people are saying he « led her on » because he did. the fact that he kissed her in the first episode set the tone for the rest of the season and if you can’t perceive the flirting I’m sorry but how?? he didn’t make anything clear he sent the craziest mixed signals in the world. there’s nothing revolutionary about claiming that Martha was being pushy toward someone who was clearly not interested it’s 1) weird to claim in what it suggests about her 2) factually not true.
I wasn’t gonna respond to this at first because the top half of this ask is pretty much just individual interpretation and I don’t really care about it. Like, no, to me, the Doctor doesn’t seem especially flirty towards Martha. He’s just sort of Like That. That’s his damage, you know, Mr. I need to traumadump on anyone who tolerates being around me for more than five minutes. Mr. If I don’t develop an intensely codependent emotional bond with the companion I have currently I’ll die. It doesn’t read to me as him trying to lead her on because that bit’s honest, and he does it with damn near every companion he’s ever had.
And if nothing else, because we do see Ten when he tries to flirt intentionally and he’s a fuckin dork about it. Kind of guy who looked up romance in the dictionary and took notes. Kinda guy who draws diagrams to maximize kissing potential. It would have been obvious even to me (<- romance-blind as all fuck) if he was flirting with Martha on purpose because he’s not smooth at all; he flirts like he’s gotten lines in a play and he’s super excited to be the main star.
But anyway, as I was saying, that’s just how I see it. And if you see it different, no skin off my back, I just disagree.
But I take umbrage with you putting words in my mouth. I never said Martha was pushy towards him. Because yeah, she’s not. If I implied that she was, then it was a result of poor phrasing on my part. Martha’s not at fault for what she feels, for wanting there to come something of it. No more at fault than the Doctor is for not returning those feelings. It’s a bit weird that you’re assuming that I think one of them has to be the bad guy here when that was the opposite of what I was saying. My point was: When it comes to their romantic subtext of their relationship, it’s weird to pretend like either of them are to blame for them not being in a relationship at the end of s3, and even weirder to assert that as part of why Martha supposedly wouldn’t like the Doctor afterwards when they’re. friends. they continue to be friends into s4.
Martha’s not pushy. She has a crush on her friend. It happens. He doesn’t return it. This also happens. Both of these facts are pushed to the extreme because he’s a time-traveling alien with poor emotional skills and she’s put herself in the position of needing to help him from minute one of meeting each other. That’s why it’s fun to watch, because the Doctor is both so open and so unavailable in turns, because Martha’s feelings for him grow and change as she knows more about her Doctor until she decides to step back.
I don’t know, man. You seem to be coming at this as if one of them has to be The Problem™️. I don’t think either of them is, not so definitively. I think boiling their relationship down to that is reductive and an insult to the way they both grow over s3, to Martha’s choice to continue to be his friend while also establishing her own boundaries, to the fact that the Doctor is able to let her go without immediately trying to kill himself afterwards when she’s not there to catch him.
49 notes
·
View notes
Destiel would have been more canon if Supernatural were a book series and here’s why:
Destiel feelings are “subtext” but as Jensen said it’s “Clear Text,” and that was canon destiel confirmation enough for me. I think that a lot of people wanted Destiel to be canon in the sense that they got a romantic relationship, however with what we know now, and prior to that knowledge; they already had a relationship. Relationships encompass a lot, such as friendships, platonic, familial, etc. And they already had a much more complex and intricate relationship than most people can comprehend. Speaking strictly in canon, they technically already had a relationship that was fueled on savior, on love, on so many foundations. And let’s say for argument’s sake that neither of them had romantic feelings, but rather familial love, their story would still be circulated around LOVE.
However, I think that most of us can agree that it wasn’t just love that comes from a sense of friendship and commrodery. I think that a lot of the time we forget that Castiel and Dean are paradoxical, they realistically could never be in a happy relationship due to the fact that their story is inherently a tragedy. Now, we can also incorporate the “Chuck wins theory” into this and argue that they can never be together because of Chuck’s manipulation. However that can also be easily outweighed by the fact that Cas was never even supposed to be in the story, and that he was the only one with a “crack in his chassis.” (sorry got a bit rambly”
Destiel, is the love story (for many reasons that I will get into another time), but it is also the tragedy. The fact that over and over again, Dean and Cas hurt eachother, the fact that emotional repression and incommunication is a constant in the story is what makes them, them. So, in my eyes the confirmation that it wasn’t just subtext was enough for me to feel that it was canon. For a tragic love story to be canon there doesn’t have to be dates (which there are, they just don’t know it) or kissing, or grand love confessions (which again, there is CANONICALLY), but there doesn’t have to be the confirmation that they even know what they are. But, with interpretations of canon we can clearly see that they are in love they just don’t know it/they can’t know it.
What my point is, is that Destiel is already canon but we should have been fed more! Like if Eric Kripke wasn’t a bigot, or it wasn’t made in the 2000s, or if Sera Gamble didn’t hate Cas etc. Most all of the factors that played into the tragedy and denial of canonical destiel was due to circumstance. Also, given that Supernatural is a show about Sam and Dean and their fucked up family and brother shit, it wouldn’t have made sense to not make destiel a tragedy or to let them be happy. After all, the show wasn’t originally about them.
All in all,
If Supernatural had been written as a YA book series, Destiel would have still be canon, but we would have been given a better perspective on why and how they were canon. Actually seeing into their inner monologues, whereas in the show so much of it is left purposefully open for interpretation. So, realistically Destiel could never actually be happy, but they already are canonically burdened and tortured by their love for eachother and we would have gotten a better perspective of their own perspectives if it were in book form (such as Twilight and Midnight sun).
Which is also why fanfiction is such a staple of what makes them, them. Now I have to say, The fanfics I like the best are “Codas” rather than “fix-its” because Destiel is already canon, and their tradgedy is what makes them, And I want my Destiel version of Twilight and Midnight sun!!!
31 notes
·
View notes
What I think the Leverage Team is truly afraid of:
Nate: Losing. Not just losing the con- but more importantly losing the team. Of course he never voices it. However the team knows. It's why they always come back. Nate already lost his son, his job, and his wife- can't lose his team. He can't lose his second family.
Sophie: Broken Masks. This may be a jump in the dark- but. Sophie has SO many personas. Mask's she's created all on her own that I don't think she even knows who she is anymore. I think she's afraid of somebody finally figuring her out and that terrifies her. Not only because she'll lose all sorts of control- but she'll think if they figure out the real her, all they'll see is a women that's weak.
Parker: Abandment. She's finally found people who are like her. In a way that of course their different- but still they are like her. These people know what it's like to be alone. To be lost. Having to figure out a way to get out, because it's a way to survive. She's afraid that one day- they'll walk away. Just like everyone else. And I think that's why she pokes and pushes. Trying to figure out what it'll take for them to walk away. They don't.
Hardison: Uselessness. I think this is why he's so outgoing. Why he's so out there and personal with everyone. He wants to be seen as strong. As being useful. I mean- he hacked into Sweden(?) to pay for his Nana's surgery. He felt useful then. Now, he's in a team- and with all these useful members. He's afraid they don't need him. That's why he's tried multiple times to be the mastermind. And of course he fails- not because he doesn't know what he's doing. But because even with the "I know what I'm doing," attitude- he's terrified that he'll do it wrong.
Eliot: The Dark. This I can't explain fully. Maybe it's from the tidbits I hear in conversations. But he's afraid of the dark. Not the actual dark. No. The darkness that's in him and that he tries to keep control of. It's the darkness he had when he was working for Monreau. The monster that was created in him every time he spilled innocent blood. Eliot is afraid that the darkness will come out and his family will see just how much of a monster he is.
111 notes
·
View notes
Analyzing one of the Darkling's most notorious lines
Even though nobody asked for it, I want to analyze one of Aleksander's most controversial lines.
And it's none other than:
"I will strip away all that you know, all that you love, until you have no shelter but me."
Most people say that it's proof of his evilness and he can have no redemption and blah, blah. But we miss the big picture here. It's too easy to take a line, say it's evil and move on. I'm not that kind of person. I always look deeper (as you have already noticed) and in this line too there are so many things that can be drawn from about the way he was raised, his mentality at that point of the book and the lengths he would go to take Alina for himself.
Because, my dear people, it's more than a toxic line.
1) I'm gonna start with the most obvious one which is his possessiveness. I've already analyzed this point here so I'm not going to dwell for long.
In the beginning, Aleksander was (more than) willing to kill Mal 'cause he was the greatest obstacle between him and Alina. But as the latter gained more and more allies and friends the number of the people that Aleksander had to kill increased. He knew that she created bonds with most of them something that contrasts his own situation. Because he has none. He has soldiers. He has allies. He has his nichevo'ya. But he has no bond with anyone. Except with Alina. A girl that is too dependent, too caring with her friends so he has to do something about it. There is no way Alina will ever love him as long as those people are alive and he knows it. She will always fight him and push him away as long as there are beloved places to fight for and familiar people to turn to.
So what can he do about it? Destroy everything she cares about and apparently he has already started. He burned the orphanage, the place where she grew up, and killed the only mother figure she ever knew. If, one by one, her comforts are destroyed then Aleksander will be the only person she knows. Yes, in the beginning she will still fight him but as Aleksander has said "You will find I have more practice with eternity". And in the end he would win. Alina would give up. She would surrender to him and give herself completely to the Darkling 'cause he will be the ONLY familiar face she knows. She would forgive him and love him since what other choice could she have? There is none other left.
And for Aleksander it would be the same but for him it would be a victory. Because they have each other at last. No one would keep her away from him and he finally has a person that he can share the eternity with.
(Not me saying that I won't dwell for long and I wrote two paragraphs)
2) This one I consider the most important. This whole "I'm gonna cut you off from every person so you'll have only me" doesn't sound kind of familiar??🤔🤔
Ah, yes. Baghra of course!
For those of you who have read "Demon in the Wood" you know what I mean. But for those who haven't I will explain.
When he was a child, Aleksander kept asking his mother about his father.
Where is he?
Is he dead?
Who was he?
But he never got a good answer. He never knew anything about him.
It's possible that Baghra told him that he was a powerful Heartrender. But even that is not confirmed in text. We, the fans, guess it because the Darkling always showed favor to Heartrenders. And he might did this out of some repressed fondness for him.
But anyway back to Baghra. It's obvious that she didn't want him to think or feel anything about his father. She chose to keep everything a secret to her son in order to cut him off from any bond he could create with his father.
I believe she did this for two reasons:
A) Because she's not one for sentiment, as the Darkling himself had once said. She's not the type of person to say to her children "Oh my sweeties! Your father was tall and handsome with dark hair. He was a really good man". Not in a million years I imagine her to behave or say something like that.
B) Because she wants him for herself. When she was a child her mother didn't care at all for her. She only showed love towards her otkazat'sya sister. And the same went for her father. She saw a powerful Grisha bring an otkazat'sya back to life and he got killed for it. So, two members of her family died leaving her behind.
And when she gave birth to a powerful son, she wants him to stay with her forever. To love her and be his only companion. She didn't treat him with open love. She didn't kiss him goodnight and there is evidence that she verbally and emotionally abused him. If he ever did something that she didn't like, that didn't go along with her opinions and plans, she opposed him and scolded him. But she did it because she knew that he would always forgive her. He would always come back to her because there is no one else like them. Powerful, immortal, filled with so many and similar experiences.
They say that sometimes victims replicate the same pattern when they grow up.
And with the Darkling it's true.
Now he does the same to Alina. And whatever else he also did to her is a result of Baghra's upbringing that he repeats. He wants her to depend on him, to turn to him for love and company. To forget everyone else. Because no one will understand her like he does. And when he kills people she cares about, when he destroys places that mean something to her, he does it because he knows that she'll forgive him. Because she'll realize that he's the only one that will stay with her forever. Everyone else is dust and bones but not them.
Furthermore, eternity will make her tired of fighting him and hating him. "You'll tire of everything" as the Darkling said. Just like he did.
So yes, in this infamous line we can see that Baghra's manipulation and abuse towards him affected him and rubbed off him.
Here he speaks like her.
3) I think we all agree that the Darkling's dream to provide a safe home and life to the Grisha and put an end to the constant wars that Ravka suffers from is noble and reasonable. He's actually the only person that DOES something about this.
But by book three the Darkling's mentality has gotten worse, in large part because of Alina's constant rejections. She keeps slipping away from his hands, she keeps fighting him and she always keeps her power away from him. A power that he desperately needs and awaited for hundreds of years. All of these have made him almost mad from fury and despair and even though his strategic skills haven't been diminished, he now seems more concerned about having Alina than giving the Grisha a haven. He's no longer mentally stable to do it especially after he saw his mother commit suicide. Right now, he's willing to go to extreme, brutal lengths to have her and fuck the world and the casualties that are needed for this.
In conclusion, that line of his goes deeper than "oH mY GoD hE'S sO EviL! ThE ToXiCiTY!".
Yes, he's toxic and that line was toxic as well but what can you expect from a person that was raised by an abusive parent, never had a home, never had friends, didn't know how to form healthy bonds with others, saw so many loved ones die a mortal death and couldn't stop the wars that plagued his country?
Toxicity was the only path eternity would allow him to take apparently.
And if you want to know my opinion. I don't see the Darkling as the villain, but as an anti-villain (an anti-villain is a character that has a noble goal but the means he uses to achieve it is controversial and catastrophic, like Magneto).
A man that had a viable plan to stop the Grisha persecution but when you are immortal and see atrocities again and again for hundreds of years your heart becomes colder and harder. I don't think he took pleasure from killing people (like Voldemort, for example). For him they were just casualties of a war that, according to him, needed to be sacrificed. And he saw them this way because they were dust and bones for him. There was once a time (when he was much younger and more innocent) when he saw people as people. With their own lives and emotions. But the constant loss of people he cared about made him stop trying. Stop trying to make bonds and feel emotions (and this aspect of him was confirmed by the author itself in an interview).
Just like he said in the same scene:
“I have lived a long life, rich in grief. My tears are long since spent. If I still felt as you do, if I ached as you do, I could not have borne this eternity.”
He used to cry but not anymore.
He used to feel grief, sorrow and emotional pain but he forced himself to withdraw from any sentimentality.
He had closed his heart a looong time ago.
(UNTIL ALINE CAME AND PIERCED THAT ARMOR HEHE)
60 notes
·
View notes
I read somewhere that an evil queen is a princess whose prince never came to save her.
Zelda has her Link
And Ganon has...?
No-one to whom he could summarize his day to.
I don’t particularly enjoy the idea that someone needs to be rescued by romantic love to not be evil.
Zelda also deserves credit for trying to be a part of her community, and leaning on her friends, and trusting the people around her would catch her, even if it was her greatest shame to fail. Ganondorf didn’t, and doesn’t, and won’t. Ganondorf consistently acts alone, whether he believes that to be for everyone’s benefit or not, he doesn’t trust his community to catch him — because he would rather die than fall.
This isn’t a matter of anyone failing Ganondorf, this is a matter of Ganondorf’s pride (and whatever underlying fear and shame cause it) failing Ganondorf.
Link can’t really understand and relate to Zelda’s day to day as a Royal or a religious instrument with Higher Purpose. She trusts him with her sorrows, she trusts Impa, she trusts her sages. She makes that scary choice to be open and afraid and tell someone she cant do it alone, even though she would greatly prefer to do it alone.
While it’s true that the very nature of his being isolates him a bit more than Zelda’s does, it remains true that Ganondorf’s people love him, Ganondorf’s followers love him, and he consistently chooses his own isolation over vulnerability and trust, and he always fails because he constantly wants to do it alone. He always treats the people who would stand by him as disposable, because he is not open to the possibility that he can’t succeed without help. A king must be capable of greatness in his own right, otherwise he’s just a man.
Back when I was writing a younger triforce trio AU I had a scene in which Link compliments Gan on his strength, and Gan responds by saying he has to be strong because there is no one who can carry him off the battlefield.
Later there was a scene in which he is harmed and can’t leave a fight, but Zelda and Link stay to protect and fight for him: Zelda explains that just because no one can carry him off the field, doesn’t mean anyone would leave him to die there alone.
Personally I think it’s much more tragic that Gan is so convinced it’s his one and only job to be the answer to the problem, he either doesn’t consider how many people would defend him at the drop of a hat if he faltered, or he knows, and decides it would make him unworthy for them to see him falter at all.
In short, I’m sure there are/were a LOT of Gerudo who would’ve LOVED (and probably asked, often!) to help him shoulder his troubles and concerns.
Ganon’s isolation is self-appointed, largely because of his own perpetuation of the idea of what King is and is supposed to be. Zelda got over the idea that not sharing her struggles protected the people around her, and Ganondorf let it set in stone.
13 notes
·
View notes