#she herself accepts them as legitimate but most of the world never will

[maryonaccross]

Hello. I know that team Black blames the Greens over why Rhaenyra's reign as queen was awful, however even in a AU world where Viserys never re-marries and Alicent doesn't exist.

Rhaenyra would have stil been a terrible queen.

Viserys never taught Rhaenyra how to rule. He should have been raising her in preparation for a leadership role by having her in the small concil, teaching her the art of politics and what she needed to do to maintain peace in the kingdom. Whoever Rhaenyra would marry would have to agree to live in King's Landing. So. Rhaenyra could remain by her father's side and learn her role as his heir.

2. Rhaenyra never took her role seriously. She believes firmly in the divine right of kings and that she as a Targaryen is claim enough for her to take the crown, despite her knowing that her cousin Rhaenys was denied and she would have been a more effective ruler then Viserys.

3. Rhaenyra's recklessness contributes to her downfall. She does whatever she likes and doesn't care about the consequences. She heavily relies upon her father and later Daemon to bail her out then not accept any personal responsibility for her getting herself into this meses.

4. All of Rhaenyra's children are illegitimate. Her eldest by Harwin Strong even by Daemon, because her first husband isn't dead. The real reason she sequestered herself on Dragonstone was to hide her children away because she cannot handle any criticism. Her answer to it is violence. That always ends well. LOL.. looking at you Maegor.

She has isolated herself political. Not trying to expand or gain influence outside of her very limited family circle. No allies means no help when she needs it.

People in the realm may not have been thrilled with the idea of a female ruler but they would rather have Rhaenyra as queen then see Daemon as king. His violent reputation was known to all. So. What does she do? Marry the very person the realm was against and make him consort.

5. Rhaenyra's ego and her vanity was her downfall. She never thought about her position from an idealistic standpoint. What she could do to improve the country and make the people's lives better. usher in a golden age. She wanted power for power's sake.

Rhaenyra's rule was always destined to end badly but with Daemon by her side, being her enabler and corrupting her with his nature. It is no wonder centuries after her death she was still despised in the country.

To me Aegon’s “I tRy sO haRD” attitude to being the kings firstborn son is the equivalent of Rhaenyra’s “ I learned that I have to earn my inheritance” mentality towards being the named heir.

I hate what the writers did with Aegon’s character (TGC is the only saving grace) but I fundamentally disagree with the common notion that show Aegon and Rhaenyra are polar opposites of each other because they are both equally unsuited for the role of the heir and share a equally unserious attitude towards the job. (At least Aegon is able to admit he’s ill suited while Rhaenyra gaslights the shit out of herself “earned my inheritance” my ass, you did nothing.) I agree 100% with all your points, I even made posts about some of them but this sums it up perfectly. Neither Aegon or Rhaenyra are aware of the responsibilities of their position (Nyra might have been in the first few episodes but got bored pretty quickly when she realized she’d actually have to stuff and make sacrifices for the realm), they don’t form good alliances (although at least Aegon did his duty in marrying Helaena and having legitimate heirs which Rhaenyra doesn’t have a single one of) or try to endear themselves to the people they will one day rule.

The advantage Aegon has is that he has advisors around him (Otto and Alicent and most of Viserys’ small council) that have ruled the realm peacefully for years in Viserys stead while Rhaenyra’s only source of political inspiration is Nepobaby Daemon who couldn’t hold any small council position for the life of him and who firmly believes that having a dragon and “being the blood of the dragon” is all it takes to rule.

About Viserys, there’s this really interesting post that explains how Viserys tied both fractions to him by never finalizing his decision of naming Nyra heir and always keeping his decision vague.

[swallowedbyfandom]

Colin is certain he will die of shame. His beloved Pen, had held his face between in her delicate hands and asked him if he frequented the brothels. That she knew the names of the gentlemen he went with, meant she most likely knew of his perversions. Does she believe he will ask her to violate the sanctity of their marriage bed?

Worse than the knowledge that darling Pen knew he visited the brothel was the awful truth that while he had not engaged in sex after the discovery of his feelings he had exchanged kisses with them. After his life altering kiss with Penelope rather than allow her glorious kiss to linger on his tongue he had washed it away with two nameless whores. He barely makes it to his chamberpot before he is tossing up his accounts. There is no end to the taint he feels clinging to his skin now.

No wonder she didn't take anything that happened in the carriage seriously. He spoke of having feelings for her, of dreaming of her, he spoke of torment. From a proper gentleman, it could be taken as a nervous ramble of love. Such words from a Rake speak of simple lust, of lewd acts committed under the cover of darkness. That was exactly what he had given her, was it not? He has had sex with countless women and has never felt cheap, until he watched regret wash across Penelope's face. Her first intimacies forever tainted by his proud whoring. God, he is sick once more.

She is right. He has not treated her with the respect and dignity owed to her. Yet he has treated every lady but her with that respect. He does not treat her publicly like the love of his life, he had treated her like a mistress. She equated accepting his hand in marriage to a lack of self respect.

He loves her. Loves her in a way that is special and rare. He will never love another as much as he loves her, save their children. He has probably always loved her. What was it she said last night? Ah, he remembers, "I love you, I do. I have loved you in some manner for most of my life." That sums it all up. There has always been love between them. The shape and the depth of that love has changed and grown throughout the years. She loves him, she was probably in love with him at some point but she is not in love with him, now. She had been willing to marry Lord Debling.

All his first times should have been hers. All his experiences should have been shared experiences between them. Now the only firsts he has to offer is his first time as a husband and his first time as a father. Would she even believe that? Or would she just think she is the first to carry his legitimate child? Would she believe him if he told her that he has never spilled inside a woman? Is that even a guarantee?

He knows wondering if Debling has kissed her has driven him near insane. He remembers seeing Debling's body wrapped around Penelope to protect her from the hot air basket and wishing to call him out for a duel. He recalls every time he watched Debling lay his hand on the dip of her waist during a dance. How large and possessive those hands had seemed on her. The confidence Debling had touched her with still fills him with lingering rage. He remembers feeling sick to his stomach hearing her laugh for Debling. He knows in his heart he is not strong enough to live in a world where another man has made her moan. How the hell does she deal with his indiscretions?

She is right he has not respected in the way he should have. However going forward, he will show her all the respect in the world. There shall be no more flirting with debutantes, his name shall grace no dance card but Penelope's. There will be absolutely no whores. He will no longer go out to drink with cads. He will no longer brag about past sexual conquests. No will keep better company. He will definitely see the physician, he should have done so before ever laying a hand on her.

He is going to give her the courtship of her dreams. He will earn her trust, her love, and her hand in marriage. No one will ever doubt his devotion to her when he is done. Least of all, her.

He will start today. He will make arrangements with Anthony to take control of this inheritance. He must purchase them a home and hire household staff. He must start investing in their future, now. He will show her that he can provide her with a proper home and future. He rings for a hot bath to be ready after he breaks his fast. He will need his full mental acuity to plan the perfect road to redemption.

He gets to the dining room and wishes to turn back around at the way everyone cuts their eyes away from him. Is there anything more humiliating than getting your marriage proposal turned down twice? Then spending half your night sobbing on and off hysterically while getting drunk off your arse? Oh yes there is! It is having to admit to going to a brothel in front of the love of your life, your mother, her mother, and the Lord of your family. He is certain he will be lectured within an inch of his life today. As if he is not miserable enough already. As if letting Pen and his Mother down is not devastating enough.

Well, Debling and Benedict airing out his dirty laundry is not ideal but it could be worst. He is not sure how, but he is sure it could be. Anthony and Benedict are offended that Debling has offered Penelope a ring, but Colin is not. Oh, he is jealous and he would love to chuck said ring into the ocean but Debling is a man who was preparing to commit to Penelope. It is natural that he purchased a ring for her.

He cannot help, but feel like a child in comparison. His own proposal must have seemed like an obligatory whim after their interlude in the carriage. Yes, he could have easily brought Pen to the family jewels and let her pick out her own ring, but does that not highlight his lack of forethought?

Pen is right he is still making the same mistakes. He is still acting the impulsive fool. He is reacting instead of taking action. He recalls Pen telling him once that there was nothing wrong with being a man of action. So long as those actions were well calculated. He recalls the heavy look she had given him at the time. When he argued that action and calculation were opposing ideals. The keen gleam in her eyes as she had simply said, "It is like Chess, Colin. You should always be thinking three steps ahead." He had made a glib joke at the time to deflect from his lack of understanding but he had caught the flash of disappointment on her face at his dismissal.

He has known for weeks that he wanted Penelope as his future. He should have been laying down the ground work for that future. He should have been plotting and scheming to get rid of Debling. He should have been fighting for her. Instead, he wasted weeks pining, drinking, and whoring. It is no mystery why she has given him no consideration as a suitor.

He is not yet worthy of Penelope Feather, but he will be.

[alicentflorent]

I feel like Alicent “realizing she’s in a patriarchy” council scene isn’t bad like you’re saying. Alicent knows she’s in a patriarchy, yes, but like Rhaenys said in s1- Alicent is trying to carve out a small window in her prison, she frankly doesn’t have much of an opportunity to break out of her prison, but if she had never put Aegon on the throne then life under Rhaenyra’s rule WITH her friendship would have put Alicent in a better position. Alicent knows it’s a patriarchy, but she realized that small window she made (when she ruled in Viserys’ place, when her sons listened to her) is now completely closed.

"I sent an ask about Alicent and the patriarchy and I want to add that I don’t think it’s alicent’s fault that Rhaenyra got supplanted, alicent’s support might not have mattered much since they were scheming against Rhaenyra without her, but Alicent herself probably feels like if she had at least not aided in her own destruction it would be better. But bc Alicent herself supported Aegon, she now sees that she has no place anywhere with no one listening to her, I mean Aegon would listen to her but she has grown distant from him for many reasons"

I think the idea that Alicent would have a better life under Rhaenyra's rule with her friendship isn't as likely as we would like to think. She might be trying to carve a window in her prison but unfortunately this is a reality for most westerosi women. All they can do is hope that they are able to make their lives better, hope that their fathers. husbands and sons allow them a certain level of privilege and power which they can just as easily take away and this is what happened to Alicent. Rhaenys herself spent her life only having power because of her Targaryen blood and because Corlys allowed her to have a voice.

Alicent is in a very complicated position. She could have stayed loyal to Rhaenyra but what happens if they have a falling out again? Alicent can't lose Rhaenyra's loyalty because she would need Rhaenyra to protect her children. Otto wasn't wrong when he told her she could remain loyal to Rhaenyra and beg for her to have mercy on her children when/if the time comes. Is that really a better life? Alicent would still fear for her children's lives and have to always stay on Rhaenyra's good side. Rhaenyra also had no bond with her half siblings even before Alicent turned on her.

This is how I think it likely would have went: Alicent stays loyal to Rhaenyra for the duration of the ten year time jump then the whispers of Rhaenyra's childre's parentage get louder. They are protected by Viserys and Rhaenyra of course but this gives people who plan to overthrow Rhaenyra another reason why Aegon is the better choice. Westeros would never accept a bastard being passed off as legitimate on the throne. Rebellions throughout history break out over the littlest things so it would be easy for rebels to push the misogynistic idea that Rhaenyra is unfit as woman and that she is a whore who bore bastards while Viserys has three legitimate sons. What if Aemond, for example still wanted the throne? Sure he may have turned out differently but Viserys had no interest in preparing him for any kind of future and if he had bonded with any other men who put ideas into his head he could end up rebelling. Then there is the issue of Daemon - he was always the real threat to Alicent's children because he hates them and Alicent, Rhaenyra marrying Daemon after Laenor's mysterious death might also cause a rift between them because Alicent might fear what daemon will do. The best scenario might have been sending Aemond and Aegon to the wall and Daeron to be a Septon or Maester but that doesn't protect them from scheming politicians or rebels who will push their claims regardless. If not during Rhaenyra's reign, it could happen during Jace's.

Basically, there was no good outcome in Alicent's situation and in an ideal world as someone who shipped young rhaenicent I would like to them presenting as united front as a family but unfortunately that isn't how life in Westeros works. In every scenario, Viserys dies leaving a succession crisis in his wake because he decided to remarry and have more children without considering the potential problems all because he was weak and attracted to a teenager. There was no stopping the Dance, All Alicent could do was try to make the best of an impossible situation. She was thrown into the lions den by Otto, and birthed four children who were a threat to Rhaenyra simply by existing. .

[dj-paintpony]

My Yuusona and SOME OF, My TWST oc’s!

I’m realizing now that I don’t think I’ve shown or shared anything about my Yuusona, so here goes!

Yume is a young woman from (normal world), who got pulled into Twisted Wonderland! She gets along well with most of the main students. (I want to give her a love interest but I can’t decide who because I love all the characters a lot…even though Deuce is my favorite…)

I initially wanted to post this after creating individual drawings of her with the characters…but it was taking awhile, so I took a lil break. I’ll share them when I’ve drawn them💖.

Yume lives in the Ramshackle dorm with all female students, Grim, (and a ghost from before ramshackle was closed, but we’ll get to that), because Crowley doesn’t want to mix girl students into the other dorms for the risk of the girls possibly getting harassed.

Yume is very gentle, almost motherly in her demeanor (cof cof mom friend), and friendly. She isn’t shy to speak her mind, but she does have severe self image issues due to having been chubby as a kid, and still wearing plus size clothes. She has stretch marks on her tummy, thighs and her upper arms. If someone were to say they liked her, she would feel confused, and almost bitter, because she thinks she’ll never live up to expectation.

In her world, she lived with her single mother and her older sibling, Yuri.

Yume loves singing, and gets along very well with every teacher except the coach, because her asthma keeps her from being able to catch up, which makes him frustrated since nearly everyone else can keep up…she’s actually a really fast runner, but can only go short bursts of time without having a severe asthma attack…

Yume’s hair typically stays at shoulder length. She actually struggles with anxiety and depression, but tries her best to always act like things are okay to not be a burden.

unfortunately Yume can also be a little oblivious when she’s legitimately happy. So for instance when Deuce accidentally cursed himself to be a cat, she didn’t realize it was him until Ace said something.

Yume is a great cook, and learned all she knows from her momma, and likes to experiment in the kitchen, often making ridiculous or tasty snacks.

Meet Rael, the TWST equivalent to Rapunzel. She’s a good natured And gentle woman, but will not hesitate to stand up for her friends if they’re wronged. She lives with her grandmother..

LESBIAN CHICK!💖

Would’ve ended up in pomefiore but Crowley decided all women were gonna end up in Ramshackle.

Doesn’t get along with Beau.

Adores Yume. Yume doesn’t realize though.

Her specialty magic is “Forsaken”, in which the effected person will be temporarily blinded, and feel afraid, alone and unable to move. It will feel like years have passed, leaving them traumatized. Rael has accidentally used this power on herself after her adoptive mother passed away.

Likes to teach Yume about magic, despite Yume being Magic-less.…

Rael enjoys wearing cute and fashionable clothes, but prefers clothes that are breathable.💖

Twisted from Jasmine

Prefers to go by Javi.

Specialty magic is “Beast Tamer”, enabling him to calm any agitated animals in the vicinity.

Avoids Yume because he’s afraid of Beau, which only makes Yume sad…(which in turn pisses Beau off more🤣)

Javi is Asexual.

Yume loves cold weather!

now to meet the Ghost I previously mentioned…it’s about to get sad😣💔

Twisted from the beast

Was murdered in the ramshackle dorm, which is why it was abandoned. (Murdered by one of  coach’s dead relatives)

Calls Yume “Beauty of mine” (hint at beauty & the beast), “Love”, “Dearest”, “Angel”, and “My dream”.

Specialty magic is “Haunted”, where the effected person falls into a deep sleep, allowing Beau to take control of their dream, and twist it into a horrific nightmare.

Yandere ghosty boi.

Doesn’t like Grim much, often calling him “pest”, “raccoon”, and “mangy fleabag”. He still doesn’t like the fact a monster was allowed into the school, and was accepted, when he was abused, assaulted, bullied, and killed by his peers.

So far is only intensely aggressive with Epel. He feels like Epel might replace him.

Was an illegitimate child and abused by his father, as well as at school.

Is still incredibly bitter that his mother passed away alone because he was murdered because people felt he “didn’t belong” at night Raven due to his birth.

Since meeting Yume, the first person to ever like him, he has become possessive, but sunny and warm, rather than quiet and ashamed of his existence.

Has moments of violent wishes, wanting to destroy others for Yume’s sake, if they ever make her cry, infiltrating their dreams. Leona has had many nightmares because of this, unfortunately…

Loves helping Yume with her schoolwork.

Beau is pansexual.

Now, I was feeling tired and bored, so I found Pinterest outfits and chucked them at Epel, Yume & Ace. Yume only like dressing up if someone is with her, or if her stretch marks are hidden.

——

thank you so much for reading my rambling information about my characters and her relationships with them. I’ll be back with more about my sonas and stuff later!💖💖💖

[mariyekos]

So this headcanon is of the crack treated seriously variety but-

Lately I've been thinking about Trish accidentally forming a demonic contract (bond of servitude) with Dante post DMC1 without either of them realizing it at and the shenanigans that would produce.

The idea is that post DMC1 Dante takes her on as an actual employee at Devil Never Cry to get her used to the human world. As part of his attempts to keep a semi-legitimate business for the non-demon hunting front, he has her sign some typical employee contract stuff. Except as it turns out Dante is apparently demon enough for it to trigger the sort of bond of servitude that is normally formed when a demon swears themself to a higher demon, which neither of them even considered as a possibility when they signed away. If you wanted to go further for it, you could say that Dante also nicked himself while preparing the documents and didn't feel like reprinting everything so he just left the page with the bloodspot in the packet, which Trish didn't notice because she doesn't really care about human formalities and immediately flips to the page she has to sign. But a drop of blood is still blood, meaning the contract is a blood contract, and oh will that bite them in the butt later on.

Like I said before, they don't even realize what's happened at first because Trish has always felt weird around Dante from a combination of the Sparda-pizzaz and potential Eva influence Mundus might've put into her. Her feeling a different sort of weird around Dante after signing the contract- maybe she feels some sort of pull or extra loyalty- she'd just chalk up to a potential side effect of being modeled after his mother. It's not until Dante tells her to go do something neither of them want to do as a joke and she actually does it without hesitation that the two pause, go "wait what" and start to investigate. Because Trish did not want to do that, but did it anyway. Because she felt compelled to in a way that overrode her personal desires. Which results in them realizing that oh, Trish can't actually disobey anything Dante orders her to do, and that is Not Normal.

Trish is, unsurprisingly, not happy about this. She's the one that brings up the contract thing, which Dante tries to deflect from by saying he didn't realize anything would happen, it's just a standard human practice! I think if Trish brought up the "well normally it needs a blood contract" thing Dante would twitch in just the right way that has her grilling him for more information, leading to the reveal that oops! She did sign a blood contract! Dante's laziness lead to Trish ending up as a servant yet again!

Dante would promise to never use it and never order her to do something, but I think it would take Trish a while to get over it. It really was an accident. He didn't mean to do that; doesn't want that kind of control over her or anything. He's sincere and means it when he says he will never ever tell or even ask her to do something again if that's what needs to happen for the contract-enforced servitude to activate. Eventually Trish would accept his apology with a grumble, but I see that as part of what would have her leaving DMC/DNC between DMC1 and DMC4 to do her own stuff. She's her own person and her own master. She doesn't want to be anyone's pawn anymore. Even if Dante says he doesn't plan to ever take advantage of the bond, she doesn't want him inadvertently doing anything to her or for herself to unconsciously follow. The contract should weaken with distance and time as long as they don't renew it, so she'll do her own thing most of the time, help out on the occasional mission, and eventually it'll all be in the past. By DMC5 the bond would definitely be broken, though I'm on the fence about whether in this verse it would be completely gone by DMC4 or just mostly gone.

But yeah! Basic idea is whoops Trish gets bound to Dante on accident and decides to peace our between DMC1 and 4 because neither of them really want that bond to activate and for Trish to get stripped of her will, even for something minor.

[elgaladwen]

OC Questionnaire

Long post incoming! I'm finally answering the lovely OC questions I was tagged in, which I've been excited about, but didn't feel as if I could answer yet, because my creativity has become virtually non-existent. This is helping me jog it a little, though, and reading everyone else's answers was inspiring! I'll put my own questions and tags at the end, but as usual, no pressure, and consider yourself tagged if you want to answer them.

From @linden-leaf ; answering for (LOTRO) Elgaladwen.

1. What’s a core lie your character believes about themselves or the world, and where did it originate? (e.g. if they believe they’re unlovable, was there a particular person or pattern of people that taught them to think so? If they believe the world is fundamentally fair and just, what society or institution taught them what fairness and justice meant, and what the rules for them were?)

She believes she, and those of elvenkind in general, are legitimately better at, and better for most things than the other free peoples of Middle-earth. She was constantly told by her Noldo parents and grandparents that the other elven clans were inferior, and worse things about those who were not elves. She thinks she's progressive because she's personally grown to see all or most elves to be perfectly fine, and she even married a Silvan elf, but she still looks down upon the other races of Middle-earth more than she should, even if she generally doesn't let it show. She also holds a high opinion of herself and her healing and language skills, which is not entirely unwarranted, but she is not truly the best at as many things as she thinks. (Confidence counts for much, though!)

2. Who are/were the most important people in their lives? Did they choose those people for themselves (and would they choose them again)?

Her husband, Gallorth, is the most important person in her life by far, and though she has friends, and has had family she thinks are important too, she’d have been far less likely to die or kill for them. She certainly could exist without them, but not without Gallorth.

She chose him, and even if us as the players made their meeting happen, it was entirely by chance for the characters!

3. Is there a choice they’ve surprised themselves by making? (And did they learn anything about themselves through making it?)

She never thought she’d get married at all, because she was very against her parents trying to arrange marriages for her to continue their line, and she swore off everything of the sort. Luckily for her, her children will be half Silvan, so it's still a bit of a middle finger to her parents.

From @the-journey-was-the-point ; answering for Nimardril

1) Has your OC ever burned or otherwise destroyed something that reminded them of unhappy times or experiences in their past?  Was this part of an arranged event?  Or something they did spontaneously or in anger? 

Nim has the unfortunate habit of running from anything that causes her emotional turmoil, and can't be fought physically, so she tends to destroy relationships with people by leaving when things get rough, even if that's not her intention. She felt very abandoned and useless for much of her life, but doesn't realize that she's the one causing it herself now, even if it wasn't her fault as a child.

2) What is your character's preferred way of coping with stress or difficult situations? 

If she's able, fighting or killing things. Letting her rage and anger take over until she's tired enough to rest or move past whatever it was. She is a hunter, and has been a guard and soldier, so sometimes this is easy enough to do. Related  to the question above, she used to destroy things in the house she once lived in with her parents, but as she got older, she got better about only taking out her rage on things when it's actually acceptable. Unfortunately that's led to her other way of coping, which is drinking too much, as she can get away with that more easily.

She's still young for an elf, so I think in the future she will be able to face, and work on her issues, though.

3) Who's a character your OC cannot stand! It's on sight when they see them! (whether other OC or canon)

There are a few people who've humiliated her, mostly in Glaston, so she avoids going back, and doesn't want to see any of them again. It takes a lot for her to actually hate someone, and if someone did something bad enough that she did, she'd be more likely to go after them for revenge, then to avoid them.

From @angbands-last-hero ; answering for Moradan

1) Explain your character's sense of humor. For example: Is it dry? Do they like dad jokes? Are they sarcastic or overly serious? Is it easy for them to crack jokes or are they more receptive to hearing them? What do they find humorous?

He is nearly always sarcastic, and he prefers any humor over seriousness, even if he finds most people lacking. He prefers to hear drier, less obvious humor, but no matter what it is, it's a bonus if he can feel true amusement.

2) How easy is it for your character to hold a grudge? Is it hard for them to forgive and forget?

He doesn't tend to hold grudges, but more because he can't be bothered to care that much, than anything else. Or perhaps no one has done something worthy of one.

3) Very random question that is not canon compliant: Is there a book or a movie you think your character would enjoy? Does it speak to them personally or do they just find it entertaining? 

Moradan would love media with secondhand embarrassment, and other people's humiliation, which I cannot stand in real life, so there are probably things I can't think of that he'd like.

I think in modern times, he'd like the Black Company series, but it'd be too close to home in his canon life.

My questions:

Where does your character feel most at home? Is it a specific place? Or perhaps a general region or type of climate?

What brings your character the most joy in life?

What is your character’s biggest regret? Or do they have any regrets at all?

I know you've all been tagged, so just if you feel like answering different questions about another character or something! I am not tagging some people I saw get tagged and not answer, because I'm not trying to be overwhelming here, but I do want to hear about everyone's characters. 👀 (And it doesn't have to be LotR related.) @angbands-last-hero, @linden-leaf, @the-journey-was-the-point, @kemendin, @first-talon, @chaos-corvus

[harleyxhoward]

The Umbrella Academy S4 (thoughts & opinions)

- HOT TAKE: The issue I had with Five and Lila getting together wasn’t the bizarre age gap or insensitivity of Five sleeping with his brother’s wife, but how they don’t resolve the tension properly before they all cease to exist. Specifically Diego and Five don’t get to hold hands the way Lila and Five did, even though it wasn’t really up to Lila to “forgive” Five, but whatever. I thought that had this affair been treated with an ounce of consideration it would reveal a lot more about both characters shared desperation for affection and emotional stimulation. Five spent decades in complete social isolation to the point where he legitimately fell in love with a mannequin and you want me to believe that, given the similar scenario that most certainly triggered the same “well I guess I’m stuck in this shit now for an indefinite amount of time” area of his brain, he wouldn’t have resorted to falling in love with the fist available person regardless of what it meant outside of the subway? Lila too seemed to get with Diego because while they did click in S2, she had never lived a life that allowed her to experience romance or starting a family like she could with Diego. She pumped out three kids to seemingly force herself to enjoy what she knows could be taken away from her at the throwing of a time traveling briefcase, but her behavior this season is baffling because what do you mean after seven years of searching for a way home she never once brings up missing those three children until the opportunity to return home presents itself? She tries to wipe her hands of the situation, but then the show just kind of ends without meaningful conclusion, so…

- The ending was sloppy. I know you know that, but my issue wasn’t the actual end. The Hargreeves having to sacrifice themselves in a way indicative of the S1 finale makes perfect sense, especially with the painfully shallow Five Diner down in that unexplained subway station where they all indirectly allude to the fact that there’s never a condition where at least one of the family doesn’t end the world. Had the Fives took time to explain that each Hargreeve possesses earth shattering abilities that eventually snowball out of control regardless of the condition, and all resistance is futile, I would accept that the ending makes more sense than just blaming the marigold despite the fact that Victor can/has been able to syphon marigold out of people, and could’ve just taken it all himself but you know, whatever.

- I also deeply resent that a show about familial trauma and bonding despite the shared adversity ultimately concluded on everyone giving up. No. You don’t get to say that they “didn’t just give up” because yes, them saying “oh no, well, there’s ten minutes left of the episode, guess we should cease to exist now” is the definition of not even trying to venture down into the subway as a family and fix the other timelines one at a time, using their newfound familial unity to solve every timeline until they converge into one. I’m not saying that needed to happen at all, or that they should have succeeded even if they tried, but AT LEAST THEN THEY WOULD HAVE TRIED. The writers gave up, the characters gave up, and the metaphor of grief and family issues the show spent so long to cultivate were just abandoned.

- Klaus regressed with no substantial reason or impact other than to provide slapstick humor and comedic relief antics that didn’t amount to any of what he had spent the last few seasons building and working towards. Ben shouldn’t have been brought back after his noble and meaningful sacrifice of S2 only to be made into the most obnoxious version of himself. Allison didn’t even get to say “I heard a rumor” this season nor did she address attempting to sexually assault Luther, and Diego’s relationship with Lila was the absolute worst case scenario for both characters. Viktor was the only one with an arc worth watching this season, which is why I thought him having a solo sacrifice would have been even more gut wrenching but whatever.

- There is an insurmountable amount of plot holes that prove this show just got lazy. There should be a kugelblitz in the finale’s timeline. If Lila/Allison were never born then there could never be Grace/Lila’s children. You don’t get to say “well what about the subway” because that doesn’t protect them from the grandfather paradox, unless outright stated which the writers didn’t even bother to do.

- Why didn’t they just kill Jennifer? Who put her in the squid? If it was Reggie’s wife then why didn’t she just kill her? Why didn’t Reggie kill her when he built the town to “protect” her? Why did she react with pure terror when shown the squid? How did Jean and Gene get their hands on it? Was it a normal giant squid or an alien? Was it her mother? No, because then how did she speak English when she emerged from its stomach? Why did she say “the cleanse” like she knew what it meant when she didn’t? Ben should’ve been able to remember in the OG timeline how he died because absolutely every other spirit does and the show can’t just rewrite its own lore to cater to a last minute subplot that went nowhere. I don’t want to be mean but Jennifer never should have existed as a S4 add in because she did absolutely nothing for the plot other than confusing the audience with the persistent question of why didn’t they just kill her to prevent the cleanse from happening. Reginald said one of them had to die, but in the OG timeline he killed both just to be…cruel? What’s the point of writing that it just had to be one of them if you’re just going to act like it’s a package deal? This entire plot line made me truly believe this season was written by AI, I’m sorry.

[eternalfarnham]

The core of Aigis's crisis, in The Answer, is that she has exactly two invested human relationships, one of which only half-counts because it's with a dog, and the other just died.

Note that in the post-Nyx "epilogue" month, where relationships formed via SEES kinda-sorta persist (MC-Yukari-Junpei trio, Ken and Shinjiro, etc.), no one remembers Aigis besides the protagonist, or even mentions her unless she's right there. She's some girl in their dorm. This influences her self-perception and indecision in the Abyss – Metis is the way she is, fixated on a single person and incapable of caring about anyone else, because Aigis was that way.

Compare/contrast Yukari – she ends up putting herself back into the position of "enemy of SEES," contesting them for the sake of achieving (the truth behind her father's death/the MC's resurrection), failing to acknowledge her relationship with Mitsuru (who takes her side partly due to the history between them, and who reminds her of that fact).

Aigis... just genuinely doesn't have anyone in the way she had the MC, not like Yukari does. The question of suicide via sacrifice is a real and legitimate one for her; it's why she gets Metis in the first place! Metis is both her capacity to care (the part of her that wasn't mechanical and rote) and her fatal flaw, her failure to recognize that there are other people to care about in her life, represented pretty directly by Metis insisting on being Aigis's "sister" and living exclusively to protect her. Aigis turned herself into an Arisato (complete with Wild Card!) and generated an Aigis to never, ever let her go like she wished she could've in the first place!

This is part of why I think Junpei's point, that they are nowhere near guaranteed a win in a rematch with Nyx, is so much more thematically potent than Akihiko's "respect MC's decision to sacrifice himself, because changing the past is wrong!" The world is full of people. Everyone's alive. "Accept loss" falls flat for me, considering the whole Great Seal thing and also, just, my entire understanding of life, but "there is no quantity of losing others you can experience that can make life stop mattering as a general case, because the world is full of people, and the best way to keep going is to keep caring about people and finding people to care about" works for me.

And this is absolutely not a tack any other Persona game could take about its MC! It's been noted that SEES aren't quite friends as a group, just psychodrama paramilitary coworkers, but it's that awkwardness and growing into imperfect relationships with one another that lets them live without the MC. Yu Narukami is more of a "most important person" to the Investigation Team – Yosuke, obviously, and Teddie, and arguably Rise – but they do at least have dynamics with one another, kinda, Chie-Yukiko and Naoto-Kanji.

Joker is the person who matters most to every single Phantom Thief, absent dead family members and NPCs who spend most of their time offscreen, and Royal makes it clear that they don't have the same "any cost" dedication to any of those dead family members or NPCs that Aigis and Yukari had for P3MC. Does Ryuji even hypothetically have more important dynamics with anyone? Certainly not Akechi. Not Yusuke. The Phantom Thieves would risk killing the world for Joker's sake. It isn't even really a question!

P3 was just so thematically aberrant compared to the rest of modern Persona that I can't help but admire it. I disagree with many of its takes, but by god does it have them.

[horizon-verizon]

https://www.tumblr.com/miss-dollette/751777149185376256/wake-up-call-for-ballistic-team-black-and-rhaenyra?source=share lol

Lucky for me, I never thought that Rhaenyra was Daenerys or Daenerys-like. (my "Rhaenyra and Feminism" tag) I have said these things about these two:

Rhaenyra is not a feminist because no one can be at this time and feminism as a movement began in the 18th century under specific conditions of a particular philosophical movement and under specific economic conditions whereas Rhaenyra, Catelyn, Alysanne, even Daenerys all live in a completely different world, a medievalesque/"ancient" own.....does that mean we shouldn't care how any woman before the 18th century (or those in fiction who would exist out of a feminist-minded/included society) or who aren't full blown feminists do to try to gain autonomy for themselves or to help others altruistically? Misogyny still exists, and it existed "back then"; we need to understand these women and the contours of the sexist conditions under which they live which both helps us to define and trace sexism as well as understand and connect ourselves to these characters to understand oppressive structures' effect on individual who then go on to affect and respond to their oppressive societies. And thus, some women, because they are people too (novel idea) are going to be more selfish than others, and partly bc they have been subjected to this double standard and the socially-justified abuse done against them since young (Alicent-Rhaenyra, esp in the show with how fans kept saying "Alicent is queen, se can demand to see thr baby all she wants, Rhaenyra didn't have to go up there", ignoring the fact that Alicent is trying to humiliate her and she herself knows that she wouldn't like it if someone did the same to her when she birthed her kids; in the bk, she turns against Rhaenyra when R is about 9-10, after Aegon is born and Viserys kicks Otto out for protesting against his choice to keep Rhaenyra as his heir) So yeah, she became more self-focused.

but that doesn't give us license to blame things that were not her fault or her doing or came form people who existed way before she was born; ignore the fact that she loved her kids and vice versa; that she died by femicide and bc of systemic sexism against overt female rulership; that she is one of the only woman and one of the last woman who actually had more political power than her husband and chose him (Rhaenys was the other one who got to choose); that after her death and fall, magic in the world took another hit and the dragons that could have been used to fight against the Others was lost before Daenerys Targaryen reawakened them and gave a reboot to magic in general; [🖇rhaenin-time] that after Rhaenyra's fall, after the fall of one of the few women who a Targ male relative actively supported in away unlike most men of her society instead of just abusing, sidelining, and using up, most if not all other Targ women--who never able to choose their husbands--were not protected from Andal patriarchy and its licens eof spousal abuse because the dynasty itself has fully assimilated into Andal patriarchy with the loss

that fans discredit Rhaenyra's victimhood and problems stemming from sexism how they discredit Daenerys' past victimhood; and then they go on to say Dany wasn't a revolutionary figure bec she's a Targ and a child of incest and can ride "nukes" and profited off of slavery -- people will move goal posts to for their anti-woman agendas and the Dance is coming from and centered around that -- these two women are dehumanized both in-world and the fandom/real life because those do not like they are women who have both acquired power over men or "equal" to what men are granted/obtain for themselves

talked myself to death about how "bastard" is a legal and sociopolitical term that can be "fixed" or argued agianst, how only a King/Monarch could legitimize, how Viserys decided--with Corlys--to accept Rhaenyra's kids into his household and thus include in the line of succession, etc. etc.

Some Master Posts with a List of Links Where I have Argued for Rhaenyra & Why We Should Care about Her

POST

POST

POST [esp against Criston Cole and the Idea that Show!Rhaenyra was Predatory]

🖇la-pheacienne's words:

This is a story about how even the "realm's delight" could not be considered worthy enough to live compared to her rapist scum of a brother, because even the "realm's delight" will always be just a woman so she will always be inherently inferior to any man however pathetic or incompetent he may be. This is a story of tragic irony because it is a woman, and Rhaenyra's descendant specifically, that is currently bearing the Targaryen name, it is a woman reconstructing the Targaryen legacy, it is a woman that brought back the music of dragons, almost two centuries after Westeros would rather have them perish and destroy everything in their passing than allow a woman on the throne, the very dragons that are now meant to save Westeros from its impending doom. And this feels like justice to me. I'm sorry that some people are so blind in their contrarianism that they prefer to make up a bazillion nonsensical headcanons than acknowledge that this is the actual theme of this story.

PRIME POST

If no one wishes to read from those links I give here, that's really not on me. It's be ironic, too, if they took the time to read all of that OP's long post anon' links, though.

[thettrpgtournament]

Why you should vote for each of them and full art below!

Rishika Díaz (by @flockofdoves for Masks)

(art by @flockofdoves)

in the year 202X, local Halcyon City newspapers report occasional spottings of a new superhero in town, a teenage girl with portal and teleportation powers calling herself “The Future Violent”.

in a different timeline some ambiguous amount of generations later, capitalism and global warming have gotten even worse, and superheroes are recruited to serve the interests of a few big corporations, who now even more explicitly are in control of the state and have a monopoly on legitimate violence. a 17 year old pores over a very old family photo, family from his dad’s side generations ago, smiling happily in their living room. he hopes that maybe, just maybe, he can take his ability to teleport anywhere he has a clear sensory grasp on to its most extreme, and do something he’s never done before, travel to the the past. to him it feels like the only hope at saving the world.

somehow, they succeed! they pop into their ancestor’s living room right after the picture was taken, aged picture in hand. in stuttering through an explanation in a post time travel haze, the name they’ve always gone by is misheard as Rishika, and on a whim, they go along with it.

rishika’s family (who are now referred to as her aunt, uncle, grandma, and nieces and nephews) fully accept rishika into their home. rishika is open with them from the beginning about their goals of stopping evil corporations, which is all well and good to their family as long as he’s safe about it, but he still needs to go to school and get decent grades while he’s at it.

using their powers for something as extreme as time travel has scrambled their brain a bit. their memory of the future is very spotty. in their meandering first attempts at stopping evil corporations, they end up encountering two other teens with powers from their school, and begin to work as a superhero, getting involved with situations not directly related to preventing their future, developing a costume and superhero name, and omitting all this while talking with family so as to not worry them too much.

when the first news reports of Rishika’s team’s activity refer to The Future Violent as a girl, for some reason rishika really enjoys that. she might as well have her teammates always refer to her as such when in costume, after all it’ll help make it harder to find out her secret identity as a boy!

when not spending increasing amounts of time embroiled in heroic situations, rishika loves getting to listen to long lost recordings of their favorite “retro” emo bands, running a fanblog for future revolutionary martyrs and now famous on the local scene band made up entirely of superheroes, The Gawth Chix, and modifying clothes in baffling ways (her friends aren’t sure what is future fashion and what is just rishika being rishika).

coming from their even more abysmal capitalist propaganda filled future education, history is by far their favorite school subject, but their history teacher is never quite sure what to do with the combination of their clear enthusiasm and huge gaps in basic historical knowledge.

rishika is open about casually mentioning they came from the future, but theres no real precedent for that, and most people just dismiss it as some sort of weird joke.

between their gaps in memory and knowledge both of past and future, juggling a new and dramatically different school system, a new family life, and a new identity as a superhero, and the nagging but vague feelings about identity starting to emerge for them, rishika has a lot of growing and reflecting to do, even as she feels the constant weight of saving the entire world on her back!

(a note on pronouns: if its not obvious, i intend rishika to be a trans girl or nonbinary transfem person who has not really consciously connected that for herself yet, but who is on the way to soon realizing that. in school and at home she uses he pronouns by default, but uses she pronouns in her superhero identity. her closest friends are also her superhero teammates, and they have started to occasionally slip up and use she and they pronouns even sometimes outside of superhero contexts. despite how this technically could help people connect her hero and personal identities, she hasn’t corrected this any time its happened, instead just privately going like .’whoa..’ when referring to her as a character, i mostly use she and sometimes they, but he can contextually make sense too like how i used it here. so feel free to use your judgement when referring to her)

Benedikt Ignatov (by @19orionis for Dungeons & Dragons)

(art by @19orionis)

Benedikt has learned not to fly off the handle very often, appearing relaxed and even at times sleepy, making his disastrous slip-up (more on that below) all the more difficult for him to think about. In daily life, he’s a chill, artsy guy, who, aside from living off the land, occasionally ventured into town to sell his colorful work. He says the occasional weird, funny thing and would be a great guy to smoke with. Despite not having as much in the way of physical strength as one might expect, his tall, large stature lends him skill in quiet intimidation. Initially coming off as a chaotic neutral, he does find fulfillment in listening to and protecting those who need it.

After being robbed and accidentally decimating his home woods in a firey rage of his own making, mortified, Benedikt fled his home continent by stowing away on a ship, and traveling to a new frontier where he is currently posing as a naturalist researcher, using his sketching abilities and background as a forester to make the act all the more convincing. As a totally human sorcerer with wild magic, he’s never had any idea where his powers came from, and is using the adventuring opportunity to hopefully gain some insight on what he is. And maybe find some community along the way. He’s always wanted a nicer family.

[adelarsims]

sages' apprentices

In my world every sage must have an apprentice who can eventually take their place - in case that something happens to the sage, or a temporary replacement is required when the sage is absent for whatever reason, or the sage simply decides not to be a sage anymore. Longevity, and especially immortality, is not something that spellcasters simply have like vampires, they artificially maintain it with magic and potions, so they can refuse it at any moment, and many spellcasters eventually do. Cases of apprentices dueling or even killing their mentors to take their positions also happened in the past, but the latter happened in old and dark times, nowadays it’s considered barbaric and the successor won’t be accepted by other spellcasters. Succession by duel is still legitimate, but only on agreement between apprentice and their mentor, and with two other sages’ approval, so you can't simply come over to your mentor and tell them to defend themselves.

Their names (i’m in love with their names, they were randomized by the game, i only saw these guys and gave them a little makeover and a part in a story) are Beth Looney, Axel Magee and Davion Gallo.

Beth is Simeon's apprentice, but she’s the most playful of them all, a jokester and a spark plug, she hates seeing people in sour mood and will always try to brighten it, but she doesn’t always read the room and can be unintentionally tactless. Beth’s photos are usually a wide assortment of stuck out tongues, winks and finger hearts. She’s the oldest of the three and will always stand up for them because she thinks of herself as their older sister. Beth lived on a street for a few years and can survive on practically nothing if needed, and often teases others for their need of comfort. She also cooks for all of them (including all sages), but because she cares, not because she’s told to or thinks that it's her responsibility. She’s not above lies and tricks for securing important outcome. For example, when Beth dueled with another young spellcaster for apprenticeship under Simeon, he was better, but she cheated. He hates her but can't prove it.

Davion (in the middle) is Morgyn's apprentice. He’s the most serious of the three, sometimes too serious even in Morgyn’s opinion. He’s very practical, good at grounding the other two and reasoning with them when they get carried away, and if there is a leader in their group, it’s Davion. He’s known as the most talented of them, even prodigious, but he gets a little patronizing because of it sometimes, and he absolutely hates jokes on his expense. But he never refuses to help if he’s asked for help, even when he’s on somewhat bad terms with the person who asks. He refuses to talk about his past, but you can figure out that he’s not proud of it. He also reads an awful lot. But in public it’s always studying and always something serious. If he reads fiction for fun, he does it in secret (recently I’ve found “Wands of desire” in his inventory that I didn't put there, lol).

Axel is Elle's apprentice, and the youngest of the three. He’s not a trickster by nature, and putting up with his mentor's antics isn’t easy for him, but fitting in and being accepted is so important for him that he tries to look more chaotic and trickster-y, and acts like he’s extremely laid-back and doesn't have a single care in the world. This is why Axel often gives off a vibe of insincerity and untrustworthiness (probably he shouldn’t even try to keep up with carelessness of a half-fairy), even though at the core he’s a soft and caring person, if a little hot-headed and anxious for attention. He gets bored and distracted easily. He comes from a wealthy family that supports him both emotionally and financially, of course without knowing that his "school abroad" teaches magic, but somehow he’s the only one with an actual (part-time) job. Not for money though, just because he tried the job for fun, people liked him, and he stayed for being liked.

[backmaskcd]

(Maddie Phillips) [THE WILD CHILD]. Please welcome [COSIMA MARIOTT (SHE/HER)] to Huntsville, WV. They are an [26]-year-old [VISITOR] who lives in [TOWN]. You may see them around working as a [UNEMPLOYED]. Poor unfortunate soul. We’ll see if they survive

Full Name: Cosima Evangeline Mariott Birthday: September 6 Age: 26 Hunter or Gatherer: Neither Sexuality: Straight Height: 5'7 Relationship Status: open

The only (legitimate) child of a multi millionaire Bradford Mariott, Cosima learned from a very young age just how easy it was to manipulate not only her parents, but just about everyone around her. She had a sweet face, and a determined pout, and wanted one thing: to get her way.

Despite how bratty she can come off, Cosima never had any problems making friends. She was pretty, and rich, and she felt like people flocked to her, desperate to be in her circle. She tolerated most, but her very best friend in the whole world was Piper Kang. Piper is the only one Cosima really lets see the softer, more kind part of her (it's not that large of a part, but if anyone would experience it, it's Piper.) Often, this put Piper in a mom friend/voice of reason category, but it also meant she's the only person Cosima really listens to and accepts it when she says no.

She only wanted to surround herself with other beautiful and rich people, so while there were a lot of people who would call her their friend, she had a very specific friend group of around seven people who she actually considered her friends. They were they group that she did everything with, and included Piper Kang, Nixon Chambers, Fleur Villiers, (2 wcs) and Quill and Quincy Harker. Any trip or vacation she went on, she usually tried to figure out how all of them could go have a fun time.

Cosima was about fourteen when a girl showed up at their door, claiming to be her half sister. Her father wanted absolutely nothing to do with her, and her mother seemingly irritated but not ready to sign any divorce papers quite yet, Cosima couldn't help but feel smug. She was wanted, and this girl, Nicole, could stay out on the streets for all she cared. She was not sharing the attention and affection of her parents with anybody else.

Continuing to spend daddy's money even after high school, Cosima opted to not go to college or work, instead spending all day making Quill do whatever it was she was too lazy to do herself, or simply didn't want to do herself. She had told her parents she wanted to marry a filthy rich man and just be his trophy wife, lounging around and going to fun parties. She hasn't ever really had aspirations other than to party and have fun.

At some influencer event, Cosima met Denny Tremaine, and there was an instant attraction. The two were near inseparable, her often appearing in his vlogs and him on her Instagram feed. They were annoying, and Cosima shifted from bossing Quill around to bossing Denny around. She also would often be found with other guys at clubs, shrugging nonchalantly when asked if she had a boyfriend, and often Quill was called to come pick her up from whatever house she'd wound up as. The breakup between the two was nasty, and it all but forced Denny into a hiatus - so she barely noticed the fact that he actually disappeared not too long after.

She continued life like this for a few years, partying and forcing Quill to clean up after her, spending long days with Piper by the pool, and just doing pretty much literally anything she wanted to do with absolutely no consequences.

The party bus trip was supposed to be fun - and admittedly, it was, to start. They'd started an indulgent summer trip in June in Delaware, and commissioned a party bus to not only club hop, but to have an excuse to keep drinking and partying even when they weren't physically at a club. This went well for a couple days, until Nixon was goofing off, taking the wheel and steering them straight into Huntsville.

The first week was absolute hell, but the fact that they were all together made it very easy for them to get a house. Cosima was happy to call them family, and they'd figure out the sleeping situation, and if anyone was going to be sharing a room with her, it would be Piper, because she's the only one Cosima deemed worthy of sharing space with. She's settled in okay at this point, clinging to Piper and Quill like life rafts, and deeply unsure how to exist in a place where her money and influence don't matter at all.

[ladymorghul]

Something I don’t understand when people get mad that team green took the throne I was like yeah that make sense the laws and traditions are on their side plus if they didn’t they would be killed so Rhaenyra would not have a rival to her claim. Also people who talk about the oath that lords of the land made that was 20 years ago most of them are dead and Rhaenyra broke her oath as heir so they don’t owe her anything. She didn’t produce legitimate heirs to the throne and had bastards and the laws of the land clearly state that bastards can’t inherit anything and if they do it is because there is no legitimate (mostly male line) left to inherit. Is it sexists yes but that is the time they are living in. She broke her wedding vows so she proves that her word means nothing. Then she married Daemon she was made heir in the first place to keep Daemon away from the throne now she is basically handing it to him. Rhaenyra has also proven that she doesn’t care for the common people she will rule over that their opinions don’t matter. I was like okay you don’t care for the people who’s love and support you will need to rule in peace. I was like you need the common people to do their jobs to keep things working in your society because they do all the hard work to make sure you get your food, clothes, and all other basic necessities. Rhaenyra also hide herself and her kids away from the capital to hide from the rumors that are true. She showed no interest in ruling, gathering supporters, and all other basic things you need to rule with. She knows her father is ill and not getting better instead of staying in the capital helping rule proving she is the heir she leaves the capital placing the responsibilities of ruling and taking care of her father in the hands of team green and is then surprised when she comes back and everything is different. I was like girl why are you stunned you ran away from your responsibilities and team green had to pick up the pieces you left behind. She also proves time and time again she is only interested in herself and what benefits her and if anyone points out one of her flaws her runs and tells one of the men in her life to fight for her instead of fighting for herself. She has proven to be very selfish which is a terrible trait for a ruler when you need to think of others. At least with Aegon he has a group of councilors who care for others to help guide unlike Rhaenyra who councilors only think what they can get for themselves. At the end of the day team green rule is better for the peace and stability of the realm along with the care of the common people because they care about them.

obviously the nature of who rhaenyra is as a person does not alter her claim, but it does speak to how the realm sees her and how they react to her, but still

viserys named her heir because of how f’ed up daemon is 

rhaenyra marries laenor and not only we see her saying she doesn’t want to pop out kids like her mother, but she actually goes on to have three kids with harwin alone. also laenor’s characterization through the whole thing...

her father made NO arrangements to secure her status as heir and just assumed that everyone forced to bend the knee would 100% accept her as if there wasn’t an entire council that rejected rhaenys in his favor and we have rhaenys comment on the nature of their world and his own council was against this (the show only slightly hints at this) (otto was pro but for his own interest, which could have backfired if viserys was smart enough not to remarry and have male heirs)

we are never shown anybody actually being displeased with rhaenyra’s status as heir outside of vaemond even though to me that seems like straight up fantasy. we are supposed to believe that vaemond only opposed rhaenyra because he wanted driftmark for himself (and to this day i don’t understand why they wrote his outburst like that as if vaemond didn’t know what was gonna happen. idk. a lot to unpack.) and the greens are the only misogynists in all of the seven kingdsoms. 

we are never shown viserys’ or anyone’s reaction to rhaenyra marrying daemon even though, like you say, she was named heir to especially keep him away from the throne, but then again rhaenyra and daemon are the only people in the entire world that viserys cares about so i think both of them could have done anything and it’d be forgiven at the end of the day. he has more love for the disgusting pos that is his brother than for the woman who nursed him for a good portion of his life.

rhaenyra leaves red’s keep and then comes back with daemon to complain and judge alicent. where were YOU??

i don’t fault rhaenyra for fighting for her interest, but the show does certainly make it look like she’s always the victim and that her own selfishness or ignorance has no / should have no consequence on anybody. 

[lightdancer1]

I will also note re: Tara and her darker side:

First, we do have Amber Benson herself writing a Tara who'd fit comfortably in a Warhammer Fantasy fluff. The sorceress who reads the wrong book, gets corrupted and possessed by those words, and is casually using her world's Willow as a power battery...while being about as hammy as the Wicked Witch of the West. I do love Benson's voice performance in that, and I enjoy using that version not least because given Amber Benson's protectiveness of said character that she wrote the first new media with her featuring an actually legitimately evil version says something.

Second, if we go with the idea that Tara's power draws from the Earth, there are two relevant points here. Assuming Gaia has connections to Greek myth when Osiris is both real and punked by Willow in one of her darker and more awesome moments equally, this is the Gaia who casually spat out monsters to kill the Gods because she was a murderous wrathful entity. Gaia is anything but a kindly maternal figure, she's more Kali-Durga. Second, at a purely scientific level tsunamis, volcanism, landslides, and the like are all things the Earth does.

Like any other kind of magic it has its more destructive sides and tapping into this is not technically Dark Magic, but it is the shadow-side of Earth magic, and it is one area where Tara is and will always be the 'always someone better' to Willow because Willow is a generalist who can do everything somewhat well, and Tara a very specialized focus in one set of magic in the long term. A lot of fanfics make her equal in power and the canon is very blunt that she is not. Not being equal to the most powerful sorcerer on Earth, or according to the comics, the entire universe of the Buffyverse Earth, does not mean that she is weak.

It only means that she comes short next to the magical equivalent of Silver Age Superman and there are huge gulfs in that. Still further, even when there are mitigating reasons Tara in canon sabotaged demon-location spells in the middle of the search for Adam and almost killed the entire Scooby gang in that one day when all her collective traumas bricked her in the face.

The canon character is by no means an infallible moral figure, and that I think is one of the few areas where the broad sketches of the Season 6 arc still work, Tara made smaller-scale mistakes and more importantly learned from them and learned how not to do it again. Willow makes much grander ones in pursuit of control over her life and a power trip from no longer being the side-kick and coming into vast amounts of power without real means to control it. Dark Lord Rosenberg vs. the traumatized cult survivor who more than most would see Mall Goth Sauron exactly for what she is and take the logical protective root of scooting and doing so too fast to warn the Scoobies of the time bomb in their midst.

Things with her and Willow work better when she is not, in fact, always right and when her behavior which on the whole is the best relationship in anything Whedon wrote (and when I continue this is still true and it tells you about all the others he's written) is one of largely picking fights and dealing with insecurities poorly and in a very human fashion until Dark Willow more than justifies the things she did more retroactively than at the time....is subject to the reminder that she is both abuse survivor, cult victim, internalized her view of herself as a demon and is not in fact always right on major things as she never quite accepted that she wasn't one.

She is not always right, her advice to Willow being a train wreck works better because it's well-meaning, from the POV of someone who sees a problem happening, does what little she can to stop it and when it fails secures herself rather than being forced to always think of others. Equally her growth arc and that of Willow very much complement each other. The neglect victim and the cult victim find their own self-worth and that in each other, and each brings out both the other's good traits and at particular times and in particular ways, their bad ones.

Tara's background is also, as things like the Quiverfull movement and other modern cults show something that can work just as well in a non-supernatural AU. After all that she is NOT a demon is precisely the point, and 'simplifying' things to 'mere' physical and emotional abuse also neglects that cult survivors and the intersections of religions and in particular Christianity in its Protestant (more than Catholic, the Maclays really read like the boondocks of Roll Tide country rather than Catholic) sense with misogyny work in a purely 'normal' world. People raised in insular cults encountering the wider world and escaping them does happen.

Some of them are gay.

That and I also tend to oppose pedestals even or perhaps especially with fictional characters where there are minimal real-world consequences. Allowing people to be truly human, flawed, and the world to be better for the flaws is better than a saintly figure who can do no wrong.

Because what, after all, shows best the growth of an increasingly megalomaniacal and controlling mentality that leads someone to flee for a good reason than someone most equipped of anyone to recognize it for what it is and to refuse to put herself back in the world she fought so hard to escape from? And that in turn spawning out of whether or not it's a metaphor for queerness or heroin that Buffyverse magic is reality-warping with spellbooks and that the power to say to stones 'become bread' and then you have freshly baked loafs of the finest quality is something that would, invariably turn people down dark and destructive paths because there are few people who would be granted such power suddenly and handle it well.

So, ultimately, I think that Tara works best less as an unrealistic saintly good plot device and more as an abuse survivor and cult victim whose greatest arc is both learning to stand up for herself and grow into who she is and what she is, and that it is those same jagged flaws and blind spots that stand her so well with the equally jaggedly flawed and blind in critical places Willow, because their flaws both coarsen and complement each other in equal measure. They are never better than with each other, and there is nothing but the two of them to potentially bring out the very worst traits that can and would lead Tara to almost kill off her family of choice in a blunder that to that point was more potentially lethal than anything Willow did in her entirety of bungled reality warping 'fix my life and oh shit I fucked up other people's stuff bad me, cookie time' stuff up to that point in each other as well. And of course Willow's most destructive acts were all out of the fear of doing the very thing they brought on and motivated by her loss and the suicidal grief she was plunged into from it.

And let's not forget, if we say they're soulmates, that the other soulmate duo in this universe is Buffy and Angel. Is that *really* a recommendation that soulmates and one true loves work well for either person involved here?

[gachagon]

Yeah... Marrow is the least controversial of the Ace Ops on account of being the only one to turn against Ironwood when it had become clear that he was more concerned with "winning" than saving Atlas.

But a lot of people (myself included) feel that the Ace Ops' sudden last-second redemption in the final episodes of the Volume (Harriet's especially) came out of nowhere. Like, Harriet especially felt to be in poor taste to me, given the whole "cops can get away with murder as long as they have the right friends" thing in the real world, thus making Harriet being able to get away with trying to nuke a city by accepting friendship with the other Ace Ops more INSULTING than inspiring.

(Seriously, they should've either had her sacrifice herself to fly the Nuke away from Mantle or just had Watts remotely hijack the nuke instead of having Harriet attempt genocide out of spite, and most of the issues with her arc would be resolved. Like this wouldn't have resolved any of the issues with the Ace Ops bodyshaming and dehumanizing Penny and then never having to confront their biases because they turned Penny human and then immediately killed her off, but at least Harriet wouldn't be getting off scott free for a literal war crime because she shed some crocodile tears.)

I really feel like the Ace-Op's are my only real criticism of the story so far just because they've done too much that's just irredeemable and the show never spent enough time really talking about how fucked up it was that they were willing to just kill a bunch of innocent civilians for seemingly no reason, because at that point there really WAS no reason to murk Mantle. Salem had already arrived, she was already at their doorstep, and the people of Mantle were evacuating without his help. If Ironwood really didn't care to save mantle, why waste a bomb trying to get rid of it? Really just to spite them. He wasn't thinking clearly at all and seemed to think for some stupid reason that killing everyone in Mantle would make RWBY work with him, when I can just see that making them even more upset with him.

And I don't really like what they did with Clover just because he's such a new character not just to us, but to Qrow as well. I think it'd have been better if Clover was different from the other Ace-ops like maybe he was from Beacon like Qrow and that could give them some kind of connection, and make us think Clover would've been different from the rest of them. As it stands though, their whole confrontation just seems to be too stupid and silly. Because Clover dies so early, we don't really see him do anything that makes us think he's a good person.

In fact, after he dies his teammates prove to just be even worse then what we imagined. Every time they were like "Noooo Clover was better then all of us :(" I kept thinking Was he? Lol he tried to arrest Qrow for no real reason, and got himself killed by a serial killer. Sure Qrow blames himself for working alongside Tyrian in that moment, but knowing what we know now about the Ace-ops and how they were willing to legitimately genocide all of Mantle to fuel Ironwoods ego and fear........maybe getting rid of Clover was good luck on Qrow's part, but he is too lovey dovey and sad to understand that right now.

[line-of-fire]

🖕 A headcanon relating to anger

From here! || Accepting!

So I love this so fucking much?? Perfect rambling material so hey, bonus content outside of the main timeline!

The most important thing to know is that Pixie has never been an angry person- far from it. Ever since she was young, she's always been this earnest, kind, idealistic person that just had so much patience and hope for the world. There wasn't ever really room in her heart for anger without legitimate justification.

And that's still true, to a certain extent. That's still who she is at her core, even if it's gone into hiding in a sense over the years as a result of her experiences. But even now, she's still difficult to really anger. Like I said, she's naturally incredibly patient, and at this point she's got a strong handle on her emotions, or at the very least letting them show, anger included.

But, there's still certain topics that shorten that fuse for her. Certain things she's still furious over, although more towards herself than anyone else. After all, she didn't sign those enlistment papers to kill, not originally. No, she signed her name on those dotted lines to make a difference, to help how she could.

Shitty parenting, either hearing about it or seeing the effects of it in others is a major one. It's a combination of her own strained relationship with her parents, as well as the fact that she's a mother herself, although with limited contact with her own daughter, and honestly I could go on about that situation, and I think I may have already done so in a previous post or one that's been put in the queue.

The other 'main' onse that can consistently get to her are just fucking with mechanics and truck drivers and their equipment. She has a lot of respect for them, and because of her own convoy-related trauma, she takes equipment maintenance incredibly seriously. As well as just, seeing young 'kids' (in her eyes anyone younger than 24) in the military.

And then there's the survivors guilt, her anger towards herself for not doing more, for her failure in saving her friends in a situation where none of them were in control.

And in a way, it extends to the Forgotten Soldier verse where all of the above holds true, with certain additions.

There, well, the simplest way to put it is that she's given much more to be angry about. And she is. Without a doubt. But she's kept a handle on it, for the sake of keeping up the appearance of being mentally fit for duty. Her rage is more directed towards her abandonment, how she was left for dead out of pure pettiness by somebody that was supposed to have her back. And how that "death" was covered up by her brother being murdered when he learned the truth. But, several years later, the anger has morphed into a certain bitterness she keeps behind closed doors.

The one constant throughout all this is the simple fact that bottled-up anger is much more dangerous than the anger that's addressed in a timely manner, given appropriate outlets. Because when that fuse is burned up, Pixie's anger is feral. Especially if she believes in her heart that whoever on the other end of it deserves the pain that comes with it. When she stops holding back, she stops holding back, and for anyone that knows her it's genuinely a little terrifying. An angry Pixie who's let herself go isn't somebody you want to be in front of or even next to.

The only exception is the Shadow Company timeline/AU. Phoenix is naturally a more angry person after the amnesia, and it's reflective of her more unstable mental state. Much of it can be seen as sort of 'echoes' from her experiences prior to the amnesia, but it's compounded by her anger over her memories and her past being stripped from her. And towards herself for not truly being able to get past that past that she wants to set aside in favor of her new identity that she's fought to forge and define for herself. She's also got a bit of a quicker temper as Phoenix, but in all honesty, it can be partially attributed to same brain injury that resulted in her amnesia.