#morally grey characters / nuanced characters are everything to me

[sunshinejinx]

i finished watching buffy for the first time this week and it’s been a wild ride but something i feel genuinely surprised about is this idea that ppl have where spike falls into the dark, brooding, bad guy turned good trope. comparing him to the likes of draco, kylo ren, etc. it makes me rlly???? bc am i delusional? from season 2 onwards, spike always felt very funny to me; silly, goofy, light hearted. i mean he has a whole backstory about being a momma’s boy/terrible poet. effulgent!!! blooming onion lover?? a loser and malewife first for dru and later for buffy. even peak “evil” spike doesn’t want to go along w dru/angelus’ plan bc he likes this world too much!! n that’s long before he even has a soul! has moments where he can barely look buffy in the eye, gets tongue tied, “why haven’t you killed the slayer yet” good question adam!! maybe bc he loves the slayer!! get’s chained to a tub and let’s buffy feed him blood out of a ‘kiss the librarian’ mug. “great pumpkin’s on in 20” & can’t forget about passions!! asking joyce for the lil marshmallows for his hot cocoa while he tells her all about how dru broke his fragile little heart 😭 and and when he gets turned into a vampire so of course immediately his first thought is to travel the world w his lover + can’t forget about his mommy like !!! hello!!! are we watching the same show like he’s just a freaky little loser who luvs a girl bc duh who tf wouldn’t love buffy, she’s literally everything and he knows it too!

[funnyjokespunperson]

if critiquing the actions of a flawed female character & acknowledging that she is flawed while still absolutely adoring her writing makes you misogynistic in the eyes of fandom i need to know what these people do about real fucking misogyny (Fucking Nothing)

[sha-brytols]

and the thing is i've said so many wildly conflicting things about how flawed solas' character portrayal was in veilguard but like. i unironically do believe they're All True and like i think i can kind of(?) articulate why

like solas in veilguard to me was a pretty perfect example on how clear it is that dragon age has suddenly and drastically regressed from being an exploration into moral ambiguity and that fine smudged line between "hero" and "villain" to a sudden inexplicable refusal to allow any sort of grey area in character motivations in favor of forcing them into a binary box like its a dnd alignment. and i think this specifically because there is literally No Way to write solas in a morally uncomplicated manner while still maintaining anything that makes him an interesting character.

people who hate solas hate veilguard because it removed literally any nuance to his character and repeatedly paints him as a poor mistreated victim whose only crime is that he was Forced to do things He Didnt Want to by a significantly underwritten and highly anticipated female character, and his regrets are all varying degrees of "it's my fault because i was right and they didn't listen to me :(" and no actual agency in his own decision making. his romance with a lavellan is literally front and center in the game and the only one that even gets more than a passing letter or (in dorian's case) like. two full lines of dialogue. the narrative does everything to silently paint him as the misunderstood tragic hero that no one truly appreciates and even rewrites the inquisitor so they always want to redeem him regardless of their previous disposition

people who love solas hate veilguard because it somehow managed to simultaneously do the same thing in reverse. solas has no genuine regrets or sense of guilt or actual reflection about his past behavior in the entire game. he kills his best friend and the game makes sure to zoom in on his face as varric is falling down just so you can see the sneer of contempt. the war table finebros react segments where its literally just the writers unapologetically utilizing the companions as mouthpieces for their personal opinions makes sure to tell the player that solas is unforgivable and a hypocrite and a coward for his actions. they even like. rewrote an entire part of his character specifically to remove that layer of complexity and dumb it down to the Lying Liar Who Lies. where the narrative silently wants you to sympathize with him, the characters LOUDLY want you to condemn him. your most sympathetic dialogue choices are lukewarm "well... i GUESS i understand why..." delivered in a consistent tone of disapproving resignment.

people who are neutral to solas? you're not ALLOWED to be. here you go. Dragon Age: Solas. everything is about solas. you have to make all your choices based around solas. we've written an entire game to revolve around solas. we rewrote like 4 characters to make sure that you are forced into one of the two extremes.

and it's all because you have a game that physically cannot help itself but to make you make the Good Decision and so they can't decide which decision is good and which is bad so they wrote two completely conflicting stories about him at the same time. he is the best boy. he is the worst. it genuinely feels like the writing team was actively wrestling with each other behind the scenes over whether or not solas is a Bad Guy and thus their only means of compromise was writing him as though he was dr jekyll and mr hyde without any transition or consistency. he is a villain. he is a hero. you are a bad person for not seeing his point of view. you are a good person for peacefully redeeming him. and i know there's people who think this is some sort of ingenius character study but none of this is intentional. he isn't like loghain who commits bad acts in service to a greater good. he's the prideful god who lied to the inquisitor about wanting to free the elves and instead his goal has been about his own personal ego all along. he isn't like flemeth, who does good by people and manipulates the story in your favor all for the sake of her own mysterious ends. he isn't even like the architect who lies and murders and manipulates the warden all in the service of his own deluded vision. he's the guy who wants to destroy the world because his abusive ex is forcing him to. but also he's the guy who wants to destroy the world because he thinks mortal life is insignificant and he should be in control because hes The Best.

all complexity of what was previously a deeply nuanced character has been removed, and it's because he used to be so complex that it's so disjointed and bad because they refuse to actually commit to any one direction because in that case they'd might as well make another character. but they can't. they have to make it solas. because solas is their cash cow and their baby.

they want to make a perfect solavellan happy ending because they want to please the people who love their baby but they're so fundamentally divorced from what their audience wants for solas that they ended up writing a caricaturized ai-generated romance novel for teenagers.

they want to make a cathartic fight scene where you beat the bad man because they want to please the people that hate their villain but they have such blatant contempt for criticism of their precious little baby that they make sure to infantilize and misrepresent his flaws as much as they can so he can be the sad little elf boy that you need to hug.

and despite all of this they ALSO wanted so desperately to avoid making you sympathize too much with the antagonist they were building up to that they had to make sure he acted in the most unforgivably evil ways that they could think of just so players knew this is the Bad Guy and you're the Good Guy and don't you forget it.

it's just constant self contradictory writing. it is so blatant that it's genuinely hard for me to even see veilguard's solas as being the same character. i find myself nodding my head in agreement to his most ardent haters because yeah you're right. they did spend an insane amount of time forcing you to see just how innocent and well-intentioned and pure this egotistical mass-murderer was. and i also find myself nodding in agreement with his biggest fans because yeah. you're right. they did randomly turn this character into a moustache-twirling villain who does everything short of tying rook to railroad tracks and cackling as he runs away to tear down the veil. and all this because they couldn't stand to not have him be in the game in the biggest and most impactful way. they literally could not have a story without solas.

[seaglassmelody]

Today’s “Yay Veilguard!” Stream of consciousness post is how much I love the writing with all the female characters.

Neve and Bellara and Harding all get very different plotlines and their emotional responses have such a wide range. Harding and Bellara are both the sort of cute adorkable party members but they approach it very differently. Harding buries her emotions and opinions to be likeable, whereas Bellara just blurts out all her thoughts. Meanwhile Neve is measured and thoughtful almost to the point of anxiety.

They all feel full and realized and not just weird feminine stereotypes. I especially love Neve being the in-between of the noir detective and the femme fatale - it gives her such a strong and interesting core. And then you add in her idealism and desire to protect the downtrodden??

I love that Neve feels the most cynical but Bellara and Harding are actually far more vicious. I LOVE that Bellara gets to BE vicious but she’s also conflicted when it comes to Cyrian- like if anyone else had done what he did, she’d be all for killing them, but because it’s HER BROTHER, it’s different. It’s nuanced! It’s complex! She knows what her values say but her heart doesn’t want it!

And then there’s the female villains. I do think with the exception of Hezenkoss and maybe Isseya, the companion quest villains are a little underwritten, but that doesn’t take enjoyment away from playing with them. I love that Aelia is an unapologetic powermonger. I love that Zara is totally morally bankrupt and willing to use anyone she deems as lesser for beauty and power. I love that Isseya is a visible monster but actually the most sympathetic of the villains.

Hezenkoss gets her own section because my GOD I love necromancer grandma so much!! She’s so funny, she’s so unethical and unapologetic about it. An older woman getting to be so unstoppably but affably evil is incredible to me. She’s got such a high level of arrogance and ambition and she’s always chewing the scenery and it’s so enjoyable every time she shows up!

My lowkey favorites though are the Problematic Mother Figures. Shathann and Caterina you will always be legendary to me. To care about children, to try to set them up for success but in ways that are initially harmful, to try to understand them and fail, to hold them to impossible standards and have to deal with their resentment but you do it anyway because you LOVE them- Veilguard isn’t necessarily trying to make a point about parenting (and motherhood in particular) but at the same time it IS with Morrigan and Mythal and Shathann and Ghilan’nain, mother of monsters. I love the depth of emotion they get to especially with Shathann and Taash when it comes to the complicated relationships of family. I wish Lucanis had gotten more of that with Caterina instead of everything being focused on Illario but that’s not the story they were telling so alas.

All this to say, I never felt like I was dealing with a feminine stereotype in the game. The female characters get to be a range of right and wrong, moral and not, peaceful and vicious. And there were so many!!

Bonus final shout-out to Evka, light of my life, love of my heart, leader of the Grey Wardens as far as I’m concerned!! Her calm, decisive demeanor is the best!!

[cheezewhis]

I'm going to regret this.

Sometimes the iwtv fandom makes me worry about the future of diversity in media. I mean I expect the racist assholes to pop up and bother everyone. That happens all the time and while it sucks, there are ways to filter those people out.

My big worry is honestly on the other end, where people are so desperate for harmony they end up treating minorities like monoliths of purity. Seriously, we have a show with morally grey characters of a variety of colors, a color conscious writing team, actors who constantly discuss the nuances of their characters, and people still find a reason to fight about this. Wasn't this the ideal we were asking for???

How are we supposed to evolve the representation in media if we can't go 2 seconds without fighting about which characters you're "allowed" to like?

You can't like Lestat because then you're condoning his behavior, but you can't condem anything Louis does cause then you're racist, but also you can't like Louis more than Armand because Louis was a pimp, but also you can't like Armand because he killed Claudia, but also that was all Lestat's fault and Armand did nothing wrong and if you don't ship Loumand it's because you're racist and if you do ship Loumand it's because you just hate Lestat and Anne Rice and puppies??? or something, and Clauida is the only character you're actually allowed to like except you are not allowed to like her unless you hate Lestat or Louis because as we've established it's really Lestat's fault she died and also Louis was a bad father and is responsible for Clauida's death so you cant like him either but also you are racist for thinking Louis did something wrong because black characters are not allowed to make mistakes or be nuanced or be human but also you don't get nuance if you like 1x05, you have to hate 1x05 because that episode of the toxic abusive vampire show dared to show toxic abusive vampires and ruined your precious precious perception of Lestat but also if you still like Lestat after that then you must hate Louis because Louis is 5 fucking years old and needs to be coddled but also he's a piece of shit and you cant like him and idk i don't really hear people argue about Daniel but maybe I'm just not looking hard enough and who ever cares cause I lost the plot about 100 fucking words ago.

Like jesus fuck we'll never weed out the racist people in the fandom cause we're too fucking busy fighting each other about, like, if we should let black characters be nuanced and interact with white characters who are mean??? Istg half this fandom thinks Louis (and Jacob Anderson for that matter) is like a battered helpless child who has never been able to stand up for himself. Louis is a character built from very real pain, he's always going to be kind of sad by virtue of that, but he's not 5, he can make decisions for himself.

How the fuck are we supposed to normalize diversity in media if we can't be fucking normal about diversity in media.

Fuck. Everything. And. Everyone.

[fruitsofhell]

Something I really like about Rose Quartz's characterization is how dedicated the writers were to making what she did morally grey. Idk it would have been really easy for the twist to be she was Just Evil, especially learning she was related to the main villains, but no they created this very vague character who even in her appearances feels mysterious. If anything Rose is the one thing that is less clear to me after my rewatch, because now seeing the nuance in her character pulls me out of a black-ane-white view of her and into one that is just... foggy.

But a vibe I do get from Rose, is that despite clearly being incredibly compassionate, she's someone who lacks empathy in the case of the ability to fully realize others' autonomy and thought processes. There's just a lot of decisions she makes that feel aloof in an odd way, and when combined with how childish she can be it can give the impression she sees everything as a game. But it's still clear that she cares and is genuinely moved by the Earth, and when her entire truth is revealed you can see how ideologically honest she was. Even if it feels like her beliefs are just so she can have fun, but that is part of freedom, the freedom to vibe and explore and do silly things she couldn't.

That attitude clearly just comes from her position as Pink Diamond. It was an oppressive role emotionally, but not as literally oppressive as the lives of those around her. I think her relationship with Pearl is where I find the most of the part of me that sees her as compassionate but unempathetic. Pink can't fathom what it's like to have been born to be an obedient servant and how that would cloud Pearl's judgement. How telling her "I'm going to fight for this world but you dont have to" would mean nothing to her because she is still obsessed with her, how entering a romantic relationship with something while they're still effectively your servant is unhealthy, or how spending her life flirting with other men would probably tear your servant-to-lover-to-ex up inside lmao. With the first she obviously meant to be giving her a choice because she cares about Pearl, but she can't understand how to truly give Pearl freedom of choice she can't treat her like a fully freethinking person. With the second she doesn't understand how her power has an unhealthy impact on her bond with Pearl. And with the last it's not at all that Rose isn't allowed to move on, but I just always found she has a lack of awareness of Pearl's jealousy and misery that's a bit inappropriate. Not that you can't assume she has already let Pearl down easy or cares about her coping, but it's never shown, which feels like a deliberate choice.

I'm working on a more organized theory about Rose's characterization, but it is deeply fascinating. Her and Pearl's relationship is as well, I feel like it's sometimes characterized as just a mean jealous ex situation but like it's way more fucked than that, and is a great exploration of power dynamics, obsession, and grief. Love me some toxic doomed yuri.

[menofprogress]

You know why i know that arcane is "babys first fandom" for a lot of people?

A: ppl seem to genuinely think that characters calling each other "brother" or saying "hes like a brother to me" means theyre actual blood brothers or grew up together as siblings. And a lot of ppl get REALLY upset at vanco or jayvik shippers bc of that (ofc only the queer ships)

b: some ppl seem to really, GENUINELY get angry when you put these characters into hurt/comfort, whump situations. Like i'll see posts where ppl put a character into a distressing situation for the ~hurt~ and there will be ppl in the comments/notes who GENUINELY get mad at them for "hurting" the character.

And c: a larger amount of ppl than usual seemingly dont want their faves to have ANY negative or morally grey qualities and will interpret you talking about these qualities as "hate".

Like, idk if this says something about media literacy or sanitisation of media, but babes, you GOTTA learn about subtext and nuance and that sometimes you gotta put a character in a situation so there can be a STORY, you know. Also less ppl seem to get the concept of headcanons and more ppl need EVERYTHING about their fave characters to be canon compliant.

[cl-0v3r]

can I talk about something real quick?

I hate how 99% of arcane fans completely Ignore their favorite character's flaws so much. I know this has been complained about multiple times but i genuinely get so tired of it and physically need to turn off my phone when that happens.

And Im not talking about Jinx, everyone knows she's not a great person, neither am I talking about silco or Sevika or quite literally any of the characters that are placed on the darker shade of grey.

Im talking about characters like Viktor or Mel or Jayce, Vi & Caitlyn aswell, but specifically the first three.

Look, we all know what their intentions are, they only wanted to help, they wanted the best for their cities/family and their goals, but the way they do it is Flawed. The sacrifices and nuance they go through and do just to achieve that specific ideal and goal affects how morally ambiguous or not they are.

What annoys me is that most of these people KNOW, but refuse to accept it and continue bringing down other characters because they refuse to accept there's different opinions over something in the show.

Especially with viktor, he is NAUNCED. He is selfish one way or another, he is willing to destroy himself for the sake of making something too far gone work, and not only did that destroy him, but completely result in the death of Sky. And eventually, that is going to destroy his relationship with Jayce too. He refuses to create weapons even if it means as a tool for self defence because he refuses to accept that zaun is not the most stable in terms of aggression, he got mad at Jayce for calling them dangerous when there was a literal riot on the bridge, a scene playing right infront of his eyes. Again, he is rightful to feel protective of his home, but he is ignorant towards certain things too.

I see so many people ignore viktors flaws and wrong doings, did we forget who he's going to become next season or what?? He literally committed a murder wether he wanted to do it or not. which is lowkey kinda hilarious because I don't see people defending Jayce for murdering that child despite the fact that its equally as wrong as Viktors mishap. He.is.not.flawless.

Mel, oh my god. i love Mel with all my heart, shes my everything, but she is a councilor. yes she's focusing on proving her family wrong, yes she wants to make piltover a better, safer place, and I don't think she's completely ignorant towards the undercity's state, but what has she done about it? Now, its not entirely her fault, I know, its all accumulated from Himerdingers ignorance, but that does not change the fact that she is apart of the same body that kept the undercity in its current state with all its problems for generations. She is a manipulator too, she wants things to go her way, wether it was with good intent or not. She pushed for weapons, YES, as a means of self defense, YES as protection from external threats coming from places other than P&Z, but her mother wasn't completely wrong about how weapons will always be used in every way possible, but she finds it difficult to accept such fact. Not to mention the fact that she literally told a zaunite to create a weapon that would be used against zaun.

So no, her being manipulative is not hot (this literally pisses me off the most) , especially not after that scene with hoskel because she BASICALLY called him stupid and belittled him indirectly. Is it true hes not the smartest? Yeah, did she do it to get him under her palm and ended up using him to do something "Good" in the end? Yeah, Is she good at doing it? Yeah, does she look good while doing it? Yeah, but she looks good ALL THE TIME. Manipulation is not what makes her attractive, its a FLAW, an ugly one. So calling Mel attractive ONLY because she's manipulative is mischaracterization at its finest. And I will bring this point again, separate intention from action.

I don't want to get into more details about mel, I will lose myself, but she is FLAWED, shes morally grey, she isn't perfect, just as the other characters in the whole show.

Jayce, he goes through multiple extreme points during his arc, he's quick to decide on things. At some points it could be a good thing, like how he apologized to viktor for saying harsh words to him. But what his major flaw with this trait is the fact that he goes between violent and peaceful multiple times, figuratively AND literally. He was settled with the fact that he doesn't want to harm zaun, infact, he wanted to help them in the first place, but he got influenced, and ended up resorting to violence, he lost himself, and it ended with the loss of a child's life. He didn't want to make weapons before, got influenced, look where it got him now? He is selfish too, and the list goes on.

Though, Its rare to find people who defend Mel and Jayce in this entire fandom, most of the people I've seen who claim to be fans of them tend to do this all the time smh.

And I just know I will start a war as soon as I open my mouth to talk about Vi & Cait. Which is why I won't because this post is long enough and I want to cover other things.

Please keep in mind that I wrote everything as flatly as possible, so the way you understand the things I say may be different from what I initially thought of, I swear on my life I do not hate these characters, Jayce Mel & Viktor are literally my upmost favorite characters of all time.

This is mostly talking about how sometimes you need to separate the intentions from the actions these characters do, because most of the time, actions speak louder than words.

ALL your favorite characters in Arcane and flawed, they have problems, they aren't perfect. And that's what makes each so special, because it makes you wonder how they will clean their footsteps and deal with those said flaws later if they decide to partake the lighter path, or how they will step deeper into the darker one. And even so, they will still be on the grey scale.

By far, Ekko is the only character closest to white if im being honest, and he still isn't perfect.

Arcane fans need to understand their favorite characters in different points of view, not just from their eyes, even if you agree with their doings and find it right.

One big example that i will bring up again, that scene with Mel, Viktor and Jayce discussing the potential misuse of hextech as Viktor dismantles the bomb. You can understand Viktors point of view, but why not Mels too? (& Vice Versa)

Another is the scene when Vi finally gets to see her sister in episode 5, Caitlyn tagging along with her. You finally get to see powder and Vi reunited, you feel content, and then Jinx comes back and gets angry on why Vi is with an enforcer, which is well within her rights considering how they literally killed countless of zaunites and people, but why not understand from Caitlyns side too? Jinx is a wanted criminal, she'd put a building on fire, killed people in the process, stole volatile items with possibly horrible intentions considering what her crimes are.

ANOTHER is the bridge scene with Jayce and Viktor with the riots, Why the fuck is Jayce calling them dangerous infront of viktor??? Hes well within his rights to be mad! But he isn't WRONG, And jayce is under a lot of stress, and viktor is literally going against him by taking shimmer, and God that list never ends.

Literally almost any other scene.

caitlyn Ekko & Vi , Vi and the Council , Vi and Jayce , Jinx and Vi on episode 9 , Silco and Jayce , Mel and Ambessa , Mel and Viktor, Mel and Jayce in some scenes (like when she put him on the council) , singed and Viktor , etc etc etc

Need i say more??

All of these characters are full of layer upon layer of writing, they're all so well written, their intentions, ideals, morals, are all bricks and pipes of what builds them as characters, but their flaws and nuance is the 'glue' of what keeps them standing too. They may have no choice but to do or say those things that they do or say, because if they don't, they will possibly crumble. But that does not mean it gives them a pass, in the end of the day,, murder is still murder, ignorance is still ignorance, manipulation is still manipulation, and etc. They're not all equally as horrible as the other, but that does not make them better qualities, comparing all these issues/problems and completely siding with one thing because you find A to be less horrible than B is not a good start to understanding Arcane or any show with a similar level of writing to it.

as usual, im sorry for any mistakes or if this is uncollected and full of reptitivness, I don't usually correct my rants or anything because they're like... rants... And im very sorry for nagging about certain things, some points may actually be wrong so please don't feel afraid to give advice or correct me over them NICELY. Other than that its really just my opinion, i just wanted to get the "understand characters from different views" & "sEpEraTe InTentIons FroM ActIons" points across.

[goooooberjas]

ok hot take.

i do not think retellings of ancient myths with the focus on female characters' suffering is that subversive. neither is it better than other modern retellings that chooses to give its female characters more autonomy, such as epic the musical, tsoa, hades game, even troy (the movie).

i come across the nudge to compare "who had it worse". it's war. it's truly hard for the modern person to comprehend how cruel humans can be to each other, how complicated warfare makes literally everything. it's not black and white to say the least. coming from someone with a history of colonization and foreign powers meddling, it's generally a clusterfuck of perspectives and shades of grey. women certainly suffered, and that should be acknowledged, without trying to diminish all the other ways people fuck each other up.

another issue is i find the female characters reduced to their suffering. first of all - i as a woman relate to their plight, but do people who don't have the lived experience? because the character is not that fleshed out, you end up reaching mostly people/women who've also felt something similar. next, it doesn't say much other than "look how much shit these characters go through!" we already know that women suffer. i would go as far as to say that the ancients, despite cultural differences, also knew that. you don't need to search for women's plight; you only need to ask your relatives, friends, or turn on the news. it feels like a repetitive cycle of suffering and wallowing in misery.

(for instance, anya from mouthwashing. there are people who only view her as "the girl jimmy assaulted". anya isn't a talented and hardworking nurse who is/was traumatized, she becomes her trauma, is not seen as anything other than that)

so yeah, maybe it's not the most "historically accurate" or "canonical". but epic is fun, it brings something new to the table, and to me, treating women characters kindly is always a plus. epic doesn't even shy away from depicting women's struggles: circe does morally questionable shit to protect her nymphs, penelope holds her own and protects her son against suitors who wish harm on her son and wish to take her forcibly. yeah, it's not as brutal or grisly as certain retellings of the odyssey, but it's not void of nuance, parallels, or characterization (and who said being 'brutal' is equal to being 'good'?). same goes for hades game with how it handles hades and persephone (and nyx). or tsoa, with briseis and thetis, characters who actually have conflict and growth and depth. or six the musical, with its unrepentant glitz and glam.

[mysticcrownwolf]

I have not watched arcane but I follow enough people that do to have to general idea of what it's about and I am calling it right now the only reason this fandom demonize Vi is because they like Jinx and by extension Silco so all the bullshit ass enabling he did with Jinx for years will be forgotten because Vi punches her for killing everybody she ever loved and then the people in this fandom who don't have even a quarter of a brain cell to rub together will be like well Jinx suffered so much because of Vi because she had suicidal thoughts and see people meanwhile Vi deadass saw everyone she loved die in front of her, then lose her only remaining family to Silco and then spend her whole childhood in prison. Like the people in this fandom can't comprehend morally grey characters or even think that their faves can be complex people who can do bad things if the narrative shifts that way.

Look me in the eye and tell me these people have a single thought in their head while watching the show because the writers said these two seasons are the Jinx and Vi story. That they will probably make more arcane stuff but these seasons are focused on the sisters and so why do I see post like I wish Vi didn't have so much screen time or I wish Vi and Cait story wasn't the main focus here and the show focused more on "insert any background narrative they wanted to see" like bitch go fuck yourself.

Like I have never seen such a large group of people utterly incapable of media literacy it's like they need to be handfed concepts like:-

"A doomed narrative means no happy endings at most you get a bittersweet one"

"Your fave can be a bad person and still be your fave you don't have to justify them as a good or reasonable person (and demonize their equally traumatized sister looking at you weirdly purist Jinx fans) to continue liking them.

"Metaphors and parallels shouldn't be spoken or spelled out for you. You as a viewer are suppose to understand then yourself using your brain"

"Good people can do some bad things this doesn't make then irredeemable and bad people can do some good things this doesn't suddenly makes them fully redeemable"

"If a shows ending is ambiguous it doesn't mean the writers were too pussy to commit to a proper ending it means they purposefully made it ambiguous so their can be more than one interpretation for it"

"Not all good stories needs have good or even satisfying happily ever after usually in a doomed narrative you just survive to live another day"

"Just because someone's trauma manifest in a more visible way doesn't mean another characters didn't suffer at all (still looking at you Vi haters)"

To summarise do I think the people who can't see a nuanced story like arcane without generalizing everything in black and white and then complaining about how it's bad are all brainless idiots with the mental capacity of a third grader with no capacity for media literacy or reflection. Yes. Is it probably a baseless generalization. Probably. Do I care. No,fuck you'll and all your arcane hate post you all tricked me into reading by disguise them as actually analysis.

If I can pick up on the subtle nuances and non linear narrative of arcane by just reading Tumblr posts and watching some clips on YouTube you people have no reason to have this shitty of an opinion when you actually consumed the full media.

[theunholyvirginemilyprentiss]

Profiling you based on your favourite criminal minds character:

(A.K.A. putting my criminology degree to good use)

ELLE GREENAWAY

You have a very strong sense of justice with grey, nuanced, and realistic morals—in other words, you support women’s rights and women’s wrongs. It is likely that you have at some point experienced a crushing sense of powerlessness, and now struggle with the need to maintain control whilst simultaneously feeling like everything is always out of control. You are likely highly emotionally intelligent, and are able to empathise with a range of different people—you were either the kid in school who was part of multiple friendship groups, or the kid who kindly befriended the outcasts. Finally, you are someone who tries to come across as strong and independent, but in reality, you’re a mess under there and want nothing more than to be ‘begrudgingly’ cuddled senseless—ideally by Elle Greenaway herself. That, or you want to get blackout drunk with Elle Greenaway and twerk to the Brat album together. Either way, you are a messy, compassionate badass. (Probably.)

P.S. I am a hoefiler not a profiler, don’t come for me if it doesn’t resonate <3

Check out my Masterlist for more ‘Profiling you based on your favourite Criminal Minds character’ posts.

@aarxn-hxtch @jamroses

Honorable tags for @jelle-ified @spencelle-secret and @ellegreenawayslover because I know you guys love Elle and I want to see if I’m right 😂

Comment under this post if you would like to be added to the tag list for this ‘profiling you’ series so I can find you later!

[klarolinexluv]

“All Slytherins are evil”

Okay, so this is actually not true. This is a stereotype. And a way to drive fear.

Yes, some of them were evil, they became death eaters but you know who else became death eaters. EVERY OTHER FUCKING HOUSE AND NOBODY SAYS ANYTHING!!!!!!!!

You cannot say that all evil came from Slytherin because being evil IS NOT a trait that solely belongs to Slytherin. In fact, NO trait solely belongs to ANY of the Houses. The sorting system is a joke anyway.

I feel uncomfortable actually.

Just the sorting system and the way people fall prey to that single minded thinking that people cannot grow up or change is devastating and I feel it definitely is reflecting the world WE live in.

Regulus Black for example.

He is a Slytherin. He becomes a death eater at 16. The moment he steps into the real deep shit at 17, mans is turning his back and marching to his death to defy Voldemort and try and do something to end him.

That is an example that people can change.

Dorcas Meadowes for example.

She was a Slytherin. She turns her back on majority of her friend group and joins the Order after she graduates. She tears apart what Voldemort was doing and had to be killed by him personally be to be stopped.

That is an example that not all Slytherins are evil.

Severus Snape for example.

He was a Slytherin. He joins the death eaters and fights for them for years until he switches sides and becomes a spy. He ends up playing a major role helping Harry (his methods were decidedly awful) who then went on to kill Voldemort and end the fucking second war.

This is an example of a very morally grey Slytherin who was both good and evil.

I would also like to point out that these people (the Slytherins) are all repeating the words are actions they were taught by their parents and their parents and their peers. This is generational trauma and cycles of abuse whether that is physical, verbal or emotional. These people were conditioned and trained to be this way for generations!

If you think for a moment that Sirius Black, a Gryffindor who was raised for 16 years by Slytherins(who endured centuries of abuse), that he didn’t struggle to rid himself of his prejudice and continues to struggle for the rest of his life then you have got another thing coming.

Some people genuinely scare me with their inability to recognise nuances in things.

Prime examples to me of this behaviour in the marauders era are people/shippers/stans who call people who like characters like Regulus Black, fascists.

Like these are the same people who absolutely adore James Potter as if he wasn’t a bully in high school. As if he didn’t change and grow as a person to become better. As if James didn’t take a while to learn from what he was doing and change.

I hope these people realise that change is hard for a lot of people. Circumstances sometimes do not allow for people to change.

FOR EXAMPLE

Regulus Black and Peter Pettigrew.

The parallel between them is insane.

A Slytherin who becomes a death eater only to realise everything he knows is a lie and decide to defy Voldemort, turning his back on everything he knows and loves.

A Gryffindor who becomes an order member only to turn around and become a death eater for reasons unknown, turning his back on everything he knows and loves.

It is insane to me that people can clump a group of characters together and call them evil without exploring the depth of any of them.

It’s 100% easier to ignore these characters, say they were evil and call it a day because there is so little information about them.

But if you cannot take the time explore things outside of the perspective of ONE character who is incredibly biased in certain aspects, then what’s the point.

I don’t think my point is very cohesive here. But whatever.

What I’m trying to say is let’s stop generalising and saying “Slytherins are evil because there is not a Slytherin that hasn’t gone bad”. ITS NOT TRUE ITS NOT TRUE ITS NOT TRUE!!!!!!

It’s not to the same extend, certainly not because one is WAY worse than the other but this is a form of prejudice. A preconceived idea that all Slytherins are evil. Just like the blood purists saying that muggleborns steal magic, that their blood is dirty.

IM GENUINELY TWEAKING ACTUALLY

The blood purist thing is a lot worse because of how extreme it went.

HOWEVER, I think that had the stigma not be around either parties, this would not have escalated so hard.

That might be a hot take actually.

I think I’m going to stop whilst I’m ahead because I feel like I’m insane.

[catgirl-catboy]

Not sure if you're interested, but if I can give my perspective on Kokichi's treatment as a certified actual compulsive liar, you're absolutely correct that the other characters are deeply hypocritical in how his lying is treated in comparison to others and that beyond being kind of annoying and kind of an asshole he really didn't do anything that bad up until chapter 4, but in my experience the way he's treated is very true to life and honestly hits me personally very hard because I relate. When people realize someone lies often even about mostly small and petty shit, it changes how they treat you and everything you say that they don't like is often written off as a lie, you being a known liar becomes the easiest excuse in the world to treat you poorly and gives people a convenient justification for disliking you. Himiko lying about her magic isn't treated the same because it's one thing she lies about (I'd argue for the sake of not breaking the illusion and ruining the wonder) and while they do get annoyed with her about it, mainly in chapter 2 where her refusal to be honest is actively being a hindrance to the investigation, it doesn't change their overall attitude toward her because it's still just the one thing and they kind of know how to work around it. As for Shuichi, I honestly am not sure how many members of the cast even really notice that Shuichi lies as often as he does, and even those who do probably find it easier to excuse because they can recognize that he's doing it to reach the truth, Kaito and Maki in particular find it easier to both excuse and play along with simply because they trust Shuichi's judgment. As far as Kokichi is concerned, they don't trust that he's lying for any good reason because they don't know why he's lying at all, because he does it constantly about both important and meaningless things which makes it easier to just assume that he's at best unreliable and at worst a threat. It is a flaw and it is hypothetical, but it's also eerily similar to how I was treated by my peers as a teen.

Anyway sorry for the rant I just have a lot of feeling and thoughts about Kokichi because he actually was the first time I saw a compulsive/pathological/whatever liar in fiction that wasn't treated by the narrative as just pure evil without any nuance or grey area, or some kind of high school mean girl (looking at you Miraculous Ladybug), and that had a really strong effect on me and allowed me to actually confront and cope with that part of myself.

Oh, I am VERY interested.

May just be the autism, but what lies the Danganronpa characters do and don't seem to care about seems entirely dependent on their pre-existing biases.

Sure, Kokichi lies about enjoying bugs during the meet and greet. But Kaede and Shuichi do the exact same thing in Gonta's intro, and its completely brushed off!

Considering how truth vs lies/fiction is one of v3's main themes, it feels like Kodaka is shooting his message in the foot.

As a whole, one of my major gripes with the franchise is that it has a serious problem with protagonist centered morality, and those problems are named Syo and Kaito.

I would argue that a lot of Kokichi's lies also play into his persona, and that he always has to "perform" in a sense due to his talent, if that makes sense. Himiko's skill as a performer wouldn't be questioned because of who she is offstage, but Kokichi's absolutely would. Then again, there's a lot of skepticism about Kokichi's talent in canon and in the fandom itself, so that could explain it.

People are weird. Danganronpa characters are even weirder.

[agronzky]

⠀⠀⠀𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐎 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐀 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐈𝐍 𝐑𝐏.

⠀⠀⠀Anyone who knows me or has rp with me knows how much I love building ambiguous — or grey, if you prefer — characters or villains. The drama, the chaos, the complex plot… It all makes everything more interesting, especially once you get bored of characters who are exclusively nice, naive and suchlike. Even so, it's a construction that needs to take several factors into account and be very delicately written so it doesn't become a trigger rather than a character.

⠀⠀⠀For this reason, below I've provided some tips on how to create villainous characters for rp, taking into account various traits, setting and also demystifying the fact that not every villain is a soulless monster. Anyway, on to the guide.

Deep and personal motivations.

⠀⠀⠀Convincing villains usually have compelling and understandable motivations, even if their actions are highly questionable. It's the premise of them being right in their quest, but using the wrong means to achieve it and ultimately losing their reason. This brings a sense of humanity and it's even possible to feel connected to what led this person to become a villain. You can truly see how they lost the way.

⠀⠀⠀Another point is the fact that not everyone wants to conquer the world, nor do they have the ambition to have a lot of money or power. Think of plots about revenge, twisted love, the quest for justice or fear. Generally, a character's deepest motivations give them more determination to fulfill their goals because it comes from something much more internal and traumatic. Give them a proper reason and make them lose the way, this is gonna make everything feel real, convincing and interesting to developed.

Moral complexity.

⠀⠀⠀The simple truth is the days of people liking completely cartoonish characters are long gone, and nowadays many people don't like those who are evil simply for the sake of being evil. This is because it's too out of touch with reality. Obviously there are people who are like that in real life, but the vast majority is more complex than this. Humans, in the end, are very complicated and, probably, will never truly understand why we are the way we are.

⠀⠀⠀To get away of this cliché and cartoonish form when creating your character, try to develop moral nuances and internal dilemmas which can explain their actions. Put a small fragment of morality in the character, make them question themselves a few times as to whether they're on the right path… Remember yin yang: there's a little tiny good inside the evil. This tip can be used for any character, when you think about it, but it's very important for those who want to create villains.

Human traits, personality and vulnerabilities.

⠀⠀⠀Like any human being, provide your character with traits unmistakably human, such as fears, insecurities or personal relationships that will impact them, to make them more realistic. Just because someone is doing something morally wrong doesn't mean they've lost all touch with their humanity, especially since not every villain is a psychopath who has no empathy for anyone. It's always very interesting when a character believes they're doing what's right or good for someone else, and this is their motivation. 

⠀⠀⠀Also bring some weaknesses to the character, whether physical, emotional or psychological. This provides room for development and also ways for other characters to access them in a more specific way, either to get to know them better or to retaliate against them at some point.

⠀⠀⠀You know that line "Do you like my personality? I created it especially for you!"? Well, consider how the character behaves and bring in more layers when making the personality. Take into account how they behave in different situations and with different people.

Charisma and a magnetic nature.

⠀⠀⠀The fact is that bad guys aren't unbearable one hundred per cent of the time, they need to know how to live in society and captivate people. So define unique and appealing traits for the character, whether they're genuine or merely a façade. It's always interesting when, within the plot, most people don't know about the evil or wrong side of a character because it gives them more room for development. Maybe make them ashamed of what they're doing and try to hide it as best they can. And just think about real life: do we truly know the people around us?

Connection with other characters.

⠀⠀⠀Nobody lives completely alone since we're in a society and this makes us having connections, for more simple they can be. Thinking about that, create connections with other characters to bring more motivation and drama to your muse, such as an old rivalry, a complicated personal relationship or a surprising connection which generates tension. You can also create connections that actually bring their good side to light, you know? It's also always good to add a certain complexity, to have troubled moments, wounds that haven't healed fully, secrets being revelead, etc.

Questions for creating villains.

What are the character's main motivations?

What is the character's origin story? What led them to become what they are today?

What are the past traumas or events that have shaped their worldview?

How does the character justify their actions morally? Does they believe they are doing the right thing?

What are their weaknesses and vulnerabilities?

How does the character present themselves to the world? Are they masked, manipulative or showy?

What do they want to achieve through their actions?

What are their emotional reactions to obstacles and challenges?

How do they justify their actions to themselves? Is there any sense of internal validation?

How do they relate to the authorities or the law?

How do they see themselves? Do they see themselves as the hero of their own story?

How do they react when their plans fail?

What do they feel when faced with the possibility of redemption or change?

Other small (and important) advice!

Corruption arcs are also super interesting, leading a good character to become bad over time and through traumatic situations. Redemption arcs are also sensational. The point is: nobody was born a villain and nobody has to die a villain.

Leave clues indicating your character before fully revealing your motivations. Also try to leave some motivations completely secret, using them when the plot calls for a surprise. In the best "surprise, bitch!" style.

Think about how environment and culture can influence beliefs and actions.

A villain doesn't have to be a psychopath or murderer. There are arcs of revenge and corruption which can be created without going to such extremes.

It's obvious, but always respect other players and the limits they impose. As I said, a villain isn't always doing evil and being a complete asshole, so make sure you know what kind of approach the other person will prefer.

Always be careful when approaching topics which are triggers and avoid them as much as possible. As I said, it's not necessary to go down this route, but if you do, always keep a firm grounding when writing, because triggers are complex real-life situations that always need to be handled delicately.

The end, for now.

( Be with Morgana, my good girl gone bad ♡ )

[ahamkara-apologist]

you're so right fr. there are so many incredibly written female characters in d2 but there's a mere insignificant pittance of fanworks around them. as a day 1 failsafe lover it drives me nuts how little people seem to care about her. like. maybe bungie was right the fanbase doesn't even see her. and Ada? Ana bray? Elsie? even Eris or ikora? they may as well not exist for how the fandom treats them. but crow is a twink (twunk?) so yknow

A Failsafe stan omg...I'm so sorry my liege you're in the fucking trenches and have my deepest sympathy. I remember when Echoes came out people were like 'eugh Failsafe's humour didn't age well' and I was like...buddy. Failsafe is fucking hilarious. The fact that people were complaining about her humour as if Cayde wasn't the personification of annoying 2014 funnyman is fucking insane to me. I'm convinced that the only reason why Cayde's humour isn't cringe to them while Failsafe and Nimbus's jokes are is bc Cayde is perceived as a cis straight man to the gamerbros (even if there's not a snowflake's chance in hell he is, and robots are inherently trans) while they aren't. And the other girls? Whatever. Practically don't exist as far as fandom is concerned. Again, the fact that Revenant has Eramis as one of the main players in the plot- a nuanced, morally grey old grouch- and yet there is almost NO fan content on her ain't just because Bungie's quality has been piledrived into the ground. It's because she's a woman and a lesbian and thus everything that SHE does is awful and annoying and irrational and hypocritical, when you KNOW that if she were a man, nobody would give a fuck. It would all be 'oooh babygirl I love his dramatic ass' and shit with people crying over how tragic 'he' is and whatnot. But bc Eramis isn't some conventionally attractive twink, it's just radio silence out here. Meanwhile Crow is just a member of the supporting cast, and yet almost all the fanart and fanworks seem to feature him. It's a goddamn travesty, and I'm saying that as someone who likes Crow!

You're wrong on one account tho, and it's that Eris DOES exist to the fandom- but only if it's in ship content with Drifter. Nothing else. Though half the time she's not even acting like Eris bc a lot of shippers seem to think that they're 'fixing' each other instead of bonding over ways to do batshit insane bs in their free time. All her other significant relationships? Out the window. Gotta pare them down to an enemies to lovers trope where slurs are seen as cute. Which is insane to me bc like...the thing that makes Drifter and her relationship great is the fact that they're both freaks, and yet many people seem to want them to fit the parameters of a normal relationship. Like my sister in the light those are two new guys at this point

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

i think i've mentioned The Magnus Archives before, but i wanted to talk about it again, in connection with Catra's redemption. The Magnus Archives is a fictional horror podcast with an overarching storyline and amazingly written characters.

[spoilers for TMA below]

one of the themes that was briefly explored in the final season was about forgiveness. it was a very brief moment but it really stuck with me so i'll share it with y'all.

this right here was so important. for context, one of the characters, Daisy Tonner, was a cop who frequently engaged in police brutality. there was nuance to this since she was an Avatar of the Hunt but simply put, she thought she was doing the right thing. regardless of her intentions, a lot of people were killed or grievously harmed by her. for similar reasons, she tries to kill Jon, the protagonist.

later after disconnecting from her entity, Daisy realizes her mistakes and feels painfully guilty about everything. she couldn't bring back the dead, she couldn't reverse anything that she had done. all she could do at that point was to just stop engaging in violence and try to be a better person.

she bonds with Jon after some time of mutual awkwardness. Jon, being lonely himself, wasn't entirely opposed to talking to her and they even form a friendship of sorts. for context, Jon has hurt people too and he could relate with Daisy's guilt and her attempts at redemption.

in the transcript i shared above, Jon is discussing her crimes with the other characters. the thing that was so refreshing about Daisy's redemption is that Jon wasn't forced to forgive her. she put him through an extremely traumatizing and agonizing situation that he couldn't forget. his trauma was taken seriously and while he had begun to consider Daisy as his friend, that doesn't mean he forgave her. and she knew that. she understood that she didn't deserve forgiveness, but she still worked on trying to be a better person.

and later on in the series, Jon even expresses his appreciation for her friendship and admits to wanting to say goodbye to her.

i feel like this is the best way to write a redemption arc. of course it's nice seeing the bad guy being forgiven and accepted by the other characters. but sometimes you have to acknowledge that some people go too far and while they deserve a redemption, they don't deserve forgiveness. the other characters can still appreciate and respect their attempts at redemption, and even become their friend but without being forced to forgive them.

contrast this to SPOP where literally all of the characters have to forgive Catra after everything she's done to them. it doesn't matter how much damage she caused, as soon as she expresses the tiniest bit of guilt, she is instantly forgiven. there's no question of how the other characters feel, their trauma is not valid.

also, i have a feeling that if any of the characters refused to forgive Catra, she would have immediately thrown a hissy fit and spiralled right back to square one. i mean, look at her reaction to Frosta punching her.

by the way, i want to add that Daisy was also a traumatized character. she was also a sympathetic antagonist and she was partially controlled by the Hunt (whether the entities controlled their avatars or not was an unanswered question but it was confirmed that the Avatars were at least 80% in control of themselves). but she still did what she did and no amount of tragic backstory could justify her actions. if only the writers of SPOP actually stopped to think this through, instead of just hyperfocusing on getting Catra and Adora together.

anyway, if you like cosmic/existential horror, lots of angst, deep psychological stuff, complex morally grey characters, and queer representation, i highly recommend TMA! it's the whole package.