#this spec is based more on the narrative we have already. last season i based it on hypotheticals of romantic pacing

[sometimesrosy]

you think there is a huge probability or chance that we see bellarke first kiss and declaration of love this season? and if season seven is really gonna be the last one jason can put them in a established relationship and being endgame without erasing that.

yeah that’s what i think.

i know i said s5, but after the season I did some re-evaluation of my s5 theories and noted that they weren’t actually debunked. they followed my speculations for bellarke development but much, much more slowly. And when I looked at the various character arcs, i realized that only some of them had been completed, while others had been left open and hanging and still others had not even started, which led me to the conclusion that they slowed down narrative that dealt with interpersonal relationships and split it into (at least) 2 seasons. 

Putting them in cryo made no time pass, even though 125 years passed, and they were clear about how when they woke up all the betrayals and relationships and repercussions would still in play. And you can SEE it already, in the trailer. 

I have always had a hard time finding the timing of the character arcs, because they don’t follow the season long narrative arcs. Because it is not a traditional tv show structure. It’s long form storytelling and I was not sure how long his vision went. 

BUT because we’ve started some stories, finished some, and not started others, I can see the pacing that he’s working on for these ACTIVE narrative arcs.

Bellarke romantic storyline started, explicitly, in season 5, and was left hanging with one secret revealed (2199 calls) and one secret still unrevealed (octavia poisoned for clarke.) The love triangle is CANON and unresolved. Echo’s character arc has not yet begun. Bellamy’s hero’s journey has been met. Clarke’s has not. Clarke’s reunion with Murphy and Raven has not happened yet. Memori has wrapped up more or less, Marper is fulfilled happy ending, Kabby is paused in the middle, the Blakes are a BIG story stopped in the middle and may take three seasons to resolve.

Bellarke romance? I see it as 2 or 3 seasons depending on your definition. The first season (5) was Bellarke reunion, Clarke back from the dead, her fantasy boyfriend who ended up being real and too much for her to handle, and breaking her heart, and so she betrayed him, then repented and let him go so he could live and be victorious. Bellamy discovering Clarke was alive, dealing with his panic/trauma from losing Clarke again and again (particularly with leaving Raven behind and sending Echo off and poisoning Octavia to save her,) confronting his romantic feelings for Clarke in the face of Echo and also Clarke’s abandonment (again) of him. And his discovery of the 2199 calls which told him that Clarke did indeed care for him and changed everything about how he dealt with her. Bellarke are REUNITED, once again TOGETHER, soulmates where they are supposed to be. They are each in love with the other but withholding their feelings for the other because they are not sure and also b/e is an obstacle. s5 was their reunion and facing the effects of 6 years apart. And the reunion was resolved, but it opened the door into the next phase of Bellarke which is:

Bellarke romantic feelings and expression thereof. We KNOW already that they are going to address the 2199 calls. We know already that B/E exists still in ep1. I expect feelings to be revealed and to change how they behave with each other. How that will affect b/e or c/b/e is still to be seen, but according to the character of Clarke, Bellamy and Echo separately, it will not be ignored and B/E will end. As early as ep3 (that’s a guess and a possibility not an absolute. just a feeling. beginning of the end for b/e.) I think we’ll start getting that romantic tension AND sexual tension. They are back together, but they CAN’T be TOGETHER TOGETHER, so that means the feelings and desires must be held back. I don’t know at what point the kisses, confessions and sex will happen, but I expect them to come in stages, just the way the reunion did. With some backsliding to make them uncertain and put the end in doubt (conflict adds to tension.) I expect that there will be a bellarke separation and Bellamy, in particular, won’t have faith in her feelings for him, because he’s never believed in that. I expect that we’ll see a parallel to “it’s worth the risk,” when she sent him into the mountain and he thought it was because she didn’t care for him after all, but it was actually canon confirmation that she thought her feelings for him (love) were a weakness. “I was being weak.” Love is a weakness. It occurs to me that that is the scene where the Bellarke romance was broken. Just like all the traumas, we’re revisiting them to resolve and fix them. And create a better world. Clarke did not choose Bellamy in the “it’s worth the risk,” scene, walking away from Camp Jaha, In Polis with Lxa AND Hakeldama. I expect to see Clarke CHOOSING Bellamy in ep11 I think. Where she makes clear to him that he is her choice, and they resolve all those abandonment issues, which leaves them TOGETHER, in all ways, including romantic and probably sexual, and possibly newly established and public as a relationship, so that they can face their final battle together, strong.

Last season I couldn’t place the romantic development with the story lines of other characters or other narrative threads, this season, I can see the storylines coming up because they are either unfinished from last season, or there are CLEAR parallels to previous traumas, like MW=Sanctum. Or princess mechanic=c/f/r=c/b/e.  The more separate storylines that can connect back to the romance, the more likely it is that the romance is going full main plot. And canon. There are A LOT of narrative threads connecting back to bellarke this upcoming season. It is not just about their feelings anymore. 

As for s7? Yeah there’s no room for established Bellarke in season 6. But established Bellarke in season 7 would allow for a culmination of the post apocalyptic REBIRTH of the world. Clarke and Bellamy are the mother and father. In canon. Mama Bear and Captain Daddy. space daddy. best daddy in the universe whatever. Y’all know it’s Captain Daddy. In trigedasleng, that has a phrase. Nomon and Nontu. Mother and father, number one and number two, a mated leadership pair in charge of a village. That’s bellarke. There is no reason for that phrase to be in the lexicon because it has NEVER been used in canon, but it’s been there since season 3 when I was looking for a trigedasleng name to call Bellarke in one of my fics, and I found that one and I was like, well heck, that sounds like it was made for them. And here they are now, named mom and dad and heading into marriage/paired leadership. AS we also head into the resolution for s1 declarations of purpose like “life should be about more than just survival,” and “i’m trying to make sure humanity deserves to survive.” AKA Monty’s charge to Bellarke. Be the good guys. Live a good life. 

The story sounds like it’s wrapping up and part of the wrap up is to bring Bellarke together as a mated pair so they can help create a new society and usher in the rebirth of humanity. Bellarke established couple. Because that will reach the culmination of what Bellarke has been heading for, every season getting deeper.

So.

s5: Bellarke reunion.

s6: Bellarke romance.

s7: Bellarke marriage. (whether that means an actual marriage or symbolic idk.)

[superlinguo]

Practical advice if you want to start a podcast

I wrote a post for the RED team at La Trobe with some general advice for podcasting, but I’ve found there are some recurring questions that I get about setting up a podcast. This post is here to answer those questions.

If you’re not interested in starting a podcast, but want to listen to more linguistics podcasts, I’ve got a list for you!

I last updated this post in June 2021 - if you find this post a few years after this you might want to search for some more up to date specs. I’ll continue to update this from time to time as new questions (or answers) come up.

Picture your audience

Before you make any decisions about your show, know who it is for. Your topic might be incredibly niche and have an audience in the hundreds, which is very different to a potentially larger but less engaged audience. See the classic blog post from Kevin Kelly on the power of 1000 true fans. Knowing your potential audience, where they hang out online, and how they’re likely to support you, will help your decision making. I have a self-guided slide set for refining your project before you start working on it. It’s also ok to know who you don’t want as your audience, and make choices that don’t actively include them. Do this early and clearly so people aren’t disappointed. For example, having a show with clearly noted explicit language selects away from young kids and their parents.

The length and format of your show are a product of your aims

I personally like shows in the 25-35 minute range. But, having said that, I love Shortwave, which regularly clocks in at 10 minutes, and I’m disappointed when an episode of You’re Wrong About is less than an hour.

Know your audience and the level of depth you want to explore a topic in. The frequency of episodes and the amount of time you have to prepare and edit will also affect how long episode end up. Record a few episodes first and share them with people you trust will give you good feedback.

The best interviews are conversations

Good interviews are just conversations that are intentionally lopsided, and good interviewers make the conversation feel like it’s not lopsided. Do your homework, write out some questions, and then take a step back and actually listen to the person you’re interviewing.

Anyone who has done even a few interviews has already faced most of the questions you first think of. There are some fixes for this: push through your initial brainstorming, think about the specific angles on their topic that are most relevant to your audience and (again) listen to what the person is telling you. Like many podcasting skills, good interviewing takes practice, and you can practice by staying curious about humans you interact with in any area of your life, not just your podcast guests.

Use the best mics you can, but don’t over-invest

You don’t have go and buy the fanciest tech. If you have access to a studio, great! If you don’t, then decide what your budget is. When we started Lingthusiasm, Gretchen recorded into her phone, because we were running the show on no budget and had no idea if we’d stick it out more than 6 months. When we started making money we got Gretchen a Zoom H4n to match mine. It’s still not the fanciest, but it’s rugged and adequate, especially if you make sure you’re in a closet with some blankets. Do I regret the earlier episodes of Lingthusiasm don’t sound amazing? Not as much as I would have regretted investing hundreds of dollars in a podcast that had 4 episodes.

Edit your show

Even a light edit will make the show easier for your audience to listen to, and show respect for the people you interview. I know people believe there’s an aesthetic of authenticity that comes with not editing, but all podcasting is a performance. Editing is a politeness to your audience.

Editing means a very wide range of things. You can do full production editing, including the addition of music, multiple different voice-overs and voices reading parts (e.g. getting someone else to read author quotes to bring them to life) and additional sound effects. Or you might just edit out the start and end of the recording, and any false starts and errors throughout the show. A lot of the pauses and fillers we use in conversation are designed for an audience who is in on the conversation and can reply, and can feel like they’re holding up a conversation when you’re a passive listener like a podcast audience. Many of the best conversational podcasts are given an edit to make them easier on the ears.

I use audacity to edit

Audacity is free to use. It takes a little longer to learn than something like GarageBand, but once you know how to use it, you’ll be much faster at editing. I appreciate that it has stayed pretty much the same since I started using it almost 15 years ago.

Get your levels right

Once you’ve edited your show, making sure there aren’t too many loud laughs, or your two hosts aren’t unbalanced in loudness. You’ll also need to make sure your podcast isn’t too loud or soft compared to others in people’s list. You need to regularise it. A lot of podcasts regularise to -16 LUFS. A few other numbers bounce around (-14, -18), but this is what we use and no one complains.  Audacity can’t do it. You can process a certain number of hours of audio for free each month using the web-based Auphonic. It’s great. 

There’s lots of great free music to use

You want to look for music that has a license that’s free to use. Even if you don’t plan to make money from your podcast, make sure the license includes commercial use so you don’t limit your future options. SoundCloud and YouTube have lots of options, as does Kevin MacLeod - who has created royalty-free music in a massive range of genres. 

Web hosting is different to getting your show on iTunes

We use SoundCloud to upload and share our audio. It’s fine. I have no complaints. Once you’ve uploaded a few hours of audio you’ll have to pay annually for a pro account. Anchor seems to be a good new competitor, it’s free - I assume they make money off people choosing to run ads on their podcasts. You then generate an RSS feed, which is the thing that points all the podcast players to the place you’ve uploaded your recording. You’ll then have to add your show to major podcast platforms (Apple Podcast, Google Podcast), smaller ones will pick it up from there.

It takes a few days for your show to get picked up on all the podfeeders

Launching a podcast is a bit of a mess - it will go live on your hosting site but then you’ll have to set yourself up with iTunes, Google Podcast etc. and that can take a few days to update and populate. The sites that are popular, and the process of linking into those spaces, changes often enough that you should just google advice when you’re ready to launch, and give yourself a few days. This is part of why some podcasts launch a short ‘episode 0′ or a trailer, it gets the show set up.

Transcripts should be one of the first things you fund

Not every podcast has the time or funds to make transcripts. I do think they’re important though; for people who can’t or don’t want to listen, for discoverability and for your own record when you can’t remember when you talked about a specific story. If you have any time or money and want to be taken seriously at all, this should be one of your earliest priorities. This is even more true for educational podcasts, where a transcript ensures all students can appreciate the content of your show.

You don’t neeeeed a website, but it’s handy

You can run a show using a hosting platform and some social media. Having a website does allow you to add more information about the show and yourself. The Lingthusiasm page has grown over the years as the show has; we made a page for our liveshow events, we provide a list of episodes by topic, information about our Discord community, and our marvelous wall of supporters. The website was much more minimal when we started, but compared to just having a SoundCloud it gave the show room to grow.

You probably want socials, but be selective

You need to make your podcast discoverable by people who are likely to be your audience. Social media is one way to do this, but it’s better to be actually engaging on fewer social platforms than overextend yourself. Focus on platforms that are the intersection of where your possible fans are likely to be and where you enjoy being.

Funding a podcast takes time, and takes work

There are three main revenue streams for podcasts: advertising, crowdfunding and merch. A fourth option is institutional support (through your university or business), but then you’re beholden to the funder. Whichever revenue options work for you, think about them and plan towards them early. Part of that is making sure your podcast gets in as many ears as possible. Most successful podcasts spend as much, if not more, time on marketing, audience engagement and business planning as they do podcasting (it’s just not very glamorous to admit that!).

Choose whether each episode can stand alone

Some podcasts build a narrative over multiple episodes. Others allow listeners to jump in at any point and listen in any order. Whatever you choose, make this clear to your audience. This choice is going to influence a range of choices around what information to include in the opening and closing, how topical to make the show, and how you promote your podcast. 

Seasons are a great structure to keep a podcast manageable

Regardless of whether your show runs in a sequence, planning a season with a fixed number of episodes allows you to take some time off, to maybe change some things that weren’t working, or to step away from the project with a podcast that hasn’t been left hanging.

[amwritingmeta]

End of S15 Spec: Is Cas Returning to Heaven?

My dearlings, my sweetlings, my buttery, Scottish shortbreads -

We’re in times of great turmoil right now and my only way to relax myself out of the need to check my Twitter feed every other minute and retweet all the inspiring or infuriating or educational stuff that’s coming at me left, right and centre, is to write. I started working on this piece of spec a little while back, after talking to @waywardliliana (hey girl hey) and last week I felt inspired to start writing this spec-meta-hopes-and-wishes-whathaveyou, so here we are.

This spec was actually brought on by Liliana telling me a prevailing theory in fandom right now (or a few weeks back) which is that Cas is going to die in 15x18. 

As far as I understand it from Liliana, this theory is based on the fact that Jensen and Misha were talking at VegasCon about having shot a heavy scene just the two of them (and quite possibly with Alex) before heading off to the con, and this scene is taking place sometime during 15x18.

That’s literally all I know, but that’s what I’m basing this spec on: something heavy happening between Dean and Cas in 15x18 as per “confirmed” by the actors themselves.

So, off the cuff: I don’t think Cas is going to die. 

Mostly due to narrative reasons, because I can’t see how him dying would service the story they’ve built for him this season whatsoever (let’s not forget about his deal with the Empty) (and I’ll dig deeper into that) nor how it would play into his individual arc as a whole, but also because it’s too repetitive. 

We’ve seen him die an angel death, we don’t need to see it again, nor would it be as impactful as Cas’ death at the end of S12 (and beginning of S7) where both instances can be looked at as serving to push Dean into a state of grief, where we got the chance to feel the loss and absence of Cas through how it affected Dean. Yeah? (yes!)

It’s always been beautifully handled, to be honest. Dean losing faith (and most starkly his faith in himself) when losing Cas. It happened in the S7 greif arc, and it happened in an even more condensed and pointed way in S13.

Because in S13, unlike in S7, Dean is no longer forcing a smile and pretending he’s okay. Instead, he’s wearing his anger like the armour it is, while telling Sam he’s fine, which Sam sees through very easily, and we do too, because of course he’s not fine. Until we finally get Dean admiting he needs Sam to keep the faith, because right now Dean can’t believe in a damn thing.

*mh mh good*

(it even happened to some extent in S15 after Cas left) (though then he was more in the I don’t give a fuck anymore mood) (once Cas comes back who is it that suddenly cracks the case of how to fight God wide open?) (yup) (our Dean that’s who)

So what would Cas dying bring to Dean’s individual arc this time around? 

What would Cas dying mean for Cas’ individual arc? 

Cas has died specifically to underpin Dean’s progression (or rather, to show us where that progression needs to take him) (and to give us a gorgeous underlining of how Cas is Dean’s happiness because of Dean’s attitude change when Cas comes back in S13) (hey-oh!) and Cas has died specifically to allow for his own rebirth, to push him into a new stage in his own progression toward self-actualisation, so killing him at the end of his journey would mean… he ends up in the Empty?

But the tying up of the dangling loose end that is Cas’ deal with the Empty needs to be linked directly to Cas giving himself permission to be happy.

I will dig deeper into this, but I doubt we’re getting him permitting himself to be happy in 15x18, because looking at this show’s narrative structure as it’s always been used before: either this moment needs to be linked back to his individual arc and his growing sense of identity, or it needs to be tied to Dean (because no enormous turning point for either character happens without it affecting the other) and neither of these are, to me, entirely viable.

That said, I mostly don’t see Cas ever going back to the Empty based in what I see the Empty as symbolically representative of, which is Cas’ Shadow, his unconscious, and Cas returning to its dwelling is a symbolical statement of defeat. He can’t fight the Empty, he can’t destroy the Empty, not while he is in the place where the Empty has the upper hand completely. Cas ending up in the Empty means his Shadow has won, there will be no integration, no self-actualisation, and Cas’ journey ends on a tragic note indeed. 

Is that a fair reward for someone who has just overcome his fear of happiness? Because when the Empty shows to claim Cas, we’ll know that this is exactly what has happened, and it’s an incredibly important moment for Cas’ progression, signaling self-acceptance and self-love, daring to allow himself to feel that happiness, and, or so I would hope, doing so in clear defiance of the Empty’s lingering threat. 

Because Cas feeling that strong in himself that he actually permits himself the happiness of the moment, knowing full well that it means the Empty will show, and feeling ready to face it head on (I mean, I have a loophole in mind, but I’ll get to that), it would be gigantically symbolic of how he’s crossing that threshold he’s been stood on for so long, no longer letting any of his fears rule him, no longer feeling any doubt or mistrust in himself.

*gah*

Cas actually being claimed right after his happiest moment and ending up in the Empty is not a fair reward, and Cas will not be narratively punished for reaching the climax of his progression. 

So, no, I simply do not believe he’s set to die.

More on the Empty and all that happiness goodness as we go along.

Now, the following thoughts are based in my reading of this narrative, so let’s proceed with caution and I’m handing out salt for you to sprinkle all over this piece of pure speculation. Sprinkle it at will, please!

Let’s begin with my main speculation for the final few episodes of S15, which is:

Cas’ powers are fully restored and he goes back to Heaven.

How would this happen? I would suggest that, as we’re witnessing Jack begin to come into his full power (he’s already levelled up from archangel), growing ever more sure of himself in the process, we may get to witness the full extent and wonder of that power, and what better way to showcase the budding culmination of them, than through Jack mending Cas’ broken wings? 

Of course, this is mere conjecture. There are a multitude of ways that Cas might end up powered up. Even God could play a role. Suggesting Jack is the source of this transformation is merely to create a foundation for the scenario, and it’s also fitting, as Jack has served to bring Cas a great deal of faith in his own capabilities, so Jack would serve well to give Cas the final push toward self-realisation, and Cas may very well need to remember what being whole as an angel feels like, to gain perspective on how to answer the ever-lingering questions of who he is and who he wants to be.

The biggest questions on the table for me, if this were to happen, are: 

Would we get a heartfelt goodbye between Dean and Cas in 15x18 (heavy stuff), where their respective role in the other’s growth comes to a conclusion, and they take the lessons learned and carry on alone, but fulfilled, and grateful for having known each other, leading to a series ending where Cas stays in Heaven? 

Or—>

Would we get to witness that heartfelt goodbye between Dean and Cas, but then, instead of staying in Heaven, would we get Cas, fully powered, gain the perspective he needs of who he truly is and who he wants to be, leading to a series ending where Cas chooses to become human, returning to Earth and all the shenanigans of a hunter life?

And finally —>

Is there a middle ground here?

There’s an old narrative question that comes to mind, posed to Cas in S9 (you know of which I speak), which is an articulation of Castiel’s deepest internal conflict, serving as motor for the character journey he’s pushed onto through meeting, and saving, Dean Winchester.

Two years ago I wrote an essay based around this question, and now, at the very end, I’m going to pose it again, and build the following meta analysis and speculation around what my answers to the above questions are, and why. 

Angel or Man?

One straightforward question.

And yet, Cas’ identity crisis has been with him from the very start of S4, and this question has been at the back of his mind, grating away, causing confusion and erroding his sense of self, because he’s loyal to everyone but himself (perfectly mirroring Dean) and that dual loyalty - Heaven and Dean (humanity) - has always been the baseline for why he can’t answer this straightforward question for himself.

Since S13, when he got himself out of the clutches of the Empty and chose to return to Earth, there’s been, to my mind, a heavy subtextual hinting at Cas having made an actual and very real choice of where he wants to belong - no longer waiting to be told he belongs there, the way he’s shown to be throughout S12 - and this real choice of where he wants to belong comes after we’ve gotten to witness his declaration of love towards Dean and the Winchesters, Cas telling them they’re his family in 12x12, so it fits nicely with his internal progression.

It fits especially nicely when considering the Empty as a symbolic representative of Cas’ Shadow (Carl Jung for the win).

Because Cas standing up to his unconscious fears and telling them to release him makes a double underlining for why Cas, from 13x04 and onward, has been shown to be growing into his sense of belonging, leading to him finding clarity of where to draw the line for himself, without worrying about outside opinion; this moving into a sense of real self-worth reaching a culmination in him standing up for himself to Dean in 15x03.

In fact, Cas standing up for himself was an enormous internal turning point for him, and brought on an enormous internal turning point for Dean, which may hopefully lead to clarity for him as well, and healing, as Cas putting his foot down forced Dean to finally be the one to name the feeling that usually overrides everything else: his anger.

(many secondary characters have tried to bring this awareness as they’ve pointed this out to him) (dark!Kaia especially) (but it took Cas’ righteous anger and distancing for Dean to finally be forced into a position to admit it to himself) (and through it, admit his lack of control over it) (huuuuge step in his movement toward much needed self-insight) (being honest with yourself is the first step!)

*gah*

Now, if Cas has been shown to choose where he wants to belong, for himself: Earth; then throughout S13 and into S14 he was still shown to be heavily reliant on his core trait of loyalty in order to have a pronounced direction, because, to me, his purpose throughout these two seasons leading into S15 still needed to be dictated by where he could apply his sense of duty.

Once he returned from the Empty, it was made perfectly clear that his sense of duty had gone from Heaven, to Humanity. 

Not only is this shown through how Cas states, more than once, that he willed himself back to Earth in order to fulfull his promise to Kelly Kline and protect her son, but it’s also given to us in how he uses his angelic powers for torture, once of his own accord, and then (horrifyingly) under the orders of Dean: Cas no longer serves Heaven, he serves Man. (more specifically Dean)

However horrifying - because he shouldn’t be taking orders at all, and he shouldn’t use his powers as a weapon like that - this shift is necessary to underline Cas’ evolving relationship with Heaven, which had its first nail driven into its coffin with Naomi, when she forced Cas to slaughter all those Deans, and its final nail given to us through Cas killing Duma, Cas showing us that he is now refusing to allow Heaven to exact any authority over him and, intriguingly enough for where we’re at now, rather choosing to deplete the needed Heavenly power source in order to kill a would-be oppressor, rather than see Heaven fall back into its previous totalitarian mode of regime.

Cas learning lessons in humanity and wanting to take them to Heaven to fix his home has been part of his arc since the end of S5, to rather disastrous effect, since he was ill-equipped to properly understand and incorporate lessons only half-learned.

Through him breaking away from Dean and leaving the bunker in 15x03, Cas showed independence in a way he never has before. 

Of course, he’s always been the one to leave at a moment’s notice or disappear without so much as a by-your-leave, but this was a confrontation, tied directly to Dean’s inability to listen and to forgive. 

It’s Cas refusing to be taken for granted, and this shows us how the biggest lesson the narrative has been trying to teach him is finally beginning to take proper hold, because refusing to be taken for granted means that his self-worth is at a point where he’s able to expect more for himself, because he knows he deserves better.

And, or so this meta writer would argue, because he knows Dean is better than how he’s behaving, and Cas is fed up with enabling Dean’s self-righteousness. *headcanon*

So, Cas is now equipped with a lot of the tools needed to bring actual balance to Heaven, to bring strong, good leadership that doesn’t look at human beings as something to scrape off the sole of their shoe. He has a stronger understanding of why humans human, and a sense of compassion that doesn’t cause doubt or confusion, but leaves him secure in his own viewpoint.

That said, we still have him identifying himself as a “thing” in the latter part of S14, which is something that leaves us without the actual answer to the above question, because even towards the end of S14 we have Cas unable to label himself as either or.

In fact, I would say that labeling himself a “thing” alongside Jack - a nephilim who is of Heaven, Earth and Hell - speaks to some amount of identity confusion. 

So then. 

Let’s ponder the final episodes - keeping in mind we’re just having some fun speculating - and consider the possibilities surrounding the final destination of Cas’ character journey, as well as how the possible outcomes affect his relationship with Dean. 

Castiel, Angel of the Lord

Scenario the First —> Cas’ powers are fully restored and…

We get a heartfelt goodbye between Dean and Cas in 15x18 (heavy stuff), where their respective role in the other’s growth comes to a conclusion, and they take the lessons learned and carry on alone, but fulfilled, and grateful for having known each other, leading to a series ending where Cas stays in Heaven.

I mean, it’s emotionally neat, to be honest, because if we leave Destiel to the side and look at the plain text, Dean and Cas’ bond can be tied to their respective individual journeys through how Cas represents Faith to Dean, and Dean represents Humanity to Cas.

They are each other’s most repressed sides manifested, and they are an externalisation of each other’s internal compass, pointing them to the internal work they need to do to be able to reach self-actualisation through acknowledging, accepting and embracing what the other represents to them.

For Dean, it’s learning to have faith in himself, to trust, and in so doing, letting go of his need for control, tied directly to that anger of his.

For Cas, it’s facing and fully accepting the innate humanity he’s always displayed, trusting in it and having no reason to question, doubt or fear it.

So if we get a series ending where Dean is finally having pronounced faith (in himself, not in a higher power) (which is why God as the Big Bad is especially fitting like omfg), and this faith allowing him to tap into his sense of trust (in others rather than himself, but also this extended trust being possible thanks to his newfound trust in himself) and this sense of trust brings about some much needed inner peace, then Cas’ role in Dean’s arc has been fulfilled. 

And if we have Cas bringing his accrued understanding and internalised humanity (trusting that his sense of compassion is a strength, not a weakness) back to Heaven in order to bring about actual balance and finally mending what he himself has played a large part in breaking apart, then that would fit with Cas’ overall arc and the lessons Dean, as a role model, was meant to teach will be implemented. 

Neat.

Except.

Except for the fact that, if Cas goes fully-fledged angel, returns to Heaven and the series ends on him staying there, these three narratively unsatisfactory points hold true:

He will still, when dead, be bound for the Empty

He will be giving up his family

He will, end of the day, be embracing duty over freedom

Yeah, we need to talk about these three unsatisfactory points, fam.

1. The Empty

Ah, yes, here we go. 

The lay of the land is that Cas made a deal with the Empty to save Jack. I wrote a long meta on this so I won’t go into too much detail, save to say that it’s a deal that left Cas promised to the Empty, with the twist that the Empty won’t claim Cas before he gives himself permission to be happy.

Yeah. Ouch much?

I’ve already argued my point for why I doubt Cas will die, but what would happen in a scenario where Cas returns to Heaven fully-fledged, meant to remain there for the rest of his… existence?

I would suppose there would needs be a reckoning between the Empty and Cas before Cas commits to this return, because since they planted the Empty lording its deal with Cas over Cas’ head as recently as 15x13, I have a hard time seeing the writers solving this plot point with anything less than us seeing Cas relaxing into a moment of happiness-permission.

That said, let’s say they do. Let’s say there’s a flick-of-the-wrist solution. I don’t think there will be, but for the sake of argument. And by flick-of-the-wrist I mean we get the Empty showing up in a moment where Cas is truly happy, but the Empty’s appearance doesn’t hold sway thanks to some external force: Jack or Death herself, rather than an internal triumph linked entirely to his individual arc, or in any way linked back to Dean. 

(and though some may argue against the love story being canonically viable) (though I’d argue that it is) (the fact that Dean and Cas share a profound bond and a different dynamic to Sam and Cas, and even Dean and Sam, is canonically established) (through both grief!arcs for Dean) (and through Cas choosing to leave in S15 having everything to do with Dean and absolutely nothing to do with Sam)

Solving the deal with the Empty is fairly easily done, even though the flick-of-the-wrist solution won’t be as satisfactory for most of us who know Cas and root for him, and even if the flick-of-the-wrist moment could conceivably come with someone powerful enough (like Jack or even Death, who, though she won’t do hands on interference, seems to have made a promise to the Empty that it will get to go back to sleep once all is said and done) (but, as we know, Billie speaks in riddles), despite the viable characters possibly powerful enough to destroy the Empty, actually destroying it immediately feels, to me, like too big of a cop out and I doubt the writers would even consider it. 

Again, this is very much based in my reading of the Empty as Cas’ Shadow, and Cas’ Shadow shouldn’t be destroyed. 

For it all to symbolically line up, the Empty should be symbolically integrated. 

(the way Michael - Dean’s Shadow representative - wasn’t destroyed, but instead had his essence swallowed down by Jack, becoming a part of him instead, and all that symbolic toxic masculinity poison inside Jack leading to all sorts of narrative repercussions, needing to be levelled out by Jack growing enough to retrieve his soul and return his own internal equilibrium) (which, in turn, is highly symbolic on so many levels) (but enough digression)

Based on this, once the battles are won and God has been defeated, the Empty would remain. So even though the deal is dealt with through whatever means it’s dealt with: that dark, vast, nothing would be the place where angels who die go to suffer a restless, horrific sleep.

For eternity. 

And that’s my first argument for why I personally do not want Cas to remain an angel past the conclusion of the show: the Empty looms as victor and will eventually get to claim Cas, even if Cas gets out of the deal he’s made.

I mean, how likely is it that Cas doesn’t face death at some point, really? He’s pretty prone to dying, especially dying for what he believes to be right. 

Digression into The Middle Ground as it should be tied in here:

The Middle Ground

Scenario the Third —> 

Is there a middle ground here?

Now, here’s a bit of a rub, because way I see it, exploring if there’s a possibility of Cas ending up neither fully-fledged nor human needs to be based in the assumption that Cas isn’t getting his powers back at all.

Which means that, in this middle ground scenario, whatever exchange that occurs between Dean and Cas in 15x18 has nothing to do with them. 

For example, the heavy scene that Jensen and Misha were talking about Dean and Cas suffering through could have to do with Jack, though if something terrible is going to happen to Jack or if Jack is going to sacrifice himself for the greater good, I have a hard time seeing Sam not being present.

However, for arguments sake…

In this scenario, where Cas doesn’t power up, we should thirdly assume that we’re left with there being no reason for Cas to choose a human life either. 

He simply remains in the same shape and form in which he currently is. 

The same shape and form that he’s held since S9, when he suited back up after the human!Cas arc and readied himself for war, necessarily and formidably and to his emotional detriment for many years as it brought on his darkest arc (Lucifer possession). 

This choice was a narrative necessity, because human!Cas was already growing into his own skin by 9x09, and it’s made perfectly clear why Cas had to go through it all, because he had to face his fear of being useless without his powers, and unaccepted as an equal and nothing more than expendable with them.

So, would the middle ground scenario - keeping him as is, with all the character progression intact and him, clearly, set to grow and evolve beyond the series’ ending - be narratively satisfactory?

And by narratively satisfactory I mean that this scenario:

ties up loose ends

justifies the obstacles Cas has had to overcome in order to get to where he is in his progression

leaves us with a good understanding of what the future holds for him, judging from where he’s at in his arc at the conclusion of the narrative

I’ll get back to this, but for now I’ll reiterate how Cas remaining an angel in any shape or form, be it the one he’s had for many a season, or a new and powered up version, still means, as per our narrative, that he’s going to have to spend eternity in the Empty.

So, no. 

To me - not satisfactory.

Now for the second point up for discussion, should the series end with Cas becoming fully-fledged and returning to Heaven to stay there —>

(while bearing in mind that this is all conjecture and based in my reading of this narrative) (don’t forget them pinches of salt, my loves)

2. Giving Up His Family

Would he have to give up his family, though? If he goes fully-fledged and returns to Heaven to lead in any capacity, doesn’t that just mean that he’ll hear Dean’s prayers and return as often as he can? Which, if their previous track record is anything to go by, would be often. It’s not like this is an ending, right?

Well. 

I think it has to be for the narrative to actually have a conclusion. 

They could half-ass it and leave the ending open to interpretation, sure; but the question as it stands to be answered is for Castiel to choose between being an angel and being a man, and narratively the half-assed answer is how he’s been living for the majority of his journey.

He has, since S9, been sincerely stuck between these two modes of existing, one foot in Heaven and the other out of it, and for a lot of his progression, this half-assed state of existence has meant horribly broken wings and thinking himself only useful as a weapon.

The narrative itself has pushed for Cas’ internal conflict to be centered on how to honestly answer the question of what his true identity is, and the only way for him to answer it honestly is to gain perspective enough so that he’s able to take a long hard look at who he wants to be.

Due to this, Cas’ internal conflict, since S4, has been circling Cas’ avoidance of being honest with himself. (perfectly mirroring Dean)

So for the narrative to end on the answer being angel, only for Cas to continue to be allowed to half-ass it (because it would be too sad to watch him make a choice that means giving up his family) leaves his journey, and all those hard-learned lessons, coming across as rather pointless. 

He was stuck half-assing it for all these years because he hadn’t found the needed perspective to answer the question honestly, so if his honest answer is angel and this honest answer is meant to bring self-actualisation and a step toward real internal balance (or internal completion, if you will) then leaving him in a half-assing it state as the narrative concludes is unsatisfactory.

Let’s look again at the ways to narratively satisfactorily end Cas’ journey:

tying up loose ends

justifying the obstacles Cas has had to overcome in order to get to where he is in his progression

leaving us with a good understanding of what the future holds for him, judging from where he’s at in his arc at the conclusion of the narrative

The answer is yes to all of these points if Cas becomes a fully-fledged angel and STAYS in Heaven, with no detours to Earth, because angels aren’t meant to walk the Earth, and it was them walking the Earth after staying away for two thousand years that really started this whole roller coaster ride of destruction and mayhem, right? Right.

Castiel making peace with his past and accepting the fact that he was never meant to live an earthbound existence, taking all the good things humanity has taught him, and fully embracing his own innate humanity in order to take away the fear and indoctrination of Heaven, would make for a satisfactory ending to his individual arc.

At least the superficial reading of it.

And I’m not about the superficial reading of it. 

And of course I don’t want this for Cas. But looking at it from a purely narrative viewpoint, I can see how this could work.

It just means that Cas would have to recognise his ties to Dean for what they are (in this scenario): a teachable moment. And Cas has learned his lessons. And he’ll always be grateful, but it’s time for him to let go.

Yeah, like I said, I don’t want this for Cas or for Cas and Dean, but I can see it as viable. More viable than Cas half-assing it as a fully-fledged angel, because that leaves a much bigger narrative exclamation point for me in that it basically invalidates the necessity for his broken wings and rebellion as part of his character growth.

If he’s going to land back exactly where he started, then he should’ve been able to get there fully-fledged. But, of course, he couldn’t get there fully-fledged because the writers couldn’t work him into the narrative if he was powered up.

He was always too powerful an ally to the very breakable brothers, and if he’d been fully-fledged throughout, it would’ve messed up our sense of the stakes.

But now, should he be allowed to half-ass it as fully-fledged once the narrative has ended, his brokeness, which has always been so essential to his progression, will come across much less as an integral part of that, and all the more like nothing but a narrative necessity, rather than a way to structure and explore Cas’ needs as a character for internal growth that have always, so beautifully, mirrored Dean’s needs.

Of course, if Cas were to choose to go back (forever), then there’s the highly satisfactory tie-back potential of a goodbye between Cas and Dean linking right back to the end of S8, giving us the gravitas of the “ET goes home” moment in full regalia.

It would be heartbreaking af, but for it to hold that gravitas, ET really has to get on that spaceship and go off home forever this time. You know?

In my book, it would be the tragedy to end all tragedies. *please no*

3. Duty over Freedom

This is a big one for me.

It’s a big one because the overarching and driving themes of our narrative have always had to do with —>

identity (and self-worth)

family (and loyalty)

freedom of choice (and duty)

And the constant push and pull of these three thematic threads decrees the ups and downs of Cas’ progression, as well as Dean’s, because of the way that their deeply rooted view on duty is directed at everything and everyone but themselves, and this view on duty is informed by their sense of loyalty, and that sense of loyalty is all askew due to their lack of self-worth.

Sam has this same duty-triggered sense of loyalty as well, though in a slightly different guise, because though Dean and Cas have both been messed up by their respective fathers’ indoctrination into soldierdome (the root of the root of their view on duty) Sam’s sense of duty is to his father figure, which is Dean. 

Sam may have rejected feeling any sense of duty towards John, but the codependency has ensured that Sam is still stuck in the same pattern, has learned it, one might say, through looking up to Dean and, to my mind, knowing the sacrifices Dean has always made, putting Sam first, no matter what, and the codependency has held due to Sam’s diminished self-worth after every choice he made during his time with Ruby. 

Defeating the devil and saving the world, in spite of those choices, wasn’t enough to heal the trauma he inflicted on his own self-perception, and his trust began to seep out of him with every new situation lobbied at him where control was taken away from him. So he handed that control over to Dean. And let him lead. Because it was just easier. 

(I love this show so much) (the threading is so breathtaking)

Now, back to Cas —>

The narrative has worked to teach Cas a lesson.

The lesson of choice.

But making choices without having the self-worth to trust your innate instincts, as well as having an understanding of your own morals and boundaries, is a recipe for disaster.

As the narrative has shown us, time and again.

Each horrific choice Cas has made has been pushing for him to gain enough self-insight that he’ll learn from his mistakes, and grow.

And he has.

There is the darker side of duty, the one where one does what one has to, where one makes the bad deal, where fear is allowed to govern one’s sense of direction, and old patterns are easier to remain in than forging new ones.

This is the sense of duty all of our main characters seem set to break away from.

But, of course, their core traits are also informed by their deeply felt need to protect innocent life, to step in where they know they’re the only ones who can actually make a difference, to take responsibility for ensuring the safety of people who are in harms way.

Yah, this sense of duty (the one that makes them into actual heroes) is informed by the good side to loyalty.

What they need to break away from is following old patterns blindly, without asking themselves what they actually want, and without much planning or hope for the future. 

So if the scenario we get is the one that gives us Castiel, Angel of the Lord, where he goes back to Heaven at the end of the series, with all the bells and whistles that comes along with that, allowing Cas to actually bring about some sense of peace and order and fix his home, then we still get the unsatisfactory ingredient of Cas reverting back to old patterns, because we have this stated:

You listen to me. Look, thank you. Thank you. Knowing you… It’s been the best part of my life, and the things we’ve shared together - they have changed me. You’re my family. I love you. I love all of you.

We have it narratively stated through dialogue that Cas:

considers his time on Earth the best part of his “life” (a very human thing for an angel to say btw)

that what he’s shared with the Winchesters has changed him (and we’ve seen that manifested in all of the choices he’s made throughout S13-15 where he stopped serving Heaven, began serving Man only to, by beginning of S15, start to serve himself, listening to his own wants and needs and setting clear boundaries for how he expects to be treated)

that he considers the Winchesters - and, of course, this now includes Jack - as his family

and he loves them

He loves them. One might say that his heart is, symbolically, earthbound.

Back to the bulletpoint overview of how to narratively satisfactorily end Cas’ journey and, keeping in mind the three points discussed above of what remaining an angel at the end of his journey would actually mean for Cas as a character, we ask ourselves:

Does him remaining an angel satisfactorily tie up loose ends?

Does him remaining an angel justify the obstacles he’s had to overcome in order to get to where he is in his progression?

Does him remaining an angel leave us with a good understanding of what the future holds for him, judging from where he’s at in his arc at the conclusion of the narrative?

For me, it’s a pretty big and hella bold-lettered no to the first two, and a meh to the third one, because yes, we’ll get a good idea of what a Heavenbound Cas might do with his existence, but it’s not a satisfactory yes, because of all the already mentioned reasons. 

He’ll have answered the identity question by choosing Angel as his reply, but that reply nullifies so much of the emotional growth he’s done over the years, and goes against the multitude of narrative statements given to us of where he feels he belongs.

So, nothing else to do but to discuss the second possible scenario on our checklist, right?

Yaaaaassss indeed. Not going to lie. I’m partial to this one. Pardon me if my love for the human!Cas arc shines through. (it glitters and sparkles)

So Very, Very Human

Scenario the Second —> Cas’ powers are fully restored and…

We get to witness that heartfelt goodbye between Dean and Cas, but then, instead of staying in Heaven, we get Cas, fully powered, gaining the perspective he needs of who he truly is and who he wants to be, leading to a series ending where Cas chooses to become human, returning to Earth and all the shenanigans of a hunter life.

My main reason for standing so firmly behind the idea of Castiel cutting out his grace and choosing a human life is anchored in the three thematic tentpoles of this narrative’s push for character progression.

As already mentioned, they are:

identity (and self-worth)

family (and loyalty)

freedom of choice (and duty)

The in-between state Cas has been hovering in since Dean’s death at the end of S9, an in-between state that won’t be satisfactorily concluded (as per my above argumentation against it) through him becoming a fully-fledged powered up angel of the lord warrior of Heaven again, would be satisfactorily concluded should he choose, for himself, that where he wants to be, where he belongs, is with his family.

He belongs on Earth.

And the foremost reason for why he belongs on Earth isn’t actually based in the fact that it’s where those he loves are, it runs deeper than that, because in order for Cas to feel whole, in order for him to feel, as the narrative has put it more than once in the last few seasons, complete, he needs to accept what his true form is, he needs to open up to what the narrative has tried to teach him and show him, for all these years, that it is, and that true form is human.

Do we need him to feel whole? There are plenty of broken people in this world, right? Why can’t Cas be representative of someone who has found his place, regardless of whether he’s all fixed up? Perhaps he keeps his broken wings and still changes his attitude from feeling like he’s a “thing” to thinking of himself as simply himself?

Perhaps he already is doing exactly that?

This line of questioning brings us back to —>

The Middle Ground

Let’s reiterate Scenario the Third: based in the assumption that Cas isn’t getting his powers back at all, and we’re left with there being no reason for Cas to choose a human life either. He simply remains in the same shape and form that he’s more or less held since S9.

Now, I’ll ask it again: would the middle ground scenario - keeping him as is, with all the character progression intact and him, clearly, set up to grow and evolve beyond the series’ ending - be narratively satisfactory?

Does it tie up loose ends?

Does it justify the obstacles Cas has had to overcome in order to get to where he is in his progression?

Does it leave us with a good understanding of what the future holds for him, judging from where he’s at in his arc at the conclusion of the narrative?

Well, let’s see.

Does Cas remaining as he has been - broken wings and all - tie up loose ends?

Loose ends for Cas would be the fact that Heaven is falling apart; the deal with the Empty; answering that overarching question of Angel or Man? (no longer considering himself an in between thing); claiming the place where he belongs (a Cas is Back in Town moment); displaying a healthy sense of duty (shield rather than weapon) and narratively being rewarded for Big Lessons Learned.

Loose End: Heaven is Falling Apart —>

As mentioned, Cas has tried to fix his home since end of S5, where he declared that was he was going to do to a grief stricken Dean, and left (oh Cas)

Cas’ first attempt was to bring what he’d learned about free will to Heaven, trying to teach it to the angels, discovering, to his great despair, that it’s like trying to teach poetry to fish, but, again, I would argue that Cas wasn’t fully equipped to act the teacher, and because he forced himself into the role, seeing no other way to beat Raphael than to push for the type of rebellion he learned how to stage through his time with Dean, it ended with Cas’ confused sense of identity manifesting in him morphing into the figure he’d hoped could save them all: God.

Rather than believing he was enough, he could see no other choice but to become something else entirely, something that went against everything he truly believes to his core to be right, turning him into something violent and discompassionate, pushing him to finally admit the error in his choice, only to have it be too late, and that choice ending up setting the Leviathan loose on the world while he died in that lake, paying the ultimate price for his mistakes.

This part of Cas’ backstory, the deep failure, the shame, the guilt that came with it, has been underpinning Cas’ lack of self-worth and, more importantly, his lack of self-trust ever since he came back in 7x17. 

This is why Heaven now sitting on the brink of collapse is tied so specifically to his character journey and why it’s an important loose end that is in need of tying up, not only plot wise, but as part of a narrative statement clarifying Cas’ progression.

How so?

Because there should be good reason - whether Cas stays on Earth as is, or whether he makes the choice to become human - for him to feel at peace with that choice, and especially if Cas is to stay as is - broken wings and all - there’s even more reason for us to understand that he’s no longer in-between Heaven and Earth: he’s able to let Heaven go.

So if Heaven is no longer crying out for him to, out of sheer narrative necessity, stay dutifully tied to that sense of guilt and shame that his previous failures have placed in him, keeping him feeling ever so responsible for his birthplace, making it rather impossible for him to actually weigh what he truly wants for himself, then once Heaven is balanced out, what we might get to witness is Cas able to definitively let Heaven go. Cas making one final choice of remaining on Earth, and making it for himself.

Saving Heaven from this threat of continued errosion is most easily accomplished through two narrative tools that are already established in the narrative:

Jack using his powers to help restore this balance 

or an archangel returning to Heaven and restoring a semblence of it’s former glory (Michael might change his mind...for example)

Both these things can happen without Cas being fully-fledged, nor does he need to be human, he can stay just as he’s been and Heaven can still find balance. 

One could even see how Heaven actually being balanced out at the end of the series and Cas being allowed to breathe again could be structured into serving as his narrative reward for Big Lessons Learned. Because there should be a reward at the end of Cas’ journey. He’s literally been to Hell and back. 

The thing is that for that reward to be apparent to us, we need to see the moment where he truly earns it, a moment that establishes that he’s not only aware of what the narrative has been pushing for him to learn, but the Big Lessons are internalised and his journey has worked to evolve him.

The simplest way of showing these Big Lessons Learned to the audience and clarifying this moment of Cas earning his reward, is by giving us a sense of Cas choosing. 

Why? 

Because the narrative, as already offered, is based in the theme of Freedom of Choice, and ideally Cas’ choice would tie directly in with the other two overarching themes of identity and family.

Which lands us in this question: What exactly would Cas be shown to choose should he remain as is? 

Because, to my mind, Cas remaining as he is makes it pretty difficult to show him making any sort of choice, since he is literally just staying as he has been, especially as he has been since he made that choice back in 13x04 of returning from the Empty to Earth, being sent back in his old vessel. 

See, he’s already chosen where he wants to belong, and S15, if anything, has underlined this choice having been made, through Cas’ confrontation with Dean, Cas leaving the bunker because of Dean, and then returning, before Dean apologised, because Dean being a dickhead no longer interferes with Cas’ sense of self: he knows where he belongs.

(and without him returning nothing will change) *slow eye-brow raise*

And it may not have been an overt Cas is Back in Town moment, but it came damn close.

So, then, what choice does he need to make?

For me, the choice isn’t where to belong, because the answer has been given to us through his actions since S13, but especially throughout S15, but rather the choice still ahead of him is how to belong. 

And lest we forget, should Cas choose to belong on Earth as an angel, he will still, by all accounts, be headed for the Empty once all is said and done, Because at the end of it all, the Empty will (most likely) get to go back to sleep. I cannot see it going bye-bye. 

So the fact remains that, even if there’s some way out of Cas’ current Empty deal, there’s nowhere else for Cas to go when he dies.

And after everything he’s been through (and as per the romantic in me) shouldn’t he get to go to Heaven, and shouldn’t it be a shared Heaven, one where his soulmate resides? I would argue with my last breath that the answer is yes.

But, my loves, there’s only one way for him to get there. 

Oh, let me add that I don’t believe Cas still has his soul, because then he wouldn’t have gone so completely to the Empty after his angel death. Honestly, I like it better that way, because the humanity of humans is often professed to reside with their soul, but Cas is a statement of how one’s humanity is actually tied to one’s choices, giving us an excellent example of how it doesn’t matter what you are, it matters what you do. 

Jack’s choices, for example, may have become heavily influenced by him losing his soul and his ability to feel fully, but most of his mistakes were brought on because of the lack of guidance he suffered. WWWD was not a very good piece of advice, and had Dean been the one to take on the responsibility (which he couldn’t, because of his suspicion rooted in all his own fears, but if he had) then the outcome would’ve most likely been a different one. 

I’ll leave the How Cas Can Get Into Heaven topic for now, and focus us back on the loose ends, because the one that sticks out the most - at least to me - is how, if Cas were to remain as he is, neither getting his wings back nor choosing to become human, we will not get an actual answer to the narratively posed question of Angel or Man?

Loose End: The Question of His True Identity

Cas remaining as is, isn’t a final choice. 

It may be an acceptance of how he has to remain broken and somewhat stuck in-between if he’s to live on Earth and be with his human family, but it’s not a choice, not really, not this late in the game. 

For me, this isn’t a deal breaker (in fact, no scenario really is because I in no way expect all of this to be hitting the spot to a T anyway) but it would be highly unsatisfactory.

Why is it so important to get a definitive answer to the Angel or Man question? After all, it was posed six seasons ago and perhaps the narrative has actually moved on from it?

Yes, this is absolutely a good point and a possibility at that, and, again, I am in no way deluded enough to think that all of this speculation will hit on what we’ll actually get with even the slightest precision, but for my own sake (which is really why I’m outlining all these thoughts yeah?) I want to push for why I still feel, to my core, that leaving Cas with broken wings, even if he finds self-worth and self-actualisation in that half-state, there is something deeply unsatisfactory in the loose end of not actually answering the question of which side to him - the angelic or the human - that actually brings him the most happiness.

(I almost wrote “which side to him actually sparks joy”) (but no) (I mean kinda yes he should Marie Kondo his insides) (we all should do that once in a while) (them mean thoughts and them self-destructive impulses?) (yeah they can go) (anyway…)

Not giving us a definitive answer to the question of identity is especially dissatisfying as the narrative, for over ten years of character journey, has shown us how miserable it makes Cas to not be earthbound. In fact, the one time he made the choice to go back to Heaven and close the gates behind him forever in order to save humanity, the narrative said nope, don’t think so - and brought him right back to humanity. By making him human.

I will concede to this being my interpretation of Cas’ journey, because nowhere in canon is this stated, but way I see it, Cas has been transitioning from angel to human since the second he touched Dean in Hell.

And it’s not a desire placed there by Dean, it’s something Cas has carried within himself, a curiosity, and a seedling of doubt, ever since he came off the assembly line with a crack in his chassis. 

Gripping Dean tight and raising him from perdition merely served to give Cas’ already existing curiosity, and doubt, something to actually focus on. Something to focus on so hard that all the brainwashing done by Heaven couldn’t keep it at bay anymore, because it’s part of who Cas truly is to question authority, to seek free will, to not be used as a weapon, but to step in and act the shield of his own volition.

Which brings us back to the second scenario, which I’m now going to expand on —>

So Very, Very Human (again)

Remember those three tentpoles of this narrative’s push for character progression? 

identity (and self-worth)

family (and loyalty)

freedom of choice (and sense of duty)

And what were all those loose ends in need of being tied up?

Heaven is falling apart

The deal with the Empty

Answering that overarching question of Angel or Man? (no longer considering himself an in between thing)

Claiming the place where he belongs (a Cas is Back in Town moment)

Displaying a healthy sense of duty (shield rather than weapon) 

Narratively being rewarded for Big Lessons Learned

I am not saying Cas has to become human in order for his journey to conclude 100% satisfactorily, thus spake the lords of storytelling; I am open to (no I mean it sincerely) whatever is headed our way, whatever the writers choose as an ending that is satisfactory to them, I will accept it, whatever guise it takes, yeah? 

This is simply my personal preference for what would be the most satisfactory to me, and I’m making that statement now, because I’m about to go headfirst into outlining exactly why. Thanks for sticking with me this far. You’re awesome. *heart eyes*

Okay. 

Human!Cas. 

Before we look ahead, I’d like us to look back, all the way back to S9 and the human!Cas arc, because I’d like to explain, briefly, why I put down the need for a Cas is Back in Town moment amidst those loose ends.

You see, when Cas first experienced mortality, we all know it started rough. It started with him feeling lost and being all alone and getting himself killed and then it continued with him believing he’d finally come home to roost in the bunker, only to be inexplicably thrown out, by Dean, and then Cas went on to find himself a human persona (Steve) and learning to mimick other humans and doing simply what he figured was expected of him, and then Dean came into town and because Dean encouraged Cas to get in on the case, Cas was brought into a situation where he had no choice but to face the fear of getting himself killed again, only this time he’d probably stay dead - a fear that had been festering like a terrible festering festerer - and once he’d done that, he was able to finally admit to himself that “Steve” wasn’t anything but an armour and he dropped that armour and then we got the Cas is back in town moment of 9x09 fame.

So.

It would be awesome for him to have another Cas is Back in Town moment. 

Why, exactly?

Because that’s the moment in the human!Cas arc when we are shown, unequivocally, that Cas’ sense of identity is flourishing. He is choosing to insert himself into the investigation, even though the last time we saw Cas, it was when he was told by Dean Touchstone for all Things Human Winchester to go and live his life, basically having it explained to him, by his foremost role model for what humanity is, that life, and specifically this newfound life of Cas’, should be lived away from dangerous things. 

Cas being back in town, and happy and proud to be so, is all about Cas embracing his innate need to protect, even if that means risking his own life, and choosing a hunter life for himself, finding his way back to the people he loves by being entirely honest with himself about who he is and who he wants to be, not allowing fear to rule him. 

He follows his heart, you might say. (go on, you know you wanna say it)

And yes, out of narrative necessity - because Cas can’t see how he can help save/heal Sam or stave off the brewing war as a human - Cas then chooses to swallow stolen grace and get his powers back, which, btw, brings about the most heartbreaking phone exchange between Dean and Cas ever. Ow. My damn heart.

So then, that’s the human!Cas arc in brief, and the core reason for why I feel so very strongly that Cas - who screwed himself by swallowing that grace, unable to see how he could possibly be useful in the fight as a human, even though he displays a stronger sense of self as a human than he ever has as an angel - would be happiest, at the end of his journey, if he were to end it on making the choice to become human, to live a mortal life, with his family, on Earth.

And, yes, then, rather than spending eternity in the dread Empty, getting to go to Heaven with the man he goddamn well loves, innit?

Ah, but there’s more. Oh, yes.

1. Identity

In ways that remaining an angel narratively simply cannot provide, Cas choosing to become human would cement the end of his transitioning period and would be the final marker for those Big Lessons Learned.

The Big Lessons presented to him throughout the narrative, meant to bring him to a point of growth in his progression where he can finally and honestly and without hesitation answer the questions Who am I? and Who do I want to be? ie. What do I want? 

And, yes, if the answer to these questions were: Human. and To live a long and happy life. then this would also answer the question of what Cas’ true identity is, ie. it would provide the conclusive reply to the Angel or Man? query.

And yes, of course, so would the reply Angel, but as I’ve attempted to demonstrate through my above argumentation, replying Angel still comes with dangling loose ends.

I would also argue that Cas’ happiest moment could be, and even should be, tied to his moment of self-actualisation, his moment of finally being honest with himself, not only honest about where he truly belongs, but how he wants to belong there.

He’s been missing that PB&J, but he has never believed that he would be of any use in the fight if he doesn’t have his powers. He’s been unable to actually see himself as part of the Winchester clan if he doesn’t have something to bring to the table, because the last time he tried, he was left with what he saw as no other choice but to admit defeat and swallow that stolen grace, so that he could power back up and feel ready, feel less vulnerable, find those old, worn patterns and take comfort from them. 

To have Cas restored to full strength - because I do believe it would be a beautiful moment, not just for Cas, but for Jack as well, and if Dean is there, then it would be an all around gorgeous moment of healing - to then have Cas, with all his powers, finally admit that he doesn’t want them, because he doesn’t need them anymore, they’re not as much a part of him as they’re a helpful side effect to being an angel, and he doesn’t belong in Heaven, he doesn’t want to be in Heaven, and he may not know exactly what a human life will entail - he has an inkling, since his stint as a human, but there’s still so much he’s never experienced - he just knows he wants it.

And this would all be brain-crackling, full of satisfaction and tying up of many loose ends, as well as underlining the actual necessity for Cas’ journey through all of the Big Lessons Learned. *feels*

There could be stakes added here, tying back to S8 and the closing of the gates. To bring about balance, perhaps the gates of Heaven and Hell need to close for good? Ie. there’ll be no more angels and demons walking the Earth. So the choice for Cas wouldn’t be an in between one, it would be an either or. Stay in Heaven forever and remain an angel, or go back to Earth, but go back as a human. 

It fits the narrative if anything like this were to happen - Cas being confronted with an ultimatum that forces clarity - because Cas isn’t contemplating cutting out his grace. Not yet. He’s safe within the status quo and sees no reason to question it, not even with the Empty popping up to remind him of their deal.

Aw, yes, let’s explore how the Empty so neatly ties in with Cas’ fear of happiness. (perfectly mirroring Dean) 

Now, remember, I’m looking at this with the Empty as representative of Cas’ Shadow, which, in Carl Jung terms means the Empty is a manifestation of Cas’ unconscious. 

The Shadow, made up of repressed thoughts, desires and feelings, doesn’t trust that anything will ever be okay or that anything good will last - it’s up to oneself to consciously strive to dare to believe in such things, and conquer one’s unconscious fears, because if our fears are allowed to influence and rule us, then real happiness will be difficult to accept as lasting, and the emotional roller coaster will feel safer than actually standing still in a balanced frame of mind.

The Shadow is in charge of that roller coaster. It’s not really as menacing as it’s made out to be through the Empty, but it is still a side to oneself that one has to face, accept and integrate in order to find that balanced from of mind.

Looking at it from this point of view - and I do - the Shadow telling Cas to keep fearing that moment of happiness — because it won’t last, it will mean he’s bound for the Empty, and a horrifying eternal non-sleep, with no peace in sight — is a manipulative tactic to keep Cas from striving toward self-actualisation and integration.

Because if he does reach self-actualisation, if he balances himself out and gets a moment of perfect internal clarity, where there’s no need for fear, where he’s been able to be honest with himself and honestly LOVE himself in the process, then that moment of self-actualisation will allow him to see his Shadow clearly, and integrate it through acceptance of his own flaws - that shame and guilt and all of that fear of failure will begin to be healed, and his Shadow will have no more emotional buttons to push in order to keep Cas cowed, mistrusting of himself, and defeated.

His conscious self (ego) will no longer be ruled by his unconscious (shadow).

So how does Cas actually beat the deal?

I mean, from that above reading, I would say that a very effective way for him to break the deal is to stop fearing that moment of happiness, and by no longer allowing his fear to rule him, being able to reach his moment of self-actualisation, and the moment of integration.

Cas choosing to become human would be a moment of honesty, of self-insight, of acceptance. It would be a moment of deep, deep self-actualisation. A moment of real internal peace, followed, I would say, by a moment of true happiness.

So let me paint you a detailed spec scenario, because it demonstrates why I am so behind this idea, not that I think this is The Scenario, but because it simply makes sense and ticks all the boxes for satisfaction that are at the back of my head.

Fully-fledged Cas is in Heaven (which is balanced out thanks to Jack/Michael/Death or whatever constellation is created to Fix It) and Cas is now faced with the option to stay an angel, or to go back to Earth a human. 

He makes the choice - meaning his moment of true happiness. *identity based*

The Empty appears. 

But the thing is, Cas now knows what he’s found for himself by making this choice - a loophole.

He cuts out his grace doubly triumphant: he gets to go home, and the Empty has no hold over him anymore.

He is not for the Empty - he is human, and when he dies, he will go to Heaven.

It’s not about taking anything away from him or saying that he’s not fine just as he is, it’s building on the narrative push for him to accept himself, just as he’s always been, and stop fighting it, stop questioning it, stop worrying that he won’t be enough without his powers, that he won’t be able to contribute, that he won’t be looked at the same, because, in the end, when it comes to self-actualisation, all that matters is what you think and what you know to be your truth.

Self-actualisation is about your acceptance of yourself, it’s about your ability to love yourself through that acceptance, and it, in turn, opening you up to receiving love, knowing, to your core, that you are lovable and deserve to be loved.

With this scenario comes a Big Lessons Learned moment that sets Cas up for a reward. 

And what should it be?

2. Family

As already mentioned, we know who Cas considers to be his family: Dean, Sam and Jack.

If Jack doesn’t end up sacrificing himself for the greater good (which I feel is more plausible a death than any other), then his human side would, most likely, keep him on Earth. 

And then there’s Sam. Dear Sam. Who’s a friend in need and a friend, indeed.

Lastly, there’s Dean. And the depth of what Dean means for Cas, and what Dean narratively has meant for Cas’ progression, is pretty much impossible to overlook. 

I know I already brought this up, but I think it’s important to note, because whether we get a textual  pronounciation and conclusion to the subtextual love story between Dean and Cas, or whether it’s kept in subtext and merely strongly hinted at, the fact of the matter is that they matter to one another, more so than anyone else have ever mattered to them and this would, of course, provide the tragedy of a goodbye, should a goodbye be required, and the ending be tragic, but it also pushes on the very real fact of how a reward, in any guise, would most easily be tied to what they’ve narratively (and very canonically) have meant for one another.

Yes, when I say they matter more to each other than anyone else, this means even Sam for Dean, because Sam isn’t the character in the narrative put there to help push for Dean’s progression - Cas is. 

To put it plainly: the codependency is the placeholder, highlighting the progression that’s needed to reach self-actualisation. The trust and healthy challenges Dean shares with Cas is the opposite, underlining the fears he needs to face, and where he should get to emotionally, once he has reached self-actualisation. 

Cas’ relationship with Dean - and how Dean was a role model in all things human, at least up until the moment Cas stated there was nothing left to say and stepped out of that bunker, because he’d learned what he could and he had no interest in learning how to be so unforgiving, which was a Big Lesson, since it takes the label of teacher off Dean and allows him to be entirely something else - could easily serve as a satisfactory conclusion and statement of Cas having incorporated all the lessons of the narrative, especially since so many of them tie directly back to Dean.

Cas embracing his own humanity, for himself, without worrying about what that humanity might mean for anyone else, and believing himself deserving of love due to letting go of all those old fears, thanks to him reaching a point of self-actualisation, would mean that he would stop waiting for Dean to make a move, and might very well make that move himself. 

Personally I’m doubtful it will be textual, but what stronger statement could the writers make of who ends up with whom than to end the series on Sam with Eileen, and Cas returning from Heaven, human, and giving us something very akin to that Cas is Back in Town moment (even if it’s only in spirit)? 

It would serve to let us know that, of course, Cas isn’t fearful of his mortality this time around. He’s empowered by it. And him returning to the bunker, to his family, to the life, to Dean, signals to us how he’s very ready to get back to it all, including going out hunting (with Dean).

Simple. Neat. Non-explicit, and yet undeniable. 

Aka closure.

The good kind. You know? The one that leaves you exhilarated and dancing around your room laughing with joy at how amazing all the subsequent fanfiction will most likely be, exploring all of their post-series finale shen-an-i-gans?? Yeah, that good kind. 

*head exploding*

Most of all, for the people out there who, like me, are thirsty for satisfaction, they will remain Team Free Will (hopefully 2.0), they will remain a family, they will remain. 

There may be new dynamics to work with, but they will still be them and they will remain as close as they ever were, with the promise of them all growing even closer, following each other’s continued progression as they all move into a new phase in their lives. But together.

3. Freedom of Choice

Cas choosing to become human would effectively demonstrate to us how he’s leaving behind the yoke of his previous sense of duty. 

Instead of praying for guidance, or relying on external forces to dictate what his actions should be, he’ll still be doing what has to be done, but he’ll be doing it purely reliant on his own personal view of the world and his place in it.

This would be a rather remarkable way to address how so many of his choices have been made under duress, either because he’s been manipulated into them without having the wherewithal to see through the manipulation (Crowley, Metatron, Lucifer) or because he’s simply felt lost, mistrusting his inner compass and unable to follow any gut instinct that would’ve otherwise been able to guide him.

In making the choice to become human, Cas would cast off his past, shake it off, as it were, and move into his future, free to take it as it comes in a way we’ve only seen him be once before. (as a human)

I suppose my hope is for our love story to grow into the text before the end, but I’m also very aware that we’re rapidly moving towards the 11th hour, and I doubt we’ll get a last-minute confirmation or the show ending on a kiss between them, because this show isn’t about them. 

What’s important to remember, however, is that the fear of happiness runs deep in Dean as well, and Cas has been shown to provide Dean with a source of happiness that he doesn’t get from anyone else, so if Dean’s journey is to end on a high note, and he’s to face his fear of true happiness  and believe he deserves to be loved and the reward being… not linked to Cas in any way? I have a very hard time seeing that happening. So, I have faith.

What I hope for, more than anything at this point, is for an ending definitive enough that we don’t have to wonder and we don’t have to make it up for ourselves. 

An ending that is open enough that we know they will continue on, something for us to build on, and we most likely and most happily will build on it for ages to come, no matter what we get (at least I will), but still, an ending, a conclusion, a statement.

Closure.

*for the love of Ash’s hair*

To Summarise

Here endeth my long speculation and gentle argumentation for Cas to choose humanity at the end of our remarkable narrative. 

To give a brief overview of the points I’ve tried to make (hopefully I’ve succeeded in making them) (whether you agree or not is a different matter) —>

In 15x18 Cas makes the choice to return to Heaven to act as commander of the (handful? or will Jack be able to make more as his powers grow without, you know, transforming human souls?) of angels still there and make a concerted effort to defend Heaven, while Dean, Sam and Jack rally the troops on Earth, and Rowena rally the armies of Hell (please!)

He gets his powers back because the choice is the right one to make as he narratively needs the perspective in order to truly decide who he is and who he wants to be, and the reward for that right choice is that he doesn’t have to face the final battle with broken wings

There’s an ET goes home callback that makes us all fucking cry when Dean and Cas say their goodbyes, Dean being supportive af because that would be awesome, showing his progression

All the while, Dean wishes, fervently, that Cas would just stay, and at some point it would be doubly awesome for him to vocalise this

There is the possibility that everyone understands that if they win this war with God, and things start going back to “normal”, the best thing for everyone would be for the gates of Heaven and of Hell to close, but this might also be something that’s realised once the war is won

(of course it will be won) (thank fuck)

So, either Dean and Cas’ goodbye makes us cry because there’s the understanding that Cas won’t be able to just flit back and forth between Heaven and Earth as he pleases and so it’s really goodbye

Or it makes us cry because it’s still the end of them, as Cas is bound for Heaven again, and their relationship seems to be reverting to S4 status like N-O P-L-E-A-S-E

But because the gates of Heaven are closing (or not) Cas is pushed into making this choice for himself, and naw, he’s not going to stay in Heaven

The moment he makes the choice to return to Earth as a human, the Empty shows up to claim him

But the loophole allows Cas to tell the Empty to fuck right off as Cas (or another angel) cuts out his grace and he falls back to Earth. (in his human vessel) (if Metatron can do it, then an archangel such as Mike or even someone like Naomi, if she comes back on the board, can do it) (eh?)

Cas reunites with the gang, Sam and Eileen are lovey dovey, Dean and Cas are happy for them, and either they part ways here, Sam staying with Eileen, Dean and Cas heading out to Baby, or they stay together, a family unit, with Jack as well, of course, and it’s not like everything is perfect and they’re surrounded by a white picket fence and there are butterflies fluttering, because there’s still evil in the world that needs to be hunted and fought and they’ll always have work to do, but we see them together and we just know they’ll be alright.

All is peace.

And we are done.

FADE TO BLACK.

Buh-LIEVE me, this detail spec is not what we’re getting and I know it isn’t, but I wanted to write it out to explain what I got in my head, why it felt viable to me, and why the worry that they’ll give Cas his wings back and pack him off to Heaven and leave him there made me feel the need to write down why that is just not a good idea. (!!)

Do I actually believe they would ever do that?

I actually don’t. But, by that same token, I don’t know they wouldn’t. And to calm myself, I had to write out why I actually don’t think they would. Because narratively I cannot see how it would ever actually work that he becomes fully-fledged and goes away. You know?

Either he’ll remain as he is, and the Empty, and the sad parts that come with him not actually self-actualising before our eyes will simply be what it is, and I’ll accept it as it is, yeah? 

Or he’ll become human.

He won’t die again. I just do not believe he will. But hey, I’ve been wrong before! That’s partly the fun of this. It’s always so satisfying when you get it even in the ballpark of close to what we actually get on the show. Mh mh goodness.

What’s interesting to me, though, is the whole callback to S8 idea that hasn’t really left me alone since it got in my head, because it would be so lovely and so heartbreaking and so poignant. For Dean to be put in a situation where he supports Cas’ choices and does so without hesitation, but where he also ends up being compelled to say something, to tell Cas he wishes Cas could stay, or hopes Cas will come back or anything that just speaks to how Dean has let Cas disappear one too many times without properly expressing how, maybe, Dean would rather Cas stuck around.

It would, of course, tie back to the prayer, and to how Dean was absolutely ready to look Cas in the eyes, even though there were less then three minutes left on that ticking clock, and tell Cas what he’d felt compelled to say when he thought he was losing him again. There was no need for Dean to repeat it in purgatory, but maybe that was foreshadowing for what’s yet to come.

Even with the impossibility of Cas actually staying, because they have a war to win and Cas is needed elsewhere, it would be lovely if this is the moment Dean makes it clear that, under different circumstances, Dean would have preferred it that Cas stayed.

And for Cas to, instead of having humanity thrust upon him, the way it was in S8 when Metatron tricked him and cut out his grace, getting to choose it this time, and choose it for himself. 

The ET goes home moment would reflect S8 kind of perfectly, but with an actually happy outcome, hinting at a new human!Cas arc and, for me, that would be as good as textual Destiel because they’re on fire in the human!Cas arc. Like, they are moving towards something actual and tangible, the way they’re flirting with each other in that bar. I don’t think there is a more endearing or adorable moment than Cas drinking his beer and paying Dean a compliment and giving him a wink. And Dean then returning the flirtation. 

Um. Yes, please.

By the way, let me make it absolutely clear that there’s no doubt in my mind that the culmination of the love story in no way is relying on Cas becoming human. This isn’t a They Both Have to Be Human to be Together argument, because Dean has been in love with Cas for a long time, long before the human!Cas arc. It doesn’t matter what form Cas takes, to Dean Cas is Cas. 

The question is one of obstacles. We ask ourselves: what’s been stopping them from actually being together this whole time?

To me, all the choices that the characters make throughout S9 is an enormous turning point for all of them, but especially Dean and Cas during the beginning of the season, as their choices give us so much of what they need to do, what aspects of themselves they have to address, if they’re ever to find their way out of self-destruction and self-doubt, and into self-worth, paving the way for them being able to believe they deserve the love that the other has been proffering for all these years, and actually seeing it in its true light, accepting it, trusting it, and returning it without any inhibition.

Add to that the already mentioned shared struggle, as Cas and Dean have always had a deeply rooted fear of happiness, and we can all see the obstacles they’ve had to overcome to get to a place where they can share a healthy relationship.

They have had to build that healthy relationship with themselves first, and the reward at the end: happiness and love. *fingers so damn crossed though*

It really would be beyond amazing if we have it textualised, however subtle it may be, by the end of the series, that they are each other’s happiness, and that, without the other, there’s not much happiness to be had. There’s moving on and there’s not giving up and there’s finding purpose outside this one relationship, of course, but a long and happy life?

Not so much. 

To me, this is a fact that has been covertly explored throughout the entirety of their joint arc, because whenever one of them disappears out of the other’s orbit, their progression pretty much crashes to an absolute halt, or even undergoes serious regression. I talked about that in that other long-ass meta I mentioned, so if you’re hungry for more… 

I digress.

My final point, really, is that getting to witness  Dean letting Cas go, supporting him returning to Heaven, and Cas rightly feeling compelled to fullfil his duty, because it will lead to him being granted the choice of who he truly wants to be, would be mind-blowing. And if it all leads to an underlining of how Dean is taking the narrative lesson of easing up on his need for control, learning to let go and trusting that it will be alright in the end, which then leads to the love of his life returning to him, and Dean, finally, understanding that this is what Cas always does - he may up and leave, but he also always returns.

Only, this time Cas is staying…

I mean. Right? Anything like this. Anything even in the vicinity of this. Oh my God. I’ll be dancing.

I’m intrigued by the fact that Cas is subtly set up as a blindspot for Chuck the Writer, who’s first draft when at Becky’s house doesn’t even mention Cas. I have a feeling Cas will be a pivotal ingredient in them winning this stand-off, as he’s proven himself to be already, throughout S15.

And I’m intrigued by the phrase that has occurred at least twice in our narrative since end of S14: I had to die to get what I want. 

Could Cas almost cutting out his “life force” and bringing himself to the brink of “death” (angelic, as it were) be foreshadowing for how his angelic side has to die in order for him to get what he wants? 

I guess we shall simply have to wait and see, eh?

End of the day, it’s a question of legacy. And I’m just very curious to see what sort of legacy the writers room are gearing up to leave us with. I have every faith - all the faith - that no matter what we get, it’s going to be

s p e c t a c u l a r.

[verobatto]

Dabb's era and the Quantum theory

Hand to Hand

Hello my dear Fandom! Here I am in this hiatus, just rewatching season 12 and 13... And noticing a couple of interesting things about HANDS IN DABB'S TEAM NARRATIVE.

We had talked about hands and foreshadow before, this time I want to add a little of science...

Let's start...

Past-present and future: at the same time

Einstein described the time not as a continuous line, but as parallel planes containing our past, present and future happening at the same time. (Quantum theory basis).

So, what this got to do with Dabb's narrative? We had seen before how writers used gestures with hands as clues for what is about to coming. And I just discovered how that is so accurately related with quantum theory... Everytime we see a gesture that could caught our attention, maybe is bc they are trying to show us something that will happen. (Bc present and future are parallels time, Remember??) So... Is like when you say I HAD A DEJA VU. But maybe is bc you already lived that or you are about to live it. Is a very interesting theory...

So, coming back to HANDS AND FORESHADOW IN DABB'S ERA, let's present the evidence here...

First Sample: DEAN'S MOURNING

Everyone remember this gesture from 12x20, when Dean was very worried bc Castiel was disappeared after running away with Kelly Kline.

Gif credit @deztiel

Look how worried he is, pressing his lips on his right fist. If you are just watching the series, maybe this could pass unnoticed, but... If you pay attention to the events that will come... You will conclude this was a foreshadow for this two scenes from 13x01...

Gif credit @spn-imagines-nation

Gif credit @cesarevora

I'm not discovering nothing new here, a lot of you already know about this sad foreshadow, just showing the evidence so you can get the idea what I'm trying to say here...

Second Sample: SAMMY'S DEATH IN 13X21

I remember it always caught my attention this two scenes from season 13, episode 18 and 20.

13x18

Gif credit @myheartofmusic

13x20

I recall people laughing in the last gif bc Sammy looked as a princess in trouble, but I wasn't laughing, I was intrigued about why Sammy was touching his neck and throat again... Well... I discovered why. It was another foreshadow, for this scene.

Gif credit @clairvoyantsam

This scene from 13x21, Sammy's death. So the hands in his neck/throat was telling us the way he was going to die.

Third Sample: Castiel and his visit to Heaven

This is one of the "hand and foreshadow" I analyzed in one of my specs...

13x18

14x07

Gif set credit @inacatastrophicmind

Here we have Castiel visiting heaven, touching the sand from the sand box after Naomi informed him that Heaven was dying. And in the second gif there's still some seconds before this gesture, Castiel was like cleaning his hands as if their had sand. And we know what happened in 13x08 (the following episode) Castiel came back to Heaven to rescue Jack, and he faced the Empty.

Fourth Sample: DESTIEL HOLDING HANDS AND DESTIEL KISS

Ok, I want to make clear here, I just have the evidence about a possible foreshadow, bc all this gestures caught my attention too, but the confirmation of the foreshadow involving Destiel Canon, so... We don't have that (I hope we will do). So take this just a the logic path I was following with all the examples and confirmations we had, ok? This are SPECS and doesn't mean is going to happen. Just presenting evidences.

But you can freaking out if you want. Just a little.

Holding Hands evidence

I can't put more pics, but there's just another one in 14x07 where they are rubbing the dorso of the hands. And then... There's this one too.

Gif credit @agusvedder

From 14x08, and don't tell me it doesn't look as if Dean was about to hold Castiel's hand? Reaching for him?

And you must recall the most blantant of the evidence in the past 300 episode, in which Mary and John were holding hands and the two Lebanon girls too (both canon couples were settled as Destiel mirror).

Destiel kiss evidence

As I said I can't put more pics here... And it's good bc I need you to go to this gif set here by @starsmish and tell me what you see...

The sexy and mysterious rubbing lips from 13x14 and 13x15. I won't say anything here, I just want to show you that maybe those gestures caught our attention too... I recall people saying... Was that necessary??? Just to put on fire the fandom with this two handsome men doing that. But after seeing all the evidence I presented here, I just would say... Don't take that just as a provocative gesture... Maybe is a foreshadow too for... Well... You know. 😚

Don't get high your expectations, this could be nothing... Is more safety to say WE HAVE A LOT OF EVIDENCE ABOUT HOLDING HANDS, idk the circumstances in which that could happen... Maybe in a middle of an angsty Lovers separation, as I predicted in my 14x06 meta (Optimism), but hey... We don't work with Dabb.

And WE DON'T HAVE MUCH EVIDENCE ABOUT A DESTIEL KISS. Just the rubbing lips, and that's all. (We need more clues to make an affirmatation or a spec).

To conclude:

The time is not a righteous line, based on the quantum theory, past, present and future could be happening at the same time, and that would explain deja vu. This theory could applicable to Dabb's narrative in the use of the gestures with hands in characters from Supernatural. And it could be clues for the audience to figure out what is about to come in the story.

With three concluded samples confirming this theory, we can hope they're doing now a foreshadow of HOLDING HANDS (ignoring the context in which will happen) and maybe (with less evidence that makes it unlikely) a future Destiel kiss.

I hope you like this, and if you have more evidence to share, please feel free to do it.

C-u my friends! 😘💕💕

Tagging @metafest

Tagging METAFEST friends and my friends too @magnificent-winged-beast @gneisscastiel @emblue-sparks @mrsaquaman187 @cheerstofandomfamily @agusvedder @lykanyouko @evvvissticante @castiellover20 @koshisekisen @a-bit-of-influence @michyribeiro @weirddorkylittlediana @whyjm @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover @legendary-destiel @narraukoiel @sassysousa @thatwitchydestielfan @staycejo1

And everyone who wants to share!

I you don't want to be tagged on my metas, please tell me, and if you want to be tagged, tell me too!

Buenos Aires February 12th 2019 3:52 PM

[elizabethrobertajones]

Sometimes it freaks me out how similar Claire Novak’s story is to Dean’s D:

It’s funny, I have just started the 10x09 rewatch I need to do before Wayward Sisters, but I watched it the other day with my mum too just because, and I have been thinking about this a lot. 

my desktop has literally been stuck on this all day while I have a migraine at all the things I wanted to do :P

They give her SO many superficial traits to him - the whole connection to Cas told through familiar lines like about her praying to him every night, or the ketchup conversation, and Cas comparing them directly in 10x10 about both being… gosh what was the phrase? I’ll have to look that up… “one extremely messed up human to another”… I’ve been trying to think about Claire in the bigger picture, and she’s a massive Dean mirror, but her story is different and I actually kinda like what it all built up to really.

She loses her family when she’s much older than Dean - 12 to his 4 - and she doesn’t have a sibling so she has to go it completely alone. She knows the supernatural exists but only angels and demons - she doesn’t really have experience with monsters, just the mytharc, and she’s been *possessed by an angel* so they’re unequivocally real to her. She grows up praying directly to Cas while Dean has had no faith since Mary died. 

Ironically Claire is bound to Cas under the exact same “angels are watching over you” link as Dean, Sam and Jack all share with Cas, but it’s the most fucked up iteration (with Sam somehow passing with flying colours as the LEAST fucked up one in this weird umbrella of humans in Cas’s charge :P) because Cas made a bad promise at the very very beginning of his story - so early on they had to make the episode to go back to it because it was only by late season 4 Cas was officially full time main character enough to warrant a more complicated backstory and knowing how his ~existence~ in a form we could understand anyway began and all. 

Claire has been utterly betrayed by Cas, and he’s her Azazel in a way - another mirror to Dean that a supernatural creature stormed in and destroyed her family. Took her father and killed him, and her mother broke and went on the road and became the Worst Parent and physically AND emotionally abandoned her. But Claire doesn’t kill Cas (because he’s not evil and wants to make amends), and she actually manages to forgive and accept his help, and he helps her resolve her family situation and put her on her new path - the end of 10x20 for Claire is what 2x22 was for Dean, but instead of having killed the thing that destroyed her family, she’s hugged it goodbye and kept the grumpy cat plushie it gave her.

And Dean’s the one who sets her on her path. Because Cas represents the big old mytharc stuff and the damage to her family - he has to reconcile personally. But she grew up in the foster system having human problems and the supernatural was maybe the CAUSE of it all but she was just raw frustrated anger when we first see her again, and she has no way “in” to deal with it… 

(And she should not have started hunting as a 12 year old, with no one overseeing her or anything - I was talking to Mittens about it a while back and yeah tbh if they brought her back as a hunter like a lot of the original spec/desires were, that she’s started hunting angels in the gap while she wasn’t on the show, she was too YOUNG and really around the age the show brought her back is really the start of when she would be old enough for them to justify her doing ANYTHING on her own. She COULD have found a Krissy set up - an older hunter to guide her and others to hunt with, to give her a closer backstory to Dean, but the separation from their world was important to start with, I think, that she had plot reasons from 4x20 why she would have started hunting run of the mill monsters and she was too young, so unless she and Amelia became a power duo of mother and daughter hunters… Yeah :P Not many ways to bring her in except either stuff happening TO her to bring her back or Cas wandering in to catch up on her…) 

But yeah Sam also just helps her in the sense of teaching her credit card fraud and his birthday present coming of age gesture to her was a credit card - independence and still not really HUNTING skills, just “you’re a scrappy youngster who needs help surviving in this world” stuff.

It’s Dean who shows her what it’s like to be a hunter, and how it all works, that you do your homework, and sets her up with the question of do you watch movies I rec you or do you hunt monsters like I do? He is the one who sets her up with the choice to continue being normal and to use her resolution of the family arc as a way to finish her involvement with the supernatural and move on and grow up into whoever she might be, or as just the first step before she starts venting her anger and frustration with the world to kill monsters and save people before they end up a messed up human like her. 

And in 11x12 Jody is sort of that guide as well - her place is to encourage Claire towards a normal life but she also has to deal with Claire wanting to be a hunter and in the end agrees to at least teach her “not to hunt like a dumbass” since she sees Claire is really set on doing this - and in that moment also that she now has a new family to defend and it’s less revenge and more helping people. And since she squared up what could have been a revenge arc she���s all “saving people, hunting things” like Dean represents. 

I think for Claire, Jody is like Bobby - the more experienced, kind hunter who steps into her life to fill an emotional gap her dead/abandoning (and then dead also) parents left. It’s similar to Dean in really broad strokes, but Jody has full responsibility of her and it’s Claire’s choice to leave or make use of Jody’s help, while I think Dean was happy for Bobby’s attention as a kid because in the 7x10 flashbacks we see how good Bobby was to him and we know what Dean’s like, and as adults he’s happy to depend on Bobby all the time and they pretty much end up living at his house from season 5-6 - it seems to be official by at least the midseason of season 6 that Sam and Dean are permanently based there although no one ever says anything about it. They drift TO Bobby and the narrative has to burn it all down to get them out of the house but Claire’s coming to Jody later in life and Jody’s attempts to guide her towards normality and away from monsters mean that she actually represents the opposite of what Bobby generally offered… In 7x10 yeah Bobby one time throws a ball around with Dean because John just wants him to learn to shoot all the time, but taking it as the transition in season 3 to Bobby being a permanent fixture in their lives and giving them the family don’t end in blood speech in 3x16 as the parallel to Claire beating her version of season 1 & 2 in season 10 and moving on to season 3 emotionally, we see Dean (and Sam) latching onto Bobby as the last time we see John passes and he’s now the sole parental figure they have. 

And that leads us to Claire wanting to be a hunter because of admiring what Dean and Jody do. And wanting to save people because she clearly feels strongly about monsters and her own frustration before she had a path, that hunting monsters is a clear *righteous* moral path, is not actually something that Dean was allowed to come to naturally. He was raised as a hunter, and he doesn’t get to choose it as an adult.

No, wait, it’s Sunday night I’m allowed to mention it again because it’s basically next week… I won’t quote the whole massive speech though :P Okay, so Dean never gets a choice to be a hunter when he’s growing up but it’s a lifestyle he was completely raised in. When he CHOOSES to be a hunter is in 2x20 after spending the ENTIRE season resenting John and the job and the burden that was put on him, and it’s uuuutterly depressing but he realises in the djinn dream after spending an entire season wrestling with wanting to just give up and stop hunting and leave the whole thing behind because he’s so tired of it all, that no one else will do it and so he has to - and he hates it but those lives are on him. I actually compared it more to Patience’s decision to leave in 13x09 because she would have the visions whether she became a hunter or not, but staying with her dad pretending to be normal would be like Dean being trapped in the wishverse djinn dream, knowing he had wished himself a happy ending but everyone was dying because he wasn’t out saving them. He had news articles of the deaths, Patience has her visions.

But Claire just sees something she really wants to do - to save people and kill monsters and rid the world of evil, and she makes it as a choice as an adult as her coming of age, based on her experiences of the world, and she has an unburdened FREEDOM to decide to do that, to feel like it is something that is in her nature and the idea of doing it is too compelling to sit quietly and do normal things with her life. Every time she has the choice to do normal things - to enrol in colleges and schools and get on with her life as Jody was hoping for her, she takes cases and hunts things and gets deeper and deeper into learning the job she actually WANTS and possibly NEEDS to do. 

I really love this about Claire - that because we got her innocent of monsters to start with, and that she had multiple chances to get off the ride, she chooses to hunt anyway and there’s low angst about it - she doesn’t have decisions the weight of which Dean did in all those instances, because her life or death revenge story is already wrapped up, peacefully. She just ends up on the road hunting monsters because after seeing this is a life people lead, and despite seeing the toll it’s taken on Dean, she still ends up emulating him. But as the next generation of hunters, who aren’t raised into it against their will, or out of necessity to learn everything about evil forces to hunt down anything in particular. She already dealt with Cas AND saved her mom, AND killed the angel that was responsible for that, and so she’s got an angsty backstory, but that’s not the thing that’s compelling her forwards… There’s no revenge and sacrifice cycle like the Winchesters are in. 

It’s similar to Jody, and the others - they all find out the supernatural exists but of all the Wayward Sisters, Kaia is the only one with UNRESOLVED main arc angst and probably a whooole bunch of misery tied to the Bad Place that they need to help her with/she needs to overcome as her personal arc. All the others have dealt with the stuff that makes up their backstory/introduction to the supernatural in their initial episodes, and are pretty much ready for a fresh start when their story begins :D

…

Oh gosh I could probably keep talking all night. Hi, I’m really hyped up for Wayward Sisters :P

[mittensmorgul]

My boyfriend admitted yesterday after finally watching 13.1 that Dean and Cas DO love each other. He has no doubt in his mind that if Cas were female, Destiel would have happened. BUT he sees Dean as straight and doesn't believe anything could happen with Cas in Jimmy's body. I told him that this is heteronormative bi erasure and that as a bisexual, I find it offensive that he makes that assumption. What if these sorts of casual viewer opinions keep Destiel from ever happening? I'm losing hope.

Hi there! And congrats to your boyfriend for seeing the love there. :D

First off, no offense to straight dudes, but the straight dude I’ve been married to for 20 years has absolutely no sense of bifi. Or gaydar. I mean, if he sees two dudes kissing at Pride he’d pick up on it (and there are a few famous people who came out that he wasn’t surprised at all about– George Michael, Rob Halford, he was shocked that anyone was shocked…), but when it comes to closeted bisexuals who deliberately do not want to be detected, especially the way Dean performs dudebro heterosexuality as well as Dean does especially in early seasons, he just has no clue.

*insert that gif of Sam telling Dean he’s overcompensating*

The things about Dean that have been screamingly obvious because I relate to them from personal experience just don’t register to a straight dude who has never once questioned his sexuality (like Sam, for instance). To a person who has experienced it first-hand, a lot of Dean’s behavior reads as signal flares as bright as day. If it were only used for the occasional joke, or rare random things that didn’t fit into a much larger pattern, or if it were just enough to make me sit up and notice once or twice a season, I’d assume it was just a coincidence. But… it’s not a rare random occurrence. It’s something we see in nearly every episode, more and more blatantly as the seasons progress.

I tell everyone to read this:

http://destielhiseyesopened.tumblr.com/post/102023741956/slash-and-subtext-series

It’s a lot to read, yes, but it’s incredibly thorough and the sort of thing your neck will be sore from nodding along in agreement the entire time. :P

As for whether or not the show will go there, which NONE of us can say for sure, the one thing I can say for sure is that it will not be casual viewer opinions that will influence Dabb’s storytelling. He’s said it multiple times, that he’s going to tell this story his way, whatever that might mean in the end. Dude’s not telling. I mean, look at him:

So while it’s great to have hope, because we DESERVE representation in blatant and clear terms, there is no guarantee that we will actually GET it. I mean, that is a very real possibility. It’s why I personally don’t watch the show with any expectation for ANYTHING, you know? Then every new hint that they are taking this somewhere is a pleasant surprise. For me, watching from the standpoint that I EXPECT a certain outcome is just not an enjoyable way to live. It’s just too much to stress about.

And as I’ve said over and over again, just like Dabb, I personally couldn’t give a flying fuck with the mysterious “general audience” sees when they watch the show. I watch because of what *I* see in the show, because I like analyzing the story, writing meta (with the friendly reminder that “meta” has exactly zero to do with predicting the future of the story… that’s speculation, and aside from being able to read obvious twists and turns in near-future plot points, or understanding general character development arcs and where they could potentially be headed in vague general ways, I DO NOT ENJOY SPECULATION, especially when it involves the sort of detail that a lot of more casual fans seem to expect of meta writers. I AM TIRED OF FOLKS HAVING THE IMPRESSION THAT SPECULATION AND POSITIVITY FOR THE FUTURE OF THE SERIES AND CHARACTERS IS “”””META”””” BECAUSE IT ABSOLUTELY IS NOT.

Sorry for yelling, I needed to put that out there. Comments of “I love your meta!” when referring to headcanons and speculation about endgame destiel is just… missing the entire point. The meta is the long academic character analysis, the comparisons with the current arc to past canon, the examination of episodes THAT ARE ALREADY PART OF CANON. Looking to the future to make guesses about what COULD happen in the future is SPECULATION. NOT META.

I’m so tired of people who do not understand that giving meta writers hate and dismissing EVERYTHING we’ve written because a “prediction” didn’t come true on the show exactly as someone wrote it… A guess of what will happen in the future that doesn’t quite pan out doesn’t invalidate all the ACTUAL meta we’ve all written over the years. Because just like pr is not showrunning, speculation isn’t meta.

*even when the speculation is attached to the bottom of a really long meta post. The speculation bit isn’t the tl;dr of the post. it’s the interesting and fun little bonus bit after you’ve consumed the factual part of the analysis. It’s the little blop of whipped cream on top of the pie that is the actual important content. It’s mostly decorative and just a bit of fun.*

Thanks, this has been a meta writer PSA.)

The point of all that is that none of us have a crystal ball, none of us have some secret insider information into Andrew Dabb’s brain. Despite the fact that we’ve been watching his storytelling over the last 8+ years (yes, he’s been writing for the show since s4, and has written more episodes of Supernatural than any other writer, so we have A LOT of history to look over, not to mention all of s12 and the back ~third~ at least of s11 after he silently took over the showrunning from Carver to look at when trying to understand his pet themes and how he writes), the best we can do is make educated guesses.

I’m not basing my hope for canon on some ability to read the future, I’m basing it on MY ability to look at the entirety of extant canon and be objectively logical about where the story started, where the story is NOW, and as far as individual character development arcs based on having watched them all evolve over twelve plus seasons already…

Well, let’s just say that for *me,* I can see the characters have been on a logical emotional progression over the course of the entire series (that would be the “meta” part of things). As new canon unfolds, and characters continue to develop and interpersonal storylines continue to evolve… here’s a metaphor. The writers are walking the characters down a long hallway with loads of doorways open to potential future development arcs. As they walk past each doorway and don’t veer off course, it’s like they’re closing off logical possibilities to detour into alternate routes. They’re slamming and locking those doors up forever. The closer we get to the end of canon (in whatever nebulous future that the series will reach its end, and NONE of us know when that will be right now), the fewer doorways are left to walk past, and the less logical any detour from what looks (again, from reading the meta and looking back at the entirety of past canon) like the steady progression of development would be.

Does that make sense? I mean, they’re writing themselves into a corner (or into the end of the hallway where there’s only going to be one last exit door to walk through). But again, as long as there’s still hallway ahead of us, they could take an “easier” route or just decide to stop walking altogether and just sort of set up camp at their current point in character development. It wouldn’t really be sensible for the STORY as it stands right now for them to do either of these things, because if they start backtracking looking for a different door the entire narrative falls apart. Whatever they do, they must keep writing forward.

*stops and scrolls up and cries a lil bit at how much I wrote*

Point is, we just don’t know. I’m hopeful, I feel like we DESERVE to be seen and this love story absolutely DESERVES canon acknowledgement for what it is, and that every sign in past canon and every sign the writers are continuing to carry on down this hallway is pointing to it happening at some distant point in the future… but as of right now none of us have any idea what that eventual resolution will look like. What even is canon?

I mean, your boyfriend said he sees that Dean and Cas love each other. Is that canon? What would “qualify” as being legitimately canon? I love @bluestar86′s spec post about how easy it would be to make Dean’s bisexuality textually canon, but I have no idea if we’d ever get an episode stating it so blatantly. We might, though. We did have Dean asking a gay married couple what it was like settling down with another hunter…

The point is, even trying to speculate on what will happen in the future– especially something so unknowable and distant as “endgame,” is honestly impossible. We have no idea what will happen in canon between now and then in specific terms. In the meantime, I’m perfectly content to point and flail at what is actually happening in canon right now and paying exactly zero attention to what “casual viewers” think they’re watching.

I know exactly what I’m watching, and I love it.

Will they ever make it undeniably obvious and clear in canon? I mean, it is undeniably obvious and clear to *me* but everyone has their own personal biases and wishes and checklists of things they feel must happen, and no matter if the series ends with Dean and Cas getting married there will still always be people who deny it was “enough” to make their relationship obvious, you know? I just… don’t have the energy to deal with that level of denialism. It just stresses me out to worry about what “endgame” might look like specifically when as far as we know, “endgame” isn’t even on the table yet.

So by all means, if you can, take that small step back and try and enjoy the continuing story, and don’t put too much stock in anyone’s opinion of what may or may not happen in the future. But most of all, don’t put much much stock in what random straight dudes in the general audience think. Because Andrew Dabb doesn’t. :P

Wow okay that turned into a treatise…

[floralmotif]

Better Together (SPN Speculation)

This took longer than I anticipated. I’m still not sure if I’ve covered everything I wanted to cover and I had to add some stuff since 12.21, but I’m posting it so it gets posted before the finale. It is a massive info dump, and I’m sorry for all the technical stuff, I promise it gets explained in there. I couldn’t figure out how to truncate it without outlining it like a novel. I wish I had time for that, but I barely have time to outline my specs atm. I lso don’t want to say that everything I say here is absolutely definitive, it’s just based on what I’ve observed and the patterns I’ve noticed. There are a lot of other factors that feed into this one that are also worth exploring but I don’t really know how to include them without over complicating everything, so this is the main set that I’m personally focusing on.

I dunno if anyone remembers this, but back when I metad about 12.12, I said I wished I could have done it in video form because the information better lent itself to a visual medium. Yeah, this is another one of those times. Someday I may modify this into a script and do that, but the season finale is basically today, so here goes.

Some of you may have seen a post go around where @k-vichan, @drsilverfish and @angelswatchingover​ discuss what Alicia is and the questions surrounding her current state. (I can’t get it to route to one of their blogs, but check them out)

@k-vichan​ mentioned something that this series has reminded me of since S5, and had themes which have prevailed through the show for a long time.(S7 on, especially.) I went back to watch it after I saw the post, to confirm with myself what I remembered. It had been a long time since I saw the movie, and I wanted to be sure before I wrote about it.

Of all the other works that exist, no other that I know of more closely seems to resemble the themes and message of Supernatural more than the 1995 film Ghost in the Shell.

I have no idea if this is on purpose or if they just both came across the same progression on their own (inspired by the Hegel dialectic) but they both share some common philosophies that have shaped my view of SPN since I’ve watched it, and especially this season. Even without having seen the movie in a long time, these thought processes and progressions seemed to prevail. If there is some real influence between them, what would it mean?

The below place contains spoilers for the ending of Ghost in the Shell, They’re further down though. I’ll mark them. Sadly, they’re kind of important for my speculation, but you can skip them if you want.

But first, let’s talk about (a vastly simplified version of) Hegel (in relation to narrative mostly), theming and message.

For those of you who don’t know who Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel is, for my purposes, he was a German Philosopher and a man who looked like several instances of Jacob Marley. He had several ideas about how history and social constructs work. His ideas have been adapted over the years to suit fictional storytelling and they do an extremely good job of it. The great wiki creature sums up the work of Hegel thusly:

Hegel's principal achievement is his development of a distinctive articulation of idealism sometimes termed "absolute idealism",[16]in which the dualisms of, for instance, mind and nature and subject and object are overcome. His philosophy of spirit conceptually integrates psychology, the state, history, art, religion, and philosophy. His account of the master–slave dialectic has been highly influential, especially in 20th-century France.[17] Of special importance is his concept of spirit (Geist: sometimes also translated as "mind") as the historical manifestation of the logical concept and the "sublation" (Aufhebung: integration without elimination or reduction) of seemingly contradictory or opposing factors; examples include the apparent opposition between nature and freedom and between immanence and transcendence. Hegel has been seen in the 20th century as the originator of the thesis, antithesis, synthesis triad;[18] however, as an explicit phrase, this originated with Johann Gottlieb Fichte.[19]

Already seeing some parallels? Good. (it’s ok if you don’t. Wikipedia likes to word everything like a scientific abstract.)

I know it says the triad name was attributed to a different dude, and that’s true, but in terms of our usage, we’re gonna keep dragging Hegel around with us on this journey because he’s associated with the philosophy behind it. So come, Hegel, you’re not getting out of this so easily.

The definitions for each of these instances are thus:

The thesis is an intellectual proposition.The antithesis is a critical perspective on the thesis.The synthesis solves the conflict between the thesis and antithesis by reconciling their common truths, and forming a new proposition

Sound a bit like SPN’s s1-5, s6-11 and ... now? Yeah, there might be a reason for that. Not sure if it’s on purpose, but considering how everywhere the dialectic is in writing, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was come across and adopted at some point. At least to an extent. (also just freaking read that description of them there, that’s so pointed, it pangs at my fingers when typing).

One the people who brought the Hegel dialectic into mainstream use in media was Blake Snyder, most notably in his book Save the Cat. The Book has been fairly influential since its publishing and it’s been used as a basis for many films and tv shows. I don’t know if the book influenced SPN, but it may have (the book was released in 2005). Whether the book was a direct influence or not, there are certainly similarities. The show may be taking influence from Hegel directly, it may have evolved on its own as part of the human approach to storytelling or, it may have came from another work influenced by Hegel… like Ghost in the Shell.

The longer something exists the more it has to explain itself. This isn’t true of all media, but it’s generally true of anything that wants to have a consistent, ongoing, story.

This is why shorts are allowed to be weird as hell and they get away with it, and it’s why SPN has been deconstructing itself for the last several years. It’s also probably why everything is people.. Other than because budget. If this whole thought process is true, this season will mark the beginning of act 3, the beginning of the synthesis part of the arc, and if my speculation is correct, the beginning of sublation or aufhebung as Hegel used it.

For our purposes, and as it's generally used in media, sublation here means “assimilate.” To merge two opposing factors into a single entity, the two factors may not be even in scope. From what I can gather, the message of the entire series is “humanity must learn to accept the aspects of itself that it runs from, that it others and demonizes as part of itself.” That may sound long, but messages in works are often sentences like that.

Reconciling the old to embrace the new” has been what myself and some others have been calling the theme of this season. This fits into the message I’ve derived from the show by giving the characters the incentive to try new ideas and to learn from what they’ve experienced instead of relying entirely on past rhetoric. Not everything about the past is bad, but weeding out what’s preventing positive progress and merging it to new ideas which better accept the real world is a step in progressing towards a culmination of the message. In order to do that, you have to dance the destiel a little. Cas is literally the ideals of the Winchester brothers, of “humanity” as represented by them. That’s his character role. He’s also a supernatural being, linking him to the idea that “the ideas that progress are within what we have deemed other”. This aspect of his character is enforced throughout the series and is come into direct text on multiple occasions. Dean is in love with a supernatural being that represents new ideals of progress and acceptance. To me this is what destiel ultimately is, or will be. Humanity (Dean) accepting that which it was taught to other (the Supernatural (queer) love of Cas, ie new ideals) as part of itself in order to progress as a person (species) to a better future. If one aspect of humanity (Dean) accepts it (culminates his love somehow), then the other (Sam), will be forced to accept it in turn because Dean loving Cas would give Sam a visual representation of reality being different than his upbringing and experiences had previously presented. Even in that paragraph, you can see elements of the Hegel loop poking through. You can also see some reflection on the show itself and its audience…

So, what does all this mean for the rest of the series? Obviously add sadness and pain where necessary. This is SPN after all, but as long as nothing directly opposes this narrative, this seems to be the direction they’re going here. Eileen’s death was really idiotic and broke a lot of narrative rules, but it doesn’t directly refute anything. It’s a single instance and it may not even be true (it probably is, but man, either Bucklemming eated more purple berries than usual, they really shared the wealth, their entire purpose on the writing team is to sew misdirection, or something’s up here… possibly involving that last one.)

Below are a what seems to be where this is going in some form or another using the Hegel Loop as a means for the message:

1) Dean and Sam must face and reconcile with their pasts on all sides. Their past with themselves, their past with each other, their past with the important people in their life, their concept of family and how it has affected their lives and so on. Since everything must support the themes of a work if it wants to follow the rules, this idea has to prevail with every force in the current canon. Thus: Supernatural(Angels) vs Humanity(SamnDean), BMoL vs Hunters (Also mirror each other). Similar to their “force concepts”, Sam doesn’t really understand Dean, just like the BMoLs don’t really understand hunters. They think they do, they’re very efficient and rely on heavy research and technology, but their intel sucks. Similar also to Dean, the hunters aren’t generally so keen on lending themselves to the BMoLs. They believe they have reason not to, and so too does Dean believe he has reason to keep Sam from knowing his true self.

2) The two ideals of the show must also be addressed and reconciled/embraced. I said before and earlier that Cas = the ideals on the show. And yeah, he does from what I’ve gathered. From s4 on, he has always mirrored the way the Winchester's and thus “humanity” operate on a thematic level as time as gone on.(Especially Dean, the “heart of humanity’) This is because he’s the show’s “Love interest”. That’s what the Love Interest does but boy, does he take it to new and interesting levels! Like Dean and Sam, he still has self worth issues, he still has issues with his understanding of family and where he belongs, what he can be trusted with, what he’s for. If you look closely, you can see him mirroring a lot of decisions on the sides of both brothers. As of now, they both are starting to embrace a new way of looking at things, and in turn, Cas is experiencing situations that challenge his beliefs and combine both perspectives into a single progression to “better ways”.

Mary on the other hand, holds the old ideals of the show. She is basically s4 Cas and because she wasn’t around to experience all the changes, she carries the old show with her. She is what Cas could have been without the influence of the Winchesters. Still headstrong and rebellious, but falling back on old ideas and operations. Dean and Sam have truly changed Cas, and Mary is a testament to that. Like Cas as well, when she was sent back to Earth from heaven, she rebelled, and we’re seeing her s4 and 5. Most likely she won’t last any longer because the show won’t need her to prove a point anymore, but what she represents is pretty clear to me. Mary’s mirror of Cas is twisted. It has a flipped perspective with the Winchester’s being the original family and the BMoLs (Angels) being where she originally puts her faith because they share her ideals. Technically the Winchester’s held Cas’ too. His feelings of heart and freedom were found with them, but because of Mary’s situation and old ideals, she runs to the BMoLs instead.

Add Mick and some nigh omnipresent Cas references and you have a season about Cas, a season about ideals where Dean, Cas and Sam try to confront themselves, each other and the concept of family and duty that they were all fed stringently throughout their lives and times being with each other.

Those above concepts there are the thesis and the antithesis incarnate. They are the current state of affairs bumping against the old ways. This is their sticking point, they are coming to a head and they must. The pics and promos from the finale seem to enforce the idea that they will deal with the confrontation of a sort of reality, just as they have been slowly recognizing the need to confront their own hidden, unspoken realities.

3) At some point Cas, Dean and Sam will have to “embrace” each other in however they plan on doing that. They will not leave all of their past selves but they will all move forward to something better and new.

4) Dean will probably tell Cas he loves him or some other gesture by the end of the season. Gotta visualize/solidify those themes, m’boy! Your medium says so. In turn, Sam will be forced to learn to understand a side of Dean he wanted to believe didn’t exist and that he may have been actively hiding from because it would mean some things in his past would take on a new color with some possibly saddening meanings for him.

*coughs* I will always be a little devilishly amused at the character roles in this season and how they relate to the show and fandom directly…

5) Most likely Rowena and Crowley will reconcile at some point as well, but it’s hard to tell. They may resolve their issues by the end of the season in some form or another. Crowley mirrors a lot of characters and Rowena is sort of dark Mary, so their resolution will likely follow a similar trajectory + Crowley and Gavin feels or something. Mary’s probably gonna ascend like Gavin did. 12.21 and some general themes with Crowley overall have lead me to suspect that he’s holding the cards to this new reality. He does kind of mirror a lot of people with Rowena filling in the gaps, so him being the one to reveal something would make sense.

6) The BMoLs and the hunters will probably merge in some way. There’s likely a reason we felt there should be more names on that table. We will soon see Dean and Sam act as generals of the hunters… if that ends how I think it will, we will end with more names on that table and a defended legacy/Bunker. They will take the good of the BMoLs and incorporate it into the hunting world. Kind of a new Bobby network but with more stuff.

So then what does the finale entail?

That’s where Ghost in the Shell and Alicia may give us a clue.

If you have not already seen this movie, I highly recommend it. Its influence is seen in all sorts of places. A recent example is Westworld. It is a bit gory, so if that’s really not your cup of tea, fair enough. The following contains spoilers for the movie and it will affect how I address what happened with Alicia and how I think it may reflect on the ending of the season. You are free to skip it, but it may be a bit confusing after. If you want to skip this section, press CTRL or Command + F and search “spoilers over” in the box.

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Ghost in the Shell involves Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cyborg who has feelings of limitation by her perspective. She believes that there is more to the world and she wants to experience and understand it.

Kusanagi: “There are countless ingredients that make up the human body and mind, like all the components that make up me as an individual with my own personality. Sure I have a face and voice to distinguish myself from others, but my thoughts and memories are unique only to me, and I carry a sense of my own destiny. Each of those things are just a small part of it. I collect information to use in my own way. All of that blends to create a mixture that forms me and gives rise to my conscience. I feel confined, only free to expand myself within boundaries.”

She is part of a Black Ops unit that investigates a hacker called The Puppetmaster who has been controlling people through their “ghosts” to do its bidding. “Ghosts” are basically brains or minds. In this world, cybernetics and biological aspects are fairly integrated but are not considered their own beings. They’re more augmentations for the humans rather than individuals.. In most cases. The people who are controlled by the Puppet Master are given false memories. They have no idea who they are or what their goals really are.

Over the course of the film, The Major and her companions investigate several ghost hacked people and the concept of identity. Eventually they learn that The Puppetmaster is actually a program created by an intelligence branch called Section 6.

The Major learns that The Puppetmaster has gained its own intelligence and has sought her out to merge with her and complete its perspective. It lacks the things a biological being has and has the vast knowledge of the internet. At the end of the movie, the two achieve sublation and combine into a single being, neither The Major, nor the Puppetmaster.

Before the merge, Kusanagi is hesitant. She fears losing herself to the merge and wants to remain an individual.

Kusanagi: You talk about redefining my identity. I want a guarantee that I can still be myself.

Puppet Master: There isn't one. Why would you wish to? All things change in a dynamic environment. Your effort to remain what you are is what limits you.

This and their inevitable merge may sound like just a narrative decision, but really it seems like a decision based on philosophy of the work and its themes. The issue of stagnation. Ghost in the Shell argues that humanity would inbreed stagnation if it stayed the same (sound familiar?) and only change can save it, even if it stops being human as we know it. An interesting thing to me about the above is that it sorta addresses something directly stated in text in SPN:

Gah, there’s no transcript for 12.19 yet. Paraphrase time!

“Something something he’ll lose what makes him special”

If there is an influence in Ghost in the Shell, no he won’t. I know there are some people that want Cas to stay an angel, and I get that. It’s a fundamental part of him to many people, but depending on how they culminate Cas’ “sublation” with the Winchesters, he may become human as part of that metaphor. Just as the show may change form, but still be itself. According to GitS, he can’t fear change to preserve “what makes him special” When Kelly is talking about the Nephilim, there’s a decent chance she’s really talking about Cas… and his birth.. As a human. She’s afraid something that is integral to him will be lost, but from what Alicia showed us, he will still be the same Cas.. just sans powers… and maybe + some emotions.

So what does this mean for SPN? Alicia gave us a possible clue. She became a “ghost in the shell” when her heart was placed into the twig doll, but she retained her caring nature and her memories. As far as anyone would need to know, Alicia is Alicia. It’s possible she could be controlled, but since the ring is what controls her, I doubt Max would ever utilize it. We will probably never see them again, because they have given us what they were meant to narratively and them staying longer would mean they would have to explain themselves beyond that point. If we see them again, expect some weirdness.

Even when Alicia was placed into the doll, she still looked out for Max’s well being. Even when Cas was influenced by the Nephilim, he was still concerned with Dean’s well being. In a way, Cas has been a “ghost in the shell” for quite some time, with the question about vessels. With Alicia’s gesture, I’d say it’s pretty safe to say Cas’ body is his and Alicia’s is hers even if they can be controlled. Even if they can lose their free will, it’s not lost entirely. Even when she her body, she kept being herself in an entirely different body… made from fundamentally “lesser” materials, she retained her heart and what made her, her. Adding heart and humanity to a vessel, still retains the heart of that person. Even if Cas is no longer an angel, he will retain that heart he has. Even if the show takes a new form, if it retains its heart, it will remain the show.

Cas is currently further possessed by the nephilim, but he’s still in there. And the nature of the apparent themes means it has to release him eventually.

On that note, if 12.21 gave me anything(other than deep confusion regarding what the hell is happening and several conspiracy theories), it’s further evidence of a possible GitS influence with Mary being brainwashed to do the bidding of the BMoLs to do their bidding and slowly remove her memories in favor of memories that suit them. In GitS terms, she’s been Ghost Hacked.

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Spoilers over. Below are what I think all of this means for the ending of season regarding Cas and Dean since they seem to be the focus of assimilation. It depends on what the show thinks about the nature of Hegel, but each of the following scenarios is possible based on what I’ve been able to figure out:

Cas and Dean will occupy the same body: As a possibility to save Dean’s muffins from burning in the finale like Gadreel did for Sam in s9? Sure. As a permanence? Doubt it.

Cas becomes human but gets a new vessel. This is mostly just unlikely because people would hate it. Again, possible if temporary but TPTB, I do not recommend stretching this over a long period. Alicia looking exactly like herself makes this pretty unlikely.

Cas and the Nephilim won’t stay merged.. That’s redundant. He can’t “merge with humanity” while merged with a half luci humanoid… no. The kid is symbolic of Cas, Sam and possibly Eve. Because of Cas’ current nature and the nature of the supernatural and humanity and their sort of “forbidden” merging. Cas and the Nephilim are one atm, because their stories are. Which gives further credence to some sort of change. The kid is basically “past present and future” incarnate. It contains all of those elements at the moment, but future is its focus, same with Cas and the themes surrounding him from what I’ve gathered. Its relation to Sam is pretty obvious, since he’s been related to “a potential” evil demon child for much of the series. It not being evil makes sense for his character arc.

I have no idea what will happen to the kid. There’s evidence for a lot of things. Some I like better than others. They’re mostly personal preferences at this point.

Cas remains as he is and voices that he is himself. If GitS or Hegel in general are an influence and the showrunners like this philosophy, this probably won’t be what happens. I know there are a lot of people who want Cas to stay an angel for various reasons, and they can believe that if they want, but it just doesn't’ seem to be the way the story is going. I could be totally wrong and may have missed something, but the nature of stories is change. Cas can’t go back to being full angel, not permanently anyway. Also, if the show’s message is as I’ve deduced, he’ll have to be human in order to fully be accepted as part of humanity. If he powers up, expect him to power all the way down. Cas is a character and characters serve the story and vise versa, they are locked in an inseparable state with their themes. Cas is the themes in this story, he can’t be a weird penguin forever. That’s not climactic enough for the medium he exists in. If it were a book, it would be more likely, but it’s unlikely in a filmed work. The show can’t be a weird penguin forever either, especially if the GitS influences are correct(the non-reductable part is a factor, but if the message is thus, everything is humans). Again, I could be wrong, and I don’t want to discourage other interpretations, this just seems to cover the most bases from what I’ve observed.

I’m still operating under the idea that 12.12 is a microcosm of the season and possibly the series up to this point, so we’ll see how that plays out. I expect Crowley to save the day somehow, some dramatic declarations, Cas injury and probably Mary injury, some fiddling with anachronistic presentation/perspective on reality and a prince of hell. For this particular exercise, I was more interested in what happens, rather than how we get to the happening.

Whatever way Cas ends up physically, I think it’s safe to say the show thinks Cas and Dean better together, even if the culmination isn’t permanent at first.

[a-faekindagirl]

I am just curious to what you think. Regardless of all the rumors and spec, do you think there is any hope for JMO staying in one way or another next season? Of course it is her choice and whatever she does, I will respect, but I am curious where you stand in all of this. Especially if Colin comes back.

So I’m going to preface this by saying that after this ask, I do not want any more questions about this. The potential fate of the show/cast is not something I want to focus on leading into the Captain Swan wedding or season finale. I want to focus on the show and all the goodness coming our way ❤️

Anyway - 

I think there’s a very good chance of JMo returning. The show has, at most, one season left, reboot or no reboot (no offense to Adam and Eddy - but with a big cast departure from an already struggling show, it’s just not going to fly), and I don’t think Jen would abandon it with only a year to go. Whether this would be in a regular or reduced capacity, I don’t know. We have no idea what this “reset” is going to look like for the returning mains - they may not even be the focus. But Jen sounded perfectly willing and even happy to return in that podcast she did a few months ago. She loves Emma,and she loves OUAT - but like she said, she’s not going to stay “forever.” That brings me to my next point.

I think JMo would stick around, UNLESS a) Adam and Eddy wanted to branch off in a story direction she REALLY disagreed with, or b) ABC wanted to lock her in for more than 1 or 2 seasons. 

In either of those events, I think she’d opt to depart. Jennifer is very protective of Emma, like she said, and I think protecting Emma’s journey/happy ending would be more important to her than staying 1 more year. The same goes for being contracted for multiple seasons - Jen said she can’t see herself staying on the show forever. If ABC wants her to sign on for 1-3 more seasons or nothing, I think she might walk (to be clear; I don’t think ABC would ask this of her, because I’m sure they know the show won’t last that long). 

As for the horrible scenario of a show without Emma AND a show with Killian and no Emma, I have to veer slightly off topic and say I think the “reset” would have to be some kind of AU or prequel. You cannot take every core member of the Charming family away (Hook and Regina are family, but only be extension), plus Zelena and Belle, and have the show hold together with only Hook, Rumple, and Regina (taking who was in talks to come back into account). It wouldn’t, it would fall apart, because thats dozens of dynamics gone, and there’s like 0 ways they could account for that in the story, realistically or satisfyingly. 

Anyway, Colin; people are going to side eye me for this, but I think if Jen left, Colin would opt not to return. I think maintaining the integrity of Hooks story and Emma’s story and the Emma/Hook love story is very important to Jen and Colin. Plus we have no idea what sort of personal dynamics might play into his desire to leave or stay - I don’t gather he’s particularly close with Lana or even Bobby in the hang-out-outside-of-work way like he is with Sean, MRJ, and JMo (and maybe Gosh - haven’t there been spottings of them hanging out), so that could influence any decision he makes. You have to like working with the people you work with in a job like acting (I think he and Bobby get along great - Lana, well, I’ve seen and heard some things that lead me to believe they’re not so close), and Colin seems like a guy that takes awhile to get comfortable with someone, and prefers being comfortable with those he works with.

That’s not me being a Colifer shipper (ew), or being emotional instead of practical/biased instead of objective, or thinking Colin doesn’t value his job over “smaller” things like a television story (lbr he’ll have no problem finding a job after Once) - I’m just going with my gut based off of what I know about the man. I think his decision could be influenced by his relationships with those he works with, as well as not wanting to risk negatively impacting the story his character was part of for 5 years. There’s also always a chance he’s just ready to move on in general.

I think just about the only way Colin would want to stay on the show if JMo and the others depart is if they offered him a big, fat pay raise, or if, like I said, the story wasn’t a continuation of what’s happened so far. I don’t think he wants this “reboot” to screw with Killian’s journey or Captain Swan’s happy ending any more than we do. 

Frankly, if JMo leaves, I think the only way Colin would stay on for a reboot that could potentially screw up Killian or Captain Swan’s progress is if his contract isn’t up like the others (since he signed on later), and he can’t get out of it. 

JMo, Bobby and Lana’s contracts were up, so if they’re on for a 7th season, they would have had to resign. Colin’s contract may be different since he came on later (Emilie too - she wasn’t a regular until s2, but she apparently wasn’t invited back anyway) - so if his isn’t up for renweal, Colin could damage his good standing in the industry by insisting on rescinding it if ABC really wants him to stay. So as much as he might not want to fuck up the story they built, he has to put his livelihood first. There’s also legal issues in that scenario. 

But yeah, there are a bunch of reasons I think JMo and Colin are kind of a package deal, their desire to maintain the integrity of the last 5 years of narrative (which is an assumption on my part, but one I’m confident in) being the foremost. 

Wow, that got really winded. I think I had a lot of pent up frustration from watching the fandom be so on edge over this, plus my own uncertainty. Anyway, friend, I advise that you put it out of your mind. We’ll know when we know, and we’ve got SO MUCH AMAZINGNESS ON THE SHOW TO FOCUS ON RIGHT NOW.

(plus, the looming writers strike may render this all pointless anyway - an aging show like OUAT with steadily declining ratings that’s banking on the audience to tune in for a made-over new season with a halved cast of beloved characters? easy pickings for the chopping block - that is if it’s even getting a 7th season, it may not have been renewed)

[exilesofembermark]

Game Dev Update | 1.30.17

“Aaaaaaaiiiiiiiii am coming for you!!!”

Raowr. The game is taking greater shape each day, and I have much to share-- we’re sprinting toward a big show (explained below), a big milestone (PVE is close to online for realzies) and a big round of testing that we’ve teased you with for far too long. 

Last time, we covered Legendary Helms, Mages, Narrative, Abilities and the Map (plus moar). This time, well-- we’re gonna get deeper on the visual tests we’re doing to give players more information about their opponent, we’re going to examine the state (and features) of PVE play, we’ll examine some of the choices players will have in the narrative, and we’re diving in deeper to specific Abilities (read: moves) to explain what they do.

Let us ride on our enemies:

EXILES AT GDC WITH EPIC

We’re very excited to share that Exiles is going to be a showcase title in Epic’s booth at the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco, March 1-3. We just submitted the artwork for our area in the booth, so a setup that looks like this (below) will see the Gunslinger team hosting head-to-head bouts of Exiles for all comers:

If you’re going to be at GDC and want to set time for us to look out for you, hit us with a comment here or PM TheWizard on the forums, and we’ll figure out how to do a very special demo for you and an opponent (or play one of us!).

RARE TELLS

There’s been a decent amount of discussion about this topic on the Exiles Discord channel, so let’s talk about the system that we’re experimenting with to give players some visual telegraphs about their (live) opponents’ build. Besides aesthetics, we’re testing this to see if having an idea of an opposing player’s build changes/alters/improves the player’s ability to make choices of what Ability to play against their foe. 

As you can see here, we’ve organized the 150 or so “prefixes” on loot into 8 categories (note: a prefix is a word that denotes effects like Flaming, Unstoppable or Nimble prior to the base name of the equipment like Robes or Shoulders).

From a combat standpoint, the intension is to provide a telegraph to skilled players about how their opponent is specced out. We’ll be testing this hypothesis during closed beta and beyond, but jump into the discussion prior to that here on the forums.

PVE COMING ONLINE

Yes, I’ve been threatening this for a while, but now it’s becoming a reality. PVE is moving from the prototype level to the system level! We shared the way the world map works (video here), and now the system for Quests, Narrative Choices (think Choose Your Own Adventure) and random treasure is nearing implementation. A player’s adventures through Embermark will open up activities to engage in that move their own development forward as well as the overall world’s. Using this image to illustrate, the system will allow the following:

Quests that unlock based on previous Quest completion, Class, and Event participation (accessed from those mountain, door and tower buttons you see on the screenshot)

Access to individual areas (read: maps of specific locations) for further adventures

Hidden active areas on the screen that, when clicked, access any of the above

Presentation of narrative choices that will affect both your Motivations as a player and the overall storyline of the game (see the next section of this Update for explanation)

Access to random (or authored) TRAYSURE

NARRATIVE CHOICES

A week or two ago, we shared that our partnership with Bound is off and running with the delivery of the first several Exiles story beats to be revealed before the game comes out. That should be interesting, as the narrative content in Bound will morph from a narrator telling players what’s what on the continent of Embermark to him reporting on what happened last Season when the game is actually underway.

As that is happening, we’re developing all the ways that players will make choices that affect both their experience and the overall direction of the world story. 

One of these ways is simple narrative choices. Along the player journey, they will encounter areas on the map that ask them a simple question. The question might be whether or not to help a NPC, which angle to take in an argument or what preference they have of one Quest line over another. Each choice by each player will affect both their individual Motivation profile (accessed in their Character Detail) and the overall “vote” of the player base for that choice, which will affect the way each Season’s story is told (a Season is a month or so in the game).

And Exiles wouldn’t be much of an RPG if there weren’t tons of secrets and treasure to earn or find, right? Periodically throughout a Character’s development, treasure will appear on the map. Sometimes it will be a random drop, sometimes it will be a Recipe to craft something awesome and sometimes it will be a Legendary that you simply must have (and no, this one is not called “Forest Legendary.” We do have some pride, people...

ANOTHER MUSIC BIT

It’s been a few updates since our first Exiles soundtrack preview, so it’s high time for another! If you’ve been following the game’s development for a while, you know that at around Level 10, players will be able to join a House that fits with their ideology as a Character. During that decision process, you’ll be listening to this track, and then after making your decision, there will be a unique House theme playing as you make your decisions in the various sections of the House experience. Have a listen to the main House theme, and then vote on which House’s unique music theme we showcase next (vote here).

WARRIOR ANIMS

This Ogre’s gonna lose his knees when you unleash BEDLAM on his ass. 

ITEM DETAILS

UI design & iteration continues fast and furious, and the challenges of designing for a profile view (versus a landscape view) when there’s stats to share are something we’ll want tons of feedback on as we test. 

Here, you can see the “comparison view” for what you’re currently equipped with (the Shining Helm of Lasting) and what you’re considering (Durashan’s Wind of Wrath). In typical RPG convention, green denotes an improvement over what’s currently equipped and red shows what’s inferior to current. 

THE WOLF REVEALED

As we move from sketch to fully realized character, the lore behind wolves in Embermark is becoming clear. Their level of intelligence was heightened during the Collapse and their level of organization came shortly after. How? 

Not tellin’. But you should play the game, really. I hope you’ll be pleased, though these enemies won’t be pleasing. Particularly this guy:

1ST ABILITY DEEP DIVE

It occurred to me that all this talk of “Abilities” and explaining them as moves doesn’t fully explain the types of decisions that players will need to make in combat. So to illustrate a little more explicitly, I’m going to start breaking down some of the Abilities in the game so you can get an idea of what they do as well as what they might synergize with.

This time around, we’ll focus on a couple of Warrior Abilities:

Defiant Shout: Removes all active debuffs currently on you and increases WIL.(for reference, WIL increases all resistances, reduces Fire and Curse damage and increases damage on Abilities with a cooldown of 2 or more rounds).

This is a big Ability for the Warrior who wants to last. Rounds in Exiles are quick and you only have a few seconds to make your decisions. If you get loaded up on debuffs from a wily Mage or backstabbing Rogue, you could be in trouble before you can start unleashing your big damage attacks. Defiant Shout often saves the Character from an early demise but also sets up Abilities like Bedlam (which does multiple strikes and a bazillion damage if hitting) for finishing off the enemy.

Lunge: Deals damage and includes a chance at destroying armor but can't be used unless your SPD is less than the target’s. (for reference, SPD is super important in the Initiative calculation and also increases awareness and mitigates Lightning-type damage).

This is a great follow-up Ability, given it’s a gamble on the first round of combat (you won’t know if your SPD is less than your filthy foe). If you see the opponent win Initiative, you get debuffed on SPD by the opponent, or you execute an Ability that lowers your SPD, you can follow up with Lunge and plunge the enemy’s armor rating into the toilet. Then you watch as he/she fumbles around with buffing or a panic damage Ability and you deliver something that does mad damage. 

WHAT’S COMING

Moar (it’s always that).

We’ll keep sharing details as we head into testing (remember to PM TheWizard on the Exiles forums if you want in on closed testing & beta later), and you can count on early impressions from the testers throughout our various channels.

If you haven’t already, follow along with the Exiles development on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. And if you haven’t, I’ll find you. And SMITE you.

BONUS IMAGE: WHO IS THAT?

Or is it anyone? 

Given our large contingency of wizard-lovers (including myself), I don’t like to leave without a shoutout to magicks, so check out this blown-up image of our Chain Lightning icon (c’mon, we’re not making an RPG and excluding Chain Lightning, people). 

In addition to the drama of the arcane lightning, there appears to be a dark head and shoulders amidst the storm. Given this image will be relatively tiny in the game (it’s an icon), don’t forget about that dark figure when you see it. And if you remember when the lore behind arcane chain lightning is revealed, remind us that this Dark Figure is there and we’ll explain why.

[sometimesrosy]

What elements make B/E such an obvious romantic obstacle to B/C, narratively, etc?

A lot really. I mean, first, with that time jump, we needed to see that Bellamy had grown and moved on from the trauma of earth. Who better to show that transformation than the grounder who represented betrayal and brutality and murder and war to him? The one who betrayed him and almost killed his sister and held him captive. To forgive HER means he’s over the s3 bizness where he treated all grounders as the enemy who deserved death just for existing in some cases. We SAW him learn the lessons, but with the time jump and B/E he now INHABITS it. He’s grown from it. 

There’s also the parallels between CL and B/E. first alliance, then betrayal, then kidnapping, then working together, then saving from sucide, then forgiveness, then love. I know some people consider CL to be endgame, but my theory here is based on CL being over, for important reasons within the narrative. So to parallel two relationships that are important and transformative, but not endgame, and to show the longer pace of B/E which shows that Bellamy was healthier than Clarke was, is a sign of character development.

Bellamy needed a relationship in order to move forward on the ship, so he wasn’t a wreck. He needed to be a whole person, who COULD live without Clarke, because the Bellarke relationship is a relationship of equals, and it’s NOT codependent. They don’t fill in the holes of the other person. They are not INCOMPLETE without each other, They needed to be shown as complete people on their own. So showing that he’d not been destroyed by her loss meant having him accept love, accept that he deserved love. Therefore, he needed a healthy relationship. 

OKAY. This turned out to be A TOTAL EPIC post. And it’s too long so after the jump. STay tuned.

IT COULD NOT BE RAVEN. Wanna know why? Because Raven has her own journey. And she CAN NOT be second choice, because of her problems with finn and clarke in s1. Raven needs someone to be head over heels over her, if she’s going to have anyone. And if Bellamy had been in a relationship with Raven, CLARKE would always be standing between them. And with Clarke’s resurrection, Bellamy’s SOULMATE, Raven would be cast into second place, thus ruining Raven’s character arc, and putting Clarke into the SAME narrative of being the other woman, without any development. This would be a failure of storytelling, lacking growth and transformation which is NECESSARY for this story. 

As long as Bellarke is endgame, Br/aven could NOT happen. If Bellarke is NOT endgame, Br/aven is actually the CLEAR AND OBVIOUS choice for Bellamy’s next relationship. They already love and respect and like each other. Raven is a major character. The audience loves and wants them both happy. If Bellarke were not endgame, then Br/aven would have been. If Bellarke were PLATONIC, for real? Then Br/aven should have been developing all this time. But since Bellarke is an endgame romance, Br/aven CAN NOT happen romantically. 

THUS they needed a character to be his romance, to show him moving on, but it couldn’t be a character who was TOO essential that we would replace Bellarke with that ship, as would have happened with br/aven. Although it also needed to be a character who was tied to the major issues we’ve been dealing with, someone who maybe reminds him a little of Clarke even. Enter Echo. betrayals, ruthless, sneaky, beautiful, cheated in the conclave, almost killed his sister, does whatever she has to to save her people, loyal. 

I’d also like to bring up Echo’s name. And I think her name DOES matter. At first I thought it was because she was an ECHO of CL and that betrayal for Bellamy.  The myth of Echo, as the nymph who pined after Narcissus didn’t make sense to me, as Bellamy wasn’t a narcissist in love with his own reflection... UNTIL someone made the point that the classical concept of soulmates was one soul split into two bodies, so a person and their reflection COULD be a metaphor for this soulmate concept. Which made Bellamy in love with his reflection/soullmate Clarke, which now ENTIRELY fit the Echo and Narcissus myth. Echo is in love with Bellamy who is obsessed with his soulmate Clarke (who in s6 was ‘behind the glass’ like a mirror image! huh. Who was it that posted that theory!? that sounds like a confirmation to me.) Now again, Clarke and Bellamy are separated by this distance, and Echo goes in to find him? I hope Echo doesn’t fade away like her namesake did, but it’s possible. But Narcissus also dies at the river, in love with his reflection, becoming flowers, right? This actually fits my spec that Bellarke will “die” but in reality just be separated from their family and live out their lives in pastoral happily ever after. Anyway. The myth of Echo and Narcissus, means Echo is NOT the soulmate.

Also. JR said Clarke and Bellamy were soulmates. And fine, I don’t use commentary in my analysis... but I do if it fits, and this fits. They are SHOWN as being soulmates from season 4 AT LEAST. “you center her.” “you got it backwards.” for an example. 

Okay, but now lets get to the narrative. What I told you before is more about storytelling and tropes and character development. Or HOW you tell a story. Now we’ll get to canon evidence. There’s still some storytelling in there. I’m gonna start with s5, because that’s when romantic b/e showed up.

This was the big sign to me of what was going on with Bellarke and B/E.

The first episode of s5 was almost ALL Clarke. We were focused on her survival in the wastes. We were given access to her feelings and thoughts and pov. We were given her monologue.  Which was not a monologue.

It was a conversation, one way, with Bellamy. The voiceover of 5.01 was Clarke making her 2199 radio calls. Which is a romantic trope. They were, essentially like a diary, or love letters, or even a prayer, in a way. For that little bit of the story, in fact, huh. We could almost think of that whole episode as being Clarke’s tales of survival, told to Bellamy as a kind of epistolary tale. What we see IS what she said to Bellamy. Hmm. That’s interesting.

ANYWAY. My point was. The audience is put square inside Clarke’s head, and her head is “why haven’t you come home,” and talking to Bellamy and missing him.

THEN we get the scene where Clarke is talking to Madi about them, and missing them and then the camera pan up through the stars to Bellamy looking down on them, unknowingly, at the valley.

THIS IS THE MOST POETIC THE MOST ROMANTIC SHOT IN THE WHOLE SHOW. MAYBE IN EVERY SHOW EVER. It is a poem. She yearns for him, across time, beyond the stars, and he’s looking down on her, thinking she is dead, and the INFERENCE is that he’s yearning for her too, past death.

A love that literally lasts past death time and space. ULTIMATE EPIC LOVE STORY. And they are finally going to be reunited. AH, resolution for their separation and their love.

AND THEN... dun dun dunnnn, the plot thickens. 

Out of nowhere, the reveal that Bellamy and Echo ARE LOVERS. 

BAM! OBSTACLE. more, ROMANTIC obstacle. 

Clarke’s yearning was romantic in nature. We don’t see inside Bellamy’s head, but making the obstacle to their reunion no longer tech, but instead an established romance, means that the narrative has set Bellarke on a romantic path. Because otherwise another romance would not be an obstacle. Heck, Echo is not against Clarke. Even when she was threatening her life she wasn’t really against Clarke. She gets her. As a leader and partner, she gets her. Echo is ONLY an obstacle if the goal is a romantic relationship between Clarke and Bellamy.

That it’s set up this way, as a shock, is part of the romantic narrative.

THIS is on purpose a slap in the face. Because the audience has been set up to want them to come home TO CLARKE, to want a Bellarke reunion and to FEEL that they belong together. 

THEN when Echo is sure things will change between them, and Bellamy assures her that nothing will change between them on the ground, this is what’s known as DRAMATIC IRONY. The audience knows that Clarke is alive, they know that the bellarke bond is epic, they know that Clarke is yearning in a romantic way, they know that when Bellamy finds out that Clarke is alive EVERYTHING will change with his relationship with E. 

But then, we get a misdirect, or rather, a plot obstacle to B/E. Octavia is not forgiving and she’s scarier than ever. 

B/E is set up from the VERY BEGINNING as a romantic obstacle.

Then to prove it, we get

Clarke’s VERY shocked and jealous face when B/E reunites and kiss. That the camera focuses on HER, shows her watching them, and not on THEM means the main emotional weight of the scene is not the lovely reunion between loving partners, (thank god you’re ok i was so worried i’m so glad to see you again love love love,) but rather on clarke. (omg bellamy is kissing someone. bellamy is not mine. heartbreak, jealousy, shock!) See the focus is NOT on the established relationship, the B/E leg of the love triangle, but on CLARKE, the pining one, the one whose love is unrequited. The soulmate.

IF B/E were endgame, the focus would have been on the relief of the reunited lovers. But we’ve just spent like two episodes on the reunited (non-romantic apparently) soulmates, and the CANON relationship can’t even get an infocus shot?

A close up of someone’s face means the narrative wants us to feel their EMOTIONS. We got lots of those when Clarke and Bellamy reunited, when they hugged, when they struggled to regain their connection. But with the B/E reunion. Their faces were obscured, not shown, blurred.

Ok. And YES, Bellamy then moves on to focus on Echo and B/E, and saving her from Octavia, and that is to show that B/E is real. Because no obstacle that is not made real is going to be enough to really scare the audience into worrying that it could stop our heroes from their goal. IT HAS to be real. But even while Bellamy is proving to O that he loves Echo, the focus is NOT really on B/E, but on the Blakes relationship.  And on Bellamy and Octavia. This is teaching us who they are now, after 6 years apart.

Then there’s a love scene between B/E, or half a love scene anyway. The beginning. It is cut off in the middle and cuts to CLARKE getting ready to leave.. Oddly, the music for the scene stays the same, which CONNECTS the two scenes. A LOVE SCENE cut with a LEAVING SCENE. An established romance confirmed, a pining soulmate leaving aka giving up. And in the next scene, we get this dynamic reinforced... however, there is a change. The romantic couple is confirmed again, while Clarke watches. HERE we are shown a closeup of her face, tears in her eyes, all about how she feels about their relationship, after the close up of their faces I think, and sadness and love yes. this is real. Then Clarke steps back, straighten her shoulders and accepts it. She won’t interfere. He’s not hers to love. HOWEVER, then Echo LEAVES. The established couple separates. And we turn to Clarke and Bellamy immediately he knew she was there somehow.  

While B/E are split up, Bellarke are brought back together, although at this point they are non romantic, with each member choosing Echo for him. And we spend many episodes with them rediscovering their soulmate bond and getting closer and more intimate as they do so. While Echo has her OWN narrative and it has nothing to do with Bellamy or b/E. 

This leads to Bellarke making pledges to each other, over her daughter, and he swears to take care of Madi when/if Clarke dies. Bellamy promises to parent his soulmates daughter while his canon girlfriend is off risking her life. They bond as, well, co parents. Making them a family unit, Mother, Father and Daughter, though no romantic or sexual relationship between the two? 

Not so fast.

“Another traitor who you love.” Octavia lays out the issue. Bellamy loves Echo. Bellamy loves Clarke. She is comparing Echo and Clarke in his love. This is a ROMANTIC love comparison. She’s goading him. He doesn’t take the bait. Because he has a plan. 

Bellamy sacrifices his sister for Clarke’s life. Poisoning her. His sister who has been established as the person who means more to him than anyone else in the world. When it was O or E? He chose O and let E go off on a suicide mission to win a place with wonkru. When it was O or C? He chose C and poisoned O. That is an equation. Bellamy loves these three women. C more than O. O more than E. C>O>E. When compared, Clarke wins over Echo. If Octavia made it clear that the love is romantic, then Bellamy made it clear that his love for Clarke is deeper than his love for Echo, even if he’s not ready to face that or deal with it.

AND THEN SHE LEAVES HIM TO THE PIT. He knew he’d betrayed Clarke, but it is confirmation to him that Clarke does not return his feelings. So, when that’s sorted out, he has a moment where he’s choosing between Clarke and Echo (the earth vs the sword, it’s a heavy handed bit of symbolism so we don’t miss it.) He chooses Echo. It’s the logical choice. Head over heart. 

MEANWHILE, Echo and Clarke are having their own life or death convo. In which we find out that Bellamy loves Echo, Echo loves Bellamy, Clarke always cared for Bellamy but thinks him dead at her hand. NOT SO FAST. Bellamy is alive, “oh now you care?” AND THEN, revelation from the past FlameLxa tells her love is not a weakness, she was wrong to betray Clarke (canon love) and Clarke should not do the same thing (betray her love bellamy.) Remember also CL and B/E are paralleled. Remember also all the same players were at MW the original betrayal. L walked away, Echo walked away, Bellamy was under the ground, and Clarke stayed to get to him. it’s just interesting. So in the end, Clarke betrayed ELigius, spares Echo and sends her daughter (another love equation. Clarke canon loved Lxa, but she tells Madi she loves her SO much more than Lxa. Now she risks her greatest love Madi to war in order to save Bellamy. Here’s the equation. Clarke loves Bellamy>Madi>Lxa. We have two equations using actions to prove a primacy in love. Clarke love Bellamy more than all of her other great loves. Bellamy loves Clarke more than all of her great loves.

HOWEVER B/E comes back together to fight. As a couple. It is a couple reunion, but not as romantic as their first reunion, or their goodbye. THEN, they are fighting together and it isn’t romantic. And from there to the end of the season, the B/E romance disappears. 

HOWEVER, Bellamy learns that Clarke cares for him so much that she called him every day for six years. That changes his perception of Clarke, and how Clarke feels for him, and when she urges him to come in, he says, broken, I can’t leave them behind. “Not again.” With the understanding that leaving HER behind was the trauma that he can’t do again. 

So where did B/E go? It doesn’t matter. It’s literally not important to the narrative. Echo literally goes to sleep. B/E is frozen. What is important. Bellarke’s intimacies of saying goodbye to their families and their connection that is still there. And THEN them waking up TOGETHER and facing the loss of Monty, the revelations, the new world AND the commitment to be better, to be the good guys, together.

Known: B/E is a canon relationship. Clarke loves Bellamy and has been pining for him for six years. Bellamy loves Clarke but has moved on though he cannot ignore his feelings for her. Bellamy CHOSES Echo, but Echo keeps disappearing from his story while he focuses on Clarke and their relationship.

HOW do I know Echo is the romantic obstacle and Bellarke is the endgame rather than Clarke being the romantic obstacle and B/E being endgame?

Because the story focuses on the deepening relationship fo Bellarke, while his attachment to Echo stops it from moving forward. It focuses on the FEELINGS of Clarke about B/E, but not the feelings of Echo about Bellarke. It is never even presented. Her feelings are absent, when if her ship was endgame it would be about her feeligns at least partly. Now we do seem BELLAMY’S feelings, but his feelings which start out as about Echo vs Octavia, who hates Echo, shift and become Clarke vs Echo... evenn though Clarke does NOT hate Echo and accepts her just fine. So what is the conflict?

The conflict is that he can’t have competing feelings fo Clarke if he loves Echo. That means his feelings are ROMANTIC.

YES. He does choose Echo near the end of s5. This is because Clarke leaves him to die. Not because his feelings for her are not as strong (remember C>O>E) but because HER feelings seem to show she doesn’t care about him. UNTIL Madi spills the beans, and then he shifts back to Clarke a bit, even though his choice is STILL Echo.

Bellamy loves Clarke but thinks Clarke doesn’t love him so he chooses Echo.

Clarke thinks Bellamy loves Echo and not her, so she refuses to show him or admit to him that she loves him and she attempts to move on and keep him as her “platonic” soulmate.

Echo loves Bellamy and Bellamy loves Echo but Echo has no idea Bellamy also loves Clarke or that he is deciding between Clarke and herself. She has no say in this narrative. It’s not about her. It’s about Clarke and Bellamy. She thought the problem was Octavia. And while that’s a problem, it doesn’t affect Bellamy’s feelings for her. 

Echo has done nothing to make him not love her. Their relationship has remained stable. The only change is that there is another love in the equation. That Clarke’s existence puts B/E into jeopardy means that the Bellarke love is AT LEAST as strong as the B/E love. Possibly more... the love equation says more, but we will get more proof of that in season 6.

When we actually see the love triangle thrown into comparison CONSTANTLY. S5 had Bellarke and B/E separated. We got very few shots of them all together, and when we do, it’s Clarke’s jealousy and dismay on display.

However in s6, right from the beginning, the shots have all three of them in view. With Echo between Bellarke or Clarke between B/E often. Oddly, we also see Echo supporting Clarke. Or not that oddly. They’re a lot alike. She’s not competitive with Clarke, though. Even though there IS a competition. She does’t know about it. We see Bellamy choosing B/E with Clarke on the outside in ep1, but by the time they get to Sanctum, we start to see Bellamy choosing Clarke, or Clarke AND Echo (come look at this echo) with his focus on Clarke not E. We see him REACHING OUT to Clarke. (commiserating about raising their adopted kids without school, then the radio calls conversation which she runs away from because she’s scared.) Even in the eclipse psychosis, he goes after Echo first, but then turns his attention to Clarke. Murphy gets in the way as he always does, but he ignores everyone else. 

As time goes on, though, we get a NEW dynamic. He’s starting to argue with Echo. It’s over Octavia mostly,  but Clarke and Bellamy use Octavia to speak about their feelings for one another, without admitting them, so is that happening here? He’s using the argument over Octavia to express his feelings of frustration and distance with Echo?

Look. I’ve been showing you the love triangle. It is a CANON love triangle, which means B/E is romantic and requited and Bellarke is romantic although it’s unrequited. 

I need to show the love triangle in order for B/E to be A ROMANTIC OBSTACLE.

But just showing the love triangle means it could be B/E that is the endgame and Bellarke that is the love triangle.

How do we know this isn’t the story? 

Well aside from the love equations. We see Bellarke get closer while we see B/E bickering constantly over tactics, over octavia, over feelings, in season 6a. Clarke talks to him about her regret over the pit. The making amends scene is actually pivotal in their relationship. In the C/B/E love triangle. 

He accepts Clarke’s amends, and her claim that he is so important to her. He didn’t want to talk about it. But she is open and they are intimate. Cut to Clarke being PHYSICALLY intimate with Cillian, and Bellamy looking on with all sorts of emotions in his face. Sorrow, happiness, pining, regret, jealousy, acceptance, longing, who knows? And we IMMEDIATELY get Echo coming up, trying to talk to him about Octavia, and him turning ViCIOUS on her, blaming her for not being human, not being emotional, not being open (which clarke just was and is.) He’s STILL watching Clarke.  B/E is falling apart, not because of anything that Echo did, but because of something that Clarke did, again. HER actions are the deciding factor, and HIS emotions are where the choice is coming in. Echo has no control over it. Her emotions don’t matter. Her actions don’t affect it. He is not a character who has agency over this storyline, over her own relationship. This scene leads to Clarke being betrayed at the same time that Bellamy apologizes to Echo and Echo, FINALLY, opens up to Bellamy about her past. 

For the first time, Echo has agency in how her relationship goes, and Bellamy admits he’s a dick and commits to Echo. NOW. If this story were ABOUT B/E as endgame, this would be the point where their relationship rises to new heights and becomes stronger.

Instead. Clarke dies. And Bellamy’s attention and emotions go to CLARKE. Even when she’s dead dead, all he can think about is not having Clarke, how it’s not living, Echo comforts him but it goes nowhere. Instead, we see him grieving ALONE. Echo is willing to destroy everyone, but Bellamy chooses what Clarke would do, and keeps everyone safe. 

Until he finds out Clarke is alive, and then all bets are off and it’s a race to bring her back, canon, “you only care about Clarke.”

Yeah.

True.

Another pivotal scene. Bellamy leaves Echo to take care of their people and goes with Josephine to save Clarke. Echo says “Go save Clarke,” which is a parallel to Clarke telling Echo to “go save him.” Echo let Bellamy go to Clarke the same way that Clarke let Echo go to Bellamy. 

We’ve now switched who the primary relationship is. It’s Bellarke, not B/E. Echo and Clarke made the choice to let the other woman “have him.” They gave up their claim.

Everything we see with Bellamy and Josephine acts as if Bellarke is romantic and the true love in his life. An epic love compared to Josephine and Gabriel DOZENS of times. And Bellamy’s last ditch save her from death scene is GLARINGLY romantic in the way that all the best fairytales are romantic. 

There was never anything to compare to this in the B/E story. 

The next morning, Bellarke talk about leaving Echo and spacekru behind to save Clarke, and Bellamy still isn’t willing for her to risk her life to save them, although she insists, and they agree to do it for Monty. SO MUCH INTIMACY. And Octavia witnessed it.

Their goodbye is more romantic and more intimate than Bellamy’s reunion with Echo, even though she was STATED as at risk and being in danger. She almost died. And all she got was a hug, much like he’d hugged Harper after the fighting pit. 

The hug when Bellarke is reunited, however, is cast in romantic buttery light, with emotional close ups of their faces, and a rather intimate discussion of feelings and pain, with a parallel to their OTHER hug outside Camp Jaha, which was one of the pivotal moments in their relationship. 

This in contrast to the pat on the back he gave Echo before this, and how Echo, who is standing right there, disappears from the scene.

The final scene after this Bellarke intimacy, has B/E back together. ExCEPT there is NO initmacy. He’s the leader, she’s the soldier. No feelings. Just defense and tactics.

From the beginning of season 6 to the end, Bellarke and B/E have switched placed. on the non-romantic/romantic scale. Comfort and intimacy goes to Bellarke. Team work goes to B/E. 

THE JOURNEY of the love triangle switches from the primary leg being B/E with a side order of Bellarke partnership, to Bellarke with a side order of B/E partnership.

Technically, because we’ve had no time to sort out all these emotional issues with B/E (although we kind of have with Bellarke) B/E is still the canon ship. 

But that’s just a matter of dealing with the plot point. Because the NARRATIVE is now about romantic Bellarke, and all that’s left to deal with in regards to the B/E romantic obstacle is how it ends. (And for Echo’s side, she has been focusing on Ash, and her own independence. They have set her up to have a self empowered storyline, which means she does not need and should not have a king anymore. Bellamy is her king, even now. And she needs to be her own person. Which means B/E is doomed even without Bellarke.)

Thus I have shown why C/B/E is a love triangle. Why Bellamy needed a relationship ANY WAY. I take for granted that Clarke was in love with Bellamy and he was her fantasy boyfriend over the time jump. That Bellarke is romantic as is B/E, that the show has created a love equation for both of them. How the love triangle is shown in s6. How B/E fades while Bellarke grows, and that B/E is the romantic obstacle while Bellarke is the soulmate endgame. 

I’m so tired now.

[sometimesrosy]

i know what kind of the show the 100 is, but i really expect at least a good ending for bellarke and i hope your spec is right and we get some kind of that with them, in the past years shows did end in dissapointment, so i hope jason is in the group of 12 monkeys, bones, castle, shadowhunters, OUAT....

okay. but are you SURE you know what kind of show The 100 is?

What kind is it? 

Yes, it’s the post apocalyptic sci fi action tragedy, but there are actually two kinds of post apocalyptic stories, the kind where there’s no hope and humanity is doomed and the kind where there IS hope and humanity can be saved.

This one is DEFINITELY the later. Hope is important in this show. THIS kind of pos apocalyptic story CAN have a happy ending, or at least a happy ending that costs a price, a bittersweet happy ending. JR has told us that there would be a “The 100 style” happy ending, and the last time he said that would happen was with one couple in s5, which we now know was Marper, who got to live their lives on their own terms, alone and without people, but in love and happiness and peace while guiding their people towards a new future. I suspect the ending of the series will *match* that description of a happy ending, but with Bellarke, who was HIGHLY mirrored with Marper in the finale of s5.

And seeing as our heroes have had a happy ending with a cost every single season, what we’re watching is a story where there is hope. And *probably* hope for Bellarke.

But. I see that you aren’t really concerned with the story, you’re concerned with if Clarke and Bellamy get together, and this, to you is what’s in doubt, because you’re looking for a romance novel, or bellarke fic or something.

For you, the story ending in disappointment is the story not ending with Bellarke romantically together with a kiss/confession/sex. Or at least that’s what is seems to me, because as I’m watching, I have not felt denied bellarke since season 2. S1 I didn’t ship them yet, not really. S2 gutted me when she left because of bellarke. S3 they were together and closer than ever, S4 okay i was gutted when she was left behind, but had hope for bellarke with the 2199 radio calls. S5 I was not disappointed with bellarke because of that last part of the finale. S6 was so freaking romantic and ended, for all intents and purposes, with that romantic, intimate bellarke hug in the sunrise, so to me, it was clearly romantic bellarke, even without an official kiss(apparently kiss of life doesn’t count)/confess (apparently all the conversation of love and care and pledges not to leave or let each other die, or the confession that he needs her don’t count)/sex.

This is why I ask if you do know what kind of story this is. Because you are acting like my spec about bellarke is based in my personal feelings and not the development of the narrative that I’ve been following, but I don’t know if you have, or you’d see that bellarke is already a romantic story, and has been since AT LEAST season 5, when bellarke shippers abandoned the show because b/e existed, instead of recognizing a canon love triangle when they see one. (I will admit that this has been what has made me most frustrated with the Bellarke fandom. They’re giving us what we want and we’re acting like it’s not happening in canon on screen.)

Like my “spec” is pretending there’s a love triangle, or the love triangle is just an interpretation rather than written in the script, the direction, the cinematography and the acting. 

I cannot tell you if JR will back out of the bellarke love story or not, because I am not in control of what another person creates, but I can tell you that the story of The 100 has been an epic love story, truly from season 1, because it has been about GROWTH, but as a main plot line from season 5, or the end of s4 when he left her behind. 

If you say you know what kind of story The 100 is and you don’t recognize the actual romantic story of Bellarke, then you don’t know what the story is. 

This is not fanon. This is canon. It’s not my speculation. It’s the narrative. JR has called it an epic love story. He has told us it would happen eventually. He has said they were soul mates. He has said they love each other. And the story he is telling has them revolving around each other closer and closer until they connect. 

When I speculate that the story might be following the structure of The Divine Comedy, with the Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise, giving us the darkest moments in the beginning and ending up NOT a tragedy, that’s a speculation that is based on a remarkable similarity to the narrative and also literal allusions to the text and a painting we stared at in TWO seasons to point out the connection and character names like Dante and Blake to make the connections. So yeah. I’m speculating on the theme of the story that won’t, perhaps, be clear until the end, but it’s less a speculation and more a theory-- a theory has evidence to support it while a speculation doesn’t necessarily. 

There IS a point to the story, though. He’s told us there is. And it will be clear at the end. What I’m saying is that in order to tell a good story, he needs to incorporate that point into the whole story so we can follow along and it will all add up at the end. So I’ve been looking for those breadcrumbs that tell us where it’s going. This is what I do, and I’m pretty good at it. Finding those clues. I know not everyone knows how to do that, and I know a lot of people have been gaslighted by those who have been telling us Bellarke is not romantic or not the central relationship, or not the heroes, or are actually the bad guys, or are unimportant etc. 

Back in season 3 after Hakeldama, I wrote a meta theorizing that this whole story was about Clarke and Bellamy coming together. That in order to succeed, they must be together. It was based on some significant evidence from the first 2.5 seasons, but it has been proven correct in the following 3.5 seasons. This show is DEFINITELY about bellarke, the head and the heart, being TOGETHER and saving the world. There were points where it could have been a sun/moon story, never getting together. There were points where it could have remained platonic with no romantic connection. Those points have all been passed now, and they MUST be together and it is ALREADY romantic, so the eventual COMPLETE union of Bellarke is going to be romantic. They are already married, imo, committed, pledged, intimate, loving, devoted, respecting, trusting, and the ONLY thing separating them from what fandom wants is the physical. Because it has already moved into the romantic (EVERY love triangle is a romantic story, even for the losing couple, it’s still a romantic story, therefore, in the IMPOSSIBLE event that bellamy choses Echo over Clarke, it’s still romantic, just a broken hearted romance without the necessary genre happy ending,) it is no longer a platonic relationship.

What I CAN’T do is tell you how it’s going to end. If Bellarke will live or die. They might die and that’s always been a possibility that I’ve said for the end of the series. Here are the possibilities i can see for a Bellarke ending. In all but one (very unlikely possibility) Bellarke are kiss/confess/sex canon romantic, even if they don’t get a happy ever after.

Bellarke alive, together, romantically, married, raise a family and a peaceful society with their friends. (Happy Ever After ending common in the romance genre.)

Bellarke alive, together, romantically, married, have a family and life with their friends but there are more struggles coming, like maybe another apocalypse or political upheaval or violence. (Happy For Now ending also common in the more ‘realistic’ romance genre or romantic stories.)

Bellarke alive, together, romantically, married, have a family.... but not with their friends who are left behind to create the peaceful society. (Marper ending, The 100 Style Happy Ending, as described by JR. Bittersweet. This is the one I think is most likely in some ways.)

Bellarke dead, together romantically before they die, their family and friends go on without them to create a peaceful society. (Happy Ever After for humanity, but not for Bellarke. Bittersweet. A Romeo and Juliet ending, and though Bellarke has never been framed as R&J it’s possible. This could happen. The sooner they get together romantically in season 7 the more likely they won’t get a happy ending.)

Bellarke together romantically, but Clarke dies saving them, and Bellamy carries on in her absence, broken, perhaps eventually settling for Echo, or perhaps not. He creates a peaceful society for their friends in her name. (this is Happy Ever After for humanity, but a tragedy for Bellarke. I believe this was the ending of s4, and I think it’s developed past that so I don’t think it will happen.)

Bellarke together romantically, but Bellamy dies saving them, and Clarke carries on in his absence. The only way I think this could happen is if she has his baby, so carries him with her. She creates a peaceful society for their friends and her children in his name. (Happy Ever After for humanity, but a tragedy for Bellarke. This was the ending of s4 for Clarke with Madi as the substitute child. I believe we’ve developed past that so I don’t think it will happen.)

Bellarke together platonically... i do not think this can happen, it would have to RETURN to platonic partnership, because we’ve left platonic, but let me explore it. Clarke would need to give up Bellamy to Echo because it was “the right thing to do” and Bellamy would need to stay with Echo because it was “the right thing to do,” and neither of them would make the claim on the other. But I believe part of the journey of s6 was about Bellamy CHOOSING Clarke because he loves her. It’s part of the narrative. So he’s already chosen her, so something would have to happen to reverse that decision and I don’t know what it could be. Clarke looks like she’s ready to wait for him. I don’t think this story would have them together platonically with Bellamy sacrificing his happiness being with Echo, who is Ash and doesn’t want to be king/spy anymore, and leaving Clarke pining for her soulmate. That’s a bad story because there’s no reason for them to not admit they love each other. Staying with Echo because he promised is a bad reason and disrespectful to all involved. But okay. Bellamy chooses Echo and Clarke eventually finds someone else and they lead a peaceful society without fully engaging the heart. Oh that doesn’t make sense. They’re the head and the heart. That would not be living up to what Monty asked of them. No it doesn’t work. This ending is already off the table, sorry. Unless JR really is the asshole that you all think he is. If it happens, I’ll admit that you were right and he’s a dick as bad as D&D. But if it doesn’t happen, then y’all need to go apologize to JR for doubting him and hating him and calling him evil and a bad writer. 

Where I am now, I think the most likely is a mix of the above. I think the bittersweet ending will include a happy ever after for Bellarke, like Marper, as they are separated from their friends and family and assumed dead. So Bellarke will die together saving their people, but they won’t die, rather they will be separated from them so they can have their happy ending although it is alone and they’ve lost everyone they love, except each other. It fits the narrative, the circular storytelling, the bellarke mythos, the breaking of the cycle, clarke and bellamy’s characters, the sacrifice theme, the head and the heart, the marper foreshadowing, “together,” wanheda, the survival plot twists where we think they’re dead but they’re not, soulmates, the bittersweet endings, the victory but with a price, etc. 

[sometimesrosy]

I was hoping for Princess Mechanic this season, but am not sure we’re gonna get it. I’m especially uncertain where Raven’s storyline/arc are going since we just got a little insight into what’s going on in her head in 6x08. I guess the lack of PM makes sense since Josephine story is lasting so long. I hope we do get her reaction to C’s apparent death, but again not sure if that‘ll happen for her or Abby until after they’ve already gotten C back. Seems like that’d have less emotional impact tho.

I also have been hoping for Princess Mechanic. I saw it in the c/b/e parallel with c/f/r. But the conflict of c/b/e never became a FIGHT where people would take sides. Because it remained with the people involved. Clarke and Bellamy and how they feel about each other, and we are starting to get Echo and her feelings about it. Just feelings. Clarke choosing to let go. Bellamy choosing, officially, to stay with Echo, but in action and feeling, choosing to prioritize Clarke always. His head says Echo and his heart says Clarke, which is a story that is coming to a head. 

BUT I always said I was most nervous for PM because it is NOT in the main themes or storylines. I can’t see it as well, because I’m mostly doing my spec based on the larger narrative. I see connections, but it’s not required to move the story forward or create the meaning they are developing, like Bellarke is. 

It can be very hard to predict the bellarke storylines, because they are NOT told along the romance genre narrative lines, NOR are they told with the soap opera dramatic tension and melodrama. I think the best way to do it, is to keep the tropes, that ARE romance genre tropes, but put them into the adventure/scifi structures, and then pull WAY back on the melodrama, because all the melodrama comes from life and death moral decisions, not romance. 

And connecting Raven’s story to Bellarke’s story to bring us Princess Mechanic is a melodramatic soapy storyline. My hopes have again taken over my spec in the case of Princess Mechanic. 

I think that Raven’s story this season has instead been about HER OWN morality. How her pragmatism and judgments on others are in conflict, and when asked to make the moral decision herself, she finds it’s not so easy to be “pure.” In a way, she might be a stand in for the audience, who expects all the characters they love to be pure, and then when they are not, heaps judgment down upon them. Hmm. Maybe. 

Princess mechanic might still come together, but not until RAVEN makes it right within herself. HEY, that’s like the blake siblings. It’s not a question of them hashing out their differences, it’s a question of Raven and Octavia both coming to some conclusions about themselves, their responsibilities and their treatment of their respective “siblings.” Clarke is definitely posed as Raven’s sibling… and always has been. Abby adopted her a long time ago in the narrative, comparing her to her own daughter, and now we’ve had plenty of comparisons of Abby to Raven’s mother. 

They’re tying the remaining delinquents even more tightly into a family unit. Emori was married into it. I believe Echo still is uncertain of her place within it, and the “spy” thing has been reinforced multiple times by Bellamy, Emori and Madi. Spy, not family. Family also has… but it’s up and down, thus illustrating her uncertainty.

Back to princess mechanic. I think it’s still coming, but it wasn’t a main relationship or plot. It is tied to Raven’s character development, which is pretty low key considering the high drama of Clarke and Bellamy’s. 

Just as when we’re looking at Bellarke romance, though, I think we should probably pull back from the melodramatic expectations of soapy emotional impact and conflict. Life and death moral decisions are where we get the high melodrama. Interpersonal relationships get a lower dramatic impact… except where they intersect with life and death moral decisions. 

That means that it is not their intent to make every relationship conflict highly emotional. Maybe they are keeping pm more lowkey to offer a contrast to the more high drama bellarke and memori and bohunkabby. All of which are connected to the immorality of this brand of imortality. High drama. Life and death moral decisions. See? But make it romance! lol. 

I mean, the sibling relationship of bellamy and murphy is low emotional impact, too. Murphy saves B from becoming a murderer, but B’s apology is like ‘whatev dude’ and he calls murphy a traitor then tries to jump in to keep Josephine from hurting him. Subtle and affecting, but not high drama. Even the blakes? High conflict, then separation, where Octavia is left to deal with her own shit and Bellamy is busy with the next drama. That’s the same description of princess mechanic s6 narrative arc, with the conflict being Raven’s sharp tongue instead of Octavia’s sharp sword. interesting. 

[sometimesrosy]

Rosy here i am back on the bellarke ride, something feel different in this con with beliza and bellarke, i am so excited, the way they talk about they do not mind of them becoming a couple and being opening about the romantic feelings, this for me says they are really become canon in season six ,i really feel they are gonna kiss, and season seven will be them becoming a power kick-ass badass not boring couple ;).

Welcome back. 

I never went away. I just want to tell you that all the stuff they said supports all the stuff I’m saying ABOUT THE NARRATIVE. You know I don’t get my analysis from the commentary of the cast or the fans or anything. I am boring and stick to the text like a good english teacher. Even though fandom said I was delusional, a joke and an embarrassment. Which this con suggests I am not. (If you want you can go back and look at my speculation and theory tags, although I’m not very good at tagging anymore because I don’t care if people can find my meta.)

So when everything Bob and Eliza has said actually fits what I speculated or analyzed, it doesn’t change my mind about what is happening with the story, but it does make me feel like I am on the right track with what I am looking at WITHIN the story, or with JR’s statements about genre, references, character arcs, which yes I am using for my spec. Actually I’m most nervous about my spec because while some of it is based on narrative some of it is based on where JR MIGHT go. So that’s guess work. And a couple of things were said about s6 that might fit. I can’t tell yet, but if I’m right, it will be obvious in retrospect that what they said matches my spec.

But yes. I do agree that the WAY they talked about Bellarke, especially in contrast to the way they talked about them last year (good vs up and down. strong vs rollercoaster,) does make it seem more positive. And JR has said that they are aligned and together and moving in the same direction and they are partners again. And Bob and Eliza have been saying that the best thing about them this new season is that they are TOGETHER, they aren’t in different places.

AND the way they talk about Bellamy’s and Clarke’s FEELINGS for each other, outside of whether they are in a relationship or not, are romantic. Eliza said that CL and Bellarke were similar life long loves, she also admitted that Calrke loved him last season. Bob’s response when asked if Bellarke would have been together if they were both stuck on the ground was priceless, because you know, he’s like Oh YEAH if Roan were up in space it would have been them. Or how much he loves Murphamy. So it’s not like he doesn’t play with speculative ships. So it’s clearly obvious, that he thinks Bellarke would have been a couple of Bellamy was on the ground. BUT HE CAN’T SAY THAT, so he swerves to a relationship he CAN say, parenting. lol. I found Bob to be more careful about what he said about Bellarke than Eliza was. Probably because he’s got a shipwar on his hands and Eliza doesn’t anymore. SO she can be honest about how much Clarke loves Bellamy. 

And I also think that watching Eliza and Bob interact without any of the tensions of the previous cons is really great. And they had no problem posing in romantic poses for the photo ops, and actually really seemed to enjoy them. They were into them. And yes, I do think they are acting as if they know something about Bellarke being canon that we don’t know. As if they know we (specifically belalrkers) are gonna like it. And also Bob did not seem to be welcoming of anything that had to do with B/E or Bob NOT loving Clarke. He got MAD when someone said Bellamy didn’t think Clarke was his family. I don’t think he was prepared for that and that seemed to be a genuine reaction, rather than one meant to keep spoilers quiet. 

To me, that one little bit of the con is really important because he’s speaking to the people who think Bellarke is dead. Who misinterpreted what he was portraying and took it to mean Bellamy didn’t love Clarke. Which I get, because he was telling one story, and the audience basically said he was saying the opposite. 

I know why I think people made that speculation, and the most generous interpretations is that they were only looking at it from Clarke’s POV, feeling WITH her. But that also means they were ignoring Bellamy’s story and struggle, which I can see why he’d feel offended by. It’s diminishing his story when Bellamy is the co-protagonist. But you can’t force someone to see from someone else’s perspective if they don’t want to.

Doesn’t mean that perspective isn’t there. It means they are ignoring it and missing the story.

I’m gonna have to admit that I don’t like fandom anymore. I’m very bitter that fandom seems to want to have wars and hate the other side rather than enjoy the show. I’m kind of angry that everyone loved me when I said “stick to the text” and it supported their wars against CL, but when I said “stick to the text,” and it disagreed with their bellarke-is-dead wars against JR, they attacked me and called me nearly the same thing as the CL’s did. I didn’t change. I remained focused on the canon narrative while fandom got upset their fanon didn’t happen on screen. I stayed a fan of my favorite show. My love for my OTP only intensified, while ex-bellarke fans told me I was the enemy for still loving them. You are clearly not one of the people who sent me nasty anons, or you couldn’t send me this, so I don’t want to blame you. I understand people get sad and don’t want to watch, and that’s their right, but I’ve kind of distanced myself from fandom, because we never seem to actually just want to enjoy a show we love. But that’s what I’m here for. My life is too hard to spend time making up battles where there don’t need to be any. Sigh.

When people see Bob getting upset that they ignored his part of the story, invalidating Bellamy’s perspective, do you think they reconsider their interpretation? When they realize that ignoring Bellamy’s pov is actually disrespectful to Bob who they love? I mean, the fandom has been so focused on hating JR, that they don’t recognize they’re also throwing the actors under the bus? Because Bob and Eliza are ALSO the creators of this story, and of Bellarke? IDK.

I loved the con. They didn’t give us much information, but it all fits what I was already thinking. I’ve stepped back from fandom a lot, and it seemed there were some anti comments, against Bellamy or spacekru, who felt Bellamy in particular had betrayed Bellarke and the story. ?? Or the narrative and JR betrayed Bellarke. But Bob and Eliza’s answers all seemed to say that the narrative did NOT betray Bellarke. B/E is not the main ship or endgame. Bellarke is actually romantic in nature, like CL. Bellarke is stronger than ever. 

And the feeling, although not admitted openly, was definitely Romantic Bellarke, and maybe even canon next season. Thinking of established Bellarke in the future. 

[sometimesrosy]

I’m wondering whether the desire to be good guys and Clarke’s (current) isolation from the larger group will lead her to indulge in her more self-sacrificial tendencies...I don’t mean that she ultimately will sacrifice herself, but perhaps that she will go out of her way to “earn” redemption, even at great personal cost/risk. (ie. I could see a reversal of her sending B to the mountain in S2... sending herself, love for the group = strength.) I feel like that would also force the B/C/E issue.

Uhm. I think fandom is taking it as canon that Clarke will be isolated from the group because JR said not everyone will forgive her as easily as Bellamy, and Bob asked if we were sure that Bellamy forgave her, we’d have to watch.

I do not think that’s the story. I think that’s the STARTING place. They’ve said that the first episode is like the hangover to the s5 finale. It’s where they get to confront the betrayals that happened in season 5, and Clarke abandoning Bellamy is one of them, as well as her betrayal of Raven and their abandonment of CLARKE. Also Octavia and what she did. Abby’s drug addiction. Madi’s flame. Miller’s betrayal of the 100. Echo wanting to kill Shaw. Echo and Clarke trying to kill eachother. Emori and Murphy’s sorta getting back together. 

I think the story which STARTS with Clarke not forgiven and on the outside will end up being ABOUT her becoming part of the family… and that means MORE than just because of the 6 years, but ALSO because of all the things that got between them while she was on earth. She LEFT them before they left her. 

So what we have is an IMPORTANT narrative arc of Clarke becoming part of the 100 again, which never really happened after her 3 month walkabout. So we have another REDO. If s5 was about Bellamy getting Clarke back, I think s6 will be about Clarke getting Bellamy AND her family back.

So to me, that’s the opposite of what you’re saying. You’re implying that her being isolated from the group is the static situation, and I’M saying that it’s the starting position that is the active CHANGE we’ll see as Clarke moves through the season, and frankly it might be a A season storyline that is resolved, allowing Clarke and Bellamy to be the good guy and solve the bigger problems of the B season. WITH the team. Because that’s what the show is about.

One of the things we have to remember is that a story is a JOURNEY. If there is no change, there is no story. So when I get a set up from JR, that to me says it will go FROM this point, TO a transformation. So if Clarke being isolated and unforgiven is the story, that means we’ll see her forgiven and part of the family again. 

If the promo pics from nycc freaked you out, I’ll say the same thing.The story STARTS with b/e together and clarke on the outside. That’s set up. It will end with Bellarke together, because Clarke is our pov character, her soulmate is bellamy, Bellamy is in love with her, they are going to be good guys together. Their feelings have been defined as romantic in s5, so there is no other end to that love triangle. Sorry. The only way he can choose his non-soulmate over his soulmate is if they are platonic, which hey aren’t in canon. So if it starts with c/b/e and b/e together, that means the transformation will be towards Bellarke. There’s no doubt in my mind. This story is winding up.

I do think she is looking for redemption, but that doesn’t come from self sacrifice or death, I don’t think. She thought that in season 3, and Bellamy wouldn’t let her. She also did it in season 4, but she thought she was already dying. And she did it in season 5 for Madi. Does she STILL think that’s how redemption happens? Or is she starting to realize that it’s WORKING towards redemption not checking out? anyway, it won’t happen that way because it’s a thing they’ve been dealing with all along. Plus, we’ve got JR saying that Clarke and Bellamy will be working TOGETHER towards being the good guys so that means he’ll balance her self sacrificial tendencies and she’ll balance his. They don’t let the other sacrifice themselves if they can help it.

Do I think we’ll see a replay of the time she sent him into the mountain? I do. remember she didn’t send him in, that was his plan. She rescinded her objections. And her objections were that she cared too much to lose him, thus telling him that she did not care. It told US the opposite, but we know about the love is a weakness argument and he didn’t. I actually think that replay might be the key to fixing Bellarke, and finally allowing Bellamy to accept that Clarke loves him. Because that was when he decided for himself that she didn’t. Followed by her leaving him outside of Camp Jaha. And rejecting him in Polis. And using him in Hakeldama. And saying she loved Lxa in 5.01. And turning to Niylah when he turned her down after the list. etc etc. 

So I COULD see Clarke going on some mission into the unknown to save people because she won’t risk him. And I could see that leading to a serious separation of Bellarke…but there is ALWAYS a separation of Bellarke, and that could be how THIS one happens. But if it’s based on how much she cares for him rather than how it’s worth the risk to send him, he will allow himself to love her. For real. 

And let me be honest. I will say I think he STILL won’t believe that she loves him enough to CHOOSE him. He has too much evidence to the contrary. 

And I think it will lead to ANOTHER replay of ANOTHER break in the bellarke relationship, when she chose to stay in Polis with Lxa who would always prioritize her people, instead of “coming home to yours.” And in this replay, we might see Clarke being offered a chance to stay with the new people for the greater good, and Bellamy will believe she will, and he’ll lose her again, but Clarke NEEDS Bellamy and she’ll choose HIM. My spec has this happening at about 6.11. Yes Bob’s episode. Then last two episodes will have them as battle couple, saving the day, more like season 3 than season 5. 

Oh. I did not mention b/c/e. That’s because I think that will resolve in the A season. I think season B will be about making Bellarke real. And that means dealing with THEIR traumas including what you mention. 

What episode were they filming when we saw the castle set? Yeah, I think that’s when Bellarke are separated. And I think Echo will be with Clarke, but B/E won’t be a thing anymore. 

[sometimesrosy]

What do you think about Tasya’s interview. I actually think she dodged every question she literally ignored that one Bellarke question -them waking up before E- and her relationship with Clarke?.... I mean

What do I think? Wait, holdup, I did a liveblog to a friend while watching. Okay, I’m just going to put it up here and add my thoughts to it all mishmash. Some of it I’m paraphrasing. 

i think i’m right about her backstory being about the new challenges. she said it helped her have a perspective on things spacekru didn’t have. what if it’s because she was a slave in azgeda and the aliens are slaves on the new planet?

she avoided the c/b/e question they asked about how Bellarke was woken first. went back to loyalty and family and trust. So interesting, Tasya. Not a mention of love triangle, relationships or jealousy. 

protective of jordan she’s always the protector.  She’s the knight. She’s always the knight. It’s a return of that season 2 princess/knight dynamic, but with Clarke and Bellamy it was reciprocal. Once Clarke sent him into the mountain it reversed and she became HIS knight doing whatever she had to to protect him. But with Echo and Bellamy, she’s always the knight. He is never her knight. Now we see her be the protector knight for Jordan too? As well as Madi last season? In a chess game (a metaphor that has always worked for this show) knights are important, but expendable. They protect. 

b/e question: work well as a pair. explore that. see more of how b/e strengthens each other operate as a great unit. 

no mention of romance. Slick, Tasya. Well done. 

octavia: lingering things. she affects bellamy that in turn affects echo. she worries and cares about him. tricky. eggshellss. blake sibling question. wants to see bellamy happy and in a good place

clecho. interesting relationship. sees herself in clarke’s struggles and understands what clarke is going through, throwing herself in front of the bullet for her people. and indebted to clarke for saving her. WOW.

that fits my echo bellarke spec last year. She is loyal and devoted to Bellamy and cares for him and wants him to be happy. She honors and owes Clarke and respects and understands her. As the loyal knight, her character should logically let go of Bellamy so he can be with Clarke. Honestly, just like she did with Octavia, she recognized he needed his sister and was the knight and risked herself so he could have his sister back, and maybe she could be welcomed back. 

I actually liked Tasya’s interview best, in regards to Bellarke, aside from Bob’s “mmmsoup” cat that got the canary smile and avoidance of the topic. Tasya said Echo was thinking about things (spacekru, loyalty, family, clarke and Bellamy [separately there are no ship answers here]) the same way I said she would. And in my spec that means her story would be about family and loyalty and her honor, respect and debt would mean she wouldn’t hold Bellamy to his commitment when it became clear that he loved Clarke. But in season 5 that seemed to get all knotted up when she was ready to treat Clarke as the enemy. If she’s back to indebted and understanding now that Clarke is on the spacekru team again, then my Echo interpretation is back in line.  My spec for her response to Bellarke was always based upon my analysis of her character, so I’m glad not only that I was right about Echo’s character, but that she is responding to the story in a way that makes sense to me. That means that I am understanding the way JR is telling his story and developing his characters. I don’t believe it will be an easy path, and I’m looking forward to the angst, but yeah. That is good stuff to me. 

I know a lot of people will think it’s anti bellarke, but not I. I swear, everything we’ve gotten since the season ended has me more confident in my theories, interpretations and specs. Non of it has been confirmed, but nothing has been debunked and a lot has been supportive. 

I am not excited to be “right,” really. I AM excited for the story I see coming up. Like REALLY excited. If I’m on track, it’s going to be so good. So that’s why I want to be right, not for ego. Like, I really want to see aliens. The weird aliens in my head. And the more far out my spec is, the more I would DIE to see it, but I know some of it is really far out. I’m not invested in being right. I just want to SEE it happen. And to be honest, I am more excited about the non bellarke stuff, because it’s so unexpected. Bellarke? That’s coming, because it’s already in the narrative. The alien planet stuff? That’s not.

Ugh. I have to practice nonattachment. I swear, I will accept whatever story they give us. Breathe in breathe out.

[amwritingmeta]

Cas’ Deciding Moment in S13 (this is so Wild Spec)

Please, please, don’t read this if the idea of human!Cas in any way upsets you, okay? I’m not writing this post to anger or appall. This is entirely my own speculation regarding Cas’ arc this season, based in my own hopes for his character progression. I know how much we all love him, and I sincerely don’t want to get anyone in a slapping-faces-because-I-can’t-take-this-shit type of mood. You may slap me if you forego this plea and read this post and want to slap me. *perhaps this post is a ploy to get people to slap me* *shhhhh*

What I Hope Happens to Cas, in Some Narrative Shape or Form, in S13:

1. I hope we see, or it’s implied, that he’s faced with a choice in the Empty and that it’s his own choice to go back to Earth fully-fledged.

2. I hope this is the right choice made for the wrong reasons, meaning–

–to go fight a war –to raise Jack right –to protect the people he loves –Cas once more dresses himself as the weapon, believing, as ever, that his grace, his wings, his powers are the only things about him that will make him a force to be reckoned with –Cas still believing this is true makes returning fully-fledged a choice made for the wrong reasons –but it’s the right choice because Cas has to come back fully-fledged in order to finally gain perspective on what his grace, his wings, his powers really are, what they’ve always been: a yoke, something to hold him back and keep him in his place, a place he’s never chosen for himself, merely been duty bound to.

3. I hope, at some point this season, that fully-fledged, reset, BAMF Castiel is faced with this truth and that it’s delivered through a situational challenge–

–that situational challenge could be Cas being told to bow down to Heaven fully (a Heaven possibly under the new direction of the fanatical Michael, if he crosses over between worlds)  –in this situational challenge, Cas finds himself reminded of Naomi’s brainwashing, of her saying he came off the assembly line wrong, and finally he’ll begin to see his powers for what they really are: a weakness. –I hope that whatever the circumstances surrounding this situation is - hopefully one that is overtly dramatic and foreshadowed - they serve to lead Cas into doing what Anna did, that the circumstances lead to him cutting off his wings and choosing to become human, because he refuses to serve Heaven for another second.

(as he’s already in a vessel we’ll just forget about Anna falling from Heaven and being separated from her grace etc.) (I’d love for Cas’ humanity to be wholly an individual experience… but, again, not terribly fussed)

4. I hope human!Cas happens, and I hope he happens sooner than later, because to me it feels imperative to his character progression that he takes this leap and faces this oncoming war as a human.

This also makes sense to me where the narrative stakes are concerned –>

–> fully-fledged Cas poses a problem because he more or less negates the stakes (the brothers are never in peril of death when they can call out for Superman… sorry, for Cas and he appears) so to have him come back in order to guide Jack in how to open up the rift, for example, and have Cas with his angel mojo back, only to pull that safety rug out from under him in some way… oh it could be beautiful and so fitting for his individual arc.

5. It also gives me this immediate sense of balance because of the Battle of the Brothers angle, where - if we get human!Cas - Michael represents Heaven, Lucifer Hell and Cas Humanity, all three of these concepts knitted together in Jack, who is also the knitting point for TFW, while TFW - with human!Cas onboard - are completely equal for the first time ever (since there’s no cock blocker angel named Gadreel to put the power of Heaven in Sam).

But leaving that for another post.

6. I have a second scenario in mind, where Cas’ refusal to bow to Michael (because he’s powerful enough to do rip another angel’s wings off…) makes Michael do just that - tear off Cas’ wings - and tell him that if he loves man more than his family, he can live and die as a man.

Cas having the choice stripped off him, like it was stripped by Metatron, would serve as punishment for not learning his lessons and choosing to come back fully-fledged, his forced humanity enabling him to learn his final lessons so that he can reject an offer of his powers restored to him by the end of the series.

But I’d rather he makes the BAMF choice for himself now.

They could still have him grappling with it, with the enormity of it, but also show him embracing his new existence even more than he did in the previous human!Cas arc.

7. I love the idea of all this tying into Dean’s freak-out in 12x20, where he did not see Cas looking back at him. The way I see it, the guy he did see was Castiel, which was why he was so utterly freaked: all that growth reduced to nothingness and Cas, his Cas, gone. Dean saw this BAMF Angel of the Lord, who was reliably unreliable and came and went as he pleased, who was such an overwhelming, startling, breathtaking presence that Dean tried - and most often than not failed - to bring him down to Earth as his Cas was burned away. (wrong of course - all wrong wrong wrong) (but it’s an intriguing thread that they might be playing with here)

So, yeah, I think we’re getting Castiel back not only because it’s important he goes through this final stage before his transformation can actually be complete and his choice to become human feels fully informed by the shit-fest that is Heaven, but because Cas returning as BAMF Warrior of Heaven on a mission to protect Jack is going to throw Dean off completely. 

I mean, Dean won’t know what the fuck to do, right?

He’ll be so ecstatic to have Cas back and alive, and he IS Cas… and still, he isn’t. I can’t wait to see what they do with it!! It’s a remarkably effective way to slow the love story down, now that Dean is poised for self-examination and real fucking growth. If Cas had come back human then, yeah, the way that they’re truly going balls out with Destiel this season means it simply would not have worked. But if Cas is fully-fledged and becomes human by episode… idk, timelines are so fucking hard, but say by 13x12… 

Oh my God, the brain delights if we get that slow build between human!Cas and Dean. Like super slow. Like the human!Cas arc and all the innuendo and flirtation was like a blitz view of what they could be like if both were feeling somewhat on equal footing. 

And do you know what else it might mean, if this wild speculation is even in the ballpark of what is up ahead for Cas and Dean?

It might mean that they are building the love story from scratch, tying it back to the beginning for more callbacks than in 12x19, more callbacks that aren’t just spot-it-if-you-know-it, but that actually draws on that old amazingly taut chemistry between these two men, who are so alike and equally stubborn and omfg it could be glorious. Thelma and Louise moments, PLEASE, give us loads of Thelma and Louise moments. Awkward!Dean is my sweet cherry pie!! (and yours too I bet) (if you like sweet cherry) They would do this to ease the GA into the very real realness of how these two men are meant to be together.

I’ve said all this before, many many times, but I’ll say it again and again because goddamnit if this isn’t where this is headed. *hat-eatage*

Here’s what I see: 

I see them pushing Dean’s character progression so that, once Cas comes back, Dean is ready to relate to him differently. The fact that Cas has had a reset should, absolutely, give Dean pause, and Cas pause, too, but my hope is that Dean is way too far gone now to even start back peddling. He’s in love with Cas and he has, by some miracle, gotten Cas back, so Dean will try to, awkwardly, show his feelings. Dean wants to show this angel that he matters to him. And it’ll be tentative as all fuck, and it’ll be scary, too, but Dean won’t back down because, damnit, he lost Cas once and he cannot do it again.

((The strain on Dean of fully-fledged Cas fluttering in and out, though. Oh man. And will Cas start out with ties to Heaven again, or purely Jack?? What about that smiley angel who stood by his dead body on that table? What’s her play?? Will Cas’ possible ties to Heaven grow and solidify as the episodes roll by? Oh so much fun!! They can have so much fun with this!!))

I see them reliving Cas and Dean’s greatest hits, putting them face to face in long silent stares and Sam somewhere nearby clearing his throat. While Jack observes them, entranced and fascinated. And of course there’ll be head butting and I really really want protective!Dean, wether Cas is an angel or not, because Cas has died - every time except for one - as an angel, so his powers don’t exactly mean he’s invulnerable and the last time he damn near died for good so Cas can just stay behind him, thanks very much. Ohhhhh. PLEASE PLEASE. We want it! We all want it!!

Keep them together! Please. If it’s made sweet and irresistible and undeniable, the GA will be as enamoured with them as the rest of us have always been. And if they’re not - FUCK THEM. My God, Dean and Cas deserve this. They both deserve to be happy!! Together! But the deciding moment will be when Cas decides, for himself, to become human, and the beauty of the above setup is that even if we see Dean trying to show Cas how he feels, fully-fledged and utterly graced Cas will not be able to relate to Dean’s flirtation (I mean, hell, even very humanised Cas in S12 still squinted at Mandy flirting with him in the absolutely most audacious manner one can flirt with another person) and the love story won’t kick off before Cas is human.

And once he is human, well, then there’s the fear as an obstacle to overcome because, all of a sudden, the thought of a future together will seem very real. And possibly probably very, very, very scary. :P *crossing fingers and toes*

I so see positive endgame, my peeps. All the way!!