#she can get fucked royally actually. fuck her. i don't care. genuinely one of the worst people i've ever met and that's saying something

[blubushie]

Watching Mavis contemplate the idea of herself possibly being on the path to becoming an alcoholic is strangely cathartic after how she treated me for being an alcoholic. I'd say I wouldn't wish the shit I've gone through on my worst enemy, and that's mostly true. I wouldn't wish the shit I've gone through in full on my worst enemy.

So I hope her recovery goes quick. But I also hope it sucks. I hope she gets withdrawals that she recovers from, but I hope she suffers the fevers and the chills and the cramps and the cravings and the agony. I hope she learns a lesson in how she enables and encourages the way society treats the struggling, the less fortunate, the downtrodden, the traumatised, the addicted.

I hope she learns something from this and never speculates or utters another fucking word about anyone else's coping habits or addictions. I hope she learns to stay in her fucking lane and not judge people for the methods they use to cope.

I hope she comes away with the knowledge of what her own medicine tastes like, and I hope it's bitter.

[gay-jesus-probably]

Seeing as the Gerudo turned on Ganon, he might not have been that much better of a ruler.

First of all, we literally have no idea, because the only ancient Gerudo that we actually get to interact with is Ganondorf himself, and he has nothing to say about his own people. The ancient Gerudo sage doesn't count btw, she doesn't have a name, we never even see her face, and she has literally nothing to say except repeating the exact same dialogue as the sages for the other races. The narrative does not treat the ancient sages as people; they are four completely interchangable weapons that are owned by the royal family.

And secondly, I don't care how Ganon ruled them; the Gerudo only get one man every century, if their king sucks, they've obviously got their own system of government to fall back on. I have no idea what kind of authority the sages had among their own people, but honestly I'd say if the four of them were in charge of their respective people, then they were just puppet rulers appointed by Rauru, given that all four of them happily agreed that to sell their entire race into servitude the second Zelda asked them. Say what you will about Ganondorf, but I fucking know that if he was told the Gerudo people existed for the sole purpose of serving the glory of Hyrule, he'd drop kick Zelda into the fucking sun.

And don't get me started on the implications of the cultural differences we see between the independent Gerudo and the annexed Gerudo. The background Gerudo characters all have their own models, and we can clearly see that the ones siding with Ganon have their own unique looks - for example, the amazing lady with the mohawk that summons the molduga swarm in that one flashback. And men are never mentioned in these flashbacks at all, which implies that the Gerudo genuinely didn't care about settling down. Ganon even speaks derisively about marriage, implying that it's very rare for Gerudo women to make serious romantic commitments with men. It implies that their culture is more along the same line as their portrayal in OOT - they are a closed culture. Men trying to force their way into their areas are arrested, and mocked for being entitled dumbasses. Outsiders are only welcome if they can prove that they respect the Gerudo as people, and aren't just there to try and pick up chicks. It's never outright said, but OOT also makes it pretty clear that the Gerudo women just aren't interested in marrying outsiders - close relationships occur with other Gerudo, Hylian men are only considered useful for making babies.

Meanwhile the Gerudo we see serving Hyrule are all trying to measure up to Hylian beauty standards, and appeal to their men. Their one goal in life is to meet a man and get married. Men are welcome in their lands, and only kept out of the town itself... and even then, there's a small army of guys trying to force their way into the town anyways, which is brushed off as just haha, boys will be boys. No men allowed isn't even about independence, it's just a silly romantic tradition.

Of course this is just a fictional culture in a game world, but it's still really fucking uncomfortable that the 'evil' Gerudo are the ones that have independence, both politically and socially, and display a unique culture that refuses to tolerate disrespect from outsiders. Meanwhile the 'good' Gerudo are the ones that canonically exist to serve a kingdom where 95% of the population is light skinned (even setting aside the unfortunate implications, just saying one race exists to serve a different one is super fucked up), they have classes on how to be more appealing to Hylian's, and their entire social structure is built around finding a Hylian man to marry, making them all inherently dependent on the goodwill of outsiders. Even their biggest value of 'women only' is treated as a joke; men trying to trespass in BOTW are just shoved back out the door, letting them keep trying all day if they want. The crowds of men plotting to force their way in are laughed off as a joke. Nobody cares that there's a guy running laps around their city walls and trying to trick women into being alone with him. I mean for fucks sake, in TOTK we find that the creepy guy trying to lure women away has taken advantage of a massive disaster to get into the town, and he's still there once things return to normal. You can't kick him out, or alert anyone to his presence. And the Gerudo just tolerate Hylians blatantly ignoring their boundaries. For fucks sake, TOTK even reveals that the seven legendary heroines they've been revering the whole time were actually completely useless and unable to achieve anything... because they needed the eighth hero, a Hylian man to teach them basic tactics and do all the heavy lifting.

TOTK does not respect the Gerudo people in the slightest. It doesn't respect anyone who isn't Hylian or Zonai.

...This got a little off track, but the point I'm trying to make is, no, I don't consider the Gerudo turning on Ganon to mean anything. The entire game does not feel like the real story of what happened, it feels like the propaganda version of history meant to make Hyrule look as good as possible. I genuinely cannot believe that we're being told the real story about the Imprisoning War, because none of it feels real, and we don't get to know any details that might have made Hyrule look even slightly imperfect. We're told that Ganondorf is evil because he hates Hyrule, and he hates Hyrule because he's evil. The Gerudo people followed Ganondorf and saw him as a hero of their people, then suddenly he was their worst enemy. Hyrule is a perfect kingdom that has strong, equal alliances with the other races, but also all of the non-Hylian races exist for the sole purpose of serving Hyrule, and their leaders are expected to swear eternal loyalty and submission to the Hylian royal family. King Rauru and Queen Sonia united all of the races in peace and equality, which is why they're sitting on the world's supply of magical nuclear missiles, and every member of the Hylian royal family is allowed to walk around wearing them as cute accessories, but everyone else only gets them at the last second, and they all need to outright swear to only use that power to benefit Rauru and his descendants.

There's just so many fucked up contradictions, and so many hints of something more nuanced going on... but the story refuses to acknowledge any of it, and just keeps aggressively pushing the narrative that Hyrule is the ultimate good and couldn't possibly do anything wrong. I don't even believe that Ganon was a bad king honestly; we never hear why his people stopped following him. We also never even see if the Gerudo people turned on him at all; all we know is the ancient Gerudo sage wanted him dead, and given that she also happily sold her people into slavery, she's not exactly the most trustworthy source of information. All we know is that Ganondorf was a hero to his people, only one of his citizens is ever shown having an issue with him (and her motives are never explained), and then he lost the war and was sealed away, leaving his people open to be conquered by Zelda and annexed into Hyrule. By the time we see any Gerudo actually opposing Ganon (apart from the ancient sage), it's been ten thousand years since the war, and all anyone knows is the Hylian version of the story.

[alkalische]

so for the past 4 months i've been brainrotting about theresis on twitter priv because nobody fucking gets him as a character actually.

anyone who says that he isn't very interesting is WRONG. he's actually very fascinating but in a way that's low key and easy to write off

to start off, something that's very important to theresis's characterisation is the fact that he's implied to be apparently very adherent to sarkaz tradition. to 'not fuck around with the dead'- this can be seen in manfred's conversation with the cluster.

it's explicitly expressed here:

except from Ch 11:

"Just one Sarkaz, no army, no servants. He rose from his throne, laid down the authority that he had never truly cared for, and walked here."

i LOVE the description of him here- when he appears in the story for the first time, NOBODY realises until it's too late.

His ONE goal was to PERSONALLY kill amiya and just eliminate the threat- no fanfare, no monologung, straight down to business.

He's not even particularly sneaky it's just that he's just such a regular ass dude that people just don't realise he's there

"laid down the authority he never truly cared for."

In the lore book, it's actually stated that theresis never bothered to declare himself king after the death of theresa, and made no effort in searching for the new sarkaz king.

for power isn't what he was after. his goal wasn't to be king, it was for a way to execute his plans, because the one thing he ACTUALLY cares about is the future of the sarkaz.

also:

i love how the text explicitly says that even his sword is rather unremarkable. he got to this point with his sheer tactical acumen and his pure skill with his sword

something that's really interesting is actually how he's described as a 'sword wielding guard', and theresa a 'royal dressmaker', before theresa was king- and he's even DRESSED like a guard.

He's very specifically still dressed like a sarkaz General, (uniform + red cape, shares this with Manfred) and an utterly unremarkable one.

the lore book also describes Theresis also being eligible to be chosen for the crown, but he willingly gave it up to continue his role as theresa's sword- and it describes him 'severing the horns of the sarkaz that refused to follow the orders of a dressmaker.'

i think that to him, he did care about theresa, but she was his king first and his sister second. what she meant to him wasn't just 'family', it was what she represented, her role.

Which was why despite his adherence to Sarkaz tradition, he was reluctantly willing to to let the confessarius bring her back, if it serves to advance his goals.

The biggest point is that he literally doenst give a FUCK about anything that isn't important to the future of the sarkaz. He's the scale of 'for the greater good' cranked up to the max.

His plan is deeply fucked up, but the core premise of it is that it must be done- and the craziest part of his plan, compared to theresa's, is that it might actually work to remove the shackles of the sarkaz from their oppressors.

genuinely so sick and tired of people reducing him down to 'villan who is hot' or 'generic fantasy bad guy' THATS THE MOST BORING INTERPRETATION you could POSSIBLY have for him.

[kerubimcrepin]

LIVEBLOG: Wakfu Season 4, Episode 7

Grandpa piss, being a part of the Remote Viewers Division doesn't prevent you from being a deadbeat. KILL him Eva.

What were YOU doing at the devil's sacrement, King [insert name here] Sheran-Sharm!

I love women who are tortured for an eternity and then die in some way that will not kill them in a way that matters #signaliscore posts

Man haha I wonder if this might be saying something about Yugo (and Joris, but that goes without saying on this blog)

I have seen people criticize this moment, but let me be the devil's advocate: after seeing years of fans saying that Flopin is the boring twin, or that Eva has no backstory, them getting a problem-causing grandpa is literally so good.

And I think I understand why Flopin did this, since he says himself that he actually feels like the boring twin... I understand why he felt like going with this man, to learn about this guild, and where he comes from.

[starts hacking up blood] you know what other duo of demigods in this franchise had a twin who felt like they were living in the shadow of their sibling and his wonderful white fur—- [is shot by animal control]

I loooove comparing all the characters in this show, because it's genuinely a good way to approach Krosmoz, since Tot likes exporing the same themes (immortality/family) over, and over, and over, and over. And what I can say rn is: man, having normal parents makes jealousy-based plots much more tame. Atcham went in a "I want to be great like you, so I need to end you, you don't care about me like I care about you anyway" direction instead of a "I want to be great like you, so I'm gonna leave and work on myself, and then we can stand side by side someday"

I do think he is going to hurt his sister in some major way with this decision and in the end it will be a bitter, or bittersweet memory <3 I believe in the power of toxicity <3

To elaborate on the thing I said about titles, Astra is the ruling queen (to be precise, she is the daughter of the king of Bonta who was mentioned in seasons 1-2 and OVAs, who seems to have passed away); while her wife is either queen-consort, or a princess-consort.

However, Wakfu kingdoms may have worse, weirder rules than real life about inheritance.

The reason I am not getting my panties in a twist about the same-sex aspect of this (besides me supporting toxic royal yuri + being against homophobia or whatever) is that this is a magical universe, idk. they could adopt or get magically pregnant. It's literally a non-issue for me. UNLIKE PEOPLE NOT UNDERSTANDING THE CONSORT SYSTEM AND—-

Joris is present in all the kingdoms as Yugo's emotional support mediator/ambassador, except for Brakmar. I assume they simply do not let this fucking man into their palace, and rightfully so. He's literally a Bontarian narc. He'd use that chance to steal documents or some shit.

Btw I find it so funny how he keeps the same neutrally haunted look.

If a Bonatrian political leader goes for a week without wanting to start genocide against a people who isn't into the main 12 gods, they start getting the shakes from withdrawal.

I imagine living for hundreds of years and experiencing unimaginable suffering would make one pretty averse to being bossed around by some random guy who was born into wealth and has not known a second of grief in their life.

I feel it is important to point out: Joris was the one who made sure the meeting with Astra happened. He also felt this was important enough to try and organize meetings with other kings and queens. This is a dangerous situation.

As always, absolutely nobody listened. Nobody ever listens.

As I was saying, I imagine living for hundreds of years and experiencing un—-

I think the fact that Joris went with them has to say something about him. Yes, it is probably his sense of responsibility — he doesn't exactly want bad things to happen...

But also it explicitly puts a wedge between him and the Bontarian government. He values Yugo more.

[pruneunfair]

Characters I hate the most in remarried empress

5:Heinrey

A lot of people dislike him now for being a cruel bastard to the point of torturing foreign nobles just so he can favor his wife. While that is messed up I'll take that over his constant "UwU my queen~" persona that he displays 90% of the time because at least the former is the remnants of his inital personality. It goes from kind of funny to straight up cringey, I do not see what Navier likes so much about his puppy guise, he's so low because to be fair, he was introduced as a scumbag (kind of), he just spends so much time simping that it's basically tossed to the side

4:Lebetti

I know a lot of fans say Lebetti is young and can learn better, she's 17 sure but it took her entire family being executed just so she'd be inclined to care about Ian. She's basically a mini me of Lotteshu and when's she not doing that, she's another blind Navier worshipper who is used for as a stand in for the reader, I don't know how fans didn't realize their stand in is a slave owner but I digress. The only reason she's at number 4 is that while I do find messed up she gets to raise Rashtas child and likely feed a biased view of her to Ian, if she really wanted to be evil, she would've let Ian become a slave for his mother's crimes so I guess there's that.

3:Kaufman

Jesus christ this man is a walking, talking manifestation of second ML syndrome. He's essentially a plot device for no other purpose other than propping up Navier as so beautiful that multiple royal guys want her and so shit can go down , And of course the obvious slipping love potions in others for no other reason then "the plot calls for it", he doesn't even face the consequences. He's fucking creepy as well since he's STILL in love with Navier even after she's married and pregnant GET OVER IT MAN! In the end he just gets with Charlotte (Kosairs ex fiancé) so writting wise: his whole "nice guy" problems can be solved

2:Alan

I really just have a personal vendetta against the whole Rimwell family. The moment I lost all hope in remarried empress is when I was expected to sympathize with a rapist. The narrative wants readers to believe Alan was wronged even though he was the one to participate in keeping Ian away from Rashta until she got rich, even though it was HIM who decided to abandon Rashta after she wanted to run away with him. Yeah he's a good father so what? Wow! A dad actually raising his kid how amazing, it's almost like that's called the bare minimum. The moment he tried to say that Ian deserved to be treated like a prince because he was Rashtas son is when the comments finally saw him for what he was, he makes up for all this by getting executed in the end

1:Laura

Your probably wondering out of all these scumbags, why is a random side character on top? Well, the characters below at some point had personality traits that made then complex characters in the past or they did something to make up a little for it making them a tiny bit more tolerable. Laura however has never once shown any signs of any other personality other than "Your majesty! Your so wonderful and the best! That slave needs to know its place around you!" At least all Naviers other ladies in waiting have some sort of gimmick to them or in rare cases they have other stories going on with just them. Laura's gimmick is that she is willing to hit a slave for Navier even if said slave made a genuine mistake and isn't used to palace intrigue. Her face pisses me off everytime I look at it and everytime she speaks it's never anything besides love for the leads and hatred for anyone against Navier. she needs to get off her glazing and go back to bullying Cinderella with her evil stepsister design she's got.

Anyway let me know if there's any other manhwa/comic to rant about because I'm sure everyone's probably tired of me bitching about remarried empress

[anonzentimes]

Except it's not actually a hierarchy he's created in his head. The thing that so many fans fail to get is that what is truly terrifying about Nagito Komaeda is the fact that there are lots of Nagito Komaedas out there in the world of Danganronpa. People who's sense of self-worth has been royally fucked by the culture that Hope's Peak (and later the Future Foundation) helped foster. Nagito is simply the one who says the quiet stuff out loud. Like something that's really telling in hindsight is before Episode 4, Hajime never actually calls Nagito out on his talk of talentless people being worthless. Because as the climax of the game makes clear, Hajime is one of those many other Nagito Komaedas out there.

Honestly, great point anon thank you! While he undoubtedly does have a hierarchy in his head I actually did forget to mention in my ramble that this specific trait is mostly a learned thing from the world that they live in (never let me cook at 3am again smh). It's commonly accepted and believed in, Hajime is the biggest example that we see. The "objective" fact everyone accepts that the talented are better than the talentless. Hajime only cares when he learns he's "worthless," and it takes a toll on his personal self esteem.

Nagito believes his talent is worthless because it harms everyone around him and only benefits himself, and when there's no one to harm it goes after him, so he considers himself on the same level as someone who isn't an ultimate. Just combining this with his unhealthy coping mechanism and obsession with Hope and we get some of the most important traits of his character. His self esteem may come from growing up with terrible experiences and blaming himself, or that he's on the same level as someone who isn't an ultimate.

I do think that it's upsetting they play into how he thinks he's worthless by never caring to give him reciprocation or just not at all being bothered by his absence when he's suspended it just really sucks.

The closet thing he gets to reciprocation is Chisa which her caring about him shocks him, and Chiaki a little bit because she's trying to help the whole class and he's included. In Dr2 he is drawn to Hajime and he attempts to get his attention and approval pretty often, they enjoy each other's company at least before things get crazy and Hajime shows reciprocation. Nagito's more of an actual threat in Dr2 and I can understand more their fear and negligence, I still think tying him up and not letting him go anywhere is a horrible thing to do to anyone. I understand it more but It still feels upsetting.

I'm happy for Nagito that Hajime is in his life though, he seems to genuinely love him/care for him quite a lot. Hajime seems to care for him too, even when he's afraid and upset. It's not to the same degree as Nagito, mostly because of Nagito's threatening presence once he loses his filter, but Hajime does care for him and has enjoyed time with him. Their relationship can and has been healed after the killing game and he can actually have one of the healthier, if not healthiest, relationships in his life with Hajime.

(Also I say love because saying like doesn't feel right it doesn't express enough emotion and relationship as general relationship I don't care what you ship lmao)

I really do enjoy seeing fan works and such where his classmates, even if not the to the extent of Hajime's reciprocation, they genuinely care for him and treat him a lot better.

Anyways!! Just wanted to say with this reply some extra stuff I didn't before, some restatements, and the fact yup you're completely right!! Sorry I forgot to mention it in my original ramble post thanks so much anon! :)

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Wow, this was amazing. I could never read anything (not even a tweet) this little asshole puts on paper and I really appreciate you taking the bullet on this.

As I read, I wanted to put in post-it notes for things I wanted to comment on. I don't remember them now, but it all comes down to the same thing:

Omid Scobie is full of shit. No one contacted him about the Queen dying. If they did, he'd have gotten it out there that he knew it was coming before it came so he could be important.

Omid Scobie doesn't have contacts left in England. He just makes shit up at will.

Omid Scobie is seething about his loss of importance. When MM came along, his ticket to stardom was in hand. It now lost. All is lost, I say! And he will never stop trying to make everyone pay for his loss of perceived status and access to gossip.

Omid Scobie, who once looked like Omid Scobie, is one to talk about racism. When you spend thousands and thousands of dollar, pain, and time to look as white as can be, you lose your credibility. Well, whatever credibility you might have once had.

Omid Scobie, shut the fuck up about Diana and William. BRFRumor, you nailed it. William actually knew his mother. I am OG Diana. Adored her then, adore her now, will always adore her. That doesn't mean I think she was perfect or an angel. I think she was a woman trying to maneuver her way in the world, a world owned and operated by men, like so many women before her. She was sensitive and she was real. She genuinely cared for people and causes. She genuinely loved her husband and was in way over her head in the situation she married into. She was indeed complex and complicated, and she made some really stupid, nasty mistakes when she was divorcing, as many do. William knows and accepts all of that about her - and still adores her. Harry doesn't even know who his mother was. He adores his idealization of her and he and OS make that out to be Harry and only Harry knowing and loving his mother. Harry would never dream of actually trying to figure out who is mother was. It's all coattails shit with all three of them: H, MM, OS. They want to bask in Diana's reflected glory. Psh. Instead, all they've done is turn all kinds of people against Diana since they insist they are like her. Not one of them is anything like her.

Okay, I've gotten myself so worked up on this last one I can't remember the rest. :) Your ending was brilliant. If only I could remember what it was. :)

Thank you for taking the time to do this! It's a brilliant piece of work!

Yeah, Scobie's chapter on Diana is an interesting one. It's all over the place so you just want to tell him 'Get to the point, man!'

But I think his point is this: Diana has been the face of the royal brand for so long, whether it's the idealized Diana of her 20s, the global force for change and good in her 30s, her fashion and style, and/or her tragic death) that the Palace no longer wants her there. So they're trying to discredit her to where she no longer "is" the royal brand. It won't work, is Scobie's conclusion because like "her statue's reflection in the palace pond...depending on the light, her true story briefly vanishes but always reappears."

He seems to suggest that it's Harry and Meghan's struggles with the BRF that keeps Diana's true story alive (because they've gone through similar things) in spite of William, Charles, and Camilla.

And for Scobie to believe William thinks there is no place for Diana in his monarchy, it does point to Scobie not having any sources left. Or, as anon points out, making shit up for the drama. Because William's made it clear there's a place for his mother's memory in his future. He just doesn't browbeat us to death with it the way Harry does.

[perpetualexistence]

Tell us about your other Alenoaheather AU(s). I know you have them. 🔫

- Totally not Ophe

Hello completely random anon whose identity will forever be a mystery!

See, with the way you've phrased this, you've actually opened yourself up to a few options. I'll tell you a little bit about each one and you can tell me which one you want to learn more about first.

Currently unnamed G/T Alenoaheather

Definitely the most detailed AU of the bunch. It's got backstories and character arcs for each of the three. Probably the best way to describe it is Urban fantasy since none of them are (completely) human, but they pretty much live in a modern setting.

It does get dark at times. Think Beastars-adjacent in terms of vibes. Including the murder bits. But it's mostly self-defense or being forced into it, so take that as you will. I will say that it's nowhere near the levels of toxic relationships that something like the Sea Monster AU has. And they do actually improve as people. These three still get drama mind you, but it's from keeping secrets rather than being genuinely manipulative. ...Well. Too manipulative. It does have Alejandro and Heather in it. But it's got fluff moments because fluffy giant/tiny dynamics are precious and must be preserved at all costs.

It's got Alejandro who's a giant-shifter able to grow even larger than most other giant-shifters thank to his Burromuerto heritage. The Burromuertos are a completely upstanding giant-shifter family and definitely don't have any incredibly fucked up family traditions they expect Alejandro to continue.

Noah's a were-mongoose. Werefolk come in a large variety, though mongoose is on the far more uncommon side. Unlike most werefolk, this kid genius actually figured out a way to not completely give into his instincts during full moons. This has absolutely no negative repercussions on his wellbeing.

Heather who's a giant-shifter hybrid unable to grow thanks to her human heritage from her father's side. She's the only one of her siblings unable to grow. She definitely doesn't have a complex about this. But she has managed to find her own way of making herself just as much of a physical threat as her two boyfriends. (Aka the day I take away from Heather's inherent badassery is the day I die.)

Serial Killer AU

It's exactly what it sounds like. With exactly the vibes the name implies. Definitely the darker one. They're just a thriving villain throuple with a body count. It's also mostly Noah-focused so far as I haven't figured out Alejandro or Heather's motivations.

Noah stumbles across a body of a serial killer spree, only to be the first to realize that one serial killer is actually two. Curiosity leads him to investigate...but not for the reasons you'd think.

(For this one that's pretty much all I can share before just going into the whole AU)

And then, on the completed side since might as well dump all the Alenoaheather AUs:

Noah and the Beanstalk

Another giant/tiny AU! This one's actually got its own post already. I don't really have anything else that I didn't already mention in that post. But it's my blog, so I'll advertise my own AUs as I please!

Collab AUs

The Royal Court AU

Originally named The Lords In Black AU because it was originally inspired by me watching an animatic of The Summoning from Nerdy Prudes Must Die. Then it evolved into something far beyond that where the name doesn't seem quite right anymore.

It's got Alenoaheather as the worst teens at school and unashamed about it. ...Until Alejandro goes missing, and nobody else really seems to care. Leaving Heather and Noah to investigate and try their best not to be next.

They fail, but hey, at least they get cool eldritch powers out of it!

This AUs also dark because the premise is them being kidnapped to be used as sacrifices. And it's got plenty of eldritch horror in it. The posts for it are scattered because they ended up going into two separate reblog chains with @total-drama-brainrot and @ur-local-brown-multifandomist. If you look up 'lords in black au' on my blog you should be able to find most of it. I'm going to just centralize it for ease of organization one day. It'll just be. You know. Effort.

Also, @ur-local-brown-multifandomist is currently making a fic for it! It's their first one, so feel free to check it out.

Fake Dating Alenoaheather AU

This one's a collab AU between me and @total-drama-brainrot, a person you have never met because you are a completely anonymous anon. Noah gets caught in between Heather and Alejandro's attempts to make the other jealous by each making him pretend to be their boyfriend. Shenanigans and drama ensue. The posts for this are also scattered and tagged on both our blogs, and one day we might make a fic about it. For now, there actually is someone already making a fic about it that you can feel free to read!

I still can't believe two different people decided to start making fic of AUs I helped create. It's wild, and I'm incredibly touched.

"Why are all of these AUs except for one dark in at least some way?"

I honestly couldn't tell you exactly why my brain works the way it does. It just decided that the two canon villains and one-villain coded teenager deserve to be at least a little feral. As a treat.

Maybe one day I'll have an AU with them that's not so dark. That day will be a surprise to us all.

But yeah, that's all of the Alenoaheather AUs I got! The first two I'm more than happy to go into more detail for if you ask!

[phoenixpearl-ashes]

Alright, I've had food and gathered my thoughts (though to be honest most of them are still just incoherent happy yells) regarding the new finale party. So here we are, divided by each character below the cut, in roughly the arbitrary order I talked to them in.

Halsin- I was pleasantly surprised he went back to the moonrise region. Less surprised that he chills as a bear a lot of the time, but still delightful. But oh my goodness hearing he gets to settle down and take care of a bunch of kids? Highlight of the conversation. And he gave me a wooden duck! I will treasure it forever. Hug 10/10, one of the few party members not being just dwarfed by my dragonborn durge.

Astarion- Yes I know I arrived with him but I wanted to make sure he was good. As mentioned already I was so freaking happy to see how much he's managed to relax in the six months. And oh my gods him saying six months with Aeranan was equal weight to the literal 200 years of torture? Good gods. Aeranan loves this vampire so dearly. Also, absolutely fascinated by one of his lines saying that we have eternity likely confirming my theory that redeemed durge is still immortal. Which is awesome both for further story purposes and because I would absolutely hate to leave him alone again. Hug was 100/10, fucking loved the zoom in on him just tucked close and relaxed.

Lae'zel- I was incredibly happy to see her, even astrally projected because I royally fucked up her quest last game and she was a fugitive. So to see her this time, not only alive but in good spirits, was incredible. Orpheus remains alive, albeit in mind flayer form, and it seems likely to me that they stay in touch. She's doing amazing as the leader of the revolution. I wanted to hug her very badly, but alas, magic projection says no. Teensy bit sad I couldn't say hi to the red dragons but maybe after the whole war thing is over I can go and visit. ALSO she admitted she missed me so I am feeling so very loved right now.

Karlach- Karlach! I was so happy to see her okay. I missed the chance to hug her because apparently it's a missable dialogue choice so that was sad. But, the fact that she's up here again and there's actually hope to fix her engine!!! I'm so fucking happy about that. I hope they fix her heart and we all get to chuck the old engine at Zariel's head as it explodes. Also really happy she's getting on well with Wyll. She didn't deserve to be alone ever again.

Wyll- The blade of Avernus is as dashing as ever. Absolutely love that he reclassed into ranger and is just massacring devils. Fuck them up Wyll. Also the fact that we managed to keep his father alive this time around and they;re both proud of each other is just. Yes. I don't know if he'll stay in Avernus if Karlach can leave but I hope they stay a dynamic devil slaying duo for as long as they can.

Gale- Ahh he's a professor! So proud of him for not going mad with power and getting to settle down sans death orb. I'm less enthused he seems to still be vying for Mystra's attentions, but hey it's his life. I hugged him immediately because we are magic pals forever and he always looks like he needs on quite frankly. Another 10/10 hug Genuinely love his sincerity all through the game on his care for our friendship, and this portion was no different. Aeranan is going to guest lecture at his class with Astarion sometime and make every student gag at their lovey-dovey behavior.

(Bonus Tara)-I love Tara so much. Fantastic tressym no notes. Absolutely an honor to meet her. I would 100% give her the best place by the fire.

Jaheira- Friendly teasing with her continues as always. Teased Aeranan about the idea of starting a family although quite frankly I'm not sure that would even work given Aeranan and Astarion's...everything. But cute thoughts regardless. Any future kids would call Jaheira auntie and she would complain the whole time and love it. I did promise not to let any of them get into blood duels though. Aeranan's life aside, it was excellent to hear she's doing well and reconnected to her kids, and is getting the Harpers all coordinated on the city restoration. She seems happiest when she's busy, even if it does involve saving Minsc from himself every day or so.

Shadowheart- I'm really glad she's getting to live that free life she was robbed of as a child. Perhaps one day Nocturne can rejoin her as well but in the meantime its a lovely thing to think of her just drifting through the world as she pleases, making some alcohol perhaps, calling on old friends, and simply put, living. Hugged her with zero hesitation as well. 10/10 gave her multiple hugs throughout the evening because she always deserves them. I'm glad she's decided to pick up the responsibility of party planning in future though because Aeranan does not have the social skills to arrange this nonsense every 6 months or so. Well. They'd try for this group.

Minsc- Not even remotely surprised this man had to be portalled in from a jail cell. I was worried for about 5 secinds and them remembered him tearing open a mimic from the inside, so I think he'll be fine. Besides, Jaheira wouldn't leave him to rot in a jail cell, no matter how foolish he was to land himself there. Boo was cute as ever.

Scratch- Happy to see the good boy still doing well. Did not remember to have an animal speaking potion but ah well. Hilarious that the astral prism is a fetch toy now.

Owlbear Cub- Extremely cute and sweet as always. Gave him many many pats. Also arranged for him to live with Halsin. I think he'd be well able to take care of him and was very enthusiastic about the kids loving him. Our little cub deserves a happy and chill life.

Volo- Hilarious that he showed up without an invitation. Probably going to have to sue him for fraud/identity theft/libel at some point but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Milil- I adore that we had a forgotten music deity as our evening entertainment. Super happy when I recognized him, obliged by playing songs that made me cry before the party was over. Hope I can chat with him again at future parties.

And there it was. A night to fondly remember and a group to return to time and time again. Friends, comrades, and the family Aeranan would always choose.

To us.

[hetafluidtexan]

Some of my ideas Switzerland & Liechtenstein's Relationship throughout time

(I will note first: These are just MY thoughts and reasoning, so if you don't agree with it that's fine, just please be civil about it, anyhow with that passed)

Overall, I tend to imagine Liechtenstein and Switzerland's happening in sort of four "phases" since i don't have a better word for it:

1) Strangers Phase

2) Rescue & Recovery Phase

3) Hero Worship Phase

4) Symbiotic Phase

Phase One - Strangers

Now tbh this isn't really a phase in the relationship, but I'm still going to include it to be complete and give some context to stuff

Firstly, I do not imagine them being siblings by blood/relation in any way. They have separate histories and backgrounds and outside of any AUs that state to the contrary you can assume that they are unrelated. They are both young adults that had nothing to do with each other until right after World War I when fate pushed them together, and on that note

Phase Two - Rescue & Recovery

So right after World War I Liechtenstein is kinda fucked as her economy is spiralling into a possible collapse due to embargos for having close relations with Austria. This leaves her ill, weak, and ready to go the way of the dinosaur as all her attempts to reverse the disaster don't do much.

Then you know what happens, Switzerland finds her on the street and decides letting this woman just die is kinda cringe and so takes her in. Then he helps her by letting her rest, recover, and heal up.

From this, and entering more headcanon territory, I actually tend to imagine she was rather surprised and shocked.

This is because she had a neglected childhood of sorts, with her own rulers living in Austria far more than in her lands, and while Austria himself did try to be there, he often was too busy with other matters to interact with her.

On top of this, she would have lived through eras of Might Makes Right & Royale Politik, watching as small states just as herself were torn apart and annexed by the nations around her; indeed she only even survived to 1914 by carefully playing the major powers against each other, positioning herself inbetween them, and using Royale Politik to make herself too costly to take due to allies.

All of this resulting in a somewhat cold and cynical view of the world, with an expectation nations only survived through military might or making themselves too costly to attack; while trust and caring for others was at best a form of bargaining or bribery, and at worst, a way to get behind someone to stab them in the back.

Meaning that when Switzerland did decide to help her unconditionally despite how easy it would have been to just conquer her, she was awed. An act of honest kindness in a world she expected to have made that kind of thing impossible had a large effect on her; enough to lead to

Phase Three - Hero Worship

This period in their relationship probably doesn't have a definitive "start" date but I do tend to imagine it as why her early relationship with Switzerland seemed to be so "Blindly follow whatever he says" and she's kind of learning how to do a healthy relationship.

She's kind of star struck and enamoured with Switzerland right after the fact, enough so she doesn't really consider his personal faults or issues with his ideas. He saved her and treated her with kindness when he had no ulterior reason to, so whatever he says or does must be equally good; even if she doesn't really get it personally.

It's here also we see Liech cutting her braids off and hair short to closer mimic Switz's own hair style. And later, putting away her old dress in favor of the military uniforms Switz wear (and accidentally the incident that gets Liech her ribbon lol). It's why she can come off as kind of one note here, since she really is just copying and following him blindly.

However, as time goes on and they start to get genuinely closer and learn more about one another, the glow around Switz fades. She still cares about him, but her idolization of him wanes, leading to

Phase Four - Symbiotic

The fourth and current "phase", a healthier and more symbiotic relationship between them. Liech isn't idolizing Switz anymore, but they still care deeply for each other and it's here you see that real de facto sibling relationship.

Liech will call out Switz on shit without hesitation like when she immediately picked up on the weird situation with him and Austria, and isn't going to blindly follow or copy him. She also is back to being a lot more independent and probably lives a lot on her own again, though still keeping close contact with Switz and visiting often between her own work and visiting others.

With the metaphorical symbiosis, what I mean is that both of them help each other in different but equally vital ways.

How Switz helps Liech is obvious, helping her physically in both a protection and support sense. She's not incapable or incompetent by any means, but she's a smaller young woman, and sometimes to solve a problem you just want some big muscles. Be that to fight off potential attackers or just help with carrying a lot of heavy equipment like looms, farm tools, and desks.

With Liech, it's not as obvious but equally important: she helps him on an emotional and mental level. She can act as someone he can vent to and be vulnerable around, and draws him out of his shell and a habit of simply bottling up his emotions and thoughts to let them stew. Now he is able to actually communicate those feelings, and has someone he can trust help him process and handle them. Along with that, her presence means he just isn't so alone. He still is a rather introverted person of course, but there is a fine difference between being alone and being lonely; and Liech helps him not be the latter as often or severely.

[elviriel]

What do you think Aleksander's rule would have entailed?

That's a great question, and one I was actually thinking about while answering the previous ask. I think it's a worthwhile exercise to wonder what would Ravka have looked like if The Darkling had gotten his way - and I admit, my knowledge of the Grishaverse political details has gotten too fuzzy for a very detailed answer, but I'll give it a shot!

Honestly, I think step 1 of a Darkling rule would be war with Fjerda. And it probably wouldn't be the only war he's willing to wage, but the Drüskelle threat to Grisha would, I think, be his priority. So while I do believe the Darkling cares about Grisha, and genuinely (or at least, as genuinely as he can feel anything) wants them to be free and respected, I don't think it would be an immediate paradise for them the moment he seizes power. The Grisha would still be militarized, and I don't think their conscription into his army would cease. I see the Darkling as a guy who can't stop. Eliminate one threat, then you move onto the other. The trolley problem in turbo mode I quoted in the other post - I don't think it would ever stop, and he would likely do some pretty fucked-up stuff for the sake of securing what he perceives as a better outcome. I also think people would be terrified of him**. The Darkling taking power wouldn't necessarily change people's views on Grisha - it might actually worsen matters. But I don't just mean the Ravkan people. I think his ministers, advisors, etc - would be scared of him, and with good reason, and a lot of them would probably dream of the day they can mount a successful coup against him. That being said, I don't necessarily think he would be bad for Ravka. The books imply that the royal family (pre-Nikolai, at least) live lavishly, with little regard for the people, and the Darkling... well, wouldn't? It's hard not to chide myself for being too generous toward the Darkling whenever I have the instinct to praise him xD but I remember it being implied in the books that he doesn't lead a particularly luxurious life. Now, that could be optics, but I think the Darkling is a "get down and dirty" kind of guy. He wouldn't be the type to sit on a throne while people fight for him or starve. He'd be right there in the trenches. **A Darkling rule with Alina by his side - which, you know, would be his ideal, as the trilogy implies, and also the premise of many a-fanfic, including my favorite, might... not make him "softer", but I think it might mitigate the public's opinion of him. I hated Season 2 of Shadow and Bone with a burning passion, but I did like the "Let me be your monster" line, and I do very much perceive Ruling Couple Darklina in this way- which isn't necessarily everyone's cup of tea. A lot of people enjoy Dark Alina, which I get, but I have trouble imagining her EVER being on board with the Darkling's ruthless proclivities. She's a compassionate little bean! But yeah, I imagine Aleksander as the King who will do what he must, and is generally feared/perhaps reviled by his people, while Alina is far better-liked. I could see people going through Alina when they're too afraid of going to Aleksander directly - and I could see him letting it happen, too. I don't think he's necessarily opposed to mercy, but he can't be seen as merciful, so if his wife's doing the Nice Things, then he gets to keep his public persona of "don't fuck with me." I also think that while this arrangement would work for him on an intellectual and strategic level, he'd also resent it. The books imply this, too: that while the Darkling has accepted the way he's seen, and uses it to his advantage, he also craves recognition, and very much resents that people hate him when in his mind, HE'S the one doing what's necessary for Ravka- meanwhile Alina hesitates and flounders (his perception, again!) and gets all the love. It's this funny contradiction where this perception works for him, but also likely makes him so, so bitter xD

I'm not sure I fully answered the question, but at the risk of always referring to the same person, I'd recommend Out of Time by Destiniesfic. It also gives a picture of what a "winning" Darkling is like as a ruler, and while it takes place in a future Ravka, it's a very insightful read, and I consider it canon in terms of characterization. (The fic is Darklina though, so if that's not your thing, I take back my rec.)

Thank you SO MUCH for asking, it makes me feel all special that someone wants my opinion on Darkling stuff xD I hope that was a fun read if you read this far! ❤️❤️

[lightparty-fullparty]

I have a lot of thoughts about Zenos' role in Stormblood and the way the game handles his introduction and subsequent fight encounters leading up to Ala Mihgo and the Royal Menagire.

I want to start with a basic declaration of I genuinely really enjoy Zenos as a character. I think there's a lot to him that I personally find very compelling. The extreme apathy, ruthless drive towards his one goal, the curiousity that becomes obsession. His appearances in Endwalker added a lot as well, and I was beyond excited to see him show up in Ultima Thul to help fight Endsinger.

I think he's neat, basically.

Saything that, I don't like his role in Stormood all that much. Or rather, I don't like how he's used.

I'm going to start with the Rhalgar's Reach battle since that's the first meaningful interaction with him.

It does not make any sense that he spares the WoL. You battle him, and he sou dly defeats you. I do not think there is enough justification given for why he allows you to live in that moment. Because there was no real indication that the WoL did any damage to him during the Duty. Like, you get jobbed. The trope where the new antagonist crushes a character the audience knows to he strong, in order to establish the new threat as EVEN BIGGER THAN BEFORE.

Zenos, who was shown to have mercilessly cut down a bunch of NPCs and Y'stola before you arrived, should not have spared you. IIRC he even calls you a disappointment. He had expected more, and you let him down.

Now, this can obviously be explained with game logic. You are level 60, Zenos is level 70. He is stronger than you. He is the final boss. You have to level up and become stronger throughout the expansion, and then you will be able to get a proper rematch.

But narratively, it doesn't work for me. I can not see the logic for him to bother sparing you. Not in this instance. Not when he's clearly and definitively won. It feels too gamey. It's too obvious that the only reason you didn’t die is because you're the MC, and you have to play the rest of the game.

So how would I change it?

Well, to start. I wouldn't have Zenos be the Viceroy. I don't think it makes any sense that he's in charge. He just doesn't care enough. He doesn't work as a politically themed antagonist to me. It actually detracts from the Ala Mihgo sections for me because, well, it's just not as compelling as Yostuyu and her relationship to Doma. Fordola is great don't get me wrong, but it's overshadowed.

To me. Zenos, and his sole interest and passion being seeking strong opponents to fight, should have been more of a straight narrative foil to the Warrior of Light. He should have been the Empire's strongest. The soilder they ship out to wherever they need a battle or rebellion quelled and crushed. The one sent to turn the tide like you do for the Alliance.

Your battle at the Reach should have been more balanced. More evenly matched. You could have the WoL still lose. Perhaps because of interference from the rest of the Garlean army. Or because they were distracted by Y'stola or Lyse or someone else. But to me, it needed to be obvious that you were the first actual fight Zenos had. That he truly enjoyed and felt something because of. He lets you live because he wants to fight you again. Without distractions or interefance. He doesn't fucking care if Garlemald still controls Ala Mihgo or Doma. He never has. He wants a good fight, and he's finally goddamn found it.

So he lets you go. You head for Doma for the same reasons, to split the Empire's attention and to try and get more allies to help the now broken Ala Mihgan resistance.

This time, Zenos shows up in Doma because he's being sent by the Empire to hunt you down and kill you. They're already scared of you. Of course, they want you dead, and Zenos managed to beat you once before.

Yugiri isn't after Zenos this time. She's after Yotsuyu and wasn't expecting Zenos to be there. You were only told the Crown Prince was visiting, and now you know who Zenos is. So you battle again, and it's a draw this time. Interrupted due to the villagers showing up to help you out. Zenos gives you his speech. Maybe this time, it resonates a little more because the fights have been more interesting, more challenging, and more FUN. And you feel that as a player, you want to be Zenos because you've been so, so close each time. And it felt fair. Hard. But fair.

Now you take care of Doma, and you head back across the seas to Ala Mihgo again. You find out they took Krile. Experimented with her Echo. Replicated it. Put it in Fordola as a test because she's desperate to prove herself and desperate to win back her reputation and the little standing she had. She proves a mosnterously strong fighter like she does against Lyse.

And now the Empire wants to put it in THEIR strongest soilder too. So Zenos becomes a Resonant. Now he has this warped version of your echo. More narrative comparison.

You fight your way into Ala Mihgo through the castle where you find Zenos has already killed the actual Viceroy. He didn't want any more distractions. This is going to be your actual fight. He brings you to the Royal Menagire. Where Shinryu is locked away after the Empire captured it.

He gives you his speech again. This time, the offer to accept or deny him has more weight. Regardless of your choice, you have to fight him. You push him hard. Even with the resonate, you're winning. You've had your echo for months/years. Zenos, for maybe a day or two at most. Zenos isn't ready for the battle to be over. Not just yet, he wants it to be gruellinh for both of you. So he releases Shinryu. Fuses with it. You battle him in the trial. You defeat him even then. He falls. Lyse and the others arrive, and he calls you his first friend. And it means something, because maybe at this point, you have a connection with him too.

He dies. And you wonder if could have been you. Had things been different.

[weebsinstash]

Tbh I have never seen a villainess manga/manhwa where the FL is like Oh youre cheating on me??? Well let me have a good time and get a lover as well, because if you get to have one I do too. Like all those humiliating situations FLs go through with their husband and mistress would be a lot more even if they had their own lover. Like oh you wanna flaunt your mistress to everyone and dance with her at social events? Well here is my lover/mistress right by my side and Imma dance with them and not mind you. The husband is saying the FL is cold and arrogant and cannot show love? Well here is once again her own lover/mistress to prove you wrong because guess what someone was fucking your wife last night and it wasnt you

Honestly there are probably some that exist! From what I've seen, the manhwa community is similar to the manga community in that it follows trends and many things can be published or produced at once, so maybe it's a matter of trying to shift through all the bulk?

I think the thing that's infuriating is most of these dudes are such fucking chumps that they would get jealous, but their reaction would probably be to tell their FL "oh, you're clearly doing this just for my attention, how childish of you" and it's like fine call me bozo the clown because I'm about to get a wacky creampie from your brother/rival

Honestly I wish the story existed where it's like "you know what crown prince? Not only am I leaving you, im leaving you for your father the emperor. I'm your mom now boy, go to your room"

I have been reading so many Villainess/Revenge manhwa and I honestly can't recall any like you're saying. The closest thing I can think of is a scene from "I Want To Become The Emperor So I Need A Divorce" where the husband's lover's uncle who runs a theater company is hosting a play meant to mock the FL, and when her shit husband asks what she thought of the play, and she lied and said it was nice and then he goads her further to start reciting her favorite line, she calls his fucking bluff and walks up to the actor that had played her husband and starts reciting exact lines, but in such a way it seems like she is genuinely flirting with the actor, and she even puts a royal gemstone on his finger to symbolically say "you're as good as the duke" and he gets so fucking mad he basically had the entire theater company ruined

I just want to watch garbage men be ruined, like I am actively seeking out stories where women leave their shit partners and enjoy watching them mald and seethe while living a better life with their new partner. I can't wait for the final season of Remarried Empress, and Father I Dont Want This Marriage, and kt isn't a romance but I think I will DIE if I never see the ending of Actually I Was The Real One because that fucking bitch tried to steal her family! And I also found an extremely similar manywa that's brand new called The Saintess Returns as a Villain and maybe that will be good but it is still too early to tell.

And you know what, I know a good revenge manhwa but it's more revenge in the form of "you neglected me and made me feel like shit so im running away and cutting you out of my life and even when I need support you aren't good enough" and that would be The Time Of The Terminally Ill Extra. It hasn't updated it forever so im afraid it might be dropped but it's about a girl who has been shoved to the side for the sake of her sickly younger sister who she has had to compromise everything for, even entering school late to take care of her, giving her her toys, being trained to never disobey or show she's unhappy because even when she cries she's told "how dare you cry when your sister is in pain?". Well, it turns out the FL is terminally ill, even sicker than her sister, amd she decides to run away and never even tell her family, who initially don't even care she's missing and then proceed to not believe it when they are told their daughter is fatally sick. I might actually start reading the novel because the story has me so invested. The FL has an uncurable illness called Artist's Disease where she can bring to life anything she draws but at the cost of her own life, but her family neglected her so fucking much they never even knew she liked to draw or noticed how extremely gifted she was, which, the extreme talent is a symptom of Artist's Disease because their abilities are "blessings", and if her family had noticed and gotten her diagnosed earlier she wouldn't be dying. But even as it's killing her, she refuses to stop drawing because it's her passion and joy. She grew up so lonely that as a child she would draw fairies and other people to talk to her and be her friends and her art is extremely personal to her that she would literally die than give it up. I really hope this manhwa finishes like I have heard spoilers about because it sounds like everything turns out alright in the end, but not before massive heartbreak 🥺

[nebulaleaf]

i mean tbh there are plenty of reasons not to like sumi

she's a very "nothing" character--you get pretty bare-bones characterization from her up until third semester making her boring as-is, especially with how any flaws (and foreshadowing to what's actually going on with her) is essentially minimized in favor of just promoting how she's the cute new romance option in this package; that animated cutscene with her dancing comes to mind. she doesn't have much of a personality outside of those glorified cutesy traits to use for promotional material.

and once you do get into third semester and get some insight into her character, even that can be considered bare-bones: you don't really see enough of sumire to really understand who she is, and you basically don't get to see her again at the end of the game because she practically goes back to being kasumi, because god forbid she actually embraces her true appearance and personality after third semester.

i really want to like her, i kinda do, but the more that i think about it the more i hate the way she's handled. she's interesting on paper but holy shit the execution was bad.

apologies for rambling i just. have a couple of thoughts regarding sumi

no go ahead you're so right. and im glad people can look at that missed execution and go "wow! i can add on to this. i can do her justice" bcos hell yeah, but me personally? why bother. why attempt it when she literally adds nothing to the plot or themes. anything she says or does can be given to another character without changing much; BECAUSE GUESS WHAT! HALF THE SHIT SHE SAYS PRE 3RD SEM WAS ALL ATTRIBUTED TO SOMEONE ELSE. THEY HAD TO TAKE LINES AND SCENES FROM OTHER CHARACTERS TO MAKE HER MEANINGFULLL 😭😭😭

i just cannot connect with her in any meaningful way. there's no second facet to latch onto. no reason to care. nothing to hook. kasumi genuinely is a comedic relief character (and not even in her intended jokes) because for my whole royal playthrough any time i got to one of her scenes I'd bark into laughter as i was so floored by this shit. the AUDACITY. me having fun exploring maruki's palace and taking in the scenery and dissecting what his shit might be about regarding enemies or other things and then i get a FUCKING MAGICAL GIRL JUMPSCARE????

oh and i know u say theres plenty of reasons to dislike (and youre right) but im just saying i dont feel like thosre my reasons? maybe they are?? my feelings on her are so confusing because i feel completely apathetic alongside passionate rage and cannot pin one thing or even a group of things as the cause of that? i dont know [head in hands] i just wish i could be normal

[gay-jesus-probably]

OP, your MIND.

I mean, in all fairness I really do understand how Zelda wound up going along with Rauru and Sonia's bullshit in canon, it's just... not a nice story. Cause she's had a really rough life; I mean ffs, she lost her mom when she was little, her dad was abusive, she spent most of her formative years standing in a fucking pond praying at a rock (and canonically almost killed herself by overdoing it when she was little), and she spent a solid century as an immaterial existence holding back the apocalypse, then came out to find that the kingdom was still destroyed and almost everyone she'd ever loved was dead. That in of itself is a lot, BUT we also pair that with Zelda being extremely priviledged - she has spent her entire life being told that she is fundamentally Better than everyone around her, she is the most important person in the room at any given moment, and she alone has the divine authority to rule over the entire world. And because of the Calamity, now suddenly she doesn't have her castle, her kingdom, her servants, her soldiers, and (if we ignore canon turning every character into a flat caricature) she no longer has any of her status. She's just some random teenager, why the fuck would anyone consider her to be a figure of authority worth respecting?

So that's the place Zelda's in when she gets yeeted into the past. Then she's found by her distant ancestors, who immediately adopt her as their own daughter, and they shower her with all the love, affection and support she never got. People are listening to her again, she's treated with respect, she's back to her old lifestyle of being royalty in a castle full of servants... it's like a dream come true for her. Sure, Sonia and Rauru can be a bit... insensitive sometimes, but it's a different time period, maybe things work differently now. And Zelda knows that Hyrule is meant to be a single, united kingdom, because she remembers everything being perfect before the Calamity; she certainly never heard of any non-hylians feeling opressed. And besides, Rauru and Sonia are so nice, how could they be actually mistreating anyone? Everyone who says they're monsters must be lying, or they did something to deserve it.

...Basically I see the canon story in TOTK to be Zelda being groomed into facism, because she's traumatized, lonely, and has some flawed beliefs about the world, and that makes it really easy for her to be radicalized by people that show her love and support. That's how it happens in real life; people rarely go down these rabbit holes out of hatred, they do it because they're lonely, they want a community, and here's a bunch of seemingly nice people that have easy answers for all their problems.

ANYWAYS so while I do understand why TOTK Zelda ended up the way she did, I would fucking love a fic where she didn't just brush off the red flags, but instead took them as the warning sides and started pulling back. That would also give her a real character arc tbh, because she just straight up doesn't have one in the game (that we get to see at least). In this setting, Zelda starts the game by genuinely believing Sonia and Rauru were great heroes who founded a perfect kingdom in peace and harmony; Hyrule existing is this amazing moment of joy. And then she gets yeeted back in time to the actual founding, and has to instead learn that history is a lot messier than that, the story she was taught was extremely biased to favour the Hylian royal family, and she needs to choose if she wants to hide the past sins so she can keep benefiting from them, or try to make things right but destroy any chance of her having the life she always thought she'd have. Not to mention the dilema between her siding with Sonia and Rauru, people who genuinely love and care for her but don't care all that much about anyone else, vs Ganondorf, a man who treats her with suspicion and hostility (and doesn't particularly like her even after he does trust her), but cares a hell of a lot about his people, and the good of the world as a whole. The easy path means having a loving family, a safe home, the lifestyle she's used to, and the certainty of knowing who she is, but to get it she needs to turn a blind eye to people suffering. Meanwhile the harder path gives her no promise of friendship or support, a difficult and dangerous life, and means having to face the guilt of knowing everything she's ever believed was a lie to hide the atrocities of her ancestors... but it's the right thing to do.

Now that's a fucking character arc.

me: what if we subverted the imperialism trope with zelda realizing that rauru is the aggressor in the equation because 100 years is not enough time to wash away her diplomatic skills and she just knows that the gerudo people would not be hostile if not for a justifiable reason. sure, it takes a while for her to gain ganondorf's trust just based on her association with rauru and sonia, but he does end up trusting her somewhere down the line and fills her in on what's happening. she's absolutely horrified. as a result, she works alongside ganondorf to seal away rauru by gathering the sages and convincing them to protect their respective domains from conquest. but here's the twist: what if link still gets mentored by rauru's spirit at the beginning, and thinks rauru is a benevolent king? imagine zelda's last words to him in the final memory, nothing but a frenzied "link, do not trust the king of darkness!" but he doesn't know which king: ganondorf or rauru, because the gloom has corrupted ganondorf's body and rauru, who had unsettled him since the beginning. but then he realizes it's rauru, and it's deliciously ironic since rauru's power is light but as always, every light has a shadow.

totk enjoyers: hold my beer i'm gonna fucking crucify a korok

[our-reality]

18, 19, 41, 46 - swift >:)

18/19. how easy is it to become their friend/enemy?

answering these together because the answers for them are pretty similar

they don't. internalize relationships very often. sky struggles to truly connect with people on a super deep level, both because it didn't work out for her with python and because they kinda. don't really understand true connections to people. and that's not just a god thing either, it's specifically a her problem. sky understands friendships as kind of like. a mutual agreement to care for each other's wellbeing and take on certain hardships for one another, and sky can certainly do that, but they see it more as something she has to do, not something sky wants to do. other than python, they consider spending time with friends as "just another task" in a day full of tasks. that's not to say sky doesn't understand why she needs friends, or even that sky doesn't want to have typical "friend"-like bonds with others, because they do. but they don't really understand that friends aren't supposed to be a chore to have, nor does sky understand that deep, interpersonal bonds between others aren't something necessarily restriced to what humans would call "romantic" love. (this changes when they eventually befriend ruby and java though dw)

it's kind of the inverse for enemies. sky can and does have very extreme levels of loathing towards certain people, but she doesn't really consider any of those people "enemies". this is a part of this internalized notion with them that hating people who haven't done anything necessarily wrong is a bad thing, but also because she doesn't particularly understand that like. if hate someone that person can just be your enemy. that's it. you don't have to like. write a letter in your own blood or whatever. enemy has such a specific connotation to het that sky things someone had like. royally fuck up in a way that personally affects her in order for them to be skies enemy. and that to her is something so like. cartoonish and unobtainable that they can't comprehend someone actually considering someone else their enemy.

so when i say "it's easy for her to make friends and near impossible for sky to make enemies", i mean it by their standard of what friends and enemies are. to help you get a visual

41. do they learn from their mistakes?

yeeeeeeeeesss. but also nooooooooo? ok this one's complicated

i think it's very easy for them to spiral in on skyself for relatively small mistakes she makes (especially because of how much they get propped up as "the good one" by the other gods), but it's also very easy for them to overcorrect this issue by taking the side of "i am never in the wrong ever actually". because sky doesn't have the skills to cope with their problems normally lol

but when she does genuinely recognize that something was skies fault, they do her best to process that mistake and do better because of it. above all else, sky is a very skilled problem solver and analyzer, even if it takes them a bit to learn how to properly read/interpret human emotion. however when sky does learn she also has to unteach themselves a lot of shit that they ended up internalizing as a part of her difficulties with accepting skies flaws

in short, yes? but only when they can actually discern what was a genuine mistake on skies part and not just her brain being a shitter, and that's where the true problem lies for her

46. would they lie to get out of trouble?

and speaking of "lies" and "not knowing how to judge what's a genuine mistake and what isn't".

i think part of their unwillingless to admit that she's ever done anything wrong is that. well. sky doesn't really get in trouble. i don't have many examples of this like. off the top of my head but even if sky did do wrong, she doesn't have any superiors to punish them. they're literally at the top of the chain, with the only person who actually exceeds skies level of power being absent. like. all the time. and yeah python's technically equal to sky in power but yk. they're besties. python's more likely to made excuses for her than anyone (which he's thankfully never done in a serious situation, but it totally would if the situation ever arose.) besides, it's not like anyone else in skylight really listens to him anyway. swift technically would have no obligation to listen to him, even though they would because the two are 🤞 like that

i think the prospect of swift actually getting into trouble with someone is really interesting. it's putting my brain in a pinball machine. because it's not like swift can't or doesn't do anything morally reprehensible. there are plently of things sky does that she would be held accountable for if she were human, or even a lower-ranking god. hell, they're the person who puts the entire universe in danger by not properly fulfilling skies duties as the god of negative energies, even if she didn't do it on purpose. that's bad. if sky was anyone else, they'd be in trouble for that. of course she's a major player in fixing that but. ÷[=&#(#&=@*#&

i just. don't think sky'd know how to handle being in trouble. it's foreign to them. they'd buckle under the pressure. she wouldn't want to admit to doing something wrong, and yet sky wouldn't want to lie about it either. i do ultimately think that she's so heavily against lying that she'd never do it, but at the end of the day, it's not really about the principle of feeding someone misinformation. it's about the fact that lying, in and of itself, is wrong to them, and that's just an immovable core of their beliefs. and all of that is making the assumption that she wouldn't just. shut down. after getting in trouble. ohhhhh my god sky is so flawed but i love them so much it's *=÷,@(=&÷(=;=(×]÷*$?"(#*÷÷,%(=&=(#&=×($,#($(")%*×&×($(