#who among us can know which of those is truly canonical

[kagoutiss]

I know it’s your stylistic choice to give OOT Ganondorf actual… pants *hurls*, but can we pls get him with his canon leotard over tights outfit because it’s THAT fitting

i will if/when i feel like it anon, but ive gotta hand it to u it takes an admirable amount of confidence to walk into an artist’s inbox and then barf in asterisks over how they draw something and then ask them to draw you something lol

[demon-country]

I'm kind of surprised that this isn't a more common opinion, but I really do think that Blitz started coming over way more often than just the full moon for sex and also that he started staying the whole night as time went on. Like, even if you want to claim that Stolas doesn't love Blitz, he only loves the idea of being loved - which I highly disagree with - Blitz ain't that kinda person. He doesn't catch feelings after only like, what, 12-ish days spent having marathon long sex, and a couple of times spent being vaguely together in public? Ain't no way, Blitz is too guarded for that, and even though BDSM breeds a lot of trust just by virtue of it being about trust more than it is about sex, there's no way those things alone would make Blitz start to fall in love enough that he lists Stolas among the people he doesn't want to live without and die alone, or enough to do literally all of The Full Moon and Apology Tour.

On Stolas' phone there is also a picture of a horse that Blitz drew, laid on Stolas' bed, showing that Blitz felt comfortable enough at Stolas' palace and in Stolas' company that he was willing to draw Stolas a horse. That speaks of intimacy, that speaks of familiarity, and that speaks of trust that Blitz would share something he loves doing with Stolas. It also speaks of them having the time to do things other than sex when he comes over.

Now, to be fair, Blitz himself says that Stolas liked to do things like call him a lot to ask about his day and whatnot, and liked his sinstagram posts all the time. And while their now-defunct official Instagram posts aren't strictly canon, Viv did say that the stuff there was true to what the characters might do. So if we take what Blitz said in Oops and applied it to something Blitz posted on his sinstagram account, then Blitz used to book out an entire hour on his daily schedule just to talk on the phone with Stolas. Spending an hour or even half an hour almost every single work day for around a year and regularly talking on sinstagram is definitely significant and would also foster familiarity and plant the seed that Stolas does care for him, even if Blitz's self-hatred and Stolas' more unfortunate comments prevented him from truly believing it.

But I don't think it'd stop with that. Sex is the only way Blitz feels he can really spend time together with Stolas, and it's the only thing he knows for certain that Stolas wants from him and is always down for. If he was catching feelings - and Ozzie's, The Full Moon, and Apology Tour all show that he most definitely was -, he'd start desiring to be around Stolas more often, which would almost definitely lead to him making excuses to come over and have sex.

Of course, he couldn't just admit that even to himself, so he probably would have excused it to himself as something like being too busy to find someone else to sleep with. Oh you know he's just so busy with work and taking care of Loona, and going out to find a fling when he has a perfectly willing booty call he can go see basically whenever he wants is just way less convenient. Why put in the extra work finding someone he's interested in when Stolas is a smoking hot great lay who's down to do pretty much anything and everything? Not that it means anything though! He could totally go get someone else if he wanted to, he just... doesn't. Because he's too busy for that, of course.

And why go to some rando's place if he's just gonna have to get up and leave right after? With Stolas he can stay the night in a giant ass, comfy as fuck bed (with a super soft, super snuggly bird. Uh, not that he cares about that though! It's certainly not like he's touch starved or anything, haha no of course not that'd be crazy! >_>), and in the morning if he sticks around long enough he can either get another round in or some fancy brand coffee.

Like, that's all just an example of how he might explain it to himself, but however he actually did, I'm of the opinion that he used to not stay the night, but most of the time by the end of it he did. Blitz doesn't fall quickly, but once he does he falls hard, and given how desperately he clings to Stolas in The Full Moon and Apology Tour, I'm not sure if he'd be able to stop himself from spending whatever time he could make excuses for with Stolas. The only reason he doesn't post-Ozzie's is because of Stolas' supposed rejection and, after Western Energy, because he feels unworthy of it and is scared of what his perceived failure to protect Stolas might have changed.

That's how I see it, anyway. But I guess it's a pretty unpopular opinion? This got way longer than I thought it would...

[artemisdesari-blog]

The trouble with writing a long AU is sometimes it sparks ideas for others based off narrative choices. In this case; what would have happened if the deal between Dooku and Fett in Careless To Let It Fall had been allowed to happen.

After killing Komari, Fett encounters Dooku who offers him the job of being the progenitor and trainer of an army of clones. So good, so canon. In Careless this is expanded on as a deal where two hundred thousand men are grown and trained purely for the purpose of overthrowing the Republic Senate who are responsible for, among many things, supporting the New Mandalorian's take over of Mandalore (leading to something of a cultural genocide) and the mission to Galidraan where Dooku was given all the wrong information as part of a Death Watch trap, but Jango shot first. Obviously there are more issues than that, and Jango is in full on revenge and not thinking clearly mode, but that's the base of it. As Jango’s payment for helping the Jedi effectively overthrow the Senate (cesspool of corruption that it is) Jango will be given fifty thousand of those men to use to wipe out any Death Watch in hiding and take back Mandalore. Obviously, neither Dooku nor Jango mean to keep their end of the deal. Dooku knows Palpatine has bigger plans and will work on Jango as much as possible to make a larger army and Jango intends to just abscond with every clone when the time comes and wipe out any Jedi who come for them.

This where Careless and whatever this AU is would diverge. In Careless Qui-Gon Jinn lives, Obi-Wan goes off to do his own thing, and Fett gets aggressively mind wiped and controlled by Dooku and Sidious so that he truly becomes the major asshole we all love. There's other stuff, but that hasn't been revealed yet even though I'm at chapter 100.

In this universe, Qui-Gon would die and the Trade Federation, humiliated by how Sidious used them, would find a way to off the Chancellor of the Republic as a final fuck you. Maybe Palpatine’s death is just an accident. Either way, Sidious is out of the picture but the clones are already in production and the Senate is still a total cesspool of corruption and arrogance and greed. Without Sidious to help facilitate the plan of playing one side of a conflict against the other, Dooku has to rethink and do it fast. He rejoins the order (or stays, some agree he left before Qui-Gon died and just stopped by to visit, others think it was what caused him to leave and I am too tired and lazy to check which is correct), forms a relationship with Obi-Wan even though he doesn’t bring him into the plan because he can tell Obi doesn't have time due to Anakin’s everything, because I am trash for Grandpa Dooku stuff, and begins to quietly convince younger and more idealistic Jedi that the Senate needs an overhaul, usually approaching them after missions gone wrong, while periodically checking in on Jango and the clones.

All on Kamino appears to be going according to the revised plan, except its actually going according to Jango’s plan. Jango pulls in the trainers and spends a couple of years weeding out the ones he can't actually trust as much as he hoped while quietly adopting a few dozen clones, including many fan faves. Other trainers adopt other clones, those clones adopt brothers, they basically become a group of clans with Jango as their Mand'alor. Dooku’s Jedi come for their one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers who will help them overturn the Senate and the clones turn on the Jedi, capture them, and head off to Mandalore to take what Jango has promised them with Fett as their leader and Cody as his right hand. Predictably, Obi-Wan is sent to Mandalore to deal with the fall out while the rest of the Jedi Council try to work out what the actual fuck happened and how Dooku managed it.

In all likelihood this would result in the Jedi leaving the Republic because the fact that Dooku managed to draw a good number of them into the mess would catch attention and make things very difficult. We would probably end up with some Codywan (because this is me) but that would probably only be implied at the end rather than the focus.

But, yes, the danger of long form AUs and the ideas that narrative choices spark. Another one for the maybe some day pile.

[dat-town]

yours truly

Characters: fate!Sunghoon (prince of hearts) & mortal!female reader

Setting & genre: caravalverse au, fantasy, forbidden romance

Summary: “... ballads don’t end happily, and neither do the two of us.” ‒ Stephanie Garber

Warnings: Sunghoon’s character is canon-typically mean and flirty in the beginning, blood, dagger and arrow-caused injuries, mentions of people dying, ambiguous ending

Words: 2.9k

Playlist: moonstruck, criminal love, fatal trouble, still monster, lucifer, fate

Author’s note: for those who haven’t read the books, just imagine a world where deity-like creatures called fates walk among mere humans; for those who did read the books, imagine this as an alternative for the plot, the worldbuilding is the same but the actual romance plays out different since Sunghoon is NOT Jacks, just a different Prince of Hearts. i know personality-wise it’s very not Sunghoon-like but i chose him for visual reasons #theplot

for @restlessmaknae because you worked hard and i believe that you will see its results <3

The Prince of Hearts was exactly how the stories described him: devastatingly handsome and infuriatingly wicked.

The first time you met him, he just broke a naive girl’s heart.

The Prince of Hearts was the hopeless lovers’ Fate. Many turned to him to fulfill their hearts’ desire or get revenge on their unfaithful significant other but there was a reason why he had always been portrayed with bloody tears running down his sculpture-like face and his perfect lips pulled up in a cunning smirk.

“What did you do?” You heard the girl’s trembling, frightened cry over the garden fountain’s lovely bubbling sound and you could tell she didn’t notice you on the other side of the installment. She must have dragged the young man out of the celebration to have a word with him privately. Too bad it was your hiding place.

“Exactly what you asked from me. I made sure he can never look at another girl again,” the man replied in a silky smooth voice, his tone almost melodic. He must have sung lovely lullabies, you thought, but then he continued and his voice turned something dark, something poisoned and sickly amused. “Or at anything for that matter.”

There was a cruel laugh carried by the night breeze and your eyes widened, thoughts running wild.

“This isn’t what I wanted,” the girl protested weakly between sobs but no use, it didn’t seem to affect the man at all.

“Isn’t it? Then you should have asked more… precisely,” he scoffed and with a rustle of clothes you could tell he turned around, ready to leave.

“But… but I kept my side of the bargain. You are a Fate, you should keep your word, too!”

You sucked in a breath because you didn’t have to guess much to know which Fate she was talking about. There was an infamous one for broken hearts.

“Are you seriously accusing me of not fulfilling my part?” The Prince of Hearts spoke up again and this time you could hear anger bubbling up beneath the boredom in his tone. He spoke quietly yet every word of his punctured like bites of a viper. “You wanted your lover to not look at other girls, so I took his sight. Would you have preferred if I plunked his eyeballs out? Or even better, if I simply killed him? Is that it?”

The girl’s crying turned pathetic and you almost felt bad for her even if she should have known better than to make a deal like that. Fates tended to take more than what they had promised.

“Look at you, a sobbing mess. Is your great love really only enough for this? Will you leave him now that he’s blind? Who’s the unfaithful one now?” The ageless creature tsked, his harsh words enough to make the girl run, crying and devastated. The air was once again filled with silence and crickets chirping. Out of curiosity, you quietly stood up from where you sat in the fountain’s shadow but you could see nobody on the other side of the monument. You let out a small sigh, turning back around only to gasp in surprise.

Right in front of you, barely an arm-length away was the most beautiful man you had ever seen. He had porcelain skin and elegant features, artfully tousled raven black hair and almond shaped eyes reflecting the moon. His mouth was pulled into a lopsided smile as he leaned closer, resting his hand on the fountain’s rim beside your waist.

“You know, I can hear your heartbeat, love,” he said, syrupy sweet, and you had to deliberately remind yourself to breathe properly. “It beats rapidly like a trapped bird’s wings. Is it because of fear or attraction? Both?” The Fate arched a brow, provoking.

“I’m not playing your game,” you raised your chin with more confidence that you actually felt in yourself but you didn’t back down, not even when the young man’s eyes burned through you.

“Too bad. I didn’t even tell you the rules yet,” he pouted but he seemed more amused than anything else.

“Are all Fates this bored?”

“There’s a better question, love; are all Fates forgiving towards this blunt attitude of yours?” The Prince of Hearts raised a brow, challenging, his breath fanning over your cheek, his closeness painting it a rosy color. There was something predatory in the way he looked at you and your rabbit of a heart wished nothing but to run. Then he abruptly pulled away, his frown melting into an all too sweet smile.  “But see, I’m a gentleman and I will let it go. For now.”

The threat was clear in his velvet voice and the shine of his midnight dark eyes. It took your breath away and you only let out the air you were holding in when he walked out of sight, your heart still beating crazily as you watched him disappear like smoke in the dark.

The next time you met him, you were smarter than to walk into his trap. This time you were actually looking for him because you were about to do what you had never imagined yourself to: gamble for a Fate’s help.

But really, this was your last resort. No matter how many reasons and proofs you had listed, your best friend was dead set on marrying a duke with no land and no morals. He just wanted her for her family’s money but she didn’t believe you. She even told you that if you weren’t happy for her, you weren’t welcome at the wedding. So you had to make sure the wedding didn’t happen, that she realized that her fiancé was a selfish bastard. It was the perfect kind of job for the Prince of Hearts since he seemed to hate other people’s happiness. No wonder even his Destiny Deck card’s meaning was unrequited love and irrevocable mistakes.

As you opened the church's gate, your sister’s voice echoed in your ears. She had told you not to make deals with Fates but if you must, always make sure to double guess the meaning behind their words and not let them have leverage over you. She had known after having her own deal with the Jester Mad. Fates weren’t evil nor saints but as ageless deities, they had different moral compasses than mere mortals. They also lived a long, long life, so what could have been more fun for them than playing with human feelings?

Back in the days, Fates had been private creatures hidden from plain sight. People had built churches and altars for them, waiting for their miracles to happen. But then one day, the Fates disappeared. Nobody knew why or where. There were countless rumors but it didn’t matter because eventually they returned and they weren’t hiding anymore. The Poisonmaker kept wreaking havoc at events where drinking was involved, the Maiden Death started warning people about their loved ones’ dying in the middle of the main square and the Prince of Hearts had heads turning at every noble gathering pretty much in the entire country based on the rumors. Whispers followed his trail, so you knew exactly where to find him.

“Looks like wind blew a little birdie my way,” you heard the familiar smooth voice from behind you once you dropped your golden coins into the well inside the old marble church. You spun around, facing the Fate and you hated the instant effect he had on you. The way his mere presence was enough to weaken you. You tried focusing on the tiniest details on his face to keep yourself grounded like the moles adorning his cheeks, his defined eyebrows or the way the skin around his pretty eyes wrinkled when his mouth pulled into an amused smile. Your heart was a traitor once again.

“Missed me?” He teased, further decreasing the distance between you. He didn’t even touch you yet his closeness set the air around you on fire and you desperately tried to find purchase on the edge of the well, your well kept nails digging into the stone.

“I have a favor to ask,” you forced out and recited the entire monologue you had practiced with all the details in order to make sure there was no loophole in your request. You couldn’t have your best friend getting hurt because of you. You just wanted to get rid of her fiancé subtly. So you came prepared and judging by the almost impressed look on the Fate’s face and the pondering tilt of his head, he must have noticed too.

“Oh, you’re actually a smart one,” he mused out loud, a chuckle escaping him. “It sounds exactly like my kind of fun but you don’t think I’m doing it without a price, right? So are you ready to pay, love?”

You expected it, of course, there was always a price to pay. A bargain with both parties committing to something. You thought you were ready for anything the Prince of Hearts could ask of you: your reputation tarnished, memories of your first love destroyed, cursing you to never love again but maybe you were naive. Because in that moment he looked at you hungrily, eyes dark and tempting. He darted out his tongue, wetting his lips as he angled his face over yours, still not even grazing against your skin, yet you could feel yourself shiver.

For a moment you were sure he would kiss you. That he would kill you.

Because the thing with Fates was that all of them were cursed in one way or another. As for the Prince of Hearts, his kiss was fatal to all but his one true love. They said it was worth dying for and so many naive girls wanted to be the one to break this hex, he left a trail of corpses behind him.

“Not yet, love,” the Fate taunted as he swiped his thumb across your lower lip, leaving tingles behind, and you felt incredibly embarrassed for thinking he would actually kiss you. Gosh, you weren’t normally like this.

“What do you want?” You found your voice after pushing the silently laughing man away from you. You needed space, you needed to focus. You came to save your best friend’s future, not to kiss murderers no matter how much they erupted a garden of butterflies in your stomach.

“Let me be your plus one for the wedding and I promise to make sure your precious friend realizes her mistake before tying the knot. No bodily harm, no future consequences, yadda yadda,” the Prince of Hearts mocked your way of negotiating your conditions and you squinted your eyes because it sounded too good to be true.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it,” he flashed you a charming smile before leaning in close again, this time his breath fanning over your ears, teeth grazing against your skin, leaving goosebumps behind. “Oh and call me Sunghoon.”

The Prince of Hearts kept his word and you started to wonder whether he wanted to accompany you to the wedding because he wanted to see the drama he caused in person. He seemed rather amused when both the duke’s creditors and mistresses showed up and your best friend threw a vase at him.

It was naive of you to think so though, of course the Fate came on his own accord for his own ulterior motives. You didn’t even know that the infamous Witch of North, holder of the Fated object of the Unbitten Fruit, would be at the wedding but Sunghoon sure knew. He disappeared from sight in the middle of the chaos and you could only find him after calming your best friend down. The wedding hall was empty and broken into pieces and in the middle of it all, surrounded by blackened rose petals, there he laid like a beautiful fallen angel. His white shirt was snug over his broad shoulders and where his wings would have laid, blood spread like wine on tragic days.

“Oh my fates,” you mumbled as you rushed to his side.

Fates had once been immortals but even since their re-appearance, they were merely ageless and could be killed and while you shouldn’t have cared, something didn’t let you let him bleed out. Maybe it was because he just helped your friend like he had promised or because you had always been weak for the helpless ones even if the Fate was nothing but one.

“What happened?” You asked with trembling lips, pressing a torn piece of your skirt onto the bleeding wound on his side.

“Somebody wasn’t too happy that I said hello,” Sunghoon croaked a smile, still all too arrogant even with blood on his lips and pain on his features when his own laughter made him hiss.

“Do you have many enemies?”

“Enemies is all I have,” he said, reaching for the buttons of his blood-soaked shirt to get rid of it and you could feel your face flush at the sudden exposure of bare skin and toned stomach. But trust the Prince of Hearts to tease you even in his stabbed state. “No need to be so shy, love, you can look.”

You cleared your throat and hardened your gaze, looking him in the eye, unwavering. You accidentally applied a bit more pressure on his injury though because his face suddenly distorted in agony.

“Actually, there’s a vial in my front pocket. Would you be kind enough to pour its content on the wound?” He spoke up again, softer, a bit of breathlessness in his usually smooth voice and if it wasn’t for that, you would have believed he was still teasing.

But you actually found a potion in his pocket and once the liquid contacted his torn skin, it started healing at an amazing speed. Oh, so he came prepared, you realized and it made you smack his chest hard. He made you worry for nothing. So stupid of you.

Sunghoon caught your wrist and pulled it over his unbeaten heart, laughing at you. You should have been angry and yet, it was the most beautiful chime of bells you had ever heard.

That should have been the last time you saw the Prince of Hearts but he kept showing up. He kept bothering you at balls, scaring away suitors, stealing apples at the market you had to pay for. He found your reluctance and annoyance amusing, poking fun at the way your heartbeat spiked in his company. He put flowers in your hair, called you love like he meant it and touched you briefly only to make you crave more. You thought it was all just a joke for him because he was bored and you weren’t as easy as the other girls but then you were bleeding out and he looked ready to burn the whole world down.

It was a typical case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You were just in the way. It wasn’t meant for you but the arrow pierced through your chest nevertheless.

You coughed up blood, barely catching your breath, when Sunghoon caught you in his arms before you could have fallen onto the flower bed beneath. Deliriously you looked up at him in wonder, at Death’s most beautiful angel. 

“You’re not dying,” he told you through gritted teeth but his voice was torn, feelings you didn’t recognise scratching the surface.

“They say you can’t feel, not because you have no heart but because it stopped beating long ago. Is it true?” You forced out weakly as you put a hand over Sunghoon’s chest just over where his heart was still as always. “I wonder what kind of girl it was, the one who broke your heart.”

All Fates were humans once and their assigned traits and powers were aligned with how they had been once as mortals. It was silly but you couldn’t help being jealous of the girl who had once held his affection because the way he looked at you then made you feel like nothing else mattered to him but you.

You knew that Fates felt everything in extremes. They didn’t hold grudges, they took revenge. They didn’t know love, they only knew obsession. Yet so many made the mistake of falling in love with a Fate and you couldn’t find it in yourself to blame them. Not anymore. Not when the Prince of Hearts’ hands were stained with your blood but you wanted nothing more than to succumb to this overwhelming feeling of being held by him.

“Kiss me,” you whispered, feeling faint. You were dying anyways, it couldn’t have hurt more to try. Because what if it was true, what if true love’s kiss could cure all curses, what if he had been looking for you all this time?

“Love…” Sunghoon’s voice was ruined. It was just a word yet a plea at the same time. A simple word you associated with your name ever since you had first met him.

His eyes shining like bright stars in the night sky were the last thing you saw before your eyelids fluttered close. Tears streamed down your face or blood, you couldn’t tell, but the lips on yours tasted metallic like iron and the sweet taste of the forbidden fruit. Like sin and redemption at the same time. Like you were his in this fairytale and he was yours. Yours truly.

[maxdibert]

Do you think that the fact that most Harry Potter fanfics have gay couples as pairings (to the detriment of straight or lesbian couples) is because people have difficulty writing f/f characters as strong and m/f as equals or is this due to underrepresentation? of women in books?

This is an interesting question, especially because it’s not limited to the Harry Potter fandom; it’s actually quite widespread in all fandoms, particularly those where there are either very few female characters, or where the female characters play much more secondary roles than the male ones. I think nowadays, with the (slow, but ongoing) effort being made to foster representation, these sorts of things might go more unnoticed. But in series or franchises from fifteen or twenty years ago (we’re talking early 2000s here, no need to go all the way back to the '80s), it was pretty common for m/m pairings to prevail over the canon het couples and, of course, far above f/f couples, which are basically the ugly ducklings of most fandoms—and this isn’t just a coincidence.

The Harry Potter case is especially interesting to me because it’s a series written by a woman where, in fact, there are quite a few female characters, and one of the most important in the whole series (Hermione) is a girl. She’s not only the most significant female character but is also the only one truly developed, with depth and a gradual evolution throughout the books. The rest of the women are either unimportant secondary characters, villains, or merely “placeholder” girlfriends for Harry who only becomes relevant in the last two books (and yes, I’m talking about Ginny, who I find unbearable. J.K. Rowling’s forced attempt to keep Harry in the Weasley family shoves us with this girl who’s meant nothing throughout the story and is then given this “pick me” girl personality—please don’t count me among the other girls—which not only has aged terribly, but I already found it repulsive back then).

I’m bringing up Hermione because it’s not just that she’s the most important girl in the story; she’s also the token character who is constantly paired with every male character in the saga, including men who are twenty years her senior and are her professors, father figures, or fathers of her schoolmates. And this is really interesting because it’s not that Hermione “matches” with everyone or could remain in character if paired with Sirius or Snape; it’s simply that Hermione is the only genuinely complex, three-dimensional female character in the entire series. So, if people choose to create non-canon pairings between canon characters, she’s the easiest choice because she’s got substance and a basis to build on. The rest of the female characters are mere shadows or are relegated to the role of villains or mothers. And if we talk about the younger female characters, it’s a real hair-puller.

Sure, Rowling doesn’t give recurring characters much emphasis in general, but for every ten things you know about a male character, you only know one about their female equivalent. If you know little about Dean Thomas, you know even less about Parvati Patil, just as an example. And all those secondary characters with a bit more screen time ultimately end up being someone’s girlfriend or wife. For example, Fleur, who is also the only one who doesn’t make much of a mark during the Triwizard Tournament (what a coincidence—the three guys stand out, and she doesn’t). We then only see her as Bill’s girlfriend and eventual wife. And the other semi-relevant female characters despise her for being beautiful, only accepting her when she proves she’s a devoted, loyal woman to her husband, no matter what happens to him, even if he’s scarred or turns into a werewolf. This vision of a beautiful, confident woman as merely a sexualized figure (as initially presented) or a threat to other women (as happens later), who can only prove her worth as a woman who conforms to “proper” standards by renouncing her feminine essence to become a wife, is typical of a misogynistic, male gaze often found in fiction. It’s quite striking here because it’s a woman writing the story, yet she still falls into the same old tropes.

Then there’s Tonks, shown as an Auror, an independent woman with her own job, who’s “cool” because she’s “not like other girls” with her colorful hair and Metamorphmagus powers. But all that gets overshadowed when she suddenly becomes a simp for Lupin, who, on top of it all, abandons her after she becomes pregnant, yet she forgives him because love conquers all. Excuse me? This is the female representation you get in the series. Because the rest are mothers: Lily is a saint who sacrifices her life for her son, Molly Weasley is basically a tradwife, and Narcissa Malfoy is only worthy of some respect when she risks everything for Draco. Again, we know much more about their husbands than we do about them; we know more about the men in their lives than we do about them. Their husbands have deeper backstories, richer histories.

Take Lily, for example. We know nothing about her. The little we do know comes from Snape’s memories, and it’s tiny compared to everything we know about James throughout the series. We know so much about James that we can debate endlessly about whether he was truly a good guy or a jerk, and this despite the fact that both are dead at the start of the story and Lily’s relationship with Harry is supposedly more central to the plot. Yet James is more fleshed out! James had friends, friends who talk about him, who tell his son about their youthful adventures. James was someone outside of being a father and husband; Lily wasn’t. Lily is Petunia’s sister, Harry’s mother, Snape’s lost love/friend, and James’ crush and future wife—period. That’s it. Did Lily not have friends of her own? Didn’t she hang out with other girls in her year? Didn’t she have relationships beyond Severus? Why is there not a single friend of Lily’s in the entire saga who can tell Harry what his mother was like? We have not one, but two friends of James, a traitor, and an enemy. But for Lily? Nothing. Only Snape, whose relationship with Lily isn’t even revealed until the final book.

All the Weasleys, except Ginny, are boys. We know things about all or most of the Weasleys, and they have significant moments in the story despite being secondary characters. There are no recurring female counterparts who show up as consistently. Harry’s female classmates don’t interest him, or only come up when Hermione criticizes them. Generally speaking, the female characters have a lot of shortcomings compared to the male characters at any level of the story.

All this to say, while you could argue there’s female representation in the story, is there really? The only girl from the Marauder’s era is Lily. Mary McDonald is mentioned, but we know nothing about her. The rest of the female characters in that fandom are invented—names that pop up randomly in the books with no physical description, no substance, no relevance to the plot. They’re practically OCs thrown into fanfics because all that exists is Lily and the name of some supposed friend of hers who we never hear from again. There’s very little material to work with. And even though Harry’s generation has more girls, they aren’t significant enough for people to be interested in them because there are more boys, and the boys are much better developed. So, people either dive into slash or create OCs because there isn’t much else to hold onto. And if we talk about the reasons behind the lack of f/f pairings, it boils down to the same thing: if it’s hard enough with het couples because, aside from Hermione, Ginny, or Luna, it’s hard to find anything to work with among the female characters, imagine trying with two women.

Of course, I also think it’s largely because there’s zero LGBTQ representation in these stories, but back then, LGBTQ representation was practically non-existent in all children’s/young adult fiction. Although, seeing where J.K. Rowling stands on these issues now, I doubt she’d have done much differently in that regard today.

What I’m saying is that I’ve seen time and time again that when a fandom has well-developed female characters who actually matter, people do work with them. Take “A Song of Ice and Fire,” for example: we’re talking about a story with a ton of male characters, but every single female character has a point of view, a backstory, and a way of seeing the world. You get to know each of them, even the less important ones. If you dive into that fandom, you’ll see all kinds of het pairings and plenty of f/f pairings too. And this is a medieval fantasy saga with plenty of misogyny, but the reality is that it has a very powerful and diverse cast, full of women, each of whom is her own person with a story, ambitions, and a journey—and that gives you something to work with, which is not the case with Harry Potter. But it’s not exclusive to that saga; if you look at fandoms like Naruto, which hit their peak around the same time, it’s the same thing. Ultimately, the common thread I see (besides the fact that we live in a patriarchal society that usually ignores women in fiction, even when it’s by female authors) across all these fandoms where m/m dominates over any other pairing is precisely the lack of female characters or, if there are enough, the fact that their development ranges from minimal to nonexistent.

[katsona-the-katsequel]

Background Events: Persona Experimentation

Unethical experimentation on Persona Users has been happening since the beginning. But how has it evolved until now?

Warning: Some speculation will be involved.

TW: Human Experimentation

The Beginning

We don't have an exact date for when experiments related to Personas and the Collective Unconscious began. Phil and Nyarly's bet had been going for some time by the time IF took place. However, if we had to place a true beginning to the experiments, we would have to go with Stephen and the Demon Summoning Program. Along with Kyouji Kuzunoha, he's the only SMT character who's also canon to Persona. Makes sense, considering his weird transcendent nature. The tale may vary between franchises, but the Persona version goes like this:

By unknown means, Stephen managed to create the Terminal System to travel through computer networks. Since he's in a wheelchair in IF, then this Stephen also managed to connect to the Expanse (located in the Collective Unconscious) with the Terminal System. Since he didn't have a way to communicate with the demon who crossed and no Persona to defend himself, Stephen was was attacked and subsequentaly crippled. All of this had to have happened before 1996 for the timeline to make sense (Side Note: This also tells a lot about Stephen, since the incident had the perfect conditions for an Awakening).

The incident led Stephen to create the Demon Summoning Program, probably for personal use, since there was no upcoming war to prepare to (that Stephen could have known of). For some unknown reason, Stephen chose to upload the only copies of the program in the computers of Karukozaka High School. Was he an alumni? Did Stephen realize teens had more probability of connecting with the Expanse? Were Karu High's computers just that good? Who knows. Only Hazama and Tamaki took the program serious enough to use it, even if it was against each other. But that's a story for another time.

Like St. Hermelin would in a few months, Karu High briefly made the news before the entire incident was forgotten. That is highly suspicious on itself. My assumption is that there truly were some experimentation going on before this, amd they made sure to silence the press and make sure the students didn't snitch. Since Tamaki managed to hide among the student population as another victim (probably with Stephen's help), they never questioned her on her abilities nor disappeared her.

But who are they? Well...

SEBEC

The first formal organization seeking to gain a foothold in the Collective Unconscious was the Japanese branch of SEBEC, leadered by Takahisa Kandori. Their story goes like this:

When Kandori took over as head branch of SEBEC, they began to undertake the creation of a device capable of transporting matter from one place to another. Kind of like a portal. This had the main objective of helping to lower freight costs of imports and exports. Maybe even erasing them entirely. Key contributors were Setsuko Sonomura (an engineering specialist) and Dr. Nicholai (a scientist). Kandori kept the project so under wraps that those involved basically lived in the installations. Together they created the Dimension Variable Accelerator System, or DEVA System. However, they also pulled a Backrooms and accidentally connected to the Collective Unconscious.

It is probably at this point that Kandori awoke to his Persona, which was hijacked by the real Nyarlathotep. And thus, Kandori became a puppet in The Great Bet while believing he was achieving world domination or something like that. "But, Kati," I can hear you saying, "all of that was about the Collective Unconscious. Aside from Kandori, there were no Persona Users working with SEBEC".

Oh? OH? So quickly you forget about him?

Takeda. The man, the myth, the barely remembered NPC. All we know about him is that he is Kandori's right-hand man, the head of security at SEBEC and a Persona User. We don't even know what his Persona is, only that its couldn't handle the combined forces of the St. Hermelin students. His existence does imply something deeper: SEBEC is already employing Persona Users to their cause. They probably didn't know much about the phenomena (understandable, since they had just finished the DEVA System) and didn't have a definitive way of figuring out who could be a User and who couldn't. For all they knew this could be random. And so, a not-so-stellar security guard rose to become the second-hand man of the main antagonist. Just because he had the same power as him.

As we know, Kandori and SEBEC failed. But what was the fate of the staff that worked on the DEVA System? What about the little knowledge of the Collective Unconscious they had?

New World Order

Due to Nyarly's meddling, the NWO was founded in 1979 after they found Kiyotada Sumaru's head. They might have had supernatural advice from an ancient head and the backup of one of the most powerful beings in the Persona Universe, but no real Persona Users. Not one of those people had their shit together. The closest thing they had was Chizuru Ishigami, who was a sorcerer (most probable given true power by the Rumor Curse). When the time was right, we can assume Nyarly guided them to the remnants of Kandori's fuck up. The NWO revived Kandori and began their recruitment of the now-lost scientists and inventors. The NWO gave more freedom to their researchers than SEBEC did, which eventually led to the beginning of true human experimentation.

We don't see the worst of it unless you play Tatsuya's Scenario, where the hints they leave us are enough to call for a second Doctors' Trial.

Yikes. And this was only one known experiment.

Like SEBEC before them, the NWO also fell. But they weren't the only ones running supernatural and unethical experiments in 1999.

Kirijo Group

With the creation of the Dark Hour, demons shadows weren't only a danger of the Collective Unconscious anymore, at least, as far as the Kirijo Group knew. Now those in the know had to watch themselves every night to avoid being attacked by them. They couldn't always rely on the perfected version of the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons. That must have been the moment when they began to hear rumors of supernatural events in Sumaru City, which led them to the crumbling NWO.

As it turns out, the entire Death Incident a couple of months ago left a huge vacancy for their supernatural research division. And these guys seem like they have fresh ideas that might just solve their self-created problem! A secret scramble must have taken place where the Nanjo and Kirijo Groups tried to covet all the info and personnel that had anything to do with the NWO. Those who weren't important enough to know the truth behind Kiyotada Sumaru's head and their self-proclaimed high-class greatness could have become the precursors of the Conspiracy.

And so, the Kirijo Group now had better scientists, inventors and researchers than before, and more willing to dab on unethical territory. With the need for defense, the former NWO scientists must have suggested they try to create their own Persona Users, like the ones who kept barging into their labs back in Sumaru. Thing is, no one there knew how a Persona User came to be. They did seem to have the power to control a shadow to do their bidding... maybe all they had to do was link (whatever that meant) a human with a shadow. The survivors of these experiments would become bodyguards for the Kirijo Group's excursions to Tartarus. No one would last long, though.

Skip a couple of years and the unexpected happened:

A natural Persona Awakening.

Note was taken of the factors that had to do with the event: the User was a child and she had been in a highly stressful situation. This is how the Kirijo Group rounded up the 100 children they would experiment on to create Artificial Persona Users. All of them dying except for three: Takaya Sakaki, Jin Shirato and Chidori Yoshino (and Sho Minazuki). This violation to the Nuremberg Code probably fell to the side when Mitsuru found and recruited two natural Persona Users on her own. Nothing like flushing dozens of children's lives down the toilet.

We must remember that the Kirijo Group didn't know everything about Personas, and so believed that the stressful situation with a dash of fear of death was necessary every time the User wanted fo summon their Persona. And so Evokers were created. Better not think of the trial and error that led to those inventions. Nor the one that helped create Persona Suppressants.

Who cares if three failed lab rats ran away? Now the Kirijo Group had true Persona Users with them.

A lot happened after that, but that is a story for another day. What about the hypothetical precursors to the Conspiracy formed from the high-profile members of the NWO? The ones that fell through the cracks during the power vacuum?

The Antisocial Force

For once, this wasn't Nyarly's fault. The basic rich bitches would have remained basic rich bitches if it wasn't for Yaldabaoth. The creation of the Shadow Operatives and the less restrictive hold on Kirijo Group employees probably made all that Persona and Collective Unconscious experimentation more of an open secret in the science community. And like hypnosis, this is one secret that most didn't believe until they witnessed it themselves. Not all were skepticals, and those interested were recruited by Masayoshi Shido for the creation of the Antisocial Force.

They would be the new oppressive entity in this area, suppressing information and giving stitches to snitches. This wouldn't stop "Cognitice Psience" from becoming an increasingly popular field. Who knows what kind of experiments happened in and out of the Antisocial Force. They couldn't have been the only ones.

If there is one thing the new Kirijo Group managed to contain, was the knowledge of the creation of Persona Users. The Antisocial Force didn't even have the research from the original NWO scientists that would help them create Artificial Users. Yaldy had to put an already-Awakened Goro Akechi in Shido's path for them to have a User. And even with an actual User, they couldn't replicate the circumstances that could have helped create more. I doubt Akechi was very helpful with that, though. Can't have any potential substitutes for his job.

Nah, the Antisocial Force's forte would never be Persona Users, but rather humanity's cognition.

So, what was the order of events?

Stephen created the Terminal System and began working on the Demon Summoning Program.

SEBEC began working on the DEVA System.

Stephen completed the Demon Summoning Program.

SEBEC finished the DEVA System and, after Kandori's Awakening, began to recruit Persona Users (at least one other than Kandori).

After SEBEC's fall, the New World Order recruited the staff that worked in the DEVA System.

The NWO began to experiment with demons and humans.

The Kirijo Group hired all the scientists and inventors from the NWO.

The Kirijo Group began to create Artificial Persona Users.

After Mitsuru's Awakening, the Kirijo Group focused on children experimentation.

The Antisocial Force began to recruit experts in cognitive psience for personal experiments.

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

So, Pern has limited resources for writing materials, illiteracy is common among people and there is strong oral tradition. Aside from songs this also means the Pernese people should have many proverbs. I know there are already some canon ones, but to spice things up a little I tried to translate some Czech proverbs and sayings and adapt them to fit Pern, which turned out to be a pretty fun exercise. If you have ideas for your own, do share! If you'd like to use any of mine in fics and such, feel free!

Here goes:

"don't provoke a (tunnel) snake with your bare foot" - don't tempt fate

"no Master Harper has ever fallen from the sky" - orig. "no scholar has ever fallen from the sky", no one is born an expert; it's okay to make mistakes

"once in a Long Interval" - orig. "once in a Hungarian year", same as "once in a blue moon"

"to make a herdbeast a Masterfarmer" - orig. "to make a billy goat the gardener", to make someone manage a task they're woefully unqualified for

"every rider praises his own dragon"/"every feline praises its own spots" - orig. "every fox praises its own tail", people tend to emphasize the virtues of whatever is dear to them, or whatever they're trying to sell

"to wheedle a clutch out of a green" - orig. "to wheedle a calf out of a heifer", to be very convincing; to charm someone into doing absolutely anything

"Weaver, stick to your yarns" - orig. "shoemaker, stick to your last", you should stick to things you truly understand

"yeah, and then the Harpers sang for him"/"and now tell the one about a talking wherry" - orig. "and they said they sang for him"/"and now the one about Little Red Riding Hood", said when you don't believe anything someone's just told you

"one about a wagon, the other about dragon" - orig. "one about a goat, the other about a cart", when people talk about completely different things while thinking they're on the same note

"after Threadfall, everyone is a Weyrleader" - orig. "after battle, everyone is a general", it's easy to criticize things in hindsight, especially for unqualified people

"a Smith's runnerbeast walks barefoot" - orig. "a blacksmith's horse walks barefoot", those who craft/sell a particular thing often don't have enough of it for themselves

"so the dragon can eat and the herdbeast remains whole" - orig. "so the wolf can eat and the goat remains whole", essentially "to have your cake and eat it too", a solution that deals with the unpleasant aspects while still benefiting you

"wait like a guardfowl for grain" - orig. "wait like a goose for grain", advice to be patient

"having cheek is better than owning a Hold" - orig. "having cheek is better than owning a Meierhof", being daring and impudent often gets you in better places than being rich

"a fire-lizard on your shoulder is better than a bronze/queen on the Sands" - orig. "a sparrow in your hand is better than a pigeon on the roof", it's better to be grateful for smaller things you already have than to hope for things you have no guarantee of getting

"who wants to beat a wher always finds a cane" - orig. "who wants to beat a dog always finds a cane", people who want to do harm always find a way to do so

"fast of wing, short of mind"/"he's like a green - fast of wing..." - orig. "fast of feet, short of mind", an impulsive person who doesn't think things through

"bubbly pies don't bake themselves"/"roasted wherries won't fly in your mouth" - orig. "kolache don't bake themselves"/"roasted pigeons won't fly in your mouth", if you want something, you have to work for it

"for a quarter-mark he'd let them drill through his knee" - when someone is willing to do anything for money, even at the cost of one's own wellbeing

"beauty without a good heart is like a house without door, a spring without water, a rider without a dragon" - physical appearance means nothing when the person is bad

"every Hold has bread with two crusts" - every place has good and bad things

"what has once left your mouth, not even a pair of draft beasts can pull back" - watch what you say because you can't take it back

"fish start to smell from the head" - when something isn't working, the problem is likely in upper management

"doesn't have to be a downpour, a drizzle is enough" - success doesn't have to come all at once

"smart ones need advice, dumb ones need a kick" - for some people a hint isn't enough, they need to be shown explicitly

"the heart won't ache for what the eyes can't see" - some things do less harm if they're kept secret; blissful ignorance is sometimes better

"sing the song of those who give you bread" - kind of like "don't bite the hand that feeds you"; if you take favors from someone, you should act in their favor too

"he who digs a hole for others often falls in himself" - essentially "hoist by his own petard"

"the tunic is closer than the coat" - people tend to focus on their own interests rather than the interests of wider society

"the scythe has hit a rock" - when someone encounters something beyond their competence

"repetition is the mother of wisdom" - essentially "practice makes perfect", but sounds fancier. could be especialy in connection to memorizing teaching songs

"don't fight fire that doesn't burn you" - mind your own business, don't try to fix other people's problems

"the sated don't believe the hungry" - privileged people tend not to believe others' misfortunes

"he's got butter on his head" - essentially "keeping skeletons in his closet"

"rough fabric needs rough patching" - being soft on nasty people will achieve nothing, you have to answer in the person's own language

"the cape goes where the wind blows" - when someone is too obedient, a blind follower. said as "he's kind of a 'the cape goes where the wind blows' kind of person"

"honey in his mouth, venom in his heart" - a charming, sweet-spoken, but malicious person

Edit: more in reblogs!

[olrinarts]

so this was originally a mini-essay i spared a poor commenter on constancy must transpose when they mentioned liking an aspect of Narinder's characterisation in that, but i did like it, so i want to go more in-depth about it over here. much, much more in-depth (can you tell I went to college for English/Lit. Criticisms)

it has now become an entirely too long essay(ish) below the cut on why Narinder has an option to be softer that he rarely takes in other universes but does take in CMT, and why I stuck him with the Ivory Crown and the domains of Life and Resurrection (extensive use of in-game dialogue ahoy lmao)

So i do sincerely believe that Narinder has a capacity for a softer characterisation that doesn't conflict with his canon interactions, mostly because of how i've read those interactions with the Lamb over the course of the game, going purely by text dialogue and scenes, etc (if the devs have said something about his characterisation, I haven't heard it and I prefer working via canon rather than word of god, anyway.)

Part of the 'for want of a nail' re: his characterisation in CMT, and ultimately for why and how the Ivory Crown has the opportunity to emerge, is that he's more willing to acknowledge the soft spot he has for the Lamb. I'd argue that soft spot is very textual:

When the Lamb dies, a crueller god would be much angrier, and an ambivalent god wouldn't bother to speak to them about it. Narinder chooses to reassure the Lamb outright instead, telling them to 'Continue on, undaunted. Each time you are brought down, you rise again stronger.', among other dialogue. Though others insist he's a cruel, untrustworthy god (Leshy and Heket say the Lamb shouldn't trust the One Who Waits and call TOWW a monster, respectively), he sure doesn't punish them for when they've arguably failed.

He repeatedly compliments them on their progress, calling them worthy, saying he chose wisely to make them his vessel, along with comments like 'Your merciless crusade against the Old Faith warms my cold, unbeating heart.'

He flat out says the Lamb wore the Crown almost as well as he does. From someone who believes himself the only truly worthy bearer, I feel like that's actually a pretty big compliment.

There's other examples, but I'll keep it to that, I feel that successfully conveys why I think it's textual. Someone could make the argument that it's all feigned to lull the Lamb into believing, and I think that's a perfectly valid interpretation - but his progression in the post-game implies that it wasn't. From the musing about the materials of his siblings' realms and his reactions to the Lamb bringing them back, the steady progression from frustration to the silence from Shamura's mission, there's a tone of reconciliation, not an entirely new soft spot.

It becomes an explicit reconciliation if you've chosen the Resurrection tenet (which in CMT the Lamb did not, nor was it made available) - part of Narinder's response being 'I cannot begrudge supplantation by one such as yourself''. This is accompanied by sincere laughter and enjoyment of watching the Lamb defy the domain that he both wielded with an iron fist and resented for its iron binds, as dialogue from Haro and Shamura implies and outright states, respectively.

'Truly peculiar, 'twould then seem, his appetency to invite the novel and the new... ...Doubt tears faith asunder.' -Haro

'...he grew discontent with his role. He began to question.' -Shamura

All of this to say that in canon, despite knowing he would sacrifice the Lamb in the end, Narinder was still personally invested in the Lamb as a person, not merely a tool. There's a companion to constancy must transpose that'll go up, chimes of bone, which starts from a similar if not the same universe, but the sacrifice goes ahead successfully.

The reason I'm establishing all of this as the canon interpretation I have is so that I can make the 'argument' for Narinder's objectively softer characterisation in CMT, which contrasts with a lot of popular interpretations I've seen. No one is arguing with me, it's just the way of literary analysis to argue with your own basic premise.

So there are a few points that differ from the canon events (that aren't just worldbuilding or headcanons) that make CMT's characterisation (hell, the story itself) possible:

Narinder was willing to acknowledge to himself that he had an investment in the Lamb.

The Lamb did not have the Resurrection tenet made available at any point in-game for Reasons.

The Lamb was aware from much earlier on, if not the beginning, that they would give their life at the end of the arrangement (why this wasn't an issue but a freely accepted condition is a whole other separate essay lmao)

And at the heart of it is the question: 'what if they're all tired of this endless, exhausting cycle?'

Narinder and the rest of the Bishops are people, after all. The Bishops all explicitly express fear, regret, anger, and grief in their own ways, which is (again) a separate essay. And what I've found in general, and what serves as both interesting progression and conflict in terms of plot, is that people are drawn towards trying to heal their injuries, whether those are physical or otherwise. That isn't always something a person wants to accept consciously, and the struggle between wanting to heal and wanting to stay injured for whatever reason a character might have, is a good stepping stone in not only the plot but the overall story.

The reason in terms of story construction, not plot, that Narinder has the domains of Life and Resurrection, is because he's the nexus of the injuries dealt throughout the rest of the players. That isn't to say he's at fault, only that he's the central point of the hurts everyone, including himself, have been dealt. The sheep were all killed to prevent his escape. He was the one suffocating from the domain of Death, wholly unsuited to his own nature (differing from personality in that the latter is the characterisation and the former is the motivation.) He was the one to discover how to reverse that domain, terrifying the other Bishops for varying reasons. He was the one to wound them, in retaliation for their profound betrayal. He was the one imprisoned Below for a thousand years, deserved or undeserved depending on whose side is the point of view (and even then it's a bit more complicated on the 'deserved' side than a black and white view.) It's from Narinder that all of the current injuries and hurts have rippled out, not from fault but from the injuries dealt to him.

Therefore, if anyone would be suited to the domain of Life - and his specific expression of it, the flesh and the struggle, the defiance of one's end until there isn't a scrap left to resist - it would be Narinder. Resurrection is his and will remain so, as well as the rule over souls in flux rather than the souls that move on, which are the Lamb's to care for and guide. That is made possible by the Life domain that's been suppressed by the weight of Death, so inherent to his nature that the Crown to rule it emerges from his own body (appropriately, the crown of his head specifically.) 'Here did Death no longer wish to wait', said the statue of the Red Crown, and freedom from waiting has its own issues, but is infinitely better than that suffocating weight of Death.

This - the defiance and the violent struggle of bodily Life, the expression of time moving forward and refusing to bow to it - is precisely why Narinder is able to be softer. This Narinder has come into possession of a domain far more suited to him, but he's done so in the presence of a new god determined to keep him as himself even before the Ivory Crown emerges. The Lamb refuses to let him diminish, for reasons described in-story (as no one will read this far, and quite rightfully so, spoilers are safe: the accidental moment of fear that resulted in their 'betrayal' was never intentional.) Whether he's willing to trust it or accept it in the early chapters is irrelevant: it will remain there, and it will remain a path out, and the Lamb will be damned and obliterated before they close that path to the god they never stopped revering.

That insistence on guarding his path out does come back to bite them in the ass, but it was always offered in sincerity, and it's the Lamb. For the last century, they were devoted: they trusted him and did as he commanded without fail, even if it took many deaths to accomplish. He'd given them a chance to avenge their people, to change things, to give the world something new in the time they had because he chose to command them to run his cult, instead of some other, less authoritative use. In return, whether intentional or not, Narinder came to trust them. They were his key out then, before the 'betrayal': the first scrap of true hope in a millennium, a distant flicker of light in the long dark of a possibly eternal wait. Even he, the One Who Waits, betrayed by his family for the sin of seeking any relief from the domain that had been chaining him in place long before he was cast down, found himself trusting them.

Once they handle the misunderstanding from hell, then, he's left in a vulnerable position that he quite reasonably despises after millennia of godhood - and for all their flaws (the Lamb has many of them, as does he), they still refused to let him go. They continue to have faith in him, despite being a god themself and before he's a god once more. There is an option to be softer, an afterwards that isn't necessarily a bitter end (which is itself a theme over on the Lamb side of things.) That's where the freedom from the inevitability he's carried since the Red Crown chose him truly comes into play. The heart of the story itself emerges and remains, no matter where the plot goes.

'What if they're all tired of this endless, exhausting cycle?'

Narinder's no longer locked into the role of the One Who Waits. He's now the One Who Waited, and Waits No Longer. He can choose to be new, he can choose to be different, and in CMT he chooses to do both of those things. In that decision is the crux of the softness and the drawing in of the people connected to the nexus of his place at the centre of the story: the Lamb coming to terms with the Crown they've have taken, and maybe were always meant to have, anyway. The Bishops in ways individual to each: Leshy's the only one in the story so far, at the time of this... jfc, incredibly long 'essay' (ch. 21). Seeing the option for softness (or enmity), reunion (or alienation), for a chance at something he can't predict, it's kind of unsurprising that the former god of Chaos barrels into the unknown. Not immediately changing, but he'd be uninterested if it was instantaneous, in my opinion.

In the end, CMT really rests on two events: the Lamb's accidental betrayal from fear (other essay that I pray will not happen), and Narinder's choice to reject inevitability and the chains he's worn for most of his existence to forgive them for it. After, the relationship progresses (it's a ship story as well, after all), and that itself gives him chances to be soft with the Lamb in ways he previously would've chosen to gargle liquid glass over doing. Part of it is sincere feeling, obviously, but a lot of it is the novelty of getting to choose it. His nature is inherently curious, and wants new things. Curiosity chained the cat, but the Lamb's devotion brought him back.

There's other factors and interpretations, but this is already an entirely too long analysis of my own damn writing and by god that's pretentious enough for me to know when to set it down, thanks for coming to my TED Talk

[snicketstrange]

Solving the Apparent Plot Hole in SB of Netflix's ASOUE

The mystery of Esmé's sugar bowl in Netflix's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" is an endless source of speculation among fans. Kit Snicket's claim that the sugar bowl contains "sugar" that can cure the disease caused by the MM fungus has upset many, and for good reason:

The cure for the MM fungus was originally discovered by Beatrice Baudelaire, who used a hybrid apple and horseradish in her experiments. Nothing suggests that she would give special status to the resulting "sugar."

Count Olaf also seeks the sugar bowl, but he explicitly states in the TGG adaptation that he believed the MM fungus no longer existed. So why would he seek a cure for a disease he thought had been eradicated?

Horseradish alone is already highly effective in preventing death caused by the MM fungus. Sunny was infected, used horseradish, and showed no side effects or traces of the disease. This makes the definitive cure for the disease less valuable than one might think.

In truth, the only way to view Netflix's ASOUE canon as coherent is to accept the fact that Kit Snicket wasn't entirely honest about the sugar bowl's contents.

So, can we deduce what's really in Netflix's sugar bowl based on the information we have?

In Netflix's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" series, various clues are given about the mysterious contents of the sugar bowl. First, the contents are edible, evidenced by a flashback where Esmé uses the sugar bowl's contents to make tea. This same scene also reveals that the tea tasted bitter, suggesting the bitter nature of the contents. Beatrice, also present in this flashback, hints that the contents have some sort of power, adding that this power shouldn't be in the hands of one person but could be shared with many. Additionally, the contents are tangible: Quigley looks inside the sugar bowl and sees something he can't fully understand but is definitely there. Lastly, Kit Snicket, known for telling half-truths and omitting information, claims the sugar bowl contains "sugar" that cures the fatal MM fungus disease. This information, given Kit's history, may only be partially true.

So, how can these contradictions be reconciled? The crux of my theory lies in the idea that the "sugar" inside the sugar bowl is much more than it appears to be.

All signs point to there actually being sugar in the sugar bowl, likely derived from Beatrice's research with the bitter hybrid apple. What we call sugar could really be a remedy. But it can't just be a remedy for the MM fungus disease.

Firstly, Beatrice must have conducted various different experiments while on the island. After all, everything ends up on that island sooner or later. She must have used rare ingredients from shipwrecks or something that accidentally fell into the ocean somewhere to combine with her basic experiment of blending horseradish with apples. After all, the end result contains "something" that is abortive. Neither apples nor horseradish have abortive substances. This suggests that Beatrice used additional ingredients.

(This detail was first brought to my attention by TheAsh , as far as I know) She may not even know exactly what those ingredients are, as labels made of paper could easily dissolve in water.

If, by chance, in one of these experiments, it were possible to produce a unique fruit and a special type of hybrid apple, formed from a very specific formula and rare ingredients (some of which even Beatrice might not know), then maybe we're onto something. If the fruits from a single harvest had the power not just to cure the disease caused by the MM fungus... but perhaps the ability to cure all diseases! And that would be truly hard to replicate elsewhere, even by Beatrice herself.

So we might have something there. This would indeed be a great parallel to the biblical account of the tree of life, to which TE clearly refers (in a somewhat inverted manner, but still a reference). The tree of life in the Garden of Eden could make someone live forever. Beatrice's apple could cure all diseases. But this phenomenon wasn't replicated, and Beatrice knew she couldn't replicate the experiment.

In that case, to prevent the specific apples from losing their properties when they spoil, Beatrice must have made "sugar" from these apples. A type of sugar that preserved the healing properties of the fruit of life. But where would she store it? Indeed, this powder became the most valuable substance in the world.

And so, a safe, discreet (and preferably beautiful) container was needed to hold something so valuable and powerful. Esmé's sugar bowl proved suitable, as it could preserve the sugar even in case of fire and flood.

Esmé, thirsty for power, would love to be the guardian of such a substance. And of course, the sugar bowl is hers. Has she remained so beautiful and youthful over the course of 14 years by consuming a bit of this sugar over the years? Either way, after discussing with Esmé the importance of sharing the sugar bowl's contents with others, she felt obligated to steal it from Esmé.

catastrophist , this theory was for you! I hope you enjoyed reading it.

[recreationalfanfics]

Yandere Bane Headcanons:

- Not very likely to kidnap you, unless the Batman notices his dangerous obsession with you and tries to take you away from him, but other than that; he would try to avoid kidnapping you. Not to mention that considering his past with growing up as a Prisoner on Peña Duro, he would feel incredibly guilty if he had to lock up his darling but would do it if he believed it was in your best interest.

- That's because he has resources and contacts all over the world, not to mention that Bane's mind works at far greater levels than the average human brain. He KNOWS your psychology, he has observed you long enough to know how you think and what exact thoughts go through your mind. If you ran away, it would not be long before he found you. Honestly, the longest you could escape from him without the help of the Batman would be 3 days, possibly 5 if he takes a day or two to plan out your little reunion with him.

- Bane doesn't like to punish you, he rather hates it. You aren't meant to cower under his touch, you're meant to lean in to it. To seek it out for protection, for when you have lonely nights and need his body close to yours, and to feel how he treats you so gently and softly compared to most others.

- Instead, if you do something bad that he doesn't like, he gently reminds you that it would take no effort to hunt down your loved ones and thats all he has to say. You stare at him as your imagination runs wild at what this hulking brute could do and when he sees that his threat has finally sunk in, he reminds you that it depends solely on you and your behavior if he'll make good of his threat or not. He then turns around and walks away, leaving you alone with your thoughts. You'll make the right choice and be more compliant from there, he's sure of it.

- Bane just really isn't a sadistic yandere to me, given his past, he doesn't want to break you nor does he want to hurt you, deep down; he truly does love you. So while he may not be a threat to YOU, he is a threat to those who he perceives to be threats or bad influences on you. They will be taken care of swiftly and without your knowledge.

- He will romance you naturally and considering his affinity for books, I garuntee you that he'll be hard to resist. Yes you will be put off by the fact he's a literal war criminal, terrorist, and supervillain...you also are not blind. He is a very fine specimen of a man, the accent and his softened behavior towards you definetly doesn't make it any easier for you to resist him. Even then, he is a man of substance and intelligence so there will definetly be an intellectual attraction in which you can talk to him about anything and he will engage with you about it.

- He is a prominent figure in the criminal underworld and holds a respectable reputation among other assassins and mercenaries, basically, no one is going to mess with you and if they do, they will die a lot sooner than they expected to.

- Okay but in the comics, after he uses venom, he canonically gets sleepy so not really a yandere thing but after using venom, he would most definetly seek you out to be his teddy bear. Holding you close to him as his strong grip keeps you in place as he begins to doze off.

[lilacartsmadsion]

“My lady can be kind if you choose to put your blinding faith towards her…but Faith can even blind the true meaning of Love”

———————————————————————————

There once was a small village…filled with priestesses who surrounded a pomegranate tree, giving life to its cookies.

It was gifted by the Ethereal One, blessed by the Nameless and ensured the protection of those who tended to it in the village.

Among which, a High Priestess was chosen. She who devotes her life, her soul and her will to the Goddess of Love. For love knows no bounds much as sacrifice.

She gifted Cookies with the love shown to her by her Goddess, her faith to her unwavering.

However one day…other followers grew resentful and envious of The High Priestess…

‘How could she know the words our goddess?’ ‘How could she know what Her Etherealness truly thought?’

Envy was not uncommon for those who followed the Will of the Goddess of Love. Even if the goddess loved them all as equals.

Eventually they came up with a delusion:

‘She must be speaking words of deception! Not even the other priestesses in our village could speak with our Goddess’

And for that, they charged her with treason and blasphemy.

The High Priestess high devotion and faith to her Goddess inevitably saved her life. She had two paths of destiny. Her goddess would save her from those who dared to purge her because they were envious or…she dies and finds contentment knowing she fulfilled her role as a Priestess…

The first option stands.

This story is a cautionary tale as to why you do NOT bring the wrath of the gods against you.

Love is not a friend or foe, it is a neutral force.

Because of the persecutors false accusations The Ethereal One revealed herself to the villagers.

“You who are blinded by your envy and resentment, cease this madness.”

“You who would dare put my Priestess into any harm. You should find shame in yourselves.”

“Since you clearly are in no need of my protection and my presence. You shall never again gain the blessing of my Priestess.”

And with that, the Ethereal One took the High Priestess away from the village. Despite their cries and screams for forgiveness the goddess did not waver.

The Goddess brought her full might and strength and gifted the Priestess with the untold power of love.

Creating the Cookie known as… Empyreal Pomegranate Cookie.

————————————————————————-

I’m going to create the Lore as a go, with the first starting with Cookies of Darkness now known as ‘The Pillars of Darkness’ since they protect the borders of Earthbread and pretty much are outside of Earthbread as a whole.

And in the sort of ‘Canon’ of CRK they are technically Legends. So uhhh…yeah I’m starting with the Legends first.

The only one who doesn’t have a change in their name is Dark Enchantress Cookie who’s name is uhh…basically just a title, she doesn’t have an actual name since she’s meant to parallel Gingerbrave/Nameless.

Inspo for Pomegranate’s design:

I wanted to keep her whole ‘priestess’ thing so I took a bunch of people with really long sleeves.

I used Sugar Swan’s costume for the Headpiece cause none of the Headpieces of them matched too much for Pomegranate.

So yeah imagine being Pomegranate where you’re a priestess and suddenly you became a deity technically speaking.

I will work out the worship traditions later I need to focus on the lore.

[autistichalsin]

Hello! I hope you're doing well!

First of all, thank you so much for the video with Kiaran and Halsin's romance. Now I have a clear picture of their relationship. There's a question I've been wanting to ask for a while. Among the origin companions, who do you think would be the most ideally suited for Halsin?

All of my friends had different answers and arguments, and I would really love to hear your thoughts. If you don't see any of them with Halsin - that's an answer too! And I will accept it!

Of course! I was so excited to share it with those of you who love Kiaran. <3

For Origins, I know I have an agenda, but I truly think it would be Karlach. They're warm and kind and have some of the sweetest party banters. Halsin needs Karlach's passion and Karlach needs Halsin's calm. They both have the same background- Outlander- and very similar values. (Any action that earns approval from one will almost always earn the approval of the other and vice-versa).

I have my issues with the romanced ending for Halsin and Karlach (he's the only one besides Dark Justiciar Shadowheart who won't go to Avernus with her, and after patch 5, I do understand why better than before it, but I still feel it could have been written to show Halsin having more guilt/conflict and comforting Karlach more. Like, there's a line where you can tell him "I don't know if I can [go to Avernus]. Not alone." and Halsin replies "do what you must, as shall I." Which just... doesn't make it sound like Halsin understands what is being said.) HOWEVER, issues aside, one thing that I absolutely shamelessly adore about the romanced Karlach route?

Normally, there's only one way to get Halsin to say he loves you, and it's an awful way; by manipulating him, repeatedly saying you want to break up and then changing your mind, until he says "why would you test my patience like this? Sometimes, it is difficult to love you." But with Karlach? If you poly-romance Halsin and someone else, there's a line (I don't know if it is still accessible in the game at this point because of all the changes, but it's definitely still in the datamined script and there is audio recorded for it, so I will consider it canon) where as you start to burn up on the docks, Halsin softly says, "stay with us, Karlach. Stay with the ones who love you."

So Karlach is the only one he'll say he loves without being manipulated, which balances out the issue with their ending.

[dragondream-ing]

It’s kinda funny to me that even team black fans get vicious with other team black fans if they disagree with their interpretation of a character or event or rumor. Now, there are some wild or dubious claims about canon, and I get shutting those down or insisting they be treated with skepticism. But there are also genuine disagreements that, imo, don’t deserve the vitriol.

I am not talking about things we *know*, like dates and events and crucial elements of the characters’ relationships and personalities. I’m talking about the things we *cannot* know because the sources and Gyldayn simply can’t and don’t have access to every inner thought or belief of the characters. Those same sources can’t and don’t have knowledge of everything the characters did and why they did it. Those sources have their own viewpoints and bias, and so they might have witnessed or heard things that they didn’t write down because they deemed those things unimportant or counter to their bias. They might have elevated information that had little factual basis because they trusted the source it came from or it confirmed their bias (*cough* Sara Snow’s entire existence). That’s the beauty of F&B. It isn’t a novel, it isn’t a dry accounting of events, it is a history book written after the events by a maester raised in a post-Dance, post-dragons world with his own belief system, and the sources he used are limited and imperfect.

Because of the nature of the book, I would never claim my interpretation of a character is the definitive truth, only that it seems most plausible to me. I know who Rhaenyra isn’t, but I don’t know all that she is. I know who Daemon isn’t, but I don’t know all that he is. I can’t, and neither can anyone else, because the sources themselves didn’t and couldn’t. F&B is written in a way to obscure and distort at least some of the truth. GRRM isn’t an idiot, he studied journalism and history in college, he knew exactly what he was doing and he well understood the pitfalls and complications of primary sources and secondary literature. It’s not his fault that many of his fans don’t lmao (and yes, I blame HBO for the increase in stupidity, but I digress).

There are many things we know for sure (which makes the shitshow’s manipulation or removal of all the *literal facts* extra infuriating; now we have people claiming those facts are unreliable even when they are among the few things that are reliable). But I’m sorry to say, there is MUCH that is unknown.

The characters do not have their own POVs. That creates fertile ground for different interpretations of them and their motivations, even if some aspects of both are clearly defined. And entertaining those interpretations isn’t bad faith. I know we all like to think we have the One True Interpretation of our fave characters, but in F&B, even the most fleshed-out characters don’t speak in their own words with their own voice. We are reading them in the voices of other people, and those people have their own perspectives, biases, and agendas. That’s why I love the book so much, it reminds me of my days writing my history dissertation and trying to identify the societal influence and personal bias of the people I studied (sorry, I’m a bit of a nerd lol)

I know we are used to fighting team green and years of wild GOT shenanigans, but come on. I’ve seen people absolutely lose their shit because other fans disagree over the degree to which Daemon wanted a Valyrian wife. Another one I love is the fury over Valyrian customs. Some people believe the Targaryens might have continued practicing some Valyrian customs, while others believe they were true followers of the Seven (other than incest). Literally who cares?? The book doesn’t include much on this topic, but why is it so offensive that some readers think the Targaryens truly converted or that they held to their beliefs more than the maesters and septons claimed? We don’t actually KNOW because the sources wouldn’t have been privy to everything, especially things the royal family did privately, and extra especially when the conversion was for political reasons (as confirmed by GRRM) and the Targaryens would’ve had ever reason to hide customs deemed heretical by the majority religion. This, to me, is a completely inoffensive difference in interpretation, and I cannot fathom why some people view it as akin to team green stans claiming book Alicent was a child bride.

There are degrees of difference in which readers believe the sources of F&B, which I think contributes to diverging interpretations, and we should acknowledge that this is a personal choice. If you give more credence to certain sources, you’re going to come away with a different view of a character than if you don’t, and that’s okay! That’s how interpreting primary sources works, and that’s part of why historians can write books using the same bank of sources and come to different conclusions. Another reason is someone coming along that looks at those sources from a different perspective, or pays attention to sources other historians had ignored. For example, most historians pre-1970 didn’t think to check the records of the wives of politicians, so when others went back through the archives, there were tons of revelations missed by earlier scholars. This just goes to show secondary sources, aka Gyldayn, also have their limitations, viewpoints and/or bias.

A lot of people don’t even stop to question the sources. Some people put a lot more stock in Mushroom’s account than I ever would (the shitshow didn’t cast him, but it sure used his dubious claims). Some people think Eustace was pretty much a straight shooter bar a few exceptions, which I completely disagree with. Gyldayn is also a problem for me, he’s a bit of a weirdo and perv. Tbh I don’t trust any of them. Could be because I was trained to interrogate sources, not trust them, but I’d rather do that than blindly believe someone like Orwyle. It’s up to every reader to decide what seems most plausible.

And no, that doesn’t mean everything is fair game. Some things are blatantly untrue, like the bizarre metas I’ve seen claiming the character ages in the shitshow are the actual true ages lmao

Trust in a source isn’t necessary to glean facts, and from these accounts we *can* learn about the Dance, so it’s all about assessing what’s a fact, what’s propaganda, what’s exaggerated but true, what’s true but unspoken, what’s a bald-faced lie or a lie of omission, etc. And with a book like F&B with biased sources and rumors and contradictions, there will be genuine differences in interpretation that are in good faith. It isn’t fair to act like these differences are headcanons pulled out of thin air.

If you want to argue what you believe is more likely, that’s fine, but what’s the point of shitting on other fans that read the book and made their own informed opinion? Some pieces of evidence and supposition are more compelling to me but may not be as compelling to someone else. These differences are fair and good faith and shouldn’t be reduced to “you didn’t read right” or “you didn’t read at all.” And if someone claims that of other book fans, they should have the humility to admit their interpretation might not be entirely right either. Only GRRM can know the full truth, and tbh, I’m not even sure he does because that man can be contradictory af 😂

And yes, I used this as an excuse to nerd out over analyzing primary sources. Even historians that leave the ivory tower retain their obnoxious urge to pour over and question primary sources, and that extends to fictional ones.

[hellsdisneyprincess]

((The following is a drabble I have been compelled to write for personal reasons. The information Charlie learns from this would be canon for all versions of her, but how she learns it may vary, especially depending on if interactions with specific others lead to where it's found out a different way. So it's in a weird spot canon wise to this blog.

This can be used as an open starter if you want, but it isn't being written that way specifically. As such, it's more fantasy science than actual plot or drabble. But take that as you will.

Charlie felt really small right about now, alone in an empty conference room at the hotel. She probably could have made it to her room if she wanted, but her singular goal was to be alone as soon as possible and the conference room she occupied was a lot closer to the ground floor than her bedroom was. In front of her was a pill bottle. Another was a piece of paper. Both she got from Belphagor earlier that day. Together they represented the truth about something she'd always wanted.

There was a high chance she wasn't going to be able to have children of her own.

It had been so simple when it was laid out. Her mother was a human, her father an angel. But adding to the mix is that when they fell, they both acquired demonic traits so that was also added to her genetic makeup as well. There had been instances of those who were mixes of two of these. Rare of course, but not unheard of. But all three? Charlie was the only documented case. That was the problem.

When a woman's eggs formed, each held half of her DNA, the rest to be supplemented by the father to make a new individual. But the half that ended up in them couldn't just be chosen. It was random. This would be fine and a non-issue for most others, but was a big deal for Charlie. There was no telling how much of any of those three sources would be in the egg. Meaning, there was no way to know if there was enough of any given one in a singular egg to be truly compatible with the father of her hypothetical child to actually be viable.

On top of that, her mixed heritage had impacted her hormones the most. She'd known that she wasn't particularly gifted with certain assets, but that was only a visible symptom of the larger issue. The hormones of humans, demons, and angels didn't quite align as well as they could, and sometimes seemed to actively compete. So her cycles were irregular at best and there was no telling what they would do when they ramped up during pregnancy.

In other words, in order to naturally have a child, she'd have to happen to have sex in the sweet spot of timing. Be ovulating with a egg that happened to not only have enough of one of her genetic sources to match with someone, but have that someone be her partner at that time, then it needed to implant, and somehow still remain viable as it developed, all the while just hope that her own body didn't attack her unborn child or otherwise just shutdown the whole process.

But it wasn't like she could now have unprotected sex with wild abandon since pregnancy concerns were among the top reasons she refrained (but not the only, as there was still public image to consider). While her chances of getting pregnant was lower than most, it still was the most likely part of this whole process. So what she was actually looking at was a lifetime of miscarriages in her future. Because even if they used treatments such as IVF to at least ensure that a suitable egg was matched up (assuming she even fucking had any), her body needed to cooperate and Charlie wasn't sure it could do that.

Which brought her to where she was now. The pills were meant as a first step to at least get her hormones in check, but considering how unique her biology was, it was going to take a lot of trial and error. This was only the start of the first attempt. Her immediate future was going to be full of mood swings, discomfort, pain, and the like until they managed to find the right mix to keep her under control for the time being.

Charlie had been holding it all in but now, alone, she couldn't help but start to cry. She'd seen how hard her parents had tried to have children and that was only after she came along. Hell, there might never have been a curse at all. She arrived before DNA was really discovered, let alone its role in reproduction. But it all meant that she had spent enough time in the empty halls of the palace longing for siblings. For a large family. But it never came. That dream became to bear one herself.

But it looks like that was taken from her too.

So here she was, alone in the dark conference room, mourning the loss of children who have yet to have a chance, since they very likely wouldn't.

Edit to add: Because of the potentially sensitive nature of this, if you do reply to it, I may be a bit selective on actually making it a thread.

[mermaidsirennikita]

any recs with disabled heroines? Even with any scarring? I think I’ve read only a few both Lyndsay Sands and Cristina Dodd had a blind heroine (sands she’s not completely blind) and for scarring there Again the Magic (ult fav) and some Highlander book by Maya Banks. I was wondering if you knew anymore? We get varying heroes (though “plus sized” heroes are never written 😭) but never heroines.

You know what dude, this is a really good point. Why don't we see as many disabled heroines indeed. Lol I've never read a canonically bipolar heroine, fwiw.

(The answer is Bad.)

So, recs I have:

Charissa Weaks's excellent Witchwalker series, starting with The Witch Collector. There are several POVs and couples, but the MAIN MAIN heroine, Raina, does not speak with her voice. She was born that way, she speaks with sign language (the author, I believe, has a personal connection to sign at least) and it's a big part of the series, actually. I really like it, and one of the things that makes her have an initial connection with the hero, who she hates because of who he is, is that he can speak her specific sign language. So she knows someone she knows taught him.

The heroine of A Holly Jolly Ever After by Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy has narcolepsy, which, among other things, has helped her parents have this kind of like... suppressive, really rough control over her. And the book is about her breaking out of that!

The Convenient Engagement by Emily K. Murdoch wasn't for me, but not because it was bad... The heroine in that book only has one hand. I believe she was born without the other.

The heroine of Lorraine Heath's The Outlaw and The Lady is blind. It's hugely plot important, actually. This book definitely has a very dated plot point, I will say, that I think was very well-intentioned for the time lmao but.... EEEEEEH. It's one of those books where I'm like, "Damn, this is well-written, but this one thing makes me not recommend it often". But otherwise it was very good.

Dearest Rogue by Elizabeth Hoyt has Phoebe, who is blind. Truly an excellent book, and if you read Maiden Lane you see Phoebe several times before her own book, and you see her progressive vision loss until she's where she is in this novel.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert has a heroine who suffers from chronic pain. It's kept her from getting out there, until she's finally like "fuck it" and enlists her hot neighbor to help her.

The heroine of Kennedy Ryan's Reel has lupus, which I'm pretty sure she gets diagnosed with over the course of the book. It's pretty emotional, and I felt like it was handled well (as someone who doesn't have lupus, to be clear).

Highlander Most Wanted by Maya Banks (not the one you mentioned above lol, which is Never Seduce a Scot) has a scarred heroine. How she got her scar is very traumatic, so TWs all over for SA, but this was a really good hurt/comfort romance.

The Duke Redemption by Grace Callaway has a scarred heroine (it's a gender-flipped Beauty and the Beast book) but I'm not gonna lie... I get it... BUT HER SCAR DOESN'T SOUND THAT BAD LMAO

In terms of more chronic illness/federally recognized disability (in the US) content, the heroine of Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood has diabetes, which is plot important.

Neurodivergent heroines:

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner has two heroines, one with ADHD and one with (as we later find out) autism.

Never Met a Duke Like You by Amalie Howard is a historical romance with a heroine who has ADHD, I think...? But it's not recognized in the moment, obvi. I THINK. It might've been the hero. I know it's one of them. Now I'm self-doubting.

A Jingle Bell Mingle by Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy has a heroine with ADHD.

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert has an autistic heroine and an autistic hero.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang has an autistic heroine.

Hyacinth by S.M. LaViolette has a neurodivergent heroine who I BELIEVE is meant to be read as having autism (this is a historical and a favorite of mine).

Two Wrongs Make a Right by Chloe Liese. A contemporary Much Ado About Nothing retelling with a heroine on the spectrum. (The hero might be too, actually.)

[utilitycaster]

Re: Wizard Stupid

As you outline it, i definitely believe its a thing. However, id like to object that Ludinus exhibits it in earnest. Absolutely its what he projects (ie. the absurdity of hating clerics for being gifted magic while working alongside SORCERERS), but i think he projects it knowingly and deliberately, which disqualifies him from Wizard Stupid.

Basically im denying the adage “Never attribute to malice what can be adequately attributed to stupidity”. Id LOVE your thoughts on this but its my belief that Ludinus is weaponizing populist talking points against what are basically ignorant common folk and traumatized people as a shield to hide his greater true desire to become god emperor of Exandria. Especially keeping in mind that us as the audience have a vaster knowledge of the Exandrian pantheon and its inner workings than a regular commoner who’s worked a farm all their life and just wants to make enough money for a meal. If right-wingers get away with this kind of shit all the time, i certainly believe Ludinus does, too.

I would disagree with a few things here; but to address the first point, Wizard Stupid really is just "I think the consequences of my actions will not come back to me, and indeed haven't necessarily thought them through at all", which I believe absolutely applies to Ludinus. While we don't know for sure that teleportation is broken, or that he's fucked the ley network and therefore arcane magic, those are both pretty likely. He activated a machine that had taken damage with his own life force. He also did hire Astrid, who is heavily implied to have been feeding intel to Caleb and would therefore be indirectly responsible for quite a lot of that damage. He stiffed Ira's bill; reneging on a contract with a fey even other fey think is kind of a wildcard? That's Wizard Stupid. I'd also note: never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity is much more about assuming that the person who cut you off in traffic is a fucking idiot who wasn't paying attention, not that they have it out for you and want you to crash. It doesn't mean people can't be both malicious and stupid, and we do know Ludinus is, canonically, evil. I am not denying his malice; I'm saying he's also, in some areas, very, very stupid.

In general though, I don't think a comparison to populism is apt. Ludinus and the Vanguard expressly aren't going around doing massive, active recruiting among common people who are, or perceive themselves to be, disenfranchised. Tuldus is actually the exception to what we've seen; the majority of Vanguard members we've encountered have been Ruidusborn. This is a cult recruiting vulnerable people. If it were truly populist, why is it not commonly known among the population? Why recruit Lilliana and not Relvin, who is similarly a regular commoner who's worked on a farm all his life? Why hasn't anyone in the party, many of whom have been living on the fringes of society, heard of it before now? Why are their only allies other tiny obscure cults and a crawler gang? Why are they killing what appears to be random travelers? The Paragon's Call members are honestly pretty apathetic, and the Malleus Key plan wasn't a recruiting tactic when Bells Hells encountered them; I think it's a case of "boss says we're killing god and they're paying well, so, sure, I don't care as long as I get overtime." Killing the gods is not a talking point being used to rally the masses; it's not populism and it's frankly not even popular. All things considered, the group at the Tishtan site is pitifully small.

I will also admit, and this applies here but to a few other posts as well, that I don't find a framing of Mortals vs. the Gods under any kind of real-world political structure to really work for me. The premise is in fact that the gods don't function like mortals, so even if killing the gods were a popular sentiment, which again, it is not, I don't know if it would map well to populism.

Now, I do agree that Ludinus is being deliberately manipulative and hypocritical. With that said this also doesn't rule out stupid for him (nor for real-life politicians). I do, in fact, think that no shortage of right-wing populists believe a decent amount of their own bullshit. Like...generally, a lot of fascists are very effective at amassing short term power, and they don't believe all the bullshit they say but use it to manipulate the population, and we obviously don't want that either, because it does not take terribly long to do a massive amount of harm; but they do often fuck up the long term planning. Eventually, you eliminate everyone you've been scapegoating and you still haven't built a utopia so you either need to, as Ashton said, get down to like 5 people at which point society collapses; or someone else shows up and you now become the target of the population's ire. Basically this is all to say you can be both stupid (and specifically Wizard Stupid, which is about ignoring immediate and possibly lethal consequences, often though not always in the service of pursuing knowledge or a greater vision) and manipulative, ie, Ludinus is not in fact disqualified from Wizard Stupid simply because he also deliberately misleads some people.

I also don't think Ludinus wants to become god-emperor and haven't seen any evidence he does - it's a theory, but I don't agree with it and believe he genuinely is mostly focused on just killing the gods. But, frankly, if he did wish to be god-emperor? Doing so by allying with powerful sorcerers whose powers are believed to come from Predathos? Of whom we know he - one of the most powerful archmages in the world - is jealous? And assuming he'll keep that position? With all the potential fuck-ups to magic? Also, specifically pissing off druids, who might actually (along with paladins) be the group most able to withstand what may go down if Predathos is unleashed given that their magic comes neither from the gods nor is arcane? Now that's Wizard Stupid.