#the other Emma

[flower-blossoms654]

Each time I think about how they took out the Goldy Pond arc, I get so angry. Cause like not only was it a good ass arc, getting rid of it takes out something integral to the story as a whole, that I just don’t think they realized/cared about:

The validation of Emma’s beliefs.

Emma is established to be this happy-go-lucky character right? And as the children are still in Grace Field, you see that she still keeps this demeanor while juggling the new graveness of the situation she is in. While losing some of her naivety, she still shows herself capable of being someone hopeful for the future who will not let her circumstances get the better of her. The most important part of what makes this WORK for her character (instead of making it annoying and unrealistic) is the fact that she both acknowledged and experiences the tragedy of the world she is trying to be hopeful in. It’s not some little girl being like “I believe everything’s gonna be fine! Sparkles and rainbows!” while being shielded from the darker parts of the world. It’s a little girl who looks in the face of the darkness and that terrible world and is in the MIDST of it. It’s a little girl who found the dead body of her younger sibling and was faced with the reality that her whole life was a lie. It’s a little girl who realized her whole family was going to die and fought to grab onto her hope despite how overwhelmingly bleak their situation was. She knew and yet she didn’t hesitate to believe that they could escape. She knew and still wanted to yell to the world that she was going to save EVERYONE. Seeing someone so unwaveringly hopeful even after being hit with devastating loss and despair is like a beacon for anyone else struggling to keep surviving. Emma is lovable for how she loves—how her hope and determination stands fast in the face of adversity and still goes forward even as more events threaten to shake and bend it.

For whatever reason season 2 was changed the way it was (I’ve heard many things)(if it was because of the guns then WHY pick up the anime in the first place bc you derail EVERYTHING) it could never stand completely without Goldy Pond.

Goldy Pond is in plain terms Emma’s defining arc. It seems to be pushing forward a question whose answer will define the rest of the series.

“Who is Emma?”

Not as she is with her siblings. Not as she is when there is her family there to keep her going. Who is Emma, and how will she grow from here on out?

Goldy Pond is the first time Emma is “alone”. She has none of her siblings around her and she is in an unfamiliar environment, with people she does not know. People by all means unconnected to her when she has a family to get back to and protect.

But Emma doesn’t treat them that way. She cares for each stranger she meets, jeopardizing her safety by using herself as bait—by charging forward into battle to protect them and change the demons’ focus. As the arc progresses and she meshes herself into the other children’s ranks, treating them as family as well, it seems to be clear what the answer is. As she serves as a distraction in this main fight. As she reminds them of details of HOW they can win this fight even when there seems to be no hope left. When she gets empaled and STILL takes a shot to kill Duke Leuvis.

Emma is hopeful and kind and self-sacrificing. She treats strangers as she would treat her family, and cares for all lives the same. She is so overwhelmingly forthright and sincere in her emotions and love, that you can’t help but want to support and follow her. That is who Emma is. She is not naive. She has seen death and battle and bleak circumstances but still rises to the challenge EVERY time — and most importantly this time was the bleakest so far. This time she was “ALONE”.

She has the experience behind her to make her care for all things “valid”. This is not a silly, childish little girl not knowing all the different aspects of her declarations. She says they will survive and you can take her for her word because she knows what it’s like to be near death. But specifically and more crucially for Goldy Pond (and therefore the rest of the series): Emma says that she wants to save demons. And with Goldy Pond, you can take her word for it.

When Norman declares that his way of saving everyone is to have a demon genocide, the most important part of this is that we as the readers support Emma and her viewpoint (that the demons should not be killed.) Her viewpoint is valid in the manga because of what she has gone through. Emma says she wants to save demons and we can take her for her word because she has experience at the hands of some of the worst cruelty from demons possible. She and other children were hunted for sport. She was placed in a mockery of a sanctuary and hunted down for demons entertainment—not for the demon’s hunger or survival but for FUN. And she still turns around and says that she believes there are GOOD demons.

Without this, Emma has nothing in her experience for her to stand toe to toe with Norman’s beliefs. She looks like a naive, silly child trying to justify a foolish dream when she has experienced nothing of the world. It’s practically an insult to Norman and his experiences and it doesn’t give off what it should to the watcher. How are we supposed to believe in Emma (and go against a GENOCIDE) when it seems as if the writers want to paint that the genocide is the reasonable answer (when it fucking ISNT). And this is all because without Goldy Pond, Emma doesn’t have the experience to be meaningfully hopeful. She can’t properly value her positive experience with Mujika because she doesn’t not have a big enough negative experience to weight it against (and gracefield isn’t good enough bc Norman has gone through more than that). For Emma to have weight, she needs to be able to weight the good and the bad and STILL choose good. To still choose to be hopeful and caring.

Getting rid of Goldy Pond got rid of such an important foundation of Emma as a character and I can never forgive them for that.

[baby-girl-aaron-dessner]

“There is a childish juvenile level to us that comes to life in those moments. You saw Olivia Cooke bite her nails and become childlike as Alicent, you saw Rhaenyra become this brat at times…those are choices the actors made.” 

— Dir. Geeta Patel

[creepst-crypt]

The other woman

[nataliescatorccio]

"I've just seen the way you've handled all this with so much grace and kindness. You're so surprised, just when I think you're at capacity you find something really beautiful in a situation that gives you so much joy and energy that I'm just like, 'wow'." - OLIVIA COOKE

"It's funny how much I speak about you. I suppose when anything happens I just sort of crave to know how you're looking at it. And there aren't that many people in my life that I feel that about. You have such an unusual and brilliant and delightful way of seeing the world that I crave to know what you're seeing often." - EMMA D'ARCY

[ricky-mortis]

Hatchetfield Character doodles from the past week :)

[the-shy-lonely-weirdo]

I like “Shame Wedding” and “Bi Fiddleford” as much as the next guy, but I feel like this headcanon needs more attention.

Suggestive Bonus:

[chipthekeeper]

Happy two years of Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke on our screens as Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower!

[spiderliliez]

Their most memorable, stressful and challenging shoot. EMMA D’ARCY & OLIVIA COOKE Interview by GQ and Private Parts

[+] EMMA D’ARCY [GIF Collection] ✨ [+] COOKIE [GIF Collection] ✨ [+] ..more on “House of the Dragon” 🔥

[kandismon]

totally lore accurate swanqueen screencap redraws 1/∞

i'm trying to learn how to draw emma and regina and figured just kinda redrawing some screencaps is the best and most fun way haha

bonus:

[runningmunson]

At the end of the day, I hope the actors know none of this is on them when people are upset or don’t like this season. They carried the show and their characters on their own when the writers clearly don’t understand any of them.

They were all perfect in every way.

[rainbowwonderlandsblog]

Yoko: So, how drunk did you guys get last night?

Wednesday: Enid tried to burn our marriage papers. She said, "Good luck returning me without the receipt!"

Divina: *dying of laughter*

[razmerry]

x-nyan: first clan

Wolverine and Nightcrawler

Angel

Mystique and Juggernaut

Darwin

Sabretooth

Forge, Jubilee, and Dazzler

Cable and Deadpool

Kitty Pryde

Storm, Psylocke, and Havok

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch

Beak, Callisto, and Caliban

[lucyllawless]

[rohirriiim]

Rhaenyra Targaryen and Daemon Targaryen with Vermithor 2022-2023 | HOUSE OF THE DRAGON

[wickerfox]

"You know, I see you in here all the time. What's your name again?"

[fo1k1oresque]

emma and julian are actually so freaky WHAT DO YOU MEAN you were reciting bible verses /your parabatai oaths to each other right before you were about to fuck