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outoftheframework · 5 years ago

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characterization cheat sheet: the batfamily boys

Hey everyone! I had the idea to compile a comprehensive list of different traits and attributes for each member of the batfamily based off of both canon and fanon interpretations. I think this could be useful for new members to the fandom, or those looking to write and/or draw for these characters. Remember that these will have a slight bias considering I, a fanon creator, am creating the lists. But I’ll try to make them as accurate as possible.

Appearances vary from artist to artist, so I’ll try to stray away from general details and add more little things you can consider in your art.

Bruce Wayne:

Age: 35-45

Appearance: Extremely physically fit, but signs of aging and prolonged exertion can slip through. Has a collection of scattered scars varying from fresh to fully healed. Strong, dark features. Conventionally attractive, but can easily switch to be foreboding/intimidating. Well kept in public appearances, but can look like death incarnate when in private.

Personality: Dual personas: “Bruce” (at home, but not as batman) and “Brucie” (public appearances like galas, news interviews). Bruce is stoic, well-read and educated, well-mannered, and occasionally can be witty and laid-back. Smirks rather than smiles. Brucie is loud, spontaneous, charming, and sometimes oblivious. He is the womanizer and scandal-maker. Often the actions of Brucie are motivated by Batman’s interests.

Speech: Bruce was mainly raised by as English butler, so his speech patterns are proper and smooth. Rarely uses speech fillers such as “uh” and “um,” except when interrupted while concentrating. Despite living in Gotham his entire life, he has not picked up the accent. His voice is newscaster American, almost impossible to pinpoint to a certain region. His speech as Brucie changes to relate more to the audience he is addressing. Speeches to Gotham high society will sound different than those aimed to the general public.

Additional Attributes: Bruce Wayne in all of his personalities is fiercely protective, and can easily slip into a deeper voice to intimidate. Bruce can be extremely empathetic and slightly impulsive when it comes to children who have lost their parents. As learned through his training to become Batman, Bruce is disciplined and can work for hours straight.

Dick Grayson:

Age: 23-29

Appearance: Dick Grayson mirrors a young Bruce Wayne despite their not being blood related. This could be a subconscious action by Dick to absorb traits of his father figure. His lean acrobatic body starts to set him apart from Bruce’s image. Dick manages to be well-built but still limber and flexible. His feet and hands are rough and calloused. His hair can get long but usually stays at a length in between Bruce’s and Tim’s. His eyes are bright blue without even a hint of green or brown.

Personality: In one comic I believe it was Superman who said that Dick Grayson is a universal constant, meaning that on every alternate earth or timeline, you can always rely on him to be good and pure. I think this really sums up who Dick should be. He is kind to a fault, and can sometimes be naive and not think things through. He loves to love, be that in his family, in his romantic relationships, in his friendships, and even in strangers. He is a chronic hero who only wants to see the world as a better place. But it’s important to note that Dick can get angry when pushed, and holds grudges.

Speech: Dick is an extremely interesting study in speech patterns. As a child he traveled with the circus, until he lived with clear-spoken Bruce Wayne and a proper English butler. So influences to his speech and accent come both internationally and locally to Gotham and Bludhaven. As a child living at Wayne Manor, Dick picks up a slight Gotham tinge to his accent with some British flourish in his vowel sounds. He regularly speaks in slang. As Nightwing he is able to suppress his unique speech to sound more evenly American.

Additional Attributes: Dick acts differently around each of his family members as to be what they need in a big brother. For example, he is more fatherly to Damian while to Tim he is more an equal. Dick can fidget and has less of an attention span than Bruce. He can use jokes as a coping mechanism.

Jason Todd:

Age: 22-26

Appearance: Hair is often long on top and shorter on the sides, sometimes with a white streak as a side effect from the Lazarus Pit. Tallest and heaviest of all the kids, very physically intimidating. Has a lot of scars and burns, and in some fan works he has a “Y” shaped scar the length of his chest from his autopsy. Never skips leg day. Green/blue eyes.

Personality: Jason goes through a lot of character development, but for this list I’m going off a timeline of post-Under the Red Hood, where Jason is on okay, yet still a little shaky, terms with the rest of the family. Jason has a hard time separating vigilante life and civilian life; his death as Robin ended his life as Jason Todd, blurring the lines between the two. Jason is legally dead, so he is basically building an identity back up. He holds some attributes from childhood: brave, impulsive, loud-mouthed, and street-smart. But his experiences post-Robin have made him a hardened loner. He lives modestly and with some semblance of order. He’s hard to foster a relationship with, but can be a passionate friend/family member when he opens up.

Speech: Jason probably has the least influence from Bruce and Alfred’s speech patterns, seeing as though he spent a lot more time with his biological family/on the streets than he did as a preteen in the manor. He is the definition of Gotham vernacular, with a rough edge. So much so that as a child, the high society gala attenders sometimes had a hard time understanding him. Often talks in curt, short sentences.

Additional Attributes: He has trouble expressing his emotions, more specifically anger and/or grief. Can both love or hate furiously. Inherently good, but sometimes does “bad” things. Protective over children, especially those living on the street. Very much a believer in “the ends justify the means.”

Tim Drake:

Age: 17-20

Appearance: Pale skin, dark hair. Sharp cheek bones and jawline, mostly from how skinny he is. His body isn’t technically “built” to be extremely athletic, but he’s forced a nice lean build from stringently working out. Easily loses and gains weight as a direct result of his work, causing fluctuations in his build. Five foot something, will eventually be out-grown by Damian. Long hair that can still be styled to look professional.

Personality: Tim Drake is very passionate in pretty much everything he sets his mind to. He feels as though he imposed himself onto Batman to become Robin, so he works twice as hard to prove his worth. He can be self conscious and deprecating. Tim as Robin or Red Robin is very different than civilian Tim; his hero personas can be bolder and more confident. Despite dropping out of high school, he values education.

Speech: Tim grew up rich, and his speech reflects an intelligence gained from private tutors. Despite this, he knows how to interact with those his age in using less formal language and slang. Often quotes books and movies. Can be awkward and stumble over his words when teased by his friends/family. He can manipulate people easily in business settings by talking fast and confidently while explaining complex topics.

Additional Attributes: Tim’s demeanor is directly tied to his varying levels of confidence and anxiety. Tim is has above-average intelligence and is diligent in detective work, but can still act like a teenager. He can be stubborn to extremes and will patiently play the long con. He does not cope well with loss.

Duke Thomas:

Age: 17-19

Appearance: Short dark hair, shaved on the sides and/or the back. Often wears the colors yellow and black. Around the same height as Tim, but a little taller. Stronger and heavier build more alike to Jason than Dick, but he’s still light on his feet. Expressive face that can give away his feelings easily. Still a bit of a baby face, but he’s still well-proportioned and conventionally handsome.

Personality: In my works, I’ve often described Duke as having a “sun-shiny” personality. He is one to not even think twice about putting others before himself. Duke uses his own personal experiences to guide him as a hero rather than suppress his emotions. Duke went from being an only child to having a large family, so he can sometimes feel overwhelmed. He is on friendly terms with every member of the batfamily, as well as many other heroes. Duke is self-sacrificial and is still learning how to effectively work as a detective.

Speech: Duke grew up in a middle class Gotham family, so his speech is influenced by his parents as well as his city environment. Duke has a mild Gotham accent and speaks a lot in modern slang. He hasn’t had much influence from Bruce and Alfred, considering he hasn’t lived with them for long. It’s possible that as he grows he will pick up some influences from Bruce and Tim’s way of speaking, but will most likely hold onto the accent of his childhood.

Additional Attributes: Duke is a metahuman vigilante in a city where Batman typically bans them, which causes a bit of an insecurity and a perfectionist drive. These are exasperated by the long line of history preceding him, as well as the fact that he involved himself in the Robin movement rather than being handpicked by Batman. He and Tim can relate in that way. Duke is an ardent student of Batman and is dedicated to the cause.

Damian Wayne:

Age: 10-14

Appearance: Looks similar to Bruce when he was the same age, yet stronger and with tanner skin. His hair is expertly cut and styled, but still age-appropriate. He is the shortest of the batkids, but still has a lot of time and potential to grow. He pretty much won the genetics lottery with Bruce and Talia as his biological parents, and is made for athletics. He has some scars that stand out with their pale coloring against his tan skin.

Personality: Damian is slowly becoming less of a brat, to put it bluntly. He admires his family and tries to mimic them, but will never confess it. Damian is quick to judge and will voice his opinion no matter how scathing it may be, both as civilian and hero. Damian is slowly realizing he may not want the Batman mantle as quickly as he planned. Jon is a perfect foil to Damian, and often makes him a better person when they’re together.

Speech: His speech is proper and formal. Prefers formal titles: ex. “father” over “dad” and last names over first. Damian is at least bilingual (Arabic and English), and can switch between languages easily. Most of his speech patterns developed from his tutors in the League, and more recently, Alfred. Influences like Jon and Dick have introduced him to a more modern, laid-back way of speaking, which he sometimes utilizes when relaxed.

Additional Attributes: Damian has problems with authority, especially those that he doesn’t respect like his teachers at school. He can be arrogant and childish ever though he often acts like he knows everything. Damian is still a child and has much to learn from batman and family as well as unlearn from his time at the League. Dami was forged to be a ruthless warrior, but now has to find a balance between the hero Robin and the child Damian Wayne.

Hope this helps someone! Feel free to add on if you think I missed anything. Just please remember to be civil and respect different interpretations of these characters. Let me know if you want another one of these posts outlining the girls or other characters.

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vidalinav · 4 years ago

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One thing that I’ve noticed is this idea that Elain is absolved from all guilt because she said one line acknowledging that she didn’t do anything to help in the cabin. That’s what I’ve seen a lot of posts about and the reason why they can’t forgive Nesta because she hasn’t acknowledged Feyre’s pain like Elain has.

It’s something that I find very peculiar, because it really speaks to how much we rely on speech and intention in this book rather than the actions that take place. Because these posts, don’t acknowledge even that Elain wanted to help Feyre, and allowed them in her home. That’s not why she’s more forgivable than Nesta, it’s the acknowledgement, but the acknowledgement isn’t even taking personal responsibility. She says, “And as for Feyre’s hunting during those years, it was not Nesta’s neglect alone that is to blame. We were scared, and had received no training, and everything had been taken, and we failed her. Both of us.” It’s a direct ‘we’ and not an ‘I’ and in direct relation to the context, which is that Cassian was outright blaming Nesta for letting “her youngest sister risk her life every day in the woods while she did nothing...” It’s not Elain speaking to just Feyre about it, or really taking the accountability, it’s a “let me make Cassian understand.” Which is not a bad thing, but it seems such an odd thing to reference when used for the argument that Nesta is less forgivable.

Nesta is less forgivable to this fandom, because she’s not as nice as people want her to be. That’s the basis of it all. And Elain is more forgivable because she’s less problematic. Quite frankly, it’s her silence and her lack of screen time that makes her pleasant. Because we see in ACOSF, it’s her voice that starts showing that she’s not as pleasant as people think she is. Not as likable. Never mind that she doesn’t have any associated action, it’s the lack of action that is always associated with her, but never outright stated.

However, do people just forget ACOTAR happened?

Because Nesta trekked into the woods to try and get Feyre back, when no one even knew she was gone to the fae, and Feyre acknowledges this as an act of love. This is when Feyre acknowledges even that perhaps Nesta “loved more fiercely than (she) could comprehend, more deeply and loyally.” This is when there is a concrete shift in opinion from Feyre- this direct parallel to Feyre going to the dangerous woods to hunt every day for them to Nesta braving the woods to try and save Feyre. Their relationship is noticeably better after this, and I think it should be said that there is this underlying idea that Nesta and Feyre are the same. “Nesta’s eyes--my eyes, our mother’s eyes--met mine.” This shift helps Feyre realize that Nesta and her are the same. That they both harbor the same anger, the same distaste for their own humanity and life around them, they uphold quite a lot of the same values even if the previous notion of Nesta hating her was in place. Because this scene was proof that Nesta didn’t hate her.

Why should acknowledging suffering be more important than the actions showing someone cares? Why does that not make her a forgivable character, if the idea is that the sisters don’t acknowledge what Feyre did for them and what Feyre suffered?

ACOSF technically should have probably been the same, but it’s a totally different story, because Feyre and Cassian both show that they care about Nesta, but also don’t show it well enough to NESTA... because there isn’t a scene that does what that scene did, that is a concrete change of idea because the character now has evidence to change their mind about what they previously thought. If Nesta doesn’t feel they care about her, or they side with Feyre, or that everyone hates her, then there should have been a scene that directly negates this, paralleled to Feyre believing that Nesta hated her and was proven she didn’t. But ACOSF is so complicated, because you can’t argue the text very well, because all of the inconsistencies.

But if we’re just going off of Nesta just acknowledging what Feyre has done, she said it in the High Lord meeting in ACOWAR, “I witnessed children--entire families--starve to death... Were it not for my sister... I would be among them.” Is that not acknowledging the peril that would have been wrought, the magnitude of what Feyre did for them? The plea to the high lords to do what Feyre did for them, to help them when they need it most.

Are you telling me that all the fandom wants is for Nesta to say she’s sorry or that she was wrong?? That’s all it takes to make a forgivable, redeemable character? So why is Nesta less forgivable than Elain? How does it make sense to argue that Elain is more forgivable because she acknowledged the suffering, but then does nothing else TO FEYRE specifically, except being pleasant company (which is not completely a bad thing), and not think Nesta is forgivable when she proves time and time again her loyalty to Feyre (i.e the war... did y’all forget that too?) and Feyre herself wants that relationship with Nesta...

Just say you don’t like Nesta’s personality and go.

#unfortunately I think sjm forgot what happened in acotar too so #Elain is not a bad character don't think this post is about that #it's the argument that elain is more forgivable than Nesta #that's a load of quack #nesta archeron #anti sjm

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well-in-all-honesty-i · 4 years ago

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TW: Suicide

OKAY SO- I wanted to talk about Mafuyu and Yuki’s relationship and why it ended the way it did. I should preface this by saying that the majority of this, although somewhat supported by canon, is my own personal headcanon and speculation. I’ve been surrounded by a lot of people who I believe Yuki to be similar to, but I am not 100% accurate or well versed and this is mostly just from what I’ve gotten from those situations. Also, a lot of questionable grammar-I type like I speak, which doesn't translate well haha.

So I want to chunk this into 3 big pieces because I enjoy organizing things: Yuki’s childhood, how that affected his personality as a young adult, and how both of these lead to his eventual death.

Starting off with his childhood:

This one is heavy speculation (as most of this is-but this bit is particularly so) since there isn’t much canon to support this-or provide a lot of insight. But, what little we do know is that 1) Yuki’s father wasn’t present in his life-probably even before Mafuyu’s father had been jailed-and that, 2) Yuki and his father shared the same bull-headedness (?) and pride that Saeko believes led to his death.

I personally believe that Yuki’s father was someone who might have struggled with some sort of mental illness, as well as has had a problem with alcohol abuse. I also imagine that he probably disappeared or passed-either due to some sort of alcohol-related problem or suicide.

Saeko, from how she is characterized in the story, seems to be a very strong-willed and assertive person. In the aftermath of Yuki’s death, she's relatively composed and seems to have almost expected this to happen, although maybe not in the specific way it did. [Ex: When she tells Mafuyu that Yuki was always the type of person to die in a chicken race (a competition of pride, of sorts, that usually ends badly) and when she mentions him being similar to his father in that sense.]

In the flashbacks in the anime, when Mafuyu tells Yuki that his father beats him when he talks, Yuki’s response of ‘You know, a real father doesn’t do that.’ doesn’t sound like something a small child’s first response would be. It’s a bit of a reach-but considering that, as well as how prompt the response from his mother seemed to be (when Mafuyu’s father was jailed-not much time seems to have passed, and since both of their mothers are present, I've always assumed that Yuki's mother found out through her son and acted accordingly.),- it would make sense that Yuki might have some prior experience with this. Especially if his mother had gone through something similar-she probably would’ve warned him very strongly against the ideal his father had set, making Yuki want to be very far from that.

Speaking of which-I assume that Yuki probably had a very rough-if short-lived-relationship with his father when he was around. Given the stuff above, his father was probably someone who was emotionally volatile and tended to lose control when upset. If he had an alcohol problem, he might’ve caused a financial strain that fell onto Saeko as well.

Since his father was out of the picture and Saeko herself wasn't around as much as Yuki might've needed, it would have made him both very independent from his parents and adults in general, while also heavily reliant on Mafuyu (Hiiragi quotes both Mafuyu and Yuki to have been latchkey kids who found comfort in each other), both of which twist into the situation he found himself in later in life.

Leading into his teen years:

Yuki, as a young adult, is very independent-he works multiple jobs to pay for the expenses of being in a band, makes a point to avoid drinking, and is very affectionate towards Mafuyu. I'm not too sure about the reasoning behind why the four friends chose the high schools they did, but if Yuki's mother didn't directly influence that decision it's likely it was a choice made in direct relation to their band.

There's also very little interference from any adults in Yuki's life-namely, his mother. As someone who was probably very busy working as a single mother to support the two of them, her mentality was just to support him monetarily and let Mafuyu provide the emotional support in her place.

I think she also assumed her attempts wouldn't have been well received-most people noted how close Yuki and Mafuyu were and seemed to always assume that they had each other handled and that nobody had to worry about either of them because of it. In every way, it was simply easier to show Yuki she cared by not interfering and letting him hold the reigns of his own life.

A big indicator of this idea for me what when Saeko talked about how Yuki ordered his own ramen, the type he liked. It's a small thing, but it started me to read because it highlighted the amount of input his mother had on his life; which was very little. I don't know if he even used her money or chose to use the extra from his jobs to pay for it, but either way, it sort of put their relationship into perspective.

The impact it had:

Yuki probably had a lot of resentment towards his father, or, at the very least, a desire to turn out different. And oftentimes when a person is very strongly trying to avoid turning out like someone, they ignore or avoid acknowledging the similarities, rather than accepting and working on them to properly change. Without a strong parental/adult figure in his life, he wouldn't have considered insight beyond his own experiences. He's characterized to be moody and domineering, and Mafuyu is too soft-spoken to have brought up most issues until it reached its boiling point.

I believe Yuki might have had Borderline Personality Disorder to a mild extent. Some symptoms of BPD are mood swings, impulsivity, impaired social relationships, and a distorted self-image. They usually have thoughts of suicide or self-harming tendencies. When they feel insecure in relationships, in which they’re usually very, very invested, they tend to lash out or do rash things to keep them close.

Based on my relationships with the borderline people in my life, I've noticed that they usually bounce between having great confidence in themselves, to being incredibly insecure. It's hard to explain specifically, but they walk a fine line of being insecure and also maintaining a painfully strong ego, which makes them react very strongly when provoked, intentionally or not. Yuki and Mafuyu have a different type of relationship than I do with those people in my life which, for the two of them, means that Mafuyu probably had to provide lots of emotional support for Yuki, while also under the mild threat of Yuki coming to harm by his own actions.

Being with someone with these tendencies who is also unaware of them is very draining, especially for someone as mild and soft-spoken as Mafuyu is. Yuki tended to lead their relationship and was probably very noticeable when upset-and for someone who might not be used to speaking up or someone who has low self-confidence, it is difficult to bring up things. It doesn't feel safe if you don't know exactly how it would be received. Especially if they are the person you are closest to, it can be anxiety-inducing to try and bring up problems that don't seem to be incredibly important or unavoidable.

So, long story short-Yuki was closed off to receiving any kind of proper advice or criticism that would've saved him. Another symptom of BPD, as mentioned before, is suicidal ideation. So, if all these things are combined, it's a lot easier to see how he, surrounded by only his thoughts and ideas, would make the choice to take his own life when provoked.

It wasn't specifically that Mafuyu had caused his death, but more that he just sent him over the edge he had been teetering on for a long while. He was like his father in the sense that they had the same flaws that just came from different places. Yuki's pride came from the flip side of his insecurities and his own early independence, and his mental health issues as a whole are probably hereditary. The specificities of his death, where Yuki drinks after avoiding alcohol for his entire life, feels like he failed in his effort to avoid being like his father. He was different as a person but in the end, their flaws aligned and brought them to their end in parallels to each other.

Calling back to what his mom said-it doesn't feel unexpected. It is shocking, but not a surprise. Yuki was fiercely independent and wanted to learn and do new things, all on his own-including his own death and whatever follows after.

[I wrote this a while back and didn’t really like how most of it was speculation and hard to prove-but decided to post it anyway because I spent too much time on it lol.

Like I said before, most of this is just my head canons, but I hope it made sense! Feel free to add on with your stuff/arguments/headcanons :)]

#given #yuki yoshida #sato mafuyu #character ramblings #tw sui mention #mafuyuki #given manga #given anime #idkkk what do y’all think #i’m bad at Tags #also this is. severely unedited.#as in i wrote this a while back #found it and just went #huh this is a lot of words. let me skim it. sounds about right. time to post!#WIAHI

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maulusque · 4 years ago

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WHAT IF MAUL KIDNAPPED ANAKIN RIGHT OFF OF TATOOINE

(I started writing this and then it got out of hand and now it’s 3:30 in the morning, rest of it’s under the break so i don’t monopolize your dash)

So for whatever combination of reasons, Maul spits out the kool-aid and gets really disenchanted with Sidious a lot earlier than in canon. He starts wondering things like “why is he not telling me his master plan if i’m so important to it?” and “why do i get nothing more than vague promises of power sometime in the future, when i should be guaranteed a position as his second-in-command, after all I’ve done for this guy?” and “why does he treat me like i’m disposable, and then constantly tell me i’m crucial for his plans?”

and he starts thinking things like “hey wait a minute, none of that childhood torture made me better at anything sith-related, it just gave me crippling trauma that actually impairs my capacity for self-control and incredible violence” and (possibly due to his experiences at Orsis Academy) “oh whack looks like kids learn a lot better and faster when they’re, like, having fun? Whatever ‘fun’ is?”

and anyway by the time he gets to tatooine with orders to “find that stoner jedi and kick his ass”, Maul is pretty annoyed at his master. And when he senses not one, not two, but THREE powerful force-presences on Tatooine, one of which vastly eclipses any other force presence he’s ever felt, and belongs to a nine-year-old slave boy, Maul gets an idea. You know, (he thinks), his master sure would love to get his hands on a force-baby like that. Master Sidious sure would be evilly thrilled to have an extremely powerful nine-year-old delivered directly to his doorstep on coruscant, with the jedi having to do all the heavy lifting of training the kid. Master Sidious would probably want nothing more than to have this kid be taken in by the Jedi, so he can start grooming a new apprentice.

And Maul, full of spite and an as-yet-undiscovered need to adopt every force-sensitive in sight, decides to deprive Sidious of a potential apprentice. He follows Anakin to Naboo (in this universe, Anakin still wins the podrace, still wins his own freedom), and, after the fighting is over, sees a prime window of opportunity, and kidnaps Anakin right out from under the Jedi’s nose.

(In this universe, Obi-Wan does not cut Darth Maul in half and dump him down the garbage chute- Maul, unwilling to do his master’s bidding any longer, doesn’t go full out against Qui-Gon, doesn’t kill him, and Obi-Wan doesn’t get that grief-and-rage filled boost that helped him dismember Maul last time. The fight ends, the Jedi are convinced that Maul is dead, and Naboo is freed).

Once Maul has the kid, since he’s a pragmatic guy, he also returns to Tatooine and takes the kid’s mom. Maul doesn’t know how to cook, do laundry, tie shoes, or any of that shit. He doesn’t want to have to PARENT the kid, he just wants to train him.

Maul has zero money, and also zero subtlety, so he stomps into Watto’s shop, grabs him by the neck, and says “The boy's mother is coming with me. You will disable her slave chip and let her leave unharmed, or I will squeeze your head off.” Watto complies. For Anakin, this is his first real impression of Maul- storming the junk shop and threatening his former master for the freedom of Anakin’s mother.

Maul is determined to do a better job training Anakin than Sidious did training Maul. Because FUCK Sidious. Maul can be a WAY better Sith than Sidious ever allowed him to be. And since Maul is slowly realizing how... unhelpful... the way he was raised was, he’s determined to figure out how to do it better.

So he reads. He reads training manuals, child psychology books, teaching books, studies on motivation and performance, anything he can get his nerdy little hands on. He learns that frightened children don’t perform well. He learns about “trauma”, and how “trauma” makes it hard to control your emotions sometimes. Well, you can’t have THAT in your ultimate sith apprentice. Okay, so no scaring Anakin and no traumatizing him. Maul quickly realizes that literally everything he does frightens Anakin or his mom, and frightening Anakin’s mom also frightens Anakin (cut him some slack, he’s literally never been in a positive relationship, Maul has no model for any behavior other than “evil abuser” and “subservient slave”).

Maul is not an idiot. He knows he’s not doing it right. He’s reluctant to start teaching Anakin ANYTHING until he knows he won’t accidentally damage his precious spite-apprentice. So he mostly ignores the kid while he reads and learns.

He also observes. Specifically, he observes Shmi Skywalker. Somehow, she seems to be able to interact with Anakin without scaring him. She can even tell him what to do without scaring him. She can teach and correct him without scaring him. And she never physically hurts him at all. Maul is kind of blown away- he didn’t even know it was possible to interact with people like that? HOW does she DO it???

So Maul watches and learns. He practices. Shmi helps, guides him, tells him when he messes up and tells him how to do it better. Maul gets a lot better at restraining his murderous urges. Turns out, if you immediately kill everyone who annoys you, it’s hard to ask them for advice after. The other person Maul gets pointers from is C3PO, the protocol droid the kid dragged along. Maul understands 3PO better than he understands Shmi and Anakin. 3PO is a droid. Maul was raised by a droid. Maul knows how to talk with 3PO, whereas talking with Shmi or Anakin feels like wandering around in a fog full of landmines.

So anyway, Maul and 3PO become unlikely friends, and, as Maul, determined to out-parent Sidious in every conceivable way, learns more and more social skills, emotional intelligence, and interpersonal skills, he truly comprehends how fucked up his own childhood was. There’s rage. There’s grief. There’s murderous desire for vengeance. But there’s also Anakin. Who would be scared if Maul smashed the ship or killed random people to vent his anger. Anakin, who needs something called a “positive role model”, who needs to be taught how to use the Force, and who needs the adults around him to have their shit together. There’s also Shmi, who makes him soup and hot chocolate when he’s feeling bad, and tells him off for breaking things, and who helps him get better at being a real person, and who doesn’t seem to want anything from him other than a general expectation of not hurting her or her son. So Maul deals. He grows. He heals, slowly. There’s setbacks, and gains. And somewhere in there, he starts teaching Anakin how to use the Force.

The problem is, Maul learned to access the Force first through fear and anger. Turns out, it’s really hard to teach someone fundamentals of force usage via fear and anger without first having to traumatize them. So right away, Maul hits a barrier. He doesn’t have any clue how to teach Anakin a different way though. He needs help.

But also, FUCK the jedi. NO WAY is Maul asking the Jedi for help, he hates the Jedi. Maul is still a Sith, he’s just a new, better kind of Sith, the kind that trains apprentices who are gonna kick WAY MORE ASS and be HEALTHY WELL-ADJUSTED PEOPLE while doing it (let him dream, ok?). So Maul starts hauling Shmi and Anakin around the galaxy, seeking out any non-Jedi Force-users they can, to learn Force techniques that the Sith didn’t teach Maul.

They spend time with the Guardians on Jedha, with those weird duck-people from that one episode with Jar-Jar’s girlfriend, with some wacky monks on a tiny island in the ass-end of nowhere, and even some time with a long-lost sith cult in a box system in the middle of the Unknown Regions. Maul learns. Anakin learns. Maul uses what he learns from the other force-users, combines it with what he knows, and teaches Anakin even more. The Jedi and the Sith are really the only two groups who really use the force for Big Impressive Things, like telekinesis and lightning and whatnot, so while the other force groups would have a lot to teach them both, they wouldn’t really be able to teach Anakin how to levitate something. And you can’t be the kick-assiest, bestest Sith Apprentice Ever if you can’t levitate shit. So Maul takes takes all these new techniques, like “being calm and chill when you meditate instead of super pissed off” and “using the Force while not being filled with incredible rage” and “mindfulness techniques” and “who knew you could do cool stuff like floating rocks without having to exhaust yourself by hating everything in existence, including yourself” and applies them to the skills and methods he already has. He and Anakin have to do a lot of fumbling and exploring and mistake-making, but they figure it out. And Anakin learns. And he kicks ass.

When Anakin is 11, Maul hauls him off to Ach-To to dig a crystal out of the roots of an ancient tree. He tells Anakin to hold it and meditate, to let his emotions rise around him, to feed them, to pull them through the crystal, let it resonate, let it take on the shape of his strongest feelings. After all, that is how Maul was trained to bleed his crystals. Maul’s pain and fear and anger yielded him red crystals.

Anakin comes out with yellow. Determination, fierce protectiveness, drive, hunger for justice, righteous fury. That is Anakin’s lightsaber.

Anakin grows up, planet-hopping with his Mom and Uncle Maul in a beat-up freighter with under-the-hood enhancements out the ass (Maul ditched the Scimitar right after Tatooine so his master couldn’t instantly track him down, and Maul and Anakin are both huge mechanics nerds and bond over things like “but what if you put ANOTHER PLASMA CORE IN THE ENGINE”, so this ship is, uh, certainly some sort of thing). Anakin grows up learning a hundred different Force traditions- just about every major Force tradition in the Galaxy (except for Jedi), and more than a few obscure ones. He grows up, tinkering with his droid, learning Juyo from Maul and how to sew a button from his mom. He grows up, beholden to two destinies only: “Help me take down Sidious, because he’s an asshole and a shitty Sith Lord” and “do whatever the fuck you want, because you are a Sith and no one gets to tell you what to do” (”except me.” Shmi interrupts. “Sith Lords still have a bedtime.” “Sith Lords still have a bedtime,” Maul amends, having no desire to repeat what happened when he encouraged a ten-year-old Anakin to ignore all the rules on purpose).

And what Anakin wants to do is what he’s always wanted to do- go back to Tatooine and free the slaves. Maul thinks that a big project like that would be an excellent learning opportunity for Anakin. He also wants Anakin to succeed, so he sits him down and talks logistics. How do you free the slaves without hundreds of slave owners detonating their chips when they hear what is happening? How do you keep them free once you do that? How do you get them jobs, clothes, food, houses? What about the ones who want to leave Tatooine? What about the ones who want to stay? And what about the economic upheaval that will happen when you deprive a whole planet of its cheapest source of labor? When Anakin is fourteen, they start planning.

When Anakin is eighteen, they make their move. Anakin, coordinating with Shmi, who returned to Tatooine three years earlier to organize things on the ground (living with a woman named Beru Whitesun, who is a gateway to the Freedom Path network), activates several massive orbital EMP devices, frying every electrical device on the planet, including slave chips. (The EMPs came from a pirate friend of his mom’s, who seems to do whatever she wants as long as she makes him hot chocolate). All over the planet, lights go out, slave chips fry, and radios go silent. And Shmi’s agents get to work. Ordinary citizens all over tatooine grab their rifles and head out. They meet up with others in their settlement, and the teams sweep the area, following a plan devised by Skywalker and Whitesun. They systematically visit every house in every settlement, city, spaceport, and town that is known to house slaves, and tell the slaves to grab their families and most treasured possessions and follow them.

(Tatooine is a sparsely populated planet- you can count the major settlements on two hands. If it weren’t, this would never have worked.)

Not many slaveowners put up much of a resistance- fifty angry masked people pointing guns in your face tend to make you compliant. The only slaveowner who puts up more than a token resistance is Jabba the Hutt. His resistance, however, lasts about thirty seconds, before Anakin cuts off his head.

Maul meets Anakin at Jabba’s palace, where he’s rounding up the last of Jabba’s cronies.

“No trouble?” Maul asks.

“Nope,” Anakin replies. “You?”

“None.” Maul said. Turns out, it’s like, super easy to take down an entire criminal organization when you can turn up to a meeting of the Hutt family heads, kill them all, and waltz out past all their security forces without breaking a sweat. (Seriously, it’s kind of hilarious how Maul is literally just that good).

“The slaves here are freed?”

“Yep,” says Anakin. Then frowns. “Hold on...” He senses a presence. Big, hulking, simple, and starving. He can sense that, whatever it is, it hasn’t seen the sunlight or been able to move freely in years.

So anyway, that’s how Anakin turns up at Mos Espa at first sunrise, riding on the back of Jabba the Hutt’s pet rancor. “Who’s a good girl,” Anakin says, scratching behind her ear nubs. “You are!” And she is a good girl. Padme (”I just think it sounds like a nice name, you know?”) is very good at dispersing angry slaveowners who look like they might start rioting.

The slaves freed overnight have been gathered together at pre-designated safe zones-mostly warehouses or large buildings that Shmi has been buying up over the years for exactly this purpose.

(The slaves living in remote settlements, at moisture farms and homesteads, didn’t get a visit from the freedom teams. However, Shmi had a plan for them too. She has made overtures to the Tusken tribes. Once she managed to negotiate her way into speaking to one of the leaders without getting killed, she sold them a story, a dream. A revolution. Free the slaves. Transform Tatooine. She doesn’t promise the Tuskens to expel humans from the planet entirely. She promises them equal rights under the law (she also promises the existence of laws in the first place). She promises them the right to raise Banthas, the right to traverse their ancestral lands and the return of sacred sites taken from them, the right to trade, the right to control who passes over their lands. She promises them the right to water and shade. And, she promises them half the seats on the ruling council she plans to set up. And so, on the night the EMPs blow, Tusken raiders visit every homestead on Tatooine (again, there’s only a few hundred, a thousand at most), and kidnap the slaves. Perhaps not the most reassuring experience for enslaved peoples who have been taught their entire lives to fear the Tuskens, and not without reason, but, nevertheless, it is freedom).

As the new day dawns- Tatooine’s first dawn as a free planet- Anakin, Maul, and Shmi know that the easy part is over. Now, they have to house tens of thousands of people currently cooped up in warehouses with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They have to establish and keep iron-tight control over the planet and its settlements, and quash any violent reprisals before they gain momentum. They also have to completely rebuild an economy completely upended by the overnight emancipation.

However, Shmi’s not the only one who’s been busy for the past few years. While Shmi was on Tatooine, planning a revolution, Anakin and Maul were traversing the galaxy, gathering resources, using the Patented Maul Method (TM)- breaking into the headquarters of powerful organizations and threatening to kill everybody in charge unless they did what they said.

As the second sun rises, ships begin arriving in Tatooine’s orbit. Pop-up housing is dropped onto the outskirts of Tattooine’s settlements, the kind that mining companies use to set up new bases on mineral-rich asteroids. The accommodations are small and sparse, but each family has a kitchen, bathroom, beds, and private space. Huge generators are hooked up to cool the new housing. Anakin knows that the already-existing slave quarters, made of stone with no windows and mostly underground- are already built to keep the occupants cool, but he refuses to make the former slave population live in slave quarters. Some of the freed people are moved into Jabba’s old palace, some into buildings abandoned by rich business owners who fled the planet when they saw what was happening. Food, water, medicine, clothes, books, toys, tools, and shoes are deposited. (the Republic’s equivalent of the FBI had been utterly baffled when Galaxy’s three biggest criminal organizations started moving cargo that looked less like a drug trade and more like a disaster relief mission).

Anakin walks among the newly freed slaves, reassuring them- yes, you are free. Yes, you will be fed and housed and clothed as long as you need it. Yes, we will try to find your child/husband/wife/mother who was sold years ago. Yes, you can go home, you can do whatever you want.

He also asks for volunteers. And he gets them. Hardly anyone would say no to the chance to work with the Skywalker, who once was a slave like them, but freed himself and returned, who freed the slaves in one night of glory, and appeared at sunrise riding a rancor.

Anakin sends out messengers, all across the planet. “Tatooine is a free world,” they say. “All slaves are hereby freed, by order of the He who Walks in the Sky. Any slaveowners who, by their own free will, turn over their detonators will not be harmed. Any who resist, will be.” Not many resist.

At the end of that first day, as the suns are setting, once the freed peoples of Tatooine are fed, and given water, and sheltered, Maul comes to Anakin.

“I am proud of you.” He says. “You have come into your power, you have mastered yourself, and so have mastered the Force. You have the freedom and the power to do anything you choose. You are no longer my apprentice. Lord Skywalker, you are a true Sith Master.” Anakin pulls him into a hug. He maybe cries a little bit. Maul maybe cries a little bit. Maul maybe also feels mildly annoyed that Anakin is a full head taller than him now.

(Sidious would be truly, utterly offended at Maul’s criteria for Sith-Lord-ness. “THAT’S NOT SITH” he would have said. “THAT’S BARELY EVEN DARK SIDE ADJACENT, YOU ARE DILUTING OUR THOUSAND YEAR HERITAGE-” but Maul wouldn’t care about Sidious’ stupid opinions, anyway).

And Anakin and Shmi get to work. They employ the newly freed people of Tatooine, constructing permanent houses, tearing down slave markets, building critical infrastructure. Anakin pays them more than a living wage, thanks to the extremely deep pockets of Crimson Dawn. He brings in doctors and teachers, and guarantees healthcare and education for all who want it (whenever one of Crimson Dawn’s higher-ups says “wait, why are we dumping massive amounts of money into this one random-ass planet?” Darth Maul just casually sidles up behind them with his lightsaber until they remember that he can literally just show up anywhere, at anytime, and kill them unless they do what he says. If Maul’s busy, he sends 3PO instead- 3PO’s been outfitted with about ten times as much weaponry as is legal, and can be very convincing when he wants to be).

While Anakin works on infrastructure and supporting the freed peoples of Tatooine, and unfucking the economic trainwreck they caused, Shmi and Beru work on the government. They write down a few, very basic rules-Tatooine is to be ruled by a council of people, half of whom will come from the Tusken tribes, all of which shall be selected by fair and free election. All citizens of Tatooine shall have the right to vote in these elections, and the right to vote shall be guaranteed to all- except for those who have ever owned or sold a sentient being. (it was a huge debate in the Lars-Whitesun-Skywalker household, this matter of restricting voting rights. In the end, it was decided that slaveowners, and ONLY slaveowners, were to be the sole exception for universal suffrage). Every citizen of Tatooine is guaranteed access to food, medicine, and water, and has the right to have their grievances addressed by the council.

Shmi works quickly to gather her council- she knows she has to do it fast, to prove to the Tuskens that she is as good as her word. The first elections are chaotic, and perhaps not completely non-violent, but in the end, there is a council of twenty representatives, with Shmi Skywalker representing Mos Espa.

The Council proceeds to have raging- and occasionally violent- debates about the structure of their future government. What rights to guarantee citizens. Should they have a court system? What about a financial system? How are they to guarantee water, food, and medicine to everyone? What even are taxes?

The Rebuilding of Tatooine is long, and hard, and contentious. There are arguments and rage and fighting- the repatriation of traditional Tusken lands is especially fraught. But Shmi promised, and so she makes it happen (Anakin and Padme may have helped too). Maul, for his part, keeps training Anakin, and keeps managing the criminal underworld with a careful balance of death threats and actual death, but mostly stays out of the way of Anakin’s Senior Project.

Soon, Anakin is able to re-purpose the pop-up housing, since most people have moved into traditional Tatooine-built homes, suited to the environment. The newly restructured economy is tentatively taking its first steps, and Tatooine’s baby government is becoming less and less dependent on intergalactic criminal funding (partially thanks to Anakin confiscating the entirety of Jabba’s personal fortune). He spends a lot of time in Council meetings, trying not to scream at people while also trying to stop Padme from eating them. The Council debates what is next for Tatooine, and eventually, they vote to petition the Republic for membership. Tatooinians, as a people, including the Tuskens, are fiercely independant, but, as Shmi points out, joining the Republic would guarantee them to certain things like humanitarian aid, a voice in decisions affecting interplanetary trade routes and taxation, legal legitimacy and the right to call on the Republic for aid should their sovereignty ever be threatened. Most importantly, slavery is illegal on all Republic planets, which means that if any slave-owning organizations ever pushed in on Tatooine, there would be another (much better funded) organization to call on to help quash it.

The Republic requires that a petitioning planet’s head of state visit the Senate on Coruscant to ask the Senate for entry into the Republic. The Council, grumbling, re-jiggers their constitution to allow for a “chief councilor”, and promptly elect Anakin to the position (”Fuck me,”) Anakin says. Maul laughs at him, then sobers and tells him to be careful on Coruscant (”My former master lives there.” he says. “Mind your shields, and do not let him know your true nature. You are not yet ready to take him on, and you have your planet and your people to think of.” “Yes, Uncle Maul.” Anakin says. “I will be careful.”).

Anakin shows up in the Galactic Senate, sandy robes, uncombed hair, and half smirk on his face. “I am Anakin Skywalker, free person of Tatooine,” he says. He presents the case for Tatooine’s admittance to the Republic in a booming, confident voice, drawing on his inner strength- his righteous anger and determination to ensure his people’s future- to keep his voice from wavering.

There are grumbles. Muttering. No Senator wants to be the one to blatantly say “no”- it’s a sort of miracle story, Tatooine, the little planet that rose up and threw of the shackles of slavery and now wants to join the Republic- the exact sort of mythos that the Republic itself is built on. It’s bad PR to vote against that little planet. But at the same time, Tatooine is a sandy, useless dustball that’ll need fiscal support from the Senate, with nothing to offer in terms of economic value. Many Senators are debating with themselves, not whether or not to say “no”, but how to vote “no” without losing ten points in approval ratings.

Until the Senator from Naboo, a diminutive woman who somehow reminds Anakin of his rancor, stands up. She gives an impassioned, off-the-cuff speech, reminding the Senate of how her own planet had thrown off the shackles of oppression not ten years ago, how the Republic was founded by planets like Tatooine, and how, most importantly, they had no legal basis to deny them entry, and if the Senate voted no, Naboo’s lawyers would litigate the issue six ways from taungsday- which, due to a clause in the Senate’s constitution that forbade them from passing legislation while the issue of a planet’s admittance to the Republic was on the floor, would effectively paralyze the Senate until the courts made a ruling. And, as Padme made sure to emphasize, if the court’s decision was not favorable, she would appeal. She could feasibly stop the Senate from doing anything for years, if necessary.

Tatooine is admitted to the Republic.

“Two Senators,” Anakin demands. “In order for my people to be fairly represented, my planet requires two Senators.” When complaints are made, Jar-Jar Binks threatens to explain the complicated dynamics of a planet attempting to grapple with a colonial past. He doesn’t have to. Tatooine gets its two Senators.

Anakin meets with Senator Amidala in her office, to thank her.

“Of course,” she said. “I remember a little boy who helped free my planet- how could I not help you when you needed it?”

“Uhh, thanks, yeah, that’s, really nice of you. Like your hair. Which is nice. In an objective sort of way,” Anakin says, because there is no universe in which Anakin is not a complete idiot in front of Padme. “I named my rancor after you,” he blurts.

Before Anakin is scheduled to leave Coruscant, the Jedi send a knight to scope out the new planetary leader. Obi-Wan Kenobi shows up at Anakin’s hotel room, and goes “Oh. It’s.... you.”

“Obi-Wan!” Anakin grins. He only knew him for about two days when he was nine, but he still greets him like an old friend, like a brother. They fall into easy, teasing conversation. “I thought you were dead, I confess, after you disappeared from Naboo,” Obi-Wan admits. “I am truly sorry that I was unable to fulfill Qui-Gon’s promise to train you as a Jedi Knight.”

“That’s ok,” Anakin waves his hand dismissively. “I got trained as a Sith instead.” Then he freezes. Oops. He was not supposed to say that. Maul would be so disappointed in him.

“Beg pardon?” Obi-Wan says.

“I, uhh, got trained, as a, uh, sift...er? Instead? A sand sifter? I sift sand for a living?”

“You said Sith.”

“No I didn’t, I definitely said sift.”

“No, you said Sith.”

“I definitely did not.”

Anakin changes the subject, and Obi-Wan lets it drop. He’ll tell the Council, of course, but he honestly cannot fathom the concept of this kid being a Sith. He senses nothing Dark about him- well, at least no more dark than is present in any sentient. Besides, it’s not like there are any Sith Lords around anymore, ever since he killed Maul (luckily, Obi-Wan doesn’t see the picture in Anakin’s wallet, a candid shot 3PO took in the cockpit of their family’s ship. Fifteen-year-old Anakin, at the controls, hyperbrake still on with his hands on the hyperdrive lever, Maul, standing behind him, hands gripping Anakin’s seat and face distorted half-way through a panic-induced rant about flight safety, and Shmi, sitting in the co-pilot’s seat, laughter on her face and knitting needles in her hands).

Anakin contacts his mother, tells her the good news. The Council, moving with alacrity, elects Tatooine’s first Senators. And four days later, one year after the Dawn of Freedom, Senator Shmi Skywalker and Senator Ooutrigh (a Tusken warrior) of Tatooine arrive on Coruscant and address the Senate for the first time.

Of course, while Anakin has been growing up, planning for Tatooine’s future, and annoying the shit out of Maul, Palpatine’s own plans have continued apace. Barely four months after Tatooine is admitted to the Republic, Obi-Wan finds himself in an arena on Geonosis. The battle goes much differently this time, partially due to the fact that Anakin has retrofitted the cargo bay of his family’s ship to house Padme (the rancor, not the Senator), and descends onto the Arena sands just as Yoda and the Clone Troops arrive, and deposits both Padme’s (the rancor, and the Senator) into the melee.

“Hi, Obi-Wan!” Anakin calls, whipping out his lightsaber to deflect the hail of blaster bolts (Maul would disapprove, but Maul isn’t here, he’s ten clicks away, chasing down the Jedi dropout Sidious replaced him with).

“Anakin, what the FUCK” Obi-Wan says, staring at Chief Councilor Anakin Skywalker of Tatooine, riding a rancor and swinging an honest-to-Force yellow lightsaber.

“Master Yoda, what the FUCK” Anakin says, later, after the battle is over, when he finally gets Yoda to answer his questions about the clone troopers. “You found out about an entire-ass army of slave child soldiers commissioned AND PAID FOR by one of your own council members, and your reaction is ‘oh thank goodness, now we have an army?’ What the FUCK is WRONG with you?!” Yoda tries to explain to Councilor Skywalker that the situation was dire, they’d had no choice, but Councilor Skywalker just keeps repeating “AN ARMY OF SLAVE CHILD SOLDIERS” at him. “No choice, we had,” Yoda says yet again.

“BULLSHIT, you had no choice!” Anakin yells. “You could have chosen to not use the entire army of slave child soldiers that you legally own!”

“Let Kenobi and the others die, you would have? Hmm?”

“PROBABLY, YEAH!” Anakin hollers (”Thanks,” mutters Obi-Wan). “Sometimes the choices you have all really suck, but you still have to make them! You can’t just pretend you didn’t have any options, you HAD OPTIONS, and you chose the one that involved using a SLAVE ARMY OF CHILD SOLDIERS.” He gestures behind him to the battlefield, where clone troopers and medics are moving amongst the bodies, white and red stark against the sand, tallying their dead brothers.

Yoda shakes his head. “emotional, you are, young Skywalker.” he said. “Cloud your judgement, your feelings do.”

“Yeah, I’m fucking emotional!” Anakin practically screams. “I have personal beef with slavery, so excuse me if I feel emotions about it. Your problem is that you’re able to use an ARMY OF SLAVE CHILD SOLDIERS and not feel bad about it! Your lack of emotions is clouding YOUR judgement!” He stomps off. Yoda shakes his head. Skywalker is young, and too close to the issue of slavery to really have perspective on it. He does not understand. It was a great loss to the Jedi Order when the Council rejected him, all those years ago- if he had been trained as a Jedi, he would have learned to put aside his emotions about slavery, and he would have understood why it was necessary now. If Anakin could have heard what Yoda was thinking, he would have turned right back around, picked Yoda up, and punted him like a limmie ball.

Anakin and Maul return to Tatooine. Maul offers to assassinate the entire Jedi Council, but Anakin says no. He’s still fuming about his conversation with Yoda. He knows he gets emotional. He knows that Yoda isn’t entirely wrong- he knows he lets his emotions cloud his judgement sometimes. It’s something he’s worked hard on, over the years, him and Maul. How to take a step back from the emotions howling in your head, and how to view the situation without them getting in the way. And what kinds of situations you should let your emotions guide you. Anakin thinks he’s damn well entitled to strong emotions about slavery.

Short of declaring war on the entire Jedi Order, Anakin doesn’t know what to do about the Republic’s slave army. The Tatooine Council releases a public condemnation of it, explicitly calling it slavery and calling for the clones to be freed. The Council seriously debates joining the Separatists, until Padme (the Senator, not the Rancor) and Shmi look in-depth at the Separatist Council, which is buried deep in the pockets of corporate interests. Shmi files a lawsuit, under the Republic’s anti-slavery legislation, suing for the freedom of the clones. It’s a battle of miserable inches, and meanwhile, the war rages.

With Dooku gone, Sidious’s only means of controlling the Separatists is through Grievous and Ventress, both of whom are loose cannons whose loyalty (and competence) he seriously doubts. It’s frustrating for him, and not necessarily better for the Jedi and their army (of slave child soldiers). Sidious needs to keep the war in careful balance, neither side gaining too much ground, to draw it out and grind the Jedi down and manipulate their public image until he can heap all the blame on them. Without Dooku to pass down his orders, he has no way of keeping a firm check on the Separatist Council, and the Seps are in serious danger of completely overrunning the Republic. The droid army is fifty times as many as the clones, and the Separatists have the Trade Federation, the Banking Clans, and all of the major military tech corporations on their side. Honestly, it’s a testament to the Jedi and the Clone Army that they haven’t lost the war in the first month.

Speaking of that first month, Anakin doesn’t spend long on uninvolved in the war. Scant weeks after Geonosis, the Separatist Army threatens to roll right over Tatooine on their way to gaining control of the Outer Rim Hyperlanes. Tatooine has no army, doesn’t even have a police force. It has no fleet, no orbital defenses, and the droid army headed their way has ten times more droids than there are guns on the planet. The Council faces a choice. Ask the Republic to send in the GAR to defend them- ask for an army of slaves to be sent to die on Tatooine, to stain the sand with enslaved blood so soon after Tatooine clawed her way to freedom, or do nothing, and almost certainly ensure the annihilation of Tatooine and her people. To die, or to live by the blood of slaves who died for you. It’s not a pretty choice.

In the end, the choice is taken away from them (and perhaps it’s a kindness, that they weren’t forced to choose, perhaps it’s the coward’s way out, but it is what it is). A GAR cruiser shows up in orbit, and the Council is hailed by a man identifying himself as Captain Rex, commanding officer of the 501st legion of the GAR.

“The Republic sent you here?” Anakin asks, incredulously.

“Well, not exactly.” Captain Rex hedges. “The 501st is due for leave on Kamino, but the hyperdrive was making funny noises, so we decided to stop off in the nearest Republic system to check it out.” Rex shrugs. “If a bunch of tinnies just so happen to show up, it’s not like we’ll just sit back and watch.”

“Why are you doing this?” Anakin asks the clone captain, once they’ve got him on planet and in the council room. He’s got a lump in his throat, and his eyes are stinging. The 501st has no Jedi on board, no natborn officers, and no orders to go to Tatooine. Rex and the 501st showed up here of their own free will. Because they wanted to. To defend Tatooine.

“Geonosis.” Rex says. “On Geonosis, you saved the lives of over two hundred of us. Including me. We couldn’t stand by and let your planet fall to the Separatists, Councilor Skywalker.”

After the battle, during the cleanup, when Tatooinians are passing through the rows of injured, giving out water- giving out life- Rex tells Anakin the other reason.

“We all know about Tatooine, sir.” He says, quietly. “A bunch of slaves who stood up and said “no,” and took their freedom.” He shrugs. “Stories like that, it gives us hope. For the future.” He fixes Anakin with a stare. “If we let that hope die, we die too. Tatooine cannot fall.”

That is the first time Anakin and Rex fight together. Somehow, when the 501st leaves Tatooine, Anakin goes with them- officially, as a consultant/observer, appointed at the request of Senator Skywalker to observe the GAR and monitor the health and wellbeing of the troopers. Unofficially, Anakin and Rex become a lethal team, making the 501st one of the most effective legions in the Galaxy. Anakin isn’t dumb. He knows he’s being a massive hypocrite, running around with an army of slave child soldiers. Rex, however, insists that it’s different.

“First of all, we asked you to come with us.” he says. “Second of all, it’s not like you staying behind would have made any difference in our situation. And besides, scrapping clankers isn’t the only reason I asked you to come with us.” Anakin raises an eyebrow.

And Rex introduces Anakin to his older brother, Cody, commander of the 212th (Anakin is happy to see Obi-Wan again, but appalled to meet Obi-Wan’s fourteen-year-old togruta padawan, because why would you put a CHILD in a warzone, in a COMMAND POSITION). And Cody brings Anakin in on The Plan. The clones will not remain slaves forever, and they will not wait for some elusive promise of gratitude after the war is over. They will take their freedom, and they will defend their own, and they’re asking Anakin, who freed the slaves of Tatooine, to help them do it.

“So basically, you want me on as a consultant.”

“Basically, yeah.” Cody says. “And also as a guy with a lightsaber who can leap fifty feet into the air and dodge blaster bolts. Those are always handy to have around.”

So Anakin and Rex and Cody, and Cody’s small circle of commanders, lay their plans. And in the meantime, there’s a war to fight. Shmi’s still on Tatooine, but Maul comes with Anakin and the 501st. He and Rex get along like a house on fire, but you wouldn’t know it from watching them- they do nothing but argue and needle each other. Rex sarcastically calls Maul “Commander Maul” because it pisses him off so much, and it catches on with the whole legion. Maul constantly mutters about murdering and/or poisoning Rex.

But after Ventress almost chokes Rex to death, and breaks into his mind to make him do her bidding, Maul doesn’t leave Rex alone for a week, and clutches his hand tightly in the medbay. Rex doesn’t mention it, so neither does Anakin.

Padme, on the other hand, makes no secret of how much she loves Rex (the Rancor, not the Senator, though she likes him too). Padme seems to have concluded that Rex is some sort of long-lost hatchling, and can be seen chasing Rex down the hangar bay, trying to corral him into the nest she’s constructed in the corner reserved for her. Rex gets used to surprise cuddles from a massive predator.

The Jedi Council are at their wit’s end with Skywalker, but their hands are full and honestly, he’s a benefit to the war effort, so they assign Obi-Wan to “supervise” the legion, and leave them to it. Obi-Wan and Anakin strike up a deep friendship, unfettered by the baggage that comes with being master and padawan. Obi-Wan finds himself having serious questions about the Jedi’s role in the war, since Anakin is not at all shy about challenging him on the whole “slave army of child soldiers” thing. Obi-Wan is also, quite frankly, too busy to effectively teach a padawan, and by this point, he knows that Anakin’s had some sort of Force training. He’s fought beside him enough to be confident in his skills, and often sends Ahsoka on extended missions with the 501st, and explicitly begs Anakin to help him fill in the gaps in her training. Anakin obliges enthusiastically.

Of course, Maul helps train her too. Obi-Wan shows up on the Resolute one day to pick her up, and asks how her training’s going.

“Great!” She says. “Skyguy’s weird uncle is teaching me jar’kai-”

“Anakin has an uncle?” Obi-Wan asks, surprised. “Who knows jar’kai?”

And so Obi-Wan and Maul meet once again. And Obi-Wan is just absolutely pole-axed.

“Darth Maul?” He splutters. “Is your uncle?”

“Not biologically,” Anakin shrugs. “He practically raised me, along with my mom. He taught me everything I know about lightsabers and the Force.”

“...”

“...you did say Sith, Anakin, you bastard, sand-sifting MY ASS-”

“Oh, it’s you.” Maul says. “I won’t kill you, but only because Anakin likes you.” Obi-Wan throws up his hands.

Somehow, Obi-Wan and Maul come to an understanding. Somehow, Obi-Wan doesn’t turn him over to the council.

At one point, a giant of a zabrak, easily eight feet tall, with skin a poisonous yellow, shows up, claiming that Maul is his brother, and that he’s here to bring him home to Dathomir. Maul takes one look at Savage and goes “Fuck that”. “I will train you in the ways of the Force,” he says. “I can show you power like you’ve never wielded before.” he says. “You shall be a great and feared Sith Lord,” he says. “Have some hot chocolate, you look cold,” he says. “Put on a sweater.” Savage, slightly bemused, comes to terms with the fact that he’s just been adopted.

It’s Maul who figures it out, of course. How could he not? He was raised by Sidious. He knows how devious he is, how his plans have layers upon layers, backups upon backups, contingencies stacked from here to the Outer Rim. Once Sidious moves, you can be sure that any reasonable outcome will be in his favor, because he has completely engineered the situation before you were even aware it existed.

The Sith caused the war and are playing both sides. The Sith caused the clones to be commissioned (these things are trivially easy to figure out, if you’re paying attention). The Sith want the Jedi dead.

“Contingencies,” Maul mutters. “It’s always a trap, and there’s always contingencies.”

When he finds the chip in Rex’s head, he shakes with rage and refuses to talk to anyone, fearing, for the first time in years, that he will lose control and hurt someone he loves. It is Rex who talks him down, who manages to get close to him, who embraces him and lets him cry on his shoulder, then scream and rage and punch the walls. When Maul is able to explain, Rex has to choke back his own terrified, horrified sobs. He holds them back, and calmly looks at Maul and says “What are you going to do about it?”

The surgery, they discover, is simple enough. An astromech can do it in two minutes (C2PO can do it in seventy seconds, and Artoo can’t stand it). When Anakin is told, he goes quiet for a minute, and when he looks back up, it is not Anakin, Rex’s friend, Maul’s kid, who is sitting at the table in the briefing room. It is He Who Walks in the Sky, Huttslayer, Breaker of Chains, who looks back at them. Anakin Skywalker has always wanted nothing more than to free all the slaves. And Anakin Skywalker’s destiny has always been to do what he wanted.

They tell Cody. They modify their plans. They quietly contact medics throughout the GAR, and Artoo quietly sends the details to every military astromech he trusts. When the army is safe from Sidious’ control, Anakin, Rex, and Maul conspire to lure him off of Coruscant. Maul takes over Mandalore, exiling the duchess and announcing a New Sith Empire. Sidious shows up, declaring that Maul has become a rival, disowning his former apprentice and attacking him, with intent to kill. Savage loses an arm. Maul almost loses his life. But as he lies on the ground at Sidious’s feet, arms trembling with the effort of holding the parry keeping Sidious’ saber from his throat, he hears “We’ve got the face shot! Go, go go!” in his earpiece. Gunfire, real slugthrowers, difficult to block with a saber, erupts around him. C3PO and his arsenal, along with Fives, Jesse, and Echo, the 501st’s best ARC troopers, open fire on Sidious. The Sith is forced to back away, raising a hand to stop the bullets in midair. Maul leaps to his feet, and Anakin joins him, lightsaber drawn.

The fight is quick, but brutal. Maul’s hands threaten to tremble with terror, facing down the horror of his childhood, the monster whose treatment of him is woven fundamentally into his psyche, whose shadow has haunted Maul all his life, and still invades his dreams. But he reaches out to his family, to Rex, beside him, steady, full of faith in him, to Anakin, a blazing sun of love and anger, a shield of raw power, and to Shmi, all the way in her Senate offices on Coruscant, cool and calm and soothing like a desert spring as ever-present as the stars. His hands do not tremble. He raises his lightsaber against his master, beside the blade of his son. Together, they beat the Sith Lord back. Anakin binds the Sith’s blade, knees him in the ribs, and while Sidious is thus occupied, Maul cuts his head off.

“You were a terrible parent,” he pants, and spits on the corpse. Then, he collapses, and Rex is there to catch him, and Maul clings to him and shakes, and cries. Anakin reaches out to put a hand on his shoulder, and Rex pulls him in with a look, and together, they surround Maul, a bulwark against the rest of the world, a safe circle for him to fall apart for a little bit. At some point, one of them unstraps the small camera that Maul had been wearing on his chest. Ahsoka has, at that point, already sent the footage to every major news office on Coruscant.

That evening, plastered all over the galactic news, is a video of the Chancellor himself, showing up on a neutral world and attacking its sovereign leader, wielding red lightsabers of all things. And it’s obviously the Chancellor; there’s a clear shot of his face when he knocks Mandalore’s ruler to the ground and the camera gets a good view right up into his hood.

It’s a massive scandal. One tabloid shows the footage with a little counter in the corner, counting up every treaty and galactic law that Palpatine violates onscreen. The only thing that saves Palpatine from impeachment and arrest is the fact that he’s already dead. Inquiries are launched, investigators are sanctioned, documents and hard drives and testimony are subpoena’ed. Padme (the Senator, not the Rancor), spearheads the investigative committee, and within a month, they’ve uncovered decades worth of bribes, backroom deals, contracts with droid manufacturers, clear evidence of Palpatine authorizing Republic funds for weaponry that went straight to the Separatists, and even communication records between the Chancellor and the two military leaders of the Separatists. Grievous and Ventress go into hiding (the Tales of Grievous and Ventress, unlikely buddies forced on an intergalactic road trip on the run from the cops, is a story for a different absurdly long post at 3am). The Separatists break down in chaos, and the war grinds to a halt. In the middle of all the political hurricane, Cody enacts his plan, and the entire GAR simultaneously deserts, and fucks directly off to Tatooine. This ignites another scandal, with Senators calling for Tatooine’s expulsion from the Republic. Shmi stands in her Senate Pod, hands tucked into her roughspun sleeves, listening attentively while Senator Burtoni of Kamino accuses her of theft.

“If Tatooine does not return the stolen military assets, the Senate may sanction the use of force!” the Senator from Ryloth threatens.

“Pardon me,” Shmi says, “May I ask what army the Senate is planning sending to invade Tatooine? I was under the impression that the only Republic army was already there.” There’s a bit of an awkward silence.

In the middle of the shitstorm, before Shmi is arrested and Anakin declared an enemy of the state, Shmi’s lawsuit finally receives a ruling. And just like that, the clones are legally free. And the judge orders the Senate to pay reparations. Anakin cackles with glee when he hears.

Rex and Cody, with the full support of the people of Tatooine, begin the long, hard, work of resettling their brothers and building a life for the vod’e. Shmi files a lawsuit against the Zygerrian Empire. Savage receives a new arm, courtesy of Anakin, who may or may not have added a few extra utilities to it. Ahsoka is knighted, and controversially invites Anakin to be present at the ceremony, along with Obi-Wan. Maul admits, very quietly and where only Rex can hear, that he doesn’t actually want to poison him. “I know,” Rex says, smiling at him. Anakin, meanwhile, finally marries Padme, the love of his life (the Senator, not the Rancor).

And in Mos Eisly, there is a stone slab, pulled from a crumbled wall and stuck upright in the ground in the middle of the square. No one knows who put it there, but someone carved fifty-seven names into the stone. The fifty-seven names of the clone troopers who died defending Tatooine from the Separatist army, at the beginning of the war. The last slaves to spill their blood on the sands of Tatooine.

#maul adopts anakin #and invents a new kind of sith #which is almost nothing like the old kind of sith #just co-opts the name really #rex/maul #kinda? it wasn't on purpose it just happened #my writing #maulusque's writing #might slap this up on ao3 later #we'll see

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tmntallthewaydown · 4 years ago

Text

Tales of the Hidden City Writing Appreciation Post Pt.1!

The last batch of episodes, Tales of the Hidden City, were excellent. As an animator, it’s easy to get bowled over by the visuals of the show and just rant about those, but I wanted to spotlight another awesome part of Rise of TMNT -- the writing!

The writing is always fun in the show, but there were parts of these episodes that I really wanted to call out for how clever and great they are.

Each of the Tales of the Hidden City eps puts the characters in a situation where their strengths are negated or challenged. (Also, big cheer for a bunch of episodes finally exploring the Hidden City. It’s such a fun location, I want to see it all.)

Donnie Vs Witch Town an episode where Donnie’s tech can’t solve the problem Raph’s Ride Along an episode where Raph’s heroics are seen as anything but Hidden City’s Most Wanted an episode where Mikey’s peacekeeping can’t keep the peace Bad Hair Day an episode where the face man’s face ain’t enough

I figured I’d do a separate post for each episode so it doesn’t get over-long.

I’ll be focusing on character development mainly since that’s what stood out to me most!

Donnie Vs Witch Town

Directed by Abe Audish, Written by Ian Busch, Storyboarded by Alicia Chan

*Spoilers for the episode!* I won’t do full recaps, and assume you’ve all seen the ep if you’re reading this..

We start with Donnie referencing the Shadow Fiend in the Battle Nexus.

“Rumour has it, this Shadow Fiend is quite the fierce champion”

I’m assuming this line’s here because the writers want to keep dropping us tantalizing crumbs to set up the Shadow Fiend as being an important figure in this season. The writers want to keep them present and in our minds as well as let us know that whoever the fiend is, (I bet we all have guesses), they’ve gotta be making quite the name for themselves if even the Turtles have heard of them.

April says she’s headed to Witch Town, whereupon Donnie is horrified. I think horrified is the right word.

“Drop it, D.” “Why not ask me? Mr Science!”

The “Drop it, D” is an elegant way to imply this conversation is a continuation of one they were having pre-episode. April is already very done with the discussion.

Donnie’s line is great because it’s one of two times in this episode that he calls himself ‘Mr Science’ or ‘The Science Guy’. Here, the line comes off as triumphant and proud, but later there is a feeling of desperation to it. It’s a really nice parallel to set up at the beginning, so we can hammer home the duality of what that label means to Donnie.

To preface, this episode deals with Don’s self worth being tangled up in his ability to do Science good. Because of this, he does a lot of projecting in this episode. For the most part, you can assume any time he mentions ‘Science’, he is actually talking about himself. Basically, substitute that word for his own name, and it makes the subtext more obvious.

Here, have these just because they’re fun.

Don ‘helping out’ with various Science Fair projects. April has a good reason not to ask him for help again.

A nuclear powered cooking multi-tool?

The Erupting Volcano. The floor is literally lava.

The Classic Potato Battery experiment.

“Hmm. That must have been the work of another Teenage Mutant Ninja Dummie.”

I’m calling out Donnie’s response here just because I enjoy the consistency the writers give to the way he handles failures. Innnnn that he will feign complete ignorance of the incident and claim it must have been someone else entirely.

“You turned a cuddly animatronic bear into a psychotic robot bent on destroying us? No? Got April Fired? Mmm? Nothing? Mmm?” “That does not sound like me, no.”

- from Al Be Back

In general it’s an established part of his character that he has problems accepting failure.

Donnie deflects blame in many other episodes - to April in ‘The Purple Jacket’ and to his brothers in ‘Todd Scouts’ off the top of my head. This trait is pertinent to this episode in particular because the apology we get at the end of the episode from him is by far the most full and cohesive admission of blame he has given in the two series so far. I’d say it’s a step forward on the level of Leo’s apology from the ‘Air Turtle’ episode (another great episode showing Leo’s growth towards becoming a team player!).

Either way, it’s nice that we see him redirect the blame early in the episode so the moment can provide more of a contrast to him coming full circle and accepting the blame later.

One last thing about the line - I put my hands up to admit that this may be me overthinking it, but Don essentially calls himself a dummie here. Whether this was intentional by the writers to hint at his insecurities or just a fun line, I couldn’t say - but since it relates back to events later in the episode I thought it might be worth mentioning.

Moving on, Donnie accompanies April to Witch Town despite it being the last place he wants to be. It’s our first hint that his obsessive need to convince April that all Mystic stuff is garbage might run a bit deeper than just vocal teasing.

April calls him out on being closed minded and we get

“Oh I’m sorry, I was just stewing over how everyone needs to be more like me.”

Of course we know that’s not how he really feels, as we’ve all seen that episode.

The writing here is nice and subtle. It lets us know that Donnie isn’t being honest. He’s giving April sass, but the sentiment he’s expressing is false.

The episode continues with Donnie comparing every feat of magic to it’s scientific equivalent until April essentially tells him to can it if he doesn’t want a bat to the plastron. The witches show off, prompting exclamations from April at how amazing their magic is.

Then we get one of my favourite lines from Donnie as he snaps.

“Your Mystic Magic is not amazing, it’s simple and soft. There, I said it.”

That soft is a word that Donnie would use as an insult, associating it with something he dislikes and looks down on, is very affecting. You know what else is soft?

The writing here is so revealing and wonderful. They could have used any insult, but the writers chose to have him express his frustration in a way that sheds light on the way Donnie sees himself. It gets right to the root of the problem he has in this episode, which is that without his science and tech, Donnie doesn’t feel like he is particularly ‘Amazing’ either.

That April calling magic amazing is what prompt’s Don’s snap, rather than any of the words of the townsfolk, is one of the clues we’re given to the truth behind D’s drive in this episode. The writers will bring that back later on!

So April and Don are kicked outta Witch Town when Don’s improv musical performance to convince April to let him help her instead ends up blowing up in his face.

Popping this here because watching Donnie get deservedly smacked by April at this point was very cathartic for me. Dingus.

Donnie offers to help the witches in return for them helping April. It seems sweet at first, but it becomes plain fairly fast that this is really another opportunity for D to try and prove that science is king.

“Ah would you look at that. Banished, and I still saved the day.” “Wait, is that why you did this?” “Nooo! It’s because I was sorry - about being closed minded - about how wrong I were.”

Again, it’s up to the writers to show us that Donnie is lying about his motivations here. That little bit of incorrect grammar (saying ‘were’ instead of ‘was’), calls out to us that something is up. Donnie is smart, and it’s out of character for him to word things sloppily. It lets us know that all is not well, and that things are yet to be resolved, internally at least.

I couldn’t help calling out this wonderful posing, even though I’m trying to focus on the writing. It really sells us on the dissatisfaction brewing between them. Gorgeous acting from the animators.

The peace offering potion the witches were making seems to work, and Donnie wastes no time in trying to rub their faces in the fact that science provided one of the ingredients - until it becomes clear that Donnie’s contribution has soured the brew. He tries to avoid blame and responsibility, as we’ve seen him do in previous episodes (and earlier in this one). Nothing I’m calling out here besides the novelty of seeing a mob of witches trying to lynch a scientist - a bit of a historical reversal!

The big bad is storming Witch Town and Donnie gets ready to smack down - specifically “because when I defeat it with my tech, they will have to admit science is better!”

It’s worth saying that on the word ‘they’, he points directly at April. Because as we’re about to discover, it’s not actually proving to these random villagers that Science is best that’s important to him (though maybe that would be nice), but about proving to April specifically that Science is best. Thank you animators/storyboarders for making that subtext more explicit!

At this point we as the audience have had it up to here with Donnie’s bullheadedness. The reveal that D’s gripe is personal and April/brother specific, rather than just a frustration with Witch Town in general, goes some way to explaining why he is so obsessive over it.

Donnie’s Tech Bo breaks in the conflict, and we get the awesome reveal of April’s Mystic Bat. She is of course, badass with it and kicks butt. April saving Donnie’s hide with Mystic Magic prompts the confrontation between them that is the emotional heart of the episode.

“Why are you so obsessed with proving me wrong on this!?” “Because! I’m the Science Guy! (sigh) If Mystic Powers can do everything I can do but better, then why would you guys even need me?”

Here is the payoff to the opening ‘Mr Science’ line from earlier in the episode. The wording is similar, however this time the line is tinged with defeat. The duality revealed is that Science makes Don feel powerful, but without it, he feels powerless.

The visuals that go hand in hand with the dialog are very telling here, too.

The image of Donnie holding his broken Tech Bo isn’t just to show us that his technology isn’t enough to win, that it can be broken. It’s also showing us how he sees himself, drawing a direct comparison between Donnie and his broken Tech. He’s not always perfect, but he’s ultimately useful, right? Until he’s not. I’ve no doubt that this was a deliberate move from the Storyboarders, and I think they sold the moment brilliantly.

His words make it clear that Donnie believes that “if Mystic Powers can do everything I can do but better”, ie, help April with her project without blowing her classroom up, why would she not keep going to Mystics instead of him in the future?

With her not ‘needing’ him for scientific assistance any more, he sees no reason for her to continue hanging out with him. This ties back to the clues the writers dropped earlier in the episode, that suggest he doesn’t regard himself highly without his science.

The obsession this episode with disproving how ‘Amazing’ Mystic Magic is in front of April makes a lot more sense through the lens that he is fighting to keep April’s friendship.

“You Guys” expands this sentiment to include the rest of his family. If his tech ends up letting down the team and is unneeded then by extension, he would also be unneeded.

As viewers, we know this is untrue. Even beyond the fact that these characters rely on one another emotionally, we saw Don fight alongside his brothers in ‘Insane in the Mama Train’ - all of them tech-less and Mystic-less - and they kicked butt, even if they did end up being eventually captured. However, it’s clear from the writing here that this isn’t how Donatello himself feels.

“You’re not important to me because of your tech, you’re important to me because of you! I don’t think Mystic Powers is better than Science. If anything, they’re stronger together, just like us! Right?” “Right!”

April’s comeback is wonderful. Super eloquently written and gets right to the heart of his insecurities. First undermining the thought that if Don didn’t have tech, she wouldn’t need him, then framing Mystic Powers as something that will bring them closer together. Beautiful writing!

I also want to just celebrate how the writers handle April’s characterisation as being someone who is super excited and curious about any kind of Mystic Magic or supernatural shenanigans. I really like this consistency in her character where she is way into anything otherworldly or unexplained. I hope we get to see more of it in the future!

We get to see April and Donnie kick butt together which super fun! I’m very happy we got another episode with these two, the way they bounce off one another is really enjoyable to watch.

“I was wrong to not be more open-minded. It’s just that Mystic Powers are the one thing I have not been able to solve. As a man of Science, it is maddening to finally come upon something that you do not understand. Especially when your dum-dum brothers totally do, and they wave their dum-dum weapons in their dum-dum hands all the dum-dum time! But that is just a long way of saying I am sorry’.

The apology is very articulate, letting us know that D is truthful here. It’s a nice little payoff when compared to his earlier lie with April, where the writers had him fudge his words to imply his dishonesty.

April actually believes him this time too, judging by the lovely acting here.

We’re treated to this perspective on Donnie’s feelings, which reveals a couple of interesting things to us. ‘The one thing I have not been able to solve’ indicates that he has previously attempted - and failed - to understand Mystic stuff, which is new information. It goes against our impressions from the rest of the series so far (that he is simply disinterested). We also learn that his brothers’ understanding of their powers has created a knowledge imbalance that is a frustration to him. I very much hope that the show keeps taking steps in this direction with Donnie, just because I would love to see an arc that results in him getting more involved with the Mystic side of things.

To wrap up the episode, I really appreciated the way the writers handled the internal conflict in Donnie Vs Witch Town. There was a lot of subtlety and subtext in the writing, which I am absolutely here for. Donnie’s end reveal really recontextualizes the earlier shenanigans in a meaningful way, and marks a step forward for him. April has her Bat now, and Don is a little more open to Mystic Powers as a possibility! I’m excited to see where we go next!

Thanks for sticking with me, if you got to the end, and I hope you found it as interesting as I did! ‘Raph’s Ride along’ is the next ep I’ll dig into.

#rottmnt #donnie vs. witch town #analysis #writing #episode #rise of the tmnt #april o'neil #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt april

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hawkinsschoolcounselor · 4 years ago

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My friends and I occasionally play that made-up game called "Kerfuffle" - A bit like DnD but with everyday life tasks and not as nerdy (sadly :D). You pick a random politician, TV char., etc. and try to overcome some challenges in a way you assume they'd do it. Last time we played, I obv picked s.o. from ST - Joyce. That was when a random thought crossed my mind: If s.o. were to name each ST main character's greatest weakness/ strength, what would be the outcome? I immediately thought of you. :D

Ok, now that the election is over, and my anxiety has come back down to its usual “only a little high” status, it’s back to business here. This is an interesting question from my pal @sollody here. I’m not going to be able to go too much into depth given the breadth of the question here, but it’ll be a nice look at several characters. Perhaps this will result in requests for more in-depth looks at some of them individually. For the sake of having a defined meaning of “main character,” I am only going with characters who were in all three seasons and were directly involved in the action (sorry, Mr. Clarke). I will make an exception for Max, as she’s just too central to leave out.

The Party

Mike

Greatest Strength: Determination. Once he sets his mind on something, he does everything in his power to see that it happens. Do not try to come between Mike and his objective. God help you if you try to stop him when his objective involves Will or El.

Greatest Weakness: A lack of emotional intelligence. Mike reacts to his emotions as they come. There’s no apparent self-awareness, and this results in impulsive behavior that leads to negative outcomes for himself and his relationships. The feelings themselves aren’t the problem. Mike just doesn’t understand them enough to react appropriately.

Will

Greatest Strength: Quick thinking. I was tempted to mention his compassion, but really Will’s greatest asset is his mental acuity. Since season 1 he has shown an impressive capacity for quick thinking in stressful situations.

Greatest Weakness: Insecurity. Will has self-esteem issues resulting from not only the Upside Down situation, but also more mundane personal and family experiences. He worries about how people view him and fears that he’s being left behind. This leads to him keeping important things to himself, things nobody, especially a child, should be expected to deal with alone.

Lucas

Greatest Strength: Rationality. Lucas has generally been the member of the party with the most down-to-earth mindset. Regardless of all of the supernatural goings on, Lucas has tried to view things realistically. His approaches to the events of the series have typically been the most practical, skeptical, and grounded. Ironically, this actually does make him a good Winston, though I wouldn’t want to be the one to tell him this.

Greatest Weakness: Overconfidence. Lucas is very sure of himself, sometimes too much so, even when warned off by others. From being sure that El was trouble, to risking a beating from Billy, to thinking he’s some suave expert on women, Lucas has made trouble for himself and his friends. He doesn’t meant to, of course, and a lot of this may come from some desire to “be a man.” Lucas needs to learn to accept himself as he is.

Dustin

Greatest Strength: Curiosity. Dustin is always looking to learn more about anything and everything. Nothing is too weird or off-putting for him. His knowledge has come very much in handy for the Party, and this general attitude has led to him accepting the supernatural events in stride.

Greatest Weakness: Recklessness. Dustin, in his pursuit of satisfying his curiosity, or some other goal, can fail to see clearly obvious dangers. Find a strange creature? Raise it yourself. See a strange growth in the underground tunnels? Go get a closer look. Find out about a possible Russian base in the mall? Let’s go check it out! His goals are often admirable, but his approach is often foolish.

Greatest Strength: Adaptability. El has managed to escape a government facility, survive in the woods, and travel to unfamiliar locations despite her young age. While she has been somewhat dependent on her powers, she’s managed to accomplish some impressive feats for someone who hasn’t had anything close to resembling a normal upbringing.

Greatest Weakness: Ignorance. This isn’t the “you’re so ignorant!” meaning of the word. I mean it in the truest sense of the word: El just lacks a lot of information in life. Most critically, she’s emotionally and socially unaware. A lot of her schemas for relationships come from TV shows and what little she picked up from Mike in season 1. She’s gotten somewhat better as the seasons moved on, but there’s just a lot she doesn’t know. This had led to her being suspicious, angry, and possessive (specifically of Mike), harming her relationships with others.

Max

Greatest Strength: Acceptance. Max doesn’t unduly judge anyone. Her issues with Mike stemmed from his treatment of her. Aside from that, some light teasing aside, she was more than happy to accept the Party as her friends. She didn’t let Lucas’ race get in the way of their mutual attraction, despite knowing what Neil and Billy would think about it. She wanted to be El’s friend from the start, and, despite being harshly rebuffed at first, she accepted El when she sought Max out in season 3. It’s really a testament to how determined she is to not continue the cycle that Neil and Billy brought into her life.

Greatest Weakness: Family. Honestly, Max’s biggest drawback is her home life. She’s worried that she may end up going down the same angry, abusive road as Billy and Neil. She’s mistrustful, snarky, and blunt even when not worked up, behaviors she likely developed due to exposure to Billy and Neil. She also seems to still love Billy despite his abusive behavior. This sort of family dynamic can be very damaging (and it was probably just as harmful to Billy). Hopefully, Max’s found family serves to offset the harm done by her “real” family.

Older Teens

Nancy

Greatest Strength: Determination. It must be a family trait. Nancy is relentless, and she will get to the truth of the matter, one way or another. Nobody, and indeed no monster, will keep her from what she’s after.

Greatest Weakness: Egocentrism. Nancy can easily lose sight of how things impact those around her. Her desire to prove herself has left her somewhat blind to the difficulties other people face. She has trouble relating to people from other situations.

Jonathan

Greatest Strength: Compassion. Jonathan has sacrificed a great deal for his family, and he’s apparent done it without any noticeable resentment. His treatment of Will resembles the ideal that a lot of parents hope for in their kids (though in reality Mike/Nancy or Lucas/Erica is the more realistic outcome). Jonathan just wants those important to him to be happy.

Greatest Weakness: Social Awkwardness. Jonathan has a great deal of trouble interacting with other people. This likely stems from his family situation, as his father leaving left his family as pariahs of sorts, and it also left him having to be a sort of father figure when he should have been able to be a regular teenager.

Steve

Greatest Strength: Courage. Yes, Steve has been freaked out by everything, but that’s irrelevant. Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s the ability to feel fear and not let it control you. Steve has willingly put himself in harm’s way for the sake of others in all three seasons. The only thing that scares Steve too much to overcome is social judgment...

Greatest Weakness: Insecurity. Yes, our buddy, King Steve, has self-esteem issues. This is why he’s always trying to play himself off as a hotshot. He’s simply too afraid to just be himself. Sadly, it’s only when he lets this guard down that he’s at his best. He’s made some stride at overcoming this, and I’m hopeful that he continues this in season 4.

Adults

Joyce

Greatest Strength: Ferocity. Do I even need to explain this? Do NOT threaten Joyce’s loved ones, especially Will. Just don’t.

Greatest Weakness: Emotional Reactivity. When stress hits Joyce, she reacts hard. It’s perfectly normal, given the level of stress she feels, but it leaves her seeming “crazy” and makes it hard for others to understand what she’s trying to get across. As a result, her message, warning, etc. is lost and her credibility is damaged. In less serious occurrences, she instead just comes across as belligerent or annoying, even though she’s generally right about whatever she’s on about.

Hopper

Greatest Strength: Compassion. Hopper is at his best when he’s trying to protect others. Despite having worked to close himself off from the world after his personal trauma, Hopper still feels compassion. He probably never wanted to feel anything for anyone again (perhaps why he returned to a boring town like Hawkins), but when tragedy struck it brought out the best in him. Though, that brings us to his weakness...

Greatest Weakness: Insensitivity. Perhaps ironically, Hopper’s weakness is the complete opposite of his strength. Hopper is a man who runs hot and cold. Which version of him that you get depends on his mood. If you get his bad side, prepare for harsh words, and perhaps harsher fists. This may help him get the job done at times, but it harms his relationships. He has a tremendous fear of loss, which results in him lashing out fiercely at those he cares for if they do something to that risks him losing them.

Ok, that’s the best I could come up with. I’d love to read other people’s thoughts on the matter.

#stranger things #mike wheeler #will byers #lucas sinclair #dustin henderson #eleven #max mayfield #nancy wheeler #jonathan byers #steve harringrove #joyce byers #jim hopper

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tales-of-magic-and-chaos · 4 years ago

Note

Cozy library in one of their houses, LOTS of cuddles for a hurt/comfort insecure!Loki with Tony and Stephen comforting him and like reading to him while he falls asleep knowing they love him

Thank you for this lovely prompt!

I had a lot of fun writing this story, hope you’ll like it! I also posted it on Ao3: Morpheus

Surprisingly, Loki loved Midgardian fiction. More precisely fairy tales, fantasy and all stories of foreign and fantastic worlds.

He could spend hours, if not days, reading these books. Escaping through them while staying in the comfort and security of the library.

Tony has been worried in the beginning, seeing his lover isolating himself and reading until he forgot to eat or to sleep. Even though he was far more resistant than humans, Loki still needed to rest and eat. Retreating himself this deep into his own world was far from healthy.

It was Stephen who reassured Tony by reminding him how much peace and comfort Loki could find in books.

The library was Loki’s sanctuary. It always had been, to be honest. Even back on Asgard, Loki always found refuge and comfort in the middle of this comforting and almost mystical place that is a library. Books always have been his confidents and best friends in tough times. Allowing him to escape loneliness, bitterness, distress. They taught him the most precious of his knowledge : magic. They reassured him through the entirety of his life, it was no surprise that even if he now lived on Midgard he still found such comfort in reading.

Stephen, too, found comfort in reading. But, contrary to Loki, he found this comfort through learning more about magic, science or whatever subject he was currently interested in. He did read fiction and diverse other books but the real comfort to him was perfecting his craft and knowledge. He always found comfort and peace in perfecting his knowledge and skills. Books have always been a means to improve himself.

Tony realized he completely understood his lovers. After all, he too found refuge in his own sanctuary, though it was his lab and not the library. He too spent days working on his inventions, forgetting to sleep and eat. He too felt immense relief and peace working on his suit and inventions, surrounded by his tech in the familiarity and comfort of his lab.

They all found different safe places throughout the years, when they needed solitude and comfort.

That said... Maybe it was no surprise that Loki specifically loved Midgardian fiction so much. Well, of course Tony and Stephen were always astounded to see a god who saw thousands of marvelous and mysterious worlds in his life being as amazed as a child each time he read Midgardian stories. But, all these experiences he lived were certainly precisely why he loved these books so much.

There was a feeling of profound familiarity despite a cruel sense of loss and disorientation with these tales. Midgardians’ collective imagination found his roots in myths that were somewhat closely familiar to Loki, because he often knew the truths behind these myths. It was fascinating, as much as disorienting, to see how these truths had been changed into something totally different throughout the centuries. The truth had been shaped and metamorphosed through means that had nothing to see with lies or intentional manipulation. It was only the results of oral transmission and romanticization. Humans were always exploring their history through fiction. Truly fascinating. Midgardians really were amazing story tellers.

Asgardians legends never equaled the beauty of Midgard stories in Loki's opinion. Oh, for sure, there were hundreds, if not thousands, of legends narrating Aesirs' most glorious and epic fights. There was the wise and profound philosophy hidden behind poems. There were tales of love and adventures sung. But it was nowhere near what stories were in Midgard.

Stories were more to Midgardians than mere glorification of the past. Of course, their tales took their source in humans' history. But while Asgardian legends were just pleasant memories that warriors loved to tell again and again and again, for Midgardians it was something totally different that was at stake.

Transmitting their history was absolutely crucial for Midgardians, way more than for the immortal Aesirs. There was always the threat of death and of the erasing of their heritage. They always were one disaster, one tragedy, one pandemic away from the loss of an immeasurable heritage. Humans' memories and myths were not the words of rambling elders thousands of years old, there were lively and diverse stories continuously changing and transmitted.

In Loki’s eyes, it was why the Midgardians gave so much importance to telling stories. Storytellers were in a way the guardians of humanity's whole history and heritage. These fantastic and fictional worlds were more enthralling and mysterious than anything else Loki saw in his life and despite this, these stories were vibrating with infinite echoes of the past. Midgardians stories were as diverse and wildly lively as their creators. Full of dreams, of hope, of memories. It was like a cauldron for changes and evolution all the while transmitting elders’ memories and thoughts.

Loki could not help but be simply amazed. It often left him dreamy. How sweet it must be for midgardians children to be soothed with such beautiful and fantastic tales. It was nowhere near the legends of his childhood. The Aesirs always related the same stories of glorious victories, of fierce and valourous heroes and of the, oh so incredible, conquests of Asgard through the Nine Realms. The Elders always loved to narrate these same tales of war and conquests. Especially those about the Jotnar and their Realm.

Oh, how many times did he hear how the brave and mighty warriors of Asgard defeated the terrible and truly monstrous Jotnar? How many times did he hear how Odin defeated Laufey? How many times did he hear these stories of heroic war, of glorious violence, of marvelous destruction?

He always hated these stories. It wasn’t the preservation of a heritage or fantastic tales meant to inspire like in Midgard. It was just old chauvinistic warriors patting themselves and the back for war memories already narrated and heard thousands of times.

Perhaps it was bad faith. After all, war was obviously central in Asgardian culture. All the children learnt early how to fight and defend themselves and their Realm. Those not able to fight like respectable and heroic warriors were… weren’t.

It surely was not a surprise to see this theme being this preponderant in Asgard’s myths. Since the dawn of time until Ragnarok. It simply was a very long life made of glorious fights, feasts and wars.

Asgardian mentality was always about being the most powerful and brave warrior. Tactics? Cunning? Magic? Oh no! The only power was strength. Physical strength. Submitting your enemies with your sword, or your hammer, was the only true and honorable power. How could you ask for respect and consideration if you were not even able to show the strength of a true Asgardian warrior? How could you be worthy of being a warrior? How could you be worthy of being an Aesir? How could you be worthy of being an Odinson?

The answer was easy.

You could not.

And in the end, they were right. They were so right.

He never deserved to be a respected Aesir warrior nor a true Odinson for he was nothing more than a Jotunn runt after all. A weak, evil and monstrous Jotunn, one of those that Aesir parents warn their children against, when they narrate them the wondrous Asgardians legends.

He would never be worthy in the eyes of the Aesirs. In the eyes of the warriors. In the eyes of his brother. In the eyes of Odin.

A monstrous creature. Directly from Aesirs’ most known stories.

A stranger.

An imposter.

His whole life was made of lies and horrific legends. He wasn’t him, Loki. He was a Jotunn, a creature made of ice, evilness and violence, as narrated in the legends. Sometimes he couldn’t figure himself as real. Sometimes he forgot he was something else than a monster feared and hated. Sometimes he was losing grasp on reality. Sometimes he was feeling like an outsider. Observing life and reality from the exterior. Like a simpte fictional being allowing people to shape him as they wanted. Just an horrific tale and a sweet lie.

A lie as sweet as the lips that were softly kissing his forehead. As sweet at the tender hand caressing his hair. As sweet as the perfume of books, cinnamon and fire floating in the air. As sweet at a profound and soft voice he could hear.

But these sensations were nothing like lies nor fiction.

As he was reconnecting with his body and reality, he could feel more and more of those sensations coming to him. The soft warmth of the fireplace. Someone holding his hand and softly caressing the back of it with his thumb. His lovers by his sides. A whisper.

« We’re here, Lokes. We’re here, I promise you. » Another kiss. « And you’re here with us too. »

A reminder.

The other voice never stops reading. The hand in his hair doesn’t stop either.

It probably hasn’t stopped since the beginning.

But which beginning ? When did the voice start ? When did the caresses start ?

He didn’t know.

He hasn’t even been aware of being disconnected from the world. He hasn't been aware of being cuddled by his two favorite people in the world. He wasn't aware of the comfortable room he was in.

Maybe it has been hours since his lovers, worried to not have seen him in a long time, joined him and took him in a warm and loving embrace.

It felt like an eternity. Or an instant. Or just. It felt just good. Timeless. But good. Immensely good.

Stephen softly caressing his hair while he was snuggled to his side. His soft voice never stopping from reading.

Tony cuddling him softly, his eyes closed, while he was listening to Stephen's voice too.

The Cloak was carefully covering them and they were comfortably settled in the couch, surrounded by soft cushions. The room's warm colors were only adding more to the feeling of peacefulness and cozyness that Loki felt each time he was in the library and in his lovers' arms.

Anxiety, sadness and dread were already disappearing. Oh, they would come back, sure. They always did.

But for now, he was safe and loved. In the security of his sanctuary and in the comfort of his lovers’ embrace. All was well. He knew his lovers were here for him. And he knew Stephen would never stop reading and Tony would never leave his side, not until they were certain their lover was ready to leave this little bubble of peace. He could allow himself to rest now, lulled to sleep by Stephen’s voice and Tony’s soft caresses.

#frostironstrange #ironstrangefrost #loki x tony x stephen #strangeironfrost

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potteresque-ire · 5 years ago

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(I wrote this as a response to another post. It got long, potentially upsetting, so I decided to move it here.)

(TW: Criticism of Draco Malfoy under the cut.)

I think the best analogy I can come up with for Slytherins in an Americanized Hogwarts is if they are the children of the tech giants (Hello Draco Bezos) and multi-company conglomerates, the top-earning Wall Street hedge fund managers, the property moguls like the Trumps and the Bloombergs, and the legacy politicians like the Bushes and the Kennedys. This would be a fairer comparison to the social-economic power of Slytherin families in the books because conservatives in the USA mostly do not come from privileged homes. And I suspect even this American analogue may pale to its UK counterpart, for it lacks the centuries of practice ("tradition”) as a convenient excuse for continuing its underlying bigotry.

Draco Bezos or Draco Trump or Draco Bush has as little choice as being of these surnames as Draco Malfoy. The members of the Americanized Slytherin house, likewise, don’t deserve to be seen as all evil, and maybe — and very likely — they’re not. But consider what Americanized Ron would think about the Slytherins as a group, bearing in mind that the books are written in the POV of Harry, a child himself and Ron’s fierce friend, if…

(Under the cut, for I’m VERY talkative today ...)

- If this Americanized Draco still buys his way into the Quidditch team with a Nimbus 2001. The obvious bribery aside, everyone in this Slytherin team can readily afford the same thing, and likely already has, at least, a Nimbus 2000 in possession.

- If Americanized Lucius also interferes with school policy with connections to Washington; he rubs shoulders with Secretary of Education Umbridge, who he got to know back when they were lobbying together in the capital.

- If the execution weapon of choice for Buckbeak is a golf club, a gift from the President Goyle of MACUSA. Walden McNair, former Slytherin, has just received a medal of honour for being able to wield it with style. This is a tale retold by a very bitter Theodore Nott, whose father owns the golf course resort where President Goyle plays but Nott Sr. only gets to keep the hamburger wraps of the President’s lunch. The other regular attendee of these lunches is the landowner of the entire Hogsmeade, who happens to be Gregory Goyle’s father.

And speaking of Hogsmeade...

- If Goyle Inc. hikes the rent of the town after every visit by Hogwarts students. Prices of items sold in Hogsmeade shops hike accordingly to deflect the cost. The Weasleys haven’t been able to afford anything there for years.

Goyle Inc. has also been looking to invest in Ottery St Catchpole, re-develop the area into one with ... farmer’s market. Lots and lots of farmer’s markets where a loaf of bread costs $10.00 apiece.

- If American Hogwarts is also free but God knows for how long. Its profits from the previous years — sorry, not profit, but endowment as should be referred to for non-profit organisations — has been channelled into the stock market and the stock market hasn’t been doing so well. Mrs Zabini, the manager of the fund, still gets her commission even if Hogwarts goes bankrupt. In fact, a volatile market with high trading volumes is a godsend for her income, and her yearly bonus is large enough to run Hogwarts for a year. She’s very generous, however, and donates 1% of it to the school, which gets her name engraved on the Gryffindor-Zabini Tower.

Meanwhile, if the Weasleys go home every summer not knowing if they can return to the same tower on September 1st.

- If Skelegro and other potions in the infirmary are rationed due to high cost and every time a Weasley find themselves injured in a Quidditch match, the Malfoys, father or son or both, would remark on the Weasleys having more children than they can afford, and recommend the school board that these potions should be rationed by surname as well. The Slytherins have no such concerns of course; the Parkinsons are heads of an international potion conglomerate and they can always import extra potions from Brazil, which are sold at a small fraction of the cost they sold to Hogwarts (yes, they have the licence and patent to produce the Skelegro. Why did you ask?).

…

Perhaps -- assuming my understanding of UK’s class system isn’t too off the mark -- these if’s can provide a sense of Slytherin’s privilege in canon to the American audience, and related to this, how Draco’s prejudice towards Ron cannot be put on the same moral scale from Ron’s prejudice against Draco. I’d also like to emphasize this: I haven’t touched at all, on this list, on Voldemort’s reign of terror. I haven’t touched, at all, on the fact that Voldemort’s war had been spearheaded by the parents of many current Slytherin students, and this war had only been suspended -- not ended -- for just short of a decade when the Class of Harry Potter entered Hogwarts. The wounds were still fresh. Arthur and Molly could’ve easily suffered similar fates as the Potters and the Longbottom’s. The bigotry of the Slytherins, and of the Malfoys, wasn’t merely a suspected thing in the canon years, like how we feel about a celebrity who’s made a questionable tweet. Not only was their bigotry a fact in the canon years, but it was also a real, ongoing threat that, if permitted to run its course, could and would ruin the lives of the Weasleys.

Ron seeing the Slytherins as a threat arguably served the dual function of keeping him safe -- perhaps not at the moment, but in the future. Draco, on the other hand, had nothing to fear about Ron and above all, the socioeconomic class that the Weasleys represented.

They never stood on equal grounds.

And here’s the thing I don’t understand. Or I think I understand it, having seen this Ron-is-as-bad-as-Draco-and-Slytherins-are-victims-of Dumbledore’s-prejudice debate in various forms over the years — this isn’t new or controversial, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this has become the dominant view within the ship — and I’m not sure I can get myself to face what I’ve understood, because what this is is worrisome for me.

Please hear me out.

The Drarry fandom on Tumblr has, in my observation, always taken a very strong, hardline stance against prejudice. The post that says something along the line of 10 people who sits with a Nazi makes a table of 11 Nazis get numerous likes and reblogs. And yet in this situation, we have a boy, Ron, who is directly affected by the prejudice, who’s familiar with the connections between his Slytherin classmates and those who have not only worked to make their brand of bigotry the law but helped murder those who do not agree, and his distaste for these oppressors as a group is somehow seen as equal as his likely future oppressors’ disgust at his presence.

The reason given is inevitably a variation of this: Draco was a child. He was parroting his parent’s beliefs. He was too young to be responsible for his words, or his actions. He was a victim.

I’ve not seen this defence offered, not even once within the Drarry circle, for a real-life bully. Tumblr’s user base is young, and many have a history of being bullied due to their race, gender, sexuality, disability, socioeconomic class. After a bit of subtraction (Young Age - Bullying History in Years), I’d take that many of these RL events happened when the victim and the perpetrator were about the age of Ron and Draco in canon. And yet, not once have I seen a shipper on my dash suggest the bully was a victim, or that they weren’t at fault because they were only parroting the prejudice of their conservative families, their schools, their religion etc. That maybe they didn’t mean what they were saying or doing.

This is a (very) good thing. But it also makes me wonder: defenders of Draco and the Slytherins do know, deep down, that the excuse they’ve offered Draco isn’t nearly good enough to exempt him from his behaviour.

Draco might not have understood the greater political ramifications of his bullying, but he knew he was hurting Ron. Bullying cannot a be mindless act; it cannot be a passive reflection of one’s lessons from school or family for It’s a pre-meditated, targeted behaviour, and a good bully like Draco — he came up with a bullying chant that the whole school knew in the end — tailors his acts to serve a specific purpose of hurting the victim. Draco might not have known that calling Hermione a Mudblood could devalue her life enough to make it ripe for elimination when Voldemort came to power, but he knew perfectly well that the term was derogatory. This is especially true if one agrees with the common headcanon that Draco was second only to Hermione in marks in school, that he was no Crabbe or Goyle and he was intelligent.

Our ship celebrates Draco’s sharp tongue, but that tongue was used exclusively to ridicule, to bully in canon -- it’s fandom that has given it a better / higher / romantic purpose. His father’s tongue spoke the language of bigotry to the ears of the Ministry; this was the Malfoy’s weapon of choice and Draco was forging his own in the books. His bullying ways in canon was written with humour, with Weasley is Our King being the epitome of the laughs. I don’t believe it was JKR’s intention for her readers to fall in love with Draco via his bullying style, however. The HP world was built as a mirror of our own (rather than as a manual of what an ideal world should be, as many in fandom has seemed to assume), and Weasley is Our King showcased how easily bigotry can creep into our day-to-day language when it’s masqueraded as a joke (Even Luna was singing it at some point):

Oh, relax! It’s perfectly fine for everyone to know the Weasleys were born in a bin, into poverty! Funny, isn’t it? HAHAHAHA!

Imagine seeing this kind of behaviour on Tumblr. Imagine trying to defend this kind of behaviour on Tumblr.

I have faith that most of my Drarry friends cannot, will not do the latter.

So please, please reconsider what you’re really saying when you call Draco the victim, the vulnerable one, when you insist that he and the Slytherins had been wronged. I don’t mean to start another debate and I don’t plan to engage in one; this isn’t a call-out post either, I enjoy reading all the opinions expressed and I understand many of the sentiments I’m questioning comes from a place of love. I just hope that everyone who’s reading (thank you) can sit back, think a little. Imagine for a moment that table with the Nazis. Even if, at the table, there’re actually 10 Nazis and 1 who isn’t, who is more vulnerable? The non-Nazi sitting with the Nazis? Or the person who refuses to sit at the table and makes a bad judgement call on the 11th sitter by assuming they are a Nazi as well? Who is more the victim, or more likely to become one? The 11th sitter who’s wrongly labelled? Or the standing person who is being eyed by the 10 Nazis with disgust, the 10 Nazis who already have a family history of hunting down the standing person��s family and friends?

Or does the answer -- and this is the understanding I’ve got but haven’t dared to face -- does the answer depend on if he character in question had white-blond hair that glinted so beautifully in the sun? Is that the reason why Draco Malfoy, bigot, bully, has been given this special treatment, this carte blanche in the sense that he’ll always remain on our good side, be exempt from our moral judgement regardless of what he did, because his physical description doesn’t contain a single hint of melanin?

#pie speaks #hp meta #pie metas

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nadango · 5 years ago

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Alela Grora: an analysis thingy

Good day to the funamusea fandom that has neglected my beautiful angel (joking. Maybe.) I offer you sea urchins a collection of observations concerning the eccentric lady: Alela Grora.

I'll be breaking down her personality and interpreting every scene and official art she's appeared in, and even include a couple of theories to fill in the gaps, if you find that interesting.

Note: I believe seichiinara did this before when she was active, but I sadly never got to read it. Therefore, everything here is based on my own observations.

First of all...Who is Alela Grora?

Grora is an angel that serves as Etihw's subordinate. She's an archer and a war veteran, and now destroys Wodahs' garden full time.

Based on canon appearances, she is described by Yosafire as "a weird lady looking for her eye"...Perhaps it's because Yosaf isn't too familiar with Grora (which I kinda doubt) or Grora simply doesn't get too close to others, keeping her cool and mysterious appearance.

To the player, I'm sure she seemed like a cool and laid back adult, contrasting Wodahs because opposites attract. She only ever loses her cool when Ater is involved because of the eye incident, which I will talk about later.

But, other than that, we don't know much about her. Being chill isn't an entire personality, especially when we're talking about a literal soldier who lived through the dark war era. Yet, what makes Tgg and dsp's storytelling magnificent is the way they make their stories more than what they seem. During the game, you have a group of cute main characters who are facing danger, but slowly you start to feel something darker creep in the background, not the angry flame demons, but the guardians of their peaceful world hide a lot more than you think.

Therefore, important characters such as Grora, Kcalb, Etihw, the cats and Wodahs-- who is this big question mark-- aren't going to reveal themselves just like that. No, a good writer will drop subtle hints in their mere actions.

Grora literally lost an arm and nearly blew to death for --ah, a certain group of girls. Reincarnations of Etihw's past subordinates. Grora's previous colleagues she had witnessed their deaths and their burial.

She encourages Macarona and is close to Froze for a reason (she hasn't interacted with Chelan as of now, probably didn't have a chance to) ...because of the guilt and the pain she has felt as she saw her previous world fall apart, she wants the descendants of her colleagues to enjoy this new world a d have a wonderful and peaceful life, a life their ancestors would've wanted. And this would make sense, since she's the only character to not explicitly talk about the past, but also the only one to directly compare Froze to Sherbet.

To sum this up, Grora is a very chill individual who is loved by all, a bit odd sometimes, but still friendly. She is selfless and will fight for what is right, probably due to her past experiences during the war, which she is trying to forget and move on, unlike the rest of the crew. Alas, she can't, for everything reminds her of the terrible old world.

Character Design

Hands down, dsp did the Blancblack crew's designs justice. When it comes to Grora, we could note a few things:

Her current outfit resembles Sherbet/Froze's a bit too much. This may indicate that Sherbet might've had a certain impact on her. I can't say for sure that they were close or not, but he did do something that'll make Grora act the way she does towards Froze.

Missing halo: She is close to Etihw and works under them, no? So why doesn't she wear it? We know it's an accessory, but someone in Grora's position would wear it. For example, Taffy, who is the Head Angel of his world, doesn't wear one because he's not fond of Fumus to begin with, and that includes Olive. All the other Angels don't mind their gods, so they keep the halo. Dsp doesn't need to tell us that, it's logical. Something might've happened between Grora and Etihw, but it's not necessary huge. It could've just altered her point of view or something.

Now, for the war outfit. It is, simply, inspired by Etihw's diamond themed robes. Another thing to note is the tired expression she wore is VERY similar to Etihw's. This might mean that Etihw had a large influence on Grora, and we'll get to their relationship later on.

Grora's color palette is exactly the opposite of Wodahs', which is a good choice considering that they drastically contradict each other. But it's important to note that Etihw and Kcalb also have opposite color palettes, black and white, dark and light, two past enemies who's mentalities are totally different. It's quite curious of Dsp to design Wod and Grora this way too, no?

Ater and Grora's eye

Grora's grudge against Ater isn't simply a grudge. If she is truly trying to heal and let go of the past, why couldn't she just forgive Ater and heal her eye like Wodahs suggested?

Grora was most likely a fierce warrior, an archer, and having her eye taken out must've been humiliating. A strong and pure being torn down to pieces. That incident was proof of her cowardice. Therefore, the lost eye resembles her lost pride. Finding it again means redeeming herself, but of course, the eye has nothing to do with pride. It's just a distraction.

I may be looking way into this, but it DOES make more sense that way. Same thing goes for Wodahs' eye, but I'll talk about that some other time.

Speaking of Wodahs...

Eyepatch Angels

Whether you ship them platonically or romantically, they're still the best duo and work perfectly together either way.

Based on the events of the game, Wodahs and Grora are close colleagues who always bicker and fight over the most mundane things (Grora is usually the one who starts) yet they make a great team. Grora has a bit of a crush on him because who doesn't but these feelings don't seem reciprocated (Small note: That doesn't mean he doesn't care for her at all, and we barely know what Wodahs is thinking most of the time, so we're not really sure. He's also very dense sometimes)

There isn't much to say about their current relationship for now. What's more interesting is their relationship during the war, and boy oh boy, do I have some news.

I'm sure we all know this infamous art, the only art featuring them so badass and, so far apart too. They're also facing each others backs, and considering their close relationship, this is bad news. Only enemies are positioned like this, and the high gap resembles how distant they are from each other. That being said, Wodahs and Grora have quite the history. If only dsp could reveal more about them.

Oh, a wild theory has appeared!

Using these observations (specifically Grora's relations to Etihw and Wodahs, and the missing halo) we could come up with some context.

Grora respected and looked up to Etihw, remaining true and loyal to them. At some point, Grora became/was going to be head angel, only for her position next to Etihw was taken by Wodahs, and it angered her.

Etihw most likely paid more attention to him, and ignored Grora. Perhaps they've hurt her in some way, which resulted into a shattered relationship. Sure, everything was fine after Kacalb nuked the world, but memories and past experiences stay.

Well...this speculation is farfetched, but I wanted to share an abridged version of it with you

And that, ladies and gentlemen, includes the analysis thingy. If you've made it here, thank you so much for reading!! And I hope this helped you in some way!

Also, looking at how hard I tried to summarize this, I'm kinda anxious about the Wodahs analysis, since there's a LOT to cover...Haha.

#funamusea #the gray garden #mogeko theories #海底囚人 #alela grora #wodahs (the gray garden)#etihw (the gray garden)#kcalb (the gray garden)#ater (the gray garden)#poison bugs #obsolete dream #mogeko castle #oounabara to wadanohara #wadanohara and the great blue sea

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voyage-in-the-dark · 5 years ago

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TGCF mbti typings

I typed Xielian, Huacheng and Junwu before here but I am adding on to my typings for all three of them.

Xielian - ENFJ

Fe: I think most people can agree that he is an FJ. His narration is dominated and permeated by an awareness and concern for others’ well-being and their feelings, with little to no focus, awareness or reflection on his own feelings --> Fe, lack of Fi. He shows signs of feeling responsible for people’s well-being.

Ni: He is NFJ rather than SFJ: when he was young, he was arrogant because of the conviction he had in his beliefs, which I think is because he took his belief as more real than even reality itself (Ni). He was confident because he was confident in the ‘truth’ of his ideals, and his ideals are distinctly NF: he wanted to save all the people. 800 years later, his idealism is still very clear. When he explains what happened in the Yongan war, he said that he would rather Lang Qianqiu think that he had died than that his ideals were wrong or flawed. Ideals were important to him over all else, even how people saw him --> Ni. The scene at the end of the book in the mountain where he would rather Junwu harm him than to admit that his ideals were wrong again shows how heavily he prioritizes his ideals over all else.

Introversion or extroversion?: I used to think he was an extrovert because he was often involved in many events and actions in TGCF, but most of his ‘extroversion’ is because he is responding to the roller-coaster of events and crises happening. He is pushed into action rather than initiating action. So, perhaps an introvert?

Extroversion, tertiary Se: However, he is very forgiving and very patient, even towards others who have harmed him, or people who are bad, cruel or hurtful (Fe-doms tend to forgive much easier than Fe-auxes) and his flaws seem to be more directly related to inferior Ti (not advocating sufficiently for himself and his needs, periods of intense self-doubt)... In Book 4, he was quick to regain faith in people if only ONE person would be kind to him, which to me spoke more of dominant Fe’s forgiveness and ability to trust in others. His low self-awareness of his feelings --> dominant Fe. When he is under stress, it is mostly expressed through tertiary Se: anger towards others, hot-headed, rather than Ti: criticism of others. His Se is too strong for inferior Se: he actually adapts very well to the rapid changes and crisis, and he is very quick on his feet.

I had thought that when compared to Shi Qingxuan, he seems like an introvert, but I think Chinese society does not reward overly extroverted behavior, but rewards fitting social expectations. So, one is usually less expressive and minds one’s business. It means that in Chinese society, Fe-doms come off almost like introverts.

Huacheng also compensates for his low Se-Ti. Huacheng simplifies his overthinking/overworrying, helps him cut through things when it’s complicated, helps him look at things in a more realistic way because he helps XL understand what he can/can’t control, and helps him find contentment/happiness in the present moment.

Given that Xielian is ENFJ, Junwu is likely ENFJ as well.

Huacheng - ISTP or ISFP depending on what MXTX needs him to be for the narration

Ti-dom v Fi-dom: Huacheng is very hard to type because MXTX projects onto him quite heavily, lol. 800 years ago, Huacheng is that ISFP stereotype: intense and emotional, angsty and angry, devoted and fierce. Most of time, when it’s a scene related to the past, or it’s a Tonglu scene, Huacheng will be ISFP, lol. For instance, in Book 3/4, when Xielian and Fengxin/Muqing enter Mt Tonglu, every character commented on how different Huacheng seemed, and I can only conclude that it was because they were reacting to the ISFP Huacheng, lol.

Aux-Se: I think the only thing that doesn’t change about him is the aux-Se. In the past, it was seen in how his pent-up feelings expressed themselves physically, through shouting or anger. In the present, it’s seen in his extravagant, ‘just coz’ gestures of love towards Xielian (the temple with the lanterns, the carriage, etc). Even when he kept changing his clothes during the Black Water arc was a sign of him using Se to entertain himself through his boredom. Xielian also describes him as playful, and not taking things seriously and he likes to tease Xielian to watch him get flustered.

Ti-dom: Dominant Ti is obvious in present Hualian. He is very detached and is quite hard to know unless he cares about you. He has a very small number of people he cares about (literally only Xielian, lol). During the Black Water arc, he stood by the sidelines despite other characters being in danger, and he was perfectly comfortable with ignoring the danger/distress of everyone involved, because he didn’t feel morally/emotionally affected nor personally involved in the slightest, showing amorality --> high Ti. Ti-doms generally prefer watching how things will play out before intervening, especially if messy emotions are on display.

The arrogance towards others, the superiority/dismissive attitude towards people is a classic example of immature and reductive dominant Ti. He is also strongly characterized as being very sharp, analytical and investigative. The way he understands people is very simplistic and reductive, none of the nuance of an F, more like a T with F issues: he generally seems to see people as useless and not worth his attention unless they are useful or they are dangerous (powerful).

Inferior Te or inferior Fe: His inferiority complex and his desperation with feeling so powerless puzzled me for a long time. It sounded like a Feeler using their lower Thinking function to deal with pain, and it sounds specifically like lower Te trying to compensate for higher Fi wounds. In other words, trying to be powerful in the external world to feel less powerless when the wound is actually inside, not outside. It was not consistent with the way a Thinker might relate to issues of powerlessness. I entertained the possibility that the confident and arrogant Huacheng was a facade that was put up (a Feeler using their lower Thinking function to pretend to be powerful, capable and competent), but it doesn’t make sense, because as an ISFP, this would mean he was using inferior Te for prolonged periods of time (800 years, give or take?) and who is able to sustain that? It would mean his personality is gripping most of the time and he would actually be very psychologically unstable, but the confident and competent Huacheng seems quite at ease being confident and competent, not like he’s putting on a facade, and it seems more like there are two totally different Huachengs. ISFP Huacheng struggles with powerlessness and having absolutely NO self-worth whatsoever. ISTP Huacheng, if MXTX had ever developed him, likely would have struggled with seeing people valuable in and of themselves, rather than waste-of-spaces. (Ti integrating Fe)

Conclusion: Xielian is attracted to the ISTP Huacheng - he finds Huacheng’s confidence and easy way of carrying himself very attractive (lower function envy), and I think the strength of Hualian lies in the ENFJ/ISTP attraction and dynamic. MXTX said in the notes at the end of book two that she wrote this book because of seeing the image of an abandoned temple with the a soon-to-be forgotten god and his last believer. It seems that her original plan for the devoted follower/love interest was for him to be an ISFP (and the nature of dominant Fi would make for a very good devoted love interest), but when it came to the actual ship, she herself quite liked powerful badass T types (see Lan Wangji and Huacheng’s almost ridiculous badass competence), and she made him a Ti-dom instead.

#tgcf #mbti headcanons #tian guan ci fu

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nadziejastar · 6 years ago

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Isa’s TRUE Personality: Cancer

It’s such a shame that Isa such got little development. But even though we didn’t get to learn much about him, we can use the game’s symbols and archetypes to surmise what ideas the writers had in mind for his personality originally.

Two of his weapons, Astrologia and Horoscope, reference the zodiac and incorporate its symbols into their designs. So I think it’s fair to say the writers were deliberately drawing a connection there. I think there are three specific zodiac signs that the writers were inspired by when it came to Isa’s character. I will focus on each, one at a time. First is Cancer.

Cancer Zodiac Sign Traits

A quiet and cool-headed youth. Though he does come out of his shell when talking to his best friend Lea, toward others he is distant and untalkative. Often scolds Lea and his contrasting personality.

— description from KHBBS Light Novel 2 (Best Friends)

Tough on the outside but soft on the inside, Cancer the Crab is a shy and sensitive sign that cares deeply about others. Tenaciously loyal and loving, Cancers are the nurturers of the zodiac, and will fiercely protect themselves and anything they hold dear.

They are lovers not fighters, but will always fight for who they love. Embodied by the Crab’s hard shell, Cancer prizes comfort, security, and protection. This sign is connected to the grace and ferocity of motherhood, making them both emotional and intuitive, and highly influenced by subconscious thought and feeling.

Cancer’s Tarot Card: The Chariot

Cancer is associated with beginnings and moving forward, and The Chariot itself represents fresh starts, determination, and drive. In the Tarot card, however, the Charioteer is in a motionless state, observing the Sphinxes in front of him and contemplating his next move. Similarly, Cancers are steadfast and focus their energy on plotting the right course.

Cancer is the sign of motherhood, and is therefore tenacious, protective, and incredibly nurturing. Cancers are able to rise above life’s conflicts by moving forward using highly-developed intuition. Represented by the Crab, Cancers tend to keep their feelings inside to avoid getting hurt. Similarly, the Charioteer faces the outside world clad in head to toe armor, protecting him just like a Crab’s shell. The Chariot is also always accompanied by two protective guides, like sphinxes or horses. In most cases these two guides are shown as a balance of black and white – black symbolizing the external armor or shell; white the softer emotions inside.

It’s worth mentioning that The Chariot’s meaning differs slightly in the Alchemical Tarot deck. And since Axel and Saix’s character arcs and weapons are heavily inspired by hermetic alchemy, I think this meaning is even more relevant. In the Alchemical Tarot, The Chariot is seen as a conqueror performing powerful actions…or a lover with a triumphant sexuality. (I swear, I couldn’t make this stuff up).

In 358/2 Days, Luxord fights with Tarot cards of varying shapes and colors. The Chariot is part of the Omega Gear class of weapons. Its shape is based on the Minor Arcana, The Two of Cups. This arcana is associated with the Water signs of the zodiac.

It represents the flow of love between two people. With this card, you are creating deep connections and partnerships, based on shared values, compassion, and unconditional love. In the Minor Arcana, twos deal with duality; subject and object. The one has become two and together the two are greater than the sum of their parts. This card is about bringing together two energies that were meant to combine. It represents the union of alchemical opposites (as in sacred sex). The image of the twisted serpents is from alchemy, indicating the refining and mutually completing effect of a true and lasting love.

Luxord’s card is also pink. When pink is seen within the Tarot cards, matters of the heart often prevail. Pink is most often associated with happy memories and brings us in touch with good times from long ago. Pink indicates the elements of love, forgiveness and our emotional endeavors. It’s one of only three cards that is pink, and I don’t think this is a coincidence at all. However, the topic of the Tarot card symbolism is complex and will require its own posts.

Cancer’s Symbol: The Crab

The zodiac sign Cancer is represented by the Crab, and its glyph symbolizes the rounded shape and claws of a Crab. Just like a Cancer is prone to guard their sensitive and vulnerable emotions with a tough exterior, the Crab uses its hard exoskeleton to protect its soft insides. Cancers can hold on to emotional issues and beloved people very tightly, too, like a Crab grips with its pincers. Just don’t make Cancer crabby! Those pincers can hurt…

When Venus is in Cancer

Saix’s weapon named Horoscope incorporates the symbols of Venus and Cancer. A horoscope is a forecast of a person’s future. Therefore, the astrological correspondence is– Venus in Cancer. Venus is connected to Cancer in a very special way. This alignment motivates us to find more secure relationships since it’s very emotionally connected to love. Home and family matters are also important to this cosmic pair. The Two of Cups is also the arcana that is associated with the Venus in Cancer alignment.

Venus is the planet of sensitivity and affection, while Cancer is the most nurturing zodiac sign. When these two get together it creates the potential for greater intimacy, and the chance to build up our romantic relationships. We’ll want to stay at home and bond, cuddle, and talk about our feelings. If your love life has been stalled, things may start looking up during this time. The urge to care for others – even mother them – will be stronger while Venus is in Cancer.

It’s common to feel a bit moody and emotionally delicate when Venus is in Cancer, especially when it comes to your friendships and romantic relationships. This transit can leave us feeling more sensitive than usual, opening us up to the possibility of being wounded emotionally. Cancer’s self-protective nature is to withdraw and hide when this happens. The upside to this level of vulnerability is that your heart will be wide open, allowing you to attract and give love more easily.

Cancer’s Ruling House: 4th House of Security

Settle in and get cozy because Cancer, the fourth sign of the zodiac, rules the 4th House of Security. This house explains the way we relate to the familiar things that bring us comfort – our home, our family, childhood memories, and our roots. The 4th House of Security is reflected in Cancer’s need for comfort and safety. Cancer lives its life in its home – its shell – which acts as a protective layer to keep the Crab safe, secure, and happy. Lea is good for Isa then, because he’s all about stability and security as the representative of the red chakra.

Cancer’s Element: Water

Water is the element that flows through Cancer. The element of Water is a purifying and life-giving source for every life form. Just like the Wetlands that provide a sanctuary for all types of species, Cancers intuitively know how to make others feel nourished and secure. Water is an intuitive element, and Cancer the Crab uses this to read and understand the needs of everyone around them.

Cancer’s Color: Silver & White

Cancer is connected to the colors silver and white. Like the glistening surface of water or the shining face of the Moon, silver and white are colors of intuition and purity. Cancer is a deeply understanding sign, and while they can sometimes get into trouble for being too hands-on with others, their intentions are always innocent. Like the sensitive Crab, silver and white are delicate colors that shine brighter than most, but can easily be taken over by bolder influences.

Cancer’s Ruling Planet: The Moon

Ruled by the Moon, Cancers move forward using their highly-developed intuition. Not surprisingly, you’ll find two Moons on the shoulders of the Charioteer’s armor. You’ll also notice Water flowing behind The Chariot, and not only is a Cancer a Water sign, but its ruling Moon is directly related to the ocean’s tides.

I think this is the direction they originally wanted to go with Isa as a character. In the 358/2 Days novel, when Saix calls Axel a traitor and goes to fight Roxas, it states that his “memories informed him that he hated this kind of thing". I think it’s because he was meant to be a lover, not a fighter. Not that he couldn’t fight. But he only wants to fight to protect others. And especially since his Berserk state is tied to the Moon, which influences subconscious emotional states. And the mind control experiments would create many painful subconscious memories for Isa.

#kh meta #kingdom hearts meta #kingdom hearts #kh #kh isa #isalea #leaisa #akusai #anti-kh3

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wisdomrays · 5 years ago

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Chastity of Thoughts

QUESTION: Could you please elucidate the phrases “purity of ideas” or “chastity of thoughts” which you draw upon from time to time?

ANSWER: Thought and action are the two most important dynamics that show us the way to truly exist, help us stay as ourselves in the face of fierce storms, and help us change ourselves in the progressive sense. Although thought in its general meaning comes before actions, a certain thought with its intricate and detailed meanings develops within the very process of (putting it into) action. That is, a person can concentrate on a certain subject first, give much thought to it, and try to fathom it correctly. However, only after putting the issue into real life practice will one gain further insight into it, accept and accommodate themselves to it, and found it on a sound basis. This is because implementing what one has thought about will make one face some new situations which will, in turn, lead to deeper thoughts on the issue, and thus the general ideas at the beginning will rest upon unshakable grounds. So be it in a general context or a specific one with lots of details, the most important essential we need to pursue in all of our intentions and thoughts is “purity of ideas.” In this respect, we need to remain faithful to the purity of ideas, seeing it as part of our very character, and protect it under our wings against all odds.

Sound thoughts produce sound conduct

It is possible that some people may adopt negative opinion and attitudes toward us, but others’ wrong attitudes should never lead us to reflect back a similar sort of attitude. Wherever we stand with respect to our essential values, we need to stand our ground against all odds. Otherwise, once our thoughts and feelings begin to waver according to others’ attitudes and behaviors, the wavering will continue and eventually take us off the righteous course. What we need to do, however, is not even let others distract and keep us busy—let alone taking us off course—and try to keep away from every kind of influence that might serve as a provocative factor against our course and our stream of thought. We should know that the real purpose of provocations is to avert the volunteers devoted to high ideals from their path and make them change course, not with the purpose of achieving something else but for achieving this very end.

For this reason, representatives of sound thinking should never change in the face of the inconsistent and baseless claims made by others—of course with the exception of making legal claims by appealing and refuting in order to protect one’s reputation against defamation and using their lawful right to sue them for slander and other violation of rights—and always try to keep up their purity and innocence. We need to think straight at all the times so that the actions we are to build on those thoughts are right and straight. Otherwise, if we move away to one side with every storming wind, we might lose track, fall to other trails, becoming adrift in the end.

Those who think positively take delight in their lives

The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, once stated that a believer’s silence should be reflection (tafakkur) and his speaking should be wisdom.” Taking this radiant statement into consideration, we can say that thinking, imagining, and shooting for good things will be counted as worship for a believer. Even though busying ourselves with seemingly impossible thoughts normally means wasting our energy, if a person cherishes a wish to transform the color and pattern of the world into a more beautiful and vivid one, I think even the dreams and imaginings of that person will take on a hue of worship. Thus, what befalls on believers is to become oriented to such beautiful considerations and lead their lives accordingly. In one of the epigrams at the end of The Letters, Bediüzzaman states: “Those who attend to the good side of everything contemplate the good; those who contemplate the good enjoy life.” Therefore, someone’s turning his life into a delightful melody and spending his life as if he were walking through the corridors of Paradise depends on his thinking beautifully. However, one’s thoughts also could take people to negative ways, such as hedonism and bohemianism, unless he uses it in a positive way. Also, even imaginings and conceptions that are not channeled toward goodness can make one face such negativities. For this reason, believers must continuously be preoccupied with thoughts that take root in their values, overflow with them, continuously read and think, and feed on their essential sources without leaving any voids in their life. At the same time, they must give their willpower its due to such an extent that they always remain close to the feelings and thoughts that are not granted a visa by their pure conscience. If they are prone to negative winds in spite of all their efforts, they should—as advised by the Messenger of God—try to free themselves from that atmosphere immediately. Otherwise, a person who sets sail into dreams that might corrupt the purity of his mind sometimes may go too far and not have the opportunity to return to the shore (of safety). Therefore, if one does not control the feelings of grudge, hatred, vengeance, and lust, they might break down barriers and thereby cause them to take wrong decisions and commit evil acts. One must give their willpower its due on one hand and ask protection from God on the other. Those who can achieve this will lead their lives in a greenhouse of Divine protection. But still one should never forget that even the most upright people might topple over, and thus we must never give up our vigilance. When we stumble and lose our balance, we must turn to our Lord and ardently pray like our forefather Prophet Adam did: “Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and do not have mercy on us, we will surely be among those who have lost” (al-A’raf 7:23) then straighten up, and turn toward Him again.

Desires and fancies in guise of ideas

Another point to raise in terms of chastity of thoughts is that there is always the possibility of desires and fancies masquerading as ideas to misguide a person. The touchstone to distinguish desires and fancies from true ideas is the religious criteria. For example, if you feel enraged when someone’s words and attitudes bother you, you first need to determine whether there is anything that goes against the Truth. If this is not the case, it means that you are getting angry in the name of your carnal self, which shows that the angered reaction stems from personal desires and fancies. The criterion to use in the face of evil as decreed in the Qur’an is to “repel evil with what is better (or best)” (Fussilat 41:34). Accordingly, if someone does evil to you, the primary response towards him or her must be a smiling face intended to defuse the intensity of their strong dislike and malice. But if the evil in question is directly related to sacred values or public interest, as an individual, we do not have the right to forgive his or her act; one can only forgive and show tolerance towards violations against his or her personal rights. God Almighty did not assign anybody as a substitute authorized to forgive violations of His rights. No one should dare make such claims, which are clearly disrespectful of God’s rights.

Getting back to our main subject, desires and fancies with no sound base sometimes present themselves in the guise of ideas and try to misguide people, in cooperation with the devil and our carnal soul. One might commit certain wrongs in consequence. You can clearly see this on some debate programs where people try to outwit one another. As if they are fixed on controversy, they always try to say the opposite of what the people before them say, not caring whether it is right or wrong. Let us suppose that one of the people with whom such a person argues says, “Now I am going to show you, by God’s grace and permission, a way directly leading to Paradise.” If the gates of Paradise miraculously and suddenly appear wide open before him and enable him to see the wonderful blessings beyond imagination, he will still say, “No, we do not want to enter Paradise. We are trying to win here, and you are trying to stop us and push us to inactivity.” That is, such a person will try to respond with demagogy even against the most plausible words and thoughts. Such words actually stem from one’s desires and fancies and are uttered under the influence of the devil. However, people mistake all of them as stemming from their own thoughts and ideas.

Sometimes, people from among believers can also fall for this trap of the devil and carnal soul. When you ask help from such a person, he might say that he needs to stay where he is so that he can guide many others, attempting to hide his desire for spending more time with his family and enjoying worldly life under the guise of altruism. However, a sincere believer burns with a desire for reunion with God, overflows with a desire for meeting the noble Prophet, and wishes to sit at the table of the Rightly Guided Caliphs and share their atmosphere. In spite of these feelings, a sincere believer watches his step and says: “My God, I do not know whether I served my time in this world or not. Therefore, I am afraid of committing disrespect towards You.” The conscience is a very important reference point here. For this reason, one must always judge the words one utters with his or her conscience and seek its righteous counseling at every choice and decision made. If someone can achieve this, he or she will be saved from confusing fancies with guidance and carnal desires with commonsense.

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niteshade925 · 6 years ago

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Narcissism (SPOILERS)(long post)

I found this curious connection a while ago, but couldn’t figure out what it means. I have a feeling that I might be close. I need help.

Parents:

Every time the word “narcissism” appear in the text, it has to do with parents:

Like the very first page of the book. Look closely at the text in the picture that seemed to tell a violent alternate narrative for The Navidson Record:

“Let both parents experience that.......their narcissism find a new object to wither by......them in infanticide. Drown them in blood.”

The parents here are Will Navidson and Karen Green.

The effect of this on their children, Chad and Daisy, is hinted at throughout The Navidson Record, and from the looks of it, the effect wasn’t good. At least, until they moved away at the end.

Page 246:

“By his own admission, Tom is nothing like his brother. He has neither the fierce ambition nor the compulsion for risk taking. If both brothers paid the same price for their parents’ narcissism, Will relied on aggression to anchor the world while Tom passively accepted whatever the world would give or take away.”

Page 22:

“Because the enormous narcissism of their parents deprived Will and Tom of suitable role models, both brothers learned to identify with absence.”

The parents here are Will and Tom’s parents, Tony Navidson and the unnamed mother.

(Side note here: I think page 22 is all about what their narcissism entailed)

(Side note again: another thing that’s been associated with “absence” is the labyrinth within the House, which is the object of obsession for both Will Navidson and Johnny)

So that makes the 2nd out of 3 sets of parents in the book that are “narcissists”. The only remaining parents that has not been directly labeled are the parents of Johnny, his father and Pelafina. But of course, by this time it’s kind of redundant; Johnny’s parents sort of left him too (if the text were to be taken at face value: his father died in an accident, his mother was admitted to an asylum after an episode), although they didn’t quite leave because they wanted to. Maybe that was the difference: intention mattered.

God, Echoes, Creation:

Then there’s the mythological root of the word narcissism, Narcissus. Narcissus was referenced a few times too, in curious places:

Chapter V (aka the “Echoes” chapter) introduces the myth and adds analysis.

And right before the “dual universe” quote, on page 45:

“...Rose took a careful accounting of St. John, chapter 1, Verse 1--”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

“‘Look to the sky, look to yourself and remember: we are only god’s echoes and god is Narcissus.’“

Interestingly, the “dual universe” quote was the one Johnny described as familiar (footnote 57).

My thoughts :P

First off, I can be wildly incorrect about all of this. Besides the fact of the quotes above, the other fact is I don’t know. Everything below is just me guessing.

So there’s 2 things associated with narcissism: parents, and god. The former is abundantly clear in the book, we see the consequences of such narcissism throughout the entire book. The latter seem to be associated more with..........the idea of creation? Because God is seen in religion (and not just the God of Judeo-Christian tradition) as the creator of everything. The Chapter V quote from St. John seemed to suggest that language was God and thus “the creator”.

Given the above, these were what I came up with:

All of this is part of the book’s comment on (the lack of) parental love:

Actions have consequences. The parents, whether preoccupied by their own obsessions, or seeking remedies for their own trauma, are all ultimately obsessed with their own wants and needs, hence narcissism. And since parents are also “creators” of their children, the quote that characterize god as Narcissus and his creations as his echoes can be seen as a comment on dysfunctional families. Children of “absent” parents grow up with trauma, and when they grow up to be parents, they seek out forms of temporary relief, whatever it may be, to soothe their traumatized psyche. This often manifest as reckless behavior or obsessions or fancies, and when it happens, their children are left to their own devices, at least emotionally. This creates a vicious cycle that we can see in the Navidson family, and between Pelafina and Johnny.

This idea goes a little into the topic of love, but fails to explain the “dual universe” quote.

All of this is part of the book’s comment on the nature of creation, and what it means to be a creator:

This idea is heavily based on the St. John quote, which when taken as is in the book and without any other context, seems to suggest that language is the creator of all. This immediately relates to writing, and how the writer of a work of fiction can be seen as a “god” of sorts.

A major running theme of the Whalestoe letters from Pelafina (Appendix II, section E), all of them addressing her son Johnny, her biological creation, is the power of language. Specifically, the power of language to create and to provide an outlet for the creator.

This can be especially important with regards to the authorship question. If Zampano was the sole author (I think this is the least likely, due to way too little evidence), the book may be seen as his outlet; he seemed to have quite a complicated life filled with regret, judging by the bits and pieces from the women who apparently helped him in the drafting process.

If Pelafina was the sole author, the book may be seen as her outlet for her regrets. The “dual universe” quote can make sense here, since by writing the book, she would’ve created a little universe for her fictional son Johnny, and if I recall correctly, at some point in the Whalestoe Letters, Pelafina expressed hopes that her son wouldn’t turn out like her.

If Johnny was the sole author, he is definitely following his mother’s advice, writing this story as a way to remedy the various trauma he received as a child. After all, we are introduced early on to his habit of crafting stories (ex: the Birds of Paradise story), and as Johnny muses himself,

“We all create stories to protect ourselves.” (p.20)

Regardless of who is the author in-story, perhaps the book is trying to say that the act of creating is an outlet for the creator (writer, artist, composer, etc.), by preserving their experiences and emotions in a work of art. Maybe not as a coping device (we see how relying on coping devices turned out for Lude and Holloway), but as a way of sequestering what may best be left behind. The Navidson Record and A Brief History of Who I Love sequestered the trauma of Will Navidson, so that he could go on as a changed person. If we take Johnny to be the sole author (and everything was fiction written by him), then maybe House of Leaves was his ticket to moving on with his life.

(This is definitely not the only thing the book might be saying about art and creation; for example, Karen’s short film about Navidson’s past also points to the way an artist’s creation also enables exploration of the artist’s inner self and facilitates personal growth)

Maybe both of these work, or maybe I’m wildly off-track, I don’t know.

#houseofleaveschallenge #houseofleaves #curiosities #need help #and sleep

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tsw-story · 6 years ago

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Chapter 83 - Doin’ It For Themselves

Sweat ran down from beneath Lucy's hair and down the bridge of her nose as her muscles tensed—hands locked on pieces of metal to adjust the direction of their teleportation mechanism. Mara helped as well, though she wasn't quite tall enough to reach it all. Meanwhile, Kali stood back with her eyes closed, and pointed in various directions.

“That's right. A little bit to the left... stage left. That's the other left. And up next. I think.”

Lucy was feeling exhausted, as were the rest of them. They had been tirelessly working toward finding and putting a stop to their sister's scheme. At the very least, they wanted to speak with her. “You think?”

“Right there! It's hard to narrow it down to a specific point, but I think Kevin is right about there. You sure about this, though? We'll probably be popping right into a prison cell or something. You know what they do with wizards there.”

“I know.” Lucy shook her head. “But this is personal now. We should no bias towards their decision to capture wizards. But we do know Anzu spoke with officials after that attack, and it's our responsibility to make sure such a disaster doesn't happen again.”

“I still can't believe she'd do something this extreme,” Mara muttered.

It was finally prepared. Lucy stood before the center of the room, and she opened up a smoking fissure across the stone floor. The glow of flickering flames could be seen within. One by one, they hopped inside. Lucy, Mara, and then finally Kali. It sealed up behind them as if it was never there to begin with.

***

Taj's hand trembled with frustration which caused the plastic of the radio's case to crackle. Beside him sat a table with Kevin's belongings, as few as they were. A bracelet, a ring, a wallet, and a phone. His captive, the boy in question, refused to speak, which was not all that surprising. But once again he raised the radio up to his mouth and stared daggers. “You're so certain this isn't your friend?”

“Positive.”

“I'll give the call to execute him then, if you're so confident!”

“Go ahead and try!”

He slammed the radio down on the table next to the other items, and whipped his wrist out forward. The bandages that made up a layer over his outfit unravelled from his arm and flew through the air like a snake before wrapping around Kevin's neck. It tightened unbelievably quickly, so much so that it caused Kevin to jump in his seat and widen his eyes.

“I was tasked with getting certain information. And you should know that we have no obligation to let you back out of here. So then, knowing that, will you still not speak? Your parents still live, and I doubt they'd want to hear of an unfortunate accident.”

Kevin's gaze blurred under the pressure of the noose. His eyes squinted as he countered the man's sharp stare with daggers of his own.

Unknown to them at first, a crack started to form across the tiles of the floor near the far corner. Smoke and light began to emerge, and it caused Taj's attention to snap in an instant. He retracted his bandages, and leapt back to the wall where a phone was mounted. It was dialled with no hesitation. “Intruders! I don't know how they managed to open a portal in here, but—“ His statement paused as he saw the shape of the intruders appear.

Three devils, each a different height, but related. Lucy stood in the front with two of her sisters behind her, and her expression was fierce. Flames trailed out across the ground and up the walls around them, and he remained with her arms crossed over her chest. Slowly, the fissure sealed behind them.

“Lucy!” Kevin shouted as his vision barely spotted them behind.

He dropped the phone and raised one hand into the air. “Stop right there. You're intruding on private government property. It doesn't matter who you are, Princess of Hell. This is strictly forbidden!” He lunged forward, and his bandages whipped out to grab Lucy by the wrist. Like a bolt of lighting, Mara zipped towards and through the material, snapping it in half with one whack of her wrist.

“Don't touch my sister!” she shouted.

Before Taj could react, Kali was already feeling up his captive. She pet him on the head and whispered, “It's all right. You're all mine now.”

Kevin tensed up back against the chair. “I'm what?”

“Calm down. We found you, because I put a little shadow inside you.”

“You did what?”

“Get back!” Taj shouted as he moved to sweep across her legs. Before it could connect, she vanished into a poof of black smoke. She was then back behind him, with her allies once more.

The door flew open at that moment and a few armed guards hustled inside with guns locked and loaded. The barrels were all aimed directly at the three newcomers, but Lucy didn't recoil.

“We're here on exceptionally important business,” stated Lucy. “I must speak with the one in charge. It's about the attack on Spokane. The one who lead the defense force, and the one who brought this boy into custody, is the one we must see.”

“You don't get to make demands—“

“Stand down,” boomed a familiar voice.

The sounds of heavy boots pressing down over old tiles echoed out from the halls, and smoke wafted around the corner and into the room. Whitfield stepped inside with a cigarette pursed in his mouth, but he wasn't completely careless. He had a pistol in his hand, though aimed down at his side. “These three aren't here to fight. Not a chance.”

“Yes, sir,” Taj said as he retreated back to the wall. The men around them lowered their weapons as well.

“Are you the leader here?” Lucy asked.

“That's what I've been told. For now at least. I heard on the phone there that you're here to talk about the attack on Spokane,” he muttered as he leaned down to lift the fallen phone from the ground. He returned it to its dock, but grunted as he made his way back up. “Good. Because when demons start attacking a city in the United States of America, I frankly get a little pissed off.”

“We apologize, but it had nothing to do with us. We might know who, however, and you may have spoken with them already. Have you talked to a demon since then?”

Whitfield grinned. He removed the cigarette from his mouth, and exhaled an extra wide cloud of smoke up towards the ceiling. “What if I have? I have no obligation to share that information.”

“She probably used an avatar. A round, bat-like creature.”

“Maybe I did. I reckon you're looking for them right now.”

“And you're not?”

The man sighed. “Listen here. All of you, out right now.”

One by one the soldiers, even Taj, left them to be once again alone inside. He took one long draw from his smoke, and put it out on the nearby table. As he looked between them all, he raised his fist to his mouth hand began to cough.

“All right. You're chasing the one who attacked my country? Good. But you know what? I've got a job to do here. I'll tell you what, ladies. I can't go and lose everything right now, but I'll tell you the god damn honest truth. I want that demon executed for what she did. I'll broker you a small deal here. Off the record.”

“This whole trip is off the record,” Lucy replied.

“Good. I'll tell you where you might find her. Or, instead, I'll let your two friends go. I can't do both. The higher-ups find out you three came and freed them, they'll be pissed but they'll also understand that I couldn't stop you. If you capture this runaway demon, they might be pissed too. But both? I'll lose my damn head.”

Lucy's fiery glance moved to Kevin only momentarily. “I want her location.”

A strange feeling washed over Kevin. She wasn't there to free him? He was actually happy, as he was about to shout out for them to leave him behind. But on the other hand, he couldn't help but feel a feeling of dread.

Whitfield chuckled, and coughed once again. From his pocket, he removed a pen and paper, and scribbled something down. “Cold. But fair. Here then. Take this. It's your best bet, and trust me when I say I wouldn't lie about this.”

Mara snagged the paper up. Without a second thought, Lucy turned her back, and opened the fissure once more to travel back home. He watched as they entered one by one. First Lucy, then Mara, and finally...

“Where's the third?” he asked. But then his nostrils flared as he saw the item table empty as well as the chair itself. His head snapped back, and Kali was standing alone in front of the glowing fissure with her arm tightly around Kevin's shoulder.

“Bye now!” Kali shouted as she winked. Then, she flipped backwards with her trophy in-hand. He hadn't noticed before it was too late. Before he could do anything, the portal was gone, and it was only him in an empty, quiet room.

***

The man's fist cracked down over Eldrian's head, sending him bleeding to the floor. The man wasn't breaking a sweat. He merely cracked his knuckles, and rolled Eldrian over with end of his boot. The weight of his body pressed down on the wizard's chest as he pinned with down with a foot.

“You try to teleport out? Won't work. Any spell cast at me? I'll break it. We can go on forever. Then I'll bind you, leave, come back, and do it all again. We'll do it until you yourself break, and you tell us everything we want to know. Nobody is coming to rescue you.”

Eldrian clenched his teeth. With a whip of his hand, as quickly as he could, he attempted to flash a blinding explosion up into the man's face. However, his palm was already prepared to stop it entirely. His vision started to blur when the boot collided with his stomach, sliding him into the side of the mattress.

He coughed and climbed on top. Once he regained himself, he turned back to the spellbreaker and backed up against the wall—sweating and exhausted.

“So, how many of you pests are there this time?”

Eldrian stared up. “Plenty.”

“What's that then? Some kind of rebellion?”

“If you call living a rebellion.”

The man laughed boisterously. “If you call being a dangerous freak living. I'll tell you what'll happen. You'll never see any of these friends of yours again. We'll remake you. Built you up better this time. And at the end of it all, it'll be your hands covered in their blood. The truth is this isn't an interrogation. It's preparation. You don't need to tell me a damn thing.”

From his blood-filled mouth, Eldrian let loose a disgusting spit up directly into the man's face. Disgusted, he wipes it off, and immediately stuck out with his hand, expecting a spell. When nothing came, he simply grinned. “If that's all you have left, I guess I won't be able to have much more fun.”

“But we aren't finished yet.”

He gave Eldrian a strange glance. “I might have knocked your brain lose. Or maybe you've just always been crazy. Either way, we certainly can continue.”

“But not for long.”

“And why the hell is that?”

“Because I just won!”

“Wha—“

The man jumped at the sudden explosion. He was watching, however, so he didn't cast a spell. Where did it come from? It was the wall. Somehow, the wall let out a booming shock. All of this thought was too much to comprehend in the span of a second, and before he knew it, the wizard was fired directly at him like a bullet.

There wasn't enough time to react. Eldrian's skull collided directly with his nose with incredible force. He could feel the bridge crumble and break from the impact, and the pain dazed him as he fell back towards the floor. Meanwhile, Eldrian soared over top, motivated by the pain, adrenaline, and determination. And in his hands, he was already prepared with another spell.

#adventure #action #magic #wizard #wizards #elf #elves #demon #demons #fantasy #ficiton #story #writing #serial

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