#which i suppose makes sense that most of the important characters in this sort of game of thrones like season would be shown right away

[dimension-20-every-introduction]

There are no new Introductions in Dimension 20′s The Ravening War episode 3.

[gothamcityneedsme]

i have complex feelings about it but in td when karkat is actually like fully integrated, he is much more static because the story is... Less directly affecting him? hes there as Dave's Boyfriend largely

[respectthepetty]

Wild Ass Theory - IT'S ABOUT TYME!

As much as I think Tyme is coding on that table in the first episode, I believe both of them are dying, and it would make sense that Great is on the table coding at the exact time that Tyme gets shot since that's what we were shown, which could mean they end up here as some sort of limbo

Because at first, I thought maybe they'd go on a little vacay together, but we only have eight episodes to bake this biscuit, so . . .

Tyme wants to stay in limbo but Great knows neither can, especially Tyme who needs to survive, and when Great is banging on the door in the trailer, it's Great's apartment that he is in because the paintings and pool table are there but Great is missing.

But the biggest WTF is in the first episode scene when Tyme is shot, it's raining on him,

Just like it is in the hallway from the trailer.

TYME NEEDS TO LIVE!

I think the light from the doorway is the light the patients mentioned seeing from the operating room, so I don't think this is the light of heaven. I think Tyme will survive, but Great is wearing white all the time which the patient said she thought were angels but were actually nurses, but . . . like . . .

Once a character wears white, chances of death increase because blood shows up well on white or something, but also Great's powers are pulling him to Tyme which we saw with him being kicked back so he would accept Tyme's dinner request, so all roads are leading him to Tyme, so is Great the angel who is supposed to save Tyme or even sacrifice himself for Tyme?

Once again, as much as I think Tyme is on that table, it makes sense that Great is being operated on because we keep seeing the light over him as if he was on the operating table!

(There is also another theory about the light but I don't have time for that)

So what I'm trying to say with my cork board and sticky notes is that even though the show is being framed through Great's perspective, the most important character is Tyme since he is the one who needs to make it out of limbo, so Great has to make him see the light.

(Also, I think this woman is connected to Tyme)

TLDR: It's about Tyme

And Great needs to save him.

[wszczebrzyszynie]

In your older art (when he was a rabbit breeder named Nikita I think) Mikita seems much more… smiley than he is now. The first time I saw him (I think 2022) I remember him being gay + aro instead of aroace. I adore this character and I would love to know how he changed/developed over the years!

Oh gladly. I adore this topic. Mikita is my oldest one (8 years old now!) and i have quite a lot to say and show about him, so ill put it under the read more. For some reason the picture formatting is completly broken when i do it. Thank you for the kind words

Mikita went through quite a lot name changes now that i think about it, at least compared to my other ocs; it went hand in hand with his ethnicity mostly, as he was i believe polish first, then polish/lithuanian and only since... 2020? belarusian (which i agree is definitely... a pipeline, but theres no deeper meaning behind it; for the 70% of his life the world he lived in was 100% fictional, and at the beginning even fantasy-like). His first actual name (not "rabbit breeder", which was the title used for him in the original story instead of a name. Names were a modern au thing) if im not mistaken was Fryderyk, then Nikita, and then Mikita. That name change did probably happen around 2022 because a Belarusian belarusianized his name for me and I liked it so i changed it. Very nice of them it makes much more sense in the current story

Years 2016-2020-ish he was gay (but not aromantic) and also dating Mikołaj; frankly i do not remember when exactly that changed, but he and Mikołaj are some of my oldest still in use ocs and they were always a package deal of sorts. Last time i drew shipart of them was in 2021. I think it might have stopped around the time i realized i am aromantic? It was a very important moment to me and the second it clicked i realized most of my ocs were secretly aromantic all along too. It was pretty funny now that i think about it

Personality wise he was a bit insufferable. Well he used to age with me (like most of my ocs) so he was very much a 15 year old. Very bratty and unempathetic to others, actively manipulative and overly ambitious. He used to smile a lot yes it was very in character then and i think it makes him look more annoying so it stays. Well either way i made so much art of him in that time i actually canonized it as his younger self in canon, now that hes older. I think thats a fun choice and i still like his old design, so its good to reuse it. Art from 2020, 2021 and 2023. I think current Mika would hate his old self a lot

Frankly when it comes to my ocs the big shift from that more dystopian completly fictional setting to more historically grounded one happened at some point and i dont remember when that was. 2020-2021 ish possibly. Its hard to remember because it did not happen from day to day; i think i abandoned these ocs original story for months before i made that choice? and even then i dont remember how current DNS or such a clear idea for it came to be, especially considering that it changed basically every single character drastically. Its weird to me but i suppose that knowledge is lost. That being said i think it does coincide with the creation of Przemek, who quickly became one of my favourites, so maybe theres that. I dont know. Well either way its a very good thing that it happened

[skimmeh]

I'm curious about your Mumbo, can you tell me more about him? I saw that in some of your doodles he has a mechanical arm and in others he doesn't, is that canon for him or are you still working out his final design?

I'm still working on his design! But I can tell you all the inspirations I have!!! For his design!! 

He's supposed to be the guys really into robotics (cos you know cc mumbo all about flying machines and they are the closest you can get to robots in villain Minecraft... Rip copper golem) 

So I knew I wanted to make him have like alot of robotics and stuff, that arm was like an idea for extra arms he might use to help with his work.

But then I decided I wanted to kind of stick to a theme. And I came to the idea of the robots being they bug inspired (specifically at first spiny flower mantis) , beacuse that sort of link to my idea of his characters being very intrigued by plants (with s8 potato stuff and then s9 buttercups). So the idea that he uses plants and flowers as like the intelligent force inside his robots ..think mech suits for plants!! 

Then Grumbot! Which important character connected to mumbo ..of which I'm still designing. I thought it would be sweet if his heart was a potato plant! Which is double cute cos potato flowers are kind of star shaped!!! 

And then I started thinking about, you know how there was the phrase when clear cases were a thing on every electronic to look cool. That kind of reminds me of certain bugs!! Or frogs, when you can see their organs! Of which I thought also fitted, if Mumbo's robotics in this au would powered by plants, the idea that most of there outer shells are clear ..makes sense because plants need light, green house type vibe. 

I know this is mostly me just rambling about Mumbo's robotics rather than mumbo himself.... But honestly that's most of the inspiration behind mumbos design!

I'm still working on them ..SOOO this me more talking about the ideas I have then showing anything I've drawn yet haha

[thechurchoftheradiodemon]

I've been mulling over something. I read one of Vivzie's interviews lately and I've come to some conclusions about Alastor's character (these are just my own theories, though, so we'll see how everything actually develops in s2).

Unfortunately, I believe, canonically, Alastor is NOT aromantic. Maybe on the aro-spectrum, and deffinitely asexual, but not aro per se. In this interview, Vivzie confirms Alastor's asexuality, and plays with his aro identity saying something like "I don't want to ruin people's fun with him". This could be queerbaiting in a sense (I don't actually think so, when Vivzie is high on queer representation, but aro people are very left behind in the community, sadly).

But she continues to add on that there are plans for Alastor in the future of the series, saying something like "I can't confirm that he is aromantic". To me, this reads like we will see romance in Alastor's life in season 2, wether it's a past lover/romantic interest or a new one I could not say. She would've had no problem in confirming Alastor as aromantic otherwise, and I interpret this as Vivzie not wanting to spoil part of the plot.

I used to think that Alastor's deal would most surely be with Lilith, but, while it could be the case, I'm not so sure anymore (although it could be a fun dinamic). But, nontheless, I think Lilith's and Alastor's 7 year absence and his deal are intertwinded somehow.

My bet, for the future romance plot, is that it could be one of these three: either Lilith, whom the fandom is already considering in a sense; the mysterious Eve, or... Lucifer. HEAR ME OUT. I don't say this as a Radioapple enjoyer. The reasons I think it could be Lucifer are the same that I think it could be Eve (although we know absolutely nothing about her).

Mainly, I draw these conclusions from the early comic Zoophobia, from where we know Alastor's character was taken. In this comic, his character is supposed to have a crush on the character of KayCee, a powerful being with whom he could have made an alliance to reign chaos.

KayCee's descriptions could match either of the three romantic interests I mentioned, but what strikes me more are her defining traits: white and gold colour palette, and the apple. We know not all of Vivzie's characters stem from Zoophobia, and the ones that do have (understandably so) went through important changes through the years, mediums and aesthetics.

BUT these could be some clues into what we might discover in s2 of Hazbin. And, so long, the character we've seen fit this palette and apple motif is none other than Lucifer himself. Eve, on the other hand, is also shown during the intro sporting some sort of apple motif, which could be indicative of her future appearance in the series. But we know so little about her, and, knowing Hazbin Hotel will only have 2 seasons confirmed, I'm not sure we will see more of her.

I personally don't like the idea of losing Alastor as an aromantic character. I'd much rather not see him in a romantic relationship whatsoever in the canon series. But that is not my call to make, and he will always be our ace-king no matter what. Also, that wouldn't mean his story or character will be less interesting or developed. So we'll have to wait and see...

(This is visual representation of me reaching these conclusions, btw)

I would love to hear what other fans think about this, so if you want to leave and opinion in the comments we can discuss!

[halemerry]

hii first of all, i absolutely love your metas on GO s2! your breakdown of the last few minutes of ep6 was really insightful and i love you for your meta about aziraphale and his role as a protector - it is a very astute look into his character and motivations which not a lot of people acknowledge in their theories/speculation after s2.

more to the point of this ask: this is something i've been mulling over and is the only thing that still doesn't make sense to me in ep6. why is crowley so nonchalant, or at least not noticeably worried, about the metatron showing up to the bookshop (a space he is very protective of) and taking aziraphala away for a talk after aziraphale has already been threatened by micheal? throughout the whole season crowley has been extremely protective over aziraphale and is very much aware of the real danger he is in (re: the book of life). this is also right after crowley has returned from heaven and has learned what the metatron was willing to do to gabriel to ensure 'institutional integrity' and that much bigger plans were afoot. i find it hard to wrap my head around his calm demeanor when the metatron enters the scene and takes aziraphale away, even if it's supposedly for a harmless talk. i wonder if you have any thoughts/speculation about this?

(opps this got too long and rambling). i would love to hear your thought but ofc please don't feel pressured to answer :) love your posts about the season and i look forward to reading more from you. have a lovely day!

Hi!! Thank you so much! This ask has had me by the throat basically since you sent it. It sort of touches on some things I already wanted to write about so forgive me if this spirals a bit.

So in a lot of ways I think this is a question that can have a one word answer. But since I do wanna talk about the way the show gives us this answer I actually want to start with Nina. Specifically I want to start with the thing she tells Crowley as Aziraphale’s off with the Metatron.

“You’re the hard bitten one that can’t trust anyone ever again and Mr. Wherever He Is is the soft one that still believes in magic people being basically good and all that."

I’ve talked a little bit about this line before in my meta about the build up to the Confession here because I think it’s important to view from the perspective of how it preps Crowley for the following conversation he’s about to have. But, aside from that, I think it's really important because it's wrong. Nina is describing herself here, not Crowley. She’s projecting her own issues onto him and Aziraphale in the way that she perceives herself relating to them. Crowley himself is actually the one that calls out her trust issues for what they are explicitly. 

Nina doesn’t trust and she sees herself in Crowley far more than Aziraphale both in demeanor and aesthetic so she assumes he doesn’t trust either. But she has it backwards. Because Crowley isn’t hard bitten as much as someone who tries very hard to be perceived as such. And, most importantly in this specific context, Crowley actually trusts quite a bit.

And he nearly always has. Even as far as back as the Starmaker.

Just look at the way that the Starmaker and Aziraphale both talk about interacting with God. Aziraphale is nervous, anxious and pretty much immediately clocks that what the angel that would become Crowley is saying is going to get him into trouble. But the Starmaker? Even upset about the information he’s been given, he remains confident in the fact that it can’t hurt to ask a few questions. He trusts there to be no consequence for expressing an objection. He trusts that his opinion is valued. Even if he ends up wrong here there’s no inclination at all that he thinks his words will be taken inappropriately. And even the Fall itself doesn’t burn this out of him.

We see him trust Aziraphale, the cherub who was supposed to be guarding Eden from things like him, not to smite him on sight. And trusts him enough to not only have a conversation but express his own worries about his own actions. He then approaches Aziraphale like a friend at the Flood and makes no attempt to censor his horror at what is happening there.

Job is the first time we see Crowley act in a way that implies mistrust between them. This is the first time they’ve met since the Flood which I suspect is contributing to his reluctance to be honest with Aziraphale here. They fall into their roles and then very rapidly fall out of them. The fact Azriaphale reaches out to Crowley here is important. As is the moment where Crowley asks Aziraphale if he’s sure. After Aziraphale more or less agrees to be all in something changes. Crowley is surprisingly honest about his view on the world, mostly trusting Aziraphale not to use it against him. He places himself in front of a host of angels, trusting that Aziraphale would not expose him. And then later he’s even more honest, admitting to Aziraphale he’s lonely in an attempt to show solidarity.

The entire Arrangement could not exist without them trusting each other. Crowley’s pushing at Aziraphale’s boundaries is a constant exercise in trusting that Aziraphale will come around eventually - or that he at the very least isn’t about to weaponize the treacherous things Crowley is saying against him. As early as 1601 we see Aziraphale voicing active concern for Crowley's well being. We then see Crowley actively trust Aziraphale with both their safeties in 1941 - whether it’s trusting Azriaphale to save them from the bomb about to drop on them or trusting Aziraphale’s trust in him to not accidentally discorporate him during the bullet catch. They even explicitly talk about their mutual trust in this year during their shades of gray conversation.

During Armageddon Crowley shows up trusting that Aziraphale will help him fix this and once Aziraphale agrees never once seems to consider the idea that Aziraphale would hide anything from him (even when Aziraphale is actively doing so).

He also critically knows that Aziraphale tried to reach God and got himself discorporated as a consequence. And likely specifically knows that Aziraphale talked to the Metatron and came away from that conversation realizing that Heaven would not help him. It's worth noting whether Crowley knows this bit or not that in this conversation Aziraphale not only explicitly questions the Metatron's authority but also uses the conversation to extract information from the Metatron.

Aziraphale leaves this conversation with an active lie to the Metatron and attempts to call Crowley to tell him everything he knew. He then continually chooses Crowley over Heaven. They pick their own side and help stop the world from ending.

And then, all season, Aziraphale keeps proving that the trust Crowley has always had in him is well earned. Aziraphale, even more than Crowley himself, brings up ideas of 'us' and 'our side' and 'our car'.

Aziraphale openly talks negatively of Heaven. Not only does he agree with Crowley's disbelief that Heaven managed to stay in charge sending people like Muriel down, but he even goes a step further, implying that they perhaps never had control over earth in that way.

He also, most critically, immediately and without hesitation, tries to turn down the Metatron's offer to even have a conversation. Aziraphale, who has also just brought a group of archangels to order, reaffirms his lack of interest in Heaven right then and there in front of Crowley. Right when the Metatron has reaffirmed the threat of the Book of Life is out of play.

Crowley trusts Aziraphale. He always has. And more than ever lately Aziraphale has given him proof that he doesn't have to worry about where he allegiances lay.

But. It's also worth noting. I don't think Crowley is as chill as he maybe seems like he is. Yes, he's sprawled out and speaking casually here, but to some degree this is a bit of posturing. He's playing it cool and also not encroaching on the control Aziraphale has managed to wrangle on this situation. But he also doesn't just let them wander off either. As soon as they hit the door, Crowley is out of the chair and walking to the front of the shop to watch them leave through the window. He's keeping tabs as they walk away.

He then banishes Muriel and promptly starts to clean. Now I'm always a little wary to mix Book and Show canon, but I do think his cleaning of the bookshop (as well as him carrying around stacks of books while babysitting Jim) are manifestations of Book!Crowley's tendency to want to stress clean. He's keeping himself busy and gets done too quickly then promptly glances at his watch before throwing himself into the chair with a frustrated noise. He's anxious and stressed the entire time Aziraphale is out of his line of sight.

In other words, Crowley's not actually as calm as he's presenting himself to be. He's trying to take that nervous energy out in a way that doesn't conflict with giving Aziraphale agency. Because he trusts his angel. And that in part is why it hits him so hard when it all blows up in his face.

[bliss-in-the-void]

Gege Akutami, You Do Not Understand Gojo Satoru, and Here is Why

I was reading this article to help me cope with the traumatic events of Chapter 236 when a certain portion didn’t sit right with me.

Long post, click to read the full analysis:

(this is probably the most important post I've made so far)

Now, we all know that Gege doesn’t like Gojo. They don’t make it a secret in the slightest. Which is fine in itself, as an author you are 100% within your right to hate a character you created, and I respect that—it gives dimension to the dynamic of a story.

What I don’t care for is the reasons Akutami lists for their dislike of Gojo.

Reason #1 as stated in the above blurb of the article: Gojo doesn’t have depth.

To me, this is a wild statement to make as an author, but especially as the one who wrote Gojo. Where does he lack depth? Genuine question.

I believe he is an incredibly complex character.

He is the first sorcerer in centuries to be born with the Six Eyes and Limitless techniques, which automatically sets up so many nuances. Coupled with the fact that Akutami has stated that he grew up spoiled, that right there should tell you some things about why he is the way he is. He has a bit of an inflated ego when it comes to his powers. And why wouldn’t he? From the time he was born, the people around him treated him like some sort of God. How else was he supposed to grow up? He’s told his whole life he possesses unparalleled power, and he’s going to believe that.

Even still, it really isn’t as unchecked as Akutami seems to believe it is. Despite his distaste for authority, Gojo still reports to the higher ups, goes on missions, exorcizes curses, and works collaboratively with his fellow sorcerers. If he was really the giant egomaniac Akutami argues that he is, he’d say ‘to hell with authority’ and run off to do whatever he wants like Yuki. I mean, COME ON, this guy is the most powerful modern sorcerer and he still attended all four years of high school. He could have easily never attended—who was going to stop him?

He has a peculiar sense of humor that can get inappropriately timed in certain moments, but it’s obvious that it’s a deflection and a coping mechanism for the horrors of a sorcerer’s reality. He doesn’t just joke about death and dying because he doesn’t care. He cares too much and he doesn’t know how to deal with it, so he suppresses and laughs it off. Moments like this are seen after Suguru dies in JJK 0 when he was clearly crying afterward, but had to put on a cheerful facade for Yuuta and the other students.

He is a very good teacher. It’s hard for a naturally gifted prodigy to effectively teach things which come automatically to them, and somehow he finds creative ways to do it. Teaching Yuuji to control cursed energy by using one of Yaga’s dolls and giving him a movie marathon? One of Yuuji’s favorite hobbies? Genius and so considerate for Yuuji. He’d just been thrown into the sorcerer world, learning all these new things, and Gojo decided to introduce a foreign concept to him through something familiar and comfortable to him. That is amazing, and the mark of a very kind, understanding teacher. He’s also really patient with his students. Yes, he gives them tough love sometimes by throwing them into missions, but it really is to make them strong. How else will they grow if they aren’t put under pressure?

His motivation for being a teacher is very selfless. He himself has stated that he isn’t suited to be a teacher, but that he has a dream to raise a generation of strong allies to prevent isolation from occurring like what had happened to Suguru. He felt guilty about growing apart from him, didn’t see the warning signs before he snapped, and regrets not being there for him more. His entire purpose now is dedicated to making sure the new wave of sorcerers have a tightly-knit network so that no one ends up alone and on a dark path like Suguru.

He constantly sticks his neck out for the helpless even when it’s far from his benefit. He paid off the Zenin clan to save Megumi, the child of the man who ruined his high school years and nearly killed him. He then raised him. He threatened the higher ups to keep Yuuta alive, and then did it again for Yuuji. He does this to preserve their youth, because his own was taken away from him. His whole life he’d been controlled by the higher ups and people around him because of who he is in the sorcerer world, so by waving his own status in front of authority to hold them back from his students, he acts as a sort of shield to take as many burdens off of their shoulders as he can so that they can remain carefree. As much as he can within his power.

With all of that being said, I really don’t understand where Akutami is coming from with lack of depth, but another argument I say to that statement is: well, you’re the author, give him the depth you think he’s missing. (Personally, I believe he’s one of the best-written characters in any anime I’ve seen).

Reason #2 is that according to Akutami, he doesn’t have a likable personality.

What about his personality is unlikable?

He is cocky, but not to the point where he stops caring about others, not to the point where he never considers how other people feel or how his actions affect other people, and not to the point where he never feels guilt and remorse about his shortcomings. Like I said, he lives his life trying to prevent his past from repeating itself, to save the fates of others.

I really don’t get it. In JJK 0, after Nitta gives her report on the shopping mall, Gojo thanks her and praises her. Would a cocky asshole do that? No. If you wanted to characterize him as unlikable, you could have made him dismiss her, or ignore her.

He makes pop culture references, he has endearing flaws like not being good at drawing, being a lightweight drinker, and overdoing it on the sweets. He’s funny, he’s kind, he’s considerate…he is a very likable character.

Honestly, the self-absorption he displays when he’s fighting is probably a result of his upbringing. Being told you have so much power you have so much power you have so much power over and over again instills this belief that yes, he’s needed by Jujutsu Society to fight curses as a weapon. As. A. Weapon. The Six Eyes & Limitless user is a formidable weapon, but what about Satoru Gojo, the person? The only time he feels useful is when he’s fighting curses. That’s where he gets his self-worth. We can see that expressed in this panel, from Chapter 236:

In the second half of Gojo’s second text bubble, he says, “でもどこかで人としてというより生き物としての線引きがあったのかな”.

This translates to: “But I wonder if somewhere there was a line drawn between being a creature rather than a person.”

Rather than having drew the line himself, being constantly treated like the strongest, being handed over the difficult missions, being relied on so heavily pushed him away from other people. It distorted the perception everyone had of him, and it distorted the perception he had of himself. He also believed he could never lose because he let his human side fade into the background. The world didn't need human Satoru Gojo, they needed sorcerer Satoru Gojo, the one who could bend rules to his will with his might, the one who could exorcise any curse and save the day no matter how bad things got. Why would he remain human when that part of him was treated as non-existent? The only person who did treat him as a person with weaknesses and flaws has been dead for eleven years. Of course that voice of reason is going to fizzle out.

How can you possibly vilify him for that? It would be a disservice to everything he has had to endure his entire life.

Reason #3 and the last point I want to touch on is when the article says, "Akutami believes that much of this adoration is based solely on his striking appearance, overshadowing his more abrasive personality traits."

Okay. Where to start?

Honestly, and I know this is probably not Akutami's intention, but that comes off as so condescending. It's so presumptuous. It's as if to say we're all going "ooh look at pretty man, pretty man do no wrong because too pretty" mindlessly with dilated pupils and drool coming out of our mouths. Uh. No.

Yes, Satoru is a good-looking character, but no, that is very far from why we like him so much as a character, and it's also very far from why he's so popular. Aside from all of the points I've made above explaining why he's so universally loved, I'll make another one that isn't superficial and tired.

He's so relatable.

This is a man so incredibly traumatized by his high school years that he is mentally and emotionally unable to move on. Suguru Geto was his very best friend, and for reasons he took too long to understand, chose to abandon their friendship for his own goals. For anyone who has grown apart from a best friend, this hits so hard.

Because of his upbringing it was hard to become close to anyone. But somehow, Suguru was able to break past his walls, and for that, he became entirely too dependent on him. This is common for anyone who finds it hard to make friends and get close to others. Once someone is allowed in, you cling so hard to them and imagine them being there for your entire life. So, when they leave, you take it entirely too personally.

Everyone has a right to live their own lives, and as we see with the divergence of Suguru and Satoru, sometimes our paths aren't leading to the same place. It's not personal. But Satoru took it personal, and that's so beautifully human. When you lose a best friend who was important to you, you think "I like being around this person, they put me at ease in a way no one else does", and you assume they feel the same way about you. So when they leave and show you that no, they didn't feel the same, it hurts. It's almost as if they're saying "I actually do think you're unlovable like everyone else, that's why no one likes you, you are too much."

Someone you thought was safe, isn't anymore.

That is such a relatable thing to watch a character go through! Especially someone as awe-inspiring and charismatic as Gojo! As an audience, we think, "he's just like me!" and we like him for it.

So, as I stated in the title, Gege Akutami, you don't understand Satoru Gojo at all. I commend you for writing such an amazing, iconic, universally loved character, but I will never understand nor respect the superficial way in which you perceive him.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Any tips for writing allegorical characters?

As with any character, it is helpful to consider some general character development techniques that most writers follow. This would likely give depth to your characters and allow your readers to connect with them more.

Allegorical Characters - are meant to represent something larger than themselves in order to make a point.

The character in question may be a perfectly well-rounded and very much individualized character, but he is so closely linked to a certain concept, that he is often used allegorically as a way of talking about that concept (e.g. Superman and idealism).

Example: Godzilla himself started in Godzilla (1954) as an allegorical character representing the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the destruction caused.

If all of the characters in the work are written this way, then you might just have a full-blown Allegory on your hands.

Symbolic & Personification Allegory

There are essentially two different ways to tell an allegorical story.

One is by using symbolic allegory:

To write your allegorical character here, give them a recognizable identity or mundane utility within the story but also represents a larger concept.

Example: Dante uses this type in “The Divine Comedy.”

The characters of Beatrice and Virgil represent the concepts of divine revelation and human reason, respectively, but they also represent real people who actually lived.

The other type is personification allegory:

To write your allegorical character here, give them no identity apart from the concept they are supposed to represent.

Example: “Everyman,” which is a morality play from the 15th century, is an example of this type in which the characters are given names such as Beauty, Death, Knowledge, and Strength.

5 Tips for Using Allegory in Writing

Think of an important idea you want to share with your reader. It should be something large and complex, and something that relates to the society you live in on a large scale.

Once you’ve decided on a topic, plan out your allegory. Think of how you will translate these real-world ideas into fictional scenes and characters. Carefully assign characters: animals are common, as in Aesop’s Fables and Animal Farm, but there is no rule about what sort of characters to use.

Whatever you choose, remember that your audience will be trying to figure out who each character represents in real life, so try not to confuse them with unrelated characters whose purpose is not clear.

Be sure to let your reader know how to read between the lines. You will need to leave clues without over-explaining your message. Don’t be so subtle that the readers will miss the point of the allegory.

The surface story must stand on its own. While the underlying message can be a bit abstract, this isn’t an essay or a speech. The top layer must still make sense and be intriguing in its own right.

Sources: 1 2 3

If this inspires your writing in any way, do tag me, or send me a link. I would love to read your work!

[acourtofthought]

Lucien as a Mate

"Where is he keeping her"

"Tell me anyway. List all of them."

"I need to find her"

His own status as a mated male made him uninterested in any sort of female company these days.

"I'm a mated male now"

"I'm going with you." "I'm getting my mate back"

"Tell me about her - about Elain."

"What of - Elain?"

From the devastation on his face, I knew he'd heard every word. Seen and heard and felt the hollowness and despair radiating from her.

"Is...is there anything I can get you?"

I'd never heard my friend's voice so soft. So tentative and concerned.

"There's a plate of biscuits. Would you like one?:

But he couldn't breathe as she faced him fully. She was the most beautiful female he'd ever seen."

Her eyes were the brown of a fawn's coat.

"I know. I'm sorry."

"She needs fresh air"

"Take her to the sea. Take her to some garden. But get her out of this house for an hour or two."

"It wasn't just about what he thought - it was the...feeling. I sensed no ill will, no conniving. Only concern for her. And...sorrow. Longing."

"Let me do something. About Elain."

"I think she went through something terrible. And it wouldn't hurt to have your best healer do a thorough examination."

"Please tell me, what the healer says. And if - if you need me for anything."

"I'm sorry." "It - it was a tug. On the bond."

"I'm sorry - if that unsettled you."

"There's a bond - it's a real thread."

"No - I didn't have time. I felt her, but..." A blush stained his cheeks.

Lucien just stared and stared at my sister, as if he'd never seen her before.

He glanced at Elain, who was again studying her lap. "I'm not needed here. I'll fight if you need me to, but..."

Lucien looked back. Not to me, I realized - to someone behind me. Pale and thin, Elain stood atop the stairs. Their gazes locked and held.

Lucien inclined his head in a bow, the movement hiding the gleam in his eye - the longing and sadness."

Lucien, haggard and bloody, panting for breath. As if he'd run from the shore. His gaze settled on Elain, and he sagged a little. "Are you hurt?"

"I heard - what happened. I'm sorry for your loss. All of you."

""I heard you made the killing blow."

"He was a good man, "he loved you all very much."

"It would be my pleasure."

Lucien now stood in the sitting room, close to Elain's side.

"How is she?"

"But is she still..." "Does she still mourn him?

"The pain etching deep into Lucien's face as he tried to hide his disappointment and longing."

You know what I love about Lucien's character?

We know he's experienced. We know he's an Autumn Court male with fire in his blood which is supposed to make them exceptional in the bedroom. And we know he's drawn to Elain on a very physical level.

But instead of SJM taking him the same route as say, Cassian with Nesta ("He tried not to think of what that hand would feel like on other parts of him. Gripping him: stroking him"), SJM turns Lucien's POV of Elain into something utterly romantic (her eyes were the brown of the fawn's coat, she was the most beautiful female he'd ever seen, trying to keep from shuddering when she merely says his name, showing restraint as he reels in any thoughts of touching her or tasting her). He's struggling with guilt over Jesminda yet he still can't help his poetic thoughts of Elain.

I think the physicality of Nessian's POV worked for them (though it's important to remember that Cassian also noted on multiple occasions that it was Nesta's cunning mind at work that really drew him in, not just the physical)

But Elucien to me will read as deeply passionate, where Lucien will refuse to admit his darkest desires, the things he wants to do to Elain and she to him until he's won her heart.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

@grimharuspex in the comments of that @zoe-oneesama post said it the best; Butterfly should’ve been Emotion and Peacock should’ve been Desire. I know that Zoe has a limit on what canon she changes for her comic which I respect/appreciate given the thought she puts into it (even when canon’s various nonsensical magic rules are especially grating like this) but how do you think things would’ve gone in-show if this was the setup from the get-go? On that note, do you think it’s a good setup for canon in the first place? Why or why not?

This is going to be a rather long lecture on lore and world building and how the peacock fails on every level, so before we get into that, let's start with the positives. I saw a few people pointed out the Desire idea - that being that the peacock's associated Force should have been Desire while the butterfly got Emotions - and I think that they're absolutely right. That one tiny change does fix the surface level issues and make the peacock make sense for its larger role in the narrative.

It would complicate the whole magical slave thing and also mean that you probably have to rework a few of the minor sentimonsters, but generally speaking, it makes way more sense for Desire to birth a fully realized human being. The sentipeople being people while also coming from a single emotion will always be total BS in my eyes.

At the same time, I blame no one for just sticking to canon's lore. Reworking the lore is a serious thing and even I only do it when I'm telling a lore-heavy story. There are plenty of stories where I just stick to canon's nonsense because the lore isn't important.

Now that we've done our positives, let's getting into the negatives! The issue of the day is this: changing the Force from Emotions to Desire doesn't solve the larger problems with the peacock. Problems that we'll now get into. Buckle up, this is gonna be a long one.

Issue 1: Power Diversity

While I would not call myself a superhero expert, I have seen a good deal of superhero and magical girl team shows in my time. Most of you probably have. If you think about the power sets that we see in those shows, then you'll notice that one thing is pretty much always true: every power is unique OR the powers are all closely related in some way. You never do both because the two concepts don't mix. It makes no sense for half of the characters to have totally unique powers while the other half have copies unless there's some sort of special thematic reason for this like siblings sharing a power.

Without that sort of explanation, it just feels weird and it also makes the characters feel redundant. You don't need two speedsters or two supermen! One is enough. Heck, Avatar the Last Airbender takes place in a world where whole civilizations have the same power and they STILL didn't duplicate powers for the core team because they understood that it's important to keep the characters unique.

Miraculous is pretty obviously supposed to be the type of show where the powers don't overlap. Every character gets a unique power that's uniquely suited to them. We even have this confirmed in universe during that confusing scene in the episode Destruction where Orikko - the rooster - tries to explain how his powers work:

Orikko: No, you're mistaken! Time travel is Fluff's power and I can't grant the power that already belongs to another Kwami!

This brings us to the problem with the peacock: it is not a unique power. It's derivative on multiple levels.

Derivation Level One: Akumas

The first and most obvious level is how similar sentimonsters are to akumas. In terms of how they're normally used in the narrative, they're pretty much the exact same power to the point that you literally can't tell which one you're dealing with until someone tells you. The narrative uses them interchangeably with some episodes using an akuma, some using a sentimonster, and some using both.

In fact, I thought that it was really weird that Gabriel didn't switch to maining sentimonsters back in season four. You had akumas breaking their bonds left and right, which is a thing that sentimonsters literally cannot do, making them the obvious fix to this new problem.

To really highlight the whole "indistinguishable power" issue, allow me to highlight some dialogue from Kuro Neko to show that this is very much an in-universe problem:

Cat Walker: You think that's Cat Noir? Ladybug: Of course it's Cat Noir! He must've been akumatized because he regrets having given up his Miraculous!

Ladybug: You'll see once we deakumatize him. (She runs towards Kuro Neko.) Cataclysm his bell, I'm sure that's where the akuma is! Cat Walker: Hang on! (follows her) Ladybug, what if that's a sentimonster? If I use my power on him, he'll lose control and become more dangerous!

Cat Walker: (cringes) What I mean is you're right to doubt, and I agree with you. Until we know for sure whether we're dealing with a sentimonster or someone who's been akumatized, we shouldn't make any brash decisions. (Kuro Neko leaps away.) Let's find out more.

This sort of confusion should be impossible unless it's the result of clever planning by the villain, but that's not what we're dealing with here. Kuro Neko was not about Gabriel tricking the heroes. He sent out a normal sentimonster having no idea that Chat Noir had just quit. And yet Ladybug had no idea that this was a sentimonster. She looked at it and saw an akuma.

Cat Walker also didn't know that it was a sentimonster. He just knew that it wasn't Chat Noir, which was probably the only reason that he thought to question Ladybug and warn her to be cautious. They only realize that it's a sentimonster once they learn that there's a child inside it.

This is canon accidentally telling us that akumas and sentimonster are just straight up indistinguishable unless you see then made or do some experiments to figure out what you're dealing with. That's not a good look if your claiming that each miraculous grants a unique power. It is, however, a great lead in to the second power that the peacock copies: the power of illusions.

Derivation Level Two: Illusions

I said above that it should take careful planning for a sentimonster to be confused with an akuma. While we never see that type of carefully planned setup, we do see sentimonsters used to successfully impersonate humans on several occasions. One example is the episode Optigami which gave us SentiNino and SentiAlec. Seemingly perfect clones of Nino and Alec who did whatever Shadow Moth told them to. We even see a scene where Shadow Moth is telling SentiAlec exactly what to say.

You know who else gives us this type of scene? Rena Furtive in Rocketear:

Ladybug: You said that if Nino could have heard what you were saying, there'd be no misunderstanding? Rena Furtive: Absolutely! Ladybug: How well do you remember what you guys said on the balcony? Rena Furtive: Every. Word. Ladybug: Do you think you could make... a sound illusion? Rena Furtive: Totally.

Is there any doubt in your mind that the peacock can do anything that the fox can do? What's even worse is that the peacock does illusions better than the fox! Fox illusion vanish in a puff of smoke if you touch them. SentiNino was real enough to wield a miraculous because he was a fully corporeal illusion that would have kept on going if he hadn't been snapped away. This brings us to derivation level three: the power of creation.

Derivation Level Three: Creation

The peacock doesn't just outshine the fox, it outshines the ladybug! Lucky charms vanish as soon as Ladybug detransforms. Sentimonsters last forever. The ladybug is only useful in battle as it requires a super villain to cast its cure (which is asinine, but let's not get into that here). The peacock can be used at any time. The ladybug doesn't give you what you want, it just gives you a puzzle to solve. The peacock can fulfill your deepest desires and even create life.

Outside of the extremely specific circumstances that the show gives us - aka an ongoing battle with a super villain - the ladybug is kind of useless. If you want the power of Creation, you're going to use the peacock. This brings us to our second main issue: power balancing.

Issue Two: Power Balancing

The ladybug and the black cat are supposed to be the two most powerful miraculous in existence, but it really doesn't feel like that's true. Sure, if you put them together they rewrite the universe, but that's not part of their individual base power sets. At an individual level, they don't actually feel all that powerful when compared to the butterfly and the peacock. It's more like Marinette and Adrien are smart enough to make their very limited powers work while Gabriel and Nathalie are dancing along easy street and making fools of themselves with every step.

I've mentioned before that I can forgive the butterfly's overpowered nature because this is an episodic show. They want each episode's fight to be unique and interesting and so we have to give them room to have one power set that should be an insta-win card, but isn't because plot.

I can give them that grace once. I cannot give it to them twice.

There is no reason why both the butterfly and the peacock need to feel more powerful than the supposed most powerful miraculous in existence. I've even talked to one person who is rewriting canon with the assumption that the peacock and the butterfly ARE the most powerful ones because they are! Nothing proves this better than the fact that they've both made creations that can copy the powers of the ladybug and the black cat (see: Copycat, Strikeback, Ladybug, Sandboy, Miraculer, and probably a few others that I'm forgetting).

They're also the only miraculous that don't require an active user. You can create a sentimonster or an akuma, then detransform and have a snack while your creation does whatever you need it to do. That's so incredibly broken and such a terrible move in terms of power balancing. Either have all of the powers require active users or, at the very least, have more of a mix of active and passive powers. Why do Mirage, Shelter, and Lucky Charm vanish when their caster's detransform while akumas and amoks stick around? There is no in-universe logic to explain this. It works this way because that's what the writers needed these miraculous to do. A fact that makes it impossible to get invested in the lore of this show.

When designing a complex magic system, you generally don't want "because plot" to be the only answer to why things work they way they do. You want your magic system to feel real and organic to the world. That's how fictional worlds come to life! If Miraculous' magic system was well designed, then you could take it and use it to tell a wildly different story set in the same universe, but you can't. Everything about it is designed around making canon's story work and not around making an immersive world that you can almost believe exists.

There are stories that I wouldn't hold to that standard, but they're mostly short form stories. Anything as big and complex as Miraculous needs to have a solid lore system backing it or else you lose all sense of stakes. A great example of this is the Bunnyx problem where you know that she can show up at any time and reset the timeline even if things are happening in her own past, so why do we need to worry about bad things happening? And how are the ladybug and the black cat the most powerful ones when you have nonsense like time travel and the power to create human-like creatures? Early canon lore was decently solid, but the longer the show goes, the more nonsense the lore gets and that makes me sad because I love good lore.

Some Final Thoughts

You may have noticed that I didn't really talk about the sentikid issue in this post. That's because my dislike of the peacock came long before that fun little twist. While sentiAdrien is yet another great reason to dislike the peacock, it didn't need to be a thing for the peacock to be a terrible idea. Take away the sentikids and you still have an incredibly derivative and lore-breaking power set that never should have made it into the show.

I actually completely redesigned the peacock for my own rewrite which I start plotting back when I was first watching season three, long before sentiAdrein was even on my radar. That's not something that I usually do in my fix it stuff. I usually try to stick close to canon and make more minor tweaks, but the peacock is so fundamentally world breaking that I had no choice but to do a total overhaul. This is already an incredibly long post, so I won't go into that here. I'll save it for another ask that's sitting in my inbox. I'll schedule them to post back to back.

For this post, I'll just end by pointing out that switching the peacock to Desire makes it derivative of and arguably better than the pig, too, since the pig can only tease you with what you want. The peacock actually gives it to you. In fact, I'd say that the peacock may be a better pig even without the switch!

You can also argue that the peacock is better than or at least equal to the rooster and the goat because they're also just variations of the butterfly and the ladybug's power. Like there is legitimatly potential in taking those miraculous and doing an AU where each Kwami's power is an aspect of creation because the powers are so awkwardly intertwined. Probably make the peacock the master and all others spawn from that one or something like that.

Anyway, this is why you can't design powers around characters if you want good lore and a large team! You have to start with the powers and go from there! It's why I edit Nino's character to be more of a protector since that's his supposed True Force! Also because I want him to be more narratively important but that is a rant for another day.

[nothing-to-say-okay]

And Your Bird Can Sing - The Thesis

Tell me that you got everything you want and your bird can sing, but you don’t get me

Caught up in thinking about this song that we have conflicting reports and opinions on what it’s actually about and ready to present my thoughts.

TLDR: And Your Bird Can Sing is about a cycle of torment (or cycle of abuse, but I prefer to be careful with usage of that word for various obvious reasons).

Disclaimer: It is not my intention for my take to be seen as the ultimate reading, you can agree or disagree and I will be happy to discuss!

WARNING: THIS IS GONNA BE LONG!

INSPIRATION

First person to claim they served as an inspiration for this piece is Marianne Faithful in her relationship to Mick Jagger (sorry Marianne, the song can’t be inspired by you, you and Mick weren’t even together when it was written - AYBCS was recorded in April 1966 and written probably earlier, Marianne and Mick got together in November 1966. That does not mean that she cannot identify with something in it though).

Then we have Cynthia who said it’s about a golden bird cage that she says she gifted to John and while this seems a bit absurd as Cynthia does not appear to match the person addressed in the song, I wouldn’t be quick to disregard her as a partial inspiration for this song. I will talk about it later when applying a plausible autobiographical reading.

There’s also a theory that it’s actually inspired by an interview with Frank Sinatra and his criticism of The Beatles. We know that there was some sort of a rivalry going on between him and the band, a representation of a generational clash between the old world and the new. I actually like this interpretation and as Paul once said, “most of our songs start as a newspaper article”. I do think that this news piece probably inspired some lines and in a way, it is also about that - you can actually view the lyrics that way - remember that a song can be about multiple things at once. But I don’t think this is the ultimate reading.

More under the cut.

THE LYRICS

First of all, let’s forget all about the supposed inspiration and take a look at who’s who in these lyrics.

We have what looks like three characters in the song: the narrator, the ‘you’ that’s being addressed and a bird that seems to belong to the ‘you’.

Over the course of the song, the character of the narrator is chastising the ‘you’ character for manifesting several unflattering character traits akin to narcissism and not understanding them.

The ‘you’ person is:

materialistic (prized possessions, got everything they want) 

sort of know-it-all (they claim to have seen seven wonders and heard every sound there is)

yet they don’t get the narrator (to “not get” can either mean “not possess” or “not understand”, I assume it’s supposed to be both)

don’t see them and don’t hear them (therefore they don’t understand them or completely miss them and their point). 

Now, let’s take a look at the ‘bird’ character that belongs to the ‘you’ (I assume that I don’t have to remind Beatles fans that ‘bird’ can be synonymous to ‘woman’).

The bird:

can sing (which could mean this person is literally a singer or they are capable in doing something else, anything they are supposed to do), important takeaway - it makes noise that can be heard

is green (green is usually synonymous with jealous/envious or alternatively inexperienced, although I don’t think the latter makes sense for this song in particular. It can also be something else as ‘green bird’ is a recurring character in the lennon/mccartney-verse - hello, chica ferdi/Sun King), important takeaway - by being colored green the bird makes a visual impression that can be seen

can swing (the most puzzling part, I saw people interpret this in connection to the swinging London in the 60s and maybe), important takeaway - the bird can move independently to its ‘you’ """"owner""""

Now, I’m going to propose something a bit out there. The bird and the narrator could be (but also don’t have to be at the same time) interpreted as the same person.

Considering the important takeaways from the ‘bird’ character section:

your bird can sing (you can’t hear me)

your bird is green (you can’t see me)

your bird can swing (you don’t get/own me)

The narrator further complains:

When your prized posessions

Start to weigh you down

Look in my direction

I’ll be ‘round, I’ll be ‘round

The narrator worries that the ‘you’ prefers money/material things over them (and their spiritual experiences). But once they decide that the narrator means more than the prized possessions, they can come around. The narrator will be waiting.

When your bird is broken

Will it bring you down

You may be awoken

I’ll be ‘round, I’ll be ‘round

This gets a bit dark, I must admit, but it reads to me like the narrator is imposing some emotional manipulation here (either they are straight up threatening with self-harm or not so subtly reminding to the ‘you’ that their mental well-being is dependent on them and if they won’t clean up their behavior and wake up, shit will go down, yet the narrator doesn’t intend to leave). But the narrator is also doubtful that the ‘you’ will care - will it [even] bring you down?

This song is thematically very reminiscent of two particular songs on the preceding album Rubber Soul:

Girl - where the narrator also describes a person with narcissistic traits that they cannot leave and Nowhere Man (he’s as blind as he can be/can you see me at all?) about two lost characters who don’t understand each other. And Your Bird Can Sing is like these two songs were combined together but the stakes are higher.

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL READING

First of all, I want to say that not every song has to be based on the author’s life. And if it is, maybe it’s a metaphor or an exaggeration due to poetic license. That said, let’s take a look at two likely subjects in John Lennon’s life and his relationship to them that could have inspired him to write this because I think it’s easier to understand the song that way. Also if you are uncomfortable discussing real life relationships in this way, I guess it's time to quit reading now.

CYNTHIA

Yes, Cynthia herself suggested that this song is about her. But how could that be? It doesn’t seem like her to be chasing prized possessions and ignoring John in the process and I don’t get the vibe that she would be emotionally manipulative like that though of course, we don’t know the reality. And I doubt she would have claimed to see “seven wonders”, even if it is a hyperbole.

What I think is more likely is that if Cynthia, in her relationship to John, is someone in this song, it’s the bird trapped in her golden cage (that she literally gave him or… he metaphorically gave her in some way?) and John is the ‘you’ who treats her poorly as well as he is the narrator. He is chastising himself for how he treats her. He knows he hurts her. He understands that she’s her own person who is strong and can do her own thing without him (sing, swing). And he doesn’t like it. He understands that he will break her if they will go on like this (when your bird is broken, will it bring you down?).

For this interpretation to be true, it requires a great deal of self awareness but also inability and/or lack of willingness to change and put his words into action. In my opinion, that tracks perfectly with what he said about himself in the interviews over the time. It’s cruel but also kind of soul crushing and difficult to live with, if he felt guilty about the situation at all (I want to say he probably did).

Cynthia is kind of a satisfactory answer for the second character casting in this song, although I don’t think this is all there is to it. And the second subject that likely had influence on this song is…

PAUL

Unpredictably. Now, I feel like I will get stormed by both skeptics (not every song has to be about Paul!) and Paul fans (he wouldn’t treat John like this!) for what I’m insinuating here. But give me a chance to explain.

Well first of all, John is the POV, feelings are subjective and the narrator, real or fictional, is not always reliable. It might as well be that the harm that is being inflicted on John is only perceived that way by himself because of his own issues which I won’t be getting into here. But also maybe not? Or not fully (something about the intent).

That said, the narcissistic traits described in the lyrics of both this song and the song Girl match up with traits John would later ascribe to Paul and explain John’s own Jealous Guy (green guy, hah) sort of behavior. It is not far-fetched to me to hypothetically assume this is how he could feel about him. Give it a couple years of bottled up hurt, some sort of a ‘final straw’ kind of action (not only leaving the Beatles but John flipping about Paul buying the prized possessions Northern Songs shares to "one up" him, something happening in India or whatever), a questionable primal scream therapy or whatever else went down and you might as well get resentful 70s Lennon.

If this is indeed about Paul, then I think John sees himself as the narrator and the bird. Paul is the ‘you’ in that case, just to be clear.

One more thing I want to propose as a part of their lyrical dialogue, let’s say, is the connection to another Rubber Soul special, I’m Looking Through You, a song largely recognized as a piece depicting a quarrel between Paul himself and his girlfriend, Jane Asher. I am not disputing that at all (as well as I’m not disputing Cynthia being an inspiration for this song), but a song can be about more things at the same time (let’s say, in this case, Paul’s general attitude towards people he loves but who in his opinion also mistreat him).

I’m looking through you, where did you go?

You can’t see me

I thought I knew you, what did I know?

You don’t get me

Your lips are moving, I cannot hear

You can’t hear me

Funny how that works, eh? And then you have this.

You’re thinking of me the same old way,

You were above me but not today,

The only difference is you’re down there,

I’m looking through you and you’re nowhere

Because he's a real nowhere man, sitting in his nowhere land.

(And I’m Looking Through You is also about perceived harm - why did you not treat me right? - caused by the subject of the song, it’s a cycle of… miscommunication and vindication, I hurt you, you hurt me, you won’t be above me, i won’t give you the pleasure, I won’t resign myself to you). It’s like a game of pride. Who’s going to give in first? Who will be the first one to be broken (or break the cycle)?

I also think it’s interesting, assuming I got things correct, to contrast how John views Paul and Cynthia as different characters in his inner world/the song, Paul views John and Jane as the same character.

IT'S ABOUT BOTH...

…and that’s the crux of my thesis. The song is, in my opinion, about both John’s relationship with Cynthia and with Paul. But whereas in his relationship to Cynthia, John sees himself as the tormentor but he also doesn’t want to let her go, in his relationship to Paul he sees himself as the person who’s being harmed but cannot make himself leave. (There’s three characters in this play after all). And my interpretation of Girl is similar, although it’s thematically a bit different as it concerns torment and desire (Girl is how John sees Paul but Girl is also a part of John’s personality who mistreats people).

(There’s also a part of me who believes that John on some level wanted his dream girl to treat him like that due to his self-deprecating turn on connected to oedipus' complex and him sort of fancying being a tortured artist but that would also make for a separate post).

Pain will lead to pleasure.

It’s a vicious cycle that repeats itself not only vertically within John and Paul’s relationship (and to them from their parental figures’ mistreatment). But also horizontally as it spreads from them to their respective partners (or rather from John to Cynthia - from his own POV, we don’t know much about Paul’s relationship with Jane and I am not insinuating he abused her!!! but if I’m Looking Through You is about her as well, he was looking through her, just like he was looking through John - he was ignoring them in a way - passive aggressive way - to feel in control - rather than facing the issue head on) and perhaps others (enter annoyed George). (I also think ILTY is meant to mirror Paul’s behavior with a behavior of his father Jim towards himself when he was younger based on the information available where Jim would be the emotionally unavailable character that also doesn’t treat Paul right - love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight).

I want to also go back to the theory about Frank Sinatra as a representative of the old generation and generational abuse inflicted by parents on their children because I do think ultimately think the song is about that too. We are at the cusp of summer of love and the new generation that the Beatles represented is about to start a revolution - a fight for liberty of all kinds and freeing themselves of the old established rules. I already mentioned John’s abandonment issues but maybe he’s also being more general? Maybe he feels like the old conservative world is hurting him (and other young people) for whatever reason.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE GIGGLING TAKE?

You know, fair question… The easiest explanation is that they just got high and forgot about their problems for a moment, it was not all dire (just like it wasn’t between John and Cynthia) - to paraphrase John, sometimes it was fun and sometimes it was not.

Maybe the autobiographical reading is not as biographical as we are lead to believe. Or it’s highly dramatized. Maybe it has nothing to do with real life J&P, really. Maybe they are just projecting their struggles with their girlfriends on each other in their made up fantasy world. I mean, who knows? Plausible explanations are many. It is not my goal to give an interpretation of their relationship as my take on the lyrics applies to many possibilities, in my opinion. Though I think it's meant to be connected like I suggested.

THAT'S ALL FOLKS

What do you think? And have you ever noticed something about Revolver and cycles?

[sweetestpopcorn]

Hello!! I know that aside from Daemon/Rhaenyra, you are a fan of Baelon/Alyssa. I just wanted to ask, what is your opinion on Viserra, or on the whole Viserra seducing Baelon after Alyssa’s death? Do you think Baelon might have been able to save Viserra from her fate if he had agreed to marry her (even if he didn’t love her)? What is your opinion on this pair?

Hi there :)

Yes, after Daemyra Baelon and Alyssa are definitely my favourite Targaryen couple.

About the rest of your ask, I don't think Viserra fans will like my answer, but I don't quite care for Viserra. I have talked about it in the past that I see Saera and Viserra as very shallow characters with almost nothing to them. They were written as mean girls and that's about it, besides being Targaryens and physically very attractive, I don't actually see any redeeming qualities in them.

Saera at least you could argue was sort of funny, in a heartless, sociopathic Cersei kind of way, and I did admire how she later on in life wanted nothing to do with Westeros or the Iron Throne saying she had her own kingdom was a cool moment. But regardless she was cruel, unnecessarily so (e.g., Tom the Turnip anyone?), and worse with someone much weaker than her which also makes her a sort of coward. Like I said she had many sociopathic traits, and her behaviour itself is very congruent with a sociopathic personality type.

Viserra is a bit better in that regard in the sense that she was not needlessly cruel to anyone weaker than her for fun, even if she poked fun at young men who lusted after her, sometimes in quite dangerous ways (e.g., when she dares them to put their heads inside a dragon's mouth, I think the prize was her V card if memory serves right). But like Saera is mean and cold for the sake of being mean and cold, Viserra is ambitious and cold for the sake of being ambitious and cold.

We are both shown and told she wanted power and to be queen and F feelings and all that, but we are never really given a proper reason as to why. I would guess that being child #10 in a very large family would make you starved for attention, likely importance as well, since her only selling point in that family was being the most beautiful of the sisters. It was (VERY) unlikely she would ever be queen, so maybe because of that it became an ambition of hers? There was also something arrogant about her because of her looks, thinking that that would be enough to just give her what she wanted without having to rely on anything else. In that sense she has no depth, what you see is pretty much what you get and neither is very good or particularly compelling.

So, no, I wouldn't want her to marry Baelon, nor for Baelon to be interested in her. In fact, I loved that he wasn't and that after she spoke in such a nasty way about the sister she thought herself so physically superior too that Baelon gave Viserra a cold hard dose of reality of he's Baelon Targaryen, not a failed Baelon like Tywin Lannister.

Sure that some people find love again in life, and I am all for it. But some people aren't like that, and I found a lot of beauty in that aspect of Baelon's character, of how devoted he remained to the memory of his lady with the mismatched eyes. I would have hated for that to be ruined, especially in the name of such an ambitious and empty character like Viserra. If he was to marry her, whatever the reason, he would not be Baelon because that was a central aspect to his character.

All this aside I did feel bad about how Viserra was treated by Alysanne, almost like she was the final boss Alysanne had to defeat. I think this is a great example at times of George's incongruence with how he writers characters in F&B. Pretty much their end is decided so he just does whatever he has to to get there, at times with little regard with what he previously established. Are we supposed to believe that the same Alysanne who still loved and wanted to forgive Saera, even defended her, would be so cold and mean to Viserra? Sorry, I don't find it the least bit believable. Like show us on the doll where Viserra touched you Alysanne. Regardless of her not deserving this or her cruel fate, I still don't really care about Viserra nor think she had any redeeming qualities.

And that is my take.

Thank you for coming to my Tumblr Ted Talk!

Much love to you <3

[ineffectualdemon]

Another glaring spotlight on "Shen Yuan was deeply depressed before transmigration"

When he comes back as Plant Shen he is constantly surprised and shocked and touched that anyone cared about his death

Like he is bewildered that Liu Qingge and Luo Binghe are constantly fighting for control of his corpse and he's shocked how upset his martial siblings are hurt by his actions

He honestly never expected anyone to care about his death except in a "good riddance" kinda way

Which says a lot about how he viewed himself and his first death

1. he just acknowledges his upbringing and family once and never again

2. never internally or externally identifies as Shen Yuan once transmigrating even when it would make the most sense to do so

3. He is bewildered that anyone wants him around or cares about him on any sort of deep level

Actually this explains a big part of the conflict between him and Binghe

Both of them want to be special to someone. For someone to choose them and care about them. They feel no real connection to anyone

The difference is how they express this

Binghe is violent and angry. He fights back against this loneliness and isolation and pain. Even if it doesn't work at least he tried

Shen Qingqiu instead has a kind of quiet defeat about him

He has just accepted that his relationships are only ever surface level and no one really knows him or cares to

So he withdraws first

So he withdraws → which makes Luo Binghe feel abandoned, → who then chases him → which makes Shen Qingqiu suspicious because he can't really imagine anyone truly wants him around

ETA: if you haven't read @torchstelechos SY meta post go do it now. It's very relevant

[thydungeongal]

Would you say Pathfinder is a game designed for dungeon crawls, heroic fantasy, or a secret third thing?

It's a secret third thing, and that secret third thing happens to be a thing that D&D 3e, 4e, and 5e, and most modern non-D&D fantasy adventure games actually are too: a dungeon combat game.

Basically, there's a huge gap between TSR D&D and WotC D&D in terms of what sort of behavior the rules actually encourage. This trend already began in the adventure design of AD&D 2e, but it's good to recognize that the game itself was for the most part identical to the other TSR versions of D&D in structure, so while the adventures shied away from dungeon crawls, the game that powered those adventures was still a dungeon crawler.

Ultimately, the dungeon combat game is all downstream from a few design decisions made in D&D 3e: first of all, making combat less abstract, more zoomed in, and more explicitly blow-by-blow than in the TSR editions. AD&D had one-minute combat rounds and the combat procedure was notably very zoomed out and abstract, and characters arguably didn't even have individual "turns" but simply acted in the appropriate part of one big combat round depending on the action they were performing, their party's initiative roll, etc. D&D 3e made the combat procedure much more minutely detailed, blow-by-blow, and concerned with very precise positioning and action economy.

The second design decision that contributed to the codification of D&D as a dungeon combat game was challenge ratings and encounter levels: basically tools by which GMs were encouraged to create a balanced diet of encounters to make a nutritious adventure day.

The thing that separates a dungeon combat game from heroic fantasy is that a dungeon combat game is ultimately an action game running on a dungeon crawl engine: it's still a type of gameplay heavily concerned with attrition. Now, attrition is actually something that can actually be contrary to a heroic fantasy story: in a heroic fantasy story heroes are supposed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, which is something that can happen within the framework of a game based on attrition, but most of the time a combination of attrition plus the fact that the game itself doesn't care for dramatic resolution means that those moments are less likely to happen without some serious narrative editing.

So a dungeon combat game is basically kind of like an attrition-based dungeon crawl, but because the game cares the most about combat and "challenges" most of that attrition happens within the context of combat encounters planned for the party.

And yeah, I'm lumping in all WotC editions of D&D and both editions of Pathfinder, because in spite of what some people may tell you, the games are actually remarkably similar in terms of what sort of adventure design they encourage and what gameplay looks like. And there's actually nothing wrong with the playstyle imo, even though I'm not its biggest fan. But I think it's also important to distinguish between a dungeon crawl in the old-school, TSR D&D sense, and the ahistorical "dungeon crawls are just a series of combat encounters in an enclosed space" sense (a lot of people think a dungeon crawl means the latter when in fact it isn't entirely accurate).

[howtofightwrite]

Does Ser Arys Oakheart’s performance in The Queenmaker in AFFC (killing a handful of men and jumping clear of his palfrey before being swiftly dispatched by Areo Hotah) suggest a decent amount of martial competence on Arys’ part, in your view?

I’m going to make George R.R. Martin fans angry again and say, no. However, this is because I don’t feel any of Martin’s characters (throughout his work) really demonstrate any degree of martial competence. A lot of Martin’s characters aren’t supposed to possess any martial competence, but even the ones who are meant to don’t have it. Their “martial competence” is roughly the equivalent of action figures being angrily smashed together. For me, his fight scenes/battle scenes are the weakest part of his writing and I tune them out. Martin heavily focuses on “ironic” surprises and subversions of expectations like in the scene with Arys Oakheart, where everything is going well and then the character is just randomly and unceremoniously offed.

Boom. Goodbye.

“Like they would be in real life!”

I’m going to imagine someone yelling that because I’m sure someone, somewhere wants to.

Look, unlike Starke, I read A Feast for Crows and I genuinely have no memory of this character. They have been memory holed. They are gone. (Which is wild because I remember random minor character deaths from a lot of other major and minor fantasy properties that I read as a tween ages ago.)

The thing about reality is that real people are also capable of the following: Strategic and tactical awareness, long term strategic planning, working in unison with their fellow soldiers, and, yes, that includes knights in the Middle Ages. Knights in the Middle Ages might’ve (sometimes) been wealthy bastards, but they had to be functionally aware of violence and its impacts or they weren’t knights for very long.

Martin does not understand how armies and professional combatants function, their purpose, or their place in maintaining order in a feudal society. The irony is that politics are not his forte. His combat sequences read like they were written by someone who spent a great deal of time reading original historical accounts and not enough time thinking from the perspective of the people committing those gruesome atrocities. Make no mistake, medieval warfare was far, far more gruesome than anything you’ll find in Game of Thrones and the most terrifying part is the reasoning behind those atrocities was actually sound. Once you’re past the shock value, GOT is fairly comforting because the majority of the time no one makes sense. There’s a moral lesson hidden in the undercurrent ready to bludgeon the audience when they least expect it and all the violence works from that perspective, and all of it is written very specifically with the audience’s reaction in mind. Martin doesn’t seem to care how it works both on the technical front or in the utilization of violence to deliver narrative catharsis, he cares how the audience will react.

His violence doesn’t feel good, which is his intention, he doesn’t want it to feel good, but it also doesn’t feel bad. The violence just sort of exists.

One of the pieces of tragedy that is fundamentally important is a sense of foreboding. In fiction, death flags aren’t necessarily bad. In a tragedy, they’re necessary. Character death doesn’t need to be surprising to be meaningful. In fact, death is often more meaningful when the audience knows it’s coming. Whether it’s because they want the character to die or because they don’t want them to die. Their death creates narrative catharsis. The catharsis releases the tension, it feels good. Satisfaction through tears. When the audience and the narrative knows death is coming, it creates tension. If you invest early, the tension builds, and builds, and builds until it pops. The trouble is that, one way or another, the author has to invest in the character for that to happen. The surprise can be how the character dies, the manner of their death, and even who kills them, but not the fact they die. Shock value is sudden. The reason to use shock sparingly is that it lacks a lasting payout and eventually the audience acclimates. Too much shock obfuscates the narrative importance of a character’s death and shortens the long term impact of their loss. The impact of the death ends up as sudden as the death itself. Here, then gone, then forgotten.

In a well-structured tragedy, it doesn’t matter whether the audience cares about the character who dies or not. It helps, but the focus of the impact is on how it affects the other characters, how that loss is felt, and the way it’s internalized. An observation that’s always stuck with me is when I was in college studying Shakespeare, and my professor told us that Shakespeare structured his tragedies and his comedies the same way. They’re the same until the fourth act, and it’s the characters’ decisions leading into the final crisis which ultimately decides whether the story will end happily or tragically. All Shakespeare’s characters are important cogs in his play (including the bear.) When one of them goes, the narrative and the characters feel it. If a character is never important to the story, then the impact of their loss can’t be felt.

Martin’s characters don’t fight smart. They don’t fight cleverly. They don’t really fight stupid either. They fight with the combined equivalent of a single brain cell failing to function harmoniously. Probably the standout sequence for me that demonstrates this point is the Battle of the Crab from House of the Dragon. They had two dragons, a beach, an isolated cave system where their enemies were hiding to get away from the fire. They had corpses, and they had tar. And what didn’t they do?

Set shit on fire.

Smoke. Cave. Smoke. Cave. Smoke. Cave. Smoke.

The easiest and most low energy plan in the world that should be obvious to anyone who has ever cooked in an enclosed space. While this is a great way to signal that your characters suck at warfare, the characters involved were supposed to be the ones good at it! People being burned alive as they got smoked out of a cave is more gruesome than what actually happened and would have demonstrated the power of the dragons a lot better. Instead of, you know, the mighty House Targaryen being outwitted by… a cave.

If the dangers of dragons could be mitigated by a cave, people would just live in caves and not castles like they do on Pern.

Thank you for listening to my fanwank.

(No, the presence of saltwater would not have, in fact, saved the pirates. However, the Targaryens could have tarred the driftwood, set it ablaze, and let the tide carry it inside in addition to setting fire at every entrance like real military tacticians. Which shouldn’t be a reach given that half the army was made up of sailors.)

(They could’ve also used the crabbed up bodies for this with the added bonus of it being extremely horrifying, smelly, and gross.)

(We’re not talking about the Crab Army.)

(I mean it!)

-Michi

This blog is supported through Patreon. Patrons get access to new posts three days early, and direct access to us through Discord. If you’re already a Patron, thank you. If you’d like to support us, please consider becoming a Patron.