#what legitimises the Just A Character?

[ranticore]

non fandom artists we gotta break free from the false dichotomy propped up by the term "oc" or "original character"... terms that make no sense without an implied fandom "canon" character.. if it's your full original setting and story then those are not ocs they are Just Characters.. canon characters even... can we pretend that fanart is not an assumed default on tumblr forming a standard against which all original art is measured.. can you play in this space with me

[ilikefelines]

Sigh.

No, Westeros isn't an absolute monarchy it's a medieval vassalage and the king's word is only law when he can enforce it. Rhaenyra's - I like her book character not so much the show where they white washed her - children aren't legitimate just because the king and the Velaryon's pretend they are. Blood and legality are inextricably linked in this world - it was made pretty obvious in the main series of books.

Now, some people will argue that it's fine that her kid's aren't Laenors because their claim comes through her. The thing is

a) people can only have a claim when they're trueborn/legitimised by royal decree. Example: If a bastard of House Mooton said that his bastardy didn't matter and that he could press his claim to lordship of Maidenpool because it rests solely on the fact that he has his lordly father's blood, irrespective of legitimacy, people would laugh at him.

You need to be trueborn as well, because then what would stop bastards with noble blood from attempting to usurp their noble family's inheritance? Noble blood and being trueborn is what makes a claim, elsewise we could argue that even dragon-seed's have a right to the throne.

b) this whole line of argument ignores the dynastic reasons behind Rhaenyra's marriage to her cousin Laenor. It was to combine both of their powerful claims to the throne. Laenor was the son of Rhaenys, who under Andal Law, had more right to the throne than Viserys. Viserys hoped that by marrying Rhaenyra to Laenor he could bolster her children's claim to the throne.

Combining the two powerful claims - and prior to Viserys's kingship Laenor's claim was more powerful that Rhaenyra's and arguably after - was the entire purpose of the marriage. If they'd produced trueborn children those kids would've have been able to assert their claim to the Iron Throne because of both their mothers - and crucially as much as the fandom likes to ignore this - their father's blood.

This is what I think and what I believe the source material to be telling us. You've a right to agree or disagree but PLEASE keep it respectful. No, I don't hate TB stans I just really disagree with them but that shouldn't stop us from having a polite conversation, right?

[valtsv]

we never find out if VAL resembles her mother in any way, which is absolutely the correct narrative choice for a multitude of reasons (the transfigurative nature of sainthood both in terms of physical appearance and personhood, the fact that it is her mother's absence that defines her significance both in VAL's character arc and the narrative, that there is no other character present for whom this would be a meaningful observation, that the ambiguity is far more compelling, etc.) but honestly whether she does or not it adds a layer of complexity and horror to her repeated, almost ritualistic act of recreating her mother just to torture and kill her, because either way VAL is making a statement by reconstructing her image just to destroy it - there is no before me, or after me. there is no was, and no will be. there is only me. there is only here. except in doing so, of course, she reaffirms and legitimises that abuse, and that trauma; gives it meaning, and makes it what defines her.

[alishaaxo]

List of All Elia Martell-centric fics I enjoy:

Elia Martell And The Crown She Didn’t Want: AU where she marries Baelor Hightower yet Rhaegar is longing for her, which is unreciprocated.

Two Father’s, One Son: Everyone Lives AU where Jon Snow dies unexpectedly and Elia comes back to KL, married to Baelor Hightower.

The Isle Of Faces Does Not Welcome: Elia and Rhaegar have a third child, and Elia confronts Lyanna. No bashing of her, from Lyanna’s POV.

Clean AU: Elia and children are missing, assumed dead for 15 years, until a mystery knight returns to KL, claiming the blue roses his mother deserves.

The Queen And Her Bastard: Everyone Lives AU. Legitimised bastard Jon with sympathetic Lyanna slowly turned more cunning against Elia. Jon-Aegon have positive relationship, in spite of their mother’s ambitions.

The Brightest Sun: Elia and kids transported to Harry Potter Epilogue era. Train and arrive to Westeros during GOT. 200K words.

Poetry is what he thought, but did not say: Erik Kilmonger as Rhaegar. Ruthless Elia with ruthless Rhaegar who has a controversial temperament and bad reputation. Interesting dynamic with Barristan, Arthur and Aerys.

Dragons spin and spin: Spiders weave and weave: Mainly Elia Martell AU oneshot collection, with other characters included.

A tigress, not a woman: Elia Martell scorned by Rhaegar, wants for a annulment. Elia beloved by the Smallfolk.

Poison is a Woman’s Weapon: Queen Regent Elia watches on as Aegon gets crowned, reminiscing on the past.

An unexpected news item: Elia Martell gets shocking news. Very exaggerated bashing of Lyanna.

With Careful Hands and A Strong Chin: Doran died as a babe, Elia is the heir to Dorne. Arthur-Elia.

With Duty In Mind: Elia and Rhaella clean up Rhaegar’s messes.

Gone Girl: Elia dies only to wake up before her wedding. She runs away, with Rhaegar following suit in her trail in regret.

In The Chaos Of A World: Rhaegar dies while Lyanna and Elia live to see Robert ascend. Robert-Elia not in a romantic light, but political.

Caged Beasts And Cloudy Skies: Braime-centric, yet Elia-focused as they wish to crown her after the scorn from R+L, and bring her to rest at her homeland.

Lex Talionis: SIOC of Elia, takes the war into her own hands. Jaime-Elia centric.

Lady of Stormsend: Annulled Elia-Rhaegar, yet Elia married Robert and jealousy and resentment arises.

From Where Blessings Flow: Robert and Elia marry, yet the Realm is not settled as Aegon and Rhaenys grow. With Rhaenys-Viserys.

Living With Regret Of The Chance Not Taken: Rhaegar and Lyanna are married, while Elia, Aegon and Rhaenys are missing… until they are not. And life turns on it’s head. No bashing, just critical of R+L.

Planetos React: Modern AU react to historical figures Elia, Aegon, Rhaenys and Jaime found within tombs, and go wild on tumblr.

But A Woman Is A Changling (always shifting shape: My fic!! Selfless promo! Elia has a green-dress moment ala Alicent where she shows pride in her heritage and snarks towards Rhaegar and Lyanna.

This is all the Elia-centric fics I know of and enjoy! If you have any, please comment them and I’ll add them to this masterlist!!

[greenqueenhightower]

Hey.

I constantly argue back and forth with TB stans that Jace, Luke and Joffrey aren't legitimised just because Laenor, Corlys and Viserys go along with Rhaenyra’s lie about them being "trueborn". As I'm sure you're aware, in Westeros only a king can legitimise the illegitimate by first declaring their bastardy and then legitimising them afterwards. And TB stans. Just. Don't. Get. It. They also seem to think that the King's word is law in Westeros. They don't understand that this a feudal monarchy where the king and his vassals are reliant upon each other and both must respect the social contract in order for the Westerosi social structures e.g. monarchy to be maintained.

IMO, they fall for the narrative trap of the Targaryen characters. Just because Viserys and Rhaenyra say that the King's word is law doesn't actually make it law. It's only law as long as the king has the ability to enforce it. Therefore, if a king did something insane in the eyes of his noble polity, e.g., try to place his bastards in the line of succession, they'd rebel proving accurately that the King's word is in fact not actually law. Aerys's overthrowing is a great example of this. As is the reign of Daeron II: if his word was law and everyone had to obey him, no one would have joined Daemon Blackfyre's rebellion.

Anyway back to TB stans. I think alot of them don't actually realise how the world works. Even GRRM confirmed the bastardy of Rhaenyra’s 3 son's for goodness sake. Every time they try to deny it using the aforementioned argument it only confuses me. Are they insecure about Rhaenyra having illegitimate children? Is that how far they're para-social relationship with her goes?

They also have another stupid argument that Rhaenyra's kids having her blood means that they can inherit her throne. No no no no no no no no no. THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS TB. If it was Westerosi lords with bastard relatives, it would allow them to inherit. You have to be trueborn. It's unfair but these unfair laws are what keeps Westeros from constant civil war. That's the point of inheritance law in the Seven Kingdoms.

Anyway, sorry about the rant. It's just that sometimes when I argue with certain TB stans they don't seem to understand the laws of the world they're fans of. They will bend over backwards to excuse their faves, not understanding that you are allowed to criticise a character you like (& in their case love). I think Rhaenyra is an interesting character - moreso in the book TBH - I just don't get why so many TB stans willfully refuse to understand the way in which the laws of the world she inhabits work. Any thoughts?

Hi anon, it took me forever to get to your ask but you're right! 💚

Not all TB stans share the same views, and there are people in here with whom you can converse intelligently, but I have also seen the discourse you're referring to, and it is very annoying when the stans don't get it.

You put the Westerosi legitimization process very well. If we consider the greater Middle Ages-inspired world-building context that Westeros is based on, it makes sense why bastardy is a stigmatized social issue. Blood "purity," lineage, and legitimacy are important because they are the only way land and titles are bequeathed and inherited.

The King is the only one who can legitimize his own illegitimate children as heirs, but he can do so for other illegitimate children, regardless of whether these are related to him by blood. King Louis IV, for example, legitimized John II Duke of Brabant's son, Jan Cordeken, after a petition John wrote to him thus enabling him to inherit his father's fortune and found the House of Glymes. From Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome to Enlightenment Europe, there are examples of Kings legitimizing not only their children but also the children of their officials, courtiers, and friends. It was seen as granting a favor to them, and when it came to personal matters, a King might choose to legitimize his children when he ran out of heirs, or in the case of Louis XIV, because he could and wanted to.

In other words, Viserys, who knew of but chose to ignore Rhaenyra's sons' (his grandsons') bastardy, had ample time and opportunity to legitimize them but chose to blind himself to the truth instead. What was that about Alicent calling Viserys "weak" in one of the deleted scenes of S1? Well, "weak" isn't the only word I would use to describe him... also irresponsible, foolish, and inadequate.

Nevertheless, the legitimization process in history was seldom favored by the court, the King's vassals, and the people, and caused quite a stir. As you say, the King's law didn't hold up that much ground compared to the law of tradition and at times the Church. The people didn't care if a King legitimized a child by naming them heir... the stigma of being born "illegitimate" wasn't washed off that easily, because bastards were seen as devilish, impure, half-breeds, unnatural hybrids, and so forth. So Viserys choosing to ignore the issue face front was bound to be catastrophic, because no matter how he tried to silence the tongues that wagged by threatening to cut them off, the issue of his grandsons' apparent bastardy remained, and THE REALM would not accept any of them on the Iron Throne, for the same reasons.

And Viserys did nothing about it. He could have confronted Rhaenyra when Jace was born and reminded her of the stark reality of the consequences of what she was doing. Not only did he name Rhaenyra (a woman) as his heir, which alone was controversial and unprecedented, but a woman with three illegitimate children, whose existence never even tried to correct or prevent. Viserys alone weakened Rhaenyra's claim with his lack of foresight and counsel.

If TB uphold the "Viserys loved his grandsons and he accepted them as they were" narrative, they are not only deluded but lack media literacy as well, because Viserys DIDN'T CARE if his grandsons were trueborn or not, or if that would plunge the realm to war, the same way he didn't care that he had named Rhaenyra as his successor when the realm, who was so used to having Kings for centuries, knew he had THREE legitimate sons of his own.

So my two cents on the discourse would basically be that those who don't understand the social and political repercussions of Rhaenyra having bastards, not being counseled as to why this is destructive, left on her own to raise them, and having to cope with the consequences of her actions as she realizes that the father she so loved and admired didn't protect or support her at all, are missing out on a much more interesting character in Rhaenyra and a more complex dynamic with her sons, who she now understands are exceptionally vulnerable and potentially threatening to her cause.

This is a far more intriguing reading than anything TB stans are getting at with their "no criticism" ban on Viserys and Rhaenyra.

[avoicebehindthestars]

On Rob's Good Omens sweaters...

Bluesky has some photos of Rob Wilkins wearing these two holiday sweaters:

At the first glance you go "awww, how perfect, I need those sweaters!" but then you're like "hold on a second!"

For the sake of this meta, I'm going to assume the designs are deliberate, and not just idk cheap fakes ordered from temu lol.

Let's start with stating the obvious. The red sweater has the characters' roles reversed - Crawly is sheltering Aziraphale. It's not a "book thing" either - there, Aziraphale held his own wings above himself. This is a minor detail, but Crawly's stance is also different than in the show - his legs are apart, in a position indicating strength, confidence, and protection. Meanwhile, the blue sweater has what looks like angel!Crowley sheltering a black-haired fallen angel. My first thought was that is could be Satan and this might be a hint that we're going to see Crowley's fall after all. But now I think different.

Regarding the red sweater in particular, my thoughts immediately wandered towards the multiple Edens theory and the two Crowleys theory. Just to quickly recap: discrepancies in the details on the walls of Eden have been spotted, and at one point someone from the crew mentioned that there were "many Edens" in existence (possibly testing grounds before the real one? Or several different enclosures for the first breeding pairs? We never found out). As for Crowley - many people have noticed differences in his looks throughout season 2. Most notably, his sideburns have differing length and it shifts within the same scene, e.g. the sideburns are long in the pub, but short when he leaves the pub; they are short during the "exactlys" argument, but long when Crowley snatches his sunglasses while storming out of the bookshop. Bildad the Shuhite also has two different hairstyle (one is shorter, more evenly cut and carefully combed, whereas the other is longer and a bit more "windswept"). There's also the matter of different camera filters, which is a commonly used technique to show different worlds (think Supernatural, and I think also some MCU films?), and the disappearing props.

So, taking the sweaters into consideration, could the world of Good Omens be comprised of multiple realities? The novel is one. Season 1 is another. Season 2 shows TWO (!), which are almost identical. Who knows, perhaps the Crowley with the short sideburns managed to sway Aziraphale in the Final Fifteen, or even changed his mind and hopped on the lift at the last moment? What if, presented on the sweaters are two more? On, in which it was Crawly offering shelfter to Aziraphale, and another one in which it was Aziraphale who fell (and his hair blackened in the process). Perhaps there are versions of this (sorry, couldn't resist!) in which they both fell, neither did, or they were an established couple by season 1?

It this were to prove true in the movie, it will have some pros, of course. Firstly, it would legitimise virtually all headcanons you might have (I was a little upset when s2 finale made it clear they weren't secretly a couple before). It would also boost creativity for all the reverse!Omens fic writers. And, of course, it would explain many things fans have noticed, especially about s2.

However, other than that, I don't think I like it that much. Above all, I simply dislike multiverse - I find them often too convenient narratively, while also needlessly convoluted. But aside from that, I wouldn't be happy to see that particular take in the movie. If we were getting out 6 episodes, it would be fun to watch particular scenes and increasingly go "huh?" as we spot consecutive discrepancies and minor details that don't work. And by the time it was revealed it would feel really rewarding that you have spotted the details, even if you failed to work it all out. Within mere 90 minutes… it just doesn't feel like enough time to drop enough hints, or, alternatively, the movie would be oversaturated with them. Finally, it would mean less screentime for the mercilessly truncated Aziracrow reconcilliation arc (which I am still grieving over), as instead we would receive glimpses of different universes, while still navigating the complex Second Coming plotline. Also, what would be the endgame? All the Aziraphales and Crowleys combining their forces to beat heaven and hell/the new christ/god herself? That's a bit too Marvel if you ask me, and with all my reservations about the movie, I rather trust Narrativia to offer us something much more original.

[sapphoshands]

I’d be curious about your Agatha thoughts (gives you a corn chip) because I too have feelingsTM about the “discourse” but I just wanted to say thanks for being a fun person to follow who has also been consumed by AAA brainrot but in a FUN way…like can we just enjoy fun things? Oy.

ONE CORN CHIP, you have poked the bear successfully (and thank you for saying nice things; i am glad my breakdown is enjoyable all around hahaha)

okay a couple people have actually poked me about this soooo. snark activated. rant unlocked. disclaimer, i have mostly been avoiding the tags so i'm sure this has been litigated elsewhere, but a few things annoying ME:

people saying the show last night is the wrong kind of queer. because. look. we are all just queer, okay. the show is queer. the show is SO MANY kinds of queer!

also did we accidentally erase the first five episodes because i don't know what show you [generic you] were watching but there has been intense lesbian activity on my screen since 'agnes' first sat down on her couch.

i also will be v sad if agatha and rio don't get at least one smooch, but we have three eps left? a third of the show? so i'm not exactly throwing a fit yet!

even if they don't smooch, their relationship has been such a joy to watch on screen and is so intense and involved and complex and fully-realised. like, we might not get a kiss, because i sure don't think we're heading for a happy ending, but... it's not like a kiss is what legitimises the whole thing, you know? IT'S THERE.

agreed that it's unfortunate we had a short ep last week and a long one this week, but i don't understand people who are saying we were short-changed last week specifically in agatha's trial. because. it is agatha's show. this whoooole thing. it is about agatha. all of it. all along. and it's not like a) she doesn't get the spotlight in everyone else's trial, or b) we didn't get enough character development for many many fanfics.

plus we got a long ep this week specifically so we could get more agnes and more agatha. i'm surprised they got away with putting so much agnes in the ep but oh my god i loved every second of it. kathryn hahn the manspreader dykespreader that you are.

fan hat off, notes hat on, i don't know what i would've cut out of the billy section. maybe a couple minutes of hospital time? couple minutes of bohner? not a lot of fat there! lots of stuff that's almost certainly going to have meaning to agatha's story!

some people will say cut the boring boyfriend but look. look. i am genuinely emotional about the interrelational queerness in this show now. i think this is a spectacular example of how stories that are overdone in pop culture generally can get a whole new life and vibe when they are seen through a diverse lens. this commentary on witchiness, queerness, otherness, coven as found family... it's saying some things, and it's not beating us over the head with them. we needed the queer billy backstory to make those work. plus, we're unlocking all new agatha feelings through billy and so the show has to give us some billy so we know why agatha has those feelings!

maybe i sound like too much of an apologist, and let's be real, i'm certainly not going to be rewatching the first two-thirds of that ep anywhere near as much as the entire rest of the season (so far). i'm not telling anyone they had to love it. i will also say, i've seen some reviewers talking about how this was the best ep so far and i REALLY side-eye that (and now i trust them much less). but i enjoyed the ep, way, way more than i expected. i almost kind of give a shit about billy now, and i absolutely give a shit about agatha's feelings about billy.

that said, it's not an attack to not have rio in the ep (when jac schaeffer has literally said they were rationing her). and neither rio nor billy are the most important parts of agatha's story. but they're both building towards it, in my opinion. we haven't lost anything by getting a little billy; we've immensely deepened the world of the show and agatha's character.

so there is one corn chip worth of thoughts! and now, back to writing fic.

[nogoodsheepstealing-greatgrandma]

Missing Women of HOTD - Marilda of Hull

A familiar sight about her father’s shipyards, the girl was better known as Mouse, for she was “small, quick, and always underfoot.”

When Addam was ten and Alyn nine, their mother inherited the yards upon her own father’s death, sold them, and used the coin to take to the sea herself as the mistress of a trading cog she named Mouse. A canny trader and daring captain, by 130 AC Marilda of Hull owned seven ships, and her bastard sons were always serving on one or the other.

That Addam and Alyn were dragonseed no man who looked upon them could doubt, though their mother steadfastly refused to name their father. Only when Prince Jacaerys put out the call for new dragonriders did Marilda at last break her silence, claiming both boys were the natural sons of the late Ser Laenor Velaryon.

On Driftmark, the town of Hull experienced a rebirth. Scores of new ships were built and launched, and Lord Oakenfist’s mother greatly expanded her own trading fleets, and began work on a palatial manse overlooking the harbor that Mushroom dubbed the Mouse House.

On his tomb is engraved a single word: LOYAL. Its ornate letters are supported by carvings of a seahorse and a mouse.

The fleet set sail at mid-year, led by Oakenfist in a galley he named Bold Marilda after his mother.

I can't believe we had to sit through Sharako Lohar the cool lesbian slaver when we could have had this Queen instead.

Both her sons are so proud of their mother and she's clearly so important to them, it's so shitty the show erased her. And then there's 30-year-old Show Alyn giving a speech about going hungry just to rub the salt in the wound - because we can't have Bold Captain Marilda and her fleet of trading ships. It's not as though this season centered around a sea blockade or anything.

We could have had Marilda play an active role in that blockade. Though of course, the entire plotline of the famine in King's Landing was ridiculous. Most of their food comes from the Reach, the Breadbasket of the Realm, by Road. That was why there was a famine in the War of the Five Kings when the Tyrells blocked the Rose Road. But we all knew the writers hadn't really thought the famine through the moment the starving crowd started throwing food in protest-

But if we had to have it, then Marilda could have been the one tasked with delivering the food aid. Or if we focused on the actual effects of the blockade (its impact on trade of goods from the free cities, which would have been more luxury goods impacting the wealthier of King's Landing), we could have had Marilda being the liaison with other disgruntled captains and traders, or the one helping to keep them in line and not break the blockade.

Imagine also if we had a book-accurate depiction of the Sowing of the Seeds (no Squid-gaming a crowd of bastards into a room and ringing the dinner bell for a crazy religious ritual or whatever the show was going for in The Bells Round 2). If instead of divine intervention dropping a dragon on a passive Addam (and triggering Rhaenyra's descent into crazy cult leader apparently) he was actually able to be a character with agency - actively responding to Jace's call for dragonseeds and willing to take the risk. Because he's Bold Marilda's son.

We could have then had Corlys quietly begging Marilda to keep the boys parentage a secret so he doesn't shame the memory of his recently deceased wife. And Marilda says "sure no problem" and then turns around with the baldest of bald faced lies that the kids are Laenor's and watches the succession chaos unfold (until Book Jace of course saves the day with "Yay, new brothers! Please Mom can I keep them?"). Marilda stares Corlys down until he guiltily chimes in to request his 'grandsons' be legitimised.

We could have seen Marilda's guilt and grief at what happens to her bold and daring youngest son - an age-accurate Alyn (14) who eagerly tries to follow in his big brother's shadow and suffers burns for life. Heck, the show could have even paralleled Marilda and Addam at Alyn's sickbed with Alicent and Kylo Raemond at Aegon's sickbed - only with actual love in the room.

We could have had Marilda's pride at watching Addam legitimised and knighted, tainted by sadness at the cost to Alyn, but relief that both her sons survived. We could have had her keeping a recovering Alyn company while Jace trains with Addam and the other dragonseeds (replacing the little brother he lost). We could have had her be the one to confront Corlys for his absence. We could have had Corlys make it up to her by telling Alyn tales of his voyages, offering him an alternative path now that he can't join Addam as a dragonrider.

It would have been a hell of a lot more engaging than Dull 30-year-old Alyn having what feels like the same conversation with Corlys over and over again about that time he was the sailor who pulled him from the sea-

Or Less Dull But For Some Reason Younger Addam, who talks about wanting an opportunity for glory but ultimately is a passive character who gets a dragon landed on him. Contrast to Nice Man With Wife And Sick Daughter Hugh, and Funny Drunk Ulf - two white men who we are for some reason following instead of Nettles, and who actually get to make the active decision to go claim a dragon. Because they get to be written with motives and agency.

Considering the treatment of Laena, the erasure of Baela's personality, the decision to merge Nettles with Rhaena, the dullification of Alyn and Addam... and considering the rush to shower attention on Hugh and Ulf and genderbent Sharako Lohar and Gwayne Hightower of all people...

It does lead me to conclude that any potential interest the writers may have had in adapting certain characters... abruptly vanished the moment a certain casting decision was made.

[stupidlittlespirit]

Just wanted to drop in to say -- it can’t be emphasized how much I am standing with you in solidarity concerning the constant mischaracterization of Ford. Like, we’re both in the same boat and in very equal pain lol. Hell, I’ve ran into some pretty bad luck the past couple of years, attaching myself to characters that are equally as susceptible to…. less than correct opinions from fandom. People really lack media literacy, I fear. Your Ford is such a solace ❤️. Really can’t tell you enough how much I adore how you write him and basically any thoughts you share on him!

aaaaaaaah thank you anon!!

I'm so glad we're on the same level and that you like my interpretation of him, that's really kind of you to say. I worry I miss the mark sometimes because it does go against how a lot of the more vocal people in the fandom view him but you're legitimising me!!

Ford is so layered and all it takes is some real consideration to see how his 'negative traits' are really just reactions to abuse and grooming. Ford, as an individual, is really not what he's been made out to be. He's actually very funny and silly and whimsical, just like his brother, but he carries a lot of trauma and that manifests in ways that are considered to be unappetising to the masses who have no real care to consider him as a multifaceted being who has made mistakes.

I know he's a sixty year old man but he is my little sweetheart and I am in love with him!

[vigilskeep]

I agree with your points about homophobia in Thedas being an consistent thing (though I've personally always gotten the vibe that similarly to a lot of the sexism in the setting it was writer biases coming in as opposed to like, a truly thought out part of the setting) but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on where situations like Teagan Rowan and Eamon's two dads fit in here? It's always struck me as so weird that homophobia is def an established thing but also these two were so accepted that Eamon naming his son after his commoner father seemingly wasn't even scandalous at all. I mean it's nice obv I'm just confused by it from a Ferelden politics lore perspective? Feels like I'm missing something. Sry if this question is rambly/not worded well I am very tired

so here’s the codex entry that discusses the politics of homosexuality in thedas most directly!

What I find most interesting is that, despite the lack of open discussion on matters of human sexuality, there is commonality to be found on the subject in all Andrastian lands. Typically, one's sexual habits are considered natural and separate from matters of procreation, and only among the nobility, where procreation involves issues of inheritance and the union of powerful families, is it considered of vital importance. Yet, even there, a noble who has done their duty to the family might be allowed to pursue their own sexual interests without raising eyebrows.

The view on indulging lusts with a member of the same gender varies from land to land. In Orlais, it is considered a quirk of character and nothing more. In Ferelden, it is a matter of scandal if done indiscreetly but otherwise nothing noteworthy. In Tevinter, it is considered selfish and deviant behavior among nobles, but actively encouraged with favored slaves. Nowhere is it forbidden, and sex of any kind is only considered worthy of judgment when taken to awful excess or performed in the public eye.

so you can get more of an idea of how varied it is and what it looks like in a few different nations in particular! i don’t know what the legalities are about marriage though. it’s for sure legal in orlais. so i imagine, in finally a win for the orlesian chantry in general, they do have gay marriage? broadly the homophobia seems more of a social thing than having much in the way of legal ramifications

as for the guerrin situation, it’s important to note that the guerrin siblings had three parents. arl rendorn guerrin had a wife, marina, with whom he presumably biologically had rowan, eamon, and teagan. eamon’s son connor who we see possessed in dao is named after rendorn’s lover connor. so first of all, eamon teagan and rowan’s two dads were never legally married. you could consider that a logical compromise alongside the codex lines “Yet, even there, a noble who has done their duty to the family might be allowed to pursue their own sexual interests without raising eyebrows.” and “In Ferelden, it is a matter of scandal if done indiscreetly but otherwise nothing noteworthy.”

the real issue is that the codex in which the mistake was made that led to connor senior’s existence refers to connor sr, textually, in a work of chantry scholarship, as eamon’s father. which feels like a really strong move if you accept that this would be scandalous if public. in-world, there’s a lot of reasons this could be. firstly, the aforementioned codex is written by sister dorcas guerrin, who is, herself, a lesser cousin of the family and may have had some personal understanding of the relationships involved. secondly, rendorn and connor sr were war heroes who died at the battle of west hill fighting to free ferelden, and may receive some political and social leeway in that regard. thirdly, and most adventurously, maybe connor sr was eamon’s biological father and rendorn was the one biologically uninvolved, and rendorn took some legal means to legitimise him. which. is far-fetched but i enjoy because it makes eamon’s obsession with the theirin bloodline absolutely unhinged behaviour.

that does lead us to the fact that of course, as a late addition made to redress a codex mistake, this all kind of falls apart when you look at rowan and eamon’s canonical approaches to love triangles/squares and accusations of bastard children respectively, but man, if you take all this as canon, what an insane relationship the guerrin throuple must have had for their kids to turn out Like That about it

again, it varies, especially in private. the couslands for example are extremely casual about it; if a male warden arranges a one night stand with a man during the origin, he can mention it to his brother fergus (in front of fergus’ extremely pious wife and their young son!) who will simply laugh about it and make an older brotherly protective joke about, like, fighting the guy for him if he does him wrong, which i assume is the exact same line a female warden gets if they do the same. you don’t even mention to fergus that it’s a man—there’s an alternate version if you went with a woman—he just knows one way or the other, implying he already knows this about you and is very relaxed about it

[fellhellion]

for me the "Miguel as a cult leader or the ruling class" readings start to fall apart the second you try and argue for there being actual material based relations between the characters, or being able to successfully segregate the spider society into a very basic upper class/under class (labour force) structure.

because like. you don't accidentally end up with these kinds of power structures. they're function as they do in order for power and material resources to flow a certain way and pool amongst certain groups of people. but trying to apply that to spider society honestly just falls apart for me the second you try interogate that reading.

the key point is miguel doesn't materially benefit at all from the labour of spider society - he IS part of their labour, and the only thing that labour contributes towards is limiting the danger of villians running around. He runs around on missions personally and does what looks like admin work monitoring the Spot, as well as reviewing missions and delegating additional workload to other people as a leader. this is not a guy utterly removed from anything we can try classify as "labour".

Even if you want to argue his "material benefit" (very much stretching the definition lmao) to operating the society is social legitimisation of his own spiderman identity (something he seems to be self conscious of, if exploding at Miles in the train chase seems to be any indication) by virtue of the good he's doing, that starts to fall apart the moment you consider miguel has functionally isolated himself from that structure. in what we're shown, he doesn't engage at all in a casual manner with the wider society. he's holed away in his lab feeling sad and guilty - both emotions atsv takes specific care to portray in a way that highlights their genuine nature, by virtue of him always grieving alone and away from the eyes of others.

The very fact that he doesn't engage in a system he built to help spideys, that he doesn't take advantage of something that can help share the emotional burden he's bearing, forms the basis for the suppressed resentment he offloads onto miles ("And all this time, I have been the only one holding it all together!"). This character feels functionally isolated in his emotional burden BECAUSE he's isolated himself, because he doesn't confide in others. he does not materially benefit from spider society (aka his position as leader is not bound or enforced by something like wages, nor do you get a sense anyone else in the society views him that way) nor does he socially benefit from them, because he's isolated himself from engaging with them.

[canmom]

tsv season 3 ep 1-2 (30, 31)

we finally met VAL, seemingly a fan favourite character going by stuff that floats across my dash. so she's just straight up Rumor from the Umbrella Academy huh? ok, she tends to be a bit more flowery in her declarations of what is retroactively true, but it's basically the same mechanic.

i'm curious to see what other dimensions they add to VAL, because right now she seems like she could just upend any part of reality on a whim, and it's not entirely clear what's motivating her - right off the bat we are told we cannot trust anything she says. and this is the first character we have who is basically 'human with a power', which isn't my preferred territory. that said, the slimy politicians here are very well portrayed - it all feels a bit V for Vendetta-era Alan Moore with how direct it is, but honestly in this setting that kind of tracks!

I am really enjoying Shrue. their hypocrisies are very interesting. I appreciate that they've been given ge scruples, but also where they don't have scruples. they're happy to drop the withermark ('crab nuke' as they called it in the recap episode) on their enemies over the border, and probably sees themselves as doing good by legitimising the Parish on that basis. they participates in a hilariously dystopian system and still rationalises that they're a reformer.

there's really something about listening to a story about two nearly identical neighbouring countries barreling into a pointless, futile, merciless war, for no particular benefit of anyone but a ruthless political class, right as a full scale Iran-Israel war seems on the verge of kicking off (my Labour party prime minister, of course, eagerly rattling sabers behind Netanyahu). but when is that ever not timely, eh?

on the carpenter+faulkner side of things, I don't have a lot of comments to add just yet. it's always good to see them in action. the faulkner-carpenter-catabasians dynamic is tasty. this is a story with so many schemes, and yet it nearly always manages to make every character sympathetic and comprehensible within their context. (this is why I'm hopeful there will be more to VAL than how terrifying she is as a reality-altering killer.)

I listened to the Q&A in between seasons as well, and I'm honestly very impressed by hearing Jon Ware talking about his writing process. the man really has a knack for steering towards interesting conflict, and it's very evident in how he discusses the pitfalls he avoided, or the disdain in his voice when he speaks of how they could end up writing uninspired concepts ('it's a fire god and it makes you a fire monster') if they let the show run too long. or indeed his discussion of Faulkner's transness and how they wanted to approach that. like many creators of good shit, he seems quite self-effacing. it is pretty goddamn impressive that he taught himself the sound engineering that led to the elaborate sequences in the second season.

(I have no plans on adding 'audio drama' to my long list of unfinished ongoing projects, but I definitely appreciated hearing about some of the tool chains they use inside Audacity, since it's pretty closely related to doing the foley for animated films.)

excited to see where they're gonna take all this in this season, now things have escalated so much, and we have these new military elements in the story. though I am a little sad as well, in a way. it's a much bigger story now than it started out - our characters have become big shots, in classic fantasy style. such is storytelling, and the story had to develop, but I do miss a little the smaller-scale exploration of the world we had early on. that said, stories must evolve and become stale, and I am sure they're leading us to go out with a bang.

[srbachchan]

DAY 5564

Jalsa, Mumbai                May 11/12,  2023                Thu/Fri  12:39 AM

🪔 .. May 12 .. birthday affection to Ef Deepa Krishna .. Ef Iris Sharara .. and Ef Svetlana Beregovaya from Russia 🇷🇺 .. be well and happy .. ❤️ from your Ef Family ..

..

And there shall be deep consternation, by all the Ef,  on my not coming back earlier in the day when I had said I would .. yes that is valid and acceptable .. the work and the matters of other kinds of work kept me glued to the banters and there was little I could do to get out of there .. 

I am still not out of the woods .. the mind travels faster than expected these  days .. and on issues and subjects that do not necessarily have any medium that is common to them .. 

And the mind thinks harder than before .. of matters that not just define the scheduled activities of the day , but of that and those that have not relevance to the immediate process of thought ..

What transpired years and years ago come into brilliant light suddenly, when involved in thoughts and deeds that be relevant just now .. why one cannot say .. but many pundits of the celestial world do bring a semblance of thought in this direction to explain why this should happen to us and what the implications of that are .. 

And they do not sound respectable ..

So I shall desist .. another day of debate and discussion perhaps ..

The roads of the city are filled with the amount of traffic that would require immense amount of you know what .. but that needs a very pronounced reading writing and educative temperament to instil basic character first in the ones that have been given driving licenses or other such paper work to legitimise the work given for execution ..

It needs not campaign trailers to talk about discipline and authentic knowledge of traffic and its laws , but the desire to express empathy for the fellow driver on the road ..  the one behind the one in front the one in great need to side you and bring himself up front .. only to realise that he should have followed the code of conduct carefully .. before ..

It is a most frustrating site to watch how the rules and regulations from traffic departments are side stepped and disobeyed rampantly .. when we follow why do not the others .. 

That be the reason for the frustration to creep in ..

A solution shall be formed I am certain .. and that shall be the day of redemption .. 

I am dropping off to slumber .. but never without the consideration that many of the Ef shall be in waiting .. 

Love 

Amitabh Bachchan 

[liesmyth]

hi, i've been following you for a while now because it seems we have similar taste in media (especially thematically). an agonizing event occurred last week that's left me somewhat selectively mute and unable to work. i can't find joy or interest or love for anything. the locked tomb has always been there for me during my lowest points (me and harrow are like this 🤞) but i'm in such a horrible place that not even muir is helping. i love reading your TLT metas and trust your judgement based on those, so i was wondering if you had any recommendations for books/media that deals with grief and loss in fantastical settings. or just big, messy, taboo feelings in general. i'm looking for anything at this point.

Hi anon, sorry to hear this and I really hope you feel better soon. I'm sending you a big hug if you want it and I'm thinking of you very fondly. I'm not sure I can recommend exactly what you're asking for but I dearly hope some of these can distract you a bit. Please let me know if you want further content warnings + if anyone else has recs, feel free to chime in!

The Screwfly Solution by James Tiptree Jr. — This is a short story that I reread about once a year when I really want something that'll hit and fuck me up. You can find it in full here. It's an apocalyptic short story, very haunting, and the last line hits like a punch in the gut. CW for gendered violence all over the place if that's something you'd rather avoid.

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende — This is a generational saga set in 20th century Cile. It isn't sff, although it does have some magical realism elements, so I'm chetaing and putting it in here anyway. The first time I read it, it made me cry, and it remains my favourite Allende novel.

The Last Man Alive by A.S. Neill — A middle grade speculative fiction written in 1930s Britain, which is ostensibly for kids but, in the tradition of British children's literature, gets pretty fucking dark and creepy. It's about a group of schoolchildren and their teacher who survived a poisonous cloud that turned everyone else into stone, and by everyone else I mean the entire world. It gets pretty dark at times, and I remember being sucked-punched finishing the book and reading in the afterword what happened to each of the children who were the inspiration for the characters in the book. It's a very weird little novel, but also interesting in that "vintage scifi" vibe.

Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge — This is another middle grade novel and probably the lightest read of this entire fic; [spoilers ahead] it's about a changeling who doesn't have a memory of being made, and at first thinks she is the human girl she was meant to replace, and only slowly realises that something is wrong. It's ultimately a feel-good story but I found it bittersweet all around, and I think the themes of identity and self growth + the creepy fairytale vibes make it worth a rec in case you think it could help right now.

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica — This is a book about the mundane day-to-day happenings in a dystopia where cannibalism has been legitimised as a form of population control, and large swats of people are regarded as subhuman and eaten. It's very bleak and more plot driven than character-driven, so I'm hesitant to rec it if your usual go-to is TLT; but I think the story does very good things with the tight narrator POV + there are themes of alienations from family, eldercare and anticipation of grief. It's definitely a story that fucked me up a bit.

+ not sff in the least, but I finished this book very recently and it's still on my mind: I recently read The Manicurist's Daughter, a memoir that's primarily about dealing with grief from the loss of a parent, and how grief can destroy a family + trying to reconnect despite that. It's not exactly engrossing in parts, and I'm not sure I should rec it here because I found it too slow-paced to count as a real "cathartic read" but there was something about the numbness after suffering a loss and the ugly side of it that really spoke to me.

+ not a book and I haven't watched it in years but I think you might enjoy Revolutionary Girl Utena if you haven't seen it already. It spoke to me in the same way some parts of TLT do (and it's very gay)

[msfbgraves]

I wish CK would end with Daniel giving up Miyagi-do and teaching, leaving LaRusso Auto to Amanda, and just becoming a full time stay at home dad. He loves family life and homey stuff, and he always seems happiest and most content when he’s at home with his family 💕 I genuinely believe Daniel isn’t ambitious and would have been perfectly content being a househusband. I don’t think Amanda would mind either since she seems to be the one who runs the business and Daniel there just to help her out and charm the customers.

speaking of careers johnny needs to go back to being a handyman and like, actually try and be a dad to robby. his “karate” is better off as a hobby and certainly not something miyagi-do needs to be associated with.

So you feel there was zero character development for either of them Nonnie? Pretty damning on the writers 🤭 I didn't use to think Johnny was a bad sensei, but contrasting him with Miyagi-Do doesn't bring out the best in him. Sam and Miguel said they wanted the All Valley to be able to compete safely, to prevent injury, with the possibility to safely back out of a fight and if Johnny doesn't understand that Tory was at serious risk to hurt herself and Sam, after what had already happened to Miguel when Robby got like that, he's no better than Kreese.

As for the business - Amanda needs Daniel there as a front man. It's cars, the sexism must be rampant. I'm sure he already gets as much time as possible at home but without him, they would lose out on customers and contracts. I said what I said. The likes of Cole would really be like: "You're buying your cars from a chick???" The presence of a man legitimises a woman to those kinds of people. There also must be a reason why they focus on foreign brands, Daniel probably feels familiar and less aggressively Murican to those suppliers. I know for Americans, Johnny Lawrence may feel mainstream but to Europeans at least all the flag waving and bigger-is-better feels pretty foreign. Daniel of course to us is still very obviously American, but less loud, so he can close certain cultural gaps more easily. As long as he defers to Amanda behind the scenes, this model works very well. There would simply be too much stigma if Daniel stayed home permanently. I bet Amanda always closes up and comes home to a home cooked meal with Daniel having picked up the dry cleaning. It's the best this culture will allow.

[meikuree]

FINALLY someone who didn't 100% love BES. I did enjoy some of it but I lean on the "disliked it on the whole" side and it's been so weird seeing everyone praise it to high heavens. I take it that you enjoyed it more than I did (I did not like a lot of the 3D visuals, unfortunately, so the visuals don't really redeem it for me), but I'd love to see some balanced takes from you anyway <3

anon, you're in good company! honestly i've been baffled by the blandly, one-note positive reception to this (30% of my grief has to do with BES's base story, and 70% has to do with uncritical fannish responses), because... to be uncharitable... I have some big problems with its construction. feel free to come off anon and kvetch in my DMs if you want, I'll probably share your sentiments. sorry for how long i've taken to answer this!

to be fair the show does some things right and I think its achievements/innovations in art style and animation are to be lauded; I'm not going to speak over that when I'm not an expert on animation or media theory, but it's a bad sign when praise about any media amounts to "well, it looks pretty" or hinges so heavily on its aesthetics. to be extremely clear this doesn't fully apply to BES, because it does have deft character work, compelling characters, and some impressive cinematic instantiation/inhabitation with its attention to setting and detail -- i was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of deets like yaki-ire etc etc. -- but even on its purported selling points of japanese historicity and nuanced narratives about race, sexuality, gender, revenge, etc. I think it fails. it has glaring blindspots.

tldr: BES suffers from some (white) american/french narratorial sensibilities that kneecap the full potential of its story

or: BES pinged as an insufferably american and/or ahistorical rendition of its japanese building-blocks to me in some ways

it's probably just a case of misaimed audiences, and This Show Not Being For Me, but I've been baffled by:

how seamlessly some scenes around sex work and brothels and eroticism in this show slide in with orientalist tropes about japan being the Weird Sex and Kinky country despite the japanese-american creator at its helm, who's also spoken out against tropes like that -- until a buddy gave some context that those undertones seem to have been inspired by bande dessinées (french comics) with not-unsimilar tropes that may have been transplanted carelessly into BES by the studio

and this is what I mean by 'american/french' sensibilities -- I don't mean american/french in the most skin-deep representational sense, as in the studio that made it is an american-french one or whatever, as 'representation' is too often conceived on tumblr to be limited to, but on the deeper epistemological level of its worldview, frameworks of sexuality/race, and the cultural terrain it's working off or conversing with. BES includes storylines/arcs/even mawkish dialogue far more reminiscent of those in american cartoons. which is not an issue except of one of taste, but fannish responses holding it up as a groundbreaking commentary on race are orbiting a different universe imo

more egregiously it sustains overtones of that american favourite about the grand, Super Existential! Super Inevitable! and intrinsic clash of Cultures and Civilisations with a big C (a highly discredited idea in critical academic circles now, thankfully, no thanks to samuel p. huntington)

I almost wish the show had maintained a greater separation from IRL analogues or just invented a fresh fantasy universe because why set it in edo-era japan if you're not going to engage with the sociocultural norms, or narratorial traditions of that era

see: literary genres around jitsuroku (revenge narratives), how revenge would have been treated as a tool of sociocultural legitimisation then, the apparent forgettance of the entire history of nanban trade and the fact that japan as a geographical entity was not technically ethnically homogeneous, or only homogeneous from a hegemonic pov, given the existence of the ainu, the kingdom of ryukyu, and northern communities of hokkaido although tbf japan's borders probably didn't include them

i was hoping for an internal critique of or just more nuance about the 'japan = ethnically homogenous' narrative in the show and was more disappointed as it went on -- imo it's a narrative often most stridently parroted by the japanese government for nation-building interests and by others to avoid interrogations of the actual complexity of striations, divisions, etc in japan e.g. with burakumin (lower-'caste'* peoples)

* note: caste is an imperfect and not fully accurate descriptor

a significant part of my ire is reserved for the handling of 'whiteness' in this show although it's mostly hand-wringing over the complexity of intended audiences in this show, which might not be fair to blame on the creators; yes, whiteness is foreign and Other and bad, but what about the material and historical precursors that gave rise to that Otherness in the first place, where are they?; and look! whiteness is demonised; but the cartoon's being released in the USA and europe. it's certainly true that japan is institutionally hostile to foreigners and xenophobic, kudos for depicting the politics of that, but BES's american audiences mean i'm ambivalent about its in-universe premise that what is in fact an oft-fetishised trait in mixed race children (blue eyes) is bad (and the show's aesthetics don't support it; mizu's eyes are portrayed in the most beautiful way possible even though she's diagetically meant to be hideous and monstrous)