#which is objectively incorrect

[harocat]

Remember when people were like 'omg it's a good thing for Nathan Chen that sports is gender segregated, because if Sasha Trusova could compete against him it would be over for him.'

She couldn't even win any major senior women's events, and they thought she'd beat Nathan Chen???

[la-pheacienne]

I will never understand people insisting that it was Jaime's fault Elia and the children died and that he didn't do his job. I don't understand why people cannot acknowledge that the multitude and diversity of factors working simultaneously and opposite to each other is precisely what creates the tragedy of the event(s), these factors being slowly morphed into a mechanism functining on its own accord, beyond any power individual decisions could have. Every single individual in this tragedy (the sack and the rebellion in general) had entirely different motivations and aspirations, and no individual had the full picture at any occasion whatsoever, and this is precisely because of the broader mechanism that was in motion that I mentioned above. And there lies the whole point, the concept of not knowing, not being able to know in advance. The idea of actions, choices, decisions having unexpected consequences that a character could not be able to imagine in advance. Things could have been different if at any point any of the individuals implicated in this event(s) knew the whole picture, or at worst, if they were more careful, more diligent, if they had made a better assessment of the situation at hand. I don't believe what happened was technically inevitable of course. It could have been avoided, which is something that amplifies the tragedy. Of course the individual decisions of any of the factors involved shaped the result. But we need to take into account all these parameters that were at play leading to each and every decision, prior to the decision itself, in order to avoid a bad faith reading of the text. We know everything that happened. The individuals did not know what would happen prior to making the decisions they made.

Rhaegar running away with Lyanna seems suspicious in general and there is definitely a lot of info missing there (which has been confirmed by grrm, meaning there was probably a reason they run away together - and i'm NOT talking about the braindead fanon theory of rhaegar collecting dragon heads like pokemons). Aside from that big hole of info we don't have that would give a solid context for this otherwise pretty inexplicable action, R and L could not have expected in advance that the events would play out in the way they did, they could not know in advance that someone (Baelish?) would spread the news of a literal kidnapping, they could not know in advance what Brandon would do, what Aerys would do, and so forth, and we don't even know when exactly they found out that all these things happened since they were isolated. They for sure could absolutely not know that Tywin, who didn't even take part in the rebellion, would eventually think it would be a great idea to randomnly order the rape and murder of Elia and the murder of the children. Nobody could ever imagine that in their right minds, yes, not-even-jaime-hello, which is precisely why this is an act of TREASON (and treason is an understatement), which is precisely why that act has such an impact and such an aura of horror and shock surrounding it, because of how unexpected and inconceivable it was, and also, how unneccessary it was, at a moment where the war was already won.

The power Rhaegar had in changing these events in any way shape or form was minimal to none, faced with the mad king that could go off the rails at any moment, the treason, the unprecedented cruelty of his enemies that were supposed to be allies, and more than that, the general mechanism already in motion leading to this tragic outcome.

Which leads me to Jaime. Jaime feels guilty for what happeend to Elia and her children, of course he does. He was there, in KL, he was sitting on the iron throne (i think that's when it happened) while the events took place and he didn't prevent them. I would also feel guilty if I were him. Who wouldn't? He was there. If he had thought this through, if he was more diligent, smarter, quicker idk, more perceptive maybe he would have figured this out sooner, maybe he would have done something, maybe he would have been able to save them. That's undoubtedly what he tells himself. Rhaegar would undoubtedly feel extreme guilt if he was alive after the sack of KL (which is a mere hypothesis since the sack of KL wouldn't have taken place had he been alive). Hell, even Ned feelts guilty for what happened to Elia and her children. That doesn't mean these people (i'm talking mainly about R and J) are actually responsible for what happened. That it is their fault that it happened. That they willingly wanted it to happen, or expected it to happen and didn't care, or let it happen in Jaime's case. Jaime's guilt stems from an error of judgement at worst, the fact that had he known every single parameter at play, had he imagined the exact motivations and intentions of a multitude of people and how far they were willing to go, had he expected what would happen in detail, he would have acted differently and maybe, maybe the result would have been different. That's not even certain, given, again, the multitude of factors at play that were beyond Jaime's power. But Jaime of course cannot help but think about the what if. The result could have been different had Jaime acted differently but Jaime acted according to the specific situation he had at hand, according to the specific problem that he had to face. He did what he thought was right in that precise moment. He didn't and couldn't possibly know what was going on outside from his sphere and if he did, we do not know for sure that he could have actually prevented the worst from happenning.

And I'm being exceptionally strict here by attributing an error of judgement to Jaime because I could have just said he was entirely innocent for what happened to Elia and the children, and it wouldn't be false. Again, error of judgement doesn't equal responsibility for what happened, it doesn't equal "moral flaw". An error of judgement does not give the reader a reason to morally judge a character. It is an entirely different thing.

I got this from Britannica :

I don't get how people can be so dense when reading anything related to the sack of KL and/or Robert's Rebellion in general. "Jaime didn't do his job", "Rhaegar led Elia and their children to their deaths" like, can you actually read? I was unnecessarily thorough here for something that is not all that complicated. It is pretty straightforward actually. It's sad that people do not get it. Like, I see BNFs being all deep and analytical about Jaime's moral struggles and dilemmas and overall tragedy and how he was in a situation that exceeded him and then they're like "rhaegar is the reason elia and the children died". From the other side I see people saying that Rhaegar couldn't have known what would happen and then they're like "Jaime didn't do his job!!!", guys. Guys. I'm begging you. I IMPLORE YOU : correcting a mischaracterization (Rhaegar was stupid/selfish for leaving """""all that responsibility""""" to Jaime) with another mischaracterization (Jaime "didn't do his job" because he's a moral coward) is not the way to go, it is done in bad faith, it erases the entire point of Robert's Rebellion along with a bunch of very important themes in asoiaf (the impossibility of choice, the fact that moral codes are actually a construct and don't always apply/sometimes contradict, and the feeling of powerlessness of an individual when faced with a monstrous mechanism, a system that is beyond their control).

[thatswhatsushesaid]

i do understand and acknowledge that most people who pick up mdzs and get really into it walk away from the experience with wangx!an brainrot that brings them joy and suffering (affectionate) in equal measure, and--unless they're assholish at me or my pals--i wish all of those people well and hope that the veritable cornucopia of wangx!an content on this webbed site and AO3 is everything they've ever wanted out of their fandom experience. wwx is the protagonist, lwj is his court-appointed soulmate, their happily ever after is what most people pick up the books wanting to experience, and that's, you know, fine. live your bliss etc.

i just hope that one day it won't be such a hot and controversial take for fans who didn't develop wangx!an brainrot, and who found something and/or someone else more compelling and engaging about the text, to be able to say as much, and talk about it as much as we want to, without generating a bunch of passive-aggressive--or aggressive-aggressive--commentary from hardcore wangx!an stans who seem to take our disinterest in the central romance personally for whatever reason. like genuinely i would probably not dislike wangx!an as much as i have come to dislike them if i hadn't been inundated with very rude reblog commentary or anon asks early on in my fandom experience just for saying /checks my notes, "maybe jin guangyao isn't evil, actually. maybe wei wuxian did some things wrong."

dgmw, i'm glad that lots of people here are able to like jgy, for example, and still enjoy wwx and wangx!an specifically. but for those of us who don't, or who are struggling to rediscover some affection for the main pair, this attitude.... did not develop in a vacuum lol. i would just like for people to bear that in mind, i guess.

[silver-horse]

!!! To all the people posting AGAIN about the companions "scene count" and everybody just links "Source" it's an INCORRECT COUNT that I pulled out of my ass PLEASE be aware of this It's a scene count that 1 player made from memory! Please stop sharing it as a fact that Astarion has WAY more scenes than all your other faves! Wyll has fewer scenes than the others and that's about the only correct thing in that count I am sure it's an honest mistake but OP forgot to count multiple Shadowheart scenes. Same goes for Lae'ezel (possibly Gale as well) OP counted scenes for Astarion when similar scenes trigger for the other characters as well (on the same night). but OP only counted the Astarion scene and even counted it as "possibly romantic" because Astarion flirts in the scene and well.... that is part of his personality. that does not make a lot of his scenes "romance scenes" 🥴💀 (And Shadowheart's flirting didn't make OP count her scenes as "possibly romance scene")

[cuteniarose]

Personally I find it really funny that based on what the twins said in the Book 2 finale re: having to tell their mom about what happened to Unalaq, it's literally canon that Unalaq's wife a) exists, b) is alive, and c) is just chilling in the Northern Water Tribe

She took one look at all the spirit fuckery her husband was getting up to and went "Well that's none of my business" and honestly I respect that

[crushedsweets]

The satisfaction I feel when someone says my ticciwork art made them like(or at least stop hating) the ship. Like Damn Right will you enjoy these two together.

[something-about-sunflowers]

I’m. I just. Ed wasn’t supposed to be on the boat. Ed wasn’t supposed to be on the boat. Ed wasn’t supposed to be on the boat.

IZZY WAS NOT ANTICIPATING ED STILL BEING ON THE BOAT.

So how, pray tell, did he ‘orchestrate the entire operation to finally get Ed as his subordinate’?

Izzy doesn't want to be Ed's superior for fucks sake. Ed doesn't have to prove anything to Izzy, and he doesn't even try to, actually. And 'some recognition for Ed's skills' is a funny way to put it when he literally calls him the 'legendary Blackbeard' and the 'greatest sailor he's ever known'.

I'm. I literally cannot with the bad takes.

[im-the-antonymph-of-your-mom]

The evolution of "filler" from "plot-irrelevant anime episodes made while waiting for the manga to catch up" to "plot irrelevant episodes in a serialized show" to "episodes in a primarily episodic show that do not affect the occasional overarching plot" to "plot-relevant episodes that I find boring" needs to be studied. Or has been studied and I haven't found writings on it. Or should just be the subject of a paper if I stay in school long enough.

[vitospaghetta]

I have never known a fanbase to be as unabashedly wrong about lore and canonicity as the RE fanbase my god

[error-core-animations]

being in the TMNT fandom SUCKS. I just saw a fic tagged as "incest" and "healthy relationships" BOO BOOOO BOOOOOO YOU JUST MADE ROMANCE AND SEX EVEN MORE BORING THATS THE DUMBEST THING IVE EVER HEARDDDDDD

[wonder-worker]

Anne de Pisseleu had exercised a form of power that was intrinsically extra-institutional and dependent entirely of the king’s favor; her role was clearly understood by political insiders. Criticism took the form of conventional hostility to the role of women in power, yet in the king’s lifetime had to be circumspect and oblique. However, she lived more than half her life after the death of the king whose love had given her power and wealth. In this, she weathered the storm of disgrace remarkably effectively, carved for herself a new role and ended her life a moderately wealthy woman whose assets became a matter for ferocious competition among her relatives.

-David Potter, "The Life and After-Life of a Royal Mistress: Anne de Pisseleu, Duchess of Étampes"

[trans-ruffboi]

I say this as someone who really does like Fenris and does think he's smart, but I think some portions of the fandom give him a bit too much credit as a debater

[thunck]

At last I realize the true, virtuous purpose of Pokémon randomizers: to swap out one of the three good starters that there have ever been in place of whatever fuckass bullshit is supposed to be there, and change literally nothing else.

Begone otter, it's big jaw time.

[victory-cookies]

sometimes I think I’m getting better at dealing with my fear of failure and stuff and then sometimes I say one thing that’s wrong and I can’t stop thinking about it the whole day

[aceredshirt13]

I’m very against the “Herlock Sholmes is only pretending to be stupid to test Ryunosuke” theory for a number of reasons - very clear ones being Tusspells mentioning he offered to throw himself into her vat of wax for money, and Iris mentioning that he once tried to track a criminal only to track his own footprints all the way back to his own house, which are both stupid things he did when Ryunosuke wasn’t around - but my friends pointed out to me the other day that the most egregiously awful thing this headcanon would suggest is that he deliberately risked everyone’s lives while fully knowing the “anti-gravitational device” was a time bomb just to “test” them for his own amusement. I would strongly argue that the belief that his frequent foolishness is a facade is already a great disservice to the endearing charm and likability of his character, but to pretend a live bomb wasn’t dangerous would be downright psychopathic behavior toward his friends and loved ones. Yes, Sholmes can be callous, but that would be like. Moriarty shit. Genuinely evil shit. Any pretense of likability for his character would be gone, and I literally cannot imagine a world where that was the authorial intent. Let him be reckless, and foolish, and sometimes an idiot, but genuinely trying with all his heart. This part of him being real doesn’t diminish his impressive foresight and great intelligence that he displays on other occasions - they’re two sides of the same curious coin that makes up Herlock Sholmes, and it makes him as exasperating as he is lovable.

[clowndensation]

the almost irresistible urge to tag a post as a character even though it doesn't fit them at all