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wishfulstargazer · 8 months

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The InterDimensional Journey; Chapter 3: Writer

“Nate Ford is not a killer! I created the character and I stand by that one hundred percent!” one man was yelling at another.

“You created the character, sure, but he’s developed! That character has been associating with liars and cheaters and thieves and criminals for almost four seasons now–he’s going to have a different take on ethics than Nate Ford the insurance investigator.”

“Nate never wanted to be a criminal. At heart, he’s a law and order type. He’d rather work within the system to change things–he just got derailed by the utter brokenness of our society…he’s not going to kill people.”

“Even people who killed his father?” A woman interjected between the two men. “That’s a pretty compelling reason to want vengeance. They blew up Jimmy, almost right in front of him…”

“And he’s not the type to go to grief counseling and spend his time navel-gazing over his pain,” the second man continued. “C’mon, Chris,” he appealed to the first man, “he’s more likely to down two shots of whiskey and start making a plan.”

“Indisputably true,” Chris acknowledged, and the second man, looking triumphant, opened his mouth as if to make a further point. “Not so fast, John. He might make a plan, but do you really think Nathan Ford isn’t making a better plan than shooting the guy in the face himself?”

“He wouldn’t ask Eliot to do it for him, that much goes without saying,” the woman said. “I get what you’re saying though. It would be out of character for him to just take a gun and blast away. He’s the mastermind for a reason.”

“Thank you, Rebecca,” Chris said. “I agree. So, what kind of a plan do you think Nate Ford would make?”

Nate decided it was time to interrupt. “Why don’t you just ask me?” he interjected.

John looked up, saw Nate, and sighed. “Tim, we’ve been over this before. Let the writers write. You’re the actor. WE don’t tell you how to act…”

“I–excuse me, um, I beg your pardon. I’m not an actor at all,” Nate corrected. “I was an insurance investigator and now I’m–” he glanced at the rest of his team– ”independent.”

“I’m the actress,” Sophie interjected with a smile. “Sophie Devereaux and it’s lovely to meet you all. You’re scriptwriters, I take it? On Broadway or off?”

“Gina,” the one called Chris said. “Are you guys doing some kind of method acting workshop again? Because the last one had Beth demanding eleven kinds of sugary cereal from craft services and they almost went on strike… We can’t afford another delay in filming, so all of you get back to your trailers and let us get this script ironed out.”

“Who are Gina and Tim and Beth?” Nate asked.

“Give me a break, Tim,” John groaned. “Look, we still haven’t agreed on whether you’re going to kill Dubenich and Latimer. You’ll know when we know.”

“Why would I kill Victor Dubenich when he’s still in jail? And Latimer is a wart on the face of humanity but I've already got a plan to take him down, too,” Nate said, puzzled.

“Well, but after they killed your dad…”

“Dubenich and Latimer KILLED MY FATHER?” Nate roared. “Who are you people and how do you know this? When did they do it?”

“Tim! Tim! It’s just a TV show. Would you please calm down! And what are all of you wearing, anyway? Gina, can’t you do something with him?” John pleaded, looking straight at Sophie.

“I don’t know who you think we are,” Sophie retorted. “But I’m not acting when I do this,” and she walked up and slapped him across the face. “Nate has had a VERY DIFFICULT several days and now you are upsetting him!”

John rubbed his rapidly reddening jaw. “Actors!” he spat out. “Always the drama with you people. I don’t have to stay here and be assaulted, Chris. Call me when she’s ready to apologize and you’re ready to work this out like adults.” He stalked out of the room.

…..

Sophie looked after him. “Well good riddance to a very unpleasant man,” she said, satisfied. “Now, Chris–it is Chris isn’t it? What seems to be the issue that’s generating such heated discussion here? As an actress, I feel that I’m uniquely qualified to assist my writers, if they’re in some kind of tangle.”

“Gina, not now, okay?” Chris was scanning notes on a clipboard, occasionally stopping to scribble something illegible in the margins.

The woman called Rebecca turned to Hardison. “Aldis, I don’t know what’s gotten into Tim and Gina, but please, I know you and Beth aren’t looking to get reputations as difficult to work with, especially not at your age. The two of you could do anything after the show…anything at all. Would you please help me with them?”

The other woman in the room nodded silently, but her eyes were locked on Eliot, who smiled at her pleasantly. “Christian,” she finally said to him.

“What–me?”

“Yes, Christian, another point came up we were hoping you’d clarify for us. Are you still wanting to do all your own stunts? Because the ones in this ep might be problematic, according to our insurance company.”

“All my own stunts? Ma’am, I don’t know who you think I am, but I can take anything y’all can throw at me.”

She nodded again. “Okay, I’ll advise the lawyers.” She gave him a little grin. “What would they think of our relationship, then, I wonder.” She winked slyly. He chuckled and winked back. She left the room.

“Nate what IS this place,” Sophie heard Parker whisper. “It looks like home but these people are weird.”

“They’re writers, dear,” Sophie muttered. “They’re really only aware of reality half the time, don’t you know.”

“Oh, okay, then,” Parker answered. Then, after a pause. “Do you happen to know when that time is going to start?”

“Look, Gina, Tim, Beth, Aldis, Christian,” the man everyone called Chris said. “You know I love you all. You know that I respect what all of you have done with your characters. I’m not going to let anybody, no matter how talented, write you out of character. But having you here is just ratcheting up tension for us all when we need to get this done. Will you just let me call Dennis and have him drop you each back off at your trailers while we work it out? You can trust me.”

Sophie started to object, then thought better of it and nodded. They needed some privacy to figure out what exactly that bloody portal had dumped them into this time. Besides she’d never had a trailer of her very own before and she wanted to see it. “Guys, let’s leave Chris to it, then. Chris, you know we’re putting our fate in your hands. Let us know when you’re ready for a read-through. Come on people.” A thought occurred to her. “How will we recognize Dennis?”

“He’ll be driving the golf cart, Gina.” Chris looked worried all of a sudden. “You didn’t hit your head today, did you?”

Or begin at chapter one:

@augustwritingchallenge

#leverage fanfic #fluff and feels #fluff and humor #alternate universe #sophie devereaux #parker leverage #alec hardison #nate ford #eliot spencer #soft science fiction #fourth wall #au gust 2023

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bigstripeylie · 3 years

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Ghosts theory- “sucked off” edition

Apologies for the title.

I have a theory about how each of the ghosts in Ghosts has a parallel with another Ghost and how this could be the key to them finally being able to move on, or “be sucked off’ as Mary would say.

Putting it behind a cut as this is extremely long and rambly. Spoilers for pretty much every episode of Ghosts

First of all I was listening to Mat and Jim on the Empire Spoilers podcast and Mat said something really interesting about how he intended “you stays how you dies” to refer to the ghost’s mental and emotional state, as well as physical. So Thomas always being obsessed with seeking love is because he died broken-hearted and Fanny always being so grumpy is because she died angry at her husband.

I believe, therefore, that if the ghosts were able to overcome each of their emotional blocks that would be the thing that would allow them to move on. Furthermore, each of the ghosts has another ghost that seems perfectly suited to be able to assist them in that.

Let’s go through them:

Thomas- Thomas died believing his love never loved him back and now is forced to spend eternity seeking for love as a ghost. If Thomas was able to find someone who could reciprocate his affections, this would the resolve that issue. In the Series 2 episode “About Last Night” when Alison drunkenly tells Thomas “if you were alive and I was 200 years older, then we might have…” we hear a choir start singing and Thomas is pulled, as if compelled, through the wall, similar to how Fanny is pulled forwards towards the window to jump when she “doesn’t even realise [she’s] doing it.” Thomas desperately craves love and affection from another person, but in life was constantly rejected by the people he loved most. You know who else that sounds like? Kitty.

Kitty- Like Thomas, she is from a wealthy family who sheltered her a lot growing up, but is ultimately good and tries to be honourable. Kitty also craves love and affection as well as companionship and she tries to seek it, first in Eleanor and then in Alison (because Alison reminds her of Eleanor, like how Alison reminds Thomas of Isabelle). However it comes up again and again that Kitty’s relationship with Alison isn’t as fulfilling to her as she would like it be because her being a ghost prevents her from sharing every activity with Alison, and Alison cannot show her physical affection. Kitty is trying to recreate aspects of her relationship with Eleanor using Alison as a substitute but this isn’t very healthy for her, as it simply traps her in the constant state of seeking affection that will not or cannot be returned fully. We don’t know the exact circumstances of Kitty’s death but after Series 3, if seems likely that her sister was in some way involved. Maybe what is keeping Kitty trapped as a ghost is her need for approval and love that she never got in life? But by seeking it in people who remind her of Eleanor exclusively, she is further trapping herself.

If Kitty and Thomas could find love with each other, they could each fulfil the other’s need for reciprocated affection. They are both equally needy so this quality wouldn’t likely annoy the other. Kitty seems to genuinely enjoy high romance in earnest and in finding an outlet for her love in Thomas, she could finally move on from her sister. Thomas would also find someone to love him and could devote himself completely to someone who would actually return his love, instead of fruitlessly pursuing women who remind of Isabelle’s rejection. This could lead to the resolution of both character’s finally moving on from their deaths.

Next up, let’s look at The Captain-

The Captain’s central conflict is obviously his sexuality. I believe that the resolution to this conflict would be him finally accepting and coming to terms with being gay and feeling comfortable with that part of his identity. Which ghost could best help him in this?

Fanny.

Maybe not the answer you were thinking, but hear me out. The Captain already has a strong positive relationship with Fanny built on mutual respect. He is more likely to value her opinion as an equal that any of the other ghosts and he seems to align himself with her on most issues. Which makes his choice to go against Fanny and defend the same-sex wedding and its guests to her in “Perfect Day” really remarkable.

In “Perfect Day”, Fanny expresses some pretty disapproving remarks about the wedding guest’s attire and some homophobic opinions about the same-sex wedding in general, which prompts the Captain to defend one of the guests to Fanny. “It’s chic, it’s now, and if it makes her feel fabulous…”

Imagine a scene where The Captain has to defend himself towards Fanny in a similar manner after coming out, showing that he is finally accepting of his sexuality as being the right thing for him.

Anyway, that was a slight digression…

Fanny is still struggling to deal with the circumstances of her own death which was brought about in part because she caught her husband having an affair with other men. Fanny needs to accept and come to terms with the fact that her husband didn’t love her and that while he was obviously wrong for murdering her, she needs to move on so she can stop reenacting it by jumping out the window every morning. Because she died feeling angry and betrayed, she is trapped in that state in death. Discovering that one of her closest friends is gay and realising that it is possible for someone to be both gay and a good person might prompt her to think differently about her own life, as she started do with Humphrey in Perfect Day.

The Captain, in turn, could be driven by Fanny’s ability to accept his sexuality into thinking ‘if she can accept that part of me, then maybe I can too.’ Personally, out of all the ghosts, I think it could only be Fanny who could prompt him to think that because it would mean the most to him coming from her.

Humphrey- Humphrey died because he was trying to protect Sophie, who rejected any attempt to get to know him and who he believed didn’t even like him. In death he is trapped in a state of being a selfless self-sacrificing people-pleaser and desperately wanting to be included in the other ghost’s activities, even allowing himself be kicked and thrown around if it means he can just be involved. In ‘I Love Lucy’ he even attempts to make a relationship with Fanny work, showing he is willing to sacrifice his own happiness for the sake of others.

Julian, by contrast, is the most selfish of all the ghosts at Button House. Deep down he feels guilty that his selfishness negatively affected the relationship with his daughter but seems not to be consciously aware that he feels like this. Julian’s selfishness to not spend time with his family ultimately leads to his death in Button House, as he neglected his family to spend more time at work and was clearly cheating on his wife, showing he is driven by selfish impulses.

If Julian were to perform a completely selfless act to the benefit of Humphrey, then Humphrey would get to feel as though someone was putting him first for once and valuing him the way he seeks to be valued. Julian would also break the pattern of selfish behaviour that caused his downfall.

The rest are little less well-defined:

Pat is the probably the ghost that we know the most about, through seeing his death and actually meeting his family in “Happy Death Day”, to the numerous anecdotes he reveals about his life throughout the show. However, I can’t decide for sure what is the thing that is keeping him a ghost. Pat himself seemed to think it was that he was missing his family, but this was ultimately proved wrong after he saw them again in ‘Happy Death Day’. Even meeting the boy who killed him and forgiving him in ‘Perfect Day’ didn’t cause him to move on. It could be something to do with Carol’s affair with Maurice but I just don’t know for sure. I like the idea of him fitting in with the plague ghosts. I think his personalty and leadership style would get along better with them than say, The Captain, who is too authoritarian. I also think Pat is someone who thrives in a group setting.

Robin and Mary are also tricky to work out what the thing keeping them as ghosts is because we know so little about their lives and deaths compared to the other characters. I think these are the only two ghosts who have not yet received a flashback to their lives. We know that Mary was in some way involved a witch-trail and this has traumatised her. Robin also has experienced a lot of trauma in his life but he seems to be more philosophical about it and accepting of it. He shows great empathy towards others both in trying to comfort Pat about his death in “Happy Death Day’ and Kitty in “About Last Night’, he could use his experience of trauma to help Mary deal with hers. They both seem to be looked down upon and ‘othered’ by the other ghosts due to their perceived lack of intelligence even though they are both very emotionally and socially intelligent.

If anyone has any thoughts about these last two pairings or any of the others, then please reblog and add your take!

I am not in any way saying that I think this is what will happen in the next series or what even I think should happen, but that this is one possibilities for much further down the road when the ghost are all ready to move on.

Also I have spent way too much time thinking about this…

#bbc ghosts #the captain #kitty bbc ghosts #thomas thorne #julian fawcett #robin bbc ghosts #mary bbc ghosts #fanny button #headless humphrey #plague ghosts #pat butcher #Horrible Histories #mat baynton #ben willbond #jim howick #larry rickard #martha howe douglas #simon farnaby

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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 3 years

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Can we take a moment to talk about what a tragic character Minerva is? Y’all know that for the longest time I haven’t been the biggest fan of her, and honestly I’m still not? but I think I might’ve had a breakthrough on why that is.

Whenever I’ve asked around to see why people find her so appealing or why they consider her their favorite, I’ll get answers like, “she’s such a complex character and she deserved a redemption arc!” or “she should’ve come back to the school with us! Let Minnie be happy, you cowards! Telltale did her dirty! I could write paragraph after paragraph about her!” all sorts of things along those lines… but like, no one seems to want to actually talk about her. I find that interesting? Since when I do follow up with a “care to explain further?” I get nothing. Radio static. Like…. no, talk to me please, I just wanna understand-

Minerva within the context of TFS is such a tragedy. She grew up in a school for troubled youth where all the adults left them for death at the start of the breakout, they had walkers trying to eat the living all around them, and I’m sure she saw her fair share of traumatic violence and despair… but on the bright side, she always had her twin sister, Sophie, and little brother, Tenn. She had her friend and eventual girlfriend, Violet. She had music, and a dorm full of pretty paintings done by Sophie. She and Louis composed a song together to make everyone feel better. There are worse places to live than the school.

Then one day she got traded away to a bunch of raiders against her will, having no idea what the hell these people were gonna do to her and Sophie. They were made to be soldiers to fight in a war that had nothing to do with them. The delta fucking broke her. If we’re to believe Lilly’s story about the twins, they started their brainwashing process early on when Sophie was still alive, and it seems like Minerva was easier to control as Sophie was still planning a way out and causing trouble. Then, when Sophie convinced her to steal a boat and get the hell out, they got caught and the delta forced her to murder her own twin sister.

Like…. I’m sorry, not only did Minerva kill her own sister, but she was made to believe that was the right thing to do? That line she says about how she had to prove her loyalty to the place she calls home? That shit’s ingrained in her brain, you can tell that isn’t the first time she’s heard or said that very thing. That is what made her family to the delta. Delta is her home now, her family. Sophie was just a thing that needed to be dealt with. You keep your head down, do as you’re told, and you survive. You survive and you get to go home, eat a hot meal, take a shower, and be with your delta family. If not, you end up like Sophie.

What’s also fucked is that Minerva actually cares about these people now. Think about that. After everything they did to her and made her do, she’s been trained to see them as her family and obey. When you save Louis and he kills Dorian, Minerva actually cries out and is visibly hurt by her death. When she’s with the other raiders on land, she's screaming at walkers to get away from them. She cares about the people who made her kill Sophie… and no one ever talks about that??

She fucking hates Clementine. Clementine is just another thing in Minnie’s way. I know the part of the fandom likes to ship these two together and they think it’s hot when they fight and shit, but within the canon text, Minerva wants Clementine gone. Dead. She is the thing stopping her from having her old family merge with her new family. If Clementine hadn’t made them fight, they all would’ve been captured and they’d all be a delta family now. She would’ve had Tenn back.

Clementine is the problem, she made everyone fight back and that’s why people are dead. Minerva hates her for it… it’s not a “I hate you but like the sexual tension, y’know?” that I see people pretend it is, it’s “you are ruining everything and if I have to, I will kill you myself and I won’t give a second thought about it when they toss your body overboard.”

Like….. seriously, think about how fucked up all of this is. Minerva is a husk of who she was before she was taken away. Sure, you do have to keep in mind that when Tenn and Violet are describing her, their sights are a bit clouded, y’know? But I do believe that she was someone who was kind and cared about people, she wanted to make people feel safe and comforted.

Now she’s a brainwashed soldier who won’t help the people she used to call friends when they’re about to get limbs cut off. She won’t hesitate to knock someone unconscious or threaten a child. She’s willing to trick them into being captured with no regard for what’s going to happen to them. … all she knows is this was the mission, and now they all get to be together again back at the delta.

Then when she finds out there’s a bomb on the boat, she ditches Violet to blow up with it in order to make it to land herself. She loses her shit seeing everyone die and gets her face chewed off by a walker… and then she tries to blow Clementine and AJ up with a grenade.

Oh, and who can forget the fact that she tracks the group down with plans of murdering Tenn so that they can go to a better place together? And she’ll take down anyone who gets in her way?

Like….. jesus christ, Minerva’s waaaaay too far gone. It’s awful.

I think that’s what stumps me about why she’s so loved in the way that she is. It’s not that I don’t understand why she’s complex and well-written, I get that perfectly fine. She’s a compelling character study when you comb over all her scenes and take different factors into account.

What I don’t understand is why we tend to just throw everything interesting about her away? For what?

These days, I never see anyone talking about any of this unless they’re insisting she deserved a redemption arc which…. Eh, I’ll touch on this later. What I mostly see here and mostly other platforms is how great it would be if she and Clementine made out, or hey what if she and Violet got back together if she did come back to the school? Or they just….the best term I have for this is “uwu-ify.” As in she’s reduced to a caricature of a tall, pretty, mean, white lesbian who has “good damage.”

People insist that Telltale are cowards or bastards because their predictions of her turning on the delta to save Clem and crew didn’t happen. Instead, Minerva ends up being the final baddie you gotta get away from, and she ends up taking someone down with her. But did you really expect to just do a 180 and suddenly decide being brainwashed for over a year was lame and Clementine and friends are cool? Gonna help them out and be with Tenn again? Sure, there’s some left over trauma but love conquers and fixes everything, right?

Uh…. no? That’s not how people work? Honestly, if we entertain the idea that Minerva wasn’t bit and somehow didn’t murder Clementine when they all got back to the school…. romance is the last thing she is ever gonna think of??

I think that’s what bothers me most when reading these au’s and rants about redemption and the entire idea of clemerva as a whole. It’s the same thing that I see happen with Violet- Minerva only has value to fans if she’s in a wlw relationship. By herself, she doesn’t matter. They don’t care about her canon story, they don’t care about Sophie, they don’t care about discussing what could’ve happened if she and Tenn reunited under better circumstances or had a healing recovery together. But why?

Throwing a girlfriend at her isn’t some band aid that’s gonna cover up all the bad she went through?? Having an enemies to lovers romance with Clementine isn’t going to fix a years worth of brainwashing, trauma or the fact that she murdered her own sister and the delta told her she's proved her worth to them??

Having the support of those around her is a good thing, don’t get me wrong. The idea of the Ericson crew as a whole trying to help her out and do the best they can to accommodate her is bittersweet since there’s only so much they can do. They’re not trained therapists, which is what Minerva would need and plenty of years ahead of her to work through and come to terms with everything that happened as well as taking steps forward. I’m not saying that she shouldn’t have friends or that she couldn’t have a healthy romantic relationship someday... but that isn’t the solution, y’know?

I don’t know how else to explain this, but it makes me feel weird that all of this stuff is flat out overlooked or doesn’t appear to matter to fans of her.

Look, I get it. We all want these characters to be happy. AU’s are a thing, after all. Sometimes we want to forget about the bad things and focus on the good that bring us comfort. You wanna gush about the idea of an AU where the twins never got traded, the raiders didn’t exist, and Clementine got to meet them the way they were before? I feel that, AU’s are super comforting and fun to explore, and my point isn’t to try and shame anyone who has an AU you like this.

Hell, you think I don’t have days where I pretend mute Louis isn’t a thing because the whole concept of Louis having his tongue cut out of his mouth breaks my fucking heart? No, lot’s of days I just want to forget everything about that route, I want to set aside all the bad and just intake as much clouis fluff as I can get…. But that doesn’t mean I always ignore or refuse to acknowledge the bad just because I don’t like it. I fucking hate the fact that Louis loses his tongue when you don’t save him, but guess what? That’s a canon route you can play, just like any other route, and the possibilities that come with a mute Louis are vast and compelling.

This is how it is for me… my favorite characters are my favorite for a reason, and I take all the bad with the good. Louis isn’t perfect, and I don’t want him to be. I was to dive into his backstory about why did that to his parents, I like to talk about what he went through with Marlon’s murder and his feelings about AJ and Clementine at the point, I like to view his love of music as bittersweet. He can stand on his own, and while he is a love interest for Clementine, that isn’t his only purpose.

I know everyone’s different, they express their love for characters in their own ways, but I do have a genuine question: do you guys actually like Minerva?

Believe it or not, I’m not trying to step on toes or make everyone feel defensive which I know is how people will react to this. “You’re just saying all of this to make us feel bad for shipping clemerva! You don’t even like Minnie so you don’t get to say shit!” yeah yeah, I hear you and look, it’s true that she’s not my favorite character. I know I’ve said I hate her in the past but upon reflection and throwing out fandom interpretations.... I don’t hate her. I get it now. She’s a great character study to dissect and analyze and I think she deserves more than what the writers and the fandom have given her.

And yeah, what I do hate is clemerva, and I’ve explained why. It’s not for me, it makes me uncomfortable, but at the end of the day, who cares? Me not liking it doesn’t mean anything to those who create AU’s for them. They have their reasons, they can do as they please as long as they’re not hurting anyone. I’m just here pointing out things I see and things that bother me in hopes of starting a discussion.

There’s my ramble about Minerva. I’m gonna go make some tea now.

#twdg minerva #twdg clementine #twdg sophie #twdg tenn #twdg violet #twdg louis #twdg marlon #twdg lilly #twdg aj #twdg

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gabolange · 3 years

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So, let’s talk about Leverage: Redemption. In which I am medium-whelmed at best.

Spoilers below the cut.

I finished the show a couple of days ago and I keep trying to figure out why I didn’t love it. This isn’t to say I didn’t like it, because I did, but it didn’t land for me the way it seems to have landed for a lot of people, and so here I am with, like, meta. Party like it’s 2008 and all that.

2008. I actually didn’t meet Leverage until 2010 despite friends telling me for ages I should watch. It one of those moments that became a forever memory for many reasons, but the most important is this: the show was perfect. Those first hours spent watching a rerun marathon on TNT on a hot-as-fuck July 4 in Albuquerque, New Mexico came with them the understanding that this show was truly special.

It was funny, it was topical, it was sexy, and it was so fucking smart. I fell in love right away with all of them, but especially with Sophie, and with Nate, and with their complicated, complex, adult history. And then over the course of catching up and keeping up, I fell even harder, with them and those themes, with watching Parker and Hardison grow into themselves, with watching Eliot deal every day with his demons. I loved the way the show balanced light and dark, how it could have Archie’s zappy cane in the same breath as Eliot giving Nate advice about what it would mean to kill. I loved that we all loved Maggie, even though ex-wives are known in television to be evil shrews. I loved Tara’s complexity, and Sterling’s wit, and how every episode was a chess game. And oh, how I loved Sophie’s journey, how she had to decide every day not how to live but who to be.

When I say it was perfect, I don’t mean it didn’t have its duds. Of course it did. But it did the thing it was trying to do better than anyone has ever done it, with intelligence and respect, and its finale is one of the three best series finales ever filmed.

This is all to say the bar for Leverage: Redemption was both sky high and very low. When I heard they weren’t bringing Nate back, my first thought was don’t you fucking dare break my heart. If Nate was drunk off his ass in a ditch somewhere, if he had broken Sophie’s heart--that would be the ultimate betrayal (hi, I still have feelings about The Doctor Blake Mysteries). And so the bar was: don’t break my heart, while also being something like the perfect show.

They didn’t break my heart. I said early the best thing would be to kill Nate after he and Sophie had good, long, happy years together. And they did, and it was the right place to start.

They gave me that, and I am grateful, but when I look at the rest, I guess I was underwhelmed. Or at least only whelmed. Medium-whelmed at best.

There were things I loved: Hardison and Parker’s relationship. Eliot’s careful watch over Sophie. Hardison growing up to become the most epic white hat hacker ever. The idea that getting back into the game would be the thing that would make Sophie happy. Hardison’s commentary on redemption. The idea of Leverage: International. Gina Bellman is still made of magic and heartbreak and perfection.

There were things I liked: I am fond of our Mister Wilson, even if I find Noah Wylie about as interesting as plain toast. There were some truly great Eliot beats. I don’t yet like Breanna, but I like the idea of Breanna. I liked the way Nate hovered over the entire thing, because Sophie brought him with her. I think the sets were great, and I was impressed at how much they were able to do in a pandemic. I found utterly baffling but nonetheless charming that we meet Harry in the middle of a failed heist in which the team judges his technique and then adopts him. I liked Fake Nate and everything they did with that. The show had many bright spots, and I don’t in any way want to diminish them.

But. It wasn’t smart. It wasn’t sexy. Except for Sophie’s grief and Hardison’s plans, it picked up the character beats where we left them ten years ago. Has Parker been mastermind for this entire time? I would have loved to see that. Have they learned how to do this well without Sophie and Nate? I would have loved to see that. Show me the history.

Show me the history. Breanna and Hardison and Parker all say this is the worst timeline, and we know it is because we have lived it. But in the universe of the show, it doesn’t really seem that bad -- the plots of the week were silly and so small. I remember finding Damien Moreau too big, once upon a time, but this all felt too easy, the stakes far too small for this to be a show where everything has gotten worse. Nate almost murdered two guys in cold blood, folks. The show was missing any of the darkness that made the original truly compelling, and so lost the balance we loved between that and finding joy. I don’t need it in every episode, but I need a hint that there’s something bigger and meaner out there other than throwaway dialog.

(And, when it tried to go dark, it swung and missed. The episode with the collapsed building was timely, but as someone with anxiety and PTSD, the way the crew played on this guy who had apparently tried to do better this time around...was kinda not okay, to be honest.)

I don’t have OT3 goggles, but I think if I did, I would find Hardison’s absence a little sad--he was the glue, and they needed to do more to bring Parker and Eliot together as friends / colleagues / long-term members of the same polycue / whatever. But even without OT3 goggles, I missed Hardison a whole lot. And I am SO happy for Aldis Hodge growing up to be a real movie star, but he brought so much presence and capability to every scene he was in, even when he was just a kid. Nobody else has his gravitas, or Timothy Hutton’s.

I do have Sophie goggles, and Sophie / Nate goggles. And they didn’t ruin the ship or anything, of course not. But I missed the frisson they brought, the way they made the show just that much more adult. And I am so very, very glad they got their happiness, but I am kinda sad that sexy got replaced with grief.

So yeah. I don’t know. I didn’t hate it at all. I am willing to give it a chance, to let it grow into something I love. But it isn’t, at least not yet.

(x-posted to dreamwidth)

#leverage #leverage redemption #spoilers #leverage spoilers #meta #review #long post

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queerenteen · 3 years

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It’s difficult, learning not to hate yourself. To forgive yourself. I find it very healing as part of the story, compelling from both a character and a thematic/metaphorical standpoint.

And I’ve heard a lot of people saying it’s not queer enough, which hurts- they’re both genderfluid and bisexual. That’s queer by default.

Hey anon, I'm going to assume this is regarding the loki meme I put up?

Firstly I wanted to say thank you for bringing up the second point about what is 'queer enough' because I have been itching to write about it for months and this gave me the perfect opportunity.

Secondly, I do not ship Sylvie and Loki romantically.

I think their dynamic is the most important one in the show and your point of it being the most meaningful in the show is absolutely correct. It is actually healing for me personally as well because I have a lot of self-doubts and they sometimes manifest as hatred.

I do not ship them romantically because they are technically, the same person. If the sacred timeline is to be believed, there is only one true Loki (in terms of genetic material).

That means they have the exact same DNA.

For reference, even siblings do not have that--there will be variation. The only people who have the exact genetic material are identical twins.

So yes, having Loki and Sylvie in a romantic ship together does not appeal to me personally.

About your second point that if they were to be in an m/f relationship they would be considered queer?

Absolutely.

While their relationship might be straight passing, both of them are bisexual and genderfluid.

There is no such thing as not queer enough.

If someone doesn't agree with me, unfollow me right now.

Even if there is an m/f ship where one of the involved parties is cishet, as long as one of them is queer--it means that the relationship is considered queer.

There is so much debate even within the lgbtq+ community about this and it makes me so sad.

Hell, even I probably had a similar mindset a while back because of my own internalised biphobia.

I have been wanting to recommend these books with queer m/f relationships forever so here:

Wild Beauty by Anne-Marie McLemore

For nearly a century, the Nomeolvides women have tended the grounds of La Pradera, the lush estate gardens that enchant guests from around the world. They’ve also hidden a tragic legacy: if they fall in love too deeply, their lovers vanish. But then, after generations of vanishings, a strange boy appears in the gardens. The boy is a mystery to Estrella, the Nomeolvides girl who finds him, and to her family, but he’s even more a mystery to himself; he knows nothing more about who he is or where he came from than his first name. As Estrella tries to help Fel piece together his unknown past, La Pradera leads them to secrets as dangerous as they are magical in this stunning exploration of love, loss, and family.

Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales

In Perfect on Paper, Leah on the Offbeat meets To All the Boys I've Loved Before: a bisexual girl who gives anonymous love advice to her classmates is hired by the hot guy to help him get his ex back Her advice, spot on. Her love life, way off. Darcy Phillips: • Can give you the solution to any of your relationship woes―for a fee. • Uses her power for good. Most of the time. • Really cannot stand Alexander Brougham. • Has maybe not the best judgement when it comes to her best friend, Brooke…who is in love with someone else. • Does not appreciate being blackmailed. However, when Brougham catches her in the act of collecting letters from locker 89―out of which she’s been running her questionably legal, anonymous relationship advice service―that’s exactly what happens. In exchange for keeping her secret, Darcy begrudgingly agrees to become his personal dating coach―at a generous hourly rate, at least. The goal? To help him win his ex-girlfriend back. Darcy has a good reason to keep her identity secret. If word gets out that she’s behind the locker, some things she's not proud of will come to light, and there’s a good chance Brooke will never speak to her again. Okay, so all she has to do is help an entitled, bratty, (annoyingly hot) guy win over a girl who’s already fallen for him once? What could go wrong?

I'll be the One by Lyla Lee

The world of K-Pop has never met a star like this. Debut author Lyla Lee delivers a deliciously fun, thoughtful rom-com celebrating confidence and body positivity—perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Julie Murphy. Skye Shin has heard it all. Fat girls shouldn’t dance. Wear bright colors. Shouldn’t call attention to themselves. But Skye dreams of joining the glittering world of K-Pop, and to do that, she’s about to break all the rules that society, the media, and even her own mother, have set for girls like her. She’ll challenge thousands of other performers in an internationally televised competition looking for the next K-pop star, and she’ll do it better than anyone else. When Skye nails her audition, she’s immediately swept into a whirlwind of countless practices, shocking performances, and the drama that comes with reality TV. What she doesn’t count on are the highly fat-phobic beauty standards of the Korean pop entertainment industry, her sudden media fame and scrutiny, or the sparks that soon fly with her fellow competitor, Henry Cho. But Skye has her sights on becoming the world’s first plus-sized K-pop star, and that means winning the competition—without losing herself.

I highly recommend that everyone checks these books out--they are very well done, and great reads--some of them are my favourite books of all time.

#the summaries are from goodreads #loki #loki laufeyson #slyvie laufeydottir #queer #lgbtq+#meta #book recs #wild beauty #perfect on paper #i'll be the one #queer m/f romances #straight passing #internalised biphobia

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ultrahpfan5blog · 3 years

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My very belated thoughts on Game of Thrones and season 8 in particular

I feel like I have a somewhat unique perspective on GoT. The show has been such a pop culture phenomenon that I feel that fans have been invested in it for years, either having been book fans who watched the show, or those having watched the show for the better part of a decade. For me, I was never a part of the fandom because I never watched the show until it was in season 7. The books sound great but because I can’t stand reading incomplete series, I have never read them, and at this point, it just feels unlikely that GRRM will end up finishing the series. That sucks because its just the sort of fiction that I would love. I started watching GoT in season 7, and then in season 8. Obviously, I had very little clue what was going on other than the broad strokes and I was watching purely because the spectacle and scale was something I had never seen before on tv. On that front alone it was entertaining. Given the incredibly divisive reaction, I didn’t feel like spending the amount of hours required to watch the show from scratch, but because covid ended up impacting so many ongoing tv shows and movies, I ended up deciding to give it a go. I started a couple of months ago and just finished season 8 a couple of days ago. Its been quite an experience, belated as it may be.

I still feel that I view the show differently than a lot of people. Obviously, its a very different emotional commitment for me, having watched the show in 2 months whereas other have watched the show for about 10 years. Having not read the books, I don’t have the issue of comparing the quality of the books to the show. And given I saw season 8, I watched the show with the ending in mind, so I could understand if the ending made sense to me or not.

On the whole, the show is worth a lot of applause. The production, acting, music, writing, visuals etc... is something I have never seen on tv. Juggling such a huge cast of characters with so many ongoing storylines is an incredible achievement. Say what you will about season 8′s writing, but from a production, scale, and performance standpoint, the show remained stellar all the way through. And for that, I do think D&D deserve credit. I know that is an unpopular thing to say but they still have created something that is truly one of a kind. The show is definitely not perfect, even before season 8. There are storylines that drag, storylines that aren’t given the time they deserve, character developments that don’t completely work etc... but I feel that is part and parcel of every long running show. There are very few that are perfect, and for the sheer complexity of the narrative, its amazing that the show isn’t more convoluted. I do agree that the final 2 seasons are the weakest seasons of the lot. I still think season 7 is very good, and the first half of season 8 I also like a lot, but seasons 1-6 are superb. Its difficult for me the select my favorite season. I suppose season 4 is probably at the top. Its kind of the end of the era season, with the death of Joffrey, Tyrion’s trial, then him leaving Westoros. Arya and Sandor’s time together coming to an end with her traveling to Braavos, death of Tywin, and Jon rising in the ranks of the Nights Watch and becoming a more prominent character in the show. I love seasons 5-6 because of the rise of Jon. Season 2 arc of Tyrion as hand of the King was also excellent. My favorite episodes all come from these seasons. I love the battle episodes, with Blackwater, Hardhome, and Battle of the Bastards being 3 of my favorite eps. The Laws of Gods and Men is another episode I love just for the climax where Peter Dinklage just tears into the scene with his full might. I also loved Pedro Pascal as Oberyn in season 4. He added a unique quality and I was sad to see him not last past season 4. There were a few storylines that I wasn’t completely fond of. The early years of Daenerys weren’t the most compelling, Arya in Braavos was just too slow for my taste, the Littlefinger and Sansa storyline in season 4 also felt like they were treading water and then they backtrack on Sansa’s development in season 5. Also, Staanis was someone who went a little too batshit crazy in his lust for power. Felt a little out of character.

Now, when it comes to season 8, There are a lot of complaints about a lot of things. I will say that the main issue with season 8 is that it crams what should be 2 seasons of storylines and crams it into a single 6 episode season. I think virtually every complaint can be traced back to that. I actually really like episodes 1 and 2. Especially episode 2. Brienne’s knighting is actually very touching. Its great to see characters reuniting and characters meeting for the first time. I know lots of people complained about episode 3 and while its not as good as the other 3 battle episodes that I mentioned before, I still think its excellent. I did not have the lighting problem that others had. I watched it on my laptop and I could see everything. The episode is titled ‘The Long Night’ so I expected things to be dark, but it isn’t as if I had trouble seeing what happened. The episode is incredibly intense and while its a bit difficult o figure out how so many survived and there are some questionable tactics for sure, its still quite a spectacular spectacle. My only issue with the episode is really all Jon related, which I will get back to in a bit.

I know that Daenerys turning into the mad queen is a huge point of contention for the season. While I absolutely agree that that character arc went from 0 to a 100 way too fast, I don’t think it was completely out of the blue. Knowing the ending, I kept an eye on Daenerys, and I think there are a lot of instances where her first instinct to fixing problems has been to unleash her dragons. She has had characters around her like Selmy, Jorah, later Tyrion, even Daario, who have tempered that instinct somewhat. But that is still a natural instinct for her. Not to mention, in Essos, she was dealing with a fairly black and white issue when it comes to slavery. And she mistakenly thought, her experiences in Essos would translate to Westoros. She came with the idea that the common people would support her without fully processing the idea that she was bringing foreign armies into their land and three dragons, which had not been seen by people for generations. So they had legitimate reasons for fear. So it wasn’t completely out of the blue that she unraveled when confronted with the revelations that she was feared more than she was loved and that she did not have the sort of universal support she thought she would have. Obviously, that was compounded by the losses that she tacked up one after another. Definitely, one more season was required to make that a satisfactory arc, but I don’t think it was completely random. And honestly, once she did what she did in episode 5, she was never going to survive the show. I will say this, Emilia Clarke was outstanding in season 8. She was never the cast member who stood out in seasons past, but season 8 was really her season. While the character development was rushed, she sold every scene and earned her lead actress emmy nomination.

There are some endings which people hated which I understood. Like Jaime’s ending, which people were pretty pissed about, is an ending I quite get. As much as we love the story of redemption, the Cersei and Jaime bond was just too deep and toxic for him to so easily extricate himself. I get why he would be drawn back to her when he knew she was in danger. I think Lena and Nikolaj really sold their final scenes together. I felt for Lena as an actress. As a result of the short season, she really didn’t get much to do all season. Her death scene is really the only time she gets material to chew on. So that was a pity. I think Brienne and Sandor Clegane were two characters for whom their endings were perfect. Brienne becoming a knight of the six kingdoms and Clegane finally getting revenge on his brother was extremely satisfying. Theon’s ending was pretty much perfect. Sansa becoming queen in the North makes sense. The show seemed to be building towards it. Sophie Tuner gets some good material in the final season where you can see that there is a lot happening in her head and not all of it is altruistic. She does have a power hungry side to her, even if she’s not self destructively so. Maisie Williams was strong again. I wasn’t a huge fan of her getting to kill the Night King over Jon but there lots of good moments she has with Jon, Sandor, Gendry, Sansa etc... Bran becoming King of the six Kingdoms is definitely not the greatest ending. I don’t know whose decision it was to turn Bran into a robot and have him do nothing other than sit and stare, but it definitely wasn’t the greatest. I can’t imagine it was a particularly satisfying experience as an actor for Isaac. I did enjoy a couple of moments with him and Jaime, harking back to season 1.

The two other major characters are Tyrion and Jon. Certainly the finale is very heavily centered on those two. I do agree with the notion that they really dumbed down on Tyrion’s intelligence as he makes a lot of wrong moves in the last couple of seasons. But Peter Dinklage the actor has never disappointed. His performance in the finale ranks as one of his finest on the show. There has never been a time when he has not given his all. Him ending up as the hand is pretty effective ending. He is a humbled man, admitting that he’s not as smart as he thought he was. So maybe he would be a better hand as a result of that experience. Jon’s ending is another controversial one. I am in the audience who really wasn’t a fan of how Jon was treated in season 8. Kit Harington was quite poorly served in season 8, which was a bit of a whiplash since Jon was arguably at his most badass in season 5-7 and became a huge a fan favorite. Certainly he took over from Dinklage as the de facto male lead of the show. The character only comes back to life at the very end of episode 5. Part of that is probably the point. That Jon became too bent to Daenerys’ will, as Varys said.to Tyrion. It took Daenerys burning down King’s Landing to wake him up. I get that from a narrative standpoint, buts its dissatisfying from a character perspective when its the final season. Certainly I found it very strange how little role he played in The Long Night, given the White Walker storyline was Jon’s primary storyline on the show. Put aside killing the Night King, a showdown which was promised on the show, he didn’t even do much else in the episode. At the very least he should have gotten to destroy the undead Viserion. The memes about his dialogue in the season aren’t unfounded. But, I will say that Kit Harington is fantastic in the series finale. He arguable has the centerpoint scenes of the finale, the two scenes with Tyrion, and then the scene with Danaerys where he is literally begging her to give him a reason not to kill her and she keeps saying the wrong thing. Certainly Peter and Kit end the season on a high note. Him ending up with the Wildlings seems appropriate because Jon never seemed cut out to be King, nor did he ever want that responsibility. He probably would have been better than Bran, but its a decent enough ending for him. In the end, the way the show ends I was mostly ok with, but the path to getting there should have come with one extra season at least.

In the end, the production and the acting will always be something I will remember. I didn’t even mention great performances from Sean Bean, Charles Dance, Alfie Allen, Stephen Dillane, Conleth Hill, Aiden Gillen, Diana Rigg, Jerome Flynn, Liam Cunningham among many others over the years. So even though I do have issues with the final season, I feel that the good far outweighs the bad when it comes to the show. Its not a show I foresee rewatching any time soon since its one of those shows that requires some digestion and a lot of hours, but I certainly don’t regret the time I gave to it.

#game of thrones #a song of ice and fire #jon snow #daenerys targaryen #sansa stark #arya stark #jaime lannister #cersei lannister #tyrion lannister #bran stark #ned stark

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sophielovesbooks · 5 years

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Sophie’s Dark Academia Rec List

In honour of my favourite genre, have a very personal, very subjective recommendations list!

- The Secret History (Donna Tartt)

The obvious choice, a classic. In my personal opinion, it’s not perfect and there are better dark academia books out there, but it has massively shaped the genre and therefore deserves recognition. Also, the aesthetic is on point! Read if you want to get a feel for the genre or if you’re simply curious.

- If We Were Villains (M. L. Rio)

Basically a newer, better The Secret History?? Plenty of similarities, minus certain problematic bits that were present in TSH. Amazing prose, incredible characters, absolutely worth the read. A prime example of dark academia! Read if you love Shakespeare and college settings and compelling characters and drama and just beautiful writing!

- Black Chalk (Christopher J. Yates)

Also a fairly good example of the genre, but tragically underhyped. Darker than, for example, If We Were Villains. Set at Oxford! Will mess with your head. The characters are not necessarily likeable, but interesting. The writing is fairly complex. Read for a dark academia thriller which takes the unreliable narrator to an impressive new extreme (in a good way!)

- Truly Devious (Maureen Johnson)

A rare YA dark academia book! Read for murder and mystery and a beautiful boarding school setting as well as a really likeable main character! Due to its nature less dark and somewhat less mature than most of the other books on this list, but if you’re looking for more of a quick and fun dark academia read, this is the one for you!

In a similar vain: The Vanishing Stair (Maureen Johnson)

Cannot actually vouch for this as I haven’t read it yet, but it’s the sequel to Truly Devious and I have heard good things.

- The Secret Place (Tana French)

MASSIVELY underappreciated dark academia with (gasp) supernatural elements?! The most beautiful prose and funniest dialogue you will ever see. Incredible characters. Again, amazing boarding school setting and close group of female friends! (They will break your heart). Also murder. Also half of the story being told from a detective’s PoV. Read if you value good literature. Just. Read it.

- The Likeness (Tana French)

Actually, maybe I was kidding before, maybe this book is the most underappreciated dark academia book out there? Either way, it’s my favourite. Within dark academia and within ALL OF THE BOOKS. This is it. The perfect novel. Characters that own my hearts to this day. Writing so beautiful that it had me sobbing uncontrollably on several occasions. The university it is set in is Trinity College Dublin. (Cue me being bitter that I don’t go there every single day for the rest of my life.) Very intriguing mystery, too. Hilarious dialogue. All the emotions. All the heartbreak. Just… I love it so much, okay? <3

- The Lying Game (Ruth Ware)

Good, very good. Set in a boarding school near the ocean, but unfortunately, only the past tense story line is and we don’t get to see too much of it. Very interesting characters. Much heavier on the dark than the academia. Read if you’re looking for more of a classic murder mystery/thriller and are not too focussed on the academia. Also read for an interesting group of female friends.

- The Basic Eight (Daniel Handler)

Very promising, but wasn’t my cup of tea at all. The setting is an American High School on the West Coast. The murder isn’t that much of a mystery. I’m mentioning it here because I know that other people love this book, even though I really didn’t. I would say don’t read, but see for yourself, I suppose.

- The Lessons (Naomi Alderman)

Yes, okay, an interesting one. Set at Oxford, which was amazing. Interesting characters with interesting dynamics. I read it quickly and was quite entertained. But there were certain problematic bits (regarding LGBTQ+ representation and mental illness), so you’ve been warned. Not my fave, but I mostly enjoyed it while reading it.

There are a few more dark academia books on my shelves, which I unfortunately cannot include on this list, as I haven’t read them yet. One of them is “The Lake of Dead Languages” by Carol Goodman. Another is “Brideshead Revisited” by Evelyn Waugh. Might edit this post later to add these and more. xx

UPDATE!! (With slightly longer descriptions this time, because people are actually reading this? Reblogging even? Wow!)

- The Lake of Dead Languages (Carol Goodman)

THE ALL-FEMALE DARK ACADEMIA NOVEL WE ALL NEED AND DESERVE…?? The setting is A++. An all-female boarding school in the Adirondack Mountains in New York! There is a lake that features so heavily in the story, it basically counts as a main character. Told from the PoV of a teacher who used to go to the school. There are two close groups of female friends, one in the present timeline, one in the past. Both have dark, dark secrets and both fit the dark academia genre so well! Also, heavy focus on Latin rather than Ancient Greek, which I have all the love for. This one is a gem, so give it a chance!

- Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh)

An actual classic, as in… first published in 1945. And it reads like it. The beginning came with beautiful vibes! Our young boy Charles starting his time at Oxford, meeting a lot of pretentious people, including one Lord Sebastian Flyte, who Charles is suspiciously fascinated by. Sebastian is the biggest dork to ever dork, carries around with him an actual teddy bear named Aloysius, the absolute madmen?? But it’s all downhill from there, with alcoholism and war and depressing times… And Oxford only really features in the first half or less.

- People Like Us (Dana Mele)

Another rare YA dark academia!! Features a group of Mean Girls who one day, when out at night to go swimming, find one of their classmates floating dead in the lake. Which is an excellent dark academia set-up, let’s be honest. Also, sapphic girls, incredible sapphic girls with really complex relationships! Bi main character! A fun and quick read, much like “Truly Devious”. More descriptions of the beautiful boarding school buildings would have been welcome, but at least we got a few! Anyway, go forth and enjoy this little beauty.

- Party Girls Die in Pearls (Plum Sykes)

Umm… I barely even comprehend this book’s existence? Has a prime dark academia set-up with a murdered girl in Oxford, but I still somehow DNF’d it after about 20 pages?! The main character’s name is Ursula Flowerbutton, and if you think that’s quirky and funny… good for you, you might actually enjoy this book. But you’ll also have to endure descriptions of clothes, oh, so many descriptions of clothes! And for anything unique to Oxford that might make the book fun because only those who know will know… you’ll get a footnote. So actually, everyone will know, with zero effort. Definitely not for me, but if you want to read a glossy magazine style dark academia, knock yourself out, friend!

- The Night Climbers (Ivo Stourton)

Breath-taking! A piece of beauty! Set at Cambridge (and the campus features heavily!), a main character reminiscent of Richard Papen, an intriguing group of new friends that he would do anything to belong with. Including… climbing the buildings of Cambridge at night? Without proper equipment, just with his hands and feet?? Honestly, out of the books on this list, this one is the closest in style and maturity and characterisation to The Secret History! The writing is absolutely gorgeous, the plot fascinating. And it’s dark academia that features a non-violent crime, which works surprisingly well. All in all: A STUNNER THAT FANS OF THE SECRET HISTORY SHOULD CHECK OUT!!

- As I Descended (Robyn Talley)

A queer, sapphic Macbeth retelling?? Also a rare YA dark academia with strong supernatural elements?! The representation is on point, with two hispanic main characters, wlw, mlm and one of the girls in the main couple being disabled! The boarding school setting is also on point (and uniquely different as the school building is actually a former plantation in Virginia). This book is so different and so spooky! It wasn’t perfect and some say the retelling didn’t work 100% (I, personally, felt that the plot slowed down a bit), but the atmosphere is amazing and the characters are pretty cool, too!

Not to worry, my quest to find and read as many DA books as possible isn’t over. So this list might be updates again some time in the future! :)

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thronescastdaily · 5 years

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Everything the Game of Thrones cast & crew have said about Season Eight

“I think everyone would agree in terms of saying they think their character endings are just and are the best way to wrap the characters up. Even if, God forbid, some of them might die.” — Isaac Hempstead-Wright

“The end of Jon’s journey, whatever that may be…I was satisfied with how his story ended.” — Kit Harington

“Who knows if it will be satisfying for the fans. I think a lot of fans will be disappointed and a lot of fans will be over the moon, I think. I think it will be really interesting to see people’s reactions.” — Sophie Turner

“Oh fuck the fans! That was a joke! But I don’t know, I don’t know if you can please everyone. I’m sure people will be moaning about something.” — Conleth Hill

“Not everyone’s going to be pleased, because it’s such a big show, and it’s divisive. But I think we have wrapped it up as convincingly and honestly and as cleverly as we could hope.” — Isaac Hempstead-Wright

“I remember I was shooting something else earlier in the year and my mum came out to join me. We sat down one evening and we both said to each other, ‘Let’s project the final season. Let’s say who we think is going to be alive and who we think is going to be dead.’ We did and we were both wrong.” — Maisie Williams

“What I will say is, I’m happy to see more of Brienne of Tarth the woman explored this season.” — Gwendoline Christie

“I am one of the few people who has read the script and I know the ending and what happens. When I read it, I thought it was rather brilliant. I am a bit of a fan of the series as well, and it satiated my expectation and hopes, I felt (it was the) conclusion…But we will just have to see. You know with something this big like Game of Thrones, you cannot please everyone.” — Iain Glen

“I couldn’t control myself. I cried for hours and hours once it wrapped. It was like leaving behind a character that I’ve grown up with. It’s almost like a death.” — Sophie Turner

“I haven’t watched a single series that has a following like Thrones does where everyone is satisfied with the ending. I don’t think that it’ll be any different with this. I think it will divide opinion.” — Kit Harington

“It fucked me up. Knowing that is going to be a lasting flavor in someone’s mouth of what Daenerys is…” — Emilia Clarke

“It meets all my expectations. But you’ll never guess how it ends.” — Iain Glen

“I’m hoping for the Breaking Bad [finale] argument where it’s like, ‘Is that an A or an A+?” —Dan Weiss

“We had such a beautiful time and we have such an amazing cast that has been through so much together. I think there is a real integrity to that and I completely support that and I am sad it’s ending, because I don’t get to go back and work with my friends next year or this year, so that’s sad but I think it’s a good time to. It’s an end of an era.” — Nathalie Emmanuel

“It’s either going to be everything that everyone dreamed of, or it’s gonna be disappointing. It depends which side of the fence you’re going to sit on. I think no matter what you do there’s definitely going to be that divide. It depends on what people want from the final season. I love it, but I don’t know. You never know.” — Maisie Williams

“The fans will not be let down. There are a lot of firsts in these episodes. There’s the funniest sequence I’ve ever shot on this show, the most emotional and compelling scene I’ve ever shot, and there’s one scene where there’s so many [major characters] together it feels like you’re watching a superhero movie.” — David Nutter (Director)

“It fucked me up. Knowing that is going to be a lasting flavor in someone’s mouth of what Daenerys is ...." — Emilia Clarke

“It is what it is, and so that’s what it should be. There’s nothing to say about whether I’d change it if I were in charge.” — Carice van Houten

“Personally speaking I love my journey. I love what [showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff] have done. The arc, the journey, every character.” — Richard Dormer

"[The ending] won't go the way some people want. It will be too happy for some people, or too sad, or too whatever. That's the nature of an ending." — Emilia Clarke

“It’s our biggest season by far. It’s only six episodes, but it was the longest [amount of time] we’ve ever shot, the biggest crew, the most extras and stuntmen. More people set on fire than ever before. It was intense.” — David Benioff

“People will see he has a target he wants to kill, and you will find out who that is. There’s also that moment [in “Hardhome”] when Jon Snow was on the boat and the Night King looked at him and raised his arms — there’s a similar and even stronger moment between Jon and the Night King this time.” — Vladimir Furdik

“I definitely didn’t see it coming and I had to get up and walk around, thinking, ‘Oh, so that’s how this all works out!” — Isaac Hempstead-Wright

“We wanted to justify people’s investment for many years and hopefully they will not feel cheated. But we do feel a great deal of pressure to bring this thing to a satisfying close. Hopefully we’ll stick the landing.” — Dave Hill (Writer)

“They went balls out, I think is the term. They could have easily set the same budget as they did for Season 7, but they went bigger.” — Kit Harington

“I remember reading [the ending] going, ‘Wow, thank you David and Dan. Thank you George. What a gift.’” — Rory Mccann

“It’s beautiful, colossal!” — Liam Cunningham

“Everyone has a certain expectation, I guess, it’s been building up so much. But [the ending]’s great, as well, it’s going to surprise you.” — Carice van Houten

“We had such a beautiful time and we have such an amazing cast that has been through so much together. As sad as it is, I think they have not— sometimes with a TV show or anything — it gets to the point where it loses its quality and we have managed to maintain such a high quality and people still want it.” — Nathalie Emmanuel

“It’s really a shame there aren’t any scenes between them, but the storylines just didn’t come together. It was a missed opportunity I think – it would have been really interesting to see that they got on as women as opposed to just fighting, because they’re not that different, they’re both loners.” — Carice van Houten

“There are a lot of things that I think people are going to be unhappy about and also, for the classic storytelling conclusions they want, other people are going to be really happy. But with a show as long standing and popular as Game of Thrones, I don’t think there is any possible scenario in which everybody’s pleased with how it concludes.” — Isaac Hempstead-Wright

“I think a lot of fans will be disappointed and a lot of fans will be over the moon, I think. I think it will be really interesting to see people’s reactions.” — Sophie Turner

"People will scream and people will say, 'That's exactly what I wanted. And some people will go, 'Huh?' my mum, probably." — Emilia Clarke

“When something has been sitting with you for so long, you have such a specific sense of the way each moment should play and feel. Not just in terms of ‘this shot or that shot,’ though sometimes it’s that as well. So it’s not really fair to ask somebody else to get that right. We’d be lurking over their shoulder every take driving them crazy making it hard for them to do their job. If we’re going to drive anybody crazy it might as well be ourselves.” —Dan Weiss

“I think a TV series that’s spanned eight, nine years is an incredibly difficult thing to end. I think not everyone’s going to be happy, you know, and you can’t please everyone.” — Kit Harington

“It won’t go the way some people want. It will be too happy for some people, or too sad, or too whatever. That’s the nature of an ending. Midway through a season, there’s always the idea that this is going to continue and somewhere along the way we’ll make up for it all. When it comes to a conclusion, this is the end. Nothing more is coming, and the certainty of it being over will definitely bother people. But overall, I think we’re going to smash it.” — Isaac Hempstead-Wright

“[Season 8] is mindblowing and horrible and beautiful.” — Kristofer Hivju

note: this post will be updated as new material comes out

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sacredlettersspn · 4 years

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Letter #3: Character (Dead in the Water, 1x03)

Theme: Character

Definition: mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual; the way someone thinks, feels, behaves

Welcome to the Sacred Letters of Supernatural. Today we will be covering episode 1x03, “Dead in the Water” while thinking about the theme of character. When I think of character, my mind goes to the first part of the definition above, the “moral qualities” distinctive to an individual. I am reminded of citizenship awards in elementary school and posters in school hallways with slogans like, “Character is what you do when nobody is watching.” Character has a moral connotation to it with the expectation that I should have “good” character. But that is not the only way to define or think about “character.”

Character is also distinctive qualities of any kind that define a person. Being an avid reader and television show watcher, as a well as a writer of fan fiction, this aspect of the definition is also familiar to me. Creating characters for a story involves building distinctive, compelling individuals that viewers will be invested in. Characters can become so defined that we come to expect certain actions and behaviors from them, and when their actions fall short of our expectations, we label them as “out of character.” In fanfiction, keeping characters “in character” can be a challenge for writers. There is a need to place close attention to the actions, motivations, and philosophies of the people that are being written about. Without these elements, stories can fall apart and readers lose interest. Character is important to a story.

In addition to feeling something is “out of character,” we can have other reactions when a character’s actions surprise us, like when the bad guy finds a cause to be heroic or when the grumpy, standoffish character makes a friend. If these unexpected behaviors are written in a compelling way with clear steps of character growth or appropriate catalysts, we enjoy seeing a character change. Humans can also surprise us in this way. The quiet student can stand up against a bully or a person who has been to jail multiple times can decide to turn their life around.

It seems that most of the time, we enjoy these kinds of stories. But there are limits to the amount of change we can accept, and that limit is different for everyone. There are men who stop being sexist, nazis who leave their ideology, bullies who develop self-awareness and try to make amends. Accepting these changes can be difficult, if not impossible for some. Yet many of us love movie characters like Loki who develop from the “bad guy” into something better and more selfless. There is the real life vs. movie screen distinction to take into account when thinking about why we react differently. We also understand Loki’s past and watch his development, so we can empathize with him. However, it appears that we often like the idea of the bad guy turning good, but we have a hard time accepting it in real life. “Cancel culture” is an example of this challenge to accept change in people or to recognize the diversity of character within one individual.

This is not to argue what we should or should not accept, to put a label on right or wrong when it comes to character growth and how we respond to it, in fiction or real life. There are legitimate reasons for not trusting or accepting a person who has committed horrible acts against other humans, or who have passed our own personal boundaries in terms of what we will accept. This discussion is meant to be an observation, one that I think is worth exploring. The purpose of thinking about this idea is to learn more about yourself and how you view the world. I think we can look at this concept of character growth on a smaller scale and consider how we relate it to relationships in our personal lives, and then we can take it and examine how we approach the bigger issues. To begin digging a little deeper into our personal perspectives on this issue, we can ask ourselves, what side of the “acceptance spectrum” I lie on?

So with that question in mind, let’s summarize the episode.

The episode opens in Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin with the morning routine of the Carlton family. There’s Bill, the father, and his two children, Sophie and Will, who live in a small house by the lake. Sophie is getting ready to go for a swim. The weather and the lake is calm, but once Sophie’s out on the water, the swimmer can’t help but feel that something is underneath the surface. She pauses to look around, sees nothing, but is soon dragged under by an unseen force. She drowns and her body is never recovered.

Sam and Dean enter as federal wildlife officers after seeing an article about Sophie’s drowning. This lake has already claimed a life that year, and several more in the past. The Winchesters talk to the sheriff in town, Jake Devins, and meet his daughter and grandson, Andrea and Lucas. Sam and Dean learn that the daughter’s husband was the first drowning earlier that year, and that the grandson witnessed the event. Lucas won’t speak anymore, he only draws.

Dean attempts to gain Lucas’ trust while he and Sam investigate the lake. They try talking to the Carltons, but Bill shuts them out. Soon after this first conversation, Will dies by drowning in the kitchen sink. Sam and Dean visit a second time and try harder to make Bill talk, but he is almost comatose with depression.

With no other leads, Sam and Dean leave Bill alone and happen to meet Andrea in a park. Dean connects with Lucas and receives a picture from him, a drawing of a house by a church with a boy standing by the fence with his bike. They find this house in town, and Sam and Dean visit the house of an old woman whose son, Peter Sweeney, went missing when he was around ten years old. Sam and Dean realize there’s a connection between this boy and Bill when they see an old photograph in the house.

They visit Bill again, but find him riding his boat out onto the lake. While they try to get his attention, something knocks the boat into the air and Bill falls into the lake and drowns.

The sheriff kicks Sam and Dean out of town after the incident, looking up their ranger numbers and finding out the ID’s are fake. But Dean doesn’t listen, he feels like something is off, so he turns around and visits Andrea and Lucas. Lucas is frantic when he answers the door. His mom is trapped in the bathroom, drowning in the tub. Dean saves her, and she tells him she heard a child’s voice in the water saying, “Come play with me.”

Dean looks through Andrea’s old photo albums while in her home and sees a young Jake Devins with Peter Sweeney. Lucas directs Sam and Dean to a random spot in the yard by the lake, and they dig up an old bike. The sheriff finds them and holds them at gunpoint. Sam and Dean tell him they’ve made a connection. They guess that he and Bill killed Peter Sweeney as kids. The sheriff tries to deny it, but while facing his daughter, he can’t lie. He admits to the killing, stating that he and Bill bullied Peter, but one time it accidentally went too far, and Peter drowned.

The adults argue about whether the missing boy is haunting the lake, with the sheriff calling Sam and Dean crazy. Meanwhile, Lucas goes out to the dock, drops a toy in, and attempts to fish it out. He’s pulled in by a ghostly hand. Sam and Dean jump into the lake to save Lucas. Meanwhile, the sheriff runs to the edge of the lake and sees Peter’s face, pale and dirty, pop up just above the surface. While Sam and Dean search frantically for Lucas, the sheriff sacrifices himself by wading into the water and begging the spirit to take him instead. It listens, pulls the sheriff under, and releases Lucas to Dean.

The character in this episode I want to focus on is Jake Devins because of his involvement with the murder of Peter Sweeney. While Bill Carlton was also a participant, I would argue that the episode focuses more on Devins character and family. We learn that he’s a family man by hearing how he helps out with his grandson after the death of his son-in-law. We see multiple conversations and interactions with his family, so we’re able to get a sense of the kind of man Devins is. He comes across as a hardworking sheriff who cares deeply about his family. He appears to be direct as well, sometimes intense or intimidating in the way he talks with Sam and Dean about the lake. In general, we get an idea that Devins is a honorable, experienced man, so it might come as a shock when he later admits to being involved in the murder of a fellow classmate as a child.

While the audience may or may not have predicted Jake’s confession, his daughter Andrea is completely taken by surprise. She wavers between doubt and wanting her father to admit the truth in the scene where Devins divulges the secret he has kept for three decades. She is shocked by learning the truth, never considering her father capable of murder. But the truth doesn’t appear to change how she thinks about her father. At the end of the episode, she tells Dean that whatever Jake did in his past, Andrea knows him as a good father and grandfather who loved and took care of his family. This version of Jake is what Andrea chooses to remember. I can’t help but wonder if I would have the same capacity as Andrea to ignore something like murder. Would I be able to focus on the good parts of a person’s character after learning of an action like that? And why would I want to do that?

While watching the episode, my own appraisal of Jake Devins’ character fundamentally changes after learning that he frequently bullied Peter Sweeney with Bill and this bullying caused Peter’s death. I wonder how someone can go that far with hurting someone and still call it an “accident.” I wonder what kind of child Devins was growing up and the lack of empathy he would have had to be a bully. I think about the inability he and Bill had to tell the truth, which comes across as cowardice to me. Their actions led to the death of someone’s son, and Peter’s mom never gets any answers. She has to live the rest of her life not knowing what happened to her son.

It’s challenging to reconcile the two parts of Jake’s character that we see, the honorable, family-oriented sheriff, and the bully who killed a classmate. In the end, Devins’ family-oriented side wins when he sacrifices himself to save his daughter and grandson. But I can’t help but feel that doesn’t atone for his actions. Somehow Andrea is able to reconcile these two sides of her father. Maybe it’s because of the family bond they have. I am an outsider watching this happen, but if Jake was my father or my brother, my response might be different.

Character is not absolute, although at times we’d maybe like to think it is. It would make things simple for the bad guy to be all bad, and the good guys to be all good. But humans, and fictional characters, exist in the gray. Every one of us responds to that gray area differently. I extend lots of sympathy to Sam Winchester, for example, who in later seasons makes many questionable choices and endangers many people. But when I think about Sam, I don’t define him by those bad choices. I understand the reason he made the choices, and I believe that makes up for the actual content of the decisions he makes. Jake, however, was a bully. He wasn’t acting questionably for a noble cause, he was doing it to be mean and exert dominance. The intention behind the actions matters to me when I’m judging a character, but it's more challenging to judge a character when two juxtaposing actions exist in the same episode. Jake is both a murderer and a loving father/grandfather, and that makes his character very, very gray.

Again, there’s no right or wrong way to view this issue, but I’m offering my perspective as a point of observation. I think it can be useful to ask ourselves how we judge character, by what standards and to what degree of absoluteness, and consider when we are able to forgive or overlook bad choices. Understanding this can give us insights into how we punish and forgive those in our personal life, what issues we feel passionate enough about to draw a line on, and how we may vote on certain political issues. Learning how we respond to fictional characters can give us insight in how we respond to people and issues in real life.

Lectio Divina

The next segment of this letter is called “Lectio Divina,” which is a Christian spiritual practice for reading scriptures that involves interacting with the text on four different levels. I am following Harry Potter and the Sacred Text’s use of this practice and adapting it the best I can to the visual format. Normally, you pick a scripture or a line of text to analyze. I randomized numbers between 1 and 42 (the amount of minutes in the episode), and picked the first full line after the minute mark I was given.

Line: 5:00, “I’m agent Ford. This is agent Hamill. We’re with the U.S. wildlife service.” -Dean Winchester

Now we analyze this line on the four levels of Lectio Divina : literal (narrative), allegorical (metaphors and symbols), reflection (how do I connect to it), and invitational (what is the text asking of us or teaching us).

Literal: Dean and Sam are knocking on the door of the victim’s family. They’re posing as wildlife agents in order to get information from the family about what happened to the victim. They’re using aliases of actors, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill, who are widely known for their roles as Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise.

Allegorical/Symbolic: The names that Sam and Dean choose immediately jump out at me. The first thing I think of when I hear these names is Star Wars and then I think of the characters, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. The choice of these character names for Sam and Dean can give us an insight into how Sam and Dean are meant to be portrayed, and how Sam and Dean see themselves since Kripke has stated that Sam and Dean were originally based off of these characters. Perhaps Dean identifies with Han Solo, the rugged smuggler who’s a bit cocky but ends up having a heart of gold. But I’m not sure whether we can say that Sam identifies with Skywalker because we don’t know if he chose that alias. It seems more likely that Dean chose the alias’ in this situation.

Personal: Here, Sam and Dean are lying for a good cause, but their lie seems dangerous. I tend to think lying is a bad thing except for rare cases. Sometimes I might lie to avoid hurting someone’s feelings, but even the acceptableness of that is arguable. It’s hard for me to imagine posing as federal agents as comfortably as Sam and Dean seem to. I can imagine myself sweating, a knot in my stomach, and stuttering when I attempt to speak, but the fake agent names roll off Dean’s tongue as smooth as his own. In real life, I would argue against people posing as agents, but I’m supportive of what Sam and Dean are doing. Without their ability to pose as agents, their work would be nearly impossible. I can justify the use of their lying, but I don’t often justify lying in real life.

Invitational: I think this line is asking us to compare the characters of Sam and Dean with their alias’ characters, and to see what insights we can gather from this comparison. With these alias’ used so early in the first scene, I can’t help but think their use is significant, not random. And if we can compare the Winchesters with other fictional characters to gain insights into their characters, then I don’t think it’s too far a jump to say we can use fictional characters to gain insights into ourselves. Characters are powerful, just as powerful as the story itself, and I would argue that this ability to compare and relate to fictional characters is what gives power to a story. We can see pieces of ourselves and our own lives in a story, see courage in the face of hardship, and find inspiration to face our own tough choices. So maybe we can ask what Sam and Dean see in these Star Wars characters, and how might they gain inspiration from Han Solo and Luke Skywalker’s stories.

Before I finish this letter, I would like to end with a question for the audience. This question is for personal evaluation or contemplation, but if you would like a chance for your answer to be featured on the blog or to begin a discussion, please send your answers to my Tumblr inbox.

This week’s question:

Who is your favorite fictional “bad-guy-turned-good” character?

And last, but not least, a special thanks to our patrons!

Jamie S.

#dead in the water 1x03 #character #season 1

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theworkofxanderking · 4 years

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The Originals: Bad Blood (The Alternative Season 5)

Episode 1 - Bad Blood: Before and After

Warnings: I do not own the original content to “The Originals”, “The Vampire Diaries” or “Legacies” or any of the characters from the television shows.

15 plus, displays of Violence, Gore, Torture, M/M, F/M, F/F.

After the Hollow: Year One

Rebekah just stood there from a distance in the bayou as she looked over to see people gathered round on chairs late at night, fairy lights dangling on the trees and an altar made from white roses. Standing at the altar was her brother Kol in a fitting black suit and his bride Davina wearing a lace material wedding dress that Rebekah found simply beautiful which was quite the task considering Rebekah’s large wedding dress collection.

She looked over to the few people gathered around them noticing Marcel, Freya, Josh and Keelin knowing how much it meant for Marcel to be there for his adopted daughter Davina’s wedding day even if he didn’t like her choice of groom. Rebekah was pleasantly surprised to see Freya there with her girlfriend Keelin knowing of her troubled history with Davina and how huge it must’ve been for Davina to allow her to be there after everything.

She was desperate to vamp speed over to them all, congratulate her brother, welcome her new sister and catch up with her older sister but she knew if she got any closer to Kol the effects of The Hollow would quickly begin to appear and that was something that nobody wanted to happen so she had to make due watching from afar the first of her siblings get married.

Lost in her emotions as tears began falling from her eyes while the wedding ceremony ended, she started to notice Marcel missing from the crowd before feeling a rush of wind before Marcel appeared right in front of her.

“I had a feeling you wouldn’t be able to miss a good wedding.” He said to her with a sly smirk on his face.

“Considering I never got to attend any of my own failed wedding plans I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to watch at least one of my siblings get a happy ending.” Rebekah replied while trying to hide her hurt at seeing her former flame.

“I was all ready to give you your happy ending and you rejected me.” Marcel responded with a tone of sadness over what could’ve been. “This could’ve been us Rebekah.”

“Oh, Marcel I have missed you,” Rebekah admitted as she placed her hand on his cheek before quickly removing it. “but I’ve given up on this ever being a reality for me.”

“Have you heard from Klaus?” Marcel asked while changing the topic to hide his own heartbreak.

“Nobody’s heard from Niklaus for once in his life he has decided to live quietly which worries more than if he were going from town to town slaughtering his way to happiness.” Rebekah revealed.

It had been one whole year since Rebekah had been face to face with any of her brothers following the four originals possessing The Hollow in order to protect their beloved Hope. She had wanted a life free from Klaus and his torment for so long, but her freedom now came at a time when she needed him most because without Klaus, Elijah or Kol she was completely and utterly alone.

Before the Blood

Klaus’ life was a miserable existence under the reign of his ruthless father Mikael who was filled with hate especially for him the only time Klaus ever got any happiness was when he retreated deep into the woods of Mystic Falls to meet the love of his human life.

While his brother Elijah was busy romancing Tatia Petrova Klaus found himself hiding in the woods with a fellow native of Mystic Falls.

Nathaniel was a mere mortal or, so he was led to believe back then who had been taken in at a young age by Ayana following his mother’s brutal murder at the hands of his own father. He had grown up with the Mikaelson’s and was close friends with Rebekah, Kol, Elijah and even Finn but it was Klaus who owned his heart and Nathaniel owned his.

Nathaniel grew tired of Mikael’s twisted and brutal ways towards Klaus and often begged that the two of them ran away together but Klaus would never have left his family especially his beloved sister Rebekah and it was his love for his sister that would be the undoing of Klaus and Nathaniel.

“We could have more than stolen moments in the day if we just left this place.” Nathaniel said to Klaus as he was pushed up against a tree within the woods as Klaus’ body pressed against his.

“You know I can never leave my family despite how many times I may consider it.” Klaus replied to him before going to kiss Nathaniel who moves his head out of the way rejecting Klaus’ kiss.

“I think it’s time to call an end to all this.” Nathaniel told him as he brushed Klaus off him. “I love you Niklaus, I love you with all my heart but there is no happiness here. I’m leaving on a boat tomorrow whether you choose to join me or not is up to you.”

“You cannot just leave; Ayana would be devastated to see you go.” Klaus pleaded. “I’d be devastated if you were to go. I love you too Nathaniel, stay I beg you.”

“This place is miserable Niklaus it’s making you miserable no happiness can ever be found on this land.” Nathaniel said as tears began forming in his eyes as they both realized this was their end. “I’ll miss you Niklaus, always and forever will you be in my heart, always and forever.”

“I need to get back to my family.” Klaus replied with clear devastation on his face knowing there was nothing more to be said.

Nathaniel was Niklaus’ first love and first heartbreak but this wasn’t the last time he’d see Nathaniel the last time being what would change Niklaus forever.

After the Hollow: Year Two

Elijah had learned the hard way at a bar one night not long after being compelled that he was a vampire after slaughtering everyone in that bar and over the two years he had met the odd vampire, but none quite like him. He had no idea why he was different to the other vampires he met, nor did he want to know thanks to part of Marcel’s compulsion.

In the two years since Elijah had Marcel compel his memories away with the help of Vincent Griffith’s magical assistance Elijah had found himself living a new life in a small village located in France living a simple life that was almost perfection the only thing stopping it from being perfect was Elijah’s blood lust.

He often found himself strolling the streets late at night looking for easy prey to drain off blood even though he had learned not to kill his victim and compel their memories of their encounter Elijah still didn’t like the feeding process but one night his need for blood took him to a strange encounter with someone he couldn’t remember knowing.

He had stalked this brunette beauty for several streets now before following down a dark alleyway before being surprised when she turns around with a smirk on his face making it clear she had played the role of prey to lure him to be alone with her.

“You know if you liked the look of me so much you could’ve just came up to me. I’m guessing you’re the shy type.” She said to him.

“I’m sorry about this.” Elijah apologised as his eyes turned bloodshot vamp style.

“Yeah I’m sorry too.” She replied before chanting in Croatian and lifting her hand magically snapping Elijah’s neck in the process and forcing him to fall to the ground completely lifeless. “You made this far too easy Elijah Mikaelson.”

Elijah had just been lured into a trap by Raven Devereaux a distant cousin of Sophie Devereaux who was far from close to her family having left them many years ago due to what she considered their barbaric practices in order to keep the New Orleans witch ancestors happy but she still continued Sophie family and wanted revenge.

She knew she was a mere witch who stood no chance of killing an original vampire but she also heard the rumors about Elijah having no memory of who he was and after spending the last few weeks stalking the noble Mikaelson sibling those rumors were proven right.

Raven knew Elijah was escaping the harsh and painful reality that comes with being a Mikaelson and was determined to remind him exactly who he was even if she couldn’t break Marcel’s compulsion she’d find a way to make Elijah know all about who he was and the family he left behind seeing him being forced to remember as some kind of torture not knowing it would bring the two enemies together in a way neither would have expected.

After the Hollow: Year Three

New Orleans had become a different city in the last three years since Klaus Mikaelson left and if she had any communication with him Hayley would’ve loved to tell him that she preferred the differences in place.

Her and Klaus’ daughter Hope was excelling at the Salvatore School under Alaric Saltzman and Caroline Forbes’ supervision, but Hayley remained in New Orleans fully claiming her title as werewolf queen and with the help of Marcel reformed the factions in order to restore peace within the city.

As werewolf queen Hayley was only fitting to be the head of the werewolf faction and with Marcel being powerful enough to take down even an original nobody argued as he became the head of the vampire faction.

Vincent Griffith and Freya Mikaelson were among the top picks for being the head of the witch faction but Freya declined fearing her being a Mikaelson name would cause backlash for her and her werewolf fiancé Keelin preferring to live a quieter life instead and Vincent never got the chance to reprieve his title due to him being murdered with his killer never being found.

After finding the head of the human faction Hayley was determined to find a witch powerful to hold their own amongst them with strong enough principles to make sure they were doing right by their own kind. Hayley knew a witch from her past who stuck by her principles despite the cost and the cost was usually her own life this witch sacrificed everything for the people she cared for and that’s what made her perfect for the job in question. She just had to convince the witch to move her life to New Orleans become a New Orleans witch and set up home in a city once belonging to a man she loathed.

Hayley got Bonnie Bennet’s location from Caroline Forbes having become friends with Caroline over the years having got over their little feud from back in the day. She wasted no time in catching a flight to Las Vegas which was a stop in many locations Bonnie had been visiting over the years since leaving Mystic Falls behind in her quest to tour the world.

“Firstly, I’m only speaking to you because Caroline literally begged me and secondly you must be pretty desperate to come to me for any kind of help. Klaus hates me and the feeling is mutual.” Bonnie said upon meeting Hayley at the front door of her hotel room before inviting her in.

“Okay I guess we’re just going straight in then. Caroline begged you to meet me as she knows how important this is to me. New Orleans has seen many wars upon the supernatural factions for far too long and Marcel and I are working really hard on bringing peace to the city.” Hayley replied as the two women walked over to a couch and sat down. “Besides Klaus hasn’t been seen in New Orleans for a long time and as far as I know he or his siblings aren’t coming back anytime soon.”

“I’ve never even been to New Orleans let alone want to live the rest of my life there or live there until Klaus inevitably makes his grand return and I have to either put him down again or get going.” Bonnie said to her making her disinterest for the job clear.

“From what I remember Klaus always had a bit of a soft spot for Caroline, so I doubt he’d go too far in angering her best friend. Which is another reason to why I want you to come to New Orleans. Whether Klaus returns or not the city comes first, and I believe you will be as fearless as me in telling Klaus exactly that if he ever does return.” Hayley admitted to her. “These witches need somebody fighting in their corner Bonnie and you’re the only person I trust to fight for them.”

Bonnie was far from thrilled at the prospect of living in New Orleans or one day possibly having to face her old enemy Klaus once again but one thing she was always a sucker for was people in need.

Bonnie had come a long way in terms of her witchcraft from her days of living in Mystic Falls and was definitely experienced enough to become the head of a witch faction knowing taking the position would make her grams proud plus Hayley made a very convincing case and if Caroline trusted her that made her a person worth trusting. That logic worked for everyone except Klaus Mikaelson.

After the Hollow: Year Four

A lot had changed for Elijah in the years that passed since he first met and was assaulted and kidnapped by Raven Devereaux. In the two years that had passed the two enemies had found themselves going from enemies to friends to lovers.

Raven started out teaching Elijah bloody history lessons about his own family torturing him by the savage truth about the Mikaelson’s and about himself from what she had learned and heard over the years only to find herself feeling sorry for him as she started to see his genuine remorse.

From there they became allies in vampire hunting as Elijah vowed to take out any vampires who had harmed humans with Raven’s magical assistance as the double act became quite the feared force amongst the supernatural making a name for themselves as formidable hunters.

It wasn’t before the two of them working close quarters led to passion between the Devereaux witch and the original vampire their love reaching to a dramatic inclusion that even Raven herself was not expecting.

“I never grow tired of this.” Elijah said to Raven as he ripped out the heart of a male vampire throwing it to the ground as his victim’s body also fell while out in the middle of the woods.

“I’ve got to admit this wasn’t what I’d be expecting we would be doing two years after meeting.” Raven replied while walking towards Elijah who had pulled out a handkerchief from his suit and began wiping his hand clean of blood.

“What exactly did you expect us to be doing?” Elijah asked in a seductive tone as he grabbed a hold of Raven and pulled him in towards her.

“With you or me winding up killing the other more than likely you kill me.” Raven answered before kissing Elijah on the lips.

“Well I’m very glad neither happened.” He said before kissing Raven passionately. “I think we’re ready Raven.”

“Ready for what?” Raven wondered while beginning to undo the buttons on Elijah’s shirt to expose his naked chest.

“To take down my family once and for all.” He revealed instantly bringing fear to Raven’s face.

“Elijah they can’t die, and neither can you so going up against them will only end in me being the one winding up dead.” Raven said to him hoping to change his mind clearly terrified of the idea of meeting her boyfriend’s family.

“Don’t worry I will make sure that neither will lay a hand on you.” He promised while loving stroking her face with his right hand. “Besides I have a plan that they’ll never see coming.”

Raven may have become an experienced hunter in the last two years and before that she was keen to take on one original but the idea of taking them all on with only an amnesia struck Elijah on her side had her completely terrified but there was no talking Elijah out of this plan.

A man who would once go to extreme lengths for his family was now willing to go to extreme lengths to wipe them off the face of the earth.

After the Blood

Nathaniel had planned to leave Mystic Falls behind forever that day willing to sail away to some new life about the lands that his neighbors had settled on not knowing what that day would bring as he sadly left it far too late to get away because the night before Esther had turned Mikael and their children into original vampires following the tragic death of their youngest child Henrik.

As the originals struggled to come to terms with their newfound blood lust Nathaniel and the only mother he ever knew Ayana took to the woods hoping Ayana’s children had managed to also escape the Mikaelson’s terror not knowing that neither of them would make it out of those woods alive.

“Go on without me Nathaniel.” Ayana told him as she stopped running clearly struggling to catch her breath. “I can’t run any longer.”

“You’ve got to keep going Ayana your children are going to need you once we get out of here.” Nathaniel pleaded with her through deep breaths of his own making it clear the running had also took its toll on him. “I need you.”

Kol vamp sped past Nathaniel coming from a distance as he threw Nathaniel to the ground before vamp speeding over to Ayana and beginning to tear at her neck with his mouth clearly desperate for more blood.

“No!” Nathaniel screamed in pure terror as he raised to his feet while Ayana’s lifeless body hit the ground.

“I’m so sorry.” Kol replied as his vamp face returned to normal before vamp speeding out of sight fleeing the crime scene.

Nathaniel rushed over to Ayana’s lifeless body kneeling before her and grabbing her body as he began sobbing uncontrollably as he mourned for the only woman he had ever known as a maternal figure.

His cries grew louder and longer before Rebekah vamp sped from out of nowhere until she was standing in front of him.

“What happened?” Rebekah asked clearly disturbed to see Ayana’s lifeless body being held in a sobbing Nathaniel’s arms.

“Your brother killed her just like you and your brothers have killed many of us.” Nathaniel replied as he let go of Ayana’s body and stood up to face Rebekah with hatred in his eyes.

“We can’t control this blood lust Nathaniel we didn’t want to hurt anybody.” Rebekah apologized knowing there was no way she’d get her former friend’s forgiveness as the smell of Ayana’ spilled blood grew stronger making her begin to feel the hunger.

“I trusted all of you, I loved you all and you and your family have killed the only mother I’ve ever known.” Nathaniel cried before noticing Rebekah’s face turn vamp like realizing in that moment his life was about to end. “And now you’re going to kill me.”

“I really don’t want to hurt you Nathaniel.” Rebekah replied clearly holding herself back. “Please just run.”

“There is no point you’re just going to catch me anyways.” Nathaniel responded in defeat. “Just get this over with already Rebekah.”

Rebekah tried so hard to restrain herself, but the blood lust was so strong and so new she couldn’t hold back any longer and vamp sped over to Nathaniel before launching her fangs into his neck and it wasn’t long before Nathaniel’s lifeless body fell to the ground leaving Rebekah completely devastated by what she had just done.

Rebekah never told a soul what happened that day knowing how much he meant to Klaus and seeing how furious he was with Kol for hurting Ayana knowing he’d be even more furious to learn Nathaniel was another victim to the family’s blood lust. She allowed her family to believe he left and started a new life that he lived and died a normal life a thousand years ago hiding the truth to save her brother Klaus some pain but little did she know that this was far from the end of Nathaniel’s story.

After the Hollow: Year Five

Klaus Mikaelson had become a ghost to almost everyone in the five years since taking part of the Hollow knowing he couldn’t cope with any contact with his siblings or his daughter Hope without wanting to stay with them and the Hollow meant that neither Klaus, Kol, Rebekah or Elijah could be together or near Hope but that didn’t stop Klaus from watching over his daughter from afar.

Once every year he returned to Mystic Falls keeping a good distance from everyone he knew and watched over a day of his daughter Hope’s life seeing many of her friends circles change over those years but two remaining much to his amusement these two friends were his former flame Caroline Forbes’ daughters Josie and Lizzie Saltzman.

Each year it grew harder for Klaus to return but each year he needed to see his daughter more and more until he found himself outside the gates of the Salvatore Boarding School wishing he could walk past them and hug his daughter just one more time but he knew for her own safety he had to stay as far away as possible.

“I’m pretty sure we made a certain dealing about you popping up in Mystic Falls.” Caroline said as she appeared beside him having vamp sped her way there. “Yet every year I find you lurking in the shadows.”

“Of course, you would be the only person to notice me Caroline.” He replied with a sly smirk. “I’ve got to admit I find that deeply flattering.”

“She misses you everyday Klaus.” Caroline admitted to him. “I know this thing inside you and your siblings forbids you from seeing her, but you could at least pick up a phone and talk to her.”

“Don’t you think I want to?” Klaus snapped. “The moment I’d hear her voice I’d want to be with her and thanks to a very ancient and twisted witch that can never happen.”

“I know it’s not easy but she’s a smart wonderful girl incredibly stubborn like her dad but such an amazing girl who could really do with her dad being in her life in some shape or form.” Caroline told him. “Speaking as a daughter with no parents anymore it’s better to have a distant father then no father at all.”

“You don’t understand Caroline.” He replied to her.

“Your right I don’t understand I don’t understand why your not taking every opportunity you can to be in contact with your daughter and I don’t understand why you won’t let her get to know you because I happen to think your something worth knowing.” Caroline snapped at him causing him to smirk in response.

“You do now do you?” Klaus replied with his sinister sly smirk.

“Speak to your daughter Klaus before you leave it too late.” Caroline responded before vamp speeding out of sight leaving Klaus to his thoughts.

Meanwhile in New Orleans peace was certainly restored in the city after two years living in New Orleans Bonnie Bennet had fully been accepted by the New Orleans witches as the new regent and the new head of the witch’s faction.

All the supernatural factions and the human factions were working smoothly together under Bonnie, Marcel and Hayley’s reign the three having struck deep friendships within the two years of running things in New Orleans but little did they know that the peace they worked so hard for was about to come to a bloody end.

Bonnie sat down at a table outside a cafe in the French Quarter of New Orleans not too far from the compound which had become home to Hayley and on school holidays Hope. She was sipping a cup of coffee awaiting a meeting with a recently returned witch, making sure her unexpected return wasn’t going to upset the new peace within the city.

“You must be Bonnie Bennet you and your family are quite the legends amongst the witch community.” Raven said to her as she walked over to Bonnie’s table. “I’m Raven Devereaux and I must say it truly is an honor to meet you.”

“I’m still adjusting to everyone knowing my name in this city amongst other things.” Bonnie replied before standing up to shake Raven’s hand. “It’s amongst many things about this city I’m still adjusting to.”

“You’re the witch who fought the great Niklaus Mikaelson and survived despite still being in high school.” Raven responded as they both sat down at the table. “Rumor has it you took him down once or twice.”

“I guess you’ve done your homework, I heard about what happen to your family I am truly sorry for your loss.” Bonnie said genuinely. “But if you’re here looking for revenge this city has been Mikaelson free for a very long time.”

“Please my cousin Sophie died at the hands of her niece who was all kinds of disturbed due to being killed and resurrected by the ancestors.” Raven explained to her. “I’m simply just returning home with a hope the new regent doesn’t allow barbaric rituals like her predecessors before her.”

Raven had worded her reply perfectly so perfectly that not only did Bonnie not see her as a threat but she considered this recently returned witch a potential new ally who like her wasn’t particularly a fan of the old ways amongst the witches in New Orleans.

However, unfortunately for Bonnie that’s exactly what Raven wanted her to believe as she found her pleased to know all things were going to Elijah’s master plan hoping it would reach the conclusion he had promised her with the fall of the Mikaelson’s and not the conclusion she feared her own death.

#theoriginals #originalsfanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #vampirediaries #vampire diaries fanfiction #legacies #legacies fanfiction #klaus mikaelson #rebekah mikaelson #elijah mikaelson #marcelgerard #bonnie bennett #hayley marshall #alternateseason

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swordbreakerz · 4 years

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✨ for all of them, 🎥 for treasure planet and guardians of gahoole, 🍀 for 9-1-1 and penumbra, 📃 for unicorn chronicles, 🏳️‍🌈 for howls, treasure planet and legend of zelda, and 💎 for any ones you have facts for lol

you spoil me uwu

🎥 - ok for treasure planet, gotta be the 12 years later scene in the beginning and the zoom in to the spaceport, the way it transitions from jim reading under the blankets to him flying on his solar surfer is so chefs kiss, and just like. everything about to the spaceport lmao, fr guardians definitely the scene where soren flies through the fire and then blows up the pulley system to get rid of the flecks energy, bro when hes flying above it all holding the lantern before he dives down to save them? chills

🍀 - you know im on that projection shit w/ juno steel, ive truly never like connected with a character like that before and he’s really really helped me thru my recovery and transition lol, fr 911 uhhh ig buck or eddie? i havent Thought About It or like consumed it enough times yet to rly settle on someone but fr now,,, they

🏳️‍🌈 - ok for howls, Everyone Is Bi/Pan, howl is trans and autistic and i will die on that hill, fr treasure planet jim and cpt amelia are both trans and both of them + doppler are autistic, fr loz link is trans, autistic and semi nonverbal and communicates primarily with asl, post twilight princess zelda says fuck it and finds a way back into the twilight realm and she midna and link hang out, most of these boil down to everyone i love is trans gay and autistic because i say so lmaooo

📃 - OK SO. without like, spoiling too many plot points, our main character is cara and she lives with her grandmother. her mom is dead and dad is out of the picture. one day theyre getting chased by these people that her grandma knows and cara gets thrown into an alternate realm full of fantasy creatures using her grandmothers amulet. she meets a unicorn named lightfoot and a bunch of other rad people and basically, starts a journey to save that world from the Hunters. the Hunters are an organisation who specifically hate unicorns and want them all dead, led by Beloved, and cara and her friends have to try and stop them from entering the world and wiping them out. its sooo so so good and i highly recommend it cause i have no one to talk to about it please god

✨ - oh boy uh, well. im just gonna like list them out lmao

unicorn chronicles: i loved unicorns as a kid and read it when i was in elementary school, and over the years its remained just as compelling and well written as i remember and like. god the whole concept is so godamn cool and all the subplots that get introduced are fuckign fantastic and like all the different creatures are amazing i literally cant sing its praises enough

howls moving castle: must i have a logical reason? is it not to vicariously live my fantasy of running away to the countryside with a wizard boyfriend, his demon and his apprentice?? for real though, its such a fantastic story with beautiful visuals in the movie and wonderfully compelling prose in the book, and esp in the movie the whole time travel subplot with sophie seeing howl and calcifer in the past and then howl finding her in the future makes me go feral

penumbra: gays in space. need i say more? im a huge slut for gay found family and especially in futuristic space, and im a huge big fan of the lgbt utopia its created. like yeah capitalism sucks but at least im not gonne get misgendered in space starbucks, u kno? all the writing and dialogue is so incredible and the SOUND DESIGN GOD, alex i know u specifically can relate when i say i would kill a man for sophie and her incredible sound design skills, like dude the dance scene in man in glass p2 you can hear every single individual step they take and every swish of junos dress and i jusT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! god its so good, plus the whole the characters help me work through my trauma and repressed anger haha

911: this one is entirely your fault. so obligatory horny on main everyone on that show is so hot i want oliver stark to cradle me gently in his beefy arms oh my god. other than Men, the way it drives home the whole ‘you can’t save everyone, and it will kill you to try, so just focus on what you can do and keep living’ makes me so emo. the way it tackles big bureaucratic issues as well as closer to home interpersonal ones is amazing and i love how it shows people going through and dealing realistically with trauma.

treasure planet: again, who doesnt want to live in Cool Steampunk Space Travel Future? i really really love jims story and his arc, the way he deals with his trauma is uhh very familiar lol and his relationship with silver is like the ideal. the story is just the coolest concept and i love all the wonderful character design and animation, plus the soundtrack SLAPS and everything is beautiful

legend of zelda: ive been associated with this series from a very young age due to my name and as soon as i gave into my fate and looked it up for real i just kinda fell into it lol. i cant really tell you exactly what draws me to it besides ‘wow fun game!’ and ‘god i wish that were me,’ but like the absurd amount of detail thats put into each installment and the creative ways they retell essentially the same/similar story over and over is incredible

guardians of gahoole: so i had the same experience with this and treasure planet which is i remembered ‘oh hey this is a movie that exists and i cant clearly remember watching it, ill look it up :)’ and then it consumed my life for a solid 3 months. firstly this movie is absolutely gorgeous, the animation and framing is fucking stunning and the way they handled owls talking like people as far as the movement of their very inflexible beaks was amazing. it sort of has the same draw for me as warrior cats? secret animal society ft incredibly traumatic experiences and the characters dealing with it. like, the whole concept is just so fuckign wild and it works so well, i rly enjoy this niche genre.

💎 - alright trivia time, so guardians of gahoole is based on a book series and the movie only covers part of the first arc i think idk, BUT theres another series set in the same universe called wolves of the beyond that i devoured when i was younger! i didnt know they were connected for the longest time and when i found out i was :000, i still rly love wolves of the beyond and wanna reread it, as well as read the actual gahoole books. in the howls books, sophie is a redhead! also, markl is named michael and like a fully functioning young adult who ends up marrying one of sophies sisters. treasure planet is, obviously, based off treasure island but its so much better than the book dont bother reading it lol i tried and it was boring. there was plans for a treasure planet sequel that was fully scripted and cast but it was cancelled cause disney sabotaged treasure planet from the start with the shitty release and advertising and tldr we were ROBBED, also amelias concept was much more octopus like and while that wldve been rad im p glad she was switched to a cat for. several reasons lol. uhh i dont have a lot of Fun Facts abt the unicorn chronicles but for the longest time i thought there were only 3 books and then last year i found the fourth book by chance in a kitsch store and nearly had a breakdown i was so happy, like full on i started shaking and crying cause there was so much joy in my body i cldnt contain it.

thats all i can think of tysm ily, to anyone who read all of this bless u please watch guardians of gahoole and read the unicorn chronicles i will love u forever

#IM LOVE U #friendos #alex #and z answers #astrallouis

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fancybois · 5 years

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So a few weeks ago Sophie ( @buzzfeedworthit) and I came up with this AU based off of the In Control With Kelsey Worth It episodes and she complied it. It’s not a fleshed out fic at all but the idea is there and it would be a dope long length fic

Vampire!andrew’s outfit from the sims

He’s a vampire gang boss (?) who runs an underground gambling ring/casino behind a restaurant

Casino is v fabulous and opulent

Steven is a rookie detective who is trying to take down the upper crusts

Upper crusts are an organization involved in bribery/financial corruption in local politics posing as a food club

Steven asks around and is referred to andrew

Steven goes to the underground casino trying not to reek of cop to meet andrew

He is v intimidated but andrew is such a character who loves cats and immediately takes to steven “yeah i do crime but what r u gonna do abt it if u need my help” dynamic

Steven begrudgingly moves forward w getting andrew’s help and andrew makes him part of the crew so he can go undercover

TENSION everyone else can feel too

Andrew’s underlings just roll their eyes every time andrew tries to flirt w steven but steven just thinks that is how andrew is

He gets flustered anyway

Underlings @ andrew: ur getting awful close to him, boss… whats ur game here

Andrew wants to drinks stevens blood too but in a sexy way

Eventually they infiltrate upper crusts

Steven starts a thing w sophia to get close to the mom (leader) for info

Andrew is salty

Steven confronts andrew about why he is so pissy and tension keeps mission from really making any progress bc of petty things andrew does bc he is jealous

Steven: andrew, this is my case i gotta do this tf

Andrew sabotages every interaction w sophia

Jealous? Logical next step? Kill the competition (andrew considers)

Conveniently, andrew finds out sophias treachery and that she has found out abt steven and andrew’s true intentions w upper crusts and esp her mother

S and A find out theyve been compromised and andrew offers to “take care of her”

Steven is like wtf no?!

Steven: ANDREW NO

Andrew: ANDREW YES

Andrew: trust me

But steven is adamant that andrew cant kill her so he turns her which forces her to switch allegiance to s and a and join A’s coven

So steven sees vampire!andrew in action and THATS how he finds out A is a vampire and is like i didnt sign up for this shit

Andrew is like im pretty sure u approached me sweetie

Turning someone into a vampire looks to be a sensual thing w sharing blood

With loyalty from sophia they get the info they need on her mom but it also makes steven jealous that she is now in andrew’s coven (involves doing vampire rituals together and just more time spent together doing vampire shit)

Prompts steven to reevaluate his feelings and deal w shock of finding out andrews… condition (and realises that andrew spending time w sophia bothers him but not because he is into sophia….hmmm)

Im jealous of my ex fake gf???

Eventually comes to terms w it but is convinced andrew is not into him bc he has read all their interactions as andrew being flirty w everyone is just his personality

Also how could be possibly be w a vampire--one who already has a lady vampire conveniently in his coven

Steven decides he needs distance

Ignores andrew

Angst ensues

Decides he has enough info and it is time to get the boss of upper crusts and take her down

Problem is andrew is his only ally but steven is not thinking clearly and goes after her by himself

Gets into dangerous situation

PLOT TWIST: dangerous situation is that clara has control over bernard and she commands Bernard to possess steven

Compels steven (bernard as steven) to do bad shit

Then he is made out to be bad guy after getting caught doing crime

Gets arrested and cops think he has been feeding info to baddies or is even a baddie boss himself (of upper crusts which effectively stops cops being interested in them bc they think they caught the boss)

Ryan and shane are cops and they have to arrest steven even tho theyre friends and it is sad “how could u steven”

Andrew knows something is wrong, this isnt steven and he confronts clara willing to do anything to get bernard out of steven

He confronts clara in mysterious and tense and elegant meeting at jazz bar

Andrew: cut the shit clara what did u do

Clara sippin that martini “shame about your lover but bernard is so enjoying himself”

Andrew is like wtf so hes possessed???

Clara: u have something of mine

Andrew: ur daughter isnt a possession?? (andrew and sophia have bonded and are homies by this time)

Becomes apparent clara doesnt give a shit abt her daughter and just thinks it would be beneficial to have a vampire for upper crusts’ dynamic

Andrew goes to sophia and tells her what happened

Sophia knows he loves steven so she agrees saying it will be ok and a good chance to re-infiltrate

Bernard leaves steven and then she waits til the right moment and BLEEDS HER MOM DRY

Clara: go get ur man, andrew

Steven is locked up and andrew seeks out ryan and shane and tells them everything

But hes a criminal and as a consequence of approaching the PD he gets taken in

Steven is disoriented when bernard leaves his body (violent exit, body wracking, vomiting) and he is suddenly like What am i doing here what is happening??

Andrew has explained but nobody believes possession (cops r like yeah wow that was quite the stomach flu steven had)

So andrew is like: fine… and bc he needs to redeem steven he owns up to everything and says he was controlling steven

So steven gets let out as andrew is booked

They tell steven he was being “controlled” but the term means different things to the police and to steven (bc he knows he was at least blacked out)

Leaving steven heartbroken that he was manipulated (the tale andrew told to save steven)

Steven goes to confront andrew

Why, if any of their tension was real

Andrew responds by speaking in code that yes it was real and that he lied to get steve out so that he can finish the mission (and bc he loves steven)

Steven is confused but goes to sophia who tells him what the code means and helps plan to break andrew out

Steven is ready to do illegal shit and break laws to get andrew out bc love

Steven could confess to his undercover work and tell everyone that andrew was helping

What andrew was booked for no longer valid bc govt sanctioned task to help them bring down actual culprits

Andrew knows that steven doing illegal shit would change steven and he doesnt want steven to do that and convinces him otherwise and do do (above) rather than jailbreak and run away together

Suddenly Steven and andrew told theyre good to go and steven is like how? (he was in middle of planning how to explain but doesnt have means to prove it bc it was super under cover and involves supernatural)

Suddenly rie (police boss) comes out as the one who assigned steven the task and backs him up (thus why they were let free)

Upper crusts taken down w info provided by sophia- paper trail bc clara is gone leaving everyone in gang in disarray

Someone had tried to step up and strongman it by ordering a hit on another group to strengthen their position but it goes awry bc they suck at crime and leadership

BUT dun dun hit is on andrew and steven

Could one of them die???

Upper crusts set up a hit and then sophia tells S and A bc she had stayed on and so they set up a trap

BUT audience doesn’t know that sophia has told them and helped them so threat of ch death hangs

Lets hit go thru and then it is explained that they knew and baddie is like WTF man

Sophia had to let it go until last minute in order to catch rest of crusts and involve PD

Case ends and epilogue is S and A in hawaii (classic) one brings the other a drink and they kiss before being like u ready?? And steven is like u bet babe (bc they’re actually there for a mission as crime fighting duo)

THE END <3

#standrew fic #standrew

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bravelittleflower · 5 years

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Origianl Character List

Trials of a Witch (Harry Potter):

1.Sienna Mitchell:

Age:16

Faceclaim: Penelope Mitchell

Fandom:Harry Potter

Love interest: Andreas Rosier(oc)/Fred Weasley

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Summary: After Sienna received a letter that her grandfather passed away, she knew her day could only get worse.She was right she received a week detention for not paying attention.And to make things worse it was with one of the Weasley twins. And yet when she told him about her situation he made it so, that she wouldn't think about her grandfather anymore. She knew that developing a crush on him was dangerous.Especially, when she wasn't quite over her ex-boyfrie

2.Andreas Rosier:

Age:16

Faceclaim: Michael Trevino

Love interest: Sienna Mitchell

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Summary:Andreas Rosier had all his life planed by his mother.He’ll be sorted into Slytherin, become the protector of the Malfoys boy, marry Parkinson’s girl and serve the dark just like his father before him.

The problem was Andreas didn’t want to do any of this and it showed when he was sorted into Hufflepuff and he dated the beautiful hufflepuff perfect, Sienna Mitchell.But Sienna was a muggle-born, so to protect her from his mother’s wrath, Andreas broke up with her. Too bad that his feelings wouldn’t go away so easily…

3.Margaret Dursley:

Age: 11

Nickname:Meg

Faceclaim: Sophie Nelisse

Hogwarts House:Gryffindor

Summary : Lif on Privet Drive Nr. 4 was always fairly normal, just how my mother liked it.But hten the eleventh birthday of my cousin happened and we found out he was a wizard.My family didn't react to well to it, even if they knew this day will come,What none of us expected was for me that letter too.Me, Margaret Dursley, the boring, little sister of Dudley Dursley a witch.

4.Elizabeth Joycelyn Ashwood:

Age:21

Nickname:Liz

Faceclaim: Imogen Poots

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor

Summary: Ever since the mission where she got her scars Liz wasn't the same person anymore.Sure ,she still cared about her mother and little sister.She still laughed with her friend and she still had her embarassing crush on Charlie Weasley since third year.But there was something missing.Maybe helping the little muggleborn Margaret Dursley in their world she'll find out what it is.

5.Agatha Celestine Ashwood

Age:11-16

Faceclaim:Taegan Croft (as played in Titans)

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Summary:Agatha was always there when the others went to Hogwarts.First was Charlie and Liz, then Percy, then Fred and George,then Ron and then it was finally her turn. Everyone expected that she'll be sorted in Gryffindor like her sister or Ravenclaw like her mother but no one expects to be sorted into Hufflepuff.She meets Nate Cole there and thinks that maybe Hufflepuff isn't so bad

6.Nathaniel Edward Cole

Age:11-16

Faceclaim:Thomas Brodie-Sangster

Hogwarts House:Hufflepuff

Summary:Nate wanted to go to Hogwarts ever since his mother told him the stories about the four boys she befriended in her time there.He wanted to have such a strong friendship like them.But maybe even stronger because Nate saw the how sad her eyes were each time she talked about them.He gets to meet Meg and Agatha and Ginny and he swears his friendship with the girls is not going to end up like her mothers.

6.Moira Green:

Age:11-16

Faceclaim: MacKenzie Foy

Hogwarts House: Slytherin

No Summary

Survivor(Percy Jackson):

1.Daphne Briars

Age:16

Faceclaim: Candice Accola

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Summary:Never trust a survivor until you know what they did.Daphne knew this, she was one after all.After the Titans she never expected that Camp Half-Blood would welcome her back with their arms open.Not after she betrayed them.But then Percy disappears and Jason appears in his place and despite being warned many times, he still wants to figure her out.

2.Nayla Briars

Age:15

Faceclaim:Astrid Berges Frisby

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor

Summary: After their mother death Nayla knew that she'll have to be responsabile of her sister.She didn't want that but she also didn't want to be hated by her sister.The answer was quite easy really,just like Zoe said.Become a hunter of Artemis and let Lady Artemis wipe any memory that Nayla Briars existed.Nayla agreed.The problem was that after the Titan war Daphne somehow managed to get her memories back.She doesn't know if she's redy to face the consquences.

3.Brandon Henderson

Age 34

Faceclaim: Nick Blood

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Summary:Brandon always knew that there was something special about his goddaughter.Something that only her mother knew what.After the death of Angela, Brandon had absolutely no problem in taking the girl in as his own.It was only years after when he found out about the Gods existence that Brandon found out what was special about his girl.But it didn't matter.Daphne Briars was always his little girl no matter what happens.

4.Killian Roseheim

Age:17

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw

Faceclaim:Jeremy Allen White

Summary:Killian wasn’t like the rest of his siblings. He knew that. Sure he had a short temper but most of the time he could hold it in. He loved getting in fights and he had no problems working with any kind of weapon. Just like any Ares child. But he also had an eye for beautiful things. He liked painting. Writing music. Playing guitar. Looking at it, it was really no wonder that many people thought he was a child of Apollo but he just liked beautiful things. It was a thing he got it from his mother. So, when he sees Piper in the crowd is no wonder that he likes her. Then he gets to know her and things get complicated

Whatever it takes(MCU):

1.Noemie Valerie 'Nova' Thompson

Age:21

Faceclaim: Lulu Antariksa

Hogwarts House:Gryffindor

Summary:Nova Thompson was not new to loss. She lost her father when she was little. She lost one of her best friends in middle school and now, after the snap she lost everything. Her twin brother, her friend who helped her trough the previous losses and her partner. She won’t lose anyone else.

And if she needs to listen to a few superheroes, who lost her respect long ago, then so be it. She’ll do whatever it takes.

From Now On(MCU):

1.Sophie Stark

Age:24

Faceclaim:Katie McGarth

Hogwarts House:Slytherin

Summary: Sophie swore ever since Obadiah's betrayal that she'll never be a damsel in distress.So, why in the world aftert the Ultron incident was she stuck on a unknown planet dressed similarly to Princess Leia? She doesn't even like Star-Wars! Of course she learns to survive this planet,even as a slave because she can't find another word for what she is right now.But then she meets with Loki and then Thor and he they might just be her ticket out of here!

Dust and Gold (DC Universe):

1.Isadora Grayson

Age: 17

Faceclaim: Jenna-Louise Coleman

Hogwarts House:Gryffindor

Summary: People deal with grief in different ways.Some change were they live,to have a new start.Some change their appearance.Some just get over when they discover a hobby.But not Isadora Grayson.She deals with it by becoming a vigilante.Her name Jaybird after her best friend who died.But then Timothy Drake appears as Jason replacement and things get complicated because he's actually nice and he actually wants to help her cope with Jason's death.And why is it that when not even Dick could bring her to talk about him she has no reservation in front Tim.

2.Callum Montgomery

Age:18

Faceclaim:Andrew Garfield

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Summary: Callum Montgomery knew that he'll never be the CEO of his father company.Never.Sure he has no idea what he wants to do with his life but he'll figure it out.He'll figure it out with his best friends Isadora Grayson and Nadia Evolett.The thing Nadia disappears suddenly and Callum swears he's going to find her.No matter what!

3.Nadia Evolett

Age:18

Faceclaim:Molly Quinn

Hogwarts House:Slytherin

Summary:In another universe Nadia would probably hate the amount of people she killed.In another she'll probably beg for forgivness to god or something.In another universe Nadia would still have her memories.In another universe she wouldn't be just a pawn to Ra's al Ghul and his daughter.In another universe maybe there would someone searching for her.

Tightrope(Shameless)

1.Abigail Abernathy

Age:24

Faceclaim:Riley Voelkel

Hogwarts House:Gryffindor

Summary:Southside is dangerous but is also Abby's home.She couldn't leave her home not like her sister.She has to take care of their paralized mother and of her niece a secret that Rory doesn't know yet and she didn't plan on telling her anytime soon.Not until she got reunited with the brother of her ex-boyfriend,Jimmy.

2.Aurora Abernathy

Age:10-17

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Faceclaim: Anna-Sophie Robb

Summary:Aurora Abernathy was always the top of her class.It should have not been a surprise when the teachers asked her to tutor Carl Gallagher. Carl Gallagher, which the teachers always described as god's mistakes.Carl Gallagher who is freshly out of juvie.Carl Gallagher who used to be her best friend once upon a time.

3.Cornelia Abernathy

Age:30

Faceclaim:Claire Holt

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw

Summary: Cornelia was aware that she couldn't take care of a child,she could barely take care of herself.She couldn't get an abortioneither sice she was too far. So she did the one thing she knew she would regret the most: Give birth to the girl and leave her with her sister.It was better lie this.Now she's doing better herself, so she wants her little girl back, no matter what her says.She's her mother.

Porcelain, Ivory, Steel(Legacies)

1.Miranda Barr

Age: 16

Fceclaim:Alicya Debnam -Carey

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw

Summary: Miranda Barr was a name that you heard it through the halls of mysic halls high school only in a whisper.They said that she was a murderer that should be avoided.That she should be locked up because she told the one police officer that it wasn’t her who attacked those students.MG wanted to know more about her and he found out there is more to Miranda when he couldn’t compel her to forget her about him.Meaning she was a supernatural being.Meaning he would probably needed to talk to Doctor Saltzman about her.

Up Down(Stranger Things)

1.Claudia Carthmore

Age:16

Faceclaim:Emaraude Toubia

Hogwarts House:Gryffindor

Summary:Claudia Carthmore used to be one of the most popular girl in Hawkins, mostly because she was dating Steve Harrington.That is until Steve dumps her for Nancy Wheeler.She wants him back and she's gonna get him however things get a tad bit complicated when she's somehow dragged in a goverment conspiracy by the neighbours kid, Dustin Henderson.

All or Nothing (My Hero Academia):

1.Akiko Todoroki

Age:15

Hogwarts House: Slytherin

Summary:Akiko Todoroki knew that she wouldn’tbe able to keep this a secret from her father.She just got accepted in U.A despite the fact that he almost ordered her not to do it.She was always prepared for her father’s rage, she wasn’t prepared for her father to make a deal with her.

The moment she fails one test in theoretical or practical exam she’s out, until then she can play hero.

Fine by her, she always wanted to prove him she can to do this.

The Birds Song(Fairy Tail)

1.Suzume Yahto

Age:7-21

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Summary: For someone who doesn't remeber anything about her past Fairy Tail is the perfect place for her.And it's not like Natsu would let her go anywhere.

2.Bran Yahto

Age: 25

Hogwarts House: Slytherin

Summary: Bran had only one goal in his life, protect his sister from the people that overtook their guild,Red Vixen.And if she has to lose her memories for it then so be it.

3.Elentiya Amare

Age:25

Hogwarts House:Slytherin

Summary:Ellie didn't care much for Suzume Yahto.Not anymore.Her first priority is and always will be Bran.But Bran cares for her and keeping her safe means that he also wouldn't do anything stupid

Dreams never end(One Piece):

1.Kekkai Renge

Age: 17

Hogwarts House:Hufflepuff

2.Kekkai Seoul

Age:21.

Hogwarts House:Ravenclaw

3.Botan Yugyao

Age:17

Hogwarts House: Slytherin

5.Kazumi

Age 16

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw

6.Sonya

Age:21

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor

7.Nanako

Age:22

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor

8.Arashi

Age 14

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw

#OriginalCharacter List

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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 4 years

Text

I Need to Talk About “Problematic Faves” within TWDG [2/?]

Backstories, the introduction of these characters and the importance of first impressions.

"Nice to meet’cha, I’ll be your disappointment for the evening.”

When I first started questioning why I like David as much as I do, I thought back to when we were first introduced to him in ep1.

He didn’t leave the best first impression since the first words out of his mouth are along the lines of “You’re a real piece of shit.” Plus he, y’know, punches the shit out of Javi for not being there when their dad died.

On one hand, fair enough to be distraught that your father just died and your brother was no where in sight... but, on the other hand, do you gotta get violent?

Maybe it’s just because I’m an only child so I don’t understand how the whole sibling thing works, but punching your brother and then tossing him a beer before saying “I love you” seems.... not good?

But, it’s also very telling in what David and Javier’s relationship is right from the start, and sets an idea for what’s to come throughout the rest of the season.

Say what you will about ANF: it’s a mess, it’s the worst season, whatever. But, when I tell you that it has one of the best openings to a game, I mean it.

Everything about it is damn near perfect. Not only does it start right at the beginning of the apocalypse, but it tells us so much about our main protagonist and his backstory, it establishes the strained relationship he has with his brother and the rest of his family, and it introduces us to the walkers in a different light.

I can’t watch the opening and NOT get chills every time little baby Mariana holds that cup in her hand and says, “Papi’s awake.”

When they go see that Javi and David’s father is up and about after dying, it’s just chaos from there and I love it.

Fight me all you want, but it’s an excellent start to the season.

Unfortunately, ANF couldn’t keep that momentum going, but that’s a whole other discussion for another day.

Back to David, something about the way he was initially presented stuck with me until we finally reunited with him at the end of ep2.

So I thought back to other character introductions, how their backstories came into place, and how it affected their endgame.

A character’s introduction is crucial when it comes to storytelling, whether its subtle or in your face. You don’t want to give too much away, but you want to give the viewer a taste of who this person is and what their importance is in this story in a more subtle but clever manner.

When introducing a character, you have the think about what their endgame is. How is this character going to change over the course of the story? How are the choices of this character going to affect our protagonist, the world around them, and the overall plot.

Knowing these things can help you to sprinkle in little details within their introduction that tie into their endgame.

When we first met Kenny back in s1, he was just this dude who wanted to get his wife and kid back to Florida, hop on a boat, and live the rest of the apocalypse with his family on the water.

He was nice and showed concern over how Lee was doing with Clementine. He has a character design that gives away parts of his past as a fisherman before he tells us anything about it, and his accent [+overall voice acting and dialogue] tell us a lot about his upbringing prior to the events of s1.

We only got that glimpse of what was to come of his character after the walkers attacked Hershel’s farm.

Shaun is stuck under the tractor with walkers pushing against the fence and Duck is grabbed. We as Lee are faced with the choice of who to help first: Shaun or Duck?

Regardless of our choice, Kenny obviously runs to save his son. He gets Duck out of harms way, but when Shaun begs for help, Kenny runs away, leaving him to be eaten by the walkers.

This portrays the possibility of Kenny being cowardly, selfish, or someone who freezes up in moments of danger and runs. It also sets up the guilt that lingers in his [and Duck’s] mind all the way through to ep3 and onward.

When you think about Kenny, without knowing what happens to him in ep3, and you have to take a guess about what tragedy could take place to further his development, as well as bring that guilt full circle, what would you say?

Easy. He loses his family. Of course he does. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like it, but it makes sense that this would happen based on our first meeting with him at Hershel’s farm in conjunction with the themes of the game.

So what does this have to do with him being a “Problematic Fave?”

Uh, everything?

Ever heard of a “tragic backstory?” You don’t think such thing plays into why we loves characters like this?

Kenny the family man has a lovely wife and son. He does everything in his power to protect them, and it’s not enough. He was not enough to save his son, nor was he enough to save his wife.

He lost them both within seconds of each other, being a witness to Katjaa’s suicide and the agonizingly slow death of his son, and he had to keep going in order to survive, even though he had nothing left.

In the beginning, Kenny was a regular John Doe like the rest of us.

He had a job that kept him at sea a lot, he fell in love with a pretty vet and had a child with her. He thought this all would blow over and he could go back to Florida with his family and live peacefully.

Season 1 is Kenny’s tragic backstory.

We got to live this tragedy with him, so when s2 comes around and we’re given his second first introduction in the series, we already have all this knowledge of what has happened to him, what his relationship was to Lee and Clementine, and the assumption that he was already dead.

Season 2 was what cemented a lot of people’s love and hate for him.

I have a theory that those who hate Kenny tend forget that 1st episode back in s1, choosing to solely focus on the Kenny from the meat locker in ep2 and all the negative repercussions that stemmed for our choice there, while those who love Kenny tend to look further back and take everything into account when analyzing his character.

They sympathize with the man Kenny used to be, and are struck by this tragedy of who he became by the time s2 ended.

Kenny from ep1 of s1 is not the same person as the Kenny from s2 ep5, and his journey is not only compelling from a character development standpoint, but a huge factor in why he is the favorite character of so many. Few characters are built up and developed that way he is.

But can we say a lot of the same things about Kenny’s introduction in s2 that we can say about s1? Does it drop hints about what Kenny’s potential endgame could be?

Yes, but it’s not quite as effective as it could’ve been.

One of the first choices you make after meeting back with Kenny is whether or not you’ll sit with him at dinner.

It’s a non-assuming choice, one that shouldn’t warrant any big repercussions, right?

Except it’s the games way of presenting us with the choice of siding with Kenny under a more innocent pretense. It’s a taste of what’s to come.

Based on our previous knowledge of him, as well as his seemingly good nature [one that reminds us of the beginnings of s1], we watch the way he presents himself to Clementine and decide if we want to sit with this old, nostalgic connection, or the new connections.

Will you sit with Kenny, or will you sit with Luke and the cabin group?

Will you side Kenny, or not?

This is what led everyone to believe that the final showdown would be between Kenny and Luke, and they really dropped the ball on what they built up here when they decided to replace Luke with Jane.

Kenny’s part still holds fairly strong, but everything about it isn’t as well done as S1.

And because I know I’ll be asked: as for his introduction in S3..... I don’t consider Kenny or Jane characters as much as I’d say they’re obstacles the writers had to throw in to give the illusion that our choices actually affected Clementine significantly when they really didn’t.

He immediately dies in a car accident after being paralyzed and left to the walkers while Clementine runs away with a crying AJ. This does very little for the story of ANF other than to add fuel to Clementine’s own “tragic backstory.”

So I don’t count it here.

I want to talk about another great character introduction: Minerva.

Minerva is a special case compared to Kenny and other character introductions. We’re not plopped down in front of her like “Hi, I’m Clementine, nice to meet you, Minnie.”

We actually spend two whole episodes only hearing about her, building her character up slow and steady, until we finally meet face to face in ep3.

This complicates our first impressions of her, but only a bit.

The game pretty much tells us Minerva’s backstory:

From what we’re told, Minerva was a sweet, musical girl who didn’t even like killing walkers. She loved her brother and twin sister. She and Violet were in a romantic relationship, and Violet gives us plenty to chew on about how lovely her voice was and how she was such a good friend. Her and Sophie’s “deaths” left everyone at the school devastated to the point where they actually started using their graveyard again.

She almost seems too good to be true, don’t you think?

Then we find out she’s not dead.

It turns out, Marlon and Brody lied about the death of the twins to cover up the fact that Marlon traded them away to the delta in order to save themselves and the rest of Ericson. The truth only comes out after Brody confesses everything to Clementine before her death dealt by Marlon’s hand.

So not only are we told that Minerva was this wonderful person, but that she was traded away with her twin sister to a group of people who, based on our first impression of Abel, are a dangerous threat that’s back for more of them.

Your mind swarms with the worst possibilities of what those people could have done to them, and you even question whether or not they’re still alive.

Until we meet Lilly again and find out the truth: they turned them into soldiers, forcing them to fight in their war.

Keep in mind that this is all apart of Minerva’s “tragic backstory” and we haven’t even truly been introduced to her yet. This is everything that the first two episodes have built up.

We finally get our first glimpse of her in the trailer for ep3.

Everyone goes nuts.

Minerva was so hyped up. Everyone was talking about how good she looked and how they couldn’t wait to meet her and learn what happened from her perspective. Everyone theorized about her role in the next two episodes and how maybe we can enlist her help in getting our friends back and reuniting her with Tenn and-

Then we get actually meet her.

Turns out, she is none of the things the game told us she was.

Not anymore, at least.

She is not our friend or our ally and she is not going to help us get our friends back. She is fully brainwashed into the delta, and that’s the tragedy of Minerva’s first real introduction.

She is a betrayal of everything we’ve been told due to the crime Marlon made of trading her away. We will never get to meet this Minnie we heard so much about.

Instead, we get the husk that remains.

This husk is one of our antagonists for the rest of the game.

Knowing all of this, why do people still love her? Why are there fix-it fics and AUs where Minerva is “saved?”

Because we all wanted to meet the Minnie we heard so much about, but instead, we got Minerva, the brainwashed soldier from the Delta who, under Lilly’s fucked up rule, killed her own twin sister in order to prove her loyalty to the group.

We wanted Minerva to be on our side, to betray the delta for the school she once called home. But she didn’t.

Instead, she became our final antagonist of the whole series.

Minerva, like Kenny, is a tragedy and we like that.

I don’t mean that we like it as in “I’m so glad those horrible, traumatizing things happened to you!” but we like it in a way that it colors these characters gray.

Suddenly, their behaviors are not portrayed the way they are just because they’re the “antagonist,” but because they’re a complex, three dimensional character. The game didn’t hand them to us and say “They’re evil, that’s all you need to know.”

They took the time to flesh these two out in a clever way that got to us, either in a positive or negative light.

We are drawn to gray characters with interesting, albeit tragic, backstories that we can sympathize with.

But, when you consider that this IS the apocalypse, doesn’t everyone have one of these “tragic backstories” in this series? Just like how everyone is actually a “Problematic Fave?” Does this really play into why we like them when it’s not even something unique to their character?

That’s a good point, so in order for us to like a character like this, do they have to have an even more intense, tear-jerking past than the rest in order to stand out?

Well... no.

Nate’s the easy example for this one.

I honestly don’t know what this dude’s about, and I don’t know if I even care, but somehow Nate tends to end up on everyone’s “Favorite Characters from 400 Days” list.

Granted, he is a bit of a refreshing character to run into in this environment, what with him being so laid back, sarcastic, gross, and even sadistic in a way that’s mean to be comedic.

But what do we even know about him or where he came from?

Well, we know that he’s apart of the group that fan-favorite Eddie accidentally shot at, leading Nate to chase after him and Wyatt as a form of revenge. After that, he picked up Russell and headed back to a gas station where that old couple shot at them.

The old man reveals that Nate’s been there before and attacked, stating that he’s here to finish them off. Nate denies this, but asks if Russell and him should finish them off and take all their stuff.

From there, who the hell knows where this dude went.

But that’s all we got.

No “tragic backstory” from Nate, no implications of one, unless we missed the nonexistent detail that his previous group was his family or something. Even then, he doesn’t seem so concerned about the state of the world. He doesn’t have an issue picking up a random kid who could be dangerous. He was bored, after all.

Nate is a character whose backstory has nothing to do with why people love him. He’s an oddball out, in this case.

It’s a different story when talking about how he’s introduced, though. This is where he has most in common with Kenny, Minerva, and all the rest of these “Problematic Faves”: He has a great impression.

Well, assuming that you played Russell’s story before Wyatt’s, I suppose.

Nate’s likable, albeit insane, character isn’t dependent on who he was before or how he suffered. He’s a character who represents those in the world who thrive in times of disaster, choosing to take it as it comes, do whatever it takes to survive, and even get a sick thrill out of doing these problematic things. Odds are, life was boring before and now he truly gets to live. That’s all made clear in how he presents himself to Russell and the player.

And.... I guess it worked? He is the “Problematic Fave” of a handful of people int he community, after all.

Now that we’ve discussed three separate characters and their backstories, how they’re introduced, and how these two things affect their role within the story as well as our feelings towards them, I want to touch on one more thing before I go back to David.

What does all of this say about the people who throw this annoying phrase of “Your fave is problematic” at those of us who find these characters with great backstories compelling?

Do they not care or understand these backstories or what the introductions meant? Do they ignore them so that their perspective seems to be the correct answer? Are they so quick to judge based on the surface level that they don’t bother thinking twice about anything?

Do they feel that this character has wronged them, therefore they find they can’t bring themselves to tolerate them anymore?

Or are they just being a bag of dicks who don’t care about anything other than berating anyone who dares oppose them and their opinions?

Well, yes and no to all of these possibilities.

I’m sure there are people out there who don’t have a full grasp of what made Kenny the way he is in s2 because, well.... they’ve never lost a loved one. It’s easy to say “Get over it” to just about any troubling situation we’ve never found ourselves in. Even if we do feel for this character, sometimes it’s really only surface level because we don’t have a full comprehension of what they went through.

When I took acting back in high school, I had a teacher who could cry on the spot. We all assumed that he was just a good actor who could turn the tears on and off at any given moment, but then he explained how he did it.

He lost his father in a drunk driving accident the same day he gave his last performance on stage as a high school senior. Whenever he needed to cry for a scene, this 58-year-old man would think back to the last conversation he had with his father that morning, and then about the moment he learned his father had died.

Even in moments that didn’t require him to cry, but to develop a character and portray that convincingly, he pulled from that life experience. He also could sympathize with certain characters that we’d consider problematic while the rest of us were barely scratching the surface.

He told us we need to come to terms with any tragedy in our lives and use it not only to create characters of our own, but to understand the ones most wouldn’t give a second glance to, and help relate ourselves to the real people around us.

Since my high school days, I’ve experienced the loss of a longtime dog companion, and the alarming health decrease of two close family members. While I’ve never lost a child, a spouse, a parent, or a sibling, I find that a part of me can’t completely hate Kenny or even Minerva because I get it to an extent.

So it makes me wonder if those who look at these backstories and still brush them off do.

But, there’s another argument to be made here.

Maybe they do understand and that’s why they hate someone like Kenny.

They have lost a loved one before or experienced some sort of trauma. They know about the grief, guilt, and anger that it can lead to. But, they also know it’s not an excuse to be mean, cold, or abusive to loved one.

They know that such trauma can lead to lashing out, but the difference is between someone who knows what they’re doing is wrong, they need help, and they try to get it... and someone who using it to explain away why they’re broken and unfixable.

Some see Kenny as someone who can’t change, or won’t change. That’s how they’ve interpreted him based on their experiences as someone who’s lived through these things, or been around someone who has.

In their eyes, Kenny isn’t redeemable, “tragic backstory” or not.

What about those who felt wronged by a character?

I’ve come to the realization that this why I don’t like Minerva.

She wronged me in the way that I had to watch either Louis or Tenn die because she showed up on the bridge with the illusion that she would take her brother to a better place.

Louis, my favorite character across the entire series, and one that I’ve taken so much comfort in during the more recent darker moments of my life. Tenn, a character that I wanted to watch grow and become what characters like Ben or Sarah weren’t allowed to be come.

Because of Minerva, the only way for both Louis and Tenn to survive is if I let Louis get kidnapped, resulting in him becoming mute due to the delta cutting out his tongue, I have to break AJ’s heart by telling him that I don’t trust him, and I have to watch Violet be devoured alive by a horde of walkers.

I’m not willing to let Louis die, but I also don’t want him to lose his tongue, so in my route, I trust AJ to shoot Tenn and give Minerva what she wants.

And no matter what? Clementine gets bit because Minerva sliced her leg apart, leaving her slow and weaker when trying to get away. I firmly believe that if Minerva hadn’t done that, Clementine wouldn’t have been bitten for the sake of “parallel.”

It’s a situation that could’ve been avoided if Minerva hadn’t showed up, but her will to see and kill Tenn was strong enough for her

People who love Minerva might not see it that way, or if they do, they’re a lot more forgiving than I am.

Believe me when I tell you that I can see this being a reason for the hate towards any character like this.

Like Kenny. Lot’s of Kenny talk.

I know there are those out there who loved Kenny in s1, but by the time s2 ended, they couldn’t stand him because s2 wronged them in their portrayal of Kenny and what he had become. This wasn’t their Kenny.

To finish this segment off, allow me to answer that last question I posed: Are they just being a bag of dicks who don’t care about anything other than berating anyone who dares oppose them and their opinions?

Of course, then there are the children who like to fight. The answer for why these people hate such characters is because they think of themselves as... let’s say, Batman.

This community needs a hero to vanquish anyone who likes or enjoys these problematic characters and it’s a job only they can do! They’re the hero for sending that anon hate to your inbox!

This is an excuse to be a dick and we all know it.

So, what does all of this Kenny, Minerva, and Nate talk amount to?

It helped me in understanding a reason in why I like David so much.

I already knew that I enjoyed learning more about who he was prior to the outbreak, as well as having light shed on his and Javi’s relationship, but not in the way I initially thought.

You see, ANF is different in the way that it feeds backstory to the player- through flashbacks. At the beginning of each episode, we play as Javi in the past before the apocalypse happened.

From there, we get to see what David was like compared to what he is now, but they tell it to us through Javi’s point of view and we have to pick apart his character through that forced perspective.

From the flashbacks alone, as well as ep1′s beginning, I put together that:

David was a single father trying to raise two incredibly young children. We’re never told what happened to his first wife. I used to assume that they ended up divorced, but now I’m more on board with the idea that she’s actually dead and that’s why David has full custody of Gabe and Mariana.

Putting the pieces together now, it makes sense of why he married Kate when they’re clearly not compatible, and why he has these high expectations of her. David’s mother and father are still together, and with family being a big theme in ANF, it leads me to believe that David felt his children needed a mother figure in their lives in order for the family to be complete. He needed a wife.

While I think he did love Kate, and she obviously loved him enough to marry him in the first place, David didn’t love her the way he should have.

Kate tells us that their marriage was fucked up. We clearly see that given how she reacts when she sees David again, as well as when David himself confesses that things aren’t working out between them and that’s why he wants to go away.

They’re always arguing, he has those expectations of her as his wife and she’s fed up with it, and things are just.... not working. Of course they’re not.

He wanted a wife to make him feel more complete, as well as give his children that mother figure. He wasn’t out there trying to find the love of his life. For all we know, he already had that with his possibly dead first wife [note: shoot, add “possible dead wife” to the list of shit David’s got going in his backstory for future reference]. He thought that he could try and change Kate from who she is because he was desperate for this to work.

David and Kate should NOT have gotten married, but I can understand the stress David was under with having to raise two children as a single father while dealing with untreated trauma from being a soldier, his confidence in himself as a normal human-being deteriorating due to his “I’m a soldier and I can’t function here” mentality, working a shitty job while going back and forth on whether or not he should go sign up again, having a strained relationship with an irresponsible brother who lost his baseball career due to a gambling addiction yet still never being around when David needed him.

David marries Kate and things don’t fix themselves.

And then Javi does come around, and David doesn’t know how to act or what to say.

Then his father keeps from them that he has cancer and he’s not planning on getting treatments for it.

When his father loses his battle with cancer, everyone is there except Javier. David’s there holding his hand while his dying father asks for Javi.

I get why David’s upset that his father isn’t seeing him because he’s looking for Javi. Is it selfish to feel jealous or heartbroken when it’s your father that’s dying? Yeah, but it’s a realistic feeling. Most of us have felt some level of this but don’t want to admit it because we don’t want to see ourselves in a negative light. It’s easy to look at David and be like “What a selfish prick.”

But... why wasn’t Javi there? Everyone makes it clear that he should have been there, no excuse. Everyone was there for hours, for days but Javi was no where to be found. This plays beautifully into Javier’s character growth throughout the season, but what about David?

Compared to the “tragic backstories” of Kenny and Minerva, David’s seems... a little mundane, huh?

He has problems focused more in the real world rather than the apocalypse world.

Every bad thing we’ve ever learned about Kenny and Minerva happened after the walkers.

Plenty of people have served in the military and dealt with trauma rooted in their service.

Plenty have either been divorced or lost their spouse, were left as a single parent to raise the kids they love but are afraid they’ll fuck up if they do it alone. How about those who are apart of an unhappy marriage?

Nearly everyone has worked a job they hate and know the toll it can take on your mental health.

Left in the shadow of a more successful sibling, no matter how hard they try to be on that same level and earn that love, too.

A parent with cancer, or another life-threatening illness.

Feeling as though they can’t function because they’re not built to live in such a humanly “normal” world, eager to find where they belong and have a fulfilling purpose.

Everything David has going on prior to the apocalypse is real and relatable, and I like that this is the route they took with him. Rather than having him be like Kenny, who seemed to live happily with very little issue and only began to suffer when the apocalypse came, they took a route similar to Lee and Javier.

“Things weren’t great before.”

That being said, do any of these things justify David’s bad behavior towards Javi, Kate, Clementine, and everyone else? Does it justify the bad things he ends up doing during the events of ANF.

Hell no!

David can be a real prick and amazing backstory/introduction or not, I am not okay with that!

But look.

Listen.

ANF is such a mess. It’s a disaster.

It’s ‘s2 mess,’ but on crack.

I firmly believe that David is one of the better things to come out of it, except he got severely fucked over by just how terrible ANF’s writing could be.

They started off so good. David is established and he has some of the better character moments in the entire game, but it’s all buried underneath the bullshit.

They actually gave us David, who dealt with a lot of “normal” shit to try and find his place and be happy, made him have problems that we can see ourselves having and relate to, making us question ourselves, and then they gave him what he wanted.

David met up with Ava, he found Clint and Joan, and they created a community together where David got to be this leader with a purpose. He got what he wanted at the sacrifice of his children, wife, brother, and parents, something he didn’t even have a choice in.

They had all the right ideas...

I love the different take to David’s backstory. I love the way he was introduced in ANF. I love the way these things managed to weave themselves throughout ANF despite it being...... ugh.

People who hate David, like the one who listed all of those lovely attributes of his in the previous part, think he is nothing but a whiny, selfish, asshole because of the way he’s introduced and portrayed in flashbacks and... I disagree to a point.

He is an asshole a lot of the time, especially when you don’t side with him [heh, sound familiar] but that doesn’t mean he’s not a compelling, relatable character to study and infer about. And y’know what? I like that he’s not Mr. Nice Guy. Someone like him wouldn’t be. He is a person who can nice moments, and he has bad moments. It doesn’t excuse the shit he does, but it at least adds a depth to it that I appreciate.

I’m mature enough to recognize these his bad behaviors, acknowledge them, and infer more about his character without makes excuses and pretending that him having a tough time means it’s okay for him be that way.

I can see what they were going for as far as his endgame, but I’ll talk more about that later.

As for the conclusion of this long winded segment:

A character’s backstory, first impression, execution of developing these small seedling details into an overarching story plays an important role in the growing love of a character, problematic or not. Both love and hate can be stemmed from the maturity and knowledge of the viewer based on how relatable and sympathetic they find these ideas.

[Continued in 3/?]

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