#what if arthur was a cultist

[stained-glass-cicada]

the problem with malevolent fic for me is in so rarely have one shot or short run fic concepts

all my best ideas are like minimum 30k word slowburn, rewrite of the whole series, ass shit

[metharming-you]

Hey kid you know arthur is somewhere in the forcefield. He got smuggled in a while back

At some point we could totally go bug him

⬆️🔫

😬😬😧😨😨😰 <- me

[eldritchqueerture]

if I was the Documentarist I would honestly probably strangle Mor at that point

[greentea-and-honey]

season one of malevolent is hands down my least favorite but you gotta respect it for what it is. and what it is is pure chaos. the boys are at each others’ throats constantly and plotting each others’ downfalls. there’s like a minimum of three monster attacks per episode. every single person they meet is a cultist. there’s a world war one veteran who’s insane and also sings plastic jesus and also always wears a gas mask. the cult takes arthur’s blood and we just never really addressed that. we have a moment of character development and then either arthur or john will say something that’s ever so slightly bitchy and the other will immediately say “kys”. we don’t know who john is so we can only assume he’s the meanest ghost to ever exist. no one knows what’s going on least of all harlan guthrie, we’re running off a handful of dice, a redbull, a subscription to adobe audition, and a dream.

[coulson-is-an-avenger]

JOHN SWEETIE I COULD TREAT YOU BETTER

malevolent is truly the podcast of Arthur fumbling the goddamn bag

[shoggoth-the-bitch]

So I've seen a few posts at this point suggesting the theory that Arthur's lighter might have something to do with the Black Stone Arthur and John are being sent to find by Kayne. Well I have some additional thoughts to add to the idea.

I think it's a really solid theory. Kayne can't see the stone and he always seems to forget about the lighter. And at this point Arthur has pointed out that Kayne has forgotten the lighter at least twice I believe. They also keep making it a point that Arthur just kinda randomly remembers it in his pocket. It just feels like that really want us to remember that the lighter is there, without saying out right that it's important beyond being a source of fire and light.

Personally, I think maybe the lighter might even have the stone inside of it. Like maybe it's just really small? Or maybe it just has a fragment of the stone inside of it? The lighter did, after all, belong to Roland Cummings, who found himself in the Dreamlands and is now apparently in the Dark World. Roland could have found the stone and hid it because he knew it was an object of power.

And the stone might also be the reason that Arthur is able to handle being a host for John/Yellow. Like, Kayne keeps wracking his brain about what makes Arthur special but what if there isn't actually anything special about him specifically? What if it's just the result of his exposure to the stone? Maybe that's way Larson was dying after only a few days of being a host to Yellow, even though Arthur survived literally both of them for roughly five or six months at this point.

More than that, does anyone else think Arthur heals really fast? Like, I know some of his healing is due to magical forces protecting him and part of it is the magic of story telling. But the man is riddled with scars, from wounds that seem to heal impossibly fast. Like, Arthur set his own broken legs only for them to immediately heal. It's implied that Kayne healed them but why would he? He clearly found his struggles funny. And being gored by the monster in the mines? Yeah, John patched him up but some thread from his jacket and some fishing hooks wouldn't have fixed him up that fast. He was running and squeezing through tight spaces in no time at all. By the time that got to New York the wound was entirely forgotten about.

This is all to say, I think the stone is protecting Arthur to some degree. I don't think it could keep him from dying but I think is helps him heal faster and might even give him a bit of luck. I did point out a while ago but Arthur does seem to be one lucky son of bitch given that he keeps taking near fatal wounds but seems to live through each one. He's covered in scars but not one injury has stuck yet.

And I think that's all because he's carrying the stone with him and literally no one knows. Maybe it's even something divine in nature? The cultist used the Grey Stone to get what they wanted but what if in a way that's how the lighter works too? "This too shall pass." They constantly quote the line, like a mantra that they entrust their blind faith into. Almost certainly something an object of power would latch onto and use almost as a form of worship and reverence.

[ambriel-angstwitch]

Tim Drake Pride Thoughts Part 2

Link to Part 1 for those interested

I love Tim’s internal monologue and how it’s visualized on the page. The way he’s in the Robin costume even though he’s not actually and then it fades away.

Gosh his identity issues. His need to save people and self destructive tendencies. I love him.

Then Tim beats the crap out of the unsuspecting cultist and steals their stuff like a boss but it wasn’t shown we just cut to the cult after the reveal of the multiple “chaos gods”

I love that he says what would Batman do like it’s what would Jesus do. He even acronynmed it earlier. I used to have those bracelets.

Tim’s always trying to fill a role and that’s so fascinating. Robin was just a role that needed filling that he just happened to be able to do but now that there’s another person in that spot he’s trying to emulate Batman since he’s working alone and Batman’s his idol.

Oh also the fact that it was Bernard who was about to be sacrificed is interesting. Like he’s one of the most recent kidnappings so it’s interesting that they’d choose him

Also the fact that Tim is taking the Tim to judge them when his friend/crush is literally about to be sacrificed. Can’t stop being a hater I guess.

Love that Bernard is a fanboy just like Tim was.

Also Tim’s little gay panic there. He holds a boys hand and is immediately like “Is it supposed to be this warm?”

Love how Bernard immediately notices that Tim’s acting different it could be due to his Robin obsession but I also just think it’s cool how easily he understands him.

Bernard really just almost got sacrificed and pops up ready to fight. He’s probably been waiting to fight alongside Robin for a long time since he is a fanboy

Oh Timmy Batman isn’t alone and you don’t have to be either. You have the Batfam. I find it silly that this idea is coming from Mr. “Batman needs a robin” himself.

Though perhaps he doesn’t mean physically alone. Because the Batfam isn’t keen to share their problems. They tend to try to be islands. Each individually dealing with their issues and hurts rather than opening up and leaning on eachother. They’ve learned their poor emotional communication from the best.

Close enough welcome back Arthur Pendragon!

I have talked to friends and I have confirmed that I’m not the only one who thinks that first panel looks like Arthur (Come to think of it Tim looks kind of like Merlin too. Reincarnation au?)

Anyways I promise I had an actual thought regarding this interaction too. I love how Bernard is telling his crush to tell his crush that he wished they’d finished their date. Tim is just internalizing this and probably with that last word realizing what they could be.

Like I said Tim’s having realizations.

Also I just love this page layout. The different sizes and shapes to represent the chaotic-ness of a fight. Bernard being the focus of the biggest moment to visually show the lightbulb moment and Tim’s fixation of him. Both of them just being flashes of certain moments almost like we’re Tim or Bernard glancing at the other to see what their doing. Ahhh! I love it!

More Tim tech lingo! I love the focus on Tim being Techie and how that can cause him to think differently like he’s also just a computer with simple problems to fix. His realization that he’s different. That sure he didn’t realize he was Bi before but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t

I know that the whole Batfam not choosing being vigilantes is a thinly veiled metaphor for Tim’s being queer (which is kind of funny because I feel like that almost implies that the rest of the Batfam is queer or maybe it’s just the inherent queer subtext of hidden identities), but also I do think that the police has a point in them not really choosing the vigilante life I mean sure they theoretically could have not been vigilantes, but it’s just a fundamental part of who they are so even if the law tells them not to they’re not going to turn back now. I don’t think any of them at the beginning could have seen the pain and problems that they did and not tried to fix it.

Also the I want over Bernard and how the next page is going to be him.

And that’s the adorable conclusion. I love them! The way their figuring it out together! They’re both new to this. I love when couples don’t have to have it figured out. There’s no one right way to have a relationship

[fancygremlin]

Arthur and John each have a moment in the narrative where one perform a "leap of faith" and the other saves them. Both moments are quite interesting and serve to help the characters realise thay are no longer alone and that they can truly rely on one another (full analysis here, if you're interested).

However, I think there is a third "leap of faith" that occurs way later on... however this time the focus is neither John or Arthur, instead the character being saved is Noel.

Just like Arthur and John, the detective was forced to learn to be independent and self-reliant to ensure his own survival. He was separated very abruptly, and subsequently lost his only friend before being stuck in the Dreamlands. He was completely on his own against the King in Yellow, who tortured him relentlessly and cruelly for months. Noel was then carelessly spit back out in Arkham, traumatised and alone, and had to rebuild his life back up without being able to rely on anyone else.

How could he ever hope to explain all the horrors he was subjected to when no one could ever even begin to understand half of what he had to endure?

But then, years later he meets John and Arthur, and it seems that they can and do understand him. Noel allows Arthur to share his experiences in the Dreamlands... and the detective allows himself to finally recount his story too.

Then, in Part 40, Noel infiltrated a cultist base with John and Arthur and everything goes sideways. His trust in the characters is momentarily broken when John's real identity is revealed to him. Noel is then weakened by reliving his experience in the Dreamlands and nearly loses himself as the King in Yellow once again controls his mind and nearly kills him...

Noel takes a leap:

Noel was the first character that not only knew about Arthur and John's sharing a body situation, but also the first that wholly accepted them and tried to understand them better. It's only right that both Arthur and John reached out to help him and save him when he nearly lost himself.

As a side note, I think it’s really interesting how Arthur kept calling him out using his real name (Charlie), while John tried to reach him using his chosen name (Noel) during this scene. It's such an excellent, little detail which I really enjoyed.

I like to think that the use of both names is because just as Charlie/ Noel accepted both John and Arthur both as a unit and as separate people, the two characters are doing the same by accepting and recognising both the detective’s (past and present) identities as well. They decide to accept and save any and all versions of Charlie/ Noel.

Of course this is not the only interpretation. For example, the use of one name or the other might reflect how John and Arthur are recognising core parts of themselves within Noel/ Charlie instead.

John is calling the detective by his chosen name because he is honouring Noel's choice to start anew. Noel had been hurt in every possible way and reduced to nothing after his experience in the Dreamlands. The detective found that the only way to move forwards was by leaving all the (too far) damaged parts of himself behind and try to create a new self. A clean slate and new name for a new beginning to start a better life somewhere new. He needed to leave his past behind and forget the parts of himself he didn't want anymore. That was what John did too when he dissociated from the King in Yellow and began forming his own identity.

On the other hand, Arthur is calling the detective by his real name because he is honouring the person Charlie was in the past. Charlie was the part of himself that he left behind because he deemed too damaged and too ugly to salvage. Arthur drags behind his past mistakes like deadweight, he carries all the guilt and sorrow with him wherever he goes. He wants to believe that all the hurt, all the damage and all the scars he deems as the ugliest parts of himself don't make him an utterly repulsive and unlovable monster. I think he is trying to demonstrate that Charlie is just as worthy of being saved as Noel is, weaknesses and broken parts included.

Hm, and I seem to have gone off a giant tangent here... I shall stop blabbering now before I completely lose track of what this analysis was supposed to be about.

[arthurs-better-half]

Yellow - Godhood as Dehumanisation

Brynne Rebele-Henry, Prelude to Becoming Holy // Malevolent - Part 21 // Mortals and Fools - Death Note Musical (English Concept Album) // Billelis (Twitter) // Langston Hughes, God // Malevolent - Part 40 "The Order" I // Cultist Simulator Steam Achievement // @yffresbeard // The Winged Throne | Adobe Substance 3D // Malevolent - Part 40 "The Order" II // Walk the Circle in the Other Direction - Moonface // PARSIFEL (Twitter) // Malevolent - Part 40 "The Order" II // Minotaur Forgiving the White Bull - Moonface

Reblogs appreciated 👍

This is how a girl becomes holy: first she becomes empty, becomes nothing but absence.

YELLOW: Humans put so much stock in hope. Hoping for a greater outcome, hoping for a better result, hoping for a brighter tomorrow. You waste away the hours, waste away your lives. Watch as the sea beds dry up, as hope takes the water away from you. Hope is unique to you and your kind. Even animals know that hope is a wasted feeling. It's why you're so weak.

[Rem, Misa] Try as you might, you will not understand it [Rem] Love is for mortals and fools

I am God- Without one friend, Alone in my purity World without end.

YELLOW: You know nothing about what has happened to me. I have grown more powerful than I ever was with you. ARTHUR: Power?

(The Dodo and the Dragon) I have become something winged, dark and undying; something that no longer exists.

you're not a person anymore, just a personification. you're a concept, an abstraction. all neatly defined boundaries and borders, none of the vagueries or blurring of lines or grey areas that come from being mortal. you can never change, now. never grow or evolve. you are this, forever, stagnant. and the thing you've been made to embody might not even be your best trait.

KING IN YELLOW: Ignorant. Foolish. Mortal.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to not have to turn to stone?

YELLOW (loathing): Friends! What a waste.

So I guess I am an outcast And I guess I am a monster And I guess I am a god

[capesch-arts]

When your OCs and canon characters have a lot in common (make them kiss)

Move away if you don't want to see OC x Canon doodle

Note that I've written Ayu and Samael wayy before I discovered Malevolent sndknsdk

Other similarities they have that I've noticed:

- John and Samael are "fragments" of what they were before

- Arthur and Ayu experienced amnesia when they woke up after being possessed by their respective entities

- All of them deal with cultists and monsters on the daily

Overall, I'm holding them both close to my heart ❤️

[albatross-lancer]

(OOC: Reposting the summary I made to stand on its own for people who caught bits of it but don't want to have to switch between several different blogs)

A THOR-class NHP named Arthur entered cascade in Harrison Armory's PR offices. He caused significant electrical damage to the offices but as far as I can tell no one was seriously injured, and the PR intern, Jimbo, managed to calm him down. The situation now seems to be resolved amicably.

Rev, an AGNI-class NHP implied that they caused Arthur to cascade. Recent comments by them suggest that they did this to advance the cause of NHP equality (forgive my rumormongering, but I have my doubts. Their omninet page contains a great deal of what seem to be boasts of war crimes and genocide, they don't strike me as much of an egalitarian. That said, my Loyal Wing tells me she's met and fought cultists who earnestly believe in a future where humans and NHPs are free to inflict horrific atrocities upon one another, so who knows. People are complicated. I'm also unconvinced Rev actually did cause Arthur to cascade, the manner they describe seems implausible.)

The Corsair Mercenary Company and the squad commander of the MSMC 796th, Kennedi/Lockbreaker, were angered by this claim. I'm not sure why this incident, which Jimbo resolved well before there was a actual fighting, prompted her to act independently, but there was some indication of the security breach having wounded her pride. (It is also possible that they were, in fact, being contracted by a HA higher-up and only pretending to act independently). She recruited another squad, the MSMC 148th, and they set out for Rev's abode in Karrakin space.

Rev caused the NHP at Corsair Mercenary Company, which named themself [STABBY], to cascade. [STABBY] then took control of several subalterns and systems and attempted to kill the CMC, inflicting a high casualty count before being shut down by MSMC 796th's "Slipshod" using a liturgicode virus. (Based on [STABBY]'s rapid decision to attempting to kill the CMC once given the ability to do so, even if during cascade, it seems likely that they did not have a positive relationship and allegations of abuse seem credible)

The MSMC squads arrived and engaged Rev's Genghis body and a group of Hercynian lancers Rev had recruited via Hercynian Refurbished Armaments. The battle ended with both Rev and Lockbreaker's mechs effectively destroyed, Rev's casket damaged and Lockbreaker in critical condition. There was significant collateral damage dealt to the planet, though fortunately no civilians, bystanders, or other innocents were harmed.

Albatross long patrol "Osprey" received several distress calls from the area and rerouted to investigate. When they arrived, medics were able to stabilize Kennedi and assess the situation. Rev was recovered by "an associate", the MSMC squadrons were able to contact command and get returned to headquarters, and I belive the Hercynians returned to Hercynia. After assisting local damage control and double-checking that no one was hurt, long patrol Osprey will be returning to their nearlight patrol route.

[podsprout]

Been thinking about Darkthur and his “loses your arm up to the elbow” problem. Because while I can totally see it as John gaining control of the left arm and Arthur chopping it off to retain autonomy (and I love this idea) I also deeply enjoy it somehow being the right arm that Arthur loses, and so Arthur has no hands to control at all. That loss of autonomy would be a truly fascinating dynamic, especially paired with the assumption that this John never gains humanity in the same way, so when Arthur falls John embraces that instead of trying to pull Arthur out of it like he does in Addison.

Because at first it would be awful, to lose that autonomy and have no hands and no eyes, and you’re just trying to fix things but everywhere you go the entity in your head kills your problems and there’s nothing you can do about it. But maybe that’s what you’re good for, *all* you’re good for, since everyone around you dies. And really, they deserve it. Cultists and murderers and shuffling around in the dark and dirt, so you let the entity point the gun and fire.

[midnigtartist]

Season 5 of malevolent is so funny what do you mean Arthur has the plague and is forced to play Clue: Cultist Edition

[sparkly-angell]

What if the mask was used by the cultist not only to see some of the supernatural shit, but also to see the King in Yellow

But we don't know that because Arthur never looked at a mirror with the mask on (iirc).

So when Daniel puts on the mask, Arthur only expects him to see the invisible braids, but he ends up seeing an entire eldritch horror shit. A whole deity standing right beside your son in law.

[samglyph]

Good morning. Season 4 finale.

Holy smokes gang. What an episode. I absolutely loved it. I think it took a little bit for me to become really invested despite the in medias res thing we had going on, but once that action started I was in it. The visuals this episode were great, I especially liked the description of the mollusk mask on the viziers face. I also was quite pleased about the little reference to hastur being the peacock king that’s fun.

I know a lot of people are sad about the butcher. I am not because as soon as he showed up again I figured he would be one of the casualties of the episode, and narratively I like that it was Kayne who did it as opposed to Larson or an unnamed cultist or alien, especially considering I had a theory that Kayne was connected to the music in his head and the powers he had. I did love the twist of him being on our side though I actually audibly reacted to that. It surprised me but made sense in the perfect way. It also makes perfect sense to not include that scene, but I am excited to see some of the fan work that comes out of that missing piece. I’m AMAZED that Charlie managed to make it out alive, but then again he might be bleeding out on a street in Spain right now. Oh well. No body no death so I’m counting him as still kicking.

Speaking of Charlie, I loved the scene where John was forced to come clean. I liked how it twisted the previous scene of Arthur speaking for John and John finally being heard by someone else and feeling so so happy, to now be forced into a position where that newfound relationship is potentially going to be destroyed because he no longer has the option of privacy. Wild.

Of all the scenes with yellow, predictably Arthur’s confrontation and apology was my favorite. He’d already admitted fault in a previous episode but this I think is where it really hit home. And in other lines, while Yellow remained adamant that he didn’t care, you could tell that he genuinely did want to understand the connection between Arthur and John, and wanted to understand why he couldn’t experience the same thing. Most tragic fragment of a nightmare king. I hope you have fun flaying Larson alive for the next couple thousand years. Also why was Larson so flirty this episode dude he killed your son stop whispering in his ear like that.

And then of course, we get to Kayne. Kayne Kayne Kayne Kayne. Glad we got confirmation that Kayne isn’t/it doesn’t matter if he’s nyarlthotep because while have a fondness for the crawling chaos and Call of Cthulhu mythos, I actually like when things are separate from that. Plus I think it makes him scarier if he can’t quantify his existence. Holding out his bloody hand for Arthur to take and Arthur choosing to go with him willingly obviously paralleling his denial of Larson earlier in the episode. I also liked his takedown of Larson a lot. Fuck that guy.

Anyway @everyone who questioned why I draw Kayne covered in blood in every scene even when he’s not fresh off a carcosan murder spree how does it feel to be wrong.

[symbiotic-slime]

My Venom/Malevolent Crossover Ramblings

there’s like 15 of you guys who liked that post so i figured i would share my idea! also shout out to @bat-luun and @french-toast-enjoyer for letting me ramble about this in ur dms while I was trying to solidify the idea :D

It revolves around how similar Arthur and Eddie’s careers are. Arthur was a private investigator and now gets sent around investigating various cults and Eddie is an investigative journalist. so if I could get them to the same time, it would be pretty easy to have them meet.

So my idea is that Kayne uses his time fuckery magic to send Arthur and John to San Fran in the the 21st Century to find some random mcguffin he wants. Arthur starts investigating this cult, which from the other cults in Malevolent tend to be like the higher ups of society.

Eddie would be investigating the cult for completely different reasons. maybe there’s like money laundering, maybe people have disappeared and it seems to be tied to this group idk. One day while on the job he runs into Arthur, and they decide to be partners while working on this case.

Cue a bunch of shenanigans where they are both trying to act completely normal and like they aren’t sharing a body with another entity. They both keep noticing how weird the other one is acting but never speak up about it lest they be discovered for also doing weird things. Both John and Venom are suspicious of the other person, but neither of them want to make the first move.

Eventually, Eddie and Arthur are caught by the cultists. They’re surrounded. Eddie gives up on protecting their identity and transforms into Venom to save their lives. Afterwards Eddie tries to explain what happened to Arthur, expecting him to be freaked out and terrified, but Arthur is just like “Wait. You’re like me?” and tells Eddie about John.

Arthur also gets his moment to use his powers, just not in combat because let’s be honest John and Arthur aren’t very formidable in like any combat scenario. Their lead turns up dead. Eddie’s frantic, trying to figure out what happened and how to continue their investigation. Arthur touches the person, learning how they died and helping them continue to unravel what happened and who did it.

While this is all going on, both Eddie + Venom and John + Arthur learn things about each other and their relationships through the other. Is this fic idea also an excuse for me to write John and Arthur learning how to fucking communicate for once because they see Venom and Eddie acting as a team? Yes, yes it is.

Eddie gives Arthur advice on bodysharing and successfully navigating a romantic relationship like that, completely unaware that they’re not officially dating each other. Insert a Rosa Diaz “you two just need to bone” moment.

Eddie and Arthur get coffee together after the cult bullshit is said and done. John and Arthur are getting along a lot better. When Eddie tries to ask if they took his advice, Arthur blushes furiously and tells him that this is not an appropriate conversation to be having. Eddie smiles smugly for the rest of their time together.

Also Kayne dies because I hate him (sorry to all the Kayne lovers out there I understand why u like him he just pisses me off). It would be incredibly funny if it was treated as unseriously as Cletus’ death in Venom Let There Be Carnage where Venom just says “fuck this guy” and bites his head off.

tagging the people who said they wanted to hear my ramblings: @izzythedemigod @larsons-shattered-eyeballs @izel-reblogs :D