#polites is too good for this world

[sassylovermongerbear]

Polites is one of my favourite characters of Epic, even if he barely is in it, cause he is such a genuine kind soul and loyal friend. He is a free spirit that see the good in the world even after years of war and he is trying to help Odysseus to relax and enjoy life after the war. He is his best friend and he does his best to make him happy.

He is so kindhearted that even in death he's still trying to tell his best friend to see the good in the world. In the underworld saga we hear him sing open arms even if it's in a sadder way than the upbeat version in the first saga. All while the rest of his men trash him and blames him for their death when his only fault was to give his name to the Cyclops.

Meanwhile the man that actually betrayed them all, including his captain that he dare called his brother, get to go blame free ? And then keep betraying them over and over, telling Odysseus to leave them behind on Circe's island and opening the bag with the storm cause he was greedy and wanted to get his hand on the supposed treasure. He didn't believe in Odysseus, not once, only listening to him when he got them out of the shit Eurylochus put them in. Even in the cave with the Cyclops Odysseus clearly had a plan but Eurylochus kept punching to ran away when Odysseus proved many time, especially during the war, that he was smart and could get them to win.

And I think Odysseus knew that. He knew that the only person he could actually trust was Polites and he tried to honour his memory by trusting others, by revealing his name to the Cyclops and letting them live. Because that's what Polites would have done, he would have spared the Cyclops. It was his way of remembering him. He tried to go keep an open mind all along but things just never works out cause while he trust his crew, they don't trust him back.

That's why in the underworld saga seeing Polites and his mom hit the hardest cause, while his other crew members blames him for their death, wrongfully so, he is already eaten by guilt, but those 2 don't blame him at all. Sure they are sad but they don't blame him. Which make it worst for him cause he realised that those person that believed in him completely still do even in death, but they are dead and that's the only time he'll be able to see thel again befire he dies himself and he cant even stop to talk to thel properly. Plus his mom being here just show him how long it actually has been since he left which feel far more than it actually been for him in that instant. Yet she still loves him and doesn't blame him, while the 599 other men he brought in war, he lead them and didn't let a single one of them die for 10 years, blames him for their death when he always did his very best to get everyone home safely.

Out of all the 600 men under his command only one was truly loyal to him even in death. Odysseus realised that in the underworld and I think that's what pushed him to turn into a "monster" and putting himself first after this because everyone blames him for everything when he just wanted to get home with all his soldiers.

Polites is my favourite characters cause even if he doesn't stay in the story for long his impact goes far beyond. At least in my opinion, that's just my interpretation of it

[problemnyatic]

"I think this Category of human being is disposable" okay that not only sucks and is fascist but also makes getting you to deem someone to be disposable a simple matter of convincing you they're in The Category regardless of the truth. Also The Category is often misapplied to a vulnerable minority because it makes people like you agree they're disposable.

"Anyone who disagrees with me about The Category of people being disposable is a Category apologist or probably also in The Category themselves" Oh so you're just totally unconcerned with truth or justice or ethics or human rights and just are feeding your bloodlust for the sake of revenge fantasies. got it 👍

[trammellesstangent]

You see I think they really fucked up by not giving that McDonald’s employee the money. If they had just given him the reward, it would’ve been encouragement for us to turn on each other, kick others down so we might get a leg up, to struggle another day in their system. Divide and conquer. But by not giving this person the sixty grand, (pennies to them), they have proven once and for all that betraying your class will not help you. They have proven that we have to unite to get anything done. Their greed brought them to the top, their greed let this desperation and anger fester, and their greed will be their downfall. I swear, I couldn’t write this shit better.

[c00kietin]

have a silly gif of me :3

[yarnyarnbinks]

alritghy, looking at politics is making me scared again, so it's time to round up some good news from here and around the world:

- same sex couples in thailand will be able to legally register their marriages on thursday, 01/21/2025 !

- 15 wolves were released into colorado to help reintroduce predators into the state (and presumably help restore the natural ecology of the area). YIPPEE !!

- similarly, efforts to revitalize the deer population in alaska are underway !

- thermal drone helps a family find their dog, who had been missing for 1 week

feel free to add more ♡♡

[corvus-frugilegus]

The way my heart drops every time I visit Minrathous after saving Treviso. The sorrow in Rook's voice, the destruction, the way the resistance has been so brutally dismantled. The absolute horror in the streets of dock town presented so matter of factly by the game. They don't need to put a spotlight on it or show us a cut scene of the brutality because it's everywhere. You're immersed in the sheer scale of violence every step you take in dock and hear so much about the atrocities in the ambient dialogue. Walking the streets of Venatori controlled Minrathous feels awful.

The very obvious rise of facism that has been simmering beneath the surface in the magisterium all along. The dragon gave the magisters a chance to throw off the veneer of civility and stop acting like finding a middle ground with dissenting voices was something that mattered to them. Finally, they had concentrated power to an extent that they could inact their vision for Tevinter out in the open. (Probably if it weren't for Elgarnan taking over, reclaiming Tevinter from the Venatori would have been a monumentally difficult task).

If this isn't an Excellent social commentary and reflection of the increasing polarity in Western Politics I don't know what is. The rise of hard right leaning leaders epousing a return to traditional values when really their priority is the interest of capital and the ruling class is exactly what the Venatori represent here.

A criticism I've seen of the games writing a few times now is that the problematic elements of each faction feel either defanged or glossed over. And while I don't disagree that there are definitely some deep tensions and polarities in each of the groups Rook works with, I don't necessarily think it's poor writing to not talk about them here. It's just not the scope of the game- and I think actually underscores a very real issue we have in real world organizing and progressive spaces. If the Crows refused to work with Rook because they work with the Wardens who happen to keep terrible secrets (and so on and so forth about every faction and their tensions with one another) the gods would never have been stopped. In the case of the gods the people representing these factions and Rook's comapnions all recognize that their common cause is more important than their disagreements. Not working together because the Veil Jumpers rightly have qualms about the Lord's of Fortune pilfering elven ruins only lets the gods win. Working with someone who see's the world differently is a tension everyone in the veilguard has to hold. And it's a tension real-world progressives / the left very often struggle to hold.

Realizing that the common cause is more important than individual differences is a very real theme in Veilguard.

[vigilskeep]

ranking da love interests on a scale of how unhinged theyd be if their beloved was made tranquil (they would all be maximum unhinged its just a matter of deciding what flavour)

[vee-lociraptor]

hey i tend to isolate myself during times like this so i think it’s a good time to say prioritize doing something that makes you feel happy. if you can’t do that aim for something that makes you feel less like the world is ending. call your friends. make something. go for a walk. listen to music. there is good to be found in the world. there is hope even now but you’re going to have to look for it.

[evermoredeluxe]

.

[theboredasexual]

im sure im not the only one to comment on this but

its the fact that Polites was the voice of good and hope on the ship, and rlly he was the leash that kept Odysseus as a prideful but relatively okay man. So his death symbolizes the beginning of Ody's regression arc in both literal and figurative ways - after he's gone, Ody can justify whatever if he tries hard enough.

[icewindandboringhorror]

I've referenced before how I have a big google document to keep track of every media I've ever seen in my entire life (just for reference because I like to track everything possible lol… I am the Data Collector), but recently as I was updating it, I thought of actually evaluating them to find out random percentages (like for example, out of Total Shows Watched, what percentage did I finish vs. stop watching, what percentage did I like or dislike, etc.)...

Evaluating these things is made easier by the fact that I already place everything on each subsection of the list into 6 broad ranking categories, so I don't have to go back and guess to figure out how I feel about them or anything. The categories are: Ranking 5 - overall best* (despite some criticisms of course because I'm too much of an Analyzer to ever find anything Perfect lol) Ranking 4 - more positive than neutral, but not good enough to be 5 Ranking 3 - either the good + bad negate each other, OR it's just not memorable/interesting in any way enough to be ranked higher or lower (this is the Default category ALL things are placed in if no other rank applies) Ranking 2 - maybe a few redeemable elements but largely more negatives than positives Ranking 1 - So bad that it circles around to being fascinating to observe in some way (not necessarily Funny, or Good, but just interesting somehow) Ranking 0 - Bad in a genuinely frustrating or obnoxious manner

*("best" primarily defined here as most interesting, rather than most good in a technical sense, or some other measure. I tend to value more highly whether there's something novel or thoughtful about the worldbuilding, tone, writing, base premise, etc - than about whether it's actually executed perfectly.)

And here's the amount of shows that have so far been placed into each category -

TV shows ~ Rank 5 (highest) - 20 shows ~ Rank 4 (mid-high) - 28 shows ~ Rank 3 (neutral/default/meh) - 114 shows ~ Rank 2 (mid low) -33 shows ~ Rank 1 (low low but intriguingly so) - 14 shows ~ Rank 0 (iredeemably low) - 2 shows

This would make for a total of 211 TV shows overall. However, there are 57 shows within these list marked as "didn't finish" (typically meaning I quit on the very first or second episode - but log them still to keep a record that I at least had a brief view of them).

So my total of genuinely fully watched shows would be more 154. 211 Total, but a More Accurate Total of 154.

Counting them all and using the Total Number Of The List (211) -- that means roughly 9.5% of all total shows I have ever watched (or at least attempted to watch) have been Mostly Good, 13% have been Moderately Okay, 54% have been either entirely Forgettable or some mix of good + bad that lands them right in the Neutral Middle, 15.6% have been Mostly Bad, 6.6% have been Bad (but in an interesting way), and 0.9% have been Terribly Bad.

Additionally, I didn't even get past the first two episodes of about 27% of the total.

Sooo, discounting ones I didn't finish, my total TV shows ever watched in my life would be about 154 (maybe give or take a few, assuming I might have forgotten some from very long ago).

But instead of entire life, let's just say this is the total for 'About 20 Years' (so, not counting very early childhood when I likely wouldn't remember things I saw/have no detailed recollection of them (like for example, I'm sure at some point when I was like 4yrs old I must have seen an episode of Spongebob or something, but I have zero distinct memories of it, can't quote anything of it, and barely recall the premise - so I don't count it on the list, etc.)).

In that case, 154 divided by 20 would be roughly 7.7 shows a year.

Which is actually surprisingly low considering that I often have stuff on in the background for hours whilst I make sculptures and do costumes and stuff (maybe I should have also marked some distinction between 'things I fully paid attention to' and 'things I kind of half listened to whilst sculpting', but that would further split the categories too much probably lol), but I guess a lot of that is youtube videos or random documentaries, so .. eh.. maybe I get it being lower.

Now, doing the same thing for movies-

Movies ~ Rank 5 (highest) - 4 movies (3.4% of total) ~ Rank 4 (mid-high) - 12 movies (10.3% of total) ~ Rank 3 (neutral/default/meh) - 91 movies (78.4% of total) ~ Rank 2 (mid low) - 8 movies (6.8% of total) ~ Rank 1 (low but interesting) - 1 movie (0.8% of total) ~ Rank 0 (irredeemably low) - none in this category (0%)

That makes 116 for a Total (Actually Remembered) Movies Watched In Lifetime (Or At Least In 20 Years).

116 divided by 20 is roughly 5 or 6 movies a year (I feel this has probably been skewed though by adding everything since like elementary school onwards, as I remember a lot more movies from child/teen years.. Whereas, the past 3 years I feel like I've barely seen maybe even 5 movies?? lol). I also have "Didn't Finish" marked on 18 of them. Which means I quit halfway through about 15% of the total movies.

So, a for broader summary stuff..

I seem to be less forgiving to movies than tv shows, by far. Which makes sense to me, I guess, because I love elaboration and details, so "short form" things that only last an hour or two are often lost on me a bit. My biggest complaint with movies is indeed usually walking away just wishing there had been more exposition, more scenes where characters are doing nothing, more "mindless bantering" conversations, more Quiet Downtime and Lore Elaboration and so on lol, so... of course most 1-2hr films end up feeling a bit Not Enough To Draw My Interest/Nothingy to me.

If you count 5 and 4 as "like" and rankings 2 to 0 as "dislike", then for TV shows I at least somewhat liked 48 of them, and at least somewhat disliked 47 of them.. So it's almost exactly the same lol. I'm just about equally as likely to find something bad as I am to find something redeeming about it. But overall, the largest chance is that I just won't really care much for it at all and it will be tossed into the 'neutral' pile, forgotten forever. Movies have a bit better of a balance, "liking" 16 of them, and "disliking" only 9 of them. So I'm slightly more likely to enjoy a movie than to find it annoying - though still VASTLY more likely to just not find it anything in particular, possibly not even finishing it.

ANYWAY.. this is vague and literally pointless, but like I said, I just really find information fun. Like my document where I've rated every apple flavor I've ever tried (like 40 of them now?), or reviewed every oreo flavor (32?), or ranking data from my entire 10 years of Trying To Make Friends process (out of 100 people, roughly 8% chance of a moderate compatibility, 3% chance of high), or etc. etc.. I love to have random pointless things to analyze I suppose lol.

I doubt anyone tracks things in their life in this same exact way, but I'd be interested in hearing any at least somewhat similar data !!! (like, how many TV shows you watch a year on average, and what percentage of those you like vs. dislike (if you keep track of that sort of thing), etc.)). I guess it might be easier with movies, since I think some people use those websites where you curate a list of movies you've seen and you can rate them or something, so maybe the numbers are already available on those places. :0

[the-casbah-way]

to me the most insane thing about the thick of it fandom is the fact that everyone seems convinced that malcolm tucker is a) some kind of untouchable sherlock holmes type genius and b) an all-round sweet caring guy who only ever does bad or dubious things for purely good or logical reasons. we are not watching the same show, it would seem

[unproduciblesmackdown]

winston my quant of billions

[uncanny-tranny]

Here's the thing about politics, and ultimately, the world: you are going to be biased, and you are going to have a limited understanding of others to an extent. The key is to not deny that this exists because you will be ignorant when you are biased and limited in your worldview.

Yes, absolutely listen to multiple voices and points of view and a variety of different types of people. But know that this isn't the same as erasing all biases and "self-centered" views. Strive to do better without denying that you are fallible.

[turquoisewaves07]

hmmm on the topic of RedNote, I feel like people are forgetting that the US isn't the only country with an authoritarian government. Like, I'm sure a lot of things about living in China are better than the US, however I saw a screenshot where a Chinese RedNote user was claiming child labour doesn't happen, and an American user just being like "ok cool thanks for the info!". China also has an authoritarian and oppressive government - haven't you heard about the Uyghur genocide, Hong Kong, Taiwan, to name just a few instances? It's easy to look these things up online. Seems Americans are eager to overcompensate for their authoritarian capitalist government propaganda by falling hookline and sinker for authoritarian communist gov. propaganda. China also controls its media, not just the USA.

(This isn't anti-communist of me - I am a communist, just not authoritarian. Half my family was born in the USSR so I'm simply aware of the dangers of authoritarianism. In fact this post isn't even that relevant to communism/capitalism, more just that y'all need to be more aware of all types of propaganda.)

[sciderman]

I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with so much Iranian hate and drama <:[

oh anon. hate to break it to you (a lot of people make this mistake) but iran and iraq are two entirely separate nations.

and also i think reducing it to the words "hate and drama" kind of doesn't cover it, anon.