#when it starts affecting them

[collectivephilosopher]

Arcane and Human Rights

(it’s like really really long, way too long for my own good)

Why I think the issue between Piltover and Zaun isn’t political differences–hear me out both of you–

I think I figured out why this entire Piltover vs Zaun thing is driving me insane.

Listen, I think Pugs4Thugs’ video Arcane Was Always Centrist is a very good analysis that addresses a lot of political issues in Arcane. But it made me realize how some see the political issue as Left wing vs Right wing and I think this is the wrong direction to see it.

The issue between Piltover and Zaun has always been and will make sense if it were seen from the lens of HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION.

Before we start I want to make some things clear.

I’m not a westerner therefore I do not hold any political stance nor political ideologies. Left wings, right wings, whatever. We do not have that kind of concept. I never cared for political parties either since they all ended up the same anyways so I usually picked a candidate based on the individual. 

We do however have a history of heavy human rights violation cases. Until today a lot of people including me are still affected by the aftermath to various degrees. And wouldn’t you know it lmao it’s about to be repeated it seems.

Human rights is a universal fundamental right that one has as a human. Human rights should be the moral basis of every human.

If you can't agree then scroll away because I'm not convincing you.

I’m using the UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) by the UN as the basis of my statements. Again Human rights is a universal truth which holds above political and international law, the UDHR just formalizes it (if you see me writing 'Articles' I'm referring to articles in UDHR).

“Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more.  Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.”

(In short do not fucking argue with me with “it’s fiction” and “the UN doesn’t exist in Arcane” argument)

With that out of the way. I never understood the argument of “people complain about Arcane S2 because it doesn’t align with their politics” (as in political ideologies) because to me while the problem between Piltover and Zaun involves politic, the main issue has always been the HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION that Piltover did to Zaun. And human rights are never up for debate.

What differ human rights violations and crimes? The main difference is the perpetrator. A Crime is done by an individual or a group who violates the law made by the government/institution while human rights violation CAN ONLY BE DONE by government/institution.

“Violations occur when a Government fails in its obligations to respect, protect and fulfil these rights. Often a violation of one of these rights is linked to a violation of other rights.”

–International Bill of Human Rights

“It was considered a major human rights violation because the shooting by the armed forces at the time was not born from their personal autonomy, from under, but based on the policy, from upside. So the military soldiers, the police, the intelligence underneath is implementing policies or or political choices from the ruling government at the time. Which was controlled by the commander. So it is not a crime. It can be called a crime as far as that is concerned about the taking of life or the use of sharp firearms that causes the loss of life, sure it can be called crimes as in criminal incidents or crime but it is not normal crime. Not a crime because of–sergeant A, sergeant B or colonel A, colonel B–for example disliked the victim then they have personal motive whether it is grudge or economic affairs, etc. Or other criminal motives like robbery and so on and so forth, there is no connection in that. so it’s only the connection between two big categories; the state power and the public–in this case were represented by the student movement.”

“The state's accountability for violating its obligations (to the international human rights law) is to ensure that those who commit the act are brought to justice directly. Through the proper judicial process, of course. For example, the person who shoots directly, the person who orders the shooting directly, the commander who knows or has reasons to know that the shooting was carried out or he fails to prevent it even though he knows, or when he fails and he knows but cannot prevent it, he does not bring the perpetrator to justice. So the accountability of the command will be pursued until the person most responsible for the brutal shooting.”

Usman Hamid – 71. Dokumenter Tragedi Mei 1998 - Sudah 21 Tahun, Lalu Apa? ( translated to English)

"Human rights violation is when human rights is not the norm."

Remember this because it’s very important.

(everytime I say ‘Piltover’ I mean the council, the enforcer, and everything that builds the state. I will use ‘Piltovian’ for the civilians)

With this knowledge we can safely say what Piltover did to Zaun was human rights violation because SYSTEMIC OPPRESSION IS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION.

(oh they rhymed)

What Piltover did is 100% wrong. Whatever Jinx, Silco, or whoever that did crimes in Zaun did will never be worse than what Piltover did because what they did was crimes not human rights violation. Not saying that it’s morally justified but morality is a grey subject human rights is more black and white.

To help you understand it, let me give you this example.

If Mr. John killed his neighbour and he was then imprisoned for it. This is a crime, not a human rights violation. It’s violating the law. Now if Mr. John killed his neighbour and was NOT imprisoned because of, say, lack of the law upholding it. Then it became human rights violation because the lawlessness of the state has allowed Mr. John to get away with murder. They may not encourage it but they have enabled and failed to hold it justice due to the lack of law.

A. Piltover

Piltover’s Violation of Human Rights doesn’t just stem from neglect but also exploitation. We know from Vander and Silco’s history that shit has been bad before the failed rebellion/massacre at the bridge. We know from Silco’s dialogue with the chembaron how the grey has been there since they were young. We know Viktor’s illness is caused by the grey when he was a kid.

The Grey is a factory smog/waste dump to Zaun without proper filtering. Who owned these factories? It has been there since before the chembaron rises, it has been there before Silco took over the Lanes. The air quality has been bad since Vi and Jinx were kids. The show refused to show it but we can safely assume Zaun is where all the dirty work happened. 

It could be that there are two types of this gas. One is from the mines that formed from the explosion during back when the city was still called Osha Va’ Zaun (from league lore) and the other is pure factory smog (From league lore it was also stated the mines were owned by Piltover). I’m only going to encapsulate this within Arcane since I might lose a lot of details if I include Lol in this.

And honestly the Grey part is a bit disjointed. I have found a very good analysis discussing Piltover’s exploitation in Zaun (encapsulated within season 1). Read here.

The point is, Piltover actively exploited Zaun and neglected the Zaunite. Both of these are human rights violations.

Article 23 – Right to Work in Favorable Conditions & Fair Wages

Article 25 – Right to an Adequate Standard of Living

The show also shows the inequality and discrimination happening between Piltover and Zaun. 

Stillwater is a prison located in Zaun territory. Every single person we see ever going to Stillwater as a prisoner is a Zaunite. Vi, Sevika, the Jinxers, firelights, the Chembaron goons, Isha, Jinx (was that stillwater also?). We can also see that these cells have no bed, no furniture, it’s not up to standard living conditions. The warden also beat Vi up daily to the point he can’t even count himself. When Jayce was held in a cell, the cell had a bed, table, and window. 

Article 5 – Freedom from torture and inhumane treatment

“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

→ The warden beating Vi daily clearly violates this.

Article 25 – Right to an adequate standard of living

You can say it’s just holding cell, he was not convicted yet which leads me to the next issue.

Unfair trial. Despite having so many people go to jail, the only trial we ever saw was with Jayce. Every single Zaunites who were captured went straight up to Jail. They were not given the opportunity to defend themselves. Hell, Vi went to Stillwater for 7 years for no charges at all.

Article 10 – Right to a fair trial

“Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.”

Article 9 – Freedom from arbitrary detention

“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.”

The word “Trencher” is clearly used as a slur to Zaunites. It was used by Marcus once (an agent of the state). You can say he’s a bad apple but the fact that he can use a discriminatory term and was not held accountable for it means the use of the word was not biden by the law therefore making the law maker responsible.

Article 7 – Equality before the law and protection against discriminatio → The fact that Marcus, a state agent, used "Trencher" as a slur without consequence suggests that Zaunites do not receive equal protection under the law. If the law does not prohibit such discrimination, the lawmakers are complicit.

SAY IT WITH ME KIDS.

B. The Enforcers

This section overlaps with the previous one with some specific addition.

The enforcers in Episode 1 were shown doing a massacre on revolutionaries on the bridge (the arcane wiki uses the word revolutionaries) during an uprising. This is clearly a violation of human rights. Since the league wiki uses the word uprising, we don’t know if it started

peacefully or not. Vander and Silco were clearly armed but we were not shown which side attacked first. However that’s probably not the point of that scene. The point is that it was the peak of the violence happening because of tension between the two regions.

But it was clear that even so, the power gap between the enforcers and the protesters was clearly big. First, the enforcers have full body armor while the rebels are wearing normal clothes. Second, in ep1, we see an enforcer shot twice at the silhouette of a man. Once knocked the man down, twice when the man was still on the ground, point blank.

Article 3 – Right to Life, Liberty, and Security of Person → Even if it was an uprising, executing unarmed or incapacitated individuals (as shown with the enforcer shooting a man twice, including when he was already down) is an extrajudicial killing, violating this right (he could just arrest the man).

Article 20(1) – Right to Peaceful Assembly (conditionally) → If the uprising began peacefully and the enforcers escalated it into a massacre, then this right was violated. However, if it was an armed rebellion, this article is less applicable.

In episode 2 the enforcers aggressively interrogate the people of Zaun near the arcade. The man spat on the officer’s shoe and was thrown through the arcade’s window. They then start searching the kids without warrant. In episode 3, again the enforcers searched the kids’ bedroom without warrant.

Article 5 – Freedom from Torture and Inhumane Treatment → Throwing a man through a window for spitting is excessive force and cruel treatment, which violates this article.

Article 9 – Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile → The enforcers detained and assaulted Zaunites without legal justification, making it an arbitrary punishment.

Article 12 – Right to Privacy → Searching the kids without a warrant or reasonable suspicion violates their right to privacy and protection from arbitrary interference.

C. Zaunites, their crimes, and comparison to Piltover

C.1. Silco

I’m gonna start with Silco.

Silco, you can argue whether he’s a criminal or human rights violator. It depends on how you look at his place in the state. 

Legally, he’s not the law maker. He has no legal power over Zaun. With this we can argue he’s just a drug lord. His Shimmer empire is a criminal group that has enough money to bend the enforcer. He also exploits Zaunites to maintain power by violence and fear (“exploding his enemies” -Jinx) and money.

But we also can say that he was technically the leader of Zaun. If this is how we look at it then yes, he violates human rights. He flooded the market with Shimmer, encouraging dependency on an addictive substance (right to health), he uses Deckard as a human experiment for shimmer. He had allowed Zaunites to live in poverty and to a not up to standard living condition.

Article 3 – Right to Life, Liberty, and Security of Person

Article 5 – Freedom from Torture and Inhumane Treatment

Article 23 – Right to Work in Favorable Conditions & Fair Wages

Article 25 – Right to an Adequate Standard of Living

If we treat him as Zaun’s de facto leader, then he has a duty to uphold human rights, which he failed. 

However, the reality of the show shows that Zaun is ultimately still under Piltover’s rule, so the highest responsibility for these violations shifts to Piltover, not Silco. He and others I will discuss here obviously have moral and personal responsibilities but we’re talking about human rights. 

Since Piltover legally governs Zaun, the systemic issues—poverty, lack of regulation on Shimmer, and poor living conditions—are ultimately Piltover’s responsibility. Silco exploits these conditions, but he did not create them. He has no legal responsibility to fix these situations.

Zaun’s suffering stems from Piltover’s neglect and exploitation. Silco filled the power vacuum created by the neglect. His power exists only because of Piltover's actions/inaction. The root of the human rights violations still lies with Piltover, as they created the conditions that made Silco's rule necessary

I’m not saying Silco is going to be a great leader. If the deal for Zaun independence was ever through, I don’t think Zaun will magically have no issue. Silco is more focused on concepts instead of the actual humans. If he became the leader of Zaun legally, he would likely focus on the bigger picture. He certainly understands these concepts and what a nation needs to be independent. His deal with Jayce is proof that he genuinely wants Zaun to be a better place. However he’s someone who sees Zaun as what it could be aka the future, not the present (except for Jinx).

For example when he told Jinx, “the sons and daughters of Zaun deserve better than their (Piltover’s) runoff.”

He’s right. they do. But the sons and daughters of Zaun are also suffering from his shimmer. He doesn’t care what it takes as long as he obtained that better future. To him, it’s fine if the present children are suffering from Shimmer because he sees it as necessary for the future. The question is, until when? 

Even if Zaun became independent, they will still have to rise from ashes and blood (ha). At that point, Silco would bear full responsibility for its human rights issues. This is not saying he suddenly became gullible but he will be responsible. He has the responsibility to solve these issues. And unfortunately seeing how focused he is on the outline, the people on the lower side of the Zaun as a society will likely be neglected. To put it simply, Silco will likely focus on opening the door to opportunities while neglecting the people who do not have the ability to take said opportunities.

C.2. Jinx

Jinx Jinx, my baby blue. If you can’t tell by now, she’s my favorite character lmao. I promise not to be biased about her.

Jinx is the monster Piltover created. She’s one of the victims of human rights violations done by Piltover who grew up stronger than Piltover and in return hunted them back.

Unlike Silco, Jinx’s actions are more distinct to one another. Silco works in the bigger picture while Jinx works more on individual crimes.

C.2.1. Firelights

I will not talk much about them except the fact that on both times they clashed against each other, the firelights attacked first. The first time, Jinx was guarding a cargo when they attacked said cargo. The second time they just straight up attacked her with seemingly no reason (we know the reason but Jinx probably doesn’t). Obviously they have very different ideologies. The firelights use non lethal bombs for most of their attacks while Jinx just straight up kills them. Not saying Jinx never attacked first (probably, idk), the point is that  they are nemesis. Both swing their weapons. and for the both time the firelights ambushed Jinx, we can argue it’s self defense (and these are the rare times this argument can be made for Jinx lmao).

C.2.2. Ekko

Aside from the firelights stuff, we see Jinx and Ekko fighting again at the bridge. Honestly this is clearly a personal duel so no comment on that.

C.2.3. The Enforcers

Jinx’s massacre of the enforcers stems from pure hatred rather than a calculated act of rebellion—though the two overlap. The hatred is certainly more prominent than the rebellion. But we can tell that what Jinx did, despite coming from personal hatred, certainly has a reason. The reason being that the enforcers have been abusing Zaun, brutalizing Zaun. And Jinx is a part of Zaun. The enforcers have been abusing her. And if they have not ever since Silco took over then we can say past abuse. She’s bringing Zaun’s hell up to Piltover. To “Show them all” like Silco said. So with this we can say she's an Extremist insurgent (violent rebel fueled by hatred).

C.2.4. The Kidnapping of Vi, Caitlyn, and Silco

This is straight up just that lmao, kidnapping. A Crime. No comment on that.

C.2.5. Fishbone-ing the Council

Jinx doesn’t know the council was there having a meeting. She just shot the building, the symbol of Piltover. Her attack on the Council can be interpreted in three ways:

a. Terrorism → If she intended to cause chaos and fear, especially if civilians could be harmed.

b. Insurrection/Rebellion → If she saw the tower as a symbol of oppression and was attacking it as part of a broader resistance.

c. Accidental Assassination → If she didn’t know the council was inside but still destroyed a major government site, it’s still an act of war/terrorism, but without direct intent to kill leadership.

Jinx’s action fell mostly on terrorism. She sees the council as the symbol of her suffering and shoots them out of hatred with the promise to make Piltover’s life a living hell (even though season 2 dropped her motivation).

C.2.6. The Grey -> I’m gonna discuss this later in its own special section.

And despite all this, Jinx wouldn’t have done all of her crimes had Piltover not exploited and neglected Zaun (except for the actual personal ones like the kidnapping I suppose). Jinx wouldn’t hate the enforcers with burning passion had the enforcers not killed her parents and gotten away with it.

Jinx is not a hero. That much is obvious. She is a victim turned monster–she empathizes with other victims of the same oppression, a broken person who responded to oppression with extreme, chaotic violence. But she would never have existed without attrocities.

Piltover failed her, so she burned them to the ground. And if we’re talking about who is most responsible, it’s still Piltover.

C.3. Zaunites

Most of them are criminals. Vi, Powder, Mylo, and Claggor went to rob an apartment. Vander is an accomplice for hiding his kids’ crimes (and a past rebel, he has killed people). The Lanes is the black market area of the undercity created by The Last Drop for smuggling operations. The Jinxers is a rebellion group using violence against enforcers. We all know why they did the things they did. Because of Piltover’s oppression. The kids rob the apartment for survival (aside from Vi wanting to prove herself), Vander and Silco lead a rebellion because of Piltover’s oppression, The people of the Lanes, the chembarons, other Zaunites, resort to smuggling and illicit activities to survive.

Jinxers retaliate with violence is a testament of how your average Zaunites would do what Jinx did if they have the strength and the power to do so.

My point is that no matter what crimes Zaunites did, it’ll never be worse than the Human Rights Violation that Piltover has done.

D. jayce

D.1. His deal with Silco

Honestly it’s arguable whether Silco will give up a Zaunite if it were not Jinx but aside from that, this deal is heavily disproportionate. 

These are Silco’s demands:

a. Free trade routes

He wants the trade routes between Piltover and Zaun to be free. No blockage, No nothing. This is necessary for resource trades.

b. Blanket Amnesty

He wants what has happened between Piltover and Zaun to just be forgiven and the two moved on. Meaning what the enforcers have done, what the council has done, what Jinx has done, what Silco has done, etc etc be dropped and they move on focusing on their own nations.

c. Unrestricted access to the Hexgate

This ties back to the free trade routes. In that day and age, international trade mostly uses the Hexgate so if Zaun wanted to heal their economy, they would need hexgate for trades. Yes, it was Piltover’s facility.

d. Sovereignty

Silco wished for Zaun to be able to have complete authority over themselves. In this case with him as the highest owner of the authority. I mean, Silco was already the informal leader of Zaun so might as well.

Now these are Jayce’s demands:

a. Stop the production of Shimmer

Ouch for Zaun’s economy, they will have to find other goods for funding but at the same time Silco immediately agreed to it so I assume this has been his plan from the very start. He’s not planning on keeping Shimmer in an independent Zaun.

b. Return the gemstone

The gemstone was supposedly used as a weapon against Piltover because obviously Zaun currently have no military nor enough resources to defend themselves had Piltover invaded (doesn’t mean they’re completely helpless but still). I think Silco just kinda has to trust Jayce as a person who wants peace.

c. Give up jinx

This is diabolical. Jinx is a person. An individual. Terrible person as she is, her life is still immeasurable. I think that even if Jayce asked for someone else, even if Silco would not bat an eye on said person, it would still be a diabolical demand. Imagine a nation standing on the top of a person’s body.

This shows how Jayce/Piltover has not fully learned that this, all of this, is Piltover’s fault. Sure he said to the council he realized he’s not fit to lead Zaun showing his growth, but he still feels like he’s allowed to demand someone’s life as if he’s entitled to it.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand what Jayce is doing here. He’s trying to strip Zaun out of their power from the one he thinks is the least powerful to the most powerful one.

Shimmer→ He thinks Shimmer is weaker than hextech which is truly used combat wise but shimmer is also entangled in deeper parts of Zaun like medicine, economy, etc etc.

Hextech gemstone →this is self explanatory. He knows the gemstone if it falls into the wrong hands with the right knowledge can cause catastrophe.

Jinx → because he thought Jinx is some kind of Silco’s supersoldier.

But still, Silco here is asking for the bare minimum of requirements for a nation in which with this condition he is confident enough to lead without the risk of them crashing to the ground seconds after they took off. If we want to play the fair unfair game, what should have happened was Piltover fixing THE DAMN PROBLEM. in fact, THEY OWED ZAUN for all the Human violation they did towards Zaunite. All Silco was asking was literally to be LEFT ALONE.

D.2. Jayce and the Shimmer factory

The entire thing with Jayce storming a Shimmer factory and killing Renni’s son is another human rights issue because he never accounted for that after the incident.

Article 6 – Right to Recognition Before the Law → Jayce never reported the incident or took responsibility for the killing. By covering it up, he avoided accountability while continuing to operate as a political leader. You can say he was about to resign but he didn’t anyways at the end. He never told anyone about what Renni said and Zaun has to suffer because of that.

That being said the responsibility also falls upon the enforcers present. And since the enforcers were indeed shown to be present, therefore:

Article 7 – Equality Before the Law → If a Zaunite killed a Piltover child, they’d immediately face consequences. But Jayce, a high-ranking Piltover official, faces nothing because he never reports his crime. The law applies differently based on social status.

Article 10 – Right to a Fair Trial → Jayce avoids any legal consequences. There’s no investigation, no trial, and no justice for the child’s death.

E. The Grey

E.1. The Kiramman and the Grey

The Kiramman, ah the Kiramman. Anywhere I try to find where they get their wealth from, I found mostly nothing specific. The most I can find is that they’re renowned in trade and shipping and they invest in hextech. Of course this is a part of the show’s bias to show us clearly where exactly the council got their money from but I digress.

If we assume the Kiramman got their money from independent business then we can assume they got their wealth from factories, y’know? located in Zaun. The arcane wiki describes her as an “entrepreneur”.

She made the giant ventilation system that I can barely call ventilation since It encapsulate the grey into a chamber instead of directing it out to open air like a normal vent. It’s a waste containment which also does not work as functioning waste containment because they just left it there, unprocessed. From the map of the vent we can literally see the grey goes nowhere.

Cassandra (the Kiramman house) controlled the Kiramman key, which unlocked the Grey’s containment chamber. It also accessed the Kiramman archive. Instead of solving the problem, she controlled the solution then held it hostage. Honestly? it doesn’t even matter where she got her wealth from. Since she’s a councilor, then she’s also part of the government. She’s responsible for everything that happened down in Zaun and gullible for the exploitation done by the councilor. Again, she’s the law maker. She enables this to happen.

Article 25 – Right to a Standard of Living → The Kiramman family holds control over a vital environmental system that directly impacts Zaunites’ health. Instead of properly disposing of the Grey, they store it in a chamber, preventing full relief from pollution.

Article 3 – Right to Life, Liberty, and Security -> If the Kirammans control the vent and the key, they control the air quality in Zaun. This means they can allow or withhold relief at will, effectively holding Zaunites' health hostage.

Article 8 – Right to Legal Remedy → If Zaun has no legal power to challenge this system, it reinforces the systemic lack of justice for them.

Like I said earlier there might be two types of grey. The one formed from explosions in the mines and the one formed by factory waste. Since the first one was unconfirmed in Arcane I’ll mainly use the second definition (since it was confirmed by Smeech and the Kiramman archive).

E.2. Caitlyn and the Grey

No guys, I do not care if you still like caitlyn for all her “flaws.” you can love her, I don’t care, it's subjective. It just drives me viscerally insane to see people defending her actions.

So, I’m gonna make myself clear. I am writing this with the assumption that yes, physics does exist. I do not want to hear the “Arcane is fantasy therefore gas doesn't spread” argument. If you don’t want to acknowledge that then just walk away.

So Caitlyn here comes down as an enforcer in S2. She came down to Zaun as the state apparatus. Therefore once she went into that mission to find Jinx, she came down as part of the legal government.

The same applied to Vi btw.

The difference is that Caitlyn is the leader of this mission while Vi is her subordinate. She comes up with the idea to use the grey. She read the Kiramman archive about the effect of grey to human.We were shown the diagram of what it does to each individual human organ. And yet Caitlyn still weaponized it.

“She used it on criminals only!”

My ass. Almost every Zaunite can be classified as criminals.

"She used it at Chembarons only!"

She used it not just at Chembarons, but also at the Chembarons’ underlings. Have we forgotten that the people working in Silco’s Shimmer factory are children? Who to say these people don't also work for the other Chembarons?

Remember that the fact that children have to work in Silco's factory is also because of the poverty Piltover has caused in Zaun. Also, Chembarons, lord crimes as they were, only cared for money as they were, still a part of a marginalized group. The people Piltover oppressed.

That aside–

What is the purpose of using the grey? Really, what is it for? Gas weaponry is mostly used for crowd control. Like tear gas–like the writer wants us so badly to believe how the grey works. What’s the benefit of using substances like tear gas if you want to ambush a criminal base? It’ll literally just alert them of the enforcers’ presence. And I was right since Jinx was alerted before the enforcers, scratch that, before the visual of the grey even entered the screen.

They have guns, Just use the damn guns. If they’re trying to cover themselves then use a smoke screen like normal people. If they’re not confident enough to go on the mission without the grey then MAYBE HAVE MORE THAN 5 PEOPLE IN THE MISSION.

Again it is the show’s bias to say, “oh it doesn’t affect civilians” and deliberately remove that one scene from the trailer where Jinxers entered the Firelights hideout coughing. Don’t tell me “well it was deleted for a reason!” because the scene was already rendered which means it passed through the meticulous process from storyboard, animating, painting, finalization, etc etc. Also, we were shown the grey on: the street in the hellfire montage, the grey in the Vyx with last drop in the background, meaning the place must have been at or near a crowd populated place, the grey at the arcade, no where near any chembaron place, just a place Jinx knew.

The scene in S2E3 when Jinx confronted Vi about the grey, Vi replied with “we used the grey to clear the street, to keep people safe.”

So like… civilians then? you used the grey to clear the street from civilians so that if casualties happen, civilians will be out of the bullet line?

So I will say it time and time again, civilians will be affected by the grey and I refused to turn off my brain for that one glaring fact. It is beyond my suspension of disbelief especially since they use the same grey to pit Caitlyn and Jinx against each other.

Article 5 – Freedom from Torture or Inhumane Treatment → She weaponized a toxic substance against Zaunites, knowing its harmful effects. Even if targeted at criminals, chemical weapons violate human dignity and could harm unintended victims.

Article 7 – Equality Before the Law → The use of Grey specifically in Zaun suggests a discriminatory approach to law enforcement. Piltover doesn’t use chemical weapons against its own criminals, only against Zaunites.

Article 25 – Right to Health and Well-being → The deliberate use of an environmental hazard in a city already suffering from pollution further endangers the health of Zaun’s population, particularly children and the poor, who have no protection from its effects.

Article 3 – Right to Life, Liberty, and Security → Using a chemical weapon without regard for bystanders disregards the safety of anyone in the area, including those who are already victims of oppression.

E.3. Jinx and the grey incident

So Jinx rerouted the vent to shoot the grey back topside. Now it’s not very clear what this means. The show is framing it as Jinx attacking Piltover street as tit-for-tat. You hurt me, I hurt you back.

Now If the airflow is currently blowing into Zaun (blowing out the grey) then shouldn’t Jinx rerouting the vent sucked back the grey in? But from how it was framed, it seems like Jinx just rerouted the inside of the vent and it doesn’t really affect the grey on Zaun’s street. But still, if you logically think about it, the vent would be cleared from the grey. Jinx’s action even though she did it out of hatred, still benefitted Zaun.

Now Jinx’s terrorism towards Piltovian seems different than her action bombing the council tower in S1. In the battle, she uses “our” and snarls at Vi’s use of “we”. So she’s setting clear boundaries that she’s acting on behalf of “us”. As in, “Vi, you did not just betray me, you betrayed us, Zaun.” Jinx said, “poisoning our air?” from how it stated, clearly she was referring to Zaun as a whole, not just the Chembarons (Because Jinx doesn’t really associate herself as a Chembaron so she must have been talking as Zaun as a collective).

Jinx also said, “weird the kind of thing people believe when you choke them out?” This shows Jinx’s collective empathy towards her community. It honestly made me believe that Jinx wasn’t just doing this on behalf of her name and for her own hatred. She’s killing two birds with one stone. Get the grey out, and send a message to Piltover to not mess with Zaun.

Obviously the show very explicitly shows Jinx’s grey victim while showing none from Zaun. Again this is biased because we know both civilians are definitely affected. The show just chose not to tell Zaun’s part of the story.

Jinx shooting the Grey back at Piltover and Piltovian was the most extreme escalation of her war against them. But does that make her worse than Caitlyn? No. Even if Jinx’s action is (arguably) morally worse since she deliberately shot the grey topside indiscriminately as an act of terrorism, the most gullible one is still Caitlyn because she released the grey in the first place. Because without Caitlyn’s initial use of the Grey, Jinx would never have retaliated.

Jinx’s crime was reactionary—violent, extreme and unjustified, yes, but still a response to systemic oppression.

If Piltovian wanted to protest about the attack, go protest at the enforcer or the council.

BUT DON’T WORRY, I am indiscriminate. The ones most responsible for this is STILL THE COUNCIL. They are definitely responsible. If they know Caitlyn’s plan to use the grey and did nothing to stop it, then they are gullible. If not then Caitlyn is the most gullible BUT the biggest responsibility still falls on the council. If the council sees nothing wrong with it then the council is the most gullible. Cailtyn walked out of that entire grey incident without repercussion so we can assume the council probably approved it. Again, Violation of human rights.

Article 8 – Right to Legal Remedy → If Zaun has no legal power to challenge this system, it reinforces the systemic lack of justice for them.

F. The Martial Law

Maybe not too much on this (although everytime I say not too much it ended up being half pages long so...). But Caitlyn put “the city” under martial law under Ambessa’s suggestion until Jinx was captured. And by city, she means just Zaun because we saw nothing different in Piltover while we see enforcer checkpoints all over Zaun.

Article 1 & 2 – Freedom and Equality, No Discrimination → Martial law was enforced only in Zaun, while Piltover remained unaffected. Targeting one population under the guise of city-wide law enforcement is discrimination.

At this point she’s a COMMANDER. Assuming this means she held the highest position, then she’s responsible for all the things that happened under her watch.

Now about the checkpoints. We see enforcers are clearly there, checking bags, controlling the movement, so it was definitely under the enforcer force. 

Article 12 – Freedom from Arbitrary Interference → The enforcers controlled movement with checkpoints, violating the right to privacy and freedom of movement.

Rictus, Ambessa’s right hand, enacted violence on one of the Jinxer based on his hair color. The enforcers DID NOTHING to stop this even though the operation was under the enforcer’s supposed watch.

Caitlyn questions Ambessa about Rictus’ instigating violence at the checkpoint BUT she dropped it afterwards. She told Ambessa that she wasn’t the one encouraging violence and yet she does not object. Again, she’s the commander, the one with power. It is her responsibility to DISCOURAGE it. She said “arrest requires cause” and “why is peace always the justification for violence?” AND YET SHE LETS IT HAPPEN. The next time we saw the Jinxer, HE WAS ARRESTED and by Caitlyn’s own words: WITHOUT CAUSE. The Jinxer was shown to be interrogated, brutally at that. Is all of this happening under her nose without her knowing? HOW?? SHE’S THE COMMANDER. YOU CAN’T MAKE SOMEONE HOLD THE HIGHEST POSITION AND HAVE HER KNOW NOTHING. IS THERE NO ENFORCER GUARDS OUTSIDE THE INTERROGATION ROOM OR SOMETHING???

Which means she KNOWS she UNDERSTOOD that it is wrong and yet she did it anyways. She allowed it to happen.

Article 3 – Right to Life, Liberty, and Security → The Jinxer was arrested without cause and later interrogated brutally. This was under Caitlyn’s authority as the highest-ranking enforcer.

Article 5 – No Torture or Inhuman Treatment → The Jinxer was beaten during interrogation, an act of state-sponsored violence that Caitlyn allowed.

Article 7 – Equality Before the Law → Rictus violently attacked a Jinxer based on hair color, and no enforcers intervened. Meanwhile, Zaunites faced arrests without due process.

Article 10 & 11 – Fair Trial & Presumption of Innocence → The Jinxer was assumed guilty, arrested without a trial, and beaten during interrogation.

“It aligns with her character!”

I know and I truly don’t care if you still like her, we’re speaking about human rights today, later about the writing.

At the rally. Rictus again shown to be the one leading the arrest. But about a dozen enforcers were behind him. SO DON’T TELL ME CAITLYN HAS NO IDEA. HOW IS THE ENFORCERS ALLOWED TO GO ON AN ARREST IF NOT PER CAITLYN’S ORDER??? HOW??? 

And if Caitlyn knew about the arrest at the rally, then she must have known about the interrogation itself BECAUSE HOW ELSE WOULD AMBESSA KNOWS WHERE TO ATTACK?

If you want to tell me it was all Ambessa’s doing, Ambessa was the one telling enforcers around and the enforcers just ate it behind Caitlyn’s back THEN SHOW ME. Show me Caitlyn having a revelation that she has been fooled behind her back, that Ambessa has been operating the enforcers behind Caitlyn’s back.

BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED, WAS IT?

Vi said, “she oinked poison in your ear and you just ate it.”

Honestly Vi, you don’t really know that. But hey, Caitlyn did confirm with “I know!” Which means Ambessa just influenced her and not snuffing enforcers behind her back.

Article 9 – No Arbitrary Arrest or Detention → Approved mass arrests during the rally without legal justification.Article

19 & 20 – Freedom of Expression & Peaceful Assembly → The rally was violently suppressed, violating the right to protest.

BTW, CAITLYN KEPT THE WARDEN THAT SHE KNEW HAS BEATEN VI UP COUNTLESS TIMES.

She knew this guy is a human rights violator and yet she kept him. I know the argument is probably that was not her focus at the moment, but that doesn’t mean she’s not responsible and arguably gullible for it.

Article 28 – Right to Social Order Protecting These Rights → Caitlyn had the highest power to stop these violations but did nothing. She knew it was wrong, admitted it, yet still allowed it to happen.

She may not have actively ordered every abuse, but by maintaining her position, keeping abusive enforcers, and allowing mass arrests/torture under her command, she is directly responsible.

So now you may ask. Why am I talking about all this? Am I like, A PURIST? Do I just want to see happy stuff happening on screen? Do I want every issue to be black and white?

(Now listen here– I've said this in the beginning and I will remind you again, human rights violation is most definitely wrong. Unlike Jinx’s actions which can paint a shade of gray, you can never reason for it because the one responsible is the state itself. NO ONE can hold it accountable. No matter how much water you add, It will always comes out black)

Well kids, all of this analysis about human rights issues is actually just that, analysis about human rights issues in Arcane. I’m not complaining that much about the writing except maybe the biases I caught along the way.

That being said NOW I’m gonna complain about this one damn scene. Because it suggest that Jinx and Caitlyn were on equal term in case of attrocity.

SHUT UPPPPPPP. WDYM “OUR” CRIMES??? OH, I’M SORRY—

Caitlyn, I think you are mistaken. You yourself have not done any “crime” wanna know why? Because you’re behaving in the name of the state. It’s not a crime, Caity, don’t worry. Isn’t it fun? Being able to do all this violence without being held accountable because you’re only behaving in the name of the state? YES CAITY, THAT’S WHY IT’S CALLED HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION.

YOU ARE, IN FACT, NOT EQUAL WITH JINX. If you were EQUAL you WOULD NOT be outside the damn cell with Jinx inside.

YOU GIVING HER A “CHANCE”??? CAITY YOU ARE WORSE THAN HER. THE WORST JINX HAS DONE WAS INDISCRIMINATE TERRORISM, YOU VIOLATED HUMAN RIGHTS.

And don’t worry because Jinx KNOWS what she has done. Season 1 made it very clear that Jinx understands what kind of person she has become. The question is, Caitlyn: DO YOU??

I’m sorry, I try my best to reinforce calm and leveled discussion regarding Arcane BUT I HAVE MY LIMIT–

The only “crime” Caitlyn has ever acknowledged was for “listening to Ambessa.” Entschuldigung but no one ever told you to use the grey on Zaun.

Yes, Ambessa manipulates the situation in S2 but let’s be real, Renni’s attack on Jayce at the memorial was long awaited. 

Going back to Caitlyn, the second time Ambessa manipulated the situation is during S2E3. She lied about Amara being killed by two assassin Zaunites. Piltover ate it up, no question, no investigation (even though Caitlyn is supposedly a detective).

Caitlyn is clearly not competent for the position. Or at least not yet. She was given that position to her, she has not earned it herself. And guess what? The second she held the reign, she abused it and she never faced any repercussions for it. No, losing an eye is not a consequence of her action towards Zaun. Maybe the consequence of listening to Ambessa but she has not done anything for Zaun. She still lives in her cushy mansion and the ending chose to show her having a comfortable life with Vi instead of showing how she’s trying to redeem herself. She gets to walk away with it.

Caitlyn wasn’t just a soldier following orders—she was the commander of the enforcers. She had the highest authority in the force, which means she was responsible for every action taken under her command. Unlike lower-ranking enforcers, who might claim they were "just doing their job," Caitlyn had decision-making power and used it to enforce oppressive and violent policies.

Caitlyn is both a product of the system and a willing participant in it. She is not just complicit—she was responsible. And yet, unlike Jinx, she never faced judgment. She walked free, while the people of Zaun suffered under the system she upheld.

NO MATTER what Jinx does, what Silco does, what ANY of the Zaunite does. It will NEVER be WORSE than what PILTOVER does. A crime is an act of wrongdoing, but a human rights violation is a failure of a system meant to protect people.

“Arcane is a tragedy!”

yes. yes it is.

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 185

No one could get into contact with Constantine. 

Now usually that wasn’t that big of a deal, the man constantly disappeared for a few days at a time doing something or other, but he’d been completely silent and unseen for months. Usually he’ll at least answer a call to tell them to fuck off or something. 

And they really need his expertise and are getting incredibly worried for their grumpy team member. Yes he’s an asshole, but he’s their asshole, y’know? And he has a habit of getting into Situations (sure he also usually gets out of them, but what if he didn’t this time?!) 

So they’re desperate. Kind of really desperate. Desperate enough to use the summoning sigil they found on his fridge. They’d checked it, multiple times, and it should summon the hellblazer. 

“You’re not Constantine.” . 

The white-haired teen in the circle yawned, stretching and blinking at them blandly with familiar blue eyes before sighing. “Actually I am,” he stuffed his hands into his hoodie as he looked down at the summoning circle. “Well, technically just one of the many Laughing Magicians currently in the Realms.” 

He gave a grin, looking more amused than annoyed. “Pretty much every one of us is in the Realms right now for family reunion lol. (Did he just say lol out loud??) So like, you’re gonna have to specify which of us you’re tryin’ to summon. Honestly perfect timing for me thanks, the fruitloop keeps flirting with John and it’s horrific so.” 

… That was probably their John, wasn’t it…

[ruporas]

endless love!

[ID Two drawing collage pages of Vash and Wolfwood from Trigun Maximum. In the first collage, top corner, Wolfwood looks upwards disgruntled with a flushed expression, lying against a pillow, as his hair is being pet by Vash's hand. Next shows Vash and Wolfwood from behind, Wolfwood with his top bare and hickies covers around his nape area. Vash lifts hair away from his nape and asks, "More?" Wolfwood nervously says, "No." Next is a side profile of Vash, his arms around Wolfwood from behind while Wolfwood rests his hands against Vash's arms. Next to this are two smaller drawings; Vash turns to Wolfwood and says repetitively, "Wolfwood, Wolfwood..." Wolfwood, not looking at him, says "What?" He finally turns his head and looks shocked as he exclaims, "So close!" Vash says plainly, "You just noticed?" Below these is a drawing of Vash and Wolfwood sitting together as Vash kisses and hugs him from behind with his right arm around Wolfwood's neck and his left hand around his side. He also has his right leg propped against Wolfwood's knee. Bottom of the page has a comic. Wolfwood looks annoyed, speaking to himself, "Where is that idiot?! Need to get out of town before--" A chat bubble exclaims, "Wolfwood!" The next panel shows Vash running from the townspeople, small text saying "Get him! Vash the stampede!". Wolfwood, mad and about to pull the Punisher off his shoulder, says, "Argh, you fucking dumbass!" Vash exclaims, "Ah, don't!" before pulling Wolfwood into a quick kiss. He then tugs on Wolfwood's collar and says, "There's no need to shoot, just run!" Wolfwood stammers, "R-right..." with a flushed, dumbstruck expression.

Second collage; Top left, Wolfwood spoons Vash in bed, his arms around his chest and the other beneath Vash's head. Vash has his hand on top of Wolfwood's as he sleeps while Wolfwood lies awake. Behind this drawing is faint sketches of Vash's face. In a small panel, Wolfwood hides in Vash's neck as he mumbles to himself "Stop. Stop thinking embarrassing things, Wolfwood..." Beneath this drawing is another of them in bed, Vash now turned to Wolfwood and a hand on his cheek as he kisses him good morning. In a simpler style, Vash wraps an arm tightly around wolfwood with the text "snork mimimi" next to him while Wolfwood says, "We need to get up. Spikey! HEY!" In this corner, there are faint sketches of Vash and Wolfwood; one of them looking at each other; Vash kissing Wolfwood's forehead; Wolfwood saying, "Hand" with an outstretch hand and Vash says "ok" behind a drawing of them holding hands, both turned away from each other shyly. Next is a 4 panel comic. First shows Wolfwood's face getting squished by Vash's hands with the text "squish" around his face. Next, his cheeks are stretched with the text "Chee--" Wolfwood then hits Vash's face with his palm, exclaimining "That hurts!" The last shows Vash on Wolfwood's lap, smiling to himself as he continues to have Wolfwood's face in his hands. Next to this is another comic; A close up of their hands, Vash holding Wolfwood's with both of his. He then kisses the palm of Wolfwood's palm and says, "They're soft!" Wolfwood looks at him with flushed cheeks, "There's no way that's true..." END ID]

[myrkulitescourge]

i'm surprised i haven't seen any text posts yet about the Unsubtle Differences between astarion’s tiefling party/high approval forest scene and the one you get after the goblin party.

there’s something so terribly interesting about how the conversation afterward plays out depending on which variation you pursue.

like, most people have seen the tiefling party version by now. astarion basking in the sunlight the morning after, playing off most of what tav says with relative ease, even when they ask about his scars and he tells them about cazador. his cadence is smooth and composed, his smile almost friendly, even though you know, as the viewer, he’s playing a game of manipulation at this point. the only real crack in his demeanor is if tav notices that cazador’s “poem” was written in infernal, which, understandably, startles him.

but recently i watched the goblin party version of this same scene, and everything reads so differently. unlike at the tiefling party, it’s still the middle of the night when astarion tries to leave, thinking tav is asleep—almost immediately after the act, in fact. when tav does speak to him, he’s visibly nervous, halting and stammering in the middle of lines delivered unflinchingly in the other version of the scene. he gestures broadly and fidgets more while talking, his smile comes and goes. there’s even some of his distinctive high pitched, fake laughter sprinkled throughout the exchange, almost identical to later scenes where he's very, very obviously uncomfortable (like if raphael mocks him and magics off astarion's shirt to show the party his scars in act 2, or when confronting the gur children in their cell in act 3, etc etc).

siding with the goblins represents something deeply familiar to astarion, a level of cruelty he's more than familiar with and embraces likely because cruelty and duplicity, to him, go hand-in-hand with the power and freedom he craves so badly—but he won't stay the night with this tav, even if he approves of their actions. no, in this case, he'll keep to what's familiar and attempt to leave them in the forest under the cover of the very same darkness he resents having been cast into by cazador. when he gets caught, it sets him on edge, and everything he says becomes such a blatant lie to save face that tav would have to be completely oblivious not to see through him, or maybe just not care enough to.

but if tav saves the refugees? challenges his worldview and comes out victorious? oh, he'll complain of the poor rewards for his trouble at the party and whine about it being boring, but he decides to stay with tav through the night while they're asleep and on past dawn. he takes a moment to enjoy the morning sunlight, returned to his life after two centuries without. the same is true if you have high enough approval that he asks before the party, in which case, you've almost certainly hit his biggest approval gains: trusting him and supporting his safety. maybe he doesn't trip over his words when he speaks because, well, maybe this is someone he doesn't have to worry about. someone who's already more than proven themselves a foolish, heroic sort with a bleeding heart or otherwise demonstrated that they're already in his corner. in other words, not a threat—at least not to him.

does any of this make sense. i wanna study this guy under a microscope.

[fairyofshampgyu]

BASSIST BEOMGYU BASSIST BEOMGYU BASSIST BEOMGYU BASSIST BEOMGYU

[scoriarose]

She came up with a new activity

[xxplastic-cubexx]

i can't stress enough how this is probably like top five interactions between scott and charles for me its so silly

[X-Men Unlimited #1: "Follow The Leader"]

[ihatecoconut]

anyway deadpool & wolverine slapped and at the end of the film vanessa & wade get back together but they also get logan as their own boytoy/househusband. logan is not aware of this.

[freakurodani]

you love your friends so much you would never ever skip over a single moment, why would you *zone out* to make it go faster? you cherish them more than you know

yet, youre getting frustrated, you want your happy ending, you have worked HARD for your happy ending

you do everything you can to make them happy, to love you

and youre scared, that youre missing things, important things, in your haste to *fix* it

you hope they dont notice, that you stopped caring as much, in the right way

[melomania-p]

i can't stop thinking about this image of shinji & kaworu that i found on pinterest

[thegooblet]

you know how cats will leave dead mice and birds on your doorstep as gifts? lifesteal mapicc totally does that shit

[mourn-and-watch]

no but essek's abnormal behaviours in the last arc and especially in episode 140 are my roman empire. which is ironic because aeor is something of a roman empire itself. but in all seriousness, it was the episode that made me realise i love essek and his development so much and it kinda summarised it even before caleb's epilogue.

and i mean the "it's not fair" scene specifically. it's like, an epitome of his whole character progression from a person who put An Objectively Important Goal above all else without hesitation to someone who can't help but care for people around even more than his goal, no matter how big and relevant it is.

the mighty nein - and he alongside them - pretty much saved the world and freed an ancient city from thousand-year-long suffering. they defeated nine extremely powerful menacing entities who managed to stay out of everyone's sight for years and were so close to achieving their goal and dooming exandria in the process. they did the impossible and became heroes and somehow, they survived, even though they had bidden farewells a couple of hours ago because they had already understood what they had been facing. and nevertheless. they made it.

and none of them was celebrating.

mighty nein are basically essek's only friends. he knew them to be very unusual people, to put it lightly, loud and stubborn and completely inescapable once they consider you to be one of their own. and they showed him so much kindness and put so much faith in him, they were here playing the most atrocious music ever and digging clay in his backyard for a spell they invented just to help one of theirs and asking him if he could bring them pastries the day after they found out he was lying to them and had started a war. they were chaotic and weird and sometimes unbearable but most importantly they were carrying so much hope with them all this time - a hope they could end the war, a hope they could stop the angel of irons cult, a hope they could get better, a hope he could get better, and now, finally, that they could save their lost friend.

and that hope shattered, just like that, the moments after they'd already made the impossible. they saved so many souls - and then could not get back just that one.

for essek "my intentions were never good they were important" thelyss it just. shouldn't have mattered. they won. it could have been worse. people die and when they die they rarely come back. they should've been happy everyone else barely made it alive.

but for some reason, mighty nein being so defeated after they saved the world exposed him to that overwhelming feeling of injustice and unfairness. and i mean, there were many things essek considered to be unfair, but when i watched his first appearance and his interactions with mighty nein later on til their reunion in aeor arc, i wouldn't dare to guess that one of the things on that list would be something that personal. and personal not even to him.

the thing is, essek didn't even know who that guy was. why mighty nein cared about him so much. he had an idea, i guess, that he was their friend once, or someone in that body was. it was also a person who wanted to unleash a terrifying horrific aberration onto the material plane. it was a person very dedicated to killing essek and his friends - and they still didn't take any pleasure in fighting him. essek didn't feel strongly about lucien or molly, because he never knew them.

i don't think he mourned his death and failed resurrection. he mourned mighty nein's hope, the one they put in him when they had no reason to, the one they offered yasha in the cathedral and the one they kept after the spell for veth failed and the one they carried til the very end because they wanted it to reach molly. they had saved people with this hope. they had saved nations. they had saved the world. but they ended up feeling like it hadn't even been worth anything.

how desperate would it feel, witnessing people who for some reason always saw good in you when they absolutely shouldn't, who made literal miracles out of nothing, who ended wars and fought gods and tricked the hags and freed cities from horrors beyond anyone's comprehension purely because they thought it was the right thing to do and also loved their friends this much, silently crying over a dead body they couldn't bring back to life? how desperate would it feel to realise that with all your knowledge about time you dedicated your life to and threw away any principles for, you can't undo this? no one can. some things are left to fate alone and this time it wasn't kind to them. no matter how much good they did, they still got slapped in the face.

and it was, i think, such a genuine moment of empathy. like, essek is the character who prefers to put up a facade and act distant and self-composed but this time he just. walked away unable to watch this. the could only say to fjord that it wasn't fair. even when he was caught off guard in nicodranas he was able to explain himself and his motives to an extent even though he was a nervous wreck whose extra important plan went to hell the second the only people he cared about appeared. this time he had nothing to elaborate on. it just wasn't fair. it wasn't fair his friends didn't get what they wanted the most. it wasn't fair he couldn't do anything to make it right.

it is such a sad and beautiful and even cathartic scene because it is about person who started a war that destroyed so many lives - and then met this ragtag group of weirdos who saw a lonely stand-offish guy and said "hey, let's be friends!" and didn't even wait for him to answer. he saw them being serious and calculated and he saw them being ridiculous and extremely stupid, he saw their mistrust to outsiders and their loyalty to each other, he made spells with them and paid a visit to their hot tub, he ate their stale pastries and drank their hot chocolate mixed with whiskey, he was welcomed amongst them and in their wonderful home, both in xhorhas before they even found out what he had done and in the tower when they already knew - and then, he saw them mourning their loss, defeated and helpless, and he, a person who believed there were things more important than whole nations, let alone just one life, couldn't help but share the pain they felt. a pure display of compassion from someone who detached himself from it, who didn't believe he could grow into a better person capable of it again, but became one nonetheless without even realising it

[spaciebabie]

ive been running this shadowpeach shimeji on my laptop for a full day and these guys keep doing the hug animation initiation and just standing there and not hugging each other and at some point i had one macaque and one swk on my desktop and jokingly said out loud, "lol you're not hugging each other what you want a hug from me or something?" and the macaque shimeji RAN OVER FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SCREEN TO MY CURSOR and did the hugging initiation animation and i know its a program i know its a program i know its a program its not real i know its a program. why did my heart leap out of my chest.

[nakaremfarlei]

Was just thinking about the amount of animals Obi-Wan interacts with compared to literally everyone else and in the Clone Wars episode where Kamino gets attacked he literally gets saved twice by the same ray-like animal and just...

The growth from judging Qui-Gon for the 'pathetic lifeforms' he picks up to whatever he has going on during the Clone Wars era. He must have gotten that from Qui-Gon though, right?

And because it's my brain and it's rotting with all the star wars stuff I am consuming I was thinking of Obi-Wan saving all these creatures and the 212th having to deal with that. Surely they made one of the rooms pet proof in case one of them needs a new home. There also have to be clones who love that because of course Obi-Wan can't really take care of rescues on top of all his duties.

After the first few times this happens Cody learns to order animal food and other necessities. And if the Republic doesn't fulfill these requests or asks too many questions he'll just have to make sure to organize them on planet during the campaigns.