#we can talk about warcraft lore and stuff too

[cloudmancy]

I have no desire to get you in trouble but I would be curious to hear your thoughts on the new episode and the preview because I also have.. thoughts and I'm interested in what other people clocked as not great or kinda.. idk. other people's concerns, because I have had a lot of them and I never see people really talk about those things

they're doing a new format this season where they film a bunch of rp episodes in a row then take a break when there's a battle so the crew can get the battleset ready, so I understand the dissonance. but the tone of this episode from the tone of last episode was SO jarring. I was ready to chew drywall at the end of episode 17 but we head into the episode 18 fight and at the end all I can say is... damn! that sure is a battle that happened. the entire fight felt really low-stakes even though objectively a few of the bad kids were in mortal danger, but the mood at the table was so relaxed and chill and there was almost no roleplay at all... which drove me so crazy

>no rp except for fun silly party stuff (no callbacks to the adaine elven oracle in a storm thing? after all the fun setup last time??)

>fought 8 different antagonists and none of them said a word

>nobody questioned why or what oisin's grandma or all those dragon were doing there they just started taking them out one by one like raid battles in world of warcraft

>cassandra/nightmare king showed up only to not make any impact or get a single word in

>dos2 lady vengeance fight did the floating boat/ballistas/dragon fight better SMH

and then after all of that we're headed straight into ANOTHER battle episode judging by the preview... and it's against the rat grinders and porter/jace! let me out I want PLOT & DIALOGUE fhjy cannot end like this (5 hours straight of battle where they just kill everyone that moves). there's 2 eps left so I really hope they do the last ep as a 4 hour long roleplay only epilogue episode because as we've all seen ending campaigns on a battle leads to frankly really rushed character and world decisions. it's ultra disappointing too because I loved this entire season so much so far. the setup and buildup and plot points and mystery of fhjy is the best they've ever done it in dimension 20 period

ep 18 fhjy battle was a letdown to me... not giving the party an rp episode after 3 hours of loredump + going straight into a final battle without being able to interact with the world after gaining info is bad. they should've had a chance to process everything they learned about house sunstone, porter's plan, the rat grinders being used as ascension fodder, whatever the whole deal behind ambrosia and lucy frostkettle and why they needed a helios cleric in buddy IN ROLEPLAY. I don't want all this stuff explained to me after the battle by brennan or in some throwaway lines in the adventuring party - I want the bad kids to talk to people! I want them to investigate! I want fig to pull some BS with porter knowing the full extent of all his plans. it really sucks for us as an audience too to be hit with all this lore and get approximately 0 time for it to sink into the implications of how the worldbuilding was shaped by it or realizations of "ohhh that's why that happened at the beginning of the season" before we go straight into killing everyone.

with the way this is going I don't have any confidence they're gonna be able to actually empathize at all with the rat grinders too before they start lopping heads off because in battle episodes everyone kind of just. becomes numbers and an objective to take out except for pet favourite npcs of the cast. and they've mostly been interacting with the rat grinders as nuisances all season 😭 I'm PRAYING to be proven wrong and the last 2 episodes of this are fantastic but it's not looking good folks

[fadebolt]

Oooookaaayyy, I've checked out the stream and the news, and to say that I'm pumped would be putting things quite lightly.

Of course, it was fun to see the devs talk about stuff, some lovely folks I know from the Container popping up in the museum, and the Sanshee restock (that I'm contemplating about ordering from, even though my preordered Slugpup plushies haven't even been sent out yet).

But most importantly, we have the thing that everyone's been raving about....

A new DLC centered around Nightcat!

I very much adore this for many reasons.

The wording, as well as the screenshots in the Steam post imply that we're gonna be in a completely new area, away from the long abandoned facility grounds of LttM and FP. The new regions/areas were the absolute best part of Downpour, and having a DLC that is seemingly centered around them on an even bigger level just sounds incredible (Jadzio might also have some fun polling them, too :D).

The animation of the trailer is also pretty neat. It's short, sure, but there's just something about seeing Rain World in this new style that makes me smile. Style alternating is what makes me love League's animated media so much, and I'm very happy that RW is starting to dip its toes into that too.

The naming of the new Slugcat, as well as its stationary stealth ability... dude is a Slugcat Night Elf, fair and square. This could be a coincidence, sure, but I would absolutely not be surprised if there're some Warcraft fans amongst the devs, because that's a very obvious connection that I've made pretty much immediately. And I'm not saying that as a way of criticism - because I freaking love Night Elves, not just from a story and thematic perspective, but also their gameplay in Warcraft 3 (Terror of the Tides being an incredible campaign, and Eternity's End having a bunch of awesome moments helps a ton, too).

As for how me and the rest of the fandom will handle the Watcher in headcanons and potential content going forward, well...

It's gonna be a bit tricky, for sure. I imagine the DLC will not come out for quite a while, but it'll most likely shatter all my headcanons and lore ideas to pieces, and any plans of me writing stories about Nightcat just got even more complicated now. But I don't mind this too much, as I'm confident I'll be more than capable of figuring out how to integrate the official content into my stuff, and the same applies to the rest of the fandom, too (and if all else fails, I can always pull the "Nightcat and Watcher are two entirely different characters" card, but that sounds uncreative and boring, and I wanna avoid that, even if Enot was pretty much globally accepted as a different character, despite their color, and them mentioning 'being removed from Arena').

One other positive to mention is that Nightcat X Spearmaster might actually blow up a decent bit now. And if that happens, I'll get to claim the royal title of being someone from the original Inkblot gang, which will be amazing. Plus, more content about my favorite pair, who wouldn't be happy about that?

I just hope that the fandom isn't going to get into crazy arguments/dramas over the Watcher/Nightcat stuff. Everyone is going to change their content around the new revelations differently, and that's ok. I'm probably worrying about nothing here, but I have seen folks pick bones with creators over minor harmless stuff before, so my concerns are probably valid. Let's just let everyone have fun with whatever approach they wish to take, m'kay?

That's all my thoughts regarding the new revelations for now. If this post came off as a bit mixed, then I want to clarify that I'm still absolutely excited about the new content, and I'm very glad that this forgotten scug is getting its well deserved resurgence.

Everything is gonna be great and fun, and I am very much hyped about it! (I'm already in love with all the fan content, btw. The speed at which everyone is showing appreciation is simply staggering. You guys are impressive as all hell!)

[sosugoisorad]

Hello everyone, I’m looking for roleplay partners!

If you are into Warcraft (Nathanos x Sylvanas, Anduin x Wrathion and more), South Park (Style, Cryde, Stenny, Bendy and more) or independent roleplay please send me a message. I have a few ideas for different settings yet I would be happy to hear yours as well. Actually I have a tendency to hear about your likes/dislikes/preferences and talk about the stuff before deciding what to do so feel free to come and talk. Also as a note, I mainly use discord for roleplay~

[godsofhumanity]

I adore your Titan HCs, do you have any for the younger generation?

*jotaro kujo voice* YES! YES! YES! YES!

❤ warning: long post ahead! ❤

PROMETHEUS

okay full disclaimer- Prometheus is my favourite titan <3

i imagine him to be that guy that you bring home to meet your parents and they instantly love him... he's the guy that other parents see and are like "yeah he's a good kid, you should be more like him".

i think Prometheus does have a little bit of a mischievous side, but he's NOT immoral.

he enjoys good pranks and funny jokes, but he's not obscene- he's just cheerful.

i also think Prometheus is very intelligent. from all of the younger generation, i think he's the smartest and the wisest.

Prometheus is also very considerate and gentle. i don't think he's the kind to yell or shout.

he doesn't get "angry" as much as he gets "disappointed" (which we all know is worse T-T).

during the Titanomachy, the original myths say that Prometheus sides with Zeus, but i wanted to elaborate on this further- my hc is that Prometheus didn’t just side with Zeus, he had, for some time before he even knew Zeus existed, been going around and rallying the other younger Titans to form a resistance.

i think that he grew up around Cronus’ palace and watched Cronus as he slowly corrupted himself, and Prometheus knew that it was time for change. 

so i think that Prometheus and a few of his cousins had a little superhero group going on, and when they finally met Zeus, i think Prometheus was essentially Zeus’ right-hand man. i don’t think they always saw eye-to-eye, but i think Zeus appreciated Prometheus’ advice and leadership skills, and this just makes the fire incident all the more tragic </3

about the fire incident- i think that Prometheus has a genuine love for humanity. to him, humans are the children of the gods and he believes that it's the gods’ responsibility to take care of them.

which is why he risks his life to grant humanity fire- he knows how important it is for them to survive, and his heart bleeds every time he sees the gods abuse and interfere with them </3

in a previous set of hc's (scroll down to the Cronus section), i mentioned that i think Prometheus' love for humanity began as a child when he saw Cronus create the first age of man- the Golden Age.

i think he was quite captivated by these living beings not born from the gods, but molded and shaped by them in their image. and i think that really impacted him deeply.

Prometheus' wife is Hesione, and i think that when Prometheus stole the fire from Zeus, he did it because he knew that Hesione is a strong goddess, and he knew that she'd support him (which i think she does!). i think his whole family shares his love for humanity.

when Prometheus was chained to the rock, i think Deucalion was still very small and didn't quite understand where his dad had gone, so i have this hc that when Deucalion grows up, he actually goes to the rock where his dad is chained and they talk it out- and Prometheus expects that Deucalion will be full of hate for him because he left them all alone, but in fact, Deucalion is a lot like Prometheus, and he actually really looks up to his dad and he’s proud to be Prometheus’ son, and he’s proud to help humanity the way his dad did :)))

more Prometheus hc's as well Atlas, Menoetius, Anchiale and Epimetheus hc's here <3

HELIOS

i think Helios is a bit of goofball.

in my head, he’s this incredibly handsome and elegant looking titan... he looks so cool and he’s turning heads when he walks.. but then he trips on the pavement because he got distracted looking at a frog on the sidewalk.

Helios is very kind, i think.

in the myths that he appears in, it’s usually because he’s seen something happening to someone somewhere and now someone else wants to know what’s up so they consult him- and it’s occurred to me that Helios literally never refuses to help.

he helps Demeter when Persephone went missing, he told Hephaestus when he saw Aphrodite and Ares having an affair. he helps his granddaughter, Medea, even after she commits a bunch of atrocities. i think at his core, he’s just a very amiable titan.

i think he does have a bit of an ego. he’s proud of who he is and who is family is. he knows that he’s important and that the work he does is important. but Helios isn’t arrogant or boastful about it. he values honour and despises cowardice.

Helios is very energetic. when he gets excited, i think he jumps around a lot and he just wants to tell everyone and anyone about what’s made him so excited.

in some myths, they say that Helios’ wife was Perse, an Oceanid, but my hc for him is that he doesn’t really have one wife- he has many consorts, and i think he doesn’t really care for settling down.

he’d think of himself as a romantic.

also, Helios is very paternal. i think he loves his children more than anything else in the world. he probably shows pictures of his kids to everyone, “hey have you seen my daughter? she literally just turned some guy’s friends into pigs,, isn’t she awesome? #prouddadmoment”

i don’t think that Helios is the brightest bulb in the shed. he’s not stupid, but i don’t think he’s an intellectual genius the way i’d say Prometheus probably is.

in the previous section, i mentioned the idea that the younger titans had a little resistance group, and i think Helios was a part of this group.

i have this brotp idea that consists of Prometheus, Helios and Pallas being bros. i think Prometheus brings the brains, Helios brings the looks, and Pallas brings the brawn.

i’ve always wondered why the younger titans never seem to have that much of a role in Olympus- i mean, it’s always Zeus and his siblings, despite the other titans being quite powerful (i mean, Helios is literally the Sun). my hc for this is that after Prometheus was so brutally punished by Zeus for the fire incident, everyone was pretty hurt- i mean, they were closer to Prometheus than to Zeus, so seeing him being punished like that was just extremely sad and heartbreaking for the rest of the titans.

i think as a result of the incident, the rest of the titans kinda distanced themselves from Olympus. no one wanted to be there anymore because it felt wrong.

i like the idea that Helios visits Prometheus at his rock often, and they sit and chat and Helios tells him about everything that’s happening :)

SELENE

i think that Selene is the eldest of Hyperion’s children. first came Selene, then Eos, and then Helios- the moon is followed by the dawn which heralds the coming of the sun and the start of a new day.

Selene is very tall. i imagine her to look very beautiful, but also very intimidating.

while her siblings are described as having numerous lovers, i don’t think Selene is much of a romantic. the only love of her life was the mortal Endymion.

i think Selene is very guarded. she comes across to people who don’t know her as cold and aloof, but that couldn’t be further from the truth- in fact, i think Selene is very emotional, but she’s not vocal about it.

she expresses her feelings through actions rather than words.

just as i think Helios was part of Prometheus’ little resistance force, i think Selene and Eos were as well.

as siblings, i think Selene, Eos and Helios are super close- they are quite inseparable. they’re all very protective of each other as well, and they’d defend each other at any cost.

EOS

Eos is the middle child in Hyperion’s family.

i think she’s very energetic and passionate. she’s incredibly friendly and not-shy.

as the goddess of dawn, i think she generally is a pretty gentle soul, but she can also be very loud.

i think she has more than a short temper- it’s a fleeting temper. she’ll start yelling and screaming, but then she’ll see a butterfly and she’ll calm down immediately.

Eos is also a little whimsical. she can be indecisive about what she wants or what she feels- that’s not to say that she’s deceiving. i don’t think she has a deceptive bone in her body- she always says what she’s thinking, maybe sometimes without a filter.

but even so, i don’t think Eos plans ahead. she’s a live-in-the-moment type of girl. 

in the Eos-Tithonus myth, when Tithonus starts to age because Eos forgot to gift him eternal youthfulness to go with his immortality, Eos takes pity on the poor guy and turns him into a cicada- and even though it was kinda Eos’ fault that Tithonus was suffering from old age to begin with, i think it was a kind gesture that she relieved his suffering, rather than just ignoring him.

related to cicadas- i think Eos love bugs and critters and stuff like that. she loves all animals, and that includes little insects.

there’s a myth where Eos sleeps with Ares and incurs Aphrodite’s wrath- Aphrodite punishes her to be filled with insatiable lust and that’s why Eos kidnaps a lot of pretty boys. but tbh, i like the idea that Eos, at her core, is just naturally a lover.

i think she’s a bit of romantic, and she falls in love easily.

i think she appreciates typical romantic sentiments- roses, and chocolate.

of course, i think her greatest love is Astraeus, her husband (more about him below ^-^).

more Eos hc's here :D

PALLAS

Pallas is one of the titans who doesn't really have too much lore.

the Latin author Hyginus calls Pallas "the giant", and he was assumed to be the titan god of warcraft, so this makes me imagine Pallas to be decently tall, and muscular.

Pallas in my head is pretty stoic. i don't think he's all that verbal with his emotions.

in saying this, i don't think he's averse to saying what he feels- he doesn't think that emotions are a bad thing, he just doesn't express it too much.

earlier in this hc set, i mentioned my hc that Prometheus, Helios and Pallas have a brotp. i think that Prometheus and Pallas, in particular, are really close- Pallas is the son of Crius who was thrown into Tartarus for siding with Cronus, so i imagine that Pallas and his brothers must have grown up with Prometheus and his siblings.

related to his domain of warcraft, i think Pallas is a really good fighter. i think he likes to fight, but he's very honourable.

if he lost in a fight, i don't think he'd be a sore loser, or he'd rage about it- he'd accept his defeat with grace and dignity, and he'd acknowledge the strength of his opponent.

in my previous set of hc's for the elder titans (scroll down to Eurybia's section), i mentioned that although Pallas likely would have sided with Cronus rather than Zeus during the Titanomachy in the original myths, my hc is that Pallas sided with Zeus instead.

this ties in with my hc that Pallas is an honourable and noble titan.

Pallas' wife is Styx and i have this hc that while on a hunt, Pallas went to wash his bloody weapons in Styx's river, not realising that she was there. and Styx was really mad about him "polluting" her river so they fought. and i think Pallas was really impressed by her fighting skills, and eventually they became friends, and then lovers, and then they got married.

i also think Pallas was really lackadaisical about it- i mean, i don't think he's a romantic at all. he just looked at Styx one day and was like, "hey do you want to get married?", and Styx, who is also generally pretty chill agreed <3 i think they are probably the most chill couple from the younger titans.

PERSES

my hc is that Perses is the middle child in Crius and Eurybia's family. Pallas is the oldest, and Astraeus is the youngest.

i think Perses, from all his siblings, is the most like Crius.

he's very intelligent, and sensible. he's quite mature.

Perses' name means "to ravage" or "to destroy" which paints a pretty brutal idea of him. but i personally don't think that Perses is violent as much as he is a strategic and skilled fighter.

i like the idea that Pallas taught Perses to fight <3

i think he's a little colder than his siblings, and i think he has blind loyalty to his king, which is why i agree with the traditional lore that suggests that Perses ended up in Tartarus after the Titanomachy.

in the previous set of hc's (scroll down to Eurybia's section), i mentioned that i think Eurybia has moments where she can fly into quite a ruthless rage- i think Perses inherits this from his mum.

on Perses' wikipedia page, it says that he "was wed to Asteria", which, when i first read it, sounded pretty cold and aloof. i mean, it didn't say that Asteria was his consort, or his wife (which sounds more intimate and familiar), it just says that he was wed (which sounds like it's just something that *happened*)...

what i'm trying to say, is that i don't think Asteria and Perses had a love marriage- i think it was probably arranged.

that's not necessarily a bad thing. i think Perses and Asteria both agreed to it, and i think that for the most part of their marriage, though they may have not been in love with each other, they were certainly quite content to be together.

Perses, though he can seem indifferent to those around him, is still kind. i think he's very patient, and respectful.

i've said before that i like the idea of having Hecate's magic something that Hecate inherited from Perses' side and Asteria's- i think Coeus (Asteria's father) was pretty nifty at magic as was Crius (Perses' father), and i think Perses and Asteria both inherited this and passed it on to Hecate.

ASTRAEUS

Astraeus is referred to as the titan god of the dusk, and he was also associated with the winds and the constellations.

my hc is that, unlike his older brothers, Astraeus is a lot more in touch with his emotions. i think he's quite vocal about it.

in terms of personality, i think Astraeus closely resembles his mum, Eurybia.

more often than not, he's always smiling and laughing, and being positive.

i also think that Astraeus is a gooey romantic. he's the cheesy type.. the cringey lover.

Astraeus' wife is Eos, which makes a lot of sense thematically since Astraeus represents dusk, and Eos represents dawn.

i have a hc that Astraeus fell in love with Eos the first time he saw her- love at first sight. and i think Eos felt the same way.

because Eos represents the dawn, i imagine that she's an early riser.. i mean, really really early- 3 AM. Astraeus meanwhile, who represents the dusk, is a little bit of a late riser.

i have this hc that Eos stopped by his house at some obscene time in the morning and woke him up so that he could ride with her in her chariot and witness the sunrise the way she sees it, and it was the most beautiful thing Astraeus had ever seen (besides Eos of course <3).

anyways, then they got married and sickened everyone to death with their cringey nicknames for each other.

in the original myths, it's mentioned that Eos had many lovers on the side, but i think Astraeus is okay with it- i don't think he feels threatened by Eos' affairs because he's knows that he's the only true one.

also, i'm not sure whether Astraeus was originally sent to Tartarus, but my hc is that he fought on Zeus' side through Prometheus' little super-titan resistance team. this makes sense to me not simply because i like Astraeus and i don't want him to rot in Tartarus, but as the god of the dusk, he has a pretty important role as a personified concept. so it doesn't make sense why he would get removed from the narrative like that.

ASTERIA

Asteria is best known as being the mother of Hecate by Perses.

as i've already said, i think that Asteria was quite proficient with magic herself, and i like the idea that she taught Hecate.

in terms of personality, i imagine Asteria to be very clever, and witty. i think she's very gracious and patient. i don't think that Asteria is much of a fighter- she doesn't like violence or conflict, but she hates injustice more, and she is willing to make reasonable sacrifices if the cause is just.

my hc is that she is close to her cousin Prometheus. i think they get along very well because they have similar personalities. i also like the idea of her being good friends with Hesione, who becomes Prometheus' wife.

during the Titanomachy, she almost definitely sided with Zeus in the original myths, and i agree with that idea.

after the war, the myths say that Zeus pursued Asteria as well as her sister Leto, but Asteria rejected his advances. in most myths, Zeus' unrelenting pursuit of her ends with Asteria escaping from him by transforming into the island which becomes known as Delos.

i like the idea of Asteria becoming Delos which, as we know, becomes the refuge of Leto when she gives birth to Apollo and Artemis. i like the idea of family always finding away to provide support, BUT i don't like the aspect of Zeus as a forceful and insatiable god.

so my hc is that while Zeus did chase after Asteria, i think Delos had already been created by Asteria previously as a place for her to raise Hecate, and when Asteria returned to that place, i think Zeus knew that it wasn't happening and he gracefully gave up.

i mentioned in Perses' hc's that i think Asteria and Perses had an arranged marriage. i think their marriage was interrupted by the Titanomachy, and although Asteria took Zeus' side, i think Perses took Cronus' side- which definitely led to a little conflict within their family.

my hc is that Asteria already knew that she was pregnant with Hecate during the Titanomachy and she wanted a better life for her daughter which is why she fought alongside Zeus, and i think she also knew that Perses wouldn't fight against Cronus- so she had to choose between her child and her husband, and she chose her child.

after Olympus gets established, i think Asteria and Leto live on Delos together, happily retired, the way they deserve <3

LETO

i've actually already done a few Leto hc's here so i won't repeat them :)

[oyeedraw]

A Fanfic Writer Interview

tagged by: @mal-likes-biscuits​

Name: Oyee or oyeedraw, I also used Stroxx on one(1) forum

Fandoms: --- I'm throwing in my comics here too, because I only started fic writing recently. Longer comics were done for: Bionicle, Steven Universe, Diablo 3. Only written: Starcraft, Warcraft; for SC I mostly did rps and some individual one shots littered about tumblr, for Warcraft I have one or two oneshots and I started a long fic this year.

Two-shot: --- I haven't tried this format yet, but I might.

Most popular multichapter: --- I started a Steven Universe choose your own adventure comic, Free Fall, somewhere around in 2016 on Tumblr. It blew up my notifications over night, that was pretty rad. I never really finished it, got around to 4 "chapters" (if you consider posts to be chapters) but then summer was over, next uni year started, and I never got around to finish it. The comic was a victim of too much planning-too long story, but I wouldn't consider it abandoned. --- However my most commented on work was a Bionicle comic, Diaries of Destral. It had a small, but solid following, I still adore this comic to this day. I really want to finish that too someday, but I gotta adjust my scope for it.

Actual worst part of writing: --- As Noriya/Biscuits wrote it before me it's the input - output cycle. I love thinking in multichapter stories, and I find tracking references across multiple chapters very exciting, but I either write a 10-15K monster over several days of sleepless fervor, or I'm struggling at a snails pace. I don't mind it too much, but it frustrates me. By now I know how it works, I need about 2-8 weeks of "loading time" where I don't do much creating, only housework and stuff that doesn't take much think space, then the plotbunny bites me and I ride it out as long as I'm not running out of juice. This is usually a 3-5 week of compulsive drawing and writing. Rinse and repeat. What throws a wrench in it is my day job which also needs these bursts, but spread out for a longer period (3-4 months). --- Researching lore and figuring out what has been retconned, whether there is a side character that has a name or if I have to come up with a whole squad of them. I don't mind doing my own OCs, but then I find a cool side character that would have fit a scene and I feel a little bad about not including them. --- I get distracted very easily and I need to get into the zone for writing. --- Disjoint between thoughs and physical writing.

How you choose your titles: --- Make up about a dozen horse shit working titles in draft phase, narrow them down and find the most amusing or most fitting. Like the most recent ones: Fuck Amnesia Spells, Did We Time Travel?, Why Is It Winter Again?, Tyrael Yote, Angi Ari (Auriel), Laezel n Squiddad, oneshot 2020-05. Some of these are titles for comic pages or my actual D&D oneshot that is now a campaign. --- If I feel I need a more presentable title, I rinse and repeat the above and try to get in touch with my purple prose self until I get title I'm okay with. Sometimes I get a title in 5 minutes, sometimes I horse around for a week. It really depends on how finished the actual body of text or comic page is and how fast I want to post it when I get to the title phase. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's 'meh'.

Do you outline: --- Yes. It either looks like a shopping list, or a lazily described list of memes. Comic page plans also get miniscule stickmen and squares. --- If I really get into the zone this is when dialogue gets written too. Especially for comic pages. I'm a dialogues first gal.

Ideas I probably won’t get around to, but wouldn’t it be nice?: 

Callouts @ me: --- Make a schedule and then stick to it. Don't over plan, baby steps. Please. --- Make more kissing and soft, happy scenes you Cowardly Bitch.

Best writing traits: --- In character banter and dialogue. If I have an ample example of how characters talk and intone I can check back on the dialogue whether it's in character or not. I can literally hear the VAs talking in my head. At least I think I'm good at it. Whether that’s the case I leave it up to the judgement of my readers. --- I like to go crazy on scenery descriptions. I love it when an environment is an actor too in some way and gets some characterisation. --- I've been told I have good timing and scene pacing too. This is my eternal curse too, because this makes me reread and make several edits to already written parts. In rough editing this either makes me cut whole paragraphs or add in new ones.

Spicy tangential opinion: --- Cancel culture and people going around telling others what they are allowed to write is really rubbing me the wrong way. I have a lot of feelings about it, but I already tried to write several paras three separate times, so I'm letting this go. Be free, be wild, you can find me setting Bobby Kotick's expensive shoes on fire.

Tags: I have no idea my dude, sorry, I’m drawing on a blank here. Please feel free to consider yourself to be tagged if you’d like to.

[getfit182]

Happy New Years my friends! The lovely @always-the-2nd created a wonderful idea of making a list of the top nine moments/realizations/achievements/feelings of 2020, and I’d love to participate in that. I’d like to start off and say that 2020 was a very intense year for all of us, and my household was no exception. From my partner getting COVID to wondering how I’ll ever complete my degree, there’s been a lot of stress on everyone’s mind; I thank any higher power and the universe for still providing energy and will to allow my partner to get up and go to work and I am so thankful that I still have my job too.

This is probably going to be a very lengthy post, but I think it’s important for me to spend some time writing here before I call it a night.

1. This year, I lost 15 pounds and gained 12 pounds back. I know that’s a weird thing to be appreciative of, but I want to start here because this has always been a fitness/health blog, and I want to be as honest as possible. In May, I started logging my food again and taking daily walks, and really making sure I was taking care of myself. I was a lot more carefree back then haha. I didn’t have the weight of teaching and writing on me. I was stress free in most aspects of my life. Hence, slowly but surely, the weight sort of came off. It took about six months to lose 15 pounds, but then, school and life hit, and I gained 12 of those pounds back over the course of one and a half months (yay PCOS!) But, strangely, I don’t see this as failure. To me, failure would be absolutely giving up, and perhaps, I did that during November when my parents were causing me to cry every night and my finals were coming up. But, I recognize that to lose 15 pounds is an achievement and if I did it once, I can certainly do it again, and do my best to keep at it.

2. I started to better understand my PCOS and my family’s history of diabetes, and started to take some more preventative and wholistic measures. I started taking the right vitamins and gradually, I found that some of my symptoms have calmed down. It took a very very long time to figure that out, and I sort of hate taking so many supplements, but I am grateful that I do take them.

3. I submitted my first chapter of my thesis! LIKE WHOA! I’m not exactly writing about very happy things (I’m writing on torture). But turning to my work and writing has always been my coping mechanism and I’m glad I pushed out a viable chapter and that I have something set up for the next one. Also: 3A would be my lovely thesis advisor. Bless her for putting up with my emo ass xD.

4. I bought a ring, proposed to my partner, and he said yes! Granted, literally only my irl best friends, his parents, and you guys know, because my own family would absolutely lose their shit, but I am grateful to have his hand to hold through all of this.

5. My partner’s experience with COVID. It was so terrifying. So so scary. To have him be sick for so long was something we’ve never experienced. I can’t believe we endured that for so long and made it out relatively okay. 

6. Spending time alone. As much as I love my job and cohort, I’ve really enjoyed taking some of this time to myself. There are some days I don’t even talk out loud. It’s amazing. It’s relaxing. It’s so important to spend time alone, and I’m glad I’ve come to appreciate that more and more.

7. I’ve gotten relatively good at baking? I don’t always share my food stuff here, but I made a collection of Christmas cookies this year for my partner’s coworkers, and they gobbled them up. I’ve made several pies and tarts from scratch, more breads than ever, and cakes as well, all while experimenting with low sugar recipes. So I’m really glad I got the chance to share some treats with people as well as trying new recipes that are more rigorous and difficult.

8. I’m really glad I got back into gaming, and gave World of Warcraft a good shot because it’s an amazing game with amazing lore and it really takes the edge off of a long day. I can’t wait to work my way up to Shadowlands, and even though I have to stop playing at the end of January, I’m really glad I found another outlet for my emotions and that I can discipline myself with playing only a certain amount of time a day/month.

9. TW: SELFHARM: I don’t talk about this part of my life here, but here’s to making it through another year without hurting myself intentionally. It’s only been two years since I’ve really focused on recovery and my depression, and even though those thoughts come back all the time, I’m really really emotional but happy that it’s been two years without resorting to that. While I can’t change how certain parts of my body look, I can do everything in my power to heal the rest of me, my soul, and my body. And, most importantly, if any of you are struggling with this problem, please reach out to me or let me help you contact a hotline or medical help. You are not alone, and I am not alone.

This is incredibly long and personal, so I won’t be tagging anyone, but this was a very very nice way to remind myself that I did not waste 2020 and neither did any of you. If you need reminding of that, I urge you to follow my footsteps (and always-the-2nd’s!) and create this list. All the little things are worth living for. 

[veiled-legacy]

Video Game Questionnaire

Hello! I decided to make a tag that would allow me to get to know more about my followers and their favorite video games! If you love talking about video games and their characters, this is your chance!

Rules: Fill in your answers below and tag some buddies!

Games

First game you ever played: Pretty sure it was Super Mario 64 on Nintendo 64 Favorite game: Either SWTOR or Dragon Age Game you’ve played through multiple times: Knights of the Old Republic!! Game you hated at first but now love: World of Warcraft (I got into the lore) Game you used to love but now hate: Sims 2. I love building and it’s so frustrating to build in after playing Sims 4 for so long Your favorite game atmosphere/setting(s): Shout out to God of War! Gorgeous game Game with the best group/companion(s): Love the Dragon Age Inquisition companions! Dragon Age just has amazing companions in general in all 3 games A game with your favorite ending: Last of Us was great! Undertale too! A game with the WORST ending: Knights of the Old Republic 2. I don’t know, I just hate it. Also shout out to Mass Effect 3. Love the game. Ending left something to be desired. Best character customization?: With or without mods I love the Dragon Age customizations

Hero and Companions

Your favorite playable character: Conor from Detroit Become Human (never played but loved watching his stuff) or snarky Sith Inquisitor that mains with lightning in SWTOR The funniest playable character: SWTOR Sith Inquisitor can be a HOOT or chaotic/sarcastic DA Inquisitor/Hawk (specifically the British male. Makes the lines funnier for some reason) Your favorite companion(s): Some of my faves are Dorian (DAI), Lana Beniko (SWTOR), Garrus (Mass Effect), Merrill (DA2), Cole (DAI), Varric (DA), Vette (SWTOR), Torian (SWTOR), Vector (SWTOR), Atton Rand (KOTOR2), Mission Vao (KOTOR), Hank (DBH)… so on and so on. Companions you could live without: Scorpio and Skadge in SWTOR for sure. Not a huge fan of Ashley from Mass Effect. North in Detroit.

Relationships

Favorite game friendship(s): Gault and Bounty Hunter and Blizz and Bounty Hunter! Cole and Inquisitor and Varric and Inquisitor! Favorite game relationship(s): SheppardxGarrus, OCxTheron Shan, OCxLana Beniko, IAxVector, BHxTorian, DorianxInquisitor and CassandraxInquisitor are some of my favorites! Favorite companion banter: Alistair and Morrigan omg or Dorian and Iron Bull. Vette and Quinn are solid too! ATTON AND BAO DUR AND MICAL IN KOTOR2. A relationship you loved but went bad: Can we say SolasxInquisitor or what? A relationship you weren’t sure of but loved: ConsularxFelix Iresso (SWTOR) A character you wish you COULD romance: Varric freaking Tethras. Don’t even get me started. Also Talos Drellik. ALSO could the relationship for AttonxExile been better in KOTOR2 please? A minor character you wish could be a companion: Okay hear me out. Jonas Balkar. Sanju Pyne. Scout Harding. Cytharat.

Fun

Shoutout to a random NPC: The one elf in Oblivion that sings badly on a bridge in that one town. I think about him sometimes hahaha A game you love watching playthroughs for and want to play: Detroit Become Human! Love watching playthroughs but won’t ever play: Most horror games like Resident Evil 7 or Outlast 1, 2 and whistleblower (tried to play the 1st and never made it past the first 10 minutes) Online gaming or solo?: Solo for me please. Even though I play SWTOR I don’t play in groups. Used to play WOW but just with my brother and sister-in-law Why do you play video games?: The same reason I love watching movies or TV shows or reading books. It allows you to escape to another world for a little while. That’s why I love story driven games so much. I also love how games can bring people together! Some of my favorite gaming videos to watch are Markiplier playing with his friends Bob and Wade. Just a lot of harmless fun and entertainment.

Tagging @the-worrier-warrior @winterfrostlegacy @the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond @commander-ralyle @fluffyteta @starknstarwars @darthvronton @rainofaugustsith @sheyshen @stargazing-sith @into-thegarbagechute-flyboy @shabre-legacy @charactercreationgirl @palepious and any other followers of mine or people who want to do this with their friends!

[breadknight-likes-things]

Bread’s Game Journal 07/01/20: Through The Dark Portal, An Outland Retrospective, Bonus 2: Old Hillsbrad

Escape From Durnhold Keep, a part of the now underused Caverns of Time, is my very favorite instance in World of Warcraft.  It’s my favorite because I get to live out such a pivotal lore moment (Thralls escape from slavery), and there’s such an absurd amount of fun little details around the sides that it creates it’s own unique little pocket world at the same time!  Hillsbrad Foothills got a big boost as one of my all time favorite zones in WoW from the very first time the Warcraft 2 narrator over pronounced it’s name, and it’s stuck with me for a long time since then!

The version presented during the Caverns of Time is vastly different from the version we now see post Cataclysm World of Warcraft.  It was less of a shock back in the Vanilla WoW days, when Southshore was still the northernmost functioning town for the Alliance and not, you know, a bubbling toxic wreck.  Here we have a totally normal Soutshore, filled with easter eggs and silly character cameos (One of my favorites being the future Champion Herod being the local childhood bully to the other future members of the Scarlet Crusade).  Tarren Mill, far from the wreck it is and always will be under the control of the Forsaken, is a sleepy little farm hamlet where nobody would even consider looking for something as absurd an escaped orc gladiator.  Just about the only place that doesn’t gain an increase in charm by being still intact is the main feature of the instance, where most of the story takes place: Durnholde Keep.

Just feels unnatural seeing this place as anything other than an eternally smoldering ruin.

From the old days of questing through Hillsbrad, the only memory most people have of Durnholde is a castle razed almost entirely to the ground.  Seeing it built up in it’s full glory is a reminder of just why it was destroyed in the first place.  The Orc internment camp is as abusive and violent as the books always described it, and Thrall is treated like trash by Adeles Blackmoore so often that he’s now planned this break out attempt.  It’s immensely satisfying to be able to take part in this huge lore moment, though I do wish they could have made another instance where you came back with the force of orcs and razed it to the ground! Fun fact about Old Hillsbrad from someone who used to mess around with far-sight macros a lot, there’s a lot more in this zone then the game wants you to believe.  If you stray too far from the established play area (or Southshore, which is just a bonus Easter Egg to find) the screen is quickly filled up with blue fog and you can’t go any further due to invisible walls.  That doesn’t mean all the stuff you’d expect to find isn’t there though!  Hillsbrad fields is there in all it’s old timey human settlement glory, you can get so far as where Dalaran is supposed to be, but you’ll just find a bit patch of flat land!  The beginnings of the Alterac Mountains zone is also present, but much like that zone itself at the time, doesn’t really have anything to find.

Tarren Mill, meanwhile, is apparently celebrating the midsummer fire festival even this far back into the past!  Shame there’s no fire keeper here, just as one last little hidden entry on that achievement list!

Old Hillsbrad had a lot more work put into it than it really required to work.  This would end up being something of a common theme for most of the Caverns of Time instances, and is likely why they don’t make them anymore!  All Blizzard really needed to make was Durnholde Keep itself to make this instance work, but they went above and beyond in not only near fully recreating a zone inside the instance itself, but a snapshot of a zone as it existed long before Warcraft was ever “World of Warcraft” just to give lore nerds a lot of fun stuff to discover!

Random Screenshot Of The Day:

Eh, he’ll never amount to anything.

Stray Notes:

Easter Eggs I didn’t cover but do deserve some mention: 

- Hercule is talking with Kel’Thuzad about finding “true power” away from the Kirin Tor, which, uh oh.  

- A meeting of paladins is using the inn to discuss troubling news out of Northrend as the few human settlements present there are reporting invasions of more and more undead, which the kingdom is woefully un-prepared to deal with at the moment.

- I don’t know who Don Carlos is, but if you find and defeat him, you can get his famous hat!  Which makes a ghost wolf follow you around!

- All the citizens of Southshore that aren’t named characters use the human models from the beta version of World of Warcraft, which is one of my favorite little references to that very specific part of the games past!

[acallforadventure]

Answering questions about the game #00

So question: what are the ultimate goals for the game specifically? Is this going to evolve into somesort of open world survival game with actual Dayz mechanics like blood type going into it or more of an MMO RPG. And if it's an RPG to what extent, something in line with Deus Ex featuring a very indepth story that's actually coherent or more into World of Warcraft vibe? How deep is the building and mining here compared to other games?

I would also like to see what lore this has that's unique to itself rather than Adventure Time. Have you thought up of any specific lore systems or anything? It's apocalyptic and since the main character is human already a massive change to Adventure Time in which humans were rare.

Sorry if these are questions way ahead of what you are doing yourself but figure asking, ya know?

I'll answer with what is already planned, and I'm willing to disclose, because I want to keep some mystery, and on the social networks where I can post static images and gifs, I'm actually publishing those with snippets of lore.

First question: MMO? RPG? The first draft of the game was a MMO, but after seeing for the millionth time how toxic people can become in MMOs, I decided that being a peaceful and nice experience was too important, so I decided to go for a normal multiplayer, so that you can choose the people, and play with your friends, or a restricted group of people, so that you can manage bad apples, instead of quitting the game for desperation. Talking about the kind of game, it will be a sandbox, but there is no digging: I find that leveling up the ground takes a ridiculous amount of time, and becomes a tedious mechanic, producing predictable and uninteresting results too often, while if you cannot dig, you’ll choose wisely where to build what, and you’ll include the natural landscape in the project, as you’d do in the real world, that makes everything more interesting and somehow challenging. I want building to be more relevant too, so there will be a “scaffolding” system that lets you build the skeleton of buildings first, so that you can visualize well your project before finalizing it, this aims to make destruction non trivial, as in Minecraft that you can just dig your way to the end to loot a dungeon, since hopefully people will create their own adventures to play with their friends by building castles, dungeons and such, and using the game as a D&Dish platform. Also, the only other reason to dig is mining, but considered the setting, and the fact that I want exploration and adventuring to be a bigger part or the game, and leave the survival mechanics as quite marginal, acquiring advanced materials like metal will be easier and more common with scavenging and dungeon looting. I will probably give the chance to mine somehow, but I haven’t yet finalized the decision on the “how”, because I want to be sure it won’t be a tedious task that takes up a lot of play time.

Also, since there is no digging, dungeons (ruins will often have “dungeon” elements like monsters and loot too) will be found as entrances sunk in the ground: there is a widely recurring theme of relics from the past in the game, the car wreck is a good example of that, you can find ancient relics resurfacing, they spawn from time to time in random places, because that’s what buried stuff do, it resurfaces, I find resurfaced items from time to time in real life too while exploring the forest, and so dungeons will do the same, the sunken entrances will see light again, and you’ll be able to enter and explore them… At least the ones that don’t move by themselves...

For the RPG part of the question, I like the idea that skill is more important than playtime, so there will be RPG elements, but in a "soft" manner and amount, this means no TENS of stats and skills to buy for everything, and ability to have more diversified skills versus a very closed, focused skill tree, as it's common practice in more classic RPGs (also acquiring advanced equipment should be the difficult part imo, not using it). One specific element that I can already tell is the mana system: I imagine casting spells as a physical strain, as it is often described in books, so instead of having Health, Stamina and Mana, we have only Health and Stamina, because Stamina IS Mana, this means that wizards are people trained in extraordinary physical efforts to cast spells, and so, the usual unfair large step between warriors and wizards, that make wizards a not-very-loved class in many RPGs, is quite leveled out, since wizards will be able to dodge and escape more heavily armored warriors, due to their increased resistance to fatigue.

Second question: how deep and coherent the story? Well, I'm a fan of deep and coherent stories, but I also acknowledge the huge amount of work needed for a story mode, so, the plan is to make a sandbox mode as base, and if the kickstarter will work out, putting as one of the first goals the story mode, so that I will be able to spend all the time and work needed to develop it to the quality standard that I want to give to this game. The sandbox will still have a deep, coherent lore, scattered around to discover in the form of ruins, places hiding a story, old notes and messages, and the presence of objects that give clear clues of past events.

Also, it clearly can’t have the same lore as AT, that would be plagiarism, so I merged in part of the lore of a story I had written previously, that has a similar setting but a quite different lore, the resulting mix means that there are substantial lore differences, but a similar end result on the game’s world. I’m not willing to give the details like this, because I want to keep the lore more of a mystery to enjoy discovering by the players for the most part, and part of it I want to keep publishing with the gifs and pictures, that I find a more enjoyable way to deliver it.

I hadn’t given this much detail publicly yet, only some of you had heard this stuff by talking directly with me, so I figured these questions were a good time to publish this kind of explanations. Bye!

[tarajenkins]

Given what you've said of Vauthry, about how we're never given any chance to even try and redeem him, help him become a better person, I'd like to ask: how would you go about "saving" him? When he transforms into that Lucifer/Archangel Michael-looking guy, he seems permanently lost, but how would you write out a redemption narrative for him?

I love this ask, I hate the answer I have to give. But it’s gonna be a long response anyway, because context and because you already know I don’t know when to shut up about characters, lmao. 

SO I HOPE YOU LOVE HEARING ME RAMBLE UNDER THIS CUT (but I won’t blame you if you don’t)

I don’t think the in-game narrative allows Vauthry any chance at redemption in the current time, even if he had the agency to take it.  I don’t think we ever saw what he actually could have been. I think what we saw in Shadowbringers was the Lightwarden he’d been carrying finally “awakening”, as Innocence’s Triple Triad card put it. Or, as the X-Files put it in their eighth ep: “We are not who we are”.  

Even if that Lightwarden could be driven out of him (I know an “Aethertech” who would do anything to make that possible cough), I don’t know if he’d regain clarity he may never have had to start.  I’d love to think that he did, a long time ago. The Minstreling Wanderer tells us he can’t say whether or not Vauthry was a monster as a child, when you unlock Crown Of The Immaculate EX.

I believe the Lightwarden’s influence was driving a lot of his brutal acts of “justice”, because that is kinda their whole thing.  As for the man inside the monster?  I have a hunch he was desperate to not be seen as unnatural, and was trying to make sense out of what was happening to him in a way that would not make him a hybrid abomination. Because if he wasn’t a God, if he wasn’t this divine thing he was told he was – then what was he? The way he worded it, “this is why I was born…as man and Sin Eater both…” – it makes me feel he had, at some point in his life, at least once, ASKED why he was born as he was. That he had perceived it was wrong. He needed it to be right. And that was just fuel to the corruption fire.

The talk of godhood actually seemed to be a recent phenomenon, as no other NPC mentions a thing about it – they refer to him as “Lord Vauthry”, and speak of him in mortal terms, apart from his miraculous ability to keep the Sin Eaters at bay. He freely boasted of being a God to the Crystal Exarch, yet we’re to believe he didn’t say a word to his own people, all this time? Or that no one, in turn, would mention to us “Yyyyeah, about this guy….” Mayor Punchable Face may have told him he was a God, but it doesn’t sound like Vauthry bought into it enough to spread the good word for at least twenty years. 

Also consider he called his transformation into Innocence a “trial”. Why would a god need to be tested? And by whom?

By the time we see him in-game, it seemed he was in a rapid decline of sanity, or at least the ability to keep up appearances, and whatever was left of him was fervently clinging to the only purpose he was ever apparently given – which is exactly what that Lightwarden (and Emet-Selch) would want. 

 He was really cynical about the rest of humanity. Given his father, I can see where he’d get that from. Not that daddy told him people suck, it’s that Vauthry probably learned that by his father’s example. Maybe by the rest of Eulmore, too, but I got the impression he was kept seriously isolated from society before his inauguration. He seems to prefer being alone – he only leaves that room when he moves the Sin Eaters against Lakeland. He gives no indication he knows how to socialize, period. You either come to him, or you don’t see him. (He may be keenly aware humes don’t typically reach at least fifteen feet tall. Seriously, look at Cruelty’s size compared to player characters, now look how Cruelty makes a comfy couch for him.)

Cynical, and yet, he wanted to see the people of Eulmore’s “dreams fulfilled, their wishes granted”. Just so long as he was the one responsible, and he was the one recognized for it. He needed their acceptance. 

ANYHOO.  On to stuff I still have zero idea what to make of. 

I should preface the rest of this infodump with the fact I found the Eulmore arc to be the weakest of the expansion, between Vauthry and Ran'jit. Most of the MSQ was given nuance. Eulmore was given a Saturday Morning Cartoon sledge. A -lot- of questions, with no answers, unless Squeenix decides to be generous in a fifty-buck lore book later. (something I hated Warcraft for. I should not have to pony up for a book to understand the main story quest chain in a game.) So, here are some of the questions I’ve got:

- FOOL! THAT WILL NEVER WORK!

They don’t really explain why Emet-Selch thought corrupting an infant was a good plan, as the Sin Eaters seemed guaranteed a win on The First, if only by outlasting the survivors of the Flood. Impatience, maybe? Why not give it to the mayor? That dickpickle would’ve said yes. Maybe we’ll get more answers with the Eden raid. IT’D BE NICE *COUGH*

- The meol thing.  

It’s using Sin Eater’s non-existant flesh to make a bread, and through that bit of Sin Eater, Vauthry could control whoever ate it.  The fanbase loves the “soylent green is people” angle, but it’s done pretty haphazardly, when you think about it like that? Sin Eaters have no lasting corporeal body. They are Light, mixed with a bit of the lingering essence of whatever they originally were – and what they originally were did not have to be humanoid. They dissolve into sparklies in the air upon death – and arguably, they would not have to die to contribute sparklies to somehow mix into food. Forgiven Cruelty lost a whole wing to Thancred when Thancred first took Ryne from Eulmore, and it seemed to have grown back just fine by the time we see Cruelty again. Killing Sin Eaters also would be entirely counterproductive to a nation that devoted themselves to NOT killing them. Also – we are shown the Afflicted, people who are falling to corruption from a SIn Eater attack they’d survived. How is it people who eat meol don’t become corrupted themselves?

Where did the idea for meol  even begin? Vauthry’s father was ousted by the people as mayor before Emet-Selch said hey there, friend, you have a punchable face, let’s make a deal – and Vauthry only took control of Eulmore 20 years ago. He looks a LOT older than 20, or even 40. So his father must’ve rode his child’s coattails before then.  Did Mayor Punchable Face think that was a wise countermeasure against future insurrection? In any case, Vauthry did not exert that control until the WoL and allies were coming to kill the Lightwarden of Kholusia (him), so it did not seem to be a priority of his. Alphinaud confirmed the people were of a free mind until they were made to fight the WoL and allies. (and dialogue stressed it was very noticeable when someone was not of a free mind.) Squeenix: *throws meol into purse* I have to go plotholes came up

- The “Perverted Paradise”.  (I at least giggle every time Alphinaud says this.)

Vauthry is presented as the pinnacle of vice, yet the game does not really show this well – in some cases, not at all.

Gluttony: He isn’t shown to indulge in drink, let alone overindulge. Apart from the meol scene at the end, which was related to controlling the Eater-corrupted citizenry, not gluttony, he was not shown to have so much as a snack. There’s food in his chamber, all of it untouched. But! In the Shadowbringers trailer, Squeenix thought the best example to showcase Eulmore’s decadence was – three thicc'qotes. Having pleasant conversation ‘round a table. Eating fresh fruit.

Not the creepy-ass old patron who thinks that  since his pretty servant can’t sing anymore, she should be “Ascended” as a kindness, although it was implied she could have recovered her health, just not her voice. Not the guy who tossed his servant from a balcony because reasons and wanted us to bring him back. Not even the noblewoman trying to have her servant killed because her lecherous husband put designs on the poor girl.

Three thicc'qotes. Having pleasant conversation ‘round a table. Eating fresh fruit.

We get it, Square, we’re supposed to see he’s fat and think that is bad. Moving on.

Lust: He doesn’t visit the adult nightclub downstairs (the adult nightclub that is shown practically empty and behind closed doors, the lewdness of it all – I clutch my pearls.) He doesn’t  creep on your player character like Magnai did in Stormblood – he doesn’t creep on anyone. He doesn’t want you to be his steed. No interest is shown in the Sin Eaters apart from them fighting for him, as much as some people in the fanbase theorize he is fucking them. (They probably think that Spirited Away is about the sex industry and My Neighbor Totoro is about dead girls, too.) This game is pretty blatant when they intend that sort of thing, see: Yotsuyu, Sastasha, any number of things in Ishgard or Ul'dah. I’ve found nothing here, except the German translation for “Consort Of Sin: Forgiven Obscenity” is “Purified Fornication: Playmate Of The Redeemer”. Since this is not implied in any other translation, I put my trust in Koji Fox and the fact Obscenity’s job seems to be Official Nose Petter to Forgiven Cruelty.

Greed: I am not going to hold his rings and his robes against him, as Urianger has just as much bling (more, actually), The wealthy are made to give up ALL their fortune to be permitted to stay in Eulmore – but that wealth is then used to provide everything for free to those who live there, and the free citizenry are apparently given funds for private use to boot. If they intended to show that Vauthry was using all that for hookers and blow for himself, it did not convey well.

Wrath: If one has broken the rules of the city (or has thrown shade that takes him a full two minutes to catch), Vauthry definitely has this in spades, with a temper tantrum a lot like Philia’s Fierce Beating attack.  But again, the writers don’t really show the extent of the wrath they are trying to tell . Because if you don’t break the rules? Nothing happens, apparently. Trouble seems to have to be brought forward to him, he doesn’t go looking for it.  It didn’t feel any different to me than the Grand Companies, yet this is the one that finally makes Alphinaud do the *GAAAAASP*.

The populace does not seem afraid of Vauthry. In fact, they feel free to pop ‘round to have a word if they think something needs doing. Chai-Nuzz did not seem distressed by his wife’s suggestion she would have a word with Vauthry to soothe the “hard feelings” stirred up in the quest “Emergent Splendor”.  

Pride: He has great pride in his ability to keep the SIn eaters under control, but doesn’t really display any vanity in himself. No portraits, statues, etc. When Alphinaud interfered with Kai-Shirr’s punishment, Alphinaud was told he’d be permitted to stay in the city if he made a painting – not a portrait of Vauthry, but of the city itself.

Sloth: We get it, Square, he’s fat and he sits down, moving the FUCK on.  No actually, hold up, to be honest? As tired and :| as he looked all the time, he struck me as depressed. What guy in Paradise looks that haggard?

NOW moving on.

Envy: If my theory holds, probably plenty of unresolved envy for folks who are not “half Sin Eater”. Otherwise, I can’t think of an example here.

- “Ascension” (Sure thing, Jan)

This is only made reference to in the Weeping Warbler quest chain. “As all know, the sin eaters exist to devour the sinful. But also do they serve to gather the souls of the innocent, and shepherd them unto celestial paradise.”

Sin eaters ate a meal that represents the sins of a household you fool oh wait this is The First

The thing I don’t get here is - why are there obviously limitations on who can be ascended, and when? If the idea is strictly to feed the Sin Eaters, or make meol, or just be an asshole, why is this the only time we hear of it?

It’s like if there are no more mortals, Vauthry wouldn’t have that reassurance he is doing good anymore. Either that, or since he’s never worked in retail, he doesn’t know how to push features.

But I’m betting on the former.

- LASTLY: the hypocrisy of the writer’s narrative (and the fanbase).

Tesleen was our first and horrifying sample of what Sin Eater corruption can do to a human. No matter how strong her will may have been, she was just lost to it. She scratches madly at her face when she uses one of her attacks in Holminster Switch, as though trying to stop herself, or punish herself. But she can’t help it. And we know this.

Titania was a tragedy, had to be stopped. But, a TRAGEDY. Whatever was left of the benevolent ruler was corrupted. There was never a moment where our heroes went “dis binch just evil, they gotta go down”. ( I had many choice words for Titania when I wiped enough times to them, but no actual game dialogue really says it. )

We, the Warrior Of Light, came this close to becoming a Warden ourselves. Somehow it was stalled (convenience!), but there was never a question corruption = bad and out of our control.

Vauthry, on the other hand, is treated as though he is in full control of his faculties, although the corruption before birth makes that questionable at best and he pretty clearly is not? Even as he did that Exorcist neck-twist, no one was like “oh fuck, the Sin Eaters got to another one, damn that poor man”.  (Which would seem a logical conclusion to me, I hate we have like zero real say in our characters’ reactions) Not even a “ahaha okay no seriously what the fuck is going on guys”. Nope. Their reaction was “EVIL”.  Trying to help somehow was never on the table. Watching him die slowly at our feet was.

We saw the Echo of the real circumstance of his birth. It had to come from the Sin Eater that corrupted him, because he wasn’t out of the womb to see that scene play out. Or Emet-Selch. Either way, we saw it, yet at no time afterward do we try to bring the truth out. We just let everyone believe he was evil by choice, and not another casualty of this mess.

And remember earlier, how I said Alphinaud confirmed the free citizenry were not under Vauthry’s control until the fight? Remember the noblewoman whose husband went after their bonded servant, and so she tried to get the girl murdered?

Yeah, we catch up to that noblewoman who tried to murder her servant. She feels really bad about that now.  And what is an option we get to tell her ex-bonded servant when she wonders how she could possibly trust the woman who tried to kill her?

“Vauthry’s society brought out the worst in people…”

Fffffffuck you Square lmao

TL;DR:

In private RP land? In private RP land, where we can back the fuck up in the timeline at will? You are damn skippy that Lightwarden got purged before it took complete hold. (an Aethertech did it with SCIENCE.) And Vauthry is cynical and scarred and bitter and broken and betrayed, but he’s not evil. If anything, he’s actually pretty relatably human. And he’s actually pretty damn glad his father’s shitty legacy is over.

[maverick-werewolf]

Hello! I'm trying to write a werewolf story, but I'm too worried about things we see in every single one (painful transformations, silver weakness, it's a curse, etc), so I'm trying to twist them kind of (painless transformations but you feel the beast fighting for your mind, silver weakness is a myth, it's a rare virus spreading by blood, etc), 'cause "all cliches and predictability are bad" but I never saw anything about cliches that are necessary to the story. Is there any such thing?

Ooh, a fun question! Thank you for asking. Get ready for a long answer! I have a lot of thoughts on this.

I already wrote one very big post on werewolf tropes we commonly see in fiction, and which ones I do and do not like. That’ll help a lot on this topic! But I have more to say, in regard to the points you brought up.

To me, a werewolf is - by definition - a variety of types of people that can, in different ways, turn into a wolf or wolf-man hybrid…

But also, to me, a lot of the fun can get removed with people trying to subvert too many of the fun werewolf tropes we’re familiar with today. The good ones, I mean. Especially the ones that came from folklore, or at least have an amount of basis in some legends.

For instance, painful transformations do have basis, though of course that wasn’t always the case, and I am very biased in that I love them - but non-painful ones and/or mental ones also sound very fun! Personally, I do both.

More than that, though, today we have so many people throwing around the word and idea of subversion that, frankly, almost none of the “classic” werewolf stuff remains. Just to use the examples you gave-

In quite a lot of things today (Teen Wolf, Harry Potter, Warcraft, Twilight [with both the retconned “we’re not actually werewolves” Quileutes and the “children of the moon”], and a lot more), werewolves are not sensitive to silver and that’s 100% a myth. Now, I don’t mind that at all, frankly, because a lot of very stupid and silly and preposterous things result from the Hollywood contrived silver weakness concept, which was never remotely in folklore, but I also think it can be done well and can be fun if properly worked into a setting (I myself use this trope in my main werewolf setting and series, heavily worked into lore so it isn’t just a random weakness).

Here’s the big one for me, though. A curse or a disease - which way should it be handled, and which one might be considered cliche? This is a can of worms for me.

First off, the concept of being a werewolf very much started off as a wide variety of things - a curse, a blessing, something one was born with, some other type of magical ability…

And being a werewolf was never, in folklore, considered a disease. This is completely a modern concept, and one that basically everyone everywhere uses today thanks to the Early Modern period and later concepts. This is a huge topic I could go into even more detail about.

Be it a disease spread by bite and/or through saliva, a disease spread by bite or scratch (ugh, the scratch thing…), a disease spread through blood, an experimental “disease” caused by “science gone wrong,” a disease spread through sex (don’t get me started, though, really)…

Today, it is pretty much always called a “disease.” This is especially when it is associated with madness and/or bloodlust. This is where the word lycanthropy first comes from - in the Early Modern period, people called those suffering with the “insanity” of being a werewolf were said to have lycanthropy. Later, this term was picked up by popular culture, so the term we still have today for people with certain types of mental illnesses is “clinical lycanthropy.”

Most pop culture today tends to turn lycanthropy into a disease instead of a curse. Even in terms of fantasy settings where one might think of it as a curse, it’s still largely considered a disease. D&D, for instance; it’s called an affliction, a disease, etc. Look on the wiki of any number of modern things with werewolves in them and it’ll refer to it as a disease first, if it refers to it as a curse at all, and many paranormal TV shows and the like will have some kind of reference to various bodily fluids in terms of how it’s spread/how it works/what it’s infecting.

Can it be both a curse and a disease, in a way? Yes, definitely! I actually kind of prefer it that way, myself. Though if I had to pick just one, I would pick curse, personally. I also prefer a less scientific explanation than “just” a disease, more often than not, though that’s just me - especially if it starts turning into some kind of STD or something… Bluh.

Details, though. In my setting, just to clear things up, I refer to it as both a curse and a disease. It is, of course, in this case, a setting in ancient transitioning into medieval times, so they wouldn’t really have a more scientific explanation, but some people are looking for a more logical one sometimes. Anyway, I do have other werewolves in other settings that are done differently, so don’t take all those ramblings as meaning that I only like werewolves done one way.

There are lots of ways someone can become a werewolf in folklore. And there are lots of reasons that werewolf might transform.

So, ultimately, you might be more unique in terms of werewolves if you dialed it back toward some of the “classic” “tropes,” like making it more of a mysterious curse.

But that, of course, is 100% up to you! There is no right or wrong way to tell a story that you want to tell. There are just people who’ll tell you which way they would prefer it told. Like me! I can definitely tell you how I prefer a werewolf story handled, and I’m very flattered you’d ask me for my thoughts on it.

And I will say this emphatically, while we’re at it - I love what most people call “cliches.” They are cliches because they are fun and they work. I am a classicist. A traditionalist. I love traditional stories, storytelling, and classical myths, folklore, and - generally - tropes, at least and especially when it comes to things like monsters.

Werewolves, vampires, dragons, elves, dwarves - I like the classics. I think people trying to subvert them too much is creating a world in which we are losing perception of what those things were in folklore and what they were meant to be and represent, and that’s pretty tragic to me, because now everyone is subverting. That’s a big part of my research and academic work.

People cry “cliche, cliche!” but there is no cliche. Because you can hardly find the stuff that is based on what used to be considered cliche anymore, since everyone is scared of being considered “cliche,” and thus are all mutually adopting new cliches in attempts to avoid the older ones.

That being said, sometimes it’s cool when people swap things up, of course, and I definitely don’t want to shoot anyone down!

I also would argue that cliches don’t necessarily mean predictability. A “cliche” done well is a beautiful thing. It’s all about the storytelling. It’s much more about that than the idea of “cliches” themselves.

So let’s reframe the word “predictability” - think of it as “familiarity.” Familiarity can be a good or bad thing depending on who you ask. I think some familiarity, at least, is a good thing. Because if you can recognize a werewolf as a werewolf, then that’s good. If it’s so different people don’t even recognize it as a werewolf, I kind of start losing interest, personally.

I don’t like “our [creatures] are different,” but that is just me.

Getting back on track - are there any werewolf tropes necessary to a story? Completely an opinion piece.

In my opinion? I don’t think so. I think you can make some radically different werewolves that are still werewolves and they’d be neat. BUT I have basically never seen this done, and my favorite werewolves remain ones that others might consider “cliche.”

Is it necessary to have a werewolf that howls at the moon? Absolutely not. Is it more fun than one that doesn’t? It very well might be. Is it necessary to have the werewolf be based in magic instead of science? Nope! Is it necessary to have being a werewolf be based in some kind of disease? Absolutely not. Is it better to have werewolves as rare monsters or as a plague sweeping across the earth? I can certainly tell you I deeply detest werewolves being turned into the zombie plague and/or plague rats, but hey, some people juggle geese.

A whole ‘nother can of worms is if there are cliches necessary to the storytelling itself and progression of the werewolf character(s), or werewolves as monsters within the setting itself if you are not telling a story from a werewolf POV. I’d pretty much reiterate what I said above in that case, too.

If we get technical, no, recognizable tropes are by no means necessary. If we get personal, I wouldn’t call them necessary, but they are familiarity and they are a personal preference - so I rather like at least a few of them.

Oh my goodness, this is a long post. Quite a bit of rambling! Sorry about that. Hopefully some of this was/is helpful, though! Please feel free to shoot me any followup questions this might’ve spawned, I could talk about this all day. :D Plus I totally feel like I left tons of things out, somehow.

Bottom line, though?

Tell your story the way you want to tell it. That is the most important part. Don’t feel like you have to alter something just because someone somewhere might call it “cliche.” Even if they think that, they are likely to enjoy it, anyway!

And ultimately, your story is yours; do what you want with it and have fun. Don’t let anyone anywhere tell you something you do is going to be bad just because of a silly term like “cliche.”

A “cliche” story can be just as amazing or just as terrible as a wildly original one. It all depends on how you tell it. And if you enjoy telling it, and tell it the way you want to instead of letting anyone strongarm you into altering things from your vision, it will be a story well told.

[arkt-nehrim-archive]

Thoughts on the actual land of Nehrim?

Soooo many thoughts!  Possibly too many to share in one post, but I’ll try to keep it contained(I make no promises).  I’m still gonna put a break in it so it doesn’t just throw a WALL onto people’s dashes. 

Before saying anything tho, I subscribe to Nehrim’s clock that 1,000 years really did pass between certain events, so I’ll be cataloging my thoughts according to that. 

So the land of Nehrim!  Possibly the single most diverse place on Vyn!  Trouncing even Qyra, since Qyra is still overseen teeeechnically by a theocratic element (Saldrin) for a vast majority of time and is mostly just arid/tropical desert. Sure Qyra is SUPER progressive as far as Vyn’s various territories go, and I dream of a game set on that continent-  AAAH okay, focusing. Here to talk about Nehrim, not Qyra. 

So at one point in time, we’ll say somewhere in the 7200s a.St. by the Light-born’s established clock, Nehrim was a loosely unified place under Erodan. Not in the sense that everybody -agrees- with one another, but y’know, nobody is -actively- at war.  We got the Middlerealm of course, which is the seat of Erodan’s power in which he may or may not have actually -lived- amongst his subjects (given Narathzul is described as being his right-hand dude and the Order of Paladins is stationed -on- Nehrim up north, I’m inclined to think this is true).  Then there’s the North, which wasn’t it’s -own- territory at this point but still definitely had its own diverse culture and possibly still some manner of monarchy specifically loyal -to- Erodan  (not too hard to believe given Erodan is actually a half-breed between “Light-born” and Norman anyway; King Wuran). Then we have Ostian, which only -recently- in lore has been the theocratic dictatorship we see in Nehrim (only existed for 40 years by then), otherwise being described as being a home of art and culture, much like Qyra. A place still recognizing Erodan’s rule, but likely having its own power structure beneath him- again, a lot like Qyra/Golden Queen/Saldrin.  Lastly there’s Treomar!  Which I am fascinated by because it’s a swath of territory -attached- to Nehrim, that is openly -not- loyal to Erodan or the Light-born. From those that live within during Nehrim’s gameplay, one can assume it was primarily, if not entirely a nation of Aeterna, possibly loyalists still to ancient figures like Asatoron and Aeterna from Irdor (which is it’s own whole fuckin’ thing, I’ll share thoughts on that later).  With its geographical location its not too hard to imagine they came from Myar Aranath and landed in what they’d found as Treomar, building this Dalaran-esque (any Warcraft peeps in here?) mage society and aaaaaaaaaah, they’re cool. 

There’s all of this going on and co-existing at least to some degree, with the only other place approaching being that diverse being Arktwend later. I honestly would have looooved to see this Nehrim, before all the craziness and war and murderdeath that results in the country -we- know and experience in the game itself, as back then I’m fairly sure the magic abolition hadn’t been a -thing- yet  (because Aeterna and magic weren’t such a threat to Barateon’s power), so Aeterna would’ve still had rights n’ such, though they were probably still looked down on because of heritage (soooo gonna get into THAT later mmmMMM).  Erodan all in all seemed pretty chill all things considered, which may be owed to his half-breed status, he’s closer to the people on a genetic level, so maybe that makes him inclined to treat people better I dunno.  We only get to see him for like two seconds and -can’t- talk to him!  So!  -shrug-  

OH SHIT I forgot somebody really important!  -Anku-!  Technically speaking that is totally a fifth nation/state, as it encompasses a huuuuge swath of territory (underground) and is ruled by some fashion of monarchy, so -EVEN- more diverse cultures on this continent. The Starlings don’t answer to Erodan, but still exist peacefully within Nehrim within their own lil’ pocket nation and MAN I was sad most of our time spent with the Starlings is in the parts of their territory they don’t actually spend time in. I get it, when we got to see Anku is a time when there’s very few Starlings actually -left-, but still. They’re such a neat race, especially when you consider Nehrim’s lore for them over Enderal’s (which downgrades them significantly from the literal galactic superpower they’re said to be in Nehrim). 

And all of this!  All of this and still the Nehrim -we- see and adventure in is -so -different. Erodan is dead, has been for -centuries-.  Now there’s this grubby, tyrant human in the throne named Barateon, who’s loyalty literally goes only as deep as whatever preserves his life the longest. Credit where it’s due, he’s still a powerful arcanist, extending his years beyond what mortals should be capable of (which is exactly what the myths say the Light-born did so hhHHMMM more on that in another post).  Treomar is destroyed, and much of its history is gone with it outside of specific documentation the Light-born for some reason keep around and guarded instead of getting rid of it- like they -want- people to rise up against them or something. Ostian is a friggen magical radioactive wasteland where the fabric of reality is so damaged now even the skies rage with toxic super storms- and as if that weren’t enough the part of its that’s still inhabitable is now kept under the bootheel of another powerful mortal mage whose roftstomped everybody into a new highly oppressive, morally appalling religion that saw Enderal’s Prophet created from its awful maw.  Like, Nehrim has become, in its centuries outside of -direct- supervision become this tragic shadow of what it once was, and when you actually dig into the lore of how it all ran before, it’s just like auuuughh -man-. It’s so sad. ;_;  It’s tragic that somebody as negligent and awful as Tyr, is proven right, because of how life has degraded in the absence of direct intervention. And I’m not making a case for Light-born tyranny here!  I’m just saying Nehrim 1,000 years ago was pretty cool and I would’ve loved to see it  (I’ll just have to write stories from that era heheheh >>;).  

So yeah uuuh...  OH!  I didn’t even mention the sheer amount of Aeterna ruins all around Nehrim!  Suggesting Asatoron’s empire probably had a decent chunk of it built there when it was still part of the super-continent of Pangora! I would’ve loved to be able to actually -speak- to the clans of Aeterna that took refuge and used these ruins; I want to know so badly -who- Etronar is, I want to know more of the various Aeterna peoples that splintered off and had to find safe corners in Nehrim to exist after Narathzul’s rebellion and subsequent defeat/capture, that is centuries worth of time, a significant swath of history and there’s so much to play with there that y’know, stuff like cutting the timeline apart and whittling it down just makes all the unrealized potential sssoooo friggen unsatisfying, but anyway. 

Overall, I think Nehrim, as a region, is a fascinating place. So much has happened there, absolutely world-defining events that changed so many things; how Aeterna were viewed and treated, how use of magic is policed/outlawed, how the Light-born govern purely from a fear of -what if they rebel again-, I mean they ALL retreated to Inodan after Narathzul and Arkt unleashed their individual rebellions and ruled from a distance, bringing about this era of mystery where the peoples of the world just -forgot- what it was to -see- and -hear- their Gods, leading to no small amount of many just, -not- thinking they actually existed. I mean shit, look at how Jespar thinks, that man came out of an upbringing that tried its -hardest- to instill faith in the Light-born, but without them actually around to -prove- anything for -centuries-, what grounds did they really have to prove to the kid they were legit?  But there I go getting off topic -again-, because I love Vyn way too damn much. 

I love Nehrim. I think Nehrim is awesome, and fascinating, and I feel too many feelings.   xD  

Thanks for the ask @mirogeorgiev!

[regalgorgon]

I’ma have to stop you right here

Hemlo this is your reminder that putting pictures against one another without context or explanation to try and prove some point that’s so much of reach that your arms are like noodles is actually trashy thanks.

Just seeing more Shadowlands/Shadowbringers stuff.

Shadowbringers doesn’t have a Revendreth goth/vampire themed zone. They have sin eaters that look nothing alike and act nothing alike. You know what has vampires and goths and all that? The San’layn and Nathrezim. That’s where Revendreth came from. Shut the fuck up and go away. Blizzard is literally rehashing old shit and making it look new. It’s already been in their game before.

Shadowbringers does not have anything near Bastion. Blue is not purple like Lakeland, and Bastion is based off the Val’kyr with same aesthetics and themes as Stormheim/Trial of Valor with heavy Titan influences. Stuff that has already existed in WoW, and not Shadowbringers. Another reference I’ve seen is Mount Gulg. I’m sorry, but if you put the two together, the only similarities are the Val’kyr and sin eaters and the Val’kyr came first. And if we want to get super technical, angels came first before all of those. (The faction in Bastion is literally named after the Val’kyr; the KYRian)

Shadowbringers does not have Satyrs or the lore of Ardenweald. Ardenweald is the Emerald Dream and Ashenvale love child. The only thing remotely similar are the moth fairies and pixies. There are no Satyrs in Shadowbringers. The only things that Il Mheg and Ardenweald have in common is that it’s the sUpEr CuTe zone full of flowers and abundance of life and the fairy pixie people. Which isn’t original to either of the games, but go off I guess.

Then we have Maldraxxus- really, do you really need me to tell you that there is no parallel zone for Maldraxxus at all in Shadowbringers? That the Shadowlands has existed since WotLK as The Realm of Shadows? ?? Which predates FFXIV entirely. We knew it was the death zone, and obviously things like Nathrezim would be involved so places like Revendreth and Maldraxxus would make sense. Bastion is just the stereotypical “Heaven” modeled as Valhalla as evident with the Val’kyr and their origin, and the Maw is Hell. Shadowbringers doesn’t have any of that, only Biblical mentions and Hades which are two different mythos entirely.

The most annoying two I’ve seen is the name and the premiere picture representation. Icecrown’s opening to the Shadowlands is nothing alike in terms of lore or even physical representation. The name is  common. There’s shadow in everything. There’s even shit like Red Dead Redemption and Death Stranding. There’s World of Warcraft, World of Tanks, World of Darkness, World of- do you get it yet? A name’s a name. It was just unfortunate that they came out relatively next to each other. As for the premiere picture? The Shadowlands is an opening to the realm of DEATH with the mirror of ICECROWN while the Shadowbringers premiere picture/login screen is the  WARRIOR OF DARKNESS bringing DARKNESS to the world of LIGHT by breaking the sea of Light. Not the same thing, not even remotely.

Then let’s talk about production time and presentation!! Upon Shadowbringers release, Blizzard would have had 4 months to make an expansion that is ready to be demo’d at Blizzcon. Highly unlikely, next to impossible. The leaks were even happening before that. So if you want to go by the trailer and announcement, please note Blizzard isn’t known for how fast they are with expansions, let alone content. At the bare minimum, they would have had artwork and storyboard by that time. You all sorely estimate how slow creating this shit is, especially for Blizzard. They even cut half  the stuff they promise or talk about because it just takes too much time or they save it for another expansion down the road (remember when they cut Azshara from Cataclysm? I did).

So by the time Shadowbringers was announced- assuming there’s no secret spy working for Blizzard planted into their studio which is dumb and highly unlikely as there were no leaks whatsoever about this expac- Blizzard would have already picked out the IP and had their artists draw up creature and zone designs while the story team developed what we now were presented in a cinematic trailer.

Shit happens. But when you look at the two, they are very painfully different no matter how much you wanna’ reach. Not even the color pallets in any of these pictures they smash together are remotely similar. 

THE ONLY THING BLIZZARD TOOK INSPIRATION OR “STOLE” WAS PALACE OF THE DEAD and called it Torghast. And even THEN Palace of the Dead wasn’t an original concept.

Like I joked. I did the cute little jabs about the names and the post-apocalyptic feeling of the expacs, but facts are that they are entirely different and anything you can remotely compare the two already existed before they were even a thought in someone’s head from somewhere else.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. 

Stop being unironic about this. There’s other things you can pitch a fit about in terms of similarities and stolen things. Just stop being cringe about it.

[butchwherewolf]

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR WARCRAFT OCS

,KJALHDSFKLJSADF OKAY! there’s a few of them but i’ll just like, talk about the few i’ve solidly like composed some ideas and concepts for. I’ve put it all below this like, read me because it’s kindaaaa long.

The first is my horde boy, Xanasthor, he’s a blood elf death knight so technically just horde by extension. True to like DK lore, he doesn’t remember his past nor does he want to. He’s a dumbass who like, just kinda fell into following Arthas after being raised from the dead(as, again, all DK’s do in the beginnning) but after being betrayed by the LK, he was just like ‘uhhhh what the fuck’ and fell back into joining the horde. Howsoever, he does not align with the horde as a whole, he regards Sylvanas with the highest regard both as warchief(also due to her being the key factor in allowing DK into the horde), and as a former blood elf. It’s easy to jump to a certain type of kinship when you’re both the same race, both were killed and essentially brought back to serve one little blonde bitch in undeath and then go absolutely feral when you break free of his control. So, yeah, he’s loyal to her, regardless of what she’s done in BFA and whatnot, and if it comes down to it, he’d follow her over the horde. In addition to all that, he’s just like, always comes off as laid back and, honestly, a bit stupid, but it’s more of just not feeling like whoever he’s talking to is actually worth his full attention and regard. He sees no reason in giving some joe schmoe his actual attention when he himself knows he’s leagues above. Other than that, I haven’t precisely nailed down his lore, moreso because I don’t know where I would want to take him as a character yknow? but that’s p much it for that clown

My other horde boy is a new one, a Forsaken warlock, i’ve barely started with him, as well as a rouge orc. They’re kinda just new character’s i’m feeling around for to just see where i wanna take them. I love the horde only for like, pure nostalgia reasons because i enjoyed playing them in Warcraft 3, but otherwise I surprisingly don’t have like, a lot of horde characters atm?? which leads into the next group of clowns.

First up is my utter chad, Kayssanth, she’s a night elf warrior. She takes no shit, she’s seen some shit, she’s ready to beat some shit. Her lore is kinda tangled with a character I’ll get to later, but for now, I’ll talk about her. She’s kinda just a no nonsense woman, she does not back down from challenges, and she supports the night elves with her entire being. But, she does see where that overwhelming rage and thirst for revenge drives people mad, and while she wants to support the quest for revenge against the horde(cause of the BFA stuff), she can’t bring herself to do such. There’s been a lot of things she’s seen in her life, and going through them, while it definitely hardened her, made her almost hunger for just a quiet fucking life for once. She had to witness her love being killed, then come back in a form that’s familiar yet not, she has to watch this war rage through the world and see so many people die, and after awhile, that shit gets old, so she’s supporting the Alliance if they’re looking for peace, because that’s just what she wants and needs at this point, yknow? Otherwise, she has a good bit of humor, and in the moments when she doesn’t have to be taken seriously, she enjoys lounging around, having fun with comrades in inns/taverns, letting go of pretenses and just relaxing before needing to be serious again. She enjoys studying botany, as much as that sounds on par for her race, but she has a knack for it. She also enjoys being able to bench press her bf as a way to show off to people(moreso just for joking and breaking tensions when people initially see her bf). Again, that’s really all I have atm for her, and i always do want to like, write more, but, yknow, havent actually written anything yet lmao. 

Next, we got my best girl, Aoirenn, a dwarf paladin. She’s an absolute badass but off of the battlefield she’s seen making things like whittled animals, sculptures, tinkering with small bits of metal she can find, etc. so she can ship them to her wife when she’s off questing/fighting for the alliance. She’s rather quiet, aligned with the Alliance because 1)her wife is a human and yknow, that’s important for both of them, and 2) she grew up with a family that was composed of alliance soldiers, so it’s natural for her. However, with recent events, she’s not so sure she wants to follow the Alliance 100%, and would rather just not have an active hand in war anymore. She’s been away from home for far too long and she desperately wants to return to her wife and child in one piece, and is doing anything and everything she can to do just that. She’s a quiet soul, more of a family-focused person, as i’ve said. otherwise, again, same case as above. 

Last is my dumbass worgen DK, Wilheras. He’s Kayssanth’s lover. He lived long enough through Gilneas’ shitstorm, became a worgen, and met Kay through the Alliance, the two just happened to be recruited for the same mission/quest/whatever in Darnassus, and their budding friendship grew overtime from being in the same faction and oftentimes the same cities as the other. This then grew into a romance and it was great for them both, especially at a time where there wasn’t such fear of death and destruction as there would be in the years to come. It was easy to escape to Stormwind to stay at an inn together, or have a quiet evening in Darnassus, etc. But the solace and joy would soon crumble when one day, through a horrible fight, Wilheras was killed. And rather brutally at that. While Kay wasn’t present for this, it still hit her hard, and as a result threw herself into her duties more. When the litch king came, Wilheras was one of the few unlucky ones to come back as a DK, with his instincts broken and filled with the will of the litch king himself. He was an entirely other person when raised from the dead, yet a part of him remained deep within, something that continued to fight and conquer his mind when he was finally free of the LK’s command. After being welcomed into the Alliance, the first thing he did was search for Kay, and upon seeing her, in his undead form, was a rather unpleasant reunion. But, with a few words exclaimed in like, shock, the two finally made amends and Kay realized what had happened. It took some time, but their relationship as friends slowly was formed again, and eventually the romance. Wilheras found himself also finding himself going back into fighting for the Alliance, supporting fellow DKs who join who may not have such an easy transition into this new life. He also finds himself trying to create new brews of alcohol using his undeath as a barrier between possibly deadly batches and something that the living can drink. Otherwise, yeah, he’s just a lovestruck dumbass that’s yknow, a huge werewolf boy who supports his gf 100%

um but yeah! those are my characters! i have a few that like, I havent played as much with few characters that i havent mentioned yet, but those are the 4 main people that i play with and know of yknow? anyway yeah! sorry for such a long post!

[wowheadquarters]

I have a little idea for the 1k followers. As I followed this blog recently, I was wondering about his history. If you feel like it, could do a summary? Like, why did you start it? Your first joy/disappointment. Any thing that we haven't see that you might want to share. Absolutely anything about the blog and you. (If you're comfortable with it of course)

This is a very good idea, lovable anon, I’ll try.

History:

It was 17th November 2015, somewhen in Tuesday afternoon. I don’t remember what exactly sparked the idea of starting this blog, but I can say for certain that it was heavily inspired by the @bleachlists (which is, if you ask me, better humor than canon Bleach). And thus the first list was born.

(I never expected this blog to get famous. Or followers besides bots for that matter. I hoped, maybe, for a little circle of, like, 5 actual readers. I certainly didn’t think I would keep this blog for longer than 4 months. That’s how it is with me usually, I have bursts of inspiration but lack long-term dedication. The fact that this blog is still going is a miracle.)

At first the lists were written in the “chat” style. I had to make up my own prompts, because the two followers or so only hearted the posts but didn’t interact with me at all otherwise. That’s why the activity was very irregular at the time, I was writing when I was inspired and thus a month could pass without a word from me and then boom, three posts in a week. Additionally, I wasn’t writing only lists, but also short stuff, kind of like “Slice of life from Azeroth.” Of these the most famous is Chromie and Dragons and in my opinion the best one and not enough appreciated one is Kel’thuzad’s Heard Of Sylvanas’ Plans.

The first breakthrough came in January 2016 when an anon, who made me happy so much that I called them “lovable” in the list and kept on doing so for all following anons, requested the very first requested list, the Care of Babies list. For a long time this has been the list with the most notes. Now there are too many lists to keep count and Tumblr doesn’t do “the best of your posts,” but still it is one of the most popular posts I have and along with the Chromie and Dragons it still pops up in my notifications. Around April 2016 I had stable enough queue of requested lists to stop making up my own prompts, thus I could completely rely on prompts from followers, most of them from anons.

Another important milestone was August of the same year: First of all, I came up with a posting schedule (Fridays and Mondays, but two months later I understood that was too fast - It ate the prompts faster than they were prompted, and I wasn’t managing it). Then Taedal was added to the lists, at first he was meant as a joke, as I keep reminding him and everyone else, and somehow it happened he stayed here. Additionally, Varian and Vol’jin’s deaths were acknowledged, putting Anduin on the list. Soon after, Garrosh joined in from beyond the veil to annoy Vol’jin in his afterlife.

About this time the blog began to create it’s own lore (and not only the L.O.R.E.), and I even had the (short-spanned) will to mystify people that Taedal is going to get his own expansion. I even had a sideblog dedicated to Taedal (in fact, it was Taedal’s own blog, intentioned as a RP blog but somehow it never…got much traffic) and even a wiki. The wiki still exists! I like to think of this as the Golden Age of HeadQuarters verse, when I even got fanfics on AO3 and a dozen of drawings for this blog even. This blog lives in an alternate universe where there is a new isle west of Pandaria and Garrosh adopted 37 dead children in the afterlife and learned to be a better person (not necessarily the same as good person, but let’s not lose hope).

I don’t remember exactly on what occasion in the 2017 the Interviews were added, but they were the first not-list which were requestable (that is, they weren’t the short filler stuff I used to make before). I think it was to celebrate the first 100 followers but I might be wrong. The first Interview was held with Taedal, by my decision, and ever since then the Interviews went by request every twenty days, moved to every other Wednesday, later as of not-so-recently, every other Tuesday. In the history of the Interviews, there happened to be only one which wasn’t published, because nobody asked any questions. (It was Interview with Kel’thuzad, pt. 3, and I jokingly said that “ when we met, the Archlich thought I used the Interview as an excuse to go out for a date with him and things went awkward” which resulted in this Top N list).

From there things went rather fast. To here actually. As a celebration for 600 followers (or was it 500? Memory fails me) I began writing Top N, sort of as of a filler in between the Interviews, so actually now this blog has moved back to the biweekly posting scheme very close to the one from 2016. Earlier this year (2018), there was a list about attack on not-Theramore, where I made up a character especially for my timeline speculations - because timeline shenanigans, it is a bronze dragon, and because it is representing me, the character is called Authormi. That is a very poor play on the word “author” (because I am the author of this blog) and the “-ormu/ormi” suffix characteristic for the Bronze dragonflight. Coincidentally, it was also the first time I have referred to myself with any sort of name here on this blog (besides the FAQ where is a link to my main blog) and I am using it since.

An important part of the blog is post maintenance when I try to at least twice a month (but if I’m very responsible, then every Friday evening) go thorough the blog, update the Interview, Top N, and L.O.R.E. pages, delete old request asks and so on. However, over the years a good number of not-request asks had piled up in here. They were…not filtered here and the blog seemed messy with them. Which is why Authormi vs. Inbox tag was created and from time to time when too many not-request asks pile here, I dump them into these post as a sort of archive. I admit that it is not, uh… ideal in case you are looking for something specific, but it keeps the blog clean. Well, cleaner.

The most recent new development of the blog was the addition of the Allied Races leaders - Alleria Windrunner for the Void Elves/Ral’dorei, High Exarch Turalyon for the Lightforged, Jaina Proudmoore for Kul Tiras, First Arcanist Thalyssra for the Nightborne Elves/Shal’dorei, Mayla Highmountain for the Highmountain Tauren Tribes, Overlord Geya’rah for the Mag’har Orcs, and Princess Talanji for the Zandalari. The choice of the leaders is taken from the information on the Allied Races from Wowpedia.

Speaking of Wowpedia, it is my primal source, besides personal experience, when it comes to writing the lists. I used to rely on WoWWiki, but, uh… that one turned a bit messy a couple of years ago and I never get around to check on it now. When I don’t know something, I look it up on Wowpedia. If it’s not on Wowpedia, I consider it a Free Real Estate lore wildcard, which means I can bullshit it out as long as it is lore/character consistent. I pride myself on giving the characters (leaders) some actual character, because, now correct me if I am wrong, Blizzard writers confuse character personality for that wind flapping pole. I am not saying that I am writing “good” or “pure” characters. They have faults, they are prejudiced, foolhardy, depressed (in not romantic ways), mean, holding grudges. Some, like Garrosh, Genn or Gallywix, are more straightforward in their flaws than others, but I am pouring a cup of sour traits to everyone here. (What I am saying here is: Be critical when you read your favorite leader’s opinion. They might not be right and/or honest.)

Overview, as of today, Monday 19th November 2018:

Published 174 lists, 24 more in the queue + bunch of requests hanging in the asks among the posts. (Somebody needs to do their maintenance)

Published 25 Interviews, 9 more in the queue + some in the asks too, I think I saw one request or two.

Published 21 Top N lists (most favoured number for N is 10), 0 in the queue.

1009 followers, woooo! I love you all. Except the 1009th one who is a porn bot, you can go fuck yourself. ‘Xcuse me. 1008 followers now!

The blog is 3 years and 2 days old. Happy birthday!

Authormi’s pick of lists to read (besides the one linked):

What they say far too often: Vintage one, so you see what the old style was like.

What do the think of the heroes: Meta one!

Their pick for a movie night: There were no guesses on what movie is a Ayeroth-verse of what Earth-verse. I am proud of some of those titles.

No Orc Invasion: The first timeline speculation, which I really lvoed. If somebody was to write that AU, I’d read it actually.

If they could erase one person from existence: Another timeline speculation. I like making those!

Draw the squad: Maybe you could draw the squad?

Watching Les Misérables: This one was an especially important journey for me, because this list is why I saw the musical in the first place. Later I read the book too (I love the book), got into some Les Mis RP, made some very good friends out of that… Yeah, I owe this one lovable anon who requested it a lot. (More or less, now I am also a professional Valjean RPer, except I don’t get paid for it. Whenever somebody who knows me joins a new RP server and they haven’t got Valjean, they usually ask me. Like… what? How? Why? Why do you all think I am a good Valjean? Why- Never mind, this is a Warcraft blog. Moving on.)

Spell of the Violent Tongue: The first time it has been brought to my attention that I think about the characters in a way a lot fo other people doesn’t, because this list surprised a lot of readers, and by surprised I mean hit into feels so hard they complained to me. I talked about it with my mum later (family support is an important thing for me and mum is fan of Warcraft), and I’ve been told that “I treat the characters maybe a bit too realistically.” PSA for everybody: Warcraft is a story about broken people and violent racism.

Their God Tier: For the people who are fan of Homestuck too. (Homestuck itself is good. The fandom is weird)

Garrosh’s 37 ghost children: By which they became more or less canon on this blog, a regular stuff which is to be counted with.

How do they insult people: The most recent popular post.

Interview with Azshara: My personally favorite thing I have ever written for this blog, as in, I don’t think I am going to peak it.

Interview with Luxien: Because I want to press Taedal’s story and “expansion” to everybody, read the interview with his older evil sister.

Top 10 favorite characters: I suppose you are a bit curious who my faves are, so here you go.

Top 10 changes to the story I would do: By heart I am a storywriter. I give such things a lot of thoughts. But as I’ve mentioned earlier, lack of dedication is… making things hard.

Other cool stuff to check out (maybe?):

Taedal’s expansion wiki, of course. I have a lot of thoughts about that world and story and… I would love to went about it a bit, too.

This very cool fanfic on AO3.

The official portrait of Taedal.

The official portrait of Authormi.

The description of this blog, as taken from my personal blog:

wowheadquarters (WoW HeadQuarters, World of Warcraft Headquarters, WoWHQ) is by far my most popular blog, despite being younger than SNTS. I add new content twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday. I never thought I’d make more than 10 posts in total, but there we go. I admit that the original idea comes from bleachlists, but it has sort of evolved since then. I am trying to keep the blog not contradicting the canon, but some things in the HeadQuartersverse might not always agree with the official lore

Final words from Authormi:

Oh my fucking god, this is really unbelieveable that this thing is still going on. I never expected this blog to live beyond a month. I never thought I’d get more than 20 followers. I have 1000 now? That’s… is that Tumblr-famous? I’ve never had this many followers. Do you all read this? All the stuff? Am I shaping your view on the Warcraft universe? This is too much power for one person to have.

You want to know what’s actually my happiest memory connected to this blog? It was actually some time back (because my memory is a mess, I can’t tell you how far back), I had a really, really stuffed couple of weeks. A lot of to do, but also mentally exhausted, I was in a bad place for a bit there. Usually I am able to kick myself in the ass, sit down and make up the list on the go, even if it is bound to be miserable wreck of text, I write it. Sometimes when I am super done and tired, I write it on Saturday evening and pretend it’s Friday and so far everyone’s been so kind and there’s been no comment to that. But in those two or three weeks I just… couldn’t. Even clinging to this self-made structure was too exhausting. I wasn’t on Tumblr for basically the whole time (my main blog was fuelled by the queue). Sometimes when I am in a good place, I write lists in advance and schedule them, but at that time no such a thing took place, so this blog went silent without announcement and I couldn’t care less. When I finally found it in me to come online, my inbox greeted me with various people who were asking me if I was okay and whether or not I am still alive written in a very worried manner. And you know… reading that helped me a lot at the moment. It was a reminder that somebody here cares for me and cares for what I do and… Yeah, it was a damn motivation to get myself together a bit and write stuff and do some stuff. Since then I’m trying to announce in advance if I think I am not going to make it, and even then I am still trying to write the list as soon as possible when I am fit to.

A story for your amusement on this “write it when possible” note. This summer I was with my 4 younger siblings (my oldest sister, still younger than I, turned 18 last Thursday, the youngest sibling who also happens to be a sister is 4, but I don’t live with all the siblings, blah blah divorced parents blah blah, not related) and dad and grandfather in the beautiful village (or town?) of Au in Austria. I took my old laptop with me (I’ve got a new one recently) which had battery that could live on it’s own for, like 10 minutes. The house we were living in had no wi-fi, but there was a village-wide public wi-fi… which din’t reach the house. The nearest was at the bus stop, but that one was shaky, and the good reliable hotspot was at the park, 10 minutes of walk away from the house. Now, it was nearly Friday and I needed to post the list. So I wrote it int he laptop’s notepad, then turned off its life support, took it and dashed across all of Au to the wi-fi hotspot, formatted the document into a list, and hit post. About 2 minutes later, the laptop died.

I am thinking about making another blog directly meant for the asks, request or not, and those would stay there. What do you all think? Maybe I would lose things there, I am quite capable of it.

I’d love to talk about Taedal and his demons and his entire story a bit more. But I haven’t got, like, a reason to do so. I am sort of insecure in this matter, I sort of have the feeling that nobody really cares for Taedal here. “What are you thinking, a ‘good demon’ OC?” (Ask me about Taedal and his faction and the Broken and Distant Worlds expansion. I have an expansion and half planned in my head.)

There is some kind of an expectation or anticipation in me to have someone from Blizz discovering this blog and some big consequences happening. I am not sure whether I want it to happen or not. I mean, I am a bit… too-critical of their work in attempt to please the crowd here. (It’s easy to search for flaws when you take the good stuff as the norm. You are actually doing a good job, Blizzard, in the terms of game developing and marketing. But there is that one post going around which says that Warcraft lore/story is written by 9 people who cannot talk to each other. In this spirit, I am sure that there are 4 people writing charcter psychological profiles who don’t know of each other’s existence. Your animation is a snack, though.)

Wow. I suck at summaries. This is as brief as it gets.

[mentallydatingahotcelebrity]

My Friend Saw Ragnarok

Here’s her opinion on it. Warning: she’s a writer. She only has a “casual” interest in Marvel; ie she’s not a fan of Loki, is mildly interested in the MCU as a whole, and only talks about it cause it’s all I talk about outside of our writing. (We’re both writers.) Here you have it, an outside opinion of Ragnarok: 

(second warning: this is unedited except for some things I think would be hard for people to understand, which I revised to be understandable.)

LOL YES ugh. It was just bad. Okay, to compare, GotG was like that. I almost didn't like those movies the first time around because they're one of those movies where nothing is really explained, you just sort of have to go into it blindly accepting all of these random alien life forms we've never seen before and their powers and planets and scientific laws and such. It was hard for me as someone who likes a lot of reasons and lore for things, to just jump in and be swept into the current. But then they started to grow on me because once you watch them again, the nonsense of it makes sense. That's the point, that you're just suddenly joining this world that you've never seen before and just have to jump in feet first and go with it. Sakaar was like that in a bad way. The aesthetics were terrible, like I said. Literally Star Wars meets Teletubbies meets the Exodar (from World of Warcraft).

(there’s Exodar so you have a visual)

Oh and throw in some... I dunno, 70s space themes or something??? It was just BAD.

And the Exodar was BEAUTIFUL and I looove the Star Wars themes, Teletubbies, not so much LOL But mash all 3 of those together and it's terrible. Just terrible. None of those things belong together. It's like trying to put two magnets together, end to end. It's just a freakin mess and you just sit there, your muscles all locked up, trying to get it to work but it's just not happening.

And WHAT was that wretched prison/holding cell thing where the fighters were kept? That was just weird, and why did you only ever see TWO freakin gladiators?? And the rock guy was kind of cool, like you really wanted to like him but the rock appearance with his weird high pitched voice just wasn't doing it for me, and then that other alien guy who I couldn't even describe to you visually because we never saw him long enough to know what his features were. And obviously Hulk was living in the champion's bedroom, so that was that; but whyyyy did they put Thor in there with him?? It was such a bad plot point because it was just way too convenient. Like "This guy lost because we zapped him at the last second because [who knows why]. Let's throw him in the same room as our champion instead of tossing him back in the pen with the other 2 low-lifes."

There were so many other fighters outside the colosseum getting ready to fight; where WERE those guys?? We never saw them. This whole movie was like convenience to convenience. It was like reading an indie novel. Nothing extra is ever shown,only exactly what you'd expect and exactly what was needed for each scene. You might, if you're lucky, see a rare moment where a really neat plot point or worldbuilding things was implemented, but those moments were more like flukes than anything else.

The plot overall was "okay". I wasn't floored, but it had good substance underneath all that crap.

 Odin dying, Loki and Thor having to work together to defeat Hela, Asgard being taken over while Thor is stuck in some other planet as a lowly gladiator. It had good potential, but I dunno. It was one of those movies where you felt like you were always waiting for something that never came. And in the end you're not even sure what that one thing was that you were waiting for, but you finish the movie just feeling like you never got to see "it", whatever it was.

It's hard for me to judge or compare specifically because I never did see The Dark World and it's been yearrrs since I saw the original Thor.

I really liked that Hulk/Banner had a ton of screen time. I feel like he's sort of in the background of a lot of the Avengers movies, and he never did get his own movie, so it was neat to really see a lot of him. On the other side of that though, his arc was totally flat. There was nothing to it, there was nothing that made him grow or change. He was just Hulk, and then he wasn't, and then he went Hulk again in a little sacrificial moment and just stayed that way. His arc was like a really flat line with a tiny little blip in the middle where he saw Black Widow on the screen and changed back and was all confused and had that emotional moment. Then maybe another blip where he decided to go Hulk to save the Asgardians on the bridge.

Valkyrie (idr her real name) was okay. She had the potential to have a really cool arc too, getting defeated by Hela forever ago and just sinking into that abyss of being a random collector for the GM and drinking her memories away. But I felt like she stayed flat for a long time too, until finally her arc shot upwards at a 90 degree angle when she decided to help Thor after all. And after what? After Loki showed her her memories? That was it? Like she already KNEW all that, that shouldn't have been her major changing point. Also the fact that Thor just HAPPENED to find her armor on the orgy ship just FRIED me to pieces. It's those little things, guys, those little things. You can't just pull that stuff out of thin air. It's bad planning and makes the plot cheap.

Hela was another one that was just "okay." I kind of kept waiting for some real substance from her, but she just didn't have any. Once again, it was just sheer convenience that they find Odin, spend like 36 seconds with him, he tells them he's dying, Hela is coming, there's nothign they can do, he dies, she appears instantaneously and BAM. Everything is wrecked in one moment. And I felt like there was no arc for her either. I never really remember hearing about her previous to this movie, so suddenly Odin just comes out with the fact that he has a daughter that he locked away, etc etc. And we never got to see any backstory or anything on her. She just "was" and then at the end, she just "wasn't" anymore. Like she just blinked in and out. I know her story is part of the real mythology, but it felt like they were just like "Okay we have no threads left to play with from the previous movies, what else can we do?" and just pulled her out of the lore and plopped her in there. The only thing we saw of her story was when she went in the hall and broke the tiles off the ceiling and we saw the "ONE" picture of her and Odin side by side, and are basically left to imagine the rest in our heads. FLAT.

And the Odin thing felt weird to me too. It felt rushed and strange and so disappointing. I never saw TDW like I said, so I dunno what led up to that, but why was he in that "rest home" apparently? Sent there by Loki or something? And then they get there and the building is torn down? That made no sense to me. Maybe it would have if I had seen TDW. But then they find him out in Norway or whatever (I did really love the Dr Strange part) and there he sits in his terrible fashion, almost on the verge of going insane because he's so near death, but he didn't really look sick or weak, just hella old. And he's all "My time has come" and with no more warning or reason than that, he just disintegrates into nothing. Like I always expected that when Odin died, it would be this HUGE thing. Like I would expect some great moment with good music where everyone around him is all tearfully saying goodbye and then all of Asgard is mourning him. Not him going broken-glowstick on a cliff in Norway wearing horrible clothes with only Thor and Loki to see. And they didn't even seem that broken. Thor was more broken by Loki's death in IW (who he only likes about 50% of the time) than he was over his father's death who he loved dearly from what I remember.

And last but not least, Thor's arc itself was.... I dunno even. His was a weird one. His was kind of up and down. Like he lost him hammer, and I would expect some HUGE moment from him after that. Like tearing up or being angry or defeated or something but then they just shot him off to that trash planet and he was so caught up in all that weirdness there, that we never got a good moment from him. It just went like 70s hookah party so fast, that we never got any real emotion from him. And then he never had a moment of weakness. Never that "this is too hard, I'm giving this all up" like all characters have to have. He literally never lost his drive to fight, which would have been cool if there was some epic force behind that, driving him to keep pushing forward, but they really lacked on showing us why he wanted to rescue Asgard so badly. I mean he's Thor, he shouldn't need a reason, but they never let us see the emotion behind that, or let us see some tender moment where he's sitting there telling some story of Asgard and his father or Loki or his mother or anything, and talking about why it means so much to him. The only time he wanted to give up was when he went to fight Hela, and all she did was barely knock him around (less than what Banner did to him, might I add) and then suddenly it was "Poor me, I can't do this. This is too hard." They had it so backwards. He was all amped up and driven to fight her, and all cocky about it, and she smacks him around for a few minutes and suddenly he's like "I can't do this." It was just really weird placement for me.

Literally the ONLY person in the entire movie who had a good arc, was the Executioner. (idr his real name either lol) He shows up, sort of this irresponsible guy , just using his position to get girls and get "things", and then Hela comes and he has no real morales and is kind of a coward who doesn't want to stand up to her so he becomes her second hand guy. First you see him following her around like a puppy, and then he goes from that to actually carrying out her orders. (GROWTH. Even though it was in a negative direction.) Then there's that moment when Hela pulls that girl out of the crowd and tells him to kill her, and he actually hesitates for half a moment, which was SO GOOD because it made him deep. It made you realize he had regrets about it, deep inside. But then he pushes those thoughts away and goes to kill her anyway. So now you know he's totally sold out to the villain's side of things. Then towards the end, when Hela starts to lose, he goes coward, and hides away on the ship with the other Asgardians. (More change and growth, even though again, it was for the negative.) Then at the last minute, when their ship is being overrun, he makes that final decision to forget what Hela wants him to do, to forget his fears, and do what he knows in his heart is right, which was to save his people. And he does, and he dies for it. It was really brilliant. It was such a beautiful, full circle of a character.

Also he was the only one that had GOOD armor. I loved his costume and armor. Everyone else's was crap, but his was good.

I still didn't really like him that much, cause he was kind of cliche, but he was literally the best arc out of all of them, if that tells you anything.

Last but not least, they just tried waaay too hard to be funny. It was like watching some kids’ show, like Frozen or something, where all the sudden things get really meaningful or deep, and you start to feel that moving feeling in your chest like "Okay, I like where this is going." and then some random character pops their head in with some stupid comic relief and ruins the whole thing. The whole movie felt like comic relief to me. There were moments that felt natural and funny, like a few of the moments between Loki and THor, or Banner and Thor, that felt so original to the Avengers movies and I loved that. Avengers is supposed to be funny, because that's how they've always written it, but it's never just PURE humor like Ragnarok. Even Iron Man is more serious than that, and he's like the most humorous out of all of them. So I hated that they kept ruining these good moments with stupid quips or weird things.

You know what it felt like? It felt like if they let the Grandmaster actually write and direct the plot himself. "Hmm you know, I woke up this morning feeling like a public execution." And then he just does it, and what we're left with is Ragnarok.

Overall, it had such good potential but it just fell so flat.