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bellaaldamas · 23 hours

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Kratos in God of War Ragnarök 12/??

#god of war #god of war ragnarok #wish i could be part of that queue

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bellaaldamas · 1 day

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Angrboda — God of War Ragnarök

#best girl in the world #god of war #god of war ragnarok #the quality is outstanding

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bellaaldamas · 1 day

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#self reblog #god of war ragnarok #god of war #atreboda

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bellaaldamas · 2 days

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#gowredit #gowedit #atreboda #god of war ragnarok #god of war #atreus and angrboda #atreus #angrboda #in the end of the day I'm just here for the pretties #I'll leave it up to Kratos to battle most of the trolls #mine

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bellaaldamas · 3 days

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GOD OF WAR: RAGNARÖK Atreus/Loki and Fenrir

#god of war #god of war ragnarok

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bellaaldamas · 4 days

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Sam Drake in UNCHARTED 4

#uncharted #uncharted 4

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bellaaldamas · 4 days

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PAIGE MATHEWS • CHARMED • S5E7 SYMPATHY FOR THE DEMON

#meet my other queen #paige matthews #charmed

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bellaaldamas · 4 days

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Angrboda portrait study! I’m currently catching up with GOW: Ragnarok and love her character!

#this is breathtaking #an intricate work #god of war #god of war ragnarok #angrboda #best girl in the world #art

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bellaaldamas · 4 days

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The general attitude towards female characters in the Gow(R) fandom has been heinous since Gow18. Back then misogynists overfilled every platform imaginable to inform the community of the fact that Freya deserves capital punishment for daring to not be a perfect mother and being angry with Kratos for killing her son right before her eyes. Those same people gushed over Kratos so much as taking responsibility for his own son, after years of being so estranged, emotionally and physically, from him that Atreus, subconsciously, would have found it easier to accept his death than Faye's.

Fandom would cheer on Kratos finally (loud gasp) calling his "boy" his son because when a man/male lead shows a modicum of parental love and care he is hailed as the greatest hero of all time, no matter his flaws as a father or as a person. Or, in Kratos's case, his extensive past of bloodshed, murder and war crimes. Yet, when Freya, a victim of years long abuse and isolation, makes a mistake out of desperate intention to protect her son, the only person she thought she had left in the world after Odin alienated her from her own people and brother, she is scorned as the worst being to ever exist.

Likewise, Freya holding Baldur's murder against Kratos while not committing crimes anywhere near as horrendous as those committed by Kratos in his past in a similar context (and letting Atreus live when she had a chance to get even with Kratos by robbing him of his child) was viewed as a, supposedly, further proof that Freya is "the lost cause and needs to die as the big bad of GowR" (misogynistic reviewers, before GowR's release, were convinced that was the role she would assume because there clearly were no other potential candidates and Odin could not have been all that bad as per their twisted thinking).

Men/male characters are allowed to be mass murderers and deadbeat dads as long as they repent but women are not allowed to be anything but a paragon of virtue in every area of life.

However, GowR narrative vindicated Freya - and her fanbase by extension - which is why the trolls shifted their focus to Atreus and Angrboda. Mainly due to the fact that they despise Atreus and, being sexist to the core, see Angrboda as his extension rather than a person/character in her own right. Unfortunately for them, GowR developers kept on the revolutionary path of creating refreshing female characters, of whom Angrboda is the most outstanding due to subverting the already mentioned girlboss trope.

Regarding talking about parents, Angrboda bonded with Atreus over it repeatedly after she saw how distressed he was because of the mural/prophesy and the prospect of losing his father. She instigated a conversation about fathers and their overprotectiveness when she took him to a trip through Ironwood on Jalla's back, asked him whether Kratos is an artist too (thus showing interest in not just Kratos as Loki's father and a part of the prophesy but his personality, hobbies and the traits he and Atreus had in common). Finally, she opened up about losing both parents just to comfort Atreus (after a mentally crashing and scarring encounter with her grandmother).

The digging through the bag wasn't actually Atreus "digging" but haphazardly and erratically throwing the marbles with souls of their people (no less) in them into the pouch. And even to that Angrboda merely asked him to be careful. That was followed by her heartfelt and emotional admission it hurt her to know she couldn't be a part of his future (and only after that point did Atreus start making semi-romantic gestures towards her, like giving her the flower - after Angrboda directly told him it was unbearable to her that they are destined to part ways; even in that regard, it was Angrboda who initiated emotional bonding, therefore the argument that she is somehow "oblivious" to Atreus's feelings falls flat).

Moreover, despite Angrboda's late mother telling her Loki wouldn't be ready to use the marbles right away and that it was his responsibility to carry them until he is, she welt along, twice, with his wishes that contradicted everything she grew up knowing and thinking was her entire lifeline. Angrboda helped him create the World Serpent and agreed to keep the marbles because she saw he couldn't take on that responsibility just yet.

Concerning Thrud, admittedly, she is not the female character type I tend to get attached to. The girlboss cliche is not nor has it ever been my cup of tea and fandom's attitude towards female characters who do not fall under that trope due to being vulnerable and kind (Angrboda being just one of the innumerable examples) further put me off it. However, it'd be problematic and hypocritical to critique Thrud not for her own (in universe) behavior and flawed thinking but for the fact of representing that trope, especially in the series where male characters get to wield all kinds of power.

Likewise, it cannot go both ways with Thrud and Atreus regarding their familial legacy and respective fathers' past. If Atreus is not accountable for Kratos's sins and war crimes neither is Thrud for Odin and Thor's.

If a boy/male character gets to be his own person and carve his own path then a female character cannot and should not be seen as the extension of her male family members. We cannot praise Atreus for going off on his solo journey of self discovery and getting reacquainted with his heritage while denying Thrud the same opportunity. When that clearly is what she's set out to do given the scene of her retrieving and wielding Mjolnir.

The problem with Angrboda versus Thrud argument isn't that Thrud cannot be criticized for her objective selfishness and narcissism (another matter when double standards should not apply: if Atreus is, rightly, critiqued for his impulsiveness and reckless decisions so should be Thrud for her troubling rhetoric about Freya's abuse at the hands of Odin and her dismissing her grandfather's toxicity towards all of her family members just because Odin took kindly to her personally. Which gave Thrud green light to convince him to make her a Valkyrie - a goal beyond which Thrud has yet to learn to see).

The problem is that they are juxtaposed against one another in the fandom because they are viewed solely in relation to Atreus, a male character.

Those people don't even highlight parallels or anti-parallels/contrasts between the two girls beyond the fact of which one of them is more "deserving" of being Atreus's love interest and catering to their own personal fantasies.

Notably, while Atreus and Angrboda fan-base largely roots for them being in a healthy and healing relationship as equal partners, Thrud's fan-base views Atreus as a prize she could claim while simultaneously reducing her to a role of a "worthy love interest" for him. It's double objectification where Thrud is the object for either gamebro's sexualized fantasies (which is disturbing given how young she is) or for Atreus.

Justice for my girls Angrboða and Thrúd.

One (Angrboða) is constantly "criticized" for daring to be *gasp* black in a norse video game that is definetly historicaly accurate and revolves around vikings and not Gods that could have any possible design! Apparently everyone just forgot that Jotunheim's landscape is designed after Africa.

If she's not attacked because of skin color, it's because she has "ulterior motives" even though the only moments where she was 'hostile' was when Atreus asked about her parents - a topic quite invase for someone you've met not even 10 minutes ago- or when she told him to be careful when digging in the bag full of Jotnar souls that could be lost forever if their marble is destroyed. The only 'ulterior motive' she was hiding was... trying not to show too much emotion when talking about her dead people and being sad about the fact she's destined to be forgotten by Loki?

Other (Thrúd) is reduced to either Atreus' white girlfriend, the "forced woke bland female character" (these two come from the same group of people - long live the gamerbros!) or a "selfish bitch who only cares about her own good". Thrúd is supposed to be a slight subversion of that woke girlboss - it's what you're meant to see her as at first, then when you progres through Asgard (if you're paying attention, which seems like these people aren't) you see that she's quite sheltered. Sif and Thor's attempt at being better parents, and ultimately - another pawn in Odin's great game.

Thrúd is essentialy a sheltered rich kid who wasn't shown the 'real world' and has to learn to be better after witnessing it. While Angrboða is a character who isn't shown to really have moral flaws - Thrúd IS supposed to be that! That is the moral of Ragnarok - to learn to be better.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if these two are supposed to be parallels?

#text #god of war ragnarok #god of war

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bellaaldamas · 4 days

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Already posted it in replies but feel like reblogging as well, as to counter this lazy trolling the OP had the misfortune to stumble upon.

Does this troll mean Angrboda was "rude" when Atreus had his juvenile (though perfectly understandable in the psychological context of the situation) tantrum AFTER nearly eating her alive in his wolf form? Which is when she was able to tend to him and comfort him using soft touch and gentle words alone (when even Kratos - Atreus's father - had to resort to violence twice to tame him). After which HE lashed out and yelled at her unfairly and when she answered back she immediately regretted raising her voice, admitted it was "mean" and offered more comfort. As well as proposed to take Atreus's mind off of the prophesies and instead focus on what he wanted and would enjoy learning (his giant heritage Angrboda volunteered to guide him through).

Or was it when Atreus made a "romantic" gesture of plucking the flower from Angrboda's territory where she engaged in a physically daunting and hard labor daily to look after every living thing. And because of years of isolation (to the point where her only surviving family and the only other person in Ironwood - her grandmother - wouldn't even speak to her and would directly express regret Angrboda was even born) Angrboda didn't originally get the implications of this act. But when she did she lovingly kept the flower among her paintings and other treasured possessions.

All of which happened after she showed Atreus fireflies, told him how "glad" she was he came to Ironwood, trusted him with putting giant's soul into the Serpent when Atreus himself admitted he had no idea what he was doing, directly offered him to stay as long as he liked and opened up to him about the death of both of her parents (thus reopening an old wound solely to help Atreus feel better about his own emotional turmoil). The latter served to encourage him to not push his father away, after a yet another horrific traumatic event Angrboda had to endure when her grandmother told her she was "nothing" and no one including the person she cared about (Atreus/Loki) would "ever remember her".

But maybe if Angrboda backed Atreus against the wall (twice), had a sword to his throat, doubted every step he took, lashed out at him because of an honest mistake telling she should have never trusted him, punched him in the face, called him a "killer just like his father", tried to chop his head off (as he lay defenseless on the ground) or insulted said father and his motherly figure like Thrud did she would've been the perfect potential romantic partner for him according to trolls. They intentionally promote toxic thinking and twist facts to justify their lack of critical thinking and knowledge of canon.