#these are just parallels that made sense to me

[ropebunnykant]

i am about to say something that i am AWARE sounds insane and i don’t necessarily think it’s a good thing but i am genuinely starting to think it’s what’s happening. i’m pretty sure that what they used to replace the fact that katherine and bianca are women and obviously fadel and bison are not… is the assassin plot

like i’m losing my mind as i type this because it just fucking hit me but that’s. that’s exactly what it is. because fadel and bison are assassins, it gives kant and style free reign to kind of act however they want in order to win them over without facing consequences for lying or doing anything crazy to them because what does it matter, they’re murderers anyways? whereas in the play, petruchio’s misogyny was allowed because at the time women were treated like property and even lucentio tends to treat bianca like a prop that’s meant to be won so that behavior gets excused.

the thing that made me realize this specifically was style’s courtship of fadel this episode, which i planned to make a separate post about but i might as well say it all here cause they’re very closely related. fadel parallels katherine very closely in that while you would think given who they are (for him an assassin, for katherine a shrew), they wouldn’t care as much about social norms or being embarrassed by other people, but that is exactly what is used to court them. in the play, petruchio uses humiliation on several occasions in order to widdle katherine down and to force her into submission. and we see style do the EXACT SAME THING! he yells at fadel in the grocery market to get him to help clean the veggies, he calls fadel’s name over the speakers to get his attention, he makes fadel let him deliver the food to the restaurant by using the excuse that it’ll be rude not to. because as much as fadel is an assassin and katherine a shrew, they both have a sense of pride that makes them do whatever their suitor wants to try and get him to stop embarrassing them in public

the fucking subbed in assassinphobia for misogyny. i’m in a state of shock

[your-unfriendlyghost]

So I’ve been working on a group project at school with this group of three girls. (They’re like already an established friend group, I just joined because my friends wanted to do I project about video games and honestly I’m a video game hater) Now that’s all fine and whatever- I have a lotta friends who are girls so I figured there was nothing too different here. But istg these girls keep telling me stuff that “girls do/like” that I have never heard of?? I’d wonder if they’re fucking with me, except that they’re so earnest about it that it doesn’t seem like a joke 😭

For example, they told me a bit ago that “You boys don’t understand how much scent matters when it comes to girls liking you.” And at first that made sense- I mean yeah duh hygiene is important. Showering is important too. Fine. But when I said that, they all shook their heads.

“No,” one of them clarified matter-of-factly, “we mean like base scents. Your natural scent.”

So I was confused, obviously, because I have never heard of this??

Apparently what they meant was that everyone’s got a distinct scent, and that -allegedly- girls can tell what it is. I was still confused. Like ik about natural body scent and whatever but I didn’t think it smelled like anything in particular except for like…sweat, yk? But no, apparently it’s very complex and well-known and “You don’t get it because you’re a man. See look, Lyn smells like mango and fruit. This is an example of a ‘heavier’ scent. People with heavier scents tend to be attracted to people with heavier scents too. Smell her wrist.”

It smelled like wrist. I am so confused.

“Now Casper, you smell like cinnamon and warm spices. That’s pretty good. You should use spicy and woodsy-smelling colognes so that it combines well.”

I smelled my wrist- it smelled like wrist, not cinnamon. And “combines well” ?? Huh?? Genuinely, is this like a thing people actually notice that I just…haven’t heard of?? I really doubt they’re bullshitting it because they went really in depth and seem to really believe it- are they just living in a parallel universe where that’s common knowledge??

I mean this is just one of many similar instances. Some others include “Girls like guys who have long hair and think all guys with short hair are ugly. Not you tho Casper because you have wavy short hair and that’s different!” and “Girls don’t feel pain as strongly as guys do, which is the biological tradeoff for not building muscle as fast” and “Men know they have problems but don’t fix them. Women usually don’t know when they have problems, but when they do, they try to fix them.” To most of these I’ve said some variation of “What?” or “huh?” or “I’m pretty sure that’s just y’all specifically,” but they usually say it’s true and like. Well-known?! Idk I think they’re gaslighting me and/or maybe themselves?? Or am I just really unaware or something??

[eliotquillon]

I NEED a wilson and cameron meta/drabble, how did they meet? how are they on a first-name basis? why is wilson such a big hameron shipper?

anon i love you . thank you for giving me an excuse to talk about wilson and cameron!!!

speaking about them briefly as Characters, and not as ‘people’: the parallels between then both are really, really fascinating. by the end of the show, both of them have been married three times. she lost her first husband; he lost amber. wilson contracts thymus cancer, and cameron’s first husband had thyroid cancer before it metastasised—both are endocrine. they are both explicitly attracted to this idea of ‘neediness’; they have both fallen in love with someone else while still married (though only one of them acted on it); they’re both very concerned with…how do i put this, externality?? there’s a conflict in how they want to present themselves to the world versus how they really feel. cameron consistently has these high-brow morals that she struggles to follow through on, either because they conflict with each other or because it isn’t easy to act on. wilson wants to be seen as a good guy, wants to give all he can to people, and often does so—but is also itching, sometimes, for an excuse to act out, and he and house are drawn to each other as a result. i think really the best way to sum them up is that they’re puzzle pieces that look like they fit, but…don’t.

anyway. onto them as ‘people’, i guess:

truth be told i think wilson and cameron truly just met in the context of her showing up to work one day as one of house’s fellows. that said. i have NEVER been able to get to the bottom of why wilson randomly calls her ‘allison’ in maternity and at this point i don’t think i ever will. literally one of the first houseposts i did on main was about this because i was like ‘what’. but at a best guess i would say this was intended as shorthand/foreshadowing for the fact that, well, cameron is by far the fellow that wilson hangs out with the most. they get tons of scenes and subplots together in s1 and 2. and i think she’s probably the fellow he likes the most. she’s nice, she’s willing to stand up for herself, she cares about house—these are all qualities that wilson either has himself or seems to wish he had, and while foreman and chase each have some of these, cameron’s really the only one who starts off with all three. WHICH IS NOT TO SAY THAT CAMERON IS PERFECT or flawless because like. Lol no. but her good qualities are mostly things that wilson values, and i think that’s important; it’s probably why they appear to get along). (also, logistically speaking—cameron is a big focus of that episode, and the ones after it, because it’s the leadup to the dead husband reveal. it makes sense to reveal her first name to a casual watcher at this point, it just so happens that wilson being the one to do so feels…wonky, in retrospect. it probably would’ve made more sense for it to be foreman or chase to reveal her first name—she’s the one to repeatedly use theirs in her self help book era—but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

as to why wilson is such a huge hameron shipper: DESPITE EVERYTHING I HAVE SAID ABOVE, i think this is less about cameron and more about house. don’t get it twisted: wilson for sure ‘approves’ of cameron. she’s good at reading him—although she overplays it, in the end—she has all of the above listed qualities, and, y’know. nobody else is exactly throwing themselves at house at this point. she’s young and pretty, what’s not to like. but for all of this approval, all that he eggs house on…he still gives her a shovel talk. he warns her not to hurt house’s feelings, that she has the power to do so. he likes cameron, sure, but he’s obviously far, far more invested in house. and house is entertaining it, at least briefly! he buys a corsage and asks for tips on what to say. he’s willing to give it a go. this, i think, is why wilson wants house to go for it—not because cameron is particularly special, but because house is open to the idea and on paper it might be good for him. key words being on paper, lol. wilson is on board and he thinks house needs the extra push. note how wilson’s hameron shipping basically melts away entirely after stacy returns—he’s sure as hell not encouraging that relationship, but it’s funny how he never suggests house rebound with cameron instead. if house takes it off the table entirely, then wilson follows suit.

you did not ask for this, but: my own personal headcanon is that when cameron leaves for chicago, her and wilson stay on christmas card terms—but like. weirdly passive aggressive christmas card terms. on paper the friendliness is still there, she still helped him through the grief of amber, but—she severed ties with house. she believes him to be poison. wilson, though technically his own person…is still an extension. wilson i think probably has similarly cool feelings about her, too. but they’re both trapped in a kill-em-with-kindness-off wherein they keep promising to see each other if wilson ever ends up in chicago for a conference. he does not ever end up in chicago for a conference. lmao. ultimately i think it’s kind of a sad end to what seemed to be a genuine friendship, but…they both chose a side. i don’t think the friendship survives it.

[starletcake]

Headcanon about mage Viktor and his 'origins'

I didn't really understand how viktor could be the mage from Jayces past and I didn't really get any real or satisfying answers to that from anywhere, so I thought I would spin my own little theory (or at this point you could say fanfiction) as to how this all happened, how viktor became the mage in Jayces story, what he meant by "only you could ever show me this" etcetc. I assume/determine/establish many things for my thoughtprocess to be true, I do that for my story to work and for my mind to be at peace and that it can grip an answer and not go insane about pixels because apparently i cannot act normal around media i like.

First of all, I'm gonna assume that some things are just true/meant to happen/fated in ALL timelines. For example that viktor is going to ALWAYS come into touch with the arcane and even if his path can be different each timeline his end goal is always the same - glorious evolution. I also assume that if you time travel/jump timelines and act as a seperate individual in this timeline (not like f.e. ekko replacing himself in his timeline) you are not allowed/cannot intervene too much with it because then the time/space continuum collapses or the arcane throws a fit idk.

So let's imagine a timeline, I'm gonna call it "the first timeline" (even though it doesn't really make sense in thinking of first/next/last timeline because all of the timelines are parallels, but bear with me), a timeline where viktor comes into touch with the arcane a different way, because here he doesn't even know Jayce exists (the mage which gave him the rune doesn't exist yet/in this "first" timeline). He merges with the arcane, thinks he's doing everyone a favour by initiating the glorious evolution, finishes it, creates a perfect world and everyone is happy. Except it isn't a perfect world and nobody is happy, in fact everybody is practically dead, without joy, love and choice, and Piltover/maybe even the whole world crumbles into arcane waste because of Viktors actions. He doesn't understand what went wrong, he didn't want this, he wanted everyone to have equal opportunities and end all suffering and be without sickness, be perfect. There had to be some kind of mistake here. So, with the help of the arcane, he travels to another timeline, and tries to change a few things in his story. With hindsight, this time he could steer his young self in the right direction and this time, surely it will work.

But it doesn't. So he tries again. And again. And again and again and again.

But everytime, in every timeline, with every change he made, with every different decision he made, with every different way he found the arcane, it always ended the same - the glorious evolution was a mistake. More than that, an error in his thinking of his younger self, which is the catalyst of the apocalypse.

Having seen that outcome time and time again, this "first" mage Viktor realizes that this cost for perfection is flawed, and that imperfections do have beauty in itself. So, he goes into another timeline, this time adamant to stop himself. But he fails. He just isn't able to stop his younger self, he is not able to prevent that he is coming into contact with the arcane, he is not able to change his worldview, he is not able to change anything about his goal or conviction. So, maybe someone else could? Trying and trying to introduce character after character into his life, trying to let others influence him, to no avail. How could he, anyway? How could anyone change this worldview of him? He, "first" mage Viktor needed countless of timelines and experiences to learn, that he doesn't have to be ashamed of his flaws, that he doesn't have to erase them and that imperfections are what makes them all alive. How could anyone show him, in his limited lifespan, everything he learned in a multiple factor of this time?

And this is where Jayce comes in.

Maybe, in one of the infinite timelines, the "first" mage Viktor was just as lost as Jayce on that fateful day. Maybe he was about to give up his endeavor of stopping himself becoming the villain in each and every timeline. Maybe, he began to accept that, just as he is fated to meet the arcane, he is also fated to doom the world. Then, he sees a little boy, crying over his dying mother in a snow storm. Maybe he thinks, even if i will destroy the world later, maybe I could do a good deed now, and saves the little boys mother. He gifts the little boy a rune, and goes on with his day.

And BOOM, Jayce just got introduced to the game. This little act changed the course of history entirely, suddenly there was a brilliant mind in the middle of Piltover, suddenly Jayce and Viktor meet, and suddenly, Hextech is invented. Viktor gets a partner he can trust, that he loves and admires and he gets this love and admiration and trust back. They understand each other in ways nobody else could, they share moments of intimacy and ways of love no romantic love could ever reach(thats also a reason i don't really ship Viktor and Jayce, deep love doesn't always have to be romantic in nature and there are so many other types of love that are no lesser and can be more intense(even though my gay heart yearned for them to kiss at that last scene ngl)(well this and maybe im also trying to convince myself that it doesn't always has to be romantic love that saves the world and is the most impactful and beautiful and fated etcetc(can you tell I'm aro)))

And suddenly, new hope flashes in mage Viktors eyes. It's him. He is the one. The only one. The one he was meant to meet, meant to choose so Jayce could choose Viktor again. And even though this timeline also ended in the wasteland mage Viktor saw so often already, now he knows, oh he feels that he will be the one to change it all.

So this little clip where we see mage Viktor giving little Jayce all these different runes? This is actually the end of mage Viktors journey, the last couple steps to finally find true peace, not in the form all of the Viktors always thought they will(glorious evolution), but in the form of accepting himself. And nobody else, not himself or Singed or Silco or Sky or Mel or Heimerdinger, only Jayce, only him, only you, could show me this.

(Finally, one of the runes caused Jayce to travel to another timeline where the apocalypse already has happened, and Ekko in one where he invents his timetravel device. Finally, mage Viktor can talk to Jayce and Jayce promises Viktor to stop him, forgiving him and loving him regardless. And Ekko, being the last push Jayce and Viktor needed to, being the catalyst of this even being able to happen)

I'm only writing/thinking about/posting this to satisfy my urge to understand exactly what was going on and why characters acted that way or why situations happened, to try to fill plotholes that nag my brain in a series that i absolutely love and gives me so many emotions(mostly pain, oh the misery). Idk and idc if any of that makes actual sense or fits in the lore of LoL or even the show itself, if it retconns some things or if the show itself retconns some of this theory/story, it makes sense in my head and I kinda like it, and thats what brings me peace idk how my brain works ok. (Plus it would be so cool to see some of the alternate timelines where for example viktor works with Silco and Jinx instead or smth)

[homestuckreplay]

Stuffed Grandpa Figurine: Only $413.99!!

(page 911-918)

The color scheme of the Harley fireplace and entryway is VERY interesting. Almost all furniture in the kids' houses is shown in black and white, so a colorful fireplace in itself means we're supposed to take note - and these specific gold/yellow and purple are associated with the luminous and ominous planets, respectively. In the top left above her fireplace looks like an ogre head of the type John just killed. Where exactly is Grandpa Harley exploring? Where is he getting these decoration ideas? Has he been to these planets somehow? Does he have an advanced agenda like uniting the planets or does he just think they look cool?

Jade's grandpa also collects globes, which are reasonable, tasteful and make sense based on his career, unlike some of his other interests. Although on the ground in the dark they are a little bit of a safety hazard. Less sensible are the suit of armor, mummy wearing a pirate hat, moose and Santa Claus sat on the couch.

This sequence is definitely set up to parallel Rose and her mom - on pages 231-232, Rose sneaks past a similarly-composed hallway where her mom stands in silhouette, and on page 389 we find out Strife between them is a daily occurrence. Jade talking about how predictable her grandpa is must be a nod to the reader, like she knows we've guessed the pattern.

When Grandpa Harley appears in silhouette, it's accompanied by a Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff quote. This only works for me because it feels like Jade's thoughts - he appears, just like she predicted, and while doing important sneaking work she accidentally thinks of a silly meme her friend made. That's very good. And he does look powerful, standing there tall with mustache stiff and fun held aloft lit by the roaring fire behind.

And then we get hit with a 3x triple psycheout combo.

Jade falls asleep at the exact moment of leaping across the divide, instead of successfully escaping like Rose.

The narration on page 917 and loading screen on page 918 outright tell us we're switching to Dave's perspective, but we suddenly cut back to Jade.

We begin what seems like a typical Strife between Jade and Grandpa, with an 'Aggrieve' option, except.... he's not responding. The man has zero reaction to being pelted with bullets. He's also standing on a plinth with his name on it, which is odd but I guess not impossible for somebody decorated and self-aggrandizing, but... IS THAT A LINE OF STITCHING GOING DOWN HIS FACE??

THIS OLD MAN IS STUFFED????

This changes everything. I genuinely feel blindsided by this development. I don't think this could have been predicted, no actual hints were dropped, but something did feel off about the way Jade talked about him. Like she was always using the same words to describe him and telling the same anecdotes, the way that someone might if they were pretending to know someone much better than they actually did. But I brushed it off and assumed he was just a predictable guy.

But this? I feel like throwing out everything I've assumed about Jade and starting again. Because there's no way 'talks about a stuffed figure like he's a Real Guy' isn't a defining character trait. I don't know whether this is the corpse of an actual human, like the ultimate big game trophy, or more of an animatronic situation. I don't know if Jade was actually raised by a grandfather or if this is a complete fabrication. I don't know if there are any other people in Jade's house. I don't know if she knows that this figure isn't actually alive.

I'd like some of these questions to be answered before I think about What It All Means! But I am definitely thinking about loneliness, and comfort, and imaginary friends, and the ways people lie to themselves to cope with difficult situations. And I think what there four kids have in common is that they are the most unbelievably lonely people in existence.

That aside, page 918 functions like page 769, where pressing any keyboard button gives a different fun animation of Jade blasting her gun or playing her flute. The earlier page ended up as a 'psyche-out' as it wasn't Jade's true instrument (and therefore couldn't play a haunting refrain) so I wonder if the same is true for Grandpa not being Jade's true guardian and therefore not her true strife page. Jade is all about these sudden tricks and I can still believe that John, Rose and Dave could end up with a different fourth Sburb player.

These pages with their 30+ different keyboard-controlled animations are so cool - the amount of effort they take to make versus the amount they contribute to the story might be out of balance, but I still think they should be there. In a world where the characters are controlled by keyboards (via commands at a terminal or in the forum suggestion threads) it seems only fair that we also get a turn. Every time I have to press a key or click a button within a flash, I remember that my computer is a crucial part of the story.

> Jade: What the hell is going on.

[srslylini]

no cause all of this I basically completely agree with so listen to me about Ekko

imagine if they hadn't made the tree of the firelights be sick from the hexcore but from the usage of "The Grey".

Walk with me for a second here. This would give Ekko serious need to talk to the council (not just jayce) and for natural conflict to arise out of shit that isn't too far out of reach and was established. Finding out from Heimerdinger that it is "The Grey" also wouldn't have felt weird since of course he'd know as well and Ekko could know as well since he grew up in the undercity.

The Grey could have ALSO been used as such a good point to bring all sides of Zaun together, because they now face the exact same shit. No Jinx symbol bringing them together but this threat. It would also breathe (ha) more meaning into the tree and give the character Caitlyn a lot more weight. The conflict arising from this would have been natural, made thematic sense, would have been established AND wouldn't feel weird. Plus Ekko, Heimerdinger and Jayce wouldn't just randomly disappear for 3 episodes and a lot of things wouldn't have felt so out of place and stuffed.

that in turn could have given the black rose necessary time to exist.

It could then also directly parallel the Cult Viktor opened with the Tree and how that place is actually the sanctuary.

the way Arcane wasted character in season 2 is actually insane. They gave us good character design but no good character. Especially the new ones. Is there honestly ONE, one you genuinely cried over?

I cried over Mylo and Claggor. I cried over Vander in season 1. I cried over Powder screaming and sobbing after Vi in act 1 of season 1. I felt deep emotional pain over all of this because they gave me character and an understanding of the world we are in. And they did all of that in 3, THREE, episodes.

What did they do with Isha? Well I sure didn't cry when she died. Her character, while interesting just wasn't fleshed out at all. What I felt when they killed her was how idiotic the writers were for that because okay? like huh. They had 5 episodes with Isha and somehow managed to not make me care enough to cry. Not because Isha's potential wasn't there but because killing her was stupid and pointless, just to further another characters pain which could happen way more naturally without introducing a character to die.

What did they do with Loris? They tried to make him Vander (which okay weird why do that? especially if you want to bring Vander back anyway like uhm? what was the sense of introducing Loris as a Vander stand in and then bringing Vander back??). But he WASN'T Vander because they never showed him to be. They just told me he was. Which doesn't work. okay, he died. Did not care. The only thing I felt was rage again because it was so unnecessary and dumb, they could have made a lot with this character.

Maddie. Well Maddie is a whole other thing, isn't she? She was introduced in a way that already raised a lot of eyebrows. But in a "she is a cop" way and not she is on Ambessas side way. There is so much questions coming up with that. Had she been on Ambessa's side from the very start? Even when we first saw her on screen? Did she come with Ambessa? But how was she an enforcer then? Did she always live in Piltover but how did she then turn towards Ambessa? When she made that fist sign, was the plot between Ambessa and her already going, or did it happen after that? Why were we not shown any of this? this is NECESSARY to understand her character and why the end happened. We should have been able to feel betrayed as well but like? I did not feel betrayed I was just like "okay well, that happened off screen I guess."

Steb had not one talking line, like why was he here, was I meant to feel bad when he ran into The Grey, I can't even tell, help.

And then the side characters of Zaun, especially the Jinxers. The one woman who then died with Vi's hand in hers while wearing the uniforms of Piltover. Did not feel sad. Felt absolute huge amount of unfiltered rage. Her character should have MEANT something. I feel they tried to make her mean something but they failed there too.

Lest?? LIKE LEST COULD HAVE ALSO BEEN USED IN SUCH AN INTERESTING WAY. She just never came back. Okay. Great, at least she didn't die but like? Was I meant to get invested? Was I meant to care? Usually I should be able to tell if I should care about a character in a show or not but in Arcane s2 they tried to make me care and failed or if I cared well then they failed, too

anyways just the side characters especially were a huge disappointment this time around.

[caeslxys]

Something I think is extremely interesting thematically when it comes to connecting what Downfall and the ideas it tackled to the overarching narrative of campaign three is that the things Downfall made a point to showcase of Aeor—Cassida, Hallis, the visual of an aeormaton proposing to her partner, the specific and intentional decision to shed light on a far from insignificant amount of the population being civilians or refugees—is that it plays in perfect parallel across from what is happening (and, really, has been happening) to the ruidusborn on Exandria in present.

Bear with me for a moment. Aeor is ultimately a city that was collectively punished for the decisions of its leadership. We could (and, judging by the amount of discourse around this particular topic already, probably will) argue about what the Gods’ motivation for all of this was—whether it be that they could not, in the end, bear to kill their siblings or that they were terrified at the prospect of mortality—for me it is a very healthy dose of both—but for this I am much more interested in the latter. They were scared. That, really, is the driving force behind both this arc and their role in c3 as a whole.

Why I point this out is: It is far more interesting to me, especially as we go back to Bells Hells this week, to dissect the Gods and their decisions not purely on sympathetic motivation alone but as beings in the highest seat of power in the highest social class in Exandria.

So, having established that the Gods (in relation to mortals) are more a higher social class than anything we could compare to our real life understanding of divinity and that Aeor was eviscerated largely because of their fear—what is the difference between those innocents in Aeor caught in the trappings of their autocratic government leadership and a divine war on the ground, and those of the ruidusborn being manipulated both by Ludinus and by the very thing that inspired such visceral fear in the Gods to start with. I would argue very little.

I think of Cassida, doing what she genuinely thought was right and good and would save people, her son, and the object of her worship—and how that did not matter enough to any of them to spare her because of the fear they held at the very concept of mortality. I think of Liliana and Imogen, one of which we know begged for the gods to help her or send her a sign for years on years, and how every single one of their largest struggles could have been avoided had the gods loved them, their supposed children, as much as they feared what they could be. I think of how the thing that did save Imogen, in the end, was a woman who herself existed in direct defiance of the gods will. I think of that young boy, sixteen years old, that Laudna exalted on Ruidus.

I think it’s completely fair to judge Aeor’s overall society as deeply corrupt—it was!—but its leadership and police force are not a reflection of every one of its citizens. Similarly, it is fair to judge the Ruby Vanguard as corrupt—it is!—but its multiple heads of leadership and even the god-eater further are not a reflection of every one of its members.

Notably, and what I think the Hells will latch onto, this did not matter to the Gods. It did not matter that Cassida was trying to help. She was still too much of a risk. Will it matter, what Imogen does? Will it matter, if that young boy is in the blast radius when they decide to take no further chances?

I’ve seen a lot of people say that the Hells will side with the gods and I don’t think I agree. Especially as Imogen has been scolded and villainized over and over for daring to try and save her mother—who herself has been seen by some as an irredeemable evil in spite of her drive being the exact same—her family—but when it’s the Gods it’s justified? When it’s the Gods, it’s sympathetic? Too sympathetic to criticize further than “they’re family”?

I obviously do not think the Gods should die or be eaten or what have you, and I certainly don’t agree with Ludinus (though I find him much more compelling than just a variation of hubris wizard), but when talking about the Gods in Aeor and in present it isn’t really at all about their motivation or their family. It can’t be. Too many people, including our active protagonists, lives have been effected for it to be as cut and dry as “they’re family”. These are your children. They are your family, too.

[vynnyal]

This is a pretty good point in the wip to share this, methinks :]

Map part for the hole dwelling map, starring... Not my ocs! I wanted to use ocs, but I don't have any-- so I just used the characters from a fic I was reading at the time 😂

Turns out, the symbolism was so much fun to twist into the 11 seconds I had to work with, I ended up going way more complex than I meant to. If you wanna read the fic this was based on, please do!! And tell the author I said hi! :D

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Thinking about step 9 and the whole concept of forgiveness of one’s self and others and it bringing healing and how bobby and Eddie have been paralleled a fair amount and the idea that Eddie started this process back at the end of s5 with his forgiveness and acceptance of his father but how he hasn’t yet gone anywhere near his mother and their relationship .

How his catholic guilt storyline seems more likely to play on his reltionship with his mother than his father (if his father wasn’t around that much it would’ve been Helena taking him to church etc each week) so the idea of an Eddie - Helena storyline that plays on catholic guilt and potentially his queerness in relation to that has me chewing on glass - it could be so epically good

[hyperfixationcritter]

Thinking about this again and turns out I have a LOT more thoughts about this so I'm just gonna put it under read more.

Starting with Jayce, he's a character who's been established in s1 as simultaneously caring about/being dependent on what other's think of him and having some good intentions but (due to his privilege) also doing what he wants without taking others into proper consideration because of his need to be the one to do something when there's a problem.

It's a bit of a parallel he shares with Caitlyn who also goes off and does her own thing by tracking down Vi and going to the Undercity. Jayce also covers for Caitlyn when Marcus alerts him to her releasing Vi from prison.

If Jayce went down a villain arc like Caitlyn, it would just be an extension of these traits and flaws that are already there in both of them.

But if he sides with the Undercity, this would be a way to have his good intentions and genuine care for characters like Viktor and Mel be met with positive growth and real actions that support that and branch out from where his character development ended by s1 act 3. I think I'd still keep his regression in s2 act 1 when he makes the hextech weapons for Caitlyn's team because I think that's a mistake that makes sense for his character in the immediate aftermath of the explosion given his need to do something, caring about Mel and Viktor as individuals but not taking into account the bigger picture/class struggle, and his bond with Caitlyn. I'd just have him afterward be held accountable or hold himself accountable to Mel and Viktor and segway into them ultimately working together as a team.

Going back to Mel, again I think that if her going back to Noxus HAS to be endgame (and I have very mixed feelings on that which other people have articulated) she could at least end things with allies in the Undercity/with Viktor and Jayce. I also wouldn't kill Elora off because I just think that wasn't necessary. Mel sacrifices so much just to end up alone, depowered (despite gaining magical powers), and worse where she started off because both the show and fandom sidelined her. I'd rather have Elora be alive so Mel still has a close friend and confidant if Noxus has to be endgame for her and even if it isn't, we'd also just get to see more of them working together and expand on that already established friendship instead of killing off a useful and interesting support character.

On that note, I feel the need to bring up Sky because if I could change one thing from s1 which I overall enjoy very much and don't have much notes on, it'd be Sky's death. I think she's a side character that could've stood on her own instead of being fridged twice for white man pain (especially when it was so vague about whether or not it was actually her or the hexcore using her image to manipulate Viktor). It would give Viktor someone else in his circle instead of just Jayce (and it goes without saying for me that his dynamic with Mel would be a thing that's actually explored for both their character's benefit and not just as extensions of Jayce's story). It would also give the story another character from the Undercity who made it into the academy with her own knowledge and theories to offer to the story and characters.

I think it would be really cool to see Sky and Viktor be science buddies and have them get closer in s1 act 3 when tension arises between him and Jayce (she'd probably start to feel some tension on her own end too given Jayce's decisions). Someone could still die at the hands of the hexcore but I'd make it the security guard Mel distracted so Viktor and Jayce could prove the hextech theory worked in s1 act 1. It would keep up that side character continuity and allow Sky to be her own person who contributes to the story and future of Zaun. Maybe she still comes in on that happening or Viktor tells her first before Jayce and Mel as a way of showing their personal bond and having them confide more in each other as two people from the Undercity who feel disillusioned with how things have turned out for them and, after the council attack, go back there to help people.

A lot of us have talked about how the show would've benefited from keeping the class struggle front and center. While I do like the magic aspects of the show, it should've been framed as an inherently/ethically neutral resource/tool along with science that different sides and characters were fighting over; liberation and autonomy for the Undercity and suppression/control for Piltover. It would also disprove Heimerdinger's whole "all magic bad" stance because that's too much of a black and white approach/oversimplification to be true/good worldbuilding in my opinion, especially given the themes of systemic oppression in this story.

Both Sky and Viktor's arc could have them regain their autonomy after spending so much time in Piltover where their work couldn't come to fruition. Viktor's transformation would be something in his control. And honestly, if I wanted/if Sky still somehow got injured from the hexcore accident or some later event, she could have some plant based transformations based on her research whereas Viktor's are more metallic based and in-line with his league lore.

I think someone brought up the potential of Sky channeling the energy of this character/illustration which I can vibe with so that's where the idea for her plant transformations came from. I also saw that post about Viktor's machine herald concept art and, I say this as someone who likes his elden ring boss looking ass design in the show, THAT would've been both REALLY COOL AND more in line with his lore. It could also provide a cool parallel to Mel's golden armor/feromancy connections (bet you thought I couldn't bring this back to melvik but I did lol).

I think that's all I have to say about this idea for now. I didn't get much into Ekko, Sevika, Jinx and Vi because I feel like they had more of a solid set up to draw from in terms of where their arcs could've and should've gone whereas the writing for the hextech trio just went completely off the rails/removed them from their place in the class struggle narrative. That and I've seem some other posts that did a good job of suggesting where their arcs could've gone.

This one had some good takes on how Ekko could've been more included in s2 act1.

This person's take on s2 as a whole had some good takes on Ekko, Sevika, Vi and Jinx as well. I am 1000% down for Sevika, Jinx, Vi, Mel and Viktor joining all working together!!!!

If you read all this, congratulations! You're now a new partner of hextech lol XD

I personally would've been fine with Caitlyn pulling a bit of a Claudia from The Dragon Prince and staying a definitive antagonist. I think her turn to fascism in act 1 this season fit her character by falling back on her privilege. I still think that was a decent writing decision but they ended up not going through with it. If they did, it would also be an interesting way to show Caitlyn ultimately still doing her own thing despite her initial opposition against rogue plans because of the death of her mom. There's a lot they could've explored with Caitlyn not just falling back on her privilege but prioritizing her family above all else.

When it comes to Jayce, I like meljayvik so I got some bias, but I could potentially be ok with him also becoming an antagonist if it was done well and because I know he and Viktor have pre-established beef in league lore.

Alternatively though, it could've been an interesting plotline to have Jayce, given his development in the first season and even his regressions in s2 act 1, end up taking a definitive stance in solidarity with Zaun, starting with sabotaging any further use of hextech by Piltover against them.

There's a lot of parallels in Arcane but I don't often bring up the parallels between Caitlyn and Jayce as privileged people in Piltover who need to figure out if they're going to look beyond the one undercity person they know/are close with (Vi and Viktor) and take a definitive stance against the Undercity's oppression for everyone's sake or not. The Medardas also play a significant role in their arcs; Mel mentoring Jayce in s1, becoming equals and romantic partners who go through interesting character development together, and Ambessa very easily enabling Caitlyn's dictator arc in s2 for her own ends.

The other layer to Caitlyn and Jayce would be the fact that, while they're both privileged, Jayce was more middle class/lower noble house vs Caitlyn's family who were his patrons and immediately dropped him the moment he was put on trial in s1 act 1.

If Jayce were written to take a solid stance on the side of Zaun and against Caitlyn, though I see it starting out as him still being a bit wishy washy by trying to solely contain the use of hextech because he just resigned as a council member and wants to do science and needs to learn that he should be playing a bigger role in this because he can't separate his scientific ambitions from the political, it would also parallel him telling the other council members, but particularly Cassandra, that he doesn't care what they think of him anymore by fully rejecting his ties to house Kiramman. It would also make for some good "essentially big brother little sister angst" between him and Caitlyn.

It would also give the story as a whole a lead character who starts out in Piltover and chooses to grow and show solidarity with the oppressed.

As for Mel, she already canonically opposes Ambessa and sacrifices a lot to put a stop to things. In this plotline I think it would be interesting to see Mel grapple with how far she's willing to go against her mother at the cost of her place in Piltover. At the end of season 1 Mel already realizes she was channeling her mother by suggesting making hextech weapons and stays true to going against that from that point forward as shown in s2 act 1 whereas Jayce is the one to make weapons for Caitlyn's team without even telling Mel. I would've liked to see a conversation between the two of them about that and for the sake of this plotline idea have them figure out what they want to do as a team.

Mel already knows she's against her mom and Jayce already resigned his spot on the council but to see them both develop into definitively supporting the undercity, not just by extension of wanting to prevent war... I think that could be interesting and also delve more into them and Viktor being the trio that started hextech and see how that relationship with all three of them develops under these circumstances in a way that stays true to themes of classism and systemic oppression in the show. There could still be room to talk about the different types of magic/disprove Heimderginer's "all magic is bad" stance if the writing for Viktor and the hexcore was done differently and the story actually played into him and Mel's parallels in general but in this context, in regards to their magic.

Also if Mel returning to Noxus is still endgame, her sacrificing her place in Piltover for a better future for the people who suffered under them (the Undercity) and to go against her mom taking advantage of the conflict would support that.

These are just my two cents tho but it felt worth it to make a post about it the more I thought about this.

[total-drama-brainrot]

TD World Tour Alenoah AU... Where Noah is immune to Alejandro's fake charm... Instead, Noah gets charmed by the true Alejandro's quirks and dorky interests like dinosaurs and puppets... How would Alejandro feel about Noah only liking Alejandro, when Alejandro is being himself?... Especially since Alejandro's family shuns him for being himself? 🦕🦖🦕

Now you're speaking my language.

One of the most common running themes in all/near enough all Alenoah central AUs is having Noah be the first person to see past Alejandro's persona and actually appreciate the person he is, or at the very least prefer the real Alejandro to his mask of perfection. It's one of the draws of the ship itself; the idea that Noah, being the blunt person that he is, can and will wage a war of attrition against the walls Alejandro has built up around himself- not just to keep others out, but also to repress the more authentic aspects of himself to himself- in order to reveal the person beneath.

I touched on this a little bit in a previous post concerning this AU, but Alejandro and Noah both see glimpses of the other that they try so valiantly to hide- in Noah's case, Alejandro sees hints of the scheming mindset he's pretty much supressed under layers of apathy and sloth (as Noah's laziness is one of his biggest character foils, alongside his snarky attitude), and in Alejandro's case he reveals tid bits of information about the Real Alejandro, not the persona he's usually portraying himself as, which is enough to humanise him in Noah's eyes.

They both become People Of Interest in each other's eyes, because they're both puzzles to be solved. Alejandro's curious and competitive to a fault so he'd dedicate himself to unravelling the layers behind Noah's stony exterior, as he'd see Noah's continued distance as a challenge. That's a given. But the topic at hand here is Noah's interest in Alejandro.

Because Noah's not exactly competitive, so why would he be so interested in unveiling the real Alejandro? That's simple; Noah values authenticity. Look at his friendship group, it consists of people who are unapologetically themselves. Noah is also unapologetically himself, in all of his sarcastic glory. So of course he's see flickers of the real, authentic Alejandro and his natural inquisitiveness would be piqued- a novelty for him, as Noah's staunch apathy generally tends to override any semblance of curiosity.

So Noah goes out of his way to make notes of the small interests Alejandro offhandedly mentions at one point or another, like palaeontology or puppetry or even his fifteen-step skincare routine- things that Alejandro shows genuine excitement or passion over that shines through the cracks of his perfect persona. He sees the dorky giddiness Alejandro experiences when Noah lets him ramble on about how Jurassic Park was incredibly inaccurate from a scientific standpoint but monumental for people's interest in palaeontology (or something along those lines, I don't know I'm not a dinosaur nerd) and suddenly the annoyingly flirtatious faker he's spent the better half of his time on the jet is A Whole Ass Person with interests and passions and a sense of depth he's been so bereft of until now. Suddenly Alejandro's more than just the antagonist of the show Noah's working on, he's an interesting person that the bookworm finds himself wanting to know more about. And, perhaps, he finds himself growing genuinely fond of the person behind the mask.

And he uses those notes to prompt Alejandro into sharing more of himself, the real authentic Alejandro, in the privacy of their interactions.

At first, Alejandro's fairly oblivious to what Noah's doing, since he's so caught up in his own enjoyment of Noah's company plans to essentially do the same to Noah that he barely notices his own tricks being used against him.

Of course, he's also just elated at being able to infodump to someone who isn't outright penalising him for doing so; not that I think Alejandro is even aware that what he's doing is infodumping, nor the fact that he's so obviously autistic, because his family is a particular brand of awful that would never let him get a proper diagnoses and in all likelihood forced him to mask/supress his symptoms.

It isn't until Alejandro realises that he's shared a lot of information about himself that he (as a Burromuerto) is expected to keep close to his chest, and he sees the glimmers of satisfaction in Noah's intelligent eyes, that the archvillain catches on to the fact that he's been played. But the thing that really catches him off-guard isn't the trickery, it's the fact that Noah's done nothing with the uncharacteristic displays of vulnerability.

Alejandro can't understand why Noah hasn't taken advantage of his "weakness" yet. Inevitably leading to him confronting the assistant, as Alejandro isn't the type to "let sleeping dogs lie" so to speak, and he's still very much so in the one-track mindset of winning the competition- thus he assumes that any show of vulnerability can and will lead to his untimely elimination. But when he practically demands that Noah reveal what he's been planning, why he's been sneakily collecting information on him, all Noah can do is shrug his shoulders and say;

"I guess I just like seeing the real you. That's all."

And Alejandro doesn't know how to respond to that. No one's ever wanted the real him, he's always had to play the role of the perfect son, the perfect brother. He doesn't understand.

And like most people when they're faced with a foreign concept they have no basis of behaviour for, he lashes out.

[sunny-knight]

LETS FUCKING GOOOO!!!!!!

(@forgettable-au go read it, its so good)

DAWWWWWWGGGG THIS WAS JUST AN ABSOLUTE JOY TO READ

not at all soul crushing…Just pure “EHEHEHEHEHE” the whole time cause SANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! him and Floweys’ interactions are always such a treat when they’re both written canonically, like Sans KNOWS Flowey is a little weirdo, but hes got faith in him! hes got faith in everyone! especially Papyrus AND WE WILL GET BACK TO THAT.

Taking in the first frame…The only thing I could focus on was I LOVE THEIR SILLY LITTLE HOUSE!!!!!

I love when people make their surface house just their Snowdin house BUT THIS IS JUST DOWN-RIGHT ADORABLE. Very very fitting, the Christmas lights in the middle of summer HDHEHEHEHEH they would

also: Flowey just hates to see a man chill

This frame in particular, but also just him being in a lawn chair in general feels like a reference to the Reward Tier video and Im here for it

That is the face of a man whos thinking “UHHHHHHHH”

also, alternate ending: Sans is honest:

Now… Im gettin nervous on what Floweys plan is gonna be in getting Papyrus to go to Hotland, let alone- THE LAB 😭

Like no way is he gonna just waltz in there without a fight

like is Flowey just gonna gaslight him like “The GREAT Papyrus isn’t afraid of a little lava now, is he??”

Then…. the last panel.

YOU GET IT OMG YOU GET IT

Sans cares, yes, BUT HES NOT A HELICOPTER MOM he trusts himmm :(( Id say more on that but thats getting side tracked into more Undertale in general territory….ill probably make a rant about that later-

I love it sm I love them, them is great, they are awesome, theys is perfect. theyre have no flaws.

GAAAAHHHH again this whole thing was just a treat to read, unlike the last update I have less THEORIES and ANALYSIS and more just “:3”

BUT IM STILL MAD ABOUT THAT GODAMN COLLARED SHIRT HES WEARING. THAT IS WINGDINGS’ SHIRT. THAT IS NOT A COINCIDENCE. I AM NOT GOING CRAZY AND LOOKING WAY TOO DEEP INTO THINGS!!!!!

Sans just stole his swag

…I just had a thought as I was writing the tags………. and now im crying just a little bit….

AGAIN. I MIGHT. JUST BE LOOKING. WAYYYY TOO DEEP INTO THINGS. BUT…..IDK….

IDC IF ITS NOT REAL. THESE TEARS ARE

this frame feels deliberate.

The sun. IS A STAR.

NEED. I. SAY. MORE.

[gojosbf]

exorcise me like one of your (love is the most twisted) curses

[aikoiya]

Thank you! I'm glad!

Though, it's not that I disliked the dragons. The dragons themselves were cool. It's just their designs I had issue with. And they do look cool flying around in the sky… It's up close where I have my issues. I guess that I just really didn't like the shapes of their snouts & would've preferred a more lupin or vulpin shape like Zelda had rather than the… really odd face-shape that we got…

But even more than that, my biggest issue with the Zonai Dragons’ designs is the placement of their eyes! Ugh! How do you give gargantuan DRAGONS prey eyes??? That sort of placement is for spotting predators! Who’s going to hunt a massive eff-off dragon to such a degree that they develop prey eyes!? They should be facing forward on the skull, not to the sides like goldfish! Like, really! It doesn’t even make sense with them being transformed Zonai because the Zonai were very obviously predators, too! Both had sharp, flesh-tearing teeth & the dragons, specifically, had claws that were almost cat-like in their sharpness & curvature! And the heck did the third eye go!? Sorry, this likely seems super weird to fixate on. I will say that I liked the names they were given. Much more unique when compared to repeatedly giving vastly different spirits the same names over & over.

And, you might get a bit angry at me, but I actually liked the SS designs & I loved the little robes they had. Sure, I also think that they could very much be improved, likely by giving them more snout-like faces & horns, but still. At the same time, I actually don't like that they have the same names as the Light Spirits, because it just feels cheap to me. It’s because of this that I tend to rename them using a mix of their French & Japanese names, though tweaked a bit. Faron becomes Firona, Lanayru becomes Lanello, & Eldin becomes Eridin. As for the switch in element, it's possible that Nintendo went in those directions so that the dragons fit more with their environments. Lanayru with the yellows of the desert & Faron with the more cool tones of the woods. Plus, it may also be partly because of the abundance of water in the Faron Region as well as the Ancient Cistern being a very water-based dungeon. (Which, btw, I loved the Ancient Cistern! The sheer amount of Buddhist parallels is incredible & I love it for that!) It's even possible that the designers came up with the areas first & they made the dragons to fit. And, keep in mind that the Lanayru Desert was once a sea, so at that time, it would've been more Nayru aligned, but (& this is more so hc) I tend to believe that Nayru is actually the Goddess of Time from OoT & MM. If so, then she might've known that the sea would dry up & counselled Hylia to choose the protector of Nayru's Flame accordingly. We don't actually know much of how Faron's power over water works, but it's entirely possible that she's more waterbender than squirtle, meaning that she might only be able to manipulate water rather than actively produce it herself. So, while I agree that the switch is odd, I still think it's within the realm of plausibility.

Personally, if I were to be given the choice, I would actually make it so that Link & his friends find a way to sort of… Bring the Zonai Dragons’ minds back to them. In my mind, this would likely alter their physicality to a degree. Possibly allowing for more of a torso & forward-facing eyes like how the Great Dragons of SS had, which would sort of reduce the feeling of mindless animal I get from them & allow for a more sentient vibe, I think.

I suppose that it somewhat goes unspoken in my mind because I think he named it such unknowing that the ancient Hyrule of legend was real at one point. So, basically it's like how there's a city in Missouri named Avalon. Those who named it likely didn't believe that the actual legendary island of Avalon in Arthurian legend legitimately existed, but still named it that. Similarly, Arcadia California & Argos Greece are both named after places in Greek myth. Neither were believed to actually exist, but are named after such things anyway. By this I mean that I think that Rauru couldn't say something like that because, in his mind, there wasn't a ruined kingdom with the same name. From his perspective, he named it after what amounted to Camelot, an old if remarkable folktale.

Though, I do agree that it is sad that it almost feels like, in my suggestion, that the old Hyrule has been erased.

Actually! The desert, jungle, volcano, & even the Gerudo Highlands are fairly plausible because I tend to theorize that part of the reason that the desert changed from a meadow & sea in SS to a desert in all the others is because of whatever tectonic shift cause the Gerudo Highlands to slowly ascend, thereby creating a rain shadow! This means that because they’re so tall & on the leeward side of the desert, all the rain falls upon the Highlands rather than where the desert is! And even the jungle is possible if Hyrule itself is near their earth's equator! It's the Hebra mountains & Mount Lanayru that I'm finding odd in placement. Regardless, it's certainly possible that there's a degree of size dilation here, but I wouldn't go as large as a continent. Maaaybe a bit bigger than Japan because Japan actually has all of these climates! There's the Tottori sand dunes, the Okinawa Prefecture has rainforests, it has numerous volcanoes scattered all over the place, they even have their own alps. Which may be part of why Hyrule's map is so varied, because so is Japan’s.

Hmm… I think part of it might be that there's a lot less interference from the divinities in the Wild Era besides the Goddess Statues. Most everything is done on a mortal level, meanwhile earlier games had much more mention of destiny & whatnot. In some way, you could possibly correlate it to Hyrule having entered a more secular & “modern” period. As societies advance, they tend to become less religious. Though there was a definite influence of it in BotW, most of it was based around Zelda & her powers. And even then, she always struck me as struggling because of her more secular & scientific mindset. So, now that such is no longer necessary, I get the vibe that she’s somewhat abandoned those things partially due to her trauma.

Again, I actually agree with alot of what you bring up regarding the Sages. Though, I think that could've been alleviated by simply using a different word. But, again, I actually very much agree with the seeming lack of spiritual substance. In fact, there also seems to be a distinct lack of magic in the Wild Era as a whole. It all being replaced by technology fueled by magical energy without the mysticism of magic itself. To me, it's like trying to compare string cheese to gruyere. Simply put, there is no comparison in that gruyere is real cheese, while string cheese is only cheese in the most remote sense of the term in that, yeah, there's a tiny bit of dairy in there, but it's so heavily processed & full of chemicals that it's lost its soul.

Also, I very very much agree with the sentiment that when it comes to gaming absolute freedom doesn’t necessarily equate to more fun. Don’t get me wrong, it was very interesting to see all the different ways that people could get creative with the Zonai Devices & the Sheikah Slate, but by giving people so much power, it also allowed them to blunt force a lot of things. And, I honestly think that a lot of the disappointment I get from being able to literally explore everything from the moment you leave the Plateau/Sky Island could’ve been put off by spacing out the Runes you get throughout the game in a similar way to the old formula.

And, again, I also didn't like how you could just flippin’ go to Ganondorf & take him down immediately in the game. On the one hand, the fact that you can legitimately kill the demon king in your undies with nothing more than a stick & a prayer is absolutely hilarious! But on the other, it sort of cheapens things it feels like, ya know? I mean, there are games in the series where you didn’t need the Master Sword to kill him. One of which being the Silver Arrows, but it doesn’t stop the fact that Nintendo has sort of created this precedence & expectation for themselves.

Mmm… I think that the difference is that the Secret Stones’ abilities have been defined in a way that the Triforce of Power hasn't. By this I mean that the Secret Stones very specifically either enhance something that the wielder already possessed or it allows them to create an avatar (which, I think is an either/or sort of situation, you can do one or the other, but you can't do both). Meanwhile, the ToP's abilities have never really been explained in a satisfying way, but it does seem to just give people a power independent of the ones they already had.

Really?? I did not know that! Cool! I got rancor right! :D

Mmm… I'm not so sure about that. In my mind, MC is the literal next game after SS, which gives it a degree of leeway in what it's allowed to do in a similar way to the Wild Era being part of an alternate timeline that split off from SS would've.

---

Fair, I'll stick with Confluances. Also, I've always liked the word Promenade. It just sounds really nice & pleasing to the ears. :)

Hardcore agree with you there! I would love to see a Gerudo King that wasn't Ganondorf! It'd be really cool because we'd get some other frame of reference for how Gerudo Kings lead other than Ganondorf, who we never see lead at all!

Also, you're right, this IS getting long! 😆 But it's also been very enjoyable!

Hi, sorry if this is a bit rude. 😅 I guess that I was just wondering. How would Jabul Waters, Zora Cove, & Crossflows Plaza be named in French?

I'm trying to give Jabul Waters an interesting name that works to go with my hc & I came up with "Jabuleaux." And Google Translate tells me that Crossflows Plaza would be Place des Flux Croisés. And, I'm seeing that Anse is the term to refer to a cove &, if that's true, then would Zora Cove be Zoranse? At the same time, somewhere else, it said that Anse actually means beach.

And, I believe that a town by a swamp would have cher, quier, bren, brin, or Hor- in it?

I'm sorry if this is weird... 😅

Hi! Don't worry it's not rude or weird at all! I offered to help and I'm happy to do so :D

Did you check the official French translations? I had a surprisingly hard time finding the French version of the map online so here's a screenshot I took myself:

Jabul Waters = Eaux de Jabule (this one only appears when I zoom out)

Zora Cove = Baie Zora

Crossflows Plaza = Place de l'Estuaire

In case you didn't know the Zelda Wiki often lists names for places or characters in various languages in the "Nomenclature" section of its pages. It's very helpful especially if you're searching for the original Japanese names. If we look at at the different names for Crossflows Plaza we can see that a literal translation from Japanese would be something like "Exchanging Place". I checked the Jisho dictionary and it seems to be an accurate translation, though "Place for Cultural Exchanges" would be more meaningful.

It's not exactly a good name in English so it makes sense that the localization team would come up with something like Crossflows Plaza instead, which in my opinion does a very good job of stating that this is both the place where the river meets the sea and where the two Zora tribes traditionally meet each other.

Other European languages all settled for variations of "Estuary Plaza" ("Place de l'Estuaire" in French), which is fine but looses the "cultural exchanges" aspect of both the original name and the English translation.

I've been trying to come up with a French translation of "Crossflows Plaza" but it's not that easy. To me "Place des Flots Croisés" or "Place Flots-Croisés" would sound better than "Place des Flux Croisés", but I still find it a bit weird ("flot" meaning flow, tide or stream). "La Croisée des Flots" is another option if you agree to get rid of Plaza/Place (it means "the intersection/junction of streams"), but I don't think it works very well as a name.

You could also mix words to create a name the same way it was done in English, something like "Place Croiseaux" (croiser/cross + eau/waters). If any of my French speaking followers is feeling inspired, please share your ideas! :)

(I just thought of "Place Cruciflot" and found it too funny not to mention 😆 maybe it sounds too much like crucifix)

In French we also have the word "confluence" that has the exact same meaning as it does in English: either the meeting of two rivers or a gathering of some kind. So to me the most obvious translation would be something like "Place des Confluences" or maybe "Place Confluence", as it would preserve the dual meaning, but it's not very fancy or creative. Maybe we could simply change the spelling to something like Place Konfluans, the same way "Village Côtier" (Seaside Village) is spelled "Village Kothié" (Seesyde Village). But it doesn't look like a French word anymore so I'm not sure that's something you'd like.

As for Jabuleaux, it can work but I prefer the official translation "Eaux de Jabule". Same thing for Zoranse, we would say "Anse Zora" or "Anse des Zora". The official French translation is "Baie Zora" (Zora Bay), which I think is more appropriate given the size of the sea inlet (in my understanding an anse/cove is a small baie/bay and isn't very deep). I think maybe it should have been bay in English as well instead of cove, but I might be wrong! Also I believe "anse" isn't used as often as "baie" and might be confusing for most people, so I would go with "Baie Zora".

I'm not sure where you found this information about swamps and town names? I didn't find anything to confirm it but I might not have looked in the right places.

French towns are often ancient and their names can derive from other languages such as Celtic, Occitan, Flemish, or regional dialects, so that's a very difficult question and I'm not sure I can give you a satisfying answer ^^

I still did a little search and found an Old French word for swamp, "palud" or "palu", that still appears in some town names such as La Palud-sur-Verdon, Saint-Pierre-la-Palud, Lapalud, etc. (today we say "marais" or "marécage"). You might be right about "bren", it could be something like muddy in Gallic.

There's also "vign" or "mign" (from Celtic), as in Mignéville or Lévignac, or l'Île de Migneaux on the Seine river (this one's in my city!).

Near where I grew up is a town named Hazebrouck, it literally means "hare swamp" (brouck/broek = swamp in Flemish). For a bit more French flavor you could maybe use -broucq or -breucq instead of -brouck.

I think the vast majority of French people have no clue about all of that (I didn't except for the last one and it's more Flemish than French), so I'd say don't oversweat it ;)

And that's all! I hope you'll find this helpful ^^

[scruncheduppaper]

i love stanford pines can we please get an amen in the chat

[srslylini]

the parallels in arcane season 2 mostly sucked and killed the story, there I said it.