#and couldn't stop thinking about this parallel/contrast

[morzowo]

✧･ﾟ public vs private confession ♡

#my school president #tinngun #my gifs ☆ #i miss them so much it's unreal #and couldn't stop thinking about this parallel/contrast #also this is result of extreme procrastination #so im begging can someone make an actually good version or send me link to one if it was already done ahkjgsdhkgf

[bylerschmyler]

Mike - Vecna's 4th victim

I know that many people believe that Mike was a tool for Vecna to get Will and El back or that he waited for Mike to be gone to California. I have a pretty different perspective on this and I want to share my thoughts about this. I just gonna warn you that this post will be quite long but I would appreciate it if you take your time to read it.

For the tool-theory and waiting to be gone-theory I have two simple reasons why I don't think that they are correct.

When Vecna kills Chrissy Mike is still in Hawkins. He doesn't wait for Mike to be gone/sitting in the car/plane and traveling to California. Vecna kills her mere hours before Mike had no possibility to interfere with him. It's not only that Vecna kills Chrissy, no he kills her in close proximity to Max who could have been more suspicious about Eddie, Chrissy and the lights and could have called a CODE RED, which would have led to Mike not going to California. So if he wanted Mike to go to California (either for him to be gone or to get El/Will back) why would he jeopardize this mission by being too impatient?

If Vecna wanted Mike out of the way why didn't he just kill him? I mean we can all agree that pre S4 Mike already has a massive amount of trauma. So if he needs Mike out of the way he could have just cursed him too, couldn't he? There was nobody to stop him from doing it. El? Out of the picture. No powers and too far away. Mike? Wouldn't be able to help himself during a trance. The Party? If they don't know what is coming, how would they prevent it?

So I think Mike wasn't a tool for Vecna. He was a perfect fit for a far more important role.

He was the Chosen one, the fourth, the final sacrifice.

But before we are going to discuss Mike's role in Vecna's plan in detail, let's take a step back and take a look in the things that actually happened in S4.

Specifically everything that has to do with Patrick and his curse. Because there are so many things wrong with Patricks curse.

First of all Patrick doesn't fit the other victims. Timing wise as well as in his trauma and our connection to him and his connection to other characters on the show.

Timing

Patrick is the only victim that we see getting cursed. This happens on the March 23rd (sunday) at some point during the day (morning or noon I guess). (here the scene where he gets cursed)

This is in direct contrast to the timeline which is presented by Max. For further explanation this is also March 23rd but late in the evening.

So let me get this straight.

Chrissy's curse started a week ago (approximately week = seven days. I made this post where I found a specific date when Chrissy's symptoms started and they are not adding up. But I think it's because it's meant to be not the curse itself that's coursing these symptoms but something else which I will talk about in another post)

Fred's started six days ago

Max's five days ago

And Patrick just that morning (basically one day ago)?

In no way this is supposed to happen. What was the reason? Did Vecna forget to curse Patrick four days ago? Or couldn't he decide who to curse 4 days prior?

Well the most logical reason (imo) is that his actual target can't be targeted. And we do know one character who was in Hawkins and left during the season. And that's Mike. But this is not the only reason Patricks timing is off.

With Patrick being cursed there is a change in the way the curse works for Max and him in comparison to Fred and Chrissy. I won't go too much in to the details but here are some observations.

Chrissy and Fred both have 3 visions that are heavily paralleling each other.

Their 1. vision is related to the people around them. Chrissy thinks that Max is still in the room when the pounding on the bathroom stall starts. Then she hears her mothers voice and Vecna's feed come into vision. Her mothers voice get distorted soon after and Vecna's voice fades in.

Freds first vision is also directly connected to a conversations he is having with Officer Daniels. Daniels also fades in to Vecna. His face and his voice.

The second vision is the grandfather clock. But a very creepy version.

With Chrissy it's spiders with Fred it's people turning into Vecna calling him murderer.

The third vision is there death and relieving their nightmare.

Both die on the end of their 5th day of being cursed. Their visions start during the day and the day ends with their death.

In contrast to this Max curse is put off this timing. Max visions start on the end of her 5th day of being cursed and she has 3 visions with different themes than Fred and Chrissy.

Max's 1. vision is the grandfather clock. But it's only the creepy grandfather clock. No spiders and no link to Max's trauma.

Her 2nd vision is like Fred’s and Chrissy’s 1st vision a person who fades into Vecna.

her 3rd vision is supposed to be her death which she can escape from.

She has a 4th vision where she actually dies.

Patrick only has one vision we see and one that is implied but we don’t see at all. His first vision is the clock during Chrissy’s funeral.

the other would have been when he dies but we don’t see the vision.

Timing wise this implicates the scenario that Patricks’s cursing throws the timeline off schedule because we see a clear pattern before he was cursed which is thrown off the second Vecna targets him. So likely the original schedule would have targeted Max on the 23rd and the 4th victim on the 24th.

Lack of imagery and missing build up

His trauma, connection to other characters and the connection we build to him is also off. While most of it is due to the lack of imagery regarding him but also to the fact that we have a build up in this topics that Patrick is reversing.

I don’t really want to order the trauma of Vecna’s victims in terms of severity because I firmly believe that any trauma should be addressed and recognised and you shouldn’t compare trauma (unless you’re a therapist) because this kind of invalidates the people with “less severe” trauma. But when we talk about Patrick’s trauma we only have two clues about what it is because we don’t see visions that are related to his trauma. The first one is when he gets cursed (here). A man, likely his father, calls him a disgrace. Lucas also tells us that Patrick came to practice with a black eye once.

This implicates that Patrick is also a victim of domestic abuse (like Chrissy) What I find interesting is that this creates a circle of trauma themes.

(I want to emphasize that between Fred and Max there is a build up because Fred has survivors guilt and Max has survivors guilt but also wanted the person that died to die before he died. This is obviously meant for us to notice because it’s an addition to the same theme)

Ignoring the potential build up in the trauma and going into Patrick’s relationships we see that he doesn’t make sense as 4th victim narratively speaking. We have a clear build up in the victims relationships with other characters:

Chrissy has no known relationship to our main characters 

Fred is Nancy’s colleague and apprentice (Fred asking Nancy how she did this with Jonathan). They are close enough (Nancy trusts him enough) to take him to the Trailer Park. 

Max is a main character of the show. She has many close relationships to other main characters

And then Patrick comes around and he is just Lucas’ team mate who he can’t even trust because they are hunting for his friends. 

The connections to other characters get closer and closer until Max only to go rapidly down with Patrick. Narratively this doesn’t make sense because Patrick is supposed to be the 4th victim. He should have close ties to our favorite characters and they should care deeply about him because of the needed rise in tension. They get around it with Max escaping the death vision and being the actual 4th victim but for the original plan this would have been very weird.

This also ties to the connection we as an audience have to the victims.

Chrissy is a new character. We only see her in one episode and we barely know anything about her. Most of what we know is that she is a cheerleader and she has trauma. Although many people sympathize with her we can’t really get connected to her.

Fred is basically the same. But we get more information about him. We know he is a journalist. We also know that he does know about Jonathan and Nancy and their struggles in their relationship (which he kind of wants to take a chance in because he flirts with Nancy). We have two episodes with him.

We have known Max since season 2. We had a lot of time to get to know her and create a bond with her.

And yet again Patrick doesn’t make sense. Why do we get a new character which we don’t like because he is part of the antagonists, after a (beloved) main character? There was a subtle build up and then we flunk down in the negatives with our perspective on the character.

I wanna add that in an recent reblog of a post i discussed Mike's parallels to the other victims. You can find the post here.

But how does Mike fit in?

Most people on here are well aware of all the hints that connect Mike with Vecna. Therefore many people believe he is a target in S5. I believe so too. I still don’t think that so much has changed during S4 that made him more targetable than he already was. Yes his trauma increased through the shootout, the death of unknown hero agent man, lying to El and losing Eddie and Max, but his trauma was there before. And it was severe enough to make him struggle. It’s pointed out in the canon extending book “Lucas on the line” and it is also shown in his behavior in S4 (getting up too late, used clothes, dirty room/basement, he doesn’t eat on camera, and more). So Mike would be a perfect target for Vecna only considering his trauma. But there is way more stuff that make Mike a perfect last puzzle piece in this situation. First of all he is one of the few characters that are in Hawkins when the curses begin and have more/deeper connections than Max. Yes Max has a lot of deep connections (the Party and El specifically) but Mike has those connections too and he has deeper connections to the teens (Nancy and Jonathan especially), Will, Joyce and Hopper. So in a certain way he is more connected to the rest of the cast and would be perfect to be the final step of the build up we see with character relationships. He has also been part of the show since S1 and was one of THE main characters in S1 and S2. He has a very important role in figuring out important plot points and so for us he is obviously a very important character. And so while I don’t play favorites he is slightly more important for the audience (subjectively speaking). Timing wise (as I said before) he is the only character we know to travel out of Hawkins during the cursing. Him being cursed on March 20th (thursday) wouldn’t compromise the given timeline. It would also explain this scene where Mike clearly looks like he has a awful headache.

And this scene where Max has a nosebleed and the camera’s focus shifts to him

(some people believe that’s the moment he cursed Max. I doubt that. When Max explains the symptoms she said nosebleedS, plural [Insert Eddie’s comment on Nancy’s guns here].I believe that’s thursday morning and Mike was just cursed and had a nosebleed like Patrick and he looked like he looked because he found it suspicious that he had a nosebleed and now Max has a nosebleed.) Clearly two times where he was visibly shown in the context of the curses symptoms. Also his bedroom scene, when he reads Els' letter could connect to the symptoms (this is more of a reach than the other two).

Sleeping in underwear => He woke up an a cold sweat

The binder with Will’s drawings is in his room => having nightmares and needing comfort

(re-)reading the letter => having nightmares and needing reassurance that everything is okay

he is later than he usually is => trouble sleeping

Also I think @aemiron-main pointed that out: Mikes Reaction to Karen telling him that he need to be home by nine because it's an early flight suggests that he barely sleeps because he seems to not care of the early flight.

And last but not least the line Vecna uses for Max (You’ll be the chosen one, the fourth the final sacrifice) fits way better to Mike. Why? Well the main reason I only got on the Mike getting vecnaed’ train was while I was rewatching the show I saw this scene where El screams for Mike while she has a vision:

This scene reminded me of this scene where Will does the same:

And it made me think about how Vecna knows that both of his former targets heavily depend on Mike. He is the first they think about when needing help. He’s the first they find comfort in when upset. So Mike is obviously on Vecna’s radar. There is more…. These two scenes where Max and Mike help El and try to protect her and Billy sees it.

They stand out because it would make so much sense for Mike to be targeted too. Max does become a target because of her trauma but also because of her connection to El. So Mike would be a perfect target too. Him being the final sacrifice would be the peak of devastation for both Will and El and would make perfect sense for Vecna to do so. Also it would contrast Mike’s arc because he is usually the one interfering with Vecna’s plans in overtaking the real world. Mike being the last kill to open the gates to the UD would be very “poetic” from Vecna’s POV. Furthermore the line “You would be the chosen one” would be far more fitting for Mike. Mike is a fan of fantasy stories. The Chosen One Trope is a typical fantasy trope that has been used for ages. Mike can relate far more to this trope than Max (Max is a comic fan where this trope is used too, but Mike is pictured way more with classic fantasy where this trope is used very often).

But why did Vecna wait for Mike to go on vacation?

This is the only thing that really makes me struggle. Because I don’t have a good answer to this. The only possible explanation I see (without doubting the rest of this theory) is that Vecna didn’t look for his plans, his supposedly happy memories/thoughts and only took in the bad ones. Max tells us that she thinks Vecna only looks for the bad memories.

So if Max is right then Vecna didn’t look for the light in Mike’s mind and only for the darkness. (Therefore didn't see his hope of reconnecting to Will in Califronia) I also want to point out that Mike is not the only target Vecna needed. He needed four victims. So this is not solely about him. And you need to know that Vecna feeds off his victims fears, anxiety and guilt. So it makes sense for him to unleash his curse when all his victims are especially tense/anxious

Chrissy’s mother forced a beauty idea on her daughter that resulted in her being connected to bulimic tropes (Throwing up, rotten food). She is also a cheerleader in the 80s and she “needed to be pretty” because the championship games were coming up. So Chrissy would be more anxious than usually

Fred is less obvious than Chrissy. The only clues I got why he would be more anxious than usual are that Officer Daniels (Vecna Vision) tells us that the accident happened last year and he knows about Jonathan and Nancy’s relationship problems. The first could mean that the car crash happened somewhere in 1985 or it could actually mean that the anniversary is coming up which (knowing from S2) would affect Fred through the anniversary effect. The latter could make him anxious because he might see a chance with his crush (we see him multiple times openly flirting with Nancy)

Max would be more anxious because Billy’s birthday is coming up (March 29 - also anniversary effect)

Mike would be more anxious because he is traveling to California and he doesn’t know how Will feels about him and maybe he is a little jealous because of El’s letter and Will painting something for a girl

Additionaly the week before spring break could be full of tests which could make all victims more anxious.

Another good question regards the timing. Vecna did look for a replacement for Mike on March 23rd but Mike left early on March 22nd. So why did he wait an additional day for Mike? This is obviously a question I asked myself a lot. Why did Vecna wait for Mike to be gone for a whole day before looking for a replacement (Patrick)? Well this one is very hard to answer. But there is one scene in particular that makes me believe that Vecna starts his rampage usually early in the morning. You can take a look here in this post. I included the scenes right before and right after the scene on purpose because it gives us a better perspective on the timeline. So right before Vecna gets hooked up to the vines, El went to her bedroom crying. We know that this happened on the night of March 22nd. Then it cuts to the UD where Vecna gets hooked up but nothing happens afterwards. Instead we see how the sun rises/travels in the sky. Then it cuts to Lucas and the beginning of the hunt for Eddie. So what is the purpose of this whole scene? Vecna wanted to start the final stage of his curse (visions) for Max early on the 23rd. This is probably what he was doing with Chrissy and Fred the days before. He recognized that he couldn’t find Mike anywhere and then started to search for a replacement until he found Patrick. Very important for this theory, Vecna finds Patrick way later. There are almost 20 Minutes between this scene and the scene where Patrick gets cursed. Even more important: We see every group on screen before we get back to Vecna. There is literally a cut to every small group. First Lucas and the Jocks, then Max, Dustin, Robin and Steve with Eddie, then Nancy, the Cali Gang, Joyce and Murray, Hopper back to the Hawkins gang at the Trailer Park. I think Vecna didn’t recognize Mike’s absence because he was solely focused on Fred on the 22nd and started with Fred visions early in the morning before Mike got to the airport. So when he wanted to get started with Max the next day he realized that he couldn’t reach Mike anymore and decided to go for a replacement. That’s when the timings of the victims don’t add up anymore.

Besides everything I showed you here there is another theory that is connected to this. #possessiongate from @dinitride-art

This shows how my theory is supported visually in the show. It also explains why Mike isn't shown as cursed after the breakfast on the 23rd because his curse was shifted to Patrick.

#byler #mike wheeler #victimgate #mike gets vecna’d #mike getting vecna’d #stranger things #stranger things 4 #stranger things analysis #st analysis #st theory #stranger things theory #mike wheeler analysis #vecna's curse

[theflyindutchwoman]

You owe it to yourself to go. I know, but -- What happened to him isn't your fault. We were about to -- But we didn't. We didn't.

| ANATOMY OF A SCENE - CHENFORD EDITION 5.02 - Labor Day

This scene… This feels so much like a breakup even though they weren't together to begin with… It's the angst, the heartbreak… With Tim thinking only of Lucy and what's best for her while she assumes that he's getting rid of her… With her believing he wants space from her when she arguably needs him the most to be her anchor… It's the vulnerability these two display… This scene also mirrors two previous key moments - only in reverse… The beginning, with Lucy and Chris in her apartment, stands in complete contrast with that moment with Tim, where the atmosphere was intimate. There's no candle, no real romantic undertones this time around… Instead it's very subdued, so far from the playfulness of that initial scene. But most importantly, this parallels the moment that led to this heart-wrenching scene, when Tim and Lucy got back from Vegas… Still in complete reverse, as if to illustrate how they took one step forward, two steps back.

It starts right when Lucy opens the door for Tim… Again. With Chris on the couch. Again - though in better shape. Even the music stops in that instant. Their nervousness is still there, but now it's to underline how uncomfortable Lucy gets when seeing the two men interact… The longing is still present as well, when Chris admits that she is taking good care of him… Tim knows this all too well. He remembers how she sent him meals after the quarantine house and he was just her TO. And a threshold is still crossed : only, this time, he doesn't come in, she's the one joining him in the hallway... Away from her personal space. First step back.

The fact that Chris knew that only Tim would be able to convince her to go to UC school is telling… And he's not wrong, especially in this case. But not for the reason he thinks. Tim knows exactly what is keeping Lucy from going : she's punishing herself. She's feeling responsible for what happened to Chris, for him being targeted by Rosalind because of his relationship with her… and for what almost happened with Tim. If there's anyone who understands what it's like to carry such a burden, it's him. In her mind, she needs to make some penance, to atone for her 'sin'… She needed Nyla and Chris to agree with her when she asked for their opinion, their confirmation. But they couldn't give her what she was looking for. And this is such a beautiful and poignant, if not heartbreaking, parallel to their conversation in the shop in Control, when Tim was drowning in guilt as well, for pushing her towards Caleb. Back then, Lucy was trying to make him understand that he wasn't at fault for that psycho's action, that it wasn't his advice to blow off some steam, to go and have a drink with someone that caused her kidnapping. And now, it's Tim's turn, to try to make her accept that she isn't at fault either, that their almost hookup didn't have any bearing on what happened to Chris. Even if she hadn't invited him in, it wouldn't have changed the outcome. The way these two take turn reassuring the other, insisting that they were in no way responsible for these traumatic moments, knowing full well how the other value their opinions… It's just so special and pure.

Even his little encouragement - 'You owe it to yourself to go' - is about her not punishing herself. He wants the best for her, to see her thrive : he knows how hard she's worked for this… He's simply trying to protect her from herself. And again, after Revelations, he's aware of how important his support is to her, even without the current circumstances… There's also the fact that Tim would probably hate having a hand, no matter how indirect, in her squandering away this amazing opportunity… At least, not for this reason… Not because she believes she deserves missing it out. And it's clear that this is what she's doing here, with how she tries to acknowledge what they almost did… What they wanted to do… It feels like a colossal moment for her, after she previously reduced everything to 'basic biology'. Tim might interrupt her, emphasising how they didn't sleep together, but it doesn't entirety feel like a denial either. Or a cop-out (even though it was still emotional cheating). This feels more like a way for him to reassure her again, to make sure she doesn't keep drowning. Unfortunately, Lucy is too wrapped-up in guilt to really understand his intentions. It's too fresh. So instead, she jumps to the wrong conclusion, convincing herself that he's trying to get rid of her. That he wants some space from her… Her frown is in complete contrast to his incredulous laugh, because it couldn't be further from the truth. It's also interesting how she mentions their working relationship, as a guise to what she really means. She will admit later how scared she is to ruin their relationship and it's quite palpable here : she's projecting a bit, and since she is stuck in that punitive mindset, she immediately assumes that she has already ruined their relationship.

Tim's denial can't convince her. She's spiralling, looking all sceptical… And to be fair, the tone, the whole atmosphere feel so much like a goodbye… A breakup… Especially when he tells her that it's time for her to move on. He clearly means it professionally, but there's such a double meaning behind those words. The crack in his voice, the tears in his eyes don't help either… Lucy is nodding along, trying to contain her emotions. But her 'Mm-hmm' is borderline angry and hurt… She doesn't believe his words. She's barely holding back her tears, looking downwards. He's just as wrecked, trying to smile but unconvincingly. They're both so incredibly vulnerable here. There's something in his body language that is so reminiscent of his goodbye to Isabel. But unlike then, he does look back before going on his way : their story isn't nearly finished yet. This is just the end of an era. Lucy looks so sad, hurt and heartbroken… All alone in the hallway. The complete opposite from the last time they were together in that very same hallway… Second step back...

#the rookie #chenford #chenfordedit #lucy chen #tim bradford #5.02 #2.17 #1.12 #Anatomy of a scene - Chenford Edition

[misc-obeyme]

sorry that this is coming to your ask box out of nowhere i just have thoughts (spoilers for om s3/4 if people want to avoid them): i know a lot of people love the idea of simeon falling from grace and becoming a demon just like the bros did, but it's so much more interesting and meaningful to me that he becomes human instead. it's another layer of separation he has from the bros and it feels like a neat parallel/contrast to lilith's actions. yes both acted out of a desire to protect a human but no one went to war for simeon. he got punished alone and quietly and by the time other characters noticed they couldn't do anything about it. (pt 1/2)

Oh no anon how could you bring this to my attention I will never be the saaaaaame!! 😭

I have thought a lot about Simeon in general because his story is so much more complex than most of the other characters. And I swear on my life, this fandom sleeps on him, but he's so great in so many ways.

I was kind of annoyed about the whole human thing, I didn't want him to lose his angel status mostly because I was upset about WHY it was happening. Since what he did by taking the ring saved lives, I was just mad about him being punished at all.

I didn't even stop to consider how this would mean he could grow old with MC and now my heart is conflicted lol!

I made that whole post about Solomon being the one who could understand MC's aging in a way the others couldn't, but it hadn't even dawned on me that Simeon could possibly be aging right along with MC. Maybe his understanding of aging and such is different from Solomon's, since he was an angel and everything, but if he stays as a human, he and MC would in fact be growing old together. AND OH MY HEART SHE BREAKS.

It's bad enough that all the demons and immortal beings have to deal with MC getting old and dying, but now they have to watch that happen to Simeon too?? The potential. Imagine how Luke would feel, all grown up and watching his elderly parental figures fade away into death. l;jadsflkdsklf I can't deal with it.

And yes, I love your thoughts about Simeon vs Lilith, too. Simeon is always the one that seems to be left out, on the outside looking in, not part of the brothers, and as you said, no one going to war for him. Punished alone and suffering alone and keeping it to himself for nearly two whole seasons because he can't even accept it himself.

I don't want Simeon to become a demon. I think him being a human is painful and sad, but I think that if he became a demon, it would almost negate all the choices he so clearly made to stay in the Celestial Realm. I think that instead of joining the rebellion, Simeon saw that he was needed in the Celestial Realm as a dissenting voice. He could work quietly from within to perhaps mitigate some of the damage that world has done and caused. I always saw him as hiding his true self, even if deep down he still wanted to be seen as a good angel and maintain his position, he also knew he had to make the choices that felt right to him. Even if it meant going against what he was originally taught. And I think that now, in the OG season four, he's kind of lost that ability because he's not even allowed in the Celestial Realm anymore. He can't even fight from within now. And I think he's struggling with feeling even more outside, feeling like he's slipping away from everything he's ever known, but not quite fitting into the Devildom either.

Augh I could talk about Simeon all day. He's really one of the best characters.

Also, please feel free to bring anything to my ask box at any time, I am genuinely thrilled to receive all of your thoughts!

#anyway I have feelings about Simeon #maybe I should write a long fic about him next #oh but I was gonna do Solomon #I dunno we'll see lol #obey me #obey me nightbringer #obey me simeon #anon asks #misc answers #spoilers #obey me spoilers

[ups3tti]

I'm rewatching a bit of Seabound and I can't stop thinking about Wojira. Like Ninjago just casually introduced a storm spirit (storm god??) that the FSM had to have banished in order to create Ninjago, who apparently commands water and wind specifically.

Like maybe it's just me but that felt like a huge bomb drop when I first heard it? Like Water and Wind are set apart from all other elements from the start, the FSM couldn't even master them. It's also specifically noted by Wu that the combination of water and wind is incredibly destructive due to this.

I have. So so many thoughts. Like about how Nya and Morro and Euphrasia use their elements. About Nya's apparent connection to both Morro and Euphrasia. She also either parallels and contrasts both the wind elementals in ways I REALLY wanna ramble about but I also wanna keep this short hakfhskf. Like are they gonna expand on this at all??? Is Wojira gonna get brought up again? What about the shockwave she sent out when Nya destroyed her? Is Nya ever actually going to combine forces specifically with Euphrasia to show off the wind/water combo they talked about? Augghhh

#i have a lot of hcs surrounding Wojira because i really dont think she was like. a mindless beast like she was portrayed #or at least i dont want her to be #and i think about nya and morro contrasts and parallels so much you dont understand #i just dont know if anyones interested in that though hakfhakjfd #but like yeah. sea goddess on the brain #ninjago #morro ninjago #ninjago nya #ninjago euphrasia #sketti rambles #so sorry everyone im going insane again

[sincerely-sofie]

I kind of have a paradox idea. I’m not the best at explaining things so bare with me. I’ll clarify if need be!

Past Darkrai (the one who goes “I’ve suffered and now I’m going to make it everyone’s problem” and hates Twig) gets the chance to peek into the future. When he does, he’s shown two paths that lead to two different outcomes.

The first one is the one he always wanted: The world is dark. Time has stopped. Everyone and everything is suffering, and he stands at the top of it all as the world’s king. It’s what Darkrai’s always wanted. It’s the path he wants to take. What he was aiming for. The King looks content. Darkrai almost doesn’t see it, however, because the King’s joy is so subdued — reserved and muted. Subtle or not, it’s there. He’s accomplished his goal. He’s the King of a dark, suffering world.

And then he sees the second path, and he’s disgusted: the world is still bright, everyone is living in peace and happiness, and worst of all, he’s — Darkrai himself —living with the woman who has foiled his plans at every turn. He has some imbecilic, unimaginative name called Ark. He’s spending time with Twig’s friends and . . . And laughing?! SMILING even! He looks at his worst enemy with so much care and adoration that it makes him sick. There’s a literal infant there that he’s holding — raising together with his worst enemy — and he’s not trying to get far, far, far away from this tiny creature that loves him for some reason. His world of darkness hasn’t come to reality. He isn’t ruling over a world of darkness and relishing in everyone’s suffering. What is this?! It’s all wrong! It’s all wrong and this future version of himself — Ark — he’s . . . ! He is . . .

. . . Looks so much happier than Darkrai, the ruler of the dark future.

Ark is joyful. His contentment is much louder in comparison to Darkrai, the King of Darkness. Ark has a brighter presence, a better posture, hobbies, a home that he isn’t getting driven out from, friends, loved ones, people who look at him and want him around. The King of Darkness has none of that — he practically looks sad in comparison to Ark! Why?! The King has everything he’s ever wanted in the dark future no he doesn’t, he just has revenge. It’s hard for him to remember what he TRULY wanted in the first place, so why isn’t he as happy — or happier — than Ark?! It doesn’t make sense! It isn’t right! It isn’t fair! Why is this undoubtedly horrible future make him happier than the horrible future Darkrai wanted to inflict on everyone else?!

Darkrai begins to feel sick. His mind is swirling. And then he flees. He runs from seeing these two contrasting paths that are wrong. They have to be.

Because otherwise everything he’s doing isn’t going to bring him as much joy as he thought it would, and causing the dark future is all Darkrai’s been doing. It’s supposed to make him happy. It’s all a lie. He would be happier once everyone else was suffering.

. . . Right?

There's a difference between true happiness versus the hollow glee of having company in misery. On the one hand, everyone has been successfully dragged down to your level of dreariness and distress... And on the other, you're continually lifting and being lifted by those around you. You aren't suffering anymore. You don't need people to suffer to be happy. You're just happy.

Darkrai has a fun parallel to Twig in this— where she couldn't understand why anyone would ever care an ounce for her, he didn't understand how there was any scrap of joy left available to him in the world. It's the mutual "inability to comprehend fundamental concepts in healthy worldviews" origin story that makes them the ultimate power couple.

(I am foaming at the mouth thinking about this idea oh my word)

#this is a delightful concept and also perfectly clear! #awesome work! #shadow baby au #pmd darkrai #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokémon mystery dungeon #pmd explorers #pmd sky #pmd eos #pmd2 #pmd #sofie answers asks

[broodwolf221]

okay. aforementioned meta time.

aka: solas drew the veil and plunged the world into chaos... but my best guess is, he had to.

ft.: if he was wrong to do so (which i don't think he was), then the inquisitor is just as wrong during in hushed whispers

solas' goals were pretty straightforward: he wanted to liberate the enslaved elvhen. to do that, he had to stop the evanuris, who were, without a doubt, the world's most powerful mages.

and others have posited theories about more going on, theories i tend to agree with, at least in terms of broad strokes. specifically i believe there's a connection btwn the evanuris and the blight and that, unchecked, they truly would have destroyed the world.

in which case, he gets an additional goal: save the literal world.

i also tend to agree with the idea that red lyrium has something to do with the blight. so moving forward with these two theories...

things blight/red lyrium can affect (in game canon):

stone

animals (including moles and worms via ambient dialogue in suledin keep)

humans

elves

dwarves

qunari

dragons

so it's reasonably safe to say that not only does the blight impact people, but it impacts the planet/nature as well. so if he took action to stop the blight, then by doing so he sacrificed arlathan to save the entire rest of the world. and the extreme measure he took here was likely necessary because of the strength of the evanuris - one man, one mage, however skilled, could not effectively fight them all. as a direct confrontation he would have lost. but there's still a heavy implication that he warred with them (or perhaps for them - either way, he was a soldier) for some time, that he "spent lives," which to me implies that he was something of a general waging a war against the evanuris, at least at one point. so it's safe to say that he actually tried to go head to head with them - and he couldn't. not even with an army.

i have seen his actions within the timeline of dai contrasted with the inquisitor's actions during the in hushed whispers timeline, and i think that's a very valid comparison to make: he woke to a world that was unrecognizable to him, corrupted by his actions, but also saved by his actions! but he wants to bring what was good about the world back. as inky in that timeline, we are willing to destroy everyone in order to "reset" the world and have another chance to take down corypheus.

in game, the world doesn't seem too bad to us. sure, it has its issues, but it's still a functional world, right? the people inhabiting it, most of them want to continue to live the rest of their lives, right? i don't think we can say the same isn't true of the future timeline we saw. there was absolutely deep corruption and danger, and the inquisitor's companions seek a reset, but what of those outside southern thedas? we never know, we never see their lives. what if others were gearing up to attack - what if they'd been able to succeed? instead we determine that this future is so awful, so intolerable, through our limited, narrow point of view of it, that it should be erased, should be completely unmade.

and in-game, this reads as ethical! but it's also analogous to what solas is doing and to what he did in arlathan. i don't think that paralleling is unintentional, either: what we see in that future is very much what he sees in the present, and we're both right, these times are "corrupted," are "broken," are "different" and are "wrong." but as inky it's presented as an inevitability - of course we would seek to restore, to reset, and nevermind all that we'd be destroying in the doing. leliana says this explicitly to dorian, that for him this is a nightmare he hopes will never come to pass, but the rest of them lived it, it was real.

to solas, the world is half of what it should be. everyone is walking around not knowing how much they are missing, unable to recognize the deep loss of magic for what it is. it's a gutted world, and that it's all these people have ever known... well, does that make it right to keep it as-is? because if so, how did the inquisitor have the right to reset the world in that timeline?

(little note: i have not engaged with any media outside of the main game canon and certain dlcs. however, i also do not personally hold that canon outside the games/major dlcs is absolute canon and should be 100% trusted. this is just how i engage with this franchise. so if smth i said here is disproved by non-game canon, personally that doesn't rly matter to me uwu;; to each their own tho!)

#solas #dai solas #broodmeta #rolls around #these are not all unique takes! not at all! #but i just wanted to compile my full pov on this matter somewhere

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

I couldn't stop thinking about this 😂. Feel free to ignore, respond, or turn into BSD meta, but I had to rant about this to someone:

So, everyone talks about the Dazai/Fyodor parallels, but have you ever thought about the parallels with Dazai and Ace? They're actually really interesting?

Basic similarities: both were PM executives, used and manipulated by Mori. Both ended up turning on him. And, both engaged in gambles with Fyodor. But then you start to see the divergence (I hope I can articulate this well).

First, in the distrust:

They both push people away for different reasons Ace doesn't attach himself to anyone because he's protecting himself from bodily harm. He doesn't believe in loyalty. Just self-preservation. Meanwhile, Dazai avoids making connections to protect his heart from harm. Dark era!Dazai went through the Oda thing, saw what happened to Ango-a guy who let himself get attached just once and suffered for it-sees that and went, “yeah nope, it’s not worth it.” His lack of loyalty stems from wanting protect himself from pain.

Then, the dog thing:

Dazai only talks about making Chuuya his dog, but ends up humanizing and empowering him instead. Whereas Ace actually does make people his dogs-treats them like animals, even gives them collars to wear; he renders their humanity into monetary objects.

And the s*uicide parallels:

Ace's story ends with him apparently committing s*icide. He took the worst parts of Mori's leadership (using fear and intimidation to foist loyalty onto his subordinates) without ever bothering getting to know them as people. In the end, he loses the battle of wits and dies alone, having fallen to his hubris.

Dazai lets himself get attached, and yeah, he gets hurt. But in the end he becomes more human for it and finds himself surrounded by people. He keeps winning the high-stakes games because he believes in people and makes some attempt to understand them. And yeah, he talks about s*icide constantly...but funny how he still chooses to live.

You know, this is not a parallel I ever would've drawn myself but I really like what you've laid out here op. Hey people should read this!

Isn't it so cool you can take literally any two characters from this series and find this genuinely interesting contrasts? It's all due to the fact that the characterization is structured around the themes of the story - life, how we live it, choosing good, humanization of ourselves and others. Fascinating stuff :)

#thanks for the ask! #this was cool op sorry i am so bad at responding #bsd #bsd ace #bsd dazai #also i can't quite remember but ace was based off an author too i just think they had to not use his real name... or something? #i can't remember sorry :/ #storyrambles

[blonndiec]

Thinking about how insignificant and lonely we are as human beings but more so as individuals at the end of our lives, in contrast of the large scale of the universe...

That's how I got inspiration on a one shot AU I've been writing. A lot of research both scientific and popular media had been done but still with no title. A few parallels with canon YoI but in a different time, different context. Wrote this more for myself as a copying mechanism -or therpy, depending how you'd like to see it- after my father's passing a month ago, to untangle this recurring idea just couldn't shake...about life and the end of it when thinking about how small we are, how the planets and stars keep moving, even when you feel utterly alone and lost. I tried to find the logical explanation (couldn't stop my neurodivergent brain) and through it, found a correlation to Victor and Yuuri in the AU. Maybe it'll be ready soon.

#yoi #yuri on ice #yuri!!! on ice #inspiration #victor nikiforov #katsuki yuuri #victuuri #viktuuri #viktor nikiforov #yuuri katsuki #ao3 #writing #creative writing #on writing

[daipeanutsaiban]

Hii is it okay if I ask you about what you think everyone's relationships are like for a fanfic I'm planning to write? Like, since you're a multishipper, what do you think caused Genshin to report Klint to Stronghart before confronting him? Why do you think Lady B was alone, far away, during her hour of need? What do you think of their characters in general (you mentioned you like Klint having parallels to Kazuma, do you have any more ideas?) or who they are like/who they contrast? What role does your version of Mycroft play in this story? I'm sorry I'm just so curious to know everything- sorry if this is weird or creepy and promise I'm not trying to idea steal for my fanfic, I have a lot of ideas of my own I just wanna get other people's perspectives!!

hi, not weird at all! i'm happy you're asking me!!

when it comes to genshin, i feel like that hinges on how you choose to characterize him since there is little that we do know. genshin came to great britain as a visiting student to learn about their police and judicial system. as a guest in a foreign country, it's not unsurprising he would choose to defer to stronghart's authority on the matter (of course, this is before he learns about stronghart's direct involvement). on the other hand, we know that klint and genshin were friends- close enough that klint knew he couldn't lie his way out when confronted by genshin (due to genshin's skill as a detective, or affection, or both. and by this point...klint wanted to be stopped). if genshin was aware of this, it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that a part of him wished to avoid coming to terms with the fact that he'd be ruining a lot of people's lives by exposing the truth (in a fun parallel to ryuunosuke), such as lady baskerville's. following that train of thought leads me to believe that he was close enough with her, or at least well-acquainted through his friendship with klint and barok that he weighed the decision to report klint with serious consideration. it's implied by his conversation with yuujin in the prison that genshin is the one who relocated her to the house where she gave birth in, so i can't help but believe he prioritized her and by extension her child's safety as he is a father himself. (and therefore was disappointed and angry at klint for jeopardizing their well-being with his actions.......which he ended up doing as well in a deliciously ironic night of bad decisions. lmao)

i have MANY questions about lady b (what did they do with the body after iris was born?? did holmes take care of that? it's not like they could report it to the authorities, that would defeat the whole purpose of being low-key...like did they make a deal with lowgate cemetery or some med students ...again😭). honestly, in answer to your question, i was surprised that she was completely by herself with zero staff but that does speak to the gravity of the situation so i understand the logic. however, and this might be an unpopular opinion/hc, that leads me to think that she believed her own family to be untrustworthy to look after her and iris. it's my headcanon that klint and barok's parents passed away when klint was around 14 (paralleling with kazuma losing his father, and then his mother the following year), so she would not have had any relatives on the van zieks side either to entrust her child to. i really wonder what her (and maybe by extension genshin's) plan would have been, had klint been executed following a proper trial. (i have some ideas, but that's for a later comic..)

regarding klint and kazuma, i fully believe that they are meant to be narrative parallels with the additional irony of ryuunosuke being more similar to genshin than his own son, because just like klint, kazuma has been "corrupted" in his pursuit of justice- until his friend makes him see clearly again (which is perhaps one of, if not my favorite moment in the entire game. i love ryuunosuke so much waugh). hm, they're also both older siblings now that i think about it haha. i wouldn't say i have many hcs adding to their similarities though, canon already does a good job at it so i don't have to say anything LOL. although in an everybody lives; no one dies modern AU setting i'm absolutely convinced that kazuma would consider klint to be the most annoying person on the planet, but that's because i love when things are funny lmao.

finally, thanks for asking about mycroft! he's not relevant to the main plot of the games, because i like to keep my fan characters as canon-compliant as possible- and since he and sherlock are both people of extremes, it's believable for iris to not even be aware that she has another uncle outside of barok, at least during the game timeline. mycroft has a low threshold for social interaction on a daily basis, and with his younger brother being a "world-famous great detective", he's asked sherlock to not talk about him. (mycroft does know about iris's existence, and might have met her once as a baby.) as for what role mycroft plays, he's a huge influence on sherlock and pushed him to pursue his ambitions in establishing himself as a detective, even if he questions sherlock's approach sometimes lol. while mycroft, like in ACD canon, would be considered "more apt" at deduction, sherlock has more social aptitude and mycroft actually considers his younger brother to be the better detective since he's hurt a lot of feelings in the past. he's the kind of person who looks like he doesn't care, but actually cares a lot. he's also arrogant but hates attention because i love characters who are a walking paradox.

as you might have seen in a previous post, i decided to have him and klint be childhood acquaintances (and later on, friends). keeping in line with my hc of the van zieks losing their parents very young and klint becoming a Lord way too early, having contact with people who aren't nobles like the holmes family from a young age helps to ensure that he stays more open-minded than his fellow lords who are likely all at different stages of corruption, and the same goes for lady baskerville. mycroft and klint are both older brothers, too, so there's something to start relating to each other with in spite of their very different personalities (their first impression of each other was not very good to say the least haha). the doodles in the post i linked are actually concept drawings to figure out everyone's dynamics because i really want to make a fan game where all the kids have one day to solve a mystery. it's extremely self-indulgent and might never get made but working on that project is super fun 🥰

there was a lot to cover for this question and i feel like i've barely scratched the surface since i could talk about dgs for hours but this post is probably super long already LOL. if you or anyone else wants to ask more specific questions on this or literally anything else please go for it!! and of course, best of luck to you with your fanfiction 🙏🐰💖

#the great ace attorney #dgs spoilers #tgaa spoilers #replies #anonymous #i phrased my answer about kazuma and klint weirdly- they ARE narrative parallels. shu takumi put on his manicure to type those lines

[tired-fandom-ndn]

something i cant stop thinking about is the parallels between Sera and Carmilla like how they are both this more serious/regal authority figure trying to protect their younger sister/daughters/community and mainly doing that through hiding some truth about the angel's attacks on hell(that it exists/that C killed an angel).

Ooooh, I hadn't even considered that but you are so, so right. Another parallel is their actions getting exposed in the worst ways possible; I'm sure we haven't seen the end of Velvette's efforts at starting a war, and my guess is that she's going to go just as public with the angel's death as Charlie and Emily went with the trial.

An interesting contrast between them though is that, while Sera is hiding the truth from the person she's trying to protect, Carmilla's daughters are clearly in-the-know and involved with the cover-up. It could just be because they were the ones who were attacked and Carmilla couldn't hide it from them, but the show also seems to be going in a direction of contrasting the complexity and humanity of the demons with the cruelty and selfishness of the angels.

#deseretgear #hazbin hotel #hazbin spoilers

[hamliet]

why did Justin fall for Brian?

Probably because Brian was unashamedly himself and provided him the first opportunity for Justin to be himself, out and open, not just in words but in action. He was gay, and Brian helped him express those desires without any shame or fear.

Justin was scared to come out. He hadn't even told Daphne. When he does later on, his father does reject him, and his mother, while she ends up being awesome, had some really flawed moments because she was human too. So, his fears weren't unfounded. I think it's pretty clear that he gets the idea that love is conditional long before his father told him not to come home if he was going to live a "disgusting lifestyle." He tells Brian that his mom said she wished she never had him in the shower in episode one, after all; whether or not Jennifer ever actually said that (because it's clearly not true), he certainly got that impression.

Justin expresses that he can't go home that first night and gets caught lying to Brian about his age. But, instead of kicking him out--which he'd have been in the right to do--Brian doesn't dump Justin on the curb. He takes him with him. Plus, Brian then takes care to give Justin a good first time--he wasn't just focusing on his own pleasure, on taking what he wanted, which is something that the penetrative partner in sex can do. He took care to make sure Justin enjoyed himself, and likely Justin hadn't previously had someone ensure that he was simply enjoying an aspect of life that a great deal of society at that time would look askance at.

Also, Brian (later in the series) tells Justin that it was obvious he was "fucking terrified" that first time, and that "we're all a little scared our first time." It's not that you shouldn't be afraid to be fully yourself, to go after what you want--it's just that it shouldn't stop you. He doesn't tell Justin that Justin shouldn't feel the way he feels--even when that feeling is fear. Instead, Brian acknowledges it and helps Justin do what he wants anyways. This stands in sharp contrast to, say, Ethan, who tells Justin not to be nervous or afraid whenever he is.

Despite coming across like a selfish asshole, Brian ironically listens to Justin that night. He names his kid what Justin suggested, slows down when he asks him to, and helps him relax. So in a basic sense, Brian acknowledges Justin's feelings and thoughts, and that helped him feel valued--even if Brian was literally only thinking of Justin as a one-night stand whose name he couldn't even remember.

Of course, Brian is not a simple character who is only a jerk, or even a character who just goes after what he wants (which Justin at first thinks he is, and then discovers he isn't). Brian is unashamedly himself only on one level. He actually hides his hurting self and what that vulnerable inner child wants (love and to live) deep inside.

I've said before and will say again that Justin upfront decided that he loved Brian because of what Brian represented to him (safety, pleasure, a lack of shame), and then spent the rest of the series learning what loving Brian actually meant as a parallel to learning to love himself. People are complicated. They fuck up. They are contradictory. But they are beautiful.

#ask hamliet #qaf #queer as folk us 2000 #queer as folk meta #qaf meta #britin #britin meta #brian kinney #justin taylor

[fancyfade]

I got into DC recently and latched onto Talia like a baby duckling. Like even before I fully understood her as a character I was ready to fight for her honor, which is when ran into your blog on her tag.

The Talia brainrot has been really rotting my brain SO you got anything Talia related? Arcs you wish were explored. If you were put in charge of a Talia run what would it be? Outfits you saw, or made up, that you think she would rock? Do you know any other blogs that are normal (as in they know Talia's OG characterization) about Talia? HCs? Your bio says you like Star Wars, so what Star Wars character do you think she would be friends with? (I think she would be friends with Satine Kryze) Who do you think she would despise? Do you think she would be a Jedi? If so what era do you think she would thrive in? What's her favorite Shakespeare play? Do you think she would have a favorite quote from him? (I think it would be Beatrice's "I will eat his heart in the marketplace" from Much Ado. Beatrice's relationship with Hero is so personal to me and I definitely think that's the type of cousin/ older sister Talia would be). Something DC brought up once about Talia, but you think it should be explored more (WHO IS AMALA DC??? WHAT IS HER FRIENDSHIP WITH TALIA TELL ME MORE).

Oh most importantly: How do you deal with comics that completely screw her up? I'm reading Tomasi's Batman and Robin and GOD I barely get through the beginning of Vol 2, and I know there are comics that do worse with her. So I know I can't just drop comics that do a nasty job with her because then I should just quit Batfam comics in general and try some other fam and I have NO idea where to start with that and ugh.

Just anything about Talia.

Also, I know I typed a lot and if you don't want to answer some of them that is 100% fine! Or if you want to answer them in parts across different posts. I just need more with her.

hmmm so talia arcs i would like to see

well probably b/c i am just re-reading lexcorp, but i would like a more satisfying end to president lex stuff and lexcorp talia. I feel like he just kind of grabs the idiot ball, unless I am remembering the end to this saga wrong. like IIRC it was due to him being stupid in batman/superman and not any of the people trying to take him down... which is SUCH a shame b/c a story of talia teaming up with the superman characters and helping them take down lex could be so interesting. like. we saw talia feed calvin carson info to get him to go to the press about lex. we saw clark go undercover* to try to find some dirt on lex after lex covered up his crimes. lois got a lot of dirt on lex he conveniently made disappear about his involvement in OWAW . i want to see this all come together in a satisfying way!!

for star wars, I think Satele Shan (from SWTOR era) interacting with Talia could be very cool! both in I just think both characters are neat, but also for some interesting mother son parallelisms and contrasts. Talia initially wants Damian but then realizes she has to give him up to avoid him being raised in the league and to protect him from his parents possibly dying on him, Satele I don't think we see a ton of reason why she gives up Theron, but in general I viewed her as a character who did not want to be a mother, and she knew that she couldn't be theron's mother while still fulfilling all her obligations to the Jedi and fighting the sith, and that's OK (Fandom hates this). I think seeing them interact and team up to stop a bigger threat could be cool.

Also would be cool: To see Talia interacting with Imperial Agent's crew (again SWTOR :P). Talia in her lexcorp era often feels very much like she'd fit in with the vibes they are going for in that story, which is that no one really trusts anyone completely, or in many cases at all. A lot of her time in Lexcorp she has no allies and has to play all her cards very close to her chest as she's dealing w/ very dangerous people. especially if you go with defector-imperial agent (who defects in chapter 2 to... that guy who's name i forget since it's been a very long time since I played swtor IA. ardun?). B/c my understanding of defector IA (I've never played it b/c Aereinys is too mad to consider it, even tho she also hates the empire at that point) would, being a double agent appearing to work for the empire and having to pull off missions successfully for them to stay useful, routinely work against people who otherwise would be on her side, while working for people she finds morally repugnant.

For Jedi stuff I think Talia would want to be one of those chill nerdy Jedi who meditate and study. But if we go with her in canon plotlines a Jedi Shadow would work well :P

I don't read much shakespeare so I can't say much for what her favorite Shakespeare play would be. if we're going w/ Talia + literature appreciation, I can see her liking Hombre Pequeñito (link) which is admittedly a short poem and not a play but :P

For dealing with comics that completely screw her up: I honestly just write my own headcanon stuff and that's my canon now. It is helped a little by the fact that new 52 created a big break in my mental continuity, b/c they messed up so many characters I care about (Babs, Cass, Jaime), so all of DC from 2011 til now is very much "I do what I want". So there is stuff to re-write but less stuff.

I got my own fanfic (link) for how pre-Morrison Talia can meet Damian, and that's what I hang my mental canons on for them.

I do know that people who are reading Ram V's TEC run say it's got pretty good Talia, I haven't read it yet but hopefully they're getting her back on the right track.

for other blogs that are good about talia u might find some in my talia al ghul tag (link)... there are a lot of good blogs tho. @brucetalias, @immortaldino, @fluffykitty149, and @arellas are often who I think of for the Talia fans!

*for like 1 issue ;_;

#anon #ask #talia al ghul #dc comics

[stepswordsen]

JuAli WIP doodles

So, I'm just gonna post my old JuAli doodles from November ~ April. Obsessed with them. I've been thinking about them non-stop. Judar is wearing traditional Chinese hanfu in these :) 

Here's my JuAli doodles for now <3 They're pretty messy, so I'll put them under the cut. Also I'm putting my thought rambles under the cut too. They’re snippets of thoughts I had, including ones with friends, feel free to read them if you’re curious!

Some rambles

I was considering whether I should post my JuAli doodles since I usually prefer to keep my art account for finished arts only, but I wanted to show my love for them. I still have to refine and redraw these tbh, but I'm excited to work on these in the future! 

I also didn’t know whether to post these rambles under my art or make a new post on my side blog. Well. It’s going here now. I’ll post the rest of my sketches and another rambles in another post 

The first two Judar in hanfu doodles are some of my fave drawings ever. I really want to finish this one soon...

I think Judar has red eyeliner in the manga, and the Magi anime has Judar's eyeshadow as purple? In Ohtaka's coloured arts, it looks like a more saturated red colour to me.

I like Judar with red eyeliner/eyeshadow like how Ohtaka colours in the manga. I like how the colours pop and the contrast against his design, and how it matches his red eyes. Also cuz black and red are his image/representative colours to me anyways

I want Judar to wear black, white, red, and gold hanfu... I’ve also been looking into hanfu earrings for him. I'm thinking of red and gold. I want him to have red eyeliner and black painted fingernails.

Also, in the future, I'd also like to draw Desi inspired Alibaba wearing kurta with churidar!

Some thoughts on JuAli

I love how my friends described them as besties and one-sided enemies/worsties dynamic (from Judar’s end lmfao), it’s soooo funny. I feel like they’d have a sort of Love-Hate relationship at first, like when you hate someone so much it’s love...

My friend mentioned that because Alibaba is so different and the complete opposite of him, it makes sense he doesn’t understand it, but it only shows that he’s curious and that deep inside he wants to know.

And Judar would just constantly be like “I really don't get this guy at all” and “I don't understand what he's thinking at all!” Like how he was with Alibaba on the Dark continent. I think it’s interesting how he recognized that Alibaba has qualities that draw people to him, but just couldn't understand why.

I love their Fire and Ice duality. Light/Darkness. Angel/Devil. Hot and Cold. Enemies to Lovers. They’d bicker and kiss and make out. Twink on twink violence is their love language /lh

I feel like in the early stages of them catching feelies they’d both be really awkward around each other and constantly headbutt each other… They'd always be pretty competitive with each other, but they'd warm up to each other over time.

I love their setup, I’m obsessed with them and their vibes. They’re so funny and cute… I love their dynamic, their vibes are impeccable. I could sense the sen-core with them, I love them so much.

I awaken to my final form. Meow meow mf x Empathetic, loving ball of sunshine… It's the sen-core ship formula: meow meow mf x ball of sunshine. Morally questionable/morally bankrupt x morally agreeable <3

Also I love Light/Darkness, Yin/Yang and Sun/Moon/Eclipse themed ships. And Rivals/Enemies to Lovers. Opposites contrast :)

I love Opposites Attract ships that are also combined with any of these tropes: Narrative parallelism (Yin/Yang, Light/Darkness, Sun/Moon/Eclipse tropes), Protagonist x Rival/Antagonist/Opposing Figure, Reconciliation of Opposites, Fated Enemies/Rivals, etc.

Sen-core characters/ships: being a menace to A) the world and/or B) their rival/enemy/lover.

Alibaba is the sun, and Judar’s leitmotif is the black sun (just like Douman). And he’s also technically the moon. One of my friends told me she sees him with Eclipse symbolism, which is really interesting.

#magi #magi: the labyrinth of magic #juali #judar #alibaba saluja #magi fanart #magi alibaba #magi judar #judal #magi judal #alibaba #aliju #judali #judaali #judar x alibaba #judal x alibaba #alibaba x judar #alibaba x judal #マギ #ジュダル #アリババ #アリババサルージャ #ジュダアリ #アリジュダ #my art #stepswordsen #stepswordsen art #doodle #wip

[esther-dot]

For a while, until season 5, when I still thought Tyrion was a good man and never considered Jonsa as a couple, I thought Sansa and Tyrion could be a possible couple. A kind of Beauty and the Beast story. I know that parallel was made for Sandor and Sansa but I always found difficult to think of them as such and in political terms made no sense. Before Jonsa, who did you think Sansa would end up with ?

Oh, I think you are quite right to read some Beauty & the Beast into their dynamic, anon! I've gotten some questions about "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" which is his in-world song along those lines and he’s associated that or B&B to a number of relationships. Finding traces or even direct references to it in a certain dynamic doesn't necessarily mean a mutual romance or an endgame couple, it may simply be one of the facets he wants to explore of a certain idea. So to me, it's certainly valid to find it and talk about it there, especially when there's such a contrast between the beautiful prince who abuses Sansa and the man society has tried to dehumanize who stops him. None of my "anti Tyrion" posts are meant to deny that, they're just written to highlight how he too wronged her, even if Sansa wasn't quite fully cognizant of it.

Tyrion may be a villain only slipping further into his villainy, but he has those moments when, like the Hound, he protects Sansa. The fact that he wanted the North so much, but stopped himself from sleeping with Sansa we can read as a moment that defies the expectations for him who has been stigmatized. On the one hand, well, it's the bare minimum, he isn't exactly a hero for not sleeping with a child who was forced into the marriage and is a prisoner in KL, but many times over, we're being shown that he isn't quite the monster his family/society made him out to be. This is not to say he is a good man, he did marry her because he wanted power, but I think it is meant to criticize society's prejudices.

Anyway, I actually didn't ship Sansa with anyone before Jon! I was a very casual fan who wasn't involved in the fandom, and I was simply happy to enjoy the show as it was. It was during the long hiatus that I become very curious about what the ending would be, found Jonsa, and am now a living testament to the power of smart meta writers, wonderful gif makers, talented artists, fabulous fic writers. The damage is immense. Just say no to fandom, kids, or this may be you! 😂

Even though I enjoyed Tyrion, I could never stomach him (or the Hound) with Sansa. Their interest in her while she's so young, the way Tyrion took advantage of her situation for his own benefit and the Hound threatening her....I couldn't be at peace with that. If say, Tyrion had married her and took her away to safety, or if the Hound had offered to help her escape KL without the frequent insults/threats of death/the assault, then you could imagine that Martin might be planning to have these play out in the fairytale way, but he didn't do that. He might be talking about the trope, is certainly referencing bigger ideas here, but it isn't following the path of the og story.

Also, I don't think Tyrion's choice to marry Sansa is defensible. She was a child bride. She was going to be forced to marry someone. She couldn't really say no, so her agreeing to it isn't meaningful. It's good Tyrion felt bad, but Sansa didn't have good options. I was very disturbed that D&D wanted us to think Tyrion was a great guy in s8 even though he was angry with Sansa for abandoning him and also wanted to reestablish his relationship with his child bride. Creepy AF.

Let’s see….I do think Sansa x Pod is a cute idea, Sansa x Jeyne is sweet, I think you could write aged up Sansa x Willas fics, lots of fans fell in love with the unnamed Prince of Dorne from the finale and started listing the benefits of long distance relationships...but even if Jon didn't exist, I don't think there is a canon option for Sansa that has both the potential of happening and would be good for her which is why a lot of people believe she'll marry a rando post canon. And I could be happy with that if the rando has a long face, a very large dog, and a surprising familiarity with Winterfell!

#the bear and the maiden fair #anti tyrion #dot chat #< for filtering

[sokkastyles]

Hi,

Hope you are doing well. Thank you for the response on my query regarding Azula.

Now, I am back with a few questions regarding The Southern Raiders. I was thinking, was Katara struck with guilt specifically because her mother died for her, which Sokka or even Aang did bot understand, but Zuko who feels that his mother disappeared because of him did?

Also, I was thinking did Katara really think of revenge when she wanted to Yon Rah, or did Aang end up pushing that thought into her head, because he thought that? Just a bit confused on this one.

Would like your thoughts on this.

I definitely think that Katara and Zuko both experiencing the loss of their mothers specifically because they tried to protect them is a huge part of why they connect on that specific thing, yeah. We know that Katara feels guilt over this because she refers to how she's "not that helpless little girl anymore." The confrontation with Yon Rha is largely about confronting that guilt and reframing her own story, in which she gets to be an actor and not just a helpless bystander. I think Zuko feels the same way because he also does the same thing when he confronts Ozai, both times, about what happened to his mother, contrasting with when he tried to confront Ozai about it as a child and got no response.

Sokka and Azula also share the parallel of not dealing with the loss of their mother in such a direct way, and thus not carrying the guilt of it in the same way. Both of them have distanced themselves from their mother's disappearance in order to cope with what happened, which also makes them unable and even hostile towards their siblings for wanting to directly confront it. See Sokka telling Zuko that he doesn't like to think about it and being against Katara confronting Kya's killer, and Azula dismissing the loss of her mother as "she liked Zuko more than me anyway" and pretending she doesn't care, telling Zuko not to dwell on the past when Zuko can't not dwell on it.

On the topic of whether Katara was thinking of revenge or whether Aang accused her of that incorrectly, I know this is hotly debated in the fandom. But I'll ask you to look back at the dialogue in that part of the episode.

Zuko: She needs this, Aang. This is about getting closure and justice.

Aang: I don't think so. I think it's about getting revenge.

Katara: [Angrily.] Fine, maybe it is! Maybe that's what I need! Maybe that's what he deserves!

I'd say it's not so much that revenge was never in her thought process, because come on, we all know she's not going there to have a peaceful conversation. She and Zuko initially think that Yon Rha is still the active commander of the Southern Raiders and intercept the ship while it's active. They knew there was going to be some kind of confrontation happening.

But for me, it's Aang's attempts to define the situation and not listen to what Katara is saying about her own feelings that feels dismissive. Katara admits that maybe it is about revenge, and maybe that is what she needs, but she's still not making limiting statements the way Aang is. Katara needed to figure out what she needed, and she couldn't do that with Aang telling her that if she does x, then y will happen, therefore she should do z which is what he wants her to do. Remember that Aang was initially against her confronting Yon Rha at all, and only conceded that she needed to go when she wouldn't give in to him telling her she shouldn't. It's after he realizes that he can't stop her that he tells her "not to choose revenge." His initially belief was that going at all constituted a violent act of revenge and that it was immoral.

I appreciate that the show has him change his stance, but there should have been some continued followup when Katara came back and it turned out that she did not choose either forgiveness or revenge, which Aang had presented as the only options. Even after he is directly confronted by Katara telling him he is wrong, there is no admission from Aang that it's not a black and white dichotomy. This is especially glaring since the episode already showed us once that Aang is capable of changing his stance when he concedes, reluctantly, that Katara has to take this journey, although even then it feels more like he's saying it so he can still feel like he's in the right because he's realized he can't stop her. He does the same thing when Katara comes back. He never admits that he was wrong even when Katara directly tells him so. He only engages with the argument when Zuko tells him he was right. This isn't so much wisdom as it is ignoring everything that doesn't make you look in the right. That's why I get frustrated with people acting like Aang stopped Katara from going on a murderous rampage in this episode. Aang both assumed it was about revenge AND assumed that Katara wasn't capable of making the choice not to do something horrible on her own, and when proven wrong, never admits it, but does take credit when Zuko credits him with "knowing what Katara needed."

Meanwhile, Katara was able to concede that maybe it was about revenge, but she was still able to make the right choice in the end, without the need to try and define someone else's experience and label their feelings and moralize about it. Katara is the one that shows true wisdom in this episode, because she's wise enough to understand that sometimes we can't truly define a situation or know our true feelings, much less the feelings of others.

So like, was it about revenge? I'm with Katara. Maybe it was, at first, but what's important is the choice Katara made and that she was able to make it, not how Aang feels about it. And I think Katara's choice in the end was much closer to how Zuko defined it - closure and justice - than it was about revenge, in the end, and she would not have gotten that opportunity if she had listened to Aang from the get go and not confronted Yon Rha at all, because he was so afraid that her feelings of revenge (which may have possibly been present) would override her sense of morality and justice.

#the southern raiders #katara #yon rha #kya #the discourse #zuko #sokka #azula #ursa #ozai