#not bc she's against breaking rules or even breaking the law but bc she thinks that they need to hold themselves accountable

[5bi5]

Wish we could have seen a Kendra-Faith discussion on their philosophies toward slaying because like yes they're opposites in some ways but they've also both fully accepted their slayerhood as a core part of their identities in a way that takes Buffy a long time

[saintzweig]

I’m back. are you sick of me yet. anyway!! I’ve been OBSESSED with the idea of patrick studying law, like idk that just makes so much sense and with that I propose to you: patrick on the mock trial team, or speech and debate. all of the guys on the tennis team think he’s a fucking NERD for doing it, art thinks it’s cool tho! tashi is his go to for practicing his debates before tournaments and she purposely plays devils advocate to piss him off majorly. BUTT going back to u saying reader being a like.. journalism major and working for the campus newspaper, imagine her covering a speech and debate thing and seeing patrick and being like, hm fuckin nerd, but then she goes to a tennis match the next week (bc a friend of hers is like. obsessed with art or some other guy on the team) and then she realizes that guy on the speech and debate team is on the tennis team and he’s like, actually really hot. and then that night she’s at a frat party and she’s getting pulled into a bathroom by a hot as hell guy and, surprise surprise, it’s patrick again. he writes his phone number on some university promotional flier for speech and debate in bright blue pen (using art’s back as a table) and she dies right then and there (and every weekend after when his cock is in her mouth for “stress relief”) - 🎾

(I fear I need to come out of fanfic writing retirement.)

SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONGG i thought about this hard with the very little juice left in my brain. not proofread bc its 3am ... might make the smut part a whole fic :")

you walked into the auditorium, a ‘stanford daily’ id hanging from your neck and a DSLR camera in your hands as you made your way through the sparse crowd to your assigned seat. you're in your third year of uni and elected co-editor in chief at the standford daily, so your job is mostly looking over the process and production of the weekly paper– this meant that you haven't been assigned to cover an event in a while given that you were the one assigning them. but the student who was supposed to cover this debate got sick, and no one else was available so you took it upon yourself to do the job. 

you were surprised to see tashi duncan and art donaldson a few rows in front of you, talking amongst themselves. they're well known on campus, being on the tennis team. you haven't seen or read anything about their life outside of the court, but why a debate event on a tuesday morning? were they that bored? or do they genuinely think that these events are entertaining? 

your unspoken questions were answered when the debate team was called to the stage, and there stood patrick zweig with a smug look on his face. you've never seen him in person before but he was a usual subject in the paper– being a reckless and easily agitated but damn good tennis player. now you're finding out that not only is he on the debate team, he is the captain. and a pre-law student? does this guy come from money or is he just a fucking nerd. 

you've always thought debates to be boring, even if you're a liberal arts student. but patrick zweig proved you wrong. it was mesmerizing to watch how smooth he was with his arguments, he knew the right words to say, the right points to make and the right buttons to push. he riled his opponents up but in a way that doesn't cross the line and break the rules. it was mesmerizing to watch him smirk, as if he found joy in proving others that they're wrong. you didn't even notice that you're on the edge of your seat, squeezing your thighs together. 

you brought the camera up to your face, squinting as you focused the lens on the members of the debate team. and as your camera pans over to patrick, he was already looking directly at you. smirking as he watched you falter for a moment before snapping the photo. you left in a rush as soon as the event ended, heart racing against your will. what the fuck was that? 

two weeks later, you find yourself being dragged by your best friend to a tennis game on campus. stanford versus pepperdine. the men's team are playing today and your best friend bribed you with food to get you to come with her and cheer art donaldson on. the first match started and it was a doubles, art and patrick versus two players from the opposing side. if the sight of patrick defeating his opponents in uniform got your heart racing, be prepared to see him do it in shorts. his thighs were godly and you couldn't take your eyes off it. 

you finally saw him play, seeing his personality on court that everyone was talking about. his serves were unusual but his backhands were fucking hypnotizing. the sounds of the ball being hit back and forth vibrating in your ears, your heart almost exploded when you heard how loud his grunts were as he plays. like before, you found yourself at the edge of your seat, squeezing your thighs together. 

during the break, patrick took the time to scan the crowd before his eyes landed on yours. your mouth gapes slightly open as you feel him stare into you, his lips parted and wrapped around the mouth of his water bottle, the liquid dripping down his chin. he wiped it away, sending you a wink. you don't think you've seen anyone this hot before. 

as if dragging you to a tennis game wasn't enough, you found yourself in a party at some random house that you (unwillingly) and your friend crashed. however, as soon as you walked in, she was taken out of your grasp into a bedroom by her situationship, leaving you to your own devices. you decided to grab a cup of the horribly sweet yet bitter punch in the kitchen before making your way through the house, dragging your fingertips against the wall and feeling the vibration of the music. 

you yelp as someone grasped at your arm and pulled you into the bathroom, the punch nearly spilling all over them. it was patrick, smirking down on you as he crossed his arms, flexing his biceps against the fabric of his polo shirt. “you're a journalist, right?” his voice was soft towards you, unlike the tone he used in the debate and unlike the rasp when he yelled victory during the game. 

you nod, a tinge of pink dusting your cheeks. he smiled at your appearance, you look so tiny next to him and the way you looked up at him, jesus. 

he grabbed a pen from his pocket, placing the cap between his lips as he pulled it off. he takes your arm, pants tightening as he took in the size difference of your arm against his. he chuckles lowly, scribbling his number on your arm. you only stared at him, the proximity making your core throb. “call me, yeah?” he smirks, patting your cheek gently with his large hand before exiting the bathroom. leaving you frozen and aching. 

[merakiui]

https://www.tumblr.com/merakiui/744520913494671360/azul-who-was-spoiled-as-a-child-so-he-believes?source=share

Mera are you not going to elaborate 👀 on how,,,, absolutely entitled tako would be with his not so subtle complex and also riddle who deserves this okay? This is all he's truly ever wanted and by golly he will see it through to the end! He can get through any trial or tribulation so long as he can put it in you

And ofc the tweels are soooooo sex brained that ur opinion doesnt even matter, they dont even have to justifying themselves bc there is no justifying- they want you? They got you!

ACTUALLY........ now that you say this, my thoughts can be expressed more succinctly!!!!!

(cw: yandere, unhealthy behaviors/relationship, non-con, brief mention of slut-shaming, obsession, everyone is just really horrible here)

Azul's mother and stepfather who know their son could do no wrong, so they're shocked and appalled when you start accusing him of something so disgusting. How dare you accuse him of such a horrible crime! He would never! Your parent(s) sits down with the Ashengrottos to discuss and hopefully smooth things over. Azul is so sickeningly sweet and cordial throughout the entire thing while you look scared out of your skin. You insist he's lying, that you're telling the truth, that this is what happened. But then his stepfather threatens to take the matter to court. He knows the law. In the end, you're forced to drop it because your family can't afford a trial right now.

On your way out, Azul smiles at you. Even at twenty-something, he's still their spoiled brat. So entitled! Because he got everything he could ever want from his mother when he was a child, he automatically assumes he'll have you without any problems. But you just had to reject him in elementary. You just had to make a fool out of him in front of the class. It's your fault he couldn't have the one thing he's always wanted. But now he's so much better than his past self, and this time he's not taking no for an answer.

I think it would be a similar situation with Riddle. His mother refuses to believe her son could do any wrong, and the fact that you—some slut who shouldn't be near her Riddle to begin with—have the gall to throw around such wild accusations... You must have been raised so poorly to forgo basic manners and social etiquette. Riddle apologizes profusely for causing such trouble, but his story isn't the truth. You watch him lie to his mother's face and she believes him because he's Riddle Rosehearts, the paragon of pristine perfection. Of course if you and your parent(s) continue to press the matter, Mrs. Rosehearts will threaten to sue and when you're up against the Queendom of Roses's most renowned magical doctor with her prodigious son who could never do any wrong... Surely it's impossible from the start.

Riddle does feel bad. Somewhat. Deep down he knows it's wrong, but he's never had anything special before. Everything has always been chosen for him. He's never had friends. He's never had any hobbies. He's never had a life. And when he saw how radiantly you would shine while passing through campus with your group of friends, he just had to have you. You're like those forbidden strawberry tarts from his youth. He knows it's bad, but he can't help wanting to indulge even if it breaks rules. He's been so good. Surely he's allowed one treat! If it makes you feel any better, he was just as anxious as you were when he mixed that stuff into your drink.

And the twins... oh, the twins. >_< terrible. Their mother babies them incessantly. In canon, it's noted that she tends to call them frequently (nearly every day) because she worries. So she absolutely spoils them rotten. Those are her babies; of course she will! Papa Leech is just as adoring, I'm certain, but then I feel like his love is more of a "tough love" type. In any case, the twins won't accept the word no because they're so used to just getting things. Those sturgeon scales they proudly wear? Those were won through a fight. They want and then they take. It's simple.

So the fact that you'd tell either of them no... Unheard of. All of Floyd's smiley pretenses drop when you reject him. Jade can keep up his own placidity, if only to give you another chance so that you won't whine about how unfair it was in the aftermath: "Would you like to think more carefully about your decision?"

Whatever happens, you can't say or do anything. No one's going to speak ill against the Leech family. They can't. That's just how it is.

[patrocles]

i started hotd but had to stop when criston Beat A Gay Man to Death and then just stuck around making snide comments about rhae i got so confused with the fandom shipping him with alicent did i miss something?? im sorry im not in the fandom i just Dont Understand why people like criston in any way that scene was so upsetting and homophobic

(I'm going to use this opportunity to yap a lot about Criston and Alicent, a lot of this is just things i've been mulling over, I'm not shouting down at you specifically, anon. i absolutely understand wanting to stop the show, or any show that makes you uncomfortable)

So I think a lot of nuance is being purposefully removed when people talk about Criston. And I do think the writing of s1 is to blame cus it is super spotty in a lot of places especially in regards to characterization cus it was just rapid-fire pacing. And a similar argument could also be made for how people talk about Alicent.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m absolutely not saying anyone has to like Criston (or any character) and I’m definitely not saying that Criston isn’t flawed. (In fact, the opposite— that his flaws are exactly what make him a compelling character)

I mean hell, Daemon killed his wife, treats Rhaena like shit, and groomed Rhaenyra, but no one really questions how or why people enjoy him as a character.

But Alicent and Criston DO have a complex and interesting relationship. And I think there's definitely something to be said about how people talk about them specifically compared to the other Targaryen characters. People who hate Alicent like to reduce her whole character down to her being petty and jealous of Rhaenyra for having "good sex", hypocritical, "white feminist", slept with Nyra's dad so she's a scheming bitch the whole time. Very much removing context and simplifying her down to nothing.

A similar thing can be said for how people talk about Criston. It's very easy to reduce him to just this petty incel lunatic, which feels unfair. Especially when Targaryen characters specifically are given miles of deference and nuance, despite their flaws like Aegon for example.

Going back to the writing, I think what got lost in show translation surrounding him killing Joffrey was circumstances surrounding Criston at the time— again, please don’t think I’m excusing it, I just think context matters— is how serious these characters (particularly Alicent and Criston) believe in the world that they're in. And it's not something that's truly emphasized in the writing.

It's not that Alicent is just jealous of Rhaenyra for "having a good sex life", but she truly believes that Rhaenyra is breaking laws that have existed for everyone else forever. (Having bastards is against the law, bastards inheriting IS against the law, putting a bastard on the throne would be super duper against the law). But what broke their friendship was that Rhaenyra lied about something serious, something Alicent would have protected and defended her over, and that cost her her father, the 1 person who was on her side in some small way. Subsequently, she became untrustworthy to Alicent.

And finally she snaps at Driftmark after years of being gaslit and essentially told that the rules that she's always had to abide by (bc it's the rules everyone else has to abide by) (and the rules that got her pimped out to a leper king and forced to have kids he wouldn't even care about), doesn't apply to Rhaenyra and the final straw is being told that the physical well being of her son doesn't matter as much as the hurt feelings of Rhaenyra's.

Circling back, Criston was fully expecting to die after he told Alicent what happened with Rhaenyra because because he broke his oaths and it's punishable by death— and he knows this has been enforced before. He was crumbling, mentally, believing that everything he worked for is gone only to then have his shame indirectly blackmailed/threatened by some guy he doesn't even know. And he snaps with the intent to commit suicide after. But it wasn't an attack out of homophobia, though. It would have happened regardless of who it was, it just happened to be Joffrey.

Why people like Alicent and Criston because they very much are a unit of non-Targaryens existing within the Targaryen family and will always be considered outsiders. (Criston especially is a racial minority within the world, being part Dornish, and who are not looked at favorably by the rest of the country). They've both tried to be a part of this family as best they can, been used by them. (There's definitely a case to be made, whether people like it or not, about the dubious consent surrounding Rhaenyra using her power to get Criston to sleep with her and whether or not he even had the power to refuse her. And part of what breaks him is knowing the 1 thing he had, his honor, was thrown away for something that didn't matter to Rhaenyra at all, even if she knew the consequences for him too.)

Criston is Alicent's person that's kind of just all hers, which matters a great deal to her after nearly a lifetime of never really having anyone that's on her side, exclusively, and hasn't tried to exploit her for their own personal gain. He's sworn to her and likewise, Alicent gives Criston renewed purpose in life. Even if we don't see it, we can absolutely infer that he stepped in with her children when they were being neglected by Viserys. He's probably the 1 person that Alicent has come to trust completely when it became very evident that she had no one else. In Alicent, Criston has found a sort of salvation, and there's this religious idealization of her. They're basically coworkers and kinda best friends and also kinda co-parents.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that he's her attack dog at the ready, as some people have claimed; the 1 time we to see her actually instruct him to do violence (take Luke's eye), he refuses and he goes to stop her from hurting Rhaenyra before being stopped by Daemon.

So what I mean by all this, is that I genuinely think there are a lot of complex things at work with Criston and his relationship with Alicent. That's not at all to say that you have to ship them and I understand why some people don't. I think it's a bit reductive to say that he's just this violent animal with nothing else interesting to think about.

In summary:

[nonuggetshere]

I loved reading all of that. It's so funny how PK's sibs, and at points his dame, tease him. I love it so much 😆

It also got me thinking.

Would it be possible, in another AU (maybe like wayward royals or somewhere waaaaayyy down in FAaF), for Flower them to run into WLs Father. Or, maybe Flower gets separated and meets him by accident. Would he realize their kin or just see him as a territorial threat?

THANK YOU it's one of my favourites, writing family dynamics is so entertaining

AND FUNNY YOU MENTION THAT because I actually have an AU where they meet both of their grandparents! But first, some info about Quercus, then more info about the AU itself

This is gonna get super rambly bc I'm copy-pasting mine and Integrity's messages from discord

His name is Quercus and he is old as balls

He had Amanita when he was very very old too and these two were particularly close because she was the only surviving seedling. She's never seen his persona face to face but they talked a lot and he took great care of her (I think I already mentioned how roots grow up and how he's like with his children)

The kingdom he resides in is quite literally built around, on and into his giant ancient root body. He hasn't fully abandoned his former form like his daughter had and resides in a sort of in-between, which roots can do. His smaller form is connected to his body and is more residual from ages long past when he used to properly rule the kingdom. Now he's retreated from this role and many of the kingdom's peoples don't even realise that the higher being whose body they live in is still alive

He keeps his body beneath the ground, in a chamber he dug amongst his roots, where he mostly resides in and feeds on any poor schmuck that decides to venture into (and get lost in) the twisting, long tunnels amongst his roots

It's been a long time since he's communicated with anyone face to face, which he doesn't mind, roots aren't particularly social and are quite literally built to remain stationary with very little outside stimuli for a very long time

A mortal would have probably go insane if they spent their human lifespan's equivalent in isolation like he did but he's quite literally built different

And when I say ancient I mean ANCIENT

When he had Amanita he probably would be like the human equivalent of a 110 year old

But roots don't die of old age and he's strong and healthy so he's still kicking

The few AUs where he and Adamas meet they do NOT get along its actually so funny

Worsties in law

SO THE AU

I've mentioned that higher beings in my AU have the ability to sense who is their kin and it's especially strong in rootfolk, it's needed considering how they reproduce to avoid inbreeding

LONG story short, Flower needed a fucking break from Everything, ended up getting lost, ended up chancing upon their grandma and almost got their ass beaten by her before she realised they're her kin, after they left she had a bad feeling and decided to follow to keep an eye on them, they arrived at their grandfather's former kingdom and decided hey checking out these tunnels that supposedly nobody came out of alive would be a good idea, Adamas obviously sensed this ancient god in there and followed to keep Flower's dumb ass safe, bullshit ensues when she interrupts him excitedly introducing himself to the first grandkid he's ever met and asking about his daughter

And the two get into a massive argument. Because it just didn't occur to them that their children could EVER end up together

And Flower can't get a word in to explain

Adamas might not be a god but she's so willing to square up against one about this, Flower is HER kin so you can go fuck yourself you overgrown carrot

Flower: Fucking hell, now I get why my parents are Like That

Quercus: they’re clearly a root!

Adamas: they’re clearly a wyrm!

Flower: I—

Adamas: where’s their vines and roots and flowers than Hm? You’ve gone mad in old age

Flower: hey guys—

Quercus: Bold words from a mortal

Adamas: I might not be a god but I still don't mind kicking the ass of one!

Flower: OKAY! Alright! Enough fighting! Here's a wild idea; I am both of yours grandchild

Quercus: ...No

Adamas: Impossible

Quercus: Why would any of my children lower their standards so much as to take something as beastly as a wyrm for a partner?

Adamas, bristling: What could a root even provide for any of my clutches, besides sustenance after ripping into one? You're all soft, lazy pushovers

Flower: Fucking hell–

Flower: what if I ditched you both and left. What then. What if just leave

They just. Ditch their grandparents but of course Adamas goes to hunt them down

Adamas: Didn't your sire and dame teach you it's rude to sneak away like that?

Flower: I didn't sneak away, I even said goodbye, you were just too preoccupied with tour squabbles. Why do you keep following me anyways?

Adamas: It's not often I get to meet my grandchildren, let alone one's so careless or stupid enough to not only wander into another wyrm's densite but to also march into an ancient, hungry God's open maw. Somebody has to teach you self preservation because clearly whichever of my children had you failed at that

Flower: Oh, joy...

Adamas: …which one was it anyways?

Flower, who doesn’t even know PK or WL’s name: ….. the pale short one?

Adamas, also pale and kind of short: .......Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down?

Adamas, starting to list names:

Flower: I don’t know his name

Adamas: ??????????

Adamas: Are you serious?

Flower: ...Does the Pale King of Hallownest ring a bell?

Adamas: You only know him by his title?

Flower: It's a long story, don't dodge the question

Adamas: I suppose I've heard of him, wyrm kingdoms aren't that common nowadays- isn't he a god? One of my children is an actual god?

Flower: Wh- how did you hear of him but never realised he was your son? You have no right to judge me holy shit

Adamas: So it's decided, I'm going back to Hallownest with you and beating your parent's ass

Flower: HUH WHAT

Adamas: Fucker can't teach you how to take care of yourself and makes you use their title, I'm setting their ass straight if that's the last thing I do

Flower: WHO'S DECIDING THIS WE DIDN'T DECIDE SHIT I DO NOT AGREE TO THIS

SORRY GOT OFF TOPIC

Point is, Quercus would recognise Flower (and any other grandkid) and would ADORE them, especially if he knew they came from his little princess. But PK and his part of the family? Yeah uh. The old man does Not like nor approve of them

I think the only thing Adamas and Quercus would agree on is that Flower's parents kind of suck

Especially if they find out about the whole vessel thing

[waterloggedsoliloquy]

see i take "doomed by the narrative" to mean a character who is doomed (either dead or stagnant with no hope of any trajectory) by the narrative (the nature of the work existing as a story puts unique pressure/limitations on the characters through the medium of choice, where the fact that its a story with a weaker fourth wall is a deliberate choice). Doomed by the narrative meaning the constraints of narrative/genre/medium actively prevent the character from getting out of a cul de sac, and the character pushing against this metatextual boundary is part of the conflict and futility of the exercize. but i see "doomed by the narrative" applied to characters who dont die, break free from their constraints, or go stagnant at all, let alone in metatextual fashions.

what i mean is like. truman and utena are doomed by the narrative in the sense that the narrative is an oppressive force that has put them in a lose-lose situation, no matter how much they object, and the only move left for them is to exit their respective stories. the only things left for them in the narrative are death, or playing by the rules and stagnating. so they bring the curtain down. this is also the intended functions of the truman show and of RGU, to deliberately invoke the fact that the world is a closed narrative and not let you-- the viewer-- forget it, in order to make a point, or a lot of points. The Truman Show and RGU categorically can't be interacted with an audience looking for an experience where they can be sufficiently immersed into a story that they don't need to think about it as something someone else made. (Tangentially, i feel like a lot of shallow criticisms of virtually anything could be remedied by reminding them that the works they complain about were created on purpose by real living people and did not spring fully flawed out of the void.) Thats not to say that kind of story or audience is wrong-- there are countless stories that work better without the looming reminder of fictionalization hanging over someone's head. But it's just-- ugh, you get me. onto another example.

Antigone is doomed by the narrative because the complicated poetry of her small world is of the understanding that this is a tragedy, and the hero of a tragedy must die, no matter how much they try to fight it. The laws of her world are defined entirely amd immutably by the genre it takes place in. The characters implicutly know this. The best thing she can do is die on her own terms. No matter how many times the play is put on, the end result is the same. The characters of the world of OFF are doomed by the narrative because OFF is painfully aware that it is a video game, and many of the characters know it, or at least they know there is a higher power watching it spool out. And if you are an adversary in an RPG standing between the protagonist and his progression, there is only one end for you, and its your HP reaching zero. Finishing OFF means finishing them off. The game has multiple endings but to even get to the end you gotta kill basically everyone. By then its too late. There is not a circumstance where these characters survive bc the rule of the medium does not permit it. This is the category of fridged women.

As for stagnation this is for characters that are by edict of the limits of the narrative are neither permitted to die nor improve their situation nor even leave. They have reached a point of no return. This may or may not be their fault. I think this is a pretty rare character type. Creon also from antigone goes here. Zacharie, also from OFF. Any protagonist of an abandoned webcomic lol. WD Gaster.

i just feel like if ur gonna talk abt a character who is doomed u better actually mean a character who, no matter how many times you reroll the dice, is going to be irreparably fucked. And if its at the hands of a narrative you better mean its at the hands of the narrative, and that its part of the point, an active pressure and limiter.

[horizon-verizon]

if veserys not believing that Rhaenyras boys are bastards make them automatically legitimatzed / Lenoe claiming them automatically trueborn

than you can make the argument that joffrey, myrcella and tommen are automatically legitimized bc Robert didn’t care to investigate/ Tywin ignored the rumors

medieval laws are stupid but at lest legitimization is pretty clear

(obvi that didn’t matter during the dance bc than she could have done it herself but you get my point)

Anon's probably talking about this POST.

Answer:

You wanna talk “laws”? Only the monarch can legitimize a bastard. (Source) 

Viserys is/was the monarch. That is the "law".

So if he accepts the boys...they are legitimized for all intents and purposes.

Acknowledgements are different from legitimization, and yet a bastard can still be considered to inherit lands, rights, and privileges. (Source) People break or twist their own “rules” all the time. If Viserys were to work through, around, and still use such customs to his advantage, why can’t he? This is where you should realize that this is all inherently bullshit.

Yeah, monarchies and stratified social hierarchies are unfair. But that's not the evil I am trying to let you know. You say that the laws of bastardry and legitimization are clear. However, again, people break customs and laws all the time, including this bastardry one. You are trying to say that there is a solidity and factual basis for illegitimacy, when history and humans actions against and against prove you wrong. Bastardry is first and foremost a tool of power in a strained social hierarchy. Like I already said in that preferred post.

And again, absolute monarchies and other governments keep secrets to stay in power despite customs all the time whether or not those customs are inherently moral or totally unethical, including monarchies.

Because illegitimacy is a sociopolitical construct that only exists in a stratified social hierarchy, historically and practically only the king/male ruler (because Westerosi monarchy is culturally gendered before and during Rhaenyra, her reign being the thing that would have troubled that) we get to a point where only the king is the one to publicly and offically decide who is a bastard and who isn’t.

Illegitimacy, again, is more of what people make of it than any fixed reality, as I already said in that post which I think you will refuse to really think about. It is not a fact, no matter what laws or customs exists. It needs the passive and active decision of the people around to have any actual true and real effect.

Robert Baratheon didn't do anything to even admit to himself that the kids weren't his, but he couldn't because the Lannisters actively support him. Therefore he accepts those kids publicly. That is enough.

Because Bastardry is a legal, sociopolitical device and invention, not a true biological, inherent existence.

Therefore, bastardry is bastardry or useful when it's publicly acknowledged as bastardry by the noble. Do you see the issue here?

[catvampire]

i saw your reblog of the Matt gifset and what do you mean by "they ruined both of you for this arc?" I get that they made Barnes more despicable in cm compared to cmbb but what about Matt? Is it that the lack of references to his time in the IRT or his reduced role in the Barnes storyline despite their established history in favor of JJ or something else?

it's two different issues, it was just funnier to say that

my bigger issue is barnes, who was absolutely stripped of any and all actual characteristics she had, including but not limited to her positive sides. and god, you can see kim try to do interesting, non-obvious choices, like the few times where she plays some lines like she might just genuinely confused about the hostility and is trying to understand the team better on some level. they took away not just the nuance in her, but also just the most basic fucking things about her, down to using chess metaphors when she specifically says that she "likes boxing" when asked about her aptitude in understanding internal politics as chess. she even got an even shorter haircut than in cmbb, just so we all know she's an Evil Woman.

as for matt. they actually brought in something from the IRT. they actually had something tying to the other show. they could've actually displayed the emotional impact that barnes on matt, allowed for a character episode that ties into something other than family, and expands on the circumstances that led to him transferring. the set-up had SO MUCH POTENTIAL. in blowback, barnes tried to hammer the IRT down when she had every reason to think they were at fault, but eventually took a risk and arrested someone while knowing full well she would make waves and would need to quiet down some details as soon as the evidence was on the IRT's side. in the finale, she pushes for the rules hard, very clearly emotionally distancing herself in the situation bc there's just nothing that be done until jack's wife gets through her and she tells IRT to break the law to get ryan. and after that, presumably they got caught anyway and the unit is disbanded. that's twice she's been an antagonist, twice that she's been the key to saving the day; once fully by the book (if mismanaged by her temper and desire to get things Done over doing things with care), and once by breaking it, which turned out for the worst.

so here we have matt, whom i see as "compassion within the rules" and needs extreme circumstances to blatantly break from that, against barnes, who is "rules regardless of compassion (so make the compassion fit within the rules or help you god)". the bau has had a string of extremely risky behaviour, some acts that absolutely err on the side of wrong from a bureaucratic perspective, and after multiple already concerning events that have included the team, an agent finally died. it is the perfect storm to introduce her to, matt being the perfect opponent and the reason to care about and fear barnes.

so how in the fuck do you manage to not make matt the main character in the ensemble for a single episode during the entire four episode arc.

HOW DO YOU WRITE A THIRD OF THE SEASON TO REVOLVE AROUND THIS AND AT EVERY POINT, THE MOST OF WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT ITS IMPACT ON MATT IS THROUGH REACTION SHOTS SHARED WITH OTHER PEOPLE

HOW IS MATT A MARGIN MENTION IN AN ARC ABOUT HIS OWN ANTAGONIST. WHY IS IT SPENCER THAT COMPELS EMILY TO STAY AND NOT MATT, WITH WHOM EMILY ALREADY HAD A PRE-BAU DYNAMIC WITH AND WHO OF ALL PEOPLE SHOULD BE THE ONE GOING "I KNOW WHAT'S AT STAKE, AND YOU SHOULD STILL STAY."

anyway tl:dr; barnes being ruined was about her character, matt about the writing of the episodes

[arafinweanappreciation]

okay here comes the essay bc there are way too many arafinweans on this list for me to let it stand

first off,

Findis (not an arafinwean but still): tbh i think her being the sane normal one in a family of drama queens is what MAKES her interesting. what did she have to do to maintain that???? how did she avoid getting caught up in it???? are we sure she's actually sane and normal or is she just as screwed up but in the opposite direction???? also there's that whole thing with fingolfin and feanor very clearly being indis and finwe's favorites, respectively, that i will never stop obsessing over. i especially liked this one take that i can't remember where i saw about how fingolfin may have been indis's favorite because he was so very noldorin and she was trying to fit and prove she belonged and wanted the same for her children. fingolfin was getting a good grade in meeting cultural expectations, something that is normal to want for your child and possible for them to achieve, whereas findis and finarfin were very vanyarin, which might have made her a little more distant and critical. we know how finarfin dealt with that (by running away to aqualonde) but what about her???? she's this black hole of information surrounded by implications and it is SO fun to play with.

Angrod: once again it is the people around him that kind of define this negative space that he is and i think it's so so interesting. this guy has a stable marriage, which is something none of his cousins or siblings (or paternal uncles! or even really his grandfather!) managed if their spouses even made it to beleriand. i also find it interesting that he was paired with aegnor to hold the seige of angband. we know it's implied aegnor is a kind of a hothead, so it makes it seem like he's probably the compliment to that, the level-headed planner, which makes you wonder why exactly he had his infamous argument with caranthir. my best guess is that he never, ever forgave the feanorians for the first kinslaying, which lines up with my headcanons about him being very close to his mom's family. it makes for an interesting character concept, imo. he's the smart one, the practical one, but he's also filled with this roiling anger that he has to tamp down at all times in the interest of the common good. otherwise thingol ends up banning quenya.

Orodreth: this one is all about the angst. he loses everything. his home is destroyed, his parents are killed, he sends his wife and son away out of fear for their lives (i'm a gil-galad son of orodreth son of angrod truther), his uncle/mentor is killed. all he has left is his daughter and his prospective son-in-law. he's left in charge of nargothrond faced by betrayal from every corner. and he has these impossible shoes to fill. because how do you live up to finrod felagund? and he tries, but he can't! he doesn't! he ultimately makes the choices that get him and his entire family killed and his city destroyed! and he is left with nothing but his own death and his soul-crushing guilt! someone needs to get this man a hug and therapy!

Gil-galad: look this man's life is just wild. last possible dude in line for the throne and he not only ends up inheriting but also does a halfway decent job???? but the thing is he's a king of a small group of refugees huddled against the coastline hoping earendil will find a way for them to go back to a home they left and some have never even set foot in. he rules and it breaks his heart. he's the youngest high king the noldor have ever had. the impostor syndrome had to be crushing. also of we don't know anything about his family then does he??? does he resent his parents' decision???? how long does it last??? does he even have time to think about it???? he spends most of the second age just trying to keep his people alive and elrond out of trouble. he does so admirably but he can only hold on for so long before he dies at the hands of sauron (literally)

A non-exhaustive list of Finwëans I simply do not find interesting:

The man himself, the OG, the very much not-legend, Finwë. Like thanks for failing through life, emotionally fucking up every single person you remotely interacted with, and then dying to catalyse the plot. What was even the point.

Findis. Ok this one upsets me because I’m sure she COULD be interesting but like… what does she do? How is she involved?? You might say “oh she’s smart and doesn’t participate in the toxic family drama” but?? I’m reading the book because I’m invested in the toxic family drama?? The sane and normal one is not going to interest me??

Amras. Why are you here? Your twin was literally burned to death and somehow you aren’t even in the RUNNING for Saddest Fëanorian. Smh do better. (In a non-crispy Amrod canon, all this is doubly so and Amrod also becomes uninteresting.)

Angrod. Again, who even is this guy. Caranthir yelled at him once for visiting Thingol, which was a stupid reason. He should have yelled at him for having no plot relevance and not even the excuse of an interesting and tragic romance.

Orodreth. Oooh he annoys me because I don’t know who his father is. Also despite his non-negligible role in two of the Great Tales, he just… doesn’t intrigue me at all. I don’t know what his deal is and I Don’t Care.

Gil-galad. The parentage debate is funny but I am simply not invested in him as a person. He just strikes me as the Voice of Authority in the background of all the Second Age drama where Elrond, Celebrimbor and Galadriel are far more interesting players.

Ok now come out of the woodworks and defend your blorbos!!

[bestworstcase]

on ‘villainy’ and varian’s and cassandra’s moral codes

for all that varian’s and cassandra’s villain arcs get compared to death they’re really more different than they are similar, and i think one of the more interesting distinctions is the characters’ moral perspectives on their own actions--namely that varian recognizes his own choices as villainous and consciously self-identifies as a ‘bad guy’ and cassandra not only…doesn’t do that but appears legitimately taken aback when varian says she’s ‘become the villain.’ from this we can infer that varian is transgressing his own personal sense of right and wrong while cassandra isn’t.

and… well with varian i think it’s pretty straightforward: he’s a kid who desperately wants to make the world a better place and make his father proud, but his impulsivity and recklessness and general disregard for lab safety foil his plans and get him into trouble. then one of his accidents puts his dad into what is essentially a magical coma and varian becomes singularly focused on reviving him--and, when he realizes that the king is more invested in covering up the problem than fixing it and his only hope lies with a zealously guarded relic belonging to the kingdom, he decides that the only way to achieve this goal is to start breaking the rules.

so he asks rapunzel--his friend who promised to help him--to retrieve some information the king is trying to steal from him, and then persuades her to help him access the sundrop vault; then when she balks at stealing it he makes it clear that he no longer trusts her and escapes with the flower. at this point he’s in the morally dubious zone; being strategic about what he tells rapunzel to make sure she helps him, spiking cookies with truth serum to sow chaos and get information he needs, and doing things that are crimes on paper but also largely victimless. i think these were things varian could probably rationalize as okay--not exactly good, but no one got hurt and he got what he needed.

except the flower’s magic is gone. he drugged the palace, manipulated rapunzel and broke her trust in him, and committed treason all for something useless because the actual magic of the sundrop is in rapunzel herself. now he’s in trouble, because he needs rapunzel’s help but his desperate measures guaranteed she won’t be willing to help him again. and this is when varian realizes that his only options are 1. give up on saving his dad and turn himself in and hope rapunzel takes pity on him, or 2. accept that no one is going to help him now and do whatever it takes to free quirin himself.

so--mutating ruddiger, attacking the city, kidnapping arianna and threatening her with encasement in amber, building an automaton army to defend him while he works--these are all things that varian feels are wrong, but chooses to do anyway because he doesn’t trust that anyone else will even try to save his father. despite his anger and his rationalizations, at the end of the day varian sees himself as doing bad things for good reasons. (“Believe me, I know/I’ve sunk pretty low” & “I’m the bad guy, that’s fine”)

and when his reasons fall through--when he fails to free his dad--he falls quickly into guilt and despair over having hurt people for nothing. he stews for a year in how unforgivable and ashamed he feels, and even when he teams up with the separatists, he’s doing it in, basically, pursuit of a reset button: he wants to take back what he did. and when rapunzel shows him that he can be forgiven, he can have a second chance, he does have people who are willing to help him and trust him again, he drops the memory-wiping idea and his alliance with the separatists without a second thought--because what rapunzel actually does is give him a way to pursue his goals without sacrificing his conscience, which is what he really needed the whole time.

now, cassandra, on the other hand…

cass is an interesting character in this regard because, while she does want to be a hero, she’s not at all altruistic. she’s consumed by her lack of autonomy and she craves not only control over her own life but also respect from the people around her--her desire to be a hero is very self-interested, at its core. and moreover she has a somewhat fatalistic view of the world wherein some people (not her) matter and some… just don’t. 

moreover cassandra, despite her ambitions of becoming a guard, doesn’t so much as blink at eugene’s or the pub thugs’ criminal pasts--she is suspicious of lance at first, but on the grounds that he’s an unrepentant thief who showed up out of the blue under suspicious circumstances to ‘reconnect’ with his old partner in crime; eugene is also distrustful of lance, for the exact same reasons--and of course she doesn’t think twice about breaking the law herself. literally one of the very first things we see cassandra do is commit treason to make her friend happy. cass doesn’t care about the law, and she only wants to be a guard because she associates getting the job with having her dad’s approval and it’s also her ticket out of lifelong servitude.

on the other hand, cass does seem have a strong sense of right and wrong where people she cares about are concerned. she is constantly putting the desires and well-being of her friends ahead of not just her ambitions (e.g. in beginnings for rapunzel, or great expotations for varian) but also her own safety (e.g. risking her livelihood and home to sneak rapunzel out for the night in bea, or setting aside her misgivings about the sketchy bird people in freebird). 

which is all to say--cass isn’t exactly amoral but the moral framework through which she sees the world is… more complicated than varian’s. she doesn’t seem particularly motivated to help strangers but she’ll move mountains to help people she cares about; she doesn’t care much about rules or laws except insofar as she doesn’t want to get caught breaking them, and she has this hierarchical mindset that some people matter--meaning, they get to make decisions for themselves and have people care about what they need and want--and some don’t, and that she herself is stuck in the latter category despite her best efforts to climb out of it.

which brings us to the subject of the moonstone, and cassandra’s villain arc, and why cass, unlike varian, doesn’t consider herself a bad person.

i think what it comes down to most is this: taking the moonstone is an act of defiance against not only rapunzel but also fate itself. waiting in the wings sets up cassandra’s resigned acceptance of this hierarchical order and her own cosmic insignificance, and then in crossing the line she REJECTS that same order. she’s raging against rapunzel but also against the cultural and legal and destined systems that put rapunzel on top and forced cass into subservience. she is very literally fighting for her freedom against the universe itself.

and when cass was not an altruistic or heavily morally motivated or even particularly law-abiding person before, and when her conscience has always been predominantly oriented around taking care of her friends first and herself second, and when the thing that drove her to this breaking point was her friends spitting that back in her face… well.

it’s easy to say “cass literally tried to murder rapunzel a bunch of times, how can she possibly believe she’s the good guy?”--but rapunzel maimed cass, blamed her for it, and consistently prioritized her destiny over cassandra’s wellbeing; and rapunzel represents the cosmic order that cass is fighting to liberate herself from. and while i know that the -popular- take on be very afraid is “cass is terrified of hurting rapunzel,” i submit it’s actually “cass is terrified of having to fight rapunzel, because she still believes that fate is literally tilted in rapunzel’s favor and she can’t win a direct fight with rapunzel.” that’s why she’s so scared; that’s why rapunzel seemingly deleting the red rocks hardens her resolve; that’s why she marches into corona with maximum drama and bluster and builds a fortress and tries so hard to mess with rapunzel’s head before the battle begins. she’s trying to even the odds. and that’s why, when rapunzel stomps her into the curb, cassandra’s immediate response is “i need an army.”

cassandra isn’t scared for rapunzel. she is scared OF rapunzel.

we do also see cass trying not to harm people she considers to be innocent bystanders; she uses the truth serum on varian bc she needs the incantation, but afterwards she doesn’t even bother to restrain him until after he starts pestering her, she says flat out that she doesn’t want him to get hurt when she fights rapunzel; similarly she is willing to hurt calliope to force rapunzel to comply, but--despite her deep personal dislike of calliope--uses a minimum amount of force and again verbally expresses that she doesn’t particularly want to hurt her, that it’s a means to an end and nothing more. attacking rapunzel? that’s fine, rapunzel is her enemy. attacking eugene? of course, he’s rapunzel’s closest ally. mind controlling the brotherhood? that kills two birds with one stone--eliminating powerful enemies with a vested interest in taking the moonstone away from her and turning them into allies who can level the playing field between her and rapunzel. and when she does finally snap and raze corona to the ground? the people of corona attacked her first. i think cass ABSOLUTELY sees herself as fighting a purely defensive war against people who have or will hurt her.

and this is, of course, ultimately why varian failed to get through to her during ‘nothing left to lose’--he appealed to her sense of morality and her sense of morality shrugged. 

as for the thing that snaps her out of it? the moment that forces her to question whether she’s really as right as she thinks she is? it’s learning who her new friend really is. it’s the shock of finding out that she’s been allied with, confiding in, taking advice from a legendary villain, from a monster she likely grew up hearing stories about. cass takes it as a given that zhan tiri is evil--and if she’s friends with zhan tiri, what does that make her? and even then, cass is resistant to the idea that she might be a villain--“No, no, I’m nothing like you. Just because I’m pursuing my destiny doesn’t make me a bad person!”--which is, ultimately, very telling of her whole mindset. she’s not a bad guy, she’s fighting for her freedom. she’s not a bad guy, she’s protecting herself against people who want to exploit her. she’s not a bad guy, she’s just putting herself first for once.

and OAH generally, i’d argue, is not actually about cassandra trying to reconcile with rapunzel or redeem herself or be a better person, it’s… literally cass trying frantically to prove she’s NOT the bad guy. it’s “oh yeah? you think i’m a bad person? well could a bad guy do THIS? *lies and impersonates a former coworker and gets up on a stage to justify her own actions in front of a crowd*” it’s “a bad guy wouldn’t apologize, rapunzel never apologized for anything, and to prove i’m a better person I’M going to apologize! see? SEE!?”--and then everyone in corona attacks her and she goes “FINE, i’m the bad guy, fuck you all” and wrecks the place.

only then--only in plus est en vous--does cassandra get into a mindset similar to varian’s, of “i am the bad guy but if i can pull this off it will be worth it.” she’s not sorry. she still sees rapunzel as an enemy trying to get her under control again, and the only thing that’s really changed is cassandra acknowledging that she has in fact done bad things too.

and… i would argue that by the end of plus est cassandra… feels some guilt but isn’t sorry. “i’ve failed” and “i’ve done terrible things” and “i tried to prove i was more than everyone thought but they were right”--her anguish is not like varian’s anguish in RR, where he was consumed with despair because no one could possibly forgive him for the things he did. cassandra is upset because she did awful things and failed and she perceives that failure as proof of her own worthlessness. she’s right back to feeling how she felt in waiting in the wings but with a hefty new helping of self-disgust and shame for having been stupid enough to believe she could change anything for herself. 

she’s not sorry. she’s not pleading for forgiveness. she just wants rapunzel to give up and leave her alone--& then, after rapunzel convinces her that she’s wrong, and she does have worth as a person, and she does have a destiny of her own, cass does what’s necessary to clean up the crisis she created and then… just bounces. she gets the freedom she wanted and leaves without a backward glance.

(which. good for her.)

tl;dr: varian’s villain arc explores his moral scruples and what it takes for him to be willing to ignore them, whereas cassandra’s villain arc explores her incendiary reaction to a lifetime of injustices; she isn’t amoral but her sense of right and wrong is, unlike varian’s, very contextual and personal. varian is a pragmatic idealist who wants to be lawful good but is capable of setting his own morals aside in pursuit of a goal he considers to be important enough, and cassandra is one radicalizing incident away from realizing that her grievances are not a unique personal failing but a systemic problem and then leading a class uprising.

[seismicsight]

for the non lok watchers, could you elaborate on the problems of the rcpd and how it became something that toph didn't want to happen?

Some quick points because I had a nice long draft written and lost it all bc this app hates me:

LoK often strikes a tone that champions the status quo above social progress. There’s a lot of ideological mish mash that basically comes down to neoliberalism as a default, with villains that act as strawmen for the political struggles of the 20th century. As a result, it doesn’t really place a critical eye on the RCPD as a whole, despite its depiction as an arm of the government with a monopoly on violence which serves the interests of the governing elites. This is jarring to a viewership coming out of watching A:tLA, which places its protagonists in direct opposition to unjust institutions in a global conflict, and whose writing makes interesting and balanced criticisms of players within that conflict regardless of social, political, or economic position. The last time the audience saw an elite force of uniquely talented earthbenders take orders from a government official, they watched the Dai Li run a totalitarian shadow government in Ba Sing Se. With this parallel in mind, it’s only natural that they balked at the revelation that Toph - who often expressed her hatred for corrupt and unjust systems - was party to the RCPD’s formation.

Where LoK - and particularly the RCPD- struggles as a fantasy follow-up to its anti-authoritarian, anti-colonial precursor is that it doesn’t take any meaningful steps to distinguish itself from real-world problematic policing institutions. It is depicted as a force that ‘arrests first, asks questions later,’ and has even been a hindrance to the protagonists when their goals ran counter to those of the governing body. The RCPD also looks and feels like a New York police force in the early 20th century, which is another conversation in itself given the implication that the Asian-centric culture of yester-year needed to be Americanized to feel like it was in the future… but I digress.

The knee-jerk reaction is to say “Toph hated rules as a child, why would she enforce laws as an adult?” In the interest of neutrality, it bears noting that on a practical level she is well suited to many aspects of the job. Physically and intellectually, that is. It would have been personally fulfilling in many respects, not the least of which is that it began as a favor to her closest friends and placed her in proximity to them.

Ideologically, though, my interpretation differs from LoK canon because while she is not the activist of the group (that’s Katara) she does have strong opinions & ideals, and has the tenacity and cunning to champion her beliefs regardless of the constraints of her position. Part of me sees the LoK timeline as one where Toph was late in doing the internal work to break the cycle of abuse. What better way to ensure her agency is never challenged again than to wield the institutional power that was so often leveraged against her growing up? What points more clearly towards a trauma response than over-correcting her parenting approach based on what she suffered as a kid?

So in this house, Toph already began working on her shit in her 20s-30s. Through that lens, I don’t think she’d have directly shaped the RCPD into what it is in LoK, but rather founded the department on principles of anti-institutionalization, rehabilitative justice, etc. I’ve outlined my ideas for her tenure as the RCPD founder here and here.

Anyhow, I think it bears noting that the RCPD in LoK is decades removed from Toph’s leadership. So I like to imagine that she did lead a progressive organization that championed accountability, questioned unjust or politically-motivated legislation, and truly served the community… but since she stepped down it has been shaped into something she would not recognize.

[horizon-verizon]

As I said and agreed, this is a feudal monarchy. While GRRM says it is an absolute monarchy, the truth is Westeros has traits of both a feudal and absolute monarchy, so it reads as either the in-between stage or a hybrid. Which explains pretty much the character of the monarchy in Westeros where the king's word IS the end while lords still have and retain vassals in their own right.

I also said that this feudal monarchy was being headed by a dragon-riding dynasty that was getting more and more powerful with each generation.

You:

I didn't say that Rhaenyra doesn't and/or shouldn't have a claim. Rhaenyra’s gender obviously shouldn't matter, and she does have a claim, but so does Aegon. Rhaenyra’s claim is based on the king decreasing it, while Aegon’s claim is based on several millennia of precedence*.

I* also did not say Aegon the Elder didn't have a theoretical claim.

I argue against the idea that he had more "legitimate" claim than Rhaenyra, especially as you imply and OP directly states that Viserys "broke" "laws" including the Widow's Law, which I already argued he wasn't breaking any laws.

Meanwhile, viserys chose Rhaenyra. He is the head. Anyone who tries to upend his plans are actually the one who chose to disobey another central feudal principle.

If you argue that, you'd have to face the truth that:

most Westerosi lords already do [GRRM's quote & the instances in AWoIaF] which is twist or break from custom or past precedents for their own advantage

there were many woman who were named heir or became the leader of their respective houses [look at AWoIaF!!!] this is a male preference primogeniture society, NOT an agnatic nor male-exclusive primogeniture one!!

these aren't laws that are the kind that are enforceable by a higher power than the king or the "people"; the only "laws" are those Rhaenys, Jaehaerys made and any declaration and monarch makes. This is rather "customs" and "rules of feudal conduct and war"

let's talk about legitimization as a parallel to Rhaenyra not being the "legal" heir (despite Viserys naming her) Corlys Velaryon has two bastard boys legitimized through Rhaenyra's word as the monarch...some people would argue that Rhaenyra was never truly the Queen bc she lost or bc Aegon was coronated before she had her own....so by their logic, or by just their admission, the Velaryons are therefore not a "legitimate house" even into the current timeline bc Alyn Velaryon's legitimacy is a sham, but that would be stupid, wouldn't it?!!!! -> what does all this tell us? Corlys was within his right to name his bastard sons as his heirs after a Queen's declaration even over his own trueborn granddaughters bc he was the head and this is the reason why more supporters came out for Rhaenyra than those for Aegon (many say that Rhaenyra "stole" Driftmark form these girls forgetting or ignoring that they are not a part of the Velaryon house AND Corlys, as the head, willfully never thought of them as his heirs!!!); as i said, once again, there are no codified, inflexible laws against bastards or women inheriting that have been tweaked or ignored or otherwise ignored in Westeros!!!! As GRRM confirms!

therefore, Viserys was well within his right AS THE HEAD OF HIS OWN HOUSE to name his daughter his heir

In Westeros, a child has claim either/both from them being named or/and being eldest, as once again, they twist and don't follow their own customs all the time. Let's not pretend they don't. I already gave examples and refer to specific cases in the two reblogs. Aegon's claim was never "decreased", as while boys are preferred, by both Jaehaerys's Widow's Law AND the history of Targ succession which I have already detailed as being a special case (which the wiki and F&B both themselves tell AND show), we have had girls ascend/named as heirs even by just contingency when most (but even then, not all) nonTargs wouldn't choose so. The only way one would think Aegon's claim was "decreased" so that Rhaenyra's would "increase" (which are not actually great words to describe strengthening a political, lineal claim) was that if you believed his claim was automatically "stronger" than Rhaenyra's. This is your implication and what you want to get across. Let's not deny that.

Apparently, because Aegon is male and the male Westerosi lords want men to rule and decided things for communities and houses and overall society, then Aegon the Elder should rule.

As I already gave details and an explanation for in my two reblogs, what are those precedents made of? How are precedents made at all? Precedents are made stronger or weaker by choices and actions, and they are not final laws whatsoever. Which is the whole point! They are more starting places that could become something more solid and enduring if there are certain decisions made. Really, they are treated as such by Westerosi nonTarg and Westerosi Targ peoples alike.

The precedent for Targ male primogeniture was made after Jaehaerys made his series of choices that lead to the GC of 101, however, when has precedence ever stopped him from marrying Alysanne? Or releasing the Maegor supporters who would later create a mutiny at the Wall, when the most expedient and suggestively preferred and "precedental" decision was to execute the two Maegor's men: Olyver Bracken, Raymund Mallery, Jon Tollett, and Symond Crayne.

Why is it that Jaehaerys can create his own precedents or strengthen new ones, but Viserys cannot? And let's not say because Jaehaerys created peace and Viserys didn't: a) those same Maegor men would go on to create a mutiny that killed Alaric Stark's brother so that Alaric never truly cared for Jaehaerys b) the GC led to Viserys I being king anyway, which lead to Rhaenyra being heir despite the fact that Rhaenys would/should have been AND the GC and Jae passing Rhaenys over the first time after Aemon died were all him making decisions despite opportunity because he sincerely believed that men should rule before and over women for its own sake. I have a post HERE explaining the Targ assimilation into Andal customs of from Aenys to Alicent and the resulting Targ-Andal paradigm.

As for Rhaenys and Visenys, the situations ARE different. Why not ask ourselves why?

It's not because of any "natural" or 100% "inevitability" of men ruling and women losing power--it's because of actions and decisions made by Aenys, Maegor, and Jaehaerys I. Which I go into in the linked post about Targ assimilation. At the same time, these 2 queens show us that while specifically Targaryen custom has the eldest boy become the leader of the house, he also is obligated to marry his eldest female relative, which in this case was Visenya his older sister.

AND when we go back to notes about the Valyrians and their dragonriders and their conquest, we see two things:

female, as well and male dragonriders were sent to conquered regions to act as those outposts' leaders and maintain control of the Freehold (which definitely included the Targs)

Jaenaera Belaerys--who traveled alone on her dragon Terrax to inspect and find out just how large Sothoryos was. Was gone for 2 years or so, was able to come back with no known social consequences, including some sort of loss of any position she may have had. Or any sort of usurpation. Of course, all we know about her is that she rode her dragon Terrace and maybe that's all the maesters could access. But with knowing women generally participate and lead in state rule and warfare, we can conclude or at least rightfully assume that Jaehaera has a story that almost no Andal-descended woman who is not a Targ can share.

This suggests that, yes, Valyrian customs are far less restrictive and wary of female leadership or autonomy than Andal ones are. Targs are Valyrians.

Why would the eldest son be obligated to marry his eldest female relative in order to be considered as rightly performing his duties or even be able to inherit at all? The strongest conclusions are these: to combine claims/lineages/descendants (if Visenys has Aegon's kids and he fathers hers, there is less competition for resources and claims later on) AND/OR the "purity" of their connection to their dragons remains as strong as they want it to be. To retain that power for Targs, which means Targ power/power, in general, is dependent on female participation in politics and lineage, which is practically one and the same here. And/or that women can and have led in their own right, that the path to autonomous leadership is much smoother than it is for Andal-descended women.

Let's get back to my point about choices and Targ men setting precedents. Funny how, despite the Targ men I listed as having dragons AND Valyrian precedent for female leaders, or at least comparatively more autonomous and powerful women, they chose to go the other way to keep their own foothold. Viserys made a choice that was as personal-political as they did. No "laws" were broken, no customs were broken as much as any other Targ or Andal-descent Westerosi did themselves.

(I remember Jaehaerys threatening Rogar with Vermithor ater Rogar's betrayal and attempt to install Aerea...and later on, Jaehaerys reprimands his older sister's act of insulting Franklyn Farman for insulting her first and threatening him with Dreamfyre...strange.)

So again, the only reason to support Aegon as much as some people do, the REAL reason, is because the guy is male.

As for Hill's Alive...

You say, "Yes, they have biases, but so does everyone, including you and me. So what? You seem to be biased toward team black, and that's fine. I'm biased toward team green* and that's also fine."

Here is a post I recently wrote about HA. It is there how I and others show how and where they lied and created misconceptions.

I specifically stated how they had biases that were misogynistic, antiSemitic, Zionist, classist, etc. These are not biases that are as innocuous or less meaningful as those biases one may have against a person because we are jealous of them or because they said some hurtful words at some point. These are dehumanizing, human-right-violating biases, and straight-up bigotry. Dehumanizing ideas themselves, because they are dehumanizing also never, ever speak the truth. Because at their core, they do not speak the truth about human experiences and psychology at face value.

"Dehumanizing"...."de-" + "human". To "de-human" is also to delude, to make up excuses, and twist reality and truth to one's own ends and particularly through abuse and supremacy on a wide sociopolitical scale that affects and comes from interpersonal interactions repeated over and over, that begins AND ends intimately.

This is why HA's views should be taken with a grain of salt at all times if one wishes to engage or learn anything from them. In fact, I recommend people generally watch them to just witness how an argument can be made and think about the veracity of how and what a person can argue. To think of HA as an exercise in creative thinking skills rather than a truthful source of knowledge.

Finally, the greens of the Dance are patently worse people than those in the black faction. And no, I do not think GoT nor HotD or reliable sources to study ASoIaF themes, lore, and characters for how the writers bungled them all up. I and others already wrote several times how, but here is one by ozymalek concerning HotD, F&B, and the Dance:

It's hard to deal with it as a reader, let alone as a showrunner who's trying to adapt a story in which not everything is set in stone. They incorrectly assumed that, because they are constantly forced to question what is happening in the story, the bias is with the underlying idea that there was a correct side. As such, they assumed that all the inconsistencies result from maesters not choosing to view it that way [...] So they decided that they have to balance the scales. Because Greens are poorly developed, they added more characterization for them that contradicts their book personas (abused child bride meow meow Alicent who is clueless about the plans that in the books she herself set in motion, for example) while simultaneously taking the characterization AWAY from team Black members.

All the Laws Viserys Violated by Making Rhaenyra His Heir

Hi hi! I'm in the midst of writing a post about Otto's motivations throughout HotD and the portion about why Otto was so sure Alicent's sons would end up as heir when he pushed her to marry Viserys got wayyy too long so I'm just going to write it here.

I cannot emphasize enough how crazy it was that Viserys kept Rhaenyra as his heir. He has literally no law or precedent to back him up; every single possible precedent actually works against him. Full disclaimer, I genuinely think Rhae would make a good queen and support her over Aegon, but I don't think Viserys made her heir for the right reasons and I think because of the following he was setting her up for failure.

First, Westerosi laws of inheritance say that a woman cannot inherit if she has a trueborn brother. This has always been the case. Remember that as of right now Dorne is NOT a part of the Seven Kingdoms, so the Seven Kingdoms unanimous in its institution of male-based primogeniture. There is literally no region under Viserys's domain where a woman is allowed to inherit if she has any trueborn brothers. You'll never find any instances of a woman being made heir when she has surviving trueborn brothers. When we see women in power, like Jeyne Arryn or even Sansa Stark, it's always because they either have no brothers or their brother is occupied with another title.

Second, the Great Council of 101 set the precedent that even if a woman is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, she should be passed over for a male. Rhaenys was Jaehaerys's heir according to Westerosi laws of inheritance as the only child of his previous heir, so she was even backed by the actual law and precedent. And the threat of war was dangerous enough that it forced the literal King of Westeros to concede matters of his personal inheritance and violate precedent just to pass over a woman. That's how sexist they are!!! They literally broke the law so that they could be MORE sexist!!

Third, Widow's Law specifically stipulates that it is not meant to be used to allow a woman to inherit over her trueborn brother. I know a lot of people think this law can actually be used to support Rhaenyra, but I think this ignores the context of the time. Remember, even though Alysanne wrote the law, Jaehaerys is the one who implemented it and is the only one who had the final say in its wording. And, as mentioned above, Jaehaerys straight up does not have the power to allow women to inherit, even when the law is backing him up. He's also a super misogynist and has proven unwilling to listen to Alysanne on feminist matters. So I'm not sure why people think he'd have the desire or the power to instate a law that says a daughter from a first marriage gets to inherit over a son from a second marriage. The lords would never allow something like that, because most of them use and discard their wives for the sole purpose of gaining male heirs and I guarantee there would be a moral panic about women getting too much power the same way there eventually was with Rhaenys and Rhaenyra. And not just the lords, but Jaehaerys would never allow something like that: They're all grade A misogynists, remember? That's why Widow's Law specifically placates the lords by assuring them that their precious eldest son can still inherit before even introducing the new law. Because Jaehaerys knew he wouldn't be supported if he said that women could inherit when they have trueborn brothers, so he made sure everyone knew he wasn't trying to do that.

So Viserys has 0 laws and precedents backing his decision, and 3 laws and precedents that his decision outright violates. And he keeps Rhaenyra as his heir anyways, out of guilt to Aemma. This is why I think Otto was genuinely flabbergasted by Viserys's decision; because he demonstrates remarkable awareness of the misogyny in Westeros and is fully aware that this WILL incite rebellion. He says it himself: It doesn't matter to the lords of Westeros how good or kind Rhaenyra is. They've demonstrated, time and time again, that they will not allow a woman to inherit a title, including the Iron Throne, if there are ANY trueborn male relatives available--AND that they have the power to force the King to let them decide his inheritance!

TLDR: Viserys really did Rhaenyra dirty. He made and kept her his heir out of guilt about Aemma, not out of love for Rhaenyra. And he did this knowing that it violated every single precedent or law relating to inheritance out there, and knowing that previous kings weren't able to uphold their female heirs, even when they had a stronger claim than Rhaenyra would have, because the lords threatened to start a war over it. And that's not even getting into how he completely failed to teach her about politics and did nothing to prepare her to become Queen.

This is also part of why people say it's not just about Rhaenyra's bastards. I fully agree that having them weakened her claim even further, but what you need to understand is that Rhaenyra was doomed from the start. She was doomed by the misogynistic laws, and by the misogynistic precedent, and by the misogynistic lords who never tried to hide that they'd start a war if a woman inherited the throne. And Viserys put that burden on her anyways, and put her and her children's lives in genuine danger, all so he could feel better about his decision to butcher his wife.

[epicene-humanoid]

some trans Jeff thoughts:

he realized he was trans in elementary school and just went fuck it I'll just start introducing myself as Jeffery and see if anyone decides to stop me (as we know, jeff winger can get away with almost anything)

he got top surgery the second he could afford it (around the same time he started at his law firm), and probably bribed someone to keep it a secret

"I'm jeff winger and i would rather look at myself naked than the women I sleep with" are the words of a man proud of his transition

he's really insecure about his fashion sense, which is why he mostly dresses like the douchey guys at his firm in the start of the show, he thought you can't go wrong with the sleazy lawyer look

he will never admit it but he feels super good about the dean hitting on him, because the dean is a (cis) guy, acknowledging that Jeff is more manly than him

i think he starts out stealth and comes out to everyone one by one, probably starting with abed because he knows abed won't judge him and will probably just see it as an interesting backstory.

abed just says it's cool and maybe worth a prequel exploring Jeff's transition, and jeff asks him to predict how all of the members of the group will react to him coming out.

abed's predictions:

britta will be over-the-top supportive and do a ton of research about trans history, probably put together a slideshow just to prove how progressive she is, and jeff will be a little bit weirded out, but also touched that she did all that for him, though he would never let her know that

shirley will be confused, because she doesn't know how someone she trusts and knows so well could be part of a group she was raised to hate, but ultimately realizes that there's nothing actually against the lgbtq people in the bible, and, as a cool character development arch, starts to advocate against use of the bible to justify bigotry

troy will just think it over and decide that Jeff's physique and coolness are even awesomer knowing how much work he'd had to put in to be like that, and respects Jeff's manliness even more

annie will give him a hug, say something sweet about how she'll always love him, and worry about his health, because even she read somewhere that taking testosterone makes you more likely to have a heart attack, jeff will explain that the risk is still only as high a cis guy, and she'll be the one to always remind him to take his shots

peirce will say at best say "jeff winger used to be a chick?" and at worst call him a slur, either way there's sure to be a lot of misgendering from him, and pestering to know Jeff's deadname (needless to say, Jeff just doesn't tell peirce)

the whole group goes out of their way to keep their beach trips a secret from pierce (the girls don't want him there anyways, he's too liable to be creepy) even though jeff knows that even if pierce saw his scars, all he would have to do is make up a story about some childhood accident and pierce would never question it

sorry this ended up being super long. can I hear some of your headcanons for him?

YES ALL THIS!!! yes yes i’m fully accepting this as canon oh my god

i’m about to type a whole ass ESSAY at midnight because i have been DYING to talk about this for months ajfdksljk,,, this is going to be obscenely long and i might end up adding even more to it as i continue to rewatch the show because there is truly no shortage of trans jeff content (especially when you’re trans and see transness in every little thing ajdkslfkjs)

spoiler warning for literally everything about this show under the cut <3

i 100% agree, i feel like he realized he was trans super young, especially since in the show we see him as a little kid a couple of times. 

like look at little jeff with the oversized sweatshirt and little ponytail!! that’s childhood trans fashion. not to be dramatic but part of me thinks that jeff’s dad left before he fully came out to his family (which gives him even more angst about it, because until that one Thanksgiving episode, he’s never able to prove to his dad that he’s a better man), but part of me thinks that his dad left after he came out (which adds that spicy i-should-have-stayed-in-the-closet guilt that he has to work through). 

either way, because his dad wasn’t there, he had to base his concept of masculinity on something else, which was becoming a lawyer!! there’s some line that’s like “after the dust and divorce papers were settled the only man i looked up to was [the lawyer guy]”. like, replacing your father figure in your mind with the concept of “a job where you can talk your way in and out of anything and distort other people’s concept of reality”? that’s trans.

 and the fucking THANKSGIVING EPISODE... i struggle to watch it without crying hehe <3 yeowch! the dichotomy of willy jr. being the “wrong” kind of man because he’s “too soft” but jeff also not being enough despite adhering to all the social standards of masculinity... fuck!! this whole scene of him telling his dad “i am Not well adjusted” and talking about how he gave himself an “appendix surgery scar” when he was a kid and he still keeps the get-well-soon letters from his classmates under his bed? oh my god. the implication of people loving him not despite his scars but because of them?? trans. i can’t think about this episode for too long or i’ll start yelling.

OH and this scene? where he talks about how his mom got him a girl costume for halloween?? and everyone said “what a cute little girl” and after a few houses he stopped correcting them?? and “once the shame and the fear wore off, i was just glad they thought i was pretty”?? THAT’S TRANS... the man needs validation oh my god... and then in all the halloween episodes we see he has these ultra-masculine costumes (a cowboy, David Beckham, one of the fast and furious guys even though he never watched the movies, a boxer with his DAD’S boxing gloves... god) costumes are about becoming something else and he always chooses to be hypermasculine and that is trans.

THE PHYSICAL EDUCATION EPISODE!!!!!!! being uncomfortable during P.E. is a queer experience. period. but him being specifically uncomfortable in the clothes someone else is assigning to him? trans. “are we gonna talk about clothes like a girl? or use tapered sticks to hit balls around a cushioned mat like a man?” TRANS. and him eventually stripping in public? celebration of transness. and the fact that he eventually becomes comfortable in both the uniform and his own style!! trans!! god i love this episode. 

AND AND AND!!! the gay dean coming out episode!!! where it’s the three of them discussing the best way for the dean to come out as gay despite not entirely identifying with that label!! so we have both frankie and the dean who are sort of ambiguously queer, and jeff who’s a stealth trans man who’s probably only out to only the study group at this point. this scene where the dean and jeff have this like eyebrow communication while frankie is talking is just so cute. queer-to-queer communication. “I am so curious” “oh?” “intellectually.” “oh...” ajfdksljfk this scene just screams high school GSA to me and i love it so much.

and SPEAKING of the dean!! i totally see you on that. i feel like jeff has some internalized homophobia/biphobia (like he’d throw punches over someone else, but when it comes to himself he has a lot of shame). and also seeing the dean so confident in all his different outfits/costumes has a weird affect on him bc it’s like “okay, the dean, a cis guy, can do that, but i as a trans guy could Not because that’s Breaking the Rules”. which, like, throwback to the halloween thing. of course there’s no right way to be masculine, but mr. winger does not know that.

another thing!! the episode where their emails get leaked? that includes his emails with his therapist. fuck!! he was outed to the whole world in that episode!! no wonder he was so fucking angry!! this whole episode (and really any time he mentions his therapist) is so interesting when you think about them as a person he talks to about his transition. OH which adds to the thing with the dean!! “and you told your therapist you wanted to be alone this weekend” and “not you jeff, i know you’ll be visiting your dad” ”I told you to stop reading my emails”. luckily his study group has his back and just makes fun of him for emailing astronauts lmao

and WHO can forget “they’re giving out an award for most handsome young man!!!!” what else is there to say about this line besides: he’s trans. you know he didn’t get awarded enough for being a handsome young man when he was a kid, and no amount of compliments when he’s fully-grown can really make up for that. some people crash a kid’s bar mitzvah to cope with the fact that they struggled to be seen as themselves when they were a teenager <3

also his weird relationship with pierce? where he kind of hates him (understandably lmao) but at times has this almost-friends-almost-father-son relationship with him? especially in this episode where he’s forced to bond with him and ends up having a good time by accident (at a barber shop no less, the perfect place to Be A Man with your Man Friend). idk what to say about him besides the fact that pierce says his mom wanted a girl when he was born and made him dress like a girl (and his middle name is anastasia!) so if they’re gonna do any bonding over transness it’s gonna be that. 

okay one last thing and then i’ll shut up for the night. this episode kills me (and almost kills jeff hahahahelpi’mcrying). it’s a very Trans thing to not be able to visualize your future self, it just is. growing up trans at the time he did? i don’t know what kind of future he saw for himself, but i’m so happy that he ended up with a group of friends who became his family and love him the way they all do. i’m so emotional over this asshole it’s ridiculous. 

in conclusion:

they’re trans, your honor <3

[lorata]

So exciting to see you answering prompts!!! I was reading you answer to what was in centre files and I couldn’t get Petra out of my mind, did she ever question the fairness of going up against other children with no training who were years younger or was the centre training good enough that she never questioned it? I love her as a character because she’s so obsessed with fairness within the structures she knows but, as far as I can tell from your live journal and a03 fics, never questions it outside these structures

In canon she only lives for 3 years after her victory and she is very intentionally kept away from the more brutal post-Arena aspects (mentoring, sponsors) because the others want to maintain her relationship with Snow as long as possible. Most of those 3 years are getting over her own trauma while being re-traumatized every time she has to go back for PR nonsense. There’s not a lot of time to think about the specific aspects of untrained outer district kids vs Careers.

Petra is lawful neutral to the extreme, so it’s not like …. natural order fairness, it’s an obsession with THE RULES. if Selene breaks the rules but gets away with it because she’s good, Petra is going to throw a tantrum. If Selene beats her in a fight using an unorthodox move and they remind her there’s no such thing as cheating in the Arena, she’s going to get VERY frustrated (but next time she will sneak a knife into her sleeve and stab Selene in the ribs).

HOWEVER.

the rules of the Hunger Games are very, very clear, and she has been brainwashed by them for years. the Centre staff know she’s obsessed with rules, so they make very sure to explain why D2 deserves to train like this (the kids watch history videos about the dark days and their district earning its loyalty over time) and why other districts don’t have that privilege. they explain that in the other districts, anyone could train for the games and volunteer on their own, but they don’t, they choose to let children die (not true, obviously, but part of the propaganda). they also explain how Arenas favour different districts every year to level the playing field, how story is just as important, how an outsider with sponsor appeal can be just as dangerous.

by the time Petra volunteers she understands the rules, she understands why they exist, she understands that without the games the country will fall. she wasn’t looking for strings.

but I would argue the idea that she never questions in the stuff I posted. if only by the way a big part of her arc is confronting how sheltered she’s been, even if a lot of it is centred on her own positionality. I didn’t need to write “Petra realizes the Games are bad” as the central narrative bc (to me) that’s a bit boring and obvious, what was more interesting to me was her relationship with Snow and the other Victors (like the Ones). though really, once she realizes the president is a liar the whole house of cards falls down, she doesn’t need to examine every piece in its own on the way down.

[antiloreolympus]

14 Anti LO Asks

1. To the one anon: good question - how is it that the mortals dont know who Persephone is / assume she is a minor goddess and therefore its okay to mess with her but the gods (or Olympians / underworld denizens) know exactly everything about her (despite her being there only every so often and only being 20ish) - enough to say shes "wearing her signature white color" during a murder trial.

Also the reason why Persephone is wearing white is because

A). RS wanted persephone to always be "dressed as a bride" (and have Hades dressed as a groom respectively) to show that their matching / is supposed to be a visual cue that their eventually gonna be together.

B). I believe this is RS way of saying that Persephone (despite murdering some mortals) is innocent because in purity culture White = innocence, virginity, youth etc. (Even though RS explicity ssid she wanted to go against purity culture morals shes very much leaning into them). 

2. why are Psyche’s eyes yellow even in her human form? Is she sick??

3. honestly? LO is just gossisp girl at this point, espect even GG (at least in the first season) bothered to saturze the rich and was calling out how wealth and power makes them corrupt assholes. meanwhile LO is just GG season 2 and on of being like no no, the poor people are the evil people and the rich people are the oppressed ones! all while also fawning over their  wealth and status and being way into grown men wanting to bang barely legal teens and claiming to be "feminist" somehow.

4. Tumblr is well-known for broken tag system. Check the post' tags before complaining that it's op's fault. How about you guys not tag greek mythology when posting about LO? LO is not one-shot or short fancomic. It's also definitely not considered actual greek mythology. LO is years long webcomic with huge fans. LO has its own tag. Tell your fellow fans to stop using the greek mythology tag.

5. I would argue nyx is the only woman with a unique in design in LO but thats only because she looks like a deformed chicken woman. why was my night mom disrespected this much 😭

6. So now that LO is back from break and I can finally read chapter 170 - Why oh Why do ALL the female characters Have to be defined by their male love interests??? (Or really just love interests in general).

I understand LO qualifies as the "romance" genre and there are certain stipulations or I guess themes or what have you that make it romance but for f*cks sake.

Psyche being worried about Eros loving the "fake" her I kinda get, but really? Thats your most pressing concern?? Hera is defined by her garbage marriage to Zeus - King of the gods (of which is why she is Queen of the gods). Hestia + Athena are now defined solely by their relationship to each other (not the TGOEM or their respective traits of being a goddess of the hearth + goddess of war, strategy etc etc).

Aphrodite is defined by giving Persephone "relationship" advice (e.g: telling her to curb stomp Minthe because "nymphs dont take things from gods" - doubly implying that people are things to own) And by her jealousy of Persephone in the first place because Hades made a comment about how he thought Persephone was prettier than her. And also because of her "house of debauchery" (Artemis'  words) - and relationship with Ares.

Persephone is defined both by Apollo raping her and by her fated future status as Queen of the underworld (so her relationship with Hades). Hell, even the minor characters such as nymphs are defined by this relationship status / standard. Minthe is defined by her mean spirited personality yes, but Also because of her abusive relationship with Hades prior to the introduction of Persephone. Psyche is defined by her relationship woes with Eros. Daphne is defined by her relationship with Thanatos (and because shes a flower nymph) but also mostly because she looks like Persephone.

Rhea is defined by her marriage / relationship to Kronos (lets ignore the whole "fertility goddess power" plot for a second). Even Aetna is defined by Haphestus creating her! Is there not a single character (especially female) is isnt defined by their romantic love interest???Sorry. Maybe I'm overthinking this, but thats definitely how ot comes off as of late, in regard to the latest chapters.

Okay, same anon as earlier - I take it back somewhat - we have Artemis and Hecate that are not defined by their romantic relationships - but rather their lack of one.

However the way they are shown - it still comes off as a standard - "Artemis is stingy / a stick in the mud" because shes not romantically involved and is "barbaric" (according to Hera). And Hecate is still somewhat defined by her being Hades' employee (and cheerleader for him and Persephone to be together).

So technically yes, we have at least 2 characters that are not defined by their romantic interests / relationships, but they are still held to the standard of their "un-ladylike / undesirable" because their not romantically involved.

(I guess I should count Demeter, but only because shes more defined by just being "Persephone's overbearing mom" )

7. i think whats also kinda weird about this trial is like?? persephone is obvs framed as not liking the attention (bc duh) but she didnt like the previous press either, she wanted to be private, but wouldnt being with hades force her to be in the spotlight that makes her uncomfortable? also the citizens of the underworld already dislike hades, why would they want a uncontrollable felon as their queen, even if she found innocent? idk the whole thing just makes the endgame less plausible, tbh.

8. love that rachel was able to find a random deity name to name her random nymph the greek word for "beans" meanwhile apparently cant google actual greek names for even one off characters? like andrew, ellen, george, alexis, damian, luke, phoebe, sophia, and so any other english names are also greek, but she cant even bother with that? what exactly is her "research" if she cant even bother to spend 30 seconds googling greek names? at this point LO seems determined to be as un-Greek as possible.

9. wait so everyone in LO went from having no idea who persephone was, to her only showing up on ONE magazine cover, to now being the most well known person with a signature color? all in the span of two weeks with no genuine public outings? how does that make sense? also white isnt even her signature color if 90%+ the female cast and even a lot of the men ((including ZEUS) all wear it too.

10. the fact the courthouse WASNT the areopagus, aka the place in greece where they say the first ever trial ever happened and where the court system was invented, is just another point of rachel talking out her ass about being "respectful" or "researched" on greece and their mythology. its literally one of the most famous mythology spots ever with some fantastic stories to it and she's just like "nah! boring rectangle will do!" like why even both with mythology then if its this devoid of it?

11. Anons are saying Hades in the FS chapter is leaning down and talking to Persy like a child. Say it aint true.

(I wanna see. I thought RS was finally giving Persy adult proportions). 😨

12. So wait, hold up. I kinda get where RS is coming from with the law school in the underworld (because Hades is supposed to be a kinda Judge, jury, executioner situation in the afterlife when it comes to mortals and their "punishments" and whatnot). However, is RS stating that the ONLY law school / courthouse exists in the underworld? If so, why? Why wouldn't Athena be there then. She's a goddess of strategy and justice (among other things).

Also is RS really implying that Hades owns not only the banks and underworld but the law too? She really wants Hades to be a Gary Sue along side her Mary Sue - Hades controls everything that matters and since its his realm and blah blah blah rules, Zeus, king of the gods cant do anything about it.

(Which is dumb. Because you would think that because Persephone committed the crime in the mortal realm / on, or near Olympus that therefore she would be brought back there to dole out justice under Zeus jurisdiction because she committed the crime in His Realm). 

13. FP Spoiler ahead:

Why on earth couldn't the reporters have Greek names? There is so much wrong and bad with this story, yet this irks me so much. It is Brenda all over again.

14. i dont really get the point of the trial plotline, tbh. even persephone says she should be punished and held accountable, but hades is framed in the right for trying to go against that and weasel her out of it. so?? plus zeus has legit reason to punish them? persephone is a danger to others, demeter and hermes both committed treason to cover it up, and hades was harboring a fugitive of the law and is now trying to force the system to let her go. how is zeus in the wrong for this?

[nyaagolor]

may we please get the mirror world headcanons?

heck yes u may

Most of it will be under the cut bc I talk a lot

I like to think the Mirror World is a reflection of the regular world (I call it Prime World for convenience's sake), and by reflection I mean opposite. It's not opposite in a "good v evil" way, just in the sense that a mirror world counterpart is the inverse of their prime world self, for better or for worse. For example, Noddies in Prime World sleep for most of their lives, while Mirror Noddies barely ever sleep and are constantly alert. Instead of a Sleep Ability, they give Panic, aka the Kirby equivalent of slurping down 15 espresso shots in a row. The mirror world counterparts are no better or worse than the prime world, just different!

Headcanons for all the mirror world counterparts of the Star Allies (or at least the ones I've thought abt) are under the cut :3c

Shadow Kirby (Skirby): Where Prime Kirby is reckless, bold, and overconfident, Skirby is reserved, cautious, and kinda pessimistic. They're no weaker or meaner than Prime Kirby, but seem a bit shy and non-confrontational because they always want to scope out the scene before they launch into anything. Some might call it cowardly, but Skirby thinks it's pragmatic. Much like prime Kirby, though, he's the hero of Popstar and is usually the planet's last defense against whatever eldritch horror comes their way. He deserves a break, though, since unlike Prime Kirby he's not surrounded by friends to help him out

Shadow Dedede (SDDD): He started off as a good king, always being diligent, professional, and responsible in contrast to Prime DDD's self-serving, goofy ways. He wanted what was best for the mirror world, but life didn’t make it easy. The mirror dees, rather than the loyal helpers we know from the prime world, were backstabbing jerks who were loyal to no one but themselves. SDDD tried so hard to be a good king, but had no one to help, no one to pull him out of a slump, so he just slipped through the cracks and got worse. Bitterness and anger consumed him until he started looking out for himself and himself only. He became a tyrant, turning into an iron-fisted, merciless ruler whose laws were enforced through violence. DDD got better with the help of his friends, but SDDD got much, MUCH worse as a result of his isolation and loneliness. Also he has a battle axe instead of a hammer bc I think it's cool

Dark Meta Knight (DMK): He's basically the antithesis of a knight: he's willing to work for anyone no matter how rotten they are; he always plans on backstabbing them later, cares about no one but himself, never plays fair, and is a lazy, rude jerk. He likes spicy foods instead of sweets, challenges children to duels WITHOUT offering them a sword first, and is deathly afraid of heights, despite having wings. He was in the process of creating a land-razing tank called the Halberd, but his crew betrayed him and cut up his wings and mask so now he isolates himself out of anger and fear. After being with the Star Allies, he's made some friends and realized the value of teamwork-- also he likes teaching Adeleine swears. With Dark Mind gone and the Mirror World still a bit of a dump, DMK would much rather hang out in the prime world and get on Meta Knight's nerves. He tries his best to protect the two (2) people in the mirror world he does tolerate, though (it's skirby and sddd).

Mirror Bandee: Hates SDDD with a passion. In fact, he's attempted to assassinate the king at least 26 times, but fails both because SDDD is way smarter than him and also Mirror Bandee is a sniveling coward who runs at the first sign of danger. His repeated failures have made him more of a scaredy cat, so no one takes him seriously anymore. He has a knife and ties his bandana around his "mouth" like a scarf, but it doesn't help to make him more intimidating. His repeated attempts to kill the king (and more recently Skirby and DMK, who hang out with SDDD) have become a constant in their lives and weirdly enough they don't mind his company.

Mirror Marx: I always assumed that Prime Marx was a noddy with Mirror instead of sleep. Well Mirror Marx is the opposite-- instead of having Panic like the regular hyperactive Mirror Noddies, he has sleep. He didn't show up for the events of Amazing Mirror bc he was snoozin. Because of this, he never got the Nova's powers, never tricked skirby, and never did anything evil. In fact, unlike Prime Marx, Mirror Marx cares too much about everyone's feelings, is always kind, and doesn't have a mean bone in his body. He's the glue holding the mirror world together bc not even the worst of villains want to hurt him. He's just so darn CUTE

Mirror Animal Friends: Imagine the animal friends. Give them angry expressions and sunglasses. Now make them part of a gang. Yeah that's it. The Animals are no friend of skirby's and would sooner maul the poor kid than ever lend him a paw (or flipper or wing). The forest bows to their whims and they rule it like your typical mafia boss. They're jerks.

Mirror Daroach: See these posts.

Dark Taranza: Hoo BOY he's bad. He's real bad. He rules over Mirror Floralia (Sporalia?) which is underground and filled with nasty creepy crawlies. He hates getting his hands dirty and will do anything it takes to get more power and luxury so long as he doesn't have to put himself in danger. He only cares about one thing, and that's himself. What about Queen Sectonia, you ask? She was the original queen of Mirror Floralia, but Dark Taranza mind-controlled her into his puppet to do his bidding. When the people finally snapped and declared war on the tyrannical queen, it was her they shattered, being none the wiser that Dark Taranza was the one pulling the strings. He still has a box of her shards in his castle, just in case he needs a new puppet to play with. He loves jewels and machines, all things inorganic. The imperfections of flowers? Not his style.

Mirror Magolor: Quick tangent here: Mirror Lor Starcutter, rather than being a ship to BRING people to paradise, is a sort of pocket paradise, a little virtual reality magic... thing. It can also be easily modified to only open from the outside. That's important for later. Anyway, Mirror Magolor is brutally honest, but also rude, unfriendly, impulsive, and incredibly violent. He hates machines and will start punching a lamppost if he accidentally walks into it. Scrappy little dude. He would actually rather claw his ears off than be friends with another living being. He just likes brawling and destroying ancient artifacts and that's it. Well one day he tells the mirror crew he wants to go get this thing called the Master Crown so he can destroy it. SDDD, Skirby, Mirror Bandee and DMK realize hey, that'd be nice for us to have, let's join him and then betray him at the last minute. As soon as they get there, though, the crown ends up choosing Mirror Mags as a host before anyone can do anything. Oops! The others manage to shatter him... but then the crown pulls his shards back together and attacks them again. Realizing he's both totally lost it and also immortal, the others lock Mirror Mags inside the Lor as the crown erodes the last of his humanity. Consumed by blind rage and the crown's power, Mirror Magolor just lashes out at anything that moves, biting and clawing at whatever he can reach like a feral cat. There's like a 80% chance he has rabies.

Sorry to Susie, Gooey, Adeleine, and all the non-Star Allies crew, I haven't thought abt them yet