#or if he was always forced into a role and later on sacrificed everything for his children | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

atlabeth · 3 years ago

Text

everything happens for a reason part 15 - zuko x fem!reader

I thought I had you figured out

part 14 | masterlist | part 16

a/n: this is ch15, aka part 1 of y/n being a sad bitch in prison and suffering from main character syndrome. life is hard when ur in love with a guy going through a redemption arc

holy SHIT this took so long to come out. especially after such a cliffhanger. i am so sorry guys, i really have nothing to say for myself lmao. i kind of lost inspiration to write for avatar as i got more into outer banks, but i still love avatar and this story a whole lot. ive put so much work into it that i can't abandon it - this is my baby lol. thank you to everyone who's stuck with this and me along the way, i've been working on this fic for almost 8 months!! if i keep going along with chapters at this word length, i think we're gonna end up around the 100k word mark by the end. which is actually insane. anyways ill stop talking. hopefully the wait wasn't too horrible <3 (but this angst is. im sorry)

warning(s): more angst, prisons and bad conditions (esp for a 15 y/o), everyone being a jerk, ESPECIALLY zuko and y/n to each other, threats and talks of death, did i mention angst? it's a heavy chapter folks prepare urself

wc: 3.5k

chapter title comes from haunted by taylor swift!

Returning to the Fire Nation was a strange thing.

The place she’d escaped from so many years ago, where she met Zuko and left her mother. Once a prisoner under the guise of a servant, now a fully fledged enemy of the Fire Nation.

Y/N found that she could never truly hate her time in the Fire Nation, even after all that had happened — Zuko was still a shining star in her life, and to her, the only good thing to come out of the Fire Nation.

She didn’t see it that way anymore.

After the fight in the caves, she’d been locked up in an Earth Kingdom cell for holding purposes and later transferred onto a ship en route to the Fire Nation. The days at sea were cruelly reminiscent of the sailing she did with her friends after leaving the North for the first time, and the memory only succeeded in making her feel more isolated. Once they reached the Fire Nation she was thrown into another cell, and thus began her new life.

She didn’t know what to do with herself. For months Y/N traveled alongside the best and brightest people she had ever met, and being alone after all that time was nearly impossible. She traced shapes in the dirt floor of her cell, but her shackled hands prevented her from much more. Eventually she turned to trying to occupy the hours with her own mind, replaying stories in her head.

Stories her father crooned while he rocked her to sleep, before he was cruelly ripped away from her.

Stories her mother whispered during late nights in the servants quarters, before Y/N was forced to leave her for four long years.

Stories Yue shared with her as they watched the moon set from the palace balcony, before she sacrificed herself for something she never played a part in.

Stories her friends rambled on and on about as they sat around the campfire together, before they had no choice but to leave her behind.

The Fire Nation had taken everything from her. It was only a matter of time before they got to her too.

Keeping track of time was a fruitless endeavor. In a concrete cell where her only view was the hallway through the bars, and her only clue to what was going on were the visits by the guards who brought her food, Y/N had no idea how long she’d been in there. For all she knew, the Fire Nation had already won the war. The only reason she didn’t think that was true was because Azula surely would’ve come down to brag.

No one visited her. Her meager meals were delivered through a slot in the bottom of the cell door, and her guards never talked to her. When they did it was always some form of insult, either against her Water Tribe heritage, her role in working with the Avatar, or her position as a prisoner. Sometimes it was all three. The barbs quickly lost their sting.

Not even Zuko came.

Y/N didn’t know why she thought he would. A part of her was thankful — after what he did in the caves, she never wanted to see him again.

How he talked to her in the tea shop. He told her he was trying to change, that he wanted to be with her. That he regretted everything he had done, and he would wait as long as she needed until she was ready.

How he said he would never hurt her.

The other part of her wanted him to visit her. To stand before her cell and try to explain himself, whatever reason he had for betraying her, just so she could throw it all back in his face.

She wanted to scream at him until her throat ached, bang against the bars of her cell until her knuckles bled. Make him hurt as much as he’s hurt her, secure her place in his heart and then shatter it into a million pieces.

Maybe it was selfish.

But while he was reaping the benefits of his betrayal, she was rotting away in a cell. While he returned to the life he wanted as the crown prince, she had to sit and watch as her life was torn away bit by bit. While he was hailed as a hero, she was branded as an enemy.

While he got to act like he didn’t do anything, she felt her heart break a bit more every day.

So yes. It was selfish.

But she didn’t have the luxury to care anymore.

Y/N was roused from an uneasy sleep by the faint sound of footsteps. She rubbed her eyes with a grimy hand, pushing herself up to rest against the wall. It felt like it had been an eternity since her last meal — she suspected it was on purpose, to keep her weak. The same thing they had done to her mother.

The faint glow of a lantern furrowed her brows, and she inched closer to the front of her cell. Her visitor was someone in a red cloak, his dark, choppy hair making it hard to see his face. When he set the lantern down and pulled the hood of his cloak down, her jaw clenched.

“Get out.”

“Y/N—”

“Do I have to repeat myself? Get out.”

“I’m not leaving.” Like the stubborn boy he was, he kneeled in front of her cell. Y/N’s eyes remained trained on the ground.

“That’s a first for you.”

“You don’t understand.” There was a hint of frustration to his voice, but it lacked the boyish charm she used to associate it with. “I had to—”

“You had to what?” she interrupted, gaze flicking up to him. “Betray me? Get Aang killed? Destroy the world’s last hope for ending the war?”

“Azula offered me what I have been chasing after for years!” he exclaimed, golden irises blazing. “You’re delusional if you think I could give it up. It’s my birthright.”

“Is it worth it?” she asked. “Is it everything you’ve ever dreamed of? Has your dad even apologized for what he did to you?”

Zuko faltered at that, but he recovered quickly. “Change takes time. I can start by getting you out of this place.”

She couldn’t help but laugh at that. “You’re delusional if you think I’m leaving this country in any other way than death.”

“You don’t understand,” Zuko repeated. “I have power now; I’m the crown prince. I can help you—”

“I don’t want your help!” she yelled, her rage finally bubbling over inside of her as she turned on him with the fire of a waterbender pushed to the edge. “The last time I trusted you was when I thought you were on my side, and it landed me in here. If you think that I’m going to trust you now that you’re full Fire Nation again, then you have never known anything about me.”

Zuko scoffed, his entire demeanor changing. “You don’t know me.”

“Yeah,” she nodded, “I don’t. That’s why I’m in here. Because I don’t know you. Because I thought I was more important to you than your fucking honor.”

“The Fire Nation is different from your little village!” he seethed, the flames in the lantern swelling with his anger. “I did what I had to do in Ba Sing Se — you’re a fool if you think it could’ve gone any differently. This is how the Fire Nation works.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” she said darkly. “Just know that if I die in here, I’m going to make your life a living nightmare.”

“You can’t say things like that to me anymore,” Zuko said, something so painfully unfamiliar about his voice as he practically turned his back on her. “I’m royalty. True royalty.”

“What are you going to do?” she asked with a slightly deranged laugh. “Betray me? Separate me from all my friends? Throw me in jail?”

Zuko’s shaky exhale told her that she was getting to him. Y/N moved to the edge of the cell, as close to the bars as she could get with her shackles, and stared right at him.

“I’m prisoner scum from the North. You’re the crown prince of the most powerful nation in the world. And yet here you are.” She allowed her lips to quirk up slightly in a sardonic smile. “You’re even more trapped than I am. Good luck trying to get out of it.”

He growled as he pulled away, picking up his lantern as he backed away. “I don’t know what I ever saw in you. You’ve always been nothing more than an obstacle.”

“Then leave,” she spat. “I’m done with you, Zuko. I’ve been done ever since you took Azula’s side in Ba Sing Se. If the only thing I’m worthy of is being in your way, then leave. I just hope the guilt doesn’t get to you before you can do all your princely duties.”

He stood there for a moment more, glowering at her with a mix of emotions she couldn’t decipher. “I don’t love you. I don’t think about you. You’ve never been anything in my life, and you never will be.”

And with that, he turned his back and left.

The weight stayed on her shoulders as she slouched against the wall, but she didn’t feel the sorrow she expected. All that remained was an uncomfortably familiar numbness, along with a strange flicker of acceptance.

Maybe he was lying about it all, maybe he had truly lost anything he harbored towards her after the fight in the catacombs. Y/N didn’t care. Either way, he fought against her.

(She didn’t want to think about what it meant for him to still love her and betray her all the same.)

Y/N had dared to play with fire, and she had gotten burned more times than she could count. The raised scar on her forearm as well as the invisible memory of searing flames against her palms served as a painful reminder of who Zuko used to be, who he was now. Maybe someone he had always been, and she was just too caught up in the beauty of something she imagined to notice.

But no longer would she rake herself over the coals with the dim hope that he could change.

No longer would she sacrifice herself for him.

She was done trying to save the boy with the scar.

—

Her prison cell was quiet as ever since her conversation with Zuko. A part of her was angry that he hadn’t come back, that he hadn’t tried to talk to her again just so she could reject him. The other, more rational part, was relieved. She managed an ineffable front while he was here, but she knew she was bound to crack sooner or later.

The isolation was driving her mad. She had no idea what day it was, or the time, or how long she had been in here. It had gotten to the point where she began to look forward to her guards coming in to give her meals, and most of them despised her.

Y/N longed for one of Aang’s stories about his culture, told in his own voice instead of her own. The echo of Katara’s laughter throughout the night sky, one of Toph’s insults; she even missed Sokka’s horrible jokes. She knew she would never again make fun of him for his humor once she was reunited with them.

But the worst part was the thing she couldn’t explain.

Her wrists were shackled to the wall to prevent her from fighting back, as with any prisoner, but she had a feeling that the guards here weren’t used to keeping waterbenders in custody. Though the air was cool enough in the prison to prevent moisture from forming and the dirt below her was dry as a bone, their carelessness for her identity played in her favor.

One day, her guard delivered a cup of water along with her meal. The normal routine was for her to either get just enough water to keep her alive but too little to do any kind of bending with, or for her hands to be completely restrained as she was given water like some kind of animal. The Fire Nation was afraid of the waterbender in their midst, even with her status as a fifteen year old girl.

The day it was slid into her cell, her heart nearly stopped. Could they really be so unattentive to deliver an escape right to her, the same thing that got her mother out? Her hands were cuffed, yes, but that didn’t matter. For such a small amount all she needed were her fingers, and those worked just fine.

But as she positioned her hand over the top of the ceramic and twisted her fingers, nothing happened. Y/N didn’t feel any of the usual flow of cool energy, but she had attributed that to her weakened state and lack of practice. But this was something simple, something that young waterbenders experimented with at their first lessons. Even the most novice healer could transfer water from the pot to the mannequin, the most inexperienced soldier ocean water into the air.

But there was nothing. No surge of power, no movement, nothing. She couldn’t do anything.

What was meant to be her saving grace only served to further hammer the dagger into her heart, to add one more mark to her growing list of failures.

She wasn’t going to get out of here. She couldn’t get out of here, not with her lack of strength and her inexplicable loss.

All she knew was her last shred of self had been torn away.

In one last cruel act from the spirits, her bending had disappeared.

The days were longer and harder after discovering the loss of her waterbending. The biggest part of her, something so intrinsic to her life, the only thing that kept her alive after her village was invaded — gone like that.

How could she cope with that? How, when she didn’t even know what had caused it? Would she ever get it back?

The thought attacked Y/N viciously and constantly — she would die in a Fire Nation prison cell, broken in every way.

One night, though, something was different in her visitor. With nothing much else to do, her ears had grown attuned to the few sounds she heard since her imprisonment. Y/N could distinguish the guards just by the way their boots hit the ground and the length of their steps, and that’s why she knew even before they came into her sight that something was different.

But it was still a surprise when it turned out to be none other than the reason for her downfall.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, a slight barb to her words accompanied by the downward twist of her lips.

Azula just smiled, looking regal as ever with her neat topknot and deep red robes. “I’m here to announce your departure, of course. Getting you out of my hair and seeing the light drain from your eyes in person is something to celebrate.”

“Departure?”

“There’s an influx of new prisoners being transported here as a result of a rebellion being crushed in Ba Sing Se, as well as a league of Avatar sympathizers in the heart of the capital after being discovered. In order to make space for the traitors, you’re being sent somewhere much more fun.”

“Just tell me already,” Y/N said evenly. “Nothing can be worse than here.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Azula corrected with a smile. “My father doesn’t exactly want a repeat of what happened with your mother, so you’re being sent to a prison specifically for waterbenders. If you’ve ever wondered about what southern benders are like, I have a feeling you’ll find out a lot with your future company.”

At that, Y/N couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. “You’re wasting your time. My bending doesn’t work.”

Maybe it was a card she should’ve held closer to her chest, but Y/N didn’t see the point. If she was sent somewhere specifically for waterbenders, she knew she would deal with far more mistreatment than slightly barbed remarks and unwavering indifference. Her eventual death at the hands of the Fire Nation would be even more likely. At least if she was sent to another prison, a normal one, she would have a chance at escaping if her bending somehow came back.

Azula’s eyebrows rose slightly, but she regained her composure quickly. “You’ve lost your waterbending? Do you expect me to believe that?”

“Why would I lie about something like this?” she asked, straightfaced. “I’m sure any prison I end up in will be just as horrible as the others.”

Her lips twitched up in the facade of a smile. “Very well. I believe I can make arrangements for you suiting your new situation. How do you feel about the Boiling Rock?”

“Sounds like a vacation,” she said dryly.

“I think you’ll like it,” Azula said. “It’s completely surrounded by water — it’s really lovely. I quite like the irony of you being in the middle of your element, knowing that you’d be able to escape if you weren’t so useless.”

A puff of loose air was all she could really manage in lieu of laughter. Her situation kept getting more and more hopeless, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

“What did I ever do to you, Azula?” Y/N asked, eyes trained on the ground. “Why do you hate me this much? What is this vendetta?”

“You want to know what I have against you?” Azula’s eyes turned cold and she stepped closer to the bars, taking a knee on the floor directly in front of the cell. “I know my brother is still enamored with you despite what he says, though I have no idea what he sees in you. I know he comes down to see his uncle, as well as you on occasion. Even when he doesn’t he still talks about you. Now, I don’t particularly care what happens to Zuko, but things will be much easier if he’s on my side. You are making him doubt what he has done to get here. You are nothing but a pest, and pests must be taken care of.”

“Kill me then.” She surprised herself with her bluntness as she looked up at the princess, but the way Azula described it, it would be a welcome mercy compared to her current fate. “You could finish the job right here. I’m completely defenseless. One blast, and it would be over.”

Azula stood up then, though still keeping the same proximity. Her voice was authoritative, powerful, and Y/N understood why she had been able to do what no Fire Nation general could even at such a young age. “The Fire Nation doesn’t just exterminate their pests. We make lessons out of them. And you will be a lesson to every servant, every member of your little ‘Team Avatar’, and my insolent brother to know their place. And, well— this was what should’ve happened to you all those years ago.”

“Besides, this is a lot more fun than killing you, isn’t it?” Her golden irises flashed with something dangerously close to glee. “I hope you enjoy your trip. It’s the last one you’ll ever take.” Azula then pivoted on her foot and left, the door closing quietly behind her.

The only sound she was left with was her nearly inaudible breathing. Y/N leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes as it all came to a head. She tried to keep it steady, but the water trailing down her face was a sign of her failure. If she was worth anything, she would be able to use this to her advantage, bending her tears as a last resort. Her mother managed to get out of captivity with little more than a cup after months of torture and isolation. But Y/N couldn’t even bend.

She was completely and utterly useless.

And now she was about to head to some prison, the Boiling Rock in the middle of her element yet unable to do a single thing. Trapped in a jail cell an entire country away from her friends with no idea on how they were doing, no idea on the fate that was in everyone’s hands but her own.

Y/N buried her head in her hands, trying her best to muffle the sobs as she let herself succumb to them.

What had she done to deserve this? Fight for the good of the world? Trust the only boy that had ever loved her the same way she loved him? Try to end the war that had ruined her life and seemed intent on breaking her completely?

She was so damn exhausted. She didn’t have it in her to fight anymore, not when this was all fighting got her.

Her whole life had been an uphill battle, from the moment her village was invaded to Zuko turning his back on her.

Maybe it was time to finally accept she couldn’t win.

perm tags: @dv0412 @siriuslyslyslytherin @maruchan77 @simonsbluee @kwyloz

atla tags: @marianne1806 @brown-eyed-thang @akiris

ehfar tags: @chandies-sideblog @zacatecanaaaa @anzanity @randomthingssss @escapingthoughtsandsecrets @shanksfav @shephard17895 @ilovespideyyy @carisi-sonny @selfship-mishaps @ilistentotayswifttocope @i-make-questionable-choices @3leni @thatobsessedreader @lostgreekgod @oriontingz @zerode-unhinged @badpvn @mimi-sanisanidiot @adhdhufflepuff

#zuko x reader #zuko x you #zuko x reader fic #zuko #zuko fic #avatar #avatar the last airbender #atla #avatar fic #atla fic #avatar the last airbender fic #atla x reader #avatar x reader #sadie writes #ehfar

295 notes · View notes

jamiespoon · 2 years ago

Text

Sooo, time go I promised I would write something about charles’s personality, and here we are, 3 month later. Charles has lowkey always interested me, not gonna lie I wanted to know what happened to him to have such a shitty personality. I saw many people blaming charlotte for being an absent parent, but imo it has nothing to do with that, I think it’s more related to his sexuality. I warn you, this is gonna be a long essay; let’s start:

Charles was conscious of his sexuality since he was really young. At the beginning he thought there was nothing wrong with it, but eventually, being so close with the conclave, he realized it was. So what is the point? He was a gay man in a deeply homophobic society.

hypothesis n. 1

Charles always aspired to be a politician; he was inspired by his mother, the most important personality among the shadowhunters, and he always wanted to do something good for his people, just like her. Being so close with charlotte, charles grew and became a liberal man with the same ideals as his mother, but then something happened during his adolescence: he became aware of his sexuality, and after that everything changed.

We can sum it up in some phases:

Phase 1: charles discovers his sexuality and is disgusted by it (he realizes the conclave will never accept him, jeopardising his dream to become consul)

Phase 2: he denies it and tries to force himself into liking women

Phase 3: he realizes he isn’t attracted to women and never will

Phase 4: he becomes obsessed by the fact that the conclave will never accept a gay man as consul

Phase 5: Charles decides he will marry a woman Even at the cost of sacrificing his love life

Or it could also be like this:

Charles was conscious of his sexuality since a young age, but was ashamed by it and because of the fear of not being accepted, decides to become consul and being considered important (he’s definitely got a problem with self esteem and craves for people’s validation)

Between phase 3 and 4, charles is fully convinced there is something wrong with him, having a profound impact on his psyche. Being so young and yet so close to the conclave (bigot, traditionalist and discriminant), he gets conditioned and gradually approaches their ideals, poisoning the charming and young man with liberal ideas that he once was, and becoming the Charles we all know. So he is convinced by others that his mother is a weak woman and they need a new great conclave.

Imo Bridgestock had a really important role in all of this; charles was once close to charlotte and thought women were strong, he discovered his sexuality and thought he would have never be accepted, so he approached the other members of the conclave to score political points and having more possibilities to be elected consul, but he gets conditioned by Bridgestock and becomes a man full of rage and misogyny, but most of all repressed and opportunist.

Bridgestock never liked charlotte, and knowing that her son had a high probability to become the next consul, he grabbed the opportunity.

It was not C and H’s fault, children don’t always resemble their parents (Cassie said it herself); in general there are many factors that can effect a child’s growth, and despite how much C and H tried to protect him and giving him an open mentality, charles clearly suffered external negative conditioning; think about it, he’s the consul’s son and close to conclave’s members that didn’t want a woman in power, so they brainwashed him (what I was saying before). I refuse to believe Charlotte and Henry raised him to be like that, there is absolutely no way.

I’m so sorry I wrote such a long essay, please appreciate it because I put way too time into this one :’)) (i started writing it in september, sobbing)

26 notes · View notes

itsmaferart · 3 years ago

Text

The formula of love - part 1

I have seen many opinions, so I decided to share mine. Then, from chapter 9, Twiyor fans became more euphoric than usual, and why not? We saw an almost kiss (which we knew was not going to happen xD)

But it still moved us from head to toe, added to such a beautiful moment of Yor "being happy for having married Loid" (Twilight)

I've seen many people comment, about "they prefer that between Twilight and Yor", their relationship develops without any kind of romance. In which, only "the feeling of family prevails" is seen

Perhaps, this perspective is largely supported because in the 62 manga chapters we've had. There has been no conscious development of "love" on the part of both. Which, for many, is frustrating, and for others, it is conclusive proof that there will be nothing beyond that. I fully respect this position. Personally I'm not a fan of "romance" between characters. But, I admit that the connection between Twilight and Yor has blown me away. (I love these two idiots)

However, I still believe that the most consistent development would be the romance between them. Beyond just shipping them by mere impulse.

When tatsuya endo said that this would be "a long sleeve", he wasn't kidding. I notice it because until now, the SpyxFamily universe is at "the tip of the iceberg"

To begin with, the way "love" is presented in this story makes me curious and funny, and the narrative resources used by this mangaka make me genius

A sweet, tender, insightful woman who is clearly somewhat silly, but with the ability to send you flying with brute force (Anya and Yor). That he is next to a more intelligent man, skilled but for different reasons he must deny his feelings and repress them (Twilight/Damiand)

I find it difficult that it is mere coincidence

Same purposes, same objectives, same feelings, expressed in different words and circumstances.

The difference is that Twilight and Yor have suffered so much, sacrificing every bit of their youth, that for them the line between normal and abnormal has blurred.

On the one hand, And who lost his father. She should have been left with the responsibility of raising her brother without even knowing how to raise herself. Getting a job, dangerous, but it was okay, because with it he could feed and give everything his brother needed. Yor can be distracted, and a little goofy, but her clarity, love, and tenacity are invaluable. Yor understands that in the world there are evil people who want to stain the fragile peace, and in order to protect the peaceful life of others, she will stain herself with blood.

Twilight, on the other hand, lost everything, was filled with resentment and hatred. To later realize his mistake. The man is so afraid of suffering the feeling of loss, that he isolates himself emotionally from everyone. The only way to give your life a purpose is to "protect the smile of children", so that they do not suffer the same.

The series presents us with two characters, who are unaware (consciously) of what romantic/family love is. But from one moment to another, they must form a family by mere convenience.

Both question their roles as parents, both doubt themselves. They reproach each other for their mistakes, while the other thinks "there can't be anyone better than you for this role." They are not perfect, but they are what they need

In the tennis arc, we were able to see Yor experience "jealousy" for the first time. (How can you know that she is jealous if she has never been in a relationship with a man). She felt insecure about being replaced. But she always wondered "what if loid is in love with her? She is so much prettier!" - Yor's questions are innocent- but even Twilight himself understood that they are "romantic" jealousy, and not just insecurity due to a mere agreement.(However, he was very stupid, he did not know how to handle the situation and ended up receiving a well-deserved kick XD)

Yor is much more emotionally mature than Twilight. Yes, she is dumb, absent-minded, clumsy, and would generally hit you hard enough to almost kill you. But Yor is able to better understand and reconcile her emotions. She is able to understand that what he does is "because she loves his family" and "he doesn't want to lose them"

Happening with Twilight

I understand this poor man. Twilight is a genius, insightful and intuitive to the core. But he only understands emotions from the head and not from the heart. (And it's obvious, I work years in closing emotionally) It is understandable because he does not know how to process his own emotions. The way he asks "What is it to have a real family? When it is what he is living

He may have years of experience in "fake" relationships, being with hundreds of women. But, this experience is based on lies, one-sided relationships, where he doesn't feel anything for his counterpart beyond an objective. So it is more than evident that Twilight will not understand that he is in love with his family (although he is), because he has spent his life giving up that possibility.

You can continue reading in my next post...

#yor forger #spy x family #twiyor #yor briar #loid forger #anya forger #twilight #sxf #loid x yor #spyxfamily twilight #This ended up being too long to explain #sorry

119 notes · View notes

randomnameless · 1 year ago

Text

Yay!

I love how much they always try to drum up sympathy for Randolph when the man’s only character trait is “I want to murder people to gain personal status.” And then he also has the gall to act like he’s better than the people defending themselves when he goes to kill them.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Nopes, where the people are wrong for not wanting to die or not wanting to be invaded, but you can talk about tea or your plans for the next dinner when you're invading/slaughtering/pillaging a foreign nation.

Funny seeing Claude play Edelgard like a fiddle though. His army is fine, and hers is crushed lamo.

Hm... if the stars align a certain way in SB, it's the inverse!

I love how they make Rhea out to be such a big deal, but literally no one gives a shit that they declared war on her. Like, pick one, game. You either have Claude be an unpopular ruler or Rhea actually be a problem.

That's this route in a nutshell (and the discourse for 4 years), Rhea BaD and EvIl bcs she controls the world and has sway over the people, except that she doesn't, but the narrative acts as if she does, while also telling/showing you she doesn't.

Tl;Dr : Rhea BaD because she exists.

Raphael called it right. Commoners don’t give a shit. So Edelgard getting everyone killed over noble squabbles.

TFW Raphael, a commoner, bought her speech because his King does, when he knows eveything is just bullshit :)

She doesn't give a fuck about commoners too, remember the "I too would sacrifice randoms for my goals" in Houses?

Claude is such an idiot. I cannot take him seriously. Claiming he wants to spare lives moments after sacrificing Randolph and wanting to wipe a church no one gives a shit about off the map. Am I supposed to take this seriously?

I think the dev later said in an interview his journey in this route was a heartwarming or heart touching story? Maybe the audience's heart is touched because they're so angry at this excuse of a plot and the lack of meaning of everything that is going down...

Someone made a parody video of that route on YouTube, I can give you the link when you'll have finished that run if you want!

Arval just said trying to unify different people under one king is dumb, won’t work, and looks forward to the day humanity moves beyond it.

Arval has his own paralogue later on - but let's save it for a later chapter update.

You know, going through supports has made me realize that Golden Deer probably has my overall least favorite cast.

There's something about this game that made some people reallu turn away from the GD peeps...

I don’t want to invade the Kingdom. Especially since it makes no sense for Claude to do so.

Claude and "making sense" cannot work in the same sentence in this game lol.

Like, Miss "I already sent my troops to conquer your lands even if you are not the one harbouring the evil lizard lady I'm trying to get rid off" would really stop her war of conquest if the evil lizard lady dies? Really?? Even withouth knowledge of FE16, this is completely stupid "but the imperialist promised me she would leave my lands alone after trying to seize them first!".

Yeah... Are you buying it? Because I don't.

So Byleth doesn’t join you because you kill Jeralt, I’m assuming. Though, Byleth doesn’t seem to have any issue joining Edelgard when she plays a role in that lamo.

"It wasn't her it was Kronya and it was not her fault she had no agency Uncle Arundel forced her to obey uwuwuwuwu"

Billy has some "nice" supports that reveal a bit more about their relationship with Jeralt (Jeralt too has supports!) but as a rule of thumb, this game is not kind to Byleth, and when plot important connections should be made... they aren't.

Byleth so callous about Jeralt’s death. Far cry from the crying in Houses, a bit sad actually.

I mentionned it commenting one of your earlier chapters - but this is part of the "Byleth story" that, at the end of said story, FEH decided to retcon it a bit because of the earlier "fusion" you mentionned with Sothis.

Is whoever dies in AG bad enough that I should push through and recruit Byleth? I may look that up to give me the proper motivation, but that could backfire if it’s someone I don’t care enough, but I’m having a hard time thinking of a single character I don’t care enough about. Even like Sylvain’s dad would make me too sad for Sylvain and I couldn’t do it.

Mmh...

Byleth and Jeralt have "exclusive" supports with characters route locked in SB and GW, but, as far as I remember, none in AG?

I'm pretty sure you'd be sad though, it's someone a lot of people love!

So is Sothis and Byleth merging merging or something?

Ah, I just remembered - if you don't recruit Byleth thus the character I haven't named in AG dies, Sothis mentions her family!

But yeah, even if I love nabatean breadcrumbs, I think you're going to be really disappointed if the AG character dies so... I'd suggest recruiting Billy (and their dad!) in AG.

Golden Wildfire Ch 10

Spoilers for GW up to Ch 10 below.

STORY

Now Claude's taking Ls in the Kingdom too.

I love how much they always try to drum up sympathy for Randolph when the man's only character trait is "I want to murder people to gain personal status." And then he also has the gall to act like he's better than the people defending themselves when he goes to kill them.

I never really put that much thought into him before, but yeah he's kinda just a piece of shit, isn't he? Low key one of the worst human beings in the game.

They should've made it Fredinand or like Linhardt's dad or someone likeable.

Funny seeing Claude play Edelgard like a fiddle though. His army is fine, and hers is crushed lamo.

Haha, Fleche is back to her vengeance act. It's gonna be funny if a tiny girl child is a final boss.

The same conversation with Jeralt and Bylethas I saw elsewhere, I think. Yeah, here comes the sword again.

Raphael called it right. Commoners don't give a shit. So Edelgard getting everyone killed over noble squabbles.

Hilda kinda seems like the Kingdom stan here. She's always the one upset about it.

Haha, Arval said he can think for both of them when I had Shez say she's more brawn than brain lamo. And Shez believes it too, omg. Shez is great. I need a comedy show with them.

Oh, nice! Looks like another single-battle map. BC, honestly, I got Spiritfarer for Christmas and I'm DYING to play it, but need to finish this first.

BASE/SIDE BATTLES

Lamo, Arval just said trying to unify different people under one king is dumb, won't work, and looks forward to the day humanity moves beyond it.

LORENZ/IGNATZ/RAPHAEL PARALOGUE

So is this the paralogue that's going to rewrite it so Lorenz's dad did nothing wrong? Given the description, I'm betting it's that.

Ignatz is being awkward around Lorenz now that he's been promoted.

Gloucester evades all of Lorenz's questions about these bandits.

And now Lorenz is demanding Raphael do what Ignatz did and is upset he's so casual lamo.

So are they making it so his dad wasn't the one who ordered the hit that killed Raphael's parents? Lol. This game really likes whitewashing some of these guys, but Glouster's probably the worst offender.

Let me take a wild guess. TWSITD.

It's really a shame that Raphael is such a one-note character. It would've been interesting if he had more in-depth conversations with the rest of the cast who were unable to move beyond trauma.

IGNATZ & LEONIE B SUPPORT

Their one and only support.

They're hunting and the deer only has one arrow. So they try to figure out who successfully shot the deer.

They both hit the same place. Mystery solved.

LORENZ & CONSTANCE C SUPPORT

This one should be better.

Constance is challenging a cat to a staring contest. Yes, this one is already better.

Lamo, he says he would've considered her as a wife if she restored her house. But withdraws because she's a weirdo. (I mean, no loss?)

Constance gets back at him by saying she'd never consider him lol.

Now they're arguing over who's house is more noble.

Much more entertaining.

SHEZ & RAPAEL B SUPPORT

It's about food.

It's nice to see Raphael actually have passion about something instead of just repeating "meat!" over and over.

SHEZ & IGNATZ B SUPPORT

You know, going through supports has made me realize that Golden Deer probably has my overall least favorite cast.

Ignatz has an older brother. He likes his brother at least.

Ignatz is finally talking about how he doesn't love being a knight. He really didn't have much of anything going on removing that conflict.

It's nice to hear Ignatz have his own convictions to become a knight. He's getting more sides to him, which is good.

SHEZ & HOLST B SUPPORT

Holst sneaks with Shez into enemy territory. He's doing it because scouts are going missing. Shez is impressed someone of his status is doing that.

LYSITHEA & RAPHAEL B SUPPORT

Lysithea studied too long and is out after dark. Gets scared by noises. She runs into Raphael and they talk about strengths and weaknesses.

The weird noises she heard wasn't Raphael.

MARIANNE & HILDA PARALOGUE

Marianne needs help from Shez organizing because she sucks at it.

Wow, Hilda not only volunteered to help Marianne clean up the mess, but also to do the scouting mission they were supposed to go on all by herself. It's love.

Hilda doesn't show up for awhile, so they get worried and go to check on her. Given that it dumps me to prepare for the battle next, I'm thinking that was a good call.

Not my favorite paralogue. I had to fight Ingrid :(

They talk about Marianne's typical issues.

It has very "safe" shipping dialogue throughout.

MAIN BATTLE

I don't want to invade the Kingdom. Especially since it makes no sense for Claude to do so.

Hahahahaha, lamo, you deserve it Claude. Fleche raised an army to fight him. Seeing this tiny girl as the final boss is going to be hysterical.

Oh, Arval and Shez stuff. I almost forgot Arval existed. They've got bad feelings. I'm guessing it's because Byleth is fused with Sothis.

Ok guys, I restarted this chapter over and over trying to recruit Byleth, but Claude just stands there in one seized area and won't move until Byleth reaches him - even when no one else is around.

I really just want to be done with this playthrough to be honest (there are so many other games I want to play right now), so I'm not going to bother with recruiting Byleth. I'll try in SB, but the only one I'm going to put any real effort in is AG.

Seeing Fleche as a final boss is funny.

I'm guessing we don't fight Jeralt if you recruit successfully. Got a cool cut scene for not bothering though!

So Byleth doesn't join you because you kill Jeralt, I'm assuming. Though, Byleth doesn't seem to have any issue joining Edelgard when she plays a role in that lamo.

Also, gotta say, I love how there's a chapter you can't use the lords. And for Edelgard and Claude it's because they randomly just don't fight that chapter. For Dimitri, it's epic story reasons lol.

Aw, shit, did Byleth just kill Judith?? That sucks. Oh well. Not restarting. This 3 route thing is too much. I just want to play this again, but one route only.

You know, after Claude's dumbfuckery throughout this route, he kinda deserves this lamo.

So who is it in SB and AG that dies?

Byleth so callous about Jeralt's death. Far cry from the crying in Houses, a bit sad actually.

It's kinda funny that Judith died because Fleche went on another rampage. I'm going to miss seeing her around though.

Is whoever dies in AG bad enough that I should push through and recruit Byleth? I may look that up to give me the proper motivation, but that could backfire if it's someone I don't care enough, but I'm having a hard time thinking of a single character I don't care enough about. Even like Sylvain's dad would make me too sad for Sylvain and I couldn't do it.

Aww, Arval is upset for Shez.

So is Sothis and Byleth merging merging or something?

xxxx

#fireemblems24 #3 nopes #don't worry you're close to the end!#imo GW made me reconsider the deers in general #i was meh about them at first not giving a fig #but now?#I prefer the Begion Senators at least they're funny

42 notes · View notes

bestworstcase · 2 years ago

Note

What are your thoughts on Jacques as a character? Do you have any?

“you think running off like your sister is going to make the schnee name stronger? it won’t. siding with her only divides us.”

rwby does a neat thing in v4 of utilizing slimeball-in-chief jacques to do the heavy lifting of foreshadowing ironwood’s tailspin into fascist tyranny—which is, of course, a bit of emotional sleight-of-hand to misdirect unwary viewers, because ironwood has hitherto been framed as sometimes misguided but having his heart in the right place, whereas jacques is a smug, child-abusing bastard of a capitalist and we don’t want to agree with him when he calls ironwood’s power-grabbing self-aggrandizement what it is. this is a role jacques reprises to great effect in v7, wherein his campaign for the council seat is a cynical performance of giving a damn about mantle but also makes him one of the most effective critics of ironwood’s increasingly dictatorial regime; he is, after all, the inciting force behind the council’s attempt to take ironwood to task for his unilateral and secretive actions of late, even going so far as to literally give robyn a seat at the table.

not to argue that jacques gives a flying fuck about anything but maximizing the SDC’s profits and flexing on someone he perceived as an obstacle to that goal—because he doesn’t—but, his role in the narrative is to be sort of the canary in the coal mine for ironwood’s hero-to-villain arc.

and that makes the remark quoted above very interesting to me, because: that is the exact rhetoric that undergirds the rwbyjnorq approach to internal conflicts. how many times have we heard variations on “salem seeks only to divide us” or “we can’t let salem divide us” or the kids fretting out loud that arguing and disagreeing only plays into her hands?—and here is that same rhetoric coming from the mouth of one of the most unpleasant characters in the entire show, whose foremost narrative role beyond facilitating weiss’s character development is telegraphing that ironwood is bad news.

it’s such a breathtakingly clear illustration of how easily the specter of “division” can be used as a tool of manipulation and control, how readily it goes hand-in-hand with a cynical emphasis on the appearance of unified strength above everything else, and how division in and of itself is a morally neutral quality. jacques is, of course, not wrong that weiss stirring the pot by leaving to be a huntress and shirking her nominal responsibilities as the future CEO of the schnee dust company could rattle investors and raise some serious questions about the long-term stability of the SDC; but ethically and emotionally it is also something that weiss must do, because the SDC as it is now is not worth preserving and living under her father’s thumb will destroy her.

so she leaves—divides the family, if you will—and finds her own way, and later returns with the inner strength and emotional support she needs to reconnect with the parts of her family and the schnee legacy that she values without sacrificing herself in the process.

which all feels very, um, pointed wrt the current ozma/salem unity/division power struggle over the fate of humanity and the obvious parallels that can be drawn between jacques’ abuse of his family and the god of light’s abuse of his creations.

anyway

i also appreciate jacques as a character who is just, profoundly and satisfyingly awful. he’s very like adam in that regard; whatever redeeming qualities he once had, he left behind long ago in pursuit of his self-centered goals and what’s left is a person who has decided with total confidence to become the worst version of himself, and there’s always something enjoyable about watching that sort of character cause problems for everyone else.

34 notes · View notes

silverflame2724 · 3 years ago

Note

Accidental Martial God WWX

That was exacty what I meant actually but I do have a few more povs if you want.

LQRs reaction to a demonic cultivator ascending, JGS and JGY reaction to the Yin Tiger Tally moving completely out of reach, WQ pondering the true requirements for ascension given WWX doesn't have a golden core yet ascended, WWX musing on Godhood and on his new followers both the good and the more disturbing worshipers.

Maybe LWJ protects the Wen Remnants because WWX asked him to in a dream and after he succeeds (13 years later) he ascends and is finally reunited with WWX.

Lan Qiren did not know what to think. Wei Wuxian, his most troublesome student, a demonic cultivator, had ascended. He’d ascended. How was that even possible? Were the Heavens blind? Why would they allow someone like Wei Wuxian to ascend?

From what Lan Qiren had thought, only those who are righteous and followed the correct path in life like the Lan clan’s founder, Lan An, would be worthy of ascending.

Either the qualifications for ascension were lower than he thought or Lan Qiren had been horribly mistaken about Wei Wuxian’s personality and motivations for using demonic cultivation. That last thought made Lan Qiren feel very uncomfortable.

He’d always been harsh on the boy and disregarded him, even - he ashamedly admitted - punishing him harsher and more frequently than others.

He’d thought he was in the right because of how Wei Wuxian was but…..

But if he was wrong then Lan Qiren owed him an apology.

………………….

Jin Guangshan wanted to scream out in frustration seeing Wei Wuxian ascend. That brat had the Stygian Tiger Seal on him - according to his spies - and now that he ascended, the Seal went with him.

He had had so many plans on bribing Wei Wuxian to his side or killing him when he refused - as well as stealing the Seal - and then taking over the cultivation world, lording over it as he was always meant to be.

Now those plans are ruined. He sighed. Hopefully that bastard son of his can finally prove his usefulness and give him countermeasures or he might retract his favor from him.

……………………

Jin Guangyao’s first thought upon seeing Wei Wuxian ascend was: Oh shit. I have to go make up new plans to help Father.

He knew his father wanted Wei Wuxian and the Seal and didn’t really care how he obtained both or either, just as long as no one traced it back to him. He sighed. This was going to be a big headache. But at least the plans on putting his father as Chief Cultivator were going smoothly. He could only imagine what his father would do to him if even this failed.

..............................

Wen Qing had still been in Yiling, making plans to relocate her family, when the news that Wei Wuxian had ascended had reached her.

Her first reaction was, That’s impossible.

Because it was, right? Wen Qing should know. She cut out his core, after all. But to think he was still able to ascend while he was a demonic cultivator made her wonder what the requirements were for ascending. Perhaps it’s an honest heart? Self-sacrificing tendencies? Or is it a sacrifice of some sorts? She paused. What if.....it was a trial? To test a person’s will? What Wei Wuxian had suffered was.....horrible. Could it have all been just a test from the Heavens?

If that was so, the Heavens really are cru---

“A’ Jie, we have to go! Some Jin were spotted nearby!”

Wen Qing gritted her teeth. Members of the branch families of Qishan, regardless of whether they were innocent or not, were captured and subsequently tortured to death by the Jin and sometimes the Nie. Because her family was all in Yiling, they were safe.......but only for now. They had to hurry and escape.

Wen Qing sent a quick prayer to Wei Wuxian, hoping for her family’s safety, and tucked the rest of her belongings in her qiankun pouch, remembering to wrap her arms in bandages to hide the needles she might need to paralyze any Jin that came close.

....................................

Wei Wuxian’s first thought when he landed in the Heavens was, What the fuck.

Then he looked around and looked taken aback and wary at the unfamiliar faces around him. Where the fuck am I?

“Hello.” A rather stoic-faced man greeted.

“Hello.” Wei Wuxian parroted back. The person in front of him didn’t seem to be a threat so he felt a little tension loosen from his shoulders. “Um, Xiansheng? I’m afraid I don’t know where I am?”

“You have just ascended.” The man replied, throwing Wei Wuxian aback.

“Are you pulling my leg?” Wei Wuxian asked. “How is that even possible! I don’t even have---” He swallowed. I don’t even have a core.

“I do not lie. Come, we are wasting time. We must get you washed up and dressed for the induction ceremony.” Seeing Wei Wuxian still frozen, the man sighed, signalled for some people to pick Wei Wuxian up and dragged the struggling man to some quarters.

After absentmindedly washing, drying and changing himself, Wei Wuxian noticed some differences in his body. He wasn’t....cold or hurting anymore. And - he touched his back - he could feel his back! After having his muscles and nerves shredded by Zidian, he didn’t think he’d ever be able to sense touch on his back or even move without pain! But now he can!

He heard the urging of some people and grumbled.

“You will become a god of demonic cultivation.” Was the first thing he heard when he stepped out of the room.

Wei Wuxian choked. “Excuse me?!”

“I said what I said. Now then, if you would please concentrate, you should be able to hear the prayers of the people below.”

Wei Wuxian felt like everything was moving a little too fast for him, but nevertheless complied. Immediately after, a flood of prayers hit him at full force.

“Wei Wuxian!” That was Jiang Cheng! “….Have some fun up there.”

“A’ Xian, do be well. Shijie isn’t there to take care of you so do be well.” Wei Wuxian refused to cry.

“Wei-Xiong! I hope there’s someone up there to supply you with you know what *winks*”

How does someone even wink in their prayers? Wei Wuxian thought amusedly.

“Wei Ying.” That was Lan Zhan. “Wei Ying, I will—be well.”

Ah, Lan Zhan. Always concise even in your thoughts.

Wei Wuxian was a little teary. As much as he was glad to not be a part of the cultivation world considering all the rumors, he did regret leaving behind those that cared for him.

That thought was much more cemented upon hearing…….

“Ah, Lord Wei, the pinnacle of evil, the role model of all demonic cultivators!” Wei Wuxian’s eye twitched. “Please hear my plea for more power! I need it, I need it to destroy everyone who harmed me!”

“Wei Wuxian, I wish to gain power over resentful energy so that I may tear my enemies limb by limb!

“Give me money! You’re a god, aren’t you? Be useful for once and give me some gold!”

“Tch. If I’m going to pray for anything, then it’ll have to be the Seal. You’re a god, now, right? So you have no need for the Seal. Just give it up.”

No matter the good or bad, Wei Wuxian heard the wishes and prayers of the people down below and while some were innocent enough, there were those that wished for death, destruction, tools for torture, power, money, women…….you name it.

It made Wei Wuxian feel a little disgusted with humanity. He cut off his focus from the bad and focused on the prayer he received from his friends and family.

“Wei Wuxian, I heard you became a god.” It was Wen Qing. He hadn’t heard her voice in a long time. “I know this might seem shameless of me after all I did to you, but please. Please guarantee the safety of my family. We’re being hunted down and—”

Her prayer was abruptly cut off, before coming back in full force with notes of desperation. Her family had been captured and taken to Qiongqi Path! Wei Wuxian panicked. He didn’t know how to escape from this place and try to go help her.

The…..person who was watching over him evidently knew what he was thinking about and merely stated that gods cannot interfere with the mortal realm. So he was stuck.

But that didn’t mean he was out of options.

It took a few days, but he managed to wheedle out how to help: via dreams. He merely needed to get into the mind of one of his followers and tell them to help. Much like those prophetic dreams Wei Wuxian had read about as a kid.

So he buckled down, thinking of the best candidate to help him.

……………………………

Lan Wangji looked at the landscape around him and concluded that he was dreaming. Though, it was a little odd that he was aware that he was dreaming. Not that he hasn’t realized he was dreaming before - especially in those many fantasies he had of Wei Ying - but to be aware that this is a dream and to see nothing but a flat landscape was pretty out of the ordinary.

Anyway, he digressed. What was going on?

“Uhh, Lan Zhan? Can you hear me?”

“W-Wei Ying?!” Lan Wangji couldn’t be blamed for stuttering. He wasn’t expecting this!

“Phew. Oh good, you can hear me. Anyway, Lan Zhan, I gotta be quick about this because I’m kinda sorta bending the rules here, but do you think you can go to Qiongqi Path and rescue Wen Qing and her family?”

“Okay.”

“Huh? Just like that? Not even going to ask me for a reason, er-gege?”

Lan Wangji’s ears flushed red at the address. “If Wei Ying wants to save them, you must have a good reason. That’s enough for me.”

“Ah, Hanguang-Jun.” The title was spoken fondly. “Always so good. I’ll tell you anyway. Wen Qing and her family sheltered Jiang Cheng and I after Lotus Pier fell and even brought back Jiang-shushu and Yu-furen’s bodies! That’s a debt I cannot repay.”

“I understand. I will help.”

He couldn’t see Wei Ying, but could practically feel the amusement from him.

“Wei Ying.”

“Yes?”

“Are......Are you well?”

“Of course I am. I’m actually feeling so much better than before.” Wei Ying grumbled, “I’m not even in pain anymore.”

“You were in pain?” Lan Wangji asked worriedly. “Wei Ying, why didn’t you say anything.”

“Lan Zhan, there was nothing you or anyone else could do to alleviate my pain. It doesn’t matter now. I’m okay.”

Lan Wangji was still worried and wanted to speak to him more, but---

“Ah! Looks like my time’s up!” Wei Ying exclaimed cheerfully as the dreamscape wavered. “See you, Lan Zhan!”

Lan Wangji nodded. “See you, Wei Ying.” I’ll catch up to you soon.

And 13 years later, Lan Wangji kept his promise.

___________________

I didn’t edit this so I’m hoping there’s not too many grammatical errors lol.

#mdzs #wei ying #wei wuxian #lan qiren #jin guangshan #jin guangyao #lan zhan #lan wangji #wen remnants #wen remnants survive #JGS and JGY can no longer scheme against WWX :)#LQR is kinda an asshole #but at least he sorta admits it?#hurt wei wuxian #implied chronic pain

139 notes · View notes

robininthelabyrinth · 3 years ago

Text

Beautifully Spent

aka Five Times Lan Qiren Left The Lan Sect Behind

- Chapter 2 -

A/N: As a note, each of these chapters is a separate story with a different point of divergence from canon timeline.

When Lan Wangji was six years old, and Lan Xichen nine, their mother died, breaking their hearts. Even Lan Qiren, who had never liked He Kexin and might have even hated her for having ruined all his dreams of travel, felt her absence keenly – he kept thinking of her at odd times, a matter of irrepressible habit. I should tell her about this next week, he would think as he watched his nephews accomplish something, or, upon receiving an offer to go night-hunting, We can’t go because we wouldn’t be able to make it back in time for the monthly visit, and then he’d abruptly remember she was dead and there would be no more monthly visits.

One time, sitting and watching Lan Wangji carefully practice his calligraphy during the time that would normally have been their monthly visit, he even found himself inexplicably wiping tears out of his eyes. It had been a struggle, but they’d finally gotten Lan Wangji to stop going to her door, ignoring snow and chill to wait there as if simply willing it would allow the door to open again, but he remained overly quiet, even quieter than he’d been before, the loss hurting him deeply, and seeing him hurt had hurt Lan Qiren. He tried to be subtle about it, to hide his abrupt display of emotionality, but before he knew it, Lan Wangji had come over to stand by his side, his little hands holding his own, earnestly mumbling, “Don’t cry, shufu, it’ll be all right” in an echo of what Lan Qiren had been trying so ineffectually to say to him.

“Yes,” he said, wiping harder, and ultimately giving up entirely and letting the tears stream down his cheeks, hiding his face entirely behind one of his sleeves. Lan Xichen found them at some point and curled up into Lan Qiren’s other side, tears starting to slowly seep down his own face; trying to hold back their strange shared grief was like trying to stop the tide. “It will be all right, eventually. I promise.”

He had made that promise too soon, it seemed: less than a week later, one of the elders remarked that it was time for Lan Xichen to take up some of the duties of running a sect.

“What?” Lan Qiren asked, blinking. “You’re joking. He’s nine.”

“He’s the future sect leader,” the elder said, and his gaze was cold. “Never forget, Teacher Lan, that although you fill the role now, you are only a custodian in his name.”

“That’s not the point I was making,” Lan Qiren said, frustrated; he had never been very good with words or with people. “Of course he will inherit the position, given time. But he is not even old enough for his own sword, and years away from night-hunting – why would you burden him with sect business? He’s far too young.”

“He is at exactly the right age to begin. How else can we ensure that he will not fall into the failings of his father or the crimes of his mother?”

“He is a child,” Lan Qiren stressed, wondering what he was missing. “We can only teach him to the best of our abilities, and hope that he does well with it; there’s nothing else that can be done.”

The elder shook his head. “We cannot take the risk of another generation of disaster. He must be trained, and trained now, trained well. If we do not take action, it may be too late, and he will be ruined.”

As you were, he didn’t say, but Lan Qiren felt keenly the burn of humiliation. He had never lived up to their expectations the way his brother had, and then his brother had gone and failed them all, too.

“What exactly are you thinking?” he asked, trying to dismiss the feeling of foreboding in his belly. An introduction to the burdens Lan Xichen would eventually face would not be so far amiss – a shichen a week of helping to transcribe simple letters, perhaps, or running errands, the sort of thing a boy could do and not be bored; that wouldn’t be too bad.

That wasn’t what they had in mind at all.

They wanted Lan Xichen to start tackling political problems at once, forcing him to make real decisions, deal with paperwork, and then also three times the usual lessons in sword and music, all the skills he would need to have. And all this, of course, on top of his regular lessons –

“We can assist, of course,” one of the elders said to the others, ignoring Lan Qiren’s aghast expression entirely. “But the sooner he grows accustomed to the work, the sooner he can step up –”

“You’ll crush him!” Lan Qiren exclaimed, interrupting, and he never interrupted the elders. “He’s a child, and a child who just lost his mother at that – how can you even suggest this? He would have no time to study in depth rather than shallowly, no time to think, to become his own person –”

“We will polish him into a perfect jade,” an elder said. “Him, and the younger one, too. What more do they need than to be of service to the sect?”

It wasn’t that Lan Qiren disagreed that service to their sect was the highest good, or that scholarly and martial pursuits were of the highest caliber, far more important than aimless play. He was a teacher, a strict one, and the sect rules accorded with his understanding: Learning comes first. But at the same time, there was learning and then there was learning – he was a teacher who cared for his students’ well-being, too. He knew that the approach proposed would not polish Lan Xichen into a jade but mold him instead, brutally pruning away any part of him that did not accord with the elders’ wishes.

It was just what they’d done to Lan Qiren the moment he became acting sect leader, after all.

They’d loaded him up with responsibilities until he’d nearly worked himself sick, refused to grant him the slightest freedom to travel even in a small and supervised manner, and they’d tried to force him to recant even those few things he did enjoy – composing music, teaching children. If he hadn’t already been as old as he was when it started, he wouldn’t have had the strength of will or determination to preserve even those few little things of his own…

“He should move into the hanshi soon,” another elder agreed. “If we expect him to take on the responsibilities of an adult, he should be treated as one.”

“Agreed. The sooner he disengages from messing around with his peers, the better. They will only distract him from what he needs to do.”

“I do not agree with this,” Lan Qiren said. “I am his guardian and his teacher. I do not agree.”

“I’m disappointed in you, Qiren,” one of the elders said, and Lan Qiren felt an automatic wash of shame, instinctive and ingrained after all these years. “You took the sect leader position with the knowledge that it would not truly be yours, and now you wish to preserve your personal power longer?”

I never wanted the position, which offers only power in exchange for its brutal demands! I still don’t want it! But to put it onto a child, any child, much less my own nephew who I love – how could I agree to that?

“You must not be selfish, as your brother was,” another elder scolded him, and normally Lan Qiren would be the first to agree. Being like his brother was his worst fear, and one he would do anything to avoid – but at the moment, the reminder felt wrong, as if they were using it as a tool to manipulate him rather than expressing what they really thought. “Do not cling to power and authority, after all. You cannot and must not steal what belongs to your nephews, Qiren. Never forget your place.”

Lan Qiren stared at him mutely. His place?

He had never been selfish. He had sacrificed everything – he had been filial and loyal, obedient to his elders, and they had taken everything from him, just as they planned to do to the two children that had been entrusted to his care. The only difference was that Lan Qiren had been allowed to live freely for a little while, and even that freedom was only because the elders had utterly ignored him in favor of his more talented brother, who had been protected by the love of his powerful father; for his nephews, who were all but orphaned and left only in his inferior care, there was no such defense.

This time, it was clear that the elders meant to rectify the situation – this time, they wouldn’t even leave Lan Wangji his childhood, let alone Lan Xichen.

They would hollow them out and leave them as little more than puppets, blindly obeying the rules without having the time to contemplate their meaning. They would squeeze out every moment of every day, turning each endless shichen into a joyless burden, transforming the rules into little more than a yoke to chain them – his nephews wouldn’t be Lan, who chose willingly to obey because they loved the rules and loved their sect and wanted to give everything for it. They would be little better than slaves.

Perhaps, Lan Qiren thought suddenly, it was not his selfishness that the elders were constantly seeking to correct. Perhaps it was their own.

He tried, first and foremost, to argue with them, but they did not listen to him. They had never listened to him, not from the first moment he had yielded to their wishes over his own desires and allowed himself to be trapped in the Cloud Recesses as the new sect leader. No – it was even older than that, from even before then, from as far back as when he had been small and helpless and crying out for help in his own way, not even knowing what was happening to him and why…

They had always turned their faces away.

Lan Qiren had tried his best to please them, and had failed. He’d thought the blame lay with him, but now he wasn’t so sure – now he thought that it didn’t matter what he did, that he never would.

Lan Qiren’s nephews were the ones who were small and helpless now, and unlike the elders that should have watched over him, he would not turn away.

The plan he hatched was ruthless in the extreme, but there was nothing else he could think of in his desperation. The Lan sect had always been very secretive, in its own way, keeping outsiders from knowing their personal business; although everyone within the sect knew that it was the elders who held all the real power, even if they disdained the work of it and left much of that for Lan Qiren to accomplish, from the outside it appeared as though Lan Qiren were sect leader, invested with all the powers of one.

To be a sect leader, in their day and age, was to be a tyrant.

No need to look at Wen Ruohan, the chief example of this trend, a man who made his sect kneel and touch their heads to the floor upon hearing that he was coming. It was enough to look instead at the Jiang sect, whose sect leader Jiang Fengmian whiled away his days waiting for his old lover to write, ignoring his wife despite her maternal family’s power and influence within his territory. Look at the Jin sect, where Jin Guangshan bedded every prostitute and poor young lady within range, surrounded by a cloud of rumors regarding whether he’d bothered to get all of them to consent – rumors there might be, but no one dared to make any trouble for him over it without actual proof. Look at Lao Nie, whose sect, elders and all, sighed and shook their heads over his excessive fondness for dangerous people, but could take no action to stop him.

Look at Lan Qiren’s father, who had spoiled one child into madness and neglected the other into near despair, and had trained his whole sect to accept it as a given. Lan Qiren was working to repair that damage, to lead by example, but it was a hard upward struggle – rot might start at the head, and healing, too, but the healing was harder than the rotting.

A sect leader, in short, was a tyrant.

And as far as the world was concerned, Lan Qiren was the sect leader.

Lan Qiren bided his time until the next discussion conference. It hurt him to wait, seeing poor Lan Xichen get stretched thin under his new duties and constantly reminded to keep a serene smile on his face throughout, seeing poor Lan Wangji so stressed at his brother’s misery and his own amplified lessons that he'd started biting people again, but he knew it was necessary. A discussion conference meant outsiders, and outsiders meant not losing face; it was the one time that Lan Qiren was actually treated as a sect leader by all around him, the one time no one would gainsay anything he said, even if they would later tear strips off of him in private.

It was his only chance.

"I have an announcement," he said mildly, presiding over the large gathering that marked the conclusion of the discussion conference. His Lan sect was the host of this conference, and he was accordingly seated at the head of the room, equal with the other Great Sects but given additional deference in view of the location - it was easy for his voice to carry, despite his quiet tone, and all the sects turned towards him to listen. They were probably expecting something anodyne, some additional prize or information about the weather to keep in mind as they departed. "I have decided that my Lan sect's ties to the rest of the cultivation world have grown stale, seeing each other as we do only at these times and the common people only on night hunts. As a result, in my authority as Sect Leader Lan, I intend to make a journey throughout the various sects, taking along my nephews to introduce them to your families. In my absence, the Cloud Recesses will be managed by my cousin, Lan Yueheng -"

Talk exploded in the whole audience, furious and loud, all but his own Lan sect which was calm and stone-faced as always, though of course that was only their pride and concern for face overwhelming their shock. Poor Lan Yueheng was the exception, of course, his jaw dropping open like a weight dropped from a great height until his neighbors noticed and elbowed him in the side to make him stop - Lan Qiren mentally apologized for not having warned his cousin up front. He hadn't dared to risk it.

" - and accordingly I will be leaving alongside the rest of you at the conclusion of this conference," he concluded, for once relieved that his voice never varied far from a monotone; he sounded cool and calm and in control, and like he hadn't noticed the way his sect elders were trying to strangle him with their gaze even as the maintained decorum. "Our first destination is the Nie sect's Unclean Realm, with Lao Nie as our host."

Lan Qiren hadn't warned Lao Nie, either, but he knew him well, and to his relief hadn't misjudged him - the other man didn't spare so much as a moment to blink in surprise, instead grinning broadly at the other sect leaders.

"You bet you are," he laughed, his voice booming and loud. "And don't think I'll let you leave so quickly, Qiren - not until your nephews are best friends with my sons, and not until you've had a chance to work your magic on my sect's younger generation and turn them from little beasts into proper gentlemen!"

Lan Qiren barely resisted rolling his eyes - he still didn't know who it was that had come up with the nonsense about him being able to turn the most hopeless waste into a gentleman, but it was rank exaggeration. But to his surprise, the first person to respond was the head of one of the more distant small sects, Baling Ouyang, a young man with an excitable temperament; he leapt up to his feet and exclaimed, "Will he really? Sect Leader Lan, I insist you visit my Ouyang sect next, if you haven't made firm plans - I scarcely recognized my little hellion nephews after a season in your care, all grown up, careful in thought and action, compassionate and upright...and no more pranks!"

Another exaggeration. The Ouyang twins had been troublesome only at the start, until Lan Qiren realized that what they longed for most was recognition as separate beings rather than a collective whole; as soon as he'd treated them with respect, and showed them how to act in return, they'd taken to his lessons like a desert to water.

"Sect Leader Lan's skill in teaching is very well known," Sect Leader Yao said, always first to speak after his friend from the Ouyang sect. "You'll really come to our sects to do it, rather than our children to the Cloud Recesses? And you won't charge, of course...?"

"Naturally no," Lan Qiren said, a little puzzled by their enthusiasm. Was it so expensive to send children to the Cloud Recesses? He’d never charged for his lessons, although he supposed there was the cost of travel and maintenance to the standard preferred by students, and of course guest gifts were customary, although he never made any demands. "I would be your guest, and enjoying your hospitality – room and board would be more than sufficient…"

"In that case, you should come to Pingyang next -"

"No, Yueyang!" someone else called, and before Lan Qiren knew exactly what was happening, the sect leaders were arguing over who he should visit first. The most enthusiastic were the ones whose children he had taught already, but the others were quick to catch up, loathe to miss out on what they perceived to be a good deal - even Wen Ruohan, never one to lose out to others when it came to something perceived of as desirable, extended an offer with a smug, snake-like smile.

Lan Qiren provisionally accepted all the offers with a growing sense of relief: with such public acceptance, the Lan sect would lose more face by refusing to let him go than in allowing his unorthodox action. It was just as he has hoped, and more successful than he'd dared to dream; the other sects had fixated on his teaching skills and in doing so had ignored the strangeness of a sect leader taking his heirs and all but running away from home.

That relief carried him through to the end of the meeting, when everyone divided up to pack up their things, and Lan Qiren returned to the inner parts of his sect to do the same.

"What are you thinking?" one of the elders demanded the second they were alone. "Have you gone mad?"

"Did you see the reception of my idea?" Lan Qiren replied, hiding the giddiness of relief under a facade of calm. "The sect will benefit greatly from the connections we will make."

"That's no answer!"

Lan Qiren was a filial child; even if they were wrong, he would not tell the elders so to their faces. Instead he only bowed deeply and said, "What's done is done. I need to get ready, and quickly; it would be embarrassing if we weren't prepared."

Of course, he'd already packed everything he thought he'd need, determined to take Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji with him no matter what - it was only luck that his plan had worked as well as it had, allowing him to pretend to some move of subtle strategic genius rather than a retreat out of desperation. Still, he needed to go through the motions.

"Fine," another elder spat out, although their demeanor made it clear that it wasn't fine at all. "But did you have to announce that the provisional leader was Lan Yueheng? He's completely unfit!"

By which they meant that he wouldn't listen to them - that he was brash and lacked tact, said what he thought and cared for nothing but his experiments, his wife, and his children. Out of all of Lan Qiren’s cousins, he was the most thick-faced, shameless to the extreme, essentially immune to criticism or guilt.

That was, of course, exactly why Lan Qiren had picked him.

"He's good at math and accounting, and at arranging provisioning," Lan Qiren said, picking the more acceptable reason. "That's the key responsibility left over, isn't it? Everything else, I can do through correspondence."

The reassurance that Lan Qiren would still be doing his duty to the sect - would still be accountable to them - helped settle some ruffled feathers. It wouldn't be pleasant to try to do the work of sect leader from abroad, Lan Qiren knew; it would mean a lot of sleepless nights slaving away by candlelight, with no support from any aides, bearing all the weight himself. No doubt the elders knew it too, and figured that he'd soon enough lose interest in what he heard them calling, in hushed voices where they thought he could not hear, his "little show of rebellion".

Lan Qiren didn't care. The sooner they left, the better the chances that the elders would continue to be deceived into thinking that Lan Qiren was doing all this for his own sake - some last stab at achieving his long forgotten dreams, doomed to inevitable disappointment - instead of what it really was, which was freedom for his nephews. They couldn't be assigned work or classes from a distance; their education would be wholly in Lan Qiren’s hands.

He'd take a thousand sleepless nights of overwork if it meant they got to be children a little longer.

"Are we really going to the Unclean Realm?" Lan Wangji lisped, looking even more rosy-cheeked and excited than usual. "Will – will Nie-gongzi will be there?"

"Yes, Mingjue-xiong will be there," Lan Xichen said, and grinned at Lan Qiren over his brother’s head. He looked more carefree than he had in...possibly years, and Lan Qiren briefly regretted how long it had taken him to do this. "Since you like him so much."

Lan Wangji turned bright red at once.

"Both of the Nie boys will be there," Lan Qiren said. "The younger one is closer to your age, Wangji. You can get to know him as well."

Lan Qiren went next to the library pavilion, looking for books on their sect rules - he might not trust his sect elders, but he loved his sect, loved their rules and traditions, and he wanted his nephews to love it, too. He wanted them to see the Cloud Recesses as a refuge, as a haven - not a burden.

He would give his nephews the freedom he'd longed for, and when they were older...when they were older, more resilient, more sure of who they were, he would bring them back and he would ensure that they obtained their rightful inheritance. In full, not in part - Lan Xichen would be a real sect leader, not a puppet for the elders, taught only to be pleasant and yielding and to perform well with his cultivation, swordsmanship and music only for the purpose of impressing outsiders. Lan Wangji would be his brother’s right hand, would love and respect him and be loved and respected in turn.

Maybe, Lan Qiren thought to himself, amused, they would even find some compatible child on their way and one day return to bring them home as a dao companion.

He couldn't wait to find out.

#mdzs #lan qiren #lan xichen #lan wangji #sect leader nie #my fic #my fics #beautifully spent

196 notes · View notes

mybg3notebook · 4 years ago

Text

Astarion Analysis

Disclaimer Game Version: All these analyses were made up to the game version v4.1.101.4425. As long as new content is added, and as long as I have free time for that, I will try to keep updating this information.

“Morals are all well and good, but power always wins.”

“If all I want is shallow praise? Hardly, there is also gold, sex, revenge, quite the list, really. But failing any of those, I will always settle for shallow praise.”

--Astarion

The majority of sources used for this article are in the game itself (including Astarion-solo playthroughs) and the dev’s notes and datamined information provided by pjenn. Astarion as origin is (almost) not taken into account since it’s not finished and is highly unpolished.

The itemised list will show some instances of approval or disapproval as seen in the game. To make the reading of this article easier and shorter, you can skip them since they are basically the proof I use to sustain the introductory concept of each block.

We can infer a lot of Astarion by analysing what he approves and disapproves of. Sometimes, we can even lightly infer some information from his neutral reactions, but let’s be honest: this way of analysing a char is pretty poor since it leaves everything to speculation. Neutral reactions can only be analysed by contrasting the same situation in other contexts, and seeing what other options Astarion approves or disapproves of. With these considerations in mind, we can proceed to describe this character.

Disclaimer: this is a meta with my personal interpretation of the character, sticking as much as possible to the facts and leaving little to “desires” or “projections” of what I want him to be. If I do so, I will state it explicitly in the text for the sake of analysis honesty. I want to be clear about what is canon (facts shown in bg3 EA), from what’s personal interpretation with little proof.

Also, this list is extensive, gathering as much as I could in my many playthroughs, but I’m sure it’s not absolutely complete. Some details may have escaped to me, but honestly, I believe they will be easily fit in these blocks once the pattern has been seen.

Understanding Astarion by enumerating his reactions

Astarion is usually seen as a character whose behaviour is the embodiment of “randomness”, and after several Astarion-solo playthoughts, I began to see the patterns that showed little randomness in my opinion.

We can say that he likes gratuitous cruelty and murder. He has a special taste for animal cruelty too. He is greedy, but mostly if it leads to murder or to make little people suffer. Sometimes this greedy side comes from the fact that he doesn’t like to “work for free”: most quests should have a reward for him to be neutral to them. Accepting them without asking anything in return tends to earn a disapproval. He is more reticent to humiliate or outsmart NPCs that may be potentially stronger and more powerful than him.

[[1]] Situations showing his greed:

He supports the robbery of the fishermen that were helping the mind flayer (MF) after the crash.

Astarion supports stealing the “magical” ring from the tiefling kid (Mattis). This could be seen also as a gesture of outsmarting a person or mere trickster behaviour (see below).

He supports asking for compensation from the deep gnome we saved at the windmill.

He agrees to force Tulla (dying gnome in the myconid camp) to give you her magical boots.

Denying Baelen the scrolls because “they don’t come cheap”.

He approves pickpocketing Mirkon while being lured by the harpies.

[[2]]Situations displaying plain murder or violence:

He supports joining Lae’zel against the tieflings if you persuade them to free her, since this means killing (which is always an entertainment for him) creatures he considers lesser.

He supports killing Gimblebok and his gang near the Jergal ruins if you avoid any attempt of persuasion. This can be shown as a demonstration of power. (see below)

He supports killing Kagha without trying to persuade her or change her ways, not because he thinks Arabella’s death was an aberration (he enjoyed the show, as his approval and later comment confirm it) but simply because he enjoys murder.

He supports attacking the goblin camp. It’s a great spectacle of murder combined with his personal dismiss towards goblinoid races.

He approves of joining Minthara and massacrating the tieflings. It’s another great spectacle of murder, but in this time, of weak people (He detests weak creatures, and despises Tieflings in general).

He approves of killing Lae’Zel in the scene where she attacks Tav during the night, out of fear of turning into MF.

He approves of killing Rugan in the hideout.

Still related to this level of violence and cruelty, he supports learning more about Shar once Shadowheart explains Shar’s teachings, all about violence and death, fighting against the illusion of safety.

He approves killing Ellyka, the tiefling spying on the Gith patrol, if Tav is a Githyanki (true or disguised as) and chooses “Attack.”

He approves of helping Glut in massacring the whole Myconid colony.

He approves of sacrificing one of the companions to the fish-people who worship Booal.

He approves fighting the fake god Booal because it’s a massacre; where there is bloodshed, there is Astarion’s approval.

For the same reason he approves killing the Githyanki patrol: pure bloodshed.

[[3]] Situations of gratuitous cruelty: I understand that a lot of people confuse this trait of his personality as a “trolling attitude”. There are different archetypes of tricksters in DnD, and he is not particularly the silly-funny one (e.i. Jester in Critical Role), but the cruel-funny one. His “pranks” don’t cause annoyance or silly troubles, they usually end up in murdering the person he is pranking, or causing them great pain. What he considers “funny” is always related to a lot of blood and suffering. Examples of this:

He disapproves of diffusing the situation between Aradin and Zevlor after the first goblin attack. He is “missing” his show. This situation is also related to enjoying humiliation of others (see below).

After letting Arka kill the goblin and take her revenge, Astarion will approve the comment that refugees are desperate and they will do anything. He is enjoying the show of despair of weak creatures. And he is also expecting for some of them to become survivalist beasts.

He approves of telling Kagha that you enjoyed the show of Arabella’s death as an answer to her question about if she is a monster.

He also approves of telling Arabella's parents that Kagha will release their daughter when the Rite of Thorns is completed (while Arabella, in fact, has been killed by Kagha's snake). This is another example of Evil Trickster, a prank with a really dark taste. This also shows that Astarion likes to give false hopes [One of the most iconic characteristic of Cazador]

He approves of telling the tiefling kids training with Wyll that they are going to die, inspiring that despair he enjoys to see in weak creatures. (see below)

He approves of breaking Alfira’s teacher’s lute, leaving the tiefling heartbroken because that had been the only memento she got from her teacher, and could not finish her tribute song.

Astarion approves of interrupting the goblinoid couple having sex, which he considers disgusting. After killing them, Astarion will support the idea that it was funny. Another example of Evil Trickster where the prank ends up with the death of the pranked one. But we also know Astarion despises goblinoid races.

He approves of killing Crusher after humiliating him.

He supports Tav who volunteers to torture Liam at the goblin camp.

He supports of laughing at Lorin (the elf trapped in Ethel’s house) after pretending to be the monster he sees (psychological torture). This example can be part of the list of humiliation too.

He states that seeing Mayrina’s horrified face after resurrecting her husband was funny. Another example of false hopes [One of the most iconic characteristics of Cazador] On the contrary, if Tav kills the undead afterwards, Astarion will disapprove, since he missed the “fun” of seeing Mayrina tortured.

He enjoys every state of Abdirak’s torture upon Tav. This can be seen as a fine bloody show he is enjoying, or as a way to put Tav in a humiliating situation (as he approved the dung-smearing or the foot-kissing instances)

Using the leader gnoll Flind to attack her own gnolls earns his approval. Asking her to devour herself increases approval once more. This situation could also be seen as enjoyment of animal cruelty (since gnolls are considered animals by Astarion too) but also as the reflection of Astarion’s inner desire of becoming a Master of bending wills.

Probably the most innocent prank so far we saw, he approves of doing Baaa at the redcaps in the Bog.

[[4]] As I said previously, he suports any form of animal cruelty:

He approves of kicking and killing the squirrel Timber in the Druid Grove. According to the dev’s notes, he is “shocked and annoyed” because “you stamped a squirrel to death when he could’ve eaten it.” (DEN_General_Squirrel)

He supports prodding to death the bird that Nettie was healing during the dialogue (you need Speak with Animals for this).

He supports freeing the Owlbear cub at the Goblin Camp, and feeding it later, because he wants to bite the owlbear cub eventually (he uses the word “delectable” to describe him, and when the owlbear escapes, Astarions states “You‘ve scared off the little snack.”)

When we find Halsin in his bear form, Astarion will have two instances of approval: the first one when Tav tells the goblin kids that throwing stones with sharp edges would hurt the animal more, and then when Tav themself joins the goblins in throwing rocks at Halsin.

We can also add the confrontation with Flind, the Gnoll leader, as another example of animal cruelty since he approves a smart yet twisted way of killing her by double-using the tadpole. First to command her to attack the gnolls, and then to devour herself. However, since Gnolls are considered aberrations lore-wise, this point could be left aside in this particular case.

If we take into consideration that Astarion sees Goblins, Kobolds, and Gnomes as animals, killing them always increases his approval. This happens when we kill, out of the blue, most goblin NPCs, or simply attack the camp. (Datamined content) He will also approve of killing slave gnomes in Duergar Encampment (place you find after the boat). All these moments can be also seen as “animal” cruelty if we take into account Astarion’s perspective.

He approves of killing Priestess Gut in the Goblin Camp. It could also be interpreted as his usual dismissal towards goblins (he sees them as animals), since he never believed that she could help them in the first place. Or this approval can fit perfectly fine the cruel, murderous aspect of Astarion. As I said, many approvals overlap different aspects of Astarion, but all seem to fit his patterns either way.

I suspect that the reason behind this particular kind of cruelty comes from those two hundred years of torture, in which he had to drink animal blood. Considering he was such an unfair magistrate, directing his rage against the ones who are not the root of the problem seems fitting.

[[5]] Astarion is filled with racial bias and prejudices.

He only sees elves and humans as the only creatures capable of thinking. (Scene after the bite)

However, he has strong biases against a particular ethnic group of humans: Gurs. He thinks they are all cut-throat, and probably would approve the rest of stereotypes that Gandrel added in that scene. (Scene of meeting Gandrel)

He mocks halfling and dwarf Tavs, who he thinks are naturally weak, until they prove him wrong. (Stargaze scene for short-sized Tav)

He supports the idea that tieflings have demonic powers just because of their heritage. (Speaking with the Grove halfling seller). During the party, he compares the lives of the tieflings with the lives of the goblins as something of similar value (which we know he considers as animal).

He sees goblins, kobolds, and gnomes as animals. (Scene after the bite)

After killing the goblinoid couple which was having sex, if Tav choose to say that the situation made them scrub their eyes, Astarion would add and extra “dehumanizing” comment against gnomes. “I’ve seen worse. Gnomes can be… ughh.” (Scene of interrupting sex)

[[6]] He finds pleasure in humiliating people or in outsmarting them, especially if they are trying to outsmart Tav. He dislikes weakness and loves to humiliate weak people in particular.

He approves telling Lae’Zel to say “please” when we met her again in the cage, humiliating her.

He disapproves of diffusing the situation between Aradin and Zevlor after the first goblin attack. We know he is “missing” his show where one of them is being humiliated.

Astarion approves of telling Elegis that she is pathetic for being scared of a few goblins. Once more, humiliation due to weakness.

He disapproves of telling Arabella's parents that the Druids overreacted when speaking in the Druid Grove’s stairs. He is disapproving for defending a weak and silly creature who was not smart enough to survive on her own.

Astarion supports stealing the “magical” ring from the tiefling kid. This is another situation of humiliation of a weak person and outsmarting them. This could be considered a prank of a more silly-funny trickster doing an innocent prank.

He approves of telling the tiefling kids that they are going to die.

He feels disappointed when Lae’Zel did not kill Zorru, the tiefling that she forces to kneel and confess where he saw the Gith patrol. He approves the psychological torture of the interrogation.

He enjoys interrupting the goblinoid couple having sex. This is an example of the prank cruel-funny trickster. This “prank” ends up with the goblinoid couple being killed.

Astarion approves of smearing dung in the guard's face at the goblin camp entrance. The show of seeing someone being humiliated is satisfying.

He supports booing and humiliating Volo off the stage in the goblin camp.

He supports licking the goblin’s foot (It could also be considered a prank).

He supports kissing the goblin’s foot while stealing the ring. This situation puts two things he enjoys in the same place: the humiliation experienced by Tav and how the Crusher was outsmarted in the process. Astarion will approve if Crusher is the one humiliated and forced to kiss Tav’s foot.

He approves of laughing at Lorin (the elf trapped in Ethel’s house) when the elf is scared of Tav who pretends to be the monster that’s torturing him.

Humiliating “low people'' is an important aspect of Astarion’s personality, since it’s a small petty pleasure he can have now, when during the last two hundred years it had been done to him. Humiliation has to do with power as well, another symbol tight to Astarion’s personality. Through humiliation Astarion can taste a little bit of power, that power he lacked for two hundred years. That power that, if his backstory is not retconned in future versions or in the full release game, he had before turning into a vampire, abusing those groups he considered less.

[[7]] If we think in power, we also have to think in manipulation. And of course, Astarion is a great master of it. Sometimes the events that stand out his taste for manipulation overlap with the ones displayed in the humiliation section.

Since the moment we meet Astarion, we know he keeps working in turning himself into a pleasant and useful companion for Tav. Astarion knows he has bigger chances to succeed and survive staying with this group. A lot of his “neutral” behaviours respond to this goal: he doesn’t want to enrage Tav to the point of being kicked out of the party, it’s not about a hidden gentle side inside he is showing with an apathetic neutrality, it’s, once more, raw preservation and survival. During the first scenes of the game, when we don’t know he is a vampire, Astarion tries to avoid taking a position in the situations we face: he is just feeling the ground all the time: with Sazza and with Arabella’s death is clear. He doesn’t judge hard, he is testing Tav, he is trying to understand their mind, and acting as pleasant as he can according to what he sees. It’s a natural use of manipulation to guarantee his survival in a group of strangers. During the bite scene—when this façade finally ends—he is truly nervous of being killed for his vampiric nature, and tries to convince Tav of keeping him in the group using arguments that go from seduction to practical usefulness.

The scene of stargaze also shows his usage of seduction as a manipulative tool to guarantee his survival (he weponises seduction and sex). Although he says mostly the same, he reacts very differently in tone depending on Tav’s approach. If Tav is wary, Astarion will act encouraging their ego and enumerating several feats, while getting uncomfortably closer. If Tav is already interested in Astarion, the elf will use softer manners to keep the seduction into a more intimate tone. This is a scene of a predator tasting his future prey as well (Dev’s notes are pretty clear about his manipulation). In this scene, also, Astarion is light-headed because he has not drunk blood in a while, and has “his head foggy” (something we can repeat during his origin as a personal tag). Exact words he will use as a narrative hint during the bite scene. Therefore, this scene has little of “Astarion falling for Tav”, and has everything of vampiric hunger combined with a raw sense of survival and usage of seduction to guaranteed it.

(potential interpretation) He approves when he is persuaded into sharing his dream with Tav. In any other character, we usually would understand this as an approval for caring about the character himself. In that scenario, failing the approval doesn’t cause a penalty (unless the character understands this failure as prying, as it happens with Shadowheart). In Astarion’s case, when you fail this persuasion, you are penalised with a disapproval. We can understand this in the same way we see it with Shadowheart: this is his annoyance for prying into his personal business. But there is another interpretation in this disapproval: he recognised a bad execution of persuasion as a manipulative attempt, and Astarion is in particular very sensitive to manipulations and mind games (see point [12]).

Most of his “romance” is manipulation as well, keeping in mind the first point of this section: he becomes pleasant for Tav, using whatever shape he needs, so he can survive (this is especially noticeable with a good-aligned Tav). Astarion has weaponised seduction and sex without any hint of subtetly for the player (As the Dev’s notes say: “For Astarion, this is a game of power - one he’s played many times before in the taverns of Baldur’s Gate, trying to lure people back to his master. He’s an old hand at seduction, very self-assured at first, but the player might not go along with the script he expects them to follow.”) We can assure that Astarion will find more satisfaction in having “fun” with a high-approval Tav rather than a low-approval Tav.

If Tav is not evil enough (and therefore has a low approval), Astarion will need to be the one inviting Tav to have sex (to be sure the control is still in his hand, still pushing for “catching” Tav). If a low-approval-Tav invites Astarion, he will decline saying that he “has standards'', implying he needs to be the one controlling the situation (he is basically playing “hard to catch”. Astarion already knows that he “caught” Tav in this scenario since Tav was the first one showing their interest). If Tav is evil-like (and has enough approval), Astarion will not only weaponise sex, he may express some degree of personal desire in having “fun” with Tav. After all, evil characters can like one another. In this case, he would accept Tav’s invitation for more hedonist reasons such as personal pleasure and not mere survival. Still it’s always present the layer of using this situation as a manipulative tool to have control on Tav.

Approves persuading Crusher without a fight, understanding it as an approval earnt for the good manipulation tool used. Of course this scene is combined with the natural approval that Astarion gives when outsmarting creatures he considers lower or animal-like (See point [6]).

Successfully persuade Lae'Zel to "play along" when meeting the Githyanki patrol, and pull off the deception.

I personally found funny that Astarion, without the intention of the writer, is so good in his manipulations, that he broke the fourth wall and ended up manipulating a good amount of players as well into believing him.

[[8]] He supports revenge in all its forms and degrees, which is not strange since it’s his main motivation against Cazador.

He approves of letting Arka kill Sazza in the cage as revenge for her brother’s death.

He approves of the attack against Nettie when she poisons Tav.

He approves of telling Edowin's siblings to find the beast that attacked him as a way to avenge the True Soul.

Astarion approves of Arabella’s mother killing Kagha at the party.

He approves of helping the Sovereign to take revenge against the Duergars that killed their young. However, it’s not clear if Astarion approves the revenge itself or the method proposed, which is, according to his own words, “a bit genocidal” and therefore more entertaining for him (we need to remember he enjoys the display of murder and violence in all its forms, [2,3]).

He approves of helping Glut in massacring the whole Myconid colony, since according to Glut’s words, they saw Glut’s circle being killed by the Duergars and did nothing, so Glut is looking for revenge.

[[9]] He doesn’t like to get involved in anyone’s problems unless you can obtain a benefit or a reward for it (this is directly connected to his greed aspect [1])

He approves of telling Mayrina’s brothers that they are on their own, and actively disapproves if Tav agrees to help them find Mayrina.

He approves of declining to help Halsin in killing the Goblin leaders.

He disapproves of helping Wyll to save the Tiefling refugees in the Grove.

He disapproves of helping Zevlor.

He disapproves of finding evidence that confirms that Kagha is working with Shadow Druids. He will additionally disapprove again if, after exposing her, Tav asks her to change her ways. From Astarion’s point of view, Tav is basically meddling too much in the Grove’s problems for free, and ruining all the instances where murder could happen.

He also disapproves if Tav agrees to help the two Zhentarim humans that are attacked by gnolls without asking for compensation.

He approves of not getting involved in the rescue of the Duke when Tav speaks with Florrick

[[10]] Despite having been a slave, he lacks of empathy for those who shared his fate and, instead, he supports slavery:

If we take into consideration what Swen said about his background in one of the first playthough he showed, we know that Astarion, as a magistrate, used criminals as food for local vampires, and in an attempt to outsmart them, he began to sell them into slavery (we can see in this brief background that Astarion has been greedy and cruel before turning into a vampire).

Although he disapproves paying for Oskar, the painter in the Zhentarim Hideout, he does it because of the money. When Tav buys the painter and demands him to stay silent because “slaves should speak when they are spoken to”, Oskar will think this is a joke (which is not the case, since none of those options has, in this patch at least, a (performance) tag). When Tav reinforces the idea that this is not a joke, and Oskar is now a true slave, only then, Astarion will approve.

When seeing one of the servant Duergars of the Myconite Colony, Astarion will comment on how useful they are, and how Underdark drows should learn about these creatures, since these slaves are more efficient than the standard ones. If Tav brings awareness about the contradiction that those thoughts cause coming from an ex-slave, Astarion will justify his thinking saying that they are husks without mind, claiming that his feelings “may be different, had they been conscious beings. Or maybe not.” He emphasises in this dual possibility. And we can be sure that he certainly would not care slavery on conscious creatures, as we confirm it later with Oskar (A human who is not a Gur, and therefore, a creature that Astarion consider thinking acceptable beings).

(Datamined content) When reaching the Duergar Encampment, once Nere is rescued, there is approval for killing the slave gnomes when the True Soul orders it. One can interpret that Astarion minds little for these slaves because they are gnomes, and therefore, animals.

[[11]] He looks for power and dominance, to have control over others and also as a way to guarantee his own freedom.

In the discussion after every dream, Astarion supports the use of the tadpole's power in every opportunity, dismissing their effects. He is thrilling for the ability of bending everyone’s will (curious note, this is one of Cazador’s characteristics most hated by him)

He approves of letting the Koa-Toes bow before them as the Booal's chosen. This scene can be understood as a typical prank of a trickster, but also as a taste for being adored as a master/entity with more power. This scene shows that he and Tav are placed in the “Master” position. This reinforces the idea that Astarion wants to be a Master/Cazador, eventually. (Check post about Astarion and Power 1 and 2)

If Tav claims that the worship to them as True Souls can be useful after letting Edowin’s siblings leave, Astarion will approve. He shows in every instance more delight for having Cazador’s powers, making emphasis in the mind control ability, again.

Astarion approves of keeping the Necromancy of Thay tome. As we see later in his scene, he believes that there is something powerful hidden in it that may help him against Cazador. He wants to muster all the power of any kind he can.

Astarion approves of sparing Auntie Ethel’s life when she surrenders during battle because she will grant them power in exchange. He wants to muster all the power of any kind he can.

[[12]] Astarion is particularly sensitive to mind control. His expressions and the tone of his voice against any type of mind control are filled with feral ire (video here):

He is angrily affected by the movements of his worm in his own head,

He screams against Ethel’s control when using the mask,

The insults at the harpies when he is lured,

The way he is annoyed by the telepathic spores in the Underdark,

He disapproves failed attempts of persuasion (understood by his character as failed, obvious attempts of manipulations).

And, potentially, this is the reason why he disapproves of Priestess Gut cleaning Tav’s mind.

[[13]] Because he likes power, he also likes the demonstration of power whether his own or his allies’, therefore he likes most intimidation options in general

He approves of intimidating Gimblebok and the gang near the ruins.

He approves of intimidating or provoking both Aradin and Zevlor at the Druid Grove.

At camp, when discussing preferred methods of death, he approves if Tav tells him "If I die, I'll take you with me." (after first picking "Try it and I'll spill your guts") . He also approves if Tav chooses a method of death (decapitation, knife, poison). Both options show resolve, strength, and freedom in deciding one’s fate. Since Astarion died at the hands of strangers, he values the freedom of choosing how to die. He will disapprove picking the option of letting others decide your death.

He approves if you intimidate the mirror into allowing passage.

[[14]] He is a survivalist character, and therefore, a lot of his approvals are related to elements that will guarantee his life, such as looking for his own freedom, the acceptance of his vampire nature, and the encouragement in looking for strong alliances or keeping alive strong individuals that can be useful as allies.

He approves of being accepted with his vampire nature and allowing him to feed on Tav’s blood. He keeps approving if Tav defends him during the exchange of opinions in the camp.

He approves if he has permission to feed on enemies.

He approves of killing Gandrel. This approval is also mere raw survival.

He approves if during sex, Tav allows him to drink their blood.

He disapproves of promising Nettie to take Wyvern Poison if you feel symptoms of the Tadpole, since it goes against his survival instinct.

When Lae’Zel is killed by the Gith patrol, he will state in banter that it was a waste since Lae’Zel was a powerful/strong specimen, so clearly he is lamenting the loss of a powerful ally.

Despite appreciating his freedom, he has explicitly stated that he “would choose servitude over oblivion any day”, showing how extremely survivalist he can be.

[[15]] He likes to find a solution to their tadpole problem using unconventional ways, or at least, using options that may lead him to the twisted solution he needs (which is not exactly being cured of the tadpole, but to control it, he certainly needs more exceptional means)

He approves of telling Auntie Ethel about the tadpole in the Druid Grove simply because she “looks lunatic”.

At first, Astarion disapproves of Raphael's invitation to remove the Tadpole, claiming that he would not change one master for another. However, when the situation starts looking dire, he will approve of the idea, because anything “may be better than Cazador” adding later that he “would choose servitude over oblivion any day.”

A bit contradictory when he was the first one claiming that Raphael used mind games similar to Cazador’s, games they know they have won before starting.

[[16]] He has a “soft spot” for helping people to escape their masters or killing/rejecting people that can be seen as Masters. However it’s requirement that those escapees could be seen by Aastarion as strong and capable creatures. He would mind little for creatures he sees as underlings. (Weak concept, seeing it with squinted eyes)

He approves of helping Karlach to get rid of the Tyr followers, since they are in fact working for Zariel, Karlach’s previous master. With all what Karlach explained about her past, she certainly qualifies as a strong person who is trying to get rid of her master.

He disapproves of Tav who tells Raphael that they would do anything to remove the Tadpole. This is probably resounding in Astarion: his past bad choice when he was at death's door due to the Gur attack and Cazador appeared to “save” him. He knows that going to that extent has poor results.

Astarion approves of Tav if they say that they won’t become Raphael's pawn (conversation in the camp after the encounter with Raphael). It’s true that when the other options narrow, Astarion starts to consider the possibility of changing a vampiric master for an infernal one.

This post was written on April 2021.

→ For more Astarion: Analysis Series Index

#astarion #bg3 early access #bg3 meta

323 notes · View notes

ratsredelicious · 2 years ago

Text

☾ Genshin in Stranger Things ☽

✤ My opinion on them in stranger things. I will be analyzing their qualities and their roles as well as if themselves. This will not be a comparison to the actual characters in stranger things!

✤ Warnings! Spoilers to the show, blood mention, slight ramblings, slight crack

✤ Characters: Albedo, Ayato, Beidou, Childe, Chongyun, Diluc, Kaeya, Ningguang, Thoma, Xiao, Xingqiu, Zhongli ✤

✣ Albedo ✣

Role: Scientist, Helper

Qualities:

-Big advantage to solving puzzles.The first one to get an solution; always. Even if the problems are confusing, he’d find a way

- He also makes deadlier weapons for when the group needs protection

- If the group is in trouble, he aids them in everything. Need ammunition for your gun? He’s got it prepared. He’ll also notice small scrapes and will mentally note to bring first aid for later

- He’s powerful because he uses his environment to fight for him. Being chased by a demodog? He’ll slow their path by dropping an entire book case in their way

Disadvantage :

- Though quick and smart, he’s not good at shooting a gun or brute strength

- I feel like his main disability is not getting in touch with reality. His head is always in the cloud whenever he’s thinking harshly and no one can really tell him no because he’s persistent in his idea

- If he’s ever in a situation where he’s cornered by a demogorgon by himself, he’d freeze up immediately

Summary: Albedo is a very lucky recruit if he were on your team. Though he would not believe that there was evil creatures lurking around at first, he’d immediately accept that there’s a possibility. He’s a big help when giving helpful suggestions and answers when the team is losing enthusiasm. He’ll go into almost every situation willingly if it means keeping his group safe and saving the world. Even if he’s cornered, you know he’ll fight his way out.

✣ Ayato ✣

Role: Logical, Planner

Qualities:

- Was a prodigy as a kid and it grew once he’s older

- Tells the group “no” if they ever came up with something risky like self sacrificing or baiting.

- He’s the mind of the group, steering them away from getting themselves killed but also putting himself between his teammates and demodogs if they surround him and his group

- He plans the route and the plans. He always have everything prepared beforehand. His routines are strict and precise.

- Also a charmer. Need to get into private property? Bring him along with you

Disadvantage :

- Even though he’s logical, he gets annoyed easily and often resulting in him glaring at his teammates in silence

- EXTREMELY quick metabolism. He’d wander off to look for food. He can’t help it. Running from demodogs and demogorgons make him hungry

- Can’t use weapons for the life of him. He’ll smash a demodog’s face with a plate, though

Summary: A lovely addition to your group, if you need a non dying plan. However, his charisma can get into places that people aren't usually allowed to go. The fact that he can plan things ahead of time? Yes, duh, you need a plan if you are to survive. If one or two of his teammate is cornered, he’ll jump in and save them. He’s the fight kind of guy.

✣ Beidou ✣

Role: Babysitter figure, team leader

Qualities:

- no one questions her if she decides for herself. She needs to keep her group safe at all cost

- Will jump into a fight bare handed if a demogorgon decides that it wants to snack on her beloved teammates

- She enforces the plans and will give honest opinions on Albedo’s rambling

- Brings the group together when they start to fall apart

- Brute force. She crushes two demodogs with her hands?

- Everyone loves her and she equally loves them. She will fight with her last breath if it means saving her lovely kids from danger

Disadvantage:

- Gets too emotional and scolds her teammates harshly if they were trying to self sacrifice.

- Has no filter when fighting. Will stick her fist down the demogorgon’s throat and will come out victorious

- fakes her smile when she’s in pain. :( please stop putting up a mask Beidou

- Self sacrifice :( hypocrite

Summary: She puts others first. Always thoughtful and considerate of her group and strangers. She’ll shield her teammates with her body and die fighting for their safety.

✣ Childe ✣

Role: Exterminator, Helper

Qualities:

- Obviously he’d be excited to kill something. Spine chilling for when he turns back to his group-mates with a wide smile after demolishing a demodog.

- You don’t have to worry because he’ll find the monsters before they find him.

- He makes sure his group sleeps peacefully.

- He’s very skilled with knives but an amateur with guns. Always carrying a pocket knife for protection

- Selfish at first but turns selfless when the group shows kindness towards him

- Extremely loyal. He’ll save you from a demogorgon if you take a bite from a demodog that was meant for him

- the group will be wide eyed when they see him bandaging up a group member’s wound without them asking

- He’s itching to fight but if he’s needed to aid the group, he’s willing to do it

Disadvantage:

- Acts before thinking

- Annoying most of the time (mostly to Ayato)

- Takes the deadliest risks, often almost self sacrificing himself before Beidou stops him

- Often scolded because of his bloodthirsty behavior and because of that, he’ll run off somewhere and return with a few bruises, him often beating a tree because of his irritation

- loud, will attract the monsters to your location quicker

Summary: Childe is a fierce warrior. His combat and brute force helps with surprise attacks from random monsters. Though he often scares some of his fellow teammates, he’ll protect them with his life even if they don’t feel the same.

✣ Chongyun ✣

Role: supernatural abilities (Telepathy), main communicator

Qualities:

- He has superpowers “but it’s not as cool as telekinesis” he’d say

- The main communication between when the group splits up. He can talk to them and hear them talk back (in his mind of course)

- doesn’t know why but the monsters seem to avoid him

- Safest way to survive is being near him but he’s also prone to danger when brave demodogs try to bite at him

- Extremely brave and can face the monsters head on. Can use a gun, thankfully. He can aim and shoot.

- One of the most doted members in the group. Especially by Beidou

Disabilities:

- Skittish when around new people. He needs comfort or else he’d die

- Fight or flight? He’d run to a more powerful group-mate, presumably Childe or Beidou, for help

- Nothing triggers him more than being out in the scolding hot sun for hours so he’d have to wear a sun blocking hat for hours which can leave him blinded if he’s fighting a demogorgon or a demodog.

- Pulls out his weapon a little too late since he’s frozen in fear

Summary: Reliable communicator and your own personal charm. You can’t help the feeling of over-protectiveness washing over you when you look at him. He’s just so adorable. It’ll also leave people sacrificing themselves for him if he’s ever in danger but he’ll cry and you wouldn’t want to upset him, do you?

✣ Diluc ✣

Role: Protector, Exterminator

Qualities:

- mainly keeps the group together

- Boosts moral amongst the group members, assuring that they will survive and it’ll be okay

- Also becomes a protector if necessary. I see him throwing a giant rock at a demodog cause it was chasing after Chongyun or something

- Experienced with any kinds of weapons unlike Childe

- No spare demodogs will leave alive if he’s with you. He’ll protect with his life, often exhausting himself when trying to kill those suckers

- If the group is hungry, he whips up something to eat even if food is scarce. He uses his environment to his advantage like Albedo.

- Acts and thinks when he’s in a fight. He’s not careless.

Disabilities:

- Has favorites. He’s just more prone to protecting the ones he likes more but will protect nonetheless

- Unfeeling in his answers. His teammates think he hates them but he doesn’t

- Feelings contradicts his actions. He’s also a slight hypocrite, “Stop trying to die.” sir you ran head first into the upside down

Summary: Diluc is a good teammate if you’re caught in a life or death situation. He also wouldn’t believe you at first but if you can show him real evidence, he’ll believe you without a problem. He’s a silent protector, always protecting others without expecting anything back. His lies harsh but it’s only if it’s for the benefit of the group. He’ll fight his way out, not dying if something kills him.

✣ Kaeya ✣

Role: Enthusiast, Planner

Qualities:

- Once he decides to help, he is loyal to helping

- Plans and maps things out in his mind. Also protects the group dodge deadly traps

- The quickest to think of a plan. Caught in a corner with a demogorgon? He smashes it in the face with a book from a shelf in a second.

- Also keeps the cheer in the group. After all, everything is going to get gloomy and sad after a few wounds and deaths

- His presence can drag a person back from depression. It’s just a natural charm that he has

Disabilities:

- Has a rivalry with his brother Diluc. He can’t help but compare his skills to him

- Might get caught up in the head once in a while and slack off

- A planner but the logic isn’t there. Kind of chaotic when he fights, sometimes accidentally injuring his teammates.

- No medical skills, he watches at a corner when one of his teammates patches up the injured one

- Kinda selfish :( He runs first to the exit when he’s in danger

Summary: Like his brother Diluc, he doesn’t believe that monsters from an alternate dimension exist but will amuse you instead of saying he doesn’t believe in you. Spoiler; he gets attacked by a demodog one day and you and the others have to save him. He almost pissed his pants but he acted cocky, saying that he already knew. His loyalty is unquestionably there. If he is fighting a demogorgon with someone, he’ll distract it so his teammate can run first.

✣ Ningguang ✣

Role: Role model, Logical

Qualities:

- Very intelligent. Knows more than 15 languages and can decipher codes

- She also puts her teammates in suitable groups based on their skills and she’s good at it

- No one questions her because she has a slightly intimidating aura. People just follow her lead

- kind of a power struggle with Beidou but they respect each other

- Can use a gun and aim. Seriously, she’s really skilled

- Also a charmer, she’s very pretty and it makes it VERY easy to get into restricted areas

Disabilities:

- People assume she’s had a very carefree life and some mock her for it

- She can’t use melee weapons for the life of her. If she’s task to slice a demodog in half, she’ll miss

- Her biggest weakness is gore and blood. Can’t stand it. Especially the smell

- Most likely to freeze when being cornered, staring in fear

Summary: Ningguang is a natural charmer. Her background doesn’t hold her back from fighting monsters. She’s also a natural leader and a role model for her teammates. Her skills in archery and guns are a must have if you’re being stalked by demodogs at a distance. She can even aim in the dark and keep an eye on her group mates while doing so!

✣ Thoma ✣

Role: Babysitter figure, Medic

Qualities:

- Can stand the sight of blood and gore only because he got used to it over time :(

- The best medic in the group. Instantly knows what to do. The team always bring the injured to Thoma for help

- Gets along with everyone. Always ignores rumors and dislike towards him but will defend with all his heart if one insults his group mates

- Watches his team carefully if Beidou or Ningguang tells him to

- Also has the best music taste? It doesn’t matter the genre, he’ll calm everyone down with a radio he carries or he just hums the tune

- Takes very good care of his group with precision. Not a single sad look will escape his watch

Disabilities:

- He can’t use guns. Only melee weapons; close range is better for him

- Off field most of the time. If he’s actually fighting, it’d be sporadic, like he’s dancing wildly instead

- Vulnerable when caring for someone injured or unconscious. Will need someone to cover for his back

Summary: He’s always reliable and prepared for the worst. He’s respectful towards the dead and knows the scent of blood very well. He takes care, that’s his role. He’s also very fast and a good sprinter if he were to tag along on missions.

✣ Xiao ✣

Role: Exterminator, Protector

Qualities:

- Protecting always comes first in his mind. He’s silent about it.

- Like Diluc, he will defend with his last breath but knows his limits

- His harsh words reflect his feelings

- His calm demeanor also slightly calms everyone down when being cornered by demodogs or a demogorgon

- Can use both melee weapons and guns but prefers close ranged weapons and whatever he can find

Disabilities:

- Oh and if you tell him no, he’ll distance himself from you until you’re being attacked

- Scary but calm. His teammates are intimidated by him to a degree but feel safe when he’s fighting with them

- Doesn’t listen to orders or directions. Always runs off to fight on his own

- Will self sacrifice or be bait willingly if the group is in terrible danger

Summary: Xiao is an interesting case; he’s the group most fierce warrior and the ones who thinks about their safety the best. He’ll scoff and roll his eyes until proven wrong about there being monsters from an alternative universe. He also can ignore the gore and blood because of his past he won’t tell about. Quiet and introverted, you can’t get past his walls but he’ll protect you without hesitation.

✣ Xingqiu ✣

Role: Logical, Code fanatic

Qualities:

- A total nerd. He’d get the hang of patterns and cryptic messages real quick

- Often with Albedo discussing answers and explanations

- Also a comfort to Chongyun. He doesn’t know it but Chongyun mostly communicates telepathically with him the most

- Also a huge help when he’s needed

- A good temper. Doesn’t get mad quickly and resolves confrontation with ease

Disabilities:

- Has a hard time because no one believes him at first

- The type to freeze and run.

- Also kinda noisy so he’ll attract the monsters faster. Its unintentional only because some of his teammates suggests to use Chongyun for selfish purposes

- Sometimes jumps at the slightest thing

Summary: Xingqiu is Chongyun’s comfort zone. He’s also useful for codes and riddles because he’s a...nerd. He’s also has a heart full of gold so he’s twice as loyal to people who are loyal to him. Gets along with everyone but it will surprise them if he gets angry since he’s mostly friendly and calm. He also informs his then group mates of possible monsters from another dimension roaming around people’s properties with a straight face

✣ Zhongli ✣

Role: Protector, Wise leader

Qualities:

- duh he’s the oldest of them so they look up to him more

- Still doesn’t get things like cryptic messages and monsters

- Is dragged into this because demodogs keep eating up his garden

- Gives history lessons when asked and unintentionally helps the planners and code fanatics with solving the problem

- He also stands between danger and his group in order to protect them

- Can use spears and melee weapons with skill

Disabilities:

- Cannot win a fist fight for the life of him

- Most likely the first one to sustain an injury meant for one of his group mates but would fight through it

- Almost died one time but never kept fighting to keep his precious teammates safe from danger

Summary: He was upset but nonetheless protected his teammates throughout. His quick thinking and wise suggestions make the problems easier for his group. I feel like in a life and death situation, he’ll usher his teammates into a safer building before going in last to ensure their safety first.

#Genshin #genshin impact #stranger things #zhongli #xiao #xingqiu #ningguang #thoma #kaeya #diluc #chongyun #childe #tartaglia #beidou #ayato #kamisato ayato #albedo #genshin headcanons #genshin impact headcanons

14 notes · View notes

shadowqueen1220 · 4 years ago

Text

Analysis on C! Tubbo's Emotional State

Disclaimer: I am in no means a professional and I am heavily basing this off of my own experiences and general observations. (Please let me know if my wording is bad)

This is all about the roleplay characters if it wasn't clear

Warning: self harm, self sacrifice, self destructive behavior and talk of mental health and canon typical violence

Tubbo has always been a self sacrificial character. He always helps his friends at the expense of his own safety (ie disc war and L'manburg). He is a bit of an overachiever and that has gotten worse when combined with tendencies of paranoia. (all og members of L'manburg have paranoia issues, stemming from the final control room)

After the Independance War, Tubbo was involved with the elections. He made a secret bunker, saying "hope for the best plan for the worse" in case the electrons went wrong. He was proven right and then had to endure a harsh dictatorship.

Spy Tubbo was constantly under stress. He not only was secretly slipping information to Pogtopia but had his role of Security of State as well. At the Elections, Schlatt verbally abused Tubbo and scared him into following his orders. Most of the things Schlatt had told Tubbo to have shaped him into the Tubbo that internalizes and represses all his emotions. (ie don't complain, don't cry, don't talk back, agree with everything I say). Tubbo, who already naturally liked to help his friends, was forced to become a yes man in order to stay safe.

The Festival was a disaster and a huge blow to Tubbo's self esteem. The famous line here is "Wilbur said he wasn't going to hurt me" and Tubbo wholeheartedly believed that he could trust Wilbur, his former president and older brother figure. However, all he got was the fact that he was now expendable to Wilbur. His death was brushed aside and it seemed like the only person who cared was Tommy. Even Tubbo quickly became desensitized to the fact that his own pain did not matter in the chaos of the situation.

His life becomes even more chaotic when he is thrust into the role of President and his self sacrificing nature kicked in when no one else would take the presidency. And then in the first 10 minutes into his presidency, he is shot and his nation is blown up.

Tubbo takes this all in stride, repressing everything in order to rebuilt but his cabinet does not listen to him and constantly talks over him. When his vice president and best friend gets into trouble, Tubbo learns that he must be louder in order to be heard.

Tubbo felt betrayed by Tommy's actions during the exile negotiations. He felt as if Tommy didn't respect his power and the pressure of living up to President Wilbur, the threat of becoming like President Schlatt and the expectations of the entire nation all depended on him.

Tubbo once again choose sacrifice but this time, he was not only sacrificing himself but harmed Tommy in his decision as well. Immediately Tubbo regretted his decision and regressed into his yes man habits to cope with the situation.

From here on out, this may be a bit of a stretch but I love putting lore goggles on to every scene for analysis purposes and with a character like Tubbo who is rarely played, we can get some character depth from seemingly "silly" bits.

Tubbo after exiling Tommy shifted from being self sacrificial to self destructive. Both presidents before him had died and the odds were not looking good for Tubbo, already he had made an awful decision that he immediately regretted. Yet he couldn't reverse it and didn't feel worthy enough to see Tommy.

Tubbo never built himself a home in L'manburg. No stuff, no place to sleep, no roots. He told Ranboo that the presidency was all his when the elections came around. He didn't want to be president anymore. He's worryingly self depreciating.

I don't quite remember the timing of this stream but Tubbo and Ranboo once went nether exploring. Ranboo panicked as Tubbo was extremely reckless during this adventure, jumping into lava without fire res, speed bridging with few blocks and jumping off of tall places without checking his health. In addition, Tubbo went through a series of projects as a President, always doing something new and often involving things that could hurt him (ie Ravenger teleportation, tnt jumping). We can see Tubbo become subtly self destructive during this time.

(sidenote: tubbo has a habit to jump off of high things and expecting the person at the bottom to water bucket. Tommy usually is the person to "catch him" and I find it interesting that they both had self destructive tendencies while the other was gone. I'll come back to this point soon)

We never get Tubbo's opinion on the Butcher Army. He heavily opposed the idea at the beginning of the presidency but agreed to take part in it despite Techno killing him being a traumatizing event.

And then Logsteadshire. The guilt of exiling his best friend and being the cause to his death is too much for his mind to handle and he passes out. We never learn how Tubbo got back to L'manburg and the next time we see him, he is back to throwing himself into project after project.

The next time we really see Tubbo is when Tommy and Technoblade take Connor hostage. Ranboo says that Tubbo is just staring at a grass block and when Tommy appears, Tubbo is severely shaken. He is glad that his best friend is alive and upset that he's teamed with his murder but has to all shove it aside to fulfill his role as president. Tubbo takes Tommy yelling at him and Techno's accusations with no protest and once again, represses everything to move on.

Already the Green Festival reminded Tubbo of familiar events but at this time he was in control or so he thought. He had already failed an execution so he was determined to make this word so L'manburg could be safer. He had failed Tommy so he might as well try to make the server a better place by killing Dream. Yet Tubbo had doubts about it.

Dream was manipulating Tubbo during his entire presidency. Tubbo truly believed that Dream was his friend and thought that Dream supported him as a president. His self esteem was so low that he searched for validation anywhere (ie "rate my kidnapping", "phil tell me I'm doing good pls") and Dream willingly gave him companionship.

But then Dream started screaming at him and calling him and awful president, Tubbo agreed with Dream. Tubbo saw himself as weak and stupid and no one came to his defense so it had to be true.

His fight with Tommy was very impactful and led Tubbo to believe that the discs mattered more than him but we'll get back to that soon. Most of the things said during this fight were forgiven by both parties so I hope it doesn't affect him much.

Sidenote: when Quackity suggests to execute Ranboo, Tubbo chooses forgiveness for Ranboo having been in that position before and snaps at Quackity. Here we get a glimpse of Tubbo's inner emotions and we can see clearly that the events of the festival have hurt him.

Doomsday is further proof to Tubbo that he is the worst President that L'manburg had. He stares at the destruction in mute disbelief and even throws himself into tnt and in front of a firework for Tommy. By the end of the experience, Tubbo is so drained that he has given up on government, the fight beaten out of him and he lets L'manburg go, thinking it was his fault it fell.

Tubbo has suffered the most from government yet strives to make a community. Snowchester was supposed to be his healing. However, Tubbo's paranoia from all the violence and the lessons that he has learned from the others, caused him to built a way to defend himself. He doesn't even make a bed for himself in his new house.

Then his life gets shaken up by the Disc War Finale. He refuses to talk about his feelings on the odds, accepts defeat instantly as they were "doomed from the beginning" and doesn't seem to mind the fact that he might die.

In fact, he says "It was about time anyway"

Tubbo thinks he is living on borrowed time. All of the presidents before him are dead and he is in a seemingly impossible situation. Death seems to be the only option and he has accepted it before hand so he is fine with it. Even Tommy seems shaken by this as Tubbo was so positive about the situation before. But Tubbo had been hiding that all for Tommy's sake as he is very self sacrificial.

When everything seems to return to "normal" Tubbo tests his nukes and later tells Ranboo that be had expected everything to go horribly wrong. He is trying to heal and does a decent job at it, starting a family and building Snowchester.

But then he gets the memo that Tommy has been trapped in prison with Dream. He checks out the prison, being a inconvenience to the guards and is hardly fazed when Sam threatens to kill him. He leaves feeling disappointed that he cannot help but that is what it is and Tubbo thinks that Tommy is the strongest person he knows.

So that's why Tommy can't be dead. Tubbo denies Sam's words and when they finally register, begins an investigation to find out who's to blame. He becomes self destructive again, wearing Dream's armor and building a familiar panic room to research the crime.

He is once again extremely reckless when investigating. With Ranboo's help, they go and investigate the egg and Tubbo shows his lack of care for his own safety. He tries to break open the egg, challenges Bad and Ant to a pvp and suggests to continue investigating. But at this point, Ranboo has noticed this recklessness and gently reminds Tubbo of Michael.

From this point, Tubbo seems to be healing again. And then to make things better, Tommy is back and they are going to kill Dream but that's okay because it hasn't really settled yet. Tubbo is once again shaken by Tommy's return and follows him in silence to make sure he is really there. He is so worried about Tommy, he reaches out to MIA Ghostbur to help him.

Tubbo is still self destructive but less so after this. He still jumps off high places but does so more out of trust. He finally gets a bed in Snowchester and things seem to be looking up.

But then Tommy's words about Dream settle in. Dying is no longer permanent and Tubbo has things he wants to protect. To do this he recommissions the nukes but is panicked when one is stolen.

We have no idea where it is going to go from here, but I can already see some problems with Tubbo's increasing paranoia.

In addition, the details about the nukes and their suicide button and Tubbo's willingness to sacrifice himself for the greater good does not bode well.

Overall, Tubbo is a complex character and I greatly enjoy how he is played.

Thank you for reading and let me know if you have any comments!

#dream smp #tubbo #c! tubbo #tw suicidal ideation #tw self destruction #suicide tw #tw suicide #abuse tw #clingy duo #bee duo #bench trio #shadow talks

223 notes · View notes