#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

[cypresswood3]

Stay in Addison au, post-falling-apart.

Not only does Arthur destroy all of Larson's plans and hopes, not only does he leave Larson yearning and empty and bitter, not only does he rip himself away from his embrace — no, that wasn't enough for him, was it? Larson stands in the doorway and stares, unblinking, rage and helpless despair boiling under his skin. Oh no, Arthur Lester had to take everything, didn't he? Is it a statement, or the opposite, an expression of blatant disregard? Larson doesn't know which would hurt more.

Either way, Uncle is dead.

Arthur Lester had to make sure his departure hurt, didn't he? How is it fair, Larson thinks. He wants to drag Arthur back and ask him, demand he explains how is it fair.

He has the piano removed from the dining room.

[grayscale-sparks]

school doodles from spring last year bc I’m bored ready go (ft outdated designs)

Here’s malevolent, the first one was the first ever thing I’d drawn for malevolent. Also featured is the outdated John and Kayne designs. Also yes I had a cultist Arthur obsession for a bit so there’s more where that came from

Aaand here’s some doodles for TMA. Featured is catboy Jon (one of many), worm wife, a hide your husbands doodle I want to make into a sticker still, and my obsession with the distortion

[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

[tahbhie]

The Act of Writing Psychotic Characters 

Part 1: Attention vs Intention

It's been a while since I received this request, and I ensured I took my time with the thoughts, evaluation, and analysis. This topic will be covered in three parts, so here's the first.

Before we proceed, please note that I am not a psychiatrist, psychologist, or any professional in that field. This is just an insight into how this kind of concept can fit into your novels.

Okay, let's begin.

The Attention vs Intention part of this topic will discuss two ways of portraying these type of characters in scenes. 

First, you need to understand that psychotic characters aren't psychotic based solely on their speeches or actions. If that's all you have in mind before approaching a story, you might leave a huge gap in the execution.

Rather, it's how they feel—the desire to satisfy their current emotions.

They have drives and motives, but most especially beliefs which, in most cases, are hardly understandable by other people. It's wrong and unacceptable by society, but to them, they wouldn't do it any differently.

That's why most psychotic characters have no remorse. You simply can't apologize or feel sorry if you don't 'believe' that you're in the wrong.

➜ Attention Psychosis

Psychotic characters whose main purpose in a story is limited to presence (i.e., showing up in scenes and visibly serving the role of a psychotic character) are attention psychotics. You don't flesh out their backstory or why they are who they are.

Their drives and motives aren't talked about enough to the point of justification. Readers hardly care about them, but the action they bring to the scene creates a rich narrative with the purpose of psychosis.

In summary, their role is minor. We see such cases in movies like The Babysitter.

Let's agree that none of the cult characters in that movie are exactly sane, as their main aim is to end their victims’ lives in the sickest ways possible. However, there's a certain character, Max, who simply enjoys the idea of "killing and seeing people bleed."

That has exceeded the central idea of being a cultist who gets involved in blood sacrifice to achieve their 'dream life' like the rest of the characters. It's now something more and different.

Something that has to do with homicidal ideation.

Max worked in a diner where he dealt with people that annoyed him so greatly that he wanted to kill them. So he got the opportunity to join a cult and do just that.

It was plain clear this guy had something else going on for him, but throughout the movie, his character had no special attention or even a peek into his thoughts. Although, it still worried the audience. Job done.

➜ Intention Psychosis

When a story is centered around a character's mental state, their motives, drives, beliefs, actions, and the story actually unfolds by going deeper into this concept, you have intention psychosis.

If not entirely, at least mostly, it defines the entire plot surrounding that character. People get to understand why they are who they are, their mode of action, what drives them, and even a peek into how they perceive the world around them.

Such scenarios are seen in movies like The Joker and Pyramid game (Korea). The audience gets a glimpse into their overall life and understands at least to an extent why they are the way they are.

Their beliefs get twisted for certain reasons, and there was just no stopping them. Here the characters were more than a presence; they were a central core.

In the movie Joker, we watched Arthur’s impoverished life unfold, with every event and incident worsening his condition further.

Baek Ha-rin in Pyramid Game literally created an entire game system to watch a student, who happened to be her old friend, suffer both physically and mentally. She went to great lengths to carry out this nefarious act under the guise of the game. Although this movie encompassed more than just this storyline, it was hard to ignore the unhealthy drive and actions of the young lady with an innocent face.

Before incorporating a psychotic character in your novel, determine their form of portrayal and appearance in the overall story. Are they going to serve as an attention psychotic or an intention psychotic?

Inspired by @sothera

Stay tuned for the next part!

۝ Before you go! ۝

My Characters and I is an extensive one-on-one coaching session designed to create characters that leap off the pages and become best friends with your readers.

What's a great story without remarkable characters? Spots are filling up fast, so grab yours now and get ahead of millions of writers out there.

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[capesch-arts]

Death

(In which Arthur Lester writes his final letter. Scroll until below).

"I am going to die. That is for certain.

As I write this I can feel my mind stretched thin and my consciousness fading as fatigue takes me over. I know that when I sleep this night, I may never wake up.

Before my mind is taken and broken apart to dust, I wanted to leave this behind. For anyone that follows me, whether it be friend or foe. I know why you all pursue me, and you will receive what you wish to seek. But, allow me to share my thoughts.

I've been running for nearly 10 years, killing cultists and evading creatures that would drive men mad. It's been a long time since I've slept with peace in mind. So much blood has washed upon my hands that I still feel it under my nails.

Am I the same person anymore? I wonder.

'Was it all worth it?' I often ask myself.

I'm not a good man. Especially before my encounter with The King. An unfit husband. A coward. An alcoholic. A poor father. I am all these things. And perhaps, whatever is waiting for me when I shut my eyes will be deserved. At least I'll find peace in that.

My only regret is leaving you. Alone. I wish I hadn't found that book. I wish I wouldn't have done all this to keep you away from its curse. I wish- I wish. I wish we had more time together. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

This path I've taken is dark and dreary, and it will only end in tragedy. So if you still wish to walk it, so be it.

That damned book has not been in my possession for years. A new friend has helped me hide it somewhere I don't know. I thought that after all this game of cat and mouse, HIS eyes would not stop following me. Those damned golden eyes would be so fixated to me that none of his followers noticed when it slipped from my hands and a decoy was in its stead.

If you are one who walked this path to protect humanity from darkness, then I'm sorry. It was too much of a risk for it to fall unto another person. But, if you're HIS, well... Fuck you. Good luck. I'm sure your King would be satisfied knowing how well you've accomplished your mission.

I can feel it. Pulling. Music, unfamiliar, filling my head. A vision of a city, unnatural, with impossible angles, whenever I close my eyes. The twin suns above Lake Hali and the tattered cloak of The King in Yellow...

Death is at my doorstep, and I fucking welcome it. I will not squirm. I will not beg. You want me to drown in despair as you come and harvest me. I'm not giving you the satisfaction.

I am the master of my own fate,

I am the captain of my soul

- Arthur Lester"

[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.

[arthur-lesters-brain-ventricles]

Arthur Lester. On several occasions: I hate cults, and cultists! They all get what they deserve in the end The Arthur Lester Body Part community: Woah dog that's crazy

[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

[arthurlightstar]

copied from my bluesky bcs a similar tag game was floating around and I used it as an opportunity to yap about his moral compass generally -> he got 51% evil & 85% chaotic, BUT I think of Arthur as true neutral leaning chaotic, and Karis neutral evil. If they read any moral philosophy they would be very attracted to ethical egoism, because at the end of the day, they’re not doing much else besides looking out for #1.

<3 I never never know who to tag for these things but plz anyone who wants to hop onto this knock urself out<3

New post bc last tag thread was soooo looong!

I was tagged by @drownedrow to take this quiz and this picrew and share the results!

Seems accurate.

Tagging @aleksxo @threeofswrds @vestigialpersonality and @allconsumingrot

[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.

[larsons-shattered-eyeballs]

So I was doing research on the four horsemen in anticipation of the new episode and um….

Turns out that the first horseman (the pestilence and the one people think Arthur is going to represent) was thought to also be Jesus….

Arthur motherfucking cultist hater Lester,

Has a chance of becoming the second coming of Jesus Christ.

What the fuck

[technicallyfriendly]

I think the most important difference between Jon and Arthur as to why Jon would not survive malevolent is that Jon's curiosity is stronger sometimes than his survival instinct, while for Arthur it's survival before anything else.

Arthur would, at minimum, have brought the axe with him to the meeting with Jude if he really couldn't get his hands on a gun or something, and he would not have hesitated to use it.

Jon, on the other hand, might actually have humoured the cultists too much, but at least he'd have read the books before it became critical to know what's in them (tho he'd probably get killed by Eddie so no books for him at all).