#working my wizard powers

[sshireens]

okay personal grievance but. grrm making cat get pregnant on her wedding night was just one of the manu cruelties he enacted upon her but arguably the one that goes the most unnoticed. she did not want to have sex with that man

[messiahzzz]

it’s been almost a year now… is the bg3 fandom finally ready to talk about how gale’s “hubris” is the sole product of actively feeding his insecurities further and straight up denying him help & guidance when he was at his lowest and needed it most. it’s not one of his core traits and never was. he isn’t some closeted power hungry monster that is just waiting to be enabled. what he wants is admiration, recognition and acceptance. which is also what he sought from mystra before the orb disaster happened. he had no desire whatsoever to become a god himself or challenge her rule, he simply wanted to be seen as sufficient in her eyes (“to serve her better”). to be as equal as he could possibly be in a relationship with a literal deity. he has a deep passion for magic and knowledge that affects almost all areas of his life and enjoys the display thereof. he wants to be the smartest person in the room and enjoys when his work is recognized. he may be perceived as arrogant when it comes to his skill, but he IS NOT hubristic. it truly takes so little for him to be wholly content.

[panthermouthh]

I can literally feel my brain cells being sucked away every time I re-download instagram

[yuriyuruandyuraart]

smile for the camera!

crisis belongs to @amyupup47

[daisyachain]

I wonder what the thought process was behind introducing Mel into the Jayce-Viktor subplot specifically. The game lore has them as a bread-and-butter flip of the superhero/supervillain dynamic where the supervillain is noble and the superhero is a jerk. Also hewing to the superhero/supervillain tropes, they’re close friends before they have an explosive blowup that turns them into devoted rivals. Classic, well-trodden, tropey set of mutually obsessed characters who read like X and Magneto (films) or Spider-Man and Green Goblin (Raimi films) or Wolverine and Sabretooth or Obi-Wan and Anakin or any one of approximately five billion matched sets.

While the superhero/supervillain sets have one more prominent character (the hero), Jayce and Viktor are designed to be equal parts of it in a trite well-neither-one-is-actually-good storyline. They’re specifically created to be equal and opposite. Mel is inserted right into the subplot of both of that duo. More on that later.

Now, Jinx and Vi are also a matched set of stories. From game lore, Vi is tied to Caitlyn’s lore. Arguably Sevika, Isha, Vander, Silco are inserted between them in much the same way. From just the basic source material, Viktor technically has Blitzcrank as his other major lore connection. Plus it’s League. Treating the source material with reverence…probs not a good idea for writing a narrative. Arcane has to sand down the really rough-sketched archetypes into something resembling a proper story.

The web of connections between the Zaun and Piltover characters does get fleshed out. Jayce gets connected to Caitlyn as her mentor-figure and (much more loosely) Vi as a bash bro. Viktor gets Sky as an OC story partner. Mel should be just another node in the spreading network that Arcane builds between the existing lore points.

What stands out is that she doesn’t have clear ties to the existing lore Jayce lab—as a new MC/Champion, it does make some sense to have her be her own central node rather than an accessory. She spends most of her time with new characters or with Jayce. In s1, mostly Jayce, in s2, mostly herself. Her alliance with Caitlyn starts up pretty abruptly at the 11th hour. Mel feels disconnected from the cast in a way that can highlight her as a sort of third party third way political leader, but also one that puts a lot of pressure on her relationship with Jayce to express and carry her character

The cracks become clearer when you refer to her mom. Ambessa’s in the same spot as a new champion, her only proper connection is to her OC daughter, and she integrates much more seamlessly into the show for better or for worse. Mel’s relationships with her spy, her assistant, Heimerdinger even Viktor show off Mel’s professional side, which tells us precious little about her under that surface. Jayce and Ambessa are the ones around which she reveals a little more. Ambessa, on the other hand, lives out loud and has a pretty emotionally intense connection with daughter (domineering mom), her henchman (possibly more…?), and Caitlyn (substitute evil daughter). Singed and Viktor are also in her posse, but we won’t count them as their dynamics with her aren’t illuminating.

Mel is a pivotal character in Arcane, more plot-critical than the nominal main (Vi) with far more screentime than the fan favourite (Ekko), and one of the few mains who doesn’t do a stint as a villain (alongside Vi and Jayce). Her role in the plot is to push Jayce’s research to the point where his magic becomes practicable (s1), then to take responsibility for her mother’s misdeeds (s2). She and Jayce arguably form the Big Good alliance to Ambessa and Viktor’s Big Bad; while not the emotional core of the show, those four get the last word in on the plot while the Vi-Jinx subplot gets foundered upon the rocks of ‘i forgor.’ (The character stuff for Vi and Jinx remains strong; they just cease to have any impact on the things that happen in the story). Mel is also The Mage; more than the hextech, she embodies the discovery that the show is supposed to be about.

So: Mel is the one true mage character in a series called Arcane and the one main character that Arcane needed to set up within its own runtime. The only connection she is given to the remaining world is via a relationship with Jayce, a character locked in binary orbit around one (1) single other character in the source material. It does make sense to have Mel introduced meddling in magic, pushing forward the research that will ultimately clue her into her own powers.

It does feel awkward to have her interactions be with a character who textually canonically is always thinking about something else. Mel is the one who gives Jayce the ideas that escape him—the mettle to reach beyond his caution, the sway and savvy to enter politics—because they’re living in two completely different worlds. The substance of their connection isn’t bonding over any shared interest in the process of discovery (Mel clearly holds her own as an arcanist as we see from her diagrams in the mind prison, but it’s not on screen) or in games of words/meanings/people (THE key character trait for Jayce is him being the most tone deaf man in the world). They are interested in magic, but the substance of their interactions is them each saying things at each other without communicating. The most intense moments in their relationship are mediated, triggered, or broken by Viktor of all people [trombone noises]. Who Mel doesn’t know from Adam.

In other words, Mel doesn’t have many characters to bounce off of to show different parts of her personality. The intent was to have her come off as cold in public with a soft side for Jayce, but we see so much of her soft side that she comes off as a straightforward nice rich girl coming out of her shell. To my memory, she doesn’t spend any time having much proper dialogue with Caitlyn (the nice rich girl gone cold to her cold rich girl gone nice), Viktor (literally always there), or even Silco (a fellow icy diplomat with a soft spot). While Jayce is around, she’s his girlfriend, which doesn’t work because Jayce is permanently, unilaterally, and plot-endingly tied to a different character to the exclusion of all else, carried from og lore into the tv show.

When Jayce isn’t around, her interactions with her spy do something to give her back her personality of a ruthlessly efficient operator. However, she gets locked in Character Development prison for half of s2 and fights her way out by…force of personality. Her magic use isn’t tied to the empathy that’s supposedly the source, and we don’t see her analyze it or take it to bits as fellow scientist Viktor does. As someone else pointed out, she loses the cunning part of her that makes her Mel and becomes just a white mage for the entire last quarter until she pulls her Black Rose double cross. Which is cool.

All that is to say in a very disjointed way: Mel has a lot riding on her, but it doesn’t come together. Jayce takes up a lot of her screentime for a relationship ultimately written to end, and not just to end, but to be preceded consumed and eclipsed by Jayce’s existing lore. She’s isolated by a cast of OCs without making the logical connections to the other main characters, and she doesn’t even have a distinct relationship written for a man she’s spent years with in the trenches (Viktor). She lacks a showy personality in a series full of characters designed to be as over-the-top hammy as possible, she lacks stakes in the pre-existing characters’ fight, and her ultimate power-up does not tap into her most distinct traits (thinking outside the box). She does get one crowning moment, but I was waiting a very long time for her to get out of them chains.

[charmixpower]

got any future plans for adding to the child Valtor au, because the more i think about the more i wonder about how his age changes the way he interacts with the characters and vice versa

I cannot tell you how much I've been thinking about child Valtor ever since I made that post

You what a bunch of hcs??? You get a bunch of hcs!!!

Like Winx says that Valtor was made by the ancestral witches, he wasn't born, and he actively trashes against the control the ancestral witches have on him and they straight up help Bloom kill him for the kicks?? And it's like, just there? I love it but it's so easy to kill off Valtor bc he has control over his actions and he's an adult and you don't get to sit with these uncomfortable implications due to that. The tragedy has already happened, it's passed, you don't have to look at it. You know??? Not anymore, we all hurt forever

Can you imagine being Daphne??? Seeing Valtor hiding behind Belladonna's leg, this child. Can't be older than 11. Fighting your fellow Nymph's, and you can't even think about that, pay attention to that, because you need to fight Belladonna and protect your planet. This wasn't a priority, that child those evil women created wasn't a priority. How would you ever recover??

The company of light is made up of educators, people who dedicated their life to children. A stutter, a small child's eyes winding in panic. None of them could follow though. It was safer to kill him, he was made, he doesn't have a soul, it was the right option. They send him to the Omega dimension instead

He wakes up from the ice to see Belladonna's cold eyes staring back at him. She doesn't look the exact same but he knows that smile and he knows those eyes. He'd recognize his mother anywhere. He does what he's told for new Belladonna too, not that he knows why. Icy has plans, plans he's supposed to help out with

He clings to Bloom. Her magic feels like his, she's the only person who could begin to understand how he feels. She was chosen too, right? She gets it doesn't she? How could she not. He just wants someone, anyone to understand him, to help him. He couldn't tell you what he wants help with. The Ancestral Witches say he's loyal to them, and he's never been able to disagree with them before

He doesn't like the winx, he's never shared in his life and is loathed to start now. He plays tricks and schemes and never kills them. He mains, he disables, he distracts. This is fun. He's never had a true enemy, rival. The company of light wanted to defeat his mother's, these are his fights. It's fun, he wants to keep them

(You ever think about the amount of times Valtor could of straight up killed the winx or put his mark on them and he just kinda doesn't and then gives their romantic rivals a love potion??? Bc I do. That was weird and the entire reason this au exists. Like Valtor basically made the perfect opportunities for the winx to get their Enchantix by never directly trying to kill them. It's almost funny)

Valtor is completely incapable of free will but he does experience desires and he has the ability to think for himself. One of the winx asks him why he's doing all of this and he literally can't answer, he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to be here, but he does? That's why he's doing it, right? And the girlies get a front row seat to a child gaslighting themselves to cope with their inability to control their own actions

He wants to be powerful! The most powerful person in the dimension! Then he could do whatever he wants! Then he would be free! At least that's what he tells himself (he knows it's not true, but children are allowed to have their fantasies)

They could extinguish kill. He barely came up to Bloom's chest, and they could just extinguish him. If Bloom pulled at the fire element in his body and Aisha the water they could pull him apart. Making a soul sounded impossible and has never been done before but that's the only way to release the Ancestral Witches control on Valtor, so they'll do it

[cocoabubbelle-newblog]

Rings of Power S2

Spoilers

Arondir: *stabbed*

Me: NOOOOOOOOOO 😭

Adar: *prettified by Nenya and has possibly his conscience restored, his thirst for vengeance cooled down, alludes to an older name, and has VIBES with Galadriel*

Me:…*remembers that Celeborn was supposedly killed off centuries/who-knows-how-long-ago*…wait. WAI-!!

Adar: *also stabbed*

Me: NOOOOOOOOO(dangit there goes my headcanon)OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 😭😭

Arondir: *alive actually*

Me: …wait wut

[leoruby-draws]

How Jason and Eddie meet Rose!

Here's an old comic I made a year back, for some backstory on the kiddie Outlaw's first meeting. I never finished it cause I wasn't sure on how to proceed but I decided to just post this here. Maybe later I'll think of way to finish it.

I mentioned in an earlier post that she and her mother was attacked by Slade Wilson's half-brother Wade LaFarge. Her mother survived (in a coma tho) but Wade actually died somehow, but before he did Rose finds out from him that Slade's the reason for the attack.

Rose isn't sure if she wants some form of revenge on Slade or to find out how their connected but she wants to find him so she wants to hire a detective to help her. She was looking for Batman but found Jason and Eddie instead. And thus the Outlaws for the Training Wheels au is born!

And that's it, didn't know where to go from there so these two pages are all I got for now.

Well, hope you like them anyways!

[sherlockgracie]

The Wizard Spite

(The Wizard, The Witch, And The Wild One Original Character)

The Wizard Spite, an illusionist of The Citadel. When he chose his name cloak, it was not due to his feelings towards the world around him in the current, but more so to how he wanted to feel eventually. An illusionist of the Citadel has little use outside of psychological warfare. But at the core of an illusion is creativity. If you can't imagine what you want to create, then your illusions have no substance. A Minor Illusion is the most basic of cantrips, and really only used to clean up minor details that you don't need to bother with. But only an illusionists would include shading The Wizard Spite showed immense aptitude for learning and memorization. Being able to look at a page of incantations and see it clearly in his mind caused him to get noticed quickly. Passing the required tests, he began tracks to become a wizard. Though it was often noted that he would take notes on the Faunaloges more than the magic theory. His notebooks contained writings and minor sketches of people and objects. Their movements and idiosyncrasies, the clothes and light. Spite assumed he had to be a wizard. It's something people of Citadel aspired to, and what his parents recommended to him. If he is able to, then he should. He didn't know what else he wanted to be either. So becoming a Wizard felt right. When it came time for him to pick a specialization and track, he tried for Conjuration. He hoped that conjuring things would allow him to gain a better understanding of the mechanics of physiology. Though the magical theory around Conjuration ended up not being for him, and he was transferred over to an Illusionist track, one not sought out by many.

An illusionist has two goals when they are casting their spells. 1) To Deceive, Distract, and/or Entertain their target(s). 2) To Study, Analyze, and Observe their Target(s). An illusion's effectiveness increases with knowledge of the target.

Spite knew how to watch people, when he was with his friends he found his mind wandering to how their mouths moved as they spoke, or how eyes move. Those subtle differences in how people react to things is what Spite was best at. In the year he would get his Name Cloak, he initially was going to become The Wizard Scrutinize. Though he then found out exactly what Illusionist do in and outside the Citadel. Fear is a powerful tool, and is held in the Empire's hand. Not often are they called upon to do so, but sometimes a Wizard that has stepped to far out of line needs to have zipped lips. Enchanters and their abilities to Modify memories can only last so long. But the image of their world burning around them lasts forever. He accidentally found this information out, though he wasn't as shaken as he might've thought he would be. After all, this is what he has been trained to do so far, and more yet to come. He knew this was right, wizards are defined by their secrets. If the Citadel let all Wizards and Soldiers speak so freely, then how quickly might everything crumble? When he stood their and chose Spite as his Name Cloak, the meaning was not directed at the world around him, but at the person he would become. Hatred directed towards his future self for what he will do for his Empire. The Wizard Spite lives alone, a man known for his bitterness more than anything else. Once a great artist and entertainer in his 20's, now a drained and bleak individual in his 50's.

[itsbenedict]

[birdmenmanga]

hour 20 of being awake means I can't actually articulate what is going on in my head. I know I'm right though.

[kind-of-a-shitty-wizard]

I've been thinking about him for some time already (YOU KNOW WHO...) and I think. he's just Like That ™. the gentleman killer. Haskillcore boring old man stuff enjoyer that spends weekends reading newspapers and philosophy books. looks down on people that lack manners. DOES want to serve for the best of his abilities and be appreciated. But ALSO I get the vibes... that he's the way he is because he's a shitty wizard.

HEAR ME OUT... It was just a joke at first but his fiasco with messing the most basic spell and being thrown out of the train..... I feel like he, in fact, can be incompetent wizard and that can fuck him up SO BADLY... like inferiority complex... I can imagine him being young & dreaming of becoming a great wizard & failing painfully. So now he compensates it with self-taught magic and dark arts (his necromancy interest). “dark magic is just misunderstood, not evil"...

I also get vibes from him of being bullied? I would take away his lunch yk. And now he allows people to walk over him and it's not just a job thing he's just like that. Until the moment he snaps. And murder may be the way for him to feel being in-control, which he usually lacks. Feel like he hass power. He doesn't feel nor act like purple guy jeff the killer (he's too old for that) but. Sometimes he thinks “It would be nice to kill someone right now. I also need cash. Hmm.” and that's now it happens. Maybe he feels alive when he does that, but it's only in-moment feeling that doesn't stay. I feel like he's pretty sensitive and can say when he feels bad(offended) or good(proud), but doesn't really have emotional intelligence? The feelings are there, what to do with them? who knows. not him. he goes out on the streets at night. depreesion)

I think he knows a lot about magic and artifacts (found out about the relic by private investigation or smth) but he can't use that intformation himself! what a shame! I get the vibes that he can be almost . cursed . to be a bad wizard. he's probably not but it just feels that way. so many potential in such cringefail loser (/affectionate). and he knows that and mourns that! what does he do with his life!

I rotate him in my mind he's so interesting what is wrong with him . . .

NODS VIGOROUSLY ALONG WITH YOUR POINTS im sitting here taking notes for my fic fr!! i actually hit on a lot of the same conclusions you did which makes me so happy, but one of the main differences was i thought he might actually be a good wizard, BUT i think your reading that he's ACTUALLY just a shitty wizard is more interesting character-wise....

like you said "he knows a lot about magic and artifacts but he can't use that intformation himself" <- YESSS. i think the exact way that he's shitty is that he definitely has the theoretical knowledge, but he can't apply it for shit. <3 like at the end of rockport limited he clearly knew the flame spell he was going to use, he just... fucking misses by a country mile LMFAO, even the meat monsters seem a little cobbled-together, like he knows the the theory but there's little finesse in the execution.

"he's the way he is because he's a shitty wizard." <- OK BC THIS BASIS IS SO GOOD. hes got so much ambition but no talent, and that informs everything about him!! - it's my headcanon that he grew up lower-middle class, and i think combining that with being bullied and being bad at magic contributed to an inferiority complex. and he likes refined things precisely because he likes the image of himself as this powerful refined (rich) person when he's really just grasping at it desperately :)))

aaand i think the dark arts provide shortcuts to power for the price of sacrificing another living thing, SO FOR JENKINS, who was a shitty wizard and an asshole who's totally willing to sacrifice people for power, it suited him perfectly :)))))))

not to mention all the points u brought up abt why he kills are so good. i think it's firstly a practicality thing (he needs the money, like u said), but then secondarily an outlet for his anger (he's a bit emotionally unintelligent like u also said lol). i think he learned how to deal with this simmering hatred in the exact wrong way, where he bottles it up during the day when ppl push him around and then lets it out during his murders. instead of yknow... learning to not let ppl push him around, and manage his anger and deal with it less destructively SDFLSDFKJ. and it became a cycle. so now he's a serial murderer cos he's into this repress-release pattern, someone get this man into therapy or get him a boyfriend who can fix him !!

AND... okok final point bc its getting a bit long. "so many potential in such cringefail loser (/affectionate). and he knows that and mourns that! what does he do with his life!" <- YES. perhaps even. he is not cut out to be a wizard..... he clearly has ambition, and good taste, and a flair for the dramatic, and mental problems, which means. of course. he is perfectly suited for the theater--//SHOT

[gothasmo]

Where did this Solomon even come from? 👀

[blujayonthewing]

thinking about how melliwyk had a reputation in her career for ruthless ambition but actually she knowingly went into a dead-end field with realistic expectations about it because that's what brought her the most sincere excitement and joy

[anghraine]

Nothing like being super into something highly visual to make me mourn my lack of artistic skills ;_;

[greaseonmymouth]

do new mobile phones simply not come with chargers anymore or what