your-local-tired-communist

[your-local-tired-communist]

Well, seems like I'm one of those people.

“When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.”

— Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

[your-local-tired-communist]

The Confusion of the Middle Ground

The confusion of the middle ground. A place of peace, or a place of hate. The confusion of the middle ground. A bright future for both sides, or a war for prejudice to prevail. The confusion of the middle ground. A handshake, a treaty, or chaos, mistreating. The confusion of the middle ground.

[your-local-tired-communist]

Something I wrote

When you think of a Wings of Fire character that makes people mad, the first dragons that come to mind would probably be Scarlet, or Morrowseer, or one of the villains. You wouldn't think of a sweet innocent SilkWing, right? Well, Blue does get people mad. He sparks online arguments that are quite entertaining to read. But why does everyone hate or love Blue? What makes a character confusing? What is so interesting about a mellow pacifist? That's what we'll be looking at in this video.

THE FACTS: Before we delve into the opinions, let's look at the facts. Blue is a young SilkWing who is the main protagonist of The Lost Continent. He is described at the beginning of the book as "liking things as they are," and he would have exchanged independence for safety all the time. Sympathetic and Empathetic, he hates hurting other dragons' feelings, and puts himself in others' shoes all the time. He wants to be liked, but the way he used to get other dragons to like him was by letting them order him around. His character arc is him learning that some rules must be broken, either because they're unfair or if there is something more important. He is currently in a relationship with Cricket, who helped him develop as a character. In the following books of the third arc, he basically has the same personality, but he's more of an individual and stands up for his own beliefs. Unlike his father, Admiral. When Blue first meets his father, he thinks that it's all nice and dandy, because Admiral was just like him! After a few conversations with his father, Blue realized that what Admiral was doing, (sending letters to Queen Wasp in hopes of getting a better life while imprisoned) was fruitless, and that was Blue's main turning point. He also has a sister, Luna, and Swordtail, one of his best friends. This background information may seem unnecessary, but we need it in order to understand what's going on outside of the canon.

THE DISLIKE: Credit for the people who shared their opinions is in the description. I'll be taking a look at why people hate Blue so much. First, some hate his flaw of being too "soft", and his inability to speak up for himself and others. There does seem to be a general consensus between people who dislike Blue that he is an extremely shallow character and that he is not that smart. One person even stated that Blue had "less personality than a wet rag." A few other people claim that he's just a copy of Moon, except much more bland. All these people find him extremely boring and don't like how naive and childish he is.

THE LOVE: Credit for the people who shared their opinion is in the description. While the haters don't like Blue because of how simple he is, the lovers will say the exact opposite. They will talk about how sweet and pure and complicated his character is, and from what I've seen, they love his flaws. They love how he tries to see the good in everyone and how he'll always do what's right in the end. One user mentions his internal conflict. Of wanting to help dragons and be free, but also wanting to follow the rules, which exist for a reason, right? And to fit in. Some will say that he is intelligent, but he second-guesses himself a little too much. In all, they love Blue, flaws and all, for being such a wholesome and realistic character.

MY OPINION: I myself do enjoy Blue as a character. I think that he has excellent character development, and he's just such a sweet boi. I do find him a little bit bland, but that's just on the surface. He is not my favourite, but he is a character we should all think about a little more, in my opinion.

CONTROVERSY: So what have we learned about the way people view Blue? Either boring or real. How do we end up reading the same thing, but then interpret it in the exact opposite way? Well, it's mostly just the people's preferences, but how is the line so evenly divided? I think that if given a character that has some of the same attributes as a character that was introduced before, some will love reading a character that's similar because they loved the original the first time around. Others will find this boring because they have already read it. It's all a matter of perspective. If you love a character like Blue, maybe try to think about how it would feel if you didn't. "I've seen all of this before. What a boring character! Can we see something new?" And for those who don't like Blue, I encourage you to think about what it feels like to like Blue. "Ooh, another pacifist! I love their thought process." Be like Blue, and try to look through another lens.

Credits:

u/LeafWyvern

u/Alderan922

u/IanAlexBear

[your-local-tired-communist]

NightWings Don't Get Power From The Moons

I was thinking about how moonlight is just reflected sunlight, and then I realized that the NightWings must get their powers from the sun. But this didn't make sense because a NightWing born during the day doesn't get powers, so I thought about it more. The NightWings couldn't get their powers directly from the moon, otherwise, every NightWing hatched at night would be a thrice-moon-born dragonet. So, I think that something happens to the sunlight when it reaches the moons, whether the sunlight changes, or it picks up something, and that is what gives the NightWings their powers. Also, this would mean that all three moons are made out of the same rock.

When I told my friend this, they gave an oversimplified version. The sunlight is like water and the moons are like a Kool-aid packet, and when the "water" hits the "Kool-aid," it mixes and the NightWings "drink" the Kool-aid.

Just thought that it was interesting.

[your-local-tired-communist]

Animus Magic Regarding the Soul

Animus Magic. Does it make you lose your soul? We don't get a clear answer, but in my opinion/theory, it doesn't and only helps you lose your soul. Let's take a look at all of the animuses. (Animuses? Animi?)

Jerboa I: The first occurrence of Animus magic turning a dragon bad. Jerboa wants a dragonet, so she decides to make one. She swears that she won't use her powers to manipulate and change the child, but over the course of a few centuries, that's exactly what happens. I think that in this case, Jerboa essentially just got into a bad habit. I think that one day, Jerboa II or Jerboa III was being annoying, and Jerboa I just thought, "Ah, it wouldn't hurt if I just did it this one time, right?" and then she realized how convenient it was, and she kept doing it. Animus magic didn't directly take from her soul.

Albatross: I don't have too much proof for this one but here are my points. At the Royal SeaWing Massacre, the SkyWing soldiers were talking about how Animus magic destroys the soul, and then Albatross walks up to the queen, and says something along the lines of "It can't take away from your soul if you never had one to begin with." Suspicious. Second point: His first Animus enchantment was an accident when his sisters were teasing him as a dragonet and he told a clamshell to bite off his sister's claws, and although he was young, it is still a very dark thought to have as a child. I bet that he was a terrible dragon to begin with, but then he got pissed off at the way his family was using him, and then he snapped.

Arctic: This one is fairly simple. The rotten patches Darkstalker saw on his Father's soul were guilt. Guilt for the IceWings he accidentally killed, and guilt for betraying his tribe. Some people say that the proof that he lost his soul was the fact that he was willing to trade his own daughter and an entire tribe's secrets just for his wife. I think that after everything that happened, Foeslayer was an island in the middle of the ocean. She was the one point of light in his life, and all of his guilt and anger and sadness made him go insane, and he needed Foeslayer. However, Animus magic definitely had a role in this.

Darkstalker: Although Darkstalker had his scroll with his Animus magic, the reason he lost his soul was the fact that not having to worry about Animus magic made him think that he could use his powers anywhere at any time. This freedom turned him into a Karen. "I deserve the NightWing throne. After all, I was born with these powers. What else would they be used for?" These were basically the words he lived by. Not only this but the more he used his magic, the more he thought it was okay to do more extreme stuff.

Fathom: I don't have much to say, by staying away from using his Animus powers, the less greedy he got for power.

Stonemover: His enchantment with the turning into stone, was instead of losing his soul. In book six, he thinks, "Lost another scale today." This shows us that he was still losing his soul, long after he stopped using his powers. Why? Well, I think that he was so beaten by the fact that he was losing his soul that he became depressed. And because of him no longer being happy, he was losing his soul. Animus magic really scared and scarred him.

Turtle: Just the fact that Turtle wanted to be a side character tells us that he wouldn't want to use his powers for bad things because that would be putting him in the spotlight. Also, he was a really good dragon. He enchanted a lot of items, and yet he's still a happy guy.

Anemone: Her situation is ridiculously similar to Darkstalker's, but she still has her differences. When she was young, she saw what animus magic could do, and as a dragonet, she was probably scared of it. When Anemone got older, she saw how powerful it could really be, and she loved that power. Thankfully, her friends were able to steer her back on the right path. The cold feeling she got when she used her powers in book two? Probably shock. Just seeing that power in action is thrilling and a little scary as well.

Well, that's it! I hope you enjoyed reading this, even if it didn't change your mind.