#v. main remake

[phantomhivestims]

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Violinist Stimboard

Request for myself

Note ; I love him so much <33 , also the cosplayer in the center is REALLY cool 10/10 would recommend checking him out if you like IDV :3

🃏-🎻-🃏

♦-♣-♦

🃏-🎻-🃏

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[mashias]

this is something i wonder about all the time so sorry for the extremely specific question:

i do not mind whatever pronouns or gendered terms you decide to use for this discussion! very curious to know what people think

(do not fight or be weird on this post or i WILL turn off RBs)

[vault81]

ik i already did smn like this before but im doing it again!!

(template below cut!)

[multiicolor]

... anyways i get one new-ish oc over here bc im gutting his old blog

LIR ( tav ) from BG.3 / canon compliant???

[liightbringr]

𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 𝟑𝟓𝟖/𝟐 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒 ( 𝟏.𝟓 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐗 )   (   𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟑   ) 

@selkshe asked: “   i hope we can always be just like this forever .   ”

"𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐁𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐄, 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐈𝐓?" The words come on delicate mirth. Laugh, chime-like in its resonance as it bubbles free from bosom. There is wonder in those beautiful blues. The way the light catches in them in the sunset painted beyond is picturesque in its own right. With a risen brow && minor coyness beginning to form within expressionism, lithe limbs take to overlaying one another at her chest. A streak of thoughtfulness hits her whilst she carries on in the trek through grand forest. But only when she notes the continuity of her company's footfalls ensues in tow does she speak further. "Who else is going to braid my hair? Or sing with me in the mornings, dance with me before bed, humor my spells of hyper-ness.." The list could go on. The construct itself enough to garner another bout of amusement. A light laugh that unfurls across full lips, spilling into the air where the realm might drink in her delight. Moreover as her arms unravel; one palm to her hip, the other to hang idly at corresponding side. "It'd be boring to live this eternal life without my sister, after all.."

[merevide]

which scream movie is the best and are there any skips? i just watched the first because of your posts and loooved it.

hiii tbh i’d say the first is the best in the franchise. cliche and predictable answer i KNOW but it’s true (also not to say that the movies go down in quality the first one is just smth special), with that being said i wouldn’t really recommend skipping any of the movies, like yeah you’ll see a bunch of people say that “(x) is the worst” or smth similar obvi because that’s how it goes but i’d say they’re all like essential if you wanna gauge character plots (tbh the only skippable movie is scream 4, not because it’s bad but because scream 5 isn’t a direct sequel and has a different main cast, some people even start at scream 5 in regards to the whole franchise. still wouldn’t recommend skipping 4 tho)

i liked all of the movies in some way so i’m probs not the best when it comes to asking about skips, like my least fave movie in the franchise would probably be scream 3 but on the other hand i could watch it forever. also all the movies are really entertaining that’s one thing the franchise is never gonna lose imo. knock on wood.

[tendoujo]

Careful, Ranma, her patience is running out. �� You little━━ ❞ Clenched fist raised up, a warning ( the only one he'll get ). BREATHE, he's simply provoking you on purpose. ❝ Nop, not THAT. ❞ Will be if he keeps talking though. Her fist finally lowers while her gaze shifts in a newly obtained shyness. ❝ It's about P - CHAN. . . I know he tends to run away for days but it's been a month now. . . ❞ Could it be . . . that something happened to him ? !

“ Help? …What‘d you need help with? ” he asked curiously, his shoulders lowering from their defensive position, before going right back up when a dreadful thought crossed his mind. “ If it’s about taste-testing your cooking, I’m out, by the way. No offense, but if I had a death wish there’d be a million much less painful ways to do it. ”

[buntress]

[IDs by @whimes in alt text]

❝ Guroboy // Gurogirl // Gurothing ❞

[PT :: Guroboy // Gurogirl // Gurothing]

Guroboy :: For when one identifies with boyhood // masculinity in a guro way. Gurogirl :: For when one identifies with girlhood // femininity in a guro way. Gurothing :: For when one experiences their gender in a guro way.

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Remakes of the original Guroboy & Gurogirl flags by @page-2-ids Notes :: I wanted to remake these bc the OG flags just didnt rly fit right for my experience. I took some of the colors from the original flags tho bc they were v good colors to represents masc & fem stuff :3

Archive Tagging :: @radiomogai @horrormogai @fem-mogai @min-main-archive

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Taglist :: @genderdenied @mimiscoiningcafe @discrophy @horrgores @smilepilled

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Additional Tags :: @rabidbatboy @gender-mailman @webby-mogai

[lacependragonwrites]

Writeblr Re-Intro & Pinned

Hello! I'm Lace. Also Wally and Wallace. I love nicknames. It's a trans thing. Remaking this because the old one was long and outdated.

I'm just about thirty, queer as fuck, and use they/them and he/him pronouns. I'm also multiply disabled and chronically ill, and I talk about being autistic and anxious a lot!

In a very long-term relationship with @thetiniestnerd, who I make breakfast for most days.

My Writing

Typically adult or new adult.

Genres: science fiction, fantasy, science fantasy, urban fantasy, romance, mystery, thriller, that sorta thing. V much a genre blender.

Currently have two main wips and a third universe sandbox I like to play in a lot: TMI, Starkyda, and Beurkratti in that order. See below.

Focused a lot on queer and disabled characters and narratives

Lots of relationship dynamics, complex relationships, as well as polyamory

My WIPs

The Metahuman Initiative

An urban fantasy/science fiction series focused on people with superpowers, known as metahumans, within a massive, high-tech city specifically designed to study them.

Main characters are Nat Carter, Rini Callaghan, and Marlowe Hierro.

After being released from prison, six months after the murder of their family, Nat is given a new home in the Callaghan Institute, where they race aggressive and suspicious police officers to find the true killer of their family and get the closure they need, whatever it might be, before the cops decide Nat is their real target.

At the Institute, Rini, Professor Callaghan's adoptive daughter, takes poorly to Nat's arrival, and to try and alleviate the problem, the professor assigns Rini to find a mysterious and terrified metahuman that just arrived in the city - Marlowe, who currently has no idea who they are or what to do.

But Veda has a lot more going on than can be seen on the surface, and as the three of them delve deeper, the horrors and truth of Veda City, and how it connects to each of them, begin to show themselves.

Starkyda

WIP Intro Post

A steampunk/science fantasy series focused on multiple groups of people vying for control of a floating island on the edge of the apocalypse. Some groups include dragon riders at a fascist military academy, criminals in the literal underbelly of the city, council members and politicians with their own agendas, and a farmer and midwife who just wants to go home.

Main characters are: many.

For three hundred years, the Blight has pushed out from the massive breach at the bottom of the ocean and infected not just the waters, but the entire world. Now, as the inhabited islands become the next target for the Blight to swallow up, a beacon of hope is appearing on the island closest to destruction: Tairkyda.

Saoirse Cuirc is thirteen years old when she declares to the statues of the gods that she is a girl, not the son so many believe, and becomes the first person in three hundred years to see the Goddess.

And the first person in history to be Chosen to wield the mortal portion of her power.

Now, six years later, at nineteen, Saoirse is entering Tairkyda's mandatory military academy alongside her best friend, Lucian, and their freshly hatched dragons. But Saoirse isn't the only outsider, this year, and it's clear that most of those in power don't want any of them here.

Jules, who found a dragon egg one morning while doing chores, is a midwife and a farmer who just wants to go home, but the rare power of their dragon, and the strength of their bond, means Jules isn't going anywhere. Not if they want to have somewhere to return to, at least.

And Wren Hashimoto, who has spent years fighting against the belief that they are weak and frail, and who takes the opportunity of a dragon and a chance to bear their teeth to show just how ferocious they can be, without help.

Both of them will soon find themselves with far more power than they've ever known, and far more responsibility than they've ever wanted.

The three of them form the triad of Chosen who will lead the rest to save the world. But how do you stop a vicious, alien fungus from the ocean? How do you unite a people who are determined to hate you? How do you save a world that wants to hurt you so they can take your power and save it their way, instead?

And how do you create a home you actually want to return to, rather than the patriarchal, fascist regime that has led Tairkyda for centuries?

Beurkratti

A sprawling, epic fantasy with urban fantasy and science fantasy elements - a genre blend of a world inspired by the 80s - taking place in a world of many, fantastic creatures, oodles of queerness, and at least one apocalyptic level threat a month.

Following many characters, Beurkratti is a series about friendship and connection, about mystery and intrigue, and about how the search for information in the past can lead to great things in the future.

We drop into Beurkratti right as the apocalyptic level threats are starting to get worse than usual, and the Wardens, keepers of peace and safety around the world, start trying to bring things down to normal and see what changed.

From this, we follow dozens of characters across many different stories, including Katya, a half-orc Warden with chronic pain and a service shoulder dragon who travels Beurkratti looking for answers to the inevitable decay of the mind all Wardens suffer, as well as helping out wherever she can.

And if she comes across a brothel or two along the way - hey, bonus!

[cconfusedkat]

Er sorry if this is rlly silly of me but ,, i havent figured out how i wanted to properly end this for a month ,, i sorta came up with an easier idea but i wanted to ask;;

(,,, TO CLARIFY I SAID TO MYSELF I DIDNT WANNA. SHOW THIS UNTIL IT WAS COMPLETELY FINISHED . BUT . Struggling for a whole month now and its just 20 seconds left Augh,)

This is art thats beginning to get a little old... should i remake the entire video of segments and prolly everything else since my motivation is slowly being beaten by the old art ? ;;;v;;; thats my main cause of demotivation for this ,, literally 20 seconds left and all i can think about is how annoyed i am at the old art ,, but i dont know if thats a waste of time and if i should suck it up :'-D???

But my other issue is that i dont really mind it either???cuz i wanted to make it clear how nari had a diff form as a follower ?? But other than that ive been struggling just cuz im afraid all this effort i put in it genuinely looks So Bad and just nervous if its literal dogshit and it i should just. I dont know rlly ,, not delete it but maybe just a bit upset at myself

[yume-chiyo]

Hey, who are you cosplaying as? Makes me very curious

Z-

I'm a cosplayer for over 5 years now so I have a lot of cosplays.. !! I cosplayed as anime, game characters but for over a year my main interests were vtubers!! I cosplayed maria marionette, kyo kaneko, Banzoin Hakka, gavis bettel, michi mochievee, Shu yamino and a lot more.. I cosplayed from genshin impact, identity V, hello Charlotte, zeno remake, twisted wonderland, ensemble stars, pjsekai...

A LOT!!!!

[seoul-bros]

Jikook Week 16 Complete ✔️(26/03-02/04/2024)

Their sixteenth week in the military is now complete. It's time to celebrate this milestone with a look back at this week in 2018.

No shows or concerts this week but a lot of content was released. On the 28/03 the first episode of Burn the Stage, the documentary series showing the behind the scenes of the Wings Tour in 2017, was released. The first episode covered the preparations for the tour. The members describe their role in the group and it's revealing. Jimin babe, what do you mean you are taking on the maknae role?

Ep. 2 was released on 29/03 and covers their concerts in Seoul and Chile. The Seoul concert coincided with JHope's birthday and Jimin's antics led to an irretrievable cake malfunction for which he had to apologise profusely.

Then they are on a plane and RM has lost his passport. I heard about this incident, but seeing it on the screen, all of them stuck there, looking for the passport and wondering if they will be able to enter Chile, it makes it much more real and much more dramatic.

The clip with Jungkook dancing to Lie also comes from this episode.

Jikook are front and centre in the Chile concert. Jimin's drive for perfection and disappointment when he can't delivery and Jungkook pushing himself beyond his limits are the main focus of the second half of the episode. It is clear that the members are shocked to see JK exhausted and RM questions himself on what he as leader should do in that situation. They all faced so many challenges on tour.

Also this week, Run BTS Episode 46 came out. BTS went to a pottery studio and were tasked with making a gift for another member.

Jimin made a statue for V. He also made a rose and a cup for himself which the tutor gave top marks for attractiveness once it was fired.

JK made a tea set for RM.

Probably the funniest bit though was Hobi's remaking this famous scene from Ghost with RM in the Demi Moore role.

[robbyrobinson]

Speak No Evil: 2022 v. 2024 (Spoilers)

So, watched Blumhouse's remake of Speak No Evil, and honestly really enjoyed it. James McAvoy kills it as Paddy. I had also seen the original Danish film and did actually re-watch the original just recently. With the original, it was honestly something that I only watched once because I honestly just hated the movie. Though not for the reasons I'll get into. The first film was well-directed and truly suspenseful, but the characters, my goodness... they were not likable at all. Well, maybe besides Agnes and Abel but that's because they're kids so I'll give them a pass.

Bjorn and Louise were just bad with Bjorn being the bigger offender. He was a spineless, pathetic man who seemed to be the one that was weighing his wife down to where any time she voices concerns with their Dutch hosts, he would gloss over that. Like... it's just really irritating with how much he tries to befriend Patrick that he is completely underprepared when he learns the truth about him. And when that happens... he does not even use common sense. Sure he tries to get his wife and daughter and escape, but he stops at a gas station where he does not bother telling the authorities that there were some dangerous serial killers out there.

Really, it gets to the point that the main deuteragonists are just so unlikable, you feel nothing for them when they are stoned to death. Like... they kind of had it coming for being so passive. As for the other thing, it isn't really so much that the movie has a bleak ending that made me dislike it. There are several good movies that have bleak endings; The Mist. Smile 2022. Drag Me to Hell. What I felt differentiated them from the ending of SNE 2022 is that the characters at the least exhausted their options or they were in situations where it was only logical that it would end on a depressing note.

Even if you could try to argue that the original SNE is "realistic," and it is the modus operandi of Patrick and Karin to go after weak families, there is often a point to where anyone in that situation would just go "screw it" and try to fight back or retaliate. Honestly, just felt like dragging. We get it: there is something amiss about the Dutch couple.

As for the film being "realistic," I... disagree. For starters, there is no reason I can see for why the Danish couple go to the Netherlands after they met Patrick and Karin once. Just because they seemed nice does not make that the case. The fact they think nothing about the fact that there were no neighbors around when they come to their cabin. Even the twist ending of Patrick and Karin being serial killers makes no sense because if they killed around 50 or hundreds of families... why are there no continent-wide manhunts or missing people reports? But we are expected to push all of that to the side because "ending."

I understand the point that the original director was trying to say that being how being nice and nonconfrontational to a fault is bad because there are monsters out there who would take advantage of your naivety. I just think the way that we got to the ending was what made it bad in my eyes.

Now as for SNE 2024, it fixed several of the problems I had with the original such as having it be that Ben and Louise get more moments and days with Paddy and Ciara to where the idea of them accepting an invitation made slightly more sense and they were obviously cautious even then deciding to only go because they thought it would help their daughter. It also gives the main couple more of a spine to where they actively retaliate once things start going south.

Didn't really care much for them giving the killers an actual motivation here, but nothing too bad. Patrick and Karin in the original film have no motive for why they psychologically torture and murder the parents and cut the tongues out of the kids besides "evil." That in itself isn't a bad reason, but as for the remake, Paddy had a stillborn daughter and Ciara was a victim rather than a willing accomplice who Paddy kidnapped and groomed. It also did fix the issue I alluded to earlier with the OG couple killing fifty families where here, they were active for about 17 years so it made it more believable.

The remake was very suspenseful and explored themes of child abuse and other dark subject matter which makes the ending not as memorable as the original's, but I think it's because of them pursuing a different means of conveying the story to where it is cathartic, but it also makes the characters develop. SNE 2022 has implications of character development with Bjorn and Louise, but it ultimately goes nowhere because the film relies too much on contrivances to make its ending bleak. As much as people like to harp on saying that SNE 2024 has a happy ending... really, there is none. The characters may have escaped, but they were scarred metaphorically and physically. There is no real way that they could ever adjust to the way things used to be.

So, yeah. Both at the end of the day can be watched on their own merits, which is a good thing. To me, I think both endings can be enjoyed with the acknowledgement they are two different visions. It is also completely valid to feel one film works better thematically over the other.

[elionwriter]

Sherlock Holmes the Awakened: a Review

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

Sorry, sorry, sorry, but I just NEED to talk about this game! I have been a Frogwares Holmes fan since the very beginning and 'The Awakened' was always among my favourite titles. Not to mention one of the games that had scared the wits out of me. So I have to speak about the Remake now.

First and foremost, I think it needs to be reiterated that this game was made DURING THE FU****G INVASION OF UKRAINE! During such dark times, the team kept working on this. I would have supported this game even just for this reason alone.

Now, let's be honest: Frogwares never had the most marvelous graphics nor the most polished of gameplays and this entry is not an exception. I still feel the map system is a bit difficult to navigate (I may be an idiot, but I had the same issue with Chapter 1) but I really appreciated the added help the game gives you when you're recreating a scene, letting you know which passage you got wrong. Last game I found myself changing everything trying to hit the right combination so I really liked this fix.

This needs to be said: the game doesn't feel under any shape or form a product for a new fan. Everything from dialogues to game mechanics sort of take for granted that you've at least played 'chapter one'. Honestly? I'm ok with this, I hate having to always go through nearly identical tutorial stages for games I know inside out (like Pokémon) and I believe that most of not all people who are going to get this game ARE old fans!

I wasn't originally a big fan of the new Holmes and Watson models when the last game came out but....I dunno, they have grown on me. I find myself liking them now for, I suppose, no other reason than 'they are very expressive' and 'I've gotten used to them'. I think it's gotten to the point that these might be my favourite models of the two to date. Please ignore how fickle I am! (In honesty, just to draw a similar parallel, when Roger Craig Smith was first announced as Sonic's voice I hated it and now he's my fav Sonic v. actor)

This game has something.....compared to its predecessor, that makes it less scary. I can't really put my finger on it, but I distinctly remember the feeling of claustrophobia building in me when I was in the Black Edelweiss. Or the sheer jumpscare I got when the sacrificed American detective on the altar had tentacles coming out of it and severing his head making it roll to the ground. I remember almost not wanting to paddle the rowboat under the tree of hanging men in the Bayou. I remember how viscerally sick I felt at the lighthouse by all the gore and blood depicted. This time round.....I just didn't. I'm honestly not sure why this didn't hit me nearly as hard as its 2006 predecessor did!

And talking about comparisons, one thing I'm a bit disappointed they didn't grab the chance to do in this remake was fix the loose ends that were left hanging in the 2006 version. I mean....they still abandoned completely the search for that one Maori servant, what happened to all the people they managed to rescue? Who hired the private American detective that was killed? Why give out the cheap pendants? I know I'm a bit dumb and need extra explaining than what is necessarily needed but...I can't be the only one right? Sometimes you want to be told just a bit more.

Now, getting into the really good bits, that make all of it worth it!

'Chapter One' acted as a 'de facto' reboot of the Frogwares Holmes series, and I honestly think that was for the best. I don't really see where they could have gone with things after 'Devil's Daughter' and their Holmes had changed too much to be the same guy from 'The Silver Earring'...let alone Watson. But like this? They have a fresh, clean slate to start off from and they can rebuild the two mains' relashionship and lore from the ground up in a more strictly consequential manner. And the way they are doing it? I think it's state of the art!

The fact that they poke fun at themselves on certain points like Watson stating: "What about when you used to roll up only one of your sleeves? Did you get bored halfway through?!" I think the Devs themselves realized this was a cringe design choice and I like that they said so out loud.

The meta-conversation they wrote in towards the end, 'because yes, this HAS Happened before and the story still has the same outcome', is brilliant. I don't think I've ever seen another remake that acknowledges that it is a remake, and in the general madness that is mounting in the narrative this makes perfect sense! It adds one more layer of horror and inexplicable to the tale. The villain's warning 'that the Final Problem is coming and Sherlock will fall in the abyss too' is such a powerful way to use Canon. The prophecy is only made more real and dreadful by the fact that this person is aware of what has already happen in a similar but different scenario!

Also, not them using that one quote from 'The Valley of Fear' novel which happens to be one of my all time favourites!

I say, Watson,�� he whispered, ‘would you be afraid to sleep in the same room as a lunatic, a man with softening of the brain, an idiot whose mind has lost its grip?’ ‘Not in the least,’ I answered in astonishment. 'Ah, that’s lucky,’ he said, and not another word would he utter.

I think the thing that has most benefited from the Remake is Watson's character. Compared to the 2006 version, this Watson is a truly compelling character in his own right and this time round he's not just along for the ride. In this version, you simply cannot imagine how Holmes would have done it on his own. Watson was in every way a key component to the solution of the problem and the reason why Holmes didn't drown in madness. That point is driven home by Rochester asking 'How did you defeat me?' and Holmes answering 'I made a friend!'

Much of the narrative in the game was focused on Holmes truly learning to accept Watson's friendship and him as a person when he was still clinging so much to his old imaginary friend. You can see how, at first, Holmes refuses to be honest with the Doctor about what he thinks and feels and it's only as they move forward in the adventure that they both open up to each other. You can see as the adventure progresses that Holmes shifts his desperate cries from 'Jon' to 'Watson' to 'John' and the Doctor goes more and more often from 'Holmes' to 'Sherlock'. Mycroft also points this out when he says that Sherlock 'went from one Jon to another'. But this one, John Watson, is real and there to stay. In the context of a story that happens mostly in the detective's mind, Watson's friendship is really what turns the situation around!

I could add of little tid bits which were so random and on the nose that somehow worked, like the possessed 'Heidi' doll or the fact that you had to actually 'Kill Holmes' with the booby traps instead of avoiding them.

Also, "The director Guygax was randomly killed.....by a doll?!????!?!?! Yeah, let's just walk out of here no questions asked. That's too deep a wormhole even for this f***d up Adventure to go down. I'm sure nobody is gonna ask us questions, suspect or stop us as we go out the main doors!" 😃 -Holmes, probably.

So, yeah, I loved this game despite it not being perfect and my love and support goes to Frogwares more that ever!

[goatwithaplan]

Probably fake news but here we go, dds possible leak image, as seen on reddit and /V/

I also put the reasons why its probably fake just in case anyone feels like eating this up

The main talking points here are:

This looks like the img with smt v/apocalypse /nocturne, correct it does. main difference this one is blurry. Still super easy to fake.

The date is sus, it is super sus if dds remaster releases i wouldn't be expecting this year, let alone the day it realeses,thursday, is weird. I would be expecting a 2025 release because thats the year dds happens anyways.

the quality of the img edit is pretty low. yeah it kinda is. Although its atlus and this is dds i would expect them to literally just put a banner of this game in their next persona 5 game ad and consider that the official annoucent.

Anyways i memed the yukari leak was fake and i had to eat my words. and i would say PLEASE GOD BE REAL, But i want a full remake.

[wot-tidbits]

A letter from Robert Jordan

ROBERT JORDAN c\o Tor Books 175 Fifth Avenue New York, N.Y., 10010 March 1, 1994

Miss Carolyn Fusinato Editor, The Chronicles 1203 Timber Valley Dr. Flower Mound TX 75028 Dear Carolyn:

Thanks for your letter of February 6.

I've had requests for info about starting clubs from three or four people, and have given them the address of The Chronicles. In addition, there was/is a club in Columbia S.C., but I've lost their address. In Scotland I was given a seventy-page printout of "facts deduced" about the books by a Jordan discussion group on Internet, which I am told has broken away from the main SF/Fantasy group. A fan wrote giving me the "address " of this group, but I would have to go through all the filed letters to find it; as I am not on any of the nets, I did not make a note of it. Otherwise, it's hearsay, that the clubs exist on the nets. If I find any addresses, I will send them on to you.

Does evil need to be effective to be evil? And how do you define effectiveness? Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge managed to murder about 25-30% of Cambodia's population, destroy the country's agricultural and industrial base, fairly well wipe out the educated class inside the country (defined as anyone with an education beyond the ability to read; a good many of those went too, of course), and in general became so rabid that only China was willing to maintain any sort of contact with them, and that at arm's length. Their rabidity was the prime reason that they ended up losing the country. (though they are still around and still causing trouble.) In other words, they were extremely ineffective in attaining their goal, which was to seize Cambodia, remake it in the way Pol Pot wished (and still wishes), and export their brand of revolution abroad. Looking at the death toll, the cities emptied out (hospital patients were told they had one hour to leave or die; post-op patients, those still in the operating room, everybody), the murders of entire families down to infants because one member of the family was suspected of "counter-revolutionary" crimes, the mass executions (one method was for hundreds of people to be bound hand and foot, then bulldozed into graves alive; the bulldozers drove back and forth over these mass graves until attempts to dig out stopped) -- given all of that, can you say that Khmer Roughe's ineffectiveness made them less evil? Irrationality is more fearful than rationality (if we can use that term in this regard) because if you have brown hair and know that the serial killer out there is only killing blondes, you are safe, but if he is one of those following no easily discernible pattern, if every murder seems truly random, then it could be you who will be next. But "rationality" can have its terrors. What if that killer is only after brunettes named Carolyn? Stalin had the very rational goal (according to Communist dogma) of forcibly collectivizing all farmland in the Soviet Union. He was effective -- all the land was collectivized -- and to do it he murdered some thirty million small farmers who did not want to go along.

But are the Forsaken ineffective or irrational? Are they any more divided than any other group plotting got take over a country, a world, IBM? True, they plot to secure power for themselves. But I give you Stalin v. Trotsky and the entire history of the Soviet Union. I give you Thomas Jefferson v. Alexander Hamilton v. John Adams, and we will ignore such thins as Jefferson's hounding of Aaron Burr (he tore up the Constitution to do it; double jeopardy, habeas corpus, the whole nine yards), or Horatio Gates' attempted military coup against Washington, with the support of a fair amount of the Continental Congress. We can also ignore Secretary of War Stanton's attempts to undermine Lincoln throughout the Civil War, the New England states' attempt to make a separate peace with England during the Revolution and their continued trading with the enemy (the British again) during the War of 1812, and… The list could go on forever, frankly, and take in every country. Human nature is to seize personal advantage, and when the situation is the one the Forsaken face (namely that one of them will be given the rule of the entire earth while the others are forever subordinate), they are going to maneuver and backstab like crazy. You yourself say "If ever there was the possibility that some alien force was going to invade this planet, half the countries would refuse to admit the problem, the other half would be fighting each other to figure out who will lead the countries into battle, etc." Even events like Rahvin or Sammael or Be'lal seizing a nation have a basis. What better way to hand over large chunks of land and people to the Dark One than to be ruler of those elands and people? The thing is that they are human. But aside from that, are you sure that you know what they are up to? All of them? Are you sure you know what the Dark One's own plans are? Now let's see about Ran and his dangers and his allies. Have you been skimming, my dear? What makes you think the Tairens, Cairhienin and Andorans are solidly behind him? They're plotting and scheming as hard as the Forsaken. Rand is the Dragon Reborn, but this is my country, and we don't need anybody, and so on. And then there are those who don't think he is the DR at all, just a puppet of Tar Valon. Most of the Aiel may be behind him, but the Shaido are still around, and the bleackness is still taking its toll, since not all Aiel can face up to what Rand has told them about themselves. What makes you think the Seanchan will fall in behind rand? Have you seen any Seanchan volunteers showing up? Carolyn, half of these people are denying there is a problem, and half are trying to be big honcho themselves. Read again, Carolyn. The world Rand lives in is getting more frenzied and turbulent. Damned few are saying, "Lead, because you know best." A good many who are following are saying "Lead, because I'd rather follow you than have you call down lightning and burn me to a crisp!"

As for lack of challenge, I refer you again to the question about whether you really think you know what all the Forsaken are planning. Or what Padan Fain is up to. There is a flaw inherent in fiction, one that is overcome by suspension of disbelief. We do always know, somewhere in the back of our heads, that the hero is going to make it through as far as he needs to. After all, if Frodo buys the farm, the story is over, kids. The excitement comes in trying to figure out how he can possibly wiggle out, how he can possibly triumph.

In Rand's case, let's see what he still has stacked against him. The Cairhienin and Tairens are for the most part reluctant allies, and in many cases not even that. At the end of FIRES, he has Caemlyn, but I don't see any Andoran nobles crowding around to hail him. Illian still belongs to Sammael. Pedron Niall is working to convince people Rand is a false Dragon, and the Prophet is alienating ten people for every one he convinces. Tarabon and Arad Doman are unholy messes; even if Rand manages to get in touch with all of the Dragonsworn -- who are not organized beyond individual bands -- he has two humongous civil wars to deal with. True, he can use the Aiel to suppress those, but he has to avoid men killing men too much; there are Trollocs waiting to spill out of the Blight eventually. We must always remember the Trollocs, Myrddraal etc; the last time they came out in force, it took over 300 years to beat them back, and the Last Battle doesn't give Rand anywhere near that. Altara and Murandy are so divided in any case that simply getting the king or queen on his side isn't going to work; remember that most people in those two countries give loyalty to a city or a local lord and only toss in their country as an afterthought. Davram Bashere thinks Tenobia will bring Saldaea to Rand, and that is possible since the Borderlands would be one place where everyone is aware of the Last Battle and the Prophecies, but even Bashere isn't willing to make any promises, not even for Saldaea much less the other Borderlands, and I haven't seen any Borderland rulers showing up to hand Rand the keys to the kingdom. Padan Fain is out there, able to feel Rand, and hating him because of what was done to him, Fain, to make him able to find Rand. The surviving Forsaken are out there and except for Sammael, nobody knows what they are up to or where they can be found. For that matter, who knows everything that Sammael is up to? Elaida, in the White Tower, thinks Rand has to be tightly controlled. The Salidar Aes Sedai are not simply ready to fall in and kiss his boots, either. Aes Sedai have been manipulating the world for more than three thousand years, guiding it, making sure it remembers the Dark One and Tarmon Gai'don as real threats, doing their best, as they see it, to prepare the world for the Dark One breaking free. Are they likely to simply step aside and hand over control to a farmboy, even if he is the Dragon Reborn? Even after Moiraine decided he had to be given his head, Siuan was reluctant, and Siuan was in Moiraine's little conspiracy from the beginning. And the Seanchan…The last we saw of their forces, they were commanded by a Darkfriend. As for the Sea Folk, do you know what their prophecy says about the Coramoor? Do you think working with them it will be any simpler than dealing with the Aiel, say?

Now, what and who does Rand have solidly in his camp? Perrin knows what is needed, but he's hardly happy about it. What he really wants is to settle down with Faile and be a blacksmith; everything else is a reluctant duty. Mat blew the Horn of Valere, but it's hidden in the Tower, and frankly, if he could figure some way to go away and spend the rest of his life carousing and chasing women, he would. He'll do what he has to do, but Light he doesn't want to. The Aiel are for Rand (less the Shaido, still a formidable force), but the Dragon Reborn and the Last Battle are no part of the Prophecy of Rhuidean. That is all wetlander stuff. Besides which, they are still suffering losses from bleakness, people throwing down their spears and leaving, people defecting to the Shaido or drifting back to the Waste because what Rand told them of their origins can't possibly be true and if it isn't then he can't be the car'a'carn. Rand has declared an amnesty for men who can channel and is trying to gather them in; they, at least, should give their loyalty to him. But how many can he find? How much can he teach them in the time he has? How many will go mad before the Last Battle? There is still the taint on saidin, remember. For that matter, can Rand hang onto his own sanity? What effect will having a madman inside his head have? Can he stop Lews Therin from taking him over?

I know that was supposed to be a listing of what Rand has in his favor, but the fact is that he is walking the razor's edge, barely hanging onto his sanity and growing more paranoid all the time, barely hanging onto putative allies, most of whom would just as soon see him go away in the hope that then everything would be the way it was before he showed up, confronted by enemies on every side. In short he has challenges enough for ten men. I've had people writ to say they can't see how Rand is going to untangle all of this and get humanity ready to face the Last Battle. What I say is, what you believe to be true is not always true. What you think is going to happen is not always going to happen. That has been demonstrated time and again in THE WHEEL OF TIME. You could call those two statements one of the themes of the books.

Hey, don't publish the picture Gerard gave you. Our house has no wrought-iron gates. Also, no renovation has been done here since the fix-up after Hurricane Hugo several years ago. I kid you not. Poor Gerard go the wrong house. I'm glad you don't intend to publish any address, whether or not it is mine. There are fans who write letters, and then there are fans who show up at the front door unannounced. I hate to be rude to people, but with the time I spend writing, I barely have time for a social life with my friends, and frankly, someone who has managed to track you down is going to think you have cheated them if you scribble your name in their book and say, "Now go away. I'm busy." Believe me.

Well, again, thanks for the letter, Carolyn. Do keep me abreast of what's happening with The Chronicles. I really would like to see copies, if it is possible for you to send them to me care of Tor Books.

With best wishes, I remain,

Sincerely, Robert Jordan

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