#re: any evil female character

[wolvebonez]

so many wc discourse problems could be solved if people questioned the authors intent instead of the characters intent (and subsequently realize that characters =/= their actions and you can like shitty, intentionally or otherwise, characters and think how theyre written/the things they do is Bad!)

[ambivalence-is-me]

The Lost Princess

Pairing: Azriel x reader

Summary: Your life drastically changes after meeting Feyre. You don’t know how to help, you don’t know much of anything really so, how is your life going to be now? In a city you didn’t know existed with people you thought you hated.

Word count: 3.7k

Warnings: manipulation, perhaps some self-loathing issues, slow burn. This is just like a prologue of their first impressions of each other.

A/N: this is HEAVILY inspired by Glinda from Wicked. I’ve been obsessed ever since I saw it. I wanted that sort of superficial clueless character vibe and this came out. I’ve got so many other ideas so just hear me out okay lol

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You were a fool. A useless fool...and they knew that.

But you didn't want to be one. No, you wanted needed to prove you weren’t a fool. Prove it to them and to yourself.

It wasn’t your fault, even if they didn’t know it but you knew that it wasn’t your fault you had been so...lost.

They didn’t know about all the lies and manipulation you’ve gone through at the hands of your brother.

Your brother, who was probably the one male after the King of Hybern that was so hated, the Inner Circle’s number two enemy..Tamlin.

Let’s backtrack a little...

You are nothing like Tamlin, personality and physically speaking. The only trait you two seemed to share is the shade of green eyes. Hair, facial features, even height, seemed to set you apart from him. And you’ve never been more thankful for it.

Personality wise, while Tamlin seemed to damper every path and flower he passed, you had the opposite effect. A true daughter princess of Spring. You were bubbly, carefree, perky and just so full of life. It had annoyed Feyre at the start. She met you a few days after she had been taken from the mortal lands and forced to live at the Manor. You seemed to appear out of freaking nowhere in a pink dress, small tiara on top of your head and on your face a mask that seemed to be of a dove, beautiful white and gold interlaced throughout it. It was all sunshine and rainbows as if you had come down in a freaking bubble or something.

It irritated Feyre how you walked around and interacted with everyone with such joy when everyone else, especially her, seemed to be on high alert and tense but that tension seemed to leave whenever your presence was by. Feyre couldn’t get any answers from you whenever you conversed. She wanted to know everything about the fae lands, including how to get out, anything but you just didn't know. And later you both learned that it hadn't been Amarantha’s fault but your brothers’.

During Amarantha’s reign you had lived in a bubble (methaphorically speaking). You couldn't remember why one day you woke up wearing a mask, one you couldnt get rid of or even think about why you were wearing it. You didn’t know who was the evil red female who had proclaimed herself High Queen of Prythian or what she had done to all the lands and its people. Nor did you know of your father’s involvement in killing Rhysand’s family and especially didn’t know how he (and your mother and brothers) had been murdered by Rhysand’s father. All of this had gone underperceived by you for decades.

Truthfully, you weren't even supposed to be alive but were meant to suffer your mother’s fate at the hands of Rhysand’s father. And after learning the truth and re-meeting Rhysand properly, looking at the pain and grief hidden behind his violet eyes, you knew it too.

Tamlin, seemingly perceptive of what was coming after what his father had done to Rhysand’s mother and sister, suggested to your father to send you away, hide you far away where they couldn’t find and murder you. It had worked but you couldn't remember where you had been or with who, that part of your life was as if never happened.

After becoming High Lord and Amarantha starting her advances, he went even further to secure your protection and took you somewhere where he knew the sort of people who lived there would help him make sure that you followed every word and instruction he gave. He had them put a spell on you, he had cursed you.

Cursed to forget about the death of your family, cursed to overlooked Amarantha, cursed dismiss the danger they lived in, cursed to believe and follow every word he said, cursed to refrain from thinking too much, to question things, cursed to be clueless. For years.

Feyre thought it was an act. How you looked at everything so positively and nothing could go wrong but then she knew that it wasn’t.

It was never an act, you truly were clueless, but it wasn’t your fault. You were just another one of Tamlin’s victims.

Thats why Feyre gave you a chance. Besides the fact that everything seemed to go over your head, you are a nice, caring, empathetic female. After she was Made, Feyre gravitated more towards you, preferred your company over Ianthe's, sought you out after arguing with Tamlin or Lucien and while you never understood what she had gone through, the trauma and burden she carried (because of the curse), you never turned her away.

Tamlin had noticed how deep your friendship had gotten. And since he knew Feyre was to be taken away at one point by Rhysand because of that stupid bargain, he knew he had to turn you against Rhysand so you could in turn continue to feed into Feyre’s apprehension of the High Lord of the Night Court. How did he do that? He told you the truth...well, some of it.

He revealed the death of your family. He emphasized how merciless it had been and how Rhysand was the only one to blame.

You cried...for hours you wept and screamed. Your mother, your beautiful mother was dead all this time. You had thought she was off in another court with your father accompanying him with some lord duties but instead she had been murdered in cold blood, and you didn't even know.

Feyre knew then that she much preferred to see you smiling and laughing than to see you so heartbroken, to hear your cries was devastating.

And Tamlin had succeeded.

You became so incredibly fearful of the Night Court’s High Lord that you begged Feyre to break the bargain, to never look his way, to hate the cruel and soulless male who had taken your family away from you. And in return, Feyre had hated Rhysand, hated him so much for making you cry, for dimming your light. She also had fallen under Tamlin’s trap. But of course, that all changed.

It changed when it didn't get any better for Feyre, when Tamlin’s actions were feeding into her pain, when he locked her inside the Manor. You of course had no idea he had done this; you didn't even recall when Morr had rescued her. You heard the explosion and when you arrived at the scene, Feyre was already gone. Tamlin had been furious and told you Rhysand was to blame, that he had kidnapped your friend and that he had to find and bring her back.

You, of course thanks to the curse, believed him and you were extremely worried for her. Fear ran through your body and you prayed everyday to the Mother that no harm would come to her, that she weren’t suffering your mother’s fate.

Months passed and you remained none the wiser to what was happening outside the Manor’s walls. Whispers of war roomed the halls, some kind of Hybern involved, you hardly saw your stressed brother. Lucien being the one to accompany you at times for dinner. But he never revealed anything, of the war, of Feyre and you continued to stay clueless and out of the loop.

It wasn’t like you didn't want to know or that you didn't try. You did, you tried to ask around, to the servants, the sentries, but they all knew the spell you were under and knew better than to reveal anything Tamlin didn't want you to know. And you hated it. You felt so frustrated that you were doing meaningless things around the Manor while your friend, your only friend, was off in another court probably being tortured and you weren't doing anything to help her. After Tamlin had popped part of your bubble, you felt the need to be more hands on but you just didn't know where to start. At one point, you tried writing down the whispers you heard, along with questions you had, or any information obtained, and you tried to piece it all together by yourself. But nothing made sense. Nothing would continue to make sense when your brother had the power to take knowledge away from you.

Everything started to change for you with Feyre’s return. You were delighted that she was back, that your brother had rescued her from the Night Court. You hugged her so hard that for a second Feyre had forgotten her plan to ruin Tamlin. She remembered all the time both spent together, remembered and felt the care you had for her. And it was then that she knew that somehow she had to convince you to run away with her, to help you ruin your brother. After all of the things she went through in Velaris, all the knowledge and new perspective she gained, Feyre recognized you to be another prey fallen into Tamlin’s claws.

And you needed to get out. But by then, she didn’t know of the curse that was befallen on you. All she knew is that you believed every little word Tamlin uttered, that you blindly followed his every instruction, and she couldn't believe how she had never pieced the pieces together before. So, with more conviction than ever, under the wards and glamours in her bedroom at the Manor, Feyre told you everything. Of Amarantha's curse, what your family had done to Rhysand, what Tamlin did to her, of Velaris and the Inner Circle, Hybern, her mating bond, her sisters being Made and even of her plans to destroy the Spring Court. Slowly, Feyre took off the blindfold that had been forcedly put on you for decades. She talked and you listened, tears running down your face, for hours. Well into the night and again when the sun came up.

It was extremely difficult to believe her. How could you? When everything she was saying went against everything your brother had told you. Feyre knew that risk, that you wouldn't believe her but she held nothing back. She answered all your questions, worries and even hugged you.

You promised Feyre you wouldn't tell a word to anyone of what she had expressed. And you kept that promise but it didn't mean that you still full heartedly believed her. You wanted to, something inside you was screaming that it was the truth and that you had been an idiot to believe Tamlin.

But you couldn't understand, if Feyre was telling the truth then, why Tamlin had lied? Why had he kept so much from you? Tamlin, your older brother who fiercely protected you when you were a child, would read to you at nights, played with you, gave you attention when the rest of your brothers only ignored you. He was your favorite brother, your first hero, the first male you had told ‘’I love you’’ too. How can you change this image you have of him so fast when for all of your life he had been your rock? How can someone who claimed to love you do the complete opposite of love? You couldn't understand.

But then you remembered he lied about your family’s death, kept that from you. And using the same train of thought then that means, yes he could have hid so much more from you. And before making any decision in regards to following Feyre, you tried, just one more time, to get information out of your brother.

You asked him one question ‘’How did you find Feyre?’’.

He had looked up at you and said : ‘’It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that she’s here now and that she’s safe. Keep her company and help in whatever she needs. You will do that right, sister?’’.

The spell made you nod without you even being aware that you were nodding and replied ‘’Of course, brother. I will help Feyre with anything she needs.’’

He smiled and dismissed you.

That did it for you. You couldn't explain why you had accepted his truth so fast, why you didn't question him further, why your mind seemed to be battling itself. It was maddening.

And so, you agreed to be part of Feyre’s plan to run away. She told you she was to accompany Lucien, the twins and Jurian to the forest. As per usual, you were expected to stay in the Manor while everyone did, well, everything else. But this time, when everyone left, you were to grab a bag with essentials and leave. Feyre pointed out a meeting spot where you were to wait for her there and then continue the path to the Night Court.

It was the most terrifying thing you had ever done.

‘’What about my guard?’’ You asked her, worried about your escape since Tamlin had appointed a sentry to be your guard whenever he or Lucien weren't in the Manor.

‘’I’ll take care of it. Just meet me there and wait. No matter what you hear, wait for me there. I will come find you, I promise’’.

And she had been right. Whatever she had done to your guard well, she took care of it since there didn't seem to be any near you, making your exit far smoother than you expected. Even if inside you were terrified, every neuron in your brain screamed at you to go back inside the Manor and wait for Tamlin. But you pushed through, for Cauldron’s sake did you push through. Every step away from the Manor, from Tamlin seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, making it hard for you to continue, as if there was an invisible force trying to pull you back (the curse).

When you made it to the meeting point you cried. You were feeling an immense amount of fear of this new life you were heading towards to. You were also feeling proud of yourself for committing and making it there but then the fear came back when hours went by and there was no sign of Feyre. You waited, just like you said, no matter if you were terrified of being alone in the woods. In the same woods you now knew ran part of Amarantha’s creatures. You were honest to the Mother about to piss yourself out of fear when you heard her. Feyre, she was coming. And she was not alone.

Lucien ran with her and they both looked worse for wear. You barely managed to speak when she grabbed your hands and urged you to run, tagging you along with them. You saw Lucien’s expression; he was probably confused by your involvement in all of this and he was worried of what would happen to you since he knew of the limitations of the curse. And yet, he stayed quiet and ran along with you both.

It was extremely hard for you to keep along with them. They were fighters, they were fit, they’ve been in battle before, but not you. You were just..well...a princess. You knew nothing of survival or fighting skills and they all knew that but they also knew they couldn't stop if they wanted to stay alive, to fulfill Feyre’s plans.

And made it you had.

With some great trouble along the way involving Lucien’s brothers but thankfully two Illyrian soldiers quite literally fell from the sky and rescued the three of you out of there.

Azriel and Cassian, Feyre had introduced.

And you of course took one look at them and nearly fainted. You were trying so hard not to show your fear but knew you were failing spectacularly. You’ve heard of their kind, from your father and Tamlin, of how ruthless they were, how they had no respect for females and enjoyed tearing them apart. But no, Feyre trusted them, had expressed there was nothing to fear, that they wouldn't harm you. And while everything inside you that was holding you back in Spring was telling you that it was a lie, you tried and believed her.

And now here you were. In this city you’ve never heard of, in a court where only bad things have been said, with only two other faes you knew, surrounded by others who apparently aren't evil at all. After all, in their eyes, you were the evil one, you were the villain in their story.

You met them all, the inner circle and they all stared at you. It was clear that they didn't trust you nor Lucien. But the way they treated you was different. With you it was like they didn't know how to treat you, as if they didn't know what to do with you. And well, you didn't know what to do with you either.

You were a fool, a useless fool.

They figured that out the moment Morrigan began asking questions and all you did was stare at her, mouth a bit open. Because of course, you didn't know the answer to any of her questions and you could see they were growing exasperated with you.

They all showed it differently. Rhysand hadn't met your eye once since you’ve been in the room, his jaw firm and looking anywhere else but you. The Morrigan vividly rolled her eyes at you and instead moved her attentions to Lucien. A smaller female than you with silver glowing eyes had taken one look at you and shook her head. Cassian, the big male with long hair and red jewels, was openly glaring and eyeing Lucien with distaste. And then, Azriel.

The most handsome male you’ve ever seen in all your life. While Rhysand and Cassian were also handsome, Azriel was a different type of handsome. One you couldn't quite explain. The best way your heart could capture it was by thinking that he was like the prince you always thought you’d end up married to. The handsome male described in those romance books you read. The one you hoped had a dazzling personality you longed for, to swept you off your feet and leave you breathless. And he did definitely leave you breathless but not in the way a female wants.

Right off the bat you’ve noticed that Azriel was quiet, the quietest of them all. He seemed to be analyzing everything, blending into the shadows that followed his every breath. And although he hadn't spoken your way once, his body language screamed that he wanted nothing to do with you.

And that hurt.

These people didn't owe you anything. On the contrary, you were the one invading their home, their safe space, you were the enemy so the least you could do is...what? Exactly what were you expected to do?

This only seemed to aggravate you further.

They don't know you, they don't know your heart, quite frankly besides existing, you’ve done nothing to harm any of them. Your hands and your heart were clean. And you didn't know this but that is exactly why Azriel, Rhysand and the rest had a hard time looking your way and accepting you.

You’ve done nothing. While they’ve gone through hell and back, what have you done? In their minds, you’re just a perfect little princess that can do no wrong.

And were they? Were they wrong? They weren't. Tamlin made sure you stayed pure, innocent, protected from danger so that you didn't need to lift a finger if you ever needed anything. But that was it, all your life had been dictated by someone else. Your thoughts, opinions and ideals were implanted by Tamlin.

It was time to start thinking of your own, to start creating a life of your own without Tamlin’s influence.

Without his curse.

The curse that only Lucien knew the existence and Feyre suspected of.

It was time to start battling everything you’ve been taught and fight for what you want. While you still needed to figure out what exactly it is that you want, you were going to do it. It was time to prove to yourself and to these new people that you were capable of more, of being more than just a foolish lost princess.

How were you going to do it? You had no idea, but you hope that the beautiful male with hazel eyes and scarred hands would wait long enough for you to give you a chance or perhaps, he could be the one to help you.

[dingodad]

please god i need to know what U think of the whole “jadebloods are all female!” thing because i got into homestuck in 2019 around the time of friendsim and (retching) Lanque so i always assumed they were explicitly intended to be an all-female caste. however, re-reading the comic this year, i couldnt find a mention of it other than virgo and the Space aspect being really feminine, but i think kanayas journey with motherhood is more kanaya-centric than All-Jadebloods centric??

on one hand, it makes sense given that alternia has very real gendered oppression, so what’s better for that than CATHOLICISM?? on the other hand, i always saw kanaya as being transfem coded, because it connects so well with roxy yknow.. homestuck fans love to insist that certain characters just have to be cis women (kanaya, jade, roxy)

(as an aside; was “long hair was butch on alternia” a one off joke? i like speculation about alternia’s fashion opposing earth, lol)

most all of our basis for explicitly gendered interpretation of Alternia comes from act 6 intermission 3, where Aranea tells us that "jade 8loods were also an almost exclusively female caste". so the door has always been open for there to be "some male jadebloods". but it's a mistake to view this as having anything to do with any kind of "biological sex". the whole idea of biological sex among trolls is a smoke screen. the jadebloods' assigned gender at birth is "jadeblood". this is what makes them a feminised caste.

Caliborn doesn't have a clue what biological sex is. Aranea will tell you that there are boy cherubs and girl cherubs, but for your own sanity you need to cast this idea out of your mind: cherub sex takes place between good and evil cherubs - which is determined by their blood - and anything else is just roleplay. Caliborn's attitude toward sexing is that the ones he likes are boys - that's all the thought that goes into it. and that's the mindset we need to be aware of when we delve into understanding troll gender. there are some trolls who have breast tissue and some who don't, but they aren't "mammaries" in any sense, so there's no reason to believe they're actually sexual characteristics of any kind; maybe this is what Lord English chose to base his gender schema on, but the idea that this means there must be "male trolls" and "female trolls" is completely imagined for the narrative convenience of the human reader.

when we read that there are "male-dominated" highblood castes and therefore by implication female-populated lowblood castes, it's not by some coincidence of biology: the highblood castes are male-dominated BECAUSE they are highblood castes. each caste has a role to play in Caliborn's Alternia, and just as the highblooded roles are those of patriarchal domination, the lower castes must take on roles of feminised submission; and in the case of the jades in particular, this means breeding duties. the fact that this also comes with the expectation to wear makeup and pretty clothes is just more roleplay.

so tl;dr what i think of "the all jadebloods are female thing" is that it is very obviously true but in a way more 5 dimensional gender studies way than anyone else tends to mean when they say it

my pet "long hair was butch on alternia" headcanon - which is a joke but in the way all headcanons about alternia should be jokes of some kind - actually kind of relates to this lol. bc i figure that if gendered expectations of female trolls includes working in disgusting underground caverns filled with genetic material, it's going to be practical to keep your hair close to your head where it won't get dirty, in much the same way the feminist image of the short-haired woman became popular in the west during and after world war 2, wherein a lot of women had to start wearing their hair close to their heads to avoid scalping themselves in the factory machinery they suddenly had to start working with. hence kanaya dedicated to her assigned feminine role and wearing her hair short vs. porrim rebelling against it for feminist reasons and thus wearing her hair at a length that would be totally impractical for wading through gene pools.

[melanie-the-artful]

Genshin Character Names` Meanings Pt. 4

Tighnari | Most likely a reference to Arab Muslim botanist (as well as traveler, poet and physician) Al-Tighnari (born in village Tignar), who wrote a treatise on Middle East agriculture

Collei | Uncertain, but there seemingly is a Persian name Collei that means «Aware», «Sentimental», or «Noble»; Also literally «Lost» in Welsh

Cyno | Originates from Cynopolis, an Egyptian city which used to be centre of Anubis cult, and as we all know, Cyno is based on Anubis

Sethos | Most likely references Seth, the God of deserts, storms, disorder, violence and foreigners in Ancient Egypt. Known to have accompanied Ra on his barque in repelling Apep, but in the Osiris myth depicted as the usurper who murdered and mutilated his own brother, who is Osiris himself

Dori | Literally «Shining», «Glowing» in Persian, also derived from the word dor (دُر) which means «Large Pearl»

Nilou | «Water Lily», «Lotus» – Persian Name

Candace | «Clarity», «Whiteness» – An ancient title derived from word Kandake, once used by queens of Ethiopia; has Latin roots

Dehya | «Leader of Soldiers» – Algerian Amazeigh/Berber name, which refers to Kahina Dehya, the female Algerian priestess, who was a religious and military leader

Layla | Literally «Night» in Arabic

Faruzan | «Luminous», «Shining», or «Resplendent» – Persian Name

Alhaitham | Haitham is a first name and it means «Young Eagle» or «Young Hawk». Meanwhile Al is a prefix usually used in Middle East last names before the name of the family/tribe itself. Basically, it is a definite article, like 'the' in English. He is also most likely named so after Hasan Ibn al-Haitham (Latinicized version of his name also sounds like Alhazen) who was an Arab mathematician, astronomer and physicist during the Islamic Golden Age

Kaveh | «Of Royal Origin» – Persian/Iranian Name; Might be based on Kaveh the Blacksmith from Iranian mythology, who launched a national uprising against the evil foreign tyrant Zahāk and re-established the rule of Iranians

Nahida | «Delightful», «Gentle», «Kind», «Soft» – Persian Name. Another version – Nahiya, means «Advisor»

Kusanali | Derived from the Pali words «kusa» (kusa-grass, a sacred plant used in Hindu ceremonies) and «nāḷi» («a hollow stalk or tube»).

Buer | Comes from Governor Buer, the 10th of Goetia Demons 

Rukkhadevata |  रुक्खदेवता – "tree-goddess" in Shaivism is a Yakṣiṇī who is worshiped as the goddess of wealth or the guardian spirit of practitioners. The Yakṣiṇīs are the female counterparts of the Yakshas in Hinduism and Buddhism, and also appear in Jātaka literature, where they are considered as local deities living in trees and sometimes referred to individually as "rukkha-devatā".

Cuilein-Anbar | Literally «Darling Amber». Cuilein (directly translating to «pup/cub») is a Gaelic term of endearment commonly used for young animals, equivalent to «darling», while anbar is an Arabic word meaning «amber».

Mehrak | «Like the Sun» – Persian Name

Faranak | Derived from the word پروانه (parvâneh), which means «butterfly» in Persian

Dunyarzad | Likely named so after Dunyazad (دنیازاد in Persian), who is the younger sister of Queen Scheherazade from One Thousand and One Nights

Sorush | Originates from Zoroastrian divinity of «Conscience» and «Observance», with its name having those two exact meanings 

Apep | Based on an ancient Egyptian deity of darkness and disorder, also known as Aphoph or Apophis, who also was often depicted as a snake

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

........Hi

Not even gonna make up excuses this time, just want you to know that I do have an intention to finish these series, it`s just that God knows when I actually will

In any case, I wanted to add Jeht as well, but I couldn't find a reliable source that would tell me where her names comes from, so I would be grateful if anyone knowledgeable helped me out here. I think I saw a version that says it's an Arabic name meaning «Freedom Lover» or «Scholar», but I'm not sure if that's right??

Anyways, see ya soon, hope you'll have a great year, take care of yourself, stay hydrated and bye.

[maxdibert]

The sad thing is that we don’t even get to see any uncomplicatedly happy memories of his innocent childhood friendship with Lily. There’s this pervasive sense from the start of that chapter that JKR thinks that even 9 year old Lily was too good for him (the horrid judgemental use of the word ‘greedy’ and that quote she once gave where she said Snape’s tragedy was that he was drawn to but couldn’t emulate Lily’s innate goodness makes me hurl - what was so innately different about them aged 9 other than her good looks and middle class parents?) and so every single scene is her chastising him for something or other. Like she couldn’t allow saintly Lily to be seen as genuinely choosing and enjoying the company of someone as prickly and offputting as Snape, so she time skips 5 years and just tells us instead of showing us that they’re best friends. Unfortunately by failing to show any gentle, unspoiled moments the whole thing comes off like Lily sees him as a charity case she condescends to hang out with on occasion, while Severus fails to get the picture that clinging hard to someone who doesn’t want that is always going to end in a toxic place for both parties. Sorry for the super long post! It’s just rare to find someone who doesn’t buy into JKR’s intended reading of the Potter parents.

This is quite an interesting topic because even years ago, when I re-read the series at 19 or 20 and was quite involved in political groups and unions at university, I got the impression that Rowling creates a world where classism is constantly justified unless you are on the side of the bad guys. That is to say, Draco being a classist is wrong because he’s Draco, and he’s bad, and he’s Slytherin. But then you have quite a few characters who have clear classist attitudes and nothing happens because they are part of the heroes of the story, and so we’re going to completely overlook it. For example, Sirius is a classist; he always has been and even has nothing against slavery and treats his house-elf like rubbish. He doesn’t even consider him a conscious and independent living being; he’s just a bug to him. The Weasleys have a clear class resentment; they are humble and are sold to us as open-minded and tolerant people, but the reality is that if someone doesn’t fit into their narrow standards of “goodness,” they shut down and are just as petty and prejudiced as any blood supremacist. The best example of this is how the Weasley women treat Fleur simply because, instead of being a humble pick-me girl, she’s posh. But the fact is that Fleur has done absolutely nothing wrong for Ginny and Molly to treat her that way; her only sin is being beautiful and feminine, end of story. It’s supposed to be a story to learn that prejudices are wrong, but Hermione spends her life labelling other girls like the Patils or Lavender (before Lavender gets involved with Ron) as frivolous because they like doing things that are traditionally classified as feminine, which reveals that Rowling has quite a few prejudices against certain groups of women and their attitudes, stemming from a clear internalised misogyny that is present throughout the novel. You only have to look at how she glorifies motherhood as the pinnacle of female fulfilment and the real way to become a moral and brave example within the saga (Lily and Molly, Narcissa being redeemed ONLY because she loves her son) compared to the female characters who either haven’t seen motherhood as a dream come true (Merope Gaunt) or who have no children (Bellatrix), who are portrayed as little less than the worst of the worst in the story.

What I mean by this is that Rowling has quite a significant cognitive dissonance when it comes to establishing the moral values of the story. Because this is not A Song of Ice and Fire; it’s not a multi-voiced story with various perspectives from which you can develop your own complex criteria. It’s a story told from a single point of view where the dichotomy between good and evil is a central point of conflict, but is often blurred by quite a few contradictions that have no explanation, not even theoretically. I mean, the social themes in this story are terribly mismanaged and portrayed in a very superficial way. In the end, the conclusion you draw is that Gryffindor’s mission, the Order, or Harry’s is basically to defeat Voldemort to continue preserving the same status quo in which the magical world has always been immersed, with no intention of going to the root of the problems and taking action for real change. But well, we’re talking about a story written by a woman who turns her protagonist into the magical equivalent of a cop. I mean, LOL. I mean, ACAB, what can I say.

I say all this because when we talk about James and Lily, all of this applies in the same way. James and Lily make no sense. James and Lily are an example of what should NOT be done when writing a script, for instance. In screenwriting, the premise is always show, don't tell. But Lily and James are purely the tell. Lily and James are known for what other characters tell us about them, totally subjective characters, especially those who were friends with the couple. They are presented as great heroes when the reality in canon is that they did nothing. They joined the Order, were in it for a year, and then spent a year and a half holed up at home with their child, then they died, and that’s it. They can be treated as something tragic, but heroic? I wouldn’t say so.

They are also shown as paradigms of "the good ones," of the "correct morality," especially Lily, who is basically the Virgin Mary of this story and seems to have no flaws at all. But the reality is that if we go to canon, everything Lily does is a constant failure. Lily is condescending to Severus from the very beginning, probably because he is poorer than she is. Then she treats him as a charity case, which is already annoying her because he’s too geeky, odd, and marginal, causing her problems in her social circles. Then she half-smiles at his abuser while he is mistreating and humiliating him in front of the entire school. And then she marries that abuser. You can tell me whatever you want about Lily Potter, but what you’re showing me is rubbish, and if you show me rubbish but tell me wonderful things, there’s something that doesn’t add up, and for me, that’s the greatest failure of all.

If I have to be honest, I go back to what I mentioned before: for me, Lily had a huge inferiority complex. She felt inferior in the Muggle world because perhaps she wasn’t poor, but her family didn’t live in a good area either; they were probably lower middle class, without status or a promising future. At Hogwarts, she felt inferior for being the daughter of Muggles, so throughout her life, she secretly wanted to be part of the elite, to stand out, to be popular, to be seen as something important. That a boy like James Potter—handsome, wealthy, popular, with pure-blood status—would take an interest in her never displeased her. Deep down, she liked it; it was what she wanted. In the end, she gave in and married him, and she was probably very happy with her decision because that way, she ended up at the pinnacle of the social ladder. Of course, she liked James deep down for a long time; as Rowling once said. She liked what James represented, what he could mean for her. She would no longer just be the good student, pretty, nice, and popular; she would also have one of the most popular boys in school as a partner, who was also rich and of pure blood. I think that deep down, she and Petunia are quite similar in that regard, both seeking social ascent, each in their own way. After all, they were sisters.

[oriley42]

Serious question but no need to answer if you don’t want to

I see a lot of talk about Amber’s portrayal being sexist in the show, but I’m not quite sure why? To me her motives always seemed really well-defined (high pressure = “I’m only worthy when I’m successful”) so she puts on this sharky mask with a feminine facade so she is feminine enough to get a certain amount of approval but never shows how much she cares (which could be used against her but also could be used to undermine her “oh you’re too soft”). I thought the show did an excellent job of showing a mask for her

But a lot of people talk about 00s sexism and how it impacts her characterization. The sexism… Is it that she gets called a cutthroat bitch? Or how her story revolves around a man after she leaves House’s team? Is it the fridging?

Any of those could be it I guess but it just sounds like you and others are talking about something a little more fundamental to her personhood so I thought I’d ask if I’m missing anything.

Very interesting question! I think you're getting at exactly the trickiness of the issue, which is that sexism always operates systemically. It's not that any key aspect of Amber's character "is" misogynist, it's that every aspect of her character is automatically filtered through a lens of sexism.

In today's world where "bitch" has been very de-clawed, turned into a more casual and way less gendered insult that's used without cruel intention in queer slang, I think it's hard to understand just how violent the term was--and was meant to be--in the aughts. House in canon is not calling Amber a bitch in a cute, almost self-deprecating, friendly way (though I think it's valid to re-write it that way in fic to defuse the term!). He is calling her a bitch to contain and belittle and dehumanize her. We see the term mobilized this way against Cuddy in 5 to 9 as well: calling a woman a bitch was an extremely powerful rhetorical tool to turn any dangerously competent, brilliant, threateningly accomplished woman back into a harmless, debased, controllable object. So, "CB" reflects how easily the fact that Amber is the "female House" gets turned against her--it doesn't mean she's an eccentric genius like him, it means she's an evil copycat who needs to be put down. And this kind of structural logic applies to her whole characterization--it doesn't matter that House does it all more frequently and worse, if she does it, it's unacceptable because she's a woman. (There are parallels here with how racism means that when Foreman acts like House, he also gets the axe instead of the narrative bending over backwards to make what he did alright.) That's why she was fired, after all!

And her death. Woof. Classic case of killing a woman for man-pain. Everything supposedly about her death is actually about how her violent destruction can be used to fuel Wilson and House's character arcs. The narrative is occasionally conscious of this, for example, Wilson saying "none of you even liked Amber" is an almost metatextual reminder of how cruelly she was disenfranchised in every way (including the sexism of her trying to "defect" to the men's team early on, having no female friends, because unlike House who has so many people orbiting him, she is truly alone). Comparing her death to Kutner's is instructive: Kutner gets a whole episode that's about characters desperately trying to know him better. They trace their relationships towards him. Amber, on the other hand, is nearly absent from her own death. The characters trace away from her and towards the way male characters feel (Wilson's loss, House's guilt). Amber becomes just an imagined figure of House's guilt. Even her ghost is not her own. (Though I think many fans do a more feminist read and reclaim the way she haunts the narrative--but imho that would be a negotiated if not fully oppositional reading, to use Stuart Hall's decoding/encoding terms.)

One easy way to see that gendered difference is in how the show refers to these characters after death. Kutner is always "Kutner," never just "House's dead fellow" or rarely "our dead colleague." Amber is often referred to as "Wilson's dead girlfriend." Kutner is his own person, Amber rhetorically gets reduced to an object belonging to a man.

In conclusion: sexism operates structurally, which can make it hard to identify! And one of the funny effects of contemporary fandom doing so much good work to un-fridge women and give marginalized female characters richer personalities and more chances to grow is that canon's intended message of sexism gets obscured. Which, is awesome? Keep up the good work! Let's make misogyny unintelligible 🎉

[lady-lilly-gray]

Chapter 214 Theory!!!

edit: either the scanlation I read made an error or I'm just stupid (probably the latter) so I've rewritten this post, but retained the original below it for posterity lol

Who is the person at the end?

Is it Polaris? Possibly.

Because I am in the D. Gray-man fandom, and have therefore been a victim of the Past!Allen* confusion of the last (decade?) I am reluctant to accept this person as Polaris until we are EXPRESSLY told so.

*long story short; we were introduced to a character in a flashback without being told his name; based on the scene/context, the whole fandom assume his identity...and then recently found out he is someone completely different!

That being said; could it be Polaris? Sure! But what would Polaris have a history with Sebastian, when we already know Polaris to be someone linked to the Phantom Fam, as shown by their desire to "not lose anymore of them"? Additionally, how would Polaris know Sebastian to be a demon? (Yes, UT could have told him; but the way the above is presented implied that 1) this person has met Sebastian in his current form before and 2) knew Sebastian was a demon the first time they met.

Another case people have presented is that this is one of Sebastian's former contractors. I like this theory, too; but I don't believe it. As per the Blue Memory Arc, this is the first time Sebastian has appeared in this form in the human realm. Thus, why would this person know Sebastian?

My proposition: this is another demon! As Fairchild said, "guests of Any Kind are welcome here" which absolutely screams not everyone here is Human.

I guess that could reference Bizarre Dolls ("so long as they pay" is almost certainly a reference to Blood Collections), or even Reapers—but both of those groups of beings were once humans. Whilst my personal theory does have Demons being once human too, they are much more removed from Humanity than BD's and Reapers.

That being said, it could be interesting if this person was the demon whom Vincent sold his soul to, as is sometimes theorised! It could also tie into their desire to protect the Phantomhives. Maybe they even (re)gain some humanity as part of the contract, hence the IV bag—which, if this is not Polaris, may just be a disguise this person was using to get close to Sebastian. Obviously that fall was on purpose so as to get close to him!

So who is this person? I really don't know.

If they are Polaris, they are supposed to be attached to the Phantomhives, so why not even acknowledge O!Ciel?

If they are not Polaris, I am absolutely sticking to the Mary Jane Kelly theory mentioned below because it's funny and fits in with my Red Butler pt. 2 theory!)

I don’t think so. Polaris described himself as a butler; so probably not. More importantly, Polaris knows the Phantomhives; why would she say she was looking for Sebastian and not O!Ciel?

So, is she a past contractor that Undertaker revived? Possibly, but then why would she call him Sebastian. Heck, why would she even recognize him.

So, is she someone from an earlier arc? Three options:

The girl Seb chatted up for information on the Sphere Music Hall? Not impossible, and the most likely person on this list to know Sebastian by name.

The female aristocrat of evil we see in the Vanell arc? What ever came of her? I had a working theory that she would be a point of contact in France, but this works too! However, I will say this is the least likely of the three.

Mary Jane Kelly, the victim of Jack the Ripper whom Ciel made a grave for? Most likely, in my opinion — especially since Undertaker handled her burial, and it would further tie into my theory that we will see Madame Red again this arc!

[seilnakyle]

Now this is just a vent so feel freed to ignore. I’m not even a huge batcat shipper but some of the t*lia/brut*lia fans are so disgustingly elitist in the way they talk about Selina’s underclass background and sex work. I can understand why t*lia as character is like that considering her upbringing but the fans that revel in it are so weird. Like I’ve seen them cheer her on when she calls other female characters in proximity to Bruce wh* res and not to mention that they think it’s cute when she basically dehumanizes Dick due to his background even though he’s probably one the people who cares the most about her son.

By their logic Clark should get with Lex instead of Lois.

YES they are so fucking weird about Selina’s background and the way they try to just force a bunch of negative stereotypes that don’t even apply onto her to try to make themselves feel better about their own fave being badly written. Pretty pathetic.

I’ve been trying to wake it up that they know exactly what they’re doing telling those kind of lies about Selina being a noncommittal person who only wants sex and thrills. They hate the fact that Selina is canonically a good person with friends and positive relationships with the bat kids and that her relationship with Bruce is the longest standing and most iconic for BOTH characters. They hate her for winning a sword fight in 2018 even though Selina was sword dueling WONDER WOMAN all the way back in the 70s while Talia was still using guns, and only with the retcons they claim to despise did she gain swordsmanship lmao… if that fight had been with ANYONE else you would not still have people crying abt it in 2025, they just can’t stand it was Selina. They hate ANY good thing happening to Selina while tearing her down and desperately wanting everything she has.

And it’s definitely not Selina stans constantly in the wrong tags and lying about T*lia and trying to start drama…I’ve even been using tag curtesy in all my posts complaining abt them, though I think they’d almost prefer if we were as low as them so they could call it racism or something and cry more about how evil Selina stans and fictional character Catwoman are ruining their lives.

I don’t at all feel bad for giving the same energy back, I’m not a hater, and I personally don’t care to talk about things I’m not interested in, but I’m also not one of those Selina fans who pretends to care abt T*lia for brownie points either 😭 just keep out of the tags and don’t lie! 💞

As for Dick, the way she hated him felt very “you’re not part of the idealized version of my happy life with Bruce and idc if you live or die and would prefer you not exist” *looks away while he’s shot and tourtured* but hey! He wins in the end just by being her son’s favorite person ♥️

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #8004:

Alright, I just wanna get many, many things off my chest because it was a drama that has ran rampant in the Resident Evil fandom, specifically in the Leon Kennedy tags and anything related to that tag. I am someone who avoids content like incest (pseudo incest in the case of step fantasies), mutilation in a sex scene, and underage, and I even filter those tags or block people that write that content or a keep scrolling. But to the antis in the tags that literally barely even know about Resident Evil lore and it shows, they can’t do that. They have t resort to invading the tags with their complaints and telling people who are using dead dove fics to cope with their own trauma to “keep it private.” You cannot be goddamn serious right now. We’re doing this whole ignoring the voices of actual victims and also calling them predators now? Are you kidding me?

It gets worse, because I came across another one who straight up said, “it’s ironic that these people have minors DNI when they write underage shit.” It is STILL MINORS DNI for a BIG FAT REASON. It’s still PORN that minors have no business interacting with. And also, the people that write or consume stuff like this doesn’t reflect their morality, but I guess none of them are ready for that conversation because they never were. And these are all grown ass adults too, by the way.

And the unnecessary call out posts of people who have said that they were SA victims or are just normal everyday people or are 18 or 19 just wanting to write whatever it is they want. One of the SA victims who wrote a bit of Leon dead dove fics was targeted for harassment, and it got really bad to the point where they had to defend themselves.

Some of the dead dove fanfics I saw while scrolling past them also had content warnings since Tumblr is ran by a staff that doesn’t care about their users, so there is literally no excuse.

The trivialization of the terms “pedophilia” and “CP” has gotten so bad that if there was someone being called out being a predator, some people will not react with reporting the person immediately, they will instead be skeptical and say, “is this for real or is this about the dead dove Leon Kennedy drama again?” Like this is what’s gonna happen and I won’t be surprised, I’m just going to be pissed off. Plus, there’s probably predators on here right now, in real time grooming a minor and it’s gonna be ignored because of this BS. So congratulations, Antis you are actively helping groomers that are on here hurting real life minors as we speak by trivializing the term CP to mean gross underage fanfiction and pedophilia to mean a writer who makes gross fanfiction.

Meanwhile I and many others who just wanted to read some good fanfics of Leon just wanted to chill in the tags but thanks to all of you antis doing this, I can’t even touch any of the Leon Kennedy tags. Also, Resident Evil has had a canonical serial killer and rapist, incest subtext, a man wanting to marry and have sex with a zombified female character after kidnapping her, and RE6 had sexual elements with the weird clone storyline and that Deborah Harper boss fight, but I guess none of you knew any of that because you guys either barely know anything about Resident Evil lore, or you guys did know that, but chose to target the dead dove writers because they write something you hate and are triggered by, and I don’t even know what’s worse.

To end this off, you guys are SO comfortable harassing people, calling out people and when someone reveals their trauma, you actively IGNORE IT. Or, you equate their real life pain and suffering to fiction. I have absolutely no hope for any of you and you have made the RE fandom a less safe place for people.

Sincerely, a Resident Evil fan so sick and tired of the drama.

[muffinsin]

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[dingodad]

trying to think about terezi re: kankri & rose in the seer maternal thoughts. i think there's something to be said about terezi being wholeheartedly in belief that her ancestor was a 100% loyal servant of the empire and feeling fucked up about her inability to live up to parts of that. for example, in her conversations with dave and about vriska.

but we know that redglare in fact WASN'T a 100% loyal servant to the empire- canonically, she was a member of the cult of the signless. of course, the nuances of redglare's affiliation with the cult are not entirely clear, but it is notable that she wore the pendant even as she was carrying out the empire's orders. this to me suggests that she did have at the very least very complicated feelings about the empire and her role in it.

we see this repeat later with latula in openbound. terezi feels as though latula is so cool and awesome, and as though she's failed at living up to her dancestor. we also know that a lot of latula's Cool Girl shtick is just her putting up a façade. this could be a repeat of those same ideas re: terezi feeling inadequate in comparison to her ancestor.

that said, i'm unsure if this is really comparable to kankri & rose's projection/overanalysis onto maternal figures (rose's being far more understandable than kankri's, in my mind). terezi is more falling for a façade than she is anything else, which i don't know if that's comparable. do you have any thoughts?

sorry, kept meaning to get back to this and then got distracted by the whole homestuck movie thing haha. this was regarding seers projecting intentions unto their mother figures, or otherwise "seeing what they want to see".

these facades are certainly a running theme for Terezi & her ancestor (as far as any one character or bloodline has a monopoly on the 'facade' lol), but to me that motif is far more comparable to Dave and his relationship with his brother. like you say, i don't know that our understanding of Redglare's motivations is really complete enough to claim with any confidence that being a fan of the Signless = being secretly rebellious, ESPECIALLY having just established that not even the Signless' own motivations were clear-cut. i think this speaks more to the complex relationship between the folkloric Knight and the code of honour he swears fealty to, again drawing comparisons to Dave and his ongoing struggles with knighthood and heroism; what makes a noble cause? is it better to exterminate pirates in the name of an evil empire or a benevolent religion?* what makes such an action "JUST"?

even Terezi's own aspirations toward justice are suspect; despite her insistence that her conflict with Vriska is strictly "BUS1N3SS L1K3!" (ha ha, yeah right), the entire anecdote revolves around reliving a glorified, long-gone past, where legislacerators "W3R3 D3PLOY3D THROUGHOUT TH3 G4L4XY TO 4PPR3H3ND CR1M1N4LS BY 4NY M34NS N3C3SS4RY" instead of "CONF1N3D TO STUFFY COURTBLOCKS". like the Signless', the sociopolitical motivations behind Terezi's actions are mostly a mask over more personal concerns; vague notions of right and wrong are secondary to the romantic, swashbuckling narrative Terezi has written for herself and Vriska. so i doubt whether or not Redglare was truly a "loyal servant" to anything ultimately factored into Terezi's Knight-roleplay.

all that being said, now that we've arrived at Redglare as a roleplay character: if Terezi does fit into this Seers' pattern of ascribing malevolent intentions - not failing to see through facades, but inventing their own misinterpretations outright - to significant (female) figures in their lives, I don't think hers is one of the more conventional maternal figures we might instinctively turn to. where the Seer's weakness is a debilitating blind spot in otherwise impeccable vision, Terezi's can only be Vriska, right?

the whole lead-up to their confrontation is characterised by moments like this, where despite all evidence to the contrary Terezi pins other villains' crimes on Vriska as part of her single-minded warpath toward hotblooded vengeance. though there are insinuations from Hussie that these moments were encouraged by psychic obfuscation on Gamzee's part, understanding how psychic powers tend to work within Homestuck we can really only conclude that he was taking advantage of a bias Terezi was already nursing deep within herself.

though maybe Terezi's dragon does factor into all of this too somehow. considering the the 'dragon' as a key symbolic component in any Knight's quest - and the way most of the lusii are more symbolic figures than anything - Vriska does essentially take on the role of dragon in Terezi's own imaginary quest, and dragons are intimately tied up in their ancestral feud (Vriska commands a dragon to blind Terezi, Redglare commands a dragon to blind Mindfang, Mindfang and Vriska face their own symbolic dragons in the form of His Honorable Tyranny and the spider lusus). but i'll put a pin in that for some other time

*I don't know that "evil empire" and "benevolent religion" are even being treated as distinct entities in Redglare's story, anyway; I've mentioned at least once before that Latula wearing a faux-cross while exterminating the gamblignants (at least symbolically a cultural minority) seems more than anything like a symbol of religion-as-empire. Again, in the heat of rivalry between the Pyrope and Serket clans, the actual reasons 'why' they go on these crusades become deliberately and irretrievably obscured.

[thepunkranger]

Hi yes this is your reminder that I am Gay and the women in Resident Evil are almost all pure perfection in their own ways and it’s truly impossible for me to pick a favorite

Exhibit A: Jill Valentine. The OG. Truly a testament to the fact that Strong Female Characters can be done well and stand the test of time. Jill started her life in a full shirt, pants, shoulder pads, and a jaunty beret and only gets more iconic from there. An action hero among action heroes

Exhibit B: Rebecca Chambers. MY FUCKING WIFE. Rebecca Chambers is 5’3”, 95lbs, with an IQ in the stratosphere and the ability to wield heavy artillery. My girl faced the demons and came out the other side with a thumbs up. Truly iconic

Exhibit C: FUCKING CLAIRE REDFIELD. Beautiful. Perfect. Amazing. Show stopping. Badass. Has the best outfit of any RE girl, and that is seriously saying something. Cares for everyone but especially lost children. Rides a motorcycle and totes around a grenade launcher like it’s nothing. A civilian with 0 combat experience who made it out of a zombie outbreak unscathed with a little girl in tow

Exhibit D: Ada Wong. Fucking celestial goddess. Like a goddamned painting. One of the best anti-heroes I’ve ever encountered. Sexy as hell while also not being a one-dimensional femme fatale. Does shit in heels and a cocktail that should be physically impossible. Has the mentality of an outdoor cat. Also a crossbow

Exhibit E: Ashley Graham. A perfect example of a character needing saving but not being annoying or useless. Ashley’s character development in the RE4 remake is some fantastic writing and the whole scene with her and the wrecking ball is truly amazing

Exhibit F: Sheva goddamned Alomar. Poor girl gets the short end of the stick for being a partner character in 5, but she’s another 10/10. Strong. Gorgeous. Smart. Empathetic. Unbreakable. Also I’m pretty sure the first RE protagonist to canonically have a tattoo? Fantastic

Exhibit G: Sherry motherfucking Birkin. I don’t understand how Sherry Birkin is a functional adult but I am so glad that she is because she’s fucking amazing in RE6. Takes down a zombie soldier with a cattle prod. Claire would be so proud

Exhibit H: Zoe Baker. Poor girl has monster parents and fucking Jigsaw for a brother and all she wants is for people to help her as much as she helps them. Super smart and ready to brawl at a moment’s notice. And also I love her thick-ass southern accent

Exhibit I: Lady Dimetrescue. What can I say about Lady D that hasn’t already been said? She’s almost 10 feet tall. She has tits the size of genetically engineered watermelons and an ass to match. She dresses like the classiest of ladies. She makes wine from the blood of maidens. She eats men. And she literally turns into a giant crystal dragon. Truly a masterpiece

[animentality]

have you ever re watched the Avengers and noticed just how much macho shit it had in it, lol?

like the fucking cock strutting is ridiculous.

thor keeps telling everyone they have small dicks, ironman calls everyone too stupid to be near him, captain america keeps asking why women work for SHIELD when they should be married.

they constantly fight each other because they're so masculine and alpha male that they literally can't be within five feet of another man without wanting to tear each other's heads off.

it's actually crazy how none of them have any interest in working together either.

like it makes sense for Ironman because he's basically Elon Musk, but Captain America used to be a soldier. Thor's a god or whatever but his whole movie was supposed to be about him learning some humility and leadership skills.

Bruce Banner is a scientist, he has to have at least smoked some weed in college. Hung out with some peers.

Also there are so many scenes that try so desperately to make sure none of the macho men ever look weak or bad, and soooo cool.

like Hawkeye constantly doing a cool guy pose even though he's literally useless, and the sole female Avenger doing sexy hair flips and arching her back every time she lands on all fours.

also Loki being a laughably evil semi Hitler who says dumb shit like you crave subjugation like the world's most boring Dom.

just so much chest thumping.

I'm surprised no one ever insists another character punches like a girl.

[mariyekos]

For those of you (like me!) who missed it, there was a Behind the Scenes video released for the first Devil May Cry Netflix Anime back in November 2023, which includes a few scenes that aren't in either the old or new trailer!

This is where we got the shots of the female character who might(?) be Lady but didn't appear in the trailers. It's also where we got shots of a fight that doesn't appear in the latest trailer...unless it's an old version that's since been changed. Putting some screenshots and thoughts below the cut!

"Lady", or the Woman in the Behind the Scenes Video

Above: 1) Dante and the woman running on a rooftop, 2) The woman falls off rooftop, Dante sprints to the ground past her, 3) The woman continues falling and Dante gets prepped to catch her (note: there's something on the right that at first I thought might be Kalina-Ann, but on re-watches looks like a broken pipe).

My thought is that this could be Lady because it mirrors their encounters in DMC3 to an extent. The first shot makes me think of running through the library during her fight. The second and third shot of her falling and Dante catching her is reminiscent of when she fell off the Temen-ni-gru and Dante caught her (by the leg).

However...I hope it's not Lady, because other than the hairstyle, she doesn't look like Lady to me. This DMC is clearly going for a more modern aesthetic than DMC3 (and most of the DMCs, with 5 having the most "modern" look in terms of the city), but this woman's outfit reads very techo-futuristic to me and I would rather not have Lady dress like that. It just doesn't feel very Lady-like to me, y'know? That and I just think it was cool when Lady decided to shoot Dante and save herself when falling in DMC3. Please don't damsel in distress her like this :(

(Related: While I know the real reason Lady dresses like she does is that it's cute/hot, I like to HC that she typically doesn't wear armor because she needs to be able to move, and she figures any demon who'll be able to hurt her will be strong enough to make it through armor anyway so she might as well something mobile and comfortable.)

Now I will say, this woman doesn’t have the Kalina-Ann on her, just two pistols(?), so one possible story-line I’m thinking of is that this is Lady, but in a point early in the story where she’s working for some mercenaries or some sort of group to establish herself while she’s hunting Arkham. Then, later on she might split from them and don something more akin to her usual outfits while she runs around with the Kalina-Ann we all know and love. Another option is that this plain isn’t Lady. That’s my ideal.

Another reason why I’d like if this isn’t Lady is that I really do enjoy the young/schoolgirl aesthetic Lady has going in the original DMC3 and DMC3 Manga, because it sells just how messed up Arkham and his actions are. The scene of a teenager being the one to end her father's life and crying over him feels so much more chilling than it would if she was, say, 25. Lady’s a teenager who’s had her mother and her life stolen from her, and that’s tragic. This woman doesn’t read like a teen to me. And while Dante also reads as a little older and anime is notorious for making 17 year olds look 30 and 30 year olds look 17, that doesn’t eliminate the fact that I think an older looking Lady would lower the impact of certain scenes, even if the show says she’s 16. I like when Lady is younger than Dante, because Dante’s this teenager who’s so irresponsible, but then in comes Lady who’s even younger but seems to have it together…until eventualy you come face to face with the idea that oh, oh boy, this is all terrible and no one should be having to deal with this, Arkham what have you done (both with essentially orphaning Lady and partnering with the teenage Vergil (and screwing over the teenage Dante) as part of his evil plan. Which Vergil agrees to and helps with, so he's far from innocent, but still).

Comparison between Behind the Scenes and the New Trailer

It's also possible that the show might've changed aesthetics a bit between the previous trailer and this one.

See these shots from the new trailer (which I will refer to as NT)? I wonder if they're updated variants of this scene from the Behind the Scenes (BtS) video below.

Now I'll admit this is kind of a stretch. Buuuuut I'm going to stretch to make it anyway. In both scenes, Dante is being attacked by a group of humans. Yes, he fights humans across different media, but if the DMC anime is mostly Dante vs a bunch of humans with human weapons, I'm going to be very bored, so that's why I'm hoping this is just storyboard vs Final version of a scene. And yes, I know that's a lot of work to redo...but maybe reception was bad and they pivoted, and that's part of why we went a year without any news.

Other big things: the arcade cabinets.

I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be Dante's shop in both shots, and again, if Dante gets jumped by a bunch of humans in his shop multiple times, I'm going to be upset/bored because really? That's such a basic thing to reuse. Please don't do that. Thus I'm banking on the BtS version being the original idea, with the NT version being what the animators/director pivoted to.

And the thing I caught onto before I noticed the arcade cabinets: the guy(s) on the floor.

Again, it's entirely possible these are different scenes. A guy getting knocked out is one of the most basic things in any show that includes any kind of fighting. But...if they were redoing a scene, why not keep a few of the elements like the guy(s) Dante has knocked out? Are we going to have multiple scenes of people jumping Dante in his shop, Dante knocking them out, and the shop being partially destroyed? Seems excessive.

Lastly, these two shots:

Now the Rebellion thing is deeeeefinitely a stretch. The other stuff I mentioned in regards to this two scenes is stuff I'm pretty sure of Rebellion nah, especially since it doesn't come right after the other scenes in the BtS video (which are all together), whereas all the shots I included of the NT are in sequence. But the reason I included it is because it feels like a very good establishing shot of Dante, where they might have initially wanted to have him fight some people and pull up Rebellion on its own, but later changed their mind to having the zoom happen mid-fight. The way the walls are messed up in the BtS video makes me think that shot's in Dante's shop, and as I've said a million times before, I think it would be boring/lazy to repeat the same events in the same place.

Closing Thoughts

If the fight scenes above ARE the older and newer versions of the same scene, this does give me some hopes that if the woman in the top shots is meant to be Lady, they might've gone back and fixed up her design to make her more Lady-like. I don't want techno-futuristic outfits. I want someone who's in more traditional combat gear or otherwise at least in more cloth. The thing I love about Lady is how she looks like a teenager whose life veered off the road into the realm of demon hunting, and I think the whole "high school uniform paired with guns and belts and so on" does a great job of visually expressing that.

I will say that the military does seem to get involved at some point due to some shots of a gatling gun, armored truck, and missile, and the guys in the BtS video look more military than the mercenary types of the NT, so they still could be two different fights... but I hope not. The modern tech stuff doesn't feel very DMC to me. I want to keep the spirit of the games, even if we go for new things. (And yes, I know the military shows up in DMC5, but they're there for all of two minutes so if they do show up in the Netflix DMC, I hope they're only there for a short while.)

If you've made it to the end, thank you for reading! If you want to see me break down the new trailer, I made a post about it here.

[msbunnat]

thank you for your answer, in any case I was already very excited by your comic and I cannot wait to read more about it!

I honestly cannot understand the people hating on your work. I feel like fandoms has been invaded by a wave of purity/moral policy that shouldn't exist anymore. it's even more wild to me knowing you're working on a greek myth, and the greek myths are KNOWN to have many versions. that's the beauty of them in my opinion, the way these authors all wrote their own versions and they passed them to us. I love the fact you picked Ganimedes, and you decided to explore both Zeus and him. And the mystery you keep about your relationship really makes me wonder which take you will follow!

and speaking of take, I really enjoy yours on Zeus. Gods are complex beings, and sure they're problematic (like duh) and bad, and everything but it's funny how people will decide which pick for who. Like everybody love Poseidon but oh boy, he can be as bad as Zeus people. So yeah, I am actually excited to read the way you're gonna write him! I don't hate Zeus, sure he does seem one of the "worse" when reading most of the myths, but my favorite thing is the way you can love one god in one story, and hate him in another. they're immortal beings. they're not just black and white. so I happen to enjoy when authors write Zeus as more than just a big bad villain. But I also enjoy when they just don't make him a "sweet lovely daddy".

Oh by the way, I didn't know the version of Metis abusing him and I'll have to look into it! We had a more "feminist" vision of her myth in my class, so it's not something that was talked about hmm.

Also, my bad for saying he died. It was a sum up because of him turning into a constellation. I cannot say we studied this myth so unfortunately I don't have sources to help you on it! It's assumed he lives on forever young but the fact he turns into a constellation is why people think he died?

Thanks! I want to post soon, but I'm so tireeed ;w; I prefer to make people wait and do a good job tho.

About the hate... People re affraid (artists have to much power kkkkk) and we live in a time that you need to share your opnion to get validation. In my case, they need to say that Zeus is bad and hate on him and me so they know they re on the rigth side and have good morals. And even after all this, I think its a good thing they just warning people, that way I can get to my real target that can enjoy characters more complex that re not good or evil, but mess up beings (that includes Ganimedes). And even if people in the end critizied my aproach, its also fine, I dont claim to be perfect and just hope that even to the mad ones, they feel inspired to create their version as well. I think they forgot that, like, they can have their version and will be as valid as mine, dosent matter the story.

(I really enjoy everything about Ganymede, if people go and do their versions, its a plus to me! More about him is best for me heheh. I came across two versions of Ganymede on tumblr and I LOVE BOTH!! I really want to do a fanart of the second one, but I'm a lil afraid if they dont want to interact with me, which is fair, but I'm just judging by the dark aproach on the myth, as a horror story).

Thanks for liking my Zeus u.u I'm really more found of him, as I think about his past, but I'm trying not to focus to much on him! He steals the scene to much!!!

About Metis, its not a version, but a interpretation. I'm looking to see if I find a sourse, but anyway, its intresting, since they met when Zeus was still young. And there re some greek myths with female abusers, so... its something.

Oooh! I see. hm... I never see the constelation as a death, so its not clicking with me, but I understand. Any way, I kinda dont like the constelation, for some reason looks wrong to me, but its a valid version and Im totally using the aesthetic kkkk

[hp-confessions]

Re. The anon who called HP a misogynistic series. 

JKR is transphobic. She has used her platform to spread misinformation and personal attacks on trans people and women with unconfirmed DSD. She should absolutely be held accountable for that. That contradicts her feminism. But I don’t agree on your point about the books.

“Jkr claims to be such feminist, however, her books are solely based on male friendships or male/female friendships.”

Yeah because the main character is male and the story is from his perspective so of course it focused on his friendships. 

Yes, we get to see mild friendships like Luna and Ginny or Hermione and Ginny.

Luna is a character who is ostracized and bullied. She doesn’t have any friends until the DA so her friendship with Ginny and Hermione isn’t mild. She has a mural of their faces on her ceiling. That’s how meaningful they are. 

 Why couldn’t Hermione have a group of girlfriends she hung out with when the boys got annoying?? Couldn’t she have a female friend or two that she really got along with?

This is an essential part of Hermione’s story. She starts book 1 as shy, nerdy, and not having friends. After the troll incident she has a connection with Harry and Ron. She doesn’t have connections with girls intentionally because it brings her and the boys closer. JKR wrote her based on her own experiences of being plain and bookish and not having that make for popularity in school. 

We know Ginny is popular and I’m assuming Lily was somewhat popular too, who are their friends then (don’t say Neville and Luna because she had to have more friends than that! And I refuse to believe Snape was Lily’s only friend)?? Why wasn’t there any mention about Harry’s godmother?? Did Molly really never have any friends to let off some steam? The same thing with Tonks and Fleur?? Why couldn’t Hermione have a group of girlfriends she hung out with when the boys got annoying?? Couldn’t she have a female friend or two that she really got along with?

Again this series of from Harrys perspective. There is a lot we don’t know about these characters because he isn’t around to see it. Ginny is in a different year than Harry so it’s not like there’s any reason for him to interact with her friends. Also yeah she’s popular but most people only have a few friends who are true intimate real friendships so saying Neville and Luna isn’t irrelevant. 

Lily is seen is a couple of flashbacks that were Snape’s memories so it’s biased to only show them. There’s no evidence that he has a godmother. Would be nice if he did but having a godparent that wasn’t in prison would’ve led to him not being raised by the Dursleys which fundamentality changes the story. 

Molly is only seen when she is around Harry and when Harry is there she is also raising her children. Ask any stay at home mother with 7 kids who lives in the middle of the country if they have an active social life. We do not see how she spends her time when the kids are at school because it’s not Harry’s purview. 

Fleur is only even seen as the champion and bill fiancé. Would it have been nice to give her more of a backstory, yes, but it’s not relevant to Harry’s story. 

Tonks is the same as being seen through the lens of an auror and an order member because that is how she interacts with Harry. 

HP is a misogynistic series written by a self proclaimed feminist.

The women in Harry Potter are not myopic. They are allowed to not just fit into a single mold of womanhood. They are nerdy, brave, traumatized, optimistic, strong, fragile, good, evil, kind, cruel, conflicted, beautiful, plain, ugly, rational, or dreamers. 

We see them grieve, betray, rebel, make friendships, walk away from them, fight, lose, kill to protect and kill out of cruelty. We see them as sporty, frilly, ambitious and we see them evolve and grow up. 

I get that hating on JKR is standard practice and it breaks my heart to see who she has become but these books are such a part of how I and a lot of people grew up and a lot of these female characters are inspirations. 

~