#the last names of side characters as indication for them going canon... them using metaphors in their speech to other characters to indicate

[3416]

my two cents about buddie going canon:

i feel like with buddie, if everything else about their relationship remained the same as it is in canon, but one of them was a woman, there would be next to zero doubt that it was heading to a canonical romantic relationship. i think that’s the difference here…like, we’re not delusional, there’s so much there that hints to a buddie endgame. am i as 100% certain as some other buddie truthers?, no, but i wouldn’t say there’s been 0 indication of it on the show

my thoughts got a little too long, so this is going under a cut KLFJDKL, my bad. read or maybe don't 😭 bc obv, i disagree.

i mostly disagree but respectfully, i promise. the thing is... i think you need to be able to look at the context of the show and what it's trying to achieve rather than zero in on these individual dynamics that you personally want to read as or would enjoy as romantic. if we're gonna talk about something going canon, i mean. i know we get caught up in that romantic/shipping part in fandom bc it's the most fun, but it's not realistic to think the ppl running the show are approaching it that way at all. 911 is a procedural. it's not like groundbreaking tv in any real sense beyond the fact that it's putting diverse casts in front of wide audiences, and when it's trying to be "groundbreaking", it comes right out of the gate advertising it that way... like subtlety is NOT what network tv is known for, and i feel like every single theory i see about this long slowburn for buck and eddie hinges on a quality that just doesn't exist in this specific mediumfjdsk. like everyone wants to talk about how groundbreaking it would be to have some repression arc come to fruition and these two shown-to-be straight characters so far falling for each other, and that would absolutely be a treat,,, if network tv had ever been known for pulling stuff like that. 911 truly already covered the basis of a "coming out later in life" storyline with michael, so i have nO clue what makes someone think they'd take the risk of doing it again.

ik that actress that plays carla got some backlash for what she said about buddie (ider exactly the words, ik some of them were ignorant ((but also i laughed)) abt the alphabet ppl or whatjlkfdjsk im yelling), but realistically, when she talked about how buck or eddie wouldn't be canon bc they're the heartthrobs, she's not exactly incorrect that that's the way hollywood works. should it? not necessarily, but it does, lol, idk why bother trying to deny that. buck and eddie are both the two young macho straight guys to project onto in this show... the ones women thirst after also, and that's currency in tv, whether or not it's good moral practice or the right thing or whatever we can argue. i honestly think people are just giving 911 too much credit when they think this is happening or even a possibility. the show (and lone star and any other network tv show pumped out at this pace, it's not a drag lol) lacks so much nuance in other stories... they mostly just tell things in broad strokes to appeal to wide audiences... so why would they be able to handle this well? what about its formula makes fans think it's gonna defy those conventions of tv? i just don't get the faith, especially when everyone is railing on the show and writing 24/7 the second things don't go their way for 5 minutes. that's why i've said before.. on the very (very very very very, honestly nonexistent in my own brain but ill let myself imagine) slim chance they ever did become canon, it'd 100% be the pressure of fans. which again.. i don't think there's THAT much sway or power there compared to general audiences n ratings, it's just the most visible/loudest through the direct connections w social media these days lol... and historically fans have won that battle about "queerbaiting" ships like 0 times. though i also 100% disagree with the idea that should buddie never go canon it's queerbait but i digress.

of course you can take lines between buck and eddie and make them SOUND romantic if that's what you want to choose to see (honestly i could probably do it for any crack pairing in the show too, in some form or another), but the staging of the scenes themselves and the direction/acting of the actors has legitimately never landed that way or been overtly romantic (in the way that network tv often is) imo, and i don't think it's supposed to be. i don't think the show is trying to plant any seeds, i don't think there is some long con here. this show exists episode to episode, season to season. it's always about expanding threads they left open in the past, rarely about some long arc planned from the beginning. i think the over-analyzing nature of online fans (affectionate bc me too, just not abt this) and honestly this hyperfixated-on-queer-content corner of the internet is the reason buddie even exists as a thing. i wish i was around for its conception just to see the creators/actors initial reactions to it bc i bet they were SURPRISED that that's smth people would latch onto or even think about. i know i was when i finally learned what it was (and i literjlkdjsklfjlk look for gay people everywhere in media, don't let me be misunderstood) and i know if i went and asked 95% of the ppl watching this show what they thought of it, i'd be planting the idea in their mind for the very first time, lol. it's just... not apparent, and frankly, that's reason enough for me to believe it'll never happen.

[dgcatanisiri]

For the love of...

Look. Let’s address the obvious first off: Fandom has problems with women. We all know this. We also know that “has problems” is putting matters rather mildly.

That is a fine premise. Plenty to go on from there.

What is NOT a fine follow up is defending the idea that “fandom hates women” by pointing to the reaction to R*ylow. Because that entire ship? That is a dumpster fire in its own right even before getting to the whole dust up where, because of him making a harmless joke about sex, specifically his character in Star Wars and Rey, another fictional character in Star Wars, having sex, there’s a movement within that group to discredit and tear down John Boyega. 

Like, we’ll get to that business in a bit. But let’s address the fact that the majority of R*ylows are shipping CHARACTERS THAT ARE NOT SHOWN. 

The whole business of this ship is to use Rey to “redeem” “Ben Solo,” a character who metaphorically killed himself in TFA through the literal killing of his father. The two meetings of Rey and Kylo Ren in TFA were first him rendering her unconscious and kidnapping her, and then her attempting to kill him for his murder of Han Solo and attack of Finn - killing her mentor and attacking her friend.

But those who ship this transplant the characteristics that defined Finn onto Kylo Ren, who they refer to as Ben Solo, a name he rejects until about the last hour of the most recent movie. They make him into a tortured character who is tragically torn between the light and the dark, has not made a decision on where he stands and needs to be pulled back. EXCEPT Kylo Ren was introduced ordering the slaughter of an innocent village - a slaughter that Finn refused to participate in. 

All of this is, let’s not mince words, based off the fact that Kylo Ren is a white man and Finn is a black man. Because we saw, back before TFA released, a heaping TON of abuse hurled towards him purely for BEING a black man - I remember vividly all the anti-blackness going around when we had no more than a trailer for the sequel trilogy. 

I am not - let me repeat this NOT - shaming anyone, male, woman, enby, whatever you identify as, for wanting the narrative of “saving the monster.” As a queer person, yeah, I get that, considering that a lot of my narratives growing up that I can identify with have all kinds of queercoding throughout them, even when involving straight pairings. But the defining difference has always been that in those stories, the monster wanted to be accepted as a person. TFA gave us a monster who chose to be monstrous.

And TLJ only added into this narrative - Rey refused to join Kylo. ONCE AGAIN, he spurned her offers of coming back to the light, choosing to take the leadership of the First Order. We also saw in flashback that he chose to respond to Luke briefly flirting with the idea of killing him by BURNING THE ACADEMY TO THE GROUND. Whatever you want to say about Luke’s moment of weakness, that is definitely overreacting, that is taking out your pain on innocent others.

TRoS even brings this to a conclusion, a similar one to the redemption of Anakin Skywalker, being unable to live in the world that he saved, that no act he could do could balance the scales to allow him to be a part of that world, considering the deaths and pain at his hands in specific.

So that - THAT - is who Kylo Ren was on screen.

The R*ylow version of him, however, is some scared teenager/young adult, who has been ignored, emotionally neglected by his parents, nearly murdered by his uncle, and drowning in the darkness, in need of a rope.

The canon version of him, to sum up, is a roughly thirty-ish adult man, raised by loving parents who had a galaxy to rebuild and couldn’t devote every second to him, his uncle had a moment of weakness where he pointed a weapon at who he perceived as a threat (I can give this, or I would, had Kylo stayed and even TRIED to get answers, but the indications are that he ran and proceeded to destroy the academy), and at every turn gave in to the darkness until his mother gives her life to drag him back to the light side.

I don’t care what your fantasy is, what bothers me is the ignoring and VERY HIGHLY SELECTIVE reinterpreting of the on screen material to justify this idea of Kylo Ren being a broken and abused bird in need of kindness. Because on screen, he spurns all the kindness he gets until Leia sacrifices herself. And THAT I only accept because of the filming limitations of Carrie Fisher’s last content.

And then we return to the issue of this backlash to John Boyega’s tweets. All of this is because he made a joke about sex, implicitly his character and Rey - the character that R*ylows have designated “belongs” to Kylo - having sex. And this has led to him being harassed (and not for the first time, because TFA did seem to be building to something between Rey and Finn), and by these same people.

We led with “fandom has problems with women.” This? This is “fandom hates black people.” And “fandom REALLY hates interracial couples.”

Like, take a stroll through AO3. How often do you see interracial M/F couples in the top of the listing of pairings? About the only serious example I can come up with off the top of my head is Sleepy Hollow and Ichabod/Abbie, which ended up never being canon. Because of the white showrunners and producers getting cold feet about it and deciding to repeatedly throw white women at Ichabod while continually sidelining Abbie until her actress finally decided to leave - given that she hadn’t even been invited to be part of the special features for the season two DVDs, and the fact that she’d already gotten reduced to the sidekick on a show where she should have been the lead.

Or even on a show where a non-white man is the lead - let’s look at Teen Wolf for another fine example. The show’s lead was a Latino teenager. The favored fandom pairing involves two white guys who, the initial episodes featuring them interacting showed, didn’t particularly care for one another. This led to the fandom turning that dynamic into “they secretly want to fuck,” and, as we see with Finn and Kylo, transplanted characterization and dynamics onto the other characters to prop up their ship.

I repeat myself above. I am not judging fantasy. Hell, I’m not even against writing alternate universe variations where the good guys are bad guys and vice versa. The problem I am seeing here, the reason that I cannot abide R*ylow, the reason that I see that specifically as a toxic fandom element, is because it actively diminishes the black man involved in matters - MANY fics will either downplay or completely trash Finn’s canon character in the name of making him the villain who Kylo must defeat to claim Rey.

These people claim to love “Kylo and Rey,” but frequently they are treating her as his redemptive sexy lamp, her purpose is to be his reward for reaching the bar that is basic human decency, having no interest in her beyond her being there to reward him for finally rejecting the darkness, when she has no canonical romantic interest in Kylo and only knows Ben as an idea. Even when the canon has her trying to reach to him, she is NOT doing it because of her intense love - love is not a switch, it is not some snap decision. It comes about because of knowing a person. Lust is instant. Attraction is instant. Love? That requires time. The ideal of Ben as a person could be attractive. But Kylo is not who Rey is or would be attracted to. 

All of this is still secondary to the fact that, because of an actor making a joke about his character and another character - a character who repeatedly has an inherently far kinder dynamic with his - having sex, there is a group of this fandom who has decided that this was an attack on them, and they must respond in kind. 

Whether or not you agree with ANY of what I have said of the interactions of Kylo and Rey, PLEASE tell me that you agree that THAT behavior is unacceptable. And THAT is the group that people are referring to when they speak so derisively about R*ylows. 

Because that is the group that speaks loudest. They’re who come to mind when the topic turns to this ship. You may not be part of it, but guilt by association comes into effect, because this group is hostile to anyone who doesn’t implicitly agree with them. And when you get this hostility from what comes across - whether it’s fact or perception - as a massive wing of total strangers, strangers who decide that, because you disagree with them, you are The Enemy, and you must be destroyed... Yeah, your reflex becomes “That group is trash, do not listen to them, do not engage with them, and god, aren’t they pathetic for devoting themselves to this ridiculous thing of made up characters.”

You want to go after the issue here? Root out the bad behavior that is the cause. Not the symptom. The symptom might be hating on women. But the cause is still the racism that started all of this.

You want to talk about how fandom hates women? Fine. Go right ahead. But don’t use a topic that came about because of racism to do it.

[winterbaby89]

Dark Hook Comes to Storybrooke - Chapter Eight

A Captain Swan, Season 1 Canon Divergence Collaboration by: @hollyethecurious, and @winterbaby89

Beta’d by: @ilovemesomekillianjones

Amazing Artwork by: @xhookswenchx

Rated M for language and dark themes (and maybe (probably) some sexy times… later ;o)

Summary: Moments before the Evil Queen’s Dark Curse whisks our beloved fairytale characters to Storybrooke, Captain Hook finally gets his revenge on the Crocodile. Twenty-eight years later, Killian Jones awakes in Storybrooke expecting just another ordinary day, that is until a number of abnormal occurrences disrupts his otherwise scheduled life. The greatest of which is a new face in town. A young woman by the name of Emma. Emma. What a lovely name…

Disclaimer: Canon dialogue and scenes from various episodes will appear within this fic. To Adam, Eddie, and the OUAT writers goes all the credit.

Line breaks indicate change in POV or Scene.

Also available on ao3, my fic page, and Hollye′s fic page And if you want to catch up on the last chapter.

Chapter Eight 

“A tie? You know you don't have to dress a woman as a man to give her authority.”

Emma had spent the vast majority of the day filling out an absurd amount of paperwork for her new position as Deputy, a position that Graham was only now telling her came with a uniform. Yeah, I’m not wearing this.

“So you think you can get people to do what you want in that red coat?” Graham disputed half-heartedly.

“I'm getting you to do what I want right now,” she said victoriously, knowing that Graham wouldn’t actually make her wear the hideous thing.

“Well, at least wear the badge,” Graham insisted as he handed it to her. “Go on. Take it. If you really want to be a part of this community, you have to make it official.”

Make it official. That’s what she wanted, right? To be a part of something officially? She had officially decided to stay, had officially moved in with Mary Margaret, had officially accepted this job, and had officially decided to not get into bed with Killian Jones. Metaphorically or otherwise. Maybe.

Emma had spent much of the day before further questioning Henry about his relationship with Killian Jones, and his answers had left her all the more perplexed. She’d also made inquiries with a few people around town; Ruby, Granny, Archie. From what she’d gathered, Killian Jones was not a man many wanted to cross. Ruthless in his business practices and somewhat shady in the ethics department, he had a reputation that Emma could only describe as some sort of modern day pirate. A term that had amused Henry to no end when she’d let it slip at the diner over cocoa the night before - Granny, too.

In fact, other than Henry, Granny seemed to be the only other person with a kind word to say about Jones. Oh, she confirmed everyone’s stories and admitted that he could be a right pain in the ass when it came to negotiating her rent, but the old broad seemed to have a soft spot, if not a saucy appreciation for the man. She firmly defended his relationship with Henry, and made it known to Emma that were it not for Killian Jones, Henry would likely be a little lost boy without hope. Mary Margaret may have given him the storybook, but it was Killian, Granny had said, that had given Henry the ability to believe in something more.

Granny had seen first hand the fruit of the hours they spent working on Jones’ ship together. Henry had gone from a withdrawn, shy child to an exuberant little spitfire practically overnight after he’d snuck aboard the Jewel and first met Jones. Though Jones remained just as cunning and cutthroat as ever, he’d had moments of compassion since spending time with Henry, and no one could argue his genuine affection for the boy.

Even with Granny’s endorsement, and Henry’s insistence that Killian was truly his friend, Emma couldn’t shake the feeling that Jones was hiding something. Something more than just questionable business practices. Something that made Emma want to peel back the layers, and maybe a few of his garments, in order to see the true man that lay beneath.

The man that Henry knew.

Henry!

He’d be finished with Dr. Hopper soon, and she had promised to walk him home so they could spend some time together. Because this was official. She was officially staying. She was officially Deputy Emma Swan of Storybrooke.

Emma took the badge from Graham’s hand, and immediately after placing it on her belt the entire room shook as a loud rumble echoed through town. Every phone in the sheriff’s station erupted in a chorus of shrill rings around her and Graham, and for one fleeting moment, Emma felt sure that it was some sort of sign. A sign? Of What? Emma, don’t be ridiculous.

There had been a collapse at the old Storybrooke mines, and she and Graham wasted no time making their way to the scene. When they arrived a crowd had already started to gather.

Exiting the police cruiser Emma saw Regina taking charge as she barked out orders for everyone to stand back. Assessing the destruction, Emma listened as the Mayor gave out orders to Graham and Marco, while dismissing her with snark about it being a town matter.

“Well, actually, I work for the town now,” Emma provided matter of factly, enjoying Regina’s slightly stunned and agitated expression.

“She's my new deputy,” Graham explained.

“They say the mayor's always last to know.”

“It's in my budget.”

“Indeed,” Regina clipped, and Emma couldn’t help but think there was something else going on between the two of them that she was missing.

“Deputy, why don't you make yourself useful and help with crowd control,” Regina dismissed before she turned to address the crowd that was starting to grow restless awaiting news.

“People of Storybrooke, don't be alarmed,” Regina began as she addressed the crowd. “We've always known this area was honeycombed with old mining tunnels, but fear not. I'm going to undertake a project to make this area safe, to rehabilitate it into city use. We will bulldoze it, collapse it, and pave it.”

“Pave it?” Henry exclaimed as he made his way through the crowd - when did he get here? “What if there's something down there?”

“Henry, what are you doing here?” Regina questioned, pulling forward from the assembled crowd.

“What's down there?”

“Nothing. Now step back,” Regina stated firmly as she pushed Henry back toward the crowd. “In fact, everyone, please, please step back.”

At the Mayor’s insistence the crowd began to fall back to safer vantage points. Emma began to unwind the caution tape when she felt Henry tug at the cuff of her jacket. Looking over to where he was silently indicating with the nod of his head, Emma saw Regina pick something up off the ground and visibly stiffen before she placed it into her pocket.

“What was that?” Henry whispered to her before Regina came forward and snatched him from Emma’s side.

“Henry, enough. This is a safety issue. Wait in the car,” she instructed and watched to make sure her order was obeyed before turning back to Emma and Graham. “Deputy Swan, Sheriff, cordon off the area.”

While Emma secured the site she saw Killian Jones pull up on his motorcycle and park it next to the Mayor’s car. Henry’s face lit up at his presence, and Emma couldn’t deny the flutter such a sight sent through her heart. Jones chatted briefly with Henry before approaching the scene… with Henry not far behind.

“Evening, Swan,” Killian greeted, a bit more tentatively than she was used to from him, but given the recent incident with Ashley she couldn’t really blame him.

“Actually, its Deputy Swan,” she corrected as she tapped the new badge at her hip.

“Aye, of course.” Killian scratched behind his ear as he glanced at her hip, and Emma could see the muscle tick in his jaw.

“Emma. Killian. Over here.” Henry beckoned, drawing them from the fresh tension that had risen around them.

They joined Henry and Archie, crouched down next to the patrol car as to not be seen by Regina, and listened as Henry insisted, “This requires all of operation Cobra.”

“I didn't realize I was in operation Cobra,” Archie commented at nearly the exact moment that Killian posed the question.

“What’s Operation Cobra, mate?”

As Henry explained Operation Cobra, Emma was struck with the memory of a week ago when Graham had asked about Operation Cobra only to have Henry tell him it was need to know, yet he was willing to bring someone like Killian Jones, of all people, into his scheme. Emma knew that Jones was aware of Henry’s belief in the curse, but wondered what his reaction would be at the idea of an actual mission with the purpose of breaking it. Would he play along, as Dr. Hopper suggested they should, or would he scoff at the idea?

Inscrutable. The man was utterly inscrutable. Killian’s expression gave absolutely nothing away as to his thoughts of Henry’s plan, and when the moment came for Henry to bring everyone up to speed on the latest pressing issue of the mission it was Emma who scoffed.

“We can't let her do this,” Henry pleaded. “What if there's something down there?”

“They're just some old tunnels,” she brushed off - not everything is a conspiracy, kid.

“That just happened to collapse right after you get here?” he fired back with every bit of sass she’d come to expect from him. “You're changing things. You're weakening the curse.”

“That's not what's happening,” she argued, very aware of Archie and Killian’s assessing looks.

“Yes, it is,” the kid insisted. “Did you do anything different today? 'Cause something made this happen.”

Emma considered his words, stunned by the coincidence. She was reminded of the sense she’d felt when she’d first put on her badge, and the action was immediately followed by the ground shaking. The sense that it was some sort of sign. She shook it off at the time, but now with Henry’s words echoing the same sentiment Emma couldn’t help brush her fingers against the cold metal at her hip, nor did she miss the speculative look Killian Jones gave her as he took in the action.

“Henry, I told you to wait in the car.”

Regina’s scathing admonishment startled Emma out of her preoccupation with Henry’s words and the coincidence in the timing of the day’s events. The Mayor turned her scornful attentions back to Emma as she ordered, “Deputy, do your job.”

The moment of intrigue interrupted, Emma shook off the ridiculousness of actually considering that Henry might be right, shared a brief look with Killian and Archie, and went back to her duties.

Killian had been heartened by Henry’s greeting from the Mayor’s car when he’d first arrived on the scene. The feeling was further bolstered by the lad’s inclusion of him into the operation he’d concocted in response to his mother’s curse. Of course he’d created a mission.

Relieved that the past weekend hadn’t diminished his standing in Henry’s eyes, Killian could only hope that he might find a way to mend things between he and Emma. Perhaps, working together with her, the lad, and the Cricket on Operation Cobra would be a step in the right direction?  Though, he had no idea what to do to try and amend the damage the crocodile and Regina had inflicted with the curse, or whether or not it was truly in their - his - best interests for it to be broken.

Killian’s thoughts were interrupted by Henry’s question as to whether or not Emma had done anything of significance that might have caused the mine collapse. He caught her movement as she gently, almost reverently, brushed the face of her deputy’s badge with her fingertips, and her expression nearly made him blanch at the realization - Bloody hell! Emma did do this.

Henry was right. She was changing things - quickly. Far quicker than he had imagined she could, and once again Killian found himself wrestling with his desire to be in Emma and Henry’s good graces and breaking the curse, knowing it would reveal his villainous past - or worse, the threat of The Dark One.

Before he could ponder Emma’s effect on the curse any further, Regina’s shrewd voice cut through the air, chastising Henry and Emma alike. Killian had to restrain himself from physically reacting to her condescension of Emma, and manhandling of Henry.

As Regina’s attention was otherwise occupied in steering Henry towards her car, Killian shared a sympathetic look with Emma before she turned back to her official duties. Deciding it might be a good idea to make himself as inconspicuous as possible, he got out of the war path that he knew Regina was sure to pave, and therefore went unnoticed as Her Majesty turned her ire onto Dr. Hopper. Curiosity piqued at what had Regina so vexed with the Cricket, Killian listened in.

“Okay, we're done with this.” Regina got in Dr. Hopper’s face as she seethed.

The man looked utterly baffled by Her Majesty’s ire, as he questioned, “Uh, excuse me?”

“My son. We need a new treatment plan. Everything I do he thinks is part of some horrible plot. I can't cover up a safety hazard without him thinking I'm hiding something. How am I hiding something terrible in an old mine? How is any of this logical to him?”

Killian could tell the poor man was still confused, but saw a smile bloom across his face all the same, before he responded, “He's got an amazing imagination.”

“Yes, that you let run rampant.”

“Well, I think it would be wrong to rip away the world he's constructed. I'd rather use it to try and get-”

Regina’s ire was ramping up by the minute, and she was apparently about to let the poor man have it as she cut him off. Regina raised her voice to talk over Dr. Hopper, “Sometimes I think you've forgotten. You work for me. You're an employee, and I can fire you. This is my town. You will lose your office, lose your house. I can cut you down to size until you're a tiny, shrunken little creature, and this,” Regina ripped Archie’s umbrella from his hand, and waved it in his face, almost hitting him with it, as she continued, “will be the only roof over your damn head.”

“What would you have me do?” Archie looked thoroughly defeated by this point, and if Killian wasn’t mistaken, the man was shaking, even if minutely.

Apparently smelling victory, Regina pasted on a simpering smile, as she viciously demanded, “You take that delusion out of my son's head, and you crush it.”

Killian’s outrage with Regina bubbled up to the surface, and it took every ounce of restraint in him not to storm over and confront her about the atrocious display he’d just witnessed. This woman’s depravity seems to know no bounds if she is willing to subject Henry to this torment… the boy she claims to love. The audacity! The outrage! To tell Dr. Hopper to squash his belief, just because it threatens her standing with the boy, despite him being correct. Depraved indifference was the only way he could think to describe her, and her behavior, but the heat of his wrath turned cold as he considered his own agenda. The exposure of the truth of the curse threatened him as well and the bile of his own hypocrisy churned in his gut. He really was no better than Regina.

Killian’s nerves were more frayed than he could ever remember them being. Never in his whole, long life had he ever felt so divided within himself. Indentured service did not allow for one to be master over their own thoughts or decisions, you did as you were commanded, or you met the end of a lash. The Royal Navy had not been much different. Orders were given and swift obedience was expected, the only distinguishing factor separating the two circumstances was that Killian had chosen the Navy. He’d chosen piracy, too. A course set, to mete out justice for his brother on a corrupt king, that had kept his path clear, and that path remained clear as he sought vengeance for his love, his Milah.

His purposes had always been clear, the path set before him; servitude, service, justice, vengeance. Circumstances and causes that had always made his decisions precise and his motives true, even if they weren’t always honorable. Now, though… now he found himself at war between two purposes.

Self-preservation or selflessness. Part of a mission to break a curse, or part of the conspiracy to keep it secret. Friend or foe? Valor or villain? Killian or Hook?

Or Dark One.

It wasn’t just his relationship with Henry or Emma that had Killian burdened about the truth of the curse being revealed or broken. It was the fear of himself - his Dark One self. Would breaking the curse return them all to the Enchanted Forest where magic remained? Would it bring magic to this realm? For all the crocodile’s memories that had been supplied to him from his time with Emma, these questions were still a mystery to Killian, and ones that caused him no end of concern. What would breaking the curse mean in regards to the Darkness, and could he risk exposing those he cared for to it? To him?

Guilt over keeping such a secret from Henry, mixed with his rage at Regina’s own insistence that the lad be kept in the dark, and the hypocrisy of his own inaction had Killian in an even more foul mood than usual the next day as he toiled on the deck of the Jolly Roger. A mood that lifted only slightly as he heard Henry calling out to him as he rushed up the gangplank and onto the deck; a beaming smile and eager glint sparkling in his eyes.

“Watch your step, lad,” Killian warned as he gestured to the area Henry was about to tread upon. “That board’s loose again. You’re liable to fall through.”

“I thought you were gonna fix that?” Henry pestered as he expertly maneuvered around the treacherous board.

“I’ve been meaning to,” Killian grumbled. “Now, what’s got you all excited?”

“Not out here,” Henry whispered. “Operation Cobra requires stealth and secrecy.”

Killian let out a long suffering sigh at the mention of Henry’s mission. Oh, how he longed for the days prior to his awakening when the boy came and simply worked by his side on the ship, or questioned him endlessly about sailing. When the only thing Killian had to hide was how much of a scoundrel he was, or how he might skirt a few laws in order to make a quick profit, and not that he was among one of the most notable of this realm’s literary villains, or knew the truth of a curse the lad’s mother had cast in order to enact her vengeance upon an entire realm.

A simpler time.

“Henry,” Killian began as he made his way into his cabin behind the lad. “About Operation Cobra-”

“I know you're not convinced, but I know where I can get proof.” Henry dropped his backpack onto Killian’s bunk and unzipped it, revealing a whole host of supplies.

“What is this?” Killian asked as he surveyed the pack’s contents. “A flashlight and candy bars?” Sudden understanding dawned on him. “The mine. Henry, you can’t go down there.”

“Emma's here and stuff's happening. We have to take a look down there. For proof.”

“Henry. Stop.” Killian commanded, his worry that Henry was planning to do something reckless made his words erratic as he rushed on. “There is no proof down there. Just stay here with me, lad. We can work on the Jolly and worry about Operation Cobra later.”

“The Jolly?” Henry’s confused exclamation caused Killian’s heart to pound. Had he really been so careless?

“What?”

“You said the Jolly.”

“No I didn’t.”

Killian’s denial and best poker face were useless against the hope and elation of a boy with true belief in his heart. Henry would not be deterred, would not be distracted from the evidence Killian had just unwillingly handed to him. Panic continued to course through him, making his palms slick with dread and his breath tense in its shallow ebb and flow.

“Yes. You did,” Henry pressed, unmitigated joy vibrating through him as he bounded off the bunk to stand before the paralyzed pirate who was frantically trying to think of a way to wrestle back control of the conversation. “You remember, don’t you?”

“Henry, I-” Killian began, his attempt to gently give some sort of plausible explanation for his words interrupted as the persona he had been so desperately trying to hide rang out from the very person he had hoped would never know the truth.

“I knew it! You are Captain Hook! Why do you have two hands?”

“Henry enough!” Killian snapped, his panic applying a harsh tone to words his fear spoke in a final desperate attempt to hide the truth. “Look all of this is a delusion. Do you know what a delusion is?”

“I-I think so.”

“It's something that's not real and not healthy.”

Killian hated himself with every word he spoke. Each syllable like ash upon his tongue as his hypocrisy took over, declaring the very words he had silently seethed over at the thought of the Cricket doing the Queen’s bidding. A bidding he was now fulfilling, compelled by his own selfishness and desire to keep Henry from the truth. The truth of who he truly was - a villain.

“But you said-”

“Henry, this nonsense must end,” Killian demanded, his anger and hatred at himself spilling over as his temper flared at the whole bloody universe that was crashing down around him. “A curse, Captain Hook, The Saviour? Do you know what you sound like, Henry? Like a madman!”

The words hung in the air between them, and Killian immediately wished he could take them back. Wished he could go back to when Henry had first arrived, or maybe even back days before when he saw the suspicious glint first appear in Henry’s eyes. Wished he had made a different choice from the moment he’d first acquired his memories. Wished he’d just told Henry the truth.

“I thought you believed,” Henry said softly, tears pooling in his eyes before spilling over, down his cheeks, and tearing Killian’s heart with each streak. “In the curse. In me.” Anguish transformed into anger, and Killian flinched as Henry shouted his last words at him, “I thought you were my friend!” Henry pushed past the pirate after grabbing his bag and rushed out the cabin door.

“Henry! Wait!” Killian called out after him, chasing him up onto the deck as he shouted, “Henry, I’m sorry! Come back, lad. You were ri-”

His confession was cut off as he fell hard upon the deck. That damn board! By the time Killian picked himself up Henry was long gone, a light drizzle falling over him as he sat simmering in his shame.

Way to go, Hook, he chastised. If ever there was a moment he deserved the address of his villainous moniker, surely this was it.

He’d wanted to protect Henry from his villainy, wanted to protect the relationship he had cultivated with the lad over the years. A relationship that Killian had come to cherish in his cursed state and treasured now that he was awake. Treasured it because Killian knew fate had afforded him a second chance; a second chance to care for a boy who simply needed something, someone, to anchor themselves to, in order to find hope.

He’d failed the first time, with Bae. A boy whose life had been shattered by darkness and deceit. Ripped asunder, in part, by Killian’s own hand when he had taken the boy’s mother from him, and could not be mended later when he’d chosen revenge over the effort to win back the boy’s trust when he’d learned the truth.  A regret that had gnawed at Killian for centuries. He wasn’t going to do it again. He wasn’t going to abandon another boy to hopelessness because of his shortcomings, his lies, and his selfishness.

He wouldn’t do that to Henry.

Killian made his way to his cabin and opened the sea chest that sat atop his desk. The cool metal of his hook calmed the remaining vestiges of his anger and self contempt. Slipping it into his back pocket, Killian took one final breath of deep resolve before making his way off the ship in search of Henry…

And, perhaps, some measure of atonement that only the truth could provide.

Chapter 9

Tagging some lovelies that have asked to be tagged, as well as some we believe might enjoy. Please let us know if you do, or don’t wish to be tagged.

@abeylin1982 @aprilqueen84 @artistic-writer @ashar663 @bschratter @captain-k-jones @captain-swan-coffee @downeystarkjr @flipperbrain @florenzu @freakassbuthunter @gingerchangeling @golfgirld @greenleaf777  @i-island-breeze  @ilovemesomekillianjones @jennjenn615 @joneskillian @jsilva0117 @juliakaze @kmomof4 @laschatzi @leiaswanjoneskid @like-waves-on-the-beach @mariakov81 @mcbrideannemgt @rookiehookie @seriouslyhooked @smutqueen27 @teamhook @ultraluckycatnd @wordsmith-storyweaver @xhookswenchx @yayimallamaagain

[ebaeschnbliah]

WHEN  THE  MAN  WITH  THE  KEY  BECOMES  KING

________________________________________________________________

A metaphorical reading ot 'The Reichenbach Fall'

If TRF is a scenario that happens inside Sherlock's head, on his Mind-Stage, then Sherlock himself is the creator of the character 'Jim Moriarty' and the way he is portrayed in this episode. Jim's external appearance, his profession as a criminal mastermind, his behaviour, the words he uses .... everything is constructed by Sherlock. It's how Sherlock perceives what Jim represents.

And Jim seems to represent some of Sherlock's darkest fears but at the same time he is also the cause of immense fascination. Jim - the dangerous and destructive side of Sherlock - a side which turns everything into negativity. Boredom grows into depression .... depression increases into suicidal thoughts. 

And when Sherlock's mind suddenly starts to contemplate about the topic of 'girlfriends and boyfriends' .....

... while I’m flattered by your interest ...

... it doesn't take very long and 'Jim' focuses exactly on this topic as well ('hello, sexy'). At first Sherlock deeply enjoys to learn more of this thrilling part of himself. He enjoys playing the game. Not long though and Sherlock starts perceiving Jim as an uncontrollable danger, as a risk for everything that is dear to him ... especially his heart (John). But Jim stubbornly refuses to stay away. Very quickly he turns into the criminal mastermind, the consulting criminal, a constantly growing threat, ticking like an unstable bomb .... ready to explode at any moment. And suddenly it becomes an absolut necessity for Sherlock to examine and investigate and deduce this 'threat' more closely ....

More under the cut .... 

Previous to The Reichenbach Fall

In ASIB Irene crosses the threshold of 221b. The first incarnation of sexuality. And though the plot makes it absolutely clear that male as well as female clients are on her customers list, Irene says just as clearly that she is gay. Is this the moment when Sherlock deduces his own sexuality? (Explosive ... it's more me)  Is it really a big surprise under these circumstances that Irene is adviced by no one else than Jim Moriarty 'how to play the Holmes boys'? Sherlock the 'virgin' ... the vulcano hidden under a snowcapped mountain ... covered by icy glaciers ... the summit high above the clouds ... the head .... the BRAIN ... the 'ice man'.

And Jim is blowing raspberries at the BRAIN ...  'Jumbo Jet. Dear me, Mr. Holmes, dear me' ....

In THOB Sherlock visits Baskerville. An extremly guarded governments facillity. The section of the BRAIN where frightening monsters are created? (The Return of Baskerville ... in S4)  Soon it turns out that the monster in question - the HOUND - is fake but the man behind this horror story creates a drug which serves the same purpose. It induces fear. And when Sherlock looks behind Frankland's mask at the end, it is no one else than Jim Moriarty who grins manically back at him.

Jim has become the face of Sherlock's sexuality

The very last scene of THOB shows how Jim is released from his high security prison by Mycroft ... the BRAIN. This indicates that it is a conscious decision of Sherlock - of his BRAIN - to release what Jim represents and take a closer look at this special topic ... despite all his concerns and his fears ....

First cases and gifts in The Reichenbach Fall

GALLERY DIRECTOR: Falls of the Reichenbach, Turner’s masterpiece, thankfully recovered owing to the prodigious talent of Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

SHERLOCK: Diamond cufflinks. All my cuffs have buttons.

Cufflinks are a device to fasten shirt cuffs. Shirt cuffs .... one could call them the 'soft' version of handcuffs. Handcuffs are generally used to restrain and to capture.

Diamond cufflinks for metaphorical handcuffs ... an interesting present for bringing back 'Reichenbach'. Maybe something precious to endure captivity a little easier?  

And .... TURNER'S masterpiece?  To turn something, can also mean to change something. This could be used for a very nice little wordplay.  :))))

”Top Banker Kidnapped” ”Sherlock Holmes was last night being hailed a hero yet again for masterminding the daring escape of the kidnapped man."

As the public applaud, the boy smiles and offers a small gift-wrapped box to Sherlock. He takes it and rattles it briefly. SHERLOCK: Tie pin. I don’t wear ties.

A tie is 'a long piece of cloth worn around the neck'. One could call it the 'soft' version of a leash. Or even a garotte ... a device used for strangulation. Strangulation and asphyxiation are main themes throughout Sherlock BBC.

Sherlock gets this present for bringing back a 'Top Banker'. Finances are one of the most important foundations of any government. This seems to be a plausible connection to Mycroft .... the BRAIN.

A precious little jewlery to adorn a metaphorical leash or even garotte as a present for reestablishing the BRAIN ... choosing logic and reason over a suffocating and drowning heart?  :))))

LESTRADE: Peter Ricoletti: number one on Interpol’s Most Wanted list since nineteen eighty-two. But we got him; and there’s one person we have to thank for giving us the decisive leads. .... We all chipped in.

As Sherlock tears open the wrapping paper, Sally and Anderson grin expectantly. He pulls out a deerstalker hat.

Oh, the deerstalker! Sherlock calls it 'death frisbee'. This hat seems to be of great imortance on many levels at the same time.

it's the most famous trademark of canon Sherlock Holmes

it can be used as wordplay 'deer=hart' ... 'dear/heart' ... 'stalking the dear heart' ... the dear/heart being John. (Sherlock, the Stag and the Skull)

it can be used as an indicator for changing the levels/plays on Sherlock's Mind-Stage.  (Stalking the Deerstalker)

On this level though ... with the main theme circling heavily around sexuality ... the meaning of the deerstalker seems to be none of the above mentioned. As many people have already pointed out, the deerstalker represents also the Victorian era - a time where homosexuality had been forbidden and prosecuted.

Sherlock gets the 'hat' for arresting a man called Ricoletti. The name Ricoletti turns up again in TAB - associated with the murderous ghost bride Emelia.

she commits suicide like Jim,

her substitute body lies in a morgue like Irene's,

she fakes her death and goes undercover like Sherlock,

she kills her husband like Mary kills Sherlock.

I think one can safely say that Emelia is a mirror for all of them. And when Sherlock finally lifts the veil of the bride it is again Jim who's hiding behind it.

Short version:  Sherlock receives the deerstalker as a gift for arresting Ricoletti the criminal .... Ricoletti the bride behind whose veil hides Jim .... Jim the master criminal who represents Sherlock's sexuality ... homosexuality.  Well .... 

Places of power under attack

Three places of great power are invaded by Jim Moriarty at the same time.

The Tower of London - a high security facility where the precious Crown Jewels are harboured.

The Bank of England - a high security facility where immense wealth is kept, a powerful foundation of the government.

Pentonville Prison - a high security facility where 'the dangerous' are imprisoned.

At all three places ... tea is served directly before the attack

'Tea-Code' has already become a classic and TLDs ...  'Is "cup of tea" code?"... confirmed it.

In the nearby surveillance room, one of the two men watching the security footage from all around the Tower turns to his colleague. SURVEILLANCE MAN 1: Fancy a cuppa, then, mate? SURVEILLANCE MAN 2: Yeah, why not?

A man brings a tray containing a cup and saucer and a milk jug into the office of the bank’s Director.

The prison’s governor, with an enormous “Keep calm and carry on” mug full of tea on his desk, slams a file down onto his desk as several warders sit or stand nearby.

The moment Jim calls ..... the tea gets spilt

At the Tower of London: "This is an emergency. Please leave the building." In the surveillance room, the man slams down the cups of tea he was bringing back and grabs a phone as he starts to dial.

At the Bank of England, the Director looks down at the cup of tea he is holding as the liquid inside begins to shimmer and the building vibrates gently. BANK DIRECTOR: The vault! Alarms blare and his screen flashes the alarm “VAULT OPENING” as a graphic shows the door to the vault swinging slowly open. The Director’s jaw drops and he stares in disbelief, his tea cup slowly tilting in his hand until the tea pours out into his lap.

In Pentonville Prison, the governor is just lifting his mug to his mouth as alarms begin to sound. A prison warder bursts into the room. PRISON WARDER: Sir, security’s down, sir. It’s failing! The governor surges to his feet, accidentally sweeping his mug off the table and onto the floor.

But only at one of the three locations Jim shows up in person. Jim Moriarty comes to Tower Hill to claim the Crown Jewels

With a diamond and a fire extinguisher Jim shatters glass that is 'tougher than anything' (Elephant Glass?) to get to the famous symbols of rulership.

And Jim dresses up as King of the Empire.

Applying a methphorical reading .... the Empire/England/London represents Sherlock's body. And going by the assumption that this episode is located inside Sherlock's head ... acted out on Sherlock's Mind-Stage ... then ....

Sherlock envisions that homosexuality is ruling his body

 Crown Jewels .... Definition by Urban Dictionary

'UK slang for penis and balls. Because they are a guarded treasure.'

Maybe this is a nice moment to bring back once more the icon on Jim's phone. The one he uses as a symbol for attacking The Tower of London and the 'Crown Jewels'?  Someone has chosen the shape for that crown. When it is fully open .... looks like this .... before it explodes ....   :))))

Side note:  The little cross at the top and the bigger one lower down .... they look suspiciously like stylised pirate flags. Pirate signs are used in Baskerville to warn of explosives and it is Sherlock 'thie pirate' who enters Sherrinford.

Baskerville - the tip of the iceberg - the little cros (your idea @gosherlocked :) ​ and ... 'I have to go deeper' ... to Sherrinford - the bigger cross?

Then Sherlock gets the message ....

Is this the moment when Sherlock feels that his investigation ... his Mind-Stage experiment ... gets more and more out of control? Is this the moment when he desides it's better to send Jim back behind prison bars? Jim gets arrested. The 'trial of the century' takes place with Sherlock as 'witness for the prosecution'. But then 'no evidence is offered and the defence rests'. Sherlock and the judge (the BRAIN?) simultanously recite the summing-up speech:

"I find myself in the unusual position of recommending a verdict wholeheartedly. You must find him guilty."

No defence - not guilty - Jim walks free

It seems that at this point Sherlock isn't able anymore to keep Jim behind lock and key. Jim sucessfully invades every locked room, breaches every security system, summons all kinds of assassins (emotions) near Baker Street.

The Tower of London - SEXUALITY?

The Bank of England - finances/goverment/BRAIN?

Pentonville Prison - the imprisoned dangerous/unwanted EMOTIONS?

And apparently no court is able to condemn him and send him behind bars again. Jim doesn't only walk free, he even visits 221b himself, the valued home Sherlock shares with his HEART. He threatens everything and promises Sherlock a fall. Jim has become the man with the key. The king. He can take everything he wants. There is no such thing as privacy and secrecy anymore. Jim can blow up the whole world. A 'spider in the center of a crimianl web with thousand threads and he knows precisely how each and every single one of them dances'.

This is how Sherlock envisions Jim

If Londond/Engalnd is a metaphor for Sherlock's body ..... is this how Sherlock depicts his own sexuality? As an insane demon under whose reign he would become a 'prisoner of his own meat'? And a threat for everything he holds dear?

his HEART (John)

his HOME (Mrs. Hudson)

his WORK (Lestrade)

First Irene then Jim. An attracktive and fascinating but misbehaving and manipulative dominatrix, who wants to have Sherlock on a leash and an equally fascinating but dangerously insane criminal mastermind, who wants to burn Sherlock's heart to ashes. These are the characters Sherlock choose to represent sexuality - his sexuality - on his Mind-Stage.

Are they representing Sherlock's deepest fear? That he might be dominated by sexuality, by emotions and sentiment .... by love? Is he afraid of losing control over all those unwanted feelings which are beginning to stir inside him? Ready to break free at any moment ... even from behind elephant glass ... ready to overwhelm him? What is he going to do to avoid this? What is he going to do if he can't avoid this?

I'm too clever to become a prisoner of my own meat

An episode prior - in THOB - Henry Knight tells Sherlock what he keeps seeing as his lost memory slowly starts coming back. Just a couple of words:  "Liberty" and ... "in". Sherlock's first association with these words is ....

Liberty in death ... the only true freedom

Is this what Sherlock believes to be his last resort? Is this the reason why both - Sherlock and Jim - commit suicide at the end of The Reichenbach Fall? Is Sherlock's fear to feel emotions so big that he rather chooses death instead? At least in this version of the play .....

I’m afraid. Always been able to keep myself distant ... divorce myself from ... feelings. But ... my body’s betraying me. Interesting, yes? Emotions. The grit on the lens, the fly in the ointment.   (Sherlock THOB)

What might be the reason for such a severe anxiety of not only sexuality but all kinds of other emotions as well? Something seems to be lurking in Sherlock's past. Something must have caused Sherlock's need to 'divorce himself from feelings' in such a drastic way.

Maybe Sherlock still asks himself the same questions after the 'fall' ... the same question he asked Mycroft - his BRAIN - already in ASIB at the beginning of S2:

'Do you ever wonder if there is something wrong with us?'

When Sherlock comes back from his hiatus in S3, he starts exploring and investigating the concept of the 'facade'. HIS facade. Who is she? What is she? Where does she come from? Why is she like this? Why did he chose her to be like this?

And all those questions will finally lead to another one .... the key-question Sherlock asks himself after S3 ...  in a very 'special' episode ... in TAB:

What made me like this?

I shall have to go deep ..... into myself ....

(Side note:  I left out the theme of the kidnapped children of the ambassador, of Sherlock being framed for a crime he didn't commit and the media as a source of (fake) secrets and scandals and guarded knowledge. All this seems to be more related to Sherlock's past ... to the event that changed a very emotional child into someone who felt the need to create the facade of an unfeeling sociopath ... to hide his heart behind that mask.)

I leave you to your own deductions. Thanks @callie-ariane for the scripts.

September, 2017

@gosherlocked @loveismyrevolution @sagestreet @sherlockshadow @monikakrasnorada @darlingtonsubstitution @raggedyblue @sarahthecoat @221bloodnun @kateis-cakeis @shylockgnomes @tjlcisthenewsexy

[jenhedgehog]

Barn Mates - One Year On

Barn Mates was first aired exactly a year ago today... and what a monumental episode it was for both Lapis and Peridot!

For those of us who were already shipping Lapidot, it was a dream come true – and for some of those who weren’t, it opened their eyes to a whole new (and now completely canonically viable) ship.

I’ve written about this episode a few times in the past, but it feels fitting to look back on it again today; for day one of Lapidot Anniversary Week!

So, without further ado...

The episode opens with Peridot wistfully speaking into her tape recorder about sharing her new home with Lapis.  Only a couple of episodes prior to this point, Peridot had made the decision to stay at the barn by herself whilst the other Crystal Gems returned to the temple. The fact that she now so enthusiastically wants to share her home with Lapis (as opposed to going back with the other Gems or staying by herself in the barn) just shows that she already has some level of admiration for Lapis.

Peridot says:

“Why don't we watch the sun come up and figure out what we're going to do with all this time, eh Lazuli?”

Watching the sun rise with someone is an old romantic tradition/cliché, so the fact that Peridot specifically mentions wanting to do this with Lapis certainly speaks some volumes.   And it also transpires...

...that this line was foreshadowing a scene that came later in the show – in Room For Ruby, not only are they watching the sun rise together (just as Peridot wanted to do), they’ve actually been sat together all night stargazing prior to this point, which is another activity that has obvious romantic connotations.

After Peridot has finished speaking into the tape recorder in Barn Mates, Lapis expresses her desire to live in the barn all on her own. Steven suggests that the barn be split down the middle, with each of the two Gems having their own “side”, which leads to a very interesting shot of the pair of them:

Notice how they’re effectively framing a picture that’s behind them.   This picture is of the barn’s previous owners – Greg’s aunt and uncle, who Greg described back in Space Race as follows:

“My aunt and uncle had a great love for aviation, and each other.  They cherished the years they spent together, and they held on to every belonging they ever owned.”

It’s interesting, then, that a picture of a happy couple has been placed directly in-between Lapis and Peridot in this shot.  This becomes something of a trend as the show progresses, with the picture being placed in-shot with Peridot and Lapis on occasion in a fair few other episodes, such as these:

This could well be foreshadowing a romantic relationship between Lapis and Peridot.  The fact that Greg mentions “aviation” is also something interesting to think about, considering that Lapis can fly and Peridot was the pilot of the Hand Ship back in Jailbreak.

Lapis isn’t keen on the idea of splitting the barn, telling Steven that Peridot is the problem:

“I can't stand the thought of looking at her everyday!”

This statement is now somewhat ironic because, in the episodes since Barn Mates, Lapis almost always has her eyes on Peridot – and gives her some extremely suggestive looks, too!

Peridot and Steven both try to assure Lapis that Peridot has changed, but she doesn’t want to hear it. Steven thinks it’s “sweet” that Peridot wants Lapis to see how much she’s changed since their last encounter, and he helps her to make an apology card which has a very interesting picture drawn on the front of it:

Steven may well have the intent of getting Peridot and Lapis to be friends, but he’s drawn them looking like an actual couple here; they’re even holding hands.

Eventually, after some persuasion from Steven, Lapis joins them – and a beaming Peridot hands over the card.  This still fails to win-over an unimpressed Lapis, much to Peridot’s disdain.

“It took me over an hour to compose [the message in the card], and I was the most sincere as per Steven's instructions!”

The fact that Peridot put so much time into her apology message gives us an indication of how highly Peridot thinks of Lapis – and how much she wants to make her feel better. She then spends some time deliberating what she could give to Lapis as a gift (upon Steven’s suggestion), and they come up with an idea...

“H-2-Oh my GOSH!” … “It’s a gift for you!  You know, ‘cause water’s your thing.”

Peridot’s mannerisms and tone of voice here are very flirtatious.  However, given Lapis’ previous traumatic experience of being trapped on the bottom of the ocean, this is another idea that falls completely flat.

And what does Peridot do?

“A pool?!  What a cloddy idea!  Of course she wouldn't like that!”

She actually blames herself for the mistake.  This is very uncharacteristic of Peridot, who normally has a very lofty opinion of herself and her intellectual capacity – which, again, shows how highly she must think of Lapis.  She even uses the word “cloddy” to describe her own idea; with “clod” being an insult that she usually only ever levels at other people when she’s at her most angry.

She then decides to make a very grand gesture...

...and offers her most prized possession – the tape recorder – to Lapis as a gift.

She’s very flirtatious in doing so here, as well.  With a wink and a smile, she tells Lapis:

“See, the ribbon is even blue.  I got yo’ number!”

Peridot has offended all of the other Gems at some point in the past, but she’s never been seen to perform as grand a gesture as this one in order to win them over. 

Peridot is, in a lot of ways, incredibly materialistic - she has been shown on more than one occasion to hold her very few possessions really closely to her.  By Peridot’s standards, handing the tape recorder over is essentially the biggest thing she could do for someone, which is a very clear indication of her feelings towards Lapis.

This gesture is completely lost on Lapis, however, who proceeds to crush the tape recorder in her hand.

Usually in these situations, Peridot would be distraught that one of her possessions had been destroyed (see, for example, Peridot on her knees begging Amethyst not to throw away her beloved tablet in Too Short To Ride).  However, this time, she actually seems to be upset by the fact that she’s managed to upset Lapis once again, exclaiming:

“What, were you trapped in a tape recorder too?!”

Peridot is exasperated by this point, and gives a very heartfelt speech which, I believe, really gets to the root of one of the key reasons why a relationship between Lapis and Peridot just makes perfect sense:

“Look, I get it, you know?  You’re confused!  You can never go back to Homeworld.  This place doesn’t exactly feel like home yet.  You’re alone, no one could possibly know what that feels like!  Oh wait, I do!  We’re the same, except…  you don’t have to be alone.”

She and Lapis are going through the exact same thing at basically the same time; namely, being stranded on earth with no way of returning to Homeworld.  There’s literally no-one else who they could bond with over this, except for each other – it’s a common ground that they share with each other and only each other.  It’s logical and sensible storytelling, therefore, to have these two characters stick together and share the experience with each other.  It puts them on equal ground, gives them both an acute understanding of each other, and enables them to both support one another as they adjust to life on earth.

At this point in Barn Mates, however, Lapis still isn’t having any of it.  Peridot, clearly at her wits end, asks what Lapis wants from her.  Lapis angrily tells Peridot that she wants her to leave... and that’s exactly what Peridot does.  She wants Lapis to be happy so much that she’s even willing to give up her home so that Lapis can live there instead.

As she walks away, Steven reprimands Lapis for treating Peridot so badly.  As he’s talking, Lapis folds her arms and shifts on the spot, her gaze meeting the crushed tape recorder on the floor.  Everything about her body language in this scene exudes guilt.  

Peridot comes screaming back towards them moments later, however – being pursued by a Roaming Eye that she’s convinced is after her.    

The trio flee from the ship, but eventually come face-to-face with it, which causes Peridot to cower behind Steven in fear.

However...

...Lapis steps forward, and glances back at a wide-eyed Peridot.

This scene is very important because it’s the first time we ever get to see that Lapis does actually care about Peridot, despite the pair of them getting off to a very turbulent start.  She steps up to defend the helpless Peridot from the Roaming Eye, and makes sure to specifically ask Peridot if she’s ok after the threat has been neutralised – proving that she didn’t only have Steven’s interests at heart when she took out the Roaming Eye.

What happens next needs no introduction...

Peridot has still, to this day, never looked at anyone else with such love.  The way that her hands are clasped to her chest makes it the typical “cartoon character looking at their love interest” pose.  That smile on her face is literally the biggest one that she’s ever given.  And Lapis’ deep blush, that she actually turns her head away from Peridot in an attempt to hide, is also a reaction from her that’s unique to this scene – and very much implies that the apparent feeling of attraction is mutual.  There appears to be some symbolism behind the sun coming out as Peridot smiles, too.  This could well be an indication that Lapis is warming up to Peridot and seeing her in a new light.  It also has a somewhat poetic quality to it, with the storm clouds (both literal and metaphorical) dissipating at this very moment.  

Steven picks up on what’s going on, giggling to himself as he looks at Lapis.  It’s also very interesting that Peridot’s loving look is still lingering even after the camera angle has changed – this is no fleeting “micro expression”, it’s a very prolonged and deliberate look...

...which was the first of very, very many that the pair of them have since gone on to give each other (the above images being a small handful of examples).

All in all, Barn Mates was the start of a very beautiful relationship between these two Gems, which has well and truly endured throughout the past twelve months – and has gotten ever stronger with each episode that they’ve appeared in together.

[coldtomyflash]

Could Barry have aspergers?

First, and I genuinely don’t mean this as any sort of attack, I just want to note that Aspergers = autism spectrum. Aspergers used to refer to a related spectrum but was often considered “milder” than autism, and modern research and clinicians have realized that they’re ultimately the same (broad) spectrum and the issue was their diagnostic tools classifying people on “severity”. There are issues with separating people into “high functioning” and “low functioning” groups the way the Aspergers/autism distinction does and there’s just… a lot of stuff that goes into this.

That being said, I think what you’re really asking for is more a question of “could Barry be neurodivergent, and specifically could he be somewhere on the the autism spectrum?”

And the answer is: of course! Why not?

For the purposes of headcanons, I always say: go for it, if it works for you.

For the purposes of canon-analysis, it’s a bit harder. Writers will sometimes write neurodivergent characters without even consciously realizing they’re doing it, because as human beings we recognize behavioral patterns and think “well this person is like that” without always knowing how to name or identify where that characterization comes from. This is part of the reason some characters get coded as neurodivergent without it ever being made explicit in the text (there are other, sometimes more insidious reasons as well but we don’t need to chat about them here).

I’m not sure if I’m the world’s best person to write an analysis of Barry as being on the autism spectrum specifically, because although my husband and some good friends of my are on the spectrum, I myself am not. I can take a stab at it for you though since I’ve been learning and reading a lot in the past few years about it (and may one day come back to that question I got like 2 years ago about Len being on the autism spectrum because… yeah, he really is I think). 

Anyway, hopefully what I say will ring true for people, fully realizing that of course all people on the spectrum are going to have slightly different experiences.

Before I do that, however, I also want to say that my personal headcanons for Barry are really that he’s ADHD, which is a related form of neurodivergence, and one that I’m more closely tied to (I’m not diagnosed but I show a ton of the signs and symptoms for it and it seems to run in my family, so I have more personal experience with it). So a lot of this discussion might end up looking more like general indicators of neurodivergence that can fall into autism spectrum and/or ADHD or both, as they do overlap a good deal.

Anyway!

Some canon discussion/evidence?

Well, first, Barry’s single-minded focus. Neurodivergent people can have difficulties with switching attention and can get totally absorbed by things, and Barry’s no different. Once he has a goal or a thought in mind, the rest of the world sort of gets put on mute, it seems. From searching for the Man in Yellow to Saving Iris to whatever the goal of the day is, that becomes ‘it’ for him for a little while.

That helps lead me to ‘special interests’ and hyperfixation. From what I can tell, Barry ran a blog on ‘the impossible’ and raced across the country looking for cryptids and other impossible events whenever he had the opportunity. I would say that this could be classified as a special interest for him. He likely has others or has had more in the past: musicals (maybe even specific ones), specific aspects of the sciences that he’s pursued, the Speed Force, etc.

Also, and I’m sorry if this ends up stereotyping slightly, people on the autism spectrum generally have advanced abilities in mechanical understanding (and score noticeably different as early as the age of 4 on tests of engineering/mechanical types of knowledge) and Barry demonstrates this type of understanding time and again in the show.

He uses those abilities all the time at crime scenes, and as the Flash as well, like when fighting Zoom and using gravity to his advantage. He pursued a career in the sciences and uses chemistry, physics, and mathematics in his everyday life (and when working on things such as the speed equation). 

A little less “stereotype” and we see Barry’s physical behavior. 

In S1, he was often physical awkward in that he was clumsy and backing into doors, always running, and seemed to have… too much energy? It’s been said elsewhere that speedsters, or at least Bart (from the future), were introduced in part as a metaphor for ADHD (and that at least Bart’s arc was supposed to help educate people about ADHD because comics can be awesome like that). So that spectrum of “too much energy, almost clumsy because of it, always moving and kinetic and touching or doing something or running out the door” has made me think of Barry as having ADHD and thinking of his behavior more from than perspective. But from an autism spectrum perspective, you sometimes see a lot of the same behaviors. Clumsiness is common, from what I’ve read (though of course, not for everyone. My husband is the least clumsy person I know). And being late! Barry is often late, and that can be a sign of ADHD for sure (I’m always late, my husband always wants to be exactly on time… it’s an issue).

In terms of sensory processing, I can’t think of anything too specific. Certain fabrics, textures, foods, or physical sensations can all be important to people on the autism spectrum due to how they process sensory information, but I don’t think canon provides us with much information for how Barry deals with sensation. I also can’t think of any evidence of physical stimming off the top of my head but sometimes that won’t be obvious anyway. Barry keeps chemistry toys in his lab (we’ve seen them in background shots a few times) but nothing else really comes to mind there. He paces a lot? Is standing whenever it’s an option, really? Rubs his hand over his hair/ head whenever he’s tense or anxious? None of that is specific to neurodivergence (over, say, anxiety) but it is still technically self-stimulation behavior.

In terms of speech patterns, I can’t think of any really canon examples of atypical speech patterns that might imply autism spectrum neurodivergence (in contrast to say, Julian, who is sometimes overly formal or literal to the point of awkward, which can be a sign of autism spectrum for some people). Barry does info dump a little sometimes about things related to speed (a new special interest? It would make sense) or other information, but the show doesn’t often give us conversations that aren’t related to the plot so it’s hard to say. 

(That being said, one of the things that used to be used to “distinguish” autism spectrum from Aspergers was the children with Aspergers didn’t show the same language-related issues in childhood, and now that we understand autism as more of a constellation of behaviors, not all of which will be present in the same person, it’s not overly surprising not to find it here. Also, Barry really doesn’t use almost any adjectives or flowery language, even few adverbs, and he sticks to either simple or exact words for things [in contrast to Wally who’s word-choice is a lot more diverse!] so maybe we do see a bit of evidence through that? His speech is relatively straightforward?)

(precise, specific, informative)

Sociality… well we know that Barry didn’t have many friends as a kid, especially after his mother died. He talks about having been bullied and we know he was a big anime nerd and part of a lot of clubs in high school. That’s not evidence in and of itself of neurodivergence because neurotypical kids get bullied all the time as well, but some of it could be a sign, especially because it’s clear through the clubs etc. that he was trying to put himself out there and maybe it wasn’t working. 

He clearly gets along just fine with other people who are on the side of scientifically-oriented (i.e., all of the Star Labs team, Felicity, eventually Julian) and other people who are smart and kind (Iris, Oliver) so it’s definitely not that Barry can’t make friends. But kids can be cruel and neurodivergence can be easier to notice in childhood for one reason or another (including because people haven’t ‘learned’ to hide or suppress their own signs as well, and it sucks that people would ever ‘have’ to but that’s what childhood teaches some folks).

In either case, there’s evidence he had issue socializing and pretty much only had Iris as a close friend until he hit adulthood? And it’s also clear that although he’s “liked” at the precinct, he doesn’t really have friends there and he sticks out, at least not until Patty came along.

Last points: again, not to stereotype, but anecdotally at least, there does seem to be some potential overlap between people on the autism spectrum and the asexual spectrum, and a lot of people headcanon or interpret Barry as being demisexual? Which makes a lot of sense to me, and could be part of an interpretation of Barry as being neurodivergent. (Though it really should be clearly noted that people can be on the autism spectrum without being on the asexual spectrum and vice versa, and I don’t want to imply otherwise!)

And… I think that’s most of what I have to say? I’d have gifs for more of this but honestly they aren’t easy to find for this topic ^^;

And I invite people to make additions to this post if they have any more headcanons or canon examples, or clarifying information? 

[breastforce]

Marco is a Trans Girl - The Megapost 2.0

So you’ve likely seen my big post on the theory that Marco Diaz from Star vs The Forces of Evil is a Trans Girl. It was made back in July of 2016 when Season 2 was just starting, and since then a lot of things have changed and we now know a lot more about what’s going on behind the scenes.

This post is meant to be an updated explanation of Trans Girl Marco theory, but now more in line with how things are actually happening. The gist of it being that Marco Diaz is coded as a closeted transgender girl.  Expect less theorizing and more meta talk. I’ll be going over all the clues that indicate Marco is trans, as well as how the starcrew came to the desicion as Marco developed as a character.

I can’t give enough thanks to the members of the crew such as @arythusa and @hug-bees​, whom have both done as much as they possibly can to communicate with the show’s growing LGBT fanbase, and given us so much insight into what’s going on

Full post below the cut.

Part 1: How it Happened.

“In my experience, almost no character goes into episode 1 totally finished. With such a long writing process, people end up changing and "discovering" more about the characters as they go on.” -Sabrina Cotungo [x]

A lot of aspects in Star Vs developed and matured along Seasons 1 and 2. Alfonso and Ferguson were written out and Janna joined the main cast, Ponyhead, Tom, and Glossaryk were given bigger roles, etc. So it’s pretty clear that Marco wasn’t originally penned as a Trans Girl. For the greater half of Season 1, they were simply a boy that ocassional feminine tendancies, with very few episodes indicating that there was anything else going on.

So what happened?

Well, individual writers and storyboarders have a bit of creative freedom when it comes to cartoon episodes. While they don’t have the ability to set much in stone, they can weave their own interpritations of characters into the outline that they’re given, inserting in small details that can enrich a character.

So while Marco was ‘officially’ a feminine boy, some writers interprited their feminity and general insecurities as indicative of something deeper.

One such example is in Mewberty:

While Star’s under an affliction that causes her to break out in hearts around boys, the writers have Marco not realize that they’re also a ‘boy’ for the first quarter of the episode, and when Marco’s hit over the head with something that would seem to be fairly evident for them, there’s a very noticable pause indicating that it’s something they are (or have just become) self-concious about.

And just to hammer the point home, there’s even a part in the episode where Marco’s outright mistaken to be a girl:

And Marco could have just been left at that.

The episode where I believe things changed though, is St. Olga’s School For Wayward Princesses

Marco disguises themself as a Princess to break help Star break into a boarding school, and the whole thing is completely natural. Marco doesn’t really try at all to be something they’re not - they’re just Marco.

Most media would have somebody suspect that there was something ‘off’ about Marco or constantly bring up how they’re the “odd one out” amongst all the other girls. Instead, Marco’s allowed to simply just be a girl for an episode without any objections from the narrative. Their gender is never made fun of, questioned, second-guessed, or even really brought up at all, even by the villain.

Not to mention the message of the episode - It’s Not Criminal To Be An Individual

It’s all about how there’s no wrong way to be a princess, but since royalty is a very narrow market in the United States, let’s just assume that the actual message is about how there’s no wrong way to be a girl.

And it’s likely no coincidence that Marco’s not only viewed as being no different from any of the other princess but also the keystone of the entire movement.

There’s no wrong way to be a girl, and Marco’s included in that. 

I don’t know for sure whether the writer behind this episode, Piero Piluso, conciously wrote Marco with them being transgender in mind, but they wrote Princess Marco as a girl through and through.

And that’s likely when the lightbulbs started going off in the crew.

Season 2 brought in a slew of new writers and cast members, including people who’ve had previous expierience writing LGBT characters such as Giancarlo Volpe, Evon Freeman, Le Tang, Amelia Lorenz, Zach Marcus, Brett Varon, Gina Gress, and the aforementioned Sabrina Cotungo (whom had even tried to get a transgender character into Gravity Falls)

The new batch of writers now all had the existence of Princess Marco influencing their interpritations of Marco, which made it a lot easier for many of them to come to the conclusion that there was something deeper going on, and that this kid was trans.

Thus resulting in a MASSIVE explosion of hints occuring throughout Season 2.

Part 2: Scattered Evidence 

“So if and/or when you detect LGBT-friendly themes on this show, it’s most likely there because the creators fought hard to put it there. They did the best they could to get any form of representation over, under or around those censors. They put it there to make a positive change in media.” -Amelia Lorenz [x]

Seaon 2 was where things really staarted to pck up.

Marco’s very first appearance is this:

Alright, they could be a feminine guy, Doesn’t exactly prove anything

They then spend the rest of the episode trapped in a closet that they want to get out of.

Which just so happens to be a Closet of Secrets.

Star even proposes at one point that it might be easier for Marco to just spend the rest of their life in the closet.

And, to top it all off, the writers specifically have Marco spend their entire time in said closet wearing a goddamn skirt.

In Mr. Candle Cares we get Marco outright saying they’d ‘Love to be Queen’. 

Red Belt opens up with a dream sequence where Marco’s more shocked to find themselves buried in a suit than dead:

And upon seeing themselves in a suit (which they don’t want!), they’re reminded that they’re unsure of themselves and their future.

And how, to Marco, there’s something holding them down. Something that they’re missing. Something that sets them apart from the rest of the cast (!!!!!!!!).

And this dyphoria Marco’s expieriencing was set off by a suit covered in mewberty hearts.

Calling back to the ‘Boy Hands’ moment above:

Marco fears that they’ll spend their life closeted, that they won’t be able to progress in life because they spent it hiding away, unable to escape being a ‘boy’ just like what happened in Mewberty.

And the dream wasn’t just a one-off thing for Marco:

It’s a regular, recurring nightmare they’ve had to the point where they told Star about it. They’ve been unsettled over the long term, but the show hasn’t shown it, they just let us know in this moment. 

Then we get Fetch, where in the last few minutes the writers do an animal-based dysphoria metaphor that puts Cartoon Network to shame.

It is pretty clear that the writers know what they’re doing because that’s legitimately one of the better explanations of what having dysphoria is like that I’ve seen on television: Rather than the dog talking about how they were “born in the wrong body”, they want to be a dog that is just like any other in order to calm their troubled emotions.

The book Star and Marco’s Guide to Mastering Every Dimension hammers down on the trans metaphor even further:

Willoughby is a dog. But in her dimension, dogs aren’t like dogs on Earth. They have very complicated feelings. So she stole my wand to make herself not have those complicated feelings anymore.

This passage can easily be translated to: “Some [women] aren’t like [other women]. They have very complicated feelings. So they [transition] to make themselves not have those complicated feelings anymore.” which is such a simple way of explaining what being trans is like to kids that it wouldn’t feel out of place on Sesame Street.

Not even a minute after the first exchange, we get this:

Which not only hammers in the idea that this is all about gender ever further, since they include a gender reveal that has no other real impact on the story, but if the dog’s in any way symbolic of Marco, then the scene pretty much speaks for itself.

And then in Gift of the Card, Heinous makes her return and the name “Princess Marco” is actually used in the show itself.

And after a season with a bunch of bits and pieces of foreshadowing scattered throughout:

It’s revealed in Nayasya that Marco does in fact have dysphoria, they’re so ashamed of their body that they can’t even look themselves in the mirror:

Marco Diaz covers the mirror when he shows because Marco is ashamed of his own body!

In addition, mirrors and showers are such common motifs in trans narratives that Sense8 had their trans character describe her dysphoria in nearly the same exact way. 

“At that age I was really uncomfortable with my body and didn’t like to be naked, especially in front of other boys. But you had to take a shower before you went in the pool, so I would do it but I kept my swimsuit on.”

And the only point where Marco can apparently somewhat stand to look themselves in the mirror?

When they’re dressed like that. Indicating that this isn’t just some Teenaged Body Insecurity but rather dysphoria.

Star and Marco's Guide to Mastering Every Dimension, a canonical side book that fleshes out the lore of the show, also manages to expand on Marco’s thoughts on their stay at St. Olga’s:

I almost died at St. O’s. Twice. The first time was at the hands of some robot guards, and the second time I almost died emotionally in the Solitary Conform-ment Chamber. I did learn that I’d make a great princess. I really wouldn’t say that pink is my color... but I wouldn’t mind wearing a poofy dress every now and then. It’s kinda liberating.

Notice their word choice. Not only do they outright say “I learned I’d make a great princess”, not only indicating that they did infact themselves as a girl in St. Olga’s to a degree rather than simply seeing the whole thing as ‘just a disguise’, but they also call wearing a ‘poofy dress’ to be liberating. 

There is a HUGE difference between “a guy enjoys wearing dresses and would like to wear them more often’ and ‘somebody who’s fantasized about being a girl finds a dress they didn’t even chose to wear to be personally liberating’. It’s not simply a matter of Marco wearing a dress, but rather that their attitudes towards it (and everything else) are something that a lot of Trans Women have found relatable.

Part 3: ‘Heinous’

“I can tell you that Daron is open to the idea of LGBT characters but beyond that the situation gets complicated. Also, as a board artist, I don’t have a lot of say in terms of larger story or character arcs, so I’m afraid I can’t comment on future plans.” - Sabrina Cotugno [x]

At this point there’s a number of members in the crew that all view Marco as a trans girl, and are writing her that way, but nobody has the power to make it explicit.

Then comes ‘Heinous’.

This episode pushed this concept to its absolute limit, where the writers for the episode did literally everything they could to get across the message that Marco’s trans and brought the theory to being as canon as they can possibly get at the time. (To the point where people on Reddit who either didn’t follow or dismissed the theory were struggling to figure out what the point of the episode was)

The basics:

Marco is consistently gendered with ‘she’ pronouns throughout the episode and the writers don’t have anybody ever question it

When in her Princess getup, Marco explictly refers to herself as a girl and seems to have a blast despite being blackmailed, to the point where they voluntairly keep on the dress for family game night.

The dialogue from Marco’s parents have loads of double meanings, where they’re talking about finding out about Marco’s interdimensional activities, but deliberately involk the image of somebody who just got outed as being gay or transgender to their parents.

And, most of all, Princess Marco wasn’t just a distant memory that didn’t matter. The episode revealed that Marco secretly kept up the ‘Princess Marco’ persona this whole time, getting royalty checks from merchandise inspired by her.

And to make things even more meta, Marco has apparently ‘influencing the next generation of princesses’ to be true to themselves.

The whole theme of the episode is Marco getting across a hidden message meant to inspire people despite being restricted in what they can say. So Marco says what they’re obliged to say, but phrases it in a way that makes the true message clear to the intended audience. This is essentially how the crew has been handling the theory in of itself.

Part 4 (for now): Conclusions

I’ll continue to update the post with relevant information as we move onto Season 3, so this part of the post will most likely change

The image that is being drawn is that the crew really really really wants to include trans representation within their work, and not only views but are actively writing a character as being transgender, but they can not come out and just say it due to legal reasons.

The crew’s response to the idea of Marco being transgender, as well as the prospects of LGBT representation within the show itself, has been nothing but positive. They’ve been consistently defending it to the point where one of the directors for Season 4 put out an argument as for why Marco being transgender girl is more important than them being a boy.

It’s not certain whether or not Marco will be able to come out and transition to being a girl during the series. The crew has many times expressed frustration about how much of a fight they have to put up to even get hints at LGBT representation past the censors. In the meantime, or in case they ultimately don’t succeed, the staff are deliberately giving trans people something to relate to in Princess Marco, and are doing everything they can to make sure we at least have that.

“I wish I could give a more reassuring or more substantial answer, but little by little people in the industry are trying to change things. The victories seem a bit small for now, but please know that you’re not forgotten.”  -Ariel V.H. [x] 

[the-cardboard-constructionist]

I have a lot of mixed thoughts on JKR and the information that she has given out since the series officially ended. 

On one hand, it has never been a secret or a surprise that she had developed every single minor character in that series with a back story and relevance to a variety of things. This is not new information. She has been saying that the entire time, since as soon as this series became popular. Even before Pottermore, she had a website where she sometimes posted snippets about minor characters and gave them more depth, and some of it was things she contemplated putting in the books and ended up not having room for, and some of it was things that had no business being in the books because the backstory for that one kid who was killed when Voldemort collapsed a bridge and is really only mentioned in a small snippet of an article was not necessary there. Not everything she knew and planned for this universe had a place in the books. These are children’s books and not only that, but they are long as fuck children’s books, and honestly, children only have so much patience for books. There is only so long you can make them, and only so many things you can include. Which is why a lot of things, even things she originally intended to put in, aren’t in there. Which is honestly probably why Pottermore exists. Because she wanted to share the things that didn’t have a place in the book. The most memorable scene I remember from her original website about this was a scene where Theodore Nott goes to the Malfoy manor and hangs out with Draco while their parents are doing death eater things. It’s been literal years since I’ve read it so I don’t remember much else, but she has been releasing things like this all along. It just didn’t fit in the book. 

I think this also kind of applies to Nagini as well. I mean, let’s be realistic here. From the moment Nagini was introduced into the books, there has been a gazillion fucking theories about that snake. Some as tame as, Nagini is actually that same snake that Harry talked to in the first one, and others more complex, saying things like Nagini is an animagius, or other backstories. I can remember back when the most recent book was Order of the Phoenix reading fan theories about Nagini. The idea that she is not just an ordinary snake is not new. It is in absolutely no way new. In fact, it was taken as fact until it was revealed in the last one that she was a horocrux and then we all moved on and was like okay, that’s what special about her. But the fact that now we’re learning more... it’s... I don’t understand why it’s a bad thing. So now she’s a mythical being, and based on what I know about the mythical histories of the type of being she is, it makes sense that she’s Asian? Like... if they had given this same story, the same creature, who’s name is based on Indonesian mythology, and had a white person play her... I see just as many people being upset? Like... I honestly don’t imagine anyway that people would be happy with that at this point. It makes sense. And yeah, maybe she didn’t include enough representation of Asian people initially, why would it be wrong of her to try to fix that now? Why shouldn’t she do that? Like... sometimes people realize their mistakes and grow from it.

I do hear the arguments about Voldemort being a “white supremacist” and therefore it being a problem that a non-white character is working with him. And here’s what I have on that: Voldemort is not actually a white supremacist. Like, if he had existed in a non-magical setting, and his father had been a black man instead of a muggle, would he have been a white supremacist? Probably, yes. Does he have the same ideology that many white supremacists have? Absolutely. But he is a metaphor for a genocidal leader, and his particular problem is related to magic vs non-magic. Not actual race. It’s a metaphor for race, most of the time. So yes, it is a little bit off. But we also have to think about the fact that the metaphor is outside the story. The metaphor is how we related it to the actual world. There’s two way of looking at a story. Watsonian and Doylist. Watsonian is looking at it in story. Looking at an explanation for it in the story, and a reason why it works there. Doylist is looking outside the story and it’s context in the real world. (Which of course comes from Sherlock Holmes, the Doylest explanation always being that Sir ACD was not actually paying attention to what he was writing ever and named everyone James and then forgot about it). Looking at it from a Doylist perspective, yeah, it seems a bit off. But looking at it from a Watsonian perspective, it matters more about her blood status than her race. But also, it’s not like every single death eater fits the mold that Voldemort would have wanted. Hell, fucking Voldemort doesn’t. I see absolutely no reason why there wouldn’t have been wizards of color who were on the side of Voldemort. We know there were. We absolutely know there were. The Zabini family for one. In fact, I think so far our small amount of wizards of color were sprinkled pretty evenly across all the sides of the war. (The Zabini family is on Voldemort’s side, and on the good side we’ve got Dean Thomas and his family, we’ve got Kingsley Shatterbolt.)

Yes, she should absolutely have originally included more diversity. Yes, she should continue to include more diversity now as she seems intent on producing more content. But every time she does something like try to include different races, everyone jumps on her throat about it. Like... positive reinforcement, y’all. It works. And also, I’m relatively sure that she is not in charge of casting. She probably gets a say, she definitely approves of this one, but a reminder that she is an author, not a casting director. And as we all learned from the casting fiascos on “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”, the author doesn’t actually end up with much say in the casting once the agreement has been made between the production company and the author. 

I can see how this Nagini thing can go wrong, but I can also see how it could go well. I’m not going to make up my mind until I’ve seen it. And again, it’s not like this information came out of nowhere. 

For everything more she added to those books, she would have had to take something out. So she made her choices on what was MOST relevant to the story. And maybe those choices aren’t the same as what some of us have made. Personally, I would have liked to see Dumbledore’s story explored in a way that showed us that he was gay. But she made a choice on what was deemed most relevant to his story, and that wasn’t it. It would have been nice if it was included, but it wasn’t. And I’m sure there are many reason for that, but honestly, when she says things like “Dumbledore is gay”, I have no doubt in my mind that that was something that was lurking in her brain the whole time. And certainly, we see no indications that would prove that statement wrong in the books. But realistically, the only time Harry’s professor’s love lives were relevant to him at all in any way, was when it was Snape and his mom. And that was less because it was Snape and more because it was his mom. But also because that led to the time Voldemort tried to kill him. Dumbledore’s love life from many years before Harry was even born just isn’t relevant to him. Like, I would have loved to see it. But I understand why it wasn’t there. Harry was hearing about everything with Grindlewald through what amounted to a rumor mill a lot of the time anyway, and Dumbledore is often a very private man. It made sense, storywise, for it not to be there. (And quite frankly, I’m not sure that Harry would have picked up on any subtle ways of saying it either.)

The Cursed Child was a disaster and all that, yes. And she approved it, but she wasn’t the one brainstorming the ideas for it, and honestly, none of that was exploring the world she created. It was a different potential. It probably wasn’t how she saw it all playing out. So I don’t really accept that as canon, in the same universe. Just like how the movies are in a slightly different but related universe than the books. So I don’t really feel the need to address that. 

Now... the wizarding school in America and the wizarding world here... it’s obvious that she doesn’t entirely understand American culture, but honestly, why would she? She isn’t American. And she knows of America and magic what is most obvious and taught. Salem Witch trials. The early types of New England magic. The types of magic we hear about in old Native American tales that aren’t quite right to what was actually believed, but changed by being passed down by those who didn’t know it 100%. She should have done more research. There are things I disagree with in her ideas about magic in the United States, but you can see where the ideas come from, and I think some of them are very good ideas about how it stated. It just... should have expanded since then. England is one of those countries that have been around for a very long time and a lot of things are very similar to how they’ve always been. America isn’t. It’s bigger and more diverse, and has so many different types of things. But is she really the person to incorporate all those things in? I think that honestly, no matter what she said about magic in America, we would have objected as a whole. Because there are things she doesn’t understand, and maybe she’s only there to set the frame work of it, and the people who understand better are the ones who can take it from there. Her origin story of the wizarding school sounds reasonable, it just needs to evolve. But we also need to remember that the wizarding community is different from what Americans are like not in that community. Just like it is in England. I don’t know how many of these ideas were ones that have been lurking in her head for years, because I’m sure some of them are. I’m sure some of the basics of how it works here have been in her head for a long time, because there’s a backstory for everything in her world. 

Now, how she is outside of her Harry Potter content, that I won’t speak to. I’ve heard some things I don’t like, but haven’t had a chance to fact check most of them and I’m not going to make a judgement until I do.

I just think a lot of the objections to her sharing her ideas on behind the story things is a bit intense and unnecessary. You don’t have to like it or believe it. But most of it isn’t coming from nowhere, and I’m sure a lot of it isn’t just being produced just for the sake of gaining interest back. It’s been there for years.