#my writing: Martyr

[whump-me]

Martyr Masterpost

He said he’d die for his cause. But death would be easy compared to what awaits him…

Wraith was born for battle, and his calling found him early, when he took up arms against Earth’s invading soldiers. He’s left a trail of blood in his wake, and he has no regrets. He will sacrifice anything to protect the Martian rebellion—and the man he loves.

Isadora, the head of Earth’s brutal security forces on Mars, sacrificed every shred of humanity in her heart long ago. If she can destroy the rebellion, it will be worth the cost.

Now Wraith is handcuffed to a chair in Isadora’s interrogation room, with nothing but his razor-edged wit and his mask of arrogance between him and the annihilation of everything he holds dear.

Isadora plans to strip away every one of his defenses. He represents her chance to vindicate every sacrifice she’s made—because if she breaks him, she ends the rebellion.

But his fraying resistance hides more secrets than she knows. And what he’s holding back has the power to undo her.

---

Martyr is sci-fi interrogation whump (light on the tech, heavy on the war crimes), with a defiant whumpee, a cold female whumper, torture, emotional whump, and devastating personal realizations on both sides. This story is novel-length, and is complete at 30 chapters. Many of the chapters are whumper POV.

The story is best read in order, but  if you just want a quick whump fix and don’t necessarily need to understand what’s going on, might I suggest:  - Chapter 5 (interrogation, broken fingers)  - Chapter 14 (interrogation, forced to watch, non-fatal stabbing)  - Chapter 16 (forced to watch, fatal beating, begging)  - Chapter 19 (interrogation, forced to watch, hand stabbing)  - Chapter 24 (severe beating, out-of-control whumper)

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Rebel Leader Chapter 2: Sweet Victory Chapter 3: An Unexpected Challenge Chapter 4: Up Close and Personal Chapter 5: A Game of Control Chapter 6: Cold Chapter 7: The Temptation of Weakness Chapter 8: A Civil Conversation Chapter 9: True Believers Chapter 10: Playing His Part Chapter 11: Dangerous Respect Chapter 12: Lend Me a Prisoner Chapter 13: Making It Personal Chapter 14: Incentive Chapter 15: The Occasional Luxury Chapter 16: No Reason, No Mercy Chapter 17: Very Sensible Reasons Chapter 18: Now We're Getting Somewhere Chapter 19: The Truth This Time Chapter 20: Taxonomy of Love Chapter 21: There Always Comes A Moment Chapter 22: So Close Chapter 23: Laughter Chapter 24: Floating Chapter 25: Nothing Chapter 26: Gratitude and Dread Chapter 27: Almost Like Starting Over Chapter 28: Not Over Yet Chapter 29: Better Things to Die For Chapter 30: A Good Emptiness

(Here from a reblog? Here’s the most recent version.)

#whump #whump writing #whump story #whump novel #interrogation whump #sci-fi whump #my writing #my writing: Martyr #my writing: masterpost

[tarantula-hawk-wasp]

Sacrificial Lamb

another little symbolism moment with my oc inquisitor maera modeled on 'innocence' by William Adolphe-Bougueraeu

#my art #dragon age #qunari #dragon age inquisitor #qunari inquisitor #inquisitor adaar #adaar #inquisitor maera #lamb #artists on tumblr #art #wow another painting of maera looking UP how original ik anyways parts of this are great parts i rushed bc it is 2:40 am #and i wanted this to be done tonight #OUGH I MISSED HER i missed my babygirl #obsessed with the role of the inquisitor as like figurehead and also sacrifice #also martyr also saint like i love leaning into the cult of the herald idea tbh and like since shes like 10 theres is a level of #child sacrifice to it like the loss of innocence the child of omelaswhich like if i ever get the energy for fic writing again we WILL be #exploring everyone's feelings about that (many flavors of guilt) #i told myself I wasn't gonna do a gold foil background but gradually we ended up with that. I also told myself no halo but

[weepylucifer]

i watch people react to the lotr movies on youtube sometimes - just for my personal relaxation - and this one guy just said "maybe this is presumptuous but why can't they just make a new, even stronger ring that controls all the other ones plus the one ring?" and, holy shit. why don't they just keep making even stronger rings. apart from all the lore and storytelling reasons for why that's not possible under those specific circumstances, i wanna send a complete stranger the wikipedia article for "arms race" so so so fucking badly 😂

#i won't but the temptation is present 😂 #posts by me #you're american my dude!! your country did that with nuclear bombs!! #can you imagine. maybe if tolkien had been writing lotr during the cold war it could have been this #the council gets together and makes the ring 2.0 (i guess they find celebrimbor's old blueprints in a dusty old box somewhere) #and then obviously sauron the maia for technology in absentia of the vala for technology (rip to a real martyr for science) #is like ohoho watch THIS. and immediately produces the ring 2.1 #amazing. buffoonery

[nirrvana]

why do all of my favorite characters keep getting impaled both literally and metaphorically by a thousand sword blows representing the eternal weight of hatred and pain they must carry all by themselves why does this keep happening (this is about anthy himemiya and xie lian)

#im gonna go crazy one of these days #btw i know anthys character is far from ANYTHING else in fiction #suffering from all of patriarchy's hatred literally and so on and so forth THE blorbo of all time for me but like look at the parallels #can't phrase this any further bc my brain will explode but i could write a thesis about these two martyrs + #+ who fall down in the mud and make bad decisions bc victims are allowed to be flawed and theyre so so scared and so young #and just need to be truly loved and understood to be freed i rlly can't #rgu #revolutionary girl utena #tgcf #mxtx tgcf #tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing #xie lian #anthy himemiya #shoujo kakumei utena #sku #rant #mine

[greencarnation]

Printed some fliers and stickers to put up around town tomorrow. Remember that posting isn't the only way to spread awareness and build public consciousness in your area

#palestine #gaza #israel #free palestine #its a shame theyre in back and white but there isnt a colour printer #but if anyone wants ive built this document of hundreds of our martyrs along with their names and stories in this sort of format? #i might make it a series on here as well. their stories should be told #to be honest making the document was very hard. every time i look at it i want to sob #how can the world hold this much grief? #and i don't even have 1% i think of the martyrs #30000 dead is unthinkable #collecting hundreds of photographs and writing out what i can find about them. looking at their social media their families social media #i don't know #i was going to share it on here anyway once my grandfather ass works out how to turn it into a sharable pdf #but ok just get a sharpie and write free palestine on the bus stop u dont even need printed stuff #politics #free gaza #genocide #stop the war #ethnic cleansing #south africa

[rocicrew]

THE EXPANSE 6.04 REDOUBT

#the expanse #theexpanseedit #nolden #naomi nagata #james holden #mine : gifs. #i needed the whole convo in one place #tHE writing for conflict resolution #tHE writing for they're both right #everytime i see martyred myself in the name of motherhood but i chose not to i vibrate out of my skin #THE LINE OF ALL TIME #i think it's rlly interesting how holden obviously can't see beforehand how that choice looks like from naomi's pov #because obviously besides that being something that will be incredibly heavy to bear for him #he wants to spare her from additional pain whether that's logical or not #but naomi who's made peace as much as she could that this was it with filip #and that's been terrified of marco finally getting the people she has left #of killing their little family #to the point of her nearly panicking the minute they try to approach an asteroid in 6.01 bc what if marco turned that to to a bomb #he just let her abuser go and potentially have the chance to try and kill them for the third time #it's heavy and nuanced and one of my favorite pieces of writing of s6

[fareehaandspaniards]

#self-care art xD #my art #rom the vacuous spider #micolash host of the nightmare #saint adeline #my OC Jiri #laurence the first vicar #runesmith caryll #ludwig the holy blade #martyr logarius #tomb prospector gremia #mensis scholar damian #HUGE BNUUY #I think I need to write who is who on a joking art like this #my Jiri literally the best traumatized boy 😭🥺 baby

[dreamersbcll]

Could you write a little something something about Sam’s guilt/martyr complex? And how the others feel about that? I love your writing SO much and would love to see your take on this!

“Stone catcher”

——————————-

“Go, go, go! Run!”

Sam tore after her sister, shoving Tara ahead of her. They ran towards an alley, not stopping until they were sure that they were in the clear.

As Sam hunched over to catch her breath, her sister started yelling.

“¿Me estás tomando el pelo? ¿Qué demonios te pasa? ¿Estás loco?” Tara shouted, shoving Sam back.

(Are you insane? What the hell is wrong with you? Are you crazy?)

Sam stepped back, clearly confused. “¿Qué? ¿Por qué estás enfadado conmigo? ¡Acabo de salvarte el culo!” she yelled back, her hands up in surrender.

(What? Why are you angry with me? I just saved your ass!)

Her sister just glared at her, wheezing. Sam could see Tara’s eyes getting glassy, her skin palling. She could tell that Tara was heading down the road to an asthma attack. She fumbled with her coat pockets, procuring an inhaler. Handing it to Tara, she gasped as her sister slapped it out of her hand.

“Jesus Christ Tara take the fucking thing!” Sam scolded, reaching down to pick up the medication. Her sister stamped her foot, forcing Sam to withdraw.

“Sam- you- you make me so mad!” she wheezed, stamping her foot in the snow again.

Sam held her hands up, perplexed. Normally after running for their lives, they didn’t fight much later, but her sister seemed insistent to hash it out now.

Tara just breathed harshly, her glassy eyes wild. She looked distressed, and Sam had no remedy unless Tara told her why.

“Mi cielo. Mi amor. ¿Por qué te enfadas conmigo?” she said softly, giving her sister the floor.

(My sky. My love. Why are you mad at me?)

Her sister reached down for the inhaler, stumbling a bit. Sam darted forward to catch her, but Tara held a hand up, forcing Sam back. Sam waited until Tara took her medication, two puffs, and held her breath until she regulated again.

Once Tara started to breathe normally again, she began.

“Why do you do that? Why do you always run towards the danger and not away? Why do you feel the need to kill yourself to save me?” she said, the rage behind her eyes melting into sorrow.

Silence hung between the two sisters. Sam felt a red-hot fury of… something. Too many emotions were inside of her, begging to be felt and let out. She was sweating, hot to the touch, but also ice cold- like Tara had told her terrible news and threw her into a freezer to deal with it.

Sam dug her fingernails into her palms, trying to ground herself. She could feel Tara’s eyes watching her every move, drinking in every emotion that was flitting across her face.

Swallowing hard, Sam answered. “First of all we weren’t going to die. I just wanted to tell those kids to back the fuck up and stop taking photos of you. In my defense, I had no idea they would run after us,”.

“Sam.”

She winced. “Sorry,” she said, pausing. Every word in the English-Spanish language swirled around her mind, and yet she couldn’t put together a fucking sentence. What could she say to help her sister?

Deep down Sam knew why she felt the need to throw herself in harm’s way. Her therapist had diagnosed her with a ‘Martyrs complex’. The need to sacrifice herself instead of anyone around her. The need to bleed before anyone else could be touched.

However, Sam didn’t mind the diagnosis. It made sense, and it gave her an identity. It was something she could call hers.

Besides, she wasn’t ashamed of this part of herself. If it came down to it, Sam would kill herself to keep Tara breathing. Without question.

What was more jarring was that Tara knew it as well.

She cleared her throat. “I guess I want to make sure that you aren’t brutalized anymore. I refuse to have you bleed if I can do it first. If my blood spilled saves yours, I’ll choose it every single time. Anything for my girl, anything for you, mi cielo,”.

To her surprise, Tara snapped back. “That’s not fair! You don’t get to play god and decide that! Your death would kill me, it would fucking kill me, Sam. You don’t get to decide what’s right for us. ¡Tú no eres Dios!” she hissed.

(You are not god!)

Sam put her hands on her head, trying to bite her tongue. She was about to grab her sister and shake her until she understood. Until Tara understood that if she died before Sam, no one could stop the murderous rampage Sam would embark on. That if Tara died, Sam would wipe out cities, countries, and continents to pay for the death of her baby sister.

“Tara. I love you. But if I could prevent you from being maimed, or god forbid even your death, I would do it one hundred times over. I don’t care about anyone else Tara. You’re the only thing that matters to me. You’re the only one who knows me. I need you alive and with me. Eres mía mi amor. Tú eres mía.” she said, trying to calm her sister down.

(You are mine, my love. You are mine).

It seemed to work. Her sister opened her mouth and shut it immediately, conflicted. The two stood there for a minute, letting the words soak into their minds. Sam stood there restlessly, her hands clenching and unclenching. She needed Tara to speak. To say something. To love her. To still care. Anything.

Finally Tara spoke, a soft little whisper. “No puedes morir. Tienes que seguir vivo conmigo. Por favor. Afrontaremos las cosas juntos a partir de ahora. Nada de sacrificarse. Prométemelo.”

(You cannot die. You have to stay alive, with me. Please. We will face things together from now on. No self-sacrifice. Promise me).

Sam felt her walls crumble, and she held out her arms, welcoming a hug from her sister. Instead of running towards her and hugging her, Tara stood there, frozen in her tracks. Sam cocked her head, waiting for an answer.

Tara stood there, a wary look in her eyes. “Sam, I need you to promise,” she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes.

As much as she tried to fight it, Sam knew that Tara was right. She needed to promise. Even if she didn’t mean it. At least then Tara would feel some sort of security, even if it was fake.

“Okay. I promise. I love you. Now come here,” she softly begged, beckoning her sister close.

Tara jumped into her arms without a second thought, burying her face into Sam’s neck. Sam held her tight, rocking the pair back and forth.

Deep down, she knew she lied. She didn’t mean that promise. She would kill herself a thousand times over if it meant Tara would live.

#scream #sam carpenter #tara carpenter #carpenter sisters #ao3 author #my writing tag #martyrs complex sam is a sticky thing #i’m insane #she’s insane we all are #AU: i’ve got blood on my hands

[inonibird]

Sure, she had her moral standards. After meeting her first real Kaleesh, learning they were meant to be far more than the shaved and filed sacks of bone the Yam’rii had fashioned to their liking, she had stopped carrying tusk powder and red leather in her cargo hold. When far-flung buyers blustered and offered higher prices for such wares, she’d promptly told them where they could shove it. Additionally, she’d returned to trade with Kalee after an apparent shifting of pieces on the Galactic dejarik board; hearsay suggested that the InterGalactic Banking Clan had stepped in on behalf of Kalee, though at what exorbitant cost she couldn’t begin to guess. At least the Yam’rii and the Trade Federation were no longer a constant orbital presence around the planet Kalee itself.

But at the end of the day, the prospect of turning a tidy profit was what drove her from system to system, bartering with lesser-known species for rare and unique commodities that would be found nowhere else if she wasn’t the one peddling them, moving shipments for criminal syndicates who paid top credit for her surreptitious service, generally availing herself of any lucrative venture that fell into her lap.

That was why she was back on Kalee today, after all. —

Chapter 5 of Part Five - Martyr of the Sahuldeem series is up! (chapter art is not as likely for this chapter)

#Inoni Writes #Sahuldeem #Star Wars #Qymaen jai Sheelal #General Grievous backstory #Kalee #Aza Memona #Part Five - Martyr #fanfic #Sahuldeem spoilers #short chapter! #and my mad dash to PERHAPS finish Martyr this year?? #we shall see!

[whump-me]

Martyr, Chapter 24: Floating

Chapter 24 of Martyr, a novel-length sci-fi whump story about a captured Martian rebel with a secret and the renowned interrogator who has waited a decade for the chance to break him. This series is best read in order. Masterpost here.

Contains: defiant whumpee, angry whumper, out-of-control whumper, restraints, emotional whump, severe beating, imminent death

---

Wraith

Wraith laughed as Isadora’s fists rained down on him. He kept laughing, even as sharp bursts of pain bloomed all over his body, even as his skin burst and bones cracked under her fists and her feet. He kept laughing because it made her mad… and the madder she got, the less control she had… and the one thing he could still do—no matter how helpless he was—was take away her precious control.

His vision was blurry. Something deep inside his skull had gone wrong when he had hit the floor. Or maybe he was just on the verge of losing consciousness. There was only so much a squishy human body could take, and he had to be near the limit. He flashed back to Callum lying on the cell floor in front of him, his eyes empty, his chest caved in at a strange angle. Did Wraith look like that yet? If not, it wouldn’t be long.

But he kept laughing. He wasn’t in control of it anymore. The part of his mind that wasn’t screaming in pain and animal terror had disconnected from the scene, hovering somewhere above himself, and that part of his mind apparently found all this hilarious. He looked down at himself, with his legs bent upward at a right angle because he was still cuffed to the damn chair, and Isadora tearing into him like he was a cockroach and she wanted him smashed to jelly. It was the funniest thing he had ever seen.

He tilted sideways. His legs hit the floor with a crash. His laughter turned wet and ugly. That disconnected fragment of himself turned away to float up toward the ceiling, farther and farther away from the scene. It took an effort of will to turn back to his broken body and Isadora’s furious attack. When he looked down at himself, he saw a ragged chunk of human-shaped meat. A twitching, bleeding thing that shouldn’t still be alive.

Isadora showed no sign of letting up. There was nothing human left in her eyes. They shone with an unnatural light. Her lips were curled in a snarl. Flecks of blood—his blood—dotted her cheeks like freckles.

Liquid smeared down her cheeks, turning the freckles to streaks of pale red, like a watercolor painting. Isadora was crying.

The wrongness of that sight made him drop back into his body all at once. His laughter cut off, turning into a groan of pain. The effort of making the sound shot a sharp ache all up and down his torso, as if the effort of breathing out was enough to tear something open inside him. He tried to breathe in. His muscles clenched, protecting themselves; they wouldn’t let his lungs open.

He squeezed his eyes shut. He tried to float back up to the ceiling again. But this time, he stayed trapped inside his torn flesh as Isadora’s toes drove into his gut. He vomited bile over her shoe.

He tried to beg her to stop. But all that came out was a strangled moan. Not that she would have stopped even if he had been able to say the word. She was never going to stop. Not until long after he was dead.

Her vomit-streaked toes drove deep into his middle again. Something cracked and burst deep inside him. Pain blossomed in his center, heat spreading outward like the birth of a malevolent sun.

He understood then that he was going to die.

He had known it from the start, of course. Ever since he had come up with his plan. But it wasn’t a plan anymore; it wasn’t some nebulous fate waiting him in the near future. He was going to die here and now, on the cold floor of this very room, beaten to death by the interrogator he had goaded into killing him. The thought drew another moan from his lips. The sound took the last of his breath with it.

He had thought he was ready to die. He had even welcomed it. If that was what it took to save Gabriel, he had told himself, then he would do it gladly. And what could prove his devotion to Gabriel’s cause more than dying for it?

He had thought those two things were one and the same.

But he didn’t want to die for a cause. Not here and now, under Isadora’s fists and feet, as angry tears poured from her inhuman eyes. Not now, and not ever. He would happily die for Gabriel—yes, even now—but that had never been what Gabriel wanted from him. It had never been enough.

Gabriel wanted someone who cared about his cause as much as he did. That was why he had never loved Wraith the same way Wraith had loved him. That was why Wraith had never confessed how he felt. Because he had always known it was hopeless. Because he had always fallen short, and he always would. No matter how many times he tried to demonstrate his devotion to the cause, his heart was too full of Gabriel to have room for the kind of love Gabriel valued above all.

Wraith sucked in a thin, bubbling stream of air. “Stop,” he said, or tried to say, although he didn’t think anything came out but a wet gurgle. Maybe not even that. “Stop, please, I’ll…” Then he ran out of breath, which was just as well, because he didn’t know what came next.

He would what? Give her what she wanted? No. Handing over Gabriel wasn’t an option.

Not even now.

He floated out of his body again. This time, he didn’t rise to the ceiling. Instead, he found himself in Gabriel’s office. Gabriel was working late into the night, bent over his desk with worried creases around his eyes. The thick amber light, as bright as the light in his eyes whenever he talked about his cause, formed his halo.

This time, when Wraith pictured himself in front of Gabriel’s desk, he wasn’t cuffed to the chair, and his fingers were no longer broken. He stood before Gabriel, strong and sure, like the last time they had spoken. He waited until Gabriel looked up.

“I’m sorry,” said Gabriel again, his voice and his eyes filled with the same boundless sorrow. How had Wraith not known what that sorrow meant? How had he not known this had been Gabriel’s idea from the start?

“No,” said Wraith, “I’m sorry. I can’t be what you wanted. This is who I am, and it’s who I’m going to be right to the end. I won’t die for your cause.”

He smiled softly. Far away, back in the interrogation room, he felt a trickle of warm blood flow past his lips.

“But I will die for you,” he said. “Because I love you more than I love justice, and more than I love vengeance. I love you more than I love freedom. Whether you like it or not.”

He jolted back into his body as Isadora’s foot slammed into his temple. The world flashed red, then turned a sickly gray around the edges. His blood ran in thick streaks across the toe of her boot. He opened his mouth and let out a groan of pain, but he didn’t have the breath to make a sound.

He tried to call back the image of Gabriel, but the only things he could see through the gray haze closing in around him were Isadora and the red of his own blood.

I’ll die for you gladly, he said to Gabriel in his mind, even though he couldn’t see him anymore. I always would have, you know. You didn’t have to manipulate me into it. I’ll die for you—but I won’t try to prove myself to you anymore.

Isadora faded away. Wraith was standing in Gabriel’s office again. He turned away from the sorrow in Gabriel’s eyes—how had he never seen how distant that sorrow was, how impersonal?—and walked out.

The amber light faded as the gray overtook him. Then the gray darkened to black, and he saw nothing.

---

Tagged: @straight-to-the-pain @soheavyaburden @gala1981 @whumpacabra @sacredwrath @suspicious-whumping-egg @sonder35 @decahedron-crabclaw @seasaltandcopper @tremendousenemyhideout @bloodinkandashes @whumplr-reader @whatiswhumpblog @delicateprincepaper @sunshiline-writes

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#whump #whump writing #whump story #whump novel #my writing #my writing: Martyr #sci-fi whump #interrogation whump

[m1ssnovember]

You don’t get rid of depression.

Depression gets rid of you

- MissNovember

#donna tartt #i exist because i bleed #bleeding for love #dark academia aesthetic #literature #poems on tumblr #my writing #poetry #reader #withered roses #martyr #female madness #dark academia #academia #writers on tumblr #prose #dark red #r

[violetstarr24]

i had so much fun with the last "reblog and tag x" post i did, so here's another one: if your wip had a theme song, what would it be? why?

#writing #writeblr #creative writing #for me it would too late for a savior by aviators #bc my wip has a lot of martyrs who die resisting the system #a system which has trapped and imprisoned and killed them #for as long as they can remember

[elegyofthemoon]

tbh there's a good chance if i go with the winning choice and i dont settle, i'll wind up changing the blog again BUT at least this will help me decide on sOMETHING

for mutuals who dont know these characters:

#ok like. heres my reasoning for each #sampo robin and firefly? prepping for penacony time :) #the other three? 'oh i just relate to them so its just fitting for ME' #ngl i was tempted to put welt on there too but i was like NO IM UNWORTHY OF HAVING WELT AS MY BLOG THEME..... #welt is...the world. #hes too cool basically id just be tarnishing his appearance (you mean the guy who has arahato themed EVERYTHING?) #(you mean the guy who wears glasses just bc its cool and not because he actually needs them?) #(you mean the guy who may or may not have dyed his hair according to something said in argentis character quest ?) #thonk. #uh. #no actually id rather not stil ALKSJDFHALKJH #IT DOESNT SEEM RIGHT FOR ME...... LIKE OK YES I DO LIKE MY MARTYR ESQUE CHARACTERS BUT... WELTS BETTER THAN THAT NOW....HES OK....HES SAFE. #anyways me writing the description is funny askldjfahl #snowpolls #yes no dan heng in this >:( otherwise ill be super confused with myself LKASJDHFALKSJH #besides im scared he'd win again askdjhfalskjh #maybe some other time.... he can be my mains theme... #admittedly though #like my opinions might change on firefly and robin once we get to the story but theyre the ones im most looking forward to #so theres a chance i might change the theme if my opinion/interest change in them #the other four though less likely to change just bc i already like them #but yeah anyways! :)

[kohakhearts]

hey that pokemon 2000 gifset + your jn dub analysis made me think about the pokemon 2000 dub - I've only seen it subbed once (compared to the hundred times I watched it dubbed as a child) so I could be misremembering, but didn't the dub completely change the themes of the movie with the chosen one ash thing?

i actually haven’t watched the sub nearly as many as times as the dub either :p but i have read extensively about this topic bc it’s personally my favourite pokemon movie and yes! the first and second pokemon movies are both victim to this (like mewtwo’s epic speech we all love so much at the end of the first movie…being a complete fabrication by the dub team :p you gotta give those writers credit - they were VERY good at what they did), largely i’m guessing due to cultural values and expectations. since they were trying to sell the anime to an american audience, not a japanese one.

tangentially, i will say i also think that’s the root of this like…subtle distinction some people have between the characters “ash” and “satoshi.” i don’t differentiate them in any big way myself because fundamentally they still are very much the same, but it is true that in japanese, ash has somewhat different mannerisms and responds differently to events at times, especially in the early anime when it was so much easier to get away with making big changes for…a big assortment of reasons haha.

in THIS movie in particular, some of those things are like…well. the prophecy is probably the most obvious change. the dub team rewrote it to include the chosen one reference, which works great because of the word play on ash’s name. in japanese, it just says “an exceptional trainer will appear to help calm the wrath of the gods.” ash’s response to this is more mild trepidation than outright fear. he doesn’t hesitate like he does in the dub. and tbh? both reactions make perfect sense for his character in my opinion.

in japanese, his concern is more "do you really think i can fit that role?" this...tracks pretty well with his character development by this point. like yeah he said he could win the indigo league, but he's also thinking about dropping out after gary loses; it's that little grain of insecurity he has, which he's normally good at covering up with arrogance (a lot of which is also very genuine, don't get me wrong). but he sees the opportunity to help and he takes it. that's just...what ash does.

in english, though, the prophecy is pretty clearly about him. there's no one else it could be. it has to be him. and he...doesn't like that? that scares him. which, fair. anyone would be terrified by being singled out like that. it's also so much...not ash's thing, even at this point in the series. his character development is about embracing having to work hard to do well. to keep trying until you get it right, no matter how many times you get it wrong. the idea of being a "chosen one" completely robs him of his ability to be so single-minded about what he wants his destiny to be that it manifests as pre-determined; it just...pre-determines it for him, if that makes sense. lol.

the thesis of the japanese version of the film is that no one person or pokemon can stand on their own. everyone needs help. it's about harmonizing with each other and with nature. about letting others help you, and helping them in turn. the english version rewrites that into a story about power and destiny. the title alone says it all, right? it's called "the power of one" - no reference to lugia, no reference to the birds. in japan, the title is about the revelation (or "birth") of lugia.

westerners love a good chosen one story, so this was a really good choice by the dub team in that respect. i mean, it's a narrative that's stuck really well. fandom loves chosen one ash! in general, western fanbases are really into this narrative. it's everywhere. and there's a lot that goes into that, culturally, and especially religiously, historically, etc. so at the end of the day, i don't think the change is so much about conflicting ideas about collectivism and individualism. it's more about goals and ideals, on a personal level.

let me say again for the 273456784th time, i love that they resolved ash's story by having him realize that the goal he's really been striving for all this time is to meet and befriend pokemon. to learn from them. to earn their trust. it's like...he did the thing that everyone else thought represented his goal, maybe even himself included, only to realize that his dream was never about the end of it anyway. it was about everything he learnt and everyone he met along the way. (i also suspect nobody writing in 1997 knew that that would be the ultimate resolution, either. but it makes sense in the entire context. it's kind of a nice irony, even. to only figure it out after writing the story :p)

and i think this little distinction is important to that goal! it's his whole character! which is why even though i too love chosen one characters, i don't necessarily think of ash as one. because even if he is, his whole Thing is that he wants to try. a lot of the chosen one narrative is about characters being reluctant to be used for a "greater good," or about them collapsing under that pressure. ash doesn't really have that. he does what he thinks is right because he...thinks it's right. sometimes, sure, others have to push him into it a bit, but usually they're actually pushing the other way - it's too dangerous, you're going to get hurt, etc. and to me, i don't know - thinking of times he's died, or nearly died, and some legendary or mythical pokemon has saved him at the last minute...i don't think that has to mean he's special in a cosmic sort of way. i think it just means he's special to them. that he did something for them, or for someone else they had come to care for (thinking manaphy responding to may's emotions, not just to the fact that ash was drowning, or in mpm ash convincing latios to trust him because of their mutual desire to save latias, etc.), and so they want to help him. which is completely opposite to the typical chosen one narrative, i think? because he doesn't do those things out of obligation...he does them because he thinks he can become a better trainer by doing them, and he wants to do that. and well. he did do that.

anyway my tl;dr here is YES they changed the theme a lot haha, but i find it fun that they also changed the characters’ responses to that theme. funnily that’s…kind of also what fanfiction writers do all the time, lmao, but that’s a whole other conversation.

#answered #im sure id have something more insightful to say if id watched the original recently but i havent Dx #*meta #i guess #also re: the chosen one narrative being very religious #its more to the idea specifically of a character who does selfless things for the sake of being selfless and it often ends with the #character martyring themself somehow. which i dont think it’s necessarily WRONG to say is what ash does. self-sacrificial is not a Bad way #to describe him. i think its a reasonable and compelling read on his character. its just not mine i guess because as much as i also love #chosen one characters what i love most about it isnt the fact that they are a chosen one #so much as what the consequences of that have been because what they really want deep down is to just…not have to save the world #but ash isnt really like that. saving the world is more of a byproduct of what hes actually trying to do. which is to help others #rather than being forced to save the world to help the ones he cares for. its kinda opposite. idk. maybe i’ll write a post about this #properly someday bc rn my brain is mush and i can only think of three major western franchises that even have chosen ones lol

[despertara]

Irene bro if you see this I want you to know I've been podcasting (talking loudly and emphatically to myself) abt that Grammy Gun post for Hours. I started ranting in the rb tags and then I got so mad I started a spreadsheet on my phone Yes I have the Excel app. No I did not finish my tags

#Pacing around my house ''IN LIEU OF A PERSONALITY TAYLOR HAS A MARKETING STRATEGY AND THAT'S WHY WHITE AMERICANS LOVE HER'' #''BC SHE'S A WHITE GIRL NEPOBABY & THEREBY PERFECTLY EMBODIES WESTERN IDEALS: MARTYR COMPLEX + ARYAN PROFIT + QTY>QUALITY + CENTRIST + MID' #''AND IT'S PROBABLY TOO GENEROUS TO CALL HER A CENTRIST WHEN SHE'S NEVER REBUKED THE PPL WHO CLAIM HER AS THEIR ARYAN PRINCESS'' #''THE VENN DIAGRAM OF PPL WHO ARE SICK OF HEARING ABT PALESTINE AND PPL WHO CAPE FOR TAYLOR IS ALMOST CERTAINLY A SINGLE PERFECT CIRCLE'' #''IN WHAT WORLD IS SHE A TORTURED POET HER WRITING IS ON PAR WITH RUPI KAUR AND— WHO'S EMAILING ME FUCK OFF'' #In the shower ''AND ANOTHER THING'' #She's the physical manifestation of privileged ppl's desire to be oppressed bc they can't stand when the convo isn't abt them lmfaooooo #''it's hard for skinny white conventionally attractive cishet ppl whose fathers were bankers too!!! Don't erase my truth!!! 😭'' #''Taylor is the number one most streamed/whatever artist in the world'' #Popularity or notoriety? Bc the US is also well-known for Trump + Texas + public shootings + genocide + wasting money on football stadiums #But again! She's the Western/American Ideal Made Flesh! It's Punk To Have Money And Connections! #And Being White Is The Punkest Of ALL! #Oh my Christ I say this all the time but if university classes have to be offered on her they should be in Marketing and Ethics #She should be a business school case study and that is NOOOT a. Compliment #She couldn't even stick with country bc how truly country of an experience could she have had when her daddy was rich like #She doesn't have the range like idc if you like her just don't act like she's revolutionary when all her movements are calculated + LATERAL #It's not art it's business acumen please she is rewarded by the Grammies bc they respect her for upholding Capitalism I'm so tired #Remember when they gave AOTY to HARRY last year when Beyoncé and Benitito were RIGHT THERE #It's propaganda just like the news plzzzzzzzzzzzz you are all lemmings and she know it which is why she is so good at CONNING YOU #ME N BRO TAG #These are not the comments I wrote on that post you tagged me in btw I got out of the shower to write these FRESH #You know Kacey Musgraves is coming out w a new record too and even tho she got cut out of the CMAs last time she's still proudly country... #I am never drying my hair at this rate #Too busy explaining to you - in complete detail -..........

[lifesver]

leland whenever someone protects him or tells him to run while they fend someone off: you can't do that. wait. no.

#me writing something like how does it feel to be on the other end of the 'go on without me' huh buddy #the need to do anything to get his friends home safe vs someone just overruling him and pushing him out of harms way. fight #i think that ultimately... he is scared. but he would lay down his life for his friends. he would make any bargain for their safety #martyr complex in this situation goes craaazy and annoying bc hey i don't feel smart like my friends but i can be a shield i can take a hit