#the horrific tragedy of the clones

[ladybird-with-a-pen]

The Tragedy of the Clones

I’ve been reading a lot of fanfic recently as I’ve gotten into the Star Wars fandom and the thing I keep on getting stuck on and grieving - like legitimately grieving - is the inherent tragedy of the clones and their circumstances.

A lot of fics explore the what-ifs and emotional spectrum that the clones feel about their existence and its horrific because while some fics explore the inherent slavery of it all, some explore the idea of what the clones could have done or been after the war.

What good they could have brought or adventures they could have seen or relationships they could have been in.

And they’re snippets - something which makes it even WORSE because you KNOW that they’ll never have that and despite all hopes and dreams, all acts of compassion and loyalty, they never get that, along with the Jedi.

And they never had the option in the first place.

They were just created as a pawn on a board, a tool in a chest to be used once and discarded.

And it’s horrible.

[desultorydenouement]

does anyone know the specific trope name for whatever is going on with star wars coruscant guard fics. like, an overworked, incredibly competent collective of middle aged teenage military troopers struggling to survive the horrific banalities of an abusive beaurocratic system. navigating both powerlessness and incredible responsibility. the cultural evolution from their collective brotherhood, the divides that develop among clones from different experiences of the same war. the hostile and oppressive yet deeply domestic, loving and mundane everyday life of indentured soldiers learning to give themselves and each other personhood on the home front of a war that created them just to be militant bodies. a family sitcom built ramshackle from the bones of a greek tragedy. what’s that called

[kingofangst]

A Senpai's Sacrifice

OKAY RIGHT NOW I AM IN MY FEELS OF ANGST AND SADNES. I AM COPING RIGHT NOW.

So here is a bittersweet one-shot I created, where surname-san makes a tough decision and sacrifice! While I incorporated some of the lyrics of Unravel by TK Ling (DIsclaimer: I do not own the rights to this song) to darken the mood. This has nothing to do with my Jujutsu Kaisen fanfic au: A Nexis's Peril, this is a totally different oneshot I wrote myself. Enjoy the derpession!

Characters: Itadori Yuji, Kugisaku Nobara, Mahito, past reader, past Satoru Gojo, reader-senpai, reader is gender-neutral

Warnings: Graphic violence, past bullying, that's about it

P.S: Made some edits when I noticed I saw some typos and I had to change it from "he" to "they" to make it gender-neutral. Sorry about that!

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There were...there are two Mahitos. That explains why Nobara damaged Mahito's soul, she fought a clone and used her resonance to Mahito's clone as an effigy to damage Mahito's soul-

Their blood freezes when the real Mahito switches places with his clone

"RUUUNNN!!! KUGISAKI!!!"

The pain in Itadori's voice made Surname-san recoil, but pales in comparison as they watch the real Mahito charge at Kugisaki who is in shock at the scene before her. Then everything went in slow-motion…

No...no no no no no no no no NO!

5

This wasn't how things were supposed to end...they didn't expect things to turn out this bad without Gojo-sensei…

Kugisaku...Kugisaki...Kugisaki...Kugisaki...KUGISAKI!!!

4

They can't afford to see their own kouhai, who they watched grow in the past months, this fiery and passionate girl of steel taking out two Special Grade curses with Itadori 5 weeks ago, die in front of them or Itadori who has already lost so much...from Shibuya's destruction...Nanami-sensei's death…

3

There's no place in this world that they would want more than to see their kouhais safe and happy, away from all of this...Okinawa sounds like a happier place to be in than here…

2

"Cursed Technique: Kyomu no Ten'i..." They manifest with their cursed energy, having their hands out, creating a sphere of black energy, getting lighter and lighter as they prepare themselves for their last stand…

1

"...Shin'en no Kokan!"

"You're a weird kid, you know that?"

"Huh?" They question, looking up at a classmate in their 4th grade science classroom, eyeing the other kid.

"I said you're weird...how are you even good at making things explode when you can't even make friends?"

Those were the words that stuck inside of 10 year-old Surname-san's head since the 4th grade. They weren't the most sociable kid, nor the funniest, nor the most popular. But they knew they were different from anyone else in that classroom and in the school. How does one explain to someone who is purely human that they can see curses at a young age?

Oshiete oshiete yo sono shikumi wo

Surname-san saw the green and purple curse swarming around the antagonistic kid's shoulders like a cobra, it's weird seven eyes staring back at their eyes. Of course, Surname-san didn't do much except leave, as the kid continued to shout and bully them as they walked away. School was horrible, life was horrible as a foster kid, they had no will or desire to even fix things. They thought they were cursed since birth.

Boku no naka ni da ga iru no?

A week after their hardships, a tragedy happened, one that happened in their school. The day that they lost their entire class and grade to a horrific curse…the very same one that was on the kid that bullied them…

Kowareta, Kowareta yo kono sekai de

The hideous, cobra-like curse, slithering towards them from corpse to corpse, taking one life after another while they watch the carnage before them, shivering in fear

Kimi ga warau nanimo miezu ni

Running through the bloodied hallways of the school while the curse was hot on their trail wanting to consume them and their soul, shouting eerily “you’re weird!” “you will never make friends!” “why can���t you just die?” the words are all too familiar, from the very voice of the boy that is now dead. Now they stood in a corner and trapped between a wall and the path of where the curse was, hissing with a maniacal grin. The individual felt scared, horrified and was the only one alive against this very strong, hideous being. 

Beings they have seen on a regular basis, the sheer malevolence and disturbance of them from humans. As the curse leaped forward and went in for the kill, the individual shielded their faces as if to not face the gruesome fate that awaited them, unknowingly producing black circles that shot out to the curse. Instead of hearing their flesh and bones crack, they heard thuds and sounds of pain yelps. They open their eyes to see a shocking sight before them. The curse, in pieces, held separately by black swirling voids, crying in pain before starting to vanish into thin air.

Kowareta boku nante sa iki wo tomete

They never knew they could produce such abilities from their hands. How on Earth did they do such a thing? The crashing of windows burst through, shattering on the floor, startling them when a tall figure with white hair, all dressed in black with shades lands on the floor, their feet crunching the glass that shattered. The male, looking between them and the now evaporating curse and the odd, circular black things exorcising the curse, is surprised and impressed. He watches the curse being destroyed, before walking up to the frightened child that began crying silently.

Hodokenai mou hodokenai yo shinjitsu sae freeze

“That was you?”

“H-Hai- I don’t know I- I don’t know what I did b-but everyone d-died and it chased me and I-I…I was running and I d-didn’t want this to eat…eat me-!” Their hiccups and sobs overtook their voice as the taller figure realized what this kid had before pulling him into a hug after a traumatic and grotesque event.

Kowaseru kowasenai kurueru kuruenai anata wo mitsukete

“Kid, what’s your name?”

“Surname first-name…” They sobbed into the male’s chest, finally letting out their pent up emotions of being bullied from school and foster care, not being seen as a person, not being defended by the guardians at foster care, not being able to have a happy life since birth. They felt cursed and just wanted to be erased from this world.

“You’re not a curse…” Is what the male tells them is what makes them realize they said it out loud. “You are a special human being. One that can control your cursed energy and can be able to use a cursed technique. Surname-san, my name is Satoru Gojo, and you are a sorcerer. I see you’ve had a rough life judging by what you said out loud. So let’s forget about that, forget what life throws at you, and let me help train you?”

And so, they took his hand, out of awe and pent up emotions of what this male told them, saying “You’ll be doing amazing things, surname-san.”

“SURNAME-SENPAI!!”

YURETA YUGANDA SEKAI NI DANDAN BOKU WA SUKITOTTE MIENAKU NATTE

One second, Kugisaki found herself in shock, staring at Mahito’s hand inches away from her face, then the next second being pulled in a black void that was endless, before seeing light and same beige tiles of the place she was in, falling beside Itadori whose pained shout she heard echo the hallway. She turns in time to see her senpai, in the exact place she was in, horror taking her features as Mahito’s hand swipes Surname-san’s face. They switched places with her!

"Surname-senpai! What the hell did you do!?"

MITSUKENAIDE BOKU NO KOTO WA MITSUMENAIDE

So this is what it feels like to be touched by Idle Transfiguration, they think as Mahito’s evil cackle erupts in the atmosphere before gripping their head in discomfort. They already felt their soul begin to unravel, their brain starting to become painful.

Kugisaki didn't want to admit the grim truth of their senpai's actions. But no matter how much she tried to think otherwise, she couldn't think of one. Because...Surname-senpai sacrificed their life for her by switching places at the exact moment Mahito was supposed to touch her, and taking her place.

DAREKA GA EGAITA SEKAI NO NAKE DE ANATA WO KIZUTSUKETAKU WA NAI YO

“SENPAI!!!” Both of their voices called them out, fear and horror in their tone. This isn’t how they wanted to die, or go out. But if it means to save someone younger than them, then it’s worth that sacrifice. The memories of them since entering Tokyo Jujutsu Tech pouring in like a movie film, each memory of them with their classmates…

Maki…Toge…Panda…Yuta…gomenasai…looks like I won’t be treating you all to sukiyaki at Ginza…

"Gomen, Kugisaki but I promised Nitta-chan and Maki that I'd help you survive." They chuckle sadly, knowing the pain is only increasing and seeing Kugisaki's angry and horrified expression with Itadori's terrified one.

OBOETEITE BOKU NO KOTO WO

The drops of blood from both of their nasal holes, dripping rapidly, along with their head feeling as if it is going to implode, makes them gaze up to the scared eyes of Itadori and Kugisaki, their eyes widening in horror at how Surname-san is looking. I am so sorry you have to see this…

Oshiete 

Maki…Yuta…Toge…Panda…Hakari…Hoshi…Gojo-sensei…Fushiguro-kun…Yaga-san…Ieiri-san…I…I am so sorry for this…I can’t make my promise…but…arigato

Oshiete

“Itadori-kun, Kugisaki-chan…thank you…for making me believe I was a good person…live a long life…both of you…”

Boku no naka ni

Those were the final words of their senpai, before hearing a gross popping, then witnessing their head explode into flesh, blood and brain matter scattering the floor and their uniform before the headless corpse falls to the floor with a sickening crack to the floor.

Then, the hallways echoed nothing but Itadori’s and Kugisaki’s cries…while Mahito was cackling at the demise of someone important to them

Dare ga iru no?

Itadori's cries echo the hallways the loudest alongside Kugisaki's crestfallen and tear-gazed expression. Itadori couldn't take it anymore...the tears cascacding down his face as his eyes lose the brightness in them completely.

Their senpai's bloody, mutilated and headless corpse was in front of them.

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Congratulations, you'll have depression now. You're welcome!

[spacemagicandlaserswords]

I'm finally up to The Bad Batch arc of The Clone Wars and I am so glad to finally watch something close to good happen for the clones. I wouldn't call it entirely good. What happened to Echo was horrific. But finally, after all of the emotional devastation, heartbreak, anguish and loss, something actually ends up going fairly well for the clones.

I'm also really looking forward to meeting the Batch for the first time like everyone else did and seeing their younger selves. I came to The Clone Wars via The Bad Batch, which is a bit of a backwards way of going about things but that's how it happened. The Batch will always be my first love, I adore them and they forever have a soft spot in my heart. But they've been joined by all the other clones and it's been so wonderful to go back and meet all of the clones and fall in love with them as well. I'm getting all teary and emotional writing this.

I know everything ends in tragedy. But at least before then there's a brief moment of brightness where something finally goes well for the clones.

[autisticsupervillain]

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Stats Equalized!

This Month's Fighters...

Emperor Palpatine vs Her Imperious Condescension!

Conditions:

Dark Empire Palpatine. Legends material only. "Dubiously Canon" Homestuck materials are ignored.

Scenario:

Just when Palpatine returns from the dead and sets out to conquer the galaxy with his new Dark Empire, the Alternian Empire invades, forcing him to direct his new armies at the incoming threat.

Analysis: Sidious

Of all the Dark Lords of the Sith who would come to terrorize the galaxy over the centuries, there is one and only one who could be said to have been born pure evil. He was not a man. Not a monster. But the Dark Side twisted into a barely human form. To the Sith, he is remembered as Palpatine the Great, the last of the Rule of Two who conquered the galaxy and destroyed the Jedi as no one before him ever had. To the Jedi, he is Darth Sidious, a genocidal monster behind the greatest tragedies and wars in galactic history. And to the Galaxy at large, he is just Emperor Palpatine, ruler of the First Galactic Empire.

Palpatine (not Sheev, that's Disney exclusive) always felt that the Naboo royal lineage he'd been born into was beneath him. Even as his family spoiled him rotten, he always felt he was destined for more. So, when Darth Plagueis the Wise, awed by his limitless potential in the Force, offered him secrets of the Dark Side, Palpatine did not hesitate. He murdered his family as a teenager and took the name Darth Sidious.

Sidious would manipulate his way to the top of galactic politics to become the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, before murdering Plagueis in his sleep. Then, under the guise of innocent, kindly Palpatine, he would instigate the Clone Wars, one of the bloodiest conflicts in history, to transition the Republic into a paranoid, fascist police state. Grooming the young Anakin Skywalker into the horrific enforcer Darth Vader, Palpatine would dispose of all his former allies when he took the throne, before purging the Jedi to grasp the galaxy in his iron grip.

Palpatine would reign unchallenged for decades, destroying planets with superweapons, instigating slavery and genocides, creating whole new forms of Dark Force magic, and crushing all resistance to maintain his iron grip on the galaxy. It was not until Anakin's son, Luke, reminded him of the man he was and turned him against his master that his mad reign would finally end. Palpatine would be cast into the reactor of his own Death Star, vaporized and obliterated. And at last, the Galaxy would know peace....

But, even after all that.... somehow, Palpatine returned.

Paranoid and meticulous, Palpatine planned ahead. He transferred his soul to a cloning station he'd prepared, letting the rebellion fight with the remnants of his empire as he rebuilt his armies and bolstered his strength, Palpatine would re-emerge to slaughter them all for failing and defying him. He would return not as a man, but as the embodies of the Dark Side itself. A being of the dark, twisted soul unconstrained by death or mortal morality.

Darth Sidious was a nearly unparalleled master of lightsaber combat, viewing it as little more than a way to mock the Jedi. Having mastered all seven forms, Palpatine would fight against some the greatest Jedi who ever lived, including Grandmaster Yoda, Mace Windu, Darth Maul, Galen Marek, and Luke Skywalker.

Despite their tenacity, the Jedi could not match Palpatine's sheer raw power in the Force. Galen Marek, who was powerful enough to pull starships out of the sky, Yoda, who could annihilate entire armies, and Luke, who had become an equal to his father Darth Vader by the time of Dark Empire. None of them alone could match his raw power on their own.

With Luke, Palpatine would spend months chipping away at his mind, driving him slowly mad to break him into his perfect apprentice, sucking out all his will the first time the young man challenged him. Palpatine could hide his darkness in the Force for years from all the Jedi in the Galaxy, flooding the Galaxy with his darkness so none could sense anything. Palpatine could slow down the Jedi Mace brought with him with a confusion haze, drive people mad with a thought, trap people in entire worlds made of illusions, bolster the willpower of his armies to effectively turn them into a hive mind, and even turn people into mindless drones with just a recording of his voice.

Palpatine spent so much of his time studying the Dark Side, he perfected every single power the Dark Side could provide at the time and could even invent brand new ones in a whim. He can vaporize you with lightning, suck the life our of you with Force Drain, crush you to death with telekinesis, fly, absorb energy, and will things to explode. He taunt Dooku how to create an army of zombies, can duplicate himself with hard loght copies, can shoot fire from his hands or freeze you solid, and can create fields of death that instantly kill any life form in their radius. Period. Alongside many.... many others...

Palpatine's being is nothing but a soul now. He doesn't need a physical body to survive. Whenever his current clone body dies or is defeated, he just transfers his soul to the next body or even to your body. He can take over your body and replace your personality, destroying your soul with his if you destroy his body through the power of Essence Transfer. Functionally, he is immortal so long as he has a body on hand.

But his most devastating ability of them all was dreaded Force Storm. This higher dimensional vortex in the fabric of space and time tears apart reality itself, wiping the life off planets and even punching holes in time. He used a Force Storm to teleport Luke across the galaxy and other Jedi such as Revan have tanked naturally occuring Force Storms only to end up getting teleported thousands of years across time. It is a literally apocalyptic power that could destroy the universe, higher dimensions and all, if Palpatine ever losses control of it.

So is this Dark Emperor the invincible god he says he is? ....No.

Firstly, Sidious strongly favors his force abilites. He thinks lightsaber combat is archaic, useful only to mock the Jedi. So, every single major victory against someone his own level came by way of his Force powers, with Mace and Yoda even disarming him outright before Sidious wised up. It says a lot that Palps doesn't even use his own lightsaber anymore. His old one was vaporized with the rest of him after his death, so now he uses a stolen blue Jedi one from a Jedi he killed personally. Probably one of the ones accompanying Mace. The only opponent Palpatine did beat with the blade is Maul who.... frankly, isn't even in the same galaxy as Sidious in any timeline....

Secondly, his own raw power is a detriment to his clone bodies. The more he exerts himself, the faster they rot under the weight of his might. Given that his clones range in age from fifteen to eighty, each body rots at different rates. After Leia freed Luke from Palp's control and gave him the strength boost he needed to overpower the Emperor, Palpatine had to keep transferring to weaker and weaker bodies that break down faster and faster.

Finally, if he fails to overpower the mind of his victim when possessing them, his soul will be wiped from existence, reduced to nothing and chaos. Though, for good measure, the ghost of every Jedi who ever lived did band together to destroy his soul forever and make sure he could never return.

Therein lies Palpatine's greatest achievement. He's bathed the galaxy in so much blood, that every Jedi who ever lived utterly despised him by the end. For as powerful as every Sith that came after him was, none was truly born evil like Palpatine.

Analysis: Her Imperious Condescension

The Alternian Empire. The ultimate terror in the universe, and eventually, the multiverse. A species of planet conquering trolls that has bathed the stars in blood, destroying countless civilizations and rending planets down to ash. What do you imagine when you picture such a fearsome foe? What diabolical mastermind do you see piloting the helm of this mighty empire?

Did you picture Betty Crocker, the baked goods brand? Because that's who it is.

Her Imperious Condescension was the immortal ruler of Alternia and all its colonies, forcing her empire into a bloodthirsty might-makes-right dystopia. Keeping her people in line under threat of being obliterated by an eldritch monstrosity and exterminating any blood caste that threatened her, she was a monsterous tyrant that banished all trolls to space upon reaching adulthood so they could immediately serve her eternal armies.

Until suddenly, her empire died out from under her. The eldritch monstrosity she used to keep her people in line cried out in hunger, signaling the end times of her people as their minds melted across the galaxy. Her people had died in a single cry. And now The Handmaiden, the grim reaper of her species, was staring her down.

The Condescension emerged victorious over the Handmaiden after a pitched battle and, with no one left to conquer, replaced her as Lord English's servant. She would now pave the way for her new master to destroy all reality.

Being second fiddle to the biggest threat Paradox Space has ever seen, The Condescension is monumentally powerful. As the highest of the sea dwelling high bloods, Betty is immortal and unaging, as well as completely immune to all psychic powers. She was conquering worlds for thousands of years before Lord English cursed her with "conditional mortality", keeping her from dying until her master had no further use for her. As a denizen of Paradox Space, she follows video game logic. She can store things in a hammerspace inventory known as a specibus, including objects she couldn't possibly be hiding on her person like her iconic trident, and can level up and grow stronger from any random action she makes.

Really, trolls are very hardy species just by baseline. The Condescension herself can survive the vacuum of space unharmed and several trolls could survive the heat of orbital re-entry as a freshly hatched grub. The fact that Condy stood as the unquestioned queen among them for possibly millions of years just showcases how tough she is.

With nothing but time, she manipulated the media and governments of Earth B until it was under her complete control, masterminding mankind's downfall before reducing the world to a flooded apocalyptic wasteland. In the meantime, she experimented on herself to unlock more of her latent abilities. While she could never quite get her psychic powers to work on humans, forcing her to rely on specialized mind control tiaras to deal with them, they did wonders on animals and half animal hybrids, bending them to her will absolutely. With her advanced telekinetic powers, she could throw around statues and even planets with ease, destroying entire worlds with her might, while her eye beans could blast apart entire planets.

Perhaps more daunting than even that was her power to control life. As a latent Thief of Life she could "steal" life from other people and give it to others or herself. In this way, she could keep the ones she cared about from dying, preserving the Helmsman's lifespan as he served as the battery on her ship, forcing him to live forever as the life was sucked out of him.

However, she couldn't restore the dead. As her competition might say... it was ironic that she could save others from death... but not herself.

Ultimately, the Condescension turned out to be such a formidable foe that even the heroes destined to destroy Lord English failed against her on the first go. She vaporized Kanaya with a single blast, snapped the neck of Aranea Serket, and stomped every God that stood in her way. So won so badly that John Egbert had to use an artifact that removed him from fate and break the laws of time travel just for anyone to have a chance at beating her.

Even then, she put up a very long fight. Going toe to toe with no less than four gods at once, many of whom could control space and time itself, all throughout the final battle. Next to her master, the Condescension was the toughest threat the heroes of Paradox Space had to face. Keep in mind, many of these Gods, such as John and Dave, could fight First Guardians, who could destroy entire multiverses and tank their destruction in turn!

But, eventually, even her bloody reign had to end. Millions of years of bloodshed and conquest were finally brought to an end by the Condescension's death, ending the legacy of the cruel Alternian Empire.

Throwdown Breakdown:

This fight would be a spectacle.

Both characters have plotted the rise and fall of empires through years of careful political manipulation and both are responsible for the destruction of countless worlds and the extinction of countless species. In raw power, both have the range to tear worlds apart and the power to crumble the multiverse if left unchecked. But... there can be only one.

Both Imperials have a devastating variety of powers and abilities, with both having a lot of counters to each other's arsenals. While his telekinesis doesn't quite match the sheer scope of the Condescension's, his Force Storms definitely do, tutaminus allows him to absorb her laser beams, any life force she steals from him can be yanked right back with Force Drain, and his trained immunity to mind control makes her tiaras useless. On the other hand, he can't control her mind either thanks to her natural immunity, Lord English's curse would counter out the Death Fields, and Condy's demonstrated toughness against the elements shows she could withstand Palp's fire, ice, and lightning for a long time before going down. Hard Vacuum is colder than freezing cold ice, while the heat of orbital re-entry and exploding planets can match the heat of fire, lightning, and lightsabers, giving Condy a buffer.

Now, I'm not saying she could just no-sell a lightsaber. Not at all. I'm just saying she'll endure the lightning and stabs a lot better than most people and should be capable of clashing blades with her trident just fine.

In terms of skill and intelligent, both are consummate chessmasters. Palpatine improvises his plans constantly throughout the movies to keeping coming out on top and has fallbacks for when things go wrong. Apprentice dead? Corrupt Dooku, then Anakin as a fallback when Dooku outlives his usefulness. On the Condescension's side, her first approach is usually to open with faux diplomacy before letting her armies swoop in on a helpless planet, a method that served her well when it came time to conquer the Earth. By the time anyone was ready to fight her, it was already much too late.

Sidious fought and defeated Grandmaster Yoda, someone who had been protecting the galaxy for nearly 900 years. But even that life span is a drop in the ocean to Condy, who has been conquering for thousands, if not millions of years. Sidious is a manipulative sorcerer first, warrior second, and he views combat as just a way to mock whoever he's fighting. The Condescension is the top rung of violent warrior race of planet conquers. She has more experience and a greater warrior's mindset than Palpatine. This exasperates the fact that, due to her immortality, Palpatine's win condition in this fight is to cripple the Condescension to the point that she can't fight anymore, which is much tougher to do if he can't chop her up with his lightsaber.

This fight is guaranteed to be an endurance run, and that's ultimately where Betty's victory lies. Lightning and lasers will clash through the vacuum of space, planets will be thrown around and destroyed, stars will explode until a chunk of the galaxy is gone. And through it all, Palpatine's body decays under the weight of his own power. Against an equal in power who surpasses his skill, Sidious will be forced to give everything he has even as his body rots around him, before ditching it to find another clone as it dissolves.

Despite being physically much older than him, Condy's body is stuck in her physical prime, while every clone Palpatine brings out will only grow more decrepit. Palpatine suffers from a snowball effect in this fight where once he starts losing, every action he takes to bounce back will push him down further, require exertion that makes him weaker, while every clone the Condescension kills will push her higher up her echeladder and make her stronger. Force Storms, duplicates, illusions, Palpatine surpasses in variety to be sure, but the Condescension has fought that, beaten that even during Game Over. It will be a long, drawn out batte of equals, and that's part of why Palpatine losses.

Darth Sidious's best shot is to launch the Condescension across time and space with a Force Storm, but I find that unlikely. Beyond Condy fighting Time and Space manipulators before, Force Storms are monumentally difficult to control and take an exponential amount of power, making the snowball issue even worse if it doesn't work.

Taking over the Condescension's body wouldn't work due to her in-built immunity. Interacting with the Horrorterrors does the exact same thing passively and the Condescension was raised by one just fine.

Out of trump cards, Palpatine would beg for his life beneath her heel before the trident spears his chest, the Condescension's laughter echoing through the ruins of his empire.

This Throwdown's Winner is....

Her Imperious Condescension!

[paragonrobits]

a lot of anti-Jedi rhetoric is deeply strange to me because a lot of it mostly amounts to sounding a lot like they think that the concepts of self control, NOT acting on your impulses or feelings the second you experience them makes you an inhuman monster

its a very strange fandom phenomenon and while I don't think its exclusively the result of people overhyping the concept of romance as something essential to the human experience (and disregarding the ideas of asexuality or simply that people might have bigger priorities than wanting to smooch someone), I do think that you see a lot of deeply strange conclusions that ultimately feel like people grasping at straws to find an excuse to hate the Jedi for basically existing.

One big example is the tendency for people to imply that the Jedi Order deserved their fate, or that their actions in the past led to it. Not only is this objectively incorrect, and not only is it specifically framed as a horrific tragedy and the capstone on the galaxy having a boot on its throat until the events of the original trilogy, the biggest issue there is the subject of Vader. A LOT of people like to insist that Anakin was demonized for having feelings, but Star Wars as a setting doesn't really do villainy like that, but Anakin often comes off as incredibly entitled and even childish in the prequel trilogy. In Clone Wars, conversely, he comes off as less annoying but at the same time his willingness to abandon Jedi doctrine, focus on his personal friends and loved ones over his greater duty and other character traits, though seemingly admirable, ultimately point to this:

That these are the same exact traits that define Darth Vader. Anakin, in a lot of ways, doesn't change that much.

People like to imagine that the Sith have the potential to be more good than the Jedi because they value passion. This flies in the face of the Sith's dogma, the on-screen behavior of every canonical Sith, and even the source of their power. Anger can be a tool, but being DEFINED by anger, in practice, means lashing out, simmering in resentment, storing up your desire to harm others or destroy for your own satisfaction. It's about a LACK of discipline, of acting upon your feelings as destructively and violently as possible.

There's a reason they almost died out; the reason they kept constantly backstabbing each other even in the middle of a war against everyone else is a result of their philosophical approach. This is the inevitable consequence of their outlook. Conversely, the Jedi's own doctrine (the harmony of all things, flowing with the currents of the Force, having it as an ally rather than something you brute force into whatever you want) avoids this.

It just keeps coming up again, this idolization of the Sith, the demonification of the Jedi, and it ultimately amounting to be people being really inappropriate about religious ideas clearly inspired by Buddhism and overvaluing romance. In all honesty, the Jedi's doctrine makes perfect sense especially when the point is clear; "Anakin fixated on his romantic love and personal feelings above anything else. Look what happened to him; he became the personal hand of the biggest tyrant in the universe. And also he murdered his wife in a fit of rage, because that is the inevitable conclusion to what the Sith are like."

[clownery-and-fuckery]

The sheer amount of cloning that still happens after the Empire has fallen despite the phasing out of clones is so genuinely horrific to me??? They will never rest. They will never know peace. They will just continue to be used until they can't anymore. It's a genuine tragedy and I will not forgive the hat man.

[itsclydebitches]

Based off 4chan leaks the original draft of Ruby choosing ascension had Neo force feed Ruby the tea.

Why didn't the writers stick with that? Ruby unaliving herself amounted to nothing.

That definitely would have been an improvement, however, I personally would have done away with the Neo-tea connection entirely. Giving Neo the goal of Ascending Ruby obliterates the message that this is supposedly a good thing because why would the villain who has been looking to kill Ruby for six Volumes strive so hard to give her a therapy session/power up? Either we have to assume that Neo somehow got the totally wrong read on what Ascension does - which seems unlikely given how she's able to spy on everyone + she's not going to leave Ruby's fate to some potentially positive tea. Not after she's spent so long hunting her down. Neo is going to be sure the tea will get rid of her - or we have to acknowledge that Ascension WAS written as a suicide allegory and the story backtracked like hell because the writers didn't actually want to grapple with that for their main character.

The Prince's Ascension can be characterized as a tragedy enacted by Alyx that left him nothing like his former self. The Caterpillar can be Ascended against his will by the literal villain of the Volume. The Paper Pleasers can drown themselves after two episodes of Jaune - who has lived here for years - talking up how scary the tree is. Little can be crushed and return with a completely new body, none of their old memories, a new name, new purpose, nothing the same except for their voice actor which only exists in a meta-context...

But Ruby? Oh, she comes back exactly herself, of course! Why-ever would you think this was a kind of death?

I don't know, maybe because even putting all that aside a series long villain was gleefully pushing the tea on Ruby while her clones, speaking her thoughts, talk about how the world will be better off once she's gone? And we have no reason to believe Neo would be so wildly uninformed about this process? Oddly enough, that makes Ascension seem like a bad thing.

Neo can't be connected to Ascension, period, not if the show wants to portray it as a healthy journey of self-reflection. Just let Neo try to kill Ruby the old-fashioned way while the group - free of suicide allegories, Jaune's warnings, the horrifically extreme transformations, etc. - willingly drink some magical tea that lets them talk about their problems. We literally got that with the Caterpillar. There's no reason why that couldn't have been the Ascension they experienced, just far more fleshed out.

(Oh also, can we as a fandom talk about how the Caterpillar's smoke was this ~evil~ thing that tempted the girls, only for that same smoke to be retconned as a wonderful tool that helps Jaune and defeats the Cat? Fans have rightly pointed out how the blacksmith was changed from creepy lady to smiling ally, but the smoke is an even bigger issue imo. RT didn't know wtf they were writing this Volume it's such a hot mess.)

[this-acuteneurosis]

Reading Don’t Look Back changed my mind about something. I’ve always been very disappointed that the Jedi took command of the clone army because of the obvious awful ethical issues behind creating an army of sentient soldiers and you really made me realize it was a real loose-loose option they were given. It really opened my eyes. Thank you for that.

Oh, wow. I'm glad that you felt like you learned something.

Other people have done a much better job detailing this, but the PT is, at it's core, a tragedy. And key to tragedies is that...there isn't really a winner at the end? No one is doing "the right thing." Either they mess up morally, or their moral decisions are ineffective.

It's really important to me, in any fic I write, that the key to Palpatine's success is not that he's super strong in the Force. It's that he (and those who came before) leveraged the bad behavior of the galaxy to create a rolling series of no-win scenarios. The very concept of the Clone Wars is that it literally did not matter which side won. The Sith ruled both contenders. If the Separatists and droids had somehow been horrifically effective at killing clones and Jedi, Palpatine still wins.

(Link to fic)

[rinamohn]

I wrote my currently impressions of Virche Evermore on r/vns and thought why not post it here as well?

Vage spoilers under the cut!

I played a lot of [Virche Evermore](https://vndb.org/v29661/chars) the past few weeks!

Virche Evermore is a dark scifi Otome Game which was well known for making players suffer through 4+ entire routes full of tragic endings until you get the chance to unlock better endings for everyone. The better endings might still not be really happy tho.

A sizeable trigger warning list made the rounds long before the game came out in english and the some reviews would called the game misery or torture porn.

I really like tragedies so I had to get the game, but I kept my expecations in check. Misery can come in many forms and there were tragic endings I absolutely hated before (Piofiore Orlock's tragic end made me skip a route).

I finished 4 routes now (only Despair endings) and I can confidently say that this game GETS me. It fits my taste for misery and fucked up-ness perfectly and I'm so happy.

The only downside in that this game has some true bullshit science lol

My biology university degree certainly made a face at some relevations. So uh I just pretend it's more plausible stuff instead. Just forget all your biology knowledge at the door and you're fine...

Some thoughts of the routes:

Mathis: Mathis is the rich, socially awkward and shy guy, who swore revenge on his brothers killer.

Def not my type of guy, but the build up in his route was very well done. So much foreshadowing which get's more and more in your face as time goes on, but it was hard to 100% point the finger to what was happening until the revealed happened. This really reminded my of Il of Café Enchante's route but like 1000% more horrifying. Despair End 2 was disgusting and horrific. It plays with your hopes and the "Power of Love" only to end in the worst possible way. It was so disgusting. I was so impressed!

Lucas: Lucas is the kindhearted teacher of Ceres who is hella feminine and is already knocking on deaths door.

I heard that his route would be the "worst" in a horrifying way with lots of bad things happening.

I think that gave me the wrong expecations after having just seen Mathis Despair End 2.

It's definitely the most unfixable route. A lot of bad things did happen, disgusting things too. But it still felt underwhelming to me compared to what I saw before. The last CG of Lucas's Despair End 2 was very delightful tho!

Some moments gave me some nice shivers as well (Lucas in a ponytail is beautiful).

Scien: The human god who created the cloning technology that made it possible for the people of this cursed island to live longer than 23 years.

Scien's route felt very different from the first two. His wasn't really focused on horrific tragedy, even though terrible, traumatising things still happened. This one had a much stronger romance focus from the start. It felt much more poetic in nature which I liked a lot as well.

"How to Ruin a God?", my beloved Ceres sure did a number on Mister Emotionless God-complex.

Absolut beautiful Despair Ending 2. Stuff like this makes me want to write poems about bringing a god down. You def need to leave your feminism at the door for this one tho lol. Scien is a trashbando who doesn't treat Ceres the way she should be treated.

Yves: The man Ceres almost killed in a fire by accident when she was a child. A very friendly guy who wears a mask to hide his burn wounds and tries to see the best in anyone.

The love interest of all love interests! If The Phantom of The Opera was a good guy but still full of madness. I liked his relationship with Ceres the most. It's so wholesome, raw and selfish. So much longing and self-hatred! They are obsessed with each other. They were made for each other. I support Ceres's right to be insane. I support all her wrongs. She deserves it.

His Despair End 2 was if Power of Love lacked any plotarmor and insanity was the only thing that remained. Loved it.

Next up! Le Salut! I can't wait for more Watchmen of the Dead Ankou!

[fenixwilhelm]

FULL NAME.  FENIX HUNTER WILHELM

AGE. THIRTY THREE

RESIDENTIAL AREA.   MOON RIVER DISTRICT

HOMETOWN.  SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

OCCUPATION. TATTOOIST & CO-SENSEI 

FACECLAIM. MATTHEW DADDARIO 

PINTEREST. HERE 

light eyes reflecting dark thoughts, messy hair, scruffy cheeks, expensive all-black clothes, coffee rings on every table and desk, tattoos from the neck down, a secret book filled with dark drawings, stimulants hidden around the bedroom, stored motorcycle that’s never fully repaired. 

BIO HERE. 

Fenix Hunter Wilhelm was raised on the wealthier side of town alongside his twin sister Mikayla. Growing up people thought he was such a cute little kid with vast potential. He was his father's clone and the apple of his mother's eye. The Wilhelm Family was quite literally the picture of perfection. Until one icy night, Mrs. Wilhelm went out and never returned. The police called it a horrific accident, but accidents weren't supposed to happen to the Wilhelms. They did everything right. They followed the path of God and did everything they were supposed to. So why were they being punished? What awful thing did they commit to deserve such a tragedy? Their father tried to find answers at the bottom of a bottle while his two children chose other destructive paths to numb the pain. Mikayla met a new crowd of friends and began partying and Fenix fell into a pit of depression as he never felt more alone. Mikayla doesn't know it but he blames her for abandoning him. While she was bouncing around juvie, boot camp, and friends' houses, he was suffering alone in their big empty house.

Fenix began experimenting with pills when he found an unlabeled bottle in Mikayla's bedroom. A month later, he got into a motorcycle accident and the doctor was astounded by the number of drugs he had in his system. At their request, he was admitted into rehab and that's where he met his first real girlfriend. She was an artist and he admired her, but after an overdose almost took her life, her parents sent her away to live with her uncle. Fenix took out his anger by taking up a boxing class, but after three assault charges, he met an older gentleman in therapy who took him under his wing and taught him the spiritual discipline of karate.

Mr. Haitao became a father figure to Fenix, which broke his real father's heart. He lost his wife and then he lost his children. The stress of dealing with the twins drove him to an early grave when Mr. Wilhelm later died of a stroke. Fenix didn't know how to handle losing another parent and went off the rails again. He put three guys in the hospital and was sent to jail for over a year where he learned how to tattoo. When he was released he was covered in black ink and lost all respect for himself, and for everyone around him.

With nothing to hold onto but his insecurities and anger, Fenix joined a bad crowd and spent his twenties getting into fistfights and building a rap sheet longer than his arm. When all hope seemed lost, Fenix sunk to his lowest moment and got into his car drunk. He almost ran a mother and her small child off the road and when he realized he could have killed someone else's mother, he sold his car and stayed inside his room for five years. He isolated himself and worked on his art, drawing, painting, and sketching things that he would eventually sell online under the alias Ash. To rise like a phoenix from the ashes means to emerge from a catastrophe stronger, smarter, and more powerful. He wanted to emerge— to be reborn. To change for the sake of himself and his late parents. So he started slowly building himself back up and then helped fund a small dojo in town for young children and teens. He wanted to help change the lives of other angry undisciplined kids. Fenix thought if anyone could reach the troubled youth it would be him. And it was something his parents would have been proud of. On the back of every Karate-Gi, there is a phoenix rising, a symbol of strength and power. Fenix can't change his past but maybe he can save someone else's future.

[starsaver94]

Ok, so!

This shriveling pathetic old man is named Hantengu and he has been taking up space in my thoughts for quite a while now for basically no reason.

He's Introduced as Upper Rank 4 of the 12 Kizuki, which is just fancy talk for saying he's one of the strongest Demons in all of Demon Slayer. Despite this, he is also introduced as unreasonably terrified of everything. And I mean everything. Loud Noise, other people getting aggressive with each other, other people getting things wrong makes him worry the worst for their mind, he's even scared of uneven numbers because they're indivisible. Very alien in a mansion with a Samuri and Martial Artist and so forth.

I would maybe talk about his fight but. I can't. Because he really doesn't have one. It might sound weird without context but he basically just throws Clone Minion Things with their own personalities and runs away crying. It's a cool fight but not exactly important until we get to Zohakuten, Clone of Hatred.

While Stun-Locking our Heroes, Zoha accuses them of being vile and cruel villains, because is "weak" (he's killed hundreds of humans) and scared, and therefor inherently innocent and deserving to be treated as such. This very obviously doesn't run over well with the hero, but it is important for me because the clones are still a part of Hantengu and his mind, I.E. Zoha is saying what Hantengu is just too scared too.

It was very interesting to me because obviously, at this point, I start wondering about his backstory, his life when he was still human, and what happened to have him turn out this way, as many other Demons have also had tragedy in their human life which informs the way they act in present.

This is brought even closer to our attention later on, where something Tanjiro says triggers a small flashback of someone accusing him of him being a two faced liar, resulting in him sobbing his innocence and that he's a "virtuous weakling" who "never lied", before miserably scampering off for his life.

Shortly after, Tanjiro finally catches up to him, and attempts to decapitate him. He gets very close to succeeding, before Hantengu looks at him sadly, asking if he really doesn't feel bad for him at all... before suddenly growing about 12 feet tall and tries crushing his skull while screaming at the top of his lungs about how horrific Tanjiro is for bullying someone as pathetic as him.

After a close call and getting saved by friends, as well as an extremely painful Ultimatum, Tanjiro is able to cut down Hantengu and expose him to sunlight, which is lethal for Demons. Now, at this point, I can assure you, I was very much wanting to get inside this mans brain. Demon backstories have actually made me cry at least twice before, so I had high expectations for someone as interesting as Hantengu. So, as he dies, his life flashes before his eyes, what do we see?

We see him as a man in a large home with another man, and piece together that he is being taken care of because he is poor and blind, similar to others in the house. They're having an argument, because the man says he stole from the person who took them in, but Hantengu insists that he didn't do anything, his hands are the thief. Of course this doesn't stop the man from wanting to expose the truth, so Hantengu murders him in cold blood.

Of course, he gets caught, and sent to trial, and it's revealed this is far from the first time this has happened. He's been thieving, taking wives, and murdering them before fleeing the village for years now. He pleads, still saying he's blind and that he has no control over what he does. But, Hantengu is manipulated into revealing a detail he couldn't possibly know if he was blind, proving he's faking it which screws him over and gets him sentenced to death.

Muzan finds him in his cell on the night before his execution, and turns him into a demon, letting him murder the judge and escape.

So, all this to say, he's a delusional narcissist with an extreme victim complex constantly manipulating others for their pity. Which is certainly not what I was expecting.

But the reason this hit me so hard and I wanted to ramble about it so much is that, yeah, it worked on me. The Villain successfully manipulated me until the story itself showed me the undeniable proof. And just. Ough. He lives in my brain rent free cuz of it.

Interesting. There really is something about villains that make you think a certain way about them before the rug is pulled from underneath the viewer. It’s like how we feel sorry for and more invested in the MHA villains after we learn their backstories or how the blackened characters in Danganronpa can make us like them more or dislike them after they’re found out in the trials.

[nightcoremoon]

a lot of criticism against captain marvel completely missed the fucking point of captain marvel

they whines because she was a shitty person who had no personality and used physical force to get what she wanted and to show off.

veers was a fucking douchebag because the kree made her one

and then what happened after she realized everything she knew was a lie? she kicked the absolute shit out of the kree so hard that ronin literally said fuck this, turned around, and LEFT only to try again on xandar two entire decades later.

she betrayed the people who stole her life, her memories, her personality, and she pieced it together from fragments. she retained her cockiness and smarm only to throw it back in the faces of the people who forced her to be that way. but only when fighting. carol is uninteresting when she is what the kree wanted her to be, and that is why the impact of not taking part in the dick measuring final fight with billions of dollars of collateral damage is so important and integral to creating the most important thing that most modern marvel movies lack.

a character arc.

captain marvel was a calculated effort to deconstruct the action hero genre. it’s every single jason statham movie, it’s every single sam worthington movie, it’s every single carbon copy clone of every single testosterone fueled action movie. it was the most generic drivel the entire time on purpose if you’re not paying attention. but if you pay attention and you remember and you actually use your goddamn brain you’ll figure out the plot twist literally 20 minutes before it ever even happens, ESPECIALLY if you’re at all familiar with the comics. it’s a walking parody of nostalgia. it’s an intelligent movie with a very important theme that was buried beneath disney’s marketing. it’s a cautionary tale against any and every military power structure because ALL of them exist to warp the perspective of its soldiers in order to massacre the innocent civilians of the world, and if you got the take that “it’s a military propaganda movie because Disney used its imagery to push a pro military agenda” you’re a fucking idiot. every single piece of this movie was built to code by disney’s standards because it had to be, but even then they could still prevail with their originally intended message: every gender is capable of anything that the other can also do, and it’s time that the shitty action movie market has a women’s lens. not just that women can fight, but men can be emotional and show pure unabashed love to his wife and child without it being made fun of. tell me when is the last time you saw an action sci-fi movie with a genuine moment free of bathos of a father tearfully reuniting with his family and kissing his kid on the cheek WITHOUT ending in horrific gory tragedy???

captain marvel was everything I expected it to be. two hours of fun, fanservice, extra backstory, oh yeah and coming up with the only reasonable way to get tony stark back to earth.

people only hated on it because it lay between infinity war and endgame (and ant man 2) and it had a female protag. that’s it. chauvinism and an inability to think laterally. and stan lee died so people were finally comfortable with shitting in the water.

[kuurankaiho]

Sorry, a wee bit late to respond.

A good point about Hordak's reconditioning. Which makes me wonder...he was disconnected from the Hive Mind. Would reconnecting require activating a certain cybernetic module, or is it switched on by possession? Would Prime be able to track down other (potentially) disconnected clones, if they still existed within the same dimension?

There are some headcanons that Light Hope might indeed have created the portal through which Hordak plummeted. However him never discovering her existence...bit of an oddity or discrepancy there, well spotted. He might utterly discount the technology of the First Ones and hence pays no attention to the signals, there's magical interference, or if he belongs to some master plan of Light Hope, she might even have blocked him for mysterious reasons of her own? 🤔 I'd be interested in reading a story where they encounter one another.

Hordak's age/whatnot makes me wonder how much Prime reconditions his clones in the S5-type brotherhood. There's this storyboard where Wrong Hordak resides in a reprogramming pod when Entrapta finds him. If this occurs often, it might imply that their bodies deteriorate fast, or that blasphemous thoughts infest more clone-minds than expected. Can't let those leak into the Hive. Buut you're right about the tragedy, imagine being created to possess the life span of a decade. 😭

Muting hivemind and telepathic channels...I wrote that exact hc into the Voidsword. XD In it, the Hive has different tiers, Prime can switch it off when he's tired of the constant chatter, etc. But back to canon, the clones must also have the ability to process an explosion of information ensuing from a million different sources all at once. Perhaps they're not actively listening to it all either?

Which reminds me...how come Prime didn't hear Hordak's thoughts when he surprised him with the LUVD crystal in the ship corridor? How was Hordak able to lie? This suggests there's some portion in his mind he's capable of retaining private from Prime, or which requires full possession to be read. Or that Prime prefers mental silence and indeed has the Hive muted.

Interesting thoughts about why Prime kept Hordak alive. I'm leaning towards plans to kill him later, and this time make a proper example of what befalls to apostates. Something horrific anyhow.

And thank you, glad you like the story idea! Hordak would remember all of this decades later, when he regains his full memories. In this continuity, he would have tampered with his own mind as well, forcing himself to obliviate many past tragedies in his sorrow and despair after the crash-land. And he indeed would desire to help his brethren thereafter. (This particular memory regain would go into The Beast Within, but it has sat sans updates for a longer while.)

The creation of these drone-clones would be a deliberate move from Prime. He seeks to change the brotherhood into something much more obedient after suspecting his second-in-command of blasphemous behavior and rebellion-scheming for a while. He would have engineered these brothers in secret. Under other circumstances, Hordak might have accompanied him in his genetic research. I wondered for a while whence Hordak had gained these skills and the readiness to build such technology upon Etheria, so perhaps he actually collaborated with Prime? As for why they escort Hordak...both a security measure and Prime's means of intimidating him. They don't share the same "channel" of the Hive Mind as him for instance, so he wouldn't be able to share "blasphemous" mental images or persuade them to join him instead. Or predict their moves all that easily.

I was chatting about Hordak's flashback with a few people, and my observation was drawn to Prime's hairdo. It's similar to Hordak's and flaunts no cables.

If one relies on Hordak's memories being correct, the style and structure of the Horde really did change during his absence. Prime furthermore might have appeared something akin to this around the time of his banishment. Another pencil sketch, as I haven't had the opportunity to draw digitally for a couple of weeks.

I don't know what to think about mohawk!Prime yet. 😂

[sepublic]

Luz, the Audience, and Belos’ Main Character Syndrome

I really love how meta the show is with the audience’s perception of Belos. Luz openly asks at the beginning of this episode what anyone could see in him, and at first we the viewer agree... And yet like Luz, we realize we’ve been dumbfounded by Belos this entire time, in a horrifically crushing realization;

Just like Luz and the audience falling for Philip’s subtle manipulations in Elsewhere and Elsewhen, something only a victim with experience with this particular person can pick up on (Lilith), we’re also fooled in a larger, meta sense... Because even after seeing how horrible Philip was, there was still that belief via his childlike inner self that there must be some sympathy and nuance to Belos, right?

And that’s how it’s been from the start; The Emperor is an EVIL man, but maybe he comes from a place of understandable tragedy? Particularly with the reveal in Eclipse Lake, which suddenly makes everyone ask how much does Belos care, consider that maybe he DOES... In spite of all the horrid things we’ve seen; And so we’re fooled like Hunter into thinking maybe he’s not all bad. The scene is even from Hunter’s perspective, tellingly.

This of course makes the betrayal all the more personal, not just of Philip, who could’ve been a ‘good’ Belos, but even of the Emperor himself; We’re continuously disappointed (in the good way) by the revelation that there is no hidden side of sympathetic tragedy to this man, he came in fully, eagerly prepared from the start to commit mass genocide and enjoyed it. And yet even after this latest reveal of both Philip as he was AND Belos now, discarding Hunter; We still get surprised!

To humbly offer myself as an example, I saw this memory painting of Belos after watching Hollow Mind. In spite of my preparation to view him as unapologetically evil from here on out, I couldn’t help myself; Was this Belos feeling pain and remorse for his actions? Regret and mourning over his lost brother? Maybe it was just my wishful thinking, but I think it shows how compelling Belos is, that he can still keep us guessing looking for something redeemable in that man, as Hunter does when he looks at his uncle one last time;

And he doesn’t find a thing. Just apathetic annoyance at yet another failed clone. Hunter might feel like the most important clone as the most recent, as himself; But so did the clone before him, who tutored Darius. And the one before him... And before him; They all must’ve thought they meant the world to Belos and maybe could’ve escaped the fate of their predecessors, but no, they were just another addition in a continuing line of tragedies. So by this point, why should Belos be invested in the current Grimwalker, when every Grimwalker he killed and didn’t mourn was the current at that point, even his brother? 

And he doesn’t really mourn nor regret his actions; Because if you look even more closely, you realize; Belos’ memory isn’t him feeling emotional pain. It’s him in physical pain over the ears of his that he clipped; He’s only feeling sorry for himself, for something he fully chose to bring upon himself, all for the sake of power... Power he wants to use to commit genocide. It’s so cleverly meta how the writers weaponized our own desire, that hope that there’s more to Belos than that, that he can’t BE that awful, to make us feel with Hunter and even fall for Belos like him, and understand how it happens.

Ultimately, realizing we’re just as easy to fool makes us understand, appreciate, and sympathize more with victims. And I feel in Luz’s case, after wondering in frustration how anyone could fall for such an obviously evil man, she realizes how; And now she can’t judge, just understand. Which lends to her understanding of Hunter and kindness towards him. And also makes Luz a much more cautious and critical individual from here on out;

After all, Philip fooled her, and Belos fooled her into thinking he wasn’t Philip. Understanding how people believe and fall for the lie is important to get them to stop doing so, hence a survivor like Lilith. It means Luz is much more wary and defensive against this type of threat, when originally she wasn’t; And she’s avoided most of the damage of Belos’ manipulations thanks to her friends.

And since Luz is the main character, the one the audience might usually feel compelled to relate the most to, especially as a human outsider to the isles... We realize how this reflects upon us, too. The thing is, we have the luxury of watching from afar in a safe place, as a detached observer; It’s easy to dismiss victims for being so dumb in falling for that, both in real life and fiction. Because we’re smarter than that, we’re main characters, aren’t we?

Yes and no. Obviously someone IS the hero of their story and there is a validity to that in a sense... But as Luz learns in the second episode of the show, a lesson that continues to shadow and borderline haunt her for the rest of the series as far; She’s not a main protagonist. From our perspective she IS technically, that’s the thing about stories that deconstruct stories, they’re nevertheless still stories themselves and that’s okay.

But Luz has learned and is still trying to apply that she’s not the clever, main protagonist in-universe. Even as a human outsider she isn’t as detached and objective as she might think she is; She still gets emotionally invested and thus fooled. People don’t exist in relation to her as part of a narrative, because in-universe there is no narrative; At most the trappings of a time loop, but that’s really it.

Not only is the audience omnipotent and free to rewatch and analyze and deliberate at our own free time without REAL problems from this world to plague us as they do the characters; But we have the benefit and power of knowing this is a narrative. And that there are certain things that go along with narratives, and recognizing and guessing where they might apply. Hence people speculating our main antagonist as human even before Philip was established, simply on the basis of narrative tropes like parallels and foils.

But in-universe, Luz is not a part of the narrative. She has no reason to believe Belos might thematically reflect and contrast with her, because she’s not the main character. She’s just another person in HIS life, from HIS point of view; And not even the main threat, most of the time. She’s not going to assume Belos is Philip because that fits narratively, because there is no narrative, this is chaotic real life that doesn’t care for these rules.

Luz has applied (even if not fully finished, hence her frustration with Belos’ believers) her lesson from Witches before Wizards; She’s not part of a story. There is no ‘story’. There are people who might try to apply a narrative in hindsight, but people aren’t existing for a narrative purpose as part of a neatly planned and thematic conflict. Philip can’t be Belos despite the similarities because he’s human and can’t have lived that long; Maybe Belos learned from his notes!

Or maybe Philip didn’t invent these spells, he just rediscovered how to achieve them via glyphs; He’s ultimately catching up to what witches naturally do with bile, and Luz hadn’t realized that Belos is a natural witch yet. She didn’t know nor consider he has glyphs. Philip did not invent magic; He just rediscovered a different methodology to do the same things. So it’s fully feasible that the connection means nothing, like how Luz learned a plant spell, but this doesn’t mean she’s secretly connected to Willow in some fundamental manner.

So yeah, Luz is actively avoiding trying to see this as a narrative and with good reason, hence why she doesn’t recognize Belos and Philip as aligning to narrative roles in HER story, because people don’t exist for her like that. But as I mentioned, she’s applying the lesson but still learning it, even if she’s made plenty of progress; So Luz still makes that arrogant “I wouldn’t fall for that” assumption typical to people who think they’re the hero of the story too clever for that, unlike these sorry sods who serve as a warning to them. And like a main protagonist, Luz sees herself as a more objective, rational, outside observer; It doesn’t help that she’s a human who offers a different perspective to this society, so maybe she can show these jokers what life is ACTUALLY supposed to be like!

She doesn’t truly think that; But Belos definitely does. Hence his takeover, all for the sake of telling these witches their existence is inherently an abomination (some literally I suppose) that must be wiped out for humanity’s good. And he’s making assumptions of his brother and Luz that they ‘fell’ for the propaganda of witches, that he’s much too clever for that; He’s smart enough to be above it all as a decisive, outside, objective observer. And only a human can be, even if they make the mistake; Only a human has the capacity to know better or at least learn to be that way! Because only humans are ‘real’ and their validation meaningful because they can think for themselves, are actual people capable of change and self-awareness, unlike the demons and witches;

It really is just a lack of self-awareness and critical thinking, as well as empathy for others, that leads to this kind of misunderstanding. And that misunderstanding can become arrogance if people don’t know what’s really going on or what they’re really capable of. Belos is the main character of his fantasy story where he kills all the evil witches, as he always did as a child! And Luz is the isekai savior who realizes what’s wrong and saves people...!

Luckily, Luz is a compassionate and respectful person, and not truly arrogant. So she’s not approaching this new world like she’s the hero who has to tell everyone what to do, while they exist for her; Other people’s lives and choices are just as meaningful as hers as fellow ‘main protagonists’ so Luz respects their ideas and takes them into account, while still asserting her own in a reasonable way. Some things she MUST take a stand on and some things she SHOULD judge, like the cruelty of Belos; But ultimately Luz is self-aware of her own shortcomings and that she always has something to learn, as a kid who always wanted to learn. And that self-awareness enables Luz to accept new ideas but also be more than a blind follower to whatever someone else says, fittingly.

Belos... Isn’t a critical thinker. Not really; He refuses to open his mind to new information and adapt, instead stubbornly adheres to his outdated and silly beliefs, centuries later. He might be very clever when it comes to schemes and manipulation and especially other people; But he doesn’t really know himself. He’s still a dumb kid following what his parents told him without question, blind faith; He’s no better, no more clever than his victims he secretly jeers at being so stupid, unlike him. He’s one of them too, regardless of being a human outsider.

He just... Chooses not to have empathy which is the problem; And again, really means it IS purely his own fault if it always was a choice and not just a bad hand dealt to him by life. The Collector, an immature ageless kid, is still able to call out Belos on his enjoyment of killing his brother’s clones, and he denies it smugly; He knows himself, he’s not like that, he’s too good to be the villain who does villain things, he’s the main hero after all! Perhaps Belos’ smile alludes to him knowing that he actually does and he’s just playing around in his denial, but who knows? Again, with how Belos repeatedly disappoints us...

Luz and Belos both have main protagonist syndrome, and since the former is the human outsider like us, so does the audience. But while Belos doesn’t have that self awareness and refuses to learn, Luz and the audience learn together, thus making the shock and shame and revelation all the more compelling, that they’re just as flawed and vulnerable as the ‘side characters’ in their lives.

And it’s a humbling realization that teaches and encourages an empathy that recognizes the validity of victims and doesn’t blame them, while also being open to different ideas, while still defending one’s own if necessary. We all believe we’re critical thinkers if we’re the hero, and everyone thinks they are at some point; So it’s a reminder to appreciate how easy it is to fall for propaganda, and thus why it’s important to be extra diligent against it, and exercise actual critical thinking and humility that leaves us more prepared in the long run. 

TL;DR The meta buildup of Luz and the audience’s thought process and discovery, hand-in-hand, of who Belos and Philip really are, after hopeful assumptions and beliefs that we get the dude more than others, only to have been fools ourselves; It’s all very compelling. And the way we experience this and think with Luz, LIKE Luz, because we see ourselves in her, just makes us all the more sympathetic to her own pain when she realizes it, because we have a similar pain (albeit different realizations; We learn Philip was always that bad, while Luz learns Belos is Philip; Our understanding of him is still shattered). 

And of course, we relate even more to Hunter, who also thinks he gets his uncle more than anyone else. These characters inevitably think of themselves as the main protagonist, it’s just human nature; And because we see ourselves in them in so many other ways, the audience realizes their own folly in a sense as well... It sinks in even more, that we aren’t THE main character, after the initial lesson in Witches before Wizards.

We are just as guilty of Main Character syndrome as the cast, and we’re not even fictional characters part of a narrative, like they are! And that’s okay, as long as we admit that and improve; We’ve all learned and applied and we can take pride in that, while recognizing that we’re also still learning and applying, and always will for the rest of our lives, because no one human can truly understand and comprehend the entirety of that vast, diverse, and multi-person enigma that is the human condition.

[mwolf0epsilon]

What are your top 10 favourite clones and why? (If you don't have 10 favourite clones just list the ones you like and why)

My top 10 list of favourite clones (1 being the one highest on the list, 10 being the lowest):

Gregor - As a whole, Gregor's storyline is one that I find vastly intriguing and compelling. Here's a clone that forgot he was a clone, lived a civilian life for a while, reclaimed his identity and capabilities in one single day, and went down fighting only to spring back onto his feet unexpectedly years later. Out of thousands of clones, Gregor was one of the very few that made it to old age and that's a sign of pure resilience and ingenuity on his part, and I absolutely adore him.

Rex - There's no bigger tragedy than seeing a loyal and devoted clone like Rex go through so much and getting so little in return. He feels like that one childhood friend you grew up with that you'd be glad to have your back, because you know he'd never turn you away even if you were at your lowest. He deserves so much better than what he got in the end, and I'm happy he at least got to grow old and have two brothers with him to keep him company.

Dogma - Where do I begin with Dogma... He's Slick done right. He's a loyal dogmatic clone that did everything by the book, followed orders like he was conditioned to do since decanting, and was even said to be exactly like Rex was when he first joined the 501st. And what did that get him? His trust abused by someone he was basically brainwashed to think was infallible and trustworthy, anger from his brothers who likely scorned him to the very end, and likely either a decommissioning or reconditioning for executing a Jedi. Dogma is a difficult topic overall, because he was wrong in turning his back on his kin but he did it for logical and understandable reason. The Jedi could do no wrong by clone standards, and Dogma followed this blind trust to the end until he was proven wrong... And even sparing Rex from taking the shot was a painful affair to behold, because you could see his world crumbling around him afterwards.

Tup - My heart aches for Tup. He went through a lot and, like Rex, got very little in return. And then his chip malfunctioned and he wasn't even treated with dignity for the remainder of his incredibly short life. His last moments were spent bound like a rabid animal, thrown around by both the Separatists and Kaminoans, and then when salvation was in sight he still died because by that point he'd deteriorated too much and had been essentially tortured rather than treated with care. I'm just glad he had Fives there so he didn't march on alone and surrounded by careless people.

Echo - There's so much wrong with what happened to Echo. He was ridiculed for repeating orders and liking to read the reg manuals for fun, he had to watch his older unarmed and armourless brother get shot down in cold blood, got blown up and basically left for dead, put through unethical experiments, treated with mild distrust by the brothers who did rescue him, and on top of that he lost Fives and likely never learned the true story behind it. I highly doubt he's had time to process anything, and his disgruntled moodiness in TBB makes me really worry for him sometimes... I just want to wrap him in a blanket and tell him it'll be ok one day. Just, let this man rest, grieve and regain his health...

Fives - This poor man has seen some shit, lived through some shit, and then got done dirty when he was trying to save his brothers and the Jedi from a horrifically malicious plot. Not to mention I doubt he had time to process any of the losses he suffered. Specifically of the brothers that were closest to him like Echo, Hardcase and Tup. Where Echo's life is unfair, Fives's demise is just awful...

Wolffe - Sassy, grumpy, slightly paranoid but still got cool uncle that you'd die for vibes? Wolffe is the full package. Also in rebels he lives up to his name and he's goddamn feral on the battle at Seelos. You go grandpa! Go off king! Violence!!!!

Fox - I wish we'd gotten more of him so that people could have gotten to know him better (and maybe grow attached), because I'm tired of all the Fox bashing that goes on in this fandom. Yes he wasn't very kind to Ahsoka, and yes he shot Fives. His sole job is to defend the people of Coruscant, and then suddenly there's a terrorist attack which has evidence that points to Ahsoka, and then there was a call that Fives tried to assassinate the chancellor. He's not omnipotent and I can guarantee that life as a guardsman was not great, so we have no idea what set of circumstances have led to Fox's gruff and abrasive tactics being his go to for any given disastrous situation like this...

Crosshair - It's all about the potential. Either this aggressive tooka of a man will get a pretty good redemption arc like Kallus, or he'll turn out to be that one antagonist that we grow to love/hate in all the best ways. I personally hope for a redemption arc that progresses seasonally rather than quickly, but that's not up to me.

Peel - So there's this one 212th background character that got turned into a vampire monster once...

That's it. That's my sole reason for liking him.