#wants to be a martyr even more

[ethanhuntfemmefatale]

incredibly niche thought but i think if you took the narrator stanleyparable to a performance of Hadestown he would cry. i think road to hell (reprise) would make him break down completely. I think it would be revelatory i think he would come out of it shivering shaking like a chihuahua and start frantically writing a 50,000 word stanley x narrator orpheus and eurydice au on his phone

[sysig]

Light and darkness, but mostly darkness (Patreon)

[qoldenskies]

Srry I dont know if this is spoilers, but what would the Season 2 Finale be like in Canary Continuity? Would anything be super different?

its simultaneously both a spoiler and not, because there's some stuff about ninpo in CW that's spoilers so i cant go over it yet. NEEDLESS TO SAY they will already know about it (trying to phrase this in a way that doesnt give anything away), so im not sure how the emotional core would really be with raph, considering spoilers spoilers they dont rlly have to "unlock" it when theyre already so knowledgeable. all i can say with that. im pretty sure everything else would be closer to canon, albeit with a lot more intensity because everything's hardened them quite a bit (theyre still HORRENDOUSLY silly, its a rise classic, but when it comes to important battle there's less fucking around, and they watch out for each other a lot more, especially with donnie who's going to struggle on the field despise his insistence otherwise. i think the way they approach the shredder would be WILDLY different.)

HOWEVER

i think losing the old lair is going to be less traumatic and a lot more cathartic. i wouldnt kill off shelldon because ive been cruel enough, donnie would probably just have to rebuild him. theyd look at the rubble of their former home and finally breathe.

its scary to have to go through the rubble and salvage what they can. its the loss of a lot of childhood memories, and change is hard. but fuck, that place was a HELLHOLE of bad memories for all of them. i think they'd jump at the excuse to move, despite having to leave a lot behind and having to rebuild. unlike CU i think the process would be a little slower and everyone would be helping out to the best of their ability, and it would genuinely just be... healing. it's a group project. donnie didn't even realize before this point how much weight being in the old lair put on his chest until he felt the relief of it gone. they have a chance to rebuild, and while its still an adjustment, it's happier. being in the old environment is definitely a contributor to his anxiety NOW in cw, mind you.

i think what you should worry about is the movie. not something i'll ever be touching but think about how raph would react after the fact to beating up and choking leo while kraangified. that is all.

[demonwebs]

fiy: vhaal supports the 'trust the emperor' route, if you were wondering.

[buccellato]

Thinking about the train hostage arc in the first Trimax book....and I have some thoughts on some of the takeaways I've seen (in other places).........

I'm ngl it kinda bothers me when people read into the train hostage arc in trimax as "Vash is 100% in the wrong, just like his brother", because that was very much not the intended reading...it wasn't just supposed to be a "look how flawed Vash's ideology is in practice" moment (that's the hospital yuri arc ❤), it was supposed to be a "look how hard it is in this world for Vash to abide to his moral code, and yet he still does it despite the negatives" moment. He wasn't exactly happy with the end solution and wasn't exactly fighting super hard to stop the father from shooting the accused killer—he almost let him do it, even—but he wanted to ultimately stop the cycle of bloodshed and was willing to make himself look like a jackass doing so. The arc is a narrative set-up for the penultimate conflict of the series; it's not so much about the merits of righteous violence vs. pacifism but rather setting the stage for a showdown between vengeance vs. absolution.

Now, would I do the same if I were in Vash's thigh-high boots? No of course not, fuck that one dude in particular lmao. But I don't exactly think Vash is weaker or unprincipled for choosing the option he did, either.

[rinofwater]

Hah, so uh how to explain to my parents that I have reconsidered wanting to move back to the wannabe fascist state after all

[solar-eclipsed]

Amelia …. Amelia I love you …. Amelia ….

[andersdotters]

Hi! I recently found your blogs, and can I just say how much I love your character analyses? Your portrayal of each character is always so in depth to the point where I can even picture them acting and speaking the same in game! I'm so impressed and I seriously don't know how you connect to each and every one of them so perfectly :O

If I may ask, what does your research and character profile process look like? As someone interested in writing, I hope to be as skilled as you with analysing characters (and writing plots and writing in general--) one day :) Any tips would be appreciated!

Thank you so much for all the hard work you do. I know I'll enjoy the story you come up with next!

Aww thank you so much!! Honestly sometimes I worry that my analyses won't be to everyone's tastes, so I'm very glad you think that they're good! I feel the same way about my writing because I know they're not the most romantic, so it's a relief to know you like it. ;v; <3 I have a lot to say about your questions though, so I'm going to put it under a readmore. It's an uh... infodump HAHA

When it comes to research, what it basically comes down to is reading everything. Read the character's lore, read their voice lines. Read what other characters have to say about them. Even talking to every NPC you see in the hopes that they'll talk about a character helps out a lot too HAHA. I also recommend going back to old events when doing research too. Reread them. Listen to the voice actor's portrayal of them. Read everything you can.

This is take three of trying to explain my character analysis process, but I'm going to give up and just explain to you the main logic that governs it. Basically what it boils down to is: we are not unique. Humans are not unique. What do I mean by this? People that are certain ways--for example, they have a low self-esteem, consistently overwork themselves, they want children when they get older, etc--they will typically share common characteristics. When you know the defining characteristics of each trait, you can potentially apply that trait to everyone you know that displays those characteristics.

For example, people that constantly overwork themselves typically have unhealthily high levels of perceived responsibility, typically with a self-deprecative trait that they don't deserve to be happy and rest. People that are very showy tend to care a lot about what people think of them. People that are extremely close to their families typically lose the ability to function properly without them.

If you know people that are like the examples above, you know that these observations are pretty accurate. And these examples represent pretty common types of people as well. Once you've seen one of them, you've seen them all. Nobody is unique. And because of that, you can apply these observations to characters because characters are meant to be human. Example one is Kaveh. Example two is Itto. And example 3 is Lyney. Now you've gotten a deeper dive into their psyche.

The way you become better at character analysis is by broadening your internal library of traits and their defining characteristics. This involves three steps: observation, drawing connections between observations, and fine tuning these connections by applying them to other people.

These steps are easy to understand, but let me go a bit more into step one. Observations come in two categories: physical observations and intuitive observations. Physical observations encompass things they physically do. Intuitive observations are larger statements that can't be tied to just a single physical observation. For example, physical observations may be that they don't go out much, they don't talk much in groups but do one-on-one, they wear bright colors, they're rude, etc. Intuitive observations are more: they seem to be uncomfortable around children, they act like they're scared to contact first, they're always on the move, etc.

The second step involves drawing lines between observations and trying to deduce meaning. For example, [they end their sentences using a rising intonation] + [they ask me my opinion a lot] = [this person cares about not sounding rude or unwelcoming]. Or, [they have a low self-esteem] + [they care about being seen as morally good] + [they engage in fandom] = [I probably should not tell this person I think Dottore and his penchant for human experimentation is hot].

Typically the logic goes: [physical observation] + [physical observation] = [intuitive observation]. [physical observation] + [intuitive observation] = [mid-tier intuitive observation]. [intuitive observation] + [intuitive observation] = [top tier intuitive observation].

But it does not end at step two. Step three basically tests to see if your observation from step two is valid or not. When you apply your observation from step two to a multitude of people, you're able to fine tune your observation to make it more generalized and more accurate. Maybe you realize that not everyone that ends their sentences in a rising intonation is necessarily polite, but it's more of a cultural thing. Maybe you see that having low self-esteem isn't always a symptom of having a high moral code. Test, revise, then test again. The higher the tier of your observation, the greater the chance it has of being wrong.

When I analyze characters, I go through my mental library and see which traits and characteristics I've catalogued before. And for things that don't have an exact match, I try to find ones that shares at least a few things in common that may follow the same logic. For example, I don't know anyone like Zhongli. However, I do have a friend that's very outgoing, but you can have a full on conversation with them and leave not knowing anything about them. Can I apply the logic of my friend to someone like Zhongli?

I will say this and I will say this again. People are not unique. Everyone is a copy of someone else in some way. When you treat the characters as if you were analysing any other normal human being, you can quite easily draw conclusions from what they have in common with people you know and have seen.

Anyway, this is so long I am so sorry. Hopefully I didn't completely bowl you over with information. OTL

[gemglyph]

This is kind of freaky if it’s in any way acknowledged but I had an interesting thought. Sun is Hylia reborn as a mortal. She unlocked her memories as Hylia through the course of her journey in Skyward Sword. It also came with awakening her powers.

But what if there were some of her gifts that she had used previously, unintentionally of course, when she was much younger or in extreme distress.

I was thinking about a couple different authors who have Sky’s biological parents range from simply neglectful to downright hellish. And thinking about what a baby Hylia could do if she found out her best friend suffered so much in silence and the adults didn’t know.

And then those parents disappear. Sky is taken in by the entirety of Skyloft. The academy instructors are kind to him, her father is kind to him, anyone not those two who were supposed to be his parents…

NOW THIS! THIS IS SOMETHING TO WAKE UP TO *excited bouncing*

I have thoughts. (I have thoughts often….)

Loftwings are Divine Beings blessed to people from Hylia. They are also referred to as “Guardian Birds”. I personally think they are the Other Half of Skyloftians’ Souls.

In reference to Martyr specifically, Sky’s Mom saw him as a blessing, and his Father saw him as a curse. It’s directly stated like that in story.

Sky’s Mom died when he was young and after that his Father made sure that he truly felt like the curse his Father believed him to be. That is.. Until Sky’s Father’s Loftwing handled the situation.

(I promise this is all relevant to what I’m about to say… and this got very long sooooo… more under the cut!)

Hylia and Sun… I don’t quite see them as the same person. I have a few reasons for this. One of which is… personality. Which is SHOWN to us in Skyward Sword during That Scene. Where Sun is leaning into Hylia and how DISTANT she was from everything. Not uncaring, not unloving, but I felt like she was… a little cold…

My thoughts on Hylia is that her behavior is like Fi. Not too cold, certainly not uncaring, and very straight to the point. Very literal. Analytical. We must remember that Goddesses and the Divine are not always able to be fully comprehended by people… and we must remember that even when something bad happens.. that it might have been the lesser of two evils.

Hylia is known as the Goddess of Time, and I personally like to also equate her to being the Goddess of the Sun. Which is how people, mortals, tell the time of day. She has the ability to literally reverse time. As well as Seal- (crying as I just now realized I never made the Hylia and Demise post)-

BRIEF CUT-

IF WE GO TO JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY, one of the Goddess interpretations that Hylia is based off of was not originally a Goddess, she was tempered into a Goddess. Thus limiting her abilities. The being Demise is based off of is described as Other. Originally Hylia was also like that. Hylia was also Other. With the potential to become more powerful than the Gods and Goddesses the Golden Goddesses are based off of. In an interpretation of the story, the Omnipotent Goddesses didn’t want to potentially be overpowered by the Light Other, and thus tempered her growth into becoming the Sun Goddess. (I do not know if the Golden Goddesses in the Legend of Zelda are like that or not, just interesting historical facts and other tales. I also remember NONE of the names of anyone and I’d find the story if I had the chance but I currently do not)

(Does anyone want to talk about the fact that the primordial forms of the Goddesses are Dragons——)

ANYWAY- THAT SPIEL IS RELEVANT

Hylia is everything that the Light touches, she is Light itself, and Demise is everything else. Two sides of the same coin. Light against Darkness. Time against an omnipresent being.

NOW- Her mortal reincarnation. Sun… Sunlight

Sun is very stubborn! Stubborn and outwardly protective. Willing to throw hands with anyone and anything. Promise you. Promise you she’d be ready to throw hands with ANYONE for Sky. (Sky would do the same for her). She’s almost, if not outright, impatient. And I’m like 85% certain she might have a little bit of a temper. She has the capacity for jealousy (as seen with her wishing she had that same connection with her loftwing that Sky has). As well as extremely impulsive behaviors.

Sun is the mortal reincarnation of Hylia, the Goddess of Time (The Sun Goddess), who has Sight Beyond and has LAYER after LAYER of failsafes specifically to make sure Demise ends up Sealed away. Hylia, who was kind enough to make sure that her Chosen Hero was not without company. Hylia granted Fi. A friend for a journey who would be able to answer all of her Hero’s questions. The questions of someone who has not been on the Surface ever before. Who has never been in this kind of Danger before.

Failsafes.

Sun can absolutely cast low levels magic or something. Hylia would not be able to RISK something like that. Not after such meticulous planning.

However… What you certainly don’t want is a Baby with the ability for Divine Smite and/or to Seal. Which is why her powers were not fully unlocked until the events of Skyward Sword

That does not stop a baby from having a smile that almost lights up an entire room (metaphorically or literally is up to you). Or an otherworldly presence. It doesn’t stop her from dreaming of things that Babies, children, MORTALS should not know. It doesn’t stop her from having a connection with Loftwings- who are Divine Beings/Divine Guardians/Protectors that HYLIA blessed the Skyloftians with. Hylia left her people with blessings… And then her mortal self. Who has a heart who longs for Love, Justice, and Fairness.

The Loftwings listen to Sun. She has the Soul of their Goddess. Everyone on Skyloft knows her. Who wouldn’t recognize Divinity?

Who doesn’t want to bathe in Sunlight?

[gay-caesar-truther]

I'm honestly not surprised that Brutus and Gabriel are my two favourite fallout ocs.

The both have that miserable swag and a deep desire to be needed.

Brutus is helpful and subservient becuase he doesn't know what else to be. He desperately wants to be valued and loved by people and the only way he can earn that is by constantly bending over backwards for other people. He wants to make himself so needed and so useful they can't possibly throw him away. He loves when people ask things of him becuase that's a sign they want him around- even if it's only for what he can give to them and not necessarily him as a person. Not that Brutus can tell the difference.

where as Gabe still makes himself useful but actively hates people for asking things of him. Especially since leaving the Capital Wasteland he's got a very "haven't I given enough?" mentality. He won't refuse to help people in need, but he's so so angry that people keep asking things of him. He just wants to sit down and rot. He doesn't WANT to help anyone anymore, but he has to becuase its the right thing to do. It's what his father would've wanted, its what a Good Sinless man would do.

[kohakhearts]

hey that pokemon 2000 gifset + your jn dub analysis made me think about the pokemon 2000 dub - I've only seen it subbed once (compared to the hundred times I watched it dubbed as a child) so I could be misremembering, but didn't the dub completely change the themes of the movie with the chosen one ash thing?

i actually haven’t watched the sub nearly as many as times as the dub either :p but i have read extensively about this topic bc it’s personally my favourite pokemon movie and yes! the first and second pokemon movies are both victim to this (like mewtwo’s epic speech we all love so much at the end of the first movie…being a complete fabrication by the dub team :p you gotta give those writers credit - they were VERY good at what they did), largely i’m guessing due to cultural values and expectations. since they were trying to sell the anime to an american audience, not a japanese one.

tangentially, i will say i also think that’s the root of this like…subtle distinction some people have between the characters “ash” and “satoshi.” i don’t differentiate them in any big way myself because fundamentally they still are very much the same, but it is true that in japanese, ash has somewhat different mannerisms and responds differently to events at times, especially in the early anime when it was so much easier to get away with making big changes for…a big assortment of reasons haha.

in THIS movie in particular, some of those things are like…well. the prophecy is probably the most obvious change. the dub team rewrote it to include the chosen one reference, which works great because of the word play on ash’s name. in japanese, it just says “an exceptional trainer will appear to help calm the wrath of the gods.” ash’s response to this is more mild trepidation than outright fear. he doesn’t hesitate like he does in the dub. and tbh? both reactions make perfect sense for his character in my opinion.

in japanese, his concern is more "do you really think i can fit that role?" this...tracks pretty well with his character development by this point. like yeah he said he could win the indigo league, but he's also thinking about dropping out after gary loses; it's that little grain of insecurity he has, which he's normally good at covering up with arrogance (a lot of which is also very genuine, don't get me wrong). but he sees the opportunity to help and he takes it. that's just...what ash does.

in english, though, the prophecy is pretty clearly about him. there's no one else it could be. it has to be him. and he...doesn't like that? that scares him. which, fair. anyone would be terrified by being singled out like that. it's also so much...not ash's thing, even at this point in the series. his character development is about embracing having to work hard to do well. to keep trying until you get it right, no matter how many times you get it wrong. the idea of being a "chosen one" completely robs him of his ability to be so single-minded about what he wants his destiny to be that it manifests as pre-determined; it just...pre-determines it for him, if that makes sense. lol.

the thesis of the japanese version of the film is that no one person or pokemon can stand on their own. everyone needs help. it's about harmonizing with each other and with nature. about letting others help you, and helping them in turn. the english version rewrites that into a story about power and destiny. the title alone says it all, right? it's called "the power of one" - no reference to lugia, no reference to the birds. in japan, the title is about the revelation (or "birth") of lugia.

westerners love a good chosen one story, so this was a really good choice by the dub team in that respect. i mean, it's a narrative that's stuck really well. fandom loves chosen one ash! in general, western fanbases are really into this narrative. it's everywhere. and there's a lot that goes into that, culturally, and especially religiously, historically, etc. so at the end of the day, i don't think the change is so much about conflicting ideas about collectivism and individualism. it's more about goals and ideals, on a personal level.

let me say again for the 273456784th time, i love that they resolved ash's story by having him realize that the goal he's really been striving for all this time is to meet and befriend pokemon. to learn from them. to earn their trust. it's like...he did the thing that everyone else thought represented his goal, maybe even himself included, only to realize that his dream was never about the end of it anyway. it was about everything he learnt and everyone he met along the way. (i also suspect nobody writing in 1997 knew that that would be the ultimate resolution, either. but it makes sense in the entire context. it's kind of a nice irony, even. to only figure it out after writing the story :p)

and i think this little distinction is important to that goal! it's his whole character! which is why even though i too love chosen one characters, i don't necessarily think of ash as one. because even if he is, his whole Thing is that he wants to try. a lot of the chosen one narrative is about characters being reluctant to be used for a "greater good," or about them collapsing under that pressure. ash doesn't really have that. he does what he thinks is right because he...thinks it's right. sometimes, sure, others have to push him into it a bit, but usually they're actually pushing the other way - it's too dangerous, you're going to get hurt, etc. and to me, i don't know - thinking of times he's died, or nearly died, and some legendary or mythical pokemon has saved him at the last minute...i don't think that has to mean he's special in a cosmic sort of way. i think it just means he's special to them. that he did something for them, or for someone else they had come to care for (thinking manaphy responding to may's emotions, not just to the fact that ash was drowning, or in mpm ash convincing latios to trust him because of their mutual desire to save latias, etc.), and so they want to help him. which is completely opposite to the typical chosen one narrative, i think? because he doesn't do those things out of obligation...he does them because he thinks he can become a better trainer by doing them, and he wants to do that. and well. he did do that.

anyway my tl;dr here is YES they changed the theme a lot haha, but i find it fun that they also changed the characters’ responses to that theme. funnily that’s…kind of also what fanfiction writers do all the time, lmao, but that’s a whole other conversation.

[sleepdepravity]

Okay so like, Stella mentioned that she thought there was a compilation of whenever usopp said “sanji-kun” and out of curiosity I tried doing a little search of it and I kept getting results about nami saying “sanji-kun” which was annoying. Then I saw a Reddit post that apparently was like “why did nami give up on Sanji immediately when he beat up Luffy?” (This referring to of course whole cake island) and just auauururrughhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Aaaahhhhgghrrgh!!!!!

[poebrey]

gonna write a whole thing someday about how characters of color who clearly have a history of trauma or mental health issues aren’t given consideration or acknowledgement in the fandom imagination

[forh3r]

serving some felicia angst by thinking about how she was a catalyst and then slowly turned into a footnote in the story of other people's lives. she was heavily involved in the preparations for the revolution up until finding out about vi, then even though she self detached from leading role she never really left all together. she died for a cause she believed in and while i don't think she would have wanted to be elevated because of that, she just slowly disappeared - people remember her but don't talk about her anymore. her daughters' have become someone else's and they're referred to accordingly. the only testament of her existence are her daughters looking so much like her in physic and mannerisms, and the few things either about her or belonged to her that are hidden away.

[tarantula-hawk-wasp]

About to fall asleep and then I had overwhelming brain worms thinking again about Maera getting found stumbling towards the inquisition camp in the snow after Haven and like that’s emotional enough in the video game but like make the inquisition a collective Daughter Figure and ohohoho anguish *diabolical hand rubbing*

I’ll probably draw this digitally bc I have ideas for how to push the pose and drawing a snow storm sounds fun

[tsukihigui]

deleted my twitter app (not account) bc i really can’t handle the intense no-nuance high-stakes takes right now. not that here is all that much better but it’s definitely less of a time sink