#they had so many great scenes there! so many parallels and symbolism and being insane about each other aurhgh

[beaulesbian]

ah yes, thank you One Piece-summary/flashbacks-corner for including this specific Marco scene, where Zoro once again has to remind everyone that he would always follow Luffy's orders. It's just a thing that naturally comes out of his mouth ever so often. Love to see it!

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Ok So who is down for a bit of a wild Eddie Diaz is Freddie Mercury theory that is actually based in colour theory?!!

Yeah, yeah, I know that sounds insane but hear me out!

So Freddie superstar queer man of moustache wearing fame who also happened to sport a swept back floppy haired look in the 1980’s

Remind you of anyone??

Yeah - similar hairstyle and moustache! Keep that in mind as we continue!

Did you know that he never actually confirmed his sexuality publicly?

He hinted at it in the lyrics of Bo Rhap - which he wrote (and released with Queen) in 1975 when he was figuring things out. At that time he was in a relationship with a woman (Mary Austin - who he called his wife even though they never married. They remained best of friends and she was at his side when he died - he left her most of his estate) but had an affair with a man - and was also dealing with religious and childhood trauma (he was sent to catholic school and had a difficult upbringing at the hands of his mother). Bo Rhap was Freddie sorting through all of his feelings around his sexuality - the lyrics can be interpreted in many ways but the other members of Queen have spoken about its meaning being clear and personal to Freddie at the time. So ‘mama’ is a reference to the Virgin Mary and also to his mother - playing on both his childhood and religious traumas, saying he didn’t mean to make them cry is about not wanting to disappoint them but also about needing to be true to himself. ‘Just killed a man’ is about the death of his heterosexuality. I could go on (I can always write a post explaining the lyrics more fully if that is something that would interest anyone - Queen and Freddie were a hyperfixation of mine as a teenager!!) but I won’t in order to keep to my actual wild theory!

Now I wonder who that sounds like?? Childhoood trauma at the hands of his mother, catholic upbringing that didn’t fit with who he is, relationship with a woman who he loved but didn’t love the right way?? Yeah that sounds remarkably like a certain Edmundo Diaz if you ask me.

Now the moment Freddie actually ‘came out’ without actually coming out and essentially confirming he was not straight (there is debate about if he was gay or bi because he referred to himself as bi) was when he released ‘The Great Pretender’ in 1987 - when he was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS (he had been showing symptoms since 1982 but he also never actually confirmed his diagnosis until the day before his death in 1991) The reason this is significant in relation to Eddie DIaz is multi fold!

Firstly this was the moment Freddie chose to shave off his moustache as a symbol of not hiding who he was anymore and he never grew it back. So for Freddie Mercury his moustache was a literal mask and not a symbol of his queerness. The song is literally about coming out to the world and confessing and not hiding who you are and about wanting to fit in even though you are different. When we have had Episodes titled Masks, confessions, and have wannabes coming up - and we have Eddie Diaz shaving off his moustache as a symbol of not hiding any longer - choosing to embrace his true self - that’s a pretty loud parallel if you ask me.

Now to the colour theory of it all - because you see we have pink coming to the party for both Eddie and Freddie!

Freddie wore this wonderful double breasted pale pink satin suit for the promotional photographs and for the music video of ‘The Great Pretender’ and the scenes he wore it for in the music video were the ones that symbolised him being his true self as he reflected back on his life and all the various costumes and ‘disguises’ he wore throughout his life and career.

And now we’ve had Eddie in Pink for two very key scenes - the only time he has worn pink in the entire show.

Firstly we have the karaoke scene with Eddie in his Crockett and Tubbs pale pink suit and dark pink shirt.

And then we have Risky business Eddie in a pale pink shirt

Both times Eddie has worn pink pale pink have been in connection with being shown his true unmasked and unfiltered self - at the karaoke we see him letting loose and just enjoying himself, and then we have the newly shaven Eddie dancing the Risky business dance finding joy in something. They’re both scenes about Eddies joy, his freedom and him expressing himself. They’re about showing the audience who the real Eddie is - when he isn’t weighed down by all the other things in his life.

Oh hey look, its not even just the pink parallels of it all because we also had drag queens in the great pretender music video (L-R Roger Taylor, Peter Straker and Freddie Mercury) just like we did in the Karaoke scene.

And then we have the green and pink parallel!

Because something I have been side eyeing hard since we first got the stills for the karaoke scene is the colour swap for Buck and Eddie. This was the first time we saw Eddie in pink - in any real colour colour to be honest - Eddie has stuck to a pretty rigid colour palette since he first appeared in Under pressure (oh look yet another Queen reference!) always in muted shades rarely wearing anything bright and generally in a green, grey, blue, black and white colour palette with a little bit of burgundy/maroon thrown in. The only time we’ve really seen him in anything close to a bright colour is the yellow shirt from 601 which we have just seen again in 806. Buck however has worn pink on numerous occasions (Mays graduation party, the tsunami, the hilly coffee maker scene, when Chim figures out Buck knew where Maddie was scene etc etc) and so it is a staple colour for him. Mint green however is not a colour he wears - in fact Buck wearing green more generally is not common at all (especially outside of break up scenes!). So I was already looking for significance in the colour choices that had been made - but didn’t have all the pieces (and not just because the actual karaoke element of the scene had been cut) - until now! Now it is very clear that wardrobe and ABP have to have been given specific colour instructions about Eddies costume colour - because they needed it to play into the Freddie Mercury concept - the pink suit and the swept back hair, the drag queens - the entire thing was a nod to the great pretender and basically the kicking off of a queer arc for Eddie - now backed up by the 806 scene.

I wrote at the time in my meta about pink being the colour for the season and being a play on innocence and naïveté - which did fit with this scene and Eddie in this scene, but it also felt like it wasn’t the entire answer - with the context of the risky business Eddie scene though - now it is making sense - it is about showing Eddie letting go and being free, but it is also symbolic of Eddie becoming lighter (and no I don’t mean in terms of the fact he seems to only wear half his clothes when he’s in pink!) as he allows his true self to see the sunlight.

It also gives us this very interesting parallel/mirroring - Eddie in Pink - Buck in green - in both scenes - the framing is the same - right down to Eddie drinking his beer!

Notice how the tone has swapped though - Eddie darker toned in his darker pink shirt while Buck is super pale in the mint green - switched to Eddie in the super pale pink while Buck is in the very dark green. In S7 both are in relationships and they’re all over each other - because it is ‘safe’ to do so - its the most intimate we’ve ever actually scene them (physically I know they’ve metaphorically been closer) Then when they’re both single they’re keeping a foot apart!

The parallel is a really interesting one - this idea that the episode before - in 705 both Buck and Eddie nearly end up single but choose to stay/ pursue relationships that are not the right fit for them - highlighted by this karaoke scene showing who there person actually is - now backed up by the final scene of 806 - reversed colours and all - showing who their person is after both relationships have ended. The light and dark of both scenes plays into who is in the better place in that moment - So Buck was in the best place in 706 while Eddie is in 806. The other aspect of the two scenes is the loud v quiet. Bucks bi arc being a loud and bright colourful affair full of drama etc, while Eddies is taking a more sedate and quiet route - much like the quiet of a scene where they just sit together in silence. This is a reflection of what each needs in those moments - Buck needed the world to accept him and his bisexuality in 706 and in 806 its about Eddie accepting himself. Their journey’s from here on out are the opposite - Buck now needs to sit in the silence and accept himself while Eddie needs the acceptance of the outside world (namely his parents and Chris) they are holding mirrors up to each other and it perfectly highlights their respective personalities and wider journeys. It also reflects the duality of Freddie Mercury himself - a complete showman - confident and full of charisma on stage - off stage however he was, by all accounts a quiet and unassuming but complex man who accepted himself privately but wasn’t able or wiling to share all of himself with the world (as was and is his right).

So the Freddie Mercury parallel that it seems Tim is playing into is very loud and telling and the colour theory is backing it up perfectly so far.

This is a rambling mess - it’s 2:30am and I should be asleep so apologies if it makes zero sense, but I hope it does!

[ananke-xiii]

"The Born-Again Identity" is one of those SPN ep that I like despite the fact that there are so many things in it that drive me a little bit insane (truth be told, in part it's only my fault cause I can never completely turn up the "suspension of disbelief" volume and I go to a default "but why?" mindset everytime I see something on screen, so okay it's a *just me* problem). However, I do think that S7 was not that bad and it had some quite intriguing and original ideas while the execution was... well, let's say clunky. So, all in all, I think this episode is kinda cool.

the things that drive me a little bit insane:

the imagery of sam desperately running alone in the night along some tracks in a supposedly dangerous part of town. The "derailing" and "going off the tracks" symbolism was a bit on the nose; him buying drugs from the "tweaker" and sleeping with the guy in his car: mmm I feel like that was, like. a lot. to be just thrown away like that.

sam being admitted to the hospital with no mention of said drugs use and the whole scene with the doctor telling dean that they had to put sam in the locked psychiatric floor. I don't know, it also feels like.a lot. and.all of a sudden. they could ease into that way better, it's too ham-fisted as in: we have to find a way to put sam in an horror asylum-like facility in less than 5 minutes for the ep to make sense. so that what feels like to me.

daphne. everything about her drives me insane. I have a whole story where she has to clean up the mess dean has made and hide the body of the demon or something. she'll later start her own private hero's journey to find emmanuel and bring him back to their white picket fence life so perfect and so based on manipulation and stockholm syndrome.

the demons showing up at the grocery store. like what? it was established just a few scenes before when dean told the demon that he was "hands-off" or something and that the demon was actually looking for emmanuel. so why oh why would the other demons look for dean when there's emmanuel.alone.in.the.car. nonsense.

that one demon torturing sam with the electroshock. what was the point? why were demons there anyway? weren't the brothers hands off? maybe i missed something here but to me just felt like "asylum ep= electroshock scene is a must" and meh.

sam leaving the hospital.just.like.that and "swapping place" with cas. i'm sorry, what? i won't even comment on meg being suddenly hired as a nurse cause okay i want to give the writers that, but wtf? oh okay, this guy that has just showed up here (and has definitely possibly murdered 4 or 5 people at the entrance) is maybe not okay, let's not call his wife or someone, let's just lock him up. whaaaaat?

the quite intriguing and original ideas:

the cas/sam parallel: they are both evidently mentally unstable for very different reasons. cas has, in a way, "left the life" and dean, of all people!!!, is not 100% cool with him regaining his memories because what if he leaves???? sam is quite literally very close to leave life in general because the trauma is affecting his body in an irreversible way. they are both "born" again identities at the beginning and at the end of the episode. Very cooooool.

sam and lucifer interactions: the actors really did their job well in this ep cause everytime I watch it I'm exhausted, like I can't bear to hear Lucifer talk and talk and taunt and I definitely feel worn out like sam. I think Jared works very well with Mark Pellegrino, too bad that the whole Lucifer storyline was a mess in later seasons cause the actors had great chemistry.

meg. every scene with meg is just joy for me. and her storyline? left alone looking for "friends"? sure, she totally plans to use cas as her ally but what's new? (jokes aside, there's a whole pattern of women manipulating and using cas, am i the only one seeing it???).

marin. first of all, hello abigail????? (hannibal memories flooding in). second of all, cool MoTW-Not-So-Much-MoTW story. ofc she's a sam's mirror used to basically explain what happened to sam but the ghost who's tormenting her is also her brother and he must die-die-die because he won't let her go. hello??? paralleling sam's hallucinations with sam's issues with dean was super intriguing and too bad that the MoTW was Not-So-Much-MoTW cause marin's story was maybe not even 8 minute long.

bonus: "Peace of Mind" from S14 echoes this ep brillianty, they even cast one of the same actors (the doctor/the mayor) and they used the same surname for sam (sam smith/justin smith). cool cool cool (although unrelated to s7).

[garden-bug]

Ninjago crystallised gets a 4.5/5 for me!

Overall, nice conclusion to the series, it had all the energy and fun and dynamics I adore, and the call backs to previous seasons were pretty great. The story with Sally was sooo fun! I love Zane. His moment with Pixal in ‘Compatible’ made me cry.

More time could have been given to Nya, y’know, coming back to life. I was going to say more time for Lloyd and Garmadon as well but leaving some loose ends felt natural actually. Zane’s emotions being off could have been more of a source of tension I really liked that concept.

My biggest qualm is with the overlord design. He was not scary! Yes S2 overlord was our childhood sleep paralysis demon, but come on! He was so cool. The tension suffered from his lacklustre scariness. I guess they don’t want to traumatise kids like that anymore huh (as my 8yr old sister put it: “yeah I was kind of traumatised by that.”)

Second biggest issue is Harumi. From this season I believe Harumi is irredeemable and that her motivations are a sham. I loved her in S10 and I think she’s a really cool character; this season just didn’t do it for me. Her ‘death’ in season… uhh I’m losing track WHENEVER was perfect symbolically and for her character.

1) She works with Pythor who released the great devourer… did she not know? But then betrays the Overlord because he created the great devourer. I feel like this is a much less direct link…

2) She believes that because she suffered everyone else should suffer too. She’s smart but not smart enough to see that reviving big evil baddies is never going to end well for her. I think she’s probably insane for trying the same thing twice and for not caring how many people suffer or die as a result of her actions in the same way she suffered and her parents died. She needed a very proper redemption arc for me to even consider her as a romantic interest for Lloyd. Oh my god. My sweet Lloyd deserves someone who can give him the whole world. I don’t care how many parallels there are or how they are the opposite. It doesn’t change the fact that as of the end of crystallised, Harumi is still manipulative, evil, selfish and cruel. HARUMI RANT OVER. I am glad that Lloyd never stopped believing in her though… but it’s not as though that’s the reason she changes sides, which would’ve been nice. I can’t help but feel like their relationship would be incredibly toxic and they’d have a lot of issues. (Harumi redemption believers DNI this girl is not redeemed) That being said I’m open to fanfic interpretations of their relationship because we can just head cannon our way outta this one (pls lmk if there are good Harumi redemption fics).

I would say S2 finale was more emotional. Ohh and S3. Nothing will beat Zane’s sacrifice. That scene changed my life.

Vanya… I don’t think Cole needed a romantic interest. That’s another discussion though.

IM SO EXCITED TO START DRAGONS RISING!! My sister was crying that Ninjago ended and I was like DO NOT FEAR CHILD THERE IS HOPE-

[zutaralesbian]

zutara and bamon!

Zutara:

Why I ship them (or why I do not): Ooooh Zutara. They're one of my oldest ships and one that I ALWAYS drift back to eventually when it comes to phases lol. I started shipping them back when I was about thirteen and they were one of my first major introductions to online fan works. The first time I watched ATLA it was when it was first airing and I was only a young kid, so I naturally just 'shipped' the canon pairings. But when I found out that Zutara was a thing I was intrigued by it and a bunch of meta and fics later, I was hooked. I just love the fire and water symbolism of them and the way they parallel each other. Their relationship development and the mutual understanding and respect they have for each other by the end of the show. There's just....so much interesting storytelling material for Zutara. And I think that's one of the biggest reasons they're so popular.

My favorite moment between them: I feel like this changes all the time but I think right now it would be the cave scene in Ba Sing Se. Despite Zuko's betrayal afterwards I just loved how these two people who were enemies for the entire time they've known each other bonded and found some understanding between each other. Also Katara offering to use the water from the oasis to heal Zuko's scar and Zuko letting her touch the scar???? Kill me. I feel like a lot of what I love about Zutara is represented in that scene alone.

My least favorite moment between them: I don't think there is a ZK scene that I hate. I mean, I don't like the infamous pirate scene in book 1 but I also think people make it out to be a lot worse than it actually was. (I've seen people compare it to the R*ylo scene where Kylo captures and tortures Rey and that is so undeserved and extra.)

The character I prefer: Zuko is my socially awkward son and I have a special love for him so he's definitely my personal fave. There aren't many character arcs that make me as emotional as his. BUT at the same time I know Katara is queen and she's definitely my second fave.

A fanfic idea for them that I would love to read or write: The post-war idea I have where Mai leaves Zuko for Ty Lee, Katara and Aang breakup amicably, and then Zuko and Katara fall for each other on a trip together to visit a healing Azula lives in my mind rent free.

What I would have changed about how canon handled them if I could: As amazing as canon Zutara done right would have been, I'm kind of okay with them not being canon? Mostly because with the exception of Sukka I think Bryke sucks at writing romance lmao. And I have more than enough ZK fanwork to keep me satisfied. BUT in a perfect world I would have had Zutara been implied as a future romance in the end and erased the K*taang and Ma*ko stuff. (The gaang are all literal children. I think it would have been more than fine if they ended the series all single.)

Bamon:

Why I ship them (or why I do not): They had great chemistry and were just a fun dynamic with a lot of potential (especially in the later seasons after they became friends.) I think their development from begrudging allies (and occasional enemies) to friends was fun to see and always an underrated dynamic in TVD and I would have loved to have seen it go all the way to lovers.

My favorite moment between them: Damon reciting the letter he wrote to Bonnie before he put himself in the coffin that she never read always gets me in the feels.

My least favorite moment between them: For some reason I can't really remember a specific scene but I know there were plenty in the early seasons that made me angry lol

The character I prefer: Oh definitely Bonnie. She was a queen that always deserved better than the way that shitty ass show treated her. She's the only reason I stuck with TVD as long as I did. I do admittedly have some kind of soft spot for Damon too though and I prefer him as a character over Stefan. But I completely understand why people hate him lmao 🥴

A fanfic idea for them that I would love to read or write: It's been soooo long since I've even thought about Bamon fic. But back in the day S6 canon divergents were my shit and I'd be down to reading one again if there are new ones out.

What I would have changed about how canon handled them if I could: Here's how I think I would have made them canon starting in S6: Damon and Bonnie would have had a frenemies with benefits kind of arrangement while they were stuck in the prison world together. (Honestly it's ridiculous to me that they didn't on the show. Two people with chemistry stuck in a prison world together with only each other for company, not expecting to escape and they never once fucked? Fffs). Once they're both free from the prison world there's this lingering Tension between them even though they obviously decided to stop having sex now that they were both free. Bonnie now feels off seeing Damon and Elena together and she eventually realizes it's because she's developed feelings for him. But she keeps it to herself out of loyalty to Elena and Damon has been obsessed with Elena for almost as long as Bonnie's known him so there's no way he'd feel the same anyway.

This would continue on for a while until we got to S7, where Damon decides to put himself in a coffin until Elena wakes up. I would have had part of his decision to do this be because he realized he has feelings for Bonnie and felt like he was betraying Elena by having them, so he ran.

Cut to Damon returning and Bonnie suddenly being in a relationship with Enzo. Damon would have been insanely jealous and this would have kicked off a Damon/Bonnie/Enzo triangle. Maybe Damon has some kind of talk with Stefan that makes him realize it's okay for him to want to be with Bonnie, that Elena wouldn't have wanted him to be miserable while she was gone. The triangle would have eventually ended with Bonnie/Enzo breaking up and Damon/Bonnie getting together. (And the 'Dear Bonnie' scene would have been re-written to be a reveal that Damon confessed to being in love with Bonnie and not knowing what to do about it in the letter). We would have then seen Damon and Bonnie as a couple throughout the entirety of S8, with the finale having the implication that Damon was going to stay with Bonnie throughout her whole human life and then one day in the far future reconcile with Elena. (Basically the same way the Will/Tessa/Jem situation was in The Infernal Devices.) What really sucks is that the TVD writers could have EASILY done something like this if they weren't cowards.

Thanks! :)

[msindrad]

an insanely long crazy-ass post about the dollars trilogy, I’m so sorry y’all

I FOUND THIS POST. I DID IT. I FOUND IT. JESUS. I spent the entirety of my yesterday searching for it.

I’m going to tag everybody who participated in this discussion and whose posts I‘ve found while searching for this discussion on the off-chance that they still might be interested in, yeah, discussing these films.

@clinteastwood-blog @geekboots-blog @istadris @sybilius @bleak-nomads @thenotsobad-thebad-andtheugly @bloncos @mcicioni-blog @unrealthings @stephantom @colonelmortimer

Also, please feel free to ignore me and my analytical outburst if you don’t feel like talking about the films or talking about them with my crazy hyperfixated ass specifically, lol. I didn’t mean to be rude by calling you out of nowhere, it’s just that sometimes people get excited when there is an enthusiastic newbie in the fandom and gladly return to their beloved canons.

Anyway. The dollars trilogy.

I’ll start with The Good, the Band and the Ugly (and will probably make myself instantly unlikable by nitpicking things, (sigh)).

As stupid as it might sound – the film being an absolute masterpiece, a cultural milestone that is timeless, epic, work of genius, love it, will write and draw about it with pleasure etc. – I’m kind of inclined to find the GBU the weakest film in the trilogy storywise. Don’t get me wrong: the plot is interesting and strong, every scene is entertaining, smart, and instantly quotable… But.

There are a few things that make the story, taken holistically, weak to a degree, especially in contrast to the other two films. Now, let me explain my bold-ass claim.

The first reason I couldn’t even pinpoint for myself until my best friend asked me: yeah, it’s all cool and fun, but what has really changed at the end of the film? They stopped the battle/blew up the bridge (kudos for the pacifist message), they killed a few folks on the way including Angel Eyes, but what did the story amount to in the end? Was their relationship changed? Have they themselves learned something about life, universe and everything? Tuco is still on the rope, Blondie still shoots the rope. They both got their money, split it 50/50. Sure, now it’s an insane amount of money but will it make them reconsider their ways of life? I don’t know, and I don’t necessarily think so. They’re really back to square one. If you consider the graphic novel The Man With No Name canon, then (spoiler) Blondie gives his money away to help rebuild the monastery of Tuco’s brother, and Tuco himself doesn’t really invest his share in anything other than booze, and sex, and troubles, so. Then, Angel Eyes got killed off, but he had even less backstory/character arc than, for instance, Captain Clinton, not to mention that his image, as memorable as it was, kind of lacked certain complexity, so, does it really matter storywise (although he is a great, stylish character, but I hope that you get what I mean)? (Note: Angel Eyes should have been the film’s ultimate personification of the war (inhumanely ruthless, only interested in money, extremely goal-oriented etc.), which, the war, kind of is the main antagonist of the film if you think about it; but the way he was used in the plot, the way he acted, and was generally presented, communicated it only in a limited way, imo).

Everything about the adventure was fun, smart, entertaining, one of the best films ever made, I agree 100%, and I rewatched it with pleasure many times. But I believe that stories have to bring about some palpable change in their world in order for them to be successful and finished. The GBU, in my opinion, doesn’t do it because it doesn’t want to be a story-story, and it’s fine with just letting its characters exist in a magic Western/a cowboy fantasy/a fairy tale. And I guess it’s also one of the reasons why the story didn’t go anywhere from the GBU – there is nothing to add to a basis like that. And I can’t help noting that it’s super ironic that the only film in the trilogy that truly seems to be all about money-money-money has no “dollars” in its title.

Another thing that I think is super important: there is almost no female energy or presence in the film. And it’s not even a matter of representation that bugs me, although I think it’s very important. It just feels like there is a deficit of something vital that renders everything even sort of unrealistic. In AFOD we have Marisol and we have Consuelo Baxter, and they’re relevant for the plot, and they have goals, motivations… lines. In FAFDM we have Mary, who has only a few brief moments, but she’s memorable, endearing, and she has a small story/motivation of her own, and we also have Mortimer’s sister, who is EXTREMELY important, and who also isn’t just symbolic, she herself makes a plot-relevant decision on screen, although a really horrible one from my personal moral standpoint. In the GBU we have what? A prostitute that’s beaten up by Angel Eyes (I never watch this scene), another woman at the hotel where Blondie stays in that is shut up and called an old hag or something like it, and another woman that makes a comment about Tuco’s hanging. None of them are memorable or have motivations on their own, and to me it makes the film lacking some really important counterpoint in terms of dynamics etc.

And nobody needs me to describe all the things that the film is awesome at because everybody knows that the film is one of the best films ever made, so painfully gorgeous that it’s difficult to praise it. So, I’ll move on to the other two films but will briefly talk about Tuco and Eli Wallach.

Eli Wallach is considered one of the best actors ever to appear on film for reason, so, I’ll just say about my personal impressions from his performance: he really made me emphasize with Tuco. His acting is incredibly rich, nuanced, concentrated, and, imo, just leaves you no choice but to think of Tuco as a real complex human being, not a film character. And Tuco is a superb character. Over the course of the story he gets to be loathsome, humane, funny, silly, terrifying, and cunning, - often all those at the same time. That’s one hell of a captivating character who’s just very, very interesting to watch and to analyze, regardless whether you like him or not.

Then, we have A Fistful of Dollars. I’m a huge fan of classic adventure stories that are gen, plot-driven, and have smart main characters figuring out a way to get what they want without being destroyed by other characters for wanting or trying to get it in the first place. I think it’s very difficult and very rewarding to write a good story in this genre. AFOD is exactly this kind of story, and this kind of stories is only as good as their protagonists’ maneuvers are. And Joe is, like, a tactical genius (the barrel! the fire!). And it’s much better to rewatch the film to remind yourself of how smart he is than have me talking about it, so.

But apart from that he is also humanized by his deeply personal motivations that appear completely irrational especially in contrast to his clever manipulations of the Baxters and the Rojos. And he doesn’t do it egotistically, to “get the girl,” which wouldn’t make him particularly sympathetic one way or another. Sure, he makes a good buck at the end, but his primary motivation still is justice for Marisol and her family (and then protection of his friend). Additionally, Joe gets his fair share of punishment for providing said justice, which further humanizes him and kind of makes you worry about him. And Silvanito with his scolding, humor, and skepticism helps with it a lot, too.

And then, there is the fact that the film wants the audience to either want to be Joe or want to be with him, sometimes both at the same time. Everybody on screen is a single Joe’s wink away from swooning because how he practically oozes charisma (only Silvanito is immune to his charms). I can’t blame them, though.

And I also want to point out the last lines of the film: Joe says that he doesn’t want to get involved into politics because that would be too much for him, and I think that it’s very fitting. The film just showed how cool he is, but he knows his limits, and he knows that he operates on a different plane.

So, all in all, it’s a masterfully done story.

Finally, we have For a Few Dollars more. I love all three films, but FAFDM is my favorite, there’s no doubt about that. I’ll start with the fact that it’s perfectly structured and perfectly balanced. We have three big players, Mortimer, Manco, and Indio, and the film shows how dangerous and how smart each of them is, so that the conflict between them ends up being very, very suspenseful. Not to mention the fact that it takes Manco and Mortimer almost 40 minutes, I think, to finally properly meet – by that time we are already speculating who will be the winner in the end, how will they react to each other, how will they interact, how will they work together etc. We get to know them quite well first, and then their relationship allows us to explore their characters even deeper through their interactions, their differences, and their similarities. For some time, storywise they become a single unit. While the story of Indio’s assault on Mortimer’s sister is revealed parallel to the plot.  

Indio himself is terrifying as hell without being cartoonish. He is a really dangerous, broken man that is also methodical, smart, and ruthless. He is so bad that he kills the opponent’s family just to make him bitter enough to draw on him. And he is so bad that he is okay with killing off his own gang.  

Speaking of which, Indio’s gang is colorful. He has interesting interactions with them at the beginning, in that church. And Klaus Kinski made his Wild stand out to me. I swear, the moment he almost cries in that saloon when Mortimer takes away his cigar, I feel bad for him every single time. And when he recognized Mortimer, it was tense. He even had a cool witty one-liner after Mortimer said that he should come to him in ten minutes to help him light that match and smoke: “In ten minutes, you’ll be smoking in hell!”

By the way, Indio’s tendency to get unnecessarily physical with his gang looks even more unnerving when he touches Manco to check his wound/shares a smoke him with some clearly visible eroticized subtext, which gets even creepier when you realize that he is a rapist. I swear, I was worried about Mortimer when I saw the film for the second time – that is even though I knew the plot – because Manco brought up that family resemblance between Mortimer and his sister, and we all know what Indio did to her.

What else? I could bring up all sorts of things, the action, the final duel, the small smart details that allow the plot to happen the way it happens (e.g. how Manco manages to hide the bag with all the money on that tree before Indio’s gang capture him and Mortimer – only to re-collect that bag at the end of the film), the humor, the street kids and all the other cool-cool secondary characters (Joseph Egger’s informer probably is my favorite), the opening sequence and the title card (oops, already rambled about this one) really, anything and everything including the perfect chemistry between Manco and Mortimer.

But I’ll just say that the music in this film is special to me. Every single composition by Ennio Morricone is special, unique, memorable, and intriguing, it’s true, and so it feels redundant and banal to say something like this. The Ecstasy of Gold is almost extraterrestrial, the main theme of Two Mules For Sister Sara imitates actual mule sounds, how genius is that, etc., and you must be dead to not be enticed and mesmerized beyond words by the main theme of the GBU, which is a hymn of all spaghetti Westerns now, a universal call for adventure (I feel like a bad person saying this, but I’ve always wanted to joke that Ennio put sexy back into the “waah-waah”… no, I regret nothing).

BUT. To me personally, the music in FAFDM is as personal as the film itself, and dare I say even more important to the story than in the GBU, despite the theme of the GBU being a kind of Greek choir throughout the film. The personalized sounds for Manco and Mortimer accentuate their personalities to the point where they almost create a reflex in you. The pocket watch chime is literally part of the story and plays a huge, crucial role in the plot! And it’s decidedly one of the saddest musical scores I’ve ever heard. It’s minimalist, mournful, and yet also nostalgically bittersweet. It feels like a reminder that there’s no going back whatever that might mean in the actuality. And the famous moment where Manco asks Mortimer whether his question was indiscreet and Mortimer says that the answer could be… I feel personally touched whenever I watch the scene. For me, it doesn’t feel like just an amazing scene, it triggers some deep emotion that is hard to express and almost gives me the urge to cry. Something along the lines of respectful and compassionate “I’m sorry that it happened to you,” “I’m sorry that I can’t help you.” The feeling of personal tragedy is conveyed infinitely better than a three-volume backstory ever could.

And then, there is this huge potential for all the stories about Manco, and Mortimer, and Blondie, and Tuco, and Angel Eyes, and even Joe to explore... Well, I better stop here.

So, yeah. It turned out to be a crazy long post, and I‘m grateful to anybody who reads it till the end. And if you haven’t watched these movies please do. Cheers.

[hamliet]

Nie MingJue: Righteousness Without Empathy

Nie MingJue is a character I do happen to like a lot despite his often-regarded unlikeable qualities. His arc is extremely tragic, and while Jin GuangYao is ultimately responsible for his tragedy, Nie MingJue played just as much a role in his own tragic downfall. He sacrifices empathy in the name of righteousness (and Jin GuangYao sacrifices righteousness for empathy), but both Jin GuangYao and Nie MingJue can honestly be said to be two sides of the same coin in that they both have a core of wanting to prove themselves, and it’s this core that destroys them both. 

Let’s begin with this conversation between the two of them: 

What Nie MingJue hated the most were such irresponsible words. Fuming, he lunged with his saber, “You had no choice? Whether or not to do it was up to you, and so was whether or not to kill them!”

Meng Yao dodged, protesting, “Was it really up to me? Sect Leader Nie, if we think from each other’s perspective…”

Nie MingJue had known what he wanted to say. He interrupted, “We won’t!”

Nie MingJue has always prided himself on being righteous, but he’s completely unable to consider things from another’s perspective. Jin GuangYao considers things from everyone else’s perspective--he’s extremely empathetic; however, he doesn’t really use that empathy for anything other than to manipulate to serve himself.

Jin GuangYao, “It isn’t that HuaiSang is a good-for-nothing, but that his heart lies somewhere else.”

Nie MingJue, “Well you’ve really discerned where his heart lies, haven’t you?”

Jin GuangYao smiled, “Of course. Isn’t that what I’m the best at? The only person whom I can’t discern is you, Brother.”

... Women, liquor, riches—he touched none; art, calligraphy, antiques—a pile of ink and mud; the finest green tea leaves and dregs from a roadside booth—there was no difference. Meng Yao tried everything he could think of yet still couldn’t find if he was interested in anything beside training his saberwork and killing Wen-dogs. He really was a wall made of iron, impenetrable by even the sharpest blades...

Nie MingJue’s understanding of righteousness completely fails to take into account the struggles of others who did not have his privileged background. He doesn’t consider this when he finds Meng Yao having killed a superior in the Jin Sect in Wen clothing (while the novel never states it explicitly, Jin GuangYao later mentions to Lan XiChen that Jin GuangShan somehow told him to kill Wen RouHan, so it’s not inconceivable that he was already planning to go undercover; then again, neither is it for certain). Jin GuangShan had just lied to Nie MingJue’s face about Meng Yao:

Nie MingJue’s brows immediately furrowed. Back then, the story that Meng Yao was kicked down Koi Tower passed around for quite a long time. Even others had known of such a farce, so there was no way that the person involved couldn’t remember the name. Only someone with the thickest of faces would be able to play dumb in such a situation. It was just that, however, Jin GuangShan just so happened to be such a person.

Yet Nie MingJue still refuses to consider that maybe he can’t trust Jin GuangShan to behave honorably. He refuses to consider that the world isn’t divided into black and white, underhanded trickery and forthright righteous honor. When he urges Meng Yao to confess and atone, he doesn’t consider that Meng Yao’s plea that he will be killed for it was very likely true. Jin GuangShan probably would have had him executed.

Nie MingJue, “To get here, you took the wrong path.”

Meng Yao, “You’re going to be sending me to my death.”

Nie MingJue, “If your words are true, it won’t happen. Go, reflect, and turn over a new leaf.”

Meng Yao whispered, “…My father hasn’t seen me yet.”

It wasn’t that Jin GuangShan didn’t see him.

He simply pretended to not know his existence.

So what happens when you have righteousness without empathy? Can you even call that righteousness?

Not really, which Jin GuangYao exposes to him.

[Jin GuangYao] looked up, unknown fires dancing within his eyes, “But, Brother, I have always wanted to ask you something—the lives under your hands are in any regard more than those under mine, so why is it that I only killed a few cultivators out of desperation and you keep on bringing it up, even until now?”

Nie MingJue was so enraged that he began to laugh, “Good! I’ll give you my answer. Countless souls who have fallen under my saber, but I’ve never killed out of my own desires, much less to climb up the ladder!”

Jin GuangYao, “Brother, I understand what you mean. Are you saying that all of the people you killed deserved their deaths?”

With courage gathered from nowhere, he laughed and walked a few steps closer to Nie MingJue. His voice raised as well, asking in an almost aggressive manner, “Then, may I ask, just how do you decide if someone deserves death? Are your standards absolutely correct? If I kill one but save hundreds, would the good outweigh the bad, or would I still deserve death? To do great things, sacrifices must happen.”

Nie MingJue, “Then why don’t you sacrifice yourself? Are you any nobler than them? Are you any different from them?”

Jin GuangYao stared at him. A moment later, as though he had finally either decided on something or given up on something, he replied calmly, “Yes.”

He looked up. In his expression were some of pride, some of calmness, and some of a faint insanity, “I and they, of course we are different!”

They deserved to die, did they? Yet we know Nie MingJue took part in the Siege of the Burial Mounds (even if he did not play a very large role), where the elderly and weak Wens were murdered and thrown into a blood pool.We know he refused to speak up for Wen Qing, saying this:

Lan XiChen responded a moment later, “I have heard of Wen Qing’s name a few of times. I do not remember her having participated in any of the Sunshot Campaign’s crimes.”

Nie MingJue, “But she’s never stopped them either.”

Lan XiChen, “Wen Qing was one of Wen RuoHan’s most trusted people. How could she have stopped them?”

Nie MingJue spoke coldly, “If she responded with only silence and not opposition when the Wen Sect was causing mayhem, it’s the same as indifference. She shouldn’t have been so disillusioned as to hope that she could be treated with respect when the Wen Sect was doing evil and be unwilling to suffer the consequences and pay the price when the Wen Sect was wiped out.”

Yet that is exactly what he was doing right in that very scene, in the face of Jin ZiXun’s internment camps where Wen Ning was murdered: refusing to say anything because of his personal hatred for the Wens. In that very same scene, he even thinks that he knows Jin GuangYao was fibbing to help his father and yet says nothing, because it benefits him to have Wens hurt. 

In contrast, Jin GuangYao empathizes, he knows how people feel, but he doesn’t allow that to change his mind and help them. He too is always working for his own benefit, just like Nie MingJue. They’re not very different at their core. 

So basically, righteousness without empathy is pretty close to hypocrisy and allows injustices to prevail, which is made exceedingly clear when corpse!Nie MingJue enacts atrocities and murders many innocents. It’s a parallel what happened to Xiao XingChen at the hands of Xue Yang: being tricked into killing without realizing it. The difference, of course, is that Xiao XingChen did empathize with Xue Yang to an extent, whereas Nie MingJue refused to empathize at all with Jin GuangYao (hence why it’s super ironic that a technique called empathy is what exposes Wei WuXian to what Nie MingJue was feeling and to who the culprit is). 

Nie MingJue winds up as an unrestrained corpse killing at random in a futile attempt to put himself back together. While we don’t have a ton of background re: what made Nie MingJue the way he was, we know he witnessed his father tricked into a qi deviation which gave him a lifelong hatred for Wen RouHan, which might have traumatized him. That said, we can’t say for certain. But considering the themes of the novel and the motives for other killers--Xue Yang, Jin GuangYao, Wei WuXian--it’s not exactly far-fetched to theorize that this is symbolic of Nie MingJue trying to heal himself through violence as a way of setting the world/his body right, and that completely failing and just hurting everyone around him.  

Lan SiZhui, “It seems like he is searching for something… Maybe it is… his head?”

Wei WuXian, “That’s right. He’s searching for his head. There are quite a few heads here, so since he doesn’t know which one is his, he’ll pull off the head of each person and place it on top of his own neck to see if it fits or not. If it does, he’ll do with it for a period of time, and if it doesn’t, he’ll throw it away, so you should walk slowly. You must not get caught by him.”...

under the forceful attacks of the flute and the guqin, he looked as if he finally lost all energy, succumbing to the three instruments. With a stagger, he fell to the ground.

To be more accurate, it wasn’t that he fell down, but that he fell apart. There were the arms, the legs, and the torso, broken and scattered over the carpet of dry leaves.

He kills the Mo family (despite their awfulness), he tries to kill SiZhui, he tries to kill his brother, he would have killed even Lan XiChen if Jin GuangYao had not pushed him away at the last second. Righteousness without empathy is not righteousness at all; it is a sword that can only wound, not heal. (And for the record I’m not absolving Jin GuangYao of responsibility; it’s his fault for killing Nie MingJue--but please note Nie MingJue’s actions in death aren’t that different from his actions in life. Starts off killing evil people--the Wens, the Mos--tries to then kill people associated--all Wens, SiZhui who is a Wen--and spirals into lashing out at everyone around him including, finally, HuaiSang.)

Lan XiChen, “Brother, this is HuaiSang!”

Nie HuaiSang, “Brother can’t even recognize me…”

Wei WuXian, “Not only can’t he recognize you, he can’t even recognize whom he himself is right now!”

Nie MingJue had already become a corpse controlled by the heavy energy of resentment. He was fierce and violent, attacking indiscriminately....

Lest we think the novel wants us to ascribe these actions all to Nie MingJue being dead and unable to physically see, the novel refutes this:

The harsh, stern expression on his rigid face held a sense of judgement that was no different from before he died.

In addition, there are two foils that arise in the GuanYin Temple scene that add to this: Wen Ning and Su She. Nie MingJue attempts to kill Jin Ling in a case of mistaken identity (symbolic for how Nie MingJue acts/kills on incomplete information) and Jin Ling is only saved by a Wen, Wen Ning, jumping in front of Jin Ling to atone for killing Jin Ling’s father as a crazed corpse himself. It doesn’t kill Wen Ning, but it sets up a Wen as righteous and even trying to protect Nie MingJue from his own actions, and also showing that Wen Ning, who truly was not responsible for his actions back when he killed Jin Ling’s father, takes responsibility for what he did. 

Later on in the same chapter, Nie MingJue kills Su She in Su She’s attempt to protect Jin GuangYao. Nie MingJue despised Jin GuangYao for a moment of unrighteousness, and Su She served Jin GuangYao with unflinching loyalty because Jin GuangYao remembered him, so they are foils. Su She, of course, is extremely wrong in his petty cruelty and loyalty that is never questioned, but Nie MingJue’s inability to forgive similarly leads to killing. 

It’s also ironic, of course, that the whole reason Nie MingJue goes on a killing spree is because his little brother, the one he wanted to protect, is the one who unleashes him and damn the cost. Like, HuaiSang got Mo XuanYu to commit suicide, risked Jin Ling’s death multiple times, destroys a poor woman’s corpse just like his brother’s corpse was destroyed. 

Nie MingJue’s righteousness is a prison. It’s not righteousness at all, and it’s the reason he winds up trapped in a coffin with Jin GuangYao, whose empathy was not used for righteousness, for a hundred years. Both of these paths lead to death and imprison a person. 

[snkpolls]

SnK Chapter 124 Poll Results

The chapter 124 poll closed with 2,065 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

This month’s poll team: @erensjaegerbombs @momtaku, _Puppet_ ,  @shifter-lines and @ladymoe6​

  RATE THE CHAPTER 1,926 Responses

Fours and fives still dominate but there’s no denying that this chapter lacked the hype we’ve seen recently. “Thaw” had the lowest number of 5’s this year, performing similarly to the Zeke-centric flashback chapter in 114, “Sole Salvation”. (There’s a pun to made here about us “warming up to Thaw” but sadly I am not smart enough to make it.)

The Chapter of Necessary Filler & the Obligatory Cliffhanger

I love that Isayama isn't rushing everything and is actually focusing on little details and small interactions between characters. He really isn't glorifying an "apocalyptical scenario" just for the sake of destruction in itself or shock value.

This chapter felt like a nostalgia trip, but I wasn't in for the ride.

This chapter was a breath of fresh air ngl. These past chapters were mostly full of either a flashback, monologue or just having two characters talking in a realm where nothing happens and time is frozen, but, at last, the plot is moving foward in the real world too. Not only it contained long gone titan action, but also great character development/moments as well. I missed this.

The leaks didn't give this chapter justice

A weaker chapter overall, I hope all this buildup will be well spent in the next chapter.

I actually loved everything about this chapter, I can't believe Isayama finally gave me a reason to kind of like Gabi. I'm sure she'll do something to immediately change that…

Isayama-sensei is the best, each chapter is a 10/10 for me. I do agree that this chapter is not as great as as the last 5, but it's still great. This year is impossible to choose the Top 5 Best Chapters of SNK

It was good, but I was hoping for a crazier year closure.

  WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT?

1,995 Responses

There were many great moments in this chapter, but Annie’s highly anticipated return to the active plot takes up the largest amount of votes! Other notable moments were: Shadis taking command, Armin realizing Annie’s crystal must have unhardened, the 104th discussing Eren, and Jean’s salty reaction to Floch’s continued survival.

A N N I E is BAAAAAAACK!!!

as someone too invested in the gabi-nicolo-braus plot thread by i love sasha i am absolutely Fed with that excellent "get out of the forest" talk. thank u for the good food nicolo

It's great to see the other 104th members discuss about Eren's actions. At least we got a glimpse on what they think about Eren's plan.

For once I'm gonna forgive Isayama for putting off Levi and Hange. I FEEL BLESSED TO HAVE ANNIE BACK ON MY BIRTH MONTH!!! BEST PRESENT EVER

I like the parallels to Trost, especially the part with the thunder spears sort of mirroring the thing with the guns and the elevator from S1

  WHO WAS THIS CHAPTERS MVP? 1,988 Responses

Despite the influx of negative commentary, 38.2% of respondents agree that Gabi’s persistence to save Falco and reconciliation with Kaya earned her the MVP title this month. The strongest contenders were Shadis and Jean.

Annie saved this chapter from the Gabi / Kaya focus

Connie- the underrated suffer boi

Gabi best girl!

I am proud of Jean for taking charge, he acted like a real commander.

Reiner Best character 😔👌

SHADIS IS THE MVP AND I LOVE HIM

  WHICH CHARACTER WERE YOU MOST DISAPPOINTED WITH? 1,998 Responses

“None of the above” was a popular suggestion (25.2%) but Connie edged that choice out by a percentage point (26.3%) . At least you guys listen when the evening news says that stealing children is bad.

Silly of you to ask us which character we're most disappointed with. We're always disappointed with Floch in every panel he shows up in

it's good to have a connie development, but I was a little sad about his attitude

I'm not so much disappointed with Connie in this moment as I am with the direction his character arc has gone lately in general. I miss when he was fun instead of angry all the time.

I think everyone is acting super irrational. Eren is going to destroy the world but all the SC are "accepting" of it. I think deep down they are all horrified and in a completely insane mental state causing irrational decisions and thoughts such as Jean being okay with genocide.

I understand that Connie is desperate to find a comfort after all the ppl he lost, but I'm still extremely disappointed in him for wanting to murder a child. Not just Connie tho, the same goes for Jean and Armin. Armin didn't say "Let's not kill a freaking child" he just objected because he didn't want to provoke Reiner and Pieck.

  WHAT DID YOU THINK OF REINER’S ROLE THIS CHAPTER? 1,889 Responses

Reiner takes a back seat this chapter, and just barely over half of the fandom believe he deserves that nap after all he’s been through.  Another quarter, at 25.8% are wishing he could just die at this point, for better or worse.

"Enough already. Just sleep." - Reiner to Eren in 117

Can Reiner pick an opinion and stick with it for .2 seconds. he's like hardcore ready to kick ass and then immediately turns around and is ready to die again

Game over man

He's cute. End of the story.

I think it was bizarre that Gabi just let him fall asleep and left him in an enemy territory where he could be captured or eaten by a mindless titan

I understand him being tired an all, but sleeping in the middle of a warzone and at the start of the apocalypse???

Helos needs his rest and good dreams of Bert

I think it is set up for his future death : saving Falco by being eaten by Connie's mom (he was there with Connie in Ragako village)

Madlad goes to sleep instead of dying

Man literally too tired to die

There were certainly worse ways than "passed out from exhaustion" that he could've been written out of the chapter. At least we know his current status this way, unlike a certain duo...

He need some milk

Reiner votes for “Can’t he just die already?”

  WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE EREN PARALLEL IN GABI AT THE MIRROR? 1,869 Responses

Gabi’s design is based on Eren, and she’s had similarities and parallels to him in the past, what does the parallel in this chapter mean stacked on top of all of that?  About 70% say it’s to further emphasize how similar she is to him at her core.  12.7% don’t think it was an intentional parallel to that Eren scene, 7.7% say she’s going to receive his titan, and a solid 1% wrote in the eloquent thesis of “Fuck Gabi.”

A bit too on the nose

Both have the common factor of determination and the desire to fight to save someone else. "Fight, fight" = "Like I'd give up" In Eren's case, his scene in the mirror is portrayed in a darker, more aggressive environment, he must fight to save his loved ones, but for this goal he must destroy everything. On the other hand, Gabi shows a more heroic/pure attitude, the light is predominant, and his words refer to the desire to fight to save Falco without taking this violence path unlike Ere

Eren cant copyright this hairstyle

How dare she stand where he stood.

I didn't like any parallels that include Gabi. Not this one, and most certainly not the one with Sasha.

It definitely foreshadows something, but I don't think it's that she'll inherit his titan. I think she's going to be the one to end this madness and break the cycle. Unlike Eren, who fights for freedom both for himself and his loved ones, Gabi will fight for peace and equality: a different kind of freedom.

It symbolizes Gabi's character arc starting to go in the opposite direction of Eren, rather than showing them being similar.

It symbolizes Gabi's change in motivation to do anything to save her friends. Just as Eren's motivation in the mirror scene really marked the moment he turned genocidal to protect his friends.

  DO YOU AGREE WITH JEAN’S CONCLUSION THAT EREN IS DOING WHAT HE’S DOING TO PROTECT THOSE HE LOVES? 1,950 Responses

Jean believes he’s figured out why Eren’s doing what he’s doing, does the fandom agree?  The large majority think that’s at least a part of it, as 40.8% think it’s solely that goal in mind, and another 53.5% believe it stemmed from that desire but has evolved and become more complex.  3.3% of fans don’t believe that’s where his motivation stems from at all.

But if that's his goal it still doesn't explain chapter 112

EREN is doing it to protect his friends. YMIR wants vengeance and bloodshed.

I agree, because I really don’t know what else could have been done. The Eldians were hated all over the world and Talk-No-Justu is a folly.

I don't know what to think. At first, Jean seems to be in denial (like most of the 104th), but perhaps it's his way of realizing things. No, Eren must love them a lot, there's absolutely no way that his genocide is unjustified. Right...? Wait…

I think he's being pragmatic and analytical. Like a real leader. Something I expected from Armin. However Armin has strokes of genius during critical times so I'm expecting something.

In a breaking bad way, yes

Yes, although I believe Eren's old and complex relationship with the idea of freedom also plays a big part in this situation.

No, because he isn't doing anything about the mindless titans and treated his friends like trash. I didn't see any kind of concern while they were in danger. I think he's more eager to set his ideals into action.

  WHAT DO YOU THINK WAS THE CORRECT RESPONSE TO WHAT TO DO WITH FALCO? 1,958 Responses

Another serumbowl type discussion arises, yay!!...?  The vast majority, at a combined 81.4% don’t want to feed Falco to anyone, and just want to wrap him up and not start any more conflict.  11.6% think he should be fed to a known titan such as Pixis, and only 4.3% side with Connie’s reaction of feeding him to his own Mama Springer.

Falco is too important. He and Connie will probably have an arc.

Feed him to Floch, jaw titan always dies stupidly and Floch never dies so it should cancel out

Feed him to Levi that way we get jaw Levi and his hand back.

Feed Zeke to Connie's mom instead and take Falco somewhere safe

I don’t have anything against Falco personally, but it makes since to feed him to someone else

I like Falco, but Connie has lost far more than anyone outside the Walls. If feeding Falco to Connie's mom gives Connie some semblance of peace, so be it

NILE !

In a perfect world Connie can have the satisfaction of feeding ZEKE to his mother. Kinda proud that I predicted the “Connie tried to revive his mom” plot point but I think the fact that it’s falco means that Connie fails

There's no right answer here, but I can't imagine any mother would be able to live with the fact that she ate someone else's child in order to live again, so that's probably the worst option.

Well, logically speaking, Falco should probably be fed to Pixis. But my heart calls out for me to wrap him in a blanket.

  WHAT DID YOU THINK OF CONNIE SEEMINGLY SNAPPING ON THE OTHERS AND INSISTING FALCO BE FED TO HIS MOTHER? 1,947 Responses

Understanding prevaled with close to 80% of the fandom selecting “I don’t agree with his actions but I wholeheartedly sympathize with his reasoning”. Only 13% indicated that they were disappointed with him.

Falco's a kid, man! You don't cross that line!

Connie, if your mom needs a kidney transplant, you don't just shank another person to steal their kidneys. Just saying.

Connie has been pushed to his limit. He needs a nap and a minute to cry.

Although Connie is not thinking clearly, I'm glad they're not blindly hating on him like some have been doing for Eren.

Connie's break is truly amazing to me. The guy was always so good and chill and dedicated before these hard times. To see him at his breaking point, horrified by everything that is happening and overwhelmed by the situation, and thus reverting into single-minded dedication to one fundamental goal - saving his mother. It's tragic to see him like this and it's probably not the best "logical" action, but it makes complete sense that he'd do this. He's sick of this clusterfuck. He has a ticket to save his mom and he's gonna take it. Poor Falco though, of course.

I didn't see it coming, but it's not like it's unthinkable. When the world collapses we often want to run back to our mama.

I disagreed with him, but I thinks his feelings are understandable and, also, I liked a lot that he pointed out 104's hypocrisy. The serum drama is coming back to bite their asses.

I understand he wants to see his mom again but does he really want to give her the cruel fate of becoming a titan shifter?

I understand his reasoning, but this is literally the WORST possible time to cause an internal crisis

I'm sad for him & deeply uncomfortable by it.

I’m mad at Connie only because he straight up abandoned his duty to pacify the Titan situation.  He left Jean, Mikasa, and Armin to take care of it without him. Lucky Shadis was there to help.

  REGARDLESS OF YOUR VIEWS ON CONNIE’S ACTIONS, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HIM FINALLY GETTING SOME TIME IN THE SPOTLIGHT? 1,946 Responses

More than half the fandom was happy to see him speak his mind and get some character development (53.3%). 16% were absolutely thrilled. Those who don’t care, and those whose disappointment over how he returned soured the moment came in at 10%... I’m willing to bet at least one of those votes is because he doesn’t have a new hair style.

Going to the dark side doesn't suit the former sunshine called Connie.

My man has been in the story since the beginning. He is well overdue for an arc.

A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

But why FALCO? He's the ONLY character outside the Walls I actually LIKE!

Finally we get to see him say something about his mother. Yeah, maybe he's not one of the most important charcters overall, but what he lived through when he saw his mom on that roof finally deserves some thoughts and emotions. Connie was on the margin of the story for way too long, and I'm happy we get to see him talk about how he feels.

Glad he’s doing stuff but he’s 100% going to die

I haven't really liked his development. He's, altho understandably, just an angry dude that can't help himself from getting overcome by his emotions. Not a good look.

I really liked his whole "Eren's crossed the line", now he's making the same mistake. A bitter irony, but does Isayama have time for that?

I'm really disappointed in Connie's "friends" for basically telling him to "chill out, you can't save your mother because we need to make our enemies happy". Hell no to that, I completely sympathize with Connie far more than his "friends" especially since Armin is being the world's biggest hypocrite

It's good because it now opens up the possibility of Connie finally getting his revenge on Zeke

My Boi Connie deserves his own plot-line, so I'm really excited

  TITAN ACTION! BUT OF THE PURE AND AVERAGE VARIETY INSTEAD OF COLOSSALS, WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THAT AS THE FOCUS OF THE CHAPTER? 1,936 Responses

A chapter in the endgame that’s almost reminiscent of the defense of Trost with respect to mindless titan action and defending a base.  Despite many other happenings such as the rumbling going on currently, 46% were totally fine with the focus on mindless titan action and thought it was written well, whereas 35.6% enjoyed it, but wished there was a bit more beyond checking that box.  10.8% wanted a larger focus on the titans in the rumbling, and 5.5% would have preferred a focus shift away from Shiganshina entirely.

I love the fact that shows how prepared and easy fighting mindless titans is for them now. When the titans attacked Trost they were hopeless and Jean was the one frozen in fear. Now we get to see him clear up the titans with ease.

I think showing smaller happenings before the big reveal of Eren's titan and the effects of the rumbling are important buildup.

I would have rather focused on what's happening to Pieck and the others near the wall.

I didn't feel that was the focus, but either way, I liked it.

I wish more would’ve happened outside of it BUT it’s important to show them being dealt with otherwise readers would be like “wait, what about all those people who turned into titans?” So not the best, but necessary.

I'm not crazy about fighting scenes, I prefer the ones where they discuss stuff, but these were really emotional with Shadis and Pixis and everything. Like, it wasn't even so much about fighting itself, for me at least, but about Shadis uniting people again and Armin setting Pixis free finally.

I wish the chapter had explored the idea of Titans appearing now that the Military has begun using weapons which are more effective against humans than Titans. I had thought that the reappearance of Titans would do much more damage since the Military is no longer equipped to handle such threats.

Reminds me of the Trost arc and I love it, but it will probably end up being the last time we see pure titans as this much of a threat.

I love the Season 1-esque fan service. How this series has evolved.

I just wished they didn't have to kill their comrades...C'mon this poll question is so heartless wth?

  AFTER EREN GAINED THE FOUNDER, WHY WHERE THE MINDLESS TITANS STILL ATTACKING THE SOLDIERS? 1,944 Responses

Nearly half of the fandom are giving Eren the benefit of the doubt that he simply cannot control the titans, rather than not caring about them or using them. Although many believe that he’s too focused on other things to concern himself with them, and many others feel certain that mindless titans attacking the soldiers is part of his greater plan.

3 times it was mentioned that Eren/Zeke can't control the Titans, I think someone else is controlling them. Possibly Ymir, maybe we'll see Eren getting betrayed.

Eren can't control the mindless Titans because they're Zeke's Titans

It's highly likely the Founding Titan's power and control over Pure Titans has a collective effect of sorts. That is, it can turn Pure Titans back into humans, but if it did, it would happen to ALL Pure Titans, not just a specific group of them. It's possible that is how the Fritz royalty used the Pure Titans while maintaining the Eldian population during ancient times. Here, if Eren were to use that aspect of the Founding Titan's power, both the Military Branch Officer Titans AND the Wall Titans would be turned back into humans. Right now, Eren is bent on using the Wall Titans to flatten the World, so he most likely does not want to use the power of the Founding Titan to turn all the Pure Titans in Shingashina + Connie's mom into humans; otherwise, the Wall Titans would turn into humans again too, and that would ruin his rumbling plan.

Regarding Eren and the mindless titans, control issues aside, I just don't think he cares.

  WHAT WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE TITAN KILL THIS CHAPTER? 1,968 Responses

In a chapter full of titan action, several titan kills stood out as both awesome and tear jerking.  Just over half of respondents, at 51.6%, most remember Armin taking out Pixis after thanking him for his service to the cause.  In a very narrow battle for second place, Keith Shadis sowing the recruits how it’s done won out over Gabi taking a cue from Sasha and saving Kaya.

All of them were pretty darn cool

Gabi's and Mikasa's tie for me

Hard to choose, they're all good

I didn't find any of them memorable if I May be honest

Can I choose all? Because I am.

It's a tie between Shadis arriving to save the recruits, Gabi saving Kayo from the Nile Titan, and Armin killing the Pixis Titan. If I was forced to pick, I'd say Armin's scene because of his sorrowful dialogue upon seeing Pixis as a Pure Titan and the flashback to one of Pixis's earliest highlights when he believed in Armin and Eren shortly after they first met.

Literally all of them what kind of sadistic question is this how could I possibly choose

Loved all the kills!!!

ALL OF THE ABOVE

  THERE WAS A LOT OF DEBATE AS THIS CHAPTER WAS COMING OUT ABOUT GABI, AT THIS POINT DO YOU LIKE HER AS A CHARACTER IN THE STORY? 1,985 Responses

Nearly two-thirds of of the fandom currently enjoy Gabi’s overall character, despite what their first impressions may have been (65.1%) . Though there are still many who have yet to warm up to her, if they ever do (34.9%).

Gabi is beginning to grow on me enough I feel neutral about her.

Gabi is a LITTLE more favorable to me, but I still hate her and I wish she never existed. She can never earn forgiveness for Sasha.

gabi is good you guys are just mean

  WHICH THOUGHT BEST MATCHED HOW YOU CURRENTLY FEEL ABOUT GABI? 1,977 Responses

One of the most controversial characters in the story is of course Gabi Braun, but what do fans truly think of her?  Almost half, at 45.9% don’t profess love for her character from the mountains, but understand why she’s important to the story.  In contrast, 19.6% firmly believe the story would be better off if she never existed, and 17.6% want to see even more of her in the upcoming chapters.  16.9% just think she’s been in the spotlight a little bit too much.

Fuck Gabi, Eren will always be better, not this carbon copy Mary Sue

gabi fucking GANG

Such a great chapter! I’m glad that the Gabi hate is stopping now.

Don't know why are people surprised about Gabi. Her closure with the Braus family is something I figured was gonna happen eventually. Guess Isayama wanted to get that out of the way early.

Of course my opinion of Gabi is unchanged. I still hate her no matter how much "development" she gets.

Gabi is a super uninteresting character to me

i really liked gabi’s character development in this chapter, especially since i was previously a gabi hater.

She is the new MC now. Upgrade.

I see why Gabi exists but she’s just such a forced character. The parallel between her and Sasha was so forced and just felt wrong. Don’t care about her killing Sasha her character is just a forced rehash of eren.

I'm disappointed in her as she is becoming more likeable

Gabi's character development finally completed in a brilliant way

Like Eren, she's fighting for people she cares about, even if she's wrong/vicious with her methods.

I’m tired of Gabi

Really wish we wouldn't have Gabi shoved down our throats, she's not a good character, let alone person

I'm really proud of Gabi and how far she's come from her original POV. I'm really hoping that this influences Eren and I really hope Falco and Gabi get to reunite.

yams wants us to like her more

She has the same motivations as Eren once had, to save the world, basically.

I will admit Gabi has gone through a lot of development. But that doesn't mean I have to like her. I still hate her, and I will NEVER EVER forgive her for what she did to Sasha.

Gabi's haters being mad is so funny. My girl truly shined this chapter, I love her even more.

Gabi.... I feel like I would absolutely hate being around her irl but I guess I do appreciate her as a character in the story.

Never wanted to kill a child so badly in my existence

Death to Gabi Braun!

I don't hate Gabi enough to want her dead, but "too much spotlight" is the understatement of the year, especially when there is still a lot that has yet to be resolved with the main characters

She just wants to protecc

I love Gabi but she gets too much screen time at this point in the story. I want to see Historia and hopefully Eren later.

I LOVE GABI SO MUCH SHE IS THE BEST GIRL

I like Gabster. Gabi Gang Gabi Gang

Me no likey bad bad

  NOW THAT ALL OF THE ORIGINAL BRANCH HEADS ARE GONE, WHO SHOULD BE IN CHARGE OF THE PARADIS MILITARY? 1,955 Responses

The head of all of Paradisian government, Darius Zackly, went out with a bang, and now we’ve lost the interim head Pixis, as well as Nile Dok.  Who’s going to pick up the torch?  There’s a big three that seem to have emerged as popular choices, with Jean winning out, Hange coming in second, and Shadis taking up third.  

A combination of several people noted above.

Hanji+SC Armin+Garrison Jean+MP

Anyone but Floch

Jean. He's the only one that can view the Rumbling objectively and not rule it out as bad because their enemies are destroyed

Armin for strategy, Jean for leadership, Hanji for progress

Daz

Shadis should take over, but only untill Jean can get a little more experience leading.

As long as they agree Marley needs to be wiped out for the sake of Paradis, I'm okay with any leader that accepts that responsibility

Definitely not Hange. She wanted to make peace with Marley. Not leadership worthy at all.

Rico ;-;

Hange may be commander, but they are unfit for taking on as the head of the military. Same goes for Keith, though in this chapter he shows courage by stepping up to push the trainees to fight, I doubt he is willing to go back into a similar position as he was before as the Survey Corp's commander. Among the candidates, Armin may seem like a promising candidate, but aside from his proven intellect, just like Hange both do not possess the level of prowess of leading all three branches (four if count the training squad)of the military. More I think about it the "best" candidate in this list may surprisingly be Jean, but so far he hasnt been giving me the impression as someone who can take on such a massive role.

Erwin

  WHY DID FLOCH ARREST THE VOLUNTEERS? 1,903 Responses

The fandom is fairly divided on Floch’s motives, with a three-way split that comes close to being even. The highest amount of respondents feel he is arresting the Volunteers because he doesn’t trust them based on past actions. In the middle, people feel that he doesn’t want to be associated with any non-Eldian people. And in third place, people felt that he doesn’t trust Yelena specifically, and is taking her group down with her.

As far as I've seen, Floch is on Eren's side, not Zeke's. So that would make Yelena, who hasn't heard about her boss and the euthanasia plan, dangerous as fuck. Even with that, Floch's following his own principles. He has different reasons than Eren, but he just needs the "devil" figure to project his own will.

He always knew Yelena and Zeke's intentions because of Eren, and now he's arresting them to prevent more trouble caused by them. I think Eren "trusts" and is working with Flcoh more than the fandom expect.

Because they conspired to sterilize/euthanize the Paradisians.

He's a completely inconsistent character whose personality and character motivations change at the drop of a hat in order to create conflict in the story.

He thinks Yelena can take over his position of the best Yeager fanboy and he can't have that.

He was never really on their side at all! Just like how Eren saw them - they were a means to an end, a useful tool but a dangerous one that could never really be trusted. Now that Eren has made his intentions clear and the ideological split is visible, he's fully turning on them and suppressing them from potentially pursuing their own agendas further.

There’s not enough room on Paradis for both of those eccentric hair cuts

  GABI AND ARMIN BOTH SEEM INTERESTED IN PUTTING ASIDE THEIR DIFFERENCES: WILL THE SURVEY CORPS AND WARRIORS TEAM UP? 1,928 Responses

After having been warring factions since the beginning, will the warriors and Survey Corps finally team up as one?  62.9% feel a team up will happen, but not everyone from both sides will want to be involved, and a solid 30% believe a full team up is in the cards.  Only 5.8% don’t feel that it’s possible at this point.

Any cooperation will be a compromise, so maybe?

At this point I really don't know. Their passivity disappointed me fully this chapter. They need their TRUE leaders who are MIA at the moment.

I hope it happens but I think Armin is acting under Bert's influence

I hope not, it sounds lame.

i think maybe they will be forced to work together to stop the titans because they are attacking both sides.

It's the ideal scenario I suppose

Only until the Rumbling stops. After that, the SC needs to dispose of all the remaining Warriors to end the war for good.

PLEASE MAYBE REINER WILL GET SOME CLOSURE OUT OF IT

Probably but it’s waaay to cliché. Please don’t Isayama

They'll team up to stop Eren, if that works they'll be enemies once again

Yes and Yes! I've been saying this for months: warriors and SC are going to have to work together. Magath is going to play a role in this too.

  ANNIE!! THOUGHTS: 1,948 Responses

91 chapters.  91 Months.  7 and a half years.  Longer than we were with the characters pre-timeskip.  Annie has been in a crystal, but now she's free!  33.4% think she came back at the perfect time and Isayama has nailed his writing once again.  18.4% are excited for her return, but don’t feel there’s much time left in the story for the wait to be worth it.  15.7% aren’t worshippers at her crystal, and so aren’t too hyped out of their minds.  29% however: A N N I E

akueeoekskfnfjyfjekqwiruuri MY GIRL IS BACK BITCHES, AND I NEED POST-AWAKENING MIKANNIE FANFICTION NOW

glad she's back but the plot has nothing for her to do anymore

How he brought her back makes perfect sense and I love it. If she chose to come out at this time rather than being forced, it would have been awkward and forced to be honest. But Eren taking away all hardening is the best way to bring her back AFTER SEVEN FUCKING YEARS.

glad to have her back but sceptical of her importance

go back into hibernation

Good in-story reason, great writing, but waited far too long. Not sure if she will even be relevent for the remainder of the story that already has a lot of loose ends.

Hentannie

I am not hyped because it took too long and the series has gone too far down a path I can no longer follow.

I DID MY WAITING! TWELVE YEARS OF IT! IN AZKABAN!

I don't know what Annie can do at this point of the story that will make her return worthwhile

I don’t think Isayama and his editors would allow her to be brought back for a poor plot point/reason, so I’m curious to see what role she’ll have.

I wasn't too concerned about Annie at this point in the story but I'm glad that her return makes sense with the events currently taking place and I'm interested to see what Isayama has planned for her.

I'm no fan of her so I'm not excited at all, but I assume she'll drive the plot somewhere soon.

She's got a lot of catching up to do. Concerned it won't be handled well.

The reasoning is sound, and I am glad that Isayama thought that part through, but we have a limited number of pages left, so I am worried about how this will play out.

Took too long so it ended up being very 'meh' for me, but congratulations Annie-stans, have a drink tonight

Should've been way sooner, her potential as a character feels wasted since we're almost done now. All she'll have time to do is get caught up on what happened and then have a couple reunions.

I honestly have no idea what Isayama plans to do with her but I’m just GLAD SHES FINALLY FUCKING BACK!!!! MY BABY GIRL IS BACK!!!!

  ANY THOUGHTS ABOUT WHAT ANNIE WILL DO NEXT? 675 Responses

Annie will have a run-in with Hitch, get things explained and head towards the main conflict.

Dare I say it, Assist With Armin’s Talk No Jutsu with Eren

"Run"

Definitely try to get to her dad.

Try to find her warrior friends

Determine her situation and act accordingly

She won't be too surprised at what Eren's become. She remarked how when the "good guys" take power, then it's all over to Marlowe in Season 1.

A girl can dream of her and Pieck being badasses.

All the titan shifters will come together (location-wise), it seem like a flag? Since all the shifter's powers is a part of Ymir herself, having them close might have significant meaning.

ANNIETHING

Be traumatized by manga spoilers? Wonder wtf happened?? Try to find Reiner??

Annie will join Eren.

Not give a shit about anything apart from Papa Leonhardt

Annie will play a huge role in stopping Eren, in some way.

be a badass like usual and FEMALE TITAN ACTION?????

Change her clothes because why is she wet

umm take a shower lol

Character development and teaming up against Ereh

I think Hitch will be the one to find her - she was in charge of guarding the crystal. I think she'll be too weak to fight right now though, so I'm worried that she's just going to be used as a Titan Shifter snack :(

Somehow affect Eren's mindset. Not sure exactly how.

Go kiss Armin pls

I'm hoping for Armin to transform into the Colossal Titan. Annie will see this thinking it's Bertoldt, and then have a good character moment upon finding out that Armin ate him.

Her endgame is to at least partially counteract the rumbling with her scream ability.

Confused --> Shocked --> Mad --> or all at the same time. Anyway, she will probably meet up with Armin and the gang and they will explain the shit situation to her and somehow they will come up with a plan or smth.

I think she’ll be forgotten about for a few chapters then show up in the battle. It’ll be interesting to see what side she takes at that point. I’m sure someone will conveniently fill her in on the last few years.

She's a wild card, but the last we saw her she wanted to get back home. I'm sure she will be invested in saving the world from annihilation.

She is FAR away right now. I think dealing with Annie is a good wind-down after all this World-ending stuff has been dealt with, like when they save the Shire after defeating Sauron

Crystallize

Yeet to Marley and die with her papa.

Annie's first move will be to find a toilet sure she must be dying for a pee like

  HOW HAS YOUR OPINION ON THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS CHANGED?

Shadis, Jean and Gabi are the big winners in the opinion poll this month with the majority selecting “More Favorable” reaction to them. Shadis had 1379 respondents selecting “more favorable”, Jean had 1076 and Gabi came in third with 980. Fighting titans so soon after surviving a bear attack is impressive, so I’m not surprised with these results. At the other end of the spectrum, Connie (542) and Floch (496) had the most number of “Less Favorable” selections. While the good outweighed the bad, Gabi again proved to be polarizing with 432 people choosing “Less Favorable” despite her positive development this month.

  FAVORITE NEW TITAN DESIGN? 1,926 Responses

Isayama’s nods to his television viewing habits continue with the appearance of the “Better Call Saul” titan. Our appreciation of Isayama’s sense of humor continues with more than 50% of us selecting it as “Favorite New Titan Design” (51.5%). Pixis was a distance second with close to a quarter choosing his titan form (23.7%) as their favorite.

Still laughing over the Saul Titan. Good ol' slippin' Jimmy

the Better call Saul titan looks more like Bolsonaro (Brazil's president)

one last hurrah to the Pure Titan mayhem the series was originally known for, and witnessing the tragic end to Nile and Pixis

  WHAT ARE YOU HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,926 Responses

The three elements of the story which have been absent for months, or even years, take the top overall votes for what the fandom would like to see next. 33.6% are dying to see present-day Levi and Hange again. 24.1% are still eager to get Historia’s perspective. 23.6% are still hoping to one day see Eren’s inner thoughts.

All I want for Christmas....Is Historias POV

I'm missing Connies adventure on the 'What are you hoping to see next chapter?' question.

Bitch give me Levi. It’s been more than half a year.

I literally only care about the 104th characters so the more of them we can see next chapter the better

Give me more Eren action pleaseee

So why is Annie pov not an option for next chapter?

I have waited for 7 years, finally, Annie is back. I wanna see more of her story and  character development. I cant wait to see her conversation with Hitch and Armin!

Please Isayama give me more good Shadis content

I really want to see Eren's full complete titan. Issayama, stop blueballing us please!

I would actually like to know more about that spine creature that is evidently the source of Titans.

Is there a Kiyomi option?

  WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,843 Responses

With close to 200,000 members it’s no surprise that Reddit continues to dominate the discussion field (47.7%), followed distantly by Tumblr (15.5%), Real Life (9.8%) and Discord (6.7%). Amazingly, 9% don’t discuss it at all. This month, FIVE of you said Snapchat, up from four last month, so while there’s still technically a possibility that you guys are actually forming some weird snapchat cult and this isn’t an elaborate psyop, I’m still not convinced. But regardless of where you discuss the series, or if you even do, we truly appreciate your participation in the chapter poll!

  ADDITIONAL COMMENTS? 416 Responses

OMG! Okay, it's happening! Everybody stay calm! Annie! Annie! Annie!

Annie got crystalized in chapter 33, and now she's out, 91 chapters later. Since 12 chapters are published in a year, we have been waiting for her (not including flasbacks and her just chilling in the crystal) 7 years and 7 months. I salute all the diehard Annie fans, you had a long wait.

Once again I have marked my calendar. May 9, 2012 - December 5, 2019. After 7 excruciating years our queen is FINALLY awake. This deserves a new record for longest amount of time a character has been comatose in real life. Thank GOD it's finally over I still can't believe it.

I'm a big fan of all of the smaller storylines coming together, hoping for everything to be wrapped up nicely and characters from different factions (i.e Hange, Annie, Historia) all coming together to address the rumbling.

It felt a little like a breather chapter, despite all the action. It was nice to slow down and get some character development for everyone.

“Everyone has a devil in them” is a great message. Hope they all team up and stop Eren. Very curious about what Annie will do!

The parallels to Trost arc were nice, but I felt like the endgame was finally amping up only to be put on hold.

Great chapter! I like Pathland, and the flashback with Levi and Hanji was great, but it was a relief to get some current time action. Gabi is best girl, Armin just went up by leaps and bounds in my book, and Annie is back!! So excited for the next chapter…

Great one ! The fear from the mindless titans in back, like in Trost. Many side characters development/deaths (Nile, Pixis, Shadis, Kaya, Nicolo, Gabi, Annie, Connie, Jean...). So much good stuff, I almost forgot about the rumbling going on !!

Amazing. If Isayama maintains this quality til the end, then this will be one of my favorite series, of any media, ever.

I'm wondering what Annie can realistically do at this point. Sure she beat Eren before but now he's in another level.

Guess we don't have to deal with the genocidal jock for a while

REINER HELOS BRAUN WILL SAVE THE WORLD (after his power nap)

ANNNIIEEEEE; Shadis' comeback was wonderful. I hope he can make up for the loss of Pixis and Erwin and such. He has great potential and he's a well developed character. Jean is asking the real questions, but the showdown between him and Floch is about to go down.

I said previously that if Floch survives I wanted my money back. But you know what? I'll take my refund in Annie store credit. Thanks for that bright spot, Isayama!  Also: this chapter pointed out how many good people in the world will suffer if Eren succeeds. And I felt as frustrated with the remnants of the 104th as Gabi. Nicolo and Shadis became my unexpected heroes this chapter.

Is Zeke still alive? Is he still controlling the mindless titans?

Floch didn’t do anything particularly bad this chapter but every time I have to see his face my opinion of him becomes less favorable. When Jean said “so you lived...” I FELT that disappointment lol.

I love the Braun siblings interaction in this chap. And Nicole's "we'll try to get out of the forest" sends chills. I think that's one of the point ISTM is trying to get across.

Does Connie realise that if his mother was given one of the nine titan powers she would be made to fight? Getting one of the titan powers is very much a curse not a blessing (especially with the Jaw titan)

At this point the Eren/Gabi parallels are feeling a little overdone and forced.

If Gabi receives Eren’s Titan it will be the stupidest most disappointing thing to happen in this- no all of manga! Besides, what is the damn point of her “paralleling” Eren anyways? But the Sasha paralleling was even more gnarly YUCK!

It's true that the people of Paradis will benefit from this shit, but I highly disagree with any justification when it comes to Eren's horrible actions. GENOCIDE IS NEVER THE OPTION. I think Jean is disappointed too but he's trying his best to rationalize the crap Eren's carrying out for he still doesn't want to believe his friend is committing genocide. I expect he comes back to his senses soon otherwise I no longer will appreciate him as a character.

That "who are you most disappointed" will sadly be filled with Armin hate tbh. And in the end he was just wanting to avoid unnecessary conflict... tbh Anyone hating on Connie, Gabi and Armin doesn't seems to know how humans emotion work in helpless situations...

What Yams is doing to Connie is further proof he is ruining his main characters (the good ones) to make room for his precious Marley characters (the crappy ones)

Connie's regression and frustration was more and more visible since Sasha died. He's lost everyone close to him. I am happy to see him finally snap at Armin and go his own way. This was foreshadowed for a while now.

I hope Isayama sensei doesn't forget to include World Millitary's raid in the action. They already mention in some previous chapter by Zeke.

Quantity-wise, the chapter wasn't centered around Gabi, okay. But. BUT. Gabi got quite a few powerful scenes, very Gabi-centric scenes, and I'm not happy about that. I don't see how and why the fandom so easily forgave her for what she's done. Isayama drawing parallels between Gabi and Sasha was insulting and distasteful.

It is highly likely that this is the last time we are going to see Pure Titan mayhem in the series now that the Rumbling is taking place, so I think it was great to that focus in this chapter. I thought it was handled well, especially with Shadis's scenes, the parallel of the new recruits seeing the Pure Titans peaking through the hole of the fortress tower much like a similar scene in the Trost arc, the tragedy of seeing Pixis and Nile (two of the last remaining head honchos of the military not counting Hange and Shadis) as Pure Titans and getting killed off for good, and how characters like Armin and Jean fought those Pure Titans.  

WARMASTER FLOCKE, TO LEAD THE ARMIES OF ELDIA TO VICTORY! Haha no I guess not. I'm torn between Flocke, Jean, Eren, and Shadis. All could be good picks but all outcomes would have different implications on the story and what it means. I guess if I had to pick, it'll be Shadis or Eren for now and then perhaps Jean later when things have settled and they've grown up more.

I honestly can't keep up with how many faces Floch has.

With how the pacing is handled there's no way this is ending in 6 chapters. The real climax is Eren having to go against his friends because there's no way in hell Mikasa is allowing him to genocide kids

As heartbreaking as this chapter has been, I already had my hopes destroyed when 119 was released. Today has been the confirmation for two awesome characters, who fell because of the non-veteran rule. I don't know why I still hope to see Keith staying alive, but at least we got an awesome moment of his.

Characters are being balanced relatively well. Isayama's got a lot of characters and plot threads to deal with, and while Levi, Hange and Historia are getting less focus than I would like, I think he's doing a pretty good job of keeping each character relevant and giving them all some good arcs/ moments

Everything (except for Gabi scenes) was perfect for me!

Eww Gabi-focused chapter…

I simply hate how cowardy the 104th is acting. It's clear they're only fighting in their own interest and are just pulling excuses after excuses for supporting Eren. At least Floch is honest about it.

Man, the 104th always been the group I care the less in the story, but this chapter they're being so annoying (apart from Mikasa). Well, I can forgive Connie because of everything he went through, but Jean... why are you saying this ""there was no other choice, eren is protecting us"" bs ? Nice of you to be complicit of mass genocide. (Yes, I know his face shows he's conflicted, but he still sides with eren) Also Armin... at least he's horrified at what's Eren's doing but when he said that if they don't kill Falco there would be no conflict with the warriors since Marley will be gone....that's just dumb. Their home and families are going to be destroyed, but ok Armin, go off. And getting into another serumbowl situation, with one of my fave uncounscious while the SC decides who will eat him... I don't like it. (I don't think Falco will be eaten tho, the whole thing raised many death flags on Connie)

Great chap, Isayama seems to finally give closure to certain plot parts. End is near.

Here's a crazy idea: feed GABI to Connie's mom instead of Falco, there would be nowhere near as much arguing with that

Highlights that people can rise above their conditions to become better people, offering a counterargument that humanity should be wiped out.

I don't get why the story pacing was disrupted so much. Why build up to a climatic cliffhanger with the rumbling, only to basically ignore it for the entire following chapter?

I honestly wonder if titan shifting still works as it used to. I'm afraid of seeing Falco get eaten for nothing. Honestly I'm worried about Falco dying for nothing while people right over him as a pawn in general.

Quite interesting chapter. Had fun with it. Much, much slower paced than expected almost. But then again we need time to cover all this stuff. And I'm happy it all took place in the current rather than another flashback. Not really a fan of the Gabi stuff but it is what it is. The other character developments were quite nice. Reiner literally just falling asleep tho lol. Overall I guess I wouldn't say it's a "big" chapter but it is necessary to bridge what came before with whatever comes next. And at long last Annie is back, so that's GLORIOUS.

I hope Annie will have such a big role she gets repaid for the all years she's been gone😞

I hope Isayama uses the slowdown in the pace to better sell the scale of the rumbling, we already see part of that by hoe Eren's dino titan still isnt complete, even after all this time

I love how the story is progressing.The next chapter is always something I personally don't expect and it's always exciting. The hype at the beginning/end of the month is unreal. As for the chapter itself, it's always refreshing to see Jean's perspective on Eren's plans because I love his interpretations on him. #TEAMJAEGER

i love my waifu annie i missed her so much

I love you Connie and I'm sure your mom is nice and all but Falco is a precious bean who needs to be protected.

I really hated the Gabi-Sasha and Gabi-Eren parallels. I also still think Gabi was never needed in this story, in fact I don’t know how I’ll be able to stomach season 4. Ugh, the first half will be completely and utterly Gabified. Gabi in color and motion plus speaking, YUCK!  Anyways I hope that the next chapter will have an update on Hange, Levi, and Historia. And maybe Floch getting punched by Shadis that would be the Cherry on top.

It was an average chapter, not bad but nowhere near as good as the previous ones. Plus I'd appreciate if other characters, outside of Gabi, had more spotlight. Her arc and development is done, give more development and screentime to other characters such as Mikasa please.

Just being disappointed. The pacing is very slow. Also the main cast's reactions were too passive. I hated it.

Just great. Just great. The drawings were incredible and the plot just keeps getting better.

Less Gabi, more Historia!

Levi and Hange better return in some way, shape, or form, or Yam's is in for it.

Levi is the new Annie

Love getting to see thoughts from many different characters and where they stand. A lot of them are still left behind trying to rationalise things to make it emotionally palatable, or simply stuck not being able to accept the reality, whereas Gabi has kind of gone ahead and realised there's evil on both sides, and she's willing to kill Eren or work with him if she can best protect the people she cares about (eventually probably not just her friends and family either, but the outside Eldians as a whole).

My baby is back!!!!!!!! I wanna see more of ANNIE!!!!!!

Nicolo talking to Kaya and Gabi was cringey af. Did they really do back to that derpy forest analogy? If this series ends with them holding hands and singing around a campfire imma legit be so disappointed. I need me my Rumbling!

This chapter felt like a nostalgia trip, but I wasn't in for the ride. It was a mess of short catching-up moments when I just want to pick Eren's brain. I want to see Levi and Hange alive or hear what Annie and Historia think about the events, but at the moment I don't care about even those storylines. I just want to know what the relationship between Ymir and Eren is now that the walls came down.

The first panel being Mr. Leonhart was a pretty strong indicator to me that Annie would be released in the last panel, and it was. I felt that to be extremly poetic, and the timing is good too. Another wildcard in the plot. Excellent.

Compared to the previous chapter, this one turned out to be very disappointing. I was excited to see the rumbling and getting a glimpse of Eren’s thoughts and feelings. But instead I got Reiner going to sleep, Gabi being paralleled to Eren (again) and Sasha, the 104th busy arguing over what to do with Falco instead of, you know, focusing on THE RUMBLING

Good chapter, but if S4 is the final season and airs Autumn 2020, and with a monthly release, curious as to how isayama might tie up these "last minute" plot threads such as the new developments with Connie and Falco.

What else can I say except it's amazing and it was worth the wait

Where is Levi damnit

[drbtinglecannon]

Ok so @bad-luck-qrow made this post about an exchange they had with their cousin, who Galaxy brained suggested a far better solution than what v7e12 did. I really wanted to expand and ramble off on it and all the ways this rewrite idea was better than what canon did, but I didn’t want to bog down their original post so here’s a new one!

Their cousin had suggested that instead of Clover dying in ep12, that Qrow was the one who Tyrian stabbed, but he survived. It would’ve avoided any character death and given Clover the chance to reconcile with the fact his partner almost died because he refused to disobey Ironwood’s orders for even a moment.

I love that! Avoids BYG, allows more development for Clover, avoids unnecessary character death angst, and frankly CRWBY wouldn’t have gotten nearly the amount of backlash it did over that ep. The only addition I’d make to this rewrite idea is that Qrow purposely threw himself in the way to save Clover, and the reasons for that is because it would have…

Followed Qrow’s canon tendency for self-sacrifice, and allowed this unhealthy habit to be later addressed and worked on like his alcoholism currently is. Frankly I’m surprised it hasn’t been mentioned at all thus far in canon (that I can think of anyway), because it’s come up in a few fights I can think of off the top of my head where it incapacitated him at least briefly when he did this, the most notable one being in his first fight with Tyrian. So addresses a bad habit and comes full circle.

Shown Qrow AND Clover both following the theme song’s message of ‘trusting love’. The theme songs are supposed to be super relevant to the volume right, but I can’t think of a single case of someone trusting love over duty or orders or what have you in the volume ending, except Penny who was like…already mostly on their team anyway? Winter went against her own sister, the Ace Ops fought the kids, Ironwood turned against Oz and almost killed Oscar to do so, and Clover decided orders to arrest Qrow were more important than dealing with the serial killer who works for Salem (Which were already orders he was following. Why do new ones cancel out the old one?). If the fight ended with this rewrite idea it would’ve followed that theme, but especially it would’ve portrayed Qrow and Clover following that theme, two chars who arguably should do so the most. Qrow with his history of being betrayed and fear of getting close and self-hatred from his semblance, and Clover the professional military man who keeps everyone including his own team at arms length and expressed (in a throwaway line) that he trusted James with his life. The growing relationship between these two despite the long laundry list of reasons they could’ve hated each other was a reoccurring subplot in this volume, and it should’ve had some kind of fucking pay out. Imagine if Clover saying “I wanted to trust you too” was the last verbal exchange they had before Qrow threw himself in the way of the attack? That despite their disagreement and the bs of that situation Qrow trusted in love, and then with Clover having to rush to get him help and reevaluate that if he just listened to his heart Qrow wouldn’t have gotten hurt in the first place.

Been adequate angst without BYG! Imagine! Getting angst without a graphic death of a queercoded char!

Been far more interesting than killing Clover ever was. People are more attached to Qrow, unlike Clover he’s been around for a while, has been given the chance to grow, and is directly related to the protags. He has a lot more involvement and at stake with the plot so people would’ve been more invested in him getting better than with Clover doing so. We just met Clover, give us more time to get to know him and fall in love; what better way than to have him save a char everyone already loves!

Allowed some great symbolism with their semblances (that somehow ended up being a completely wasted opportunity the entire volume). The unlucky one survived again, the lucky one survived only because of the unlucky one’s involvement and not by his own luck, Clover cursing his luck he let Qrow get hurt, etc. It’d also maybe get some more use of Clover’s pin (that got its own focus in the opening) and how Clover can more or less control good fortune whereas Qrow can’t control misfortune, like idk he flicks it calling for help even though they’re out of range but help answers and shows up soon enough it can save Qrow.

Allowed Clover more character development!!! What’s the point of introducing new chars and killing them before we can really get attached? Drama? Get out of here. Personally, watching an already beaten down broken man that was trying to recover and finally made a friend scream out in agony against the bi flag sunrise was not at all enjoyable!! However, watching the Mr. Perfect new guy panic while his meticulously crafted military persona crumbles as he does everything he can to save his new friend (lover) and ignore orders he knew were bad all the while? That I’d be interested in, provided it had the payout of everyone living which in this scenario it does. It’d expand so much more on the many hints that Clover was more than a blindly loyal bootlicker too. Plus from a writing standpoint, watching someone panic as they go against all odds to save their loved ones and the visceral relief when they succeed will always be infinitely more interesting and worthwhile to watch than violently killing chars off for the dramatics imo. (BYG trope or not it’s just not good writing!)

Caused the tension between Qrow and Tyrian to reach new heights in a satisfying way. (@theonceoverthinker wrote a post on this that I was specifically thinking of writing this bullet point.) Like, from Tyrian’s POV in this rewrite he tried to get revenge and STILL failed, this bitch survived a stab from him twice! TWICE! For a serial killer with a personal beef with this guy that’s gotta drive him insane! There’d be great potential for an all-hell-breaks-loose fight now. Instead the way Tyrian said his final words before running off in ep12, it gave the impression he knew Qrow was just gonna rot away in guilt and anguish, that he won, he got his revenge and that’s the end of that conflict, that the combined efforts of 3 seasoned Huntsmen/Huntresses was wasted. I know it probably won’t go that way and Tyrian will probably die by Qrow or Ruby’s hand, but watching that scene it felt like both Tyrian and Qrow accepted that Tyrian won and it was over. Idk maybe that’s just me.

Would’ve expanded upon Qrow and Clover’s relationship, which was am important subplot this volume, in a way that’s like, feasible to fix. I love the Staff of Creation theory, but honestly the trauma and broken trust those two are gonna have to work through feels overwhelming as hell, and that’s ignoring how long the feelings of guilt and bitterness are gonna be festering before Clover gets res’d (if it even happens). Instead, if Clover saved Qrow after Qrow saved him, yeah there would still be that conflict to work through (and Qrow’s self-sacrificing I mentioned earlier), but neither one died, they both immediately showed great care for the other by their actions in that situation, and would’ve been able to apologize and start mending their relationship pretty much instantly from there. Plus, it’d be so easy to finally drive home their dynamic was in fact romantic in this situation, something a lot of fans (homophobes) kept arguing against despite all the flirting, and winking, and call back to canon het flirting volumes ago, and complimenting semblances/colors, and parallels to bumbleby and a few to nuts and dolts too. Think of the romantic tropes this could’ve done, the tenderness the dialogue the reunion scene!! Wasted!!

Ok I think I’m done and y'all get the point. I’m not gonna say OP’s cousin was the first to suggest this rewrite idea, but when I read it I started frantically thinking of all the ways it would’ve easily fixed the shitstorm that ep12 ended up being.

[acre1984-blog]

Why Drogon spared Jons life

Because he loved Jon Snow.

And he probably had many other reasons. Numbered from least to most significant, here are three of them: 1) His mother was no longer able to say “Dracarys!” 2) as a dragon, he wanted the Targaryen bloodline to continue, and 3), he had knowingly allowed Jon and Dany to make their own choices for their own relationship—or in other words, he let Jon kill her.

If that last one sounds unbelievable, let me ask you a question: Do you think that luck brought Drogon to the fighting pits of Meereen, just in time for him to save Dany from the mob of assassins there?

There’s very little chance of that being the case; in all likelihood, he had magically sensed that his mother was in mortal danger. And this final episode proves that his mind was indeed supernaturally linked with hers; after she gets stabbed, he wakes from a dead sleep and flies in circles around the Great Hall, shrieking mournfully before entering it.

But having just laid waste to a large fighting force and a great city, Drogon was dog-tired—and there was no way that the sounds of his mother’s nearly silent death could have woken him; the last time

Drogon lay down this tired after battle, he stayed down, refusing Dany’s request to go and get her some food—and he wouldn’t get up even when a horde of Dothraki came and abducted her. Clearly, that scene has strong parallels to her final one, where she gets killed by Jon Snow; in both, Drogon is exhausted nearby but doesn’t come to save Dany when she faces danger from people whose help and admiration she desires.

Dany comes out of her abduction stronger than ever; she kills the Khals in that blaze of fire—not Drogon. And what kind of a Queen would she be if she just let her big dragon do all the work? Not a worthy one in my opinion—and seemingly, Drogon would agree; by the time his mother walks out of that flaming Temple, he is surely well enough to go and at least try to save her. And as he can sense when his mother is in trouble, why didn’t he try to pull off another rescue like the one he did in the fighting pits of Meereen?

Unless he was in some kind of hibernation for his massive growth spurt, Drogon simply chose not to go to Vaes Dothrak and save Dany; he probably knew that she needed to try and win over the people of that city without his help—regardless of whether or not she would make it out of there alive.

And just as he allowed the Dothraki to come and abduct his mother, Drogon allows Jon Snow to pass with Longclaw to go and see her—giving her the chance to show Jon her strength as a leader, the way she did for the people of Vaes Dothrak. But instead, she shows him her weak and murderous heart; her insane speech makes Jon realize that he must indeed end her new life of terrorism. And even Drogon, her own son, isn’t going to save her—because he finally understands that she might not be worthy of the Throne.

Drogon gave Dany a test, and she failed to win Jon Snow over.

But long before her death, after realizing that he was a Targaryen, Drogon began to care for Jon—perhaps a lot more deeply than his mother could have known. And if he could smell Targaryen blood then, he could probably sense Jon’s growing distrust of his new Queen later—yet he never turned on him. But why didn’t he? Probably because bonding with Jon gave Drogon someone to compare his mother to. And he could see that hers was not the only way.

After incinerating two people for not bending the knee before his mother, Drogon returns to Dragonstone feeling righteous and powerful—and he sees Jon Snow, who has committed that same crime at every moment since his arrival on this island. But upon feeling the uncorrupted touch of the criminal’s hand, Drogon’s anger fades into serenity. Drogon Peaceful? At least for the moment, he forgives Jon for not bending the knee. And if he is a thinking creature, he must have questioned whether or not he had executed men unjustly; Drogon would never be the same.

Dany’s children are probably the first dragons to grow up with only one possible Targaryen to bond with. That circumstance probably limited their perspective and affected their behavior. But now the eyes of Dany’s favorite son were opened by another of Targaryen blood. A possible rival for the Throne. Yet when Jon later bends the knee, he leaves Drogon with but one side to choose from.

But though Jon remained loyal to her till right before the very end, their relationship was strained by his finding out that she cold-bloodedly killed Sam’s brother and father, prisoners of war, with dragonfire. And shouldn’t Drogon have been able to feel their growing discord? Especially as it started over executions that he carried out? What would he have done if Jon and Dany’s relationship had become irreconcilable sooner than it did?

If Dany was Drogon’s mother, then Jon is his cousin. Family. And Drogon seems to have chosen not to betray either family member; he stays out of their conflict.

And when he was awoken by the agony his mother quietly felt from Jon Snow’s knife, why did Drogon first fly around the remnants of the Red Keep instead of coming to her directly? Even if he needed a pass or two before seeing an opening to reach her, he wasn’t flapping his wings with any urgency. And that sound he made. A far cry from the one he let out over the fighting pits of Meereen, where he was pumping his wings like a dragon fly’s, determined to save his mother.

But now in the air outside the Great Hall, Drogon seems to know he won’t be able to save her. And maybe he does a few extra laps around it because he can’t bring himself to watch her last breath. Witnessing the completion of your mother’s murder. The worst thing a son could see.

And he doesn’t want to make his mother watch him disobey her final command; if he had flown to her right after waking up, she might have used her remaining strength to say “. . . Dracarys.”

Drogon must know that he could have easily kept his mother from harm—and he probably feels guilty for her death. Maybe even for all the death.

In ASOIAF/GoT, dragons have shown themselves to be intelligent and intuitive—but they don’t speak any kind of human tongue. And they probably don’t fully understand human behavior—just as humans don’t fully understand dragon behavior. Under that probability, Drogon may have suspected that killing all those people in King’s Landing was wrong—but he couldn’t have known for sure. Also, he probably sensed that out of countless other selfish ones, his mother did have one selfless reason to burn the city: She wanted to protect him, her only remaining child, from the harpoons of any scorpions that might be hidden therein.

And having seen his mother help and liberate so many people, he obeyed her out of his final strand of faith in her goodness and wisdom. . . . And because Jon did, too.

If that is the case, then the end of Drogon’s arc parallels Jon’s. And that could be another reason that he lets Jon pass with Longclaw to go and see Dany.

As he inspects him outside the Red Keep (or maybe inside of what used to be part of it, who could tell?), Drogon must have smelled or sensed the fear and anxiety that Jon Snow (or rather, Aegon Targaryen) was feeling—yet he allows the man to pass armed. And his doing so is a clue because it directly contrasts the earlier scene in which Jon goes to visit Tyrion, who is on death row; before the Warden of the North enters the prisoner’s chambers, his beloved sword, Longclaw, is taken by the Unsullied guards.

And so, at that point, Drogon is less concerned with Dany’s safety than the Unsullied are with carrying out her orders. A telling set of circumstances.

I believe that, after the battle, Drogon is confused about what has just happened, what he has done under Dany’s orders—but that he strongly suspects he’s done something awful. And the person he trusts most for an explanation is Jon. Yet as he can’t ask him for one in the Common Tongue, Drogon lets him pass to see if he will speak with Longclaw. But instead, Jon will speak with a knife that the sleepy dragon doesn’t notice—which may be why Drogon looks confused when he sees it sticking out of his mother’s body.

The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.

“You’ll always be my Queen.”

Jon has never used a knife—until now when he becomes an assassin; he doesn’t execute Daenerys with Longclaw because he doesn’t have the right to take her life. Not in his own eyes. Because he made a vow.

And seeing the assassin’s knife in his mother, Drogon may very well have understood that Jon killed his own Queen—not a rival; he can do nothing but forgive the loyal subject who showed her great respect in her final moments. The gentlest murderer who held his victim as she fell asleep forever because he wanted her to stay awake.

Even though he could hear the coming of her son, the world’s most powerful being—and its most accomplished killer.

And seeing what his cousin has done, Drogon may now understand that he himself has done something much worse: He’s murdered a city full of mostly innocent people, even though he had believed he was destroying a city full of his mother’s enemies. What have we done, mother? And he knows once and for all that Targaryens are unfit to rule—so, he destroys the seat that symbolizes the violence that started their royal line. Fire and blood are wrong!

You may find my assessing an anthropomorphic conscience to Drogon strange. But as Tyrion says, dragons are “more intelligent than men, according to some maesters.” And there are reasons to doubt Drogon’s reputation as an eager murderer.

As Alex Denethorn has already said, there in the Great Hall, Drogon judges not Jon Snow as Dany’s murderer, but the Iron Throne. And Drogon is right! His mother’s desire for that seat of swords slowly burned her good soul to death. Upon seeing her dead body near the steps leading to the coveted chair, Drogon destroys that which took the life that gave him his.

And with that act, Drogon consciously creates a metaphor. . . . Actually, no—something more complex—an extended metaphor: Understanding that the Throne is his mother’s true killer, he extends his judgment by taking fiery revenge on its thousand swords.

How many human beings could have made that astute of a judgment—on the spot, in a moment of pure despair?

And having the intelligence of a talented poet, shouldn’t Drogon also have the intelligence to feel guilt? Clearly, he has the ability to grieve and deeply understand the psychology that caused his loss. What other kinds of philosophical moments is he having in his head, out of the books’ and the show’s perspectives?

The last dragon, flying machine of uncountable death? With savage instinct for a mind, and consuming fire for a heart?

But then how did it get broken by his mother’s death?

Yet only a heartless being could murder an innocent child, right? Yes, that’s true! And for a long time, I’ve thought that Drogon was framed for killing the daughter of the so-called goatherd—and this final episode has strengthened my already firm belief.

Firstly, ASOIAF/GoT already has one character who kills and burns children for the purposes of fraud (I’m talking about Theon, of course), so there’s a precedence for what would otherwise be a most extraordinary type of frame job.

And at the time Drogon allegedly murders the little girl, the former masters of the freed cities have every reason to try and create descension between Dany and her dragons. Unless they’re incredibly stupid, they must be thinking of different ways to deal with their enemy’s most powerful weapons. And all they would need to do in order to pull off this scam is hire a very skilled actor for a big sum of money—then commit the same vile sin that Theon did; if their actor could trick Dany into thinking her dragons were child-murderers, she might even go as far as murdering her own children.

And as Drogon’s beautiful appearance there proves, the assignation attempt on his mother in the fighting pits of Meereen would not have worked if her dragons were free to roam the city skies.

But isn’t what you see with your own eyes more trustworthy than critical thinking?

I believe that the show visually tells us Drogon didn’t commit the crime for which his brothers were punished; in one scene, he hunts a flock of goats—and right before he does, the herder’s son sits right between predator and prey—yet the boy is unharmed by the dragon. And if Drogon were going to kill a child, wouldn’t it have been this one, who actually hits him with a rock?

With goats right next to him, the boy sits at the edge of a cliff, throwing rocks off it. Alarmed after one of them makes an unexpected thud sound, he looks down and sees Drogon, who rises over the cliff and looks at him like “Why did you just hit me with a rock, dude?” Hovering there for several seconds, he doesn’t pursue the goats until they are a nice, safe distance away from the child. Then he roasts one and flies off, seeming to have purposely avoided injuring the boy.

So, why are we supposed to believe that Drogon does the exact opposite thing at some location we never see?

I mean, all of a sudden he’s burning children instead of patiently waiting until they are out of harm’s way to close in on his prey; I challenge you to rewatch the scene with Drogon’s hunting the goats and tell me that he looks like he wants to kill children.

And as no other character ever claims to have witnessed Drogon kill anyone out of Dany’s sight, the story told by the “other goatherd” doesn’t add up; bad dogs don’t bite only once—and child abusers don’t abuse one child only once. So, why does only one story from one stranger tell of Drogon’s alleged wantonness?

Truly, the other goatherd is portrayed by a hell of an actor. And in my opinion, that statement has dual meaning; the real actor could have been playing a fictional one—and only talent such as theirs could have convinced Dany that Drogon, her own child, did such a heinous thing to someone else’s.

According to our eyes, Drogon never kills for fun. He doesn’t kill even for revenge—not even when he has the perfect reason and opportunity; as our eyes have told us, he spares his mother’s assassin-murderer, Jon Snow.

And would a creature capable of such mercy mercilessly murder an innocent child? The only answer that makes sense to me is “Never”; in his final scene, Drogon proves who he is: a creature of mercy who does the right thing when he understands the circumstances for what they are.

Because his insane mother couldn’t say ”Dracarys!”

. . .

How long to dragons live in ASOIAF/GoT? And how old was Drogon?

He was a child. Of great size and intelligence, but a child nonetheless. Even the smartest children have so very much to learn—and they intrinsically make a long series of mistakes on the path to maturity. Especially if they are corrupted by a parent whom they think the world of.

But in the end, Drogon was finally able to figure out the truth about Daenerys Targaryen. His mother. And it broke his heart.

I feel so bad for him.

And I miss Game of Thrones more than I ever thought I could; I feel a void and don’t know what to do about it.

[thesweetblossoms]

Conversations at Night

🎹Last week, a newly immigrated Jordanian Uber driver, Omar, drove me to work, he mentioned that he studied Arabic literature and was curious about by name. When I told him, it was indeed an Arabic word, chosen by my father, he readily shared his research and knowledge, to tell me more about its meaning. He relayed to me that the name derives from one of the oldest tribes in the Arabian desert, that the root word means hardworking as well intelligent. Although I had known that my name meant, intelligence, since I was a little girl, after learning the actual root word, “Sammar”, I researched further, discovering it also means “conversations at night”. This is such a haunting meaning, since I often think and write at night, and it pleasing to think that my name might indeed be a self fulfilling prophecy.

If I were to list seven elements that contribute to a women’s appeal, that carry the impression of compelling, interesting and unforgettable femininity, that strengthen a ladies ability to exert a magnetic pull, sex appeal, as well as attraction, my list would include grace, intelligence, wit, confidence, imagination, style and vision. For each dispenses the charms, extracts the best elements and leaves faint traces of the women’s soul into the atmosphere she inhabits and colors all her encounters.

A graceful women is one that may be counted on to examine the hand she has been given and find the only way to play would be to create, envision and design, a charming, memorable and beautiful life. She would notice that a hand painted thank you note and homemade lemon zested madeleines would be a happy gift to send to an elementary school teacher, or a message to an author, after reading a book may increase the power of both written and unwritten works, or that dealing with multiple obligations yet remaining unfazed is the key to carrying out each endeavor well. A graceful women is often a reliable friend, somebody who has kindness and strength to spare,

who is generous and open hearted in providing ideas, advice, new ways of thinking, perspectives and insights that open channels, clarifying problems, dilemmas or troubles. By confronting issues with a high level of ability, sharpness, composure and calm, she inspires faith in outcomes as well as a sense of security in others, for she reminds us, that the universe readily furnishes us with necessary tools and the awakened among us may cannily use these to create gardens, or start companies, write books, raise children or steadfastly and relentlessly chase any dream.

Intelligence is an irreplaceable tool in a women’s arsenal. While appearances satisfy many evolutionary prerogatives, people are often attracted to the components of a persons personality, character and energy. Thus ones ability to think, to make connections, to gain and use knowledge, to envision new and different worlds, to find patterns, to look minutely at details, to be able to grasp the universal horizons, to simplify the blinking space between birth and death, to detect humor or to ideate a world without pain and suffering, may be intoxicating to others, just as newly opened ivory roses, are to an orchid pink desert hummingbird.

The wittiness factor adds a sparkle to drifting breezes, ticking minutes and to the light filled hours of experience, for any encounter is more pleasurable when the conversation is amusing, interesting and articulate. The epitome for wit may be Jane Austen’s, Elizabeth Bennet, a heroine that is able to duel with the most bedeviling of men, who is able to enchant all around her with her kindness, intelligence and passion. For eons, I thought that being witty meant the ability to think fast and return a volley with ferocity and brilliance, yet it may actually embody a larger context, as being witty may be a certain kind of sensitivity, of knowing the correct words to appease a tense situation, perhaps with a gentle surrender, or a thoughtful offer, or it may be the priceless skill, at a dinner party or even, an attorneys break room setting, perchance, to extract the most vivacity from another person. A witty disposition unleashes the exuberant and sardonic ability to ascertain the humor inherent, even within the bitterest of dilemmas and unsavory intervals, it persuades the sleepiest of senses to savor the intrinsic qualities of reality, of the funny, cute and precious elements of quickly changing and developing children, or of noting the romantic opportunities of lounging in candlelight, when the power goes out, or in taking rain showered tree and blossom perfumed walks in less crowded sidewalks, or of knowing that what is truly relevant is how much you laughed, or lingered in beauty or dwelled in love.

Confidence is a narcotic quality, it opens ones experience to manifest the most fruitful results. It relies on an innate sense of place, an ability to see through many of the artificial blocks that prevent us from enjoying the present. I am awed at the way certain individuals carry themselves, the plus size models, or the plainly dressed and unassuming tech founders, or little children who have not been conditioned to compare themselves to media and cultural archetypes. Confidence arises from a comprehension of the value that one may add to the situation, knowing that the simplest gestures may tint the quietest hours, or even the most hectic ones, it is the calling card of the person, who introduces themselves and gains a new friend, or the individual that sweeps aside other peoples narrow viewpoint by example, or who seldom worries about how the audience regards them, as long as they adhere to high principals, values and modes of conduct.

Creating imaginary worlds, or parallel dimensions is a satisfying and alluring anecdote to navigating life in our present form. Therefore, a wild, creative, whimsical, exuberant, fantastical, energetic, ephemeral or any other type of imagination allows us to wonder into other realms that may exist in the vastness of eternity, like invisible moons, beguiling us unawares. An imagination could spark an ambrosial love affair, by sensing possibility in a potential partner, despite the blindingly obvious shortcomings, leading one on a romantic journey that could be thrilling despite the gaping variance from previous amorous notions. Or it could lead one to design and create an incandescent and disarmingly magnificent garden, laden with peach hydrangea, royal purple forget me nots, green tea dogwood blossoms, pink sapphire peonies and a hanging rope swing, knotted to a stately fairy light strung oak tree, to softly glide upon, while caressed by honeysuckle perfumed drifts, lashings of tenderness from ripening pink moons and lulling gold silk threaded clouds. It could create worlds that linger in our shared literary world, enthralling readers over generations with indelible characters and themes, such as J.M Barries, Peter Pan, or A Midsummers Nights Dream by William Shakespeare. An unfettered imagination could birth an enthusiastic and charming story about a mischievous giraffe in Paris, or a lonely starfish who longs to escape the coral reefs, or a striking, haunting and unforgettable love story set in the English countryside.

Words are more permanent than thoughts, as thoughts dissipate unerringly into the atmosphere, so just as writing encodes symbolic meaning, accelerates and defines the future as well as leaves greater tangible traces than musings alone, personal style is also an imprint of ones personality into reality. Sometimes the simplest ideas beguile me, the idea that a dress as ephhermal as a chiffon piece protects, shelters and conceals us from the part of reality that is separate from our selves, yet also exists as a work of art, or that how we dress impacts our energy, attitudes and moods, wearing floral patterns reminds us of the healing potential of nature, a black studded dress advertises that we must not be trifled with, or a nude halter silk dress evinces a desire for frivolity, sensuality and celebration. My thoughts often dwell upon an inking, an ominous sensation or a persistent thought cloud, that there is scare time as well as opportunity, to express myself to the farthest limits of possibility, to sit quietly to read and think about manifold subjects that render illumination, or even to savor the wondrous scenes occurring across time and space, as it entails a sacrifice of other pressing matters to notice, contemplate and mull the mysterious unfurling of the hours. I feel this way especially poignantly regarding style, that there isn’t enough time to wear the clothes that have come across my path, that I may not have adequate chances to choose different earrings to compliment my outfits or wear lovely shoes that would enhance a carefully chosen scarf. Just as the way an exquisite platinum ring sets of a twinkling emerald gem, this dearth of time influences me to both savor as well as thoughtfully consider the ritual of dressing in the morning for work, or selecting a caramel and gold beaded party dress to wear for a date night, or collecting another white cotton dress to linger in the garden.

Ones vision far exceeds the artifices and false boxes of sex, status or upbringing as vision is an element of our soul, it is a masterful and ecstatic gift, one that many lucky people possess, yet only to squander it in half sleepy lives, leaving a handful to scale the heights of awareness, or risk the temptations of insanity, topple precariously over the edges of reason as great visual artists such as Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet or Georgia O Keefe. For vision is a subtle ecstasy, enabling us to be charmed by overwhelmingly gorgeous vistas such as lilac clouded rainforests in Costa Rica, or Balinese, glimmering beach temples, a misty pine tree cove in Vancouver, a small town waterfall in Connecticut with groves of blossoming plum trees, a hilly glade ripe with nigella, cosmos, asters and lace flowers in Colorado, a moonshot Taj Mahal with night blooming jasmine and tuberose, a concealed hydrangea, rose and clematis ivy and moss draped reading bench in a garden in Cotswalds, or a white chiffon gown and black tie soirée at the Hall of Mirrors at the Versailles. Yet, the boundless gift of vision includes the ability to create imaginary worlds, perhaps, the talent to create a Parisian rooftop soirée with pink champagne, piano music, shadows of darkness and light, a setting for an overture, for the mischievous heiress in a backless black silk dress with emerald earrings, and the tall, captivating, yet, impecunious gentlemen in a patched up tweed jacket, both, serenaded by the musical notes and lilac dusk breezes floating over pooled pillar candles, strung Japanese lanterns, multiple riveting conversations and hinting at a momentous rendezvous, by star struck water fountains in the rose gardens below. But, vision unwavering burnishes the magic of the ordinary, common place or even mundane, like a spell or incantation, it charms us when we are at leisure, maybe, when we see the tiny spiders performing gymnastics over the blossoming tomatillo plants, or the shadowy outline of cosmos on the pavement, or a black thrasher bird feather, of the slowly whirling pink grasses in the inundating light.

During a spell of neglecting to refill my hummingbird feeders with handmade nectar, I diverted my spare time to planting seeds, fertilizing and watering my garden consistently. On Saturday afternoon, while lazying in the balcony garden with cups of Irish coffee, I noticed a hummingbird fly into the covered garden with pots of jasmine, tuberose, black eyed Susan’s, flowering basil, cosmos, roses, sweet alyssum and Mexican sunflowers, and sip greedily from the roses and cosmos before flying away. I was bewitched by the sight, realizing how much I miss seeing the fast beating whizzing petite birds visit my garden, yet enthralled that by growing flowers they may still frequent my space and imbibe in the nectar they find therein.

By looking again, more carefully, calmly, methodically at the possessions we already have concealed away in delicate pouches or miniscule ceramic bowls, or barely holding up in creased envelopes in oyster pink Prada purses, we might be delighted, intrigued and captivated by what we discover. I recently took out my Elsa Peretti teardrop necklace out and considered the fragile silver chain and the evocative shape of a single drop of water, borne of insidious joy or recalcitrant sorrow. I hadn’t worn it for many years as there were two tiny knots in the chain that I couldn’t untangle and was too busy to take to Tiffany's to repair. Yet, once I took it out again, with a degree of maturity or skill that is the gift of growing older, I was able to focus on the minuscule tangles and unknot them slowly with concentration and patience. With the years, we gain talents, perspectives and abilities that are not immediately apparent. So it is with pleasure that I wear my long ago acquired and conscientious stored necklace, hoping it charms the seductive flow and cadence of the present time, to symbolize our physical ability to transform energy when we cry and to take the tears and alchemize it to realms of imagination, wonder and beauty.

Often during breaks between work, I succumbs to islands of fancy and I scribble shards of fancy and nonsense; I seek alchemy in every leaf and discover magic in every blossom, I leave secrets in the open meadows and plant revelations under the shadows of cedar trees, I traipse into comedies in the coffee beaned darkness and escape tragedies in the mirrored light, I linger in the borders between moments, in the beats between the notes and the spaces between the lines.

One is able to measure the healing quotient of a house by the vibrancy and the lushness of its plant inhabitants. I am aware of this co-relation, whenever I enter a space with emerald, jade, arsenic green, oyster or polka dotted pink, or hues of deep Provençal lavender, that appear content, peaceful, well tended, happily imbibing light showers, fending off the dusty cadence of windows, rising tenuously, joyously or even arrogantly from black pearled soil, that itself, is verdant, sufficiently hydrated, evidently fertile, and with lilting stems that have been either left to its own devices, or that been thoughtfully sculpted with the gardeners hands with a pair of much used, oiled and sharpened bonsai scissors. There is a tangible loving energy that emanates from these spaces, where the subtlest creatures are cared for and honored. For our lives are akin to sheafs of fragilely stroked watercolor botanical paintings, tied loosely with a nude pink silk ribbon, each offering a daily experiment in alchemy, practiced, by cutting off a branch to allow another, greater access to light and air, or by gently pulling off dried leaves, so that another might sprout from the green stem below, or to take a flourishing limb from one plant to embed into another pot so that it may root and create an independent plant. These houseplants allow us to deepen our connection to nature, to entwine with it unwavering flow, recklessly, by attempting to manipulate and control living entities, by inviting other species and personalities into our midst, by examining the visible patterns, arcs, shapes, forms and manifestations of botanicals, to attempt to understand its quiet language and to bind ourselves to them, within our own scant hours, upon this pale dot, that is planted itself, by some unknown gardener, into eternal space.

Spend the day looking at the shadows and the night looking at the stars. For there is magic and mystery in the hidden spaces that the illumination conceals, while there are truths, beyond the blatant solar flares that the softly lit moon shyly gives away. I linger in the early November breezes while the crescent moons silver filters indolently through a congress of palm tree leaves, into my Paris cup of chamomile tea. I lull in the lantana, basil, chrysanthemum, rose, tuberose, orange leaf and jasmine perfume. I am soothed by the abstract and bewitching melodies of the wind chimes, the song of the flowing water in the fountain, of old memories lingering within the fabric, weavings and leaves; of the faded firoza, mustard and cream kantha blanket, ivory paint chipped rattan chair and the new marigold plants. These ameliorate the current time, by reminding me of my grandparents garden, as a little girl, even though, the textures, fragrances and lyrics are carefully, and irreversibly separated, by a handful of decades from my contemplations, here, bathed in the heady new moon and the gently biting desert winter winds. But perhaps, there is more to consider, for garden perfumes, night nectar chasing moths, fluttery eucalyptus branches and the tricks of the heavenly bodies, might allow frames to shift and flirt unbeknownst with each other.

Can you hear the wondering butterfly and the prancing bee, whispering gently through the lavender breezes, follow me, follow me? 🌊

[once-upon-a-ouat]

OUAT Rewatch 1x10 “7:15 A.M.”

Okay, I don’t usually do that, but for this episode I feel the uncontrollable need to review it scene-for-scene because I have something to say about every scene and they were all freaking awesome. That will eliminate the need to point out favorite and least favorite scene in this episode, but I’m keeping the favorite and least favorite lines. With that said, let’s dive right in.

The opening scene with August and Henry built up the suspense as to who August is and what he’s doing in Storybrooke and also served as a set-up for two more scenes throughout the episode. I also loved Regina’s worry as to who that might be. First, Emma came to town and started trouble, and now another person just showed up. You could practically see the cogwheels turning in her head.

The weather forecast we heard as background in the next scene informed us about the storm which played a major role later in the episode. Mary Margaret was very funny in her hurry to go out. I loved how quickly she came up with a lie to tell Emma. We know she’s not that type of person and yet, she lied to her closest friend because she herself knew that what she was doing wasn’t right and didn’t want Emma to know about it.

It was quickly revealed why Mary Margaret was in such a hurry. It’s really sad how desperate she was for even the smallest contact with David. And the fact that he was buying two coffees just made it even worse (there goes OUAT with the details once again). It would’ve been plenty horrible on its own, but seeing David walk up to his car, give one to Kathryn and kiss her cheek was just heartbreaking (and I also felt horrible for Kathryn because I know how this is going to end and that she’ll be hurt). Good thing Emma showed up as the voice of reason. I loved how she didn’t judge Mary Margaret, but also firmly and clearly told her that she had to put a stop to that. She’s understanding and supportive and yet, doesn’t let her friend fall even deeper.

Snow looked hella badass with that spear in that next scene. So she didn’t flee the kingdom? Or did she? I’m a little confused. The parallels between the two timelines were cool though. What I’m not a fan of is Snow’s desire to get rid of her feelings in both realms. I know loving someone when you know there’s no way for you to be together hurts, but that doesn’t mean that you have to erase them from your heart. For me that just doesn’t do a favor to their romance and the idea that it’s the greatest romance ever.

Snow and Rumple’s scene was awesome. I loved the way he used her hair to make the potion ‘personal’ because no two loves are exactly the same. That was such a great idea. I also loved how he said that love is the most powerful magic and then made that look horrifying. Given what we know about his personal experience with love, it just became even sadder. Also, now that we know what he used her hair for, this scene is just more brilliant.

Mary Margaret’s shock when she saw the pregnancy test was heartbreaking but I do have a problem with that scene. David’s words in the cabin and his actions on the whole imply that he and Kathryn don’t even have sex. Why did she think she was pregnant? I loved how Regina had only two lines but managed to make a bitch of herself. Also, I loved that she and Kathryn were shopping together. I think this can count as one of the genuine moments of their friendship and I loved it.

The dialogue between George and David was awesome. You can understand where both of them are coming from and sympathize with them both. I honestly couldn’t pick a side in that scene. The implication that George had loved before was very important to me because in many scenes later on in the show he comes off as heartless and it’s nice to have a reminder that that’s not true.

I love how they used the doves as transitions between scenes several times in this episode. The dove is a symbol of love and they used it to show that Snow and David’s love transcended realms and even the Curse. I think it was genius.

I loved how Snow wanted to help the dove so badly. Especially when she learned that it would be alone for the rest of its life if she didn’t get it to its flock. I feel like she was seeing herself in the dove a little bit and that was super weird, but I love how she was determined to help it. It’s just an animal but she did everything in her power to help it. I also loved how she rejected David’s offer to help her. She practically told him “I’m no damsel in distress”.

I loved the scene between Regina and Emma. It once again showed that the one thing that can make them work together is Henry. It was manipulative on Regina’s part though because August’s ‘interest’ in Henry was not the only reason why she wanted to know about him. She thought that she would use the Savior in order to learn about a potential danger to the Curse. It was brilliant.

I love how the dove landed on Snow’s hand while she was holding the vial with the ‘cure’. The joy on her face when she read the letter was so genuine and heartwarming. Damn that show!

Even faced with the very real danger of the storm and the obstacle of the road being closed, Mary Margaret still didn’t give up on her quest to help the dove. The transition between that scene and the next was just fucking awesome!

I love how Snow quickly figured out a way to sneak into George’s castle, but it doesn’t say anything good about the security of said castle. And just when she was about to reveal herself to David, the guard caught her. I really wanted to scream (but it was 2a.m. so that wasn’t an option).

It was adorable to see Snow so determined to break out of the cell and not wanting to give up. Meeting Grumpy was awesome (so he tried to get back with Nova then?). I just loved how this episode kept portraying love as the worst thing ever (sarcasm, if you couldn’t tell). Holy shit! I had completely forgotten about Stealthy. Damn! That’s one of the best twists on the show. I love how Grumpy decided to get Snow out of there too.

David showed up just in time and thank God. He saved Mary Margaret’s life. It kind of sent her not-a-damsel-in-distress attitude to hell though. Even that way, I’m not mad because she could’ve died or gotten seriously injured, seeing how she wanted to keep going even despite the storm.

Stealthy’s death was pretty heartbreaking (mostly because of Grumpy’s anguish but still) even though we didn’t know anything about him really. I loved how Snow was ready to sacrifice herself to save Grumpy even though they didn’t really know each other that well. That’s really admirable about Snow.

Mary Margaret’s little rant was heartbreaking but I really liked the fact that she decided to get all that out in the open. I also liked the fact that she didn’t let David kiss her but not the reason behind it. If she hadn’t seen that pregnancy test, she would’ve given in. Given her turmoil about David choosing Kathryn over her, it just felt like she didn’t have any self-respect.

I don’t really know what to make of the scene between Emma and August. They really built up the tension as to what’s inside the box and then just showed us. Granted, that didn’t make August any less mysterious. I loved how Emma was calculating if it would be better to let him buy her a drink and learn what’s in the box immediately or just leave it be.

Well, that storm turned out to be awfully convenient. Not only did it stop the flock from departing, but it also gave Mary Margaret and David a chance to talk about their feelings and possibly make some more mistakes. I loved how Mary Margaret pulled her hand out of David’s. Honestly, David’s indecisiveness pisses me off so much. If your feelings for Mary Margaret are so real, then just leave Kathryn and be with her. It’s not that difficult, goddammit!

The scene between George and Snow was intense. We once again saw that George was ready to do whatever it took in order to save his kingdom and I liked that. His plan was also very smart although I’m not really that certain if it would’ve worked out the way he imagined it would. I really loved the part with “He’s not my son”. You could see George’s disappointment because if it were actually James, he wouldn’t have betrayed him like that. In this episode, just like in 1x06, it’s easy to understand where George is coming from. You still don’t support his actions but you see the driving force behind them and that helps you empathize with him. That complexity was later lost and I’m really sad about that.

The scene between Snow and David was so awesome but also heartbreaking. I loved the fact that she let him hug her and hold her hands for as long as possible. She wanted to get as much as she could out of that encounter because she thought it would be the last one. I also loved how she couldn’t make herself say “I don’t love you”. She said it but in parts and she actually told him that she loved him (“Love you”). She quickly came up with a reason why she had come all the way to the palace too. And her face when David couldn’t see her anymore just killed me. And David also started crying. My heart! (That was my favorite scene if you couldn’t tell.)

Kathryn was so insanely adorable. You see how much she wants to make it work but also that David’s behavior hurts her. And yet, she didn’t want to be a bitch about it. She was trying to be understanding. And she wanted them to be a family and have kids but she knew that they weren’t ready and didn’t try to rush it. She wanted to get help and fix what wasn’t working. I just love her so much! And I’ll give credit to David for actually trying in this scene (although he threw it to the wind pretty quickly).

The scene between Snow and the dwarfs was very cute. I loved that after all the statements in this episode that love is horrible, we finally got another perspective. Because yes, it is, and it hurts us in the worst way possible, but that makes us who we are. Also, it was sweet of them to offer her a home and their support.

I loved the quiet scene between Mary Margaret and Emma. It showed that Mary Margaret was trying to be strong and that Emma was there for her and supported her. Their relationship was already so strong that they didn’t need words.

They never showed what made David go after Snow and it just came off as random and odd to me. Ruby’s face when David said “I will always find her” tho. She was like “I ship it”.

Seeing that Snow took the potion broke my heart all over again. And just when hope showed on the horizon. In Bulgaria we have a saying that states that no one can do to you what you’ll do to yourself and I think it fits the occasion. Sometimes we’re our own worst enemy. Grumpy’s face at the end of the scene ruined my life.

I guess they really can’t stay away from each other (Ruby’s face during that scene though). What I hated about that scene was that “She’s not pregnant” was the engine for their kiss. So, yeah, it’s okay to lie to her as long as she’s not pregnant. Way to go! I loved the fact that Regina saw them though (and her face). Even walls have ears... or eyes in this case.

Favorite line: “As wretched as it is, I need my pain. It makes me who I am.” - Grumpy to Snow

Least favorite line: “Come on! I helped you when no one else would.” - Snow to Red

That was just manipulative as fuck and I really didn’t appreciate it. I know Snow was desperate but that was just nasty. Just guilt-trip your best friend. That makes sense!

This episode was so amazing. I just don’t know what to say. Every scene did something for the story or the characters. Everything was on point. They managed to establish a clear difference between David’s two personalities. The acting was awesome. The episode was mind-blowing and I was hooked from beginning to end.

P.S. Sorry for the confusing format of this review. I myself see that this doesn’t really work so I’ll stick to my original format and try to avoid another review like this one at all costs. I just really had things I wanted to discuss from every scene and I’m sorry if it’s scattered or confusing.

[go-lookaway]

I’ve commented before on how Walter White’s corruption influenced what I’m doing here with Davis. Truth be told, I had always kind of disliked how suddenly he was exposed, right as he was about to retire and get away with everything. This chapter takes it a step further. Obtuse as it was, theoretically WW could have guessed the the writing in the book was evidence against him and hidden it better or destroyed it. Davis here... could not possibly have had any idea Wizardmon was showing up... and yet, I couldn’t imagine her exposure going any other way. The ghost just cannonically knew things he shouldn’t have been able to know. Maybe he saw Myotismon possess Owikawa and followed them after that, but how did he know what the Golden Radiance was? If he ever got a chance to show himself to the digidestined, Davis’s goose was cooked.

Of course, he didn’t necessarily have to get that chance.... more on that latter.

TK’s scene here was the last to be finished, on the same night as the Davis one. I had a minor stickup deciding what to have June cook for TK. This chapter was released on thanksgiving on fanfiction.net, because that holiday gave me the answer. I figured a turkey dinner would be thematic for the plurality of readers who would see the chapter that day. Unfortunately, I rushed through editing the chapter to get it released then, resulting in a couple of major mistakes. The first, pertaining to the TK scene, I’ve decided isn’t so bad after-all. TK was originally intended to have a “Wow, Matt is better than I remember him!” moment to parallel Tai’s perception of Davis as Kari. That scene is meant to occur at the same time as the the cannon scene where Matt trolls TK with rotten hyper-spicy food, the contrast to the fancy dinner June is making being deliberate. Of course, TK doesn’t know about that in this continuity, and, given the family reunion that’s happening, he’s probably going to be extremely happy with “Matt” no matter what. I briefly considered retconing the scene after I posted it, but I decided against it.

One retcon decided to go forward with pertains to the other scene. That Upamon and Poromon did not digivole when they cannonically did is deliberate; they are meant to be put at ease by the champion level “Gatomon” volunteering to do it for them. That they would not digivolve at all in that scene, as they did in the original fanfiction.net release, I have decided is problematic. It’s hard to argue that a body stealer isn’t at least as dangerous as a ghost, and danger is the trigger for champion and lower digivolution. More importantly, once Veemon defeats Pegasusmon he otherwise has control of the room, making the decision to flee to the Digital World make a lot less sense. The AO3 release, which should be out within a few hours of this tumblr post, will will have them digivolve to rookie right before Pegususmon is defeated and armor digivolve right after. The fanfiction.net version will be retconed to match this immediately after the AO3 release.

On the subject of mistakes, there are three major ones I regret for the story as a whole.The first two pertain to June. The spelling of her name is the first one. I’ve said before that the dub names are meant to be nicknames for the characters in this continuity, and that elongating “Jun” to “June” doesn’t make sense as a nickname, so I ignored the dub name for her despite using dub names for everyone else. I realized the problem with that during the writing of this chapter. For some reason, I had thought that Joe’s Japanese name was “Jounouchi” as with Joey Wheeler in Yu-Gi-Oh. Reading his wiki article, however, it turns out his original named is just... “Jo.” That does not work as “Joe” for the same reason “June” doesn’t. If I had known that starting the fanfic, I would have either used dub names for everyone or made a similar exception for Jo. As it stand, I’m kind of embarrassed. For what it’s worth, I did get a decent meta joke out of it for Jun’s guesses about his name and nickname.

The second Jun based regret is that I don’t feel I adequately explored her relationship with Tai. In chapters 5 and 6 she is shown to hold him in contempt, implicitly out jealousy for the better relationship he has with Davis. I wish I had done something else with it that between then and now. Chapter 8 would have been a great place for it with Jun staying in Tai’s house as Kari, but it just didn’t fit in with the way I was structuring that chapter. I wish I had made it work, or found somewhere else to explore it. This jealousy is meant to play into her sibling rivalry with Davis, ala her chapter 6 line “Am I not good enough of an older sibling for you?”

Technically, the last big mistake also involves June, but it goes well beyond her. I wish I had handled pronouns with our gender bent people differently. Matt and Kari, I mostly have no regrets with. Despite being gender bent, they still identfity as a boy and a girl receptively. There is a potential complication with how they refer to the digimon though. Renamon said, in Tamers, that digimon are not divided into gender, despite that season using gendered pronouns to refer to digimon. Fusion also latter has digimon reproduce sexually. The latter could be justified by just saying its a different continuity, but there is still the former problem. To reconcile of this, my headcannon is that digimon do possess physical sex, but they do not possess gender identity and just use pronouns matching their sex for convenience. This makes sense to me, especially in the context of gender bender, because it seems like the transformations they go through digivolving ought to enduse more body dysphoria than changing sex would. Taking the Gatomon line as an example, it seems like there dramatically more difference between a puppy, a cat, an angel and a dragon than there is between a man and woman. If digimon experience body dysphoria the way humans do, they would go insane, ergo they don’t experience gender identity as we do either. This is why Veemon is willing to trade up to Gatomon’s body despite the sex difference; he doesn’t care about that one way or the other. Gatomon doesn’t care about being male either, though the many draw backs of a DemiVeemon’s body and this DemiVeemon’s life are more than enough to make her despise being in it anyway. That leads us into Jun and Davis; I had imagined them as having an attitude on gender akin to that of the digimon. I have heard irl people claim to have it, and it gave them the willingness to trade up between the sexes as Veemon. Matt and Kari, on the other hand, are experiencing gender dysphoria in their new bodies to go along with their other troubles.

Unfortunately, none of that is really reflected in how the characters refer to each other... other than Matt and Kari’s dsyphoira anyway. Theoretically, this logic should make for Davis, Jun, and the digimon referring to people by the pronouns of their bodies, but none of them do this. Davis does post-menarche; the symbolism of “becoming a woman” with the first period was to tempting to resist, but honestly that just makes things inconsistent rather than fix them in my mind... I did things the way I did up until then because I feared having my villains renounce their birth gender while their victims cling to it could be seen as transphobic... The more I think on that, though, the less I agree with it, the more ways I can think that I could have addressed it in-universe, and the more problems of that nature that I see with Davis “becoming a woman” as shown.

I’m considering a major retool to address these problems, though I doubt I will do it. I know I’ve said that before about the Chapter 1 retcon, but this would be much more substantial. If nothing else, I won’t touch them tonight.

[lefilmdujour]

500th movie celebration

Last month I have quietly passed the 500th movie landmark on my Tumblr, so I decided to make a post with text instead of pictures for a change.

Five and a half years ago, I have decided to create a Tumblr, my own personal space where I would upload film frames, mostly so I could remember all the many movies I watch. By associating an image to a title, it helps to maintain my mind fresh and pinpoint exactly why I loved or despised a certain movie, linking them to the people I have watched them with and the surrounding circumstances.

The criteria is simple but methodical: no more than one post per day, all films I watch are represented even if I am ashamed of having spent time with them, all films are represented only once regardless of the amount of times I’ve re-watched them throughout the existence of the Tumblr.

I like to watch Artsy Avant Garde movies. Trash movies. 80′s “classics”. 70′s sleaze. Documentaries, a whole lot of them. Surrealism. Nouvelle Vague. The occasional Hollywood blockbuster. Skin. I usually get complaints from people about the amount of nudity represented in the Tumblr. 

Movies, regardless of how bad they are to the viewer, always mean something special to someone, so I respect them all.

To celebrate the 500th movie landmark, I decided to pick 50 of the ones that evoke the most vivid memories in me. Quality and circumstance were the deciding factors. Random order. I recommend them all.

The Virgin Spring (Ingmar Bergman) - An inspirational exercise on mythology, symbolism, and pacing.

Philanthropy (Nae Caranfil) - Romanian New Wave is my latest passion. This one is a highlight. A very entertaining tutorial on how to scam and be scammed.

Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders) - Poetry in motion. Falling in love every day.

The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner (Stefan Komandarev) - A road movie, on a bicycle. Friendship, memory gaps, backgammon.

The Red Turtle (Michael Dudok de Wit) - If a movie makes me cry, it goes to the favorites bucket. The story is simple, the animation is fluid, the outcome is expected. Yet, its message is always powerful.

The Imposter (Bart Layton) - More than a very compelling story of deception and manipulation, this documentary shines due to its brilliant editing. Made me feel pity, anger, compassion and repulse, often at the same time.

American Movie (Chris Smith) - If you love movies, then you cannot skip this documentary about a film director who makes his life mission to finish his crap movie, despite lack of funds, means, and talent. Funny and heartfelt. Highly quotable.

Mustang (Deniz Gamze Ergüven) - Growing up as a woman in traditional Turkey. A feminist look on a closed society. Beautifully shot.

Mad Max Fury Road (George Miller) - A throwback to a time when action movies were being made with a sense of movement and a requirement for suspension of disbelief. Amazing cinematography, highlighted in the recent “Black & Chrome” edition.

Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini) - The fruitless search for true love. Finding it, losing it, finding it again, losing it again, getting up, trying again. “Everything I’ve ever let go of has claw marks in it”.

Bicycle Thieves (Vitorio de Sicca) - A masterpiece. The importance of a bicycle as an instrument of survival in 40′s Italy. Puts things into perspective. Nothing can be taken for granted.

Underground (Emir Kusturica) - In my opinion, the greatest Kusturica movie. The sad story of a country that no longer exists.

The Hourglass Sanatorium (Wojciech Jerzy Has) - A very surreal experience where time and space are meaningless. Living in a lucid dream.

Despair (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) - The only Fassbinder movie I ever watched to date. I always want to watch more of him, but somehow keep forgetting. This movie makes justice to it’s title, despair creeps in slowly, but overwhelmingly by its end.

Mary and Max (Adam Elliot) - A claynimation film about friendship and mental health. Funny and melancholic. People should write letters to their friends more.

Blue is the Warmest Color (Abdellatif Kechiche) - A beautiful love story.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson) - Twee as fuck, like all Anderson’s movies. This man can do no wrong.

Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen) - I have a special interest in movies related with mental health. The last great Woody Allen movie to date.

Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata) - I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I claim that this is the saddest movie ever made. It took me days to recover from the emotional impact it left in me. War makes victims of us all.

Teorema (Pier Paolo Pasolini) - What would you do if you have been touched and subsequently abandoned by Divinity? The final scene is one of my all time favorites.

Forbidden Fruit (Dome Karukoski) - Two girls escape from a oppressive religious cult and experience life for the first time. The scene when one of the girls watches a movie for the first time, in a theater, left a good memory in me.

Forbidden Zone (Richard Elfman) - I like musicals too! This one in particular was scored by Danny Elfman, who also plays the devil in its most memorable scene. A weird freakout of a movie. Specially recommend the colorized version that adds up to the surreal atmosphere.

 Enter the Void (Gaspar Noé) - To be seen on a big screen with the best speakers money can buy. Intense psychedelic experience. Stay on the safe side, remain sober while watching this one.

My Best Fiend (Werner Herzog) - I find most of Herzog’s documentaries to be very relaxing. Not this one. Klaus Kinski was a fabled asshole. Werner Herzog is an eccentric lunatic. How these two geniuses managed to work together without killing each other (although both came very close to it) is definitely documentary material. An intense story about friendship, respect, and guttural hate.

The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen) - My favorite Coen brothers film. The week from hell on an otherwise quiet and unremarkable life. Improves with repeated viewings.

Mulholland Drive (David Lynch) - Spent years analyzing and trying to make sense out of this movie. I only understood it upon giving up on my quest. My favorite Lynch movie.

Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (Shunya Itō) - 70′s Meiko Kaji is a Goddess. A talent wasted in exploitation movies. Her eyes talk louder than all of the movies’s dialogue. This film is a Pink Women-in-Prison Japanese cheap thrill on surface, but the amount of symbolism and surrealism adds weight to a paper-thin plot. And the title song was borrowed to Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Truly one of my favorite movies ever.

Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein) - Soviet Propaganda? Yes. Compelling gut-wrenching story? Yes. Cinematic masterpiece? Yes. Regardless on how you feel about the topic, there is no question that the Odessa steps sequence is a work of art. 

The Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky) - Watch in on psychedelics, or don’t bother.

Heima (Dean deBlois) - A documentary about Sigur Rós’ return to Iceland. Even for people who are not fans of the band, the landscape is undeniably beautiful.

Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino) - I am finding the latest Tarantino efforts to be a tad boring on repeated viewings. I usually love them when I see them on cinema, but then abandon them half-way when I try to watch them at home. But this one passed the home test, so it gets my thumbs up!

Disquiet (João Botelho) - Squeezing in a Portuguese movie due for national pride reasons. Not that I care much about those things. But I believe more people should watch this movie. The dialogue is lifted from my favorite poetry book, written by Fernando Pessoa. Heavy, dark, contemplative narrative.

Baraka (Ron Fricke) - There is a particular documentary style associated with both Ron Fricke and Godfrey Reggio that I find very appealing. Visual snapshots of people in their homelands. The silent contrast between traditional and modern. And the omnipresent feeling that all life is meaningless and mankind is a just a random occasion on a ball floating in space. Baraka is the best of all.

Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa) - There is nothing in the World like Kurosawa’s samurai movies, and no better samurai than Toshiro Mifune. Rashomon rises above the other excellent Kurosawa movies by its symbolism and usage of light. A murder story told by four different characters. The truth is somewhere in between the lies.

Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos) - A perverse tale of innocence and isolation. 

Gomorra (Matteo Garrone) - Disturbing stories from Napoli’s crime underworld. Realistically shot, no sugar coating, no happy endings, no poetic criminals.

Kids (Larry Clark) - I had this one on VHS, a double feature that also included Trainspotting. Found memories attached to this movie, I saw the actors as a parallel to the kids in my street. Several of the participants in the movie are dead or living miserable lives nowadays. Just like the street kids from my youth.

A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes) - It is not easy to get into this director. And this is a psychological scarring movie. The audience is led to descend into madness like its main character. 

Down by Law (Jim Jarmusch) - “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.”

Daisies (Vera Chytilová) - My most popular post for some reason. An excellent, imaginative, innovative, playful, senseless fun movie to watch. 

Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami) - A man’s quest to end his life. The ultimate taboo.

Black Orpheus (Marcel Camus) - Greek Mythology meets Brazilian Slum. A wonderful, poetic ending makes up for some dull parts in between. Excellent soundtrack!

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Robert Wiene) - Insane expressionist film with lovely painted backdrops that add a sense of depth and misdirection to its scenes. Timeless movie experience!

Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet) - Modern Fairy tale. Inspirational. Makes me want to enjoy life more.

Oldboy (Park Chan-Wook) - Part of the Vengeance trilogy, I picked Oldboy because I now realize that I haven’t seen Sympathy for Lady Vengeance again ever since I started this Tumblr. Both films are excellent tales of twisted revenge. Oldboy’s fight scene has inspired a generation of copycats.

Spring Summer Fall Winter... And Spring (Kim Ki-duk) - Episodes of the life of a Buddhist monk, from childhood to old age. The wheel of life and rebirth. As Buddhist as it gets.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Terry Gilliam) - This got me into Hunter Thompson. There’s no such thing as too much drugs.

Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaku) - A high school class is taken to a remote island and instructed to kill each other until only one survives. Classic 80′s video game plot, tickles the nostalgia bone just right without resolving to remakes and rehashes. Incredibly fun!

House (Nobuhiko Ôbayashi) - A horror movie, a comedy, a fever dream, an art-house lysergic extravaganza. Don’t know what to make of this movie, just that watching it is an amusing experience.

Band of Outsiders (Jean-Luc Godard) - I love all Anna Karina’s movies with Godard, so it’s hard to pick one. I went with Band of Outsiders because of its dance sequence. Godard had fun while experimenting with filming techniques, and this feeling is contagious to the audience. 

Thanks for reading and sticking around.

[kane-and-griffin]

Hey so I known you don't particularly ship bellarke, but what do you think of the bellarke/kabby parallels? I'm only asking because I'm curious to see what the other side of the fandom thinks?

I actually do ship Bellarke!  Kabby is my #1 but I’ve always been invested in Clarke and Bellamy’s relationship.  I have very strong opinions about Kabby/Bellarke parallels and have talked about this at LENGTH on Meta Station, where @reblogginhood, my co-host and best friend, is a ride-or-die Bellarke shipper, so most of the time I feel like I have dual citizenship through Erin (and vice versa, since the Kabby fandom loves her too).  We both love both those ships, and we both love all four of those characters, just in rearranged order, and we like to yell about this a LOT.

I’ve meta’d on this before a number of different times, but I’m too lazy to go back and dig up old posts, so here goes.

First of all, if you are a Bellarke shipper (are you a Bellarke shipper? Am I reading this ask correctly?  HELLO FROM THE OTHER SIIIIIIIIIIDE), the most important thing I want to say in aid of positive fandom-to-fandom relations is that the phrase “Kabby/Bellarke parallels” has begun to elicit a knee-jerk primal scream reaction among Kabby shippers over the past few months, since we regularly find the Kabby tag full of posts that either describe Kabby as the “old” version of Bellarke, or that it only exists to pave the way for Bellarke, or that the parallels that exist (and they do exist, and we’ll get to that in a second) essentially make Kane and Abby metaphors instead of people who only exist in the narrative to shed light on Bellarke instead of being their own characters with value and storylines of their own.  Articles or blog posts highlighting the things that make Kabby special to Kabby shippers will get reblogged with someone saying “if you change the names, it’s about Bellarke!” or with lengthy meta about how Bellarke had that thing first or that the Kabby version of some particular moment or symbol or metaphor or visual cue or phrase only exists because it will become MORE important later, when it’s attached to Bellarke. 

So I’m frustrated because I love this ask, I love getting this question, I love talking about the relationship among these four characters, but also it’s hard - as you can imagine - to feel like we’re told over and over again that the things we feel make our ship, and these two characters, really special to us, don’t really matter on their own merits.  

Anyway, I’m saying that both A) so the Kabby fandom, where we are perpetually having this conversation, knows MOM’S ON IT, and B) so that you as a Bellarke shipper who seems delightful and asked a great question has some context for why sometimes other asks or posts about this - which aren’t phrased as nicely as yours was - receive a negative response or make Kabby shippers upset.  I think the context is important here, because this has been a BIG thing in our world of late and we’re all a little thin-skinned about it right now.

Okay but that being said LET’S MOVE ON TO THE FUN PART AND TALK ABOUT CHARACTER PARALLELS BECAUSE I LOVE CHARACTER PARALLELS AND I THINK ABOUT THESE ONES ALL THE TIME AND I’M FULL OF OPINIONS AND YOU ASKED FOR THEM SO YOU’RE GONNA GET ‘EM

oh wait I found another post where I already did this STILL GONNA YELL ABOUT IT THOUGH, MY HOUSE MY RULES

Okay so FIRST OF ALL let me just real quick BLOW YOUR MIND with my Kabby/Bellarke parallels theory, which is that the REAL parallel is Abby/Bellamy vs. Clarke/Kane and everyone else has it backwards. 

I think the easy, default place most people go to when we talk about this is to contrast Kane and Bellamy - the self-doubting, tortured, wannabe martyrs who carry the weight of every sin on their shoulders well past the point of reason - with Abby and Clarke - the resourceful mother and daughter who never give up and will drag all of humanity kicking and screaming to their salvation if it’s the LAST THING THEY FUCKING DO.  And I think there’s a lot of interesting character stuff to be mined there, for sure; I think Kane and Bellamy’s parallel redemption arcs are some of the best stuff they’ve done in the whole series (until 3A Bellamy regressed back to an asshole but let’s skip past that for the moment), illustrating the way that for both of them, the Culling was really a turning point where they realized that they will forever carry the burden of having been complicit in that massive loss of innocent life (Bellamy for throwing away Raven’s radio and Kane for not waiting like Abby asked him to) which could have been prevented if they had listened to the Griffins.  It’s beautifully executed, even in S1 when these two characters have never interacted onscreen, and it ramps up even more in S2 where we see them meet and immediately butt heads with each other before in S3 developing a real partnership.  (Which then got torn to shreds.  I’m still bitter over 3A Kellamy  I’M GONNA NEED A HUG IN S4 JASON DO U HEAR ME) (I mean I need Kane to hug Bellamy, not like I’m requesting a hug from Jason, TO BE CLEAR).  And I think the mother/daughter parallels are drawn beautifully as well, especially in S1 where we see Abby on the Ark and Clarke on the ground filling similar roles and working towards the same goal, barreling through the opposition however they must.

BUT.  If we’re talking about which characters are MOST SIMILAR, then I think you CANNOT get away from the reality that the parallels are actually gender-flipped.

Clarke has a lot of her mom in her, clearly, as well as a lot of her dad.  But she’s not actually the kind of leader her mom is.  She’s the kind of leader Kane is.  Abby and Bellamy are the ones with the crowd charisma and the stubborn recklessness; Clarke and Kane are the cool-headed, deliberate strategic thinkers.  Bellamy and Abby have quick minds and no fear and will do absolutely anything, no matter how insane, to protect the people they love.  You can map, beat-for-beat, so many of the things Bellamy does for Octavia onto the things Abby does for Clarke, and vice versa.  Abby sneaking the kids out the back door with guns in the middle of the night to go find Clarke? Bellamy would do that in a second.  Bellamy sneaking onto the dropship to make sure Octavia doesn’t go to earth unprotected?  ABBY AF.  They both begin the show as people who are fiercely focused on keeping the person they love most safe, and it makes them blind to ancillary consequences.  Bellamy will fight anyone.  Abby will tell any lie.  There is no such thing as too far, when the person you love is at stake.  WE know Abby’s hope that the kids are alive is borne out by fact, but NO ONE ELSE ON THE ARK KNOWS THAT.  From Kane’s point of view, she’s being as unreasonable and reckless as Clarke thinks Bellamy is when she yells at him about the radio.  Or think about Abby sneaking Bellamy and Finn out the back door with guns to go hunt for Clarke, even knowing she would get in trouble for it.  You know who else would do THAT EXACT SAME THING in those circumstances?  BELLAMY BLAKE.  I bet they cooked up that scheme together off-camera.  So what I think is interesting for both of them is how their circle expands over the course of three seasons to change the way they are as leaders, and the ways in which their recklessness is tempered by their leadership partners. 

I’m fascinated by the relationship between Clarke and Kane, and I hope we get more of it in S4.  I heard rumblings that they go together to find Kenza, the Nightblood scout, and I’m hoping we get a lil’ dad/daughter road trip bonding, because I think they have a really strong connection and they share a similar leadership brain.  Where Abby and Bellamy are quick and passionate and make snap decisions, Clarke and Kane are more calculating.  They’re thinking in the big picture and the longer term.  Floating 300 people to save the whole Ark, and irradiating the residents of Mt. Weather to save all the Sky People, are identical decision-making processes; not everyone can live, someone is going to have to die, so how to we map out the most effective path where the fewest of my people die as possible for maximum survival?  Whereas there’s nothing Bellamy wouldn’t burn to the ground to save Octavia.  Leadership isn’t PERSONAL for Clarke and Kane, not right off the bat.  It’s about the numbers.  It’s about as many people as possible surviving.  And so sometimes you have to let the bomb fall on Tondc, because letting those people die is the only way to give your own people the chance to live, even though Abby “there has to be another way” Griffin finds that notion so appalling she can hardly even recognize her daughter in that moment.  But you know who understood it immediately, and didn’t judge her?  Kane.  Kane and Abby’s scene underground in 2x13 is such a beautiful, crucial moment in their relationship, but it’s also the moment the show really begins to lean in on this idea that Kane can see Clarke more clearly than Abby can, because she’s Abby’s baby girl and Abby is still trying to protect her from harm - including from the harm of having to make, and then face the consequences of, terrible decisions.  But Kane is the one who tells Abby not to diminish either Clarke or Lexa’s leadership skills just because they’re young.  Kane is the one who calmly talks Clarke down when they’re trying to figure out who poisoned Lexa’s drink, using the same kind of coolheaded, rational language we can easily imagine Clarke using to one of the delinquents if the shoe was on the other foot.  And so it makes perfect sense that it would be Clarke and Kane who make the strategic decision, together, that Skaikru joining the Grounder Alliance is the smartest long-term tactical decision - a notion we see that Abby and Bellamy don’t like, because they, emotional thinkers that they are, still haven’t forgiven Lexa or decided they can trust her again.

I’m really interested in where the lines end up getting drawn in S4, but it definitely seems to me, from the bits and pieces we’ve seen and heard, that Clarke has some kind of crazy-ass save-the-world plan that other people think is too reckless or too dangerous or will have too high a casualty rate, and that the group sort of divides itself into factions based on who is willing to get on board and who is resisting (or just giving up and waiting to die).  And it does seem, from the trailer, that Kane and Abby are using the same language Clarke is using.  We’ve also heard that Bellamy and Clarke are back as a power duo again, so my guess is he’ll be on the squad too.  So what I’m really excited about, because we’ve never really had this before, is the four of them working together as a co-leadership team.  I want to see Chancellor Kane and Ambassador Clarke negotiating with Roan and Luna.  I want Abby and Bellamy working together in Arkadia to convince their people to go along with Clarke’s plan.  I want Clarke and Abby to talk about Lexa and Jake, about how you go on with a hole in your heart and how to grieve and heal.  I want Kane and Bellamy to talk through all the things that happened in S3, how Bellamy almost got Kane executed because he stopped trusting him, how ALIE made Kane almost murder Bellamy in cold blood, and where they go from here.  I want us to see the parallel relationship dynamics - the big-hearted, loving Griffins who are used to giving and receiving affection reaching out to the isolated protector men who are still getting used to the idea that they have a place they belong and people who care about them. 

TO CONCLUDE: Abby is Bellamy and Clarke is Kane and they’re a big beautiful leadership power squad family and I love them all with my whole heart THANK U AND GOODNIGHT

[abbyjcho]

The Confusing Power of Macbeth’s Witches - Written for UC Berkeley ENG 190 (Fall 2019)

Introduction

Shakespeare is known as one of the greatest playwrights of all time, and his use of characters to tell a story is extremely telling of his mastery over writing. In his tragic play Macbeth, which was first performed in 1606, Shakespeare guides the actions of the mortal characters through the prophecies of The Witches. These witches, of which there were three, possess powers beyond those of the mortal characters as they are able to appear out of thin air and craft prophecies. The witches drive the other characters in the play to insanity; the mortal characters murder each other, have terrible nightmares, and are basically put on the edge between sanity and insanity. The paranoia, panic, and pain the witches are able to cause through their very indirect interference in the life of Macbeth is extremely telling of their persuasive abilities through their immense power.

Witches in the Renaissance Witches and witchcraft have been evident in English society throughout both the Renaissance and the eras that led up to the Renaissance. Witches were seen as healers, or ‘cunning folk’ until the seventh century when they were starting to be seen as evil devil worshippers. In printed literature, witches were first mentioned in 1481 in the fable, “This is the tale of the historye of reynart the foxe” in order to condemn those who practiced witchcraft and strayed from Christian values. The idea of ‘dark magic’ began to further consume the reputation of witches and led to the writing of Malleus Maleficarum in 1487. Malleus Maleficarum was written by Heinrich Kramer and was written as a response to the 900AD Canon Episcopi which stated that witchcraft was condemned by the Church. In Malleus Maleficarum Kramer explains his own views on witchcraft, systematically refutes arguments claiming that witchcraft did not exist, discredits those who expressed skepticism about its reality, claims that those who practiced witchcraft were more often women than men, and attempts to convince magistrates to use his recommended procedures for finding and convicting witches1. It also contained a formal Papal Bull2 that not only acknowledged the existence of dark witchcraft, but also condemned all witchcraft as well. Thus, the witch hunting craze began to take hold of England, and the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were fraught with witch-hunts, witch-trials, and the killings of many innocent men and women.

King James VI of Scotland3 was especially obsessed with witches, and called for many trials to find the witches that he was convinced were plotting to murder him. James published his research on witches in Demonology in 1597 and it was widely disseminated throughout Scotland and England. It was widely known and accepted that there were witches living amongst normal people in society, and it was the job of every citizen to help contribute to the hunt. Thus, it is highly likely that Shakespeare’s telling of The Witches in Macbeth was influenced by the witch craze of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries.

Witches in Macbeth

In Macbeth, Shakespeare’s description of the witches follows the caricature of a woman that followed what was seen to be ‘accurate’ during him time. The exact description is delivered by Banquo when he says:

How far is't call'd to Forres? What are these So wither'd and so wild in their attire, That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth, And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught That man may question? You seem to understand me, By each at once her chappy finger laying

Upon her skinny lips: you should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so. (Macbeth, 1.3.39-46)

Banquo describes the witches as old, disheveled looking, and neither man nor woman. It is explicitly clear that the witches “look not like the inhabitants o' the earth” (ll.1.3.41)5, rather they look like supernatural beings who have knowledge beyond that of Banquo or any other mortal being. In England, it would have been common for this type of figure to be characterized as a witch. The idea of an older, wild looking, ugly woman would have perfectly fit the bill of a suspected witch6, thus Shakespeare’s portrayal of these witches would have made it clear to the audience what these weird sisters were. The witches, of which there are three, also closely resemble the Fates of Greek myth. The Fates are believed to be three strange and old sisters7 who are omniscient and are able to control the lives of mortals by cutting their lifelines when it is time for them to die8. The Witches of Macbeth seem to be described in the same way, although their control over mortals is more indirect as they work through telling prophecies.

Another development of the character of the witches is made at the beginning of Scene II in Act I. The First Witch speaks of “A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap” (1.3.4)9 who denies the First Witch’s request of a chestnut. Upon the denial of her request, the First Witch decides to wreck havoc upon the sailor for the indiscretions of his wife. The First Witch vows to “...drain him dry as hay (ll.1.3.19)10 and “He shall live a man forbid...” (ll. 1.3.22)11. By including this example of “mischief following anger”, Shakespeare further cements both the supernatural as well as the dark elements that The Witches in this play possess. The practice of “mischief following anger”12 was common during Shakespeare’s time and it was a key way to spot a witch. Older poor women who were beggars in the streets would cast charms and spells on those who denied them charity; these charms and spells would often be in the form of illnesses or bad crop harvests. These harms that witches were known to cause to ordinary people in ordinary life would bring these familiar fears up in audiences who were experiencing the performance of The Witches in the play Macbeth.

The Prophecies

The Witches are the most crucial characters in Shakespeare’s Macbeth because they work to drive the plot forward, and without them there would be no action. The prophecies that The Witches deliver are as such: first, Macbeth will become Thane of Glamis and Cawdor; second, Macbeth will become King; and third, Banquo’s sons will be kings. These claims are followed by their immediate exit “Into the air; and what seem'd corporal melted,/

As breath into the wind” (ll.1.3.84-85)13. By vanishing into the air, the witches show Macbeth and Banquo how supernatural they truly are. The witches are ambiguous in gender but yet still look like women despite their beards, they seem to be able to tell the future, and they are able to vanish as if they are made of air14. Although Banquo and Macbeth are not initially frightened of the witches, they seem to be more fearful after their encounter. However, their fear of the witches is misplaced as the witches do not cause any direct harm; it is Macbeth that pursues violence and inflicts pain due to the prophecies he hears.

In the play, The Witches are able to motivate the other characters to take action and are the ultimate driving force behind the plot. They have extreme control over Macbeth and exercise this control by delivering a prophecy that is appealing to both him and his wife. The Witches exploit the Macbeth’s ambition while also exposing their vulnerabilities. By controlling Macbeth, The Witches control the story.

Integrate and Motivate

The women in Macbeth act as some of the best examples of motivators in the play although there are not many of them. The Witches and Lady Macbeth are the primary women in this play and are symbols of demonic power due to the dangerous events they are able to inspire they also are the more outwardly evil characters in the play. Through their malevolent manipulation, Macbeth comes “to kill what is fair and trust what is foul” (Willbern, 523)15. The Witches manifest their prophecy through Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, both of whom feel the lure of ambition through being promised a royal title. Through the words of The Witches, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are motivated to pursue the royal title they feel entitled to. This motivation leads Macbeth to murder Duncan and Banquo and be a tyrant; it also leads to Macbeth seeking out the witches again.

When Macbeth seeks out the witches a second time, they grant him visions of three different apparitions, each of which tell different prophecies. The first, a bloody head, warns Macbeth against Macduff. The second, a bloody child, tell Macbeth that “none of woman born/ Shall harm Macbeth” (ll.4.1.91-92)16. The third and final apparition is a child wearing a crown and holding a tree in his hands who tells Macbeth that he “shall never vanquished be until/ Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill/ Shall come against him” (ll.4.1.105-107)17. Then the witches dance and vanish once again. These apparitions that the witches conjured for Macbeth lull him into a sense of security and seem to justify his tyrannical behavior. Thus The Witches further integrate themselves into the story as the motivators of Macbeth’s increasingly irrational and erratic behavior.

Macbeth, King James, and The Bible By Jane H. Jack

In Jack’s article “Macbeth, King James, and The Bible”18, originally published in The Johns Hopkins University Press in 1995, she makes the claim that the witches in Macbeth were merely the result of King James’s anxieties as well as the publications of the time, and that Macbeth was both written and performed to run parallel to the King’s political views. King James VI believed in evil witches who wanted to murder him in order to allow someone non-Christian, and inexplicably evil, to take the throne. Jack argues that the play is merely propaganda for James by illustrating the tragic story of a man who gives into the allure of sin and becomes the Devil’s plaything.

By reducing The Witches to being simply extensions of the Devil ignores the faculty of choice that is one of the key human traits. Macbeth, upon first hearing the prophecy from The Witches, is not completely convinced of what he needs to do. Rather, it is upon coaxing from his wife that he decides that he must kill Duncan in order to become king. Jack’s article fails to address the fact that Macbeth initially wants to stay loyal to King Duncan, but rather makes Macbeth out to be a bloodthirsty killer who sells his soul to the devil by calling upon The Witches to give him power. In Act I, Scene I it is apparent that Macbeth and Banquo come upon The Witches on accident, thus unravelling Jack’s argument from the get-go. Furthermore, the prophecy that The Witches tell Macbeth and Banquo addresses them both. In the play, only Macbeth is driven to murder; if The Witches were the devil’s demons, then it is only logical to believe that both Macbeth and Banquo, who received the initial prophecy, would both be driven to evil rather than just Macbeth.

Jack uses Banquo’s line, “What, can the devil speak true?” (ll.1.3.112) as her most convincing piece of evidence to support her main claims that The Witches are agents of the Devil rather than their own characters who serve a purpose as well as the idea that Macbeth exists in an explicitly Christian setting. By arguing that The Witches do the Devil’s bidding, Jack delegitimizes the manipulation that The Witches are able to perform on their own. By claiming that The Witches function solely as agents of the Devil, Jack also completely ignores the character of Hecate that appears in Act III, Scene V19. Hecate, who is introduced as the goddess of witchcraft and the ruler over the The Witches, is a figure from Greek mythology who, according to Jack’s argument, should not have been included in this play. However, the existence of Hecate in this scene, as well as other mentions of her throughout the play, suggest that the setting of Macbeth is not a strictly Christian world, rather it is a world where Christian beliefs exist but are constantly being challenged.

Although King James VI20 was a believer in both Christian values as well as the challenge of murderous witches, Shakespeare’s Macbeth is not simply propaganda written to please the king. The characters of The Witches complicates Jack’s claim that Macbeth sold his soul to the Devil and is learning the consequences of doing so. The character of Hecate further complicates Jack’s claim, as Hecate is written to be the ruler of The Witches. Nowhere in Macbeth does the Devil appear as a character, nor does Macbeth make a deal with his soul as collateral, in a Doctor Faustus-type way. This play is more of an examination of manipulation and ambition and it questions how much convincing it takes to get one person to murder another.

The Witches and True Motive The key to inciting action in Macbeth is through motivation, but the characters who are able to motivate the best are the characters who are in positions of power. The Witches are the main motivators as they exist outside of the mortal realm and use their supernatural powers to convince Macbeth that they are more knowing than he, thus legitimizing their prophecies. The Witches appeal to Macbeth’s deep-seeded ambition to obtain maximum power, an ambition Macbeth is not completely aware of until power is ‘promised’ to him. However, this promise of power is a blank check and it is the actions of Macbeth that cash the check in. Audiences watching Macbeth first be performed would see The Witches as the cause of Macbeth’s descent into evil due to the reputation of witches and witchcraft during their time. Modern audiences are able to see past the reputation of witches, and by doing so are exposed to Macbeth’s true vulnerable nature; The Witches exploited Macbeth’s thirst for power, which they were keen to due to their status as supernatural beings.

Witches' Cauldron: A Study of Motive in Shakespeare's Macbeth by K. C. Mathur21 discusses both the influence of The Witches as well as the weakness they exposed in the mortal characters in the play. Mathur explains that, rather than The Witches manifesting evil, the mortal characters have evil within them and The Witches motivate them to act on their evil impulses. The only time that The Witches directly touch another character physically occurs in Act IV, Scene I22 whence Macbeth drinks in the smells of their bubbling potion, which is significant because it cements the idea that The Witches exist as purely corporeal beings; they are more spiritual than physical, which allows them to disappear into thin air, “they/ made themselves air, into which they vanished” (ll.1.5.4-5)23. Mathur argues that the fact that The Witches are not purely physical equates them closer to ideas than actual beings. Thus, The Witches are catalysts for action rather than the incarnations of evil themselves.

It is not the fault of The Witches that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are driven to commit evil acts due to the prophecies they delivered. A cardinal trait all humans possess is the ability to make decisions. In the suggestively Christian world of the play, Macbeth makes the decision to murder Duncan, the king that he has sworn loyalty to. Mathur argues that the prophecies made by The Witches serve as motivation enough for Macbeth to become a murderer. By putting into words Macbeth’s deepest ambition, the Witches made it possible for Macbeth to begin acting upon that ambition. This argument is furthered by Macbeth’s thirst for more prophecies in order to protect the power he has garnered for himself. In order to continue on his tyrannical path and to protect his royal position, Macbeth seeks out The Witches so that they can tell him more about his future. Mathur believes that this act is proof of Macbeth’s bloodthirstiness; this bloodthirstiness is his motivation, which stemmed from the first prophecy he received from the Witches in Act I24.

Mathur explains the plot of Macbeth through what different motivators act on the characters on the play. Mathur then explains how each motivator is the result of the Witches, who have the ultimate powers of suggestion and influence.

Conclusion

The history of witchcraft and witches in Renaissance England deeply affected how audiences in this time period experienced the performance of Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. Witches, who were seen as proprietors of dark magic and the Devil’s henchmen, were stigmatized in traditional, Christian, God-fearing society because they threatened the natural order established by Christianity25. They also symbolized sin, which caused great general anxiety. For Early Modern audiences, the Witches in Macbeth would have been seen as instant villains who directly caused Macbeth to become an evil, tyrannical, irrational sinner. Shakespeare, a master playwright, would have been aware of both these audience prejudices as well as the ideas of King James VI, who believed evil witches wanted to murder him. Rather than writing one-dimensional caricatures of witch characters, Shakespeare blends Greek mythology and a Christian historical context to create witches who appear as supernatural and grotesque, but also awe-inspiring and prophetic. These are the witches who appear in Macbeth, and it is their existence that challenges the ideas of traditional witches during the Renaissance period.

The Witches, also know as the Weird Sisters, in Macbeth closely resemble the Fates of Greek mythology both in physical appearance as well as in ability. The three sisters do not work to incite violence or pain, rather they exist to complicate and challenge the status quo. The prophecies that they deliver are only made evil by those who internalize their words and commit terrible acts in an effort to fulfill the prophecies; the Witches themselves are not inherently evil. Renaissance audiences would be quick to blame the supernatural for

Macbeth’s evil deeds, but modern audiences, who are better able to separate the characters from the biases of their reputations in society, are able to see that the Witches themselves are catalysts for action. They work simply as motivators by unlocking the secret ambitions of the characters within the play and exploiting those ambitions by crafting prophecies.

The Witches are seen as terrifying characters with close ties to sin and the Devil, but instead it is the actions of the other characters that are sins.




Bibliography

Atherton, Carol. “Character Analysis: The Witches in Macbeth.” The British Library, The British Library, 19 May 2017, https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/character-

analysis-the-witches-in-macbeth. Chiari, Sophie, and Mickaël Popelard, editors. Spectacular Science, Technology and

Superstition in the Age of Shakespeare. EDINBURGH UNIV Press, 2019. Jack, Jane H. “MacBeth, King James, and the Bible.” Elh, vol. 22, no. 3, Sept. 1955, p. 173.

J.stor, doi:10.2307/2871874. Mathur, Kailash Chandra. Witches Caldron: a Study of Motive in Shakespeares Macbeth.

Pustak Kendra, 1977.

Schoenbaum, S. Macbeth: Critical Essays. Routledge, 2015.

Shakespeare, William. “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” Edited by Barbara A Mowat and Paul Werstine, Macbeth, Folger Shakespeare Library, https://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/ html/Mac.html#line-5.1.0.

Shamas, Laura Annawyn. "We Three": the Mythology of Shakespeares Weird Sisters. Peter Lang, 2007.

White, Edward, editor. A Rehearsal Both Strange and True. A Rehearsal Both Strange and True, North-Doore of Paules, at the Signe of the Gun, 1579.

Willbern, David. “Phantasmagoric Macbeth.” English Literary Renaissance, vol. 16, no. 3, 1986, pp. 520–549., doi:10.1111/j.1475-6757.1986.tb00920.x.

End Notes

1 A paraphrased fragment of Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark’s Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Volume 3: The Middle Ages

2 Papal Bull Summis desiderantes which was issued by Pope Innocent VIII on December 5, 1484 3 James would later become the King of England as well 4 Folger Shakespeare library edition of Macbeth 5 Folger Shakespeare library edition of Macbeth

6 Historically, witches were depicted as a woman with a witch’s mark such as a mole or wart who was also poor and typically were older

7 The Fates are named Clotho (the Spinner), Lachesis (the Alloter), and Atropos (the Inflexible); they are not bound by any power and mortals and gods submit to their will

8 The Fates are three weaving goddesses who assign mortals their destinies 9 Folger Shakespeare Library edition of Macbeth 10 Folger Shakespeare library edition of Macbeth 11 Folger Shakespeare library edition of Macbeth

12 Common term coined to describe the act of witches being wronged and then causing problems for those who wronged them; referred to in Spectacular Science, Technology and Superstition in the Age of Shakespeare

13 Folger Shakespeare library edition of Macbeth

14 Paraphrased Macbeth and Banquo’s description of The Witches

15 Refers to Macbeth’s trust in the evil and his rejection of loyalty “Phantasmagoric Macbeth”

16 Folger Shakespeare library edition of Macbeth

17 Folger Shakespeare library edition of Macbeth

18 Jack, Jane H. “MacBeth, King James, and the Bible.” Elh, vol. 22, no. 3, Sept. 1955, p. 173. J.stor, doi: 10.2307/2871874

19 From the Folger Shakespeare library edition of Macbeth 20 King of England during the times that Shakespeare wrote Macbeth 21 Mathur, Kailash Chandra. Witches Caldron: a Study of Motive in Shakespeares Macbeth. Pustak Kendra, 1977. 22 From the Folger Shakespeare library edition of Macbeth 23 Folger Shakespeare library edition of Macbeth 24 From the Folger Shakespeare library edition of Macbeth 25 King James VI was a Christian king and England was a Christian country during Shakespeare’s time