#that truly is the ultimate nail in the coffin!

[sortanonymous]

I've watched and adored Encanto, Wolfwalkers, Across the Spider-Verse, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio. All absolutely incredible animated films that I'm sure will be held up as classics even 20 years from now.

With that said, Nimona is frankly a good step above all of them and my choice for animated film of the decade so far (at least for what I've heard of). An absolutely stellar film on every level. Do yourself a favor and watch it all on YouTube these next few days!

Does it stand a chance at the Oscars? Absolutely not, especially since even the Annies were dominated by Spider-Man. But it would absolutely deserve to. (And again, I adore Spider-Verse and still think it's 100% worthy of the Oscar on its own. It's basically the reverse of the Puss in Boots vs. Pinocchio situation last year. They're both masterpieces, only this time the slightly better masterpiece is almost certainly gonna get left in the cold.)

[firelxdykatara]

I actually really don't want to hear anything about how 'overcoming misogyny' is a major theme in Avatar: the Last Airbender when "The Fortuneteller" exists and the ultimate thesis of that episode, in the context of the show as a whole, is that if a girl is in unrequited love, it's cringe and kinda pathetic and she should move on cause the boy will never want her; but if a boy is in unrequited love, he just needs to be patient and wait for the girl he wants to come around cause he's a hero and how could she not?

Its secondary thesis is that you need to make your own destiny and not rely on someone else's words to tell you what your life has in store...if you're a BOY; if you're a girl then what the fake psychic told you will actually determine your ENTIRE life even if you are only fourteen years old.

Meng's existence really would have been the final nail in the coffin for Kataang even if the arc of the ship in Book 3 weren't so abhorrent to me personally (sorry but I have higher standards for romantic relationships than 'the girl is completely oblivious to the boy's advances for the entire show, is actively distressed when those advances become more pronounced, and then her feelings are resolved completely off screen between episodes so that the boy can get his prize in the end')--because her relationship with Aang is deliberately paralleled to Aang's relationship with Katara, and yet Meng, the one-off character, learns a lesson which Aang is quite literally told he must learn in the Book 2 finale... but he never ever does.

Aang has an entire season to internalize that lesson and come to terms with it--that maybe she doesn't have feelings for me and that's ok because I still love and care about her and that's enough--but he never even comes close. His possessive attachment to her gets worse, culminates in the EIP kiss, and Katara just capitulates because we're meant to believe that she went through the entire development of her romantic feelings for the love of her life off-screen between the penultimate episode and the four-part finale.

This was misogynistic even in 2008, and the idea that the show truly had anything meaningful to say about sexism/misogyny when uncritical and unchecked misogyny was baked into its very DNA (assuming we're meant to agree with Brychael that Kataang is 'in the DNA of the show) is just laughable to me. When it comes to 'overcoming misogyny' the show doesn't actually say anything more profound than 'girls can fight too!!!!!'

And that wasn't good enough for me then, it certainly isn't good enough for me today.

[tobi-smp]

absolutely nobody wants to see me rant about the end of the dream smp for one millionth time in october 2023, but the anniversary has people talking on my dash so now I'm infected with one of the same 4 thoughts I always have about the dream smp

obviously there is a Very Very large number of reasons that people have a complicated relationship with the dream smp, both in universe and out. and the worst for me are the Obvious out of universe reasons that don't need to be repeated here.

but the cake for In Universe reasons is definitely still the crimeboys ending. it was the final nail in the coffin for me back when I hadn't realized that the coffin had any more nails it could take in the first place, and it's a big part of why the parts of the series that I Do very much so enjoy are very often painful to look back on.

and this isn't because wilbur is a bad writer or a bad actor (or tommy for that matter), even at the time I had Really enjoyed the lead up to the end, even and Especially in that final stream sending wilbur off.

I had my issues of course, I haven't exactly been quiet about that, but in retrospect I Understand the circumstances much better and respect wilbur's choice to get out of there as cleanly as possible.

we still don't know Exactly what was happening behind the scenes, including and Especially with dream, but we Do know full well that dream stopped interacting with the entire rest of the server leaving countless story lines (that he'd Intentionally made himself integral to) left to dry with no way to move forwards while they waited for interaction that would never ever come.

wilbur's choice to move forwards with his send off of his character on his own terms, even with and especially Because of the clear scheduling issues, was the smartest decision he could have made considering the circumstances. I would very much so argue that his character is the Only One that got sent off with any amount of dignity largely Because he stopped playing dream's little game. and I do have to wonder if wilbur escaping the narrative wasn't inspired more by the real life circumstances at the time.

but no matter how satisfying I find it, no matter how much Good I see in it, no matter how much I respect and agree with the choice to do it, I cannot think about wilbur's ending without a Deep ache.

and it is for one single reason

he left tommy behind on purpose, this time fully with the knowledge of the situation he was leaving him behind In.

the abandonment that characters like tommy, niki, and fundy felt after the 16th are ultimately understandable ways of dealing with grief, but weren't Fair to truly hold against wilbur. wilbur didn't Leave, he didn't make the decision to allow the people important to him to be hurt in his absence. he committed suicide because he was sad.

wilbur getting on that boat, truly Knowing what dream did to tommy in a way that only tommy and dream knew, and leaving tommy alone on that beach affected me in ways that nothing else on the server ever has. and that truly is not a good thing.

now, I Think that what was likely supposed to happen is that dream was Supposed to interact with tommy regularly after the prison escape, and that that was supposed to build up to Some natural conclusion. we don't know what that conclusion would have been, but it was certainly nothing like what we got. and meanwhile wilbur's final arc was supposed to progress along side it, building Up To the logsted stream and his full understanding of the abuse dream had done and the affect it had on tommy.

we Know that at one point tommy had spoken about having a soft ending with wilbur. and After wilbur's ending actually did happen he'd mentioned that he might cameo on the server from time to time. that sounds like a soft ending to me.

it makes thematic sense, it makes sense with the pieces we got leading up to the final stream, it makes sense with the characters. and it couldn't happen, because dream refused to move any plot forwards and tommy of all characters couldn't move on without dream. again, both Thematically and because of what was happening behind the scenes.

and this is. frustrating beyond reason. that the snot genuinely poisoned one of the best aspects of the entire server because he was actively killing it but still didn't want to let go.

you can call it speculation, and it is, but this is what I believe and will continue to believe until tommy or wilbur say otherwise.

and on paper I just want to be able to say that the things that I don't like about the ending are bad because dream forced them to be bad and therefore I can just pretend like they never happened and substitute canon's reality with my own (or at the very least excuse it for being the way that it is).

and I have tried to do that ! both in chewing on the ending on its own terms And in imagining many Many ways that it could have gone differently (an activity I'm quite fond of regardless of circumstance).

but it just !

in a completely biased and nevertheless Extremely Honest word, hurt my feelings.

I cannot stop thinking about how they Intentionally set up wilbur finding out about dream abusing tommy, Made Sure to cover every base so the audience Knows that wilbur knows that it was physical, mental, and emotional abuse, Knows that wilbur is fully aware that tommy almost committed suicide, and Knows that wilbur was Deeply Emotionally Affected By This Fact.

and then had him leave. had him Plan Possibly Months Ahead Of Time. had him try to sneak off, only telling tommy the truth when he caught him by surprise and forced it out of him.

tommy opened up to somebody about exile in real honest terms for the very first time, to one of the people that he trusted the most, and that person Chose to leave him trapped with that very abuser out to get him Even Though he understood the danger and cared about him very deeply.

he knew that tommy was in danger, he knew Why tommy was in danger, and him leaving tommy behind was pre-meditated.

and it's Painful not just because of what it implies about their relationship As A Whole (because it's impossible to accept this as true without it affecting how we look back on what came before), but because those same implications makes it Impossible to imagine their relationship having a future.

people tried to play it off like a Soft Ending, like wilbur was just going to get therapy and then come back and they were just gonna hug it out and have a nice healthy relationship. and to be fair to those people, none of us could have predicted that tommy was going to be bombed and then reincarnated with none of his memories. that was Not in my predictions for the next phase of his character arc.

but, shitty sequel bait ending that everyone who cares has disavowed aside (way aside, into a deep pit to never be seen again), if I were tommy I would feel unimaginably betrayed.

where they left off is Not a place to reconnect with a healthy relationship when they're ready, because This Was A Traumatizing Event In And Of Itself.

I don't have to prove this, c!tommy proved this himself when started holing up in his house and abusing potions of invisibility both because he feels completely and totally Unsafe walking anywhere on the server when people can see him And as a relapse back into potion addiction reminiscent of his addiction post-exile.

he was at his absolute lowest point, his abuser and murderer escaped from prison ready to torment him and everyone he cares about for Literally forever. he was Desperately trying to find any form of stability, Desperately trying to reach out to for anyone he could trust, and he Intentionally opened up to someone he Did trust completely once. someone who made him feel safe, someone he trusted with his entire life.

he opened up Because he wanted that relationship, Because he wanted wilbur in his life, Because wilbur had wanted Him in His life. he wanted to cross that gap between them. he was making himself vulnerable to Extend that trust To wilbur.

and wilbur stopped talking to him for months and then left.

that's not going to do good things to his mental health or stability. tommy was Already displayed active suicidal tendencies BEFORE dream broke out of prison.

if he'd managed to kill dream for good and the characters went about their lives tommy would have to let wilbur go. rationalizing what happened, justifying wilbur's decision, would not be healthy.

he can accept that wilbur made the right decision for Himself. he can accept that Wilbur needed to leave, that Wilbur needed time to himself.

but tommy clinging on to wilbur's memory, justifying that he was left for dead with his abuser On Purpose, would not be healthy.

tommy would Need to realize that what happened wasn't okay. there Is no going back to having a relationship with wilbur. wilbur was Allowed to make the choice he did, but it Was a choice.

I can't bare to think of the alternative. where tommy is abandoned, deeply damaged by that abandonment, has to face his abuser and murderer Without someone he'd once considered a brother, and then turn around and just answer wilbur's call the moment Wilbur decides he's ready to have a relationship again.

that would just. be sad. genuinely awful.

and I can't let that go. the decisions they made were Sensible, I can see how it was necessary for wilbur to Have a proper send off when he did. there's no Satisfying way to re-imagine this series of events without it not Being the end.

but it tried to depict itself As a soft ending, As the characters having a future together, when it simply is not. if wilbur escaped the narrative then he left the people he cared about to be victims of the narrative Knowingly.

and it's frustrating Because I can see how it'd happen by accident. How the implications would be both meticulously set up and gone completely unseen.

but for my money, if I were to fix it on its own terms. with no additional screen time after, no change in the streams leading up to the end, and the understanding that tommy's story could not end at this point by necessity (the same restrictions that they had at the time)

I would have wilbur ask tommy to come with him. I'd have the reveal be that wilbur wanted to take tommy with him The Entire Time but knew that tommy was stubborn and attached to the server. but the moment he understood Exactly How Bad It Was he knew he needed to get them out of there Now.

so he did his best to hold dream off for now, and Immediately went to work setting up their escape (we don't need to understand How the portal to utah works, just that it took some time to set up).

it would recontextualize some of their earlier interactions, it would recontextualize his absence after the logsted stream, and it would recontextualize why wilbur didn't tell him until now.

and of course, because tommy has to stay (and because tommy is tommy) he refuses. he refuses not because he doesn't Want to go with wilbur (he wants to be with him more than anything, he wants to feel safe more than anything). but because he can't abandon the people on the server, because he can't let go until he knows dream is gone, because he will never ever feel safe until dream is dead.

and it can be a big dramatic blow out that Ends with that quiet awkward understanding, not with the characters being emotionally in sync but Knowing that this is how this moment has to play out. that same melancholy, that same understand that a choice is being made that can't go back, But It's Mutual.

It's Mutual And Born From Love.

because wilbur Wanted to save tommy, because tommy Wanted wilbur to stay, because they both understand why things aren't happening that way.

and they'll still be Hurt after. their relationship will still be impacted. this will still be something to Work Through rather than the magic soft fix that will make their relationship healthy and fluffy again.

but it's Fixable. if tommy survives there's a relationship still in tact to build on. there's a future where they both trust each other again one day, to find comfort and stability in each other. to put in the Work to build a life once the horror finally ends.

of course, if I had a say a lot more than this would've been changed. but it's a thought that plagues me because of how plausibly it Could have been what we'd gotten. because it would have worked without changing anything and it still would have hurt me at the time but it would have been the Good hurt. not a goodbye forever but goodbye until I can see you again. Goodbye And I Love You.

(at least until tommy got exploded with a bomb and forgot that wilbur existed. yippie)

[arbor-tristis]

About the Great Betrayal of 1957......and why it was so impactful (besides the obvious) and the final nail in the coffin of their relationship......it isn't because Hawk caused a significant practical harm to Tim or lost him a job but because in that moment Tim realised that it didn't matter. Up until then, Tim must have thought on some level that their relationship was affected by Tim's principles. His inability to make peace with Hawks marriage. His unwillingness to constantly lie and put up a facade. Wanting a deeper connection than just sex. All of these things were boundaries he was constantly pushing for and what in his view, on some level made him lose in the end. He could have chosen to stay even after Hawk told him he was going to marry Lucy, but it was a deal-breaker for *him*.

So when he comes back in 1957 he aims to be chill, basically. He "has no expectations". He says "it's fine, I'll compromise on ALL these things that are super important to me. If it means Hawk will truly accept me." And it seems like for a while, it works. Hawk even indulges them a lot with attention and intimacy. He thinks he has figured out a way to make it work.

But that's the betrayal. Because Tim gave up everything. His faith. His principles. And it STILL didn't work. Because Hawk threw him out again. Cruelly and for no good reason. That was the betrayal. It wasn't about a job. Or government work. Hawk betrayed his *hope* that if he did exactly what Hawk wanted, if he simply compromises Hawk will hold up his end of the deal. But of course not.

Tim is never the same with Hawk after that. Why he calls it a "fantasy" because in 1957 hawk demonstrated that even in the best circumstances they could hope to have he would find a way to push him out. He understands, very clearly that Hawk is at his heart a self-saboteur and will get in his own way no matter how much he submits, how much he bends. He will not be chosen. And that is the ultimate tragedy.

[mmogurl]

So, last night I finally got through Daemon's arc in Fire and Blood.. There are going to be major spoilers in this post, so only click -keep reading- if you have read it already.. or don't care if I spoil it by talking frankly about its contents! I will be discussing Rhaenyra as well as Aemond. **SPOILERS!! IF YOU KEEP READING! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

So, I am just completely wrecked by his ending and how Rhaenyra basically pushes him to it with her psychotic, stupid ways. I mean.. I strongly disliked Rhaenyra after the show, before even reading the book (especially after that fight where she says she can't trust him which is not in the book). But now after reading it, I utterly despise her! She's awful! Horrible.. and the worst kind of stupid! It's like, she just goes kind of nuts, but nobody notices that she has. But it's so obvious that she is not thinking clearly, that or she truly doesn't care about anyone or anything.. Like they are all just pawns to her, dogs to use. But then she doesn't even know how to move them properly on the board - hence my calling her stupid.. I feel like her response of ordering Nettles death was the last nail in the coffin for Daemon, and he was just like.. Fuck this shit.. I mean she literally says, she doesn't care if the lord there takes her head in her sleep.. and she slept with Daemon! Can you imagine that shit?? And this is after she said it's perfectly ok for him to sleep around with Mysaria while Rhaenyra is seemingly uninterested in him, so it's not like she was jealous. But, it seemed like he might have actually cared for Nettles and so he sends her away to save her from all the fucking madness surrounding Rhaenyra and by proxy himself... The line where he and Aemond are talking and the young prince says he's lived long enough.. where Daemon simply replies.. "On that much we can agree," is just so telling.

Imagine having been instrumental in putting Rhaenyra on the throne only to have it become so fucked in the end. And ultimately, I don't think he has the heart to do what he SHOULD do.. which is kill her.. he just decides to go off and die an honorable death in battle like a fucking Viking warrior going off to Valhalla.. But it's so bittersweet.. I hated it.. hated how it all felt like it was for nothing.. because Rhaenyra's a fucking idiot who can't listen to a god damned bit of advice from her much more experienced husband! Like, he suggests TWICE in the book to give Ulf and Hugh something to keep them happy and twice she refuses! So how does it come as a surprise when they turncoat?? But let's be realistic.. the whole Red Sowing was fucking foolhardy to begin with! Tell me, does it make sense to give the power of a god to bastards with no allegiance!? And then to not even buy their allegiance!? It's. just. stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. I'm going to be writing my fic with even more fervor now, because honestly, the entire war in the book.. What happens to Maelor, what happens at Tumbleton!? It's all a nightmare and should be avoided.. A terrible, terrible wrong that must be made right! Ugh! Rhaenyra was already an opponent in my fic - In the Shadow of Dragons. Without spoiling the story, I already have it out for her, but now it's on like fucking Donkey Kong, bitch! Ugh, and to lose Daemon and Aemond at the same time!?! X_X!!! It was at least an awesome battle and the art in the book was epic level, but they are both my favorites and now they are both dead. Now all that is left is to read about how cake eating, psycho Rhaenyra gets overthrown. I am currently at the part where King's Landing has gone into revolt.. and I'm thinking it won't be pretty for her when it happens. And there's another thought.. when you see everything awful that happens under Rhaenyra's rule, one cannot help but consider.. That even Aegon might have done a better job!

/End Rant

[bibibbon]

On the bluesky saw a post talking about the flying nomu.

And...it hits me how Shig saw a nomu going especially after Izu and ....did nothing. He didn't find that odd.

Did Izu recognized the flying nomu as the lackey?

Once again, the Nomus are wasted in this damn story.

So my ask here is

1) how possum/shig controls the Nomus? Bc if we go with "they have animal mentality" well, you can dominate a lion but you need to put work and shig didn't show us that

2) what happened after? Like the flying nomu was killed by Stain(if I remember right) and then...no one makes any investigation or smth??.bc I have two theories here either people did some research and find out who the kid was and opt to be silent or no one knew not even Izu and the bk's lackeys died completely unknown and uncared. Not even his grandpa gave a fuck.

Hi @mikeellee 👋

Agreed the nomu's do have a lot of wasted potential within the series and its a shame horikoshi didn't expand on them more whether be the horror, social and societal aspects surrounding the nomu's.

To answer your questions izuku didn't recognise that the nomu that attacked him was one of bkaugo's childhood friends. This seemed to be just a tiny easter egg for the readers and its a shame that it's never brought up again because

1)it would of played well into izuku's characterisation since he is really observant

2) would of added the horror into mha early on. You could have izuku doubting himself and saying oh this nomu kind of reminds me of tsuaba but then trying to brush that concern of until its brought back up

3) it would of connected early links to Dr garaki and important and underutilised plot point in the series

(Its weird hori did say that he would delve deeper into the nomu's but never truly did)

I don't think shigaraki sought to particulaty control the nomu's in the hosu arc he wanted them to cause chaos and bring awareness to his ideals and himself which is something that both the nomu's and stain helped achieve for him.

Now in terms of controlling nomu we know when they are given a lot of quirks they practically become braindead and their intelligence is significantly reduced. Some including I speculate that a brainwashing type of quirk or Dr garaki wires their brains to take instructions (however none is confirmed).

Yet this process is interesting because it suggests that a nomu can break out of that thought process like kurogiri and then what?

We know within the series that research was done on who the nomu's are and detective naomasa reports to all might about the nomu's identities. Iam assuming that this should be done for all of the nomu's discovered but this information was kept secret and never leaked to the public and therefore never leaked to izuku.

When the information was leaked after the war arc it was labeled to be so big to be the final nail in the coffin of hero society in general and ended up taking away any trust people had in heroes and hero society.

Nomu's could of been explored in multiple ways like:

Blurring the line between people and easily discardable puppets. It would make society question what it means to be a person since it can't be established by looks and it could tie in heteramorphis discrimation

Can heroes kill nomu's would society allow that? (Ending does talk a bit about this)

How are nomu's created?

Imagine one of your loved ones is a nomu and the way it would damage people like the situation to do with tsuaba and kurogiri

Puppets that can kill maybe the hpsc would want them if they can train them?

How are they created? What does Dr garaki do and how does he use them? Maybe they can be an ultimate super weapon of his that he uses to do his work

[vampiricgf]

this is such a fantastic post about lycaons background with mockingbird and his agent story that I didn't want to derail but I do have my own ideas on what his experience with mockingbird might be and his vampire friends background

have you heard the tale of gamelyn? it goes roughly like this: a wealthy man's youngest son is left to the care of his wicked older brother that wants to cheat him out of his inheritance. The father is on his deathbed when he gets his youngest son and neighbors as witness to him dividing his lands up between his children before his death.

The neighbors leave, he dies, and gamelyn is at the mercy of his older brother. He grows up in his brother's hall, his share of their fathers lands held in trust by his brother as well. Except he's let his youngest brothers share of the land fall to ruin, he abuses gamelyn, they fight horribly over gamelyns ruined portion of the inheritance.

In the final scene of lycaon and the vampire we can infer the vampire is possibly wealthy himself at this point

Ornate, large gold trimmed window, the presumably high ceilings of the office he stands in having carved woodwork, even his clothing suggests by this time lycaons former partner has done quite well for himself. That could be from funds they acquired through their mockingbird "work" or because he has a similar background to the story of gamelyn.

The vampire is incredibly theatric, we see him making young lycaon recite an oath in very flowery language and we see his influence on lycaon as an adult despite their estrangement, from his accent to his strict adherence to his role as a dutiful butler. Wealthy people love theatrics and dramatics, and if the vampire is a sort of gamelyn inspired figure, background wise, it would make sense he would found a "steal from the rich give to the poor" sort of criminal organization. And perhaps a younger lycaon simply wasn't aware of the depth of his friends entanglement with wealth and inheritance at that point, maybe meeting after the vampire had already been cast out by his wealthy family, his inheritance usurped.

He tells lycaon family is a curse and a burden, essentially. It would make sense for him to have that viewpoint if he is inspired by the story of gamelyn to some degree, being betrayed by his family for status/material wealth and it might make him resentful of the wealthy as a class, making them his prime target. And perhaps it was a sort of betrayal to lycaon, who believed the organization had more upstanding roots in a real desire to take from those who have an excess and give it to those who do not, if he found out about this part of his friend and how deeply that would have impacted the creation of their organization. Maybe lycaon became extremely disillusioned with it all, realizing it was not what it presented itself to be and was truly a tool for personal revenge.

The final nail in the coffin so to speak may have been whatever happened to cause the loss of his left eye and his legs at the knee. If he lost those in service to mockingbird, his friend that was maybe not entirely truthful about his real motivations, it could have been the final straw for lycaon. unable to remain as loyal as he promised when confronted with the fact that he had suffered substantial losses in service to someone who is ultimately selfish and self serving, not who he believed he was. due to how lycaon stresses loyalty in himself to a "master" I believe it would take an extremely serious event like that to trigger someone like him into making the choice to abandon the object of his loyalty.

but that's just my silly lil ramblings and it's just as possible im wrong about all that but it is fun to think about

[felikatze]

On Eveyle in Heroes

hi so. there was this voiceline of eveyle's going around, right.

The other Veyle does not seem to awaken here... Did you murder her for me? How sweet!

And like the obvious gut punch reaction is. what the fuck. did summoning kill normal veyle. i posit. no. it did not. i posit--

the inverse is also true.

Before I came here, I was on a search for my kin, and I kept waking up in unfamiliar places. Thankfully, that hasn't happened since I came to this world.

This is a voiceline from Veyle: Gentle Dragon.

So. A few things. Veyle referrencing Eveyle means that this is NOT a post-canon Veyle. Considering her other voicelines on being a defect and dragonstones I'd say she's a lategame Veyle who hasn't quite hit her big character moment yet (which was murdering Eveyle. Go figure.)

And obviously Eveyle can't exist in a post-canon state either (she would be dead), so Eveyle comes from some nebulous mid/late-game state before Veyle's big moment as well.

So. These two come from. the same point in time.

Another thing. Emblems in Askr have physical forms. Let's here it from Mr Of Beginnings himself.

As an Emblem, I am not accustomed to being corporeal. I can fight as a Hero here—and even eat!

This is a quote from Emblem Marth. Somehow, summoning gives the usual incorporeal Emblems a physical form, even though they are nothing more than spirits.

And let me be clear here. FEH is the definite nail in the coffin that Emblems are not the characters themselves. Let's have Mr Of Beginnings clarify for us one more time -

1. The original Marth dwells in this land as a Hero? An odd circumstance. 2. Do I resemble the Marth you know at all? Or is he truly different?

Listen to me. Look me in the eyes. Emblems are artificial recreations of a person based on outside expectations of that person. They are people, but they are still creations with a purpose.

What I'm getting at here is blatantly obvious.

Eveyle - what is she again? Eveyle is an artifical creation of Zephia's, one meant to embody Sombron's will, based on what she and Sombron perceive that Veyle should be. That Eveyle is not simply some "amplified fell dragon instincts" should be abundantly clear not only in how Zephia was able to control Hortensia in an identical manner (Hortensia is not a Fell Dragon, she is a human girl) as well as the infamous helmet needed to induce this personality in Veyle after Veyle begins rebelling against Zephia's spell.

Eveyle is not some form of magic DID, and is not meant to be.

What I think is that Veyle: Gentle Dragon and Veyle: Fell Succesor are the from the same world and used to share one body. Being summoned to Askr gave each of them an individual form, through the same magic that gave bodies to the Emblems. Therefore, because they're no longer occupying the same brain, they obviously can't sense each other anymore, either.

So no, there was no murder involved.

......the potential narrative in this is actually really interesting.... like yes obviously Eveyle is the embodiment of the expectations placed on Veyle and Veyle killing Eveyle is ultimately symbolic of Veyle taking agency of her own life, abandoning her desire for love from her father in favor of the family that actually loves her back, flaws and all.

But to give this construct of both literal magic and narrative significance its own agency and personhood.... hm. hm hm. you can do some interesting things with that.

[viranellee]

the hate show eddie gets when he's completely justified in his anger towards billy will always be something i will never understand. his opinions, ideas, comments, views being treated as irrelevant & unimportant for years, being forced to move to bass (dare i mention that the only reason he agreed in the first place was out of his genuine desire to appease billy), having his parts literally re-recorded by billy without his knowledge or consent, not even being allowed to write said parts, his only moment to shine during the pittsburgh concert and make his grandmother proud being stolen by billy are all very understandable reasons for his deep-rooted resentment. in a cruel twist of fate watching the love of his life, who happens to be billy's wife and mother of his children, choose her marriage with billy, who eddie deems an unworthy husband and father, over him, reiterates and confirms his deepest fear - that compared to billy, he will always be the second choice. never seen, never heard, never appreciated.

the worst part is that i really don't think eddie truly hates billy the way we're led to believe. all he's ever wanted is the approval and praise of a man who couldn't care less about giving it. when billy does give him that approval at the chicago concert, albeit forced and wholly ungenuine, eddie is quick to tell him "i love you, brother", and while we inwardly cringe at his inability to read the room, it's completely logical that he can't. eddie reacts instinctively, rushing to thank billy for the praise he's been craving all his life. the fact that he has a black eye due to billy himself, who had punched him just an hour or two ago, the fact that any shred of true camaraderie and friendship that might have existed between them is completely and utterly ruined because of eddie's one-night affair with camilla doesn't occur to eddie. in that brief moment before billy brings him back to reality with a few hard-hitting words whispered in his ear, his biggest dream has come true.

of course, this isn't meant to excuse some of the things eddie has said or done. he's very flawed, as the writing is very quick to point out, and the magnitide of his flaws and wrongdoings is amplified through his bitterness and jealousy, which ultimately influences his decision to leave the band. but as a final nail in the coffin, as if eddie hasn't gone through enough already, the show, led by its surprising pro-daisybilly agenda, decides to punish eddie in a move that can only be described as "every tongue that rises against billy dunne shall fall" and strips him of his original book ending, in which he becomes a successful record producer. instead, he is given by far the most unsatisfying and saddest ending of all the band members. graham, while no longer working in the music field, gets what he wants most - a happy family. daisy and warren continue their careers and collaborate together, even having children of their own. karen becomes the frontwoman of a punk band. billy gets to enjoy a long, happy marriage with camilla, and goes on to pursue a renewed relationship with his second love daisy, aided by his late wife's blessing. eddie, on the other hand, hopelessly tries to replicate, or at least re-live, the six's success through mediocre bands, but to no avail. locked in his bubble of shame, he doesn't attend the funeral of the only woman he has ever loved, in fear that his presence there is unwanted. it's as pathetic as it is tragic.

he looks at julia dunne, a carbon copy of her mother, and talks, talks, talks to the camera, hoping that it will give him closure. it doesn't. nothing ever will.

[scratchbeatcitrus]

Hadestown thing I realized today

When I first watched Hadestown I thought Hades was going to replace Persephone with Eurydice as his love bc of the song Chant. It ofc started in 'Way Down Hadestown' when they had that moment of prolonged and concerning eyecontact after Eurydice says "Kinda makes you wonder how it feels." I was, ofc, relieved that wasn't the case (I know the myth but adaptations sometimes adjust things) but it had left me distantly confused (not something I actively thought abt) until a few minutes ago where I was humming it and realized.

Isn't death the ultimate gilded cage? I know I'm probably behind with this revelation but just let me chatter a bit. The reason I initially thought he'd take Eurydice was bc of him straight up telling his wife "If you don't even want my love I'll give it to someone who does!" then the song ending with him turning to the dying Eurydice and saying "Think of it as my embrace...of You" which leads into the next song 'Hey, Little Songbird' where he proceeds to (for lack of a better word) seduce Eurydice into going to Hadestown with him.

Except he doesn't do that. Make no mistake Eurydice IS his new bird in a 'gilded' cage but it's not the same kind he desperately wants to put Persephone in. It's still his embrace but whereas his embrace of Persephone is one born of an increasingly possessive and clingy love born from loneliness and a pride filled desperation, Eurydice got the cold, impersonal, business like embrace of death where she wants for nothing because she *cannot*. The dead don't eat so the endless hunger that dogged her steps like the wind cannot follow her anymore, the dead don't sleep so the terrifying exhaustion and weakness that put the proverbial and practically literal nail in the coffin doesn't weigh her down. The dead don't love so she begins to forget the man she'd been charmed into loving, the one she'd called for desperately in her last moments before she couldn't hold on any longer. She wants for nothing, ambivalent to what she has lost and trapped, unable to leave and left only to join the chorus of the dead. One brand new little songbird of many.

As a hungry young girl who has never known stability and safety even as she grew to know love, she WOULD be grateful and appreciate not having to worry about those things anymore, its exactly how Hades convinced her in the first place. If it weren't for Orpheus' love and devotion bringing him to Hadestown in search of her, she would have stayed there, a complacent little addition to Hades' endless roster. Another permanent fixture in place of the one he truly wants to keep with him at all times, Persephone.

He is Eurydice's jailor, employer and owner and her job is to sing in her newly afforded 'comfort' never asking for more and losing any semblance of self that would have her attempt to free herself the way Persephone does.

It burns so bitter that Orpheus failed man, even though I knew from the beginning he would😭

[the-descolada]

Main thoughts on Suletta's pivot to smiling through death and violence: it actually does make a huge amount of sense for her character and imo it didn't feel too sudden, it's simply a result of how her entire life has been structured (intentionally, by Prospera) that her own feelings come second to what she has to do and that her own worth is tied up in not creating problems for anyone, just like she showed last episode.

Prospera's advice is something that honestly could be considered very good advice to a child who is dealing with trauma and anxiety but she is specifically using this...I don't think it's like sci fi brainwashing per se but it's definitely some realistic kind of conditioning - grooming, even, to mold Suletta into someone who is able to justify doing literally anything for what she cares about most. And as we saw, Prospera seamlessly incorporated Suletta's feelings for Miorine into that paradigm as just another tool to drive Suletta's path further towards being what amounts to a weapon for her mother, just like Aerial.

I think a big place where this could introduce a backtracking on this corruption arc is that Prospera may not be taking into account Miorine's desire for Suletta in turn, and if she is able to realize that Suletta is ultimately being used, and that this smiling cold and unfeeling denial of brutality is not truly what Suletta is as a person, there's hope for her to be able to turn her onto a brighter path.

My secret hope tho is that Aerial is the one who is finally able to be the final nail in the coffin of their mother's shackles and break them both free.

[bumblebugwrites]

and since i know exactly zero people asked, here's an entire post on how stick season belongs to my district 7 kids and my district 7 kids alone.

starting off strong with joanna mason who frankly could have been noah kahan's sole muse in writing this shit. who will never not be the first person i think of when listenting to "orange juice," if not soley for the lyric "it made you a stranger/ it filled you with anger." the song, to its credit is largely about sobriety, but also so much so about the manner in which a person is changed by the consequences of their own actions, which here is the car crash. still, i can't help but think of the way it mirrors her situation entirely, having contributed to the deaths of anyone she held dear through speaking out and refusing the captiol's wishes. on top of that, we are left with this character who has likely grown to resent the place from which she came for what it has come to represent.

i truly feel that i probably don't even need to connect the dots between joanna and "northern attitude," but for shits and giggles, "if i get too close/ and i'm not how you hoped/ forgive my northern attitude/ oh, i was raised out in the cold." nothing, in my mind, truly captures the division we feel between katniss and joanna in catching fire like these lyrics here. and sure, joanna was never the biggest fan of the other girl, but we do eventually see a friendship of sorts, both clouded and grounded in the two womens' mutual respect for one anothers' detatched aspects, far less warm than say peeta, or finnick.

finally, "the view between villages," which, as one of the only victors we see from 7, is such a gut-wrenching song when thought of with joanna in mind. "a minute from home, but i feel so far from it." this for the woman taken from her family to play in the games, only to return, likely traumatized, with her perspective on her district ultimatley changed and forever altered by the death of cede family at the hands of the capitol. "it's all washin' over me, i'm angry again/ the things that i lost here, the people i knew." again, this sentiment of frustration at returning home and the memories it brings about. and then of course, the obvious allusion made by the literal view between villages, a perfect means of capturing joanna's new life as a victor, pulled between the capitol and her home that no longer feels like it once did.

moving on to treech (or at least the version we see in the movie) who i think is probably best represented by "halloween." i find that i can often etch out meaning in every lyric of this song when it comes to him and specifically his relationship with lamina and the way it seems to haunt him after her death and even before. early in the song we get the lyric "i worry for you, you worry for me," which i feel really digs into their initial and even lingering dynamic: the way treech moves to protect her when shots are fired at the zoo and the obvious attachment she feels for him in return. then we have "the wreckage of you i no longer reside in/ the bridges have long since been burnt." here i have to imagine the wreckage as a sort of symbolic stand in for the state lamina is in throughout the lead up to the games, with the burned bridges obviously being when he turns his back on her. "it's not halloween, but the ghost you dressed up as/ sure knows how to haunt." i have to imagine treech spends the remainder of the games, and his life sort of haunted by what took place the day coral and mizzen killed lamina, we can see it on his face, this sort of all consuming guilt, but then that lyric is followed with "it's an ode to the hole that i/ found myself stuck in/ a song for the grave that i dug," and this is really the nail in the coffin for me, as suddenly this feels like the perfect song to capture the sort of complex grief he may have felt, mourning her loss, regretting the betrayal, and ultimately laying some of the blame on himself.

now this one i feel hinges a bit more on my own personal headcannons, but i see so much of "paul revere" in treech as well. we have this kid here who does his best to sort of distance himself from the one thing tying him to his home, likely for better odds of survival, but it still feels a bit like a betrayal of his district. i think symbolically, the home represented by the song here has to be taken as representing lamina, because i cannot imagine treech would fight so hard to win the games, even leaving his own district partner if it wasn't out of sheer desperation to return. still, a lot of the imagery here certainly conjures the 7 i see when i picture the district, sort of rural and cold, with mentions of the mountains we know 7 would have (being around the washington area). but in this case i'm looking specifically at the lyrics "and when they ask me who i am/ i'll say, "i'm not from around here"," which for me conjures the moment treech abandons lamina during the arena tour and the way it represents a sort of abandonment of his previous identity in favor of survival. there's also "it's typical, i fear/ folks just disappear," which i think can be read both as the way people would likely disappear from 7 over the years due to the games, but also the way that even if they returned, it was changed.

finally, my beautiful girl, lamina, who, more than any other song on the album, captures the essence of "come over". this connection also moves a bit into my own personal headcannons for lamina and specifically her relationship with treech, but even outside of that, the song's very first lyrics resonant so deeply with her situation: "i'm in the business of losing your interest/ and i turn a profit each time that we speak," mirroring the way treech pulls away, leaving her before the games have even begun. also, we have the lyric "so when they mention the sad/ kid in the sad house on balch street/ you won't have to guess who they're speaking about," which for this girl who i think we can assume has always been a sort of gentle force makes so much sense. now we kind of get into opinions of mine, but i've always imagined treech and lamina as maybe childhood friends or cousins, with lamina being a bit better off, and therefore treech spending a good deal of time at her house when they were young (in my mind it also sort of contributes to the way the betrayal went down with lamina, who lead a somewhat easier life growing up having a lower inclination towards survival and treech having a bit of stored up resentment for the conditions he was raised in in contrast with hers). that's why for me the idea of this song is so strongly tied to lamina, beckoning him to come over, to stay the night, to take comfort in the safety of her home (tbh i might write a oneshot about this). also, the lyrics "i know that it ain't much/ i know that it ain't cool/ oh, you don't have to tell/ the other kids at school." i can totally see treech as a kid being a bit embarrased of this companion who can barely stand her own ground and lamina who knows this giving him what she can anyways because that is the kind of person she is.

also, last one i promise, but "you're gonna go far," which for me also conjures pre-games treech and lamina and the way that he likely had this idea that she would make something of her life before everything went to hell. and even outside of that, lamina to me, will always represent the lyric "you're the greatest thing we've lost," with her unabashed kindness and bravery and the way district 7 probably mourned for the quiet girl with the red hair who always had the power to do more.

[daisyvisions]

assuming you've already been made aware probably, but just in case

https://www.tumblr.com/thetypingpup/764075091731562496/ok-theyve-deactivated-but-jasminexo5xuhuihuis?source=share

First of all, thank you so much for bringing this to my attention anon. You are truly a real one for this.

(Long message ahead, if you wanna skip I don't mind but TLDR, a close moot of mine turned out to be a minor)

Okay, so some of y'all have been around my blog long enough and aware enough to know that I have mentioned @/jasminexox or @/jasminexo5 or later known as @/xuhuihuis. I'm gonna save everyone the trouble by saying that apparently it was discovered that she was a minor and has been lying about her age and her life (to those who've gotten close to her).

Some might think she was a new blog here but I've known jasmine since 2022 and not once was I aware that she was a minor, which tbh I feel incredibly disappointed because I've dedicated parts of my day to chatting to her when we were close, I've given her ideas for some fics or how to start writing more, I've shared my own thoughts and ideas for fics and it just guts me knowing she was probably 14/15? absolutely disheartening.

For a long time I knew she was lying about her life, tbh it was pretty obv because her stories never added up, but me being me I thought "maybe she doesn't want to reveal her personal life here and just uses aliases" which is completely valid! But as time went on we didn't talk as much and my energy was going to my tbz friend group. and when I saw the label in my chat with her here that she was deactivated the only thing that crossed my mind was "I hope she's alright" but now knowing it was because her lies were discovered, it just placed the final nail to the coffin on what I've felt about her over the past years.

What makes me even more sad, gutted, disappointed is the fact that sharing ideas with her when I was just a new reader with no friends on Tumblr actually sparked my interest in writing. If I didnt talk to her, or share ideas with her, I don't even think my blog would've existed at all, and I would've never met the lovely people and my close friends. The weight of this thought has on me really fucking sucks. It really does.

Her lying about her life I couldn't really give a fuck, anyone can do it here, but to lie about her age, to rope in innocent people who genuinely thought you were of age and could confide in you as a friend, a peer, and ultimately question their own moral compass as adults after knowing this truth is sickening.

As an adult, who writes smut on here, there is only so much I can do to prevent minors from reading whatever I post. I can prevent, block, tell them to not read but at the end of the day, if they have the conscience to lie, they have the conscience to do the bare minimum and read blogs that say "MINORS DO NOT INTERACT". So if you're a minor and you're reading this right now, be smart and unfollow / block me. You know better.

Now that I've said my peace, the only question remains... will I still continue this blog after knowing a partial reason as to why I started it to begin with was because of her? Answer is yes, because my love for tbz and writing as a means of creative expression were not inspired from her but from my own thoughts, conversing with her (and her being a writer) only placed that thought in my head. I will still write for tbz until time tells me it's time to stop.

But now, I want to set things right and be a better example on here as an adult so these are the things I will do immediately:

Delete any mentions of her because I don't want that fucking name on any of my fics or asks. I rest easier not seeing her @ (but to those who've reblogged those posts and still see her name through reblogs dont come after me for that please Tumblr doesn't update reblogs sadly).

Rewrite my disclaimer about minors on here. My current one is straight to the point and I can only do so much to prevent minors from entering, but because of this I will make it more clear about my warnings.

IF I have the time, to block ageless and bot blogs. To be honest it is very hard for me to find the time but I will try my best, no guarantees but for now, a really important disclaimer will do (hopefully...)

And if anyone spots minors on my blogs, I encourage you to DM or send an ask, and I will quickly block the blog idc if you like my shit, you're not supposed to be here to begin with.

Final note, I hope those who were even more affected by jasmine's actions will be okay, Im aware there were even some who got to know her more and even helped her out in her own writing (just as I did with her). Please know you were not the only one who was lied to and I hope that you take enough time to heal from this.

[lasplaga]

[ META ] + salazar

「𝔖」 Presuming that you meant Ramon Salazar, some of this will cover canonical topics, as well as analyses of mine. Granted The Salazar lineage is vast & lasts over 500 years, I urge further asks if people would care to read about Diego or anyone else in relation to this specific bloodline. The lore is extensive & contains distressing elements, as such it is placed under a read-more:

In regards to Ramon specifically, they first met when he was born in the year of 1984. The 8th's "strange disease" ( In The Japanese Localization ) was inherited genetically & the very same illness that claimed his grandfather Alejandro, who fell to an untimely death. Los Illuminados' return to the mainland was ultimately the result of Catalina wishing to preserve the life of her only child from an otherwise incurable ailment.

Osmund, like Ramon, was despised by the population for being born different --- this being amplified tenfold with The 7th's Queen betrayal & Ramon becoming a LITERAL mutant, on top of his disabilities. It should be no surprise that the community of Valdelobos ( but not Los Illuminados worship ) had an innate disgust with the disabled, mental or physical, as anything outside of the norm would potentially be perceived as deformed or the defilement of demons. "The Devil" being welcomed out of exile to cure Ramon was the final nail in the coffin, which more or less led the boy straight into his arms not even a decade later, willingly.

Anyone familiar with the remake should know that Ramon was horrifically abused by his own biological father, to the point where he wished to kill his own son for being born sickly & an aforementioned "demon-child". Osmund using this as leverage to gain his loyalty I don't believe was really necessary, as Los Illuminados was already an established enemy of The Salazar's --- Ramon was entirely aware of their existence & the genocide his ancestry committed, then continued. Osmund absolutely manipulated him to an extent, but granted Ramon desired the death of his own biological father regardless, it was minimal. If Lord Saddler was not eventually responsible for Diego's death, Ramon absolutely would have been, without a doubt.

I believe Osmund hearing Catalina's plight was his only genuine show of "humanity", despite his blessing utterly robbing a soul of that. From his point of view, blessing another with Las Plagas IS a show of kindness, granted his role as a faith healer & missionary. Although he was the key to releasing the seal initially, he was not set aside after all was said & done. Lord Saddler actually held Ramon in a respectable regard, going as far for The Castellan to believe that The Lord was his "true father" all along.

Replaceable as Ramon is as a subordinate, I truly think Osmund harbors some "love" for the boy, in his own way, considering he was raised solely by him since he was about 8 years old --- an act that was NEVER necessary. The director & Ramon's own voice actor confirmed that in the script, it was suggested that he was essentially adopted & treated as his own. Osmund has known Ramon more than he has known his own biological parents --- & with how highly he speaks of him, I can almost guarantee he is spared from any harsh treatment. If anything, I'm willing pin that Ramon is spoiled lavishly by Lord Saddler. I surmise granted they share trauma by the very same institution, they understand each other better more than anyone & have a much deeper bond than what Lord Saddler might have with Chief Mendez or Major Krauser.

Their relationship as father / son, however, also breaches into a very strange, upsetting but understandable dynamic, with Ramon wishing to play "catch up" with Lord Saddler, as his childhood was essentially devoid of any affection. Ramon admits so himself in his personal diary ( Japanese Localization ) that he loves to sit on Osmund's lap, his head being patted / caressed like he is a little boy --- despite being a fully grown adult. Granted Osmund was born in the midst of a violent civil war between two religious institutions, & could / would never sire a true heir himself --- Ramon receives very preferential treatment & leniency as his servant.

𝐓𝐋𝐃𝐑: Osmund's fatherly relationship with Ramon is extremely weird, but bound tightly by generational trauma, prejudice & abuse inflicted upon by the same religious institution.

[godsofhumanity]

Hello,do you have any headcannons for the lettuce incident with Horus and Set?

SO MANY. idk where to start from because i've already spoken bits and pieces about it-- check my hc masterlist in my bio!

ok, so, like I said here, i think Set's betrayal all begins with his perception that Osiris is too kind-hearted and therefore, too weak to rule properly.

and so he decides to kill Osiris and take over. and this is all super clean because Osiris doesn't have any heirs that could possibly contest for the throne.

UNTIL, Isis, with the power of love, resurrects Osiris and has Horus. NO ONE was expecting that, least of all Set... i hc that Set banishes Isis and doesn't kill her because she's still his sister and she's sort of a bit timid and doesn't pose any real threat to him (or so he thinks).

now, the thing about Horus is that he lives most of his life away from the capital of Egypt-- which is where Set stays. so Horus hears a lot of stories about Set, but doesn't really know who he is. but, now that Horus has grown up a bit, and Set is a bit older than he was back when he killed Osiris, Horus thinks that since he's younger, he should be stronger, and it'll be really easy to defeat Set.

but when Horus arrives at Set's palace, i like the idea that he's very flashy and loud and just openly reveals who he is and challenges Set then and there. and Set is like "wtf how are you even alive!" and Set, equally as arrogant as Horus, thinks it'll be an easy task to kill Horus right there on the spot.

so they have, right from the get-go, this rivalry where they both think they're sooo much better than the other. but, the truth about who's better isn't actually all that clear. they fight, but get interrupted by the arrival of Atum (Egyptian creation myth varies, but i like the idea that Atum is the supreme creator,, THE first guy ever, and progenitor of all gods) who "hosts" the Ennead.

and Atum, wise beyond measure, decides that picking who should be Pharaoh isn't as simple as winning a fight, so he designs numerous challenges to test all manner of skills and reveal the one who is truly worthy of the throne.

unfortunately, Set and Horus are both very cunning and talented, and there is no distinct victor. ultimately, the challenges are no longer about being good at the game, but outsmarting/foiling each other.

now, Set hates Horus for numerous reasons; chiefly because he threatens to take away Set's throne which he has "sacrificed much for", but also because Horus and his family (i.e., Osiris and Isis) have taken away all that Set wishes for... from Set's perspective.

Osiris, ruler of Egypt, took the throne that Set thought he was more worthy of. everyone fawns over Isis for her beauty and kindness, but Set perceives that Nephthys is wayyy prettier and talented and has more heart/soul than Isis ever could have, and lastly, the final nail in the coffin, Isis is responsible for raising Anubis after Nephthys, in fear of Set, gives Anubis away to Isis so she doesn't have to raise him herself in Set's presence where Anubis might grow to be as tyrannical as Set.

obviously, Set doesn't see himself as the reason for why Anubis had to be sent away.. in my version of events, Set doesn't even know Anubis exists until Horus goes with Anubis to the capital to challenge Set... this is because Nephthys conceals her pregnancy from Set, so he's completely oblivious.

but the thing is-- i like the idea that Set actually does want a family. he does love Nephthys. he would have been over the moon to have a son, to raise Anubis himself, and he HATES Isis for taking his son away from him... i do not think he blames Nephthys,, but is convinced that she was "brainwashed" into giving Anubis away.

so when Set sees Horus and Anubis acting like brothers, it pisses Set off a lot, and it makes Set hate Horus even more.

now... with the actual lettuce incident.. the original is too weird for my liking- i think Set and Horus should have a strictly professional relationship (and also idk how anyone could stick to the original myth without sounding batshit insane).

backstory for a moment: i have a hc that, at the place where Ra first emerged is a tree. and that tree bears seed that is considered to be the substance of life (you can probably see where im going with this)... certain creator gods like Ra, Ptah, and Atum, have the power and skill to use that seed to create lifeforms, but for most other gods, it's toxic and akin to poison. so Set steals some of the seeds off this tree and uses it to hopefully poison Horus.

in the original myth, Ra, Horus, Set and a few others i think, go to this secret island where they're supposed to play nice and not fight. so, under the pretense that he's "playing nice" and following the truce, Set gifts Horus some of this poison that he's disguised as wine.

but Horus isn't as dumb as he looks, and although he doesn't know what it is that Set has given to him, he recognises the danger in accepting something from Set. so of course, he goes to his mother (like he always does).

and i think from there, Isis and Hathor realise Set's plan and turn the tables on him, transferring that poison to Set's favourite lettuce.

you might ask, why does Set accept the lettuce from Horus when he knows they're enemies??? well, i think, the simplest answer is that Set underestimates Horus. constantly.

he doesn't see Horus as a threat that he can't defeat. so, when Horus gives Set the lettuce, he's reasonably sure that it's not poisoned. as a precaution, i hc that the poison is only in the core of the lettuce, so to prove it's not poisoned, Horus can eat a leaf from the outmost layer and be fine, but when Set eats into the centre of the lettuce, that's when the poison strikes.

anyways. the rest is the same as the classic myth. Set eats the lettuce and gets pregnant -_- and gives birth to a disk which is very humiliating and embarrassing for him.

now, the act of getting impregnated by your rival is supposed to be like... the most shameful thing ever. it's not something to be proud of. BUT, this kinda doesn't make sense to me because a lot of gods in myth have given birth on their own and no one really faced any embarrassing social consequences because of this. ALSO, the Contendings doesn't end when Set gives birth, BUT ends when Set unwittingly admits that he did the wrong thing and Horus should be King, and that doesn't happen for a bit.

SO, i like the idea that Set, crafty as ever, decides to spin things around and claim that the fact that he could create life is not a shameful thing, after all- Ra himself created Hathor and many other gods by himself, as did Atum, and also Ptah. so, really, there's nothing wrong with it.

and,, because Set is so skilled in persuasion, many on the Ennead are inclined to agree with him, and so, the Contendings continues on with MORE challenges, much to Horus' chagrin.

[goldentigerfestival]

if there is one thing I am deeply upset about in Vesperia, it's how sidelined Raven got in the Alexei arc and in post. he should have been one of the primary characters in that fight - like, I'm talking "Raven is not in your party. Please reorganize your party to include Raven" levels of being a primary character. imo they made Alexei's arc include too much of Yuri. I understand he's the main character and needs to be included, but I feel like in general he had a much weaker story with Alexei.

that's not to say he didn't have one, because he definitely did - they did have a small rapport going in arc 1 and Alexei very much treated Yuri like he held him in high regard. of course, yes, Alexei had plans all along, but on Yuri's end, as far as he knew at the time, Alexei wasn't faking it. he didn't like how the knights did things, but he had no immediate disrespect toward Alexei as a person. actually, he treated Alexei like he treated anyone, which is a very good thing with Yuri because it means he's relaxed enough to not feel threatened by Alexei in any sort of way. there was a pretty cordial relationship between them all things considered.

that said though, it should've been Flynn and Raven who had the most impactful stuff with Alexei when it came down to it. Yuri could've been a sort of support for them, but he wasn't close to Alexei. Flynn respected and admired him, even taking orders from him directly sometimes. Raven was by his side and his shadow man for a very long time. ultimately he, unlike Flynn, knew he was being used and not for anything good, and it's likely he never truly liked his role... but that's exactly why it mattered so much and why he should have finally stepped up to fight Alexei personally (and I don't mean optionally).

Raven should have been more resolute about ending his ties with Alexei. he should have been written to decide that he was living now, and that he was living for his friends. not just being alive, but truly living. their story together should not have ended with "you buried that old chap yourself". more on that later! but Raven should have put the final nail in the coffin to sever that tie by being Raven and fighting him as Raven. that happened, you say? sure, it kinda did... except the game didn't force you to use Raven in that battle, which takes away a chunk of the impact for me.

also, they could've added to the impact by having Raven make a comeback as Schwann being Flynn's right hand man once Flynn became the Acting Commandant. it could've been a way to have Schwann also start anew. to let Schwann become something more than Alexei's tool. Raven is Raven for the guilds, but the Schwann Brigade was never disbanded. they still call themselves the Schwann Brigade. plus, imo, since Raven can use his position to bring good to the empire the way Flynn does, he absolutely should have been able to get more story as Schwann. I don't mean one little sidequest so he can walk around in the outfit for gameplay - I mean the man should've gotten a full goal oriented reboot.

the thing is, Schwann is associated to Alexei in Raven's mind. he doesn't want to do anything that would retain that tie. that's exactly why he should resume his role as Schwann - not all the time (because Dahngrest still needs him a heck of a lot by the end), but during times he can do good for the knights and when he can make use of his high position. he can make it so that Schwann is not a consequence of Alexei. he can remove Schwann from Alexei and give him his own identity.

and also, despite Raven's insistence, Schwann was never gone. Raven thought he was because he thought Schwann was a consequence and extension of Alexei. like I said, the Schwann Brigade never disbanded. nobody ever replaced Schwann the way Flynn replaced Alexei. Alexei didn't bury Schwann, because the brigade itself did not let Schwann die. if they had accepted it and moved on, sure, I'd agree Alexei buried that chap himself! but he didn't, because they didn't. he didn't because Schwann was never Alexei's alone. he had love and respect from many knights, and that heavily includes Flynn (who continually brings up his thoughts on Schwann to Raven, such as asking Raven who the real him is), who wasn't part of his brigade.

what Alexei buried was his connection to Schwann. eventually, at some point, Schwann had become something more than Alexei's tool to others, and that was what freed him from just being an extension of Alexei. his knights are what they are because he guided them that way, and that's why you have that scene in Caer Bocram where they effectively save our cast from Cumore's brigade. they go on and on about Yuri's petty crimes, but they don't get into all the nasty stuff. they don't go along with the idea that Yuri kidnapped a princess (at first they think he "coerced" her at worst) like Cumore is trying to spin. they see things for what they are, and they recognize that Yuri has only engaged in minor crimes that are not dangerous.

they recognize Yuri is, as a person, not harmful. that's exactly why when Leblanc offers Yuri a position back into the knights, when Yuri declines, he says he wouldn't have it any other way. it's not an antagonistic relationship at this point, because Leblanc has also grown from everything. he respects Yuri. he appreciates Yuri. he recognizes that Yuri was there for their captain when they couldn't be. also, technically speaking, there was the silent implication that Yuri would've been reinstated into the knights under the Schwann Brigade. let that sink in on all the levels and extensions it'd reach. also, the water levels are deep. maybe I'll talk about it another time.

when Zaphias was in danger and all the nobles evacuated, it was the Schwann Brigade that rescued the entire Lower Quarter. they didn't need to be ordered to do it. they did it instinctively. no matter what Raven says about himself, that man is still their captain. Schwann is no longer Alexei's puppet. he's the captain of the Schwann Brigade and he's his own man. he's the man that led them to do what was right for the people. they are good knights and good people, and they're who they as knights are because they were set on that path by their captain.

so no, Alexei didn't bury him. Alexei couldn't get rid of him because he no longer had the power to do so. if Schwann had no other connections to anyone at all, yes, I'd agree, Alexei buried him and everything he stood for; but he didn't. he couldn't; because Schwann stood for more than just Alexei. eventually, at some point, he still naturally became his own person.

his brigade could do the things he was unable to do because of his duties for Alexei. when he personally couldn't be there to defend the people because Alexei had him off being shady and doing bad things like watching over Estelle and eventually kidnapping her for him, his brigade could do that. when he had to do the dirty work, he had people he guided to do the right thing, so when he did the bad things, they could course correct for the people. he knew he'd have to do the shitty work for Alexei, so he taught others the correct path to be on to save others. he had a failsafe ready for anything bad that he couldn't personally step in for, and that was his brigade.

this man needs a raise.

also, I was robbed of them making Yuri, Flynn and Raven the golden trio thank you very much. give me the guild member, the knight and the Both Man.

well at least in my mind they are and forever will be the Golden Trio.

tl;dr raven and schwann both got sidelined hard by the story. they deserved more to their story and more importance than what they got.