#the characters are really likeable

[namusass]

literally every single time hyunju was on screen i was screaming "shes so HOT AND SEXYYYYYYYY" the entire time. because she's hot and sexy i love her so much i know shes prob gonna die and i wil be devastated but for now im gonna be Very Emotionally Attached to her

[expelliarmus-percabeth]

this is not that hot of a take and has been said before but the hottification of the TSH characters is directly antithetical to the message of the book. there are characters who have been stated to be canonically not conventionally attractive (henry, francis, bunny in richard's opinion). I've seen some people claim that they facecast these characters (particularly henry) as hot because it directly affects how they feel about the character and how redeemable they seem to be, which is like, that is EXACTLY richard's flaw throughout the whole book lmao. im not like trying to control how people consume media or anything and if you want to view TSH as a guilty pleasure sexy dark academia novel with sexy characters committing crimes in a dark mysterious and cool way that's totally your choice but you should at least be aware that that romanticisation is exactly what donna tartt set out to criticise when she wrote TSH

[randomnameless]

:)

Why JP!Cyril's reaction at Hilda "violent Almyrans" or just, lolcalised "fierce Almyrans" was nuked?

He tried to bring nuance to Hilda's assessment, maybe as a throw back to their support convo where she realises Cyril is "one of the good ones"?.

Imagine if, in her native route, we later learn that this axe was someone who was slaughtered and who is still in semi-sentient state?

That'd make the comment about that someone's remains not being "cute" kind of assholish, right? I wonder if this is why Pat erased the "cute" mention, maybe to preserve and salvage Hilda's character and likeability for the fandom? Just like Cyril casual "it's not they're almyrans that they're all violent" reminder?

[lizzybeeee]

(Same anon) It's also just a lot harder for me because Solas in Inquisition was trying to take down the Veil in a world that was genuinely shitty to elves, mages, and spirits (nvm that until this game I was 100% sure that he was trying to do this more for the ancient elves, like why else imply there are more out there to Abelas? I guess he was just being polite?) Veilguard depicts Thedas as being largely okay with mages and spirits even outside of Tevinter and pointedly doesn't depict racism against elves outside a handful of throwaway lines. So they had him going at this with the same conviction from DAI, of a man trying to reverse the slow genocide of his people, but they've boiled his motivations down to "The Veil is unnatural" Like. How much more awesome if we could have convinced him not to destroy the world because of a culmination of choices in this game and all the others that made Thedas a kinder place idk man. ngnegnwgnf sorry for ranting in your inbox, I still liked Solas enough in this game but it was really bittersweet that they just dumbed down his motivations. I love your idea for influencing the Inky though, it definitely should have been a choice closer to the end and allowed for more variations (ideally all Inkies should have that, not just the Solavellans)

Hello again, Anon! :)

100% agree that the sanitization of the world and lore absolutely hurts Solas's motivations - especially if you look at it solely from what Veilguard gives us and with no background from previous games. All of the previous games, mostly Origins, were really effective in conveying how shit life could be for an elf - and how inbuilt this prejudice against the elves was in all aspects of Thedas.

The chant of light removing the canticle of Shartan, the march on the Dales, the struggles of the Dalish to simply live, the treatment of elves by the ruling class/chantry/ and others in general...it all painted such a bleak outlook for the elves and showed how ingrained this prejudice was in all aspects of Thedas. They had no way out - the structures of power in Thedas would fight them at every turn - which was why Solas being set up as a way for them to fight against all these systems was so compelling! You want the elves to win - but it will be at the cost of everything else if Solas goes ahead with his plan.

(You can definitely also make an argument that perhaps he's using them just to restore the world from before -> Felassan argued with him about this: to see the world as it was as real and worth improving.)

DATV felt divorced from the previous games, and its reluctance to meaningfully go into issues surrounding the lives of elves in Thedas - all the ugliness that brings - really did nothing to add to Solas's motivations for bringing down the Veil. If anything, I got the impression that he does not see anyone in Thedas as being 'real' and that he's simply doing it out of regret and to soothe his own ego/guilt. If this game wanted me to be sympathetic towards Solas it didn't do a good job of making me feel it, especially when you look at the totality of everything that Solas has done.

What I took from Trespasser was that Solas wanted to heal the wound he had left on the world - the Veil - and what he had inadvertently done to the elves. He had given everything he had to free the elven people from oppression and tyranny, only to inadvertently leave them vulnerable to the same oppression from others -> taking away their magic and long lives in the process. He was so blinded by his goal (stopping the evanuris) that he failed to see what his own actions might have wrought in the process.

Trespasser set up the 'Elven Rebellion 2.0' with a Solas who was torn between the world he once knew and the world it had become in spite of his intentions. Does he truly care about the elven people in current Thedas? Or does he just care about the world that came before? In DAI he was such a fascinating character because he could be so polarizing! People loved him! People hated him! Both were correct!

But starting the game with the ritual, sanitizing the world (no real signs of conflicts about spirits, mages, elves, anything really etc...), and simplifying his motivations to "fix fade -> be immortal/magic -> profit"...it just feels so shallow.

Solas: "Long before we met, I failed my oldest friend. She died for that failure. If I leave the Veil in place, I am destroying the world she wanted."

He spells his motivations out pretty clearly at the end and it's just...Mythal? He doesn't seem to care about the elves that are currently living in Thedas - not even Lavellan. Like you said, in Tresspasser I also got the impression that he wanted stop the slow genocide of his people. But apparently it was 'Mythal All Along'!

The lack of supporters/agents really gives him no credence to say that this is anything that the elves want - elven Rook can even call him out on it and he doesn't care. For a character whose own trauma began with bring coerced into a body he didn't want he doesn't give a shit about doing the same to thousands of other elves.

It's far less compelling, to me at least, than what I felt was set up in DAI: the Dread Wolf, god of rebellion, rallying elves after ages of systematic abuse and oppression with the goal of liberating his people and restoring the world that was - the world he inadvertantly denied them with the consequences of his actions. Instead it's just Solas doing his own thing because he's right and he needs to fix what he did wrong for Mythal.

It would have been great to be able to convince him to change his mind/ pursue another path as a result of the culmination of our actions throughout the series. It could be a nice nod to our past decisions and a nice conclusion to see the results of those choice in missives/codex entries. Same as the 'south can repel the blight' counter idea, have their be some kind of 'convince Solas to pursue another option' tally that demonstrates that this world is willing to change and he should be too.

[pigeonstab]

(One more silly werewolf doodle before I go to bed)

Poor Dust didn't stand a chance, how long do you think it took Horror to learn his strength and stop destroying everything in the vampire house? lol

(Also in case you're going to bed around now too goodniiiight!!)

(Unless you see this in the morning in which case good moooorning!!)

WAAAAAA cutiesss, Horror just fucking clocked him holy shit T T, this is so cool thank u sm!!

I think.. College au Horror is very controlled. He knows his strength, maybe there was a small adjusting period when he started living with vamps instead of a pack of wolves similar in strength.

He's very teasing though, so probably lots of 'oh no gravity is increasing on me' bullshit lol.

[citrusinicake]

ppl who dont understand loving a character while also hating them fascinate me, clearly youve never stanned a complete and absolute dickhead before

[beedreamscape]

I hope Suvi does get over the Citadel's influence but I hope that by the end of it, she's still an ass because why can't a woman be a little unlikeable ffs

[waltzing-rats]

It seems that merging completely unrelated hyperifxations of mine has become the jist of my art so BEHOLD ‼️‼️ HTTYD GYOMEI

@trippygalaxy

[spiltsoup]

I do really like how Caine doesn’t seem to be actively malicious or anything like that.

He respects the gang’s individuality and even adds an exit for them, waits until Pomni confirms she’s okay with her new name to start calling her that and then tries immediately to make her feel at home.

It’s not like he’s keeping them trapped there or anything, he just enjoys their company. Make no mistake, he definitely seems… off, just not in the typical “this wacky character is Secretly Evil” trope that a lot of other media tends to follow.

I can respect the walking talking pair of teeth for that

[adriartts]

more side character designs now to the tune of the Kil sisters

[amelikos]

Friede being that bridge between generations and the beloved student of Liko and Amethio's parents, to the point Liko's mother entrusts her daughter's safety to him and that Amethio's father acknowledged his work and kept his ID card long after Friede left Exceed and trusts him enough to let him know he always has a place with him..

Something something, once a student, now the mentor guiding their kids.

[wanderingmind867]

Who knew some of my favorite characters would be archers and/or sons of mars? Frank Zhang, Hawkeye, Martian Manhunter, possibly Green Arrow, etc. I know a lot of these characters are very different, but it's weird how the bow characters and/or characters tied to mars seem to appeal to me. Some odd coincidences, I guess. But I really do like all of the characters i've mentioned (but i put the maybe around green arrow because i haven't read many comics with him yet). And technically, I've liked archers in other things too. I remember really liking ashe in fire emblem: three houses (which was one of my last interests before the current long comics hyperfixation).

[marylily-my-beloved]

you know if we hated like the people who are like anti-whatever in the marauders fandom it would be sooo funnnyyy because all they have is stupid rants about why they hate things for literally no reason

[ilynpilled]

i can fully understand the gripes with certain misogynistic tropes/writing issues that are present in the execution of some of cersei’s writing, but i will never understand the “she should have a redemption arc” or “she should be more likeable/less morally dark” perspective. that is not what her character is or has to be to make it great. wanting more female anti-heroes or “redemption arcs” with moral greyness and complexity of the level that asoiaf gives to primarily male characters is entirely understandable, but do some of you people even like cersei as a character, like at its core? like this is not about criticising the execution of certain things when it comes to this character, this is about taking issue with her as a villain fundamentally, which i just do not agree with at all

[sirenofstyxx]

This isnt new or original at all but i gotta say some of my favorite characters are always those absolutely awful charismatic bastard villians who in fiction I enjoy but if I met in real live I would punt into the stars. Bonus points when they get their inevitable and extremely satisfying comeuppance and get their ass handed to them

[illiaccrest]

You know I've been really enjoying Honkai Star Rail but every time I start thinking about where the story might go in the future it just makes me feel nervous, and I think that's entirely because of the stellaron hunters.

I get the distinct impression starting from early in the plot that the writers are expecting me to be soooooo interested in the SH, but they never really give me any reason to care about the SH. Kafka even starts her character quest with the whole "aReNt yOu InTeReSteD iN mE" which,

1) that's writing a pet peeve of mine when it comes to video games. It feels like a thinly veiled attempt by the writers to manipulate or tell the reader how they're supposed to feel about a character. To me it comes across like the writers aren't confident that they made the character interesting enough. They did the same thing with Firefly (NPCs apparently needing to tell me "oH yOu TwO aRe SoOoO close"). They know they aren't going to let the character actually DO anything so they need to inform me of how I'm supposed to feel. Weak

2) It's kind of off-putting if you happen to not see the appeal of the character immediately?? Imo it would be a lot more effective if they just stopped trying to assume/manipulate my feelings as the reader and just let me form my own opinions.

It freaks me out a little bit while I'm trying to enjoy the story because it's so BLATENT. I have the distinct impression that the game is going to reach it's emotional peak, that peak is going to revolve around the SH, and it's going to be a complete miss for me because I simply don't care about these characters.