#the lost husband archetype

[shallowseeker]

I am at my most nerdy/pedantic/verbose/unhinged prolix when I'm trying to piece together my thoughts about Cas's overcoat as a metaphorical "animal skin," especially the loss/gain of the coat as it relates to: his amnesia, his reclaiming of celestial power, the subsequent loss of sanity, and finally, staying behind in "Enchanted Woods"/Purgatory. But it doesn't even end there... He gets reclaimed and used by Heaven, and when he falls, he casts the coat away until he decides to return home again. It's... HNNNNGH.

ANYWAY. The coat is Cas’s bridge between Heaven and Earth... duty and free will... divine power and human weakness.

[oddyseye]

Can we get something straight here about Penelope and this whole “Spartan” thing?

Sure, we all know Penelope was from Sparta (well, technically), and we’ve all seen enough 300-inspired pop culture nonsense to think that every Spartan woman must be some spear-wielding, leather-clad, muscle-bound badass. So let’s clear that up once and for all: Penelope was absolutely not that type of Spartan. In fact, that vision of Spartan women is more of a modern fantasy than an actual reflection of Spartan society, and Penelope herself would probably laugh in your face if you tried to pin her down to that archetype.

First off, let’s talk about what it actually meant to be Spartan. Yes, Spartan women had a reputation for being strong, but we need to understand that strength wasn’t defined by throwing a spear or taking down enemies with a shield. Spartan women were celebrated for their physical health and were tasked with producing strong offspring to build the next generation of warriors. They were also responsible for the running of the household when their husbands were off fighting in wars, which meant managing estates, controlling property, and overseeing the everyday operations of Spartan life. So, while Spartan women were not helpless, they weren’t exactly wandering around with weapons, challenging every person who crossed them, either. Penelope’s version of Spartan strength was a little more intellectual, shall we say. For twenty years, while Odysseus was “getting lost” (as one does), Penelope faced down a horde of suitors who were camped out in her house, constantly pressuring her to choose a new husband. Did she pull out a spear and kill them all? No. That’s not what spartan women did. Did she start a war? Absolutely not. Instead, she employed the ultimate weapon: patience. She weaved and un-wove a shroud for years as a stalling tactic, keeping the suitors at bay. Sure, there’s no sword involved, but let’s be real: that takes more cunning than any weapon ever could. Spartan women are not known for fighting, but for surviving.

Penelope’s Spartan roots may have given her the ability to endure, to manage her household, and to outsmart the suitors who had overrun Ithaca, but we’re missing the point if we think that means she was out there battling it out like a heroine from some action flick. Her version of strength was mental, not physical. Instead of wielding a spear, Penelope wielded her intellect, her wit, and her ability to play the long game. If you’re expecting Penelope to start slaying suitors left and right, or charging into battle with a sword in hand, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.

Pop culture would love to turn Penelope into a spear-wielding warrior queen, but the actual historical context is far more subtle and far more impressive. She was Spartan in the most meaningful sense of the word: resilient, strategic, and damn clever. Penelope did not need muscles at all. She had the power of endurance — something a spear can’t give you.

[malusokay]

The Pomegranate Plague of Gen Z Poets

First, it was the moon. Then cigarettes. Then, girls by windows, ethereal in their ruin. Now? Pomegranates. (from my substack)

If you’ve spent enough time around poetry circles, you’ve seen it before. The doomed love, the Persephone complex, the vaguely sacrificial undertones. And, of course, the fruit.

The Persephone Myth (The Popular Version)

So you think you know the story: Persephone, wreathed in flowers, is stolen by Hades, dragged screaming into the Underworld. Her mother, Demeter, weeps and starves the earth in protest. Zeus, eventually deciding this is a problem, orders Persephone’s return—but oops, she ate six pomegranate seeds, so now she’s doomed forever.

That’s the version that survives in girl poetry, anyway.

What Promegerants Girls won’t tell you? The actual myth is a mess. There is no single, definitive version—just fragments, scraps stitched together across centuries. And the pomegranate seed detail?

It barely even shows up.

What We Actually Have:

• Persephone’s myth wasn’t even originally Greek. The story of a goddess being dragged into the underworld predates Greek mythology entirely.

• In Mesopotamian myth, Ishtar (Inanna) descends into the underworld to confront Ereshkigal, queen of the dead. She is stripped of her power and trapped, only escaping by offering someone else in her place—a theme that later appears in Persephone’s myth. This suggests Persephone’s story wasn’t a Greek invention but an adaptation of older Near Eastern fertility-death-rebirth cycles.

• Despoina (“the Mistress”) was worshipped before Persephone—and before Hades was even relevant. In older, pre-Olympian cult traditions, Despoina was the actual chthonic goddess of the underworld. She was venerated alongside Demeter and was probably a far more powerful, independent figure before later mythology reduced Persephone to “Hades’ wife.” Despoina’s cult was deliberately secretive, meaning much of her lore is lost—but she was deeply tied to the Eleusinian Mysteries, which were about life, death, and rebirth, not tragic romance.

• Hades wasn’t even a major figure in early versions of the myth. Before he was written in as “the husband,” the underworld was associated more with Gaia (Earth) and Nyx (Night). Hades’ later dominance in the story came as Olympian mythology reshaped older chthonic traditions.

• Persephone was originally Kore (“the Maiden”)—not a tragic heroine, but an archetype of the life-death-rebirth cycle tied to agriculture. She wasn’t a person; she was a function. The whole point was that she disappears, then re-emerges—her personality was secondary to the cosmic process she represented. Only much later did people start treating her as an individual.

• Hesiod’s Theogony (~8th century BCE), one of the oldest Greek texts, barely mentions Persephone. To him, she’s just Hades’ wife, no backstory necessary. This matters because it shows that her abduction wasn’t even a central myth at first—it developed later.

• The Homeric Hymn to Demeter (~7th century BCE) is our earliest and most detailed source. But forget romance—it’s a political nightmare. Hades kidnaps Persephone (the Greek verb used, ἁρπάζω, literally means “to snatch away”—no courtship, no tragic longing). Demeter shuts down the harvest, and Zeus steps in not out of fatherly love, but because no crops mean no sacrifices, and no sacrifices mean starving gods.

The pomegranate? One sentence. Persephone eats something in the Underworld, so she has to stay. That’s it. The number of seeds? Not even mentioned. The whole “I bit into a pomegranate and now I am bound to darkness forever ”dramatics? A complete invention.

• Ovid’s Metamorphoses (~8 CE) is where we finally get the six seeds detail—but Ovid was Roman, writing centuries after the Greek versions had already evolved. His retelling heightens the drama, turning Persephone into a tragic, doomed figure rather than a cosmic force tied to ritual.

• Later Orphic traditions tried to clean it up, recasting Persephone as the mother of Zagreus (a god later merged with Dionysus), tying her to death, rebirth, and mystery cults. At this point, the myth had already spiralled into layers of mysticism.

• Persephone wasn’t always tragic—she became terrifying. The helpless waif image is a modern fabrication. The ancient sources tell a different story—one where Persephone is feared, not mourned.

• In Euripides’ Helen (412 BCE), she is invoked as a vengeful queen of the dead.

• In Homer’s Odyssey (Book 10), Odysseus fears Persephone’s wrath during his necromantic ritual—she is powerful enough to control the dead without Hades.

• Hecate was Persephone’s underworld counterpart and guide. In later versions, Hecate leads Persephone back to the upper world, further reinforcing Hecate’s enduring role in the chthonic realm.

• In Roman tradition, Proserpina (Persephone) was linked to Libera, a goddess of wild fertility and ecstatic rites. This completely contradicts the modern image of her as a fragile, tragic figure.

The Pomegranate Wasn’t Inherently Tragic

• In Hippocratic medical texts, pomegranate juice was used for contraception and abortion remedies—a practical, everyday association, not one of doom.

• In Pliny the Elder’s Natural History (1st century CE), pomegranates were used to treat fevers and digestive issues. No poetic suffering, just ancient medicine.

• In Greek funerary practices, pomegranates symbolised rebirth, not entrapment. They weren’t about being bound to darkness forever—they were about the cycle of life continuing.

Why This Completely Destroys the Promegerants Version of Persephone

1. The myth is about agriculture and divine power, not doomed love. The earliest versions barely mention Hades—this was Demeter’s story, a myth about the life cycle, cosmic balance, and the survival of humanity.

2. Persephone wasn’t always Persephone. She was Kore, an agricultural symbol, not a tragic heroine. Her function came first, her personality second. The idea of her as a fully realised, suffering individual came centuries later.

3. She wasn’t even the first queen of the underworld. Despoina was worshipped before her—an older, more powerful chthonic goddess with nothing to do with victimhood or romance.

4. The pomegranate was never central to the original myth. It’s a tiny, passing detail used as an explanation for why Persephone had to stay in the Underworld. The number of seeds? A Roman invention.

5. The whole myth wasn’t even Greek to begin with. It likely evolved from Mesopotamian myths like Ishtar’s descent, meaning the Promegerants version is a distortion of a distortion.

6. Persephone wasn’t a victim—she was a force of nature. The later versions of her myth don’t show her as tragic—they show her as terrifying. She was a queen who ruled the dead, feared even by heroes. If Promegerants Girls really wanted to stay true to the myth, they wouldn’t write about Persephone tragically eating seeds—they’d write about her punishing mortals for disturbing the dead.

From Chthonic Queen to Tragic Girlcore

The Promegerants version of Persephone strips her of her original role and reduces her to an aesthetic prop. In the oldest sources, she isn’t even a person—she’s a cosmic force, an idea before she’s a character.

Persephone was never just a tragic girl in a dark room with red-stained lips. She was a goddess of cycles, a ritual figure whose presence dictated the survival of humanity. The oldest myths barely even cared about her personal emotions—because that wasn’t the point.

And the pomegranate? Once a symbol of fertility and power, now just a moody Tumblr metaphor for doomed relationships. Would the ancient Greeks recognize Promegerants Persephone?

Absolutely not.

They’d probably assume she was some mediocre Roman poet’s overdramatic rewrite.

In other words: the version we cling to is a late, Romanized, overly romanticised distortion of a much darker and weirder myth—one that was never about love, tragedy, or women choosing their suffering.

Why Has This Myth Been Hijacked?

Because it’s too easy. The modern interpretation lets poets turn Persephone into:

• A stolen innocence narrative—without engaging with its actual horror.

• A tragic queen figure—without ever giving her power.

• A martyr for womanhood—as if eating a fruit were some grand metaphor for the inevitability of suffering.

But Persephone’s story was never about being loved and ruined.

It was about bargaining, power, and gods who don’t care about human grief.

The Pomegranate Problem™

At this point, the pomegranate isn’t a symbol—it’s a decorative prop.

Its original meanings—fertility, power, the tension between life and death—have been stripped away, replaced with moody girlhood aesthetics.

Poets don’t use it because they understand its history. They use it because it sounds expensive—like a fruit for people who romanticise heartbreak in foreign cities.

But if your poem still works after swapping “pomegranate” for “grapes”, then what are we even doing here?

Read This Before You Write Another Pomegranate Poem

• Homer’s Odyssey → Pomegranates appear in King Alcinous’ eternal orchard, a symbol of wealth, abundance, and divine favour. Not doom.

• Euripides’ Ion → Associated with Aphrodite, symbolising fertility, passion, and desire. Again—not doom.

• Aristophanes’ Lysistrata → Used as an innuendo for female sexuality (which, frankly, would make for a far more interesting poem).

• Dionysian Mysteries → Linked to ecstatic rites, resurrection cults, and the cycle of life and death. If you want to write about pomegranates and darkness, this would actually make sense.

• Roman Religion → Sacred to Juno, particularly in marriage and childbirth rituals, reinforcing their connection to fertility and renewal, not suffering.

• Theophrastus’ Enquiry into Plants → Describes pomegranates as a cultivated luxury fruit, prized for its sweetness, medicinal properties, and status.

• Herodotus’ Histories → Mentions Persian warriors decorating their spears with pomegranates, symbolising strength, fertility, and victory.

• Pausanias’ Description of Greece → Describes pomegranate offerings at Demeter’s sanctuaries, representing fertility, rebirth, and ritual purification—never suffering.

• Plutarch’s Moralia → Links pomegranates to beauty, sensuality, and indulgence in Greek and Roman culture—so, more hedonistic pleasure, less tragic metaphor.

Next time someone writes about a pomegranate-stained mouth, ask them if they mean Persephone or Aristophanes’ sex jokes.

How to Write a Pomegranate Poem That Survives Scrutiny

If you must use it, at least be rigorous. If you’re going full Persephone-core, then be specific. Make it about something real.

Tell us if the juice stains the sheets, if the seeds taste like metal, if they stick between your teeth like regret.

Don’t just drop in “pomegranate” and expect us to do the heavy lifting.

Or consider letting the myth go.

There are so many other symbols, so many richer, underused classical references.

And If You’re Tired of the Pomegranate, Try These Instead

there’s a whole world of classical symbols that carry just as much weight—without the overuse. Here are a few:

Chthonic & Underworld Imagery:

• Asphodel – The ghostly, liminal flowers of the underworld in Greek myth, growing where souls linger. Less overdone than pomegranates, just as eerie.

• Lethe – The river of forgetfulness. Its waters erase memory, a far more unsettling metaphor for loss than a single piece of fruit.

• Orphic Gold Leaves – Real funeral tablets placed with the dead, inscribed with guidance for navigating the afterlife. The ultimate memento mori.

• Owls – Athena’s symbol, but also a nocturnal watcher associated with wisdom, death, and the unknown.

Fertility, Desire & Ruin:

• Fig Trees – Symbolizing sensuality, abundance, and decay (the Greeks also had fig-wood coffins).

• Laurel Wreaths – Victory and poetic ambition, but also a crown of temporary glory—since laurel leaves wither fast.

• Myrrh – A resin used for perfume and burial rites, evoking both seduction and decay. (Also linked to Myrrha, who was cursed to fall in love with her own father. Greek myths were wild.)

Dionysian Madness & Ecstasy:

• Thyrsus – A staff tipped with ivy and pinecones, wielded by Dionysus and his followers. Represents intoxication, divine frenzy, and the thin line between revelry and destruction.

• Ivy – Unlike flowers, it never dies in winter. Clings, suffocates, overtakes. A more interesting metaphor for entanglement than Persephone’s six seeds.

If you must use a pomegranate, at least make it bleed. But if you’re ready for something richer—there are so many other symbols waiting.

[orpheuslookingback]

oof man I've been loving severance in general but I think that last episode is the first one I have like lots of Thoughts about that I feel like I can at least kind of string together lol. Like I was moderately worried about what direction the Dead Wife thing was going to go in. Because it would have been so easy (and kind of disappointing) for her to just ultimately be an object that exists as a goal/motivator for other characters and not a person (as is common with Dead Wife characters, both literal and not so literal); that's sort of what she's been so far, with just the tease that she could be more. And unless they drop the ball big time (which god I hope they don't), this episode already made it clear: she IS more. Like revealing her to be both physically AND mentally alive at this point in the story is such a good writing choice and feels SO crucial to escaping from some of the really cliché permutations that these kind of basic story arcs/character archetypes can fall into.

I know everyone's been doing the orpheus/eurydice comparisons and now I know people are talking about how mark and gemma are now both actually the orpheus to each other's eurydice, but it's also this: gemma has been split into who knows how many people. She's his eurydice. She's his orpheus. And she's her own orpheus, too. Because she gets herself out of the underworld and then, not remembering she has, she's sent right back down again. And she hesitates and turns around one more time. But she doesn't know. She doesn't even know what she's really looked back at. She doesn't know the world she's sent away. Not until she's back in the underworld, and she's eurydice again.

Also! To interplay him remembering her, give us a classic Dead Wife Sequence- complete even with some of the classic images! The beautiful woman smiling in nature, lying in bed, looking at you, the light warm for the very first time- with the cold, stark reminder that she isn't actually dead, and more than that is still conscious and trying to get out and find him- is SUCH a cool move. Like it totally flips the idea of the Dead Wife Sequence on its head. It's not just grief anymore. It's not just using a lost person as a prop that our hero fights on in memory of. It's the Dead Wife Sequence as horror.

Because she's still the Dead Wife and yet at the same time it dramatically shifts her role in the story, right? Because it turns out everything she is to Mark, he is to her. This unreachable person who you now know isn't dead but who you cannot get to and you cannot know the true present reality of you can only take the word of people you don't totally trust or know. And so, they are dead. But now you know it's only to you. Because we've seen them both now, and we know they're both not just alive, they're fighting.

("she's not dead, she's just not here")

She's not your Dead Wife but you can't help the fact that in your memory, in your mind, she is. So you're the one, in a way, that's killing her. And you're her Dead Husband. "He's moved on" and you know that's a lie but does it really matter until you see him? Until he's real again? Because until then, you're both choking on ghosts.

And the ghosts aren't even really there.

[gazeofseer]

Marriage and Purpose🌕

Marriage is a Sacred Vow Between Two Souls it is never forced rather revered within a soul just like the calling needs conscious intent, is how the purpose of marriage needs developing the right intent towards it.

Note : Your life is not a by product of others experience so do not let them decide how yours is going to be, have faith nothing is stone written but everything is channeled and aligned for your greater good. ✨

Pick a Pile ❤️🌹

🎀🫶🏻💌❤️🎀🫶🏻💌❤️🎀🫶🏻💌❤️🎀🫶🏻💌❤️🎀

Pile.1

The chains of fear is keeping you drowned in the ocean full of Whimsical lies that oh, this guy/girl could be the one and then what leaves you starving despite every other thing that seems perfectly fine, why fairytale feels like a whole juggling lies around you?

You have no love story, no bounds, no typicality in your fate in terms of marriage. It is about you coming home feeling whole as yourself, free from the societal congestions of archetypes and elevate from the failed presets of love. The whole concept is coming from scarcity that you don't deserve love because you are nothing, in the actual means like you feel a little is a lot then to have nothing so you feed attentions, potentials that only longs for days, weeks, but when it comes to true intimacy you step back from your own emotional corset that it feels hauntingly suffocating and then boom negative manifestations root from your intent.

Marriage : Your marriage is a contractual tie that whenever you take birth your soulmate births in the same way but having a different life entirely when you meet there would be a purpose that will entice you with them like except for love everything seems to have reason within you two. Like you both do most of the things together or have a shared routine that sits perfectly together.

Purpose : To work, build and create something together to serve humanity or the divinity.

Signs : 8, 17, 26, Capricorn, Taurus, Scorpio your favourite color is red and your spouse would love white color he has this cute smile, big teeth, and different fingers may even have six for you to identify.

Pile.2

Marriage has been a very significant dream of your life that you have been safeguarding for ages as if, it has something important and you can't miss on it this isn't cellular rather more on a soul level the feeling that I am always missing someone. Keep looking for someone even if you don't who in the middle of the crowd, even in the gaze exchanged among the strangers, and even recognise few somehow but knowing that not, he/she is not.

You have been in isolation for more than 5 to 7 years feeling exhausted tired and even lonely to a point where you get anxious when someone intervenes even as a friendship as if not them you won't let anyone slide in not even in your dms.

Marriage : Your dream of being a mother, of being a wife, having the right husband is already reaping its value in alignment but what is missing here is you, you are prone to be the silence, the assumption, the lost one in your relationship because of lack of action towards it. It means not only romantic but also the relationship with yourself is like..'What matters even if I am alive.., why should waste money on myself? Dream what will I dream about' the despair is taking its depth and could create obstacles if you get married exposing you to explicitly see every other person as a threat. You have a twinflame connection to complete before you get married so you can have enough lessons to learn about what is love build under the bounds and spells of marriage.

Purpose : Learning the importance of a relationship between two humans and what makes it scared and a fix of the puzzle in your journey to grow as a life.

Signs : Libra Rising, Venus Prominence, Saturn in seventh house, twinflame journey, blue favorite color of your spouse, your Twinflame and spouse would have one significant similarity that will make you step into both the relationship.

Pile.3

Marriage? Huh I am already tired of attracting enough of narcissist, pyschotic and cheap kind of men but oh lord how beautiful they all look while they lure? Can't resist all these heavenly sins? Oh the beauty queen, you know your worth but still keep buying medicore experiences because the taste of temptation keeps you hooked too badly that you choose to starve only to consume with obsession later.

You may come across as female fatale like guys are those butterflies perching honey out of the sweetest red rose. But tell me don't you enjoy when all the eyes craves for your glance, yet you feel enraged, angry, upset and nasty?

Why wasn't the attention attentive enough? The problem here is you love manipulation so you test people tok badly that you attract the real baddies who come coveted in nice glasses and gentlemen goodies then exactly sword their sweetness slowly be it through tou ch, flirt, its all fugazy nobody is even interested on you they just get pulled in the intent of magnet you carry that you want causual not commitment so it means the so called people think oh, she is not the serious I can touch her, call her, use her energy, that was so feminine energy so even if you are a guy that's how you feel around women.

Marriage : You will get married when you clear your karma, when you choose yourself and have boundaries around your energy and stop being a prey, practice to avoid giving into temptations find something real to create a life, if you keep playing the wrong way and expect right behaviour that is where you become the entire wrong in your own game and the cost would be marrying as a compensation. You have a beautiful spouse probably a healer by nature or by profession. I saw soothing touching, head patting, tears, gloom, rain all these speaks of your soul, your pain, shame and karma let go of all that choose healing, choose love, and the only way to do is, to be brave to tell that you can't be touched, used or made even feel worse for no reason.

Purpose : Driving emotions in a healthy way is the key and journey of both your spouse and your purpose to get married. They may have single parents, or almost no parents living in abandonment and some kind of familial stress being each others cure is a sign that your wounds are a harm to others and yourself and only you two together can have that empathy to heal those scars that still bleeds, seems painful, all this will be escalated. You both built a home of darkness when it will break you will see there was always a light within you guiding to each other.

Signs : It was screaming all the reading, it was Pisces Moon, Aquarius Moon, Capricorn Moon. They are taller, and wattpad coded but its just a look..

[amageish]

Marvel United: A Pride Special #1. Art by Luciano Vechio.

I saw some discussion about this cover and people not recognizing all the characters... so I did the only logical thing and made a reading list. Here's a comic recommendation for every queer character on this cover!

Shela Sexton / Escapade: A trans mutant superheroine figuring out her place in a bigoted world In a subversion of the usual mutant metaphor, Shela's parents accepted her mutanthood wholeheartedly... only to disown her when she came out as transgender. You can read her debut in Marvel Pride 2022.

Natima Ngoza / Beisa: A trans woman born in Mohannda who fled to Wakanda when running away from her judgemental family. She's a love interest for T'Challa and a take on the Catwoman archetype. Read all about her in the underrated 2023 Black Panther run!

Cooper Coen / Web-Weaver: A Spider-hero from Earth-71490, Cooper Ceon saved his classmate/crush Peter Parker from a spider bite on a high school field trip... only to be bitten himself. You can read about an adventure of his on Fire Island in Marvel's Voices: Spiderverse.

Gwen Poole / Gwenpool: An aroace Marvel Comics superfan iseaki'd into the Marvel Universe. With the power of meta knowledge, she will find her own place in the canon she loves so much. You can read her realizing she's aroace in ARomancing of Gwendolyn Poole (get it?), part of the Love Unlimited Infinity Comic.

Jean-Paul Beaubier / Northstar: Gay French-Canadian mutant sports superstar and Marvel's first textually gay superhero. You can read about him taking on anti-mutant bigotry in his home country in Alpha Flight (2023).

Rachel Summers / Askani: The sapphic daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey from the Days of Future Past timeline. You can read about her and her girlfriend fighting bigots in the British wizarding community (I wonder what THAT could be an allegory for) in Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain.

David Alleyne / Prodigy: Bisexual mutant supergenius. New Mutant, Young Avenger, X-Men, and most recently a professor at Empire State University. You can read about him and his boyfriend in the Young Avengers arc of the Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic.

Bobby Drake / Iceman: Founding X-Men and jokester who realized he was gay later in life. Bobby... He's gay! You can read about him bringing Rogue home as a fake girlfriend to meet his bigoted parents in Uncanny X-Men #319. While this story is before he came out, I think it is an EXCELLENT showcase of his character.

Xuân Cao Mạnh / Karma: Lesbian mutant hero and founding member of the New Mutants. Depending on how you define "superhero," she's arguably Marvel's first lesbian hero. You can read about her relationship troubles, as well as her reunion with her once-lost brother, in Karma in Love, part of the Love Unlimited Infinity Comic.

Charlie Webber / Sun-Spider: A pansexual Spider-hero with EDS. Originally a fan-submitted Spider-sona, she's grown in relevance and even had a speaking cameo in Across the Spiderverse! You can read her story in Edge of Spiderverse #4.

Logan Lewis / Nightshade: Sapphic teen genius and legacy hero to the original Nightshade, a redeemed supervillain. You can read her solo adventures as part of the Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic.

Billy Kaplan / Wiccan: The gay son of the Scarlet Witch... to grossly oversimplify the situation. He also may kind of be God? Good for him! Read about him in Young Avengers (2013).

Teddy Altman / Hulkling: The gay son of Captain Mar-Vell and Skrull princess Anelle. A Skrull/Kree hybrid, he was sent to live on earth for his protection - y'know, Superman stuff. Read about his wedding to his husband Hulkling in Empyre!

Ms America Chavez: The multiverse-travelling latina lesbian of the Young Avengers, Ultimates, and West Coast Avengers. Read about her helping her CLOSE PLATONIC FEMALE FRIEND Kate Bishop raise the baby landshark Jeff in It's Jeff! Yes, that is my America recommendation. I also love her role in Ultimates, but this is funnier.

Aaron Fischer / Captain America: An unhoused gay man and champion of the marginalized, selected by Steve Rogers to have the title of Captain America. You can read about him in Avengers Academy.

Justin Jin / Kid Juggernaut: The Korean-Canadian gay himbo grandson of Jin Moon-Ho, the original Juggernaut who Cain Marko took the name/powers of. Read about him summoning Doctor Strange to ask him about PreP (yes, that happens explicitly on-panel - it is awesome) among other things in Avengers Academy.

Raven Darkhölme / Mystique: The shapeshifting sometimes-nemesis and sometimes-ally of the X-Men. While she may not care about things like "human lives" and "the law," she does harbor a lot of love for wife Destiny - as well as their adopted daughter Rogue and biological son Nightcrawler. There's a lot I could suggest here, but I'm going to pick Marvel's Voices: X-Men as I ADORE the Mystique/Destiny flashback story in that.

Kate "Kitty" Pryde: The original new teenager on the block, Kitty Pryde has had a LONG road to embracing her bisexuality. After literal decades of queercoding, you can finally read her dating a woman textually in the currently ongoing Exceptional X-Men (aka the best current X-book).

[geekgirles]

"The Flower that Blooms in Adveristy Is the Most Rare and Beautiful of Them All": A Brief Amalia Analysis

I've been meaning to talk about this scene since the episode premiered, as I find it perfectly encapsulates Amalia's character and her development.

On the one hand, we have the fact that she's long outgrown the pampered, sheltered princess archetype she was introduced as and become far more mature and multi-faceted.

Over the course of the show, we've seen how Amalia evolved from a girl who ran away from her responsibilities because she felt stifled in her own home after her mother's passing, to a girl whose reason to break the rules was the sake of her kingdom, determined to save it from Nox. To the point she eventually grew into the Sadida Queen mantle and was ready to do whatever it took to ensure her kingdom's safety and well-being, from accepting to marry a stranger, to finally stepping up to the challenge and ascending to the throne to guide her troops to victory despite having just lost her brother and such heavy burden thrusted upon her.

All the while dealing with her own trauma, heartbreak and desires as she watched her father wither away, her best friend since childhood was far away living her own life, Armand and Aurora tried to pressure her into marrying, she was manipulated by Oropo into almost abandoning Yugo, and she likewise suffered because she couldn't be with the man she loved despite both of them wanting nothing more.

And on the other hand, that scene also shows how, while not necessarily the most powerful member of the Brotherhood of the Tofu, Amalia's versatility is second only to Yugo and maybe Adamaï's, as well as it once again shows how despite her powers' development not being as flashy as Yugo's, it's still notable and impressive.

In a way, you could say Amalia's character and power development are both subtle, yet a constant of the show.

Amalia's gone from summoning vines and using her doll to being able to overpower a Xelor demigod without help, use her powers to light up dark spaces (seriously, girlie can create literal light out of plants, how?!?!?), growing cotton plants from stone to keep her and her friends in touch, and season 4 has her become the team's weapons provider against the Nécromes; an ability that, as far as I'm concerned, only King Oakheart was able to do back in season 1 when he created a new bow for Evangelyne.

And it that weren't enough to prove how layered and multi-talented she is, there's her fight against the Sadida Nécrome itself.

Up until that point, except for a few punches here and there, Amalia's been mostly a long-ranged combatant, much like Eva, relying on her plants to fight. However, her summoning that wooden staff and using it to fight against the Nécrome shows that she's actually quite adept at hand-to-hand combat, too, especially when she moves with such grace and her strikes hold that much precision. Which at the same time means that not only Armand received training from the best masters around, so did Amalia.

This all comes to show Amalia is an example of the hardships she's endured slowly molding her into the person she was always meant to be, into the queen she was always meant to be. Grougal already said back in season 1 she had the heart of a Sadida Queen, her adventures were always meant to get her to that point.

Much like his adventures eventually turned Yugo both into the king his people longed for, and the one Amalia needed by her side. Everything they have been through together have led them to this moment, to the chance to stand together as king and queen, as husband and wife.

To stand together as one.

This is what Amalia had been preparing for her entire life. And I, for one, am proud to say, "All hail Queen Amalia."

[sapphicbluebelle]

I love how Bridgerton always takes these stereotypical female archetypes and then subverts you expectations and makes you rethink everything you thought about that character. And they don’t do it right away either, they let you get comfortable with the archetype for a while and then boom, they’re suddenly not as superficial as they seemed.

Lady Featherington seemed like the typical mean mother with selfish goals and underhanded tactics. But throughout season 1 while building up her villain persona they also set the stage for her arch in season 2. They showed Portia being ruthless blatantly but they also showed her being constantly let down by her husband, though that was less subtle, they also showed how she was money hungry, but didn’t highlight that the money she wanted was usually FOR her daughters. Th en in season two they continued this with Jack featherington. It was the scene at the end of the season where Portia says her iconic “I am a mother” line that was the turning point in her story I think. It took all of that set up she had had as a woman who had been constantly let down by the men in her life and showed her building herself and her daughters back up even when they had been taken advantage of time and time again. Portia Featherington isn’t a villain, she is a woman who fought for herself and her daughters to have power in a world that sought to demean her and give her no power.

Cressida Cowper for the first two seasons was plain and simple: a mean girl. That was her character through and through. Season 3 takes that mean girl persona and shows Cressida in a new light. Cressida is not a mean girl with high status. She is a girl with no power in the world. Cressida is not unlike Penelope, but rather than using a quill to try to desperately give herself power, she uses insults and jibes in person. She is not desperate for a husband for status or power like we were made to believe, she is desperate for a husband so that she may be free, free from her father, and free from the confines of her mausoleum of a house.

Philippa Featherington is considered the unintelligent woman. For the first two seasons she is treated by bother the other characters and the narrative as this ditzy lady who doesn’t know much. Season three keeps this narrative for the lost part. But it also starts to show her as less ditzy and more misunderstood. It shows that Philippa is not unintelligent, she has just not been given the tools in life to build her knowledge. Phillippa’s defining moment to subvert expectation was her “bugs” moment where everyone had seen her as being very naive and ridiculous for wanting to release bugs during a ball. But when she releases them you see that what she meant was butterflies. Phillips Featherington is not unintelligent, she is just unapologetically herself.

[hot-astrology]

Counterparts

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐬/𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 (𝐋𝐮𝐬𝐭&𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠) 𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐬/𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝

𝐉𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫/𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 (𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 & 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞) 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧/𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞

(𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.)

In astrology, Jupiter is known to show the husband in a woman's chart, and The Moon is the wife in a man's chart. When we look at the planets Mars & and Venus, they represent a shorter-term relationship. But of course, they are still important within compatibility & attraction within synastry. It's important to have a mixture of both in synastry.

Not only that, but Moon & Jupiter are extremely compatible. After all, the sign cancer is ruled by the moon where Jupiter is exalted.

All four energies come from a place of expansion, trust, crave and desire. Each planet plays a significant role in our lives. Mars is represented by aggression, desire, passion, action, sex drive, assertiveness, and so much more. Similar to mars, the planet venus carries sex too, but less of the aggressions, and an abundance of lustful energy, seductiveness, appealing aesthetics, beauty, crave, and the over-indulgence aspect. Now, Jupiter is your guru, confidence, faith, wisdom, growth, expansion, etc.

This luminary is soft and has a more elegant nature. This is the moon. The moon bestows authenticity, care, warmth, love, memory, trust, nurturing, and moods. Now that you understand the basic archetype of each planet, I can further elaborate on how these planets play a role in each of our relationships and evolution.

We all go through relationships and dysfunctional situationships. Where the girl chases the bad boy (Mars) and wants his energies and wants to be around his excitement and thrill. Same for a boy who

after that beautiful girl(venus) who also makes his hormones rage and cant stop thinking about her. Same as when the woman matures and becomes more a lady and understands her female (moon)and nuturing sides and can provide that warmth and emotional connection to her spose to be that wife on his arm. When the man evolves into his full beliefs, recognition, knowledge of being a real man (jupiter) and a provider not only financially but also educationally, wisdom, direction, commitment and understanding his place in this world as being a strong confident husband.

Mars's energy is untouched by so much passion and chemistry. No wonder why a girl would chase and want to be in his presence. He is the one who would see you standing there and approach you with his ego and try to win you over with his pure strength, antics, and boastful gestures. Seeing him pull up in his new red Camaro while doing 60mph down your street whose speed limit is 25mph but don't give a fuck attitude. Blowing the horn loud to wake everyone up, when you get to the car not opening your door. Shit, you will have a good ass time tho, take you to all the spots, and holes in the walls and you would be on ya toes not knowing what to expect but you love it. When you have something smart to say he would correct you on the spot and you would look at him in confusion because you never had anyone put you in your place and correct you have you going within to see if were you wrong or not. But he will always protect you and you will feel secure always with him. I would have probably hit ya kitty cat by now and have you lost in the sauce and your mind blown? You would grow so attached to him, calling all day and texting him and just reminiscing the times he beat your walls out in the backseat of his car. Could still feel his D up in your guts. Even tho passion was good, you both had times when you were down in out and not feeling each other and didn't know how to merge your energies (mars & venus conjunction can be good but at times conjunction can play out in all 4 aspects, conjunction, trine, sextile, and a square which could make difficult if not worked with.) So you both could have arguments, disagreements, DV, and insecurities. So you both could face breakups and rekindles, which creates make-up sex etc. When you are not with each other, it feels like you are lost. Even though the relationship gets bad and old or outdated, you still want the formality and comfortability of that person's neglectful security. The passion, sex, drama, possessiveness, lust, and past life karma are so intoxicating that you would rather get wombs, heartache, pain, and chaos before letting them go. Venus brings so much to this dynamic that it's crazy and not right. Her sexuality and charm let Mars be in control, but at the same time, she has his D in a chokehold with her charisma, charm, allure, smell, beauty, and knowledge of what Mars wants and desires. But she gets her mind fucked so much since she can be dingy as well since the venus follows wants and Needs as well always looking for that next sexual high or dopamine pleasure to relax her stimulus. Her presence invites his full throttle to be more impulsive and demanding since Venus doesn't know her worth or her boundaries. So she is taken advantage of and led to a stray. Until both understand that this is just a cycle of like and a great experience, no one is wrong or right just two different energies trying to merge without early education on how to merge each other's energies into one to be a true full power dynamic.

When a man meets the love of his life, he is hit with a force that impacts his whole existence and shakes his whole world up. Then his (jupiter) spirit wakes up, and this transformation matures his thinking, outlook, representation, focus on life, and why he is here to build his own family from the ground up. He further understands his mishaps and lack of back in his past when he was living wild, free, and not caring about anyone's feelings, emotions, and meaning in life. Knowledge is instilled into his brain, wisdom is consumed into his soul, and love is brought to him from understanding how to receive love just as much as giving it. When the woman understands her values, secret possessions, blessed intuitions, and love that keeps pouring, she will evolve into that warm nurturing (moon). She looks at life differently with more delicacy and soft touch, only inviting good energy into her realm, chosey, and picky to whom she gives her magical energies. The glow from her will be so illuminating, and nothing can contrast her shine or beliefs. She will want to nurture, feed, learn, and support her husband and youth as well as empower her spirituality and whole existence. When Jupiter and the Moon are living in their true essence with a full understanding of one another, life will flow so gracefully. We all know there isn't any perfection in this realm when Jupiter understands compromise now and his wisdom to know when to and not to. Times Jupiter has to take the situation and make something from it and lead like the leader he is meant to be and guide his moon to safety, a better life, and protection. The moon understands his power, leadership, and ego that rises from time to time and supports his thoughts and ideas. She is there for all his ideas and thoughts she will consume them, nurture them, and help manifest them into reality. At times, the moon can see things and feel things that Jupiter's boastful self can't see from a distance, and she will warm him or dangers to come his way or their way. She loves and supports his every action without a single doubt. The passion is so strong that you can feel their force when they are together like a fireball. Lovemaking is so desirable and uncontrollable that they both have deep meaning when their bodies connect. Jupiter understands how to satisfy his moon, and the moon understands how to seductively pleasure her Jupiter. Once this power knowledge is intertwined, their connection is unbreakable and keeps getting more and more powerful. They can look back in the past and understand where they came from and respect each other's past and don't use it against them. They are each other's rock, each other's pillar, each other's mirror to still correct each other when wrong and just don't agree. The knowledge of Jupiter keeps gaining over time, so his passion for understanding his warm moon traits and dislikes helps him be a better husband and friend to his moon. Also, the moon's memory and understanding get more secure, so she knows how he feels, wants, and needs without a word spoken. This amazing dynamic is one of the 7 wonders of the world.

Life is to be experienced, not to be postponed, we all have these characteristics inside of us. Just come out in different times and ways. Experience everything you can, you want to have passion if you don't change it, you want to gain knowledge if don't do it, you can't be loved if you run from it, you want to know what you like if you don't try it.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬

𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝑷𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔: 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐳 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐳 || 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐢

[ginawankenobi]

Juliet Burke is a Tragic Hero (and Her Fatal Flaw is Insecurity)

(Thanks so much to @taweretsdagger, @eponine119, and @obsessivedaydreamer for beta-reading for me!)

PREAMBLE: What Even IS a Tragic Hero?

It’s Juliet Burke, I told you in the title. Essay over!

Haha, did you think you were going to get out of reading this that quickly? No way, dudes, buckle up! Anyway, once upon a time, a super smart guy named Aristotle said a tragic hero is a character who a) is virtuous, b) is flawed, and c) suffers a reversal of fortune (from good to bad). I tend to agree with him. In this full-length novel - I mean, essay - I will explain exactly why Juliet Burke fits this archetype, and why this means there is concrete scientific proof that she is the best character in all of media!

Okay, that last bit might be my bias talking. I’ll work on that. Here we go!

PART ONE: Preliminary Evidence

Exhibit A: What’s in a Name

Juliet shares a name with a Shakespearean tragic hero.

Shakespeare’s Juliet falls in love with a member of a rival family. Lost’s Juliet first forms a relationship with Jack, the leader of a rival group (crash survivors vs. the Others), then falls in love with James, another member of said rival group.

Each Juliet appears to die once, but truly (tragically) dies later on.

This spelling of Juliet was popularized due to Shakespeare’s work.

The name Juliet is likely derived from the Latin word iuvenis, meaning “youthful,” or Jovis, which is another form of the name of the Roman god Jupiter/Jove the “sky father.” Juliet means “Jove’s child, youthful, downy.”

Juliet speaks Latin, the language of the Romans, fluently.

A young/youthful person is considered to be someone between the ages of 20 and 40; Juliet is around 33 years old when we first meet her.

“Downy” refers to soft, fluffy hair; Juliet has downy blonde hair.

In the Middle Ages, Juliet became a female form of the name Julian; Juliet has a nephew Julian, presumably named after her.

Exhibit B: I Write Sins AND Tragedies

Tragic heroes must garner sympathy from the audience. Early on, Juliet garners sympathy from the audience in the following ways:

Jack threatens Juliet’s life and Ben seems unbothered, then closes her out of the safe room, showing the first signs of the fissures in their relationship.

Her profession as a doctor/fertility specialist/medical researcher establishes credibility.

She has a very close relationship with her sister.

Her ex-husband is clearly depicted as a shitty individual who treated her terribly.

She is self-deprecating, referring to herself as “a mess.”

Colleen’s injury and subsequent death genuinely throw her off-balance.

She helps Kate and Sawyer escape Hydra island (though selfish reasoning does factor into this decision).

She is nearly sentenced to death but instead is branded with a mark for her actions in helping Kate and Sawyer.

She displays genuine happiness when she does the ultrasound for Sun.

Ben is essentially holding her hostage on the island, and she hates him just as much as Jack and the other survivors do.

Like the crash survivors, she desires nothing more than to go home.

There are many more instances of Juliet gaining sympathy from the audience in later episodes, such as Ben showing her Goodwin’s corpse and creepily telling her “you’re mine.” These instances continue to build throughout the rest of the series, transforming Juliet from potential adversary into primary hero.

PART TWO: VIRTUES

Juliet is often virtuous to the point of her own detriment, and in fact, it’s the very reason she doesn’t leave the island with the Oceanic 6.

SEASON THREE.

Early on we don’t know her or her motives very well, but in retrospect, her true self shines through.

We don’t yet know that it’s “Henry Gale” she’s referring to in episode one as she rants to her book club about Ben, but looking back this moment illustrated from the very beginning that Juliet is willing to defy Ben.

Mid-rant, when the island shakes due to the shift in the magnetic field, she jumps into protective leader mode and directs everyone to get into the doorway for safety.

Throwing her canteen to Sawyer seems like a manipulation tactic at the time (and it still may have been in part), but odds are it’s mostly a genuine gesture.

Holding her gun to Kate to get Sawyer to drop his weapon makes her seem cold, and is frustrating at first because we’ve been set up to root for Sawyer and Kate. In reality, it’s quick thinking on Juliet’s part that spared Sawyer (and probably Kate) further risk of violence, as she’s able to quell the situation with no bloodshed or further consequences.

Even handcuffing herself to Kate isn't entirely disingenuous. Yes, we find out she did it as part of Ben's plan, but looking back we can tell it's true she wants to belong with them, and she hates Ben for making her act as a spy.

SEASON FOUR.

As time passes and we see Juliet freed from the guise of a double agent, we also see more and more of her altruistic and selfless nature.

She had just gone with Sawyer back to the beach on what she believed was a suicide mission, as “karma” for her past actions.

She teams up with Sayid to help Jack and Kate when they’re held hostage by Miles and Daniel (well, mostly Miles, let’s be real).

Back at the barracks, she had been helping take care of Zach and Emma, and was (according to Ben) very good with them.

When she believes Daniel and Charlotte are going to release a toxic gas around the island, she once again goes on a mission risking her own safety to stop them.

She sacrifices her budding friendship with Sun to keep her from going to Locke’s camp, since she knew Sun would die from the complications of her pregnancy if she didn’t leave the island.

She performs a badass guerilla surgery on Jack to save his life, and doesn’t let his stubbornness stop her from doing what needs to be done.

Knowing Jack’s heart truly lies with Kate (and he won’t admit it to himself yet), Juliet sets aside her own feelings to make sure Kate knows how Jack feels, and subtly ensures he hears her.

Juliet insists Sun be among the first group to leave the island for the freighter, and also insists that she stay until everyone else is safe, sacrificing the thing she wants most in favor of guarding the safety of the rest of the group.

SEASON FIVE.

We truly see Juliet come into her own during the flashes and when the remaining group enters the Dharma Initiative in the 1970s.

When running from the flaming arrows, she once again puts herself in harm’s way trying to save another member of the group.

She manages to calm Sawyer down multiple times when he starts to lose control of his emotions.

She takes out the unknown people shooting at them from the other outrigger, preventing any injuries to her group.

She shows leadership by going along with Sawyer’s plan and keeping him and the group grounded as the flashes get more chaotic.

She directly saves Sawyer’s life by shooting one of the people holding Amy hostage before he can shoot Sawyer.

Her quick thinking and calm persuasive nature come in handy when they capture a young Charles Widmore and his ally; she’s unable to sway Widmore to help them, but would have swayed the other Other had Widmore not killed him. This makes it possible for John to track Widmore to his camp.

She has Sawyer’s back constantly.

She comforts Daniel when they lose Charlotte. I genuinely don’t believe Daniel would have mentally recovered at all had Juliet not been there, but that’s my biased opinion coming into play again. (A good researcher must acknowledge their own bias, or so I’ve heard.)

Despite the trauma of having lost several pregnant patients on the island, she agrees to deliver Amy’s baby.

Juliet has the idea of adding the returning crash survivors to the sub’s manifest in order to bring them in safely and subtly.

Despite everything she knows Future Ben will do to her, she refuses to let it affect her treatment of 1977 Ben and saves his life anyway. She even goes as far as angrily confronting Jack and calling him out for not helping also.

When the chains pull her down during The Incident, she knows Sawyer won’t let go and will get dragged down too if she doesn’t let go, so she does.

She hits the hydrogen bomb, not for herself, but because she wants Sawyer to be able to go home, literally sacrificing herself for the man she loves.

It’s going to hurt me too much to write any further on the Incident, so that’s all, folks.

PART THREE: FATAL FLAWS

If there was a Reddit-like thread dedicated solely to the Reasons Juliet Burke is Insecure, it would probably look something like this:

i/career

Juliet refers to herself as “a mess.” This is pre-island, and almost certainly due (at least in part) to her ex-husband’s treatment of her, but does continue on throughout the series. She displays a severe lack of confidence in herself and her abilities, despite being obviously brilliant and a groundbreaking expert in her field.

She is unable to solve the crisis facing pregnant women on the island, and this furthers the insecurity and impostor syndrome she already experiences.

In Dharmaville, she refuses to work as a doctor and opts for a career in the motor pool because she is so afraid, and has lost confidence in her ability to help pregnant people.

i/social

Juliet feels like all eyes are on her when she comes to the island, and it makes her feel isolated. She does not enjoy public attention or being put on a pedestal.

She is not shown to have many close friends, apart from perhaps Amelia. The rest of the Others seem to view her as someone special in Ben’s eyes, as Goodwin talks about Ben’s crush on her like it’s common knowledge (though Juliet herself seems oblivious at the time). It seems she doesn’t believe other people would genuinely want to befriend her.

Tom also mentions to Jack that Juliet and Ben have “history,” which I’ve personally always inferred to mean Ben talks to him about Juliet on a regular basis. It’s possible Juliet may have confided a bit in Tom too, at least about how much she wanted to go home, but I think most of what he knows about her is through Ben.

i/relationships

Her parents.

Their divorce during her childhood did some major damage to her ability to believe she could find true love that would stand the test of time. She seemed to view all relationships as temporary from that point on.

Edmund “the Asshat” Burke.

Due to the emotional baggage surrounding her parents’ divorce, she seems to have settled for this guy, who does not even remotely resemble True Love Material.

This creepazoid of a human being shot any confidence she had to hell. How exactly he did this is not shown to us, but it can be inferred by what we do see of their relationship. He likely cheated on her, and even after their divorce, Juliet feels she can’t go anywhere or do anything without his approval (and likely contracts they still have in place, or something of that nature).

And yet, Juliet still cried for him when he died. So much more than he deserves, if you ask me and my completely unbiased opinion on this matter.

Goodwin “the Luckiest Man Alive (until he wasn’t)” Stanhope.

Juliet refuses to allow Goodwin to fully leave his wife (even after she learns that Harper knows about their affair), though he states they’re basically separated already. It’s likely she is worried a relationship between them wouldn’t work out if it lacked the ��excitement” and freedom of their situationship.

He was taken from her too, and she had to cry over the death of yet another man she was in a relationship with.

Jack “Fumbled at the 5 Yard Line” Shephard.

Jack represents everything Edmund wasn’t; he’s also a doctor, but one with integrity, and one who treats her like a human and an equal.

Juliet thought for a moment that she’d found what she was looking for and that Jack could save her and break the pattern, but she realized his heart was with someone else.

This helped reinforce her (incorrect) belief that she wasn’t destined for lasting love, that she’d always be second best (specifically to Kate Austen).

James “True Love Material” Ford.

Due to everything she endured, even when she FOUND the thing she previously thought un-find-able, she still believed it was too good to be true.

Because of her history being Jack’s second choice to Kate, on top of the history she knows James has with Kate, the second she thinks (again, incorrectly) that James would choose Kate over her, she lets her insecurity win.

She throws everything away based on James looking at Kate in what Juliet perceives to be a meaningful way, even though it seems that look is meaningless to James himself. Juliet convinces herself she will lose him, so much so that she wants to erase the memory of them ever having met in the first place.

She disregards all evidence to the contrary:

James helping save Ben’s life even though he didn’t want to, but he did it anyway because she asked him to

Grabbing her hand and continuously affirming that he has her back

Telling her he loves her when they’re on the sub and grinning bashfully at her like a boy in puppy love

Talking about the life they’d have once they leave the island

James literally and very seriously threatening Phil’s life because he hit Juliet - I don’t recall that he ever reacted so strongly to anyone hurting Kate

The entire 3 years they spent together; she lets her insecurity and intrusive thoughts tell her it didn’t mean what it meant/it was impermanent

PART FOUR: REVERSALS OF FORTUNE

Juliet experiences a reversal of fortune from bad to good when she joins the crash survivors and exposes Ben’s plans, cementing herself as one of them instead of an “Other.” Sadly, tragic heroes must experience a reversal of fortune in the other direction as well, which ultimately leads to their downfall.

For Juliet, one could argue the good-to-bad reversal occurs when Jack and his group arrive back on the island in 1977 Dharmaville. From there, her stable life with James is thrown into upheaval that does not cease until she…well, ceases. To live. I could probably come up with a better way to word that, but by this point, my brain is beginning to fry. (A good researcher must also be honest, I’ve heard.)

Juliet clocks it immediately, telling James their life there is over. From that point on, regardless of how true that actually is, Juliet believes it’s the beginning of the end and becomes determined to self-fulfill that prophecy. Tragedy lies in the fact that she and James almost escaped, they were this close to leaving the island, but once again a wrench was thrown into the plans (I didn’t even intend that Dharma motor pool mechanic pun, but there you go).

They begin by wanting to stop Jack from detonating the bomb, but Juliet’s insecurities cause her to change her mind when she attaches meaning to a look he gives Kate. She lets herself believe the intrusive thoughts and ignore the evidence. Though personally I feel there could have been stronger reasoning displayed for Juliet’s decision, it does make sense from what we know of her that feeling second best (and to Kate specifically) would get in her way and lead to her own downfall.

Because Juliet goes along with Jack’s plan, she winds up caught in the chains that pull her down the shaft of the Swan station. Selfless to the end, Juliet lets go of James when it becomes clear he will also fall if she doesn’t, and her final act is detonating the bomb - not in hopes of getting herself home, but to get the man she loves home. She gives everything she has left to give him the thing she has so desperately wanted for 6 years, not realizing that the only future he really wanted was one with her.

PART FIVE: CONCLUSIONS

Swans can symbolize many things, including love and transformation. Juliet dying in the Swan station ruins symbolizes the completion of her transformation into a tragic hero, as well as her transformation into the flash sideways version of herself. Her love for James is also evident here, given her sacrifice; their final conversation also foreshadows their reunion in the flash sideways.

In short, if you skipped all the way down here and want the tl;dr, everything we come to know about Juliet and the progression of her arc can only bring us to the conclusion that she is in fact a tragic hero (and the best character in anything ever, according to my bias). Thankfully, the writers did do us one big kindness, and she got to be reunited with her soulmate in the afterlife and have the happily ever after they were cheated out of in life. They realized the errors of their ways, perhaps slightly too late, but whatever happened happened and I have totally made my peace with it. Totally.

If you actually read all of this, THANK YOU, you are just as awesome as Juliet Burke in my eyes. THE END! Unless I think of more later on. So, to be continued?

[gendrie]

we see arya wear pearls briefly in storm and i think we will again when(/if) shes in bellegere otherys' company. pearls have hefty symbolism across numerous cultures. historically, pearls were highly prized bc they were so rare. they represent grace and sophistication. arya is starting to cultivate those traits; in mercy she is described as "graceful". pearls are associated with water and the moon and both of those are already major elements in arya's storyline.

theres also the expressions "pearls of wisdom" which is fitting bc i think bellegere will bestow upon arya some valuable life lessons as an older, influential and experienced woman. pearls are a symbol connected to venus the goddess of love, beauty, sexuality and bellegere certainly embodies that archetype. the association applies to shells in general. the birth of venus by boticelli is the most famous example. on the braavos map (real ones know) even bellegere's abode is shaped like a pearl.

pearls are created within the fleshy body of oysters so theres a lot of obvious erotic symbolism going on too. not really surprising given the black pearls profession. this isnt even lost on arya. she comments that the sailor's wife buys oysters for each husband to "stiffen" him. typically, pearls symbolize purity and virginity but the black pearl is hardly some new, virginal bride. likewise arya never views herself as innocent either. the color black gives pearls a more mysterious and powerful allure that feels relevant in this context.

the thematic aspect of secrets does too. thats what braavos is all about. its "the secret city" and arya's identity has long been her greatest "secret". pearls form hidden in the darkness beneath the water before being shown as the wonders they are. as arya threw all her possessions into the dark waters of braavos so will she be reborn in them and reveal herself as arya stark to the world.

[pagannatural]

2.16 Roadkill

- this episode starts off from the victim character’s perspective, Molly, so we see the brothers through her eyes much of the episode. She notices the brothers communicating with their eyes a lot, the camera focuses on their shared looks and reactions to her. It shows how well they know each other to communicate nonverbally like that.

- Molly says she and her husband “only ever really argued when we were stuck in the car” and Sam can relate because he and his husband also get on each others’ nerves being stuck in the car together.

Dean glares at him because he doesn’t like his personal life being shared with strangers or ghosts.

- Sam and Dean are aggressively giving married vibes. When Sam introduces himself, he doesn’t say “and this is my brother Dean” like he normally would. I’m pretty sure that throughout the episode Sam and Dean’s relationship is never clarified to Molly and they are heavily couple-coded:

Sam is the softer one, reassuring Molly it’ll be okay, Dean is more frank and takes charge. They speak using the royal we, work together as a team, and have little moments of influencing each other’s behavior the way couples do. For example, Dean telling her they’re hunting ghosts and Sam exasperatedly saying “don’t sugarcoat it for her.” She’s incredulous about ghosts and Dean says “crazier things have happened, huh?” hitting Sam’s arm and smirking playfully. It comes across as a warm, intimate little interaction, not like siblings bickering. Later, Sam insists on burying the bones they find because it’s important to him. Dean doesn’t want to at first, but of course he can’t say no to his wife. Sam is the one with the emotional influence who seems to have the last say, even though he appears to be gentler, filling the archetypal role of the feminine in the relationship. I would be surprised if she thought they were anything other than a couple.

- Sam is the one who looks after Molly and shows her more kindness. He has so much empathy for this ghost who can’t move on from her lost love, her husband. Sam is also the one who feels so uncomfortable with keeping from her that she can’t be with her husband.

It seems to really get to him, this woman pining for her impossible love. Like he knows what that’s like, pining for someone he can’t have. There is no romantic relationship this could really be for Sam, which makes me think it’s Dean. In reality, Molly’s husband moved on from her with a new family just like Sam thinks Dean should and will move on from him. He knows at this point that’s the truth of her story.

Sam can also relate to the fact that many ghosts “weren’t evil people. A lot of them were good, just something happened to them” as he grapples with his own fate. I wonder if on some level he sees Dean as what happened to him to make him feel like a monster.

- Molly says “she didn’t want to live without him” (her love) when they find a skeleton and Dean glances at her like this hits him.

He has proven and expressed that he does not want to live without Sam. He can relate to her too, he just tries to act tough.

- Sam tells Dean about an old country custom of planting a tree to mark a grave and Dean tells him “you’re like a walking encyclopedia of weirdness” and Sam says “yeah, I know,” like he’s genuinely hurt. Dean seems aware of Sam’s feelings for him, which adds another layer to this kind of interaction between them.

- episode theme is about blindness to the truth and inability to accept reality. Sam and Dean continue to struggle with accepting their reality too in terms of Sam’s future, but the other (stronger) parallel is the brothers’ relationship in comparison to Molly and her husband’s. She can’t accept a devastating truth about herself and the man that she loves, and throughout the episode Sam and Dean act just like a married couple. Their relationship is steeped in angst and tension because of their love for each other, because Dean won’t kill Sam no matter what he becomes. There are truths about themselves and their relationship that are too painful to accept.

[finisnihil]

Watching the general populous of Webtoon hate Rashta from The Remarried Empress so violently, to the point of making her ridculing nickname a synonym for The Other Woman archetype, is really exhausting for a number of reasons, with the main one being that there are numerous female main leads of similar stories that fit that characterization of her more.

I love The Remarried Empress but the readers love to blame Rashta for EVERYTHING that happens in it, when at the end of the day, Rashta is just an antagonist. I know! Shocking! Rashta is not the driving force of the story! You know who is? SOVIESHU.

Sovieshu has always been the main villain. He is the one with all the power, he is the one who created a situation that pit these women against each other. Rashta was a slave because her father was a criminal, being Soveishu's mistress was a means of survival. Like, of course she sucks ass at scheming! She never had an education, and Sovieshu stalled on giving her one because he was ATTRACTED TO HER CHILDISH DEMEANOR. Soveishu liked Rashta because she was what Soveishu wanted from Navier and she sucked up to him in the ways he wanted! Because she needed to in order to survive! Her mistake was becoming paranoid, arrogant, and cruel to continuously provoke Navier, but that was also at the urging of another man: Duke Ergi! Because Rashta is uneducated and vulnerable and she thinks he's her only support system! She went through the trouble of ousting Navier at Ergi's suggestion and Soveishu began to just use Rashta as a baby factory, because as Rashta became like Navier to survive the political world and as he realized he lost Navier, he stopped caring about her. He never saw her as a human, he only saw her as a slate to project on the child version of Navier he was still in love with.

Now, i'm not gonna deny the heinous shit Rashta has done nor am I defending it, she is the antagonist, she does do cruel things that can't be excused, and that's factual. But the tragedy of her is that she was set up to fail by every single man in her life. She started seeing the women around her as competition because of those men. She never once had power and her frustration at her powerlessness and her disillusionment is valid. Navier was protected by her status as a noble, but Rashta had nothing and watching her crash and burn is satisfying but also sad. In another comic, she would be the female lead, and she would be safe and happy, she would be loved. To see the fandom boil her down to some man stealing bitch is really sad because it takes all the focus from Sovieshu. Instead of ripping him apart for using a system to abuse the women in his life, everyone rips apart Rashta for lashing out as a victim of that system.

You know who fits this dynamic more though? Diana from For My Derelict Favorite. Diana is a saintess with healing powers who was mistreated for being a commoner and married the Crown Prince. Hestia, the protagonist, targets her for revenge for a numerous amount of reasons, but what makes their conflict interesting is that Hestia is her equal. They were both commoners, they both are beloved by the world's god, they both rose in their station. The difference is that Diana is everything Rastha is percieved as. She still acts like a victim of the class system, despite the fact she's the crown princess and now has power and luxury. She looks down on the other nobles for their spending and ridicule of the lower class, yet doesn't realize she's become just like them. She casts aside Caelus for killing the novel's OG villains to save the empire, but has no problem acting like nothings wrong despite her treatment driving him to try and take his own life. She thinks herself objectively right and special and the minute anyone criticizes her, she turns on them, her husband included. She makes it a goal to steal Caelus from Hestia in order to hurt her and validate her behavior, thinking Caelus still loves her over Hestia. When Hestia makes soap accessible for the common people and makes advancments in changing the nobility's views of the lower class, Diana nitpicks her for it, because she can't stand to see Hestia take the limelight. She uses her power and privilege to bully and abuse others and then runs crying when she's called out on it.

The difference between these stories is clear. Rashta has no power and isn't the main villain, she doesn't have equal standing as Navier. She does a lot of her actions out of desperation for love and to survive while still being cruel. Diana and Hestia come from equal status; Diana is the one in the most power. She abuses the systems meant to mistreat those like her for her own benefit and nothing more. Helios is the antagonist while Diana is the villain, because it is Diana's actions that push the plot, akin to Soveishu. Helios and Rashta make things difficult, but they're really only along for the ride, and their interference in the plot happens because of the villains their characters serve.

[m3rr0w]

Crazy thought, hear me out. So it is quite an accepted view that Caligari could be taken for a metaphor of post war german society and the effects of ww1, Cesare being the blind soldier to the high commander Caligari instructing him to murder. But what about Jane, Alan and Francis? How do they fit into it? Hear me out. What happens if the victims of Caligari represent the losses suffered from ww1 in Germany.

Alan's death- the death of romanticism. Germany believed that they would win the war and have an overwhelming victory, Germany would be full of pride and love for their country. German culture would flourish and they would be proud of their nation and culture. However they were disillusioned, as they lost and the Treaty of Versaille inacted the war guilt clause, making Germany and its people take full responsibility for the war. Families of the young men who dreamed of being heroes were now met with mourning. Just like Alan, the country was naive, dreaming of an unlikely idea and was bluntly hit with the horror of reality.

Jane's kidnapping- The broken families. Jane was kidnapped by Cesare, taking her away from her home and those who cared for her. The impacts of ww1 caused people to be mislaid, dead, disfigured and scarred. Jane being a woman of the domestic sphere could represent to the narrator (Francis) the perfect picture of a traditional family. However the war caused this to be taken from many, with their husbands never returning home, or their wives leaving them after the trauma of their experiences being too much. The traditional archetype of the nuclear family was abducted by the war and replaced with something more uncomfortable, and just like Jane, may never be the same for some.

Francis's insanity- the disillusioned survivors. After their crushing defeat in ww1, many blamed the government and those of high authority, saying they were the November criminals for signing the TOV and betraying the army, believing they still could have won. They are the ones that then have to suffer the consequences of the losses. Francis is met with his best friend dead and his other friend/love interest being taken away from him and traumatised. They blame the ones in power and demand reforms, with revolts such as the Sparticist uprising happening, which was ultimately put down by the paramilitary force of the Freikorps. Francis, just like them, grows vengeful towards authority, Caligari, and tries to spark a revolution, turning the doctors against him and taking him out of power. However as shown in the end, he is just a man, a disillusioned man who has no power compared to those above, and is deemed as insane and undesirable, similar to how communists and socialists were viewed by those with wealth and status in post war Germany.

[oneinathousand]

I've assembled some lesser-known quotes about Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, I hope there's at least one in here that most of you have never seen before, though the super-fans among you have likely seen them all ;)

Lee fancies himself playing Aragorn, the archetypal heroic figure of the piece - he would probably be cast as Sauron, the Satanic figure in Tolkien's Middle Earth - but he feels that only a Walt Disney feature cartoon could possibly do justice to the work.

-"Cinemafantastique" Vol 3 No 1 (Fall 1973)

I knew that Lee wanted to play Gandalf when he jumped on board the LOTR movie trilogy, but I didn't know he apparently originally wanted to play Aragorn! My guess is that once he got older, he figured he would be better as Gandalf, though of course he didn't get it. But Lee as Aragorn... if he played the part in the late 50's, 60's or early 70's, I could see him pulling it off, what with his swordfighting abilities. Did he ever comment on the Ralph Bakshi adaptation?

After the liberation of Germany, he [Lee] visited a number of the concentration camps, including Dachau, a deeply disturbing experience which, he says, provided him with such a close-up view of the charnel house side of real life that he is unaffected by anything he sees or does on the screen.

-The Dracula Scrapbook, Peter Haining

I have decided now to tell a tale a bit "out of school" regarding the relationship between Peter and Helen Cushing, especially since this is a lady who remains a bit of a mystery to most Cushing fans - like a figure out of an Edgar Allan Poe tale, considering the way Peter lionized her as if she was indeed his "lost Lenore." During the latter part of 1977, I saw quite a bit of Christopher Lee as he and his family were living in Los Angeles where he played golf (and made the occasional film or television movie of the week.) One afternoon, we were at lunch, and the subject of Peter and his wife came up in conversation; Christopher leaned over to me and said, "You know David, Helen Cushing was a bit of a psychic vampire in life; she kept Peter very close. It was as if she could read his very thoughts before he had them. They really were soulmates of the first order; make no mistake about that! I don't think Helen ever really trusted me where Peter was concerned - even after he and I had made several films together. In fact, Helen used to say to me, "I know you think you are now bigger than my husband don't you?" Well, I just looked at her, smiled and said, "Well Helen, I am taller than Peter you know." Christopher felt that Peter had such guilt - imagined or not - about anything he might have done when they were married; if for example he ever found himself attracted to any of the Hammer glamour girls; whom he worked opposite, it all was now too much to bear. On the other hand, Vincent Price responded to Peter's intense mourning with his usual brand of humor. During the filming of Madhouse, he observed Peter discussing ways of communication from beyond the grave by perhaps installing a phone in the crypt; Vincent listened to all this and then replied with that unmistakably deadpan voice, "Well Peter, what if she's out?"

-David Del Valle, "Diabolique" #16

A few of you may recall seeing a quote posted here from Lee calling Helen a psychic vampire. I tried to find the source for that, but I couldn't. Instead I found this other version, possibly by the same person, which seems to give more insight about what Lee actually thought of Helen, and it comes off as much less harsh on his part than the other one.

A while back, I looked up interviews about the making of The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, and I swore I saw a magazine or something where Roy Ward Baker, the co-director of the movie along with the Shaw Brothers, said something about Cushing during the making of it to the effect of: “He was absolutely miserable, poor bugger.” But I forgot to take a screenshot of it then and for the life of me I couldn’t remember where it came from, I tried to look through my search history but couldn’t find it. I swear that I saw it, though!

Oh well. Next up is a quote about Lee and Cushing watching Looney Tunes together for the last time, get your tissues out...

In the early 90s I worked for Hammer Films and was asked to organise a voiceover recording for a Hammer Films documentary. Both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee had agreed to work together one last time. Christopher Lee had asked me to organise one thing: a television and a VHS player in a private room and to have some alone time with Peter. After the recording, I cleared the studio and left Peter and Christopher alone with the TV. They hadn’t noticed that I was still at the mixing desk so I waited to see what they were going to be watching. I saw Count Dooku and Grand Moff Tarkin sit watching Looney Tunes cartoons – each doing perfect impersonations of Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Pie – all line perfect! I can’t remember exactly – but I think Christopher Lee was Tweety Pie and Peter Cushing was Sylvester.

-"Popbitch" 2015 Annual, the quote is just credited to a "JH", but IMDB lists a Jane Hughes as having worked as an assistant director in the Canterbury studio where Lee and Cushing recorded their voiceover, so this is most likely her. I personally would like to believe that Lee was playing Sylvester and Cushing was Tweety because Lee said he was always Sylvester to Cushing, and come on, Cushing MUST have been Tweety, that character would fit him like a glove!

For this final quote, I'm gonna do something different and copy-paste a whole interview done with Lee by a guy named John Exshaw about Cushing a year before the latter died for the magazine Cinema Retro, the interview being put up on their website. The formatting on the interview is all messed up, so I fixed the apostrophes and em-dashes and will put the whole thing here for your enjoyment.

I find this interview fascinating not so much for what Lee says about Cushing, but for how it implied he saw himself compared to Peter:

I didn’t meet him until we did the first Hammer movie. I’d seen him. Of course the thing which I’d seen which impressed me most, understandably, was 1984, which was remarkable. He was wonderful in that… Live TV! [shudders]

Total dedication; and this is the answer to why Peter Cushing is an actor. Total dedication. Total! The most professional actor I have ever worked with. And I’m not going to say underrated, because he isn’t underrated. He’s highly regarded all over the world as a brilliant actor, and deservedly so. The record shows that… Also, one thing that we do share, I think, more than anything, which is more important than anything else - I think we share the same dedication, I think we share professionalism, I think we share the same feelings about doing the best we can - one thing we certainly share is the same sense of humor, which of course the general public is totally unaware of. If they knew what we got up to on the set in every film we’ve made… the imitations that I used to do… Oh, we used to dance together in the rushes, yes; me made up as the Frankenstein creature, a sort of, a sort of, what do you call it - buck-and-wing dance, you know. And in years and years and years he and I have shared this idolatrous love of the Warner Brothers cartoons, you see, and Sylvester, and Tweetie Pie, and Yosemite Sam. And I’ve always imitated them, you see, and he’s done the same. And we used to do that on a set; people used to think we’d gone out of our minds, and we’d make each other laugh. Sometimes it’s so important - in a way, it’s absolutely essential - but we’re both of us ice-cold when it comes to doing it, even if we’ve been been laughing a few moments before. And that’s a thing we also share, total concentration.

And what can I say about Peter Cushing that I haven’t said before? I mean, consummate actor, brilliant technician, and a marvellous human being. I’ve always said, you know - I’m sure you’re aware of this - that he should have been a priest… Because there is a great love for his fellow man. There’s an almost superhuman loving kindness in Peter, and it’s always been in there. I’ve never heard him say anything harsh about anyone. He’s also a deeply religious man. Those are the two things we don’t have in common. I’m afraid I do say what I think. I’m not tactless but I am a more direct person than he is. I don’t have his tolerance. I don’t have his gentleness. I don’t have his faith; I wish I did…

He is not an easy person to get to know, believe you me. There’s a lot about Peter that I don’t know… But of course, as you know, Helen died in the 1970’s and that is his only desire left in life. And it’s genuine. He has stayed alive because he’s a man who would never take his own life because that would be a great sin, and he has stayed alive through some pretty terrible experiences, you know. He’s had cancer, and problems with his legs, his hips, breathing, and all sorts of medical problems, but the spirit is unquenchable and the speed of thinking and the mind haven’t changed at all. I mean, it’s another cliche - the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. The same thing with Vincent [Price]; mind like a rapier, both of them. Only the physical disabilities of getting old…

But he’s certainly one of a kind, and of course this business of staying alive, simply existing, which is how he looks at his life - existence. He’s only waiting for that moment; only waiting for it. And he’s been waiting now for twenty-three years. It must be terrible to be so admired and so loved and so respected but to impose, I feel, on yourself, deliberately, a sort of monastic seclusion which he seems to prefer. He seems to; I mean, you wouldn’t think of it if you saw him with a group of people but I think he prefers to be alone. I don’t think the house is full of people. I don’t think there’s many very, very close, intimate friends - but nor have I, and nor have many people.

Acquaintances, yes; admirers, yes - scores of thousands all over the world, people who feel they know him, people who feel that he’s a friend - all that. That’s on a professional basis; I think on a personal basis, I get the impression that he’s a person who keeps his life and his relationship with his wife very much to himself. It’s locked up in a cupboard of which he has the key. He doesn’t open that cupboard and release anything unless he chooses to. But I don’t either.

[eldewinddolly]

Round 2 of the Artemis Fowl fandom ask game

But this time, I asked my husband to answer 💜 I was curious to see what would his takes be, and I figured it was worth sharing the thoughts of my best acolyte in AF fanfic writing, my eternal partner in crime ✨ (calling him by his nickname Chat 😸 from now on for ease of reading)

the character 😸 least understands Doodah Day. Chat doesn’t understand what he adds to TLC, as to him in terms of character archetype and motivations he is just a pale rip-off of Mulch, with different “powers”. Honorable mention, also in TLC, Qwan : Chat feels that his character should have been a lot more prominent and developed, we never know much about him and he feels like it’s a missed opportunity.

interactions 😸 enjoyed the most Artemis and Foaly ! They are Chat’s all-time favorite duo, he feels like together they should be absolutely unstoppable, and even bigger besties than Artemis & Holly and even Artemis & Butler. Chat finds it sad that their duo is limited to a bratty-yet-friendly rivalry, “what wasted potential 😿". Well, in Pareidolia Agent (next installment of Artemis Experiments Weird), let’s just say Chat and I decided to work on that 😇

the character who scares 😸 the most Foaly ! Because, most like Tokita in Paprika, he is way too inconsequential and childish for the amount of intellect, resources and power he has. Multiple times in the books, catastrophes happen because Foaly pissed off the wrong people or didn’t anticipate that his inventions might be hijacked and used for evil. Even though he is ultimately a lovely lil guy, Chat feels that Foaly is so immature he is a timebomb waiting to explode, and an absolute danger to everyone.

the character who is mostly like 😸 Artemis, “because him and I have way too many flaws in common 😿” (which is kinda true tbh, déso pas déso mon amour)

hottest looks character Vinyaya ! Chat is an absolute sucker for long white silvery hair 🤍 (which he absolutely insists on telling everyone he once sported himself ! now they are still long but only blonde ^^)

one thing 😸 dislikes about his fave character Artemis lets himself be ridiculed to easily, especially after book 4 - worth noting though that Chat barely considers book 5 to 7 to be canon 😅 And this is one of the main reasons why (yes I sait 5 to 7, that is intentional - Chat has refused to read TLG and claims it simply doesn’t exist)

one thing 😸 likes about his hated character Chat absolutely loves the cold cruelty of Opal murdering Root. To him, she was the most ruthless we’d ever seen any character be in the series at this point, and Root’s murder shook the status quo in such a dramatic way, hinting at the series shifting towards a darker, more serious tone that he absolutely loved. It didn’t exactly turn out that way, but he still loves TOD for this.

a quote or scene that haunts 😸 Chat adores the first interactions between Artemis and Spiro at the beginning of TEC - how Artemis ruthlessly (and carelessly) mocks Spiro and threatens to completely ruin his career, then how the shift in power happens in the blink of an eye.

a death that left 😸 indifferent Vinyaya, “because it’s not canon 😾” - and because it felt so gratuitous, absurd and useless.

a character 😸 wish died but didn’t Chat’s hot take (that I do kinda share) : Butler should have died in TEC. Chat feels like Artemis learned his lesson too easily, with too little consequences, and that Holly’s attempt to revive Butler shouldn’t have worked this well. To quote : "Artemis’ fatal flaw is hubris, and he should have paid a higher price for flying too close to the sun ; here, his character evolves without having lost anything”. for those who have read Experiments Weird : no comments

😸’s ship that never sailed Chat isn’t a huge shipper, but after pondering he declared that Holly and Trouble should have been together after TOD. So @ionlymadethissoicouldleaveanask that’s a win for the Holly/Trouble truthers gang 😝 And that’s it ! Chat doesn’t have a tumblr but if his takes stir some conversation he’d read and respond with pleasure 🙂