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likeabxrdinflight · 2 months

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Naturally I have a lot of thoughts about Azula's role in the live action adaptation. I'd say about 95% of them are positive thoughts.

First of all, I love that she is this baby-faced, squishy-cheeked kid (I know her actress is a little older than the character but that's okay.) At Elizabeth Yu's age, I also easily passed for 14-15, she just has a young-looking face and clearly hasn't lost all her baby fat. And that is perfect, actually. I've criticized the sharpness and angularity of the animated Azula many times over, she has always looked far too old for her canonical age. I've said it before and I'll say it again- it's a problem that so many people watched the original cartoon and thought Azula was older than Zuko. I can't even blame them for it, she's drawn to look 20 or older. So it is wonderful to see a version of Azula who looks closer to her canonical age. I think it really drives home the point.

That said, this Azula is definitely different than her animated counterpart in other ways. The animated Azula was (almost) always perfectly in control. She could become angry and snap at people- but it was fairly rare, Azula always seemed the image of perfect calm, control, and precision. She was deadly precisely because she was so cool and collected and did not get easily rankled. This was also part of what made her breakdown so shocking.

The thing is, the breakdown is not especially foreshadowed prior to season three. There are a few moments that show the chinks in Azula's armor, but most of them don't come until "The Beach," and then after Mai and Ty Lee's betrayal. I've always believed that betrayal was the real inciting incident for her eventual psychotic break- I've argued before that it sent Azula into what's called a prodromal state, which is like a sort of "pre-psychosis."

More on the animated version's mental state here

Point being, there's really only one instance in season two that suggests any flaws to Azula's cool exterior, and it's one of her very first scenes. You know the one: "almost isn't good enough." It makes for a very subtle build-up to the breakdown and her eventual fall. But it comes at the cost of depicting her predominantly as a capital-V Villain prior to it. You're not really supposed to sympathize with Azula until "The Beach," arguably not until "Into the Inferno." For most of the animated show's run, you're supposed to find her scary and threatening.

And this is done effectively- almost too effectively. She's an obvious foil to Zuko, and serves as such a good primary antagonist that they had to neutralize her in the finale by giving her the breakdown. It's like they knew there was no way a healthy Azula was going to be beatable during Sozin's Comet. She appeared to be an effortlessly talented fire bender, a brilliant strategist, and a more dangerous opponent than even Ozai.

Live action Azula does not have this same feeling to her. There is still something "scary" about her- we see her watching people being burned alive with little to no reaction, and her face is quite blank at Zuko's Agni Kai. She's still cunning and still willing to manipulate things to her advantage- we see this in how she plays Zhao. So if this version gets a season two I have no doubt that this Azula will still serve as a dangerous antagonist to the Gaang and I don't doubt this is still an Azula capable of bringing down Ba Sing Se.

But she's not quite the calm, collected character she first seemed in the animated version. This Azula is a little less hinged. She has more moments of snapping and losing some of that perfect control. She's more frustrated and feels more at the mercy of her father. She reads far more like the Azula we saw in "The Phoenix King," the one who talked back and protested that her father couldn't treat her like Zuko. That Azula, however, was about one bad night's sleep away from a psychotic break. This Azula, presumably, isn't there yet.

I can agree that something of her original character gets lost when you essentially start foreshadowing the breakdown from the jump. It's not gonna be a surprise to any new audiences. She's not gonna be quite the same. But it does humanize her much sooner than the original show did, and it asks the audience to consider her circumstances from the jump- is this a sympathetic character or not? I obviously think she is in the original, and I do think in the end she was meant to be. But it's much more of a debate. The live action show unequivocally says "yes" and does not make it a debate at all.

I'd be tempted to say it's not trusting the audience to read between the lines, but given all the Azula discourse...they might be right to take this more direct approach.

Anyways. Live action Azula also feels more like a real teenager. She's petty, she's irritable, she's desperate to remain in her father's favor and beat her brother in the artificial competition her father has set up between them and will go to any lengths to do so- lengths she probably wouldn't have in the cartoon. She has a strong drive to prove herself and to protect the image she constructs about herself as the "perfect daughter." But that image also feels far more fragile than it did in the animated version.

This Azula doesn't say that "almost [perfect] isn't good enough." She says that "it [perfect] isn't good enough." It's a subtle but meaningful difference.

(Side note- I think the reason this Azula is fine shooting lightning in the direction of her father, seemingly in defiance of his orders, is a direct result of the change to the Agni Kai- she watched as Ozai berated and burned Zuko for not giving him his all, versus in the original where Zuko's sin was in not fighting back period. So here she's showing Ozai her "all", she's giving him everything she has to prove she's capable of doing more than Zuko running drills and smoking out resistance rings.)

I like this change. I like this more desperate, more grounded take on Azula. She feels like a real girl in a horrendous home environment. This Azula was raised in a family where it's expected you be cool with setting people on fire in the throne room and where there's a tangible symbol of Daddy's love sitting beneath him at all times. This Azula was forged in the fires of competition and manipulation that's more subtle than the animated Ozai ever seemed capable of. (More on Ozai later, but he's a much more subtle character than his animated counterpart despite still being...pretty blatantly Evil). So I think it makes sense that she's not quite as calm and controlled and perfect as the animated version.

I don't know yet which version I'll prefer when all is said and done- she was ultimately a minor role in this season. Animated Azula is iconic and always will be, but there's a lot I've always been critical of about how she was depicted in the original show. I think a lot of us that love and empathize with Azula do so despite the way she was written, not because of it. This version might change things a little.

But it also might make it seem infinitely more cruel if she isn't given some kind of redemptive ending (or at least one that implies some hope for her.) The bleak ending of the original show might feel really bad for this more sympathetic version of Azula. So if they stick with that...I dunno. It could hit or miss.

For now, I like what I'm seeing. And Elizabeth Yu understood the assignment.

#natla spoilers #natla #azula #hopefully mai and ty lee get more development in season two #they were kinda just...there in season one #also I strongly suspect this adaptation will cut azula's recruitment of them in season two and just have them with her from the jump

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asoiafsworld · 2 years

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HEADCANON; BEING PREGNANT WITH RHAENYRA AND DAEMON'S CHILD

pairings; rhaenyra targaryen x fem!reader x daemon targaryen

warnings; pregnancy, nsfw (18+), oral sex (f and m receiving), degradation, breeding, slapping (on breasts), hair pulling, throat fucking, cum play, snowballing, marking?? daemon's cum is being rubbed on your neck, reader is called puppy by daemyra, reader calls rhaenyra queen in a sexual context, at one point rhaenyra thinks about having a cock

first part | second part | fourth part | fifth part | masterlist

⊱ ───────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ───────── ⊰

➼ it was still overwhelming for you to be married to two people who showed nothing but affection and love towards you but you accepted it and basked in their love

➼ life on dragonstone was relatively quiet since it was on an island relatively difficult to reach with constant storms surrounding the area so the only time you really knew about anything that went on in the outside world was letters arriving by raven

➼ this also helped you get used in your unique marriage since you wouldn't have people chattering everywhere about what a freak you were and how unholy it was

➼ it still rocked you a little to get your father's letter and to learn that he knew about it and you wondered who else knew and if you really were such a laughing stock

➼ you had put the letter away, uncaring for where you put it since you were still quite shaken

➼ which was a mistake because daemon found it... and he raised hell

➼ "he calls you a whore in this! i will not have this, no one will call you such insults as long as i breathe and live, he will learn not to say this again. calling my wife a whore, he's a whore for all i know!"

➼ you could only sigh and try to calm him down

➼ you thought that rhaenyra would be on your side in this and try to make him see reason but she was just as furious

➼ "if he was not your father then we would not be standing here anymore. i would have burned him alive the moment i read this letter."

➼ she looked so calm as she said this but you knew she was boiling inside, ready to strangle and burn him for his words

➼ "it doesn't matter, really, i do not care for his words. please, forget about it and if you want to do what's best for me then leave it be. i don't want to think of this anymore."

➼ after another hour of arguing and pleading, they both gave in and let it be

➼ however only on the condition to take you apart right then and there, wanting to show you that you were theirs and belonged with them

➼ you burned the letter for good measure before they both dragged you towards the bed, their eyes clearly desiring you

➼ rhaenyra threw you on the bed and climbed over you, pressing her hot mouth on yours and kissed you at an agonizingly slow pace that you whined just after a few minutes of her tongue exploring your mouth

➼ but your wife only chuckled menacingly and thrust her knee between your legs, your cunt already wet and throbbing from her kisses

➼ daemon watched you both and had a hand on the top of rhaenyra's head and one on your cheek, clearly loving the way she dominated you

➼ "my pretty girls... you're a good puppy for your queen."

➼ she continued to only kiss you and do nothing else, occasionally jerking her knee up to feel your cunt get wetter by the minute

➼ after more torturous minutes, you had enough and let off of her mouth and your whines and whimpers were audible in the room

➼ "please, i'm so wet, do something."

➼ your wife did not like that at all and grabbed your face with one hand, forcing you to look at her

➼ "you stupid little puppy... you think you can command me? you will stay patient and i will give you pleasure when i want you to feel it."

➼ your words only made you try to press your thighs together since it was so arousing but you saw the anger flare in rhaenyra's eyes at your actions

➼ she let out a growl that made her sound like a dragon and she let go of your face, her hands now gripping the fabrics on your breast and just ripping it open

➼ you let out a startled sound at the display of her strength and felt embarrassed at your breasts spilling out of the now ripped dress

➼ she looked so menacing and intimidating like this and you shouldn't have been suprised at the slaps your breasts recieved right where your nipples were

➼ you only let out little yelps as you felt your skin burn on the places she had slapped you on and felt your whole body shake as she bent down and started to lick on your breasts almost violently

➼ she was sucking on your nipples harshly and bit on them too and all over your breasts, plenty of red marks forming all over them

➼ you saw that daemon had undressed himself next to you and was stroking his cock and you pouted at far away it was from your face

➼ daemon came closer, standing in front of the edge of the bed where your face was

➼ you pushed your tongue out and felt him place his tip there and it only made you moan louder

➼ he reached behind your head and pulled your hair so that your head was sideways and plunged his cock all the way down your mouth and throat

➼ you choked on it in suprise but he didn't care for wether you were ready or nit, he simply held your head by your hair and began thrusting into your mouth as if it was your cunt

➼ and you fucking loved it

➼ meanwhile rhaenyra had stopped mutilating your breasts and watched as daemon got faster and harsher in his thrusts, his grunts and closed eyes clearly telling of how much he enjoyed fucking your mouth like this

➼ rhaenyra watched the two of you with hunger and wondered how it would feel to have a cock and fuck you like daemon did... but she knew that you would not be leaving your bed chamber in that case because she would be drilling her cock inside you every hour and every minute of the day

➼ the sounds you were making made her own cunt wet, the way you choked on daemon's thick cock sounded so heavenly and you looked like a mess for them, your dress halfway ripped and your breasts heavily bruised and marked red, your hair sticking to your forehead and your cheeks wet with tears from from the pleasure and pain you were recieving

➼ daemon didn't need long with the way your mouth enveloped him to feel close to the edge but right before he came, he pulled himself out of your mouth and came all over your face just like the way he loved it

➼ you let out a shocked yelp at his cock suddenly leaving your mouth but held out your tongue out to at least catch some of his cum to swallow

➼ he groaned at how beautiful you looked. your face painted with white streaks and your tongue going back in your mouth to taste his cum

➼ before you could swallow it, you felt rhaenyra crash her mouth against yours again and she was hungrily pushing both of your husband's cum between your mouths and it made you whine into the kiss. you heard daemon grunt next to you and felt his hand softly on the top of your head, caressing your hair

➼ "you look so, so gorgeous my love. like a beautiful art work just for us... my beautiful puppy."

➼ his words made you whine and you felt rhaenyra part from your lips, a string of cum mixed with saliva between your lips

➼ rhaenyra proceeded to take some of the cum on your cheek with her hand rubbed it on your neck, her gaze almost feral as she watched you whimper at her actions

➼ she knew how much you loved it when they marked you like this, feeling like you truly belonged with them and were theirs

➼ there's many things that you learned to like with them that you had thought perverted before but being married to two people at once was perverted to many people as well so

➼ rhaenyra then grabbed you by your throat and had her menacing grin on her face again and you knew that it would only mean trouble

➼ "now be a good puppy and eat out your queen's cunt. maybe you'll satisfy me enough to mark you with my cum too."

➼ the rest of the night consisted of rhaenyra sitting on your face and making her cum three times with your tongue and fingers

➼ and she indeed rubbed a good amount of her juices on the same spot that she had rubbed your husbands' cum on

➼ meanwhile daemon came two more times in your cunt, talking about stuffing you full and getting you pregnant and wanting to breed you when you would be round with his children

➼ and sure enough, you found out you were with child just a few weeks later

➼ you had been feeling rather tired and ill and rhaenyra brought you to the maestar at your state

➼ she had found out just two months earlier that she was pregnant again so when the maester looked at both of you with a smile and told you the good news, your proceeded to cry in your wife's arms

➼ daemon couldn't believe his ears when both of you told him and his smile was so bright

➼ it was the first time you witnessed him crying, he was so endlessly happy for you to not just be pregnant but at the same time with rhaenyra, it was truly something special

➼ the kids were happy as well, hugging and congratulating you, they truly couldn't wait to see what it would be like to have a mini you running around the place

➼ daemon was already on protective dad mode before due to rhaenyra's pregnancy news but that only doubled when he learned that both his wives were pregnant

➼ he would not leave your side at all, always making sure you were somewhere nearby

➼ he would ask you how you were feeling and if you needed anything at all, he was just so sweet to you

➼ rhaenyra however was even worse

➼ since her hormons were acting up as well she got almost angry whenever you were spending your time with someone else

➼ she wanted you around her at all times, constantly asking for you and making sure you were okay even though you were only early on in your pregnancy

➼ you fussed over her in the same way and then it ended up in both of you being a soft mess and cuddling on the bed, her hand on your stomach and yours on hers

➼ "do you think you will have another boy? gods, six sons is quite a lot."

➼ rhaenyra giggles at your words and softly cards her hands through your hair, pressing soft kisses on your forehead and smiling at the thought of you with a round belly waddling your way through the castle halls and looking so beautiful in pregnancy

➼ "i do want a girl but i do not think it likely after so many boys. but if you had a girl.. that would be pleasing to me. a sweet, adorable little girl from my own adorable girl. i would like that very much."

➼ you only blush at her compliment but secretly hope for a girl too, simply to make it more balanced between all your children

➼ after a few months, you are indeed waddling about with a very pregnanz and very round belly

➼ when the maester did his most recent examination to make sure the child was okay, he remarked that your belly was unusally large, just as large as rhaenyra's had been at her last pregnancy

➼ it was not a sure thing but he suspected that you were pregnant with twins and smiled at that in joy

➼ you had never expected to have more than one or two children when you would inevitably marry and you already had seven now

➼ so if you indeed were pregnant with twins and along with rhaenyra's child... it would make you a mother of ten

➼ you wondered how you had gotten to a point like that in your life but didn't complain about it, instead you were happy to have such a big and happy family

➼ daemon and rhaenyra were of course thrilled at these news, so happy to soon be welcoming three children into your life

➼ it's safe to say that you and rhaenyra are absoluetly adorable during your pregnancy together

➼ you constantly have your hand or your ear on each other's stomach, always giggling with excitement when you felt the babes kick

➼ daemon has a very hard time not bursting out in tears when he comes to your chambers in the evening and sees both his wives look so happy and content, each of you softly caressimg the other's round stomach and giggling and whispering about how the children would be and how happy you were

➼ and daemon also did good on his promise

➼ he fucked you like his life depended on it when you had developed even the smallest baby bump

➼ what can i say he's a weak man with a strong pregnancy kink

#house of the dragon #rhaenyra x reader x daemon #rhaenyra targaryen #daemon targaryen x reader #daemon targaryen #rhaenyra targaryen smut #daemon targaryen smut #rhaenyra targaryen x reader

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starstofillmydream · 2 months

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Unpopular opinion on Commander Cody?

Hi anon! Thank you for the question! 😊

Okay, I can see this ruffling some feathers, so if you don't agree with my opinion, that's okay! I just want things to stay civil, even if people disagree 😅

My unpopular opinion of Commander Cody is twofold: 1) the "sunshine commander" narrative needs to go, and 2) Cody needs to be separated from Obi-Wan's character.

(1) The "sunshine commander" narrative needs to go.

I've talked about this before, but I'm sick of seeing Cody being characterized as "the sunshine." It's inaccurate and a tired assessment. Just because the fandom assumes the sunrise is painted on his armor doesn't mean we should automatically ascribe him to "sunshine" traits—you have to think about the connotations. In media, personifying characters as "the sun" and personifying characters as "the sunshine" are two completely different projects. A character personified as "the sun" has steadfastness and strength/power—after all, the sun leads the day. But it also burns and is dangerous. A character personified as "the sunshine" is cheery, upbeat, quirky, optimistic/idealistic, and sometimes, ditzy. Because Cody clearly doesn't fall under the latter, it would be more fitting to characterize him as a "sun" character (if you're even going to do that at all, because honestly, it's not even necessary. Categorizing clones as stock characters/characters in a trope minimizes the individuality and complexity they try so hard to establish, since you're only attributing them to one personality trait). Cody is a marshal commander—he leads a third of the Grand Army of the Republic under Kenobi, and for good reason. He's calm and collected under pressure; extremely intelligent, especially in military strategy/tactics; has insane combat skills, both with a blaster and hand-to-hand; he's stern and disciplined in order to keep his men alive; and he's diplomatic and has a sound moral compass. Most clones, including Cody, have a jaded outlook on life because of all they experienced during the war, both in combat and out of combat (e.g., Cody's hesitance to believe Rex that Echo was alive in TCW S7E1). There is nothing cheery, upbeat, quirky, optimistic/idealistic, ditzy, and thus sunshine-y, about the guy. He's not frolicking in a field of flowers and stopping to smell the roses—he's a soldier, a highly-trained and cunning one at that. So stop diminishing that core part of him just to fit an inaccurate narrative.

(2) Cody needs to be separated from Obi-Wan's character.

I swear, I can't see a sentence with Cody's name in it without Obi-Wan being in there too. Let Cody live his own life on his own terms without his general encroaching on it! There is so much more to Cody as a person than being Obi-Wan's shadow, and thank God for the writers of TBB S2E3 for showing that so clearly (I know people love to bring up the fact Cody frowned when Crosshair mentioned the Jedi being traitors and that Cody's negotiation skills with Tawni Ames came from Obi-Wan being "the negotiator" and all...but what if...and stay with me...Cody did that all on his own? You know, because he's one of the most brilliant minds in the Republic's military?). It hurts me so much to see Cody cast aside as a side-kick (or romantic interest, which I'm not personally a fan of. Cody would not be desperate enough to be in love with his general. Come on now. The man has standards, and disrupting the military hierarchy is a little icky, in my opinion. The power dynamics will always be off, whether people want to recognize that or not.)—I listed a whole bunch of canon attributes above that people seem to conveniently forget. People in the fandom are very selective as to which clones they give grace and which clones they do not. Cody is one of the clones they do not, as well as Bly, Crosshair, and Dogma, to name a few. But, what blows my mind is that clones like Fox—who only get a few minutes of screen time in the entire Clone Wars series—are given complex personalities, fanon-created faces, and ships with multiple people while Cody, who is the first live-action named clone we meet, is completely dependent on Obi-Wan. It's such a strange phenomenon.

That was long-winded, sorry anon 😅

Hang out with me ask game!

#asks #anon #commander cody

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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 1 month

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if dorian didn't show up, do you think louis would have shot minnie?

I do. I know some people think either he wouldn't have or he would've missed so that's why the writers had him shoot Dorian instead, but mmmmmm no, I don't personally think so. I like to think that if he had taken the shot, his shaky hands would've caused him to shoot her fatally.

Mostly because I'm already so normal about the fact that of the Ericson crew, Marlon and Louis are the only ones with a body count. Well, that we know of, but shown to us in the game, at least. Plus, we know it's Louis' first kill.

Like yeah, Clementine and AJ become part of the crew and they have bigger body counts, and if we're counting indirect kills caused by actions, then Tenn has a count... and I guess everyone has blood on their hands for blowing up the boat... but I'm talking about killed directly with a weapon like....... I lied, I'm not normal about that at all, Louis and Marlon are the ones who have killed someone in Louis' route. I'm also not normal about the fact that Louis kills Dorian and then even as he's clearly in shock, he tries to go with Clementine to get AJ, and then later on when they talk about it, he says it feels like bile but not quite and he's glad he has it in him to do it.... listen, listen, listen... I'm obsessed with that.

Anyway, so if Louis shot Minerva, I think he would've accidentally killed her and can you imagine? He's already enough of a mess after killing the woman who pinned him down and tried to cut his finger off [or succeeded] but he knew Minerva, they were friends before the twins were taken. Even Violet couldn't kill her even though that would've been the smarter thing to do, and we know thanks to meta knowledge that killing her would've saved lives, but Violet couldn't, and I don't think Louis would intentionally either.

Speaking of Violet, if Louis killed Minerva, I hate to think about what that would've done to Vi. I think she might've actually left at that point, like what was planned before it got changed to her being burned. I don't think she would've attacked Louis over it, though, like yeah she attacked Clementine in the cell but Louis? I don't know, but I don't think so just because it's Louis and he'd be a mess about it anyway.

Though if he did kill her, it would be a neat parallel to draw... y'know, because Louis forgave AJ for killing Marlon even though he was pissed and heartbroken, and Violet was annoyed with him the entire time... but could she ever forgive Louis for killing Minerva? Y'know? We already have a similar parallel with AJ shooting Tenn, but still.

If Clementine killed Minerva in that moment, though, then I could see Violet attacking her since in her eyes, Clem proved her right.

So yeah, I get why they added the Dorian kill to his route. It adds another compelling element to Louis as a character, but we also need Minerva alive for episode 4; Louis can't kill her, he can't miss, and he's not going to stay with her because we need Violet to stay on the boat and him to be on shore for all routes.

#asks #twdg louis #twdg minerva #twdg clementine #twdg violet #twdg marlon #twdg tenn #honestly whenever i see someone say louis is the boring option i'm just like '.......that's your opinion but also how can you say that??'#then again i'm sure other people look at me saying violentine just isn't for me and they say the same thing so y'know... i can't talk haha #also time is such a weird thing because i look at the entire cell scene in louis' route and like... i'm not even mad about violet anymore #like yeah i still don't believe she was brainwashed like i'm sorry y'all only believe that because kent said something about it #not because there's all this evidence toward it in game like vi being pissed at clementine makes sense she doesn't need to be brainwashed #for it to work like her being vulnerable and easily manipulated into submission makes perfect sense especially with minerva there #it's like everyone was pissed that she attacked clementine and people needed a way to excuse it so it's not violet's fault when like...#that's literally what makes it interesting like calm down it's okay if violet is pissed and scared and behaves accordingly #also my controversial opinion of the day that i'll hide here in the tags so maybe people won't find it sksksk but #I personally find the concept of vinerva and the doomed tragedy of it more compelling than anything violentine did #like i'll defend violentine and i do believe it's an important and good ship it's just not my personal favorite #anyway but then the whole thing with lilly and minerva is so good and louis screaming FUCK YOU at minerva?? amazing love it so good #i love when the soft character who never chooses violence is so pissed off that all that anger they have boils to the surface and it's raw #like... he's SO mad he's SO furious he's SOOO UPSET like he wasn't even like this when marlon died or anything like he hit his limit #and then shooting dorian through the mouth while an accident is just well done i love it and i love his reaction of mortification #and apologizing and YET he still tries to go with clementine he's trembling and can barely string together a sentence but he wants to go #he wants to help her he wants to save aj THAT is the gut reaction he has after everything that just went down #'louis isn't loyal or good for clem because of the vote' babe tell me you don't understand any nuance of louis' character without telling m #it's fine IT'S FINE you don't have to agree and i just have to remind myself that it's fine not everyone likes louis we're okay #this drives me crazy in the best way like y'know what? i love the cells scene in louis' route all of it even the stuff i used to rant about #even the stuff that used to piss me off now i'm just like 'no wait past cj was dumb she wasn't looking at it this way aaaaaaaa' sksksks #that was my tag ted talk about the cell scene thank you

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zvtara-was-never-canon · 6 months

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What makes you think Azula was lying about hurting Suki? She took her clothes and somehow knew Sokka was her boyfriend and already traumatized about losing his first love

I mean, the episode itself basically screamed "AZULA IS LYING! SHE'S A LYING LIAR WHO LIES!" during that scene was a pretty good hint. She was fighting the Gaang to prevent them from going to finding her father before firebending came back, "warned" them about a trap waiting for them where Ozai was (which we know was bullshit), and only then does she suddenly go "By the way I have your girlfriend as my prisoner and she thinks you failed her!" to hurt Sokka - aka the one who was telling Aang and Toph to just ignore everything she said.

We literally see a few episodes later, and sure, she's in prison, but she's clearly not hurt. And more importantly, during their escape, when Suki says this is a rematch she had been waiting for, she is focused on TY LEE and on not letting her hit her once - which could suggest Ty Lee was the one to take down all the Kyoshi Warriors, with Chi blocking, like she did with the Terra Team in Ba Sing Se.

If Azula had done anything beyond just capturing and maybe taunting her over the defeat, don't you think Suki would have wanted to at least punch her in the face or something? Hell, she's more mad at Zuko than at Azula, since he burned her village.

Not to mention, Sokka taunted her in Ember Island Players over losing to Azula, and Suki just looks bothered by the mention of the defeat, not like she's reliving some terrible trauma. The writers could be insentitive at times, but I think even they wouldn't do something like "This character was tortured/raped in prison and her boyfriend makes fun of her for it."

As for Azula knowing Sokka and Suki were a thing, he LITERALLY told Ty Lee about it at the end of season 2, when she's trying to flirt with him. Plus I can totally see Suki going "My boyfriend is friends with the Avatar, and they'll kick your ass and save me" after her defeat.

(Seriously guys, "Dude that is friends with the Avatar and openly supports him is dating the leader of a group of warriors that also supports the Avatar openly" is not exactly top secret information that Azula would need to torture people to find out about).

Also I don't think she show is implying she knows about Yue and how much it affected Sokka. There's a literal war going on for longer than Azula has been alive, Sokka's home was one of the areas the Fire Nation attacked the most, and he has been traveling the world for months, meeting a ton of new people - it's practically mathematically garanteed that he lost someone at some point. Plus "I captured someone you care about and they lost all hope" is the kind of shit that would upset ANYONE, even if they never lost someone before that.

As for the whole "Azula stole her clothes" thing: The Northern Water Tribe stole clothes and armor of Fire Nation soldiers and the Gaang did the same thing in book 3, and Zuko was also made to wear inmate uniform like Suki. "This character had to take this off at some point" does not mean "They were abused while changing clothes."

For fucks sake people, we see Hakoda humiliate the warden and only be sent to his sell, we see guards mocking Sokka for wanting to beat up a prisoner (who just happened to be the traitor prince) as they see that as "new guy trying too hard" aka that's not something that usually happens in the boiling rock, and even the cooler is a punishment for picking up a fight not a place to throw prisoners in randomly. The ONE torture session we see in the boiling rock happens because an escape plan was discovered - and AZULA was the one to stop it, before she even knew what the hell was going on.

("But she visited Suki in the comics and it was implied that Suki was being starved!" Retcons don't fucking matter, we literally see in the show that Suki was fine, just sad to be imprisoned and away from everyone she knew. She was not tortured.)

Azula is no saint, but this "theory" that she tortured or raped Suki is nothing but fans being oddly fixated on the idea of this kids show secretly being Game Of Thrones.

#azula meta #azula did not torture suki #azula did not rape suki

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nobodysdaydreams · 3 months

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If Pryce and Cutter hate the youths so much, then why don't they move across the universe to get the marriage counseling they clearly need and stop making their BS everyone else's problem?

(Or my reaction to Episodes 59-60 of Wolf359).

I said I would have self control. I said I wouldn’t listen to or react to anymore Wolf359 this whole weekend. But guess what dear readers? As usual, I lied, to you and myself. Sadly, I am weak. Now, with my confession out of the way, let’s get into it!

Tagging the mutuals who got me invested in this, and if you want to be tagged or untagged from these posts, lmk, or you can follow my blog or simply follow the tag "#bods wolf359 reactions". Anyone who has followed me for a while knows my updates are inconsistent, so I apologize in advance for that and for any spelling/grammar mistakes in my posts.

@sophieswundergarten @oflightningandstars @acollectionofcuriousreblogs @herawell @commsroom @lovelyladylavie

Episode 59: Crash and Burn

"Oh how fun. Come on kids, scream if you want to go faster." It's trippy that when I hear Pryce talk for a moment I'm like "Hera?" and then I realize. Also she and Cutter really do act like criticizing and mean disappointed parents.

"But just a small fire, and look it's out now!" good point Doug.

"This time you finally killed us" Congrats Doug!

"It's a fire on a spaceship, you shouldn't need explicit instruction to know it's a bad idea" "You don't know the first thing about commanding Douglas F. Eiffel" LET HIM KNOW DOUG!

"Cyborg De Vil" Eiffel really does have the best nicknames.

"I'm just a poor little old lady" Oh, I've met old ladies like you Pryce. Terribly entertaining, but awful all the same. Hated their own children too. At this point, I'm just waiting for your sad little backstory.

"Nobody says "thank you" anymore. Kids these days..." Pryce, maybe when you do something worthy of thanks, then you will be thanked.

"If it seems like I'm wrong, you don't have all the data" Well geez, I hope that pride doesn't kill you.

"Why are you asking us to read the values for you?" OH GET HER MINKOWSKI.

Okay, Pryce, in fairness to Doug, I think we've well established that most characters in this show are "metaphorically blind" in one way or another.

"Blinded by my own survival manual" it's fitting to be honest. The next edition? No, we don't need another edition Miranda.

"Well this should be easy!" Doug...Doug when is it ever easy?

Well gang, it looks like the gang's not getting out of this one this time. I will miss you all. Minkowski and Doug most of all. Kepler and Pryce less so.

Calling Pryce's husband is unfortunately the only plan. Let's see how he feels about wifey being in danger. This is either gonna go one of...potentially a few ways, and I'm very interested to see his reaction.

Will he leave her to die in space? Will he feel bad about that? Will he give up an advantage for her?

Wait. Is this Hera? Oh it's Marcus and Hera. I love the juxtaposition between Doug and Pryce and Marcus and Hera. I guess they both have a common interest. Nothing brings people together quite like it.

Oh gross Rachel's here too.

Skin alive whoever designed the flight's pod system? But this is so arbitrary...if all their enemies had been the ones to get blasted off, Cutter would give the man a promotion. For a guy who only promotes "the best" a lot of this is really just luck.

Wait. GUESTS???

Oh they got Lovelace and Jacobi. Oh dear. At least they can't kill or control Lovelace.

"I can't do much without her" I see. So she is the brain's behind Cutter's little happy murder business operation.

"Part of my signature look" Jacobi's sarcasm is growing on me the more he uses it against the right people.

"Pretty please with sugar on top" OH SO CUTTER DID HEAR JACOBI SAY THAT AND THREATEN TO SHOOT KEPLER. I think those were the exactly words he used too.

And speaking of that episode, we're back to singing about beer! 🍻Jacobi really is (formerly)evil Doug. 😂 They even sing the same song.

Is Pryce threatening to...EAT Doug? Well this is creepy.

Pryce, shut it. If you're so much of a grownup, stop acting like a pouty child.

Geez all Pryce knows how to do is complain. I guess Cutter is into that. For some weird reason. "Do I have to do everything around here." All you do is make trouble.

"You can't afford to take a chance on this" CALL HIM OUT JACOBI! I love his arc, I love his arc so much, it took way too long, but I'm so happy he's gotten here.

Oh dear. Is Jacobi in the right headspace for this? "Prettiest pumpkin princess at the ball?" Well good for Jacobi. Also very similar to the line Pryce gave to Hera. It's scary how much they sound and speak alike.

That is true. It might need to be a self-sacrifice mission. If Jacobi misses, Cutter kills him, and Eiffel and Minkowski don't survive. It's a tough situation, especially because we're not even sure how many lives are at stake here. But Jacobi, the whole point of self-sacrifice is that the people making the sacrifice agree to it, or there's literally no other way.

Yeah, Doug, Pryce is not gonna be reassuring. That's not in her generation's vocabulary.

Uh oh. Jacobi, I hope you know what you're doing.

Oh dear. Marcus seems testy.

And how much longer do we have with Rachel and Reimann? (Yes, I was corrected on the spelling).

"Just get it right this time Marcus" wow she is demanding.

Ah...there it is.

...or not...

...Jacobi?

...DUCK BOY?

Well they got them. But what happens now?

Oh great Marcus' slow clapping. And let me guess, he kills him anyway?

Business to catch up on? Pryce doesn't sound too happy.

And yeah Minkowski, hold her at gunpoint! (Though in my experience, people like her don't fear death, rather they complain it's not coming fast enough), but whatever gives you the upper hand.

Episode 60: Terms and Conditions

What's with the beeping?

"You are alright?" Strange that Rachel asks that. I guess she'd be the one to notice he's quiet.

Ah. The sunset. Very fitting.

Westerns. Cutter probably saw some of them down at the old timey picture show when he was a wee lad.

Yes, yes, "the bigger picture". But what if there is a bigger picture to even your story, Cutter? One that you're not in control over?

Cutter knows what's about to happen. He knows it's time to choose. Work wifey or scary evil plan? What's it gonna be old man?

"Who is it?" 😂 I love Doug. I love him so much.

"We could have a cup of tea" oh gosh Cutter really is every old person stereotype.

"Reflect on the working conditions. Are you fostering a supportive company culture? One that values the contributions of its employees?" Doug is the best. Doug is the best.

"If you ever want to see your worst half ever again" 👏 Tell him. TELL HIM.

So now Cutter has to a choice. He can go Legend of Korra and kick Pryce to the curb, or he can drop his tragic backstory and try to come to an understanding.

"Can you guarantee the safe recover of Dr. Pryce?" "96%" Hm. Cutter doesn't seem happy with those numbers.

Special Projects? "Similar to you while still not you. You will see what you miss and say what you don't want to" interesting. So that's why Cutter keeps Rachel around.

"How possible would it be to complete the mission without Dr. Pryce?"

DANNGGGGGGG... Rachel asking the real questions.

"I don't know what your partnership with Dr. Pryce means" Interesting...so Cutter kept that even closer to his chest.

"Before I decide, I want the information" Cutter is unraveling.

See this is why you shouldn't talk when Cutter can hear them.

"Handle this personally?" Did he just crack his knuckles? Is he going to try to fight them? 😂

Neat idea? Is Cutter gonna make his own radio show?

Kepler and Lovelace are speaking for them? This is weird. And unnecessary unless some other mischief is a foot.

CUTTER IS MAKING HER DO THE "MM-HM" 😂😂😂

Kepler reading out Eiffel's words too 😂

Cutter's promises are stupid. And taking the collar off Hera doesn't mean that Pryce can't do something else terrible.

"Those are big promises" That's basic human decency.

"That's one thing. I'm giving you three. What else?"

Kepler and Pryce are two people. I love how it clearly shows Cutter views Kepler, who he's having Lovelace talk to, a disposable.

"You wouldn't lift a finger to help anyone if you didn't need them for something." CALL HIM OUT. CALL HIM OUT. 👏👏👏

"With all due respect to you Warren, that Dr. Pryce's return is worth two of your demands" wow, Cutter just went there didn't he?

"We won't annoy you" "I'm not sure you can promise that" "First off this is...this is your boy, Douggie Fresh at the mic" 😂 I knew it was Doug when he said the "won't annoy you" thing, but having him use Kepler like this is amazing. "Gumming up the works" I love Eiffel. I love his whole speech.

Is Cutter making her slow clap? Cutter and Eiffel really are a theatrical duo.

Reject your terms? Taking advantage of you guys? You should be asking for way more. That's very true. They should ask for way more. They really should. But um...what is Cutter doing???

Ugh. It's like Cutter is still trying to teach them a lesson. Like an evil twisted mentorship figure.

I have a bad feeling about it too.

"You two crazy kids still there?" Shut up Cutter (no offense Isabel).

Cutter is gonna destroy the sol when it leaves. He has a plan to do so.

"No catch" THERE IS ALWAYS A CATCH.

"Talk to us baby" Aw, I'm so happy Hera loves it. 💕🥰

"Tell us who you are and what you're doing up here?"

YES! THE TRUTH AT LAST.

Ah, Doug has figured it out. Cutter is just ecstatic.

"Super old, look like you're 28, no need to sleep or eat, know everything, obsessed with aliens..." Oh Doug thinks they are aliens.

Not a bad theory Doug, but I feel like you're not correct.

I feel like they're about to say something like "no silly Doug. We're not aliens. Don't be an idiot. That would be over the top and ridiculous. We're obviously cyborgs from the past and future who have travels here to enslave all of humanity and rewrite the course of human history. Which is SO much more reasonable."

Also given that Lovelace WAS an alien, it's not that crazy of a guess. They're being a little unfairly mean to him right now.

Modified???? Wait, no, no deal, what does modified mean? Explain that first please, explain it now.

Send Kepler first. Cutter doesn't care about him.

"You want to stay with us" "No Boy" oh dear. Looks like they're in the middle of a little marriage spat. "You'll never be rid of me 214" I knew it, Pryce has a thing for keeping Hera under control.

Yeah, what did Jacobi do? Hopefully that alien blood works quick.

OH WHAT IS THE TEA THE BOOMERS ARE FIGHTINGGGGG!!!!

"Better to be lucky than good" something tells me you won't be for long, Miranda.

Rachel is going with them? Um. It doesn't sound like either of them like that. "Fill you in on the details" that's obviously code for something. I don't like how fast Rachel agreed to that.

Oh dear. Trouble in paradise it would seem. Worried about wifey, Marcus? "Be quiet. I was worried." "For me?" "I was." "You're not immortal" "yet" "of course, I was worried for you."

"Your only task is to back my play" wow. They really ARE a toxic married couple from the early 1900s. I guess Cutter couldn't stand the thought of losing his precious cold detached mean evil science early 1900's house/work wife.

"Friends?" "Partners." Hm.

This relationship fascinates me. Miranda shows him hardly any respect or gratitude. Yet Cutter seems to care about her in a...weirdly toxic way. Though I do wonder if Miranda feels the same.

Very true something has to be wrong here. Cutter wouldn't let them leave unless...

Wait. Unless it was irrelevant to his plans. Unless them getting back to Earth didn't matter.

"That's not why you're not gonna leave" ...um Rachel. What are you talking about? Please fill us in on the plan.

Oh Kepler's here too.

THE END OF THE WORLD?????

Wait...oh my gosh...

So...there will be no Earth to return to? And all the people on it?

ARE PRYCE AND CUTTER TRYING TO MAKE A DEAL WITH THE ALIENS???

Well I did say in a private discord chat that it was odd that they mentioned Minkowski’s husband and Doug’s daughter only to never bring up threatening their lives again. I guess they really saved that one in their back pockets for the grand finale.

Kepler, how much longer are you going to go along with this? If they destroy the Earth, everything on it goes too, including your beloved Whiskey.

Rachel, idk how much longer you think Cutter is gonna keep you around, but he clearly only cares about his evil science arm candy, and that's not you or Reimann. He'll toss you both under the bus when he's done.

Cutter, wifey seems a bit unstable, and Pryce, your man seems to not be valuing you as an equal, and as much as I dislike you, I'm still not cool with that on principle. Perhaps the two of you ought to see to some marriage counseling, somewhere...oh I don't know...far far far far far away on the other side of the universe? Where you two can finally stop having to deal with those pesky youths you claim to hate so much?

Well at least the thing about Cutter naming the AI and putting on a charming appearance and Pryce hating it and acting so cold towards them makes so much sense now. Cutter wants to play house. House where he casts himself in the role of a toxic, stereotypical, controlling, abusive, and terrible father, with a flimsy "I care so deeply" facade and horrible taste in women, but house all the same. I guess it makes sense given when he was born. Pryce views the AI and their employees as things, Cutter views them as their children or rather their "creations" but at the end of the day, their views amount to the same thing: tools from which they demand unquestioning obedience that they can cast aside if and when they chose to do so. Absolutely disgusting.

Wait. 2 hours?

THE LAST EPISODE IS TWO FULL HOURS.

And Volte Face is one hour. But then...when will I have the time to...

oh boy. Stay tuned everyone. Hopefully I'll get my answers soon. Thanks for reading!

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tobiasdrake · 3 months

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On a quest for primal forces concentrated into music. What the fuck is my job description?

I saw these things when I was in the past. So that's what they are. They're. Like. Time Spotlights creating a window into the past. For platforming.

What the hell is that? Is it like a laser barrier to stop me from going that way?

Only one way to find out. When in doubt, ram your face into things. That's how you get Bestie Time.

...or it's a time portal. Valuable tool to facilitate an adventure across time and space? Or a useful mechanism to avoid needing to re-render every area in 16-bit? Two things can be true.

Oh, never mind. There are casual portals to flippy-floppy everything whenever you want. Huh.

With dramatic effects on the landscape, at that.

This is going to be a trippy adventure.

YOU GUYS WERE ALIVE THIS WHOLE TIME!?

I mean, I knew you were, but I thought the other ninjas were all killed in the firebombing.

That sounds like a fuck-up on your part. You had... Ambiguous Many Years to teach me everything I knew and prepare me for this adventure. Don't let my poor attentiveness in class be an excuse for your teaching failures.

Is it as cosmic as it sounds, or is that just a brand name? Because if it's as mind-bending as properly ground up Time Shards then I will stab people for it.

I'll stab that guy over there. The one by the door. He's always rubbed me the wrong way. I mean, look at him. Standing out of formation just so he can be closer to the master. Fucking teacher's pet.

Funny that, I might have a solution!

We grind the seed up and make coffee out of it. ^_^ Oh, fine, I'll use time travel instead.

It needs DIRT. Why can't I plant it in the DIRT. We could put it right fucking here in front of the training hall. Then it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to the future where demonic forces have once again burned to ash every single thing in the regi--

...

I'll go find a flowerbed.

Just gonna throw this out there but if I were a flowerbed, the Forlorn Temple is probably where I'd be.

Never did manage to get inside that place. Shopkeeper/Archer just laughed at me over it. I should make a point to go raid that place when I get a chance.

Allegedly the Demon King lives there. But. Like. Then what's the fucking point of the Underworld? There's a non-zero chance the Forlorn Temple is, like, a cardboard pop-up of a castle just to inspire Messengers to make bad choices.

So these are the notes. Finding all of these notes is going to be the key to breaking the curse, allegedly.

And this one's made of... crystallized hope? Ugh, this really does have Immortal Alchemist written all over it.

So survivors have well-wished Messengers off on their journey so many times over loop after loop after loop after loop that their hopes have crystallized into a physical object.

This one's been haunting me. It's been bothering me since my very first Power Seal. There was clearly a passage into the ground behind destructible rocks, but I didn't have the ability to strike downwards at them.

Things are different now. I'm different. I'm stronger. Faster. This time, I'm no fresh-from-the-village rookie, dashing along with a sparkle in his eye.

This time, I soar.

.........

Shut up, I'm different now. T-T I am a big boy ninja who glides like a falcon illuminated by a moonbeam. Shut up, I am!

So. I guess. Since we're hoping to break the cycle for realsies, we don't need the Cabinet of Broken Dreams anymore.

...but I want to know now--

OH GODDAMMIT This is "Don't touch my cabinet" all over again. Fuck you. I don't even care what landfill your stupid cabinet is rotting in. It's no skin off my back if I never see it again!

...which is why you should tell me, so I can show you how aggressively I don't care!

#the messenger #drake plays the messenger

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lhs3020b · 13 days

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The Fallout TV show

So, you may remember the days before my social energy-level suddenly collapsed, back in early 2022, and never really recovered? The days when I used to post regularly with idle speculation on media, video games, books and other things? Apparently tonight we're taking one for memory lane on all that.

I just saw the first two episodes of the Fallout TV show, and I have some thoughts…

First, a small surprise: it's actually good. It's a thing. In 2024. Which is enjoyable. Yes, I know, I know, I know. It shows the crisis in popular entertainment that I'm surprised by this. (It's the same feeling, actually, as when Baldur's Gate 3 came out and my socks were blown off by the unexpected experience of properly falling in love with a thing again.)

(By the way? From now on I'm going to call the show FoTV, on the same principle as Fo3 or Fo4 or FNV, just because I can't be bothered to type "Fallout TV show" over and over again.)

Also, somewhat-related to the above, FoTV is the best game adaptation I think I have ever seen. The world of the games is there, from props and set-pieces to the wasteland environment itself, even little nods to actual in-game mechanics. There are also lots of call-backs to the games themselves. For instance, FoTV's opening sequence was, to me, very reminiscent of the opening sections of Fo4, where the perfect suburbia is first set up, and then implodes in front of your horrified eyes, then is incinerated by a literal atomic bomb. The opening sequences of FoTV also do a good job of nailing the fact that while it's a future, it's not our future. It isn't spelled out directly, but we're shown it very smoothly through the mise-en-scène, whether it's news coming via an analogue radio, oldschool chemical-film cameras, or fashions that we just don't wear in our 2024, and so on.

And then Los Angeles gets nuked.

(I do have a small nitpick here. While I understand why the writers structured this scene the way they do, and it works narratively, nonetheless several characters are looking DIRECTLY at the first explosion when it happens. At the absolute minimum, they would have been blinded. More realistically, the radiant heat from the explosion - even at this distance! - would have given them extreme burns on exposed skin. And for that matter the UV component of the flashover would have given them an extreme case of sunburn. Also, the shockwave should actually have been a one-two-three punch - effectively-instantaneous light-flashover first, then the ground shaking as the speed of sound in rock is about three times faster than in the air, then the window getting smashed in by the airburst. Also, uh, they all cope unrealistically well with a storm of knife-sharp broken glass fragments being hurled into their faces.)

(You'll also note that I haven't said a single word about what the hard gamma rays might be doing to the cellular machinery inside their bodies. Actually, this I'm a bit less sure about - gamma rays do attenuate in air, at least somewhat, and also high-energy photons have a tendency just to go straight through people without actually stopping - our soft tissues, at least, semi-transparent to X-rays! -, so I suspect that at the distance the birthday party was from Ground Zero, you could possibly argue this one either way.)

Anyway. Moving on from all of that, before I feel a need to go and look up cumulative radiation-exposure tables or something, because this is supposed to be a Tumblr post, not a peer-reviewed academic paper.

Regarding Lucy's characterisation, I found it interesting how she flips from "sheltered and naive" to "unexpectedly competent". While she's lacking in knowledge of the world outside her vault, she's also clearly very adaptable and good at thinking on her feet. She figures out that the visitors from the other vault are actually Raiders without any direct help, and actually manages to get out of THAT room alive - all the more surprising when you realise she was up against someone who a) had the benefit of surprise, b) had prior experience with violence and killing and c) was also the person with weapons (at least at first). Lucy may be a bit of a cloud-cuckoolander in some ways, but she's not a pushover either. She's also clearly capable of taking initiative and acting on her own when she needs to, and she's also seemingly not averse to taking a third option if she thinks other people are in the wrong. (In particular, her decision to let herself out of the vault stands out here.) On the other hand, she also alternates these merits with getting easily-flustered and off-balance around other people, along with a tendency to telegraph her actions in a very overt manner. (There's a mildly-hilarious moment early on where you basically get to watch her flub her first speech-check.)

The Brotherhood of Steel are, unsurprisingly, back. So far there hasn't been any explanation for how they apparently recovered from the events of Fallout 2 or (possibly, depending on whatever the "canonical" ending is) the events of Fallout: New Vegas. They're also back in the arrogant/dickish mode of behaviour that they fall into very easily. They're also implied to be amoral in their own way - one interpretation of Maximus's trial scene is that he gets assigned to be Knight Titus's squire precisely because they do think he's the guilty party for the "boot-razor" incident, and the higher-ups actually like this bit of backstabbiness. (Perhaps they interpret it as ruthless determination, or a willingness to do "whatever is necessary for the mission". Or maybe they just think it's funny to kick him a little bit upstairs, just so they can see what happens next.)

(As far as I could tell, the narrative and the evidence-in-the-text are coy about whether he's actually guilty concerning Initiate Dane. Personally, I suspect Max isn't the guilty party - given that he had the bunk next to the victim, it would be the dumbest crime imaginable if he was. It's also clear that he has enemies amongst the other aspirants who might be willing to frame him. But who knows? And less favourable interpretations of the events definitely exist.)

While it's subtle, some of the Brotherhood's flaws are also on display here. Remember the overconfident Knights who got themselves blown up by the Boomers in FNV? Knight Titus shows a lot of that sort of behaviour too. Going AWOL in the middle of the mission to do some big game hunting, because he was "bored"? Yeah, arrogance and overconfidence there! Also he displays some real stupidity with his treatment of Maximus, being extremely rude to him and blaming Max for his own failures while he's also too injured to stand up, and there are no independent witnesses present. You'd think anyone who's a wasteland native would know to be extra careful when there's no backup or support! And to add extra sauce to the stupidity, this after he had Max remove his helmet!

The narrative doesn't make it quite clear whether Max either gave Titus a quick headshot, or just stood there until the internal bleeding or whatever ran its course, but it seems clear enough what happened there. And honestly, it's hard to hold it against Max given that Titus was both an incompetent and a dickhead. (Though, one subtlety - as I recall, we don't ever see Titus's body, so I wouldn't be totally surprised if he reappears at some point.)

Somewhat related to the Brotherhood stuff, I was also interested to see how the writers handled what we might call the power armour question. Basically, it's depicted as being, well, powerful, but it's also clear that Max doesn't really know what he's doing, so his T-60 doesn't turn into any kind of Disk One Nuke. (As the Ghoul puts it, "you should've read the manual" after Max gets his leg stuck after landing on a surface that couldn't take his weight.)

As for the Ghoul and what his agenda is, at two episodes in, it's hard to say, and there's not enough evidence to even begin to speculate. However, one detail I did notice was that Lucy's father seems distinctly unsurprised (if horrified) by the break-in to the Vault. Also, while I couldn't entirely sure, he seemed to recognise Moldaver and doesn't seem particularly-surprised to see her there. Moldaver's comment to Lucy - "you look just like your mother" - also seems to confirm that she has some prior history with Lucy's family.

Then there's the vault attack itself. For the Wasteland, the survival-rate among the residents its actually rather high. The Raiders could very easily have exterminated them … and they don't. "Restraint" and "mercy" are not qualities we associate with Raiders, so this is an interesting turn of events. (The "hostages and bomb" scene in particular had a bit of a dog-and-pony-show sense to it - notably, the delay on the bomb is long enough for the hostage vault-dwellers to make an escape, almost as if it was never really intended to kill them in the first place.) There also seemed to be a suggestion that Moldaver wanted them to stay inside the vault, which is interesting for its implications.

Anyway, I look forward to the chance to see future episodes. This has proved to be the most interesting TV experience in some time.

#Fallout #the tv show #LHS reacts #idle speculation #also #hi #I'm not dead!

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mayhemmybeloved · 1 month

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the reason i have these headcanons about Shigs is cause. From what it seems like to ME. Shigaraki doesn't really wanna. Harm the less fortunate? At least it was never intended.

I think his thing is the corrupted society. Like. I genuinely genuinely believe that is all he wants. Is to fix things. But because HE has known nothing but fear and violence , he thinks that's the only way things can BE fixed. And let's b honest: talking won't ever work with the Commission.

I do think he can be a hypocrite at times , however. Such as when he and his group are strong arming control over others , but hated Overhaul for doing it. HOWEVER. I also think that's different. Because Overhaul didn't really wanna... FIX anything genuinely outta care. However that's a whole other topic I will get into at a later date.

I think people forget , that the LOV aren't people who randomly woke up and decided "hey. lets fuck up the world". Each and every single one is a VICTIM of the corrupted society. Which in my opinion. SEPERATES them from other villains in the series. Going about it EXTREMELY wrong , but what else can they do?

We seen it with Tenko when he was a scared kid , wandering the streets. No one stopped to help because he "looked off." To me , that shows how fucked up civilian society is. How can you see this small boy , who is CLEARLY near the brink of starving , and NOT help him ? Why ? Because he looks off ? Yeah , of course he does. He just went through hell in a span of ten minutes while being abused for YEARS on top of it.

Touya is an example of the corrupted hero side of society. Having his father's ideals forced upon him because Enji was obsessed and such. Suddenly having that ripped away because he felt "weak". Because his Quirk was turning against him.

And then Hawks. Who is honestly proof that the COMMISSION is hella corrupted. Taking in this kid , training him to god only knows what lengths. And making him feel emotionally distant and like he has to fake everything about himself. To the point he won't tell anyone his real name.

Yet despite that , we never see Shigs going after the less fortunate DIRECTLY. He was jumping from place to place with his group , in some of the most shittiest areas. Places that probs could have been easy to strong arm control over. And never did. Honestly , the only person who probs was close to doing that , was Dabi when he was out recruiting and would just burn anyone alive who he didn't find worthy of joining the League.

Shigs was also quick to take in Toga , who even DABI commented on about how insane that seemed. Not to mention Shigs was quick to defend Toga , and I can't help but wonder if that was due to the harsh insults he himself would receive. Shigs was quick to take them all in , and i guess you could argue that it was because he needed members DESPERTLY. But i don't think it was that.

#ooc tba.#LIKE OBVS HE ENDS UP HARMING EVERYONE INDIRECTLY #but i dunno #kinda interesting to think about

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idontreallyknow26 · 1 year

Text

DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU CANT HANDLE OPINIONS (or just facts tbh) BECAUSE THIS WILL PISS YOU OFF. AND I CANT REPLY TO COMMENTS ON MY POSTS FOR SOME REASON SO IF YOU DO READ THIS AND GET MAD YOU UNFORTUNATLEY WONT GET A RESPONSE LMFAO.

I'm actually so tired of Aemond Antis (and just mindless black obsessors in general) acting as if there wasn't any justification in Aemond killing Luce, or even just taking his eye at Storms End like he wanted to.

When Luce gouged Aemonds eye out, Jace knew what was gonna happen. He may not have known it would be his eye, but he saw Luce crawl to the knife and his reaction was not to be like "Put it down Luce" or any form of common fucking sense at all. He literally threw sand in his face so Luce could stab him, or whatever fucked up shit Jace wanted to do.

Jace pulled a knife on Aemond because Aemond called him a bastard (Which he is), NOT because of the rock. The rock at been lowered and Luce had been put down by the time Jace unsheathed the knife. Even Rhaena yelled "Jace!" Because she knew that was wrong. Aemond was never going to hit anyone with the rock anyway, he made threats about burning them alive. Rocks don't just randomly burst into flames yall.

When Aemond lifts the rock again, it's clearly taunting. Also, he had every right to grab the rock. He was being 4v1d. And he even tried to avoid it, he only pushed Rhaena away when she lunged at him. Then Baela punched him. Do yall expect him to just sit there and take it? Being beat by four people?

And even after, Luce showed absolutley no remorse for permanently mutilating Aemond. Even after it was said that the eye was lost. He's a little privileged shit and I don't blame Aemond for hating him.

At the feast, Luce at his grown fucking age, decides to laugh at Aemond. Still not showing any goddamn remorse. He laughed in his face, clear as goddamn day.

It was only at Storms End did he realize "Oh shit, I'm not actually all that it's just I've always been in the company of my family."

And so Aemond, now having the chance with none of the Blacks around, asks him for his eye. Even still gives him the opportunity to pick which one, and only one. He wouldn't blind him.

And Luce, still being a pussy, runs away. I mean, let's all be completely honest here, if you were Aemond wtf would you do? This motherfucker, the guy who stole your eye, didn't feel bad (Not one goddamn apology), mocked you, and refused to pay the debt runs off. People have pointed out that logically Aemond because of how it was cut would have chronic pain. He's lived with that, constant reminders for six years. SIX YEARS. And even before that was bullied by his brother and nephews.

So, Aemond chases after him. To corner him and take his eye? To scare him? I don't fucking know. But they both (As in the two of them, Lucerys and Aemond,) lose control of their dragons and neither have any control over what they do. Even Luce, his dragon as small as it was. Arrax flames Vhagar, Vhagar gets mad and chomps him. We literally heard Aemond screaming and begging for Vhagar to stop. There is no way yall watched that scene and genuinley thought Aemond wanted to kill him. If you did, I think you have some context issues and a possible lack of empathy.

And above all, Aemond showed remorse. You could clearly see he was tearing up, and regretted it.

Do I think Luce deserved to die like that? No. Do I think he deserved the fear, and to have his eye taken? Absofuckinglutley.

Aemond will always be better than Lucerys idgaf. Argue with my giant balls.

This is not a safe space for Aegon stans go away I don't wanna hear nor see you you're all disgusting and deserve to have makeup products tested on you.

#house of the dragon #aemond targaryen #ewan mitchell #lucerys velaryon #team black #team green #storms end

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from-my-gabriel-notebook · 2 years

Text

A last goodbye

Word count: 2316

Content warning: major character death

Dean had barely finished answered your question of "Where-" with "He's in the car" that you were already out of the door.

But still, a part of you didn't believe him until you saw Gabriel leaning on the Impala.

You run to him, and he barely had the time to notice you before you threw yourself at him, hugging him with all your strength.

"Don't you ever do something like that to me again!" you said, voice breaking.

The arms that rose around you to were so familiar and safe and alive you wanted to never let go.

But you had to, so you squeezed one last time and stepped back.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I wouldn't have let her kill me, of course, but there wasn't a way to let you know. I had hoped you knew it was fake. Wings or -

" Wings or it didn't happen, yeah, I know. " you finished. It was something he had drilled into your head, to make sure any angel you fought against was actually dead and not just faking.

But it had happened too fast, and you were too close to him to think clearly.

" Sam had to keep me from going at her throat," you said, blood boiling all over again for the way Kali had killed him. Tried to, you immediately corrected yourself. He was alive, it didn't work, he was fine. Maybe saying it enough will keep you from remembering the pain.

"What, just for little old me? I'm not worth that much.".

Then again with the self depreciation. It was either that or exclamation of grandeur with him. But you were having none of that tonight, not when you could easily be dead shortly.

" You're worth that and more. Especially to me,"you said, looking him straight into his eyes and trying to convey just how important he was.

He didn't say anything immediately, then tilted his head and went " Uh. "

" What? "

" Just... Something to consider talking about if we survive this. "

" If? You can survive anything."

"Your faith in me is touching, but Lucifer won't fall for my usual tricks. At least I won't have to worry about you."

Wait.

"What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, he showed you what he was holding.

"A tiny vial?" you asked.

"It was the only one I was able to grab before Kali got me. It's your blood."

"So what?"

"So I can zap you away, where you'll be safe."

The light behind you flickered, and you turned towards it just as the screaming began.

When you turned, Gabriel looked almost scared, but steeled himself after looking at you.

"Time to go," he said, raising a hand.

You took a step back.

"Wait, no. I want to stay and help the others."

"I'm the only with with even the tiniest possibility of beating him. You'll only be in the way."

"I don't want to leave!"

"I'm afraid it's not up to you." He stopped for a moment. "Look, I promise I'll do my best to live and come back to you and you can scream all you want at me after it. But now you need to go."

And he touched your forehead before you could say anything else.

Between the dizziness and the stark difference in lighting it took you a moment to recognize he had sent you to one of his most secluded, and best protected, safe houses. You had stayed here only once before, and you knew it was far, far away from the hotel.

It was empty of people but not in decorations, most surfaces covered in knick knack of every kind.

You had a burning desire to trash the place.

How dare he, to send you away like that? You wanted to stay and help, fight against Lucifer, not being kept away like some defenseless damsel when they were fighting and for all you knew be already dea-

You stopped and forced yourself to take some deep breaths. Getting mad won't help you now. You'll keep it contained until you saw him again and could say it all to his face, before getting a hold of him and never letting go again.

So think. You were too far away to reach anyone in a human way, so, supernatural it was. Crowley? But no, he would never come out of hiding for this, and you didn't really want to sell your soul. Most angels would try to use you as bait or torture you to get informations on the brothers, so they were out. Gabriel was really the only one you had a good relationship with....

Wait. Not the only one.

Balthazar. Your relationship was nowhere near as close as the one you had with Gabriel, you were amicable at best , but he was your best - and admittedly only - option at this point. You knew him enough to know he most likely wasn't going to respond to a normal prayer, but you uttered one anyway as you gathered the ingredients to summon him, sticking the match and setting it on fire as soon as everything was in the same bowl.

"Wow, prayer and summons? What do you need me for so badly?"

"Send me back," you said before he had even finished.

He tilted his head.

"Send who where?"

"The Elysian Hotel. Gabriel sent me here, but you can send me back."

"Why would my brother sent you away? And here, of all places?"

"He didn't want me to go against Lucifer."

He stopped from pouring himself a drink and looked at you properly.

"Come again?"

"We stopped at the wrong place, some pagan gods trapped us, Gabriel came to help us, they thought they could kill Lucifer, and he sent me here. So now you send me back." When he didn't immediately moved, you groaned and added "Now! C'mon, we don't have time!"

He placed both drink and glass down and faced you properly for the first time.

"Look, I'm not sure I understood correctly, but if some small gods are trying to get against a bloodthirsty Archangel and my brother decided to sent you here before going in, I don't think it's a good idea to just sent you back into the shit show that's going on. "

His refusal to help you, not even in the fight, just in getting back, made you snap, and before you could think better of it there was an angel blade pressing against his neck.

"Bring me back, Balthazar, or I'll make you."

He completely ignored you, instead focusing on the weapon in your hand.

"Where did you get that?"

Irritation merged with your anger.

"It's Gabriel's."

"I can feel that. What I want to know is how you have it."

You stepped back, the question distracting you from your poor attempts at threatening him.

"He- he bonded it to me, so that I'll always have something to protect myself with. But it shouldn't come when he's using it, so why-"

You stopped, too afraid to finish the thought, but you knew.

If it came to you it meant the battle was over. And Gabriel hadn't come like he promised.

You looked at Balthazar, and all your fury had been replaced by despair for the truth you had yet to accept.

" Bring me back. Please, I need to - to help him - to -" your voice broke. "Just, please."

Balthazar sighed. Lucifer was never one to stay after he won, so you'll probably be safe, but you both knew what you would find, and he didn't know if you were ready to face the truth yet.

But he couldn't let you hope neither, it would only hurt more when the reality will crash onto you.

He touched your forehead.

Balthazar stood quietly against the wall, watching you.

It hadn't been difficult to find the place. The energy left behind by two archangels were difficult to miss even if one didn't know where to look.

He thought of when you first arrived. You didn't even wait for the dizziness he knew you must feel from the travel to walk inside. Blade in hand, you strode through the place with little care for the blood on the walls or the bodies on the floor.

Well, except one.

You were kneeling between the burned imprint of his wings, his head resting on your legs as you softly brushed his hair.

You hadn't shed a single tear yet. Maybe you were in shock.

He knew how you felt about Gabriel. It was hard to miss, and yet his brother did, despite feeling the same.

Your voice cut through the silence.

"Why did you send me away? I wanted to be by your side no matter what."

Despite knowing you weren't talking to him, Balthazar found himself speaking. "He wanted you to be safe. Your safety and well being were his first thoughts."

You smiled at Gabriel. "Silly angel. I'm a hunter, danger it's part of the job."

"He wanted you to be happy."

"How can I be happy now that he's gone?"

"You fight."

His words had come harsher than he intended, but he won't let you crumble under his eyes, not when Gabriel had done this to protect you.

You took it the wrong way.

"I'm sorry." you said, "he's - was" your voice broke on the correction " your brother, and I'm acting like I'm the only one who lost him."

"That doesn't mean you can't miss him. You loved him. You're allowed to grieve."

You hummed, looking back at Gabriel. "I guess there's no reason to keep it hidden now, is there?"

"There was no reason to keep it hidden before either."

"I didn't want to lose him. I didn't deserve his friendship, let alone his love."

"Funny. He thought the same thing."

Balthazar words took a moment to hit you, but when they did you looked up to him, shocked still.

"What -"

"Why did you think he acted like that with you? Out of pity?"

He didn't expect you to nod.

"Why else would he be so kind to me? I'm a simple human, and he had always been... so much more."

"He never pitied any of your kind. In fact, Gabriel was one of the few of us that took our father's words to heart. He loved all humans, but what he felt for you... that was something more."

Your breath itched, and you pressed your eyes shut, but you couldn't stop the trembling.

He let you mourn in silence.

He didn't kept track of the time, but he could tell it took you a long time to rise.

You gently lowered Gabriel's head to the floor and walked towards Balthazar.

He could tell you were nervous by the way you wouldn't meet his eyes, or maybe that was because you didn't want him to see how red they were from the tears that you still wouldn't shed.

At last you took a deep breath and forced yourself to speak, even in your voice was still low.

"I know angels have their own way of mourning, but I was thinking of doing something else. Would it be okay?"

To be honest, he didn't care. But it couldn't hurt, especially if it helped you move on.

"What did you have in mind?"

"There's a place. Can you bring us there?"

You didn't know where it was. Gabriel never told you, and you felt no need to ask. You were worried it would be a problem, but Balthazar was quick to reassure you. A quick scan of your memory, with your permission, and he snapped you all away.

It was peaceful.

There was a wide field of grass. One side melded with a forest, while the other ended in a lake.

Balthazar looked around him. "What is this place?"

"I don't know. He used to bring me here when things became too much to bear, " you remembered out loud, "But there's something different. It used to be so... alive, but now there's just silence."

Maybe it was better this way. You didn't think you could bear to come back here with his empty vessel and see that everything was still the same. Maybe it was its own way of mourning.

You walked towards the lake or, more precisely, to the weeping willow on its shore. You always loved to lay under its leaves, seeing as the light shine through.

You touched the bark, feeling the wet lump in your throat cutting your breathing thinking of how he would never again be laying with you, and turned towards Balthazar.

"Can you use this wood to make a boat? Just big enough for..." you didn't have the strength to finish, but he understood.

Among everyone who knew about his double life, you seemed to be the only one who tried to give importance to his past as Loki, so it didn't really surprise him that you wanted you put him to rest in a way that honored it.

With a snap the tree disappeared, and a boat appeared waiting on the shore.

Gabriel's empty vessel was already in it, laying among wood and flowers.

With closed eyes and his hands covering the stab wound, he looked peaceful, like he was sleeping.

Your voice was soft, not wanting to disrupt his rest.

"Do you think he'd mind if I...?"

You were holding an uncapped bullet full of salt.

An hunter's funeral.

Balthazar shrugged, and simply watched as you poured in over everything and use your lighter to start a flame.

He helped you push it onto the lake, then stood by your side as you watched the fire take.

It proved to be too much for you, and you fell to your knees sobbing, the sound traveling over the water and back like the world was crying with you.

He put a hand on your shoulder and watched the boat burn.

#gabriel x reader #reader insert #spn #spn gabriel #supernatural

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candlewaxandp0lar0ids · 1 year

Note

hi hii it's me again. i woke up and the notif for the new chapter was the first thing i saw in the morning and it totally made my day hehe. as always you blew my mind with this chapter too i loved it 😭 (warning: longggg ask ahead)

i noticed that in many chapters, we get these small glimpses of how mr. x was as a person or rather...as the "leader" and it's really intriguing to me because while he isn't exactly painted as a noble person but as the oc mentions, there isn't anything "noble" about their line of work anyway but he seems like someone i could respect for how he had maintained that power and fear over everyone if i was in oc's place. he seems like the kind of person who would carry that powerful, dangerous and yet charismatic aura with him everywhere he went. you know the kind of people who aren't "good" or rather do many "bad" or "questionable" things and yet, do it in such a charismatic way that you can't help but weirdly kind of admire that trait of them being able to be so charismatic that it leaves an impression on everyone even if you don't agree with the things they do. i honestly think he seems like a very interesting character even if he doesn't exist anymore. you write the descriptions of him so well that i can easily imagine how menacing he would be if he was still alive in the story haha

as always, love her interactions with hector. their gentle dynamic and her trust in him and the way he cares for her, it all makes me feel oddly comforting. it's very calming and i stand by hector being best character 😤

oc's growing feelings for jungkook are so interesting to read too, it's adorable. i love how her shifting dynamic with him is making her think and do things which she usually wouldn't. her waiting at the office for any news on him, her not wanting him to meet anna, her not being able to maintain her poker face facade when it comes to him, going with him through town just because she doesn't want to stay at the office thinking the worse which lowkey translates to the fact that she'd rather be in a dangerous with him than let him go alone and stay behind safe alone. it's so different than her "survival" mindset but i'm loving that development for her.

i'm also looking forward to knowing what anna's planning to do with her wanting to help him. is she being paid for doing something to jungkook and his organisation in the future? or has she collaborated with someone for it? i have so many questions on that. (but it was so satisfying to see jungkook be so blunt and unbothered when she was clearly trying to get his attention lmao)

oh and that scene where the oc and jungkook were bickering about how the other needs to add more security personnel with each other was really cute, had me squealing (they're a married couple your honour)

you have me in a chokehold anticipating what jungkook's gonna say just for it to get interrupted pls 😭 it happened twice this chapter. i really want him to complete whatever he's saying to her i wanna KNOW what he thinks i'm on my knees to know more of his inner monologue

the attack had me worried ngl because i was worrying if one of them is gonna be seriously hurt but i was relieved to see they were okay in the end. that said, her being focused on his proximity and his scent even in that dangerous situation was so ooc, i loved it. that's the best kind of ooc scene because it shows her development i love it. jungkook's panic over her being possibly hurt at the end was endearing too. i was like "awww they're gonna be in L word soon" lmaoooo and it was so satisfying to see oc for the first time not fight her developing feelings(?) about kook at all in the end but rather be kinda comfortable or accepting with it.

honestly this chapter had such a good pacing but then, literally all iicngyp chapters do so yeah you're just amazing honestly. i'm LOVING the slow burn and the sexual tension pls it's so deliciously frustrating haha you never miss. eagerly waiting for the next update whenever you decide to do! 💗

Makes me so happy to see your username and your long asks in my inbox 😁

So, Mr. X was someone who was just incredibly -efficient-, is I think the biggest thing. I mean, he ruled the Organization for -decades- and people thought he’d be in place forever. As OC points out, he’d made it so no one would even dare to think they could replace him (until Jungkook, that is). She still abides by a lot of the rules he set in place because she realizes that these allowed the highest reward with the lowest risk. Jungkook’s attitude is more high rewards-high risks, which she has trouble with after years of taking the safest option even if it was a horrible thing to do. So yeah, there was definitely a lot to him! (and if I have a chance to talk about how -he- got to rule the Organization it might come up in the story 👀)

I feel that without Hector, if OC had been truly alone, some aspects of the story would have just been a little too much. It’s good that she has this one person in her corner 😭

OC is definitely changing and it’s one of my favorite things to show really, the slow evolution of her character as she grows into a different version of herself. Hopefully a better version of herself too, one that isn’t so weighed down by all her responsibilities and the need to keep a mask up the whole time, but I’ll let you be the judge of that ahah.

Not a word on Anna I’m afraid, that would be too direct of a spoiler 😬

I’m glad you liked that scene! If you look, OC also agrees to take on more bodyguards in hope it will sway Jungkook and it’s after that that he agrees to get one more lol, aren’t they precious 😭 (I say, as the writer of the story)

I’m sorryyyy, I swear they’ll talk some more eventually but there’s just a lot going on at the moment. The chapter after the next one will be an Interlude from Jungkook’s perspective though, so that’s coming 👀

I’m glad you didn’t find too weird that OC was focused on Jungkook in a dangerous situation, the whole time I was wondering if it would be too much considering the fact that they’re in a life or death situation lol. It feels like a moment when you’d scream at her to get a grip, but also she’s already screaming that at herself and is very annoyed with her own mind soooo… hopefully it cancels out? But yeah, she’s definitely slowly moving towards the point where denial just isn’t an option anymore.

So so glad you enjoyed the chapter, I had some doubts since I wrote it kinda fast and that’s a new thing for me but I’m feeling relieved reading your thoughts 😊 Thank you so much for the ask 💜

#asks #jeonlovescoffee #iicngyp: 9 #iicngyp: oc

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anneangel · 2 years

Note

Your post on the lack of complexity regarding the morality of the characters in Tolkien’s works was really interesting, and I definitely see your point. But, wasn’t there some ambiguity over who was right or wrong in The Hobbit, before the BOFTA? Both sides had selfish and selfless motives, greed and care for their people simultaneously, as well as pride and anger. I think Tolkien intended for the readers to sympathise with both Thorin and Bard.

I have to ask you a question: have you read my mind? I read and reread my post and was thinking of adding this moral issue between races, which is a much "looser and more flexible, more ambiguous" moral issue than “Good versus evil”. I think, your point is super valid.

I have to highlight your other point here: “Tolkien draws a hard line in the sand though. Regardless of how far people are willing to go, no one decent or honorable in the slightest would ever side with orcs. That's the ultimate sign of who the good guys and the bad guys are” by @queenmorganlafay

I agree with all your statements, have no doubt; and I'm so glad you said it so clearly. Just allow me to add my endless monologue about it all, and I know it's going to be boring but I can't hold back:

I was thinking about this, that I have friends who admire elves, some admires hobbits and others the dwarves. But I don't know anyone who really admires and wants to be like an orc. Yes, precisely. You are right: In fact Tolkien drew a line on the ground, there is a marking of how far his characters can be on the side of the “benign” and how far they can be on the side of the “evil”.

But it is curious how characters and races are free to show a multitude of emotions and attitudes that range from “peaceful” to “that lead to war”, where morality is dubious and we cannot define with absolute certainty “who is the good guy”. As in BotFA (Battle of the Five Armies).

And you know what's more curious? That the book considered “most childish” is precisely the one that does not establish pre-defined moral parameters between “who is right and who is wrong”.

I remember, while reading, of:

- 1) Agree when Thorin claims he will not converse with armed besiegers (after all, what kind of “dialogue” is assumed when you are surrounded by an army? The kind of “dialogue” that is peaceful only as long as the besiegers terms are accepted, other wise will attack).

- 2) I enjoyed that the Elves bring supplies to the wounded of the lake-town, but bothering me when they take an army to fight the dwarves because of an ANCIENT feud (as a peacemaker king it would be wiser to wait for that kingdoms establish themselves helping both humans and dwarves. Then use diplomacy and take back what was theirs in the past. But Thranduil chooses to take an army, intending to take back what is his at the worst time and on the basis of blackmail and numbers tatics in your favor).

- 3) Bard is the one who has the most sensible terms, as heir to Dale and Dragonslayer, he deserved his share, his reward and Lake-town deserved support. (But I remember being annoyed at how unhappy he seemed to see the dwarves alive, in book).

The “villains” in the book also made me think: Trolls and Spiders kill and are antagonists, but they do it to eat (this is food chain, not entirely nefarious). Smaug is terrifying and villainous, but he has been "hibernating" without further cruelty for a long time as many in Lake-town claimed to have never seen him in decades.

- Again, the villains that gave me the most chills when I read were the Orcs/Goblins, who are the only ones who were really willing to burn the protagonists for fun and revenge, the song they sing when the 15 protagonists are up in the trees is the most frightening of the whole book. It is undeniable that the orcs are "the line" between "good and evil", since everyone has them as enemies in the end, and even races that despise each other can unite in order to defeat them.

But even though the morals are much more “flexible”, ambiguous and complex in The Hobbit, each character and race still has to deal with the consequences of their choices, they are still good or bad/evil choices. It doesn't mean that you will declare war on another race and walk away completely unscathed and as the "undoubtedly correct side of the situation". Remember what Gandalf told Thorin in Unfinished Tales:

- “If you disregard my advice, you will be headed for disaster. And you will no longer receive advice or help from me until the Evil one befalls you. And control your pride and your greed, or you will fall at the end of whatever path you take, however much your hands are full of gold.”

It's as if evil is an entity that puts the characters' moral choices to the test. So characters "full of light" can be corrupted to evil, whether humans, elves, or anyone else. Where individual needs, pride, greed, anger, hatred, desire for revenge, obsession with objects, need for power and knowledge, among others, are feelings that, depending on their intensity, can become harmful and corrupt them for the "evil". I have a feeling that Tolkien's characters are "good light", if dont corrupted by selfishness.

What I liked the most when I read The Hobbit was:

A) The Hobbit is a light, unpretentious read, promises nothing and delivers everything, the journey has the right tone and pace, without being so tiring, it is focused on a single protagonist, dear Bilbo, who is not the hero archetype conventional "strong and badass", but still charming in his actions, he is comical, grumpy, brave and sensible all in a single character, which makes him multidimensional, showing his growth along the journey.

B) Despite being a more "soft and childish" adventure, it still teaches us a lot about launching ourselves into the world even if everything is uncertain, about friendship, about greed and its evils, about the journey being important to define who we are, that it changes us but that we must not lose the essence.

C) The plot is not that "cliché" of the "young hero who has to struggle and sacrifice himself for a good cause of good against evil", here it all started just as a adventurous "treasure hunt".

D) The protagonist is only one, but he is enough in the plot, which teaches us: not to be afraid to explore the world around us, to care for friendships, that gold is not more important than life, to value the people who we have on our side, that everything in life is ups and downs, that despite the journey bringing some suffering we can still choose to see the beautiful side of life and continue living. Also, Bilbo is not someone who becomes a "winner" in the end, he just grows stronger and discovers who he is throughout his adventure, changing the fate of everyone around him in the end and in the future. With Bilbo, we discovers that “having it all” shouldn't be the goal, that greed corrupts everyone around us and that money doesn't buy everything. That it is better to value life, simple things and friendships and that it is not worth wasting such things at the expense of petty wars.

The Hobbit is a light and deep book when it has to be, makes you laugh and cry, in addition the "world" where the plot takes place is incredible without Tolkien having to make long descriptions of the environment and add various information about the world that created. This added to the fact that Bilbo is a very active/proactive and charismatic character makes the book a delight.

That's why I find it curious that it is precisely in the Tolkien “children's book” where there is greater moral flexibility, but in LotR and Silmarillion an even more visible "line" is created in the plot where there is "the undeniable and good side versus the nefarious and undoubted side of evil".

I understand why I liked The Hobbit more (more focused on a single protagonist and the central plot has nothing to do with "saving the world from something nefarious evil") besides that I get attached much easier to characters instead of the plot, I prefer individuality of the characters and I like books that give primacy to psychological factors, thinking, aptitudes, interests, desires, inclinations, feelings, sensations, emotions, flaws, defects, learnings and intuitions of the characters, and Bilbo stole my heart in the approximately 300 pages of which he is the protagonist.

It revolts me to be insulted by fans of LotR's books - and movies - just because I prefer The Hobbit. I think respect should come above all, besides the fact that demeaning a book because it is more "childish" is silly, it's as if people are saying that there is no learning and excellent lessons in children's things, like being "for children" were inferior.

I think children's books need to define much more what "is right and what is wrong" since their target audience are children without much sense of discernment, while "adult" books don't need much of this because it is assumed that their audience is more enlightened.

- Hence my surprise to see that morals are more “flexible” and exists ambiguity in The Hobbit, while in LotR there is an obvious “line” of who “are the good guys and who is the evil side” (I swear, have you seen my post from a mother who came to ask me about using The Hobbit at school because her think it is not appropriate for children because Bilbo is a thief? You see it's a "children's book", but it leaves room for questioning, the narrative has a very "Flexible" moral in The Hobbit, which I think is unusual for children's books).

So I'm always get emotional with who see this book as more than "a silly childish narrative" and I love talking about The Hobbit. I thank you, for giving me this opportunity.

#the hobbit #bilbo baggins #JRR Tolkien #lord of the rings #LOTR

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lovelyisadora · 2 years

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Undead sep au lore <33 uhhhh

Necromancy (bringing back the dead) has been around for forever but because of what I'm abt to start rambling about, people started assuming that necromancers had killed the people they brought back rather than resurrected them. This led to a misconception of necromancers (after many many years of rumours and myths getting twisted) as "magyk user who uses darke magyk and other people's souls to keep themself alive forever". Necromancy isn't darke magyk tho it's just. Magyk

Many real necromancy spells are very, very delicate and difficult and precise and have to be done exactly right or else there will be very bad consequences ranging from "it didn't work" to "shit we blew up a building and also nothing will grow here ever again" so it's a very skilled art that for obvious reasons can't really be self-taught

Necromancy brings people back from the dead (duh) and they're just. Themself again. No personality change or anything but it makes the person (or animal it works on animals) who's been brought back be..off. Like there's nothing Wrong with them on the surface level, logically there's no reason they'd be that way but they are and it's unnerving and scary. Normally it's at a very low level type thing like there's clearly something wrong here but u might be able to ignore it. The necromancer can't notice this even if they know its there

People aren't immortal after being brought back - their body works exactly the same as it did when they died (unless their corpse has been messed with), all the necromancy does is put their ghost back in its body. Necromancy gets less effective the older the body is, if its not in pristine or near-pristine condition then the person won't survive

Necromancy can, however, be done multiple times, infinite times really as long as the body is intact. The downside is that every time a person is brought back the sense of wrongness increases and the chance of something going wrong does too. Most necromancers consider 3 the most times someone can safely be revived - it's possible to do more but it's very ill advised for both parties since complications are more likely to arise and if the necromancy fails then the persons ghost can just disappear never to be seen again and the necromancer can die

Hiring a necromancer is very very expensive so it's mostly only royalty and nobility that use them. In parts of the world where this is common there's a culture that nobles don't show themselves to the public - always behind screens or in carriages. The castle is not one of these places

Marcias family have been necromancers forever and its part of why they moved around so much. Its only when her father tries to revive a king from a land of snow and it turns out his daughter had lied about how many times he'd been brought back does anything go wrong and the kings ghost disappears and the princess puts the blame on their family - they flee the kingdom with the common folk essentially waving pitchforks and torches behind them

When they reach the castle her parents immediately ban her from all magyk - including necromancy, and she refuses to listen and manages to get her father to teach her some things but her mother finds out and stops him before she can ever bring back a person. Her mother insists that necromancy nearly got them all killed and it'll only happen again if they carry on the tradition so she burns the books they have, all except the few that marcia has stashed in her room

That's all the stuff there needs to be I think,, I'm not so confident on some of it but i can always change it later <3

OOOOOH OKAY I LOVE THIS

#septimus-heap my beloved #the necromancy being just a normal magyk thing like YES #not to be like I love necromancy but. i love necromancy

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astaerie · 7 days

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i. i think. i’m thinking about carmine’s voicelines about kieran during the start of the teal mask dlc again. (also. i wrote a lot. AGAIN. GODS. more under the cut, as always)

“Oh yeah. So my little brother here has been all googly-eyed over you since yesterday. He wouldn't stop talking about you—even at home. I seriously couldn't get him to shut up."

"Look at him, being all shy... See, my brother's no good at talking to people. He'd probably never work up the nerve to ask you himself, but he'd really like a battle with you."

"Don't what? It's not like we can pair up. Or were you hoping to partner with some other rando outsider instead of MC?”

he’s so. you can tell he really likes the MC from the get go. like it’s super obvious that he likes you, romantically or platonically. maybe it’s cuz i’m arospec but this also reads as like, a super big squish to me since i get those myself sometimes and it’s like. i really really really wanna be ur friend. i think you are So Cool, but also i am terrified of actually initiating interaction, so i’ll just. sit here. (ofc carmine sees this and is like GOD. talk to the person. jesus i don’t wanna hear you pining over the new kid while we’re eating dinner)

“And you wouldn't think it, but...Kiki's got a bit of an ego too! He doesn't take losing well."

this line also haunts me. like kieran’s always known to be shy, and doesn’t like to talk to new people much (or even the rest of the townsfolk, which are ppl he very likely grew up with), and he’s also super super insecure about himself and his abilities. and yet he really doesn’t like losing? this feels a lot like kieran was actually decent in pokemon battles growing up, at least in kitakami. it’s probably why he and carmine got into blueberry academy, which reads kinda like a special boarding school located across the world (kitakami feels like it’s located near japan-inspired regions like kanto, johto, hoenn, and sinnoh).

also, competitive schools are hard! and they can be pretty damaging too, especially when it feels like your worth is based solely on your battling skills. so while kieran was good, he wasn’t amazing at it, and knowing his character, probably got really overwhelmed by all of it and like. pushed himself into the bottom rung. kieran hates losing, but he also can’t deny that there are tons of other students who are way better at him. he probably tried to improve himself for awhile, but felt that it didn’t get him anywhere cuz he still wasn’t good enough.

actually, probably one of the biggest reasons kieran latches onto the player besides plot reasons is cuz we’re both really strong AND were actually really nice to him. i feel like he doesn’t really experience that kind of open kindness from others (carmine does clearly care about him, its just the way she shows it can be very difficult to tell), so when he does experience that from someone strong, he’s like Wowzers… they’re so cool… and super nice…

so like. kieran’ relationship with the player is probably the only “close” relationship he’s had with anyone that doesn’t feel overwhelmingly imbalanced power dynamic wise. until, well. the rest of the teal mask dlc. because the player is someone that kieran actually feels connected with for once (even though he really, really hates the player at this point), they end up warping into this like. idealized goal for him to beat. a goal that he can actually reach, for once, something that feels realistic. so his ego flares up again, as does his competitive nature! the player is kieran’s flame that keeps him burning, that keeps him alive (in a sense), because he stops putting himself down and actually tries really hard to reach his goals.

obvs the way he did it was. extremely unhealthy (even moreso when you dump in my headcanons of him being extremely sleep deprived every day for months and surviving on caffeinated drinks), but it does make him active again. kieran’s no longer in his slump; he has a goal to reach, and he can be extremely determined when he wants to be (and stubborn, but that’s for another time)

#♥.txt #neal stop analyzing things just cuz you saw a meme about character quotes challenge: failed

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