#they're so loyal and so morally complicated

[cypriathus]

Here's the second part of my previous post!

WARNING: There is a brief description about androgynous genitalia.

Äylcephomus (name meaning: burning messenger or they who announce our blessedness):

This particular Æylphitus breed is considered to be the first and most precious creation amongst the Hirczalotepus Tejasozuri. This majestic breed is commonly referred to as angels or heavenly beings amongst other species. However, they prefer to call themselves the Äylcephomus because this sacred name derives from their creator goddess, Äylcephinozur. They are viewed as sanctified guardians and shepherds who strictly follow a life of untainted righteousness. They have their own celestial hierarchy that ranks each angelic breed from those close to the incorporeal universe down to the material universe. Within their superlunary abode, heaven is separated by 10 concentric spheres. They even have control over the 7 terraces of purgatory, the leaders who were once angels, and their respective trials for the limbo-goers. Similar to the Tejasozuri, most Äylcephomus are given titles that associate them with a specific concept and/or living creature. Due to this customary tradition, Äylcephomus are the most common avatars of the Hirczalotepus Tejasozuri. Unlike the titans, they do have true forms and are all physically androgynous. These true forms usually reflect the personality, strength, celestial title and hierarchical breed of an angel. It’s extremely rare for an Äylcephomus to have no true form. They have snow-white or ashy skin with greyish freckles, massive wings, and somewhat porous bones to allow flight to be easier. As mentioned before, all angels are physically androgynous, but that’s in reference to their genitalia. All angels reside in male-shaped or female-shaped bodies and they have a main genitalia corresponding to their appearance. However, there are a few that do possess both male and female characteristics, but that’s more common amongst the older generation. Females possess a medium-length translucent, extremely flexible penis with spiked external glands and faint blue, purple, and orange veins. It’s hidden in a duct with two bulbous testes that can be located in front of the womb. In order to properly use it, the penis comes out of their pseudo-clitoris. Their saliva can burn through things that are naturally sinful and metamorphose their golden ichor into certain weaponry such as blades. They can also use their organic mass to retract their wings, heal themselves, and create barriers and certain eldritch weapons such as tendrils. They're immune to all divine-based and low level infernal abilities.

#writerscorner #writing #creative writing #a very special and important Æylphitus breed #these guys are literal favs in the eyes of the titans LOL #they're so loyal and so morally complicated #don't mess with them #fictional species #fantasy #monster #multiverse #biblically accurate angel #angels #heavenly creatures #heaven #celestial hierarchy #purgatory #divine comedy inspired #part 2/? #looking for moots #looking for mutuals #looking for friends #moots pls

[emmafrostyyy]

y'all sleeping on Astarion/Lae'zel bc this moment is so...the way the flippant demeanor drops and he doesn't hesitate to call her out for sticking with her version of Cazador like their relationship is so underrated fr...

sitting down writing this bullshit like let me peel it like an onion a bit and elaborate why this pairing is fascinating to me

It's really interesting how during the most cathartic, life-altering moment in Astarion's questline, the reactions of the other companions are more about the moral wrongness/guilt of sacrificing innocent lives. Lae'zel doesn't do that and instead relates to his hurt.

She knows what's he's feeling, the lack of control, the unfairness of being powerless for too long. This is a woman who just found out her entire life purpose was built on lies, discarded and hunted by her own people after outliving her usefulness, and groomed to basically die for an insane power-hungry lich queen. She knows all too well that power isn't always real freedom. Her first instinct is to empathize with Astarion to steer him away from his hate and resentment.

Astarion/Lae'zel is so interesting to me because they're such a classic "can we make each other worse or make a better person out of the other?".

They both have genuine appreciation for violence and respect each other's ruthlessness. Astarion was used as a weapon of seduction while Lae'zel was of warfare. Sex with people is meaningless and not real intimacy for them, and while both have little understanding/experience of interpersonal relationships beyond the physical, they still feel and love very deeply. They have no frame of reference for things like friendship and warmth, but they badly want all of that and more, even if they don't know it yet.

In-game they can sleep with each other, which is basically the foundation of the normal Tav/Astarion romance. Lae'zel saw him during combat and got horny, who knows. Astarion who's used to luring people with his charms, takes up Lae'zel's blunt offer because she's a strong hardened warrior that can provide protection and be a worthy ally, and he doesn't know how to say no. Navigating the complications between one who wants to be seen beyond as a sex object, and one who comes from a totally alien culture with no concept of love/family/connections and only sex is honestly really compelling to me. It's a transactional, mutually beneficial thing with no emotional expectations. Once you get past the skeevy rockiness of their early relationship, I really like the idea of them slowly seeing something past the exterior and realizing they may have harshly misjudged the other, an unspoken friendship blooms, and in comes the realization that they are essentially loners longing for kindness and a comforting touch in the most desperate of situations.

Lae'zel is prideful, direct, has no sense of courtship talk, and doesn't hold back her thoughts the slightest--she's not sweet/agreeable and what you see is really what you get, which I imagine would be disarming for Astarion who's used to vacuous flattery and has difficulty trusting others. But she's also insanely protective, passionate, loyal, and an initiator-- every romance scene is triggered by her first and she's always showing effort towards her relationships, which would mesh well with Astarion who does need someone to nudge him.

She doesn't purposely suppress her feelings, she's just simply at loss at how to express them sometimes due to her wildly different upbringing. She stops the sparring match you agree to and an easy vulnerability slips instantly out of her: "I don't want to hurt you. I want to protect you, and for you to protect me." and "Thus far I've taunted you, devoured you, battled you. Now I want more than anything to soothe you." are romantic as fuck and Astarion of all people really needs to hear that tbh.

Astarion is also someone who struggles with reinforcing his boundaries, and a key theme in Lae'zel's romance is that she encourages and wants you to challenge her and learn to stand your ground. It's not gentlest method, but hey, relationships are about having to make an effort to learn each other's language.

I think he also would take pleasure "educating her on the matters of Fay-run" (I believe there's a whole banter with him teasing her and teaching her pet names) and would get a kick out of coaxing Lae'zel out of her shell with her shyness at showing public affection, and making her blush. Also it simply would be fucking funny to see Astarion who's used to easy seduction, trying to pass a persuasion check just to get a smooch and generally having to work to earn regular kisses from Lae'zel lmfaooo

Lae'zel also initially struggles to see her chains as chains. When she learns about Vlaakith's betrayal, she copes instantly through denial and shuts it down. Astarion is NOT having it and calls her out, he knows her well enough to recognize that she would value blunt honesty above all.

I imagine he also despises her lack of self-preservation, the way her entire identity is tied to duty and being in service of others, and doesn't understand her desire to still help/liberate the people that want her dead and are hunting her down. He wants to make this duty-bound soldier realize that looking out for herself, and putting herself first may not be the worst thing in the world.

They're so similar to each other but are also polar opposites in some ways that make a more equal, balanced romance I think. It's not a simple, one-sided, feel-good "she/he can fix her/him" fantasy because both of them have to earn each other's love, actually cut through the other's flaws, and actively motivate each other to be better versions of themselves.

They're not at all the other's ideal guiding hand. It's rough, jagged, and imperfect, but that's how healing goes. It's so far from being the healthiest relationship -- but even if their belief systems differ, their moral compass does often align. I imagine it's a slight relief for them to have a partner where there would be less shame and judgment when they expectedly, occasionally slip up and fall into their bad habits.

Also, man, the "You showed me the betweens and beyonds. Beyond war and peace, beyond passion and obsession, most importantly, you showed me freedom.", "First you were my wound, now you were my cure.", "But you saw something else in me - someone else I could be. Someone who could break the cycle of power and terror that started centuries ago.." lines really hit hard when applied to them.

Of course, they can also make each other worse, feed into the other's negative traits that will bring out the worst part of themselves. It's this duality of their pairing that is very interesting to explore, the way it can steer in either direction because it's an intense, fraught relationship at its core.

#when he gets called by omeluum “child of the dark” and her “child of the stars” like yeah..the squid man is being literal but he Gets It fr. #lae'zel #astarion #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 meta #astarion ancunin #astarion x lae'zel #lae'zel x astarion #the rarest of rarepairs they dont even got a ship name...this is so tragique we need to discuss the pathos and potential of this pairing #bg3 lae'zel #bg3 astarion #also im a sucker for stoic knight/court darling trope and whatever variations of it yeah #bloodbruise

[bonefall]

I'm still wading through some brain fog so I'm not writing as much as I want to, currently. But I have just been absently sketching Willowpelt because she's been on my mind

I had initially been working with the "hyena" face in mind, but I've been playing around with the "villainous role" idea for Ferncloud's Parting. I mentioned it to my partner who pointed out that big, strong profiles like that are overused for "vengeful" characters.

Besides, I really love drawing that face shape anyway, so I figured I'd move away from it since it's going to be on a LOT of RiverClan cats in particular (they have longer muzzles than other Clans because they hunt in water).

I'm leaning towards "bat" now... maybe I'll retool it so it's more deer-like. Deer are totally underused as inspiration for harsh characters...

Anyway ready for some WIP material? Plus a recap of Ferncloud's Parting for all who need a refresher

(oh wow it got long. The power of girlies <3)

FERNCLOUD'S PARTING... Refresher!!

Replaces Graystripe's Vow completely, taking place just after the Impostor has been deposed and is imprisoned. Ferncloud is now the main POV, accompanied on her journey by her childhood best friend Cloudtail and the Impostor's surviving lackey, Bumblestripe.

The goal of this SE is to explore Ferncloud's relationship to her younger brother, Ashfur.

(BB canon: Ferncloud and Elderberry are the older kits of Brindleface. Ashkit was a singlet born shortly before his mother's death, raised by Fern, Elder, and their grandmother One-eye. Fireheart botched the Queen's Rights while claiming Cloudkit, but for all intents and purposes was socially his Mi... which he was not good at being. Cloudtail was Ashfur's mentor and Ferncloud's childhood friend.)

Ferncloud is asking herself the question; "What could I have done to prevent this?"

A lot of secondary questions revolve around this... Does this make her responsible for what Ashfur has done? Did she teach him anything that contributed to who he is today? Does that make her responsible?

Cloudtail is in a similar situation, as Ashfur's mentor and someone who only ever wanted to help his friend. Could HE have prevented this? He wants to find out.

Graystripe, oldest cat in ThunderClan, accompanies the little group as far as the mountain... and decides to stay there, with his golden boy, Stormfur.

Bumblestripe had come along with them all, for... a lot of complicated reasons. But the most relevant is that he had been one of the Impostor's most loyal, brutal enforcers. Berrynose was killed in a huge skirmish, and now there's just Bumblestripe left alone to shoulder his sins.

After saying goodbye to his father for what's probably the last time, getting to meet the mythical oldest brother he's been compared to his entire life, and seeing Cloud and Fern looking to visit the Old Forest Territories... Bumblestripe goes with them even further to make sure the old cats stay safe.

Like Graystripe's Vow, I'm planning to keep the split chronology. It goes back and forth between Ferncloud in the Broken Era, and Ferncloud back during the Fire Era.

The ultimate moral here, the point I want to build to, is that Cloudtail and Ferncloud did exactly what was expected of them. They raised a loyal warrior who holds the code above all. They're only responsible for Ashfur insofar as they were responsible for teaching him the same values of vengeance, violence, and distrust of outsiders as was expected... in Firestar's absence.

(Though... there's lots of other questions that I don't think FP will answer. Like, COULD they have truly stopped him? Can they ever understand WHY, if they don't currently? There's a LOT of feelings here and I don't know if all of them really have answers.)

WIP STUFF TIME

Here's new stuff, I've either not mentioned this before, or I've mentioned it in passing without actually linking it to Ferncloud's Parting.

I have a LOT of ideas here that I have to start sorting through. I think these characters are all really interesting so it's really a matter of cutting down all these little details into something more coherent.

When Ashkit is young, he's a child. There was nothing particularly outstanding about him, besides the fact he was a bit lonely and eager to please.

There's a bit of an air of "loss" when Ferncloud thinks back to Ashpaw's childhood. Elderberry and One-eye will be dying soon after the "flashback" segments, so when she goes back to the modern era, thinking about them feels bittersweet.

I also want to sneak in that Ferncloud feels jealous over Cloudtail's mateship with Brightheart lmao, because she has a crush on Brightheart. (Note, maybe tie this to Ashfur being obsessed with Squirrelflight, with Fern questioning if her jealousy rubbed off on Ashfur)

Through helping WarriorClan, Bumblestripe feels REALLY good. They don't know anything about his past, his struggles, or his failures as a person. He's just a hero to them and that feels... good.

Watching Bumblestripe be good, learning more about his issues and WHY he did what he did while following Ashfur brings Cloud and Fern some insight... but not entirely what they need. Is Ashfur just a Bumblestripe on a bigger scale? Or are they just learning more about how good of a manipulator Ashfur is? In which case... where did that ability to manipulate come from?

Fang/Honeysuckle might be Bumblestripe's half-brother. If that's the case, Bumble is... frustrated by it. MORE of his dad's complicated legacy.

Ferncloud and Cloudtail probably have some short discussions about how much is really appropriate to teach to WarriorClan... after all, they're here questioning if any part of Ashfur was THEIR fault, what if they accidentally teach them something terrible?

But at the same time, Ferncloud is the Educator of ThunderClan, and these cats can't write. The Glyph system would be very useful to them, and they're begging to learn more about Clan culture.

Putting a pin in that part, for now. Will tie back more into the conclusion that the Clan cat party ultimately reaches.

BACK IN THE PAST; Firestar is away bringing back SkyClan in Firestar's Quietus. Everything that is done is without him.

Longtail, the deputy, is blinded and a leader does not immediately rise to fill the space in ThunderClan.

And in BloodClan, their trading partner... Scourge does the same. Oops! WRONG TIME, SCOOJ!

Planning to retire, Scourge announces an event called The Frenzy. He will choose the next leader from whoever accomplishes the biggest achievement in the given timeframe. This is how BloodClan passes on leadership.

He gives his chosen heir, Claw, their first Frenzy Achievement-- the fang of a dog from his own collar. Anyone who wishes to take power instead must accomplish a feat even bigger than what had allowed SCOURGE to take power in the first place; Killing a dog.

Fury is a challenger. She does NOT want Scourge's chosen heir, Claw, to lead BloodClan next. Claw will continue the trading and friendliness towards Clan cats, which Fury wants to end.

ENTER WILLOWPELT

Willowpelt ALSO wants this trading with BloodClan to stop. She feels it's gone too far.

BloodClan killed her mate-- Whitestorm. Firestar might have been willing to just throw his life away for this, but she's NOT.

She's recovering from a boar bite, currently, but it's scarring up nicely... and she's willing to pretend she's injured a little longer if it shakes suspicion off her.

She doesn't WANT to be allies with Fury, but if her goal is to bring BloodClan back into isolation... then, Willowpelt will do it.

And Fury promises her something else; Revenge. Scourge is the reason why Whitestorm died, and together, they can ruin his plans and make him watch as his peaceful little power transfer crumbles into ash.

GOOD SETUP IMO but I still need to work out what nefarious deed they'll do, exactly. All I know is that Fury will betray Willowpelt at the height of it. Maybe something about taking over Barley's barn. Maybe Elderberry gets killed.

But, I have one very strong feeling in mind; Ferncloud probably ends up killing Fury while Ashpaw watches or even helps.

Hmm... maybe Graystripe (becomes deputy as soon as Firestar gets back for handling this crisis so well) ordered them to let Fury go.

But Ferncloud looked at Fury, and decided that Willowpelt was right about one thing. Most BloodClan cats cannot be trusted.

The code does not apply equally to outsiders.

Maybe I WILL have Fury end up killing Elderberry in some way, and then give Ferncloud and Ashpaw a conversation about it. "Those who don't live by the code will not be protected by it. And we must protect our Clan... even if Graystripe doesn't realize it."

I could make it clear that Fury is not a threat at that point, having been beaten in some way and Claw ascending to BloodClan leadership. OR I could have left it open-ended, like, maybe Fury would be a future problem, maybe not. Not sure yet.

Willowpelt of course will also need to experience some consequences for this... unleeeess, I have Graystripe let her off really easy exactly because she's Clanborn, which even Cloudtail is frustrated about, maybe even coining the term "Codebreaker" as an insult under his breath.

In any case, Ferncloud never told Cloudtail about how she secretly killed Fury. It's too juicy to have her reveal it to him in the modern day, explaining that it IS her fault, she DID teach him the wrong thing.

Hmm... I'm talking myself into it. Though I did also like the original vibe that Ashfur's tyranny was kind of unknowable, trying to make sense out of a senseless thing he did. I think it feels a lot more interesting for Ferncloud to have been hiding this for literal years, and now feeling like she has to "pay the world back" for what she did.

Maybe even build towards something metal about Fury's grave. Hmm... maybe to hide the murder, she buried her in Elderberry's freshly dug one, since no one would notice the soil had been recently disturbed as it was JUST dug.

Buried my sister and my secret victim in the same grave. ~Just Girlie Things~

Cloudtail sitting here, War Criminal to the right and Secret Murderer to the left like "can i ever be around normal people. like, just once"

Jokes aside... Cloudtail needs to point out something very important. Ferncloud regretted what she did, and she never did what Ashfur is doing. She never sought power, when Firestar came back she's lived a long life without ever once undermining him, and even her beliefs have softened over time.

She was a Traditionalist back then, but is Fire Alone now. After everything. The destruction of the forest, loss of her kits, WindClan rebellion, reveal of Squirrelflight and Leafpool's secret...

She's helped to raise every new generation as the Educator. And yet, Ashfur, the Impostor, is unique.

And look at Bumblestripe... being Graystripe's son didn't stop him from being the Impostor's lackey.

We all make our choices. HE made his. You made your own.

But... I don't feel like Ferncloud can entirely accept that as an answer either. There would be a very forlorn sort of feeling here. Yes, we all make our own choices-- but we influence each other. For better and for worse. And she refuses to avoid responsibility for that.

Maybe in that moment I'll have her make the choice to return home, and BE the one who becomes the Light in the Mist to face Ashfur in the Dark Forest. Seems to be coming together.

#better bones au #Ferncloud's Parting #I really did not expect it to get that long I just wanted to talk about Antagonist Willowpelt lmaoo #BB!Willowpelt #BB!Ferncloud #BB!TBC

[absolutedestinyapocalypsse]

i think we're all in agreement that larian fumbled wyll's storyline but what i cannot drop after finishing my playthrough is how fucking strange his relationship to the flaming fists is???

like if you take him to kill the fists at the foundry he disapproves? these are the people who are actively torturing and enslaving the gondians to make massive police brutality robots. you can literally go to the foundry and WITNESS the steel watchers brutalizing children via tadpole but in the final battle ravengard's "help" is a bunch of fists whose job it was to protect the steel watchers? Literally all the flaming fists do is get in your way, try to arrest you for stopping murders, and run away from danger and Wyll is just endlessly supportive of it- he doesn't see why that's fucked up!

I get that they're his dad's guard and his inability to criticize his father for anything could have (should have) been a plot point, but instead it's just there! uncritically!! And i can kind of get it when it has to do with him being exiled bc parent child relationships are complicated, but there is literally no reason for him to be dickriding the flaming fists so much. Absolutely zero reason.

They set Wyll up as being this unfailingly moral character who would gladly become a devil before killing an innocent person, even when killing that innocent person is in the "rules" he's supposed to follow. He's not just uncritically obedient of Mizora even though she tells him that what he's doing is right, but when it comes to the flaming fists who are purposefully incompetant at best, and actively murderous at worst, and whom we have watched the entire game actively enable slavery and state violence he just doesn't care????

These are the flaming fists who were completely fine sending Florick to the gallows for trying to fight against their corruption and save ravengard. Devella is the ONLY person in the fists who's doing anything to address the bhaal killings and her colleagues actively get in her way/try to stop her from investigating them. If I were Wyll and I learned that my dad was fucking brainwormed bc the guard that was supposedly "unfailingly loyal" to him sold him out and actively stopped a rescue attempt, i would never want to see another fucking flaming fist in my life.

But instead at the epilogue party if he's the blade of avernus hes just like "my dad pardoned all the fists and made them pinky promise to do better :) isnt he great?" Be for real!

It's making me mad bc it's not the hypocrisy itself that's the problem, it's that they don't even attempt to say or do anything about it! It's a golden opportunity for Wyll to have to do some self reflection and grow as a character, like every other character who also has clear moments of hypocrisy like this. It's right there! And the game just totally chickens out. Like I know that not every country has the same relationship to police that Americans do, but it's literally IN THE GAME that the flaming fists are a corrupt organization who operate exactly like the american cops do. Larian please give Wyll a backbone to begin with, or make him reckon with the fact that he doesn't have one. Do fucking SOMETHING!!

#im not even getting into how fucked up it is that the only black companion is the one with this problem #you can't avoid the subtext you literally wrote into the game! if you dont wanna deal w it don't put it in! #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #wyll ravengard #bg3 wyll

[pstelwitchcraft]

I see some of ya'll failing so horribly to understand C3 and it's driving me INSANE. This isn't about Gods Good/Predathos Bad, it is entirely not the intention of this narrative to say that the Gods are perfect, and while we can all agree whatever is locked up in the moon is most likely evil as fuck, it doesn't mean the Gods themselves and those who align with them haven't caused a shit ton of suffering.

It's not black and white, the story Matt has been weaving since episode one is a lot more complicated than that, and while seeing the characters grapple with making the right decisions amongst all the chaos can be taxing to some, it's incredibly realistic. Because at the end of the day, they are fighting for the world, they're fighting to save Exandria, and if that happens to mean they're also saving the Gods, then so be it, but that is not and has never been their goal.

Being upset at the characters or saying they are going Ruidus or that they're on the bad side now because they decided to help take down the temple that they know is literally oppressing a town into some weird catholization experiment is a terrible take. Because guess what?! Religion and the Gods in Exandria aren't perfect. They literally oppress and kill people.

Of course these characters are questioning whether or not they should be loyal to the Gods. Of course they're gonna try to grapple with what to do, literally over and over, as they're shown different facets of the relationship between mankind and the divine when the Gods lives literally lays in their hands. Because they aren't loyal to the Gods, they are honestly not even that knowledgeable about them, so we're watching them try to figure out what is right, what is moral, literally every step of the way. Like every goddamned adventure party does. But because their narrative is about so many important things, like religion, power, politics and quite literally what could be Calamity 2.0, people take every single thing they do as stance one way or another when it simply isn't.

They will always choose Exandria, the people, their friends, in the end, because that is the only unwavering truth about them. As Ashton puts it, they don't leave people the fuck behind. That doesn't mean the decisions they make or saving the world is going to be easy or simple at all. And it absolutely does not mean they have to like or support the Gods.

I wish more people would trust the process and remind themselves that this is an 100+ episode series, it's not supposed to go at Netflix mini-series pace.

#critical role #cr spoilers #cr3 #critical role spoilers #bells hells #critical role c3 #idk if i made sense bc im sleepy #but i had SO MANY thoughts

[canmom]

this fucking circus of 'project the Israeli flag on every available surface as the bombs fall', from the govs of every Western country, is so indescribably bleak. there's not even the pretense of both-sidesing 'oh it's so sad that they're killing each other over there' anymore, no mealy-mouthed 'we hope for a quick end to the violence', it's just full on cheering for the side carrying out a retaliatory massacre.

if you treated any population the way the two million-ish people in Gaza have been treated - if, for more than a (significantly curtailed) lifetime, you restrict their access to food, water, medicine, and electricity, strangle their economy, uphold an apartheid system with different legal rights based on ethnicity, prevent them from leaving, put invasive checkpoints on every other street, routinely blow up their homes, have snipers maim and kill people - if you leave no possibility that things could get better in the future...

well, orthogonal to what's 'moral', it's simply unsurprising someone in that situation would sooner or later try to fight back, however futilely. fuck, we saturate our media with stories of heroic rebels standing up against oppressors - it's not a foreign idea. it's not complicated to recognise that as long as conditions are so horrible, and so obviously, undeniably caused by Israel, organisations like Hamas will be able to position themselves as liberators.

but the Western Overton window seems to squarely centre on the idea that Hamas shooting back retroactively justifies the whole system of repression, and in fact it should probably be stepped up a notch. Netanyahu is out there talking like a fucking Final Fantasy villain about genociding the whole Strip, the Security Minister's throwing around phrases like 'human animals', and it still gives no one pause. like where the fuck is anyone in Gaza supposed to go? on one side is a massive wall and a warzone, on the second is Egypt's closed border, and on the third is the fucking ocean. so, what, run to a refugee camp elsewhere in Gaza? no, Israel will bomb that too.

(but of course (sigh) "geopolitics" overrides everything, always. the conclusion is already written, the justification is an afterthought. the West wants to keep its loyal, dependent outpost, so the Palestinians have to die. "it's so tragic, but there's no other option, you see? Hamas definitely steals all the aid ever. we can't imagine doing anything other than sending boxes of food of course. it's a difficult problem! now quick, sell the Israelis some more bombs, they'll run out at this rate.")

#i don't expect this will change anyone's mind one way or another. #it's just kinda sickening to look anywhere outside the bubble rn.

[albentelisa]

Hey! I've got an ask for you and I don't mind if it takes a while, because I know that you've probably got so many asks in your inbox, but I wanted to know how do you think Jim would (if he ever did) progress to become a villain and no one realises it until too late?

(I'm feeling a bit angsty this week)

Also, btw, I love your hcs- they're actually really cool and really well thought over, and some of them just really get my creative juices flowing. They always make me smile, especially when I've had a bad today so just... thank you 💙)

Hi! Thank you for your kind words ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Actually, I have some 'bad end scenarios' with Jim ending as a villain (or sorta).

Grit-shaka. Let's say, Jim never managed to get to Bular in Young Atlas, so he never realizes the true importance of fear. Sure thing, Grit-shaka caused some complications, but those were more or less minor. Jim decides to use Grit-shaka in battles occasionally. Unfortunately for him, it seems like a great decision at first as he gets several victories (against goblins and several changelings). However, as Grit-shaka is a Gumm-Gumm object, it's actually harmful, not only taking away Jim's fears but slowly eroding his moral brakes, so eventually Jim reaches the point where anyone getting hurt doesn't even matter. That's where Toby and even Draal start to realize the extent of the damage done (Blinky is against Grit-shaka from the very start but no one is listening). However, it's already too late because Jim gets too addicted to Grit-shaka and cannot function without it at all. Grit-shaka also gives him some horrible ideas, culminating in him freeing Gunmar and letting him take over the Trollmarket (and get the power up after absorbing the Heartstone energy) so that Jim can fight Gunmar in his prime. It ends as bad as you can imagine.

Decimaar mind control. So, the trip to the Darklands leaves Jim with an unexpected 'baggage' - it turns out that Gunmar's attempt to mind control him wasn't a total failure. Neither it is a full success, yet Jim has short blackouts sometimes when he cannot remember his actions. It turns out that Gunmar has managed to instill his will upon Jim's soul, basically creating a separate personality who is loyal to Gunmar. Jim isn't aware of it for a long time (he chalks everything to stress and overexhaustion). Meanwhile, his other personality keeps spying for Gunmar and helping him in the incoming takeover of the Trollmarket. When Jim comes to Gunmar for the first time, Gunmar initially wants to make him his puppet, but seeing the second personality who is loyal to him, makes him amused, so he decides to nurture that one instead, strengthening it during each visit. Jim's friends realize that something is very wrong when Jim isn't able to remember some of his actions or conversations they had. However, everyone thinks that it can be an infiltration from a polymorph like Otto. So, the team designs a special code to be able to tell apart the real Jim from the fake. The problem is that Jim's second personality knows code as well, so it's pointless. Eventually, Gunmar takes over the Trollmarket and erases Jim's initial personality, keeping him by his side as his loyal champion.

Aspectus Stone and Hunter Jim. This one isn't much of the villain one, but still nasty for Jim. So, Jim manages to send all of his copies back, and at first, everything is back to normal. However, Jim isn't aware that the experience was damaging to his psyche and now his soul is imbalanced. He turns more mission-focused, gradually losing his other interests. It's pretty minor at first so his team easily chalks it to Jim feeling guilty because of Gunmar's escape. He starts to skip school, refuses fun activities, and is rarely at home at night. Blinky tries to talk to him about it, but Jim just waves him off. Toby starts to panic when Jim stops cooking, and Claire notices how cold Jim becomes towards her and basically everyone else. She encounters him and asks if he is Hunter Jim (as she is the only one who has met that one), but Jim tells her he is the only Jim. That's when everyone realizes that something is really off, but it's too late. Jim cuts ties with everyone and goes alone to fight Gunmar, only to be defeated and fall under his mind control.

Gravesand. So, in this scenario, Blinky doesn't stop Jim's training with gravesand in time, so it causes some permanent damage, leaving Jim with some troll traits and a feral mind. Moreover, Jim gets addicted to the gravesand, stealing it from Strickler (who has already realized his mistake and tries his best to keep it away from Jim). The gravesand makes Jim attack everyone as he gets highly aggressive. He doesn't even remember his role as the protector anymore, simply enjoying battles and carnage. He ends up killing several Gumm-gumms and good trolls and for him, it's no different. Gunmar finds him in this state and finds it amusing, so he decides to keep Jim as his feral pet and force him to fight his enemies.

Merlin taking 'his champion' thing too far. Another not-that-much villain scenario, but well... So in this one, Jim's friends and family never reach him at the rooftop, and Merlin is the one who finds him there. It is the moment of ultimate vulnerability for Jim, and instead of support, he gets the manipulator. Jim confesses that it's too much for him to realize what exactly he has lost (😢) and Merlin proposes the solution - which is basically wiping out all Jim's memories except ones concerning his mission. When everyone reaches Jim, it's already too late, and the irreversible damage is done. In his state Jim has no trouble defeating Gunmar, however, it turns out that he's highly vulnerable to Morgana's manipulations and she makes him change sides, convincing him that she is the one who tries to build the perfect world for trolls (and in Jim's mind, he is the champion of the trollkind, meaning that he has to protect them first). Morgana makes Jim her new champion and uses him to hunt her opponents.

Obsidian shard's corruption. This one is post-Wizards. It turns out that while Claire managed to turn Jim human, the evil influence residue remained. It's unnoticeable at first, with Jim simply being easily annoyed, which everyone explains as a consequence of his transformations and losing the amulet. However, Jim is haunted by his memories of Camelot times and the abuse trolls faced there. Those ignite some rage inside his soul and it takes a while until Jim can calm down (which gradually becomes more and more difficult). He also starts to feel some odd repulsion towards humans. Barbara and Toby suffer from it the most (Claire and Douxie are fine because they are wizards, and Jim doesn't treat them differently). It ends up with the Arcane Order contacting Jim and convincing him to join their side and build a better world for magical beings.

#tales of arcadia #toa #what if scenario #bad end scenarios #evil scenarios #i divide this post as it's too long already #will reblog with second half #evil jim #jim lake jr. #text post #ask box #imaclotpole121

[c-is-for-circinate]

a penny for your Ashton thoughts?

ASHTON GREYMORE MY BELOVED

Fair warning, I am once again half an episode behind, plus I'm pretty scattered today, but let's have some bullet points and see what ensues.

Anybody remember when, a couple of months ago, some posts went around about how 'everyone says Ashton's So Loyal but that's bullshit and people letting their affection for Taliesin overrule their objectivity'? No? Well I do and I AM STILL SMUG ABOUT THEM BEING WRONG.

Seriously, this rock is the walking personification of "I don't care," I said, caringly, as I cared deeply. We all know this by now, I think. I love it with my whole heart.

Something fascinating to me about Ashton in comparison with Taliesin's other characters: they are, every one of them, Extremely Sure they know how the world (or their specific part of it, at least) works. Part of what's great about that is how often the things they're Sure Of disagree -- Percy, Molly, and Caduceus in a room together and asked to debate human nature would be a wild show to watch from the other side of a bulletproof one-way mirror, safe behind blast doors. And so far Ashton is in their own way perhaps the least obviously Absolutely Sure out of all of them, which is really interesting in its own way! It means when I think about Ashton, I always find myself pondering: what ARE they Sure of?

I think we saw our biggest hint about that with his rage during the Hytroga heist. There are rules. You keep your word. If you create an agreement, you keep it. Breaking an agreement like that is WRONG, fundamentally, core-of-how-the-world-works wrong, and people who do that should Pay For It.

The other half of Ashton's worldview seems to be something along the line of 'people are assholes' -- put together, "People are assholes, but there are rules." Certainly 'people are assholes' is probably the part he'd say out loud! Which makes it really interesting that, by the standards of a Taliesin Character, Ashton is practically halfhearted about this one. They certainly don't believe that people never act for reasons of loyalty and love. I think about Ashton in comparison to Percy or Molly, in particular -- Percy and Molly, who were quite sure that the universe contained Decent People and Terrible People, and that they could quite readily tell the difference. (Percy might have had ranks for 'tolerable people', a category that could theoretically be applied to either Decent or Terrible people, but it was all very much something appropriately categorized.) Ashton doesn't go around the world expecting to find Terrible People the way they did. He goes around expecting to find assholes, which is a statement of general dickishness but also not, like, a thing to get morally offended over or be surprised about. Even the kind of prissy rich people that Molly would have loathed (lord, Molly meeting Jiana Hexum?) fall comfortably onto Ashton's scale of 'yeah, they're an asshole, that's whatever -- no, OBVIOUSLY you can't trust them, but who trusts people?' There are very, very few individuals who seem to rate Ashton's 'no, this person is so awful they have forfeited their right to be treated with decency and rules' classification. Thinking about how he flipped out about Hytroga, it almost feels like it's a surprise to him. Like Ashton goes around pseudo-cheerfully expecting a certain baseline of shittiness in the general tone of 'why would I be SURPRISED by that?', and when someone fails to live up to even those (complicated, only-known-to-him) standards, it hits right in the gut.

There's an interesting tie-in here with how Ashton thinks people thinks of him, specifically. Ashton thinks of themself as 'that asshole, who people may at any given time be annoyed with/furious at/relatively meh about'. And like, that's...sort of true? They have a really low charisma score! Various NPCs have indeed come pre-annoyed with him! But Justi was reasonably pleased to see him, and Milo saved their damn life and then let them keep living in their punk squat house, and the Bells Hells love him. I think that might be part of why 'people are assholes' is such a complicated thing, for Ashton. Yeah, people are dicks -- but it's not like they're going to just ignore the fact that friendship and love and loyalty exist too. That sometimes people are inexplicably fond of them in ways they can use. (and meanwhile, Ashton has been so, so lonely, Ashton who was almost fond of Jiana Hexum for being a person he could rely on who considered him Of Use, Ashton who's all in on Bells Hells as a crew and FCG in particular, who lets Laudna goo-cry on their shoulder and plays with Fearne and is Kind Of A Dick (affectionate) with them all. Ashton who was so ready to be valued and has gone all in on it immediately.)

...oh motherfucker, if Chetney is Travis's version of Nott, then Ashton is Taliesin playing Beau.

That aside, it's been great to see them in Basuras for multiple reasons, including the fact that it really beautifully illustrates exactly how and why "People are assholes, but there are rules" might become a life philosophy. In a lot of ways, that's the core motto of this entire town! People are assholes, everywhere, always, and nobody ever really stops them -- but there are a few central fundamental tenets to how things work around here, and if you break them you are in for a WORLD of hurt.

Honestly, it has been such a joy to watch Ashton in Basuras. They're in their element and it's wonderful! They know the town, the players, the rules, the games, the local legends. How many years has it been since Ashton's been here? And Justi and the All-Minds-Burn collective still remembers them fondly? It may be a shithole, but this is home.

Lastly, I have had SO much joy watching Ashton take FCG's whole "oh, Ashton is our leader!" to heart. He's never made a big deal out of it, never given orders exactly, but in a leaderless collective of fuckwits all trying to Twitch Plays Pokemon their way through life, Ashton has been guiding discussions, proposing plans, and doing a really unexpectedly excellent job of nudging disordered chaos into action. Part of it's because this is home turf and Ashton knows what's what here, but -- every time they tell Chetney to keep an eye out for if the group's being followed and Chetney immediately goes with it, every time Ashton checks in with the group to see whether certain people are okay -- it's so good! I love it so much! It doesn't work during fights exactly, because barbarian rage tunnel vision (contrast Fjord, who did similar nudging and guiding things but was also very much a battlefield controller with a good big-picture view of the whole field most of the time, especially by the end), but on a general day-to-day basis...at least in Basuras, Ashton is actually acting as the group leader, and I love it so much.

At any rate, the tumblr grapevine suggests that the second half of this week's episode is going to involve Dusk getting revealed as Secret Inside Assassin PC, and I am stoked to see how Ashton reacts to that. Ugh. Do I need to just bite the Twitch Subscription bullet for weekend VODs, given that this state of bed-at-mid-break affairs is likely to continue for...literally evermore, with this new job? I think I do. I really think I do.

#cr spoilers #critical role #asked and answered

[zykamiliah]

There's a line from a Mili song that I feel encapsulates a lot of QiJiu. It's "You were right, the ones who gravitate towards self-sacrifice are the most, are the most selfish ghosts" from Dancing Ghost's Ball Jointed Darling. I think that SJ and YQY both want the other to live, even if it's without them. The difference is that SJ will lie to himself about that because he'd much prefer to keep YQY with him then not. YQY on the other hand is so used to taking on the weight of other's that he doesn't really see himself as having a use if he's not stuck being a pillar for others. He knows SJ wouldn't be happy carrying the weight with him so he keeps taking on more and more of SJ's actions as his own guilt in a twisted way of protecting him. SJ want's them to be equals and YQY want's to be SJ's shield no matter what it costs himself. SJ doesn't have the emotional knowledge to be able to actually accurately describe his own feelings I think, he's in such a base sense of paranoia that he can't trust anything that YQY or anyone else does for him. Sorry for the ramble, I just feel like both the lack of communication between them and WWX & JC is more complicated then other's think and it's not a matter of morality. They are all really complicated characters and I feel like reducing them to villain and hero doesn't do the story any favors.

setting aside the differences between qijiu and wwc and jc's relationship, i agree with you on this.

i think a big takeaway from mxtx's novels is that most characters can't be defined by binaries (with some exceptions): they are people making choices. sometimes those choices hurt people, and that's what you learn first: the bad choices. then mxtx shows you were the characters come from, and you can sympathize with them, yet still there is a point where the characters, regardless of their backstory, consciously take a path of hurting others (and themselves, inevitably) that's what actually condemned them. but the thing is, you can point to any moment of that backstory and say "see, if this had been different, maybe they wouldn't made that choice". they're tragic characters because their circumstances were unfortunate, and those circumstances doomed them to make terrible choices; then, at the same time, those were their conscious choices. they had agency.

you can see all that play out in qijiu and their messy, complicated relationship. one can understand why they made those choices, even if we disagree with them. even the most selfless action can turn selfish and vice versa. you can love someone and hurt them. you can love someone and lash out at them because there's unhappiness and anger inside you. and the worldview of people with self-worth issues tends to twist to fit those believes.

i think you mention something that's actually really important and that neither side of qijiu have the emotional knowledge to express themselves in another way; i'd add that they never had a chance to learn how to do it, and specially sj, who had two major bad influences in his life that he ended up emulating, consciously or not. i'd also add that in the "dog eats dog" world that's pidw, sj, someone who grew up in the streets, must have the belief of "survival of the fitness", and because his experiences, appearing weak or letting others step over him (from his point of view) feels like a threat to him. he's paranoid about losing, because losing means his way of surviving is threatened. in that context, someone that puts themselves in danger to protect him or back him becomes precious. sj may be power-hungry, petty, jealous, mean, aggressive and vitriolic, but he is steadfastly loyal to the ONLY person that has shown to care for him selfless and unconditionally; and he'll be like that in return. but after what he perceives as a betrayal, his feelings for yqy are complicated. he resents him but loves him, thus he doesn't know where he stands and the only thing he's sure about is that yqy feels guilty and indebted and he'll push and push to see how much yqy is willing to take for this debt he has to him.

i also think that yqy should have been harder on sj irt what sj did as a peak lord. more that trying to coax him, he should have put he foot down about what sj did to lbh and not just passively and sadly allow it to happen, no matter that sj had the authority over qjp. because of his guilt and his love and his pity for sj, he allowed what he shouldn't. even out of love and pity bad choices are made. he had a better grasp on what's right or wrong and that something like abusing disciples would eventually bite sj in the ass (Karma), so it wasn't as he didn't know. and this type of relationship is something that happens in real life, particularly in parent-child relationships where the parent pities the child to the point that they let the child do whatever they want and just apologize in their stead. in the long run it ends up hurting the child more.

but even yqy choices i can understand, because i know where yqy comes from. and i think that's the point: just understanding the big spectrum of human experience that can be expressed through this characters, understanding the characters and seeing things from their point of view. if mxtx didn't want us to see that, she would have done like airplane and just chop off the backstories.

i ended up rambling too haha :3

#svsss #svsss meta #ask zy #shen jiu #yue qingyuan #original shen qingqiu #zykamiliah-svsss

[dirtytransmasc]

The 3 sibs are fucking menaces. Like General Ardmore was fucking down to let Quaritch and the recoms take responsibility because 'Jesus fuck get them out of here'

I imagine that due to them adopting Spider as their brother at a young age they ended up spending a lot of time with the humans that remained at Hell's Gate (might have even taken to living in the old Avatar area) and likely picked up on a lot.

Like they know tech better than any Na'vi, and it's mildly terrifying for humans when they realize that these 3 siblings know shit.

I also imagine that they might have become a bit disconnected with the Omaticaya, not anything super big, but their insistence that Spider is their brother probably hindered them getting adopted by a Omaticaya couple.

But the recoms probably are so confused when they learn that Norm fucking Spellman is the one who technically raised these feral gremlin children. Sure they are smart as shit but God damn these kids are jumping out of a moving helicopter into the fucking trees.

Don't get me started on Quaritch's and the recoms reactions to the story of when the little brother tried (and nearly succeeded) in mounting/claiming an adolescent Thanator.

AKA the giant deadly space cat who's na'vi name literally translates to dry mouth fear of death.

(Also the heart attack Quaritch gets when he sees them tossing Spider between them like a sack of potatoes. I do not doubt for a second these kids haven't developed a 'system' when it comes to traveling with Spider.)

I love how not even cut-throat Ardmore, she doesn't care what possible information she could get from them, she want them off of the premises asap.

so that leaves a group of morally complicated, adult-teenage-newborns, with 3 young adults that will make it their life goal to be the biggest thorn in the sides, but also to flip the recoms on their heads.

sometimes the questions aren't even asked to try and tie the recoms brains in knots, sometimes they genuinely want to know. other times they ask question that are meant to make the recoms question everything. they love the chaos, but also watching the recoms change, watching them become na'vi.

on top of it all they're wicked smart, they're always helping out, both technologically and in the field, they clearly know a shit ton about jake and his little possy, they were raised by spellman after all, but they're loyal, they don't say anything. but that's strangely fine with all the recoms (aka, they stopped caring about their mission and only do whats necessary to please ardmore, but shhh, they haven't realized that yet, if they do, they may implode).

and the amount of worry quaritch develops for these kids is unreal, and like, this guy's military, so every night he checks on them like 10 times a night, at first cause he didn't trust them, but it slowly turned into him just worrying about them. he normally takes nightly rounds so he's always going through the effort of climbing into whatever tree they've nested themselves in and just watching for a moment. those are his kids, in some way, he knows it.

so when they really start doing stupid shit, he feels his heart age 50 years. he worries everytime they fool around on the ikran, everytime they fuck with the wildlife, everytime they climb to high for his taste. he's just a big old bag of anxiety.

#next time he sees any form of doctor #they're giving him pamphlets on how to relieve stress and avoid stroke/anuerysm #lyle just suggests they get rid of the kids #jokingly #but also #he's dead serious #cause his pack leader looks like he's aged 10 years in a few weeks #spellman triplets #??? #unless you have another tag suggestion #i'm gonna use that so these posts are easier to find #I know they're technically twins and another sibling but ehh we make it work #quaritch #spider socorro #miles socorro #miles spider socorro #recom squad

[catiuapavel]

so why did the dark knights feel comfortable in ruining hobyrim's life and tricking ozma? particularly oz? how did he benefit from that?

The Dark Knights mostly do not like one another and entertain very different dynamics among themselves that vary between liking each other to actively plotting each other's downfall. They make want to make a chart of the interpersonal drama going on between them because they are creating so many problems for one another on purpose and I love that about them. The way they're written as fearsome yet imperfect antagonists is just so good.

We don't have a clear timeline of the events that happened in Lodis before the game started but it's clear Hobyrim's trial took place before the current order of Dark Knights as we know them was formed and not all current members were a part of it then. Ultimately most of them don't know Hobyrim and don't know how dirty he was done nor do they care to find out.

When you face Volaq during Ozma's recruitment stage, the two speak as if they've never met before. And I have a feeling Volaq must have joined the order before Martym, Barbas or Andoras did.

Barbas and Martym's understanding of the situation seems limited as well and they don't seem bothered to shine some truth on it so I get the feeling they never met Hobyrim either. They never interact with him at any point either but that doesn't necessarily mean much.

(featuring Martym's most eloquent quotes)

We don't know Andoras' input on the whole matter nor if he ever met Hobyrim (likely not) but I assume he's silently playing 5d chess seeing this drama unfold in order to figure out if he can exploit it to get back at the Dark Knights, House Moh Glacius, and Lodis as a whole. He pretty much hates Ozma anyway though I don't imagine he cares much for Balxephon either.

As for Oz, his love for Ozma is peculiar to say the least and he's not past hurting her. There is a great complicity between Balxephon and him and it's safe to assume he isn't bothered by this for two reasons: he agrees with Lanselot and Balxephon's design for Lodis and doesn't take issue with the controversial way they might go about it (Oz's moral compass is completely broken anyway) as he most likely favors diminishing the influence of the senate and boosting Loslorien's, and on a more personal level, he doesn't mind hurting Ozma a little bit. In fact, he seems to resent her a little for her genuine affection toward Hobyrim. There is an air of bitterness toward the both of them when he speaks about how much Ozma fought to have Hobyrim tried as innocent and how he threw all that away regardless of her effort.

TBH the only Dark Knight who has cause to side with Ozma is Volaq. He claims to be loyal to Lodis above all else. Not Lanselot, but Lodis specifically. He too is being deceived yet he completely brushes over it.

Ozma tries to discuss the matter with him twice and both times he shuts her down completely.

(and when she presses him further he threatends to have her brought back in chains, he's mastered the art of debating clearly)

As most matters relating to Volaq, he remains ambiguous and as neutral as possible. Choosing a moral stance and sticking with it isn't exactly his forte.

#tactics ogre

[raayllum]

In regards to your last post, they did do that with Soren (ik ik you weren't talking about him) but his character has depth and a more satisfying arc (relating back to the vulnerability is strength theme) so I'm cool with him

Here's the thing about Soren though, honestly. He's just jerky and loyal enough to his father (and the fact that Viren asks him to kill the princes rather than Claudia in the first place) that in S1 it's more of a tossup, even if I do remember being more worried about Claudia / her skewed worldview in S1 than I was about Soren.

TDP also has more complex explorations of morality (if not in some ways just exploring actual morality) than most shows aimed at kids/young teens do.

In She-Ra, the war is mostly a backdrop conflict used to explore relationship conflict, so when characters do defect from like, a conquering empire, it's because they've realized they aren't 1) treated well there by their 'friends' or 2) would rather be someone's friend than enemy. That's fine as a show focus, but it is more shallow in the morality department; thus, even though I have issues with how Catra's redemption arc was executed, I still always absolutely knew it was coming. To be clear, there's nothing with a predictable character arc (I love good setup and subsequent payoff and would take that over a 'subversives surprise' any day) but it did make her less interesting / harder to watch her be continually terrible to the people around her, even when they just risked everything to save her from death.

In The Owl House, every antagonist besides the main villain is either just misunderstood, misguided, redeemed, or all three (hi Hunter, Amity, The Collector, Lilith). There are a few others - Boscha, Kikimora, Odalia - but they're all regulated to small episode conflicts (each get like maybe 2 eps as an antagonist at most) and it's just... they all want power. Okay, cool.

What I'm trying to say through these examples is that's not a lot of moral depth in their character arcs, and to me, that makes a redemption arc less interesting to watch. However, Soren is a very morally driven character and he struggles with the morality of his choices and of his father's. His redemption arc ties in many other important relationships in his life and develops them (Claudia, Viren, Callum, Ezran) all in different ways. Ezran is his king and becomes his new purpose; Callum is a second chance and also kind of a little brother and also kind of an emotionally unavailable best friend who doesn't entirely trust you; Claudia is his sister turned enemy; Viren is, well... We're gonna get into how complicated that is even more, I'm sure.

I guess that's also what it comes down to me, the sacrifice / inconvenience element of the character doing the redeeming. Soren had, and has, something to lose by staying on the side of the good guys. He defects for his safety, yes, but he leaves behind his little sister and his previous idealization of his father on his own terms through a series of events and his own realizations. He shows up on the good guys' doorstep with "We're doomed." Even in S4, he's still losing things and at least somewhat on the losing side, with his entire family on the other side of the line. (Compare and contrast to Amity, whose entire family - all four of them - unanimously ditch her crappy mother or Catra, who defects after realizing she's effectively worthless to the new #1 villain replacing her, etc. They lose nothing, really, in the end.)

And again, I think Soren's arc works because well... it's the only one that TDP has had in this way. Rayla defects immediately, so her redemption arc works a bit differently. Claudia is still in the middle of her "what if I got worse haha jk... unless?" arc. So they all work as his primary arc foils in a very nice way. Now Viren is going through a bit of Soren's S2 arc, which we'll have to see how that goes, but full fledged died and resurrected and dragged through the mud by his daughter's determination to keep him alive sad old sack of an evil man isn't an arc you see often, now is it?

Soren realizes he's wrong without 1) a mentor figure or 2) heroes pointing it out to him and offering him second chances (save Ez sparing both him and Claudia in 3x02, which had an impact for sure but like - think of how much more reaching out, comparatively, even someone like Zuko got from protag team). Part of this is also because Soren starts off in an interesting place for a 'redeemed character' which is that he starts off on the 'right side' (protecting the king) so he has more of a restoration/maturation arc than an outright redemption arc, in some ways.

So Soren's arc is unique within his story, it's very well paced, there's a depth of morality, and it's tethered to theme so so well. It's *chef's kiss* and refreshing for someone who honestly doesn't truthfully love redemption arcs most of the time (at least not the classical kind) so it's just. Nice, y'know? It's really nice

#spop critical #toh critical #JUST IN CASE #nobody be weird about it please #thanks for asking #anonymous #tdp soren

[zalrb]

Vampire diaries characters who they be if they was in harry potter

I was like, did I do this before but I think I only did the houses. Also, I'm annoyed because I can't put all of the images/gifs I want to in this post. Anyway.

OK. So. For a few characters it can go a few different ways. What do I mean?

Elena and Harry are nothing alike in terms of personality or upbringing but everything revolves around Elena much like how everything revolves around Harry

Harry had a grown ass adult try to kill him for a good chunk of his life

Elena had thousand year old vampires trying to kill her for a portion of her teen one

so it could be said in terms of their roles/functions, Elena could be Harry.

At the same time, I think Stefan could be Harry

from being great at quidditch to being great at football (even though they dropped that storyline) and Stefan has more of Harry's sass

even going back and forth with Tanner could be aligned with Harry "no need to call me sir, professor" Potter and Snape.

In terms of personality, Hermione and Caroline wouldn't be a perfect match but they're the most aligned in terms of the bossiness, the judgment

the TVD version of Hermione juggling a whole bunch of classes

would be this

At the same time, Bonnie is the one who always come in clutch

Hermione is not treated as horribly as Bonnie was and the trio all have parts to play in what gets them as far as they do and so it's more equal but she's the one with the vast knowledge of magic (for their age) which keeps them alive

and she and Hermione are more alike in terms of their sense of morality so I could accept Caroline being Hermione but I could also see Bonnie being Hermione.

Bonnie also has elements of Harry because while Elena is at the centre and has to deal with antagonists who are after her specifically, Bonnie is the one who faces off with the antagonists/villains one-on-one "in the field"

and the loyalty she has to her friends can be aligned with Harry's faith in his friends although the way that's treated by the characters around them differ.

Draco, to me, is the most aligned with Tyler. Pompous, wealthy, complicated etc. except I think Tyler has more of a redemption arc and is more active in his redemption whereas Draco, to me, is never quite redeemed, it's just that we see how complicated his situation becomes in the later books and he becomes more nuanced and for some readers, more sympathetic because of it but the two are more emotionally aligned for me

But even Tyler being sired to Klaus, I think you can align with Voldemort tasking Draco to kill Dumbledore.

Matt is my beloved Ron. At first I was like, RON HAS NO COUNTERPOINTS IN TVD but it's literally Matt even though their personalities aren't the same.

They're both poor, they both feel overlooked and pushed to the side

and they're both extremely loyal.

Ron is always down for the plan and Matt somehow always ends up down for the plan (but with more reservations).

Damon "I-met-a-girl-and-she-made-me-good-but-I-continue-to-murder-people-and-be-an-all-around-piece-of-shit" Salvatore is Severus "I-couldn't-care-less-that-Voldemort-is-wizard-Hitler-but-he-killed-the-woman-I-love-so-I-will-change-sides-and-look-out-for-her-son-while-also-emotionally-terrorizing-him-and-other-students-to-the-point-that-one-is-so-terrified-of-me-his-boggart-turns-into-my-likeness" Snape.

[jkl-fff]

do you have any ocs please tell me about them in as much detail as you'd like

Since I'm working on a series I hope to publish one day, I do indeed have OCs. Nothing but OCs in that series. OCs for days and nights and some more days thereafter.

Since the series involves three sets of three characters (with interweaving plot points across a continent-spanning empire), we'd be here all day if I said as much as I'd like about each one. In fact, we'd be reading the book.So I'll give a quick summary: who they are, what they do, and why.

THE BOYS

Domwyn (21), a roving minstrel who goes from town to town performing for room and board and tips at inns. He was born with the rare ability to see and speak with spirits, which would see him condemned as a sorcerer if anyone found out. All he wants is to be free and safe, so he keeps wandering, reluctantly helping spirits when he must. At least, until a handsome abd ecxentric young man discovers his secret ...

Plow (23), a student of archaeology and history working on a doctorate project by excavating one of the many sites of ruins on the Continent. Finding out Domwyn can unlock a magic seal in them (because of his sorcerous abilities) is the most exciting discovery of the century (in his opinion), and he immediately dragoons Domwyn into being his ruin-exploring assistant. What world-shattering secrets will they discover?

Moose (36), Plow's cousin and a member of the local militia that protects the town from bandits and monstrous beasts. Currently, he's on off time and using it to make sure his cousin doesn't get himself eaten by a giant spider or something while geeking out over pottery shards and other artefacts. He'd much rather be playing with his daughter and making kissy faces with his wife, though.

THE LADIES

Maeve (23), Plow's twin sister and a secret agent working for the local princess against the continental empire. Her cover is that she's the lead of a famous performing troupe, which gets her invited into high society locales where she and her team can spy out gocernment secrets. One of the things she enjoys as much as performing ... is knitting. Oh, and also making love to the princess.

Sweets (24), a political hostage taken as a young girl to keep her noble father loyal to the empire, she was practically raised with Maeve and Plow. She now works as part of Maeve's performing and spy group to help both the local princess *and* her father's house ... and especially her best friend, Maeve. One of her talents is makeup and costume design, which makes her a competsnt master of disguise. She can and will kick a bitch through a wall if that bitch annoys her, though.

Agria (24), an aspiring knight, she's a member of the local milita receiving special training for leadership when recruited by Maeve to join her spy ring. Why? Because of her photographic memory, which would allow the spies to take information from documents without stealing them, leaving their targets none the wiser. She agrees to do this to win favor with the princess, advancing her career towards knighthood. She has some complicated religious beliefs.

THE ASSASSINS

Masque (?), a shapeshifting assassin who fears Death itself is after them, and the only way to keep Death from catching them is to offer up others (the more important and social upheaval inducing, the better). They're fascinated by their reluctant partners' weapons, and also their personalities, and also that neither one can leave because Masque has got all sorts of leverage!

Nomiv (20), a former militia recruit (basically cop) who accidentally got himself bonded to a sword capable of cutting through anything (even souls) while trying to apprehend Masque during an assassination of a government official. Now everyone thinks he died while betraying his government, and Masque is extorting him to help with further assassinations. He just wants to do good, but doesn't know what that means anymore as his simplistic, moralizing worldview shatters before him. And it doesn't help that the sword wants him to kill ...

Uma (31), a prisoner indentured out to a rich engineer now on the run after being framed for his murder. She pioneered a new type of firearm (a revolver with prepacked bullets instead of flintlock pistols) which could revolutionize warfare and neutralize the combat supremacy of mages if anyone else got their hands on it. But all she wants is to disappear somewhere she can continue her research in peace and freedom. Unfortunately, that'll be hard to do with the magic collar around her neck. If only someone could cut through it without killing her ...

THANKS SO MUCH!

#blood & aether #original character

[finitefall]

I’ve heard some people Team Green people say that the Greens taking the throne was an act of self preservation because even if Rhaenyra didn’t want to kill them to secure her claim, Daemon definitely would. What do you think of that? I know Daemon hates the Hightowers, but Alicent’s children are still Targaryens, and Daemon’s own blood. Would Daemon really kill his own brother’s children? I think that Daemon would only kill them if they showed any aggression towards Rhaenyra. I think Daemon, as a person who is extremely loyal to his house, would not kill Viserys’s and Alicent’s children unless he felt he had choice.

Those Greens stans are hypocrites, coming up with excuses all the time to avoid the simple fact their faves commited treason. It's really not that complicated to understand. But to answer your question nonnie, Daemon wouldn't pose a threat to Alicent's children if they weren't posing a threat to his family. He doesn't care about them even if they have the same blood because they're not his family, but he would leave them alone if we're talking about the alternate universe where the Greens aren't traitors.

Who is Daemon's family? Rhaenyra, the three sons she had with Harwin, the two sons they had together, and the two daughters he had with Laena. I don't know if you're familiar with book canon, but Daemon was behind Blood & Cheese, not Rhaenyra, and he sent a note saying: "An eye for an eye, a son for a son, Lucerys shall be avenged." Luke might not be his son, but being Rhaenyra's son, he's Daemon's family too. And Daemon is neither a villain or a hero. He's a morally grey character, he was called "the rogue prince" for a reason. He's capable of terrible things towards his enemies, especially if they hurt his family. Because that's Daemon's humanity: his love for his family, his loyalty towards them, and how far he will go to protect or avenge them.

So no, the excuse that the Greens only commited treason because they were afraid Daemon would decide to just kill Alicent's children without reason doesn't work (except for those who don't understand what a morally grey character is and only see Daemon as a villain).

#HOTD #Daemon Targaryen #anti green stans #answered

[ramonag-if]

I absolutely love CoE, and when I saw the potential following book I literally screamed in joy!!

I've been wanting to ask if, in the first book , we will be able to build a sort of character that gets us some interesting relationship dynamics with the ROs.

For example, my MC is the type to be cold and tactical with a mix of intimidation (thanks to not only their divinity but also the character themself) and confidence through their cunning mind. However, they have difficulties with letting people in / allowing themselves to open up to people, mostly because they fear the connection they create with people will end up hurting both them and their loved ones, just like they have been hurt and taken away before. They're also the type of character to be hurt but not let themselves show it. Instead, they bottle it up like every other time and just let it all eat away at him, making him feel hollow and hopeless, to the point where they believe that they have no worth for anybody.

However, they still care about the people around them and stick by their side. When someone shows goodness to them, they're loyal and always put themselves before others to protect the people they care about, not only because of their personal morals, but because they have given themselves a duty, a purpose to continue not only living, but thriving to protect and provide for the people they deeply care about, even if they don't show it through words or physical signs and expressions.

And that's where Irus fs it up. Because not only does the MC feel the need to fulfill their father's duty and avenge their death no matter WHAT, but they also have to deal with the fact that the more time they spend with the exiled prince, the less they remember to keep their walls up. And by the time they have a dancing sesh with Irus, oh how absolutely they realize their love for the sweet dork.

Of course, this is a big depressive NO NO for them.

*And so it begins. A dance which the Sun invites in the Earth. A dance that invites in the eternal steps between radiant passion and formidable willpower. Only for that formidable willpower to be distant. A gap between the steps they take, created by the Earth, as it threatens itself to become ice cold as it was once before the Sun, until all that's left are remnants of what thrived between them.*

.

.

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Life

(Halfway through this, I realized I could've just written this on the notes app, but laziness came over me, and I just decided to write whatever I could formulate)

(Also, I'm not sure yet if I want to make my MC a cis or trans male, that's why I'm using they/them Pronouns for the MC for now, since i used ElenaA's Windswept Oc Maker to make MC, whose features came out more on the feminine side in the end)

You can certainly headcanon a complicated character. Unfortunately, I don't track personality stats because I want players to respond however they feel suits them best in the moment. This means I only track specific decisions of previous choices so the ROs and other characters will comment on those decisions, but not on whether the MC was cold and aloof but is now warm and open with them.

Of course, you can choose stoic responses early on but then choose more open and warmer responses later on. I will be going back to add more flirt options like a friendly flirt option and a more stoic/aloof flirt option but that will come during edits because it's easier to do a shy/bold flirt option for now.

I like to think that there has been a gradual progression of the MC's character development from Chapter One to Chapter Eight, so it's something that you can imagine for yourself 😊

#crown of exile #answered asks