#they're people not character archetypes

[torontofetish]

hetalia and the nations really are, to me, just an elaborate metaphor. that's why it's hard for me to have really solid headcanons or even just think about them in concrete, unchanging terms. but i also think that's a strength of the series because it lends itself so intensely to creative exploration. i'm not tied down to one interpretation so they can change and shift as i need them to, and every possibility can exist simultaneously in my mind without contradiction. it's cool and very unique imo

[kikizoshi]

Sun and Moon as Two Broken, Overcompensating Parts of a Whole

I think treating Sun and Moon as opposing coping methods in the same person/body could be an interesting slant to the Daycare Attendant. Where Moon is the part of the DCA that needs them to stop, to rest, they can't keep going on like this. And Sun is the part of the DCA that can't stop no matter what, that has to keep things together, that can't let them rest because the moment they relax everything will fall apart. The need for rest vs the need for progress, acted out in two personalities in one body. Neither are fully right, and neither are fully wrong. They can't give up and succumb to their circumstances (Moon), but they can't keep burning themselves out trying to shove broken pieces back together (Sun). And actually, both are making what the other needs a hostile option. Sun needs to rest, but he can't because the moment he does, Moon will shove him down forever. Moon needs the drive to keep going, but Sun is actively burning them out and making it so excruciating that Moon can't even consider trying. Since neither can reach true peace solely with their own methods, they overcompensate with their faulty coping mechanisms and spiral almost past the point of no return.

That's why merging into Eclipse finally gave them peace. Because together, they have the ability to rest, take things calmly and slowly, not succumb but allow space to breathe. Whereas apart, they literally split at the seams; Sun will forever keep trying to run and Moon will forever keep trying to stop. Crucially, because both are a part of a whole--they'll never be able to operate on their own entirely because they each need the other to be their whole self. Which is literally what Eclipse is. Yin and Yang slotted together.

(This post is a mix of speculation and ideas for how the DCA works in a narrative. It's not meant to be a lore analysis or 100% canon-accurate, just to work from a story perspective.)

[yusiyomogi]

i'm sorry, but when discourse about mithrun switched to "he acts violent and cruel", i just couldn't take it seriously anymore. i mean, come on guys, is dunmeshi the first manga you've ever read? or like. the first media you've ever interacted with, ever? it's his entire character archetype! i'd even say he's one of a nicer examples, he didn't even kill anyone and had a good reason not to care about other people (yet somehow did anyway). i was rewatching slayers the other day (haven't rewatched it in years) and the character similar to him literally smiled as a maniac as he was electrocuting the main character with a spell. in the next episode he helped her escape and they became bffs. this is literally what that weird concept they call "suspension of disbelief" is all about

[musical-chick-13]

I think people who pick one character from AsoIaF/GoT to be The Protagonist are missing the point, because pretty much all of the characters think THEY are The Protagonist™ and that’s ultimately what screws them over.

(I also want to preface this by saying that that’s the reason I find these characters so interesting, and that this is not meant to insult any of them. I LOVE this story, and this is one of the many reasons why.)

Cersei thinks she’s the Villain Protagonist™ of a gritty drama. Even if it doesn’t make sense for things to work out for her, she assumes they will, seeing everyone around her as faceless idiots serving her narrative. Anyone and everyone will betray her because that’s what always happens in stories like this, so she won’t give them a chance to ever get there. People will move the way she assumes they will; everyone is predictable and stupid and shallow and cowardly. And as such, no one possesses the necessary skills to take her down. If she’s more ruthless and ambitious and paranoid than everyone else, she’ll get what she wants. But that’s not how life actually works, so all she does is alienate those around her, even necessary allies. People aren’t always predictable, not all of them are compliant or subservient or easily-frightened or incompetent. And if you prioritize ruthlessness and distrust, the people who aren’t those things aren’t going to see any reason to keep you around or give you aid.

Jaime thinks he’s a Cynical Misunderstood Antihero. He doesn’t need to work on bettering himself or de-internalizing his violent impulses, because he’s not the problem, it’s society, it’s people’s incorrect assessment of him. Look, he made a friend in Brienne, that must mean he’s not all bad, right? He thinks this story ends in a Public Image Rehabilitation, but he still conflates love with violence, and he still has a fucked up relationship with consent, he’s arrogant to a fault, he still insults Brienne (and just about everyone else) when the opportunity presents itself, and he never bothers trying to change that. And it’s all of this that prevents him from every truly becoming a good person. He’s so mired in this idea of being misunderstood that he doesn’t make a concerted effort to prove that he actually is. People think he’s an oath-breaker, that he has too big of an ego, that he doesn’t care about the people he swore to protect, and he thinks that simply going, “Yeah, but they don’t have the whole picture” is enough in and of itself to prove them wrong because, in a lot of stories, it is. But all his behavior does is cement his reputation as these things.

Dany thinks she’s The Chosen One, which means whatever she does is automatically the right decision. People will accept her rule because it’s hers, she deserves it, it’s morally right. All of her enemies are blanketedly wrong on all accounts in all cases. Her goals supersede anyone else’s because those goals are the way to a Happy Ending, and she doesn’t consider that other people might not see it that way. Many people’s gripes with her stem from gross places like misogyny or wanting to continue keeping slaves, but she forgets to acknowledge that some people’s issues with her might actually be valid. And that The Chosen One is actually a terrifying idea to people outside that person’s immediate personal context. She has three sentient WMDs, essentially. And if she thinks that using them is always morally correct, that the fallout from doing so can’t possibly be a problem because she’s using them and it’s for a noble cause, you end up with what happened in Astapor; and you end up with Drogon killing a child in Mereen and, eventually, her demise at the end of the show.

Sansa starts out thinking she’s an Optimistic Child Hero in a fairytale. This leads to her being held captive at court (she trusted that the authority figures were benevolent), writing a letter to her family that almost comes back to bite her to a deadly degree once her sister finds out in the show (she thought she could solve everything herself via a peaceful resolution), and to her trusting a complete monster of a boy until it’s too late (she thought he was Prince Charming). She thinks that being the Soft, Beautiful Heroine means people will love her and everything will end nicely and neatly, but sometimes instead of “love”, people just take advantage of you. And sometimes their reaction to your beauty isn’t innocent appreciation-sometimes you end up with Littlefinger. (Or Tyrion or The Hound who...let’s just leave it at “they have their own issues,” especially book-wise.) This morphs into assuming that a fairytale-esque betrayal will befall her with every new person she meets. It’s why she defends Petyr after his murder of Lysa, and it’s why she doesn’t leave with Brienne; if she’s going to be betrayed anyway, she might as well at least stick with a villain she understands.

Ned thinks he’s the Noble Hero in a typical fantasy series. He doesn’t consider everyone else’s capacity for cruelty or the idea that honor alone might not be enough. Sometimes there are no perfect choices, sometimes mercy does not give you the end goal you envisioned, and sometimes you can try your best and that can all be undone by one impulsive, unforeseeable action. You can’t honor your way out of ruthless political conflict.

Robb thinks he’s a Romantic War Hero, and thus everything will magically work out for him. His ideals and his marriage will conquer everything. But he broke a marriage promise to a powerful family, and that has consequences. The world won’t bend to his will, not even if he is doing the right thing or has noble goals, not even if he’s had war success, not even if the people at home love him, not even if he’s in love (show) or doing the most honorable thing he can (books). He thinks that being the hero means he can make it through Westeros without having to play the game, and he gets murdered for it.

Theon thinks he’s an Underdog Outcast Hero. He’ll come up from behind with an unsuspecting War Victory, and that will earn him respect, the love of his family, and a legacy he can look back on with pride. And that mindset leads him to murder two children, to drive away any allies and good grace he had at Winterfell, and the reason that the War Victory he imagined was so unexpected is because it’s completely untenable. He gets more and more desperate and it’s increasingly harder and harder to hold onto the control he’s managed to obtain. He has reasons for wanting this that make sense, and he’s been dealt a pretty bad hand in life, and he thinks that’s and his determination to overcome his personal identity struggles is enough to not only justify his actions, but ensure that those actions will be successful. And then his plan blows up in his face, he assumes he’s been miraculously saved (probably still having something to do with seeing himself as The Unexpected Hero), and ends up at Ramsay’s mercy.

Arya thinks she’s a Badass Heroine in the making, a skilled swordslady and Rebellious Princess who’s destined for more than this stuffy life of politics and dresses and formalities. But rebelling isn’t always enough. It doesn’t help with the Mycah situation, and she still needs to rely on others’ help in getting out of the city after Ned is executed. When she does try to embrace the “fully self-sufficient sword lady” idea while with the Faceless Men in Braavos, she is told to functionally discard her identity completely. She does an unauthorized kill because she, not her assassin-persona-in-training, wants to (though the victim’s identity differs in books and show), which leads to her being temporarily blinded and prevented from going on assassination missions, and outright forced to beg for food in the show. In the show, after being reinstated as an apprentice, she is tasked with killing an innocent person, refuses (rebels), and realizes that this life is one she can’t handle. She goes home, and her heading straight for her sword is one of the things that almost completely ruins her relationship with Sansa. In the upcoming Winds of Winter release, her chapter excerpt has her prioritizing revenge over her apprentice duties, and she remarks that her new identity is ruined with this rebellious action. When you rebel, there are consequences-this doesn’t change just because your intentions are good or because you are or think you are important.

Jon thinks, similarly to Ned, that he’s The Good Guy, that doing the right thing, that following The Code is paramount. He thinks that, because he’s The Good Guy, that doing the right thing with the maximum amount of good for everyone will always be a workable option, and that the heroic option will always yield the best result. This is why he thinks proclaiming his love to Ygritte in the show will end well (because love is good and conquers everything) and is, instead, shot by her several times. It’s why he doesn’t foresee a mutiny in either medium, which leads to his (temporary) death. (Let’s be real, he’s getting resurrected in the books, too, this is the one thing I’m sure of.) Because yes, everything is tense and he’s on bad terms with the Watch, but surely they wouldn’t go that far. It’s rough going, and he has to juggle the needs of several widely different groups of people, but he’s doing the right thing and that will win out; his conviction will protect him, at least for the time being while he tries to manage the bigger threat of the White Walkers. The real fight is with them, the mysterious overarching enemy, not within his own ranks. This is a story where everyone puts aside their differences to fight a greater threat-except for the times when it isn’t.

Even Catelyn isn’t immune, as she assumes that Petyr, since he’s her childhood friend, is invested in solving the mystery of what happened to Bran when he tells her the dagger used in the attack was Tyrion’s. Lysa is her sister, she can’t possibly be suspicious. She thinks the Lannisters are evil, her instincts tell her that they were behind everything, she’s the Protective Mother Heroine, so she must be right. But although she is to a certain extent correct, that’s not the complete picture. And this slightly-misplaced confidence leads her to arrest Tyrion, the retaliation of which is Tywin siccing his forces on her homeland, one of the major first steps in the upcoming political war. Then, her continued focus on saving her children-something that must take precedence because they are her children, and this is her story-leads her to taking Walder Frey’s supposed offer of a fix-it solution for Robb breaking his marital pledge at face value, despite House Frey’s reputation, and despite this neat resolution seeming far too good to be true. She’s so focused on the Lannisters-the Obvious Endgame Enemy-that she doesn’t consider the possibility of betrayal from the Freys. She thinks that the world is giving her a break-because she is so desperately looking for one, because she deserves one, because her family deserves one, and those are reasons enough for her to have one-that she doesn’t even bother to re-evaluate the situation until it’s too late.

Melisandre thinks she’s a Religious Hero, but she ends up burning a child alive and alienating one of her few remaining allies in the process (and Davos was barely an ally to begin with). She thinks she’s Doing What Needs To Be Done to serve her savior, but it hurts Stannis more than it helps him, and he just ends up being murdered by Brienne. This is obviously in the show only (at least at this point), and I don’t know if Stannis is going to burn Shireen in the books or not. Stannis thinks he’s the Lawful Hero, and thus, because according to law he’s the Rightful Ruler, anything he does is automatically excusable; he’s just righting a wrong. And in the process, he imprisons his closest friend, has a hand in murdering his brother (when kinslaying is one of the most universally hated breaches of conduct in this fictional universe), allies with a dangerous woman that much of his own court despises, and, in the show, murders his only child and drives away most of the rest of his remaining team.

They all think that, since they are the main characters of their own stories, that they’re the main character of the larger, overarching narrative. That having understandable reasons or sympathetic qualities or even just having a clear goal that they desperately want, that’s enough to cement their importance. And they think that means that they’re justified in everything they do, that everything will work out for them, that the consequences will be lesser for them than for others, because that’s what it’s like to be the main character. The whole point is that there is not A Protagonist™ and that maybe we should examine why a story needs A Protagonist™ in the first place and what that narrative tradition tells us. When GRRM said he turned down adaptation offers because they only wanted to focus on Jon and Dany, this is why.

[variousqueerthings]

the nature of being a johnny lawrence fan, is that it is often indistinguishable from being a johnny lawrence hater, and I don't think I have that with any other character. usually I'm very protective of my faves (including in cobra kai, daniel, sam, kreese, and tsilver), but johnny, I very much enjoy reading all the reasons people dislike his character, nodding along like "yeah what an inconsistent mess, you're so right, carmen pls u deserve better narrative to work with, terry silver was telling the truth when he mocked his fatherhood abilities, but alas the writing will never support it"

[crehador]

one thing i love about slf is how hard it subverts the hot girl harem trope. like yeah you have the mc playing as a guy whose party is all girl avatars. but literally none of them are into him (and the one girl who's into him is Big Time Struggling to get into the party REI PLEASE GIRL USE YOUR WORDS YOU'RE SO OP I'M SURE THEY WOULD LET YOU IN)

like arthur is even a hot girl supermodel in real life but also a complete dick (affectionate) and her and sunraku are just absolute assholes to each other (positive) literally zero romantic tension there

then there's katzo. obligatory spunky tomboy girl of the group. and he's just some guy lmao

then there's emul. npc rabbit with a hot girl form. but sunraku is never not normal about her

maybe i'm just setting a very low bar but it's refreshing and fun! to see these interactions between people that are just. genuinely and completely there for the game

[oveliagirlhaditright]

...Don't kill me, guys. But is it bad that I wasn't that crazy about the new Missing Link scenes?

I can't really put my finger on why.... I think it's because, somehow, it just didn't really feel like Kingdom Hearts to me, nor did it really have the Kingdom Hearts magic that I'm used to (though I know that that can be subjective and we're still early in and I should give it more of a chance, of course. And I plan to).

I kind of felt like I was playing a different game, like Persona or something (says someone who has only seen a little bit of Persona 3) or maybe the Tales series. IDK.

And the characters just seemed rather trope-y to me.

There were a few things that grabbed me a little bit, and seemed kind of interesting, but I think I actually was more interested by our last preview of Missing Link (which was the first time I cared about it, ever) than this one.

Sorry. Don't mean to rain on you guys' parade:(

I'm hoping to change my mind, of course, and am looking forward to what the next update (hopefully soon) has in store.

Though I will say that I'm impressed that we have four chapters already (even if they are pretty short). And it gives me hope that, as the devs have hinted at, we're not going to get anything at all resembling a KHUX or Dark Road situation where story is concerned. Thank God.

[hypermascbishounen]

The same people who compare Peach with Zelda, and conclude that Peach must be inferior because she is too pink and feminine and bubbly, and therefore definitely a brainless damsel with no good characterization, also completely ignore or misgender Sheik because the idea of a woman also being a man makes them uncomfy.

[zybilna]

Hot take but 90% of the time when people are like "oh I never play human characters in rpgs, they're just so boring aesthetically" they end up having a gallery of characters that looks like this

[gee-b-positive]

The nickname of "prince" is a bit of a burden, isn't it?

[maulfucker]

Any headcanons for obimaul?

I headcanon the hatesex is insane <3 but unjokingly I am. not really the type to have specific headcanons. I enjoy experimenting with possibilities and seeing what fits the situation I create to put them in more than having set ideas about characters' relationships

[meezer]

re: previous post I can't tell you how annoyed I get at the fact that the public perception of "person with PTSD" is, in the minds of most, a war veteran who gets scared of loud noises or whatever. not only because it creates a sympathetic narrative for the military industrial complex, reframing the soldiers as the real victims when they feel guilty after taking lives, but because like that post says it means a) people are unable to recognize symptoms of PTSD in themselves so they never get better because they don't think there's anything to get better from, and b) people have less understanding and patience for people who have PTSD from other causes, especially when their symptoms are less palatable and easy to manage than those seen on TV. most people you meet who have PTSD don't have it from going overseas to shoot at people because the united states wants their oil dammit, they have it from abandonment or neglect, or an accident, or witnessing something traumatizing, or health issues, or bullying, or abuse or any number of things that don't come down to ":( I get really scared and sad when I remember I killed people in another country and also had to watch a fellow soldier die"

[gerykei13]

Taylor Swift albums but I've been taking a lot of road trips recently and my imagination likes to make storylines out of albums so I thought I'd explain some of them:

folklore: two stranded friends oddly reconnect again when a guy that didn't know what he wanted breaks up with one over the summer, getting them into a 'high school love triangle'. Some get married, some others don't, some get divorced, some dedicate their lives to help, and some die. Fate brings them all to separate ways, eventually getting forgiveness, love, and closure, and eventually reunites the two of them in the same saltbox house. 50s-60s setting, some sapphic undertones, and death.

evermore: a love triangle between two stranded high school friends, one moved on, one stood still, and the former's fiance, who's well aware their relationship is going nowhere. No one gets married, she would've made a lovely bride thought, and there's an unsolved murder case in between the drama. Eventually, they all learn to let go, some run away, like you'd run from the law, and others just move on with their lives. 70s-80s small town "where the crawdads sing-style" setting, sapphic undertones are actually very much evident lol, and death obviously.

speak now: once upon a time in the 1500s off in a foreign land, a young prince made friends with a forest witch, eventually falling in love. There's dragons, magic, love, and a tragic ending full of hope ahead. "A Canterlot Wedding" vibes, medieval-ish setting, sapphic side story of course there is one I AM going to make everything gay because it's my headcanon/fanfiction and I can do whatever I want, someone dies holding their head like a hero on a history book page

red: a recent middle-class divorcee unknowingly makes friends with with her ex-husband's mistress. A tale of youth, growing up, letting go, and forgiving. They get separated at the end because not every story has a happy ending, you should know that by now. Themes of grief and anxiety come into the story. Late 2000s setting I guess I never really thought about the timeline on this one, a BIG sapphic storyline, I already said grief so I also want to mention there's a lot of bright lights scenery and an ambiguous long-distance ending

[softened-hearts]

i love the turtl s so much. they mean everything to m e

[bredforloyalty]

i don't think we do luv i don't think we do

[the-busy-ghost]

Me: Ah nice I'll just have a little nap and then get on with my reading

My brain, an hour and a half later: 'Now let's go back and talk further about George Kirrin...'