#the most important part is their personalities and character growth but also how they fit each other and work together!!

[arkiwii]

thank you for making good art and having correct opinions about saria and silence 🙏 🙏

waaa hjgjgj thank you! I try my best to keep their characters accurate all the while having headcanons that makes them interesting :] it's the most important part to me

[cherllyio]

Macaque will be trapped in The Underworld - A season 5 theory

Now, why would this make sense? Because it would fit perfectly with his characther devolpemt so far.

So, lets look at the evidence for that.

Macaque has through these 4 seasons gone from someone who does everything for his own sake, because of his own personal trauma, to someone who is starting to develop direct friendships with our main cast. (which this person talks more about in depth)

Therefore, it would make sense, if we start going into the most mysterious part of this monkey’s past: His time in the Underworld.

This would make sense for two reasons:

We could get answers on how he ended up in The Underworld in the first place (aka Shadowpeach lore)

We could get answers on WHY all our mystic monkeys are getting accused of breaking the sky, but we would also get some more answers about this guy, The Traitor.

The Shadowpeach part makes sense, therefore I want to go into more details with the whole “Macaque meeting The Traitor” - part of this theory, because they are actual scenes that indicates this in the trailer.

As this person mentioned in a breakdown of the trailer, it looks a lot like here that Macaque is getting sucked into Li Jing's Pagoda (because of that flashing light that looks awfully similar),

and after I made a timeline of the trailer, I realized that Macaque doesn’t really show up in the following scenes after he supposetly gets trapped in the Pagoda.

So, from a story perspective, it looks like Macaque stayed behind to fight off Li Jing, while the others got away in the car, while he himself got captured. This would then lead to Macaque again getting trapped in The Underworld, so they could keep an eye (pun intended) on him.

This would then result in Macaque getting (PTSD) flashbacks to his time in The Underworld, where there is a pretty realistic chance, in that time, he MET the Traitor.

Think about it. The Traitors whole goal is “chaos”, and our mystic monkeys are nothing but CHAOS. (talked more about this here)

There is also the fact that a theory (you can find it here) going around that The Traitor was the one who released Azure Lion from his prison, but erased his memory so he didn’t remember how he even got out:

(Season 4, ep 10)

Wukong: Wait, how are you here?

Azure: What, what kind of question is that?! You know exactly how-

Wukong: No, here and now. I put you in The Underworld myself. How did you get out? How did you get the scroll? I know for sure you didn’t steal it, you couldn’t have.

Azure Lion: I- I don’t know… I was…

Wukong: Azure! Who gave you that scroll? Because whoever it was, they must have known this would happen. WANTED this to happen, and they used you to do it.

Azure: I just wanted to make the world a better place.

There is then a good chance that he did something similar to Macaques memory, where one of thoughs memories could be his final fight with Wukong.

The Traitor could have made it so that Macaque remembers it as Wukong DIRECTLY killing him, but as David Breen mentioned, that’s just how Macaque views it.

Therefore, that’s what is going to be Macaque next character development in this season:

What happened in the past? More specifically what ACTUALLY between him and Wukong. Because we, the fandom, don’t know, but maybe MACAQUE doesn’t even know himself.

We can also, with this new information, figure out another important of his next arc: The theme of understanding.

We also know that a lot of the reasons for Wukong and Macaques fallout, is because they MISUNDERSTOOD a lot what the other actually intended.

We also know that Macaque is starting to realize that too, in the way he reacted when he saw his and Wukongs fight again: He realized HE MISUNDERSTOOD what Wukong had meant.

The seeds have been planted everyone, and we are know going to see what they are turning into. And that is a story of Understanding, growth, and friendship (or whatever the hell their realtionship is at this point).

[nixmori]

Astarion x Wren

The Lovers Tarot: upright

A fun pass time for me is always thinking which tarot card fits the characters at different parts of the story, and the primary themes that govern them.

Wren (my primary Tav) is the reversed lovers card for much of her early story/game. She longs for connection but is met with a cold, detached world, resulting in mental imbalance and the absence of self-love. She’s lonely and insecure, fearing rejection. Her closest relationship up until the events of the game was with her patron—the capricious (but not malicious) Archfey Kol. He offered her power and the pretense of connection, but never anything real.

For Astarion, while I think another card represents himself (I’m keeping that to myself because I have another art planned around it!) I feel his struggle aligns well with the devil card. He is, of course, more than figuratively shackled to Cazador, but also to the years of abuse, trauma, and his own demons born of that time. The shackles depicted in that card are loose—showing they can be broken should the person choose to be free of their demons.

The lovers and the devil cards are mirrors of one another. The lovers shows security and balance, but also the temptation of the fruit and the snake that could lead to back down the road to self destruction. Alternatively, they are a reminder of what it took to come back from that to a harmonious state.

In my interpretation of The Lovers here, I’ve retained the shackles from Astarion’s devil card. He’s chosen a new path—one where he can be true to himself. The scars will always be there, but the chains are broken. I’ve retained the forbidden fruit as Wren’s crown, with the leaves too represent the personal growth of both characters while the berries (fruit) represent the temptations that would have lead them down a very different path (which I will leave out due to spoilers!)

Fun fact, the Angel in the original card art is Raphael! Very different from everyone’s favorite demon in the game. This Raphael represents physical and emotional healing. I didn’t think an Angel would fit the aesthetics of what I wanted so I replaced him with the moon and Polaris. The first reason has to do with Astarion’s spawn ending so I won’t go into it. The second is taken from the moon card itself, where the moon reveals one’s true self. Paired with Polaris, it represents the moon’s light as a guide, as both embark on their long journey of healing. It won’t be an overnight venture—something that can be fixed by a single entity, so the moon as a guide works better in this context, I believe.

As a personal addition, Wren holds a few nerine lilies—a flower that has been associated with freedom since Ancient Greece. They also symbolize unity, and feelings straight from the heart, which felt appropriate for a relationship where both characters started as strangers to emotional intimacy. (I used to be a florist, I HAVE to have my flower symbolism)

Finally, the clouds at the bottom started life as flames, which in the og tarot card represent passion. As the art took form though, they took on the appearance of smoke/clouds. I could have made it more flame-like but I really liked how this looked, but I also think it fits the slow burn the story ended up taking. There’s a fire, somewhere—but it isn’t the most important thing here.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading my essay. I hope it was coherent!

[dackychansworldofhoshinos]

About this blog and story 🌟

Ello im Yuri he/him (idc)

Dacky is my artist name call me by one of those names 😌(Rain my Internet persona name)

minorr!!

Want to know more about me? check out my second blog were I post fanart or answer more personal questions that aren't related to my story (⁠・⁠∀⁠・) Down here 🔽

@areyoucooolorjustrain

Rules for This blog !!

I only answer questions about my story s or characters on this blog.

No wierd/ inappropriate interactions or comments

Be cool😎

I respond to comments but no wired ones

No Nsfw

Anything that isn't strictly about my story will be talked about on my second Ac

Do Not Steal 👊

Sry not personal anymore

If u want to use my art ask and tag/mention me

Fanart is appreciated 💖

And I'm open for ideas or tips with my oc world meaning:

if you have an ideas for characters that fit into my world tell me :D

if you have polite and constructive criticism tell me

If you want to tell me something about my character that could be changed tell me

:) please remember be nice

Now my world Hoshino🌟

Hoshino 🌟

In this world select few have abilities. called Hoshi. Those energy powers are energized by light and dark souls depending on your soul type, wich range from mind dark light time growth heat liquid spirit and some more rare types like love song or electrical

if you pry to the stars that apear once a year on a special day called: death star day. A soul with does power's is born. That person can access those powers with a special necklace that stores most of it✨ The necklace is able to take energy from other objects or sorces like Hoshi a creature made purley from that power. people may also use Hoshi powers without a necklace resulting in bigger access to energy but a higher risk of losing ot to.😗

the legend explains how this happend🌸

the main character is named ponia and she and her friends go to fight against many dangerous people or creatures in this world and meet other people 🌸🚶

these are the more important people

the evil team against ponia is called:

the fallen angels. they want to bring back the legends and ponia is a big part of that💀

she also has a twin called nagisa that i made with a friend of mine and changed to fit into the story. the twin plot is apart of the legend

im going to post more of the story laiter in form of manga or animatics. maybe also essays or stories

heres a quik comic i made a bout the day before the story starts with ponia still having long messey hair 😄

ahhhh so cringe

Here are all the characters that are in this universe :

[linkspooky]

Judai and Yubel's Chemical Wedding

A chemical wedding is central to many alchemy stories.

A chemical wedding is a reconciliation of opposites, often with the most significant character relationship to the protagonist. A relationship which destroys and then remakes them in the better version of themselves.

Jung said that relatioships are chemical reaction. If you have a reaction you can never return to your previous state of being. That's ultimately the role of a chemical wedding in a story. A relationship which is central to a character's development, and changes both parties.

Yubel isn't just important for Judai's character development, they're literally his other half and their union of opposites completes them both in an alchemical sense. Keep on reading below the cut for a lesson in alchemy symbolism.

Peter Pan's Missing Shadow

So, the story goes somewhere in the middle of developing season two the writers recognizing that Judai, would never be able to handle a Marik level antagonist. He lacked maturity compared to the previous series protagonist Atem. The concept of Yubel emerged to make Judai grow, because as he was, he wasn't enough.

Judai fits the archetype of the hot-blooded shonen protagonist almost perfectly in the first two seasons, but even in two seasons where he changes very little as a character the hints are there.

Sho immediately puts Judai on a pedestal, and soon so does everyone else. Judai is praised for his pure heart over, and over. The standards for Judai are set so high you begin to wonder what if Judai wasn't the person everyone sees him as?

At this point is it even Judai that his friends are seeing?

What does that do to a person's identity when everyone around you is love with the idea of you. When you're not seen as a person with flaws.

Judai doesn't grow but how can he, when he's not really allowed to make mistakes. When he's expected to always be cheerful, and always bounce back without help or support.

Judai is pure of heart, but is anybody really pure? The light always casts a shadow.

Jung pioneered a lot of analytical psychology theory. Jung divided the psyche into four parts, the persona which is how we externally engage with the world our public face, the animus and anima masculinity and femininity, and finally the shadow.

Complementary to Jung’s idea of the persona, which is “what oneself as well as others thinks one is” [CW9 para 221], the “shadow is that hidden, repressed, for the most part inferior and guilt-laden personality [...] that is his shadow does not consist only of morally reprehensible tendencies, but also displays a number of good qualities, such as normal instincts, appropriate reactions, realistic insights, creative impulses etc “ 

The shadow isn't made up of bad qualities, just what we are afraid to show others because of judgement. Hidden as it may be, the shadow is a fundamental part of your personality.

Jung had a deep interest in the shadow – its form and content – and in the process of assimilating “the thing a person has no wish to be” [CW16, para 470]. He saw quite clearly that failure to recognize, acknowledge and deal with shadow elements is often the root of problems in relationships.

Is a friendship with someone real if you're afraid to show any of your flaws?

Juda's never allowed to make mistakes around his friends. He's under constant pressure to fight their battles, to fear he might lose them if he loses.

Ryo, a foil and rival Judai suffers a complete breakdown after losing just one duel. Before that he spelled it out for Judai in the graudation duel, the "perfection" everyone expected limited his growth, until he finally fell apart. If one loss makes Ryo fall then how much farther does Judai who's under more pressure have to fall?

Judai hides his shadow from everyone, but the shadow isn't just a part of you. The shadow is you. You are your shadow. Which is why recognizing the shadow is a critical part of growth - and alchemy. As Jung once said, "The gold is in the dark. And one does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” 

Judai's in unable to grow up, because like Peter Pan is missing his shadow. It needs to be retrieved and sewn back to his feet. Until then, he's stunted and missing an important part of himself.

Judai is missing something important without his shadow. I'm not pulling this from thin air, it's directly stated by the text repeatedly.

Here.

Kouji Satou: We have something that you lack. Judai: That I lack? Kouji Satou: Yes the darkness of the heart that slumbers deep within a duelist. The burden that a duelist bears in his heart. Judai, you have none of that.

Here.

Cobra: You are certainly a talented duelist. But you have one fatal flaw. Judai: A fatal flaw? Cobra: Yes, your duels are superficial. Someone who fights with nothing on his shoulders, cannot recover once he loses his enjoyment. What a duelist carries on his shoulders will become the power that supports him when he’s up against the wall! Cobra: But you have nothing like that! Those who go through life without anything like that cannot possibly seize victory. Cobra: But I know that nothing I say will resonate with you… because you have nothing to lose but the match.

Even, by Judai himself.

Judai: They’re all… They’re all gone. There really was something missing in me. But what is it? What was missing? What should a duelist burden themselves with?

I often worry people will misinterpret Judai's ending with Yubel is unhealthy because he's "caving to the demands of a stalker."

Yubel's not a stalker, they're not even a real person. Judai's a character in a story, experiencing an arc about learning to accept and grow path his worst flaws. How could that arc end with throwing away Yubel, who represents the ugliness Judai tries to hide?

Yubel is Judai's shadow, run away from him just like Peter Pan. Yubel's more than just a cast-off shadow though, Yubel is Judai. A good example of two separate characters coded as each other's shadows in other literature is Katherine and Heathcliff, two characters designed specifically to be two halves of a whole. Katherine once said, "I am Heathcliff", or to be specific she said:

 My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff’s miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning: my great thought in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty strange: I should not seem a part of it [...] Nelly, I am Heathcliff! Katherine - Wuthering Heights

So these are two different topics, shadow as a literary foil, and shadow as an aspect of peresonaity in Jungian psychology, yubel is both.

Yubel is the archetypal shadow character, a character who challenges the main character by being their internalized flaws made external.

In a Jungian text when a character won't look at their shadow, they're often forced to look by being confronted with an externalized version of their shadow.

This is the first line of dialogue Yubel says that's not chanting Judai's name in episode 117 to Amon.

Yubel: My power is not especially great. But those with darkness in their hearts can unleash great power in me. Yubel: The pus welling out of your injured heart forms a second heart. I can see that other heart. The darkness in it. Yubel: That's right. That is the darkness of your heart. it's there, in the depths of your mind. Th scream of your other heart, born from your stagnant blood!

Yubel's go-to strategy with manipulation is to throw in a character's face the secrets they've been hiding to make them more liable to their will. Until Yubel can reconstitute their own body, they're forced to act entirely through others, possessing Cobra, then Martin, and finally Johan.

Yubel, the runaway shadow can't exist in this world without glueing themselves onto someone else. Can't be whole without Judai.

Yubel: You'll formally become king. Yubel: It must be great to have your wishes come true. But then, who's going to be happy for you? Yubel: Living in a way that suits you. The one who'd be most happy for you would be that "echo" woman that you loved, am I right? Yubel: But you went and let her die. You won't even be able to see her celebrate, isn't that a bit weird to you? Amon: Silence... Yubel: I know I couldn't stand it. A world without the one I love. It's because of Judai I can feel pain, angiush, and agony.

They say it over and over again, a world without the person you love, even a perfect one like Amon imagines, isn't worth living in.

Yubel: I wouldn't want to live in such a world! Yubel: The world is a place that you make alongside the one you love! What Judai and I make together... that will be the world!

It seems like a one-sided dependence on Yubel's part, but because Yubel is Judai's shadow, Judai cannot exist without them either.

Yubel was literally introduced into the story to spur Judai's character growth after two seasons of stagnation.

Judai seems better off without Yubel. Judai even suggests as much, that it might have been better for Yubel to die in that crater, than crawl back to Judai in their wounded and hateful state.

It seems that Yubel's reapperance triggered Judai's breakdown, and without it the breakdown never would have happend. However, there's two seasons of foreshadowing that JUdai is "missing something" without Yubel, which is why they can't grow or adapt to new circumstances. Judai needed to go through a death of his old self, a loss of innocence to become someone new, that's how alchemy works, that's how growing up works.

JUdai needed to reintegrate his shadow (Yubel) so he could become aware of his flaws, and while he does hit a low point, in the aftermath he can finally better himself.

The question is what flaws of Judai does Yubel reflect?

At first brush they seem as opposed to each other as hero and villain.

There's a tragic symmetry to the way both of them lived their lives for the past ten years. They began in the same place, Judai's childhood was just the two of them together. Then Yubel drove all of Judai's friends away, and Judai sent Yubel away in return.

Ten years go by and Judai attends Duel Academy and makes friends for the first time. He learns of his destiny was the one to protect Neo-Space and the Neo-Spacians led him their power helping awake within him the power of the gentle darkness. Judai spends almost two years almost always surrounded by people, alone in the center of a crowd.

At the same time Yubel has spent the past ten years alone in space, crying out for help from Judai. When they finally return to earth they ask for help one final time only to be met with silence. In that moment Yubel decides that silence is their answer, that abadoning Yubel, ignoring their screams of pain and forgetting them was all Judai's way of showing love.

Judai awakens his powers of the gentle darkness, whereas Yubel is corrupted by the light of destruction. Judai receives the help of everyone around them, Yubel only survives by manipulating several people to eventually crawl their way back to Judai.

They started at the same point, but by the time they meet again they're completely unrecognizable to each other.

As easy as it is to see them as villain and victim you can flip their roles too. As Judai is responsible for the chain of events that led to Yubel's torture, from Yubel's point of view they are the victim and Judai the villain.

It's unfair to hold a decsion they made when they were five against him. However, abandoning Yubel is a choice Judai continually makes, even after learning Yubel's undergone ten years of torture they were responsible for.

Judai: Yubel didn't come into being by coincidence. I made them who they are.

Judai continually ignores Yubel to search for Johan. However, he's not responsible for Johan. Johan made the choice to sacrifice himself. Wanting to save Johan isn't bad of course, but wanting Johan back is about what Johan represents to Judai not who he is as a person.

Yubel rightfully points out Judai will go so far to save Johan, but won't lift a finger to help them.

In fact Judai's obsession with Johan, is a narrative flaw (one Yubel reflects for the audience). It leads to his destruction.

Sho even calls him out, his willingness to sacrifice anyone, including his friends for Johan's sake. It's selfishness on his part. To quote this post:

The way he goes after both after Johan in season three and O’Brien shows that he actually doesn’t care all that much for them as people. To him, they represent a concept: Victory, or at the very least atonement for his past actions. A convenient way to right what he did wrong.  That is not to say that he doesn’t like them as people - he does. But when the chips are down, what he ultimately wanted was a chance to redeem himself by saving them. 

Yubel's obsessive pursuit of Judai to the destruction of everyone else, reflects Judai's obsessive pursuit of Johan destroying his friends.

To quote the above post again.

Yubel is a deeply selfish person as well. However, it’s a different kind of selfish. Yubel has exactly one priority: Juudai. Anyone or anything that isn’t Juudai doesn’t matter, and Yubel will go after Juudai no matter the situation and no matter the consequences. 

They're both two deeply selfish people and Yubel is needed to cast a light of this selfish side of Judai. When the two of them are compared though the image blurs, Yubel doesn't have the right to take their pain out on Judai's friends, but Judai goes on to later do the same thing.

"But then that's the nature of love, isn't it? I wanted all that torment to convey the depth of my love."

Judai rightfully calls out Yubel's involvement of innocent people, but it's hypocrisy on his part. He doesn't have the moral high ground here. Yubel's suffering doesn't entitle them to take out said suffering on Judai's friends, but Judai also slaughtered innocents as the supreme king.

Judai framing Yubel's reaction as revenge is ignoring his own flaws and role in things. Sharing pain = understanding = empathy for Yubel. Yubel wants to be understood, but Judai wants to ignore his shadow.

Yubel's strategy is a kid of forced empathy - to drag Judai down to their level and make Judai understand the same pain so Judai will understand them.

I'm going to quote another post again, this post here.

In her desperation to grasp why she was being made to suffer if Judai loved her, it makes a certain amount of sense that she would latch on to the suffering itself as being something Judai wanted for her.  (She knows and admits this isn’t true, btw, but it’s the only thing that allows her even a tenuous grip on sanity)  Then, when she was in a position to meet him again, her own views on love would allow her to subconsciously justify making him suffer the same way because her pain had left their life experiences too disparate to form a meaningful connection once more.  And the hilarious thing is that she was ultimately right?  Yanking Judai down to her level is what allowed Judai to understand her in a way that was impossible before he had his own little fit of love-induced murder spree. I think what people sort of miss is that what Judai is reviling her and calling her an unfeeling monster near the beginning of their duel, he’s the one that’s wrong.

This symmetry they eventually reach where they both become perpetrators shows the biggest thing they share in common: trauma, and how they react to it.

Trauma comes to define both Judai and Yubel, but they react in different ways.

Yubel externalizes their trauma, the same trauma Judai hides internally. What Judai conceals, Yubel by acting out their grief on others reveals.

Yubel wears their heart on their sleeve for all intents and purposes. They will act out their pain on others, gleefully, sadistically so. Their entire philosophy of love revolves around the idea that intentionally inflicting pain as a show of love.

However, as stated above that's a coping mechanism. When Yubel says they want to share pain with Judai, it's not revenge, it's a desire for empathy and understanding. Yubel wraps themselves in a blanket of love, to endure years of torture they suffered alone.

Yubel can't just ask for Judai's love though, they demand it.

This too is Yubel shielding themselves, they're coping with their abandonment trauma. Yubel can endure any pain inflicted on them if they convince themselves that Judai still cares, they can crawl out of a crater if it might lead them back to Judai. If Judai rejects them however, they completely fall apart.

Judai too, is protecting himself from fears of abandonment.

Judai's coping method is opposite, he internalizes all his emotions. The pressure of having to constantly rescue his friends, his fears that he can't lose once, or else he'll lose everything. Judai hides it under a smile, and a fun loving attitude.

Judai even states point blank, the reason he always runs forward is because if he stops to think he won't be able to continue. Judai compartmentalizes everything, and it all starts to pile up so high that if he just can't process it.

Judai: I can’t just stay and wait. All this time I’ve run on instinct, never second-guessing myself. If I just stand still now… I’m sure I won’t be able to start running again. And I won’t be able to get to Johan.

Even Judai taking on his friend's burdens, is done out of a fear of being alone. In his backstory Yubel drove all his friends away and it doesn't seem like he made friends until he came to Duel Academia.

Yubel and Judai both spent a significant amount of time alone, and they both fear going back to that time.

When Judai takes on other's burdens, it's a way to protect himself. If he's constantly doing them favors, they have to stick around right? It's still a transactional relationship though, the same way Yubel thinks all of their love entitles them to Judai's love.

Judai's method is to internalize everything. That seems better than Yubel, because Judai's not hurting anybody right? Except Judai's owbmethod of coping turns out to be just as unhealthy as Yubel's.

Judai carries the weight of everyone on his shoulders until he can't.

Judai's fears of being abandoned become a reality.

It's telling that Judai's breaking point isn't Fubuki, Sho, Asuka and Manjoume's apparent deaths. He's deeply upset by it for sure, but what pushes him over the edge is Sho's rejection afterwards.

Judai's friends being taken away in circumstances out of his control is one thing, but the fact that Sho leaves him? That Sho sees the part of Judai's self that he's always been hiding and gives up on him. That rejection sends him spiraling, because all along Judai was driven by the same fear of rejection Yubel was.

When Judai reaches his breaking point, he externalizes all the trauma he held within. He starts sacrificing others for power, because he's convinced himself with his friends gone power is what he has left. Judai acts out that trauma on others, as Yubel does with Judai's friends.

In the end Yubel and Judai react the same way to being abandoned, they share the same flaws and the same fears.

Rejecting Yubel, villainizing them, despising them is an act of self-loathing for Judai. However, empathizing with them, understanding, trying to reach out a had to break the painful cycle between them - is Judai accepting himself.

Chemical Wedding

Judai and Yubel become their worst selves when they are alone, they walk parallel journeys in season 3 dragging down Judai to Yubel's level until at last they finally reunite.

This metaphorical union is a chemical wedding, of two opposites coming together. How Judai and Yubel's relationship changes throughout the narrative is vital to how they develop. Their bond develops each of their characters, until they integrate qualities of each other.

The final stage is called a wedding, it's not necessarily romantic but Yubel's 10,000 love confessions can certainly be interpreted that way.

Once again it's not really about what's healthy in a real life relatioship, it's a symbolic journey two characters take in a story. Yu-Gi-Oh Gx uses chemical weddings to develop the romantic relationship between Judai and Yubel.

(What about Bruno - I'll talk about him later next post. Please be patient, I can't cover everything in one post).

Here's another meta on the concept of chemical wedding's in general for a different show. The chemical wedding between Judai and Yubel is woven into the text in may ways.

The show is rife with direct references to alchemical imagery (references to medieval portraits, the solar king and the lunar queen)

A process of death ad rebirth they both undergo multiple times, until their last union where Judai says he might be destroyed by the attempt to fuse with super-poly but he doesn't mind).

The four elements are referenced in the clash between Judai and Yubel, Judai is fire and air - their favorite monster is flame wingman an air and fire hero combined. Yubel is water and earth, their entire deck has a plant motif).

The two of them literally fuse together into someone new. That act is what purifies Yubel's soul by uniting it with Judai, the process of alchemy is purifying metals until they forge gold.

Yubel is also literally a hermaphrodite, and by incorporating Yubel into themselves the two of them together become a hermaphroditic figure.

So that’s the role and importance of the chemical wedding.  Pretty vague, right? But over the centuries the most common imagery has been a man and woman--often King Sol/Sulphur and Queen Luna/Mercury--1. standing together, 2. conjoined, or 3. combined into a hermaphroditic figure.  -In the Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery, Lyndy Abraham definition of chemical wedding.

The basic formula of a chemical wedding is the union of opposites (Fire and water, air ad earth, sun and moon, light and dark), that union creating a "Rebis", a figure that is both male and female. Judai and Yubel's journey takes them on a path to uniting as one.

It's a violent sometimes dangerous process as in each step dissolve et coagula occurs, in order to forge your better self you have to let your old self dissolved, which is sometimes a violent even painful process.

It's why Chemical Weddings often take the form of violent conflict. A conflict that threatens to destroy both parties.

The first chemical wedding is usually somewhat violent, primitive even, whereas the second one signifies the creation of the stone. However, characters can have more than two weddings (Hamliet).

Yubel and Judai have three violent confrontations in Season 3, before their final union of opposites take place. The three weddings are the three steps in their journey. It's also a process where both experience several metaphorical deaths, before finally their two souls unite into something new (which is why the ship is called Soulshipping).

SOULSHIPPING WEDDINGS - STAGE ONE

Alchemy is a process of continual death and rebirth. Yubel and Judai both go through two symbolic deaths, (the second one they die together to reforge themselves into something new).

Yubel's first death takes place sometime during season 1 and 2. The satellite containing them finally crashes back to earth, and Yubel burns up upon re-entry. Putrefecation, or Nigredo is the first stage of alchemy a process of boiling away all impurities, and it's associated with the element of fire, and associated with the color black. Yubel's spirit form of a black dragon comes out to protect them, and that burns away too. Nigredo is often signified with the death of a dragon.

Yubel comes close to death, but their true death is metaphorical.

What Yubel truly experiences is the death of their old self, as the trauma they've endured makes someone new crawl out of the wreckage.

This is the moment onscreen where Yubel snaps and adopts their new philosophy of love, that love is sharing pain with someone else.

Yubel literally crawls out of earth, out of a crater that could have easily been the sight of their grave. However, their rebirth comes when Yubel reconstitutes themselves in time to meet Judai face to face a second time.

Yubel's true form is revealed then to be that of a rebis.

The head on the left is male, the wing attached to his side is red. The head on the right side is female; the wing attached to her side is white and in her hand she holds an egg. This figure is known as the Hermaphrodite, half man and half woman.

Yubel's design is a Rebis, split male and female down the middle. It's even implied in their backstory they were more masculine, and through an alchemical process to become a dragon altered their body to look as such, giving them several feminine traits.

Yubel as one boob and one pec, speaks in two voices a deep masculine one and a light feminine one, defaults to using masculine "ore", but plays a feminine role to comparison Judai's more straighforward masculinity, they even have their face split one side being drawn with eyelashes. The image above is the hermaphrodite and the dragon, Yubel is both.

Yubel can be a reference to the greek story of the hermaphodite or the concept of the Hindu god "Ardanareshwara" which translates to "Lord wo is half woman." Likely both, they have a third eye on their forehead in the place of a bindi in traditional depictions of that god.

Ardanareshwara is the embodiment of the union of male and female energies in the universe, as well as the sacredness of marriage and copulation. [Mythcrafts]

The Splender Solis pictured above are images from the ripley scroll, a in alchemy text. There are 22 plates total, but plates 5-11 are called the parallels they reference the process of death and rebirth.

The seven parables are:

Plate 5 - Miners excavating a hill

Plate 6 - Philosophers beside a tree

Plate 7 - The drowning king

Plate 8 - Resurrection out of the swamp

Plate 9 - Hermaphrodite with an egg

Plate 10 - Severing the head of the king

Plate 11 - The bath

Season 3 goes through all seven, quickly covering the first two plate 5 is mining the Rainbow Dragon out of the side of a mountain, Philosophers beside a tree is Johan's deck using crystal tree, and also Judai awakens after Austin snaps him from his Haou phase underneath a tree.

Judai and Yubel's parallel journeyes reference plates 7-11, #9 was already pictured above.) They both experience two deaths, two rebirths, before their final third union.

Yubel's second death occurs here, at the hands of another dragon (Rainbow dragon is involved).

The first chemical wedding is usually somewhat violent, as metals need to be melted down and reforged through multiple steps in order to create a purer metal.

Judai definitely doesn't want to unite with Yubel their first encounter, they're at each other's throats, in fact Yubel specifically states they want violence, to share as much pain with Judai as possible.

Yubel ends the first wedding literally dissolving gain right in front of Judai's eyes, only to reforge themselves with Johan's body.

Those are Yubel's two deaths, and Judai's two deaths happen in parallel.

SOULSHIPPING WEDDINGS - STAGE TWO

Yubel is the process of two people breaking down, and mixing until they acquire each other's traits. Yubel pushing Judai down the path of becoming the supreme king, so they can be reunited again is exactly that.

Yubel's plan is to force drag Judai down to their level, so they can be reunited, and at that point Judai having walked a similar path and taken on traits of their can understand them, they tell Judai as much.

So when I solved the riddle you posed I was delighted. ANd that fueled my decision. I would try to fill the entire twelve-dimmension universe with my love towards you, Judai. And once I did, you would have to recognize my loev wouldn't you? That's why I sought to fill all those linked to you, your world, with sadness and anguish. And my line of thinking wasn't wrong!

Judai has to go through a process of two deaths mirroring Yubel's own before he can reunite with them in their second wedding. Yubel even says, the first time they dueled didn't work out, because Judai hadn't awakened his darkness of the heart yet. Judai needed to take on Yubel's traits.

Judai's journey to Yubel is referenced by two Splender Solaris plates.

"The destruction of one thing is the birth of another " - Aristotle.

The plate depicts an old king drowning, and a new king being reborn at the same time.

The text describes to us how the old king was taken under, but then reborn the next day from the earth as the new king; the old king must die before the new king is born.

Judai's first death is his breakdown after Sho's rejection, he quite literally experiences a death or self, while at the same time rising up as the supreme king - but it's not a split personality or anything like that, merely an inversion. Judai once internalized their pain, now they externalize like Yubel. Yubel in acquiring darkness of the heart, Judai then begins to take on Yubel's traits, integrating facets of Yubel into themselves.

Within the stages of physical alchemy there is a set referred to as the drowning king; this is the dissolution step of the Nigredo process. This is when the alchemists would take their chemically calcified ashes and dissolve them into water.

Judai experiences the same Nigredo that Yubel does, as his old self dissolves away. Judai sinks into a mental landscape which is pictured as all black, while a new Judai the supreme king assumes his form out of the shadows. The new king has golden eyes, like the new king in the painting is dressed in gold.

This is where Judai begins taking on parts of Yubel, not only do they lash out at innocent people as Yubel does, don a plate of armor to protect themselves (Judai has black armor, Yubel has impenetrable scales).

It's also a direct parallel to Yubel's experiences. Judai is left alone by the friends who he thought would always take his side and sinks into darkness. Yubel spends years alone in what they call "a capsule of darkness" in space after Judai's abandonment, sinking into denial because Judai couldn't possibly treat them this way when they love them so much.

Judai dies and is replaced by the supreme king, but the supreme king is a just a temporary stage in his development.

In order for Judai to heal he needs to be dismembered first, the Supreme King's head is torn off in a reference to Splendor Solis: Plate 10, severing of the head of the king.

Alchemy is violent; the motto of Solve Et Coagula demands dissolution before rebuilding, tearing apart before putting back together. This idea applies to the material world as well as the spiritual realm; before the psyche can grow, it has to be ripped asunder.

The Supreme King is eventually stopped by Austin, they burn away in in fire, against a duelist with a flame deck, reduced to ash only to rise from the ash reborn like Yubel did out of the crater.

After the end of the duel, Judai's helmet is removed and thrown for all to see to signify the king's dismemberment.

Judai now struggles to become someone new, as he cannot return to his previous state of innocence, but can't keep continuing on as the Supreme King. When Yubel and Judai reunite again Judai has taken on so many of Yubel's traits, they are mirror images of one another.

The second stage of alchemy is albedo, the word is taken from ablutio - the washing away of impurities. When Yubel and Judai meet for a second time, Judai's only priority is to cleanse Johan of Yubel's body, literally through purifying Rainbow Dragon in order to return Johan to his body.

His action in the duel is to destroy the "advanced darkness" field spell which changes Johan's crystal beasts, into darkness crystal beasts. First Nigredo, then Albedo, the prima materia is boiled in a flask where all impurities rise to the surface and make a thick black material, and then those impurities are washed away.

Cleansing Johan's soul doesn't go as intended for Judai however, because the only result is that Yubel reconstitutes themselves for a second time and faces Judai again in their true body.

The cleansing turns from Rainbow Dragon from Black to White and both Yubel and Johan are purified into their true selves.At this point they've both experienced multiple deaths, they've both been torn apart and sewn back together again. However, they still have one stage to go.

The duel ends in a draw and they restart another duel facing each other this time, thus beginning the third and final wedding.

SOULSHIPPING WEDDINGS - STAGE THREE

The final wedding in a chemical wedding forges a philosopher's stone, and I bet you can't guess how this third wedding ends.

Everything so far has made use of the death and rebith imagery. Yubel and Judai grow closer each other through a violent union of opposites (extremely violent in this case ). They experience two metaphorical deaths as a part of their journey to finding each other.

Death and Rebith is a major theme in the last duel, before they both experience their final death together, to become a new being together.

As I said above they've experienced several violent deaths, Yubel is ripped to pieces until they're nothing more than an arm, Judai experiences an ego death and reforms as the supreme king, before the supreme king's armor is torn off him.

In the third duel Yubel's signature monster experiences two deaths, only to be reborn again into stronger forms, yubel terror incarnate, and yubel the ultimate nightmare.

Yubel starts as a one headed dragon, their second form has two heads, their third they fuse with the dragon becoming the third head representing the three stages of alchemy. In the picture above the red, white and blue signify those three stages as well.

Judai and Yubel are also positioned as the Solar King, and Lunar Queen in their duel, just as in the alchemy painting above.

The above image  image is taken from is called Rosarium Philosophorum–which literally means “rose garden philosophy. In this case I believe the anime writers are deliberately reference the "rose garden philosophy" name b/c even Yusei and Aki in 5Ds have a similar duel in a Rose Garden that parallels this duel - representing their union of opposites too.

The final duel between Judai and Yubel takes place in a rose garden, intentionally so. Yubel uses two rose themed cards, and their method of attacking and sharing pain nightmare pain revolves around lashing out with a vine covered in rose thorns.

They're both entangled in the rose garden together, as Yubel says my suffering will become your suffering, Judai. Yubel isn't immune to pain they suffer alongside him, for Judai hurtng Yubel is an act of hurting himself. That's also a reference to the ouroboros, the snake biting it's own tail is a common symbol associated with initiating the alchemical process.

Judai has taken so many traits of Yubel at this point they are inseparably intertwined, there's no telling where Judai ends and Yubel begins so any damage Judai attempts to do is dealt to himself as well.

Standing together in the garden Judai assumes the role of the solar king, and Yubel the lunar queen.

Yubel's machinations were to make Judai ascend into a king, Judai is referred to as being like the sun by Sho drawing everyone in.

Bro... Bro, you're too selfish. Before now, I thought of you as the sun. Someone who gave others energy and made the impossible, possible.

Yubel is the moon which orbits around Judai. There's the time they spent in a literal satellite, floating in space among the stars to signify this. Yubel even drops a reference to the myth of Endymion. A story where Selene, the titan of the moon fell in love with a young boy and asked for them to fall asleep and stay young in their sleep forever so they could gave upon them lovingly as they slept.

I will take you to a distant dimmension, where no one will ever reach you. There I will watch over you as you sleep forever.

Once again Judai is fire, and Yubel is mainly plant themed. Judai assumes a masculine role, Yubel after transforming into a Rebis changed their body to take on feminine traits. Judai is the holder of the gentle darkness, Yubel is corrupted by the light of destruction which is engaged in a battle with the gentle darkness.

Theirs is a violent union of opposites, they are literally trying their best to kill each other.

Yubel frames themself as the selfless protector of Judai like a knight or servant, but their obvious desire is to stand together with Judai and be on the same level with him (hence dragging him down).

They spend a duel against Amon reviling him for how easy Amon could throw Echo away, because ultimately Amon is the king, and therefore Echo is beneath him. In fact Yubel was content to just sacrifice their body like Echo and serve as a protector in a previous life, until prince Judai offered Yubel their eternal love, giving something in return and elevating to them as equals.

So Yubel's primary goal is to be by his side, to be lunar queen to his solar king.

In order to accomplish this the art depicted above has to happen, they both have to dissolve, experience a death and become something new together.

Judai even explicitly tries very hard to kill Yubel, saying they'll use the power of the supreme king to erase them from the universe. Yubel similarly, rejected one too many times responds to violence with violence. Their union is inherently marked by violence. However, it's what brings them to a closer understanding of each other.

However, while violence brings them closer together, it eventually has to transform into a a union.

As they reach the final stages of the duel, Yubel states to Judai they finally understand that Judai has chosen to respond to all of their love with hate (once again union of opposites, love and hate). At the same time a wind begins to blow, elemental symbolism occurs as the wind and clouds appear in a process of "sublimation", and Judai's past is revealed to him, and he realizes his memory of his past life of the Supreme King.

Sublimate appears as a term for a mineral deposit, by analogy to the alchemical process: minerals in a vapor state, thrown up from the interior of the earth.

The introductory of the element of air also signifies Yubel and Judai moving from Citrinatis, the yellowing, signified by earth to Rubedo the final stage where the philosopher's stone is forged. Judai and Yubel's first duel takes place in a desert (earth), their second they climb high into the sky, and their third they climb even higher until they are standing above the clouds fighting in an arena of air.

Sublimation is a whole new experience of self and reality, both being redefined. Judai's reconciliation isn't just Yubel, it's with the three faces of himself Prince Judai, Regular Judai, and Haou / Supreme King. These memories lead to Judai's eventual decision, to propose a union. This union takes place as the last chemical wedding, which is also a real wedding in everything but name.

Their entire duel contains elements from both japanese and jewish weddings (the three phantasms that Yubel utilizes in the duel against amon are based off of three kabbalistic angels so the jewish symbolism has already been used before).

A traditional Jewish wedding starts with drawing up a marriage contract (Spell Chronicle), and the bride paying out a dowry (the five cards Yubel banishes at the start of the duel). The wedding must be observed by a minimum of two witnesses (Shou and Ojama Yellow). During the wedding the bride circles the groom seven times (Yubel makes 7 successful attacks on Judai between their 3 forms, all others were negated in some way). At the end of the ceremony, the groom presents the bride with a ring (Judai giving Yubel Super Fusion), and a glass is broken to the cry of “Mazel tov!” (the glass window breaking in Samejima’s office). Finally the ceremony isn’t considered complete until the bride and groom retire away from everyone to ... consumate the marriage (Judai and Yubel leaving together). Source [HERE]

Judai attempts to use super polymerization card to start the process of alchemy (fusing the 12 dimmensions - there are 12 steps to Alchemy). However, Judai announces that the two of them are going to fuse together.

Judai and Yubel's quite literal fusion into one being is the formation of a hermaphrodite. From the essay of "Get your Gender On, Jaden Yuki and Yubel",

Art historian Arturo Schwarz argues that “the Great Work is but a metaphor” in which alchemists don’t create a Rebis but become a metaphorical Rebis themselves, as Judai does over the course of the series. By joining his soul with Yubel’s through “Super Polymerization,” he arguably becomes nonbinary like them. Even before literally fusing with Yubel, he gains “aurea apprehensio (golden awareness) of this marvelous reality: we are gods, because we all are man and woman at one and the same time.” 

Hermaphordadites are a recurring symbol in a lot of greek mythology, the name comes from Hermaprhoditus a son of Hermes and aprhodite originally born male. A female nymph fell in love swam to him in a pool and wound herself tightly around his body and begged the gods to never tear them apart creating the co-joined male and female figure the hermaphrodite. The parallels to Yubel and Judai are present, especially in them becoming entangled in one another.

One origin story for humanity is also that human beings were originally two headed, four armed, and four legged beings, combination of men and women, men and men, and women and women. However, they were torn apart into two seperate beings, and forever doomed to go searching and be reunited with their second half.

When opposites are finally reconciled, the great hermaphrodite is formed. Judai even refers to this as an act of finally purifying the light's corruption from Yubel's soul by uniting it with the supreme king's soul. The union is a purifying process, and the end of Yubel and Judai's long journey of losing each other and finding each other again.

However, in order to be purified they have to both let their old selves die in order to form something new, the final death but one they experience together. Just like the painting of the dismemberment of the solar king and lunar queen, they need to be torn apart and sewn back together again.

I don't care.

Yubel is finally moved, and all the anger between them is washed away by tears as they're finally allowed to grieve (as death is central to alchemy, so is grief, both are parts of life).

To signify the end of this journey, Judai falls to earth the same way Yubel did at the start of their story. However, while Yubel was suffering, all alone, this time Judai and Yubel are together.

[hothammies]

an analysis of clothes in st (part i) - the meaning of yellow within the party

so, this analysis is one that has been in the making since before s4 came out - i literally had to dig through old discord messages to look for what i was talking about two years ago. i'm hoping to make this into a series because i loved analyzing the outfits back then and i wanted to share what i thought about them! the costume designers put so much thought and effort into all the clothes and i'd love to try to understand why they chose what they did for specific moments. heads up! - this analysis series will mainly cover the party members. outfits are important within the entire context of the show as well, so i may include other group members from time to time. however, my primary focus on st has always been the party members, so i'm gonna be giving them the main focus in all of the posts.

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let's start with my favorite meaning for the clothes: yellow.

when party members wear yellow, they tend to be in situations where they are trying to fit in or act normal, typically when regarding relationships, but could also be within society, a situation, or in general. i have four examples of yellow being used as a signal that these characters are put in situations where they're trying to fit in / act normal - one of max, one of the entire party, and two of mike. let's start with max!

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example one: in s2e3, we watch max trying her best to fit in with the boys when dustin is showing them dart. despite her attitude when they first meet her, she obviously does want to be friends with these guys regardless. in this episode, max wears a yellow hoodie while all the boys wear variants of the same neutral grays/whites, dark blues and reds, showing the difference between max and the other party members. she has not "earned" her keep yet, and she's trying to fit in but she is not yet in the know of the upside down.

even el is wearing similar colors to the rest of the boys, another clear sign that she is "in" the party too, despite being away from them. they did something similar in the previous episode as well, where the boys + el wore matching costumes (boys were ghostbusters and el was a ghost), while max wore a costume that didn't have her fit in (michael myers).

all of the current party members have the colors gray, red and/or blue that tie them all together in that scene, so max's yellow hoodie makes her stick out like a sore thumb. a side note is that mike and will are the only members to have all three colors on them, and matching color outfits between couples tend to be common in the show.

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example two: in s3e1, the opposite happens. everyone in the party except dustin is wearing a combination of blue and/or yellow. dustin is wearing primarily green, which i will explain the meaning of in another post. all i'll say about it now is that the color green most likely has to do with being comfortable or confident in your own identity.

will, however, is a special case, because he was actually not wearing yellow in that scene, only blue and a stripe of red. personally, i thought it was to set up how will's growth that season wasn't completely about societal expectations regarding romantic relationships like the rest of his season group. his character arc was much more about having to grow up and understand change when he doesn't want to because of the trauma he'd experienced the previous seasons. this is actually also reflected in his clothes - will is the only one that season to not wear any new colors (he only wears the three primary colors -> red, blue and yellow) while the rest of the party got to wear both secondary and primary colors (mike wore teal, el and max wore many different colors, lucas wore purple, and dustin wore green + orange).

back to the party - in that scene, the couples also match each others outfits. mike and el's have the same color scheme, being mainly blues with a small hint of yellow, and lumax having the perfect blend of yellow and blue together. this may be a stretch, but its a possible hint to show that lumax fit together, while mike and el don't.

the party members that were dating each other wearing yellow that season was to show their attempts to act normal via relationships. season 3 was also the one that the duffers kept referencing as the summer of love, despite all the couples that season being dysfunctional.

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examples three and four: now, we're at the section of mike wheeler, my favorite closet case. he is the main reason as to why i noticed that there was a small pattern with the color yellow being used in the party's wardrobe.

i think we've all noticed that mike has a tendency to act very... straight when he's wearing the color yellow as his main color. this can be seen in both s3 and s4, especially during the episodes where mike is hyperfocused on his relationship with el.

when mike was wearing the first outfit in s3, he was searching for a way to make it up to el because he lied to her. though he was trying to act normal or learn to be normal for their relationship, he wasn't doing a great job of it. during that entire section, mike was going through the motions of learning how a straight man is supposed to act, with lucas by his side giving constant straight man advice. he was also not getting it.

now, onto what is possibly my favorite outfit in the entire series - mike's s4e2 outfit. first of all, he's wearing a yellow shirt over a purple undershirt, presumably for el because that's her favorite colors apparently. obviously, mike is not himself in this outfit, but he's trying to fit into this california tourist look for his girlfriend.

in this outfit, mike was trying extremely hard to only focus on being el's boyfriend and not will's best friend. we know how that went, and this outfit helped us realize how badly mike was doing trying to follow that mindset.

before s4, we were never given any indication that mike's style would be like this. michael wheeler should not be wearing an outfit that has a yellow hawaiian shirt, the color purple, a visor and sunglasses, and flip flops to top it all off. it doesn't fit his normal style that he's normally been shown wearing throughout the show, being button ups, polos, and for that season, black jeans and chuck taylors.

he was intentionally put in an outfit that did not follow his true identity. the shirt, thus the outfit and the het identity that mike was attempting to fit into, was literally called a "shitty knockoff" by argyle.

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i'm positive there are way more examples that can be used, but these are the ones that stuck out to me the most. i'll leave off with some ending thoughts:

we as bylers have always considered will's main color to be yellow, but from what i've noticed in each season, the majority of his outfits have blue, same as mike (matching couple's colors)! in fact, s4 was the first time where the majority of the season had will wearing yellow, probably because of how he was dealing with his crush on mike at the time. i'd like to point out that the main colors that lucas and max wear are also the same, being red.

i'd love to do another one of these, the next one probably being about the color green because i think i have a grasp on the reasoning behind that color. other than that, i still really need to analyze the colors of their outfits again because i think the party's clothes specifically are most indicative of their behavior. since they are the youngest group, they are the ones who are the most volatile and it's reflected in everything, especially their clothes!

[hurt-and-comfort-me-please]

My Views on Redemption

A while ago in a discord I posted this:

and then, a few minutes later:

So, @onlywhump , this is for you.

So what do I, an amateur writer, have to say about redemption?

A lot. The answer is, A Lot.

Let's start off with an explanation of what a Redemption Arc even is, because a lot of people don't really seem to understand;

I consider there to be four Arcs; (In simplest terms)

Redemption Arc - A bad person becomes a good person.

Realignment Arc - A good person from a bad place moves to a good place.

Reclamation Arc - An external factor made a person bad against their will, but they become good once again of their own volition.

Atonement Arc - A bad person repents for their actions and accepts the consequences without reconciliation.

These Arcs can be combined, or can be distinct. The differences lie in the conduct of the character undergoing the arc.

I will say this now, and I will say this later, too, in order to need redemption, a character must have done something horrible in their past. If your character wasn't ever bad, then they don't need a redemption, they need either a realignment or reclamation Arc.

Secondly, Forgiveness =/= Redemption, however forgiveness is often part of redemption stories due to its signalling that both parties have grown and moved past their mutual past. Obviously forgiveness isn't something to be expected of a victim, however in fiction it is often seen as closure for all involved.

Thirdly, there is no such thing as 'deserving' redemption. Redemption is not something that is given, it is something that is done. Everybody deserves to be a good person, the only thing that matters is if a character is willing to do what it takes to become a good person.

Fourthly, a redemption arc is not punitive by definition. Redemption is an interpersonal journey that results in mutual positive growth and reconciliation. If the character is punished for their actions and that is the end of it, it is an atonement arc instead.

Now, let's move onto what I feel to be the building blocks of a good redemption story:

Number 1: Backstory and Characterization

I believe that the single most vital aspect of a redemption arc is the characterization of the character being redeemed. When deciding if a character should be redeemed or not, you must look at their personality and see whether or not they are the type of person who would be willing to subject themselves to the humiliation, upturning, and reconstruction that comes with true positive change and taking responsibility for their actions.

That is not to say that a character's personality and views cannot change, but where they start is just as important as where they end up. When writing a character, you must consider what could convince a person to change, and what it would take to make them completely alter their worldview. It is also important to consider how the character came to those ideas, and how deeply ingrained they are.

If a character is unwilling to accept that they were wrong, don't care if they were wrong, or hate the heroes enough, they may be completely unwilling to even consider redemption. This can be true no matter who holds these views.

At the same time, if a character is willing to understand their wrongdoings and weather the storm of growing and getting better, then they are the ones who would end up redeemed.

There is no one-size-fits-all path for redeeming characters, as the nature of redemption is highly personalized. A character who is prideful and vain will have a much different path than a character who is more introspective.

Another important factor to consider before committing is support. People need support in order to improve themselves, and whether or not a character has the support they need can alter their paths considerably. Does the character leave everyone they've ever known behind in order to redeem themselves? Do they have a relative/friend on the side of good who is willing to help them? What does the character think of this?

A character without the aid of others may be liable to relapse, become morally or ideologically lost, or fall down a different spiral. This is natural, and falling for something does not mean that a character is irredeemable.

Finally, let even your most horrible and heinous characters have distinct and likable qualities. Let them be funny, let them be creative, let them be passionate, that way when they redeem themselves, those traits can shine through even brighter.

Number 2: Guilty Beyond the Shadow of a Doubt

I said it earlier, and here I say it again; If a character hasn't done anything wrong, then they don't need to be redeemed. If a character was always a good person, just on the wrong side, then it's a realignment arc. Your character MUST have done something horrible in order to warrant redeeming themselves, otherwise it's unnecessary.

What exactly the character has done while they were a villain is up to the writer, but know that whatever they have done MUST be addressed, and the severity of the event in question will directly effect the lengths the character must go to in order to redeem themselves.

Questions to consider:

Was it personal? Did the character do something specifically to spite someone else? Why? Who was it?

What was their goal? Did they achieve it?

Was it planned, or spur of the moment? Was it in a fit of rage, or carefully calculated?

How did the character justify it to themselves when they committed it? Do they consider themselves to be in the right?

What are the long-term ramifications of their actions?

How do others view these actions? Both heroes and villains?

These may help inform a reference of what the character has done, and what effect they have had on the world around them. This world of their own creation will be the obstacle that the character navigates during their redemption.

Number 3: Turning Point

In any redemption story comes the point at which the character in question comes to realize that they need to make amends for what they have done. There are a million ways to do this, and all of them are highly specific to an individual character.

Bottom line, this is the point at which the biggest change will occur. It will not be as easy as flipping a switch, it may take a lot of back and forth for a character to come to the final decision to change their ways. A character may even double down on their actions for a time in order to pretend that they don't feel guilty about it. Depending on the mental state of the character, one could expect a lot of self-hatred and bitter regret.

At the end of this point, the character will have to make up their mind as to whether or not they want to continue down the path they currently walk, and if they decide not to, then that is the first step of redemption.

Number 4: Growing Pains

It will not be a smooth ride. Growth is uncomfortable, it is sometimes painful, as will be the circumstances.

If a character has to leave their entire life behind, there will be a brief rock-bottom phase. Maybe nothing works at first and the character is convinced they've ruined their own life for nothing, but persistence is key. Again, how the character reacts to their new surroundings is entirely up to the character themselves. There is no set path.

Relapses are also powerful, a character may temporarily slide back into their old ways and sabotage themselves if they are stuck in a rut they don't feel they can escape.

Learning to deal with new and upsetting emotions such as guilt, shame, and self-loathing is to be expected, the character may struggle hard against these feelings. I'd almost liken it to the 5 stages of grief, but instead it is the 5 stages of guilt or something.

Depending on the ego of the character, they may even slip into the trap of blinding envy, inane jealousy of others who live without crushing guilt, or who are beloved when they are hated. They might even become actively self-destructive if their emotions become too much to handle, or they don't have the support necessary to properly express or process it.

But, that is not to say that it is only pain all the time, rather it is a rollercoaster of highs and lows. They might help save the day and be accepted by new people, and then they might make a selfish decision and cause a rift between them and the heroes. Really, as I have stated multiple times now, it depends on a number of factors.

This is the part when both a character's flaws and strengths are at their most potent, and using the strengths to work through the flaws is the goal. The flaws are not there to be undermined or defeated, they are there to be worked through and put to rest.

Number 5: Relationships and Forgiveness

To preface, I am aromantic/asexual, I am by no means a person to talk about romantic relationships, so I will keep talk of that to a minimum.

Relationships, old and new, are very important to redemption stories. Letting go of relationships and forming new ones, or reconciling and regrowing a relationship are beyond vital to positive growth. People need support, and with it they can open up and find a better way.

Ex-villains should be allowed to love and be loved should they find people willing to do so with them, relationships aren't exactly something to be deserved. Once a character becomes more likable, people will start to like them.

I say this now, as redemption and relationships/forgiveness can be a controversial discussion, that villains in stories are more often that not metaphors for real life happenings, and aren't meant to be taken at face value. Let it be known beyond the shadow of a doubt that what I am saying in this entire spiel is about fictional characters.

Forgiveness is not something that will be quick. Again, I say for the umpteenth time, it depends on the characters involved. Listen to your characters, what they want, if and how much they care about each other, and whether or not the character is the type of person to forgive at all.

Generally speaking, in redemption arcs in media, especially in media aimed at children, are often more simplified, and characters very frequently become friends with old enemies. This is typically because those shows are meant to be educational, and kids should be encouraged to apologize, make amends, and forgive each other. There is no problem with this.

Whether or not a character should be forgiven isn't exactly something I can explain here, it should depend on the themes of the story, the other characters and their arcs, and countless other factors. Forgiveness signals closure, and that closure may come in phases, don't feel pressured to rush it, let it come from the characters naturally.

TL;DR, Character is fate.

[thestupidhelmet]

What are your least favorite seasons for each of the main characters? Season 8 doesn't count for obvious reasons.

Hi! 😀

I'm going to start with favorite then least favorite (because I totally misread your ask 🙈).

Favorite

Red: Season 1.

Red's still gruff but more complex. He demonstrates his love and compassion for Eric directly in "That Wrestling Show" and "Grandma's Dead" without being emotionally constipated about it (that's a term I use for Hyde, too 😂). Same with Hyde in "That Disco Episode" and "Career Day". But he still does so in-character. After S1, the writers replied down on him being a hardass. Perhaps some humor was gained, but more was lost imo

Kitty: Season 2

Kitty shows her strengths and vulnerabilities this season. She is the sole breadwinner while Red's out of work and supports him through his emotional crisis about his joblessness. She becomes depressed at Eric's growing up (i.e. when Eric and Donna begin their sexual relationship).

Eric: Season 2

This choice was a little tough for me because I love how good a friend he is to Hyde in season 1 and how strong he is in season 5. But in season 2, he must learn to balance his ego, his insecurity, and his wants vs. respecting Donna and their relationship. Unfortunately, he doesn't learn the lesson fully enough.

Donna: Season 3

Donna grows in independence this season while her relationship with Eric remains an important part of her life. Eric's insecurity and resultant controlling actions ultimately push her away. I stead if pushing her anger (and wants and self) aside to protect Eric's ego, she finally puts herself first in a non-selfish way --

Except for her utter disrespect of Eric in "Backstage Pass" (which is the accumulation of her understandable resentment of him for trying to control her and hold her back; story-wise, it makes total sense and is completely set up for by the writing all season).

Jackie: Season 5

Jackie grows and changes significantly in this season. From bossy to communicative. From living in a superficial fantasy to appreciating the depths of reality. Hyde encourages her independence and ability to take care of herself financially as an adult -- and thus encouragement happens before she's forced by her parents to be financially responsible for the family's estate as a minor (her parents left her without any kind of adult guardian, family member, godparent, nothing).

She discovers her true strengths but overcorrects. She has to (re)learn how to let people support her.

Hyde: Season 2

Hyde's protectiveness of and support for Jackie in this season is e v e r y t h i n g . He starts helping her not because he likes (he doesn't and finds her personality abrasive) but because she's heartbroken and vulnerable and he believes helping her is the right thing to do.

Kelso, of Hyde's best friend, is not only responsible for Jackie's emotional state but also punishes her after she refuses to accept him back as her boyfriend. Hyde not only tries to get Kelso caught by Jackie, he also teaches her a method of protecting herself from bullying -- making himself more vulnerable to her by doing so (i.e. sacrificing some of his own mental-emotional safety for Jackie's).

Fez: Season 1

Fez isn't a joke but a complex character who's emotionally insightful. He's someone who's learning how to fit in with his American friends and sometimes overshoots. He doesn't yet suffer from Nice Guy syndrome and genuinely treats Jackie with kindness. He has the awareness and respect not to try to steal Jackie's affections for himself, despite believing he could.

He calls Kelso out on his bad behavior. His bond with Hyde is well-written, too.

Kelso: Season 6

Kelso demonstrates the most growth and change in this episode -- where Brooke is concerned. He leaves Jackie and Hyde alone now that he's interested in someone else (a selfish, self-interested release). He's still selfish with Eric and Donna, taking their toys without permission and destroying them. He tries to sabotage Eric's waiter job at the Holiday Hotel out of a sense of entitlement.

He doesn't reciprocate any of the friendship and support he's given except at the very beginning, trying to undo the damage between Jackie and Hyde he's partially responsible for.

All of that being said, he works hard at maturing for Brooke to prove himself a worthy romantic partner and father. He chooses a stable, albeit potentially dangerous, career. He respects Brooke's boundaries (although he does try to push them a little), and he ultimately lets Brooke and his child go because he believes that's what's better for them: his most unselfish act in the show.

Least Favorite

Red, Kitty, Hyde, Fez: Season 7

These four are almost unrecognizable from their canon selves in too many episodes. Fez is the worst written of the four. He's reduced to a punchline and punchline giver -- and his disrespect for women a d female friends is firmly cemented. (This transformation began at the end of season 4.)

Kitty is devolved from her intelligent, compassion character to a dumbed-down, alcoholic whose fear at Eric growing up and leaving home is transmuted into hostility and resentment toward Donna (but this transformation began in season 5).

Red is changed from someone deeply in love with his wife and has eyes only for her; has no interest in other women sexually, to the point of feeling guilty and scared when a teenage girl hits on him despite all his efforts to turn her away; to someone who acts like a put-upon husband in a terrible marriage, finds joy (and possible lust) in posing with two much younger car models.

Hyde goes from someone clearly deeply committed to Jackie in seasons 5 and 6 to someone who is now commitment-phobic, disrespects Jackie utterly in "Winter" and after she graduates high school. Breaks promises to Jackie. Shrugs instead communicating with her properly. This Hyde is incompatible with seasons 5-6 Hyde except in a select few episodes where he's written in-character (e.g. "On With the Show").

Jackie: Season 4

Jackie vacillates between being supportive of Kelso's potential success and utterly jealous and resentful of it (and him). She chooses her love for Kelso over money, tolerates his lazy approach to finding a job, gets a humiliating job herself -- and while her envy at his modeling gig is understandable under all the circumstances, her treatment of him is unacceptable.

Kelso: Season 5

First, I have to talk about his behavior in season 4, which leads to his behavior in season 5. Kelso's misogyny hits an all-time high in the second half of season 4, as does his hypocrisy and sense of entitlement. He makes a false equivalency between Jackie's one kiss with Todd, which she is tricked into and tells Kelso about almost immediately, to his months of sleeping with at least two other girls with no intention of ever telling Jackie about it.

He also, hypocritically, tries to see Donna's breasts while he and Jackie are in a relationship.

He becomes paranoid and possessive, stalking Jackie at work. He blames his cheating on Jackie's supposed mistreatment of him. But the specific incident he cites is never shown on-screen nor spoken about in season 1 when he first cheats on Jackie with Pam Macy. He claims men cheat "out of joy" while women cheat "out of hate" and that "girls don't even enjoy sex".

This attitude and behavior carries over to season 5. Where in season 4, Kelso is decent to Jackie during the first half, he's awful to Jackie (and Hyde) throughout the whole of season 5. While he's allowed to sleep with whoever he wants, Jackie's "allowed" only to pine for him in perpetuity and get occasional sex from Kelso as a consolation.

Upon learning Jackie isn't going to abide by Kelso's controlling, narcissistic, self-entitled rules for her life and, instead, found joy with someone else -- worse, one of Kelso's friends, he dies all he can to destroy her happiness. Not because he's in love with her but because of his wounded pride.

Kelso feels humiliated that Jackie is in a happy, fulfilling relationship with Hyde. This fact translates into Kelso's mind into other people believing he's not the hottest, most sexually skilled man in Point Place. Therefore, he must "steal" Jackie back to prove he -- not Hyde -- is the hottest, most sexually skilled man in Point Place.

The above, coupled with Kelso's possessiveness of Jackie, feelings of entitlement toward her, and misogyny, renders season 5's Kelso a completely unlikeable and unsympathetic character. He should've been kicked out of Eric's basement long before season 5, but Kelso's behavior this season -- in the real world with the friends he has -- would have clinched his ousting from the group.

Donna: Season 4

While I understand Donna's character development in this season, and believe much of it is set up well by previous seasons, this is my least favorite season for her. She is in an incredible amount of pain. It makes her self-destructive but also outwardly hostile. She jumps into another committed (for her) relationship rather than talking the time to heal herself.

Donna disregards Eric's own grief to distract herself from her own ("The Relapse"), with no regard -- or care -- that this might deepen Eric's grief. Only her feelings matter to her in this episode, and it's written as if the audience is supposed to agree with her.

Dating Casey is a way to narcotize her grief. But she bullies Eric with Casey. She snaps at Hyde and rejects his friendship when he tries to protect her. She agrees with Casey's rapey advice to Fez about Rhonda.

Yet, as I wrote above, much of her behavior is grounded in the show's previous seasons. As much as I dislike how she acts, I believe most of it is in character because of the specific stressors she's under. It's a shame T7S's writers didn't give her a chance to self-reflect on her season 4 choices and gain emotional clarity from them (beyond, "I was so stupid!")

[itsclydebitches]

Once again putting on my weekly Teddependent tinfoil hat...

Alright, with the ever important disclaimer that no, it's not likely to happen and it's never been likely to happen and it won't in any way be queer baiting when it kinda-inevitably doesn't happen out of the way, LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW "STRAIGHT" IS A MEANINGLESS DESCRIPTOR IN THIS CONVERSATION.

It's all about the ✨context✨

First off, as numerous posts have already pointed out, Ted is technically speaking in the past tense here: "back in the early days of my coaching career" was when he was a "straight fella." This obviously doesn't eliminate the possibility that Ted is still straight, but if he has come out as queer since then, acknowledging that would defeat the whole purpose of his story. He's not looking to come out during the halftime of an important match, but rather to emphasize how "normal" he was back then and, as a result, the ways in which he got creative trying to express his individuality. If Ted had instead gone, "Back when I thought I was straight but wasn't able express that part of my identity because I hadn't realized it yet and/or had been too afraid to come out in midwestern America" that's not only an iffy way to out your protagonist in a show that has treated queer rep very delicately this season... but also totally derails his story. Both in-universe (you want to give the characters time to react to this, especially a potential love interest like Trent who is in the room) and from a writing perspective (the whole point here is for Ted's story to impart the moral of the "right idea sitting behind a couple of wrong ones") then a coming out moment is going to fit awkwardly here and detract from the anecdote's purpose.

Thinking more broadly, do we honestly believe that Ted hasn't changed since those early days? This show is all about growth, so - for me anyway - describing a young, new-to-coaching Ted doesn't imply, "That's still a descriptor that fits him" but rather begs the question "How much has he grown since then?" Notably, two-thirds of what else Ted lists about himself is no longer accurate. He's not working in middle America anymore. In a linguistic twist, he doesn't have a career in "sports," but "sport." And though we have no idea (as far as I can recall) if Ted is still afraid of tattoo needles, he certainly strikes me as the kind of person who would work to overcome that fear, whether he actually wanted a tattoo or not. The Lasso Way, by default, impacts Lasso himself. And here I'm admittedly reaching, though I find it intriguing that Ted's potential growth is couched in a 'Close, but not quite' metaphor with that comparison. Meaning, Ted's point about his goatee is that he went too far and had to pull it back into a "Foxworthy." Kinda like how, living in midwestern American with all its expectations and homophobia, he might have gone too far into a 'I'm definitely, 100%, absolutely-no-doubt-about-it straight' identity only to later pull back into 'Actually? I'm bisexual.'

Notably, this is metaphorical change comes about when his best friend - Ted's closest confidant and the man he trusts most in the world, someone who is INCREDIBLY queer-coded - tells him a hard truth about what's "not a good look" for him.

On his wedding day.

Which he then proceeds to compare to eating Bigfoot's ass.

Like I said, reaching, but given the loaded metaphors in this show (Oh hey, what does it mean to label "sport" the metaphor and then gift Trent that nickname?) I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this was later reframed as more than just a passing joke.

However, the real point is that Ted has changed, a theme that's at the very heart of the whole show, but has been particularly prevalent the last two episodes. Trent freaking throws himself after Ted (WHAT A DORK) in an effort to explain how all these small, incremental changes have led to a monumental outcome - notably one that explicitly allows footballers and their associated club members to feel comfortable expressing all aspects of their identity, sexuality included. The idea that Ted has remained near-static since those "early days," growing only when it comes to what we've seen on screen (therapy, coaching, divorce, etc.) feels antithetic to the show as a whole.

Which brings me to the meta-y question of, "Why now?" Why, after nearly three whole seasons have we suddenly had Ted drop the "straight" bomb? Why is this coming after an explicitly queer episode with not one, not four, but FIVE queer characters re-affirming their queerness, coming out to each other, or coming out to the audience? One of whom is an older, thought-he-was-straight man who has only recently come out after being married to a woman? That's not at ALL the backstory fans were expecting for Trent and it just feels like a mighty big coincidence to me, giving us that surprising trajectory alongside a casual claim the next week that, 'The straightest straight character to ever straight has randomly reaffirmed that he's DEFINITELY straight (but with plausible deniability).' After all, the show never needed to address Ted's sexuality - the marriage and midwestern everything implied enough - and certainly his speech about individuality didn't have to use that as an example. Given how completely unnecessary it was, I'm inclined to figure that a) the writers - who I assume are fairly knowledgeable about fandom trends and fan expectations/desires - tossed it in as a way to let us all down easy (which is totally understandable and I'm sorry it didn't work on my part lmfao) or b) ... they want to lay the groundwork for a plot about Ted's sexuality. They want that nugget of implication to either undermine the, 'He's still straight!' assumption later, or take Ted through the process of questioning his sexuality now.

"But, Clyde, we only have 5 episodes left!" Yeah, fair, but the show also has a tendency to race through some development (in still satisfying ways) while allowing other aspects to simmer. Basically a Roy and Trent vs. Jamie situation. Jamie has had a series long journey, slow and steady to the point where it sometimes shocks you just how much he's changed. In contrast, outside of a little groundwork in season one, we introduced Roy's personal hatred of Trent, the motivation for that, their conflict, reconciliation, and budding friendship all in one episode. It is possible to do a lot of important work very quickly, especially when the show is potentially laying down hints along the way. That's why to all us queer folks, Trent coming out last episode wasn't in any way a surprise: we recognized the coding that was happening in the background. If Ted/Trent did somehow happen - either as an end-game romance or Trent acknowledging an unrequited crush - we'd likewise have a wealth of analysis going, "See! This has been in the works since 'I like your glasses'!"

(Btw, none of which is even getting into Trent's absolutely FERAL adoration of Ted this episode that reads like a crush the size of Kansas)

If I'm being honest, at this point in the series I don't think Ted is going to wind up with anyone. I never came into this show expecting my (back then) teeny tiny ship to have any chance of sailing... and really, I still don't. But I am surprised by - and excited by! - the potential the show keeps giving us, in a way that doesn't feel at all malicious to me. If (when) Ted and Trent part ways as just friendly dorks, I'll have come away from the series not feeling like I was delusional, but rather that the writers were saying, "Here, this is a cool concept. We like it. We support it! It's not what we personally wanted to write, but we're going to give you the tools to keep playing with that possibility." Which, you know, is pretty much what I'm doing right now.

So if hearing Ted say he's straight produced a little nugget of disappointment, take heart! Even if I'm just talking out my ass here, it makes for good canon-compliant explanations in fic :D

[fastcardotmp3]

Oh would you so kindly expand on your Murray/that plotline™ thoughts? Btw I didn't remember it as a cheating situation but since it's been so long since watching that season i was taking other people's word for it. And yeah i don't think Murray did anything even if it was. like he didn't make them have sex.

I started to type out an answer to this ask, forgot to save it as a draft, and lost all of my thoughts, so apologies if this is a little disjointed but! I will do my best to give my thoughts coherently <3

I really do think the Murray thing is maybe a mischaracterization of his intentions, but also not the thing I care most about when it comes to narratives that deal with Steve/Nancy/Jonathan situation in season 2, because at the end of the day it's just another reframing of the same tired take tbh

I'll stick it under the cut though because I know I can be wordy

There's this, like, company line in this fandom that Steve and Nancy were just two teenagers who hurt each other, which I one hundred percent agree with, only that tends to be the company line everywhere except for the Steve-centric fics that get written about that plotline, which instead seem to frequently make an argument that "Nancy cheated on Steve, was cruel enough to cause long-term emotional damage, and then either is forced to grovel for forgiveness or be shut out of his and his friends' lives forever" which is. Not that. Right?

Fandom cultures at large, not just this one, are more willing to do empathetic, in-depth character analysis of male characters than they are female. This is something we know to be true and this is something that is noticable in how Nancy gets treated by fanon, especially when it comes to her relationship with Steve.

Because here's the thing, we could debate it all day (and I won't, for the record, if anyone's thinking about starting a fight) but for my part, what she did wasn't cheating. From the very first time I watched season 2 when it was released, I always read the Halloween fight and the morning after as a breakup.

HOWEVER, even if Nancy did cheat on Steve? It doesn't warrant the downright malicious Nancy characterizations that often feel ubiquitous to this fandom.

Even if Nancy did cheat, there is a refusal to look at the situation from her point of view, something which even Steve is canonically able to do by the end of season 2 (we'll get to that). Because there's more nuance here to take into account than just Nancy making a choice to specifically hurt or break Steve and there's more nuance here than Steve being incapable of moving on from this breakup.

In fact, if you really look at the choices both of them are making, it has very little to do with each other and everything to do with their own reactions to immense personal trauma and grief. Nancy has spent a year suppressing a mourning she's not allowed to experience out loud, and you expect her not to snap eventually?

Does personal hardship mean cheating is, like, a good thing (if that's the takeaway you're going with from canon)? No. Does it still wildly differ from the cruel and intentionally malicious version of Nancy that shows up in far too much fic? Yeah.

She's a teenage girl whose best friend died in a violent and preventable way at sixteen years old. Nancy tried to fit herself into Steve's coping strategies, tried to let it all go back to normal, and was visibly hurting in the process. She sought out comfort. Understanding. A chance to be heard.

It's a disservice to both of their characters to treat this like there's a "good" and "bad" guy, when the way they handle it in canon, the way Steve comes to terms with it (literally within days he is telling her to go with Jonathan, by the way), is all vitally important to their growth.

When Steve says "I may not be a very good boyfriend" that's not about him being down on himself or having low self worth, it's a moment of growth and self reflection/ awareness for him to acknowledge that in his efforts to make himself feel better, he also hurt Nancy. It's about him no longer being in the same bitter headspace of "what am I apologizing for?" that he was at the start of the season, and having the maturity to see that they don't work as they are at their current mental states, no matter how heartbreaking that may be for him.

And Nancy choosing to go with Jonathan is really just a continuation of everything she was doing in trying to get justice for Barb-- she's choosing to follow her heart after being trapped away from acknowledging it for so long.

In other words, not only does he not have reason to, but Steve doesn't hate Nancy, Steve doesn't hold a lifelong grudge against Nancy, Steve doesn't think Nancy is a cruel and unfeeling bitch, but fic authors sure seem to.

If it were just a handful of fics here or there, I wouldn't be so adamant about it, but it's such an ingrained narrative in this fandom that sometimes I think people have genuinely forgotten the canon context.

Don't strip them of their agency and everything they learn from getting together and falling apart by making Steve less emotionally competent and Nancy more borderline abusive than either of them are.

It's boring and it's sexist and it shouldn't be the norm.

but that's just my 2 and a half cents peace and love anon, hope this answered your question <3

[glitterpensupremacy]

Alright, you all voted (in spite of my prediction) and so I am more than happy to deliver!

Adrien MTS

His character notes are organized into four categories:

1. General info

2. Personality

3. Key relationships

4. Planned character growth

(This post may be a bit long, so the rest is under the cut)

1. General Info

I‘ll start with the biggest overall changes:

Adrien now has an equal importance to the story as Marinette (they are both the main protags of the show). This is because MTS has certain relevant plot lines that wouldn’t work with Marinette as the POV character. For example, the Agreste family backstory heavily impacts him and his life, so making Marinette the focus doesn’t work. This change was also made because duality and balance are major thematic motifs in the show, and having two MCs was one of the best ways we could implement this idea. (Also he’s just a fun character to write plots around!) On average he and Marinette would get equal screen time, but it fluctuates depending on the particular story (ex: he has a slightly smaller role in season 2 since he has less of a connection to Lila, a major antagonist in that season).

We are also not using the SentiAdrien plotline. This is due to it not being confirmed as canon at the time we began conceptualizing MTS, so we didn’t include it. And now the story doesn’t have room for it and all all the other aspects of the series that are more integral.

2. Personality

Adrien, while still trying to be nice to most of the people he meets, is a lot less mild mannered than his OG counterpart. A bit like the OG show’s S1 Adrien, only slightly more chaotic. He’s generally cheerful, enjoys making jokes (mainly as CN) and trying new things, and affectionate with his loved ones. Freedom is very important to Adrien, and he’ll often go to great lengths to try to hold on to it. Sometimes Chat Noir tries to put on a bit of a “tough guy persona”, but often melts at the first compliment or gesture from his partner.

Adrien does have the tendency to be very assertive and a tad brash (especially in the first season) because he worries that any sign of weakness will cause others to want to make decisions for him to “protect him”. Similarly, he hates being put on a pedestal, especially when it causes others to dismiss any part of him that doesn’t fit the image they have in their head (basically him being a famous model has greatly impacted how he wants to be perceived with others). He also can’t stand it when people close to him (mainly his father and initially his brother) hide things from him and try to control his actions and behavior.

3. Key Relationships

This is actually only a couple of his relevant relationships, seeing as there are a lot of them in MTS. If you want to know about a specific relationship I didn’t mention (or want more detail on a one I did mention, feel free to send me an ask!)

Marinette: The two start off with a casual friendship, as Marinette doesn’t really care that he’s a model. This actually makes Adrien more interested in hanging out with her, as she’s someone who sees Adrien as a person rather than a celebrity. He doesn’t really see her in a romantic light (or at least realize he does) until toward the end of the show, but still values her a lot. He also won’t be as oblivious as the OG Adrien about Mari’s feelings, and even though he doesn’t reciprocate them (consciously anyway), he appreciates that she actually likes him for who he is.

Ladybug: These two sort of get off on the wrong foot. Partially because of their Kwami’s influence (we may have given them some issues for the plot) and partially because Chat initially thinks Ladybug is a lot like his brother, the two don’t really work together, and often quarrel. He gets very paranoid about her wanting him to go along with her plans (due to his fear of being controlled) and thinks she’s bossy. After the midpoint of the S1 though, they get to know each other better. He learns that she is very different from who he thought she was. Realizing that she’s actually a vulnerable girl trying her best to be a hero and do right by others, causes him to become more concerned about her wellbeing. The two will also start to confide in each other about their insecurities, and near the end of S1, he finally falls in love with her. (He’ll be a lot less outspoken about it than the OG though, due to an incident that happened prior to this.) He wants to be the hero partner she deserves first and foremost.

Felix: The twins were very close growing up, especially the death of their mother and their father becoming more distant, but over the years, Felix began to change. He started to treat Adrien more like their father does, which caused Adrien to feel betrayed by his brother. Initially their relationship is cordial, with a bit of resentment on Adrien’s side, which grows until it reaches a breaking point. The two end up getting into a (somewhat one-sided) fight, that Adrien comes to regret. Fortunately the two end up getting a bit closer after this, before finally resolving their issues in the season finale (Felix learns Chat Noir’s identity, which changes how he perceives his brother, and Adrien realized that there’s been more going on with Felix than he thought after he gets akumatized into Calamity). From there the two regain their lost relationship, and do anything for each other.

Gabriel: Adrien’s feelings about his father are… complicated. On the one hand, he understands how hard things have been for his dad after losing the love of his life. In the other hand, Adrien can’t stand the way he’s acted for the past several years: isolating himself from everyone else, constantly trying to keep Adrien locked away and micromanaged, never just being there for his son, which is all Adrien really wants. On the other other hand, Adrien has a much harder time speaking up to him than he did with Felix (because well, it’s much easier to rebel against your twin sibling than your controlling father), and still wants to see the best in his dad (both because he cares about him and because Felix showed Adrien that change is possible). Throughout the third season, Adrien is able to learn a bit more about Gabriel and even confront him for how he’s treated Adrien (and Felix, but that’s another post). His father even seems like he’s starting to change after this, but… let’s just say something goes wrong.

Nino: Adrien is instantly charmed by his new “best bro”, who tries to teach him a bit more about normal kids work. Adrien tries to inspire Nino to apply himself a little more, at least when it comes to things that are clearly important to him. The fact that Nino likes his jokes definitely boosts his spirits. Adrien does start to worry about Nino after the Bubbler, as Nino’s extreme reaction (seeing as people usually can’t be akumatized unless it relates to a core issue that’s been festering for years) suggests that there may be more to his “cool dude” best friend than he thought.

Other notable Adrien/Chat Noir dynamics (for better or worse) include Plagg, Alya, Kagami, Luka, Chloe, Mylene (it’s a long story), Emilie, and Hawk Moth (he is their nemesis after all).

4. Character Growth

Ah yes, the bread and butter of storytelling. Adrien receives two major character arcs in the series. One principally taking place during season one, while the other is much longer. (He also gets minor, non-arc related growth, but I’m highlighting the most important details)

Arc #1: Adrien undergoes some pretty major changes in the first season. He starts off as the usual sweet, sophisticated, “perfect” Adrien who tries to smile through the loneliness and suffocating rules. When he meets Plagg, he gets a change to show how capable he can truly be, while getting the power to free himself from these confines. He especially loves using his Prime Ability, Wildcat (his equivalent to the Miraculous Ladybugs) to do so. It essentially turns him into an unbeatable fighting machine! Unfortunately, this power is more than a mortal being can handle, and slowly chips away at his sanity, amplifying his feelings of anger and determination to be free. Plagg also eggs him on, warning him that giving up on using Wildcats will make him “weak again”, which will cause him to go back to being helpless and submissive (MTS Plagg and Tikki are kinda jerks at first). He realizes that it’s too much for him to handle in the first midseason finale, and renounces the power. This causes his body to fall into a state of withdrawal and fatigue that takes multiple episodes to recover from. During this time, he learns the value of stability, responsibility, and that he can be empathetic while also not letting others control him. His arc culminates at the end of season 1, where he unlocks the power to purify akuma, understanding that destruction can be used for good when maintaining an inner balance.

Arc 2: The seeds of this arc are planted from the beginning, as using Wildcat caused him to unintentionally become destructive and dangerous, but the episode Copycat is what launches the arc. Facing someone who looks exactly like you, has all of your powers, who you (unintentionally) lead to get akumatized does a lot to a person’s self esteem. Even though he hasn’t fallen in love with Ladybug yet, he cares about their friendship, so fighting an imposter who completely obsessed with her causes him to fear becoming the same way. Naturally this causes him to panic when he does fall in love with her, making him take longer to even admit how he feels about her. (He also struggles after she rejects him, but is more worried about her potentially being afraid of him than the rejection itself.) The New York Special also deals with his insecurities, as he almost quits being a hero due to not wanting to hurt anyone else. Fortunately Felix (who he tried to give the ring to instead) talks him out of it. Finally he manages to overcome his fears in the final season, after he faces his nightmare in Sandboy (that being a Ladybug who believes he’s a monster), and acknowledges that he’ll never be that kind of person.

Conclusion:

Alright, that finishes a (general) overview of Adrien’s character in Miraculous: The Series. To anyone who actually had the patience to read all of this, thank you for listening to my ramble (believe it or not but there’s even more details I could have mentioned!)

Marinette is gonna be the next character I talk about (idk when I’ll actually write her notes out, but she is next) as a planned post. After that… I’ll probably either discuss the MTS love square, Tikki and Plagg’s changes, or one of the fabled Season One trio characters (Alya, Chloe, or Felix). As for now… stay miraculous!

[anthurak]

Okay so uh...

Some things to consider about some information revealed in both before the Dawn and Beyond:

The Tree has appeared to Sun in his dreams. It hasn't done this for any other Faunus in the show.

He knows that Team RWBY are still alive, in spite of all evidence to the contrary.

If the hooded girl really is Star Sansang, he looks nothing like his cousin.

Speaking of, he was raised by his cousin, but we never learned how he lost his parents.

In spite of learning not to ditch his teammates TWICE, neither time seems to have stuck.

His morality is very close to the morality of the "tamer" Afterans.

Afterans can only change by Ascending.

So I'm not saying Sun IS an Afteran with absolute certainty, BUT I also wouldn't be surprised if it turned out he was from the Ever After.

Alternatively, if the Faunus are the result of humans going to the Ever After and Ascending, Sun could be part of that "first generation", but simply arrived when he was needed most (in the present day as opposed to the early days of civilization).

Y'know, either/or.

Okay, I'm sorry to say this, but I think you're reading WAY too much into Sun's visions in BTD.

Sun sees A tree, not the Tree. None of the descriptions of the tree in Sun's visions really fit the Tree of the Ever After. Even the context of the visions don't really fit with Sun seeing the Ever After Tree;

Sun's visions aren't these grand, dramatic instances of him witnessing something that must of great importance far beyond himself. Instead they are very small, personal and quite intimate occurrences that are this core part of Sun's personal growth, journey and character. I mean it's outright stated that it was following the tree that led Sun to discovering his semblance.

Which doesn't really track with Sun's visions being some hint to this grand, earth-shattering reveal as to the origins of Sun/the faunus as a whole. It really more feels like a hint to something very personal to Sun, like a potential evolution to his semblance.

Again sorry, but I'm just not seeing any connection here.

[thehumanversionofthishellsite]

may or may not have stayed up all night reading this book as soon as I could get my hands on it but anyway I have some thoughts and most of them are screaming.

I really loved the book. Did it have flaws? Yes. Do I care? No. I'm 22, the targeted age range is something like 10-16. When I first got into this series I was the same age as nico. It's been a long journey getting older and changing and healing. Seeing that for Nico was all I really wanted from this book.

Also, realistic relationship struggles and growth!! Loved that!! Having a chronic illness is hard, your partner watching you suffer with it is also hard for them!! Having conversations and misunderstandings and awkward moments is how it goes!! After being in a 3 year relationship with someone I love very much I'm like,,, yes!! Thank you!! I have lifelong chronic illness!! It's not going away I gotta learn to live with it it's a part of me!! My partner struggles with it but is trying so hard and I love them so much!!! But I'm so much more than a pile of suffering and that's the point!!! You choose to keep trying and that's the point the book makes!! there's a whole scene about it and it's so important!!! Will starts to be more accepting and understanding and we love to see it! Nico accepts he needs to let himself move on and that it's ok to do that and not be angry with your past self for trying to stay alive!!

I make no sense and I don't care. But also, they're cringey and memey and dumb. They're hysterical and going a little bit crazy and they love each other and like, I'm not ok. Neither are they. Its been an extremely stressful week for them.

And I don't think it's super out of character because we barely know these people!! Nico has been suffering and in survival mode almost the whole time we have known him!! Will has been a background character most of the time!! Nico was a bubbly 10 year old and Will was like 4 sentences. Nico has made occasional/awkward/dark jokes and Will was shown to be stubborn and concerned and caring because demigods are ridiculously hard to keep alive. Let them be weird and cringey they're literal teenagers. Have you been in a high school with people obnoxiously dating. They are. The worst.

Broke: camp is empty because people wanna see their families

Woke: camp is empty because will and nico are just that couple who are cringe 100% of the time and everyone just noped out

I know I keep getting sidetracked but. Point is. nico and will seem out of character because of circumstances and time skips probably. Nicos finally in a stable place and can actually process things, mans is curious about the world he's in no wonder he's a memelord the internet just does that to you. People change when they're not in survival mode, I definitely am not the same person I was when I was 16. Not even the same person I was when I was 18. Or 20. Like, mental health glow ups bring out some of the best parts of you.

AND THANK YOU PIPER I FEEL SO SEEN RN, don't know what label I fit under, I am confusion but it's ok!! I am a big ole ace spectrum mess and maybe tomorrow it'll be different! Either way the book had a lot of great moments and no it's not the same as old rr books but it was never gonna be, the nostalgia associated with the original pjo series means nothing will ever live up to those books and that's kind of just life for some of yall. fuck knows I crave the joy I felt playing crash bandicoot for the first time. I miss that time of my life and it's ok to miss that but it's also ok to move forward and find new things that bring life joy and meaning!!

anyway. I enjoyed the sun and the star and I will continue to enjoy it regardless of what other people think, I can like things just because I do, or just because they make me happy. And this book definitely made me happy. Also holy fuck I need some sleep. Sorry about all the exclamation points it's all that's keeping me awake!!

[whenthegoldrays]

You mentioned you think about scripting Mansfield Park or North and South, and it made me remember an idea I concocted one for how to open/structure a MP movie or series. The concepts are probably trite and demodé at this point, but I think they have potential in this case.

It would open with a young Maria, Julia, and Fanny at their school room for a lesson, Fanny failing to answer correctly on something she never was taught about, and being humiliated by her cousins.

Then it would transition to Fanny at the room she shares with Susan in Portsmouth later in the novel. She might, for example, be looking at the window and have a book Edmund gave her open on her lap, at his handwritten dedication (a quote about strength would be apropos). Susan comes in for another study session (bonus points if it is the same topic as the first scene, but presented in more depth or with more accuracy), but then she asks about Fanny's life at Mansfield, and that would be the closing of the opening of the adaptation.

I know narration is a bad word these days, but I think it could work really well here, because Fanny would tell Susan of an event in one way, but we'd see how in reality it was in a different, harsher way -Fanny is trying to protect/be grateful to her relations. It reveals character, and it can also create funny contrasts like Fanny mentioning the quiet kind intimacy of her evenings spent with Mrs. Bertram, and what we see is Mrs. Bertram snoring on the couch with pug on her lap as Fanny does her worsted work for her.

I thought of both opening and narration as ways to show front and center Fanny's growth and her at her moment of, paradoxically, the most agency and authority, in her relationship with Susan, and then preventing her from sinking into the background -fitting for the "I was quiet, but I was not blind" character. I think it also highlights the theme of education, that is so important to the novel, and would give more urgency to the events later on Fanny's Portsmouth visit and afterwards, which are A) the most thrilling B) those where the family begins to realize Fanny's importance and value to them. I mean that we'd be experiencing them with Fanny rather than through Fanny as before. Oh, it would also make Henry's Portsmouth visit more shocking, as Fanny is not privy to the scene where Henry discusses all her excellencies with Mary.

So, hmm, that's my idea, IDK what you think, but I had to share XD

wow I love this idea! it’s kind of giving me the mental image of Goob’s “they all hated me” as the flashback shows that everyone thinks he’s cool, but with Fanny it’d be the inverse. you get the sense of Fanny kind of wincing when she gets to a particularly painful point in the story and trying to gloss over it or soften it while the reality is much worse.

(this as an antidote to Fanny trash talking the Bertrams to Susie in 1999 my beloathed)

and you’re right, the narration also works best because so much of Fanny’s character relies on her inner thoughts. it’d be a bit of a challenge to find the right balance of Unreliable Narrator Fanny and Most Observant Person in the Room Fanny, as well as the right balance of stuff she leaves out of her tale but is still shown vs. what isn’t shown at all (such as Henry’s perspective of falling in love with her), but with some good brainstorming and trial and error, I think it would be very good!

your idea also somewhat reminds me of (sorry!) Little Women 2019, with the flashbacks to their childhood being interspersed with the second half of the story until after Laurie’s proposal, at which point we return to the present and experience the rest of the story in “real time.” so it’d be a similar thing here. oh, we’d also have to decide how much (if at all) Susan might interrupt the narration to give her own comments on it, possibly expressing skepticism or concern about the more dubious parts of the story.

honestly, this gives me so much to think about and I love it!! thanks so much for sharing it with me!

[i-heart-hxh]

Hi,.....if you don't mind me asking, can I ask your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from Hunter x Hunter? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Sorry if you've answered this question before....Thanks....

I'm happy to answer, thank you very much for asking! I'm indecisive and overflowing with love for HxH, so doing rankings is a challenge for me, but I put some thought into it and here are my answers for now!

Top 5 Characters:

5. Biscuit Krueger -- It's fun how Bisky isn't at all what you'd assume when we meet her character (in a few different ways), and I love her sassy attitude! She has a lot of different sides to her, and I find her very entertaining. Her strong personality makes how she plays off other characters especially amusing. I like that she can be somewhat cranky, self-serving, and rude at times, but she also has a softer and caring side to her. I look forward to seeing more of her role in the current arc!

4. Neferpitou -- I adore Pitou's design, and the combination of how sinister and also cute they are simultaneously, which is fitting of a very powerful cat (ant). I enjoy their mischievous and playful side as well! Their growth as a character throughout Chimera Ant Arc is so moving to me, and such a vital part of the arc and the message of the series as a whole.

3. Kurapika -- He's a great second protagonist for the series! The dichotomy of the brutality and darkness of his revenge/recovery mission and what succeeding at that requires from him, and his underlying gentle and polite demeanor are interesting to watch play out. I'm both excited and nervous to see what Togashi has in store for the rest of his arc...

2. Gon Freecss -- He's only very, very narrowly in second place, I adore him deeply and he and Killua are undoubtedly my two favorite characters of all time (from anything). I love how he initially seems to be a normal, cheerful, and strong-willed shounen protagonist, but as you go further in the story and look deeper into his character it becomes increasingly clear how unique and well-written he is. There's so much nuance to him and he's such a fulfilling character to explore and think about, I never get tired of it. Plus, of course he's adorable!

1. Killua Zoldyck -- I mean, who doesn't love him? He's such an incredibly multidimensional, fun, heartwrenching, fantastic character. His emotional growth throughout the series is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in a piece of fiction. His character design is so simple and yet so precious and iconic. There are tons of little touches to his character that contribute to making him feel so well-rounded and genuine. He and Gon utterly captured my heart my first time through the series and haven't let go even slightly.

Honorable mentions: Leorio, Alluka, Senritsu, I could go on and on... Togashi is a master at writing characters!

Top 5 Series Moments:

5. Gon and Killua on Whale Island -- I absolutely love the Whale Island episodes/chapters, they're such a reprieve from the many harrowing things going in the series otherwise, and it's wonderful to see Gon and Killua becoming closer. Their talk under the stars is such an important moment for them, setting the tone for their relationship going forward. I love thinking about all the fun they must have had that we don't see when they're on Whale Island, because they were there for a while and we only see a bit of it. These episodes/chapters are something I come back to a lot for comfort, and in the future I'm hoping we'll get another scene that echoes the scene under the stars...

4. "It has to be Killua." (From the dodgeball match.) -- There are so many layers to this scene, I love the complexity of it. From Gon's romantic-coded words towards Killua, Killua's very non-platonic response, and the contrast with Killua getting hurt on Gon's behalf, but it's because of Gon's respect for Killua's desire to help him at all costs... It's difficult to even summarize all the layers of what's going on without going deep into meta, it's a great microcosm of both the love and trust between the two, and some of the issues between them beginning to pop up, too.

3. The initial confrontation between Gon and Pitou/"It has nothing to do with you." -- The intensity of this scene is off the charts, both in the manga's incredible inked portrayal and the 2011 anime (with some of the absolute best voice acting I've ever seen in the hundreds of anime I've watched). Watching Gon lose control the way he does is chilling, and meanwhile we witness Pitou's growth as a character and the deep pain and conflict Killua faces. It's a difficult read/watch for sure, but an absolute turning point in the series and for the characters involved, and it's brilliantly executed and tragic.

2. Meruem and Komugi's lover's suicide -- This scene has made me cry hard so many times, it's beautiful and iconic and the absolute perfect climax to the Chimera Ant arc. One of the best and most heartwarming/heartbreaking scenes simultaneously I've ever seen.

1. "Gon, you are light." -- This scene was a major turning point for me when I watched the series the first time, and I still think it's an incredibly amazing and painful scene that says so much with so little. It's not just about Killua's increasingly hard to deny love for Gon, but also his self-esteem issues and how he sees himself in comparison to Gon, Killua's guilt over what happened to Kite, his denial of the cruel reality of what's happening because he deeply wants to see the optimistic way Gon does... And then of course with the scene going straight to Pitou holding Kite's decapitated head, it's really a gut punch.

This was difficult for me because there are SO many fantastic moments in HxH, I could easily make a top 20 or 30 and still not run out of scenes I adore. Of course, loving Gon and Killua's dynamic as much as I do, I go back to their scenes over and over again, and so that's what I'm focusing on here in my ranking. But there are tons of scenes not centered around them at all or only centered on one or the other that I also deeply love, and it's hard to leave all those out!

Thank you for asking my opinion! As hard as it is deciding on rankings, it was fun to think this over and write out some of my reasons why.

[naranjodelirado]

The process of “finding” your personality type and how it relates to who you are.

There are many ways to find our personality type. There are professional or “official” tests, there are tests focused on the cognitive functions, we can watch YouTube videos about MBTI in general or about any of the 16 types. We can also read Carl Jung's original theory and we can familiarize ourselves with other ways to type people like socionics or the enneagram. There's more than enough information online to figure out what our personality type is. That's also the reason why it can be so hard for many of us to know what our type actually is, since there are so many aspects of personality to understand and consider.

Obviously, the more we try to find exactly what our type is, the deeper we need to go into the theory of the system (or systems) we are using. It's not enough anymore to just take one or two tests and choose the type we think is most like us. If we keep trying to find our exact type so we can be 100% sure that's the best possible description of our personality, we could actually lose ourselves in the process.

Personality types are more known today (2024) than ever before. Also, younger people have more access to all this information than the previous generations. One negative consequence of this could be that they identify with a certain type too quickly, in the sense that they don't think much about if they really are that type and also in the sense that they are still too young to be any specific type, their personalities are still forming.

When can anyone be sure that their personality is “complete”? At what age can we say that we have lived enough, we have made enough decisions and we have had enough experiences to know that we are this particular way? What about change? What about growth?

Perhaps the reason why some of us can't seem to find our personality type is that we are still figuring out who we want to be. It is possible that we are not so “solid” yet, we are still fluid, flexible. That can also be the reason why we are so attracted to personality types in general. It's easier and more fun to take tests online and study this theories and compare ourselves to famous people or to our favorite characters than to “solidify” who we are in real life, interacting in a more “concrete” or direct way with the world.

Only those who have lived their lives in a specific way for specific reasons for a sufficient amount of time and are also aware of these things can be certain that their personality type is that one and no other. We need to live our lives and know ourselves in order to find our personality type, not viceversa.

We shouldn't worry about what our type might be or if we really are the type we said we were. We should focus on living our lives being true to ourselves, we should focus on making our decisions in the most authentic way we can. If we do that, then with time it will become obvious that we are certain type and we could finally accept it and be sure of it because we know who we are. Maybe the questions in the tests will be easier to answer. Or maybe we won't care anymore about personality “types” and we'll move on to more important things.

There is one last aspect about this whole dynamic of finding your “type” and being yourself I will mention. We can never escape who we are. Even if we are trying to be like someone else, trying to “fit” into a certain description, that also is part of who we are. Even if we don't think about who we are and we live life just by being reactive or impulsive, that's also telling us who we are, what kind of personality we “have”. For example, I'm not sure what my type is, and perhaps any of the 16 types could write something like this, but there are definitely some types for which it would be more likely and some for which we would not consider it most of the time. If we think about most of our decisions and actions in this way, our type will appear.

Finally, it's always easier to type others than to type ourselves. So maybe it's not that we are not ourselves yet, perhaps it's not even that we don't know who we are or we're unaware of it, maybe we just don't want to accept who we are, or at least certain aspects of ourselves.