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hopeforchanges · 1 day ago

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I'm actually marveling at your portrayal of Palpatine. Sure, in the new sith obi-wan au, but in every iteration I've read from you, it doesn't even compare to anything else I've read, I just can see and hear Palpy so clearly when you write him. It's disgusting how i character he is every time. I need like ... a tutorial? :D Pls??

haha, thank you :) yeah, ngl Palpatine IS the toughest character to get right and I will die on this hill; he is absolutely more difficult to write than Obi-Wan.

The tutorial consists of knowing how a groomer operates, essentially. Sure, you have the traits of psychopathy and sociopathy, the blatant narcissism, the delusions of being better than everyone, but if you want my two cents, (obviously you do when you sent this ask lol) the real core of his villainy is his grooming behavior. Sociopathy and psychopathy do not necessarily lead to evil, many diagnosed people lead fulfilling lives that do not cause them or others any destruction. Sociopathy and psychopathy are NOT inherently evil.

Grooming is evil by nature. And groomers absolutely follow a rulebook.

Step one: Targeting a vulnerable person. (Groomers have a radar for people who are in a vulnerable position - orphaned kids, traumatized people, homeless people, etc., could be anything.)

Step two: Gaining trust. (the victims of grooming call this 'kindness' - much like Anakin does on many occasions - when in reality, it's rehearsed empathy. It's a performance. They're nice to you, bring you gifts, take care of your most basic needs - food, shelter, companionship to make you feel like there's somebody in this world who actually gives a shit about you.

Step three: Isolating the target from their loved ones. If you are completely alone, that's a win for them, obviously. But because they more often than not target minors, there's someone taking care of them, at least one person who goes: this guy/gal has rancid vibes, I don't want you to hang out with them anymore. The groomer convinces the victim that their caretaker has nefarious motivations/goals (projecting much) and that if the victim calls the authority, they will be the one who's actually in trouble, not the groomer.

Step four: Slowly exposing the target to sexual stuff. This could be anything, really, it could start by just showing the victim porn without rhyme or reason to instructing them to perform some mild sexual acts. In Palpatine's case, this manifests as exposing the target to the power of the dark side and encouraging them to use it. However, do I think that Palpatine was entirely uninterested in Anakin in a sexual way? My feelings on this vary - sometimes I do see it and sometimes I don't. I see the constant unnecessary touching and constantly invading Anakin's personal space and I'm like: I need to perform exorcism on myself until I don't remember ever seeing this ever again. Then I see the intent behind and I think - hm, perhaps this is purely a slaver's touch asserting dominance over his property. Like I said, my feelings on this are unclear. Let's just say it's really fucking gross either way, which is something we can all agree on.

Step five: The actual sex. Again, in Palpatine's case, this manifests as revealing himself for who he is (abuser) and taking Anakin (the abused) down with him.

TLDR; you have to have the process of grooming at the forefront of your mind to write Palpatine well - even if in different aus his victim does not need to always be Anakin.

boy i did not mean for this shit to be this long lmao i hope this helps clarify not just how to effectively write Palpy but also for my girls and boys who may stumble upon a groomer irl.

Please be safe out there and talk to whoever you can to help you if you encounter a groomer.

#hope's aus #hope answers #the world was all before them #obikin #sith obi wan #palpatine is ... something else let me tell you #i always take a shower twice after i'm done writing a chapter where he does his 'thing'#gross #but also necessary i think #hope this helps #i'm not a trained psychologist #just read about this a lot #there's this story about Cormac McCarthy's 'muse' Augusta Britt in Vanity Fair #written by a total tool who deemed this 'a love story'#which is essentially Cormac in his forties kidnapped sixteen year old Augusta and took her to mexico #i recommend you read it and hopefully you'll see the framing of the story is disgusting #which ironically i think is what happens a lot when people talk about Palpatine and Anakin #or rather not enough people talk about how fucking fucked up and entirely too close to real life circumstances that relationship is #not to mention anakin's oedipal relationship with padme #another fucking doozy #the moment padme put that blankie over him and he looked up at her with those adoring eyes he replaced his mother with padme in his head #so when they like ... reunite or whatever ten years later all i can see is 'oh look mama came home'#sorry i read too much greek tragedies these days so maybe i'm way off #but that's how i feel

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flying-fangirls · 5 months ago

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Arthur's Story

Okay so now that Part 46 is out and we got that moment of John explaining what Arthur's train story meant to him, I kinda want to talk about this particular allusion myself. Arthur's retelling is mostly pretty close to the original, but I am going to get into interpretation/implementation stuff. So if you want to read the original story for full context, it's "Solitude" by Ben Ames Williams!

To start bluntly: I do not like the Lilly comparison /nm

I'm not saying it's wrong per se, but I do believe it's a fairly weak conclusion that misses out on a lot of other compelling potential.

Let's back up.

Where It Falls Short

Alright, so if you go and read it, you'll quickly see that the original short story, "Solitude," is ridiculously well-aligned with the tone and mood of Malevolent. There are ideas of cosmic insignificance, perseverance and despair, questioning morality and "goodness," and helping others in dark times. (it does have some of the weird hallmarks of early 1900s white dude writing, but otherwise I actually quite like this story! it's got nice vibes and pretty words)

Now, an allusion is a reference within a story to an outside piece of information, and its entire purpose is to add new depth. A good allusion considers the full context of whatever it's referencing, and uses that context to its advantage. It challenges the audience to work through that outside context and uncover some new perspective(s) on characters, themes, and/or plot— something they otherwise had not seen or considered before.

The thing is, when Part 46 applies the "Solitude" allusion to Lilly specifically, there's nothing new gained whatsoever. What does John tell us during this moment?

Lilly took care of him, showed him his first glimpse of humanity, and gave him a name— all good stuff! But also all old stuff, these details have all been said in the show before, some more than once. Since we know that the main point of an allusion is to bring something new to the table, then this implementation fails on that point because all it's done is simply rehash previously established perspectives on Lilly.

Not only does this take on the allusion fall short, the show's interpretation also limits our ability to understand it. This isn't a moment where the podcast shows us new information and lets us draw our own conclusions. This is a moment where John stands in for the podcast's voice, and he tells us what it considers the "right" interpretation. Even if we had formed our own interpretation about this allusion, the show has now essentially told us that those interpretations are "wrong" (which isn't an antagonistic move on the show's part, by the way! just the message it's unconsciously implying)

I agree that John's connection between the story and his experience with Lilly in Part 46 is a genuinely sweet moment! But unfortunately, because it neglects to take a new path, it's also a predictable moment that loses its strength among all the other sweet Lilly moments. And that takes away any chance for the allusion to impact the audience in a unique way, wasting its full potential.

Where It Misses Out

(now here comes the English major moment when I tell you why I'm right and you're not /j)

Alright, again, the Lilly comparison isn't wrong. I think it's totally legitimate to see this story about a woman helping an injured and lonely man, and think of Lilly! But personally, when I heard Arthur's retelling, I never once considered Lilly until the show told me to (12 episodes later). When I listened to Part 29 and the first half of the story, I admittedly was totally lost and dug through those lines over and over to find a meaning. And the only real interpretation that naturally came to me was a parallel to Arthur and John's journey. A man lost in a terrifying world, at the whims of forces much stronger than him, who has lost all of his loved ones to death or abandonment? Yeah, that's literally just Arthur and John.

And the conclusion in Part 39 only seemed to support that interpretation more— Moll abandons her entire life to follow Mat into the cold and dark, John and Arthur both (literally and figuratively) throw their lives away to help the other through the dark. We can even swap who's who here— either Arthur or John could be Mat struggling to survive as a "good" person, and either one could be Moll extending a hand to that person.

There's also a particular line that John says in Part 46 that feels completely out of place with the interpretation the show tells us:

He implies that Lilly did the same as Moll and shut out everything around them. But when Lilly takes care of John in the hospital, his development there isn't that she "drove out the world." Lilly brought the world closer to John, not further away— she helped him expand his focus outward, not close it off.

However, this line does fit extremely well with John and Arthur's dynamic! How often have we heard about these two's edges blurring, about their minds and emotions and internal selves blending together? How many times have these two expressed a love so codependent that it rejects everything outside of themselves? Heck, John's major emotional plot in s4 revolved around the desire to shut out the outside world and isolate himself together with Arthur.

Just like how Moll's arrival drove out the world for Mat, the arrival of John into Arthur's life certainly drove out the rest of the world, pulling him away from his job, home, and friends. Likewise, the arrival of Arthur into John's life most definitely drove out the rest of the world, removing him from the legacy of the King and literal world of the Dreamlands.

The podcast tries to push its Lilly interpretation into a mold that it simply does not fit. And in doing so, it completely misses the perfect connection between Moll/Mat and John/Arthur that already exists. "Solitude" offers a naturally perfect bridge between its story and Malevolent's, but Part 46 steers us away from that bridge and straight into the river where we're left without any strong understanding or impact.

Where It Could Go

Not only does a Jarthur interpretation of Arthur's story connect the allusion to the podcast well, it also gives us a new perspective to think about Jarthur with (again, the most important part of a good allusion).

Earlier I said that Arthur's retelling of "Solitude" mostly followed the story, and that's because he leaves out one key detail: Moll had spent most of her life trapped as the victim of abusive men who forced her to neglect herself and care for people who didn't care for her back. (Admittedly, I think it's weird the show ignored this specific detail, but most allusions do intentionally require outside work on the audience's part, so for now I'll hesitantly just say that was Guthrie's aim.)

If we consider this backstory in our interpretation, we can find a really fascinating view of Jarthur's dynamic. Both Arthur and John could be Mat: a man who has seriously harmed others before and is now left broken and lost in a dangerous world. Then we can have John as Moll: trapped by the King and the Dark World and Arthur's body, powerless to take control of his own self, forced to neglect his identity/values for others' wants. And we can have Arthur as Moll: stuck in relationships/lifestyles that restrict him, autonomy stolen by social expectations and eldritch beings with far more power than him. Both of them as Moll: escaping a past of abuse, but nevertheless still finding yourself in a position of supporting men at the cost of your individuality.

A Jarthur interpretation frames Arthur and John's pasts in a concept of abuse and neglect, which is not usually (if at all) how the podcast presents their backstories. It also forces us to reconsider the full scope of their dynamic with each other. Normally the show presents Jarthur as a messy, yet overwhelmingly restorative and supportive relationship. However, when we place Jarthur into the context of Moll, we are forced to stop and acknowledge how their dynamic still harms them both: They're codependent to a self-destructive degree, protective enough to harm anyone else who gets close, so closely connected that they lose a part of who they are for the other's sake. Neither one of them exist as a wholly independent individual anymore, both of them losing pieces of their minds, emotions, and bodies to accommodate for the other's needs.

While s4-5 John and Arthur are clearly at a point in their relationship where they openly express their love and gratitude to the other for "saving" them, this allusion presents us with a perspective on their situation without the rose-colored glasses. We have the opportunity to recontextualize their dynamic and remember just how much Arthur and John have lost for the sake of each other, no matter how loving and compassionate that sacrifice might be in their eyes.

Where I Conclude the Ramble

From the moment Arthur first told this story in Part 29, its ambiguous inclusion captivated my little overthinking brain. It was incredibly fascinating to mull over Arthur's words and John's reaction, and then to dig deeper into this obscure story outside of the podcast and uncover answers!

Which is why I think I'm so disappointed with the final answer that Part 46 told us. If anyone else has looked into "Solitude" outside of the podcast before, they likely saw the same well of potential depth to work with that Harlan Guthrie clearly also found. Yet, for some reason, the podcast offers a conclusion that barely scrapes the surface of that well.

Instead of giving us new depth to the story, a Lilly interpretation really just brings up more questions for us. Did Lilly neglect herself in some way when she took care of John? Was Lilly the victim of abuse at some point in her past? What parts of Lilly's past led her to this point? There's so much more information that we need for this layered allusion to make sense, but we never get that information, so all we're left with is a weak conclusion and wasted potential.

On the other hand, a Jarthur interpretation does answer questions for us, and it adds depth to our previous understandings of their dynamic. We better understand how John and Arthur's bad decisions lead them to their darkest moments, how lost and afraid they both felt at the start of the podcast, how they found relief and protection in the other. And we consider new possibilities of how John and Arthur's past circumstances abused them, how they were trapped in cycles that stole their autonomy, how they still cannot escape these cycles and keep throwing their lives away for others.

Part 46 told us a single interpretation to have for the train story, but there is no reason we can not (nor should not) look for other interpretations— especially when the story itself shows us evidence that points to a different answer.

(final disclaimer: I absolutely do not intend any of this as any sort of attack! this is just general literary critique to try and explain why I'm a little annoyed at a single line lol)

#going back to my less sappy literary critique #again i cannot stress enough that hg's interpretation isn't wrong #i just don't particularly like it and think there's a more... impactful. interpretation out there /nm #also: go read solitude pleaseee it's so malevolent-coded i promise you'll love it (hopefully)#malevolent #malevolent podcast #malevolent meta #malevolent analysis #cherrys rambles

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gomzdrawfr · 20 days ago

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Here I am with distractions!

I saw recently on lawswells-ashtray that you're Malaysian and I wanna get your recommendations on Malaysian food! I think you've discussed it before but if you have any recommendations of food that's not too spicy that'd be wonderful!

I like making food from different cultures c:

oOOO I love this ask okay hmmm

for breakfast I can recommend our simple egg + kaya toast + drinks of your choice combo

eggs: make them runny and half-boiled, mix some soy sauce and pepper

toast some thick white bread (kinda like anpan, but any bread works) with some butter and kaya (Kaya is sweet, kind of like sweet coconut vibes)

drinks: usually we either go with hot coffee, milo or tea :3

Another one I'll recommend is Roti Jala (Net Crepes), they look like this

I kinda forgot how to make this but I think it involves all purpose flour, eggs, coconut milk, milk, water and oil? The key ingredient to make it yellow is Turmeric powder. To get the spinny/hole look you'll need to get this kind of bottle/mould to make it though (see below). After mixing the stuff I said above then you'll fry it and roll it

other food you can try are these:

mee goreng (indomee best...it's basically fried instant noodles)

poh piah (crispy fried spring rolls)

bubur lambuk (super easy porridge)

satay (I have not made this before but it's like bbq meat sticks, goes well with peanut sauce!)

kerabu timun (pickled cucumber salad, again super easy to make, you get thinly sliced cucumber and mix it with pineapple, red onions, carrots and in some cases crushed peanuts as well + vinegar)

ABC soup (a staple in a lot of Chinese household, it's chicken soup with potato, carrot, yellow onion, tomato, corn and seasoning, we call it ABC because it's as easy as ABC - not to be confused with soup with letters xD)

roti canai - this one's a bit hard to make cause it requires you to smack and flip the dough to a thin consistency (it literally means flattened bread), typically goes with curry but you can try it with sugar instead!

rojak (mixed cut fruits + rojak sauce - typically it's a mix of caramelised sweet soy sauce, roasted peanuts, lemon juice and white sesame)

mapo tofu (my absolute fav, you can choose to make the non-spicy version but it's white tofu + minced pork)

tofu, gomz style (LMFAO this is me being lazy but you get white tofu and steam it with soysauce + fried garlic and bon appetit)

pandan chiffon cake

fried rice (tip, use overnight rice for extra crisp)

kuih bahulu (malaysian egg cake, ya gonna need a mould for this)

muah chee (peanut mochi - quite easy to make and very yummy)

yam cake (sweet and savory, mix of yam + shallots + spring onions)

#god now im hungry #im gonna get some white bread LMFAO #the key ingredients to make any malaysian food is soysauce - peanuts - oil - kaya HAHA #we pride our spicy food so actually most would love to make nasi lemak and rendang but you can make em less spicy if you wish #but sauce like sambal and others would require more effort to make #the ones listed are sort of easy to medium level so hopefully you'll have fun trying to make them!#ALSO if you're looking up recipes half the sugar. Malaysia is the highest obesity and diabetes rate in SEA so yeah AKSJDHFK #you really do not need to make them too sweet #ask response #malaysia mentioned #HAHA #couldn't resist adding that tag

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crystallizsch · 11 months ago

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Hey! i'm new to the twst fandom, and i love ur work! is there any blogs like urs, that does art or writes /reader fics that u would recommend?? i'm trying to find some more to follow! thnx 💕

AAAGHGJJ THANK YOU SO SO MUCH THAT MEANS A LOT ANON 🥺💖

and welcome to twst fandom!! i hope you have fun during your stay and find the perfect corner of the twst fandom that is right for you!

also i'm so happy that you trusted me with recommendations??? 🥺🥺🥺

im not sure if you lean more into my general twst stuff (and by general i mean 99% jamil LMAO) or my oc x canon stuff

i guess i'll get you started with blogs that i personally like!! and i hope you can go from there, especially since i don't know what type of content you're particularly into 🙏

anyways i rambled on for too long ;; let me get to it below the cut:

(i'm not going to tag anyone i'm too shy and terrified so i'll just link to their profiles instead; also they are not recommended in a particular order)

(and if you see yourself here uhhh hi ily guys (platonically) 🫶🫶🫶)

(i wish i have the words right now to individually gush about each and every one of them but the brain is not brain-ing right now and i really shouldn't hold this ask hostage for too long 🙏)

/reader fics: - natsukishinomiyaswife - viperwhispered - diodellet - rooksamoris - twstbookclub - twstowo - kalims - yaksha-lover

art/ocxcanon: - midnightmah07 - jovieinramshackle - oya-oya-okay - skriblee-ksk - cheerleaderman - boopshoops - twstgo - fell-fell - egophiliac - terristre - thecoolsquirrel - rizdoodls - cheekinpermission - flipppyflopp - daily-trey - medicine-san - pointy-spiral - mintmoth - lico-arts - offorestsongs - 0honeybones0 - ashipiko - r-aindr0p

honorable mention to these blogs too if you'd like to read info about twst in general!

- raven-at-the-writing-desk - yuurei20 - mysteryshoptls

these are my admittedly not-100%-objective recommendations bc half of them are friends/mutuals and i genuinely enjoy their content <333 and i tend to particular about stuff that i like 😭

so like i said, i encourage you to look for others beyond the blogs that i recommend! and don't forget to have fun while you're in the fandom!! 💖💖💖

#[—✦ chatting #HI HELP I’M SO SCARED OF TAGGING PEOPLE AAGH PLEASE DO NOT PERCEIVE ME LIKE THIS ---#in any case if i forgot anyone i'm sorry these are the ones that came to mind at the moment 😭#but just know i love a whole lot of twst blogs here 🥺💖🫶#thanks again for trusting me with recs anon!!#i have never done this before so hopefully you'll find blogs that you'll like that i mentioned here 🙏🙏🙏

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