#what saves a broken world?

[alternativeulster]

tbh i dont think the finale was as complicated as everyone makes it out to be. sutekh is a viewer, just like us. hes obsessed with the "mystery". ruby's mum isn't the reason it snows, or the reason that christmas eve 2004 is "raw and open" and keeps changing. its sutekhs obsession. he gave that night its importance by building it up and obsessing over the answer to the one question he couldnt find, in the same way that we did. we gave rubys abandonment its huge significance with all our theories and our desperate need to understand. in a way, we are sutekh. voyeurs of a deeply personal moment that we never had any right to. building ruby into a mystery when shes really just a person. shes special because we believe she is. time is memory.

[vaguely-concerned]

are. are you telling me that if the romanced mage warden dies and alistair is king, he deadass stares greagoir down over her dead body and grants the circle of ferelden its autonomy after ordering it rebuilt somewhere safer. first you have to deliberately leave him behind so he won't die for you and then he does that for you once you're gone, even when you're broken up??? absolute and literal king behaviour of the highest order????? the actions speak louder than words of it all??????? I think I hauve covid

[try-set-me-on-fire]

Thinking…

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage - The World Within

[cupcakegalaxia]

People want all the benefits of Christianity without all the repenting of sin, putting it to death and trusting in Christ part.

[legendoftherisingtide]

OKAY FUCKING IMAGINE WITH ME

The original concept for the manga comes true; it all comes full circle.

Deku gets support items. They mimic the quirks of ofa. He uses up his embers and continues to be a hero quirkless. He does not falter and continues to grow and improve. His power is never like it was but his experience and determination are what made him a true hero.

He and Bakugou still compete and they do not give up hope on being a hero duo.

They get a hero agency together and Deku is extremely popular as not only the new symbol of peace but as a true embodiment of how anyone can be a hero. He is an inspiration to quirkless kids and normalizes it. Kids who think they have useless quirks or are quirkless realize that they can do and be anything they want to.

Deku becomes the number one hero and competes with Bakugou as to who can maintain that rank the longest (their ranks are constantly shifting and they are always battling for who’s one and two,, Todoroki gets number one for like a month and both of them lose their minds)

It comes out that All Might was also born quirkless and he opens about it in an interview for a retrospect. He explains how proud he is of Midoriya and how he admires how he continues to fight as he, himself, had lost his spirit to keep fighting after he lost his quirk.

Deku continues to be a pillar of hope. Of the belief of good. Of reform and understanding. And under his influence, the world becomes more like what he embodies.

The essence of what a true hero is.

[superhousecat-once-again]

Unfortunately now that I’ve finally seen it, I 100% cannot stand the Solavellan ending and like I knowww that’s in large part because I’ve been functioning on a different level with the ship the entire time but it’s just sooo forgiving of Solas and sooo tragic for Lavellan and does not include the most fascinating element of their dynamic to me which is ‘Solas starts to see the value of the current world because of how much Lavellan loves it and is so deeply part of it’ and in fact fully discards it because Lavellan just fucks off to fade prison for “true love”

[katierosefun]

god . . . stories have never been more important to me than right now, huh

[fizzytoo]

what i don’t understand is how saving the word doesn’t give the bad kids ANY sort of credit. like???? they go to an adventuring school?? isn’t saving the world the whole point

[pathetic-gamer]

WAIT WAIT WAIT CONSIDER THIS: TOM AND BARBARA AS ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE, ALAN AND ALICE AS A DOOMED RETELLING

[trolls-poppy-specialist]

okay now I need a fic compilation of what were to happen if carmen were to be sick in every episode of the series

like, getting taken by VILE or some team red comfort (especially with the introduction of dadowsan)…

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

You know, back a long time ago when I was actively participating in Sk8 fandom while the anime was airing, there was a lot of mentality abound of people expressing how badly they wanted to "save Tadashi from ADAM". And of course, at that time it always felt like it came from a good place. The excuse was that because Tadashi was "obviously being abused" (also, to note, the entire mentality was also based on the assumption that Tadashi was perfectly normal before Ainosuke broke him and turned him into a loyal puppet, which turned out to be an incorrect assumption), so of course people wanted to save him, right? As "any good person would" they just saw an abused and broken man and wanted to save him and rehabilitate him and help him realize that the life he's living is wrong–

Wait a minute. This is where we pause. By the time the show itself had ended (or season 1 rather) and all the context had been given, this mentality began to rub me the wrong way.

Why?

Because in this situation, people started from a very reasonable place of "I feel bad for what this character has been through" and transitioned to a place where the character is treated both like a real person who can receive harm, but also a baby with no agency. From a more irl angle, this fictional character is an adult man, which canon went to a number of lengths to show that he has learned a number of skills of his own accord so he could be the perfect secretary, and he has enough going for him that he doesn't need this secretary job to stay afloat. In other words, by the final episode, canon could not make it more perfectly clear that he knows his reality and continues to choose it. Even in his fictional reality, he doesn't need someone to kidnap him and "show him what true happiness is". But also, he's a fictional character and not a real person. It doesn't matter whether he chooses to be in a situation you think is terrible or not. Canon is the way it is because the author made it so. It does not conform to your comfortability or your wishes for the characters.

This is to say that what rubs me the wrong way of the mentality that Tadashi is a poor poor man who needs to be saved and fixed and shown true happiness is that people erase the agency he has in his own story as an adult who chooses what he wants and knows what will make him happy, and also treat him like a real person whom people have a moral imperative to save from his abuser. And they all do so ignoring canon about the situation that doesn't back up the idea that he either is hopelessly stuck as a victim (and needs saving) or is stuck as a victim and can't see it because he's broken (and needs saving).

"Now, hadesknockedupintheunderworld," you may be wondering. "You're predominantly a Sonic blog right now. What does this fictional secretary man from an anime that stopped airing in 2021 have to do with that."

To which I would say, "You know me, random person on the internet. This does have to do with Sonic the Hedgehog somehow!"

The reason I brought this up is to say that...the way the louder Sonic fandom treats Surge and Kitsunami rubs me the wrong way. Because you see this very similar mentality here.

"Oh poor Surge she was traumatized and abused. She's a bad person right now because she's reacting to trauma and doesn't know any better. She doesn't know that she's being bad, but as long as she becomes friends with Amy/Sonic they'll help her heal and teach her that what she wants is wrong"

"Oh, Surge knows what she's doing is bad and doing it on purpose? Well of course that's Starline's fault isn't it. She won't want to kill Sonic forever. She just needs to find her old family and take back her old identity and make friends with Amy/Sonic. This way she'll be able to become a hero and learn how to be a good person. She can't be happy unless she's a good person with family and friends! And there are so many characters who can save her."

"What? She's becoming a hero but still wants to kill Sonic? Oh, well. The first steps are taken, but she just needs the right people to lead by example. It's her destiny and future to be a good person, she just needs to be shown how"

"Poor poor Kitsunami, Surge was awful to him. He's so codependent with her due to Starline's programming, and she's so terrible to him. Practically abusing him. He's still following her because the poor baby has no choice! His programming keeps him from ever defying Surge, poor thing. But don't worry, Kit. One day you'll realize that the heroes are just trying to help you! And Tails will help you break through your programming and show you how to be a good person! And then you can heal without your pesky abuser forcing you to do things."

"Oh, he wants to be around Surge? No that's his programming he needs to break through. The poor kid simply doesn't know anything else and is a slave to his programming. That's why I need– I mean, he needs someone to save him and turn him into a good person."

"Surge is taking so many steps to being a good person and hero, but Kitsunami is concerning me. It's his fault that she's not a good girl and a full hero yet because he's going to basically become a secret villain so she can be a hero. God she's gonna be so pissed when she finds out he isn't being a good person and is causing problems for her to fix. I so sooooo hope this doesn't happen, but if he doesn't stop then he's gonna solidify himself as a villain and deserve whatever punishment he gets as a bad person. If IDW has any good writers at all, then Kit will finally become friends with Tails and the others and they'll teach him that he's wrong! Then he won't be so codependent on Surge and dragging her down and he can be of worth to society as a good person."

The similarities here are thus:

This character has gone through bad things/trauma and I feel bad for them.

I personally want to save them and wrap them up so they can heal and never deal with those things again

The only people who deserve happy futures are people who are good people (who I see as good people).

Because I like this character and want to save them, this means I want good things for them. They don't deserve good things unless they're good people, so I need someone to save them and make them better people.

If the character isn't a 100% good person (to me), then it's because they don't know any better and need to be shown by someone else what a good person is like. If the character does know better, well then all the more reason for someone to fix them and change them for their own sake.

I've decided that the situation the character is currently in is bad for them because it doesn't fit what I think would be a good and happy future if I was in their shoes. This means that they must be hopelessly stuck and forced in this situation somehow and need someone's help to escape it and be turned into a good person so they can have the good future I've picked for them. Anyone in their life I don't think is conducive to that future is a literal bad person.

Therefore the character doesn't know what's good for them like I do, but I can save them and make them happy. And if you don't agree that they need to be saved and fixed into model citizens (even against their current will) so they can be happy then you may as well be ignoring a real person who's being abused and crying for help. But also if they choose against my wishes for them time and time again maybe the narrative will kill them because they'll simply deserve to die at that point. Of course I hope that doesn't happen! This is why they must be saved!

What I'm saying is, like with Tadashi sk8, people have taken the mentality that Kit and/or Surge are poor poor guys who need to be saved and fixed and shown true happiness. They erase the agency the characters have in their own stories as free people who can choose what they want now and know what will make them happy, and also treat them like real people whom people have a moral imperative to save from their abusers or themselves or whatever they've decided the problem is. And they all do so ignoring canon about the situation that doesn't back up the idea that they either are hopelessly misguided (and need saving/fixing) or are stuck as a slaves to their own programming and can't see it because they're broken/don't know any better (and need saving/fixing).

[winter-jay-official]

House MD is literally all just gay sex like. Thats it. I dont know how else you explain how this is ending

[fourswords]

zelda and shadow in the fsa manga drive me ridiculously insane actually. the panel where shadow is kneeling on the floor and zelda is standing there looking down at him and they're SEEING each other is enough to give me fucking RABIES. LOOK AT THIS

[spaghetticat3899]

Rest in peace, Smiling Scug rivulet campaign, for you were taken so soon.

Sleep well, sweet prince

[the-witch-of-woods-beyond]

i have an obsession with main characters that are chosen for twisted reasons and deconstruct the chosen one archetype. think katniss everdeen willing to die for her sister in televised brutality only to be dolled up and forced to function through her trauma as a prop for the rebellion, exploited by everyone around her only to be abandoned at the very end when she dared to do something of her own volition. think sophie foster being designed in a lab and tossed into the cruelty of the human world, dangled as bait for the black swan’s enemies and levelled up like a piece of technology whenever she is needed, scarred and tortured in every way that’s imaginable but scorned when she dares to step up. think clarke griffin stepping up to be a leader because the footing is familiar for her only to be dragged blindly through a ruthless path thay cuts everything she has away from her one by one, and when she has nothing left to give, her life is taken and twisted and pulled thin until she is needed once again to make an impossible choice.