#terrible fathers

[bethanydelleman]

So of course whenever I write "Mr. Bennet is a terrible father" people come back at me with, "I can tell you about terrible fathers! How dare you use that word!" but I'm probably going to keep using it and here is why:

Her father was a clergyman, without being neglected, or poor, and a very respectable man, though his name was Richard—and he had never been handsome. He had a considerable independence besides two good livings—and he was not in the least addicted to locking up his daughters. - Northanger Abbey, Ch 1

Jane Austen knew that very extremely horrible parents existed, but that was not what she was interested in as a writer. To me, she seems to want to expose how parents can fail their children without anything that would be considered explicit physical abuse. Even General Tilney and Mrs. Norris only talk and scream, we have no evidence at all that they would hit.

And yet, the characters suffer a lot because of their parents. Emma's father has imprisoned her, but by loving her too much. Mr. Bennet doesn't harm his daughters in the present, but he's setting them up for a very precarious future*. Sir Walter would never let Anne go unfed or unclothed, but he still neglects her. Mrs. Dashwood is so emotionally fragile that Elinor feels that she cannot confide in her when she is suffering herself. Sir Thomas was so strict that his children hated their home.

Jane Austen didn't write Gothic horror or the worst side of humanity. She wrote very relatable and realistically flawed parents who still put their children through a lot of suffering.

*Going to add, letting Lydia go to Brighton explicitly to expose herself, which may reflect poorly on the other sisters in a world where reputation is everything, is another failure to consider his children's future. Even if you disregard the danger to Lydia herself, he was endangering all his children. He is very much a person who trades the future for a peaceful present.

[fated-mates]

Today, we're talking to Chris Rice about the longstanding history of characters with terrible fathers, about why romance seems to love a bad dad, about our favorite characters with terrible fathers, and about why terrible fathers make the best heroes. (we know! it's problematic!)

[lgbtlunaverse]

Obsessed with characters who portray themselves as worse than they are. Who are lying to everyone including themselves about it. People generally assume if someone's lying about themselves they're trying to look better but sometimes they're trying to look worse. They attribute agency to where they had none, add intent to accidents, try to convince everyone that this is something they did instead of something that happened to them.

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

#should craster win? yes #is craster objectively the worst dad? yes #is craster an absolute monster and exists to represent the evils that the night's watch tolerates in their crusading mission? yes #but i'm voting jaehaerys because he's so much more insidious #i don't care if craster is objectively the worst dad jaehaerys ignites my rage #craster is an awful dad but jaehaerys created the system of targaryen incest family-as-cage for generations #that destroyed the realm multiple times as well has his family #and systematically justified the suffering of so many other girls #obviously he's not solely responsible but. #think of how many other fathers used jaehaerys as a model. as an excuse #how he's held up as a shining model of a good king and a good father #how many of the other bad dads must think themselves as jaehaerys reborn #he set a bad example for so many people. #he's the father to the whole realm. (via @ludcake)

ASOIAF terrible fathers bracket FINAL FOUR: Jaehaerys Targaryen vs. Craster

Jaehaerys: I fully recognize this is probably my last chance to deliver unto y’all my anti-jaehaerys sermon, so I am gonna leave it all on the fucking field for you people today. Between passing over daenerys for his son against his wife’s wishes, making his wife carry 13 of his children against her wishes, forcing his terrified likely cognitively disabled 13 year old daughter to get married against her will (resulting in her violent death), exiling his 16 year old daughter to another continent for having premarital sex after holding her down and making her watch as he chopped her boyfriend in half with a sword and then saying it’s fine she had to resort to sex work because she was always a whore anyways, forcing his other 16 year old daughter to get married to an old man thousands of miles away from her home (resulting in her death), locking his final teenage daughter away from public view during her pregnancy and miscarriage (resulting in her suicide), making his 12 year old granddaughter marry his sixteen year old grandson and start trying for kids (resulting in her death) and passing over Rhaenys for Viserys (resulting in the dance of the dragons, which caused the downfall of house targaryen), Jaehaerys was a MENACE to each and every woman in his life, way too personally invested in his teen daughters’ sex lives in a way that does carry sinister implications, and ultimately laid the seeds for the cataclysm that would swallow his whole family forever. Looked at his daughters and all he could see was a wife (whether for himself, his sons, or another old man he needed to gain power from) and a future incubator he would exchange the life of for a grandson. see you in hell

craster: marries his daughters and sacrifices his sons to the white walkers

[rika-mortis]

Headcanon: Deep down they both want to be their fairy godparent/godkid again after losing them, but don't believe they deserve each other and feel like they aren't worthy to be their companion anymore

They both need counseling and therapy as a whole package

[warren-keplers-funk-band]

every time i want to be absolutely ruined, i just think about the fact that, despite being only five seasons, in-universe bbc's merlin spanned over a period of ten years.

ten years during which merlin dressed and undressed arthur every day. took care of his armour. stood and fastened the clasps when arthur was going out to battle. what imaginably could be more quietly intimate than that?

ten years during which merlin withstood being underestimated, withstood all that he had done for arthur being unacknowledged, just so he could stay by his side.

ten years during which the most powerful magical being in albion chose to stay by arthur's side as his manservant, and his friend. destiny be damned.

that utter devotion, loyalty to each other? arthur's reciprocated loyalty to and love for merlin despite the fact that, in his mind, he was just a human servant who hadn't saved his life nearly half as much as in reality?

I'M DEAD. BOWLED OVER. IN RUINS.

[remzarci]

Worst. Dad

[sawthoone]

“breathe to me while i hold you close the secret of the murmuring i envy.” (close up under cut)

[pommunist]

ramon’s constant refusal to be seen as soft or cute, always trying to keep a tough exterior, only calling his father by his name and not « dad »….

meanwhile he’s the only egg to be tucked to bed every night with a lullaby. he lets his little sisters sleep over and watches whatever movies they want to see. he hasn’t stopped wearing that adorable bear backpack. and he secretely likes that fit calls him his beautiful baby boy auuuuughhhhhh

[sofuss-y]

space, the final frontier !!!!!🌟🌟

[berryicet]

@flareboi you gave me a bit of inspo

[gcballet]

Doctor Who as tweets/textposts pt.6

<- | DW | ->

[beach-d3ath]

remembered i drew this and said oh! tumblr would like this

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

Y'know... not defending Walder by any means, but he's the only thing holding House Frey together, because he insists family is the most important thing. The minute he drops dead, they're all going to turn on each other like rabid dogs. Like, both these guys are godawful fathers, purest examples of Westerosi patriarchy, but at least Walder finds places for all his kids... and only murders adults I guess.

But you see, I really really hate Unwin the most of all the hateable villains in F&B, and that's saying something. It's not just the child murder, not just making his daughters marry far too young... But he was Hand of the King and Regent and in charge of Aegon III -- in loco parentis, pretty much -- and he straight up tormented the poor boy. He made an already traumatized kid, who had been forced to watch his mother while she was murdered, watch even more executions and tortures. Look at the "festivities" on the Feast Day of Our Father Above (GRRM could not be hanging a brighter lampshade there), brutal executions and geldings and tongue removals and hands cleaved off, sex workers mutilated in "unspeakable ways"-- and 13-year-old Aegon was forced to watch the whole time, disassociating to keep himself sane. And if Aegon disobeyed Unwin's commands, then he would have Gaemon Palehair beaten, Aegon's only friend.

I truly, truly hate Unwin in ways only approaching Randyll Tarly levels. But in this poll, Randyll was up against Craster, which is sadly no contest unfortunately. Let's at least get his Dance-era equivalent to the next round? Also said round would be Unwin vs Tywin... it's fate, really.

ASOIAF terrible fathers bracket round 3: Walder Frey vs. Unwin Peake

unwin: pretty much everything otto did but for less political gain and less successfully. his eldest daughter died in childbirth at age TWELVE and then tried and failed to make his daughter a child bride and the queen, something he murdered a 10 year old to accomplish.

walder: actively despises his 28 trueborn and at least 9 bastard children and hopes they all die. will forcibly marry off his teenage daughters to literally whoever walks in the door. only sees his children as political bargaining chips and not very useful ones at that. let catelyn murder his son in front of him because he was disabled. maybe the most father of all time but not the greatest. have been instructed to remind you people that he did pay his child support

[eirianerisdar]

Danica: I just don't think Logan's got staying power. I think it'll be someone else [in the seat soon] you know?

Simon: *Asks Jenson the same question*

Jenson: No I don't think so. I think Logan's going to be in the seat until the end of the year. Of course we'd all love to see Logan doing a bit better than he was but (goes on to defend Logan and talk about Williams as a works team)

He shut that down SO quickly

[i-m-art-ix]

I love the idea of ​​Anakin bringing up his experiences as a slave on Tatooine in random moments or conversations.

Imagine that not long after Anakin arrives at the temple, Obi-wan introduces him to Quinlan and Vos tells Anakin how he and Obi-wan used to sneak out of the temple as teenagers and what they did and Obi doesn't want Quinlan to demoralize his padawan and suddenly Anakin comes out with:

"If they ever sneak out I'll be blown up"

And now there's complete silence, both knights are quiet and Obi-wan is completely terrified because his little sweet padawan just said he was about to get blown up as a child with zero fear like it was normal and that's how Obi-wan found out Anakin has a bomb chip in his neck.

Or how during the Clone Wars Anakin was seriously injured but seems completely normal, can stand normally and doesn't complain about pain, and everyone around is panicking and Anakin just says:

"I'm fine and I've had worse untreated injuries"

and everyone looks at Obi-wan because if anyone is to know what Skywalker is talking about then only Kenobi can do it, but Obi-wan looks at Anakin as if he didn't say anything terrible, but inside he is terrified by how badly Anakin was injured as a child and how close he was to death.

Or another story from the war, the 501st and 212th battalions were on the front for a long time and food started to run out, which was complained about in their free time by the soldiers, even Obi-wan, everyone but Anakin and at some point Ahsoka asked her master about it and he only replied that:

"It's not that bad Snips and plus I've been without food for a much longer period of time than a week"

Which made most of the soldiers passing by stop and look at their general with concern, because what the hell did this man survive that he didn't have access to the right amount of food for more than a week, Ahsoka completely terrified looks at Obi-wan looking for some hint or proof that her master is joking as usual, but she finds only seriousness on his face which means that Anakin really isn't joking.

After a while, Obi-wan becomes more and more used to his padawan dropping such information bombs at various odd moments, not understanding how serious it is, but that doesn't mean he is prepared for it, Obi-wan is still terrified every time by what his boy has been through and how normal it is for him.