#the inherent tragicness of being the chosen one

[the-rat-eatery]

Something that I think is so great about She-Ra is that it portrays selfishness as a good thing. So many stories about “chosen ones” and “saving the world” are presented as acts of selflessness; it’s the sacrifices that bring the world to peace. She-Ra isn’t like that. It isn’t without its sacrifices, we think of Angella and Mara and Shadow Weaver- but they aren’t the focus. Catra becomes more selfless over the course of the fifth season, but that’s just character development- not the thing that saves the world. 

Adora is a martyr. Obviously. The classic way for the story to handle this is to have her die in the finale- a death tragic but necessary. If she were to die there would no doubt be statues built in her honor, if she had died in the initial seasons then that death would surely be something that was presented as honorable- something to be avenged and be in awe of. But her inherent heroism, her selflessness, is repeatedly shown to be a bad thing for Adora- the person. Sure, the longevity of Adora’s She-Ra might have been expanded if she had given her life for the cause, the stories told in her wake more grand, a punchier ending to the tale, but Adora herself would have felt no benefit- she would have been a corpse. It is Catra, and Catra’s selfishness, that saves her. 

Catra is interesting in that way. We see her arc climax with an act of selflessness- her saving Glimmer in exchange for what she thought would be her life. But it ends with her being selfish, choosing to confess to Adora in the end, desperately asking her to stay- the only thing she ever wanted from her. It is want that saves them both in the end, want is an entirely selfish act. 

Adora’s selflessness is questioned throughout the fifth season by Catra, something that is taken as a given by everyone else in the rebellion. They were all expected to lay down their lives for the rebellion, but Adora was on the front lines. This isn’t even questioned by Bow and Glimmer, who stood back when Adora (without any discussion) was unanimously decided to be the one to take the failsafe. Yes, they didn’t know the repercussions then, but Adora was still the leader, and she was the one expected to take the responsibility. Catra’s selfishness, her not wanting to let Adora go is what brought Shadow Weaver’s deception to light. She wants, and that saves the person she is wanting. Want is lifesaving, want is a good thing. 

I like this because selfishness is good, actually. Selfishness is the thing love thrives on, it’s why living isn’t surviving. 

Selflessness is giving up what we want for someone else’s good. This is good in measure, I’m not saying that everyone should take everything that they want all the time- the world would be chaos. But selflessness can go too far, and we see this in She-Ra. Selflessness can wrap back over into selfishness when you’ve got too much of it- barreling over with giving and giving yourself to other people in a feeble attempt to avoid dealing with your own problems. But the selfishness of She-Ra is the selfishness that is required of love. It is confession. It is, instead of accepting death for the sake of all, fighting for the life you want. Wanting is such a human thing. Not even a human thing, it’s just a life thing. And that same wanting is chastised by the media. We aren’t supposed to want, especially if we’re gay; and if we do then the honorable, right thing to do is to give it up for the good of other people. She-Ra shows us the opposite. Selfishness saves the world and wanting is good. 

[linkspooky]

You need to make another one of those "metas written by comparing characters with another show you liked" post about Getou now that you experienced FGO Morgan/Aesc.

Time to compare two characters from two different shows I liked (in this case Jujutsu Kaisen and Fate Grand Order: Cosmos of the Lostbelt 6 Faerie Britian) to illustrate what makes a good corruption / fallen hero arc. Two of the best examples I can think of in recent memory are Geto Suguru, and Morgan le Fay of Faerie Britian. They both have tragic arcs which follow similar beats which I think will illustrate exactly why audiences find these characters so compelling.

Both of these characters have their stories told out of order, appearing as villains first before their backstory is revealed but for the sake of simplicity I'm going in chronological order, the heroes they started as all the way to the villains they ended up being.

Before beginning though, a brief lesson on tragedy. Aristotle's poetics argued tragedy runs on the principal of catharsis. The audience feels for the characters on stage, no matter how terrible their acts may be. He argued in favor of moral ambiguity in its heroes. The tragic hero must neither be a villan or virtuous man, but a "character between these two extremes, ... a man who is not eminently goo and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice of depravity, but by some error or frailty [Aristotle's Poetics.]

The protagonists of tragedies are still heroes, but their good qualities are twisted against them. A tumblr post I see going around from time to time makes the argument that if Othello (the protagonist of Othello) were in Hamlet the story would not be a tragedy because Otello would just stab his uncle and avenge his father. If Hamlet (the protagonist of Hamlet) were in Othello, the story would not be a tragedy because Hamlet who is a characteristic overthinker would probably not fall victim to Iago's manipulations and jump to conclusions the way Othello did. Both of these characters are heroic, Hamlet is a clever and scheming prince, Othello is a talented general a moor who's managed to rise up the ranks in a racist society. However, they are both put into stories where those heroic values are twisted against them by the narrative framework itself. So to make the protagonists of tragedies into villains who were evil all along, ruins the moral ambiguity and therefore the catharsis of a tragedy.

Geto Suguru and Morgan Le Fay are heroes, placed in a narrative framework that twists their own heroic traits against them in ways they can't endure. They fall because of frailty, not because they were inherently evil to begin with. They are antagonists who have the qualities of protagonists, and once were arguably protagonists of the story, which is probably why they have so many fans in the audience despite the fact that they are both of them mass murderers and tyrants.

Now with the long preamble let's look at the stories.

Both characters start as essentially protagonists, and they foil the protagonists they are fighting against during their villain phase. Geto Suguru is a heavy foil for Yuji (we'll talk about this later) and Morgan so heavily foils Castoria because they are both the chosen one.

I'm going to start with Morgan because Fate/Nasuverse lore is a pain to explain. To simplify her story, Morgan Le Fay is from an alternate universe version of Britian. In that Britian everything is ruled by faeries. These are trickster faeries who are total jerks and extremely murderous at times. They were supposed to forge excalibur, but they just didn't do it because they were lazy. This was very bad, so the universe sent a big huge guy to tell them to forge the sword. They were lazy though so instead of listening to him they murdered him in his sleep and he died a horrible death.

The faeries could no longer be forgiven for failing to craft excalibur which is a really important sword that needed to exist, so god or heaven or fate or whoever decided to punish them and sent Aesc who will later be known as Morgan le Fay.

There's some time travel shenanigans but I'm going to skip it because it's confusing. Basically Aesc's job is to wipe out all fairy life and bring an end to their alternate universe, but she decides to defy her destiny instead. The heavens or whoever keep conjuring calamities to wipe out the fairites to punish them for their sins, but instead Aesc fights against them and saves the fairies.

I had a duty to paradise, but I knew that duty would result in Britiain's destruction. This other me, though... She loved Britiain dearly, even the lostbelt version of it. I thought about it, and I realized I wanted the same thing she did. From then on I chose to live as her. (Witch! Witch! Witch! You were the only one to survive the calamity) Countless times, I stopped the calamities. Countless times, I mended clan disputes to end wars. I did not mind. It was not the fairies I loved. I only loved britain itself and the home I would make here. It would be my very own Britian - something that was forever beyond my reach in Proper Human History. I did everything I could to make it a reality. Eventually though, I realized the best way to do that was to keep the faeries safe.

However, because Aesc is not one of them the fairies are generally ungrateful for her saving them again and again. Aesc gathers comrades around her to help ward off these calamities and save people, but she's often attacked by the same fairies she's just saved.

She continues fighting the system of her world again and again, until she's betrayed for the last time in her attempt to save Britan. The final straw is when after years of hard work she's finally brokered a piece and made a king who rules over all the allied fairy tribes, only for his coronation to be ruined, the king to be assassinated along with the entire round table. The king was also her lover, Uther.

Aaah! Aaaah! Why? Why? Why? This was supposed to be the greatest day in fairy history... Everything was supposed to change for the better! BUt they killed Uther! They slaughtered my entire round table like they were trash! They asked the world of us! They thought the world of Uther! BUt now, they've poisoned him...THey were too afraid to even face him cowards. Uther talk to me, please say something! I never let failure stop me! I've kept trying all these thousands of years! Am I doomed to failure here, too! Is it still not enough? Am I not enough? Is it not... Can I not save Britain? Is there no Britain that can be mine! Peace, equality, I never should have tried for either! How dare they! I can never forgive them ever!

You see much like Geto Suguru which I'll later illustrate, Aesc is caught in a cycle where she must continually fight disasters for the faeries to save them only to be met with their continued disdain. Her own higher minded intentions to save the people are what damns her to this painful cycle. If she'd been less heroic, if she didn't care she wouldn't have suffered. She's sacrificing herself over and over again, but sacrificing yourself is in a way just suffering. No one actually wants to walk the thorny path of the martyr, you'll get your feet hurt from all the thorns.

The people who are now accustomed to being saved despite doing none of the work themselves, are by and by completely ungrateful for Aesc's sacrifice. Aesc is a hero, but she's not in a hero's story so she doesn't get any of the benefits of a hero really. She's working with higher minded and more idealistic goals in a deeply cynical world and punished for it. I remind you, she was just there to kill all the faeries and end the world but she tried to save them instead.

It's important to emphasize their good intentions, because a shallower character reading would suggest that they just came out of the womb wanting to murder people. However, they're driven to it because they tried to be good, because they tried to be a hero. They are like Hamlet, and like Othello in the wrong story. They're also sacrificing themselves going against the system of their world and trying to be better than it, only to get dragged down. Their resentment grows against the people they are trying to save, the selfish and weak people who don't seem all that grateful for their heroism. The ones who aren't making sacrifices, the ones who are just content being saved.

I finally understood. My enemy wasn't just the calamities, it was the faeries of Britain as well. They were pure and innocent in the truest sense, they enjoyed both good and evil things alike without losing either that purity or innocence. They are at their core, no different from the loathsome humans who drove me from britain. So I crushed every possible source of malice. Vested interests. Discrimmination. Oppression. Envy. Mockery. All of it. But it wasn't enough. A few fairies took a look at the foundation of peace so many had worked so hard to build ... and tore it apart, because they didn't like it, because they could.

This is what finally leads to Morgan's breaking point, to decide that actually... fairies don't deserve rights. Morgan decides that the fairies are unworthy of salvation and rather than being the hero the only way to accomplish her goals is to become the oppressor and tyrant.

I give up, if everything has failed if it has all come to nothing, then I can never believe in people's so called goodness or understand it. Even if I did, what would be the point? Everything I did, everything I worked for... was just a waste of time. After all the times they betrayed me I should ahve known better... but I still clung foolishly to a sliver of hope. ANd now, because I wasted my time caring about something so utterly absurd, I've failed yet again. If my intent was to keep britain alive, then I was a fool to think being its savior was the way to accomplish it. No more. I will find another way. A better way. ...That's it. I won't deliver the fairies to absolution; I won't deliver salvation. Enough of this faerie of paradise, enough of being Avalon le Fae, I should have ruled this land from the start.

However, as I said it's only Morgan's repeated attempts to be the hero and save the fairies that drove her to this conclusion. However, I'd be amiss to say that Morgan didn't have flaws or selfish qualities from the start. Morgan le Fay is created from the Morgan le Fay we created with from proper legend. I'm not going to explain the lore, but basically she's an alternate universe version, who received memories from the Morgan le Fay of our universe. She knows the story of Morgan le Fay who tried to steal King Arthur's kingdom out from under him.

Alternate Universe Morgan le Fay still had the same chip on her shoulder, and entitlement that our Morgan did. She wanted the kingdom, and wanted Britain for herself. Her desire to play savior might have come from that very same entitlement that she deserves britain. Similiarly, she was most likely hurt so badly from the lack of praise because she also deserves praise for her actions. She has a bit of a superiority complex that places her above the fairies and makes her believe she has the right to rule.

However, as I said Morgan didn't start out as a tyrant she did earnestly try to save the faeries despite harboring those more negative qualities and selfish intentions. She may have had a more self-serving variety of selflessness but it's more the fragility of her that causes her fall. She didn't fall because she was rotten to begin with, she was just not strong enough to withstand years and years of ungratefulness from the faeries and betrayal. She has all the makings of a proper hero, she decides to defy destiny to save the people of faerie britain when she was supposed to be their destroyer. However, because she's in a tragedy she falls due to her insecurities and flaws overwhelming her rather than rising to the occasion.

Her manga chapter and the FGO Lostbelt game prose itself uses the light in the distance as a metaphor for this. Morgan continues going forward on the faint light of hope that things will work out for her and that even as a tyrant she can save Britain. However, it's that same light that damns her. In tragedies heroic qualities become flipped into flaws. Morgan's most heroic quality is her determination, the willpower to endeavor for thousands of years to try to save Faerie Britain, but that determination makes her unchanging, causes her to make the same mistakes over and over again, and just makes her continually suffer like Sisyphus pushing his boulder up the hill.

But that light is just an insect trap - or at least that's how it is for the protagonist of the tragedy. Road to hell, and all that.

After reaching her breaking point Morgan decides she'll no longer try to save the fairies but rather only care about saving the kingdom itself. She goes from the kingdom's hero to its oppressive tyrant after seizing the throne for herself.

That's where we meet the villain we know today.

Now shifting gears to Geto Suguru, he is someone who starts out his story trying to be a hero. A little bit of context on the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, it takes place in an urban fantasy version of Japan where the jungian collective unconscious and the negative emotions of humanity create curses that kill and eat people. These curses need to be exorcised by a few special humans who are given superpowers known as jujutsu sorcerers.

There is an institution of sorcerers known as Jujutsu High, which raises sorcerers from a young age gifted with these powers to exorcise sorcerers. THese teenagers are often sent out on msisions. This is different from most stories of teenage heroes with superpower, because fighting curses is brutal and dangerous and most of these kids are going to die young. There's also no end in sight to the fight against curses, because no matter how many curses are exorcised humans will just keep making more.

Not only do they live in a cynical, and brutal world but most sorcerers are insanely selfish. Just to give an example of how immoral sorcerers are, one of the allies of the main characters is implied to molest her brother, and if she's not she still uses her like 12 year old brother as a child soldier. Nobody ever bothers to question this because the institution of sorcerers are inherently corrupt, it's an instituion that continually sends children off to their deaths and uses people as nothing more than cogs.

Caught within this unfair system and trapped in a cycle of exorcising curses that are just going to come back anyway is Geto Suguru, who is not only a model sorcerer he's presented as much more selfless than your average sorcerer. He's directly contrasted against Gojo Satoru who is kind of just a petty kid with a god complex.

Gojo uses his powers selfishly, he only fights because he's really powerful and killing curses is a way to test and use his abilities. (This is literally stated as canon by Nanami don't fight me on this I'm simplifying his motivations because this is not a Gojo meta look at the entire fight with Sukuna saving Megumi was a secondary concern he wanted to fight a strong opponent). Whether people are saved by his actions are a secondary concern.

Geto on the other hand goes against the grain for most of Jujutsu Society, and believes that they as stronger people have a duty to use their strength to protect the weak. This idea of noblesse oblige is way way different from the attitudes of most sorcerers, who as I said usually turn into petty little people with god complexes.

Not to say Geto doesn't have a god complex, but we'll get to that later. Geto is explicitly contrasted against Gojo who's the only other powerful sorcerer and his best friend, but doesn't think they have an obligation to use their powers to help anyone.

Right away we have two things in common with Morgan le Fay, number one they hold themselves to a higher minded ideal that of using their powers to act as a hero and protect the people underneath them. Number two, this is a choice they make to be better than the people around them. Morgan's destiny is to destroy the faeries and she tries to save them. Sorcerers usually just keep their heads down and do their jobs, they're not heroes, they don't save people they kill curses. In fact, the sorcerers who are selfish assholes (Mei Mei) are wildly succesful, the ones who try to help other people like Nanami die young.

They sacrifice themselves for others. Geto pursuing his higher minded ideal is faced with the same kind of tragedy that Morgan is, where his attempts to save a teenage girl named Riko not only blatantly fail, they fail because of Toji a person who cannot use cursed energy. Everyone they tried to protect died, and they're shown first hand not only does the world not really care about their idealism, but they're not really powerful enough to change this world in any way.

Morgan's lover Uther and all of her allies is ruthlessly slaughtered, by the same faeries she was trying to save after she brokered peace. Geto tries to save a little girl, and he not only watches her die, but he sees an entire crowd of normal people, the people he is fighting to save applause for her death. They all applaud her death because they're a part of a cult that believes that the girl was an affront to their god, but she was mostly just a normal teenager. He witnesses first hand that normal people do not care for the fate of Jujutsu Sorcerers whatsoever.

If Geto were more selfish he would be rewarded. If he didn't attempt to save people, if he just only cared about exorcising curses like Gojo did he'd probably become more powerful and he wouldn't succumb to despair the way he had. Geto exists in a narrative where selfishness is rewarded, and his selfless, heroic traits are continually punished.

This traumatic event makes him aware similarly to the brutal cycle he is caught up in. Morgan le Fay can't save the faeries, because faeries are jerks who can't change. Geto will just continually exorcise curses over and over again. Not only is humanity just going to keep producing more curses, but humans are vastly indifferent to the sacrifices that sorcerers (who are mostly children) keep making to try and save them.

Geto's choice to protect people is the cause of his suffering, because sacrifice is inherently taking on suffering for the sake of someone else - therefore sacrifice is suffering.

This too, leads to Geto's eventual breaking point where he lets his resentment for the same people he's trying to save corrupt him. An incident where just after seeing his dear friend die because of a curse, he's brought to a village of people. The whole village put two little girls in a cage, who were capable of seeing curses and blamed them as the scapegoat for a curse reflecting his village. Geto sees a flash of what happened to Riko again, a crowd full of normal people who don't have to fight curses applauding for the sacrifice of a little girl who was innocent. It's the macrocosm, all of society forcing a few sorcerers to die exorcising curses for them, shown on the microcosm, one village scapegoating two little girls who did nothing wrong.

That's what leads Geto to snap and massacre the whole village. He's now turned against the masses he wants to protect. He then decides that instead of protecting the masses, he's going to kill them and build a world of only sorcerers. He's no longer trying to save them, like Morgan le Fay he's turned to the hero and the Tyrant.

They both even utter similiar words.

I will never save the faeries! I will never forgive the faeries! I don't like monkeys. That's the truth I chose.

Monkeys is by the way, the word Geto uses to refer to normal people who cannot fight curses or even see them. People who don't have superpowers.

One more time I want to emphasize Geto did not come out of the womb wanting genocide. Hamlet didn't start out the play stabbing people. He does have his flaws, just like Morgan by assuming the role of the hero he sees himself in a separate, superior category to the people he wants to protect. There's a line I like in a youtube analysis for for Yuji that applies to Geto as well.

(Other people exist to be saved, which gives Yuji a role in the world) In a way Yuji thinks other people exist to validate his own existence.

Geto begins the story not seeing other people as people. They exist in a category separate from himself. Part of the reason that his failures hit him so hard, is because they disprove this idea of superiority he has for himself. He's shown his god complex is just a complex and he's as flawed and capable of failure as any mortal.

It's an inability to recognize that failure, learn from it, and reconcile it with themselves that causes both Morgan le Fay and Geto to spiral. They are the hero, they are trying to be just, they should reap the just rewards for being a hero. Geto even says as such in a moment of rare jealousy for Gojo, that Gojo is someone who also has godlike power and if Geto had that same power he could change the world the way he wants. He could create his more just world.

Morgan and Geto are characters who begin their narratives with superior complexes and senses of entitlement, selfishly selfess heroes and those negative qualities eventually lead them to fail. Geto thought being a sorcerer made him superior, he just also thought that with that superiority came a responsibility to protect others. Morgan le Fay thought she was the rightful king of Britain, she also thought that divine right to be king also came with an obligation to protect Britain. However, they're not meant to be seen as people who all along wanted to oppress and hurt others.

The key word with tragedy is catharsis, we are supposed to feel for the protagonists of tragedies. We're supposed to see our own traits reflected in them. It's their human qualities to drive them to tragedy.

After all, you reader on tumblr would probably not be able to be a perfectly selfless hero. If you saved someone and then they immediately tried to kill you, you would probably just be a little bitter about it. If you were like Geto and you were working tirelessly to exorcise curses, and all you got was your friends dying, I don't think you'd be like "This is okay :D". If anything, going mad in their extreme circumstances seems like a reasonable response, because could we as the audience do any better in their situations?

Of course the last similarity between Geto and Morgan (besides the fact they both adopt daughters they raise up to be little psychos but this post is getting too long already) is the fact that they both heavily foil the heroes of the story they occupy. They see themselves as villain, they play the role of villain, but they're really just heroes of another story.

Paradise or god or fate or whatever in Faerie britain eventually conjures up another chosen one. This chosen one Altria or as the fandom calls her Castoria is far less heroic. IN fact unlike Morgan who embraces the role of savior she would rather do anything she could to avoid Britain.

This is because for similiar reasons as Morgan, the faeries have basically abused her and tormented her all her life. Yet they still expect her to selflessly step up as their chosen one and save the day from the evil oppressive tyrant Morgan.

You have one protagonist who embraces their heroic quest, and even goes above and beyond by ignoring her destiny to wipe out the faeries and saving them instead. You have another who continually runs away from the heroic quest, and honestly doesn't seem to care that much about saving faeries.

Morgan is actually openly sympathetic to Castoria, and even offers to ally with her a couple of times because she bears the same burden as chosen one. This is another example of how Morgan doesn't quite fit the role of either hero or villain, the ambiguity who makes tragedy.

However, while Morgan does everything to defy fate, Castoria just kind of keeps marching along every step of Joseph Campbell's the heroes journey until she ends up defeating Morgan. Well she doesn't truly defeat her, but Morgan meets her tragic end and gets stabbed a whole bunch of times.

There's a similiar foiling between Geto, and the series protagonist Yuji who both start out the story believing that as sorcerers they have a duty to save others. There are several in story comparisons and direct parallels between the two.

Yuji attempts to save others with his power as a sorcerer over and over again, and is met with the same continual failure that Geto has. Yuji is the only real sorcerer in his generation that cares about saving strangers with his powers. Nobara wants money to live in Tokyo, Megumi only cares about protecting Yuji and his sister, Yuta only cares about his friends, Maki only wants revenge against her clan. Like Maki blatantly says whether people get saved or not by her actions is none of her business.

His own attempts to save people not only fail badly, but he watches people die. He watches a lot of people die in a situation where he is powerless to stop them.

He's met with the same tragedy of Geto but he doesn't succumb to it. The same for Castoria she doesn't decide to be a Tyrant the way that Morgan le Fay did. I would argue this isn't because of any inherent goodness that Castoria or Yuji have but rather because both of them are able to let go of their egoes. Yuji kind of believes the same thing Geto does, that other people exist to be saved by him. He's broken when he realizes that he's not a savior after all...but he's able to continue in a way that Geto isn't.

Yuji lets go of his ego entirely and believes that he's just a cog in the machine and he doesn't need to be some big hero or be rewarded at the end of his hero's journey.

Geto and Morgan le Fay both long for a role in the grand scheme of things. They are still employing narrative thinking, they need to play a story role to validate their existences. It's just that they flipped their role, they tried being the heroes but it didn't work so they're the villains now.

Geto is similiarly rebuffed by Yuta who is his eventual killer by saying that he doesn't actually care about saving the world or if Geto is right that sorcerers are superior to humans, he's only fighting for his friends.

I would say for both castoria and yuji it's not a matter of being inherently good people, but rather of being better at enduring than their counterparts are. Morgan le Fay and Geto try to take the world's suffering on their shoulders, and it breaks them because they're not heroes they're just normal people. Yuji, Castoria and to the same extent Yuta kind of learn to let go of their great heroic aspirations but because of that they're able to take on suffering better. They're trying to live in reality not a grand heroic fantasy.

To bring the example back to FGO, for Castoria and for Morgan the light of hope that led them down their heroic journeys mean two different things. For Morgan that light is an insect trap. Her flying towards that light just causes her to keep suffering through her sisyphian task. Castoria has a much more realistic point of view, she's not trying to get a happy ending or even save people, that light is the hope that at the end of her journey her actions will have meant something. It's more about the journey itself and the people she met along the way, then some big grand reward at the end.

Morgan le Fay and Geto both fail because they are fragile, because they are human. That's the most important takeaway of this long rambling post. They may be selfish, they may be entitled but they're flawed in human ways. After all, who doesn't want a happy ending?

[decepti-thots]

one of the overlooked things about Pharma in the Delphi arc is how cold he is. the more manic and emotionally volatile energy he brings post-Delphi gets grafted backwards as some inherent part of his personality all along but while we see the cracks showing here that led him to do all this in the first place, the vibe is very different. he's not flinching as he cold-bloodedly frames his completely innocent peer by deliberately, knowingly playing on the likely prejudices (or assumed prejudices) of those around him. this is a pre-mediated thing that only works if he's acting very stoic and reasonable about it all, planned in advance. conversely, it's also why the 'Pharma isn't even actually the bad guy, he was just stuck in an impossible situation until that dick Ratchet overreacted and ruined him!' take is wrong. that might have been true to an extent if all Pharma had done was kill patients that he felt would otherwise be murdered en-masse by the DJD anyway to protect some of them, and his coworkers. but now, he's progressed to killing everyone anyway and framing Ambulon not for any hope it will spare more people in the end than he kills, but because he's terrified of being found out as the person who did it; and that's not actually a thing he has to do at all! if everyone else is going to die anyway by this point, he could come clean when help arrives... but he knows he might face consequences for doing so. that's what turns Pharma's actions on Delphi from tragic but largely outside his control into something far less easily absolved.

the animosity ratchet has towards him later is also grafted backwards and not only not present here, but literally the only reason any of this works is that Ratchet thinks highly enough of Pharma he even floats the idea of making him CMO once all this is over, so he's not immediately suspicious. which suggests that this crack in Pharma's principles is brought on by the stress of his situation on Delphi, because I can't imagine Ratchet would trust him at all if this was behaviour anyone would expect of him on the regular.

so Pharma's not always been the enormously volatile, emotionally impulsive bad guy he becomes after this, and he also wasn't some sort of pure victim of circumstance who it's unreasonable Ratchet etc treat as a threat that needs taking out and treat harshly. and the main thing that gets overlooked in both cases in how people remember his character here, i think, is this moment: the calculated, pre-mediated framing of Ambulon, specifically chosen because he is vulnerable to what Pharma's trying to pull. (both because of being a Con, and Pharma's knowledge of his alt-mode hangup.)

or, in his own words:

"too many questions."

[tales-of-snaktooth]

Bugsnax in Ancient Stone Grumpus Society

In the early years of Tooth Island grumpus civilization, Bugsnax have always been a major part of their lives. They serve as their main source of food, their transformations can be used as tools and even fashion statements, forms of currencies (trading hard-to-get/rare/so-called "special" Snax for different goods and services is very common in Stone Grump society), and are generally just fascinating creatures to observe and learn about. While the overall view of Bugsnax varies from grumpus to grumpus, it’s very common for most to see them as higher beings deserving of praise and worship. Even though grumpuses had been living alongside the Snax for so long, there’s not much knowledge on what they actually are.

Grumpuses had survived on the islands centuries before the actual “beginning” of their civilizations. However, it's generally accepted that the first true inhabitants of the island were, in fact, the Bugsnax. No grumpus had traveled far enough to find any other Snak-inhabited lands, so it’s also assumed that Bugsnax and the Tooth Islands are inherently connected somehow. So that only encourages the grumpuses to respect the Bugsnax more.

A form of showing that respect is through the Bugsnak Ceremonies.

Ceremonies and Sacrifices

Once a month, it's a common practice for Stone Grumpus territories to hold day-long events celebrating life and Bugsnax. The communities of Falls Valley holding their ceremonies on Broken Tooth. The communities of The Coast may also choose to go to Broken Tooth, but there’s also an underground cavern (built by Broken Tooth grumpuses) near the area that also is used for ceremonies. In The Peak communities it’s celebrated in one of their large cave systems. And lastly, The Desert’s ceremonies are held in the Vast Desert, near the Grand Pyramid. Though there’s been a “pause” to The Desert’s ceremonies for several years for an unexplainable reason…

Events that take place within the ceremonies vary from territory to territory, but they must end in the sacrifice of a randomly chosen grumpus. The sacrifices serve as a “Thank you” to the Bugsnax for allowing these grumpus communities to survive and thrive off of them for so many years. It’s believed that once a grumpus has been sacrificed, their bodies will break apart into Bugsnax. Their minds, thoughts, beliefs, wisdom, all finding new life in Bugsnax. The body of that grumpus may be gone, but they’ll find new life in the Bugsnax. And if any of the Snax gets caught and eaten by another grumpus, then they’ll gain that previous knowledge, allowing that sacrificed grump to still live on.

At least, that’s how it’s described in ancient legends. It’s said to help make chosen grumpuses feel less nervous, because being sacrificed isn’t their end, but a way to give them new life.

If a grumpus has passed away and their body; either whole and parts of them, is still accessible, it’s recommended to wait until the next Bugsnak Ceremony and bring their body to be sacrificed to the Bugsnax. If a grump is feeling brave enough, they could go to the ceremony place themselves to sacrifice the body outside of ceremony time. The area is very dangerous for a solo grump; as it’s a common place where someone may go missing. It's recommended to bring a friend or one of their leader’s subordinates to accompany them, and also to go during the daylight, as most grumpuses are active at that time in case they’re in need of help.

Going missing

An unexplainable phenomenon that causes grumpuses to disappear. There’s no set conditions that’ll lead to the disappearance of a grumpus. Any grumpus of any status may seem fine one day, then gone the next.

In the earlier years of Stone Grumpus civilization, a grumpus who had gone missing was seen as a more urgent matter to look into. But there were no cases of a grumpus going missing ever being found. So in later years, it’s been accepted as an unpredictable, random, and tragic occurrence.

The best choice is to simply move on.

[sophsicle]

ok but!! i’m not just talking about monarchs who had secret lovers. that’s cool but. i’m talking worst of the worst, awful reps, terrible rulers, terrible people, oppressive, etc. like. that’s so much more interesting. barty crouch is objectively an awful person. cruel, callous, stone cold, probably hated by his people (im not sure forgive me if im wrong i’m not caught up on ohb). but!!! evan!! rosekiller!! kinda sirius too…i mean i cant stop thinking about the first man he killed, the captain of the ship. if people got word that a king killed his own man, they’d turn immediately. but like…you just don’t know him like i do!! you don’t know his motives! y’all just don’t know how he’s capable of love. how he cares! and i bring up tsar nicholas again because that’s just who i’m studying in class right now. objectively a terrible ruler. naive, stupid, inept. but. what if he was in love! “misunderstood” LOL. what if no one knew him the way we know barty and sirius. and regulus. what if he had this love on the side that was “once in a lifetime.” like this is STUPID and definitely not real but it’s what i wonder…i’m sick i need to take a nap.

yeah i mean, i guess i just find most monarchs kind of inherently sympathetic in the sense that they didn't choose to be where they are, like I don't think Nicholas II is a bad guy? I actually find him and Alexandra and their children to be incredibly tragic figures, like yeah, for sure, overthrow the Tsar, monarchy is an INSANE way to rule, but they were told they were chosen by god and they acted accordingly

I GUESS i am trying to return to my original point which is that

they did.

any historical figure you can think of. they had personal lives. they were human beings. they were complex. they loved things. they loved other people. however unjust or authoritarian they might have been. like pick a monarch and you will be able to find the human part of them, because they were human. Even the worst people, loved someone somewhere at some point. that is history. that's what i was trying to say

ALSO side note, but none of those relationships I mentioned were secret really (except maybe William) i think people have this sense that like, especially queer love, is a new modern invention, but people were very aware of these relationships even at the time, and like, they were not shocked by this

[danidoesathing]

ive talked about this before but. do you ever think about how inherently tragic Ganondorf's existence is?

In most versions of Ganondorf, he's relatively the same in terms of motive. A big bad villain, set out to destroy Hyrule for evil reasons or no reason at all except he's evil and Link has got to stop him. He really doesn't need a motive – he's the reincarnation of the demon god Demise, who hates Hylia and wants to ruin her kingdom. Sometimes he's given something like "wanting power" or "wanting to take over Hyrule because he can", but it makes sense he's going to be evil for the sake of being evil.

But then Wind Waker's Ganondorf goes and says this

Ganondorf was the king of the Gerudo, a group that lives in a harsh desert and lacks a lot of resources that Hyrule had. He saw the suffering of his people and wanted the turn the prosperous winds of Hyrule towards them. That's not only a given motive, but it's....not evil. It's something born of a out a desire to help his people, to do good by them. Not power, not greed, not cruelty, but a desire to be a good king.

Of course he's still the bad guy here and does a lot of evil shit. His actions end up dooming not only the Gerudo but the whole kingdom of Hyrule to a watery grave. He's not good here either just because he wants to do good things. But this implies it's not because Ganondorf does not want to be good, but that he literally can't be good.

Ganondorf is shown here to have a thoughts and a will beyond Demise. He's now about as much as Demise as Zelda is Hylia. He's got wants, not just for himself but for others. He can care about other people enough to want to do right by them. He can full well try to do good things and try to be good, but destiny will come calling one way or another. Eventually, those desires will be corrupted and twisted to fit Demise's wants; to bring ruin to Hyrule.

The cycle of reincarnation is shown to effect all three in some way. Breath of the Wild explored a bit on how the weight of being Hylia's incarnation weighs on Zelda, how the pressure of destiny and how your own wants are shoved aside for it. It does not matter if she wants to be the Goddess's chosen, she is destined to be that.

But I can't help but imagine what it must be like to be Demise's incarnation. From the moment of your birth, your existence will bring nothing but pain and misery to the world. It doesn't matter that you have goals and desire to make something of yourself, it doesnt matter that you care about your kingdom and want to be the king people write about for generations to come, it doesn't matter that you can love and feel and exist as yourself because you have a purpose to fulfill. Nothing you do will ever be enough to fight off destiny and eventually you will lose yourself. The god that cursed you to born will twist your desires to his whim and at that point you will delight in the fires that burn across the land. You are doomed to destroy and ruin everything in Hylia's light or die trying – and you will die trying. Because you are doomed to die by the sword of boy whose just as much as a pawn in this as you are. Because you've been through this before and you will do this again. Because the Gods do not care what you want and their war is never fought by them. Because you have darkness in the very essence of your soul and there's nothing you can do to stop it.

How tragic it must be to play the role of the villain

[squidpedia]

I've always wondered why certain names are chosen for characters. Is there some inherent meaning in their names or did you just like it. So what's in this case?

It varies between both i guess!

im kinda tragic with character names and have this habit of naming characters after objects or food or whatever i think is funniest in the moment. Its how we have abi being the only one from unconscious effort with a normal name while everyone else is named like prawn or marzipan

I’m also really fond of naming schemes for groups of characters, so sometimes i try to follow some kind of theme when i have to name more than one (the neighborhood kids from clover’s memories do have names and theyre all plant based to go with clover’s, lilac included).

And then other times i just gather some friends around a character and we stare at them and throw out a bunch of names that fits their vibe until something sticks (this is what happened with my fallen kid designs)

[kyrieren]

Yashiro and/ versus Kageyama: The singularity of humanhood

Warning: Wall of text (about 1500 words) (ʘ‿ʘ) (ʘ‿ʘ) (ʘ‿ʘ)

"People ... are full of contradictions. They’re lonely. And then they’re not. They’re missed. And then they are not."

This monologue of Yashiro reveals the reasons why Kageyama and he are unable to forge a romantic relationship. The ways they deal with the outer world and themselves contradict each other, rendering them incompatible. Their respective mental burdens billow whenever they are together during high school. Yashiro confronts his homosexuality head-on, embracing it aloud, while Kageyama conceals it, even from his own awareness. It's a tragic paradox, where two individuals grappling with the same matter yet employing starkly contrasting coping mechanisms, making their interactions all the more painful to witness. However, no one is really at fault. People are just different, living in different universes, which entails the ultimate singularity of humanhood.

Yashiro has always been that observant and astute kind of person, perceptive enough to discern much about others, yet conversely, is taken into account and understood too little by other characters. Seeking for torture, aware of the world's inherent cruelty, Yashiro adopts increasingly questionable behaviors, inviting insults and even physical assaults, and hopefully Kageyama's notice too. This self-destructive persona becomes his armor against past trauma, a role he convinces himself to fully embody, albeit at a cost that may appear excessive to others, leading Kageyama to perceive him as self-centered. Despite the fabrication of his persona, Yashiro is candid about one aspect of himself: his attraction to men, a truth that challenges Kageyama's own understanding of himself.

On the contrary, Kageyama's obtuseness isn't inherent but rather a chosen path in life. Ignorance and conformity are his chosen coping mechanism. He follows the footsteps of his parents by enrolling in med school and becoming a doctor; dodges the “danger” of not being straight by finding a woman whenever somebody forces him to confront his true sexuality. Kageyama is that typical type of person who meticulously adheres to social norms, blending in with his family and the heteronormative world around him. However, this self-protective mechanism also endangers Yashiro whose deepest fear lies in rejection and emotional pain.

In this analysis, I’m going to consolidate Yashiro and Kageyama’s dynamic in two symbolism systems: the perceptions (lens vs glasses) and the defense (umbrellas, 2 vs 1).

1. The perceptions (lens vs glasses)

Lens

Lens is typically associated with observation, perception, and worldview. Yashiro’s act of stealing Kageyama’s lens case manifests his desperate yearning to be "seen" by his crush. Through various actions, Yashiro strives to show Kageyama who he is as a person and his aspirations for their relationship: he attends Kageyama’s father’s funeral, shares deeply personal information with Kageyama, and even sexually assaults his classmate to provoke a reaction from Kageyama.

As Yashiro takes the lens case, his inner monologue speaks, “But if he ever rejects me, it’ll probably hurt me. This is… obviously not… something I’m used to feeling.” Yashiro is acutely aware of the potential emotional toll of pursuing this unfamiliar feeling. Despite the risks of rejection and mental anguish, he still bravely proceeds for the desire to escape his perpetual solitude. All he truly seeks is someone who cares about him. Actually, he is asking for just a tiny meager.

Nevertheless, Yashiro's intense persona, shaped by childhood trauma, becomes too much for Kageyama to handle. Consequently, Kageyama consistently avoids and evades the possibility of being gay, which Yashiro persistently presents to him. In fact (or figuratively), Kageyama has given his answer before Yashiro even mentions about the matter.

This rainy scene involving Kageyama, his girl, and Yashiro conveys a profound message about Kageyama's stance. Though the simple dialogue is about Kageyama losing his lens, the underlying theme is about him losing his ability to truly "see" because he chooses not to. He deliberately avoids "seeing" Yashiro to avoid confronting the uncomfortable truth about himself and his sexuality. The girl's remark, "What a waste," goes beyond the monetary value of his loss; it hints at the greater losses Kageyama can imagine at that moment. He loses the world in its true form and his true, authentic self - which navigates us humans throughout life. He reserves himself by never letting that self interact and be reflected from people, leading to a gradual decline in his ability to empathize and grow emotionally. Ironically, his attempt to protect the self eventually ends up destroying it. That's why he grows into such a dense and apathetic bloke.

Glasses

I believe the glasses on his face are meant to be sarcastic. His eyes are not presented in the above panel, instead only his glasses. Glasses are typically a tool for better vision, yet in this particular case, become a symbol of his self-imposed blindness. As Kageyama can’t “see” the world with his own eyes, he chooses to rely on external aids – the social norms, to filter the world for him. A man with glasses is actually a blind man.

2. The defenses (umbrellas and 2 vs 1)

The visual storytelling in these panels is masterful, capturing the intricate dynamics and stark contrasts between the characters and their internal struggles. Here we have black vs transparent umbrella, being accompanied vs alone under the rain. Let’s not forget about the rain – the befallen suffering, and in this particular scene, it could be interpreted as the looming threat they pose to each other or the mental barriers they avoid confronting. Yashiro doesn’t want to be rejected and get hurt, while Kageyama is reluctant to acknowledge his homosexuality, given the societal stigmas.

The umbrellas

I once wrote an analysis including my interpretation of the transparent umbrella Yashiro gives Aoi, if you’re interested, please scroll to the end of this post to read. To summarize that part, that umbrella represents Yashiro’s deep empathy and the wish to end the suffering of somebody who experiences the same trauma he endures. Transparency stands for “being seen”, or at least, in this scene, the wish to be. With all normal to absurd acts, despite the risks, Yashiro is trying to make Kageyama realize who he is as a person (yet of course, acting out on his façade simultaneously). On the contrary to Yashiro, Kageyama’s black umbrella symbolizes his coping mechanism, blocking any outcast that possibly derails him from the safe uniformity. Yashiro, the friend behind him, becomes the epitome of the abject, representing Kageyama's own fear of straying from social norms.

2 vs 1

Additionally, the contrast between Kageyama being accompanied and Yashiro walking alone adds more weight to the scene.

Kageyama's aversion to be odd out drives him to seek validation through external factors, such as his relationship with women, to anchor himself firmly within social norms, which also echoes in “Don’t stay gold”. By being with someone, Kageyama subconsciously affirms his belongingness and shields himself from ostracization.

On the other hand, Yashiro, though broken and “twisted beyond repair”, is risking facing his utmost terror of being emotionally damaged. Walking alone signifies the will to keep himself survive without the buffer of external relationships or societal validation. It must have taken him aggrandizing bravery to reach that point of vulnerability, risking facing his utmost terror of being emotionally damaged.

As Yashiro persists, Kageyama withdraws further. Ultimately, Kageyama’s avoidance calls for Yashiro’s ultimate fear of rejection. The risk becomes too overwhelming for Yashiro to endure, prompting him to halt his pursuit. Eventually, they both settle into a common medium of ceasefire, which is friendship. While Kageyama maintains a superficial, pitying and somewhat indebted concern for Yashiro, Yashiro secretly harbors his unrequited love that spans a painfully long period, nearly two decades.

3. The singularity of humanhood

The oneshot closes with the scene where Yashiro cries at the balcony while clenching Kageyama’s lens case.

“People are… full of contradictions. They’re lonely. And then they’re not. They’re missed. And then they are not.”

Yashiro and Kageyama’s encounter invites an opportunity for a break from their homeostasis of solitude, yet eventually, it plunges them deeper into their initial mental state. Despite being friends and their shared attraction to men, they are universes apart, operating on different systems. They can't find solace from each other. They’re both lonely and yet they’re also not. They both exist, yet they also don't.

Yashiro has always been alone. However, he resembles a stray cat. A stray cat only becomes pathetic if adopted, petted, loved and then abandoned. If Yashiro is never rejected, he is never pathetic or truly lonely. He may be abjected, have nothing or nobody, but he retains the one constant: himself, the only ally that can accompany, protect and keep him survive.

On the very contrary, Kageyama, in conforming to societal expectations for safety, sacrifices his authenticity and inner connection. He may be with others, but he can’t be with himself. Kageyama is so empty inside. Living a life without an authentic self can be just as tragically lonely as physical solitude.

Now who really is the lonely one? Who will be missed and who will not? Yashiro the ever outcast with an overwhelming persona but nobody is taking him into account? Or Kageyama the self-deprived, while conforming to social expectations, lacks a genuine identity?

Read my other analysis including the transparent umbrella of Aoi here:

[kindlingkeen]

You gave me permission to pester and so now I’ll be that stray cat that won’t stop showing up at your door w random junk (in this case, questions & things)

So! Meta abilities / powers / whatever you wanna call em. 👏

I know none of what Jason’s got going on is meta stuff, all his magic and things are earned through different means (Lazarus, All-Cast, etc) but I have seen people sometimes scrap the whole superboy prime/lazarus pit thing and instead make it that Jason has some sort of immortality type ability.

I love it, immortality is inherently tragic for so many people ESPECIALLY the one that’s actually forced to live on. And something about Jason being the one fated to die first (voted) yet unable to actually really do so hurts. Plus powers in general is neat.

But! That is not the only meta ability I’ve seen people give Jason. I’ve seen some where he can travel through shadows, where he can influence the terrain of Gotham, understand animals, unnatural tracking abilities, acid spit, doesn’t breathe, ghost rider type stuff, smth that links him to others, etc.

I love me some flashy abilities but I’m always partial to the subtle ones that don’t look like bunch but are badass when used right.

So w that in mind, if you could give him any meta abilities or powers, what would you choose? what do you think would be the most fun? The ones that could have the best impact on plot n why, etc. doesn’t have to tie into current canon at all ofc, go wild. I’m very curious on what you come up w because there is, quite literally, infinite possibilities. :)

Hey, friend!

Okay, I let this one percolate for a couple of days, and I have to admit, I’m a little stuck. I can’t say I’ve ever really thought about Jason as a meta. One of the things I love about Jay is that he’s just a normal dude (aside from the soul swords thing, but actually that gets at some of my issues with rhato). Like, beat him with a crowbar, blow him up, slice his throat open with a batarang, have his dad beat him senseless, send his buddies through a wormhole, kill off his best friend—it doesn’t fucking matter, Jason doesn’t stay down, he keeps getting back up. He doesn’t have a stable support system, he’s not a billionaire, he isn’t friends with half the superheroes on the planet, he doesn’t have an assassin cult waiting in the wings—he’s just a guy from Gotham who doesn’t know how to quit, even if it quite literally kills him. To me, the meta thing takes away from that. It softens the tenacity and grit that makes Jason’s story so visceral and compelling.

This is not meant to take away from your (or anyone’s) enjoyment of Jason with meta powers. It’s just not for me, I guess.

A meta-adjacent idea that I do really go for, though, is the idea of a sentient Gotham with a deep connection to Jason. She speaks to him, she breathes life back into him to, she calls him home. She’s not going to relinquish her claim on her chosen avatar until she’s good and ready. Now that sends shivers down my spine.

[ssruis]

(Re: tsukasa post) if you wanted to be a little uncharitable you *could* say that tsukasa cares for others just because it lines up with his goals - as in, he cares for others because he believes that’s what a star should do - rather than just genuine kindness and goodwill, but I would argue

- wrt loved ones: saki specifically (& to a lesser extent toya just because they interact less) is the greatest counterpoint against that interpretation. He wants to be the best brother possible because he loves her, not because it’s what a star should be doing (gestures at the doll event where he brought her the dolls as a kid even before he started the whole I am a world future star thing). Like yes he views that as something he *should* be doing but that’s because he believes that’s what you should do for your loved ones. I think at this point the big brother-dream of being a star thing are so irreversibly intertwined that they’re kind of one and the same. Of course a star would care for others because tsukasa cares for others and he views himself as a star etc etc. He wants to look out for/do things for his siblings/friends because he loves them.

- I guess you could argue him doing the same for strangers is solely because it upholds his star persona/image? But to that I would point out that his whole “I realized my real dream was to make others smile” thing in the main story sort of contradicts that. Given the whole “theatre is life” thing he’s got going on I think making strangers/acquaintance/etc happy in his day to day life is just like. A microcosm of what he aims to do on stage. I think he’s egotistical yeah but I don’t think that has to be mutually exclusive with selflessness. I do think there’s a discussion to be had about tsukasa being self-centered because he *is* and he’s absolutely not the completely selfless guy some people want to think he is but I also think that he can be motivated by egotistical desires *and* selfless desires. Being self centered isn’t inherently a bad thing. Tsukasa is kind because he’s a kind person and because that’s what a star should do in his mind. His own kindness is self serving. Does that make sense (no, it’s incomprehensible) great glad you’re following along. Sliding scale of how selfless his motivations for being kind are depending on the person with saki being on one end and random strangers on the other.

- I think it’s inherently difficult to ascertain whether the motives behind kindness are self serving or not. Does someone being kind because it makes them feel good mean they’re selfish? Humans are a social species, we enjoy making others happy because it makes us happy. Evolutionary adaption that helps the survival of the group. I think the idea that true kindness depends on your altruism making you miserable is stupid, although I guess you could argue that a kind person chooses kindness regardless of how it makes them feel. But then there’s the question of what motivates your kindness (a sense of doing the right thing? Upholding your morals? Because the guilt of being selfish is something you can’t bear? Wouldn’t that be just as selfish as wanting to feel good?) Whether or not true altruism/selflessness exists is a philosophical debate I don’t really feel like having over characters from the gacha miku tap tap game. Whatever. Would like to point out that tsukasa has canonically chosen to do the “right”/kind thing at the cost of his own benefit before (giving up on winning the pxl show contest/chance for a big break in favor of putting on the WMS show, which he was a little upset about doing).

I think people tend to err too far on the side of “he’s super selfless all the time with a pure heart” because they don’t want to admit their fave is an absolutely bizarre guy with a massive ego that comes into play for more than just his funny little speeches about being The Most Special Guy Alive which is tragic because Tsukasa Tenma is truly an interesting critter. He doesn’t do things solely out of the goodness of his heart but he also doesn’t not do things out of the goodness of his heart. He’s complex. Layered. A weird little freak. I’m studying him like a bug. You understand.

[mean-gills]

WCSMP FAE AU

After the death of the queen of the fae realm the 8 nobel families who rule the 8 kingdoms of the fae realm must fight, negotiate, and discuss who is next in line.

Lord Scott Smajor the rotten, his name brings fear to those who know of him commonly not being spoken out of fear. Legends say that he killed his elder brother to become heir, but why is he so ruthless? Why does he do this? No one has been brave enough to ask.

Lady Cleo the perplexing, unlike the others she doesn't quite have a kingdom per say rather she is one of the 4 time fae controlling how time works in the fae wild. Presumably she is some kind of leader although it is said that the 4 share equal power, so why her? People have asked and gotten various answers.

Lady Shelby the cloud bringer, the true royal living in a large family being the eldest of her siblings, her kingdom is notorious of being rather distant from the world below. Not much is known about her for that reason, so what does she have to gain? What does she have to lose?

Lady Eloise the coniving, her story is tragic her parents dying young with her being the only heir people watched her intently. She is known for her mischievous side more then anything, but why is she here? Perhaps it's just for fun, or maybe she wants to honor her parents memory?

Lord Joey the banished, banished from the winter court due to his fire magic he built a life for himself and dispite his banishment and disownment somehow he was still sought after. He was a nobody and still specifically wanted, why?

Lady Prismarina the dark, dispite water magic being a very neutral seelie magic there was something inherently unseelie, something dark within her calling out to all those who meet her. She always seems to know what is going on and this presence makes her seem arrogant. Why is she here? What is going on with her?

Lady Cupquake the blossom, choose by mother nature herself to be the heir of the spring court, she isn't familiar with royal customs. Not much is known about her with that non royal background, so perhaps she's a threat. Why was she chosen? What are her plans?

Lady Lauren the legend, she is from the totally real sand kingdom, a very closed off kingdom which is why you probably thought that place was fake. She totally isn't something they just found in the desert. Why is she here? If she's such a totally experienced royal then why does she act so improper?

Thought I would share! If you have questions I would be happy to share more about this au!!! These characters have a lot more complexity then these small descriptions show, I would love to get asks for this au please!!!

[alatabouleau]

Why the Beach divorce is unfixable (and why it doesn't work in Good Omens 2)

I think we can all agree that XMFC is a ...~flawed~ movie. I mean, I could write long, long posts about the inherent sexism and racist implications. But today, I want to talk about one thing that actually worked. That made so much sense and hit so hard, it single-handedly saved the whole film for me. Something that I've seen come up recently, again, under the cherik-tag because of another fandom and show. Where something very similar happens, only that in this case, it doesn't work at all.

(if you haven't watched GO S2 yet, spoilers. Also, if you enjoyed the second season, good for you, but this post is going to be highly critical of it. Gotta be my last post about that, since I believe in getting it out of your system but not continually spreading negativity and holding a grudge.)

So, with this post, I would like to dissect *why*: What makes the Beach Divorce (TM) in First Class work so well is its preparation in the previous events of that film and even before that. The thing about First Class is, while not being the perfect prequel timeline-wise with the previous motives of the first X-Men-trilogy, it still works *because* it is a prequel. At least the very specific part about Professor X and Magneto. Because from the start, when Charles pulls Erik out of the ocean, we, the informed audience, know how it's going to end. But for some moments you tend to forget, when they go on a trip to recruit mutants, training them, working so well together. And even when the small cracks are already visible in the way they discuss the issue of mutant integration into society, one could still hope that maybe this time, they'll find a way, settle their differences and keep building the future. Together. But it's still the same story. It's still the same characters. And both Erik and Charles could never change their core values. Their lives have already shaped them into who they are inherently, and they can't change what they do because they can't change what they *want*. Which is why the line "We want the same thing." - "Oh, I'm sorry my friend. But we do not." hits so hard. Because both is true. On a broader level, they *do* both want the same thing. A better future for mutantkind. Yet just as equally true is the fact that they will never want to choose the same path to get there.

To point it out directly, what makes the Beach Divorce (TM) so brilliantly devastating is that it makes 100% perfect sense for the two characters to behave that way. It makes sense that Erik, who sees someone he clearly cares for (loves) being shot, again!, can't initially accept that it's his fault. It makes sense for him, after taking an unimaginable amount of courage to make himself vulnerable in front of Charles, for the very first time on screen in front of ANYNONE mind you, laying down awkwardly but raw in its honesty how much this man in his arms means to him, to immediately close off and become cold again after being utterly rejected, in his PoV. It makes just as much sense for Charles who spent this movie trying to show Erik that there could be other ways to deal with issues than violence, would perceive how Erik takes on a helmet that cuts him off, kills a man while Charles is IN HIS HEAD, tries to kill "innocent" people and ultimately, shoots him, to conclude that his friend (love interest) has long since chosen a path where he could never follow him and therefore see choosing different sides (breaking up) as the only available option. And you can try to "fix" this. You can make up any scenario you can think of, and it still would play out like that because you can't change how each Erik and Charles perceive the world without changing inherently who they are as characters. That's what makes it so gut-wrenchingly tragic.

The whole tragedy of the tale of cherik is laid out in this one scene: That if the two of them looked into the mirror of erised, they'd see the same vision. Them being together and leading the mutant race in a bright future for them. But in reality, the means they choose to get to that end will never be compatible. Its tragedy defines itself through a subversion of the trope "Love on opposite sides". Because they *choose* to be that. It's not external circumstances that keep them from being together, it's their own values and convictions. Which is what keeps me so obsessed with these two, since that is so uniquely ~them~. So why do I think that this very similar scene, which I described as so brilliantly heartbreaking in one context, doesn't work for Good Omens 2? well... BECAUSE IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE FOR *THESE* CHARACTERS! Because Crowley and Aziraphale are the exact opposite of Cherik. They too, may be a couple that finds itself on different sides, but in their case, that's entirely an external circumstance, while their internal values and convictions align almost perfectly (depending whether we talk book omens or S1GO). Because the core of Ineffable spouses ship is that they are on the same side when they shouldn't be. They have their orders to obey, they have their instructions to despise each other, but they simply don't care enough since They are more interested in earth (and each other) than their respective head offices. That's what makes them work as friends, as a couple, as a ship. So when season 2 pulled a beach divorce à la Cherik, I was mad and disappointed because for me, it tears apart what their relationship is all about. And I'm ok with that kind of sacrifice when it gives you something valuable narrative-wise, which it didn't. And I have no hope of season 3 paying off for that. There was just not a big enough reason for me to break off the backbone of the entire story. That it is possible for you to make your own choices and be with the people you want to be with even if an oppressive system tells you no. It just doesn't make sense.

(So yeah, does this post only exist because I tried to get my head off from the destruction of a very dear ship of mine but also not wanting to spoil anyone's fun, by scrolling through the cherik-tag on Tumblr instead of the good omens tags and seeing so many posts comparing these two scenes, thinking "can you escape this *anywhere* on this page?" while also getting annoyed since how I pointed out in this post, it doesn't work at all in the second context? Maybe. But that's just me. ;))

[spacemonkeysalsa]

I got so very baited recently, because I am naïve in the ways of internet trolls. Lmao and all that, but I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that a lot of people really do seem to genuinely believe that God Gale is a good ending, and then I wrote 2300 words about the three reasons it makes me super sad actually. Writing is a compulsive activity for me, I kinda felt like I had to or I wouldn't be able to think about anything else, or sleep.

My bait would be that I do consider ascending Gale to godhood a worse outcome for Gale than ascending Astarion is for Astarion, not because Ascended Astarion is at all okay, but because Astarion has zero good options in the first place. Gale has a whole range, so going with one of his bad endings feels extra tragic to me because there was potential for him to be as alright as possible for any mfer in Toril, whereas everything with the poor vampire is kind of a negotiation of different scenarios of complication and misery.

Anyway, below this cut is 2300 words of me feeling heavy about God Gale.

God Gale is a Bad Ending (in this essay I blah blah blah)

Three umbrella sads (meaning big reasons containing lots of little reasons)

First) DnD gods are all terrible, and Gale will not be an exception:

The themes of power and authority explored in Baldur’s Gate 3 all have fairly similar messaging. To be reductive: power corrupts and those who seek authority over others inevitably abuse them. This is introduced on both high and lower levels within the story, and on the high side of things, it’s with the gods themselves. The writers chose to include Mystra, a pretty universally beloved goddess who is considered “good” by the majority of DnD players. Mystra is then depicted as someone who grooms and callously discards her chosen. We also learn that she seeks some of them out when they are very young, but that's not a requirement for grooming. The power imbalance between any mortal seeking favor and the literal goddess that they worship is great enough that any close relationship would be inherently difficult to navigate. And from what we see Mystra has grown disconnected from the mortal experience, to a pretty alarming degree, in spite of once being mortal herself and keeping many mortal chosen close. She is not handling this relationship well, and is leveraging the power imbalance rather than trying to mitigate its negative qualities. The significance of this might be somewhat lost on people who are new to Toril and the gods of this world, but a lot of veteran DnD players actually found this to be kinda scandalous/”wildly out of character for Mystra” and they completely missed the point that Larian did this on purpose. It’s a very intentional way of making sure you understand, trust no bitch. (in this scenario gods are the bitches)

I don’t really think there’s much of an argument that Mystra did alright by Gale—but people do try to make it. I’m ignoring them for now. Resting on the assumption that we recognize that what Mystra did to Gale (both prior to the events of the game, and within the game’s narrative) was 100% not ok, I think it’s important to remember that there are endings in which Gale goes to Elysium with Mystra, has the orb removed, is even restored back to his original body from being a mindflayer ect. By all appearances, Gale seems pretty happy with this when it happens. But knowing what we know, he shouldn’t be. He deserves better. I actually love this—I mean, it’s awful and upsetting, but it’s perfectly tragic and appropriate for Gale. He’s not above delusion and weakness and mortal failings. He can become a god, and I actually don’t think I need to make much of an argument for why I don’t believe he would be an exception, because there is no exception, to this particular rule. Even Withers, by and large depicted as helpful, is aloof and ultimately responsible for the Dead Three being such menaces in the first place.

But, I’ll make the argument that Gale can’t be an exception anyway. Or, I’ll let Gale make it for me, by just saying that if you let him ascend to godhood and then talk to him about it at the epilogue party, it’s already pretty clear that he’s not an exception at all. He’s making excuses, he’s disconnected, he’s neglectful and unfeeling. I actually think it’s clearer to see when you aren’t in a relationship with him than when you are, which also feels right. His prior experience with serious relationships was with a goddess who made him her chosen so there’s probably some sense of romance to making his partner feel singled out that he might not even realize he’s performing. To the rest of the world he might be just another god with a domain that can be used for good or ill and who doesn’t concern himself with mortal suffering, but you know “the real him” and you know he’s good to you and that’s all you need to know.

Second) He knows now that he wasn’t enough as he was:

Gale’s desire for power seems like it’s something he’s innately had for a long time, but so is his sweetness and his ability to come down hard on himself for his failings. This is really nicely encapsulated in the letter that you get from Elminster at the epilogue party when he ascends, in which Elminster expresses his regrets over the part he played in Gale’s fate. (I’m just going to glide right past the fact that Elminster, Tara and implicitly Gale’s mother all think his ascension is bad, I do think that’s evidence, but I want to focus on my reasons, not theirs). To sum up, the letter describes Elimnster’s first encounter with Gale, featuring the eight year old wizard accidentally destroying flowers with Fireball and being very upset about it. To do a quick and dirty analysis of the coding here:

Flowers = good and beautiful things (also, the natural world and by extension the mortals in it)

Crying = Gale’s better nature showing through (empathy, something gods repeatedly suck at)

Fireball = power/harm he’s capable of, and power and harm are equivalent (supernatural/godly power and its destructive force against mortals)

That better nature is what we’re always trying to get at with Gale, and they make it pretty difficult because he’s the platonic ideal of a true neutral. And a) alignment in DnD can be difficult to understand, plenty of good characters do horribly immoral things without their alignment shifting, because what constitutes evil is relative to their “chaos—-lawful” positioning and b) I think people who believe Gale to be good aligned need to commit to an evil playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3, keep him in the party, keep him close, and talk to him often, because he is so frighteningly good at making excuses for you as you play the role of an edgelord anime monster. He’s desperate and way more comfortable with all this than you might think, because he’s in the trenches now. When I killed Isobel in my embraced durge run, I would rate Gale’s reaction to that as being slightly less upset than Astarion and Minthara. Everyone hates it though, no one is ok with you killing Isobel, most of them straight up tell you’re a fucking idiot for doing it. Gale’s a bit less harsh. He’s “not sure” it was a good idea.

This isn’t related, but I just realize I REALLY want to hear Gale call me an idiot, is that anywhere in the game? Can someone tell me? Oh god, has this awakened something in me? Anyway, his better nature is someone who is both confident and capable, but no longer reaching for the next horizon, and the next one after that, no longer under the impression that he needs to obtain something unobtainable to be considered worthy of love. He’s still connected to the beauty of mortal experience, and still empathetic. He can cherish what he has and who he is, rather than serving ambition over all. The ending where he becomes a god is validation of his beliefs that he is inadequate as he is. You can fanfic a future in which the opportunity to prove otherwise arises (I did) but that’s where the game leaves you with him. There is no more. The Fireball and the power it demonstrated was more important than the flowers.

Three) He is not making you his equal, he’s the god of ambition and you are a mortal consort just like he was to Mystra:

This is probably going to be the “I was with you until” part. Sorry, it involves DnD lore.

I appreciate that most people simply will not be open to the idea that they misinterpreted what happens with Gale at the end of the game if you romance him, ascend him, and then go with him to Elysium. The “I know what I saw” of it all is really hard to overcome, but: 

I don’t actually feel like writing up an eh “academic” explanation of this again and I can’t find the email where I ranted about it to someone in private, so here’s an excerpt from my Wyll/Gale fic (it’s not posted yet, it’s going to be long and I’m editing) where I included the idea in a way that I hope is more entertaining than if I just wrote out an explanation of how DnD gods are made. Please don’t be too weirded out by the fact that it’s a conversation between Minthara and Wyll and that Wyll is in disguise but Minthara knows it’s him, and is implied to have gone to hell with her girlfriend Karlach, I promise all that makes sense in context:

~

“I must admit, I was surprised to learn that when Gale offered to bring you with him to Elysium, you refused him.”

“Who’ve you been talking to?” Wyll had confided in precious few people about that, and Minthara certainly wasn’t one of them, but then he realized the question was foolish. Karlach had been there for him right after, when his heart was broken. No one knew that feeling better than she did.

“Who else?” Minthara challenged, she had a peculiar look on her face and seemed eager to look away quickly. Then he remembered, she probably found the glamour off-putting.

“The two of you really care deeply for each other.” Wyll remarked.

“She cares for me in spite of her better judgment, in spite of her very nature, it seems at times,” Minthara mused, “I will conquer every layer of hell for her, as that is what is required.” Her eyes traveled pointedly over the collection of tents around them. A mere fraction of her company, but a formidable group of handpicked soldiers.

“Is that what this is all about? Gathering an army?” It wasn’t a bad use of the Eltan’s funds either. Wyll hadn’t expected to approve of Minthara’s mercenary endeavors, but here they were.

“It will take a lot more than soldiers—even very disciplined ones—to defeat archdevil legions. But, it is a start. One certainly cannot expect to raze the hells without soldiers.” Minthara took a long drag on her pipe, red eyes alight with the glow of the fire. “But, we were talking about you,” she gave him one of her accusing smiles. “You just and righteous types do so love to hide the subtle manipulation of changing the subject under the guise of genuine interest in others.”

“I am genuinely interested,” Wyll felt the burn of a blush. The drow was half right, after all. “I don’t know if there’s hope for the hells to ever be more than pure despair, but any improvements would have to come by way of a regime change. I wish you both every good fortune in your efforts.” He cleared his throat, “but fine. What did you want to know about it?”

“I believe I already know why you refused Gale. I would like validation, or a correction, if I’m wrong. But I rarely am.”

Wyll’s guts twisted a little. It wasn’t comfortable to imagine Minthara thinking about his ill-fated romance with the god of ambition, let alone having theories about why it had gone so poorly in the end. “Go on then. Out with it.” He steeled himself for what he imagined would be nothing less than agonizing insight into one of his most painful memories.

“You knew he was lying,” said Minthara simply.

Wyll released the breath he’d been holding and began to nod along as she continued.

“To become a god, one needs, at a minimum, extraordinary power, domain and worship. Sponsorship from another god doesn’t hurt, but if the gods were allowed to simply ascend anyone they lay with, the heavens would be chaos. Ao would never make such an exception.” Minthara smacked her pipe against her hand, loosening the remaining contents and letting the dust fall into the fire with a flare.

“My reasoning was more complex and nuanced than that,” Wyll said quietly, “but you are not wrong. I like to think that such a blatant deception would be above Gale, but I cannot say that I would put it past him to perhaps… put more stock into my ambitions than he should. I think if I’d gone with him, we would have had a few blissful days of happy reunion, and then it would be time to plan the process of my true ascension. I would have to approach it with a detailed mapping of how to acquire what I needed and ascend on my own merits. It would have been a pursuit for something I did not want, that would have likely failed, and cost me the remainder of my life. Everything else I held dear, everything I had worked towards, I would have to abandon. I loved Gale, but to ask that of me—I saw in that moment that he was too blinded by his own desires to understand the sacrifice he demanded, and the impossible expectations he was putting on me. On both of us, if I’m honest.” And he hated to even think about the alternative possibility, but if he was ever going to allow himself enough cynicism to voice it outloud, it might as well be in the presence of the exile Minthara. “Or. There’s always the possibility that he’d actually grown arrogant enough to think he could defy Ao and just… get away with it. In which case, he would have condemned us both to a fate of going to war with the gods and dying ignominiously. For what? I don’t want to be a god, and I never needed him to be one either. He was the one who decided it was a prerequisite to our just… being together.”

“To your first set of excuses, I would say you are being too generous,” Minthara narrowed her gaze at him and took a deep breath before she said, “but to your second, darker accusations, I think you are being too harsh. Gale may be arrogant, but he is also highly intelligent. Intentionally defying Ao would be very stupid indeed.”

“Not like defying devils.”

“Not at all,” Minthara grinned wickedly. “Devils live to be defied. That’s why they’re all so tolerant of coups in the hells. But the denizens of the heavens demand obedience, loyalty, deference, and they are not forgiving of defiance.”

Wyll found he felt better. Just having said all that outloud had made the tension between his shoulders loosen. For all her blatant tolerance of every evil, Minthara’s particular brand of judgment certainly left one feeling anything but judged. 

“Karlach was worried for you. As she would be. She saw your pain and wanted to make it better for you. But I was…. Proud of you. For whatever that’s worth. The choice was between pain, or lies. You would not live in a delusion, though it may have been very pleasant for a while.”

~

Yeah, basically that. You can argue he might be encouraging you to become his equal, but it could just as easily be framed as him requiring you to become such, in order to be worthy of being with him, and at no small personal cost.

[lokittystuckinatree]

The False God and the Devil They Know: Wishful Overthinking about Religious Overtones in Post-Timeless-Child-Arc Thoschei

Disclaimer: my knowledge on anything other than all 13 + seasons of New Who is limited, but not overly lacking, and I wasn’t raised religious but do have enough of an Italian Catholic background to notice good old fashioned Christian parallels

The Doctor

The Doctor as the unwitting “creator god” of the time lords

Abrahamic religions starting out polytheistic, the Doctor as a god amongst other more powerful gods

The Doctor as a wrathful God; God technically committed genocide against humanity, leaving Noah to make his arc with two of every species

Objectively a coincidence but guess which two idiots survived the time war

The Doctor as a god who chooses a life of service to mortals and “rejecting” godhood aka power. Very Jesus of them.

The real possibility that the timeless child is not a chosen one but a victim of circumstance, a typical example of their kind from the other universe

The Doctor is just like us. (If you are autistic and have ADHD and abandonment issues lol)

The Doctor and unconditional love and forgiveness at the cost of their moral stability, especially for the Master, their original sin and greatest exception

The Master

The Master as the fallen angel, golden child of god who desired power/attention for themself who turned to evil

Missy, the Lumiat, and returning to “the light”

Rogue child of god who didn’t fit the mold, questioned the authority of the one true god

Satan and the Master as a figure of lesser power and status rising in prominence to rival the influence of the God that created them

Power corrupting someone who just wanted to be important

A seductive figure that tricks and tempts the Good Guys and engages their dark side

The Master, Cyber Time Lords, and “Satan cannot create as God does, only warp their creations” (Tolkien has entered the chat)

Best Enemies, Worst Soulmates

We all know the Jesus/Judas thing, but what about Jesus/Antichrist, or God/Satan

The Antichrist as a foil for Jesus and Satan as a foil for God

The deal with Death and how the Doctor could have become the Master and vice verse, even should have been before he intervened in their fates

Theta’s first sins, murder and deception and betrayal, revolved around Koschei

Anti soulmate trope: Linked by fate, destined to battle forever, could have been happy together under different circumstances, soulmates are made not found

Regeneration and the inherent holiness of transformation and being trans (not relevant but trans rights!)

They are THE narrative foils and power couple above everyone else in the Whoniverse come onnnn

In a tragically ironic sense, they’re the only ones who can fully relate to and comprehend each other, even after how much their paths have diverged.

The Doctor humbles the Master, the Master keeps the Doctor grounded to their Gallifreyan roots.

Good Always Wins, love is redeeming. The Doctor helps the Master see beauty and love in the world through their unconditional love for them.

I hope, in the distant future, the show ends with a more morally gray Doctor and a domesticated Master happily in love, running away to the stars together, never to be seen again.

They’re totally endgame guys trust me (I’m delusional.)

Feel free to add! I’d love to hear what other parallels people find. And what glaringly obvious things I missed…

[zukkacore]

Hi do you. By any chance want to expand on both 1) Sorcerer Wizard and the dichotomy and 2) Sorcerer trans thoughts??? Bc BOY I would LOVEEEEE to hear them if you’re willing to!!!

Hiiiii beloved old man yaoi mutual anyway sorry this took a hot sec bc I do have more thoughts on this but tragically they’re kinda formless and incoherent. Prepare for the unorganized paragraph monster. Anyway I’m like pretty bad at understand dnd as a system but I have seen other ppl who are actually better versed than me express like. A sorcerer / wizard multi class is pretty counterintuitive. And like, if that’s part of the character arc that’s fine, obviously with Gorgug it was an intentional character choice and they made a profound point of of him doing unexpected and not typically “optimal” just bc he liked it & bc of that he has a perspective on rage AND artificing different from everyone else. Idk if im over explaining the obvious with the like, oh wizardry is abt understanding the fundamentals and components of the arcane it’s abt studying the world whereas sorcery is abt control and understanding of the self etc etc. like described as the ability to “project one’s will” into the world and the meta magic mechanic is a way to actualize like. Being able to literally change the rules of magic (honestly very interesting and cool imo).

Like, I don’t think they HAVE to be opposed in terms of what they’re doing, if you think abt it like. Art rules ya know? Like you gotta learn the fundamentals and the rules before you can break them. So I could see that being a reason to study wizardry. And if your character just has a natural curiosity than sure. But also, I GET the reason why it’s an impractical build and a weird choice for a character beat bc the drawbacks of losing high level sorcery aren’t really compensated for in getting some wizard levels. Esp bc they’re different casting modifiers or whatever, int vs charisma. Like you have to have a high modifier in both to even make it worth it. AND on a character beat level, not to make this JUST abt our favorite sopping wet cat Jace stardiamond but like. Wouldn’t it be kinda counterintuitive to learn all these rules and fundamentals of magic and everything in those classes is saying THIS is how it works meanwhile there is something inherent in you that could change that? And I was like oh haha trans bc it’s abt saying like oh something essential is actually less rigid than you think + projecting your will is in my mind kinda like the ability to self-determine?

At the same time the counterpoint to this is that sorcery is about inherent magic so that IS like oh this is essential to your person. At the same time I feel like the distaste toward sorcerery bc it’s inherent or essential is kinda unfair bc like? Yeah divine right is not real, someone being inherently divinely powerful is not a thing in real life but also how different is that from the divine right of being a chosen one for a deity (like. Not to go toooo into fantasy high but Kristen IS a chosen one). So I get the counterpoint that sorcerery is bad and essentialist but eh? Like take it for what it represents on a thematic level, don’t take it so literally.

Not to backtrack but I don’t think self knowledge vs worldly knowledge HAVE to be fundamentally opposed, but I do think one class transitioning into the others would be really difficult bc it’s someone learning a system and realizing actually it’s bullshit and broken & malleable vs. someone who intuitively GETS that rules are kinda just made up and the education system is saying no this is truth. Despite everything about you being a contradiction to that. Like, I feel like a sorcerer is coming into low level wizardry learning “you can’t do 1 - 2” and intuitively they go but you can? But at that level it’s like no, you’re not ready to teach someone just being introduced to those concepts abt negative numbers abt imaginary numbers etc etc etc. (similar w biology. Like yeah we all took 7th grade bio where we learned there are 2 sexes. But actually the human body a lot more varied & complicated than that. These are rigid categories we made up to “better” understand things or articulate a certain idea but they also cause systemic harm) Also. There are some particles that behave differently when observed. Science is weird and contradictory sometimes & there’s a lot of stuff that was believed to be true and gets kinda reassessed w more data. I respect the wizard’s quest for knowledge as someone who is a turbo nerd. I respect it so hard. But also. I get why riz spirals abt it. It’s hard to be bleem coded and love complete taxonomies when you know the world is a lot more complicated than that. I get why a sorcerer wouldn’t be able to hack it. Again not to make this abt blorbo from our shows but the failed to wizard multiclass thing opened SUCH a can of words in my brain…..

[diamondcitydarlin]

"The DA writers realized, eventually, that as soon as you make a character romanceable it limits the type of character they can be and the types of stories they can tell. They become beholden to their romance arc and their need to, ultimately, be appealing. Why is that a limitation? Because not all character story arcs are defined by being appealing to the player. Even if the appeal of an arc is for a relatively limited audience, the requirement of having appeal inherently restricts the potential stories to a fairly limited band. It's why the DA team, after a discussion during DAI's development, eventually decided to keep Varric as non-romanceable. Already I hear some fans groaning in disappointment, even though we did it so as not to *destroy Varric's character*. You can't have it both ways, I'm afraid." - David Gaider on X

Okay, so...are we then to assume that every character who got a romance arc in DA:I had their characters destroyed, or that they just weren't as *special* and unique as Varric so it didn't matter? This also hinges on a kind of a narrow idea of what 'appealing' means (which is different to every person) and I'll say for myself and others that Varric is pretty 'appealing' for his entire arc anyway that, for some reason, just couldn't bear to have been interrupted by a romance story (though given I have written an entire romance arc that incorporates all the benchmarks of his original canon arc, I find that claim suspicious). But romance stories don't always have to be 'appealing' either and that brings me to, say, Blackwall and Cassandra's romance arcs for example- both of these stories take some pretty depressing/stressful turns that can end the romance completely in a pretty tragic way, so I wouldn't say that the team always stuck with 'appealing' romance storylines either ('appealing' here having the meaning, I assume, of always being flirty and happy and nothing bad happens ever or something). This also fails to account for characters like Dorian, Sera, Iron Bull (all of them that are romanceable really) having strong plotlines outside of their romance arc anyway, things that can happen even if you do romance them. Soooo...I don't know, I guess my point is that I'm just not buying the argument that there's something so different and special about Varric that would have been ruined by having a romance arc option with him in either DA3 or DA2 (that which could have been completely ignored by the player if they so chose, which I guess is neither here nor there). I think what it really comes down to is that they had a very rigid and specific idea of what Varric needed to do and be and just didn't want to deviate from that (which, for all David complains of fans making their disappointment into bigger issues, I feel like that's exactly what he's doing every time he writes an essay about the integrity of Varric's character and how a romance would have ruined him or whatever, like no one has the gall to just admit they didn't want to do that whether it would have logically worked or not- they were opposed to it from the beginning, it was never going to be seriously considered). They're protective of his character, which I get to an extent, but on the other hand, I feel like these sort of games are supposed to be about player choice and escapism. I understand the need to be faithful to plotlines etc etc, but surely in a game about choice and customization there should be, yknow, multiple choices of outcome. There should be some willingness to adapt storylines to different options. At the end of the day I really, really believe that if a Varric romance story had been available the people who chose it would not have been disappointed or feel that Varric's storyline was 'ruined'. I think the people who would have chosen that would have been very happy with it- and the people who wouldn't have because they think it would 'ruin his character' would also be very happy because they don't have to romance him. Of course the romance arc option wouldn't have been for everyone because none of them are !!! No romance option is indisputably for 'everyone' because EVERYONE is going to want to play their game and write their story differently. If more or total control over what happens to the characters is what you want then maybe work on a game that doesn't incorporate choice or customization?? I feel like that's how most games are lol.

Anyway my point is- I wish the people who worked on DA would stop coming up with elaborate backflips in logic as to why they didn't make Varric romanceable (bc this has been happening for a few years now, since the game was released tbh) and just admit that they didn't want to and therefore never really put any effort towards seeing if it was viable because that's really the only explanation that makes any actual sense.