#wheres JON retribution?

[morbidology]

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐰𝐨-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐁𝐮𝐥𝐠𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐧-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

On February 12, 1993, James Bulger was with his mother at the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, near Liverpool. In a moment of distraction, James wandered away from his mother’s side. It was then that Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both aged ten, spotted him. Security camera footage later revealed that the boys had been roaming the shopping center, attempting to lure other children before successfully leading James away.

For two miles, Thompson and Venables walked with James, leading him on a terrifying journey. Witnesses saw the boys and the distressed toddler but assumed they were siblings or that the older boys were looking after him. The journey ended at a railway line near Walton, Liverpool. There, the boys threw paint at James, kicked him, stamped on him, and threw bricks at him. They even put batteries in his mouth before they dropped a 10 kg railway fishplate him. James was then left on the tracks, where he was subsequently hit by a train.

The disappearance of James triggered an extensive search operation. The breakthrough came when CCTV footage from the shopping center was released to the public, showing James being led away by two young boys. This footage was crucial in identifying Thompson and Venables as the suspects.

The arrests of Thompson and Venables shocked the nation. The idea that two ten-year-old boys could commit such a heinous crime was incomprehensible to many. During their trial, it was revealed that the boys had planned the abduction and had even attempted to kidnap another child earlier that day. The prosecution presented compelling evidence of the boys’ culpability, including their detailed confessions and forensic evidence linking them to the crime scene.

The trial of Thompson and Venables took place at Preston Crown Court in November 1993. Both boys were found guilty of murder, making them the youngest convicted murderers in modern British history. They were sentenced to indefinite detention, with a minimum term suggested by the trial judge. This sentence sparked a fierce debate about the appropriate punishment for juvenile offenders and the capacity for rehabilitation.

The murder of James Bulger had a profound impact on the British public and legal system. The case led to a re-evaluation of how young offenders are treated within the criminal justice system. The intense media coverage and public outrage underscored the need for better child protection measures and more comprehensive support for families and communities.

Thompson and Venables were released on lifelong license in 2001, after serving eight years in detention. They were given new identities to protect them from public retribution. However, Jon Venables later returned to prison on several occasions for various offenses, reigniting public debate over the effectiveness of his rehabilitation.

[froizetta]

WIP Wednesday: baby edition

This week I present my first attempt at writing DC fic for a pairing other than superbat - but, you know, only barely because this is for superbat mini, aka jondami. This is the start of a fic I'm planning out about Jon and Damian through the years (ignoring Bendis' timeskip because I can) in a coming of age story, in which Jon tries to deal with figuring out he's bi and having a crush on his cool(-ish) older best friend. Working title: Puberty Fucking Sucks because like. It just does.

It started when Jon was 12.

There wasn’t anything special about the day itself. In fact, it was pretty ordinary: a normal Thursday afternoon where he and Damian were passing the time between school and patrol in their base, as they did every week. Damian was sitting on the floor with his back to the couch, curled over his sketchbook, doing… Well, Jon didn’t know what Damian put in his sketchbook, since he’d made Jon promise not to look. Jon was nice and a good friend – and maybe a little scared of what Damian might consider fair retribution – so he always humored him.

Meanwhile, Jon was slumped on the couch, putting off doing his homework by half-reading a manga that Damian had recommended. A…shujo? Shogo? Some kind of romance thing. Whatever it was, it wasn’t really enough to capture Jon’s attention. So instead, he found himself watching Damian.

They’d been best friends for most of the last 2 years at this point, so Damian was very familiar to him at this point. But in his boredom, Jon found himself focusing on the details of his face in a way he hadn't before, looking at the parts and not the whole. His eyes were slanted and striking, piercingly and vividly green even hidden below the thick, dark sweep of his lashes. His nose had a little bump at the bridge, and his mouth was small and turned down at the corners, so he always looked a little grumpy even when he was in a good mood. His hair was dark and crazy thick (it was an Arab thing apparently, or so Damian had told him when he’d mentioned it one time) and it was surprisingly soft when he didn’t style it. Jon knew that from personal experience, because once Damian had let Jon hug him during a sleepover when he’d had a nightmare, and Jon couldn’t help but rub his face into it a little, like a cat. Damian had grumbled a little but hadn’t pulled away

Damian was really pretty, Jon thought. It wasn’t a new thought. Damian had always been pretty – though not pretty like girls were pretty, just…attractive. It was just a fact of life, in the way that most actors and pop stars and even Damian’s own parents were just obviously, objectively nice to look at.

But still, something about this Damian was different from the version that lived in Jon’s head. He was still shorter than Jon, although not by much. But even though Damian was smaller than him, he somehow looked…more. Older. His hands had always been long and kinda elegant, but now they looked as strong as Jon knew they were. And his jaw was no longer round and soft like Jon’s, but sharp and defined. Masculine. There was a breadth to his shoulders that felt new, even though logically it couldn’t be since he saw Damian most days, but…but somehow he hadn’t really noticed it before. It made his uniform blazer hang differently, in a way that felt weirdly distracting.

Damian wasn’t just pretty anymore, he realized. Damian was handsome. And Jon wasn’t sure why, but something about that thought got to him, made him feel weirdly hot and squirmy inside.

He quickly buried his face in the pages of the manga he wasn’t reading. He’d felt like this before, months ago. He was watching a commercial break with his parents and the pretty actress on screen had really enjoyed her branded yoghurt. Jon had gone very quiet and very red, and his dad had shot him a knowing look. Which was pretty much the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to anyone ever.

Jon had mumbled something about finishing his homework and fled upstairs. He spent most of that evening typing a bunch of awkward questions into google in private browsing mode. And then after that, he’d guiltily rewatched that yoghurt commercial a few dozen times – but on mute, so his dad couldn’t hear. His attempt at secrecy didn't really pay off, because a week later his dad had come into his room and sat him down for a Talk, as in the Talk, which had firmly pushed the yoghurt incident itself to second place in the ranking of Most Embarrassing Things.

But…but this didn’t make sense, Jon thought to himself. Why would Jon be having yoghurt commercial feelings about Damian? Damian was his best friend!

He chanced a peek at Damian over the top of his manga. It was still just Damian, familiar and sulky and way lamer than he liked to pretend he was. His best friend, Damian. He had his head bowed, pink tongue poking out between his lips like it did when he was intensely focused, and for some reason Jon couldn’t stop staring—

He forcibly ripped his gaze away, mortified. Oh no, this was weird. This was so weird. The yoghurt commercial was rapidly being pushed to third place in the rankings. He needed to leave right now.

He stood abruptly. “Hey, so I’m gonna go.”

Damian turned his head to look at him sharply. His habitual scowl was tinged with confusion. “What? Go where? We’re supposed to patrol in an hour.”

“Just training,” Jon said, false-bright. “I’m gonna work on some stuff. Training stuff.”

The confusion was very much still present. “Oookay?” Damian said. He flipped his sketchbook closed. “Did you want to spar? I could—”

“Nope,” Jon chirped, already edging towards the door. He was trying very hard to look at anything but Damian, which was probably super suspicious, but. Looking at Damian just felt like a lot, okay?

“It’s just some dumb superpower training my dad told me to do,” he continued. “It wouldn’t interest you, trust me. So you can just stay right here, while I go…away from here.” He winced. “Anyway, see you at patrol!”

He didn’t wait for Damian to respond before he turned and marched out of the room, well aware that he was acting absolutely insane but completely powerless to stop it. Thankfully, even though Jon knew Damian was incredibly suspicious of his behavior, he didn’t follow him.

Jon spent the rest of the time before patrol carefully carving patterns into wooden blocks with his heat vision and trying not to think about Damian’s opinions on Activia.

[sebeth]

Who Ran King’s Landing During The Greyjoy Rebellion?

A random thought that occurred to me while trying to sleep last night: Do we know who oversaw King’s Landing when Robert’s forces were subduing the Iron Islands during Balon Greyjoys’s rebellion?

The members of the small council known to be at the Iron Islands were Robert Baratheon, Stannis Baratheon, and Barristan Selmy.

I’m eliminating Varys, Littlefinger, and Cersei as candidates. There is no way a eunuch master of whispers and a low-born coin counter were left in charge of the realm. And Littlefinger would surely have reminisced in his viewpoint chapters if he was in control of the realm. Cersei also doesn’t recall ruling the realm in Robert’s absence. And Robert was definitely leery of letting Cersei having power.

Do we know if Jon Arryn went to the Islands? He may have felt that as Hand of the King he should have gone with Robert but he was also 1) quite elderly and 2) the only remaining trustworthy member of the council to run King’s Landing.

Renly would have been around 12 years old so he would be too young to be appointed to the council. Who was Master of Laws before Renly?

It comes down to Jon, the unknown master of laws, or a short-term “hand of the king” replacement/castellan? I’m not sure who that would be though – all the obvious choices were at the Iron Islands.  Ned and Stannis accompanied Robert. Tywin or Kevan Lannister would be a wise choice but I can’t imagine Tywin being willing to stay behind after the Iron Islanders destroyed the Lannister fleet. He’s not one to suffer a humiliation without exacting retribution. Where Tywin goes, Kevan follows. Maybe Hoster Tully if his sickness hadn’t started yet. Renly is eliminated again due to his youth.

So were left with Jon Arryn, the unknown master of laws, or a temporary castellan. I’m leaning towards Jon Arryn remaining in King’s Landing but does anyone have a definite answer?

[politicalblade]

What the hell did they think was going to happen?

Israel was mere moments away from an airstrike on April 1 that killed several senior Iranian commanders at Iran’s embassy complex in Syria when it told the United States what was about to happen. Israel’s closest ally had just been caught off guard.

Aides quickly alerted Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser; Jon Finer, the deputy national security adviser; Brett McGurk, Mr. Biden’s Middle East coordinator; and others, who saw that the strike could have serious consequences, a U.S. official said. Publicly, U.S. officials voiced support for Israel, but privately, they expressed anger that it would take such aggressive action against Iran without consulting Washington. The Israelis had badly miscalculated, thinking that Iran would not react strongly, according to multiple American officials who were involved in high-level discussions after the attack, a view shared by a senior Israeli official. On Saturday, Iran launched a retaliatory barrage of more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel, an unexpectedly large-scale response, if one that did minimal damage. The events made clear that the unwritten rules of engagement in the long-simmering conflict between Israel and Iran have changed drastically in recent months, making it harder than ever for each side to gauge the other’s intentions and reactions. Since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, an Iranian ally, and Israel’s subsequent bombardment of the Gaza Strip, there has been escalation after escalation and miscalculation after miscalculation, raising fears of a retribution cycle that could potentially become an all-out war. Even after it became clear that Iran would retaliate, U.S. and Israeli officials initially thought the scale of the response would be fairly limited, before scrambling to revise their assessment again and again. Now the focus is on what Israel will do next — and how Iran might respond. “We are in a situation where basically everybody can claim victory,” said Ali Vaez, the Iran director of the International Crisis Group. “Iran can say that it took revenge, Israel can say it defeated the Iranian attack and the United States can say it successfully deterred Iran and defended Israel.” But Mr. Vaez said: “If we get into another round of tit for tat, it can easily spiral out of control, not just for Iran and Israel, but for the rest of the region and the entire world.”

This account of these tense weeks is gleaned from interviews with U.S. officials, as well as officials from Israel, Iran and other Middle Eastern states. All of them spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters they were not authorized to reveal publicly. Planning for the Israeli strike in Syria started two months earlier, two Israeli officials said. The target was Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the commander for Syria and Lebanon of Iran’s elite Quds Force, a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. About a week beforehand, on March 22, the Israeli war cabinet approved the operation, according to internal Israeli defense records that summarized preparations for the strike and were viewed by The New York Times. The Israeli military did not comment on the internal assessment. Those records also outlined the range of responses from Iran that the Israeli government expected, among them small-scale attacks by proxies and a small-scale attack from Iran. None of the assessments predicted the ferocity of the Iranian response that actually occurred. From the day of the strike, Iran vowed retaliation, both publicly and through diplomatic channels. But it also sent messages privately that it did not want outright war with Israel — and even less so with the United States — and it waited 12 days to attack.

American officials found themselves in an odd and uncomfortable position: They had been kept in the dark about an important action by a close ally, Israel, even as Iran, a longtime adversary, telegraphed its intentions well in advance. The United States and its allies have spent weeks engaged in intensive diplomacy, trying to tamp down first the expected Iranian counterattack, and now the temptation for Israel to reply in kind.

When it came this past Saturday night, Iran’s show of force was significant, but Israel, the United States and other allies intercepted nearly all of the missiles and drones. The few that reached their targets had little effect. Iranian officials say the attack was designed to inflict limited damage.  U.S. officials have been telling Israeli leaders to see their successful defense as a victory, suggesting that little or no further reply is needed. But despite international calls for de-escalation, Israeli officials argue that Iran’s attack requires yet another response, which Iran says it would answer with still more force, making the situation more volatile. “The question now is how does Israel respond in a way to prevent Iran from rewriting the rules of the game without provoking a new cycle of state-on-state violence,” said Dana Stroul, a former top Middle East policy official at the Pentagon who is now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. In fact, Israeli leaders came close to ordering widespread strikes in Iran on the night Iran attacked, according to Israeli officials. Israeli officials say the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, which caught them by surprise, changed the ground rules of regional conflict. To its enemies, it was Israel’s bombing and invasion of Gaza that did that, and it led to increased rocket fire by Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon. That in turn drew heavy fire from Israel.  The Israeli airstrike in Damascus killed seven Iranian officers, three of them generals, including Mr. Zahedi. In the past, Israel had repeatedly killed Iranian fighters, commanders and nuclear scientists, but no single strike had wiped out so much of Iran’s military leadership.

By March, the relationship between the Biden administration and Israel had grown increasingly fraught, as Washington criticized the Israeli assault in Gaza as needlessly deadly and destructive — “over the top,” as President Biden put it. Then came the Israeli strike in Damascus. Not only did the Israelis wait until the last minute to give word of it to the United States, but when they did so, it was a relatively low-level notification, U.S. officials said. Nor was there any indication how sensitive the target would be. The Israelis later acknowledged that they had badly misjudged the consequences of the strike, U.S. officials and an Israeli official said.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III complained directly to Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, in a call on April 3, U.S. officials said, confirming an earlier report by The Washington Post. Mr. Austin said that the attack put U.S. forces in the region at risk, and that the lack of warning had left no time to ratchet up their defenses. Mr. Gallant had no immediate comment. The vulnerability of thousands of U.S. troops deployed in the Middle East became all too clear earlier in the Israel-Hamas war, when Iranian-backed militias fired on them repeatedly, killing threeand injuring more than 100. Those attacks stopped in early February only after retaliation by the United States and ominous warnings to Iran. The night of the Damascus strike, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Swiss ambassador in Tehran to convey Iran’s outrage to Washington, along with the message that it viewed the United States, Israel’s primary backer, as accountable for the attack. Using Oman, Turkey and Switzerland as intermediaries — Iran and the United States do not have formal diplomatic relations — the United States made clear to Iran that it had not been involved and that it did not want war.

The Iranian government went on an unusually open and broad diplomatic campaign, spreading the word that it saw the attack as a violation of its sovereignty that required retaliation. The government publicized that it was exchanging messages with the United States and that Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian was speaking with representatives of countries in the region, high-level European officials and leaders of the United Nations. On April 7, Mr. Abdollahian met in Muscat, Oman, with his Omani counterpart, Badr Albusaidi. Oman is one of the main intermediaries between Tehran and the West. The Iranian message at that meeting, according to a diplomat briefed on it, was that Iran had to strike back but that it would keep its attack contained, and that it was not seeking a regional war.

Before and after that meeting there was a whirlwind of phone calls between Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken; Mr. Biden; Mr. Austin; Mr. Sullivan; their counterparts in Israel, China, India and Iraq; NATO allies; and others, officials said.  The Biden administration did not think it could dissuade Iran from attacking at all, a U.S. official said, but hoped to limit the scale. Mr. Blinken talked to senior Israeli cabinet members, assuring them that the United States would help defend against an Iranian attack, and urging them not to mount a rash counterstrike without weighing all considerations. American and Israeli intelligence agencies worked closely together, with help from Jordan and other Middle Eastern countries, to learn what they could about Iran’s intentions. Intermediaries and allies told the United States and Israel that Iran planned to hit military sites and not civilian targets, U.S. and Israeli officials said. Iran’s message was that it would temper its attack so as not to elicit an Israeli counterstrike, Israeli and Iranian officials said. But in reality, the Israelis said, Iran was expanding its attack plans, and wanted at least some of its weapons to penetrate Israel’s defenses.

Initially, Israel’s military and intelligence services expected Iran to launch no more than 10 surface-to-surface missiles at Israel, an attack they code-named “Late Foliage.” By the middle of last week, they realized Iran had something much bigger in mind, and the Israelis increased their estimate to 60 to 70 surface-to-surface missiles. Even that turned out to be too low. On Wednesday, Mr. Biden publicly reinforced what he and his aides had repeatedly said: Despite friction with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the American commitment to defending Israel from attacks was “ironclad.” Still, the Biden administration also redoubled its diplomatic efforts to head off a confrontation, and Iranian officials said their government fielded calls last week urging restraint from countries across Asia, Europe and Africa — an effort they described as frantic. 

Turkey, relaying an Iranian message, told the United States that Iran’s attack would be proportionate to the Damascus strike, according to a Turkish diplomatic source. Mr. Abdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, told state television the day after the Iranian barrage that Iran had given its neighbors 72 hours’ notice of the attack, though the specifics of that warning are unclear. Israeli officials say that, thanks in part to international cooperation, they had a good idea in advance of Iran’s targets and weapons. The Israel Defense Forces evacuated families from some air bases and moved aircraft out of harm’s way. The U.S. military coordinated aerial defense efforts with Israeli, British and French forces as well as — crucially — those of Jordan, which lies between Iran and Israel. The United States and Israel had been working quietly for years with friendly Arab countries to develop a regional air defense system with shared detection and alerts. The effort picked up steam after several drone attacksagainst Saudi Arabian oil facilities in 2019. 

News of the first wave of the Iranian attack on Saturday, consisting of 185 relatively slow drones, spread worldwide hours before any of them reached Israel. The three dozen cruise missiles Iran launched later were much faster, but the biggest challenge was Iran’s ballistic missiles, which traveled several times as fast as the speed of sound. Iran fired 110 of them, posing the first major test of Israel’s anti-ballistic missile defense system. American, British, French, Israeli and Jordanian warplanes and air defense systems shot down most of the drones and missiles before they reached Israel. Only 75 entered Israeli airspace, where most of those were shot down, too, Israeli officials said. The attack did only minor damage to one air base, and only one serious injury was reported. Throughout the strike, Iran’s Foreign Ministry and the Revolutionary Guards kept open a hotline to Oman’s government, to pass messages back and forth with the United States, Iranian officials said.

At 3 a.m., the Swiss ambassador in Tehran was summoned again — not to the Foreign Ministry, the usual practice, but to a Revolutionary Guards base, according to an Iranian and a U.S. official. She was asked to convey a message that the United States should stay out of the fight, and that if Israel retaliated, Iran would strike again, harder and without warning. Iran cast its barrage against Israel as a measured, justified act that should not lead to escalation. “We carried out a limited operation, at the same level and proportion to the evil actions of the Zionist regime,” Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards, said on state television. “These operations could have been a lot larger.” Mr. Biden told Mr. Netanyahu in a call that Israel’s successful defense had demonstrated its technical superiority, according to John F. Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council. “The president urged the prime minister to think about what that success says all by itself to the rest of the region,” Mr. Kirby said on Monday.

But in interviews, Israeli officials described the attack in far more dire terms, in part because of its sheer scale. They emphasized that this was a sovereign nation, from its own soil, attacking Israel directly, and not through proxies abroad.  Israel’s war cabinet had ordered the military to draw up plans for a wide-ranging set of strikes against targets in Iran in the event of a large-scale Iranian attack. After news came of the Iranian launches on Saturday, some leaders argued behind closed doors that Israel should retaliate immediately. Waiting, they said, would allow international pressure for Israeli restraint to build, and could let Iran think that it had set new ground rules for the conflict, which Israel considered unacceptable. Among the leaders making that argument, according to three Israeli officials, were Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, former military chiefs of staff who were in the Parliamentary opposition to Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing government and are usually considered less hawkish, but who joined the war cabinet last fall. The Israeli Air Force was ready to carry out the order, but it never came. On Saturday night, after Mr. Netanyahu spoke with Mr. Biden, and because the damage was limited, the war cabinet postponed a decision, and more postponements followed.

The world is still waiting to see what Israel will do.

I don't know what Israel was expecting.

They bombed an Iranian Consulate nearby an Iranian Embassy. That's a no-go by international law. It's like they were expecting to get away with this sort of thing.

Israel fucked around, and now they're crying victim now that they're finding out.

[lets-talk-spirituality]

Hip Hop Playlist

Because nothing can make you feel cockier than rap! And 2023 is a year for cockiness after spending years being way too humble.

🎤🎧🎸🥁🎹🎺🎻🎷🪗🪇🪈🪕🪘🎤🎧🎸🥁

DNA- Kendrick Lamar

My Hood- Jeezy

All Day-Kanye West

Piss on your grave— Travis Scott

U Mad? — Vic Mensa

I’m different—2 Chainz

Ain’t I— Yung LA

Rubberband Man— TI

Rubberband Man— A$AP Ferg

Beat It— Young Dolph

U guessed it— OG Maco

Final Warning— NLE Choppa

Not Nice—Megan Thee Stallion

Bricks— Gucci Mane

Halle Berry—Hurricane Chris

Hard in da Paint— Waka Flocka Flame

Grove St Party— Waka Flocka Flame

Snap Yo Fingers— Lil Jon

Hypnotized— Plies

U don’t know me— T.I.

We Luv Deez Hoez— OutKast

Yeah Right— Vince Staples

Smoke & Retribution— Flume

No Long Talk— Drake

John— Lil Wayne

Money in the Grave—Drake

Suge— DaBaby

Throw Some Ds— Rich Boy

You was right— lil uzi vert

Bitch—moneybagg yo

Press—Cardi B

No Frauds— Nicki Minaj

Party Up— DMX

Hold It, Now Hit It— Beastie Boys

Fuck that shit— Three 6 Mafia

Birdz— wuki

Materialism as a means to an end—$uicideboy$

Love Again— Run the Jewels

Gas Pedal—Sage the Gemini

Whole Lotta Choppas— Sade ft Nicki Minaj

Whole lotta money— Bia

Bills paid— Dj Khaled

All Ass— Migos

Fuckwitmeyouknowigotit—Jay Z

Track Star Remix— Mooski

Lookin’ Boy— Hot Stylz

Thick— Dj Chose

Laffy Taffy— D4L

The way I live— Baby Boy Da Prince

Independent— Webbie

Roll Out (My Business)— Ludacris

Holidae Inn— Chingy

HAM— Kanye West

Backseat Freestyle— Kendrick Lamar

Diana— Pop Smoke

Blasé— Ty Dolla Sign

IV. sweatpants— Childish Gambino

Hella Neck—Carnage

Bricks—Carnage

I Like Tuh— Carnage

Going through changes—Eminem

Yahhh!— Soulja Boy

Still Dre— Dr. Dre

Nuthin’ But A G Thang— Dr. Dre

Pressurelicious—Megan Thee Stallion

Hot N****— Bobby Shmurda

Don’t Like— Chief Keef

Panda— Desiigner

Swing— Savage

Tie Me Down— New Boyz

Mrs Right— Mindless Behavior

Shake Senora— Pit Bull

Dance (ASS)— Big Sean

Amen— Meek Mill

Started—Iggy Azalea

Look At Me!— XXXTENACION

All Gold Everything—Trinidad James

Famous—21 Savage

Enough— Flume/Pusha T

You Be Killin ‘Em—Fabolous

Country Grammer— Nelly

Lock Jaw— French Montana

We Fly High—Jim Jones

Move (If You Wanna)—Mims

Rock Yo Hips— Crime Mob

I Know You See It— Yung Joc

Hood N****— Gorilla Zoe

Throw Some Mo—Rae Sremmurd

Flex (Ohh, Ohh, Ohh)— Rich Homie Quan

My N****— YG

Flex Like Ouu— Lil Pump

Whoopty— CJ

Shoulder Lean—Young Dro

Ridin’ Dirty— Chamillionaire

Lean Back— Terror Squad

Where the bag at—City Girls

Stupid— Ashnikko

Spoil My Night—Post Malone

Slow Motion—Juvenile

Too much sauce— Future

Lean Wit it Rock Wit It— Dem Franchize Boyz

P.I.M.P— 50 Cent

[majesticwren]

The Hanging Tree (Dean Ambrose | Jon Moxley x OFC)

Summary: Are you, are you comin' to the tree? Where they strung up a man, they say, who murdered three — She is on a path looking for war as her fate foretold. And he has war within him. Both, thirsty for vengeance, justice and blood.

Words: 5k. Trigger Warnings: Canon Violence, Fighting, Threatening Behaviours, Borderline Toxic Display of Affection - Kids, don't try these red flags at home, Deano being Deano. Tags: my lovely @hirunoka and honorary mention to @literaryuppsala, thank you both for all the support 💕 Let me know if you'd like to be added 🌻

← Previous Chapter | Next Chapter  →  Masterpost Playlist

Chapter 3 - When You Break.

Some days passed. Mostly, though, time was a confused concept that collapsed on itself, minutes passed like hours at times, just as easily as hours would flow quickly without her even realising. Between the hard training, the much-hated press releases and the travelling from one Arena to the next, it didn’t appear that Valkyrie had much time on her hands. And yet, she still had plenty of it to feel like something was constantly missing.

The worst was going back to empty, sterile, neutral-coloured rooms, with their freshly made beds, empty closets and cabinets, and lack of personal belongings of a lived life. By now, she hated the smell of crispy cleaned and ironed white linen or the bland white musk fragrance that every hotel soap or shower gel had. And she hated to be relegated to live in nothing more but a space with a bed and a bathroom. Not that she had a choice, it wasn’t as if she had any better alternative or a home and a family to return to. She wasn’t from that place, after all. Not of that world entirely. She didn’t even have a name.

All was starting to make her feel like a prisoner all over again. Except now, the boundaries of her engagement were invisible. She was stuck. And that had never been a problem before until something tweaked inside of her and she started feeling. She never felt the need for warmth and belonging – not since she had been trapped on Earth and not from before either.

But now, everything she could think about was only one man. And he seemed to have the power to make her realise how inconsistent and meaningless everything else that surrounded her was. It was like a light had been shown over how dark and grim her existence had been up to that point, and now she was set on changing it.

But, at the same time, her hands were tied. No choice. No prospective. She was just there to pull a show. To fight. To do the bidding of her faraway Gods. And to hunt for a retribution that seemed impossible to catch. And – as if that was the most important part of it all – the man who was responsible for waking her up from a long emotional coma, didn’t appear to want anything to do with her.

She hated feeling like that. It was the worst part of it all. It felt like she was somehow developing a weakness, like a broken tooth or an uncovered nerve.

She was embracing whatever interest she felt towards Dean, still finding it a pleasant distraction and a welcomed change from how she had been used to living for too long. Not that she could fight it. But, at the same time, she had to impose herself to respect his boundaries, which brought her to stay away from him. As far as possible, in fact. And that caused her mood to drop and her feelings to deteriorate into missing him more than she had ever missed a person before.

She was perfectly and painfully aware to have no right to feel in such a way, especially since she barely knew the guy. Yet, there was nothing she could do to sedate the clutch around her chest every time her bed felt too cold. Or when she felt she could have gone mad if she didn't hear his voice, or see his face, even if just for a second. And Gods, only thinking about the possibility of receiving his attention made her stomach cramp with longing.

Everything seemed to be emptier, quieter and less important when Dean wasn’t around to fill the space. It made her feel naked and exposed. And so damn stupid.

She needed to see him. Even to argue a little. Even if it was inappropriate. But worse of it all was that she didn't even know how to approach him.

She was a Valkyrie. She was not of that world. A fighter, unafraid and unstoppable. Yet, even someone like her was now on her knees. No man should ever have such power over her, only the Gods, and yet, there she was, offering it to a simple man. Unacceptable.

Maybe that was why fate was mocking her.

She constantly felt like she was spinning out of control and that caused her to be extremely irritable and just overall not herself. Outside arenas she would be far too distracted and distanced from people to entertain even the simplest of conversations. And the Gods had to have mercy on the people she was set to fight against because she was set on releasing all her frustration on them. She had become an unstoppable force. Violence easily took over her, flooding through her fists, and making her bloodthirsty. And more often than not, she would find herself pushed over the edge.

Adrenaline was a dangerous drug.

Like that night.

She had already fought and won through a regular match earlier, and then she had been called to aid a wronged warrior. Never before had she ignored the Gods' calling. So, even then, she obliged, ignoring the tiredness and soreness after a fight, because she was surely ready for another. She was always ready for another.

As darkness flooded through the arena, the audience already knew what was coming and invoked her name with full lungs.

When she appeared on the ring in her usual fashion, she found the wronged man crouched down in one of the corners, as his opponent hadn’t stopped for a second to hit him, ignoring the referee's attempts to make him stop, the crowd boos or the commentators’ speechless reaction.

Valkyrie didn’t even care about their identity. She was blinded by anger, fuelled by her need to bring justice, to the point that she became blind in front of their features. They were only other men. The obligatory next aiding she had to do to honour who she was.

Her sudden appearance struck like lightning, destructing everyone’s attention.

She didn’t give time to the huge standing bald guy to catch his breath. She was quicker. Taking advantage of his surprise, she threw herself to the still-standing man and tackled him to the ground at full speed and power, using a rope to launch herself against him. She grabbed his head, and pushed it down onto the ring floor, hitting it twice. The tremendous bang on the metal surface of the ring echoed through the entire arena, followed by the crowd howling. Valkyrie turned him on his back to slide across his stomach. She straddled him and, grabbing his head, held him still. Hit right in the face. The crowd exploded wild. The commentators screamed in awe. She ignored the pain of her knuckles directly hitting the solid frame of his skull. A sick, sadistic smile appeared on her lips, drawn by her satisfaction in hurting someone. Then she hit again. Not giving him any time to react.

As soon as his strength weakened, she locked him in a submissive position, pulling on his arm joints as hard as she could. A wild howl left her chest as she screamed like a wild beast, releasing some of her frustration and underlining how much power she was putting into the fight. Probably way too much. But Valkyrie didn’t care.

She looked up through the blinding lights of the ceiling of the arena as her reverence went right to the Gods.

Following her queue, the referee was on the ground beating the floor three times.

The crowd went wild.

She knew she was supposed to let go. She won. As much as she knew the guy was greatly weakened now, probably on the edge of unconsciousness himself. But she struggled to end it. The referee had to suggest it to her twice, before she actually, finally, backed off.

Only then her focus seemed to come back to her. She hopped over the exhausted body of the tall, muscular guy. The look she gave to his face was brief, but now she was struck by recognition. Cesaro. She had fought with him before. And won already. Pure satisfaction poured over her.

As she stood up the entire crowd fell into an eerie silence. The iridescent wings to the side of her head caught the lights as she turned over only to focus on the other man.

He was now standing up, with an arm tucked in front of his naked abdomen. It was undeniable that he had seen better days. His breath was laboured and his skin pearled in sweat, it was clear he was in pain. And yet, as she looked at her through his messy, long dark hair, she caught his sparkly black eyes. A grateful but cocky smile bent his lips. “Thank you,” he began bending in a small bow.

The recognition of his handsome features was fleeting, but more than enough to let sparks fly as a wildfire of emotions took over inside of her.

He was the man who had betrayed and hurt Roman and Dean. She had time to do her research and learn about what had happened. And she wouldn’t have missed that guy through a crowd.

Valkyrie trembled, looking right at him like a beast would do with a prey.

One of the commentators went “oh-oh” as she moved closer to him. She was undeniably pissed off, but Rollins didn’t appear to be too impressed or scared.

What a pity. What a mistake.

She moved quickly, unwilling to risk being intercepted, grabbing him by the hair. Firmly pulling him down, she made sure to make him bend under her clutch and enjoyed hearing the painful groan that left his throat.

“I didn’t do it for you.” She dangerously growled at his ear as she kept pulling him downwards, to make him kneel. The crowd went wild again, chanting her name. Only when he was on his knees, she let go giving him a hard push. “I’m watching you, Seth Rollins.” As his name rolled on her tongue in a hidden threat, she pointed at him.

He didn’t even try to fight her. Though a cocky smile still bent his lips as a chuckle left his chest. “Please, do.”

She didn’t even react to his mocking and left the ring.

She didn’t feel like a winner as she walked backstage. The crowd that she would generally love and appreciate was so easily forgotten, as she was just ready to retract and go wait somewhere for her next fight. The adrenaline the fight had given her was already wearing off as she was only left to deal with a fit of consuming anger she didn’t know where to put. Only fuel to her frustration.

By the time she arrived at her locker room, she was already too tired of everyone’s shit to think to deal with her team’s questions.

“Everybody out.” She ordered drily, pointing to the door before anyone could say a word.

“We need to talk.” Her manager began, sliding next to her, offering a bottle of water, only to be struck by her deadly look.

“Later.”

“It can’t wait. It’s about Orton.”

“I said later.” She said again, this time her tone was a clear threat, making it impossible to misunderstand her.

When she was left alone, Valkyrie fell heavily on one of the chairs, trying to catch her breath. Her eyelids fell heavily as she took a deep breath, letting her head fall backwards. She focused on the feeling of her tired muscles and on the cool breeze hitting her sweaty skin.

She definitely had to do something to fix whatever was bothering her, because her acting was becoming a problem. She was distracted. That was the entire thing. Being distracted made her weak. She knew it was a matter of time before she slipped into a dangerous situation of some kind. And Gods forbid that anyone found out where her mind actually was because that would make Dean an immediate target, or a weapon to be used against her.

“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re a scary woman?”

She didn’t even react to the soft, sarcastic tone that invaded the space. Of course, she wasn’t allowed to be left alone for long, regardless of what she desired. For a second, she wondered if the Gods had cursed her or something.

She lifted her eyes and found Roman standing by the door, leaning on the frame with his shoulder. She tried her best to be as welcoming as she could, not necessarily wanting to eat him alive as she did with most of the other people that surrounded her.

Roman had become a stable presence in the background of her life. He would often check in; may that be for a wave in the hallway or chit-chat over coffee. She knew he was trying to keep her safe, and as he acted casually about it, she decided to indulge him, pretending not to notice how he often looked over her shoulders or happened to escort her through places.

They had met only a few days ago, but she thought she could start to consider him a friend. He surely did respect her enough. And she liked how often he wouldn't be a man of too many words. Plus, she knew he was a good man and knowing he was the closest person to Dean made it also so easy for her to genuinely enjoy his company.

"Once or twice," she sighed, welcoming him with a tired smile.

Roman slid through the room and advanced towards her. He was wearing his stage armour, so she briefly hinted at it. "Match?"

"No. But Dean will in a bit. So-"

She looked away. Pretending she didn't care was really difficult. But she did care. She cared a lot. So, it meant that Roman needed to be on watch because Dean had a bad reputation and tended to have more enemies than he could handle. And only Roman was in his corner. Or, better, he let only Roman be in his corner.

"You could go talk to him you know?" He dared, bending over to catch her eyes before she could get lost in her own thoughts.

She released a burst of nervous laughter.

Since when was she shy and awkward?

"No. I don't think so."

"Why are you both so stubborn?" He grumbled rolling his eyes to the ceiling.

She immediately jumped on the chair; her attention was caught. "Why? What is he doing?"

"Want my opinion?”

She nodded. And, as Roman went all serious, she straightened her back, hoping to hear something from him, that would finally give her some ease. "He should be doing you. But he is just doing nothing. Much like you, sweetheart."

She gasped loudly, immediately punching him on the arm. Hard.

She wasn't sheepish and she surely knew sex. And yet, hearing such a language made her uncovered nerves jerk. It was easier to deny how much she wanted to be railed by that crazy man than accept such desperation.

"You're despicable."

"What is that not the truth?"

"I don't know, you tell me." She rolled her eyes even if they both knew Roman was not wrong.

Gods. No. He was the furthest from wrong.

"No, you tell me. You've been on a warpath ever since you met the guy and it's not getting better. Don't lie to me now, c'mon. I'm not dumb."

She gave him an intense look. In her eyes, it was so clear that her thoughts went in the opposite direction.

“Ok, smartass,” he shook his head, giving her a playful push, “I’ll mind my own business then.”

“Yes, thanks that would be lovely.”

Roman relaxed, leaning on the umpteenth piece of furniture. “Being serious here, though. He won’t come to you because he knows he was an asshole. And since you make him more insane than usual, he will stay away.”

“So, why should I go against what he wants?”

“Because what he wants and what he gets for himself are two very different things, sweetheart. Trust me on this.”

Valkyrie shook her head, releasing a sigh. She really wanted to but she could only feel the rope tying her wrist become tighter and tighter, as she realised, she didn’t really have much of a choice.

“He will push me away. And maybe is better that way-”

“Better for who? So you can both just torture yourselves? Dean only knows the fight, never the resting. Staying away from you it’s not what he wants. It’s just another fight.”

“I-” She choked, shaking her head before looking away, “why are we talking about this?”

“I am just trying to take care of my brother’s best interests, that’s all.”

“Well, ok then,” struck nerve. All of her nerves. Gods, how she wished she could just go to Dean and stuff her affection and care down his throat. She wished he would embrace her. She wished to find the same sweetness he offered the first time they talked. But she feared being rejected once more.

So stupid.

She was a deity afraid of being rejected by a simple man. A man who had her on her knees with one look.

But before she could continue on her line of thought, looking into Roman’s pale eyes, they were interrupted.

“Hey.”

She didn’t need to turn to recognise the guy’s voice. So, Valkyrie rolled an unimpressed look over to the door. Rollins stood there, still wearing his stage attire, but, at least, his bare chest was now covered by a t-shirt. He still had that annoying, cocky smirk printed on his lips as his dark eyes never left her.

Not even when Roman stood up, standing in front of her like a shield. “You better go, Seth.”

“Woah, calm down brother, I only wanted-”

“I am not your brother.”

“Right. Well, can I thank the woman who just helped me out? Or do I have to ask you permission, big guy?”

“She didn’t appear to appreciate your gratitude earlier if I recall correctly.”

“Yeah,” Seth smiled as if he was remembering something extremely pleasant, “yeah, well, I just wanted to see if I could understand the reason of her reaction. I guess I know now. And still, maybe the lady would like to know my side of things too.”

The second Valkyrie heard Roman growl dangerously, she got up and stepped in. The last thing she needed was them to break a fight in her locker room. Sliding a hand softly across Roman’s shoulder, she turned around him. The look she exchanged with him was brief but carried all needed silent information.

“This is not a good time for you to be here. And you are not welcome. Please, leave.” She expressed, even surprising herself of her own politeness. Because Seth only deserved to have his face caved in. Possibly smashed against a wall. Though, it was as if she hadn’t said anything. Seth was looking at her with nothing but awe going through his brain. So, she snapped her fingers in front of his face.

“Fuck- Sorry, you’re just so-” he paused, looking for words.

“Shut it before you’ll say something you’ll regret,” Roman warned him, clenching his big fists.

Valkyrie rolled her eyes at the tension raising between the two. “Right. Stop it now. Both of you.” As she reprimanded them, she raised her gaze on Roman. A silent plea left her eyes. Though the second she turned towards Seth, her eyes were back being lit by a dangerous, protective light. “I am not interested in your side of events. I know enough.”

Seth chuckled, shaking her words off. “Just so we are clear,” he began, leaning closer to her. He didn’t appear to care much about the fact that she was dangerous, “you wouldn’t be interested in going for a drink with me, right?”

The slow look he gave her, crossing her entire figure, made her feel extremely uncomfortable.

She just barely managed to raise her hand in the air to stop Roman from jumping him. And a fraction of a second later, she regretted it, wondering why bothering to protect Seth. He deserved to be punished. If only she wasn’t so damn proud to fight for herself.

And then, it was a second too late.

“You sure like filling up your locker room with men, angel.”

It was as if she got struck by lightning the moment she recognised that voice, immediately raising her attention towards its source. Nothing else mattered anymore.

Everyone froze in the room.

“Dean-” She gasped softly, taking a step towards him, moving without even thinking about it.

He had a sarcastic, aggressive, large smile printed on his face – it reminded her of the smile of a wolf - as his disappointed and angered look crossed the room from her to Roman, to stop on Seth. Immediately, his features melted in a disgusted pout. The look he offered to her, in the end, broke her heart.

Dean looked away from them all, shaking his head. “Roman, let’s go.”

As Dean left, Valkyrie moved quickly after him, hinting to everyone else to stay where they were, but not much caring about them regardless.

“Dean, wait,” she called quickening her pace through the empty corridor, “Dean-”

“Just save it. I don’t even care.” He barked.

The way he didn’t even appear to slow his march and surely didn’t give her the benefit to turn and face her lit a fire through her. Now she was furious, burning of all the feelings she had tried to fight against. And it was his problem.

“Stop!” She had to bite her tongue not to swear at him, “why do you lie? Why do you pretend that you don’t care? That I don’t exist?! What the fuck do you expect?”

He didn’t stop walking but a twitch made his shoulder spasm. She knew she was on the right track. She doubted that specific situation was what Roman was talking about a second ago – and at the same time, having them clashing into an argument seemed so perfectly chaotic. Surely it was giving her enough adrenaline to light up every single nerve in her body, making her feel as alive as ever.

“You can’t just appear and disappear as you please-” she grumbled right behind him, “can you stop fucking walking?!”

The moment she tried to grab his arm to arrest him, he was on her. Turning so quickly she barely managed to see him moving, Dean grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against the wall, pinning her there. Her stomach and loins trembled as soon as she felt such closeness. His hand on her skin and his scent filling her lungs made her almost lose it, regardless of how inconvenient those feelings could be compared to the situation.

His thumb pressed painfully on the soft skin under her jaw as he squeezed the air out of her throat. He moved dangerously close to her face, growling like a beast. “Is that what that was? Are you trying to get my attention making me jealous?” He whispered dangerously pushing his face closer, enough to press his nose on her neck, inhaling her scent. A hot shiver crossed her. It didn’t seem like he could control himself much – and Gods, she really didn’t want him to. “You don’t want to see me jealous, angel. Because I’ll rip apart any man who tries to touch you. Him especially.”

“Dean-” she gasped, out of breath.

His tone was dangerous, his words more than toxic, and yet, she had no strength to resist him as he pressed his lips to her ear. “Is that what you want to hear from me? Want me to say you drive me insane? Want me to say I can’t think about anything else?! I’m cursing both your Gods and mine for having our path crossing.”

“You care.” she wheezed deciding to take the risk to anger him even more.

“About you?” The smile he offered was sharp and cut through her like a knife. She was only able to nod in his clutch as he squeezed her against the wall. “We talked twice.” He pointed out drily as if he could so easily wipe out of her memory what he had said literally a second ago.

“Just say it.” If she really wanted, she could have fought him off, but she didn’t even try. Caged against him, she slid her hands on his abdomen, to his chest, grabbing on his tank top and pulling him closer, looking for as much contact as she could.

“No.”

“Why?” She whispered softly and it was as if something inside of him moved, giving up under pressure. She looked into his eyes, relaxing against the wall, trusting him even despite his aggressiveness or rudeness. She slid a hand to his neck, mirroring his hold on her but in a much, much softer caress. “What are you afraid of?”

He grumbled exhausted and unhinged. “You don’t want me to care for you, angel.”

She tasted his words on the tip of her tongue and a shiver shook her deeply. She was desperate to discover the taste of his mouth. He was so close to her she could feel his body warmth seep through her skin. Feeling his body pressed against hers gave her a sense of what it could mean to be held by him – only the thought made her swing too close to the edge of madness.

“But I do, damn it. I do.” She cried out, not even caring about her pride or common sense anymore.

His eyes crossed her face. His gaze was so soft to appear affectionate. And yet, there was restraint in the way his cheek twitched. She could clearly see him thinking, as her words sunk deep inside of him.

Dean’s hand slid from across her neck to her face, cupping gently her cheek. He was now so attentive and warm that the difference in his behaviour made her head spin. His thumb crossed her chin, just under her lower lip. His blue eyes followed his movement.

The way he looked at her made her completely lose it. She had no past and no history besides that moment. Everything she knew, now, was being between his arms. And Gods, how nice it felt. Nothing existed but that man and how his look, without any words at all, was able to make her question everything else.

Just then she realised he was holding his breath.

He hesitated and then leaned in with a movement that made her think he was going to kiss her, only to leave her hanging.

“I’m sorry, angel.” He whispered, appearing so defeated. Giving himself a push, he let her go, taking a good two steps away from her. “I’ve gotta go.”

She watched him stumbling through the corridor, erratically moving his arms and rubbing his face in his palms, as his entire body seemed crossed by twitches.

Valkyrie didn’t agree with his decision, especially since he himself didn’t. But she couldn’t move. She couldn’t even speak. Her throat was suddenly sealed by a pain she couldn’t quite express. She needed to launch herself into Dean’s arms and hold him, firmly and tightly, until he would have trusted her. She needed to cradle him until he would have understood that she meant it.

Just then, as she gasped for fresh air, she seemed to go back to reality and realise where she was and what had just happened. She looked around, checking the corridor, perfectly knowing that if anyone had seen them behave in such a way it could have meant problems.

As soon as she was able to focus, she saw a large, black shadow moving towards her. Roman slid a hand on her shoulder, giving her a supportive pat. “Are you ok, sweetheart?” She was only able to nod as the man pulled her into a quick hug.

“Did you-”

Roman silently and slowly nodded, cutting through her words. He looked down as if for a moment he felt guilty or too awkward to admit it. “Did he hurt you?”

“No. Of course not.”

“Sorry if I didn’t intervene. I thought you had it.”

“I did. I really did. I had him. And then he slipped through my fingers.” Her voice was broken, as her gaze got lost out of focus, as she realised she could still feel the material of his cottony tank top under her fingers, or how solid his solid felt against hers.

He grabbed her shoulders, bringing her back to reality, offering her an encouraging look and a soft smile. Then, Roman looked behind his shoulder, right through the corridor. She followed his gaze, only to find Seth closely studying their interaction.

“Did he see us?”

“Yeah. I tried to keep him back but-”

“No, it’s ok. I wouldn’t have wanted you to fight for no reason.”

“Hardly no reason.” Roman looked back at her. “Be careful with him. He now knows you are Dean’s weak link.”

“I’ll break him in half if he tries to do anything.”

Roman’s smile widened as he nodded proudly. “That’s my girl.”

“Now,” she shook off all the feelings that overwhelmed her and gave Roman a push, “Please, go and look after our man.”

“I’ll do my best.”

She watched him as he ran towards the end of the corridor Dean disappeared to. The smile she pushed herself to offer to Roman to make him believe she was completely fine quickly trembled and disappeared, as she gathered her hands to her chest, mumbling a quick prayer.

By then, she was certain her Gods and fate were mocking her, but it didn’t matter.

“You are making a mistake.”

As soon as she heard Seth’s voice moving closer to her, she immediately rolled her eyes, grumbling as loudly as she could. She crossed her arms to her chest and simply started walking back to her locker room without even caring to continue listening.

“Dean Ambrose is an unstable man. Totally unreliable. Dangerous.” He insisted and as she passed next to him, he stepped forward to follow her.

That was the moment she turned against him. With a hand to his throat and the other pulling his hair hard enough to make his neck and back bend slightly. She pushed him against the wall with every intention to hurt him.

“Me too.” She hissed to his face, drawing her teeth. “I swear I’ll hurt you in inhuman ways if you even breathe his name once more.”

“Princess, he is my nemesis, I-”

She tugged on his hair, breaking his sentence with pain before he could even think to smart-mouth her. She knew he was going to explain that they were sworn to fight each other and she didn’t care.

“Just watch what you’re doing.”

“Thought you’ll be watching me.” Even besides the fact that she was holding him in a submissive pose he still found the courage to pull a cocky smile.

Valkyrie grumbled, smacking his head against the wall. “Fuck you.”

[scotianostra]

Two birthdays today from the film industry, I don’t know much about either , but they were only born a year apart on January 8th.

Happy Birthday Gillies MacKinnon, born in Glasgow in 1948.

After studying mural painting at Glasgow School of Art, he became an art teacher and professional cartoonist, and spent six months travelling with a nomadic tribe in the Sahara, what an adventure that must have been! 

He studied at Middlesex Polytechnic in the 1970s and the National Film and Television School in the early 1980s. His graduation short Passing Glory, an austere recreation of the Glasgow of his youth, was premiered at the 1986 Edinburgh International Film Festival, where it won the first Scottish Film Prize. He then went on two direct two projects for BBC 2’S Screen Two, Small Faces, about three teenage brothers,  in a downtrodden section of 1960’s Glasgow and The Grass Arena the true story of John Healy, a boxer turned alcoholic turned chess master portrayed by Mark Rylance. The film won several prizes, including the Edinburgh Film Festival’s Michael Powell Award for Best British Film.

MacKinnon also directed notable TV shows including, Trial and Retribution and George Gently. More recently he directed the TV film Torvill and Dean, and the latest version of Whisky Galore.

I recommend his latest work, a film called The Last Bus…….Life is a journey and The Last Bus takes pensioner Tom Harper (Timothy Spall) on an epic trip from the remote village he calls home, back to the place where he was born.   The film also stars our very own Phyllis Logan, in it Spall uses his free bus pass to travel from John O'Groats to Land’s End in Cornwall, It's a joyful film that is also sad in places.

The second birthday boy is Iain Smith was born in Glasgow in 1949, and graduated from the London Film School in 1971.

He worked in London for several years before returning to his native Scotland to make “My Childhood”, for the British Film Institute, the first of the award winning trilogy.

He formed his own production company in partnership with Jon Schorstein and produced television commercials, documentaries, children’s feature films and low budget dramas, and in 1978 production managed Bertrand Tavernier’s “Deathwatch” starring Romy Schneider and Harvey Keitel. A year later he joined David Puttnam and Hugh Hudson to make “Chariots of Fire” starring Ian Charleson and Ben Cross.

Smith has worked with some of the best actors in Hollywood, including Julia Roberts in Mary Reilly, Robert De Niro in the Mission and Spygame with Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. His most famous Scottish work is arguably as an  associate producer of Local Hero. He alson worked on some Hollywood titles including The Fifth Element, The A Team(movie) and The Killing Fields.

Iain Smith has served on the boards of the UK Film Council, Scottish Screen, the Joint board of Creative Scotland, the Scottish Film Council, the Scottish Film Production Fund, the Scottish Film Training Trust as a Governor of the National Film and Television School, a director of the Children’s Film and Television Foundation, and as Chair of the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

[deputygonebye]

Jonathan Walsh could never commit himself to anything, least anything that wasn’t a bottle of Jack. Pure Irish blood that flowed within his veins, those in King County couldn’t blame the man entirely for his faults. His parents hadn’t given a damn about him and it showed. Dreams and hopes were always crushed underneath shoe heels. Workers boots like that of which Jonathan’s father Declan wore, tattered and torn from hard labor out in the Georgia farm fields. Homemaker heels like that of which his mother Orla donned, as pristine as the day that she bought them, as ruby red as the wine that she drank daily. Between a father who worked too much and a mother that worked too little, there was no room for love and support for Jonathan and his six siblings. They were on their own. Could do whatever they wanted, did whatever they wished, school the least of importance. Least, that was how it was for Jon Walsh until he met Annie Carter. A familiar face that made the final two months of high school bearable. 

Annie was everything that Jon was and wasn’t. Richer, though her means were nothing to brag about in King County, her and her parents lived comfortably, smarter and better when it came to academics. She was blonde, gorgeous, but with a dark side to herself that scared all who got too close. As to where it came from, neither her mother nor her father knew. Jean and her Byron always worrying about their little girl, their only child after many failed pregnancies and miscarriages, a blessing that some nosey neighbors had deemed a curse. Retribution for the sins that Jean and Byron carried out. Participated in and explored without care, Jean would cry herself to sleep thinking about where it was her daughter had snuck off to. In the middle of the night - Annie would pay no mind to how her parents begged her not to leave - mysterious strangers the sort of people that she would call friends. Annie was 18, and as she would declare each and every time her father threatened to punish her, she could do whatever she pleased. She never got in trouble at school. She received good grades. She always did her chores. She was about to graduate and move out. She was allowed to have friends; Jonathan Walsh the latest. A fire that burned her gasoline. 

Jean always blamed herself for the shortcomings of her daughter. Regretted the fact that she and Byron weren’t more stern with her before it all got out of hand, either of them too easily manipulated by their beloved child. She never gave much credit to the cruel words that had denounced her decades before, but as Annie grew worse and worse in her habits, late nights powered by drink and unknown companions and undisclosed locations, Jean couldn’t help but think that there was some truth to them. What she and Byron had done: she chose true love over faith. Raised in the small Jewish community that King County had, her parents had wanted Jean to do just as they had done before her, what their parents had done and what their parents had done, too. Married within the faith, stayed within the family. But Jean could not keep her affection for Byron James Carter quiet. Practically cried in happiness whenever she saw him, kiss after kiss upon his lips, would rather abandon all that she knew than ever lose him. He just as devoted to her, his proud English heart beat only and ever for Jean Hoffmann. The other half to his very soul - he would marry her and make her the happiest woman in all of Georgia. 

The happiest and the loneliest all the same, when an engagement band found its way upon Jean’s finger, so did her mother and father’s disownment. She was dead to them. She would never be spoken of again. She had made her choice, and would be left to rot in misery with the man she deserted her people for. No home would welcome her. None from the community would meet her eye in friendship anymore - Jean was alone. But rather would she be alone with Byron than surrounded while in a marriage that she didn’t want. An eternity with someone that she couldn’t love, wouldn’t love, family that was lost would be superseded by one that Jean and Byron would make all their own. Children and grandchildren and more; they would create their own family. Babies that would be loved no matter what - not like how Jean was so viciously tossed out - adored and cherished. 23 and ready to take on the world with her sweetheart, a blushing bride if there ever was one, Jean’s spirit was light. It hurt no longer over the words of her parents, for her future, as she knew and believed in, would be bright. Her and her Byron and their fairytale, what came to be was far from the storybook ending that she prayed to God for. 

Pregnancies never lasted. Miscarriages happened more often than Jean could count, and there had been a part of her that believed that she would never have a child. A baby that she so wished for, that she wanted so desperately, it broke Byron’s heart to see his darling Lil’ Bird in pain. He would’ve done anything to make it go away. Give her as many children as they could have, the moon and the stars. He was so good to her. Gentle, not at all like the mongrels who prowled around the streets looking to break a delicate woman’s heart, certain that, when the time was right, he and Jean would have their family. They only needed to keep trying. And, truly, that was all part of the fun. Pleasure that recognized no pain, just as Byron had said to her, so it did happen. Jean was pregnant. With child in her belly, tears of joy unable to stop their spill down her cheeks as she relayed the news to her husband, a doctor’s visit the validation that the couple needed. If God blessed them, they would have their long awaited family. A little boy or girl of their own - Annie Elizabeth Carter was born nine months later. 

The apple of her parents’ eyes, their sweet girl had turned into an outsider before either Byron or Jean could blink. Graduation come and gone, before the next year came to pass, Annie had married the troubled Jon Walsh. Against the disapproval of her parents, the unsatisfied grumbles from his, Jean’s pleas to wait ignored for a honeymoon based upon cold beers and a cabin in the woods. Her own past thrown into her face like it were poison: I’m just like you, Mama!

And just as fast as the wedding, Annie’s pregnancy came immdeiately. Delayed somewhat, for a jobless couple who were somehow always so busy, 21 years old and not a consideration for the baby that she carried. Still did Annie want to live the lifestyle that she and Jonathan were attached to. Parties and clubs and bloody brawls, Jean and Byron, for the first time in Annie’s life, put their foot down. It had to end. What Annie was doing to herself, what she was exposing the baby to, they wouldn’t lose their only grandchild because of the selfishness of their daughter. But too far gone was Annie to wonder about the baby who grew in her womb. More so another person to keep her from her carnal desires than a piece of her and the man that she loved, Jonathan was no better. A drunk who abused his charm and good looks, a womanizer who bedded any and all. He didn’t care that Annie knew. He didn’t care that it broke her fragile mind even more than it already was, whatever evils that had lurked there before he ever sank his claws into her. A twisted sense of humor within her, when the baby was born, a baby boy who looked so much like Jonathan in the eyes, she named him in honor of two ex-boyfriends: Shane and Everett. Shane Everett Walsh was his name. And Jonathan could barely stand the fact. Only simmered in his anger. Temper about to burst in the hospital room. 

There was no note. No message of hate. No token of love. There was only an empty bottle of liquor that signaled that Jonathan had left his and Annie’s home. Clothes all gone from their drawers and shoes taken from the closet, the little cash that the Walsh’s had was gone, too. Their home was a ghost town. Furnished by the few pieces that were bought for the baby, Grandma and Grandpa’s eager purchases, Annie didn’t have a moment to lose her sanity. Jean nor Byron unable to allow that, not ready to fail a second time to an innocent child, they had her and her baby boy move in with them as soon as the next week. A home just on the street corner, a place not too big but bigger than where the mother and son had come from, comfortable and peaceful, a safe haven. But Annie didn’t care. She never did. Leaving Shane with her parents all day, she could drink until she blacked out. Stumble around with Jonathan’s name screamed from her lips, drew blood from the women in King County who had dared to call him their one-time lover. A lover lost forever - no one knew where he was nor where he went. Jean and Byron were glad for that. Jonathan Walsh was better off alone. 

Byron and Jean adored their Shane. So sweet and so beautiful, he was the perfect child. A glimmering light that brightened their days, they could almost pretend as if life was a happy one. A life that wasn’t spent worrying over their precious Annie still, all but in legality was Shane theirs, and his mother was ever delighted for that. Part of her did love her son. A chunk of her heart branded in his name, but a chunk that couldn’t be outdone by Annie’s marriage to drink and drug. Men that acted just as Jonathan used to, gossip whispered otherwise, but Jean knew that seeing her in such a way was what killed Byron. His beautiful baby girl mutilated by her own doing, poor man couldn’t stand the sight. Was perhaps too tired to fight with her anymore - his heart gave out in his sleep. Beside Jean in their marriage bed, just as he always knew he would go, with his true love beside him, Jean was thankful that Annie went quickly after. Heartache not allowed to fester - two losses within the span of a year - there was hope to a peace found in the afterlife for her treasured husband and daughter. Maybe, then, could Annie find the happiness, the answers, that she didn’t have in the mortal world. At long last, her alcohol glass was free from a fresh pour. 

Jonathan Walsh could never commit himself to anything, but the same would not be said of Jean Carter. She would do all that Jonathan didn’t and more, she would love Shane and protect him, be there for him through all of his days. Fatherless but not without love, Jean would make up for the mistakes that she made with her Annie, the blissful ignorance, the love that blinded her from what her daughter was. How sick she was. Jean would do good for, and by, her darling Shane Everett. But even she couldn’t protect him from everything. 

Rumors rampant in King County, for homegrown scandal always sold, truths hard to differentiate from lies: Jonathan had murdered his best friend in cold blood in the next town over. Shane was really the son of another man. Annie was a part of a crime ridden gang before she died.

But by God above, Jean would try. She would do anything for her Shane.

[waitingforwinterwinds]

Game of Thrones - 40 CATELYN VII (pages 416-428)

Cat picks up some sus vibes from her sister, but puts them right back down again, and Bronn wins Tyrion's freedom.

-

Alyssa Arryn had seen her husband, her brothers, and children slain, and yet in life she had never shed a tear. So in death, the gods had decreed that she would know no rest until her weeping watered the black earth of the Vale, where the men she had loved were buried. Alyssa had been dead six thousand years now, and still no drop of the torrent had ever reached the valley floor far below. Catelyn wondered how large a waterfall her own tears would make when she died.

Are you sure about that? cause, water cycle babe, unless that earth is parched, her 'tears' have watered that ground for sure.

Poor Alyssa Arryn, she didn't dissolve into a weeping, wailing mess and got punished for eternity. It's all "she's too stoic and unfeeling" until a woman actually starts crying then she's an unstable wreck who proves one bad stereotype or another.

Love subtle world building like this, oooohhh, the tragedy of it all~ The sneaky peak at Cat's own mindset. Mmmm, the good stuff.

The builders had intended it as a godswood, but the Eyrie rested on the hard stone of the mountain, and no matter how much soil was hauled up from the Vale, they could not get a weirwood to take root here.

I feel like this says something about the presence of gods in the Eyrie, like it is a godless place, ruled by the hubris of men who climbed too high and now think themselves above the matters of other men. Or a place that shuns its history in favour of new fancies.

But also you would need just, so much soil and also a stable self sustaining biome to grow a tree, because it's not just dirt, soil is the good stuff, with the microorganisms, and you need nutrients for the tree, and where do they come from once the soil is tapped out? Trees need a lot.

"Life needs things to live."

"And I remind you, the dwarf murdered my lord husband!" Her voice rose. "He poisoned the Hand of the King and left my sweet baby fatherless, and now I mean to see him pay!"

Part of me wonders if part of her genuinely believes that. Every vibe I get from Lysa is that her brain is a scattered mess of cats, like she cracked under the strain of everything (not getting what she wanted as a girl (Petyr), being married to a man old enough to be her father, and taken to live in such a terrifying and remote location (the Eyrie) before being relocated to King's Landing which we all know out does Mos Eisley as the most wretched hive of scum and villainy) and now she doesn't even know she's lying because she's made herself believe in her own innocence. or she's 100% lying her ass of and deserves All the Oscars.

"I believe the Lannisters murdered Lord Arryn," Catelyn replied, "but whether it was Tyrion, or Ser Jaime, or the queen, or all of them together, I could not begin to say." Lysa had named Cersei in the letter she had sent to Winterfell, but now she seemed certain that Tyrion was the killer... perhaps because the dwarf was here, while the queen was safe behind the walls of the Red Keep, hundreds of leagues to the south. Catelyn almost wished she had burned her sister's letter before reading it.

So do we all. Come on Cat, even if you can't see this is her lie unraveling, you should at least be able to see this is retribution, not justice.

*sigh* you do though don't you, you know this is wrong, your instincts scream it at you, but you've walked yourself into a corner and you've only realised it now that you've gotten trapped.

"You are mistaken, Maester," Catelyn said. "It was Casterly Rock, not Dragonstone, and those arrangements were made after the Hand's death, without my sister's consent." The maester's head jerked so vigorously at the end of his absurdly long neck that he looked half a puppet himself. "No, begging your forgiveness, my lady, but it was Lord Jon who-"

Hindsight is flagging this conversation with so much red.

But Bronn jerked back. Jon Arryn's beautiful engraved silver sword glanced off the marble elbow of the weeping woman and snapped clean a third of the way up the blade. Bronn put his shoulder into the statue's back. The weathered likeness of Alyssa Arryn tottered and fell with a great crash, and Ser Vardis Egen went down beneath her.

That is so much more dynamic and a fun use of the terrain than fight up the stairs and down and kick him out the hole. It has that nice subtle hint of "the gods think you suck also." Like obviously the trial by combat is always decided by the better fighter, but I don't know, I just like it when 'fights overseen by the gods' have a trace of 'the higher powers were watching and they have no complaints with the outcome.'

You know, after this chapter I'm kind of wondering if the anti-stark sisters crew (the anti-sansa arya-stans and the anti-arya sansa-stans) are applying one sister relationship over another. Because Lysa and Cat are sisters too, who had a decent enough relationship as kids, but then they moved apart and grew apart and ended up on opposing sides at the end, are some people seeing that and thinking "this is how Sansa and Arya's story will go also" even though their relationship is kind of the opposite, they both felt like outsiders in their youth, like they were excluded by one another, but after all the shit they go through they both just want their family back. They went through different stuff, luckily, because neither would have survived the other's journey as much as we'd like to say they would, but at the end, the differences between them are going to look so petty and insignificant.

[gascon-en-exil]

I could see something between Rheas breaking point and setting Fhirdiad aflame solely on CF and Dany setting Kings Landing on fire due to them both being pushed mentally by another woman who constantly torments them with acts that are unbelievable tone deaf or petty, but that’s where the similarities end as the older woman Dany was against was evil and stupid while Dany is young and stupid and would completely hit different if we had the Targ(M) vs Targ(F) storyline the book was setting up.

I suppose Jon killing Daenerys was meant to be the male vs. female Targaryen story all along, although it's handled so poorly that absolutely no one liked it. At least I thought it was funny for the show to reveal to the audience that Daeneyrs and Jon are aunt and nephew while the two of them are having sex...but that's about the only positive for me on that point.

It's very hard for me to see Rhea in either Daenerys or Cersei, even at that moment - and not just because in GoT it's the conquering invader who does the firebombing. Three Hopes reinforced that the writers of both games treat Rhea less as a character than as a plot device, in that she's used for very specific purposes - mystery plot red herring, exposition-dumping damsel in distress, or final boss - and almost never appears onscreen when she's not needed to be one of those. She never really feels like a single cohesive character unless you fill in the gaps with headcanons (which I don't care enough to do) or are satisfied by the exposition dumps and her S rank mostly explaining her on a basic comprehension level.

Daeneyrs even at her most sloppily-written has a lot more screetime and more diverse interactions with other characters to pull from to give her some coherence, even when she goes Mad Queen. There's foreshadowing to that all the way back in S1 - the woman just loves to solve her problems by setting people on fire. Cersei meanwhile is a more straightforward villain than either Edelgard or Rhea (or Daenerys), albeit with enough sympathetic moments and a degree of psychological realism to make her failures and her occasional triumphs deeply enjoyable, at least for me.

I just find it amusing that we're now seeing fandom history getting revised; as I understand it, prior to the final season there were a bunch of GoT fans who wanted Daenerys to pull off a Targaryen restoration, and they couldn't stand it when S8 slapped them in the face (with terrible, rushed pacing) with the reality that Daeneyrs was always a conqueror and that her whole "breaking the wheel" spiel was only obscuring her trying to reclaim the throne that her family had (literally) made and held for centuries via conquest. But now, the Targaryens are bad...because the prequel show is all about Daenerys's ancestors being autocrats embroiled in a civil war where none of them even try to sound progressive beyond positing that women can (maybe) be in positions in leadership? If you want to talk about hereditary autocracies, Edelgard's the one to compare to Daenerys, even down to her seeking retribution for her father being stripped of his power by a group of nobles.

The political ideology of ASoIaF and its adaptations has always seemed to me to be a very grim and cynical one, suggesting that nothing ever really changes because people are terrible - which isn't so far off from FE's bittersweet central thesis. It's strange to me that there are fans of both properties who have difficulty engaging with them on those terms, and instead expect canon to give them something that it's just not interested in realizing.

[jonquildove]

rhymeswithmeek.

It was in the courtyard at Winterfell, where she saw the older boy–her Father’s ward. He was shooting a bow in his arrow to the archery target. She had been watching Robb and Jon start to spar with each other, swords ringing hello with the metallic sound of steel clanging into each other, with enraptured eyes. They both were learning how to sword-fight rather well, no Arthur Dayne’s yet, sure, but they were getting pretty good. Sansa did not know Theon very well–she thought his smile a bit disarming, and did not know what to make of it, what he might be thinking. She had an inkling that her Mother thought similar of him. Robb trusted Theon, though. They seemed to be quite good friends, as of late. Theon is not one of us Starks, yes, he is a Greyjoy… But he can’t be too bad, perhaps, if Robb and Father trusts him? He was a hostage, she remembered, brought to the castle as a prisoner in the cells in retribution to the uprising Balon took against the iron throne, yet he grew to like their family. She approached Theon, albeit a little cautiously.

[justapillowpetpanda]

Fantasia Festival Announces Second Wave of 2024 Titles

The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 28th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 18 through August 4, 2024, returning yet again at the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montréal’s Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée. The festival’s full lineup will be announced on July 3, in the meantime, Fantasia has revealed a select second wave of premiere titles.

'Bookworm' Opening at Fantasia Festival

Fantasia’s 28th edition will open with a joyride into the wild, celebrating the World Premiere of Ant Timpson’s moving and hilarious BOOKWORM. Reuniting the celebrated New Zealand filmmaker with his COME TO DADDY star Elijah Wood (Showtime’s Yellowjackets) - who matches through-the-roof comic chemistry of gifted his young co-star Nell Fisher (EVIL DEAD RISE) – BOOKWORM is as entertaining as it is richly cinematic. Mildred (Fisher), a precocious eleven-year-old bookworm, escapes her humdrum existence by immersing herself in novels where literary adventures abound, with a long-dreamed quest to capture proof of a mythological beast known as The Canterbury Panther. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb1KjT1csnY When an unusual accident occurs, Mildred’s long absent father Strawn Wise (Wood), a washed-up illusionist, flies to New Zealand to look after a daughter he’s never met. When they agree to go camping despite neither being the outdoorsy type, this ultimate test in family bonding leads the duo on a string of increasingly absurd and treacherous adventures.

Fantasia's Second Wave Titles

THE BEAST WITHIN Phantasmagoric, gothic, and straight out of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Kit Harington (Jon Snow from HBO’s Game of Thrones) stars in this nightmarish fantasy that reflects on the uncanniness of childhood and the creatures that come out at night. The narrative feature debut of esteemed documentary filmmaker Alexander J. Farrel (REFUGEE), THE BEAST WITHIN - previously known as WHAT REMAINS OF US - follows a ten-year-old girl as she starts to question her atypical life in her family's fortified compound in rural England, ultimately discovering that once a month, her father (Harington) turns into a monster. Co-starring Caoilinn Springall (STOPMOTION), Ashleigh Cummings (AMC’s NOS4A2), and James Cosmo (BRAVEHEART).

THE COUNT OF MONTE-CRISTO Fresh off a spectacular Cannes World Premiere that ended in a near-12-minute standing ovation, Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte’s 1815-set blockbuster epic THE COUNT OF MONTE-CRISTO will be coming to Fantasia for its International bow. Created by Alexandre Dumas in the mid-19th century, Edmond Dantès is one of the most celebrated characters in French literature, and the story of his retribution has left its mark on popular culture around the world—the similarities between Bruce Wayne and the wrongly imprisoned, revenge-minded Dantès are obvious. This new film adaptation subtly reappropriates that influence, hinting at the tropes and trappings of the modern superhero film while retaining the classicism of the work through grandiose art direction. Pierre Niney (YVES SAINT LAURENT) shines in the title role as he expresses the stages of Dantès’s evolution into Monte-Cristo with exemplary sobriety and spellbinding charisma. Also starring Bastien Bouillon (THE NIGHT OF THE 12TH), Anaïs Demoustier (INCREDIBLE BUT TRUE), Anamaria Vartolomei (HAPPENING), and Laurent Lafitte (ELLE).

PÁRVULOS Award-winning Mexican filmmaker Isaac Ezban (THE INCIDENT, PARALLEL) returns with his fifth - and most personal - feature, a disturbing tale that he’s spent the last seven years bringing into light. PÁRVULOS is a dystopian coming-of-age horror story that begins with three young brothers living alone in a remote cabin, hiding a terrifying secret in their basement. Where it goes from there will pull the breath from your lungs, as the children’s sealed world is forcefully expanded by monstrous elements beyond their control. A poignant nightmare inspired by GOODNIGHT MOMMY, LORD OF THE FLIES, A QUIET PLACE, and the universes of Guillermo del Toro (an outspoken admirer of Ezban’s work), PÁRVULOS features some of the most gruesome practical make-up effects the screen has seen in years and is electrified by astonishing performances from actors Felix Farid, Leonardo Cervantes, Mateo Ortega, Norma Flores,  Horacio Lazo, Carla Adell, Juan Carlos Remolina, and the great Noé Hernández (WE ARE THE FLESH). From the producers of HUESERA: THE BONE WOMAN.

SCARED SHITLESS! Vivieno Caldinelli, known for SEVEN STAGES TO ACHIEVE ETERNAL BLISS, the Roddy Piper short PORTAL TO HELL, and THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES, tackles the journey of everyman to hero once again with his new feature SCARED SHITLESS! Steven Ogg (DARK MATCH, AMC’s The Walking Dead) and Daniel Doheny (Netflix’s Brand New Cherry Flavor) star as a father and son plumbing duo faced with a disgusting dilemma: rid a building of a toilet-dwelling creature before it unleashes itself to the rest of the world! Co-starring Chelsea Clark (Netflix’s Ginny and Georgia, THE PROTECTOR), Mark McKinney (CBC’s The Kids in the Hall, NBC’s Superstore), and a cameo by Julian Richings (BEAU IS AFRAID; RELAX, I’M FROM THE FUTURE), there’s loads of gore, a fantastic creature by Canadian FX legend Steve Kostanski, and enough laughs that you’ll need a change of pants!

HAZE A young journalist (Cole Doman, MUTT) returns home to investigate unsolved deaths at a psychiatric center. As he dances with the shadows of his past, his family history and the town’s secrets begin to converge. A somber, queer horror drama steeped in deeply-rooted trauma that haunts with eerie, richly-intentional visuals, HAZE is the unforgettable sophomore feature from filmmaker Matthew Fifer (CICADA). Co-starring David Pittu (FX’s Damages) and Brian J. Smith (Syfy’s Stargate Universe).

THE SOUL EATER Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, the acclaimed filmmaking team behind INSIDE, LIVID, and THE DEEP HOUSE, have adopted the popular French novel by Alexis Laipsker to create a fresh turn in their distinctive filmography. A morbid procedural thriller with extreme horror flashpoints, THE SOUL EATER turned heads when it premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival earlier this year. As violent and gruesome deaths plague a small mountain village, an old legend about a malevolent creature resurfaces. Two cops with different methods are compelled to join forces and uncover a sinister plot involving the disappearance of local children. Starring Virginie Ledoyen (8 FEMMES), Paul Hamy (DESPITE THE NIGHT), and Sandrine Bonnaire (VAGABOND).

Animation Selection at Fantasia Festival

MANTRA WARRIOR: THE LEGEND OF THE EIGHT MOONS Following last summer’s Fantasia screening of the restored anime version of the Ramayana, it’s now Thailand’s turn to impress and amaze with an animated reimagining of this mighty, ancient mythological epic. Director Veerapatra Jinanavin and the team at Bangkok-based Riff Studio not only bring a Thai aesthetic to the titanic tale of Ram, Sita, Hanuman, and their foes, they’ve rebooted it as a cyberpunk space opera punctuated with powerhouse mecha battles. MANTRA WARRIOR: THE LEGEND OF THE EIGHT MOONS is the first installment of Riff Studio’s exciting new franchise, one sure to thrill fans of fantastic sci-fi while cementing Thailand as a producer of world-class animation with global appeal.

MONONOKE THE MOVIE: THE PHANTOM IN THE RAIN The 2007 TV series MONONOKE is one of the most singular and delightfully innovative works in the history of anime, and its devoted cult following, wistfully presuming that the paranormal escapades of the mysterious Medicine Seller were long since concluded, can rejoice. Director Kenji Nakamura (GATCHAMAN CROWDS) has revived the intricate palace intrigue and hallucinatory supernatural thrills of his signature work with a brand-new feature film, his most elaborate and opulent adventure yet, and it makes its grand debut at Fantasia. Visually exquisite to an almost overwhelming degree, it gleefully indulges in the iconography and aesthetics of Edo-era Japan, doing so with Pop Art panache, playful anachronism, and percussive pacing, and immediately asserts itself as an essential anime classic.

Fantasia's Underground Section

THE OLD MAN AND THE DEMON SWORD In the remote Portuguese mountain village of Pé da Serra, a monk arrives wielding a demonic sword. Before long, the mystical weapon ends up in the hands of the town drunk António da Luz (playing himself). Now, the drunkard and the sword will have to learn to fight an encroaching evil together. Featuring amateur actors and the incredible voice work of João Loy, the voice of Vegeta from the iconic Portuguese dub of Dragon Ball Z, Fábio Powers’ THE OLD MAN AND THE DEMON SWORD is a heartfelt and unlikely retelling of the hero’s journey.

ME AND MY VICTIM Blurring the line between fiction and nonfiction, ME AND MY VICTIM is about co-directors and subjects, Maurane and Billy Pedlow, who are not quite friends and not quite lovers and the true, messy, and kind-of-fucked-up story about how they met. A messy, whirlwind, imperfect, orgasmic, meme-inflected, jump into the rabbit hole of their on-again, off-again situationship, their ultra-micro-budget (the film was made for less than $1000 US) confession playfully captures the humanity of love and lust in the 21st Century.

ANIMALIA PARADOXA An amphibious humanoid searches for water in a labyrinthine, post-apocalyptic landscape, from the mind of filmmaker Niles Atalah (REY), the co-founder of the boundary-pushing Chilean production company Diluvio with artists Joaquin Cociña and Cristóbal Leon (LA CASA LOBO). Genre and arthouse cinema meld to create a singular collage-like invention that will defy all expectations with ANIMALIA PARADOXA. A hybrid of styles and techniques, this surreal journey combines live action, dance, sculpture, and stop-motion animation in a dreamlike structure, reimagining the end of the world like you’ve never seen.

Additional Second Wave Fantasia Titles:

100 YARDS (China) – Dirs. Xu Haofeng and Xu Junfeng Family secrets, demimonde politics, and romantic entanglements complicate the rivalry between two skilled martial artists in the 1920s. The latest from masterful genre auteur Xu Haofeng (THE SWORD IDENTITY, THE FINAL MASTER), co-directed by his own brother, once again reconciles authenticity and inventiveness, and rewards its attentive audience a hundred times over. Quebec Premiere. AZRAEL (USA) – Dir. E.L Katz In a post-apocalyptic world, Azrael (Samara Weaving, READY OR NOT) must fight tooth and nail to rescue her partner from a cult of mute religious fanatics in the year’s most vicious tale of revenge. From the acclaimed director of CHEAP THRILLS and the screenwriter of YOU’RE NEXT and this year’s GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, this relentless thriller also stars Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (FEMME), Sebastian Bull (SONS), and Victoria Carmen Sonne (HOLIDAY). Winner of Best Feature, Best Actress, and Best FX Audience Awards at Panic Fest 2024. BRAVE CITIZEN (South Korea) – Dir. Park Jin-pyo A former boxer, now a part-time teacher, dons a mask and deals with high school bullying the hard way. Based on the popular webtoon, BRAVE CITIZEN is a stylishly entertaining Korean action flick from the director of VOICE OF A MURDERER and YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE, with great characters and intense fight scenes. BRUSH OF THE GOD (Japan) – Dir. Keizo Murase Two teens must save the world from a many-headed, mythological dragon in this generously self-referential giant-monster movie from 88-year-old master tokusatsu artisan Keizo Murase, who makes his directorial debut following a lifetime crafting monster suits for all of Japan’s best-known kaiju films. CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS (Australia) – Dir Alice Maio Mackay Alice Maio Mackay (T-BLOCKERS) returns to Fantasia with an early Christmas present (with some help from THE PEOPLE’S JOKER’s Vera Drew, on editing duty). Bloody, ironic, and uproarious, CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS tells the story of true-crime podcaster Lola who returns to her hometown at Christmas for the very first time since running away and transitioning - meanwhile, the vengeful ghost of a historical murderer and urban legend seemingly arises to kill again! Official Selection: Salem Horror Fest, Inside Out Toronto. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKfUPVy1XTQ DARKEST MIRIAM (Canada) – Dir: Naomi Jaye Following her debut feature THE PIN, Naomi Jaye now adapts the Giller Prize short-listed novel ‘The Incident Report’ by author Martha Baillie as DARKEST MIRIAM. In it, Miriam (Britt Lower of AppleTV's Severance) is a library worker dealing with her father’s death, threatening letters at work, and an unexpected lover, all of which threaten to change her solitary life forever. Starring Tom Mercier (THE ANIMAL KINGDOM), Sook-Yin Lee (SHORTBUS), and Jean Yoon (CBC’s Kim’s Convenience), and executive produced by Academy Award-winner Charlie Kaufman (ADAPTATION).  DON’T CALL IT MYSTERY (Japan) – Dir. Hiroaki Matsuyama In this compelling whodunit adapted from a popular, award-winning manga and subsequent hit TV series, college student Totonou (Masaki Suda of THE BOY AND THE HERON), known for his sharp observation skills, becomes entangled in a complicated family feud involving mysterious deaths. FAQ (South Korea) – Dir. Kim Da-min A stressed-out elementary-school student secretly befriends a bottle of rice wine that can communicate through Morse Code. Director Kim Da-min’s debut feature is a heartwarming sci-fi/coming-of-age story guaranteed to make you smile. KRYPTIC (Canada, U.K.) – Dir. Kourtney Roy A part of XYZ Films’ New Visions with a World Premiere at SXSW 2024 and Canadian Premiere at CUFF, Kourtney Roy’s debut feature KRYPTIC follows Kay (Chloe Pirrie of THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT and HANNA), a woman on a mysterious quest. A strange forest encounter leads her to search for a missing cryptozoologist – who bears a striking resemblance to Kay – and the monster she was hunting. KRYPTIC is a doppelganger story of self-discovery and empowerment, and a must-see for audiences wanting a colourful spectacle that defies genre with strange, gooey interludes and atmospheric landscapes. THE MISSING (Philippines) – Dir. Carl Joseph Papa The death of Eric’s uncle triggers a suppressed childhood memory - and the return of his alien abductor - in director Carl Joseph Papa's third animated feature: a queer, surreal hybrid of romance, drama, and sci-fi embracing digital rotoscope animation and featuring internationally renowned Filipino actress Dolly De Leon (TRIANGLE OF SADNESS). NOT FRIENDS (Thailand) – Dir. Atta Hemwadee Hoping to win a short-film competition, Pae decides to direct a tear-jerking tribute to former classmate Joe, who tragically passed away, even though they weren’t actually friends. Atta Hemwadee’s feature debut was Thailand’s entry in the Best International Feature category for this year’s Academy Awards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLNDvnv8B3A ODDITY (Ireland) – Dir. Damian McCarthy A blind medium (Carolyn Bracken, YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER) uncovers the truth behind her sister's death with the help of a frightening wooden mannequin. One of the scariest and most imaginative films you’ll see anywhere this year. Winner of the Midnighter Audience Award at SXSW 2024.  WAKE UP (Canada / France) – Dirs. François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell This tense, gore-soaked new shocker from homegrown Fantasia favorites RKSS (TURBO KID, SUMMER OF ’84, WE ARE ZOMBIES) pits a gang of Gen Z activists against a hulking security guard murderously protecting the big-box store they’ve invaded after hours. Official Selection: Fantastic Fest 2023, Sitges 2023. YIN YANG MASTER ZERO (Japan) – Dir. Shimako Sato A wily apprentice sorcerer and his dim but good-hearted best friend (Kento Yamazaki of KINGDOM and Shota Sometani of PARASYTE) confront dark forces in Heian-era Japan. Handled with panache by writer-director Shimako Sato (EKO EKO AZARAK, K-20: LEGEND OF THE MASK), the popular historical-fantasy franchise returns to the big screen.

Read the full article

[xtruss]

Infographic: It’s Actually Common to Indict Leaders of Democracies

Trump is just one of 78 political leaders in democratic nations who have faced criminal charges since the year 2000.

— July 18, 2023 | By Ashley Ahn and Brawley Benson | Foreign Policy

A photo collage illustration shows indicted leaders from around the world including U.S. President Donald Trump 🇺🇸, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi 🇮🇹, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan 🇵🇰, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 🇮🇱, South African President Jacob Zuma 🇿🇦, Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner 🇦🇷 , and South Korean President Park Geun-hye 🇰🇷. Transparent handcuffs swing in the background against a tick-mark lineup texture. Jon Benedict Illustration For Foreign Policy/Getty Images

When Donald Trump became the first former United States president to face federal criminal charges on June 9, it set the scene for a legal battle that could test the U.S. judicial and political systems. The charges—37 in total—are related to Trump’s storage of highly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

While Trump has pleaded not guilty, the American public will closely follow his case to see what it reveals about America’s ability to hold its most powerful citizens to account. Trump is already claiming the indictment is a “witch hunt” and a “hoax” by the Biden administration.

“They are also going after me as RETRIBUTION for the Republicans in Congress going after them,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, days before the indictment. “The difference is, they have created major crimes, I have created none!”

Many Republicans are similarly questioning the motivation and timing of the indictment release. Sen. Ted Cruz called it “political persecution,” while former acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker called it the “stuff of a banana republic.”

But despite claims that prosecuting Trump means a slide into autocracy, the indictment and conviction of former leaders in democratic and semi-democratic countries around the world is, in fact, quite common.

A Foreign Policy analysis found that at least 78 leaders in 53 democratic or semi-democratic countries—the vast majority of which have successfully held democratic elections following the indictments—have been indicted since 2000. Countries and territories with a “partly free” or “free” score on Freedom House’s global freedom ranking, a total of 143, were included in this analysis.

Where Leaders Have Been Indicted Since 2000. A world map shows the 53 free or partly free countries where leaders have been prosecuted for crimes since 2000. Included are the United States (Donald Trump), France, Brazil, South Africa, South Korea, and dozens of other democracies.

Note: Freedom House gives a total of 210 countries and territories a score of 0 to 100 based on their political rights and civil liberties scores, which examine freedom of expression, electoral process, government functionality, and more. The combination of these two scores determines a status of free, partly free, or not free.

Some of the richest and most influential nations in the world have not only indicted but convicted former leaders on serious charges. In the past five years alone, South Korea has convicted two of its former presidents on corruption charges: Lee Myung-bak, who served as president from 2008 to 2013, and his successor, Park Geun-hye, who was impeached in 2017. Both have since been pardoned by sitting presidents while serving their approximately two-decade-long sentences.

South Korea suffers from a history of collusion and corruption between politicians and giant firms, known as chaebol. This old way of doing business helped put two other Korean leaders behind bars just before the turn of the century, bringing the tally of Korean leaders convicted to four in the past 30 years.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was similarly found guilty of bribery in 2021 and sentenced to three years in jail. Two of those years were suspended, and the remaining year will be served under house arrest as upheld by a Parisian court this May. And just last year, former President of Bolivia Jeanine Añez—who stepped forward as a proposed interim president in 2019 following the resignation of her predecessor, Evo Morales—was sentenced to 10 years in prison. She was accused of illegally taking over the presidency.

Trump’s criminal cases are unlikely to fall to the same political pressures that exonerated him in his two prior impeachment trials, but if acquitted, he wouldn’t be the first. Charismatic, recently deceased Italian statesman Silvio Berlusconi had a storied passage through his home country’s volatile judicial system. He was only convicted once in more than 30 court cases and acquitted in 10 for charges ranging from bribery to paying for sex with a minor. Two former Taiwanese presidents, Lee Teng-hui and Ma Ying-jeou, were also acquitted of embezzlement in 2013 and leaking confidential information in 2019, respectively.

The International Criminal Court (ICC)—a legal institution that lacks any enforcement mechanisms of its own—has charged numerous leaders with crimes, for which they’ve been prosecuted in the organization’s judicial divisions. Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta and the Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo both faced ICC charges of crimes against humanity; Kenyatta’s charges—initiated before he was president—were dropped, while Gbagbo was acquitted. Gbagbo’s charges are related to a five-month period of chaos and violence following his loss in the country’s 2010 presidential election.

Prosecutions Can Destabilize Democracies…

Police fire tear gas toward supporters of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan during a protest against his arrest in Karachi on May 9, 2023. Asif Hassan/AFP Via Getty Images

To be sure, prosecuting a former leader can also ignite political tensions and destabilize domestic politics. One of the most contemporary examples is Israel, where the charges of corruption against Benjamin Netanyahu sparked a political crisis in 2019 that continues to run its course. It resulted in a tumultuous power swing that saw five elections in four years with Netanyahu returning as prime minister in December 2022 despite his legal troubles. It’s unclear whether he’ll be found guilty, or whether the courts could enforce a guilty verdict.

Now back in power, Netanyahu has proposed a sweeping judicial overhaul that would give him final say over judge appointments and his government the power to overturn Supreme Court decisions. The proposal led to mass protests this year, and opponents call it a conflict of interest as Netanyahu remains a criminal defendant.

Former leaders have also taken extreme measures to avoid serving time after conviction, as several have done in El Salvador. Since a brutal civil war that ended in the 1990s, many of the country’s presidents have faced legal troubles, often corruption. Two presidents, Mauricio Funes and Salvador Sánchez Cerén, both fled to Nicaragua, where they have avoided jail time. Francisco Flores Pérez, president in the early 2000s, died awaiting trial in 2016. The only leader of the country who has served a sentence since 2000 is Antonio Saca—again, on corruption charges.

And in countries that have yet to establish a strong democracy and where the military wields considerable power, political leaders who have fallen out of favor with the army are more vulnerable to indictments and imprisonment. A slew of prime ministers has been either indicted or imprisoned in Pakistan, the latest being cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan. Khan’s brief arrest in May sparked nationwide protests and a more intense military crackdown on other party leaders ahead of general elections this fall.

…or Help Restore Democratic Legitimacy.

A protester shouts slogans in front of a caricature of South Korean President Park Geun-hye during a rally urging her impeachment in Seoul on December 7, 2016. Jung Yeon-Je/AFP Via Getty Images

But the indictments of leaders are not always a bad thing for democracies. They can help restore democratic legitimacy and serve as a way to reckon with past injustices from dictatorial regimes, as seen in the trials of former Argentine presidents Jorge Rafael Videla and Reynaldo Bignone and former Uruguayan presidents Juan María Bordaberry and Gregorio Conrado Álvarez. Similarly in South Korea, the imprisonments of military dictator Chun Doo-hwan and former President Roh Tae-woo for their part in the fatal crackdown of the 1980 pro-democracy Gwangju Uprising served as a victory for the young democracy.

There is no blueprint for how the Trump cases will play out. In some settings, the trial of a former president has been a major test for democracy, while in others it’s demonstrated the independence of judicial institutions. One thing is certain: Whatever happens in the United States will likely do more to cement opinions of the country’s institutions rather than of the former president himself.

— Editing and fact-checking by James Palmer and Drew Gorman. Graphics and Creative Direction by Lori Kelley. Photo research by Brooks Robinson.

[butcharyastark]

i've got very big feelings about the fact that not only can jon not confront his abuser after all of this, but the mere act of attempting it would damn him to a fate worse than death in the last possible even more horrible situation that exists in this world for him.

like that's so onbrand for his life at this point, holy shit.

like. he's been so helpless the entire story. he started off as a sad, grumpy, anxious man who was overcompensating for his fear of inadequacy and his history of trauma, and he gradually gets more and more worn down by the events of the story that KEEP happening to him and traumatizing him further, and finally, finally we are at the end of the story and maybe jon can finally reclaim the tiniest bit of autonomy and control, maybe he can do something good with it, too, after being forced over and over down a terrible path against his will, but that's taken away from him too. jonah has done so much shit to jon, he's orchestrated the ENTIRETY of the plot of tma in order to Specifically traumatize jon and cultimates in fucking over the entire world USING him, and jon, at the end of the day, has to realize it's yet another trauma that he just. has to take. and accept. and get over. and keep pushing past so he can, yet again, make some fruitless, painful, traumatizing and desperate attempt at saving the world and other people again.

after all this journey, after finally gaining an upper hand, after realizing maybe he does want some catharsis of revenge and justice for what's been done to him, and maybe finally yell and accuse and confront the ONE person actually responsible for everything he's been blamed for, for everything that's happened to him, the one person he can ACTUALLY lash out at because they DESERVE it-- he can't. he can't even look jonah in the face and accuse him of his crimes, bc jonah isn't even there really. he can't make a last ditch effort at just. terminating jonah from existence. bc it's just. yet again, another misguided, unintentional, attempt at helping or gaining some sense of relief that will only backfire again and will just hurt him again.

idk man. i'm upset.

[lightgamble]

THE PUNISHER | 2.11

I gotta walk out of here, and you can’t do it with me.

[esther-dot]

unpopular opinion maybe (?) but i don't think most people actually hated the ending of got because it was badly done or badly written. the show had been sloppy for years before the finale and most of us were still enjoying it, so i don't think it was really about that. i think we all tell ourselves we hated it because of that, but most of us probably wouldn't have minded it if only we'd gotten our preferred ending. d*ny fans would have been over the moon if they'd gotten an ending with her on the iron throne and jon as her devoted consort, regardless of how badly written, directed, and acted it was. sansa fans would have been equally over the moon if we'd not only gotten qitn but also sansa in a loving relationship with our preferred suitor, whomever that might be, quality of the writing be damned. arya fans would have been beside themselves with joy if they'd gotten their "queen arya with gendry as her lover" preferred ending, no matter how stupidly it was done. and so on and so forth, for fans of every character. the terrible writing certainly didn't help matters, but in my opinion the show's real failure was that it managed to leave literally EVERYONE unhappy and unsatisfied, and feeling that their fave had been cheated in some way.

Well, it’s kinda true for me! I was mocking D&D’s horrible choices and criticizing the show all season eight as I watched it, but if I had gotten Jonsa in the finale I would have definitely posted a “I have never said anything bad about D&D in my life” joke. 😂

This is why, even though I will never watch it again and I won’t watch the spin-offs, I’m not gonna pretend I stopped liking the show back in s5. There was a lot of “y’all thought the ending would be good? The show’s sucked since s4” stuff going around when we were all disappointed with the finale, but middles are hard! Lots of stories struggle there, and I was still caught up in what was happening and wondering where it would end until s7 just…made no sense to me. I was a show fan first so I wasn’t upset about their deviations from the books because I didn’t know about them at the time. I was still enjoying the show through s6. Honestly, s6 was a highpoint for me. Sansa and Jon reuniting, Sansa using LF, reclaiming Winterfell, Sansa finally being safe and happy, Jon becoming king….I understand hating the Ramsay plotline, being upset about Dorne etc, but as a Stark fan, a Sansa and a Jon fan, season six was very rewarding.

It wasn’t until after s7 aired that I started listening to Martin interviews/read the books, and at that point I learned that a) Martin has known the ending for the main characters for years, b) he told D&D, c) he expected the endings would be similar. So, I assumed that D&D had a plan and were working towards his ending and weren’t gonna just… plop his ending on whatever the hell it was they were doing without making it make sense. Silly me 😂

Thinking back though, I didn’t actually need Jonsa to be ok with the ending. The main complaint for most of us is how they wrote Jon. If they confirmed that Jon bent the knee because he had to and was afraid of Dany/trying to manage her the whole time, that he wasn’t disloyal to the North/his family and lying to cover his own ass, I could have eventually reconciled myself to the ending because there are a lot of ideas it’s touching on. I think that’s why I didn’t just drop the show/fandom completely after the show ended because there are so many things that I think one good kick would have allowed the whole thing to shift and settle into stuff from earlier seasons and things from the books and would have, as much as we wouldn’t want it to, worked. Instead it felt like D&D were waging a war of retribution on the fans and just wanted to destroy all the relationships they could. They really should have let Bryan Cogman have more sway in the final season or rewrite their finale script or something. You could feel the love in his episode, D&D’s felt intentionally cruel.

I agree with you though that no vocal part of the fandom (Jon fans, Dany fans, Arya fans…) getting what they wanted, none of the big ships (Jonerys, Jonsa, Gendrya, Braime…) getting a good ending, that’s why the show was so decried by fans and so hated. There was nothing truly redeeming in the ending on an emotional level/for the characters and their relationships, so even for someone like me, a Sansa fan, a character who got the best ending and “won” in a way none of the other characters did, it felt very empty. But, I have to say, I’ve seen a number of fans who are happy with the ending. Some people really liked the fact that the ending was so different from traditional fantasy. They appreciated Jon going beyond the Wall because they didn’t want him or Dany to rule. And with the success of HOTD and fans returning to GOT (indicated by the rewatch numbers on HBO Max), maybe there are a lot more of those fans than I realized.