#she looked royal throughout her scenes

[anotherfanaccount]

Was too much biased with srk to not mention about the WOMEN of the movie.

They were fantastic, each and every one of them. I'd have actually wanted to see more of them. They all had a character that was not objectified, I mean in my limited South Indian movie journey, women are not given substance most of the time. And that's not what happened here and I loved it.

Also a single mother and a superior officer having a genuine (emotionally I do believe Azad and Narmada matched very well) relationship. That's a man.

God I love men when they love and celebrate women too.

[korixae]

also also the way yeah simon and wille got to be together yeah 1000% but sara and felice!! god it’s so rare for any media to portray friendship and platonic relationships as just as important if not more important than romantic. but!!!!! they were also in that car!! they were endgame too!! it just brings me such joy that this silly angsty little romance can also put such value in friendship too <3 oh young royals writers just kill me

[3rdgymbros]

━ 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐈 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐓𝐨 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭.

— pairing; malleus draconia x reader

— summary; set in the future, where there's a threat to you and your unborn child

— notes; i was inspired to write this after watching a scene on youtube where we meet maleanor for the first time. please donate to my kofi if you like my work. and know that i am mentally smooching everyone who reblogs my stuff.

❋ It starts off as an ordinary day.

❋ You typically spend your mornings in the palace gardens, enjoying the breeze on your skin and the smell of fresh flowers. Now that you’re heavily pregnant with the future heir of Briar Valley, you’re constantly monitored by the Royal Guards, ensuring your safety in the absence of their Lord.

❋ But on this particular day, something goes wrong.

❋ The threat to your safety is swift and sudden, leaving you scrambling to protect your unborn child. Your protectors are caught off guard, leaving you vulnerable and unprotected for just a few terrifying moments.

❋ When word of the attack reaches Malleus, his blood runs cold. Then, it boils. His composure cracks, betraying the true depths of his emotions: a controlled, silent rage that emanates a chilling aura throughout the castle hall. His magic crackles in the air, the darkness swirling like a tempest around him. Everyone, guards and servants alike, can feel the suffocating weight of his fury.

❋ The guards — some of Briar Valley’s finest — stand frozen before Malleus, unable to meet his gaze with their heads bowed low. But he doesn't lash out immediately. Instead, he surveys them with a thoughtful, calculating look, purposely prolonging the tension in the otherwise silent room as they await his judgement.

❋ In his mind, he’s analysing every single one of their failings, dissecting the chain of events that allowed you and his unborn child to be placed in jeopardy. It’s a battle to restrain himself; the true depths of his emotions would surely set Briar Valley ablaze. As it is, the sky outside is already grey and overcast, reflecting the blackness of his mood.

❋ Finally, Malleus confronts the guards with a chilling calmness, his voice like the crackling embers of a storm. “Your folly,” he hisses, his words cold and precise, “could have cost Briar Valley its future.”

❋ Lilia watches from the shadows, a fond smile playing across his lips. Secretly, he’s taken aback by how much Malleus resembles his mother in this very moment. Maleanor had once looked at him the same way, with blazing eyes and a terrifying show of lightning magic, when he had arrived moments too late to protect her and her egg, a young Malleus still forming inside.  

❋ Maleanor’s fierce love had been passed down to Malleus, and he would protect you and his child just as she had protected him.

[starlight-bread-blog]

Why Stolas is a Terrible Person/Character

Oh this will be long. In this post I will cover why Stolas is a character that fundamentally fails at everything it tries to accomplish. I probably have to say that you can love Stolas. That's just why I hate him.

Trigger warnings for: Racism, casteism, power dynamics, sexual assault, sa apologism, abuse, and neglectful parenting. A lot, I know, but that's Stolas.

His Actions in S1

Despite the title, there will be two examples from season 2.

Racism/Casteist

Stolas is from the upper caste, a royal. He seem to often fetishize imps, or the fact that he's sleeping with someone who's less than him. I even saw fans pointing this out. He have empathized Blitzø being an imp in a sexual context.

(Notice the use of words: "little", "plaything", to me this is blatant racism and fetishism).

He also showed a certain lack of empathy for his imp butler.

Stolas isn't particularly violent, he doesn't choke people left and right. He's just angry, at Stella, so he decides to.. choke the imp.

Stolas has been dehumanizimg imps. Fetishizing an imp for being an imp, calling him an "impish little plaything", and he has been willing to choke an imp just because he was angry at something unrelated. He's racist and casteist.

Treatment of Blitzø

"Treatment" is putting it lightly. In the first episode, Stolas does something inexcusable that will taint their dynamic for all of season 1. First, he sees Blitzø in a vulnerable position, where he cannot think or negotiate. Thus, stripping him of what little choice he has on what he's about to offer.

What Stolas is saying is, "Fuck me or I'll shut down your business". This deal he makes is just a threat with extra steps. Which, is a real life abuse tactic called Quid Pro Quo:

"Quid pro quo harassment occurs when someone in a position of authority over another directly or indirectly demands sexual favors in exchange for some benefit, or to avoid some detriment in the workplace".

One element I haven't brought up yet, is the political power imbalance. Stolas is royalty, one with a lot of power, influence, credibility, etc. Blitzø has non of that. Other characters have commented on that the fact that Blitzø even has a business is a miracle.

There are so many layers of imbalance and how Blitzø has no choice or agency. A royal is """offering""" the powerless a Quid Pro Quo while he's in a life threatening situation.

And their dynamic looks exactly like you'd imagen. Stolas is consistently sexualizing him against his consent. (As it's been established, Stolas's racism feeds into this). And refuses to do the surface level courtesy, not even calling him his real name (x).

Stolas treats Blitzø as a lesser being, violates his boundries, forces himself on him, and strips him of all autonomy.

Faliure as a Father

Stolas's role as a father is directly tackled in Loo Loo Land and Seeing Stars. At the beginning, both episodes show Stolas being a good father to Octavia, but does this still hold true in the currect day? Well, no.

In Loo Loo Land, Stolas wants to take Octavia to a theme park. Octavia is 17, and Stolas ignores her when she says she doesn't want to go. (In retrospect, Stolas coud be oblivious because he's projecting onto Via his experience meeting Blitzø).

But that's just the start. Stolas then invites Blitzø to the trip and harasses with him all throughout. Essentially, Stolas is forcing his daughter to watch as he harasses "the homewrecker", all the while he's supposed to be with her, on a trip she didn't even want to go to.

After a whole day of this, as expected, Octavia runs away. Stolas chases her. (And of course, he's still thinking of Blitzø on his way to find Via). There's an apology scene that looks deep, but when you dissect it, it's rather empty.

Stolas never actually provided an explanation as to why he just did what he did, nor of the "drama" with Stella. There is nothing here. Octavia only makes up with him because he said he isn't gonna leave her. Which is bare minimum.

After he realizes that his affair hurts his daughter to the point where she feared he's gonna leave her, what does he do? What practical actions does he take to improve? Divorce Stella? Cut off his deal with Blitzø? Explained the situation?

Nothing. And now we see he's willing to stand up on a stage and let people know.

In Seeing Stars, Stolas bashes Via's mother to her. Which, does she know about their situation? Does she not? She isn't shown to hate or.. anything Stella. Is he hiding the situation (which I'll cover), while also trashing her mother? That's impulsive and negligent.

But that's nothing. She later runs away, Stolas is stressed as he should be, but the second they arravie on earth he's all calm and everything's normal.

When his daughter is missing. When he is shown to be stressed, it's for the sake of plot. But he's willing to just chill, watching Blitzø's show.

Stolas is, dare I say it, neglectful. He might care about his daughter, but he's proven that she's not enough of a priority to focus on her when it matters.

Cheating

Yes, I know what ended up being revealed, I'll cover that. In season 1, the relationship is presented to not be perfect before Stolas cheated.

But there were instances that showed that what Stolas did changed their relationship for the worse. (Some additional rebuttals).

It could have been a loveless marrige, they could hae fallen out of love, they could have been arranged. But their relationship was manageable. Love or no love, it's a committed relationship. and Stella didn't deserve to get cheated on.

Who was Stolas?

Stolas's behavior is common among royals. Stella has no problem throwing said butler at Stolas (S1 E2), and the Goetias are shown to be casteist. They're untouchable privileged assholes.

Stolas was born that wealth, never having to suffer the consequences of his actions. Always putting himself first, hurting others. He doesn't mean to, he wants for everyone to be happy, he does care.

However, when it actually matters, he acts on his worst tendecises with no self control. He never had to learn self control. That is, until Ozzie's.

Before Ozzie, Blitzø and Stolas are at obligation. Stolas's actions had tainted them. There was one redeemable moment: He saved Blitzø's life. Stolas did something for him. But this one act of goodness doesn't magically fix anything.

Stolas's family life have been escalating. Stella hated Stolas for cheating and his daughter just had to take it. In Loo Loo Land, he learns the full weight of the damage he caused. And in the next episode we see him, he proceeds to take no steps to improve the situation. In the end of that same episode, we learn that Stella hired an assasin after him. Because he did nothing.

The season 1 finale, Ozzie's, is aware of all of this and absolutly delivers.

The episode starts with seeing Stolas alone, in his big house, miserable. It appears that Stella finally left the house. (Also he later says "Octavia is with her mother this weekend"). He's eating a bowl of cereal, pitying himself, wallowing in his despair. You feel bad for him, he looks so torn down.

And then Blitzø calls. The one he loves, asks him on a serious date. It's hope, it's honest, and it's exactly what he wanted. It's almost as if the universe handed him is fairytale scenario.

Almost. Reality smacks him right in the face on that date. Asmodeus calls him out on losing everything he had. He had a family, a happy daughter, but gave it all up for an affair.

Blitzø calls him out on treating him like a pet, not earning any of that emotional connection he wants or even communicating it, just violating him, they have nothing.

The show held him accountable and called him out. While it's not perfect, Stolas is a morally grey character. Now, a character arc was set up where he learns to treat people better. Stolas is exactly the character I want to see from a show like Helluva Boss. He's a horrible person, but nuanced, who does care.

Season 2

Yeah... all of that is thrown out the window. Because apparently, Stolas is just imperfect. He simply made a lot of mistakes. He misread a lot of situations, really it's all just an accident. He's an oblivious victim. So, let's get into the woobification of Stolas.

Surrounded by Evil

In The Circus we're given Stolas's ✨️backstory✨️. And we find out he had such a terrible life.

Stella is, and always was, an abusive evil bitch. From the day she was born. Pure evil.

So you see, Stolas did nothing wrong. Let me be clear, you are not obligated to stay loyal to your abuser. We can erase "cheater" off the list. But that's the only reason why it's done. So we can erase that off the list, and that we could feel oh-so-sad for him.

Because Stella isn't written to be an abuser. She's a cartoonishly evil. We see a picture of her as a kid where she's the same person. Spongebob villians have more depth than her, you know, the abuser in the adult show.

Helluva Boss reversed an established dynamic where Stella is the victim and Stolas is at fault, except without any of the depth or nuance.

But that's not all. Stolas's dad (Paimon) is also neglectful. By "neglectful" I mean, of course, a Saturday-morning cartoon villain.

He doesn't remember his name. This is such bullshit. I can buy Stolas having a horrible father. It's also not bad to show Stolas's trauma. What is bad is that the subject matter is handled with less seriousness as the fish fight in Spring Broken. And Helluva Boss did write Crimson as a serious abuser, the episode did have comedy, but not Paimon.

The reason why all of this is happening, is so we could feel bad for Stolas. They do zero of the work to earn a good story about abuse, but still go "Do you see how sad he is? Look at how they're treating this poor baby!!"

"Recontextualization"

In said ✨️backstory✨️, we also learn that Stolas and Blitzø are childhood friends. But also not really, they just hung out for one day. Where did this come from? How does that enrich the characters? I would tell you, but I don't know. However, what I'm sure of, is that it's done to make Stolas look less problematic.

DO YOU SEE HOW CUT THIS IS? He isn't just horny for that imp, he is special, it's absoultly pure! Don't worry, totally safe.

Later in the flashback, we see how Blitzø and Stolas reconnected after over 20 years. Apparently... Blitzø was the one who sexually manipulated Stolas, selling him that he wants him.

All Stolas did was just buying into Blitzø's narrative he was imposed on. It's a role he leaned into, because he thought Blitzø liked it. I.. WHAT???

If this horseshit is true, why did he make this weird r*pe deal with Blitzø? If Blitzø was the one who acted like he's interested at first, and he was sexually exploiting him, why did he lash out at Stolas in Ozzie's? Did it just hold no weight for Stolas? It went from "Don't pretend to have something when you've been harassing me this whole time" to "You misunderstood".

The Stolitz backstory makes no sense, it's cheap, and fixes nothing. No matter what the story is trying to sell, in season 1 Stolas knew what's happening enough to try to force it. And maybe Stolas wanted Blitzø because of a connection, he still harassed, dehumanized and violated him.

Note: Stolas realizing "he imagened the relationship" is completely ignored one episode later in Seeing Stars. This is a huge deal, didn't he learn? Just further evidence that he's willing to violate the guy. (x)

Before this backstory, we had a story of a selfish man hurting the person he loves while explointing the broken system and the power that he has over him for his own selfish desires that he's forcing on him. Now, we have the same thing, but with fanfic tropes – and the story refuses to confront that.

Casteism is Brushed Off

Helluva Boss pretends that Stolas isn't racist, because he didn't want Blitzø for being an imp, but for being his fanfic trope childhood friend. Which fails to adress the disgusting fetishism of Blitzø for being an imp, and he also continued to dehumanize his imp butler in Seeing Stars. He's still racist.

Imperfect Father

In The Circus, Stolas devivers this line: "The only reason I have endured your constant insults and cruelty, was for that girl to have a normal life".

Sounds impressive, he stayed all these years just for his daughter. But that's the thing – it sounds impressive. Every time their relationship is the focus, Stolas is being the scum of the earth. What I see here, is a person. A person who despite being willing to stay passive, acts on his his selfish wants, forgetting to look around him. Mind you, this fact is also being revealed one episode after Ozzie's.

But no, one episode later, in Seeing Stars – that was covered as a prime example of everything I just descriped – Loona says this:

Yeah. He's just a good father "trying" his "best" and makes some.. "mistakes". The Circus did present Stolas as this, but Seeing Stars really solidified how his parenting will be handled moving forward. And I think it's comlete and utter dogshit.

Damsel in Distress

The title is a bit misleading. This section is mainly about Stolas's power being toned down. Both magical and in presentation.

In season 1, he was energetic and enthusiastic, while being able to set his foot down and intimidate when needed. He's still all of those things, but in some instances his characterization made my raise an eyebrow.

In Seeing Stars, he's being weirdly gentle with people kidnapping Blitzø and are later beatting him.

In Oops, he's excited to start negotiating with literal kidnappers. I have no idea why he's so nice.

(He did harass Blitzø again in Seeing Stars and bashed Striker, all of which isn't soft, but it's also the two moments where he should have shut up).

Further more, both of these conflict rely on Stolas not using his powers for some reason or another. Why didn't he just do whatever he did in Truth Seekers to track Fizz/Via?

About Via, I'm gonna have to call bullshit on the "My powers are limited on earth" nonsense because, for starters, kid Stolas is shown to remember the contents of his books and now he's been studying them for years. And two,

There is no excuse for Stolas to not use his powers and whenever the show says otherwise it's bullshitting its way out of it.

Even in Western Energy, before Stolas gets captured he was just aimlessly going in and out of his demon form. Why didn't he turn him into stone like he did in Loo Loo Land?

Stolas has been presented as weaker than he is. He's made to look more vulnerable, less "above it all". He was untouchable, and when he wasn't, it had a harder impact and made sense. Now, I almost forgot he's a powerful demon.

And his characterization is at the core of this issue. At times he's just so kind and gentle with people who should get smacked in their heads.

What about Ozzie's

The big clash, the one that called Stolas out on everything, the one that set him on a genuine path to grow, what about it? How is it adressed while the show tries to pretend he's a good person?

No, not the message Stolas is looking at, the ones in the background he just scrolled through.

I'm not breaking this down. I refuse. The only reason I put it here is to show how fast it goes. I'm not touching that.

Who is Stolas

Stolas is a moral scapegoat – "a character that is bad, but the book/movie/show portrays them as good". It's characterized by the story twisting itself to make one character look good.

Stolas didn't start out as one, but became one over one season premire and it just kept escalating from there.

Helluva Boss takes place in Hell. A horrible place filled with horrible people, the root of all evil. Stolas fits right in there. He was already problematic, awful, fed into Helll's broken system. Why trying to cover up his faults? It's Hell, and it was great. But now, we're supposed to pretend he's just flawed.

With the show actively ignoring everything he did, what's left for him? What does he have to learn? How will he grow as a person? How will he improve? What's his character arc? It's nothing. Because everything that happens to him isn't his fault, and at times could just be solved with one conversation.

[seonghrtz]

𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 ✶ nanami kento

꒰ first sight ! ꒱ an invitation to a palace ball gives a young woman hope of reuniting with the dashing stranger she met in the woods.

❛❛ an unlikely encounter in the woods between two desperate souls led to the blossoming of a beautiful friendship ⸻ or perhaps something more. ❜❜

pairing. prince!nanami kento x (cinderella)fem!reader.

contents. cinderella alternative universe, fluff, slight angst, friends to lovers, he fell first he fell harder, royal!au, mentions of death, occ nanami.

amy's note. hi sweetie, this is amy!!! this story was more inspired by the cinderella live action movie (2015). i love this movie and have watched it so many times with my mom that i know it by heart hihihi. also, i had to include the iconic scenes of cinderella and the prince in the garden and the stepmother breaking the crystal slipper!!! and one quote from jane austen's pride and prejudice. in short, just nanami being the prince we deserve!!! i hope you enjoy it and have a good read <3

comments and reblogs are very much appreciated!

𝕺𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐔𝐏𝐎𝐍 𝐀 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄, there was a beautiful, sweet girl called Y/n. This little girl lived a quiet life with her family. Her father was a merchant who traveled frequently and her mother stayed at home, due to her fragile health, teaching her daughter and taking care of her. Although it was a simple life, Y/n was happy and that was enough for her.

However, fate doesn't always have a happy ending for everyone, and her mother eventually passed away due to health complications. And with her last breath, she wished that her daughter would always be kind and gentle, that she would have courage and always want to do good, even when evil tries to prevail. And Y/n promised her mother that her kindness would prevail in the most difficult moments of her life and that she would live a good life.

Not long after her mother's death, the girl's father decided to remarry, looking for a way for his daughter to have a mother figure, not to replace her biological mother, but someone who could be by her side when he couldn't be. Things didn't go well in the family, her stepmother and stepsisters were mean and abusive, taking advantage of her kindness when her father was away on business. And then everything fell apart when the girl's father had an accident on one of his trips and died, leaving his daughter at the mercy of her stepmother and stepsisters' selfish will.

Y/n was reduced to a maid instead of a family member. She was moved from her room to the attic and had to do the housework, washing and cooking all day. She watched as everything her mother believed in and liked gradually disappeared, while things became more her stepmother's style.

One day, tired of everything, the young woman rode into the forest. The wind in her hair and the tears drying on her face felt a little liberating. That same day, she crossed paths with a young man named Kento, who wasn't having his best day either.

An unlikely encounter in the woods between two desperate souls led to the blossoming of a beautiful friendship ⸻ or perhaps something more.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ ✶

Y/n awoke with the sunrise. After years, the young woman had become accustomed to the routine and every morning she rose early to prepare breakfast for her stepmother and stepsisters and then set about cleaning the house. At the very least, doing the chores around the house kept her mind busy.

Just as she was preparing the materials to clean the house, a knock on the front door echoed throughout the house. Y/n left the bucket of water she was holding in a corner and went to the door, surprised by the sudden visit. It was too early for people to leave their homes, and the postman had come the day before.

"Good morning" the young woman smiled politely at the stranger in front of her "What can I do for you?"

"Good morning, miss." The young man fumbled with the bag hanging next to his body and pulled out an envelope, holding it out to the young woman. Y/n took the envelope and watched as the boy said goodbye and walked away without saying another word.

The young woman looked surprised, but shrugged her shoulders. She made her way to the pantry where her stepmother was having breakfast and asked to be excused before entering the room.

"What did I say about coming into the living room while I'm having breakfast?" her stepmother said with a harsh tone.

"Excuse me, but a boy just came by and left this envelope." The young woman placed the envelope on the table and walked away, watching as her stepmother picked it up and opened it.

Y/n waited for a reaction and was startled when the older woman in front of her suddenly stood up from the breakfast table and gave several quick and shouting orders.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, GO WAKE UP MY DAUGHTERS! WE HAVE A ROYAL BALL TO ATTEND AND WE NEED THE BEST DRESSES!”

"A royal ball?" she asked confused.

"The King is giving a ball to find a wife for his son, who will inherit the kingdom, now run along because I need to go into town to find the three best dresses in town! One of my daughters is coming back married that night!"

"Oh, ma'am, that's very kind of you!"

"What?" The stepmother put her hands on her waist.

"The dress..."

"Oh dear, and who says the dress is for you?" the older woman laughed with glee, "Two will be for my beautiful daughters and the other will be for me, I will not spend my money to buy something for you to wear to the ball."

"But could I go to the ball?" she asked hopefully.

"Um..." the stepmother looked the young woman up and down, "If you've done all your chores for the day and have a dress, maybe you could go."

"Ah, thank you, ma'am!" Y/n smiled excitedly at the idea of going to a royal ball.

"Now go wake up my daughters!"

After waking her step-sisters, the young woman watched as the house descended into chaos. The two sisters screamed excitedly at the idea of the royal ball, while their stepmother ordered them to go to the city. Y/n felt true peace only when the house was deserted, just her and the animals in it. And without further ado, the young woman smiled to herself and ran to the stable. Luckily, her stepmother had left just when she had a secret appointment.

On the day she received the news of her father's death, and on the same day she rode aimlessly into the forest, Y/n had met Kento, a young man who had happened to receive tragic news and had ridden into the forest to relax. After the unexpected meeting, the young woman and the man agreed to meet every day in the same place at the same time to talk about their tragedies and successes. However, Y/n had kept these meetings secret, afraid that if her stepmother found out, she would forbid her to meet the boy she knew so little about.

With a slight smile on her face, the young woman rode to the meeting point and was surprised to see Kento waiting for her. Usually, she was the first to arrive, but the euphoria over the news of the ball had delayed her a few minutes.

"Miss." Kento smiled at the sight of her and helped her off the horse.

"Ken, I'm sorry I'm late!" she said, smoothing down the unruly strands that had been messed up by the wind "The invitation to the royal ball ended up stirring things up at home."

"Speaking of the royal ball, will you be attending?" Kento tried to hide the slight hint of hope in his words.

"I still have my doubts about that," she sighed, sitting down on a log next to her horse. "My stepmother said that if I managed to finish all my chores for the day, and if I had a dress, I could go to the ball."

"If they treat you like that, why don't you leave?"

"It's not that easy...not to mention that it's not that bad, other places can be more hostile."

"I see..." the young man sits down next to the woman, "I'd like you to go to the ball so we can have at least one dance.”

The young man's words made her laugh.

"Then I hope you'll save a dance for me."

"I'm saving all the dances for you, you're the only one I want to dance with on the ball night." Kento's words made Y/n feel shy.

"I think there will be many more interesting ladies to dance with." The young woman shifted her gaze to the trees that made up the scenery around her.

"I have no interest in other ladies, none of them can compare to you."

"Kento! You shouldn't say that!"

"Why not? My mother taught me to be honest and I'm just telling the truth," a small smile appeared on his lips.

"Maybe you shouldn't be so direct with your honesty..." The young woman's face burned at the statement of the man next to her.

"Well, I wish you'd come to the ball so we could see each other outside of this forest for once."

"And dance the night away?" she laughed lightly.

"And dance the night away," Kento repeated her question, but this time as a concrete statement, leaving no doubt about his intentions with the young woman on the night of the royal ball.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ ✶

If Y/n said she didn't expect her stepmother and stepsisters to make her day the busiest of her life, running around doing chores and being responsible for every little detail of the preparations for the royal ball, she would be lying.

She'd woken up earlier than usual to get her mother's gown ready for the royal ball, but it wasn't long before her stepmother started barking orders, causing her gown to be forgotten. Cleaning the stairs, feeding the animals in the barn, helping her step-sisters put on their huge, garish party dresses, helping them fix their hair... among other things, Y/n had no time to finish her own dress.

Perhaps her meeting with Kento should only take place in the forest, hidden in secret. There would be no other way, not if her stepmother still had the power to dictate orders and interfere in her life as if she couldn't make her own decisions.

When she finished climbing the stairs that led to the attic where her bedroom had become, the young girl was surprised to open the door and find her mother's dress mended, brand new.

"How…?" Y/n approached the dress, delighted, "Oh, it doesn't matter, thank you to whoever made it!" She smiled excitedly, now she could meet Kento and dance with him all night, just as she had said she would if she could attend the ball.

The young woman took a quick shower to get ready for the ball. There wasn't much to prepare, she fixed her dress to her body, put on her pink shoes with low heels, applied pink lipstick and put on her mother's pearl necklace before fixing her hair. She didn't have much, just as she didn't need much. Y/n was just happy to be at the ball and to have the opportunity to meet her friend. And she preferred to keep it simple.

But her happiness was short-lived...

When she came down to the parlor just as her stepmother and daughters were about to leave for the ball. Looking at the girl in her ball gown, with a happy expression on her face, Madame Tremaine saw the perfect moment to break her like fragile old porcelain.

"What's that?" Her stepmother's superior look didn't intimidate Y/n.

"I'm ready to go to the royal ball!"

"You? The ball?" Drizella laughed anasally, "But not even on the day the pigs fly!"

"Mom, I don't want to be seen with the maid! Look at these rags! They don't even compare to our fancy dresses!" Anastasia commented, looking up and down at the young woman in front of her.

"But you promised I could go if I had a dress and finished my homework," the young woman said, remembering the agreement they had made when they were invited to the ball.

"I don't remember promising you anything," Tremaine circled Y/n like a predator circles its prey. "You must have misunderstood, my dear. Never in my life would I go to such an important ball with a filthy, ridiculous little girl like you." The woman held the young woman's chin tightly, forcing her to look into her cold, hateful eyes.

"I don't understand... I've never done anything to you..." Y/n mumbled, her eyes watering as much from the force her stepmother put on her jaw as from the words spoken to her.

"You're an insignificant, annoying little thing, you know that?" Tremaine let go of Y/n's chin and smiled sideways before reaching for the pearl necklace that adorned the young woman's neck and ripping it off with her own hand, startling her. "Oops!" the woman smiled as she tore the sleeve and front of the dress, making her daughters laugh at the scene and help their mother destroy the dress, "Come on girls, we can't be late for the ball.”

Y/n felt her body shake, and when they were gone, the young woman ran quickly, sobbing, to the garden ⸻ the place where she had so many memories with her family, with her mother, and which Tremaine had never been able to change. She sat down on a bench and began to cry, not just for what had happened a few moments ago, but for everything she had been through these past few years without her family.

"But what is a beautiful girl doing crying instead of having fun at the ball?" The voice of a mysterious person startled Y/n, who was trapped in her own world of memories.

"Who... Who are you?" The young woman looked up, startled, and rubbed her eyes to wipe away the tears.

"Your fairy godmother, dear! Or rather, your Fairy Godfather!"

"What?" The young woman looked at the person before her. He was tall, with white hair, blue eyes hidden behind glasses, and a pair of large shiny wings.

"You can call me Gojo if you prefer, now come on, hurry up, we have a ball to attend!" Gojo said hurriedly, pulling Y/n to get up from the bench.

"But I can't go to the ball like this!"

"What do you mean?" His glasses slipped down his nose.

"My dress is torn, I can't go like this."

"And why didn't you say so before?" Gojo raised an eyebrow, "Do you mind a few casual changes?" He pulled his wand from his pocket and smiled when he saw the young woman nod, "Then let's go!"

Gojo scratched his throat before dictating the dress, which completely transformed. The pink quickly turned to blue, and the single layer became several. The dress became voluminous, shiny and elegant, fit for a princess ⸻ and Y/n couldn't help but feel like one in that wonderful dress.

"Let me see your feet," Gojo ordered.

"What? My feet? Why do you want to see my feet?"

"Are you crazy thinking I won't do my full job? You need a proper shoe for that dress!"

Without questioning the fairy, Y/n lifted the hem of her dress to reveal her pink shoes, which in less than a few seconds had been transformed into a beautiful pair of crystal heels.

"Are they crystal?" the young woman asked in shock.

"The real question is, why not crystal? It's just a little gift, honey," Gojo smiled sideways, "Now hurry up, or you'll miss the first dance! Do you have any pumpkins?"

"Pumpkin? There are some over there." Y/n pointed to one of the corners of the garden.

"Wonderful. We have a pumpkin and some mice, perfect for a carriage and its horses." Gojo smiled proudly before casting another spell, transforming the pumpkin into a huge, detailed carriage and the nearby mice into majestic horses, "Now let's go, you can't be late!" He pulled Y/n into the carriage.

"But what about my stepmother and my step-sisters? They'll recognize me when they see me at the ball!"

"Don't worry about that!" Gojo tapped the young girl's head with his wand, "And remember, sweetie, all this magic here will only last until midnight, no longer."

"Until midnight?" Y/n smiled sweetly, "That's long enough, I don't need more than that. Thank you for everything you've done for me."

"No thanks, sweetie, I'm your fairy godfather, it's just my job. Now go to the ball and have fun, break it out!"

"All right!" Y/n laughed, "Thanks again!"

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ ✶

Y/n was late.

She realized this when she finished climbing the endless stairs that led to the entrance of the ballroom and found the doors closed.

The young woman took a deep breath before opening the doors, allowing a glimpse of the stairs that would lead to the dance floor and where the other guests were gathered. She bowed when she saw the king on a throne at the top of the hall and walked quietly down the stairs, but the people began to spread out, forming a corridor from one side of the hall to the other.

Noticing the person on the other side, the young woman smiled and walked excitedly toward the person in the middle of the hall.

"Ken," Y/n smiled at the sight of the blonde.

"You came." Kento smiled, lost in the beauty of the woman before him.

"You promised me a dance," she smiled at the memory of their last encounter in the forest.

"Then I would like... I mean... allow me the greatest of pleasures by granting me the honor of letting you lead this... first..."

"Dance?" the young woman said, completing the prince's request.

"Yes, dance." Kento smiled awkwardly with a blush on his cheeks and ears as he saw the woman before him nod in agreement.

Gently pulling her by the waist and holding one of her hands, Kento led the dance as soon as the music began, whirling her around the hall. The young prince held her tightly, afraid that this moment would be one of his dreams, for he had found her fragile in the forest at a time when his own heart was fragile.

"Everyone is looking at you." Y/n mumbled sheepishly as she noticed the eyes of the guests watching them dance around the ballroom.

"You couldn't be more wrong." Kento laughed slightly, "They're looking at you."

When the music for the first dance ended, there was no waiting for the next dance to begin. Soon, the ballroom floor was filled with couples happily dancing to the lively music of the orchestra.

"Come with me." Kento whispered in Y/n's ear and led her out of the room.

"So... you're the prince?" The young woman asked even though it was as obvious as sunlight. She wanted an excuse to strike up a conversation as they walked to wherever Kento wanted to take her.

"Not the Prince, but one of the princes that exist in the world," Kento said awkwardly, "There are several... not just me..."

"But aren't you an apprentice, as you told me when we first met?"

"Yes, I'm an apprentice monarch who is still learning his trade." Nanami's words made Y/n laugh briefly, "First of all, I should apologize. Please forgive me for my lies, I imagined you would treat me differently if you knew I was the prince of these lands, I thought you were a good honest girl and now I have proof that you really are."

"So... no more surprises?" the young woman asks the boy, holding out her hand and showing him her little finger.

"No more surprises." Kento gently intertwined his little finger with the young woman's, wishing the world could stop right then and there. "This way, I promise we'll be right there," he said as he led her through the castle's vast garden.

"Won't they miss you at the ball?"

"Maybe," he shrugged, "but I'm not planning on going back just yet."

"Is there a problem?"

“If I go back now, they'll try to push me towards a lady of their choosing." Nanami said dejectedly, maybe he didn't want to talk about his problems, not on such a magical night. "They want me to marry for advantage.”

"Well, I think you should rule your heart," the young woman said with a slight smile.

"Perhaps, but I must listen to and obey the king's wishes."

"He's your father, Kento, I'm sure he'll understand your point of view, you just need the right time"

"I've never shown this place to anyone before," Kento said, changing the subject when they reached the spot he wanted to show the young woman. "It's a secret garden, I thought you might like it.”

"I love it!" Y/n smiled as she explored the area until she came to a swing attached to a tree.

"Please," the young prince said, motioning for her to sit on the swing as soon as he noticed her gaze.

"I don't know if I should," the young woman said shyly.

"Yes, you should."

"No, I shouldn't."

"Yes, you should."

"No."

"Yes!"

"Okay." She shrugged, gave in and sat down on the swing, and Nanami soon began to push her gently.

Y/n had as much fun as Nanami. They'd never met outside the confines of the forest, and even after so many surprises that beautiful night, they couldn't help but feel the magic ⸻ and love ⸻ in the air. There, at that moment, Nanami Kento wasn't a prince about to be thrown to the first rich princess who would sign a contract favorable to the kingdoms, and Y/n wasn't the maid of her stepmother and stepsisters who was constantly being abused. They were just themselves, without their titles, without what defined them, they were just two souls in love, enjoying the time they had left.

When Y/n's crystal shoe accidentally came off her foot, Nanami quickly stopped pushing her on the swing and crouched down in front of her, taking the shoe in his hands. He held up the hem of her dress, revealing Y/n's bare foot, and gently picked it up to put the shoe back on her foot.

"Is it crystal?" Nanami's hand, holding the young woman's foot, unconsciously patted her ankle.

"And why wouldn't it be?" she said gracefully, "Thank you."

"Y/n... would you accept..." The young prince's speech was cut short as the clock struck midnight.

"It's midnight..." The young woman got up from the swing, causing Nanami to get up with her in fright. "I have to go!"

"Wait!" Nanami watched as the young woman hurried past the exit of the garden. "Why do you have to go now?"

"Your Royal Highness is very kind, thank you for the wonderful evening," she said as she walked in quick steps, "I will never forget every second we spent together, it was magical. And who knows, maybe we can meet again in the forest."

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

"It's hard to explain! But I promise we'll meet again!" Y/n smiled as she ran frantically.

"Y/n! Where are you going?" Kento ran after the young woman, but unfortunately, there were several obstacles in his way. It was as if the universe didn't want him to reach her at this moment.

As she descended the castle's long staircase to the exit gates, she lost one of her crystal slippers on one of the steps. Fearing the final chime of the clock, the young woman left the shoe behind, believing that its magic would eventually fade, and it would be nothing more than a lost heel.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ ✶

All the magic vanished when Y/n arrived home, leaving only her little crystal shoe on her foot. The young woman bent down and picked up the only remaining shoe ⸻ since she had lost the other pair ⸻ and smiled as she looked at the shoe in her hands. The fact that it was there proved that it hadn't been a dream, but a real event.

Y/n went up to the attic and on a loose floor ⸻ where she kept some of her mother's things ⸻ she put on the crystal slipper. She knew deep down that something bad would happen if her stepmother found out that she hadn't just gone to the ball, but had danced with the prince.

Ah, the prince.

Not even in her wildest dreams would the young girl imagined that the boy she had met in the forest, and who had been meeting her at the same place at the same time ever since, was actually the prince, the future king, of the kingdom where she lived.

Kento had always been polite and kind to her, always willing to listen and talk about anything. He was already the man of every girl's dreams, and now that she knew his status, it had only been confirmed ⸻ but Y/n didn't want him because of his status

However, apparently he would only remain in her dreams...

The next day, Y/n went back to her routine as if the night before had never happened. She woke up early, prepared the food, took care of the animals in the stable, cleaned the house... Nothing was different, except for her memories and the hidden crystal slipper.

When her step-sisters finally gave her a break and spared her from hearing about the men who had danced at the ball and how a young girl in a blue dress had dared to go straight to the prince after setting foot in the ballroom, Y/n headed for the attic.

In the afternoon, she would go to the forest as usual to meet Kento. The young woman wasn't sure if he would show up that afternoon, but she hoped with all her heart that he would be waiting for her among the trees. As he always did.

As soon as she opened the door to her room, the young woman noticed that some floors were out of place, and when she noticed that her memory box was out of its hiding place, her heart began to beat fast and her palms began to sweat with nervousness.

"Is this what you were looking for?" Tremaine's voice startled Y/n, but her fear was soon replaced by surprise when she saw the slipper in her hand. "Oh dear, don't look so scared. I'm only going to ask you once. From whom did you steal it?"

"I didn't steal it from anyone, it was given to me!"

"Given to you? Oh, for heaven's sake, nothing is ever given, especially to someone like you!"

"I swear it was a gift!"

"So you're going to insist on the lie?" Tremaine let out a bored sigh and walked to the attic exit, tapping Y/n on the shoulder on the way, "Good thing you'll have plenty of time to think... Oh oops!" The woman slammed the crystal slipper into the door frame, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

Y/n's eyes filled with tears as she saw the shattered shoe on the floor, barely noticing Tremaine lock the door. The young woman knelt down and picked up each shard, feeling the tears blur her vision. The first gift she had received after so many years was broken and there was nothing that could fix it. Now only the memories remained.

Y/n sighed, wiped the tears from her eyes with her hands and sat down by the window. She had nowhere else to go, she wouldn't be meeting with Kento like she used to. The only thing she had left were her animal friends to keep her company.

Not long after, the door to the attic was opened, frightening the young woman ⸻ she swore that Tremaine would lock her in there for days, or perhaps just until the next day. But she was soon surprised to see a palace guard instead of her stepmother.

"Miss, please come with me.”

Without saying a word, Y/n followed him down the stairs to the living room. When she reached the living room, she noticed a figure she knew well. His clothes were in perfect condition, with no wrinkles or stains, his blond hair was perfectly styled with not a single strand out of place, and his posture was upright and impeccable. There was no doubt that Nanami Kento was a perfect prince.

"Your Royal Highness," Y/n said, bowing.

"I thought we agreed to treat each other without formalities, Y/n." Nanami turned, his serious expression relaxing slightly as he met the bright eyes of the young woman before him.

"Forgive me." Y/n murmured shyly.

"When you ran away during the ball and didn't show up in the forest as usual, I thought maybe I had disappointed you by revealing my true identity as the prince. I thought maybe I should give you some space, but I couldn't. Your name is engraved on my heart, and you are the only thing that crosses my mind every moment I breathe in and out. Every day I looked forward to seeing you for even a few seconds in the forest, and when you didn't show up today, I felt like my world was about to fall apart. I looked for you all over the kingdom, I went from house to house looking for the owner of the lost crystal slipper, I went to the edge of the forest looking for you. I love you, most ardently. I'm yours with or without the crown". Nanami approached Y/n and held her hand to his chest, making the young woman feel his heart beat faster.

"But Nanami, I'm just a simple farmer's girl, and as much as my heart wants to throw myself into your arms and give myself completely, I don't know if I'm suited for such a responsibility."

"A wise woman once told me that we must rule our own hearts. Please come with me and I will be yours forever.”

"Eternally mine? That doesn't sound so bad..." Y/n murmured, her heartbeat calming down to a feeling that was too good to be true.

"So, what do you say?" Kento smiled slightly.

"I'll be yours, any way you want.”

Then Nanami, overcome by the heat of the moment, passionately kissed the woman of his dreams. The kiss was calm, there was no need to rush, it was tender and addictive.

Y/n smiled as they moved away from each other and felt Kento place something in her hand. The young woman looked down at her hand, noticing the missing pair of her crystal shoes.

"You... you found them," she looked at the shoe in her hands, "I don't have the other pair."

"I can have a thousand crystal shoes made if you want." Nanami said with a serious face, showing that he wasn't joking.

"That won't be necessary." Y/n laughed at his lover's expression. "It's just a reminder that that magical night wasn't just a nice dream."

Kento smiled slightly and hugged Y/n tightly. Finally, after a long time, the girl he had always dreamed of, the girl who had always made his heart race, she would finally be by his side forever, there would be no need for him to run off into the forest, because she would already be within reach.

© seonghrtz, 2024. all rights reserved, please do not copy / steal / translate / modify any of my works !

[foreverunraveling]

Is it just me, or does Young Royals really love to scare us, lull us into a false sense of security, and then pull the rug out from underneath us (in a way that's much worse than the original threat)?

For example, you see August clocking Wille leaving the movie before Simon in episode 2.

You (if you weren't too distracted by the scene itself) might have worried that he might show up when they were having their first kiss there. But he didn't. The show consciously created that tension and then relieved it as a foreshadowing of the much worse version of that to come later.

That tension is recreated at the end of episode 4 when August is shown outside a window at Forest Ridge.

There's a brief moment of relief--he's at Alex's window, not Wille's. While you know deep down where this has to be going, you still have a kernel of hope. And then even when he does make it to Wille's room, you can't tell it's a boy (let alone Simon) for five full seconds. Hope tries to stay alive. We all know how it ends, though--that tension snaps right back into our faces when August spots Wille and Simon moments later.

This happens on a different scale with Wille and Simon's planned weekend together in episode 3. When Wilhelm tells Simon that August will be staying at Forest Ridge, that introduces a tension of "will they get their weekend together?"

That tension of "will they get their weekend together" is relieved when Wille asks if he can come to Simon's in Bjarstad, only to AGAIN snap right back into our faces when a much bigger problem surfaces--Erik dies. So, they don't get their weekend anyways.

Hell, there's even a hint of this in episode 2 when August walks in on Wilhelm looking at Simon's Instagram before rowing practice. He doesn't actually see what Wille was doing, though--so it's okay--and he ends up taking a call from Erik.

In another way, this happens with Wilhelm and Felice's relationship from season 1 to season 2. She initially kisses him in episode 3, and we worry that he might just go with it. He doesn't, though. What a relief. In the next episode, though, once he's crown prince, Wilhelm is publicly flirting with Felice (despite her relationship with August) over how "cute" she looks in a video. But our worries about this fade with the release of the video and Felice's support into season 2...

Until they actually almost hook up in the third episode, that is.

And it's definitely not limited to Simon and Wille and their relationships. It comes up with Sara and August too. When he initially kisses her in episode 4 of season 1, you might worry that maybe Sara will respond in a less-than-healthy manner, or that she'll keep what happened to herself instead of telling Felice. Sara rebuffs him, though, and tells Felice about what happened in the stables later that episode.

Tension introduced and relieved, so we move on. But then in the final episode of season 1, Sara goes to August's room to confront him about the video. And she ends up kissing him. In season 2, they end up being in AN ENTIRE SECRET RELATIONSHIP that Sara keeps from Felice. The original fear that you might have had about August twisting his way into Sara's heart was well-founded, it seems.

There are also smaller examples. Like when you see Erik driving incredibly fast in episode 1, or when you see Wilhelm riding on the scooters with Simon, Rosh, and Ayub in episode 2, some people worried there might be some kind of accident. (He was going hands-free, for fuck's sake.)

Well, in both of those instances, everything turned out okay, while Erik's actual offscreen accident in episode 3 obviously did not.

The anxiety about Marcus catching Wilhelm and Simon kissing at the Valentine's party is momentarily alleviated when it looks like him and Simon are going inside, but then Marcus turns around and sees Wille (not to mention he sees Simon eyeing Wille throughout the entire song and during the applause).

Let's not even get started on the drugs. We thought that storyline was resolved, gone, done away with after Alexander was seemingly expelled during season 1.

But then he's back in season 2, and the question of whether anyone will tell Alex that Wilhelm was the one to pin the blame on him arises. It seems a minor issue--given that Alexander wasn't actually expelled, and he seems to like Wille, we don't necessarily expect it to matter all too much. In episode 6, though, the "drug thing" is back at the top of our list of problems. We thought that this had been dealt with! That we'd gotten past it!

But it's worse than before--there's a pill bottle with Simon's father's name on it, and August has it! August has a potential witness behind him (Alex) and is threatening to tell not just the school, but the cops!

Don't worry, though, the tension is relieved when Simon tells Wille he's not going to report August to the police... for approximately six seconds until we see that Sara is reporting August instead.

Anyways, following this pattern, you can draw some really interesting potential conclusions about season 3 based on some of the big tension reliefs that have occurred over the past two seasons. Not saying that any of these will happen, but I'm preparing myself for anything:

Wilhelm has some sort of drug OD—like Simon (and some of the audience, probably) worried on the night of the Society party. This is one I'm really hoping doesn't come up.

Wilhelm actually kills August—when Wilhelm puts that gun down, it's a massive relief for most of us (also the characters present). This would just be... wild. And would explain Omar's tweets about how crazy the season is, I guess.

Sara outs Stella's crush on Fredricka, like she was threatening to do when Felice was moving out of their room at the Manor House. Istg if she does this I might lose it.

Wilhelm's mother dies. This was definitely one idea on some people's minds when Wilhelm takes that call that turns out to be about Erik in episode 3.

Wilhelm actually abdicates. This is definitely a threat made in season 2 that was later assuaged. I'm pulling for Wilhelm taking the throne only to abolish the monarchy. That might be a bit too optimistic on my part, though.

ALTERNATIVELY, August gets the throne. They teased us with this when Wilhelm almost didn't give the speech. August was literally walking up to the podium when Wille leapt up to take his place and momentarily rescued us from the notion that August was going to be ascending the throne.

Wilhelm and/or Simon and/or Sara get pulled from Hillerska. After the video, both Simon and Sara were potentially not going to return to the school. Simon was even late for the first day back, when he missed the choir performance. And Wille was almost physically removed from the school in episode 2 of season 2. Given the statement in the trailer about the school potentially shutting down... this one doesn't seem like too much of a long shot.

It's hard to say what any of this could mean for Simon/Wilhelm's relationship—I mean, in season 1, we had about six instances where we thought we'd get Simon and Wilhelm together and originally didn't (the first music room scene, the conversation after Erik's memorial, the second music room scene/drug situation, the video leak, Wilhelm LYING about the video leak).... the reasons kept getting worse and worse, until there's a release of tension when Wille says he won't deny the video—only for it to be far more crushing when he does deny it having promised otherwise. It seems like there's a new, bigger problem every time they turn around. So far, they've overcome all of the obstacles they've faced (honestly, I don't know how)... but I can't imagine that they're about to be facing an easy course based on that trailer.

Anyways, these are my meandering thoughts about some ways that we can try to guess at what we might have coming based on the show's patterns and its use of foreshadowing. Like I said, I'm just trying to mentally prepare myself for some of the wild-ass shit that might go down. So these are some crazy scenarios based on a few fake-outs that we've had so far. I'm still hoping that they don't take the smallest, most hopeful bits of seasons 1 and 2 and crush them in season 3....

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Deborah Kerr (Bonjour Tristesse, An Affair to Remember, The King and I)— For several decades she held the record for most Oscar nominations without a win (6 in total), and she was a prolific leading lady throughout the 40s and 50s. She's best known today for the romance An Affair to Remember with Cary Grant, and as the governess in The King and I. Many people have this erroneous perception of her as extremely prim, proper, and virginal, but this could not be further from the truth. When she first came to Hollywood under MGM she was typecast into boring decorative roles, but broke sexual boundaries for herself and Hollywood generally in From Here to Eternity, when she made out (horizontally!) with Burt Lancaster (on top of him!) in the famous Beach Scene. She went on to play many sexually conflicted women, a character type that would define most of her post- Eternity work. She continued to break Hays Code boundaries with Tea and Sympathy, which addresses homosexuality/homophobia head-on, and even did a topless scene in The Gypsy Moths 1969!! One of the only classic stars to do so. She deserves a more nuanced and frankly a hotter legacy than she currently has!!!

Devika Rani (Achhut Kanya)—She was grandniece of Rabindranath Tagore (laureate). She was sent to boarding school in England at age nine and grew up there. After completing her schooling, she joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the Royal Academy of Music to study acting and music, at a time when aristocratic women did not enter showbiz. She studied filmmaking in Berlin. It is well known that she underwent training at the UFA Studios in the art and technique of acting under Eric Pommer, and other aspects of film production including costume and set designing and make-up, under eminent directors like GW Pabst, Fritz Lang, Emil Jannings and Josef von Sternberg. She is also reported to have worked with Marlene Dietrich. She had a multi-faceted personality and took on many responsibilities of film production at Bombay Talkies, a studio that she co-founded with Himanshu Rai in Mumbai in 1934. She often took care of hair and make up, supervised set design and editing, scouted for new talent and mentored them. She was the face of Bombay Talkies, and also the reason behind the political and financial backing the studio received, at a time when even women from red light districts refused to work as actresses. She was the first recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, when it was instituted in 1970.

This is round 3 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Deborah Kerr:

I think she was one of my first crushes before I realised I was bi in The King and I when I watched it as a kid honestly. The kissing scene in From Here to Eternity is iconic for a reason. Actually tried to learn the accents for the characters she was playing if they weren't English which is more than pretty much anyone else was doing then. Played very restrained characters who frequently seemed to be desperate not to be so restrained. Did horror movies without venturing into hagsploitation tropes. Gave Marni Nixon the credit she deserved for her share of the singing in The King and I.

Anne Larsen is a peak late 1950s bisexual with big MILF energy. Have you seen the behind the scenes pics of her wearing a suit?? Have you????? Vote Deb as Anne Larsen.

Nominated for an Oscar six (6) times and never won, but besides her having actual talent (hot), and besides her looking Like That (very hot, also beautiful), she was always playing women who are, like, crazy repressed. Which makes it fun and easy for me to read these characters as queer. Icon!!!! You know what's hot? Playing ambiguously gay in vintage Hollywood.

Her face and talent and body, yes, ofc, duh. But also!!! Her HANDS!!!! I may be but a simple lesbian, but she is the best hactor (hand actor) that ever lived and that's HOT! For propriety's sake I feel I must redact a large portion of my commentary on this subject. Anyway. She's hot in her most famous roles (mentioned above), and also some of her sexiest hacting is on display in An Affair to Remember (her hand on the bannister when Cary Grant kisses her off-screen??? HELLO???), Tea and Sympathy (when she's trying to persuade Tom not to go out and she keeps flexing her hands like she wants to reach out to him but can't??? ALLY BEHAVIOR! WE STAN!), and The Innocents (which opens and closes with extended shots of her hands bc director Jack Clayton was also an ally and he did that for ME). Much of her appeal also lies in the fact that she often played deeply repressed characters and you know what's hot? When those uptight characters finally unravel. It's sexy. It's cathartic. It's erotic. Plus, she's beautiful to look at in both black & white and technicolor, and the more of her films you see, the more you can't help but fall in love!

Literally is in thee most famously sexy scene of all time (or maybe just during the hays code era which is what we're talking about HELLO), which is the beach scene with Burt Lancaster in from here to eternity. To quote a tumblr post of a screen capture of a tweet of a video of joy behar on the view: "y'know, there used to be movies where they were kissing on the beach... From Here to Eternity. They're kissing-- Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr are Kissing on the Beach and then the WAVES crash!! You know exactly what they did!"

She might have a reputation of being chaste and virginal or whatever, but we all know it's the quiet ones who are certifiable FREAKS

Devika Rani:

Achhut Kanya (1936) is the only one of hers I've seen but hot DAMN

[flower-boi16]

Apology Tour Made Blitz Do The Right Thing for The Wrong Reason

There's a common critique of Apology Tour I've seen regarding Verosika is that the fact that she went out of her way to create an entire annual party dedicated to shitting on her past ex makes her look overly obsessive. While at first glance I can see where this argument is coming from I'd like to disagree.

Blitzo has been frequently established as a fairly destructive person who thanks to his own self-hatred ends up hurting others and pushing them away, the fact that there's this many people in the party shows how destructive of a person Blitzo is, and we see that it's not just limited to his exes, but people in general who he hurt (like Dennis, for instance).

And Verosika is one of Blitz's later victims who Blitz bailed on after she told him she loved him, a very vulnerable moment for someone to be in, and that's the point where Blitz broke her heart. And so she created this party both out of spite for Blitz seeing how much of a horrible person he is and out of sympathy for his many victims who were just as heartbroken by him as she was. She created this party so she could help the people Blitz has hurt cope with what happened and heal from it, creating a sense of community amongst victims.

Apology Tour shows how much Blitzo damages people, how his self-destructive tendencies always end badly for both him AND his victim, leaving his victim broken and making him more broken, the fact there's a whole party made for the sole purpose of helping his victims cope shows that. And Blitz is forced to see how damaging of a person he truly is because of this...or at least, that's the route the episode should have taken.

Apology Tour is an episode with an absolutely fantastic set up with Blitz going to a party where he sees how many people he's damaged and chooses to start becoming a better person, but the problem is HOW the show gets him to see that. The show gets him to start to change himself...through Stolitz.

Blitzo realizes how he hurts others through seeing how he hurt Stolas, who Blitz previously just believed was some classist dick and nothing else only for Stolas to pour his heart out in a musical number, making Blitz realize that Stolas' feelings were genuine all this time and what he was saying to Stolas did, in fact, hurt him...

...at least that's how the writers want you to look at this scene. However, thanks to the general problems with Stolitz writing this development ends up falling flat on its face. The reason for why this development fails despite the perfect set up is because the show is holding Blitz accountable for something he isn't even in the wrong for in the first place. I've ranted about Stolitz many times before but I'll just repeat the same points because it's relevant for my argument here; Blitzo had no reason to ever think that Stolas' love for him was genuine.

Throughout the whole first season, Stolas consistently looked down upon and belittled Blitz, calling him demeaning pet names and always invading his boundaries even when Blitz says no, yet Stolas continues it anyway. YET, the show tries to paint Blitz as biased here because "oh he only hates Stolas for being a royal and is repressing his feelings for Stolas due to self-hatred" or some bullshit.

However, once you factor in the outside context, Blitz never comes across as biased here whenever he rants about Stolas, because he doesn't have a reason to believe Stolas has any genuine affection for him beyond some small, off-screen "nice things" he did for him, and even then, you can still look down upon someone while caring for them. The show wants to present Blitz as in the wrong here for "hurting Stolas' feelings" and being consumed in his bias, but that doesn't work because Blitz had no reason to believe that Stolas didn't look down on him when he literally did.

But despite Blitz not being in the wrong in the situation, he's portrayed as the abuser here and he's the one who apologizes to his abuser, and HE says that Stolas "deserves better than HIM", making Stolas out as the victim here in this situation when the context and framing say otherwise.

Speaking of Stolas, many people have torn him apart this episode already so I won't go that in-depth here, however, it's still relevant to my point. The episode portrays Stolas as sympathetic here when he isn't - in fact, Stolas comes across as extremely unsympathetic in this episode due to claiming that he "never looked down" upon Blitz despite doing that throughout all of season 1.

He THEN gets angry at Blitz for not saving him when Striker captured him even though 1. Blitz was busy and 2. HE LITERALLY SENT HIS CO-WORKERS TO SAVE YOU WHY TF ARE YOU MAD???

Stolas doesn't have a legitimate reason to be angry at Blitz due to the outside context - instead, all of his interactions with Blitzo in this episode come across as him playing the victim and gaslighting him. And All 2 U is the pure culmination of this. A song that is supposed to be the moment where Blitz realizes his mistakes instead comes across as Blitz being repeatedly gaslighted and guilt-tripped into apologizing to his abuser.

HE is treated as the problem, HE is treated as the one who is meant to apologize to Stolas, even though he is NOT IN THE WRONG FOR THIS IN THE SLIGHTEST. Yet, the show ignores past interactions for this to work. It doesn't address anything Stolas did beyond just making the deal - it acts as if that was the only bad thing he ever did even when Stolas did more than just that to Blitz.

Yet, that's never called out by anyone. Stolas doesn't have a good or sympathetic reason to be mad at Blitz - yet the show treats him as another one of Blitz's victims anyway. So, Blitz was essentially gaslit into becoming a better person, which isn't really great writing. Apology Tour had all the ingredients of a fantastic episode but it's severely held back by this specific aspect, Stolas drags the episode down so much and it sucks that the Stolas crap in the episode has to be tied to Blitz's development. Blitzo should have seen his mistakes through someone who actually had valid and sympathetic reasons to dislike him, someone who does actually come across as a person deeply hurt by Blitz's actions.

In other words....Verosika. Verosika should have been the character they used here, not Stolas. Verosika has an actually good reason to dislike Blitz and one the audience could actually sympathize for, SHE should have been the character to get Blitz to realize his mistakes and decide to change and grow as a person. Have All 2 U be sung by her instead of Stolas, with the song detailing how Blitz met and Blitz broke her heart.

Seriously, the concept of the begining scene and All 2 U can work, but they'll work better if you replace Stolas with Verosika in them instead, because Verosika has a good reason to dislike Blitz that could easily be expanded upon and developed, and Blitz would've had better reasoning to become a better person rather than being gaslit and guilt tripped into it. Apology Tour had all of the ingredients for a fantastic episode but the Stolass trash drags it down HARD.

[powdermelonkeg]

On the ancient Hyrulean stone tablets

In Tears of the Kingdom, there's a sidequest you get relatively early called Messages from an Ancient Era, in which you are tasked with finding stone tablets hidden throughout Hyrule that contain Zonai-era first-hand accounts of the royal family. There are 13 in total to locate.

You yourself can't read them, and must take pictures of the tablets to take them to Wortsworth, a Zonai Survey Team historian who can read the ancient texts for you.

The problem with this is that he doesn't tell you what the tablets actually say; he reads their ancient Hyrulean as-is, then gives his own take. And it's a take which cuts out so much context from the original text.

Fortunately, I am a nerd.

Unnamed First Tablet

The ancient Hyrulean:

"Ones held y honore als hochmayde to kyng Rauru ond quen Sonia, thaerafter to his suster ond to princesse Zelda. "Her on thaes gret stan ond twelf mo withalle make y endite min time with the hyred roial. "So michte heore remembraunce preserven for the sake of him on whom oure hope raeste."

What Wortsworth tells you:

"It's short, but it's an introduction from a servant to Rauru and Sonia, the founding king and queen of Hyrule. "She also waited on the king's elder sister, Mineru, as well as someone named Zelda, and wrote of their daily lives in 13 tablets. "It couldn't be simpler! "I intend to more thoroughly research what this chamberlain hoped to convey in these ancient tablets."

The actual translation:

"Once held I honor as handmaid to king Rauru and queen Sonia, thereafter to his sister and to princess Zelda. "Here on this great stone and twelve more withall make I ending my time with the hired royal. "So might here remembrance preserve for the sake of him on whom our hope rests."

Account of a Celebration

The ancient Hyrulean:

"So swete the song of kyng Rauru, ond so grete the beaute of his susteres daunce, that wer min eies ond eres captif. "Ond so hende quen Sonias gasen on us alle, so felt y min herte als captif fallen. "Seruantes lyf, tho moche laboursum, han moche jolitee as welle. Longe be the lyf of the roial familie thaere y love so."

What Wortsworth tells you:

"This is an account of a party from those days. "It says King Rauru and his older sister sang and danced together while Queen Sonia looked on. "We think of royalty as austere and reserved, but these nobles amused themselves with song and dance. "But what a vivid recounting of a scene never before related in any history book… "The descriptions of their personalities and expressions make the ancient past feel alive again. "This stone tablet is a first-class find. Well done, dear chamberlain, in leaving behind this account for us. "I'm positively beside myself to think of how this story from the ancient past persevered so long to reach us today."

The actual translation:

"So sweet the song of king Rauru, and so great the beauty of his sister's dance, that were mine eyes and ears captive. "And so had queen Sonia's gaze on us all, so felt I mine heart also captive fallen. "Servant's life, though much laboursome, have much jollity as well. Long be the life of the royal family there I love so."

The Strong Queen and the Receptive King

The ancient Hyrulean:

"Sonia, quen to Hyrules kyng, bi birthe Hylian preesterresse, hirself yborn of londe, nat of skie aboven. "Speken she with open herte, eornest to alle, euen even to the Zonais kyng. "This kyng ythinke it gode aventure so to lerne of the londes folke. To sen his hed ybent to listenen is swich plesaunce."

What Wortsworth tells you:

"This one looks to be about Queen Sonia. It claims that Sonia was a priestess before marrying Rauru. "Despite his status as a Zonai, a people popularly thought to be gods, she would counsel him without any trepidation. "Moreover, Rauru heeded this counsel. "This account gives us firsthand knowledge of the nature of Queen Sonia and King Rauru's relationship. "Rauru found himself unexpectedly charmed by her strong will, and before long, they were married… "Er, that last bit isn't in the text. That's me speculating. "History rarely speaks of a person's character prior to being elevated to royalty. So I can't help but fantasize."

The actual translation:

"Sonia, queen to Hyrule's king, by birth Hylian priestess, herself born of land, not of sky above. "Speak she with open heart, earnest to all, even even[sic] to the Zonai's king. "This king thinks it a good adventure so to learn of the land's folk. To seen his head bent to listening is such pleasure."

The Harmonious Couple

The ancient Hyrulean:

"Oft wys Rauru, kyng of kene blade, weyve his werk real in faver of the hunte. "Ond oft queynt Sonia, quene of kene insight, seke out him and repaire this kyng to kyngly besynesse. "In hir sapience semes she divin, that she cunne him ever finde and for hes folly semes him the mor humain. "Ond the kyng? O, he laughe. Nat him hir equal for hir wit, he kunne. Ond the quen, she laughe to, als even she scolden."

What Wortsworth tells you:

"This is a tale of King Rauru. "Apparently, he would vacate his official business from time to time in order to go out hunting. "I had the impression he was a stricter, more serious king, but I guess he had a lighter side as well. "However, Queen Sonia was always a step ahead. She would put a stop to King Rauru's hunts and bring him back. "We rarely get a glimpse into the down-to-earth side of royalty in this way. It's an important find, to be sure."

The actual translation:

"Oft was Rauru, king of keen blade, leave his work real in favor of the hunt. "And oft quaint Sonia, queen of keen insight, seek out him and repair this king to kingly business. "In her sapience seems she divine, that she can him ever find and for his folly seems him the more human. "And the king? Oh, he laughs. Not him her equal for her wit, he knows. And the queen, she laughs too, as even she scolds."

A Pilgrimage of Light

The ancient Hyrulean:

"The kyng was late y-come this aven, so maked the quene to sharen tales of hir lond, of shirines al grene yglouen. "Of erli daies sinnes Hyrules funding have diverse monstres hir reaume biseged ond assaylled. "Uncesinge in striffe, thei broughte to despeir folkes lyfen. Kyng ond quen ysete thamselue to bringen scurge to ende. "With might of light ond pouere, driven abak ybeen, ond the roial couple made thes shirines to selen him awei. "Thes holi selen ben yclept Shirines of Light. "Gret kyng, grete quen, y thank ye. Ye foughte whan y wer maiden-child, that y kude pes toknouen."

What Wortsworth tells you:

"The subject here is the actions King Rauru and Queen Sonia undertook not long after Hyrule's founding. "With the kingdom established, they were worried for their people, so they set out to eradicate the monsters troubling them. "They created structures called Shrines of Light to seal the monsters away so that they could never be revived. "There's more here about light…and time too… The sense I get is that the two of them may have had supernatural powers. "Though it's part of ancient history, it's a feat those of us living today should still be grateful for. Truly an important discovery."

The actual translation:

"The king was late to come this evening, so made the queen to share tales of her land, of shrines all green glowing. "Of early days since Hyrule's founding have diverse monsters her realm besieged and assailed. "Unceasing in strife, they brought to despair folks' lives. King and queen set themselves to bringing scourge to end. "With might of light and power, driven aback they been, and the royal couple made these shrines to seal him away. "These holy seals been called Shrines of Light. "Great king, great queen, I thank you. You fought when you were maiden-child, that I could peace to know."

The Researcher Mineru

The ancient Hyrulean:

"Queynte Mineru, the kynges elder suster, falles so dep in hir bokes swich that she oft foryetes to eten. "In min wieried wei don y what much y con, but y fer haven that it ben litel avail. "Of late treteth she of 'constructes,' thinges did she make with her hondes as vessel for spirit whan bodi-lich failen. "So, seyde she, might she liven longe, in spiret yhused within this 'construct.' "Though Mineru ne semes to holden ani deceyte… Bi my feith, y kan nat als trouthe thes wordes bileven"

What Wortsworth tells you:

"Here, we learn a bit about Mineru. "It says that she neglected to eat or sleep while making something called a…construct? "It was part of her research into a means of returning to life as a spirit possessing a new body, should her original one die. "To you or I, this sounds less like history and more like some sort of ghost story. "But remember who we're dealing with. They may have had unfathomable powers that made such things possible. "The revelation that Mineru was a fellow researcher makes her feel like a kindred spirit to me, and yet… "The chamberlain who inscribed these tablets treats Mineru with such care and kindness that it warms my heart."

The actual translation:

"Quaint Mineru, the king's elder sister, falls so deep in her books such that she oft forgets to eat. "In my worried way do I what much I can, but I fear have that it be little avail. "Of late treats she of 'constructs,' things did she make with her hands as vessel for spirit when body lies fallen. "So, said she, might she live long, in spirit housed within this 'construct.' "Though Mineru nay seems to hold any deceit… By my faith, I can not also truth these words believe."

The Foreign Princess

The ancient Hyrulean:

"Ful fyn is the weder this morn, ond have y audience with theos princes seyd ben kin bi fer distaunt yeres to quene Sonia. "Bi gras has she been given a name most swete, of Zelda she ben yclept. "In certain folk stered suspecioun, for straunge wer hir garnementes ond sodein wer her aparaunce. "Yet wolde hir contenonce ond bering maked proof of hir right blod and bond to quene Sonia. "Als be Zelda to remainen for a wile with us, y wil mi-self als hochmayde offre ekein hir servis."

What Wortsworth tells you:

"This is another fascinating entry. "If my translation is correct, the Zelda described here is Sonia's distant relative. "According to this, she arrived in Hyrule unexpectedly from another kingdom. It seems she was a beautiful princess. "Her strange clothing perplexed the people of Hyrule, and many were suspicious of her at first. "But this Zelda had such an undeniable air of nobility that those who doubted she was of royal birth were soon silenced. "Note how clearly this conveys the writer's feelings regarding Zelda. "Once it was clear Zelda would be staying, she applied to be chamberlain to the princess. That suggests real admiration."

The actual translation:

"Full fine is the weather this morning, and have I audience with this princess said be kin by for distant years to queen Sonia. "By grace has she been given a name most sweet, of Zelda she been called. "In certain folk stirred suspicion, for strange were her garments and sudden were her appearance. "Yet would her countenance and bearing make proof of her right blood and bond to queen Sonia. "As be Zelda to remain for a while with us, I will myself as handmaid offer asking her service."

The Free-Spirited Zelda

The ancient Hyrulean:

"Princesse Zelda recent comes to sen Mineru, the kynges elder suster. I com eck, for hir to seruen. "Todai cam hit ipassen that Mineru sheued to Zelda construct althergrettest y hav ysen. "Zelda, she much desired on hit to riden, ond ne conne nat y seien coust hir stoppen. Though I dyde protesten. Loudli. "Neuer the lesse she made to sitten heighe upon the constructes sculdres ond to riden like an hors, al ful of grace. "Min lausion, so graunt alredy, dyde grouen al the mor."

What Wortsworth tells you:

"The subject here is Zelda and Mineru. "Zelda apparently visited Mineru often to assist with her research. "I have no idea what kind of thing this 'construct' that allowed people to ride on it was. "But Zelda rode it so well that our author the chamberlain was again impressed by her skill at everything she tried. "That's the long and short of it here. "But more than the narrative, what strikes me is the back and forth between the chamberlain and Zelda. "The chamberlain tried to warn Zelda of the danger, but Zelda pushed past her and rode the construct anyway. 'It's short but so evocative of both the level of technology found in this era and the character of their visitor Zelda. "The 'treasure' found in these stone tablets is the pearls of wisdom and nuggets of personality contained within."

The actual translation:

"Princess Zelda recent comes to see Mineru, the king's elder sister. I come with¹, for her to serve. "Today came it pass that Mineru showed to Zelda construct of the greatest I have seen. "Zelda, she much desired on it to ride, and nay could not I say cause her stop. Though I did protest. Loudly. "Never the less she made to sit high upon the construct's shoulders and to ride like a horse, all full of grace. "My laudation², so great already, did grow all the more."

The Latest Trend

The ancient Hyrulean:

"Facioun nou favereth garnementes adourned with muscheron patrons, ond fer ond wid beon thei wern. "This tast for mucheeron com of the casteles seamestre, who sogte to seuen clethes for princesse Zelda to plesen. "This facioun, Zelda telled to the seamestre, waere in hir treu hom wel loved. "In hir tim werd everichon patrons of bright hewes, in the shap of mucheron. "Anou our hende semestre set herte on thes patrons copien, which sele to mani happi persoune. "Y seche after som for min one but ne coude nat an on yfenden."

What Wortsworth tells you:

"Here we learn something about the fashion trends of that era. "The story's catalyst is their Zelda telling a tailor about the mushroom-patterned outfits becoming popular in her homeland. "Intrigued, the tailor fashioned some clothing in that vein, and it caught on in ancient Hyrule. "Do you know Cece from Hateno Village? Imagine the look on her face if she were to find out! "They say that trends go in cycles, but… I didn't expect mushroom patterns to have been in fashion so long ago! "One last thing about the chamberlain… "Her interest in fashion shows there was more to her than devoted service. She was just like anyone else in the kingdom."

The actual translation:

"Fashion now favors garments adorned with mushroom patterns, and far and wide be they worn. "This taste for mushroom come of the castle's seamstress, who sought to sew clothes for the princess Zelda to please. "This fashion, Zelda told to the seamstress, were in her true home well loved. "In her time were everywhere patterns of bright hues, in the shape of mushroom. "And now our head seamstress set heart on these patterns copied, which sell to many happy persons. "I seek after some for my own but nay could not a one find."

An Ancient Ghost Story

The ancient Hyrulean:

"Of late have y herd it told a straunge ladi walkes around the castel in derk of night. "She ond princesse Zelda semes als twinnes two, but this on nadda ne light in hir eien—mor als a ded thing than not. "When she is asked about thes walkes, princesse Zelda of that ben no-thing remembren. "What monstre, or spirit of derknesse, be this visioun? So afeard y am of min imagenninges that y con nat slepen."

What Wortsworth tells you:

"This one is an ancient ghost story. "My understanding of ancient Hyrulean isn't perfect, but I know a ghost story when I see one. "It's a firsthand account of a ghostly or maybe corpse-like woman who appeared each night looking just like their Zelda. "No matter the era, it seems, people can't resist sharing a good ghost story. "A bit like how there have been eyewitness accounts of our Princess Zelda in the newspaper, even though she's missing… "Could our Zelda be a ghost too? No…of course not."

The actual translation:

"Of late have I heard it told a strange lady walks around the castle in dark of night. "She and princess Zelda seem as twins two, but this one has no light in her eyes—more as a dead thing than not. "When she is asked about these walks, princess Zelda of that been nothing remembered. "What monster, or spirit of darkness, be this vision? So afraid I am of my imaginings that I cannot sleep."

For the Hero's Sake

The ancient Hyrulean:

"Sith hire founding has Hyrule swich hardshippe ysene, but that is onli smale moment of time. "Mineru, the kynges elder suster, seyes of this kyngdom that hit ne mot nat awaren aye be ycaccht, nat evenforth fer futur. "Princesse Zelda tells hire that this futur be wrat alredi, that a champioun bith from the skie comen. "Bitwene the two, thei imaked to finden a wei this champioun in that distaunt time to ohelpen. "Her min treuthe, sogte thei to up-reisen the Temple of Time, into the skie to warden hit onyenes ivil. "Al dyden so in fer distaunt dai, our kingdom mighte be safed. "In min herte y woot y helpen mot, ond y asked of Mineru, canst yow devyse the menes to upreisen in the skie thaes stane. "Min wordes iseie nat enow, but thei thaes memorie safen, of the roial familie, heigh in the skie for that future time."

What Wortsworth tells you:

"That one is all about the feats that Zelda performed for the sake of the hero. "The details are unclear, but essentially, the chamberlain trusted in Mineru and Zelda's predictions and wanted to help. "She put forth the suggestion to Mineru to build a mechanism that could make her stone tablets float in the sky. "Which I take it are the very tablets you found, Link? But it doesn't end there. "If my translation is correct, it suggests that their Zelda worked with Mineru to raise the Temple of Time into the sky! "The idea of the Temple of Time—a grand edifice built in that ancient era—being lifted to the skies to await a hero… "Although given the appearaance of the sky islands after the Upheaval, perhaps it's not so far-fetched as it seems. "What must it have been like for the chamberlain to live through such miraculous times?"

The actual translation:

"Since her founding has Hyrule such hardship seen, but that is only small moment of time. "Mineru, the king's elder sister, says of this kingdom that it nay may not aware it be caught, not even for the far future. "Princess Zelda tells her that this future be wrought already, that a champion be from the sky comes. "Between the two, they made to find a way this champion in that distant time to help. "Her my truth, sought they to up-risen the Temple of Time, into the sky to ward it against evil. "All done so in far distant day, our kingdom might be saved. "In my heart I want to help more, and I asked of Mineru, can you devise the means to uprisen in the sky these stones. "My words I see not now, but they these memories safe, of the royal family, high in the sky for that future time."

The Day the Land Rose

The ancient Hyrulean:

"Swich wondrous sight y hav bihelden that ne con hit nat justil be described. "The Temple of Time y sawe, ond al londe yheld it, reisen to the skie, both ferful ond majestatic. "As princesse Zelda itold mi, in fer distaunt future comes a champioun to that place, the hope that Hyrule safen. "For that champioun be hit that y thes grete stane inscriben. "The kynges elder suster, Mineru, sendes nou thes stane to the skie, that the champioun mought hem ireden."

What Wortsworth tells you:

"This is an eyewitness account of the day the Temple of Time floated into the sky. "It's a landmark discovery for the history of Hyrule. It may be one of the top 10 most important discoveries of all time! "Even among all the breathtaking displays of power we knew of from the era, to raise the land and its buildings into the sky… "That was a feat impressive even to those accustomed to wonders. You can tell as much from this account. "Zelda predicted that a hero would appear in the land they raised into the sky and that he would save Hyrule. "The chamberlain took this on faith and wanted to know how she could help. "So she inscribed these records on the stone tablets that Mineru sent into the sky. "Give me a moment. I need to view these accounts as a historian and not get so swept up in personal sentiments…"

The actual translation:

"Such wonderous sight I have beheld that nay can it not just be described. "The Temple of Time I saw, and all land held it, risen to the sky, both fearful and majestic. "As princess Zelda told me, in far distant future comes a champion to that place, the hope that Hyrule is safe. "For that champion be it that I these great stones inscribe. "The king's elder sister, Mineru, sends now these stones to the sky, that the champion might him read."

A Parting Resolve

The ancient Hyrulean:

"Rauru, Hyrules kyng. Sonia, hir quen. His elder suster, Mineru. Ond eek princesse Zelda. "Al whom y served, ond loved. Al whom thurghhon. Alon kerv y thes wordes upon this stan. "This stan, ond al thritene, serven als roial families recorde, min werk final, ful-wroht for al age. "Mani the mark made bi thes much biloved peples—som eth-sene, som unsene. "Whan y make remembraunce of hir markes, fele y flaume of hope, though ful small, within mi. "Hit be als though thes markes som graunt design describen. "I ne con nat met princesse Zelda hir lov for hir londe. What mor than, ask y, can y do for Hyrules peples. "Let min lyf lede mi fro hennes-forth an answere ful-worthi to this questioun."

What Wortsworth tells you:

"It seems this is the last of the records. "The royals whom the chamberlain served so faithfully were gone, one by one… "It's heartrending to read. Her pain comes across so clearly in her words. "What's less clear from these entries is the cause of all these partings… "Well, each new mystery is an opportunity to do more research. If I keep digging, someday I'll unravel it."

The actual translation:

"Rauru, Hyrule's king. Sonia, her queen. His elder sister, Mineru. And the princess Zelda. "All whom I served, and loved. All whom they're gone. Alone carve I these words upon this stone. "This stone, and all thirteen, serve as royal family's record, my work final, full-wrought for all ages. "Many the mark made by these much beloved peoples—some as seen, some unseen. "When I make remembrance of her marks, feel I a flame of hope, though full small, within me. "It be as though these mark some grand design described. "I nay can not meet princess Zelda her love for her land. What more than, ask I, can I do for Hyrule's peoples. "Let my life lead me for hence-forth an answer full-worthy to this question."

And that is all thirteen slabs translated.

¹ "Eck" has no apparent equivalent, but can be guessed to mean "with" from context.

² "Laudation" might not be correct; failing to translate "lausion" in English, I turned my switch to French mode, and the word that took its place was "admiration." "Laudation" was the closest related word with similar letters.

[eyeheartboobiez]

-> 𝖽𝗂𝖼𝗄 𝗀𝗋𝖺𝗒𝗌𝗈𝗇 𝗑 𝖺𝖼𝗍𝗋𝖾𝗌𝗌!𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋

-> 𝗌𝗈𝖼𝗂𝖺𝗅 𝗆𝖾𝖽𝗂𝖺 𝖺𝗎!

-> 𝗋𝖾𝗊𝗎𝖾𝗌𝗍: 𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝗆𝗂𝗅𝗅𝗂𝗈𝗇𝖺𝗂𝗋𝖾 (𝗈𝗋 𝖻𝗂𝗅𝗅𝗂𝗈𝗇𝖺𝗂𝗋𝖾 𝖨 𝖽𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝗄𝗇𝗈𝗐 𝗁𝗈𝗐 𝗋𝗂𝖼𝗁 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖶𝖺𝗒𝗇𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝗋𝖾 ) 𝖾𝗅𝖽𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝗌𝗈𝗇 𝗈𝖿 𝖡𝗋𝗎𝖼𝖾 𝖶𝖺𝗒𝗇𝖾 𝖽𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗇𝗀, 𝗍𝖺𝗅𝖾𝗇𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗌𝗎𝖼𝖼𝖾𝗌𝗌𝖿𝗎𝗅 𝖺𝖼𝗍𝗋𝖾𝗌𝗌, 𝗉𝗅𝖾𝖺𝗌𝖾.

-> 𝗂 𝗁𝗈𝗉𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝗂𝗍 𝖺𝗇𝗈𝗇🫶🏿

Gotham royalty, Dick Grayson, caught with actress Y/N Y/LN behind the scenes of upcoming movie (3/5/2023 1:52 PM)

For months now, fans have been questioning the mysterious relationship between Dick Grayson and Hollywood’s favorite star, Y/N Y/LN. While this may come as a surprise to some, for most of us, it was kind of expected.

Just this morning, the two were seen outside of the actress's trailer on the set of her upcoming movie. The young actress, most notable for her acclaimed EGOT status, is using the feature film to officially bring and end to her acting hiatus.

For a little over three years now, Y/N has practically shut herself out from the public eye, wanting to take care of personal matters in her life. Insiders report that regardless of her "mysterious health condition", she's back and better than ever!

And of course, despite most of the filming taking place in the heart of New York, the gothamite had no trouble traveling to to visit her on set. Paparazzi spotted the apparent couple looking closer than usual just as Dick was seen leaving her trailer.

Throughout the years, both celebrities have been stuck in the classic "will they, won't they" situationship. We can easily take a quick look at the history of the two when they were introduced to each other through their mutual friend, Kori Anders.

Kori, who also happens to be co-starring in the same film as Y/LN, has noted in the past how much she would love for both friends to get together, saying that:

"I know most people usually don't want their besties to date each other, but I actually wouldn't mind. Dick is a good guy, and he's the kind of guy that Y/N could really use right now..."

On the other hand, Y/N has made it clear in the past that she's not looking for a relationship, wanting to focus on her son, Jonathan, instead. After getting pregnant by her ex (who ended up cheating on her, ouch!), the actress tried to keep her life as private as possible.

Dick, on the other hand, absolutely adores Y/N and her son! Over the course of their decade long friendship, the billionaire has proven to be a prominent figure in the child's life. Even this past March, the eldest Wayne flew both the mother and her little five year old out of the country to vacation with him in Italy.

Even though the celebs constantly try to deny any dating rumors, the proof is in the pudding now! No matter how much they try to defend their so called "friendship", we can't help but love the way they love.

suggested for you!

liked by @rred_hood, @wildwallywest, and 3,318,045 others

@bigdickgrayson: Welp I guess the secret's out. These past few years have been some of the best years of my life all thanks to the little family I get to call my own. After getting married, I get to call myself a dad to not only my son Johnny, but to my beautiful baby girl Mari as well. Of course, while Johnathan may not be mine by blood, I still love him and his sister as my own. After practically raising him alongside my beautiful wife, there's nothing else I would see him as. These people here are the light of my life and I am forever greatful for it. Love you Y/NN❤️

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user1: THERE'S TWO???

⤷ user2: no actually since when was there a second one🧍‍♀️

user3: ahh the babies are too cute!!

user4: he's not a step father he's the father that stepped UP

@y/nofficial: 🩵

⤷ @bigdickgayson: 💙

⤷ user5: CRWING SCREAMING SOBBING

⤷ user6: when is it my turn bro PLEASE

user7: congra😭tula😭tions😭😭

user8: my royal family fr🫶

liked by @spacedoutkori and 3,289,260 others

@y/nofficial: my lil yeah <3

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user1: fym "lil yeah" girl yall are MARRIED

user2: WAR IS OVERRR

user3: im so happy for you mamas <3

user4: i like how dick wrote a whole essay while miss girl is out here giving us scraps😭

⤷ user5: bro she will NAWT hesitate to deactivate her entire account go get a straw and suck it up abeg

user6: still can't wrap my head around the fact that she hid a whole ass baby right under our noses💀

@bigdickgrayson: 💙

⤷ @y/nofficial: 🩵

⤷ user7: somebody catchme.... imma pass out..

user8: the true people's princess🥹

notice how i used e news for dick and tmz for jason because it matches their color scheme👀 also ty abby for giving me the idea to give them two kids instead of one ily foreva and eva

[thefandomenchantress]

A Very Long Morgie Analysis

Warning: As the title says, this is a very, very long post. You should fear that keep reading button. /j

So I watched Descendants 4 with pretty low expectations a week or so ago, since I heard a lot of people criticizing the film. I’d watched the first three Descendants and thought they were a very fun kind of over the top, and figured that this one would be similarly kinda cheesy but hopefully in a charming way.

The first time I watched the film, I liked it. While I thought the beginning of the movie’s plot dragged slightly only for a far too hasty conclusion, I figured that with a supposed part 2 coming, things could possibly wrap up nicely in the future. That was my mindset throughout almost the entire film…Until suddenly Morgie got a scene.

This is a post mainly for people who’ve seen the film, but just in case I’ll explain the scene. Morgie, son of Morgana, is assigned as look-out during the villain heist. He then makes an amusing comment about what the signal should be if he sees Merlin, and no one answers him. We leave his character for a bit before coming back when Merlin returns to his office, about to catch the villains. Morgie does his signal as planned, and when Merlin looks at him, he hides behind a branch as though that’s going to do literally anything to hide him.

By the end of his little dose of screen time, I was quite amused and wondered how I hadn’t really noticed him earlier in the film, since his character archetype seemed right up my alley. After a day or two, my curiosity peaked and I decided to watch the movie again, but this time pay lots of attention to him whenever he was in a scene. I both wanted to appreciate his character more as well as reevaluate the movie after my first viewing, wanting to decide if it really was ‘bad’ like people said it was (spoiler alert: I had fun watching it the second time as well, while it is flawed it’s a fun movie and I like it and I will die on this hill—).

On my second watch, I realized that Morgie is surprisingly pretty well-characterized for a character that doesn’t have too many speaking lines. And I really wanted to hyper-analyze his character and all that, so now I’m making a very long post about it. I really just need to ramble for a bit because for some reason I have become deeply fixated on this character and NEED to blurt out all my thoughts.

So without further ado, how about we watch this movie for a third time and point out every single little thing about Morgie and appreciate it? Let's go!

(There's also my theory about how the new and old timelines work below all the movie analysis, in case anyone just wants to see that).

YAY HE SAID HIS FIRST LINE WOOOO!!! After a whole 48 minutes, the best character has finally entered the movie /j.

Now on to actual thoughts and stuff. Morgie's first ever words in this film are, "Son of morgana", which, from an out-of-universe perspective, can be easily explained by the movie needing us to know who he is, since he's one of the two completely unheard-of characters in the villain gang.

But Uliana, notably, only has her relation to Ursula mentioned after her verse. So the "son of morgana" line didn't have to be the first thing to ever be said by him, but it is.

That could just be because it flows best from a music standpoint, but in-universe, I think it could possibly represent how Morgie got into the villain gang in the first place.

You see, while I was trying to dig up all the Morgie information available before I made this post, I found these blurbs:

(From an official Descendents book, 98% sure it's called "Descendants: The World Of Auradon: Royals And Villains").

Notably, Morgie's entry says he isn't the most well-liked in the group. But in that case...How is he still in the group??? The villain gang don't exactly seem like the types to keep someone around just to be nice. So here's what I think the reason is.

Uliana wants to be the most feared person at the school. She wants to surpass even her sister when it comes to being mean and scary. And that means that her gang has to be mean and scary. And when she hears that the literal son of Morgana--Morgana, in this universe, seems to be a very powerful sorceress who almost took over the world--is attending her school, she knows that having him on her side will definitely give her more of a powerful, evil image. Afterall, if the son of one of the most powerful villains was willing to follow her, people would think that she must be very mean and scary.

Of course, she needs people to know that Morgie is the son of Morgana, so I wouldn't be surprised if she asked him to mention it the first chance he got, and he listened to her.

This was all a very long way of saying that Morgie says this line first possibly because Uliana told him to, since having evil, scary people on her side makes her look better. And it's also interesting that the first words he ever speaks are about his relation to someone else, not his own character, unlike all the others in his group.

But we're not done with this shot yet! I also want to add that the Son of Morgana's name is Morgie, which means that Morgana has joined the long, long line of Descendents villains who basically just name their children after themselves, (probably because they view them as a sort of mini-me). I wouldn't be surprised if his name was actually Morgan, though, and Morgie's just a nickname.

Also, something I noticed is that, if you look at the book-pictures above again, Morgie's paragraph is in past tense, while Morgana's is in present tense. Morgie's being in the past tense makes sense, since we know that in the future, the villain gang in Rise of Red no longer exists, all of them being their own solo acts. But Morgana's paragraph being in present tense means that she is still alive, powerful, and presumably still wants to take over the world. So I guess that means she's technically a candidate for antagonist in the next movie. But I'll get back to speculation about that sort of thing later.

Now we can finally talk about the next moment, haha.

(Morgie is the one singing the line here)

The first time I watched this I didn't catch that he called Uliana hot but--Yeah, he did. Which means that he either thinks she's so hot he must declare it to random strangers, or Uliana specifically asked him to say that she's hot. Either way it's kind of hilarious.

I am genuinely unsure as to whether they are trying to get us to ship Morgie and Uliana because:

-On one hand, we've got Morgie not being well-liked, and him "desperately wanting Uliana to like and respect him". Which seems to imply that, at least to some extent, she does not like or respect him, or at least not as much as Morgie wants her to.

-But on the other hand, we've got Morgie calling her hot, staring at her longingly, and Uliana calling him 'honey' later in the movie. Disney what do you want from us--

Personally, after reading that Morgana is cruel person who doesn't care about innocent people and who's first priority is world domination, I guessed that Morgie probably didn't have the most loving upbringing. It could've possibly been something like Red's, where his mother could be 'kind', but only if he did what she said and helped her take over the world and all that. In this scenario, Morgie tries his best to follow her lead, but most of the time still doesn't do well enough to satisfy her and fails to get much validation or love from her. When he goes off to school, he tries to get validation and love and respect and all that from Uliana instead.

But that interpretation sort of implies he sees her as a stand-in mother figure, which makes me think that no, them being a couple doesn't feel quite right.

But it's not like that interpretation is canon or anything, it's just something I came up with. So it can't prove that he has no romantic interest in Uliana and that's why he's so desperate to please her. But I did want to share my thoughts on that matter, so here you go. :)

Aside from Morgie getting hit by Uliana's tentacle and falling over being really funny, there is something else interesting that this moment made me notice.

I read somewhere that a character being lower in frame than another, or lower from a high angle in general, can symbolize them being less powerful. And I noticed that there are a few scenes where Morgie does crouch or appear at a lower angle than the other villain gang members, which reinforces the idea that he isn't the most powerful/well-liked member and is at the bottom of the totem pole in the group.

I don't know if I'm reading into that too much, and I don't know a lot about film-making techniques so maybe that's not completely accurate, but I thought that was interesting.

There's nothing too important about this one, I just think that all the villains frowning or glaring while Morgie goes :D is really funny. He looks so head-empty in this moment.

Morgie uses 80's slang confirmed!!

Also, Uliana lets Morgie call her Uli. Considering the fact that Uliana says her full name (Uliana) is what will strike fear into people's hearts, her letting Morgie use a semi-cute nickname is fun. It proves they're at least a little close, since she didn't sock him in the face for calling her that, especially in public. She cares a lot about her image, so her not minding definitely seems to imply she cares for him at least a little bit.

I don't have much to say about this one, I just think it's amusing.

Though the fact that so much of Morgie's dialogue can go unheard/unnoticed without captions on or on a first viewing is interesting. I couldn't actually hear the 'wicked' line, I'm just trusting the captions. And both this line and the last he says while not on-screen, which seems to put the other's reactions in more of a spotlight than what he's saying.

I suppose this is part of the reason I found Morgie harder to notice and keep track of when I wasn't putting my undivided attention on him. Throughout a good chunk of the movie, he's treated as nothing more than Uliana's lackey. Him not having too much to do besides follow her is true to his character, though. His entire role is all based around doing anything to gain her affection. He cares about her more than anything, and sometimes that leads to him not being a character of his own. Which is pretty cool, if done purposefully.

Hm, I've noticed that Morgie's main ship in this fandom seems to be Hook and him, and is this one moment the reason for that? I've heard people say they have chemistry on-screen, but after watching the movie a few times, they only have a few close moments from what I can see. This and introducing Uliana are probably where their friendship is most prominent. Hook and Morgie definitely seem the most dedicated to Uliana, so they are similar in that regard. And the ship is cool, don't get me wrong. I suppose I just wonder if there's some sort of logic behind it, or if it was more of a "ah yes two conventionally attractive men it's shipping time" situation, haha.

This is an interesting frame, because Uliana is suffering as she's turned into a...uh...flamingo-squid-human hybrid? And you'd think that Morgie, since he cares so much about her, would be the most distressed. Instead, in this moment he seems to be smiling (not sure if you can tell as much in this screenshot, though). This could mean a few things:

As stated in the Descendents book, Morgie is rather dense and still hasn't realized that Uliana isn't fooling around anymore and is in genuine distress.

He is happy Uliana is in distress because that means he gets to help her, and she will feel grateful for that and like him more in result.

As shown later in the movie, he likes animals enough to even learn how to mimic the sounds they make, so he's just happy that two of his favorite things are being combined, haha.

Some sort of theory about him secretly not being super loyal to her, though there's not much of a case you could make for that other than this moment in particular, as far as I'm aware.

I'm not sure which one I believe, though I think I'm probably leaning towards the first one, even though possibility 2 would be quite interesting. After all, he looks very visibly worried when she falls into the fountain later, so him just not realizing at first probably lines up the most.

Not too much to say about these two moments, besides the fact that they once again showcase how desperate Morgie is to please Uliana. First by him being the first person to try to help her (but he fails and falls over, which he seems to do a lot). And second by him being the first to sprint out of the courtyard after her. Though it seems Hook caught up and got him to stay with the others to cut off Bridget and Ella at the other side, since we don't see him running behind Uliana anymore in the next shot, and then we see him standing beside Hades after we move to the fountain scene, implying he went the way Hades did instead.

(Side note, I think that Morgie's the one who shouts 'Uli!' but the captions just say student so maybe not, I can't tell).

Okay, so, the captions claim that Hook says this line, but not only can we see that Hook has his mouth shut as he pushes branches out of the way, not speaking, the voice also sounds way more like Morgie to me. Originally, I was going to use the nickname Uli as evidence that it was Morgie, but then I remembered Hook also calls her Uli earlier in the movie. So I guess I can't prove anything, but I'm 99% sure this was a mistake on the caption-er people's part.

To get on with the actual scene, Morgie compliments Uliana in an attempt to comfort and please her, though it doesn't seem to work like he'd hoped it would. Other than the last scene of the movie, this is probably the only scene that remotely shows that maybe she doesn't like him as much as some of the others, like the book claims. But more on that later.

I had a hard time getting a good frame of it, but I wanted to point out that Morgie kinda froggy-hops on the first two stones in this scene, before jumping across them normally. Whether he stopped because he realized the others weren't doing it or because he simply remembered that he is Not A Frog, I found it to be a fun detail and wanted to point it out.

Pfft, he's so eager to participate, his worryingly excited vocal delivery never gets old to me here. You could also argue that this is another lower-in-the-frame moment, since he sort of crouches and then rises up here.

It's noteworthy that Morgie is the only one of Uliana's gang to not come up with his own idea for a way to get revenge on Bridget. Which at first glance seems like a strange choice, since all the members getting individual lines is a chance to characterize each one a little bit more. And that's especially valuable with a character like Morgie, since most kids probably don't know a lot about Arthurian legend and therefore Morgana. And Morgie's not even actually her, he's her son. Meaning in his limited screentime, they really need to put the effort in to make his general personality clear.

But the fact that Morgie just copies someone else's answer does characterize him. Like I said earlier, at least to me, Morgie seems a lot more eager to participate in the conversation than to come up with ways to punish Bridget for what she totally definitely did. In fact, he begins to climb on top of the rock-thingy to jump off it and excitedly repeat Hades' idea before Hades even has a chance to finish his thought (he's still on "we could"), meaning Morgie was probably going to excitedly parrot whatever Hades said no matter what it was (or maybe that just happened because the actor didn't have enough time to climb up, jump, and say the line if he waited until Hades finished speaking but shhhhhh).

This would imply that Morgie doesn't really care as much about evilly getting revenge and whatnot as much as he cares about getting to be included in the conversation and following what the others are doing. This may be getting into more headcanon-y territory, but Morgie seems to crave the love and companionship of his friends, and I think this scene sort of demonstrates his want to do what they deem as good and acceptable and what will make them happy rather than come up with anything on his own.

I suppose that's one thing that makes his character morally grey to some extent. Sure, he doesn't seem to take as much direct joy/satisfaction in torturing Bridget, but he still cares far more about his friends' approval than her well-being. As long as his friends are happy and want to keep him around, Bridget and anyone else's happiness doesn't matter.

I have no idea why they put in a random shot of Morgie jumping in the middle of the song, but it's really amusing to me so I'm happy they did. I just needed to mention this really quick, I find the hard cut to Morgie dramatically jumping off something way too humorous not to.

Off-topic, but since it's sort of implied Morgie likes animals at the end of the movie, I like to think he feeds this guy sometimes, and when asked why he'll say sadly, "No one comes here besides us anymore, so he hasn't been able to eat any innocent people in a long time :(" like it's this terrible, tragic backstory. Idk I just think it'd be funny. Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Ah yes, the scene I keep mentioning. The one that made me go, "woah, he's funny and has a discernable personality :0". The one where he asks what the signal should be and all that.

This scene finally shows us what the Descendents book from earlier kept claiming, that he wasn't the most well-liked among their evil clique. When Morgie talks, Uliana rolls her eyes in exasperation and walks off, not answering his questions. And the others follow suit, ignoring him.

For most of the film, Morgie seems to be on even ground with the other members, and at first, I thought maybe that wasn't on purpose and they just wanted to shove this in at the end, like how most of the ending was rushed. But now I'm thinking that maybe the reason Morgie isn't as well-liked is being shown throughout the scene, revealing why it's only more obvious now.

You see, Morgie's easily excitable personality fits in when Uliana and the gang are all just messing around, like how they were laughing and making jokes at someone else's expense earlier in the movie. Morgie just has to cackle evilly behind Uliana and be supportive. But when they try to do more 'serious' evil things, like this heist, his attitude doesn't translate quite as well.

Uliana wants to be taken seriously as the threat, and I assume the other villain gang members do as well. They want to be evil and scary and tough and all that. But Morgie doesn't really have a more serious, threatening mode. Well, he does, like when he's trying to be threatening during his introduction. But when there's no bystanders to impress, only his friends, the real Morgie isn't the serious type. He's still energetic and excitable, even in situations such as these. And the others find this a bit grating, since they want to be real villains. They don't want all of this to be childish or a game, they want to be taken seriously as villains. They want to be real villains. And Morgie's demeanor isn't as cut out for that sort of environment. Or at least his natural demeanor isn't, and he has trouble reading when they want him to be more serious.

Side-note: I swear I love every line this character delivers, something about the way he talks makes my ears happy. So I just wanted to point that out really quick.

"Ah yes, this extremely small branch will guarantee that no one will see me! >:D" I find this very funny. I want to say this isn't very smart of him, but I mean it works and Merlin doesn't see him so you can't argue with results--

Anyways, Morgie impersonates a few animals and hides behind a small tree branch. I thought about screenshotting all the animal noises but they're pretty straight-forward and for this you just need to acknowledge that they happened, so I didn't.

Morgie is the son of Morgana, and presumably has the capacity to be an extremely powerful magic-user like her. Which means there are a lot of cool magic things he could be doing. So I think the fact that we are directly shown that shape-shifting and mimicry are the skills he focuses his energy on the most, is important. Well, I suppose it's possible he isn't using magic to mimic the animals, but I've always assumed he is. And even if he isn't, the fact that even in scenes where he's completely alone he's still mimicking something else is rather telling.

...

...Oh, wow, we finished analyzing the actual movie! Yay! Time for one last thing, then!

Apparently, there was a deleted after-credits scene where Morgie finds the sorcerer's book. Unfortunately, I couldn't locate the original post, which supposedly came from Morgie's actor. It's not that I doubt it's real, I don't know how someone could fake this photo, but I would've liked to see it and know what he said about it.

(Warning, a lot of this gets even less objective than it already was, and most of it is just me theorizing with varying degrees of evidence to back my statements).

So what implications does this photo have? Well, it confirms my suspicions that Morgie being forced to stay behind wasn't for nothing and was setting up something else. I heard there was a lot of cut content in Rise of Red, and the fact they thought the 'Morgie barks like a dog scene' was important enough to keep over other things seemed telling.

If there was a scene dedicated to him finding the book, then him finding it must somehow be important. But in that case, I'm guessing we'd have to assume that Morgie can open the book. After all, if he can't open it, what's the point of him finding it? And it sort of ruins the original timeline, too.

If Morgie can't open the book, then that means all of the villain gang couldn't open it. And in that case, how would they prank Bridgette in the original timeline? They couldn't, because none of them would be able to read the recipe and give the cupcake to Bridgette.

However, if Morgie can open the book, then things make more sense. I wasn't sure if I was going to share my whole theory here, but so far I haven't seen anyone have the exact same idea as me (though I haven't read every Morgie post out there, so it's possible), so why not share it?

What if the thing that changes the timeline isn't that the villains were able to get the book without getting caught by Merlin, it's that the villain gang knew Morgie could open the book?

Let me explain.

Let's start with the fact that I don't think we often acknowledge, at least in my experience, how random of a choice putting Morgie in this movie was. They could've chosen any classic Disney villain to be in this movie, yet they chose Morgana. A character who has never even shown up in any Disney project, besides a live-action film and Sofia the First. They could've chosen to round out the pirate trio from the second movie and added in Gaston, or chosen one of the core four's parents from the first movie, or picked literally any famous character from any Disney movie ever. And yet, they decided to go with not just Morgana, but the son of Morgana.

And personally, I think that if Morgie really was just a throwaway character, they probably wouldn't have gone through the effort of making a whole new character instead of just choosing an already established one, like with Hook, Maleficent, and Hades. There has to be a reason they did this, right? Anything Morgie did in this movie could've been accomplished by anyone, since his only large contribution to the plot was being a look-out and failing.

And there are two things I realized. One, that being the child of a villain basically gives you automatic redemption arc privileges in this franchise. The core four, the pirate trio, and Red in this movie are all proven to be good deep down in the end, and we're supposed to see them as heroes. And for some reason, they decided their new character couldn't just be Morgana, it had to be the son of Morgana.

My guess is that they want to be able to push the "Oh their parents taught them that being evil is right but deep down they're a good person" angle they did in all the other movies with the Descendents. Especially since it would parallel Red, who's basically the main character of these movies, even if Chloe is at a close second.

The second thing I noticed is that even if you read just the first paragraph of Morgana Le Fay's Wikipedia page, it says that a significant aspect of her character is her unpredictability when it comes to being good or evil. She has the potential for both, and since they seem to have decided to just make Morgana evil in this universe, I'm guessing that trait is being handed down to Morgie.

They needed a morally ambiguous villain who could open the book in order for the timeline to work properly, and choosing a villain we know is 'evil' thanks to their movie, wouldn't allow that. So obscure villain's son it is.

Alright, so if we assume my logic makes sense and isn't just incoherent rambling, Morgie can open the book. How does this tie into the way Chloe and red changed the timeline? Here's what I've come up with:

In the new timeline, Red and Chloe steal the book for the villains and the villains take it, opening it in front of them just to brag and getting frozen. Red and Chloe take the book and, assuming that Uliana and her friends can't go to the dance, leave the book behind off-screen. In the deleted scene I think they left it...Is that their room? I genuinely can't tell, but Morgie finds it. Possibly via following them after seeing them leave the building, since we know that the trip from Red's room to Merlin's office is in direct eyeline of the tree.

But even though Morgie found the book, the prank isn't enacted in this timeline. If Morgie can open the book, why is that? After all, he could just do the prank for Uliana, right? Well, here's what i think happened:

Uliana and the gang don't know that the book is enchanted so that non-good people are unable to open it. That's why they try to open it without a second thought. Which means there are two possibilities going forward:

Morgie did indeed follow Red and Chloe back to their room so he could get the book back for Uliana, and overheard their conversation about how the book proves Red is a good person and won't turn out like her Mom, etcetera. When he finds it, he's aware of what could happen when he opens it, unlike his friends.

Morgie doesn't know about the enchantment on the book when he finds it, because he didn't follow them or couldn't hear them through the door or something else.

Both options, for my theory, garner the same outcome, it's just that things take slightly longer to happen.

If we go with the second option, Morgie is unaware that opening the book with no side effects means anything and after he opens it, he decides to show Uliana and the others the book whenever Merlin gets the spell off of them and all that. But when they do meet up, Morgie asks how they got caught before he shows them anything. And Uliana's answer would be something along the lines of, "That stupid book was enchanted and froze us in place! Only some goody-two-shoes could open it without that happening" (she would know because she heard Chloe's explanation of the spell when her and Red were talking). And Morgie takes a moment to process that...Uh oh, wait, that didn't happen to him. Why didn't that happen to him? Cue Morgie having an identity crisis as he realizes that the book doesn't seem to think he's a bad person, even though that's what he's supposed to be. He's the son of Morgana. He's part of a group that knows their actions are bad and they don't care. His entire motivations are around getting his mother, Uliana, and whoever else to give him validation for being good at being a villain.

But according to this book, he's not one.

Morgie tries to play it off and decides not to show them the book. Uliana and the gang are all about being evil, and they are all he has. What if this was the last straw and they kicked him out of the group because they think he's not evil enough? He'd have no one left.

He's decided that he can't tell them about the book, but what if they figure out that he has it? As long as he has the book, it's a liability. So, he does the only thing he can think of.

Burn it to a crisp.

And with the book destroyed, the prank can't happen. The recipe that can turn Bridget into a monster is no more.

If we went back to those first two options and say Morgie knew about the spell when he opened the book, then everything is the same except the book gets destroyed sooner, the night Morgie's friends are still frozen and won't be able to catch him actively sabotaging their revenge plans.

So that's the new red-and-Chloe timeline. What about the old timeline? Well, in that timeline, let's say Uliana doesn't feel the need to show off and open the book in front of Red and Chloe, so they escape Merlin's office unharmed. That means they get to meet up with Morgie, and whenever they open it, they're around to see that oh, Morgie isn't frozen, that's weird.

And they can't know for sure why, since they don't know what the enchantment is or what its qualifications are, but they do know that Morgie can read the recipe and do the revenge plan, so Morgie is able to read the instructions and they're able to prank Bridgette.

And ta-da! That's how the timeline got changed! At least in my mind, there are probably tons of other possibilities, but this is the one that made the most sense in my head.

And with that, the post is finally finished! I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts or ideas on this! Despite this being an analysis, a lot of it is dictated, at least slightly, by my own opinions. Morgie is the centerpiece of the timeline changes for a reason, haha. With such a large fanbase compared to some other pieces of media I like, I'd love to hear what the masses have come up with and like or disagree about in this post.

Thank you so much for reading if you've made it this far! I can only imagine that if you have read all this, you're some sort of Descendents or Morgie super-fan, and for that you have my respect.

[thebisexualdogdad]

A's hands seriously distract B. Their reactions eventually clue A in: and they decide to use the new knowledge to their favor. A being Robin from One Piece, and B is R

Nico Robin x Male!reader

Robin had a way of distracting you.

She was beautiful, no one could deny that but all she had to do was look at you and it was enough to break your concentration even at the worst of times.

Then there were her hands.

When she touched you you immediately lost your train of thought and became a fumbling mess which eventually she clued into.

She thought it was cute how much you were fawning over her so she decided to have some fun with it.

“Y/N, would you be a dear and make me something to eat, I’m a bit hungry after all this cleaning,” she asked, testing out her theory by putting her hand on your back while you were busy washing the deck with the rest of the crew doing other tasks throughout the ship.

“Of course Robin,” you say, dropping the mop and hurrying off towards the kitchen.

“Y/N you better not make a mess of my kitchen!” Sanji yells after you while Robin smirks proudly at the success of her test.

Then she puts her hand on your thigh when it was her turn to do the crew's laundry and instead wanted you to do it for her which you mumbled out an incoherent yes to and stumbled off before she noticed your cheeks turning red.

She sits back in the lounge chair and reads her book while you are happily hanging clothes to dry on the line that goes across the deck.

“Robin weren't you on laundry duty this week?” Luffy asks.

“Yes but Y/N being the sweetheart that he is offered to do it for me,” she smiles.

Now you're at a bar, a couple of rowdy pirates making a drunk scene disturbing everyone else in the room.

“Do you boys mind keeping it down, my friends and I are trying to have a nice night,” Robin asks politely.

“Mind your own damn business bitch,” one of them spits back.

Robin could easily kick all of their asses by herself but she just didn't feel like it tonight.

“You're not gonna let them talk to me like that are you Y/N?” She says putting her hand on your arm.

You stand up from your seat, Robin grinning next to you, “hey asshole she asked you to keep it down.”

This royally pisses off the pirates and starts a full on brawl in the bar.

When you return to the ship you've got a black eye and a busted lip, Nami scolding you for stupidly starting a fight with pirates twice your size.

“Don't bother Nami, he's whipped, if Robin asks him to jump Y/N will say how high,” Zoro scoffs.

“He's right mate, Robin is totally using you,” Sanji laughs.

“Y/N doesn't seem to mind, do you,” Robin says, placing her hand on your cheek and rubbing her thumb gently across your lip.

Her touch makes your heart skip a beat and you nod your head in agreement.

“Such a good boy,” she grins, leaning in to kiss your cheek before strutting off to the cabin.

“She can use me anytime she'd like,” you say, completely dumbfounded that she just kissed you.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

"Which is an uncomfortable notion because we’re used to a royalty that “has to be seen to be believed.”"

This is not an uncomfortable notion. It's been tested over centuries.

Every royal since the notion began has done the 'has to be seen to be believed' parades, and stats always come back that support is higher after the Monarch has made themselves visible especially to the ordinary public, but it works both ways because public investment gives the monarchy power against the establishment. 

I could give you over 50 examples where the Monarch's visibility increased allegiance to the Crown, but we'd be here all day, so i'll narrow it down to just 3 examples in 3 reigns. 

When Queen victoria was merely princess Alexandrine, heir to the throne, her mother ensured that the public would support her by taking her on tours of the country. This gave both her mother and the princess power at court and ensured a smooth transition to Queen when the time came. 

However, after Albert died and Victoria refused to be seen in public for 40yrs, the monarch suffered to the point of constitutional crisis and is the highest point of republican movement where the public called for the end of it as they didn't see why they should support an invisible institution. 

The funny thing is that Victoria was using the social media of her day - frequently releasing portraits and photos of her and her family, encouraging the govt to create endless monuments and dedications to her beloved Albert, and the govt encouraged industrialised to use the image of the Queen to advertise their goods throughout the Empire, but it didn't work to stem the tide of republicanism especially in an era that had so many social problems.

That's not to say that she wasn't working behind the scenes - she was, but her invisibility was a huge problem that nearly ended the monarchy.

Her son, as scandalous as he was, mingled with the public at large and when he became King, he reinstated the visibility to great success. Most, if not all, the public ceremonies that the royals do now are down to him. Everything from Trooping the colour to State opening of Parliament. Those ceremonies had been taking place in private already, but he added the royal family to them, and turned them into a public spectacle showcasing the monarchy. And he taught his children well on that point.

George 5 especially understood that lesson because he used it to cement public investment in the monarchy and that way fortify it against being toppled by the establishment or republicans. He did it by building on the public ceremonies of his father by making charity/ meet and greets with the public a feature of royal life. He also created the system of awarding ordinary citizens honours and making sure there is a public investiture which is still beloved to this day. 

George 6 and The Queen added their own versions of meet and greets eg The Queen added the walkabout which proved extremely popular. 

The issue for William more than KC3 might be of personality as William seems shy just like Kate which is why they are not entirely comfortable with the public showing of themselves, so they need to figure out a way to do it that allows them to maintain public investment in the royals. 

They might want to scale back or figure out different ways of being visible, but remote media doesn't work, and it would be foolish to throw away a method tested and proven over 1000yrs. 

Anecdotally, they might dislike local bread-and-butter, meet-and-great the public engagements because they don't understand the power of them, but let me tell you about The Queen visiting my village in 2012 as the first stop on her Jubilee tour on the country - we've grown little, but in reality, still a village. 

She didn't do much. She met some school children and many villagers, looked at some assembled stalls in the village square, patted afew dogs,  looked over our tiny Abbey and left. Entire thing probably lasted 2hrs or less. 

She never returned, but you'll be hard pressed to find a republican in the village following that visit. Growing up there, I would never have thought people enjoyed the royals except for Charles - our village is in the Duchy of Cornwall so we have more contact with Charles and everyone has opinions about him - good and bad, but The Queen's visit was a shot in the arm that people still talk about today. 

*****

Anon, you really missed the point I was making. You missed it so badly that you made it for me.

I didn’t say “royalty has to be seen to be believed” was uncomfortable. I said the idea of modern, scaled-back monarchy favoring quality over quantity where the royals may not be as often seen was uncomfortable.

Yes, physical access and “being seen” is a powerful tool in the monarchy but it’s no longer the *only* tool they have. What’s different about today than Queen Victoria’s time is the 24/7 news cycle, social media, the capability to do in-real-time virtual events, the ability to record both video and audio, television, internet, and phones. Today’s society is more connected than the Victorians may have ever thought possible. Royalty does not need to only be physically present to make an impact any more and that makes people uncomfortable because — as you proved — it upturns 120+ years of tradition. It’s a huge change, a paradigm shift.

Now, should royalty still be physically present and seen? Yes. How are William and Kate going to do that? No idea, but it’s probably going to be different than what everyone’s used to and there’s already grumbling about it because it’s a change from what they’re used to.

[shychick-52]

What I liked and didn't like about Cedric in the series finale - Part 1

So, as some of you may know, I'm already working on a series of posts about what episodes in season 4 Cedric would have perfectly fit into, but that they didn't use him.

Well, I also wanted to start another series of posts about all the things I liked and didn't like about how Cedric was utilized in the series finale, 'Forever Royal.'

The opening song 'A Big Day'

Cedric approaches Sofia and sings, "Remember, Princess, you made rubies just for me?"

Sofia: Sure!

Cedric: "Well-"

"In this tiara now, they'll fit you to a T!"

Sofia: It's beautiful!

What I liked:

WHERE DO I START?

(1) That Cedric interacted with Sofia in the opening number, which was about Sofia and the kids graduating from Royal Prep and how far they came since the start of the series.

(2) THE SWEET, ADORABLE SYMBOLISM of Cedric regifting her the rubies she once conjured for him (all the way back in the early season 1 episode 'Cedric's Apprentice') in the form of a new tiara as a graduation gift- because 'Cedric's Apprentice' was the very start of their friendship and Cedric's character/redemption arc; all the kindness and support she showed him in that episode (and would continue to show him throughout the series) deeply touched him, and gradually but surely changed him for the better and made him come to realize how much he cared about her too... and that her friendship was what he truly needed and wanted all along, not his misguided dreams of power and vengeance. The rubies in the tiara symbolized all that, their mutual friendship, plus his deep gratitude to her for all she did for him.

(3) Her kindness in 'Cedric's Apprentice' touched him so much that he always kept them, despite the gradual nature of his character arc and growth. Cedric always secretly valued her friendship after everything he went through, and gradually even came to care about her and see her as the friend he always needed, but for a long time he still forced himself to believe that it wasn't enough... but nonetheless, he always held on to those rubies!

(4) THE LOOK OF SHEER PRIDE, GRATITUDE, AND LOVE ON CEDRIC'S FACE DURING THAT WHOLE SCENE, WITH EACH LYRIC, especially when she was heading for/down the stairs.

What I didn't like:

It felt quite rushed, especially given that they hardly interacted in the finale- it was so sweet, meaningful, and symbolic that it deserved to be its own separate scene where Cedric could have actually told her how much her friendship means to him and how proud he was of her. But I get the time restraints, and I'm VERY grateful for what we got!

You can barely even see the rubies in the tiara...

This is something that another moot already pointed out in a post of their own, which always bugged me too- when Cedric first approaches Sofia and mentions the rubies, Sofia's response of "Sure" is oddly awkward in both her tone and expression. As if she was confused why Cedric just popped up and randomly started talking about something from nearly four years ago with zero context, when she was on her way to her graduation, which I guess is fair (now when he actually gave her the tiara with the rubies, she did seem genuinely thrilled, but the awkwardness of her initial response kind of put a damper on the scene).

No hug. We could have finally had a mutual hug between them, but she didn't even hug him one more time...

@moonypears-blog @majoresca @cedric-my-beloved @the-gayest-show @sweetmariihs2

[queer-ragnelle]

Excalibur (1981) | Directed by John Boorman

Arthurian Film List | Arthurian Show List | Movie review below the cut ⤦

Star rating: 10/10 Content warning: multiple rape scenes, heavy gore throughout, elements of horror, nudity, animal brutality (horses in battle are treated roughly) Overview: Writer and director John Boorman understood the assignment. It's evident this film was a passion project. Both of his children are in it (his daughter as Igraine, his son as young Mordred) and he had been working with J. R. R. Tolkien back in the 70s on an adaptation of Lord of the Rings which fell through, and much of those elements were revived and put to use here. The script, acting, score, and cinematography meet the epic demands an Arthurian film requires to succeed. Synopsis: The film opens with Uther before he meets Igraine and goes on to detail the entirety of Arthur's reign and life. Arthur's beginnings with Ector and Kay are very sweet and culminate in his pulling the sword in the stone and meeting a fun, quirky Merlin. The wizard trains Arthur up and he's eventually knighted by Urien and makes an ally of him while defending Leodegrance and Guinevere's castle. Arthur falls in love with Guinevere and intends to marry her, but first meets and battles Lancelot, wins his loyalty, and sends him to pick Guinevere up for the royal wedding. Meanwhile Morgan learns magic from Merlin and uses it to conceive Mordred with Arthur. After the royal wedding, the love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere begins. While staying away from Camelot, Lancelot meets country bumpkin Perceval, who follows Lancelot back to Camelot from his secluded woodland home, then takes up the mantle of Gareth Beaumains by working for Kay in the kitchens and champions Guinevere against Gawain until Lancelot can arrive. After the affair between he and Guinevere is found out, Lancelot runs off mad into the woods, and Arthur's prosperity declines. Perceval begins a decade-long quest in search of the Holy Grail to restore Arthur/Fisher King's health so he can reclaim his lands now ravaged by disease. Mordred has grown up in this time and been taught by Morgan to hate Arthur. Once Arthur has been cured, he goes to find Guinevere in the abbey where she had been living, and retrieves Excalibur, which she had been keeping safe for him all that time. Arthur then goes with his remaining knights to battle Mordred, where he is mortally wounded, and Perceval fulfills his final act for his king by returning the sword to the Lady of the Lake as Arthur is spirited away to Avalon. Final thoughts: This movie is so damn good. Nobody's doing it like Boorman. It's my favorite version of the grail quest. Very horror, as it should be. (Monty Python is a different tone, not a worse one!) I love everyone's acting here, the casting is so rich, I love the look and vibe of everyone, the Shakespearean line delivery. All of it. The gaudy green lighting is so 80s but it works, it sets a tone, it commits to the bit, illuminates every magical scene. And the armor is obviously incredible. I won't hear criticism. Either you get it or you don't. You can watch an entire mini-series about the armorer, Terry English, produced by Mythbuster's Adam Savage on YouTube, here. And if you want to learn more about Mordred's cool helmet specifically, watch here. Anyway please watch this, you won't be disappointed.

[sinusoidaldysfunction]

Decided to do @/falling-skyzz template bc. I don't think I've gotten to talk much about my thoughts on the books and characters and stuff. Also love getting to actually use my designs (I don't draw them that much surprisingly)

Who's who and thoughts under the cut

Mother+Dragonet→ Orca and Coral, I'm a little bit crazy about their relationship. Probably moreso my brain's interpretation of them versus canon, granted we really don't see them in canon. I just think it's so interesting, I wonder how Orca was raised, how Orca turning on her mother affected Coral and how she treated Tsunami and Anemone. What did Coral do to Orca that she decided to enchant a statue to kill all her heirs? Idk. Orca is my obscure wof character that I've latched onto.

(Grand)father+Dragonet→Fathom and Albatross, look man. I can't think of any dads in wof that are good dads. Maybe that's on me but idk. So. Albatross and Fathom. I don't think Albatross himself hated Fathom, I think he hated how Lagoon made Fathom out to be his replacement. Idk I just remember really liking the chapter that talked about them working on the Summer Palace together. (Also I just love drawing Albatross)

Royal Family Member→Grandeur. I just think she's neat. She's a grumpy old lady that gives a little insight into how the Rainwing tribe used to be. Also I love my design for her, I came up with it like 3 years ago and I think it still holds up.

Siblings→Darkstalker and Whiteout. Originally I was gonna put Luna and Blue here but I didn't wanna repeat characters so. These two. Man. Whiteout is one of the few dragons that Darkstalker doesn't turn on even throughout his fall. But she also never does anything to get in his way? Even before hatching, baby Darkstalker decides to not help her hatch, wanting Foeslayer's love to himself. Ngl man maybe Arctic was right, that baby was kinda messed up. Either way Darkstalker is fascinating, but everyone and their brother has talked about him.

Friendship→Turtle and Peril. Again. They're just neat. Peril is so much, Turtle is so shy, they're good foils. Both are powerful in their own ways. Also I love the scene where Turtle just throws fish at Peril so she can eat. Like Peril goes from this terrifying monster to just. Having fish thrown at her. I love it. Don't really ship them tho.

Animus→Chameleon. Okay. It's actually Orca, then Albatross, then idk. Chameleon has all the powers of an animus with the scroll okay he counts. Also he has some of the most interesting enchantments with his shape shifting and Pyrite. Evil old man.

Gay Ship→Jambu and Pineapple. I'm not big into shipping, they're cute. I like them. Like their designs. Idk.

Straight Ship→Luna and Swordtail. Himbo and Girlboss (who gets trapped in the terrible ending of her book). They're perfect for each other.

Lesbian Ship→ Sundew and Willow. I found their relationship pretty relatable when I read the book. Less now, honestly it's kinda a sore spot but. Eh. Again, really like their designs.