#there's actually much more left to analyse and interpret

[anukkuna]

Day 10: Favorite bond in Spatort

I'll give the cliché answer and go with 'Leo and Adam'. After all, it's a major part of what got me into watching Spatort in the first place.

Also: Emphasis on Adam's side of the bond, 'cause I personally feel like I get him more and I like the whole conflict that evolves around returning to his home town and his childhood best friend.

So, things I'd like to mention: Adam obviously googled Leo from afar. He deliberately applied for the position in Saarbrücken. So, most likely, he regularly searched for "Leo Hölzer" online. Did he even become a police detective because of Leo?

"Als ich das Tauschgesuch deines Kollegen gesehen hab', hab' ich sofort zugesagt."

- Adam, Das fleißige Lieschen

But some things strain their bond and continue to do so for quite a while.

At first, on the roof in Ep. 01 (after the arrested Weißer) Adam tells Leo to just forget what happened, but over the course of the episode it becomes clear that it's not as simple as that (an important motif of this episode is that you cannot completely bury your past, no matter how hard you try).

Then Roland wakes up and Adam tries to protect Leo by not telling him, but that backfires as well. He needs to work together with him.

Adam truly seems terrified when he realises Roland remembers that it was no ordinary accident in the garage 15 year ago and that Adam and Leo tried to kill him back then.

We see them rekindle in HdS though. Leo decides to trust Adam and they get him out of prison at the end.

For a moment, we get a happy and hopeful ending, seeing how relieved they both are after the King is dead.

But this kind of peace only ever lasts so long... Next we get the end of KdE and the whole money-situation. Adam, once again, doesn't tell Leo - this time about the money. Ffs Adam... he is such an idiot. He also doesn't tell him about the attempted robbery and threat by Moritz Leimer and only reluctantly come clean about that.

Leo: "Warum meldest du das nicht? Oder erzählst es zumindest mir?"

- Leo, Die Kälte der Erde

It's not good, admittedly, but from Adam's perspective, I feel like this is all because he wants to keep Leo out of trouble. He sees how hard the past has been on Leo and how hard he finds it to forget... so his solution is to work around him. Try to keep him out of the heat. Protect Leo because Leo always put other people first and forgets to protect himself in doing so.

Don't get me wrong. Adam is a dumdum. More than that - what he does ist bad and dishonest and, regardless of one's intentions, it can easily be read as distrusting, careless and hurtful by the people who get left out as Leo does. But I'd still defend that intentions rightfully change how one should evaluate an action. Intentions aren't just add-ons - they provide necessary explanations to actions and I don't think one should fully evaluate an action, by only looking at it's consequences.

Also, I am sure that, regardless of all his secrecy and struggles, Adam would never abandon Leo again.

[under-lore]

The effects of LOVE are quite overstated.

It has been quite frequent to see the concept of LOVE mentioned by Sans in his judgments being interpreted as a force progressively depriving the person possessing it of all empathy or judgement until they are rendered into practical killing machines whilst approaching the cap of 20.

Whilst there are some truths to part of these concepts, interestingly, extrapolating implicit data from the game suggests that the effects LOVE have on a character's personality, whilst existing, are not as significant as they are generally believed to be.

Let's do a proper analysis of what we can say of LOVE's effects based only on the in-game content :

First, aside from Sans' words about it, do we dispose of any clear cut examples of changes relating to LV to analyse ?

That might seem like a silly question, but some of the lines that are often attributed to LV-induced personality changes turn out to not actually be LV-dependent once you check the game's code.

For instance, the narration of the bag of dog food is decided through kill count, not LV, meaning that it possible for instance to get the 'pessimistic line' despite not gaining any LOVE, and thus, this line cannot be attributed to changes related strictly to LV gain and isn't very useful to us here.

Actually, the amount of direct evidence we see of it having any effect at all which we can be certain off is quite small. But such a thing does exist via interactions relating to this dummy :

LV1 :

LV2+ :

LV5+ :

LV 8+ :

The only factor involved in deciding which of these lines will appear after deciding to punch the dummy is LOVE, it is notably distinct from other similar interactions like those mentioned above which tend to be governed by some variation of a kill count or a check regarding wether particular characters were killed.

As similar LV can be reached through killing various amount of monsters or varieties of monsters, unique or not, no equivalence can be built between the required LV for each of those interactions and particular character(s) or amount of monsters required to be killed to reach said LV.

We can thus only take the code of the game at face value and conclude that those changes are strictly caused by changes dependent on the influence of the LV we've gathered in our route so far.

The first pattern that can be established is that the narration in the left column reports Frisk punching the dummy with increasing levels of strength following our command as LV increases.

In the right column, there is a split between the four lines in the middle regarding the way the narration reports it.

The first two lines are narrated in the more common style, notably, explicitly reminding us that the actions or thoughts presented are Frisk's by refering to them as "you" as the subject of the sentence.

Those first two lines describe Frisk going from regret to a form of hesitant apathy regarding the fact that they've just punched a dummy as LV grows.

The latter two lines, however, mark a change in the narration type.

The "you" is dropped, and the thoughts presented are instead presented in a declarative form. This form is often used for first person affirmations, but can also be used outside of it in order to showcase a strong emotionally-driven reaction.

This ambiguity is particularly relevant here, as it blurs the line between wether those thoughts are Frisk's, the narrator's, or both. A detail that gains much importance under the NarraChara theory.

That being said, this nuance leads to a similar conclusion regarding LOVE in either case :

If the thoughts are fully Frisk's, then the last lines have Frisk moving from a hesitant apathy to a confident one before ultimately "feeling good". This would stay in line with the previous pattern.

(Although it is worth nothing that the "feel good" part may be at least partially due to a kind of natural endorphin release in Frisk's body from the physical exercise of "punching at full force", and thus could be only indirectly due to LV.)

If NarraChara is taken into account, then this would mean that this transformation in the tone of the narration in the last lines is due to LV related changes on Chara. And that this ambiguity in the phrasing of who those feelings belong to may indicate that the same observations we've just made on Frisk previously would apply to them similarly.

(Note : Given that the game code and files suggests that Chara and Frisk share their statistics, them both being affected by this same LV count would be coherent.)

In the official japanese version of the game, those lines for the dummy are mostly similar. However, the first two lines of the left column are a bit less distinct from each other, and the narration phrasing ambiguity seems to begin on the 2nd line of the right column rather than the 3rd.

Okay, so, what's wrong about the common perception, then ?

So far, it seems that LV does have some kind of trend that leads to growing apathy regarding the suffering of others and more aggressive actions being taken as a result of identical stimuli as it increases. That doesn't sound too far off ?

Well, sort of, but careless extrapolation made from those basic ideas have led to the emergence of theories and interpretations that treat those effects as being more consistent, generalised, and effective than can hold up to the scrutiny of our known cases through aggressive neutral routes.

Here is what i mean :

In some of the more aggressive variants of the neutral route, it is possible to attain a really high LOVE that comes close to what we see in the genocide route. Comparison between those routes and the genocide one, or sometimes content from these neutral routes themselves, can help show us incoherencies in some of those popular interpretations regarding how much difference LV really makes.

The first one that comes to mind is a popular one among 'Chara Defenders', suggesting that Chara's openly aggressive actions & narration which are specific to the genocide route in particular would really be a result of "corruption" induced by the LV-related changes which we would have forced onto them.

How well does this theory hold up through the aggressive neutral routes ?

Well...

Not very well.

To make a 'short' list :

Chara's "corruption" in genocide would generally begin to show as soon as LV3 at the end of the Ruins, however, they show no particular signs of this "corruption" in any neutral routes despite being able to reach much higher LV's of say, 14 near the end of the game.

It is possible to arrive at the end of the Ruins (or other areas) whilst having the same LV as in genocide during a neutral route, yet Chara shows none of those "corruption" lines in those cases either.

It is possible to finish many areas in the genocide route whilst having a lower/higher LV than usual by only fighting particular monsters who give you more/less EXP than average, yet none of Chara's genocide lines are changed to account for this lower of higher LV.

It is possible to abort the genocide route at many points by sparing a particular monster or failing to reach a kill count. When this happens, Chara's "corruption" lines suddenly disappear although the LV doesn't.

This still happens even if Chara's LV would have remained the same wether the monster was killed or not. Thus the lack of extra LV from the spared monter cannot explain this difference.

The aggressiveness shown by Chara does not seem to correlate with their growth in LV. For instance, they treat Toriel more harshly than Papyrus despite a past connection between Chara and Toriel and a lower LV at the time of that encounter.

Regarding some interpretations of the final genocide scene : Why would Chara oppose us for what we did at this point in time ? Shouldn't they still be "corrupted" ? The files at this stage still continue to list our LV as 20 indicating that they should.

Similarly, regarding some interpretations of the soulless pacifist route : If their previous behavior came from corruption, why would Chara kill at this stage or follow up on their previous plan ? By now our LV has long been reset to 1 and said corruption should no longer be in effect.

For all these reasons, it would not be coherent for the peculiarly aggressive behavior shown by Chara during the genocide route to be strictly caused by LV-induced changes.

To be fair, this time some minimum amount of LV is required to progress through the route and access many of those lines, meaning that a minor impact of said required LV cannot be ruled out, but this does mean nevertheless that the primary reason as to why Chara behaves this way in genocide is not related to their LV.

Actually, once you remove from consideration all those things, what you are left with in the rest of the genocide route is a Chara that hardly seems all that impacted by LV at all despite having a very high one.

In New Home, they still display some hints of emotional reactions in spite of a LV of 19.

And throughout the whole genocide route, NarraChara continues going through the regular encounters with the same jokes or sarcasm-filled comments as they would in any other route (If you take the time to ACT a bit or read the narration before killing that monster.) Once again, even with a LV of say, 15.

That doesn't make the very high LV's seem like they turn one into that much of a mind-numbed killing machine does it ?

Okay... Well, what about Frisk, then ? Our other example ?

There are some more narrations out there who can bring us a bit more information about Frisk :

The Sans fight can only be triggered if all previous checks of the genocide route have all been properly met up to this point. This means that it is not possible to start this fight at any other LV than 19, as the NEO fight is scripted to send you to that LV if the criteria for Sans are met.

Therefore, the narration of the Sans fight talks about a Frisk that necessarily has a very high LV of 19.

And yet...

Even at this point, Frisk does not seem to be immune to thoughts regarding the morality of the actions their body has undertaken. It quite literally appears to weigh on them.

This isn't a one-off case either :

If the genocide route is aborted in Hotland, Mettaton NEO has some special dialogue that goes in the same direction :

he says it quite clearly :

And, the same thing also applies regarding the regular encounters too. The ACTs Frisk can take and their behavior whilst executing them remain unchanged compared to a pacifist route, even during the end-stages of genocide in Hotland.

Of course, it isn't like we could have expected Toby to adapt the ACTs and narration of all encounters to vary depending on LV either, that would have been very tedious to code, but such a pronounced absense of any change is definitely noteworthy.

This all leads us to a few conclusions.

It is correct that LV can affect one's personality to some extent, but :

The effects of LV are not consistent through time & situations, they show up quite sporadically. Most of the time, you could hardly tell the difference between someone with high LV or merely LV1 during an average interaction.

Even having an extremely high LV does not dehumanise you. One can still feel emotions and conserve proper judgment or capacity for self-reflection.

The growth in LV magnifies the impact of its effects when they do manifest, but it does not seem to alter the frequency of such events.

It is not possible for LV to be the determining factor in Chara's behavior during the genocide route.

As Sans originally said : LV is above all a capacity to hurt, not a permanent necessary degradation of perception.

[thenerdofthegroup]

Analysing the Ballad of the Witches Road and I wanted to point out something. If others have figured this out then… I might be slow and just was dumbfounded by how beautiful Agatha was but here we go. The lyrics:

��Gather sisters far who water, earth and air darkest hour wake thy power, Earthly and Divine”

So this is slightly piggybacking on @trickofthelights blog (with your amazing Coven collage) but this is directly referencing the women in the coven. Later in the song it mentions ‘Familiar by thy side’ which is Billy Teen and this is purely the witches.

Agatha gathers a coven made of Alice (Fire- we see her associated with fire and red/orange a lot in the trailer), Jennifer (Water- we see her try and be drowned and she definitely fits personality wise) and Lilia (Air- we see her floating in the beautiful shot and she just gives ‘air’ vibes… so yeah we’ll go with that) to help her on her journey. The ‘far’ may reference the corners of the world they come from (Alice is linked to Homg Kong through her mother, Lilia is Sicilian).

The next line is more of a prophesy, it’s linking Agatha (divine) and Rio (Earthly) separately in being able to awaken agatha’s powers. I think this is telling us that at the end Rio will be absolutely crutial in getting agatha’s magic back. Some think it’s in a bad way, some think it’s in a good way, no one can really say. She is such an up and down character, but everything we have gotten leads us to the conclusion that she is obsessed with Agatha. Even looking back at the trailer, whenever she isn’t able to take the piss out of a situation or isn’t the centre of Agatha’s attention, she’s bored. That’s my interpretation anyway, proof here:

(i just think this photo is cute)

ANYWAY, the separation of them in the song tells us that those two are much closer and more intertwined than the others. I think that the other witches (probably won't die because I actually want to see them all together at the end, don't shoot me I know that's an unpopular opinion) will come of the road and the main three of the series, Agatha Rio and Billy will be left.

Short analysis whilst I am now on page 42 on my dissecting Agatha evidence document that I will never show anyone out of embarrassment if everything is wrong. But I am making theories every day. Only the ones I love and don't think have a chance of being bollocks do I share.

Also this is what I call them now “The Earthly and Divine” as you could probably tell by my fic title. But I’m trying to stay objective in these theory things because some people are getting quite violent over ships and shipping culture. The internet is a scary place and I don’t ever want to interact long on here because some of y’all are actually crazy and I cannot understand it…

Anyway, thanks to anyone who actually reads these theories, this was done at midnight because I can't sleep. Today your gift for reading this is this observation: The flower Rio plays with in the photo above is in most of the show (note, in the airport clips, in the solo posing that we can see because it is filmed atrociously I'm positive she's holding the same flower):

Right after this disco scene she gives it to Agatha trust I'm Jac Shaeffer-

[cruyuu]

The Wasuke reveal made me realize his death scene has a lot of parallels with Sukuna's. They both lived a life of relative solitude and only had Yuuji at their sides during their death, yet both of them tried (and failed) to push Yuuji away.

But Wasuke died abruptly, so Yuuji didn't have a chance to say goodbye to him before he died. But Yuuji knew Sukuna was dying, so he had time to show Sukuna love and acceptance. And he was able to hold Sukuna, offering him comfort as he died. In a way, righting the wrongs of Wasuke's death. I think this could be extended to their final words to Yuuji. Wasuke's final words were him wishing for Yuuji to live a better life than him and some say that Wasuke's wish for Yuuji to help others unintentionally cursed Yuuji. If we go with this theory, then that's another way Sukuna's death contrasts, and "fixes", Wasuke's since Yuuji's last words to Sukuna lifted the curse Sukuna had been shouldering for his entire life.

I also think this might lend credibility to the theory I've seen that Sukuna rejected Yuuji's offer in part because he didn't want to curse Yuuji any further. It would parallel Wasuke's death scene even further if Sukuna intentionally avoided cursing Yuuji with his final words and by choosing not to burden Yuuji with his presence. I'm not saying this is canon or has a lot of evidence, but the Wasuke reveal and Sukuna seeing Yuuji as a refuge for his soul made me think that maybe Sukuna's first selfless action after Yuuji showed him the value of love was rejecting Yuuji's offer to live together because he realized he didn't want Yuuji to share the burden of his curse.

I could be completely wrong about this, but I think this would fit the themes and Sukuna's arc if it were true. Either way, I still think there's some interesting parallels between their death scenes to analyze.

Hi anon!

Oh let's not start 😭 I already have so much to talk about because Gege's very much interested in sukuita (as you may have noticed). If you love analyzing stuff like I do, you'll find a LOT of stuff leading right to them. Sure, Sukuna and Yuuji didn't share a lot of moments together, but their print is on the entire narrative.

Still! Yes, you're right about Wasuke and Sukuna. Thank you for writing it all out in my ask (I love reading analyses and interpretations from my fellow big brained sukuita enjoyers <3). As for the theory that Sukuna didn't want to curse Yuuji, it would totally make sense, considering what we know. The thing is that the entire Wasuke/Sukuna thing ended the opposite way— Yuuji had a good relationship with Wasuke yet Wasuke cursed him when he died. On the other hand, Yuuji had a bad relationship with Sukuna and Sukuna ended up not cursing him.

If we're suppose to take "love is a curse" thing (which jjk has a thing for) quite literally then Wasuke's death and him cursing Yuuji was a good thing.

Still, how?

That's totally not logical. If Yuuji was loved then he wouldn't be cursed. Right? Isn't love about making sure the person you care about wouldn't be hurt and all that? That they would be safe? It's so absurd to claim that love IS bad and that what Wasuke did was correct.

But jjk treats it as right because look where we ended up. It's treated as right because even if giving him a curse, it led Yuuji down a right path.

Here's the thing- sometimes love is more bad than good. I feel like jjk wants to claim that with the "love is a curse" thing. Sometimes, what's good for you actually isn't and what's bad for you turns out to be the best thing you could ask for. Everything is turned on its head in this one, folks, and Sukuna and Yuuji are the biggest examples of all of that. Not to mention the fact that Sukuna didn't even want to say anything to Yuuji as to not accidentally curse him (everyone who passed in Yuuji's life had left him with parting words about his future, all except Sukuna).

And to think these two used to ignore each other lmfaoooo

maybe Sukuna's first selfless action after Yuuji showed him the value of love was rejecting Yuuji's offer to live together because he realized he didn't want Yuuji to share the burden of his curse.

I thought so too when 268 dropped and I first read it. It's either that OR Yuuji had destroyed the curse which was laid upon Sukuna and therefore Sukuna couldn't return to him considering he was not totally "reborn" + was a curse. I'm still not really sold on the latter one since I still hadn't re-read jjk but it does sound plausible as far as I remember in canon.

Still, thinking of that being the first selfless action is better and would be an equal exchange because man. are Yuuji's words... something. Bro literally promised his forever to Sukuna without any hesitation.

There's so much to analyze about these two genuinely. Now, with the new reveal Gege had kindly given us, re-reading jjk will be quite a joy lol These two were beefing over nothing, they were just lovesick and in big denial.

[yuseirra]

I've actually become really.. Even more confident with my hikaai analyses (until I get proven wrong..haha) hear me out on why I feel this way, okay?

In the latest chapter, it was revealed that Ai's boyfriend is someone who offers things for Ai, and falls into ruin because of it. He believes there is some kind of destiny for himself. That much, we can all agree with, huh?

If that’s the case, then "Fatal" is this person’s song.

In that case, I’ve already secured the basic points if this were a test, and now I’m just waiting to collect the extra points!

It’s not really about me trying to convince myself...this is really true!

From the start, I always predicted that Hikaru’s breakdown only happened after Ai’s death. The question was never whether he fell apart, but rather how much. He’s always been such an ambiguous character whose exact actions were left unclear.

I got this part right, and honestly, it was the most important part. It wasn’t this person who harmed Ai. (So actually, Aqua’s target for revenge is no longer this person. It’s easy to miss this since the story moves so quickly.)

It’s also confirmed that he was originally a genuinely good person. This part was validated when the god herself confirmed he had a noble and refined soul.

This means Hikaru is not the kind of person who falls into ruin just because something bad happens to him. It was Ai’s death that led to his downfall. In fact, considering everything this character has been through, this makes him closer to "kind," and his mental fortitude is incredibly strong. The idea of him being "noble" aligns well with this. So, ultimately, this confirms that the personality depicted in the flashbacks(the movie arc) is accurate to his true character.

If this is the case, it also explains why Ai liked him so much and wanted to save him, making everything fall into place.

Now, the only question that remains is whether he will actually be saved or if he will remain a terrible criminal. (And honestly, this is the same situation the character was in before the movie arc—it’s like we’ve come full circle. However, now there’s the added advantage of two key pieces of information: Ai wanted to save him, and he really was originally a good person.)

To be honest... I feel like we need to see how the character himself acts before we can properly judge him.

It’s similar to judging a real person.

I feel it’s still too early to jump to conclusions just from seeing a text that goes he's a terrible guy who's killed a lot of people. There hasn’t been a single image of him doing anything specific yet... So, while we can take it into consideration, it is only when we get more detailed flashbacks or scenes where the character himself expresses his own thoughts, that will likely confirm everything.

Given that everything I predicted so far has been right(I really, really did get so many things accurately), it feels highly likely that the story will go the way Ai hoped, with this character being saved.

I’ve been following closely, and I've noticed that even in his "ruined" state, this character still shows a lot of kindness. Plus, he’s an actor and just as much of a liar as Ai was, so you have to really pay attention to interpret him correctly. You can’t just believe what you see!

Right now, I’ve scored over 70 points out of 100 if this were to be a test, but I feel confident that I’ll end up with over 90.

Since we’ve already established that he didn’t hurt Ai and that Ai genuinely wanted to help him, this means there’s a strong narrative push in that direction, and my conclusions about the character are likely to be right, which makes me feel even more confident.

If "Fatal" really is this character’s song, then yes, the emotions in that song—desire, disappointment, despair—are definitely present.

But surprisingly, the song has much less selfishness or possessiveness than one might expect. So, I felt like it wasn’t such a bad kind of love, which is why I’ve depicted that couple so much.

It’s a love where you give and give, without expecting much in return. You just want to hear their voice, to catch their gaze, to have them comfort your pain again. The lyrics even mention that their "fatale" belongs to "no one". It’s a kind of selfless love where you want them so desperately that you can’t live without them, while offering up everything you have, but asking for so little in return. This is a very devoted love. If it were one-sided, it might feel overwhelming or creepy, but with Ai and Hikaru, it’s mutual.

If you look at Hikaru’s actions in Chapter 160 (his testimony is likely the truth, even if Tsukuyomi’s stated goal is real, that kind of motivation would only arise after Ai’s death.) It means this person didn’t have confidence that Ai loved him, so he desperately craved her love in this way. That makes it pitiful. He makes a pass to be Ai's lover, in my book. He seems like a good person. And I take love VERY seriously... haha... I believe love isn’t about receiving, but more about giving. It’s about giving without regret... The narrators of "Mephisto" and "Fatal" embody this a lot.

They don’t ask for much from the other person while giving everything they have. That’s the kind of love Ai’s boyfriend has. What he gives may be a question,(or questionable) but I doubt Ai would have failed to notice a guy capable of harming Ruby(their own daughter for goodness sake) or involved in serial killings... haha. Plus, if he’s described as once having been "noble", a person like that probably wouldn’t cross that final line. Ruby didn't, and I find Ruby having taken after his character quite a bit, they make the same expressions. There’s a higher chance he kept his boundaries intact.

Things will unfold the way Ai wanted them to. The things this person has actually done are quite different from what’s been said about him.

He’s not someone who acts strongly or aggressively—he’s too gentle for that. It’s not that he’s pretending to be kind while having a foul heart; rather, I see he’s pretending to be dark when he’s actually not, which is why his true nature shows through.

It’s true that Ai found and fell in love with a genuinely good person, and they had a period where they were happily together. So I can already see the story heading towards him being saved after being broken by her loss. Ai wants to save the boy who's been deeply suffering and is straying far off after what's happened to her. That's the narrative the story is heading towards, it's the most natural path and I see it coming. Ai is right. She found someone REALLY sweet and he got destroyed, so she wants to help him get back to the way he was.

I’ve gotten the overall structure right, and now I just need to collect the extra points :)

[neyafromfrance95]

Sorry just to further add but also Galadriel being reunited with C*leborn and having a family isn’t the happy ending some people think it is and how they always love to use it against Haladriel.

It’s actually kind of depressing since her daughter ends up leaving Middle Earth due to being traumatised,she will also never see her granddaughter again(maybe even all her grandkids since we don’t know what happened with Arwen’s brothers)and she left C*leborn behind with no concrete date of when he sailed for Valinor.💀

Again no dig at C*leborn fans like/ship what you want but when you compare how Aragorn and Arwen are written where Arwen basically becomes depressed and leaves everything after Aragorn dies it’s hard to take Galadriel supposedly leaving the husband she loves so much behind and Tolkien doesn’t even bother writing wether that’s affected her meanwhile he writes C*leborn as a bitter divorcee(the only defining thing about his character other than being racist toward dwarves💀)

Not to make fun of Ce!edrie!(is that their ship name lol)fans but threads like these prove how you shouldn’t really trust what is said in interviews:

https://x.com/rukiasbankaii/status/1853087603752411471?s=46

It’s nice to have validation that you’re analysing the story correctly but ultimately it’s meant to be fun and like in Celeb0rn’s case what is being said in interviews contradicts what the show’s doing.

And no offence but after everything Galadriel’s been through she’ll never be the same person she was when she met Celeb0rn. Realistically their marriage would be rocky to the least considering how long they’ve been separated and how Galadriel’s been fundamentally changed by meeting Sauron. That’s why the best thing would be to introduce Celeb0rn back at the end of the show otherwise they’re opening up a whole can of worms I’m not sure they even know how to deal with.

yeah, tbh, ppl can interpret galadriel's relationship with teleporno as "happy ending" if they want to, but it's easy to see their relationship as shaky.

it's easy to see teleporno as cold and bitter, and galadriel as detached and too fixated on her own mission (which is, beside ruling lothlorien, opposing sauron).

and the thing is, for me, that's more interesting. just like it's more interesting to interpret her tone after rejecting the one ring as sadness. bc she wants what the ring offers her, but she is resolved to do the right thing.

i prefer these interpretations bc they allow more complexity and ambiguity for galadriel, which is rare when it comes to the female characters.

but yeah, tbh, whatever their relationship is, i just don't care for it. especially when it comes to the show. it would definitely get in the way of haladriel, the dynamic that established itself as the core of the show. and i would just be both too frustrated and too bored to stay for that.

[io-lu-art]

just a looong ramble analysing and rethinking Rey's character and turning whatever conclusions I get to into my headcanon without changing any plot points in TFA because I don't have the energy for that....

First things first. With everything I write here and publish on my blog from now on I refuse to believe that TROS ever existed. Everyone is free to have their personal opinions as long as they don't harass or hate on anyone, and this is mine. Almost every choice in that movie has left me scarred, even up til now, 4 years after its release. I thought I can ignore it, like any other healthy human being, but - oh boy, I cannot. If you are interested in reading another ramble on that, here's the post.

Since I am writing my own take on what could happen after TLJ (you may call it a fanfiction, I'm gonna call it a fanscript since that's gonna be its format), this post serves the purpose of getting my head clear around what's the deal with Rey, analysing, and lying down a solid foundation for my WIP. The story I'm writing has barely reached the end of Act I (out of III) at the moment I am composing this commentary, and I constantly notice that I get stuck with Rey's character every time I have to think about her for different reasons I will address down below.

I will make some rewrites as I see fit and necessary along the way for her character to make sense to me. All rewrites are in Tumblr's

chat style

This post will be linked to my AO3 fancifction as a reference for people to understand how I treat her character as soon as that one will be finished... *clears her throat* ...ANYWAY-

Let's have a look at Rey, shall we?

Rey's introduction.

When we first meet Rey, there is already a lot we get to learn about her. She's a scavenger. On a pretty much deserted desert planet. Water and food are scarce. She gathers parts during the day to sell them in exchange for food rations.

She has no friends, no family. She's lonely. And has been for quite a while. And yet, though hard, it looks like a pretty peaceful and stable life. If it were significantly different, we would have gotten introduction scenes of her battling some gangs or other scavengers for parts or something. But instead we were provided with beautiful, peaceful cinematography and John Williams' incredible score.

She manages. She manages because she has to and has never known to do otherwise. This on its own is already a very solid introduction. And it becomes even more powerful as we are provided with additional context later on, as she tells BB-8 that she's waiting for her family.

We know who she is, what she does and what she wants. No more questions, right?

Well, this is where it gets confusing, at least for me: there's one shot in Rey's introduction which always leaves me puzzled about her actual wants. It's the moment she puts on the rebel pilot helmet.

Maybe I am reading too much into it, but it feels like it kinda wants to draw parallels to Luke Skywalker in ANH? What exactly is the purpose of this shot? Is she putting on the helmet just for fun? Is it to show that she is still a kid inside? She seems to enjoy herself. Is it to show us that she maybe wants to be a pilot...? The gesture on its own is too little information to imply that, let alone that she already is a very skilled one, so probably no. Then, is it, perhaps, to show us that she dreams of more? Like Luke, who wanted to get off the planet that is "farthest away from the bright center of the universe"?

The interpretations, especially when looking at it in context to the rest of the movie could go on and on and on.

Quick detour.

The reason it works so well with Luke's character is because from the very beginning, with everything he does and says, it is perfectly clear that he doesn't want to stay on Tatooine. It's his only want when we first meet him.

Luke has friends who tell him about the galaxy. He seeks adventure.

And he's very impatient about it.

Everything he says basically SCREAMS how much he hates it there.

Now back to Rey.

Am I expecting Rey to show the same interest in getting off Jakku with the same attitude and level of energy as Luke, should that have been what TFA was going for? No, of course not. They are (supposed to be) two different characters after all. But I do believe that, given the setup, that helmet scene leaves too much room for confusing and unnecessary interpretation. (More so because I am trying my best to avoid nostalgia bait wherever I can.)

I am not denying the fact that she wouldn't have heard about the wider galaxy, that she wouldn't wonder about what it would feel like, being out there. People travel. And with people traveling, so do stories. So if you want to hint at that, do it subtly, all the while keeping the focus on her biggest want.

I might really just be reading too much into it, but still, in my humble opinion, a way to solve this confusion is cutting out her interaction with the pilot helmet completely. Let me demonstrate.

Inside her home we already see this self-made rebel pilot puppet. Just like the puppet lying around, instead of having her pick it up and putting it on,

the helmet remains part of the environment, stuck in the sand. There could even be a close-up on it as Rey puts down her empty plate next to it when she has finished eating if you really want to show it. She then rests her arms on her knees and looks up into the sky, following the ship that has just departed from the far outpost into the high atmosphere until it disappears. Waiting.

What is achieved by changing the interaction with the helmet is that it keeps her wants just as clear as Luke's. Luke wants adventure. She wants her family back. Period.

...I rewatched this scene after writing these paragraphs and yes, I admit, in the end it happens so fast that one could probably just let it pass and interpret it as Rey being very bored and using it as entertainment to wait out the days. But even if it were just that, the effects this little tweak would have on the following scenes is quite interesting to look at nonetheless.

The tweak I am going with from now on: Having her not actively wonder about possible adventures at all. She doesn't believe those stories to actually be true, because she's never allowed herself to. She's never allowed herself to actually want to ever leave Jakku.

What would it mean for her characterisation? It would make her slightly more serious and grounded. And the movie (except for the helmet scene) actually already treats her that way. Notice how she, while fixing BB-8's antenna, takes a moment to look at him before asking:

She's never seen such a droid before. At least not in such good condition. So, of course, she's curious. But when BB-8 says it's classified, she only laughs about it. "Classified? Really? Me too. Big secret," as if to say, haha, yeah, right. She rejects that possibility. And she doesn't bother asking any further, because when she is confronted with the choice to go and explore, she is reminded of her promise to herself, which is that she will wait for her family until they return.

Now, here is where I insert some very subtle "rewriting". When Rey first meets Finn, she is suspicious of him...

...and should actually remain suspicious,

instead of admiring him and falling into this, let's call it, "excited, fangirly smile"...

She doesn't know him. She has no reason to trust him. Instead, the tone of this line should be one that reflects her emotions as it slowly gets to her that those stories she's been hearing about might actually have some truth to them, that there might actually be a wider world out there. So make her be gradually interested.

Huh. This man I just forcefully hit to the ground, a Resistance fighter, knows about BB-8 and his classified information. What are the odds of that?

"So you're with the Resistance?" Rey asks suspiciously, looking down at the man.

The man stands up, brushes the sand and dust off his jacket and answers, "Obviously. Yes, I am. I am with the Resistance."

Rey frowns, "I've never met a Resistance fighter before," scanning him with her eyes. Why would there be any on Jakku? Nothing ever happens here.

"Oh, this is what we look like, some of us. Others look different."

Rey cannot help a little smile at his strange attitude. She looks back to where BB-8 rolled off to. Puzzled, she tells him, "BB-8 says he's on a secret mission. He has to get back to your base..." Even hearing herself pronounce that out loud feels so surreal to her. None of this makes any sense. Why-

"Apparently he has a map that leads to Luke Skywalker and everyone's after it."

What? "Luke Skywalker?" she asks, confounded.

CUT TO ACTION.

Whether she wants it or not, the plot forces her into the stories she's been hearing of. You don't want to believe they are real? They're real, all right. She has no choice but to run and get along. And later, she does get more and more interested, specifically when she meets Han Solo, the legend himself. Her whole beliefs turn upside down. It's exciting and she embraces it. Why? She's made a promise to BB-8 that she will get him home, and those things kinda come hand in hand.

Rey's physicality.

Rey is very fast to jump into action. She doesn't think twice about what she's doing. She just acts. Because that's how she's learned to survive all this time on her own. When she but hears BB-8 struggling in the distant sand dunes the first time they meet, she immediately reacts and goes to help (which also shows how compassionate she is towards people - and droids - in need of help).

And she's incredibly stubborn about it. If I may even word it like this: it's something she carries with pride.

So she's a good fighter. And I have but one request: DO. NOT. FORGET. THAT. HER. FIGHTING. STYLE. IS. ROUGH. AND. DIRTY. AND. HAS. NO. TECHNIQUE. WHATSOEVER. WHILE. THE. STORY. PROGRESSES. OK? Ok. What else? Ah, yes. Piloting. I don't know which of the two aspects has brought more uproar in the SW community, with the addition of the Force to these 2 points making people call her a Mary Sue, her being overpowered and so on. Let's have a look at that.

Rey's piloting skills.

She obviously knows her way around the Falcon. And it's plausible. "This ship hasn't flown in years!" It's been there for quite a while. Maybe she has had the opportunity to sneak onto it once. What about her flying skills? Well, that takeoff definitely had me worried. At this point I am even amazed this ship is still all in one piece. Which has me thinking... just a thought...

While trying to get those TIEs off their tail, Rey damages a visibly big part of the Falcon's exterior. "Ups," she comments, hastily checking the controls. Ok... The ship still flies. All good.

"What was that?" Finn calls from the gunner position, seriously worried for their lives.

"Nothing to worry about!" Rey quickly shouts back. All in all, the flight is messy as hell, and the Falcon needs some heavy repairs. But they still manage to get out.

"Nice shooting!"

"That was some flying! How did you do that?"

"Thanks! I don't know! I've flown some ships, but I've never left the planet."

(This is me reacting to their dialogue in the new context:) Yeah, guys, good work! You've almost destroyed the Falcon in the process, but you're alive, so I guess it's fiiiiiine.

What am I going for here? Adding to their level of expectations, which are... pretty low, and hopefully Rey's likability.

And then, later, Han is horrified of the state his ship is in, "Who did that?" Rey doesn't answer his question, but instead immediately offers her help, "I can fix that for you," feeling a bit ashamed of handling the ship of a legend this carelessly. And Han is... well, Han about it.

When would the Falcon get those repairs, you might ask? Eh, *hand gesture* there's plenty of time on D'Quar for that while they discuss how to blow up the third Deathst- *clears her throat* Starkiller Base. And obviously it's not gonna be Rey doing those repairs.

This addition tones down her abilities, puts more focus on her skills as a scavenger and makes her more relatable. I'd also argue that it puts more weight to her decision to eventually decline Han's offer to join the crew because of her wants. You see, once immersed into the real thing, the stories becoming true, meeting the legends, she becomes genuinely curious. She asks questions. Why did Luke leave? What fight? She gets incredibly excited when Han offers her a job. And yet, despite all, she still wants to go back.

Nevertheless, Rey displays pretty amazing piloting skills under those stressful circumstances on Jakku. After all, flying the Falcon is....

Her instincts are implacable. One might even say that she*

She just isn't aware of it yet. It is not until some scenes with Han and the rathtars later that we get the first hint.

The Force.

Now I might be wrong, but I have a theory, which is that the piloting performance under high pressure on Jakku might have been it. The Awakening.

The Force calls to Rey through Luke's lightsaber. And she listens to it, not knowing what will follow. She experiences the Force vision, and is horrified.

"That lightsaber was Luke's, and his father's before him, and now, it calls to you!"

"I have to get back to Jakku." Again.

Even when Maz tells her, "You already know the truth. Whomever your waiting for on Jakku, they are never coming back,"

she still refuses to believe that.

Tears run down her cheeks

and she shakes her head. No.

"But there's someone who still could."

Rey frowns. What is Maz implying there? "Luke?" she asks and realises what it's leading up to, and doesn't like it. Her emotions are a mess. She gulps back and keeps shaking her head as Maz speaks.

"The belonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead. I am no Jedi, but I know the Force. [...] The light. Feel it. [...] The lightsaber. Take it."

Rey doesn't want to hear of it. Any of it.

"I am never touching that thing again!"

Rey just witnessed complete horror. She is in denial. Keep in mind her clear wants from the beginning of the movie. Ideally her want for her parents to come back should be replaced by the character fulfilling her needs at the end of her arc. But we're not nearly there yet. What Maz tells her about the Force completely contradicts Rey's experiences. She cannot just accept the truth. And how does she handle it? She runs away. She's terrified.

She wants to go back to the way things were before any of this mess started. But the plot doesn't let her run away that easily. It knows she has to face her fears, one being her fear of the Force and one the fear of perhaps never making it back to Jakku ever again.

It forces her further into these situations, making it impossible for her to get out of them. She's trapped. Literally and figuratively. And fighting her way out won't work this time, the one ability she always relied on to save herself. It's her darkest moment. And if that were not enough, Kylo Ren, this stranger, this man inside that mask, the man from her vision, shoves all her insecurities right into her face.

"And Han Solo." Rey jolts up. Either out of fear of possibly betraying Han and slipping, giving away a location, or out of rage that Kylo has gone too far into her personal space. Either way, this rage gives her some strength to oppose him. "You feel like he's the father you never had. He would have disappointed you."

"Get out of my head!" He backs away for his own reasons, not wanting to think any more of his father, but still holds onto her mind. Rey does all she can to withstand him, and the longer she does, the more time it gives her to understand what is going on.

And Kylo senses it. What he's trying to do here is not working. Concern washes over his face, which makes him lose control over the situation. The connection opens, inviting Rey to tap into his mind. She's inside his head. Now she understands. She understands she can use this power on him, too. So she does.

And there it is. She's strong with the Force.

And that's intentional. Why? For reasons we discover in TLJ and numerous other fanfictions. (TROS? w-what's that-)

She has found a way out of the situation. Now, has she ever heard of Jedi mind tricks? Maybe? But remember what she just discovered: She just tapped into Kylo's mind. So she tries that again on the stormtrooper. Because when she knows how to act, she just does. She's always been confident in her physical abilities and skills. Why would she have to treat this new power any different? And luckily it works, after 3 tries.

And that's fine. Let's move on. Kylo kills Han. Explosions.

Notice this. Even though she knows she now has these new powers, the same powers Kylo has, she still draws her blaster at him after calling him a monster. She acts on emotion and choses the quick, familiar way.

I actually like to believe that Rey really doesn't know what the Force is and how it works, at all. How would she? Yes, Maz did tell her about it, but how do Force-powers manifest in people? She's never seen anyone use it before, upon meeting Kylo Ren. So in every scene she does use it, she just copies Kylo. That's the only reference she has. Remember how proud she is of her physical abilities. And she is so naive that she just goes and tries it for herself, without thinking of whether it will work out or not. And it works out for her. Because, again, she is strong in the Force.

It's true that her flaw, her naivety, is not really addressed in TFA. It never really backlashes on her. And, to be completely honest, I have no idea how to make room for that without some heavier rewrites yet. But maybe it's not necessary. TLJ takes care of that. TFA just introduces us to Rey as a character after all.

Now, is the force-summoned lightsaber making her overpowered? If you interpret it as "Kylo couldn't get that thing out the snow but Rey could," then yes, yes it is. BUT, if you see it as "while Rey is observing the fight, she sees Kylo trying to summon it, so she copies him, the way she copied him with the mind-tapping, and reaches for it the moment Kylo conveniently gets it out of the snow for her," I don't think it is, though I do agree that in order for the second version to be true, the scene happens too fast with too little shots to explain it. *OP takes a breath* So, here is what I suggest:

Kylo reaches out for the lightsaber. SHOT of the lightsaber in the snow, fidgeting slightly. BACK TO Kylo, pulling anew. BACK TO the lightsaber. It gets free. CUT. Another shot of it flying through the air towards the camera.

SHOT on Rey witnessing that - she is already on her feet again - and immediately reaching for it as well, outstretching her arm towards it.

SHOT of Kylo as he feels the momentum of his pull shift and dodges out of the way. The lightsaber flies past him, into Rey's hand.

Rey has always been fast to react to action. So it would make sense for her to be able to do that. Ok. Now to the fight itself.

*sighs* I don't even know where to start. ...One thing's for sure. Kylo at this point is pretty much destroyed emotionally from having killed his father, but he's still big and strong and aggressive in his movements. Rey, on the other hand, kinda seamlessly knows how to handle a lightsaber, which... is definitely not believable at all.

Let's step back for a moment. Why do we have this fight? Rey needs to get Finn and herself out of there and Kylo is pretty much in the way, so she wants to eliminate the problem. And what does Kylo want? Sure, he is interested in Rey and her raw powers which eventually adds up to them being equals in the Force, so he doesn't want to kill her...

But he also wants that lightsaber, doesn't he?

(God, I am looking at this fight to find any clues and I'm just sitting here, elbows on the table, resting my head in my hands, massaging my temples, wondering, "why the hell are there so many cuts in that fight scene?") (I am no expert in fight choreography, so bare with me as I try to make this work.)

Rey is the one who draws first at him.

She has never wielded a lightsaber before, but knows how to handle a staff... so she treats the lightsaber like a staff within its limitations.

Because remember, HER. STYLE. OF. FIGHTING. IS. ROUGH. AND. DIRTY. AND. HAS. NO. TECHNIQUE. WHATSOEVER. So, pretend we have some well thought out choreography in this part.

Kylo blocks her with ease. Rey is frustrated. The lightsaber feels heavy and difficult to handle. It doesn't take long for Kylo to

get her cornered at the edge of the newly formed cliff.

"You need a teacher! I could show you the ways of the Force!" he exclaims.

Rey considers, out of breath, "The Force?" Rey takes a moment as her mind connects the dots. So that's what these new powers are? Kylo watches her, waits for her to make a move. No time for pondering about the Force any more. Rey moves. Kylo LETS her duck and free herself from his block. She runs, backs away from the crater. He follows her. He outstretches his arm. Rey is stuck. She's literally petrified. Again. Kylo draws nearer. He twirls his saber, now holding it backwards (you know, Ahsoka style). "No," she hisses through her teeth, struggling. Heavy breaths. She closes her eyes. When he almost touches her hand holding the lightsaber, "No!" she RESISTS his force-cage and GOES FREE.

Because, you see, even though Maz told her to "close her eyes" and "feel the light", Rey has never done that before, and when under stress, I do believe she would rather choose a quick, familiar way to get out of the situation. The only thing she knows how to do with the Force at this point is to copy or resist Kylo. She wouldn't know how to to draw power from the Force, yet. She'll have plenty of time to learn that from Luke later, should she survive this fight, so we better continue.

Kylo stumbles back as she draws at him. Rey goes for a swing to hit from above, which Kylo manages to block last second, bringing his lighsaber up from behind his back. As their lightsabers are crossed again he quickly reaches for her right hand, which is holding Luke's saber, with his left hand and moves it aside to his right towards the ground, using his crossguard for more momentum to force her down. He steps his left foot accordingly to keep himself stable. Rey cries out from the unexpected movement. They are kinda back to back. His left shoulder against her right one. The position is uncomfortable. He squeezes Rey's wrist. Rey cries out in pain. Then, she realises how close they are.

Time for some close combat, ladies and gentlemen.

She gives in and lets go of the lightsaber, lets it fall to the ground. Kylo releases her to reach for the fallen lightsaber. But before he can pick it up, Rey KICKS his left hand away with her right heel and PUNCHES his JAW with her right elbow from below. Kylo's head rocks back. He stumbles backwards from the harsh impact, causing him to turn his back to her in order to catch himself. Rey summons Luke's lightsaber back into her left hand, and ignites it. When Kylo turns back to his opponent, left and unprotected side first, Rey is ready to stab him in his left shoulder.

Kylo stumbles back some more, she brings her hands together for another strike leftwards, he barely blocks it, he stumbles back some more, it leaves his posture open, Rey strikes again, rightwards, lower this time, wounding his leg, he falls to his knee, leaving Rey the final blow to provide him with his scar.

The reason I started writing this entire ramble in the first place is a conversation I had with my friend which brought up the fact that Rey should be able to beat Kylo by using her rough, unpredictable moves. Shout out to my friend who, bless her, is willing to listen to and survives every one of my sw rants and who pointed this out in the first place!

Is this a good fightscene now? I have no idea. I hope so? I do have it very clear in my head now though, so I might go and have some fun storyboarding it in the nearest future.

You know the rest. The ground splits, she runs to Finn, Chewie picks them up. . . .

There are some more moments which I believe need some tweaks, like the meeting with Leia, which is just so unfair to Chewie, really, but if I go on and on about this, I would end up changing the entire movie, which I do not have the strength for atm. This ramble was supposed to be about Rey and her alone, so I am done here.

I guess in the end Rey does realise her needs and is able to let her wants aside for a bit longer and focus her hope on actually helping the Resistance and get Luke. Hope that, with finding Luke, she will get to understand these new powers. I do feel like the movie could have provided us with a more emotionally rich reactive scene to the fight and her abilities, and generally just more of those, but then, what am I expecting from a JJ Abrams film? We have Rian for that.

My conclusion? I'm bad with conclusions and summaries, so here you have it, my take on Rey by only adding to the existing dialogue, changing some attitudes here and there, adding a scene, and changing the fight sequence at the end and how she treats the Force.

I do have a clearer understanding of her character now, which was the entire purpose of this ramble, so I guess, mission accomplished. Congratulations on having made it till the end. It was a long ride. I did consider splitting this beast into 2 parts, but while writing this, at one point I just decided to fully commit to it.

You are totally free to, of course, agree with me and stay tuned for my WIP fanscript or disagree, never read through this thing ever again, ignore it and leave it to die on Tumblr's graveyard.

Before you ask, because I also considered doing that just for the sake of having fun with GIFs on Tumblr (all text gifs are taken from YARN btw), I will not do a post like this on TLJ, since I have no problems with Rey's character there at all. Props to Rian Johnson at this point, for managing to make sense of her with what TFA gave us.

[empressofthewind]

What if the successors were raised at a loving orphanage?

Thank you so much for the ask!! I am SO so sorry about the very long wait with this response; I ended up going way overboard with it and writing a long four-part analysis instead of the brief response I was initially planning to give. Sorry if that's not quite what you were looking for!

The big thing that tripped me up with this ask is the lack of canon information about Wammy's House, which made me worry that there wouldn't be enough evidence to state that it was an unambiguously bad place to grow up. There are several scenes that seem to lead to that conclusion, and if you factor in the spinoff material, it's spelled out pretty clearly. But from the manga alone, we don't really get to see too much of the institution itself so much as we do the products of it. Thus, I wasn't confident that I could meaningfully comment on the characters' upbringing and how it affected them - which isn't to say I think it was a loving orphanage, but I wasn't confident that the manga delved into it enough to decide that based on facts alone. So what I did was first analyse the scenes from Wammy's House to determine whether there were any clear deficits in the way the staff handle difficult situations (spoiler: there were), and then theorise about how certain outcomes might have changed if things had been handled differently. Disclaimer that I have some foundational knowledge about parenting styles and childhood development, but I am by no means an expert.

Part 1: Analysis of Roger & The Conditions at Wammy's House

The only guardian we ever see interacting with the successors is Roger, and our very first introduction to that dynamic is in this scene:

The way I have always interpreted this is that Mello is dragging a kid through the hallway by his hair, and Roger silently removes Mello's hand. I actually ran a poll quite a while ago to determine whether Mello was simply trying to play or if he was outright bullying the kid, and the responses were relatively mixed. However, the consensus was generally that regardless of Mello's intentions, he's clearly being rough here, and the kid in question looks pretty miserable. So, I'm inclined to say that if a more responsible adult witnessed this situation, they would most likely step in. This isn't really what we see from Roger. He does not say anything about it; he just moves Mello's hand and holds his arm so he can't go anywhere.

What this seems to show is that there aren't really consequences for Mello's behaviour. There's no attempt to discipline him or even acknowledge the fact that he's clearly upsetting this kid. This could possibly be the product of Roger grieving - he's just found out that L and Watari are dead, so perhaps he's not in the mood to try disciplining Mello when he ordinarily would. But there's one particular scene later on which, to me, suggests otherwise:

Mello grabs Roger - by the shirt with one hand, and the shoulder with the other - and the only thing Roger does to stop him is quietly say his name. It's Near tipping his puzzle out onto the floor that pulls Mello away from Roger, not any attempt to discourage this behaviour. The fact that Roger does not react to this outburst, and the fact that Mello even feels comfortable doing it in the first place, suggests that this is a precedent that has been set. Mello has no qualms about acting out in front of Roger because he knows there won't be any consequences.

There's also the fact that Roger lets Mello leave the orphanage without any clear attempt to stop him at all, which, in my opinion, is the most egregious example of extremely poor guardianship. Regardless of Roger's mental state at the time, allowing a 14-year-old child to freely walk out of his primary place of residence with no supervision, no knowledge of where he's planning to go and zero indication that he intends to return, is beyond irresponsible. Wammy's House may have tried to track him down after he left, but they clearly had no success in that endeavour - and the fact that he was even able to leave in the first place after very clearly stating that this was his plan is negligence at its finest.

Based on all of this evidence, it seems to me that the primary issue with Roger's style of guardianship is a lack of care. Coupled with the detail in Volume 13 that Roger dislikes children, this makes perfect sense, and further suggests a pattern of behaviour rather than a particularly off day. I'm still hesitant to confidently state that Wammy's House as a whole was not a loving institution because we don't get to see how any of the other staff members interact with the children. We don't know if Roger was the most involved in their lives, or if he was more like a figurehead who only dealt with the serious matters, more like a school principal than a parental figure of any kind. However, I absolutely can say from the evidence here that Roger himself was, at the best possible interpretation, a pretty poor influence, and at worst, outright neglectful.

Part 2: Analysis of Mello

This brings me to my analysis of how things would change if Roger had been a responsible guardian with the kids' best interests at heart. I'll start with Mello as he, in my opinion, is the most obviously screwed up as a result of his upbringing. I can think of three main issues with Mello that Wammy's House failed to address:

His inferiority complex as a result of being pitted against & ranked below Near

His tendency towards rough and/or aggressive behaviour when interacting with others, which appears to cause distress to those who are directly affected

The fact that he was allowed to walk out of the orphanage at age 14 with no observed attempts from staff to prevent this action

I'll answer these in reverse order, as the last point is both the easiest to answer and the one that likely would not have become an issue at all if the first two points had been addressed.

Part 2.1: Allowing Mello to leave the orphanage

I ended up doing a fair bit of research to address this point, as I was curious about what protocol actual orphanages would have had to follow in a situation like this. What I found was mostly case studies/anecdotes from people with relevant lived experiences, and given that orphanages don't exist anymore (at least in the US, UK and Australia - I didn't do any research outside of those three countries), these mostly described either orphanages from the mid-20th century or present day foster care and group homes. According to the few resources I found on orphanages, it wasn't at all uncommon for kids between the ages of 14-17 to leave of their own accord, and the staff didn't really do much to prevent it. In the present day, the general first course of action for carers would be to alert the authorities upon learning that a child has run away from their place of residence.

In the panel where Mello is shown walking away, the sky is noticeably much darker than it was in earlier scenes from the same day, and this fact coupled with Mello's backpack and jacket - which he did not have when he first entered Roger's office - leads to the assumption that some length of time passed between leaving Roger's office and leaving the orphanage. This means that even if Roger was unable to stop Mello from walking out of his office, he should have taken extra precautions to prevent Mello from being able to exit the premises entirely. Possible steps to take would be to ensure the front gate is locked, alert other staff members, have him closely monitored until the staff could be sure that he's calmed down, or have him speak to a therapist or counsellor if possible to address the issue that prompted him to try and leave in the first place. If Mello did manage to get away despite all of this, the orphanage should have taken every possible measure to search for him and ensure his safe return.

Of course, Mello is a genius and very resourceful, so it's entirely possible that he could outsmart the staff and get away regardless, but with specific reference to how things might have changed if Roger were a more caring and responsible guardian, he would have absolutely pulled out all the stops. I suppose, technically speaking, we don't have any clear evidence that he didn't, but the behaviour we see from him in his office scene does not fill me with confidence.

Part 2.2: Rough and aggressive behaviour

This is specifically in reference to Mello kicking a ball at someone's head, dragging a child through the hallway by his hair, and his outburst in Roger's office that resulted in him grabbing Roger by the shirt. The fact that Mello goes on to join the mafia and canonically kill Soichiro Yagami and an unnamed mafia boss himself, as well as orchestrate the kidnapping and murder of many others, suggests that this is a pattern of behaviour that should have been addressed long before it reached criminal levels.

In my opinion, the absolute best-case scenario for Mello would be to see a therapist. Disciplining him might be temporarily effective, and it's something I definitely think a more well-meaning guardian would do, but ultimately it wouldn't address the core of the issue, and may simply result in Mello focusing on trying not to be caught rather than eliminating this behaviour entirely. There is a possibility that these tendencies are indicative of a deeper psychological concern, which is something that should be explored - and even if they aren't, I still think there's a lot Mello could potentially gain from therapy. Ideally, Wammy's House would have already had an on-site therapist available for the kids to visit (this is another case in which we don't have enough evidence to say that they didn't, but the mental state of the kids we see does not paint a very healthy picture). However, in the instance that they didn't, sending Mello to see an independent therapist would be the best course of action to take. Like anything on this list, I cannot state with any certainty that this would have changed matters, but it's the step I imagine a caring and responsible adult would take in Roger's position.

Part 2.3: Inferiority complex

This point is simultaneously the easiest to comment on, based on the abundant evidence that Mello's inferiority complex was very much a permanent and destructive force in his life, and the hardest to address. Unless we assume that Mello was raised at a different orphanage entirely, I suspect it would be incredibly difficult to run the successor program in such a way that Mello would not feel at least a little inferior to Near. His insecurities are the product of a systemic issue, and even if therapy might also help a little, he's never going to be satisfied as long as the competition is ongoing, the goal of becoming L is perceived as highly valuable, and Near outranks him in the running for it.

What we DO know is that Mello and Near are designed to function as the two sides of L; they have different strengths and weaknesses, and these are complementary to one another. We also know that Roger is aware of this to some extent, given that he suggested Mello and Near work together rather than attempting to choose one of them. Thus, if Roger had cared at all about improving Mello's mental state, the best course of action I can think of is for him to promote collaboration between Mello and Near, and potentially other students in the program as well. The fact that Mello asks "which of us did L pick" (or at least, he does the anime - technically in the manga this line is cut off, but this is the implied meaning) and then proceeds to look utterly horrified at the inference that he and Near might have to collaborate on the task suggests that he was taught to see L as a solo role. This is a very unhealthy mentality. Even though L was quite solitary and drove his investigations, he did not work entirely alone - he had Watari as his assistant, he needed the cooperation of the task force for the Kira case, and he also had Wedy and Aiber on standby to assist with more hands-on tasks, which suggests that the Kira case was not the first time he had used their help.

With this in mind, the program should not have been designed to raise one single capable successor to L, but rather as an educational program designed to teach kids about the realities of detective work and raise a new generation of capable detectives, with L as an inspiration rather than a goal. Using a ranking system, setting an incredibly lofty goal and enforcing the idea that only one kid would someday achieve said goal fosters a hostile environment that is more likely to contribute to problems like the deep-rooted and lifelong insecurities that affected every decision Mello made right up until his death. A more humane program would not have used competition as a driving force, but instead encouraged students to work together and combine their strengths, motivating them through challenging work and the desire to improve upon their own skillset.

Part 3: Analysis of Near

Near is a very tricky one to analyse, because none of his character flaws, to me, can be easily attributed to poor treatment in childhood. The one major flaw we see from him is complacency, which is what almost gets him killed at the end of the series. He is confident enough in his plan to miss the possibility that the notebook he tampered with is fake, and this would have been his downfall if Mello's kidnapping of Takada hadn't revealed the true location of the Death Note. I suppose you could argue that his confidence is the product of a system that raised him to believe he was superior to everyone else, but to me, he doesn't seem particularly smug or vain, especially compared to L and Light; it just seems like he became complacent and didn't think things through as well as he should have. And specifically in terms of the poor guardianship exhibited by Roger, overconfidence isn't generally an adverse outcome of neglect anyway. The only other character flaw I can really think of for him is that he has a tendency to be judgemental towards those with lower intelligences than himself, but again, I don't think this is really a product of poor parenting so much as it is just a product of him having grown up among peers with a similar intellect.

Additionally, Near is, in my opinion, extremely likely to be autistic. Many other, more knowledgeable people have talked about Near's autism at length and I don't think I have anything of value to contribute to the discussion myself, so I won't go into detail about it (although if you're interested in reading more, I highly recommend this very insightful post that breaks it down really well). My point in raising this is that autism isn't a product of trauma or neglect in childhood (nor is it a flaw or something that can be "fixed"), so we can't make any claims about the way Near was treated as a child based on the presence of behaviours that might, in a neurotypical child, be considered maladaptive. For example, neglected children can often have social challenges due to insecurities and feelings of worthlessness. However, despite lacking any close friends, this doesn't appear to be the case for Near. Based on the brief scene we see of him interacting with his peers at Wammy's House, he simply does not show any interest in socialising or conforming to social norms. He shows no signs of self-doubt or loathing, nor does he seem negatively affected by this lack of social closeness. So while a less negligent guardian absolutely would have been ideal in supporting his needs, I can't imagine we'd see any major difference in Near's core personality traits or behaviours given that many of them were likely not shaped by his upbringing in the first place.

One thing I CAN say, though, is that Near's future might have looked different if Wammy's House had been more loving. If we assume that the successor program is still a part of it, there is no chance that a caring guardian would have thrown a 13-year-old into the deep end on a case that killed the world's most proficient detective, who had 12 years of age and about 15 years of experience on Near. I don't know what this would have meant for the Kira case. Going by the LABB novel, a more loving orphanage might not have screwed up the previous generations and thus could have had older successors who could take the case instead. Otherwise, they could have just waited until Near was 18, and allowed him to take the case if a) Kira was still active which, given that no one else managed to solve the case during the 5-year timeskip, I presume he would be, and b) Near made the independent decision that he wanted to investigate it. Either way, he shouldn't have been put in such a high-risk position at such a young age, with so many factors at play that made him particularly vulnerable.

Alternatively, I suppose they could have allowed him to research the case from Wammy's House until he was 18, with restrictions on any activity that might have put his life in danger, and then let him move to New York to conduct a more hands-on investigation as an adult if this was the path he wished to take. This is pretty close to what happened in canon, but he established the SPK at age 17, so this would have just pushed the timeline forward by a few months. Still, taking measures to minimise (if not eliminate) the risks as long as he was still underage and in the care of Wammy's House should have been non-negotiable.

Part 4: Analysis of Other Wammy's House Alumni

L - we know even less about his past than we do Mello and Near's. Given that Watari found L and took him in and catered to his requests, it's implied that he did actually care about L to some extent, which is more than we can say about Roger "Hates Kids" Ruvie. I'm also inclined to say that the care he displayed for L wasn't purely driven by his potential to generate income (at least at first), since he already had many orphanages by this point that weren't set up like twisted science labs, and he most likely wouldn't have known when he first took L in that he would end up being so successful. The Wammy's House oneshot does give some interesting insight though, if we choose to take it as canon, and my main comment from that would be much the same as with Near; a different guardian might not have allowed L to enter such a high-risk career at age 10. The fact that Watari felt the need to establish a program to raise potential successors to a literal child suggests that he was very aware of the threat to L's life, so it was, perhaps, not the best move to venture into that endeavour.

A and B - TW for several suicide mentions here. I generally don't take the LABB novel as canon, but given these two characters only exist in the novel, I will consider it for the sake of this analysis. Like L, Watari was the primary guardian responsible for A and B, rather than Roger, but it goes without saying that he did a terrible job of caring for them. A more loving guardian obviously would not have created conditions that placed such immense pressure on the children involved that one felt the only way out was to take their own life. Similarly, B would not have been motivated by the desire to intellectually challenge L via several murders and a suicide, even if he had still gone down a path of crime anyway. The fact that B had the Shinigami eyes makes me think that he was pretty screwed up either way, but much like Mello, a more caring orphanage would have made an earnest effort to set him on an upward trajectory rather than encouraging his downward spiral.

Matt - I don't really have much to say about Matt, but the fact that he supports and assists Mello in his crimes further suggests that the kids at Wammy's House were taught very skewed morals. Thus, at a more loving (and morally reasonable) orphanage, Matt might have followed a different path.

[museofthepyre]

at this point it'd be better if people sent questions straight to you rather than asking some headcannon blogs or something since you answer them all anyway (in a put together and honestly just well thought out manner)

[just realised it may sound accusatory - IT'S NOT! i'm just in awe of your explanations and thought process. your answers just make sense and idk it seems like you actually take time to engage with source material, and analyse the characters. as with the question of Sydney eating only buttered bread or explaining how both jedediah and elijah are two sides of the same coin, really, and it seems to me now i'm rambling so i just wanted to say. good job. i appreciate what you're doing in this fandom :D ]

AW SHDHSGD THANK YOU 😭😭 I’m armed with autism, a propensity for rambling, a LOVE of media analysis, and encyclopedic knowledge of CHNT specifically 😅 this is what a special interest does to a man

I’ve listened through CHNT over a dozen times, probably over two dozen times, maybe even more… I study the transcripts & wikis like biblical scripture, and mayyyyybe think about things just a little bit too much. Maybe. My word isn’t gospel, most of my takes are just interpretations with evidence, but… I am always so beyond down to give my input on any questions. Ask away! I do adore the CHNT hcs blog tho, it’s very fun and whimsical over there. I think what makes this media fun is just how much of it *is* left up to personal interpretation. We can all connect to it in our own special way! Yay!

[sarkyfancypants]

Analysing Bob Velseb

Or my version of him at least given that there is barely any actual lore about him and any existing lore is ambiguously scattered and left up for interpretation.

This is by all means not intended to be entirely connected to the canon and it is all done for fun and I am open to discussing things as well.

I just can't decide what direction to go with my version of him. I am divided with the concept of whether evil is born or made. Starting with his upbringing, do I make him wicked from the start? Maybe he comes from a regular family of cattle owners. Let's say they weren't necessarily abusive, but we're strict, old-school conservative parents. Bob was maybe raised with a certain amount of stress, trauma, or frustration any child would experience in such a rough environment.

Father was a butcher and maybe tried to teach Bob, who was weirdly fascinated by the process. He was probably pushed to sacrifice his first animal at a young age which must have left a shocking imprint in his mind and from there developed a morbid interest in the business so in the future he chose to follow his old man's steps.

Bob grew up learning the nitty-gritty of butchering, unbothered by the gruesome process from the slaughter to handling the carcasses all the way to the kitchen. He became a connoisseur of everything about meat and developed a passion for cooking as a result.

Now from these doodles by Pelo (they may be done as a joke but I'm taking them with me, don't @ me) I like to think Bob does have at least some sympathy for the animals he has to sacrifice, understanding that it is something that has to be done in order to get the meat.

Maybe Bob's grown so desensitized to the slaughter process he doesn't feel too upset when he has to do it, while at the same time, he would still feel a twinge of remorse if he were to accidentally run over a dog. That's life after all. Up to this point, it's all ordinary. A regular dude with a regular job. Likes animals while at the same time having a job that requires killing certain animals for consumption.

Now let's take a look at his home. Some details here give me ideas.

The guy has a taxidermied deer head, either a trophy from hunting or roadkill, who knows. There are bones scattered around the floor (human or animal bones idk), and his furniture is covered with skin, human skin to be precise (a concept likely based on the criminal Ed Gein who later inspired horror movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) which I assume was surely done later during life as a killer.

I am willing to give into the idea that he was drawn into things like death and collecting the remains of deceased animals in general. What if he collected bones, teeth, pelts, and taxidermied animals as the beginning of his slow descent into his dark hobbies? Started with animals, then slowly began to fantasize about doing the same to human remains.

Bob seems like a jolly, charming fellow during his days before joining the cult. Maybe he wasn't all that wicked for the most part and would get along with people in general. But at the same time, just to spice things up, if he were to be in an unpleasant situation, he drops the facade revealing a much more stern, hot-tempered, and likely cruel side. You know you really fucked up when you piss off the sweet guy.

Taking a quick look back to his past, imagine growing up in a strict environment inciting a deep desire for control in the young child. Given how Bob enjoys tormenting his victims by intimidating them with his ominous presence and sometimes unsettling meat facts, he shows that he likes to be in control of the situation, minimizing the people around him. The guy must have a high ego (seriously, he has several pictures of his face framed at home, come on).

The guy probably never married. Maybe had a few love interests, but was a little too uncomfortable about the idea of getting into a committed relationship. He's not used to intimacy nor affection as he probably didn't get much as a child.

Now where does the cannibalism come in? Iunno. Perhaps in his first time unaliving somebody he had to hide the evidence somehow. Had the twisted idea of turning the remains into hamburger meat and the rest kept as trophies. He liked it so much he got hooked up and couldn't stop.

Then let's say the Cult comes into the scene. People from cults are in appearance regular people, that is until you have a conversation with them as they begin pushing ideologies and throwing buzzwords to recruit people. Somebody might have seen Bob as a potential recruit and tried to befriend him when he was still a young impressionable man and began filling his head with strange ideas, praising him, and filling his ego until his mind was finally manipulated.

Joining the cult was probably the point of no return. Bob was doomed to never have a regular life ever again. His crimes only got worse and his mind was broken, especially if we consider the possibility of him being exposed to "Eyes" and having that immortality cult talisman put into his chest. He became nothing but a puppet for the cult.

IDK what else to add so yeah, so far this is the very rough idea.

[houkagokappa]

I went to Desucon Frostbite this weekend :3

The head organizer commented that it was their 10th year attending Desucon events, and that's actually true for me too, Desucon Frostbite 2014 was one of the first cons I ever attended (never forget and please let me forget).

I always attend the opening and closing ceremonies. This year they did a small performance spoofing Death Note and sentai stuff, which was well made as usual and I'm always impressed by, considering the performers are volunteers and not professionals.

This year's guest of honor was composer and musician Yasuharu Takanashi. He held a concert on Friday night together with Finnish metal musicians I feel some amount of national shame not knowing, because they seemed like fairly big names. I'm not big on metal music, but it's always nice listening to live music, and it was fun to get something to do on Friday night, since most con activities don't start until Saturday. I also attended Takanashi's panel on Saturday, and although I wasn't familiar with the music he composed to Naruto or Fairy Tale, he was an entertaining guest (comes with the profession, some writers/directors they've had in the past have been a little awkward). Me and my friend spent the entire time hungering for a Show By Rock!! mention, as he had apparently worked on that as well, but alas it wasn't brought up and we didn't dare ask him about it during audience questions.

As for other programs, I attended a lecture on character and clothing design in Suisei no Majo, which was really nice and informative. I haven't read any staff interviews on it, so I didn't know anything about the designing process or the people behind it and it was fun to learn about it. I also went to a lecture on analysing yuri, which was disappointing, since it contained little to no actual analyzing on what makes yuri "yuri". They made a lot of jokes about the famous Iori Miyazawa "Yuri Made Me Human" interview and I would've loved to hear their takes on the whole "yuri of absence" concept, how much truth or weight we should put on it, why the yuri classification matters, or if it even matters, considering the freedom and joy of your own interpretations vs. the importance of representation and author intent, or how expectations and readings differs in the West compared to Japan, etc.. Their lecture was on the shorter side and went over some common misconceptions over terminology and reader demographics, which I guess was nice, although I feel like (or at least hope) most people in the room would already be aware of those. Overall I think the lecture description might've been at fault here, because it gave me the impression there would be more actual discussion and analysis on these topics/I misinterpreted what the lecture would be about. At least people seemed to enjoy the jokes.

Then, me and my friend always attend the AMV contest, and this year I left the contest happy, because for once all of my favourite AMV's got honorable mentions or won some of the prizes! The audience favourite award usually goes to some humor video I don't care for, but this year it went to a PMMM video I actually really, really liked!! My other favourites were the PMMM/SKU mashup which worked surprisingly well, and another SKU one. Same series, but very different AMV's lol.

Another tradition I have is to drink the official Desu Drinks, although I should stop because they're small, expensive and not that interesting anymore (Kill la Kill takaisin!!!!). This year I drank "Beck", which contained Finlandia, ginger ale and a slice of lime. It was good, but not "10,50€ good". For Saturday's dinner we went to one of the Indian restaurants that was still operating in Lahti (restaurants DO NOT stay open there). The food was pretty basic, but good, as expected from a place like this.

I brought my Monogatari itabag with me, because I wanted to celebrate the recent Off Season and Monster Season announcements (plus it's fun to use my itabags, and it's quite practical to have a big bag with me even if it weighs a ton lmao). As for merch, I bought Farwell to my Alter by Nio Nakatani at the con flea market for very cheap, and then I FINALLY got my hands on the first volume of March Comes in Like a Lion. I've been wanting to get it from my local shop, but they've never had it when I've been there to look for it. I'm suuuuuper happy to have it in my hands!!!! Then I bought one roll of washi tape from the artist alley with adorable long-tailed tits and plum blossoms. I suppose it's good I didn't spend that much money this con, although there was more manga that tempted me (why must River's Edge be 20€ ugh, maybe next time).

I was also happy to briefly see and chat with some of my kimono friends, and then I finally met up with @akroglam who I've been mutuals with for ...7 years? That was a lot of fun, although I felt like a stalker for all the "I saw that on your twitter/tumblr" comments I made :P

And here you have it, my diary entry for the Desucon Frostbite weekend. Thanks for taking the time to read it :)

[mickeys-malarkey]

Summary of the book thoughts across my analyses because my gosh.

Begging the Bendy fandom to stop declaring that all of its juicy, lovely books have gone to waste. You know it's getting ridiculous when they give a character a line about it that's so weird it can't be ignored, rofl.

(Sidenote: I'm actually really proud of this summary cause I suck bilgewater at those and this is literally the most condensed and sensical one I've ever managed. 😝)

Dreams Come to Life parallels TIOL and TMATM as a cry for help written from: someone having his mind edited, to: his best friend.

The Illusion of Living showcases how abusive of Joey+ and manipulative of the public's perception Nathan Sr. is. Hints that sepia = Nathan Sr.'s lies while black-and-white = Joey's truth.

Bendy: The Lost Ones is an interpretation guide to TIOL, with Bill, Constance, and Brant becoming personifications of Joey's fear, anger and shame.

The Mug and the Maiden is a full-series interpretation guide explaining Wilson's entire life story, including how he and his dad were involved in DCTL and TLO.

The Employee Handbook is a scrapbook of Nathan Sr.'s favorite parts of orchestrating JDS's downfall.

Bendy Crack-Up Comics contains hints at Nathan Sr.'s erasure of anyone who might be a liability and the perceived vs. true natures of his and Joey's relationship.

All are pointed to by the official Bendy shorts, especially Tombstone Picnic and the context around it (sepia thumbnails vs. black-and-white animation? Hint at Nathan Sr.'s editing. Supposed to be musical but mostly lack music? Hint at Sammy's Nate-y fate in DCTL. Missing Henry ending? Hint at Henry's Nate-y fate plus it being good that Bendy's tryna stop the Nate-y time loop. All but Tombstone Picnic ending with Bendy scared, frustrated, or sad? Hint at Bill, Constance, and Brant in TLO. Audrey's colorizing Tombstone Picnic at the beginning of BATDR? Hint at TMATM).

It hurts my soul that most of the fandom is convinced that everything before BATDR is retconned and/or the writing is terrible when I'm seeing so much gorgeously mind-blowing interconnection. 🥲

(NEW!) Bendy: Fade to Black is an interpretation guide to BATDR, confirming that the Memory of Joey = Nate Sr., Ink Demon/Bendy = Real Joey, most new Gent people = Children of the Machine, etc. as Audrey explains both her own and other people's trauma/recovery-&-relapse/etc. cycles, and more through Rose and company.

(NEW 2!) The Employee Handbook: Updated Edition is what's left of Nate Sr.'s scrapbook after he chopped out anything that both contradicted the narrative he's been carefully curating since Joey's death (which includes the TIOL excerpt because he's realized what everyone was doing with their books and decided it's better if the public ignores them entirely) and didn't hold too much sentimental value for him to let go (it's the wedding invite. I'm talking about Allison & Tom's wedding invite)… with some chime-ins from Wilson, once we get into the new material that's been added.

(NEW 3!) The Dreams Come to Life graphic novel is Nate Sr.'s maliciously butchered retelling of Buddy's story, meant to either deceive its readers into misunderstanding what Buddy was saying happened or discredit his reliability as a source of information entirely.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

I swear to god people in this fandom are purposely dense it hurts.

The last anon bitching and crying and throwing up about you saying Azula is straight needs to get a grip honestly. As a lesbian Azula HEADCANONER, it's pretty obvious she was not written to be queer, even though I think tyzula is so mouth wateringly scrumptious of a concept with all the hurt angst and comfort i could dream of, Ty Lee likes guys, she's a dude magnet, Azula is an awkward ass 14 y/o who cockblocks herself.

"Canon doesn't matter much" GOD SHUT U P. As someone who FREQUENTLY divulges from canon with aus that could honestly be their own original stories, canon matters. It's the basis of everything. It's the ORIGINAL TEXT. I need people to realize their interpretations are not the end all be all and just because it's a popular hc does not make the canon stuff invalid or incorrect. Jesus tap dancing christ.

Right? We can discuss that actualy left up to interpretation in the story, make headcanons, write fanfics changing the stuff we didn't like or just to explore different possibilities for the characters, but if canon doesn't EVER matter then that invalidates literally everything about a story and completely defeats the purpose of analysing, praising AND criticising the choices made by the writers because "it don't matter."

Nobody other than the Avatar is ever shown as being capable of bending more than one element? Don't matter, canon is pointless, therefore so are the basic rules of that fictional universe.

Aang is the last airbender? Not anymore! Canon doesn't matter so I can act BOTH like there are a few hundred air-nomads running around AND like Aang is not an airbender because canon doesn't matter!

Zuko was disfigured by Ozai? Nope, it was actually Iroh who did it! Canon doesn't matter!

Seriously, WHY are so many so called Avatar fans ready to disregard canon COMPLETELY? I've seen other fandoms say "This movie that is technically part of the same franchise as this show is not canon because the series pretty much treats it as if didn't exist" or "This season/episode has the characters acting so unlike themselves it is impossible for it to genuinely coexist with the previous seasons/episodes" but going "NOTHING that canonically happens in the actual story should be taken into consideration because people can make their own fan version of the story" is just so fucking weird.

If you're THAT disinterested in a story's canon, why call yourself a fan? I have plenty of things I didn't like about the original show, but the positives are so many that it is still my favorite show ever. I didn't like nearly anything about Korra, therefore I just say "Not a fan" and focus solely on the show I actually like. I'm not gonna rewrite the entire thing in my head and expect people to take it as seriously as they'd take the actual series just because "people make fanworks all the time."

[wild-whispering-woods]

Well, I'm back here, after almost seven years. This is going to be a rather intense post, but there is a lot of stuff that I have only very recently been facing, and I need to get it off my chest. Trigger warnings are in the tags, but I'll list them here as well, just to be sure: mental abuse, gaslighting, sexual abuse.

Let's start with a seemingly really random topic.

The series BBC Sherlock has always been a sensitive subject for me, as it was used by someone to mentally and sexually abuse me when I was quite young. In an attempt to mentally disentangle myself from the abuser, I became part of the Johnlock community here on Tumblr. I devoured the meta that was being written by the community, and it made the show make more sense to me. At the same time, it helped me mentally distance myself from my abuser, as this was a reading they completely dismissed. See, both my abuser and myself identified with Sherlock, only they took Sherlock's self-proclamation of being a "high-functioning sociopath" at face value, whereas I saw Sherlock as being terrified of being emotionally vulnerable and doing his best to suppress his feelings to avoid being seen and hurt.

I have shipped Johnlock since I was about 13 years old, and I became part of the TJLC community as it arose from that part of the fandom.

I have hated creating literary analyses for years now and avoided it as much as possible (difficult though that was in school), because it is so subjective, and it always confronts me with the fact that being mentally abused destroyed my trust in my intuition, thought processes, and ability to read people. It makes me feel like my life used to- the rug being pulled out from under you, a constant mental strain, having to be alert to everything at all times. I have been trying to read abusers' behaviour for most of my life. For every action of everyone around me ever, I analyse all possible motivations someone could have that would lead to the behaviour they display, but I could never know for certain what the right conclusion was. After all, you can never truly get into someone else's head- especially not someone who has made you doubt your own perceptions of the world in order to keep you under their control. What was real, what was a lie? I think this is why I have always loved reading meta; for once, someone else was laying the explanations out for me- and not only that, but they made it into a coherent storyline that made sense of everything. And I so wanted everything to just have a clear explanation. So when, in the fourth series of Sherlock, everyone and everything felt so completely wrong- motivations being off, details that must have taken a lot of effort but weren't right, entire scenes that didn't make any sense- I had to distance myself from it all, because no matter how much sense meta writers could make of it, the experience of watching the season brought back every feeling of wrongness and manipulation and self-doubt, and destroyed the trust in my intuition that I had been trying to rebuild. I must add that obviously I don't blame the writers for this, they weren't responsible for any of it- they were making something they wanted to make, someone else used it to completely fuck me up, and it was my choice to keep interacting with it- but unfortunately it had quite a devastating effect on me because this piece of media had been so entangled with the abuse and consequent attempt to break free of that.

I left the fandom because the mindfuck was quite literally bleeding through into my actual life. I have never been able to believe that the way I interpreted the series was not the, or at least a, way the writers meant for it to be interpreted- but I couldn’t keep being confronted with it, because 1. everyone else was saying I was out of my mind, and 2. the series was, for the foreseeable future at least, finished. To me, season 4 couldn’t be an end to the overarching storyline. Many things had gone unresolved, and unfortunately, I applied that feeling to my life; Sherlock and John never got to have an actual open conversation, not even implied. As the commentary said, for this season, who they are as people didn’t matter. They just… continued surviving, all their demons still beneath the roads they would walk. It felt like my story, like I was doomed to keep my feelings and experiences locked inside of me forever. It made me despair. I knew that for me, hoping for an eventual season 5 was a road to madness- Anderson’s mental breakdown style, without resolution. To protect myself, I had to withdraw entirely and find something more immediate to be a crutch for me to deal with my trauma. It was never healthy to put that much of my life into a TV series, although then again, someone else had decided that for me when I was still a child.

Eventually, I broke free of my abusers and I have continued with my life in the hope that I could heal, but instead of unraveling the trauma, I buried this tangled knot somewhere in my brain and I can't undo it myself. Yes, I have sought professional help multiple times over the years, but I have always been told that they could not help me because I have too many problems that are seemingly unconnected- so here I am, going back to the start of it all and pulling a John. Hopefully, writing a blog will help me as well. We'll see! It feels absolutely terrifying to share pretty much anything, anywhere, because I'm not used to doing that and also this: part of the mental abuse was someone else telling me what I was really like, or what I really felt or thought, or that the way I was, is wrong, and they would fix me, and I have never fully recovered from the idea that I don't know myself and my own feelings. Writing things down freaks me out a lot, because every minute that I think about my motivations, I seem to find a different reason for why I did something- and often, I still don't know what the real reason is. It's really scary to be confronted with the fact that I don't feel like a person, but just a jumbled collection of corrupted memories and disjointed actions. I think, though, that the only way in which I'll be able to find myself is to start a dialogue. With myself. Eventually, a pattern must emerge, right?

So, how did I get to this point? This week, I actually rewatched BBC Sherlock for the first time since season 4 aired-  the whole thing, in one sitting- and it made me feel unexpectedly, strangely good. I realised that, even with the emotional distance now, what I saw in the series is still there, and I was right for not believing I was crazy for thinking what I did. It was pretty affirming to be confronted with the idea that my interpretation of things wasn't completely off the rails. I also must say that I was grateful to season 4 for the imagery of Sherlock being on drugs and in a lot of (emotional) pain, because it mirrored how I have been feeling for a long time. Of course, I don't want anyone to suffer, but it's nice sometimes to see yourself on screen.

And finally, I am grateful for these lines: "What is the worst thing you can do to your friends? Tell them your darkest secret. Because... if you tell them, and they decide they'd rather not know, you can't take it back. You can't unsay it. Once you've opened your heart, you can't close it again." I have never shared specifics with anyone, because I can't live with the idea that they won’t believe me. Or that I will look at a loved one and see what I told them behind their eyes. Even if they wouldn't be thinking about it. I would. I would know that they know. And I want it not to be true. But when I've told them, it will be real. And they will remind me of it.

[ospreyeamon]

So, at the risk of sounding incredibly heretical to Stars Wars as a whole, I’d like to ask this. What’s your opinion on the various force traditions, their beliefs, and the aspects of the force that draw upon? Are they all valid ways for a force adept to live by within reason or is one way or the other? Personally I tend to say that they are, it just ultimately down to the individual who decides what they use their gifts for.

Star Wars as a whole has soft worldbuilding and the Force is very much a soft magic system. For a soft magic system, it generally pays not to give a lot of hard answers about what it is and how it works. They tend to depend strongly on things like emotion and intent which are difficult to pin down. I think that's why the Force is considered so resistant to scientific study; it's like if you set out to study physics and immediately encountered Wave-Partial Duality. This force changes its behaviour depending on where you are, what you want, and what mood you're in? What a pain to analyse. So, I don't think any Force-tradition or philosophy should be set up as definitely correct because a soft magic system presents best with a certain level of mystery or ambiguity left about its workings.

The way I think of it, the different traditions are different cultural lenses through which the Force is viewed. They are all observing the Force, interacting with the Force, thinking about the Force. But the Force is vast and complex and contradictory; it's not at all something that can be neatly narrowed down into something easily digestible. All the traditions are based upon the reality of the Force but are incapable of capturing that reality in its totality. True understanding is striven for, but never reached.

The Jedi and Sith both model the Force as having two aspects, but the Voss don't. Are the Light-side and Dark-side of the Force things that objectively exist, or is that just a useful short-hand to communicate that the Force exhibits differing behaviour in the presence of differing levels of emotion? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And that's not even bringing ethics and morality – source of ten-thousand flame-wars – into it. If there's one thing I am sure about when it comes to the Force, it is that the Light-side and Dark-side aren't the Good and Evil aspects of it. Good and Evil are just useful short-hands to bundle concepts for discussions of ethics, morality, and right-behaviour (which is why getting everyone to agree about how to define them is a futile cause). We invented them like we invented honour and justice.

The Dark-side is the aspect of rage, but rage may come in response to an unjustified killing. Rage recognises injury and unfairness, real as well as perceived. The Dark-side is the aspect of fear, but fear may come in response to the risk that other people could suffer. Fear warns against danger. I think there is a reasonable argument to be made that the Dark-side of the Force is more dangerous – but even if it were desirable to live a life free of risk, it isn't possible.

When you ask if they are all potentially valid frameworks for a Force-adept to live within, by whose definition of "valid" do we judge? Yours? Mine? Their own cultural tradition's, when all of the traditions have produced more than one? The people who actually have to put up with their behaviour, assuming those people could reach a consensus on the matter?

To give a straight answer, yes, I do agree with what it is I think you're saying.

What I really would like to see from the depictions of the traditions is more nuance and internal diversity. Let the embrace-love vs eschew-attachment (includes bonus arguments about what is love) be ancient conflicting branches of Jedi philosophy, rather than the writer’s preferred interpretation for that particular spin-off. Let the better-to-be-lawful Jedi and better-to-be-good Jedi tussle. Let Sith write off the whole "expunge all vulnerability, only power matters" thing because it obviously conflicts with the "pursue your own goals, screw other's opinions" thing. Let branches of Sith naturally-select away from backstabbing LOL because the known cheaters are outcompeted by cooperative groups over the long-term. Even better, let the Jedi and Sith's societies struggle about how to deal with the fact that they can mind-trick people.

[arkhamasyl-m]

Wanted to do a series analysing comics I’ve read so why not? Note: I’m not a writer so don’t expect any grade A material.

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow

Before I get to the meat and bones of the story, I have to say I love how this story adapts Supergirl. She’s her own seperate character from Superman, with her own unique personality and traits which I find nice. In most media I see her in, she’s just a genderbent Superman which does a great disservice to her character. She isn’t a Kryptonian who was raised on Earth, who doesn’t remember Krypton at all and fits in with Earth. No, she was raised on Krypton, she had friends and family there and she lost them and everything else she knew when Krypton exploded. Humans are strangers to her and she is unfamiliar with the world. Here, we’re past most of that, she’s been Supergirl on Earth for an unspecified amount of time and she is known across the galaxy as Supergirl.

In this comic, her characterisation is amazing and it helps that the protagonist, isn’t Kara. I’ve seen some people say it should’ve been Kara but I disagree. With Ruthye as the narrator, we see all the amazing and selfless acts Supergirl does from the perspective of a girl with not much knowledge of the outside world. She doesn’t recognise Supergirl’s logo, or know much about other planets or aliens, she’s been on a farm her entire life. Supergirl is an Angel to Ruthye. This story, it’s about trauma. It’s mostly focused on Ruthye’s recent trauma surrounding the murder of her father, however it also delves into Kara’s trauma. Her sad past is expanded and it becomes even more tragic when you learn she survived 3 genocides.

3 times she watched everybody and everything she knew and loved die around her. First when Krypton exploded. Then again when Krypton’s survivors began dying to radiation. And then again when their barrier for the radiation was destroyed and everybody was being poisoned.

She is completely haunted by these experiences and Ruthye, a young girl around the same age as Kara was back then, she can’t read Kara’s mind, so she’s left to interpret Kara herself. She puts herself in Kara’s shoes and understands that Supergirl is more powerful than most assume, because she is always hurting. She is always weakening herself so that her eyes don’t laser random people and her breath doesn’t freeze whoever she speaks to. Ruthye analyses Kara using her own personal experiences and what little she actually knows about Kara, and she tells us her view.

Kara never tells us she’s traumatised and is reminded of Krypton every time she follows these pirates and they’ve massacred an entire planet. She doesn’t want anybody, especially Ruthye to worry. Because we never hear Kara’s thoughts, we’re left with only Ruthye’s observations of the strange universe around her and the superhero who is protecting her.

Superman also follows Kara around like a shadow. Superman himself doesn’t appear in the story, but his presence is felt by Kara. She gets into fights with aliens who have had prior run ins with Superman, and they plan to get revenge by defeating his weaker cousin and whilst Kara can easily deal with them, it does get a little tiresome after the seventh guy. An entire issue takes place on a planet, manufactured to kill Superman. It had all of Superman’s weaknesses, which in turn is also Supergirl’s. She is trapped on a planet built to kill her cousin, and this is my favourite part because… she beats it. She is weakened by the sun, and has to wait until the sun sets to actually get off the planet, however she reveals that when Superman was trapped on this planet he escaped not because of his own power, or his strong will… he escaped because the Justice League came down and got him after a few minutes. Kara spends hours, dehydrating and passes out, waiting for the sun to set to flee the planet, and unlike Superman, she has nobody but herself to save her. Of course, she’s not alone as Ruthye is there to watch over her, and even kills a dinosaur that attempted to eat them, but the point is Kara did what Superman couldn’t. I think this whole overarching shadow of Superman haunting her is representing how his life seems to haunt her.

Not to sound like a broken record but Superman was a baby when Krypton exploded. He doesn’t remember it. He was raised on Earth by loving parents and was essentially just a superpowered human. Yes he struggled, he has powers for gods sake but compared to Kara he had it easy. His struggles mostly come from being a regular guy and trying not to accidentally reveal he can fly, Kara’s comes from the fact she’s an alien and is trying to appear like a regular girl. She was a teenage girl when Krypton exploded, she remembers it all. She watched everybody she knew and loved die over and over again until only she was left and then she arrived on Earth. Yes, she had Superman to help her settle in and teach her Earth things but it must’ve hurt for her to see her cousin, so at home on this foreign planet, with a normal life and friends and family when she felt like a stranger. That’s why I think Superman causing problems for her even when he is not physically there is a representation of these feelings she has.

Of course there’s some small things I should mention. When Kara and Ruthye go after the killer, they are always one planet behind and miss the action. Instead of just moving on, Kara stays behind to check up on everybody and make sure things will be okay. In one scene she listens to a man tell his and his friends stories, whilst she feeds him in the hospital. In another she helps a man dig out the graveyard and bury the dead, whilst also scanning for which corpse is his daughters so he knows where she’s buried. It’s all lovely and it all ends with Kara going to kill the monster behind all this before it’s Ruthye who convinces her otherwise.

Ruthye, the girl who wanted nothing more than to kill him with his own blade for what he did to her father. She convinces Supergirl, the woman who tried to teach Ruthye not to resort to murder, not to kill him.

If that’s not a character arc I don’t know what is.