#you think you hate him because of the perceived betrayal he just did. he might even think you hate him & you just assume that he hates you

[ccbatman]

actually so evil how much of hal's internal world gets obliterated with the rewriting of his relationships with jessica and martin.

[taughtdefense]

something something miyagi!ethan full-well knowing that he's genuinely happy, & so in love with, other versions of robby in alternate lives (verses), & robby loves him in those alternate existences, while s4!him is Absolutely Fucking Suffering

[keepthedelta]

i've never thought of that, that lewis' fans hate nico or actively bad mouthed him. certainly it is interesting the way nico is the only one that spur that reaction, not even adrian sutil. i think, like you said, fans want to see lewis as a doll, someone pretty, fashionable being but that's that. and imho nico was the only person to bring to the public the human side of lewis, he looked broken in some pc, he looked sad in some pictures, he looked distraught in other, happy, petty, cruel, shy, and the common factor was nico. i think nico has the right to say "hey, i'm the man that make lewis stutter" , lewis is just human

i don't think it's necessarily people being close to lewis that inspires so much hatred from certain fans, i think it's people standing in opposition to him. obviously there was massive opposition to max verstappen when he was fighting lewis, but even if you just look at lewis's teammates, even just lewis's mercedes teammates, you see that basically all of them have been treated pretty terribly by certain sections of his fans.

it kind of seems to me that there is a level of entitlement amongst some LH fans, as in, they feel they lewis is entitled to preferential behaviour, the full and unwavering support of every single member of the team, the love and devotion of his teammate who is to sacrifice himself for lewis whenever called for. it's why the "betrayal" motif is called upon so often, because any action nico or valtteri or george might have taken for their own betterment (in this solo sport) when lewis could have had that pole or that win or that fastest lap or whatever is perceived as a slight against lewis.

nico rosberg is a teammate who can take a championship challenge down to the final race and provide great entertainment. well sure that's nice in theory but why is he trying to win? that's not his to win. oh lewis had one singular mechanical dnf in an entire 21 race season, clearly nico rosberg and the team are sabotaging lewis to give nico a win, it's so obvious. but hey look at this new guy, he's the perfect doormat for lewis, always gives up position when told to, even gives up wins when told to (not once from 2017 through 2020 did the wdc go down to the final race, or even the penultimate race btw, so lewis probably would have been alright without a few of those valtteri, it's james moments). i mean sure that's demoralising and depressing and the work environment is so toxic that he's really struggling with his mental health and they refuse to give him anything longer than a one year contract because you never know when you need to take out the trash. as long as it helps lewis it will all be worth it. oh but he's not really helping lewis enough there. yeah we don't want him anymore we want a shiny new doormat. but wait? the car's not great and george russell who has worked basically his entire life to be in f1 and get into a championship capable car and is finally living his dream only to find out that everything's harder than he was hoping but he has no choice but to keep going is doing better than lewis? what a self serving cunt, we should go back to valtteri, he was happy when james vowles held his head under the water to let lewis use it as a stepping stone. and hey, lewis is leaving anyway, he's maybe not 100% motivated right now and that could easily explain him being one hundredth of a second slower than george, but you know what else could explain it better? clearly george is fucking toto and if we send an email pretending to be mercedes staff members everyone will know that it's sabotage for toto's little gigolo (all real comments i've seen people make, not phrased exactly like this tho)

i don't think they're particularly interested in lewis as a person, or even lewis as a racing driver. i think for a lot of them it's what he can represent symbolically. he's successful and if they worship him enough they are a part of that success. he's been an activist in the sport, so if they worship him enough they'll be counted as good and moral people too. lewis is "fashionable" so if they worship him enough they will also have good fashion taste. it's just a cycle of worship worship worship. lewis must be the best in every way because if he's the best then so are they. and the easiest way to make him better is to attack those who expose complexity and nuance in his character, like nico.

i once wrote a post about the mclaren conflict between lewis and jenson, and i'm pretty sure it was on that post that someone commented that while it was true i was too focused on things that lewis "used" to do. and i remember it because when i saw it i immediately thought "is it used to do, or doesn't need to do?" is it genuine growth, or is it just the competition being easier?

nico took the championship fight down to the final race twice, and won one of those fights. no one, not valtteri bottas, not sebastian vettel, no one came anywhere close to that in the four years that followed. not until max verstappen came along was the challenge quite so fierce. and you know what lewis did then? when his back was against the wall he crashed max verstappen into the silverstone barriers at 51Gs and then cheered it on the podium (i am well aware that max was also not a docile lamb i'm not trying to victimise or villainise anyone here, i'm just making a point). that's the kind of racer lewis is, ruthless and singleminded. and when you like interesting "characters" that's not inherently a bad thing. i've recently seen much more enjoyment of the likes of lewis and charles being such poor losers because it's proof of how much they care about the sport and about winning.

i think nico forces complexity into our understanding of lewis. yes some of it is the shared childhood and the loneliness, but it's also about the ruthlessness, the public cruelty, the use of conspiracy theories (specifically about lewis being sabotaged for nico) as a psychological tool, the refusal to mention his name, the attempt of "well i've had tougher teammates than max verstappen but i won't say the name of the only teammate ever to beat me to a championship".

but if your interest in a person is how your worship of them can reflect better on you, nuance and complexity of character is not desirable. and if it's not desirable, it must be eradicated.

[astroyongie]

Yongie can you do monsta x reaction to making their so cry pleasee I’m begging

Monsta X Reaction To Making Their S/O Cry

Shownu

The moment he sees your cheeks full of tears, his face closes off

He doesn't say word at the beginning

he has no expression whatsoever on his features

He is the type to just look at you before actually asking you if you are alright

I don't think he understands what he just did at first

but he will want to communicate with you and try to know why you are feeling that way

why you crying

only then will he realize

Shownu will act mature about it usually

he does apologize for his behaviors

and then he becomes clingy

he would want to comfort you with food

with snuggles and hugs

He will fix things

Minhyuk

This man will act all worked up

You probably crying because he didn't hold his tongue and said horrible things to you

and when you start crying he will hate himself

but at the same time, he wonders why you went for it

He is a mix between feeling bad for you and being "see I told you"

Minhyuk will give you a few minutes to get yourself back together but he would want to talk it through

so no bad feelings stay between the two of you

He would probably try to solve the thing with physical touch

like kissing and hugging you

or even taking you inside the bedroom

he can be persuasive if you want me to be honest

Kihyun

This man will feel awful if he ever makes you cry

like yes, maybe he wanted to be right about something but that didn't mean he needed to put you in tears

Kihyun will feel really guilty although he has a hard time apologizing

he will do it

And then it's up to you

if you want to talk things through at the moment, go for it

if you prefer to take some time to collect yourself, he will allow you to do so as well

He just wants to make sure that you are relatively alright

After that, he will act a little bit impulsive

due to his conflicted emotions, he will try to do too much at once for you to forgive him

which can be annoying for you

he will try to compensate you with a going out or a date

and if you don't want to go out he might perceive it as you not caring about his apology

Hyungwon

This guy won't apologize for making you cry

he will be the type to feel everything inside

empathy, sadness, and guilt toward the fact that he made the person he cares for cry

but still, he would be unable to say sorry mostly due to the lack of verbal empathy

he is the type to just look at you, and nod listening and waiting for you to calm down from your cries

Hyungwon will then take some time for himself

meaning that he prefers if both of you just take some time out to reflect on things

he wouldn't want to communicate anyway and he won't give you any emotional of physical contact that you might crave at the moment

just space so you both can reflect on what was wrong and discuss it later

Jooheon

Jooheon like the rest of the boys is the type to apologize after he realized that he made you cry with one of his actions or his words

he would feel very conflicted about the whole thing

and he might not even know what to do

but since he is very close and dependable on you he would want to fix things at the moment

to talk to you about what happened

to understand and to apologize currently

Jooheon has also a big heart

so once you have calmed down he would be very warm

whatever you want as compensation he will give it to you

and he actually makes sure not to betrayal your trust again

I.M

He is so angry

when he sees you cry it probably makes him get even more upset than he was before you guys started arguing, or before you started crying

he just can't stand it

and he won't

in any case and based on his chart, Changkyun won't apologize

and he won't stay around you while you cry

he prefers to isolate himself and wait that you calm down enough to come and talk with "rationality" rather than "emotions"

Changkyun might really act like an ass

this guy could leave the room and go eat a sandwich while you cry

or he would fall asleep on bed while you cry beside him

so it might be quite complicated

[stromuprisahat]

Question: how do you justify what the darkling did to Genya, Alina and Nikolai? I don’t even mean this to sound rude, but I’m just genuinely curious how you just brush past that when you say the Darkling never did anything he’d have to apologize for 🙃

I'd start with stating that I don't like the word "justify". Google says its meaning is "to show or prove to be right or reasonable", which to me sounds like something that's expected whenever you're about to do something that might offend or hurt anyone. Like pre-made apology you owe people even though you might not have anything to apologize for in the end.

It's really about lack of better words. Czech dictionary translates "justify" as "odůvodnit" or "ospravedlnit", out of which the first one is strictly without that moral baggage. Closer to "give reason".

Aleksander's actions are often perceived out of context, as malicious crimes he committed for his own enjoyment, or whatever suits the antis best, while there are plenty of factors we shouldn't fail to consider.

Ravka- The country he loves, even though it doesn't love him. Rarely peaceful- according to Shadow and Bone, current wars last for over a century. Drained by both its neighbours, split in two for long enough it's pretty unbelievable the West is only planning to secede, poor, with ruling class, who doesn't care and has no reason to.

Grisha- From outright hated to respected, but in constant danger anywhere else, Aleksander manged to carve out a place for them under conditions. The Crown allows Grisha to live right on its backyard (to better keep an eye on), safely train and serve as soldiers or servants of noble houses, as long as they're useful, but... also has no need or intention to take it further. Grisha are glorified, envied serfs in fancy clothes. They're used by monarchy, despised and distrusted by masses, as proved by several little things throughout the first book and instant pogroms once the Fold moves (And don't forget there were no survivors- no true witnesses-, aside from few of the Darkling's people.).

His own lives' experience- Let's be honest- centuries of watching his people- however close- die, drawbacks, betrayals, constantly repeating history... gives one quite a perspective. It's a miracle the Darkling is merely numb and tired, yet somehow hardly unfeeling. Unlike the young heroes he possesses enough self-control not to start begging, crying, screaming... He's lashing out, when he has a reason to believe it won't bite him in the ass, he's petty and hurts others, punishing them for hurting him.

setting- Forget 21st century morality. If we're talking about 19th century-esque world, it wouldn't only have fancy nobles, dashing princes to play pirates privateers and masses of uneducated peasants. The reason people think the way they do is they got there somehow. Ravka still has servitude, for gods' sake! Lives don't matter the way people want them to today! It won't be only about some being rich and some poor, there should be huge differences depending on one's circumstances of birth, bloodlines, wrongs or slights generations old... I'm aware we're suppose to pretend Alina get a pass, because she's "Living Saint", but for example slapping a member of royalty should cost her. Bastard or not, you let it slide once, and next thing you know people are getting ideas and building guillotines.

Now to your question:

Genya is the easiest. She got punished for disobeying direct order, betraying the Darkling for a girl she hardly knew and who was too self-involved to truly act like the friend Genya for some reason suddenly feels her to be.

Aleksander let Genya close enough to be considerably honest around her, at least regarding his intentions with Lantsovs. Dangerous thing to do for a man in his position (and although I have my theories, this reply is no place for them). That's why he made it personal. She didn't only abandon their cause, she hurt him, so he took what she valued most about herself, fitting his revenge into her expectable punishment.

He could've had her whipped. To death even. Instead he chose more personal approach.

Alina's the messiest, because way too many feelings got involved and Aleksander's shit in handling those. His only lasting relationship is his abusive mother, others tend to die on him. Alina's a personification of a dream. Someone to keep him company for the rest of eternity. A companion he longed for for so long, he's not able to handle the bitter truth. I don't think he ever considered his "One and Only Equal" might not be interested in his goals and while he might rationally understand Alina's so much younger, he quickly loses his patience and decides to speed up her development because her young self is interfering with his general plans.

Now, while younger Aleksander might have been more passionate, he was never allowed the luxury of recklessness or even childhood, as a consequence of which he has no idea how to handle hormonal teenagers. Alina's worldview is incredibly narrow and she has several mental mechanisms to prevent her from changing that, while Aleksander's living in constant paranoia, possibility of fight or flight 24/7. They're incompatible the way they are- Alina unwilling to change, Aleksander too rigid and lacking the luxury of choice- yet in each other's way too much to merely split up. The Darkling needs the Sun Summoner as a tool and a symbol, and as long as he breathes, Alina won't have a chance to regain her beloved anonymity.

What he did to her?

The Collar was his hand forced. Unreliable deserter possessing the power he needed to ensure ceasefire.

What else is there that couldn't be explain by simple "They're on opposite sides of a conflict."?

The only other moment that comes to my mind is him burning down the orphanage, one of my favourites. The situation is thus:

The Darkling occupies the Throne (Yay!), but he lacks wide support, numbers and resources, therefore he's forced to rule by fear, which is no way to go, when he wants to build future, where Grisha are accepted. Who does have the love of masses, is an undeserving "Saint" and rogue prince, starving his own people, while being cheered on for it, because he's thwarting the Darkling at the same time. I'll ignore Nikolai for now. So, how do you catch a single person, who could be hiding anywhere, with help from anyone, while you can count on no one? You make them come to you. You make them show themselves under circumstances you control.

Alina already fled slaughter of others three times, one she even directly caused. She might pretend to be a do-gooder, but she truly cares only about herself and her otkazat'sya past. Threatening Malyen already proved to be fruitful, but that one's out of Aleksander's reach, so he tries the next best thing. Destroying her "home". There's also poetry in it- he lost his mother for Alina, it's only fair she'd lose hers. As a symbol of the past Alina's so stubbornly clinging to, there's even some chance it WILL really hurt her, which is certainly plus for his vengeful self.

Eventually it proves to be ruthless, simple and utterly brilliant. Alina falls for his threat and meets him in the Fold.

It's a beautiful example of sacrificing a few (The Grisha teachers probably stayed with the children for their sake, and residents of the orphanage were also just doing their jobs as far as we know.) to end civil war and bring the other side to heel. Ravka wasn't able to handle two-front war, opening third one was insanity and I'm genuinely surprised the country didn't fall (or that West didn't use it to finally free itself from East). With Alina's power under control the Darkling could've attempted "Peace or the Fold" again, perhaps even succeed this time.

And then we have Nikolai.

Second-born Lantsov thwarting his plans, proposing "his" Sun Summoner, loved by masses and army alike because unlike Aleksander, he's otkazat'sya. Goals? Same. Positions? Incomparable. Willingness to give everything? Yes for both.

In better world, they could've been allies. One easily accepted, the other highly experienced. But the story doesn't want that, so Nikolai is serious contender and an obstacle in Aleksander's way to "Fine, I'll do it myself.". He needs to be gone. Killing him would be easiest and most permanent, but Kolya fucked up, when he made it personal.

Tricking the Darkling, shooting him, proposing to his "not"gf, evacuating royal family AND Baghra, starving his forces once Darkles sits on the throne... taking away Nikolai's most valuable quality, while keeping him conscious enough to comprehend it is the way to go!

There's also a POV that says showing your essence down your rival's throat to irrecoverably change him might be seen as a romantic gesture or outright foreplay, but I happen to be a Fannibal, so I'm aware the majority of Grishaverse fans might find my ideas of romance a bit harder to digest (pun absolutely intended).

To sum up: Most of the Darkling's actions corresponds with his position of 19th century-esque war general and revolutionary attempting Coup to save his bankrupt country, while hated by masses and lacking resources. Plus a drop of clever, petty vindictiveness.

(And whole bucket of bad writing, because there are things that just DON'T MAKE SENSE- both regarding worldbuilding and characterisation.)

[the-bi-space-ace]

Crosshair… that’s it that’s the post

This is going to be a full analysis of how I personally view Crosshair as a character. You can certainly disagree with me that's chill! I just want to yell about this man. This will be long so thoughts below the cut!

Let's start with meeting him in The Clone Wars. Hunter immediately says that Crosshair is not a big conversationalist. He looks and acts the most severe, usually only speaking to say some quip.

I want to start with how he reacts when Rex says something about Cody being hurt. Crosshair gets defensive and immediately bulks at the mere thought of leaving Cody behind. Now, we know Rex is not suggesting that, but Crosshair doesn't. That defensiveness really strikes me as a defining character moment for him. This idea of 'being left behind' or 'leaving someone behind' is so poignant for his character and I will touch on that a little later!

Crosshair really gives Rex a lot of shit, and as someone who loves Echo and Rex a fucking lot I definitely had my fair share of side eyeing when it was happening. The moment when Rex breaks, when Crosshair accuses Rex of leaving Echo behind and he says that he would have done it to. After all he is 'just a reg'. Now, hmmm. He definitely said this to get under Rex's skin and I have the BIGGEST suspicion that it was because he did not trust Rex at this point and was really trying to push buttons to see what Rex's reaction would be. And boy does he get a big one. Now, I am not saying that you should ever punch somebody for pissing you off but... I totally see why Rex swung at him. He was pushed to his end, he was emotional, he was being needled and he was fucking angry. I get it. I think it's understandable that Rex finally was pushed to have an outburst. Because not only is he upset but he has again been accused of leaving someone behind for the hell of it and not caring.

My thought here is that Crosshair cares so much about loyalty and never leaving someone behind and he judges those that even consider it so harshly without understanding the circumstances behind it. Being left behind is a deal breaker for him. No questions asked. It is the biggest betrayal. We see this come up in how he reacts to getting left behind when the batch flea kamino after his chip is enhanced. He hates that he was left behind. It breaks his heart.

Now, his chip was at least active until after Bracca? I feel like that's pretty well established throughout the fandom. After Bracca? That is Crosshair. He is still angry but there is a heartbreak weaved through it. He's so desperate to have his family back that he honestly doesn't really care about how it happens, as long as they come back to him. Because he felt betrayed. He believes they never looked back after they left him behind the first time. And he believes it because he perceives them leaving him behind every single time their paths cross. He's hurt. does he think about how the batch perceive the situation? No. It is the same assumption he makes about Rex. You left a man behind, I don't care about the circumstances. And when you feel so deeply hurt and betrayed? When you were experimented on and you see your family leave you behind and never attempt to save you? When you see them come for Hunter but never for you? Yeah. I get it. I understand.

He is mad at them and they are mad at him on Kamino the second time. And I think what bothers me throughout the entire finale is that they don't try to understand each other. They don't try to understand the anger palpitating behind everyone's actions and it is because everyone is so hurt. They are all heartbroken and there is no time to have a heart to heart because this is life or death. And if they don't get off of Kamino they are all dead. I think if they could explain and talk through the rock and the hard place both parties were stuck in that it might still be heartbreaking and there would be some resentment but there could have been a path forward.

That moment where he saves Omega and his act of loyalty and usefulness is rejected? It really solidifies the thought in his head that the batch does not want him, and never did. Despite the fact that there are a lot of layers here to explore (and everyone is hurt and suffering and is fighting to be understood) this is what Crosshair sees and since they all can't get on the same page it is a losing battle. He's staying on Kamino. He's choosing the Empire. Because the batch didn't choose him.

Let's talk about how Crosshair is handling his trauma. Now, everyone handles trauma differently and I want to say that being traumatized does not excuse a person's actions but it can explain them.

Crosshair clung to the Empire because he needs to feel useful. He needs to be useful in the way he has always been taught to be useful. He knew his place with the batch but that unit was disrupted and he lost it and now he needs to cling to what is familiar because without that familiarity he feels like he has nothing. The batch didn't come for him. He has no family. If he then also has to deal with not having a purpose? He'll break down. He can't handle that.

We see it start. He has been isolating while he recovers. The other clones want nothing to do with him, the new recruits don't want anything to do with the clones. He's alone. Alone is something Crosshair doesn't do well with. So he tries. He tries to sit with and be near other clones but they immediately get up and walk away. He has no idea how to make connections anymore, it is being stripped away from him quickly. And do you know the easiest way to control somebody? Isolate them. His isolation makes him easier to control. He was isolated from the batch to enhance his chip. He is isolated in recovery.

Then he gets to work with Cody, a person who he respects and is honestly shocked to see. I have a feeling Cody saw Crosshair's name pop up in a file and had to reach out to him because he was thinking of defecting and he wanted to know if Crosshair would go with him. Crosshair can't actually let Cody in, he can't actually allow himself to close the distance and not only hear what Cody is saying but agree to it. I think he wants to see, but he is so blinded by his own pride and fear that he simply refuses. That is just my own theory but I still like it.

Then we have what we just witnessed. Mayday. A commander who says the things that everyone else is thinking. That voices his own opinions on the bullshit the empire is pulling. A man who has a quip at every turn and cares so deeply for his own men that he honors every single one he has lost. He fought for them. He was loyal to them. BUT we see Crosshair break his own rule here. 'Don't want to carry around dead weight'. That is SO INTERESTING to me because I've spent the last... idk how many words telling you that being left behind is his biggest deal breaker because he views it as a betrayal. But now. Dead weight is how Crosshair sees himself. He thinks he is the dead weight to leave behind and he does not want to be that anymore. Crosshair has realized that he has very little chance at connection and a bond with other people so he has given up. He has given up holding true to whatever he wants or believes in. He's tired. He's too quiet. He's despondent.

But then Mayday shows him that he trusts Crosshair and this man is reminded that Mayday is not a commander that considers his men 'dead weight' or easy to leave behind. And Crosshair can't help but be reminded that leaving a man behind, when they could be saved or taken care of, is not something he has ever wanted to do. And he can't do that now. He half drags Mayday through the snow and the ice and tries so desperately to save him. Because Mayday is a man worth saving. And Mayday is not dead weight. And when that act is thrown in his face. When his show of loyalty and trust is shoved back at him and they let Mayday die? He can't take it anymore. He is broken, he's beaten down, but he is going to take revenge on the fucker who let this commander die. So he does. He shoots Nolan and he crumbles. He's exhausted. He doesn't care what happens to him. And he is devastated that he's lost yet another person and that truly breaks him down.

Crosshair is a deeply complicated man who has been tortured and brain washed and controlled. It is not as simple as right and wrong. There are layers to explore and depth to be seen. And I want to see what we can learn if we just dig a little bit harder. I’m sure I’ve missed things since there is so much I could say about him. But this is pretty comprehensive of my thoughts on him. Terrified of change, fiercely loyal, acts on his emotions, and does not handle isolation well.

@anythingbutmynamebro @marvel-starwarsfangirl @heyclickadee @irononyx32 @meganebutterflyrei @starrylothcat (this took a few days but I did it!!! Thanks for the encouragement lol)

[purplebowties]

Hi, chair ask! What're your thoughts on the whole Blair and Jack thing? Just the "Love triangle" and incident before his redemption

Hi! Thank you so much for the interesting question!

So, I’m gonna start by saying that my feelings and thoughts about Jack are very ambivalent. Much like Chuck, I have a love/hate relationship with the character.

I know many people in the fandom think of Blair having sex with Jack in season 2 an out of character thing happened for shock value. Though I can see where they’re coming from, I don’t necessarily agree. I think Blair was in a very dark and vulnerable place when it happened, and I can see her doing it out of sheer desperation, and Jack taking advantage of it.

There’s no actual canonical explanation as for why Jack was so jealous of his nephew and so adamant to take everything that was “his” away from him (I’m clearly not referring to Blair as property because I think of her in these terms, but because Jack does), but it’s a factor that played a part in their relationship for a long time. I’m gonna take a not so wild guess here and assume that Bart treated him horribly and that Jack took it out Chuck as soon as he got the chance. Upon meeting Blair, which happened offscreen, Jack, who’s tremendously smart, must have understood the depth of the feeling that connected Chuck and Blair. I’m not sure he had any actual agenda when their sexual encounter happened, as Bart’s will had not been revealed, but the thrill of getting so close to the person Chuck loved must have been irresistible to him and reason enough to do it.

As for Blair, I believe she was out of her mind with worry, as she is always so in tune with Chuck that she must have known he was self-destructive and borderline suicidal. Jack must have offered her comfort in this sense, promising her he would find Chuck and take him home, which was the only thing Blair wanted at that point: for Chuck to be home and safe. Jack must have also painfully reminded her of Chuck - they are, after all, so similar in many ways. I don’t think it was something that was meant to “make sense”: it was likely a moment of weakness and disorientation for Blair, and she is far from being immune to making irrational decisions in emotionally charged situations. A part of Blair might have even done it because she was furious at Chuck, not just for leaving her and not saying “I love you” back per se, but mostly because of what he was doing to himself and his refusal to let her help him. A complex and hurtful mess of contrasting emotions led Blair to have sex with Jack.

Coming to season 3, it is obvious from the way Chuck looks at Blair and Jack speaking in 3X15 that he’s not really over what happened between them and perceived it as a betrayal from Blair. It is part of the many, intricate reasons behind the lack of communication that leads to the hotel incident and everything that came after that. Jack knows too, obviously, and this is why he uses Blair as a pawn in his game - eventually, he just wants Chuck to lose what’s most important to him, and that’s Blair.

I must stress how Chuck’s judgement at the point he makes the unfortunate decision to agree on Jack’s deal was clouded by immeasurable stress and deep trauma: in a way, he extended what he felt towards Elizabeth’s betrayal to Blair, and tested her loyalty (much like he did with his mother, “Writing the check was just a test, but I wanted her to pass, not fail. As soon as I handed it to her, I didn’t want her to take it.”) Both Blair and Elizabeth were involved with Jack and both accepted to scheme with him and betrayed Chuck’s trust (Blair out of love, Elizabeth out of cowardice). There are several factors under the surface of Chuck’s choices at that point of the story, complicated and contradictory, not least the fact that he was going through a depressive and self-destructive episode, but this is one of them.

(If you’re interested, I attached a post I wrote ages ago about 3X17)

I’m sorry, this was exceptionally long and I probably digressed here and there. At the end of the day, I like that Chuck and Jack rebuilt their relationship, and satisfied with the fact that Blair is okay with it. By the time their stories end, the three of them are completely over all that was mentioned above. They are people who did, do and would do horrible things for the right reasons (when it comes to Chuck and Blair, no longer to each other or their loved ones, but to the outside world) and I think this is something they fundamentally understand about each other.

[asoulofatlantis]

I think I was a bit unfair when I said that Van not being as protective of Agnes anymore in Kuro 2 was do to the focus on Elaine and his relationship with her. I guess it was also do to the fact that he had more trust in Agnes strength and abilities at that point.

"dead" is the word you are searching for and at this point there is nothing you could do for the man anymore.

What an hard first experience our girl has made when she just started out for her search of Grandfathers momentum.

These days these guys actually come to us for help and information exchange. Oh how the tables have turned...

Looking at this tho, it is really true, that Agnes joining him has changed Vans life and the way people perceive his work.

Oh god! Kinkaids voice is awful! Like... really awfully unfitting. He doesn't at all sounds like that down to earth guy that works for the famous CID.

I am not sure if Kaela got a new voice-actor. She sounded slightly different. But she only said like 3 words so it could be my immagination.

They actually pronounce René in exactly the way the name would be pronounced in Germany and I can not even kick them for it because I think that would have been the intention if Japanese people were able to speak german words so easily...

You know what is really weird? Kinkaids relationship with Van wasn't that hot at the beginning either but they hit it right off when they met again and treated each other with the same old "high five" we even see in Kai. And yet, that is the guy who tricked us to get Agnes in the position that led her to... well... vanish.

I HATE owing something to the likes of you Kinkaid. You know. I mean traitors! (You might argue about the whole mess with Claire and Lechter in Cold Steel being somewhat the same but it was not. Not ONCE did Claire or Lechter hide who their loyalties lies with and it was never truly unexpected when they turned against us - not to mention that they never truly liked doing it to begin with. Kinkaid on the other hand played us like a freakin fiddle. He even betrayed the very president he was working for and with. He did not give a damn about the feelings of the people around him, was even feeling to stand on the other side of a battle with Elaine, his childhoodfriend that he has always watched over. He is not as bad as Crow was back then and I am sure just like with Dominique his intentions weren't bad, but a betrayal stays a betrayal and that makes him one of those damn traitors!

She was such a clumsy nuisance in the beginning and look how amazing and reliable she has become now! I guess I wasn't looking close enough when I said we barely had any character-development in Kai. Its just that it really happened over the curse of all 3 games, like its supposed to, which is likely why it did not feel as strongly in Kai itself.

Ah... I kind of forgot that they started out as somewhat rivals in the beginning...

I wonder if we have the chance to changet hings now that we... you know... have the chance to do things differently. I mean, IF we do remember things we should be able to save even Aida in time, if Van is up for it that is. And that would be so Trails to do that. BUT the Calvard-Arc might still do it differently.

XD Ah Bermotti... its almost upsetting that his role got smaller over the games, with the cast getting bigger and more people being willing to give Van information.

[BTW... my CPU really had to put the cooler on full speed for a while XD]

Its propably the Erebonian-Bitch inside me speaking but isn't it somehwat annoying that the newest and best model always comes from the place we are at right now. Would it not have been fun if Erebonia actually used the Ramda and then we get to Calvard and they use the Arcus and so on? I get that with the... problems between Erebonia and Calvards that seems a bit odd, but how likely is it that the place were the current Septerion is active is the place that managed to produced the best Battle Orbment? If we ever get to the east, were people die because of the desertification I wonder if they still manage to have some sort of technical company pop up that actually manages to produce the best battle orcment technologies just in time for us to deal with shit that has to do with the next Septerion ^^'

Given that Verne, ZFC and Reinford are working more together now (and need to do so to catch up with Marduk anyway...) it would be nice to for once have a battle orbment that they all produced together next time. I would also have my character wear it with pride, given that Alisa, Tita and Tio were likely involved in its production.

*achem* Sorry... the Erebonian-Bitch inside me is sometimes to strong to fight it XD

Fuck! We met her that early? Urg. I mean... uh... look! I am usually not a shipper that hates a character for being part of the rival ship or anything so that is NOT the only reason I have some... uh... qualms with Elaine. But I gotta admit the way I look at her is highly influenced by her role in my personal-shipping war ^^'

I do NOT by any means deny that Elaine is strong and cool and overall a really nice and understanding and mature character... but sometimes she just pisses me off with the way she is such a "play it strictly by the rules" kind of bracer. I've loved the Bracers before we came here, but our Bracers just operated much less to the rules and... uh... I don't know. Something about Elaine just... doesn't work for me.

Sometimes I wonder if it isn't because she is so different from the characters in my favorite MCShips. Like her good qualities somehow annoy me for some reason ^^' I liked the was Alisa was so jealous and possessive of Rean and I liked the fact that Elie's attitude when it came to Lloyd wasn't so far away from that either. Elaine... handles her feelings more maturely and that should be something good. But its just plain boring for me ^^'

Her voice is okay and they do pronounce her name right. Funny. The one character I have problems with is the one character they did not wrong with anything else but changing her amazing "Sword Maiden" name to freaking "Beauty Sword" as if it was necessary to change the name just to point out that she is pretty.

So that is how they deal with it, huh? Its not an insult to be called beautyfull. HOWEVER Claire made it pretty clear that "maiden" is the way bigger insult after a certain age. But maybe that IS the reason why they changed it? Like... some weird for of censorship?

Interesting to notice tho, while the high five indicated otherwise, Kinkaid was just an old acquaintance, with Elaine it was much more awkward and yet he called her an old friend.

Why the hell has the announcer for the subway train a french accent? O.O

Grrrr... those stupid reparations destroyed Erebonias economy and there were unreasonably high for a freaking one-day war! Like I get that they had to pay reparations for caused damage including the one on Calvards reputation for framing them for trying to murder the Emperor and all that. And while I also get that a lot of that money likely went into the space project that was suppose to save the whole of Zemuria even this Gremheart only aimed for it for selfish, yet understandable reasons, it still pisses me off.

Yeah, no nation can because no other nation had its own money AND an immense sum of money from another country to add to its Economy. This position of supremacy has been reached by a money cheat, not by actually handling your Economy well.

OR to the next reset... just saying.

I wonder tho, given that it is hinted that we might need Rean to fight that... thingy in space that keeps us locked in... while this man be able to ask for Erebionias help for more than just a mock battle I am sure he thought his people would win? (But we won ;P All Erebonian-Bitch bitching aside tho... it would have not made any sense for us to lose, despite the fact that our machines were the less advanced ones. Rean and Crow not just had a shitload of battle Experience but also the clear advantage when it came down to teamwork. I was afraid we would lose those Mech-Battles by default because its Calvards turn to look cool, but that's the point! If Calvard had won those Mock-Battles, it would have only been for the sake of Calvard looking cool because its the main place now, not because it would have made sense...)

*achem* I am doing it again, right? Sorry, but you have to bear with me here, that is just who I am.

Did they change her voice-actor AGAIN?! Geez. Can't keep up with it. Isn't this like the third time in 3 games?

Was that game always that easy? I played on super easy last time too and while it wasn't super hard either I can remember that those Gargoyls were a bit harder to handle. Weird.

Well... I guess we have the full reason for that somewhat solved by now.

[rodismancave]

43/55/56

Weirdly specific but helpful Character building questions

I already did 43 so I went for 41!

41. What phrases, pronunciations, or mannerisms did they pick up from someone / somewhere else?

He tends to pick up stuff from people very easily. He’s picked up accents from Earth (he especially enjoys faking Texan accents to annoy people), he’s picked up Jazz’, Springer’s and Kup’s taste in music (Blaster is part of that list, too, but he’d rather be shot than admit to that out loud), he’s picked up some nervous ticks from Brainstorm, he’s picked up some of Optimus’ speech patterns when he’s strategizing out loud, he’s got Drift’s bad habit of staring at people a little too hard to get a read of their aura (he doesn’t actually know how to do that, but he’ll be damned if he doesn’t try), when writing, his letters tend to curve a specific way that he saw Prowl write once that he found to look pretty and organized (his imitation isn’t the best when he’s writing fast), he pronounces Nyon in his own especial little way(though he rarely does so), and when he’s particularly nervous his Nyonian accent is thick, and In private settings he might even attempt to recall some specific Nyonian dialect.

55. What’s something they’re expected to enjoy based on their hobbies / profession that they actually dislike / hate?

I can’t think of anything for this, because I don’t think people perceive Rodimus as anything but an adrenaline junkie and a little self centered, so I’ll tell you what I think people assume he hates but he does like, though! I think he enjoys infiltration jobs, stealth jobs. I think he fucking loves being a scout. He’s got a shiny paint, sure, but he’s pretty good at thinking his way inside buildings without being noticed, he’s small enough for it, and he usually gets away. Beat up, but he gets away.

He just doesn’t like waiting around for people, and as a scout, people need to wait around for him.

56. If they’re scared, who do they want comfort from? Does this answer change depending on the type of fear?

This may be a shocker, but Rodimus is not very easily swayed into vulnerability. He doesn’t enjoy being vulnerable in front of others, because vulnerability tends to equal betrayal equals loss equals grief.

I know it’s a popular headcanon that he often confines in Drift— but I frankly don’t think he does that very often. He’s very stubborn and only opens up about things that don’t necessarily mean much. For example, he’d never tell Drift about Nyon, about his nightmares about such. He’d never tell about Dealer, or Swindle. He’s got walls, they’re made of steel, and they’re taller than he is. There’s a hole in there where he can talk to Drift, but it has a time limit.

I can see him confining in Ultra Magnus in the beginning, though. Er. Maybe confining is a strong word— just making offhand comments about things that he wouldn’t even mention out loud to others. Magnus’ been alive so long, he knows about Nyon, about Swindle, about Dealer. But none of it necessarily came out of Rodimus’ mouth, he’d only mention it in passing because Magnus has certainly read his files, but any thoughts of longing finding comfort and vulnerable trust in Magnus is lost when Minimus is revealed. He’s not one to get hang up on stuff, he tries to let it go, but it’s complicated when it comes to his own personal problems. People come first, he comes last.

[grimaldiapologist]

#YES YES #i would argue that Geta doesn't get to process just how far hw could go without Caracalla #he just realises that he carries him and protects him against everything and Geta at this moment cant find a reason to why he does that #i do think he needs Caracalla. because Geta at his core is a person who needs to be loved devotedly #and Caracalla does love him devotedly and trusts him blindly when hes not going through a particularly bad episode #Geta needs that love to feel good about himself and when their bond grows strained in this scene Getas bubble pops #and he gets a lot more of a clear perspective of himself #only after this does he grow really paranoid #because only now does he realise that he is not in fact loved #he also looks obviously guilty after he lashes out on Caracalla #i think the guilt comes hand in hand with the more accurate view he gains of himself #in a 'shit im turning into my father who i hate' kinda way #i hope this all makes sense via @transmascanakin

Yes. Yes. All of this makes sense and I'm stealing it because this is all so very important. This scene reveals so much potential for these characters: who they could be, where they could go from here. What choices would they make after?

Geta loves Caracalla. And Caracalla loves him just as much, in a very single-minded way that, like you say, has to be one of the things if not the only thing that's kept Geta going this whole time to start with. The narrative likes to portray Geta as the "reasonable" one, but what's made him be that way? Is it a coincidence that his descend into detached megalomania is happening at the same time as he faces himself as someone capable of leaving Caracalla behind, in whatever capacity that might be at this time?

And yet, yet, in the very next scene we have them together, seeing Caracalla as he is then figuratively kicks Geta in the shin and puts him right where he was before - Caracalla's protector, his voice of reason, his anchor to this world, the one (willingly) responsible for him. Caracalla goes at him with a blade and cuts his hand. Does he lash out, does he lean into this newly found potential? No. He disregards the pain like he's always done, because Caracalla does still come first to him above all other things. This is his brother, his whole world. He's inconvenient, surely. Now is not the time for that, and he needs space. But he knows he, in many ways, seems to have earned Caracalla's rage. He doesn't know what actually incensed him (or what his real, innate reaction to perceived betrayal from Geta's part was), so he probably thinks this is his just desserts for what he did, and for not going after Caracalla himself after. Maybe he's further out of reach than Geta dared to think, maybe this is just how things are escalating now. But Geta's had time to cool down, and Caracalla, well. Would have, too, if not for Macrinus. He was doing nothing but sulking about what happened there, after all, before someone perceived this crucial and vulnerable point in their relationship, and decided to start chiseling in on it.

The immediate consquences of this scene tell us that what happened is not a one-way path. Geta is not doomed to become his father, nor is he doomed to become Romulus to his Remus. But the potential in him is terrifying, to himself and to Caracalla and, frankly, to Rome. If they were bad before, Geta - choosing this new path and remaking himself as the god king he clearly craved to become - would have been much worse.

Would he have chosen it? The part of him that has lived for Caracalla his whole life is not an insignificant one. But Caracalla is very sick, and Geta knows that whichever way things go, there's no guarantee what will come of him later. He's not taking the stress well at all, his mental state is continuously worsening, he's acting out more and more and this movie is taking place in days. That is a fast regression from Caracalla's part. Geta, very obviously as he refers to Caracalla's illness, acknowledges that there is a side to this where he'll end up having to be someone in his own right either way, and a point at which his brother will not be capable of ruling with him, or being his own bedrock. In fact, that bedrock is foundationally breaking at this point already, and Geta is very tired, very strained, and like you point out, the love that he's seeking is fading from him at all angles, and now he's gone and broken this, too. Irreparably? Maybe not, but under those circumstances, it probably feels that way. And though this guy doesn't exist where I'm writing from, Macrinus is quickly becoming the thing that Geta seeks that love from - only this love is not the kind of adoration he's used to, but fatherly. And this, in part, makes him more vulnerable to devaluing Caracalla in turn. Someone is offering him the kind of a love he's been denied his whole life, a love that seems to build him up, an older man who believes in his potential. Where Caracalla doesn't need this kind of love - he gets it in abundance from Geta - Geta himself has never felt it before, and this has had to be one of the things that has eaten him up the most in his life. Never being enough for his father, or being loved, or seen as respectable or worthy of anything.

But I don't want to talk about Macrinus, because the games he plays with people's vulnerabilities exhaust me deeply.

The twins, meanwhile, had every chance of coming back from this. They might have even learned something, come morning. Unlikely, but it's a possibility. Geta's sudden teetering on the edge where he realises the path that his father took was both easier than he ever thought and would open him a whole world of freedom unlike he's ever felt before, that's fascinating. His insistence upon immediately returning from that possibility back to calling for his brother to listen to reason, to be with him, to remember him, to remember that he loves him over all other things - something also that can't be ignored when thinking about all of the above.

Hi, my freeranged and appropriately enriched audience. I need to talk about something real big bad and I think I've already ended all of my friendships for this reason, so I'm doing it here instead.

This scene? After Colosseum?

There's so many things going on in this scene, and for the love of everything that is holy, in order to talk about any of it, I've clipped Macrinus out of the picture because he doesn't exist.

I'll start with the fact that, while these two are described as somewhat pathologically paranoid, this is the first day we see them living through that gives them significant reason to be worried. Most days, they seem to coast by being both terminally naïve and endlessly isolationist in terms of their company, focusing solely on each other and themselves, particularly their hedonistic pursuits, while assuming that everybody they surround themselves loves them, for whatever reason. Everything is going great for them as far as they're perceiving it. They don't know the audiences are not cheering for them - they take every cheer as if it was aimed at them. Presenting Acacius at the Colosseum for the first day of the games? They receive no applause beyond what the audience is already dishing out upon their introductions. But producing Marcus Acacius has the audience heated, and these two somehow think that's for them. They're idiots. Morons. They're so stuck in their own delusions of grandeur that yes, while they do recognise they're in Rome and Roman emperors have a terrible tendency to catch a blade, they don't seem to be actually living that reality at all.

What we know from the script is, however, that they have never truly known stability or safety: his whole life, Geta has been shielding Caracalla from their father's explosive anger. Caracalla, presumably, has witnessed this if nothing else, though I'm curious about that golden tooth within this context. I'm sure he's caught some inbetween there, too, because Geta can only afford so much shield from a grown man. And they've never had any protection from any of that. Nobody would stand up to an emperor to protect a prince; they were his rightful property. He could do with his boys whatever he pleased, and Geta's sole duty has been, it seems, not to survive, but ensure that his brother does. His pain has never mattered. His rights, needs, wants, wishes have never mattered. Caracalla's have.

I'm sure they used to be at each other's throats like the wolf pups that they are when they were younger. But what you can see with them in their early adulthood is that this is something that does not apply anymore. They'll hurt anybody else, particularly anyone they perceive as hostile to them, and most often it's done just for fun and pleasure. This makes Caracalla's fetish for watching violence particularly interesting - what with the complex relationship kinks and fetishes can often have with prior trauma, feelings of powerlessness, and attempts to regain control - but that's for a wholly different meta there. What I'm getting at is that it's always others they inflict cruelty upon, and enjoy, but never each other; there is an absolute dynamic between them, it's them against the world, them for one another. Geta's first duty is to protect Caracalla, and Caracalla trusts him implicitly. At least before this scene.

While script!Geta has less patience for his brother than Quinn's Geta does, there is never any doubt there who and what his priority is. Caracalla comes first to him. So, it's safe to say that with Dondus screaming, when he flings his water in Caracalla's face, it's never with the intent of hitting him. I have sensory issues and I'll be the first to admit I've thrown things when my processing threshold is violently crossed and it's something you just don't second-guess, like someone hitting your knee joint with a hammer. But regardless of intent, the consequences are so very interesting. And I'm sure Caracalla, even, knows that this wasn't intentional. Dear gods though, look at his reaction.

This is the face of someone telling you you have crossed a line that cannot be uncrossed.

And, for the sake of my sanity, I need to make sure everybody understands that Caracalla's way to emphasis just how much things have broken here is to say absolutely nothing, leave the room, and go cry under a table. Terrifying. But I digress; what is terrifying is Geta, after this has happened.

This is the face of a man who has crossed a boundary of his own, and it has quite little to do with the previous. Yes, Caracalla is angry at him, and there will be consequences in some form. Again, for now, the consequences are that he's chosen to become inconsolable and hide under furniture, likely much as he did when their father had his rages. But Geta, for the first time in his life, broke out of his role of a protector, and the one to be beaten.

He's realised that Caracalla is not untouchable. And for ages, he doesn't move, because his whole world has shaken here; and what he does then to justify his actions is blame his brother for them. Caracalla did absolutely nothing to earn what he did to him, but it's now his fault, for being so unstable. A liability. How could Caracalla make him do this to him, truly.

This evening, Geta's been brought face to face with his reality: he is not loved. He is not untouchable. While he can mandate the word of gods, he is not, himself, regarded as a god. Not like he deserves. Not like he should be. He's suffered so much - but he is a great man, and he knows this. He's not stupid, and he's a conqueror, albeit from his comfortable seat at home. But he deserves better.

And what, pray, is standing in the way? What is holding him back? His brother is. Caracalla, who is always embarrassing him. Who is his first and last responsibility each day and each night, who needs him to watch his every move, to keep him safe not only from the world but from himself and his own instability, his insanity, his unpredictable actions. Without Caracalla, Geta could be focusing on being an emperor. He could be achieving so much more than he is, if he wasn't his brother's constant, eternal keeper, his babysitter, his court jester. And he deserves more, doesn't he? He deserves to be remembered.

So, let Macrinus (who doesn't exist as you can see from the screenshots) handle Caracalla this time. Geta has an empire to think of.

And this, this is what interests me about this scene more than anything. For Caracalla's part, things seem at a glance much more benign, though no less broken: the one thing he took as certain as air has fallen apart - that his brother would always stand for him first, and would never lay a finger on him to hurt him. His brother, who bled for him, protected him from their father, and has ever since looked after him, elevated him to the highest status, aside from some... minor symptoms of hubris, of course. But while all of this hurts him, deeply, fundamentally, it isn't enough to make him immediately see Geta as his enemy.

And I can't stop asking - should he? Should he now regard Geta as his enemy? His whole world is collapsing. It's from this very moment onwards (yes, this one, specifically) that he begins to show symptoms of acute psychosis: delusions, paranoia, severe lapses in reality, memory, and continuity. He doesn't look like he sleeps either, but of course, other factors come into play with that part. (And gods know I don't blame him for that.)

Geta was his foundation, his bedrock. They were in this together, whatever happened. Yes, they bicker, but they've always known how that goes: Geta's patience is endless with Caracalla, and Caracalla's thirst for violence is not turned towards him, even at its worst. Geta has no issues turning his back to Caracalla in the state that he is while the man is wielding a sword and doing god knows what with it in the background. Not for one second does Geta flinch when coming between Caracalla, his sword, and a man he's already condemned to die, because Caracalla would never harm him, either.

But after this? After the first blow, however small? What then?

I'm just asking questions here. This could lead onto the next subject - the way Caracalla's whole demeanor changes when he inflicts the first wound on his brother and finds that he bleeds just the same - but I'm keeping that to me for now.

[neapologist873]

Who killed Katerina?

If you are not already familiar with our theory about Katerina being Maria, please read it here. It is also advised that you read this other theory of ours.

DGM is full of unreliable narrators, and there is no better example than Mana. Take this scene from his memories, for example. We see a looming figure that appears to be Nea, a younger Bookman watching with a disinterested eye, the wheat fields of the Campbell Manor, and the Earl's elvish form standing before the Cornelia tree with a lifeless Katerina.

This begs the question; who was the one to have killed her? This is all Mana's memories, the same Mana that has been consumed by the presence of the original Earl and Adam, and the very fact that he considered the Noah to be his family in the past suggests he's always been easy to manipulate. So it's possible that this memory of his is really more his perceivement of everything based around how he remembers things or the lies he's been fed. What I mean by that is that perhaps "The Betrayal" to Mana was believing that Nea killed their mother. But if Cross is really the brother of Katerina, then why the hell would he be helping Nea? Because it wasn't Nea that killed her, but Joyd.

Reasons why I believe this to be, include:

1.) It's the perfect way for Mana to go against Nea and to be vulnerable enough to return to being the Earl. And I really do think Joyd has to be at the center of that all, as it makes too much sense in being the Noah of Hedonism.

2.) The fact Tykki looks like Nea could really suggest that Joyd has always taken up forms that resemble Nea. I speculated that Joyd feels like an imperfect copy almost, or like he wants to take Nea's place beside the Earl, and so he could have staged this all in hopes of him dying. It brings me back to my theory that Tykki might not be a regular human, as his symbol (butterflies) seem to suggest as well, being the symbol of reincarnation and rebirth.

3.) The Earl hovering over the dead Katerina could be him grieving. He resents Mana and Nea, and the death of the only human he loved could have been enough of a shock to bring him back. After all, this is Mana's subconscious and Nea and Allen have shown that it's possible for the two to bleed together in memories and dreams.

4.) We keep having these moments where we see Joyd grinning, but he's just a blacked out silhouette and so there are no key features to associate with him outside of Tykki's appearance. I did once point out that of the silhouettes from the original Noahs (art can be found in Night 187), there were two that seemed to resemble Nea.

5.) This could explain why Nea and Joyd always have these moments showcasing that they are connected somehow on a deeper level than their looks (i.e., both of their exorcist sword scars throbbing at the same time). And if Nea is aware of the fact that Joyd used their similar appearances to trick Mana, it's no wonder why he hates him in particular so much.

6.) In Night 187, the Earl had said that Wisely took so long to be reborn because his memory was damaged after Nea killed him, and yet when Wisely looks at Tykki, he says "I'm surprised. Joyd looks just like that man...". Wisely tends to refer to the Noahs by the memory they possess, but it is interesting that he specifically said Joyd looks so similar to Nea. Road also said to keep this a secret, as she's the only other one to remember what Nea looks like. So that suggests that Noahs forget details about their past life, but would this apply to Joyd when we know that

Tykki unconsciously wards against his memories so that Joyd isn't able to take over

Joyd smiles with malice whenever he sees Nea, hinting that he remembers exactly what Nea did to him.

Also, while only Wisely remembers his previous lives, Devit said "so they're working for your side now?" in reference to Lavi, a Bookman. This insinuates that Bookman could have even done nothing while Katerina died because they don't pick sides, they just record history and don't necessarily care about saving lives. As Nea doesn't side with the Noah, this could further add to the fact that Katerina's death was a catalyst of sorts.

You could also turn this theory on its head and suggest that the look on Nea's face is because Mana was the one to have killed Katerina under the Noahs' influence, as depicted here:

Of course, this is all purely speculation, but it would make sense within the realm of theories we've made here previously. The fact that Cross seems to hold sympathy for Road and not Joyd has also been on my mind a lot, and this theory could explain some things regarding that. Potentially even Road's fear of Joyd.

[our-happygirl500-fan]

You know the whole Baterang to the throat thing that causes a lot of discussion in the fandom? I think Bruce might not have been aiming for the throat

It ricochets

This point in comics Bruce has been through a ringer Steph's died, Barbara and Jim have left, Leslie betrayed him and he's had to send Cass and Tim away and now Jason is back but for revenge so Bruce isn’t at his best and I think Bruce threw the Baterang in a moment of panic and either over or undershot which ended up with well that.

This moment causes a lot of debate but I don't see it as “Bruce harming Jason to save the joker” the way a lot of fics paint it I see it more as he'd been aiming for Jason's arm or something to disarm him but overshot and it’s kind of like a symbolism of their relationship. 

 Which is basically Bruce takes an action to stop Jason from going down a path that he thinks will end up hurting Jason, but ends up hurting Jason in the long-run.

Like when he discussed taking away robin from Jason (because he thought Jason needed time to deal with issues that were becoming more prevalent) which only ended up making Jason feel insecure about his position in the Wayne household, contributing to why he so desperately pursued a stable parental relationship in his biological mother.

Bruce knows that if he gives in and kills the Joker he'll never stop killing we've seen timelines that prove that and I think Bruce also thinks the same of Jason that if Jason kills the Joker he won't stop at all so it’s not that he’s saving the Joker but that he’s trying to save Jason but Bruce ultimately misunderstands Jason’s needs and winds up hurting him.

Bruce is trying to save Jason from what he sees as a downwards spiral, but he ends up hurting him not just emotionally, but physically, and in the most extreme way possible. It's like an even darker echo of how trying to bench him as Robin led to his death.

Bruce has spent YEARS haunted by the memory of Jason’s death his death fundamentally changed Bruce's entire character Alfred said that Jason's death affected Bruce more than his own parents death.

In Underworld Unleashed it's revealed that his greatest desire is to have Jason back, in Hush he talks about how he wanted to put Jason in the Lazarus Pit and how he believes Jason knew he always loved him, and in As The Crow Flies we learn that his greatest fear is Jason coming back as an enemy and then in Under the Red Hood he gets Jason back (his greatest desire) but as an antagonist (his greatest fear) and moreover his belief that Jason 'knew' he loved him is WRONG.

Jason's insecurities from before his death combined with the perceived betrayal of Bruce not avenging him have led Jason to the point where he genuinely believes Bruce doesn't care, and in Jason's eyes, killing the joker is the only way Bruce can prove that he does but instead, in that moment, Bruce's attempt to diffuse the situation backfires.

Bruce misunderstands what Jason needs in that moment like he misunderstood what Jason needed at the start of Death in the Family it's just the ultimate representation of their constant emotional feedback loop. They trap themselves in a cycle of fighting because Jason can't read how Bruce really feels and Bruce can't read what Jason really needs and in that moment both those things are true, with Jason not seeing that Bruce truly cares anymore, and Bruce not knowing how to properly deescalate the situation and show Jason that he still cares.

It's extremely easy to read the batatrang throw as purposeful even though I wholly believe it was accidental but if that moment was explored more, I'm positive that Jason would believe it wasn't an accident, and would view it as proof of his already held view that Bruce doesn't love him anymore after all, that could have killed him, symbolically disowning him in the most extreme way possible.

Heck in Jason's appearance in Green Arrow (2001) Bruce had thought Jason might have died again! Before Jason turned up to mess with Mia.

The thing that's tragic about Jason that actually leads to a lot of his own suffering is that Jason doesn't really know what a healthy relationship looks like so I'm not sure when his actual 'last straw' would be.

Jason is the kind of person who sees love and acceptance as entirely circumstantial. He believes he must /earn/ love and acceptance, i.e. by being Robin, rather than it being inherently given.

A huge piece of understanding Robin Jason is understanding how much he lacked proper support systems back then. School was his only connection to his kids his age, and he didn't benefit much from that connection, his life was essentially: manor, school, Robin, repeat.

Jason loved school, but his school life was also pretty depressing. Jason kept to himself, he didn't have the time to participate in extracurriculars even when he wanted to and his peers didn't view him very positively. Jason was also really isolated from the rest of the hero community, there was his stint with the Titans, but it was pretty brief. He was also penpals with Kid Devil, but for the most part, he just had Batman.

The lack of support is actually one of the reasons I give for Jason and Steph dying in universe since they were the two Robins without support systems outside of Gotham. When Bruce was a jerk Dick and Tim could be like 'fine I'm going to go hang out with the Teen Titans or Young Justice' but Jason and Steph could only be like 'oh no' plus Bruce would deliberately try to take away Steph's support systems that she did have multiple times like when he ordered Cass to stop training with Steph.

But that's besides the point, I wouldn't be surprised if Jason confused being Robin with being accepted in the manor so when Bruce threatened to take away Robin from him, he might've seen it as his only proper support system being taken away from him, his world felt rocked back into instability once again.

When you look at it like that, it's very easy to understand why Jason sought out his biological mother. He had a hope that Sheila would offer him that stability once more, and that he'd get support and trust and unconditional love.

And that’s what make it all the more heartbreaking to me he came to this woman seeking love and gave her his greatest secret and she repaid him with a horrific death.  Jason’s death is one of the saddest to me because there’s no high stakes 'he died saving the world stuff' he’s just a kid who wanted a mom and got killed for it.

DC’s habit of taking away who he was is so detrimental to his backstory as the Red Hood because the transformation from someone who tried being kind and who did give it their all being killed for it and coming back like ‘no more’ is so much more interesting than ‘we always knew this would happen’.

Robin disobeying orders is nothing new. If that was the core of why Jason died, then any Robin disobeying orders should never be put in a positive light, but often it is. Jason (and Steph) were just the ones unlucky enough to emerge dead and judged for it instead of alive and praised for it.

Jason died because he was a child who just wanted to be safe and loved.

So many times Robin disobeying orders saved lives it’s nothing new and Jason had a pretty solid reason, the story of Jason Todd should be portrayed as the tragedy not make him some warning sign.

This is why I always hated the victim blaming after Jason & Steph's deaths because they died doing what if it had been Tim or Dick a Robin would be praised for, like take Steph for example we've seen constant stories of Bruce firing Robin, them going off on their own & Bruce realising he's wrong & taking them back but when Steph goes off on her own she dies the only reason Jason & Steph died is that the writers forced them to fail where they would have allowed the others to succeed.

But anyway back to my point the thing about Jason feeling like he had to earn love is why he was initially so hung up on the idea of Bruce 'replacing' him when he came back to life, he viewed Tim being robin as Bruce /transferring/ his love for Jason to another person, rather than seeing that Bruce could love Tim while still loving and missing him.

The reason Jason sought out his mother after Bruce benched him as Robin was that he viewed Bruce benching him as Bruce rejecting him and latched onto the idea of finding someone, i.e. a birth mother, who is supposed to give /unconditional love/.

The fact that his birth mother REJECTED HIM and then played a hand in his murder undoubtedly affected his attitude when he came back, if even his mother didn't want him, and then Bruce let the joker live and replaced him, then, in Jason's eyes, OF COURSE Bruce doesn't care and as mentioned previously Jason didn't really have any friends in school or the hero community, believing that the only real close personal connection in your live, someone you spent all your time with, had forgotten about you and rejected you is bound to mess a person up.

[autisticandroids]

gosh sometimes when you do these character analysis posts, like this last one about deancas and emotional intensity, i’m like “oh i can’t look at that it’s too personal. that’s dean and cas’ insides being taken out and examined” gbdndjs

anyways if dean hates the intensity of being in love with cas during all the drama of the show and hates cas for being so lovable, craving so much emotional intensity, do you think then when dean blows up at cas for perceived crimes or slights or whatever he’s doing the logan roy thing (/john winchester thing) of kicking cas to see if he’ll come back. i’m tired this might not make sense or you might’ve talked about it before but

i think he does, but it's separate to the explosive nature of the drama between them. i think dean does load cas up with small, belittling cruelties when he's feeling insecure in their relationship, just to see if cas will come back to him. 8x08 is a great example of this, where dean is incredibly nasty to cas for no reason, but once he's done that for a while he flips to sweet because he's tested cas (with cruelty) and cas didn't leave, and he wants to reward cas for that, make sure he doesn't think of dean as someone who is mean to him. and also he's just nice because he's happy cas didn't leave.

but the big, explosive lashing out is a symptom of something different. like. one of dean's big issues is that like. he's not good at acknowledging that his emotions are his. it's not that he feels bad. it's that the world is bad. dean is objective, it's the entire world that's suddenly horrible. and one of the things this leads to is dean blaming other people, including cas, for how he feels. it means that when cas upsets him in any way, whether that be by dying, disobedience, betrayal, leaving the coffee making on the wrong setting, you name it - all of that is something cas did to him, maliciously, because cas controls dean's emotions, dean just experiences them. that's what makes him angry. and worst of all is the vulnerability of caring at all. cas did some sorcery on dean to force his to feel this way whenever there's a problem between them. and dean hates him for that.

there is, by the way, an association between this dog-kicking impulse and the lashing out. like, the reason dean feels okay lashing out at cas is because cas has been tested. if cas hadn't been tested and found able to take anything dean might like to dish out, then dean would either react differently (perhaps a fawn response), or as soon as he cooled down a little he would chase after cas and beg forgiveness. but cas has passed dean's small tests of cruelty, so you get situations like the divorce arc, where dean is upset, and he processes that as anger, and he needs someone to punish once jack is dead, so he basically just picks cas to lash out at, because he knows cas will never stand up for himself or leave. he actually kind of overshoots the mark on that one and cas does leave, which shakes him. but he wasn't testing cas there. not the way he tests cas by being cruel. he was simply acting based on the evidence of previous tests.

[soranis-sunshadow]

Hordak can’t catch a break even on his birthday...

Oh fandom, you really like this sort of drama don’t you? 

A few days ago, on Hordak’s birthday, there was this ‘interesting’ post in the tag – since, apparently it’s impossible to get any peace even on that day.

I was  too tired to answer it at the time after being on call the day before so, here’s my delayed answer to all of that:

First off: this post has this bit in it when asked what that person dislikes about SPOP.

 He doesn’t need to get a redemption and he doesn’t get one in the show. 

None of his actions constitute a redemption arc. The man merely acknowledged his personhood and freed himself from his master and God. That’s what his arc was about: the right to have a personal identity. 

He gave himself a name and wanted to be his own person. That’s it. That’s all he wanted.

The man was merely freed from Prime’s influence- an influence he was born into since he’s been specifically manufactured to serve as a disposable mass produced soldier and worshipper of Prime.

 If the argument that Catra was “forced” to commit crimes and thus she is not completely guilty of them since she was under duress – then the argument doubly holds for a person who has been directly programmed and conditioned to do so under the threat of death or mental rape (purification).\

Even while away from Prime, he was still conditioned to obey and brainwashed by Prime’s cult. He literally knew nothing else – he was not meant to. It’s how indoctrination works.  

Prime’s clones aren’t people to Prime, they are tools. Those clones, while cut off from Prime still want to serve and please him: That’s what Wrong Hordak’s purpose in the show is- to show us just that.

Hordak is not considered “OK”  because Entrapta likes him. Hordak is merely shown – by Entrapta that he could live apart from his cult and have worth outside what Prime tells him he has. 

Just like real life cult victims, he needs an outsider to help him see a way out of the cult. The nature of indoctrination and brainwashing makes it impossible for the brainwashed person to know they are brainwashed unless someone points it out.

Now for my favorite thing:

and

oh and

Oh boy… this makes me just so damn uncomfortable.

To offer a bit of context as to why. I have never been on social media before SPOP or in any fandom and as such, I have never encountered the ‘all men are evil’ discourse that seems to infest these places. It’s been quite a bit of culture shock for me. 

What is it that makes anyone think it is ok to judge a person because of an accident of birth? (being born male)

Why does hate for 50% of the human population get such a free pass on these platforms? Misandry is just as terrible as misogyny. You are being biased against another human because of their gender. I don’t care that males are perceived as ‘privileged’ – that doesn’t make it ok to be terrible to them unprovoked. 

How does hating all men help achieve equity?

Do you realize that this sort of discourse is exactly how you radicalize people against the very cause you are championing? You breed hate and adversity for the rest of us who actually want to to have a discussion on the topic. 

I’m a feminist myself (in a country where feminism is hard-work) and let me tell you, making all men hate us does nothing but push away potential allies and make it a lot harder for our voices to be heard.

Feminism is about equality, not women dominating.

Now onto the second post: the one comparing Catra and Hordak with the question of which of them is a better person. 

This whole war orphans that were personally abducted and tortured into serving the horde HC that some ppl have is really starting to get boorish. This has been going on for more than 6 months. 

I have no idea why everyone thinks he went down chimneys and stealing babies left and right while cackling villainously. The man had a busy schedule of brooding in his lab, wallowing at his inability to use insulated cables and having his device blowing up in his face with the occasional Skype call to Shadow Weaver to see what the Horde is doing. 

And yet, to a part of the fandom, this is what he looked like:

( @bat-burrito​ made this one and it’s glorious) 

And if you don’t believe me about the lab recluse thing, you don’t have to, the show pretty much states it for me. 

and 

+

Hordak is a recluse that stayed in his lab and let the running of the Horde and most operations to Shadow Weaver and later Catra. He did not personally abuse anyone and he is not the origin of the cycle of abuse.

Shadow Weaver was a child grooming manipulative woman before she even joined the Horde – she did this to Micah while she was not “evil” or presumably abused by Hordak.

Even if you want to HC that Hordak abused her somehow, he is still not the one who started the cycle: Horde Prime is. 

The whole fandom seems to forget about the eldritch monstrosity that created a whole army of brainwashed slaves to worship and die for him. Prime is the one that sent Hordak to die and gave him the motivation to try to prove himself worthy of life and love. If you want to point fingers, point them at the origin of all of this. This fandom has a strange Prime blindness. He is never talked about when it comes to being the start of all of this.

If Prime didn’t exist, Hordak wouldn’t exist. If Prime hadn’t sent Hordak off to die, then his clone wouldn’t have accidentally ended up on Etheria. None of the things in the show would have happened.

Adora would have died of exposure in a field, the monarchies on Etheria would have continued as they are and the planet would have continued to exist in despondos. 

He is a dictator, yes. So are the princesses. Monarchies are dictatorships where the ruler is born into power. Hordak gained his through military might while Glimmer was born with hers and enforced it with tradition. I don’t really care to play “who’s the better dictator”. The princesses have their power because of the runestones- magical rocks put there by the First Ones to channel the planet’s magic and use it as a weapon. How come no one talks about that?

Do you think a king/queen keeps their crown without effort or subjugation of their subjects? 

Also, Hordak had never interacted with Catra before SW dragged her before him to be judged. He was indifferent to etherians in general and didn’t seem to care which of them were his underlings so long as the operations were running smoothly. He was more focused on his portal and returning home than on anything else. He did not set out to “ruin lives” or quest for power. What he wanted was to return to his deity and become a mindless part of the whole again – that is as opposite to power hungry as you can get.

Catra was directly abused by Shadow Weaver throughout her childhood. That makes Shadow weaver responsible for 100% of that abuse.

Catra was found in a box by Adora and adopted by Shadow Weaver. Hordak didn’t know or care that she existed.

He is responsible for the war, he is responsible for the war casualties and the property damage. He is not responsible for Shadow Weaver being a terrible person and mother figure.

Again with the orphan thing. We have 5 cadets in the show. 

Adora was found in a field. 

Catra was found in a box. Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio are unexplained. The only lizard ppl we see in the show are in the Horde or the Crimson Wastes. The other two could just as well be the children of some of the soldiers. 

I may harp on about what a bitch Shadow Weaver is – the reason I do so is because she is legitimately terrible to the two girls in her care.

I was the unfavorite growing up, I WAS the Catra in my family who could do no right while my sibling was the golden child. I don’t however hate Shadow Weaver. She is a cartoon character in a show and she does the things she was written to do. Hell, she is a very compelling and believable villain. Her motivations are clear and she is consistent. Her voice actress portrayed her splendidly and her character design is superb. I like her but that doesn’t mean that I don’t acknowledge her role in the story. I don’t however make up parts of the story to make her more evil than she was or treat my headcanons about her as absolute fact. 

Again, sigh: Prime is the worst villain in the show. He is quite literally Nyarlathotep and does this to planets: 

 This to people: 

and this to the people he created to serve, worship and love him: 

How is that not worse?

I love Catra and it genuinely annoys me when people erase her agency or try to paint her as one-dimensional victim. Catra was an antagonist for most of the show and she rocked it! She was 400% more efficient at it than cloneboy. Give the queen some damn respect and recognition! Catra had a lot of agency and her actions moved the plot of the show more than those of the protagonists. (they were mostly reactive).

Catra pulled the lever of the portal in a moment of distress after a breakdown, a Shadow-Weaver related breakdown because that’s how trauma works.

Hordak didn’t make her do it, he didn’t send Catra after Adora either. These were Catra’s choices. They came from a place of hurt but they were her choices still.

The portal was a means of transportation, not a weapon. Building it was not Catra’s mission, it was Hordak’s. He built it so he could contact Prime and either summon him here or go home –whichever course of action Prime wanted. Again, Hordak wanted to go back to this:

...

The only person who knew the device was dangerous was Entrapta and she tried to warn Hordak about it. Catra was the one who stopped her, violently so, then sent her to die on Beast Island- the fate Entrapta saved her from a season ago. Catra then tried to have Hordak open the portal before it was ready.

When he wouldn’t – she pulled the lever herself because that is how desperate she had gotten at that point, to show Shadow Weaver how wrong she was. That is how hurt Catra was by her mother figure’s betrayal and abuse.

Don’t take that away from her. Don’t call it curiosity or naivete or whatever. She knew the portal was dangerous but she wanted to prove Shadow Weaver wrong so badly that she didn’t care at that point. She had been pushed that far. 

Catra’s actions led to Angella’s death but she was not directly responsible for it. She didn’t activate the device to kill Angella, it merely happened accidentally. Catra was however glad it happened and wanted to profit from the aftermath of her death.  

Hordak didn’t care or plan to kill Angella personally. There is no in-show moment where any of that is portrayed. Since he doesn’t care about the specifics of running the horde seem to know what they are conquering at the moment, it seems that that was usually a task reserved for his second in command. 

^ - troop movement ordered by Catra

Hordak doesn’t even know what his own army is doing.

Again with the Hordak “drilling into orphan’s minds”… I seriously doubt that any of them had ever seen him out of his lab or that he came up with the propaganda himself.

Manipulation is more Shadow Weaver’s game not his. For all of Hordak’s faults, he is not deceptive or manipulative. If anything, he is woefully incapable of spotting lies. (it might have something to do with him being born in a society where lies were almost impossible because of the hive mind and Prime being able to browse his thoughts at a whim- as such, it wouldn’t be a skill he would have been able to develop).

Hordak canonically despises deception and lies.  I really don’t understand where this image of a manipulative and cunning Hordak comes from. He wouldn’t be able to plot himself out of a paper bag if his life depended on it.

First off.. S4 Catra was his equal, not his subordinate. Don’t take that away from her. She earned it.

He doesn’t look that threatening here... 

And again:  Prime created the system. He made clone slaves and programmed them to serve. His clones have hardware installed for the express reason to facilitate his control over them. He has a religion in place to make sure their thoughts do not stray from his purpose. I am legitimately boggled by this fandom’s tendency to completely forget about his existence.Does anyone really think that these people that are born “prechipped” and programmed to know nothing but Prime’s Light are really knowledgeable about human morality?

That they would know that conquest is bad when that is the express reason for their creation? 

If I were born in that situation, I’m not sure I would have known any better. Hell, if any of the clones even try to disobey Prime, they would get either mindraped (erased) or killed for the effort. They really have no choice, even if they knew that killing in Prime’s name is wrong (they don’t) they really can’t do anything about it. They have no choice but to be what they were made to be. I find it personally abhorrent when these designer slaves are held accountable for what Prime has made them do.

And to the people that say Hordak was free of Horde Prime once he was stranded on Etheria.. That is not how indoctrination works. The fact that I can’t go to church this Sunday because I’m locked in the house and can’t find the keys doesn’t make me an atheist.

Hordak was serving Prime even on Etheria. He keeps mentioning it to both Entrapta and Catra. He started the war because that’s what he thought Prime wanted of him and that’s what he’s been programmed to do. Personal and informed choice really doesn’t factor into his decision at all.

He is not sympathetic because Entrapta likes him. Notice how I haven’t brought up his relationship with her up to this point?

He is sympathetic because he literally had no choice but to do the things he was indoctrinated into doing. He was build and programmed for it, just like all the other clones. They are not able to deviate from that because of the way Prime functions and rules over them.

There is no point in the show where Hordak relishes over his status as a ruler or the “luxury” it affords him. He does not engage in the same behaviors his progenitor manifests.

There is no point in the show where Hordak relishes over his status as a ruler or the “luxury” it affords him. He does not engage in the same behaviors his progenitor manifests. He attempts to emulate Prime in order to project authority in the only way he knows how but since those are some really big shoes to fill, he is woefully inadequate. 

If Hordak had been power hungry, he would have stayed in despondos and ruled his own faction. Being away from Prime is the most powerful and autonomous he’s ever been and yet, he wants to throw all of that away in order to be a powerless, nameless part of the whole. What Hordak wanted was to be enslaved by Prime because that’s what he had been created for.

“vengeful” – and how did Hordak manifest this vengefulness? Who did he take revenge on in the series?  

“apologize” – when and where in his 3 minutes of screentime would he remember everything after 2 mindwipes, realize that the whole worldview he had since inception is wrong, realize that he had been mistaken into doing the horrible things he did and then go to all of the characters and apologize for it?

Would anyone be convinced of that had it happened in 3 minutes? I’d rather they don’t redeem him than do a shit job at it.

Very true. He’s not a better person. He’s just a person in an impossible situation. Both Hordak and Catra were handed a raw deal, I don’t understand why everyone insists on pitting them against one another. They both did bad things and they were both in horrible situations. The specifics don’t really matter since neither of them would have done the things they did had they been more fortunate.

This is the exact reason for which I don’t hold Cara’s actions against her. Catra’s only model of success was Shadow Weaver. She emulated her abusive mother figure because she had no other example and because she wanted to please that woman. It does not excuse the way Catra acted but it explains it.

I really don’t understand why some people want Catra punished. I’d rather she get love and help. That is what she needs. In time, she will want to do better and be better by herself. She doesn’t need to be forced, heavens know, she’s been forced enough as it is.

They are really different. Catra got an abusive, shitty and violent childhood. Hordak got this:

He was literally robbed of a childhood. 

She was taught by Shadow Weaver that weakness gets you killed. Hordak was not allowed to have emotions to begin with, or thoughts of his own, or a name...

Comparing to victims of abuse to see which one of them is more likable is such a strange concept to me.

Catra was robbed in s5 too. I don’t hold that against her. I  blame it on the writers. S5 could have been a lot better. 

[msevelynsilver]

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ALL FOUR SEASONS OF BLACK SAILS AND ALL SEVEN SEASONS OF BUFFY + SEASON 1 OF ANGEL

I wonder what the level of overlap between these two fandoms is. I think it’s probably low and definitely should be higher.

One thing I can’t get out of my mind is the comparison between Buffy and Faith and Flint and Silver. There’s an especially good Buffy and Faith fan video that really inspired me to think about this, so I’ll leave the link below.

Amazing Buffy + Faith video: https://youtu.be/GpIHwrPhJyQ

But essentially both of these relationships have a friends-with-homoerotic-subtext-to-enemies-with-homoerotic-subtext story arc. And both play with the idea of morality, responsibility for others, the burden of power, and being/becoming the same person.

In Season 7 of Buffy, she becomes the leader of a group of young slayers and shoulders the responsibility of looking after that. But she is seen by the Potentials as cold and standoffish and as not having their best interests at heart. (Sound like anyone we know?). Faith then tries to take control of the girls and finds that it’s hard being first in command instead of second because you have to make the hard decisions and the people under you will resent you no matter what you choose.

Buffy says to Faith: “Whether you wanted it or not, their lives are yours.”

(I’m not bothering to look up episodes right now, but I have a near encyclopaedic knowledge of Buffy and I think this is 7.19 “Empty Places”.)

Does this not sound like something Flint would say to Silver? Silver, who as quartermaster was the better liked of the two but who had to shoulder more responsibility due to Billy’s creation of Long John Silver as a pirate king and who found that he didn’t like the role he was forced to play? Silver was responsible for the lives of all the men on the Walrus crew and while he liked the power it gave him, it also terrified him to have to account for and rely on people other than himself.

Here is more dialogue from Buffy. (Technically I think this is Angel 1.19 “Sanctuary”):

Buffy: “You told me I was just like you.”

Faith: “And you can’t stand that. You’re all about control. You have no idea what it’s like on the other side. When nothing’s in control, nothing makes sense. There’s just pain, and hate, and nothing you do means anything. You can’t even-“

Buffy: “Shut up!”

Re-read that but swap Buffy’s name for Flint’s and Faith’s for Silver’s. It’s not a perfect analogy. Buffy was created to be an expendable hero and Flint is seen as a pirate menace to society, so they face completely different issues regarding their role in the narrative. Faith and Silver do better. Both have relatively unspecified tragic backstories that turned them into cynical, self-serving people who are mistrustful of authority figures (Faith’s is never specified at least in-show, and I’m not taking comic book canon into account here because I’m not caught up). In particular, I think Faith’s line about “nothing you do means anything” is something Silver would agree with. I think if he had believed that Flint’s war could succeed and that they wouldn’t all end up dead, he would have followed Flint to the ends of the earth. But he thought that none of it would mean anything and that they didn’t have the power to effect that kind of change. It also might explain why he views his own past as story-less. Nothing you do means anything. I think he, like Faith, has experienced a complete loss of control over his circumstances and himself, and thus his story at some point in the past. It is their defined roles (quartermaster and slayer) which begin to give their life some shape and meaning, only to have it fall apart because of the burdens/limits of the role they are forced to take.

But my absolute favorite comparison comes from something Faith says to Buffy in season 3. (3.17 Enemies):

Faith: “What are you gonna do, B? Kill me? You become me. You’re not ready for that. Yet.”

Oh, the parallels. For context, if you haven’t seen the show, (and you should, it’s really good), Faith says this while she and Buffy are holding knives to each other’s throats. She then kisses Buffy on the forehead (like Judas did to Jesus) and runs away. The drama! The betrayal! The romantic subtext! The vague implications that Faith is a future version of Buffy who has lost her idealism and illusions about the world and that Buffy will one day sink to the same level of (perceived) villainy!

In this case I would flip it and say Faith is playing the role of Flint while Buffy is playing the role of Silver. Because in the end of Black Sails, isn’t this what happens? Silver kills Flint (literally/metaphorically depending on your interpretation), and in doing so assumes the role Flint had played. This is a man who has lost the two people who he loved most in the world to their dangerous idealism and who now shoulders the weight of being THE pirate in Nassau who society will brand as a monster. In killing Flint and releasing him from the torment of the ten years without Thomas (like a man waking from a long and terrible nightmare), Silver becomes Flint. He had already made so much of Flint’s mind his own and he kind of sacrifices himself so that Flint can live out his happy ending, knowing all the while that he won’t get his own (I know this is a generous reading of Silver, but I love him so I’m biased).

Faith and Buffy don’t get a story that is so neatly tied up because they’re not the two main characters. But Buffy develops a lot of Faith’s ideas about the inherent power of being a slayer (“There’s only me. I am the law”) and makes a lot of morally grey decisions that she probably would have condemned Faith for in her youth. (“Are you the bad slayer now? Am I the good slayer now?).

I need someone who’s talented at video editing to combine these two relationships because I’ve barely touched all the potential parallels (and the visual ones are so good as well!).

I feel like there’s also something to be said for “freedom in the dark” parallels in the two shows, especially with Spike and Buffy in season 6 but I haven’t thought it through and I would need to give a lot more thought to the implications of comparing society’s vilification of queer people and Buffy and Spike’s toxic straight relationship, which is nonetheless taboo for being a Slayer/vampire one.

[thenarator]

Hi please ramble about how much Nighteye SUCKS (either in HAOT or canon) bc ur rambling is very on point it gives me l i f e (don’t do it if u don’t want to tho)

i’m not gonna rant about “heroics and other things that don’t require superpowers” because that fic is going to contain plenty of ranting a few chapters from now, but i will absolutely go off about canon nighteye.

i fucking hate how canon tries to imply that nighteye is a basically good person who’s been driven to extremes of behavior by his desire to save all might. that’s literally not what’s happening here at all. he has been a toxic influence on all might from the beginning, because he perceives his “love” for all might as giving him a kind of ownership. he believes he has the right to dictate all might’s life to him because nighteye thinks he knows best because of his quirk, and if he knows best then what other people want doesn’t matter.

let’s talk about boundaries.

a boundary is a rule that a person sets in place to maintain their comfort. it could be “i don’t work weekends” or “i don’t have sex when i’m drunk” or even “i don’t like to be touched.” all might has set multiple boundaries with nighteye, and nighteye had disrespected every single one. the most egregious form of boundary violation is violation of bodily autonomy, ie. rape, institutionalization, forced medical procedures, etc. however, violations of any boundary are serious business, and nighteye has crossed both physical and emotional boundaries with all might.

first, all might didn’t want sidekicks. he didn’t think he could trust a sidekick with his secret, so he decided to just not have any. however, he broke this rule to make nighteye his sidekick. that wasn’t his idea. he didn’t see nighteye’s career and go “hm, i think i can make an exception for him.” nighteye came to all might asking to be his sidekick. we don’t know exactly how he went about convincing all might, but we can extrapolate that it wasn’t a snap decision for all might. canon tells us that nighteye was his sidekick for less than a decade, and that was less than a decade ago. all might has been in business for like 40 years. he was well established as the symbol of peace before nighteye came along. he didn’t need nighteye, he had no reason to break his personal rule. nighteye was the one who crossed his boundary to gain entrance into all might’s life.

that’s already super sus but let’s continue.

second, all might didn’t want to tell too many people his secret. whether the decision to tell nighteye about ofa came bundled with the decision to take him on as a sidekick we don’t know, but we know that was another boundary nighteye crossed. again, all might didn’t, like, watch nighteye at the sports festival and decide to tell him. it was nighteye’s efforts that put pressure on all might to tell him the truth.

thirdly, all might didn’t want nighteye to use his quirk on him. we know this for a fact: it’s told to us in a flashback in which all might gets justifiably angry about the betrayal. this is a hard physical boundary that all might set with nighteye, and nighteye violated it to look into his future and see how he would die. that’s treated like a small thing, but it’s not at all! that is a huge violation of trust! nighteye’s quirk involves touching someone! setting aside the metaphysical headfuck nighteye’s future vision seems to be, he touched all might with the intent to violate his wishes! that’s super fucking not ok! and then he uses what he learned to try and manipulate all might into doing what he wanted, retiring directly following his injury at the hands of afo. thankfully all might decided there that nighteye’s actions were too big a breach of trust to keep nighteye in his life, but that was a serious decision made with very good justification.

fourthly, and this is a bit weirder because the boundary is fuzzy but the action is unforgiveable, nighteye disregards all might’s choice of successor and tries to undermine izuku’s confidence to make him give up one for all to mirio.

holy.

fucking.

shit.

like, i guess you could say that it’s an implied boundary rather than a stated boundary, but all might giving izuku his quirk (which cannot be taken by force) is a pretty strong declaration of his wishes! all might chose izuku for his successor! that is not something nighteye gets to question! and it’s certainly not a thing he gets to try to circumvent by destroying izuku’s confidence! nighteye’s not stupid, he could tell that this was a huge decision for all might and he did not make it lightly. he knew that izuku was important to all might. but he still attacked izuku. he still took him on as a work study student with the express purpose of undermining his confidence. everything he did and said to izuku was a direct attack on all might’s decision, all might’s right to choose. because nighteye doesn’t think all might deserves the right to choose if he’s going to make choices nighteye doesn’t like.

because that’s the thing isn’t it? all might isn’t a person to nighteye. he’s a thing. a thing that nighteye has decided his has ownership of. he thinks he knows best and so he’s the only one who gets to make decisions. all might is at best a child who doesn’t know what’s good for him, and at worst a doll that has no relevant opinion at all. all might isn’t allowed to have boundaries if nighteye doesn’t like them. he isn’t allowed to make decisions if nighteye doesn’t agree. and nighteye will do anything to gain and maintain the control over all might and his choices that he thinks he deserves.

tl;dr nighteye is toxic as fuck and always has been, thanks for coming to my ted talk.