#and I like to think about the fact that Patroclus cared about those people dying meaningless deaths and no matter what he said

[michaelyew]

In an adaptation/rewrite of tlo I have some changes I'd like to make. Aside from the obvious. And I really like this book, it's my favourite from the main series, but it needs some updating!

**********

Firstly in order to fix The Last Olympian we need to fix some things in The Battle of The Labyrinth.

I want Beckendorf to have a bigger role in this book. He was introduced in the second book, but here is where he could really shine as a son of Hephaestus This whole quest is about his dad! He should be able to get more screen time in this story so that we can care about him on his own merits instead of as one of Percy's friends or the tragic love interest. For that, I think he should be a part of the questing trio. 

"But what about Grover!"

What about Grover? He has his own reasons for going into the labyrinth, he doesn't need permission from Chiron to look for Pan. He's a smart boy with some brains, he can see the maze as a lead and go in after them on his own. This also creates the same conundrum of Threes that came up in the book before, which we'll come back to later. Percy can intrust Tyson's care to one of the other demigods set up to be his friend in TLO: Michael Yew to establish their friendship and trust, Lee Fletcher to give him some purpose besides dying, the Stolls to once again affirm that the Hermes cabin takes on responsibility for other campers, ect. When Tyson later sneaks off into the Labyrinth after Percy, this sets up a later conflict that establishes whatever choice more. This also fixes something else that's always bothered me, which is that it kind of felt that Percy only truly accepted Tyson once he showed how useful he was. Plus he always seemed to feel responsible for him. By having Percy take the time to make sure Tyson is being taken care of outside of his talents, that establishes more concretely how much Percy cares about him as a brother without painting him as a burden.  

So Charlie goes on this quest and sticks it through to the forges. Grover in this version still goes off with Tyson for that sweet sweet character development, but the questing party stays at three. It's here that the parallels set in, because in being burned alive by the volcano and being yeeted to Calypso, Percy is not only saving Annabeth but also Charlie. Saving him from certain death by explosion and flame. It does have the unfortunate side effect of there being TWO incidents of Percabeth having emotional kisses in front of their friends, but we can fix this by having Charlie fight a Telkinhein or something it's fine. Beckendorf drops out of the main story from here to make way for Rachel but he still has one good scene of protecting camp at the end. Plus, I want him to be present when Amnabeth tells Hera she only cares about perfect families and I want him there to defend his dad. 

So for those counting that makes three counts of narrative consistency stacked against Charlie's life (which makes a lot more sense than just killing him off because you needed a martyr). With this we go into The Last Olympian. 

I wouldn't change much about the plot line from here on out. We have the setup of Charlie returning the favour to Percy by saving his life, we get some sweet last scenes of him being a demigod and a hero, the setup to TLO is bomb and it's fine. I'd like more scenes with Michael because if you're gonna set a character up to be front and center then kill him off you could at least give him more than 35 lines.

What I do want to make a point of here though is that Percy lives in BoTL. What happens to Beckendorf specifically from that moment doesn't actually matter so long as it makes a big enough impact on Selina to drive her to reach the conclusions that she does. He could live or die or be yeeted to Calypso, lose a limb or two, it doesn't matter so long as he's put down for the count for the rest of the book. Percy lived, and the rule of threes doesn't actually make an impact again outside of Bianca's death (because if it did someone should have died in Sea of Monsters but they didn't). So I like to think he lives, but I'd be more ok with him dying in this scenario than I was in canon.

However on to Selina, who still needs to die. And it's at this point that I will make people angry by saying that I think Charlie's impact on her is much more meaningful if they were best friends instead of dating. I want a scene in the earlier books where this is established so that we know that they are close. And I want them to be friends because the point of Silena's ark should be that she hurt her friends and she feels awful about putting them in danger and got them killed, not that she's changing herself for a man (or dying for one that's possibly still alive). I just think this would be much more powerful if romance wasn't the main emotion involved. 

That being said I want her to be 50% gayer for Clarisse because we were given Patroclus and Achilles parallels with girls and by GD they will be gay. I will stand for nothing less. I want them to have a relationship that's established at the end of BoTL in the background and I want it officiated in TLO because if you're going to compare them to one of the great mythic queer relationships of antiquity then they WILL BE QUEER. 

Again it would be neat if Michael lived because the alternative is that Percy killed his friend and then never talked about it again and it's never brought up again and it just exists as a thing everyone quietly knows until he snaps in Tartarus. Which I'm not saying that having that conversation instead wouldn't be cool, but the ending kiss is very iconic and I don't think that strong of a tone shift could work. 

Now I want Ethan to live not because I'm bitter and not because almost every person of colour dies in the main series but for one very important reason. Through the entire series, every time we see him, Ethan never actually did anything wrong. He was forced to fight in the arena by Luke, he didn't directly hurt or kill anyone, in fact he's never actually aggressive in any of his later appearances. Yeah he joined Khronos, sure, but it's not like he had any other options. That was his tragedy. Ethan was a son of a minor goddess, a goddess usually seen as evil by other demigods to boot, who was neglected and mistreated by the place that was meant to keep him safe. He had to join Luke because the alternative was being killed or recruited anyway. And he didn't deserve to die for it, the price of his redemption was never that steep. It makes much more sense for Ethan to return to camp and have a hand in rebuilding it with his own hands and making amends for the minor gods with his own power. His fatal flaw was the desire for justice at any means, him being killed when he's so close to freedom and respect doesn't jive with that.  

Additional notes: 

- The romantic subplot between Annabeth and Luke was creepy and we didn't need it. He was a big brother figure to her, that's enough betrayal drama on its own. 

- In general we need more canon ethnicities. In a TV adaptation this is easier obviously, but honestly we shouldn't have to assume things based on names or how little they're described. We should just get to know. 

#hoo #pjo #percy jackson #percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus #kiss my quiver #michael yew #charles beckendorf #clarisse la rue #silena beauregard #annabeth chase #grover underwood #travis stoll #conner stoll #tyson #pjo tyson

[emeraldembers]

Fic: A Thief of Fate (Block/Longin, PG13)

Title: A Thief of Fate

Fandom: Мор. Утопия / Pathologic

Pairing: Block/Longin

Summary: There isn't enough time for them to fall in love, but Longin falls anyway.

Author’s Notes: Originally written for the prompt “The other day I discovered that Longin’s nickname is Patroclus. That, coupled with the many comparisons Block gets to Alexander the Great, (aka Achilles’ greatest fanboy) makes this ship write itself. So give me anything you have with these two, please (the big no is dub/non-con)” over on the Pathologic kink meme.

Warnings: Non-consensual drug use, references to future hanging

Comments loved and encouraged!

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25075645

* * *

It was a known fact that everyone under Alexander Block's command loved him. A variety of jokes had been made about men crawling through fire for the General of Ashes, and Longin had laughed at the same jokes himself until he was assigned to Block's unit.

He would be the exception to the rule, he had decided, if only out of spite. No man was perfect regardless of his talents, and Longin had yet to meet an idol who didn't deserve to be knocked from their pedestal.

He was determined to be polite but scrutinising, to find the flaws Block's men had refused to see, and when it was time to greet the General, he met his eyes without fear.

Something else gladly took fear's place. He'd never seen eyes so blue, before. Not in real life, outside of a painting.

In an instant, he knew he'd love Block as thoroughly as the rest of Block's men. Just for a different reason.

Longin had known Block was young, barely a few years older than himself, but the reality of seeing it had hit him like cold water. Wrinkles had only just begun to settle in place around his eyes, between his brows, and at the corners of his lips, while stress had threaded grey strands through his dark hair, but as for the rest of him? He was clearly young, and Longin could see more of himself in Block than he had in any of the other top brass.

Longin's captaincy meant having the General's confidence, and even though Block chose his words carefully, avoiding anything that could be spun as insubordination or accusations of conspiracy, Longin knew how to read his posture.

They were being shipped out to the middle of the Steppe by train, to some squalid little town and not to where they were most needed. Block said the order had come directly from The Powers That Be, a detour from the Southern Front to bring an outbreak of plague under control.

Block didn't speak out against the order, and didn't need to. The detour was bullshit, and Longin knew it as clearly as Block did.

Men began to fall ill within hours of reaching the town, even those in head to foot flamethrower gear, and Longin could feel the sword of Damocles hanging over Block's head as surely as if it were over his own. Diverting men to set up the town hall as their headquarters was busy work, an excuse to keep as many of them off the infested streets as possible, and Longin felt a twist of guilt for those still on the streets as he sat alone in an office with the General, sharing a drink while the men moved tables and set up banners outside. The room was far from sound proof, but the clatter of tables and keeping their voices pitched low afforded them something close to privacy.

"The Powers That Be Want Me Dead," Block said, and even though Longin knew it was true, had known something was wrong from the moment they were diverted from the Southern Front, it was sobering to hear the admission from Block's lips. "They wouldn't have sent Aglaya Lilich here otherwise."

"Because she wants you dead?"

"Because they want her dead, too," Block said. It made sense - no one with ideals made it far in the Capital for long. The Powers That Be were comfortable at the top of the chain of command, and didn't like the idea of others disrupting their comfort. "I don't know which of us will be allowed to survive. I fear only God has any say in who'll leave this town."

Longin raised an eyebrow. "You didn't strike me as the religious type, sir."

"I'd like to believe," Block said, sounding tired. That was unsurprising; few people slept well on trains, and the dark circles under his eyes were bruise-purple. "I need to. Someone will have to look after the men when I am gone. I'd rather God took care of the matter than The Powers That Be."

Longin folded his hands in his lap, frowned at them. After watching the uncle who had raised him die from a wasting sickness, and after seeing a close friend's intestines spill out at the end of a bayonet, he was fairly certain that if God did exist, then He knew little about justice or love. "You'll have us to the end, General. Whatever happens. Powers That Be be damned."

"None of you should be here," Block said, and Longin bit his tongue before looking up from his hands at the General's face. Block's eyes were calm, despite his words; he had already accepted his fate.

"But we are. For what it's worth sir, we know what we signed up for. To follow you into Hell, if necessary."

Block chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment before he finally said, "Would you lock the door please, Captain?"

Longin carried out the order, breath catching when he turned to find Block standing, the line of his shoulders tight.

"I wish we had more time," Block said, and Longin prayed he wasn't misreading anything when he took a step towards his commander.

"I wish the same."

Block covered the remaining steps between them in a rush, and Longin barely managed to brace himself as he was drawn into Block's arms and kissed.

Longin hadn't misread him. They were young, war and death had their ways of firing up the blood, and Block's mouth drank up his own like a man starved of water.

Longin wished he could hold him tight enough to risk wrinkling his uniform, wished he could tell Block that his eyes were the most beautiful thing he had seen in all his days as a soldier and all his days before that too. The war had stolen so much from them, even the chance to know one another properly, and Longin wanted to steal it all back.

Block pulled away for a moment, Longin readying himself for rejection or dismissal, but instead found Block's hands coming up to frame his jaw, thumbs tracing the curve of it, feeling out and pressing down on the dip of his chin. The look on Block's face was something pained, and Longin wondered if he would ever be able to take that pain away.

"You deserve more than faith and blind luck," Block said, and Longin shook his head fiercely, smoothing his hands down Block's back.

"You've seen men through Hell before," Longin said, closing his eyes and letting his lips find Block's again, brushing against them as he spoke, "I'd trust no one else to navigate it."

Block had kissed him first. It only seemed right to take his turn now.

After their first meeting, Longin had known he'd obey any order Block ever gave him.

The moment Block relaxed in his arms, Longin knew he'd die for the General even without orders.

They were dying faster than reinforcements would ever arrive. No enemy force had proven as inventive, as invasive, or as cruel as the sand pest.

They needed to leave, but Longin had read the orders; if Block left without seeing his mission through, he would be court-martialed, accused of undermining his superiors and jeopardising the nation's safety. Even if The Powers That Be couldn't make an accusation of treason stick, the penalty for insubordination remained death.

Someone would have to bear that penalty one way or another.

Drugging Block's vodka was a simple enough business, and Longin's stomach churned as he watched Block grow drowsy, then concerned, then betrayed, fear constricting his pupils to pinpricks of black.

"What did you do?" Block asked, his words slurring together like a drunk's, legs collapsing beneath him when he tried to stand.

Longin wished he could give him the reassurance of safety, but couldn't - Block had to believe the betrayal was complete.

"We're leaving," Longin said, allowing himself that much honesty as he stood from his own chair and took the town hall's keys from Block's desk.

"Don't," Block said as Longin turned his back. "Don't make me die alone."

Longin held his tongue, knowing the other conspirators were outside, that they would want to know he had succeeded. There was no clatter of furniture to give them privacy now.

You won't die, Longin let himself think. That's the point.

"You'll hang for this," Block said, and Longin took a moment to picture that future - a noose around his neck, a public execution to make an example of the mutineers - and accept it.

His own death would turn Block into a nearly-martyred hero. It would be armour for him in the world of politics for years to come.

But Block would watch, and think Longin hated him.

"I will," Longin promised, and left.

#Fic #pathologic #alexander block #captain longin #Мор. Утопия

[omuse]

𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞  𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧  𝐚  𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞  …  patroclus  philtatos  was  known  as  the  kind-hearted  &  thoughtful  medic / doctor  with  a  reputation  for  being  a  xavier  dolan  doppelganger  .   but  now  ,  under  the  stress  of  the  war  on  the  horizon  ,  the  natural  born  unaffiliated  light  practicing  witch  has  become  widely  known  for  being  rather  reticent  &  lost  .   let’s  see  how  long  the  olympus  native  will  last  during  this  war  .   after  all  they’re  only  twenty  eight  years  old  .   +  he / him  &  cis male  ,  the iliad  .

hullo hullo ! it’s kay, 20, and i go by she/her pronouns. i’ve recently started the new semester, but i’m almost always on discord on my phone, so pls don’t hesitate to add me there.  i’m super duper excited to be here, and more info about patroclus is under the cut, alongside some very brief plot ideas ! i would love to plot & make connections, so pls don’t hesitate to hit me up or LIKE this post and i’ll hit u up instead ! ♡

BIOGRAPHY

one.

son of menoetius is born with the weight of countless expectations on his shoulders. the first son, the one who they thought would be the best. from a young age it’s clear patroclus isn’t born to be a fighter, isn’t into hours spent training, wrestling, having to battle for no reason at all. no, he’s pulled to nature instead, his mother a witch before him, he spends his time by her side whenever he can slip away from princely duties. hands reach for colorful flowers planted in their gardens, sparks leaving his fingertips as he chants words his mother has taught him. thank god it doesn’t take long before he has siblings, younger, better than him — ambitious, born to be a warrior. because one thing for sure, that’s not what he wants.

two.

perhaps its much too clear that he is going to be a shameful mark on his family, or perhaps they do it so he won’t be reminded of that fact for the rest of his life. one way or another, they tell him to pack his bags one day, that he’s going to a country far away for a treaty, that he will live there instead. even though it stings to be parted in such a way, there is little he can do besides grin and bear through it. and for a boy only thirteen, it isn’t too difficult getting used to an entirely different place. for once in his life, he is just someone else, not a prince, but a companion to the prince here instead. patroclus finds soon enough that he likes it here, that he has more freedom than he can think of, and a close friend to top it all off.

three.

time passes through their fingertips like sand, and they are sent out to war at a very young age, too young, too inexperienced. even if patroclus’ fighting skills have grown so much compared to when he was in opus, even if he is a skilled witch and a medic now, he feels nowhere near ready for war. will he ever? but time isn’t something they have, and he can’t find it in himself to complain when they have to do this. then there is achilles achaion, the best of greeks, a warrior known throughout the plane. and all patroclus wants is to be by his side and protect him, his loyalty lies with the younger, their country and friends he has made along the way. his choices mirror those feelings.

four.

dying is… odd. disconcerting. well, for the lack of a better term that is. patroclus doesn’t actually die. many people assume he is dead, when he is covered by dirt and blood, armor broken, sword lying at his side with eyes closed. it’s natural people assume he is dead. war knows no bounds, and he knows they often don’t have time to care for the injured and the dead. it’s just this time, he falls into the first category instead. patroclus drags himself to the forest hours after, and all that remains on the field is achilles’ armor with his blood on it. pain clouds his mind and body, for he wants to say something, do anything to tell achilles he isn’t dead. but there are two facts that stop him for it. one, he can barely get up, magic almost drained as he uses it to stem the bleeding, and fact two, he is nothing but a liability. he is lucky, too lucky. a group of witches who went out to gather supplies run into him, see him barely holding it together. they save him from death, and he owes them his life.

five.

it’s almost like a second chance at life. returning from the brink of death, away from the place he called home. god, how he wishes the war would stop as well, but it doesn’t — there is still so much to fight for, but he is grateful to have achilles by his side. his loyalties remain the same, and he wants to be his own best so he can help and save others.

PLOT IDEAS

witches who helped him / found him after the injury

people he patches up

friends !!

ppl who don’t like witches?

or other supernatural ppl he is curious and wants to learn more about

he is a healer so he can def patch up people and fret over them tbh

i’m so sorry these don’t give much away but !! i would love to brainstorm! pls feel free to hit me up OR like i said above, smash that heart down there and i’ll hit you up instead !

#tales.intro #intro #「 𝗐𝗁𝖾𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝖼𝗈𝗅𝖽╰ musings. 」 #「 m╰ patroclus. 」 #this is rushed but !!! #uwu

[pitiless-achilles-wept]

Fellow Feelings: I’m dying and I want to know it scares you too

I was thinking today more about feelings of alone-ness and cancer. For one thing, I realized, I actually haven’t seen anyone cry about my cancer diagnosis except for my parents. Like, I feel pretty certain that it has happened (maybe repeatedly), that I do have other people in my life who are fucked up about it. But their assumption is probably that they shouldn’t put the labor of seeing and interacting with their emotions on me. And it’s true that there would be an unhelpful way to do it (ask for comfort and the reassurance that I’ll be fine). But there’s also the possibility of showing emotions to me as a way of communicating what I mean to you. 

I titled this blog after the scene in The Iliad where Priam sues Achilles for the return of his son Hector’s body (which Achilles mutilated because Hector killed his lover Patroclus) and succeeds because Achilles observes his grief, finding in it commonality despite being on opposite sides of the Trojan war (and him being the murderer of Priam’s son), and cries for his own loss. I mean, no one I know has to recreate that whole scene (lord knows I don’t have that many tents). But letting me see the moments of negative emotions would make it safer for me to show mine. Like, not even tears, but a text to say “I’m fucked up about your cancer tonight and I’m mad and I hate it.” Otherwise, I worry that everyone else is just “normal” and also expects me to be--or perform--”normal.”

Of course, other people are allowed to forget. It’s a luxury to be able to, as I can’t. It’s just another way in which I think that, when you’re dying, you’re kind of always alone. I mean, I posted yesterday about my (pretty bleak) thoughts on being the relationship kind of alone through this. And that’s part of it. But more than that I’m not even sure the experience of living with this kind of knowledge--that you’re currently dying--IS communicable to other people.

[Below the cut: more on dying, normalcy, sympathy, and friendship]

I forget it most of the time, because I have to. I mean, I literally never forget that I have cancer. It’s the biggest--in some sense ONLY--fact in my life right now. But out of sheer self-preservation, I don’t follow through all the implications of it. I’ve got a nasty, viscous, persistent form of cancer that is ALL OVER MY BODY not just in the tumors I can feel and rooting it out is going to be a multi-year project. If I do get to remission, it will be after who knows how many chemo cycles? 6? 12? More?? When I thought of chemo before I thought of it as a thing that would either be over or you would die and, in a sense, that’s still correct. But I wasn’t fully aware of how much time it would--in the BEST scenario--occupy before you died. 

There’s also the possibility of remission...but even that will eventually lead to more chemo because relapse is almost inevitable with what I have. They are trying to prescribe me drugs that are minimally invasive so that I can still continue to have other things in my life like work, travel, friendships, and (potentially--although see yesterday’s skeptical post) relationships. But the long delay in testing etc. has also allowed me time to bury the implications of my disease, just as a way of being able to keep on with my life at all. 

I think that’s fine, to be clear. But I am sometimes--suddenly, profoundly, stunningly--struck by the fact that I’m actually dying and that it could be soon. Today I was having trouble breathing in a way that was totally not explainable away, which indicates that the tumors in my lungs must have gotten significantly bigger than the little nodules they found 2 months ago which--DUH THIS IS A MOTHERFUCKING BASTARD OF A CANCER SO WHAT DID ANYONE EXPECT LEAVING IT FOR TWO GODDAMN MONTHS??? But knowing that and feeling it, physically and emotionally, are two very different things. And I didn’t know who to tell. What to say. What to do at all.

Because I love my friends and I don’t want to hurt them. And what else could I expect if I sent a frantic message out saying “I AM AFRAID TO DIE AND I DON’T WANT IT AT FUCKING ALL PLEASE TELL ME THIS WHOLE THING IS ACTUALLY A TERRIBLE FEVER DREAM AND NOT TRUE!!”? Because they can’t say anything to that that’s reassuring. The general inclination is probably to say “NO YOU’RE NOT YOU WILL BEAT THIS” but, uh, actually that’s not always helpful. The uncertainty of the whole thing is actually both its greatest asset (who knows how effective stuff might be? maybe lots!) and what’s most terrifying (or you could hit goose eggs all around, like I have so far). At best, friends can empathize and affirm, “that is terrifying and I’m also scared and want this whole thing not to be true,” and validate my feelings. 

But then I will have inflicted this pain of remembering--of knowing that I may not be around for them in the not-so-distant future--on them too. I’m fully aware that it can’t be my job to protect people from my emotions or my experiences. People are in charge of themselves and have to be able to tell if they need to opt out of cancer discussions, including reassuring me. Otherwise they WILL get fatigued because, as I said, this is going to go on for fucking ever. Sometimes it’s necessary self-care not to be there for someone, to set a boundary about it. But I do need to trust them to draw those boundaries themselves and not try to anticipate, guess, or impose them myself.

This is a general problem I have with trusting that my friends want to be there and do things for me because they love me....and THAT is a very ancient problem of me not believing that I deserve love from, or even could be loved by, anyone who’s not my parents. (Legacy of childhood; topic for another time.) I had accepted that my ex-husband loved me entirely and that I deserved it. And then...he didn’t Having to attempt to bestow that trust again in the aftermath of it being torn apart is....a major challenge for me and one which, I think, I’ll be attempting alongside everything else cancer treatment will bring.

There’s not really a conclusion to this. Except, I guess, if people mean something to you you should tell them, in whatever form that takes. It may literally be saying it, affirming love and importance. It may be thinking of small pleasures, nice things to say or do. And sometimes it may be admitting to feelings that seem “unhelpful. I know that the idea that sharing pain as a way to communicate love seems implausible but, given my own reticence to let my negative emotions (anger, fear, despair) through I also know that for me it could be a form of support. 

Time is short, potentially for everyone and definitely for me. So if you’ve got a way to affirm that I’m not alone why not do it? The root of sympathy is, after all, the Greek for feeling together (”fellow feeling”). And it leads, of course, to that other key term: catharsis.

#I don't have a functional tagging system yet #my life as a cancer patient #friendship thoughts #aloneness #solitude #that girl is poison #the iliad #fuck it I will tag the iliad if I want to #YANA #bex writes #long post for ts

[shinylitwick94]

Finished “The Song of Achilles”, by Madeline Miller.

I am sincerely disappointed.

I’m not completely opposed to the idea of retellings, but I admit that most of the time, having read the original work, they feel pretty pointless to me. Which is not to say that I think they’re all bad, but they’ve a higher bar to clear to get my attention.

This book has been praised and recommended to me by everyone and their mother and now I’m thinking those people don’t know me that well. I went in with fairly high expectations and this lived up to very few of them.

I liked the writing well enough, a bit on the flowery side, but I would much rather have that than yet another blank-slate prose book, so points for that. I liked it and it didn’t bother me.

I also liked the concept of the book - a retelling of the Iliad story from the POV of Patroclus sounded intriguing to me, and it might have worked...if Patroclus were the same character, which he very clearly and very deliberately is not.

That’s the number one thing that bugged me about this book. I get the idea of the mythological characters not being tied down to a specific interpretation, etc, but I find that changing them to the point where I wouldn’t recognise them as the same character anymore doesn’t make sense to me.

 And that’s kind of how I feel about Achilles and Patroclus here (and some of the other characters too), but especially Patroclus. Patroclus the softboi who prefers medicine to war...is not Patroclus. He’s a sanitized character with mostly modern sensibillities that is transplanted into this alternate take on the Trojan War.

I’m not super attached to the Iliad and its characterisations, but this last bit bothers me a lot. It bothers me when people feel the need to twist characters around so much with the express purpose of making them palatable to modern audiences. Because god forbid that readers be made to confront characters and ideas that are truly alien to them for once, and make an effort to understand them and their circumstances and themes in spite of the fact that they are coming from a completely different society. No, clearly what we need is sanitized YA Patroclus. 

The second thing I disliked about this book is that in spite of the decent prose and the interesting subject matter, at the end of the day it’s a really bland love story. And I find that super boring. Maybe I would have found it more interesting if i didn’t know every story beat already, if all the violence and all the dying was unexpected. Or maybe if I had actually liked the characterization of Patroclus and Achilles.

As it is, it felt like chapter after chapter after chapter of Patroclus telling me how hot he finds Achilles, without ever really convincing me why they love each other and why I should care when they inevitably died.

It’s probably decent enough a love story for people who like this stuff more than I do, but I really struggled to feel a connection with it beyond the superficial.

My complaining aside, I think it’s an ok book if you know what you’re going to get. If all you want is a cute gay romance with a tragic end, it’s probably fine. Or if you’re just not bothered by the sort of things that bothered me, it’s probably fine.

It’s not particularly long and very readable too, which I suppose explains why it’s so insanely popular.

I gave it a 3/5, and while I wouldn’t say I recommend this, I would suggest that you be familiar with your own tastes before you pick it up.

#shinylitwick reads books #the song of achilles #madeline miller #the curse of the bestseller strikes again

[misscrawfords]

I am really, really fed up of people on this damn website not being able to distinguish between fictional fantasy and appreciation of larger than life characters and plots and real life.

I teach classics. Most of the fiction I spend my time discussing and analysing is full of murderous psychpaths (Achilles), incestuous relationships (Oedipus and Jocasta, arguably Phaedra), murder of parents and children (Oedipus, Medea, Orestes, Agave), adultery (Helen, Phaedra), rape (basically all of Ovid, the fate of the Trojan women), abuse of those less powerful (the entire relationship of the gods to mortals, Odysseus' murder of the treacherous maids), domestic abuse (Calypso to Odysseus, Clytemnestra to Electra), suicide (Dido, Antigone) etc etc.

This week alone I chaired a thrilling debate on who is more sympathetic in Aeneid 4, Dido or Aeneas. I also set an essay on the character of Helen in the Iliad and how sympathetic she is. Later in the year, we will discuss Achilles in more detail, possibly the greatest classical hero of all time. His vengeful anger, his superhuman power, his abuse of Hector's body, his snide dismissal of other Greeks but also his love for Patroclus, the deep tragedy of his desire for both life and glory, his sadness over the prospect of dying before hos father, his eventual catharsis when he meets Priam - the father of his slain enemy.

You know what we're not going to be discussing? How sympathising with Achilles and being engaged by his character and drawing sad Achilles/Patroclus doodles and weeping over Iliad 24 (as lbr we all will) means we are 'perpetuating abuse' or 'condoning mass murder' or whatever the hell you want to call it.

You know why not? Because we can tell the effing difference between fact and fiction. Because fiction in its purest most tragic, Aristotelian form exists to make us feel 'pity and fear'. Its characters are larger than life. They do terrible things. And yet still we are engaged by them. Still we see them as nuanced human beings. It doesn't mean that the original Athenian audiences of tragedy went off and murdered their mothers and lusted over their step-sons and went mad in the hills tearing their children to pieces because they saw it on stage. Of course they didn't! What they did see were characters in extreme yet recognisably human situations making poor decisions and dealing with the consequences. Nobody who reads the Iliad goes away and thinks, "You know what, killing people and dragging their bodies through the dust behind your chariot is a great thing to do because Achilles did it and he's a cool character."

Nobody is that stupid.

So why do people on this website take a character who does bad, even unforgivable things and say that any sympathy you have for them, any interest in their development and relationships makes you in some way responsible for real life atrocities. For goodness sake.

I find it a really alarming trend. It's a way of shutting down not just literary appreciation (okay you may say, who cares about the humanities?) but also any kind of nuance in fiction. Do we really want every fictional character to be a cinnamon roll for whom nothing bad ever happens and who never makes a mistake? Are the only relationships we want to see represented in stories entirely pure and healthy ones? What even IS an entirely pure and healthy relationship? Does such a thing exist? Humanity is not so black amd white and I think it is genuinely dangerous to think of it in this way.

Dark thoughts and dark deeds are everywhere in our minds and all around us. Fiction allows us a safe space in which to confront them and explore them and even fantasise about them. (It isn't a coincidence that the death in literature is frequently eroticised.) We need our parricides, our incestuous affairs, our rapists, our avengers... And we need to be able to pity them and fear how easily they might be us. Without such fictional outlets, where are these thoughts and fears going to go? With imagination forced only into consideration of the morally virtuous and those who provide a good role model in terms of whatever society at the time decides is worth emulating - where do these dark and violent thoughts go? What happens when they cannot be discussed openly because of the fear that by doing so we are 'CONDONING ABUSE'? Thinking this way is dangerous. It is a way of shutting down a discussion before it has begun because of course nobody wishes to be guilty of that. Nobody also wants to continually defend their decision to care about a particular character or relationship.

Will this ignorant and narrow view of fiction spread to legitimate forums of fictional discussion? I hope to hell not. I don't want to have to deal with students who refuse to care about Achilles or who won't see any nuances to Medea's character. They would be missing the point so spectacularly. Fortunately at least this year, I have the most wonderfully engaged and analytical students you can imagine who can hold their own in a debate and also see all the subtleties of character and context. Be like them!

#fiction #Rose rants #classics #I memtioned the 'abuse' word #so people are probably going to send me anonymous hate messages about how I am condoning it in this post #oh the irony #just don't bother #if you actually want to send me anon hate for this then you are too stupid to bother with

[throwingideasatthewall]

Clone Wars     Episode 19

          Storm over Ryloth

Inter-     sting 

 I   know   (how )   this     likely    means     ‘storm’          as      into      breach        or,        to      take          by         force

     But I can’t help thinking about space       weather

     It’s        so       fricking        cool

     But getting into the      story;

  [Quote;  It is a rough road ahead, leads to                    the height of greatness

               I’ve spoken about this before;                 You don’t need suffering or conflict                            to be great                              (Or to write                           a good story)

               Productivity (and happiness)                  doesn’t require suffering

               Someone might heck you over but that’s just a                  momentary inconvenience

               When you’re chasing                    (and doing)                     your dream

                  And it won’t really matter               after you’re done dealing with it

                  And in light of                  your actual goal

              Now continuing on;

              Droid army

         I like how it’s              “subjected,”

           Like      you know the adults can get out of this at any time

   Same brain,       Same abilities             (Yes)            Same in-    tell-I   gence

 (Same      Ability       (To     escape)

    And       are     assholes        if       they     dragged      children        into        this

  (Enablers        if      they      didn’t       (Directly)

  Starving

   Again,        Fixable

  Also,       one      blockade         Screws            You           Over?

        You can’t               like            self sustain

             On                your                own               planet?

              That’s..                    kinda                  cringe                   ,bro

                 Evil

 Is anyone not    in this circumstance?

  Like not the children     obviously...

 Watt-ton-boar

  Interesting

   Name

   Also please be more nuanced and      put in more      Thought than      the colonizers         episode

     Please

        (My head        can’t stand        that headache.)

     .. .

   “Iron     fist,”

    Well        he        is      made       out        of       iron

   (Or       at least      a metal suit,)

    Senate

    Oh     Palpatine      cares!

(I know    not really      but run      with me      on this)

   Grand army of the       Republic

    Mount         a       bold               -  offensive

   Again the escalation of this goes      from 10       to 1

 It’sa amazing

    Like       last    episode      was    biological     warfare

  (Now    it’s       a      grand      army)

    And it’s just       off the chart    how this conflict works

    Going from     stabbing each other           To throwing         more        paper      airplanes         at       each      other

  (None       of        it     done    seriously)

    And without any        consideration to        how terrifying            that is        with children...        involved

        Like              it’s their game           but their actual living               nightmare                   That...                   they’ll                      be                    left                     to                   clean                     up, if      it doesn’t kill them first

                  That’s                     terr-                     -fying

                 Also                      this                         is                      one                     planet                        (System?)

                   (But you   showed...

Ergh

In-     Consistent-ly

   Asoka         is      already      glaring

      And        more        focus          on          her

      Than           Anakin

     Aight

     Really      focusing         on       Ahsoka         there          movie

     Anakin          gets        shifted          by         the     holograms

  Obi-wan’s         Ground        Assault

    Seriously       it’s one planet

     Big       Planet

      Big         Station-

  Oh I thought Obi-Wan     - was flirting with the villains again

    Never mind        it’s just some random       Sergeant

      (Good for           him)

      And like the      Titanic he’s        fecking          jinxing              it

      “Un-         destructible”         Yeah            I know           a few people         that said that

Tragic    irony,     get      ‘em

  Okay

   Dude has   mood lighting

   Knows the   Republic is going to attack

     Let’s        get         the      shitshow         on         the         road

      (The battle that’s       likely going to unfold,         not the story,)

         Surprise

        In-teresting 

        so good 

         so far

         You

       Re-public

       Invade

      Good           for          him

    Get-ting       assigned           an       important        mi-ssion

       Good

Into the Blue! 

 (Here      we      go)

  Aight

  Let’s       See

   Okay

    Lots        of    build up       for      the     admiral

   Aight

    Hey the clone actually talk to him in an accurate show of decent accountability

    Good         Job

      I like the Admiral     when he’s not micromanaging stuff

     He looks practically        adorable

          - with his little mustache...

   “Prepare for battle,”

    Never mind it was ruined by logic         that they        should        always be ready for battle

    They are on a        war ship after all

           -still a nice moment

      Raise the shields

       - Fair order

         Aight,            two           more

This...  is Anakin’s command after    all

 Aight

 Right

  Okay

  Good for them.   

   Okay

   Ahsoka gets a starfighter     Why?

   Commanding            a       squadron

  Wait       they gave her a squadron?

  I thought-

       The character             is a Mary Sue

        There

          DONE

          [either that or              Yoda’s an idiot]

            Or, Anakin an                 unaccountable                  bastard

                [They’re both                   un-accountable]

               “Idiot,” is just short for an                 unaccountable                    at this point

                 [I can’t stand                 to correct it every time]

                 Any-way

                 Let’s make a good               impression

                  That was almost a good child-like   impression

                   Still a bit too much emotion and not    stunted enough

                    But fine...

As   is...   

—-

“ of course    I’m not   nervous,”

 Never- mind       there it went     with all the goodwill     towards the character

        - Who shouldn’t    be capable of nervousness

             Shit show                  on the                   road

[”Snips,”

   First     Command

   Nervous

     All the things wrong with that conversation         with a child

   Good       Job

Every-one

Abom   ination

De-pend- ing

 Child     soldier    ...

  Lives?      Who     put     the    child    soldier      in    charge,

   Also      Bull        Shit       Adults

 Pressure       Off

Whatever        .....    Handle          It

  Aight

  And...

  Great

  Back

  Force       be      with       you

   Made the presence of self      (which you can’t have because you’re a child)       Be with       You

  “I won’t let you down”

    Child.

    Soldier.

    Hope

   Aight

   [Mary       Sue,]

    Okay

 ]

  It’s...   rolling     out

 Kick-       Back        ....   Knows       Some      Non      -Sense        Is    going-      down       -        He’s      likely    going to die

   Being     the only person    that sees something        wrong    with the     whole   “child soldier,”      Leader      -ing  thing         ...  Aight

‘Mother       Bird,’?

 Please tell me   that isn’t Ahsoka‘s    nickname?

  Couldn’t it    have been     anything else?

 [i’m aware “mother,”        Generally      Refers       To     Base       Or      Lead  -ing           - Ship          -        Just     that      we     see    plenty      of    other   names       -      For the    lead ship       -       That    would’ve     been     less       - - -      Dis -      turb      -ing

  (It’s a nitpick       but one       that I will carry        to my grave)

     (She’s a hec’kin                   Child!)

      I am a little bit        fumed

   At them never writing        her like one

   And       still trying to take any credit for                                                           good writing

.....

Shows on the   roll

 Aight

..Those         Do...         ...      Kinda.       look      like    vultures      ..  Maybe      wrong       ship          ...          IDk          ..      Okay          There          They           Go         ..     Aight          ...       There         They           Go          ...       Perfect           time             to            get           your          Padawan         involved         ...        Back with this     guy..   

  “Lau-,”

   Okay       when I originally heard this         (I     paused        it)             I thought he was saying “lunch”         To show his decadence         or lack of care,

     What he’s actually saying is a        “Launch,”

     Still       good

    (A     (relatively)         smart        move)

     Just           a           funny          anecdote

      Okay

      Again         what           is         with         the       mood          ...        lighting?

    (On his         hat?)

      Okay          ....        Right,

      Whelp  

      They’re       screwed

(Way to send the   inexperienced Padawan first dickhead,”)

  Also; where the heck is   Obi-Wan?

 Like I normally never usually complain because they never hold him responsible and treat him like a kicked puppy

   ( “In this nonsense ‘adults are the savior of everything, leading down, other adults, capable of initiative, the Glorious path      Of stag     -nation

  And ooh,      Obi-wan          is      the    victim!

 Saving      his    previous   grooming     victim     from      the      evil      of     not      stagnation        (And     being      even        the      tin-iest         bit       upset       about         that        whole       grooming         set         up!

    (Never mind         Accountability           [Shutter])

  I see them      doing it

 I’m just giving the    writers the benefit     of the doubt       that that’s      not   what they’re going        with

   (Until       I’m      certain       that’s        the     narrative)

Anyway,     Yeah, they mentioned him like five minutes ago

 We haven’t seen him since       Or ever

   Switching over to Anakin‘s   Admiral

    When it’s supposed to be Obi-Wan’s mission   ...

  For his attack         it’s surprisingly empty

   Then again when has       he ever focused and      done what he was supposed to do

     [Man is a          dumpster fire]

       [And yeah he has another          child soldier to train so he’s probably busy with that]

         - Last episode snark

     He       really can’t restrain himself to        one

    [ Anakin’s        old       news       now...]

    .....

    Okay,         I’ll stop the jokes now

    Back         to        this      episode;

    Fleet          is        ready??           !!

     You’re          all         clear

       For        What?

    Dying?

   There’s    a million ships heading right for her

    She’s going to be     destroyed...

    “Softened             them             up,”

A child dies     when an adult     wants them to die

  There is no way      she makes this

   R7       —-        Ready       —-       Action       —-

 What-ever

  My brains     already      going      numb?

   This        is      going         to         be         an       ‘Asoka’        focused      episode,         isn’t it?

 Argh

     [i’m starting to              wish               I            read            the          pre-views

   (Or the title       description)

        Note; you’re going to hear a lot of a ““Uhmms,” “Uh-hahs,”, and ”what-  Evers,”

         As my brain shuts down          to make way for the authors favorite                Mary Sue

           ...

        Boss

     Arghghhhhh

      God help            me

    Ahsoka should be dead

  Ahsoka should be dead

  Ahsoka should be....

  Movie, you do you know         how children work

  Children...       Can’t survive         An Adult         wanting          them        dead

  Those are bots  programmed to kill every man woman and child

  Ahsoka, should     be dead

What really bothers     me- 

  It’s the fact the    child soldiers  is something that you have to do carefully

You   have     to     think     through        it

   There’s not     brawns because children don’t have the     brawns to win that fight

  Nor anything     else

  The adult has to let them      win

   (Or let them       live at least)

  Which goes well with a story about a      narcissist.     playing both sides

 If the narrative      (didn’t)       what are used to hold the scene with     culpable

  The tension should come     from the fact       That Asoka isn’t     aware of      the danger      she’s       in

  Completely    unaccountable          for         her      situation

   And      would        be     unaware        up        to       the     death

  That       is       the     tragedy        of       child      soldiers

   (They       are        by       very     definition       glass       tanks)

   Fodder          Of          ......     Amorality

   If    you    want      to     write       an     adult,      write       an      adult

   Don’t       push      these     backwards      morals

   Write    responsibly         ........ Accountable         for       the      ideas       you      bring       into         the      world          ...         Ahsoka          the      unchildlike         Narc

     (That        thing         is       not        a      child; I will be addressing it as the quasi-adult abomination it      acts to be        Showing how the       actions (at least)        Work better       with the adult

    While still holding its culpable       for writing a bad character          (Child)          (Un-real     -istic-)

 [also     they’re       leading       into         a     Patroclus like twist]

      I      don’t      care

   Here we see Ahsoka,        taking the blame for            some-thing              an older                (Enabler)                 Generation                    Did,                  Taking                    the                    heat             [for the blame]  

                  And by the energy the                       enabler (toxin instigat    -or has gained, by                              the                            Ena-bling

                            That’s what I would say if the story actually took it self                                properly, and didn’t write Ahsoka poorly

                 -  additionally with Anakin’s emotions of guilt (for enabling)                         addressed

                       [Alt                       ernatively]

                       Child;

                        This represents the complete power Adults [Enabling- over involved- generation breakers] hold over the naïve and defenseless, And how enablers care about their games more than for  any concern about the well-being of others]

                      However that’s not what                           Happens;

                    Ahsoka, the abomination                       culpable to neither odds                       or groups,                            Makes it                          through

OY,      Writers,      Plot armor     only applies      to adults,

  For children   it’s unrealistic and bad writing

   Because while adult humans maybe        space orcs

    Babies are...     Not

   They die     when they are      killed

   While an adult can survive   so long as they know what they’re getting into

Okay. everyone except        Ahsoka

   Who      should        be      dead 

   .......

  Clone   enables      ......   Okay         ...    Whatever     .....    There is          ..         Oh yeah       when they’re right on top of you           ..       That’s the right time to call for      reinforcements           ..        Not like they were         arrive          -        just in time          to see you get blown up             -          Good idea            ..          Smart guy

     [Also Anakin lent Asoka his ship so she can be Patroclus-ed  did I mention that?

      And how stupid it is?

     [The characters           I mean]              . .         Alright                         . ..        There              we go               ..           Right                    ...          Whelp                 .....           Four           enemy              cruisers     

             So               she’s       

            Totally    

             Dead                      Now                         Right                                ....                    Warn                      those                            fighters

                Why        

            Does Anakin               looks so pissed off                at everything?

              Also like not going to pull the                 child soldier                  at any time?

               Caught

               “You’re                 over reacting                  Admiral.”

                Do you know those fanfiction’s where it states that              someone has a problem but he’s never brought up in any meaningful                                           way?

                                    Just there                                             .... .                                              To                                            make                                           her                                          seem                                          quirky                                            and                                          relatable?

                                          With                                                a                                              child                                             character                                               acting                                                 way                                                 beyond                                                  her                                                  age?                                                      (Or his’                                                 having been                                                no stranger                                               for calling Anakin                                                      out                                                       for                                                       his                                                  shenanigans;                                                      even                                                      though                                                      Ahsoka                                                            is                                                          the                                                            most                                                           oblique                                                           case]

                                                         As a child they shouldn’t have any preferences besides eating and sleeping on un-interrupted

                                                           As an adult                                                                  that would                                                                  be a                                                              good study                                                                 of how                                                             assumed authority                                                                     and                                                                 toxic behavior                                                                   (Such                                                                    as                                                                 enabling)                                                                    leads                                                                           to                                                                          a                                                                      worser                                                                       quality                                                                         life                                                                          (Ahsoka’s preferences and dislikes; no longer a concern,)

                                                                       With the feeling of instability toxic peers bring

                                                                          (Small goal; why cutting toxic peers, out of our life, and society, is a   good idea, a    necessary to prevent society from becoming an    unstable mess)

                                                However here it is nothing due to the                                                       story’s refusal to commit

                                                    And instead creating a non-human abomination of a main character, that sucks all the tension and stakes from the story like an on branded Mary Sue straight from Fanfiction

                   I hope the writers are proud to know they wrote such an                      abomination of a character

                   That it ruins any      semi-decent                   plot they have written

                And their decision to       irresponsibly                    inflicted on the world are not unnoted  

                 Though I do hope to forget this       character as soon as possible

                  And that it’s existence will be                       lost to time and space

                    And not inflicted on the                      future generations

                   (And hopefully not                 many more people from                  this generation either*)

                     Or the older                      brother* generation

                   * Specifically

  With that we are 19:17        minutes in        (From finishing)

   “Blue leader”

    Do you think I won’t be done with a       premise*         so early on

    *Episode

     But the premise       was already such a bad one

    And the characters      so badly miss handled

   Which is a shame because I actually look forward to an episode of this premise

    Heck they were redeemed Jar-jar Binks,       you’d have to figure an episode with Ahsoka being redeemed was waiting right around the corner

     However     this is clearly not it

      Well I hold out hope that the writers will eventually practice accountablity when writing Ahsoka’s character

       That light         is getting shorter and shorter

        (It doesn’t excuse all the mediocre episodes or episodes turned mediocre by the lack    of   acc-     oun        tability

   In     her   writing)

 Con-        tin-     Uing      On

“Admiral    attempts        to     order       a     Jedi,”

    I don’t think he   has the authority to do that

  Movie did you just break your own      rule       of   command?

   For       a     stupid        trope?

    Show        how       “bad ass”         your       Mary         Sue     Character        is?

   Argh

   Also       Anakin’s       just        a    dip shit

   (An     Unaccountable     dip shit)

    Who      en-dangered          a        child’s          life          on          his         own        volition                  Like        he’s      already       Darth       Vader         to        me

    No need to put on the      mask

    Just       start     playing       the     theme

  (Not charming)

   (Will never be)

     Okay                       .....    There       should          be          no      question       about        that

  (Unless it’s trying to insinuate              Obi-Wan                  as a secondary groomer

             Or the Chancellor’s      second victim)

       But seeing as the writers practice the accountability of a     squirrel

    Probably        not...

     .....

    Heck      off

  Un          child        like       abomination

  Whelp

   But the (un) child-like abomination is getting people   killed

  When by all the realism          she should be the one dying

    ........

   Writers          ....   

   Not cool

  “Our lines,”

You sent one group      out there

  We’ve     seen     you      do    literally    nothing     else           ....

   [this doesn’t make Asoka look cool, this makes everyone else look    stupid

     [Un-accountable]

     [and I know what they are going with the survived beyond all odds when no one else can nonsense,”

      No, movie

 Just...    No

 [so many critical (mis)understandings (intentional mis-carrying), that drives this story into extinction

 “Alright, alright,”

  She only comes back     when she’s needed more!

   Fuck off...    

    Movie

    That character got someone        killed...

    And has had enough sentience    to understand the consequences of her actions

    [and the system        she enables]

     And the        concept of         death

     [Fair enough       that dude could’ve saved himself]

     But Ahsoka assumed authority and fucked it up           Well enough           Herself

     No innocence          in that

     Retreating

    Dude is ready to die         [and while I don’t actually respect to           or encourage that]

    You kind of have to respect*/laugh                           At his commitment                          to his toxic job

                      Aight,                              Mate

Orders

  That I pick and   choose

    And should’ve followed      without a second thought    if I was an actual child

   Abomin        -ation

   Well   

    what   

    hope that was good

    Oh he was actually doing      some thing

    That would’ve been nice to see when he uttered         the “We’re out-numbered,“                 Line

      “Intensify deflector shields”

        How?!

       There’s too many

  [really setting up the odds for Ahsoka to be the     Big Damn hero     [Un-realistic      -ally]

    Aren’t you     ,movie

   Aight

    Fighter          Squad

     Bull-shit

     Also isn’t it supposed to be the whole damn        army?

     Like,  where is their enforcement is my question

     Because it should be like baseball bat to glove

    With them out numbering those guys 1 to 10

    So what is up?

    And also where is       Obi-Wan        Kenobi?

   Y’know

   The guy 

    this  mission is actually supposed to be about

     Seriously, that’s becoming a           littered detail

   Alright,        okay

     ARGGH

    Dear       God

     She just said “cool your      jets,”

   To the fuckin        Admiral

    Are you trying to DIE     

   Child?

   That’s an adult

    They can

    (And might)

    Try to       kill you!

    WTF

    We’re at        18:03  

     And already     having this many problems with the     story

    Like even an essay on why this character doesn’t        work

  Hasn’t done much to sustain   me

 Through          This        Bull

 Too late!

�� What.......?

    What-

   Happ         -ened

  Sky-       Walker..

  Okay

  Just-       Okay       movie

   You-      don’t       get       any   reaction      beyond         that

     And..         the       ship’s       down

    You know if this is in any other      situation

  With actual good characters

   And      set up

    That      might’ve        been         a bit       actually         tear       jerking

     As Ahsoka is forced to reckon with the fact of what the toxic behavior has done to her friends and family

     And even as enablers - of a terrible military complex -( of toxic behaviors) you can’t help but feel - despite this being on making up their own creation - that it’s still too cruel for a human being (or sentient) and that accountability will be a blessing for them, where their hurt to themselves and everyone around them will be lesser

     But that isn’t the case

     Because Ahsoka      

     And toaster

     Hang on Admiral

     Fuck’in Jedi            -under breath

        Like seriously Comms guy here gets lot of our beef

     But he seriously gets put through      a whole fecking lot this episode

      Like yeah      he could stop this at any time

     But          He        Doesn’t

     And as noted above,       It’s like dude you could be doing better for         yourself...

      You deserve   better

      Human         reaction

       Just              Ouch

        Out of                 Here

         Fighters

   Like yeah let me  just try and       contain the inhumane                             abomination                                     of                                 nature                                          Sure,                                    sir                                 Right                                     after-                                      [Ship                                    shaking]

                                   I get                                        these                                       fires                                    contained

                                   [Feckin’                                      Jedi]

 Well     shit      got         more   wrecked

 Return

   Oh shit      yeah     I fucked that up

    Oh,        Right

   Few    seconds

   Why are you riding this guy’s                   tailplate?

              Retreat

              Whelp

             Why?

 Also, this is just like one fleet

               I thought this was supposed to be like a            multi facet thing

               Like it said that         the whole entire army

               And we’re dealing with is extremely           small slice of the pie

              (Like not even supposed to be part of the pie             As Asoka           is a Jedi in training,”

   We didn’t even see what Anakin and the Admiral           are doing otherwise

     Seriously       all their hopes...     

        On            a         “teenager”

       Who        should           be      uncapable           of       intuition             (Or       initiative)

        And          Yoda            (and       surprisingly*        every             one           else)                  Signed            off            on           this

   *Presumably             * Nothing         is surprising       about         A bunch of     child      groomers           Agree-              Ing             to        throw             -ing              A         child       into     danger

   That’s       ex         -pected

    No

  Smart         Guy

  Given that we literally haven’t seen any other bit of the      Army

   Ahsoka meant that she’s going to invade the enemy ship         didn’t she?

     Like it was cut so we couldn’t see      the direction

  The way she said that other clone’s name

  I’m sus.

Good job

 If you do your job well enough         No one can beat it      with half-ass          ery

   Okay

   Failing?

   Since       when?

    Anyone that got hit        died!

    How?

    Stay       with       me

   In this surprisingly      stupid attempt

  ...        ....

 Aight,

  He’s      Dead

  Good job everyone    involved

  “Axe,”

  Apparently        the only one that survived         (Almost)

 Also, Ahsoka     how does it feel to have enabled that behavior?

   Because        you played a part

  Skipping over the part      that that was her fault?

   And the consequences of enabling   extremely toxic actions?

   Like that person’s   dead

Might not have been dead if everyone didn’t enable this  

Like     there        was       a        part     there

 Close up the hangar doors

  Why?

Also,    That’s your reaction,      To seeing      all this shit     

We’re home

That’s a bit better

Could’ve use a bit more   conflict Over her role      Eyes widening    and shifting in horror     Actually shocked

 And expressing     the full emotions of an   adult

(If that   is what we’re going for)

Okay,      Alright

  Also,     someone     survived?

   Why?

   Didn’t

   He-

  (Guess he only      survived out of his own        initiative)

    And was    just very done

     Alright

    Okay

    Sucks

   Hey- “jump to lightspeed”

     Aniken- actually did some thing in this whole episode

     Well,

     Hope the other traids of this      multi-facet         -Ed

  Invasion

  Also,    how is one ship not on fire?

  Bull shit that’s Anakin’s

  His ship...    was on fire

  Hold your characters accountable         For the situations       they caused

  Now I’m going to assume Anakin and Ahsoka have the standard clichéd ‘You should’ve listen to orders/ I do what I want,” or Anakin comforts the un-child-like abomination for       consciously       Enabl       -ing        Bad        Behaviors,         As        An       Adult,       As      that      the         only   situation       that   conversation      would     happen

  (The narrative        refusing           to         hold         her     accountable)

      With a child it would just be an      over involved         adult      comforting         their        own      orders             That      and      only      that

  Himself      and      only    himself

  Because     children        do       not     require   comforting        if      you       do      not      put      them        in    distressful    situations

  “Sorry”       Doesn’t      quite      cover        it

   Head       Count

   Aight

   Can’t      make       me      feel      bad     drama     queen

  Stop   bothering       the      tech       guys       and       get       off

“Dis-appointed,”

    She’s capable of making        her own decisions

   She’s either one an    un child like abomination               Or an            adult               Who should be how to           accountability              for           repeated               tox

       Anakin held accountable             (For enabling)

       The second      he hits an accountable adult

       Point being       they’re both in the wrong

     And if movie is trying to paint one of them as a        more or less innocent         (Accountable)        Movie is wrong

   (You can be more or less toxic than someone,           But after rule of five;          you’re both equally accountable         (Aka, should be         held accountable)

    (Equally        irredeemable)

   (By audience)

   (Different          People)

    Point being; they’re both toxic 

    And I wish the writers would stop treating    Ahsoka as deserving of any      of the inn     -ocence        Un-account        -ability   

     Of         a       child

   When she doesn’t act, talk or have any say to it            besides          in name

        Story telling       us

        Then contradicting by showing us          what is almost the exact opposite              (Quasi-)

       Wanting to give Ahsoka of the responsibilities,            (and dialogue) of an adult

        But the          subjective accountability            Of nothing

         Same             with              the              tone

          Creating a wholly                 Inhumane                Character

          With the loss of                  any sympathy              as consequence

            It sucks

            [Too much                 emotions]

              Me

             Like an un childlike abomination

             Children shouldn’t have initiative!

             Nothing

             Obi-wan

             Yeah- where the FECK is Obi-Wan?

   He was mentioned      at the beginning

   That’s        it

   We   haven’t     heard       (or seen)          lip        of        the        guy

    Until       now

  “ I know    you meant well snips,”

   No    she didn’t

  If she’s capable of     initiative,        She knows she’s enabling the        military      complex

  Fuck      off    with    your   subjective   accountability      movie

  You can’t make me sympathize with a     war     enabler

 (One doing it   completely     of       her    own   sentience)

You   get   in   that   corner       with     your     own (un) accountability

   And stop   focusing on this moment like there’s anything interesting     or we’re supposed to sympathize with these characters

Without adjusting the lighting     or   showing    any      sign    that you’re (assuming   acc   ounta     bility       For   dis-      play     ing      An     enabling   conversation       And     not     normalizing       a     bad   situation      (Which should not     be taken    lightly)

Bigger      Picture      .... That     You’re      Not     Aware        Of

Assuming a   sentient being is uncapable of understanding your logic

Tox 

First rule of war

 Don’t do war

  It’s unaccountable

 “Listen and obey your      superiors,”

 Yep there’s that    assumed authority

 Also she spent her whole life being    groomed for this

There’s no doubt   in my mind that she knows

That was malicious   disobedience

 (Something uncapable       of children

“But sometimes     you get carried away,”

  Yeah he’s an adult        he does it       maliciously

  You’re supposed to be a child        But you’re capable of      malacian

   But the story refuses to hold     (both you and him)         Accountable         For multiple acts of         deliberate tox

    And por     -tray this conversation,       As    between two tox individuals          Debating which one of them is more   tox, with no   stakes

     To put it shortly,        The story has   commitment issues      (And Severe   characterization issues)         That causes of the story to          be unstable              and flounder

           (As it                   deserves)

   “ understand what       you’re going through,”

       Being an enabler?

   (To this un        -childlike abomination’s        toxs?)

       No one is innocent in this      scenario, movie

  You better get it right

   ....

“ that I failed,”

Yeah you specifically    screwed that up

....

“it wasn’t your fault,”

 Hold up, hold up, hold up

 (You put that                    soft music back where it belongs  

             Movie!

              That                  was               completely                    her                   fault!

               (Enabling                       be                    damned)

                    “So                       many                         of                        my                       pilots,”

                     Put                         that                         light                        music                         away

                        Play                        something                         heavier

                         She’s                              the                             villain                               of                               the                              story

                            Now

                            This                                 is                             disturbing

                            Not                               cute

                         Anyway...

                      “that’s the reality of                             command,”

                      That’s the                    reality of being toxic

               “General              we’re approaching our staging area,”

        This is the circumstance you allow      Skywalker

      “Very Good              Captain,”

       Continue         enabling           The        military       complex          Anakin

       It’ll           pay         off        one        day      (No; it      won’t)

 “ Master     Windu,”

  Seriously        first        time      hearing      (Never      mind      Seeing)      Windu;         This      entire       time;

   “Progress,”

      Oh so       Ahsoka did fuck up the plan

       Big          Whoop

       No      surprises        there

    Mary Sue’s breaking the rules and getting no consequences is pretty on par

     “Our        progress        ,huh,”

     Hey you actually nearly had some bitterness appropriate for the   situation!

    Almost a good job         writers!

    “ we haven’t made any progress yet,”

    Yep both a group of feck ups in a           group of enablers

   Great-       situation that is

 “No, Rex,”

 Rex      is half a Narc

 Still an enabler

 But he gives some care

      (Still bad)

      (And tox.)

     (Myself)

     Movie!

Put that sad music back     where it belongs so help me

     Screw that

    Un-deserved-

   You cannot make me feel bad           for the enablers-

     You      shouldn’t           be      damn         trying!

On the   damn line,     this movie            is

   Okay

    ....

   She     made      this      hole

   Like good for her for taking some basic      self        accoun-     tability     and   getting (temporary)    away      from       his     toxicity

  That     was     almost      an   appropriate    emotion

  Okay,      Whatever

 Ahsoka’s going to do something reckless and   stupid       (Un-       Acc          oun       Table)         To         “Prove”          Herself,           Do       the      same      exact      thing,         That       got       her   reprimanded,         And be    rewarded   

  ,isn’t she?

   ....

  Jedi     Crashed

  One very small      piece

   Of one      facet

   That shouldn’t       exist

    Did

   And they had no back up   plan

 Besides the child soldier

  (That acts like nothing like a child)

  That’s something really        to brag about

  More so to shout “what the heck is that thing?!!”

   At the clearly on unchild     “child”

   Yoda,        And Plo,       Have      some   explaining       to       do

   Over where they     found such a     child

   (A lab?)

It’s always on my mind that no one   screaming    about how   fecked up it is     that a   “child” is capable of   initiative

In every scene    No one’s    screaming,    ‘You’re like       13!      How       are         you       capable          of   anything     besides     following      orders??”

    That’s        how        the       clone       facility        got         shut       down

  *gets

There’s   some things      even      they      won’t      touch          .....

   Aight        ...       This dude      bragging          ....        Okay

  What-ever          ....   Blockade

    Al right

   Remember      this is just      the blockade

   There’s a whole        slave colony        (Or       whatever)

     That we still haven’t       got to

      (Nor Obi-Wan‘s         arrival)

   How long is this     thing?

Con-gratulations

But do not   underestimate the Jedi

  ‘Except Obi-Wan     underestimate that bitch all day,       He still      won’t do      shit!

   [Hasn’t        even       shown            up!]

   Seriously...

  Commander   bring me the data on general skywalker,

   I know this is working up a ‘don’t underestimate the young,’         But babies?

   Underestimate that all day they’re still          Help-less

   (As Ahsoka       should be)

    Yeah       you shouldn’t underestimate the younger generation,        Because you shouldn’t        heck with the future          at all!

      The tragedy      of child soldiers          (And         abused         children)                 Is that there is no          instant            karma

       Only            Capable            After            The             22            Mark.

      Writing your character an un child like abomination        Isn’t clever movie

  It’s un       acc       Ount            Able  

  (And       Terrible)

   Asoka should be a worse version of     general Kenobi/          Skywalker          Due to having the         orders           But none of the          initiative            ..         Of         an adult           ....

     Aight   

    Okay

   Surprise

   No Asoka     almost systematically         Screwed up your        unaccountable   plan  Relying      completely        on          her

How this conversation should   go;

So, the plan revolving around the    child soldier     went horribly

Ob; “wouldn’t have    guessed,”

 A; Yeah, I suppose...

 [Angry bick      -ering and      Snark      -ing      comm         ences]

 While   Ahsoka     sits      by   blankly,      awaiting       an     order       [Be-cause       Child]

 [End]

  ....

What actually happens;

 Aniken lies and says they were   “out numbered”,     [didn’t even try]

   Sent out      like one teem  

   [To our     knowledge]

  Cruiser

  Wait,       what?   

  When did this     happen?      We didn’t see that!

   Everyone made it to the     safety of     hyper space

[Last I checked]

   Except        for      Ahsoka’s         team!

  And      I’m no expert on     ships

  [i’ve gotten the Separtists           And Republic ships      confused more times than I can      count]

   But Ahsoka’s team was the only ship we saw go down

   And there was definitely more than one of those...

   So like... 

  Show   don’t tell movie

  Plus   an entire squadron of     fighters

  PLUS!

   Dude I’d rather see the ship go down!

 Seriously?!

 What the heck happened     there!

 What      the      Heck!

  That’s an important detail!

 You   could’ve use that as contrast!

  Or to show that Anaken    was further along in enabling!

  - ——-

               !!! !

And your Padawan

And your     Padawan what...

 What   part of the plan are you aware of that we’re not?

(Because apparently a     cruiser went down!)

   So      clearly some nonsense happened     that we didn’t see!

   Also, wait what happened to     Comms guy?

   That is prime guilt trip       material!

    Knowing the consequences of       enabling bad behavior!         (Toxic behavior!)

    Seriously...

    What?

Ahsoka’s fine

The authority    assumer’s fine

 Yippee!

  I was so con        cerned

  About the childlike   abomination that it    doesn’t seem     able to die

   “Hard,”

   HAHAHA

    Are       you     kidding?

    She was more concerned with her failure      then the fact        That     those guys      died!

    She treated them like skill points     more than actual people!

   “ give her time,”

  Give her time to get over it and    enable more people in danger!

          - Advice with Obi-                                      Won-

   “ you will need her help-”

   Th-

    The CHILD soldier’s ?

        WTF

      Not Cool!

      Through           This

      “I know,”

       I know        child soldiers             are               the          new in!

Also, wow.     Even when   she’s not in the    scene, the universe bends to talk about her and give her   props      Sign         1; that you’re writing      a Mary   Sue

Seriously,      You      didn’t      bother         to        put        this       character        through           like a Mary Sue        checklist?

     (Or did    you use that as writing   guidelines?

      For           This          Character?

       I’m       getting        really       heated..

      I’m just going to        blank my mind for a bit

        And maybe skip past these           scenes

   [because there was just nothing with   redeemable about       These        Characters        Or        This          Plot]

Thank you Windu for not focusing on   Ahsoka..

 Postpone       The...

 Urgh

  [it’s not worth it       It’s a   badly done         “Child screws up one thing (And the entire world) and must overcome your measurable odds (completely unrealistically) to     Atone,”

   It is literally the candy bar      of plots

    The       most     unhealthy          ....     And   unappealing     (Sorry       to     candy,             It     Has   some thing        over       these        plots)

     If        I      stop        at     anything        that      makes        me      angry,       I’m     going       to       be      here       all      day,     [For       Years!]        -        Switching      into       summary       mode           ....      Meaning        that            the   commentary        won’t         be     immediate        .....

     And will be more like when there’s a         Tumblr refresh          Without           The            Brackets...

      Not even worthy of the, “Uhms,”  “Oh yeah, and “That’s great,” I usually start falling into about this point   

      .....

     [Oh my god....

         No,                      Just                No

 [Everyone is tox, Ashoka is an adult, tries to assume some accountability and leave, Anakin guilt trip her into it [she’s an adult so she didn’t have to go with it] but still, the Clones show the tiniest bit of Accountability, the Admiral showed reasonable hesitance, confirms     And enables        Ahsoka’s       Un-accoun     tability]

              And the story ends up as clichéd and [even worse] broken as I predicted, going full Mary Sue, having Ahsoka take the helm at the rip age of 13 [Acting on Quasi-22] having the basic decency not to blow my ears out with a happy theme but it’s still appears nauseatingly constant in the background, despite none of this being deserving, staying enough under the radar, near “fiercely annoying,” instead of “actively harmful”           And          Dis          gus          ting

     Like         it’s   predecessors       saving          it        from           a          strike

      But         not        from       being         a      terrible      episode

[Worthy      of     being    forgotten,]

 Ahsoka;       the       tales         of       being          a        Mary          Sue?

     Skip            It

     Which              is             a          shame       

      because               This          character            could               be                so              much              better