#they may contradict canon/legends but fuck it

[queenmorgawse]

on gawain, and the death of king pellinore.

AUTHOR'S NOTE. this is a drabble based on gradalis, an arthurian legend retelling you can read in english here and in french here, as well as an extrapolation on an event that happened well before the story's current events. as such, it may get contradicted by future episodes, but you know what? screw it. gawain time.

edit : as of episode 83, this is no longer canon, but i enjoyed writing it, so fuck it, it stays.

As the blood of her father's killer pooled at her feet, all Gawain could think was : it is done.

There was no saving Pellinore. She'd felt her blade rip through steel and bone and tender flesh, tearing his chest open. A young man would have been felled by such a blow, and the king of Listenoise was no longer young.

A guttural scream pierced through the air. Lamorak. Pellinore's second son leaped over the wooden barrier as if it were nothing, murder in his eyes. Gawain watched him close in on her, too dazed to move. If he did reach her, she noted, he would wring her neck with his bare hands. She was older and stronger than him, but she was tired to her bones, and bleeding from a half-dozen wounds beside. He would close his hands around her throat and choke the breath from her.

All this happened in a fraction of a second—then Kay was between them, tackling Lamorak to the ground and holding him down as the boy kicked and struggled like a beast in a trap. It could have been a minute or ten, but finally Lamorak's hoarse shouts grew quieter, slowly replaced by long, wracking sobs.

She'd never cried like that, not even for her father's death. She wondered now if she should have.

Past the barrier, she could see prince aglovale, his face white with a sort of grief neither of them could name yet. ( Well, she supposed he was no longer Prince Aglovale ; Galantine had just made him a king. )

As if feeling the weight of her gaze, he looked up. The frost in his eyes chilled her to the bone—she staggered back, and then there was a pair of hands to steady her.

Ger mother smelled the same as she always did, like dried rosemary and sage and the tangy scent of magic. Her perfume cut through the stench of blood and steel, reminding Gawain of childhood days spent at her knee, darting between tables and playing with her toy knights as the queen of Orkney worked miracles.

"My daughter," Morgan whispered, and she could have wept for the sound of it, the relief that threatened to crush her. "You did well. Your father may rest in peace now."

Mama, she tried to say, but her tongue felt like lead, and the words would not come out. Blood dripped down her chin. Red ran in rivulets from her left eye down to her chin, filling her mouth.

Mama, look at him. when I took up my sword, I forgot all about Father. I spilled his blood for you, for you, for you.

"Come," her mother said. Gawain let her turn her face away from the scene. Morgan took her chin between her fingers, staining the tips red. "Let's go home."

[bi-demon-ium]

listen. listen. take me up, cast me away. this phrase already drives me insane but in the context of this gifset? im spinning and spinning and spinning and sp

so like. okay. back to the basics. this is the phrase that's inscribed on either side of the blade of excalibur. yes, that excalibur, arthurian legend excalibur, the one from the lady of the lake (no, not the sword in the stone, they're different swords, yes i know it's confusing).

i'm not sure where this inscription first came into use, as most articles/information i can find just say "in multiple versions" the inscription or similar words to it are mentioned, although the only specific example i've found is tennyson's idylls of the king.

"[...] on one side, Graven in the oldest tongue of all this world, 'Take me,' but turn the blade and ye shall see, And written in the speech ye speak yourself, 'Cast me away!' And sad was Arthur's face Taking it, but old Merlin counselled him, 'Take thou and strike! the time to cast away Is yet far-off.' So this great brand the king Took, and by this will beat his foemen down." -- (Forgive me, I don't want to count all the lines and there are no line numbers, but I got the full text on Project Gutenberg.)

i also looked at Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur which is a pretty major text for popular/well-known Arthurian canon, and while there is an interesting exchange between Merlin and Arthur about swords and scabbards when Arthur takes up Excalibur that could certainly be relevant, there is no mention of the inscription on the blade.

but like, here's the thing. take me up, cast me away. it's about being willing to take up the mighty sword, to wear the heavy crown--take responsibility, take action, wield power and make hard choices. but it's also about knowing when to stop. not just when to take up the burden of power but when to let go of the joys of power. it's about knowing you can't fight fate: one day, the sword must be cast back into the lake. one day you will lose your power. one day camelot must fall, and arthur must die on the fields of camlann. in many ways, camelot was doomed from the start, from the very first time arthur drew the sword from the stone: because of the blood his father spilt, because of the fate that had been sealed long ago. it won't be for a long time, of course--galahad is unborn, the grail unfound, the heralds uncalled. guinevere is still loyal, if they're married at all, and lancelot might not have even arrived yet (i'm really not sure on the timeline, and even i were an expert i would doubt that there was anything consistent given all the different versions and contradicting tales that have been told over the years). but nonetheless, camelot will fall. take me up, cast me away: take power, but give it up, when it is time. take action, fight, but be willing to stop, too. stand up but know one day you must stand down, one day you will fall. take power. give it up. take responsibility. give it up. fight. surrender.

that may sound bleak, but you must remember: happy endings don't exist. it's about where you end the story--camelot lives many prosperous years before it inevitably crumbles. happy endings are just time. and if you stand up and fight--take up the sword--you can buy that time. the time to cast away is yet far off.

(as a quick digression, it's also very interesting to me that in tennyson's text, take me up is written in the oldest tongue known to this world, while cast me away is written in the common tongue arthur knows. i don't think i have the energy to get into this in depth but like. wow, right?)

now you might be thinking hey gert? gert? what the FUCK does this have to do with kate and martina. and i admit. i got a little side tracked because this shit makes me emo. i haven't even gotten into galahad and i won't for the sake of time and relativity to the main topic here. and like, sure, the themes of fate less important/prevalent here i think. but like. listen.

take responsibility. fight, when no one else will. stand even when you're alone. be independent. but also know when to stand down. know when you need help. take up the sword, even though you're so young, too young to be a soldier. but cast it away when you must, when you can. be a kid, too.

and then there's the double meaning: two abandoned children. take me up. cast me away.

ough.

[rotisseries]

idk anything about loz but do you wanna explain how hyrule is old as balls

i would LOVE to explain why hyrule is old as balls!!! this applies to both hyrule as a kingdom and the land itself

ok so. first of all. all the mainline games technically fit into a timeline. now the timeline was made AFTER most of the games came out and its clearly not nintendo's no.1 priority when they make their games (it's not mine normally either. personally my preferred interpretation is that all the games are just different versions of the same hyrulean folktale? but the timeline is fun to consider) but nevertheless it IS canonical and amazingly they don't seem to really overtly contradict each other?? I haven't played a lot of the games so I don't know for sure but it works

anyway this is the timeline

orignally published in 2011 in the hyrule historia, this is a version where someone added breath of the wild, as nintendo stated it comes at the end of the timeline. now you may notice 3 splits. that's not really super important here but botw supposedly comes at the end of all of them equally. unlikely for the one on the far right, but again, unimportant rn)

first thing to establish before we really start getting into it, with the exception of a few games with direct sequels, all of these games have new incarnations of zelda, link, and ganon. (with the exception of twilight princess, the second game in the middle line, which includes the same ganon from the previous game) I haven't played every zelda game, but the ones that I have played present you with the story of the cycle as though it is far enough back that its a mixture of history and legend. everyone who would remember the last events is dead by the time there's a new cycle. so there's at minimum, probably 150-200 years between each new cycle, keep that in mind

now, I'm starting at breath of the wild and tears of the kingdom because I wanna work my way backwards. so, in breath of the wild, it's already been 100 years since the last time anything significant happened. we're already working on a timespan of 100 years. what happened 100 years prior is that link, zelda, and 4 champions were prepping for the next time ganon rose, and then he did but he got them off guard and they weren't ready and most of them died and link had to be put asleep for 100 years to get healed while zelda kept ganon from completely destroying the world in the meantime.

NOW before THAT, the hyrule of botw's LAST cycle was 10k years ago. that is a LONG fucking time already, it's so old that this hyrule is incredibly divorced from its history, the more significant lore of the triforce is little more than a symbolic royal family crest, and it isn't directly referenced at all. all that this hyrule knows is that 10k years ago was the last time ganon rose, and hero and princess defeated him, so they know that they're gonna have to prep for it again, I also can't actually remember but I think? this may also be the first generation in a while that knows of the legend at all, hence why they're the first to prep for it. so anyway, already, at the end of the timeline, hyrule as a civilization is at a minimum 10k years old, for reference, in OUR world, 10k years ago humans were still living in caves. earth was just coming out of the ice age.

now, the latest game, tears of the kingdom actually shows us this 10k years ago, it's shown to us as the early days of the kingdom with its first king and queen. BUT it's still at the end of the timeline. how do I know this? and not that it's possibly at the start? 1. that contradicts a fair amount of previously established lore lol. in tears of the kingdom you get show this dessicated ganon mummy that's been lving under the castle from 10k years ago. if that was the beginning of hyrule entirely then it means for the entirety of the timeline there's been 2 ganons in existence. which is kind of. um. not how it works. ("but what about the ganon they fight in botw?" you may ask. I get the impression that wasn't a real ganon but just a manifestation of mummy ganon's power as he attempts to break free so its not like. a new ganon incarnation)

so anyway, it doesn't work super well if 10k years ago hyrule is actually the first hyrule, and already in the lore the kingdom of hyrule has risen and fallen countless times, it's gone through lots of wars. so I'm thinking the most likely explanation is that hyrule from any previous games fell, all memory of it died out, and then a new hyrule eventually rose in its place, hence why the king and queen self identify as the first king and queen of hyrule. so, AGAIN, the hyrule at THE END OF THE TIMELINE. is already like. hundreds or thousands of years removed from all the previous cycles.

now we're gonna work our way back to the beginning. so, there's 3 different timelines shown on the picture, but only one of them, the middle one, can actually be canonically achieved in the game they split from, ocarina of time, so we're going up the middle line. it's also the shortest span of time, so we're counting hyrule's years at a most generous minimum here.

so, there's an unknown amount of time between 10k years ago tears of the kingdom hyrule, and the last game on the middle line, four swords adventures. got no idea how much time is there but it's probably a lot, bc, again, civilization falling and rising again.

moving on, now when looking into this more, while again, I'm very rarely given explicit and specific time frames, there's generally supposed to be a few hundred years between four swords adventures and the previous game, twilight princess.

now, at twilight princess. as previously stated, that is the same ganon (this is also the first ganon to appear, all games chronologically prior to ocarina of time feature other villains) as the game before it, ocarina of time. (majora's mask, the game actually listed right before it on the timeline, is a direct sequel to ocarina of time and doesn't have significant bearing on this count) the lore of ocarina of time involves a lot of time travel, and in this center timeline, and the achievable canonical ending of the game, link defeats ganon and then goes back in time to warn the hyrule leaders, and ganon is stopped before he can ever get started. he's set to be executed, but evidently they don't succeed, because he's back at it again in twilight princess (I haven't played either of those games so I don't know the specifics) I don't know how long ganon's life expectancy is (clearly a lot though. he still looks like a middle aged man), but twilight princess has a new link and zelda, so assuming ocarina of time link lived a long and healthy life, it's probably been almost a century at minimum. this is also likely the closest gap between games.

now, from ocarina of time to the game before it. there is a vague "countless eras long" hyrulean civil war. so that's another couple hundred years between oot and four swords (different from four swords adventures)

now from four swords to the game prior, minish cap, is another vague and indeterminate amount of time, but it's for sure a new zelda and link, so that's probably over a hundred years again.

AGAIN with the unknown amount of time, we go back from minish cap to skyward sword. skyward sword is the first in the timeline, featuring the first link, the first zelda, and the earliest form of ganon, an evil god called demise who curses link and zelda to forever be reincarnated and to keep having to deal with his ass. now, skyward sword takes place in, the sky!!

the lore of this game is that, an unknown amount of time, long ago, demise cracked open the earth (already full of prospering people btw. no mention of a kingdom though. but keep that in mind. these weren't hyrulean cavemen these were societies) and monsters poured out, he was looking for the triforce, which was passed down from the golden goddesses (hyrule's creation gods) and protected by hylia, another goddess of the land, the triforce is capable of granting any wish to the person who has it. hylia took the triforce and sent it skyward on a piece of land (to be called skyloft) with the remaining surviving humans (hylians. despite the fact hylians are categorically an elven race, they are referred to interchangeably with the term human in the zelda games) hylia then took up forces with the remaining land dwellers (bc there are other races and they just got stuck on earth. fuck those guys ig) and they fought a vicious war that finally resulted in hylia sealing demise away. peace was restored to the surface, but the humans were left up in skyloft because she knew the seal wouldn't hold forever. hylia knew she wouldn't be able to defeat demise again without the help of the triforce, but a goddess can't use the triforce, so she gave up on immortality and was eventually reincarnated as a hylian. the first zelda. the first zelda is literally a direct reincarnation of a goddess. all future zeldas share her bloodline. (funny thing about this is you're never introduced to a hyrulean queen, there's only ever princess zelda and her father, despite the fact their divine right of kings follows a matrilineal line)

an unknown amount of time after the imprisoning war, we're at present day skyloft. they have little memory of the surface and the imprisoning war. og zelda ends up getting thrown down to the surface, where she discovers that she's a goddess incarnation and what her duty is. she's going to purify herself at springs and shit, while link follows trying to find her. there's a bunch of shit that happens while link follows her, eventually there's some time travel where he follows her back to when the goddess had first sealed away demise, zelda tells him she's a reincarnation, hylia intended for the triforce to be used by a chosen hero with an unbreakable spirit (link!!), she ends up getting sealed into a crystal so she can be awoken in her own time, the works. he goes back, does some other shit, part of skyloft breaks off and comes crashing down, and link and zelda decide to stay on the surface. hyrule as a kingdom is founded sometime between this game and the next.

so. to recap. the end of the timeline is already over 10k years removed from the last cycle. and then there's a couple hundred to a thousand years from THAT to ocarina of time, where the timeline splits. THEN there's another couple hundred to a thousand years from ocarina of time to skyward sword, the beginning of the cycle. and at the time of skyward sword, which is the prologue to the FOUNDING OF HYRULE. the land is already a few hundred years old ABSOLUTE MINIMUM. and had thriving and complex societies with technology BEFORE humans ever even got sent into the sky. all this together I'm estimating around 15k years of thriving society. at 15k years ago our earth had just started warming after about 100k years of ice age. and they already had technology. hyrule is an OLD ASS kingdom and all the intelligent civilizations on its land are even older. what the fuck

[zonerobotnik]

Who's the strongest, Bill Cipher, Zhan Tiri, The Collector, Pariah Dark or Sera?

And if you start with your stupid fucking headcanons instead of canon on screen material, you are no longer allowed to write or draw anything in those fandoms!

First of all, fuck you if you think you can actually stop me. I will write what I want when I want and you can scream at me until you explode but you can't stop me. I can just shut you up by turning off Anon.

But, I will indulge your rude demand. Hm….let's see…

Bill Cipher: His origins are currently unknown, however an "Ask Cipher" thing awhile back run by the show's creator heavily implied he came from a world like "Flatland" by Edwin Abbott Abbott. How he become to be so powerful is unknown. He has the appearance of a giant 2D triangle with golden-yellow bricks. He has one large eye with big lashes and black arms, legs, hat, bowtie and cane. He's powerful enough to destroy galaxies and eats planets for a snack. He's older than the Milky Way at least and can go into the dreams of anyone that doesn't take precautions against him. He rules over an entire realm called the "Nightmare Realm" and a powerful being named "Time Baby", who he later destroyed after getting out, sealed him and his followers inside of his realm, but he was still able to influence things going on outside of it. He shapeshifts into various types of triangle forms on-screen and possesses anyone foolish enough to make a Deal with him that lets him into their mind and is able to see into the past, present and future, though that last one is changing so constantly it's difficult to know if what he sees is what will happen. He manipulated various people over various generations and areas of the world until he finally had a portal built that he could escape through and then he took over the town he came out in, completely transforming it and its inhabitants to his liking, but was stopped by a powerful supernatural barrier on the other side that kept him in that town. He was finally defeated by a conman that took advantage of his eagerness to win to trick him into making a Deal with the wrong guy to get that barrier dropped, being destroyed along with the man's own mind, but still may be around due to a prior arrangement he made with a being more powerful than him called "The Axolotl". His body is an indestructible statue in Gravity Falls' woods, perhaps the fact it can't be destroyed is a sign of his eventual return? With "The Book of Bill" coming out soon, I suspect we'll get more information on this particular specimen.

Zhan Tiri: Her origins are unknown but she seems to have been human at some point and wanted power to be as strong as a god. Aside from a giant demonic form of a black squid standing on its tentacles with human arms and the head of a ram, she has the appearance of a gray-skinned woman dressed in purple Victorian-style clothes with purple hair. She has the ability to shapeshift into her demonic form, her human form and supposedly she can change into a blizzard, but that particular part seems to have been confused in writing because the legend says she sent the blizzard, not that she became it. In fact, there are a lot of statements made in earlier seasons that season 3 completely contradicts, so that's corrupted evidence. She has at least three followers seen on-screen with several more in the comics, though we only see two fully in the comics with several others being eyes in the darkness. She was sealed away into another realm that weakened her significantly so that she was trapped in the form of a human, which is why it was believed that she was originally a human being. She escaped by tricking various people into using the clashing of the powers of the Sun and Moon to free her and then was defeated by that same power when she made the mistake of putting the magic stones on her wrists that were later slammed together after her brief victory, destroying her. There is no indication that she will ever return. There is no indication that any further data is forthcoming.

The Collector: Part of a race of powerful beings from another world, he was the odd one out and instead of wanting to simply observe and collect, he wanted to indulge and closely interact. He was tricked into leading the others to his new friends, the powerful Titans, so they could wipe them out and then was sealed away by the only survivor that blamed him for the deaths of his people. He has the appearance of a white-haired little boy dressed in purple, blue and white space-themed pajamas. While sealed away he was able to interact with certain people by creating a shadow of himself but shows no sign of having that ability once unsealed and can transform a portion of the area he is currently in into his playground and turn people into dolls as well as fly around with ease. He has no "Followers", persay, but there is a group of people that completely misunderstand him and want to finish the work he did by wiping out the Titans completely. He was tricked into helping Emperor Belos with wiping out all the Witches, in return he would be set free. when Belos betrayed him, he talked the only living Titan, the child of the one that sealed him, into setting him free, where he proceeded to attack Belos and then took over the area. After his defeat, he turned over a new leaf and began a new life with new friends and no longer having to pretend to be mean to get people to like him. There is no indication that any further data is forthcoming.

Pariah Dark: Origin, unknown. Former King of the Ghost Zone. He has the appearance of a giant Viking in a suit of armor with green hair but black facial hair. He was sealed away for being a tyrant by powerful entities called "The Ancient Ones" and was later freed by "Vlad Plasmius" and defeated by "Danny Phantom". He commands an army of the dead, can shift his size at will and is a powerful fighter, made stronger by the Crown of Fire and Ring of Rage. He briefly took over the town of "Amity Park" while searching for his stolen Ring of Rage, pulling the town into the Ghost Zone to have complete power over it. He was resealed by "Danny Phantom" and, as far as I know, has never escaped since. I still need to read "A Glitch in Time". There is no indication that any further data is forthcoming.

Sera: Origin unknown. She has the appearance of a woman dressed in white and gray with dark-brown skin and long, curly gray hair and white, feathered wings and a glowing, white halo. Among others, she is said to have created the world and humans. Her own individual power is unknown. She can fly. She leads Heaven with "Emily", another Seraph, as well as others. Insufficient data to proceed. More data will hopefully be forthcoming in Season 2.

Who is the strongest, based on this data… As of this collection of data, Bill Cipher seems to be the strongest. Further studies will have to be done to determine who truly is the strongest.

[amidalascouture]

Five things Obi-Wan Kenobi

I decided to do a little headcannon thingy :) ( @darthcuddles )

1. Padawan Kenobi was much worse than Skywalker. It was so bad that every trace of his padawan years had been deleted from the archieves. No one talks about it and Anakin now thinks that his Master had always been the most proper jedi.

2. Obi-Wan loves the gardens, sadly he has quite the opposite of a green thumb. He even was able to kill off a cactus from frigging Tatooine, a plant that you theoretically cant overwater or dehydrate. 

3. Until his late twenties all attempts to grow a beard resulted in a patchy disaster to his frustations

4. As a youngling in an act of rebellion he got a fake accent. Because he used it so much, it got stuck. Nowadays it is known as his posh Coruscanti accent.

5. He is Anakins biggest enabler sometimes. The Tooka the boy saved? Obi-Wan saw it first, but as a proper jedi master he could not smuggle it into the temple. So he made sure that his apprentice saw it and orchestrated the successful smuggling action later from behind the scenes. Anakin was none the wiser.

[therealbeachfox]

Wait, you were talking about "Gods of Astielle" being the next in line after "Rise of Empire", but I thought Queen of All Monsters came after Rise of Empire?? Does Stars Rising Infinite take place between those two, or what's going on? Who even designed this timeline in the first place?!

[[Character Breaking Information to Prevent Confusion: This whole thing is meta fan-fiction for @unpretty's Astielle series, which is written as if it's fan-fiction of a non-existent long-running video game series. This is my vision of what said game series might look at based on everything she's written so far. Legend of Starlight Hero XII: The Gods of Astielle is the name of the 'current game' Astielle is supposedly fanfiction of. This is written shortly before its release.]]

Well, no one. That's the problem. By the time anyone involved with the series realized it was going to last long enough for Lore to be a concern, they'd already played so fast and loose with the reincarnation cycles it was anyone's guess how they all related to each other. There are centuries long gaps between game-worthy incarnations, piles of side-games that constantly contradict each other, all those comics and novelizations, and so many Youtube videos trying to detangle the whole mess.

But you're in luck, Anon! With Gods of Astielle coming out, I've been mulling over this very question myself lately, and I am ready to present to you and the world the only 100% True and Canonical Legend of the Starlight Hero/Astielle timeline.

[[A screenshot of The Old Man of the Mountain sitting in his chair in front of a room full of herbs and bottles in all his 32-bit glory, but with a fox-head crudely pasted over his face]]

So come in from the cold, child, and buckle the fuck in. The Old Fox of the Mountain has some learning for you.

First, I'm laying down some ground rules so this project is halfway feasible.

I) I'm only covering video games. No novels/comics/web exclusives/terrible 1989 cartoons. I'm not getting caught in the "You forgot this obscure three issue manga from 1991 that said-" trap.

II) All numbered Legend of the Starlight Hero games have to be canonical. Yes, even Return to Monster Mountain. Yes, even Queen of All Monsters. Sorry.

III) All games involving time-travel (Tangled Skein of Destiny) or alternate time-lines (90% of the Untraveled Paths DLCs) or crossovers (Smash Brothers) are automatically out of the lineup. Yes, this means that I'm not covering some of the best games of the series, but to make up for it, the canon timeline includes the absolute worse ones.

IV) Any games which directly contradict world details or events laid out in the mainline games are out. So we wont be covering the Stardust Dungeons series or Fight of Goddesses/Final Flight or any of the PSP games. Again, not saying whether they're good (Fight of Goddesses) or bad (Stardust Dungeons), just whether they're part of the Main Canon timeline or not. "But if you assume that X is true, and Y was lying about Z, then technically~" This isn't Unraveled. If you want to imagine that there's a colony of sentient rootboars having magical adventures in their underground kingdom that no one else knows about somehow, that's all fine and good, but unless there's a sequence in Gods of Astielle where we meet them, I'm not counting it as canon.

Second:

My arrangement of the timeline may not be your arrangement of the timeline. The games I consider to be canon might not be the same ones you do. It's your right to disagree and it is my right to be correct.

Finally:

To try and make things clearer, all the Legend of the Starlight Hero games will be in bold, while all other games that are part of the main timeline like Monster Kingdom Builder will be in bold + italics.

Quick Lexicon (for the lil'ones):

Astielle: The World/Universe the LotSH games all take place in. Starlight Hero/LotSH/Astielle are used interchangably when talking about the series/franchise as a whole which doesn't get confusing at all, what are you talking about?

Dan (Thanks, Dan) Ryner: Head of Void Star Games studio and edge lord supreme. Banished to the wastes of Idaho for his many many sins

Fantastico: Plastic toy maker turned video-game maker turned console maker turned industry-cautionary-tale. Were responsible for the LotSH golden age of 1990-2000, and then also for whatever you want to call the 2001-2006 period.

Ito Makoto: The original creator of LotSH, and chief game designer until his death in 1998

Itokoto: Japanese game company that was the first publisher of LotSH and related games until it's bankrupcy in 1990

LotSH: Legend of the Starlight Hero. The main series of games for Astielle

Nichelle Augustin: Studio Head for White Spire Games. Also a former developer for Void Star Games who managed to grab the LotSH license and leap out of company headquarters right as the whole thing imploded in slow motion behind her.

Void Star Games: Owners of the Starlight Hero franchise from 2007-2015. Despite their best efforts, LotSH survived their stewardship.

White Spire Games: The current developers for LotSH since 2016.

Everything clear? Alright. Let's start at the beginning

=*=*=

Lute Bard Hero (2007) [Void Star Games] [Arcade/Wii/PS/Xbox]

[[A stylized Renfaire-esc bard playing a lute in a rockstar pose as magic explodes behind him. Jet Black from School of Rock has been crudely photoshopped over him]]

No, stop, don't click away! I swear I'm fucking serious! Let me explain.

It's 2006, era of Guitar Hero clones and endless Wii filler, and a spunky little studio named Void Star Games had just snagged up the rights to the Starlight Hero franchise in the aftermath of Fantastico's collapse. And while the studio heads plotted together in their dark crypts as to how best suck the joy and laughter and everything pure from the franchise, their shovelware department was put to work creating some quick and easy cash grabs to provide the funding.

One of these projects started as a generic Guitar Hero knockoff "with a twist". The twist being, you were a generic fantasy-world bard doing heavy metal rock if lutes were able to play heavy metal rock. Then the programmers realized that, hey, their company owned this great pre-existing fantasy world franchise that came with all sorts of pre-developed assets and started mining the entire Starlight Hero franchise for... easter eggs? Homages? Fanboying?

Regardless, what you wound up with was a too-short rock-opera where your first-person bardic protagonist traveled the countryside of 'Almost, but not quite Astielle', playing giant fantasy kingdom stadiums and rocking with Void-Magic Heavy Metal Rock, and occasionally defeating armies with wicked lute solos. If it had more than eight stages, or if they'd been able to hire someone halfway competent to write the music, it would've been awesome.

So why does this count as the first Astielle game and not just an easter-egg filled one-off? Well, the head developer of Lute Bard Hero was a bright young lady named Nichelle Augustin, and there was this other game she'd be head producer of a decade later...

=*=*=

Legend of the Starlight Hero XI - Stars Rising Infinite (2018) [White Spire Games] [XBox/PS/PC]

[[The boxart of Stars Rising Infinite featuring the Heavenly Trio in action poses.

Jet Black from School of Rock's head has once again been pasted over Vaelon's.

Brienne of Tarth's face has been pasted over Lynette’s.

Karzarul's head has been replaced with Baby Yoda's]]

*wicked heavy metal lute solo*

Go back and look at that lute in the screen shots above. Now look down at Vaelon's lute. Now look at the hands. Now compare the Aekhite Empire architecture with the architecture of the final concert arena. Now look at how Vaelon's primary mechanic is Void Magic powered by Heavy Metal Lute Solos.

[[Two screenshots side by side of first-person perspective from The Lute Bard and Vaelon with redlines connecting all the similarities. A piece of the background from Stars Rising Infinite that crudely approximates a triangle has also been outlined in red with a heavily pixilated illuminati pyramid next to it]]

Lute Bard Hero is Vaelon's prelude story. After that final blowout concert, he wound up chilling with the imperial family, hit it off with the eldest daughter, and wound up helping her run off on her quest to find fairies willing to hook her up with Goddess Smiting powers to kill her brother with.

The rest is history.

So. This game.

It really, really shouldn't have worked.

I have publicly made penance for all the unkind things I said about the concept when the first teasers dropped. I've left them up as proof that even the best of us can be young and stupid at times. But come on, it was an origin prequel that no-one asked for that retconned some of the basic foundations of the entire series and they blew a significant portion of the budget on getting Jet Black to voice one of the Celestial Trio!

It really, really shouldn't have worked as well as it did!

Obviously, this is the first main game of the series chronologically, no question of that. The Celestial Weapons don't even exist until halfway through the main campaign! So, a Shitass Long Time Ago, in a land that's the exact same land we've always been on, the Aekhite Empire is still in one piece and the eldest daughter of the dead emperor thinks her older brother sucks at the job and comes to the conclusion that the most logical and straightforward solution is to wrangle a Void Witch to her cause, track down the king of fairies, get him to help her acquire the divine blessing (and arsenal) or her patron goddess, then use those to depose her brother all while an epic-rock soundtrack plays in the background.

I love you, Lynette, but did you ever consider just hitting him with a brick?

Along the way, the Void Witch flirts with a reflection of moonlight so hard it manifests a Sphinx Cat fursona to flirt back with, everyone winds up getting Patron Goddess Blessings, and the most dysfunctional love/hate triangle in history proceeds to conquer the world before crashing and burning so hard it sets off the Unending Murdercycle that's shaped Astiellian history ever since.

Vaelon almost muscles Jonys out of the position of Best Starlight Hero.

Karzarul completes his journey from "What If Bowser was a Sexy Were-demon" to "What If A-Precious-Cinnamon-Roll-Who-Just-Needs-a-Hug was a Sexy Were-demon".

Lynette is the Queen Empress of Hot Messes, the answer to the eternal question 'Why are the Heirs Like That?' as well as the archetype of Video Game Playable Antihero that all future game-writers should learn from. She is beauty, she is grace, she will stab you in the face.

I have so much more to say about this game. And I have. Repeatedly. Check the sidebar. Or my YouTube channel. Or get cornered by me at Furcon.

[[Screenshot from the Winding Paths of Destiny DLC of the popular "Mothman" alternate monster form saving Vaelon, Lynette, and Lynette's horse during the canyon collapse scene]]

The DLC for this game is god-tier, but explicitly non-canonical, so I'll pass it by other than saying I hope the 'Venturing Off the Path of Destiny' mechanic becomes a series standard. I don't know how they'd manage the "Frantic Quicktime Button Mashing Choices that Result in new Monster Forms" mechanic from the alternate timelines, but the Gods of Astielle devs have made noises that something from that will be showing up. I'm hoping for Mothman. Everyone's hoping for Mothman. Long live Mothman, King of all Mothmans.

=*=*=

Stars Rising: Astiellian Warriors (2019) (White Spire Games) [XBox One, PS4]

[[A screenshot of the stampede scene from Lion King with Tauril heads pasted on all the wildebests and Lynette's face pasted over Simba]]

This is such a stupid game. I love it so much. It's a blatant Dynasty Warriors knockoff, it's got a multiverse/timestorm framing plot, the fucking Universal Dragon plays a major role, and the voice acting is for shit. But you can also plow through 1,000 soldiers as a Tauril before kicking their commander in the face so hard he flies halfway across the map and ragdolls Lynette right off her horse. Glorious.

Even within the story, 80% of it is explicitly non-canonical, what with the branching timelines and multiverse shenanigans, but The Untrammeled Path of Destiny is straight up how Astiellian history actually went. The fact it explains the details of the Aekhite Empire's expansion and Lynette's and Karzarul's shadow war way better than Stars Rising did is just a surprise welcome bonus.

=*=*=

Aekhite Empire: Eternal Zenith (2019) (White Spire Games) [PC/Mac]

[[An old Evony ad. The standard big boobed princess has been replaced with a seductive Abyssscale, and Aekhite Empire is pasted over "Evony". The 'Please Save Us, My Lord' text remains unaltered]]

I don't play much 4X games beyond Civ, so I can't speak to how balanced or polished or original the gameplay of EZ is, but any game that gives you combat bonuses for sexing the opposing general so hard their stats fall off, or reserves an entire gameplay loop to sending your boy toy out to open in-universe quick-travel points is alright by me. There's a lot of world-building and random details they put in this one that don't contradict anything from the core games, and I hope it continues to stay that way because I love every bit of it. It paints such a deliciously fucked up view of of pre-collapse Aekhite Empire and I love the additional look into Lynette's head via all the Event Decisions that come up during your 'Conquest for their own Good' of the world. The 'Political Maneuvering' minigame might've gotten cut from Stars Rising, but this is a very suitable replacement.

=*=*=

Monster Kingdom Builder (1997) [Fantacon/PlayStation/N64/PC/Gameboy/Game Gear] [Fantastico]

[[The American box art of Monster Kingdom Builder. If there's been any memes photoshopped in, they're too subtle to notice.]]

No, this is completely canonical! Look at the state of the Moonrise Kingdom at the end of Stars Rising Infinite. Now look at how the Moonrise Kingdom looks the next time we see it in (spoilers) Legend of the Starlight Hero I. Going from wooden "Ewok meets Art Deco" stylings to Silver-veined Marble columns and big crystal stain-glass windows?

Sounds like someone took Lynette's whole "Savage Kingdom of Sticks and Stones" speech a little personally and spent the next few decades playing an adorable city builder with perky chiptunes and chibi-Turial loading icons in order to spruce the place up for when she got back. "See, Lynette?", he'd ask, "I spent forty hours arranging all the construction bridges just right so I could get marble from the furthest quarry to the palace without loosing a single Rex to a canyon crossing! And the pathway spells out 'Please love me, Lynette" in Old Astian!'"

Pity Needle was too much of an asshole to notice all the hard work Karzarul had put in to spruce the place up for them. But what else can you expect from the guy?

=*=*=

Black Drakonis I-IV (1984-1990) [Nintendo/Atari/Sega Master/Fantacon/Others] [Itokoto]

[[Super Mario Brothers screenshot with The Hero pasted over Mario. Toad's text has been altered to "Thank you HERO! But our BLACK DRAKONIS HAS TAKEN another castle!]]

The third pillar of the the Metrokonisvania genre. Also known as Lair of the Ebon Dragon, Lair of the Black Drakon, or Drakonis' Castle depending on who was in charge of translating for each system. It wasn't until Black Drakonis II made enough American sales that Itokoto cared enough to ensure there was a single title across all systems. The Black Drakonis games have continued after the fourth, but the rights were bought by a different company, and the cross-continuity that'd developed between it and Astielle was (mostly) broken off. White Drakonis remains ones of Karzarul's iconic forms, and Black Drakonis was a surprise major character in Stars Rising Infinite, not only giving us some truly amazing/hilarious moments, but tying the original four BD games in even tighter with the Astiellian timeline.

The Black Drakonis games are relatively straightforward (storywise). A giant not!Dragon has taken over a local castle, and whatever poor sap who appears on the cover has been recruited to go deal with that... somehow. It was noteworthy at the time for having Black Drakonis be a force of nature to drive off as opposed to a Final Boss to deplete the health bar of. This was the series that got Itokoto known in the west, and paved the way for Legend of the Starlight Hero to perform as well as it did.

When White Drakonis appeared as Karzarul's final form in LotSH III, it was mostly an issue of reusing existing assets as part of the legendarily rushed and penny-pinching creation process. But Ito Makoto ran with it, bringing Black Drakonis herself into LotSH IV and officially tying the series together. And while everything from Black Drakonis V and onward is in its own unconnected universe, the first four slot in neatly in the early days of the Reincarnation Cycle as Black Drakonis continuously seeks out and claims poorly guarded (by her standards) castles/spires/megadungeons to guard until such time as some unnamed protagonist arrives to drive her back off.

=*=*=

Legend of the Starlight Hero III - Return to Monster Mountain (1987) [Nintendo/Sega Master/Fantacon] [Itokoto]

[[Box art of LotSH III with giant OSHA Violation tape draped over everything]]

This is what happens when you push for a sequel to come out eight months after the previous game, people. So, Black Drakonis II hit America in 1986 and was a huge hit out of nowhere. Then when LotSH II dropped six months later, it became one of the holiday season's biggest sellers. Itokoto management saw the sales figures and sent the orders down that they needed the next LotSH game ready for Christmas 1987 Or. Else.

They sent this order down in April, 1987. Some things in game development never change.

Under an unexpected time crunch, the team got "creative". A half-completed side-scroller with the working titles Crystal Warriors of the Underground got a bunch of Starlight Hero sprites thrown in, the backgrounds turned from weird magitech caverns into Monster Mountain, combat was changed from the time honored 'Jump on their heads' to 'hit it with a sword', and someone took Black Drakonis, painted her white, and dropped that sprite set in as Karzarul's final form.

Not that anyone got to see it.

This game was brooo~oooken. This wasn't broken as in the Nintendo Hard style of the first two games. At least with those, it's possible to get all the timing right to actually beat Karzarul into a puddle. With Return to Monster Mountain, however, it's impossible to even get to the final stage. Level 8 sees Starlight Hero having to navigate increasingly narrow platforms over the standard bottomless pits, all the while getting arrows shot at him by an offscreen Karzarul which push you back whenever you get hit. People have had AIs run this level. There is no pattern of movement that can take you successfully through the level. The Itokoto playtesters never had a chance to give the game a proper go-over before its release, and it never got taken care of. "Fortunately", most players just assumed they weren't good enough to get past it, assuming they even got that far in the first place.

Still, it's canonical that at some point before Needle, some poor-assed sap went to retrieve his birthright weapon and got shot off a cliff by Karzarul, who was probably feeling pretty damned crabby about all these Not Vaelons that kept coming around for the sword by this point.

RIP nameless Starlight Hero. Watch the first step. It's a doozy.

All this and we're not at Needle yet? Stars above! Let's continue this conversation another day, child. Next time: We -finally- get to Needle. And hopefully the other Needle. Maybe even Jonys! Hoboy, Jonys.

[shamelesslymkp]

The Cask of -Amontillado- I mean, Destiel

for @newleasemylove!

(this was intended to have more but i'm using the beta post editor and it's giving me a headache, i need to switch back but i already added a bunch and don't want to delete everything i already put.)

(please check out my pinboard for moar.)

N.B. these recs are not in any way comprehensive or exclusionary of any of the other amazing destiel and spn fics in existence; this is quite specifically a list of fics meant to entice the 'i don't even go here' crowd, as tested on my dear friend @arrows-for-pens

Come here, dear reader. I have some lovely and completely non-life-destroying fics to recommend to you.

Let's start off a few universes over from canon.

bendingsignpost - Cinderwings - Supernatural [Archive of Our Own]☑ https://archiveofourown.org/works/12847041

Under the cover of a masquerade ball, Castiel has five nights to recover the key to his people's freedom. The world has changed greatly in the six centuries since their banishment into the void, but the task isn't impossible. Unfortunately for Castiel, this is going to involve talking to people - especially the Knight Prince who has taken an interest in Castiel and his "costume" wings.

bendingsignpost - [SERIES] talk - Supernatural [Archive of Our Own]☑ https://archiveofourown.org/series/1380490

As a grease monkey turned college freshman, Dean's constantly three seconds away from being stressed out of his mind. It hardly helps that he's finally figuring out his sexuality in his thirties. What might help with that stress is a little phone number (and a big credit card bill). If he can't figure out how to be bisexual in person, he can at least give it a go over the phone, right? (It's probably a bad idea, but he really can't help himself.)

And now let's start moving back.

bendingsignpost - Dean Winchester and the Goddamn Kill-Steal - Supernatural [Archive of Our Own]☑ https://archiveofourown.org/works/20837732

Another raid on a hub of demonic activity, another case of Dean finding every last one of the bastards already dead with their eyes burnt out. The new and unnerving trend is royally pissing him off, but at least he's always able to blow off some steam these days too. Hooking up with that traveling business guy was an awesome move.

Amiril - The Mixtape, Or: Six Things You Learn in Thursday School - Supernatural [Archive of Our Own]☑ https://archiveofourown.org/works/30585971

History passes into legend— but without the Winchester Gospels, that legend must be assembled from the notes of Prophets and Hunters. Human society and the English language may take a few wandering turns along the way, but one thing is a constant: people will always argue about Canon. Or: God got beat up and replaced by his grandson. You could make a religion out of that. (Words: 6,240)

sobsicles - according to all known laws of life - Supernatural [Archive of Our Own] https://archiveofourown.org/works/29207901

Cas comes back. It's not exactly the reunion that Dean is expecting. ~~~ Dean stares at him, flummoxed. Cas quite literally poured his heart out to Dean, gave a truly sappy and distressingly romantic speech and everything, then proceeded to give his life so that Dean could live his. And he wants to act like he doesn't want to see Dean, be around him, touch him? Actually, Dean's ninety-nine percent sure that Cas probably wants to fuck him, and while he has no clue how he feels about that, he's pretty goddamn sure that means Cas doesn't get to act like this and make it authentic. It feels strangely real, though, as if Cas wants nothing more than to get as far away from him as possible. This is a blatant contradiction. Even someone as weird as Cas doesn't want to get away from the person they have the desire to fuck five ways to Sunday, that they're in love with. That's not how these things work, so Dean isn't buying it.

adaille - Pray for What You Need☑ https://archiveofourown.org/works/14674776

Asmodeus imprisons and impersonates Castiel, forcing Dean to confront his feelings and figure out what he needs from the angel.It takes him a while.### Cas was angry, Dean knew that. He’d been angry ever since Dean fought with him over his re-involvement with Lucifer. The whole I’m-gonna-go-off-alone-and-search-for-the-fallen-archangel plan seemed ill-advised, and perhaps Dean could’ve toned his protest down, but the sentiment stood. In Dean’s defense, they just got him back. It wasn’t fair that the universe needed saving, again. Always again, and again, and again. Cas was dead not even a month ago, lost to the Empty, and Dean just wanted him to take it easy for a bit. Stay safe. Stay here. With him. With him and Sam, that is. Or you know, just him. Whichever. Either, or. (Words: 26,648)

[bedlamsbard]

One reason I get so anxious about writing in SW is because the experience of having a closed canon suddenly go live again is incredibly god damn stressful, and this has happened a couple different times (and a couple different ways) over the years.

But in the most literal sense, Wake was in-progress when The Lost Missions dropped -- it started when TCW was canceled and closed and then all of a sudden NEW CLONE WARS.  (Yes. Wake is that old.  Wake’s significantly older than people realize.)  Gambit was in-progress when the EU got decanonized and the new canon came in.  (And did not super get affected by TFA because it’s so far gone timeline-wise, but there’s stuff in Gambit that’s from the new canon, like Caleb’s cameo.)  Backbone just had to deal with ongoing canon, which I knew going in, but it gets backlash from things that happened later on in Rebels that I had no way of predicting back in 2015 (Kallus is the big one).  Crown got stalled out for several reasons, but one is that I was so thrown by Palpatine in TROS that I froze on his scenes in Crown.  There’s ongoing stuff with Mando, TCW S7, and the ancillaries (books, comics, games) that’s rebounded onto both Crown and other side AU, and while all y’all on Rebels Tumblr are mostly nice enough to not go HEY, BUT WHAT ABOUT [INSERT THING HERE] I know the instant things start going up on AO3 I’ll start getting that again about whatever the new thing is, and I just freeze, because I get so much of it on Wake and Gambit (and a small amount on Backbone, but Backbone’s weird enough that I can count on one hand the amount I’ve gotten because mostly those types tap out earlier), that, for example, thinking about writing PT-era again is literally panic attack-inducing.  (I’m genuinely a little shocked I put out the last couple concepts -- actually, to be fair, I guess I didn’t actually post the ones with Anakin and Mace.)

Like, a live canon is a live canon, and if I didn’t want to be writing in a live canon I’d go back to writing in Narnia.  But coming into a fandom when it was closed and having it suddenly go live again is really stressful, especially if you’re a long form serial writer like I am.  I know Devil’s in the Details (the universe-hopping portion of other side AU) has to start going up on AO3 before the next round of live action Star Wars hits because it means I’ll have a stopping point to say “okay, I’m not taking into account anything past this point unless I really want to” (despite the fact that other side is a weird mash-up of Legends and new canon!), but that’s less important for the audience and more important for me.  (Especially given the most recent round of rumors about the Ahsoka show and Rangers of the New Republic.)

With Star Wars also there’s -- there’s what I tend to call the CONSTANT VIGILANCE thing, where something that you think is closed off can suddenly come back without any warning in a format you didn’t expect, or whose coming will be foretold in rumor, but when they appear they might be in character or they might not, they might look like the character you remember or they might not, they might be played by a different actor or a different VA or they might not, the new information may logically continue from the last you heard or it may blatantly contradict it, but the whole time the PTB are acting like everything is fine and it’s the exact same and it’s genuinely existentially exhausting. and there’s no way to prepare! at least in the vast majority of other live canons you at least know that it will probably be in the same format, or the other thing will be easier to ignore because the PTB don’t claim that it’s all equally canon, but Star Wars is just...exhausting. And I do genuinely love Star Wars. I do genuinely want to enjoy the canon material. But just being in the fandom (and I’m aware of a LOT of stuff because ha ha apparently I’ve got some weird hypervigilance stuff going on with the fandom where I have to be aware of everything all the time) sets off my hypervigilance and occasionally makes me feel like I’m being gaslighted, and it’s...exhausting.  Every time there’s not currently a big name ongoing SW in process I breathe a sigh of relief -- like, thank gods I gave up on the comics years ago, because my nerves literally couldn’t handle it.  (And I gave up on them for the aforementioned “character comes back in a form you’re not expecting and is wildly out of character but everyone acts like it’s fine” and also the animal harm.)  And every time I think my nerves are finally dead and I can just go on I get slapped in the face with something I wasn’t expecting, thanks, Mando.  no fucking wonder I keep writing minute variations on a theme that’s so weird it doesn’t draw in new readers.

[dgcatanisiri]

The term “canon” has gotten so fucking twisted...

I need an example here, so I’m going with the version that is easiest to address, meaning Star Wars. Which... There’s A LOT of fraught stuff that comes up when that happens, so, because I know there’s a lot of issues with reading comprehension on the internet, I’m gonna say this here: This is AN EXAMPLE, not a judgement or a condemnation.

Star Wars spent much of the pre-Disney era utilizing something referred to as “canon tiers,” where media X was “more” canon than media Y, but if George Lucas said a contradictory thing that superseded everything (a memorable version of this was shortly before the novel Death Star was released, George Lucas was on with Conan O’Brien and casually referred to the guy who Vader chokes in the meeting scene as being named after O’Brien, which led to a hasty change to the character’s name in the book, not all of which were changed, because the original name does appear in the final released version in my collection).

This was, I’m sure no one is surprised to hear, a headache. I can’t say I don’t understand where Disney was coming from in rebooting the whole EU when they bought the rights to the franchise.

BUT... Getting hung up on the word “canon” misses the forest for the trees.

It’s not about the stories that are connected to one another, sharing the universe. It’s about the things that connected to the audience.

Continuing the Star Wars example, my introduction to the Star Wars Expanded Universe, to the world of Star Wars beyond the movies, was with the novel Dark Journey. This was a novel centered around Jaina Solo, daughter of Leia and Han. Jaina’s journey, both in this novel and through the rest of the Legends line of novels, mattered to me, it connected to me, and was grounding to me.

I found that novel in the eighth grade, as a fourteen year old. It mattered to me. It still matters to me. Despite Disney saying “well, that’s not part of our canon” and asshole gatekeep-y fanboys going “the novels were never REALLY canon,” no one can take that away from me. Jaina’s story was there and connected with me at the time that I needed that story to exist.

And THAT’S the thing that it all comes down to when people start arguing about what’s REALLY canon. Because I don’t care if corporate entity A has declared that the events of Story B influence the supposed greater narrative but Story C’s events do not. It’s about if that work that happens to be part of a shared universe has been important to me.

The same thing is happening over in Star Trek novel land right now. From 2002, after the release of Star Trek Nemesis, until the premiere of Star Trek Picard last year, the novels were the only source of new stories being set in the 24th century. This created a lot of ongoing narratives for these characters and this setting - a selected listing of events includes a massive Borg invasion, the formation of a new major Alpha Quadrant power and rival to the Federation called the Typhon Pact, the assassination of the Federation president at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a DS9 that had been rebuilt because of terrorist activity by the Typhon Pact, and I haven’t even touched on character events.

All of that was rendered as “not the real story” with the announcement of Picard (and further undermined with the jump to the 32nd century of the universe over on Discovery). But Star Trek is full of the concept of alternate timelines and such. Hell, this wasn’t even the first time a shared continuity of novels was reset, given the novels of the 1980s, before TNG aired - many of which still influence more modern portrayals.

But these stories still matter. I have kept my Star Wars Legends novels on the shelf next to the Disney EU, just like I will keep my new Trek novels next to the ones I already have.

Indeed, to me, the Legends line for Star Wars is more in line with what I think of as the universe beyond the first six movies, BECAUSE I have that emotional connection to it. This is, literally, the world I grew up with. It may not be “canon” and may not be getting new material being produced for it, but... I don’t see how that matters, considering that these are the stories that matter to me. Time will tell if the same happens for Trek - personally, I’ve enjoyed Discovery, Picard, and Lower Decks, while I know there are those who do not. That doesn’t mean, however, that I will not miss certain novel-developed things, such as characters or events. Some of the novel original lines have been of great importance to me.

They’ll still be there, though. They will still be stories I can return to, revisit when I want to, be able to be that comfort in my time of need. Because I don’t return to them because “this is how events in the fictional universe absolutely 100% happened and did not occur in any different manner.” I return to them because “this story has mattered to me, connected with me emotionally, at a time I needed it, and brings me comfort and joy.”

And ask any writer, they’ll say outright, they’ll often tweak and adjust things as they go on with their works, even if they’re going to be a contradiction to things earlier - the original printing of the first Animorphs book had the characters able to communicate through telepathy when morphed in to other animals, and this became not the case as early as the very next book, with the later reprinting and adaptation cutting that bit out entirely.

“Canon” is a word. Getting hung up on it having a strict definition, rather than just meaning “the commonly accepted rules of the universe,” as opposed to “a factual accounting of everything that ever happened in this setting”... You’re engaging with the story, I suppose, but not in the way that I guarantee the writers particularly want you to. Because they’re not telling the story so you can remember the exact details of page 173. They’re telling a whole story that they hope connects with you, the audience. If that emotional connection is there, that’s what matters.

And it’s not your place to tell anyone that they don’t get to have that emotional connection to a story because it doesn’t fit this arbitrary set of rules.

I mean, it’s all fiction either way. Why the fuck are people getting hung up on what fiction is the real fiction?

[gffa]

Hi! Sorry to bother you, but I saw there's an entire section dedicated to the SW novels on your page, so I figured you are the best person to ask this to. While I've watched the movies I must admit I'm a newbie in regards to any work that expands the canon universe, but I'm particulary interested in the prequels and especially in learning more on Anakin and Obi-Wan's relationship, so I was wondering if you might be so kind as to give me a few suggestions on which novels I should read? :)

Hello!  That’s absolutely not a bother, I clearly love talking and I enjoy doing recs for things as well!  :D  Keep in mind that I haven’t read everything, so I may be missing some things, but I can absolutely at least get you started!Canon hasn’t explored Obi-Wan & Anakin much in the novels yet (though, I think we’re starting to explore that area), but if you’re okay with reading comics, the Obi-Wan & Anakin five issue mini-series and Age of Republic comics (or at least the Obi-Wan one and the Anakin one) are both really fantastic for exploring them.I would also suggest the Dark Lord of the Sith comic from Charles Soule, which is set post-Revenge of the Sith, it’s about Vader, but he is still very much Anakin Skywalker and it’s a 25-issue long look at his shitty choices, his attempt to deny that he had other paths he could have chosen, and still chose this, that he was too afraid to look at what he’d actually done, so he just keeps going.  (The first Darth Vader comic by Kieron Gillen is also really good, probably one of the best of all the comics, but it’s more centered on the OT and the events that happen there.  Still a fantastic look at his character, but if you’re more into the prequels, Dark Lord of the Sith is more focused on that.)Canon also has Choose Your Destiny - An Obi-Wan & Anakin Adventure by Cavan Scott, which I’m not fond of the CYA style, but I loved that book very much, it’s such a delight and has Anakin being an absolute human disaster, it has Obi-Wan and Anakin struggling to learn to work together, and, best of all, because Palpatine isn’t around at the moment, they actually have a chance at working things out between them here!In the anthology novel From a Certain Point of View, you should at least read Master and Apprentice by Claudia Gray, Time of Death by Cavan Scott, and There Is Another by Gary D. Schmidt, which all are really good for those characters, and Obi-Wan and Anakin especially.  The rest of the book can be hit or miss (and that’ll depend on who you ask, but I think An Incident Report by Daniel Mallory Ortberg is also a must-read, it is the funniest thing pretty much ever) but those three are really worth reading.The Ahsoka novel is definitely about the titular character making her way through the galaxy during the time of the Empire, but there are some QUALITY flashbacks and thoughts about Obi-Wan and Anakin, so I would absolutely recommend this one, too!  Same for Dark Disciple by Christie Golden, it’s not really precisely about Obi-Wan and Anakin, but they get moments in it, and it’s a continuation of TCW and adapting a story that was going to be part of the show.For Legends, I like Wild Space a ton, it’s not quite a coherent plot (it’s more like two books stitched together and it doesn’t really earn its ending, imo) it’s the single most quotable book I have ever read and I love it because it’s so over the top while still remaining fun.  It’s HIGH FUCKING DRAMA, everyone is dialing it up to like a hundred, Obi-Wan and Anakin can’t go five damn pages without thinking of the other, even when Anakin should be thinking about Padme or Obi-Wan should be focusing on getting out of a jam.  It’s just an absolute scream.  I haven’t read Miller’s other two books, but they’re probably pretty good, too.I also like Labyrinth of Evil (though, I haven’t finished it) by James Luceno, Kenobi by John Jackson Miller (it’s a very slow read with the non-Obi-Wan parts on Tatooine, but the Obi-Wan parts are nicely ouchy about his relationship with Anakin, even after everything that’s happened).  Yoda: Dark Rendezvous is good as far as I’ve read it, though, more focused on Yoda and Dooku, but if you’re interested in the prequels, it’s a great book to read!It’s been awhile since I’ve read the Jedi Apprentice books and they’re very, very obviously written before all of the PT movies were made, much less before The Clone Wars was made, and so I’m not sure I recommend them or the Jedi Quest books (I also have trouble getting into the author’s style), so you can’t really take them for their worldbuilding or that these events happened (because they’re contradicted by stuff that comes later), but I do find that Jude Watson can really write a quotable as hell turn of phrase when she’s on.  So, it’s a half-rec, just with some caveats!  (I would anti-rec anything by Karen Traviss, who has said some pretty awful things IRL, but also clearly haaaaaates Obi-Wan and all of the Jedi, so when she wrote about them, it wasn’t very much fun.)The novelization of the Revenge of the Sith movie by Matthew Stover is also no longer canon, but is an absolute MUST READ for Obi-Wan and Anakin feelings, because they are WILDLY INTENSE in that book and it’s a really fascinating look at both of the characters, Anakin especially.  Shatterpoint by him also gets a rec just for being by the same author!SHORT VERSION:  Start with the Revenge of the Sith novelization and Wild Space, both of them aren’t canon (and often are contradicted by canon) but are FANTASTICALLY ENJOYABLE reads, then the Choose Your Destiny: An Obi-Wan & Anakin Adventure and the From a Certain Point of View short stories, then Labyrinth of Evil, and then maybe some comics and go from there!  ♥

[aquilaofarkham]

wolfsbane bloom

Trevor is bitten by a werewolf; Alucard and Sypha offer their support while the night of his first full moon creeps up. Eventually, he discovers that vampires do in fact get along far better with lycans than he expected. For bitchardarmitage.

rating: teen and up (canon-typical violence, blood, coarse language, brief mentions of death/suicide)

word count: 4,406

This will be easy, this will be quick. He’s done this sort of deed before. With every trudge forward, the heavy snow crutches beneath Trevor’s boots. He looks up through the trees; the creeping darkness of dusk turning into night makes them look more like the iron bars of a cage. The whip and sword hanging off either sides of his waist along with the crossbow across his back weigh him down. But he keeps moving - better to finish this now before the dead bodies start piling up.

Trevor blows into his hands, trying to warm them while taking a moment to exam his surroundings. Snowflakes descending from above gently blow onto his face and get caught on his eyelashes. Apart from the sound of his footsteps, the woods are silent. Dead, uncomfortable silence. He keeps an ear out for anything that might break it; a twig snapping under the weight of claws, the rustling of leaves against coarse fur, or the low growl of a creature that’s somewhere between human and animal.

Eyes glance towards the murky skies, settling on the bright full moon, before turning back down at the series of paw prints leading deeper into the forest. Far too big to belong to any normal wolf. It’s been a while since Trevor found himself on the trail of a lycanthrope. “Out of practice” is an apt descriptor regarding this recent endeavour. He’s not worried, though. His arrows are made from silver, his blade purified in wolfsbane, and the Morningstar still sings when he wields it. This should go easily. This should go quickly.

It’s not long before Trevor hears the very noise he’s been searching for. Readying the crossbow, he carefully spins around to face whatever is lurking in the bushes behind him. He takes aim and lets out a deep breath. The frigid air transforms it into a long huff of smoke. Trevor keeps both arms steady, his patience steadfast yet quickly running out. Until the foreign sound moves. First, he hears footsteps off to his side, then back behind, then to his other side. Circling him, over and over again. Stalking its prey.

The hunter keeps his feet planted to the ground, moving them only slightly, preparing himself for the right moment. The same noise continues, followed by that growl he needed to hear. Another breath and the footsteps stop. Trevor is granted a few short seconds before his own prey lunges forward. He rolls out of the way, kicking up clumps of snow. Raising his head, he looks directly into sickly yellow eyes belonging to a mass of dark fur, elongated limbs, and a snout full of teeth blackened with blood. It snarls, keeping its distance, biding its time, before making its second attack.

Trevor is much quicker. With the crossbow loaded, he takes his first shot. The short arrow drives itself into the beasts’ shoulder, barely an inconvenience. Then comes a second and third. Trevor reloads the weapon and takes aim just as fast as he dodges each vicious assault. Streams of blood and saliva drip from the lycan’s fangs. Those bits of silver have only made it angrier.

It doesn’t give Trevor a chance to reach for the Morningstar. It seizes the opportunity, wrenching the crossbow out of his hands and pins him against the deep snow, its jaws snapping at his face. Trevor tries holding it back, but only manages to slice open both palms. Teeth dig into his shoulder and neck. Trevor is thankful for the pain despite how much it burns. Instead of wearing him down, it motivates (or rather forces) him to grab his sword and burrow its tip between the creature’s ribs.

An agonized howl mixed with a whine echoes throughout the forest. Awkwardly yet with enough strength, Trevor’s blade pierces its neck, nearly getting caught amongst all the fur and flesh. Blood gurgles in the lycan’s throat, hacking it up in large globs. Last breaths before its heavy body collapses.

Trevor lies in the snow, blinded by snowflakes. Quick, yes, but far from easy. He sits up with a long groan and turns to his handiwork. The crossbow is in pieces, blood drenches the ground, and the beast is nowhere to be seen. In its place is a human body; naked, thin flaxen hair, and pale skin stretched to its limit over bones. They lay motionless, their life spilling out through their chest and neck.

The hunter doesn’t move, nor can he look away. It’s so rare for him to see a sight like this. There’s no sense of victory, but what should be felt then? Guilt? It had to be done. They were trapped. Whoever they were, he set them free. But what point is there in telling himself this? All Trevor can think of is a different reminder. The monsters he hunts, that his family hunted, must have been human. Even vampires were human before.

“Poor bastard.” He could give them a burial - not a proper one. Still, they deserve that much. But another sting crawls down Trevor’s arm. He places a hand against his torn-up shoulder; tender, wet, and burning. Tearing away the ripped fabric, his eyes widen at the wound left behind by the lycan’s teeth. All he can say is an exasperated, breathless “fuck...”

He’ll live. That’s what he’s terrified of.

--

Trevor walks back home, the pain in his shoulder reduced to a dull throb numbed by the cold air. He placed the body in a deep snowbank before retracing his steps. There it will freeze for the rest of the winter then thaw and decompose when spring comes. Or perhaps the wolves, foxes, and bears will find it; whichever happens first.

The only light guiding him is that of the full moon. Trevor sneers up at it. He knows the next one won’t be as beautiful or kind - unless he does something. He read his family’s bestiary as though it were a children’s bedtime story. He’s well aware of all the legends even those that contradict each other. The lycan travels on its hind legs, they are agents of the Devil, so on and so forth. 

One thing remains constant: kill the beast before it leaves its bite, and the curse will be broken. A harsh realization just as Trevor approaches home. He marches up to the front door of the Belmont manor, still half rebuilt and looking more akin to a large cottage than the grand building it once was. Strangely enough, he prefers this home to the one he was born an raised in. A warm hue of candlelight shines through the windows while smoke gently rises out of a short chimney. The other occupants are awake and waiting for him.

This is what Trevor was dreading. They’ll ask questions the moment they see him. They’ll look at his torn shirt with dark red stains, the teeth marks upon his skin, and the panicked expression on his blood-drained face. They care so much and worry for him even more, which is why Trevor will try avoiding them. He walks into the warm house, shaking off the snow that clings to his hair and clothes.

As he takes his first steps down the hall, Trevor stops. He notices a set of two faint voices coming from the reading room. Shit. Almost forgot; he needs to go through there in order to reach his bedchamber. His hand covers the wound. Be quick, keep your eyes down, and don’t draw attention to yourself. Three pieces of advice he remembers from the years spent as a wanderer. He should never have to act this way around his friends, his family, but it is necessary.

Trevor darts into the room, keeping to the walls lined with shelves. The glances he makes at his companions, who sit comfortably with books in their hands, are brief. “There you are,” greets Sypha. Her light jovial attitude lessens when she receives no reply. “So... everything went well, then.”

“Fine.” Trevor should know by now that a single, dismissive word has never been enough to convince either of them.

“That’s it?” Alucard lowers his book. “No boasting, no trophies of your victory? It’s not like you at all.”

“I’m tired.”

“Trevor, your shoulder...”

“It’s nothing.”

“It should be tended to. Come on...”

Trevor gently shrugs off Sypha. “Really, it’s not worth the trouble.”

“You’ve always been a terrible liar.” Alucard may jest like he always does, but his tone sounds just as concerned as Sypha’s. Trevor’s face begins to sweat, he feels suffocated. He needs his room. It’s the only way he’ll be able to think clearly.

“I’m going to bed.”

“At least bandage that wound.”

“I’ll do it eventually.”

Sypha scoffs. “Always so stubborn-”

“Stop.” The response is far louder than Trevor wanted. Sypha and Alucard stare. His empty stomach heaves while the pit of his chest grows tighter, hurting him. “I appreciate the concern... but I really am tired.” He can’t even muster up a simple “goodnight” before rushing towards his room. Trevor shuts the door, his hand a death grip on the knob and sits on the edge of the bed. He doesn’t bother lighting a candle. Maybe the darkness will help focus his mind.

All options are weighed; none good, all bad, some even worse. Trevor returns to what he’s already accepted. Withdrawing a dagger he always keeps tucked in his boot, he checks the sharpness with his thumb. This is the only way. If he wants to spare others from the curse - if he wants Sypha and Alucard safe - it has to be. 

The door creaks open, Sypha comes into view, and Trevor quickly hides the weapon. Even in the shadows, he can tell that her anxious expression has worsened. “You were bitten,” she says. There’s nothing for him to deny.

“Show me what’s behind your back.” Her tone is bold, direct, yet gentle and Trevor cannot ignore it (he never could to begin with). He reveals the dagger slowly, almost shamefully. The first emotion Sypha feels is anger; how could he do this? How could he come to such an abrupt conclusion concerning his life without first talking it through with either herself or Alucard? She hoped Trevor had grown past this sort of reckless thinking. Evidently, he may never.

Sypha feels Alucard’s presence close behind her. Anger subsides into empathy as they walk into the room. Perhaps there is reason as to why Trevor came to a hasty decision. He’s a Belmont after all, born and bred as a hunter, knowing exactly what a lycan’s bite will do to a man. Still, it’s a decision they refuse to accept.

“Trevor...”

“Sorry. I... I didn’t want you to worry. But I have to do this.”

“No, you do not.” Sypha sits beside Trevor while Alucard carefully checks his shoulder, wincing as delicate fingers prod at the wound.

“It’s not infected yet, but it is very swollen and still bleeding a little. Put some pressure on his shoulder, I won’t take long.” He says to Sypha. Before Alucard can leave to continue playing the role of doctor just as his mother did, Trevor speaks up.

“There’s no point. Stop troubling yourself.”

“Not another word out of you. I’ll be right back.” There’s that blunt, aggressive tone Trevor has heard many times before, especially when directed at himself. It’s only because Alucard cares; he’s grown to care deeper and harder than ever. The dhampir then snatches away the dagger at an unusually quick speed. “And I’m taking this with me.” Only because he cares.

Alucard leaves Trevor with Sypha. Every uneasy breath causes his body to tremble. Hands curl into fists, nails digging into palms, as he tries forming his anxious thoughts into words. He holds himself back from grabbing tuffs of hair and bashing his head against a nearby wall. For being so careless, so stupid. “You really don’t understand...”

“We do understand. That’s why we’re both going to help.”

“Sypha, listen.” Trevor finds the strength to look her in the eyes. “When I turn, I won’t be able to stop myself and people will die. You and Alucard, you’ll...”

Sypha can’t bear to hear him talk of death and dying any longer. Enough, she thinks. “No one is going to die. Not your or anyone else. All three of us have seen enough death to last us lifetimes. We will help you through this.”

Trevor’s energy is spent. There’s not much he can do except trust her words - weakly. Alucard returns with his arms full of medicinal supplies: a basin of water, a cup of ointment made from honey and frankincense, gauze strips, and a needle with some thread. He works swiftly, diligently. Cleaning the wound, smothering it then sewing everything up. Trevor winces until the last bandage is tied. All he can think about is pain, that of tonight and that which will follow in the near future. Sypha squeezes his hand as Alucard rubs his hunched back.

Their simple actions ease the pain. Trevor hopes it will last for as long as it can.

--

There is much that can be done in a month’s time, yet not enough. Sypha immerses herself within books of the lycan mythos, some of which are older than the Belmont lineage itself. She reads of Dacian wolf cults, the cursed wolf king Vereticus, and poor children, seventh of their family, doomed to become beasts. How to track and kill, not help. Not save. But Sypha has many other books to tear through. If there are any alternatives, anything to suggest that Trevor might be spared his fate, she will find it. Alucard does the same and uses the notebooks left behind by Lisa, searching for a way to ease the eventual transition. Better yet, a way to stop it entirely.

It gets harder for Trevor with each passing hour. He tries, god knows he does. Carrying on with his hunts and errands, treating the days as though they were ordinary, postponing the inevitable. Distractions to keep himself at least half sane. But then there are the nightmares, common occurrences for a Belmont. Not these, however. Not the ones where Trevor chokes on blood and flesh or when his skin tears as easily as the thinnest parchment. He wakes up every morning, his stomach clenched and the taste of bile in his mouth. The closer the full moon approaches, the worse they become. Trevor can’t go about the days as normal.

Just as the last rays of sunlight shine through the stained-glass windows of the manor, Alucard finds Trevor in his bedroom. He sees him lying on his side, back turned, and the dhampir wonders how long he’s been like this. “No luck again?” The hunter asks before Alucard can announce himself.

“... Sypha and I made a tonic that will help with the pain when you transform.”

“But won’t stop it.” One pause is the only answer Trevor needs. “You shouldn’t put yourself through this much work for me.”

“Yet we do.” Alucard joins him on the bed. “And despite what you might think, we do it willingly.”

Trevor remains in his half fetal position, eyelids heavy. If that statement was meant to brighten his mood, it hasn’t. Alucard and Sypha have done so much for him. Enough that he feels he will never be able to repay them in full. Despite his honest attempts, he’s become a burden this past month and it will only get worse.

He finally sits up, his hair a bedridden mess. Alucard receives the first real glimpse at his bloodshot eyes, unchecked stubble, and cheeks devoid of blush and colour. Trevor turns to him, saying without words, “I know I look like shit”.

“When was the last time you slept?”

“It comes and goes.”

“For how long?”

“... an hour. If I’m lucky.”

“Are you afraid to sleep?”

“Does it seem like I’m afraid?” But Trevor already has the answer. “You’re right... you’re absolutely right as always. I’m so fucking scared. I can’t sleep because I’m scared of what I’ll see, scared of what I’ll feel, I’m scared of what’s going to happen in the next few days... I’ve never felt this much fear in my entire life. I feel sick and weak and...”

Alucard pulls the hunter in close, wrapping his arms around his broad back. “You know...” Trevor pushes his cheek against the dhampir’s shoulder. His sobs are quiet, repressed, which is just like him. “Contrary to what most people believe, vampires and lycans gets along very well.”

“... is it because you both turn into wolves?” Trevor asks, his voice muffled.

“The similarities certainly help. But it’s more a matter of solidarity between creatures of the night.”

“So what you’re saying is things would have gone a lot smoother between us at the very beginning if I happened to be a bloody werewolf.”

Alucard laughs and gives him a light hug. “A joke... and a bad one at that. Haven’t heard one of those from you in a while,” he hums. “Does this mean you’re feeling a little better?”

“I’ll feel better when all this is done and I can actually sleep.”

Without putting up much resistance, the dhampir guides Trevor’s heavy head onto one of the pillows. His tearful eyes shine like glass. “Then sleep.”

“I can’t, I’ll just see more of those... fucking awful things.”

Alucard ponders for a moment. Trevor will think of his next action as over sentimental. He might even poke fun at him, claim he’ll use it as blackmail, but he does it out of genuine affection for the idiot. Lying beside him, Alucard drapes the fur blanket over their bodies. “I’ll stay here until morning. I’ll help you sleep.”

Trevor lets out a defeated sigh. He places his head upon the dhampir’s chest, pleasantly surprised at how soft and warm it feels. The slow rhythmic breathing also helps put him at ease. Alucard’s fingers stroke his hair as lips ghost over the hunter’s forehead. “You’re not weak for being scared. We’re all scared. But we’ve made preparations and we’ll take all precautions. You’ll still be you, even after everything. The same foulmouthed, smelly... brave Belmont you always have been.”

He could go on, but Trevor’s eyes are already closed.

--

Near the manor, nestled under the hard winter earth, lies a cellar. Dark, chilled, and large enough to house over a dozen adult bodies. It was made for storage, but Trevor has found another use. One that will help save lives when the full moon rises this night. He can only hope.

Standing in the middle of the stone bound room, refusing a lantern or torch, he faces Sypha and Alucard. They seem apprehensive, uneasy, every quiet negative emotion. Even Alucard walks with an uncertain foot as he hands Trevor a small bottle. If the library books and their contents aren’t going to help him, perhaps this will. He uncorks it and pours a bitter tasting liquid down his throat, emptying the container. He’s drunk far stronger things in the past, but nerves almost cause him to retch everything back up.

“We should stay with you,” Sypha suggests. Trevor shakes his head, still reeling from the tonic.

“No. Just make sure the door is locked and bolted shut.”

“How will we know if you’re alright?”

“Won’t know for certain until tomorrow morning.”

“We can’t wait all night!” She glances at Alucard who doesn’t say it out loud, but agrees nonetheless.

“Then you’ll know everything happened like it’s supposed to when the screaming stops and the growling starts. It’s not gonna be a pretty thing to hear, I’ll tell you that much.” No one is in the mood for Trevor’s joke - if one could call it that. Not even Alucard has the energy to scold him. “But you can’t come in no matter what. Nothing goes into that room and sure as hell nothing comes out. Understand?”

Sypha and Alucard reluctantly understand. They look towards the stairs leading to the outside world. It’s late evening and the moon still be rising soon. A quick yet tight embrace is the best - or at least the easiest - goodbye they can give Trevor before exiting the cellar. Alucard closes the door, bolting it with a heavy clank. He and Sypha sit at the bottom of the steps; they’ve always hated waiting. In their shared experience, it never seems to be for anything good.

They pass the time in silence. Night arrives slower than expected. Sypha holds her knees to her chest, a shivering ball of stress while Alucard keeps his back against the wood and iron door. Small flakes of snow drift down followed by the cold light of the full moon. 

Before Sypha can ask if it’s started yet, they hear something coming from behind the door. Pained, restricted moans as though Trevor were holding them back. A series of “fucks” hissed through teeth grinding together. Longer it goes on until they turn into screams. Vocal chords strain and tear, becoming inhuman. Sypha’s hands cover her ears but she’s seconds too late. It’s in her head now. The banging, ripping, clawing, and crying have forced their way inside. Against her own wishes, Sypha’s mind pieces together a grotesque puzzle of what might be happening within the cellar.

Some of the wood on the door suddenly cracks, not enough to break it open but a few more and it just might. Alucard’s eyes go wide. He immediately uses his body in an effort to keep it shut. Although having faith in his immense strength, Sypha offers her help. They share the same prayer: let this end.

The violent banging stops and the piercing screams quiet down. All that’s left is the same silence as before - Sypha and Alucard feel no comfort. They bring their ears close to the door and hear it. A guttural snarl belonging to a very, very big animal.

“Alucard...” Sypha whispers. “Do you remember what one of those manuscripts we looked at said?”

“Which one?”

“The one about northern lycan myths. It said something about calling out the creature’s name...”

There’s a tense pause before he remembers the passage. “If one should love the beast dearly, speak its true name and its humanity shall be restored.” The same text also suggested tossing the lycan’s human clothes in their direction. Alucard doubted its validity even when they first found it. “I don’t think...”

“We should at least try it. Please.”

Alucard’s furrowed brow softens. Of course it’s a risk, but he loathes the alternative of waiting until morning while Trevor stays locked in a dangerous body he can’t control. And listening to Sypha’s gut instinct has never led any of them astray before. If it doesn’t work, there’s always the clothes option. Cautiously, Alucard unbolts the door.

Sypha walks in before him, a small flame emanating from her fingertips. The steps they take are short and careful until a low drawn out growl stops them. Light reflects off ice blue eyes shining in the surrounding blackness. Backed into the farthest corner is a beast with thick fur, its posture cowered yet threatening, ready to strike if tested. Clearly a wolf, yet unlike any wolf the two have seen. Everything is too large; its head, limbs, teeth. From where Sypha and Alucard stand, they instead see a mouth full of daggers.

“Trevor Belmont.” Reaching out his hand, the dhampir is the first to say his name. The creature snaps its jaws, its barks deafening.

“Trevor, it’s us. You remember, I know you do.” Sypha stays close to Alucard, keeping the flame lit while her other hand prepares a different spell should they need it. The lycan lowers its head and crawls towards them on all fours, the hairs of its belly scraping along the floor. “Trevor...” Alucard repeats, stunned at how close they’ve gotten. Scared that one mistake could ruin all their chances. It sniffs his hand and blinks. No longer does it growl. Alucard and Sypha are tired of waiting but they must do it one last time.

Their hopes are rewarded when Trevor softly bumps the top of his head into the dhampir’s palm.

--

He doesn’t come out. Not into the forest nor the house. Trevor holds full awareness of what his body has become, but the fear of losing command haunts him. He cannot risk going outside. He won’t wander amongst the dense forests only to come across a village and succumb to any violent urges that might be screaming for release. So, he stays in the cellar curled up in his corner of stone and hay, alone.

A soft whimper escapes as one of Trevor’s oversizes paws covers his eyes. It was difficult convincing Sypha and Alucard to leave him alone without the use of words. All he could manage was a few persistent whines while he pushed the outside. They’ve been gone for a while.

Suddenly, out of the quiet, Trevor hears the door creak open. He raises his head, ears perking up and expects to see either a blue clad Speaker or a golden haired dhampir. Perhaps they’ve come to keep him company or bring him food. Yet in their place, Trevor is greeted by a wolf like himself. This one however is much smaller with yellow eyes and fur whiter than the snowy hills surrounding his home. He sits up, recognizing this creature.

Alucard enters the cellar, his nails tapping against the floor with every graceful step. The two take their time in familiarizing themselves with each other’s new forms. While the white wolf circles around him, the lycan remains hesitant. Until Alucard gives the side of his head a couple gentle licks and Trevor feels his muscles relax. You’re still you. Even after everything. Trevor doesn’t know if that’s what Alucard is truly thinking, but his actions seem clear enough.

They nuzzle their snouts together; maybe this is what was meant when he said vampires and lycans get along better than most humans believe. Trevor would be content to stay here all night, as long as Alucard stayed as well, but the white wolf has other plans. He trots over to the door and waits. Tentatively, the lycan trails behind him up the stairs. A passing breeze ruffles his fur. They stare at each other before Alucard bounds off through the trees. Trevor follows.

Running will do both of them some good.

[n7soldiered]

1, 14, and 18 for the meme where you answer questions about john c:

WHAT MAKES YOU THE MOST EMOTIONAL ABOUT YOUR MUSE?

ugh, sara.  what doesn’t make me emotional about john?  okay, so i’ll be looking at this all through a paragade lens.  let me just say, i know i’m going to start blubbering somewhere, at some point, and i’m sorry about that lol.   @arianashepard

where to begin?  his awful childhood;  his constant loneliness;  his willingness to shoulder every burden, every responsibility, without a single word, because he would rather bear the weight of this onus than have someone else suffer with it.  when i think about john, in the midst of war, how the galaxy entrusted him with its fate and held him and every decision he made under relentless scrutiny, and yet, such a heavy burden never broke him as a man, the weight of responsibility never compromised his judgment? — wow, excuse me as i cry actual tears gbye

there are some events that continue to loop endlessly in my mind, too, like ME2′s opening events:  his death.  dying alone in space, burning up on re-entry and spinning down, down.

horizon.   horizon was such a hard time for john, and that makes me emotional because i don’t see john as someone who ‘breaks down’ easily.  he knows he can’t let shit get to him, can’t let it affect him, and when i ( over )think it, how horizon genuinely broke his heart, i wanna YELL.  it’s john’s whole self-conflict, really–that whole paradox in his mind, that’s what gets me.  he’s heartbroken after kaidan spurns his offer to join him, at the same time, it’s a direct contradiction to his own beliefs, because despite his reliable sense of optimism, john was certain he’d die destroying the collector base.  gosh, he was just so damned lonely, then.  seeing another familiar face had lifted his spirits so high, too, but it was ultimately fleeting.  the thought of john, desperately searching for something familiar—kaidan—but his blind, desperate grab for a scrap of familiarity overshot the one thing that could’ve possibly grounded him during all that chaos?  yo, catch me cryin’ in the club

ME3 is all-around emotional.  especially, when certain scenes/events makes shit really sink in for both the player and shepard:  john’s awareness that the darkness is real, his failures and fears are real, and the whispers that haunt him in nightmares and pursue him in consciousness are real — but wait, ( another favorite aspect ) that keen awareness never slowed him down, nor did it ever compromise his performance out on the field, because nobody knows it more than him;  one mistake, one slip-up, and it’s lights out.  for everyone.

this always makes me want to cry:  the brave and total acceptance of his fate — martyring himself for the chance the universe may keep going, even if only for a little while longer.

there’s so, so much.

oh, WAIT—thinking about how long john will live also gets me so ridiculously emotionAL AAA.  of course, in my canon, he survives the war.  a part of me thinks he’ll live to be 150 yrs old, no doubt, since he’s at least 30% synthetic post-ME2.  but the other part of me thinks he’ll live a shorter life for the same reasons.  will his cybernetics grant him more time to live?  or has this all been borrowed time?  will his cybernetics start failing when he’s older?

TIM spent 4 billion credits on bringing shepard back, but as far as we know, bringing someone back from a state of ‘meat and tubes’ has never been done before.  so, was that all ‘experimental’ technology?  who’s to say that tech was meant to last for years??    ugh.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MUSE TO SOMEONE ABOUT TO MEET THEM, IN PERSON, FOR THE FIRST TIME?

his name is john shepard, and he’s a fucking legend.  how you’ve never heard of him, i haven’t got the slightest idea, but he’s the nicest man you’ll ever meet in your entire life.  so, wipe the mud you’ve got smeared all over your hands ‘n face from the rock you’ve been living under and get yourself cleaned up, ‘cause i dunno if i mentioned, but he’s also insanely Good Looking.

WHAT ASPECT OF YOUR MUSE’S PERSONALITY IS MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU?

holy fucking shit—hands down, john’s mental + physical drive to keep going.  perseverance maxed-out at 200%, 24/7.  john’s his own damn unit, okay, and he tries so hard to stay optimistic.  he keeps fighting, despite everything.  it’s actually so moving, i can’t even begin to find the words to explain slkdfjkdf  excuse me, as i get a little personal here, but this is genuinely important to me.  as i’ve stated in my rules, i suffer from severe anxiety ( ocd ), add, depression, and i am fully diagnosed.  i’m physically disabled and visually impaired;  i have several chronic pain conditions that’s caused by damage to, or malfunction of, the peripheral and central nervous systems.  there’s not a day that goes by that i don’t feel like my nerve endings are fraying apart.  it’s excruciatingly painful, even agonizing for me to move some days, but—shit.  

john powers through his physical and mental exhaustion/pain like a one-man war machine.  he takes everything the universe throws at him in stride, and soldiers on—no matter what.  he doesn’t weigh his pain against the trillion or more lives he’d shouldered, won’t ask for a lighter burden—but for broader shoulders.  he constantly lives in the moment and holds his smile up, regardless of how strained it may look, with sheer willpower, even as the weight of the moons, the stars, and all the planets collapse on him. … and that’s so frickin’ inspiring, i really can’t help but to look up to the guy and draw strength from such a mindset.

hmm … above all, it’s how john never lost his humanity.  he never grew cold because of what happened to him.  reserved?  yes.  quiet?  yeah, sometimes.  but never cold.  never cruel.  he’s remained humble and kind and he’d never place himself above anyone.  he’s a gentle soul who’s suffered through hell but he refuses to allow his past to define him and how he treats others.  that’s how i wanna live my life, too, no joke.  john makes me wanna be a kinder person.  one of my favorite quotes from the game:  ❝i won’t let fear compromise who i am.❞   that mentality applies to more than just fear, i’m positive, and that’s just.  that’s just so good.  i love him sm sara omg

[aprillikesthings]

So I'm too lazy to try to hunt down all the interviews/reddit threads I've seen, bUT:

They were given a certain amount of freedom, but when asked "to the point of killing playable characters?" the writers avoid giving a solid answer, presumably to avoid spoilers/breaking NDA's.

There is a LOT of conjecture as to how it's possible for Jayce and Viktor to survive. (They mostly involve Mel, who is not a playable character. Yet. Look, if they don't make her a playable character, what a waste! But I feel that way about Sevika, too.)

It is worth noting: League of Legends changes the backstories of their characters all the time, without warning (which really fucks with fic writing lol). Like, Arcane's depiction of Vi and Caitlyn's childhoods was in opposition to the stuff on League's character sites, and on top of that, Caitlyn's childhood backstory (as of like a year or two before Arcane was released) had been changed at least once already.

Vi and Jinx being siblings was just a popular headcanon until Arcane--League people would specifically refuse to answer. (Which, side note! Means that if you read pre-Arcane Caitlyn/Vi fics, there are a couple where Jinx is Vi's ex-girlfriend.)

And, on that topic: Caitlyn/Vi as a romantic pairing has been heavily hinted at in their voicelines since just after they were both introduced to the game--they were the first two characters to have a special thing (a buff*) in-game when they're on the same team. The game versions of them....are very different. Game!Caitlyn is snooty and makes jokes about leaving the fuzzy handcuffs at home. Her "taunt" is literally her drinking a cup of tea. Game!Vi is dumb and punchy and thinks police brutality is funny. (Also: Vi is taller than Caitlyn in the game--but Caitlyn is very much taller in Arcane. Which means that when fic-writers decide to call one of them "the taller woman" they throw off people who shipped them pre-Arcane, lol.)

But back to League: playing the actual game is free, and one of the ways they make money is selling "skins" of the characters, which means League is constantly releasing official AU's of their own characters. K/DA (whose videos are animated by the same studio as Arcane, Fortiche in France) is a kpop AU. They just recently released a whole media campaign where a whole bunch of their characters are magical girls called Star Guardian. (There's characters in both K/DA and Star Guardian, to boot.) Some of their skin lines just get some splash art and maybe a short story, but some get, well. Music, and music videos, and "interviews" (seriously, K/DA had one with genius.com), and pages of story--some of which directly contradicts the current default game canon for their characters. (Evelynn is a succubus that's existed since the beginning of time...she's also a 20-something pop star who collects fancy cars and may or may not murder her ex-boyfriends.)

Tl;dr: officially the Arcane versions of everyone are an AU. (For now.)

(*don't ask me what a buff is, I do not actually play League, my partner (who has a tattoo of Vi's gauntlet that's multiple years old) told me about this)

so after watching the arcane finale, one of the first immediate questions that springs to my mind is: how free are these creators to deviate from the game league of legends?

cuz like. my immediate assumption was that they had to stick to the characters as established in that canon. and so, certain status quos can't be broken. jinx can't stop being a criminal, vi and her can't ever truly be on the same team, caitlyn can't quit being a cop despite it making sense for her character, etc.

and in most of the series, that seems to hold true. if you look at the series as a whole minus the finale, there's a lot more big, permanent status quo breaks in the first three episodes than the rest of it. so the origin story is told... then after the timeskip, the characters are who they're "supposed" to be. play ball. download league of legends today!

but that finale, huh... jinx shooting at the council. jayce AND viktor (both of whom i understand are playable) presumably dying. that is a genuine break from the game's canon, and it opens for a lot more creative freedom, unless s2 reveals them surviving somehow.

so uh. are there any creative interviews that clarify this? i really want them to be able to do whatever they want with the story.

[ameliette]

TCW Liveblogs: Walkabout Arc

ie. 7x05-7x08

oops no screenshots this time :p i got... lazy. or something

may 1st 7:30PM

ONTO NEW CONTENT [note: i rewatched s6 right before this one]

"if there is no path in front of you, create your own" nooooo

THIS EPISODE STARTS... oh wait no thats not ahsoka's theme. but its the force theme

"hey, why are you helping me?" "why wouldn't i? seemed like the right thing to do"

HELLLLLLL YEAHHHHH

o.O ahsoka's gloves still have the same shapes as when she was a jedi

"i heard stories [of the jedi] when i was a kid. guess they're not true"

HOLY SHIT

BC THIS IS NEW CANON

THAT'S IN DIRECT CONTRADICTION TO THE LEGENDS ROTS NOVEL

WHICH LITERALLY CONTAINS THE PHRASE "two jedi starfighters. only two. because the adults are wrong and their younglings are right. even though this is the twilight of the jedi, it has saved its best for last"

"my older brother taugth me" AHSOKA HOLY SHIT

THAT CAME SO NATURALLY

ADDING THAT [rots] QUOTE I ALMOST STARTED CRYING I AM NOT GOING TO BE OKAY TONIGHT IT SEEMS

oh nooo trace and rafa remind me of nate and sam now

"i can only take so many punches to my head and still be considered a pilot"

... holy shit this episode passed the bechdel test in the first minute WITH FLYING COLORS I JUST REALIZED

LOTHCATS

lol they keep reusing that mandalorian civilian male model

ahsoka's jumpsuit it 70s as fuck ant its really funny

oh ahsoka's belt is also probably repurposed from her old clothes. and i dont know whether i should say she repurposed it or its a modeling repurpose

rafa's shirt reminds me of something and i cant figure out what??

"you dont think you might be the trouble she needs to stay away from?" thaaat sounds gay

WOW

OH

MY

GOD

WRITERS

YOU

DID

NOT

JUST

REPEAT

THAT

FUCKING

SCENE

FCUK

IM EITHER DYING OUT OF FEELS OR DYING OUT OF LAUGHTER

"fly normal!" AND ONCE THE DISCUSSION IS OVER

THE SHOT SWITHCES TO THE BRIDGE

AND ITS YULAREN AND ANKIN

OK FINE TO THIS POINT

BUT THEN ANAKIN SAYS

"captain, what was in that transport"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

ITS 'ITS AN OLDER CODE BUT IT CHECKS OUT' ALL OVER AGAIN

I CANT WITH THESE WRITERS

AND THEY SENSE EACH OTHER DONT YOU TWO DARE

SDLNGSLKSFLNELNEDLKNE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

yularen: "should i send a detachemnt"

anakin: "no, its nothing"

JESUS FUCK

THEY DID THE WHOLE FUCKING THING

WHY ARE YOU ON KESSEL

"picking up medicine" suuuuuure

kessel???? thats not kessel

im... reasonably sure that's a reuse of another model

ok theyre not on kessel anymore

jesus fuck you three

it is kessel? thats weird i never thought kessel would.... and it didnt look like that in rebels and solo?

... thats why

one half of the planet is beautiful forests, the other is the wrecked mining area

rafa: "there's no slaves on an operation this large. the repiblic would shut it down." ahsoka: "yeah, you'd think so."

:< trace already lost her faith in jedi, why does rafa have any faith in the republic as a whole?

funny how ahsoka ends up as the problem solver all the time

hello wilhelm scream :D

ahsoka probably having nice flashbacks to escaping the jedi temple

helLO THERE BO-KATAN

THESRES MORE OF YOU!!!

oh that wasnt bokatan

but bokatans friend, and thats enough!!!

because the more of them included bokatan!!

[glancing at end credits]  .... URSA?????? WAS ONE OF THOSE NITE OWLS URSA WREN???

HOLY SHIT IT WAS

PLEASE SHOW CAN YOU SHOW HER FACE NEXT TIME

IM TERRIBLE AT VOICES I ONLY REALIZED THAT WHEN I SAW THE NAME URSA IN THE DANISH VOICE ACTOR LIST

ARE YOU KIDIDNG ME

THIS HAS FINNISH VOICE ACTOR LIST

IS DISNEY+ FUCKING OUT IN FINLAND ALREADY [note: it's not, but i sure like this confirmation of voice actors]

ahsoka: doesnt want to reveal shes a jedi

also ahsoka: meditates in plain SIGHT

[glompcat]

One fanon thing that is directly contradicted by canon multiple times, yet clings on and confuses the fuck out of me is the idea the Jedi kidnap children, much less babies.

Where the fuck does this idea come from? 

Canon tells us time and time again that all the children at the temple (who are generally 4-6 years old when they arrive there - TCW suggested there is a holocron that records the names of kids whose parents called the Jedi to take the kid far too young who they are going to get when they are a bit older, because you know, unless there is a real need to the Jedi don’t take babies - you can’t teach babies I mean come on what would be the point) are there with full parental consent, that their parents often just sent for the Jedi, and canon makes it clear that the Jedi would never remove a child from a home where the family does not want the child to be sent to the temple unless doing so would be rescuing the child from an unsafe condition (see: the kid in the cage at the sart of Yoda Secret War). 

Before you ask for my canon sources on this, not only do we never see anyone younger than about 5 or so in the temple ever (save Ahsoka who was noted as being extra young when she arrived there at age 3), Both Children of the Force (TCW S2E03) and the Ahsoka novel made it really clear there was an age the Jedi felt was appropriate to start school, and that parents chose to send children to them, and it seems to map pretty directly with when kids start kindergarten generally.

Hell we’ve also been shown over and over again that the Jedi super respect the culture of origin of the members of the order, with countless Jedi dressed and tattooed in ways that are traditional for their people. 

They don’t even seem particularly narrow minded about how to view the Force, we can often see Jedi displaying knowledge and respect for different cultures’ particular expressions of Force worship, and based around the number of Jedi who dress in traditional ways for their people it would not be a surprise if they also observe their culture’s form of Force worship while being part of the Order.

Beyond that, I never understand why so many fan things treat it like... families worry about having their kids taken from them? Which wasn’t really a Galactic worry until the Empire and the Inquisitors combing the Galaxy to take Force-Sensitive kids away.

All indications seem to be that having a Jedi from your family, (a Jedi baring your family’s name!) is an honor beyond measure. 

I mean Huulik’s family on Rodia is still super proud even 19 years past the purge, even with all the anti-Jedi propaganda out there.

It isn’t like the Jedi ever had to kidnap kids, parents were very eager to send their offspring to them to learn - so much so there were entire slave rings focused around intercepting calls parents of Force-sensitive kids made to the Jedi and then kidnapping those kids and enslaving them before they learned how to use their powers, since Force-sensitive slaves were especially valuable. One of the things I regret most about the show ending is we never got to see the Clone Wars ep about when this happened to the then three year old Ahsoka.

Yet fanon is just full of people who were literally kidnapped and parents freaked with worry the Jedi may take their kids away, which just ??????!!!!????????????? THERE IS NO BASIS FOR THIS IN CANON

Like was this a thing in Legends that I missed because the only Legends era I cared about was the New Jedi Order? ‘Cause it is 100000000000% not a thing in and canon and like why do so many people think the Jedi were evil baby stealers it makes no sense???????????????????????????????????

[ganymedesclock]

y'know, i've actually headcanoned for a long time that link has a connection to the fierce deity. as in, the 'hero's spirit' is basically the fierce deity adopting a mortal form. and your post on botw link? DOUBLED my belief in that headcanon. he's literally called the FIERCE deity for crissakes. and that is exactly how i would see the fierce deity behaving, but he'd be, like, immortal, and able to do even crazier things in the quest to find all the fucks he gives.

Interesting thoughts! I mean, I dunno if I’ve ever really placed where the “fierce deity” is in the rough pantheon we see, but I have a bit of another idea. It’s long-winded, but bear with me. 

First, by my headcanoning, there’s the older gods, and the younger gods.

The Golden Gods/Triforce Gods are the older ones, and they’re basically just a force of change. I’ve imagined that they have a better understanding of mortals in general, and are much more in tune with mortal desire. But because of this, they don’t pick sides nearly as much as the younger gods and to a degree mortals themselves assume that they do- for example, Din continues to favor Ganon as her blessed champion, because the virtues that drew him to her, and his choices, continue to hold onto Power, and so, she continues to return Power to him.

I consider them older, because according to OOT, the Golden Gods are the ones who created everything, and Skyward Sword emphasizes this by suggesting that the world after it was created was left in Hylia’s care. (that said, we can’t quite consider that legend an unbiased source as it’s told by Hylia’s followers and worshippers only- and seemingly contradicted, because why would the Golden Gods create Demise and leave both Demise and Hylia behind if they only intended for one of them to rule? Awfully Convenient For You, Hylia.)

Hylia and Demise are the younger gods, and fundamentally irreconcilable with their predecessors’ relationship with change and mortal will. Both of them are equally domineering and controlling, in that they have only their game plan for Earth (ultimate order/ultimate entropy) and if they weren’t in some form of stalemate they’d both probably bring about The End Of Everything. Which is probably why the Golden Gods have chosen champions on both sides of most incarnations of the cycle.

Besides that, the only deific mention we’re given is the God of Time, who is heavily implied to be Hylia herself, considering in BotW the Temple of Time has a giant goshdanged statue to Hylia, and in Skyward Sword, Hylia’s sealed temple has the Gate of Time.

But with that setup- there’s not really a place for the Fierce Deity, if that Deity is in fact a god. All we really know about them is that, seemingly, they had to die at one point in order for the Deity’s Mask to exist.

But, considering the Hero’s Shade in Twilight Princess, we’ve known prior incarnations of Link to have a lingering presence. And it doesn’t help that even moreso than the other masks Link dons, Fierce Deity seems to look quite a bit like Link. And according to Majora, FD is “the ultimate bad guy.”

Now, I headcanon Majora is a demon who was more or less abandoned and grew up as a feral child. But considering the demons as a race subservient to Demise- who would possibly be “the ultimate bad guy” to them besides the original hero who cut Demise down and sealed them- the first incarnation of Link?

So basically I wonder if the Fierce Deity isn’t really a god- but, maybe, a demigod. Because there’s another headcanon about Link.

Outside of a nebulously mentioned mother in OOT, Link never has a direct parent in any of his incarnations. The closest he’s come is a grandmother (WW) and an uncle (ALTTP) but we don’t know if Link is biologically related to either of them.

However, Link’s patron deity out of the Golden Gods is Farore- the mother goddess. The one who is credited with birthing the races out of herself.

There also appear to be several incarnations, such as Twilight Princess, where Link is born with the Triforce of Courage.

My thinking: Link might not be the Fierce Deity in mortal form because the Fierce Deity may simply be another name for Link- in that Link is functionally a demigod of divine parentage, and thus a nebulous “deity” without temples or worshippers. 

The other two triforce bearers both have some element of this- it’s stated that all incarnations of Zelda are linked by bloodline, back to the original Zelda in Skyward Sword, who was a mortal incarnation taken by Hylia. This would tell us that Zelda is not merely a child princess, but a demigod herself. Ganon is nebulously tied to Demise’s curse, but more directly, his position of the Gerudo King suggests he has some sense of divine heritage- something @golvio has explored in her meta (specifically, golvio brought in other deities exclusive to the Gerudo, a sun goddess and a moon god, with the idea that Ganon takes his heritage from said moon god, which was entirely before Breath Of The Wild and the whole Blood Moon thing went and canonized Ganon having lunar sway)

Thematically it would also make sense that a “fierce deity”- as ferocity is often associated with wildness, feral qualities- would be subservient to the goddess of nature, Farore. In Twilight Princess Link is bound thematically with wolves, and in Ocarina of Time he was raised by a powerful earth spirit and among what basically amount to the fair folk. Virtually every incarnation of Link is presented as an outsider from a small, humble place, a fringe-dweller who interacts closely with wilderness.

I’m specifically thinking of how in the TP mission to protect the cart, Telma says that Link has the eyes of a wild beast, and that they need that, describing him basically as “a beast to keep the real ones at bay” and that’s exactly the kind of thing I’d imagine from the name “Fierce Deity”- evoking something terrifying to drive away misfortune.