Thinking more about Ruan Mei and I am trying to grapple with the fact that on some level in a way I can’t describe, I feel super strongly connected to her and in a way either understand or even relate to her
But like, I can’t fully explain it properly
Something about even with her strong knowledge, she is still struggles to properly feel and properly express and understand certain emotions and it’s one among the many factors of why she ends up being almost like a hermit (which OOF I had joked to myself she’s just like me fr when they called her a hermit but after the quest its hitting a bit too hard)
Even in her mannerisms, I can’t help but relate and it’s also part of why I think I ended up liking her a lot. I’ve seen a lot of people consider her deeply like evil or something or like she’s very hateful and malicious when she truly never came across that way to me and I just.. can’t see that. I can see the mad scientist in her, there’s no denying that. But she comes across as extremely morally ambiguous and perhaps a bit obsessive regarding her research rather than actively cruel or mean and I firmly believe she’s intended to come across that way looking at her dialogue and the way she behaves. I just can’t see her as evil or anything, probably because there are parts of her behaviors I know well
And again a huge part of my love for her comes from how her story and character is tied to the Aeons, and I fucking adore Aeon lore, I am praying for more like PLEASSEE
Even this didn’t get out all my feelings or fully explain what I think about her but y’know maybe later I’ll find the words I need
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What was Leopardstar and Carpwhisker’s relationship like?
You know how in Fire Emblem Awakening how there's that side character whose entire existence is dedicated to a running joke that he's the biggest person in the room... but no one sees him, ever? To the point where they even end up thinking an extra goblet at dinner must belong to a ghost?
Face obscured by Chrom's knee on the box art, Mike Wazowski magazine style?
Carpwhisker.
I'm GUTTING Leopardstar's Haggis. It is in the bottom 5 WC entries for me. Leopardstar's childhood bullying was cheap and brainless. How fucking dare they, actually?
How dare they take their ONE confident, intimidating female character, DEFINED by how she was beloved in RiverClan and by her apprentice generation, had no romance, and wasn't a mother figure, and fuck up ALL THREE THINGS???
So. Anyway.
If anyone gets bullied it's Carpwhisker, still by Skyheart.
Brightsky didn't die; she became a kittypet. There were four kits.
Carp, Oat, Leopard, Water.
Mudfur took Carp and Leopard home, due to their resemblance to their famous ancestor, Volestar.
If Mudfur knew what Leopardstar would become... he would have left her there, with her mother. He regrets bringing her back to RiverClan
He feels he should have known better. He became a Cleric shortly after returning because he came to believe that the constant fighting was wrong, and yet...
What did he expect?
Carpwhisker is a nervous wreck who can't stand up for herself despite being as big as a badger, and Leopardstar eventually booked herself a rock appointment
I feel like at some point, Carpwhisker learned the secret about Brightsky... but keeps it to herself.
She can't imagine Leopardstar taking it well, "and um, she's..." (Carpwhisker grasps for words not wanting to outright say she's terrified of her) "...she's a wee bit intense about bad news."
You know that one post about the kid who got severely bullied in school, the teacher put on Dumbo, and they watched every single one of their bullies cheer for the underdog? All the bullies think they're Dumbo.
That's poor Carp. I feel like she used to really like Aftergatherings until Leopardstar told her about the reputation of those events, and that attending them was making Carp look disloyal.
People often take credit for her achievements. She was the one who made the Bonehill practical-- it's not solid bone, it's a mud facade with a layer of bone around it. Tigerstar said it was TigerClan's achievement, and his by proxy.
When Carpwhisker was struggling for breath to correct him, Leopardstar gave her a sideways glance and killed the thought.
So, Carp's relationship with Leopardstar is not great. But Carp defends her, and loves her, and insist she knows best.
Leopardstar is a better friend of Skyheart than she is a sister of Carp. Leopard's beloved by that whole group, and a natural leader from a young age.
I think when Leopardstar dies, Carp is distraught by it. Inconsolable, and it's really hard to tell her in that moment that it sounds like she's a lot better off without her.
She'd probably end up hanging out with Mothwing a lot, seeking spiritual advice. Moth just gives her normal, mortal, nonspiritual advice, but Carpwhisker thinks it's divine.
After all... they both did just lose very toxic siblings that they still loved very much, and are kinda working through that.
In terms of politics, Carpwhisker is a weak-traditionalist. Really, she just goes along with what's popular at the moment, and doesn't make waves. She's conflict-avoidant, and just tries to make others happy with her hard work.
Most of all she just wants peace, really. What if there were no problems forever and everyone was just nice and well-fed and we all took a big nap in this warm den I made. What then.
SO all that to say... She loved Leopardstar. Leopardstar was awful to her. "We're sisters! It's just like that!" (It Is Not Like That.) She was hidden in her shadow. She thought the shadow was normal. She's destroyed when her sister dies. She can only begin to recover once she's gone.
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"I'm working on a Ph.D," Sam says.
Sam's lie about himself was so interesting in terms of how he sees himself. (I wish it had made it into the episode.)
Instead of defaulting to, "I'm working on a personal research project," or "I'm taking some classes at a local community," Sam says, PHD!
(And I get it. At my age, I wanna say that I'm working on a Masters' or a Ph.D, too. Not that I, "never made it," even though I was, "considered so low-budget genius and backwoods bright.")
From the 14x13 script
Dean draws back-- huh? He and Sam swap a confused glance.
SAM: What-- who do you think we are?
ELIOT: I-- survivalist bigfoot hitmen?
Sam and Dean trade a look.
SAM: No-- we're-- my brother is a mechanic and I-- I'm working on a PHD-- (exasperated) Just tell us what you saw.
///
I recall, very fondly, this scene with Rowena in 12x02 Mamma Mia:
INTERIOR: INSIDE A RESTAURANT. ROWENA IS SITTING AT A TABLE WITH A MAN.
ROWENA: Sent me to the grandest boarding schools, but I was a wee imp and ran away for a life in the arts. Mother didn't speak to me until I became a star.
BEN: A star? Of?
ROWENA: Uh, do you follow the Royal Ballet?
BEN SHAKES HIS HEAD.
BEN: Not a bit.
ROWENA: The Royal Ballet.
BEN: You know, it reminds me a lot of my story. I left school to work in a steel mill. I rose up through the ranks, and now I own half a dozen.
ROWENA: You're not serious?
FOOTSTEP’S APPROACH AND A WAITER COMES UP WITH A BOTTLE OF WINE.
NOTE: Ben turns out to be a cad and a fraud, but there's something so interesting about how Rowena wants to portray her class background. We know from 11x10 that Rowena, "was (before magic) nothing but Rowena, the tanner's daughter... a pale, scared little girl, who smelled of filth and death."
It's a brilliant thing about Samwena. They get each other, at least as far as this is concerned.
From 15x06 Golden Time:
SAM: Rowena got it. I mean, she didn't know all the details, but she knew the game was rigged. So this... Magic. This is how she kept control.
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the eleventh doctor's arc truly comes so full circle! it’s the story of a mad gods hard, angry conflict between responsibility and fantasy. from the moment he crashes into amelia’s backyard, he’s like something of a fairy tale; a phantom, a wise man, a hero. a mad man who can disappear just as quickly whence he came. and when he returns, has the ability to turn one’s entire world around— without a single thought for any damage he may have caused along the way. he didn’t just forget his part in the time war: he’s quick to forget a lot, to go too far, to never look back. to never question himself. he hurries on to the next place, becomes a legacy within a few hours on some planet, in some time, and calls it a day. until he begins again. he is the dreamer of improbable dreams, because he requires that divide from reality.
he is “the man who forgets” because he needs to seperate himself from who he was, he needs this new perspective, he needs the worship, someone relying on him, and only him. “i took you with me because i was vain. because i needed to be adored.” eleven began his life as a goofy, kind soul who would happily spend his first moments eating fish fingers and custard with a child, and promise her adventure. the fantasy. yet he’s also a man who would disappear for fifteen years and never provide a legitimate apology. the avoidance of responsibility. (until the god complex, of course.) he calls the atraxi back to earth because it allows him to fulfil the role of a hero in some fantasy, to show off in front of amy, to be that whimsical, magical figure she saw him as when she was a child. to uphold that image. he wants to be a story, he doesn’t want commitments. not to mention the fact that amy literally dreams him back into existence, that her belief in him made him whole again.
the doctor hates endings. he rips the final page out of his books because he can’t stand the thought, the concept. he doesn’t want the adventure to conclude, he doesn’t want the reality to seep through. he doesn’t want the stories to ever end, because in his mind, he is the greatest story of them all. (i’m not even going to go into his arc in season six because i need a whole separate post for that. season six is the consequences of all these actions. and hoo boy. it is brilliant.)
the day of the doctor, i believe, is really the turning point for eleven. the man who forgets arc forcing him to face the consequences of his actions, to step down from the mad man in a box pedestal he’s reigned on for this entire incarnation. he finally takes full responsibility on trenzalore, by sending the TARDIS, and clara away so he can stand and fight for the remaining centuries of his life. he wants to run, to flee, the idea of staying in one place so very terrible (but he takes responsibility, sees the reality, sees he can't just help out for a bit, then saunter back into his box) and he stays. he sends away the TARDIS because he knows he’ll take the easy way out, and step safely inside her doors.
not to mention the hard, in your face symbolism of the christmas town in trenzalore quite literally looking like it came right out of a fairy tale. visually, this is how the doctor wants to live, he wants the whimsical, to live like a storybook. he wants only the middle of the book, before the conflict, before the hero has to make a hard choice. but when he does achieve it, when he arrives in that fairy tale-esque town, it becomes the reality he’s chosen to live, with more responsibility, more bravery than this incarnation has ever shown. he’s rewarded for his nine centuries of responsibility because he’s no longer running towards the fantasy. he can separate the difference, and can find happiness in staying put. he ultimately becomes the heroic raggedy man amy idolised far too long, he’s earned the title, he’s become the doctor.
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