#what makes this worse

[maze-mind]

TW: ranting about Win's death / talk of his suic!de.

Look. I get it, Newt's death IS SAD, but it doesn't have nearly as much symbolism as WINSTON'S death. Maybe it just hit me harder because I expected Newt's death in the movies but not Winston's. I don't know. But something about it.. made it so that now Winston is a best boy to me. Like...

Winston isn't the first Crank the Gladers ever encounter, of course. But he's the first one (at least that the movie shows) that FOCUSES on WHAT THE FLARE DOES to people. It makes them feel things they're not supposed— therefore doing actions they're not supposed to. Not to mention, having it be a SUICIDE is even better to the fact.

As much as I agree with a LOT of people that The Scorch (movie) was kind of bad, I WILL give it credit for doing this properly. Because it WAS SAD. No film makes me cry— so I can't say I cried— but it made me want to kick and scream. Everything about it shouts to me, "THE FLARE IS SOMETHING THAT CAN CREATE EMOTIONAL TRAUMA!" in big, bold letters.

He asked to kill himself. The scene didn't dwell on it for too long— it got to the real action quite quickly. And there's NO 'oh, he's still alive' canonical twist like Gally. Maybe you're hoping that there is, but it's fairly obvious there isn't. He bloody killed himself. That's all it is, but yet if you took it out, you would lose a CORE PIECE.

Whether fans realize it or not (it's kind of obvious), this will be leaving a lasting trauma in all the boys' minds. The way everyone— in a line— just stops dead in the sand. AH, that scene was like a silent tribute. The same goes for the following campfire in The Scorch. If the survivors aren't scarred by Newt already, they're scarred by the vision of Winston. This isn't even lore. It's just logical facts.

And NEWT. Oh, Newt. The best boy gave him the gun in the first place. And I just.. oh. The implications behind this scare me. Newt either gave him the gun WHEN he was infected (depending on when you think he got infected), which would mean that he KNEW HE PERSONALLY would probably turn into what Winston was turning into. The terror behind that— but he has to accept it because he has *no other choice*.

The other alternative is if he WASN'T already infected when Winston killed himself. This one is my making of this. Newt solely did this because he knew Winston's motives— he understood. But this would give him even *more* terror than the first making, I think. He has to worry CONSTANTLY about if he's going to turn infected— and ONCE he knows he is, his mind is not leaving that image or the gunshot noise. And inspired by Winston, he did what he thought he had to in The Death Cure. Because that's *all he could think about*.

Oh.. what Winston and the Scorch Trials did to traumatize me.

[mythtakens]

“these characters should be mentally healthy before they get together 😌” ummm no I actually think we should smash their mental illnesses together like clumps of play-doh and see what colors it makes

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

historical drama/sitcom where two gay best friends (woman and man) get lavender married--and proceed to spend the Fancy European Honeymoon their parents paid for acting as each other's wingman

[captainjonnitkessler]

You know I used to think "tumblr's absolute refusal to actually engage with the Trolley Problem in favor of insisting that there must be a third, morally pure option that doesn't require them to make a hard decision and anyone who asks them to make a binary choice is just a short-sighted idiot is really fucking annoying, but I guess it's not actually doing any harm".

Anyway that was before we asked tumblr at large to decide between "guy aiding a genocide but making progress elsewhere" and "guy who would actively and enthusiastically participate in a genocide and would also make everything else much, much worse for everyone elsewhere" and the response was that there must be a third, morally pure option that doesn't require them to make a hard decision and that anyone who asks them to make a binary choice is a short-sighted idiot.

[wcdonaldo]

*girl who wakes up at noon voice* how is it this late already

[writtenbyevie]

do you ever not write for so long that you’re almost afraid to? like what if I’m dumb now

[adrift-in-thyme]

There’s something terribly poetic in the inevitability of events in EPIC. The choices Odysseus is given lead to no win situations. They aren’t really choices at all.

Kill a foe’s child or witness the death of your own. Sacrifice six men or sacrifice them all. Allow your crew to starve or watch as they slaughter sacred cattle.

Sacrifice your friends, your brothers, or give up your last chance at reaching home.

In the end, the result is always the same. He destroys himself

[theoldkyokodied]

The Allegiance of the Ascended Vampire and the New God of Magic

[boysborntodie]

TUA S4 proved that Netflix cancelling their shows after the first season is actually a good thing

[opikiquu]

iknow my comics are ugly please just hear me out

[sonny-d]

ok but if u think ab it arthur comes back and hes from over a thousand years ago so obv he doesnt speak the modern language he speaks brythonic and maybe probably old english bc kings used to speak a lot of different languages for their ppl in the east so im gonna say that that probably carried west but either way both brythonic and old english are so extremely dissimilar to welsh and modern english

the point tho is that merlin would like have to teach him a new language and also he would speak it with a very heavy accent that no one has ever heard bc accents change fucking a LOT over 1500 years especially coming from an ancient language

this is one of the greatest fic ideas i think ive had so far guys im excited

[why-is-it-always-autumn]

Love a self-inflicted time loop. The main character isn’t trapped.  They can stop whenever they want.  But how can they when things aren’t perfect yet?  They can do better than this.  They need to try again.  They can get it right this time.  They just need to try again.  They can stop anytime they want.  Just one more time.  They can fix this. They just need to try again.  There are still things to fix.  They just need to try again.

[danlous]

I feel like many people have a fundamental misconception of what unreliable narrator means. It's simply a narrative vehicle not a character flaw or a sign that the character is a bad person. There are also many different types of unreliable narrators in fiction. Being an unreliable narrator doesn't necessarily mean that the character is 'wrong', it definitely doesn't mean that they're wrong about everything even if some aspects in their story are inaccurate, and only some unreliable narrators actively and consciously lie. Stories that have unreliable narrators also tend to deal with perception and memory and they often don't even have one objective truth, just different versions. It reflects real life where we know human memory is highly unreliable and vague and people can interpret same events very differently

[deathricedrawn]

i'm ready to try

[shepscapades]

Your highness… I don’t feel so good

[chaosroid]

I really don't hear enough people talk about the fact that Shadowheart was not only brainwashed as a child, but had her memories repeatedly wiped. This isn't just your run of the mill reeducation. Like we're talking about having your brain literally tampered with by magic on a metaphysical level which is so incredibly violating and just on a completely different level than the typical indoctrination you see an average cultist goes through.

Your memories and lived experience is fundamentally responsible for shaping the kind of person you are. We see how important memories are with Durge because once they lost their memories, they were no longer the same person and became someone entirely new. Shadowheart was frequently subjected to memory wipes since she was kidnapped as a child, forced to adopt Sharran dogma, and every time she started remembering things about her past or strayed from their teachings, they'd take her memories away again. Imagine the only memories you're allowed to keep are the ones your abusers let you, as they continue to alter your perception of reality in order for you to stay obedient to their control. This is gaslighting on a level we have literally never seen before irl.

It's no wonder Shadowheart says the things she says, and yet, somehow, against the strict doctrines and manipulation that's been hammered into her for decades, she always ends up reverting back to her true self. From Viconia's journal:

No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't erase the good in her. It's honestly impressive Shadowheart is able to fight the brainwashing to this extent. And when she's left alone for once with people who are patient with her and make her feel safe, when she's given enough time to find herself again without being reset back to square one every time she gained an inch? She thrives.