#than just a vague evil wizard

[captaincleverusernamehere]

Finally got to play dnd for the first time in over a month and Something Happened to me at that table like. The NPCs just. took over. It was amazing. Kelek the incel wizard and Uni the flamboyant unicorn and Wally Nutt and Poppy Corn the two most obviously in love gnomes on the planet and Susan the hardass boss who only is nice to her wife Angela the forensic chemist who physically and vocally is Lin Manuel Miranda. I love improv I love acting I cannot go too long without them or I explode.

[fandomspacenqueue]

Utterly heartbreaking how the reveal about the truth of the Wizard through the beginning of Defying Gravity is just one long sequence of betrayals for poor Elphaba. First she gets manipulated by the Wizard and Madame Morrible into casting a spell that harmed the monkeys, which she never intended or wanted (and the way the Wizard and Morrible were framed during this scene almost as if they were Elphaba's proud parents was an extra gut punch). Then she learns that not only are they responsible for the plight of the Animals, they've both actively lied to her about it. And of course, that the Wizard is nothing but a fraud. Then, while she's reeling from the complete shattering of her entire worldview, they start trying to cajole and threaten her into falling in line (Morrible's "Think about your future, dearie" line sounded SO menacing to my ears), even recruiting her own best friend into basically ganging up on Elphaba. Watching the horror and heartbreak grow on Cynthia Erivo's face with each passing moment brought tears to my eyes; just an absolute tour de force in emotional acting.

Then, after the chase/balloon sequence (where, notably, Elphaba and Glinda almost got away! To have come so close to escaping only to be foiled at the last moment must've felt so crushing), we get Morrible's speech demonizing Elphaba to the entirety of Oz. Again, I can't praise Cynthia's acting enough. She really sold "thought the situation had already hit rock bottom only to discover there was still a ways to go" so well. And the sheer betrayal of the very first person we saw on screen treat grown Elphaba with kindness and never react negatively to her skin color to then turn around and use that to paint Elphaba as a monster. Morrible is just so evil.

And finally, this might be a bit of a controversial take, but I see Glinda refusing to go with Elphaba as the icing on the cake of betrayal. They've had guards chasing after them. They've just heard a broadcast framing Elphaba as Public Enemy Number One in Oz. She's in very real danger. Yet, in Elphaba's greatest hour of need, her best friend refuses to stand by her. Yes, it was an impossible and unfair situation. Yes, the choice Glinda makes is about more than just her personal relationship with Elphaba. Yes, Elphaba does not hold Glinda's choice against her. I understand all of that. But I still cannot see Glinda's refusal to stand with her best friend against those who would harm her as anything other than one final betrayal on this horrible day. Not to mention Glinda then joining the very regime hunting Elphaba down in the next Act.

On that note, it really hurts to think about just how stacked the deck was against Elphaba no matter what she chose. Having been discriminated against all her life through absolutely no fault of her own, she makes an almost too perfect "enemy" for the Wizard to hold up to the public, feeding into all their preexisting prejudices about her. She stood absolutely no chance against this character assassination, especially coming from the Wizard, who has been all but deified in Oz. And even if she had chosen to try to work against the Wizard from within the system, as I've seen so many takes argue she should've done, leaving aside the morality of participating in a fascist regime in the vague hope that someday she might be in a position to overthrow him (of which there is absolutely no guarantee), I'd argue that her chances of success were already greatly diminished from the moment she learned the truth. The Wizard and Morrible had seen how horrified she was. I don't think they'd ever fully trust her because of it, so they'd always be on guard against her. And even if Elphaba played along long enough for that to change, that would surely take a very long time, at which point would it even be possible to undo any of the damage done under the regime? I do believe she made the best decisions she could possibly make in this situation, but the cards she was dealt were just shitty all around.

My heart weeps for Elphaba. All the kudos to Cynthia Erivo's stunning portrayal of her, especially during the Defying Gravity sequence. Just utter perfection.

[squirrelwrangler]

What is Wheel of Time about

Book or TV show?

The book series is 14 very thick fantasy novels with a very large cast (of which when broken down has more named female characters than male) and multiple plot lines. It helped to inspire A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones - but it is far less bleak and has way less sexual violence (a easy accomplishment). If you’re also familiar with the Dune movies/tv shows and Lord of the Rings, you’ll also see parallels. And like a lot of fantasy it has SF elements. And if you like Dreamworlds and Alternative Realities and glimpses of the past and such, yeah. Written in the 90s by an old cis straight white guy, but one that was in many ways progressive for his time, so your mileage will vary. There’s a post that answers almost exactly this same question that I wrote years ago that goes into this a little more.

But what is it actually about? It’s called Wheel of Time because the central premise is the world operates as a long circle of time with narrative-driven reincarnation. The book/show world is both the inspiration of all of our real world legends and our far far future after magic is discovered thousands of years in the future and a few calamities have leveled it. What that means is there’s a lot of Easter Eggs and familiarities if you know your mythology, in particular Arthuriana. For instance, a character hangs from a tree and sacrifices an eye to gain knowledge, has a pair of ravens symbolically important, and their personality is also very trickster-like. At no point are they called Odin, but if you know Norse Mythology, you go “oh yeah this guy inspires stories about Odin or is his reincarnation”. There’s a lot of vague Jungian and Vedic inspiration if you can’t tell.

Okay, really.

3,000 years ago was a high-tech peaceful society where some people could do magic and thus worked as public servants, very utopian. But then Evil Personified was unsealed, monsters and war unleashed, some of the wizards turned evil, long war was fought. One of the most powerful wizards, a man nicknamed Dragon, seals away both the Dark One and the top evil henchmen wizards - but it was a patch job. Evil monsters still around, people still pledge loyalty to cause evil. And as a counterattack during the sealing, the Dark One is able to place a sickness on the male half of the Power which forces every male wizard then and in the future to go mad. In their madness they destroy the world. Thousands of haywire magical nukes would do that. Female side of wizard Power is still okay, so only female wizards left. They help rebuild the world; societies that re-emerge are thus far more matriarchal than the real world. Men would can use magic are hunted down before they can go mad and start hurting themselves and others. People are understandably Terrified of Male Wizards. Only female wizards allowed. These female Aes Sedai, their Wizard Vatican City, and their factions are a large portion of the plot of both book and tv show. Do you want to see a lot of middle-aged women in gorgeous costumes fighting with magic and scheming? This is the show for you.

So, 3,000 years later, the Pattern that controls-and is created by- the Wheel of Time (lot of weaving and loom metaphor in the metaphysics) decides that the Dragon needs to be reincarnated along with a couple other key people in order to have another Last Battle against the Dark One to hopefully start a new turn of the Wheel/new age (and on evil’s side here’s the chance to reset things in their favor or break the Wheel itself).

Moiraine, an Aes Sedai, learns through a prophecy that the Dragon has just been reborn, so she spends the next twenty years trying to find them before evil does. There’s a long list of accumulated prophecies about the Last Battle and the people and events around it people are also worried about. Lot of plotting as everyone thinks they have the best idea of how to do it. Again, in comparison to Game of Thrones where almost everyone was scheming to win the Iron Throne and ignoring the White Walker invasion, think of it as here all the rulers know about the White Walkers coming and they’re fighting wars with each other to be the one to lead armies against the White Walkers because only their plan will work.

A common joke is that this very very long book series would be much shorter if characters properly talked and coordinated with each other. Teamwork is a central theme (both when you have it and when you don’t).

In an isolated community (think The Shire but instead of hobbits it’s a bunch of tax dodging Appalachian hillbillies or Elizabethan yeoman) Moiraine finds five young people that the Pattern has singled out as Very Powerful Main Characters. Okay, she thinks, one of them is the Dragon Reborn.

Problem is, none of them want to do the Magic Quest Protagonist Plot Stuff; they know that sucks. Moiraine has to get them to do it anyway. Our Gandalf figure is a middle aged queer woman (with a strictly platonic soulmate bodyguard) who has trouble with sharing the whole truth to other people (she is magically forbidden from outright lying) stuck herding a bunch of cats named Rand, Mat, Perrin, and Egwene. And later Nynaeve. By the end of book one/season one we know (but the rest of the world doesn’t) who the Dragon Reborn is - and that they need their friends and others by their side to have a chance of winning the Last Battle. All of them are main characters. Yes, the Dragon Reborn is Main Character- but more than one book in those 14 has barely any page-time dedicated to them. Plot is a Tapestry; not a line. That’s the least spoilerly explanation that I can give.

The tv show is about to start season three in a week (which will be mostly plot from book four, arguably the best book). Each season is eight episodes. Covid and recasting issues meant that the finale of season one had to be reworked and the first book was always the weakest with an infamously weird/weak ending. The show obviously had to change a lot form the monster book series, but it has imho the spirit of the books and often improved them. The casting is diverse- properly so instead of just tokenism- which pissed off a lot of racist fans. That and changes from books and that the main showrunner is a gay man means that there’s a vocal online faction of haters. My two main fantasy series, formative in fact, are Wheel of Time and the Silmarillion/Tolkien. I ADORE the Wheel of Time tv show but I could barely watch any of Rings of Power. Make of that what you will.

Hopefully, anon, this was helpful.

[gengor]

Okay, so I’ve wanted to make a big fe3h politics post for a while now. I wanna come at this from a different angle, and think about how authorial intent and/or bias factor into the political messaging into my interpretation of the characters. So, in this post, I'm going to:

Explain how the writers show that they ultimately want Dimitri’s route to be the ‘good route’ and show how the political ideologies of Dimitri and Edelgard are clearly spelled out for the player (Claude will get a separate post)

If you're not already in the boat of ‘fe3h is a political game’, then just scroll past this lol. Fe3h talks about racism and misogyny and debates how the world should structure its government. It is very political.

So, I’m gonna quote from the translated writer's interview

“Kusakihara: Edelgard’s route’s theme is literally “military rule.” It’s the route where you haveyour own cause and convictions, and even if people you know stand in your way, you mow ‘emdown. In contrast, Dimitri’s route began with the idea to make it “righteous,” the easy approach.It’s just, at the beginning, poor sensitive Dimitri ends up like that because of the circumstances… We sprinkled in juxtapositions like that.

Everyone: (laughs)

Kusakihara: Once he’s fallen, he goes through some twists and turns and awakens to the true king’s path. I wanted to write the righteous route as the conquest route’s opposite [TN: lit.“paradox”]. Claude started with the keyword of “schemer hero,” and I thought he’d weave more plots behind the scenes, and you can’t hate him, but he’s still a bad guy… But as I was writing him, he ended up more of a pure good guy than originally planned (laughs).

Tell us how Edelgard and the Empire got to the position they’re in now.

Kusakihara: I think most of the characters walking the path of conquest up until now have been men. I also think villains are often men… I wanted to do something unexpected, or make it harder to predict future events, so that role went to a woman this time.

Yokota: There’s a contrast between her strong side, pushing through with her conquest, and her adorable side, and I think she turned out to be a good character. Also, sure enough, we left in the longstanding series trope of “empire = bad guys.” With the name “empire,” I feel like there really is this vague image of “probably evil.” Regarding the story, it started with the element of “let’s make it Romance of the Three Kingdoms,” but we also wanted to have a school life. That meant it would have to be temporarily peaceful, and from there, we needed something to spark a war. To that end, something needed to be the bad guy… or rather, shoulder a role close to that, or the story wouldn’t work, so we had the Empire support us in that way.”

Okay, so I don’t really think I need to say all that much to convince you further that Edelgard was their planned villain. It's pretty cut and dry. But the next question to ask is: what is the ‘ideology’ that she’s willing to cut people down to achieve? Well, Edelgard falls into this conservative trope that my partners has got me to start calling ‘evil leftist wizards’ but it’s been called killmonger syndrome by some people online too.

There is a pattern in lots of fiction, both Western and Japanese, to create an antagonist who seeks power to implement left-leaning or progressive goals. Oftentimes, the narrative doesn't really engage with the validity of these claims and will make these characters condemnable by ‘evil via association’, or maybe they ‘have some points but they're just too radical in their methodology’. There is also a tendency of these types of narratives to use right-leaning language and iconography interchangeably with left-leaning language (it goes hand in hand with the way so many conservatives will accuse leftists of ‘being the real fascist’) 

Some mainstream examples of this trope include Amon from the Legend of Korra. He fights for *equality* and the liberation of nonbenders, but the writers are clearly trying to tie him to fascism with the imagery of the rising sun, and having him do a literal Sieg Heil in many of his posters. 

Another example is Viktor from Arcane, who, in the latest season, became the series' main antagonist who wanted to end discrimination, Erik Killmonger, who wanted to bring an end to racism in America by any means necessary.

Edelgard falls into this trope. She wants Fódlan to move past an antiquated system of theocratic nobility, which is a left-leaning goal. But the game wants her to be condemnable via association because she cooperates with a lot of cartoonishly evil characters from TWSITD to get her goals done or engages in other morally grey/condemnable actions to get her goals accomplished. So, while I think it's fair to criticize her for many of the things she does, she is ultimately how the game is choosing to portray leftism, and frankly, it's not a great or insightful critique of leftism. 

So where is Dimitri in all of this? Well I think Dimitri represents the politics of the writers, which scews very centristy.

Why do I think Dimitri is a centrist? He told us this point blank in the appropriately named event: Crests: The Good and the Bad 

“I believe that Margrave Gautier was wrong to disinherit Miklan simply because he did not bear a Crest. Still, there is always a reason for why such customs stand the test of time. Imagine what this world would be like if no one placed any stock in Crests...Bloodlines that carry Crests would dwindle. The metaphorical blade used to oppose threats would eventually rust.This same argument has been made time and time again across the years. Both sides are at once right and wrong.”

 “I believe those with Crests and those without should acknowledge the others' strengths and learn to respect each other based on personal merits. And that doesn't apply only to Crests. The same holds true for lineage, race, faith, ideologies…” Source

I wanna draw attention to that word. “Ideologies”. Basically Dimitri is saying judging people on their race is bad but then he lumps judging someone based on their *ideology* to be an equally bad thing. 

It’s worth noting that Dimitri will verbally condemn racism, but he still participated in quelling a rebellion from Duscur. Source The game tries to make this seem more palatable by having Dedue adhere strictly to whatever Dimitri says, turning Dimitri into a white savior type character.��

While Dimitri might say things that sound progressive, there’s signs in there that he isn’t actually left-leaning. Dimitri can see issues with the current system but believes actually challenging the status quo to be wrong. He will *always* be the Lord who protects the church and upholds the system of nobility. The system of nobility which has women being sold off to their husband's families to produce heirs, the system of nobility that concentrates Fodlans power solely in the hands of white people (see Claude and Balthus’s character premise for proof… and also note that Hapi is Dimitri’s only platonic ending with a woman) 

In this sense, Dimitri has kind of become my favorite Lord, not because I think he’s right, but because he feels like the perfect window into the mind of how centrists operate. He has SO much power in this world as the king and or crown prince, but he chooses to appease conservatives instead every time.

And to be clear, I don't think people who sympathize with him are stupid or wrong to do that. Opinions on media don’t automatically translate to politics. I personally don't sympathize with him because I am hyper invested in the politics here. But I still really enjoy him as a character.

Edit: I feel like I didn’t conclude this well.

I think ultimately the thing I wanted to say about fe3h discourse is that it’s important to acknowledge that the writers were trying to side with centrism by using Dimitri as their ‘good choice’. And any criticism Edelgard should keep in mind that the writers are trying to use her morally grey behavior to undermine progressive revolutions. Tying her to imperialism was an intentional choice done to undermine the legitimacy of her goals. The premise of a ‘progressive imperialist movement’ is kind of just something that can only come out of the mouth of a conservative to begin with.

[keicordelle]

You know, I was going to make a post about how, for all that Mizora says she can't undo the magic that transforms Wyll, there are plenty of ways a powerful enough spellcaster could restore him to his original body, but when I went to read up on the spells I had in mind-- there really isn't, huh?

The obvious go to is True Resurrection. I mean, you don't even need the dead person's body to restore them to life, the spell creates one for them. And admittedly, the spell description is a little vague about restoring them to their own body, but I have to assume that's the intent. It does restore undead to their non-undead form, so it can alter the body of whoever it resurrects, but given that it states that so clearly, I'm reluctant to assume it'd be the same for someone altered in a different fashion (say, a werewolf, or perhaps someone twisted into a devil as a result of their pact). It does clear curses and other nefarious effects, so if it's a curse laid upon him then maybe it would work. But I think the chances of it simply giving him back his devilish body are pretty high, and given the 25k gold price tag on it, that's not really a risk I'd want to take.

Resurrection is similarly worded, except it can't clear curses or raise undead, so probably even less likely to restore Wyll's human body.

Clone can restore your youth, but given that it requires an offering of flesh to cast, I think it's safe to assume the test-tube grown Wyll would also bear horns and pointy bits where he does not particularly want them. If even Mizora can't undo the magic that turns him, I have to assume it's transformed him down to his DNA, and growing a new body from that same flesh will result in the same appearance.

Reincarnation could craft him a new body with a reasonably high likelihood of not being a tiefling, but he wouldn't necessarily be human -- and even if he was, it crafts him an entirely new body, like hitting the randomizer on a character creator. There's almost a 0% chance he'd end up looking like he used to. So new appearance yes, original body no.

If he felt like dipping into less savory techniques, he could try Magic Jar and then possessing someone else's body, but again, that doesn't really help him regain his human form.

True Polymorph could work, depending on how you define "creature". Is a human a different creature than a tiefling? Or are we talking broad categories here? Do I need to turn from a humanoid into an aberation? (This could work though to turn a mindflayer back into a humanoid though, couldn't it? Hmm...) The changing of stats makes the idea of tiefling-human transformation a little awkward, but it could work. Maybe. Just make sure he's stripped down before you cast it, or you're losing all that lovely gear you spent 17 levels gathering.

And of course there's always Wish, but I'm not sure there's a Wizard in the world who wants to risk that 33% chance of never being able to cast it again.

But I also feel like all of that is moot, because I really don't think Wyll would take you up on it if you offered. For all that his new form discomforts and discomfits him, I think he'd refuse to part with it. He wears his altered, intimidating form with pride, because it stands for his beliefs, his refusal to bow down in the face of evil when his morals are on the line. For all that he looks the part of a devil, that body represents his complete and utter goodness, and even if that's probably not how he sees himself, I think that he would want to keep his body if only to show that you can look like the most monstrous version of yourself and still hold true to your virtue. And once he's had some time to grow accustomed to the horns and the stares, he would not wish to erase his body and what it stands for, even if the opportunity presented itself.

[punk-rock-quagsire]

Terry Pratchett Time Again

So I finished Sourcery and Wyrd Sisters a while ago but took a break to read a WH40k book my brother suggested (The Infinite and the Divine) so y'all are gonna have to deal with some delayed thoughts.

Sourcery

This book felt very weird. This is the first time I can feel Terry struggling with the limits of the genre as it is known, and I felt like I started to see the shape of books to come.

The ideas here were definitely still interesting, the daughter of the famous barbarian, the ultimate magic user who's just a child being commanded/instructed by the trapped soul of his father, the man so rich he owns his own version of Central Park et cetera. But reading it the characters still feel boxed in somehow. Conina feels very out of place is the Pratchett world. Her dream is to be a hair dresser, which is a fine dream, but Terry doesn't really do anything with it. It's kind of just a throw away "Girl Job" is how I felt. And it also felt like it was making fun of Nigel for being scrawny but still wanting adventure. And I won't even touch on the old timey not-racist-but-not-exactly-culturally-sensitive depictions of Creosote as the only vaguely non white side character.

I did like Coin. His whole situation sucked, but I always appreciate a character who has been told what their ambition is deciding that they want something else. I'm a sucker for it. Plus I kept picturing him as one of the kids from John Carpenter's Village of the Damned which helped me understand how he intimidated all the wizards so thoroughly.

Final thought is that the books being scared was very well done and it was touching how caring but also business like the librarian was when fixing them up in the Tower of Art. Reminded me of a nurse almost.

Wyrd Sisters

And just when I worried Terr Bear was missing a step here comes probably one of my favorites so far. These women are strong, independent, and they love each other and their homes with such a passion that it's palpable on the page.

Not only do we have the classic crone who lives in a cottage, but we've got ourselves a hippy witch who wouldn't hurt a fly but makes the wood in a door blossom out into a tree again to save her friend, AND we have a granny witch with her own army of various and sundry children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and a collection of in-laws.

Not only do we get our first non-human side character (not including librarians or personifications of concepts) who is also a great writer, but we get Shakespeare joke after Shakespeare joke, enough to make a particularly annoying English teacher blush, AND a fun twist on the chosen one / refusal of the call tropes to end on.

If Sourcery felt like the Terry got himself hemmed in by biases he was only beginning to recognize in himself, Wyrd Sisters feels like the first steps towards addressing those. He sets his feet on ground he's sure of. He knows women, especially older women, especially older women who are a little bit weird (wyrd) deserve more respect than they get. In 1988 that was still progressive, but not exactly radical. He puts on some extras that help him feel comfortable, i.e. Shakespearean framing and story, easy to undermine tropes such as covens and jesters (pin in that), and starts reaching. He doesn't reach too far just yet, but he is willing to acknowledge the souls of animals and ancient peoples, he's able to find the displacement so many of us feel in a dwarf who is driven mad by his creative need, he sees an adopted son and never makes that the butt of a joke. Small steps, but good ones.

He does falter still. An irredeemable evil in the duchess is just in her nature. The old nasty cat jokes sometimes strayed too far for my tastes. But overall I can feel Terry looking around and realizing the genre he's always loved doesn't seem to love everybody else, and I can feel him getting annoyed at that in small ways.

My last thoughts are with the jester. He is probably my favorite. This is the closest I've felt a character has come to a Terry Pratchett self insert. He finds the misery in something that should be joyful (foolery/writing) but sticks to it for probably too long (with the Duke/as a journalist) but eventually got fed up with it and found a way to make his old love work for him. It is, perhaps, a bit of a stretch, but I do not think it's without merit. I also think Terry would find the idea very funny even if he called it total bunk.

So that's that. These two books are the most I've felt Terry changing as a writer so far. My next two reads are Pyramids, which I've heard nothing about, and Guards! Guards! which I hear is one of his best, and probably where I should have started my reading.

(also, if you want my thoughts on the Infinite and the Divine I quite enjoyed the immortal robo rom com and can't wait for the ABC spin off series)

[adeptofarmok]

Blood magic isn't evil, it's just too effective, that's why it's banned.

ry casting a basic thunderbolt but charge your wand or orb with blood essence instead of regular mana

also sacrificing other people or familiar, while fucked up, is kinda useless since your own blood is the most efficient, it's powered by soul energy, not by evil, evil is not a power source.

and remember, despite being called sacrifices, the pseudo-weekly bloodletting sessions are not dedicated to any deity or animate force, it's really just nomenclature from old armokist cults, don't worry it's not summoning infernals.

apprentices don't understand this but it's really easy to do blood magic safely, just use a simple musk-cumin-olive incense with a jacaranda base and have a BUNCH of healing spell salves in bottles by your blood altar, and don't sacrifice more than once a week, and drink a LOT of water afterwards.

but noo that's too good for them they want to be cool like the evil wizards in their little movies on their magic mirrors, the most dangerous part of blood magic is the actual blood loss, not some vague imaginary "corruption" made up by the imperial ecclesia or witch hunters or whoever it was this time

and to be clear, i'm talking about actual sanguimancy, not hemokinesis spells

-Sincerely, an accomplished blood magician

[tritoch]

in honor of the y'shtola card reveal, color assignments for various ffxiv characters. straight off the dome, no thoughts head empty. if I missed your favorite character it's because I believe they're problematic and I'm going to cancel you personally. major ffxiv spoilers follow.

for starters, the warrior of light probably shouldn't be rendered on a card. if they are, it should probably be as a colorless legendary creature (subtype ally. no race, no class, just ally) with a WUBRG ability ("WUBRG: find a creature with some kind of restriction and put it into play" does seem pretty wol) to make them a five-color commander. or just make them a golos reprint and legalize golos again. i'm not picky!

for those FFXIV fans who are not MTG fans, the colors are vaguely elemental but more importantly they also carry connotations relating to how you view and interact with the world. another way to understand each color is as representing both a desire and a means to achieve it.

White (W): Peace through structure

Blue (U): Perfection through knowledge

Black (B): Power through opportunity (Black is one of the thorniest colors to grasp because it's often viewed or written as straight-up evil, but it helps to think of it as being more about self-determination in a world of all against all)

Red (R): Freedom through action

Green (G): Growth through acceptance (Green is also very tough for people beyond "it's nature", but it also has elements of fatalism and taking the world on its own terms, at face value. "it is what it is" and "that's just how the world works" are very Green sentiments, to me)

it can be useful, though not always necessary, to understand color combos as reflecting these desires and means.

scions:

heavily white because that's what happens when you're an NGO whose mission statement is "idk save the world" and you believe the way to get there is mostly diplomacy. plus sharlayan in general is so painfully azorius it hurts.

louisoix: WU. peace through knowledge.

minfilia: WG. peace through acceptance.

alphinaud: WU. peace through knowledge.

alisaie: WUR. peace through knowledge and action.

thancred: WR. peace through action.

urianger: WUB. peace through knowledge and opportunity.

y'shtola: WUR (i disagree with wizards, i think post-shb y'shtola is much more red than black). perfection through structure and action.

papalymo: WU. peace through knowledge.

lyse: WR. peace through action. maybe WGR in stormblood and after.

estinien: post-HW, RG. pre-HW, maybe BR. growth through action, power through action.

g'raha tia: WU. maaaaybe WUB as the exarch. peace through knowledge (and maybe opportunity).

tataru: WB. peace through opportunity.

krile: WG. peace through acceptance.

moenbryda: UR. knowledge through action.

arr:

cid: UR. perfection through action.

nero: UB. perfection through opportunity.

gaius: WBG. peace through opportunity and acceptance. i don't think this changes even when he becomes the shadowhunter, though the relative prominence of white and black shifts.

heavensward:

aymeric: WGR. peace through acceptance and action

haurchefant: W. peace through structure (a knight's DUTY, baby)

ysayle: WRG. peace through action and acceptance.

hraesvelgr: RG. freedom through acceptance. (I found hraes very hard to place but ultimately I find him very driven by emotional concerns and kinship ties, very RG)

nidhoggr: WB. power through structure (running a forever war using your opponents own children as your shock troops is some real WB shit fr)

stormblood:

zenos: BR. power through action, freedom through opportunity.

fordola: WBR. freedom through structure and opportunity.

yshtola: UBR. freedom through knowledge and opportunity.

hien: WGR. peace through acceptance and action.

gosetsu: WR. peace through action (maybe WG as a conjurer)

yotsuyu: WUB. peace through knowledge and opportunity.

the first:

ryne: WGR. peace through action and acceptance (also lands her between minfilia and thancred).

gaia: BR. freedom through opportunity.

ardbert: WR. peace through action.

lyna: W. peace through structure (white's classic creature type is also the soldier, and lyna is the closest thing we've had on the protagonist end to a straightforward "soldier").

vauthry: WB. power through structure.

ancients:

unsundered society in particular is also very white/blue (i mean it parallels the sharlayans pretty explicitly in certain ways) but also much more green (by comparison, the other successor empire to unsundered society, the allagans, are very grixis).

emet-selch: WU, changing to WUB as an unsundered. perfection through structure (and opportunity).

elidibus: WG, changing to WBG as an unsundered. peace through acceptance (and opportunity).

lahabrea: UR, changing to UBR as an unsundered. perfection through action (and opportunity).

venat: UG, changing to W as hydaelyn. growth through knowledge

hermes: UR

meteion: U (endsinger B)

dawntrail:

wuk lamat: WGR. peace through acceptance and action.

koana: WU. perfection through structure.

zoraal ja: BR. power through action.

sphene: W. peace through structure. (there's an easy case for WB but I think it's more fun to have her as a mono-W villain)

gulool ja ja: WR. peace through action.

bakool ja ja: RG. freedom through acceptance.

[sheepfics]

Kings of the Wyld (Nicholas Eames): 🫵 RUSH FAN SPOTTED.

4.5⭐

Hey. You. Yeah, You. 

Do you like Fantasy? Have you even vaguely heard about the concept of famous classic rock bands? Do you want a fun, fast read?

Do you like

DILFS?

Is the idea of Just Some Guy, an Emotionally Broken Father, a Gay Wizard, a Rogue-Turned-King-Turned-Alcoholic, and A Rejected Fate Series Berserker all adventuring in one group really funny? I got the book for you!

Kings of the Wyld is an easy-reader fantasy adventure romp that, despite clocking in at around 415 pages, is fast, fun, and funny.

From the get go, this book has the makings of a good time. Adventuring groups being treated like rock bands? An incredible idea. Old men who used to be one of the best adventuring group-rock-bands getting together for a farewell tour? An even better one. If you find this premise enjoyable in the slightest, this book has the quality to deliver on it. It rides the knife's edge of humor, action, and genuine emotion. 

What’s this book about? The cover blurb was actually quite accurate for this book. After some 20 years retired, Saga, one of the most famous bands in the modern time, is rallied back together to save their frontman Golden Gabe’s daughter from a nigh-unbreakable siege. Like, that's what happens. That's the book. Sure, they gotta deal with their old booker, some ex-wives, a very much alive wife who's trying to kill one of them, and also a super evil dude with bunny ears, but that’s the jist of it, really. However, this blurb would have you believe that the famous Golden Gabe is our narrator. That is not true. We view this story through the eyes of someone much more interesting: Clay Cooper.

Clay Cooper was made in a lab for me to be a fan of him, I love grimy little dudes who are Just Some Guy. His signature weapon is a giant shield and his nickname from his youth is Slowhand because he kept getting his ass beat during fights. He’s our narrator, our entrypoint into the world, and also the keystone of the band itself. He’s funny, just observational enough you can pickup whats going on, but also just lame enough to ignore things that aren’t his business. He’s great. No notes. 

Something to note about this book before you pick it up: I gave it a 4.5⭐ instead of a 5 because it definitely raises some plot themes/threads/beats before dropping them, however, I would state that those plot threads aren’t super important to the main focus of this story, which is 5 old dudes grappling with getting old and growing apart and the emotions around that. Additionally, there are some instances of mildly tasteless/outdated/not PC humor. I’m used to that so I can handwave it, but others may not be able to. 

I was likely not this book’s exact target audience, being a young adult woman who has no nostalgia for the great rock bands of our times, but I was familiar enough with things. Through my casual knowledge (and a couple live Iron Maiden shows) I was able to pick up on just enough easter eggs to be proud of myself.Some of the jokes and references are probably enhanced by more extensive knowledge, but most of the comedy is good enough to stand on its own. Having knowledge of music history is not required at all to enjoy this story. If you are any kind of fantasy enjoyer who's sick of reading about plucky young teens doing coming-of-age nonsense, you'll probably like this book. If you have any more knowledge of rock music than I, you'll probably like it more. 

I am debating picking up the sequel, the main perspective not being Rose is a bit strange to me, and I will agree with many reviewers that Clay Cooper was absolutely integral to the way this book is delivered to you as a reader. Maybe I'll revisit reading the sequel after I've checked a few more things off my list, but for now, this is solid to me as a stand-alone novel. 

There are no spoiler-packed contents for this book I wish to emphasize heavily, but if you have questions about anything, please free to DM me.

[darkcacaocookieandfriends]

So, I wrote all of this on discord buuuutt... since I haven't said anything about my Licorice muse I should post it here. This is also in regards to a redemption AU, so take that as bonus content So...uh, Licorice headcanons or maybe just how I generally see him plus redemption AU stuff. Apologies if they seem rambley and aimless. This is just a copy paste from my original posts. I was writing these as I was cooking so they may be scatter-brained.

Licorice has this weird middle ground and to me, his character is based a lot on the traits of being unsure of himself, projecting his pain as anger and being generally dealt a pretty shit hand in life and wanting to be accepted or even just recognized. Gonna explain my headcanons first so this makes sense.

At one time he wanted to be a wizard but 'never received the recognition he so rightfully deserved' whatever that means. It's real vague so I'm going to say he was either a really shitty wizard and got laughed at or he was never taken seriously and gave up trying to be better…maybe a combo of all of those things, so he turned to black magic.

Black magic in general is a very misunderstood thing and often demonized by cultures who only know it as 'voodoo and hexes/curses'. I feel like he probably shares a kindredship with it, feeling like a misunderstood person himself. I feel he probably takes comfort in it in that regard. It's something misunderstood and stigmatized by many, labeled as being inherently evil.

When he met Dark Enchantress it's said he was astonished by her power. When you think about it, DE was everything he longed to be - powerful enough to command armies, a confident force with the recognition of so many. Someone who could move mountains. Someone that could get him what he wanted - recognition and respect. Someone who fed his most basic desire - to be revered and confident.

In doing that, his desire for power slowly morphed into gaining praise from this enchantress he so admired, but never being able to please her. Thus, he'd work harder to gain the same results which fostered frustration and his many complaints masking how insecure and sad he actually is.

His lyrics in Bad and Dark as ZZ Skull back that up. Wrote a diary with my own tears, misery and disgrace (Sick of it, sick of it) Sir, are you okay?

In many aspects, Licorice and Choco Werehound Brute are two peas in a pod, bolstering themselves up to appear more foreboding than what they are. In many ways Licorice is stuck in a weird loop of being ambitious but never reaching his goal through the constant disapproval of Dark Enchantress, who probably knows if she gives him what he wants that he'll no longer see a use as being her servant and uses it to her advantage to keep him under her belt.

Why give him what he wants when she can foster his frustrations to make him work harder? To everyone else, it's obvious she doesn't value him too highly to send him to do menial tasks and not really trust him with anything too taxing. No doubt he sees that and it's why he harbors such negative feelings for people like Pomegranate and Dark Choco.

Looking at it objectively he's such a miserable person, really.

Which is why ultimately to have something close to a redemption would mean he'd have to lose everything yet again, which means prying him away from Dark Enchantress and taking the rose-tinted glasses off of his face to make him realize he was never anything to her and his only outcomes would be to be used as canon fodder or be crumbled without ever getting the one thing he so desperately wanted.

What goes in his favor is the fact that a redemption is possible to do, as Licorice is a pretty nice guy to people he sees as friends. But hoo boy he's going to be in such denial about it and probably have a breakdown. I mean, this is a guy who's dedicated everything just to be acknowledged. Having that all stripped away when it's essentially his only goal would result in a lot of things on his end - feeling like a fool, feeling betrayed, feeling destitute, like he has nothing. Who is he now? What goals does he even have to pursue? All he ever wanted was respect, and now he can't have that without his purpose, he's hollow. Sure, he's not being used anymore, but I don't think he'd see it as a positive thing. I feel he'd see it through the lens of another grand failure, another attempt at something that never happened. He sacrificed everything and got nothing. He reaps the consequences of becoming a bad guy, working for DE. Everything he's ever tried up to this point only resulted in his own despair and realization of worthlessness.

He seems like the kind of guy who'd wander around aimlessly instead of take the redemption path right away. Instead of trying to heal and realizing he's not a washed up has-been and has the capability of doing something productive.

But I think in a lot of ways, someone befriending him and trying to make him see how fucked up his situation is would be an interesting take on getting him a redemption, since he does care about cookies he befriends…but boyo the denial stage would be something fierce. Since it's all he has, I feel like he'd fight for that delusion.

I think he sorta goes through the stages of grief during the aftermath of this hypothetical situation..

he feels sad and betrayed and wonders what it was all for

2. he has no real direction for a while because he based his life around serving DE

3. he feels like he can't just sit around and do nothing and more than likely turns to the friends he has for suggestions and essentially asks 'what can I do to feel like I'm worth something again?'

4. finds he has avenues to do what he wants, he could be a wizard or continue the dark arts and use them to help his friends, maybe learn that he doesn't need to prove anything to anyone and that he has people who do genuinely find value in him, enough to get him away from DE. That those were the people who saw value in him - not for what he could do but for who he was.

I think that's an important thing for him to learn.

------ All of this was me ranting to a friend so...here take my Licorice headcanons. Enjoy them? I think.

[pinkrangersarah]

Worthy, chapter one (excerpt)

A Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs fan fiction

Summary: Determined to break their own curses, the other members of the Fearless 7 venture out to find their own happy endings. Out on his own, Jack meets and befriends a beautiful but odd young woman named Gwen, who says she wants to go to the Emerald City to see the great wizard Oz, believing him to be the only one who can find her birth mother. Thinking Gwen could be the one to break his curse, Jack agrees to take her. However, things quickly take a complicated turn when they're attacked by hunters and Gwen reveals herself to be a witch. On top of that, Gwen herself has a strong dislike for humans as they've tormented her for her entire life. Jack is torn between what he thinks is right in his head but knows is wrong in his heart, and as his feelings for her start to grow and get in the way, he has to decide to either tell her the truth or let her go before it's too late. Rating: NA, under development

I have been working on this story for some time, and while it's still in the works I thought I'd share an excerpt from the first chapter to sort of test the waters and get peoples opinions. This was based on a song from the RWBY soundtrack, specifically V9, as the lyrics to "Worthy" were what really inspired the plot and, because I'm god awful at them, the title.

The only indication he had that it was a woman he’d scared off was the shrill screams of fear as she ran off. By the time Jack had finally detached the tangled cloak from his face, she was nothing but a blur of red. Too far away from him to apologize to, let alone see her face.

Typical luck for him, really. Ever since he had been cursed by that fairy to appear as some unsightly, green dwarf his hand-eye coordination had been off. He was lucky to not have landed flat on his face.

Jack looked down at his hands. Normal, for now, but the moment someone laid eyes on him he would be right back to being–as Merlin put it–short, stumpy, and green.

Merlin. He was partially the reason Jack was out here to begin with. Inspired by his love for Snow White, Jack and the others were determined to break their own curses. Find their own true loves–a happy ending–and perhaps if the fairy princess, Hilde, had been more specific about it from day one they probably would have done exactly that ages ago.

The joke was on them, he supposed. The Fae were not exactly known to be direct, preferring their vague riddles and mischief. Especially fairies. Fairies that were mistaken for witches and wanted to punish their attackers. That had gone down in history as one of the Fearless Seven’s lower moments, just slightly above immediately forgetting they had been cursed and trying to save a band of travelers from thieving goblins–and failing spectacularly.

“Dieux, aidez-moi. Where do I even begin?” Jack rubbed his hands over his face as he continued his trek down the forest path.

As happy as he was for Merlin, Jack also couldn’t quite fathom how he had accomplished it, breaking his curse. Saving Snow White and her father, ridding them of the evil witch Regina forever, certainly helped, but there was something else. Something Merlin either couldn’t or wouldn’t explain to the rest of them. Have more of an open mind, he said, and somehow that was more vague than what Hilde had told them.

Nonetheless, Jack was quite tired of hiding away in his own home and turning into a useless dwarf whenever he did go into public, so he and the others were determined to figure it out on their own. The only question that remained was: how?

The Anthea Forest wasn’t the most dangerous of enchanted places on Fairytale Island, but it was definitely up there on the list of places Jack preferred not to be. Home to the Fae and numerous earth spirits, even if he couldn’t see them he knew there were eyes on him. Watching, waiting for him to lower his guard. Wandering the Fae homeland could be risky as a group, but alone? Jack already had more than enough of fairies and their curses.

“Hey, give that back!”

An agitated woman’s voice, along with mocking laughter from several men, draws his attention to a nearby glade. Peering through the trees blocking his way, he finds three large men dressed in black, swords attached to the belts on their waists, playing keep-away with a woman’s satchel, tossing it to one another whenever she got close. Harassing a woman was bad enough, Jack could feel his blood boiling at the sight, but the fact that they were twice her size made it all the more appalling.

“Stay out of there!” the woman shouted, lunging for the man with the scar across the bridge of his nose as he started rummaging through the satchel. The shortest of the three wrapped his arms around her, lifting and holding her in place. He didn’t seem bothered by her kicking and flailing. “You can’t go through my stuff!”

“The hell I can’t,” the scarred one, whom Jack was just going to refer to as as Scarface, taunted the woman, tossing a few books he had pulled out of the satchel to the ground without care. “Ain’t even anything in here worth takin’. The hell is this?”

Scarface pulled out what looked like a pocketwatch, the golden casing shining brilliantly even in the setting sunlight. “Damn thing doesn’t even work,” he huffed, tossing it to the ground, as well.

This earns a different reaction from the woman, one of panic as she briefly stops struggling to process the watch now on the forest floor. She quickly begins flailing again when Scarface drops the satchel all together, turning his attention to her. “Ain’t nothing in there worth taking, but that’s not all you got now, is it, little girl?”

Jack hated the tone in Scarface’s voice, the implications in his inflections. He loathed the way the other two laughed and felt sick to his stomach as the woman squirmed when Scarface brushed his hand over her cheek. The growing pain in his jaw finally made him realize he’d been grinding his teeth the whole time, and as he watched the woman finally get an arm free to elbow her captor in the face he decided it was finally time to act.

As the three men drew their swords, starting to corner the woman against an unusually large pine tree, Jack pulled his cloak over himself, blending into the forest perfectly. Over the years, he had gotten quite the knack for stealth, even in the outdoors. Did it help that the thieves were distracted? A little, but Jack was extremely attentive of his surroundings, careful of any leaves, twigs, anything that could make a sound.

Not careful enough.

Jack looked up to see how close the thieves were to slicing the poor woman to ribbons for a second, and he winds up stepping on a small stick. The resulting snap, which sounded much louder among the forest trees, draws the attention of the three thieves. It was only for a moment, but once they took their eyes off the woman Jack seized his chance. He kicks the thief with the ridiculous mustache in the back of his leg, snatching up his sword once his grip loosened.

“Show yourself!” Scarface demands.

The thieves spin around a few times to try and find their mysterious assailant. Jack is careful to keep his distance from them, even as he steps between them and the woman. He almost hadn’t noticed the sudden height difference until the thieves were facing, what appeared to them to be, a floating sword. Used to the feeling more than he’d like, Jack ignores it. Keep your priorities straight.

“A ghost!” the shorter thief shrieked. It took every ounce of self control Jack had not to snicker at such genuine fear on such a large man.

“The spirits of Anthea Forest,” Mustache whimpered, still holding his leg. Jack hadn’t hit him that hard, had he? What was the point of having such large muscles if a small, wimpy dwarf could deal such pain? “Boss, I told you this place was cursed!”

“Enough,” Scarface growled. “Spirit or not, nobody makes a fool outta me!”

“Bien sûr que non, Monsieur,” Jack laughed, tossing the sword from one hand to the other. “You do that all on your own. “Now, en garde!”

Mustache and the short one take off with shrill cries of fear the moment the blade is pointed at them. Scarface, though looking slightly more perturbed with amber eyes darting in every other direction, doesn’t flee as easily. “Get back here, you cowards!”

“Y’know, the Anthea Forest is full of all kinds of spirits,” the woman teases. Jack could practically hear her lips curling into a grin. “Where there’s one, others are never far behind.”

With a tsk, Scarface sheathes his weapon and hesitantly takes off in the direction of his comrades. Jack lets out a relieved breath of his own, piercing the stolen sword into the dirt before turning toward the woman. The invisibility cloak falls to his shoulders, revealing what he is positive is his green, dwarf face as the woman is much taller than she actually would have been had he been himself.

She looked surprised, but thankfully not at all horrified or disgusted. “You know, somehow I figured you weren’t actually a forest spirit,” she said with a giggle, “but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dwarf around this part of the forest before.”

“I was just passing through.” It came out like a joke, although it technically wasn’t a lie, either. “Are you alright, mademoiselle?”

“I am thanks to you.”

As the woman goes to retrieve her satchel, Jack decides to help her by picking up her belongings. He sees now that what he thought were books were mostly journals, all bound in leather with constellations he didn’t recognize carved into the fronts. Small bits of paper stuck out of a few of the pages; Jack assumed they were makeshift bookmarks, or perhaps the journals were so old that the pages within were starting to fall out of their binding.

The pocketwatch turned out to double as a compass, unique in design with another constellation carved into the golden casing, adorned with what looked like small moonstones. He could see why Scarface and his clowns would want to steal it; the compass was gorgeous, truly a work of art. Jack could also see why he said it was broken, as the arrow in the compass was going completely haywire and the hands in the watch remained stagnant.

“I hope those creeps aren’t responsible for this,” Jack said softly, handing the woman her belongings. Now that he was getting a closer look at her, he could see that her eyes were a shining silver, almost like starlight. The waves in her cornflower hair reminded him of the ocean, especially how they each glistened in the light. She was beautiful.

“Oh, no, not at all,” the woman assured him. She smiled softly at him as she accepted her things from his hands, shoving the journals back into the satchel while investigating the compass. “The compass is… Well, it’s always been sort of busted, but it’s been with me for as long as I can remember. I’d be devastated if anything happened to it.”

“I can understand that.”

Actually, Jack couldn’t. There was nothing his family owned he truly valued in such a sense. Perhaps if his mother had kept anything of his father���s–his rosary, his sword, or even his clothes–he would feel slightly different about the sentiment, but between her and his step-father he couldn’t think of a single thing he cared enough about to keep at his side.

She didn’t need to know. It wasn’t important, after all. “Might I ask your name, ma dame?”

Once everything was accounted for and safely back in her satchel, the woman looked slightly hesitant. As if giving something as simple as her name would be near sacrilege, but the doubt in her starlight eyes is gone as quickly as it comes. “It’s Gwen,” she said.

“Lady Gwen, it is an absolute pleasure to meet your acquaintance. My name is Prince–”

Jack has to stop himself before he can finish that sentence. He hadn’t felt he could introduce himself as “prince” in well over a year, far too ashamed of his ridiculous dwarf shape. What kind of prince looked like this, repulsive green skin and pointed ears? Far too short and uncoordinated to be of any actual use. It didn’t matter that Merlin had broken his curse, the word of the Fearless Seven slowly starting to spread. Jack refused to introduce himself as “prince” looking like a monster.

“Princeton?” Gwen asked.

“N-No, no,” Jack assured, clearing his throat awkwardly to brush off the panic of nearly giving himself away. “Apologies. Slip of the tongue. My name is Jack.”

Gwen quirked her brow, as if asking herself how he could have possibly gotten two completely different names mixed up, but shrugs it off. “Well, Jack, thank you for your help.”

Gwen smiled at him again and, as silly as it sounded, Jack felt his heart skip a beat. Her eyes sparkled when she smiled. Simply stunning. She stood up, closing her satchel and securing it over her shoulder. “How does a dwarf end up in the Anthea Forest, anyway?” she asked.

“Funny, I was about to ask how a lovely lady such as yourself ends up in the Anthea Forest,” Jack said, dodging the question with a laugh. He wasn’t foolish enough to tell a pretty girl that he was merely in the woods looking to meet, well, a pretty girl just to break a curse. Talk about killing his chance before he even took it.

The risk he took on the mild flirtation wasn’t for nothing, at least. Gwen didn’t acknowledge it verbally but she did giggle. She didn’t seem disgusted and that was good enough for Jack to consider it a win. “Actually, I’m looking for the Emerald City,” Gwen explained.

“The Emerald City? You mean the Kingdom of Oz?”

“Yes! I was told I could find the Yellow Brick Road through the Anthea Forest, but I was either given bad directions or I’ve gotten myself hopelessly lost.”

The Fearless Seven had visited Oz on numerous occasions. They had assisted the maiden Dorothy on her mission to free the Ozonians from the tyranny of the Wicked Witch of the West. Jack had even been there a few times as a child with his parents, long before her evil reign and before the death of his father. He knew the way in his sleep, and escorting Gwen to the city seemed like a good first step into breaking his ghastly curse.

“Fear not, mademoiselle,” Jack said. “The Yellow Brick Road does, indeed, begin on the other side of the forest, but the direction you want is west. Of course, I would be happy to take you there.”

“Really?” For a moment, there is a spark of something that might be hope in Gwen’s eyes. She allowed herself to be eager, but it quickly fades into something more like suspicion. Suddenly, she seems cautious, raising a brow and moving to hold her satchel close to her chest. “Wait, why?”

"Pardon?"

"What's in it for you?"

This catches Jack off guard, and for a second he wonders if he had let something slip. He’s never known anyone to be wary of his help, much less a woman. Then again, he supposed that was due to him being a handsome prince and not a dwarf. Who wouldn’t be suspicious of a monster’s help?

Still, the skepticism she displayed gave him the idea this was something she had come to expect. Nothing in life was free, and Jack knew that all too well.

“I merely wish to assist you, ma dame,” he insisted. “The Anthea Forest is a dangerous place, and I simply cannot turn my back on someone in need, especially someone as beautiful as you.”

The casual coquetry isn’t as welcomed as the first, as while Gwen softened slightly she didn’t look convinced. Silver eyes gaze down at her bag now again resting against her hip, and after some contemplation she lets out a sigh. “I’m sorry,” Gwen mumbled. “It’s just… no one’s been this kind to me in such a long time. I don’t know what to say.”

I find that hard to believe. Jack has to bite his tongue to keep himself from saying such a thing out loud. The girl was hesitant enough to accept his help as it was; it would cement the idea that she couldn’t trust him if he trivialized her feelings.

Gwen bit her lip, looking at everything but at Jack. She was obviously troubled by something, and perhaps if Jack had Hans’s way with words he would be able to convince her to tell him what it was. He couldn’t help if he didn’t know what the problem was. Finally, Gwen looked back at him and said, “I really need to get to the Emerald City, to see Oz. I’m looking for my mom, and I know the wizard can help me. Will you take me there?”

Another missing parent? Jack thought it an odd coincidence, but that was life on Fairytale Island. Accidents, strange events, and odd coincidences were the day to day norm. Throw in a few mysterious disappearances and you have a land that proved to be quite dangerous. It was why he and his friends formed the Fearless Seven in the first place, to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. To help those in need, and Gwen needed help.

“Certainly, mademoiselle.” Jack bowed to her, not necessarily to come off as flirtatious but he’s happy to see the smile return to Gwen’s face. “I am happy to escort you to the Emerald city in no time at all. You have my word.”

“Well, okay then. Lead the way.”

Whether she was desperate or simply felt she could trust him, Jack wasn’t sure. A part of him wanted to pry, he had always been a bit of the nosy sort, but over the years had come to know better than to act on those impulses. All that mattered was that he was now walking alongside a beautiful young woman through an enchanted forest and, hopefully, one step closer to breaking his curse.

French translation (according to DeepL)

Bien sûr que non: of course not, no of course not Dieux, aidez-moi: gods help me

[deuterium51614]

Boueibu Rewatch Part 13

Episode Ten

I need to start using this clip of Ata in bed for Nefarious Kyoata Purposes™️ like I do with my two Enkin clips. (I did it once for that Community AMV I did the night the movie got announced... Really, I need to just start making HK AMVs in general!)

Kyoutarou's hair is so pretty here~

Also it's cool how we can see the Happy Braces through the water. I don't think they had that detail with the Lovracelets?

Okay, so like. I mentioned this in my rewatch post for LOVE! S1E4, that the logic for this monster makes more sense than Igarao's, but then was thinking they both make sense, so here goes.

Igarao's monster was created for a TV show in-universe, with the goal of destroying the Earth. I don't think we got an explanation from Zundar for why they were turning everyone into kids/babies? There is the whole thing someone said with "kids are cute (good for ratings) and when the Battle Lovers turn back, they'll be naked (also good for ratings)." But since the goal with the swan monster was to make a world "where boys love boys, and no one will be able to make progeny," maybe the original goal if that one succeeded was to regress everyone's ages and raise these children to be evil? Or just obey Caerula Adamas?

On the other hand, Santa's turtle monster really was based off his negative emotions and insecurities. Furanui's whole thing is that he wants to rule the world with fear, he has no reason to care for anything like "ratings" since he's not doing it for a TV show. This student doesn't like being called old? People tend to be afraid to get older? Okay, show everyone that you have the power to turn them into senior citizens, and only turn them back once they see him as their king.

Anyway...

The slowed down music for the attack gets me every time lol

Cloth otter vs wire Fennec. (That was in my notes with no elaboration...)

Episode Eleven

"One Centimeter to Happy" vs "I Miss You 3 Meters" lol

Still annoying that they de-transformed, just to re-transform with the full transformations.

You think we're going to have the "muddy kids forever" scene happen in the movie? Like will the BL Defense Club look back and be like "oh yeah, we remember you as kids" or will it be revealed that it was Death Amor going back in time disguised as them? Or will it be the future BL Defense Club going back in time to make sure the event happened, and that's why we don't see their faces? Because they're not high schoolers anymore and just wearing the uniforms?

I have a jokey headcanon that in all these ten years, Ata never had a bath because of this incident. (He's a stinky boy lol)

I love Martha's "oh my God!" and "shut up!" English moments.

The pigeon sounds like the old man with the bird on his head from Labyrinth.

Episode Twelve

So like. For a split second, the architecture in the Honyara Land city, not the castle, vaguely reminds me of Most City from Gekkan Mousou.

The 3D soldiers always give me Wizard of Oz vibes for some reason...

Didn't know Wao shares a seiyuu with the crab monster that attacked the twins! (Or maybe I did at some point.)

At some points, it seems like the throne room is in the robot's mouth, but other times it seems like a screen.

Also, I don't like how the mecha's mouth changes from open to closed and back to open whenever the camera changes. Like... The mouth opened, it's been established. Either keep it open, or have another clip to show that Wao closed it again and keep it closed from that point on.

Anyway, if I had a nickel for every time a Boueibu finale had an animal-themed mecha piloted by the (surprise) villain(s), I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.

Did the staff change for the Super Happy and Turn? (Looked again, and I don't think it did. Thought I noticed extra details...)

Is there any pattern to the clips in the ending? I feel like the first two seasons had them in some sort of order if I'm remembering right, but these feel like they're going all over the place...

But anyway! That's it! The end of my rewatch! People are watching the movie right now, and I am screaming and crying that we can't see it until maybe March!

Should we do a rewatch of other Umatani anime in the meantime? At the same rate of 3 episodes per week, we'd probably be able to get through RobiHachi (makes sense to continue with that, since it's in the same universe as Boueibu) and most if not all of Fairy Ranmaru...

[ceruleanvulpine]

the larp drama to which i have vaguely alluded has culminated in a decent portion of the community deciding my friends are liars and bullies who are just looking for excuses to call people they don't like racist. :|

this portion of the community includes at least one person who signed the petition letter, who i didn't know well but kind of looked up to as an older butch who said she'd burnt out on trying to change things but it's good someone was.

now it turns out that apparently i manipulated this woman 20 years my senior into writing (checks notes) "The Board has been aware of this behaviour for some time [...] However, when a problem has reached the point where a letter has to be written by the general population of a community, that is beyond unacceptable. And I question the Board in it's entirety. [...] It's time to fix policies, and put out the fire that's already burning in the building. Use this as an opportunity to extinguish the fire and start building new foundations." which would be pretty impressive if I had done that. those seem like some opinions that have been simmering for a while.

also, implying that a Nice Progressive might be harboring some biases after they compare their enemy, a Black guy, to the evil invading desert wizard empire in the game .. is BASICALLY worse than calling someone the n word. (even the earlier petition letter was "hateful" and "cruel" whereas saying the n word was "stupid" and "disappointing" and "inappropriate")

also I've been blamed for causing a mental health crisis for the guy who said the n word.

the actual game leadership has been pretty open to changes but parts of the community have been such assholes about this that I am pretty set on taking my toys and going home. sighs

[bones-of-a-rabbit]

infodumps abt a new au idea (the demon-familiars au, or the un-familiars au)

TL,DR: Reader is a witch/wizard hired by a town to handle a poltergeist/demon problem (Vanny has a cult and is trying to summon demons lol), but they aren't very good at being a witch/wizard and after a bunch of 'throwing things at the wall to see if anything sticks' and absolutely nothing working, they, in a panic, kind of accidentally summon Sun and Moon, who are equally shocked to see them and after a bunch of staring at each other like ?????????? reader ropes Sun and Moon into helping them and hides them in plain sight as their 'familiars' until they've taken care of the demonic cult problem, promising to send them home as soon as things are ok again. PLOT TWIST THEY GET ATTACHED TO EACH OTHER AND KISS PROBABLY HAHAHAAAAAA

(the long initial ramblings/brainstorming i did w the space aces in discord is copy-pasted below, if anyone wants only vaguely coherent ideas n concepts abt this au and ur willing to torture urself, go nuts w it ig lol)

taken directly from the space aces discord, i present: the reason all of my aus are barely coherent and somehow overly thought through and barebones all at once, as shown by the following example (unfamiliars au edition)

weird silly demons/familiars Sun Moon au where Reader is a (less than talented) amateur witch/wizard trying to lie themselves into a position of relative security (bc theyve had to move three different times bc towns shun n drive away witches/wizards that proves to be unhelpful) and they werent actually trying to summon sun n moon so they end up getting them involved in their scheme but oops there is some kind of other demonic threat that is actually a big problem and oops oops now we have to seriously work together to not get killed by the other eviller demon or the cult summoning it while also fooling the townsfolk into thinking that u r competent and have everything under control

Sun and Moon, a couple of demons just chilling when suddenly summoned to the material world: what in the heck Reader, having just performed a spell/ritual they've never read the instructions for backwards and facing the wrong cardinal direction: SHUT UP AND PRETEND TO BE MY FAMILIAR FOR A MINUTE OR WE ARE BOTH GONNA GET KILLED, BURNING-ON-A-CROSS STYLE

hhhgj i just had. a rlly sappy idea for the 'familiars' part

basically like. witches n wizards naturally end up casting their own 'summoning' spell for their familiar at some point, most of th time when they are really starting to understand and control their magic? so to see a witch or wizard without one it's like 'wow they're a beginner' or 'something is wrong with them, why dont they have a familiar??'

so Reader asks Sun n Moon to pretend to be their familiars partly bc 'uh oh i summoned two whole entire demons without even meaning to i have to make this look intentional' and 'if i have a familiar the people will assume im a Real Witch/Wizard and respect me more'

and at one point when they r getting to be like, actual friends instead of 'weird roommates', Sun gets curious bc ofc he does

Sun: Soooo,, we're your pretend-familiars? Reader: Yea Sun: Sooooooooo,, do u not have a familiar? I've never heard of a wizard with no familiar Reader, visibly upset/disappointed (in themselves): Yeah, well, it turns out it's only the witches and wizards with actual skills that can summon familiars. So. Couldn't tell you if I've got one or not, I've never managed a proper summoning spell. Sun, foot in his mouth: oh,, Reader: Yep.

and then later. It turns out. There are ways to make a demon into a familiar! Turns out in the distant past some wizards used to make demons they frequently summoned for spell/magic services into familiars bc it was way easier than just doing the entire summoning ritual every single time

but at this point, Reader and Sun n Moon are close enough to be good friends, and Reader doesnt want to force that kind of permanent connection on them, they probably just want to go home, theyre probably sick of being here and being around u, and,,, u get the idea

and Sun n Moon dont wanna force that kind of permanent connection on YOU bc what if ur sick of them, or ur tired of feeding and housing them or putting up with their jokes n bickering, or maybe after everything u really dont want anything to do with demons!!!

so there's a lot of sad pining that none of them know abt

bc ofc they r all idiots in this au sorry thems the rules

and then at some point there is some big threat/place they have to go to, or maybe Reader gets injured in a fight, idk take ur pick, anyway in a heat of the moment panic Moon is like 'HEY U WANT US TO BE UR FAMILIARS RIGHT??' and reader like barely conscious is like 'w??? yea??????' thinkin he means the pretend thing theyve had going on

anyway spur of the moment/'im doing this to save ur life bc i love u' familiar binding spell/ritual performed BAM now ur stuck together

and when everything is calm again n the fighting is over reader looks at Moon and is like 'so ur like,, my actual familiar now,,' and Moon, sweating bullets, unsure if this is rlly what u wanted or if u went with it out of fear of dying, is like 'yyyyyyyyyes?'

and reader starts bawling their eyes out and kisses him bc this is like. th dream scenario to u

anyway reader n sun n moon are th worlds least likely wizard/familiars combo but somehow they r absolutely unstoppable together thank u for coming to my tedtalk

[adarkrainbow]

I was looking at this article that studied the motif of "The wizard versus the witch" in Disney movies. They listed the "Disney wizards" and alongside Merlin from the Sword in the Stone and villainous sorcerers like Jafar or Doctor Facilier they had... King Triton. I was quite surprised but he IS one of the "Disney wizards". Elderly man with a big white beard, using magical powers thanks to wielding his magical staff - I mean, his magical trident... Later takes on Disney's Little Mermaid even made him the direct brother and rival of Ursula the Sea Witch (with this whole thing that the trident is Triton's magical item opposed by Ursula's shell). So yes, he IS one of those.

Looking at this article also made me realize that, despite what the person who wrote it tried to claim, in terms of magic users, the "wizard versus witch" motif is NOT actually a prevalent or strong Disney trope... There isn't much a gendered dichotomy when it comes to magic helpers and influences. Out of my mind there are only three of those "gendered magical fights" across the Disney movies and they are set far and wide apart (The Sword in the Stone, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog).

Since its early days Disney has been favorizing a conflict between same-gender outside of influences. Cinderella has the Fairy Godmother versus the witch-like Lady Tremaine. Sleeping Beauty has Maleficent versus the three Good Fairies. Aladdin, to take a more recent example, is the Genie versus Jafar.

Exception made for the very first Disney movie where the Evil Queen's influence is countered by the seven dwarves, who are not truly "wizard", though they are still men with white beards... In fact I realize now it is quite fascinating how Disney kind of had a vague age-positivity motif in its early days? The white-bearded seven dwarves are the good guys against the fake old/obsessed with youth queen ; all their good fairy godmothers are powerful little old ladies... And while yes there are good and bad old folks, the important thing is that there is a LOT of old folks, and very often in position of power (royalty or magic). Especially when you look at more recent Disney movies where you see less and less characters with gray beards or white hair... It might be just me but I get the feeling there was much more elderly characters in old Disney movies than today. (Of course I am looking at fairytale centered movies ; Cinderella versus Frozen, Sleeping Beauty versus Tangled, all that stuff)

I don't know, this is just a post where I scrambled ideas and throw them on a wall and call it "modern art".

[aspoonofsugar]

Ruby's Volume 4 Character Short

Ruby's Volume 4 character short is a great piece of foreshadowing of our Little Rose's arc as a whole. Let's see why.

Little Red Riding Hood Meets Wolves

First of all, the short clearly references the Red Trailer and it is LRRH in a nutshell.

Ruby wanders in the woods aloneand finds some Beowolves preying on people's homes. She immediately goes to fight the monsters, so that people can be saved.

This is the crux of Ruby's character: a LRRH who fights the wolves hidden within the shadows thanks to her ability to see the beauty of the world (Silver Eyes). It is her innocent and hopeful self, which makes her "the best Huntress of all".

The short pays homage to this idea while exploring other important elements. For example, the town destroyed by fire and Grimms clearly calls back to Beacon:

Which leads us to another recurring theme in Ruby's arc. Grief.

From Nevermore to Idol

Ruby sees a place resembling her lost school and rushes in to help. This shows how our girl deals with grief. She never stops to face her feelings, but rather she pushes forward and fights. So, the short starts with a metaphor of Ruby's own coping mechanism in the face of loss.

It is full of symbols linked to death:

Ruby looks like the Grimm Reaper. She wears a cape and has a scythe, both symbols linked to this mythological character.

She rides a Nevermore, which embodies grief, as its name references Edgar Allan Poe's Raven. This poem is about a man mourning a girl (the famous Lost Lenore) and crying he will see her nevermore.

Ruby lets go of the Grimm and lands on a statue. The statue is clearly a religious idol. So, Ruby crashing on it and symbolically taking its place hints to this:

Ruby: It's all… so… heavy… It's the only thing I can feel anymore… and it never, ever goes away. The feeling of not being… enough. Blacksmith: And how would you measure “enough”?

Ruby: Mom?

The whole sequence shows how Ruby is dealing with Summer's death. She is literally wrapped in death (the cape which resembles Summer's) and struggles with grief (the Nevermore). Finally she decides to deal with this complicated feelings by becoming an ideal, just like Summer:

Past Ruby: Mom was the best… but even she failed.

She steps in the fallen hero's shoes. This is why the statue really looks like Summer herself. After all, it is a white hooded figure:

Dorothy Meets One-Eyed Monkey

So, Ruby chooses to overcome Summer's death by becoming like her mom. Still, she meets 2 enemies in her path:

Beowolves and a Beringel. Both tie with 2 different fairy tale allusions.

The Beowolves are Little Red Riding Hood's enemies. This is why Ruby meets them in the Red Trailer, as well.

The Beringel is Dorothy's enemy, as it references Wizard of Oz's Winged Monkeys.

So, Ruby going from the Beowolves to the stronger and more intelligent Beringel shows that she is stepping into Dorothy's role. She is gonna fight the Evil Witch of the West:

Not only that, though, as this specific Grimm has some interesting similarities to another one of Ruby's greatest enemies:

Just like Cinder, the Beringel only has one eye:

It also shows itself to be smarter than the Beowulves, which launch stones to Ruby:

It instead makes use of other Grimms:

Just like Cinder manipulates even her own allies to defeat her enemies:

Finally, Cinder seems destined to turn into one of the Evil Witch of the West's minions:

So, to link her to a Winged Monkey seems just perfect.

In other words, Ruby metaphorically fights Cinder in a town filled with flames. How does their fight go?

Fall And Rebirth

Ruby fights the Beringel on the roof of a church. this setting is interesting because:

It ties into the religious symbolism Ruby herself has - she is an idol and a messianic archetype.

The tower of the church vaguely resembles Beacon Tower - this place is important for Ruby, Cinder and their relationship. There they have their first and second dances and there they will probably have their finale one.

In any case, the Beringel eventually has Ruby fall:

And roars victorious.

Just like Cinder succeeds in sending Ruby down into the Ever After:

And gloats about her victory after Atlas.

Still, this isn't the end.

Ruby symbolically breaks in many pieces:

But is eventually reborn:

Just like in the Ever After she goes through a process of Destruction:

And Re-Creation:

Ruby comes back and defeats the Grimm. Similarly, she is now back to fight Cinder again. I don't think their confrontation will go like Ruby and the Beringel, though. Rather, our Dorothy will turn into her LRRH's self and see the person inside the monster. She will save the Child swallowed by the Wolf, like the Huntress she is.

Light After Dark

The short ends with a reminder that Ruby isn't alone:

JRN are with her and her teammates are fighting their own separated battles, as well:

The final frames of Weiss, Blake and Yang tie the girls to some of their respective motifs. Weiss is associated with the moon and the night (like Ruby), Blake with the twilight (where light and shadow meet) and Yang with the sun and the day (Sunny Little Dragon). At the same time, their order of appearance is used to convey another key idea. The protagonists are moving from the darkness towards the light. From the night to the day. From the Fall to the Dawn.