#our first official antagonist. just evil.

[arcadechan]

He who sits the Boss Throne, the Capone, Don Bleeding Library. Hoard of the Craft Hancock.

[trash-heron]

Red Dragons; Or, the problems of adaptation and the early serial killer procedural

Red Dragon (1981) has the distinction of being the most frequently adapted Thomas Harris novel in the Hannibal Lecter "quartet." Despite the universal recognition of Jonathan Demme's Silence of the Lambs (1991), with iconic performances from Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, and the more recent cult status of the series Hannibal (2013), which draws from all four books, it's Red Dragon, in some ways the most "obscure" Thomas Harris novel, that has lived three, arguably four, different lives onscreen over three decades.

Manhunter, visually, is an 80s noir feast set to atmospheric synths, but works within the newly established slasher genre as it attempts to make its own mark. The 1980s were truly the decade of the slasher flick, or the first wave thereof, and Red Dragon had to contend with expectations set up by the likes of Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers. Although this isn't a write-up about the history of slasher films, the basic premise I am going with is that the early slasher serial killer was portrayed as monstrous and, compared to our favorite killers today, one-dimensional antagonists. When I think about the origins of the slasher genre, I always think about the way the ineffectual psychologist in Halloween (1978) describes his former patient's "devil's eyes," behind which lived something "purely, simply evil." Dr. Loomis is dogged in his determination to impress upon the local authorities that Michael Myers is a force of nature who is unreachable by psychology, the study of the human mind. Furthermore, the slasher flick was unconcerned with the elements of the procedural: like in other horror subgenres, law enforcement are disposable foils that demonstrate the danger of the "monster" and the vulnerability of his targets and/or come in at the end to mark the conclusion of the spectacle (until the sequel, that is).In many ways this just seems like a quirk of history. I've been operating under the assumption that when Red Dragon came out in 1981, Thomas Harris introduced a type of story to a media landscape that had scant precedent for the serial killer mystery or procedural, distinct from the related nascent slasher horror subgenre, unlike today when a plethora of "murder shows" benefit from the success of this formula. Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter, the ur-murderer of the Thomas Harris fictional universe, became a cultural archetype that looms over modern crime television and film as he does over the investigations of beleaguered law enforcement officials in both Red Dragon (1981) and Silence of the Lambs (1988). When Michael Mann brought this first "Hannibal" novel to the screen in 1986, he too was breaking ground, to mixed reactions. Manhunter (1986), which lamentably lost its "Red Dragon" title due to studio publicity decisions, is both ahead of and a product of its time.

Manhunter, visually, is an 80s noir feast set to atmospheric synths, but works within the newly established slasher genre as it attempts to make its own mark. The 1980s were truly the decade of the slasher flick, or the first wave thereof, and Red Dragon had to contend with expectations set up by the likes of Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers. Although this isn't a write-up about the history of slasher films, the basic premise I am going with is that the early slasher serial killer was portrayed as monstrous and, compared to our favorite killers today, one-dimensional antagonists. When I think about the origins of the slasher genre, I always think about the way the ineffectual psychologist in Halloween (1978) describes his former patient's "devil's eyes," behind which lived something "purely, simply evil." Dr. Loomis is dogged in his determination to impress upon the local authorities that Michael Myers is a force of nature who is unreachable by psychology, the study of the human mind. Furthermore, the slasher flick was unconcerned with the elements of the procedural: like in other horror subgenres, law enforcement are disposable foils that demonstrate the danger of the "monster" and the vulnerability of his targets and/or come in at the end to mark the conclusion of the spectacle (until the sequel, that is).

Manhunter, and Red Dragon generally, is not a slasher flick. In fact, beyond the deliberately provocative reporter Freddy Lounds and a few men with barely any screen time who are killed off in brief fight scenes, the Great Red Dragon doesn't kill anyone at all. At the very least, no one is murdered in his signature serial killer style. The ritualistic murders occur before the film (and novel) begins, and the narrative revolves around understanding the mind of the serial killer and preventing him from killing again. At the same time, the conventions of the slasher film seem to limit the directions the film can go. Both Francis Dolarhyde and Hannibal Lecter (or "Lecktor") in the film have fairly opaque inner lives and limited screen time, while Thomas Harris notably does delve into the mindset and motivations of the "psychopath," positioning the killer as a subject of psychology, rather than an exception to it.

Furthermore, Manhunter's revised ending reframes one of two major female characters as a recognizable "final girl," and relegates the other to only existing in Will Graham's "happy ending," out of reach for the killer. This is the opposite outcome of the actual ending in the novel, and always seemed a bit tacked on to me, and not for artistic reasons. Will Graham can't actually end up broken and haunted because there has to be a clear demarcation between the serial killer "monster" and the "real" people who survive him. Blurring that distinction is, arguably, the "point" of Red Dragon. Michael Mann, perhaps, couldn't adapt the novel's conclusion "faithfully" because the conventions of this kind of psychological thriller weren't established, and did the best he could, introducing new building blocks for the "serial killer" archetype but not successfully pitching them to the wider public. Manhunter was not a financial or critical success upon its release, and refining the Thomas Harris "blueprint" was left to Jonathan Demme's Silence of the Lambs (1991), which made the strategic and hugely significant choice of allowing Hannibal Lecter to become a breakout character.

The next adaptation of the novel Red Dragon has seemed to me, frankly, like a bit of a cash grab. The 2002 Brett Ratner film, starring Edward Norton and Anthony Hopkins, capitalized off of the success of Silence of the Lambs and the release of a new Thomas Harris Hannibal Lecter novel. This film was for those who missed Manhunter in the 1980s, which many did, and those who considered a prominent Hannibal Lecter played by Anthony Hopkins essential to an adaptation, which many also did. The most recent adaptation of Red Dragon is the cult hit drama Hannibal (2013), which focuses on the main characters of the novel, Hannibal Lecter and FBI profiler special agent Will Graham, and can arguably be seen as two different adaptations of the novel. Both of these more recent adaptations are more coherent and recognizable as exemplars and/or subversions of the serial killer procedural, playing off of the tropes introduced to the genre by the source material itself, like a particularly grizzly and morbid ouroboros.

So, we have many points of data to consider if we wanted to determine what makes a good adaptation of the novel Red Dragon.

Ironically, for a story that laid important groundwork for a whole subgenre of film and TV, Red Dragon is hard to adapt and definitely hard to update. (So is Silence of the Lambs for that matter, but that is a whole other kettle of fish.) To my mind, the main two difficulties stem from both a strength and a "weakness" of the original novel.

A strength: Harris takes advantage of contemporary technology to create a clever mystery at the center of the novel. The problem: this particular bit of technology was only truly at home in its first 1986 adaptation, Manhunter. Both Red Dragon (2002) and Hannibal (2013) had to make compromises to adapt the central plot device. Red Dragon (2002) avoids the issue by simply setting the film in the 1980s, relying on the audience's knowledge of VHS technology of that time, which, since it was 2002, was more or less assured for an R-rated movie. Hannibal (2013) sidesteps the issue more or less entirely by making the "mystery-solving" pieces functionally irrelevant. (At one point, Hannibal Lecter makes a dismissive reference to the killer using "social media" the way the original story used VHS and the matter never comes up again.) To date, this central plot twist has never been successfully adapted for contemporary audiences in the 2010s - or 2020s for that matter. The 2010s show itself, in its choices, implicitly makes the argument that the technical "mystery" elements of novel weren't really all that important to its overall message. Depending on your point of view, this argument is successful. However, this argument also depends on the irony that the creators of the show can dispense with the set pieces of the serial killer procedural and take artistic license because the source material introduced those expectations into the genre to begin with. Tradeoffs all around.

Another challenge to adaptation is sometimes considered a "weakness" of the book: after the real "plot" of the novel vis a vis Will Graham's hunt for the "Tooth Fairy" begins, Harris makes the bold choice of adding the point of view of the serial killer du jour himself, diving into the eponymous Red Dragon's motivations and experience, which almost takes place in a parallel universe apart from that of Will Graham, Lecter, and the BSU/BAU until both narrative threads collide in the climax. The problem: this choice "derails" the suspense of the whodunit and adds character development for a relative stranger to the reader. Every adaptation of Red Dragon changes the structure of the plot so that the parallel storyline of Francis Dolarhyde, the Red Dragon, is pared down and interspersed with the main narrative (usually) earlier on. Every adaptation has decided that Thomas Harris's precise plot structure isn't actually essential. This judgment call is also ironic: Thomas Harris apparently "flubs" the standard conventions of the serial killer procedural that did not yet exist because he was in the middle of inventing them.

But, we may ask, isn't this the nature of adaptation? The answer: of course it is. Adjusting plot mechanics based on the period of the adaptation and restructuring the pacing for film/television are some of the most basic changes one can make when adapting a book for the screen. However, that does open up interesting questions of theme and intent. What is essential to the Red Dragon story? What is it, in the end, all about?

Leaving aside all caveats about the subjective nature of interpretation or the possibility of a work being "definitively" about anything, I believe there are two broad interpretations of the novel and all existing adaptations favor one or the other.

Red Dragon is a novel about how much monster there is in a, well, man and vice versa: the fate of the soul is at stake. This is a clear theme of Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter relationships in every iteration: to catch a particularly "monstrous" killer requires understanding said killer, but if you understand them too well, what does that say about you? And, more importantly, where does that leave you? (In the original Will Graham's case, nowhere good, with a broken marriage and an existential crisis, or, when we catch up with him in the sequel, in the Florida Keys, now a miserable drunk. For the modern Will Graham of the 2010s series, TBD.) Empathy itself instills horror, which is a fairly complex idea to explore in the late 1970s when Thomas Harris was writing the novel. (In fact, I will always find it remarkable that Thomas Harris had the foresight to research the methods of criminal profilers at the FBI at the beginning of the discipline and the BSU itself, getting in on "the ground floor" for better or worse for horror fiction and actual forensic psychology.) It's also very cross-media, as identification with violence on screen (and the "male gaze" itself) were emerging as key features and problems of film available to critique. The focus on "video" and boundaries between self and other in the novel seem very prescient.

Alternatively: Red Dragon is a novel about the limits of personal transformation. Thomas Harris seems preoccupied with the idea of ritual murder as an alchemical process motivated by the desire to become something "transcendent." (While one can see the mystical whimsy in a man thinking he's becoming a dragon, a figment of William Blake's imagination, "Buffalo Bill's" or Jame Gumb's desire to transform "into a woman" in a somehow "not-trans" way in Silence of the Lambs falls egregiously short and reflects more on a failure of imagination on the part of Thomas Harris and his readership than anything else.) I find the metaphysical aims of these serial killers interesting for two reasons. First, sexual sadism is de-emphasized as a motive, which is not typical of the serial killer archetype of the time: the most prominent serial killers in fiction (such as in early slasher films) kill because of some perverse urge, as an extension of the "evil" men they are or were made to be. Their murders aren't about anything. Both Francis Dolarhyde and Jame Gumb , in contrast, think they are setting out to accomplish something and that the brutality of their actions is beside the point. This is what constitutes their insanity, as this is clearly not true.

The actual nature of their murders and the ugly psychoanalytical implications of their compulsions are the ultimate limitation on their aspirations to "becoming." No matter what they think is going on their heads, they direct their violence toward women, and it is women who ultimately put an end to their reigns of terror. (Molly Graham and Reba McClane in Red Dragon and Clarice Starling, among others, in Silence of the Lambs.) The female characters serve as a "reality check" for the dreamy, bloody men of the books, which is earnestly ham-fisted on the part of Thomas Harris but also significant for the genre. Arguably none of the women in the first two Hannibal novels play the role of "final girl," that is, an "innocent" woman who acts as audience surrogate and restores socially acceptable norms at the end of the film. (The focus on such a "good girl's" experience means you can take a comfortable distance from the murderer and put yourself in the position of "victim." You are also anticipating that she will be spared in some way, which restores a sort of moral balance to the universe: the other victims in some way "had it coming.") In Red Dragon, the active female characters are not sorted into the "virgin/whore" dichotomy: in fact, even the actual sex worker character (Freddy's girlfriend) remains unscathed, and her feelings are more relevant to the other characters than her occupation, humanizing Freddy postmortem. The victims and potential victims, almost all of them mothers, clearly did nothing "wrong" and their sexual objectification is placed squarely on the shoulders of the men watching them. The women left standing at the end of the novels don't just "escape" the killers: they're the ones who put the killers down despite the male characters' inadequacies, and they, unlike a Jason or a Michael Myers, stay down.

Of course, I think both broad themes are very present and active in Red Dragon, and, probably unsurprisingly, Hannibal Lecter is something of a cipher for both threads. If our main concern is coming to terms with our empathy and capacity for violence (or "men's," I suppose), Hannibal Lecter nimbly eludes being a subject of empathy, instead setting himself up as the observer and interpreter of other killers. His insight into other people is certifiably superior: he's literally a renowned psychiatrist. The possibility of a Hannibal Lecter raises the stakes enormously for our own navel-gazing, as we are not just wondering, along with Will Graham, whether the wicked deeds of others might appeal to us, but are actually facing up to the reality that the killer has been beside us as a peer all along, not the subject of scrutiny. If our main concern is the limitations of personal transformation, Hannibal Lecter is a very sharp foil for our doomed killers because while he can easily identify the signs of a transmutation complex, it isn't especially relevant to him personally. Hannibal Lecter doesn't kill and eat people because he's turning into anything. As he famously tells Clarice Starling as she attempts to interview him, "Nothing happened to me. I happened." He already is what he is, rooted in sensual reality - like the women in the books - and he is merely indulging his appetites and aesthetics. This, I think, is why he prevails and why he can make himself at home on the side of our woebegone detective protagonists when he feels like it. Hannibal Lecter is never doomed: he can always happen to you.

Manhunter favors the first tendency, and is not particularly interested in Francis Dolarhyde's "Becoming" as the Great Red Dragon. This allows for a very intense and nuanced meditation on identification and the role of empathy that artistic representations of violence invoke. The focus on "seeing" gains a whole other dimension in the context of film, as there are many interesting things going on with perspective and scene composition. 2002's Red Dragon favors the second tendency, if I had to make the judgment call. Although the film is probably the most "faithful" adaptation of the events of the novel, I do think you can come away from the film not remembering that Will Graham has any particular problem/gift of heightened empathy or that losing himself by identifying with Hannibal Lecter or Francis Dolarhyde was ever a serious possibility. (Even at the climax, when Graham to a "violent" place he ends up taking on the persona of Dolarhyde's abuser, not Dolarhyde himself, which is entirely an invention of the film.) What the film does emphasize is the quixotic journey of Francis Dolarhyde, giving quite a lot of room to his backstory as well as his inner conflict between his deadly, "spiritual" inclinations and his romance with Reba. Also, and most importantly, this is the one adaptation of Red Dragon that actually allows Molly Graham to kill Francis Dolarhyde when he tries to make the Graham family another ritual sacrifice. There's an intentional symmetry in the novel between the murders and Dolarhyde's ultimate demise at the hand of the desirable "mother," which really underlines the juxtaposition between the story Dolarhyde is telling himself and what he's actually been doing.

Perhaps this is me tying a bow on it all by claiming that Bryan Fuller's Hannibal (2013) manages to incorporate both major themes, but I do think it's very interesting to at least think of the series as two different adaptations of Red Dragon. The first adaptation is obvious: the second half of season 3 "does" Red Dragon, and honestly gives fantastic depth to Francis Dolarhyde's inner world and his quest for transformation through death. However, I also think you can view the entire series as a whole as an adaptation of Red Dragon. I say this because the main bulk of the existing seasons of Hannibal cover the period of Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter's relationship prior to Lecter's capture, which is only depicted (in exposition) in the novel. Aside from the incorporation of various plot points and characters from the novels Hannibal (1999) and Hannibal Rising (2006) in season 2 and season 3, one could place the (first) three seasons of Hannibal entirely in the world of Red Dragon. I think this is especially suggested in the first episode, which opens with Will Graham doing a visionary walk-through of a family annihilation that pretty much exactly hearkens back to his first major scene in the novels and the films: later in the episode, Graham's inner monologue about imagination and taste - the first substantive insight we get into the character - is rewritten as dialogue between Graham, Jack Crawford, and Hannibal Lecter. So, even while the plot of the series begins at a different point in time, stylistically, we're back at the beginning of Red Dragon anyway. This interpretation allows for a lot more flexibility if we're looking for major themes coming from the source material. Identification and empathic intimacy are the animating features of the central Will-Hannibal dyad: at the same time, the psychic landscapes Will Graham (and to a lesser extent characters like Alana Bloom or Bedelia du Maurier) explore alongside Hannibal Lecter are tied up in questions of transformation and limitation.

In the series, Lecter not only pinpoints the urges to "become" in other killers but also becomes deeply invested in Will Graham's capacity for metamorphosis as an expression of identification and intimacy. If, as I've suggested previously, Hannibal Lecter exists as a grounded corrective to the soulful longings of murderers who wish to change through the deaths of others, this seems like a contradiction on its face. However, if we take this interpretation of Hannibal Lecter in the novels into our viewing of the series, the tension between Hannibal and Will sharpens into a very intimate exchange of knowing and refusing to know one another. Hannibal Lecter seems to have no interest in Will Graham becoming something or someone else via the alembic of murder. When he tempts Will, he is not (ultimately) encouraging the profiler to look away from the world to some impossible dream that would mark him for death like the other murderers they hunt together. Hannibal Lecter is very interested in Will Graham becoming a killer, that is, embracing all of who he already is with clarity and insight, which is a transformation rooted in psychology and is also entirely possible. Will then resists self-knowledge, or bringing his self-knowledge into the material world. Hannibal resists his own identification with another human being, and realizes (a bit too late) that there may be a way to bring Will down to Earth (and closer to him) without destroying him, as he inevitably does - gleefully - to his other proteges and projects.

No adaptations of Red Dragon have embraced the novel's ending. In the end of the original novel, Will Graham is left in the hospital, resigned to the fact that he's lost his wife and stepson, and drifts into a drug-induced dream state, where he doesn't dream of "Molly leaving" or Dolarhyde, but rather visits a memory from the time shortly after he'd killed Garret Jacob Hobbs. He remembers visiting Shiloh, the site of a particularly bloody battle in the American Civil War, and has an epiphany. At the time, he'd considered the battlefield "haunted," but now realizes that it is, in fact, "indifferent." In the natural world, there is no mercy, "we make mercy": "There is no murder. We make murder, and it matters only to us." Graham accepts that he has the capacity to "make murder; perhaps mercy too." Murder, however, is what he understands. He wonders if "vicious urges" in humanity and the "dark instinctive knowledge" of those urges could act as a vaccine against the "virus" of violence, allowing for the possibility of civilization that has "overgrown the basic reptile brain." He doesn't settle on an answer, but does believe he was wrong about Shiloh. "Shiloh isn't haunted - men are haunted. Shiloh doesn't care."

Granted, this would be hard portray on screen. A filmmaker would have to resort to voice over, perhaps, or merely suggest where Thomas Harris declares. Another option would have Will's epiphany take the form a letter to Hannibal Lecter, an answer to a message Graham never receives. In this letter, which Jack Crawford destroyed, Lecter says we live in a "primitive time," "neither savage nor wise. Half measures are the curse of it. Any rational society would either kill me or give me my books." He wishes Graham a "speedy convalescence," and hopes "he will not be too ugly" after recovering from the wounds the Great Red Dragon gave him. "I think of you often," he writes, and then writes his name. Lecter believes "half measures" are the true poison: Graham, if he knew his dream was a reply to his counterpart, would perhaps take the position that "half measures" are the antidote, a strategic ambivalence that, perhaps, makes mercy as possible as murder. Such a reply, however, would lack conviction. It would, however, betray that in the end this is a conversation vulnerable to distance and time and that there is no appeal to a higher power or state of enlightenment, just to one another. Perhaps the last scene of "The Wrath of the Lamb," the final episode of season 3 of Hannibal, is the closest we'll come to seeing a cinematic portrayal of this conclusion. The profiler taking the serial killer into his arms, where they hold each other like lovers, and then throwing both of them off a cliff and into the sea. Not a half measure at all.

In the meantime, all of these versions of Red Dragon are worth a look.

[copaganda-clobberfest]

WELCOME

TO THE FIRST ROUND OF THE COPAGANDA CLOBBERFEST!

“You know that trope? That one trope *Everyone* hates? The trope in which a well meaning antagonist to our heroes, one looking out for the good of a certain community, suddenly does something horrible and drastic to make not only them, but the ideology they stand for the most villainous of all?”

NOW IS THE TIME TO BATTLE THEM OUT! Like Ken dolls, fighting for survival! Like your Polly pockets discarded in the closet, we’ll see which of these bitches jumped that slippery slope harder! Whose character did numbers on y’all, and blew up a bunch of grandmas and babies and hospitals with it!

ROUND ONE

HAMA from AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER vs AMON from THE LEGEND OF KORRA

Hama propaganda:

“A waterbender from the southern water tribe who was captured by the fire nation when they invaded her home. After being put through inhuman conditions to prevent her from waterbending, she learned to bend her captors’ blood instead to escape. She then lived undercover in the fire nation, for decades, before meeting the gaang. Then out of nowhere it’s revealed she’s behind the disappearance of a bunch of fire nation villagers and she tries to forcibly teach katara bloodbending so she can carry on her actions. And for what?? That doesn’t even make any sense!! She could’ve been at least targeting soldiers or officials but nope all of a sudden she’s actually the villain torturing innocents because she can and i guess that’s what happens after she goes through all that ???? ??”

“if iroh can get let off the hook for being a former fascist war criminal, hama can get off the hook for imprisoning people. hama was taken from her homeland, interned, and forced to watch all of her fellow waterbenders die in prison. the gaang's solution to her doing the same thing to members of the nation that wiped her people out? RE-INTERN THIS TRAUMATIZED ELDERLY SURVIVOR SO SHE'LL DIE IN PRISON LIKE THE REST OF HER PEOPLE. hama should be allowed to go home and see her few surviving friends and family again.

bloodbending wasn't just a cool evil new ability, it was a metaphor for generational trauma. that's why hama was so insistent that katara learn it: it was the final legacy of all those people who the fire nation purposefully exterminated, because it was the only thing that saved hama from that same fate. it was the only form of southern bending katara could inherit, because it was all that was left of them.”

Amon propaganda:

“his whole thing was that nonbenders are discriminated against in the avatar-verse, which isn’t all that wrong. except instead of fighting for something like more nonbender representation in government or, y’know, a n y t h i n g reasonable, he decides the way to solve this is clearly to take away people’s bending until… what?

honestly, I never was clear on if he had an actual plan

take away the bending of everyone in republic city? the world? stop at korra? who knows!

anyways. he decides it makes pErFeCt SeNsE that to solve the problem of nonbending discrimination (I honestly don’t think it was as oppressive as he claimed) by taking away peoples bending ability

which is akin to someone stealing your entire identity and for many, livelihood

but the real kicker is

the way he does it

IS BY BENDING

AND NOT EVEN REGULAR BENDING BUT A SUPER SECRET RESTRICTED ILLEGAL FORM OF BENDING

which is EXACTLY the kind of thing he fearmongers about when he says venders have too much power

so his whole platform of “I am one of you (nonbenders), chosen by the spirits to correct this inequality” is complete and utter baloney”

Always feel free to rb with more propaganda :)

[pianopadawan]

5 Even More Obscure Navy Imperials

This is a very niche post within an already niche part of the fandom but here are some obscure Imperials who are rarely featured even in the Imperial corner of content creators. The nice thing about these guys is that you can use a canon character but also have a huge amount of freedom.

So, without further ado, here are five even more obscure navy imps to feature in your already obscure imp fics.

(Please note that I am treating "canon" as anything from SW official material, including legends, since there's very little Disney canon for a lot of the imperials.)

1. Captain Xamuel Lennox

Canon Appearance: Empire Strikes Back

Role in the Films: Captain Lennox commanded the Imperial Star Destroyer the Tyrant (gotta love those over-the-top evil ISD names...) at the Battle of Hoth which is the first ship to get disabled by the ion cannon. Lennox's only line in the film is "Good. Our first catch of the day." after being notified of the Rebel evacuation transports passing within range.

Other Canon Info: Lennox fought with Piett during the Battle of Turkana in 1 BBY and did not listen to Piett's advice, causing an Imperial retreat. Piett was very critical of Lennox after the battle and recommended he be removed from command of the Pakuuni Sector.

Lennox survives the Battle of Hoth despite his failure but is later killed during the Battle of Endor.

Content Potential: Lennox has the potential to be another Imperial officer who Piett has a bitter history with. Interestingly, in most of the cases Piett is critical of Lennox, Piett then has a similar failure later on in the same mission. So, I'd imagine there's a lot of resentment between the two with Lennox thinking Piett is a hypocrite and Piett potentially blaming Lennox's actions as a contributing factor to his lack of success. I often read and write about Ozzel as an officer who's an antagonistic presence in Piett-centric fanfiction, but Lennox could be another player working against Piett on that side. If not a full-blown antagonist, he probably dislikes Piett enough and vice versa for the two to have some casual co-worker hostility.

2. Lieutenant Venka

Canon Appearance: Empire Strikes Back

Role in Films: Worked in the tech pit on the bridge of the Executor during the Pursuit of the Millennium Falcon. His only speaking role is when he's agreeing with Piett when the Admiral is ranting about Bounty Hunters. He is also the one to deliver the news to Piett from Captain Needa's Star Destroyer, the Avenger, that they have sighted the Falcon (an announcement which, of course, ultimately leads to Needa's death).

Other Canon Info: Venka is literally a nepo baby in canon. He's Coruscanti and comes from a very privileged background. He is annoyed with Piett for not immediately promoting him after Piett himself is promoted by Vader. He was responsible for organizing the boarding party during the Empire's last attempt to catch the Falcon with the tractor beam at Bespin. While none of this was successful, Piett still promotes Venka to Captain after the chase because he's just relieved to have avoided being choked to death. (That last part is literally the explanation the wiki gives for this promotion. So, I guess Piett was just in a good mood about not dying and giving out promotions, at least according to canon.)

Content Potential: I almost hesitate putting Venka in this post because he's actually been featured a couple of times in imperial fanfiction and there is already fanon content for him. I've really enjoyed what I've seen of him so far and I feel like there's a lot of opportunity to explore his interactions with other imps, particularly in the context of a privileged Coruscanti background. For instance, is his family rich enough that they're friends with the Jerjerrods and how does this make Venka feel about Moff Tiaan Jerjerrod? Similarly, do they know Admiral Motti's family who we also know are very wealthy? There's also potential to explore the wealth gap with Piett who we know came from an underprivileged background on an Outer Rim planet. We know from canon that Venka was resentful of Piett's promotion and questioned Piett's worthiness of the rank of Admiral. Whether this is due to regional prejudice or just Venka being petty is up to the content creator to decide.

3. Commander Gherant

Canon Appearance: Return of the Jedi

Role in Films: He's seen with Piett on the Command Bridge of the Executor. He seems to be acting as Piett's second-in-command (not sure how that adds up in terms of the ranks, but SW has never been super consistent about that). Most notably, he's the one who screams "Too late!" right before the A-Wing crashes into the Executor's bridge killing him and Piett.

Other Canon Info: Really none except that the wiki says he's ambitious but also anxious... so in, short, very relatable. I feel they describe every single imperial as ambitious, so take that as what you will.

Content Potential: From what I've seen and written, Gherant is mainly featured in angst fics surrounding the Battle of Endor or Piett Lives AUs. He definitely has a logical role there but it'd be neat to see him appear pre-Endor in Imperial fics. And Commander Gherant is one of those who is really open to interpretation because we have so little info about him in either Disney canon or legends.

4. Commander Nemet

Canon Appearance: Empire Strikes Back

Role in Films: Nemet works in Captain Lorth Needa's crew during the Pursuit of the Falcon on board the Avenger. He's in charge of operating the scopes and therefore the first to report to Needa that they've lost the ship when Han hides in the blind spot.

Other Canon Info: Not much beyond what we see in the films. Another very ambitious but also very scared imperial, per the wiki.

Content Potential: On the angst side, I think it would be interesting to see Nemet's reaction to Needa's death especially since he's arguably the one who would feel guilty about it, albeit due to an honest mistake. On a brighter side, Nemet is also really free real estate since we've got so little on him so you can basically feature him however you want.

5. Lieutenant Virar Needa

Canon Appearance: Not in the Films, featured in a book from the legends, X-Wing: Wedge's Gamble.

Role in Canon: Virar Needa is the cousin of Captain Lorth Needa. After Vader kills Lorth, he subsequently has the rest of the Needa family executed to intimidate the other Imperials. Virar is the only one who survives this purge but he's demoted to serve on an orbiting satellite around Coruscant, a job that is viewed by many in the Imperial military as demeaning.

Personality wise, we know that Virar was still very enthusiastic about his job and loyal to the Imperial cause. We also know that he apparently misses social cues and takes joking comments seriously.

Content Potential: I personally find Virar's story sympathetic. He's trying to keep his spirits up after a massive personal tragedy while also facing the end of the war and the destruction of the military alliance he's sworn his life to. Similarly to Lorth Needa, I think there's a lot of potential to create a sympathetic Imperial character and build on the contrast of someone being a decent person on a personal level but working for a sinister organization. Besides that, Virar is a good character to feature if you want a tie in to one of the more mainstream Imperials without having cameo overload with too many mainstream imps in the same place at the same time.

[defining-skyology]

Defining Darkness.

I need to decide what I want to do here.

I could just tell you what I think the Answer (to each topic) is, and what led me to that. But instead, I want to ask as many questions as possible. If I'm alone in my echo chamber, I need to be my own worst enemy, the most thorough critic possible. I want to make this fun (for me).

So let's strip this down to the most barebones it can be, and dive into the wonderful world of Lexicology: the study of words.

Darkness.

Darkness, according to Wikipedia, is defined as:

A lack of illumination

An absence of visible light, or

or a surface that absorbs light.

Darkness is a concrete, normal concept about real life, but it has transcended beyond its immediate definition to become a steeple of powerful metaphors expressing endless bounds of human emotion.

Darkness is used to paint a picture of evils, unknowns, dangers beyond the warmth of the sun. Darkness eats the sun, holds it hostage and drains hope, love, and joy. Darkness wants, it hungers, and it schemes. It has a plan. And worst of all, it's very patient.

...at least in writing.

Darkness can mean anything a writer wants it to mean, so it can mean all of those, and it could mean none of those!

Our job as Lore theorists, is to observe what this word means to Sky, and what picture should be painted in our head when we try to understand exactly, just what 'darkness' is.

{{{Continue Reading}}}

Because to the unaware, when they first hear of a "Darkness" in Sky, their minds go to every far corner possible that I had just poetized above.

There is an inescapable tendency among fanfic writers and OC designers to relish and drool over the idea of 'the bad guy'. We are craving an antagonist, and we paint them in our thoughts the moment a crumb of content leans in that direction.

And even better than an antagonist; we are itching for an antihero. For some kind of 'opposite' side against the light. Something to represent our rebellions and battles in real life as we rage against the machine, for whatever our machines are.

"Dark" creatures, "dark" skykids, "dark" elders; a world of possibility opens up and we just can't help ourselves, not even the devs!

[Official Sky concept art by Tom Zhao]

But enough about Lexicology (the study of words (if you forgot)).

What about what we can actually see in person? (In game)

As we begin to observe the world around us, we have an immediate official Rule that every theorist seems to agree on:

If it hurts your Light, it's Darkness.

[By the way, damage to your Flame is not damage to your Light. This will someday make sense later.]

The game warns us early on to 'protect your Light', and as we travel through the realms we find creatures that attack us; creatures that the game warns in loading screens are 'dark' entities, "hungry for your light". The rainfall and sludge in wasteland are also harmful to your Light, showing that Darkness may be carried in water.

Within this rule we now have a small list of Things-That-Hurt-Us:

Forest rain

Wasteland water

Darkness crabs

Dark Dragons (Krill)

Shardfall, and Dark Shards

And for the loremoffy, that leaves them with a bunch of questions and dots to connect. Starting with the creatures on the list, we're instantly alarmed, especially as moths entering the false temple for the first time. These two 'enemies' are canonically named by quests and loading screens as 'dark' creatures. "Are they dark evil minions of the bad guy??" gasps the moth, audibly. They certainly seem evil, attacking you with no [some] hesitation. If they are 'a part of' the Darkness, then that seems to guarantee the Darkness wants/exists to attack Light.

And what of signs of 'evil' darkness that don't appear to hurt you?

Darkness plants, also canonically named so, don't hurt you, but, foreign and invasive in appearance and nature, they do seem to be uninvited guests in a land that didn't really expect them. They appear in places that are wet and dimly lit, and have been seen to trap exposed light, be that smaller creatures of Light, memories of Light (released by Shardfall or memory/spirit quests), and lastly, the spirits of Ancestors, who's shells have been cracked and exposed to the Darkness.

The plants appear to keep and store Light, mostly inside small orb-like sacs. This along with the fact that it traps Beings of Light and memories of Light, seems to show that whatever this 'Darkness' is, it doesn't 'get rid' of Light, but rather bury it, keeping it perpetually contained, encased within a strange tomb indefinitely.

More official concept art by Tom Zhao

These things are slowly and painfully choking the land, killing whatever still dares to perch on the ground. They may or may not be 'evil', but whatever they are, they're a plague, a disease. Are they what make the Dark creatures the way they are, or do Dark creatures and Dark plants all appear because of something deeper down the rabbithole?

We follow the trail of Darkness, worse and worse as we grow near its source, and find that the worst of the Darkness comes from the ruined kingdom's heart of society. Whatever Darkness is, the Ancestors obviously seem to have something to do with it. From here the lore moth can trail down a few paths. The Ancestors were either the direct cause of this Darkness, or created it by accident. It was either directly connected to whatever they were doing, or they didn't expect Darkness to be a factor at all. Regardless, we'll look at why Darkness is on another day.

But What is it?

The goal of an Answer is to be able to summarize everything you know about a subject, into a bitesize, consumable, tolerable answer. And to answer what Darkness is, after all of this blog-long research and meditation; one specific word is the Answer.

noun

noun: pollution

the presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing that has harmful or poisonous effects.

Pollution is the word that matches everything we know about the way this Darkness spreads. It has been introduced into the environment by the Ancestors, and is affecting the world. Pollution contaminates and poisons, killing the world with no intent of its own, but destroying everything nonetheless. This is the perfect word for what we've seen in our journey so far.

But how does this tie back in to the beginning of this post?

We had determined that the possible definitions of Darkness ellicit:

Lack of Light

Opposite of Light

An Evil

Absorption/Burying of Light

We are beginning to find that Darkness in the world of Sky does not 'lack' Light, as it instead traps and stores Light in a perpetual sleep.

🚫 [Darkness]: a lack of Light

We have also found that, being released by the Ancestors of the ancient kingdom, Darkness is not seemingly malicious, but instead a force, a storm, almost 'natural' in its ways, with no conscious mind of its own. We cannot create a face of pollution in real life enough to visualize an antagonist we can 'defeat', unless you generalize a concept of rich old fat men. It is the same way with Darkness in Sky. It's probably not 'evil', but it's not okay.

🚫 [Darkness]: an ancient evil

But we have confirmed that it does absorb Light, which is a concrete definition of 'darkness' in the dictionary.

[Darkness]: content that absorbs Light ✅✅✅

And because of that, we've come full circle! 🎊🎉🎇

Wait, we didn't address if our Darkness is or is not synonymous with the definition "opposite of Light"...

Well, maybe it's better we hold off on that thought for now. Because in order to say it's the opposite of Light, first we have to Define what Light is. And I think its safe to say we won't get there for a while. 😅

You're crazy if you actually read all of this, but thank you so much.

I think I'm really going to enjoy making these, so long as I can make them s l i g h t l y coherent. Have a good day/night yall!

[eating-plastic]

Getting back into self shipping

So in case the few reblogs here and there didn't give it away, yeah I'm back into self shipping after falling out of love with it for some time. Here's an intro to my f/os because I realized I never actually properly introduced them before (whoops!). There are also a few ground rules I have for self ship stuff on my blog afterward, so if you don't care about who I ship myself with, then just scroll past those. Okay? Cool! Let's get a move on then!

Roller Ricky:

Roller Ricky is a minor character from the game Killer Frequency. He is a laid back, fun-loving guy who runs a roller rink in the fictional small town of Gallows Creek. Though he's friendly and sweet, he is not afraid to scare someone off with his rifle if they threaten his life or the lives of those he loves. Also he has trauma! Due to an awful prank that resulted in the death of one of his peers, he developed severe survivor's guilt that spiraled into him developing an alcohol addiction to deal with the grief. Fortunately, he eventually got help and therapy for his alcoholism and trauma. He also has an emotional support dog named Max, who he adores.

Honestly what's there not to love about Ricky? He's like, the definition of the ideal man (at least to me he is 🤭). He's sweet, he's caring, loves his dog, he's willing to defend the lives of those he loves, he's pretty easy on the eyes (not just in his canon appearance, but I've seen many different looks people have come up with for him and all of them are so handsome. Then again, I did fall in love with his voice and personality first). The first ever full length x reader fic I wrote was with him, which was pure unbridled self indulgence. After writing 3 x reader things with him and finding out what self shipping was, I realized that he was my f/o; that I loved him more than any other character I had written for (with the exception of my other f/o).

Our ship name is Heart Shaped Roller Rink.

Maison Talo:

Maison Talo is the antagonist of the game House Hunted. Though what you predominately see of him looks human, he very much is not. Maison is a REALTOR, one of the many species of creatures that live in the Uncanny Valley. His true body is a for sale house that can eat and digest living things, whereas what you see that looks human is actually a lure (like an angler fish). Soooo yeah, he eats people, but he's not necessarily evil per se, more morally gray if anything; it's just how he and his species eat and you need to eat to live after all. He's not heartless either, as he is still very capable of developing emotional relationships with others and even falling in love.

So when compared to Ricky, why on God's green Earth is Maison my other f/o (besides the fact that his lure form is hot as FUCK)? Well, to be completely honest I'm a lil bit of a "poser" as a lot of the love I feel for him is from headcanons I have written for him and less actual canon (to say that I cherry pick canon when it comes to REALTOR anatomy and such, would be a gross understatement lol). So yeah, I'd probably be considered a fake fan, it's the big reason why I've played around with the idea of him being my f/o, but only now am making it official. Whatever 🤷‍♀️.

To me (and once again, these are headcanons) Maison is very romantic. Like classic gentleman romantic. He'd also highly value his partner because I think he hasn't genuinely loved someone in a long time or even at all, so when he realizes he does love someone, he's gonna cherish them greatly. Also be uber protective over them as the Uncanny Valley is like, super fuckin dangerous. He would definitely spoil the shit out of you too (bro's not beating the sugar daddy allegations lol). Plus, you're getting a boyfriend and a free house! I also fell for him the same way I fell for Ricky: I just wrote for him a lot and realized "Hey, I'm actually not normal about this character at all." While Ricky was my first x reader fic, Maison was my first x reader thing period.

I just feel like I have to justify why Maison is my other f/o because yeah he is a lil pretentious about being the "Number 1 REALTOR in the Uncanny Valley" and the fact that he eats people, but hey no one's perfect.

Our ship name is Home Sweet Home.

--------------------

With that outta the way, here are some rules for self ship stuff on my blog:

1.) I am okay with sharing my f/os

2.) Shipping discourse is absolutely NOT allowed on this blog. The whole reason I fell out of love with self shipping was because of the proship vs antiship bullshit. I don't wanna see it, I don't wanna deal with it, which leads into...

3.) Anyone is allowed to interact with my blog and my self ship posts. I also take the time to look at self ship posts to make sure they don't have any form of a DNI on them or in the tags before reblogging them

I want this blog to be a space for positivity always, especially when it comes to self shipping because it is something that has brought me a ton of joy. Be kind, be respectful, and treat yourselves right ❤️

[soysaucepastry]

IS THE CHILD AFTER EDEN THE EDEN ELDER?

Hello, Soy again with another theory. Note, these were from my Instagram, but I decided to go more in-depth with them through tumblr!

So, for my theory, I speculate that the child, after beating Eden, is the Eden Elder.

Let's refer to the supposed Eden Elder as "child."

Looking through a metaphorical view, we could say that the child is us. Similar to a yin-yang situation or the child is our light and flame.

However, with my Eden Elder deprivation, let's assume that the child is Resh, that's trapped. Considering the canon Sky lore, we know that Resh is the King who is responsible for the corruption. Our duty as Sky Kids is to free him. However, we can not defeat Eden, and so we get sent to this space where we meet someone who gives us the second chance to be reborn and try to save Eden again.

But more on that later, let's look at clues to support my theory.

Looking at concept art, we were originally supposed to fight Resh. It's no longer in the actual game, but the story is still there.

Noticeably, the concept art used the King Resh design. King Resh is implied to be Sky's antagonist.

But as we fail to save Eden, we get sent to this space with someone who has the Prince Alef design. Prince Alef, being the good in evil and the kinder individual before he became King Resh.

Looking at the similarities with concept art and the actual game, the idea is there. The idea was that someone important was in the space with us, allowing us to be reborn

Continuing on, we get our second chance to be reborn the moment we interact with the child. This is because the child is the Eden Elder, and he is giving us chances to save Eden and try again. Also, we could only imagine the loneliness he must be feeling, so the hug we give just supports my theory with how the child is a person with feelings.

It's a bit different based on concept art since we clearly see that Prince Alef descends to our level and holds our hand as if we beat the game. (Which is obviously not the same case for the actual game)

But considering how both concept and official have similar elements with meeting someone, it can only mean the same thing and that we have met the Eden Elder after doing Eden.

-----

How is this essential for Resh's character?

With this theory, it adds more to Resh as a character.

He is responsible for the corruption of his kingdom, and he's obviously upset and most likely guilty. So guilty, we first see him curled into a ball.

Not only is the entire civilization dead, but it is also his freedom with him being trapped in the storm. The player giving him a hug triggers him to make us reborn to go try again.

Metaphorically, this also means that the Eden Elder can not be saved no matter how many second chances he has given us.

---

To conclude, this is all I have. I hope it makes sense, and it doesn't sound too forced. But I truly believe that this could be the actual case since it fits with the storyline so accurately.

Anyways, thank you for reading. ♡

[simplegenius042]

Music Monday + "Your OC as cannibalism"

Tagged by @inafieldofdaisies

Tagging @socially-awkward-skeleton @adelaidedrubman @shallow-gravy @direwombat @strangefable @strafethesesinners @josephslittledeputy @josephseedismyfather @bitchofedensgate @carlosoliveiraa @g0dspeeed @vasiktomis @voidika @onehornedbeast @nightbloodbix @afarcryfrommymain @corvosattano @deputyash @deputy-morgan-malone @cassietrn @chazz-anova @softtidesworld @derelictheretic @ladyoriza @minilev @wrathfulrook @neverthesameneveranother @henbased @thewanderer-000 @fourlittleseedlings @vampireninjabunnies-blog @skoll-sun-eater and @dephellseed

Music for a story in The UnTitledverse, while the quizzes will be for three characters from the other series. You can find the quiz here. Song and results below the cut.

This song, although generally a FNAF song, somehow managed to fit Calvin's story in The Dark Awakening, a planned sequel of A Blast In The Past, where he discovers the truth behind his state of purgatory, who's behind it, and how to escape it.

"In a loop inside the screen Your own prison in a dream Try to run and try to scream Even death can't save you, we

Replay your nightmare Replay, play, play your nightmare Replay your nightmare Replay, play, play your nightmare

Get in a cage While we rattle it While we rattle it Our eternal revenge We know what you did We know what you did It's Me, It's me, it's me We're all here just for you Get in a cage While we rattle it While we rattle it FOREVER

Torture, torture, don't you know How your seeds of evil grow?

Replay your nightmare 'Cause tables turn Replay your nightmare And it's your time to hurt."

On to the quiz results! For antagonists no less!

Paul Yellowjack (Far Cry The Silver Chronicles, Old Dusk the New Dawn Arc)

Paul just got called out. While his... diet in Old Dusk is more literal, this result does reveal a bit about himself. Paul's (familial) love for Silva is strong and without a doubt true, however, its this co-dependence which leads his love to become obsessive, as if he is the only one that understands her. While he knows her more than most, he hasn't known how much she's changed from the young woman he watched grow up on the Archipelagos. He longs for their connection, even when he himself admits that he does not deserve it, its the only thing that keeps him relatively sane. The "believed in magic" part comes to cruelly bite him in the ass when he is (reincarnated? resurrected? restored with horrifying abilities? IDK) and now as a swarm of wasps must seek out bodies/corpses in order to feed/puppeteer around and interact with people.

Frederick Rosemary (Life, Despair & Monsters)

I'd feel bad for him if I didn't know just how disgusting of a character he is. Frederick is all for going for the "fine" and forbidden/taboo things in life. His emptiness leads him to going the deep end of making people (especially children's) lives as miserable as possible. This man is wanted by the feds and would be on a watch list if it was common knowledge he was alive and some kind of cyborg. The fact Malvolio of all people sees him as a friend and close companion should tip off how screwed up this man is.

Aggravor the Accursed (A Radioactive Calamity of Love, Bombs & Gore, a Fallout fanfic series)

Aggravor is a nearly 3,000 year old human-turned-Lich that worked alongside a powerful inhuman warlock (from another dimension) named Arcane Urias, becoming one of the first official disciples of the Occult, a cult Urias founded to worship the Mad God of Carnage, Discord. Aggravor is being tutored under Urias' wing to learn more about older magic, beyond the basics and newest spells. Aggravor wants to become something more than what he originally was. He wants to be remembered as the most powerful spellcaster and curse-user who either succeeded or was second best to the likes of Urias and the Court King. Aggravor even manages to defeat or even fatally take out powerful casters like the Pumpkin King (an old-world supernatural being from medieval times) and Ore Brantley (one of Urias rebellious children). He was however outclassed and lost an eye in a fight with Ress Bishop (Urias remaining rebellious child). A thousand years later, he does achieve his life-long goal, for however short it is.

[into-september]

So the REAL reason I don't care for "Frozen" is about the way it goes about romance, primarily because this

is not the face of a master manipulator scheeming to get to the throne. Her back is turned. He's alone, after having just lived throught the cutest meet cute in animated history. There is no reason for him to pretend; Anna put that look on his face. I'm absolutely stumped on why they left that shot in the final product; it has absolutely no bearing on the rest of his presence in the film, but it DOES tell the audience that he is as besotted with Anna as she is with him which makes the later claims of his "true character" simply insincere. That moment isn't "misleading" the audience, it's lying to our faces.

(particularly when you know that Else was originally intended to be the villain. I can't imagine that that was changed at a point so late that they'd completed animation for other parts of the film, and even if they'd lose nothing in cutting that second of him under the boat, compared to how it breaks the rest of what could have been a truly great story)

Also "Love is an open door" is a better sell for cute couples than any soppy romantic duet preceeding it except that one with Robin Hood and Maid Marian

imagine a world where these two dorks were to be marketed as an official disney couple.

I wonder if the reason I shipped Anna and Hans so hard wasn't if "Frozen" was always sold as the Anna-and-Elsa show. Any love interests would be a side dish to the main relationship; I knew from the outset that there would be no huge moments of romantic love saving the day, and Anna and Hans' instant jump into absolute fucking idiots in love was cute and it was funny and it was such a refreshing change from what felt like decades worth of couples that either started out bickering and learned to love each other, or had some kind of conflict they had to overcome by the climax of the film.

I wanted cute. I wanted simple. I wanted silly.

By god, I wanted someone who simply loved each other and where this love was just joy and not another story about how romantic love is the force that saves the world or at least a driving element in motivating people to do it.

Kristoff and Anna have that same dynamic that I'd grown tired off years before they hit the screen, with the added insult of existing solely for the sake of the climax being a Shocking Suberversion™.

Hans could've filled the exact part Kristoff does at the climax, but Hans becomes a villain because every film needs a villain, because bad things happen because of Evil, not because of we're all of us imperfect and prone to being stupid, believing our own prejudices, giving into temptation

(I love you, Studio Ghibli. I love you, Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle and Arrietty and all the other films where the antagonists are either petty people with power or misguided people believing they do good, and where they are either forgiven or forgotten by the end, where audience catharsis never comes by their punishment)

My point is, "don't go fall in love with a man you haven't at least had a fight with first" was a lesson since outdated already in 2013 and I did not appreciate that this film became another one in the a long line of stories telling children that the real problems in the world come about because of cackling villains, and not because the people with power are human beings no better than any of us

[primeministerofantarctica]

If you were to rewrite the Maximum Ride books, what would you do differently? Also I remember loving the first 3 books when I was 14 and then reading more in the series before thinking holy shit this is bad

first off, only rewriting the first three books bc you're right, there's no saving the rest of them.

i actually like angel being the (secret) main antagonist, not in a "creepy horror movie kid" way that the books seemed to be doing, but in a "you tortured this kid's family and gave her the powers of a god, are you really wondering why she's so fucked up?" as the story progresses she gets more powerful, but she also slowly starts losing herself. she gets saved at the end with the power of love or smth tho bc she wasn't really evil, just scared, and also Family

speaking of (found) family, that's like the one thing everyone agrees it actually does right. i don't know if they should be test-tube babies or "our parents were shitty and sold us to the government", but there's definitely an overarching arc where they're trying to find their "real" families and realize it was right there the whole time. either way dr. martinez is no longer max's bio mom bc 1) that kinda negates the "family doesn't have to be blood related" theme and 2) that was one HELL of a coincidence

no more random powers that pop up when it's convenient and are never mentioned again. how is nudge able to get into that computer in the first book? easy, she just knows how to hack things.

make ari stay dead after his second death (or at least after max actually bonds with him a little and shows him how to write his name), his death might actually have an impact that way

total can stay but he's on thin fucking ice. we're not letting him talk though.

i'll be honest i think there were three different ghostwriters and none of them were on the same page for what the plot was, but imo the school/itex should've been like "well our very official scientific research shows that climate change is going to irreversibly make the planet uninhabitable soon, instead of trying to fix it let's just see if we can make new specimens that can actually survive it". something something corporate greed destroying the earth something something "we didn't want to do anything ourselves so congrats kid, you're the chosen one!" something something "hey isn't this literally just eugenics *cut to iggy looking at the camera like in the office*"

minor thing but make the e-shaped house more obviously self-sustainable. like a vegetable garden and chicken coop and stuff. were they really just going downtown every time they needed groceries?

[untraceable-ace]

Almost 2 hours late to the live react shitpost party bc I was dying my hair while watching it when it started but anyways

Under the cut bc it both contains spoilers for the m9 reunion p2 and also because it’s really fucking long lmao

They’re kicking these guys asses holy shit

wtf is going on with Kingsley btw like pardon?????

See my question is if Ukotoa is in the process of being released while they’re fighting or if he’s still locked away rn bc like

If he’s not in the process of being released waIT

NVM HE’S OUT

IN THE TEMPLE???

Oh god creepy snakes moving in tandem i love snakes but not like this

Run boy run byeeee

NO

NOONONONO

YEAH NO SHIT THATS NOT RIGHT???

fshshshsh the giant just knocked over in the center of the set is so funny to me

fr hes just

there

Oh wait worm???

Not Ukoatoa??

Caleb my god you are a noodly wizard why would you try to intimidate a betrayer god

LMAO A 17???

“That’s me” jester my beloved

Cmon cmon NO

eight whyyy

Uh ohhhh

HAHAHAHA WARLOCK PACT

Which one which one

Is he just flexing w that ring of telepathy or did that have a purpose

Oh Jester <3

KINGSLEY???

“You just got this body” LMAO

First an accidental pact with an ancient evil sea deity then a pledge to essentially mother nature and now a betrayer god woooooh

Creepy

Wait this guy hates Melora does that mean Fjord can’t connect with her anymore?

LMAO the face

Oh not another cursed sword

i think its a cursed sword

maybe

Them putting up his stat card has me concerned uh oh

LMAO “thanks I hate it”

Ooooh a rapier fancy

its official I love Kingsley

AUGH GOOD BANTER

THE SNAKES

“Martial our forces” HMMM??

Darktow who is in darktow hold up

OHHH RIGHT plank king

Cant go back there

Fantasy DMs jfeoghehgaio;ewhaoge

syphilis gang

DAMN that was one efficient sending

You can just hear the agony in his voice ijodfsihjogiho

If anyone’s a glorified librarian its caleb idk what you mean beau

Charcuterie board

Mamas house has more tiddies followed by “That’s a good point” is fueling me

Winds in the east

mist comin in

something is brewin

about to begin

“I know all languages” jfc how many do you know now????

Im still wondering about that monkey yall what was that about

my original thought was that it was Artagan but it was so antagonistic idk

“We were probably a huge pain in your ass like a year ago” yeah sounds about accurate to what I know

I like her too jester she’s fun

risk esseks life cmon cmon cmon I NEED TO HEAR HIS VOICE AAUUUAUUGH

HES LEAVING PLS BE CONTACTING

damn wrong elf

fshshshsh hermit elf

WOW thats a lot of potions

break to wash out hair dye hold up

before i leave

haha charcuterie board

ok now brb

Okay hair’s done back to reacting

“Okay so you don’t blow yourself up” mood

Wtf is that rod??? Bc we all know he probably wouldve made it amber if he could

Fuckin dope move though omg

EIGHTY ONE????

GOD DAMN

OOOH OH I KNOW WHERE THIS GOES

GET HIS EYESSSSSSS

dainty sip of sherry in the midle of abttle from a flask i love it

holy noises followed by the camera panning to a glowing silouette of a dick on the floor

THREE DRAGONS?????

i mean ik two are illusions but DAMN

Dude I’m not sure Kingsley’s had one bad move this entire two-shot like wtf

soooo AC is 21? I think?

wait do different parts have different ACs?

HAHAHA YES EYEBALL WEAKNESS

Stab the eye, stab the eye, stab the eye, stab the e-

Gently give a slice to an eyeball muah

so eyeball AC is 27> (or equal to 27)

There has been an assault, far as i can tell sam is being a shit again

New tatoo?? Chainbreaker

Fancy

Ohoho oh nvm rip yasha’s dope ass thunderclap

won wound

Ooooh the big bad demigod can be frightened damn

DUNAMANCYYYYY

aw damn rip spell

new form who dis

Half of this live react is just me repeating one liners i found particularly funny oops

Oh nvm?? Dunamancy spell lives????

Nvm

Well ok its alive just half damage

Boy Veth I would love to see you try

“I can dodge gravity” can you????

HOLY FUCKING SHIT CHARACTER GROWTH INDEED

THAT WAS SO FUCKING COOL

Rip Beau taken out of the game bc piss

OKAY RIP BEAU FR???

FUCKING LEGENDARY HDYWTDT

GET FLUFFERNUTTERED BITCH

RIP FJORD SENT OFF INTO SPACE MY GOD

OH

OHOHOHOHOH

CMON CMON CMON SEAL HIM AWAY DO IT DO IT

OooUuUhfhdbdjfe I love the lighting change for going under water

Cmon pls pls pls work seal that bitch away

WHAT

OHOHO

FUCK YEAH MATE

Uh oh my boys gonna get the bends good call w the far step tbh

Actually bad call that’s too fast a pressure difference

Ayo Travis w the accurate bends rep

Ugh I love Caleb’s level 17 art sm

Well damn Melora!!!! Queen shit tbh

I hope “keep that just for me” means he swallowed it again

LMFAO MATTS FACE

Dicks and Other Things

The Molly Look™️

Promptly steal I love him

DAMN Kingsley’s on some king shit

Literally

ORPHAN TAKER IM SOBBING

WAUUAUAUGHFHFB CMON CMON

HIS BOICE I GOT TO HEAR HIS VOICE SJRJQIFUJEHE

THEY GOT THEIR SHIT TOGETHER SO QUICK????? SIX MONTHS??????????

CRYING SOBBING LOSING MY MIND

That was so fucking good oh my god

stimmed so hard at the end that my limbs started to actually cramp lmao

[themovieblogonline]

Top 10 Most Terrifying Game of Thrones Villains

Clashing through the fantastical worlds of The Seven Kingdoms featuring creatures, kings, and crowns, Game of Thrones is a show that also served us some of the most iconic villains in television history. From Cersei Lannister to Petyr Baellish, Tywin Lannister to Walder Frey, these villains have never disappointed us with their clever political conspiracies, jaw-dropping moments of betrayal, and gut-wrenching barbarities. We brought you a list of the top 10 antagonists who kept everyone on their toes. So, let's dive right in! Tywin Lannister Destroy everything and everyone if it's a threat to your family! That is a rule Tywin Lannister lives by. The cunning lord of Casterly Rock never stood for anything that stopped him from preserving his ancestors' legacy and the Lannister name. Throughout the show, Tywin Lannister conspires toward the fall of his enemies and is always one step ahead of them.  Other than projecting his ruthless tactics toward his foes, Tywin Lannister gave a hard time to all his children as well. In the name of 'doing the right thing', he used his children like pawns and used them till the end. He was particularly harsh to his son Tyrion Lannister, the dwarf, belittling him on every occasion. Can't like this guy even if we want to.  Walder Frey All villains in Game of Thrones had some devilish desires and strong incentives to play the bad guy. Except for Walter Frey. Blinded by ego and superiority, Walder Frey took away some of the most beloved characters from the audience. He was so disgusted over Robb Stark's marriage with an ordinary woman instead of his daughter that he hosted a bloodbath called 'The Red Wedding' where he brutally killed Robb and his pregnant wife. After witnessing the death of her oldest son and his heir, Catelyn Stark slices open her throat, giving us another reason to hate Walder Frey. Craster One of the most bizarre and unpleasant characters in the show is Craster. He owns a shelter in the North and is introduced when Jon Snow resides in his home with his companions. It instantly goes dark when it's revealed that Craster is an old freak with many daughters, all born from incestuous practices. One of the most shocking revelations about him was that he always kills his sons for unknown reasons. Honestly, it doesn't matter if we knew the reason because he would still be one of the worst characters on the show. The High Sparrow Evil can be born from religion as well. Considering various aspects of the psychological conditions of Game of Thrones villains, The High Sparrow is by far the most interesting one. Imagine feeling bad for someone as vile as Cersei! Yeah, The High Sparrow made us feel that. The manipulation and exploitation of religion in the name of holiness make him a human devil.  Allisor Thorne Someone who seemed like an idiotic freak at the beginning of the show later transformed into an unexpected villain. As he teased and tormented most of the Night Watchers, especially Jon Snow, no one really liked Allison from the first day he appeared on screen. However, what blew us all away was his murdering Snow one day and officially becoming worthy of our hatred. Petyr Baelish How far can your smart yet traitorous tricks get you? Ask Petyr Baelish. Also known as "Littlefinger", Baelish is that one character who fans have a love-hate relationship with. From Ned Stark to Sansa Stark, he betrayed and fooled the people around him at every given chance. But even when the fans figured out his poor intentions and foul play, they couldn't stop admiring his way with words. On some level, that makes him one of the most formidable villains in the show.  Cersei Lannister Just like Petyr, we remained forever mystified about whether to like Cersei Lannister or loathe her wholeheartedly. Fabricating intelligently orchestrated plans coming from a place of pure darkness, she carried the entire show by being the ultimate villain. She not only betrayed her husband by producing children incestuously but also planned the death of thousands of people at the Great Sept of Baelor. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how the Lannisters have a wicked philosophy of throwing everyone under the bus if it's about self-interest.  Joffrey Baratheon Joffrey showing his true colors after his coronation was a plot twist in Game of Thrones that no one saw coming. Right when he ordered Ned Stark, we knew what was lurking under that innocent demeanor Joffrey carries all the time. After the first season, Joffrey established himself as a terrorizing force but as the show progressed, it was no surprise that his reckless decisions made him some great enemies who didn't hesitate to murder him. The Night King Let's talk about that one frightening monster who had no sense of humanity whatsoever. Simply because he wasn't a human. The Night King was born to kill. All that he was capable of was turning everyone into an army of the walking dead. From the first time he made an appearance in the show, he ignited fear in the eyes of the spectators. Ramsay Bolton How can we end this list without talking about the nastiest of them all? Ramsay Bolton, the son of Roose Bolton, took over the North and initiated his series of atrocities upon the Northerners. During the show, he abused many characters including his wife Sansa Stark, and Theon Greyjoy. Emotion is a concept alien to Ramsay and that shows when he ends up killing his entire family to avoid risking his position as the king. That distinguishes him from all the other villains of the show as his motives for attaining power are purely narcissistic and selfish. Overall Thoughts The world of Game of Thrones is full of lots of characters that left lasting impressions. When you think back the show is rich in jaw-dropping moments and heart-pumping excitement. There were characters that were both heroic and villainous, but which one of them was the worst? Don't forget to let us know your thoughts in the comments below! Read the full article

[aielwasteofspace]

So, it’s been a little over two years since I originally plonked this out, and I can honestly say that the MCU is not in the same place it was back then. It’s worse.

Let’s start with Captain America and the Winter Soldier, since I pinned a lot of hope on that series for setting the stage for the X-Men. To say that CAatWS perfectly exemplified my arguments about the status quo would be an understatement. The series’s main antagonist, as so often is the case in the post Thanos MCU, was on a foundational level, at least, correct. To the point they had her basically burn an orphanage to make her evil. The show had a chance to SAY something with Sam taking up the shield. To really talk about how much harder bipoc have to work to get to the same starting point as white people in this country. Sam is just as decorated as John Walker, plus he’s an established Avenger, and Steve’s pick to take up the stars and bars. And then they don’t do that. They have Sam give a “Deal With it” speech, dedicate a statue to Isaiah, and move on, Status Quo observed, hard conversations avoided.

Let’s take a side step and look at Ms Marvel, while there are a handful of problems with that particular series, I’ll leave those to your own discretion, and that of people a lot more passionate about the character than I. Ms Marvel establishes a clear and present adoration for superheroes in the community and world at large. Kamala may be a huge fan girl, and a bit on the obsessive side, but she is by far not the only fan of heroes and hero society. I enjoyed MM for the most part, but that all changed for me with the mid-credits scene for the last episode, one word, and a few notes of synth.

Making Kamala, an Inhuman in the comics, our first official MCU Mutant. I was fine with the initial change, I understand distancing yourself from a failed project (the ABC Inhuman’s tv series) to introduce something new in the form of the Djinn. But the refusal to commit, and instead co-opt a character from an as of yet unestablished MCU peoples and recode them feels halfassed and unearned. And the audacity to try to use my nostalgia for the X-Men the Animated Series toget me hyped for this unnecessary change? Rude.

That fairly organically leads me to my next MCU project, one which also played on my nostalgia in an attempt to buy my hype. Multiverse of Madness.

I could type a novel with all the problems I had with MoM, and maybe one day I will, but suffice it to say that the movie was bad. Wanda’s off screen villain arc, Stephen’s role as a prop in his own film, and America Chavez being reduced to a McGuffin in her introduction, the gratuitous cameo during which none of the characters behaved like themselves at all. But worse than all of that, beyond all of that, past the pretty colors, the one-off mention of queer characters, the lack of characterization in characters, the movie was just boring. Tedious almost.

I could go on about how the current Phase has been less than stellar but MoM encapsulates all of my writing issues with the current MCU, and the same issues apply to the rest of the phase. Wakanda Forever, Love and Thunder, the former being the last Movie I’ve watched in the universe, mostly out of sheer disappointment from flop after flop. But I’d rather stick to my point. The MCU is STILL not ready for the X-Men. And to prove my point, I want to look at a movie I actually liked, Spider-man No Way Home.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m super happy my boi Andrew is finally getting his ups, and damnit I’m so glad that NWH sparked a well deserved TASM renaissance, but goddamn if the whole movie is all about restoring the status quo. All under the disguise of subverting it. So Aunt May is the one who tells Peter “With great power there must also come great responsibility?”

And then she dies. It’s the same story we’ve seen before, just gender-swap Peter’s dead relative. And for me it falls so much flatter after Civil War already confirmed that Ben was already serving as Peter’s motivation, and that he’d already given Peter a very verbose version of that same speech. The crux of the plot hangs on Peter fighting to restore the status quo but secreting his identity once more, a feat which he accomplishes in a roundabout way, returning the character essentially to square one.

All of that to say I don’t think I want Disney fucking with my X-Men. I don’t know if I can trust them to handle respectfully Magneto’s Jewish history and how it shapes his character as a literal holocaust survivor. Or Kitty Pryde for that matter. I trust them less with Peter Rasputin, a Russian character introduced during the height of the Cold War, whose character could be especially impactful now. I don’t think Disney is prepared to touch on Wolverine, a canonically (in one universe at least) queer man practicing the least toxic foe of masculinity possible (see attached image) and make him a hyper-misogynistic pretty boy with run of the mill anger issues.

So yeah. MCU=bad, Mutants=good, MCU+Mutants= bad mutants.

Support the WGA writers strike.

The discourse on Mutants

Or Why the MCU isn’t ready for the X-Men.

I love Marvel comics. Huge fanboy, have been for a while, but it after phase one of the MCU my excitement for Marvel’s cinematic offerings took a nose dive. And it’s easy to explain why. Marvel and Disney began to sanitize their characters, stories, and the MCU at large. Iron Man 1 and 2 made a large part of Tony’s character arch revolve around trauma and the recovery from said trauma. We see Tony fall face first into alcoholism, and face the consequences of that path. Then Avengers happens, and suddenly our heroes have to be heroes full time. Suddenly Tony’s trauma is the butt of the joke. Steve’s challenges being a man out of time are played for laughs, and everyone has said all there is to say about Bro Thor. The only real Face The Consequences Of Your Actions moment came in the form of the Sokovia Accords, which actively get hand waved in later films. Unsurprisingly, it’s because of Wanda, who is pulling almost all of the weight of setting the stage for a proper X-Men universe, but I’ll get there.

The MCU bends over backwards to avoid actually challenging the status quo. It makes it difficult to get excited for the future of X-films when we’ve seen these historically revolutionary characters who’s entire premise is to push for change, status quo be damned, be reduced to brightly colored guardian sentinels of normalcy. Winter Soldier proves that Cap is right in challenging SHIELD because Nazis were pulling the strings all along. It’s not the government that’s bad, just the Nazis. Civil War says that Cap is wrong, and only cares about his buddy. Tony is right because he listens to the No Longer Nazi government. The status quo is preserved, we do not have to challenge our views.

One needs look no further than Black Panther to see just how far Disney is willing to go to avoid challenging its audience. Oh, sure, they call the white guy Colonizer, but the character who actually acknowledges a need for an overhaul in the system? The guy who vaguely implies in a general sort of way that systemic racism is very real and needs to be fought? He’s the bad guy. And the hero has to beat him up so that he can uphold the status quo then address the symptoms of the problem that he kind of acknowledges is there.

And that’s just the way the studios handle their characters. In universe is another beast all together, but that alone is enough to make me iffy on Disney’s X-Men. The characters and stories are very thinly veiled allegories for the civil rights movement, and most of the time that veil isn’t even there. They challenge the status quo and make the reader ask hard questions about the system and themselves. The X-Men and in a much larger sense Mutants are the ultimate Other and are intended to make the audience feel for them, and hopefully better themselves so that villains like Magneto are be seen as unnecessary. The goal is to make him seem wrong. Humanity can accept mutants, and does. Society can accept poc, lgbtqa+, Muslims, Jewish people, and anyone else othered by our systems and status quo. But we have to challenge those ways of thinking. One of the biggest recurring bad guy groups in the comics is an anti-mutant hate group that is literally just the KKK pallet swapped. I have a hard time believing that Disney will go there.

Now in universe I’d say the MC U has been in the wrong stat for mutants since at least Endgame. Ultron and Civil war had society facing the right direction, instilling a general fear and mistrust of “enhanced individuals”, but Endgame leaves the world in a state of relative hero worship. TFaTWS has Bucky, former assassin and Interpol most wanted basically on parole, and Sam, former Interpol most wanted, acting as free agents beholden to no government body. Sam is greeted and treated as a celebrity. Wanda starts her solo-series with the same impunity, even though she’s basically the whole reason the Sokovia accords happened. They are super heroes, and the world loves them.

But the ground work has been laid for the MCU to have an appropriate atmosphere for the X-Men. And it started with Spider-Man: Far From Home. Outing Peter, and having him framed as a menace begins to establish the framework for an end to hero worship, and starting it with Spidey is actually pretty brilliant. Spider-Man’s powers have no in universe explanation. As far as the public at large knows, Peter Parker was born with these powers. Ol’ Triple J could drop the final nail in the coffin with a single headline (or segment, seeing as he runs Info Wars in the diegetic) “Spider-Man: Mutant or Menace?”

WandaVision keeps the ball rolling by having Wanda essentially abuse her powers in a very public way to the detriment of those affected (no spoilers), sewing the seeds of fear and mistrust. Again, as far as the general public is concerned, Wanda Maximof was born with the powers she turned against others, effectively a Mutant, and no one was prepared to stop her.

Now within the first two episodes of TFaTWS, the stage is set to completely destroy society’s faith in super heroes. There’s a new Captain America on the scene, the public eye is firmly on him, and he has the makings of a spiteful bully. Sam and Bucky, who have mostly been forgiven their trespasses are playing by their own rules, oversight be damned. If they play these arch’s right, it paves the way for a lot of destruction of good will. But we’ll have to see.

In conclusion, while I don’t have high hopes for Disney’s handling of the X-Men, I do think the stage is being set for them to come in in a big way, and while the ground work is being set to introduce Disney’s shiny new toys, they have a ways to go before the Anti-Mutant sentiment they will no doubt try to make a big deal in universe makes sense.

TL;DR Disney needs to hold out on playing with their shiny new toys until they finish putting in the work for the characters and narratives to make sense, and I don’t trust Michael Mouse to handle the X-Men right.

[darthstitch]

the professor wet cat fandom

Imagine that you're a Rose Walker fan.

You remember the first time you saw her book Into the Night on the shelves of your favorite bookstore. Let's face it - the intriguing cover art and the title caught your attention. The synopsis on the book jacket and a quick skim of the first chapter made you bring that book to the counter. Something about the story just resonates with you, the aching sense of loss and grief that Briar, the main character, had felt, the headlong rush into adventure that was a means to escape that sorrow, beckoned by the enigmatic King of All Night's Dreaming.

You read that book in two days. And then you read it all over again. Rose has just opened up a universe that you don't want to leave.

Then the audiobook is released. The voice who did the reading is incredible, a voice that's deep and resonant, like the voice inside your head, seducing you into the very heart of Night.

Everyone thinks it's an actor like Richard Armitage or that other guy with the cheekbones whose name everyone just loves to mangle, Betadyne Carrotene or whatever but he's not credited at all. Either way, you're all in agreement about this.

It's the voice of the King of All Night's Dreaming, the voice of the Prince of Stories.

Fine, you and everyone else just fell in love with the antagonist of Rose's novel. He's not really evil, more a neutral entity than anything else. But he was a bit of a bastard to poor Briar, even though you can understand the reasoning behind his manipulations. He's described as beautiful and mysterious and very charismatic.

Of fucking course he'll be internet catnip. Edward Cullen whomst? Tumblr and Twitter are fighting over their new precious blorbo. There's meta and fan art based off Rose's description of him in the novel and yes, you're among those who check AO3 every day for brand new fan fiction.

You end up trying to find all the articles about Rose Walker. She's a lovely young woman who looks around your age and she talks about going back to university and continuing her studies. She's all mysterious about her voice actor, only saying that "he wants to stay anonymous and really, I got him to promise that he'll read the next book for me!"

And everyone in the fandom rejoices because Rose just officially confirms that there's a sequel.

You're among the first to hit the bookstores when the sequel The Prince of Stories comes out. The cover art is gorgeous, somewhat reminiscent of Yoshitaka Amano or Ayami Kojima, a rendering of the Prince in glorious detail - the fantastic costume in black and gold, the wild black hair, the pale skin, the fine features and the brilliant blue eyes.

On second look, the Prince looks strangely familiar.

Rose Walker doesn't disappoint. The sequel is just as good as the original, expanding a little more on the character of the Prince of Stories. There's also a new character joining Briar and her brother in their adventures all over the Land of Night's Dreaming. He's something of a rogue and adventurer straight out of medieval England, charming, mischievous but ultimately quite noble and kind.

You start chortling at his scenes with the Prince, which are so obviously charged with UST. Everybody to kingdom come is going to start shipping those two. You hit Tumblr and already, there's a goddamn ship name. Oh, this is going to be fun.

You scroll through the blog posts, enjoying the fan art, the fan fiction and the meta and then you see this post:

Is the Prince of Stories based on a real person?

And there's a screenshot of a dedication on Rose Walker's book:

For Uncle Dream, our Prince of Stories.

Oh, come on.

So out of curiosity, you do a little more digging. Rose Walker also has a blog, in which she entertainingly talks about the writing process, answers asks with humor and wit and occasionally, she talks about her family. The antics of her little brother are hilarious. There are also stories about her great-grandmother Unity, who she had tragically only known for a short time, and then stories about her recently found "Uncle Dream."

You can see why the other blog poster had started to blur fiction with reality. Rose's descriptions of her Uncle Dream oddly matches up to the King of All Night's Dreaming, with some added extras, because obviously, magical anthropomorphic personifications of dreams and nightmares do not wander around in Real Life.

Apparently, he's also an adorkable wet cat of a man who unfailingly helped her with the writing process, giggled with her brother over his superhero comics and was completely gone on his husband the history professor.

Hang on a minute. Some of the details sound really familiar.

"Uncle Dream" also teaches on occasion at university, keeps a raven as a companion and is known to talk to him like they really understand each other, outrageously flirts with his husband the history professor in Middle English, in iambic pentameter and in Shakespearean quotations, even if said history professor loathes Shakespeare...

You suddenly raise your head up from your phone because your literature professor just walks in, holding on to a copy of Rose Walker's newest book.

Holy shit. No way.

"Professor Murphy, we didn't know you were a fan of Rose Walker," one of your classmates say.

Professor Murphy has a proud smile on his face. "My niece has quite the story to tell. I've been looking forward to reading her next book."

You can't help it and now, hearing his Voice, you're also suddenly dead sure who Rose Walker's audiobook reader is too. "You're Rose Walker's Uncle Dream?!"

Eventually, you all get to explain to Professor Murphy why you want his autograph as well as his niece's on your books. He's still a little confused about that but he's fairly gracious about it.

He's amused and is barely able to contain his laughter when everyone starts asking if the dashing rogue "Captain Gadlen" is based on Professor Robert Gadling. For once, Professor Murphy neither confirms or denies anything.

-end-

[markantonys]

knife of dreams prologue-chapter 17

GALAD KILLED VALDA AAAAAHHHHHH that scene was so unexpected and so satisfying!!!

this is the first we’ve seen of galad since book 5 if i’m not mistaken. i would’ve liked to see him have more pov throughout so we could get a feel for what it’s like for him among the whitecloaks and see his perspective starting to shift as he realizes that many whitecloaks are not as righteous as they claim to be. i don’t care about sevanna or galina or alviarin or elaida or those random aes sedai hunting black ajah inside the tower or this fuckin ituralde dude or whatever other sideplots have been eating up screentime, i want to see my trakand boys! they are the only secondary characters who deserve pov!

i’m manifesting that this will be the book of trakand boys turning on their Chosen Groups to do what’s right. i know gawyn will find a way out of his pickle and turn on the tower and the younglings and maybe help egwene escape the tower. i know he will! i believe in him! (but since gawyn only shows up in prologues these days and we didn’t get him in this one, what if he’s not in the book at all???? oh perish the thought)

galad describes morgase as “the woman he regarded as his mother” 🥺 “he had thought he would feel satisfaction that his mother had been avenged, but all he felt was emptiness. valda’s death was not enough. nothing except morgase trakand alive again could be enough.” 😭😭😭😭 trakand family reunion when??

galad is now captain commander of all whitecloaks and plans to ally them with aes sedai at tarmon gai’don, though asunawa and the questioners have split off and will no doubt cause problems down the road. i wish galad would just go “the whole system is corrupt!” and destroy the entire whitecloak organization, but that’s asking too much of our Lawful Good boy lmao. makes me curious how this plotline will go down in the show because i’m still feeling the effects of show!whitecloaks being my first version of them, and show!whitecloaks are so vile and evil that it feels unsatisfying and hollow to see galad getting them to help our heroes instead of just burning the whole organization to the ground. much like how it feels seeing rand and perrin prepare to ally with seanchan. i guess it’s all an “enemy of my enemy is my friend” situation and showing how our heroes have to ally even with shitty groups for the sake of stopping the greater evil of the shadow, but still, i don’t like it!

an antagonistic character (suroth) is secretly a darkfriend? groundbreaking.

semirhage has killed the seanchan empress and imperial family and now all of seanchan is embroiled in chaos and civil war. thank you semirhage! if only tuon would conveniently die so then seanchan never gets another empress and can just collapse for good.

bunch of other random shit i don’t care about (and spaced out during the audiobook of) happens in the prologue. too many side characters. my crops are dying.

finally we reach egwene and some life is restored to my crops! she is being an absolute queen about her captivity. unbreakable indeed. she sees the tension between ajahs in the tower and is already thinking of how she can use that to the rebels’ advantage and planning to talk to siuan in TAR. very handy that TAR/dreamwalking can still be done while shielded! “she did not consider herself a prisoner either. she was carrying the battle into the heart of the tower itself. if she had had lips [in TAR], she would have smiled.” that’s my GIRL 😤🥰 maybe i don’t want gawyn to help her escape after all since she doesn’t WANT to escape, she’s got everything under control!

“demandred’s hook-nosed face carried an expression of anger that only made him more striking.” official confirmation that Demandred Is Hot, although maybe this was mentioned already. i’ve seen little of him so far but i feel like he’s my Forsaken Crush. i feel it coming. (we all have a Forsaken Crush, don’t lie.)

“in their own age when moridin had been called ishamael - there was no longer any doubt in [aran’gar’s] mind of who he was” official confirmation that moridin is ishamael! why am i gasping? i already knew that.

so it seems that the suspicion and tension in the white tower and perhaps the split itself is being caused and stoked by the forsaken. kinda don’t like that, ofc the shadow has to be established as a major threat but i wish more of the conflict in this series was genuinely caused by just regular ol human selfishness rather than going “surprise, it was a darkfriend/forsaken behind it the whole time!” so often.

"[aran’gar’s] appetites [for women] had not altered, only broadened [to include men, i think is the implication]” “[semirhage], too, took her pleasures where she found them” and graendal being into it when aran’gar hits on her. the forsaken being the Bad Bisexual Rep we deserve.

no for real there is SO much sexual tension between all the forsaken in this scene (the aforementioned 3, demandred, mesaana) i hope the show maintains and enhances this. just a group of hot evil people who hate and also want to bone every single one of the others.

“‘no!’ moridin snapped, fixing [cyndane] with a steady stare. ‘you would ‘accidentally’ kill him. the time and manner of al’thor’s death will be at my choosing. no one else.’ ... ‘no one else,’ moridin repeated in a hard voice.” “‘that goes for all of you. al’thor is mine. you will not harm him in any way!’” ishamael is not in on the aforementioned sexual tension because he’s too busy having the same one-sided sexual tension with rand he had for all the early books, god bless. (to refresh your memory)

“once, [aram] had seemed too good-looking for a man” usually i think of perrin as the straightest character in the series but then he’ll just come out with shit like this. the Oblivious Bisexual Rep we deserve.

perrin thinks of mat and has a vision of him talking to tuon! confirmed that this happens between the two of them too and not just them and rand. maybe we already saw that in the last book, i can’t remember anything anymore, there’s no room left in wot’s portion of my brain’s memory harddrive.

this is not new information but i have to mention how much i love that perrin’s full name is perrin t’bashere aybara, he and faile both took each other’s names :’)

perrin tells the seanchan that the asha’man know traveling. boy, i sure hope you’re not gonna let them learn traveling from any saidar-users or i swear to god!

“the bearer of this stands under my personal protection. in the name of the empress, may she live forever, give him whatever aid he requires in service to the empire and speak of it to none but me.” love how many different “not to worry, i have a permit [holds up a paper saying “i can do whatever i want”]” official papers there are in this universe jkfgj

faile mentions a fellow (female) gai’shain (arrela) who’s sleeping with a maiden. references to queerness have gotten much more common and explicit in these past couple books, which is nice to see! though always queer women, i don’t think we’ve had anything more than a “maybe that guy doesn’t like women like that” for queer men.

“colors whirled in [mat’s] brain, and for an instant, in his head, he saw rand and min standing beside a large bed, kissing. he stumbled and nearly tripped over his own boots. they had not been wearing any clothes! he would have to be careful thinking about rand...the colors swirled and resolved for a moment, and he stumbled again. there were worse things to spy on than kissing. very careful what he thought. light! the pair of guards...eyed him suspiciously. they probably thought he was drunk...he could have used a stiff drink right then.” JKDJFGKJHJJKDFJG the Disaster Bisexual Rep we deserve. poor mat. poor, poor mat. what a way to find out your lifelong crush has a new girlfriend. also, cinematic parallels to rand being Shook when he walked in on naked mat and melindhra after the darkhounds in tfoh.

now that i’ve moved on from laughing, i’m realizing this is another example of how little interest the characters have in each other these days. last mat knew, rand was romantically entangled with both elayne and avi, yet now he has a vision of him banging min (whom mat had no idea was ever on the table, and honestly i’m surprised he even recognizes her since i think they only met the once in baerlon and his memories of that time are so fuzzy) and doesn’t go “hey, what about elayne and avi?” or anything like that. granted, maybe that’s only because he’s trying not to keep thinking about rand jfkgjh but still. especially now that elayne is his bestie in addition to rand! surely he would have at least a passing care about the state of their relationship, after spending an entire book and a half determined to protect elayne for rand’s sake!

“many among the showfolk were already wondering why mat spent more time with tuon than with egeanin. wondering and disapproving.” you and me both, showfolk.

“with women, you always had to take chances. with a woman like tuon, ten chances a day, and never knowing the odds until it was too late.” or you could just not take any chances. you could just ditch her.

at this point i know i should just accept that this romance is happening and stop beating a dead horse about how ooc and illogical it is, but i literally cannot stop complaining and will make it everyone else’s problem for every recap post for the rest of the series jfgkh

mat waxes poetic about how beautiful tuon is and how much he loves making her smile and laugh and how much he dreams about kissing her. SINCE WHEN??!?!?!?!??!?!!! WHY??!?!?!?!?!!!!??? make it make sense!!!!

“[he dreamed about kissing her] never mind that she called him down as if they were already married.” cementing my theory that, narratively speaking, mat went from genuinely enjoying women’s company to finding them annoying and restrictive because of I Hate My Wife toxic heterosexual marriage culture informing his transition from slut (who enjoys women’s company) to husband (who complains about The Old Ball And Chain)

mat spanking joline 🤮🤮🤮 obviously it wasn’t okay for her to slap him unprovoked, but there is a huge difference in levels of both humiliation and physical pain between being slapped once and being spanked like a child dozens of times in front of people.

and inexplicably, mistress anan and the other aes sedai take mat’s side and say that joline deserved it??? where is mistress anan’s Woman Solidarity Against Mat the one time i actually wanted it?

everyone mat’s with now is making him worse. can you imagine him trying to pull this shit when elayne, nynaeve, or egwene were in the vicinity? they would’ve kicked his ass into next tuesday! although pre-WH mat would never have done this anyway. forget enjoying his plotline, even liking him as a person is becoming difficult at this point in the series. that wall falling on him turned him into a different person. look how they massacred my boy.jpg

“‘do you have any idea how these sul’dam did treat me [teslyn] when they did have me prisoner?’ ‘no, since you’ve never gone into detail beyond moaning over how horrible it was,’ joline replied dryly” it’s so gross how the others treat their stint as damane as a minor inconvenience. mat does this too with his whining about them being So Ungrateful To Him for getting them out of the seanchan’s hands and how he Deserves Their Respect. mat they are incredibly scared and traumatized! they have bigger things to worry about than kissing your ass! is this just the characters who don’t know what being damane is like being dicks, or is the narrative itself trying to retroactively make it seem not as bad in an attempt to excuse tuon and her romance with mat? all i know is that this is a stark contrast from how we saw egwene’s time as a damane treated in tgh. (update: i mention this briefly later in the post but in elayne’s pov we do see the damane system as traumatic and horrific again, so maybe it really is just mat’s pov making light of it bc he’s not a channeler rather than the narrative itself doing so.)

“‘you’ll want to be seeing to your own horses.’ mat wanted no such thing. the most wonderful thing about having coin was not what you could buy, but that you could pay others to do the work.” and what happened to all your disdain for nobles who act like that, mat??? in general i feel that mat’s laziness and hatred of doing work have been exaggerated in recent books. from a later chapter: “just the sight of [the laborers] made mat’s own back ache. they reminded him how much he hated work.” and there was another line in the same vein somewhere in this chapter chunk, but i can’t find it again. the jacket summary for this book says “to get [tuon] to safety, he must do what he hates worse than work” like, to say that in the SUMMARY. a lot of mat’s negative traits have been exaggerated in recent books and he’s starting to feel like a caricature of himself. everyone says that sanderson did that to mat in his books, but rj’s already started doing it if you ask me.

“he had to make her see him as something more than Toy. marriage to a woman with no respect for him would be like wearing a shirt of black-wasp nettles day and night. worse still, he had to make her care for him, or he would find himself forced to hide from his own wife to keep her from making him da’covale!” MAT. THAT IS NOT A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP. JUST DITCH HER AND RIDE AWAY.

i’m thinking about what we were discussing on my last recap about how it would make so much more sense if mat/tuon was an arranged marriage (for example as part of perrin’s deal with the seanchan - mat then would accept the marriage for a logical and in-character reason, wanting to help his friend rescue his wife, rather than just. going along with it inexplicably as he does in canon) and yeah. his whole “since i’ll be stuck with marrying her, i need to find out what she’s like as a person and get her to like and respect me so my marriage won’t be awful” thing would make 100% sense if it was a marriage arranged for political/alliance reasons that he had no choice but to find a way to live with, but the way it is in canon, he completely brought all this on himself by refusing to ditch tuon when given a dozen easy opportunities to do so.

“‘i want you [aludra] to come with me. i know somebody who’ll be happy to pay for making as many of your dragons as you want. he can make every bellfounder from andor to tear stop casting bells and start casting dragons.’ avoiding rand’s name did not stop the colors from whirling inside his head and resolving for an instant into rand - fully clothed, thank the light - talking with loial by lamplight in a wood-paneled room...‘and if he isn’t interested,’ again the colors came, but he resisted, and they melted away” “‘the dragon reborn.’ the colors swirled and despite his fighting them again became rand and loial for a moment. this was not going to be as easy as it had seemed.” mat has SUCH A HARD TIME not thinking about rand compared to perrin, it is genuinely hilarious jfkgh also, i’m still waiting to see where the “mat is a bad friend to rand and always runs away from him” claims come from because even now he’s STILL thinking about going back to rand with new weapons that will help him!

“i will take you with any name you do care to use so long as you be my wife” not bayle domon out here being the king of romance 😭

“he soon told them to stop bringing him rumors about rand. fighting the colors in his head was too much effort, and he lost that fight as often as he won. sometimes it was all right, but sometimes he caught glimpses of rand and min, and it seemed those two were carrying on something awful.” mat is rand/min-phobic too, god bless. like come on, it’s bad enough i have to put up with their relationship in their own povs, now i have to hear about it in mat’s too??? poor mat. poorer me. also, crying over mat having such trouble Not Thinking About Rand that he has to institute a rule where nobody is allowed to talk to him about rand jkjfgh my man that is a CRUSH perrin is rand’s friend and fellow ta’veren too but has NEVER had this much trouble not thinking about him!

“the eelfinn had gathered the memories they had planted in his head, but how could they harvest memory from a corpse?...maybe they created some sort of link to any human who visited them, a link that allowed them to copy all of a man’s memories after that right up to the moment he died...burn him, the bloody foxes were inside his head right then!” okay mat just drew a TON of wild conclusions out of nowhere and i’m bewildered! i’m 99% sure they’re all true from vague things i’ve seen you guys say about the eelfinn, but i have no idea why mat suddenly realized all these things right then (all that happened was that he had a memory of dying and thought “huh, it’s weird i don’t have any memories of other men’s childhoods.”) i thought the memories were his past lives, not just random guys who visited the eelfinn in the past? how does he know this? how does he know the eelfinn harvest memories? how does he know they’re called eelfinn, for that matter? he’s never called them that before!

okay i looked it up and i discovered that the aelfinn and eelfinn were indeed first named in TSR, but it was by birgitte to perrin in TAR. i’m putting on a cone of shame for insisting so adamantly that they’ve never been named before, but in my defense i can’t be held accountable for paying attention to anything that happens in perrin chapters. and mat never heard about that since he hasn’t seen perrin since then, and from what little i could find on google mat first calls the snake people aelfinn in WH and there’s no explanation of when or how he learned that name. i’m positive he called them snaky/foxy people for several books after TSR. positive! surely i’m not just misremembering! maybe birgitte told him offscreen at some point in acos? anyway, i had to read this whole paragraph several times because mat just pulled so much random knowledge out of his ass and i’m still confused where he got it from lmao from what i can recall, he’s never once mentioned anything about memory-harvesting in his previous angsting about the eelfinn and has always thought about the memories as being from his own past lives.

“he was not sure he really wanted to dance away [from tuon] anymore” WHY NOT “but want and wish as he might, he was well and truly caught” YOU LITERALLY AREN’T, YOU COULD DITCH HER AT ANY TIME

“[tuon] saw [the aes sedai as] two escaped damane and a marath’damane, and she had no use for either until they were decently collared. her phrase, that.” mat does not seem bothered by this.

“sometimes [noal] interjected comments on mat’s play, that he was exposing himself on the left, that he was setting a fine trap on the right, and just when tuon looked ready to fall into it.” i love noal, he’s just a weird grandpa who came out of nowhere and just hangs around all the time being weird and awkward. i think i read that he’s jain farstrider, and even if i hadn’t it’s been kinda obvious with the way he talks about jain farstrider in this chunk of chapters and all the info he knows about far-off lands, but i’m interested to see how he ended up where he is now.

the three aes sedai come to tell tuon to return to seanchan and carry out a treaty for peace, and tuon collars all three of them. to his credit, mat attempts to talk her down and takes the collars off himself when she doesn’t listen and later buries the collars so no one can use them again, but he doesn’t react NEARLY as strongly as i would’ve wanted him to, or as the past mat even of winter’s heart would have.

mat watching tuon literally enslaving people: “she looked a bloody leopard staring at three tethered goats. and strangely, more beautiful than ever.” 🤮🤮

“[teslyn] looked as though she could not believe he would actually remove the [collar]” and does that give you a wakeup call about your recent behavior mat? no? okay.

“i want them to stop annoying me, toy.” “i think they’ll agree to that after this. you will agree, won’t you?” when joline says nothing: “‘i could let precious keep you for a few days until you change your mind.’ joline’s collar clicked open in his hands. ‘but i won’t.’” 🤮🤮🤮

like fr tuon tries to enslave the aes sedai for annoying her with attempts to broker peace between randland and the seanchan, and mat acts like both sides were equally in the wrong? he doesn’t even seem to care about the seanchan invading his home. tuon’s comfort is more important to him than the chance of stopping the seanchan, i guess.

mat spends the next day juggling for tuon and telling her jokes, like a fuckin court jester. i am almost at min levels of “please find some self-respect” although i don’t think it would ever be possible for any other character to fall THAT far. on the other hand, at least rand is worthy of being simped for!

some weird thing happens with a dead people sighting and then a peddler gets sucked into the pavement. no clue what just happened so i’m just gonna move on.

random sidetrack: how fun would it have been if mat and elayne had been with the circus at the same time and he got to watch her tightrope act? with her sexy outfit? i wish!!!

“[if aes sedai found out tuon was a seanchan lady] in all likelihood, tuon would be on her way to tar valon before he could blink. as a ‘guest,’ of course, to help stop the fighting. no doubt many would say that would be for the good, that he should hand her over himself and tell them who she really was” me, i’m many “but he had given his word.” UGH mat keeping his promise to rand to protect elayne = sexy! mat keeping his promise to protect tuon = not sexy!

“‘i shall probably make [tar valon] my capital. i shall have you show me the city, toy. you have been there?’ light! she was a tough little woman. gorgeous, but definitely tough as nails.” haha nothing like your girlfriend talking about her plans to conquer your entire continent, am i right lads? what a quirky and sexy flaw!

“‘there’s no need for that, with me or anyone else,’ [egeanin] drawled, bending to take amathera by the shoulders and draw her to her feet. amathera rose slowly, hesitantly, and kept her eyes down until egeanin put a hand beneath her chin and raised her head gently. ‘you look me in the eyes. you look everyone in the eyes.’” so good to see egeanin making a genuine effort to change her ways and treat everyone as an equal! if only tuon could get the same character development. or ANY character development.

“[juilin] disliked any seanchan, for what they had done to amathera.” “there was a hint of a challenge in his gaze. it was clear that to him, egeanin had further to go to prove she no longer saw amathera as stolen property.” JUILIN IS THE ONLY ONE IN THIS GODDAMN PLOTLINE WITH SOME GODDAMN SENSE AND A CONSCIENCE!!! THANK YOU JUILIN finally a solid reason other than “i think his name is pretty” to explain his presence among my list of favorite side characters.

“‘and when [atha’an miere women] are out of sight of land-’ [noal] cut off abruptly and cleared his throat, eyeing olver, who was stacking the snakes a foxes on the board’s corners. ‘what do they do then?’ olver asked. ‘why...’ noal rubbed his nose with a gnarled finger. ‘why, they scramble about the rigging so nimbly you’d think they had hands where their feet should be. that’s what they do.’ olver oohed, and noal gave a soft sigh of relief.” finally someone is being age-appropriate with olver! thank you noal! good grandpa! or actually great-grandpa, since thom is grandpa and mat is dad.

thom finally reveals the letter from moiraine, which is written in the most dramatic and cryptic fashion imaginable, bless her.

“‘my dearest thom.’ who would have thought moiraine, of all people, would address old thom merrilin so?” not any reader, that’s for sure, mat jdkjfgh i’m glad he’s as baffled by this ship as we all are.

“mat may refuse. he does not hold me in the affection you seem to” momraine 💔💔 “if you see lan again, tell him that all of this is for the best. his destiny follows a different path from mine. i wish him all happiness with nynaeve.” 💔 but also ❤️

olver just so happens to remember that birgitte just so happened to tell him that the eelfinn live in the tower of ghenjei, and when noal describes what legends say it looks like, mat just so happens to remember that he just so happened to pass it on domon’s boat in eotw. birgitte also just so happened to tell olver how to get into the tower since there’s no opening. all very convenient.

“he had never really trusted moiraine, or liked her either. only fools trusted aes sedai. but then, if not for her, he would be back in the two rivers mucking out the barn and tending his da’s cows. or he would be dead. and there old thom sat, saying nothing, just staring at him. that was the rub. he liked thom. oh, blood and bloody ashes. ‘burn me for a fool,’ he muttered. ‘i’ll go.’” ❤️❤️❤️ mat truly becomes 10x better the moment he’s away from tuon or the 3 aes sedai.

tuon wants mat to take her to a tavern, which is a long-held matlayne dream of mine! how dare she! tho i will say that tuon going “so when is there going to be a fight??” the whole time they’re there is hilarious jfkgjh

when mat is afraid the seanchan farmers in the town might recognize tuon: “toy, i have met many farmers while visiting the country, but they very properly kept their eyes on the ground even if i allowed them to stand.” mat went into conniptions over Arrogant Nobles whenever elayne so much as lifted her chin too far for his liking, yet tuon says shit like this and he is SILENT, even in his thoughts. i hate it here!!

from a little later: “‘nobles...’ he trailed off, clearing his throat. he could hardly tell her nobles were fools with their noses so high in the air they could not see where they were stepping. she was who and what she was, after all.” and yet you never had a problem saying such things to elayne even though she’s the most down-to-earth noble in the entire series and is your ally and your friends’ friend rather than an invader of your homeland.

when thom talks about how unfortunate it is that people don’t mind the seanchan bc that means it’ll be harder to get them out: “mat glanced at tuon. how did she feel hearing thom talk about her people so?” WHY DO YOU GIVE A SHIT HOW SHE FEELS!!! HER PEOPLE INVADED YOUR HOMELAND!!! GOD!!!!

“[the seanchan] mean to kill [tuon] when they find her [bc they think she’s an impostor]” cool, let them.

“he was going to do whatever was necessary to make sure she was not in danger of being broken. whatever it took.” WHY??!?!?!?!!

mat almost dies because he Can’t Kill A Woman, deep sigh. tuon kills her for him, thank you tuon for having at least a modicum of sense unlike some people.

“even rand was not ta’veren enough to make this happen. the colors whirled, and [perrin] splintered them unformed.” mat: you can stop thinking about rand? perrin: what, like it’s hard?

“‘if this is what happens to you when you get with child,’ aviendha said, adjusting the dark shawl looped over her arms, ‘i think i will never have any.’” oh boy do i have news for you

“the high-canted saddle of her dun pushed her bulky aiel skirts high enough to bare her stockinged legs to the knee” i should’ve been keeping track of the number of times elayne has remarked upon aviendha’s legs being bared while riding. it’s been a Lot of times.

“elayne had insufficient soldiers to hold six leagues of wall” “her greatest fear at present was that [arymilla] would succeed in bribing [mercenary] companies still inside the walls” “‘you [birgitte] don’t have to lead every counterttack yourself.’ ‘and who else is there? my officers are inexperienced boys or else men who came out of retirement...except for the mercenary captains, anyway, and there isn’t one i’d trust without someone looking over his shoulder. which brings us back to: who else but me?’” “she could not afford birgitte falling over from exhaustion. light, she wished gareth bryne were there. egwene needed him, but so did she.” and *i* wish mat and the band were here!!! goddammit!

“this siege hardly gave her time to mourn her mother. or lini, her old nursemaid. rahvin had murdered her mother, and likely lini had died trying to protect her. white-haired and thin with age, lini would not have backed down even for one of the forsaken.” TRAKAND FAMILY REUNION (including lini ofc) WHEN???

“and how would you have stopped me?” “by tying you up and having [aviendha] sit on you” birgitte says as IF elayne would’ve considered it a bad thing to be tied up and sat on by aviendha

“she wished she knew how mat was.” MATLAYNE RIGHTS ❤️❤️❤️❤️ “and dear thom. and poor little olver. every night she offered prayers that they had escaped the seanchan safely.” man i WISH 😭😭

we see elayne having pregnancy-induced channeling troubles, interesting. this will definitely cause problems later.

“smiling, aviendha turned her face up to let the rain run down her cheeks. ‘i love to watch water falling from the sky.’” 🥺🥺

some dude guybon, who is “little short of beautiful,” shows up with 10,000 soldiers and elayne promotes him to birgitte’s second in command on the spot although she’s never met him before. please let the suddenly-and-conveniently-appearing hot guy be genuinely there to help and not a darkfriend, please. also, i can think of another hot young general with lots of soldiers who would be of great help to elayne right now and who would have no chance of being a darkfriend 😤

maybe Woman Solidarity really is a thing, bc while male readers are always complaining about elayne Being Too Reckless and Endangering Herself Needlessly while pregnant, i’m empathizing hard with her frustration over everyone treating her like glass for being pregnant and her stubborn determination to prove that she can still do things and am of the opinion that she has done nothing wrong ever in her life.

i feel like elayne’s mood swings are just normal human emotions for someone under a great deal of stress and poor elayne is just gaslighting herself (and to some extent being gaslit by others) into thinking it’s all pregnancy mood swings.

100x more empathy for damane and disgust for slavers in 1 page of elayne crossing paths with a random freed damane than in several chapters of mat hanging out with his own allies who were once damane.

“men or women, aiel wept unashamed when they felt the need” aiel culture says fuck toxic masculinity 😌

“‘it’s custom in seanchan to strike a girl’s name from her family’s rolls when she’s collared, and the poor woman feels she has no right to the name she was born with. jillari was given with the collar, but she wants to keep that.’ ‘there are more reasons to hate the seanchan than i can count,’ elayne said heatedly.” where is this energy in mat’s chapters where it is most needed????

“elayne reached out without looking, and found aviendha’s hand waiting to take hers, a comforting grip. she squeezed back, unable to imagine the grief of losing aviendha. they shared a quick glance, and aviendha’s eyes mirrored her own feelings. had she really once thought aiel faces impassive and unreadable?” ROMANCE!!!! MARRIAGE!!!!

i hate that warder bonds between 2 women are inexplicably and illogically Different than warder bonds between a man and a woman, and i especially hate that the difference is that the emotion mirroring is stronger and the 2 women are always setting each other off, because Women Be Overemotional And Irrational, of course.

one of the sea folk accidentally blurts out criticism of another sea folk in front of elayne and is then flustered about it. elayne is ta’veren, i tell you!

“elayne threw back her head and screamed as loudly as she could, a howl of pure outrage and fury. she screamed until her lungs were empty, leaving her panting.” JSKDJFGHKJHKJ GOOD FOR HER i laughed SO hard at that. elayne’s primal screams of rage are something that can be so personal. (it happened once before in tfoh at the circus and i loved it just as much then, this poor woman really deserves to Scream on occasion. for that “this piece of media is allowed 1 usage of ‘fuck,’ where would you put it?” meme, i would definitely give the 1 allotted fuck to elayne.)

“‘do you think i should wear wetlander clothes, elayne, since we are going to meet these mercenaries?’ [aviendha] asked in tones of great reluctance...elayne hid a smile of her own, no easy task since she wanted to laugh. her sister pretended to disdain silks, but she seldom missed an opportunity to wear them. ‘if you can bear it, aviendha,’ she said gravely.” THIS IS SO PURE aviendha getting into fancy clothes sparks joy, min getting into fancy clothes does not spark joy. (because avi’s is about her assimilating into wetlander culture and finding things to like about it, and also being given the opportunity to explore her own sense of style for the first time after spending much of her life in the “uniform” of a maiden or wise one, whereas min was happily settled in her own style and changed it purely to mold herself into her idea of what rand would think is hot.)

avi is careless about being naked in front of the maids but elayne adjusts her own towel carefully because “essande saw her in her skin every day, and sephanie too, but it was nothing to let happen without reason” she does not say a peep about any concerns over AVI seeing her naked without reason though 👀👀👀

elayne on pregnancy soreness: “oh, how she wished rand were near enough to share the full effect of her bond with him.” GIRL SAME

in describing the sitting room, elayne mentions the table “where she and aviendha took most of their meals” and all the books in the room, saying that “they often read here of an evening.” the domesticity of it all 😭😭 they’re married!!

avi turns out to have a skill, possibly a Talent, for knowing the function of ter’angreal just by touching them. handy! tho i wonder why this hasn’t come up before bc i think she’s been helping elayne with the ebou dar ter’angreal for a while. also, what happened to avi’s other Talents of unweaving and of seeing weave residues? we haven’t heard about those after their brief time of relevance in POD. i guess that while egwene, elayne, and nynaeve are relatively solid in their Talents, avi’s just a catch-all for whatever random Talents are necessary for the plot at the current moment lmao

“‘oh, light!’ [aviendha] exclaimed, flinging her arms around elayne. ‘i never thought! i have great toh to you! i never meant to endanger you or your babes! never!’ ... ‘you have no toh to me. it was you i was thinking of. you could have died, or burned yourself out.’ aviendha pulled back enough to look into elayne’s eyes. what she saw there reassured her, for a small smile curved her lips.” MARRIED

THE WISE ONES ARE TAKING AVI AWAY FROM ELAYNE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO this was my LAST ship standing i can’t lose it!!!!! i’m devastated!!!!!!!! how will i survive with NO ships to sustain me??? i know that cauthor and randlayne reunions won’t happen until book 14, so dear GOD the matlayne reunion better be soon!!!!

“aviendha leaped away from the embrace, flushing furiously” “elayne took her sister’s hand in a firm grip, and aviendha squeezed back” “elayne wanted to run after aviendha too, to grasp every moment with her” MARRIED

rand can send letters via asha’man to bael but not to elayne or avi?? good god! MIN got letters from him when he was away in illian, and she already knew where he was and what he was up to (and she whined that it was only 2 short letters and that rand was too busy for her).

avi: “i will try to visit you [elayne] as often as i can.” nadere: “strange to speak casually of visiting from so far. to cover leagues, hundreds of leagues, in a step.” are people finally going to take advantage of Traveling to hang out with each other while in two different locations and plotlines?? too much to ask for rand to do this with elayne, of course. (elayne can’t since she doesn’t know where exactly he is, but he knows she’ll be in caemlyn for the foreseeable future - and he’s just been chilling in that manor in tear for at least a few days and has had plenty of time to pop back to caemlyn for a visit but just hasn’t! dammit!) anyway, i hope we actually will get to see avi visit elayne in the future because i cannot HANDLE the prospect of them ALSO being separated for the rest of the series. my last ship standing dammit!!!

when elayne gives avi angreal to take with her: “‘you shame me, sister. i have no farewell gift to give in return.’ ‘you give me your friendship. you gave me a sister.’ elayne felt a tear slide down her cheek. she essayed a laugh, but it was a weak, tremulous thing. ‘how can you say you have nothing to give? you’ve given me everything.’” ROMANCE!!!! MARRIAGE!!!!!!! genuinely one of, if not THE, most romantic lines in the entire series to date! you could take all of avilayne’s canon interactions and just change “sister” to “wife” and it legit would come across as such a strong romance without a single kiss ever needing to be exchanged. like yeah female friendships in this series are much more intimate than male friendships are allowed to be, but even then avilayne is SO different from and more intense than all other female friendships in the series. not even mat would want to bet against the odds of their relationship being made romantic in the show, now that i’ve seen how INSANELY homoerotic it is in the books, i consider it an absolute guarantee that the show will make the abundance of subtext into actual text.

“tears glistened in aviendha’s eyes too. despite the others watching, she put her arms around elayne and hugged her hard.” we know how huge it is for an aiel to hug somebody in front of others!! “‘i will miss you, sister,’ she whispered. ‘my heart is as cold as night.’” avi’s not gonna let elayne outdo her with romantic lines! “‘and mine, sister,’ elayne whispered, hugging back equally hard. ‘i will miss you too. but you will be allowed to visit me sometimes. this isn’t forever.’ ‘no, not forever. but i will still miss you.’” “‘may you always find water and shade, sister,’ elayne replied. the aiel way had a finality about it, so she added, ‘until i see your face again.’ and as quickly as that, they were gone. as quickly as that, she felt very alone. aviendha’s presence had become a certainty, a sister to talk to, laugh with, share her hopes and fears with, but that comfort was gone.” 😭😭😭😭

****spoilers for the series endgame in terms of me referencing characters who i know survive the last battle**** it has finally occurred to me to be very worried about the future for avilayne. when avi becomes a full wise one, will she have to stay with the aiel permanently? will she have to go back to live in the waste? i am PRAYING that after the last battle enough aiel decide to remain in the wetlands and caemlyn specifically (i mean unless the aiel all die in the last battle since their destruction is prophesized, oh fuck so many things to worry about!) so that avi can be a wise one to the aiel in caemlyn and still live with elayne! rand is included in all this too, of course, but i’m less certain of him ending up in caemlyn post-last battle since iirc the amol epilogue summary i read back in december while the show was airing only said that he was gonna wander the world (pls don’t tell me anything more specific, i already regret everything i DO know about the series endgame lmao i wouldn’t have read the epilogue summary if i’d known i would read the books, i had no intention of reading them and figured it’d take 10 years to find out how it ends once the show got there, and i read a cauthor oneshot that had a brief post-canon scene of mat thinking about rand in a way implying he was dead (yes it was tagged as post-canon spoilers, yes it’s my own fault for going “that sign can’t stop me because i can’t read” and reading the fic anyway) and i was like RAND DIES??? SAY SIKE RIGHT THE FUCK NOW so OBVIOUSLY i had to look up for sure whether it was true, i couldn’t bear it!)

“elayne did not realize her shoulders had slumped until she straightened them. her sister was gone, yet she had a city to defend and a throne to gain. duty would have to sustain her now.” THE FACT THAT THIS IS THE EXACT SAME WAY SHE THINKS ABOUT RAND

“her reasons for not countering [the rumor that mellar is the babydaddy] had changed - she no longer had need to protect her babes, rand’s babes” why not?? they would still be in danger if it was known they were the dragon reborn’s kids. and elayne has known the whole time that min’s viewing said they would be born healthy but this didn’t prevent her initially not wanting it known rand is the dad.

the palace is changing, corridors moving and vanishing and appearing. maybe related to that thing of the guy mat saw sink into the pavement.

“a falcon [map marker] showed where the goshien were. or had been. were they gone yet? [elayne] slipped the falcon into her belt pouch. aviendha was very much a falcon.” ❤️❤️❤️

“‘they’re gone, or going,’ elayne told [birgitte]. there would be visits. aviendha was not gone forever.” 😭❤️

in all rand’s “i’m so dangerous to my loved ones!” fretting, why does he never once think about the fact that hundreds of asha’man, many of whom may well be traitors to him (and darkfriends tho i’m not sure if he knows that much), are right on elayne’s doorstep because he put the school there?

“again someone seemed to think she had answers she did not. but then, that was what it meant to be queen. you were always expected to have an answer, to find one. that was what it meant to be aes sedai.” baby ❤️

“she often found herself staring at a page without seeing a word, thinking of her sister, or starting to say something to aviendha before remembering that she was not there. she felt very lonely, which was ridiculous. sephanie stood in a corner...eight guardswomen were standing outside the door to the apartments...but none of them was aviendha.” elayne misses her wife!!! so do i!! i will say, i’m not pitting avilayne and randlayne against each other bc i love both equally and it’s not randlayne’s fault that the narrative robs them at every turn, but it’s kinda hilarious how elayne is so much more cut up about her “sister’s” departure than her boyfriend’s and babydaddy’s. (granted rand’s departure is no longer fresh and she was much sadder and more worried about him and missing him more in previous books, in this book her entire chapter chunk has been one Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day during which she only thinks about rand to go “burn him for knocking me up!” because she’s in a bad mood.)

elayne cries upon hearing that reanne corly was murdered and chides herself over Pregnancy Mood Swings, sweetheart crying over a friend’s murder is NORMAL! you’re allowed to have emotions!

[battleangelaelita]

Haman Karn and audience reception of female antagonists

I am not just an Azula fan, I have a broad and healthy appreciation of girlbosses in all their forms, and one of my favorites of the archetype is Haman Karn from Zeta and ZZ Gundam. Seriously, she walked so the rest of our faves could fly. More under the cut.

Now, this little blog post is going to be at least partly speculative. I don’t know for sure how how Haman Karn was received during the initial broadcast of Zeta in 1986 and ZZ in 1987. But I do know as a longtime Gundam fan that the second and third outings in the Gundam franchise were a high-water mark for female characters in Gundam, and the franchise has, at best, stagnated and usually backslid since. The Origin fleshed out parts of Sayla Mass’s story that were left on the cutting room floor so that’s really the only notable exception prior to this fall’s forthcoming Witch from Mercury, which will have the franchise’s first female protagonist.

People usually have one of two opinions on Zeta in the English speaking anime world: “best of the franchise” or “i have never heard of this.” It got its localization contracted just before Toonami decided to pull the plug on Gundam broadcasts after the one-two punch of the original having disappointing ratings and September 11 made the violence of the series less palatable--the background of the opening narration depicts the use of city-killing WMDs in the form of deorbited space colonies.

So Zeta survived on DVD sales only, while the immediate sequel didn’t get an official localization, finally releasing as a subtitle only BD/DVD in 2015, and only getting put on CrunchyRoll this year (2022).

So the only people who watched are people who were already Gundam fans, and people who were likely to be older to pay for what was at the time a niche product, or something they’d have to acquire a fansub for.

So who is Haman Karn? She’s a Neo-Zeon warlord who assumed control of a remote mining colony and military base, and returned to the Earth sphere in the middle of a ongoing colonial uprising against the despotic Earth Federation emergency regime. Seven years after the end of the One Year War, the world is still a huge mess, with many of the heros from the original forced to fight against their own government by the tyrannical Titans state security force, the Zeon-hunting organization that has become the small gear turning the large gear in the Federation.

And into this mess, which has seen magnificent bastard Char (under a pseudonym) fighting with the heroes, on the same side as his rival Amuro, Haman shows up bound and determined to make this mess worse.

Look at this demon baby...she even has a knife!

Haman has a lot of the qualities people love (and love to hate) in characters like Azula. She is a young and extremely competent female antagonist with a deep personal relationship with a previous fan favorite (Char). She is often smug and manipulative. In spite of her general sense of duty towards her people and their cause, that cause is a deeply destructive and evil one (Zeon in Gundam is a pastiche of currents of Japanese right-wing futurism viz the Kodoha clique and the pseudo-left anti-imperialism of Kita Ikki and some elements of the student movement).

In Zeta Haman is a spanner in the works, a sometimes ally, sometimes adversary of the protagonists who ends up maneuvering for supremacy in a three-way conflict with both the heroes and the series big bad Paptimus Sirocco, who is Jupiterian in both the Emmanuel Macron personalist/Bonapartist political sense as well as literally from Jupiter. Haman is the ultimate victor of this battle; she not only defeats Char in a one-on-one, possibly killing him (his fate was left ambiguous), but her forces come out in the best shape. Zeta’s protagonist Kamille Bidan beats Sirocco, but is left catatonic from the psychic resonance (it’s Newtypes, I don’t have time to explain...)

Haman goes on to be the big bad in Gundam ZZ (it’s usually pronounced Gundam Double-Zeta). Not only does the general trend of gaslight, gatekeep, girlbossing continue, she intensifies and double-downs on it. War crimes ensue. And not the silly sense that fandom talks about characters like Azula being war criminals because they don’t like them, I mean actual violations of the laws of armed conflict like the use of WMDs on open cities. She does get somewhat chickified because one of the long-running subplots is her attraction to Double Zeta’s protagonist Judau Ashta (it’s another Newtype thing...just think of it like their souls touching through some psychic stuff), but it’s played more for tragedy. In the end she cannot let go of her pride, and chooses to die when defeated rather than accept Judau’s alternate perspective.

Haman in sum has all the hallmarks of the villainous woman in the traditionally male sphere. She’s stoic, manipulative, hypercompetent, but also emotionally closed off. She can’t femme fatale, and her few romantic overtures are clumsy. Nonetheless, she has complicated, multi-faceted relationships with multiple male characters, including a series fave, and often beats them at their own game.

Yet she’s also consistently a pretty well liked character in both the English and Japanese fandoms. There is no shortage of moeified fanart of her, and she’s showed up as a cameo in several other series like the Build Fighters one.

So what went wrong elsewhere? Perhaps it’s because Haman was intended to be a sympathetic character from the start by Tomino, unlike Bryke’s relative disinterest towards Azula’s internality, for example. It’s long been a pet theory of mine that Haman began conceptually as the next arc for Sayla Mass, another fave in the Gundam franchise. Perhaps I’ll do a whole post on that subject someday, but in brief, Sayla is Char’s estranged sister, both of whom have been living under assumed names in exile from their home colony after their father’s assassination. Sayla’s plotline in the original got slightly truncated due to the episode count being slashed, but in the original outline she was supposed to lead a soldier mutiny in Zeon in the final part, taking off the character masque of Sayla and becoming Artesia Deikun again (this was restored in the expanded The Origin manga by Yasuhiko Yoshikazu, who was Tomino’s right-hand man on the original series).

There may be a slight resemblance...

Sayla unfortunately had to be cut from Zeta because the voice actress was on a year long Safari in Africa (it was the 80s, I guess people just did that sort of thing). So somewhere in development, a character who also has a complicated personal relationship with Char, a stoic and serious female character who looks like if Sayla decided to dye her hair and cut her bangs, shows up again on the opposite side of the conflict from Char, who’s doing his best at trying to be a hero...really gets the old noggin joggin’.

It could also be a matter of audience. Gundam is aimed more towards a slightly older demographic than many western animated shows, particularly one like Avatar, and it’s also a pre-internet show. People had time to grow up and form more nuanced opinions and weren’t dumped unvarnished into a fandom space very early. Or they were American adults experiencing the show for the first time as adults, with some background for nuance.

But there’s plenty of people who first watched Avatar the Last Airbender as adults who also have extremely hyperbolic opinions about Azula. The reception towards Rey from the Star Wars sequels, who let’s be honest here, is neither overpowered compared to her male counterparts nor does she have a strong, domineering personality, also points to the fact that older fans are far from immune to knee-jerk toxicity. If anything, they were worse with Rey.

In fact I find the audience reception of Rey even more baffling, because from the very start Rey is clearly communicated in terms that make her relatable to the audience of Star Wars fans. She is, after all, a fangirl in-universe, living in her mundane world dreaming of the big adventures outside of the meager existence salvaging scrap on Jakku, keenly interested in the old ‘legends’ about people like Luke Skywalker or Han Solo.

What then is the answer? Fandom I guess is an often toxic space, and I can’t find any clear answers. Sometimes villainous female characters get generally well liked and appreciated, and other times they’re treated with such comically hyperbolic disdain it would be funny if it weren’t so damn stupid. I am interested in hearing what you have to think.