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exhaslo · 2 months

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Corruption Ch10

(Villain!Miguel x F!Hero!Reader)

Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, Ch4, Ch5, Ch6, Ch7, Ch8, Ch9

Warning: Minors DNI, mentions of sex, violence, blood, murder, twisted thoughts, experimentation, language, wannabe fluff, established friendship/relationship?

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Two Months, Twenty-Four Days until D-Day

If hearts could float above your head, they would. You felt like you were living in a fairy tale now that you and Miguel were officially dating...in secret. Whether or not everyone knew was of no matter or importance to you. As long as you knew that you melted that stone cold heart of his, you were happy.

Humming lowly as you waited for the elevator to arrive, you couldn't help but imagine what kind of day it will be. Maybe it was your clouded mind, but you were sure Miguel was behaving. He wasn't calling for you any cruel experiments. Perhaps he had changed.

Or you were so blind from love that you didn't notice.

"Hold the elevator!" Aaron yelled out.

You gasped softly, using your foot to hold the doors open. You needed to snap out of your day dreams and focus. Nearly dropping both yours and Miguel's coffee, you bit your lower lip in a panic. Miguel was not a happy camper without his morning cup of joe.

"Thanks, (Y/N). Still dressing like it's negative degrees?" Aaron said with a light chuckle, "Your office is like a sauna now."

"Haha, yea...I still don't know what came over me. Never reacted this way to the cold before."

"Think that cruel boss of ours experimented on you with knowing?" Aaron grumbled lowly. You felt your heart sink,

"He wouldn't," You tried to plead Miguel's case, "While yes....Alchemax isn't the...best company to work for, but to experiment on his own workers?"

You. To experiment on you? Miguel wouldn't...unless he ever found out your secret identity.

"You know about the Rapture...right?" Aaron whispered lowly. You felt your shoulders wink,

"Sadly...I do..."

"The apple never falls to far from the tree."

Just like that, you felt yourself return to reality. As much as you loved Miguel, you had to remember that your goal was to take Alchemax down. You needed to bring Miguel's father to justice first. Miguel still had a chance. He could still be saved!

"Anyway, are you free this Friday night?" Aaron asked as the elevator approached his floor.

"Me? Um, not sure yet, why?"

"Because I want to-"

The elevator stopped and doors began to open. Minding his words, Aaron stopped talking since it was too dangerous. Every time he tried anything, Miguel would just appear out of nowhere. Not seeing anyone by the open door, Aaron stepped out,

"I want to take you out on a d-"

"Aaron, there is an emergency system failure in bookkeeping. You're needed urgently." Lyla appeared from your watch. You were taken by surprise.

"Of course," Aaron muttered under his breathe, "Perhaps another time then. Later (Y/N)."

"Bye, best of luck." You chirped.

Once the doors closed again, you focused on your watch. Lyla was smiling as she appeared before you in a cute new holographic attire.

"I love the look. Did Miguel finally give you more freedom to dress yourself?" You chuckled, adoring the AI. Lyla appeared beside your shoulder,

"Girl, it was a workout! I begged! I pleaded! Do you know what I had to do to get this?"

"Um....A well contrasted plan for world domination?" You teased as you arrived on Miguel's floor.

"Ha! That would be too easy. I sent Miguel all of your pictures from you trying on different underwear~"

"What?! Lyla!!" You cried out, chasing after the AI, "T-That's my personal data! Y-You know you can't do that!"

"I jest." Was all Lyla said before disappearing before Miguel's door.

Oh, if you could only strangle Lyla just once. That AI sure knew how to bring tears to your eyes for the most embarrassing things. She was connected to your phone, so you had to be careful of what pictures you took now. So erasing all of your new sexy panties was going to be painful.

As you entered Miguel's office, you felt a shiver run down your spine. Something felt ominous, but it was nothing dangerous to you. Approaching your frightening and cruel boyfriend, you smiled as you handed him his large coffee.

"Perfect timing. There are new specimens that arrived in the Museum of Science today. We are to go so I may have my pick of the lot."

"Ew," You responded immediately as Miguel took his drink, "I just know there is a Spider involved."

"Perchance," Miguel hid his smirk as he glanced at you, "It's cute how much you hate Spiders. Do you despise that Spiderwoman too?"

You held your small coffee, taking small sips every now and then as you tried to avoid his gaze.

"She's a person, so no. Spiders are just...eek." You whimpered.

What a hypocrite. Here you were, hating Spiders with all your being, yet you had some Spider DNA in you. It was easy to say that you still hated them despite enjoying some of the perks of being part Spider. How funny.

"Shall we go?" Miguel asked, changing out of his lab coat and into a more appropriate suit.

You could feel your heart race as you watched Miguel change. Oh how handsome he was. Finishing your coffee, you hurried to Miguel's side and quickly fixed his tie. His hand rested against your cheek, giving you that affection you crave.

"Let's go."

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Miguel kept his sinister smirk upon his face as he had you wrapped around his little finger. Lately he felt calm. Everything was going his way. He had you behaving perfectly; your DNA was about to be cracked; and the company was sky-rocking.

Plus, Miguel was doing well by giving himself a name in the city. The underground Kingpin as the rumors spread. People started to fear him after the display he made with Doc Ock.

"Um, Miguel?" You called out.

Miguel glanced at you beside him. You were tapping away on your work tablet, focused on an article. Leaning against you, Miguel recognized the article about rising crime. It was thanks to him that there was so much chaos in the city.

"They're saying...that Spiderwoman isn't doing a good job...just ignoring the people and only stopping the villains....What do you think about that?" Your voice was low. How cute.

"That you shouldn't concern yourself with the small minds of others," He scoffed and threw his arm over your shoulders, "They wish for a constant savior. What good is a hero if they spend all their time on every little thing?"

"Well...."

"A hero is meant for a bigger purpose. Whom else will take on those so-called villains? Our pathetic public eye?"

"Miguel...You know that your father owns them..." You whispered. Miguel silenced you with a kiss,

"And so do I. Spiderwoman just needs to focus on her own morals and ideals. She should not be wasting her abilities on meaningless fighting. Soon enough...those villains will fall."

"Mhm,"

Miguel's smirk returned as you leaned against him. You were so easily to manipulate. So easy to twist and bend. Pulling you onto his lap, Miguel held your waist as he watched you settle. His hands trailed up your sides, feeling your body tremble to his touch.

"Just as how you should think, (Y/N)." Miguel whispered, biting your lower lip, "Think only about what you want."

What you crave.

"Don't be...mean," You whispered, melting into his kisses.

"What do you want?"

To be tainted?

"Y-You,"

"Then just listen to everything I say,"

Be mine.

Miguel hummed lowly as you gave yourself to him. How easily his hands roamed your perfect body. The future of humans. You were going to be nothing but Miguel's precious experiment. His precious wife.

His little hero.

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"Must you walk so slow?" Miguel chuckled, waiting for you.

Your cheeks were flustered as you hurried behind Miguel. You wouldn't have been so slow if he didn't mess up your attire. Miguel was very handsy with you. It was like he was always checking your body for anything strange.

"I said to stop bullying me!" You huffed, standing beside Miguel as you entered the muesum.

"Now, now. You weren't complaining."

Unable to deny Miguel's cruelty, you quietly followed. Treating this trip like business as usual, you took notes of everything Miguel did or said. He loved reviewing your notes, just in case someone said something he wanted to review.

After a few hours, you started to get bored. Miguel might find everything here fascinating, you didn't. You could feel your eye lids start to drop as Miguel examined the new creatures. This was the part you hated.

You knew these animals and bugs were going to be used for experiments. It was a nice break, but Miguel would never stop his endeavor for human gene splicing.

This made you recall Aaron's words. What did you have to do to take down Alchemax and help Miguel? Right as you started to brain storm, you felt your spider senses tingle.

"HAHA! Did you truly believe that you could keep me hostage here?!" Rhino screamed as he broke down a nearby wall.

"This puny brained idiot." Miguel hissed. You on the other hand glanced around, wondering where to change, "Let's go." Miguel grabbed your hand, walking towards another room.

"But-Rhino-" You panicked, watching the villain make a mess.

"Is not worth our time. We came here for a reason," Miguel scolded, gripping your wrist. You felt torn,

"Maybe...someone should call Spiderwoman?" You suggested, wanting to help.

As the two of you made a turn, Miguel pinned you against the wall. His face was close to yours, making your heart race.

"As much as I would love to ask Spiderwoman more questions, this is beneath her. These fiends are nothing compared to her perfect genes," Miguel whispered, his intense stare burning into yours, "Remember what I said in the car?"

"Do whatever you say?" You whispered obediently. Miguel rewarded you with a kiss,

"Good girl,"

Oh, you were folding again. Why did Miguel have to make you feel like this? You loved it when he had a hold on you. It was easier to listen to him.

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Miguel resisted a chuckle as you gave him a desperate look. Your eyes full of lust as you nearly begged for another kiss. How easy you were to please. Deciding to reward you again, Miguel licked your lips and gave you a deep kiss.

"Now," Miguel broke the kiss, watching you take a moment to catch your breathe, "What were we doing again?"

"Getting...new specimens." You whispered. Miguel smirked,

"Good girl,"

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Next Chapter

(Still on small hiatus, Final Fantasy is AMAZING!!!!)

@tojishugetiddies @miguelsfavwife @foulsharkheart @club-danger-zone @ivkygirly @jollystrawberrycycle @amber-content @weirdothatwritess @smartyren @mangoslushcrush @nyxzoldyck6 @migueloharastruelove @chaoticlovingdreamer @sukioyakio @killjoy-nightshadow @heyohalie @the-pan-liquid @bokutosprettylittlebimbo @kpopscoups17130000 @pochapo @killerwendigo @barbiecrocs @miss-galaxy-turtle @oscarissac2099 @lazy-idate @lauraolar14 @migueloharacumslut @straw-berry-ghoul @daisy-artfield @sukunash0e @undf-stuff @iamperson12280 @nightingale1011 @reader-1290 @mcmiracles @keepghostly @marlyharper @jadeloverxd

#miguel o'hara #miguel o'hara x reader #spiderman 2099 #miguel spiderverse #miguel o’hara x reader #miguel spiderman #miguel o'hara smut #atsv miguel #miguel x you #across the spiderverse #miguel x y/n #miguel x reader

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emotionaldisaster909 · 2 months

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Today the body of the only real opposition leader in my country was buried

After his death on February 16th

Exactly a month before the presidential “election”.

After three years in prison camps.

Thousands of people gathered before the funeral ceremony, leaving flowers and messages of gratitude

Thousands of people protested on the streets, stopped by the police from getting closer to the funeral

All stood together in his name,

chanting

“Heroes don’t die!”

“Stop the war!”

“Peace for Ukraine! Freedom for Russia!”

“You wasn’t afraid, we aren’t afraid.”

I was afraid

I am

But seeing the bravery of my people, openly protesting despite all the risks, despite their faces being caught on cameras, despite everything

Makes me hope

And makes me want to spread the word

It often feels just scary and hopeless

Because, what the protests are for? For the goverment to see, to fear, to reconsider their choices

But there has been so many protests

And the goverment

Does not care.

Never did.

And the people brainwashed by the official propaganda will only see and hear what they’re being shown and told on daily basis.

But to all the people who still know what’s black and white.

This today?

Was hope.

He was killed, but not broken.

Even in such tragedy there is light.

And on March 16th the official presidential elections will be held.

But everyone, every single person in this country knows they’re faked.

Have been for years. And years. Even before the constitution was rewritten to coronate one person forever.

It will be faked again.

But today?

Was the truth.

The truth that we aren’t broken.

Before all the power of the corrupted, heartless, hating, greedy and evil

There is good.

There is honesty, bravery, conscience, kindness, understanding

Humanity

And I just want the humanity to know.

I just want the world to see.

We might not have power to do much else.

But if there is good, kind and understanding outside.

Help.

Help the world.

The hate,

The corruption,

The wars must stop.

One day we must win.

#politics #alexei navalny #rip navalny #rest in peace #russia #russia ukraine war #stop the war

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fateandloveentwined · 4 months

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wuxia and confucianism

Hey. Thought I'd answer the wuxia-confucian question very briefly. I did suggest wuxia being closely knitted to confucianism, but I do understand the other perspective of wuxia being anti-confucian. Quick answer only because I've got little time right now -- might add on to it later!!

confucianism

First the central themes of confucianism:

常 (cháng): Virtues of compassion and courtesy. 仁 (rén)、义 (yì)、礼 (lǐ)、智 (zhì)、信 (xìn)、忠 (zhōng)、孝 (xiào)、悌 (tì) (there are more). These in order in crude translation mean compassion, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, integrity, loyalty, filial piety, and respect to one's older siblings. These are the main ideas Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, wished to spread through his philosophy.

纲 (gāng): Order. This is about the relationships between people, the filial piety of child to their parents, the relationship between significant others, between friends and teachers, and expanding outwards in the sphere of influence in our circle of life, the patriotism and loyalty of a liege to his lord.

Understand that Confucius came up with these ideas in a time of war. He lived his life traversing different kingdoms and establishing his prominence by getting emperors to trust him as a consultant and employ his school of ideas. As such, these beliefs are very much centred around creating harmony and order in society, and of course entails the respect of commoners and lieges to their lords (because why else would kings employ his beliefs over other schools of philosophy if not so?).

wuxia

Moving on to the wuxia genre, the 侠 (xiá) in wuxia emphasises righteousness. xia, as people, are itinerants and rebels in the fictitious pugilistic society who tire of the power of the aristocracy and seek to use their own, often unlawful ways, to help others through 锄强扶弱 (chú qiáng fú ruò) -- helping the needy and going against the strong (the morals are debatable but that's me trying to sum up wuxia in 5 minutes off the top of my head rip).

conclusions

So I guess that's enough information for you to form your own conclusions, and here's what I think, at the very least.

Against Confucianism -- Subverting the power pyramid. Many of the heroes/xia's in wuxia are lawless rebels. They aren't good, upstanding citizens of the society. Hell, xia was first popularised from 游侠列传 (yóu xiá liè zhuàn) in the Han dynasty records, talking about how a "xia" went against the officials and helped the commoners in the name of righteousness. This goes against the confucian beliefs of respecting your lord and serving the kingdom.* That's why I can understand why some would consider wuxia going against confucianism.

Align with Confucianism -- Righteousness. Ultimately, however, wuxia is about righteousness and nobility and honour, defined by society and commoners and not by royal blood. These values of etiquette, decorum, and nobility were long ingrained in the hearts of all these chinese characters, from when the courtesy and etiquette rules were defined in the Zhou dynasty, and afterwards, from the Han dynasty on, when emperors heavily employed Confucian beliefs in education and throughout society because it helps in rebuilding a harmonious society.

Confucianism is about compassion and righteousness, the staples permeating and defining chinese culture in the last two thousand years, and it is these values that serve as the central impetus of the xia and wuxia genres. People are born into these values; as such they fight against the injustice they see, and thus engenders the lost xia's of every dynasty.

*And well, even Confucius wasn't that dead set on fealty to lords. Confucian highly venerated loyalty, but when the court is corrupt, they acknowledge insurgence over the mindless following of an emperor. This is a story for another day, one I would have to back up with more quotes and citations, but I hope this answered your questions, or even better, let you form some conclusions of your own :)

Confucian philosophy is only one aspect that has correlations/influences over the "xia" genre, there are many other interesting things to say about Taoism and Buddhism as well (e.g. Jin Yong's wuxia classics have quite a bit of Buddhist values in the characters owing to author preferences), it's definitely worth looking up on these things if you're interested!

initially reblogged under the original meta post on wuxia, xianxia, and cultivation differences, but i realised it was too long and would bury the reply, so please don't mind me opening a new post for this again.

feel free to ask and discuss!!

#chinese #cdrama #danmei #philosophy #chinese language #chinese culture #wuxia #cnovel #chinese history #confucius #confucianism #chinese philosophy #fate's meta

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autolenaphilia · 3 months

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Some thoughts on The Coffin of Andy and Leyley

I found out about The Coffin of Andy and Leyley from an ”antiship” blog that I was on solely to block, because these people are always violent callout culture transmisogynists. Them getting very upset about this game having incest in it piqued my interest. The art looked interesting, and if these people hate it, it can’t be all bad.

(Case in point about the transmisogyny, from my understanding some people tried to dox the pseudonymous and secretive developer of this game, Nemlei. And the motivation was to prove the doxxer’s suspicion that Nemlei is a trans woman, because “only a trans woman could create such degeneracy.”)

Sure enough, TCOAAL is actually a nuanced and well-written psychological dark comedy /horror game. This is going to be more of a preliminary analysis than a review so full spoilers beyond this point. It’s by necessity preliminary since the game isn’t finished yet. My review is: go buy it if you are a fellow sicko who enjoys interesting stories about cannibalism and incest and like visual novels.

TCOAAL uses a trick from more transgressive forms of horror fiction, where the protagonists are not the heroes, but the villains, and the story is from their perspective. Andrew and Ashley Graves are murderers who kill people, sacrifice their souls to demons and cannibalize their bodies. They would be the villains of a more conventional horror story, their crimes investigated and thwarted by some heroic detective perhaps. But in this type of story, you are denied the comfort of heroes, or even innocent victims as you watch the protagonists twisted psychology lead them to commit terrible deeds.

The tone of the story mostly isn’t really horror, but very dark comedy, kinda Jhonen Vasquez-ish. The horrors are portrayed with a gleeful flippant tone, and cute appealing art. The tone mirrors how especially Ashley feels about her crimes. The game’s tone gets serious sometimes, going for straight horror occasionally, acknowledging how heartbreaking yet insane the Graves situation is, but there is a deep vein of the blackest humor.

Andrew and Ashley

Andy and Leyley themselves have this co-dependent toxic abusive sibling dynamic. Ashley is emotionally abusive, extremely possessive and manipulative towards Andrew. But her beloved Andy is the only person she actually cares about, and the rest she is able to kill with gleeful abandon in her heart.

Yet Andrew is not purely a victim. I’m going to talk at length about him, because the gap between how he describes himself and what the game shows is fascinating. I’m not the first to point this out. And it even extends to the game’s promotional material, like this official art on the game’s steam page is actually subverted by the game itself.

His character is not "doormat extraordinaire" who just "exists", the words "very not good, in fact very bad" apply to him too.

He is a victim, and loves to point at times how exploited, manipulated and abused he is by Ashley and he’s of course right. But he also uses that as an excuse for the horrific violence he commits, that he is just a doormat has been manipulated and corrupted by Ashley. “I was just being manipulated by Ashley to do it” is his variation on the old Nuremberg defense for his crimes. He has no sense of personal responsibility, no understanding that even if someone else tells you to do it, you are still responsible for your actions.

And the game itself proves that “it’s all Ashley” is not really true. A lot of the violence and murder are definitely on Andrew’s own initiative. He is violent towards Ashley too, the abuse is reciprocal. And he like Ashley doesn’t care much about other people. He gets distraught about killing people, but if you follow his dialogue, he is mostly freaked out about the consequences for himself. He is dependent on Ashley as someone who he can lay all the responsibility and blame for his own actions for. And of course, there is genuine affection there, because things are complex. He was parentified to take care of Ashley as a child and still has the drive to be her caretaker and protector.

It’s a fascinating pair of characters, and an interesting dynamic to observe.

“Der Mensch lebt nur von Missetat allein”

And the game’s writing is smart enough to have them not be an individualized evil, that came out of nowhere. Andrew and Ashley are the products of a neglectful and cold parents. Their mother made Andrew the favorite, but basically in order to parentize him to take care of his younger sister. And their dad can’t even remember the names of his kids. Not that the cycle of abuse starts with the parents, the mother had Andrew and Ashley when she was 15 and 17 respectively. But that doesn’t excuse how they ultimately, sell their kids’s lives for money to an organ harvesting scheme. This scheme is strongly implied to be part of an hilariously over-the-top soda company, toxisoda (it’s implied their soda is literally made from humans, so the company is doing the same thing that Ashley and Andy does, but on an industrial scale).

This is the situation that pushes Andy and Ashley to become evil murder-cannibals horror movie villains they become. They are deliberately being starved to death, and decide human meat is preferable to that. And the point here is obvious. To quote Brecht, “Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral” or in english translation “Food is the first thing. Morals follow on.” Andy and Ashley are bad people who kill and eat other people, but they are the product of an evil society. A family system where children are property of their parents to be abused and sold. And ultimately a capitalist system which kills people to feed others, a societal and systematic version of what Andew’s and Ashley does. They literally become cannibals to escape becoming literally or essentially cannibalized themselves by the capitalist system. Capitalism is a system which works on prey and predator dynamics, and they just fought to became predator instead of prey. To further quote the same song by Brecht, in capitalism, “Der Mensch lebt nur von Missetat allein” or in english “mankind is kept alive by bestial acts.” And in that broader view, Andrew and Ashley’s small-scale evil is dwarfed by the system they are born into.

Incest

It’s with all this context the game’s treatment of incest must be understood. It’s a horror game, about two siblings with a fucked-up abusive relationship. Of course there is incest, it’s far from being the worst thing these two do. The game only gets more explicit about incest in one optional ending, but it’s there explicitly and subtextually from the very start. Ashley jokes about it repeatedly, it’s there in the possessive jealousy Ashley feels for any of Andrew’s girlfriends, it’s implied in the casual physical intimacy of the siblings. Like it’s very obvious that their fucked-up but close relationship can lead there right from the beginning of episode 1. It’s a very natural conclusion to their dynamic. And the characters know it, Ashley definitely knows it, and their own mother accuses them of it. Andrew denies his mother’s accusation of fucking Ashley, and he’s probably not lying at that moment, but his relationship with Ashley leading there make perfect sense and he is not just capable of admitting that. Anyone who claims to have played this game and then claims be shocked that there is an optional incestous ending can’t have been paying much attention. This is the incest cannibalism game.

The Graves siblings are heading towards committing more murder as long as they stay alive, and incest is a minor sin for them. And probably not even the unhealthiest way for their relationship to develop. It definitely won’t fix them, but I doubt it will make things much worse.

And condemning the game morally is just absurd. This is a horror game, and you are outraged about the incest and not the murder-cannibalism? The Graves siblings relationship is not portrayed as healthy and the incest is part of that.

In fact the game portrays this double-standard in the actual story. It’s the possibility of her kids committing incest that finally makes Mamma Graves admit she is “the worst mother ever”, and not the whole selling the lives of her kids for money thing.

Sure, there is a fair argument to make that the incest is romanticized and fetishized. Ashley and Andrew are certainly drawn as attractive, and even the abusive elements can be part of the fetish. But the thing is, Ashley and Andrew are not real people, it’s fiction, it’s not real incest, so if people get off to it, I have no reason to see it as a problem.

The antiship blogger was actually especially angery about this official art from a devlog and honestly after playing the game, it kinda sums up my feelings about the incest controversy:

#the coffin of andy and leyley #my writings #gravescest #kinda #also i had much fun quoting brecht here #the coffin of andy and leyley spoilers

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unapprovedtrash · 1 year

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Wild Tears of The Kingdom theory but it’s been floating around in my head all day.

This is long and probably all over the place but please bare with me.

So I’m sure by now most of you have already seen the official artwork for Ganondorf and noticed that he had one of the tear shaped Gems on his forehead.

Except this one is red, you might even say it looks corrupted.

But we’ll get back to that, because I wanna talk about the hero on the tapestry in botw for a hot second.

So I know we’ve all already talked about how the hero in the tapestry isn’t Link, doesn’t even look remotely like Link, with the red hair and beard, but you know who does have red hair and a beard, oh yeah, Ganondorf.

Also, in the opening of the tapestry he isn’t called “The Hero” which is what we always call Link, he’s called “a warrior wielding the soul of a hero”

So here’s where it gets crazy, well, crazier. What if for some reason Link wasn’t around for Calamity Ganon 10,000 years ago and Hylia, (or I guess it would technically be Fi?) was forced to chose someone else to battle The Calamity. A strong warrior, like someone from the Gerudo, like maybe….Ganondorf? And perhaps the “soul of a hero” refers to the master sword.

So let’s say I’m right and Ganondorf somehow ended up being the hero from 10,000 years ago, then what happened, why does he want to destroy us now?

Well, here’s where we pick up where I left off on the tear gem because I have a second theory inside of this one. Maybe, because he wasn’t the true hero, because he wasn’t LINK, he somehow got corrupted by malace during the battle, and they ended up having to seal him away somewhere deep underground. And the reason he’s so angry now isn’t just because of his malace corrupted soul, but because they betrayed him, they forced this role upon him, this destiny he never asked for and then when he needed help instead of trying to save him they locked him away, abandoned him after everything he had sacrificed for them.

I saw a post on tumble where someone mentioned they wanted to be able to save Ganondorf, which got me wondering if we can purify his little gem thing, but yeah that’s pretty much it.

Also, in not related to this theory, but I noticed the Zelda on the tapestry seems to have a dark skin tone, which makes me wonder if this is the Zelda from 10,000 years ago.

#botw sequel #tears of the kingdom #probably not even remotely correct but it’s fun to think about #it would put a completely different spin on the story #wacky theories that kinda sound like they could be canon but at the same time sound like a crack theory #please excuse the fact that this said mural and not tapestry cause i couldn’t think of the right word

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honeypawsart · 5 months

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"BUTTERFINGERS" AU, EARTH-0164

"Hi, my name is Dr. Johnny B. Ohnn. No, not the Ohnn you're thinking of. I'm from an alternate dimension (EARTH-0164). If Johnathon Ohnn didn’t become The Spot because of the supercollider explosion, but rather just accidentally dropped the dark matter capsule. Causing a slow spread of dark matter to corrupt his body over time. That's me."

Dr. Johnny B. Ohnn is an ex-Alchemax lead scientist who designed and began the creation of the Supercollider. On the day of the funding ceremony for his project, he accidentally dropped a canister of dark matter he extracted from a mini-collider test model, which he was to use as a demonstration for the presentation. The dark matter painfully spread to several portions of his body. However, instead of support after his accident, he was ridiculed by his respected friends and coworkers for being so clumsy and unprofessional. "Butterfingers" was a common yet silly thrown at him afterward. Johnny quit his job out of frustration, turning on the Alchemax company to make them pay for his deformities... using them to his advantage.

Johnny is generally very grumpy. This is due to his dark matter deformities being very uncomfortable. It feels like burning, itching, and chronically painful to deal with daily. The black spots feel void of sensation however, it's the white areas that hurt him the most. He uses cold water showers and drinks to help soothe the pain. The dark matter corruption on his body feels like jello, memory foam, or oobleck to the touch; it's solid at first but things can sink into the nothingness void.

The corruption is relatively slow, and by the time he's 41 years old, he's 80% corrupted. At this point in time, although he's still clumsy as ever, he's more confident in his ability to use his powers to his advantage. He adopts the nickname "Milky Way" then (based on another popular chocolate bar candy).

Johnny also has a pet shrimp named Shrimptin Beck. Later on in his isolation, he builds a functional Mysterio robot suit for Shrimptin to move around and help with his crimes. They sort of have a "Megamind & Minion" relationship haha

Johnny B. Ohnn is not a huge fan of his dimension's rendition of Spiderman. Her name is Lucky Charm, and is the exact polar opposite of Butterfingers. But you know what they say about "opposites attract" ;)

Earth-0164 Spider-Man, aka Lucky Charm! Works at the Trophy Bugle casino part-time! The rest of her time is spent saving their city using their very luck-driven superpowers! On their off days, Gwen Amber (lol yes that is my actual first and middle name, cringe is free) works as a regular employee at the Trophy Bugle Casino, owned and run by J. Jameson who HATES Lucky Charm for potentially ruining his business. Butterfingers ended up hitting up a casino after his accident- he always loses and gets frustrated with the hosts and that’s how he and Lucky Charm meet the first time, but she INSISTS on trying to make him better outside of work so they sort of get close as they teach him ya know?? Meanwhile, he doesn’t even realize that out of all the hosts at the casino, the one he happens to bump into is the hero he should hate for being against his motivations.

✮ ✮ ✮ That's all I have for now in the Earth-0164 canon!! I hope you guys enjoy this sort of long, info-dumpy post! He also has an official Spotify Playlist! Fan art is 100% welcome of Butterfingers. I also don't mind if you draw yourself/oc with him. Just please realize some boundaries with him. I will not tolerate any sort of "proship" art of him with any underage characters, since he is an old man (36-41 years old). He's very special to me, so please be respectful about that!

He's also my OC, so please tag me in any posts of him as well! He has a tag on all socials as #butterfingersohnn as well! All fan art is uploaded to his toyhou.se page.

That's the end!! Thanks for reading :D

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anonymous-dentist · 8 months

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Okay, so read this one-shot for context, but:

So Cellbit is a retired supervillain. Once upon a time, he was one of the most dangerous villains in Q City: Enigma- a dude so dangerous that the Federation of Heroes is still trying to find him.

See, Enigma was one of the first people to be born with an ability, and it was a fucking dangerous one. 'Cause he could make people scared. That is to say, he could control people's fear. He could sense their fear, he could amplify it, he could nullify it, he could find out exactly what they were scared of and use it to literally scare them to death and walk away with their wallets and the keys to their car.

But then Cellbit got arrested for a murder three years ago. One of the Federation's lower-ranked heroes attacked him as a civilian, and he killed them out of self defense. So Cellbit was sent to prison as himself, and Enigma seemingly vanished out of nowhere, never to be seen again.

(The Federation would like to offer a $500,000 reward for any information on Enigma's identity or his whereabouts. Please notify the nearest Federation office if you have any information.)

But then he got out of prison and now he's working as an "abilityless" reporter trying to support himself and his family- because somehow his friends all managed to acquire a kid while he was in prison. He's given up on his whole villain thing because, really, that was just his edgy phase. He's over that now.

...But he's also working to try and take down the Federation because it's corrupt and it's evil and it's literally running Q City like a dictatorship despite there being a fucking mayor and he wants it gone.

The problem with that is that he's alone in this. The Federation has every single one of the city's heroes on its payroll, and it sponsors the majority of the city's vigilantes. That leaves villains, who Cellbit is trying to avoid, and it leaves-

Spider-Man. He's one of the few vigilantes left not directly working for the Federation. He's a mystery. Nobody knows who he is, nobody knows why he's a vigilante or where he got his powers from, and- most importantly for Cellbit- nobody knows why Spider-Man has seemingly suddenly started sabotaging Federation operations. He's one big failed Federation mission away from being put on the city's official villain registry, and Cellbit wants him.

So he's going to find Spider-Man. He's going to explain his plans, and he's going to ask for his help, and the Federation will die, and it'll be beautiful.

...Speaking of beautiful, Cellbit is liking civilian life. He's got this new friend, Roier, an employee at a taqueria near the Federation's city hq. He might be buddies with a bunch of Federation employees, but that's fine. He's cute. He's a Spider-Man fanboy, he's a psych student at the local university, he's funny.

(And isn't this all convenient for both of them?)

#deli superhero au #i came up with this all during class today i love it #send asks!! i want to talk about it

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phoenixcatch7 · 1 year

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The Wayne doll house

Have some haunted doll au, since it's been bubbling away in my mind.

The bat cave is large and sprawling, many layers and tunnels and hollowed out cracks in the walls. It takes many years to fully reinforce to prevent stray kids from tripping into stagnant waters or fall down crags as he once did. The doll cave, as it becomes known, is in one of the deepest, darkest corners, one where the lights of the furnished caverns above don't reach.

It's one late night sitting at the computer when it suddenly occurs to Bruce that his first encounter with a doll was at the well entrance, many levels above.

There was nothing there when he went back.

The justice league stared at the subaru. The subaru, having no eyes, did not stare back.

The seven of them had just finished a very long, arduous mission, and narrowly escaped government censure after the base they'd been raiding had turned out to belong to some corrupt official. With the alert up, they couldn't escape through city airspace, or even in their hero suits.

So civilian it was.

Batman had hotwired some bloke's car while the rest of them ducked into alleys and shop bathrooms, but the problem remained. There was seven of them. And five seats.

"I can shift into something more suitable for being carried," suggested j'onn, "but I believe one of us might have to hide."

"Foot well?" Hal tried, and everyone looked around at the tall, bulky, broad heroes.

"Think they'd have to go in the boot," Barry finally said. Everyone immediately turned to him. "No."

Batman spoke up before the discussion could devolve.

"I think.... I would be best for that."

The team stared.

"Batsy?"

Having no lungs meant he could not drag in the tired sigh he wished, but whatever force allowed this body to talk was capable of approximating something suitably resigned.

"As I am, I am... incapable of fully passing as human. It would be best if I remained out of sight."

"So just? Go change? I swear we won't be weird about whoever you are under the mask. Even if you're like, bald."

"Thank you, Wally, but I'm afraid I'm being serious." Reaching for the mask in broad daylight was unpleasant, but the glue and wires held as he gave it a few thorough tugs. "It doesn't detach."

Everyone stared. Clark reached out as if he wanted to check, but withdrew.

"Do you even have a civilian identity??" Oliver eventually asked. "Because at this point I'm genuinely not sure."

Wayne Enterprises and Queen Industries had a meeting that same evening. "Hn."

"Can we go back to the 'incapable of passing as human' part?!"

"We can discuss it in the car," he snapped, stalking past Barry and popping the boot. "In case you haven't forgotten, we're on a time limit."

For once, that seemed to encourage them, and batman, with great dignity, folded his joints and cape into the small space, ignoring Hal's mutter of 'what kind of contortionist -' as he slammed the lid. With a little shuffling he managed to activate his comms.

"I will inform the watchtower of our delay."

"Batman, they're tapping all outgoing signals, you can't -"

"It won't trigger," he interrupted, before he twisted his consciousness and sent it spiralling across the country.

Bruce awoke with a groan, stretching his limbs and taking a moment to marinate in his annoyance before he reached for the comm and voice modulator on the beside table.

"Batman to watchtower, we've encountered delays. If the Texan state government calls we haven't entered the state in six weeks. Batman out."

"Alien?"

"No."

"Reanimated corpse?"

"No."

"Uh... Demon?"

"Hm. No."

"You're not just a meta human, are you?"

"No."

"Vampire?"

"No."

"Robot??"

"No."

"Batsy, please, someone's got to win the bet eventually. How do we even know you're not lying?!"

"You don't," Batman said, not looking up from his paperwork and Flash groaned, letting his sticky notes fall to the floor as he buried his head in his arms.

"One day," he bemoaned to the keyboard, "one day we'll figure it out."

"Until then please keep your eyes on the monitors."

Flash groaned again.

Robin ducked under superman's arm as he scuttled down the corridor, laden with the night's haul of snacks. The real problem wasn't getting them - stopping league members from raiding the kitchen would be extremely counterproductive - but keeping them until he could return home to his human body to eat them. Batman had started searching him each time they left and it was really cutting into his daily sugar intake. Unfair! Just because he didn't actually use energy to stay up my night to fight crime, it felt like he did!!

'Oh, you're broken, Robin, oh, don't go out until the glue has fully set, Robin' his arm was fine! It wasn't like there was much crime to be fought on the watchtower anyway! At least not physically.

So he was pretty pleased with himself until he went to set the snacks down and found that the tar like glue they used had soaked through the sleeve and gotten all over his chocolates.

With his other hand, he tried to pry them off, wincing as the wrappers tore and stuck. He tried to shake it, ignoring the way his elbow rattled in the joint.

"Come on, come on - aw, cheezits."

The arm fell off. Robin stared despondently at the limb, surrounded by torn wrappers and dripping black glue where it connected to the elbow. The sour stink of formaldehyde filled the air.

He was going to be in such trouble with Bruce.

The click of the door jerked his head up.

Flash stood in the doorway, wide eyed. Robin stared back.

Flash screamed.

Oh yeah @dehydratedmockingbird have a thing

#batman #Possessed doll au #bruce wayne #justice league #cryptid batman #Cryptid batfam #Didn't fit in there but I wanted to include that every bat member has a mask that covers their mouth #They've all got nutcracker jaws #I don't know the technical name but you know the ones where only a block moves for the mouth and the cheeks don't?#Super creepy on a life size thing I'd imagine #So if their mouth guard or mask gets ruined guess who's having nightmares that night!#Normally cryptid batfam go to great lengths to Look Inhuman and these guys still do it's just easier to not get joints jammed if you cover #Them up. Doesn't mean they haven't pavloved the whole criminal underground into terror at the sound of wooden clacking #They can turn ALL their joints 360 and it terrifies the average goon when you try to sneak behind a bat and it just swivels around to lock #With you. They grapple by shooting their hands out (so they can't lose their grapples) and it doesn't look nice. Yes they use it to #High five from across rooftops or grab things. Punch people in the face from the rafters. (pie the joker)#Their outfits look painted on (they mostly are). Ears swivel. They each have gliding wings installed in their backs after a scare with ivy #Clark was too polite to ask about the rattling and hissing noises he made until one day he was scouting with xray vision glanced over #And nearly screamed XD #long post #long tags

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imunbreakabledude · 7 months

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funniest thing about Gen v to me is how they’ve set it after season 3 of the boys but they’re also kinda pretending that stuff doesn’t exist except for an occasional background joke. Because you got Marie and the other kids being like “we wanna be in the seven!!! It sounds great!” When… according to the way the boys s3 ended, here’s what these kids and the rest of the general public would know about the seven:

Three members have died while actively serving within the past 3 years (translucent, supersonic, Queen maeve), and another 2 have died after retirement/removal (Stormfront & Lamplighter, assuming his death was recorded and explained away probably as natural causes or something). The last two of those deaths were within like a month of each other.

Another member has quit (Annie) and is openly speaking out about corruption and violence within the group and Vought at large, she has officially laid out accusations of 1) Deep raping her on her first day, 2) Homelander lying about the (lack of) danger presented by soldier boy, 3) Homelander taking Maeve captive shortly before her death. These accusations (at minimum, she has possibly said even more not documented on the show) while perhaps not proven, received extensive media coverage.

As for the suspicious amounts of deaths, Translucent died on a mission, ok seems normal, Supersonic died of an overdose, okay sure that can happen to some people but not to everyone, and Maeve died while valiantly fighting the last generation’s American hero who was actually super evil and radicalized by Russia but Homelander told us all not to worry about him at all?? Hmm this pattern is maybe a little weird now especially considering the group had zero deaths for its first decade-plus of existence

Like a year ago they let a literal nazi into the group and then kinda just said “oopsies” and made a movie about it starring Charlize Theron as the Nazi

One of the remaining active members was accused of sexually assaulting another member of the group and then was in a cult for a little while and now claims he’s changed

Also Homelander recently murdered a guy in broad daylight with hundreds of witnesses so that’s horrifying on its own and maybe adds some weight to Annie January’s accusations

You’re telling me Marie wants to join THAT GROUP? right NOW??

#I’m really questioning her judgment bc…#that’s not a good place to be girl!!!#and it made sense when the s1 arc of the boys was Annie thinking the seven are good #and then learning they’re not #but within the universe there have been MANY MAJOR LEAKS of how bad things are now #even if you assume voughts running a full smear campaign on Annie #it’d take a fair amount of mental gymnastics for a young black woman to wanna be anywhere near that group I should think…#I almost feel like this should’ve been set between seasons 2-3 #gen v #this is a shitpost btw not actually shitting on the show #not a CRITICISM but musing on the consequences of making a spinoff #and connect its timeline so decisively to the main show

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ukiyowi · 7 months

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Mini PAC IV

If you were a character in a fantasy novel, what would your quest or adventure look like?

Piles read 1 -> 4

Note: This is a bit different, more intuitive and wrote this in the train back home, hope you enjoyyy

Book a reading! || Ko-fi

🪽 Pile 1

In your fantasy novel adventure, you are an aspiring mage with a unique ability to communicate with ancient spirits. Your quest is to find a codex, a legendary book said to contain the secrets of controlling the elements. With this power, you hope to prevent a catastrophic war between rival mage factions.

Your journey takes you through enchanted forests, treacherous mountains, and forgotten ruins, where you encounter magical creatures and uncover cryptic clues. Along the way, you must make choices that balance the ethical use of your newfound powers with the greater good of your realm.

As you get closer to your goal, you discover that the Codex is protected by a guardian spirit, and you must undergo a series of trials to prove your worthiness. These trials test your wisdom, empathy, and resolve. Ultimately, you succeed but must decide whether to keep the Codex's power for yourself or use it to broker peace among the warring factions, knowing that doing so may come at a great personal cost. Your adventure is a tale of magic, self-discovery, and the enduring struggle between power and responsibility.

🪽 Pile 2

In your fantasy novel adventure, you are a skilled rogue known for your exceptional agility and wit. Your quest is to track down a notorious group of thieves known as the "Shadowed Serpents" who have stolen a powerful, cursed gemstone that can control minds.

To catch the Shadowed Serpents, you'll navigate a sprawling, ancient city filled with hidden passages, secret societies, and corrupt officials. Alongside your trusty band of misfit companions, each with their unique skills, you'll decode cryptic clues, outsmart traps, and engage in thrilling rooftop chases.

As you close in on the thieves, you'll discover their leader possesses a dark secret connected to the gemstone's curse. Your journey becomes a moral dilemma, as you must decide whether to break the curse, which might endanger the city, or use the gemstone to expose corruption and free the minds of its victims. Your adventure is a thrilling blend of espionage, cunning heists, and the complexities of right and wrong in a shadowy world.

🪽 Pile 3

Your adventure takes a darker turn as you become the leader of a formidable group of supervillains. Your quest is to unleash chaos and establish dominance over a sprawling metropolis known for its vigilant superheroes.

As the cunning mastermind behind the Syndicate, you'll recruit a diverse array of superpowered individuals, each with their own unique abilities and motivations. Together, you'll concoct ingenious schemes to disrupt the city's peace and challenge the superheroes who stand in your way.

Your journey will involve heists on a grand scale, unleashing destructive powers, and psychological manipulation to exploit the heroes' weaknesses. Along the way, you'll delve into your own character's complex backstory, exploring the motivations that drove you to become a villain and your desire for ultimate power.

As your plans escalate, you'll face increasingly powerful heroes, leading to epic showdowns and thrilling battles that could determine the fate of the city. Your adventure is a morally ambiguous tale that delves into the depths of villainy, exploring the complex motivations and personal struggles of those who choose to walk the path of darkness.

🪽 Pile 4

In your story, you are a talented, yet reclusive, artist living in a picturesque coastal village. Your quiet life takes an unexpected turn when a charismatic and mysterious stranger arrives in town. This stranger, exudes an aura of intrigue and possesses a passion for restoring antique books.

Your adventure begins when the stranger discovers a hidden chamber in the village's ancient library, rumored to contain a love letter written centuries ago by a long-lost soul. They enlist your artistic skills to bring the letter's sentiments to life through illustrations.

As you both work together on this project, you unravel the story of a profound, forbidden love between two people from different eras. The more you delve into the past, the closer you grow to the strabger. Sparks fly as the line between the story and reality blurs, and a deep connection forms between you two.

Yet, secrets from their past threaten to tear you apart. The quest for the truth behind their enigmatic identity becomes as important as preserving the love story from the past. Along this romantic journey, you'll confront your own fears, past heartaches, and find the courage to embrace a love that transcends time.

#pac #pac reading #pick a pile #intuition #tarot daily #pick a card reading #pick a card #tarot readings #daily tarot #tarotblr #tarot #free readings #witchblr #🩵 pac 🩵

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oliversrarebooks · 2 months

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fuck you, I'm a goddamn menace: the truth is...

Prev > Masterlist

This came about as a result of the Choose Your Own Whump poll! The winners were:

secret underground facility

whumpee who is traumatized and hiding it badly

creepily intimate whumper

the corruption was infecting their thoughts, turning them against their allies

tw: restraints, beatings, physical and emotional abuse, drugging, needles, poison, truth serum, mind control

One year after the city's second-most notorious villain, the technomancer Morgan, was taken in by the hero team for medical treatment...

Morgan cracked his eyes open and immediately had to shut them again, blinded by obnoxiously bright lights.

He was woozy, barely awake, and his entire body hurt -- especially his right hand, which was throbbing with pain. It almost felt like some of his fingers had been broken, but he knew from experience that that would hurt far worse than this, unless...

The dreamlike haze slowing down his mind confirmed it. He was on some pretty strong painkillers. It was the sort of thing that would have sent him into a blind panic before, terrified of being incapacitated, but lately he'd been getting used to it. When he'd worked for Salcedo, the city's nastiest supervillain, he never received any form of painkillers, his boss far preferring to use his painful, torturous healing ability to re-injure Morgan and heal him back wrong again and again. A punishment for meeting his defeat at the hands of heroes, or looking at Salcedo wrong, or anything else the boss dreamed up.

That had all changed since he'd officially switched sides. No matter how badly he screwed up, no matter how much he irritated the shit out of the heroes, they always provided him with proper medical care, complete with ample medication. The feel of a hospital bed underneath him confirmed it: he must be in the heroes' infirmary, and that meant he could actually relax.

He'd have to deal with Arthur, the team leader, and his unwanted concern and pity later, of course. That was absolutely a thorn in his side. He was definitely not looking forward to it.

Morgan shifted slightly, his wrists sore, and realized that he couldn't. He was restrained? And not with soft, comfortable restraints either, but hard metal ones.

That couldn't be right. The hero team hadn't seen fit to restrain him in almost a year. He'd somehow managed to establish trust with them -- an uneasy, fragile trust, but trust nonetheless -- and he couldn't remember what he'd done to break that trust. The last thing he remembered was fighting his former boss at the city power plant, Arthur shouting his name... and then it all got blurry. He'd been injured, somehow, and he had a vague memory of collapsing into a dirty puddle with the sounds of the fight still raging around him.

He'd been fighting alongside the hero team, on a mission with them, taking out Salcedo's communications equipment and drones left and right. Why would they restrain him now, when he'd been helping them? He used his technomancy to feel out any nearby machines, and found it unresponsive. They'd used power suppressors, too.

The realization forced his eyelids to fly open, and as he adjusted to the painful light, an all-too-familiar ceiling swam into view. Harsh, bare, buzzing fluorescent lighting flickered too close to his face.

He wasn't in the heroes' infirmary at all. He wasn't even in a civilian hospital or a jail infirmary or a psychiatric ward. No, he was in Salcedo's lair, drugged and restrained. The first time he'd been captured since he'd betrayed his boss and started fighting by Arthur's side to stop his plans.

Oh, fuck.

The surge of adrenaline cleared his mind enough to think. Salcedo was going to torture him, that much was certain. Salcedo punished Morgan with beatings, starvation, and torture even for small mistakes -- one of the primary reasons Morgan had finally defected -- so he didn't even want to think about what his punishment for open betrayal would be. The fact that he was still alive at all could only mean that Salcedo was plotting something truly nasty.

Why was he drugged, though? The restraints and power suppressants had him entirely at Salcedo's mercy, and drugs were never a technique he had favored, since he didn't want Morgan's mind dulled to the pain and stress. Since he was already physically restrained, the only answer Morgan could come up with was that the drugs were necessary to compromise his mind. And that wasn't a comforting thought in the slightest.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He would be rescued, wouldn't he? The hero team would definitely notice he was missing. They'd figure out what happened to him. He'd have to deal with Arthur's smug fucking face over rescuing his stupid ass again, but even that embarrassment was a vast improvement over whatever Salcedo had planned. There was no way Arthur would pass up the opportunity to preen and gloat over his heroism. He'd definitely go out of his way to rescue Morgan for that reason alone.

Unless he didn't.

Unless the hero team decided a half-reformed villain barely in control of his own powers wasn't worth it. Unless they were only putting up with him because it stopped him from being a nuisance. Unless they thought back on the things he'd done as a villain and decided he deserved whatever Salcedo had cooked up for him.

God fucking damn it.

He hated them sometimes. Hated their easy laughter and their camaraderie. Hated the way they awkwardly tried to include him in the group like a weird kid at recess. Hated Arthur's flawless smile, and his sickening dedication to doing the right thing, and how quick he was with a reassuring word, and how he worked so hard he had to practically be forced to rest --

Yeah, he hated them all, and they probably hated him too, and they'd be glad if Salcedo lobotomized him. He never should have defected in the first place.

Morgan heard footsteps approaching the door, and shut his eyes again just as it opened. The sound of Salcedo's heavy combat boots approaching him was enough to send panic spiking through his heart, but he tried not to show it on his face, stubbornly pretending to be out still.

"I know you're awake, Morgan," said his former boss's deceptively smooth voice. "Don't embarrass yourself."

Morgan didn't twitch a muscle.

"You're a smart man. Or at least, I thought you were before you went and pulled this little stunt. The point is that you know very well where you stand right now."

So do whatever torture you came here to do and spare me your self-important monologuing, he thought. I'd rather have my fingernails pulled out than listen to you.

"You betrayed me, Morgan."

Here it comes.

"I gave everything to you. An unhappy teenager from an unhappy home, like so many others, but you were different from them, weren't you? You had potential. You had brains. And most of all, you had that wonderful little gift of a power. And I gave you everything. I trained you, I funded your lab and your inventions, I gave you food and a roof over your head. I forgave you for all of your many mistakes with only... sensible punishments."

Morgan tried not to flinch as Salcedo got even closer.

"And yet, you betrayed me."

Morgan tensed for Salcedo's fist a moment before it connected with his cheek, pain blossoming from his shattered cheekbone. The pain was chased by a warm stinging feeling, Salcedo's healing power, before he was cracked across the face again. Breaking faces only to heal them and break them again was one of Salcedo's signature moves, and Morgan could almost tune out the familiar beating, especially since the painkillers dampened the sensation. His ears were ringing, and he knew he'd be severely concussed with his face swollen beyond recognition if it weren't for Salcedo healing him after each punch, allowing him to prolong the beating as long as he liked.

It was only when Salcedo slowed down and gave Morgan's mind enough time to recover from the assault that he finally decided to crack his eyes open. "Is that all?" he said, knowing that his fate was sealed whether or not he provoked the supervillain.

"That was just your punishment for the time you broke into headquarters and damaged some of my henchmen and equipment," he said. "Your punishment for betrayal hasn't even started yet."

"Hm, let me guess what it will be. Is it punching me in the face? Or maybe you want to mix it up a bit and punch me in the kidneys. Or get spicy and kick me in the --"

With no change in expression, Salcedo grabbed Morgan's injured hand and twisted, the bones audibly cracking. Morgan couldn't retain his straight face, and a sad little whimper escaped from his lips.

"Now that I have your undivided attention, allow me to explain exactly what is going to happen to you. Anticipation is half the fun, you know," he said, the sickening green light from his fingertips mending Morgan's bones back into place, a process almost as painful as the initial injury. He pulled a capped syringe full of a clear liquid from his pocket.

"If you're banking on me being scared of needles..." Morgan bluffed while internally screaming. He'd rather have the beating. At least those were predictable.

"Of course not. I'm banking on you being scared of what Marcy in the chemistry department has been cooking up since you've been gone." He tapped the side of the syringe. "It's not quite a mind control drug, but it's a good start -- a combination of potent truth serum that dulls your mind, and a sedative that makes you highly suggestible. The tests we've conducted on henchmen have been most amusing."

"...So what? A truth serum? You think the hero team trusts me with some secret information? They don't. And they have official protocol to change out the passcodes when anyone's captured, so you're not going to get anything useful."

"Oh, Morgan, don't worry your pretty little head. I'm not expecting you to be useful for your information. I have much better plans than that."

Morgan's struggles were futile as Salcedo pushed the syringe into his arm and pushed the plunger. He didn't know what the fuck Salcedo thought he was going to accomplish with this and didn't want to find out, and he especially didn't want his mind put out of commission for any length of time.

Salcedo's smug face was both infuriating and unreadable. What was his game? Morgan knew he had better figure it out before -- before --

-- before whatever was in that syringe shifted his mind out of gear. He pulled against the restraints again, shaking his head, as though it would somehow stop or slow the deep fog settling in over his mind. His eyelids grew heavy and lidded as he blinked slowly up at his wretched former boss, the intense sense of dread muffled as it became more difficult to think clearly.

"That looks to be kicking in nicely. I'm guessing you're ready to tell the truth now. Just let it all out," said Salcedo, grabbing his chin and looking into his eyes. "How are you feeling?"

Morgan wanted to spit in his fucking face, but instead... "Groggy. Out of it. What the fuck is in that stuff?"

"It's a miracle drug, isn't it? That's why Marcy is a star employee and you're an also-ran. I only wish I could use this on Arthur. See what the city's shining hope really has buried deep down inside."

"There isn't anything buried," said Morgan before he can think twice. "He really is just that fucking heroic. Makes me sick. ...And jealous." He shook his head again, trying to could do anything to clear that uncomfortable fog. He had the dim feeling that he hadn't meant to say all of that, that the drug was working, but he didn't seem able to resist. The words came out before he could measure them.

"Is that so?" Salcedo chuckled. "Is that why you betrayed me?"

"No, I betrayed you because you're a fucking miserable sack of dicks who beats me for fun," said Morgan, fire cutting through the fog. "You think consequences will never apply to you, that there will never be any repercussions for treating your henchmen like shit smeared on your shoe. I can't wait until they all turn on you. I hope they kick your fucking teeth in."

"How charming," said Salcedo in a strained voice. "Now, I realize you can't help expressing your true feelings while you're high off that drug I gave you, so it would be unfair of me to punish you."

Then he smashed his fist across Morgan's mouth, allowing Morgan to cough up a mouthful of blood before healing him.

"Listen to me, Morgan," said Salcedo, this time grabbing his face with more force and purpose. "You will listen to me, and you will absorb everything I have to say."

"No, no --" Morgan tried to pull himself free, but he'd always been physically much weaker than his boss, and the drug cocktail wasn't helping.

"You've always been a villain, haven't you? I found you and I molded you int a villain, one capable of terrorizing the city on so many occasions. Have you forgotten that?"

"No..."

"And you enjoyed yourself. You loved making your gadgets, you loved watching the civilians scream and cower. You loved the feeling of power and control. And you still love it."

"I... I do..." he said. He'd been fighting so hard to suppress all of that lately, to show the hero team he could be more than just a villain, that he could do something helpful for a change... but deep down inside, a part of him missed laughing maniacally while riding some mechanical monstrosity through the city.

The truth was, heroics was fucking hard. Civilians were unpredictable and frequently ungrateful, and with the hero team, he was no longer allowed to blow them off and make them someone else's problem. He had to work had. He had to care.

"That's right, Morgan, you miss being a villain." Salcedo's voice was like a snake tightening around its prey. "It's all you were ever good for. It's all you'll ever be good for."

That was exactly what Morgan often felt late at night, in his bunk in the heroes' headquarters, wondering what the fuck he was doing there and how long it could last. "I'm..."

"It's all you'll ever be good for," said Salcedo with more force, letting it sink into Morgan's compromised brain.

"It's all I'll ever be good for," he repeated in a dull voice, resistance crumbling.

"You hate trying to be a hero. It's too hard. You're awful at it. You're tired, and you want to give up. You want to give in."

He really was so, so tired. "I want... I want to give up..."

"You hate working with the hero team," Salcedo hissed in his ear. "You're jealous of them, aren't you? How they're praised and fawned over while you rot in the shadows, fighting for the smallest scraps of recognition. How they don't trust you."

"I..." A memory flashed through his mind. Arthur convincing him to join in on the team's horror movie night. Julie, the youngest, screaming, while Toshiro criticized the effects. Laughing, eating popcorn, forgetting for a moment who and what he was.

He couldn't forget for long. He could see it in their eyes, in their hesitance, how fragile the trust was.

"You'll never be one of them. They'll never trust you. You're a villain, and that's all you'll ever be."

It was true, wasn't it? They would never trust him. He'd escaped Salcedo, only to spend his time scraping and clawing to get the hero team's trust. Fighting to be something he wasn't, when he knew, he knew, he'd never be good enough for them.

And this was the proof, wasn't it? They weren't coming to rescue him. No one was coming to rescue him.

"You hate them, Morgan. I know you do. You hate them more than anything."

"I... I hate..." The corrupting voice was twisting his thoughts, making it hard to think anything but what he was told.

"That's right," he coaxed. "You hate them. And you hate Arthur most of all."

Arthur. That's right, he hated Arthur. Arthur with his perfect smile. Arthur with his words of encouragement. Arthur telling Morgan that he believed in him, believed he could be something better, as though he had any right.

Arthur, who probably knew by now that he was wrong, that Morgan was no better than any other villain, who wouldn't be lifting a finger to rescue him from the trap he'd inevitably found himself in.

"You hate Arthur," Salcedo insisted.

"I..."

It should be so easy. It was the truth: he did hate Arthur. And he hadn't been able to resist the serum up until now. Why was he choking on these words?

"You. Hate. Arthur."

"Of course I don't hate you," said Arthur, once, on a quiet, moonlit night, sitting on top of a building, guarding a museum from an impending heist. "You're a clever guy and a hard worker, and you can do the right thing when it really matters. And the villainy? I'm not saying it's okay, because it definitely wasn't, but I get where it comes from. I do. Any of us powered people could've gone down the same path."

"I don't," said Morgan under his breath.

"What was that?"

Morgan's voice caught again. He did hate Arthur. Hated how much he wished he could see Arthur's dumb fucking face as he kicked down the door. Hated how much he wanted to be in the heroes' infirmary, with Arthur checking up on him and delivering a snack or book of puzzles, instead of here.

He hated how Arthur made him want to be something more than just a villain, and how fucking hard it was, all the time.

"I don't hate Arthur," Morgan said more clearly, unable to stop it. "I want to hate him, because it'd make everything so much easier, but I don't. I can't."

Salcedo recoiled in disbelief, a look of shock and disgust on his face. "Oh, for fuck's sake. You can't be fucking serious. He hates you, you know. He's foiled your plans so many times --"

"He doesn't hate me," said Morgan with more confidence. "He said it himself, every time I asked him. And he doesn't fuck around with that kind of thing. If he says it, he means it. It's infuriating."

"Fucking hell. I suspected, but --" Salcedo grabbed Morgan by the front of his flimsy medical gown, pulling him close enough that he could feel hot breath on his face. "Are you in love with him?!"

Morgan froze.

No. Fuck no. That's what he wanted to say. No, obviously not.

But he couldn't.

His head pounded.

"I don't know."

"You. Don't. Know?" Salcedo screamed in his face.

"I don't know!" The fog in his head was so thick, making it impossible for him to think through his words. "I don't know how I feel about him -- or about anything -- or if I'm even capable of --"

Salcedo grabbed his head and slammed it against the medical bed, sending his ears ringing. "Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck! The one fucking thing I wanted you for, the one fucking thing you were going to be good at and you can't even do that right -- what kind of useless, idiot villain can't even hate the man who beats him into the ground once a week --" His laugh was harsh and bitter. "Oh hell, maybe you actually like that. I bet you do. Fucking little freak."

Morgan ignored the insult, trying to push aside the insinuations that he really, really didn't want to think about in this state. Salcedo had wanted him for something. There was a point to all of this apart from psychological torment. He tried to grasp that thought with his slippery mind, recognizing its importance. "What were you going to have me do?"

"Be a sleeper agent. Stoke the fires of hatred within you. Let the hero team rescue you, pretend everything was normal, and then when their guards were down, kill them all."

His chest tightened. "No -- I don't want to -- I won't!"

"Oh, it's beyond obvious you won't. I can see that now. You're not only useless, you're fucking delusional. So it's on to plan B."

"Plan B?"

"Remember these?" Salcedo held up a glass vial. Tiny, iridescent insects were flitting around inside, crawling up the glass and bumping against the lid.

Morgan surged forward in the restraints. "My babies!" he said, in the tone of someone reuniting with a long lost pet. He certainly did remember them -- his mechanical mosquitoes, one of his favorite inventions, which he'd had to leave behind during his semi-involuntary heroic turn. These small drones were easy for Morgan to control with his technological powers. They could be used for surveillance or distraction, equipped with tiny tools, or used to inject small amounts of potent drugs, incapacitating enemies and guards with sedatives or hallucinogens. On one memorable occasion, he'd laced them with the common cold, ensuring that the heroes would stay home while he raided the semiconductor factory. Good memories.

"They're my 'babies' now, I'm afraid," said Salcedo, pulling the vial further out of reach. "It took a while to override your protocols and reprogram them, but I think the effect will be worth it. You always used them for disgustingly non-lethal purposes. I've always wanted to change that."

He shrank back, not liking where this was going.

"They're fitted with a potent and especially painful neurotoxin, but they won't sting you immediately. No, they're programmed to hide in your clothing until disturbed. When Arthur comes to save you, that's when you'll get the privilege of watching his excruciating death, knowing he died in agony trying to save you."

"No, no, there's no way. He's not even going to come save me, you know, he's --"

"Oh, you fool. He's already on his way." Salcedo shoved a gag into Morgan's mouth, clasping it firmly shut. "Don't want you warning him. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have more important business." He opened the vial, and the little mosquito drones flew out and nestled in Morgan's medical gown, in the restraints, even in his hair. With his power suppressed, he was helpless to control them. He could only watch as Salcedo left the room.

Morgan screamed through the gag, accomplishing nothing but straining his throat. He had to come up with some sort of plan, but his head was swimming from stress and drugs and he couldn't hold on to any one thought long enough to formulate a strategy.

It didn't matter. Salcedo was wrong. No one was coming to rescue him.

...He must be imagining the sounds of a fight, drawing closer...

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@cardboardarsonist @zeiniszein @crystallizedmidnight @mistythedritten @pigeonwhumps @sowhumpshaped @sparrowsage @sunshiline-writes @dont-look-me-in-the-eye @i-eat-worlds @a-formless-entity

#whump #whump writing #villain whump #villain whumpee #villain whumper #drugging #medical whump #mind control #truth serum #abuse #fuck you i'm a goddamn menace #morgan #salcedo

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audhd-nightwing · 1 month

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au where selina adopts dick instead of bruce

- selina goes with bruce to the circus as a date

- when the Graysons fall, she knows bruce is reliving what happened to his parents

- she kisses bruce on the cheek and stealthily makes her way through the crowd to the youngest Grayson

- selina has always had motherly instincts, it’s why she has so many cats. she’s known for taking in strays, so what’s one more?

- she pulls dick into a hug and he melts into her, he just needs someone to hold him right now

- selina reminds dick of his mother- the same warm brown skin, the same tight embrace, both kissing the top of his head and whispering reassurances with a slightly accented voice

- she whisks him away from the police (she doesn’t trust them in general, let alone with a newly orphaned child) and lets bruce deal with the consequences. dick sits on her couch with a cat in his lap as selina introduces herself and explains everything to him

- dick is just glad he doesn’t have to go with the cops or social services (he knows not to trust them), and his gut is telling him he can trust selina. after all, animals are a great judge of character and all of the cats seem to love her

- bruce is aware selina took dick in, but considering how quickly the police give up looking for the boy, bruce doesn’t mind her essentially kidnapping him

(selina eventually becomes a foster parent and legally fosters dick, but it’s years later and the police/legal system don’t care enough to worry about a previously missing persons suddenly appearing as a foster kid. gotta love Gotham)

- dick is still young and angry and wants revenge on tony zucco. selina is honest about her identity as Catwoman, and he asks her to help him get back at the man who killed his parents

- together, they steal his most prized possessions, bankrupt him, and overall ruin his life, and then they hand him over to the cops with evidence of his crimes duct-taped to him

- dick is a natural at stealth, thanks to his acrobatic abilities, and he begs selina to train him. he wants to be like robin hood, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, and who is selina to deny him that?

- selina will still steal jewels from museums and such for herself, but she does that solo. together, the two of them go after corrupt rich people and steal their money, distributing it to the poor

- dick teaches himself how to hack and is able to access bank accounts, making it much easier to steal large amounts of money. selina is extremely proud of him

- selina makes dick his own suit and he goes by Stray. he is typically the one to give out money to people on the streets, and he’s eventually known by most of Gotham. bruce carefully ignores this happening, because he recognizes that Stray is helping the people of Gotham in a way Batman can’t

- bruce still finds and adopts jason, but his costume and name are obviously not Robin. probably Batboy. anyway, dick hears about Batman’s new sidekick and immediately thinks “friend? potential friend?” so he follows them around and befriends jason

- jason knows about Stray, and has a slight hero worship of him ‘cuz he’s like robin hood!’ which dick (and selina) find adorable

(dick is about 10 when his parents die, 12 when he becomes Stray officially, and 16 when jason (13) becomes Batboy)

- tim, when he finds out about dick being fostered by selina kyle after being declared missing for years, of course goes to confront them. dick was (still is) his childhood hero, and he was so worried when the older boy was declared missing

- at least until he recognized dick as Stray, but he couldn’t exactly confront him then

- anyway so tim shows up at selina’s apartment and demands to see dick. selina is like “you are tiny, come inside” and calls for dick. it takes dick a moment but he recognizes tim and hugs him. tim clings to him and dick just accepts it

- tim gives him the photo they took together and some others he found in the newspaper of dick and his parents. dick cries and thanks him

- they get to talking and dick & selina are like “how did you get here? where are your parents?” and tim is just like “oh they’re in egypt. i rode my bike here :)”

- this of course leads to dick and selina stealing tim and leaving bruce to deal with the consequences once again

- it’s easily resolved, selina becomes tim’s emergency contact and they talk to his parents; whenever janet and jack are away, tim will stay at selina’s. blackmail might be involved but a deal’s a deal

(dick is officially fostered by selina right after jason is adopted by bruce, and about 6 months after that tim (10) confronts selina and reunites with dick)

~ time skip ~

- dick goes to Gotham University and lives on campus but stays with selina every weekend. his major is undecided and he eventually drops out to start paramedic training

- when bruce doesn’t believe jason (15) about Garzonas, he runs away to selina’s where dick (18) and tim (12) comfort him. he tells them about sheila haywood and they research her, but jason ends up deciding not to go after her

- selina has a Talk with bruce and he apologizes to jason, inviting him back as Batboy. jason agrees but visits selina’s apartment far more often. he is Batboy for a few more years before offering the mantle to tim and going off to college

- tim respectfully declines being Batboy, and since jason never dies and bruce never goes off the deep end, it isn’t necessary for him to take on that role

- babs is still Batgirl and then Oracle, and tim decides to train under her with computer stuff instead of going out in a mask. tim helps both Batman and Stray when they need it

(babs becomes Batgirl around the time dick becomes Stray, and becomes Oracle a year into jason’s run as Batboy. she views jason as a little brother, and has a sort of Batman/Catwoman relationship with Stray (aka dick flirts with her as Batgirl and she pretends to hate it. they don’t actually date but end up becoming good friends) dick goes after the joker when babs gets paralyzed and breaks both of his legs. he is Oracle’s #1 fan and is super happy when tim decides to train under her)

(babs is about 2 years older than dick, and balanced being a college student/graduate with being a vigilante. she’s a total badass and works more with the Birds of Prey than Batman, but always has time for dick jason and tim)

- babs becomes a lawyer. dick becomes a paramedic and gives Stray to tim, instead becoming Nightwing- a medic vigilante. tim takes on the mantle of Stray and does the robin hood gig. jason leaves the vigilante life behind and goes to college, majoring in english and minoring in education (he wants to become an english teacher and give Gotham kids good educations)

~ the end ~

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mrs-gauche · 5 months

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So, on the new teaser published on DA Day this year, while I won't even try to go as in-depth as the amazing @felassan already did, compiling everything of note in this excellent post, like the sleep deprived German with limited vocabulary that I am, I'm just gonna add my little two cents to it, hopefully not repeating too much of what has already been mentioned. 😁

So why not start with the caption here!

This honestly made me snort out loud. 😂 I mean, it's like BioWare is not even trying anymore to be subtle about the fact that Thedas has we know it is 100% doomed. lol And yes, I know we all joke about Thedas constantly being in Apocalypse mode, but this time it really feels like some massive change is approaching.

But to be specific, I am pretty confident in that this is referring to both the destruction of the Veil, as well as the freed Evanuris dooming the world through some kind of mega Blight.

When I first read the word "revelation", it immediately made me think of Solas' Tower tarot card. The Tower literally represents sudden, disruptive revelation and potentially destructive change. While "damnation" is the concept of a divine punishment, to be "doomed to suffer in hell forever".

And as felassan theorized, if the last person in the teaser speaking is Elgar'nan, and if he is in fact connected to the Old God Lusacan, who is the God of Night, bringing about the "eternal night" and darkness…

“Lusacan, the Dragon of Night, calls to you. He lives where it is darkest and waits for the day he will rise. Drink of his blood and know the power in darkness: either fear the Night or wield it." "The darkspawn yearn to awaken and corrupt Lusacan to start a new age of darkness." “A night that will never end”

...Whereas the "revelation"/Solas tearing down the Veil, to me at least, always seemed to be associated with light or "purification" (for lack of a better word), with how it was described in Sandal’s prophecy and the way the destruction of the Veil was portrayed in the 2022 cinematic, almost blindlingly bright. (Also, "Solas" literally means "light" in Irish. lol)

„One day the magic will come back. All of it. Everyone will be just as they were. The shadows will part. And the skies will open wide. When he rises, everyone will see.“

So I think, like this "revelation" contrasts the "damnation", like Light and Darkness, at least in terms of visual language, there could be a hint of a figurative, as well as a literal "clashing" of two opposing forces? Like, both are destructive, but like The Tower represents destruction in order to rebuild/to enforce new growth/for the soul to evolve, while the damnation is nothing but irreparable corruption?

Anyway! So generally speaking, the teaser highlights yet again three of the factions/places we've seen in all the 2020 teaser/concept art/books/comics. It looked absolutely gorgeous and the voice over gave me goosebumps, as well as the amazing score again (that may or may not be composed by Hans Zimmer and/or Lorne Balfe lol I wonder) and the sound design! <3333 Though what’s curious to me, is that neither the Shadow Dragons of Tevinter or the Veil Jumpers from the Arlathan Forest were mentioned this time around…

So, I think this time the teaser might be more about the main plot beats/quests in the game than about the protagonist's potential origins, like how in DAO and DAI, you travelled to various places gathering allies and completed their respective narratives first before facing the main threat. Each of the places shown is coupled with a voice over from what is most likely gonna be an important character in each of these plot beats.

The fact that they changed the word "hero" in the plot blurb on the official DA website to "leader" is also.. interesting. It kinda reminds me of when Mark Darrah mentioned that the "vision statement" for Joplin was gonna be "We would be heroes, but the records are sealed". 👀 Or maybe the new protagonist might not be so heroic after all and more on the morally grey spectrum, which is always nice to explore. lol Makes me also yet again wonder about the "They call me the Dread Wolf. What will they call you when this is over?" line, meaning that, no matter how heroic our actions might be, in the end history might still remember us as the villain.

Antiva

This looks phenomenal and if they actually manage to realize a city as big as what this suggests AND fill it with meaningful content and people (side-eyeing you, Val Royeaux lol), it will blow my mind! lol Like felassan said, I'm very curious if we're gonna do some Assassin's Creed style "parkour" here, like what was kinda described in the short story "As We Fly" from last year! The Crows as the only real military defense of Antiva, particularly in Treviso, seem to be in deep trouble now, having been invaded by the Antaam and if you look closely, you can actually see the banner of the Qunari being displayed in the city!

"We fight for everyone. And we always will. The Crows rule Antiva."

My first thought hearing the voice here was actually Caterina Dellamorte. The lines express authority or leadership and it's also a more elderly sounding voice (to me at least), so Caterina as the First Talon would make a lot of sense to me! There have also been lots of speculation about her grandson, Lucanis, being a potential companion as well.

Rivain

(Oh no, all of Rivain got eaten by a squid. lol)

I've been hoping to go there ever since I first saw concept art of Rivain, and this is still giving me huge Pirates of the Caribbean (but with magic) vibes. 😂 As someone who thoroughly enjoyed playing AC Black Flag like ten years ago, this looks VERY promising! Though please, if we're getting any kind of underwater combat (like with the Vinsomer mentioned in the codex entry from last year), just don't make me fight dragons underwater, I'm still traumatized by the Lagiacrus in Monster Hunter Tri. 💀

"Glory to the risen gods. They come to deliver this world."

As to who is saying this, honestly, no idea. 😂 The blurb on the website mentions dragons in this place acting up for some reason, and the line sounds very cultist. lol But I'm definitely with felassan here, too, that this has to be connected to the Evanuris as well, given this GIANT squid thing on the map and all of the horrifying ocean related stuff linked to Ghilan'nain and her monstrosities, my money is also on her being one of these "risen gods".

And honestly… If I was a simple sailor or pirate and then one day I would see this emerge from the ocean…

….I'd probably start believing in these "gods", too. lmao

Anderfels

Next up, we're going to the Anderfels and Weisshaupt and I don't really have anything to add to what has already been said, other than "Shit is definitely Going Down Here". lol Lorewise, it would be crazy to go there and learn more about the very beginnings of the Wardens at their headquarters, so.. given the lines, the ominous sound of battle in the background here and some *things* from those reddit leaks earlier this year (felassan made a great post about this too, but spoiler warning of course!).. I just hope there will be enough left of Weisshaupt to explore after all this. lol

"Grey Wardens don't hide in our castle. I won't ask good soldiers to turn tail and run."

My first guess was the First Warden as well, but felassan actually made a few very good points here that make me question it… 🤔

I was also wondering what these "pillar ring" things are and while I first thought some kind of magical defense mechanism, I saw a reddit user suggesting that these rings could be part of a griffon training flight path?? Hell YEAH. #BringBackGriffonsInDA4

"Tremors have been creating disturbances of late. Their cause is unknown. Upon the distant horizon, a storm of ominous intent brews and darkens the skies."

That is a very interesting description, given that the sky in *this* concept art (which is definitely also showing Weisshaupt), is quite clearly the opposite of "dark". lol

(*looking suspiciously at the things I mentioned at the beginning here about "Light and Darkness" clashing* 👀👀👀 Maybe Solas came to visit here, too, because he just loves the Wardens, right? lol)

You know, if I read the words "tremors" and "Grey Wardens", my natural conclusion is "Something something Old Gods Underground + Grey Wardens Trying to Kill Them Before They Awake = Nothing Good" (and let's not forget about the eleven(!!) mountains/Ghilan'nain's ancient pools underground mentioned in Tevinter Nights as well), keeping in mind that Solas gets furious about the Wardens deliberately searching them out and slaying them (because he obviously knows what's gonna happen if all of them are slayed(!)), and in DAI there was already something ominous going on at Weisshaupt...

And all of this coupled with the new vinyl artwork and all the promotional stuff for DA4 so far, makes me feel like the Wardens will be busier than ever before...

Seven semi-circles with two of them still "lit" and the "tambourine"/Veil looking more broken with each new update....

Seven Old Gods/Evanuris that were banished when Solas created the Veil.....

Seven mirrors shattering....

Seven gates of the Black City, which Kordillus Drakon prophesied will someday shatter and cover both the mortal and spirit realms in darkness....

And speaking of "DARKNESS COVERING BOTH REALMS".....

Tevinter

One word: TENDRILS. lmao

So the last shot shows a big part of Tevinter on the map, most of it covered in purple clouds and tendrils...

Followed by a voice that had me like

"All the world will soon share the peace and comfort of my reign."

First off, that voice actor sounds SO familiar, omg, who IS that?? Someone suggested Joseph Capp, the voice of the Shadow Prince from Divinity 2 and that fits perfectly (DOS2 has quite a few VAs from DA actually and funnily enough, the Shadow Prince is part of Sebille's main quest, who's voiced by Alix Wilton Regan lol) Whoever it is, they're doing a great job at sending a shiver down my spine. lol Like, you can just TELL, he's the Real Deal. "Peace and Comfort" never sounded more menacing. 👀

Alright, so I'll make this short, and say that I'm also very very confident that this is Elgar'nan speaking.

People have suggested the Archon, the Black Divine, some Venatori or Qunari leader, but honestly guys, none of these make much sense to me when looking at the bigger picture here (aside from the visual hints I've talked about earlier). Like, this teaser is obviously trying to set this person up as a serious threat to *the whole world*, and the only way I can see this work would be if this person held just as much or more power than Solas, because if they don't, they would just end up being a secondary concern, like another Corypheus…

You just don't market a game by suddenly introducing a new smaller threat to *"AAALL THE WORLD"* less powerful than the one we already have, you know. 😂 And imo, the only one "outmatching" Solas in terms of power, at this point, would be Elgar'nan or any of the elven gods. Or literally the Blight itself/the Titans.

And then there's this

"Hundreds of years in the making."

We know who has been directing the course of history for ages behind the curtains… I mean, the entire series has been building towards Mythal getting her vengeance.. and what better way to finally get to that point than to bring her husband into the narrative, the one who was potentially the main instigator of the Evanuris's betrayal and Mythal's murder. 👀

(There's one thing I need to say though, and I know this is the silliest of nitpicks, but.. if that guy really does turn out to be Elgar'nan, am I the only one who thinks it's really funny how he's just… talking British English/the common tongue like that? 😂 I mean, I 100% get why they cannot make the actors talk in ancient elven with subtitles for the whole game (something I personally really appreciated when they did it for some of the ancient elves and spirits in DAI), like Corypheus wasn't talking in the old tongue either, and I feel like there are multiple reasons for why this just wouldn't work. And if we're looking for a lore reason, I guess even the imprisoned Evanuris had somehow enough access to people's dreams over the course of thousand years to learn the languages of present Thedas as much as Solas or any other ancient elf like Abelas or Felassan did, but it's still funny to me nonetheless. lol)

Anyway, the teaser ends with a dragon's growling sound and then another wolf howling in the back, which I interpreted as Solas giving Elgar'nan a fair warning here that he's indeed still the title-giving DAD character. lol If we get to see these guys battling it out for real, like Giant Demon Wolf vs Black City Sized Blighted Dragon, it's already the best game in my book. lol

You just know someone at BioWare is having a blast at coming up with as many references to Solas' Trespasser dialogue to put in these blog posts as possible. 😂 I just hope they can keep this promise, cuz I have a LOT of questions (and I need Solas to answer ALL of them lol).

Hmmm... You "hope so", yes? Well, after *this* teaser I sure *hope* that the sentiment of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" still holds true in this particular situation, because I'd rather still be on Team Solas if I have to choose between "revelation" and "damnation". 👀

I guess we'll see next summer... 😁

#dragon age 4 #da4 #tinfoil time #dragon age dreadwolf #solas #elgar'nan

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