#i'm so interested to find out more. like. WAS he ever an inquisitor or did he retain his freedom and Fall some other way | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

shmowder · 15 days

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Hello! Firstly id like to say how much I enjoy your writings. And I was wondering your opinions on Stanislav Rubin, and if you have written anything about him yet?

Thank you very much. I'm glad that even though I post a lot of memes and silly things, people still remember that this is a writing blog at its core.

Ah Stakh, the man, the myth, the legend Rubin himself. I absolutely adore him. He's like what happens if you drop the soul of a 90' anime tsundere into a survival horror middle age man.

Rip Stanislav, you would've loved going Hmp >:/. You would've loved posting blank black screens on your snapchat with a single dot in the text bracket. You would've loved getting away with throwing heavy-duty physical objects at Artemy in the name of comedic effect during fillter beach episodes.

What's so interesting about him is how much the narrative is out there to get him. How much his story tells a complicated relationship about bline love, trust, and abuse.

At times, it seems like Rubin loved Isidor more than his own son ever did from the amount of faith he held in him. Especially when that said person took advantage of his willingness to serve in order to do the dirty work.

That's probably why Rubin is acting extremely difficult during the game. He's grieving deeply. He seems lost and devoid of purpose, so he clings to whatever new problem he can find to give himself purpose. He works himself to an early grave just so he doesn't have time to think, and if you don't interfer as Artemy, he's successful.

Rubin's extremely devoted to his own set of morality, even when it contradicts itself and hurts him in the process. It's like he's willing to dig himself further into a mess even if he knew the chances of him solving it alone are very slim.

He'd rather do it himself than ask for help.

But it doesn't feel like pride, more like spite. That's the thing him and the bachelor have in common. They're both moved in spite of the universe and not because of.

Meanwhile, Artemy does things out of love for the universe. It explains why Rubin was described by the developers as being Artemy's rival.

Stakh was the best student Isidor ever had, the most diligent and quickest to learn, even a better student than his own son.

But that's exactly the problem. That's all he was great at, being an excellent student. Isidor didn't want a student for life. He wanted a new Menkhu to replace him, to pave the way for the future. How could he let someone who always looks to others for guidance ever take the lead?

Rubin decided to follow the bachelor when it came to curing the plague. In P1, Rubin used to be a soldier and an extremely good one at following orders too before he had to come back hom from a head injury.

In P2, when Rubin is devoid of purpose again, he doesn't try to be his own person and pave his own path. No, instead he sticks with the familiar and goes to join the army.

In the marble nest where Artemy is dead, Daniil says that Rubin has already joined the army and he could be behind any of those soldiers' masks.

What's the alternative future for him? Remaining a student. But for Artemy this time, who successfully took his father's place in p2.

Rubin and Bad Grief were the first ever people to fall out from the friend group after Artemy left, and it makes sense with how opposite they are in nature.

Grief saw how good he was at doing what he is, how excellent he is at being a gang leader and how easily this life came into his hands with very little work. He almost seems perfect for the job of being a glorified sketchy shopkeeper with a dangerous front as a gang leader.

He saw that, and he hated it. He wanted out. He wanted freedom and to break from the narrative. He acted out of script and went to the Inquisitor with his own two legs, closed shop, and threw away that perfect life, which was designed especially for him.

Meanwhile, Rubin longs back for that life. For Isidor to crawl out of the grave and tell him what to do next, even if it meant he will be mistreated and forced to bear the sins of his master just so Isidor keeps his own hands clean. He wants someone more knowledgeable to direct him again, tell him what to do, where to go and what to say.

Grief adored freedom, but Rubin loathed how terrifying it was. Grief understood the way of the world, how everyone is masquerading as their roles, how the whole of humanity is a game of pretend we play with each other, a mere facade. He understood that, and he climbed up as a result of playing his cards well. Or at least, life handed him the perfect hand for his role.

Rubin's black and white view of the world was his doom. Isidor was right and could never do anything wrong in his eyes, even when it was Rubin suffering because of him. Grief was bad. Therefore, he could never do anything right no matter what explanation he gives.

Artemy abandoned his father, therefore he is forever responsible for Isidor's murder in Rubin's eyes.

It's almost funny how throughout the whole game, as Artemy, you keep getting reminded of how much Rubin hates you and wants you dead.

Yet when he invents the panacea after you neglect your job, he fully credits it to you as your invention. The inquisitor even says so.

Love and hate are like dusk and dawn, different angles, but still the same sun.

Rubin's hate for Grief and Artemy proves that he still cares about them above all.

Even then, it doesn't take much convincing for him to abandon that hate. Almost as if he wants to be rid of it himself but can't do it on his own, he requires you to talk to him and give him that one final push. Aware of it or not, he has always looked to others for help despite him trying his best to handle things alone.

Now, as for writing something about him, I haven't yet. I would love to, he seems very fun to write. Emotionally constipated characters usually are.

But do you mean as a ship or x reader?

If it's a ship, something with Artemy is my first thought.

I know Isidor was in the process of adopting Rubin and that he refers to him as father sometimes. But all of that happened after Artemy left the town and not before.

So while Rubin and Isidor saw themselves as found family, Rubin and Artemy never did. Their last time together was spent as childhood best friends, and not once do they refer to each other as siblings or imply it.

To me they will always be just childhood friends. Artemy was estranged from his own father for 10-5 years depending on the game and Rubin filled that spot in the meanwhile. The sole reason for the adopting thing was just to get Rubin the right to cut bodies and nothing more in Isidor's case.

Rubin might have seen him as a father figure, but I doubt Isidor saw him as anything but a student, let alone a son.

In his dairy during his last days before death, Isidor only speaks of Artemy. Wishing his son was by his side.

And in Artemy's case, he immediately forgives Rubin for so many things during their first meeting in P1. And in P2, he still attempts to talk and have a resemblance of a friendship with him.

Artemy literally follows him like a kicked puppy, wanting his best friend back and desperately attempting to mend things with Rubin. The fics practically write themselves at this point. Stakh clearly likes Artemy but he won't let himself easily give into the temptation because he is just angsty like that.

Maybe that "rivally" was extremely one-sided in Rubin's case.

But for x reader, you're not Artemy so you'll get very favourable treatment.

He's already willing to let himself burn at the stake for someone else. Rubin and Eva both share the passion to sacrifice themselves for the sake of someone else, ironically enough.

The only difference is that Eva took the hopeless romantic path whole Rubin took the selfless devotion one.

He'd do well with someone who is soft and caring, that man requires a hug that lasts a century. He needs someone to be patient with him, someone wise who understands him better than he understands himself. Someone be there for him to fall back on.

Stakh is the type of person who will mould himself to your expectations and needs rather than just let himself...be himself. He will think the way he is just isn't enough to get you to stay in love, and so he will try to adapt what you deem impressive and love-able.

Breaking himself in the process.

A reader who gets him out of that cycle would be perfect. Someone who reassures him that he is enough. That he doesn't need to set himself ablaze just to keep you warm.

He will be extremely awkward in love. He doesn't have a single romantic bone in his body. But he's nothing if not a fast learner.

it's clumsy attempts at the start, but eventually, he learns to speak his feelings more. Words of sincerity and promises of devotion acting as his flirting.

He stares at you a lot with his big round, lovely brown eyes. Across the room? he's looking at you until you come talk to him. Suddenly, he's not slouching so much. It's endearingly embarrassing how honest his eyes can be when his lips won't admit that he needs you.

He will cling to you as time goes on. Why exactly can't he go out with you when you're hanging out with your friends? Listen he knows this is just a grocery trip but he wants to walk there with you and carry the bags.

One time, you took too long in the bathroom at night, and he woke up from sleep just to knock at the bathroom door and ask when you were going back to bed. You found him half-asleep sitting on the ground near the door when you opened it.

#♧Rubin #♧Artemy #♧x reader #Stanislav rubin x reader #Stanislav rubin x Artemy #♧character study #x reader

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felassan · 1 year

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A few more snippets of interest and insight from Mark Darrah, from an older Mark Darrah on Games YouTube video where he was livestreaming playing Dragon Age: Origins some months ago -

Chat said "I would love to see Shale again, but I'm not counting on it." Mark replied "Shale is quantum."

"I don't think we'll ever see broodmothers again. People trapped in statues, sure, I could see that. Desire demons would definitely get a redesign if they ever came back for sure. You could do something like the Fear demon in DA:I where it sort've, you could do it in conversation where it looks like something different to everybody. That might be an interesting approach. Yeah, or Desire demons mirroring the player character's romance, if you had a romance then you'd know what would work with the character."

"I don't think the character artists are happy with the sort've giant bulldog look of mabari. I think if we got mabari again it would be [inaudible]".

"My original plan for Joplin was to make a toolset, find a talented group of people and essentially uplift them into an indie studio and help them make a remake of DA:O. So if that had been the case, the combat would have been much more modern. If you were to Deadspace[-style remake] it, I don't know what you'd do, because remaking DA:O with modern graphics and tac cam would be expensive. If you go to a remaster you could just up-res all the textures and call it a day, that's the easy one, it's easy to see what you'd do with that. If you're doing a remake I'm not sure where you land. Like do you go more action RPG? DA:O was considered an action RPG in its day."

Chat asked "Is there a plan to include any of the old main player characters in the next games?" Mark replied, "The problem with the Hero of Ferelden appearing in future games is they don't have a voice and everyone else has a voice now, and they could very well be dead. So it's sort of a difficult one. It was discussed for DA:I when you're in the Fade, but. If you're gonna bring them back you gotta figure out what to do, it could be done. Bringing them back now, I think what you would do is make it so that, 'surprise! they're still alive' and they are mute now because of something to do with the Blight. I mean you're kind of retconning that in, but you could 'a wizard did it' into making them mute. The other thing would be, their appearance is definitely lost, so you would have to recreate them. But that's already been done, we did that with Hawke."

Chat commented around this point, "Same problem with DA:D and the Inquisitor, but it would be weird if they didn't have any role at all." Mark said, "With the Inquisitor, at least you can just assume that the events of Trespasser happened whether they played it or not. So they have no arm."

"The Dead Space remake is designed to feel like the original, not be the original. I don't know that you can do that with DA. You can remaster, in which case it is the original, just pretty. You can remake, but I think remaking and making it feel like the original isn't really possible. So if you make a remake it's more likely to feel like DA:I or like whatever DA:D ends up feeling like, more than it is to feel like DA:O. One of the reasons why it hasn't happened is, Mass Effect is like, if you find a partner that knows how to do Unreal, and there's a million of them, then you know what you need to do. It's on early Unreal 4, especially ME1, so it needs to be updated, so you need to touch a bunch of stuff and find stuff that's been lost. You know the best version of the combat, so you update everything to that. With DA:O it's like you could just up-res the textures, but first of all there's no partners out there, basically, that know how to use Eclipse. The pitch was to take DA:O and DAII and you basically remake them in Frostbite and you make the 'Champions Trilogy', you retcon it into a trilogy. Like it's three different player characters, 'this is their rises', and you remake it."

"There was some appetite after Joplin was gone, there became some appetite for releasing the toolset for Frostbite, but the two things didn't line up."

"I like Absolution, I feel like it could have used one or two more episodes but you know, I get why it didn't get that. Oh yeah, it's definitely a love letter [to DA]. I can't imagine someone watching Absolution if they didn't know anything about DA and it making a ton of sense, because it's talking about an 'Inquisition' as if they're the good guys, and the Tevinter Imperium isn't really set up as being that bad until it suddenly is really bad, so I think you kinda need to know what's going on coming in. Netflix is kind've throwing a lot of things at the wall to figure out what works. Disney is eating their lunch and Disney controls all the IPs." Chat here said "The sad thing is Netflix is notorious for cancelling things that are loved." Mark said "It's possible that Absolution was relatively cheap, but Netflix's track record is, that unless it was very cheap, I can't imagine us [inaudible]. I don't know the numbers on Absolution. I mean they set it up to make it so they could do a second season, but yeah, I don't know if they were."

"Absolution would have been a relatively cheap show but that doesn't, so like that's the weird thing, Netflix will do multiple seasons of things. It's like a cost-benefit analysis. Something with lower ratings that was cheap enough could get a second season versus something that was really popular but cost a lot could get cancelled. Absolution was pretty cheap, but I don't know if it was cheap enough."

[source]

He also talked more generally about DA:O and the franchise and things in general. These bits are collected under a cut due to length -

[During Witch Hunt DLC when talking to Sandal] "Interesting that Dagna's not here in the Circle Tower. Would have been a good opportunity. Someone forgot"

"I feel like Ariane's personality is a bit inconsistent"

[when ambient dialogue in the Tower references the refugee camp at Kirkwall] "Definitely starting to lay the foundation for DAII"

Chat said "Shale having thoughts on the Titans would be interesting". Mark replied "I mean they're just a dwarf, so they wouldn't necessarily know anything, but maybe they picked some knowledge up from the transition"

Chat asked "How do you feel about mods that allow players infinite retrains for stats?" Mark replied "I think these days, infinite retraining is not a bad thing. Probably don't wanna be able to do it in the middle of a level because then you can trivialize encounters"

[at the Witch Hunt veil tears] "So unlike in DA:I, you can just punch veil tears to death here." Mark then mentions that this doesn't really make sense

"You can see that Witch Hunt had a low budget for character art"

Chat said "So how does looking into the future work in DA?" Mark replied "I think seeing the future is sort've like, ripples coming back in the Fade, is how it's presented"

"It's weird that darkspawn emissaries are called 'emissaries' if they can't talk. Sort've an odd choice of name." Chat mentioned here that in the related codex, hurlock alphas spoke. Mark said "Yeah, it's a bit inconsistent, because I'm pretty sure that even in DA:O there's an implication of speaking darkspawn, and then in Awakening everyone is like, omg, speaking darkspawn?"

"Trusting the Architect, probably not a good idea"

Chat asked "Why do some people think the DA world and the ME world are in the same universe? What do you think about it?" Mark said "People think that because they just like joining things like they like together. I guess there is a krogan head in DA:O and there's an ogre on the wall in ME. Cole references ME characters and events, but he also references irl movies from the 80s"

"Witch Hunt is balanced to be able to play it after base game DA:O or after Awakening"

"PEGI and ESRB ratings used to matter a lot because stores like Walmart for example wouldn't carry anything with an M rating. That's not true anymore. There was also a time when T rated games sold worse than M rated games because teenagers didn't wanna buy T rated games because they thought they were kiddie"

Chat said "In hindsight, do you think it was a good idea to have this many fleshed out different origins? They really made the game unique and replayable, but no other games are doing it." Mark replied, "It's incredibly expensive. Having origins like this, you need to do tutorials six times, it's brutal. So I think it's kind've, if you could do it for free I think it's great because it lets you see, set the setting up from a bunch of different places. But as a general content thing it's a lot of extra work. If you wanted to do it what I would actually suggest would be something where you start with, somehow have a common beginning place, and then either flashback to the origins, or do a mission in the middle which was unique to each of your origins. So if you are playing, like if you imagine you started in Ostagar, but then did a flashback to your individual origin, how you got to Ostagar, but then it was after the tutorial, so at least you're not six timing all of the tutorials. Maybe"

"DA:O has a lot more custom levels than following games just because of the workflows"

"I don't know why you're chasing Morrigan down in Witch Hunt if you didn't have a baby or romance with her or she didn't have the OG baby. It's a bit weird, your motivation for it is a bit loose. The hook is a little weak if the OGB doesn't exist"

"DA:O combat feels like an MMO, through a modern lens. Bits of the story have aged really badly, but otherwise the story holds up well"

"Stroud is there in DA:I because he's the only one for sure who is alive"

"Tac cam is not widely used after DA:O. If a remake of DA:O is for the original audience, I think you'd need tac cam still there. Tac cam was important to them. But the question is who is the remake for, who is your audience? DA:I tac cam is a compromise. DA:O is free-roaming, you can drive it into the darkness, but that requires a ton of special work in terms of level creation. So you could make the DA:I-style tac cam for a DA:O remake but I think you would find it virtually unusable, because the levels are built assuming you can just slide it out"

"EA doesn't like spending money. I think there's a belief that a DA remaster/remake would make money. The question is would it make enough money? This is the weird corporate thing. Would it be profitable enough?"

Chat asked "Can BioWare just give up the code to the public for the community to have some fun and make DA:O 2.0?" Mark replied "There's no way EA would let the code go out. EA is too worried, a lot of decisions at EA are made by executives from the perspective of, 'I would rather something not exists than something exists and I get in trouble for it not being us that made it'"

"MELE did well and is well-reviewed but I mean did it sell millions of copies? It made its money back but did it do better than that?"

"A remaster of DA:O, DAII and DA:I would cost more than MELE but it is comparable. A remake, you're getting into, like remaking the DA 'trilogy' is at least as expensive as a brand new game and it probably doesn't sell that well"

"If you're gonna open the hood of DA:O you should remaster DA:I. I don't think it would take too much, there's a couple of things you could do to make it look even better and also I thin you rebalance the Power requirements. Which would take a week. Just tune the down, just so you could make it through the game a bit quicker and not get lost in the middle. And maybe force you out of the Hinterlands"

[source]

(pls note that in places there is a bit of paraphrasing of the info, the best source is always the primary source with full quotes in their original context)

---

At the time of writing, this post finally concludes this Dragon Age 'notes of interest and behind-the-scenes dev insight quotes [from Mark Darrah on Games DA playthrough livestreams]' project. All the vids have now been covered and all the 'snippets' that I thought were especially neat/interesting have been collated. To see previous posts in this series, at present you'd have to search my blog or click here. do check out the primary source (view, tune in, subscribe etc) here. during the livestreams donations are usually enabled. and if you found this post series useful or of interest in recent weeks, I have a Ko-Fi here, if you feel so inclined

hope this was useful and thank you for reading and stopping by! ( ´ ▽ ` )b

#dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #morrigan #queen of my heart #video games #long post #longpost #dragon age: absolution #dragon age: absolution spoilers #mass effect #cole #spirit boy

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pileofsith · 3 months

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Hello there (no pun intended),

I do not have any questions regarding the Grand Inquisitor/Nameless comic per se (which reminds me of the fact that I still need to leave a comment on Ao3), but I just wanted to say that you rewired my brain with the page on which Tion Medon talks about a young Grand Inquisitor being taken in by the Jedi without him knowing that the guy in front of him is actually the person in question (and the Grand Inquisitor looking kinda like a kicked puppy). I'm especially obsessed with the line "Very polite child, very sweet, but so very timid." due to the sharp contrast to who and what the Grand Inquisitor has become.

On another note: I also love that one piece of yours that depicts the Grand Inquisitor scrambling on the floor, all bloodied up, after Darth Vader backhanded him as punishment for his failure on Lothal, because it just makes so much sense, especially after reading Charles Soule's Darth Vader series (2017). The way the Inquisitors are depicted as both abuser and abused in it is really fascinating, which makes me wonder whether Vader ever maimed the Grand Inquisitor like he did with the other Inquisitors. Do you have any thoughts on that? Also sorry if I'm assuming too much! You referenced the Grand Inquisitor's strained relationship with Jocasta Nu very early into the Grand Inquisitor/Nameless comic and since it was a bigger plot point in the Darth Vader series (2017), it felt like a natural conclusion. I'm currently trying to finish a little character study on the Grand Inquisitor, which is mainly based on that source, and your comic was a very big inspiration for me to even try writing down the first draft.

Either way, have a nice rest of the day! Can't wait to see more from you!

Hello! Huge thanks for your awesome ask and your kind words, made my day! Thank you for reading the comic!

And please do share what you'll create for your character study, I'd love to read it! :)

So: I have only read a few snippets from the comic series, but have definitely used them as a basis to expand on the Inquisitor's character - I'd love to read the whole thing, however, I don't know where to find it!

"The way the Inquisitors are depicted as both abuser and abused is really fascinating" <- This is 100% my opinion, too! I have a lot of thoughts about them that I have a hard time putting into words, but this really sums it up, thank you!

For my comic, I admit I am definitely woobifying him a bit, but I can't really help that when I write stuff about villains, I just tend to make everything three shades nicer than in the source material. :-/

But I do try to keep his main personality intact, I just glaze it over with a more sympathetic view than I expect a canon explanation could offer.

This is the pic you referred to, if anyone's wondering (it's super old but still checks out, lol):

I do not think Vader ever maimed him like the others, but I think he would have opportunities to casually injure or torture him, if he ever feels like it the Grand Inquisitor goes out of line. Having said that, I do think the Pau'an seems to be perpetually aware of the risks in working with Vader, as he does carefully defy some of Vader's decisions with a verbal objection, but he never tries to contradict him further if his input is dismissed.

My pet theory is that neither Reva nor the Grand Inquisitor were ever maimed as a lesson in loss because they had both already survived loss events that filled them with enough rage: for Reva, it's the massacre of her Temple friends. For the Grand Inquisitor, it's the end (betrayal?) of the Jedi Temple Guards he was dedicated to.

I also find it interesting how Vader reframes his own greatest "weakness" in Jedi terms - dealing healthily with loss - into a template for how to teach others how to turn into darksiders.

I generally think Vader treats imperial inquisitors similar to imperial officers - useful if competent, but ultimately expendable, and free to use as a squeaky toy to vent frustrations. For the Grand Inquisitor, since the Pau'an is really arrogant and thinks so highly of his own intellect, the most efficient way to put him in his place would be for Vader to flaunt his own Sith powers against the Pau'an's humble dependence on him, to deny him some knowledge or to humiliate/humble him in some way...

About "Very polite child, very sweet, but so very timid":

When Jocasta and the Grand Inquisitor fight in that comic, he says something along the lines of how he never felt he belonged among the Jedi. I thought that was a really good starting point to imagine his life decisions. What brought him from being wholly dedicated to protecting Jedi, to becoming a hunter of the very group he vowed to protect? It's such a contrast! There has to be some nice, meaty psychology there to dig into and explore.

I imagined him as a subconsciously lonely sort of child, being from a much longer-lived species than anyone else (and in an Order that values detachment, perhaps one would diagnose that as a problem), so that when he grew into a detached, bookish individual, he sought to gain belonging in the Temple Guard as a permanent fixture around which to base his whole life. But then the Jedi Order starts shaking at its foundations, and he wants to escape, but his particular ~*°special-secret-Force-magic°*~ vows to the Temple do not make it possible to just walk away like Ahsoka or Dooku did. And that leads to inner tensions and a pull to the Dark Side, eventually.

#pau'an inquisitor #star wars rebels #pau'an #ask #long post #THANK YOU #I would love to give a more intelligent and thorough reply as you deserve <3 but my brain is being a bit foggy

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nonhumanhottie · 1 month

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Tales of the empire reaction

I'm gonna be so real I really don't care much for Morgan. Her being a nightsister was very random and I don't find her that interesting lol

Why are cartoons so visually dark you have the ability to make them viewable give me light

Aw am I supposed to feel sorry for Morgan?

Hey is that Pellaeon??

Oh it is!!

Okay they were much better at doing angry crowd shouts 15 years ago lol

Oh I do not like how Thrawn looks in this he looks like a sim

Here comes the organ music at least there's that

Okay but she's not really a witch anymore right how can she be faster than blaster fire?

Is it just me or at the grunting and panting sound effects just way too much? Like they're just awful and distracting to listen to

Oh hey Bo

This overall feels like supplementary backstory to a character who wasn't fleshed out in other media tbb

Like i can definitely feel the backstepping they were doing to make this work

Sorry for being a little hater but it wasn't my fave

On to the second half

God palpatine really had everyone believing he was attacked and that swinging hard to fascim was a normal response he is the girlboss of all time

Inquisitor Island

The grand inquisitor is acting so... normal lmao

Yesss pit the children against each other

We are going a mile a minute!! These alledged tales aren't designed for 15 minute episodes lmao

Now is Vader gonna recognise Barriss? Does he hate her?

Oh Barriss I think you've chosen the wrong job path babes

Barriss girlie what have you gotten yourself into?

Oh a non binary jedi?? Werk

That was a quick turn around lol

Bare hands in those weather??

Shes old now wait where are we in the timeline why are we jumping so far forward??

At least Barriss recognises she made some Choices and that the Jedi would ultimately good

Okay I love the change from holding back makes you predicable to anger makes you predicable

I'm gonna say it. I don't think lightsabers are good light sources. Have you ever tried to find something in a coloured light?

Oh it's giving the ending of the shining in the hedge maze hahaha

This felt kiiiinda lazy lol. Sure, it's gorgeous, but imo the hyper-realistic backgrounds and textures don't suit the more blocky style. Also aesthetics alone don't really work in a format like this

I feel like I'm being harsh but I didn't really feel like anything stuck out to me in a good way, other than I guess Barriss reenforcing that the Jedi way is about light an forgiveness, but the pacing and timeline is whack lmao

I get this isn't designed to be a standalone piece of media but the Vader thing is especially annoying to me because it doesn't add anything to this. I think the Grand Inquistor referencing him would have been enough

In fact if I was to rewatch Tales of the Jedi, I probably wouldn't enjoy it as much as I did the first time. I don't think this a good format for these stories

#star wars #tales of the empire #leshi speaks #barriss offee #darth vader #morgan elsbeth #grand admiral thrawn #grand inquisitor #tales of the empire spoilers #tote spoilers

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omnipah · 4 months

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11, 17, 20, 23!

11. if you’re a writer or artist, what fic or piece of art are you proud of making?

my extremely niche patho fic about gender expression and historical dress. and also doubles as a character study of a man who thinks scientific truths are so objective that he can't understand that there's no such thing as gender identity that exists completely divorced from expression/how other people interpret you. very tasty dramatically ironic angst.

17. the thing in canon that everyone loves and that you also love

i don't think there is a single person who got to day 11 of the bachelor's route in patho classic, having been through the inquisitor's arrival, the military coming to town, the entire infrastructure and community getting more and more broken and rotten by the fear caused by the plague, the mass murders and starvation, only to find that now there's ALSO a mutiny in the soldiers' ranks and that they're completely willing to use you as a scapegoat for no reason and without listening to a single thing you have to say, who didn't go very very feral. like that is the quest where you have to claw your way out of a death trap, steal their guns, and murder 20 people in quick succession with barely enough ammo to do it. there's no way of getting to that and not enjoying the chaos a little. it's like. extreme video game masochism.

20. your very first fandom!

i think i was technically very passively in the superwholock fandom just cus that was a lot of the content i saw back in the day, tho for a lot of that i'd only seen doctor who so that was what i was most invested in (i did later go and watch the others).

my first proper fandom that i really interacted with was death note!

23. the fandom you’re curious about because of a mutual

SOMEONE (@tadpal) keeps posting about The Terror and making it seem really fucking scary and interesting and fucked up. it was kinda on my radar before but now i'm just always being reminded that i would definitely like it if i could ever figure out how and when to watch it considering hbo max doesn't exist in this country.

#ask me #thanks for the ask!!!

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breakfastteatime · 1 year

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It's so interesting reading everyone's interpretations of Bode because I have a completely different one. I don't think he's an abuser. He's a manipulator for sure, but I think, for him, it was a necessary skill given to him by the people who manipulated him. It was a means to survive. Did it make him evil? He's Cal's foil, so yeah, I guess, but I don't think he was ever inherently*evil*. He feared losing his daughter and the means to protect her- Cal had the same types of fears, but whereas Cal *almost* lost himself, Bode absolutely did.

It's tragic, intriguing, and complex. Good story telling imo lol, because everyone can have these sorts of reactions to him and ultimately, we're probably all correct in some way. I wonder if more players would be sympathetic if he'd been given the Joel Miller (Last of Us) treatment ... Maybe Bode didn't deserve a pyre for his actions, but for his daughter and for the man he once was, yes. I think it was the right call and Cere and Cordova being the Jedi they were, I don't think they would've begrudged the decision. Which just, *feels all around*.

I agree - it's a sign of excellent writing that we can all take slightly different things from Bode.

Very nice comparison with Joel. His actions at the end of TLOU are *morally wrong*. He chose the life of one over all of humanity, and yet every time I'm like "KILL 'EM ALL, JOEL! GET ELLIE!!!" because I took them on that journey and there's no way Joel was going to lose her. I also find myself justifying it every time too (Oh, but it's too late for humanity! There's no way to rebuild! It's time to move on BLAH BLAH BLAH) which is interesting. Joel makes the wrong choice, but also the most human one. By that point, he was incapable of making another. Perhaps had Bode been shown to be a better father the way Joel is, he would be more sympathetic. And arguably he was somewhat sympathetic *until* you start finding all those post-game echoes... I was of the belief that he was genuinely on Cal's side up until he defeats Dagan and Cal says Tanalorr is for everyone in need of sanctuary, but then there's that Luchrehulk echo about how Bode's 'almost' letting himself really feel for Cal and yeah, nah. That guy was never in it to find a way out *with* Cal. He was finding a way out through Cal. And yes, to a certain extent, Bode is being manipulated by Denvik, but I'd argue they're in a mutually manipulative relationship. Cal and Cere's differing lifestyles offer Bode two alternative options. The moment he learned of the Hidden Path he had a third option. He could've taken Kata and found refuge with Cere on Jedha. That's not a choice he made, because he's also desperate for revenge against whichever Inquisitor murdered his wife.

ANYWAY, the point I'm also winding my way towards is if I was going to compare Bode to another character in another game, it would be [REDACTED] from Bioshock. I don't care if that game came out in 2007, I just cannot spoil it! But if you know, you know. Bode is less blatantly evil than [REDACTED] but the twist is pretty similar in that EVERY TIME I WISH IT WASN'T HAPPENING.

I do understand why Bode got a pyre (to repeat: Kata was right there, Cal is empathetic, kind and selfless, and he's also mourning the loss of a friend even if that friend never truly existed). I MEAN IF VADER CAN GET ONE, RIGHT?!?!?! In all seriousness, by the end of the game Cal is trying to reconnect with his Jedi heritage, and I think that means showing respect for the Jedi Bode had once been.

THIS GAME IS SO GOOD AND HURTS MY SOUL SO MUUUUUUUUUUUUCH!

Thanks for the Ask!

#star wars jedi: survivor #jedi survivor spoilers #answered ask #jedi survivor meta #bode akuna #the last of us #STILL MAD AT YOU TLOU 2

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samseabxrn · 6 months

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hi!!!!!! i have questions!!!!!!

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

9. How do you find new fic to read?

30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

Hello thank you for the ask Rowan!!!!!

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

I’m pretty proud of the different AUs in rivers; I enjoy thinking through all the chain reactions that would have had to occur for a certain set of circumstances to be in place. I’m also really happy with how the world of my Hawke/Sebastian fic is coming together, although I still need to do a lot of work before it gets someplace I’d be happy publishing (and I am impatient). The Free Marches are such a good playground!! I like the idea that Ashna’s sister is Inquisitor in this world, even though it barely comes up lol. She recruits the templars as one major change, and I like the potential mirroring of a dynamic between the Hawkes and the Trevelyans. (The more I look at what I consume and write, I really like strange family dynamics lol!)

While I'm off-topic, wedding ceremonies. Real or fictional, I'll never get tired of learning about them, lol.

9. How do you find new fic to read?

I am a very picky reader at times, haha. I usually have an idea not so much of what specifically I want to read but what kind of mood I want to be in. Sometimes I know I want like a modern AU or a specific trope, or I might have Thoughts about one part of canon and want an AU specifically about that… (ME2 Horizon...) So usually I just go on AO3 to the fandom and filter characters/pairings and explore, sometimes with specific searches. For DA in particular I love the Black Emporium Exchange collections, the rarepairs are so good!

A lot of the fandoms I want to read for are smaller, so I'll just gradually work through everything that looks interesting haha. Really often, I’ll go to authors I enjoy and check out their bookmarks; because of this, I read fandom-blind a lot and have often gotten into fandoms after reading fic, which is always a fun time (This is how I got into Dragon Age, actually! And why I’ve read so much Mad Men fic for someone who has never seen Mad Men LOL)

30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

I think I tried to stretch myself with a heart because I'd never written a continuous multi-chapter story before. Really, I took a risk with risky business; I’d never written for Zevran or Josephine before, and I was so nervous because I wanted to do it right and on a deadline. I don't know even now if I matched up to what I wanted, but with the deadline, I had to get it out there no matter what, and I couldn’t back out; that really helped. I think now when I write and I'm going over something over and over or delaying posting, I can ask myself: is it going to get any better with the skills I have, or is posting this and moving on to something else the way to grow?

Also, every time I write sex is pushing my comfort zone lol, I always post and think "oh ok, that's out there." Slowly trying to expand said zone.

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

I’ve recently been sidetracked from all things Dragon Age, and have been bouncing between that Miranda/Shepard fic and this fic for a Hindi movie I watched a while back. (At this point, I'm getting distracted from distractions 😭) A few lines from the latter:

He thinks that as much as he wants to protect Akira, she is the one protecting him. From getting old and bitter and somehow from dying. Suddenly, he feels a hollowness inside him, the conspicuous lack of something. The lack of her body and her warmth pressed tight up against him. The lack of her voice and her incessant chatter. His life is very quiet without her. Figuratively speaking, which is another thing he doesn’t really do without her. This life is not conducive to metaphor. Her pants were too big, that’s what he remembers. They lent her the extras they had, and if they were big on Krishnan, of course they’d be big on her. She had to cinch them up, and he hates the way he feels when he thinks about it.

Thank you again for the ask!!

#my writing #asks #rowanisawriter

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justmybookthots · 6 months

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City of Ashes

Wow.

I liked this book!

You can see my review of Book 1 here. For some time I really just considered my decision to re-read these old YA books as watching bad reality TV (especially with how awful 'Hush Hush' was) but this book was when I felt the gears in my head shift and I realised I was genuinely enjoying the story.

It took me a while to get started because I was reading other books but ever since I finished 'Suddenly a Murder' (and finished writing a chapter of a fanfic that was keeping me occupied), I told myself I'd refocus on getting this one done. Today I was feeling... not great in the morning, and I used this book as a distraction, thinking I'd probably finish it over the next few days (hopefully).

I finished it in like five hours. 💀

People can complain about this book (rightfully so, it's far from perfect) but it was easy to read and very addictive. I don't remember having had this much enjoyment reading it as a teen; it felt like a tedious haze in my memory. And because I don't remember 80% of this book, almost everything felt brand new to me.

Things I liked:

The Inquisitor. I get she's painted to be a villain but I need to say that I didn't really pay her much attention UNTIL 3/4 INTO THE BOOK WHEN THEY SAID HER SON WAS A HERONDALE AND I WAS LIKE, WAIT. BACK UP. So I went to search up "Herondale" and I FUCKING REALISED THEY INTRODUCED HER AS INQUISITOR HERONDALE AT FHE START AND I MISSED IT. I'm actually really glad I missed it because I'd have known her connection to Jace from the beginning, and now I get to be like OH MY FUCKING GOSH when I realise she's probably his grandmother (?). When you see the antagonism she regarded him with for most of the book and then you realise the connection… and SHE herself realised it… I AM SHOOKETH. Granted, readers are supposed to only connect the dots in the next book, but whatever. I get the epiphany NOW.

She's honestly such a nuanced and great character. She felt like a mix of Umbridge (minus the pink and the simpering and all that gross shit) and Elias' mother from Ember in the Ashes. She made a massive mistake but you realise where she was coming from at some point. You're not supposed to justify her actions, just understand where her head/heart was at.

I used to really dislike Luke when I read him as a teen and now I'm confused why I did because I really like him? I think he's such a sweet soul and he's Clary's real dad at heart, not Valentine.

OOH! When the Unseelie Court was unveiled, I was so excited because after reading Cruel Prince I have a fresh perspective of fae that I didn't used to have reading this as a teen. I liked the Queen and overall how the fae was written. It's really similar to how I think they should be written (IMO). And it was nice tying that thread up at the end, even if a little sloppily. I really wish Cassandra would write a book with a fae lead but she seems to be good friends with Holly Black and that could be a bit weird? I don't know.

Also I really like Cassandra Clare's prose. I personally felt it was one of the better ones out there (or maybe I just feel this way after reading 'Hush Hush'). Maybe it's just more the style I like, even if some dialogue can be a bit cringe at times.

The conversation between Maryse and Jace was really moving at the end. And just their relationship in general. I love that she DID love him, and saw him as one of her children from the start. I didn't have the best impression of her when she first appeared, but it's great for my perception to evolve over the course of the story.

Valentine is… interesting. As a teen I thought he was a rather clichéd villain (I mean… he IS), but he fills that established trope quite well.

Magnus Magnus MAGNUS. Need I say more? He shone in almost every one of his cameos.

Even Alec, who I find pretty boring, had his moment in this book. He pretended to side with the Inquisitor and then went to find Jace to help get him out of the prison. Granted, Alec still isn't anywhere as interesting as I wished he could be—especially compared to MAGNUS—but he was more decent than I expected.

Really liked how the Fearless rune came into play!!!!!!!

I liked that scene where Jace and Clary talked outside the shower at his place. Most people probably won't like that scene because of the whole sibling shebang, but I enjoyed it. Jace was pretty upfront about things… though given the ending, I don't expect that to recur in the next book.

Despite how old this book is, and the occasional girl-on-girl hate that I can't stand, Cassie does a pretty okay job at fleshing out female characters other than Clary. Isabelle is decent, and Maia is an interesting addition (I know she and Simon are getting together but whatever). For its time, this book is mostly all right save for a few problematic liners, and I'll give Cassie props for that. (For now. I'll see for the next book.)

Things I didn't like;

Simon, PLEASE GO AWAY. THE WORST PART IS I KNOW YOU WON'T GO AWAY BECAUSE I REMEMBER YOU BEING IN ALL THE BOOKS IN THIS SERIES. T_T He was the worst part of the story for me and cutting down most of his scenes would have made me so happy. When he showed up "dead" because the vampires attacked him, I was like, why do you give me false hope? When Valentine "killed" him again, I was like, FALSE HOPE NOT ONCE, BUT TWICE? SHAME ON YOU. This ugly ass won't stay dead. 😭 He's a tiny parasite that latches on for fucking dear life—my brother in Christ, what were you even doing in the Unseelie Court? He had no role or business there; it's like bringing a wailing baby on a plane. Cassie has to turn him into a vampire to make him halfway relevant but I just DON'T CARE. He was pretty much Ron Weasley in Harry Potter's body and I hated Ron. He tries to be funny but he isn't funny and he's just jealous and rageful most of the time and, like…

Look, I know this is a lot of Simon talk. But I'm still not done. I'm just adding another bullet point because the paragraph was too long. :') Anyway. You know what Simon says? He says this to Clary when she admits she loved Jace:

He smiled at her. It was a sad smile with something else underneath. "You know what the worst feeling I can imagine is?" She blinked at him. "No." "Not trusting the person I love more than anything else in the world."

Babe, that was really #deep but just because she didn't like you back doesn't mean you can't trust her??? She's still your friend. She is NOT entitled to like you back and trust isn't contingent on your romantic affections being reciprocated. You are not entitled to having them reciprocated just because you were her best friend for years. That's classic "nice guy" manipulation tactics. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So you're saying because she didn't like you back, all those years of friendship are flushed down the drain and no more trust is left? I don't know how much more of this incel I can stomach. 🤮 Every time Clary sobbed in grief for him, I was like: sometimes we just gotta let that pimple pop and let him go, babe.

I gotta move on. Anyway: I didn't even get to see Alec and Magnus get together in the first place. T_T I have to see chapters in Nice Guy Simon's head but I don't get much of Alec or Magnus' POV here? It's not fair!!!!!!! I felt like I was missing a lot of things about them and how they got together in the first place.

I'm not a huge fan of Clary and Jace being speshul people with speshul powers but eh. It's not a giant gripe but at least Clary doesn't become a combat expert overnight so I'll take that.

I find Jace and Clary's love for each other a little unconvincing but it could be worse, I guess.

JACE, I know he's technically immature/a child but he really should have watched his mouth more with the Inquisitor. The first time he was sent to prison, I thought he deserved it with how he was mouthing off to her. But then later he showed a lot of self-discipline/sensibility with the Fair Folk so I was a little thrown by the whiplash. Again, it's not a major gripe, but yeah.

I'm going to end the review here. Overall, I'm shocked by how much I liked this book given its poor reviews on GR, but we'll see how the next book fares for me (if I do get to read it… or finish it). I do want to add that the sibling thing doesn't faze me like it does many because I know in retrospect that it isn't true, and just… My brain is too screwed-up, I guess? I need to stop reading so many disturbing thrillers. Or manga.

But let me tell you: it felt REALLY surreal upping the book from the 3 stars I'd given it as a teen to 4. I've almost NEVER done that with an old read before.

- 24 Nov 2023

#book blog #book review #fantasy books #shadowhunters #the shadowhunter chronicles #cassandra clare #city of ashes #the mortal instruments #chain of thorns

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incognito-insomniac · 1 year

Text

OC Interview

Saw this on someone's blog at the end of November and thought it looked pretty fun. I've made three but will be posting them separately because they are long! Tagging the standard peeps because i don't want to blast people's inboxes otherwise. But please tag me if you want to make one. It's a really neat exercise! ^_^

@funkypoacher @confidentandgood @socially-awkward-skeleton @captastra @twosides--samecoin

An interview with the Inquisitor by an eager Orlesian socialite during the events of Trespasser

Name?

"Erimenthan Lavellan."

Are you single?

He nodded, "I am very much taken at the moment by vhenan."

Are you happy?

"As much as one can be while other people try to dismantle everything I've built in the name of peace."

Are you angry?

He frowns for a moment then says, "I find anger to be a very unproductive emotion."

Are your parents still married?

"Yes."

Birth place?

"I'm not entirely sure. Most likely somewhere in the Free Marches. Dalish Clans are less interested in place of birth. More the clan and time of year."

"What time of year were you born?"

"Winter. Just before our New Year celebration."

Hair color?

"Red."

Eye color?

"Green."

Birthday?

"Again, I'm not sure of the date in the Andrastian Calendar. But sometime in Haring, I believe during 9:9 Dragon. Our New Year is a bit later so it may be Wintermarch, 9:10 Dragon. Although I would have to consult with the Keeper and the Andrastian annals to be sure. Would you be willing to wait a few weeks for an answer?"

"No. Nevermind."

"Ah, it would have probably taken longer anyway."

Mood?

"Affable."

Gender?

"Why are shems always so focused on what gender people are? I'm male."

Summer or winter?

"Spring or Fall would be a more interesting question. Winter I suppose. It's the gentle repose before new beginnings. The world in chrysalis. And there's my birth celebration of course."

Morning or afternoon?

"Morning. The sweetest birdsong can be heard in the quiet morning."

=EIGHT THINGS ABOUT YOUR LIFE=

Are you in love?

"I believe I am."

Do you believe in love at first sight?

"I've seen it in action at least once."

"With yourself?"

Erim shook his head lightly. "Oh no. I'm far too cautious for that. My closest friend in my clan was swept away by a man on first glance at him. It was a sight to behold."

Who ended your last relationship?

"I did. It was time for a change."

Have you ever broken someone’s heart?

"I haven't had the opportunity to ask. My past lovers are all beyond my grasp at the moment. I hope not."

Are you afraid of commitments?

"No."

Have you hugged someone within the last week?

"Yes, vhenan…and many of my friends who have returned to support me in the proceedings."

Have you ever had a secret admirer?

"Yes. It was rather unexpected. Although, I guess they always are."

Have you ever broken your own heart?

"Yes. It's easy enough when the you hold the balance of the world in your hand. I have had a lot of opportunities as Inquisitor. And I have made many missteps. I take none of them lightly. Despite what the council which convenes here wants you to think."

=SIX CHOICES=

Love or lust?

"Love."

Lemonade or iced tea?

"Hot tea."

Cats or dogs?

"Cats" A few best friends or many regular friends?

"However many, I am happy to have the friends I do."

Wild night out or romantic night in?

"Is there not an in between? Like a romantic picnic. Or a boisterous luncheon?"

Day or night?

"Daytime. Many things are clearer in the sun's light. The night is burdened by temptation and self-doubt."

=FOUR HAVE YOU EVERS=

Been caught sneaking out?

"Oh many times. But our Keeper was quite sharp. As is Spymaster Leliana."

Fallen down/up the stairs?

"No. But I have stubbed a toe or two on the stairs."

Wanted something/someone so badly it hurt?

"Yes. I was apart from vhenan for a time. And that was…not a pleasant experience. I'm glad he has returned."

Wanted to disappear?

"What an interesting question for the leader of the Inquisition. Let me answer it this way. I have never angled for center stage, but I won't be giving up the catbird seat without a fight. What we have done is too important. What we can do too grand. The council must see that."

=FOUR PREFERENCES=

Smile or eyes?

"Eyes tell you much more than a smile ever will."

Shorter or taller?

"People are what they are. But taller if you must know."

Intelligence or attraction?

He considered for some time an answer then spoke evenly, "Counterbalances of each other. Too much of one diminishes the other. You cannot have the moon without the sun. A man who relies only on his intelligence will surely push those of lesser mind away. And if one relies too much on character, they are doomed to lose their way."

The interviewer paused with eyebrows knit together, "I don't think you grasped the question."

Erim smirked, "I don't think you grasped the answer. Next question."

Hook-up or relationship?

"Relationships."

=FAMILY=

Do you and your family get along?

"I got along with many in Clan Lavellan. I miss them dearly."

Would you say you have a “messed up life”?

"It's different than I expected, that's for sure. But I would not ask for a different one. Maybe…a different choice or two. But never a different one."

Have you ever run away from home?

"In a very real sense my mission to the Conclave in the name of my clan was an act of running away. A sanctioned act, but no less running away. I didn't see it that way at first. But I was avoiding complicated conversations that I now regret not having with those I held dearest to me."

Have you ever gotten kicked out?

"I'm Dalish. What do you think? I was almost kicked out of Halamshiral before Ambassador Montilyet informed the guards of my station. Not the first time nor I imagine will it be the last, unfortunately. Let's hope I am not kicked out of the Inquisition."

=FRIENDS=

Do you secretly hate one of your friends?

"Absolutely not."

Do you consider all of your friends good friends?

"What kind of question is that? They're my friends, aren't they?"

Who is your best friend?

"Vhenan, of course. Then Seeker Pentagahst and Ambassador Pavus."

Who knows everything about you?

"I'm an open book to most. But vhenan probably knows the most after the members of my clan."

#oc interview #my ocs #oc erimenthan lavellan

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lesbianalicent · 11 months

Text

i got tagged by @lottieurl to try and get anon hate ig 🫡

rules: share some unpopular opinions about 5 different fandoms of your choosing

gonna do yellowjackets, hotd, succession, and bc i haven't been loud about them in a while: dragon age and mass effect

yellowjackets

literally do not care about jackie outside of her relationship to shauna sorry. like i love her role in the story but like as a character i'm just like. ok forgettable. she served her purpose. any time i see fics where she survives i'm like you are so fucking boring oh my god. also i have been known to enjoy shaunajackie on occasion but i really do think they're super overhyped. like what the show has currently is perfect for me. yes girl haunt the narrative! i also find misty deeply boring and i'm sick to death of jeff and coach ben.

i really enjoyed the 1996 storyline in s2 but the 2021 storyline was soooo dumb on so many levels and the pacing was terrible. too much focus on walter and jeff and the adam shit at the expense of everyone else and it's such a waste of talent tbh. also where tf is simone and sammy.

hotd

had no opinion on daemon until the targ stans started being themselves and now every time i see him i see red, which is especially annoying because he is essential to rhaenyra's entire character and the rhaenicents who claim otherwise are bonkers like guys c'mon now.

team black vs team green is stupid as fuck. moralizing asoiaf in general is just so, so stupid.

l*cemond's popularity is just misogyny plain and simple. you are all nuts. leave that poor actor alone.

alicent is a lesbian.

succession

greg should've been written out in season 3 if not earlier he did not serve a purpose in season 4 and the fact that nic braun got an emmy nom had me doing deep breathing exercises to try and calm down.

dragon age

people whose three canon romances are alistair, anders, and cullen are immediate red flags.

i think dao is genuinely the only good game out of the three. dai has extremely lazy storytelling and i hate here lies the abyss because it tries to play on the player's attachment to these characters instead of the inquisitor because like, why would the inquisitor give a shit about these people they've never met? they tried to pull a virmire without having the narrative weight behind it that would've actually made it juicy. it was just dumb!

speaking of mass effect, narratively the series is much much weaker than that trilogy and i think part of that is because they changed the formula with the second one and tried to make the protag like shepard and it really limited things. warden best protag.

solo queen anora and i will not budge on that. warden alistair endgame is his ideal endgame to me and leaving hawke in the fade is fine because the kirkwall gang will storm the fade to get them out if they don't get themselves out. it's hawke like, be fr.

mass effect

i'm more interested in humans than i am the aliens because i personally find earth politics way too fascinating. like yes please tell me more about the texan megapolis.

love ashley. love kaidan. you can imagine the kind of stress i am under at all times. also the space racist jokes make me want to put my head through a wall, because everyone misinterprets what ashley meant by the dog + bear convo and you too would be alarmed by the sight of an elcor.

garrus is overhyped and shakarians get on my nerves. i don't like bioware forcing liara on me. tali being straight is one of the cruelest things that bioware ever did.

andromeda was dai in space so i don't get why it flopped so hard. it was, like, fine i guess? and it had a natalie dormer asari. i could overlook cora for that.

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shivunin · 11 months

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DID I SEND CHARACTERS ALREADY? I can’t remember but I’m gonna do it (again)

Leliana, Bethany, and Josie??

Nope, but good picks! c: And thank you for asking, Zen!

(Character Ask thing)

Leliana:

First impression: I started Inquisition first, so: ooh badass spy lady, I'm into it

Impression now: The same, but I love the dimension that playing Origins gives her character (+ Leliana's song). To see her go from this devil-may-care character to a woman who is trying her best to be virtuous, then the Left Hand of the Divine to her ending in Inquisition (hardened/unhardened, Divine/not Divine) is all so fascinating. We get so much scope in her character and I think it's fantastic.

Favorite moment: I think my favorite line for her is the bit about shoes in the Winter Palace, where she talks about everything she can sort of interpret based on the woman's buckles. It's such an interesting insight into her thought process

Idea for a story: I have a half-written scene with her and Salshira in the Josie/Salshira universe where she helps arrange passage to the duel with Lord Otranto and I think it's really fun!

Unpopular opinion: I know people generally think it's not canon/ridiculous, but I think Fade Ghost Leliana is so goddamn funny. She came back from the ether to work a 9 to 5 for the church. Like what?? She fought her friend to the death over a jar of ashes and dragon's blood and then she was like, well, okay, but what if there was an epilogue?? It's so funny. So so funny.

Favorite relationship: Leliana and Shmooples. I want more Leliana and Shmooples content. She loves that little fella so much and I want to know what their day to day is like. (but I am also interested in how Josie and Leliana became friends; she is so protective of Josie in a way she isn't toward anyone else and it is really really interesting to me)

Favorite headcanon: Leliana and Zev are buddies and stay in touch. I saw a comic a while ago of him leaving gifts/notes for the other companions and I find the headcanon so delightful. I like to imagine he's how Leliana actually tracked down the Hero of Ferelden.

Bethany:

*I want to preface this by saying that I have not even once played 2 with a non-mage, so I haven't spent a ton of time around Bethany.

First impression: Oh, cool, you get siblings in this one!

Impression now: Let Bethany say fuck. For the love of God, let Bethany say fuck

Favorite moment: I am so sorry, I can't think of anything specific T.T I do think her dialogue with a romanced Sebastian in the Legacy DLC is funny.

Idea for a story: In my magician AU, Bethany is in a coma. I have loosely plotted a part in this AU where she wakes up and is able to express some of that anger about the role she had in her family.

Unpopular opinion: Idk if this qualifies, but I would like to have the option to choose which sibling dies in the intro sequence (no hate to Carver) so I can have my cake and eat it, too (be a mage and also hang out w Bethany)

Favorite relationship: Isabela sending Bethany naughty books in the Circle cracks me up, so those two.

Favorite headcanon: I like to imagine she and Wen hang out if she is a Warden (and have some version of a "don't you ever just want to lose it?" conversation)

Josephine: (light of my life!!!)

First impression: Oh my goodness she is so pretty 🥺

Impression now: Same. But also, if there is one individual person I would not piss off from Inquisition, it's Josie. Everyone else will just kill you---maybe take a bit doing it, but ultimately they would kill you. Josie?? Josie could wipe your family history off the map if she wanted. She could ruin everyone who ever helped you. And yet! she also goes out of her way to be kind to the Inquisitor even if un-romanced. I love that she stays herself throughout the events of the game.

Favorite moment: The Otranto duel. Oh my goodness. The drama! The romance! Josie not wanting the Inquisitor in harm's way, but also so relieved to be with them openly! My little romantic's heart can't take it.

Idea for a story: The uh. The Otranto duel with her and Salshira. Salshira having no idea how to fight with a sword but learning as much as she can on the boat over. Going in knowing she can't win and knowing she's going to do it anyway because Josie (clever, beloved Josie, who is home to her even though she wasn't looking for one) is worth it to her. She is worth being loud and vulnerable about her affection and she is worth fighting for. The relief of getting to hold Josie in public, with everyone watching, and swing her around in happiness---just like their dance at the Winter Palace, but a thousand times more joyful (I totally haven't thought about this at all...)

Unpopular opinion: Josie has never done anything wrong ever. I don't know if it's an unpopular opinion or not, but that's just facts.

Favorite relationship: Josie and Bull---like what is going on there, Josie???

Favorite headcanon: Josie sharing her doll collection with her love <3 (this isn't even a headcanon, I just realized as I wrote it, it's just like. a fic idea. ah well.)

#i have josie brainrot right now idk if you can tell haha #the problem is she is so pretty and so smart that it is distracting and i can't write coherently about her and salshira #ask response #ask game response #(also. i am sending you a hug of your desired intensity zen)

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the-official-account · 2 years

Text

Edil's Long Ass Liveblog! s2e3 edition!

Okay so I have a lot of feelings about this episode, but I’ve gotta say it might be my favorite episode of desperado so far? Like I’m a MASSIVE fan of someone to dance with and the ending of s2e1 is a scene that will echo in my brain until I fucking die, but this one just had so much in it...like so much. Multiple things that i was like “wow I hope this shows up in desperado eventually!” happened this episode, and I feel just elated. Anyways enough pre liveblog rambles, here’s the tea.

also you know how it takes me like forever to finish an ep every Monday because I keep doing dumb shit and pausing to rant? Experienced today’s ep over a span of FIVE HOURS and let me tell ya I regret nothing I would do it again.

Also included: A running calculation of how much blood elio has vs. his usual amount. Ill put all that in red in cast that’s all you want this post for.

Okay the beginning of the ep is very rough. I was trying to make food and coffee and liveblog and listen at the same time and it did NOT work, so i paused to cook for a bit. A little sparse to start but I go back

minute one

Joan joining the girlboss covered in blood gang welcome. SEVEN MEN though? and they'll shoot you on site? sorry just how many guns do Americans have here?

IS THIS WHY THEY'RE IN FLORIDA????

more crown lore i find out & the more info i get about england the more fucked up this is

minute four

oh yeah that teleportation whit would fuck Shinji up huh? Didn't think about that

tempest is here?? Oh I thought she had them on priority shipping

[not edited afterthefact:] Minutes 1-3 had a lot of intersting stuff in it, but the cogs to analysis that haven't started turning in my brain yet. However, I was gonna say who's Coleman?/so the academy and the royal colleges are a DIFFERENT interesting/were they bad?/he's dead??/cece my love!! You are profound and unsettling.

Joan's whole dawn witch thing probably means she can heal up her tongue though, right? If she just learned to sign it

minute five

“you're the locals” no???

oh there she goes lol

Catrina was like fuck mortality I don't need mortality also hello but please do away I'm scared for elio [i cannot decipher this either]

I've gotta instance [???] maam I really don't think you'll survive that

minute six (okay here’s where the dozzy starts)

get his ass Shinji you are the only person with sense here

I mean Talia and elio are more powerful by proximity to home and Catrina killed an inquisitor no problem when she first awoke and that was before elio got training, so there's some precedent to say maybe theyre powerful enough to take on inquisitors but ??? I don't know they really don't have enough Intel to make that plan like it's nothing. Like, as soon as they wage the first battle they're gonna be TARGETS so they need to sit down with a map and research what places are in closet proximity that they can hit before they get discovered that yield the most net gain in allies but that's super underground information and these gods lost power like half a fucking century before the internet was invented???? I mean mind you maybe I'm just concerned about info going outdated because of a personal research endeavor. Maybe that's not something to worry about! But sorry the United States is a country with an INCREDIBLY diverse landscape (because it's FUCKIG MASSIVE) and idk! Maybe they have enough ancestral knowledge that it's not a worry but unfamiliar geopoliticial situations will FUCK. YOU. UP. I'm scared for them??? I don't know how warranted that is though there's just so many factors

and sorry not to wave around my general concern for democracy but England has been having king's for fucking ever. How is a centralized earth-connected power going to fare in the US which is much larger and I THINK made up of 3 countries depending on how far this is going I still think this might have something to do with plate tectonics but I don't remember jackshit about American plates those are BORING. There are tons of ethnic groups native and nonnative vying for sovereignty? How big of a concern will that be? How can we guarantee that whoever gets a right to this new crown will have the interests of religious people in mind because tempest is still a witch and she clearly has no great love for them. Tempest mentioned something about the people wanting a wartime leader so the position of queen is probably at least somewhat elected but that's also a life position and is that enough? How do we know this host won't just become TOMITS to the left?

Many thoughts. Many questions. I'm definitely over thinking things at least a bit. But ??? War is not something you bumble into you are three people. THREE!!! What do you know about the suppressed religions of America's?? Their priorities and their values and morals?? How are you gonna do diplomacy without that knowledge?? War is like...a big deal lmao

"Just gonna find some food" ass you would be the first to perish in a Russian winter

go OFF king. You right

oh.

OH???

interesting

besties I don't think geopolitics applies here

this is...this makes sense. Push a big enough house of cards over and a few of em will land where you want, right? Huh.

minute seven

Shinji's proof that anxiety is a superpower when it's fucking warranted. That recoveries gonna be ROUGH taking notes but god they really need someone without godly hubris rn

Shinji??? Stop that??? Why are you in the air like fucking Rudolph can they not see you????

WHITE MIDDLE AGED STEVE JAMES CHRIS ——HELP it is too early in the morning to be laughing this loud. I know this is like an intense thing but also [Wheeze emoji] SORRY. As someone who also goes by one of those names. Yeah.

right, angel shit, I forgot.

WAIT SO SHINJIS WINGS CAN GLOW ENOUGH TO BE I DESTINGUISHABKE FROM BIRDS WINGS?????? SO I DONT HAVE TO FUCKINF PAINT THEM????? HELLO????? or can angels have various wings...idk but they're so hard to paint man

minute eight

[re: shinji @ SJC] ominous ass what is wrong with him? This poor man

BITCH the FUCK

HELLO???? WHY THE FUCK??? CAN YOU NOT BE FUCKING NORMAL FOR ONCE IN YOUR GODDAMN IMMORTALITY SAMEDI WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU????

OOPS????

oh god why do I love [samedi] so much he sucks so bad.

minute nine

the old man loves cars. Yeeeeah that's why they're in Florida.

ope.

Hrunkgougkl?

[ID: the blinking whited guy meme.]

my brains buffering while I process the idea that a show can just be overt about racism in a way where POC have power but don't go unaffected by what's happening. Like LMAO get fucked it also WHEW.

OH I just realized what he was about to say. Yeah get FUCKED Shinji may I present ally of the year award. I don't think they're come up with any new slurs, so first of all, raw line. Not like in a way that it's cool? But, like, raw. Descriptors fail me. Also yeah that just went way over my head the first time. Too caught up in the high of Shinji murderous efficiency that I forgot the n word exists.

minute ten

OH YOU CHECKED HIM. YOU CHECK HIM FOR SURE If one is my friends desecrated the corpse of a violent racist I simply would not be disturbed. Rip to Shinji but I'm different.

“Now you're gonna make the kid cry?” No honey he told you there are two options and one of them is leaving your ass stranded and the other one is Steve James Chris. Good for him.

The Baron and la Catrina are so goddamn annoying but I also like them a lot.

GET. HIS. ASS. GODTAMER!

what's wrong with elio tho. Nothing, right? Haha ....he's fine right?

deja Vu, god...fucking Florida. If Shinji feels one more SUD of pain I am going to collapse an die actually.

minute eleven

"like a garrison" that's really funny

minute twelve

oh this one has architecture, that's rare.

"yeah we hate to see it" THANK you talia.

minute thirteen

"a church is a church" thank you elio for this insight (joking, it was all very helpful) Please do arson? If I say pretty please can they do a dramatic arson? Please?

you know how you could creat chaos? Arson.

sorry but you don't edit explosions that good and make me not wanna pack as many as possible into an episode.

"we were three gods in a Prius" okay danger here I get that, that sucks, but this is really funny.

SO MANY SOUNDS AT ONCE, GOD.

minute fourteen

I really wish they discussed details on how The barons bone manipulation powers work and to what extent. Like I know they expected this to be easy but I'm still in the camp of Mr. 1 hit KO should know how he can feed Mr. And Ms. "a Corpse is a power source if you know what your doing," yk, for situations like this

the Baron is playing GTA.

"weaknesses let's say" Jesus Christ. Shinji in one of the most triggering fucking situations on earth with all his friends fucking gone...god, ow. Sure Shinji might be a fictional entity that doesn't actually expirience emotions but I'M not

I'm gonna project into Shinji so hard actually I'm gonna write something that caters to me and like 2 other people it's gonna be wonderful

Not now ofc [I edit out all the timestamps of these for formatting but I need you to know this was sent at 10:11 and the first message was sent at about eight am. My brain needs to SIMMER on shit so...addressing a valid concern]

I am just over ¼ of the way through this episode holy fuck

episode fifteen

everything Shinji does this eintire episode has me going YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!!! thank you tibet for this fucking delivery thank you Samy for the content holy FUCK.

HELP LMAO

minute sixteen

"surely that's not gonna work" you're honor they're so fucking stupid like yes, she's essentially an incredibly adaptive immortal general who emphasizes protecting the weak and the prosecuted, stan-able behavior. Digital maps, though? Preposterous. One thing I love about desperado is it doesn't ask you to maintain a high level of emotional tension for an extended period of time outside of the really big climatic moments, there's enough not depressing shit to latch onto that it feels like sure I can't swim but I'm wearing a life jacket, which, for how the topic of race effects the target audience, is very useful and appreciated! The whiplash still gets me though I will NEVER get used to it and I don't think I want to

minute seventeen

I know we're only getting Joan in flickers and moments but I like her so much more in this season than the last. Fucking hated Joan before.

minute eighteen

”it was much more difficult without bassim” WHERE THE FUCK IS HE IM GONNA CRY WHERE IS MY GEM MY BELOVED RUBY MY LITTLE TINKERER HELLO?????

minute nineteen

I wonder exactly why the calisar affects and yes I'm sleeping that wrong for sure. Like Asher could handle it and he's a witch of like medium strength? (Placing Joan at medium high and tempest and Caleb at High, it's tuff competition I'm not trying to put him down) but he was a witch? How does it affect crusaders? How about other religious people, the Baron seemed to refer to it like a drug so he'll probably be okay. Hm. I guess we'll see.

Catrina clearly isn't as young as I thought but her manifestation is definitely new. Hm. Ruled an empire for hundreds of years...

minute twenty one

OOOOH JOAN PLEASE INTRODUCE SIGNING SPELLS TO THE AMERICAN WITCHES PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE THAT'S SUCH AN EDGE. Asl is hard but it's not THAT hard and signed exact English isn't, yk, culturally ideal but it should for for translating spells into silence so you only really need to learn the words...

minute twenty two

Shinji smart as fuck evaluating exactly where he can push the God's buttons. That's useful info (edited)

minute twenty four

holy shit this crown lore what the fuck

minute twenty five

LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE BRITISH CHARACTER MADE ME FALL ON LOVE WITH THEM BY FORCE I HAD NO FUCKING CHOICE IN RHE MATTER THAT THE FUCK

minute twenty six

this fucking wierdo doesn't know hot to breathe I love her

joans pulls an all nighter then is like "GOTTA GO FEED THE BLOOD CELLS" and passes the fuck out what an oddball I love her.

minute twenty seven

she's gonna stab this old man

I'm sorry but I need to dissect Joan like a frog in a middle school biology lab actually

minute twenty nine

for reference, two eintire bodies worth of blood is something like 6 times the usual amount elio is able to carry from himself

if she takes from the three guards that increases to about 16 times the amount of blood, adding some for roughly ten percent blood mass I've been dropping for estimations and assuming all of these people are roughly elio's size, and seeing as they're prison guards and worshippers of mr.holy steriods I'll give myself that

Shinji deserves this nap but oh boy wow

THEIR BODIES MOVE AGAIN WHEN I SAY I CHOKED AND FUCKING GASPED IS THIS WHAT I THINK IT IS?????

SWOON

GONNA ADD MECROMANCING DANCIN TO MY TALIA PLAYLIST THIS IS GEEAT THIS IS EVERYTHING TO ME

minute thirty

AND WHAT DID I FUCKING SAY ABOUT THE JDGKDHOSHSKS T RHEBFIFGCIDBTA IN SHD FUCKING THIS BRANCHING INTO A WAR OF MEDIA AND PERCEOTION????? SCREMAINING AMD L9OK9NG MY SHIT GEREVSKSHSKS IM SO 3XICTDJDIFNRJDKSH

minute thirty one

THE FUCKINF EXPONENTIAL GROWTH OF BATTLE DID I NOT MENTION THIS????? oh my god being wrong is a blast but being right is a blast in a different direction knashing my fucking teeth kicking screaming hooting hollering and generally boogieing down this is SO COOL

I was gonna say I recognized the pattern of that speech but did not at all click translation appreciated

WHAT THE FUCK

WHAT THE FUCK DID SHE JUST DO TO HIM?? SOME SORT OF RED PLAGUE EQUIVALENT TRANSFORMATION?????

title spotted but in fucking wait

[translation Inaccute please see notes. Would you believe this was the first time I looked up what desperado means? kinda slow upstairs]

minute thirty two

Shinji Calls them stone demons so yeah, right? La catrina's using the crystal elio swallowed in episode 14 (what was is called again???) And that la Catrina is subpresding from taking over him to spread the red plague to whoever she wants to make more soldiers is actually deeply disturbing in some sense but really really cool in others I love how that episode tied back into the plot holy fuck

minute thirty three (another analysis heavy one, this time the baron and black masculinity)

the fact that Shinji keeps calling them their names also, god. IS SAMEDI GIVES TALI A FUCKINF NICOTINE ADDITION FOR HIS BULLSHIT I AM GOING TO STRANGLE HIM WITH MY OWN TWO HANDS WHAT A BITCH ASS USELESS FUCKING CLOWN SHE CLEARLY WOULDNT WANT THAT

I need to do more research on the nitty gritty of Haitian culture but i suspect it also falls into the overlap of American/carribean black culture in how black men feel a particular sense of entitlement to the bodies and labor of black woman like I adore the Baron as a character and I don't know if this was on accident, probably? but some of the shit he says and does so directly reflects black misogynior it makes me want to hurt him. I'm gonna say now though that nonblack people do not fucking critique him from that perspective. The line between valid criticisms of black men and racism with some white feminist glitter on top is fucking blurry, and even from black men and women the conversation too quickly descents into generalizations that stem from trauma and create a false sexual dichotomy that drives internalized race and colorism deeper into our community so when I say it's touchy, stay the fuck away, I mean that. Black men are still black and they're beautiful and they're allies and father's and uplifters, organizers and caregivers, and individuals who's value is not at all correlated to the labor they can offer others and their community but the Baron can go FUCK himself also. I'm gonna kill him

I'm sorry but at the circus Talia directly expressed a dislike for the concept of coping with substance and that's such a fucked up choice to take away from somebody.

Oh God it's been an hour lmao [I got into a DIFFERENT conversation about themes of race in podcasting because im fucking asdklfasdfhaf edil only wants ONE THING and it’s FUCKING DISGUSTING]

My attention span is healthy and my executives love to function!

minute thirty four

"it was rage...and it latched onto me" LET HIM GO I WILL KILL YOU.

what. What. What what what I have so many things to ...look into? What. Shinji. Alarm

I don't think the massacre of Dojima (doshima?) Was a real event. Theres a violent event that does relate to that name but it's not called that...huh! Shinji is like a magician doing a scarves trick but instead of scarves it's an infinite string of lore and trauma

I need to study Shinji like a cool bug

is "crusaders after Asher" meaning after as in time or after as in chase? Idk

God, if the Baron wasnt in talia's body is give Shinji full rights to tear him to pieces with his bare hands.

get his ass.

minute thirty five

GET. HIS. ASS. GODTAMER. THATS A NAME THATS GONNA STICK NOW.

"what do you need" is a small line to freak out about but !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Frenship :]....love and care, even.

scared for Talia rn but if I don't think about it enough It can't hurt me!

not friendship. Fear. Crying. hate it.

minute thirty six analysis here on catrina's relationship with violence

Again for reference, a 10 litre water cooler of blood is about 1.5 completely drained elio-sized people and 4.95 times the amount of blood he usually has on hand

I'm SO conflicted because on one hand Catrina can go FUCK herself right now but on the other hand I think I recognize the pattern of behavior as like, She knows Talia and the Baron will be fine, or at least things she knows, and she know she and Shinji aren't friends and therefore can't offer comfort because like fuck he's gonna accept that. So she's got priorities and it's a situation that means no way you spin it can Shinji get his needs met without derailing something major but of course HE doesn't know that he has no way of knowing he just has to endure the bullshit and it's not fair but they're fair from reaching the kind of world where fairness can be a concern. HOWEVER, I find it very very interesting that elio know Catrina as a very matronly goddess, someone who took care of her people first. However, and this makes me think towards what Samy said about Catrina not being the goddess elio think she is in that one Tumblr post that made me loose my shit because HELLO? She seems much more overtly war focused as if taking care of people is secondary. Now, there's a high chance she switches additudes with the environment, as most people do, but it's interesting to me how her constant ignoring of Shinji's expressions of emotion, though she is NOT invulnerable —and I think I might spy the pattern of having one character be largely unphased by another's expressions of power so that when that person, in this case Shinji, really well and truly blows up towards the climax, the observing character (catrina's) reaction of open fear and shock is a queue to the audience that shit is well and truly really spiralling outa control now — stands in direct contrast with Elio's perception, also curious about how this might reflect Mexican femininity if that's a part of this

minute 36

omg haha are you ignoring the inherent immorality of utilitarian revenge for the instinctual satasfaction of bringing a sense of justice for the grievances and atrocities committed against you and yours to the horror of possible allies and with an amount of collateral damage that will eventually be your victorious downfall in that the soil of the kingdom you now rule is rich with the blood of everyone who could have hurt your but still too desolate to plant the seeds of a new world ? Haha that's so cool...

[ID: the debby ryan hair tuck meme]

and I think elio's gonna balance the violence back out to it's some murder some sincere caring and that is chefs kiss

I hope lmao

I actually love disgusting wet and repulsive sounds design portraying biological slights against God rip to Shinji but I'm different.

FROGGIE? [i have priorities, clearly]

minute thirty eight

Samar would fucking hate this btw

like yes war of perception, perception is fear which creates demons but I think with her approach to fighting demons she'd be morally repulsed by the idea of breeding fear in the people you're trying to free. Sexy sexy conflict

minute thirty nine

no yeah "there are no innocents in these lands" places ya squarely in you can do fuck yourself territory. I hope Shinji fucking decks her.

minute fourty

dreamy sigh Shinji's such a fucking badass I think he should wreck shit more often I think he might enjoy arson he should do arson!

minute fourty

"perpendicular to the ground" ANIME SHIT—RAD.

Out of my chair

SHINJI MAKES HIS FAITH SHINJI MAKES HIS CONVICTION DID HE JUST FUCKING MAKE IT HEREDITARY?? OBSESSED WITH THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT THREAT AND ALSO AAAAAAA HES SO COOOOOOOOL

minute fourty one

[re:samar] Ah he said it.

End of EP

yk, I'm happy with that

Fucking heaping serving of everything I could've wanted. 10/10.

in conclusion

after mellowing on it I mean...I have SO many thoughts. But my head is also super fucking empty at the same time. All of it was perfect, like, what? What do I even do about it? i just gush I guess.

#desperado podcast #desperado podcast spoilers #edil liveblogs desperado pod #edil liveblogs #yeah. need to kind of mellow on this episode y'all it was incredible.

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tsugihagichimera · 11 months

Text

finished DA:I DLC today and I'm still thinking so hard about it

Overall a really really good game that was enjoyable to play and made me very excited for DA:DW

Characters 9.5/10 awesome I kiss almost everyone

Story 7.5/10 DLC made it good

Gameplay 8/10 challenging but not too much. loved the customizable weapons and armor and focus abilities in particular

Area design 7/10 beautiful and interesting open world areas. some places were hard to navigate bc the inquistor's jump/walk physics are a little jiggly. THANK YOU FOR TELEPORTS FROM ANYWHERE

QA 3/10 enormous bugs that made me nervous a lot

Replayability YES playing as a male mage Dalish elf was an extreme flavor in terms of both lore and political standing and I want to replay so bad someday. gonna be hard not to romance Dorian though my wifey

More disorganized thoughts below

I'm glad I never played DA until this year because I would've died waiting for the sequel ... I had so much fun and I want more so bad.

Despite all the glaring bugs (AND THERE ARE A TON OF THEM) the game itself was super duper fun. I think the strongest improvement from the previous DA installments was the characters--maybe it's because I came off of DA2 liking nobody in particular besides Varric (maybe Aveline too tho she hated my rebellion choices all the time), but to me DA:I had the most fleshed out and likable characters. I think the extra scenes you can view for each person added a whole lot to the experience, and they always had interesting things to say, and the interactions felt so organic and charming! I couldn't help but cry near the end when Cassandra started getting all soft on me 😭 and Dorian was the sweetest lover ever like. the way he was so tsun with his words but whenever my inquisitor did something amazing he'd look at him like "that's my man 🥺" so sweet. THE WAY I WAS LIKE "DORIAN I LOVE YOU" BEFORE THE LAST FIGHT AND HE WAS LIKE "YOU BASTARD I KNEW YOUD BREAK MY HEART" I WAS SO DISTRAUGHT!!! IF I DIED AND LEFT DORIAN ALONE I WOULD RIOT ON BIO.WARE PERSONALLY

ugh anyway amazing and lovable characters and drastically improved romances aside, the battle system felt much better to me!! I chose knight enchanter mage for my inquisitor and managed to find a really comfy setup that was challenging but not overly so, not like in the earlier games in the series, where I had to constantly switch the difficulty back to easy. DLC was sufficiently difficult too but not impossible even if I didn't do every single quest beforehand

what else. the area maps were stunning I could tell they really took the repetitive map note from DA2 and went all out with it. I had a fun time with every single map too and they had different challenges and cool puzzles, and I loved that it was open world but contained so I didn't feel like I was always getting lost and overwhelmed. In particular, I remember just looking out at emprise du leon like oooohh... colors .... the stark red lyrium against the white snow was so lovely and unsettling

a few things I didn't like were the amount of OVERTLY BAD BUGS like I know it's a huge and complex game and like classic Bio.Ware blah blah blah but I managed to get a side quest prompt stuck on my screen from the Orlais court mission all the way until the ending lmaooo. a couple times I had to reload bc my character was stuck in some weird half-tactical camera view and couldn't move anywhere. among other big bugs

I liked the story too ngl, main story was quite simplistic but the trespasser DLC made up for it greatly. I sincerely hope they at least kept the writers for Dread Wolf because I would love for the dialogue and character quality to be similar...

also for the love of god please do more bug fixes for DA4 I know it's. it's hard but. please </3

#meekaygaming

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theheraldsrest · 2 years

Note

Hi! I've been reading your posts and I'm loving it!

If it's not too much to ask, how about this: Inquisitor has trained the mounts like common mabari, able to do tricks and all that. What would their inner circle say if they came across this? I can't get the thought of a warnug rolling over like a dog and getting a treat afterwards.

“Inner Circle reacting to Inquisitor’s trained mounts”

Bless you, @wozzmeyer . I’m loving this idea! Same energy as “All dogs are puppies.” Also, sorry for the disappearance, life hit hard. But back on track with several posts prepared for each week.

-Lord Lex

Cullen

HEAVY SIGH

-Inquisitor, they’re riding mounts, not pet mabari. Please don’t treat them like the dogs. How did you even get them trained like that? That’s a feat all on its own. Are…are you playing fetch with the warnug? That’s actually pretty adora-NO DON’T THROW THE STICK AT HIM

Josephine

“So they know the same tricks as mabari? Would you be willing to show me how to train my mount?”

-She is tickled pink at this. It’s absolutely precious that they behave like dogs, including the dracolisks. Gets to a point where she treats them like dogs. It’s been witnessed that she gives them belly rubs when they roll over.

Leliana

“Oh, this is better than that joke Varric told about the Venatari.”

-Your spymaster is beaming, which is pretty scary considering. She loves watching you train the mounts, making them sit, roll over and beg for treats. Helps with training them since she also trained her own nugs in the same manner. Shouldn’t be any different, right?

Vivienne

Vivienne disapproves

-Why, why, why would you train them in that sense? If any training is to be done, it should be to teach them how to hold their ground and to be graceful yet imposing. This. This is just ridiculous. It’s even worse when she realizes you trained her mount the same way. It won’t stop sitting randomly.

Varric

“I’ve never been more terrified yet entertained at the same time in my life. This is amazing!”

-To think he’d ever see a horse go from begging to playing dead. Now you definitely have to teach him how to train them. Not for any reason in particular, definitely not to make Cassandra’s mount roll over at random intervals. Definitely not.

Cole

“Some of them enjoy it. Some think it’s silly. That one believes itself to be dead because you gave it a command. Its hoping if it stays dead long enough, it gets a treat.”

-It’s interesting for him to watch. He doesn’t say much about them unless you ask him, save for the occasional soft gasps and little claps. He loves playing fetch with them because they’ll bring it back to him every time and it makes him feel seen. One of the only times you get to see him laugh.

Solas

“I’m quite sure that’s not what they’re supposed to be doing, Inquisitor.”

-You can hear him trying to suppress a chuckle when he sees you training the mounts. He actually finds this funny and can’t help but enjoy this. He’s taught his hart certain commands such as stay and come, but now it knows a new trick and he rewards it every time it sits pretty.

Cassandra

“Inquisitor, those are riding mounts, not show ponies.”

-She wants to be disappointed in you, really she does, but she sees how much fun you’re having and just leaves it be. Forgot all about it until her horse rolled over and knocked her off during one of your travels. You thought she was gonna kill you till you both saw Varric laughing. She still wants to throttle you but she’ll just leave it that you have to get Varric out of the tree.

The Iron Bull

“It’s a neat trick and all, Boss, but how effective is it really?”

-It is a neat trick and he does find it funny, but is it gonna help in the midst of battle? He’s all for crazy stuff like this but he just doesn’t see it’s usefulness. That is, until you give the command charge and he gets knocked down onto his ass by a warnug. He takes back everything.

Dorian

“You trained the mounts to do what now?”

-Oh this is brilliant. He loves how people are losing their minds over the horses playing fetch and laying down like dogs just for treats. He’s going to treat every single one of them like mabari as well. He’s very fond of the harts that roll over and get their antlers stuck.

Sera

“What other tricks do they know?!”

-She knows there's only a few tricks that are able to be taught, buuuuuut what if you were able to teach them other, more funnier tricks? With your help, three of the mounts now spin when they see someone nod their head. Do you realize how many people nod around you? You’re gonna.

Blackwall

“That’s…quite interesting, Inquisitor.” Muffled slightly due to his hand covering his mouth.

-He thought he'd seen it all but NOPE. Maker, give him strength. He’s going to choke on his laughter and possibly a heart attack after one of the dracolisks ran at him but feigned away. Even worse, someone has taught his mount to respond to conversations, nodding its head in agreement or disagreement. Sera, it was Sera. She likes seeing Blackwall questioning it.

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ladyhindsight · 2 years

Note

Notes: it's here. I only quoted what I found relevant to quote, but now I know everything there's to know about Stephen. My personal opinion is that the most interesting thing about him is his take on Robert, and as far as I'm concerned, him calling Robert a drama queen should be the biggest controversy around his character. I promise I did a far more objective work on this, though.

The Stephen Herondale Saga

(+ Amatis and Céline)

Objectively speaking, Stephen is a character significant since the very start because his existence is a key point in the plot of the first TSC era, CoB/CoA/CoG, and the last years/months of the Circle before the Uprising were specifically important. There are things in the Circle history that just can’t both be true because one contradicts the other, and to form a “canon timeline” we need to establish as “unchangeable” and among the most notable there are the birthday of the main characters, that keep being confirmed multiple times via social media and have importance in the TSC fandom lore. So the first thing I establish here is that Jace was born January 18, as informed via Clare’s instagram multiple times.

As directly stated by An Illustrated History of Notable Shadowhunters & Denizens of Downworld, published in 2016, and also via basic math, the year was 1991. So gathering the information provided by this book:

Stephen- 1966 / Amatis- 1967 / Céline- 1971 / Jace- January 18, 1991

Now, let’s go for City of Bones (first published in 2007 but my main source is the 10th Anniversary edition from 2017). In chapter 11, Clary finds a photograph of the Circle. There are other details to be analyzed from this scene that don’t fit this topic, but the information pointed are

Jocelyn, Valentine, Hodge, Luke, Maryse, Robert and Michael are present.

It’s from the year the Circle was formed

See, it’s not said that they are the only people in the photo, but in my opinion it’s implied enough to be considered so until evidence of the contrary. (And of course, any information provided by Hodge can be retconned later because he could just be lying for whatever reason.) Stuff established, let’s go for the actual content on Stephen

City of Ashes

Published in 2008 - in this book we meet Imogen Herondale, inquisitor and Stephen’s mother, who is very opposed to any possible associates to Valentine and is portrayed as being bitter or something like this. Then we have Luke’s explanation on Stephen! From chapter 17

“Did the Inquisitor’s son die? Is that why she’s like this?” Luke sighed and thrust his hands into the pockets of his coat.

“How did you figure that out?”

“The way she reacts when someone says his name. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen her show any human feelings.”

Luke expelled a breath. He had pushed his glasses up and his eyes were squinted against the harsh wind off the river. “The Inquisitor is the way she is for many reasons. Stephen is only one of them.”

“It’s weird,” Jace said. “She doesn’t seem like someone who even likes kids.”

“Not other people’s,” said Luke. “It was different with her own. Stephen was her golden boy. In fact, he was everyone’s… everyone who knew him. He was one of those people who was good at everything, unfailingly nice without being boring, handsome without everyone hating him. Well, maybe we hated him a little.”

“He went to school with you?” Clary said. “And my mother— and Valentine? Is that how you knew him?”

“The Herondales were in charge of running the London Institute, and Stephen went to school there. I saw him more after we all graduated, when he moved back to Alicante. And there was a time when I saw him very often indeed.” Luke’s eyes had gone distant, the same blue-gray as the river. “After he was married.”

“So he was in the Circle?” Clary asked.

“Not then,” Luke said. “He joined the Circle after I—well, after what happened to me. Valentine needed a new second in command and he wanted Stephen. Imogen, who was utterly loyal to the Clave, was hysterical—she begged Stephen to reconsider—but he cut her off. Wouldn’t speak to her, or his father. He was absolutely in thrall to Valentine. Went everywhere trailing after him like a shadow.” Luke paused. “The thing is, Valentine didn’t think Stephen’s wife was suitable for him. Not for someone who was going to be second in command of the Circle. She had—undesirable family connections.” The pain in Luke’s voice surprised Clary. Had he cared that much about these people? “Valentine forced Stephen to divorce Amatis and remarry—his second wife was a very young girl, only eighteen years old, named Céline. She, too, was utterly under Valentine’s influence, did everything he told her to, no matter how bizarre. Then Stephen was killed in a Circle raid on a vampire nest. Céline killed herself when she found out. She was eight months pregnant at the time. And Stephen’s father died, too, of heartbreak. So that was Imogen’s whole family, all gone. They couldn’t even bury her daughterin-law and grandchild’s ashes in the Bone City, because Céline was a suicide. She was buried at a crossroads outside Alicante. Imogen survived, but—she turned to ice. When the Inquisitor was killed in the Uprising, Imogen was offered his job. She returned from London to Idris—but never, as far as I heard, spoke about Stephen again. But it does explain why she hates Valentine as much as she does.”

“Because my father poisons everything he touches?” Jace said bitterly.

“Because your father, for all his sins, still has a son, and she doesn’t. And because she blames him for Stephen’s death.”

“And she’s right,” said Jace. “It was his fault.”

“Not entirely,” said Luke. “He offered Stephen a choice, and Stephen chose. Whatever else his faults were, Valentine never blackmailed or threatened anyone into joining the Circle. He wanted only willing followers. The responsibility for Stephen’s choices rests with him.”

(Detail on Luke saying Imogen never spoke about Stephen again as far as he heard. How would he ever hear or know about that? Bruh) This is so all over the place, let’s go.

Stephen was Imogen’s golden boy

Stephen went to school… in London?

After all of them (the main Circle I supposed) graduated, Stephen moved to Alicante

Luke implies what we know that was that he saw Stephen more often when he was married to his sister Amatis

Only after Luke turned into werewolf, Stephen joined the Circle as Valentine’s 2nd in command

Stephen cut ties with his parents

For Stephen to become Valentine’s 2nd in command, Valentine made him divorce his first wife [Amatis] and marry a 18 years old Céline very loyal to him

Stephen died in a raid to a vampire nest, and 8 months pregnant Céline killed herself when she found out

Stephen’s father then died of “heartbreak”

Céline was buried at a crossroads outside Alicante

The then inquisitor was killed in the Uprising and the position as offered to and taken by Imogen

We will revisit this later for sure.

City of Glass

Published in 2009- We get Amatis’ side of the story! From chapter 5

“Luke never told me he had a sister.”

“No,” Amatis said. “He wouldn’t have. We weren’t—close.”

“Luke said your last name was Herondale,” Clary said. “But that’s the Inquisitor’s last name. Isn’t it?”

“It was,” said Amatis, and her face tightened as if the words pained her. “She was my mother-in-law.”

What was it Luke had told Clary about the Inquisitor? That she’d had a son, who’d married a woman with “undesirable family connections.” “You were married to Stephen Herondale?”

Amatis looked surprised. “You know his name?”

“I do—Luke told me—but I thought his wife died. I thought that’s why the Inquisitor was so—” Horrible, she wanted to say, but it seemed cruel to say it. “Bitter,” she said at last.

[...] “Yes, she did die. Killed herself. That was Céline—Stephen’s second wife. I was the first.”

“And you got divorced?”

“Something like that.”

[...] “So what happened?”

Amatis was gazing into the distance. “We were in the Circle, Stephen and I, along with everyone else. When Luke was—when what happened to Luke happened, Valentine needed a new lieutenant. He chose Stephen. And when he chose Stephen, he decided that perhaps it wouldn’t be fitting for the wife of his closest friend and adviser to be someone whose brother was…”

“A werewolf.”

“He used another word.” Amatis sounded bitter. “He convinced Stephen to annul our marriage and to find himself another wife, one that Valentine had picked for him. Céline was so young—so completely obedient.”

“That’s horrible.”

Amatis shook her head with a brittle laugh. “It was a long time ago. Stephen was kind, I suppose— he gave me this house and moved back into the Herondale manor with his parents and Céline. I never saw him again after that. I left the Circle, of course. They wouldn’t have wanted me anymore. The only one of them who still visited me was Jocelyn. She even told me when she went to see Luke….” She pushed her graying hair back behind her ears. “I heard what happened to Stephen in the Uprising once it was all over. And Céline—I’d hated her, but I felt sorry for her then. She cut her wrists, they say—blood everywhere—” She took a deep breath. “I saw Imogen later at Stephen’s funeral, when they put his body into the Herondale mausoleum. She didn’t even seem to recognize me. They made her the Inquisitor not long after that. The Clave felt there was no one else who would have hunted down the former members of the Circle more ruthlessly than she did—and they were right. If she could have washed away her memories of Stephen in their blood, she would have.”

Amatis and Luke weren’t close siblings

Amatis is established as Stephen’s first wife

Valentine convinced Stephen to divorce Amatis and have Céline as a more appropriate wife so he would he Valentine’s 2nd in command

Céline was young and obedient to Valentine

Stephen gave Amatis her house and moved with Céline to the Herondale manor, with his parents

Amatis left the Circle and only Jocelyn visited her

Here it looks as if Stephen died in the Uprising

Amatis hated Céline

Céline killed herself by cutting her own wrists, “blood everywhere”

Imogen became inquisitor shortly after Stephen’s funeral, due her dedication to hunt down the Circle to avenge Stephen’s death

Besides what “Uprising’ entails being kinda blurry here (since Stephen was established in CoA by Luke to have died in a raid to a vampire nest, not in the Uprising but before) - the match is strong enough so far.

Then by chapter 17 we have Jocelyn’s side of the story! And now we have a more specific timeline forming.

“[...] I had no idea what was going on outside, no idea that he’d forced Stephen to divorce Amatis and marry Céline. I was in a daze. And then…” Jocelyn knotted her hands together in her lap. They were shaking. “And then I had the baby."

Stephen divorcing Amatis and getting married with Céline happened after Luke became a werewolf and before Sebastian was born.

“[...] I would bring him over to Maryse Lightwood’s house, let him play with her baby son, Alec. Sometimes Céline Herondale would join us—she was pregnant by that time. ‘Your husband is so kind,’ she would tell me. ‘He is so concerned about Stephen and me. He gives me potions and mixtures for the health of the baby; they are wonderful.’”

After Sebastian was born (July 14, 1990, according to CIty of Bones 10th Anniversary edition) and Jocelyn found out Luke was alive as a werewolf, Céline was pregnant.

The continuity is ok so far!

“I wanted to tell her not to trust Valentine or to accept anything he gave her, but I couldn’t. Her husband was Valentine’s closest friend, and she would have betrayed me to him immediately.

Stephen was Valentine's closest friend at the time

“She killed herself,” said Clary, remembering the story. “But —was it because of what Valentine did to her?”

Jocelyn shook her head. “I honestly don’t think so. Stephen was killed in a raid, and she slit her wrists when she found out the news. She was eight months pregnant. She bled to death….”

Stephen was killed in a raid

8 months pregnant Céline killed herself cutting her wrists and there was a lot of blood

It was pretty easy to keep the info consistent so far, in this era, and with all sides put together (including Luke’s from CoB, not quoted directly for this topic) with the birthdays, we can put together the sequence of events. It was confirmed off-page that Céline’s suicide was made up by Valentine, and she was murdered by him and Hodge. We also have Stephen’s death and Céline’s death dated on Jace’s birthday or a day before if Jace was born after midnight, this possible difference is irrelevant though

Next, into next era,

City of Fallen Angels

Published in 2011- From Jace on chapter 3

Over the past six weeks he had taken to reading a letter or so every night, trying to get a sense for the man who was his biological father. A picture had begun to emerge slowly, of a thoughtful young man with hard-driving parents who had been drawn to Valentine and the Circle because they had seemed to offer him an opportunity to distinguish himself in the world. He had kept writing to Amatis even after their divorce, something she hadn’t mentioned before. In those letters, his disenchantment with Valentine and sickness at the Circle’s activities were clear, though he rarely, if ever, mentioned Jace’s mother, Céline. It made sense—Amatis wouldn’t have wanted to hear about her replacement—and yet Jace could not help hating his father a little for it. If he hadn’t cared about Jace’s mother, why marry her? If he’d hated the Circle so much, why hadn’t he left it? Valentine had been a madman, but at least he’d stood by his principles.

The quote pretty much speaks for itself on the info, but we now have answers for Jace’s questions... Sort of. We have this explanation from Clare and also we have Stephen’s letter to Jace available in a specific edition of CoLS, and I added a highlight and comments

To my son,

If you are reading this letter, then I am dead.

I expect to die, if not today, then soon. I expect that Valentine will kill me. For all his talk of loving me, for all his desire for a right-hand man, he knows that I have doubts. And he is a man who cannot abide doubt.

I do not know how you will be brought up. I do not know what they will tell you about me. I do not even know who will give you this letter. I entrust it to Amatis, but I cannot see what the future holds. All I know is that this is my chance to give you an accounting of a man you may well hate.

There are three things you must know about me. The first is that I have been a coward. Throughout my life I have made the wrong decisions, because they were easy, because they were self-serving, because I was afraid. [The fact that Clare later made Robert and Stephen be close friends haha]

At first I believed in Valentine’s cause. I turned from my family and to the Circle because I fancied myself better than Downworlders and the Clave and my suffocating parents. My anger against them was a tool Valentine bent to his will as he bent and changed so many of us. When he drove Lucian away I did not question it but gladly took his place for my own. When he demanded I leave Amatis, the woman I love, and marry Céline, a girl I did not know, I did as he asked, to my everlasting shame.

I cannot imagine what you might be thinking now, knowing that the girl I speak of was your mother. The second thing you must know is this: Do not blame Céline for any of this, whatever you do. It was not her fault, but mine. Your mother was an innocent from a family that brutalized her: she wanted only kindness, to feel safe and loved. And though my heart had been given already, I loved her, in my fashion, just as in my heart, I was faithful to Amatis. Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae. I wonder if you love Latin as I do, and poetry. I wonder who has taught you.

The third and hardest thing you must know is that I was prepared to hate you. The son of myself and the child-bride I barely knew, you seemed to be the culmination of all the wrong decisions I had made, all the small compromises that led to my dissolution. Yet as you grew inside my mind, as you grew in the world, a blameless innocent, I began to realize that I did not hate you. It is the nature of parents to see their own image in their children, and it was myself I hated, not you. [Now you’re sounding like Robert too much for my liking!]

For there is only one thing I want from you, my son – one thing from you, and of you. I want you to be a better man than I was. Let no one else tell you who you are or should be. Love where you wish to. Believe as you wish to. Take freedom as your right.

I don’t ask that you save the world, my boy, my child, the only child I will ever have. I ask only that you be happy.

Stephen

[I hate the similarities with Robert. Damn you Stephen you barely exist as a character, Robert did it better!] That highlight will be useful later

City of Lost Souls

Published in 2012- There’s a little memory of the Valentine/Jocelyn marriage in chapter 14

And then Amatis had come up, dragging a laughing Stephen with her, and Jocelyn had forgotten all about Luke, the way he had looked at her—and the odd way Valentine had looked at him.

Stephen and Amatis were together when Valentine and Jocelyn got married

Fits the continuity so far!

The Last Stand of the New York Institute

Published in 2013- Stephen’s first appearance! As a Circle member, with Luke!

Magnus could not help but look again toward the golden-

haired youth at the front of the group. There was something terribly familiar about him, as well as a suggestion of tenderness about his mouth, and hurt in the deep blue wells of his eyes. There was something that made Magnus look toward him as the one chance to get the Circle to turn from their purpose.

“What’s your name?” Magnus asked.

Those blue eyes narrowed. “Stephen Herondale.”

“I used to know the Herondales very well, once upon a time,” said Magnus, and he saw it was a mistake by the way Stephen Herondale flinched. The Shadowhunter knew something, had heard some dark whisper about his family tree, then, and was desperate to prove it was not true. Magnus did not know how desperate Stephen Herondale might be, and he had no wish to find out. Magnus went on, genially addressing them all: “I have always been a friend to Shadowhunters. I know many of your families, going back for hundreds of years.”

This was published shortly after Clockwork Princess, the association of the Herondale family with the warlock Tessa now known by the reader,

Fear of rumors about Stephen’s family’s connection with downworld being a possible motivator.

But Stephen's feelings over being from a partly downworlder family are never brought up again. He is only pointed/implied as a traitor of Tessa's/Herondale legacy. Which isn't surprising because in my impression it's very normal in TSC to make the main characters the center of the problems/conflicts of side and minor characters even when the connection is weak (as in "everything is about them") [I make everything about Robert anyway]

“Also,” Magnus went on, pointedly ignoring Lucian Graymark, “I find your story suspect. Valentine is ready to hunt down any Downworlder on any vague pretext. What had the vampires he killed in Harlem done to him?”

Stephen Herondale frowned, and glanced at Lucian, who looked troubled in turn, but said, “Valentine told me he went hunting some vampires who broke the Accords there.”

[...]

“Enough of this byplay with demonspawn!” said Stephen. He sounded as if he were quoting somebody, and Magnus bet that he knew who.

“Stephen, don’t—” Lucian ordered, but golden-haired Stephen had already flung a knife in the direction of one werewolf.

Conflict set up between Stephen and Luke?

Quoting his letter, “When he drove Lucian away I did not question it but gladly took his place for my own.” it definitely seems likely!

Now, well…

“Do you never have doubts about all this?” Magnus breathed.

“No,” Stephen panted. “I have lost too much—I have sacrificed too much to this great cause ever to turn my back on it now.”

As he spoke, he swung his knife up toward Magnus’s throat. Magnus turned the hilt hot in the young man’s hand until he dropped it.

Magnus suddenly did not care what Stephen had sacrificed, or about the pain in his blue eyes. He wanted Stephen gone from this earth.

[...]

Then Marian Whitelaw stepped into the light from the spell shimmering in Magnus’s palm, and Stephen’s face went blank with surprise.

“Ma’am, it’s you! We shouldn’t— We’re Shadowhunters. We shouldn’t be fighting over them. They are Downworlders,” Stephen hissed. “They will turn on you like the treacherous dogs they are. That’s their nature. They are not worth fighting for. What do you say?”

“I don’t have any proof these werewolves broke the Accords.”

“Valentine said,” began Stephen, but Magnus heard the uncertainty in his voice. Lucian Graymark might believe they only hunted Downworlders who had broken the Accords, but Stephen at least knew they were acting as vigilantes rather than Law-abiding Shadowhunters. Stephen had been doing it, just the same.

Um…. What.

What sacrifice?

What pain?

At this point, Luke is still the 2nd in command of the Circle. Let’s go back to my notes about Stephen as in City of Ashes:

Only after Luke turned into werewolf, Stephen joined the Circle as Valentine’s 2nd in command

Stephen cut ties with his parents

For Stephen to become Valentine’s 2nd in command, Valentine made him divorce his first wife [Amatis] and marry a 18 years old Céline very loyal to him

First thing, what Luke said about Stephen specifically joining the Circle only after the werewolf problem isn’t true anymore, because I’m seeing with my own eyes Stephen and Luke together in the Circle. We can just say Luke was lying for whatever reason, but it sounds very unreasonable because back in CoA Luke didn't want to reveal yet that Stephen was married to his sister, so he knowing Stephen through the Circle would be a far better cover than that, there was no reason at all for Stephen being established as having joined the Circle after Luke left just to have it changed later.

We also knew for a fact that Valentine forced him to divorce Amatis and marry Céline only after Luke left, and Stephen also stopped talking with his parents then. What did he sacrifice? Really, what? And why is there pain in his eyes? (does he have a secret parabatai in love with him)

Everything bad that can happen to a person has happened to me. — Paris Hilton Stephen Herondale

I could also talk about how since some contents ago, and I left to point out later, Imogen and Marcus were, apparently, very bad parents. We don’t know why exactly, what they did to be considered such, they just are, and murdering downworlders around was Stephen’s way of rebelling.

That was the data from the TMI era, and things stopped making sense already!

Before we go to TFTSA, let me quickly point something! Some years ago, there was a project about a graphic novel focused on the Circle. Cassandra Jean made some artwork about this project, and there’s this collection of Young Circle.

In the post Cassandra Jean credits Cassandra Clare for the dialogue. Stephen’s is:

“It’s hard to get away with anything when your mother��s the Inquisitor.”

Cassandra Clare wrote this. Okay. It’s just that she also wrote in City of Ashes and City of Glass that Imogen became inquisitor to avenge Stephen’s death, after the former inquisitor was killed in the Uprising. From City of Glass we even have that she took the position soon after his funeral. So, you know, it would be kind of hard for him to complain about his inquisitor mother.

Anyway.

Now, I will establish the school year at the Shadowhunter Academy: September to May, according to the timeline of Simon’s education in Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, so during Robert’s flashback in The Evil We Love he is finishing his school year in May 1984.

The Evil We Love

Published in 2015- and the best thing published in the TSC according to me, and retconning all over the place!

When Robert is thinking about what he and Michael did on that same week of the year before, it’s said “That was a year ago, before Valentine.” So we can safely assume the Circle started after May 1983, but after that it’s the summer vacation, so it must have been from September 1983, since it started at the Academy.

There were eight of them today, the Circle’s innermost circle, all sitting in hushed silence as Valentine ranted about the Clave’s kindness to Downworlders: Jocelyn Fairchild, Maryse Trueblood, Lucian and Amatis Graymark, Hodge Starkweather, and, of course, Michael, Robert, and Stephen. Though Stephen Herondale was the most recent addition to the crowd—and the most recent addition to the Academy, arriving from the London Institute at the beginning of the year—he was also the most devoted to the cause, and to Valentine. He’d arrived at the Academy dressed like a mundane: studded leather jacket, tight acid-washed jeans, blond hair gelled into preposterous spikes like the mundane rock stars who postered his dorm room walls. Only a month later, Stephen had adopted not only Valentine’s simple, all-black aesthetic but also his mannerisms, so that the only major difference between them was Valentine’s shock of white-blond hair and Stephen’s blue eyes. By first frost, he’d sworn off all things mundane and destroyed his beloved Sex Pistols poster in a sacrificial bonfire.

“and, of course, Michael, Robert, and Stephen.” Why of course Stephen? I guess this is establishing him as Robert’s friend.

Jocelyn, Maryse, Luke, Amatis, Hodge, Michael, Robert and Stephen are established as the ones closest to Valentine.

Stephen arrived at the Academy from the London Institute at the beginning of the year. January 1984? It can’t logically be the beginning of the school year because then he would be with the Circle since the start, not being a recent addition

Stephen was the most devoted to Valentine and his cause

Stephen was into mundane pop culture, which seems like a extension of his “rebellion” against his parents

A month after arriving at the Academy, (February 1984? March 1984?) he was copying Valentine on everything

Then the time frame gets problematic because from what I looked up, it seems like “first frost” would implicate Stephen having joined the Academy indeed for the school year in September 1983, but that was about when the Circle started, so he would not be considered a “new” Circle member, he would have joined in the same time frame as the others

I can’t make any sense out of this!

At this point we can totally kiss goodbye to the “fact’ (from CoA) of Stephen joining the Circle only after Luke was gone, but there’s more. I have to get my highlight from City of Ashes now

“He went to school with you?” Clary said. “And my mother— and Valentine? Is that how you knew him?”

“The Herondales were in charge of running the London Institute, and Stephen went to school there. I saw him more after we all graduated, when he moved back to Alicante.

This is also false now! First, now we know the shadowhunter school is the Academy, in Idris, so no “he went to school there [London].” From Luke’s telling, we get the impression that Stephen never went to the Academy in Idris and that was how he only got to be around Stephen after everyone graduated and Stephen moved to Idris and married Amatis. (How would he have met Amatis then, I have no idea). We know none of this is true now because we are seeing Stephen at the Academy in 1984. With Luke.

By first frost, he’d sworn off all things mundane and destroyed his beloved Sex Pistols poster in a sacrificial bonfire.

so this is what Stephen sacrificed! Now I get it!

“Herondales do nothing halfway,” Stephen said whenever Robert teased him about it, but Robert suspected that something lay beneath the lighthearted tone. Something darker—something hungry. Valentine, he had noticed, had a knack for picking out disciples, homing in on those students with some kind of lack, some inner emptiness that Valentine could fill. Unlike the rest of their gang of misfits, Stephen was ostensibly whole: a handsome, graceful, supremely skilled Shadowhunter with a distinguished pedigree and the respect of everyone on campus. It made Robert wonder . . . what was it that only Valentine could see?

Robert always so perceptive! From what we know of him I have no idea of what could make Stephen a misfit besides having downworlder blood. We also know his parents are annoying? Have high expectations? Pressure him too much? Something like this. Seriously, I’m not saying it’s not hard having parents who pressure their child. The gravity of the problems that made the Circle members vulnerable to Valentine’s web seems to vary a lot from average life difficulties to parents whose parenting ways are illegal to say the least, which I find better than when authors create crews only made of people who survived the most atrocious things they can think of.

“Tutoring? Is that what they’re calling it these days?” Stephen teased. “Seems like she’s already aced her O levels in wrapping you around her little finger.”

Lucian blushed. “Nothing’s happening there, trust me,” he said, and it was presumably the truth. Céline, three years younger, with the fragile, delicately pretty features of a porcelain doll, had been trailing their group like a lost puppy. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that she’d fallen hard for Stephen, but he was a lost cause, pledged to Amatis for life. She’d picked Lucian as her consolation prize, but it was just as obvious that Lucian had no romantic interest in anyone but Jocelyn Fairchild. Obvious, that is, to everyone except Jocelyn.

Stephen seems to have some thoughts on Céline! Her heart would be so broken if she got to know he referred to her as “a girl I did not know” in his letter to their son.

I took notes on the issue about when the Circle started and when Stephen, Robert, Michael joined it and will leave it for another occasion or I will pull my hair out here.

The Wicked Ones

Published in 2018- Céline’s arc! Takes place in August, 1989.

Unless you counted the starring role he played in her daydreams, Céline hadn’t seen Stephen since he’d graduated the Academy four years before. Back then, he’d barely noticed her. He was too busy with his training, his girlfriend, his friends in the Circle to give much thought to the slip of a girl whose eyes tracked his every move. But now, Céline thought, her cheeks burning again, they were practically equals. Yes, she was 17, still a student, while he was 22, not just a full-fledged adult but Valentine Morgenstern’s most trusted lieutenant in the Circle—the elite group of young Shadowhunters sworn to reform the Clave and return it to its pure and ancient glory. But Céline was finally a member of the Circle too, handpicked by Valentine himself.

Stephen graduated four years before, that is 1985. [He graduated with Robert and Michael!]

Stephen barely noticed Céline back at the Academy

By August 1989, Céline was 17 and hadn’t graduated. She was born in 1971.That means her 18th birthday was later in 1989.

Stephen by August 1989 was 22. He was born in 1966. That means his 23th birthday was later in 1989.

Stephen was Valentine’s 2nd in command by August 1989

I am very bad at math but I think that means he was 18 when he graduated.

And it must have been true, because even though she still had one more year at the Academy, here she was, spending her summer vacation on an official mission with Stephen Herondale. Stephen was one of the greatest fighters of his generation, and now—owing to Lucian Graymark’s unfortunate werewolf situation—Valentine’s most trusted deputy.

Céline has one more year before graduating. That means she graduated at the Academy by May 1990

Stephen took Luke’s place after Luke turned werewolf

He’d also gotten married.

She tried not to think about that.

Notice how here Stephen already took Luke’s position and he is still married to Amatis, when in City of Ashes and City of Glass, it was implied that Stephen had to divorce Amatis and marry Céline in order to take the position.

“Me and Céline?” she heard Stephen say.

Feeling slightly ridiculous, Céline withdrew her stele and

drew a careful rune on the door.Their amplified voices came through loud and clear.

Stephen laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“It sounded like a pretty good kiss...”

“I was under the influence!”

“Still. She’s pretty, don’t you think?”

There was an excruciating pause. “I don’t know, I never really thought about it.”

“You do realize that marriage doesn’t mean you’re never allowed to look at another woman, right?”

“It’s not that,” Stephen said. “It’s ...”

“The way she follows you around like a drooling puppy?”

“That doesn’t help,” Stephen acknowledged. “She’s just such a child. Like, no matter how old she gets, she’s always going to need someone else telling her what to do.”

[1. Robeeeert. 2. They are ones to speak! Oh my god guys, what are you even saying]

That’s a lot of opinion on a girl you “did not know’ Stephen! Just saying.

I really wanted to figure out the timeline of the Stephen/Céline relationship. We know from City of Glass that Céline died being 8 months pregnant with Jace… at the same day Stephen died or one after. I am very aware Céline’s death was a murder misguided as suicide, but she supposedly commited suicide after finding out Stephen was dead, so the date needed to match so Valentine could use that cover. That was either the same day or the day before Jace was “born” (removed from Céline’s body)

So, if she died in mid-late January 1991 being 8 months pregnant, that means she got pregnant in… May 1990? That means Stephen and Céline got married before she graduated at the Academy. That sounds weird, and kinda messy because it makes it harder to try to make guesses on marriage dates and how they overlap with the characters graduating. This will be for another post, too.

That's Stephen Herondale! Half of his story is debunked-denied/ retconned at some point! There are multiple factors I deliberately left off because I plan to write separate posts about, when relating with info about other Circle members.

I will leave to you the part of conjuring opinions. (Please? because damn) I honestly don't see why is anyone interested in his character with Robert being right there, and this is an actual objective opinion I developed while writing this and crossing their characterization. I've actually seen more people sympathetic for him than for Robert, which I find disturbing (why be a good character when your last name is enough)

Robeeeeert. Whaat. C’mooon.

I just love figuring this stuff out, and since we’re already in the deep end and love it here, I’ve made a timeline based on all the information you’ve provided here and added my own probing to it with sources also. 😉

(Click for bigger picture)

So as we can see, there’s several inconsistencies to the timeline and not just ones resulting from retconning Stephen’s character but also because of what Jocelyn and Luke have both told about their past breaks the continuity more. For example, according to different writings Luke gets bitten and Changed both before and after Jocelyn gets pregnant with Jonathan. Their telling of the events are also riddled with inconsistencies which, I get, could be attributed to each character’s own memory and perspective. Yet they never were since the inconsistencies in the timeline aren’t addressed.

I’ll say the following in context of what I think about Clare’s writing biases and based on the information you’ve gathered here and my own researching: Stephen Herondale is a one big mess of a character. I’ve tried to gather my thoughts on his character, compromise between what I can see and how my interpretation of these observations might be skewed due to pre-existing attitudes I have for Clare’s writing. I’d really like to say that I think Stephen is multifaceted, that he truly wanders in the gray areas of being a bigot and a jerk but also having some genuinely good qualities also.

But here my own bias kicks in and I can’t. Not completely.

I’ve said before that Jocelyn in the narrative of The Mortal Instruments is practically stripped from her agency when it comes to Valentine, and though she married him, she couldn’t be held accountable for being in the Circle because of the excuses the narrative kept throwing around. I revisited the part in The Last Stand of the New York Institute where Jocelyn goes to beg Magnus’ help, and Tessa and Magnus both are very hard on her for her past in the Circle. Magnus at first refuses to help her.

But it feels contrived. You can see that Tessa is still one of the ultimate favorites of Clare. Everything Tessa says to Jocelyn is true, and I do think that, but simultaneously it’s agonizing how much the writing props Tessa up on Jocelyn’s expense because Jocelyn fits the part perfectly. Tessa is also so kind, merciful, just, mighty warrior, amazing with children, gains baby Clary’s trust easily, agrees to help Jocelyn etc. I also do get that it’s probably because I still dislike Tessa greatly. :’)

I have similar reluctance with Stephen’s character. Clare says Stephen was a jerk and a bigot, and Tessa is written acknowledging readily that Stephen would’ve killed her and denied any kinship with her. But I can’t ignore the inherent Herondale bias Clare sows into all of her work, which is the reason to my disinclination to give more credit to Stephen’s character and grayness. The writing rails against Stephen just enough that Clare can still maintain that she doesn’t defend him (and she ultimately doesn’t, I know), but at the same time her writing gives Stephen as a member of the Circle more slack than others.

The Last Stand of the New York Institute presents the other members of the Circle as they are, but Magnus doesn’t fail to admire Stephen Herondale, his good looks, his hesitancy, the PAIN IN HIS EEEEEYES. Clare said Stephen found himself in a situation he couldn’t back away from. Valentine would’ve found and killed him and his family if he had tried and so on. Stephen was basically stuck. He tells Magnus he can’t back away now that he’s sacrificed so much (which we learn is evidently his mundane clothes and Sex Pistols poster :’D).

Stephen’s letter to Jace is like another attempt at showing that even this Herondale, the bigot and jerk, is not rotten to the core. On the other hand, I am glad that none of the Circle members were mindlessly bad just because they loved Valentine. I think this partly comes down to the fact that I don’t trust Clare when it comes to Herondales. She has a soft spot for them and it shows time and time again.

Partly it comes down to how weak of a villain Valentine was. Everything Clare bases Stephens’s decisions on—killing innocent Downworlders (narrative exempts Luke for not knowing they hadn’t really broken any laws), continuing being Valentine’s lieutenant and member of the Circle and such—is ultimately the threat of Valentine’s revenge and punishment. Death.

Clare says Valentine is a master manipulator, yet spends three books in TMI telling all the things about Valentine and having no one challenge his half-baked ideas that fall down like a card house if poked at. Valentine is empty, poses no true threat, fails as a villain and thus fails me to see Stephen’s plight as credible. Clare presents things in her stories like THIS IS THE ONLY WAY and fails to justify them credibly. When questioned, cue the same old spiel about how dangerous and powerful Valentine is.

I don’t buy Valentine as an antagonist or a villain, so I don’t also by any influence he had on the members of the Circle. He does nothing to show how he manipulated them, everything is just told. And it sucks because I agree that the innermost Circle all had reasons that made them susceptible to Valentine’s manipulations. It’s the execution again that sucks.

Once again this is a cumulative issue for me, skewed by my own perspective no doubt. But Clare can’t write a credible villain that all of this heavily leans on or keep her timeline straight because suddenly Stephen needed more page time. She can’t keep her characters or story straight, evident especially how Céline is treated as character by others and Clare as the author. Her age? When? Who knows? Stephen at least doesn’t!

I did find it interesting that Robert and Stephen share similarities as persons. Their remorse, feelings of cowardice, and self-hatred projected towards their sons. Their feelings about the Circle, in the end, are similar too, though the ways they end up repenting are different.

#Robert Lightwood #Stephen Herondale #Jocelyn Fray #Valentine Morgenstern #Céline Herondale #Series discussion #Reply

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