#i'm not sure if he'll get redeemed to a point where he'll like. not commit atrocities anymore. and i don't think i'd want him to really. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

canonizzyhours · 11 days

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i don't think i'm the first person to say this but the big takeaway i'm taking from the canyon breakdown is that you should never try to make all your fans happy.

like it's pretty clear at this point what the deal with izzy was: in s1 he existed primarily to be the same kind of antagonist for ed the badmintons were for stede - a figure in ed's life who could externalize and reinforce his self-destructive beliefs. to the extent the writers had any plans for him after that, they involved the planned reveal we now know about that he was in the siete gallos, and i doubt they had nailed down anything very firm about how they meant to handle that. and, crucially, it's pretty clear at this point that izzy's sexual attraction to ed was never meant to be his central motivation. it's THERE, for sure, but it's there to be sort of an ironic twist on his explicit textual motivations of ambition and homophobia and toxic masculinity, a little spice added into the mix, not a climactic reveal of what he's really all about.

now this doesn't mean the writers had a firm plan that izzy COULDN'T become more important, or have a redemption, or what have you. the siete gallos reveal likely would have meant at least a season where izzy was a full villain, but even if they went that way, after that a redemption could have been on the table (although so would an unrepentant villain's death). they were open to taking him in lots of different potential directions in s2.

so say you're one of the writers. after s1 you find that not only did the show overall get a stronger response than you ever dreamed, this antagonist you wrote as a basically unsympathetic villain in s1 is an unexpected fan favorite and people are clamoring for a redemption arc for him. that's great! as a writer you love to hear that. you always want your characters to get strong reactions from the fanbase. and it's not like you specifically planned NOT to redeem izzy, it was always on the list of options. so you agree to throw out anything you'd still be considering about the siete gallos plot, since that would entail more villainy, and instead focus on redeeming izzy into a good guy over the course of s2.

now there's a small problem with that: if you do it, you're obviously going to have to kill him once the redemption arc is complete. that's clear, because in s1 he was written to have zero sympathetic character traits - even his "loyalty" isn't a positive kind - so in order to redeem him you're going to have to basically get rid of every personality trait that makes him interesting. at the end of the redemption arc he'll be a character who makes no sense to keep around. but, hey, that makes sense - you already meant for ed and stede to be comfortably in a relationship by the end of the season, so killing the character who exists to symbolize the internal issues that hold ed back from committing to the relationship completely works!

you know the fans are invested in the sexual aspect of izzy's feelings for ed, and that some of them ship them together. unfortunately, this is pretty incompatible with a redemption arc, since izzy's stalkery obsession pretty much exists to motivate him to do evil things and treat ed like his property, so you'll have to get him over those feelings. but you're careful with this: you make sure to write some dialogue into the first few episodes that alludes to that relationship and is ambiguous enough to interpret in multiple ways - "i have...love for you," "loved you best i could" - to throw a bone to the blackhands shippers before firmly closing the door on that arc and writing izzy as having gotten over those feelings.

it's going to be hard to redeem izzy in one season. you know his actions near the end of s1 were damn near unforgivable, because you wrote them that way. so you carefully break down what he needs to do to be truly redeemed. you make sure he suffers a lot near the beginning of the season, enough that it's indisputable he's been punished for what he did (and it takes a LOT of suffering to be sure it's an adequate punishment, considering). you arrange for him to be touched by the undeserved mercy he receives from stede and stede's crew. you devote a full episode of izzy time to showing he's over his homophobia and willing to openly do some gay shit now. you have him symbolically reverse every horrible thing he did in s1. all so it can culminate in a true redemption where this character who originally existed to force ed to stay blackbeard dies giving him permission to just be ed.

basically what i'm saying is at every turn the writers were trying to give the canyon as much slack as they possibly could while preserving the core of izzy's actual narrative role. they were never going to portray izzy as having been a good guy in season 1, or portray izzy's love for ed as being in any way redemptive instead of being a creepy selfish obsession, or treat him as a character who did not exist ultimately to symbolize ed's issues. they couldn't do any of that without it being a profound narrative betrayal of the izzy they set up in season 1. but within those bounds, they worked so, so hard to give the canyon as much as they could.

and the result is that the canyon's now much angrier than they would have been if the writers had just stuck with siete gallos izzy. at least then they'd have known early in the season they weren't getting what they wanted, instead of spending the whole month thinking they were being proven right only to have the rug yanked out from under them right at the end.

#393.

#ofmd #izzy hands #canonizzyhours

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thyandrawrites · 3 years

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You know sometimes I have the impression that the audience in MHA and the audience that reads MHA are alike.

For example the majority of the answers I saw regarding the development of Hawks and Endeavor are:

Endeavor: Redemption Without Forgiveness

Hawks: Pardon Without Redemption

If, for example, I can understand the lack of reaction from civilians to Hawks' actions, since the change and more criticism of the heroes comes in the long term, I am still quite disappointed with the lack of criticism from the majority of readers. who had a more omniscient view of the situation.

Anyway, it's just to say that I'm happy that you and some of the readers are more critical without loathing the characters.

I would also like to ask if you believe in Icarus theory and if so are there any takes that well explain this theory?

Mh, you're definitely not alone there, anon. There were times where I too considered the irony in the fact that a good portion of the fandom's standings on Hawks (and sometimes Endvr) tend to mirror the reactions from the civilians in the manga itself.

I think this can be easily explained away tho. Of course the readers should technically have an omniscient view on the themes of the story (and sometimes they do! I happen to follow all the right bloggers bc I rarely see bad takes nowadays, only complaints about bad takes for the most part). But, there's a but. And it's mostly Horikoshi's fault.

See, we get hints at the fact that hero society is shit very early on (most prominently in Stain's arc), but the first time we are actually shown the pov of an outcast, and the first time we see him in a sympathetic light, is with Shig during mva. Which only happens waaaaay later in the series. By that point, most of the audience is already firmly rooting for the main characters. So it's hard, by then, to welcome any sympathy for the villains, or to even concede that hero society isn't all it's cracked up to be. After all, even when Horikoshi tries to push forward that theme, he always does so clumsily and sometimes ineffectively. For example, framing Endvr to be an absolute shitbag but still making us cheer for him. Or framing Hawks as a villain when he kills Twice only for him to suffer no backlash at all from the public afterwards. how are you to think that the villains might just have a point about the corruption of hero society when the author himself doesn't want to commit fully to the idea that the heroes should work on their own flaws?

Anyway, I'm glad that my blog can provide some interesting content for you. I'm far from being unbiased but I try my best to read the series with regard for authorial intentions and themes.

As for the Icarus theory... Forgive me, I'm a little out of the loop since I put the manga on break. I'm not sure if a new theory is floating around or if you were referencing the original Icarus theory. I always believed Hawks to have a lowkey Icarus symbolism. I used to believe 1000% in op's points too, but then the war arc happened. I still think that Hawks will ultimately have a "fall", but I don't believe it involves a villain awakening anymore. I'm not sure what's the deal with Lady Nagant, but from what I parsed from the spoilers on my dash, I think she might've stolen that plot point from Hawks. So Horikoshi probably plans to do something different with him now (tho admittedly he's been retconned. It's pretty much a given that this plotline was originally his).

That said, idk what he's been up to as of late, and if that would change my prediction in any way... but imho for his character to make sense at this point, he needs to do something that goes against the greater good, and that can finally redeem him. Even if it's in his last moments. I see a huge death flag for him and I'm not even sure if he'll ever break out of his mindset tbh, but if he doesn't then what's the point of keeping him alive till now.

Plus, if Endvr gets redeemed by hopefully acting like a father and not a hero, I think it would make sense if Hawks got redeemed by finally acting like the boy who selflessly rescued people in need from a car crash, and not the utilitarian monster the Commission made him out to be. Ever since the war arc, Hawks has been paralleling Endvr as a corrupt hero from the top ten who refuses to see his own flaws while still preaching justice and heroism, so I think that for the manga to make sense, they both need to address the things they're trying so hard to run away from. In Hawks' case, I expect it to take the form of a self-sacrificial, selfless act because a hero who killed his negative foil doesn't have a big chance of making it out alive from the manga. But I could be wrong. Maybe he'll live and not change. Maybe he'll die and not redeem himself. Maybe Hori will say he's changed while he's still the same. It's all up in the air with how Hori has been writing things lately

#ali replies #bnha #my post

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lie---ability · 3 years

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for too many times in my life had i been wrong about people. so much that anyone who tries to have anything with me makes me anxious. i even get anxious about my upcoming job at Virus & Partners because new people = chances of any of them hurting me. i have been wrong about people so much that i think it's because i idealize them so much. i mean an example could be us hanging out everyday, do a lot of things together, stay out late together, ditch others for each other, chat each other right after being together the entire day, say i love you and get home safe — and i'd think we're best friends!!! only for her to say we never were. and that she never wanted to be close with someone like me. so it must be me, right? maybe i just fell in love with the thought that she's a great best friend. at the same time i think, no. she was a best friend, she did exist. that version of her existed. or at least did when it was convenient or beneficial to her, but when the time came where it wasn't, she threw me under the bus, become totally different from who i loved. who i proudly said was my best friend. all those months that built up my comfort, trust, attachment — ended up being told as a lie. and if it came from the person herself that they were lies, who am i to say she's just saying that for whatever reason? she said it herself. we weren't best friends even if she said it before. so what was the truth? was i just really stupid and idealistic? or are people just so awful now? it's like i'm this fish in a pond who's so easy to catch with just the right amount of treat. like i'd swim away when you approach but try a bit more and i'd fall for it. attachment issues suck, more so my abandonment issues.

but this post isn't about jodie. this is about my first boyfriend, rikko.

first because rj doesn't count, the fuck? that shit was a joke lol i just got a dose of reality at an early age. no love there at all. who even falls in love at 13? that shit illegal. so yes, rikko is my first boyfriend ♥️ and even though i've dated guys before, he's the only one i ever loved so far. i love him so much. in fact, before i was already starting to think that maybe i'm not capable of love? i mean, i'm aware i'm a mean person. but i didn't think of myself as someone incapable of falling in love. but among the guys i met and dated, ALL OF THEM WERE JUST TO FEED MY EGO. ego ego ego. tell me i'm pretty. keep asking me to go out and let me reject you over and over again. show me how much you wanna take me out on a date again. over and over and all of them were unintended! when i do talk to someone, a part of me tries! maybe this could work? but it kept ending the same way. ego food. which led me to think fuckkk i'm incapable of loving too? what am i here for then tfuck? — until i met rikko! and everything he did and said, i wanted more of it. the more he laughed, the more he cried, i wanted to keep seeing them, even if he laughs/cries for the same reasons over and over. i wanted the things he wanted. i wanted to like the shit he liked, and i did! i hated touch but i love being held by him. he was expressive too! like the other boys! but for some reason, it wasn't ego food. they became credit scores for me. each time he gets a point, it adds up to my reasons why this is it! why this is worth a try! and i struggled and fought hard. the commitment and daddy issues, the anxiety, the fear of abandonment, blah blah and he did and said the right things at the right time he went at the right places, gave the right gifts, promised the right things — all for him to turn out to be just like everybody else. he died months into my life. he couldn't keep up with the character he played, and idk why people keep playing a character on me. jodie played the supportive bff but really wanted to be some sort of main character which i think is rather difficult hence the hurtful betrayal. and then there's rikko, who played the boy i could ever want, but never was that person. he never was that person to his parents and friends, and i thought he would suddenly change for me? that's some boss level pick me girl shit. i love rikko, even now as i type this. i met him january 2020, it's july 29, 2021 today, and i love him so much. but i'm not sure if i should be with him anymore. on principle, morals, self-care, common sense, logic, religion. why? because he died. he died last january 2021. he's no longer the same rikko i fell for. his hands aren't the ones i fought myself to hold. he's not the same person who went all the way from paranaque to cainta for me at 8pm because my dad told me he almost had another baby with someone ON MY BIRTHDAY. he's not the same person i looked at up at Sm Aura thinking he could be the one. and that i belong here, with him. that i love being with him, and he could be other things, but i want to be with him. he didn't know it, but looking at him as he talked about his friends, those things ran in my head. it was the same rikko who got teary eyed when he misunderstood me there at the Sm Aura rooftop, thinking i meant that i was just playing him. the rikko who gave me a necklace for no reason, wore it on me and even had it in a totally unsuspecting case (tea bag) which made the surprise funnier and cuter, is... yep... no longer here. the rikko who kept reminding me i'm redeemable, that i'm not my anxieties, i'm not my bad brain, i'm not my small voice, that rikko is long gone. and still i stayed waiting, making excuses, reasoning out with myself, trusting that he'd come back and funny enough, 7 months in and... he's still gone.

the saddest part is he doesn't want to be like that. or so i think. he tries. i see him trying. i see the efforts. he tries to ask me about my day, about my worries, why i'm anxious, why i'm sad or irritated. he asks me about work, applications and when i'm out with friends or family. he tries to make time for me even now that he prefers valorant over ml with me, i know he tries to play ml with me. he tries to take some time off work to talk to me. he tries to post on social media now, shares my ig stories, joins my tiktoks and get along with my jokes. he tries. i know he does. but that's the thing. he has to try. and maybe those things, he just isn't. and the difference between trying and develop is with development, there is direction. there is progress. with rikko... it's unstable. sometimes he can do this, but the next times not so sure. and as someone anxious with rejection and abandonment issues, inconsistencies are okay, but a lot of them? and major ones? NOTHING GOOD WILL COME OF IT. so many things rikko doesn't know and still he has it in him to say or assume a lot of things about me. one of them is when he said i'm ALWAYS annoyed at him. does he know how many times i get annoyed at things he do? but i don't address all of them not because i don't want to but because i acknowledge that they're not worth the fight or i'm just being hotheaded or immature or maybe inconsiderate. i think first before i act on him because if i learned anything about rikko, emotions have to make sense! which is wrong in the first place but that's who i'm with! but at the times i can't help being tampo, annoyed, or upset, he finds it in him to tell me i'm a l w a y s annoyed? WHEN?!?! i even asked him when and i know he realized it but still he fell stubborn to his pride. does he also know that his gifts don't make me kilig anymore? they just relieve me at this point which is sad!!! fucking sad!!! why? for example, for my virtual college graduation i was getting anxious few days before because i'm worried he won't give me anything or do something for me which will surely trigger my ~neglected issues~ and if i do get triggered, instead of addressing and being there for me, instead of making it up to me, he'd get mad! he'd make me feel that i'm asking for so much, for the impossible, all while i see it happen to people. i see other dudes give their girlfriends things without occasion. i see them try to like the things their girlfriends like, even embarrassing ones that she posts on social media. i see men constantly expressing their love for their gfs, for the person they asked to commit to them. all while i have one who would call me demanding, needy and exhausting. imagine? lol i get anxious he won't fulfill me not because i'd get sad but because he'll get mad when i get upset. he'd make me feel awful and remind me of the reason why we should end. and i hate that. i'm fighting so hard to take it off my mind, i hate thinking that we're incompatible, unhappy and that we're just trying to revive this love we have for each other. that love really isn't enough, even for us. so when he got me this bouquet for graduation, i was 95% relieved and 5% kilig because awwwww but more importantly, I WON'T BE TAMPO WHICH MEANS I WON'T HAVE TO HIDE AND HE WON'T HAVE TO GET ANNOYED AT ME BEING UPSET! as i type this all the more i feel bad because it's so clear i shouldn't be with him anymore. it hurts each time it crosses my mind. i really see rikko as the love of my life. and idk why. because he shouldn't be. the love of your life should be someone who makes you laugh, makes you strong but can also let you cry. the love of your life is the one who holds you on your way out of dark times. the love of your life is the one who corrects you in ways that won't make you feel bad, but in ways that make you feel cared for. that he's telling you so out of concern, not because he thinks you're a difficult sick mental person who needs an on-call therapist and an attending nurse. the love of your life should be the person who makes you cry the least.

but he doesn't deserve it also. maybe he's not ready to be in a relationship just yet. and there was no harm in trying. in fact i'm happy he tried because if he hadn't added me on facebook and hit up on instagram, i would have never known what love was like. i would also have never known how fun and exciting it is to be in love. it's so nice actually! to lie down with someone and just know they'll be there when you wake up and even if you do wake up in the middle of the night, you're safe with them. and no matter what you look like in the morning or how loud you snore or how stretched you are in bed, you are loved by this person next to you. and they chose to sleep with you too. to be as vulnerable as you are. and i loved that with rikko. we sleep together, we wake up in between sleep just to look for each other's cheeks, we shower together, we do weird shower dances, we have secret baby things, and a lot more things that you would think from here on meant forever. because these things, how could you ever try them again with someone else? because from where i am right now I HATE THE THOUGHT OF THOSE WITH ANYONE WHO'S NOT RIKKO. but stay with him for what? for what at this point? i'm not God. i'm just an anxious person with daddy issues who has enough money hunger and dreams plus a mom, aunts and 1 friend who loves rikko so much. i can't change him. and i shouldn't.

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