#you see. he either can decide to fulfill his role or die to become embrace

[bring-it-all-down]

I think it’s easy to think of Vane’s season one arc as being out of place with the rest of his time on the show, but I’d like to offer an alternative understanding. I think that Vane’s arc is an extremely cohesive examination of Hobbes’s social contract theory that begins with its acceptance and ends with its complete rejection. This is a rather lengthy analysis, but it’s one that people might find interesting if not compelling.

Hobbes’s Social Contract Theory

Central to Hobbes’s conception of political life are four terms: liberty, equality, fear, and power. Liberty for Hobbes is “the absence of external impediments” such as water being enclosed by riverbanks or humans being chained to something (xiv). This conception of liberty is purely physical, detailing a relationship between concrete things. Next, Hobbes understands equality as being the equal ability of one to kill another; there is no natural inequality among human beings as anyone has the power to kill any other person, either through strength of body or of mind, or of some combination of the two. Because everybody has equal power over everyone else’s life and one’s ability to be free, Hobbes states, “they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war as is of every man against every man” (XIII). This condition necessarily leads to “continual fear, and danger of violent death” (xiii).  

Finally, Hobbes defines power as the ability to acquire some future good. This conception of power stems from the fact that there is no private property in Hobbes’s state of nature: “It is consequent also to the same condition that there be no propriety, no dominion, no mine and thine distinct; but only that to be every man’s that he can get, and for so long as he can keep it” (XIII). Power, according to Hobbes, manifests itself in two ways: natural or instrumental. Natural power is acquisition through using physical characteristics like strength and intelligence, whereas instrumental acquisition requires one to use one’s reputation, friends, good luck, etc. 

It is this fear of death and desire for acquisition that leads us to form political communities, which is our natural end; we are meant to live in communities. These communities form when their members “confer all their power and strength upon one man, or upon one assembly of men, that may reduce all their wills, by plurality of voices, unto one will” (xvii). This singular power, known as the Leviathan, is absolute; it cannot be transferred to another body (no separation of powers) or forfeited, and there is no power above it. The Leviathan enforces this power by tying its subjects through “fear of punishment to the performance of their covenants,” namely their covenant to live peacefully with one another (xvii). 

While the Leviathan’s power is absolute in theory, Hobbes does allow for its dissolution if it becomes too arbitrary or capricious on the ground that it would then plunge a civil society back into the state of nature, from which point they would be allowed to choose a new sovereign. However, because the state of nature is so feared, people are highly unlikely to dissolve the Leviathan’s power. This, then, is how authoritarian states justify their power.

In this account of the social contract theory of government, we see the relationship among liberty, equality, fear, and power. In order for people to fully exercise their liberty and power, their fear must be redirected from one another toward a singular entity. This creation of an unequal civil society is what allows for the development of private property, as well as concepts like justice and morality, which are absent in the state of nature due to the lack of agreed upon definitions. 

Vane’s Season 1 Arc

Initially, Vane appears to embrace a Hobbesian conception of the state of nature. His season 1 arc, I believe, is his embrace of Hobbes’s state of nature through the confrontation of the two people who hold power over him: Eleanor and his enslaver. After Eleanor gets him deposed as captain of the Ranger, he tells Idelle, “No captain on this island's ever known that kind of power. Power that doesn't care how many votes you can tally, who loves you, who hates you, who fears you...none of us have any right to hate her for it. She's strong and we're weak. That's the reality of things here. And no one down there is strong enough to change anything” (1.05). Here, Vane reduces things to power. Eleanor has the power to acquire private property and to cut off pirates from doing the same, and so people––including Vane––fear her. To them, she is a quasi-Leviathan figure. However, Nassau exists more as a state of nature than it does as a civil society, and so the possibility of being her equal remains.

While Eleanor threatens Vane’s power, he doesn’t fear her in the same way he fears his enslaver, Albinus, who threatens his life. This constant fear of Albinus manifests itself in Vane hallucinating Albinus’s presence in Nassau. This vision causes Vane to realize that if he is to become equal to Eleanor, he must first become equals with Albinus. He initially seeks to overtake Albinus through taking away his other slaves. He pitches Nassau to them as a place “where strong men live lives of pleasure, not labor, a place where you could be feared and respected once again” (1.07). For Vane, the pleasure comes through realizing one’s equality and thus one’s ability to instill fear rather than have fear instilled in them. As is typical in the state of nature, Vane’s relationship with Albinus ends first with Albinus believing he killed Vane and then with Vane actually killing Albinus. 

Vane’s conversation with Jack upon his return to Nassau cements his role as a Hobbesian figure. He tells Jack, “In some ways, Jack, it had to come to this, don't you think?...Me deciding if you live or die” (1.08). Over the course of the season, Vane has increasingly reduced relationships to the ability one has to kill the other and the fear such ability instills in people. Following a Hobbesian model, then, we would expect Vane to think the formation of civil society with a Leviathan figure to be good, but this is not where his season 2 and 3 arcs go.

Vane’s Season 2 Arc

Indeed, Vane quite explicitly rejects Hobbesian social contract theory. While Hobbes argues that humans are driven toward society in part because of a natural “desire of such things as are necessary to comfortable living” (xiii), Vane says to Flint, “‘Give us your submission, and we will give you the comfort you need.’ No, I can think of no measure of comfort worth that price” (3.08). For Vane, then, living in the “pre-political” Nassau is better than submitting to the power of the state. This is the case because no such “state of nature” exists; there will always be a state attempting to impose its authority on Nassau.

Vane’s separation from Hobbesian political thought, then, begins as a matter of practicality. He does not abandon fear of death as the starting point, but he expands his thought beyond himself. It is no longer simply his own fear of death that drives him, but the fear within his fellow pirates of that same death. After he learns that Charlestown has captured and will kill Flint he tells his and Flint’s crew that “Nassau is strongest when she’s feared. And if what promises to happen here tomorrow actually happens, a trophy made of one of her most notorious captains, she may never be feared again” (2.09). He reiterates this point to his quartermaster, who is concerned that his crew will kill Flint’s crew to steal the Man of War: “Tell them if this ship tries to run on a skeleton crew, they’re going to get chased, they’re going to get caught, and they’re going to get killed” (2.10). It is not fear of one another, then, that drives Vane toward a community but rather fear of the authority of the state. While he and Flint are equals, he realizes that neither is equal to the state, England, and if they remain as individuals, the state will kill them one by one.

Flint’s (and then Vane’s) trial stands as an example of a Hobbesian state; the lawmakers are the executors are the jury. All sovereign authority is placed in the hands of one body with no authority above it. When confronted with this example, Vane comes to conceptualize of community as the only means of instilling fear in the state; as the state is unified, so must be the pirates. 

In accord with Flint telling him “we remind them that they were right to be afraid,” he provides a refutation of Hobbesian sovereignty for the audience: “these men convinced you that they speak for you, that the power you’ve given them is used in your interests. That the prisoner before you is your enemy and they your friends. For those of you who live to see tomorrow... know that you had a choice to see the truth and you let yourselves be convinced otherwise” (2.10). He reminds them that they’ve granted the sovereign power on the basis of it working toward their collective good and can thus conceivably revoke said power. He then illustrates that the sovereign cannot fulfill its purpose of providing for their safety against the threat of pirates and therefore the covenant on which the sovereign’s authority is based is inherently faulty. He pokes metaphorical holes in Hobbes’s contract theory of government before he pokes literal holes in Charlestown with his canons.

Vane’s Season 3 Arc

Vane’s season 3 arc offers an alternative foundation for civil society than fear and desire for property: friendship. When Vane confronts Jack in the first episode of the season for lying to Vane about using slave labor to rebuild the fort when Vane stood up for Jack against Flint, Jack lays it out for Vane: “you and I had been through enough shit for you to know that I would do the same for you, that I have done the same for you, and would again without hesitation. I made a commitment to you, with you, to restore this place, to make it strong again...Please know that I meant no slight by it. No lack of respect or friendship. It's quite the opposite” (3.01). Vane is certainly right to be angry about enslaving people, but Jack is correct in reminding him that this new effort to free Nassau has as its basis friendship and mutual respect.

At this point, however, Vane does not yet understand what friendship entails. For that, he needs to confront his understanding of friendship, which he does through the return of Edward Teach to Nassau. The conception of friendship Vane learned from Teach is simply to let people live when you could have killed them. Teach did this for Vane when Vane betrayed him for Eleanor, and he did it for Jack after Jack lost the pearls in the ocean, and it was his offer to Eleanor after she betrayed him by freeing Abigail from him. 

When Teach offers to defend Nassau if afterwards Vane sails with him away from Nassau forever, he outlines what their relationship is: “I do not seek your partnership because I am too weak to defend myself. I don't seek it to protect my things or to increase profit...There is an instinct to leave behind something made in one's own image. Nature has denied me the ability, it would seem, but not the need” (3.03). This understanding of their relationship rejects the fundamental Hobbesian basis for such things––it’s not fear of death or desire for acquisition––and instead points toward a desire for a certain kind of immortality. However, this relationship still fundamentally falls within a Hobbesian conception of the family which is artificially constructed in civil society and which requires the children to obey and honor their fathers. Therefore, this, too, is a relationship not based on friendship.

It is Jack’s conversation with Vane before he leaves with Teach that offers Vane a different kind of friendship. Despite Woodes Rogers’ early arrival ruining their plans to defend Nassau and the target placed not only on Vane but on all pirates close to him, Jack refuses to leave with Vane. His refusal is predicated on the fact that he desires freedom: “Teach respects you...but me, I have no interest in living as a target of his….Nor would I be a ward of yours. I've made something for myself here. I'll make it again somehow, but I've come too far to go back” (3.04). Here, Jack presents friendship as a type of equality predicated on freedom. Friendship must be a choice rather than the obligation to repay a debt, and it must result in some type of good for the parties beyond the acquisition of material goods. Jack refuses to go with Vane because his desire to make something of himself is greater than his desire to live a subservient life.

Flint reiterates this notion of freedom to Vane when he comes to ask him to rejoin the effort to free Nassau from England. Vane tells him “my pledge to him began a long time before I ever knew your name. What I owe him…” (3.06). In response, Flint says this project is too important to be clouded by any of that: “Forget me, forget Teach, forget loyalty, compacts, honor, debts, all of it. The only question that matters is this. Who are you?” (3.06). While Hobbes defines liberty in relation to external impediments, both Jack and Flint understand it as something greater than that, something that points inward and moves beyond the desire for safety or the terms of contracts, be they written or otherwise.

After being presented with this understanding a second time, Vane finally accepts it as true. He leaves with Flint to join the revolution. He allows himself to be arrested in order to free Jack. He does all of this on the basis of this new understanding of friendship. When Jack asks why he came back to Nassau, Vane jokingly tells him, “got worried you two'd be lost without me,” but it’s more sincere than joke (3.08). He is committed fully to liberating Nassau not to return it to the days of Teach but to provide it as a counter to the social contract theory of civil society. His final speech before being hanged reveals this shift in his political thought:

These men who brought me here today do not fear me. They brought me here today because they fear you. Because they know that my voice, a voice that refuses to be enslaved, once lived in you. And may yet still. They brought me here today to show you death and use it to frighten you into ignoring that voice. But know this. We are many. They are few. To fear death is a choice. And they can't hang us all (3.09). 

He has gone from believing the fear of death to be the greatest fear, the motivator for all human action, to somebody choosing to let civilization kill him. He does this because he now knows there are things worse than death and things greater than physical freedom. He does this because he understands that he owes his fellow pirates the chance to obtain this freedom for themselves. He does this because he has come to recognize that friendship is the act of helping people better themselves.

Conclusion

Vane’s arc therefore acts as a critique of Hobbesian social contract theory. He demonstrates that the sovereign’s power is based on an illegitimate conception of human nature that emphasizes the desire to dominate others. But he also illustrates the fundamental problems with living in a pre-political community attempting to exist outside of the sovereign power. Through his arc, then, we are presented with the fact that a legitimate society based on true friendship in achieving the good of all is not only possible but is worth the sacrifice of one’s life.

[nikakistos]

Mikasa will kill Eren

With the series ending in only three chapters at the time of writing this meta/prediction post, i want to share my thoughts about how the battle between the Alliance and Eren will conclude. More specifically, i will analyze all the reasons that make me believe that Mikasa will kill Eren and put an end to this battle.

Mikasa’s character arc

The first important reason that made me reach to that conclusion is non other than Mikasa’s phenomenal and, in my opinion, underrated character arc. So, let’s get to know Mikasa.

Mikasa starts the story as a sheltered kid. She lives in the mountains, far away from any other kids, with her mom and dad being her only company. Her mom and dad were her entire world. She was a naive, innocent little girl who used to overlook the cruel nature of the world, focusing entirely on it’s beauty. She was content living like that with the people she loved the most, without having any grandiose dreams of her own.

And then, reality ensues. Three human traffickers kill her family and try to sell her as a sex slave. Mikasa, being only a child and alone was about to surrender. Without her family she didn’t have a place in the world. She didn’t know how to live without them.

Until Eren comes to save her. Out of the blue he kills the first two of the traffickers and unties her. However, the third one appears and disarms Eren. Before blacking out, the young boy tells Mikasa the words that later became her mantra “Fight! If you don’t win, you die. If you win, you live. If you can’t fight, you can’t win!”

That is the moment that Mikasa’s survival instincts awaken her Ackerman powers. The moment that she accepts that this world is kill or be killed and realizes it’s true nature. And the moment she learns the truth of the world she finds the strngth to kill her assailant. Mikasa kills so that she won’t be killed. And the moment her enemy falls, the old Mikasa dies. 

Broken and homeless, Mikasa asks Dr.Yeager what she should do now that she had no one. How could she live on her own? She never learned how to do that. Mikasa, from the very beginning of her life, is a codependent person. She thinks that she can’t go on alone. And at this moment of sadness comes Eren and wraps a muffler around her neck to protect her from the cold. Both from the physical cold, but also from the cold, hard world that took her happiness away. He offers her a home. Their home.

From that moment onwards Eren became Mikasa’s world. He replaced her parents as her new family, alongside with his mom and dad. Mikasa, realizing that Eren was no more than a troublesome kid with a knack for getting into troubles, decides to be by his side forever and protect him. Partly out of gratitude for saving her and giving her a home, parly because it was his mom’s wish, partly because she is in love with him, but also in order to protect herself and her own peace of mind Mikasa latches onto Eren. And she makes the same mistake as before. She starts viewing Eren as a wholly good person. She keeps the image of the scarf and forgets the violence that came before. She projects onto Eren all of the beauty in the world. 

After Carla’s death, Mikasa’s overprotective attitude only worsens. She resolves to follow Eren at all times and be there for him, without considering his feelings. She actually had a habit of misinterpreting his sentiments about her clingy nature quite often. Whoever threatens her life with Eren becomes an enemy. So, Mikasa, who never got over her trauma, thinks that Eren is the most important part of the world and that without him she can’t go own. To that end she joins the military, when in reality she never cared about humanity’s struggle against the titans. Mikasa was fine living an uneventful life with Eren and Armin. 

However, those sentiments are not fit for a soldier. As a person who dedicated her heart for humanity’s survival, her first priority being Eren becomes a hindrance. A soldier should always put his feelings second. Fulfilling the mission should always be first. While Mikasa proves herself to be extremely effective in the Battle of Trost initially, with her stoic and direct nature saving hundreds of lives, when news of Eren’s death reach her she breaks down completely. She convinces the rest of the cadets to fight, while not being prepared to do her duty. She gives up and she is ready to die, until Eren’s memory and her desire to not forget him help her pull through and fight for her life. This marks the first instance of Mikasa’s growing maturity. She finds a reason to keep moving forward even without her family. 

Mikasa is a survivor. Keep carrying on and living even after the deaths of her beloved people has always been a part of her. And this is not something that comes directly from Eren, but from her own self and love of life. Her Ackerman powers only activated due to her own survival instincts. Not from Eren’s orders. While she hasn’t realized it yet, Mikasa takes pride in being alive. In a world where only the strong survive, she feels proud of counting herself amongst them.

Of course, the revelation of Eren being alive makes Mikasa regress. She continues with her overprotective behavior and with her reckless, emotional behavior. Her desire to exact vengeance on Annie causes her to jeopardize the mission to retrieve Eren and sideline Levi. Mikasa was hurt by Annie, becaue Annie exposed her again. She showed her that she is not entirely capable of protecting Eren. She also showed her once more that fighting impulsively and allowing feelings to interfere when in a mission puts her life at risk. The first time, she was saved by Eren. The second, by Levi. So, Mikasa resolves to do better next time. She resolves to become a better soldier. Her sense of responsibility over Levi’s injury pains her and she tries to make up for it. She scolds Eren for not fighting her, despite her having killed numerous Survey Corps members. Her effots pay off and this eventually leads to Annie getting captured.

Unfortunately, Mikasa’s feelings have continued to resurface in critical moments. And those feelings did not concern Eren entirely. Despite Mikasa claiming that she only cares about a small amount of lives, specifically Armin and Eren, perhaps she hadn’t realize that she cares for far more people than she initially believed. Even after promising Levi to not make any more blunders, the only reason that Reiner and Bertholt escaped from her was the bonds she had created with them. She saw them as her comradres.  She later tries to make up for her failure by trying to make the rest of her comrades see Reiner and Bertholt as enemies of humanity and prevent them from hesitating like she did and putting a tough front against Ymir, but again, the damage had already been done. 

Mikasa had grown to care for more people than Eren and Armin. Mikasa during the Battle of Trost threatened Dimo Reeves who was delaying the evacuation process, because he was getting more of her comrades killed. She saved innocents and civilians. She was angry at the Female Titan for killing so many of her comrades. She created strong bonds within the 104th unit. She even showed consideration for Levi, even though she disliked him for beating up Eren. More importantly, as the series progress, Mikasa starts caring more about the world in general. The little girl who only cared about herself and her family members has now become a soldier who fights for the entire world. She even develops a sense of belonging to Paradis, viewing it as her homeland, when she wasn’t even willing to fight for the island 4 years ago. Her cold exterior starts to crumble and she opens up. She protects a child who killed one of her best friends, a stark contrast to the earlier version of Mikasa who nearly ruined a mission by trying to have her vengeance against Annie. The Mikasa who simply cared for her small world and had no ambitions of exploring the outside world easily embraces the volunteers from Marley and becomes optimistic about their intergration to Paradis. The exact opposite of Eren.

This gradual “defrosting” of Mikasa and her repeated failures, along with the realization of the inferiority feelings she was causing him to have, force Mikasa to alter her treatment of Eren. While she was constantly nagging and smothering him, she starts to become more supportive of him, encouraging him and helping him believe in himself, just like she did with Armin. Not only that, this enables her to become a better soldier as well. While the Mikasa of the first few chapters was willing to disobey orders if that meant being close to Eren, she starts trusting the leadership of Levi, whom she resented, and entrusts Eren to Armin in the Battle of Shiganshina. She understands that she has a role to play as a soldier and that Eren can take care of himself either alone or with the help of other people, without her being near. This results in a huge victory in Shiganshina.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that she has changed completely. Mikasa still refused to obey Levi’s orders and attacked him when he tried to revive Erwin instead of Armin, Despite all, her feelings for the people who are closer to her, Eren and Armin are still too strong sometimes and overpower her better judgement. However, it was at this point exactly, that Mikasa received her second warning. She has to keep moving forward with the knowledge that all the people she knows will eventually die. And she did. Mikasa did give up in the end during the Serumbowl. She has matured.

Unfortunately, Mikasa’s love for Eren is still hindering her. Even now, after all that, Mikasa’s sole dream is living with him forever. She is in love with him, even though he has commited horrible crimes that go against her values. Her introverted, shy nature plus her fear of losing him do not allow her to express her true feelings, but she does have them.

And here comes Mikasa’s greatest flaw. Despite all of her development, she still thinks that without Eren she is lost. She has no goal left. She never learned how to live as an individual and as an independent person. That’s why she believes his lies so easily. She doesn’t recognize her sense of self without him. She still ties her identity to Eren. She has all of the foundations for living as a complete and healthy human being, but her inability to separate herself from Eren is destroying her and clouding her judgement. That’s why she asks Armin what to do in chapter 125, that’s why she tries to stop Pieck from killing Eren in chapter 135, that’s why she says she won’t kill him. And most importantly for her, that’s why she couldn’t admit that she is in love with him in chapter 123. Mikasa simply cannot handle rejection from Eren. She can’t think of a future for her without him by her side. She almost reconsiles herself to loving him from afar.

It is very evident and telling from her reaction to Louise and her first talk to Annie that Mikasa is actually ashamed for prioritizing Eren over anything else and simply following his footsteps. In reality, Mikasa doesn’t want that. She wants to be her own person. She wants to be Eren’s equal, not his follower. That’s why she doesn’t wear the scarf anymore.

Well all these need to and will change. Mikasa has to put her feelings aside one more time and act as a soldier and finish off the threat to humanity. She needs to stop tying so much of herself to Eren and realize for good that she can live without him, despite wanting to be by his side forever. And in order to do all that, she has to stop lying to herself for good. She has to admit her feelings, her true feelings not solely to her, but to him as well. And judging by her own regrets, she will.

Mikasa’s character arc has her going from a happy, naive little girl, to a broken,  gloomy, stoic person who only cares about a couple of people to a proper soldier who cares and fights for the entire world, friends and foes included. She opens up, makes friendships, develops a more pacifistic worldview compared to her survival mindset of old. But most importantly, she will become a normal, functioning human being.

Nature of the conflict

Moving on from Mikasa’s characters arc, i believe that the nature of the conflict of the series in and of itself points out towars Mikasa killing Eren. The first and primary conflict in the series is the fight between Humans and Titans. The world has expanded since the first chapter. The series has become more complex. And yet, in the final battle we see some people fighting to protect humanity from the hordes of titans that want to trample the remaining human race outside the walls of Paradis.

In this exact setting we have the Survey Corps, the group of people that from day one fights for humanity’s survival and liberation from the terror of the titans fughting against the biggest symbol of oppression and enslavement in the entire series. The Wall Titans.

The Scouts dreamt of an idealized world when fighting against the titans. And still, even after this world was revealed to be quiet different than they imagined, more disappointing, they still don’t give up. Because they understand that the world is a cruel place, but it also very beautiful. The person who best represents this theme in the series is none other than Mikasa Ackerman. And she is fighting for the Scouting Legion against the person who showed her both sides of the world in the same day. That person has renounced all the beauty in this world and focused only on the ugly side. And he fights for the Titans.

In a series about humans fighting against titans, Mikasa is a character associated with human strength. 

While Mikasa (and the Survey Corps in general) is associated with human strength, Eren on the other hand has been constantly referred to as a monster. A devil. Something inhuman. Now of course, technically speaking Mikasa is also part titan and Eren is also part human, however this symbolism still exists.

Judging by the narrative and the themes of the series, an Eren victory is downright impossible. It just doesn’t fit for the titans to defeat humanity. The story has put so much emphasis on the creation of a better world, free of curses and hate. Eren, being the physical manifestation of both can’t win. He has to die. And in such a story, is there a better way to topple the biggest titan of all time, using the trademark weapon of humanity? That it the ODMG.

Foreshadowing

In this part, i will let the pictures do the talking. It is evident from all of them and from my previous analysis of Mikasa’s arc that a full blown conflict between her and Eren is bound to happen. And Mikasa killing Eren has been referenced way too many times for that to be a coincidence.

Every single time in this latest arc that Eren being killed is mentioned, Mikasa is at the forefront. Isayama focuses on her too much in these scenes. Considering the fact that now that Gabi has realized what the true nature of the titans is, the fact that they have wrapped the explosives around Eren’s neck, Armin going Colossal being foreshadowed over a billion times, Eren seems to be in huge danger. Killing the Source of the Titans would likely kill Eren, seeing as how he is nothing but a head without a body. And it doesn’t look like he can regenerate. Stopping the Colossals might only be possible by killing the centipede that is tied to Eren’s survival. And for all the reasons i have mentioned, i believe that Mikasa will be the one to kill it.

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket, Se3, ep11 (part 1)

Breaking toxic bonds & accepting healthy ones isn’t a miracle. A bond that started with love could end up chained & toxic, another that started wrong could’ve become the joy of a life time. You can do it. Break the cycle of abuse & stand up for yourself, it is easy yet so difficult, you aren’t alone, tho, loved ones stand nearby cheering. Be kind on yourself, otherwise you’ll throw your life away. Life isn’t just happiness & joy, it’s also sadness & loneliness. Break free from the shackles that held you down. Embrace life & Live.

-Tohru’s “ I’m okay” mask is finally shattered! (the Importance of kyo’s rejection for her development):

This is the last part of tohru’s character development! The last few eps were abt her role in Akito’s redemption & their similarities. she staood up for herself & choose a path away from her mom while keeping her mom’s memory in a healthy manner. No more planning my life according to mom’s wishes, no more talking to mom ‘s picture 24/7. Now, I’ll plan my life & move forward even if it is with the guy mom said she cant forgive. even If it is without him, I’ll move forward. I love him so much, yet I won’t force our bond & let go. So easy yet so difficult!. tohru doesnt know anything abt kyo after her fall. All she remembers is his heart-broken face as he wept beside her. Those tears on his face, she caused them. He cried cuz it is too painful to see her hurt. She was a burden to him! tohru restored to her old coping mechanism of pretending “ i’m Okay” & smiling. She did so numerous times before. Always worked. No one noticed. Except him. Se02, ep7. he urged her to show her true fears. Now, she’s faced with a pain so big she can’t pretend no more. the pain of loosing him. She cried in front of yuki! The smile & chatting abt chores couldn’t conceal the running tears! Yuki’s first time seeing her like that. Se01, ep14, yuki wondered how could tohru smile after her mom’s death. She can’t pretend no more! She’ll have to wear her feelings on her sleeve! cuz it IS ok to do so! She tells kyo to give her a moment to compose herself. She couldn’t lie & pretend like she did with yuki. Here she either run away or just try to compose myself! I LOVE THAT! This way, whenever kyo/tohru fight or have any misunderstanding in the future as a couple, you’ll know tohru won’t just bear it & pretend, “ i;m okay” No! she’ll talk to kyo & express herself! I LOVE THIS SO MUCH! It gives her so much strength as a human & I’m happy all the obstacles & set backs in kyo/tohru’s romantic journey has led them to be better ppl little by little to build healthier & more realistic love! 

-The mechanics of writing a compelling slow-burn romance:

1. Igniting the romantic feelings slowly: Slow burns don’t work with love at 1st sight. It must first sparkle naturally, slowly & subtly. Both kyo & tohru repeatedly stated they don’t know exactly when they first fell in love. The author’s decision to create an environment where the two live together is a genius way to start & nurture their romance quietly & subtly. Kyo was tricked to stay in shigure’s house while tohru had to stay cuz she had no home, Natural reasons that force the two to spend days together & get to know each other gradually.

2. Dynamics of their personalities: For slow burns to work, the two characters need to be similar yet opposites! Kyo & tohru are both kind, endearing, innocent, good at chores, independent & hardworking. They both have history with their mothers that is filled with love yet traumas. However, tohru is calm yet prefer maneuvering around subjects, can’t stand up for herself, reads ppl easily, tends to trust ppl easily & disregard herself. Kyo is fierce, strong, tends to distrust ppl, despite ppl loving his spontaneous character, he has hard time figuring out if they’re mocking him or teasing him, very straightforward with his words & actions. The similarities helps them understand each other, however, the differences creates chances to clash & come even closer thro various situation. Ex, se01, ep2, kyo apologizing for hitting her head with the table which created the situation where she needed to confess she always loved the cat zodiac! It is HER gush of emotions that struck kyo. ppl really want my friendship? the cat is loved? Thro those difference they learned to better themselves so they won’t hurt the other, kyo toning down his anger for her, tohru desiring to know him even more as he becomes even more awkward.

3. Creating natural, realistic  & convincing obstacles that prevents them from being together:  This is the most important part! Slow-burn is two characters in love & cant be together despite everyone wanting them to be! if the reason that stops them from uniting is trivial, stupid, one-sided, can easily be solved, then the slow-burn would be a fillery & no one would cheer for it! Takaya-san is a genius!

Kyo can’t be with tohru cuz he thinks (a) he killed her mom! we saw thr flashback, he could’ve saved her & couldn’t save her. It was a split of a second difference & he hates himsef for NOT trying! that split of a second also prevented from thinking of better ways to save her than holding her! it happened to fast, he couldn't think of a better alternative cuz this was his 2nd time loosing someone (b) his mom’s sucide being pinned as his fault created this immense guilt & defeated feeling that “ no matter what, I just cause death & misery! There’s (c) too!, he knew tohru! thinks she deserves the world & cuz he didnt save her mom, he watched tohru talk to a freaking picture for two years! heck! he is the only one who can see thro tohru’s “ i;m okay” mask, so in se01, ep 14 in the grave yard! kyo wasnt the only one who is sad! tohru was too! & kyo could tell! (d) her mom’s death is the reason tohru is accepting shigure’s offer to stay with them rent-free in exchange of doing housework! (e)? he saw her confess crying her heart out abt missing her mom so much that she imitated her dad! so tragicly sad! (f) he saw her die in his nightmare!! how can he accept her love,now? Perfectly orchestrated obstacles! 

Tohru, unfortunately, in the anime it wasn't that clear due to shortening her backstories & trauma in se03, ep6. But she too couldn’t see herself confessing love to kyo. Tohru is has low self-esteem, always thinks she’s a burden to others, an orphan who just wants her mom, so scared, lonely & sad! we the audience believed the mask! we saw her work her motherly charm yuki, isusuz, kisa & believe her issues are not that deep.  tohru wont cry for herself but shed rivers for others! grief is so ugly it broke her! I cant let go of mom, must keep her always in my heart, such a hard emotions to write & I believe 100% the director couldn’t understand her grief & decided to split ep6 between her, kyo, isuzu & shigure. But Tohru struggling to confess to kyo is no laughing matter. ppl who are grieving find it the hardest to live after the loved ones die. they wont mostly commit suicide, they are alive, but they arent living. they just go thro the motions & live for the sake of those around them but not themselves. Tohru deciding to confess to kyo is her deciding to live for herself.

4. Writing a perfect psychologically & emotionally packed climax: I dont need to explain how perfect kyo’s rejection of tohru in se03 ep9 was. How much we felt for him yet were mad at him. He we were “ ugh! kyo no!!!! I mean I get why you do that , but you idiot no! come back! poor kyo! He was just so sad & broken! OMG he’ll kill himself after finding tohru’s injured body!! he totally would! his nightmare came true! But Tohru reached him! she wanted him to be okay! he wont kill himself but still feels hella guilty! but so utterly in love with her that his instinct upon seeing her come to life after near death is kiss her! Perfect display of psychology & emotions! filled with right, wrong, sad, happy, guilty, innocent! basically so human~ As the audience you MUST have this mixture of feelings of wanting to hug him so bad cuz this boy has been killing himself for years now yet want him to stop & just see that he was a good boy afterall. Tohru is THE best girl & if the audience are cheering for kyo to be with her, kyo really deserves her! The only problem is for kyo to see that now.

5. The Perfect wrap up of all romance: If you make your audience suffer the slow-burn this long, you gotta reward them good! & Takaya-san delivered! Just like how the entire romantic story is realistic, the reunion must be as realistic too! Tohru is hurt by kyo;s words. Facts remain his words were hurtful to her. I love that was addressed! tohru gets to tell her side, too! If you love someone, you are bound to be hurt by them as much as be happy with them. Simply cuz they matter so much to you! you arent one person, but two ppl coming together. Kyo must work hard for this confession. Must run & chase her. Must earn her proper! He gets on his knees, I cant express how important that is! he is way taller than her, Imagine apologizing while she looks way up & he looks down? He gets on his knees & apologize like a man, for every mistake, all while not loathing himself. He aint going back to that deep abyss again. He did wrong by her & he is owning up to his mistakes. Give me one chance. I’m not gonna force you with persistence or guilt you into taking me. Give me ONE chance cuz i deserve it & no more. The choice is yours. She asks to confirm, he shows her, they kiss, they hug, they are rewarded with a blessing from the heavens! One of the most simple yet emotionally fulfilling confessions in anime!

- Hugs over kisses: (And her kiss hugs her & the curse was lifted):

Prince charming kisses the princess & she wakes up~ they live ever after~ except furuba is all abt “ eternal ever after is not true, real life is where the real love is”

Kyo kissed tohru once, she didnt wake up, she didnt even think he loved her back. didnt even remember the kiss.

Kyo hugged tohru once. se01, e024, He initiated it, tohru was all in tears, surprised, happy & so utterly in love. he called her name for the first time ever, for a brief moment, they both connected, they both comforted each other. The rain stopped, he became a man not a monster, she got him back. She got her kyo that she fought for with none other than kyo himself.

kyo hugged her again, se03, ep6. They both initiated it. He made the first move, pulling her just a little closer, she made the second move & hugged him hard, he transformed, it was a moment were they both connected, both so sad & broken, both feeling needy for the other, both desperate for the other, both just living the moment. the result is them coming closer, her wanting him more, him realizing her love, there is no escape. Admit it. she loves you. You can tell.

Kyo hugs her again today. He asks permission. No spur of the moment feeling. But a long lasting permission to be together. To hug. He wants to hear her acceptance of his cursed body. “ is ok to hug you? this body will cause you pain as it wont be able to fulfill your wishes of constant hugs & intimacy”. She responds, permission granted, for love, for hugs, for a life long acceptance of you as a whole. weakness & strength, sadness & happiness. I accept you all in better & worse! we’re invincible. Why? cuz we understand love isnt magic. It is a path for us to walk together~~~ reward curse break!

Every time kyoru are closer it is a hug. The one thing the zodiacs cant do. A hug. They can kiss. But cant hug. comes this Zodiac Ruler girl so lonely, away from ppl, so sad, meets a cat boy who comes to the house she’s living in, a house away from ppl, the boy is drawn to the girl, However, when the boy needed to leave, the girl was able to let go despite loving him, the boy comes again, this time wanting to stay, the girl accepts the boy. They both accept the realistic reality of life. Embrace the obstacles & the achievements, celebrates the weakness above the strength. Both so imperfect. Both so endearingly dumb! that’s why the girl’s hug broke the boy’s curse. The girl’s acceptance of the cat broke all curses.

Side Note:

Kyo’s confession is so kyo! so straightforward, so direct, & so physical. He’s on his knees, holding her hands, looking at her eyes. “ i want to be WITH you. If I’m gona live, I want to to do it with you & no one else! cuz I love you” that’s it. That’s all.  So sincere & so romantic!

it is crazy how different tohru & kyo are now after the confession! she stood confidently & happily & said “dont you know, I love you!” all while teasing him, her giggle is so girlish & cute! my girl is a happy woman in love! long buried the angelic mother image of se02! YES! also, kyo’s happy face is love! Dude! when was the last time he smiled so freely? Did he ever do that? He smiled in se01, ep4 with kazmua, but not like this! T_T. my son is healing~

Kyo’s “ i wont ever feel afraid if you’re with me” is a huge growth from his “ I want to protect her” mindset. Now he realizes it is two-sided mutual desire. She gives him strength as much as he does! <3

I dont like open eye while kissing, but here it is so perfect for tohru in this moment! cuz she spent days thinking kyo rejected her & even ran away as soon as she saw him, now he’s not only confessing, apologizing, admitting she is his life, but also kissing her signaling they’re romantic couple. kissing on lips is so personal, what more evidence she needs? still, her thoughts? “ it’s like a dream?” aww~~~ tohru~~~ my precious girl! she just cant believe all her suffering is over, now? She was just practicing “ i’m okay” smile & now she’s an official girlfriend to the man of her dreams? He just bent da kneeee~ go for it queen!

yuki’s face when tohru cried is exactly what I meant of “ allowing yuki to have strong facial expressions”! XD these types of faces humanize yuki so much into the teenage boy he is! Unfortunately the anime team only sees him as the pretty prince in most times. That’s why fave yuki is when he’s with kakeru. He becomes so un-princly as he should be.

Speaking of yuki, I see you anime team~ postponing his moment into next ep so him & machi wont be overshadowed by the long awaited kyoru!! While this defies the perfection of all cursed zodiacs breaking on the same ep making akito’s breakdown less perfect & poetic, I take it as the anime team admitting they underdeveloped yuchi & decided let’s give them more screen time & not putting them in close distance from any couple. A week later ep is enough with lots of time. I dont mind at all, I’m just saying more time after/while confession is not what i was hoping for~~ sigh~ At least I hope yuki would say sth along the lines” all this time I was looking at you, i realized i love you” to imply he was thinking of her as a lover not his kindness for someone he helped. I just dont want their love to be sudden simply cuz yuki needs happy ending. oh well~ I’m sure whatever it will be, the anime will give it utmost attention.

That sad moment when kagura wasnt allowed a moving image. lol. girl was given a still image that didnt even move with the breeze! T_T

Not gonna lie... the scene with kazuma & kyo was underwhelming. Why the wide shot? I mean you dont need budget for that. Just give me a closeup from the waist up with kyo head buried in kazuma’s chest. Dont need to waste budget on kazuma’s face, either.... do the old trick of hair covering eyes & show me glittery tears~  why the awkward shot of kazma towering in his own house! how tall is this man & why cant he he fix his roof?...lol

Also, shigure, you got scars man... who can hurt shigure? akito? gotta be her. I dont think hatori scratches...lol.. Aya? nah~ too busy with Mine! yup, akito... another steamy night? could be, she’s changed as he wish now. But scratching a face is weird while..um..kissing? a quarrel? but why? I bet she wants him now & we know he wants her....

More on part 2! especially abt the curse’s lore~

[letusmeetagain]

Hi! Do you believe there is a difference between Historia and Eren? Why did she accept the plan in the end?

Well anon... yes. There are differences.

Historia is submissive compared to Eren. Eren refused always to accept being tamed as child and Historia had Frieda telling her how to be in order to be loved.

You also have the fact that Historia always finds a third option while Eren is always stuck between two.

She hasn’t THAT violent nature as Eren, but can act violent sometimes when she loses control (with her dad, with Eren). We didn’t have many times to see her losing control... maybe when Ymir left her too or when she encouraged Ymir to destroy the tower although it would endanger them. I think people tend to forget those emotional explotions that... (I’m teacher) If I witnessed something like that in my class, I would know it’s due to repression of the true self or feelings they have to process with professional help.

[To tell you something... this reactions aren’t just something Eren shows. You have Eren trying to destroy the world, Historia and also Mikasa... Mikasa, in the novel Lost Girl, which I take as canon since is written by the scriptwriter of the anime, has such a moment when she desires to destroy the world that didn’t let her see Eren again and the price she had to pay was her innocence.]

Then you have the reacctions they had to the idea of starting the rumbling. Eren reacted first shocked, then accepted the idea because of his nature and because he could experience the reality through Grisha’s memories. While Historia reacted in the moment, it Eren had to go and face the enemy to see they are as innocents as them. 

Why did she accept?  Because Eren interfered in the curse of actions?

I mean... back then, if Kenny hadn’t told her about the “true” intentions of her father she would have eaten Eren. She was prepared to do what the world asked her to do following Frieda’s lessons. This time... the same. Her role as queen meant for her to have to answer that old question and before it happened, Eren came and recalled the decision she took in the cave. 

That time she decided because of multiple reasons that acepting to do what the world wanted for her wasn’t right: because

1. in the end, the sole option was to accept death for the island.

2. she would have had to accept to become a monster and also carry a burden (becoming a “god”).

3. she would have had to eat one of her friends that also was having an emotional breakdown.

I feel like the first one was the most important. This time wasn’t exactly the same sice she would have to become the beast titan escaping the vow. Still... now they knew about the curse and her destiny to die in 13 years eaten by her children, condemning not only herself but her descendants for 50 years in the future and... maybe more. To me, all leads to avoid preserving the cycle the royal family as holders of the titan power. 

It was truth that she didn’t accept the full rumbling and it was truth that she didn’t want to become a titan deep in her soul and that the role she was given was a burden. Her reaction in the cave, stating that humankind should perish meant something too. I took it not as something literally said but a statement refered to the way humankind as a whole works... the system, that is wrong.  

In the end, she didn’t fight Eren. The only way I have to understand it, it’s that she may have thought that she couldn’t stop him or that maybe was the right choice to destroy the system. Or she was being controlled. Or she has indeed a way to stop him but in the end... the rumbling is happening so I don’t see the point behind trying to find a way where she stays innocent. I feel like she weighed everything and her true nature was to make again the same choice of not becoming a titan, and not supporting a system that doesn’t work. Innocents are in the end a collateral damage of righting things (-I don’t support this, but it’s the way the story is seems to present it-) and we see her being sorry about it. It’s frustrating.

(Now this is very personal): I don’t see any good explanation about her more than the approach that she is very bad written and so on. It may be, but I always noticed that ““bad side”” of her trying to pop up. As well as we were betrayed by Eren, as well as Levi was “betrayed” by Erwin, why should be Historia different, when she told us many times that she didn’t feel like a good person? We are like the characters... being in denial that it’s possible for characters to do something bad because it follows part of their true nature. Kawakubo stated yesterday that the most important thing for a character is that they remain truth to themselves. So... they are being truth to themselves... Pride for Historia means to embrace, show and accept even the ugliest part of her (soemthing that she doesn’t like but it’s okay) that is that she at least wants to fulfill Ymir’s wish (she even didn’t marry as a sign of her devotion to Ymir) and not letting the world kill her.

I feel like Eren and Historia have the same tendency of acting in benefit of themselves. It’s their primary response that is somethimes tamed by their environment and you see it more in Historia. It’s always about them against the world. This doesn’t mean it’s the right way to be, of course. But at the time they made their choices, that part of them took control. Both of them also have the impuls of saving innocents. This will play a role in the end for both because they are helping Ymir. Sacrificing the world for just one person? It’s horrible. But it is expected that this should grant the future generations a better fate.

It’s implied that every sacrifice they are making will lead to a change that would bring meaning to every death. Maybe there is something behind leading things to avoid that the same keeps repeating into eternity. Historia was a piece there as well as Eren. Even Eren.

I don’t like a lot of things either... but it’s the way it is now. It’s not even an asspull... It was planned and it’s the core message of Isayama you can agree with or not. :-(

[purkinje-effect]

Nuka-Cherry

Ours Is the Kingdom, Chapter 4. Go to previous. Go to next. A little wasteland catechesis.

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”--Leviticus 17:11

Nineteen years ago

In order to investigate a rumor he’d heard at the Brass Lantern, August paused his jobs for those in Megaton and Girdershade to venture North a ways. The hematophagous protectors of Arefu could be the first truly omnivorous settlement he would encounter since moving to the Capital Wastes three years ago. The possibility he could have a place among them precipitated a visit. Asking around the settlement, which stood atop a section of still-standing overpass, yielded unnerved aversion from its inhabitants, but they were not shy to direct him to a place called Meresti.

Deep in the prewar tunnels had once run high-speed passenger subway trains. The damp, decaying walls felt like home already. Now, the metro station housed those who called themselves the Family, who knew of his arrival before he even reached the track-riddled bowels in which they resided. Their leader, Vance, was in his forties, with short dark purple hair and the palest skin he’d witnessed of anyone outside Appalachia. Wearing a leather duster, he stood watch over his adoptive brood from the balcony which overlooked the metro station’s lobby, stern, distant, and ever wary.

Vance already long since knew a great deal about the gangling dark-haired eighteen-year-old, and spoke with him as though a relative he had not seen since the boy was too small to remember him. He knew August had come to speak with someone about the Craving, and they conversed at length regarding the Five Laws of the Family. Ultimately, he left the decision up to August, whether to move in with them, and adopt their ways. As with all who sought shelter among the tunnels of Meresti, their leader sent him to reflect in isolation for three days, with the promise of his guidance if he accepted their ways as his own. In his guest room, he reflected upon his conversation with Vance, and did his best to determine whether belonging both to the Family and the Children of Atom were identities in opposition.

He worked his way in reverse through their tenets, observing a form of catechesis similar to that which he underwent when he first joined the Children. At the very least, the exercise could hone for him his connection with his faith.

The Fifth Law: Kill not our kindred: slay only our enemy. This is our justice.

He could rationalize the respect and unity in not killing Family out of anger or revenge. To not kill one another in any way, though. Confessor Cromwell and Mother Maya both preached the glory of the day Atom--Megaton’s eponymous bomb--would send them all to Division. He’d visited the Apostles of the Holy Light the year before, in the misguided expectation they too might follow the divination of Mothman. The Acolytes of Eternal Light had descended from the original Cult of the Mothman which had inhabited the Lucky Hole almost two hundred years ago. The Apostles, however, were Children who had broken away from Megaton. They believed in purposefully irradiating themselves, gradually, rather than awaiting a single great act of irradiation such as Megaton’s eventual detonation--and that diligent irradiation could bestow ghoulishness upon the faithful. To them, ghouls were the Exalted, angelic agents standing as proof Heaven was the Earth in the wake of the Great War’s Rapture. Their ultimate goal in faith was to remain on Earth as long as possible and serve Atom, past humanity and on to ghoulishness for centuries. Megaton’s Children revered ghouls, such as the bartender’s assistant in Moriarty’s Saloon, but Apostles regarded all ghouls with steep reverence, believing non-feral ghouls’s erratic behaviors and rasping diced language to bear the flame-tongue of Atom which no human can parse.

He very often stifled the desire to slay those who disrespected Gob. The ghoul was only doing his best, and it maddened August to know the ghoul had been bought out of slavery into his current position under Colin Moriarty’s management. Surely, there had to be a better lot for Gob. Maybe the Children, or the Apostles, could amass enough tithes to buy him from Moriarty, and free him altogether...

Since his separation from the Acolytes of Eternal Light, he’d struggled to find any alignment with others’ faith, scavenging bits and pieces from larger movements and amending them to his own. Atom’s path thus far shined brightest to him: Surely, Mothman forever chased Atom’s holy light. To him, also, the vessel was just as vital as the world-soul it contained, a physical manifestation of the galaxy he’d cultivated. He could come to emit the same light he sought in the world, if only he could cement his purpose and faith. In his baptism by Quantum at the bottling facility, he’d accepted Nuka-Cola would be his eventual portent of the great things he knew Atom had in store for him. Perhaps sooner, rather than later, Atom would send him a sign.

Ultimately, he decided it was right that only those who deserved to die, should die, and that lust killing should be consensual. That didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy the act--simply that the act needed to serve explicit purpose. He needed to remember to ask Vance whether consuming Family, especially fallen Family, was against their ways. Raised an Acolyte of Eternal Light, he was no stranger to finding food wherever possible, and in many occasions it was the highest honor for them to preserve kindred in such a mode of self-sacrifice. They wasted nothing, not even each other. If it was not by Atom’s guiding hand, the only death he found righteous was for protection of the innocent or himself, or for sole sake of sustenance. It wasn’t up to him when a person’s world-soul might disperse its galaxies.

The Fourth Law: Seek not the sun’s light; embrace only the shadows. This is our refuge.

To find refuge in the dark only served to contrast the Light. August supposed that such an asceticism which could heighten one’s appreciation and acuity for even the smallest Light. The darkness had been as familiar as another relative in his childhood, as his first family had lived deep in the bowels of the West Virginia mine known as the Lucky Hole. Noticing even dim lights, the slightest presage, came easily in such an acclimation. Bright lights did hurt his eyes... and many of his fellow Brothers and Sisters in Atom did find it unusual that he tended to worship in the bomb’s wellspring at night rather than during the day.

He could find peace in the reflected light of a full moon.

The Third Law: Feed not for pleasure; partake only to nourish. This is our dignity.

He wondered whether indulgence could be divided in such a way. The flesh had needs, and pleasure was a need. The Acolytes had always taught this, and it been an uncomfortable patch of adjusting to the meek ways of the Children. He could see dignity in abstaining from killing solely for sport, but no dignity in denying oneself due sustenance or denying oneself the satisfaction in it. He earned his meals, worked hard for them. And he should savor them.

Some needs held priority over others--and pleasure. Pleasure of every kind did seem to him the greatest obeisance one could make to the Eternal Light. It was pleasurable, to act on its behalf, to add to his world-soul, to become the greatest galaxy he could in his lifetime; pleasurable, to savor adding those unworthy of their world-souls to his own. And it was pleasurable, to admire what his faith had given him, to worship what Atom had made of him... like the limb that following Moira Brown’s guidance, alongside that of the Confessor, had bestowed upon him.

As with the fifth law, he understood the difference between murder and killing. The Children made no room for either. They made sharp distinction between self-preservation and self-defense... and denied themselves a majority of pleasures altogether.

The Second Law: Bear not the child; welcome only the exile. This is our fate.

With August’s predispositions, this preclusion would be the least trying law to live by, and the simplest to understand the logic behind. He’d once heard the aphorism, that the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.

Blood, thicker than water.

Consanguinity. Through condition, not through breeding.

The Acolytes and the Children both upheld this ideal. Virtue and ideal offered magnitudes beyond mere birth rite.

Only just recently eighteen, August only had a few years’ personal understanding of coitus. He had asked Vance whether abstaining from fathering children meant a total abstinence. The Family’s father figure had replied in affirmation, that they did not self-populate, but were not expressly celibate. They did not force induction through marriage, and did everything it could to avoid passing down the Craving through lineage. August simply was forbidden from fathering children in this law, but Vance had every enthusiasm for welcoming anyone with the Craving into the Family, as a sibling, or a cousin, or even an avaunt or parental figure. The Family sustained itself solely through adoption, regardless of the familial role an individual came to fulfill.

The Family existed to accept the forsaken and afflicted, and help them overcome their shame. In recent years, while it had made them somewhat less of a secret to the Capital Wastes, they’d found greater purpose in protecting Arefu. They did not consider Arefu or Meresti a holy ground, yet protected both inexhaustibly. Megaton and the Lucky Hole were holy, were they not? He’d protected them. He could defend Arefu and Meresti in kind, if they would have him... and perhaps, in effect, come to understand their sanctity. Though, he wondered whether he’d ever find anyplace that felt as vastly holy as Appalachia, or as potently holy as the crater.

The First Law: Feast not on the flesh; consume only the blood. It is our strength.

While he could make broad peace with the other four tenets, the first and greatest roiled in his heart. For the first two days of his isolation, he’d worked his way ascending and descending the rules of this refuge to exhaustion, trying to find an understanding for how the Family might justifiably live in such a way. Here, again, it beset him in a grimace as he lay back on the bare mattress in thought.

Within his cobbled-together faith, he had found his most current definition for the Craving which had compelled him since childhood. The world-soul resided in the blood, and he could appreciate an ideology which upheld its sanctity. Consuming blood consumed the world-soul, added its constellations and systems to one’s own galaxies, the sacred geometry of strangeness, charm, and nobility. To waste blood was unspeakable.

Yet, Vance had told him, consumption of the flesh is unclean. Filthy. Humans treat us like animals when we consume their flesh. We are not animals. We are the Family. We do not eat the flesh of those we kill for food.

He had been raised in a holistic fashion. Waste nothing. Use everything. The Acolytes of Eternal Light had taught him to tan, to butcher, to cook and preserve. If one had to kill, or if one had to die, if at all it could be helped the life taken should not be in vain.

Unlike the Savage Divide, such meats were a rarity in the Capital Wastes. For the past two years, he’d made do in Megaton knowing how to discern between iguana and other wasteland meats when they happened to crop up in the various craterside establishments. He would take an errand from Moira as an excuse to step out and cut down a convenient raider, anytime only a fresh kill could sate him; the Super-Duper Mart was a favorite nearby hunting ground of his. No one in Megaton, Children or otherwise, had indicated they took kindly to purposeful cannibalism of any sort. The local raider-turned-mercenary Jericho may have noticed his preference for iguana at some point, but said nothing, when he’d spent time with him so the old man could teach him to use a rifle.

The Children had taught him shame alongside humility, blurring the notions indiscreetly. He had not known shame until he traveled outside the Savage Divide, and he’d hoped to find pride and modulation here with the Family.

For a time, blood was the one thing from a kill he didn’t consume, instead favoring crafting Stimpaks from it. It was easier to obtain blood packs from Moira or Doc Church, under the premise of medical provisions, than ever actively seek out iguana in town, though. In his adolescence, he’d learned how to craft Stimpaks from human blood, as well as how to craft something they called Skeeto Spit from the mixed blood collected from Bloodbug sacs. Stimpaks healed the injured after ceremonial wasteland battles as well as after defensive encounters, while Skeeto Spit increased the longevity of those who stood for sake of the cult. Such that non-human blood might function in kind with the chemistry required of the intravenous prewar healing device, he had taught himself how to refine the compatibility between the two formulations, only to later develop in this practice the deepest ritualism he would ever find. Up until the cult’s demise, he had kept his technique to himself, noticing in his own self-experimentation that the use of Wasteland Stimpaks magnified the Craving--a trait that, while not shunned by the Acolytes, not all Acolytes exhibited, nurtured, or actively invoked as wholly as he did.

It wouldn’t be for many years of regular use of his dark craft that other side effects would manifest.

The Acolytes had not believed in world-souls, purely upholding the very present, corporeal, preternatural vitality Interlopers might bestow, and it was of his own spirituality adjunct to that of the Children that he had come to the understanding that Stimpaks surely held some key to discovering how the civilization that came before tangibly interacted with their world-souls. The Capital Wastes didn’t have Bloodbugs, however, and most of its wildlife didn’t have blood to collect directly either. It had been two years since his last synthesis of Wasteland Stimpaks, and he nearly left the area on several occasions just to resume his observances, now that he understood the greater connection of The Blood and The Life. He wasn’t sure what kept him in the Capital Wastes. He supposed he disliked the idea of straying too far from the crater, though entertaining a trip back to Appalachia under the premise of pilgrimage didn’t seem so fractious perhaps.

He had never found another who seemed to pursue personal growth in the same way he did, and it didn’t seem anyone in the Family held overlapping beliefs with him either. Vance agreed with him, though, that those with the Craving were either not born human, or became that way--and that the Craving was a deficit of soul. The leader had a word for those who drank blood and abstained from the flesh: vampire. For August, cannibalism was a form of transubstantiation, a transfusion by which he could feed an incomplete or once-absent spirit, and as an extension, Wasteland Stimpaks posited a way to add world-souls of wasteland creatures to his own--or at the very least, modify his vessel to be that much more capable of containing the world-soul he cultivated through piousness. Perhaps they were both right, and August’s aspirations sought to right that he had not originally had any world-soul to cultivate in the first place.

The Family tempered the Craving by drinking only the blood, and leaving the body for ceremony. Acolytes with the Craving tempered it by consuming only the body, and leaving the blood for ceremony.

A Child of Atom could belong to the Family, and a Child of Atom could belong to the Acolytes of Eternal Light... but an Acolyte could not belong to the Family.

He couldn’t make peace with the thought of one kill providing only one meal. One kill in the Savage Divide had provided easily a week’s worth of meat and offal, a good bit of leather and bone for crafts, and the blood... The blood couldn’t be the only thing taken from a kill. Yet, some of the Family preferred not to kill at all, and sustained themselves on blood packs donated from Arefu’s settlers in exchange for the Family’s protection. August perceived such an act as a communal blood pact. In this exchange between the Family and Arefu, he understood why they had grown so close so quickly. In a way, they were slowly acquiescing into one overarching shared world-soul. The idea of it harbored a deep dread in him, and even as his second day in Meresti closed, he still couldn’t discern whether the dread compelled or repulsed him.

He would stay one more day, to make sure he still felt the same by then, and then find a way to estrange a slaver from Paradise Falls before returning to the Church. His means of tempering his cravings as a way of protecting the wasteland’s innocents sufficed. The world-souls of raiders and slavers would be his, and he would use them properly in Atom’s sight. People who wasted their world-souls debasing others and sowing suffering were the greatest affront of all to the Holy Light, and if that was the purpose that drove the Craving, he could find peace and identity in it.

Perhaps after this visit with Vance, August could make better sense of whether he belonged under the guidance of Confessor Cromwell and Mother Maya, or under that of Mother Curie.

Go to Next »»»

[ptw30]

so I'm listening to a podcast talking about character agency and it's helping me realize what made vld steadily lose engagement after season 2, was the characters steadily lost their agency until they did nothing to affect the direction of the plot. The characters stopped informing the plot, and the plot started informing the characters.

Absolutely. Great observation!

But you’re doing something all professionals do - further their learning.

The EPs - and even DreamWorks - acted unprofessionally when creating/executing the plot of VLD. The EPs are amazing artists. There is no doubt that Voltron wasn’t visually compelling.

But there is also no indiction that either EP ever cracked open a book on plot, and even though I know someone did - a writer doesn’t switch character arc endings by accident— a simple reading of the first three “books” of The Screenwriter’s Bible would have helped the EPs avoid many of their plotting mistakes. (Honestly? It’s like they read the book and decided to do the exact opposite.)

But a lack of plotting expertise and knowledge in and of itself is not an issue - as long as the EPs rely heavily upon a competent head of story, which they didn’t.

Most writing books will tell you - storytelling is instinctive. Structure in the usual format - intro, rising action, climax, falling action, conclusion - one can do just by watching/reading, but actual plot takes experience and continued learning (where you learn nuances, like plot twists, the art of dialogue, and character agency). That really separates the true storytellers from the amateurs. (Again, kudos to you for studying your craft!)

Voltron’s story was an absolute mess after Season 2 in every sense of the word, and it was clear how inexperienced the writers were. Whether the loss of May Chan was that great, Tim Hedrick wasn’t as skilled as he appeared or he got tired of fighting the EPs - leading to his ultimate departure from the series, along with some directors - or the EPs were really that incompetent - or maybe it was just the Perfect Storm - DreamWorks needed to act to save the story and their one-time good name.

LOUD SIGH. I mean, let’s go back to a basic principle in writing plot - the narrative question.

According to Jane K. Cleland in Mastering Plot Twists, “Much as a company’s brand represents a promise to a consumer, so too does a narrative question represent a promise to your readers. It sets out the primary conflict that supplies impetus for readers to read on. It provides enough information so that readers can make educated decisions about your story is to their their taste. If your readers’ interest is not captured, so be it. If it is, they’re likely to finish the story because they want to learn the answers implicit to the narrative question.”

At the beginning, Voltron raises the query, “They brought another one.”

That’s actually the series’ question, the one we wait to be answered. Shiro is the “other one.” So who is the first? You can make the assumption that there was someone else in the prison - whom we never meet but who was inferred in Season 5, Episode 1 when Matt was late to the shuttle after searching for his dad.

Ready for the mind-blowing part? The narrative answer to “They brought another one ” is actually Zarkon. He was the first Black Paladin. Shiro is “another one,” the new Black Paladin. But then the narrative breaks apart when Keith becomes a third - and isn’t a Black Paladin. The narrative makes that clear over and over again - going insofar as forming the Blazing Sword with Shiro or Zarkon only.

And if Shiro is actually “the other one,” then we needed see to be that as the narrative promised - wielding the Black Bayard and embracing his role fully as the Black Paladin - which is not what happened. It is what would have happened if the narrative question had been answered. Instead it was abandoned and forgotten by the EPs. And that’s one of the many reasons the lion swap didn’t work - cuz it isn’t true to the narrative question - and that’s also why so many disheartened fans watched to the end. They waited to see Shiro - who was established as the new Black Paladin in the very first sequence of the series - once more fly Black.

(It also would have fulfilled the narrative promise - that Shiro was the other one and no one else in the story.)

Instead, Shiro is killed and returns but not included in plot other than window dressing. In fact, Voltron itself doesn’t do better than the first Paladins - that “dark history.” The original Paladins lost their leader, Zarkon. And the new Paladins? Though Allura didn’t end the story as the “leader,” she was head of the coalition at one point. So the new Paladins didn’t save their leader, either. (Or Shiro, really. Or Kuron.)

So...why did we watch Voltron Legendary Defender - to see history repeat itself? We’re all doomed to fail...? Is that the answer to the narrative question? “There is another one - maybe - but he, too, will die, and so will his commander. And they won’t be able to save each other, either.”

Thus, ultimately, I feel Voltron was not so much a disaster in plotting, though it was. I feel it‘s true failure was in its humanity - or lack thereof. In a story that was to show and celebrate all races, genders, sexualities, and people with disabilities coming together to create the greatest weapon against evil - our trust and love in each other - Voltron Legendary Defender showed evil triumphing over good.

...and I’m running out of ways to express this point or my level of disgust. But I will say this - that ending was an epic reversal. Terrible messaging, terrible delivery and terrible implications - but you don’t get a more epic reversal than the most powerful weapon in the universe on the supposed side of good, being defeated by the forces of evil.

Of course, in a kids’ show where viewers expect the heroes to win - no level of reversal is going to satisfy viewers as they watch the strong-willed heroine walk off to her death, especially the WOC heroine.

[nolongerapileofashprobably]

After the hero and the princess reunite (or after they really don’t?)

Zelda was pacing in Impa’s home. The elder sat on her pillows, and seemed to be amused with her nervousness.

But Zelda couldn’t help it. After she and Link defeated Ganon and sealed him away, they had merely embraced before departing to Kakariko Village. When she asked if he remembered her, he simply smiled and hugged her.

But that wasn’t an answer, right? He would say something to her? She’s watched his journey since he woke up, so she knows he’s much more talkative now than he was. Perhaps it was her? Maybe he didn’t miss her, but rather assisted her so Ganon’s impending victory would never become a reality? Everything could have been to fulfill his role. He had no reason to stay with her now, especially with all his new friends across Hyrule.

Maybe being the Princess’ knight wasn’t what he wanted anymore. Maybe being her friend wasn’t something he wanted. Maybe this was all out of professional courtesy. He was the hero of legend. She was the princess with the Goddess’ blood running through her veins. They didn’t need to talk, let alone be friends. As long as they did what fate has already spelled out for them, everything else didn’t matter.

But she wanted to talk to Link. She wanted to tell him of everything, talk to him about their past, discuss the possibilities of a future. She wanted to get everything off her chest, apologize for making him sacrifice himself for a girl who couldn’t access her powers in time.

But as they rode to Kakariko Village, he was silent. He seemed to have reverted back to the stoic knight he had always been. She couldn’t tell if he missed her. Or if he remembered her.

Oh Hylia, what if he never even remembered her? Never remembered the nights they shared after a long day of scouting. Talking softly around a cozy fire, sharing the single blanket since they always seemed to forget the second one. Or the time he lectured her on not blaming herself, that day at the Spring of Power. The time where he took her hand and squeezed it before she went to the Spring of Courage. The time he held her tightly after she broke down in tears after her father had scolded her. The time he guided her to show how she should calm her horse, soft words in her ear explaining that Storm has to trust her first.

Perhaps he forgot the day in the field, where he had burst out laughing after she tried to get him to eat that damn frog. Or the night after the Yiga attack, where they stayed up until the odd hours of the morning talking things out. Or the day near Death Mountain, when he finally opened up to her. Or the journal he had personally decorated and added fun little quotes in every page. How he handed it to her on her birthday, right before they left for Mount Lanayru. How she almost cried when he did, making her hug him right outside her bedroom doors. Or the nights he spent whenever she was staying up too late studying ancient texts.

Maybe he didn’t remember that day. That dreaded day where everything changed. How he screamed her name when he realized he couldn’t win without the Divine Beasts on their side. Or how he found her in the library, clutching her father’s body. How he knelt down for the first time, took her face in his hands, and told her that he was going to get her out of this alive. How he kissed her forehead and apologized for everything. How she numbly got up and took his hand. How they miraculously made their way out of the castle and through Hyrule field.

Maybe he didn’t remember when she fell. When he decided it was more important to help her emotionally than keep running for their lives. When he held her for those few, precious moments. When he whispered reassuring words and told her that he wouldn’t give up. When he told her that she shouldn’t either. Or when they were in that blasted field. When the Guardians were swarming around them. When her power finally awoke. Maybe he didn’t know that her love for him is what triggered her power to finally activate.

She wanted to talk to Link. Her best friend. The boy she loves with her entire heart. The one she clutched as she thought he would die. The one she sent to the shrine, giving every last ounce of hope that he would hang on until he had arrived. The one she waited 100 years for. The one who conquered the Calamity.

He was different now. She knew that. But aren’t they both? Hadn’t they both been through so much that the mere thought of themselves 100 years ago doesn’t mean the same thing?

“My dear, for someone who just restored peace to Hyrule, you seem a little tense.”

Impa’s calming voice broke her out of her thoughts, bringing reality back to the frame. She smiled at the elder, but they both knew it was forced.

“I don’t think Link remembers me,” Zelda confessed, her tone distraught at the mere thought. “Or if he wants to. Impa, what if Link doesn’t want to be near me? I am the reason all of our friends are dead.”

Impa sighed, shaking her head slowly and beckoned her closer. As soon as Zelda did so, she held out a fragile hand, letting Zelda to take it gently.

“My sweet girl, you were always too hard on yourself.” Impa told her, and when Zelda opened her mouth to respond, the old woman shook her head. “Now, now, you know it’s true. I remember the day that boy walked in here, without a memory to his name. Did you know he was committed to saving you and hearing your instructions immediately after I told him of them? One of the first things he did was try and remember you. I told him that he may remember things if he went to those locations on the Sheikah Slate. He came back a day later. I know your insecurities get the best of you, but believe me when I tell you that remembering you was the first thing he wanted to do.”

Zelda smiled, but she still couldn’t get it to be genuine. Impa wouldn’t lie to her, but what was the actual truth? Only Link could tell her and he hadn’t spoken to her since they defeated Calamity Ganon.

Right now, he was with Cado and Dorian, apparently keeping back a bunch of people from bathing into the home.

Maybe people were excited she was back, after all this time.

She looked at the double doors, her lips settling back into a frown as she thought about the one person who didn’t seem excited.

Maybe his time in the Shrine of Resurrection really did it’s toll. Maybe Link had his memories but any feelings he had from 100 years ago never came back. He shouldered so much back then, so maybe her presence brought back the need to stay quiet.

Oh Hylia, she hoped that wasn’t it.

“Just go talk to him, Zelda.” Impa told her, the exasperation clear in the elder’s tone.

Just as Zelda opened her mouth to respond, thinking about how it wasn’t that simple, the door opened to reveal both Link and Paya. The latter seemed to be out of breath, while Link watched her with a raised eyebrow.

He caught her stare, but tore his eyes from hers to look at Impa.

“I don’t know if you realized, but the crowd of Sheikah has turned into an entire mob out of citizens.” He informed Impa, opening his mouth to say something else but Paya stood up straight and beat him to it.

“Grandmother, there are Zora’s and Gerudo’s gathering, as well.” Paya said, taking another deep breath before continuing. “Link swears he saw some Rito in the hills. They aren’t listening to anyone. We had to fight our way back up.”

All three of them turned to Impa, who was chucking and shaking her head. Was this funny?

“My dear princess, it seems the world is awaiting your return.” Impa said, smiling wildly. Zelda blanched at her next words. “I’ll go warm them up for you. Paya, can you help your old grandmother up?”

“135 is not old.” Paya told her firmly, but nonetheless helped Impa up. As the two made their way past her, Impa winked at her, as Link held the door open. 100 year later or not, he still had manners.

“There aren’t that many people out there, right?” Zelda asked, eyes wide with realization. She had spent the last 100 years fighting the embodiment of evil. Even though that fight was over, she still had to take on the task of rebuilding an entire entire. One she helped destroy.

Link nodded, shutting the doors, before actually looking at her. The fear must have been clear on her features, because his softened as he actually spoke to her.

“Hey, don’t be scared. These people already idolize you, all you have to do for right now is show them you’re actually alive.”

Her lips were pressed in a thin line, as she focused on the door. “Even if they think I’m an impostor? How do you know they even remember me as the Princess who saved Hyrule? My cursed powers are the same reason it fell in the first place.”

He took a step towards her, and she noticed he had changed from the Champion’s Tunic into a more basic, white travelers garb. When did he find the time to change? “If I can remember who you really are, after having my memories completely wiped, I think Hyrule will too. For the most part, they see me as the Hylian Champion, not a knight who failed to do the one thing he was destined to do. Well, in that time at least.”

Zelda’s breath hitched in her throat, hearing Link’s words. “You remember me? Not just Princess Zelda? But me?”

Confusion spread across his face, until he realized what she was asking. He walked towards her, a small smile spreading across his face. Taking her hands into his own, he squeezed them gently, not noticing that Zelda had stopped breathing in anticipation of his words.

“Zelda, how could I ever forget you?” He questioned, shaking his head but the smile widening on his face. “You hates my guts, then decided I was worth talking to. And then you tried to make me eat a frog, and turns out? They do have the capability of augmenting certain abilities. I’ll show you my cookbook later, you’ll love the elixirs section. But how could I forget the girl who loved an endangered flower so much that she converted an entire lab into figuring out how to breed them domestically.  Or the girl who always had faith that I would come back and finally take on Ganon. There is no way I could ever forget you. The real girl underneath the crown.”

She breathed out a sigh of relief, joy spreading across her features as a weight lifted from her shoulders. She took her hand from his, but only so she could throw her arms around his neck and hug the poor boy until someone pried her off him.

Link remembered her. Not just the story. But her. And if he was by her side, like he was right now, she could handle the rest of Hyrule.

____________________________________________

Thank you @the-spockicorn for this prompt :) im sorry its late, really. I ended up rewriting it because tumblr wouldn’t let me post the original draft and it deleted all the edits i tried to make on it. :( So I am very sorry but I hope this was sorta worth the wait??? Adore ya <3 (I’m also working like 40 hours this week alone and last week I worked about 45 so im exhausted and if it sucks that is the most likely answer! 

This was written with the idea that it can be applied to the canon-verse, so Zelda and Link would not have an established relationship, but Zelda is still in love with Link and he’s beginning to be very open about his feelings. so proud. 

[thebeltanequeen]

Updated GOT Predictions!!

As much as I don’t want some of these characters to die, or as suspicious as I am that they will just bc D&D love subverting expectations and everyone expects certain people to die, this is how I think it should end LOGICALLY if they follow the path characters were set up for in the books and in combination with the show

Cersei

I agree with pretty much what the entire fandom says. Jaime will kill Cersei then himself, dying a tragic hero. I don’t think Cersei lied about being pregnant. I think she either is pregnant still, was pregnant and something happened, or thought she was pregnant but realized she went through menopause instead. Jaime will confront Cersei when he gets to KL and they’ll have a huge fight I imagine. That’s when we’ll figure out the baby situation. I’ve never questioned that the baby was Jaime’s bc, for those of you who haven’t noticed, Cersei HATES Euron and would NOT have his baby. If she had her way, she’d kill Euron after they won the war. So whatever answer we get will play a huge role in the way she’s killed emotionally. Anyway, so Cersei will either be winning the battle, ergo Jaime steps in to stop her from using wildfire as the finishing blow, or she’ll be losing the battle and Jaime still prevents her from using wildfire, but he also doesn’t want to see her brutally murdered. He just doesn’t guys. It would be OOC for him to suddenly want her to be massacred. I don’t think Cersei will fight Jaime physically when he does kill her. I’m thinking she’ll be relieved it was him and that the prophecy is being fulfilled, so she no longer has to live in fear and grief anymore.

Jaime

As I said above, Jaime is going to commit suicide after he kills Cersei (and their unborn child if she is still pregnant). After he heard Sansa talk about wishing to see Cersei executed, he realized he wouldn’t stay in Winterfell for multiple reasons. He can’t let Cersei win, and he can’t let her be brutally tortured and executed. Jaime became so cold to Brienne at the end of this episode to protect her. He knows he needs to go to KL and that he probably won’t live. Brienne would want to come with him, and she would be in danger too. He also probably doesn’t want to make her feel like she needs to choose between him and Sansa. Confronting Cersei is something Jaime needs to do alone. He is on his way to KL to talk sense into her head to save her and their baby (Like I said, we’ll figure this out then. Cersei is just too damn heartbroken about it every time it’s brought up). He will of course fail for multiple reasons. Cersei is too stubborn, too powerhungry, too vengeful and too frightened to stop. Cersei also won’t be willing to listen to him after he left her, but she won’t be able to kill him. She can’t kill Tyrion, much less Jaime. After Jaime kills her, he won’t be able to live with himself. He’ll die a hero though.

Arya, the Hound, the Mountain, and Brienne

So I actually think Arya and the Hound will tag team killing the Mountain and perhaps even Qybrun in the process. The Hound will die afterwards from his injuries and he’ll have a touching moment will Arya, who WON’T leave him to die alone. After the Hound dies, I think Arya will head for Cersei and instead of killing her she’ll SEE Jaime do it and hear why he’s done it. She’ll watch the twins go out, and it will be Arya who tells everyone that Jaime saved them all. This will directly parallel when Ned walked in after Jaime killed the Mad King, but he was too stuck in the old ways to hear him out on what happened. Arya will right one of the few wrongs her father ever did. She’ll have been the one to save everyone from the Night King, and she’ll recognize that Jaime saved everyone from Cersei. Then I think Arya will roam the lands as she pleases, just as Nymeria does. Perhaps Gendry will give up his lordship and he’ll travel with her. He could give Storm’s End to Davos if he survives KL. Brienne will hear about what Jaime did, she’ll understand that he was protecting her all along, and she’ll write about his good deeds in the book. I actually think she might end up pregnant, and she’ll have a baby (I hope it’s a girl who also becomes a knight I would LOVE IT) and she’ll tell their child about their heroic father. Brienne would be a great mom and it’ll finish her arc nicely *cries*

Jon, Sansa and Bran

I have a theory that whatever fate the direwolves had, the same fate will befall their respective Starks either literally or figuretively. Lady was the first to die, and Sansa is arguably the Stark who has changed the most drastically. The girl she was is dead. She is no longer the little dove, or the little bird, but she is now the undisputed Lady of Winterfell. I actually think Sansa will be Queen of the North by the end of the show. Sansa being Queen has been foreshadowed all eight seasons. I think the Iron Throne will be destroyed, and the seven kingdoms split back up, but peacefully. Sansa will rule. Jon will be the one who orders the Iron Throne destroyed after Cersei’s death. I imagine Arya will tell him of the twins’ death and Jaime’s sacrifice and Jon will honor that by getting rid of the one thing that started this mess in the first place. A Targaryen built the iron throne and it will be a Targaryen’s responsibility to destroy it. Jon will then leave to roam the free lands with the free folk, as Ghost will be. Jon never wanted to be King, and after he destroys the throne and elects Sansa to rule the North, he deserves peace after all his fighting. He’ll embrace his Stark name and live and die a Northman. Summer is dead and Bran is figuratively dead as well. I could actually see him peacefully passing away at Winterfell from old age. Whether he trains a new 3 eyed raven or not is debatable.

Dany, Greyworm, Drogon and Varys

Dany and Greyworm are utterly devastated over Missandei and rightfully so, but they’ve fallen for Cersei’s trap just like Jon did when Ramsay killed Rickon at the Battle of the Bastards. Dany is also mourning Rhaegal and she is not thinking clearly. Dark Dany is happening for sure, and it’ll be tragic because we all know why and can understand what she’s thinking and doing. She’ll destroy King’s Landing, and the carnage will be so brutal and she’ll feel so triumphant that Westeros will turn on her, especially when news of Jon’s parentage gets out, at which point Varys will be executed for treason. What’s been made abundantly clear this season is that Dany is an outsider. Westeros does not want her, they want Jon. She and Jon will get into an argument at the end of the battle, and she’ll allow the Iron Throne to be burned by Drogon once the haze has cleared and she realizes how many innocent people she just killed. She’ll be devestated and will retreat to Dragonstone. She broke the wheel, but she lost everything, including her humanity for a brief period of time. As for Boatie, I don’t think Dany is pregnant, but if she is I think she’ll also give up the throne to raise her child in relative peace. I think she’ll either stay at Dragonstone and try to make that her home, or she will return to Essos with Drogon. Her particular storyline is one that can go in many different directions, so it is the most confusing to pin down for me. I can see Greyworm dying in battle after killing Euron (if Yara doesn’t show up in battle and do it herself), but I honestly don’t think he will. I think he will go to Naath and the last we see of him will be him smiling on the beach. I think he gets a tragic, but beautiful ending.

Tyrion

Ah, Tyrion. The one everybody loves, whether he’s suffered in the writing department the last few seasons or not. Out of all the Lannister’s, he’s most likely to live, but I don’t think he’s going to. I’ve actually only recently decided this, but I was reminded of the brilliant Charles Dance’s line in season one about how “soon, all of us will be dead” and “only the family name lives on.” Although this was said to Jaime, I think it applies to Tyrion too. I now think all the Lannister’s are going to die, but their name will certainly never be forgotten. I’m not sure how, but Tyrion might go out. Perhaps Dany kills him for treason even though he was trying to defend her despite his own fears? Or maybe there’s a time jump at the end of the show and we see Tyrion dying at old age as Lord of Casterly Rock? I would not be surprised either way, but I want him to go out doing something heroic, not dying for something he didn’t actually do like in season 4. He is too fantastic of a character to go out in a shitty way. He deserves an amazing ending to his story.

[taestykth]

Wish Fulfilled pt 1

Gif Cred

Pairing: you x taehyung 

Genre: smut // eventually, angst

Word count: 2.4k 

When given the chance to have your last wish fulfilled, you wished for him.

Your eyes opened and were greeted with overwhelming brightness, leaving you filled with confusion and unable to register where you are. As your eyes slowly adapted, you realized you were in an entirely white room. The room was completely barren asides from the bed you were on, and the door on the wall opposite of you. Before you even had time to be confused about your current environment, you were interrupted by a deep voice saying, “Y/F/N, you’re finally awake.”

You turned to where the voice came from, and saw a blonde-haired boy, who couldn’t be much older than you, dressed in all black. The way he stared at you was so intense you started to feel color rushing up to your cheeks. As much as you wanted to, you couldn’t stop yourself from staring back into his eyes. They looked inviting, yet dark to the point you were afraid of what you would see if you were to maintain eye contact any longer, so you dropped your gaze to examine the rest of his face. You noted his sharp facial features. His blonde hair fell softly, perfectly framing his face, and you concluded that he was extremely handsome. His lips looked so soft you couldn’t help but wonder how it would feel against your own. The thought surprised you, as you were not the type to lust over random strangers, so you quickly stopped yourself in your train of thought before it progressed any further. You shook your head a bit, in a failed attempt to clear yourself of your flustered state.

“Who are you? How do you know my name?” you asked, surprised at how weak your voice sounded.

You stared at him with confusion apparent on your expression, and the corner of his lip lifted ever so slightly, as if he was smirking at you.

“Y/F/N. 19 years old. Death from motor vehicle accident.”

You felt your mouth fall open. “I-I don’t understand,” you heard yourself stammer.

He stared back blankly. “Do you remember what happened to you?”

You took a deep breath in, trying to recall what had happened before you woke up to this unknown place.

“I don’t,” you started to say, when suddenly he reached his hand out to cup your face. The touch felt electrifying, and the memories all came rushing back at you.

You were running as fast as you could while holding on to your books on your left hand and balancing your cup of coffee on your right hand.

“Shit! Why do I have to oversleep on today of all days?” You yelled at yourself in exasperation.

Today was the day of your Biology final, and your professor was unrelentingly strict when it came to tardiness. Anyone who wasn’t present at the time of her passing out the exam would receive a zero for their grade – no exceptions. But you had pulled an all-nighter cramming for the exam, since you desperately needed an A. Since you had no intentions of going to sleep, you had not set an alarm either. But when you told yourself you deserved a small study break and set your head down, resting it on your thick textbook, you accidentally fell asleep. You were quite lucky, really, to have woken up when you did. Any later, and there’d be no way you can make it to class on time.

You were turning the corner when you saw your neighbor Mrs. Park sitting on the porch talking on the phone, not paying much attention to her 4-year-old daughter Suzy, who was riding on her tricycle. You smiled, wishing you had time to say hello. You babysat for Mrs. Park during the past summer, and it had been a while since you last saw Suzy. You’ve always adored her; she loved playing with you and saw you as a role model as well.  

Just as you were about to leave, you saw Suzy riding out to the street, chasing after a wild neighborhood cat. You were about to call out her name and warn her to stay on the sidewalk, as you saw a car speeding toward Suzy. Without much time to think, you instinctually ran towards her, pushing her out of the car’s way.

You heard the cries coming from Suzy. You saw glimpses of the ambulance rushing to the scene as you desperately tried not to close your eyes and fall asleep.

“Miss! Miss, do you hear me? It’s okay. We’ve got you now. The ambulance is on its way. You’re going to be alright,” someone, you’re assuming a pedestrian, said to you. You wish you could believe what she said – that you’d be alright. You remembered thinking to yourself, “yeah right,” as you succumbed to your heavy feeling of your eyelids and drifted out of consciousness.

You didn’t realize tears were rolling down your face until the stranger in front you extended his delicate finger towards your cheeks to wipe them away.

“A-am I… dead?” you held your breath as you waited for the boy’s answer.

He hesitated in his reply, looking at you as if debating whether you could handle his response. He had done this a million times before, never feeling any sorts of emotion. After all, his job did helped people. When he had first started, he was overjoyed to be able to fulfill people’s last wishes, allowing them to cross over to the other side without regrets. But somewhere along the line, he went from being ecstatic to his current state of apathy. Anyone would be disengaged and unattached after centuries of the performing the same duty, right?

But as he stared at you, he realized that something about you – although he couldn’t quite figure out what – made him feel different. You, the girl in front of him, were beautiful, even in the midst of crying. He was interested in you, curious about your life and the circumstances leading up to your death. After what seemed like a long time, he finally spoke. “Yes,” he replied in a voice noticeably softer and gentler than before.

All the air seemed to leave you, and a feeling of panic ensued. You began to hyperventilate. You thought to yourself, “this can’t be happening.” You were so young, with the rest of your life ahead of you. You had everything planned – graduate college, attend medical school, and become a doctor to save lives. Being suddenly told that all your plans were null, because you died… there’s no feeling describable that can compare to the shock you felt running through your system, forming an electrifying mixture of anguish and melancholy.

The boy in front of you seemed a bit taken aback by your reaction, but he quickly regained his composure. He sat at the edge of the bed, so that you were on eye level, and wrapped his arms around you, pulling you into a tight embrace, holding you still like that for what seemed like eternity.

When your breaths finally returned to an acceptable rate and rhythm, you pulled yourself out of his embrace.

“I-I’m sorry,” you gave a small smile, but the boy noticed the smile never reached your eyes.

“I’ve seen far worse reactions. Not everyone takes being told that they’re dead well. A little hyperventilation reaction would be considered rather tame,” he said to try and comfort you.

“So, are you finally going to tell me who are you?” You were much more relaxed now, your tone smooth and composed.

The boy smirked, as if impressed by how quickly you could calm and collect your emotions.

“I’m Taehyung.”

“Taehyung? That’s not what I was expecting. It’s so… normal.”

He let out a low-pitched chuckle, his eyes filled with amusement. “Well? What did you expect?”

“I don’t know. Something that sounds more ethereal.  You’re an angel, aren’t you? I’m assuming I’m in heaven?”

“Angel? I guess you could say that.”

You raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you or are you not?”

“I’m something like that,” he said. “This is not heaven either, but you can think of it as something of that sort. You died, sacrificing your life for your neighbor. This is where you get rewarded for your selflessness. After you receive your reward, you’ll cross over to the other side.”

“The other side….” You repeated his words, trying to make sense of them.

“It’s probably not what you’re thinking of,” he said. “It’s not like heaven or hell. You didn’t really think that existed, right? Crossing over the other side means that you will be put to rest. No memories or feelings will be retained. Your soul will cease to exist, yet exist at the same time. It’s actually quite an abstract concept; very hard to explain.”

“Oh,” was all you could say as your thoughts were overwhelmed by the sudden information.  

“You don’t seem too upset at that,” Taehyung pointed out.

You shook your head. “That doesn’t seem too bad. It’s like sleeping… eternally. Besides, it appears that there’s nothing I can do to change my situation.”

“Right,” he confirmed. “The only thing you can do now, is decide what your reward will be.”

Your puzzled expression must have been extremely apparent, since he proceeded to explain further.

“My usage of the word ‘reward’ might have been confusing. It’s more of a fulfilling your last wishes type of thing, for those who die honorably.”

“I don’t think what I did deserves to be praised to the high nines. She’s a sweet and innocent little girl with so much ahead of her. There wasn’t much time to think about the safety of it. Anyone would’ve probably done the same thing in my situation.”

“Ah,” he said. “But that’s where you’re wrong. You think too highly of other people.”

Your gaze met his, and you contemplated his words. His observation was true. You did think the best of people, even if they did not deserve it. But how could you do anything otherwise? Your refusal to see the bad in people, although it sometimes caused inconveniences for you, was one of your defining characteristics. It helped you remain optimistic and hopeful of the future, even if your life itself wasn’t the brightest and most sunshiny.

“Also, sweet and innocent little girl… couldn’t the same be said about you?” Taehyung teased.

His comment made you blush, and you averted your gaze, trying to hide how flustered you were.

“Anyway,” he resumed, “what is your wish?”

“I don’t know,” you laughed dryly. “What do people usually request for when it’s their last wish ever?”

“Some ask for one last chance to see their loved ones, alive or dead. Contrary to common misconception, there’s no communication at all on the other side. The souls there are incapable of interaction with others. They’re just there… at rest.

“Others wished to see the future, or riches for those they left on earth so they can live without worries. Some asked to relive a cherished memory. It’s really up to you and what you feel you left behind or have yet to accomplish.”

The “left behind” comment affected you deeply, because there was no one for you to have left behind at all. Your parents passed away when you were 16 in an unfortunate plane accident. The silver lining was that your family owned a house, so you were able to live there on your own; and you inherited a hefty sum of money from your parents and their life insurance contract. Technically, you were under the legal care of your aunt, but despite the familial connection, your aunt could not have cared less about you. That didn’t bother you though, since you were perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. Even before your parents’ death, you were considered to be mature far beyond your age. But their death did indeed hasten your maturity.

At first it was difficult. The first few weeks after the funeral, you had spent moping around the house, mainly staying in bed and drowning yourself in tears. Eventually, you reached a state of numbness where all your tears dried and the sharp pains of grief reduced to dull aches. You pulled yourself together on the thought that your parents – up in heaven – wouldn’t want to see you remain in that condition. But now you knew that they were never looking over you like you had thought. Their souls were already on the other side.

You did have a couple of friends… if they could even be called that. They were your classmates, really, since all you guys ever did was study for tests together in the library.

“I… there’s nothing I left behind,” you said as you realized your life amounted to nothing. There was no one left that you loved.

Taehyung began to raise an eyebrow in bewilderment, but he stopped himself before you noticed. “What about something on your bucket list that you haven’t done yet?”

His question sent you deep in thought. You were only 19. There’s too much you haven’t done yet.  

To start, there were a couple of guys you had dated on and off, but you’ve never been in love before. You’ve never experienced the ecstasy of finding someone to trust wholly, opening your heart to them entirely, even if it meant you were vulnerable to getting hurt. You’ve never experienced the comfort and routine of being in a dedicated relationship. You’ve never experienced heartbreak. But you doubt you can ask of that much from your one wish.

As you pondered over your options, you realized Taehyung was staring at you in anticipation of your answer. Once again, you ogled at his graceful features – from his soulful eyes, high nose, and kissable lips. You watched as his tongue reached out and licked his bottom lips slowly, as if taunting you. You shuddered as his small, seemingly innocuous action, spread a fire-like feeling to your groin area. You knew it was inappropriate, but you couldn’t stop yourself from expressing your last desire. After all, you were about to spend the rest of eternity on the other side. What’s there to stop you from one last reckless comment?

“I’ve decided on my wish,” you heard yourself say. “I want you.”

You made sure to emphasize the you part, hoping that Taehyung would understand its implications. You lowered your eyes, afraid to show your embarrassment.

A few seconds passed in silence as he processed your words.

Taehyung smirked. “Your wish shall be fulfilled."

[thomasroach]

Dragon Star Varnir Review

The post Dragon Star Varnir Review appeared first on Fextralife.

Our Dragon Star Varnir Review covers the struggle of the Witches of Varneria as they search for a way to break their tragic fate. If thats not enough, you have the Knights of Requiem hunting them down and the Ravens who hunt Dragons while moving forward with their hidden agenda. Finally coming to the west, Dragon Star Varnir brings turn-based combat, battling dragons and more.

Dragon Star Varnir Review

Genre: Role Playing Game, JRPG Developed by: IDEA FACTORY / COMPILE HEART Published by: Idea Factory International Release date: June 11, 2019 for North America and June 14, 2019 for Europe Platforms: PS4 Price at time of review: 59.99 USD

Dragon Star Varnir Features

Outcast Main Character – Take control of Zephy a former Knights of Requiem and newly turned Witch.

Bleak Fate – Witches either go mad or die by birthing a Dragon. Add to the fray Knights of Requiem who hunt them, what a life.

3D 3 grid layered turn-based combat

Sidequests & Goodies – Stop by the Huntery to undertake side quests and stop by the Witches Den to feed the little sisters to obtain goodies.

Foster Interactions – Give presents to the Witches and perhaps you’ll grow close with them and unlock special stuff.

Embrace Your Inner Dragon – Use Dragon Awakening to turn the tides of battle.

Story and Setting

The story follows Zephy, a former Knights of Requiem, who after succumbing to his wounds from a fight with a Dragon, becomes a Witch due to ingesting Dragon Blood. Minessa, a survivor of a devastating Witch genocide that occurred a decade earlier, administers the Dragon Blood to Zephy. Zephy’s reluctance to accept his position as a Witch gets slammed in his face, as the Knights of Requiem turn their backs on him. Zephy begrudgingly accepts Minessa’s help and becomes somewhat close to the remaining Witches.

The story follows him as he makes up his own mind about the Witches and their true nature which is a contradiction to the teachings of the Knights of Requiem. Meanwhile, the empire is astounded by the idea of a male Witch decide to ransack Zephy’s former home to obtain information on this defying transformation.

The Witches, Minessa and Karikaro, had planned to use Zephy as bait to recover their fellow sister Laponette from the Knights’ clutches. Once Zephy’s played his part in the fiasco he was left behind, until Minessa reminded them that he is now a Witch and one of them. Thus starts the adventures of Zephy and the remaining Witches of Varneria, to seek a way to break their doomed fate.

The game revolves around Zephy and the Witches as they progress through several levels flooded by Dragons as they are on their journey. You’ll travel through lust forests, empty deserts, ancient temples, and everything in between. When you are not questing you can feed your little sisters to avoid them succumbing to an early fate.

Players can develop their bonds with the female Witches by giving them presents to raise their affection levels. Or if they enjoy exploring areas, they may undertake sidequests to be rewarded with new items, formations, and more.

Gameplay

Players control Zephy and the Witches in turn-based 3 layered combat as they travel through Varneria. You spend time fighting Dragons and collecting materials from the world. Dragon Star Varnir is pretty straightforward as the premise is follows a pattern of:

Start chapter

Enter new area or the targeted area

Get to the end while watching cutscenes in between fights

Fight the boss Dragon

These outlined steps can be interrupted with sidequests from the Huntery for variation, feeding or ignoring the little sisters, and creating elixirs. Even on hard mode it’s difficult to “grind” levels. Usually your best bet is to enter the targeted area and farm experience there until you are equipped enough to fight the final boss of the area.

At times I would be 20 levels lower than the lesser enemies in a locale but can still defeat them without difficulty. As long as the player is consuming Dragons regularly, unlocking factors in their Dragon cores, and having a wide range of skills, they should be okay.

Most sidequests involve players bringing back items from a certain area, or finding a rare item in a locale that requires them to use their party’s environmental ability. Many of the requests will be fulfilled during normal gameplay but at times you would have to head back to a certain level to farm materials hoping RNG is in your favor.

I did find the camera to be quite annoying when a character flies on their broomstick as only the left stick will move them and right stick doesn’t move the camera. The camera sensitivity is also quite finicky making players find the right sweet spot for it. You want camera fast enough that you can scan the area but precise enough to avoid enemies and attack them first in the world.

The most annoying hindrance in Dragon Star Varnir is the equipment screen. There are 4 slots per character, and the game doesn’t keep your cursor on the last equipment slot you have adjusted. Instead it moves the cursor back towards the top slot making you input more than if you had free control over it.

Battles

Battles are your typical turn-based fights similar to what you find titles such as Death End Re;Quest. Those with high speed will have their actions played out before those with slower speed actions. Dragon Star Varnir possesses an aerial, triple layer turn-based combat. There are top, middle, and bottom levels where both party member and enemies will be positioned. Players can move throughout the levels to activate positioning bonuses, as well as tactically push enemies onto traps that the players set.

Players can select:

Physical: Standard regular attack

Magic: Use one of the character’s Active Skills; requires SP to use.

Devour: Use a devour skill.

Toggle Command: Gives players a second menu of options.

Switch: Replace a character with the paired support member.

Item: Use an item to heal, revive, or replenish SP.

Guard: Blocks incoming attacks to mitigate damage taken

Flee: Attempt to escape from the battle; may fail. Not all fights will allow you to escape.

Battling is simple enough to understand: the main goal is to weaken opposing Dragons with skills that they are weak to help drive up their fear levels. This gives players a higher chance to successfully devour them. Once players have devoured all the Dragons they like in an area, they can go on to fight the boss Dragon.

Dragon Cores

Dragon Cores are obtained once players devour a dragon and acts as a “skill tree”. Players will spend factor points to unlock certain skills they wish to obtain. These skills include:

Physical Skills

Magic Skills

Bonus Factors (permanent upgrades)

Passive Skills (equip-able skills that increase certain parameters)

Devouring Dragons are a vital mechanic as all new skills and upgrades will derive from them. I like this feature but it does get tedious when you need to encounter a specific Dragon 3 times in order to have each character devour it. It gets even more tiresome as the Dragon tends to enjoy fleeing from battle, this can make gameplay a little repetitive.

Little Sisters

At the Witches’ Den resides 3 little sister witches; these little sisters, like all witches, carry the “witches’ curse” and will go mad unless they drink dragon blood. Players have the option to feed dragon meat or blood found in the wild, or to starve them.

Each sister has a Satisfaction Meter that increases after feeding. At predetermined points of the Satisfaction Meter, players will receive gifts from the sisters as a reward. Players have the option to feed them in moderation, feed them to promote their birthing of their inner Dragon, or starve them so they can go mad. This mechanic really places you inside the game as you attempt to do your best and make the right decisions for your little sisters. This also places a bit of pressure on players to act with haste in the game, as time isn’t a luxury for Witches.

The Huntery

The Huntery will be the hub to undertake side quests from Zuba. Upon completing a quest, you will be awarded various items like the important “Books of Formation”, which allows players to change their battle formations to their liking. Most sidequests will be completed during normal progression of the main story while some quests will require players to double back and spend time hoping to obtain the item they need.

Audio and Visual

Dragon Star Varnir opening song is a favorite of mine and I’m really glad there is a music section under gallery to listen to the game’s soundtrack. I personally enjoy the choir god praising tunes when you are fighting. It really cements the disparity of the petite Witches versus the overwhelming large Dragons.

Graphically, the game is average as it is a 2018 Japanese game that became available to North America and Europe in 2019. You can tell the graphics are somewhat dated yet, it doesn’t take away from the game. My greatest complaint in this department would be the intermittent voice acting, 3D cutscenes and picture-esque screenshots. At some points I was expecting to hear the dialogue being spoken and was let down that I had to silently read it while other times I was caught off-guard by their voices. I think a bit more consistency would have made a greater impact to the overall feel of the story.

The character models are a great asset that I felt was underutilized.  I loved Minessa, Corberia, and Ruby Eye’s design and I wish I got to see more of them. Most cutscenes are 2D and the sparse 3D cutscenes left me wanting more. For the 3D cutscenes and picture-esque screenshots, I felt that the game wasn’t using the attractive character models to their best ability. Players are also unable to hide the text box to snap a picture of the characters interactions, something that was included in other Compile Heart games. Most additional cutscenes/interactions must be unlock during the gift mechanic.

Final Thoughts

If you are a fan of a dark world accompanied by tragic fated characters or even just a fan of JRPGs as a whole such as Death End Re;Quest, then this will be an enjoyable experience. This is good linear title that provides additional side “errands” that allows players to grow closer to the Witches of Varneria. The characters have a visibly appealing aesthetic that players should find at least one character that resonates with them.

The 3 layered combat is quirky yet fun to master. The only drawbacks for me were the funky camera angles and the equipment screen annoyance. Dragon Star Varnir could have been a stronger entry for the developer, if they had played to the strengths of the game more, which in my opinion was the great character designs. The inconsistent 2D/3D cutscenes and intermittent voice acting could have given a more immersive feel.

If you enjoyed this review you might be interested in another JRPG title Death End Re;Quest Review. You also check out more reviews in Devil May Cry 5 Review: Ssstylish Perfection, Days Gone Review: A Sapphire In The Rough and your might enjoy another Compile Hear title Death End Re;Quest.

The post Dragon Star Varnir Review appeared first on Fextralife.

Dragon Star Varnir Review published first on https://juanaframi.tumblr.com/

[thomasroach]

Dragon Star Varnir Review

The post Dragon Star Varnir Review appeared first on Fextralife.

Our Dragon Star Varnir Review covers the struggle of the Witches of Varneria as they search for a way to break their tragic fate. If thats not enough, you have the Knights of Requiem hunting them down and the Ravens who hunt Dragons while moving forward with their hidden agenda. Finally coming to the west, Dragon Star Varnir brings turn-based combat, battling dragons and more.

Dragon Star Varnir Review

Genre: Role Playing Game, JRPG Developed by: IDEA FACTORY / COMPILE HEART Published by: Idea Factory International Release date: June 11, 2019 for North America and June 14, 2019 for Europe Platforms: PS4 Price at time of review: 59.99 USD

Dragon Star Varnir Features

Outcast Main Character – Take control of Zephy a former Knights of Requiem and newly turned Witch.

Bleak Fate – Witches either go mad or die by birthing a Dragon. Add to the fray Knights of Requiem who hunt them, what a life.

3D 3 grid layered turn-based combat

Sidequests & Goodies – Stop by the Huntery to undertake side quests and stop by the Witches Den to feed the little sisters to obtain goodies.

Foster Interactions – Give presents to the Witches and perhaps you’ll grow close with them and unlock special stuff.

Embrace Your Inner Dragon – Use Dragon Awakening to turn the tides of battle.

Story and Setting

The story follows Zephy, a former Knights of Requiem, who after succumbing to his wounds from a fight with a Dragon, becomes a Witch due to ingesting Dragon Blood. Minessa, a survivor of a devastating Witch genocide that occurred a decade earlier, administers the Dragon Blood to Zephy. Zephy’s reluctance to accept his position as a Witch gets slammed in his face, as the Knights of Requiem turn their backs on him. Zephy begrudgingly accepts Minessa’s help and becomes somewhat close to the remaining Witches.

The story follows him as he makes up his own mind about the Witches and their true nature which is a contradiction to the teachings of the Knights of Requiem. Meanwhile, the empire is astounded by the idea of a male Witch decide to ransack Zephy’s former home to obtain information on this defying transformation.

The Witches, Minessa and Karikaro, had planned to use Zephy as bait to recover their fellow sister Laponette from the Knights’ clutches. Once Zephy’s played his part in the fiasco he was left behind, until Minessa reminded them that he is now a Witch and one of them. Thus starts the adventures of Zephy and the remaining Witches of Varneria, to seek a way to break their doomed fate.

The game revolves around Zephy and the Witches as they progress through several levels flooded by Dragons as they are on their journey. You’ll travel through lust forests, empty deserts, ancient temples, and everything in between. When you are not questing you can feed your little sisters to avoid them succumbing to an early fate.

Players can develop their bonds with the female Witches by giving them presents to raise their affection levels. Or if they enjoy exploring areas, they may undertake sidequests to be rewarded with new items, formations, and more.

Gameplay

Players control Zephy and the Witches in turn-based 3 layered combat as they travel through Varneria. You spend time fighting Dragons and collecting materials from the world. Dragon Star Varnir is pretty straightforward as the premise is follows a pattern of:

Start chapter

Enter new area or the targeted area

Get to the end while watching cutscenes in between fights

Fight the boss Dragon

These outlined steps can be interrupted with sidequests from the Huntery for variation, feeding or ignoring the little sisters, and creating elixirs. Even on hard mode it’s difficult to “grind” levels. Usually your best bet is to enter the targeted area and farm experience there until you are equipped enough to fight the final boss of the area.

At times I would be 20 levels lower than the lesser enemies in a locale but can still defeat them without difficulty. As long as the player is consuming Dragons regularly, unlocking factors in their Dragon cores, and having a wide range of skills, they should be okay.

Most sidequests involve players bringing back items from a certain area, or finding a rare item in a locale that requires them to use their party’s environmental ability. Many of the requests will be fulfilled during normal gameplay but at times you would have to head back to a certain level to farm materials hoping RNG is in your favor.

I did find the camera to be quite annoying when a character flies on their broomstick as only the left stick will move them and right stick doesn’t move the camera. The camera sensitivity is also quite finicky making players find the right sweet spot for it. You want camera fast enough that you can scan the area but precise enough to avoid enemies and attack them first in the world.

The most annoying hindrance in Dragon Star Varnir is the equipment screen. There are 4 slots per character, and the game doesn’t keep your cursor on the last equipment slot you have adjusted. Instead it moves the cursor back towards the top slot making you input more than if you had free control over it.

Battles

Battles are your typical turn-based fights similar to what you find titles such as Death End Re;Quest. Those with high speed will have their actions played out before those with slower speed actions. Dragon Star Varnir possesses an aerial, triple layer turn-based combat. There are top, middle, and bottom levels where both party member and enemies will be positioned. Players can move throughout the levels to activate positioning bonuses, as well as tactically push enemies onto traps that the players set.

Players can select:

Physical: Standard regular attack

Magic: Use one of the character’s Active Skills; requires SP to use.

Devour: Use a devour skill.

Toggle Command: Gives players a second menu of options.

Switch: Replace a character with the paired support member.

Item: Use an item to heal, revive, or replenish SP.

Guard: Blocks incoming attacks to mitigate damage taken

Flee: Attempt to escape from the battle; may fail. Not all fights will allow you to escape.

Battling is simple enough to understand: the main goal is to weaken opposing Dragons with skills that they are weak to help drive up their fear levels. This gives players a higher chance to successfully devour them. Once players have devoured all the Dragons they like in an area, they can go on to fight the boss Dragon.

Dragon Cores

Dragon Cores are obtained once players devour a dragon and acts as a “skill tree”. Players will spend factor points to unlock certain skills they wish to obtain. These skills include:

Physical Skills

Magic Skills

Bonus Factors (permanent upgrades)

Passive Skills (equip-able skills that increase certain parameters)

Devouring Dragons are a vital mechanic as all new skills and upgrades will derive from them. I like this feature but it does get tedious when you need to encounter a specific Dragon 3 times in order to have each character devour it. It gets even more tiresome as the Dragon tends to enjoy fleeing from battle, this can make gameplay a little repetitive.

Little Sisters

At the Witches’ Den resides 3 little sister witches; these little sisters, like all witches, carry the “witches’ curse” and will go mad unless they drink dragon blood. Players have the option to feed dragon meat or blood found in the wild, or to starve them.

Each sister has a Satisfaction Meter that increases after feeding. At predetermined points of the Satisfaction Meter, players will receive gifts from the sisters as a reward. Players have the option to feed them in moderation, feed them to promote their birthing of their inner Dragon, or starve them so they can go mad. This mechanic really places you inside the game as you attempt to do your best and make the right decisions for your little sisters. This also places a bit of pressure on players to act with haste in the game, as time isn’t a luxury for Witches.

The Huntery

The Huntery will be the hub to undertake side quests from Zuba. Upon completing a quest, you will be awarded various items like the important “Books of Formation”, which allows players to change their battle formations to their liking. Most sidequests will be completed during normal progression of the main story while some quests will require players to double back and spend time hoping to obtain the item they need.

Audio and Visual

Dragon Star Varnir opening song is a favorite of mine and I’m really glad there is a music section under gallery to listen to the game’s soundtrack. I personally enjoy the choir god praising tunes when you are fighting. It really cements the disparity of the petite Witches versus the overwhelming large Dragons.

Graphically, the game is average as it is a 2018 Japanese game that became available to North America and Europe in 2019. You can tell the graphics are somewhat dated yet, it doesn’t take away from the game. My greatest complaint in this department would be the intermittent voice acting, 3D cutscenes and picture-esque screenshots. At some points I was expecting to hear the dialogue being spoken and was let down that I had to silently read it while other times I was caught off-guard by their voices. I think a bit more consistency would have made a greater impact to the overall feel of the story.

The character models are a great asset that I felt was underutilized.  I loved Minessa, Corberia, and Ruby Eye’s design and I wish I got to see more of them. Most cutscenes are 2D and the sparse 3D cutscenes left me wanting more. For the 3D cutscenes and picture-esque screenshots, I felt that the game wasn’t using the attractive character models to their best ability. Players are also unable to hide the text box to snap a picture of the characters interactions, something that was included in other Compile Heart games. Most additional cutscenes/interactions must be unlock during the gift mechanic.

Final Thoughts

If you are a fan of a dark world accompanied by tragic fated characters or even just a fan of JRPGs as a whole such as Death End Re;Quest, then this will be an enjoyable experience. This is good linear title that provides additional side “errands” that allows players to grow closer to the Witches of Varneria. The characters have a visibly appealing aesthetic that players should find at least one character that resonates with them.

The 3 layered combat is quirky yet fun to master. The only drawbacks for me were the funky camera angles and the equipment screen annoyance. Dragon Star Varnir could have been a stronger entry for the developer, if they had played to the strengths of the game more, which in my opinion was the great character designs. The inconsistent 2D/3D cutscenes and intermittent voice acting could have given a more immersive feel.

If you enjoyed this review you might be interested in another JRPG title Death End Re;Quest Review. You also check out more reviews in Devil May Cry 5 Review: Ssstylish Perfection, Days Gone Review: A Sapphire In The Rough and your might enjoy another Compile Hear title Death End Re;Quest.

The post Dragon Star Varnir Review appeared first on Fextralife.

Dragon Star Varnir Review published first on https://juanaframi.tumblr.com/