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horizon-verizon · 2 months ago

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Isn’t it kinda weird that people ship daemyra? I'm not targeting daemyra, but the shippers. Though their relationship was acceptable in their era, I see many fans using this as a pretext to actively endorse it, which is problematic. It's one thing to acknowledge the historical and cultural context of a relationship, but it's another thing entirely to romanticize or ship it when we now have the knowledge and understanding that one of the individuals involved is a child.

Need your opinion on this

DISCLAIMER: I am a Daemyra shipper. Read with caution.

You're essentially asking why it isn't a dealbreaker? You could refer to my post HERE, but here it is in short:

Perhaps I'm going to be flowery, exhaustive, and "purple prosey" again, but I think it is basically that that very context creating the exploration of a tragedy of forces stronger than oneself. People love tragic tales, esp doomed ones. It's almost always validating in that there is a persistence of self against outside pressures that may or may not (but usually does) have said pressures be compulsions to conform against one's own happiness or authenticity, even and sometimes especially when the couple dies at the end. That in of itself is a sort of "resistance" that's supposed to coincide with GRRM's whole thing of "choosing life in spite of death" or "we found love in a hopeless place" sort of thing in ASoIaF, but for royals and in a royal iteration.

Rhaenyra's story is a doomed one not because she was the entire cause of the Dance pr some evil temptress but bc the historical actions of her ancestors and the feudal-patriarchal system they all live under has already set up designs against women and those the women could use to occupy the positions granted to men. GRRM loves his tragic tales of love; look at Rhaelya! But they also tend to--long way forward--lead to strains of hope in later generations...which works to make the whole thing even more bitter sweet and melancholy. They also both buy into it of course, which certainly contributed, but from the jump we know these two will not succeed. So from there it's a thing of enjoying the couple as they are and what they serve in the narrative. Oh, and of course the true star is Dany, and Rhaenyra had to die for Dany's story to be what it was (death of the dragons, women subjugated, Targs losing their sense of self leading to the Rebellion).

When there is no or mostly and actively morally upright party like a Daenerys, humans will root for the most impressive, thrilling, or aesthetically beautiful story/characters/relationships that scratches that itch some. You can certainly whack GRRM for creating so many ships that are this too-taboo thing(s), but people are very prone to misleading some things about people-as-people that I think (even with the historical inaccuracies GRRM defends as "accurate" about ages when noble people married) the writer does convincingly capture between this "conversation" in his work about the relationship between environment and choice. At least for enough people that there is something to how he's doing it.

And then, yes, sometimes people will over-romanticize, and much more than I think you're imagining it, anon. I've read some fics...let's say that sometimes people feel the need to dramatically change the characters that always puts me off bec it erases what was fun about them in the first place.

Here it is written in another way:

The draw of Daemyra for a lot of people is that CONSIDERING THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND EVEN DESPITE/BECAUSE OF THEM, they had one of the most the strongest bonds for the longest time (and yes, even with Daemon loving Laena) in the orig story and they matched each others' drive/fire/pride (the last in all its meanings). They seem (operative word here) to understand each other the most, were the most comfortable with each other, and were the others' biggest support.

Again, it's not exactly the incest but what the incest/age gap (IN THE CONTEXT GRRM CREATED) does for the bond that comes to be.

Daemon for all intents and purposes could have become a perfect culmination of patriarchal privilege and male pride: one of the best warriors of his time, access to one of the most formidable and impressive creatures through his state of birth, action-oriented but not opposed to using strategy tactics, nearly irresistible to women an attitude and inspiring enough to men both in the story and in the fandom with his charisma, blah blah. And he certainly still had all those things or was written that way.

The kickers are that he's forced to acknowledge his truer desires to support his family towards prosperity and survival--where his loyalty to Rhaenyra comes in--and those desires are so much a priority he basically shuns much else, or at least removes himself from that, and thus he cannot/does not bother to put on much airs or try to gain approval...which is a very common thing amongst nobility who often curry favor or imagine themselves to be "good" people because they follow an honor code. There's a "purity" to that, an shameless honesty that draws people in similar to how some people feel about Oberyn and Jaime. And it especially is very attractive to people who have quite a bit of shame themselves over love and sex (for whatever reason, religious shame, queer shame, female shame for sexuality and desiring a stronger partner even anyway) and are (at first or never) inclined to not to try to ennoble it but are lonely and looking for a story of a strong connection/ride or die. That loyalty to Rhaenyra is a "flaw" that some men in the fandom never forgave GRRM for.

Rhaenyra similarly could have been a typical or ideal princess--either way, people wouldn't have liked her or found something to say was a damning "flaw" to say she deserved her fate-- and in some ways, she was. Loved wearing luxurious things and showing off her beauty, beautiful, fertile. But she's inplacably different from the ideal of Andal patriaechy be

Rhaenyra "replaced" Daemon as heir, yet instead of really planning her downfall and committing to his ire against Viserys (yes after being forced away), he appears accept his subordinate position towards the middle and end of his life, even before they marry and fully commitsd to her without losing his own...je-ne-sais-quoi. Despite her loneliness and the surrounding doubt around her for being a female heir, Rhaenyra never seemed to seriously lose her belief in her right to occupy that sort of space and never demurred like some other female characters we (pre-the rise of YA fiction and the Capable+Alluring MC Girl/Woman) were familiar with WHILE not being that kind or good a person (the trope of a Steel-Under-Silk strong, Lady usually has the Lady be good or kind of selfless, sometimes to the point of self effacement). Both had a sort of belief in themselves to a degree and under contexts that put off both readers and their own contemporaries--for different reasons...sometimes the same ones. that sort of symmetry is very appealing BECAUSE OF AND UNDER THE CONTEXT of a world and system (unequally, but the closest it's gotten and could get).

The argument of "for the time/environment", I think, is for use of when we have people claim that some characters like Ceryse Hightower, Larra Rogare, Daemon, Viserys I are pedophiles...when we have Robert Baratheon, Craster, Walder Frey, etc. right there. that they go out of their way to mess up children or teens bec they are genuinely want them for their teenhood/childhood. The childness (full knowledge of childness) is exactly what they aim for.

Sure, none of these characters do not and cannot have the exact same moral systems or values as real moderns (sometimes Western people) do...because they simply do not have that framework to live on and through. So automatically saying a character is a pedo or a groomer can be hasty and inaccurate.

SOMETIMES (again, Walder, Craster, Robert).

It requires one to think about what a groomer or a pedo really is. Which I've squared down to the person wanting to prey on what is known to them and everyone around them as a "child" or "too young" that is socially excluded from every practice and dynamic of sex and romance that adults are expected to participate with each other, and not with said child (or simply manipulate them away from their security/non-security to do so) because the "child" cannot develop psychologically/physically when said adults interrupt their development and/or make them think is one thing when it is the other. Characters like Daemon, Viserys, etc. do not try to seek out what is recognized as "children" or "childlike" (and the "young maidens" or virgins the text states weirdly juxtaposes the lack of Daemon continuing said behavior into his adulthood, which true groomers/pedos always do). All this is strictly against the idea of him being a "groomer", even though like other men and a few women, he gets into something with 14/15 yr old Rhaenyra...

HOWEVER, it is true that patriarchies tend to apply sex-purity values in ways that inevitably encourage attentions on teens (as these are the closest) AND this ALSO doesn't mean that GRRM wasn't/isn't trying to say that this is still a wrong thing for 111 A.C. Daemon to have done and that it wasn't potentially screwy. (I think this is kinda what also "saves" it for some people, that the narrative acknowledges this particular crazy as crazy).

And just as with Dany and Drogo and the age revealed at her first pregnancy, even with Dany having been a bridal slave to Rhaenyra's princess and thus presenting a more visceral stake the latter doesn't have, determining how one sees Dany's regard for Drogo as blatant victim-mindset. For Daemyra, though, it's still not exactly the same and it's just that there isn't much for a claim, story-wise not life wise, of blatant you-know-what-it's.

There are about 4 main theories as to why Daemon of the bk does what he does with Rhaenyra:

he wanted to get back at Viserys for all the years of his ignorance and the recent event of his shipping Mysaria off only her her to lose what would have been Daemon's first kid (so a denial of person, position, and his own heir/family when he seemed to start trying to make himself after a long series of war in the Stepstones, also trying to make some "glory" for himself that Viserys--for him--keeps preventing or ruining)

he thought that the issues of succession Rhaenyra or even Viserys might have with the burgeoning greens, esp Otto, would be better handled if he forced Viserys to have him and Rhaenyra marry and combine lineages...tag him in, coach, he's been ready and you're not doing the job right, so let me in (ironically, I think this is very Visenya-coded...no one is going to be as competent and dedicated as me...just [ugh] with all the male trappings and privilege that shaped his...all that) -- a burgeoning storm they all had to prepare for, and he has to be there for them to survive -- he sees Rhaenyra at court surrounded by greens and is so offended he's even more determined--some might read "desperate"--to handle things even with such little...grace, shall we say

he was "tailoring" and "preparing" Rhaenyra to become more like the wife/partner that would make him most happy and rationalized that he would pay her back with his "hand" and sword, bc they were the best bet for their house...yeah...

when he got there and saw Rhaenyra in her "marriageable" state, he became attracted to her and similar to Laena and the duel, decided to "risk" the damage to his own rep...without letting himself onvder over the possible damage to Rhaenyra

or, ALL OF THE ABOVE...SOME OF THE ABOVE

Whatever Daemon did with her/to her (sex, kissing, near-sex, groping, etc., we don't know what happened but I think it was either sex or something that looked like it would definitely lead to that), it wasn't based on a habit and intention of straight up p*dophilia. More so him being very selfish, continuing the pattern of Targ men Targ-menning against their female counterparts. Using Rhaenyra against Viserys, putting his foot down, whatever.

Therefore he was still abusing his experience and relation with her, the "child-not-child-who-should-have-been-seen-as-a-child-but-wasn't-bc-society-and-patriarchal-selfishness/advantage". So I don't fault or perfectly disagree with people who say "groomer!" After all, their priority is not allowing other crazy people or out already-male-scorched world in further footholding for nonsense in the real world. Can't call them stupid or morally incorrect for that or being concerned. However, I still think there's a misunderstanding of what's being conveyed by the text versus what such a thing would be in real life (Watsonian vs Doylist) AND we can't stop ourselves form writing or showing even the odd and taboo or genuinely concerning stuff when there's something to be shown/told.

It changed to what it needed to be, became what was its potential, AND Rhaenyra was set to marry someone else (before the confirmation that it was always gonna be Laenor, and she didn't know it was him until last minute) who she would likely never be able to trust because of her position, men, yada yada. Might as well be someone she cared for her entire life and we know would not go out of his way, even shift for someone he thought was "worthy", and whoo-boy, was Rhaenyra "worthy" to Daemon. Again, refer to the doomed narrative.

Now Daemon here is so not exactly a good guy if he:

was willing to use his own about-to-married-off-and-subiect-to-purity-politics-standard-that-could-affect-her-reputation both as a girl/woman-as-a-female-heir niece in this way, even if it was after Viserys basically caused him and Mysaria to lose their first kid and came after years of Viserys basically ignoring Daemon--Daemon's eyes, bk and show--in favor of a man who could never hope to be as loyal as Daemon....IN FACT, THIS PROVES HE WAS NEVER THE "GOOD" GUY (I'm yelling at some fics)

prioritizes "sameness" and it comes off as arrogance--"only people like me can handle all this"...however, he'd be not totally incorrect (just annoying to some, charming to others, a little bit of both and feeding-into-each-other for others-others). He's not only a person who grew up, like both female and male nobles, value having the highest classed and prestigious person as a potential mate even if it may contradict "obedience" and he like others wishes to, he also. Again, the appeal of SYMMETRY. And sameness (albeit, in lesser degrees) does have an importance in how many people define what their ideal partner is. Not have the same hobbies or ways and color of dress, but values. Which Rhaenyra and Daemon have the potential of to the max.

If a potential partner's "worth" to be of a certain category or class...but it's fun to see shamelessness at a point AND such shamelessness works to, again, support said female character bc it's a great pair to loyalty, which Rhaenyra needs a lot of and assurance of from. And, no, I don't think she got enough of that from Harwin for all that she did love him (if they did become lovers...but I know you know they were, come on now). Those two had to hide; Rhaenyra's not a hider, not where it doesn't concern her kids' safety at least.

Ironically those assurances come from the reversed--or at least done a little topsy turvy--familial relations, feudal constraints, AND the reality of Targaryens being both a part of this society but also not really on part because of their dragons/innate magicness but also because they are the ruling family.

They are apart from most people around them and find more things in common between themselves, us against the world (yes, in the bk, too); isolated always--unless you're like Rhaena, Dreamfyre's 1st rider, who could and did find female friends everywhere and discovered more freedom and comfort in them through their woman-ness than anyone in her family...but even then, she was more or less emotionally isolated just by being such a woman and a Targ, and the male stink still manages to encroach its way in through Androw Farman and the love she had for Androw's father/her lover's love for said Androw. and as royals, they are by social definition not in physical proximity, thus not as easier seen as any more than political figures/leaders. I mean, sure, we might say "boo hoo", and we'd not be totally wrong, but there is still an effect of treating people not like people that humans have never been able to rein in, and it's important to how the Targs handled many things and were perceived, thus how they responded--queue Jaehaerys I. When we especially talk about the costs to oneself and to how others treat you under the nonphysical protections of power. Whether for good or ill.

Contrast to Jaehaerys and Alysanne, who, thought GRRM notes as one of the greatest pairs, also end up separated by Alysanne's & Jaehaerys' fights over their children's safety and places in the succession, with the obvious running line of it going back to misogyny for the sake of assimilating/holding power instead of using it for making the said society a little better/a lot better.

Contrast to Daario and Daenerys (yes, yes, why would I compare PoV character's observations of a person vs a history book, we get it), Daemyra/RoguesDelight has Daemon knowing and giving more suggestion of longevity bc it's suggested in the text that he had access to the most intimate stirrings of Rhaenyra's head (final letter at Maidenpool as well as all I said above) in a way Daario never did or wanted to with Dany. Oh, of course Daario knew Dany loved her people, was lonely, was all that and the 3rd; but I trump that up to be his observation of what she needed and wanted so he could indulge in being with such a woman and profit from it. Even though he wasn't exactly terrible or whatever, or impatient. This is far from Dany's fault, tbc. Daario is gonna Daario. But, as one person kind brilliantly explained about Dany being a goddess in Twitter:

Part of her struggles is w being dehumanized as a symbol of power but she constantly subverts that by placing the weight of her responsibility/influence into liberating ppl.

Jaehaerys I sorta sets himself and his later scions, by contrast, even with it having had the desired effect of getting people off his back about sibling incest. So does Aegon I, tbh, when while it left the Targs the ability to adapt to their necessities concerning succession, his and his sons leaving it open to duking-it-out...then Aegon named heir over Rhaena...made way for the first stone against women in their house....those most necessarily it seems (after the Dance).

Anyway, they were pretty solid until Rhaenyra's kids started falling like dominoes and were caught in a deceit.

I remember an ask I got once about Daemon showing Rhaenyra explicit imagery in S1E4, where anon said that him doing so proves he is a groomer in the show, where Rhaenyra is 19 instead of 14-15. And adult but just barely AND a lot of people hold that grooming--nonsexual, too--can happen to people to people as old as 34. Personally, I think that the latter is more general manipulation more than "grooming", but I digress and it doesn't really work for 18-20 year olds and up, who again, are practically teenagers.

But I brought up my misgivings about Daemon wanting to abuse children/children adjacent for its own sake already, and it's less evident in the show where the show makes it a point that he wanted Rhaenyra at most stages of her life (when again, she wouldn't be a child-child to them, scowl at GRRM, not me):

the beach scene in S1E7 with adult Rhaenyra, we all saw them heave for each other

we hear/see nothing of his messing with too-young girls after said marriage...the narrative implies he was likely imagining it as some "perfect" Valyrian bride...who happens to be around the same age as state as his niece (still problematic for all the implications of Rhaenyra's significance to him----both in the nature of sex work affecting women/girls AND we really didn't need to hear of that without proving how old those girls usually were to be so used like this as proxies…this is where I personally would have rolled my sorry self out) -> -> -> the probable immediate recall of Jorah doing similar with Dany OR simply Mysaria's observation of this unconscious/repressed desire/teasing him and show!Daemon never having actually done these things -> -> -> of course this could be due to any number of reasons, like his frustrations with Viserys manifesting in looking for a companion in the closest person possible more than that sort of desire

Mysaria: What troubles you, my Prince? I could bring in another. Perhaps a maiden. I have several. I could even arrange one with silver hair. [pause]

This included language of "could" and "perhaps" and "even" (as if this were a thing that she knows it's out of the ordinary) plus her solicitousness to meet his silence and disappeared enthusiasm indicates that show!Daemon was not in the habit of messing w/very young sex workers as bk!Daemon is rumored and told (A Question of Succession):

"and was said to have an especial fondness for deflowering maidens"

Language is important these types of documents. We're given an entire description of his philandering and the contrast of "he sampled" (definite, final, statement-to-not-be-doubted), but there is room with "was said" for Daemon to not have gone around this particular act of seeking out virgin girls. Like how one would say now "I heard such and such also went pulling people's pants down after Marcus saw him go into a strip club" or "people say that Marsha went to Payless for her prom shoes".

Active ("he sampled") vs passive voice ("he[...]was said") can be pretty important to indicate what def happened vs what people believed and could have happened but was never proven. But what do I know, I'm just a probably too-biased Daemyra shipper (this genuinely was not to be snarky, really, you can take or leave my points).

END

For me, it's more when Rhaenyra & Daemon both get older that they shine and I "approve" or really most enjoy Rouges Delight (bk ship name some have taken to call Daemyra) whatever you want to name and distinguish the couple. (I prefer their younger interations [pre E6, S1] in the show not bc Emma is a bad actor--they re not, they're just underutilized and Rhaenyra is written so...terribly that I can never get as into it...I liked Daemyra when they reconciled in S2, for example, but I hated how they got there and not bc of "the ship is sinking" but bec it genuinely was not written well and depended on diminishing both characters). I'm not, however, out here trying to say that anyone else should love this ship, this couple, this story just as much as I don't really mind people not getting into GRRM's writing.

The 111 A.C. issue, there is a certain odd quality it of being obviously out of line and manipulative...while evidence of being a convergence of long-held tension, a beginning towards an inevitable outcome years down the line. SYMMETRY and good writing. I suspect that part of the appeal for some is that push-pull of the delight of "matching freaks and the moral conflict of "but....he's her uncle and he's 2x her age and/or they probably did things when she was way too young", but that's a whole other thing. It keeps people engaged and is perfectly symptomatic of that quality of medievalesque/historical fiction, sure, but bc humans love to play with taboos in fiction...to a certain point. (Personally, again, it is that later timeline that "saved" Daemon for me, as flawed as that may be.) They can indulge in the curiosity of the play of "what ifs" GRRM writes and the subsequent quandaries safely in fiction without getting openly judged & misunderstood for wanting such stories. Sometimes we "play" too close to the sun, though, I admit.

So unless someone's gone off the deep end trying to say that they wouldn't be bothered by a 15 yr old and her 2x older uncle smooching in real life, or try to deny that Daemon was performing, it really doesn't discomfit me that much in the grander scheme of things to me.

Again, I can't blame HotD for uping Rhaenyra's age AND people for just not jiving or hating the ship just as there are those who cannot ever get into ASoIaF for the incessant (to them, too often unpunished by the narrative) incest even outside of the Targs alone. And I get how this is just not going to be enough or that he later is her strongest supporters is enough for a lot of people. But I do want the air cleared a bit and explain the position from where I'm standing. Could change, but I dunno about that. Perhaps this all too biased a breakdown. I warned ya.

This is all in regards to shipping, of course. 😉 Anyway, watch out, there might be more freaks about you in your everyday life like Daemyra shippers, anon!

#daemyra #asoiaf shipping #canon shipping #rhaenyra and daemon #fire and blood characters #daemon's characterization #rhaenyra's characterization #fire and blood #asoiaf

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mintytealfox · 1 month ago

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Hear you saw arcane...... do you think an au of Arcane, especially for Nortalice.......?

Oh G O S H you KNOW IT

Doomed situationship Arcane!Nortalice??? YUPPERS

Like every character in friggin Arcane is doomed by the gosh dang narrative it makes me WEEP AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK (I love the pain this show gives me GIMME -WHEEZE- but at the same time GET ME OFF THIS RIDE LOL)

But I can see Norton being from Zaun naturally and not giving a singular care about that place and just wanting to get out. Willing to explode his way out even. He has got no loyalty except to himself (will change later 👀) But bro is sick and poisoned by the conditions in Zaun and desires that fresh air and blue skies of Piltover. Bro is dying Viktor style, has time (about 10 years worth) but the timer has begun by the time he meets Alice.

So he is looking for ANY WAY to get up top.

Then there is Alice. She was initially from Piltover but is now living in Zaun, much to Norton's irritation (cause why the HECK would you choose to stay down here when you are from uptop) But Alice choosing to stay in Zaun, deeming Piltover too dangerous for her and its easier to hide down below. Plus she wants to try and help and expose the true horrors down there, hoping that will finally start to change things and garner sympathy from uptop.

----

But Alice running into Norton and then refusing to leave his side, even though he is purposely trying to loose her for the first month of them knowing each other pff. But her initially finding him having a fascinating vibe and wanting to recruit him to help her out. He doesn't immediately throw her to the 'wolves' when he gets the opportunities to, and now won't abandon her due to her promise that she will take him uptop and get him what he needs to live up there. (aka just give him everything that was hers up there cause she doesn't need any of it anymore since she is on the run//and won't clarify why she is in this predicament to Norton. But he doesn't care, he just sees the prize he wants)

So Norton's goal now is to keep her safe and hide her when necessary and help her get the story out.

So they literally never leave each other's sides cause the unpredictable nature of this reality they live in and

Alice grabbing his arm looking a bit unwell: "where are you going? don't leave!" Norton: "? I was just going to get some food to bring back while you were sleeping" -touches her forehead- "yikes, you're worse than I thought" -lays her back down- Alice: "No, I will go with you" -tries to push against him laying her back down- Norton: "What's your deal?? Seriously, you need rest. I'll only be a few--" Alice: "Don't" Norton: "?" Alice: "Don't leave me in the dark" Norton: "? O-Okay...Okay I'll just pay someone to pick us up something." -first time actually being worried for her as he turns on a little lantern light he has by the makeshift hammock she is laying in- (Norton's genuine concern for her has begunnnn)

----

I'll stop here for now but 😭😭😭😭😭😭

#norton gonna loose his left forearm and hand and will need a robotic one after protecting Alice one of the many times he has to #identity v #idv #norton campbell #idv prospector #alice deross #idv journalist #nortalice #idv au #arcane au #haven't even gotten to the situationship part yet lol #then even worse the DOOMED part AGH

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sun-marie · 1 month ago

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9 and 19 from fifty more rook questions?

fifty (more) rook questions (w/ spoilers) <3

9. A sweet scene between Rook and their LI(s):

The day before talking with Morrigan about the final eclipse assault, Rook took Lucanis to her favorite spot in Rivain, a small cove on the coast of the Hall of Valor. When the sun goes down, it reflects on the water in such a way that the sea itself appears a vibrant orange and violet, then becomes almost sepia for a brief moment before fading back to a dark blue. When Lydia first discovered the area as a child, she made it part of her routine to try and catch the sea at this specific moment at twilight, and she told Lucanis that she wanted to share that part of herself with him. They sat in each other's company for a while, enjoying some drinks (Rook also tried to convert him to her favorite tea, but brought backup coffee just in case)

19. A scene from book club (or another group activity):

Rook: ...so yeah, this book is whatever, but there was that part with the dragon -

Lucanis: Of course you liked the part with the dragon.

Rook: Uh, yeah? Dragons always make a story more exciting, you can't go wrong. Anyway, at the end, i liked how it described the baby dragons flying off into the sunset.

Bellara: Oh, I know, right? Especially the part about the new gold sheen on them. Their wings, I mean.

Rook: Yeah, exactly!

Emmrich: I appreciated the narrative flow of the story, a fine balance of scenes both heartwarming and gripping. The characterization of the villain could have used some improvement, though.

Lucanis: You didn't like him? I found him impressively hateable. Every time the villagers came to him for help he just twirled his mustache and laughed.

Emmrich: Yes, but unfortunately that is all he did. I did not get a sense of any larger inner conflict.

Lucanis: *shrugs* He is the villain.

Rook: What I don't get about this book is why they focused so much on the hero's dad. He never even found him!

Bellara: What do you mean? The wise old man from the beginning was his father.

Rook: ...

Emmrich: ...

Lucanis: ...

Bellara: ...

Rook: He was what now.

Lucanis: Mierda, mi amore, are you serious?

Emmrich: The scene at the climax, when they discover their matching birthmarks? And Merloth was hit with, quote, "a sudden intense realization of the man's true identity, at his side through it all"?

Bellara: Wait, hold on, Rook, did you really not know?

Rook: ...This is the greatest book I've ever read.

Lucanis: We are doomed.

#thank you for the ask!!!!#i actually think quite a lot about the lighthouse book club meetings lol #datv #spookyvalentine #ask #oc: lydia laidir

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imminent-danger-came · 2 years ago

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Spider Queen and MK Parallels

Okay strap in everyone this is a long one.

Spider Queen: "Do you want to know what you are? You're my ticket back to the throne. All that power the Monkey King gave you? After I've made my dinner it's all gonna be my power." (1x04 Noodles or Death)

(Obvious but important for later, there's a power motif between these two)

(2x03 Pig Pong Panic) (2x05 Minor Scale)

MK: "Hahoh! A super special package from Monkey King!? Oh, this day just hot a whole lot more interesting."

Spider Queen: "Haha, the monkey boy! Well this day just got a little more interesting!" Lady Bone Demon: "My Queen, perhaps-" Spider Queen: "Sooorryy, can't hear you over the sound of me rushin' destiny."

MK: "I'm TYRING to find something that will make me super super powerful so that I can defeat-" "-S- someone, anyone! You know, to be sure that I got what it takes to take on the next big bad!"

Sandy: "The wise warrior leads their enemy into their own destruction. What's that mean?" MK: "It means I need to be stronger! Be so powerful that it'd be certain defeat to fight me." Sandy: "Maybe you need a break little man." (2x06 Game On)

Spider Queen: "You ruined everything! It's all over because of, because of-" MK: "-Her. You were making it to fight her! The Lady Bone Demon!"

Spider Queen: "Agh, Lady Bone Demon! So it IS her! Well, if she wants to-" MK: "-Yeah, she scares me too." Spider Queen: "I'm not scared! I am the queen!" MK: "Please! She's the Bone Demon. I don't know, maybe if we work together-" Spider Queen: "Hmhmhmhahaha- work together haha—I don't need help from a child. I will rule this world, not even some ancient bone demon will stop me." (2x09 72 Transformations)

(In case it's not clear, I'm drawing a connection between MK trying to become stronger to stop the Lady Bone Demon and Spider Queen trying to rebuild her mech. "The strongest move isn't always the rightest move", eh?)

Fun bonus parallel to the above (and below) interaction:

Spider Queen: "*Laughs* Don't tell me you're scared of spiders?" Pigsy: "Kid, run!" (1x04 Noodles or Death)

Lady Bone Demon: "Just a piece in a game you can not possibly comprehend." "Run along, destiny will find you soon enough." (2x05 Minor Scale)

Spider Queen: "I was just a pawn in the game! Like you." MK: "It's not too late, you can run." Spider Queen: "Haven't you figured that out yet, there's no running from what she is." (2x09 72 Transformations)

(2x09 72 Transformations) (2x10 This is the End!)

Spider Queen: "I had the Monkey King's power! The city was MINE! And I still lost." (2x01 Sleep Bug)

Lady Bone Demon: "Now do you understand? From the start you never had what it took to defeat me. All your power could do was make me stronger." (2x10 This is the End!)

(2x09 72 Transformations) (2x10 This is the End!)

Lady Bone Demon: "You promised me my destiny!" "A promise I did not break my queen, this is your destiny." "Do not lament your fate child, you can rest knowing you've served your purpose. Destiny has found you." (2x10 This is the End!)

When the s2 antagonist and the protagonist are both doomed by the narrative together <3

#literally opening my third eye to see this #like. they parallels oops #it's interesting to me how continuing to run has served MK well #lmk #lego monkie kid #monkie kid #lmk mk #lmk spider queen #lmk lady bone demon #lmk lbd

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rebelquilled · 16 days ago

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“You’ve met with a terrible fate, haven’t you?”

"DYING'S NOT ALL BAD." i mean, it sucked, yeah. the actual moment of having her body feel like it was ripped apart and breath stolen and then suddenly a vacant, unending feeling. that had been rough. but then it had been SILENT, calm, and hopeful. that she could be at peace, find rakan. maybe neeko was out there ( or so she had thought, until she learned that traitorous lizard had lied ). oh, how fleeting it was. s l a m m e d back into a form that shouldn't have returned, lungs filling, magic brimming, and then... then the wrath. the betrayal, the hate.

it was the coming back to life that really sort of met the criteria of "terrible" in her mind. but was life a fate ( if whatever her fucked up existence was now was considered life )? she supposed it could be. doomed to live, doomed to whatever narrative zoe was spinning up. xayah wasn't much the optimistic, but she had had a somewhat positive outlook in this instance... brimming with chaos and energy and crackling with power. oh, d e s t r u c t i o n was a calling she had managed to ignore for so long in favor of loooove and guardianship and light. bah.

boring.

"i just recommend, like. staying dead. puts a dampener on the whole thing, really... breathing again. but can't get revenge in the afterlife, i guess. unless ghosts exist... damn, not sure i got the chance to become one..."

thinking about it, she wasn't even sure how long it had been before zoe resurrected her. if she wasn't a ghost and she wasn't really living... was she a zombie?

...pretty good looking for a zombie.

under her breath, low mutter, "maybe i do spend too much time around rakan."

@wolfvirago

#wolfvirago #&&. guardian verse ( corrupted )#this reply is just “what is my writing style”#consistency? don't know her #so have this incredibly weird response

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writing-for-life · 1 year ago

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Let's go choose violence:

3, 8, 9, 25 for The Sandman :3c

Rubs hands gleefully…

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

Of course not screenshotting as everyone’s entitled to their opinion, so this is just a thing *I* find hard to understand/get my head around:

“Neil Gaiman ran out of ideas, and that’s why he killed off Morpheus.”

I mean, you could say he wanted to conclude his arc, and with that I agree. And thank fuck he did, because if Murphy were still alive, we would need to suffer the horrible takes that DC has foisted upon us ever since. But it is so completely incomprehensible to me when I read that there was no sign that Morpheus would off himself before World’s End or TKO. That it came out of nowhere, that it made the whole thing completely depressing and insufferable and sends a "bad" message.

It all was right there, from the start. You can’t read "The Sound of her Wings" and not see that he’s absolutely haunted by the narrative, and how much comfort he finds in her. And you don’t need to read the whole thing and then just see it in hindsight (it's something I hear/read quite often). It’s clear as day if you are willing to go down the line of thinking that the Endless aren’t people but concepts. I personally think that’s where people can trip up. And I even get it--of course we want to humanise them because we are human. But they are not. They are mirrors and foils that are supposed to make us think about our own humanity (and we recognise it in them, but that still doesn’t make them human--they just show us human traits and what this mortal coil is about. Carry it and abandon it in equal measures).

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Everyone apart from me of course 😂

"Hob Gadling is any shape or form the personification of hope, and his sole purpose is to (squee! UwU) save Murphy from his bleak existence".

No he ain’t. Hope is Hope, and she is a little girl (blows a raspberry right in your face). If Hob''s anything, he is humanity in a nutshell: ugly, self-serving, opportunist, but also feeling, caring and redeemable. But especially the first part is harder to woobify.

Did I also mention I have this take that making Dream's relationship to Hob all about romance and sex forgets about the importance of friendship, and why it's actually so important for the plot? Plus, that we have a tendency to erase male friendship and hence lean into toxic masculinity if we make every glance and every touch and every close emotional bond about: "Oh, they want to fuck?", and that's decidedly *not* progressive? Yeah, about that... (ship them, it's fine, no problem whatsoever, just be aware it's not the *only* take, and I will stick my neck out now and say: it won't be canon).

9. worst part of canon

That’s a tricky one because I can make sense of pretty much everything to be fair, but if I had to choose, it’s that Morpheus’ failed relationship to Nada created ripples that basically doomed every black woman connected to his arc (not *all* black women, I think that’s actually a misinterpretation, as is that Morpheus is racist, which he conceptually can't be). And as soon as he’s dead, we get token Gwen who isn’t doomed by the narrative anymore. And said Gwen *really* is a token black woman with no true agency of her own—her entire purpose is to serve the redemption of the slave trader. And that Neil actually confirmed this was *intentional* in The Sandman Companion. I get why he made that narrative choice, but to me, it still looks bad. I have hopes though he moved on from that take and we don’t get to see it in the show (the signs are there, so fingers crossed).

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

Ties in with 3: That The Sandman should have a different, “more hopeful” ending.

But quite a few others:

You *should* write fanfics about XYZ because there’s not enough of it.

You *should* elevate supporting characters to main characters because they are ABC.

You *shouldn’t* focus so much on the main character because he’s a guy/male-presenting (I mean, he’s the protagonist, so there’s that).

You *should* ship m/m because it makes problematic dynamics less problematic.

You *shouldn’t* ship m/f because it’s heteronormative. My favourite: Johanna Constantine is bi, you *shouldn’t* ship her with a guy, because again: Heteronormative. Erm, I hate to break it to people (and speaking from experience): That’s how being bi works, and we like m, f and nb equally? And we happen to want sex with m, f and nb? And we pretty much have blinkers on when it comes to falling in love with a *person*, or what we find hot/sexually arousing? And I swear if I read shit like that once more, I’ll get heteronormative out of sheer spite and will smite people.

You *should* or *shouldn't* ship. Both fine. And/but there's certainly more to The Sandman than blorbofication and allosexualisation of everything.

So yeah, pretty much anything that involves a *should*. You can do whatever the fuck you like as long as you don’t lose your ability to critically engage with it. Plus, the space has to be welcoming for everyone, and that’s sometimes hard for creators and people who don’s serve/like the main flavour. And therein lies the problem, because critical engagement doesn’t always happen, and a lot of good stuff disappears in amongst the noise…

#asks answered #asks #today I choose violence #will it tag this? of course I will >>>#the sandman #dream of the endless #morpheus #hob gadling #hope beautiful lost nebula #nada sandman

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quidam-sirenae · 5 months ago

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Arthuriana Asks

♘🫅🥰😤💏

🐴- favorite knight/king

Kay. Cei. Cai my guy. He’s a good guy but also a very mean person which lends itself both to an inconsistent character but also a really really interesting and nuanced one. You can’t leave him out because he’s so much of the story. He’s gay coded. He’s the best big brother. Also second favorite is Percival.

🫅- favorite lady/damsol/queen

Isolde of the white hands is definitely up there because she went through so much and she really was a good wife and yeah she like. Killed him or whatever but in her defense she had a really shitty lot dealt to her. Also if Tristan had waited a little before killing himself this whole thing would have been avoided. Justice for Isolde of Brittany.

🥰- an Arthurian headcanon

Oh oaugh this is hard because like 90% of everything is text supported within the mass of arthuriana. I mean aside from gender and sexuality headcanons (which are text supported thank-you-very-much) I enjoy myself a good religious ocd Galahad. It just fits.

😤 - your most specific nitpick about your fav

Okay I talked about Kay already in a different post so! Mordred time! 1) depending on the story he’s actually really forgiving to an Arthur that tried to drown him and a thousand other babies. 2) have you ever considered maybe he was narratively doomed to be the Judas? He says so himself in the verse le morte. 3) I just have a soft spot for betrayers okay? I’ve argued for Judas and Brutus and Josephus in my classes more times then I can count. Maybe they deserve redemption. Maybe your future actions can atone for your past deeds. Maybe you don’t need atonement to be a halfway decent person, you can just *be*. Maybe betray does not define a person maybe they had reasons to think they weren’t betraying anything at all. Anyway. I dislike dark and moody and edgy Mordred. Everyone listen to high noon over Camelot that’s a Mordred right there.

💏- crack ship (s)

I don’t think I have any. Genuinely. I’m not as funny as I pretend to be. That being said. Arthur x any Caesar would be such an interesting dynamic to explore.

#asks #Arthur & co #i love talking guys I love these

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greenerteacups · 2 years ago

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miss ma’am gtc!!! may we pick your brain about:

- your five favorite harry potter characters

- your five least favorite harry potter characters

- five scenes from the harry potter books that altered your brain chemistry

- five scenes from the harry potter movies that altered your brain chemistry

thank you, i love u so much!!!

oh SO fun thank you for the question!!

(1) top five blorbos (in no particular order): 1. Hermione Granger (I lied about the order. She's first). She's SO. She exists at the perfect spot on the smart/stupid friendly/mean optimistic/pessimistic continuum, she's so rich. She changed me as a person when i was 11 years old and I would not be here without her, probably. The others, actually in no particular order, are: Draco Malfoy (sad little rich boy doomed by narrative but also the Narrative is social conditioning and he had free will the whole time, fucking gut-punch, mwah, the best of both kinds of tragedy) and Sirius Black (tasty, complex, brilliant rendering of a grown-up antihero who worked through his problems but still has Issues, arguably JKR's best character work in any book comes in Sirius in OOTP where he keeps comparing Harry to James, it's fucking heartbreaking). Also Remus and Ginny. (What if you forced yourself to get over your celebrity crush despite him Living With You basically 24/7 and then you became a popular confident athlete loved by all for being ferocious in defense of the vulnerable, then your celebrity crush fell head over heels for you anyway. what then?)

(2) least favorite blorbos. I think about these in the "opposite of love is indifference" type of way, because I love a character that I can hate. Like, Umbridge is awful, but I could, in theory, explain any given action that she takes by referencing her motivations and context. But I struggle with characters I don't understand, or worse, that I don't believe. Namely, Peter Pettigrew, whose betrayal kicks off the whole story to happen and is never explained. So you get all these Marauders fics where this cool, era-defining foursome is actually just The Marauder Trio Plus This Guy I Guess, but his betrayal would not have hurt these people like it did if he wasn't a dearly beloved friend. I don't like Peter because I don't believe in him, as a character. His past and his present don't match.

Same for Bellatrix, unfortunately, because although she's a cool concept, I have no idea what's under the hood in her cranium. How did the same family produce her and Andromeda? Who knows. Really sucks because she's the kind of girl who would my favorite in a different kind of story — love an evil bitch, my God — but she doesn't have the texture to get me there. Also, hot take, but Molly kind of bugs me: starting with Book 5, she gets pretty hard on Sirius (fairly! she is a parent trying to watch out for Harry, and Sirius is very much not!) but she's super unkind about it, and doesn't really try to sympathize with him at all. Plus she nags Remus about getting with Tonks, which I think is kind of out of bounds and also unrealistic for a woman who is the mother of a person Tonks's age to want, so it's just like, JKR wanted a Moral Authority to tell Remus to fuck a twenty-three year old, cool, sorry Molly, sucks that it had to be you.

Dumbledore frustrates me for similar reasons, there's just not enough flavor; the Grindelwald thing from the movies would have been great if it were handled better and also officially written into canon, because it turns Dumbledore's life into a magnificently cool You Must Become Evil To Defeat It arc. how wild would that be? Dumbledore steps out of public life in the 30's to deny himself the temptations of power but the War forces his hand, three times, first with Grindelwald and then twice with Voldemort and so — gradually, gradually, but surely — Dumbledore is made to take the power he so feared, made to accept honors and give advice to Ministers and eventually he's grooming children as soldiers and thinking this is fine, I can handle this, and then he's keeping secrets from his closest lieutenants and lying to the Ministry about his plans and he's still thinking I'm the only one who can handle this, and then by the time he realizes Harry has to die, maybe he doesn't hesitate. And maybe he's still technically morally in the right, and it's necessary, but — hey, anyone think about what Dumbledore was planning to do if Harry hadn't volunteered to die? But listen: it's for the greater good.

Because maybe he never really stopped thinking that way. Maybe you need a Greater Good Guy on your team, if you're not gonna get your ass beat, but that doesn't mean you should necessarily crown him. And maybe you're not the hero the wizarding world deserves, but you're the one it needs right now, and all his life Albus Dumbledore desperately wanted to be the hero but destiny made him the anti-villain. Anyway that was some cool fanfiction I just wrote. In the books he's an old dude who's never wrong and he likes socks.

#this is already getting way too long so i'm gonna answer the others in another post #but yeah! oh the fifth least favorite character — after a long power gap — is cho #I like cho IN THEORY I really struggle with her in canon #because she's flat. she's Pretty Quidditch Girl who cries a lot and then betrays them i want more i want FOOD #which could even just be a single conversation if harry ever like... asked her about it!#there's this series on ao3 by dirgewithoutmusic about the underappreciated girls of harry potter #and their work on cho is amazing. that cho is my babygirl. the canon cho is unfortunately not that #cant tag all these fools without someone getting mad so we just freewheelin

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sol-shines · 1 year ago

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🖊️🖊️🖊️

HIII BABE

gave myself a challenge w this one and tried to pick ocs you know very little about,,,, which is almost none of them but IT'S OK I GOT THEM here's some guys >:)

casper davian, callsign "restless," a lancer ttrpg pc that i have not yet been able to play 😔 but ONE DAY. there was no way to de-twinkify him in this picrew im so sorry JUST KNOW he is a sad old man w salt-and-pepper hair and a five o'clock shadow. anyway if you and some guys were sent on a mission to the edge of space to explore new planets and were attacked by something that killed the entire rest of your crew and should have killed you too but your mech saved you and you eventually got back home but the time dilation was Fucked and you came back to a completely unfamiliar world having lost everything and now youve spent decades as just a shell of yourself oh and also you and your mech may or may not now have a destiny bond situation going on where your life forces are tied to each other and the lines of personhood are blurred between you and it. would that be fucked up or what :)

naomi [LAST NAME PENDING], a character i have in mind for a sort of noir story. set in 1940's philly, naomi gets caught up in a murder plot that took the life of her close friend (and possible lover?) jack. she's being pinned for the crime, and teams up with oscar, a former detective called out of an early retirement to investigate his old friend jack's death. the plot and dynamics get pretty tangled between oscar, jack, and naomi, and there's secrets! betrayal! bisexuality! doom by the narrative! hand in unlovable hand! they're complicated and a little toxic and murdery but i love naomi w all my heart

aaaaand vice, a tiefling bladesinging wizard pc i also have yet to play! don't you hate it when you get sent off to wizard school and things are going great but one day you black out in the middle of class and wake up to find that you've massacred all your classmates and have no memory of it? and now you're on the run, never knowing when you'll wake up with blood on your hands and haze in your mind? isn't that just the worst

anyway THANKS LOVE i enjoyed this !!! :]]]

#sol speaks #ocs #this took so long lmao but I Like Them so. :]]]]]#blood #tw blood #ask to tag

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benbamboozled · 2 years ago

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Okay so I saw your John-Vriska-Karkat Homestuck post and as a Terezi-Vriska-Karkat I want to know how you might triangulate HS character preference against interest in Jason Todd as a character (or the Batfamily more generally).

*cracks knuckles*

OKAY this one is going to be pretty me-specific, and my interpretations of the characters, and what draws me to them and the crossovers I see between my interest in them and my interest in Jason Todd.

(Okay before we get into this let’s acknowledge John Egbert and his Black Hair and Blue Eyes and Jason Todd and his Black Hair and Blue Eyes and Karkat is the Red Themed Angry One and Jason Todd is the Red Themed Angry One and Vriska is frequently a mean bully who kills people and Jason Todd has mean bully tendencies and also kills people.)

So, first of all…

HEART. (As in “the capacity to care about people,” not in the Aspect sense.)

JOHN, KARKAT, and VRISKA have A LOT of it. John is pretty obvious—he comes across as kind of blithe and careless, but we see through his conversations and interactions (such as his bday presents for his friends) that he actually has very good perceptions when it comes to his friends and their personalities. He CARES about them. A lot!

KARKAT had so much heart that, as Vriska acknowledged, it possibly under-powered their session, since they probably could have gotten more god tier players if they fought each other more often…but Karkat was such a good FRIENDLEADER that he was able to keep them together without that.

And VRISKA…oh Vriska. SO MUCH of Vriska’s character is boiled down to “she’s got hurt feelings (and does a violence about it).” In fact, (VRISKA)’s arc is based almost entirely around her reconciling with the fact that she DOES care. She can’t be the Cool Unfeeling type of person she’s always thought that she should be.

And I think for me, I see HEART as one of those things that Jason Todd is kind of afflicted with. Everything would be SO MUCH EASIER for him if he could just NOT CARE.

But he does. And he just has to live with that.

OKAY MOVING ON TO—

A WELL-DEVELOPED SENSE OF INSIGHT WRT OTHERS. (That tends to be ignored by fandom, not that I’m salty or anything.)

This one mainly pertains to JOHN and KARKAT.

JOHN is very adept at seeing beyond the façades that his friends and comrades construct for themselves, and is very good at pinpointing what they’re talking around to get to the heart of the matter.

Meanwhile, KARKAT is actually very insightful when it comes to (others’) interpersonal relationships. His whole thing about romance tends to have him be used as The Expositor for relationships, but he actually DOES offer valuable observations not just on what a healthy relationship would require but ALSO what the person he’s talking to would need to provide for said relationship.

As for how this applies to Jason Todd, EVERYBODY FORGETS HOW FUCKING INSIGHTFUL HE IS! (Not that I’m salty or anything.)

The dude consistently makes comments and entire schemes based on what he knows and observes about others.

Pre-Flashpoint especially, Jason would deconstruct a character’s entire being…and then of course use it for eeeeeeeevil.

Speaking of eeeeeeeevil…

A DRIVING NEED TO PROVE THEMSELVES EVEN TO THEIR OWN DETRIMENT.

Oh hello VRISKA. I mean…just look at her. Look at her choices.

Always trying to show that she is BETTER. No, not just better…BEST. A kind of desperate mobius double reacharound of being forced to do terrible things to survive and needing to prove herself so that the terrible things she’s done had a purpose it wasn’t all for nothing.

I mean…it should be pretty obvious how this ties into Jason Todd. The dude is CONSTANTLY desperately searching for a purpose in life. He is pretty much always looking to prove that he meant something to someone.

Which brings us to…

A PERVADING SENSE OF FAILURE.

I mean, a pretty significant chunk of Homestuck in general is about failing. Being Doomed By The Narrative.

I mean, you got your literal Doomed Timelines, you got your Dream Bubbles and ghosts, literally the entire story is based on the first failed troll session…

Now, this section mostly pertains to KARKAT and (VRISKA).

KARKAT was, after all, the one that ran the cursed ~ATH program, he called himself a cancer (I mean obviously it’s a pun but also indicative of the fact that he takes his failure as a leader and the failure of his session VERY personally), and his entire Dancestor’s story is focused on, you know…FAILING. HARD.

And as for (VRISKA)…damn. Pretty much everything she does ends up blowing up in her face. Sometimes LITERALLY. And so much of it (IMO, obvs) circles back to her trying to be something she’s NOT and CANNOT be.

She wants to be the cool, collected, calculating Marquise Mindfang, she wants to be the troll she thinks she should be, but she just…can’t.

And like, with Jason Todd…he is obviously Doomed By The Narrative. Both in the sense that, you know…he DIED and was The Dead Robin for 17 freakin years…

As well as the fact that he can NEVER get satisfaction for his death. The Joker’s always going to be around and kicking, and I’m sure Jason will be written as giving up on that (AGAIN) because it’s a hopeless storyline since OBVIOUSLY DC can’t actually really-for-reals kill the Joker…he’s too popular!

Not to mention the fact that he’s kind of become the one in opposition to Batman, and as I’ve complained about before, Batman is ALWAYS right. Which means, by necessity, Jason loses. He HAS to lose. The only way he can not lose is if he’s written as abandoning the concept of opposition entirely which is really a sort of grand narrative failure in and of itself.

SO, there you have it! My grand unifying theory of What Ties My Love Of My Three Fave Homestuck Characters In With My Love Of Jason Todd.

Nice and succinct!

#ask answered #Homestuck meta in the year 2023 #Jason Todd #Vriska Serket #John Egbert #Karkat Vantas #the analysis one (1) person asked for!#enjoy!!!

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petpc · 1 year ago

Text

About

HIII I am Kitty, Cat, Angel (any pronouns) and this is my DoL sideblog... I made this bc I want to keep nsfw separate from my main and I am a scaredy cat. I play with dolplus/beeesss and I love petplay/yandere/domsub themes. Anyone under 18 will be kicked out!!

My Favorite Guys in order are Ivory Wraith and Harper in first with Sydney, Whitney, Avery, and Eden coming in 2nd. I also like Alex, Jordan, Remy, and Kylar. Meow. This is my first time engaging with a fetish game's fanbase so be gentle with me /ᐠ .ᆺ. ᐟ\ﾉ

incest/bestiality/shota/loli are my hard limits and I filter/avoid them. Black Wolf and Great Hawk r anthros/monsterppl in my universe. I don't condone things depicted in dol irl (I dont use proship/anti labels idgaf I'm some secret 3rd thing)

My PC(s) under the cut ↴

02/26/24 - 200 vrelcoins

Kitty (Vince the Stray/Collared) - Main PC - he/they/she/it (any)

Masochistic sub bottom

Cocky, playful and bratty - nonbinary - If you call him Puppy he'll get mad. 500 boyfriends but easy to tame. Just waiting for someone to claim ownership of him (wife him) and then will be 100% devoted. Enjoying her current freedom by getting her holes resized. Some connection to Ivory, a bit delusional. Thinks that the Wraith genuinely loves them and refuses to take their necklace. Cried when he couldn't actually be Kylar's wifething. Loves sowing but hates reaping, doesn't put much thought into their actions if it means they'll get positive attention. Everyone just calls them Kitty. He actually started out pretty mild-mannered, prudish and shy, but y'know...

Kitty - Alt stealth option - he/him only

Oh I am so normal ohh I promise I will not bite you and roll on the floor. Avery date night outfit and for when he wants to confuse people.

??? the Patient/Innocent/Broken

Harper's favorite patient. Almost completely brainwashed and hypnotized and on some kind of experimental new drug all the time. Completely dependent on Harper and does whatever he can to get back to him, even subconsciously. Fucked up!!! But he's so blissfully unaware and happy!!! One of the sweetest people in town simply because he doesn't know any other way to act!!!

Unnamed Temple Initiate - she/her

Densest person in the world. Dreams of fairytale romance. Doomed by the narrative and genre. Promised to a mostly pure Sydney.

Ferris the Vixen - any pronouns

Number 1 yapper. Kylar's discord gf. Compulsively steals shiny things and stuffed animals. Kylar hides things for her to "steal" since it makes her happy. Lives in his mansion.

Kalie - she/her (Kalie the Martyr)

switch/no pref

transfem - Robin LI only

Sweetheart trying her best. Tries to be brave for Robin but is actually a pile of goo and just wants to be pampered.

#pinned #dol pc #dol oc

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tacko3d · 1 year ago

Text

My Biggest Problem with Rift Apart

Watching essays on Rift Apart cause I avoided it all for 2 years until I played the game. oh man... wow... I agree. But huh... I'm not 100% into that end of the emotions. I don't like some decisions but I don't have that level of emotion towards it.

my biggest issue is with the narrative. and it seems to be everyone's biggest issue too.

Like I wish this was a game about more about Kit and how her relationship could grow with Rivet. Cause like hey both of them alone couldn't defeat defeat Nefarious. But they don't cover that.

The only reason anything gets fixed in Ratchet and Clank's dimension is because THEY ARE TOGETHER And Rivet and Kit kinda just come together by default and Kit's arc just doesn't happen on screen. and theres nothing that shows that they want to or can be friends.

Compared to 2002's Ratchet and Clank where you kinda have these glimpses where if Ratchet wasn't an asshole, they would've been great friends. And it happens. cause they realize if they stop being assholes to each other they could be the heroes that save the universe.

And Rivet! Rivet had great motivation to be an asshole towards Kit. Something that only last like a level and is resolved by Kit just showing up at the end.

Like she has every reason to hate robots. Emperor takes over.

Army of robots lays siege on every planet.

KIT RIPS HER ARM OFF

And Kit she doesn't even want to fight. She just wants to secure the archive.

Much like how Clank in 2002 just wants to go to Qwark for help.

And Ratchet finds himself in the dilema that if he wants to go home again, he's stuck with Clank because every ship he finds has a robot ignition system. Meaning he can't go anywhere without him. Ratchet actively hates Clank after Qwark's double cross.

Ratchet becomes the badguy. Cause Qwark tricked him too and he he blames Clank for everything that happens.

Which could've been a great mirror with Rivet and Kit.

Cause like she has an actual reason to hate Kit.

They could've forced Rivet into opting into teaming with Kit. SInce she was previously a Nefarious trooper. She could've had insider info. WHich we get to see during Savali part 2.

But nowhere else.

She says she knows the layout of most Nefarious ships are the same.

They imply Rivet was locked up in Zordoom at one point.

Which could've been the perfect point in the story to have Kit ride along with Rivet to save Ratchet and Clank from the prison instead of having it be "Rivet was locked up here once." as to why Rivet knows how to make it through.

it could've lead to some great tense moments. Where they have to rely on each other despite not being each other's favorite person.

I'd keep this going. But I'll leave it there.

Cuase its already really long.

My point is, this story is lacking so much and this could've added to it in a way that felt organic and original.

I think Rivet spent too much time alone to have both of these characters just become friends after 1 fight to decide of the Crisis of 2 universes.

btw, I love Kit. shes so adorable. Like i didn't think they could make cuter robot than the OG Agents of Doom.

#ratchet and clank #rivet #rift apart #ps5 #steam #kit

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goblins-riddles-or-frocks · 2 years ago

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Malina and Genya x David

Oh. Oh these are tough.

Malina

1) I did think the really doomed dynamic they had in R&R was pretty fun! I enjoyed that kind of chivalric devotion, commander/saint and soldier thing and the tragic undertones of it all.

2) The letters Mal wrote to Alina in S&B era that she never got are actually really sweet!

3) Um… I’m wracking my brain here rip… okay from a narrative perspective I do genuinely enjoy Alina upholding Mal as this like symbol of the life she wanted, and her old identity and never letting go of that. Personally I feel like that works best in a scenario where he stays fucking dead lmao but oh well

Genyadavid (Danya?)

1)…. I… like that it makes Genya happy? I guess?

2) Okay I did think they were pretty cute in the show, the actors had decent chemistry and the bit about him asking about her favorite gem was sweet

3)…. They could contrast each other in an interesting way. I tend to like complimentary ships and the dichotomy of her being so outgoing and like the social butterfly while he’s a very in his shell nerd is fun.

Send me a ship and I’ll list three things I like about it regardless of my overall opinion about the ship!

#thanks for the ask!#ask games #i ramble sometimes #all the bendy punctuations #this was a challenge shdhffd #can’t believe I had more genuinely positive things to say about feysand

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dreamerwriternstargazer · 1 year ago

Text

I don’t find this true, ultimately I would actually consider 10 more ruthless and more of a killer than *any* Doctor before or even after him

11 traded on his name, but he made that name for himself AS 10

10’s very first episode for God’s sake had him ruthlessly kill a guy and walk away without a look back “no second chances”.

It was cold and cruel and… as someone who started the show with 11 and 12, it was such a crazy contrast to the Doctor I knew.

Just because he condemned Harriet Smith later for shooting down the spaceship doesn’t make him any less cold in that moment, in fact I would argue 10 gets that way because he’s furious someone else is doing what he does, he sees himself in them, because of course he does, he’s the Doctor who has to make the tough choices for the human race.

We see this again with Family of Blood and how he loses John Smith and immediately becomes cold and casual about killing his enemies. If anything there’s a bit of malice for them because of what they did to him personally, he got a chance at an ordinary life and immediately had it snatched away due to their interference. They were the cause of his fantasy and the death of it, and he is just a little satisfied at the end to doom them, the very fact he sends them to specific punishments suggests malicious intent.

Same for when he meets Donna, in fact Donna was the one who stopped him from being a killer, from turning away. She’s the one who reminded him to be merciful, but up until that point with both Rose and Martha 10 had hardly displayed much mercy and instead far far more fury as the Doctor.

If 10 is a coward, then it is *because* he is a killer. He is cowardly behind his rage and anger, he is frightened, and I do think there is a link between 9’s choice in that moment and 10’s later killer instinct.

While I would say 10’s killer instincts in each of the scenarios I’ve brought up were pretty selfish I don’t think that’s always the case, and I think in each case it stems from the same protectiveness of the human race or any victims there may be. It also shows itself through a form of tactics and wit, that is to say… 9 ended up having to make that choice because he was outsmarted. He let his guard down, he didn’t see the big picture

9’s final episodes are interesting because they fall more in line with Moffat style writing of creating a narrative conflict that is also a moral conflict; that is to say, the villains aren’t ridiculously overpowered, they don’t have any particular edge except that they have a tactical advantage over the Doctor, therefore the conflict resolution is practical as well thematically, a moral one. This is in vast contrast to 10’s run in which for the most part 10’s villains and adventures go:

conflict with some impossible level of power is set->there’s no reasonable or practical solution in sight->the Doctor has to wave his sonic and outsmart the bad guys and don’t worry he can always outsmart them and win.

There are definitely some exceptions to this in which the rules of the game are set out and the Doctor beats them at it (ex, Tooth and Claw which I watched yesterday, love the lore, love the backdrop and set up of how the werewolf was taken down, one of the few instances where 10 didn’t just magically know the answer but had to figure it out) but for the most part… RTD, or at least the writers and his direction of them, did not allow for practical solutions let alone a smart, thematic resolution the way Moffat stories tend to line up.

So as I was saying… 9 follows Moffat style more than RTD style, from what I remember. It’s typically blowing something up but always with some sort of conflict around that

10 tends to be handwave-y or he blows things up without hesitation, the conflict barely lasts because oh look he’s already come up with a plan. It’s hilarious that it’s EVEN PLAYED OUT OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME DURING THE SAXON ARC

HE GOT DEFEATED BY THE MASTER AND THE RESOLUTION WAS MAGIC!DOCTOR, AND HE PLANNED THAT

This wasn’t supposed to be a critique on writing quality I apologise, back to the point

10 resolves conflict quickly, too quickly, and this falls in line with the whole “coward or killer” element, a Watsonian analysis would be because he was caught in that moral dilemma he worked hard, so hard, to always be ahead, one step ahead. This would probably be why the Old Guard RTD fanboy loooove edgy 10, because he wasn’t just edgy oh no, otherwise they’d love 12 the same way. He was *overpowered*, and imo it’s still good in an accidental sort of way because it’s balanced out by the moral reprehensibility of his actions however it’s few and far between where the narrative actually condemns him for it.

And if we analysed it in context of 9… then yeah he’d just experienced the Time War and was faced with another trolley problem all because he had let his guard down. HELL I’d even say Rose becoming Bad Wolf girl fed into it! Because she did that, she looked into the heart of the TARDIS to save him and she did, but she could have DIED

I think it’s really important that in 10’s first season romance aside he is FIERCELY protective of Rose, I wouldn’t consider this something attributed to romance. For one, it’s not as explicit as say Yowzah or Whouffaldi in which the Doctor actually expresses at points what River and Clara mean to him, 10/Rose exhibit typical romantic behaviour onscreen but none of the substance of a relationship aside from it, all except 10’s protectiveness.

This doesn’t mean they’re not together, I just think that the protectiveness is never explicitly attributed to their *romance* as it is with Yowzah and Whouffaldi. S8 and 9 had several points were 12’s protective and/or jealous behaviour were directly related to romantic feelings because of the Danny Pink issue and then the concept of immortal loving a mortal, s9 husbands of River Song established 12’s loyalty to River (“you don’t expect a sunset to love you back!” “Hello sweetie”), but there’s not really that same connotation to 10’s protectiveness over Rose. We make the link because flirting, but the main and most salient point would be Rose’s Bad Wolf move in s1, and yes there’s a kiss so I suppose in the end it is linked to romance in some way but more importantly it’s linked to the fact that she risked herself for him.

And 10… in the end… he chooses killer, because he can’t let that happen again, he can’t let Rose put herself in the firing line. And yet he loses her.

And importantly, very much so, it’s at that point that he gets worse than ever and Donna sees that too.

“You need someone to stop you”

But also… isn’t it that he loses the people who stand in front of him and take a bullet for him?

Isn’t it easier if he just fires the bullet first?

We talk a lot about how regenerating for Rose shapes who Ten is fundamentally but I think that the rest of the context of his regeneration is also foundational to his characterization.

The resolution to Nine's character arc is what Ten ultimately becomes. "What are you, coward or killer?" "Coward. Any day." Like he just chose a trait that will manifest in his next form but he doesn't have control over the positive or negative ways that presents itself. So you get someone who is softer, who is even more exhausted by and opposed to violence. But you also get someone who is desperately insecure sometimes, who is so afraid of loss and afraid of talking about the tough stuff that it seems to make him incapable of speaking at all sometimes.

#doctor who #tenth doctor #Doctor who meta

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