#she obviously Wants to maintain good morals but when in a position of power where her word always goes through would that falter at all?

[arolesbianism]

Why must I only be capable of coming up with cool art ideas long past midnight

[miralines]

as per @ladydragonkiller‘s request, and inspired by @classicallymar‘s recent post about Marius, a continuation of my rambling in the tags, on the subject of the Mechanisms, their individual manners, and their approached to charm and politeness.

This is going to be long, so here’s a cut.

Obviously the mechs are all unreservedly unhinged terrible people (with Carmilla as the sole person who tries to be less terrible). But just as their particular moral compasses or lack thereof manifest in unique ways, so too do their mannerisms, and the degree to which a bystander understands “oh god I should get out of this person’s vicinity immediately for the sake of the lives of everyone I know and love.”

As I mentioned in the tags, Marius at times comes across as more hinged than many of the others (Jonny, Nastya, Tim, Raph) because he is interested, fairly frequently, in coming across as normal, polite, and/or charming. Jonny will be sullen and moody and tell you to fuck off, and if you don’t fuck off you at least should really see the gunshot coming. Or he’ll be on a gleeful violence high (see Sleeping Beauty) and it will still be obvious that he is Like That. Marius, on the other hand, will befriend you. He will charm his way into whatever position he wants to be in for his violence, whereas Jonny just works with where he is. Marius’s manner will occasionally be... off. A little too enthusiastic, in the weird, vaguely unsettling way of Expert Testimony. Most of the time that’s because he wants to be. Occasionally he just gets overexcited. The point is Marius is both interested in and capable of Seeming Normal.

Contrast this to TS, who is extremely polite! It is very interested in acting like a human and being charming and gentlemanly. It’s just made of wood, and pings the uncanny valley instinct way too quickly to get anywhere with its manners.

Ashes is often charming as well, but their charm is a more intimidating type. They want people to listen to them, to respect them, to do what they say, not to like them. They’re charismatic enough to frequently be given positions of power, and to maintain them, but it’s much more about their capability, competence, and what you can’t actually prove they’ll do if you fail them.

Nastya has never once in her life been charming. She has never once wanted to be charming. If she expressed any modicum of interest in being charming, that’s when you would know she’d been replaced by an imposter. Nastya is a weird antisocial little vent gremlin and I love her.

Ivy cares about being accurate. She can take or leave charming. Which is good, because most often her manner is at least slightly robotic, if only due to the overly technical speech patterns.

Tim’s manner depends largely on his mood and whether his (canonically horrifying-looking) eyes are visible. He can come across as relatively normal and polite, maybe a little edgy, but well within normal mortal person ranges, especially if his eyes are not visible. Seeing his eyes tends to make people question him a little more, but that varies from “oh god an abomination” to “it’s rude to make assumptions of people based on their prosthetics, be normal, Janet.” Of course, when he gets into a mood (see this broadcast or. you know. any of the gleeful violence) that all goes out the window. Honestly, in this way I think of him as the most “normal” in his expressions. Like many mortal human people, he will try to be pleasant enough when he’s in a decent mood, but if he’s not he may get a little snappy, or grumpy, or homicidal.

Brian is fairly similar to Marius in a lot of ways, but I think that A) his baseline temperament is a lot chiller and calmer and B) his politeness/charm is also quieter. Reactions to him vary on the planet they’re on and local views towards robots, androids, automatons, and/or mostly metal humans, but assuming they’re someplace where he is assumed to be a person, not a very elaborate machine or a former corpse (although in the most technical sense, that assessment is accurate), he tends to initially come across as a nice, kind of quiet, kind of weird guy (or a prophet, when he chooses to, but that’s a role he plays sometimes more than a regular expression). Then you get into his moral advice and things start to look. Concerning. But he’s also very good at sounding reasonable in whatever justifications he comes up with for anything, so he’s usually perceived as trustworthy until things get very extreme.

Like Ivy, Raph can come across as robotic sometimes when she’s explaining something, and like Marius, it occasionally suits her to try to be charming (though much less frequently, and much less successfully). Mostly she comes across as very enthusiastic about whatever she’s interested in at the moment. She does sometimes try to leverage that into recruiting test subjects, but they often catch on that she is far more interested in the science she might do on them than them as people. Y’know how Aurora says she has a weird look in her eye? That. She comes across as quite sincere a lot of the time, but like Marius’s Expert Testimony shenanigans, it’s in an off-putting way that tends to raise red flags for people. She also sometimes forgets what’s normal and what’s not, and will casually mention some horrifying violation of scientific ethics without remembering that most people don’t like that.

I don’t have any neat way to end this but thank you for coming to my ted talk

[afterliferosesablaze]

I saw something on Twitter that made me do a bit of thinking. It was to post four pictures of characters that have been very influential on me, and after some thought, these are who I chose:

Those who follow me here obviously know who the first is! But for anyone randomly looking at this, here's a little summary of who they are and why I consider them important to me:

Edelgard Von Hresvelg (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

My goodness, I have never fallen for a character as hard and as quickly as I did for her. I have gotten quite obsessed (especially when you throw Byleth into the mix because they are my sapphic darlings), but I can confidently say she is not only one of my all-time favorite female characters, but one of my all-time favorite characters period. She is complex, she is driven, she is willing to do what she has to do, but she is also soft, caring, and an artist to boot. And she's traumatized, but she doesn't let it consume her--instead, she chooses to fight for others, even if it makes her the villain. Not to mention she ticks like...every box for me. My friends who know me often joke she was a character tailor-made for me, and they often joke at my expense very easily just by bringing her up.

Rand Al'Thor (The Wheel of Time)

What a morally complex character. Starting as a young farmboy, he embarks on the stereotypical 'Chosen One' quest, but that's just where the story starts. Robert Jordan takes him in so many complicated directions, that Rand ends up as complex as Robert's own politically diverse worldbuilding. Driven to the edge of madness by a power he didn't ask for, thrust into the role of savior despite not wanting it, and facing trauma at every step of the way, Rand's story is an amazing, thrilling journey that I have read multiple times.

Shallan Davar (The Stormlight Archives)

This young lady was ousted from my favorite female character seat by Edelgard, and though the most recent book might have been a disappointment in my eyes, that doesn't change that Shallan was an incredibly influential character and the first time I really fell in love with a character so much that I actively pursued ways of spending time in that world outside the original source material. An unreliable narrator and traumatized (notice a theme here yet?) young woman, she nevertheless finds herself embroiled in events way beyond her understanding, yet rather than falter, she rises to meet them, even if doing so takes its toll on her.

Aerith Gainsborough (Final Fantasy VII)

I considered a few characters for this last spot, but really, this one should have been the most obvious. My own name is derived from her, and though she herself isn't quite as influential on me, her musical theme absolutely helped me make it through my teenage years. She's a woman who faced an absolutely terrible lot in life, her mother killed, raised in undercity slums, stalked and pursued by corporate killers-for-hire, and routinely studied by a dubious scientist--yet she faced everything with a smile, and maintained positivity and optimism no matter what it was before her. I truly admire her.

And that's it! I hope you enjoy that little insight into my life and mind. :)

[sokkagatekeeper]

hey, i love ur opinions and texts and stuff abt ATLA characters, it's just so interesting.

so, between Azula and Sokka, who do you think is the smartest and why? 👀

forcefully looking past the fact that intelligence is a relative concept (irl, in media not so much) skaksnakd sokka 100%. it is correct to assume that sokka is the smartest character in the entire show because this is actually in the text, and in fact i don’t think azula is in my top 3 smartest atla characters – yes i made a list.

you see, azula is very secure in her own shoes. she knows how to play this game because she’s a princess, and the attitude is crucial in the competition for affection and survival that has been her life. azula is a good liar because she’s creative, because she’s confident. and azula needs to have control of every situation she finds herself in, or else none of her creativity, cleverness, or confident facade can work properly, and she gets defensive and irrational and insecure, visible mostly during the beach. even as sokka has her pinned against a wall with a very pointy sword in his power on the day of black sun, she doesn’t waver once because she recognizes sokka is losing grip of his emotional stability, and because she has the information sokka wants. azula is, despite it all, undoubtedly in control of the situation. but whenever azula is presented with rejection, defiance, whatever else that can throw her off her balance (the boiling rock, the beach, sozin's comet) she falters. azula lacks an important amount of self-awareness, area in which sokka doesn’t exactly excell at but is still miles better at than azula, which is also fundamental pilars of intelligence.

furthermore, azula’s strategies are essentially ruthlessness (lying, manipulating, threatening) where sokka’s strategies are purely logical and practical, always looking for a way to turn things around to find the best possible solution. while azula maintains herself with her intelligence and her bending (see: privilege) through aggressive approaches, sokka maintains himself and other people with his skills of leadership alone, more inventive approaches. this is indicative of azula’s privilege and high status as royalty as well, where sokka is from a marginalized community, who had to fend for himself, his sister and his village and he had to manage the situation that way in order to survive. azula was essentially the golden child, where sokka grew up thinking he was disposable and that he had to work to prove his worth. obviously, azula lived under the threat of what would happen if she were to ever dare and not be perfect on every level, but one thing is preserving your place and another different thing is being always unable to reach that place at all. while suffering is not indicative of neither morality or intelligence, this difference between their upbringings visibly affected the way their respective minds work – see above. and i do believe a decent sense of morality (which sokka doesn’t excell at but is definitely going better than azula) is a fundamental part of intelligence.

sokka lacks a lot of the pride that azula cannot let go for the life of her. sokka is immediately willing to learn from suki after being proven wrong, not only demonstrating his humility but his adaptiveness, versalitiy, and open mind as well. azula’s pride limits her to appreciate other people’s skills but never be willing to learn from them, as she sees herself as superior and unbeatable, which is why, when she’s beaten by sokka and ty lee and katara, it breaks her. when sokka is beaten, he learns from it. probably lowers his self-esteem to an incredible degree, yes, but sokka learns. because he allows himself to accept help and guidance from other people who know better than him (suki), or people who might have more experience than him on the matter (zuko). being willing to learn ties directly with being smart.

and this is not to mention, sokka is pretty much the textual definition of genius. he is less traditionally dignified than azula at first sight, but one of the show’s core themes is the deconstruction of the concept of dignity (among other interesting concepts), and he is put in a much more familiar, less threatening and intimidating light than azula (bc azula is. a villain). looking at his actions only, sokka has;

spent three entire books being the leader of the gaang on his sense of responsibility, caution and reason alone; helped the invention of several devices relevant in the story; fabricated an invasion strategy that was pretty much perfect and would’ve worked and ended a hundred year war, had not king kuei opened his lousy bitch mouth, based on information he stole from an elitist spirt. there are also several implications of sokka being a mathematics and physics prodigy (that scene where he tells jet sticking a knife to a tree amplifies vibrations, when he had literally hadn’t seen trees ever in his life until like 2 months ago; where he killed combustion man without even seeing his exact position but rather calculating the distance the explosions were coming from, and the angle for the path his boomerang would have to follow in order to hit that point).

sokka is disperse, expressive, neurotic, makes self-aware jokes to cope with his mortality & the weight of his entire existence, and is, why deny it, quite goofy. qualities which are well known to be associated with highly intelligent people. these are mostly fun little stuff rather than “evidence” but it’s still relevant imo.

so in conclusion. azula is good, but her smartest moments are fundamentally manipulation and violence, often coming from a sense of pride and privilege. sokka is inherently smart, there’s no doubt of that, but his humility and his will are always actively working to expand said intelligence. the brain is like a muscle, as they say.

and here’s the most telling thing; azula is fooled, constantly, by ty lee. ty lee lies to her face in practically every conversation they have; ty lee puts on a mask of a naïve, blindly loyal follower and friend, laughs at azula’s bad jokes, cries to make her feel bad, betrays her the minute she turns against someone she doesn’t have to pretend around – mai. ty lee is definitely smarter than azula, she just doesn’t brag about it the way azula would (and does) because it would be the end of her. just saying, ty lee’s move at the boiling rock was not out of the blue (unlike mai’s, lol, adrenaline-high queen), and azula was simply never going to see that one coming, but well. maybe she should have!!!!

[sylvies-chen]

Chicago PD's Characters and the Role of Reform: an Analysis (???)

Hi everyone! The finales of One Chicago aired a couple of weeks ago by now but I've been preparing this post in my head ever since PD's finale aired. I wanted to talk/write about each character's (and maybe even the writers') interpretation of police reform and how it affects the plot. This will also talk about police reform in general. Before I start, I'd just like to state that this will be a bit long and probably biased since a lot of it is influenced by my own views on reform. I'm not interested in debating people on the internet, just putting out interesting perspective on an interesting TV show. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this and feel free to add thoughts of your own— as long as they’re respectful!

Chicago PD's handling of reform in this season was far from perfect but I did enjoy a few things they did with it. We had Kevin, a POC, stand up and fight back when even the people closest to him tried to shut him down. I did have some issue with the way they reduced Kevin's entire set of beliefs/morals to something so trivial and disrespectful as a "woke card" but I think the writers chose to do that on purpose to show how blinded white people can be sometimes. It's more the characters using that term, not the writers, which I thought was a good move since in both situations— Kevin v. Voight in 8x02 and Kevin v. Adam in 8x16– they made sure it's clear that Kevin is in the right. Voight may have been frustrated and Adam may have been spiraling over losing Kim (love me some #Burzek), but Kevin was still in the right. If only we could have some more varied representation on this show! That way, Kevin wouldn’t have to be used as the emotional punching bag all the time for these white characters and their misplaced frustrations with the system (added onto their personal frustrations which fluctuate on a episode-to-episode basis).

Now, onto the view on reform because this is where it gets interesting. I'm going to go ahead and say something that might be controversial: I think the majority of conflicts in this season have come from a gross misinterpretation of the concept of reform. This is especially highlighted in the finale when we see Adam saying he should be able to change/bend/break the rules to save someone he loves. It's also shown in the case with Miller's son Darrell and how they need to break the rules to save him, the case in 8x11 that Hailey considers breaking the rules for. It could even be loosely applies to 8x06 when Jay feels the need to break the rules only slightly in order to serve proper justice for their victim's father. Proper justice, in this case for Jay, being mercy towards the father and doing what's right in Jay's mind. Notice a common theme? These characters who are against reform (I know Voight was so good most of the season but he still falls into that category because of the first and last two episodes) all have one thing in common: the way they view reform. Voight, Hailey, and Adam, somewhere along the line (in my opinion), have all come to think of reform as a social push to get police officers to adhere to the proper guidelines when in reality, that's only a small fraction of an otherwise complex concept. Reform isn't all about getting police to follow the rules-- reform in and of itself is recognizing that the rules that are set into place aren't always effective. There are rules that are discriminatory, rules that are bureaucratic nonsense, rules that disproportionately affect specific groups of people, and rules that create roadblocks to solving real problems. Hell, the original police systems in North America especially were created to persecute minorities and maintain military power over citizens. The need for reform is referencing a larger systemic issue and getting police officers to follow the most basic procedures is just the tip of the iceberg. I don't want to get too much into the principles behind reform here because I am no expert. I recognize that because I am white I benefit from these rules/systems put into place so my voice shouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but I do think the majority of the tensions in this season of Chicago PD stem from the extreme oversimplification of reform. It surprised me too when I thought about it because they've managed to explore the grey areas/more complex aspects of it, but I think the writers are intentionally making that decision which makes it really interesting.

Throughout the season, I couldn’t help but feel that these characters considered reform as the push from the public to adhere to guidelines-- as they should, obviously-- but while ignoring the more nuanced principles of reform such as asking themselves questions like: is what I'm doing truly helping the communities we've sworn to serve and protect? Are the solutions us cops in Intelligence are offering permanent solutions? Should we be rethinking our principles of justice to be less retributive and more procedural-- or even more restorative?

This is all in reference to the characters, of course, not the writers. We have Voight, Hailey, and Adam resisting reform because they don’t see value in following the rules. But reform, in its purest form, is recognizing that the rules need changing, which is why it’s so interesting to see the “opposing side” against it even though they also believe the rules aren’t helping them. So I think it's really good and interesting how the writers have written these characters as having very complex and layered discussions/arguments about reform and about justice while still doing that. Because their contempt for the rules comes from a place of wanting to carry out justice, just like Kevin and all the others who push for reform, but they’re motivated by ideals closer to retributive justice and using their position of power to exact a more personal form of justice. Because of Hailey, Adam, and Voight’s more personal and intimate views of justice, their solutions always feel short-term. For example, Voight murdering suspects, bashing in cars, etc. This is all stuff that creates a temporary fix but their passion towards justice makes them care more about the personal, emotional release that kind of justice brings than the actual, long-term change. This is especially shown in that one scene where Hailey tells Jay the story about how a clerical error made an offender walk, which she sort of views as a reason why breaking the rules should be allowed whereas Kevin would view that as a reason why the rules need changing. Again, short-term vs. long-term.

This is not to say that Hailey, Voight, and Adam are evil, obviously. They're complicated, but they're far from evil. (Well, the jury’s still out on Voight. Haha!) What this show is portraying, however, is how the ideas of reform can be fleeting and temporary and all-around fickle in the minds of these characters when they reach a certain breaking point. They're able to throw this aside because they're all white, so it doesn't affect them personally. But right off the bat in season 8 we've seen it affect Kevin professionally AND personally in every single way. Others are almost viewing it as a social trend or a push to be a rule-follower though which is why both Adam and Voight, when put under emotional distress, are so easily able to downplay Kevin's push for doing things the right way. (Even though, really, he's asking for the bare minimum here of following the rules and not killing people.) Kevin, ever the conscience of the group, doesn’t put up with it and keeps people in check which can be extremely aggravating when you’re in a very emotional state and want to let your emotions lead you on a rampage. Hence, this is the root cause of the majority of tensions between the unit— in season 8 especially.

Anyway, this is all to say that I think this season of Chicago PD has done quite a lot in terms of portraying reform and the need for systemic change while still staying true to their characters and delving into how their privelege has led to them misinterpreting reform. Which leads to the portraying of some fairly corrupt policing, but never condoning it. At the very least, they show how it's less important for these characters since they all have a breaking point where reform becomes moot whereas for a black man like Kevin, it's more firmly ingrained into him. That’s a concept that is all too common in the real world, and one I appreciated that they represented even though some things weren’t so great.

[sepublic]

Eda and Lilith as Teachers

           One thing this show really likes to discuss is the idea of mentorship, of teaching others… And that naturally ties well into the show’s themes of education and systems that are meant to implement learning, but don’t do it so well. It’s about passing knowledge on to new generations, instilling a new passion into people, and/or feeding into the natural curiosity of others!

           So I think Eda and Lilith’s roles as teachers is definitely worth analyzing, comparing, and contrasting, especially given their narrative ties and parallels to one another as sisters! The thing about Lilith is… She very much comes across as the ‘proper’ image of a teacher; She’s well-educated and has a prestigious position in the Emperor’s Coven, graduated from high school… She teaches multiple students –not just Amity- and she has access to a lot of educational texts on the matter. She’s transmitted plenty of knowledge on magic to Amity, which has contributed to Amity being a conventional Top Student!

           In contrast, Eda is a dropout (by choice, she clearly loved learning otherwise). She’s not exactly rich and doesn’t have access to the materials that a member of the Emperor’s Coven would. She only has ONE student, a human who can’t even do regular magic… So what knowledge Eda DOES have is almost useless because she’s forced to learn from scratch a forgotten form of magic, Glyphs, to help Luz learn! For a while, Luz isn’t even enrolled at an actual school, she’s home-schooled by Eda… And Eda, admittedly, is not the ideal teacher. Unlike Lilith and her professionalism, Eda is far more crass and casual about her relationship with Luz.

           And, obviously Lilith is the better teacher in the conventional sense. But, and as corny as it may sound… Eda is arguably the superior teacher in that her strengths come in teaching Luz things that matter and build her up not for a specific role in society, but just as a functioning individual in general; Actual life lessons, wisdom, street-smarts, etc., that apply directly to any and all situations Luz finds herself in, how she interacts with others and herself, and how she maintains relationships!

          Even if the specific subject of magic isn’t taught very well by Eda –again, partly because of Luz’s unique needs and their non-ideal situation- she’s definitely been able to help Luz mature a lot… It’s with Eda’s help that Luz overcomes her issue of projecting fantasy onto reality, and recognizes that she isn’t entitled to greatness anymore than anyone else! It’s with Eda’s help that Luz learns to be patient, and to take the time to listen to what others have to say… etc.!

           Eda teaches Luz to value her individuality and be critical of authority, but at the same time shows Luz how to admit when one has made mistakes to a person they’re supposed to be ‘smarter’, as seen when Eda swallows her pride to enroll Luz at Hexside! And, this fits a lot with what we’ve seen between Eda and Lilith… Eda is definitely the wiser of the two by a long shot (as befitting her Owl motif), and is easily able to recognize a corrupt Coven System, while Lilith happily chugs the kool-aid!

           By contrast, even if Lilith DOES teach Amity great magical skill… In terms of maturity, neither of them really progressed much, if at all, up until Luz showed up. Amity in particular was excelling as Top Student, but remained just as miserable as ever… Sure, Lilith taught her how to do magic well, but in general, she didn’t really teach Amity anything meaningful, no life lessons or wisdom that could help the girl mature!

          All Amity was taught was how to fulfill her function and role in society as a member of the Emperor’s Coven, but again, this focuses on what Amity does for others and not on building up Amity herself as a person with her own separate identity from the whole! It teaches Amity to prioritize her ‘purpose’ over building a sense of personhood and individuality, and as we can see… This ends up rather destructive for Amity’s part.

          And Lilith herself was pretty immature and foolish, buying into Belos’ promises and propaganda, refusing to acknowledge there was more to her and Eda’s distance than just the curse, and only finally made a stance when her own sister was about to be petrified- And even then, Lilith initially tried to sneak her way back into the Emperor’s Coven like nothing happened!

           And to be fair, I don’t think anybody would want to openly challenge Emperor Belos… But the idea is still there that for all of her ‘academic’ achievement, Lilith herself has matured and grown very little, with the majority of her learning have come by the Season Finale! She’s booksmart at least, but as we also see with Amity… This knowledge in academics doesn’t mean much if both characters are rather miserable, emotionally-stunted people! Lilith and Amity were taught to emphasize their roles as tools/parts in a larger machine, instead of as their own separate people who are simply allowed to live on their own and don’t have to justify their existence by contributing to some grander purpose!

           This is further reflected in the contrast between the relationships of Eda and Luz, VS Lilith and Amity… Lilith and Amity are cold and professional, maintaining an air of distance and a sense of hierarchy with Lilith specifically above Amity! Amity can only defer to Lilith, and all she does is learn from her, without contributing any of her own knowledge to Lilith!

           Whereas Eda and Luz teach one another in their own ways, help each other learn and grow… Their mentorship is far more mutualistic, and it’s reflected in how the two have a far more familial, casual relationship! There is no sense of hierarchy that must be maintained, that Eda automatically knows more than Luz and is thus better than her and clearly superior as a result, that she can do no wrong… No, Eda is also flawed and has a lot to learn from Luz, too! They’re in some ways equals, which reflects their rejection of educational status as a means and justification for academic elitism, which the Emperor’s Coven embodies!

           All of this also ties into the show’s discussion of learning things and skills that are ‘practical’, for the sake of attaining more power, wealth, status, etc…. Versus simply doing things for the sake of prioritizing one’s happiness and enjoyment! As Dana herself said, Lilith and Amity saw one another more as tools to achieve their goals with. Their pursuit of magical knowledge was less out of a passion (at least it’s not anymore) and more for the pursuit of something else frivolous that neither of them really wanted, and neither of them benefitted from… But they needed it from a pragmatic scenario, so they had to put up with this!

           In contrast, while Eda and Luz’s lessons don’t exactly focus on the more ‘pragmatic’ magic that would garner a good career, they DO focus on improving and maintaining the emotional wellbeing and growth of one another! And so even if they don’t have magical skills, power, status, etc., Eda and Luz still end up as far more fulfilled, happier, and mature individuals than Lilith and Amity! They may be at the bottom of society and wanted criminals, but Luz and Eda’s lives are clearly the more preferable ones to the powerful yet stifling positions that Amity and Lilith have respectively.

           Now, obviously I have to be a bit fair to Lilith here; Eda had mostly willingly taken the role of Luz’s sole surrogate parental figure on the Boiling Isles… Whereas with Lilith, her relationship with Amity is just a professional one and not familial, and she’s busy handling other students too! As far as Lilith knows, Amity already has loving parents back home… and, well. Amity definitely has PARENTS. But in the end, Lilith herself isn’t necessarily performing some moral failing just because she hasn’t immediately signed herself up as Amity’s moral guardian and surrogate parent…

           But because Eda’s strength lies in teaching emotional, personal lessons that prioritize the personal growth of individuals regardless of any ‘role/purpose’ they should serve, she’s arguably the superior teacher! Her lessons aren’t as fixated on magic and increasing one’s power and skill at it, which in turn reflects the idea of becoming a ‘powerful witch’ purely for reasons such as status, wealth, power, etc., that ultimately contribute little to one’s happiness as they do not necessarily prioritize personal satisfaction, but instead a mechanical purpose.

          Eda and Luz are casual, they don’t try to maintain a divide or gap between one another, nor do they enforce a hierarchy where Luz is an empty receptacle that can only learn from Eda… They are on equal ground and thus benefit more as mutualistic partners, teaching one another as both grow, and respecting the contributions and individuality of the other! By contrast, Lilith and Amity focus on maintaining a certain hierarchy and divide between the two that believes Amity can only learn from Lilith.

          As a result, what Amity has to give and say is silenced as she herself is taught that what she has to offer isn’t meaningful, and Lilith merely passes on pragmatic information about magic but doesn’t really gain anything from the interactions. It’s a paradoxical idea of uplifting the new generation as the one who will succeed the previous one and do so much better, but at the same time these young kids clearly know nothing and are inferior to the infallible wisdom of their predecessors! And if they question anything about the system, then again, they’re just dumb and silly kids and what do you know?!

          There’s a power imbalance here, an assumption of total superiority based on academic merit, which again… Ties into the idea of educational elitism with the Emperor’s Coven! It’s only by working together on equal ground that a mentorship can propel both parties from their initial place in the world, be it within their own hearts or literally! And THAT goes along with this show’s ideas of how being your own individual and acknowledging others as such, actually leads to more powerful, meaningful bonds of family and community as people are allowed to self-actualize with themselves and one another, thus reaching their full ‘potential’!

           To put it simply; Eda isn’t exactly the conventional teacher, but in all honesty… The ‘conventional teacher’ to the Boiling Isles is one that prioritizes distance and hierarchy, and the idea of transmitting practical knowledge for the sake of getting more power/status/wealth with little regard to one’s personal happiness… Whereas Eda and Luz’s mentorship emphasizes no gaps and encourages all participants to learn and offer things towards one another, and to focus on prioritizing their own personal happiness and emotional wellbeing first!

          This in turn expands on the dilemma that Willow had once been faced with; Doing the more pragmatic, opportunistic Abomination Track, or self-actualizing with Plants! In the end, it’s the desire to prioritize doing things that simply make one happy, without regard to whether or not it can contribute to their material gain! And THAT relates to the Coven System’s flawed ideas of amassing power for the sake of being above others, which in itself is a pointless rat race.

           In the end, Eda may not be the best at teaching magic… But as corny as it sounds, I think she’s better at teaching Luz about the things that really matter in life, lessons that actually bring you happiness and satisfactory relationships; Which the most skilled and powerful magic in the world can’t necessarily guarantee! Whilst Lilith taught Amity how to be ‘successful’, but by the specific standard/merit set by people like Belos… In reality, Amity’s success is paper-thin as she ends up a blindly obedient slave to authority figures that overtly-blames herself for her own mistakes and things she didn’t even cause, and is genuinely miserable!

           While on the other hand, Eda taught Luz how to be ‘successful’ in the truly deep and emotional sense, in that she helps Luz focus more on maturing as an individual and coming off more well-rounded for it. Luz may not know everything there is to know about magic, and she’s no Top Student… But she’s actually enjoying herself, kindling her natural curiosity, and creating meaningful social connections! Luz is still allowed to learn things simply because she wants to, to engage with magical education on her own terms instead of by how others dictate it for the purpose of fulfilling a role!

          And given what this show has to say about prioritizing one’s personal happiness over the practical option that will net them material gain (which in itself is a pointless goal that many families only pursue due to a lack of money)… It all points towards Eda and Luz having learned more, from one another or otherwise! Whereas Lilith and Amity remained stagnant and only seemed more educated, but in the end were fools for the Coven System to varying degrees.

          Like the gilded appearance or masks of the Emperor’s Coven, their supposed status and glory above others is thin at best, and when subject to scrutiny gives way to a much harsher reality of personal weakness and lack of growth. From Eda, Luz gained life-skills that are far more applicable and flexible in their use to all of her experiences, rather than simple knowledge on how to cast a specific spell.

          Luz’s lessons are more widely-applicable across every situation of life, while Amity’s lessons on magic, while important, ultimately do nothing to prepare her for self-love, being her own person, finding enjoyment in oneself again, etc. It’s all for a specific purpose within a specific machine-system set by Belos, but who is she without it?

          And if one is miserable working for their role in the system, then what is even the point of fighting for material gain just to survive, if one is unable to truly live as an individual? And many poorer families only focus on material gain because their circumstances are skewed against their favor… They live in a system that forces them to need material gain just to survive, and it’s why they have to prioritize it when otherwise they would rather be their own people!

          It’s no doubt intentional by Belos, to force people to remold themselves to fit into the very specific slots of his Coven Machine. Similarly, the values the Coven System uplifts prioritizes teaching kids to focus more on learning magical skills related to their function that ultimately characterizes them more as interchangeable parts rather than unique people with their own lives and desires!

          TL;DR Eda actually has a LOT of value as a teacher, and so does Lilith! But Eda in particular doesn’t have that worth recognized, because the Boiling Isles society has reached a point where it only cares about learning stuff if it’s directly related towards getting a prestigious job/role in the Coven System… And most people are forcedto make that sort of prioritization over personal fulfillment, because a lot of them are trapped in a horrible situation otherwise!

          It’s a nasty loop and cycle where people really would prefer to be brave like Eda and pursue who they are, but the brutal reality of the circumstances –set by Belos- dictates that they focus on pragmatic things and opportunities simply to do well in life! It encourages people to care more for survival and fitting in over being actual, well, people. This kind of mindset is of course more obedient and easier to control with Belos, who has access and control over wealth, power, and social prestige, which people are then taught to value above all else, thereby making them dependent upon his rule!

         In general, the show poses the very important question; What does it mean to be a teacher? And what REALLY makes a good teacher? Luz no doubt expected Eda to be a more conventional, Fantasy-Magic teacher similar to what she’s seen in her books; But Eda’s more mundane lessons, once Luz learns to appreciate them (as seen in Episode 3), replace her idealized fantasies with a more mundane yet ultimately fulfilling reality. Of course, Lilith ALSO has value as a teacher in her own way too, hence why Eda learns in Episode 9 to both provide her usual form of instruction, AND the conventional, pragmatic kind we see in an institution like Hexside! Eda at least tries to fulfill both kinds of needs and roles as a mentor, which Lilith sadly never made the effort to do so, albeit with her own in-universe justifications of course.

[recurring-polynya]

What comparisons can be made between renruki and Ichiruki? I often wondered about this.

This is such a hot button issue that as soon as I received this (perfectly polite) ask, my body tensed up and my brain went Am I being trolled?

It’s honestly a shame that there is so much bad blood behind this, because it is, in fact, a very interesting thing to talk about, and I am going to attempt to do so in good faith, because I love thinking about this kind of thing. Even though I am very openly a Renruki shipper, I love all three of these characters very much, and I think that Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship is very important! I am doing my best to be neutral, although I have not read very much Ichiruki fanfic/meta, so please give me a benefit of a doubt. Obviously, I can’t stop anyone from reblogging this and putting their own comments on it, but I have no interest in getting in debates over it, so don’t be surprised if I don’t engage.

This is both long, and I am sure some people don’t care, so I’m gonna put the rest under a cut. I have tried to hard to write this in a way that will not make anyone mad, but if you think it will make you mad, please give yourself the gift of not clicking on it.

So, what is the same between Ichigo and Renji? Lots, actually. Physically, they are both tall, strong, and have ridiculously colored spiky hair. They are outwardly grumpy, but secretly have soft, gooey centers. Neither one of them is dumb, but they are both dumbasses. They are protectors: they would rather take any amount of pain or damage onto themselves than see a loved one hurt. Their friends are everything to them, and that goes triple for Rukia.

How are they different, then? There are three major bullets:

- Ichigo is alive. Renji is dead. Perhaps this is a little flip, but Renji belongs to same world that Rukia does, and Ichigo does not. This is not a value judgment, it is just a fact: If Rukia ends up with Renji, she stays where she is. If she ends up with Ichigo, either Rukia or Ichigo have to make a huge change. I will get back to this.

- Youth vs. Experience. Ichigo is a 15-year old boy, as we are told about 1000 times. There is some mystery over how old Rukia and Renji are, but they have graduated from secondary education and are currently employed. I think it’s safe to assume that they are roughly close in age to each other, but I think Rukia may perceive Renji as seeming older than herself-- he graduated from school, and she didn’t; he’s on his third squad transfer, whereas she’s hasn’t budged from her initial, entry-level job, and he’s now middle management. However, the arc of the story we don’t get to see, is that over the timeskips, Rukia not only catches up to, but surpasses him. Also, not for nothing, but I think that in the same way Rukia is immediately drawn to Ichigo because of his resemblance to Kaien, I think she is also drawn to him for his resemblance to Young Renji-- a grumpy, prickly young man, leaking self-doubt from every pore, whom she is more able to be generous towards through the lens of age and experience. (And I think this comparison could support either ship)

- Ichigo is the protagonist. Rules don’t apply to him. Fate breaks on his sword. He represents the triumph of love or hard work or dreams or what have you over the cruel millstone of the world. Renji, on the other hand, is firmly bound to the rules of the world in which he inhabits. In fact, that is arguably the entire purpose of his character. Renji’s fights are often used to set the stakes of the conflict-- ah, Renji got mangled, this guy must be tough. In the Soul Society Arc, he is an antagonist because he is doing what he is supposed to. In the TYBW, Kubo literally throws the two of them in a pit to fight some asauchi just to make the point that Renji is a shinigami and Ichigo is something else.

Let’s jump over to Rukia for a moment. Rukia is a great character, one of my favorite characters in any media. Rukia contains multitudes. She is tough and strong, but often melancholy. She can be beautiful and elegant, but she also lies and breaks rules and tried to put Kon in a dead cat once. Emotionally, she likes to present a cool front, but she has a big, loving heart, and she feels deeply. As a character, all of this makes her very easy to project onto, which is why I think so many people OTP her with someone, no matter who.Some people choose to try to make her into one of these things or another, and some people try to keep her as the full bundle of contradictions that she is.

There is no romantic content in canon Bleach. There is no romantic content in canon Bleach. There are many, many scenes that can be interpreted romantically, but no one goes on a date, no one kisses. Ichigo gazes longingly into the eyes of all his friends, it’s just a thing he does. Orihime does explicitly proclaim at one point that she loves Rukia, although I suspect that in the original Japanese, it’s the word for “friendship love” and not the very-rarely-used “romantic love.” I have seen a scene-for-scene comparison of IchiHime “romantic moments” only it’s Chad and Uryuu (which I choose to believe supports IshiChad, rather than negates IchiHime, but we may all choose for ourselves!) My point is that shipping in Bleach is a DIY craft, which, when we’re all having a good time, is what makes it so fun.

So, bringing all of this together, given that Ichigo and Renji are fairly similar characters, why are the ships so different, and what makes one appeal to some people and be abhorrent to someone else?

I think about romance stories a lot. I actually took a class on romance novels in college and I just really like to think about the mechanics of stories. In the truest sense of the word, “romance” is about extremes-- about sailing the high seas and wearing ostentatious shirts and shouting off a cliff in a rainstorm. When we talk about romance as a genre, the characters tend to behave in a way that we would not prefer our actual romantic partners do, but the over-the-top nature of it makes us swoon and our hearts drop -- except when it doesn’t. What is heart-breakingly romantic to some people can be a huge turn-off to others. The biggest fight my husband and I have ever had was over a kdrama. The male lead was hiding his identity from the female lead in order to help her, and I found it all to be deeply, deeply romantic, and my husband turned to me and said “He is being dishonest with her and I think it’s morally wrong” and I almost died.

So, let’s break down some of the themes of the two ships, which I think gets at the meat of what you were asking. Now, like I said, shipping is very participatory, and anyone may have their own ideas of how these relationships would be, and I am a big fan of “a great writer can get away with anything”, but in broad strokes, I think that these are the themes of the two ships:

IchiRuki:

Love conquers all/ Love is enough to overcome differences of class, age, lifestyle, geography, etc.

Instant connections/Love at first sight

Love is a force of the universe that cannot be denied or defeated

Young love

Grand gestures

Your partner changes you (in a positive way)/You effect change in your partner

Your partner is the center of your world

Your partner is the one person who can get through to you/You are the one person who can get through to your partner

Banter

Dumbassery

RenRuki:

Love takes work

Best friends to lovers

Second chances/Broken things can be repaired

Love is a choice

You improve with age

Shared experiences build love

Pining

Working together with your partner to create a mutually satisfying life together

Your partner enriches your world, but your independence is maintained

Banter

Dumbassery

There is also some degree of character interpretation at work, too-- there seems to be a huge degree of disagreement between fans as to whether:

a) Ichigo enjoys his normal, human life, and even though he do anything to protect what he loves, he would prefer to live a human existence with his human friends and family. He credits Rukia will helping him realize his strength and powers.

b) Ichigo is unsatisfied with his human life and that meeting Rukia opened the doorway to a life of excitement and adventure, on top of being given the strength to protect his loved ones.

As far as Ichigo pairings go, I think that most IchiHime people fall in category (a) and most IchiRuki (and GrimmIchi) shippers fall in (b). In both cases, peoples’ ships align with their view of what makes Ichigo happy. Most IchiRuki content I have seen  seems to feature Ichigo moving to Soul Society, rather than Rukia moving to Karakura. Rukia pretty explicitly indicates at the end of the Soul Society Arc that she wants to stay in Soul Society, plus she’s got a pretty established life there. Contrast that to the story of Isshin and Masaki-- Isshin seems pretty flippant and disaffected about his life in Soul Society; it doesn’t seem like it was a particularly hard choice for him to give up being a shinigami. Also, it’s pretty clear that what Isshin did was illegal, and I’m not sure there would be an easy way for Rukia to just say “WELP, I’m off to live as a human, smell you jerks later.”

To try to wrap things up, I think the actual dynamics of an IchiRuki or RenRuki relationship would be very similar, actually. They would banter a lot and dive headfirst into danger and support each other no matter what. Byakuya would treat either guy with the vaguest, most grudging amount of respect. The primary perpetual, unresolved argument between Rukia and Ichigo would be “The Living World is dumb/Soul Society is dumb”, whereas with Rukia and Renji, it would be “Squad 6 is dumb/Squad 13 is dumb wait no I didn’t mean that Captain Ukitake is an angel.”

Personally, I headcanon Renji as being more able than Ichigo to step back and be the support person in the relationship (see that bullet about Ichigo being the protag), so I think that RenRuki could manage to run a functional household, whereas Ichigo and Rukia would just go on adventures until they got arrested for tax evasion.

*For the record, I am very pro-IchiRenRuki, except that they would be even worse at running a household. It’s just Renji trying to explain how a chore wheel works while Rukia and Ichigo walk out the door on him.

[fandom-pardes]

A Jewish Evil Regal perspective on redemptive suffering

Reposted from my personal Tumblr.

“The Jewish perspective is that this world is the focus and therefore suffering stinks and should be minimized. Christianity holds that the next world is more important than this world and that suffering ennobles.” –Luke Ford, “Jewish vs. Christian Views on Suffering”

“[T]he idea that suffering horribly should make people more morally attuned, and behave more ethically […] is more a fatuous truism than an authentic truth. The notion that suffering makes anyone better may have deep intuitive and socio-cultural roots, especially in Christian tradition, but it is far from a demonstrable axiom.

"The historical record suggests that survivors of the Holocaust did not necessarily emerge as more sensitive to human suffering than people who had not gone through the Holocaust. Nor should they have. Since there is no such thing as an archetypical Holocaust survivor, there is no such thing as a typical response. Each person entered the Holocaust with his or her distinctive characteristics, endured a unique set of Holocaust-related circumstances and emerged from the Holocaust with his or her own personal perceptions, lessons and conclusions. Undoubtedly, some survivors emerged with a heightened awareness toward human suffering and a resultant moral sensibility, but obviously others did not. The only common denominator regarding the suffering of the Holocaust is that it inevitably included extreme pain and left an indelible scar.” –Robert Rozett, “Suffering Doesn’t Beget Moral Capital”

These are a direct contradiction to one of the one of the more pervasive underlying assumptions behind people’s interpretations of Regina’s behavior. Namely, that the suffering she endured should have ennobled her in some way. That she could, and should, without any help whatsoever, be able to shrug off the effects of years of abuse, trauma, and manipulation to make healthy, positive decisions.

By contrast, this perspective suggests otherwise. It seems to ask that when a young woman is subjected to great torment, what the hell do you expect to happen?

“Central to the Jewish response to suffering is a staunch rejection of the belief in its redemptive power. […] It leads to a tortured spirit and a pessimistic outlook on life. It scars our psyches and brings about a cynical consciousness, devoid of hope. Suffering causes us to dig out uncertainty in the hearts of our fellows and to be envious of other people’s happiness. If individuals do become better as a result of their suffering, it is despite the fact that they suffered, not because of it. Ennobling of character comes from triumph over suffering, rather than its endurance.” –Schmuley Boteach, Judaism for Everyone: Renewing Your Life Through the Vibrant Lessons of the Jewish Faith“

This is an interesting rebuttal of the idea that people earn happiness because they are good. In fact, it seems to imply the inverse: that a certain measure of happiness is necessary for us to do good.

Despite what we say about free will and our choices, what the above quote suggests is that in the Jewish worldview, suffering undermines our ability to make real choices because we’re constantly struggling against the effects of our trauma or unconsciously acting it out.

This is not fatalism. It’s acknowledging that where we come from and what we’ve gone through have powerful impacts on the choices we can make. Some of us–perhaps most–have learned some limiting or destructive things about ourselves and about life, and if approached by the right person in the right way at the right time, we can learn new ways. But we can’t always know or do that without help.

"In Judaism, suffering doesn’t define us. Our ability to respond to the suffering of others does. We don’t see suffering as expiation or cleansing of sin, as do some other faiths.” –Laurie Zoloth, interview

“So many people search for a reason why people suffer. They want to redeem tragedy by giving it meaning. Suffering ennobles the spirit, they say. It makes you more mature. It helps you focus on what’s important in life.

"I would argue that suffering has no purpose, no redeeming qualities, and any attempts to infuse it with rich significance are deeply misguided.

"Of course suffering can lead ultimately to a positive outcome. […] But does it have to come about this way? Is suffering the only way to learn goodness?

"Jewish values maintain that there is no good that comes from suffering that could not have come through a more blessed means. […]

"Here is another way that Jewish values are so strongly distinguished from other value systems. Many religions believes that suffering is redemptive. […]

"But Judaism, in prophesying a perfect Messianic future where there is no death or pain ultimately rejects the suffering-is-redemptive narrative. Suffering isn’t a blessing, it’s a curse. Jews are obligated to alleviate all human misery. Suffering leaves you bitter rather than blessed, scarred rather than humble. Few endure suffering without serious and lasting trauma. […]” –Schmuley Boteach, “No Holds Barred: The Truth About Suffering”

If suffering creates Evil Queens, these quotes imply that even more suffering is not going to redeem an Evil Queen. At this point, wishing more suffering on someone who has already suffered so much is not instructive but sadistic. Even if she brought a lot of it on herself, indifference toward her suffering or hoping that she suffers even more simply does not work. It only creates an endless loop of pain and misery.

And if Jews wanted eternal damnation for their sins, they would have become Christians.

[eiwenmaclor]

Supergirl prompt #3 - Prove it

[Following the list of 50 Dialog prompts]

  _______________________

  33. “Prove it.” - theme coffee

  The conversation had flowed easily, as it would have before... well, before everything. They were trying to rebuild their relationship. Lena was burning to call Kara her friend again but was afraid to be too hasty doing so. She knew they had hurt each other. They needed to respect that in order to avoid doing it again in any way. Sometimes it seemed like they were managing fine and other times it was as if a single word could unbalance them all over again. But they were both trying and they were making progress. Kara being in her penthouse for the second time in two weeks was definitely a proof of that.

Right now, Lena was looking unimpressed at the alien in her kitchen. The reporter huffed gently, playing with her glasses. The gesture was familiar. Very Kara Danvers.

  "I can do it better Lena, that's all I'm saying!"

   The Kryptonian's tone might have been cocky if not for the seemingly immediate blush that came with her bold affirmation. That was endearing and exactly why it was so hard not to rush in their friendship once again. But it was also clear that Kara didn't want to overstep whatever boundary they were resetting. They were both careful, cautious. Lena really hoped that it would dissolve with time. She missed the easiness they once had. Because it had always been easy with Kara Danvers, which was an anomaly in Lena's experience with people. Never before had it been so easy. But that was the whole point wasn't it? It had been unusually easy with the reporter but it hadn't with her superhero counterpart. Now, they were one and the same and Lena had to find her footing.

In response to Kara's affirmation, an elegant eyebrow went slightly up. The point of the argument was trivial, really, but Lena was still a Luthor. True, she lacked in egomania, homicidal actions, and world domination planning but certainly not in competitive streak.

  "You're telling me you can roast coffee beans better than the... I don't even know how much it costs... Better than this highly specialized machine?"

  One did not graduate from the MIT, nor tried to cure cancer from a small garage, without developing a taste for good caffeine. Good being the key word here because she had learned the hard way how awful coffee could be when neglected. Early on, the genius had vowed to always care for the quality of her caffeine intake. A bad batch was out of the question. The precious beans were coming from a specific little producer  –a coffee bean magician– that was environment friendly, maintained good working conditions and fair pay, and worked to impact positively the local community. A perfect match. Lena had checked. Yes, personally. And yes, Lena Luthor was home-roasting her coffee beans. Call it guilty pleasure but she had already argued that good caffeine input to her system did increase her efficiency and productivity significantly. It may have been to Sam during their university days. She may have been caffeine high at that time. And it may have included a 10 minute long talk and a well-built powerpoint. She could be extra. So what?

Lena knew her coffee and she knew that her roasting machine was the best available on the market. There was simply no way for Kara to do better. However, the Kryptonian didn't seem to be intimidated. Far from it. The blue eyes were shining with challenge and she only answered with a single but very sure nod.

Game on.

A smile came to Lena's lips.

  "Prove it."

  A couple of minutes later, she was entranced.

Lena didn't know what she was expecting but that wasn't it.

Maybe she should have.

  Kara was on her balcony, coffee beans in a cast-iron skillet held in her hand. Gone were the glasses. Her hair was in a ponytail she had readjusted to free her face.

Oh, and she was using her heat vision on the skillet.

Yeah, that.

Lena was a few feet from the alien, fascinated. At first she had approached the scene like a moth drawn to the flame but Kara had stopped her. "The smoke can be a lot", the Kryptonian had justified softly. She was right, Lena knew it and she had taken a seat at a safe distance. She still had a perfect view of Kara's face. The concentration was obvious. Her skillet hand was doing small circles in order to roast all beans equally.

That's when it hit her.

  Kara's face reflected focus but she was relaxed. It was Kara using heat vision. Not a superhero. Not Supergirl. This was Kara. The "true" Kara. Lena could see plainly how this person could be both a Catco reporter and a determined superhero. Every gesture was done with care. The blond head tilted slightly and Lena understood with a second's delay that she was listening for something. Green eyes went from Kara's face to the coffee beans and back. The crack! Kara was waiting the first crack! Lena felt something she hadn't felt in a long time outside of her lab: wonder. And excitement. The first crack was the most important event of the roasting process. It marked the point where the moisture had been evaporated from the beans. It also meant that the temperature had to be adjusted because the beans themselves would start to emit heat. Really, coffee roasting was a fascinating process. And from the first crack it was an exercise to go on with the roasting without overdoing it at the risk of losing all the initial flavors of the beans. The more Lena was thinking about it, the more she was impressed by what was happening on her balcony. After all, roasting was a delicate process and she had absolutely no idea that a power as destructive as the Kryptonian heat vision could be use with such finesse.

  Kara changed her posture, interrupting Lena's musing. The hand was now moving the beans more actively and the heat coming from her eyes seemed to lessen. The crinkle of seriousness had appeared between Kara's eyebrows, which made Lena smile. The challenge was indeed taken seriously, or maybe was it Kara's love for food that morally compelled her to achieve the perfect roasting without wasting any bean? Either way, Lena found it incredibly endearing. How could she not see it? How could she refuse to reconcile both Kara Danvers and Supergirl as the same person for so long? Oh that was perfectly rhetoric. She knew how. She was hurt and experience had showed that hurt Lena was dumb Lena. A human trait really. Hurt and fear were the least reasonable emotions. But still... Looking at her right now, it was absolutely clear as day.

  Finally, the heat vision receded and Lena witnessed yet another power used outside of superheroing. Freezing breath. More accurately, cooling breath here as it was not that freezing at all. Lena was observing, no less fascinated than before. It really was something else to see Kara like this. She seemed... free. Light. And when her –hopefully soon to be– friend –again– came to her, proud as a peacock, to let her see the result of her work, Lena had to use all of her control not to smile too much. She was losing a challenge after all, she couldn't be that obviously happy about it. She still had some Luthor pride or whatever to salvage. Of course, Kara saw right through it, but that was beside the point. After a totally failed and very short-lived stand-off between the smug Kryptonian and the wannabe pricky Luthor, they both laughed softly. A simple glance at the beans was enough for Lena to know they were perfectly roasted, probably somewhere between a New England and an American Roast.

  "You've done it before haven't you?"

  The question was soft on Lena's lips. She wanted to know without overstepping.

  "Yes."

  The answer was even softer than the question and Lena knew her intuition was right. There was a story there. And she wanted to know. Because that was her fri- Kara. And she had passed too much time not knowing who she was, wholly and completely. Lena's next words where imbued with awe.

  "I had no idea you could do that."

  Her words were received with a small amused laugh.

  "Come on Lena, heat vision and freezing breath! It's not new. You already saw me using them."

  Lena couldn't help but think that it was marvelous how much Kara ignored that she was incredible. She chuckled.

  "Of course. I mean I didn't know you could use them like that, with that much control. I know how much precision roasting coffee needs to be done right. That's very impressive what you're doing with what you can do."

  She didn't want to use the word "power" because not everything was about power and Lena was learning it.

  "Oh... I mean, I kinda have to be in control all the time you know... It's not a big deal."

  Lena saw Kara's nervous gesture to adjust her absent glasses fail. That was adorable in itself but more important was the alien deflecting and denying her accomplishment. Classic but not acceptable however, and Lena wasn't about to let her do it anymore.

   "But it is. I can't imagine it was easy to learn that much control."

  Because in her own way, Lena knew what it was like to be imposed control. To be asked for it. Growing up as a Luthor was anything but learning how to control, whether one's self or others. Control was the Luthor way. Control the way you appear and the way you are perceived, in order to better control those around you. It had been excruciating for Lena. This education had been forced upon her and years later she was still trying to put the pieces back together. To always be in control was exhausting. It probably was even more so for a sun-powered Kryptonian.

  "It was difficult yeah... but the Danvers found thousands of fun ways for me to learn..."

"Like... roasting coffee beans, for example?"

  Lena definitely had a smile and her eyebrows were high, daring Kara to deny it. Which she did not.

  "Yeah. This idea was Jeremiah's."

  There was a tenderness in the way the reporter said his name. Lena slowly put her hand on hers. The loss was still fresh in a way and Kara smiled at the gesture.

  "I'd love to hear more about it. I mean, if you want to talk about it..."

  Lena didn't want to seem forceful. They were still mending things after all. Kara didn't owe her anything. At least not childhood stories. But Lena wanted to know her better, fully. Something that had not been possible until now.

  "I want!"

  Kara being Kara, she must have understood her insecurities and her response was particularly enthusiastic, practically blurted. Very Kara-like. What was very unlike Lena was hearing herself mirroring the blurting.

  "Great!"

  However she was too happy to care how inarticulate she had been. Kara was looking at her with such openness and eagerness that Lena couldn't remember why she had waited that long to tell her she wanted to know her. All of her. That was, without a doubt, a big step in rekindling their friendship. Of course Kara would have been hesitant when she hadn't any reinsurance that Lena accepted her wholly yet. It was like she could feel Kara's relief. She didn't know exactly how long they looked at each other, basking in the soft realization that, yes, they would be friends again and really, they never stopped being friends. Lena finally felt the need to put some lightness before they became emotional, which was a very real risk.

With a warm smile that reflected in her eyes, she asked a simple question.

  "Around coffee?"

  Kara beamed.

  "Perfect."

[georgefancys]

police violence and propaganda in ITV’s Endeavour

“That’s not what my dad says... he says you’re all bastards.” - Tommy Cork, Endeavour, ‘Neverland’.

- first of all, I’m white, so if any black people or other poc want to weigh in, please please do. this isn’t going to be a post about race specifically (mostly because there’s barely anything to talk about, Russell Lewis loves him some white characters) but obviously since a hugely disproportionate amount of police violence in real life is towards black people, that has to be a part of the conversation.

- second of all, all cops are bastards. yes, in the uk too.

- it’s not like i’ve seen anyone in the fandom defending fictional police officers or anything (unlike, say, some people in the brooklyn 99 fandom), so this isn’t a response to anything i’ve seen, but if we’re all going to be stanning a cop show i think this needs to be addressed.

- i’m not any kind of expert, i’m just taking information i’ve learnt elsewhere and applying it to Endeavour.

- i’m very willing to debate on stuff, but read the whole post before you do.

Police corruption

so, the overarching plot in Endeavour, from the pilot to the season 6 finale, is police corruption. However, the corrupting influence is not the police force itself. Instead, it’s the Freemasons, a “secret” society. All the corrupt police officers in Endeavour, from ACC Deare to DS Chard to DS Lott are either Masons themselves, have Masonic connections, or are being bribed/blackmailed by Masons. The point of the corruption plotline is that the police are not corrupt themselves, it’s an external influence that is causing the police force problems. Our main characters are the good police officers!! They hate corruption!!

Fred Thursday

Fred Thursday is a narrative foil for Morse. His family life is a reflection of what Morse doesn’t have. This is a large part of season 1, mostly in Fugue and Home. However, he also does morally ambiguous things that Morse doesn’t agree with. For example, in the season 1 episode Rocket, Thursday is xenophobic towards a German engineer, which Morse is vocal about disagreeing with. We the viewers aren’t supposed to agree with Thursday about this, but there’s never a point where Thursday goes ‘oh yeah I probably shouldn’t hate this German dude who obviously isn’t a nazi’. He keeps his views, and this is never addressed again.

In the season 5 episode Quartet, Thursday covers up for a woman who pushed her abusive husband down the stairs, saying that he must have tripped. Morse also vocally disagrees with this. However, I think the writer intended Thursday’s actions here to be more sympathetic. Which yeah, fair enough, right? The wife doesn’t deserve to go to jail for defending herself. But the problem here is Thursday’s interpretation of justice. At no point, even after seeing evidence of domestic abuse towards the wife twice (and it’s implied that there was more that occurred prior to the episode that he knew about) does he arrest or question the husband. He thinks that because the husband died, that’s justice done. He didn’t actually try to carry out justice using the legal system. And I know that legally domestic abuse can be a tricky thing, especially in the 60s, but Thursday essentially ignores his duty as a police officer to intervene in the obvious domestic abuse situation, and then covers up for the wife. And the line that genuinely bothers me so much, and is what makes me think we’re meant to interpret his actions as good:

Thursday: God was out, he left me in charge

Like, no, Thursday, you’re a police officer and it’s your job to carry out the law, not allow an abuse situation to escalate to the point where the wife is forced to kill her husband in self-defence and then lie about it. And i’m positive that this was a quote featured on the official Endeavour Twitter page when the episode aired, so I think we’re meant to be like ‘oh yeah, that’s reasonable’, not ‘uhhhhhh wtf’.

Another, more recent example: season 7. During episode 1, ‘Oracle’, Thursday believes that Carl Sturgis is guilty of the murder of Molly Andrews - his girlfriend - on the towpath. He is questioned. He says he is innocent, and also has an alibi for the murder. Morse believes that Sturgis is innocent; Thursday believes he is guilty.

[SEASON 7 SPOILERS]

Thursday then spends the rest of the season following Sturgis around, trying to find evidence that he’s the towpath killer. Morse finds out about this and tells him to stop. He doesn’t stop. A different man is caught in the act at the towpath, and after being chased by a group of young women, is hit by a car and dies. It’s decided that he was the towpath killer.

Then, Strange searches a house that turns out to be owned by Sturgis. During this search, Strange finds a kidnapped woman, Jenny Tate, in an upstairs room. It turns out that Sturgis did kill Molly Andrews, and all of the other young women at the towpath, and that the man who died at the towpath was a copycat killer. Thursday’s actions here - stalking Carl Sturgis - are justified by the narrative because Sturgis was guilty all along, despite there being evidence to the contrary, and lawfully Thursday should not have been pursuing Sturgis after he was released from police custody.

But the worst thing Thursday does is literal police violence - and on quite a few occasions.

The “Good” Police officers

Now, I’m going to talk about two instances within the show where Thursday uses unlawful violence, and people within the CID cover up for him.

1. Coda.

(disclaimer: i haven’t watched this episode in ages, so if i get a fact wrong i’m sorry but i know the general gist is right)

Thursday is interrogating Bernie Waters, a young man with connections to the Matthews gang. He wants information about... something, I think it might be regarding a possible power struggle within the gang, or a crime somewhere. Morse is waiting outside, unaware of what Thursday is doing. He goes into the warehouse where Thursday and Waters are, to find Thursday... it’s unclear what he’s doing, honestly, the scene is framed so we can’t see properly, but it’s enough to cause Waters pain, and when Thursday lets go, Waters is bending over and breathing heavily.

Now, Morse doesn’t agree with this, and tells Thursday so. Morse: ‘I don’t remember anything about that in the Sergeant’s training manual’. He knows that Thursday isn’t above iffy conduct (he punches Teddy Samuels in the face in the pilot, and pays a newspaper salesman for information in Home). But in the end, out of loyalty to Thursday, Morse doesn’t mention it to Bright. (Similarly, in the pilot, Morse is outright asked by the CS if Thursday punched Samuels, and Morse says no, he didn’t.) Thursday gets away with it.

So, Morse is the so called “good” police officer. Telling Thursday he doesn’t agree with his methods isn’t going to get him to stop. He’s the one who people say, oh, but he doesn’t commit acts of violence towards members of the public. He just turns a blind eye to the officers that do do that.

And I don’t care that Waters is a criminal, or has connections to this gang. Police officers don’t beat up people so they give up information. That isn’t lawful.

2. Prey.

I had a conversation with another member of the fandom about this recently, and we both agreed that it really bothered us. For a large portion of the episode, the CID has in custody Mr Hodges, a park warden who offered a lift to Ingrid Hjort, a missing young woman. He’s also implicated in a similar case from around a year ago, in which a woman was sexually assaulted and left in a coma. He’s in custody for much of the episode, constantly changing his story about Hjort, but maintaining that they can’t prove his guilt. In a search of his property, Strange finds underwear belonging to the woman from a year ago, which would prove his guilt in that case. However, before Strange can return and present this evidence, Morse and Thursday are questioning Hodges again. Hodges says ‘I didn’t do it, and you can’t prove that I did’, while leering at Thursday. Thursday says ‘Can’t prove it, he says’, stands up and starts beating Hodges.

Again, this isn’t presented as a good thing. Morse attempts to pull Thursday off Hodges, and afterwards CS Bright yells at him, saying they’d just received evidence from Strange.

However, a plotline in this season is a bullet in Thursday’s lung, left from when he was shot at the end of the previous season’s finale, Neverland. This causes him pain and frequent coughing fits. And, you know, he’s dealing with a lot at home, like his son saying he wants to join the army. Bright understands this. Thursday is under a lot of pressure.

Then, Bright tells Thursday that he will write in his report that Hodges fell down the stairs on the way back to his cell.

So this time, instead of having a junior officer showing loyalty by not reporting an incident, we have a senior officer lying to protect his subordinate. And again, it’s framed like Bright is proving his loyalty to Thursday, but... police officers should not beat up people they’re questioning. Like Bright said, they had just gathered enough evidence to charge Hodges, so this was unnecessary.

Other incidents of note

There’s a lot to talk about in Inspector Morse and Lewis too, but I’m not going to elaborate on them in this post. If you want me to, drop me a reply or DM and I will. These include:

- Morse lying about his identity in order to gain entry to a suspect’s college rooms (Inspector Morse, ‘The Dead of Jericho’)

- Morse and Lewis entering a possible suspect’s flat without a warrant (Inspector Morse, ‘Last Seen Wearing’)

- Lewis entering a member of the public’s house and threatening her child by shouting in his face and grabbing his arms (Lewis, ‘Expiation’. This is called out in the episode by CS Innocent, however she doesn’t actually punish him in any way, and it’s framed as if Lewis’s actions were perfectly reasonable because the child was withholding information. It’s also worth noting that this child is black.)

- Hathaway threatening a teenager after he possibly is lying during a murder investigation (Lewis, ‘Intelligent Design’. The teenager commits suicide soon after, and it’s strongly implied that while the threats weren’t the sole cause of him killing himself, they were the breaking point for him.)

- Lewis and Hathaway hounding a suspect for the entirety of an episode despite him not being guilty of anything (Lewis, ‘The Mind Has Mountains’)

- Edit: Morse lying about a woman's involvement in several murders in order to get her a lesser sentence (Inspector Morse, 'Service of All the Dead')

General points

Often in police shows, the police officers commit actions which, while illegal, are framed within the show as being necessary evils. For example, two detectives have strong reason to believe a suspect is guilty. Instead of obtaining a search warrant, they enter the suspect’s house without one and search the place for evidence. They end up finding evidence that the suspect is guilty. Despite the fact that the detectives broke the law by illegally searching the house, they are justified by the fact that they found enough evidence to prosecute the guilty person. We, the viewers, are meant to find these illegal actions reasonable because they ultimately lead to justice being served; the ends justify the means. Well, no. In the case of police officers breaking the law, they don’t.

Conclusion

Endeavour is hardly the worst example of ‘copaganda’, i.e. propaganda specifically designed to paint the police force in a positive, rosy light. It’s set in the 1960s, it isn’t relevant in the 21st century. Nevertheless, I believe that any show where the main characters are police officers is a form of copaganda, even if unintentionally. We are meant to side with the protagonist in any media (unless they’re an antihero, which is not the case in Endeavour). In Endeavour, the protagonist is Morse, who is a police officer. The majority of the main characters are also police officers. No matter how morally grey Thursday is painted as, he is still a protagonist.

I’m not saying we should stop watching Endeavour. It’s one of my favourite shows. But, when a show incorporates police officer characters and police violence, we need to think critically about it. We need to challenge the ideas put forwards in the show instead of just accepting them. Yes, there are more important things to be worrying about right now, but I wanted to make this post because the murder of George Floyd and the ongoing riots in Minneapolis made me consider the implications of television shows which paint the police force as the good guys, because we live in a world where the police force are not the good guys. And when our media is telling us that they are, we need to stop, take a step back, and think about why that is.

Resources:

Official George Floyd memorial fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd

Minnesota Freedom Fund (raising money to pay bail for those arrested in the Minnesota riots): https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/donate

Change.org petitions to hold the police officer who murdered George Floyd accountable: https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jacob-frey-justice-for-george-floyd?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_22414602_en-US%3Av4&recruited_by_id=2b2e5010-a181-11ea-8693-a9223455fd7b&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=psf_combo_share_initial

 https://www.change.org/p/minneapolis-police-dept-hold-minneapolis-police-accountable-for-killing-george-floyd-as-he-begs-don-t-kill-me

Black Lives Matter website: https://blacklivesmatter.com/

A report of the independent review of deaths and serious incidents in police custody. This is very long, and even so only a general overview, but I would recommend Trends in deaths in police custody and suicides following police custody and section 13, Police Misconduct: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/655401/Report_of_Angiolini_Review_ISBN_Accessible.pdf

Some graphs showing deaths in police custody in England and Wales over the past decade: https://www.inquest.org.uk/deaths-in-police-custody

Article about increase in deaths in police custody in the UK: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-custody-deaths-uk-latest-increase-2017-a8462616.html

[holdthosebees]

Reasons: A Study

So. I want to talk about anchors, and parallels, and That Line from mag 167. 

MARTIN: So, when you say Gertrude wouldn’t have been able to go on without a reason-- JON: Yes, Martin, you are my reason. 

First, while we’re all melting down about the adorable queerness of this exchange, I want to nail down exactly what they mean. 

On one level, it’s a declaration of romantic devotion. It seems pretty clear also that what Jon is alluding to is that, without Martin, he wouldn’t be going to the panopticon; he wouldn’t be trying to fix the world at all. Instead, he would be “resigning” himself to “ruling [his] domain,” which is a fancy and way of saying ‘going full Beholding, turning full monster, and spending the apocalypse siphoning the suffering out of his victims. In short: having Martin around, having someone prompting him keep moving in a semi-linear fashion towards a concrete goal, and having a relationship he cares about protecting is what’s keeping him human. Or, as close to human as he can get, anyway. This is... complicated. There are people who are reading it as super romantic, and I get that! I don’t in any way want to say that they’re wrong, and this post isn’t about how Jon and Martin’s relationship is secretly Bad and Doomed or whatever. But TMA has consistently shown itself to be a show willing to dive into the messy bits of relationships between traumatized people, and ‘this one person is the only thing keeping me from spiraling into monster hood’ is definitely messy. 

There are a few parallels that immediately spring to mind, and I’d like to go through them one by one.  First: the obvious parallel, and the one that most people are drawing, is to Martin’s line in 158:

[MARTIN]: And then Jon came back, and suddenly I had a reason...

This is a line I see quoted out of context a lot, in the ‘tumblr likes to take bits of text and mash them together to make moodboards’ way. Often, in more Jon/Martin-y contexts, the sentiment behind it is filled in based on the line that came before it: “Maybe I just thought joining up with you would be a good way to get killed.” The implication drawn, then, is that Martin is saying that Jon coming back gave him a reason to live.  That is, however, not actually what he’s saying! This quote is actually rarely quoted in its entirety; what Martin actually says, specifically, is

[MARTIN]: And then Jon came back, and suddenly I had a reason to keep your attention on me. Make you feel in control so you didn’t take it out on him. And if that meant drifting further away, so what? I’d already grieved for him. And if it meant now saving him, it was worth it.

By drifting further away, he doesn’t just mean from Jon--he’s talking about his choice to keep working with Peter, to keep pushing himself into the Lonely. Jon coming back, in context, didn’t so much give him a reason to live as it did give him a reason to sacrifice himself. He was still aware that he was losing himself, and might wind up dying; Jon being around just made that feel meaningful.

This, I feel it should be noted, is exactly what Elias was counting on. Martin made the choice to continue on his own, to try to jump on the grenade without telling anyone that it was there, and this turned out to be a huge mistake. It was one heavily influenced by grief, by trauma, and by the impact the Lonely had already had on his mind. 

It was also the exact opposite of what Jon’s saying now--except for the ways in which it isn’t. They both cite one another as their reason for working towards a goal that they know might be impossible, because the act of protecting each other gives meaning to a potentially meaningless existence. For Martin, though, that meant courting avatar-dom, while Jon is trying to push it away. For Martin, this singleminded devotion turned out to be unhealthy; his prioritization of what he thought Jon needed from him over his own wellbeing wound up causing both him and Jon a lot of grief. And as for Jon...

Well. We don’t know yet. Jon and Martin are alone together in a horrific apocalypse landscape, so singleminded devotion is kind of par for the course. Martin is literally the only good thing Jon has left in the world, so I’m not going to say that he’s wrong for using Martin as a grounding point. And we know, from previous seasons, that focusing on building positive, trusting relationships is one of the things most effective in maintaining humanity! 

At the same time, though, there’s another parallel I’d like to talk about--and that’s the parallel between Jon and Martin’s relationship and Daisy and Basira’s.  The first thing that “you are my reason” pinged for me, right off the bat, was the memory of Elias calling Basira Daisy’s last tether to humanity in season 3. Their relationship for the latter half of season 3 mirrored Jon and Martin’s season 5 relationship in a number of ways; mainly, the more monstrous partner (Daisy, Jon) who’s thrust into the thick of things (fighting monsters, trying to manage the Beholding) to protect the human partner (Basira, Martin), who meanwhile is anchoring said monstrous partner to their humanity while basically hanging out and making big picture plans anti-Elias plans. 

It’s not a perfect parallel, obviously, but the dynamics are there. They’re both avatar-human relationship based around that idea of a single anchor point--and, whoo boy, did Daisy and Basira problematize that dynamic. Daisy killed people, and Basira turned the other way. The fact that Daisy was so reliant on Basira to act as her moral compass means that, in the cases where Basira didn’t interfere, her own moral compass degraded. Her reliance on Basira to anchor her meant she wasn’t anchoring herself, and, combined with Basira’s enabling, that lead her down an extremely slippery police-brutality lined slope. 

Why is this relevant to Jon and Martin? Because the justification Martin gave when trying to convince Jon not to feel guilt after Not!Sasha--that it’s fine to kill monsters, as long as you aren’t going after innocents--is extremely reminiscent to how Basira and Daisy justified Daisy’s actions for a long time. 

In Mag91, when preventing Daisy from murdering Jon, Basira tells Daisy that she’s always known what Daisy’s been doing, but she was alright with it, because she thought Daisy just killed monsters. Like Martin turning Jon’s tape over to the archives crew, she steps in once she realizes that someone she thinks of as a person is also in danger. Later, when confronting Jon, she seems to draw a firm line between Daisy’s actions, which were compelled and so required no guilt, with Jon’s actions in going after innocents. Compare this line from Martin, in Mag166:

[MARTIN]:  This isn’t like it was before! We’re not talking about innocent bystanders in cafes here, Jon; these things are - th-they’re just evil, plain and simple, and right now they’re torturing and tormenting everyone! If you want to stop them and have the power to, then - then, then yeah, let’s do it, let’s go full Kill Bill!

Once again, we’ve got a clear black and white moral boundary: if you want to kill monsters, that’s fine, because the things you’re killing aren’t human. There’s the differentiation between compelled attacks on innocents, and the choice to go after things that are evil. Both Martin and Basira brushed aside their partner’s guilt, on the basis of compulsion; both Martin and Basira encouraged them to use their powers to go after monsters, which they considered morally justified. The circumstances are different--Basira didn’t want Daisy to die, while Martin wants Jon to stop blaming himself for the end of the world--but the choices they’re making are in some ways very similar.  

We know where that goes for Daisy and Basira. Basira, while initially Daisy’s reason for staying human, also becomes her reason to return to the Hunt. She, like season 4 Martin, makes the choice to give up on her humanity to save the person she’s anchored to; unlike Martin, nothing stops her before she goes through with it. We’ll have to wait until the Hunt episode of this season to see how it ends, but it’s definitely not going to be happy. 

All of which is to say--it was a sweet moment that shows some great development in their relationship, but if Martin is Jon’s one reason for staying grounded, we have historical reason to believe that this isn’t necessarily a good thing. It is, at the very least, a complicated thing, and something that probably won’t escape the same exploration of codependency, us-vs-them mentality, self destructive behavior, and interpersonal responsibility that has shown up in almost every relationship in the podcast. This time, though, the stakes are even higher--if Jon loses himself, he doesn’t just kill a few people, he becomes what the Beholding intends for him to be. 

(This also isn’t even getting into the weeds of codependency in regards to Martin’s caretaker trauma, and what it means to be relied upon as the sole person keeping another human being grounded and together, or how that ties into the ways in which trust in their communication seems to be slowly eroding over time and under--but that’s another post entirely.)

[grimoire-of-geekery]

Wicked: a Gamer’s Look at Morality

(pic is from an Etsy store, I really want these dice, they’re freaking gorgeous)

A few years back, I was one of a handful of admin on a roleplaying sim on Second Life, and I was put in charge of teaching basic roleplaying skills to people new to our game.  There’d been a shift in our rule structure, a move towards a more formal rule set very similar to Dungeons and Dragons, and I had to adapt my workshop to reflect that.

Some of you who know me are already cringing on my behalf.  Yep, I’m one of those gamers who loves tabletop roleplaying games, but just... really dislikes D&D.  A lot of my friends already know about my laundry list of complaints (unrelatable magic systems, the ridiculous idea of “evil gods,” unrealistic rules... it’s a long list), and I’m not going to dig too deep into it for this story.  Suffice to say, I have some opinions, and we’ll leave it there.

Ordinarily, I leave my list at home, and just try to avoid playing standard D&D.  This time, however, I had a bunch of friends counting on me to help our players adapt to the new rules, and that meant dealing with some of my prejudices, and turning some of my objections into experiments.  One such experiment, and arguably the most successful one of the set, was an experiment in D&D morality alignment.

I should preface all of this by saying that I told this story in a shorter form on a Facebook group I follow, a DnD players’ group, and that’s what got me thinking about it and wanting to share it with all of you.  Yes, I do realize the irony in being a member of a group centered around a game with which I have so many issues.  I’m a geek, we’re allowed to be inconsistent in the pursuit of our fandoms.  Anyway, someone asked about alignment, and it brought up the whole story for me again, so I’m sharing it with you now (and I’ve also shared it on Facebook), as I feel it’s kind of relevant these days.

Now, those of you who are familiar with D&D already know what the alignments are, but for those new to it: every character you play gets a moral alignment based on a combination of two sets of three traits- Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic, and Good, Neutral, or Evil.  You can play a Lawful Evil character, a Neutral Good character, a Neutral Neutral (called True Neutral) character, a Chaotic Good character, and so on.

Dungeonmasters and storytellers and writers have expounded for years on what those alignments really mean.  Before we nerds had “what is your Hogwarts House?” quizzes and discussions, we had “what D&D alignment are you?” debates.  And frankly, I always hated the whole system.  What rational person would willingly choose to align themselves with “evil?”  How the hell are you going to find someone who’s objectively “good,” or “neutral” for that matter?  And how about the whole “lawful” vs. “chaotic” concept?  These are none of them rational or practical character motivations or personality frameworks, and they afford players the ability to become unrepentant murderhobos far too easily, to the point where there’s a whole genre of roleplaying centered around that mentality called “hack n slash.”  Like, that’s part of the appeal for some people.  I don’t get it, I don’t enjoy it, and it bothers me enough that I decided to change things around with our new players.

We had a character sheet and some various “character HUDs” that allowed players to use abilities like in a video game, with special effects and such.  They came with an alignment choice.  That alignment choice was set up with a grid of nine cards, each with two letters.  Lawful Good wasn’t spelled out, it was just “LG.”  Likewise, Neutral Evil was “NE.”

This gave me an idea.  A WICKED idea.

I sat my players down, and said to them, “forget what you know about alignments, I’m changing the rules.  We’ll choose your alignment after you design your character.”  They went about the business of designing who they were going to play in our game.  At the end, they were to choose an alignment, based solely on what they thought those letters meant.

They chose.  One guy chose LE because he wanted to play an evil character who still played by the rules.  Another girl chose CN because she wanted, and I quote, “to do whatever she wanted without concern for morality.”  All of the players finished their choices, and that’s when I unveiled the surprise.This is what I told them:

Those of you who chose an E, congratulations, E= Elphaba.  You each get a small starting advantage of some kind- a power boost, like a feat or an extra cantrip.  It’s small, but useful.  However, you also gain an uncanny mark which puts you at a social disadvantage, causing people to vilify you or be intimidated.  Good for intimidation checks, bad for making friends.

Those of you who chose an N, N= Nessarose.  You get a physical disadvantage that causes people to infantilize you.  You may choose a magical method to circumvent the physical side of that disadvantage, but you can’t get rid of the social aspects of it.  Bad for intimidation, good for getting people to feel sorry for you.

Those of you with a G, congrats, you’re all Glinda.  You get a social advantage with strings attached, and a single fatal mental flaw, causing you to miss certain information and misjudge things.  You will be good at making friends and manipulating people, but you’ll also be dependent upon them.  Choose what social group you’re connected to now.

My final declaration: your letter determines what kinds of options you have.  Glindas can’t make decisions that are only available to Nessaroses or Elphabas, and vice versa with all three.  You are limited in your scope, and you will have to deal with the consequences of your actions in a way that’s in keeping with your alignment.  And no, you can’t just choose a new alignment, you’ll have to change it in character through story.

Suddenly, I had a bunch of players who thought they were done with their character creation, scrambling to figure out how to revamp their sheet and make their characters playable.  Naturally, I got a number of “it’s not fair” complaints, and one player stormed out and threw a tantrum.  Eventually, though, we had a large chunk of people with characters which had a lot more intricacy and detail woven into their design than they had previously attempted.  We had players who were actually excited to play with the others, because they no longer knew which way their character would go.

I had left the whole “lawful/neutral/chaotic” thing alone, so people could use it as a touchstone in their behavior choices.  I also gave them the option of changing their alignment in character, with the understanding that the changes would cause them to lose whatever advantages their previous alignment granted them.

The axiomatic side of things actually helped some of the players understand character motives and moral choice, which was awesome.  They learned that the letters are in that order for a reason- Lawful Good instead of Good Lawful, because the axiomatic aspect was about choosing for oneself, and the moral aspect was for how one deals with one’s consequences.

People who are good aren’t people who only ever do good.  People make mistakes, they screw up, they lose their footing or have bad judgment or get confused or experience temporary states of insanity.  People who are evil aren’t people who only ever do evil.

Being “good” is about accountability, about accepting that not everything is about us.  A “good” person is someone who chooses to accept that their choices affect the world in ways they cannot always predict, and that they will one day have to pay the piper for their actions.  They accept their accountability for their actions, they endeavor (rationally, and in a way that serves them as much as anyone else) to make the world a better place for everyone, even if it’s just in small ways.

A “neutral” person is someone unconcerned with consequences.  Maybe they just are in it for the experience, maybe they see no moral quandary with their actions or their situation.  Maybe they’re not able to see the longer view, or they haven’t had a reason to look yet.  Maybe they’re not in a phase of their life where they’re interested in responsibility.  Neutral isn’t a way to drive though.  It’s the setting in your car for “not going anywhere.”  A person is neutral when they’re reactive, and they’re often not thinking about whether their reactions are acceptable or not.

Conversely, an “evil” person is someone who refuses to be accountable.  They don’t just ignore consequences, they aren’t ever wrong, and their constant efforts are towards advantage and maintaining their position at the top of the heap.  They don’t have to answer to anyone for anything they do, not even themselves.  Maybe they have a nihilistic “nothing matters anyway” philosophy about the world.  Maybe they’re convinced that the ends justify the means.  The difference between them and the other types is, their choices are corrupting and make the world a little harder to live in for everyone involved.  Not that they care, they sleep just fine, thanks.

Now, I have been all three of these people at one point in my life, and I’ve learned that there aren’t good or evil people, just choices and consequences and how you deal with both.  I’ve learned that I’m pretty much never okay with being a neutral person, it stresses me out.  I’ve also learned that I’m not fond of evil at all, because I genuinely like life and the world we live in.  So, good it is, as often as possible, even if it’s just in small ways.

I think it’s important, especially now, for us to recognize that chaos can be good, that law can be evil (and obviously vice versa), and that being neutral is rarely the way forward.  Nobody who strives to make the world better for themselves or those they care about ever thinks they’re doing evil.  And, they’re right, because they’re not doing evil or good.  Good and evil are in the consequences, they’re in how they’re going to deal with the fallout of their mistakes, or how they’re going to handle their success or good fortune.

Those of you looking for good in the world?  Do good, even if it’s small.  Don’t worry about being perfect, focus on making a small difference and making the world a better place.  I promise you, it’s never a bad choice.  And if you have to get a little Wicked to do it, that’s fine.  Chaos can be good.  So can law.  And only those who don’t value good would not try to make good out of both.

Addendum: maybe this is important, maybe not, but out of twelve players I instructed in that class (I went back and counted names in my records), none of them ever tried to change their alignment.  They all became very fond of their character’s personality and identity, and felt no need to change what they’d fought hard to develop and understand.  When a person’s identity is in question, it can often become a fight for survival to change one’s behavior.  To be different means that the old self dies, and nobody takes death well.  I think that might be useful information for some of us right now.  For me, I’m keeping in mind that good and evil are about consequences, and I’m striving to make sure that any fighting I do, whether for my own identity or for the safety of what I love, will be towards making this world a better place, especially for those who have a hard time finding safety or hope.

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: “Out in the Open”

Last night, out of morbid curiosity and perhaps a smidgen of self-hatred, I asked myself, “Huh. I wonder how long my RWBY Recaps are?” Not the whole project, just this season’s writings. So in the fifteen minutes between being a functioning member of society and falling into bed, I copied all my recaps from Volume Seven, chucked them into a Word document, removed the images, fixed wonky spacing, and ended up with:

Over 40,000 words. I have, arguably, written the equivalent of a middle school grade book. If middle schoolers were interested in reading salt about a web series. …Which now that I think about it, they probably are. The point though is that there’s a lot here and some of you have read every single word of it.  That’s seriously impressive and I want you to all have virtual cookies. Especially when I watch “Out in the Open” and realize how absolutely off the rails this show has gone and I consider it a minor miracle that any of us are still sticking with it.

First off, let me lay out the things I really liked about this episode:

Setting the trap for Watts at Amity Arena. Provided that Ironwood really can beat him solo (does his skill deserve that amount of self-confidence? Especially after recognizing that he should craft a team of three to go against Tyrian?), that was just an all around smart move on his part. Watts now has enough control over the technology of Mantle and Atlas that he would have come across the Amity project eventually, so best to just spill the beans on his own terms. The terms being claiming it’s complete when really that’s just a lie in order to lure Watts out into the open. And uh, yeah... take note that this was another lie. If viewers honestly believe that leaders must never ever lie/keep anything from their people simply because it’s morally wrong, then start calling out Ironwood for this now. Because we don’t get to praise some lies when they work out well (like now) and others when they don’t (like with Ozpin).

Setting up the fight at the Arena itself with Watts having control over the dust there, essentially turning the whole area into one massive weapon. If Rooster Teeth makes use of even half the possibilities here, that should make for an absolutely epic fight.

Watts’ steampunk-esque, dramatic as fuck gun. That weapon is a thing of beauty.

Yeah, basically if it has Watts in it I enjoyed myself. Everything else? Not so much.

We open on Mantle positively overrun with grimm. No surprise there. We’re once again shown though how absolutely devastating grimm remain as an enemy. Ironwood’s soldiers are able to kill the lesser grimm with their guns, but in seconds one is taken out. The older, mammoth-like grimm take at least two to three highly skilled huntsmen to defeat and, as we saw with Blake, Yang, and Elm, they’re going to be really out of breath when they’re done with just one of them. Really then, with a team of only fifteen or so, how are they going to manage all of this:

Obviously they do manage and I can’t truly fault Rooster Teeth for giving us a solution that doesn’t quite align with the problem. It’s common enough in any story to set big stakes and then have the heroes, somewhat miraculously, come out on top. Rather, this is only an issue as it pertains to the conflicts Rooster Teeth themselves have introduced, namely what telling people about Salem will do to the rest of the world as it pertains to grimm attacks. I’ll get to the details of Ironwood’s announcement in just a moment (oh boy...), but we’re seeing that same sort of ~everything is magically okay, just hand wave away the issue~ writing here. It’s one thing to watch the group struggle and then have all those grimm conveniently defeated off screen, to have the audience fill in those magical blanks during a single battle. It’s something else entirely though to do that for one of the major problems you’ve set up for a season. Ironwood is right to worry about the grimm because everything we’ve been shown tells us that an announcement of this nature would decimate the world. Mantle gets that many grimm, of that age and power, because their heat has been off for half an hour? But telling them about a woman hell-bent on their destruction doesn’t change the situation in the slightest? Everyone just conveniently cheers in solidarity rather than experiencing a base function they have no control over: fear? If RWBY adhered to its own logic that announcement should have been Mantle’s ruin. It would have been another Fall of Beacon. Because all the “We can beat her!” encouragement isn’t going to override the basic terror that comes with learning that a) someone is actively trying to kill you and b) at least two of that person’s minions are currently in your city, doing a damn good job of it. To say nothing of the added anger at learning that Ironwood was keeping this from them, that this is why he was taking resources, that he still hasn’t managed to fix things, etc. The only reason this announcement didn’t lead to Mantle’s destruction is because, again, RWBY prioritizes one very convenient emotion over all the others. Mantle miraculously comes together, putting aside all their previous fury and only feeling hope in the face of even worse news, conveniently keeping more grimm from arriving. That’s... not how an angry mob works. And as I’ve pointed out numerous times before, RWBY is no longer a fairy tale unconcerned with realism. This isn’t, as I’ve seen others insist, a wonderful moment of hopepunk. This is the writing turning repercussions on and off at their will.

But I’m getting way ahead of myself. Before all this we see Nora taking out some sort of saber-toothed cat grimm, then looking put out at the horde rushing towards her. Which for me just re-emphasizes how huntsmen are the only ones capable of handling this kind of threat. They’re almost bored at times, whereas the normal fighters are straight up dying. All of which should be a problem because there’s like twenty fully trained huntsmen in Atlas right now and we had a whole arc about how Lionheart managed to wipe out a ton elsewhere. How will the world handle these kinds of grimm attacks when the one group of people capable of beating them are so few and far between? Again, it’s not a question that is answered or shown to have any consequences attached to the implied answer of, “They can’t.” Because all those hundreds of grimm are just taken care of off screen. Somehow, someway. 

During all this we get a nice moment where Weiss saves Marrow with her knight. Love new team-ups like that! Too bad Blake and Yang are still attached at the hip. Will they ever be allowed to be girlfriends while also maintaining other relationships? Who knows.

We also see Nora dealing with the above mentioned angry mob and the only reason she’s not put into the position of defending herself against civilians is because Ironwood and Robyn conveniently pop up on the screen to make their announcement. 

Okay... Here we go. 

I’m going to be honest with you readers. I don’t even know how to write about all this. It’s just a colossal mess and my thoughts are so scattered I haven’t even figured out how to pull them together yet, let alone start expressing them to an audience. So I apologize that this recap is a mess all its own. However, I can at least start with this.

Ironwood didn’t tell them about Salem’s immortality.

That’s the crux of EVERYTHING here. I could point out how astoundingly stupid it is to tell the people this while they are currently being attacked by grimm and how, again, the only reason why that didn’t result in his people’s massacre is because the writing is straight up inconsistent about when grimm are a threat. I could spend this whole recap criticizing this moment---another moment---where we see Ruby smiling over the horrible situation she’s helped create, the story painting her as a perfect hero. I could also talk in-depth about how flawed Ironwood’s logic is. Salem inciting hatred has never and will never be the problem. What, does he think that with a common enemy the racists will suddenly open their doors to the faunus? Or that the bandit attacks will stop? That people like Jacques will suddenly start loving everyone who can’t give them more money? I’ve gotten a lot of asks over the last year regarding real life issues, asking me how we solve these horrendous problems. My answer is always the same: there is no simple solution. There is no one, convenient thing that we can implement and then bam, racism, sexism, ableism, etc. is solved forever and always. It takes generations of slow, methodical, one-step-forward-two-steps-back work in order to enact change, the precise sort of work that Ozpin was doing in the form of schooling and advocating for tolerance across Remanant. Ironwood, meanwhile, has given the people that band-aid solution. Salem is the reason we’re divided. Salem is the reason why we’re in danger. Don’t think about our own prejudices or the separate threat of the grimm. Just come together against her and it’ll all be fine, I swear. 

Which may have been a decent way of getting people to defeat Salem---we’ll tackle the other issues later---if Salem could be defeated.

Everyone realizes this is just a massive version of what Ozpin did, right? Please tell me people get that. Ozpin had a small group of people, told them about Salem, they logically worked under the assumption that they could beat her, and when her immortality was revealed he was condemned for that supposed manipulation. You sent us to fight a war we couldn’t win. How dare you?

Now Ironwood has done the same thing, but dramatically increased the number of people involved. They find out about Salem, they’re encouraged via no corrections to believe that she’s beatable, and thus this city is preparing for a war that many would view as unwinnable if they had all the information. Every one of our leaders has manipulated in this manner now. Ozpin did it, Ruby perpetuated it, and now here Ironwood is doing it again. Except that, again, given the more specific context of each scenario... I still think Ozpin was the most justified. He never wanted the group involved. Rather, they insisted they be a part of things. The group at least are all made up of skilled fighters, not everyday civilians. Telling willing huntsmen in training that they need to “take care of” Salem with the hope that they’ll continue the work of keeping her at bay is not the same thing as letting Ironwood take resources from Mantle for a doomed plan, or Ironwood telling a city of mostly defenseless people that it’s their responsibility to help him deal with this threat. This is who he is calling to action: 

Not skilled volunteers, but terrified people unwittingly drawn into the situation, and the only reason why their terror hasn’t taken over is because they’re allowed to function under the assumption that Salem can be killed. I’m all for stories where the “useless,” non-combat characters help turn the tide (it’s one of the reasons why I love Pacific Rim so much), but that scenario only works when there’s a clear end in sight; when sacrificing this peace is worth it because banding everyone together will actually lead to victory. But that’s not the case here. All Ironwood has done is set up a situation where the people, like that council member last volume, are going to start asking, “Do you think he can win against Salem? He has to. He’s our only hope. So why hasn’t he beaten her yet? Why aren’t you doing something, Ironwood?” It’s going to be this moment right here on a massive scale. 

A mob of angry people closing in on an innocent, demanding to know why Ironwood isn’t fixing a problem. What the hell is Ironwood going to do now that he’s set up an expectation he can’t fulfill? More importantly, why would he do that in the first place? I really hate how stupid RWBY has made its characters, shooting themselves in the foot in the name of “Well, secret keeping is bad.” It’s not a setup I agree with, but I could at least stomach it if everyone was on the same page regarding where they place blame. However, once again we see how Ozpin is the only one who got heat for these choices.

Everyone remember Yang’s fury over, “How could you not tell us this?” That wasn’t so long ago, folks. So why isn’t she gunning for Ironwood the second he makes his announcement? How could you tell Mantle about Salem but not that she’s immortal, the exact thing Ozpin did to us and we screamed at/physically assaulted him for? Or, more realistically considering that Yang doesn’t seem to know Ironwood has been informed about the immortality yet, why isn’t she gunning for her sister? How could you put Ironwood in the position where he does to an entire city what Ozpin did to us? This is what I keep talking about in regards to the hypocrisy. The group is endlessly furious at Ozpin for his choices, but when they make those same choices, or others make those same choices… nothing. No reaction. Or the reaction is praise. Why the hell does Ruby look like this

while watching Ironwood put an entire city into the position she was in during Volume 6? It’s the same thing! Either the city of Mantle is duped into fighting an impossible war without all the pertinent information---the thing that the fandom has raked Ozpin over the coals for supposedly doing to the group---or they’re told about the immortality later and you’re faced with all the same dangers. Who’s going to attack innocents in their fear and anger? Who’s going to dive back into their addictions? Who’s going to give up completely? Who is going to join Salem? “He’s doing it,” Ruby whispers even though hypocrisy remains the name of the game and “doing it” achieves nothing. Seriously, what did Ironwood accomplish here besides briefly emboldening his people? He could have done that through teaming up with Robyn alone. All revealing Salem has done is set up a host of new problems and put an entire city into the position the group thinks Ozpin is morally horrific for putting them in. “Telling us about Salem but not that she’s immortal is Bad” was the emotional center of Volume 6, but now suddenly it doesn’t matter anymore? Would the writing please acknowledge the double standards here? 

Especially given how many secrets still remain. In the last few hours I’ve seen multiple posts with fans writing about how happy they are that everything is coming to light when... it’s not. This is by no means a clean slate, devoid of secret keeping. In fact, you need a list to keep track of who knows what right now:

Yang: Knows that her mother is the Spring Maiden

Weiss: Knows that her sister is set to become the next Winter Maiden

Blake and Yang: Know that they told Robyn about the Amity secret

Ruby and Oscar: Know that Ironwood now knows about Salem’s immortality. The rest of the group presumably doesn’t know they told him 

Ironwood: Knows about Salem and her immortality but (potentially) not that the relic still has a question, it draws grimm, or the real reason why Ozpin left. Those secrets weren’t acknowledged either way

Robyn: Knows about Salem but not her immortality. Presumably does not know about the relics, the Maidens, etc.

Mantle: Knows about Salem but not the fact that they can’t beat her

At this point I’m just a broken record and I do apologize for that, but what else is there to say when RWBY keeps making the same mistakes every episode? More sloppy setups, more hypocrisy, more picking and choosing when there will be consequences for actions, or when characters will get angry, or even when realism applies. It says a lot about a story that I’m wincing over a shot of our supposed hero smiling and actively agreeing with the villain. Watts is 100% right when he said that “Our tin soldier’s heart has cost him his head.”

And we’ve still got half an episode of nonsense left. I’m just going to power through the rest of this. 

Hated Jaune’s ridiculous “line up!” moment. That just read as so stupid to me. I get that other people loved it but it just didn’t work on my end. There are better ways to demonstrate growth than having him learn the (oh so difficult?) skill of giving an order via treating adults like five-year-olds. 

Tyrian goes off to cause more chaos in the form of trying to murder Robyn, only to find that Clover and Qrow are there to back her up. I liked Qrow’s little line about getting a crack at him first because yeah, for him this fight is personal. Last time they met Qrow nearly succumbed to his poison and Ruby was nearly kidnapped. He deserves to get in any killing blows if Tyrian is set to die this volume. 

We learn that Neo is off to try and steal the lamp from the “farm boy” and oh yeah, wouldn’t it have been great if there was a way to avoid this whole scenario? If the group had, just maybe, put the relic into the vault like they’d intended to do from the start? Or at least give us a good reason for carrying it out in public, at the Schnee mansion of all places. RWBY is chock-full of the most contrived situations I’ve ever seen, relying entirely on random bouts of stupidity for them to “make sense.” No one thinks twice against carrying around their most precious object in a city they know has been infiltrated by Salem’s men. Ironwood starts talking about his secrets in front of the people he’s keeping secrets from. Is it really that hard to come up with scenarios that don’t rely on our heroes randomly losing a large number of brain cells?

Meanwhile, Cinder is going after the Winter Maiden and will no doubt find that Winter is guarding her. Back at the fight, Ruby tries to use her silver eyes but is too distracted. That at least is a limitation on her power, even if it doesn’t make much sense that she’d be more distracted now than when she had a leviathan grimm bearing down on her. 

Penny takes a massive hit and for a brief moment I thought, “Here! Ten episodes in and we’ll finally see Ruby have some reaction to Penny’s resurrection. After all, seeing her friend lying on the ground like that is going to trigger some pretty traumatic memories.” But no. Penny pops up with an “Ouch!” and it’s once again just another joke.

I did like them using the grimm’s own tusk to take it down though. That was a good and visually interesting plan. We also get to see Penny as the darling of Mantle again, including Robyn complimenting her over the comms. So again, what was the point of framing her, either from the villain’s or the story’s perspective? Who knows. We’re not given a reason. It’s just a thing that happened that, like always, led to no consequences. 

Watts walks into his trap, reveals that he has control over the arena, pulls out his gun, and Ironwood absolutely roasts him with, “You always were a pain in the ass.” Highlight of the episode. Everything else remains a chore to watch.

Three more episodes. Just three more and we can put this mess of a volume behind us. Or at least I can.

Until next Saturday 💚

[deliciousmeta]

The problem with redemptive suffering: A Jewish Evil Regal perspective

Note: This is a repost from my personal blog.

“The Jewish perspective is that this world is the focus and therefore suffering stinks and should be minimized. Christianity holds that the next world is more important than this world and that suffering ennobles.” –Luke Ford, “Jewish vs. Christian Views on Suffering”

“[T]he idea that suffering horribly should make people more morally attuned, and behave more ethically […] is more a fatuous truism than an authentic truth. The notion that suffering makes anyone better may have deep intuitive and socio-cultural roots, especially in Christian tradition, but it is far from a demonstrable axiom.

"The historical record suggests that survivors of the Holocaust did not necessarily emerge as more sensitive to human suffering than people who had not gone through the Holocaust. Nor should they have. Since there is no such thing as an archetypical Holocaust survivor, there is no such thing as a typical response. Each person entered the Holocaust with his or her distinctive characteristics, endured a unique set of Holocaust-related circumstances and emerged from the Holocaust with his or her own personal perceptions, lessons and conclusions. Undoubtedly, some survivors emerged with a heightened awareness toward human suffering and a resultant moral sensibility, but obviously others did not. The only common denominator regarding the suffering of the Holocaust is that it inevitably included extreme pain and left an indelible scar.” –Robert Rozett, “Suffering Doesn’t Beget Moral Capital”

These are a direct contradiction to one of the one of the more pervasive underlying assumptions behind people’s interpretations of Regina’s behavior. Namely, that the suffering she endured should have ennobled her in some way. That she could, and should, without any help whatsoever, be able to shrug off the effects of years of abuse, trauma, and manipulation to make healthy, positive decisions.

By contrast, this perspective suggests otherwise. It seems to ask that when a young woman is subjected to great torment, what the hell do you expect to happen?

“Central to the Jewish response to suffering is a staunch rejection of the belief in its redemptive power. […] It leads to a tortured spirit and a pessimistic outlook on life. It scars our psyches and brings about a cynical consciousness, devoid of hope. Suffering causes us to dig out uncertainty in the hearts of our fellows and to be envious of other people’s happiness. If individuals do become better as a result of their suffering, it is despite the fact that they suffered, not because of it. Ennobling of character comes from triumph over suffering, rather than its endurance.” –Schmuley Boteach, Judaism for Everyone: Renewing Your Life Through the Vibrant Lessons of the Jewish Faith“

This is an interesting rebuttal of the idea that people earn happiness because they are good. In fact, it seems to imply the inverse: that a certain measure of happiness is necessary for us to do good.

Despite what we say about free will and our choices, what the above quote suggests is that in the Jewish worldview, suffering undermines our ability to make real choices because we’re constantly struggling against the effects of our trauma or unconsciously acting it out.

This is not fatalism. It’s acknowledging that where we come from and what we’ve gone through have powerful impacts on the choices we can make. Some of us–perhaps most–have learned some limiting or destructive things about ourselves and about life, and if approached by the right person in the right way at the right time, we can learn new ways. But we can’t always know or do that without help.

"In Judaism, suffering doesn’t define us. Our ability to respond to the suffering of others does. We don’t see suffering as expiation or cleansing of sin, as do some other faiths.” –Laurie Zoloth, interview

“So many people search for a reason why people suffer. They want to redeem tragedy by giving it meaning. Suffering ennobles the spirit, they say. It makes you more mature. It helps you focus on what’s important in life.

"I would argue that suffering has no purpose, no redeeming qualities, and any attempts to infuse it with rich significance are deeply misguided.

"Of course suffering can lead ultimately to a positive outcome. […] But does it have to come about this way? Is suffering the only way to learn goodness?

"Jewish values maintain that there is no good that comes from suffering that could not have come through a more blessed means. […]

"Here is another way that Jewish values are so strongly distinguished from other value systems. Many religions believes that suffering is redemptive. […]

"But Judaism, in prophesying a perfect Messianic future where there is no death or pain ultimately rejects the suffering-is-redemptive narrative. Suffering isn’t a blessing, it’s a curse. Jews are obligated to alleviate all human misery. Suffering leaves you bitter rather than blessed, scarred rather than humble. Few endure suffering without serious and lasting trauma. […]” –Schmuley Boteach, “No Holds Barred: The Truth About Suffering”

If suffering creates Evil Queens, these quotes imply that even more suffering is not going to redeem an Evil Queen. At this point, wishing more suffering on someone who has already suffered so much is not instructive but sadistic. Even if she brought a lot of it on herself, indifference toward her suffering or hoping that she suffers even more simply does not work. It only creates an endless loop of pain and misery.

And if Jews wanted eternal damnation for their sins, they would have become Christians.

[xophelias]

complete application under the cut ; 

CHARACTER DETAILS | Ophelia Greengrass, genderfluid (she/they), pureblood

WHAT DREW YOU IN | I was immediately drawn to the matriarchal nature of the Greengrass family—I think that’s super cool and I love the idea of Ophelia being pushed towards this leadership role all her life in a very traditionalist sense but with our usual concept of gender roles reversed. I also love playing ambitious and sometimes morally ambiguous characters, and I feel like Ophelia falls directly into the gray area of having certain lines she wouldn’t cross but also having those lines be at way different places than someone with a stricter sense of morals.

OCCUPATION AND SOCIAL STATUS | Following in the footsteps of her mother, Ophelia put her considerable wit to work in the Department of Mysteries as an Unspeakable. The Greengrass family has long since been tangled up with the department, both because they are skilled researchers at the more extreme edges of magical ability and because they have been known to tout some of those abilities as well. Ophelia herself has the traits of a true Seer, though those visions usually come to her through cryptic prophetic dreams that she keeps carefully logged in a journal—these entries are the center of her work in the department, though, obviously, no one knows that. Coming from a well-respected family, no one questions Ophelia’s work anyway, trusting that good breeding applies to every part of her life, from her near perfect society ways to her meticulously kept home to her work, as well. People see her as she is: a threat with the power to make it come true.

AFFILIATION AND POSITION | Ophelia had never really cared for the fanaticism of those who followed You-Know-Who, though it seemed like the obvious place for her loyalties to lie, given her status and her family. However, raised to be a strong and level-headed empress over the territory that was their family and those who supported them, she didn’t like putting her trust in one man who, frankly, seemed unhinged. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named didn’t strike Ophelia as the most assured path to power, and she had long since learned that putting false idols on pedestals was a dangerous game. Having long been affiliated with the Black family, Ophelia, thanks to her extraordinary abilities and her cool and diplomatic nature, has become somewhat legendary for her ability to gather information where others would have overlooked it. She has maintained her connections on both sides of the war—she knew from the beginning that she was never going to pick one or the other, so she didn’t, and that has come in handy more than once.

FUTURE PLOTS |

1) Something that I would love to explore a little more with Ophelia is the tension she holds in maintaining friendships and relationships with people on multiple sides of the war while lying to all of them about her true beliefs. I would especially be interested in Ophelia being connected with a die-hard Order member and build up that friendship before exploring what happens when they finally find out where Ophelia’s loyalties really lie.

2) I think that something that Ophelia would be very keen on would be helping another young woman, probably younger than her, learn about the true leadership qualities and diplomatic sensibilities that her mother instilled in her. She’s probably disgusted by the male-ego-centric ways of the English pureblood families and she’s more than willing to help someone get out from under the thumb of that oppression.

3) Ophelia’s prophetic dreams have never been particularly clear, more often than not giving fragments that are easier to interpret once the event has already passed, but I think an interesting plot to dive into with her and maybe a few other characters once she has some established close friends is to have her have a pretty distinct prophetic dream, one that really unnerves her. Then, it could be fun unraveling the mystery and figuring out what it all means.

CHARACTER STUDY |

Ophelia twitched in her sleep. Back in the days when she and Cassius would pitch a tent on the grounds of their expansive manor under a warm Shanghai moon, he always said it was like a dog chasing after a rabbit in their dreams. He knew what it was a result of—her whole family did. Other than that, it was a safely guarded secret.

She was glad that it was just in her sleep for that very reason—those who wanted a glimpse into her power would have to earn her trust in order to learn of it. She’s registered on a Ministry list of prophets and Seers, but that list is tightly guarded by the Department of Mysteries. Her secret is safe, tucked into bed with her, guarded by moonlight.

In her dreams, she stepped through a street that ran with rivulets of blood, crimson liquid spilling through the cracks and looking like the ornate Japanese bowls that her mother kept on display in her study. For a moment, it looked like the cracks in the pavement were glowing gold, like ceramics repaired with precious metal, but she blinked once and the redness returned like a colored filter over her vision.

She knelt down, a gloved hand reaching out in front of her—not her hand, she noted, clad in a black leather glove and far larger than her own slender fingers—to dip into one of the many faults in the pavement and write a message out in red over the yellow stripe running down the middle of the road. DO NOT QUESTION—

Ophelia woke with a gasp, sucking in air as if she had just come up from under water. Her body pitched slightly against her bed, her back arching as she jolted into consciousness. It took her a few moments to orient herself, blinking once to bring the four posters of her bed into focus, blinking again to locate the door leading out into the expensive mansion that her parents had decorated in ornate—and, in Ophelia’s taste, gaudy—decorations from their travels across Asia.

She sat up slowly, waiting for the slight dizziness to pass before fully bringing herself upright. She surveyed her room: no rivers of blood. No pavement. No cryptic messages. She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

Slender fingers ran through her hair, pushing it back from her features as she remained where she was for a moment longer before casting off the heavy comforter and swinging her legs over the edge of the high bed to slip comfortably into the house shoes her mother insisted upon. The tile was not cheap, after all. She pulled aside the french doors leading out onto her private balcony—something that Ophelia had insisted upon, especially for occasions such as this one—and let the sharp chill of London in the fall prick her skin and bring her back to full awareness.

She ran through the dream once more in her head, approaching the images with more clarity now than she had in the moment. Blood did not always mean blood. Streets were metaphors. The only thing that she couldn’t wrap her head around was the writing. Don’t question what? It was especially troubling since Ophelia, a pillar of introspection most days, realized that questioning most everything was in her nature. She would have to rethink her strategies.

Perhaps this was a warning; even more suspiciously, it could be a threat. Whatever it was, it could wait until morning.

[derangedhyena-zoids]

So now that I have a chance to write this in an orderly manner:

In my land of things, Hiltz is a Complete Monster. 

I only work with two* Complete Monsters in any of my stories, and the other one is technically abandoned, so. I don't have a lot of real estate for the explorations that come with these kinds of characters just because they tend to fucking bend space around them and make the whole story darker just because they're in it. Not every story I have is down for this, nor am I. so.

(*there is another character in KB  that is kind of this, but [it's complicated, and] their innate lack of emotional depth makes them not really... the same. being indifferent to abuse vs being oblivious to it is a big divider imo)

Despite the backstory comic I just made, I'm not trying make him sympathetic. That piece is just a tiny, specific, show-relevant slice of backstory that I've had in-mind for a LONG while because it was sorely missing. It exists just as much to "explain" him as it does point out that there were steep ethical issues involved with humans obliviously dredging up the past. Plus plants a flag in what relevance I think Hiltz actually had to the death of Raven's parents. I've always wanted someone to make something for that span of time and to my knowledge no one has. So.

My Hiltz backstory IN ZOIDIAN TIMES would very quickly paint him in a different light, and that's more-or-less why he essentially does a backflip and accelerates past the Moral Event Horizon fast in my canon because he was already there, just wasn't whole and hale enough to recall it. Also keep in mind that he's narrating the backstory piece (by necessity) so of course he's presented well.

He was part of a group that was already on an outright genocidal crusade against other Zoidians (and Zoids, and Organoids) who weren't "strong" enough and therefore deserved to die for the betterment of the species. That group got heavily into the power of the primal (you know, the four F's... except for them it was more like 3) because of the viciously positive feedback loop it set up. Their unyielding brutality was incompatible with the... you know, DECENT society other groups were trying to maintain. Hence big war, big apocalypse.

The events that led up to the Death Saurer/Death Scorpion took a long, excruciating time, over which the group Hiltz was part of chewed through the fabric of society like a cancer. Part of what made things really bad was the creeping conversion to the "winning" side's way of thinking. The assault on their society was both outright (active attacks on peaceful settlements) and insidious (attempts to convert, planting people in key positions/institutions, etc).

Once Hiltz got his wits about him in CC-times and realized what had happened, he felt obligated to do something to erase humanity - which was many times worse than even the most "inferior" Zoidian. The issues being, during his early time among humans he lost a fair amount of his mental stability because they did not treat him well (read: vivisected, and unintentionally they basically starved him), and he was kept in isolation. This damage was compounded by the lack of having Ambient around - Zoidians don't do well without their Organoids, and especially in that group they'd become over-reliant on them.  

So... Hiltz started out pretty penalized on the sanity front. (The only reason he just didn't up and die was because he was so strong-willed)

Then he realized the futility of his entire, prior belief system, life and efforts up to that point given that Zoidians were basically a dead race (hence his wide nihilistic streak) ... then let himself be tempted by One... then was basically, inadvertently mentally stabbed to death by Ambient carrying around the shard of One... then (in his mind) was betrayed by Ryss. And, you know, the whole Death Stinger power trip thing didn't help. There was very little good about him to begin with, but by GF there just Wasn't Any. He was completely ax-crazy.

But let me back up a little bit. 

Let's consider that tetchy canon timeline.

Per the math, Ryss being found in the Imperial village with Nicholai happened 3 years prior to when Hiltz retrieved Ambient & Raven's parents were killed. The Republican army attacked that village and took young Ryss, but given that Prozen had all the information about that village and its associated events restricted/classified, I'm going to make a relatively safe assumption that he had Imperial forces shitkick the Republican ones shortly thereafter and they took possession of Ryss.  

Ryss wasn't treated as badly as Hiltz was, but she wasn't treated especially well either. She had Specula so fared much better overall, but... she had Specula and people kept trying to mess with/take Specula away and THAT wasn't great. However, the Imperial Army - aggressively subverting expectations - was far more conservative in their Zoidian research so never did anything too drastic. Ryss was also incredibly hostile because she was afraid. She barely knew the language, and the range of traumatizing human behaviors she’d seen didn't help much.

Hiltz lived in that small colony during this timeframe, oblivious. Several years later though, after recovering his memory, he sought out the opposing faction, because fuck the Republicans and he needed resources to do anything. He figured he could talk, teleport, and brute force his way around - and he was right, and very soon was acquainted with Prozen.

And here's where I'm going to put up some 'sensitive subject' caution tape.

Shortly after that is when he learned they had a young ancient Zoidian girl in their custody. Obviously this was INCREDIBLY relevant to Hiltz's interests - remember, at that point he wasn't aware of any other living Zoidians, and from what he learned from the Scholar had become concerned that most that would've otherwise survived, had been killed.

So Hiltz is introduced to Ryss, who's matured a little but she's still the Zoidian equivalent of a preteen.

Remember: Hiltz is from the Big On Genocide group and to anyone who knows what's up, it's written all over him. Ryss is from a smaller clan that was specifically targeted by Hiltz's group so of course she's torn between being absolutely terrified and being glad that someone who speaks her language and understands Organoids exists at all.

Hiltz explained the situation as he understood it, and worked to gain Ryss's trust by basically denouncing his association with his group. He put an end to her being held against her will, and they stayed together from then on. But let's be real. Hiltz wanted to fuck her six ways from Sunday. And she was VERY aware of this. And he knew she was very aware of this. So on and so forth. (read: at this point in time Ryss found she could easily exert control over exactly one person and did so. Much to Hiltz’s chagrin.) 

However, not only were there functional issues with this (eg Specula wasn't fully sexually mature, which tl;drs into "Ryss wasn't yet either" - and obviously part of Hiltz's interest was reproduction), Hiltz also did have the sense to not... you know, rape a child. He did genuinely want Ryss to trust him, work with him, and - hey, you know, maybe even -want- to be his mate? Pickings were slim after all, but there wasn't any reason they couldn't make the best of a bad situation. (maybe he might have tried “not constantly thinking of her as a lesser” but okay)

So everyone grew up some more and hooray, Guardian Force.

Thing is, Hiltz was an angry, mentally-unstable person with a slow but vicious temper, and though Ryss rarely caught sight of that, his wanton violence was a bit scary. Ryss also began to sympathize more with humans over time, which Hiltz couldn't stand. Ryss especially sympathized with Raven, who she initially was just intrigued by, but then she kiiiind of fell for him.        

[insert that short comic, Collapse.]

I have no intention, never have had any intention, of portraying Hiltz positively. In my canon he's a disgusting, broken, shambling mess with offensively high Charisma and I thematically like the idea of his atrocious scattering of a lineage having to deal with all the problems that'd come with (also, hi: the whole thing with anyone of Zoidian blood feeling compelled to Zoids and especially Organoids? Is a sort of allegory for addiction, which... yanno, runs in families)

k? k.

Oh and Ambient is an aggressively problematic pile of shit also. He's just as vicious as Hiltz. Aren't we excited to have him show up in NC? HAHAH FUCK.

Organoids are their own entities, though. He's not just some strange extension of Hiltz's personality. He's his own "person" - one who's been a delighted participant in -many, many- atrocious acts. He's arrogant and prideful, he's got a dark sense of humor and is loyal to a fault. He just doesn't have a handle on the problems One has caused him, and it's gnawed at him for years. (and unlike the older canon version, he's not completely lost his mind or anything - but depressed wallowing in a pit of failure and hate for years isn't really healthy.)

He's also held on to grudges for dear life, because otherwise the vastness of existence w/o partners for a hugely social creature was untenable.

Basically, I think there may be some hope for him to be turned around as a character. Hiltz - nope, never.