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9worldstales · 3 years ago

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MCU Loki: Is character development what we see in episode 1 or not?

I’ve discovered there’s a debate if what happened to Loki in episode 1 can constitute character development or not so I felt like sharing my two cents about it.

So, character development.

Character development IN THIS SPECIFIC CASE refers to the changes a character undergoes over the course of a story as a result of their experiences (positive or negative) and actions (successful or unsuccessful). Change can be positive or negative as the character can improve himself but also can sink into an abyss of depravity. It’s worth to remark changes is not necessarily always triggered by something they did, it can very well be something that happened to them that caused them to change… but the point of character development, IN THIS CASE, is that there has to be a change in the character. He can’t remain the same.

So… I’ll pick Tony Stark because his situation in “Iron Man” presented plenty of parallelisms with Loki in “Loki” and not just because some like to consider Tony too a narcissist.

So, same as how Loki was taken captive by the TVA, Tony Stark too was taken captive by the Ten Rings. For three months. There Tony is forced to see how the weapons he produced were used by terrorists to kill other Americans and who called him “the most famous mass murderer in the history of America” and were honoured to have him in their hideout. They originally were meant to kill him but since they realized he could be of some use to them, they’re willing to keep him alive because they want his help, not to search a Tony Variant but to produce more weapons. Tony though, understands once they have finished using him, they would dispose of him. Tony also has the major problem of being told to have only a week of life due to the wounds he suffered.

In this part of the story Tony is just a victim, he doesn’t really get to do something, negative things are merely poured onto him.

It parallels what happens to Loki for most of episode 1.

He’s beaten, taken captive, informed he’ll be killed, his execution is postponed because they decided he could be of use, he’s told he’s a murderer, a liberator of eyeballs who wasn't born to be king but to cause pain and suffering and death, all so that others can achieve their best versions of themselves. He’s also told he caused his mother’s death. And, all right, Mobius won’t immediately tell him what he wants him for, but it’s pretty clear he wants him for something.

So, back to Tony, when we have his character growth? When he reacts to all that was poured on him and react not just by fighting back in a typical Tony style (using his brain to create something that would allow him to fight the Ten Rings and escape) but also by changing things. Once he’s back home Tony announces he won’t produce anymore weapons.

The man who said...

Tony: Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both? With that in mind, I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industries' Freedom Line. It's the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary repulsor technology. They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once. That's how Dad did it. That's how America does it. And it's worked out pretty well so far.

...becomes the man who say...

Tony: I never got to say goodbye to Dad. I never got to say goodbye to my father. There are questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels. I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability. I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be.

This evolution makes sense. It feels believable. Why is that?

Let’s go back to Tony Stark.

Tony stark didn’t mean to be ‘the most famous mass murderer in the history of America’, he was sure his work was protecting people, he didn’t realize it was used by the bad guys, likely because he just accepted his legacy of son of Howard Stark and didn’t bother to think at it any further.

When he discovers things aren’t how he assumed, after a moment of discomfort in which Yinsen had to motivate him...

Yinsen: I'm sure they're looking for you, Stark. But they will never find you in these mountains. Look, what you just saw, that is your legacy, Stark. Your life's work, in the hands of those murderers. Is that how you want to go out? Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark? Or are you going to do something about it? Tony: Why should I do anything? They're going to kill me, you, either way. And if they don't, I'll probably be dead in a week. Yinsen: Well, then, this is a very important week for you, isn't it?

...he started fighting to change them. It fits with Tony’s personality, it makes narrative sense, it’s well presented, it’s believable on a psychological standpoint (yes, a person like Tony Stark would do this) and from an empathic standpoint (yes, if I were in Tony Stark’s place I would do the same).

When Tony gives his speech in which he shows he has changed, he surprises the people who have no idea what he went through, but not the viewers. For the viewers his reaction is perfectly believable.

So why, for a part of the fandom, what happens to Loki doesn’t feel equally believable since his experience parallels Tony? Why part of the fandom feels there was no character growth at all?

Well, I can’t answer for everyone, everyone probably has his own reasons but merely by keeping up the comparison with what happened to Tony Stark we see how the thing doesn’t work the same.

A premise here, I know there will be people tempted to think Mobius is the stand in for Yinsen because Mobius is likable and, ultimately, he’ll become Loki’s friend.

He’s not.

Yinsen was held captive by the Ten Rings, his life in danger same as Tony. There’s a moment in which they even threaten him and Tony has to stand in to save Yinsen’s life.

Mobius, as far as Mobius and Loki know, is not another prisoner of the TVA, he’s there willingly. Yes, he’s operating under the false belief he has been created by the TVA but he’s not aware of it. In that moment, as far as Mobius is involved, he’s a willing operative of the TVA, someone in with authority, in control of Loki’s life...

Mobius: Mmm... Luckily, he believes in himself enough for the both of us. And, hey, if it doesn't work, I'll delete him myself. He's really arrogant.

...and the TVA is his purpose, his life and he believes it to be real.

Mobius: It's exactly the same thing. Because if you think too hard about where any of us came from, who we truly are, it sounds kinda ridiculous. Existence is chaos. Nothing makes any sense, so we try to make some sense of it. And I'm just lucky that the chaos I emerged into gave me all this... My own glorious purpose. Cause the TVA is my life. And it's real because I believe it's real.

He doesn’t feel threatened by the TVA, coerced. He’s doing what he does because he believes he’s playing the good guy.

Mobius: All that time, I really believed we were the good guys.

So no, Mobius here is not the equivalent of Yinsen, he’s the equivalent of Abu Bakaar, the guy who tells Tony he’s ‘the most famous mass murderer in the history of America’ and wants to persuade him to cooperate with the Ten Rings, in the same way Mobius wants to persuade Loki to cooperate with the TVA. Keep this in mind because it’s relevant and easy to forger since we know how things will develop in other episodes.

And okay, now let’s go back on track.

Let’s talk of the motives that caused the change in Tony Stark.

Tony is shown by Abu Bakaar something he previously wasn’t aware of, how his weapons are used to kill Americans, that, by building them, he became an accomplice in killing Americans, which was something he didn’t want, hence the change.

Loki is shown… the events of “The Avengers” which he was aware of and which, of course, doesn’t impress him much…

Loki: No. And I remember. I was there. Anything else?

…as the show didn’t play the card of the sceptre influencing him as they say in the official web. Mobius doesn’t tell Loki ‘you did this but you weren’t in control of yourself, you were manipulated by the sceptre’ no, Mobius tells him ‘you did this’ and Loki’s answer is basically ‘yeah, I know, so? Why should I care?’

So Mobius moves to the events of “Thor: The Dark World” and, more specifically, to how Loki ‘caused’ Frigga’s death.

This is something that, in theory, can work as equivalent of Tony Stark being told his weapons are used by the Ten Rings to kill Americans. Loki clearly didn’t want any harm to befall on Frigga, whom he loved dearly. We know that in “Thor: The Dark World” he sufferd a lot for her death, blamed himself and changed (or better, in the authors’ original intentions, he mostly reversed back to how he was before “Thor” but this is a topic for another meta).

For who doesn’t remember the movie in “Thor: The Dark World” after Frigga’s death Loki:

- agreed to help Thor

- brought him and Jane to Svartalfheim

- put up a show for Malekith according to Thor’s plan without betraying Thor

- protected Jane TWICE, the last time risking his own life to save hers

- stopped the Kurse from killing Thor by stabbing and killing him and, in the original plan for the movie, he was also meant to die doing so. Even if you go by the ending the movie ultimately had, Loki has protected a human, cooperated with saving the universe from the Dark Elves and saved his brother’s life instead than letting Thor get killed.

It’s quite a change from how he was in “The Avengers”.

Then great, we’ve something that could push him to change, right?

Wrong.

For start because what Mobius says had happen to Frigga in truth hadn’t happened yet and wouldn’t have happened to THIS LOKI as he wasn’t carried back on Asgard because he escaped with the Tesseract. THIS LOKI has escaped and so wouldn’t end up captive on Asgard, wouldn’t be jailed and wouldn’t be there when the Kurse would intrude in Asgard’s prisons so there’s no way he can do something that would lead to Frigga’s death. Problem solved.

We continue with the fact that Mobius can’t prove to Loki this would have happened had Loki been carried on Asgard. Let’s forget how the version of what happened he gave to Loki is wrong and misleading. Even if he’d been absolutely truthful, what he does is to show Loki a video... but how can he prove this is the future that was meant to happen and not a lie he’s telling him in order to manipulate him? Tony saw his own weapons being in the hands of the Ten Rings, one of them exploded in front of him, wounding him, he disassembled some of the others, he’s sure the Ten Rings has them. But how can Loki be sure what Mobius is telling him is true and not just an illusion? A lie?

But whatever, the series tries hard to sell us through Loki’s reaction that he believed Mobius’ words about this being true because he totally loses his cool at that scene. So, okay Loki believes so will this change him the way it changed him in “Thor: The Dark World”?

Nope.

Tony changes because he does something to actively prevent Americans from being killed by his weapons, he shuts down their production and he involves himself personally in the fight against terrorists with a weapon only he controls, the Iron Man suit.

What does Loki do to prevent Frigga’s death?

Nothing.

His attempt at escaping might have been made more urgent by this piece of info but was something Loki had tried to do from when he’s been taken to the TVA… and in the following episodes Frigga’s fate will be completely forgotten, as if Loki has stopped worrying about it entirely. When talking with Sylvie about Frigga in episode 3 he doesn’t use it as a motive to explain why he wants to gain control of the TVA, to change his mother’s fate… nor it’s something that inspire him to fight the TVA, because that role belongs to Sylvie and Sylvie only. When he’ll try to persuade the other Loki Variants to help him, again he won’t mention Frigga, just Sylvie. Frigga won’t get mentioned not even when Loki will reach The Citadel at the End of Time and Miss Minute will try to tempt him. She’ll offer him glorious power and Sylvie, nor her nor Loki will try to bargain for his mother’s life instead. No, from episode 2 onward what Loki learnt in episode 1 goes forgotten, so let’s focus solely on episode 1.

Some believe Loki in episode 1 changed because he admitted he didn’t like to hurt people, that he’s a villain and helped to cooperate with Mobius.

Mobius: Loki? Nowhere left to run. Loki: I can't go back, can I? Back to my timeline. I don't enjoy hurting people. I... I don't enjoy it. I do it because I have to, because I've had to. Mobius: Okay, explain that to me. Loki: Because it's part of the illusion. It's the cruel, elaborate trick conjured by the weak to inspire fear. Mobius: A desperate play for control. You do know yourself. Loki: A villain. Mobius: That's not how I see it. You try to use that? Loki: Oh, several times. Even an Infinity Stone is useless here. The TVA is formidable. Mobius: That's been my experience. Listen, I can't offer you salvation, but maybe I can offer you something better. A fugitive Variant's been killing our Minutemen. Loki: And you need the God of Mischief to help you stop him? Mobius: That's right. Loki: Why me? Mobius: The Variant we're hunting is... you.

Only… this doesn’t really work.

Why?

Loki has tried escaping and has been forced to realize he can’t, that’s why he cooperates, that’s why he gives Mobius an answer to what he asked for...

Mobius: Do you enjoy hurting people? Making them feel small? Making them feel afraid?

... why he agrees with his accusations...

Loki: I know what I am. Mobius: A murderer? Loki: A liberator. Mobius: Of eyeballs, maybe.

...and ultimately accepts to work for the TVA.

This parallels Tony refusing to build armies for the Ten Rings, being tortured and, ultimately agreeing to build weapon for them, at least verbally. And let’s remember if it wasn’t for Yinsen’s words Tony might have given up. It’s Yinsen who encouraged him to fight back.

So this doesn’t constitute Loki changing, just accepting he’s powerless against the TVA and must play along with them. Playing along with someone isn’t something new for Loki, the episode even lampshades it.

Mobius: Well, let's start with a little cooperation. Loki: Not my forte. Mobius: Really? Even when you're wooing someone powerful you intend to betray? Come on.

So no, him being forced to accept the TVA is powerful and therefore deciding to cooperate with them is not a change. This series sets it as a normal Loki behaviour… as well as the fact it’ll immediately turn out he intends to betray them.

Loki: Very nice. I mean, it is adorable that you think you could possibly manipulate me. I'm ten steps ahead of you. I've been playing a game of my own all along. Mobius: What, charm your way in front of the Time-Keepers, hustle them, and seize control of the TVA? Am I getting warm? A double cross by history's most reliable liar.

And what for? Power, glorious power.

Loki: I'm going to overthrow the Time-Keepers. And, uh, cards on the table, I could use a qualified lieutenant.

Loki: Oh, yeah? What about you? Your years-in-the-making plan was to tear the place down, create the ultimate power vacuum, and then just walk away. I'd never have done that.

Nothing of what happened on this episode changed what the “Loki” series claimed to be Loki’s character prior to the “Loki” series. At the end of it he’s cooperating with someone more powerful than him so that he could betray him and take the power from him, which is how this series claimed all the Lokis (except Sylvie) were.

There’s no change.

There could have been, what happened in episode 1 could have worked for Loki in the same way it worked for Tony Stark but it didn’t. The authors even stated that his friendship with Mobius started in episode 2, not in episode 1, likely when Loki believed Mobius was sticking out his neck for him and offering him his sympathy.

Loki: Okay. Why are you in there sticking your neck out for me? Mobius: I'll give you two options, and you can believe whichever one you want. A, because I see a scared little boy, shivering in the cold. And you kinda feel bad for that ice runt. Or B, I just wanna catch this guy, and I'll tell you whatever I need to tell you. Loki: I don't need your sympathy.

So we’ve a problem.

The authors rambled more often than not on how much episode 1 changed Loki, how what they called ‘Mobius’ therapy session’ was good for him… but failed to show it in a way that would make sense with the settings set by the series.

If the series states Loki is one who, prior to arriving to the TVA, was used to cooperate when intended on wooing someone powerful he intends to betray and ends with him being willing to cooperate with the TVA after discovering it’s powerful so that he can betray it later, we go exactly back to the starting point. There’s no change, not in this episode.

His words about not enjoying to hurt people but it being merely a play feel like a forced admission of a truth he couldn’t possibly not know and his admission of being a villain isn’t followed by any genuine attempt at changing something in himself. He just acknowledged the role the TVA wanted on him… because he’s trying to woo them so that he could betray them later on.

If we want to stretch things A LOT we might assume seeing Frigga’s death worked for him in the way being told Odin died worked for Thor in “Thor”. It made him more determinate to protect the person he loved, a.k.a. Sylvie… but it stands up poorly, in part because Loki completely forget Frigga, and how she’s going to die in the TVA approved timeline, in part because, although the Loki and Sylvie love story has cute moments that make you wish you could root for them, in truth that too is poorly constructed, with Loki falling for Sylvie for hazy reasons in less than 12 hours (according to the series because she doesn’t want glorious power, according to the authors because she’s a female variant of himself), in part because… well, it doesn’t really feel consequential, it feels more like it’s me forcing such reading because I’ve heard over and over that what happened in episode 1 is supposed to matter, it’s supposed to have changed Loki somehow and so I’m grasping at straws to fit it in the story when it’s actually just forgotten.

So, the real problem is that the series doesn’t bother showing us Loki changing as a direct consequence of what happened in episode 1 in a way that’s relevant and directly consequential.

Sure, it made many happy to have Loki confirm out loud what many in the fandom already figured out, how he doesn’t enjoy hurting people, that it’s all a play.

Sure, it seems self reflection to have him admit he was a villain.

Sure, since many were deluded into thinking the people at the TVA were on the good side, it might feel like an improvement to see Loki agree to side with them.

Sure, the episode, with its parallelisms to what happened with Tony Stark, made us hope it would lead Loki to ultimately do like him.

But when all is said and done, if you look at the scenes in contest and then watch the following episodes, none of this goes anywhere and it couldn’t go anywhere.

We know originally episode 1 was planned to be very different and end just the same, with Loki accepting to cooperate with the TVA. This means the only things that were relevant in the plot that had to be in episode 1 for the series to work were Loki being captured by the TVA, being forced to acknowledge its power and accepting to work with it.

The so called and overly incensed ‘Mobius therapy session’ wasn’t something so fundamental to the plot the story NEEDED it to work and, ultimately, the story forgot it, to focus on Sylvie and on how SHE was the one who changed Loki (as well as Mobius, albeit Mobius changed him in a smaller measure) turning what happened in episode 1 into some sort of ‘Eastern egg’ for who needed to have his mind refreshed on what happened in the other movies in which Loki starred, albeit as the scenes are decontextualized, if you don’t remember well the movies, you’ll end up drawing the wrong conclusion.

It’s sad because Tom Hiddleston’s performance as he watched those scenes was great, possibly the best in the whole series, I mean I heard plenty of people who totally felt for Loki, me as well, because his pain was so raw, so palpable, and this episode just had this BEYOND HUGE amount of potential to turn Loki into another Iron Man… so it’s so very sad to see that in the end it was all dissipated like a soap bubble, never used so that Mobius and Sylvie could be the ones to cause the change in Loki. Which yes, it’s understandable as the story wanted to give them more relevance but feels like a complete waste of an otherwise good opportunity to have Loki decide for himself, due to what he had learnt, a different course in his life.

But whatever, that’s it. Sad, a waste, but that’s the story they decided to tell us, so it comes to no surprise some weren’t sold there was character development here, while they were willing to buy it in “Iron Man”. The story just didn’t build up on what happened in episode 1; it used it like a filler.

Of course though, people can have other reasons than the ones I’ve listed not to see character development. I can’t speak for everyone who didn’t see it… but I’ll say the ones I listed still could work for many.

Lastly, it’s worth to remark this doesn’t mean episode 1 isn’t enjoyable... it is. Hiddleston’s performance is so damn awesome I’ll never get tired to remark it, Wilson does great and this episode brims with potential. But the sad thing is that it remains unfulfilled, episode 1 just doesn’t deliver what he seems to promise, a change in Loki.

#mcu loki #mcu iron man #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #frigga #mobius m mobius #sylvie #tony stark #ho yinsen #abu bakaar #9 worlds study

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bigsteeb · 5 years ago

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this is gonna be a long post so bear with me, growing pains got a b i g emotional reaction out of me & I need to share my thoughts & feelings about it because jesus fucking christ.

ok first things first, someone hug this boy immediately. he’s sat in his room, still in his pajamas, in day time watching dog copter. this whole scene is just steven going “lol I’m sad, I’m gonna comfort eat & stay in my pajamas & watch a kids show I watched when I wasn’t as sad haha” & it’s not only upsetting, but relatable too fuck. his room is a mess along with him eating ice cream at what I assume is morning… making it his breakfast? geez steven. also idk if it’s just me here but in this shot he looks… bigger? like ignoring his body size shifting later on in the episode he looks a lot wider than he usually does when paul & drew board episodes to me, he’s rivalling etienne & maya’s steven’s wideness. did he… get chubbier from comfort eating? how much time has passed since together forever for him to put on weight if he has? this could literally just be steven slouching or his pajamas making him look bigger but as someone who is an advocate for the body positivity shown in su & suf it has me curious. I want to hug this soft, sad boy. It could also be due to how steven’s design fluctuates through the animation process, it’s never really on model all the time.

the grunting noise he makes in this scene is very distressing, as are other moments from the episode too. a glimpse at the glow-bracelet he proposed to connie with is enough to physically pain him? fuck me man. is he leaving his room where there’s already ice cream… to get more ice cream? sobs. also the puns in this shot. I cant? slow burn?! you’re evil crewniverse. not to mention his body size changing throughout this scene, god this poor lad.

screams, this was when I started worrying. the boy is now in an environment he has never been in before & is feeling extremely uncomfortable & vulnerable. look at the lines under his eyes, his sad eyebrows & pout I hate it. also don’t even get me started on this part. the slight raise of a voice being enough to send him into panic?! fuck I hate how much I relate to that.

here’s where I immediately broke, no god damn pun intended. seeing steven’s skeleton, steven’s fucking skull, like this pained me. that crack on his skull is from fucking jasper in jail break. I can’t express all of the visceral emotions that were going through my body at this. there was intense sadness for steven, extreme anger at jasper & the gems for allowing shit like this to happen to him. turns out he’s not as resilient as we thought he was. each hit he takes physically breaks him & then his gem instantly heals his wounds, my heart fucking broke at this. think back to everything that happened to him, everything that physically hurt him. it broke him I can’t deal with it! then there’s what priyanka says to steven next;

“you seem to of made a series of miraculous recoveries, but that doesn't change the fact that you experienced trauma. you’ve recovered physically but, have you recovered mentally?”

this part here along with her reassuring him that there’s nothing wrong with his brain, how childhood trauma can have an impact on how your body responds to stress & how you act in your social life, the usage of the word “cortisol” too. this stuff being in a children's tv show is incredible. the writing for priyanka describes trauma simply enough for kids to understand, but for adults to fully realise too. folks, steven has ptsd. there wasn't one bit of sugarcoating about it or nothing, this is canon fact & it hurts me. for so long have I wanted steven’s emotional issues to be alked about, to not only be brought to steven’s attention but to the audience’s too.

everything that has happened to him has built up to this moment. this moment where his behaviour & coping methods are finally making sense to a large majority of the fandom, & to steven himself. he’s hurting; physically, mentally & emotionally, & he isn’t coping well what so ever about it. his emotional support system is complete garbage, no one regularly checks in on him & folks just take steven at face value like “oh yea glowing pink? he’s fine it’s just steven” but he’s the bad person?! I hope a lot of you out there who genuinely believe steven is a bad person re-think yourselves after this. dealing with trauma is tough as shit. some days you even wonder if that one thing that fucked you up is really worth being labelled as trauma. I still can’t believe this is the route they’re taking, if he doesn’t get some form of therapy by the end of future I’ll be furious.

then things begin to spiral as he remembers what happened with connie. he clutches his chest in pain & begins changing size over intense amounts of stress & it was extremely distressing to watch. steven immediately reassures connie that this isn’t because of her, but because of everything else that happened to him. however. I believe that that’s a slight lie, he wouldn’t of spiralled if he hadn’t of remembered the proposal, steven you fucking himbo. he continues to reassure them both that he’s fine, just that he needs them to leave so he can calm himself enough to control himself.

then this happens.

“I. CAN’T. BE AROUND YOU RIGHT NOW!”

this was fucking intense. he means this literally in 2 ways btw. his body size shifting over the stress he’s feeling is a danger to both connie & priyanka in this moment, but it’s also because of how it started. being around connie hurts him. he’s not mad at her though let me make that very clear, just that thinking about what happened when he tired to propose to her is sending his head in a fritz. he did what he did full of confidence in together forever, for connie to then make him realise how silly he was being. these two are destined for each other, but that advice from ruby & sapphire has really fucked with him. he looks up to those 2, looks up to garnet, their relationship is so strong & stable. for them to give him that advice & to then scream “DO IT!” in his face is incredibly tasteless imo.

then greg gets here. I knew connie was calling for either greg or the gems when she was on her phone as she left the room, fuck yea connie I love you. the breathless, strained “thank you” from steven towards connie for calling his dad? g o d. connie telling him she’ll be there for him when he’s ready?! g o d. these next boards were done by rebecca, I knew immediately when I saw steven’s face. it makes sense that rebecca boarded these, because fuck.

how do I move on from all of the stuff I’ve been through? how do I live life if it always feels like I’m about to die!?

I’m tearing up as I type this. when I first heard the leak of this audio I so badly wanted to believe it, but to also believe it was fake too. I was an emotional mess off & on for about 3 days over it because I couldn't stop thinking about how fucking distressing it was. like… shit steven. he seriously feels this. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain he felt just saying this in front of his fucking dad. he is hurting badly. this boy, this sweet sweet boy we’ve watched grow & develop into the person he is today is distraught about his future & life. it is… soul crushing to watch this. a group of friends of mine have found joking about the episode as a form of coping with the intensity of it & as much as that’s valid as fuck, any joke coming from this episode feels morally wrong to me. I can’t bring myself to join in it feels terrible even thinking about laughing at it to cope. I love them all, but I can’t bare myself to join them. this moment ending with greg comforting steven, telling him he’s here for him & all of his struggles, got me weeping. greg is possible the best father figure I’ve seen on tv, let alone a kids tv show. he’s amazing.

the final scene right here is lovely. greg making steven a hot chocolate & listening to him vent, reassuring him over his worry for his future. this right here is exactly what steven needs. someone to talk to, someone he could trust to talk about his feelings to. this the start of his support system, tag on peri from in dreams, bis in bismuth casual as well as connie from the past few episodes & it’s already looking great! even when greg eased him about being there for him steven still feels guilty about him leaving his tour, leaving his tour because he got a phone call from connie about his son being in need & steven feels guilty about it. fucking hell man. I did enjoy how the episode ended though, with that little moment between the both of them;

“just get some rest kiddo. you don’t have to solve all of your problems in one night.”

“yea. thanks dad.”

it’s a great message too, all of your struggles can’t be dealt with all at once. I’ve used a similar analogy before but it’s like removing a dead tree. you have to deal with all of the little things surround this issue first before you get to the deep, harder stuff. along side the message about trauma they’re both very important messages, I’m glad they exist in the show.

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one more thing before I end my thoughts & feelings over growing pains.

this ending shot;

as soon as I saw the frog mug my mind raced back to the promo for this scene, & this whole moment to come entirely. if you remember this moment has the first set of leaked audio within it, the audio of the gems basically cornering steven about him not opening up to them. christ pearl even gets mad at him for his gem building a wall behind him, protecting him from them. it’s common knowledge, I hope, that steven’s gem reacts to his emotional state. pearl herself has said this;

“I think your gem is reacting to your state of mind.”

his gem building this wall? it felt like steven was being threatened by them. this scene now has awful connotations with it. because since we now know what the pink mode is doing to steven, how actually painful it is, think back to these;

yea. fuck the gems. I’ll let it slide if steven, greg or priyanka haven’t told them about what happened at the hospital. but if they do know, if they know how much it hurts steven being in his pink mode & still press into him about it I’ll see red. with steven’s trauma & now ptsd being cemented into the show I fucking hope garnet, amethyst & pearl get held accountable for what they put on him as a kid. that shit will not slide with me if they don’t. do not condone what the gems put him through. do not condone the gems for making steven feel like he had to be his mum for them. just… don’t. please.

#thanks for coming to my ted talk lmao sdngsjfhg #this episode fucked me up in more ways than one #i dont even think ill simmer down about it before next weeks episodes either #it was… a lot... to listen & deal with #i care deeply about steven as a character #& see it being canon that he has trauma & ptsd… possible c-ptsd #it fucking breaks my heart #god dammit it crewniverse #i hope you handle this with extreme care #i trust you but still… jesus christ #steven universe #steven universe future #su spoilers #su future spoilers

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johnnut28 · 4 years ago

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siren-theories · 5 years ago

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The Siren Song

(ICYMI: Here is an index with the previously published analyses. My previous piece was “Repeating the past - Ben and Ryn as modern parallels to Charles Pownall and his mermaid?”)

The Siren Song is probably the most important part of the Sirens’ abilities besides their ability to transform from water into land forms. So let*s take a look at what the song is and what effects it has on humans.

TL, DR.: There is most likely not one Siren Song, but three different versions. These are differentiated by which frequencies in the song are accentuated. They all have different effects on the target of the song and also have an effect on the siren singing it.

A big thank you to @imaginejolls for allowing me to bounce ideas off them.

Common facts about the song

The song can only be sung by female Sirens as confirmed by Levi in Episode 212.

In Episode 211 “Mixed Signals” we get a direct look at what the song consists of, namely hundreds of frequencies and layers which the Sirens can produce with their vocal cords.

SCIENTIST: “One song composed of hundreds of frequencies and layers.” BEN: "This many layered frequencies from one voice. How is that possible?" SCIENTIST: “All different levels, polyphonics, amplitudes. I've never seen anything like it, not even from whales or dolphins.”

In a later scene in the same episode the range of those frequencies is revealed.

SCIENTISTt: Incredible. NICOLE: What? SCIENTIST: Most humans can hear frequencies between 20 hertz and 20.000. Sea creatures, like some dolphins, can hear frequencies of up to 100.000 hertz, while some whales can hear infrasonic sounds as low as seven hertz. The range of these frequencies, they're unlike anything I have ever seen.

The song works by stimulating the brain with the sonic frequencies, but causes Brain damage in humans.

(Damage from Ryn’s song to Maddie and Ben’s brain as seen in Episode 211 “Mixed signals”).

This damage is reversible by exposing the damaged brain to the sound of the echo chamber as shown in Episode 212 “Serenity”.

We see the effect of the frequencies on the human brain when Ben plays test subject for the military in Episode 211 “Mixed Signals”:

(Bens Brain under the effect of the full song. Notice how the whole brain is stimulated.)

By testing several of the layers on Ben and witnessing his reaction to this the military (and we, the audience) learn more about the song. While the song as a whole caused him to relax, some of the layers when played in isolation caused Ben immense stress, causing him to relieve his drowning in Episode 110 and Ryn attacking him in Episode 101.

(The Brain when only aggressive frequencies are played)

Had Ryn not stepped in it is quite possible he might even have suffered a brain hemorrhage right there in the lab.

RYN:: ”Ben is in pain! Stop this!”

I would therefore argue that the effect of the song on the person is likely dependant on what layers of the song are emphasized by the singer, thus explaining the different versions of the song and the different effects on humans that we see in the show.

However, there might also be a visual component to the song.

It is noticeable that every time Ryn sings - no matter what variant - the camera zooms in on her face and focuses especially on her eyes, suggesting there is an almost hypnotic pull associated with the song. Ryn also looks the target directly in the eyes at all times.

Episode 101: “The Mermaid Discovery”:

Episode 108: “Being Human” (note how far she looks up to maintain eye contact with Ben, suggesting this is a required element of the song):

Episode 203: “Natural Order”:

Episode 211: "Mixed Signals”:

Maddie for example clearly reacts to this visual element in Episode 203 “Natural Order” even though she cannot hear the song. Maybe the missing visual element is what makes the recorded version of the song somewhat less stronger than the live version.

Throughout the show three motivations of singing the song are depicted (with different singing techniques and effects). I have classed the different versions of the song according to the motivations of the mermaid singing. - the defensive, the curiosity and the love variant.

The defensive variant of the Siren song

The Defensive variant is the strongest version of the song and the one most detrimental to the human target(s). It is the first song we see in the show.

I would posit that the defensive variant consists of the siren emphatizing the most "harmful" layers of the song.

It is the only version of the Siren Song that has an area affect and can target more than one human. It does not require visual contact between the target and the siren (unlike all other variants).

Donna first demonstrated this when she sang to the North Star crew from inside the hold of said ship in Episode 101 “The Mermaid Discovery”. Even with multiple layers of steel seperating her from Xander&Co the song was strong enough to lure them from the inside of the ship to the deck. She even nearly caused Xander to lift the hold cover and freeing her, an action that was only stopped by the timely arrival of the US military.

(notice their similar body posture, signifying them being under the thrall of the Siren)

Donna later used the defensive song on Chris in Episode 107 “Dead in the water”, using it to lure Chris towards her.

The effects are profound - despite Calvin's pleading, Chris drops his speargun and starts walking towards certain death.

In Episode 211, no longer in control of herself due to stress hormones taking over, Ryn reverts to her basic predator instincts and views Maddie no longer as her mate but as a tasty snack.

(when your lover looks at you and thinks “literally yummy”)

When Maddie points a gun towards her, Ryn starts using the defensive variant against Maddie, rendering her into a cataconic state.

(It is worth noting that Ryns hormone imbalance even caused her pupils to widen. At first I thought this was due to the song but as @imaginejolls pointed out they were like that even in the previous episode.)

The defensive version of the song has the most detrimental effect on humans out of all three versions. As we see by the examples of Chris and Maddie it is strong enough to render a human completely enthralled and defenseless. Both Maddie and Chris drop their weapons and walk towards certain death.

If left untreated, single exposure to the song can be strong enough to destroy a Human's brain to the point that the memories are affected.

Chris for example was exposed to the full defensive song only once. When first we see him in Episode 207 after an abscence of about a month he is a human wreck, barely coherent and all he can think about is the song. After another month or so (don't @ me on this, the timeline in the later half of Siren Season 2 is confusing and weird as @imaginejolls covered in their post) the situation has gotten so bad that he does not even remember his friends in Episode 214 “The Last Mermaid”.

Chris’ situation has by that time deteriorated to the point that his brain is almost completely covered with lesions.

KYLE: "His EEG showed disturbing changes from that song. It was devouring his frontal cortex."

Maddie does not suffer quite the same effects in Episode 211. However, she - unlike Chris - immediately manifests symptoms. Considering that Chris acted normally at least for one or two days after exposure and Maddie immediately saw visions and lost impulse control. This leaves us with three possible explanations for this difference:

1) Maddie experienced an immediate effect because she had already heard a recording of the "love" version of the song 2) Ryn is a stronger singer than Donna. Which might be the case considering that Ryn is stronger than the other sirens in other physical aspects on the show as well,, most notably being the fastest (Episode 103) and strongest of the Sirens (Episode 109 and 203). 3) The strength of the song might vary according to how much stress the Siren is under. As Ryn was probably "maxed out" on stress hormones and adrenalin her song might have become stronger as well

Without more information it is impossible to figure out which one of the above explanations is true, it might even be a combination of those. Based on the arguments below however I would lean towards explanation C.

Maddie’s symptoms - visions and immediate lack of impulse control - were stronger than Ben’s in Episode 109 “Street fight” and Episode 110 “Aftermath”. Ben touched Ryn a lot but it did not develop into something sexual whereas Maddie would have kissed Xander had he not stopped her and kisses both Ryn and Ben later on. It took two full days for Ben to see visions when awake (unlike Maddie who experienced visions the day after). Maddie also experienced two different visions immediately after each other with only a few minutes between them, the second resulting in quite probably the most memorable dinner scene in a TV show from recent memory.

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This again speaks to the defensive variant being the strongest and most harmful one.

The defensive version also impacts the Siren singing it, however besides reducing the effect of stress hormones (as with Ryn in episode 211) we do not know of any other effects.

So, to recap:

- the defensive version has an area effect and can be sung without visual contact with the target - its effect can reach the target even through multiple layers of steel - single exposure can destroy a brain within 2 months if left untreated - the effects on the victim seems double that of the love version in intensity

The curiosity variant of the song

On the other end of the spectrum is the curiosity version, which is the lleast impactful on the human.

RYN: "The first time I sang, I am curious about you. It brings us close" BEN: "It did"

(dialogue from Episode 110: Aftermath)

Curiosity is maybe the weakest category with only one observed instance. Yet I would argue that the possibility exists that the Siren can change the intensity of the song according to the motivation. And this definitely seems a version that has almost zero impact on the human target.

Ben first meets Ryn when she steps in front of his car. His behaviour here is important to note for it establishes a baseline for later comparisons. In this instance he behaves how any decent person would behave when a vulnerable, naked and scared person collapses in front of them.

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(The scene starts at 00:50, here is a timestap link for you. )

When Ben first meets Ryn he immediately covers her up without even giving her naked body a once-over. He then calls a doctor, clothes her and when she wakes up he gives her plenty of personal space. She then sings to him.

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His behaviour after Ryn sings to him and they meet again mirrors his earlier decent behaviour. Ryn, who had earlier been the victim of an attempted rape, is at this point naturally distrustful of human males who tower over her. She hisses at him in multiple short, panicked breaths. Ben immediately adopts a non-threatening pose, lowering himself so that Ryn has the height advantage. He does not touch Ryn without her permission.

“It’s okay...I’m not gonna hurt you. My name is Ben.”

Likewise his behaviour in the following episodes is unaffected, especially when Ryn moves to kiss him in 103 and he declines said kiss despite there being a clear attraction.

All of this speaks to somebody who is in full control of his actions and whose judgement is unaffected. The only thing out of the ordinary would be his night-time trips on the water between Episode 104 and 105 and not being able to sleep for a few nights.

The song does create some sort of addiction - albeit one that a human can control rather easily. Ben was fine for over a month and a half until the unique stress situation of Sean’s death, Decker messing with his mother and him having insulted Ryn arises, which causes him to request Ryn to sing to him again.

Therefore I would argue that given the overall direct lack of effect on Ben I would classify this as the least harmful and least impactful version of the song.

To recap:

- the curiosity version does not change the behaviour of the target - it causes a slight addiction but overall is the least impactful variant of the Siren Song.

The Love variant of the Song

The love version is different from the defensive version in that it does not render the target cataconic but causes strong feelings in the target which mainly manifest in an intense need to protect the Siren. It is by far the variant which we know the most about.

1. The Love variant needs direct visual contact and close proximity

One requirement for its usage is that unlike the defensive variant it needs direct visual contact and close proximity as confirmed by Ryn in Episode 203 “Natural Order” when our trio runs into a slight problem recording Ryn’s song.

RYN: “Ben will be safe when I sing?" BEN: "Uh, we're not gonna be in here. We're gonna set it to record, and then we're gonna leave the room. RYN: If you leave, who do I sing to? MADDIE: The Machine. It captures sound. RYN: Song only comes when I sing to a human.

This also confirms there are different versions of the song - because otherwise Ryn could start singing despite them being in another room (as Donna did with the North Star Crew in Episode 101 “The Mermaid Discovery”)

[Speculation: This version might also need some sort of existing feeling to function (with Decker it was his scientific curiosity and sympathy for the suffering Donna, with Ben it was his developing feelings for Ryn).]

This version is used multiple times in the show:

Ryn used this variant on Ben in Episode 108 after he requested that she sing to him. It is this instance which cause the most lasting damage and which will be the focus of the analysis from here on.

Also, recordings of the song are used by Decker throughout Season 1, Ben in Episode 204 “Oil and Water”, Ben in the time period between 208 “Leverage” and 209 “No North Star”, Maddie and Ben in 209, by the military on Ben in 211 “Mixed Signals” and again by Ben in 214 “The last mermaid”.

Donna used this variant on Decker to get him to stop experiments on her and thus allow her to recover enough of her strength to survive.

[Sidenote: The version Donna used on Decker could not have been the defensive version as Decker did not become entranced and did not adopt the typical body posture that Maddie, Xander, Chris etc. did. Decker also was the only one affected.]

What are its effects on humans and how does it differ from the other two versions already covered in this article?

2. The love variant causes addiction in Humans

This can be as strong as driving somebody to suicide in case the human loses permanent access to the song. Decker was the poster child for this. Likewise, Ben struggles with addiction to this version of the song and unlike his previous exposure (with the milder curiosity version) he cannot control it even without extenuating circumstances in Episode 203/204.

3. The love variant affects how humans feel about the Siren

The song affects the humans feelings, but it cannot cause genuine love between Human and Siren as Ryn explains multiple times.

A snake and our favourite mermaid discussing the effect of the song on the relationship in Episode 211: “Mixed Signals” :

Nicole: Ben and Maddie are very close to you. Very protective of you. Does your song have anything to do with that? Ryn: Not just song. With Ben and Maddie, it is more. Nicole: More? Ryn: Yes. Ryn loves Ben and Maddie. Ryn makes love with Ben and Maddie.

This of course echoes earlier conversations Ryn had with Ben, for example in Episode 202 “The Wolf At The Door” and 204 “Oil and Water”.

BEN: It’s not just the song. It’s more. RYN: “Yes. More.”

Which to be fair makes sense - after all in real life drugs exist that can cause other people to behave a certain way but those are not genuine, lasting feelings as Maddie and Ben develop for Ryn (and vice versa).

However, while the song apparently cannot create lasting feelings of love it can have several other effects on the human target. Let us review those effects on the human by looking at its effects on a specific person, namely Ben.

4. The love variant of the song causes lowered impulse control and lowers the inhibitions of the target

In Episode 108 Ryn asks Ben to sing to him.

BEN: “Will you sing to me? Again?”

The effects are immediate. In Episode 109 Ben has nightmares about Ryn having sex with him, then attacking him and drowning him.

(Whelp, that dream escalated quickly.)

[A caveat: It is not exactly clear whether this is a normal nightmare due to his past experiences and conflicting feelings about Ryn. I would imagine falling in love with someone who tried to literally eat you would cause some weird nightmares in any case. But I would classify it as another effect of the song based on how he acts the rest of the episode.]

We see an immediate effect the next morning when Ben is completely fixated on Ryn. And what we can see over the course of Episode 109 are definitely changes in behaviour.

The first one are lowered inhibitions and lowered impulse control as Ben constantly touches Ryn. Ben previously did not mind Ryn touching him and he definitely reacted to that kiss in Episode 106 but in all those cases Ryn was the one initiating contact. Here, over the whole episode Ben constantly seeks to be close to Ryn, touching her as often as he can.

The touching is light - nothing sexual, just touching her back or holding hands. However this is definitely not normal behaviour for Ben.Donna immediately notices this and tries to step in to protect her little sister, only to be told by Ryn that she does not mind (and might even want the touch).

RYN: "It's okay. Ben is love." DONNA: "Love?" RYN: "Yes.

Honestly I am not sure how to classify the physical touch here. I would argue that it is more troubling for Sirens than it is for Humans to have people in their personal space (cf, Ryn hissing at and later attacking Helen in Episode 102 just for coming near her). But while it might only be slight touching it definitely is a departure from how Ben normally acted around Ryn before this episode. I don’t think he would have enough self-control to resist a kiss from her in this state as he previously did in Episode 103.

Even more troubling than the touching however is way the song changes Ben Judgement.

5. The love variant of the song alters the judgement of the human target, creating an intense need to protect the siren

It is hard to describe but it seems as if the song gradually rearranges his priorities, resulting in an intense need to protect Ryn. See for example the following discussion in Episode 109 “Street Fight”:

BEN: "They're after Ryn, Maddie. And Donna, too. They want to kill them. MADDIE: "Maybe you should take them somewhere?" BEN: "Where?" MADDIE: "I don't know. Somewhere out of here." BEN: "And if we get them away, what then? Those two are still here. We let them murder people, destroy the town? These two are dangerous. They're the ones who killed Sean. We need to keep Ryn safe. Whatever it takes. MADDIE: I'm here with my dad, I am gonna talk to him. Get the police involved. That's what makes sense here. You guys just wait. Nobody's hurting anyone".

To be fair to Ben, none of what he says is illogical or even a bad idea. He clearly wants to protect the town and other humans too. However it is the "Whatever it takes" part that signals his impaired judgement. Yet Ben still tries to follow Maddie's advice and tries to calm Ryn down when she gets tired of waiting, only to be interrupted by Xander. The following conversation reveales how much his judgement has shifted by that point:

XANDER : “Aw come on man. All I'm asking is to go after the thing that killed my dad. You could at least pretend to give a damn. “ BEN : “Of course I give--"

It is at this point when Ryn interrupts.

RYN: Maybe this is what we need to do. What Xander says. Maybe this is the only way. DONNA: Yes BEN: Ryn, you sure about this? RYN: *to Xander* We will help you find him. XANDER You down with this? BEN: Yeah.

Ben previously would have trusted Maddie's judgement more than Ryn. He would not agree to a plan that involves violence as the only tool, especially not with Xander who cannot think straight at this point. Remember this is the same person that rejects a life in luxury to save unintelligent sea life - and suddenly he is ok with killing two Sirens?

Again, to be fair as the events showed Ryn’s plan was sound as she was able to defeat Katrina. But the Ben before 109 would not have just gone along with Ryn and certainly would not have agreed to let Xander tag along. At the very least he would have informed Maddie about it.

Ben's changed priorities due to the song are even more evident wen talking to Maddie later on. Here Ben flat out accuses Maddie to not caring about Ryn because Maddie wants to call in more cops to help with the Mermaids. It is quite clear that the only thing on Bens mind at that point is to protect Ryn, something Maddie accurately calls out as his judgement being totally screwed up.

(I have to confess that I kinda wanted Maddie to slap him at that point.)

BEN: "If we call the cops now there's no way we will ever contain that thing" MADDIE: "It's already out of control. We have no choice." BEN: "Okay, and what happens if the cops find Ryn? What happens then? Look we can solve this on our own. We can protect her." MADDIE: "No, we can't. It's too late. What is going on with you? Your judgement is totally screwed up." BEN: "Don't you care about her?" MADDIE: "Of course I do. Of course I do. You're the one putting her in danger, going out with Xander like some crazed vigilante. You're acting insane." BEN: "*grabs shotgun* "Yeah." MADDIE: "Hey. Where the hell are you going?" BEN: "To help Ryn."

So what we see here is a gradual shift in priorities until it arrives at the point when he completely prioritizes Ryn over his girlfriend Maddie and where nothing else matters except protecting Ryn.

6. The love variant of the song can cause dangerous (and sometimes helpful) visions

Ben’s condition deteriorates in Episode 110 “Aftermath” to the point where he has a vision of Ryn being in danger. He dives into the water and would have drowned himself if Ryn had not arrived in time to save him.

(probably the closest to the original siren song mythology we got to in the show - thankfully Ryn did no longer see him as a foud source in her water form though)

BEN: “What were you doing down there?” RYN: “I came to help you” BEN: “No, before that. I-I heard your voice. That's why I went down there. You were there, right?” RYN: “No.“ BEN: “No, I - I heard you. I know I heard you. You were there.” RYN: “Ben, I wasn't there.” BEN: “What does this mean?” RYN: “I didn't know my song could do this.”

In episode 201, which takes place three days after 110, Ben loses his footing after hearing Ryn's voice in his head when rock climbing.

In episode 203 the Song appears in his head again when Ryn is in mortal danger as she fights Katrina for leadership of the merpack.

This causes Ben to launch another futile attempt to protect Ryn.

In Episode 214 “The Last Mermaid” Ben listens to a recording of the song again as the sudden relevation of him being a Pownall causes Ryn to almost break up with him. While Ben is very protective of Ryn throughout the episode it is unclear if it is being caused by his normal feelings for her or by the song (I am leaning towards the former).

However, the intense vision he experienced during the night was definitely not caused by his normal feelings for Ryn.

The horror vision he experiences shows a dark version of him injuring Ryn with a harpoon, causing Ben to try to attack the dark version of him and then being extremely distraught at the sight of an injured vision-Ryn.

However the vision in itself has more positive than negative effects on Ben - and especially on his relationship with Ryn. He realizes he loves even her nonhuman traits and even in nonhuman water form. As soon as he and Ryn reconcile, he suffers from no more visions and experiences no changes in his behaviour.

However there are multiple, long stretches of time where Ben suffers no visions at all and no impact from the song manifests in his behaviour. In episode 202 he is not affected by the song at all, nor is he affected in any other episodes of Season 2 besides episodes 203 and episodes 214.

Curiously this even includes episodes where he and Maddie are exposed to the song multiple times. In Episode 204 Ben hears a recording of the song with no effects.

In episode 209 Ben and Maddie both listen to Ryn's song yet it does not modify their behaviour. If anything it restores them to their normal behaviour as listening to the song lessens the effect of them missing Ryn.

In Episode 211 Ben listens to the whole song and then is bombarded sveral times with the aggressive layers of the song. The attack on his brain is so bad that he would have likely taken permanent damage had Ryn not stepped in.

(Note that this is the only time a human is shown in pain when listening to any variant of the song. This signifies just how intense the bombardement of his brain is.)

The question immediately arises - why does the song cause such different effects at different times? Wy does Ben experience effects from a recording of the song in Episode 214 but suffers no effect in episodes 204, 209 and 211 - and suffers no effect after being bombarded with the aggressive layers? Why does the song cause Ben to try to protect Ryn in 203 but he has no issue with Ryn risking her life in 208?

Ben can get blasted by the song multiple times in a row - even the harmful layers of the song - in Episode 211 and nothing happens to him. No vision, no change in behaviour, nothing. If the scenes did not show his exposure to the song you would believe nothing had happened at all by his behaviour in this episode.

Was Ben maybe building up a tolerance to the song and getting the cure in 212 removed that tolerance buildup? That is one possible explanation for the experience in 214 but not a very convincing one for the different reactions before - especially not why Maddie did not suffer visions in 209 even though she had no such tolerance at all.

7. The love variant of the song might have a feedback loop

The other possible explanation is that the effects of the song vary according to the stress levels the human is under at that point. Yet subscribing to that theory would effectively mean that Ben would be under less stress when Maddie is in danger of permanent brain damage (as in 211) than when Ryn is in danger. This argument leads down a very dark path for what it implies in terms of the relationship between Ben, Ryn and Maddie, one that I am not prepared to follow as I see no basis for assuming that Ben cares much less about Maddie than about Ryn.

The theory I would favour instead would be a feedback loop, aka the need to protect or to help the siren causing the human brain to go haywire whenever the human notices the Siren is disstressed or in danger.

Which might explain why Ben suffers a vision in 110 (with Ryn being deeply affected by Donna's death) and in 203 when Ryn herself is in mortal danger as she fights with Katrina (note how the vision happens only after Katrina seems to gain the upper hand).

In contrast Ben might suffer no vision in 209 and 211 (not even from the aggressive layers) because he can see that Ryn is safe and well.

Note how in 211 he spends the entire episode by her side and keeps constant visual contact with her. However in 214 Ryn is clearly in disstress over the mating situation and the Pownall situation, maybe the most stress we ever see her under in the entire show. Ben fears losing her while Ryn tells him that she fears him going bad like his ancestor - the exact situation the vision depicts.

This would also explain why in Episode 109 Ben initially still follows Maddie's advice and only gets more and more irrational as Ryn starts getting more and more stressed out by waiting, something Ryn voices her displeasure at and something that Ben clearly notices as he tries to calm her.

And a feedback loop of that sort would also neatly explain why - despite still exposing himself to the recording of the song - Ben’s visions disappear after Ryn is safe and/or in a relationship with him and Maddie (Episodes 208-214 and then again 215-216). It also explains wihy he has no visions in Episode 202 when Ryn is around him all the time and why the visions only reappear in 203 (when Ryn is in actual danger) or in 201 (when Ryn and he have split up).

[Speculation: If we assume that the love variant evolved due to Siren-human relationships then - if we assume a feedback loop - we would also have an evolutionary reason for the song to exist in the first place. ]

I fully admit that this is a theory that is only supported by observation and not direct evidence. However it is the only satisfying theory I can think of right now that explains the different reactions to exposure of the song.

8. Singing the love variant is not something a Siren does lightly

Unlike the defensive variant which is regularly used in fights against humans, it is quite clear that the love version is not sung lightly by the Siren. Part of that might be some residual cultural barrier, maybe a holdover from the times the sirens and humans lived on land.

We hear the motivation for a Siren singing the love variant expressed clearly by Ryn in Episode 110, when Aldon Decker tries to convince Donna to sing to him again.

DECKER: "You sang a song to me before. Could you do it again? Your voice is so beautiful." RYN: *looks shocked* DONNA: *twists away from decker* HELEN: "You need to leave!" DECKER: "I just need to hear it once." RYN: “She sang to you to escape from you, not because she loves you." DECKER: "But -" RYN: "She will not do it again."

I really wish I had managed to find a video capture of this scene so I could show you just how shocked Ryn is at hearing this.

Donna meanwhile twists her whole body as far away from Decker as possible despite being in considerate pain.

Donna's reaction to Decker annnouncing the fact and Ryns immediate protectiveness suggests that what Donna did was out of the ordinary. I for one could not help but notice the reaction was similar to movie portrayals of victims of rape or forced prostitution. Take note that Donna initially kept that she sang to Decker from Ryn (she never mentions it in 106 when discussing what Decker did to her) and Ryn is absolutely crestfallen when she hears Decker mentioning this.

It might very well be that singing this love version of the song is one of the most intimate things a Siren can do with a human, one that is ordinarily reserved for people they love. Which again would make sense for the time Siren and human tribes lived together on land as limiting the usage there would serve to protect both humans and sirens.

9. The love variant creates an addiction in the Siren singing it

One simple reason for this song having this special status is the effect it has on the Siren singing it. Much as in the human hearing the song, singing the song also creates an addiction on part of the Siren singing it.

Ryn describes this in episode 203 “Natural Oder”:

MADDIE: "What does it feel like when you sing?" RYN: "Makes me feel good. After I sing to Ben..." MADDIE: "What is it?" RYN: “I need it. I want to sing.”

This is a direct parallel to Ben's explanation how he felt when Ryn sang to him. From Episode 106: "Showdown":

MADDIE: "What did it feel like?" BEN: "Honestly, like a drug. I can't explain it. It's like something I need".

Ryn echoes this in Episode 204 “Oil and Water” when she tells Ben about this while they dance with each other and discuss their relationship.

BEN: You said that, uh, that you have dreams about me. I've had dreams about you too. RYN: Maybe something Ben must know. BEN: What? RYN: You say when I sing my song, you like how it feels. BEN: Yeah. RYN: When I sing to you, I like it, too.

[Sidenote: Geez Ryn cannot keep a secret when it comes to Ben and Maddie. Here she goes telling Ben despite promising just two or three days before that she would keep it a secret. I present to you Ryn Fisher, Queen of the Sirens, Slayer of Big Oil, Keeper of Secrets. I get why she told him as they needed to address it before moving onto the next stage of their relationship but still, nice going there Ryn.]

Therefore, not only does the Human become addicted to the Song, the Siren also becomes addicted singing to that Human. .

[Wild speculation: It might also be that the song originally worked as a link to guarantee the stability of a relationship between humans and sirens in order to protect the Siren. Given the difficulties a relationship between humans and sirens brings with it there needs to be absolute commitment to the relationship for both parties. Which might be the evolutionary reason for the song. Biologically evolution has attached pleasure to things that are necessary for a relationship (like for example sex) and this might be the case here too.]

In closing, I would summarize the capabilities and features of the Love Variant thusly:

- Unlike the defense variant the love variant needs direct visual contact and close proximity to the target. - The love variant creates pleasant sensations for the human target and causes an addiction - It affects how humans feel about the Sirens but cannot create genuine feelings - The song causes lowered impulse control and lowes the inhibitions of the target - It alters the judgement of the human target, creating an intense need to protect the siren - The love variant of the song can cause dangerous (and sometimes helpful) visions - It might have a feedback loop, causing the human to get more visions and act more erratic according to the level of stress and danger the Siren herself experiences. However as long as the human sees the Siren is safe and in no danger the effects are minimal to non-existent. - Singing the love variant of the song is not something a siren does lightly. It is usually done only for people the siren cares deeply about. - The song creates an addiction to sing for the Siren - The Siren experiences pleasant sensations when singing the song - It might originally have been used to guarantee the success of the relationship between Siren and human.

Thank you for reading. As always, feel free to disagree or offer additional info in the comments.

#siren freeform #freeform siren #ryn #polymarine #siren song #analysis #long post

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royaltealovingkookiness · 5 years ago

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Hi! I love your blog Been having some thoughts about Ozai - I don't think he was the totally abusive @hole the fandom paints him as - at first. I think he would have been kind to Zuko at first to harbor that loyalty and desire for love - if he was mean from the start, children retreat. I think overtime he would have withdrawn his "affection" which is why Zuko is so convinced that Ozai's disapproval is his fault. This manipulation is more like real abusers, and something Azula has too Thoughts?

Hi! Thanks a lot!

We have very little to go on when it comes to Ozai’s relationship with his children. In the Zuko Alone flashbacks, he’s mostly distant, except when they need to be pranced around to further his goals. We hear his poisonous words from Azula’s lips. His shadow is so menacing that we believe he could conceivably sacrifice Zuko for his ambitions.

There is only one vague, positive memory Zuko keeps clinging onto of his father from Ember Island:

I personally don’t think Ozai was ever genuinely kind or loving with his children. He never looks at them as anything but how they reflect back on him. This is clear when he prances out Azula like a show-pony to ask for the throne, or when Zuko returns home after his banishment, and Ozai’s pride is tied to how Zuko chose him over Iroh.

But I also don’t think he was physically violent with them (apart from the Agni kai obviously). Ozai is shown to be a good manipulator; and he’s definitely wielding physical contact and appreciation as a rare gift to be earned. Case in point: the only time we hear him call Zuko “my son” is when he returns after having betrayed Iroh, kowtowing in front of Ozai (and Ozai probably feeling like he totally broke him).

So Zuko and Azula grow up thinking that they need to be deserving, demonstrate exceptional feats (preferably being better than the other) to please their father. They both also clearly fear him. Ozai tries to imprint onto them (quite successfully) that their worth can only be measured through his eyes.

As for Zuko’s loyalty and desire to be accepted, there are quite a few components at play:

Every child has a natural desire to be loved by their parents, and a lot of magical thinking on how they could earn this love. He is only 13 when he’s banished, basically with the thinking of a child. During his teenage years, the parental role is taken over by Iroh, and all of Zuko’s teenage rebellion is directed against his uncle, while his emotion towards his father never develops (at least until he returns home) beyond what he felt when he was a 13-year old, naive, idealistic child, who was led to believe that he committed some terrible sin against his father and has to redeem himself. Being able to walk away from that need is a sign of Zuko’s hard-earned maturity.

Ozai is not only his father, but his Fire Lord. Zuko was taught from childhood along with everyone that the Fire Lord is owed absolute obedience and respect. His word is law. His actions are never questioned. We see the kind of brainwashing that went on in a countryside school. The heir to the throne would have been groomed aggressively with this propaganda. So to be loyal to his father and his country are the same thing in Zuko’s mind for a long time. It’s actually one of the key moments of his story, when he’s finally able to separate the two.

Not every child reacts the same way to abuse. Some kids are naturally more rebellious. Zuko isn’t. He’s a pleaser. He tries to mold himself to people’s expectations. As a small kid, he tries to please both Ursa and Ozai, and the two sets of expectations create tension inside him. When in S2 he gives up hope that he could ever be the son Ozai wants, he tries to please Iroh instead. This kind of need for external validation comes often when children’s self-worth is diminished. Withholding approval and affection will almost always result in a lack of self worth.

I agree that Azula has learnt the manipulation from Ozai - their similar behaviour is put into parallel in the Eclipse in the inter-cut scenes where Ozai tries to manipulate Zuko with dangling Ursa in front of him, while Azula targets Sokka’s feelings for Suki. And in some ways, Azula is even a more skillful manipulator than Ozai. But in their relationship, she is still the child, and seems quite unable to handle her father’s displeasure or manipulation as it becomes obvious in their scene where Ozai makes her Fire Lord of an empty palace.

Actually, it’s kind of ironic that the punishment he doles out on Zuko to break him actually becomes a gift that allows him to break free of him, while the reward he gives to Azula feels a lot like punishment, and it’s what finally breaks her.

I think Ozai was trying to control his children - use them for his purposes, but also obsessively keeping them from outgrowing him. And the culmination of this twisted legacy is the final agni kai, as a grim, but determined Zuko, and a deranged Azula fight it out in their childhood home, while Ozai faces the Avatar all alone.

#atla #ozai #azula #zuko #fire nation #fire nation royals #atla meta

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hecohansen31 · 5 years ago

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Micheal had noticed you a while ago. You were interesting, and beautiful in his eyes, but you seemed to think differently, your mind was always so loud, angry thoughts of no self-worth and worthlessness were a constant thing when he saw you. When you and him finally have an interview, the question "how do you feel about yourself?" comes up. And after a few failed attempts at lying. Everything comes pouring out, about how you hated yourself, and it was caused by a past abusive relationship.

(A/N): Hello lovely!

Thank you for sending this in!

I am honestly extremely sorry for taking this long with it my writing and everything, I actually am on vacation and it is a bit of a social life everyday (Please life stop I need my mental relax…). But I swear I didn’t forgot about it!

Also, HUGE DISCLAIMER: I haven’t been in an abusive relationship or witnessed one, so most fo what i wrote is based on others’ experience, most fo which fictional.

If there is even something that makes you uncomfortable or offended, lovely please let me know, and I will delete it and rewrite it.

Thank you, again!

WARNINGS: Mentions of Violence, Abusive Relationship and Abusive Behaviors (graphic description!).

Something that Michael had first understood, when he had met her was that she was a survivor.

Not a martyr like the other residents of the Outpost 3: lazy and greedy beings, not worthy of a shot of the redemption they were magically hoping for, since his arrival.

They were expecting to be picked for the Sanctuary, the miraculous place they would finally be all happy, after the Apocalypse destroyed their beloved planet.

Their new chance to live a happy and fulfilling life.

But still… they did nothing to earn it.

Nothing to make Michael feel pitiful towards their state.

Only disgust came to his mind when he thought about the people, who lived in the little shelter, thinking they were only useful for the slaughter.

Except her, the one who tried to make the Outpost feel more like a home.

She listened to Coco’s mindless ideas, meanwhile she tried to make the spoiled heiress feel like she might be more grateful towards the poor Greys she treated as slaves.

She avoided full-blown fights between Gallant and Evie, shushing the latter and trying to make the former feel better about himself.

She helped in her own way the romance between Timothy and Emily, hiding them from Venable or just standing at guard in the room the duo was talking, to make sure that nobody thought about a possible relationship, between the two.

She even let Dinah talk her entire bullshit at her, giving her any kind of TV show advice, meanwhile she just nodded and kept her head stuck in a book, probably to hide her giggle and boredom.

She was a good person, the type that Michael didn’t think would be still alive, and the fact that she was quite a beauty didn’t help, in the slightest…

He soon developed an infatuation towards her, finding way after way to spend time with her, sitting beside her during the meals, and trying to find her in the library alone.

But not only she was extremely squeamish when this happened, but her thoughts betrayed a darker truths: self-loathing thoughts flew in her mind and she was constantly putting herself down, insulting herself for any mistake and when there weren’t… she just shot insults on her physique or mind.

He had never wanted to introduce himself in her thoughts, but they were just so so loud and he couldn’t help but hear them, angry and red, screaming out from her head, till they eventually lost their voices or he would just run away, taken by the interviews or some conversation with Venable.

But in reality, some of part of him, his so-called-humanity, rooted for her and just wanted to gently lay her down next to him, caress her hair and listen to what she had to say about herself, fighting away all those horrible insecurities.

He had left her in the last rounds of interviews, hoping to know more about her in a less threatening way, but not only she refused to share more than he saw, but also she seemed a true afraid animal whenever they were even for a minute alone, and those angry thoughts covered her quiet ones.

So, when her interview came around, she stood on the chair as if there were burning coals under it, nervous and at unease, even more when he locked the door, and she uttered shyly an:

“Is it necessary?” her lashed hid her eyes, but her voice was teary and soft enough to smell of pure fear “… can’t we leave it open?”.

“It is better to close it” he replied, trying his best to appear calm and open, to ease a bit of calmness into her “… we wouldn’t want anybody to listen on your business, Mrs (L/N), would we?”.

She simply nodded, her eyes immediately lowering to her polished shoes: not a single thing in her appearance was out of place or recognizable.

It was almost as if she shrank in herself, to appear trivial and ordinary, just another human.

Whereas they both knew she wasn’t a simple human.

It took more than a simple human to get the Antichrist sleepless because he couldn’t fathom why somebody might hate herself like that.

-Mrs (L/N), how are you finding yourself at this humble house? – he asked, meanwhile he sat down in front of her, looking at the elegant desk where he had set down a little piece of paper and a pen, as if he intended to take notes, but with his side-eye he looked at her scrunched face, worried and a bit scared, but she soon found the voice to reply.

-… it is quite nice…- she raised a bit her head, and as if he had seen a ghost take over he face, she morphed into a smiling girl -… as nice as a post-apocalyptic shelter can be-.

Although he had to keep up his stern behavior, he let out mentally a laugh, and was surprised of that side of the girl, which quickly went back to the submissive tone she had started the interview with.

-… it is always nice to keep a positive note in places like this- he replied, sternly but he tried to let a bit of warmth linger in his tone -… and I saw that you are constantly helping your fellow survivors, whereas they aren’t so nice towards you…-.

He didn’t need to word the question, because she understood and, watching the rim of the desk, she answered:

-As you said there is need of nice people in places like that…- she mumbled, meanwhile twirling her finger around, sadly he also saw that there were some scratches on them, almost scars of self-harm, which he could link to her nails -… I don’t honestly understand why I was saved, just some men grabbing me because my genetical exam passed some tests-.

He had read in her files, something about her being indeed special in that department, alongside a long array of fractured bones and accidental cuts: he hadn’t been dumb enough not to realize that she was either extremely clumsy or there was something behind.

-… what about your family? – her family had also perished, according to her files, he already knew it, but he wanted to realize if anything in that department triggered something, but she just shook her head, revealing that she didn’t know what had happened to them, and only melancholic sadness shone in her eyes, but nothing which might show the aftermaths of an abuse -… what did you do before you were brought into the Outpost?-.

-I did actually different jobs- she scratched her hair, gently, as if she was trying to remember it all -… but my last employment was as a teacher for children with special need, and I was actually unemployed for three months after that-.

-Did you get fired or was it willingly…? – he had immediately seen the little shine in her eyes at the mention of her job, clearly she had liked her job and he could see by the way she hid in herself that he had hit a sore spot.

-I had a medical emergency and a familiar problem which made me quit- she said it in a way that asked to respect her and to avoid ask further questions.

But wasn’t the devil the one who gifted humankind curiousness?

-Care to explain more? -.

She had basically shrank in herself even more, her feet being on the chair, meanwhile her arms circled herself, as if she was ready to protect herself, her head ready to duck into her arms, in order to be protected by any kind of hitting her invisible assaulter might decide to do.

And there Michael had not the survivor anymore, just a scared little girl.

He had thought he would have somehow eradicated his sudden attraction for the girl with that image, but there was a softness in her and in him a will to protect her, to make her feel protected and to avenge her, that he thought that maybe soulmates existed.

-It was a car incident- she tried to lie, but her voice was shaky, exactly as her hands.

-… I would prefer that you didn’t lie to me, Mrs (L/N)- he remembered her, although he tried to word it as carefully as he could, with softness in his tone but also strength in his resistance and search of the truth -… I appreciate the truth as much as what comes with it-.

-I don’t think…- her voice broke halfway, and when it came back her eyes had finally raised to meet his -… I can’t-.

Tears now were flowing onto her cheeks and it pained him, in its deepest core.

-… you are safe, Mrs (L/N)- he comforted her, holding an hand out, not touching her, knowing it might trigger something in her, and she was thankful for it, shyly moving her hand towards it, but still not grabbing it -… I swear it-.

-… it was my ex-boyfriend- she finally let out, almost as a deep breath -… it is such a stupid thing to say, because I didn’t expect to be “that” girl… but it happened-.

And then she explained softly how she had met Christian, he had been sweet and nice with her, the perfect guy, but slowly he had shown the typical abuser signs, but she had been too blindly in love with him to react, and he had at first taken away her self-esteem.

“That skirt is too short, and even if you wanted to wear it, your legs look ugly in it. I don’t say this to be mean, but I want you to be better”.

Then it had been her friend.

“They said something bad about me, how can you stand that?! I thought you loved me” and slowly she broke away from her childhood friend, the college ones and the simple acquaintances of her work, but worst of all her family.

“They won’t support us… well… then we don’t need them! Those pompous assholes”.

And not only he had used manipulation but he had also gaslighted her into believing everything he said and each of his fault… was on her!

He had lost his job.

“It’s all your fault, you pathetic bitch, you wanted us to spend more time together and this happened!”.

He had once came back from a fight in a bar and meanwhile she had tried to clean his wound, he had grabbed her hand and twisted it, not hard enough for him to break her arm, but she had ugly bruises on the following day and although she brushed it off as any other insult he had thrown on his way, because “he would never hurt her”, she couldn’t help but be a bit scared.

He had come back with flowers and expensive wine (with her money, but she hadn’t been able to mention it) and had proclaimed that he had found a job.

She had thought it was only just a stupid and horrible period, and everything would be fine.

But it kept happening, whether or not Christian was employed, whether or not she did something to anger him, whether or not she cried and begged for mercy.

It never came.

Instead one time the ambulance had to bring her out of her home and for the first time in two years she met again with her mother.

The poor woman hadn’t slept after she had been called I the middle of the night about her daughter basically being an inch from death and being under a brain surgery since somebody had basically smashed her head against a wall.

Her mother had been extremely scared by the doctors who had adverted her that her daughter might not only wake up with no memory of her, but also no ability to speak hear or see.

“Brain injuries are very horrible and till the patient isn’t awake we can’t know, but she was lucky enough to arrive her and be alive, so let’s all pray that whoever rules our destiny that she will be fine” had mumbled a doctor to her mother who had religiously sit by her bed the entire time, and when she had woken up, she had her memories and faculty to speak and see, but a terrible headache.

Her mother had almost laughed when she had told her this, before starting crying and in that horrible moment she had realized she couldn’t go on, not because she cared about herself particularly but because she honestly couldn’t let the people who loved her be hurt.

Not when she knew they still cared about her, even because of this.

She hadn’t been able to confront Christian one last time, but she had indeed signed a restraint order towards him and she had moved with her parents again, finally hearing their laughs again, the teasing voice of your sister and the softness of nights spent in peace.

But sometimes things triggered her past memories, a noise too loud made her cower in herself, as if she had heard a scream or the simple crackling of bones remembered her of her own bones breaking and soon that apparent peace became another trap.

She started falling into a deep depression, feeling guilty both for what she was imposing onto her parents and both because she had been just so so stupid…

Nothing would have happened, had she been…

But the truth was that she couldn’t have done much more and could only focus on the fact that she had managed to escape him.

In those three months before the Apocalypse hit her, she had been falling down the rabbit hole, living also in fear of Christian coming back, and she knew that the Apocalypse should have just pushed her further, but secluded in that horrible shelter she had found herself again.

The voices in her head still screamed, but in that calm atmosphere, the nightmares quieted somehow…

… till Michael Langdon’s appearance shadowed hers.

He seemed so interested in her and she, an hurt animal, couldn’t help but run away and put herself down in front of him, scared that what happened with Christian might happen again with him, alongside her constant thoughts of being spoiled and rotten.

Damaged goods, as Christian called her.

-… I feel so sorry…- she couldn’t help but finish her entire story with those words -…I am sorry to have burdened you with these stupid things-.

And she moved to grab his hand, gently squeezing in, before ducking her head to the ground, ashamed by her sudden emotional outburst, but Michael gently squeezed her hand back, gaining her attention and a raise of her head.

-Mrs (L/N) or if you may, (Y/N), you are not a burden, in the slightest and I am actually the one who is sorry for bringing this all up, it wasn’t what I intended…-.

He couldn’t help but be heartbroken by her confession, it was the truest he had ever heard, a true human with a pure tormented soul: had he finally found someone who was worth the Sanctuary.

-How else would you know our darkest secrets? – she tried to lighten up the room, as she did so many times, alongside changing the subject, but he didn’t let her.

-… it was still… not my purpose to reduce you to tears- he gently brought out a handkerchief, offering it to her with the hand she wasn’t holding.

-Well… at least we now know that I won’t be heartbroken when I don’t make it in the Sanctuary- and it was too dark to brighten the affirmation or to laugh it up, but it also got to Michael’s head and before he knew it he had immediately jumped up from his chair.

-Why would you think that you won’t make it in Sanctuary- he could see the fear in her eyes, her head had indeed been ducked into her arms, but he had an hunch on why she might say something like that -… (Y/N)… you are the only one who has shown me a some truth, and for this you are the only interesting being in this Outpost-.

-I am spoiled goods, Mr Langdon- tears blurred her words, but Michael knew them and ach one hurt him.

-You aren’t in the slightest- his voice lowered an octave, in an attempt to seem calm, meanwhile he circled the desk in order to be closer to her, although he kept himself at a reasonable distance, crouching on the ground, at her feet -… you are a survivor, (Y/N), the brave and sweet woman I couldn’t help but admire, from the start of my staying at the Outpost. You are the only one I would think of bringing at the Sanctuary, a true pure soul, with a tormented past-.

-After Christian… I don’t know if I can…- she was scared he was demanding for more, which he wouldn’t.

So many people had taken too much from her and he wouldn’t ask her to give anything else, if not freely.

He would just wait till she would give anything to him.

For now, he just could live on the sweet smile that appeared on her face.

And the knowledge that Christian had perished horribly in one of his previous visits to the other Outposts…

-Now let’s talk about more merry themes, my lovely (Y/N)- he sweetened his tone and she giggled, a heavenly sound truly -What is your favorite dessert? -.

#michael langdon #michael langdon drabble #michael langdon blurb #michael langdon reader #michael langdon x reader #michael langdon fem reader #michael langdon x fem! reader #michael langdon story #michael langdon writing #michael langdon moodboard #tw abusive relationship #michael langdon one shot #michael langdon oneshot #duncan shepherd #duncan shepherd imagine #AHS #ahs apocalypse

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sparda3g · 5 years ago

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Black Clover Chapter 222 Review

A long time ago, have I not know this series’ writing, I would have thought Noelle had her development, and the next one won’t happen for a very long time. That and she will stick to love dilemma. Not that I’m against the pairing; I prefer she has her own character aside from being a love interest. Now, I am proudly confidence to know her character isn’t done and already set for a major development and goal. It’s all planted in this amusing chapter that I wished it went on longer.

I do like the color page of Dorothy with a floating imaginary creature; nicely describe her characteristic. It’s good to see her again, awake and all. I still remember my reaction when her actual personality was shown for the first time. The Elf version was exactly what I had in mind; glad to be wrong. Now we see her to take part of the larger story, starting with Noelle asking her about her mother and the Devils. Interestingly enough, speaking about the matter would result a curse. This sets up for the explanation for Nozel’s questionable act.

I like how we get to see the “Glamour World” again, now without a war. Noelle falling down through many imaginary objects, like looking at Alice in Wonderland. At first, I thought it was odd for Noelle to react like she has never seen it before, but then I remember, she wasn’t part of that outbreak with other Black Bulls members during two Dorothy duel. Plus, it allows Dorothy to explain the functionally of her world, even if we may understood the first time we witnessed it. That said, it still sounds incredibly powerful, especially now it’s confirmed to be separated from outside world as well as under her control. Even Noelle thinks that’s insane. Don’t be fooled by her bubbly personality.

Although fans may have learned about her world already, it doesn’t mean we can’t have fun with it. If creating a tea pot out of thin air wasn’t convincing on Dorothy’s capability, the next moment will. Asta has mastered the art of teleportation, brought to you by Yami, and so, he teleported to Dorothy’s world and flirt with Noelle. We’re in the endgame now. Okay, that’s not true since that Asta is an imagination, but it is hilarious how Dorothy took advantage to tease Noelle. Too bad for any Asta, he will be forever sent flying by her. Maybe one day…

It goes back to serious tone when Imagery Nozel appears to explain a piece of the true story. It’s revealed that he knows the truth of their mother’s death and it wasn’t because of Noelle, rather a curse. He remained silent about it, which most likely led the brothers solely blame on Noelle. As previously said, it’s a curse that shall not be said, so Nozel can’t say anything that can put his family in danger. Imagine being placed in a position where you can’t say anything, so only thing you can do is watch your brothers picking on the innocent sister. That would explain Nozel easily accept her being rather than being completely cruel.

Basically, he does care about Noelle. So much so, he embraces her like she was her little angel. That threw me off but I got a good laugh at the shifting tone. Funny that Noelle feels guilty for knocking him away, but Asta, it’s cool. Oddly enough, according to Dorothy, she always sees him to be that kind of gentleman. Is he supposed a closet siscon or has sister complex? That would be quite something else if that were to be true. Funny how the real Nozel was shaken up elsewhere.

Shifting back to the main topic, we learn more about the Demons’ awakening. It’s confirmed that they cannot manifest to their world unless a mage or so use a forbidden magic; much like Patolli unintentionally awakened the Word Devil. I suppose that would mean whenever there’s a demon lurking, there must be a “summoner.” If so, that’s interesting. It’s like having two enemies in one secret. The biggest reveal is the specific demon that killed Noelle’s mother is still around in their world. That demon is Megicula.

I don’t know if this is looking in too deep, but the name “Megicula” is interesting. It sounds to me that the demon could be portrayed like Dracula; instead of sucking blood, it is magic. I wonder if that demon could tie-in with Asta’s origin and by him, I mean his lack of mana. What’s also interesting is Noelle has gained the main target for her major development. Not only will she help Asta, but she will get her revenge for her mother. It’s worth reminding that she cannot speak about this with others, unless they find an access to outside world. I wonder how this will affect her when she gets closer to her swore enemy. This has great potential.

This was an amusing chapter, though it was pretty short. I respect Tabata’s time and effort though. Plus, the extras are fun to read. As for the chapter, I enjoyed the content and its fun visual. Dorothy is fun; hopefully to see more of her in the future. There were interesting details regarding with Silva Family and Demons. Noelle now has the target to chase after for more reasons than one. That can grant her plenty of developments, keeping her character afloat. This heroine is going to go far; bless Tabata for giving her the shine she will continue to gain.

#black clover #chapter 222 #review #spoilers

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playquiz · 5 years ago

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Why I didn’t eat for 72 hours

At 2:30 pm on Sunday, February 25, she stopped eating for 72 hours until 2:30 pm today, Wednesday, February 28.

Which raises the question: "Why do you do that?"

why not? I love testing my mental stability, and after all, I read about the benefits of more extended fasting, he was eager to take advantage of the positive effects. Why fast? We eat at regular intervals every day for many reasons, but perhaps the main reason is that we have been adapted this way. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are recognized on the day when most people stop eating, and as if that was not enough, there are also opportunities for food between those meals called "snacks." But there's no fixed biological rule that says we need to eat every 4-6 hours, but we've trained our bodies with these regular eating patterns to feel hungry at these times and because it makes it a more social event. We are told that if we don't eat regularly, all sorts of harmful things that may happen to us for a long time "little and often" is the slogan. But human species would not have survived as long as they exist if regular eating is a necessity. Fasting has never been promoted because it is a concept that no one will make money because it will not contribute to the sales of the comprehensive display of snacks that have become available over the past five years and are worth billions. Many foods in our modern diet (especially cereals and sugars), along with eating always, have made our bodies lazy and have stopped their ability to work in their energy stores. Fasting forces your body to function as it is designed and able to get rid of various sources of fuel. I have tried intermittent fasting for eight years now and have tried many different methods, but so far it has been my most extended speed for 24 hours, usually once a week. The health benefits of fasting As is often known, short-term discomfort can lead to long-term benefits, and this is what attracts me in these crazy experiences, and I like to try them. But much research has shown that there are many benefits to fasting. The body reacts well to acute (non-chronic, which has quite the opposite effect) and exits the other side stronger. Getting out of your comfort zone causes your body to thrive and become weaker as a result of not doing so often enough other parts of our lifestyle, not just in terms of nutritional terms. Self-phagocytosis (literally "self-eating") is central to the benefits of fasting and is essentially a biological process that plays a significant role in the body's ability to detoxify, repair, and renew itself. By activating the autophagy process, your body will start killing or eating cells that accumulate as a result of your lifestyle or cleaning dead, diseased or worn-out cells. But some of these elements are difficult for us to control. It is like our bodies built-in a recycling system that allows us to work more efficiently and help ward off many diseases, including preventing the growth and development of cancer. Not only that, but low autophagy (a condition in which many diets leave us) leads to accelerated cell aging. It's also amazing how much research has focused specifically on how fasting promotes autophagy in the brain and can be a very effective way to slow neurodegeneration that can help protect against Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. On top of all this, regular fasting helps reduce chronic pain, rheumatic diseases, high blood pressure and anything related to inflammation. Fasting is much more beneficial than just stimulating the removal of all old cellular parts and damaged toxins, as it stimulates the human growth hormone (which has decreased in my life about 40% since I was in my twenties) which enables our bodies to start producing some of the cells that Recently Renovated, HGH is also responsible for maintaining and building lean muscle mass that when in their forties is not as easy as it used to be. Extended fasting forces the body to use stored glucose and fats, but it also breaks a large portion of white blood cells. If you know the role that white blood cells play about our health, this does not sound good news. Still, the depletion of white blood cells causes changes, even with a short 3-day fast that has been shown to replenish immunity. The system begins with research that indicates the starvation of a kick. The body's stem cells produce new white blood cells, which fight infection. Scientists also found that prolonged fasting also reduces the enzyme PKA, which is associated with aging and a hormone that increases the risk of cancer and tumor growth. But you have to get rid of old things before you start bringing in new ones, so the process of destruction is just as necessary as the process of creation. What stops autophagy? Eating food. It does not take much, and for this, the autophagy is unique to fasting and something. So How do you fast then? Do not eat anything. Drink only water. Not much, not much. • Do the same activity for you. Sleep as much as you feel you need. I went to live as usual (although it was -8 here in Switzerland so I didn't walk as much as I usually do) and did two sessions about right or wrong body weight, one on the first day and the other on the third day. The advice also tends to make sure you spend a week not eating a lot of carbohydrates, reduce your caloric intake a little and try some short fasting. But I always eat more at this time of year and more carbs, so I didn't follow the rules there either. The only thing that I thought was good is that February is not a month of coffee for me, so there are no caffeine withdrawal symptoms for anxiety. What happened when fasting? Sunday at 2:30 pm they ate the last meal Weight: 57 kg The first day: Monday 6:30 am: Wake up, leave the rest of San Pellegrino from last night. Weight: 56.7 kg 7 am: I had to prepare breakfast for the rest of the family and prepare packed lunches that weren't a big deal today because I wasn't hungry at all and usually don't eat until 10:30 am anyway. 8.30–9.30 am a boot camp with mainly bodyweight exercises but few with extra weight. It was 8 o'clock outside this morning, so we made the indoor choice. As I said, the advice is not to participate in any "formal" exercise, but so far, my day is, as usual, I ignored it. Take sips of water throughout the exercise and may only drink 250ml of water. Midnight: The first sign of hunger as I felt (and heard) my destroyed stomach but wore quickly after two cups of warm water. I discussed putting a slice of lemon in there but then decided I didn't want my taste signal to stimulate my body to digest mode. 2.30 pm: 24 hours of fasting and feel good. It's strange because I did a lot of fasting 24 hours (usually one per week), and I'm always happy when it's time, and I can eat again but this time is different. Since I know, I cannot eat for another two days. My body is not asking for food. I am fascinated to see what "real" hunger looks like. 4:00 pm: I went to buy food! How inappropriate it is for my family to keep eating all this time (totally not suitable for children by the way, just in case you thought this was a serious comment). I bought some of the things I used to breakfast and even seeing a tattoo of all the food didn't make me want anything. I have always had a strong determination to take on any challenge that I have seen, and this is no different. I even made banana bread (which I love) and prepared carrots and chickpeas for girls after having a snack at school. 7.00 pm: I'm still not hungry, it's the weirdest thing. It might contain about a liter and a half of water yet. You must be careful not to drink too much. 8:00 pm: Time seems to be moving slower... It is very productive and does not eat. I have accomplished so much! 10:30 pm The second day: Tuesday 6:30 am: I woke up after a perfect sleep but felt a little shaky. He had some warm water and sat for only 10 minutes. After about an hour, I felt normal again. Weight: 55.6 kg 10:30 am: Even though I haven't eaten more than 44 hours yet, I'm still not hungry. Don't worry, though, my mind feels some mystery. I wonder if this is from toxins coming out of damaged cellular material and throwing them into the bloodstream? I don't feel tired or lethargic. 2.30 pm: 48 hours. 24 hours to go! 7.00 pm: Hungry at dinner time, but I still prepare dinner and sit with my family while they were only eating to be social. I love to challenge myself! 8:00 pm: Fasting and hunger cannot be noticed when you are busy, so it was a good opportunity to be truly productive. 9:00 pm The Epsom salt bath was bothering me, so I went straight to bed after 10 pm. The third day: Wednesday 6:30 am: I woke up feeling shaky again and made a decision not to do Bootcamp today... but then I felt fine and changed my mind and thought I would do as little or as much as I could. Weight: 54.6 kg 8.30–9.30 am. I surprised myself and worked pretty much as usual, which I found very strange due to the lack of glycogen in my muscles. He even threw a few batches there! A little excited to eat again later in the day, and I'm glad I started fasting at 2:30 pm, which isn't long to wait for now. Midnight: It seems like the day is going slowly. Strange I don't have these outages in the food, but I think I am beginning to expect this now until my mind gets ready and becomes patient. So, write this blog to keep it busy. 2.30 pm It's over, I did. 72 hours without food. But what is happening now? How do you end fasting? How to end fasting "safely." "Refeeding" is the process of providing food steadily to your body in a way that does not completely break down your system. The most significant danger is something called a refeeding syndrome, as reinserting food increases insulin to the point that causes an unsafe situation. It is often a worry about fasting five days or more, and when you lose a lot of body weight. To prevent this from happening, you must steadfastly resubmit foods to the body over a day or two, and move steadily to the top of how difficult it is to digest something, ending in meat. Some say that you should refeed any number of fasting. But what I find strange is that many tips on fasting indicate that you should start with fruits and vegetables because they are easy to digest. Plants make sense, but fruit? Most fruits have a relatively high glycemic index, which means a significant rise in insulin. I no longer eat a lot of fruit anyway stuck with some green vegetable soup. I'm also going to dynamically relocate the small intestine (healthy bacteria that live inside your gut) in the next few days with some vegetable powders, pickled cabbage and kefir, which are all great sources of probiotics. The next thing on the list is desiccated coconut meat because it is shallow in blood sugar and rich in fat, which is the only significant nutrient that does not increase insulin. What then? Overall, this was a very positive experience. My mentality has been tested again, which I think will always stand well about other challenges that come my way. There were hardly any negatives, and hopefully, the few positives have been entirely animated by the positives. It will be interesting to know how long it takes to replace glycogen and the weight of the water and how it will feel to re-enter the food. As I said, there is an incredible number of health benefits of fasting so I will continue intermittent fasting every day (fasting for 14-16 hours each day and having an 8 to 10-hour intake window is the preferred method). I will probably repeat fasting for three days like this every three months. Disclaimer: As with all self-experiences on your body, they are not suitable for everyone and if you have any doubts, consult your general physician before performing any type of fasting. For example, it is not ideal for pregnant women or children.

#Why I didn’t eat for 72 hours #healthy food #Food Swaps - This for That #sweet food #fasting #how to lose weight fast in 2 weeks #fast food

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funkzpiel · 6 years ago

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so what are your thoughts of FB2 after reading the screenplay?? i'm curious!!

Ooooh goodness – the short version of it is that I feel that the writing was messy and lazy, and that the characterizations and development was either non-existent or didn’t make sense most of the time. All in all, a hot mess that I found little to no entertainment out of – though it’s worth saying that I am sure the acting, music and visual effects of the actual movie would likely help at least make the story somewhat enjoyable.

For the long, savage version, look below the cut:

Honestly, where to fucking start…

NEWT SCAMANDER

Personally I thought Newt Scamander was incredibly out of character. Now I say this from a motivational stand point rather than acting, because I adore Eddie and I’m sure that if nothing else, he probably did a phenomenal job. However, I’m still hella caught on the following:

Newt won’t go to Paris for Credence. When the Ministry of Magic meets with him and basically tells him “Either you work for us or we’re going to send this lunatic to go kill him”, I honestly can’t believe that Newt said no. Now I get that he said no because he obviously doesn’t want to kill Credence, but you cannot convince me that Newt wouldn’t have a.) seen the opportunity to have his travel visa back and b.) seen the opportunity to use his position to safely fake Credence’s death or something and help him disappear. This is the boy he tried to save, who he thought dead, who “died” of the same thing that left him obviously emotionally traumatized in the first film after he couldn’t help save the girl in Sudan. And JK wants me to believe he was like naw, I’m cool, that guy can go kill him, peace. NO.

Newt won’t go to Paris for Dumbledore. Less of a stretch, considering what he could lose: his life, his freedom, the safety of his beasts. In fact, this makes sense. What pisses me off about this is that he said no to Dumbledore, but he instead GOES TO PARIS TO BONE TINA. So now, onto my third point…

NEWT FINALLY DECIDES TO RISK HIS FREEDOM AND THE SAFETY OF HIS FUCKING BEASTS, WHO WOULD UNDOUBTEDLY SUFFER IF THEY WERE CONFISCATED BY THE MINISTRY, JUST SO THAT HE COULD SEE TINA, WHICH WHEN HE SEES HER, HE IS THEN MYSTIFIED ABOUT WHY SHE’S UPSET EVEN THOUGH HE KNEW HE INSULTED HER IN A LETTER AND QUEENIE TOLD HIM THAT SHE HAD READ A TABLOID – WHICH DON’T GET ME STARTED ON THE FACT THAT TINA, CLEVER TINA, FELL FOR A FUCKING TABLOID AND THEN NEVER EVEN BOTHERED TO LIKE CLARIFY WITH NEWT – AND ALL OF THIS ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPT TAKES PLACE A YEAR AFTER THE EVENTS IN THE FIRST FILM. DURING THIS TIME THEY’VE WRITTEN LETTERS BUT NOT DATED, SO THIS MAN IS SOMEHOW SO FUCKING HUNG UP ON HER HE’D RISK HIS LIFE AND HIS CREATURES TO THEN BARELY DO ANYTHING TO RECTIFY ANYTHING WHEN HE FINALLY FOUND HER. HE COULD HAVE DONE THAT AT ANY POINT MIND YOU. IF THAT’S HIS FUCKING MOTIVATION, HE COULD HAVE JUST BROKE THE LAW WHENEVER TO SEE HER. OR YOU KNOW, TALK VIA FIRE. LETTERS. GOD ANY FUCKING COMMUNICATION THAT DOESN’T LEAD TO DEATH. NOT TO MENTION THAT ‘MISCOMMUNICATION’ IS THE SLOPPIEST MOTIVATION FOR STORYTELLING, DEAR GOD. BUT NO – HE DIDN’T GO TO PARIS FOR CREDENCE. HE DIDN’T RISK HIS LIFE FOR ANY SIGNIFICANT REASON. HE WENT SO HE COULD BONE TINA. AND TELL HER THAT SHE HAD FUCKING SALAMANDER EYES.

Further more with the mischaracterization of Newt, in the script the Zouwu was described to have burst from a box that was on fire, incredibly malnourish, scarred and abused. You want me to believe that a.) an abused animal would have fucking done a 180 on the terrified scale for a fucking bird toy and b.) NEWT WOULDN’T HAVE REACTED AT ALL TO THE FACT THAT THIS WAS AN ABUSED ANIMAL THAT NEEDED CAREFUL HANDLING?! Qed pointed out that the neglect wasn’t obvious in the film, so I’ll give it that – but this is the way it’s written and it’s so fucking sloppy. Like the scene when he saves this cat could have been amazing. It could have showcased that Newt does something truly special and unique. Could have shown us HOW he calms beasts rather than turned it into comedic relief (which would have been fine if it wasn’t an abuse case), AND it could have been a moment for Tina to be reminded of why she is attracted to Newt instead of us being forced to believe these two stupid assholes have been pining for no real reason for each other for a year. NOT TO MENTION that this could have then led into an actual motivation for Newt to fight or be involved in Paris because you can’t tell me that Newt fucking Scamander wouldn’t want to find the asshole who abused that cat, save any other involved creatures and kill that man.

Also he trained the Niffler. His motto in the first film is that he doesn’t keep his creatures. Now at Zoos there’s a level of training wild animals to safely get them here and there, and interact with them. Newt trained the Niffler extensively. That isn’t the behavior of a man rehabilitating an animal for the wild.

And then there’s the scene with Theseus chasing down Newt and Tina and they’re mad that he’s chasing them? And say he’s over reacting? OK BUT HAVE YOU TOLD HIM ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT YOU’RE DOING?! NO. All he knows is that his brother just broke the fucking law on a critical degree and to make matters more stinging, is using his own fucking face to do it. The scene is written so you’re rooting for Tina and Newt (specifically Newt) and if it weren’t for the fact that Newt is only there to bone Tina, maybe I would, but damn if I wasn’t livid and rooting for Theseus tbh.

QUEENIE GOLDSTEIN

What. The ever living fuck. Did she do. To. Queenie. This film had a prime opportunity to continue on the foundation of the first film and really build Queenie into something great. In the first film we see Queenie as a young woman who doesn’t think much of herself. She kind of infers that she knows she’s really only useful for looking pretty and fetching coffee when she tells Newt and Jacob that “Teenie’s the working gal”. But by the end of the film, Queenie has saved the gang once or twice, managed to bust through the security of the office of the Director of Magical Security, thought quick on her feet, leveraged people and in general just be a subtle badass. And she learned to love and to let go – and then when to fight for what she believes in when she came back for Jacob.

But the second film has turned her identity into “I NEED TO BE MARRIED”. That’s not a healthy relationship for one. She and Jacob have talked about this. Jacob never said they needed to split. But he did say he was afraid of pursuing marriage for her safety – for both their safety, honestly – because what fucking good is a fucking piece of paper that honestly means nothing but “says” they’re married if they’re fucking dead? But what did Queenie do? SHE USED MAGIC TO MAKE HIM ACT AGAINST HIS WILL. That’s just – I can’t even begin to talk about the level of fucked up that. And god, how disparaging to that character too, Queenie is so much more than that! She could be so much more than that! Instead she’s made to look crazy. She could have gone into politics to fight for Muggle/Wizard relationships – but no. Honestly there’s so many more interesting avenues to explore with this character. Or if you wanted to send her to Grindelwald, more interesting ways to do it! Maybe Grindelwald is the only one (in her mind) who knows how to undo an obliviation because it’s in fact dark magic to manipulate the mind on the level it would take to undo it! Maybe she’s in Paris trying to figure that out and Grindelwald lies and says he knows how to do it. I’d be more interested in Queenie working to restore Jacob rather than control him. And she’s obsessed! Her entire character has been so heavily warped into “I WANT TO BE MARRIED” that she disregards all the fucking destruction she first hand knows Grindelwald has done and in the script is literally says that “she is his, heart and soul”. THAT LEVEL OF DEDICATION. For no more that a fucking fluttering second of “Muggles are basically live stock, but I know some of you love them, we don’t have to kill them all.” SHE JUST IGNORES LIKE ALL THE REST OF IT. I just… she’s such a fucking hollow, messy sham of a character and it’s truly sad, because she could have been perfect example of “woman who thought she was only what society told her she was – pretty, someone who needed to get married, etc. – and realized she’s so much more than that. She’s a PERSON. Someone who is powerful and can truly make a difference. And that she can love, but she can also be QUEENIE GOLDSTEIN who happens to be in love rather than QUEENIE GOLDSTEIN WHO IS ONLY AS GOOD AS WHO SHE LOVES AND IF SHE MARRIES THEM.

TINA GOLDSTEIN

Tina doesn’t act angry around Newt at all in the beginning. She’s described to be walking with an “inner sadness” (because bright, clever AUROR TRAINED Tina fell for a tabloid). And yet half way through the film we find out she and Newt had a falling out via letter. And she only at that moment reacts to it. I want Tina giving Newt the cold fucking shoulder about that. Not to mention that the whole “you’re engaged” thing is stupid and shouldn’t even be included because literally all she needed to do was investigate a little or send a letter with the article included like “Congrats!” and he’d be like “Oh, no, I’m the best man, papers are dumb”. Give me Tina who’s actually upset about what Newt said about Aurors. Give me a Tina who slowly warms back up to Newt. Give me a relationship that makes sense and actually needs work and repair and communication damn it.

JACOB

They fucking reduced him to one motivation: “When can I eat next?” I cannot tell you how many times he’s literally used as comedic relief as the “fat guy” and just blurts out “I’m looking for food” in any tense or awkward situation. He is a war vet. He is a man in love with a society forbidden to his kind. He is potentially in the middle of a war and he sees visions of a war to come. He is more than his weight or his appetite. He also should be a little more savvy at this point. And he just magically remembers because he only had good memories??? Fine, but weak as fuck.

GELLERT GRINDELWALD

JK wants me to believe that the man who couldn’t dodge a fucking glorified stick-hand-throw-toy creature was able to apparate onto a moving vehicle in bad weather above water. A magical move that is supposed to be hard even on stable, non-moving terrain. A magical move that can splinch and maim. HE COULDN’T DODGE NEWT, BUT HE CAN APPARATE ONTO A MOVING, UNSTEADY VEHICLE AT NIGHT. He’s supposed to be powerful – fuck yeah, I’m onboard – but damn, you certainly didn’t MAKE HIM POWERFUL IN THE FIRST FILM WHEN HE WASN’T BEING TORTURED FOR A YEAR BY MACUSA. I would have been more impressed and more keen to believe him escaping from inside the carriage that doing that OP move. The fight scene in 1 is so anti-climatic and here he is at the top of 2, exhausted hobo-mage doing an epic, unbelievably unrealistic fight scene.

Also fuck Abernathy. Fucking why. Blah.

And then he throws that gremlin thing out the window. For no reason. What, to show us he’s cruel even though they’re building a morally grey narrative for him? Certainly doesn’t help endear me to him when the whole point of the film is he is charismatic and endearing and able to convince people that the world is grey and that the forces of good are not actually good for the people at all. Of which – so heavy handed about abuse of power. They cut his TONGUE out. Lovely. “AMERICA IS FULL OF BARBARIANS”, cool thanks got it. They have like magic to silence him, but they cut out his tongue. Wizards don’t believe in punching, but they cut out his tongue.

“He’s the hero of his own story, he’s morally grey, he’s doing it for the greater good, he’s charismatic and charming!”

Grindelwald: kills a family for their home, including their child (who honestly, based off his dialogue, I thought he was going to enslave and then he killed him. Has a whole bit about how they’re livestock and don’t need to all die, and then he kills all of them).

“He’s charismatic and easy to follow and has a point I swear!”

He just… He’s so boring. He could have been so interesting, so layered, and instead he’s contradictory and nonsensical and honestly I didn’t find him charismatic either – like what the fuck, I wanted so much more.

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

Actually he’s precisely the dick I expected based off the books. So not much to say about him, tbh, I think he was nailed down right. He’s manipulative to a disgusting degree and it shows. I’ve always had a love, hate relationship with Dumbledore and that definitely continued in this – so I don’t have much to say about him here. He was well done.

CREDENCE

What. The. Fuck. Now here’s what I’m pissed about with Credence. When we first see him, he’s basically BUSTING OUT OF PRISON (the Carnival). AWESOME. I AM ON BOARD. Where the fuck is this character development?! It feels like we were flung into the ending of another fucking movie. I’m so proud of him for stepping up, for making a relationship with another person, and for fighting for his safety and to escape. But JESUS YOU NEED TO SHOW ME HOW WE WENT FROM THE SNIVELING, TERRIFIED BOY WHO COULDN’T CONTROL HIMSELF TO THE HARD YOUNG MAN WHO FUCKING BROKE HIMSELF AND ANOTHER PERSON OUT OF A BAD, ABUSIVE SITUATION. How the fuck did he even get there? How did he and Nagini build a relationship so strong that once free she FOLLOWED HIM?! Like this is a powerful result of character building that we NEVER SEE FOR NO FUCKING REASON.

Also you expect me to believe that he – without once fucking bringing it up – fucking trusts and believes and willingly goes with Grindelwald? The man who stole another man’s identity, led him on a ruse, manipulated his emotions and then BURNED THAT RELATIONSHIP TO THE GROUND?! I get that he has information, but in my mind I think Credence could’ve have focused on a lot of different avenues before he ever came close to willingly going to Grindelwald. If Grindelwald were like snuffing multiple attempts at information at every turn (rather than just one attempt) - sure. But like… this man… AFTER EVERYTHING HE DID… I need MORE to make me believe Credence would have gone with him. God, I would have believed Credence fighting and pursuing him to find Mr. Graves. OR Grindelwald using Rossier to provide information through a face Credence could ‘trust’ and reveal at the end it was him all along. Perhaps Rossier gives him the information and then says, “I know someone who can help you avenge the life that was stolen from you. I know someone who can help you change the world, Credence. No more abuse. No more looked over children. No more pain. He’s speaking tonight in the cemetery. You should come with me.” And Credence goes and it’s Grindelwald – and his speech is a balm he didn’t know he needed, and finally he draws Credence up and says, “Look how I’ve paved the way for you, the lengths I’ve gone to, all for you. I want to rectify my mistakes, Credence. I want to help you. Let me help you.” There were just MORE BELIEVABLE WAYS, JESUS.

LETA

…why the fuck did she walk into the fire? I know why she did, but on a writing stand point it was just to make the scene flashy, tbh. There were other fucking options. I just fucking can’t. I will say, I like the development in Leta. I like seeing the beast of burden on her shoulders. She still felt a bit hollow and like… unnecessary, tbh, and I hate that her and Theseus being together was only for drama that never gets talked about or fucking resolved. I feel a lot was missing for her – and for her relationships. Honestly I don’t care for her or Credence being involved. I’d much rather see Newt, Tina and the gang struggling to figure out how to battle discontent, fear and propaganda. This feels needlessly convoluted on an M.Night scale. She’s just there (narratively) to hurt Newt and Theseus. She didn’t have her own purpose for existence.

PLOT HOLES

Film 1: NOTHING CAN SAVE A CHILD WITH AN OBSCURUS.

Film 2: THE LOVE OF A SIBLING CAN SAVE CREDENCE, PROBABLY, EVEN THOUGH HE’S HONESTLY DOING JUST FINE.

What a clean, one dialogue line fix to what was a HUGE PROBLEM in the last film across not only Credence’s timeline, but Newt’s with the girl from Sudan.

THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC IN FRANCE IS CALLED THE FRENCH MINISTRY OF MAGIC, WHAT THE FUCK. Like the FRENCH WOMAN who was working reception called it that. They don’t have their own unique name for their government. They were like “oh, guess we’ll just be the French version of the Ministry of Magic.” I’d get it if she’d been like, hello, welcome to [enter very beautiful french name here] and tina was like “what now?” and the woman rolled her eyes and said, “The French Ministry of Magic” like ‘let me spell it out for you, jesus’. But no. THEY MULTIPLE TIMES JUST REFER TO IT THAT WAY. I will never believe it wouldn’t have it’s own unique name. What the fuck. Like MACUSA isn’t the “American Ministry of Magic”.

Harry Potter Books: THE KILLING CURSE IS A POWERFUL, DARK AND ILLEGAL THING. YOU HAVE TO WANT TO KILL. IT’S SIGNIFICANT AND RARE.

Fantastic Beasts 2: Killing Curses everywhere. Just willy knilly. Everyone, even Aurors, casting killing curses.

Queenie stuck at Grindelwald’s hideout because Rossier wants her to meet Grindelwald is quickly followed by Grindelwald basically saying “Join me” and then “You’re an innocent, leave this place.” The whole thing makes no damn sense, but cool, cool.

Also can we talk about JK just fucking regurgitating themes like a broken fucking record? TWO FATED BABIES, BOTH WHO END UP ORPHANS (well in this case one died) but like, TRAGIC SONS. Young boy who is abused in his foster care system but is SPECIAL ™. YER A WIZARD, CREDENCE. A FATED, TRAGIC BOY AND YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN KILL X PERSON.

It’s just a hot fucking sloppy mess of a story on a writing perspective, and I expected more.

#spoilers #also to be brief it's hot garbage and i'm disappointed #the crimes of jk rowling #the crimes of grindelwald

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bcpanday · 5 years ago

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The Effortless Scientific ANGER Solution

The Effortless Scientific ANGER Solution www.innapeace.com/bivashpanday

It's been said that it isn't the big things that bring us down, it's the cumulative effect of the small things. Those little annoying things can add up fast, and the stress of it all can make you feel angry and reactive all the time.

The problem is, a lot of the time this can be such a habit that it goes unnoticed until it's a real problem.

If you respond to a small issue with anger, do you feel your blood pressure rising just at the thought of it? You have just created a negative physical reaction in your body. But if you're used to reacting this way, you don't notice you do it! You may think that yelling, honking your horn or flipping someone off is a normal reaction. But how do you feel afterward? Proud of your response, or ashamed at your loss of control?

When you are flooded with emotion that causes you to do or say things that just aren't YOU, in the heat of the moment... when you lose control... when strong emotions override rational thought... when you feel terrible later because of the hurtful things you said or did... you need help to get your anger under control. Just Click now! www.innapeace.com/bivashpanday

Traditional anger management therapy can help, but they often only address the behaviour itself - and not the root cause of uncontrolled anger.

The InnaPeace meditation program can help you get to the root of why anger controls you. Meditation effectively helps release stress and anxiety, calm your fears, balance your emotions and helps you better understand and accept alternative points of view and feel compassion for others. It also helps you gain mastery of your thoughts and behaviours, increases feelings of self-worth, and become more self-aware. Just Click now for a FREE demo! www.innapeace.com/bivashpanday

A few minutes of InnaPeace meditation every day helps you let the little things go. Any mental or emotional condition that's caused or worsened by stress can be helped through meditation, says cardiologist Herbert Benson, MD, founder of the Mind/Body Institute at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Benson is most known for three decades of study of the "relaxation response" brought about by meditation.

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Most people aren't aware that they have the ability to control their response to their thoughts or emotions. Meditation helps you choose not to get sucked into negativity; and, even better, the more you meditate and the more control, the more you can deliberately choose pleasant thoughts and not give in to your emotions no matter how powerful they are. With practice, you can learn to choose to let it go and not allow the situation to ruin your mood.

When you do this consistently you become calmer, more peaceful, happier... and far less prone to reacting automatically with anger. You also develop the ability to monitor your thoughts and emotions. You begin to see what triggers your anger. And you begin to master your reactions to situations and respond calmly and without an emotional outburst.

When you find yourself in an emotionally charged situation you will find that you have a choice. You can automatically react in anger... or you can calmly step back and look at the situation from a different perspective. You can remain the eye of the storm, calm and peaceful. Your thoughts are clear and you are not controlled by intense emotions. You choose a better response, and whatever the outcome you walk away satisfied and peaceful, knowing that the anger won't be eating away at you long after the situation is over.

Scientific Method of LIFE BOOSTER ORGANIC ENERGY

Living with 'Happiness and Love' is not a social demand or courtesy, however, as a human being — the best creation of nature in the planet, it's our legacy and moral responsibilities to choose the way of living through Love....Love....Love....BUT, no condition added with ZERO expectations.

SEXUALITY & LOVE — Sex driven physical Love and eternal Love are completely different. Please note that most usual kind of love is driven by the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen — in both men and women. This is the amazing time when most of the creation in this earth is truly love-struck and can think of little else. Scientists think that three main neurotransmitters are involved in this stage: adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin.

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE — Experiments in quantum science have shown that everything and everyone in the universe is connected on a quantum level. Being in a state of unconditional love means affecting that world in a positive, empowering way, on that level.

We can have a happiness tree inside the core of Mind to achieve the perfect Peace. The perfectness depends on four primary chemicals in the brain that affects happiness: Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, and Endorphins. Each one is activated in a different way. Dopamine is the good feeling you get when you approach a reward. Serotonin is the good feeling of getting respect. Oxytocin is the feeling of trust, and endorphin is the euphoria that masks physical pain.

Many events can trigger these neurotransmitters, but rather than being in the passenger seat, there are ways we can intentionally cause them to flow.......

no meditation — simply breathing and listening InnaPeace track how? Just Click now! www.innapeace.com/bivashpanday

Breathing Camp PRANAYAMA ( Scientific process of Inhale & Exhale)

Please, everybody, accept my heartiest Respect /Namaste with Unlimited Unconditional Love..!

I am here not to teach but to learn together..!! To do "an ACTION together" which is now RED HOT TOPIC around this Planet...

"Raise Individual Human Consciousness by Simply Breathing"

As human all, we have some common pain or suffering in a different way

***To attain sustainable Peace we NEED Self-Talk with our SILENT Super-personality..!!!

I would like to cultivate InnerPeace by sharing some scientific methods which I have accomplished and experienced during my journey in Meditation field for 29 years (1990 — Present)

MOTTO for this mission: Pain2Peace (p2p) "PAIN ITSELF IS THE CARRIER OF PEACE" — B. C. PANDAY that means 'we must have to have NATURAL Pain to get Peace...???

Problem or Challenge : Time2Do & Control over Monkey Mind

Simple Possible Solutions is in our hand — JUST DO IT NOW...!!!

All we can do is start right here, right now. Don't let the future or the past steal your present moment because right now is when you can make the best choices that will ensure a better future.

Manage Time on Morning after awake -up: only for 5–30 minutes!

Do NOT try to control Mind JUSY PAY ATTENTION with Countdown to Mastering on MONKEY MIND >>>>or listen to InnaPeace track:

A simple daily or regular practice that will instantly activate our brain's "Reticular Activating System" so we could spot more positive opportunities throughout your day..!!!

[RAS- a diffuse network of nerve pathways in the brainstem connecting the spinal cord, cerebrum, and cerebellum, and mediating the overall level of consciousness.]

According to the philosophers: "Meditation is a way to feel inner silence and peace."

As the Human, we are the luckiest living generation in this Planet AS our Body is most sophisticated auto-machine to SURVIVE anyway..... In fact, we do not need to practice any Meditation or Breathing as already it has been happening inside automatically.

However, if we feel any disturbance specially PAIN, SAD, and ANGER then we must need to pay enough attention to it to be in order or make a balance. Honestly, we can make it happen simply by paying attention to only BREATHING and Trust on your Inner-energies.

All we know that every human being reserves the tremendous capacity to do anything we love to do.

For most of us, the only problem is TIME & ACTION (KRIYA)...!!!!!!

If we consider that every morning MUST HAVE TO park this Gadget (Body) to "A GAS STATION" only for minimum 30 seconds (ONLY 3 Inhales & Exhales) to maximum 30 minutes (180 Inhales & Exhales) to smoothly drive for next 24 hrs. Then I can guarantee that after a certain period (vary based on actions & habits) there will not be any disturbance in Body & Mind because of 'Power of AUTO-HEALING'.

Indian Most Ancient PRANAMAYA is the TOOL to mastering on MONKEY MIND

According to the ancient text, the Yoga Sutras, compiled by the sage Patanjali in 150 BCE, pranayama is one of the classical Eight Limbs of Yoga. Pranayama helps to cleanse, balance, and purify your essential life force (called "prana" in Sanskrit). Adding pranayama to your yoga and meditation practice can help you stay healthy in mind, body, and spirit.

SCIENTIFIC BREATHING TECHNIQUE

Every Human Being used to Breathe approximately 25,000 times a day in 24 hours....1042 times an Hour......17 times per Minute and...... it takes about ONLY "3.456" seconds to complete ONE BREATH (Inhale + Exhale)...RIGHT NOW, our mission is to increase the duration of breathing up to 10 times which is 34.56 seconds to complete ONE CIRCLE OF BREATHE (Inhale +Exhale) ......

Lie down or Seat on a chair or Stand up any comfortable posture (if possible straight) ........

........Please place your RIGHT HAND on "Centre of your Heart"........................very emotionally TOUCH to FEEL Heart Beats ......

Please place your LEFT HAND on your Navel Centre by covering Belly Button... keep enough space in between all fingers to have open the Main Button.. ....

!!!!!!PLEASE STOP!!!!!..

....if you are not able to take this posture .... you can take your own comfortable Body Posture!!!

...Please start simply breathing........Close your EYES......Scan your whole body starting from your ..............Toe's Nails and finish at last point of your Hair.....

..................FEEL all Body at a GLANCE.......and .....Relax the Body... ................ Jiggle your whole body for 10 to 20 seconds....................Please seat simply anywhere and follow the method below

'INHALE'

....SLOWLY.....very slowly......... very Consciously START 'INHALE' ('Breath In' .....simply take air through two channels of the nose .... blow the Stomach ....to get control on MIND... keep busy your mind to countdown the numbers.... please count 1 to 9 in mind... .... pay FULL attention to Navel Centre ...FEEL the AIR in Stomach.....stay in Comfortable Posture... Remain in this position as long as you can....then......

'EXHALE'

... SLOWLY....very... smoothly. ...start to 'EXHALE' (Breath Out)...RELAX...gradually push down your Navel Centre .......squish the Stomach........to get control on MIND..... ...please SOUNDS...."OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..MMMMMMM" or any peaceful WORDS like...WWWWWWOOOOOOOOWWWW..... count in mind .....REVERSE NUMBERS from "8–7–6–5–4–3–2–1–0 (ZEROOOOOOOOO........)" ... .... Then HOLD your Breath only for 5–10 seconds OR as much as possible...FEEL the ZERONESS (0000-ness) ... FEEL ....EMPTINESS ....Experience the real Source of ENERGY .....FEEL the natural "BALANCING DANCES" of "HEART's BEATS + NAVEL CENTRE's BEATS AND BRAIN's BEATS" ...FEEL .... PAIN...REAL PAIN ...around every part of your BODY...

...........................NOW...to get ULTIMATE PEACE....

'INHALE'

....SLOWLY.....very slowly......... very Consciously START 'INHALE' ('Breath In) .....simply take air through two channels of the nose .... blow the Stomach ....to get control on MIND... keep busy your mind to countdown the numbers.... please count 1 to 9 in mind... .... pay FULL attention to Navel Centre ...FEEL the AIR in Stomach... .....stay in STRAIGHT Posture or any Simple Posture... Remain in this position for as long as possible .....then....'EXHALE'........................follow above steps

.....Repeat it 9 to 18 times OR as much as possible to BE ALIVE within YOUR 'I-ness'.... no meditation — simply breathing and listening InnaPeace track!!! how? LISTEN NOW —

IMPORTANT NOTE: Is meditation an instant fix for anger issues? No! It took you a while to become angry, and it's going to take time to undo it. But InnaPeace accelerates the meditation process and intensifies the benefits so that healing from anger will happen much faster.

The InnaPeace program is the most effortless way to enjoy all the benefits of daily meditation practice.

Just Click now for a FREE demo! www.innapeace.com/bivashpanday for a demonstration of the InnaPeace meditation experience today!

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sage-nebula · 6 years ago

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Lotor deserved better. Lotor deserved better because all of us who were abused throughout our childhoods and adolescences deserved better. And because I can’t stop thinking about this, I’m going to get a little personal under the cut.

Like many survivors of child abuse, I keyed in on and saw a lot of myself in Lotor. Personality-wise, I am and have always been a lot closer to Keith; but seeing the way Lotor developed as a direct result of his abuse, paired with how he reacted when faced with his abusers, was something that spoke to me on a deep, personal level. I’ve faced abuse from a few different sources in my life, but the worst of it came from my biological mother. She is the one who---even now, thirteen years later---shows up in nightmares of mine from time to time. When I had to be in the same space as her three years ago for my sister’s wedding, I was riding a panic attack the entire time. At one point she started toward me, and my fight-or-flight response kicked in before I could restrain it and I bolted. I was ashamed. I felt like a coward. And I suppose that’s one way you could say that Lotor and I differ, that he faced his abusers and even killed one of them.

But even as I write that, I remember that’s not the case. The only reason Lotor faced Zarkon the way he did was because he was given no other choice. Lotor, when given the opportunity, willingly flew along the surface of a sun even as it burned him in order to escape his abuser. He only faced Zarkon when he was betrayed by those he’d sought asylum from and handed over like a bargaining chip. There was real, true fear in his eyes when Zarkon attacked him. Lotor did not fight because he wanted to. He did so because if he didn’t---or if he did, and then he lost---he would die.

The thing is, what the Paladins did to Lotor in that episode was wrong. It was wrong on every single conceivable level. It was wrong from a political standpoint, in that they were not only aligning themselves with a tyrannical dictator and making a deal with him, but also that they were treating someone who’d surrendered himself as a prisoner of war like an item to be used and discarded. It was morally wrong, as well, because even if you consider that they didn’t know the full history between Zarkon and Lotor, they knew that Lotor had sought asylum from them to escape Zarkon, who had declared that he wanted Lotor dead on sight. Lotor came to them for aid, and they responded by handing him back to his abuser, one who they knew would kill him, for personal (not even political, not even for the “greater good,” but personal) gain. Everything about that entire exchange was disgustingly, horrifyingly wrong.

But despite this being the case, the Paladins are never called on it. They’re never forced to reconsider their actions, outside of, “oh no, how could we have not known that Zarkon would try to trick us?” They’re never forced to face karmic retribution for what they did. They are treated, by the creators and the narrative alike, as though what they did was morally acceptable and even just. The only dissension we see over the situation is Allura yelling at Shireplica for giving Lotor the Black Bayard, which was the only form of defense he had against Zarkon; we’re supposed to see what Shireplica did as being underhanded, sneaky, and even wrong, even though it is the only reason that Lotor survived. (And even then, when Shireplica defends his actions, this is not what he points out. He instead points out that Zarkon is dead. What we’re left to gather from this is that if Lotor had died in the attempt, Shireplica wouldn’t mind so much. Zarkon’s death was worth more than Lotor’s life.)

This, truly, should have been the biggest and brightest red flag for all of us, and believe me, it didn’t go unnoticed by me. I never posted it, but after season five I wrote an entire post about how morally corrupt and awful the Paladins were for that exchange, about how they treated Lotor like an object rather than a person, about how none of them argued even once for the value of Lotor’s life as a person, but rather talked about whether he was of more use to them alive or dead. (Which, mind you, would be fine if the show presented the Paladins as morally grey at best, making hard decisions in the face of war---but it didn’t. At no point during the show’s run were we supposed to see Team Voltron as anything more than admirable heroes. It’s what makes their behavior so appalling.) But even still, I held out hope going into season six that Lotor would be treated well, that his abuse at the hands of Zarkon, Haggar, and (as we came to find out in season six) Dayak would be treated with the levity and respect it deserved.

Long story short: It wasn’t and it caused me to drop the show.

Long story long:

At the end of season six, Lotor was not only handed over to his other primary abuser (Haggar), but in the end he suffers a mental breakdown, is revealed to be evil, and is shown to be no better than his abusers. He dies, alone and abandoned, in the quintessence field. And just in case anyone walked away from the season believing that we weren’t supposed to see Lotor as being evil as a direct result of his abuse, Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery confirmed that was indeed the intention in an interview:

“It was a very bad hand. That deck was stacked against him in every way in his upbringing. If he had this amazing accepting family that Allura had, he probably would have been a magnificent person. He had to live his life the only way he could, and a lot of that was through manipulation and doing things the only way he could get them done. It’s tragic.”

[. . .]

An unintentional parallel the behind the scenes team recognized was between Keith and Lotor. Keith had his own difficult upbringing, never meeting his mother and losing his father at a young age. He was very angry and combative and, as Dos Santos explains, “(he) could’ve gone the same way (as Lotor) but Shiro was that positive light in his life.”

“Keith had better people around him,” adds Montgomery, “and Lotor didn’t have that support system, so we see how it ended up.”

i.e: Because Lotor suffered childhood and adolescent abuse and didn’t have a positive parental figure (e.g. Shiro) in his life, he ended up evil, just like his abusers.

It doesn’t matter how “tragic” Montgomery claims this to be. The fact remains that in their view, if you grew up abused and without a support system and survived the only way you knew how, ultimately, that means you’re going to end up being a horrible, twisted person regardless of your intentions, rather than the ~*~magnificent~*~ person you could have been. In worlds created by Montgomery and Dos Santos, there is no other end result for people like us.

This was what caused me to drop the show, along with the fact that the show and fanbase were a combined source of massive stress in my life. This, ultimately, was what did it. I had plenty of other problems with the show, but knowing that this is how Dos Santos and Montgomery viewed people like me---knowing that this is what they thought of people like me, like Lotor---was the final straw. I couldn’t do it anymore. So I stopped watching. I walked away. To this day, I’ve not seen a single scene of season seven (and I’ve only seen patches of eight, to see how it ended and to see the Lotor flashbacks + a couple scenes with my galra girls) and I don’t intend to change that. My one consolation was that at least Lotor was dead, so they couldn’t do any more damage to him, or people like us.

I was wrong.

The childhood flashbacks in season eight were fine. I’ve been continuously unimpressed by people who act like the fact that Lotor was a survivor of abuse throughout his entire childhood and adolescence was some big revelation that only happened and humanized him this season, but the flashbacks themselves were fine and even enjoyable in the sense that it was nice to see Lotor behaving in character again after the mess that was the season six finale. It also felt a bit . . . cathartic, in a way, because as painful and heartbreaking as it was, simultaneously I knew what Lotor was feeling and so it was sort of like . . . seeing how he handled it, that he handled it was a reminder that I had as well. It was a strange sort of catharsis. On top of getting to see Lotor at different stages in his life, that aspect was enjoyable (for lack of a better word) as well.

But that is where it ends.

Not only did they deign to show Lotor’s brutalized, mangled corpse at one point (only from the back to keep it appropriate for children by American television standards, but all the same), but they also gave him a “happy ending” in the afterlife with his abusive parents.

In all honesty, that bothers me more than the corpse did.

The corpse was disgusting. I wish I hadn’t seen it, and I haven’t seen it in the episode itself. I saw a screencap floating around tumblr. It’s funny, in a way, because my best friend warned me it happened and said, and I quote, “I don’t want you to see it.” And I appreciate that, and I wish I hadn’t seen it (I already had by the time she told me), but even that’s not what bothers me most. What bothers me most is the ending they gave him, the one that Dos Santos and Montgomery no doubt view as “happy” when in reality it’s anything but.

I mentioned earlier that I have nightmares about my biological mother. I do. They’re C-PTSD nightmares, in that they’re a direct result of the permanent trauma I’ve grown with as a result of what she did to me (because unlike incidental PTSD, which occurs from one thing, C-PTSD occurs from prolonged abuse and, when it happens in childhood/adolescence, develops the way you grow; it’s permanently affected my personality and I do not know who I would be today if all that hadn’t happened to me). But they’re not flashbacks to things she did. Rather, these dreams . . . usually, these nightmares take place in the present day, and for some reason I’ll be living with her again. The reason why is never explained in the dream, but she’ll be here, in my home, or I’ll be stuck in her house. And I’ll know in the dream that this is the way things are and have to be, but I’ll be miserable about it, I’ll be terrified, and I’ll feel there’s no way out but there’s nothing I can do. Oftentimes, she doesn’t do anything horrible to me in the dream; it’s her presence that’s enough to cause that, just as it was enough to cause me to flee at my sister’s wedding. Each time I have one of these dreams I wake up with my heart racing, and I’m “off” for the rest of the day. At one point, a close friend of mine thought I was angry with her because I was so distant when she saw me. Turns out, I wasn’t mad at her. I was dissociating for an entire day because I, at age twenty-eight, had another C-PTSD nightmare about being forced to live with my biological mother again.

And that’s what Dos Santos and Montgomery doomed Lotor to, for the rest of eternity: A nightmare from which he can never wake.

This is why that ending bothers me more than the shot of his corpse: Because I would rather die a thousand deaths by immolation than ever, ever have to live with my biological mother ever again. Lotor, having once flown along the surface of a sun to escape his father, no doubt feels the same way. Yet that’s the hand he’s been dealt: He now has to spend eternity with both of his abusers. The way it was framed (from what I know---I’ve only seen screencaps, admittedly), he’s supposedly supposed to be happy about this. Supposedly, Honerva regrets what she’s done and truly loves him. To that I say: I am still, and will never stop being, disgusted with the “mothers can’t truly hate and abuse their children, only fathers are true parental abusers” narrative that is pushed time and time again by media. I also say: That’s absolute nonsense and we all know it.

Dos Santos and Montgomery have told us, in their own words, what they think of survivors of child abuse who didn’t have positive support systems. I remember Dos Santos also saying that he knows people who don’t accept their biological parents as their parents, which implies to me that he doesn’t know what this is like first hand. I’m not surprised if that’s the case, for either of them. They gave Lotor the greatest punishment they could have ever given him. Letting him die in relative peace, to be released to the nothingness of death, would have been kinder than this, even if his body was burned along the way. But this? An eternity where there is no escape from Zarkon or Honerva? Even worse still, an eternity that he somehow believes will be different (out of character) simply because Zarkon and Honerva are behaving appropriately now, in front of an audience, when we all know that the cycle of abuse always has an end to the honeymoon phase so an abusive incident can happen again later?

It’s the worst fate imaginable. If I was given a choice upon my death of spending an eternity in Heaven with my biological mother, or an eternity in Hell without her, I would choose the latter. I would do whatever it took to get away from her. I know---I know---Lotor feels the same way about his parents. That his ending has stuck him with them regardless, and tried to play as though he was happy about it, shows us once and for all what kind of respect Dos Santos and Montgomery have for survivors of child abuse:

None.

(I shared a lot of personal stuff here, so I would appreciate it if you didn’t reblog this. Likes and replies are fine, but no reblogs. Thank you.)

#/#//#///#////#/////#prince lotor #voltron spoilers #vld spoilers #voltron salt #voltron negativity #abuse--//--cw

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the-council-of-new-york-vampires · 6 years ago

Note

Hello! Could you write another fanfic about Priya’s past before the council? 😱

Out of Character:

Hey! I have a feel the Priya fics might get annoying to some (?) and I do have other ones requested, but I’ll go with this one for now, because I love giving her depth.

Also, the following fic will include a headcanon I have about her that I haven’t revealed or hinted at ever. I don’t want to spoil, but I always had a feeling with her, and it does fit very well into the background I gave her.

The following fic doesn’t include NSFW, but it’s a sad topic that may be very triggering to some. I’m almost sorry to think it happened to her, because no one deserves this. The topic alone makes my heart feel so heavy…

Priya felt her head aching, but she kept her focus on the door. Wearing nothing, she sat on her bed in a way that was unusually patient. Over the few years, she had gotten used to the ordeal that was her job.

A man entered the room, grinning as he saw her. “Good morning.”

“Hey.”

“Guess what?”

“Your wife isn’t home?”

His smile became wider. “You’re so smart, gorgeous.”

“Mhm.”

“I’ll take the usual, yes?” He approached her, letting a hand run through her dark hair. “Can you do that for me?”

“Sure. Money?”

“Can I pay later?”

“No.”

His smile faded. “Oh, come on.” He reached out, groping her chest.

She pushed him back with an arm. “Stop.”

Rolling his eyes, the man got out his wallet. He counted the money and put it on the bed. “Here.”

“Thanks.”

“But only ‘cause your body is sooo sexy,” he told her, gifting her a wink. As Priya didn’t react, the man sat down on her bed, cupped her cheeks and kissed her.

As always, the young woman tried to mute her thoughts, as well as the voice inside her heart that was screaming at her to stop. Instead, she tried to think of the money that she’d actually earn for that.

Only a few seconds later, she suddenly felt sick. Physically sick. Unbearably sick. In a hurry, Priya got up, pushed him away - and ran to the bathroom!

“Hey!” Angrily, he faced the closed bathroom door. What was that girl thinking? He got up, approached the door… and heard her vomiting. “Am I that gross to you?!” He gave the door a kick. “I want my money back!”

Minutes later, as Priya felt better, she left the tiny bathroom - to find her bedroom empty. The client had left, and he had taken the money with him. She got dressed again, sat down on her bed… and just escaped into the chaotic world that was her mind.

Shortly later, the door opened and inside stepped a familiar face, with a single question. “Money?”

“It’s in the drawer.”

He walked to the drawer, opened it, grabbed the money and counted it. “Is that all?”

“Yeah.”

It was then that he turned to another man who had entered, and ordered, “Search her room.”

Like every week, she watched the room being searched for additional money. Of course, they didn’t want her to keep anything. The days where Priya had tried to hide money were over anyway. She had long ago learned that these guys would find anything.

Finally, she took her chance to speak up. There was a topic she had been worried about for weeks: her health. “Can I see a doctor? Please.”

Immediately, the man bursted into laughter.

“I’m sick. I can’t work properly.”

His laughing fit kept going for several moments, before he asked his companion, “Have you heard that? She’s asking for a doctor.”

It was then that the other one laughed, too. They did, together, as if her well-being was in any way a joke.

Priya scowled. “I’m serious.”

When giving her the bit of money that belonged to her, he asked, “Isn’t that enough for a doctor?”

“No.” Dumbass.

“Really? That’s too bad.”

“…I haven’t found anything, sir.”

“Good for her. Let’s leave her alone, so she can save up for a doctor.”

Laughing and seemingly entertained, the men left the room.

Priya bit her lip. She usually never worried about her health. But this time, it was different. This time, she felt that it was something serious.

Her legs shaking as she was surrounded by darkness, Priya knocked on the door.

The voice that came from inside was whiny, exhausted. “No more… Please…”

“It’s me,” Priya said quietly. “Can I come in?”

…The silence lasted so long that she took it as a yes and invited herself in.

Inside was a woman in her thirties, lying on a bed, her face buried in a pillow.

“Sorry to bother,” Priya claimed. “I need your help.”

The woman didn’t answer.

“I have money.”

Moments later, she spoke. “What is it?”

Priya took place on her friend’s bed. “I have a sickness, something, I don’t know.”

She sat up, her eyes sad, positioning herself so that the two were facing each other, and sighed. “How often have I told people that I can’t help with that? Just because my father used to be a doctor, doesn’t mean I can cure your STDs.”

Priya pouted. “It’s just… You’re the only person with some kind of medical knowledge in here and… No one else helps.”

“I know, but you’ll have to suffer through it in the same way we all do. It sucks, but… There’s nothing I can do.”

“I don’t think I have an STD, though…”

“Then what?”

“I don’t know, it’s like… I’ve been feeling sick for weeks. Today, I actually vomited when a client was there. I’m not, like, me anymore.”

“You ate something bad. No wonder. This place is nasty.”

“No, I crave food all the time… And I’m dizzy and my head hurts and I’m tired and moody and… I feel shitty in general.”

“…When was your last period?”

“I don’t know, like, three months ago or something.”

“Priya.”

“What?”

“You’re pregnant.”

Having reached her all time low, surrounded by two friends, Priya was sobbing like never before. “I c-can’t d-do this…”

“Priya, please… Calm down.”

“You’re going to be fine…”

“I don’t even k-know who the f-father is…”

“But that’s not your fault.” She stroked her back gently.

“I’m like my m-m-mother…”

“But she made it, too, didn’t she?”

“What d-do I doooo?”

“It’s most important to keep calm right now. Maybe… you’re not pregnant. Or a miracle will happen and… you’ll get out. Something like that.”

Priya felt her friend’s arms around her. “Promise me you’ll go to bed. You need sleep. And tomorrow, you can think about what to do.”

“W-what if they f-find out?”

“We’ll find a solution.” She kissed her forehead.

“Next time your mother visits, if she visits, you’ll ask her for advice, okay?”

Priya’s answer were simply sobs.

“Priya, we must go to bed…” One friend reminded her. “Before anyone sees us…”

“I don’t c-care,” she sobbed. “It can’t get any w-worse.”

“We can’t risk getting beaten,” her friend said. “Especially not you. If you really are pregnant, you have to take care of yourself. After all, you’re carrying a life.”

“That’s true, Priya. You must be gentle with yourself. Violence to your body can cause a miscarriage.”

The women had split, but Priya wasn’t on the way to her room. Instead, she was going somewhere else. To throw herself down the stairs.

Weeks later, Priya mustered the courage to confess, “I’m pregnant.”

Her mother gaped.

“I’m sorry… I know you hate me now.”

“…Really?”

“Yes…”

“Priya, that’s beautiful.”

“I know, and- Wait. What?”

She used her fingers to wipe away a few tears that had escaped her eyes. “The fact that life can develop and grow at a place as ugly as this one… That is a miracle.”

“I… don’t know what to say.”

“Your brother will finish school in just a few weeks, Priya. Now he has twice the motivation to seek a high paying job!”

“…And then?”

“Then we can exchange that money for you… and your baby. You will get out!”

“I…” Priya looked at her mother, tried to keep her eyes wide open… But couldn’t stop the tears from falling. “I’m so sad…”

She leaned forward, hugged her daughter tightly. “I know it’s overwhelming. I’ve been in your shoes! But this life…” she pulled her closer, kissed her cheek, “…deserves to be protected.”

Priya broke down in her mother’s arms. She felt relieved and sad and happy and… guilty. “I’ve… I’ve been trying to abort.”

The woman gasped. “Priya!”

“It’s… I… I didn’t know what to do.”

“It’s against the law!”

“I know…”

She cupped her daughter’s cheeks and looked her in the eyes. “I know it’s confusing. And insanely difficult. And you may say it feels impossible. I thought the same…” It was then that tears ran down her own cheeks, “I thought the same and…” she started sobbing, pulled herself back together… “Now, I’m looking into your eyes and I know that it was worth it.”

Only a few days had passed after the conversation with her mother, but those days had been better than the ones before. She had never had such an eye-opening conversation, one that had left her feeling warm and comfortable and… loved. For the first time in years, Priya was happy.

She lay in bed, thinking just how irrational it was to feel this way. She was trapped in a horrible place, and the future perspective her mother had shown her was nothing but a loose promise, one she knew might not be possible to keep.

Regardless, she was excited every morning to wake up and to feel her tiny bump that no one was paying attention to. It was something no one in her environment cared about or bothered to know of, but, at the same time, a source of endless happiness.

Whenever she got mistreated, Priya remembered that there was hope. That there was a miracle inside of her, one she loved more than anything in life. Knowing of its existence had changed her perspective, had given her hope. Priya fell asleep, promising she would never hurt herself again.

Hours later, she woke up due to severe cramping. Immediately, Priya knew that something was wrong. She thought of all the times she had tried to abort, the times she had experienced violence, the nights she had prayed to lose the baby…

It caused her to rush to the bathroom immediately. She kneeled down, eyes wet with tears, and wished this to be a nightmare. In fear, she witnessed blood and tissues leaving her body, staining the ground. She knew what this meant.

Priya broke down in tears. She didn’t know if this was nature’s way of telling her she didn’t deserve to be happy, or if it was the consequence of her own cruel making. The only thing she knew was that, right at this moment, she was losing her baby.

#priya lacroix #bloodbound #choices #choices: stories you play #bb

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guild-guardian · 6 years ago

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Spoiler Free review of “All or Nothing”

After a cut because long post, many words, skritt math.

The Story (No details)

Overall it's probably one of the best executed episodes worth of story that they’ve released in the last couple of Seasons.

The Final Battle is more akin to the kind of scale you see in the Zorah Magdaros battle in Monster Hunter World than you’d expect to find in GW2, and that was a huge improvement compared to previous Elder Dragon battles. Having an active role in the battle, along with the NPCs not just “swinging their sword Oh look they swung it again” at trash mobs, and actually being useful- firing siege weapons, fighting mobs, picking you up if you get downed

So many call backs to minor named NPCs- some personal early personal story, and others from pact/priory/vigil etc It lead to a feeling of being surrounded by familiar faces as you lead the charge. The short piece after the battle was also a well designed experience- the lack of UI and the “damage” lines that you felt when Balthazar killed you in PoF, further push the “oh fuck we’re pretty badly wounded”, along with the forced walk/limp and fall to our knees when we try to hop down along the uneven floor. The main character’s animation here was excellent and slow pace allowed Anet to sculpt a tightly designed experience that is as shocking as it is memorable. I won’t forget that last visual.

Brandon Bales and Debi Derryberry probably did the best voice work in this episode (imo- I haven't played it through on a non-sylvari male). It was extremely immersive and I totally bought what was happening as they expressed it. I appreciated that the Zephyrites’ song/choir got further development, and how its relevant to the story just made it a really nice touch overall.

I did think it felt very short- only 3 instances. It may be that they pushed the pacing to emphasise the commander rushing headlong and gambling dangerously on the first ideas that come to them, and they do love a cliffhanger at the end. It ends on a flat note though, you can’t even interact with story NPCs after you finish it- nothing in the shiverpeaks map changes, no dialogue no “I’m just checking in” updates, nothing. Final Note: WHERE ARE KASMEER AND MARJORY

The Map

Huge! Ruins! Subterranean structures! Exploring! Absolutely nailed the Guild Wars 1 Shiverpeak atmosphere.but uh...not much to do past that.

The Thunderhead Keep meta is fun- I love defense events that allow us to set traps, build barricades and ballistae. The Boss is TOO BRIGHT. It is impossible to see even with effects turned down and post processing off. Anet needs to reassess their priorities with visual telegraphing because right now you can’t see a thing, never mind reacting to the thing.

Minor Quibble. UH WHERE DID THAT CLIFF AND PIT COME FROM? I’m pretty sure that the mountains just...continued north of the keep in GW1, and a little further north you’d come to the Mursaat teleporter to Hell’s Precipice.

The dredge meta is...hard to get people to defend the 2nd and 3rd drills- I’ve yet to be successful on this one.

The delay between meta active times feels a bit long, and perhaps its just the layout of this one, but there isn’t much notification if North or south meta is happening/how long until X etc.

I don’t like that Map Completion can’t be soloed- Both metas are required. Unless you find a friendly mesmer or buy the Light of Deldrimor from the TP.

Past the Metas, I’ve seen maybe 5 or 6 events tops on this huge environment. That is pretty woeful. I get that this was probably a high budget episode with two cutscenes, unique character animations and PvE environments built to scale with the GW1 counterparts (why did dwarves build so big anyway?), but the overall quiet map is a bit of a let down- considering the variety of content available in Jahai.

I adore the skritt/priory interactions, and an above ground village of Dredge being shown in in a positive light. Even if literally every member of the survivors has had to kill their friends and family with their own hands.

The Mastery

Heavily Situational and will take some getting used to. It doesn’t have that immediate “Good Feel” as mounting your griffon midair or while gliding. Being “animation locked” for most of the launch prevents you from gliding or re-mounting, so you just plummet for the most part and lose out on any air you might have hoped to gain from using it.

At least we can be thankful it wasn’t required to complete the story or meta.

The Fractal

Dreams: Crushed Hopes: Sundered Orr: Ignored. Instead of picking an interesting pirate/corsair character that could use a bit of story development, they go with the boisterous ghost from the Lion’s Arch Jumping Puzzle.

This fractal is short (at T1- it’ll likely have more complexity as you go up) and very sparse on story. The music is good, and the environment is good. Dessa continues to be the shining star of most fractals with her responses to the situations she gets to observe. Probably won't be the new Challenge mode fractal that people were hoping for, but the fight mechanics are fun and different.

I’d appreciate it if Anet could relinquish their choke grip they’ve had on talk like a pirate day 2012 that seems to permeate all of their pirate related content- it always feels kind of like even the characters themselves don’t take themselves seriously. There's just something pretty wack with them. (and I’m not talking about all the landlocked core game pirates just living in lakes barely big enough for their bases) That’s Enough.

The Legendary

Probably one of the nicest they’ve done in a while. Initially I was put off by it- the official preview of it in the reveal trailer didn’t really show it off very well- not the steps, aura or on-draw effect. However on this video from someone who got it before release, they point out a few things about it that really sell it for me.

I love the scorch mark on draw, with the dubstep twangs the most. A little disappointed that Range LB 5 is unaffected- it could have been very pretty (ie spirit bow active visuals). It's a very refined weapon that will certainly suit a lot more characters than Kudzu, and I’ll probably make it after I finish Ipos. In like a year.

The Music

Knocks itself out of the park in a home run touchdown or however sports works. The choral piece for Aurene is very beautiful, and I especially appreciate the tarir motif used towards to the end of the track. Re-used GW1 themes in the map give a very nostalgic feel, and the fractal has a unique Shanty theme, along with what was used for this year’s Festival of the Four winds.

OVERALL SCORE 7.5/10

The story is moving and immersive, the encounters well designed and well executed, however sparse event placement on the map kinda gets :/ from me.

Fractals continuing a trend of “we can do anything in the history of tyria- but lets focus on the boring parts” is also disappointing.

PS. The .5 comes from the Skritt writing and voice acting. So pure and wholesome.

#Guild Wars 2 #GW2 #Living World Season 4 #No spoiler review #my two coppers

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paleorecipecookbook · 6 years ago

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The Symptoms of Gluten Intolerance You Haven’t Heard About

You just don’t feel good. You’re tired and get frequent headaches, have ongoing skin issues, or struggle with depression—or all of the above. Maybe you’ve wondered if gluten could be the culprit, but because you don’t experience gastrointestinal upset, you’ve since put the thought out of your mind and haven’t mentioned anything to your doctor. Or perhaps you’ve shared your suspicion, but conventional testing ruled out celiac disease (CD) and thus, supposedly, any issues with gluten. In either case, your diet has likely stayed the same … and so have these often-overlooked symptoms of gluten intolerance.

Yes, all of the symptoms mentioned here—and many others you may not have heard about—can be signs that you have a significant degree of gluten intolerance. Even if you don’t run to the bathroom right after enjoying a plate of pasta, and even if standard lab work says otherwise, your body (and brain) may be having serious problems with gluten. Let’s explore these lesser-known symptoms and discuss if going gluten free is right for you.

You’ve heard of the havoc gluten can wreak on your digestive tract, but did you know that gluten intolerance can cause skin problems, depression, and frequent headaches? Check out this article for more symptoms of gluten intolerance you’ve never heard of. #nutrition #chriskresser

Undiagnosed Intolerance Is More Common than You May Think

First off, I want you to know that if you eat gluten and you feel lousy but you don’t have digestive issues—and you have tested negative for CD and been told it’s all in your head—you are not alone. In fact, undiagnosed cases of gluten intolerance are incredibly widespread. Here’s why.

As I’ve written before, wheat contains several different classes of proteins: gliadins (of which there are four different types, including one called alpha-gliadin); glutenins; agglutinins; and prodynorphins. Once wheat is consumed, enzymes in the digestive tract called tissue transglutaminases (or tTGs) help break down the wheat compound. During this process, additional proteins are formed, such as deamidated gliadins and gliadorphins (also called gluteomorphins). Stick with me here—these terms are worth knowing so that you can understand the pitfalls of conventional testing for CD.

CD is a serious form of gluten intolerance, one that can do real damage to the tissues in the small intestine (though its symptoms aren’t merely gut related). CD is characterized by an immune response to one specific gliadin (the aforementioned alpha-gliadin) and one specific type of transglutaminase (tTG-2). But people can—and very much do—react to several other components of wheat and gluten.

Therein lies the problem, because conventional lab testing for CD and gluten intolerance only screens for antibodies to alpha-gliadin and tTG-2.

If your body reacts to any other wheat protein or type of transglutaminase, even severely, you’ll still test negative for CD and intolerance.

Statistics suggest that for every one case of CD that is diagnosed, 6.4 cases remain undiagnosed—the majority of which are atypical forms without gastrointestinal symptoms; even many patients who are eventually diagnosed don’t experience an upset stomach after consuming gluten. (1)

What’s more, the distinct autoimmune response to wheat proteins and transglutaminase enzymes in the gut that defines CD is just one possible expression of gluten intolerance. The many other ways a sensitivity to gluten can affect the body are collectively referred to as non-celiac gluten sensitivity, or NCGS. Cases of gluten intolerance classified as NCGS involve both intestinal and non-digestive reactions to gluten that are not autoimmune or allergic in nature and that resolve when gluten is eliminated from the diet.

There is no definitive diagnostic test for NCGS, making it difficult to put a number on its prevalence. By some estimates, it may occur in as many as one in 20 Americans. (2) And although your doctor and plenty of others out there might still insist that NCGS doesn’t truly exist, several studies have validated it as a distinct clinical condition. (3) As I’ve explained previously, gluten sensitivity is very real. Stories painting NCGS as a collective delusion have gotten it wrong.

Decoding Your (Real) Symptoms

Gluten intolerance can affect nearly every tissue in the body, including the brain, skin, endocrine system, liver, blood vessels, smooth muscles (found in hollow organs such as the intestines), and, yes, stomach.

That’s why it can manifest either in the classic presentation of digestive distress—abdominal pain, bloating, gas, and diarrhea or constipation—or in any of the following, likely surprising, non-digestive symptoms.

Anemia

Although it’s discussed infrequently in popular articles, iron-deficiency anemia is well documented as a symptom of gluten intolerance in scientific studies. (4, 5) In fact, research suggests that it may often be the first noticeable symptom of CD and that up to 75 percent of those with an anemia diagnosis may be gluten intolerant. (6, 7) Gluten intolerance can interfere with the uptake of iron from food, causing malabsorption of this important nutrient. (8) What’s more, because anemia generally saps one’s energy, it can trigger or worsen the next non-digestive sign of gluten intolerance on this list.

Fatigue

Many gluten-intolerant individuals report feeling tired and fatigued, especially right after eating, you guessed it, gluten. (9) Research has linked NCGS to chronic fatigue symptoms in some people. (10) As with chronic fatigue syndrome, symptoms of gluten intolerance can also include muscle fatigue and muscle and joint pain.

Brain Fog

This type of cognitive dysfunction can be a sign of gluten sensitivity. Those affected often describe experiencing “foggy mind” symptoms such as an inability to focus and concentrate; some also describe feeling mentally fatigued. (11, 12)

Headaches

Headache is a frequent finding in NCGS, with one recent study reporting the symptom in more than half of its participants. (13, 14, 15) Migraine in particular is an associated symptom. (16, 17)

Eczema and Other Skin Disorders

As with fatigue, brain fog, and headaches, people with NCGS may notice a worsening of skin symptoms such as eczema, rash, and undefined dermatitis after ingesting gluten-containing foods. The most commonly reported skin lesions include those similar to subacute eczema, as well as the bumps and blisters indicative of dermatitis herpetiformis, or Duhring’s disease—to which CD is closely linked. Those who are gluten intolerant may also experience scaly patches resembling psoriasis. Lesions are typically found on the muscles of the upper limbs. (18, 19, 20)

Depression and Anxiety

One of the main reasons gluten sensitivity often goes unrecognized and untreated, researchers theorize, is because mental health issues can be a hallmark of this condition. Data suggests that up to 22 percent of patients with CD develop such dysfunctions, with anxiety and depression occurring most commonly. One study found that CD patients were more likely than others to feel anxious in the face of threatening situations, while additional research has linked conditions such as panic disorder and social phobia to gluten response. Depression and related mood disorders appear to occur with both NCGS and CD. (21, 22)

Here’s the good news: The majority of studies cited here not only investigated whether or not these symptoms are signs of gluten intolerance, but also whether or not they can be addressed by going gluten free. And it turns out, these problems improved or completely resolved with adherence to a gluten-free diet.

But more on that in a minute.

Beware These Surprising Consequences of Intolerance

While the symptoms mentioned above are what will most likely clue you in to your body’s negative response to gluten, they aren’t the only effects of intolerance to be aware of. In fact, a variety of chronic diseases may develop due to long-term CD or NCGS, including: (23, 24)

Epilepsy

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD

Autism spectrum disorders

Schizophrenia

Type 1 diabetes

Osteoporosis

Multiple sclerosis

Hashimoto’s

Peripheral neuropathy

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS

In one study, researchers found a strong link between gluten sensitivity and neurological complications—especially those in which the cause was unknown. (25) Research has even shown that, for some people with gluten sensitivity, the primary symptom they experience is a neurological dysfunction. (26) The data suggests that nearly 60 percent of people with neurological dysfunction of unknown origin test positive for anti-gliadin antibodies. (27)

Challenge Yourself: Do You Feel Better On a Gluten-Free Diet?

If you’re currently experiencing any of the symptoms of gluten intolerance I shared in this article and can’t seem to find relief, or if you have received a diagnosis of any of the above linked diseases or disorders and you and your doctor have not found a probable cause or resolution, gluten could very well be a trigger for you.

Because of the limitations of current testing for CD and the lack of diagnostic options for NCGS, the most reliable test for gluten intolerance is a “gluten challenge.”

This involves removing gluten from your diet completely for a period of at least 30 days—60 days is best—then adding it back in after that time has elapsed. If your symptoms and/or diagnosis improve during the elimination period and return when gluten is reintroduced, let your healthcare provider know. You have NCGS or atypical CD.

Though I consider this to be the gold-standard test for gluten intolerance, Cyrex Laboratories does offer a comprehensive blood panel that screens for all of the wheat and gluten proteins and transglutaminase enzymes discussed earlier. It can be a helpful diagnostic tool, but it shouldn’t replace a gluten challenge. (Note: It must be ordered by your physician or another healthcare provider.)

How Will You Deal with Your Symptoms of Gluten Intolerance?

If you experience improvement on a gluten-free diet and plan to continue eating this way, you can feel confident that there is no risk in terms of nutrient deficiencies to removing gluten from your diet. (28) If anything, my experience has shown me that people who eat gluten-free are more likely to increase their intake of essential nutrients, especially if they replace breads and other flour products with whole foods.

Have you experienced any of these symptoms? Are you planning a gluten challenge to determine once and for all if gluten is the culprit? Let me know below in the comments!

The post The Symptoms of Gluten Intolerance You Haven’t Heard About appeared first on Chris Kresser.

Source: http://chriskresser.com November 20, 2018 at 09:17PM

#paleo #recipe #food #delicious #healthy #yum #diet

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