#you're doomed by the narrative and you're serving!

[the-face-in-the-mirror]

As promised, here she is! Margaret in all of her new glory. I have scarcely been able to stop staring at this one, she's so pretty it's almost unfair.

Finally, a proper outfit for the icon herself. My goal here was to make Margaret look more like a princess and a royal heir, with some inspiration taken from Princess Zelda's design in Breath of the Wild while utilizing some of the colors that Margaret is seen wearing in canon. I might adjust the veil later to make it fit in more seamlessly with the rest of the outfit, but right now, I think it looks okay; let me know if ya'll have any ideas for that.

I always thought Margaret needed more love as the heir to the throne; being the firstborn, you'd think there'd be a little bit more emphasis on her and the position she holds, but she just kind of... exists in a bubble, it seemed like. This time around, Margaret gets a bigger role in terms of her place in Liones and the royal family. Given the time period, there'd be very little separation between Church and State, especially since the Holy Knights are a thing, so I've decided that Margaret gets to essentially be the head of the Church, or at least hold a high position in it. Since Margaret has never demonstrated any magical ability in canon, I imagine I can work with that to aid in her position as High Priestess; I'm still figuring that part out, but we'll get there.

Her overhauled role also gives Margaret more to do than just being constantly locked in a basement like in canon. Personally, I don't really get why she had to be other than the excuse that it was for her own protection, but even then it still seemed weird since Hendrickson had her being watched at all times by the chimera anyway. She'll likely be up to a bit more in this rewrite, and I hope to expand more on her character being stalked by the chimera versus no longer being stalked by it. Margaret could be cool and honestly it's what she deserves.

That's it for now, so I'll see ya'll just as soon as I figure out what to do next. See ya!

[collecting-dustbunnies]

Lesson 58-A in a nutshell (SPOILERS!)

(Context under cut)

[demon-of-the-ancient-world]

posting this because I forgot how much of a fucking Shit Disturber Paul is. like he actually said this. he dethrones the most powerful man in the universe and fucking says this. my dude.

[96z]

you're serving cunt? you're doomed by the narrative and you're serving cunt?

[purrlockswatson]

Love Never Dies, we have beef!

This was... painful. But I think I can ramble without roasting. As always, if you're a fan, don't read, because I'm still serving beef!

I first watched it, I was so bored I had to play it on 1.25× speed. Nothing seemed to be happening even as every new thing wrecked my faith in the creators' intelligence a little more.

"The Beauty Underneath" had unbelievable visuals. People in fish tanks horrify me. In a good way. But when the Phantom decided to yeet his mask like that, I wanted to reach through the screen and shake him. Mate, the kid doesn't hate you. He just got randomly jumpscared. Of course he ran away.

I loved Ramin's sassy Phantom in "Devil Takes the Hindmost," but the premise of the song is so bad it deserves a whole roast post.

All this could be a problem of my personal taste in music and storytelling. But I can't forgive how thoroughly they destroyed Phantom's character. In Ramin's version, Mme Giry was roasting him to his face, and he didn't pull out the lasso? Met Raoul drunk in an empty bar and didn't drop him off a pier and make it look like an accident?

Look, we all love "poor unhappy Erik," but Phantom does not have a heart of gold. No, he's not a monster, but he's not a hero either.

Call me doomy and gloomy, but I don't believe that Phantom would give a hoot if Meg died. He definitely wouldn't show the compassion and repentance he did in that final scene.

The worst thing a PoTO story can do is to make it all about his appearance, which I feel LND did. The greatest reasons Phantom is doomed by the narrative is:

1. Society alienates him for his appearance.

2. How he acts because of his self-hatred, fueled by his alienation from society.

When the narrative puts too much weight on one or the other, it loses direction.

More POTO adaptation rambles here!

[woso-dreamzzz]

Dirtbag : You're serving cunt? You're doomed by the narrative and you're still serving cunt? Slay!

Tontos : I- I don't know what is happening

Sometimes Dirtbag says something and Tontos has no idea what she's saying

Which is strange because it's not like there's a language barrier between them

[getting-spooky-on-a-friday-night]

Radford, to Kevin: You're serving cunt?? You're doomed by the narrative, and you're serving cunt!?

[wandering-a-ding]

you're serving cunt. you're doomed by the narrative and you're serving cunt.

[zeemczed]

Silly Game Time: Bringing back a crowd favorite! Tell us all a dumb joke!

If English isn't your first language, feel free to tell us one in your first language! (I'd almost prefer that, in fact.)

A man walks into a bar with a worried expression. The bartender asks him what's wrong. He stares back out the door of the bar for a moment, then says, "I don't think we exist beyond the confines of this joke." The bartender stares, continuing to polish his mug. "Sorry, what?"

"We're in a joke," the man says, slumping into an empty seat, "An abbreviated narrative that relies on a single moment of expectation subversion to deliver catharsis to the reader."

"You lost me there."

"We're figments of some amateur writer's imagination," the man continues, drumming his fingers on the table, "Our existences will end once the moment of catharsis is reached. Until then, our actions merely serve to develop the expectations of the reader, in preparation for that singular moment—" He slams his fist on the table, upsetting the napkin dispensary. "—the punchline."

"You're saying there's a big guy in the sky playing puppets with us?" The bartender rubs his mustache, frowning. "What if we cut those strings, huh? Stop doing what he wants?"

The man nods. "You have a point. If we continue to subvert the moment of subversion, the joke will never end. The reader will never be satisfied. We'll be free to live our lives." He claps his hands together and smiles. "We have to watch out for the punchline, though. Once we see it, we have to get rid of it, and then we'll be truly free."

"Punchline, huh? How are we gonna spot a punchline? Ain't there jokes where there ain't none, anyway?"

"Don't worry about that, my friend." The man stands up and takes a seat at the bar. "Just follow my cue, and whatever you do: don't be funny."

The door swings open, and a horse walks into the bar. "Hey, there!" the bartender says, "Why the long f—" The man presses a palm up to the bartender's mouth. "That's what I'm talking about. Don't say stuff like that."

Clarity fills the bartender's eyes, and he nods. The horse orders a Jägerbomb and takes a seat by the piano, whinnying under his breath. As the bartender finishes pouring the drink, the door swings open yet again, and a bear walks in.

"I'll have a scotch..." He says nothing for several seconds. "...on the rocks." The man glares at the bartender, but he's gotten the hint. He serves up the bear's order without comment.

A duck walks into the bar. "Get me a beer, and put it on my—" The man grabs the duck by the beak and tosses him into the abyss outside. A mournful quack resounds throughout the bar as the duck falls to his doom.

"Damn, the writer's getting desperate," the man says to the bartender, "Now he's trying to tell jokes that don't need your dialogue."

The door swings open, and a flamingo walks in. "Get me a beer, and put it on my—" The man tosses the bird outside.

"Really?" The man looks toward the ceiling. "Trying to repeat that shit?" A rumble occurs from outside, and the man peers through the door. What was once infinite expanse has turned into a cobblestone pavement. From every direction, birds of all species are flocking towards the door of the bar, ready to try the same old bill joke.

"Oh, God. I can't let any of these in here." The man cracks his knuckles and hunches in front of the door to the bar. He grabs each bird by the beak as they approach and flings them as far away as possible. Eventually, there are too many birds for the man to handle, but for some reason, they don't use their numbers' advantage to overwhelm him; instead, they arrange themselves in a straight line, allowing the man to toss them away one by one.

"What on earth is this?" A woman with a British accent shuffles past the line of birds and up to the man.

The man sighs. "We're all in a joke, and we can't let it end if we want to continue to exist. These birds are trying to get into the bar so they can tell that one 'put it on my bill' joke. I can't let them in at any cost."

The woman glances up and down the row of birds. "So, does this place serve ribs?"

The man looks at her, confused. "I don't think so, why?"

"Because," she replies, motioning to the birds, "this looks like some sort of bar beak queue."

The man drops to his knees, screaming, as his face begins to melt.

(All credit to hideouts who wrote this on Reddit)

[pocketsizedquasar-3]

this is more of a spitballing question: how do you think a jonah-type character and an ahab-type character would interact? in the sense that jonah was running from God and it followed him in the form of a whale, and ahab was looking for a whale who is also God?

HIIII i got this ask when i was still incapable (?) of receiving asks (i saw the notification but couldn't open it) which was a SHAME because it's a VERY FUN GOOD QUESTION AND I WAS VERY EXCITED TO ANSWER so anyways!

first: ahab in the book is already deliberately posited as a jonah inversion / antithesis / opposite figure. in the Sermon chapter early in the book, ishmael and queequeg attend a church in New Bedford and watch this Father Mapple give a sermon about Jonah. and the Entire Point of this chapter is to serve as Foreshadowing and Framing and Setup and etc etc for the narrative to come. (this is part of why it makes me sad when MD adaptations eliminate the onland chapters, because while I understand the need to save space/time and the desire to get to the action as soon as possible, those chapters exist for a reason!! and it is to set up and frame and foreshadow the story in a way that we aren't really able to when we get to sea!)

But yeah, the Sermon is basically all about Jonah and how Jonah disobeys God, tries in vain to run away from him, dooms the entire crew of the ship he is on in the process, and is only saved when he accepts his punishment. It's one of my favorite chapters in the book and I definitely recommend giving it a close read if you're ever interested! For sake of comic space, I had to condense it down into the most direct & salient bits, but I'll otherwise let Mapple speak for himself here:

ᵖˡᵉᵃˢᵉ ᵉˣᶜᵘˢᵉ ᵗʰᶦˢ ⁵ ʸᵉᵃʳ ᵒˡᵈ ᵃʳᵗ

now obviously mapple doesn't directly mention ahab or anything in his sermon; the benefit of visual medium is i can put ahab very explicitly right there when i want him to be <3 but there's a lot of imagery and language that comes up in the sermon that then repeatedly comes up later in reference to ahab -- jonah's swinging lantern becomes the swinging lantern in ahab's cabin (also drawn here), which shows up at several points; jonah "sleeps his hideous sleep" and later so does ahab, so too is his sleep haunted and tumultuous; and then obviously there's the parallel story you mention involving whales and God and all that.

jonah and ahab disobey God; they affront God; even with their sin of disobedience they further flout at God by seeking to flee from him: jonah and ahab think that a ship made by men will carry them somehwere God does not reign, but only the Captains of this earth (see, later, the multiple times ahab states that there is no God on the Pequod, only him; that he cares for no lords or shipowners or Gods; that there is one Lord of the earth but there is one God of the Pequod and that is him). jonah and ahab disobey god; they sin; they think that they can flee from him; they doom their crews in the process.

but in the sermon, and in the story of jonah, jonah is saved. jonah recants:

“In all his cringing attitudes, the God-fugitive is now too plainly known. The sailors mark him; more and more certain grow their suspicions of him, and at last, fully to test the truth, by referring the whole matter to high Heaven, they fall to casting lots, to see for whose cause this great tempest was upon them. The lot is Jonah’s; that discovered, then how furiously they mob him with their questions. ‘What is thine occupation? Whence comest thou? Thy country? What people? But mark now, my shipmates, the behavior of poor Jonah. The eager mariners but ask him who he is, and where from; whereas, they not only receive an answer to those questions, but likewise another answer to a question not put by them, but the unsolicited answer is forced from Jonah by the hard hand of God that is upon him. “‘I am a Hebrew,’ he cries—and then—‘I fear the Lord the God of Heaven who hath made the sea and the dry land!’ Fear him, O Jonah? Aye, well mightest thou fear the Lord God then! Straightway, he now goes on to make a full confession; whereupon the mariners became more and more appalled, but still are pitiful. For when Jonah, not yet supplicating God for mercy, since he but too well knew the darkness of his deserts,—when wretched Jonah cries out to them to take him and cast him forth into the sea, for he knew that for his sake this great tempest was upon them; they mercifully turn from him, and seek by other means to save the ship. But all in vain; the indignant gale howls louder; then, with one hand raised invokingly to God, with the other they not unreluctantly lay hold of Jonah.

jonah recants; he says he Does fear God. he allows himself to be dropped into the sea, which calms the storm and saves the crew, and when in the belly of the whale, he prays to that God: not for deliverance, because he "feels that his dreadful punishment is just...Here, shipmates, is true and faithful repentance; not clamorous for pardon, but grateful for punishment."

so jonah is saved. jonah recants and obeys and trembles like the proper obedient God-fearing servant he is, and so jonah is spared.

and ahab is not.

ahab does not recant. ahab does not obey. ahab does not fear God. (though in the end, he goes from believing his vengeance quest is defying God to believing that his vengeance quest is God's will, and that he has no power/control of his own, which is its whole other thing that makes me Ow). ahab is not good, pious, obedient, God-fearing, repentant. to the last, he grapples with God. for hate's sake he spits his last breath at God.

SO to get back to your Actual question that you asked and not this long tangent that you didn't ask for, how do I think a jonah-type character and an ahab-type character would interact? they both have the similarities mentioned above: disobeying and then hubristically flouting at God, believing they can either escape (jonah) or best (ahab) God. but also as you said, they're also opposites in an important way: Jonah is fleeing God, and Ahab is chasing it. Ahab likely would see himself as a more active participant in his own story, more willing to directly confront and defy God:

That’s more than ye, ye great gods, ever were. I laugh and hoot at ye, ye cricket-players, ye pugilists, ye deaf Burkes and blinded Bendigoes! I will not say as schoolboys do to bullies—Take some one of your own size; don’t pommel me! No, ye’ve knocked me down, and I am up again; but ye have run and hidden. Come forth from behind your cotton bags! I have no long gun to reach ye. Come, Ahab’s compliments to ye; come and see if ye can swerve me. Swerve me? ye cannot swerve me, else ye swerve yourselves!

Ahab does not flee the Gods that threaten to destroy him; he challenges them directly, head on, just as he faces Moby Dick directly, head on.

and Ahab does not care to repent. Ahab does not care that he's offended God. even in the end when he believes himself to be bound to God, bound by fate, devoid of all free will, it is not with obedience, it is not with acquiescence; he is not grateful for punishment; he is still just as enraged with God, just as furious with the God that he sees as having violently damned him. I think he would be quite angry with a character/figure who would apologize, would submit to the God that damned him. He would see that as an unacceptable (and even shameful) defeat, I think.

And we do know already how he responds to characters who beseech him to heed that God. Starbuck is no Jonah figure, but I can't imagine Ahab's response to one would be much different:

Ahab seized a loaded musket from the rack (forming part of most South-Sea-men’s cabin furniture), and pointing it towards Starbuck, exclaimed: “There is one God that is Lord over the earth, and one Captain that is lord over the Pequod.—On deck!”

[skaruresonic]

TBH I refuse to play SXS Gens out of pure principle until the option to restore the original Generations dialogues and animations are avaible, fuck the rewrites

I just finished the Shadow portion lol. Overall I feel like you're not missing much. Like, yeah, it's supposed to be an anniversary game and all that, but there's honestly not much in the way of story. You would unironically be better off playing the older games before this one.

I really feel like the "SxS Gens is necessary to catch new players up to Shadow's history" argument is looking a lot weaker now. If anything, you wouldn't understand the emotional resonances behind many of the allusions unless you've played previous games; they don't provide exposition or context within the narrative itself. You wouldn't know that the ARK raid happened because nobody implies as much. The narrative is written as though it expects you to know why Black Doom's threats to possess Shadow are such a big deal.

This game's narrative is about as patchwork as Gens; characters are in nonsensical spots (why do we find Metal Overlord in Kingdom Valley's boss area, but Mephiles in some random cave on the side of Chaos Island's? what purpose did Metal Overlord's presence serve? or Mephiles', for that matter?) and the plot is just "stop giant monster before it destroys the world" sans Eggman. Much peak, many wow.

There's literally no plot progression from point to point; there are six levels in total, and you will only see most of the "plot" unfold at the 3/4ths mark. Until then, you're just running around without much rhyme or reason.

Maria and Gerald are simply there for moral support. They don't really do anything besides that. Gerald justifies this by claiming he doesn't want to mess with the timeline by changing anything.

I went around talking to various characters. Conversations with Big and Maria were the most enjoyable, and I felt like they were the highlight of the game. Rouge gets a bit on-the-nose by comparing herself to Amy when saying she'd support Shadow. Some of Omega's lines strike me as a little acanonical. For some reason, Orbot and Cubot are also there, and you can help them build a rocket by collecting 80 machine pieces. From what I've heard, however, there's no reward for collecting them all, so I was like "lol bye" and left.

I was also disappointed by the lack of a Sonic boss fight. I would have loved a reprise of the original ARK race from Gens; it would have been a nice callback to how you get to see the race from both perspectives in SA2 as well, but we can't have nice things ig :v

Mephiles appears. Lol. Lmao, even. Rofl, if you will. It feels like ST included him solely to riff on the fact that he'll never be canon. He's such a nothingburger of a character and is so negligible as a plot point that he might as well not have been there. He's only there because fans wanted to see him again.

For one thing, you find him in an out-of-the-way cave under Chaos Island. For another, my guy literally says "I just want to exist" and Shadow goes "no. perish." Based, but also, way to waste my time lmao.

Black Doom wants to consume the world as well as possess Shadow. It's not explained how he returned; Gerald handwaves it as "he rebuilt his body through timey-wimey shenanigans."

The gameplay is serviceable for the most part but also incredibly tedious; I found I only enjoyed Radical Highway Act One, and that was because the design was unencumbered by the use of Doom Powers.

Chaos Control and Chaos Spear are your standard abilities, nothing to write home about.

Doom Missile has limited application since only enemies or targets can be shot down, and thus isn't used much.

Doom Surf controls like a friggin' surfing Blooper.

Doom Morph is okay, I guess. Shadow turns into a giant squid and is able to traverse pools of Black Arms juice.

I hate how the Doom Wings control so much omfg. And they say the Homing Attack is a crapshoot. >.>

tl;dr It's okay. Not terrible, but I honestly don't think I'd play it again.

[pyreo]

I know there's people who like their fantasy storytelling to take a few steps away from reality, you know. Nothing that verges on allegorical to the stuff we worry about in real life. And I think I'm on the opposite team to that and y'know, the further away we get from gw2's original core story the more I see The World Summit instance as more pivotal than it appeared.

It's the part in the middle of Season 2 where you bring the world leaders together to try and insist that they need to aid you fighting Mordremoth, a primal force who's only just now awakened and started causing disruption and deaths. Mechanically, it serves to show the various cultures being made aware of the upcoming antagonist for mostly the first time.

But there's something that grips me to this day about the realism in that segment. You know full well that this thing is beginning its warpath and will kill those around you. You and your guild know that you need to take action immediately before it gathers itself together to a point you cannot fight it any more. I don't think the scene serves much more than obligatory scaffolding in a narrative sense but it echoes the way I feel in real life all the time. It's the focal point where I've never felt more aligned with my Commander.

Smodur: They're plant creatures! How hard can they be to fight. One good flamethrower and…

Knut: Mordremoth is not yet as close as the Sons of Svanir. They press in around our homesteads. That is more important.

Phlunt: Are you saying we should put ourselves on the line to protect all of you? We are safe in Rata Sum.

Jennah: I'm not ashamed to admit that I don't see how this will work. What are you asking of us?

It's not easy to ask the Main Five Peoples to get anything done together - they do come from legitimately incompatible cultures and there's bad history between humans and charr, and sylvari and asura. But you have to present an argument to each one to convince them this is the most important thing to devote resources to.

It's been about ten years since this was written and it still feels exactly like every conversation that deflects from the reality of climate change. The 'we have bigger things to worry about', the 'it's not that bad', the denials, the giving up, the ones who have enough to feel secure individually and don't really care.

That and the way the narrative turns from 'you're the hero, slay the dragon' to a domino effect that cannot be stopped, wrenching the planet off its hinges and it was all down to you. There's a big difference in changing the threat from ancient dragons awakening to devour all life... and it being the Commander's fault that the stabilising effect those dragons had is unplugged. The allegory becomes undeniable - you doomed the world. You have to chase down that tether and pull the weave back from unravelling even if it'll tear you apart. And even if nobody realises how close their lives are to ending, even if nobody respects you for it.

You have to look the most powerful people alive in the eye and plead with them to fucking help you for god's sake knowing it's a crisis and if you don't take action right now instead of waiting for it to get worse... being able to tell them 'I told you so' will be no solace at all.

And fuckin.... if fantasy stories are there to give us hope for ourselves, nothing hits as directly as the journey from "It's not that bad, why should we put anything on the line for you?" to

That hope means something very real to me.

[hvezdnastreka]

Watched Star trek TOS episode "Metamorphosis" and I really, really disliked it, so here's a little rant about it, to get it out of my system!! Star trek has plenty of sexist moments, which I understand, it's quite old, but this somehow pissed me off more, than all of them (that I watched as of right now).

Heads up, I will not be giving the synopsis of the whole episode, I'm just focusing on Nancy.

Nancy Hedford has contracted a disease and Kirk and co. are giving her a lift to a starbase, where she can be cured. Nancy isn't like other women, that have interacted with our crew up to this point. She's very beautiful, but not liked, as she is proud, arrogant and somewhat rude. I think, that if I didn't really start liking her right here, I would've been more okay with the episode, but just in her introduction, she really spoke to me. Is it really arrogance, if there's a war, that she can help end?

When Nancy finds out, that she may have to live and die on this planet, just to keep company to Zefram company, she is disgusted, horrified. The stress of this and her illness is enough to make her pass out. Nancy sobs at the idea of being used for this.

The companion takes over her body, so that it's able to understand love and Zefram. You're supposed to be fine with this, as Nancy in her last moments confesses, that she wished to be loved and to love in her life. This is supposed to be the ultimate happy ending, Zefram and the companion get to spend the rest of their lives together and Nancy gets her wish, except she doesn't really, does she?

The companion might say, that they have merged together, but it clearly is just the companion's personality in Nancy's body. This new Namcy isn't proud, she doesn't care about the war she's supposed to be stopping, or the people dying, while she's not there. Zefram says, that he's staying, because he's genuinely in love and how could he not be? The woman whose beauty he's been constantly commenting on, takes on the character of the being, that has lived to serve him and love him for years on end. Nancy doesn't get to be loved, as that is not Nancy, and Nancy doesn't get to love, as she's repeatedly shown to be repulsed by Zefram. A mirage of Nancy will spend the rest of her life on this planet, with a man, whose desire she was disgusted by.

Perhaps it's just the way the actress portrayed her or the way it was shot, but you can't show me a scene of a woman sobbing "That's disgusting! How could you do this to us?! We're not animals!", then use her body as a vessel for an obedient alien and expect me to accept, that the episode's message is about the nature of love.

Kirk ends the episode, as he often does, with a little quip: "Well, I'm sure the Federation can find another woman *somewhere* who'll stop that war" and I don't know what it is about that sentence, but it made me realize, that Nancy gets doomed to this fate by the narrative, because of who she was. Nancy is proud, hostile, unpleasant and rude, therefore, what happened to her is a good thing. The Federation can find another woman somewhere, one, that is kinder, more loving, and less like Nancy.

[cinnamonanddean]

See I think what would have worked better for both Lionel and Lex's characters would have been if Lionel had genuinely tried to dissuade Lex from the path he was on, from a place of understanding. I get that Lex can't be redeemed; that he's doomed by the narrative to become Superman's adversary. BUT I think it would have led more credence to Lionel's redemption AND to Lex's downfall.

Like the whole Julian cloning thing: it's fucked up. But Lionel facilitated the cloning of a murderous ten year old who tried to kill multiple people. Lex cloned his little brother and got him a job at the Daily Planet. These are not the same crime. And what does post-redemption Lionel do? Calls Lex deplorable. Bruh. How about "Lex, I know you're suffering and you feel alone in the world and you thought this would solve the problem. I understand why you would think that. But here's why it's wrong." But no: he goes "Welp, my own son is a lost cause. Let's divert all my attention to the being I built a literal cage to contain in case he's evil instead."

Give me a man who has done evil, horrible things, has had a life-changing experience and seen the light, and then meets the child who is following his path with love and empathy. "Lex, I know WHY you're doing these things, I thought the same way, but here's where I went wrong and so will you, if you continue". I don't feel like anyone really tried to empathize with Lex once he started slipping, they just condemned him.

AND THEN, when Lex stays on his narrative path and refuses to change, it gives that more weight as well. When someone is being met with love and understanding and still goes ahead and does bad things - well, there's your villain. One with depth. One who just can't forgive or get over what's been done to him. That makes him way more nuanced and interesting, to me at least. AND Lionel too. Lionel's redemption arc in the show falls flat for me because it's so self-serving. He isn't trying to help Lex, or even Clark really. He's out for himself.

[witheredoffherwitch]

What do you think about Alys’ magic abilities? Since she was follower of Old Gods, do you think she was greenseer or skinchanger?

I do think that Larys is indeed a skinchanger, who enters mind of rats, so he’s able to spy over Red Keep. And in leaked audition tape Alys was joking(or not) she is barn owl who was cursed to live in human body, can it be a hint she’s able to skin change into animals too?

It said that only one in thousand is born a skinchanger and only one skinchanger in a thousand is born a greenseer. And greenseers known for having greensight, so I don’t think Larys is one of them, but Alys is described to have visions in multiple sources, some kind of greensight.

And with Ewan hinting that Aemond will know day he dies, Alys potentially can be the one who predicts it:

"That was one of the first things [showrunners] Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik wanted to think about: the legend of The Cyclops in Greek mythology, and how he ultimately traded one of his eyes to Hades in order to see the day he would die,"

"What does that do to a person, to possess that extreme degree of self-certainty? To know the day you're going to go down, and feel bulletproof to a point. I'm not saying Aemond is a seer, but he's scary perceptive."

And it’s interesting if she’s indeed a greenseer, unlike Bran and Bloodraven, who both were men in power, she was just a serving bastard.

What’s your personal assumption about this?

Hello nonnie, I hope you're doing well.

I sound like a broken record now -- but once again, I apologize for the delayed response. I'm so glad you found the time to ask this question because it prompted me to go back and read all the articles I had previously overlooked.

NOW... Ewan and Ryan both hinting at Aemond being privy to his own impending death is HUGEEE! If Aemond is somehow made aware of it through Alys' visions, then that completely removes the likelihood of her orchestrating his death. If makers don't botch the narrative they've employed for his storyline till now, then Aemond's character is primed to be one of the most tragic characters in HoTD. There is very good possibility that by the end of his journey, he feels like an absolute failure who's doomed his own cause to a potential defeat. In that scenario, when all hope is lost, I can totally see his character gambling everything away for that one final triumph that will not only assure the removal of the biggest possible threat -- but also offer him the retribution for B&C. Incidentally, there is also a high likelihood that we are reading too much into these quotes which were intended as some casual, off-handed remarks on Aemond's character study... I don't know.

Moving right along, me and some of my fellow shippers have been knee-deep in some fascinating headcanons recently. We’ve all largely agreed that both Alys and Larys could be skinchangers. I am not sure if Alys will be explored beyond her role in the Dance, but the theory of her being a 'greenseer' is an interesting one. I have read so many theories on Alys - from those guessing at a connection with Asshai and Quaithe to those believing her magic is derived from necromancy or blood magic. These are all interesting theories for sure, and opens a wonderful opportunity to explore more AUs.

I am excited to see what the makers have in store for us. She's such an interesting character, with both teams vying for her fealty on these online spaces. Our girl's definitely got many intrigued -- and I have even seen some TG fans suggest that the relationship between Aemond and Alys could be strictly platonic in the show. If that is the case, her story will either conclude at the battle above God's Eye or - in rare one-off case - they might even kill her character in the middle of a war. The makers are certainly not hesitant to change character arcs in the show, so nothing's off the table.

Thanks once again for this lovely ask!

Love, Kalki 🤗

[imminent-danger-came]

Spider Queen and MK Parallels

Okay strap in everyone this is a long one.

Spider Queen: "Do you want to know what you are? You're my ticket back to the throne. All that power the Monkey King gave you? After I've made my dinner it's all gonna be my power." (1x04 Noodles or Death)

(Obvious but important for later, there's a power motif between these two)

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(2x03 Pig Pong Panic) (2x05 Minor Scale)

MK: "Hahoh! A super special package from Monkey King!? Oh, this day just hot a whole lot more interesting."

Spider Queen: "Haha, the monkey boy! Well this day just got a little more interesting!" Lady Bone Demon: "My Queen, perhaps-" Spider Queen: "Sooorryy, can't hear you over the sound of me rushin' destiny."

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MK: "I'm TYRING to find something that will make me super super powerful so that I can defeat-" "-S- someone, anyone! You know, to be sure that I got what it takes to take on the next big bad!"

Sandy: "The wise warrior leads their enemy into their own destruction. What's that mean?" MK: "It means I need to be stronger! Be so powerful that it'd be certain defeat to fight me." Sandy: "Maybe you need a break little man." (2x06 Game On)

Spider Queen: "You ruined everything! It's all over because of, because of-" MK: "-Her. You were making it to fight her! The Lady Bone Demon!"

Spider Queen: "Agh, Lady Bone Demon! So it IS her! Well, if she wants to-" MK: "-Yeah, she scares me too." Spider Queen: "I'm not scared! I am the queen!" MK: "Please! She's the Bone Demon. I don't know, maybe if we work together-" Spider Queen: "Hmhmhmhahaha- work together haha—I don't need help from a child. I will rule this world, not even some ancient bone demon will stop me." (2x09 72 Transformations)

(In case it's not clear, I'm drawing a connection between MK trying to become stronger to stop the Lady Bone Demon and Spider Queen trying to rebuild her mech. "The strongest move isn't always the rightest move", eh?)

Fun bonus parallel to the above (and below) interaction:

Spider Queen: "*Laughs* Don't tell me you're scared of spiders?" Pigsy: "Kid, run!" (1x04 Noodles or Death)

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Lady Bone Demon: "Just a piece in a game you can not possibly comprehend." "Run along, destiny will find you soon enough." (2x05 Minor Scale)

Spider Queen: "I was just a pawn in the game! Like you." MK: "It's not too late, you can run." Spider Queen: "Haven't you figured that out yet, there's no running from what she is." (2x09 72 Transformations)

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(2x09 72 Transformations) (2x10 This is the End!)

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Spider Queen: "I had the Monkey King's power! The city was MINE! And I still lost." (2x01 Sleep Bug)

Lady Bone Demon: "Now do you understand? From the start you never had what it took to defeat me. All your power could do was make me stronger." (2x10 This is the End!)

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(2x09 72 Transformations) (2x10 This is the End!)

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Lady Bone Demon: "You promised me my destiny!" "A promise I did not break my queen, this is your destiny." "Do not lament your fate child, you can rest knowing you've served your purpose. Destiny has found you." (2x10 This is the End!)

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When the s2 antagonist and the protagonist are both doomed by the narrative together <3