#who has done nothing wrong

[t-hirstreview]

[whosmarinette]

“You provide band-aids, not solutions” fun fact, band-aids are solutions! It’s great and important to work towards the root of the problem, but if people are already hurt somebody has to help them. If nobody helps people you’re trying to save, soon there won’t be any people to save. Fuck you, Dylan Blake, I’m glad you’re dead

[sephirthoughts]

wow just stab me right in my feelings

(The last one on Sephiroth's breakdown reimagining in the Remake trilogy. Notes I and Notes II

Herein lurk spoilers.)

In contrast to FFVII OG, where Sephiroth's breakdown was introduced as a sudden event, with his life-long search for origins mostly implied rather than spoken aloud, Crisis Core revealed Sephiroth had been digging through ShinRA's science archives for years before embarking on a fateful mission. Indeed, the compilation of FFVII has seen a shift in the character’s portrayal, with Sephiroth becoming less of a silent and aloof enigma and more of a layered personage. As a result, his breakdown ceased to exist in its isolated form. We are aware of the chain of events that preceded it.

Thanks to CC, we know that Sephiroth was obsessed with discovering facts about his own history, especially his heritage, to the point where he would shut himself up in the archives to read documents. We also know that Genesis used this fixation as a means of pressuring Sephiroth into cooperation.

To Genesis, the existence of such a pressure point was a known quantity, which suggests that Sephiroth's attempts to uncover his past had been a well-known or recurring endeavor. And one thing is clear from Sephiroth's reaction: Genesis' comments struck a chord with him, primarily because they targeted his fear.

FFVII Ever Crisis takes things a step further, emphasizing Sephiroth's determination to learn more about his mother, to the point that he would carry a photo of her to investigate. Furthermore, Sephiroth is troubled by an offhand remark that he might be a cyborg—a non-human entity—and appears to take the remark to heart, holding on to it long after making acquaintances with Glenn's team. And thus, there's plenty to infer from these instances. 

For starters, it confirms that Sephiroth's desire to discover his origins dates back to his adolescence. The way he talks in regard to inquiring about his mother suggests that his attempts are recurring. He “knows it's not cool to ask about his mother,” which presumably means that someone *systematically* brought this up to him before he was dispatched. To someone, Sephiroth's asking around appeared childish, immature, or uncool, or else came across as a nuisance that needed to be nipped in the bud.

One can wonder if the objective of these snubbing attempts was to dissuade him from looking into the topic further. This raises the question whether the “uncool” comment first came from the people behind the Science Department, in particular those who took part in Jenova Project.

Secondly, it confirms the presence of a fear—or suspicion—of not being human. Sephiroth got so fixated on the “cyborg” comment because it stirred something that had already been there. That which had preoccupied him. This detail shows that the thought was neither caused by seeing Hollander's experiments nor was it planted by Genesis, as it precedes those events. Indeed, Ever Crisis suggests that this anxiety, this nagging feeling of “never being one of them”, has been present in Sephiroth's mind for much of his life. In fact, one could argue it was the driving factor behind his search for family. Not so much a need to belong as a search for evidence of normalcy to dispel any lingering uncertainty. "Proving" misconceptions about himself wrong too, as he is keen to point out to Glenn in Ever Crisis.

This provides a broader perspective on his infamous “ever since I was a child, I knew I was different <…> special”. While OG may have alluded to Sephiroth's admitting to being aware of his superiority (“special” and “different” bearing a haughty connotation), the extended compilation plays with the idea of “different” bearing a negative quality to it, with Ever Crisis, Crisis Core and FFVII Rebirth all proposing an aversion to the idea of being a lab-grown, subhuman specimen. After all, as Sephiroth himself puts it after meeting Glenn, all he wished was normalcy—to lead a normal life. 

With that in mind, we can only speculate as to what factors made young Sephiroth question his origins. Was it merely the performance and treatment difference compared to others in ShinRA's SOLDIER project? The silence/ridicule policy and withholding of information he apparently faced when trying to ask the wrong sort of questions? Or witnessing first-hand how inhumanely the likes of Hojo treated lab specimens as well as the prospect of never being able to fit in to be treated as an equal, ergo lacking the same rights/agency as test subjects? One can only guess. Ultimately, it is the presence of this insecurity that leads to his downfall, whether one interprets Nibelheim events as falling under Jenova’s spell or an onset of insanity. 

Whether or not it was Jenova who forced Sephiroth to read “like a man possessed” or his own stubbornness, Gast's notes left him with only two options. Either he admits to being a laboratory-created being, “born” from a 2000-year-old monster, as declared by Genesis, or he embraces the idea of being an Ancient. Either he is “not a human,” as he had feared all his life, or he is above humanity. A mind is a delicate thing that will do anything to survive. Sephiroth had been in a pretty dark place by the end of Crisis Core. Should one choose to interpret Nibelheim events as a result of Jenova's interference (as discussed here), it would not be hard to see why a little nudge to the basement library was needed to push Sephiroth into embracing alien ideas and influence. Fear is an excellent manipulation tool, and Sephiroth's fear played well against him. For him, the alternative—admitting to being no better than pod-grown “abominations”, in Sephiroth's own words—was unthinkable.

If one construes the Nibelheim sequence as a result of a mental breakdown, as evidenced by Sephiroth's anger outburst, unstable commentary in the basement, and what could be interpreted as shame, it likewise becomes clear why he clung onto the idea of being an Ancient. In order for his mind to keep its sense of self, it needed to escape facing the terrible; the legend of the Ancients thus offered an easy escape route. He would no longer be a subhuman with no coherent reason to fight (per Elfe from Before Crisis), someone used as a tool by ShinRA or Hojo and having his humanity denied or questioned, but he would be an entity superior to humans with clear reasons for fighting and even a clearer sense of purpose.

Regardless of how one interprets the picture, one thing is certain: succumbing to fear or trying all possible to avoid confronting it are understandably human traits. It's ironic that Sephiroth's dread of not being human and not belonging with humans drove him to become non-human, both physically and metaphorically. After all, it was his lifelong uncertainties and fixation with discovering the truth that served as a catalyst for the chain of events that led to his metamorphosis in the Northern Crater and, subsequently, the decision to abandon his human memories in Lifestream Black.

Written by @pen-and-umbra

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

"You and me, Ethan. Together we go save Rose, and then we can grind Miranda into paste!"

[hazel-callahan]

STOP! being mean to hazel callahan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lesbianweed]

Thistle || Dungeon Meshi 1x13

[finalskies]

Godzilla x Kong is a very silly movie. I kinda love it. Shimo stole my heart. She deserves all the good things now.

[kendyroy]

not to be dramatic but i would burn down the entire world for him

[wasyago]

me when i work as a humble bartender and not a double agent against multiple governments

[wickjump]

lvl20 cross is my no.1 enemy btw. if i see him there will be an unspecified lethal weapon in my paws and it will be pointed in his general location

[roominthecastle]

Because of my actions we know exactly where the ring is. It's inside a dog.

[hesgomorrah]

we need to make suggesting someone skip the first three seasons of mash as taboo as suggesting someone skip the ninth doctor

[redr0sewrites]

i will forever defend these two- NOT to start discourse but they are both so heavily mischaracterized by the fandom its INSANE like omg yes they are flawed but they are also trying their best PLEASE leave them alone 🙏🙏🙏

as usual im yapping in the tags if anyone cares

[liauditore]

cw// implied character death, double life nonsense

because you are love itself.

[gottagobackintime]

Ellie is 14 years old. And while she's, in some ways, mature for her age, she should not be asked to sacrifice herself for the whole world. "She should have been given a choice and we all know she would have been fine with dying if that meant there is a cure." Absolutely not. You do not ask a 14 year old to make a choice like that. Hell, I'd argue that it's not even a choice. The fact that it's adults that would tell her that makes it even more messed up. These cool adults who are out there trying to save people tells you that you are special, that you're the key to save humanity. Of course you're going to listen to them. Especially if you've gone through the things Ellie's been through. If she as an adult wants to make that decision, sure. But not when she's a scared, vulnerable child.

Should Joel have told her that he killed all of them to save her? Probably. Then he could have explained that she's valuable, not because she's possibly the key to a cure. But because she's a human being that has feelings, that deserves to live. And you could argue as much as you want that she's old enough or mature enough to make that choice. But I don't agree. Yes, she seems to be like that, we see her being snarky and tough but the more Joel shows that he cares about her, the more she lets that mask slip. And she acts like a child would act with their parents.

If her only goal was to reach the fireflies so that she could give herself to them to do whatever with her so that they could find a cure. She wouldn't have been so angry/upset that Joel didn't want to take her, why would it matter who took her there? Because Joel cares about her, and having him let her go hurt her. She could have left Joel to die and gone to find Tommy so that he could take her, like Joel asked her to do. But she didn't because she cares about him. The way she clings to Joel when he finds her and he calls her baby girl should tell you that she isn't ready to make a decision on whether she should sacrifice herself or not. SHE IS A CHILD. And Joel allows her to be a child.

I honestly have no problem with him killing them all to save her. "He took the choice from her!" What choice? They didn't give her a choice, they didn't tell her what would happen to her. And do you really think that they would ever give her a choice. If she'd said no, do you actually believe that they would go "Ah, well. Nothing we can do then, off you go with your new dad. Bye!" Don't make me laugh. They would have just done what they did now. Sedate her and begun to harvest her for what they needed. That's not a choice. She NEVER had a choice, Joel didn't take the choice from her because it was never there. It would have been an illusion of choice. She's also traumatised, most recently from her run in with David. And you want her to make a literal life or death choice?? I completely understand why Joel decided to go on a killing spree, he's protecting a vulnerable traumatised CHILD from people who doesn't care about her, who just wants to use her body for spare parts.

It's not about choice or not having a choice, it's about being valued as a person and not having your life taken away from you by vultures.

[n4mless]

I have been reading dungeon meshi recently, and I have to talk about how important Senshi’s and Izutsumi’s relationship is. Senshi going out of his way to make sure that Izutsumi eats and eats enough, Matters so much to me as a person with a lot of sensory issues connected to food. Taking the time to change the dumplings so she eats, putting the medicine(it was ointment) that Marcille made so she would eat it. Knowing that she won’t eat food she doesn’t like and working around that, not treating it like it’s some big hassle, but just being worried about it.

It means a lot to me.