him by not liking it. At least I didn’t fall asleep like I did when we watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith 😬😬

[0xjuro]

Okay, but does anyone know what the "Alice, don't" was about?

Because that didn't make a lot of sense to me in that context. And her spirit being confused or the connection being bad or sth seems weird.

Unless this wasn't actually supposed to be actual medium-stuff and instead part of that trial-induced nostalgia/grief/whatever was going on there? But that also seems weird, because it was very different from the others, even the burning kinda-visions.

To me, anyways, this looked like actual channeling of her mom. And what exactly was Alice supposed to not do? Trust Rio? Search for her mom? Use her wish at the end of the road for her?

Because it being something trial-specific would be weird, because they didn't really have a lot of leeway in their actions.

i'm never getting over lorna wu and her being unable to break the generational curse on her family or connect with her daughter then becoming a famous singer and weaving a spell into her most famous song (lorna's version) so that everytime someone sings it her daughter will be protected

[napneeders]

me trying to decide if I should write a metaish post about something or just refer to it in one overexcited sentence and wait to see if someone else will write it for me like casting a line into the seas of ofmd thought havers

[angelsandtheirdisasterbbyloves]

I enjoy the idea that everyone in the Good Omens fandom - old, new, etc - has come to very specific conclusions regarding post-Ragna-naw-naw it didn't.

1) Book!Aziraphale and Book!Crowley are living together happily in a cottage in the South Downs

2) Series!Aziraphale and Series!Crowley maaaaay be in the cottage eventually

2a) but if they're not there, they're DEFINITELY living together above the bookshop.

2b) and they DEFINITELY do not live at the Mayfair flat. Like... Crowley sometimes sulks there but that's it. (Unless it's just where he keeps his plants)

[whumpbby]

That's a good way to word it, that WWX is only in the first stages of his grief - and it makes so much sense. Where did he have time to get over anything?

So, him and JC meet on the opposite ends of their processing journey - JC went through this shit already and WWX being back is a completely new traumatic experience of bringing up all the worst moments of his life and adding a few new ones (the core transfer). It's not even that he didn't let go of the old thing - the new thing is fucking him up just as much.

Meanwhile, it's like WWX is still stuck in the "survival mode" of the Burial Mounds, when his carefree attitude was what kept him alive, because the moment he admitted how fucked everything was he'd break down and it would be over for everyone. It's like he's still running on that left-over adrenaline from before when he's dropped into another fucked up Situation he has to navigate. And the way he approaches JC reflects that too - like a little brother he has to manage and appease, for his own good, not an adult man he needs to have an honest conversation with.

Also his whirlwind romance with Lan Zhan - it's as if WWX just now gets to live his teenage emotions, and just discovered romantic love xD He messed up, so he's running from home with his boyfriend because he thinks mom and dad Jiang Cheng hate him now.

I think the best take I've seen today is someone justifying being anti-JC with the argument that "it's been 13 years and he still didn't get over it! He's still angry! He yells at people! No one deserves to be yelled at!"

I mean, yes? That's how trauma works? You don't 'get over' stuff with no support. It's not pretty, but it's life my dude. Some people get hurt and then spend the rest of their life defensive and unfriendly. He was clearly put together and approachable enough to build a very wealthy, respected sect, and raise a child, so he didn't spend all that time wallowing in despair, did he?

I mean, against what people like to proclaim, Lan Wangji also didn't move on. He goes out and fights things, but his irrational anger towards JC is still alive and well, he didn't get over anything by understanding the situation everyone were in. He wasn't interested in asking how the hell things got so bad or why his own golden brother (who had 100% more clout than JC) didn't do anything to step in. He doesn't yell, but he's a dick nonetheless. Does JL deserve LWJ being a dick to him only because he doesn't like his uncle? Does he deserve Jingyi acting like a dick towards him because Huanguang-Jun also does, so it's safe?

No one moved on in this story - the war left them all shattered. They all commited atrocities. They all have regrets. Barely anyone gets any closure. Wei fucking Wuxian didn't move on - he just died and came back right after, and then ran from the hard questions because he didn't have the bandwidth to deal with them at the time. As you do when traumatised.

Dislike the man all you want, but the argument is just.... JC didn't stub his toe 13 years ago, he lost his entire extended family and was left to pick up the pieces. Thirteen years of being angry at the world is nothing.

[still-not-king]

Aziraphale appreciation post

Like, Aziraphale is the definition of The Company Man. But... like... just only slightly canted to the side.

He shows up and does an ostensibly okay job but he only ever gets there exactly on time, and you know that bitch is outta there at 5 on the nose (earlier if he can swing it) and GOD HELP YOU, MIRANDA if you step on his lunch break again he gets a FULL HOUR. He sits and reads on his breaks and has approximately zero work friends, talks to nobody about anything but work, and is perfectly friendly but every once in a while you hear him sigh in a staff meeting in that way that communicates that he’d burn the place to the ground and dance on the ashes if only he could guarantee his 401k would roll over. He’s gotten in trouble a couple of times for trying to update the computers or talk to HR about more flexibility with parental leave policies, so he just doesn’t try anymore. He uses all his vacation time but never more than he’s accrued, all his sick days are used like clockwork every quarter. He did something to piss someone off at some point, so he’ll never be promoted, but he won’t get fired either. He just shows up, does what’s expected, and leaves. But on Fridays…

On Fridays, he picks up all his stuff at lunch and it’s a coin-flip whether he’ll come back or “work from home” and it usually has to do with whether he’s getting picked up by that giant, beautiful, vintage car that tends to tear up to the curb and park in the fire lane. It’s driven by some lunatic whose self-awareness about how cool he looks leaning against the car is practically palpable until Aziraphale shows up and he relaxes into actually looking cool. That’s the only time anyone in the building ever (ever) sees Aziraphele smile like that. Like, everyone kinda figures he has an absolutely insane private life - who shows up hung over on Wednesdays that often?? - but nobody really knows for sure. The tosser w/ the shades and the occasional cutting, whip-smart, under-his-breath remark are the only clues anyone has as to what he gets up to in his “real” life. But he’s a company man and tows the line 9-5(ish) M-F so nobody’s up his ass about it.

Well, until he finds out about the merger. The merger everyone’s been talking about, but apparently he wasn’t aware of because he doesn’t talk to anyone at the office. Nobody’s really sure how he found out, but he comes in with a purpose that Monday morning and walks direct to the VP’s office to give him a piece of his mind (because really who needs to build another skyscraper when there are plenty just hanging around, and you know what that’ll do to the neighborhood, and it’s one of the only reasonably affordable school districts near downtown as it is, and really now aren’t we using some rather flexible logic to skirt those anti-trust laws with this?) Of course he gets shut down completely, and leaves the reaming everyone can hear from down the hall like he’s just popped back from the vending machine. Heads straight to maintenance, as polite as usual, and asks for a box, then heads back to his desk. Because he’s spent years absolutely not caring about this job, and he’s just been explicitly told how little The Job cares about him. He’s purposeful and possibly more pleasant than anyone’s ever seen him as he cleans out his desk to a chorus entitled “Variations of what do you think you’re doing” byThe Managers, gives a baby spider plant to Miranda (because, heavens, I’d give you the Mama but god knows Crowley gave it to me and he’d be even more furious than he is now if I came home without it, he’s really very upset. His community garden’s over there, you know.) and simply walks down to HR to hand in his badge and an itemized list of all his passwords and access codes.

And that’s when everyone finds out exactly how good at math Aziraphale from accounting was. How very precise his record keeping was. And how learning all the rules so you can bend them is VERY handy when you need to turn around and use them to Fucking ANNIHILATE your enemies. (They’d also find out exactly how good a lawyer you have to be for a company like the one they’re merging with to keep you on staff when you insist on wearing sunglasses in client meetings and refuse to wear a tie).

[abidos]

Season 2 first impresions

This is heavy in spoilers for season 2 of the Dragon Prince.

Overall I think the season was great. I loved Sarai, the queens and all the flashbacks, Claudia and Soren’s evolution as characters, Viren being forced into a Faustian pact with Aaravos due to the selfishness of the 4 rulers of the other countries and Opeli’s short-sightedness, everything about Corvus and Lujanne,...  Aaravos.I could keep going.

But there are two things that bug me.

The morality of Dark Magic. Most characters see dark magic as evil, clearly, we as an audience are supposed to agree with them since even Soren, who loves his dad and sister, describes dark magic as wrong for killing innocent creatures. But we are only given two reasons for this. 1. Dark magic is bad for the user. This doesn’t make it evil, just like you are not evil for overeating, not exercising or smoking privately. 2. Killing animals. It doesn’t make sense for the characters to hold this point of view unless everyone is a vegan or at least a strict vegetarian. But even if this were the case, they should try to sell this notion better to the audience. With some exceptions, we as a species have decided that it is ok to kill animals for better tasting food. Yet our understanding and empathy for Callum's conflict relies on us agreeing that killing animals is wrong. It seems as if the writers are hoping we the audience will just go with the bad PR and not use any form of critical thinking. Not giving us a proper reason to consider dark magic evil also makes Sarai a much less sympathetic character, who now is presented as a queen who is willing to let thousands of her people die because ‘it seems too easy’.

Callum using primal magic. The first issue aside, I really liked the conflict between having to choose to do something evil or not having certain powers. I love these kinds of conflicts in fiction and it really made me interested in Callum as a character. So having the authors pull a deus ex machina by almost effortlessly giving him access to primal magic was quite disappointing, to say the least.  Furthermore, it makes no sense in this world. Given the physical cost of using dark magic, I’m certain every single dark mage in humanity’s history would have loved to be able to do that. And apparently, all that is needed is to really want it for a couple of days and have a weird dream. I’m hoping they at least address this by revealing that Callum’s dad was a sky elf or something.