#not a victim with no agency
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The thing people miss when they say that Lestat acts predatory towards Louis in season 1 is that he literally is a predator (vampires are predators to humans in particular) but he is not looking at Louis as a predator chasing his victim: he wants to make Louis a predator too. And Louis, whose human job is to exploit other people to his gain, says yes when presented with the choice to be a predator too
#I hate this victim them people have going on with Louis#*theme#he is such an interesting character I really don’t get the need to strip him from his agency#iwtv#interview with the vampire#louis de pointe du lac#lestat de lioncourt
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The fundamental issue with how people talk about Louis is that people think he needs to be coerced and magic'd into making bad decisions. Don't let his proximity to the two craziest fuckers in this universe make you forget that he saw Lestat freeze time in their second meeting and was not only un-phased, but actively attracted to it. Claudia, came to him and told him Armand was using the knowledge of Lestat against her and Louis scoffed and went "Nah he wouldn't do that" like that's some shit his sisterdaughter, of all people, would lie about. I proooomise he is more than capable of making delusional, dickmatized moves with the best of them, I pinky swear.
#louis de pointe du lac#interview with the vampire#iwtv#char.txt#like he is more than a perpeutual victim he also likes men who can only be saved via lobotomy#tho real talk we can talk about louis abuse without removing his agency. there is no such thing as perfect victimhood#likea yeaaaaah i roll my eyes hard when people try to spin it that louis was only with armand to save claudia like...girl bye
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imagine being closeted and repressed and you randomly gain a harem in 2024 completely by accident. edwin payne you will always be famous.
#edwin x charles#edwin x the cat king#edwin x monty#freddos orginals#as long as he's friends with nico ill be okay 👍#dead boy detective agency#dead boy detectives#dead boy detective edwin#wth is edwin's last name#ig well never know#edwin payne#edwin x simon#although we know better to ship bully/victim
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Oh btw!!!!
A fun little addition to the victim-blaming meta:
Yk that thing about agentivity and re-evaluating how much power you have over the world when confronted with the reality mortality? It works exactly the same if you're the one who's the victim btw.
Isn't that fun? This is why there is so much guilt and shame that is so hard to dislodge in trauma victims. "I let it happen because I wasn't good enough" is easier to handle than "It happened to me and there was nothing I could do". It's scarier to be an object than a bad subject.
Look! I'm better now! I was weak, and I was a coward, and I was naive and dumb and not strong enough and not smart enough and I didn't understand how evil the world really was but I'm different now! I'm in control! I do things my own way and my way is different and good and it works! I learned from what happened and I'm stronger and better and it's never gonna happen to me again it's never gonna happen to me again it's never gonna happen to me again it's never-
#jason todd#dc#red hood#batman#dc comics#batfam#robin#robin ii#if sad jason has no defenders then i'm dead#the victim-blaming meta#jason who blames himself#jason who hates himself#he was angry for so long#let my boy be tired#jason who tries to kill himself to regain agency in the only way he feels he has left#jason who fails#the tragedy of your death happening to you#and your resurrection happening to you#and there's nothing you can do#aaaaah#tragedy enjoyers when the tragedy tragedies
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I’m just thinking long and hard about the way Akiren and Akechi are written as foils for each other. Because of course, the game drives it home for us that the two are narrative foils: Akiren is the champion of free will who finds power through his friendships, Akechi represents the ways society binds us. He is chained by his desire to be wanted (importantly, by the wrong people– I’ll get to that).
At first glance, Akiren and Akechi’s point of divergence has to do with their relationships– Akiren has confidants, Akechi doesn’t, and this is the deciding factor in Akiren’s victory over Akechi on November 20th and in the engine room. Still, while this is certainly part of what makes their relationship important as a narrative device, it’s not the full picture. That, I think, has more to do with the fact that they both desperately want the very relationships that are used to foil them. They have common ground, and that’s what makes the emotional beats of their differences hit as hard as they do.
Even though Akechi doesn’t have the close bonds that Akiren does with his friends, he is defined as a character by his desire to belong. He wants to be praised and given everything he feels he was denied by Shido’s callous disregard for his mother and society’s unjust treatment of him after her death. He was a self-proclaimed “undesirable child” who spent his young adult life doing everything in his power to never feel unwanted again. He literally spells it out in his engine room monologue– “I was extremely particular about my life, my grades, my public image, so someone would want me around!”
Akiren, like Akechi, begins his character arc as a social outcast. Unlike Akechi, who appeals to systemic power to claim social clout and chase his own sense of belonging (the Shido revenge plot, which would, uhm, theoretically end with Shido acknowledging his son’s worth), Akiren finds family with other outcasts. All of the Phantom Thieves understand his struggle, and because of this they foster a sense of understanding and community that Akechi never gets to experience.
It is important to note that these bonds are deepened when Akiren helps those around him. While there’s absolutely nothing bad about doing things for the people you care about– in fact, most would argue that this is what makes a friendship a good one– we can take a reasonable guess that Akiren craves the love of those around him just a bit more than is healthy for him. He plays therapist for half of Tokyo– he stretches himself absurdly thin for the sake of his friends. That’s a bit much to ask of one person, but Akiren seems to demand it of himself. This is the nature of confidant routes as a game mechanic, of course, but hey, reading into game mechanics is important to getting a solid reading of who Akiren is behind the mask!
The crux of it is, Akiren and Akechi are both lonely characters. Their desire to be loved quite literally drives the narrative of the game, both in terms of plot and gameplay. What makes their foiling so tragic is the fact that Akechi so obviously wants what he has himself determined he can’t have. He says as much in the engine room when he questions why Akiren has things that he doesn’t, despite being (as he says) criminal trash living in an attic.
And yet, Akechi’s isolation is frankly the result of his own decisions. He is the one who chooses to work for Shido. He is the one who acts on a worldview that requires he keep his cards close to his chest to win— against Shido and against the world that wronged him— and to be considered desirable (even despite the fact that this mindset obviously works against satiating his hunger to be loved. He really needs to go to therapy, but I digress).
I don’t think Akechi even knows how to go about claiming what Akiren managed to. Akechi has agency in the actions he takes, absolutely– he would be furious about any suggestion to the contrary– but in many ways, the choices he feels himself able to make are constrained by his circumstances and the lessons imparted to him by his past.
All this to say, Akechi and Akiren aren’t different because Akechi doesn’t want teammates, or even friends. He sincerely wants everything Akiren has. He tells us this in the engine room. He shoots himself in the foot by prioritizing approval from society and love from Shido above other relationships. But thinking from inside his shoes, what else was he going to do? Where else would he have thought to turn to find what he wanted? He was dealt a horrible hand and he played his cards according to the rule book he was given. If the world were just, Akiren and Akechi wouldn’t be foils. It’s the injustice implicit in that that really drives home the point I think P5 is trying to make when it foils Akiren and Akechi in the first place. It also, personally, has been making me want to scream all day.
On a related note, this is also the exact reason that Akechi being the one to bring up that things might have been different if only he met Akiren a few years sooner makes me want to throw things, but this post is long enough. I’ll save all that for later!
#writing this has also had me thinking about the touchy topic that is ‘agency’ in akechi’s narrative#he makes choices AND he’s a victim of circumstance AND neither of those things cancel each other out#I made a post about this a while back but I think I’ll revisit it soon because again— a topic that makes me froth at the mouth#also did y’all notice I got a little foucauldian with my akechi analysis 👀#I can’t resist. maybe more on THAT later too!#anyway this is scattered and left of coherent but hey I had a lot on my mind!#persona 5#goro akechi
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ALICENT HIGHTOWER AND AEGON TARGARYEN
#house of the dragon#alicent hightower#aegon ii targaryen#alicenthightoweredit#aegoniitargaryenedit#hotd#hotdedit#houseofthedragonedit#welighttheway#gameofthronesdaily#dailyhotdgifs#hotdcentral#targaryensource#aegon x alicent#mariana does things#*aligon#*hotd#photoset#when the cycles cycle and when the son is just like the mother MWAH!#victims of the circumstances thinking they don't have any agency chef's kiss!#i was trying a new font can you tell
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to me billdip is the most compelling when Dipper is still a teenager and bill's human form is a middle aged man or something. maybe he manifests and looks like he's in his 30's...maybe he manifests and looks like he's Ford's age...either way, i love love the idea of bill physically demonstrating the power imbalance between them. bill having the capability to look like he's Dipper's age but refusing to even consider that as an option bc he wants everyone to see that he is 100% in control of Dipper
#cyber.com#billdip#does this make any sense...also warning for super long tags:#just this idea of Bill wanting everyone 2 see how much of a freak Dipper is for wanting to be in a relationship w him.#even if they're not around ppl who know Bill as a alien/demon thing that tried to take over the world--Bill still wants to demonstrate#to //everyone// that Dipper is a Victim and being manipulated and also in denial about it. but it's crystal clear to everyone else.#PLUS! the shame that Dipper would feel. the knowing looks he'd get from strangers...Dipper being like no i'm super brave & mature & this is#a CONSENSUAL! relationship. no one understands me. i love him. he loves me. i'm scared of even saying no to him bc of the threat he poses#to my family and also the entire world but that's just how he is! this is normal probably.#and years later him looking back and going. ohhhhh. yeah i had zero control in that relationship and was mostly just used as a decorative#doll that had no agency.#well! i just think that billdip is incredibly fucked up & instead of making them the same age everyone should lean into how fucked up it is#and make it even more fucked up. if u ask me.#ALSO. bill manifesting himself and looking like he's the same age as Ford? while being in a relationship w Dipper? 😵💫😵💫😵💫#punishing Ford for leaving him by making Ford watch Bill & Dipper's blossoming relationship.#fucked up! (i'm writing this w one hand btw. who said that)
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i don't really get how other peoples' interpretations of fictional characters is such a huge point of contention on the internet. i've literally never given a shit about how other people play with their dolls in my entire life. it simply does not have that kind of power over me. fiction is kinda supposed to be exploratory and self-indulgent and the made-up people can't approve or disapprove of how you use them either way so. why fester over it. can't be good for your mental health
#something something the fictional character is always the perfect victim to rush to the defense of#because they don't have the agency to tell you that your superiority complex is unwanted or unhelpful#the fictional character will not get upset; nor will they glorify you as you rush to harass another fan for 'doing [fiction] wrong'#never liked the gatekeeping and feeling superior over being 'correct' about make-believe#like. dude. take a breath and loosen up a little bit. nobody can hurt your blorbo. not even you#and also. fiction is supposed to be fun. if it's stressing you out this much then you need to look after yourself!#disengage and take steps to identify why it bothers you that you can't have control over other people
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Wei Wuxian and Narrative Agency – Part Three
For Xiantober Day Five: Past and Present, in which the author gets very unhinged about what parts of the past are shown and how that’s affected by the present!
(Part One | Part Two | Full version on AO3)
The Power of Agency: Shaping the Narrative
When I've discussed Wei Wuxian's agency previously, I’ve talked about how what’s shown and omitted tells us about a character, and we’ve talked about the character himself. Though this is a niche topic, it’s not necessarily something out of the ordinary to analyse, and we can assume everything up to here has been in some way intentional.
This? Linking structure to a character’s in-universe preferences?
This is where we get unhinged.
Before I start, let’s quickly establish something which will be important later: although Wei Wuxian is the central character, MDZS isn’t strictly from his POV. While omitting events a character doesn’t like to dwell on and concealing things the character wishes to hide is common in books with only one narrator, MDZS has multiple narrators which it switches between relatively quickly. This includes Wei Wuxian, but it also includes nearly every major character that appears in the story, and omniscient narrator as well. As a default, this format doesn’t lead to this deliberate shaping and omission because of one character’s preferences, since we have many other sources of information and events – which is what makes Wei Wuxian’s influence over the narrative and structure so interesting. We could have access to a lot more information, and access to it at different times, than we do (and that’s not an insult, quite the opposite!).
To begin: we’ve established that times such as Wei Wuxian’s time on the streets, his three months in the Burial Mounds and his loss in the Siege aren’t shown because Wei Wuxian has little agency there. But that’s not the only special thing about them. They’re also the three most traumatic times in his life, and so moments Wei Wuxian himself either can’t remember, or doesn’t like to dwell on.
This is why discussing Wei Wuxian’s treatment of tragedy in his life was important. Firstly, it shows he doesn’t focus on the tragedy in his life, so the idea that the narrative not focusing on this tragedy relates to his character has merit; secondly, it affirms that this is not a passive trait, but a choice. Therefore, when the narrative omits events due to this aspect of Wei Wuxian, it’s respecting not only a character detail – which would be cool by itself – but also an active decision. One that shapes the story it’s made in.
In other words, its very structure is respecting Wei Wuxian’s agency!
Now, of course there are flashbacks to other moments of his past he probably wouldn’t like to dwell on, too. But within the structure, they’re only shown when Wei Wuxian is thinking about them (or when he has reason to)!
Wei WuXian hadn’t woken up yet. His eyes were still tightly shut, yet his hand didn’t let go either. He seemed to be dreaming, muttering, “… Don’t… Don’t be angry…” Lan WangJi seemed somewhat surprised. His voice was gentle, “I am not angry.” Wei WuXian, “… Oh.” Hearing this, as though he finally felt assured, his fingers loosened. Lan WangJi sat beside Wei WuXian for a while. Seeing that he was motionless again, he was about to stand up when Wei WuXian grabbed him with his other hand, hugging his arm and refusing to let go. He shouted, “I’ll go with you, quick, take me back to your sect!” Chapter 63, EXR translation
Which, of course, is him dwelling on…
Lan WangJi spoke one word at a time, “Go back to Gusu with me.” Hearing this, both Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng were surprised. Quickly afterward, Wei WuXian laughed, “Go back to Gusu with you? To the Cloud Recesses? Why go there?” He immediately seemed to realize, “Oh. I forgot. Your uncle Lan QiRen hates crooked people like me. You’re his proudest disciple, so of course you’re the same as him, haha. I refuse.” Chapter 62, EXR translation
…the painful flashback immediately preceding this. The third set of flashbacks (which are also painful) are a similar case. Look at the contex:
He lifted the bottom of his robe, revealing a prosthetic leg made of wood, “This leg of mine was destroyed by you, that night in the Nightless City (…)” (…) “Wei WuXian, I won’t ask you if you remember or not. Both of my parents died by your hands. You owe too many people. You definitely won’t remember them either. But, I, Fang MengChen, will never forget! And never forgive you!” (…) “In the fight at Qiongqi Path, my son was strangled to death by your dog Wen Ning!” “My shixiong died by poison, his entire body festering due to your cruel curse!” Chapter 68 (immediately preceding the flashbacks), EXR translation
And Wei Wuxian’s own thoughts and words:
Wei WuXian looked at the cultivators before the Demon-Slaughtering Cave. Their expressions were the absolute same as those of the cultivators from the night of the pledge conference, pouring their wine on the ground as they took the pledge to scatter the ashes of the Wen Sect’s remnants and him. (…) Wei WuXian, “Now it’s time to ask just whom it is that treasures it so much. It’s like Wen Ning. Back then, some certain sects or so were scared to death of the Ghost General. They said they’d kill him on the surface, but behind their backs they hid him for over ten years. How strange. Who was the one that said his ashes had been scattered back then?” Chapter 79 (immediately succeeding the flashbacks), EXR translation
Once again, Wei Wuxian’s own thoughts relate to the flashbacks we’ve just been shown. And, as I previously mentioned, though all the events which are shown are tragic, they’re also events which Wei Wuxian’s own choices and actions shaped – which he has this to say about:
“The things I did, not only do you remember them, I remember them too. You won’t forget them, and they’ll stay even longer in my mind!” Chapter 82, EXR
Admittedly, this applies more to the third set of flashbacks than the second (which is still fitting as the third set was the most recent), as in the second, although he still had agency within and influence over his circumstances, the majority of the pain was caused by others’ actions (excluding, of course, the Golden Core transfer… which is something we know stays for a long time in his mind, albeit with a caveat we’ll soon discuss). But it’s still important to note – especially considering that otherwise, focusing on this very painful time in his life wouldn’t seem like something very in-character for Wei Wuxian to do.
Of course, this can all just be explained by good writing. It is best to insert flashbacks when they’re relevant to the characters and events in the present day! But it is interesting to compare these to the start of the (not painful) Gusu flashbacks, which open this way:
At a later time, Wei WuXian pondered upon the reason why his relationship with Lan WangJi wasn’t good. Getting to the root of the matter, everything started when he was fifteen, coming to the GusuLan Sect with Jiang Cheng to study for three months. Chapter 13, EXR
Again, considering the circumstances around which these flashbacks take place – returning to the Cloud Recesses for the first time since the lectures, and meeting Lan Wangji once more – it makes complete sense for Wei Wuxian to be thinking about these events*. So it does fit the pattern of Wei Wuxian dwelling on something, thus leading to the narrative dwelling on it, too (and being shaped by his thoughts)… but there’s another layer to this. Importantly, it is the only flashback where Wei Wuxian’s present thoughts don’t lead to this happening, with his thoughts at an unspecified future time leading to it, instead. I like to interpret this as the text saying that, since these events aren’t something Wei Wuxian wouldn’t focus on in normal circumstances, he can dwell on them at any time. Therefore, they’re free to come up in the narrative at any time as well, even if he’s not dwelling on them in the present moment!
So, to summarise: Wei Wuxian’s decision not to focus on the painful times in his life directly influences the narrative to not focus on these times. When painful times are brought up and shown to us, it’s in the context of him thinking about them in the present day, and even then, his most painful moments still aren’t shown to us. His agency in this regard is still respected by the narrative structure.
This is the main way his agency influences the structure of the narrative, but I’d like to talk about the revealing and concealing of information, too. For example, I said I’d talk about the Golden Core transfer – though Wei Wuxian does think about this many times, as evidenced by his internal narration in Chapter 103. But unlike everything we’re shown through the flashbacks, this is something Wei Wuxian is actively trying to hide from others. And the narrative respects this choice (Wei Wuxian’s agency, again), never reveals it even when it would be relevant in the flashbacks, and we find out not through narration, but through a character’s dialogue!
And to clarify – I know these aspects may not be in the book for this exact reason. Showing flashbacks in relevant moments is good writing, concealing an important plot point you want to do a reveal for is necessary writing, and MXTX has said she didn’t want to write about Wei Wuxian’s time in the Burial Mounds, due to not liking to write transformation sequences (and also because it would not be pleasant at all, which likely also applies to Wei Wuxian’s death). That doesn’t prevent it from also being intentional – MXTX’s intelligence is shown in many aspects of this book, and there’s nothing disproving it – but there’s no proof for either option, so I won’t pretend there is. I bring this up because I know this feels like I’m overanalysing, as I feel that way as well.
But, whether it’s intentional or not, it exists in the text, and I adore it – so, regardless, it’s something I’ll explore. Because taking this into account… We aren't just told about Wei Wuxian having agency, we aren’t just shown it in the text, we aren’t even just shown it through which parts of his past are shown and hidden in the structure of the text (as I talked about in Part One). The parts of the past that are shown and hidden also have an in-universe reason for being shown and hidden, this reason being the choices he makes! Agency is the ability of a character to influence the story they’re in, but Wei Wuxian’s agency, as a property of a character who only exists in-universe, shapes the out-of-universe structure as well! That’s how we’re shown its importance! How cool is that?
At The End Of The Road: Summary and Final Thoughts
In this essay, we’ve covered how important Wei Wuxian’s agency is not only to the events of the plot, but to the structure of the narrative as well. The narrative omits periods in which Wei Wuxian has little or no agency, in favour of showing us periods in which he does, even when important events happened in the former. This indicates that who Wei Wuxian is without agency isn’t important enough to be shown to the audience, and therefore that his agency is an integral aspect of his character in MDZS. We’ve discussed how both in-universe and out-of-universe, tragedy does not define him – out-of-universe, the tragic events in Wei Wuxian’s life are used not to build sympathy but rather to show his strength of character and who he still is despite going through them; and in-universe, he chooses not to focus on the negativity and resentment caused by his circumstances or others’ actions, instead staying true to his moral compass and enjoying his life in the present day. Finally, we’ve also explored how this choice is another reason for the omission of certain events from the narrative, resulting in his agency shaping the story in a very literal way – it affects the out-of-universe structure, as well.
It’s quite fitting, for a story whose essence is about defying a conventional narrative – that of righteous clans rising up and defeating a great evil – and about a character who defies many conventional narratives on his own – that of status defining how skilled you could be, that for a golden core being necessary for cultivation and other paths being unavailable, that of a tragic but complete story of someone killed for staying true to their moral code (instead, that character returns to life and has a happy ending) – to have its own narrative play a role in such an important and interesting way.
(Or, if an image would be preferable:)
Thank you for reading!
(Part One | Part Two | Full version on AO3)
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*This strong relation to the present day circumstances is another reason I love the flashback placement so much (and why I think it’s such a loss both screen adaptions altered it so strongly)!
#get ready for tag thoughts because there are a LOT of them#it’s for THIS reason that fanon wwx bothers me so much (didn’t want to get negative on the acual post)#bc so often all the changes are changes that woobify him!#self-sacrificial idiot wwx?? only doing things because… poor him he has so many internal issues and values himself so little-#-so of course he’d sacrifice everything before thinking of another option? woobifying#(whenever he sacrifices something it’s a deliberate choice to act on his morals because he values his morals so much – and he’s also very-#-capable and DOES often find ways for no people to get hurt!)#wasn’t aware that what happened to him at lotus pier was wrong and needs lwj to tell him that for him to have any idea if it?#woobifying (as we see in the lotus seed pod extra he KNOWS it’s unfair)#(he downplays it retroactively in his memory (links into not focusing on the bad things in his life))#(but that’s the actions themselves that are being downplayed not their fairness!)#he chooses to act! he is defined by acting! not tragedy – all the more impressive in the face of the amount of tragedy that’s happened#he could SO EASILY have been a woobie but instead he’s the opposite of one: defined BY his agency instead of the absence of it#that doesn’t mean he’s not impacted by tragedy or trauma – he is! but it’s not the most important aspect of his character (bc he doesn’t le#it’s also something that bothers me about the changes cql made#by making qq path and nightless city the fault of someone else it means he IS someone who’s more a victim of circumstance than anything els#he had no control over the tragedies of his first life at all#apart from ig his death being controlled by him? because he just leaps off the cliff during the nightless city siege?? but in THAT case it’#i watched that part recently (i’m getting through it very slowly) and yeah it reaffirmed my love for this aspect of the book even more#despite. having these exact thoughts for two years already#he also dwells on the past events a lot more than book wwx which adds to that version of him BEING defined more by tragedy rather than who#anyway over 7.3k words total (and 400 more in the tags apparently)... it'll be posted to ao3 in its completion this evening!#mdzs meta#my meta#wei wuxian#mdzs#mo dao zu shi#魔道祖师#grandmaster of demonic cultivation#gdc
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This is a very very unfinished thought but I've been thinking a lot as I reread the books about how the women of House of the Dragon don't really get catharsis and how that'll likely be worse in S2. Say what you want about asoiaf but a number of named women there experience catharsis.
They kill their abusers (Lysa, Cersei, Dany). They regain some agency after a violation (Lysa, Cersei, Lady Stoneheart, Dany), and they refuse to forgive the people complicit in their subjugation (Lysa, Cersei, Dany, Lady Stoneheart, Jeyne Westerling).
Obviously, three or four isn't enough in such an expansive cast of characters but the point remains that they claw back their autonomy however they have to. They're allowed to be angry, bitter, unforgiving and cruel to their abusers in a way women in House of the Dragon just aren't allowed. They're allowed grief, grief that is violent and destructive.
The women of House of the Dragon don't get angry. They stand around and stare plaintively at the camera, they cry prettily, and they plead for peace and non-violence. They suffer and suffer and suffer and there's no relief.
#although dany doesn't really set out to kill her abuser#in fact she doesn't really think of him as her abuser#but the fact remains that her story begins with his death#she gains her dragons and agency through his death#lysa murdering jon arryn#lysa not going to riverrun when hoster is on his deathbed despite cat's letters#she denies him relief for his crimes against her and it's one of my favourite moments in asoiaf#cersei killing robert#cersei eating robert's children taking back reproductive autonomy from the man that hurt her#lady stoneheart turning her grief and pain onto the riverlands#she hangs freys boltons and lannisters uncaringly#it's a failing of the storytelling because this is supposed to be the feminist retelling of the dance#but instead the misogyny that leads up to the dance has been defanged.#the point of the show has been obscured behind endless arguments of the supposed illegitimacy of rhaenyra's first three children#the women fighting for power have been replaced by evil men perched on their shoulders telling them to do bad things#they're helpless victims carried along by the stream of inevitability#or something idk#also i am not including alicent trying to take luke's eye and injuring rhaenyra as cathartic because they are not the cause of her sufferin#house of the dragon#not asoiaf thoughts#daenerys targaryen#lysa arryn#cersei lannister#lady stoneheart#alicent hightower#rhaenyra targaryen#helaena targaryen#rhaenys targaryen
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sorry but. jason was, in the end, just another unlucky person that died at the joker’s hands. we can talk about how his last moments were heroic (throwing himself at the bomb to protect sheila) or about how his search for love was what got him killed (bruce’s perceived rejection pushing him to go looking for sheila in the first place), but it doesn’t change that his death wasn’t something epic. it didn’t matter.
#i hear people call him a martyr and like. i cant agree bc to be a martyr means ur dying for a cause. he…didnt#he was literally just a victim with no agency#was his death tragic? yeah! was it narratively important? not really!#look hes writing himself into a tragedy. but the tragedy is not really there.#ugh im tired. but i am dangling the self mythologizing fish in front of yutro like pspspsps#jason todd#jay shit#peren schmeren#in the tags
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Greek mythology retelling who claim to be feminist biting the curb in 4k
#i hate them#i wish all of them a bad day#madeline miller if i catch you#greek mythology#greek myth#greek myths#tagamemnon#ancient greek mythology#mythology retellings#greek myth retellings#retelling#greek mythos#i hate them all i hate them#AAAAAAAAAAA#i can write one BETTER#taking away womens agencies are not feminist#making women the victim all day every day in them is not feminist
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"autism will ruin your marriage" but taken to a different conclusion. autism so sexy ur spouse cant stop makin eyes at me. autism so charming bitches cant resist the way i posture like a wild animal
#im doing the mental equivalent of facepalming at myself right now but I Said What I Said#like what else am i supposed to think that means#too many people talking about autistic children 'causing divorce' not enough people talking about autistic adults 😏causing divorce💅#(i am of course joking but also it Would be funny to at least mix up the harmful stereotypes just a smidge)#(we barely have agency in their narrative come on at least let us be the ones MANUFACTURING the vaccines to propagate our kind or some shit#(being victim all the time is boring!!!)#tag ramble#fallow buzzes#nonsense#autism#actually autistic#ableism#autism speaks
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I just want to say that I love Esther Finch and she is a great villain but she is sooooooo sinister. I don't think enough people realize how terrible she truly is beacuse we mostly see her as a somewhat campy villain. Which she is but she is also so much more.
To start with she goes after Becky Aspen, a little black girl, and, well, Becky is a very vulnerable person because of it. The police and even other (white) people will be less likely to look for her because she is black. I wouldn't be surprised that the police did very little to look into her disappearance. And Esther isn't a stupid woman, she most likely went after Becky because she uses the systemic issues in place that make it easier for her to go after vulnerable girls, such as Becky Aspen.
Not to mention that the police wouldn't have gone after her anyways because she is friendly with them and they are friendly with her. She talks to them like a friend and the police treat her like one. And it's easy for Esther to do because she is a wealthy white woman, why would she be the cause of such a horrible tragedy? She is trust worthy and our friend so of course this wealthy white woman is not the kidnapper/killer. Because she is a wealthy white woman.
More under the cut
The police also show their incompetence/bias in the show by dismissing Crystal and Niko during the Lighthouse Leapers, because they are 1) outsiders in this town 2) are renting at Jenny's so they must be poor 3) not at school so they must be high/on drugs and 4) woman of color, while not mentioned, is something that most likely played a factor in the cops decision to not believe them.
The cop also immediately runs into Esther, who further turns the cop against Crystal and Niko. Esther takes advantage of her position in society, especially to those who are beneath her, to have power and control over them.
And the police will not side with her victims because it is her words over theirs and her word carries far more weight than those of her victims.
After all, Esther Finch is such a poor wealthy white woman and she is so sinister because it reflects our reality of how we (western) society view wealthy white woman.
#Noble roars#dead boy detectives#dead boy detective agency#dbda#esther finch#becky aspen#niko sasaki#crystal palace#this show is acab and i stand for it#anyways tldr: esther uses her position as a wealthy white woman over her victims and characters in the show to have power over them#especially poc characters and uses the police against them as well#esther is so sinister is bc she reflects our realty of powerful (white) people will go to insane lengths to keep their power by killing#those that society sees as lesser and plays into those perspectives#also i didn't mention it in the post but the difference between how she ties up edwin and charles is very telling on how she views them#she restricted edwin (understandable considering the device)#but she collard charles like one would do to a dog#she could have hand cuffed him (smart even understandable) but no. she collard him because she sees him as so much lesser than her#after all if he was just a little younger and a girl she would have sacrificed him to her snake because#who would look for a missing brown girl? charles' death is already brushed off i doubt it would have changed if he was a girl/woman instead
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laudna *chose to jump off that cliff*
i don't know why y'all keep pretending as if orym actively pushed her off that cliff and not merely stood by
could he have stopped her? yes. but even after that first time, laudna keeps choosing to jump *every single time* and that's not on orym, that's on laudna
she has complete agency and she chooses to give in, and i'm of everyone acting as if she has to agency or choice in this matter
the fundamental difference between laudna and orym is that laudna will never have complete agency over her choices. that's the whole point. every single choice that she makes that may affect delilah will be affected by delilah in turn. even if delilah isn't making herself overtly known, even if she isn't talking, she is there. the fact is laudna cannot be trusted when she explains her reasoning behind any given instance of her consuming power or going dark, because she is, like anyone else might be, inclined to retroactively look for a reason why she might've done it that has nothing to do with the entity poisoning her mind. i think it's entirely unfair to say that she has complete agency and has chosen to go down this path. the whole point of the story being told is that she never has full agency anymore, even when she truly, genuinely, completely believes she does.
#the influence of an abuser does not have to be overtly detectable to be significantly impactful on someone's behavior#and - as marisha has mentioned many times before - neither does the influence of an addiction#you can disagree about the morality of orym standing by when bor'dor died it's complicated and i understand both sides#but willfully ignoring what has been spelled out over and over which is that laudna does Not have full agency anymore#is unfair and does a thorough disservice to the story that marisha and matt are crafting about a victim of abuse and/or addiction.#ask#answered#anonymous#laudna cr#delilah briarwood#cr meta#*meta
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Maya went on The Internet Is Dead podcast to be interviewed about her relationship with Liam and it's interesting; I recommend it for people who were curious about untangling the details in her book from real life (they talk about this in a number of different places with some detail), people who think she's making everything up, and anyone else sending hostile asks about her- we know she is following the fandom talk and responding to it but I have to say it's very satisfying to listen to her rattle through the exact arguments anons on here are sending around and answer every one of them.
some detail below the cut:
The experience was kind of grating at times; maybe it's just me but I never find it enjoyable to listen to people outside of fandom or casual 1D fans talk about us, and I cringe and bristle literally every time someone says "these people" or "they think", plus the hosts are not super useful; they refer to her tiktoks and book repeatedly without actually giving context for the discussion, like I could do with the occasional "in the book you say…" rather than just chatting about it and leaving us to figure out what they are talking about (they don't even say the name of the book), but whatever. There's interesting stuff in there so it was worth it for me and if you prefer you can just get my highlights, here ya go-
-Her making the point that the media training all of the 1D guys have done from such a young age not only impacts how they talk to the press but also how they talk to people in their lives, the tools it gives them for communicating with (and in this case, manipulating) people was fascinating to me, I hadn't thought about that but I will be in the future with regard to all of them, it's just very interesting to have in mind
-she says she had the book read by lawyers before publishing because it was about someone real and real events, and provided proof for things they asked about
-she points out that she has nothing to gain from making this up, and that as someone who works in a law office and is planning to go to legal school, that the fact that bringing false accusations against someone is illegal would be a huge deterrent to lying
-she says that one of the reasons she initially soft pedaled in terms of outright saying that the book was about Liam was that podcasts and such she went on didn't want her to say it, didn't want the liability, and that when she did say it that part would not get printed or would be edited out (hey speaking of this what are all these interviews she did about the book why am I just now hearing about it... when you guys see stuff like this let me know! I am interested and will maybe recap for you even!)
-she mentions Liam's silence on the whole thing more than once; "if someone wrote that about me and it wasn't true I would not just say nothing!"
-she says that her and Liam went to see After not knowing it was a 1D fanfic and then, after finding that out, he joked that she should write a book about them, and that it was where the seed of the idea came from
#maya henry#I have some complicated thought about her comments on management#some of it is yes! and useful#some of it I just... don't have that much interest in these peoples' takes on modest actually#but some of it about liam and his relationship to his management... I think there's some naivete at work#like yes he can fire them#and also you could have left at the first sign of his bad behavior. sometimes there is more complexity at play in life than that#but overall ofc I do think what she's saying is correct: they are not and cannot force him to do anything and he absolutely could fire#anyone he wanted to#and honestly knowing everything we do its not hard to picture anyone who pushed too hard on him being fired right off#but he is also a mess and I think she (but with much more reason and excuse!) falls into the same trap as fandom which is#painting everyone as either an abuser or a victim. so since he an abuser he cannot also have difficulty asserting agency#and setting boundaries for what is okay for him#when ofc that's not true#so like...some complexity imo#but whatever#liam discourse
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