#and then there’s the backstory of where scar IS a watcher. like not a person turned watcher he was BORN (if you could say that) a watcher | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fountainpenguin · 8 months

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2 for the ask thing!

When you’re writing a new story, what is the one thing you need to know before you can start?

[Current Ask game]

#ridspoilers / #Dog's Life spoilers

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I'd say character (both in terms of character motivations and in how the character interacts with the world, along with a decent amount of backstory). I can change my plot direction any time, but if you have a solid character, you can go anywhere. You get the character down first and you build the world around that character and the story you're telling.

I've talked about my scrap docs before and how I have tens of thousands of words of scenes I didn't keep in the final drafts. One of the very first things I wrote for my Fairly OddParents stuff was a scene of H.P. having dinner with Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda with dozens of little pixies in tow.

I never posted it because it's incompatible with my finished canon, but it shaped the worldbuilding and character interactions for me (namely H.P. being burned out on childcare, Anti-Wanda being super friendly with H.P., and Anti-Cosmo holding pixies by the napes of their necks... all still accurate today).

I'm actually hoping to post it in October (I think it'll fit in the "King Me" universe which is a special Friday the 13th story I want to do... we'll see).

Dog's Life is a better, more specific example of the character fleshing process I can show; I think I talked about this in a recent Ask too, but I like to give myself a space to do all the "tell" part of "Show don't tell." I'll try to explain this in good words out of context, let's see.

In Dog's Life, there are intermission chapters called "Watcher chapters" which revolve around the theme of "Grian as viewed from the eyes of his friends" and each one is about Grian singling out someone to pester with his questions. "Watcher 2" is when he comes for Scar and I really started delving into Scar's backstory in this draft.

[Cnt'd under the cut, showing a scene that will end up getting rehashed because it's all "tell instead of show"; talking about how it influenced the final portrayal of Scar in Dog's Life]

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Behind the Scenes

My writing style is very "magical realism" and when it came to Scar, I either wanted "disability with a magical aid" or "disability that is in itself magical in some way" (like a curse). I thought about it a lot and even played with a concept where Scar uses elytra 24/7 (and struggles with no-fly spaces that aren't accessible to him) but it wasn't what I was looking for.

In the end, I researched canes and that seemed right, and it's working well. I particularly liked the scene where he was waving his cane around the entirety of Chapter 4's opening until he finally tripped and fell on Scott and was like "I should probably use this as a walking aid instead of a theater prop" lskdjf... I felt like that was an extremely Scar moment- it shows his personality very well, because he's super positive and he likes to be extravagant and fancy, and he's not ashamed to remind us that the cane isn't just a decorative prop.

While planning, I also kept thinking of that moment in a Hermitcraft stream where Ren wanted to play TCG with Scar and he casually mentioned giving Scar a handicap in the game and Scar just covered his face and giggled and spent the next few minutes casually dropping things like "I think that's a good thing to do in a game with me" until Ren noticed and got flustered... That to me is the quintessential Scar experience: he notices and he'll tease and have a good attitude and it's funny to him.

That's what I was going for when I drafted this scene for "Watcher 2" of Grian approaching Scar. I'll talk more about it below:

"Watcher 2" - First Draft

Grian bristles, ruffling imaginary feathers along the back of his neck. “Don’t worry about it; I’m not here to hunt you. And if you die to a creeper or whatever, I’ll fix it before we start next week. I can do that. He’ll let me.” Then, with venom, “I mean, it’s my series.”

Scar frowns just a sliver. “I’ll fix it.” Grian doesn’t mean anything by it, but… it prickles his skin to get that teensy little reminder that Grian thinks of him as extra attention; extra work.

If Scar does die after hours, it wouldn’t even be the first time. Grian had to mess with his Life code once to fish him back after an accidental death years ago. They weren’t even playing; just taking turns throwing signals at the new server host they’d just moved to, checking to confirm everyone felt steady with it and it wouldn’t cause anyone to glitch.

Scar had glitched. Badly. Doubled over, hacking, with Grian monitoring his connection as he tried to fight his way through the pain (He’s always in pain; this was sharper; some server signals just don’t play nice with his code). It’s been this way for most his life. His immune system just… just never recovered after a bad storm fried his AFK server. He’d been exploring the ocean. Glanced up at the sky; slammed down a bed. Glitched completely out. Drowned. Respawned underwater a few times. Death loop. Whole server crash. The works. That was years ago… and that’s why we use surge protectors, kids.

Part of him never recovered. Part of him is still trapped there, dying and respawning to this day. The Scar he is today is just a backup. An autosave. He doesn’t even have memories of what happened, personally, but he’s heard the whispers in the corridors. He’s the glitch they almost didn’t save.

Would HALO have bothered recovering that autosave file if they’d known how much work keeping him alive would be? Because he breaks things, sometimes. Not intentionally. There are just certain parts of the portal hub that aren’t accessible to someone of his… disability. He can’t take the travel tubes. And most people give him a wide berth so they won’t be in the radius if he does have an episode.

He’s doing okay. He’s mostly okay. He just has a corrupted file. It’s not the end of the world.

Except for when it is. The 3rd Life server host switch was the most jarring reaction he’d had in years. It burned his skin, knocked him out, flung him at a lump of magma blocks, fried him, then exploded him in a burst of scattered code. Killed him then and there. Grian had to boot another autosave and spend hours piecing him together again. Scar wouldn’t know. Because if you can’t hold a connection to the server, you don’t even get respawned in your AFK world. You can’t determine if time is passing. You just… cease existing. Maybe forever, one day.

(Technically, that Scar’s gone. The timeline’s reset. Here he is again… and the corrupted file remains.)

It’s such bad luck how things work out sometimes. Grian even called him over before they made the move; asked him to take a look at things with him. They went through the back-end together. Had a checklist. Did a little A-B testing. Kept their failsafes locked and loaded. Grian did everything right. It isn’t his fault.

Scar just doesn’t have a body that works like everyone else’s does. He needs extra attention. Extra work. It’s no surprise that Grian can’t stand him.

“Oh,” he says, curling his fingers around the edge of the crafting table. “What kind of talk…? Oh no.”

“It’s nothing bad,” Grian hurries to clarify, then stops. He blinks. “Scar, are you all right?”

He aches in a lot of places. There’s not a single spot on his body that doesn’t glitch at least once throughout the day and once again overnight. The glitches roll through him, but you learn to stomach it when you have no other choice. Scar stares back at Grian, trying to process the question. Do I look like I’m not all right? What made him think that?

Grian narrows it down a little more: “You look sad. I can- I can have this chat with you another day, if you like, Scar. I just wanted to pick your brain a little, but if now’s not a good time, you can just talk to me instead. If you like. I’m here for you, you know.”

“I know,” Scar lies. He needs extra attention. He’s extra work.

What this scene does and why it's getting changed

So that's the draft scene... I like it, it's fun, but the final version won't look like this. This is the "tell" and I need to convert it into "show." What I'll probably do is cut 80 to 90%% of this because I'm using the earlier chapters to set up Scar's defensive attitude and we don't need Scar to do it here; it'll be more like the end result of 15 to 20ish chapters worth of build-up, which means I don't want it to sound like the info is being introduced for the first time. As the author, I need this info to "sketch" Scar, but the reader doesn't.

While writing this, this was me saying "I need to get inside Scar's head and let him tell me what his backstory is" (though the details of that backstory will probably change). Scar gets to tell me things, then I take it and show the reader in different ways. Quick topic switch and then we change back to Scar:

I got into 3rd Life and Last Life very shortly after Last Life ended and before plans for Double Life had begun. I craved more content because I loved the series and that led me to Impulse's behind the scenes streams where he talked about his experiences in the series and mentioned a couple of weird things that happened as well.

One of them was that they switched server hosts partway through the series and were testing things out before they played, and Scar died on a magma block. It wasn't considered a canon death since it was off-camera testing time (and I guess that death message was visible in some players' chats during the actual recording time later and it caused a small fuss in the community).

I knew that tidbit of info and I thought it would be interesting if I delved into that: "a glitch happened that made Scar suffer." It quickly turned into "What if Scar has chronic glitches and pain and that's why he uses a walking aid?"

I really liked that idea because it melds nicely with my world. Character influences worldbuilding which influences story.

Fun Fact

The HALO team is a group of players who hold authority in this digital universe. They rescue people, like Scar, who get stuck in death loops or hurt themselves in some way. I loved the name HALO because it gives that rescue vibe, and it was a double meaning because I thought Halo was the game Scar used to make videos for before Minecraft. Turns out that was Call of Duty but I still like the name; I think it's perfect.

Why do I consider this something I needed?

For the purpose of this Ask, this is the part I want to emphasize: Until I wrote this scene, which will take place in Chapter 15 to 20ish, I hadn't even considered giving Scar a chronic glitch. I was going to give him a cane and some pain and leave it at that. Which is fine, and I think going the route of wings as a mobility aid also would have been fine as long as I gave it careful thought, but I really enjoyed giving Scar a disability that fits perfectly with the digital world. I think it brings the world to life.

If you've read Dog's Life, you know that in Chapter 3, Scar glitched out the server, which kicked out all the players except Scar (who got deleted) and they had to reload the world from an autosave, which meant losing some of their progress (and some of Scar's memories). It's implied that this isn't unusual when you play with Scar, which can be very upsetting for him sometimes because it's scary and difficult for him and he also feels like he's a burden who ruins his friends' play time.

After it was discovered that "anything other than a zombie will cause Scar to glitch," it was very important to me that I had Grian insist he would take as much time as needed to fix the code so that "Scar could play with the full mod" (as opposed to getting restricted to "only zombies").

Grian cares about Scar and it's important to him that Scar gets the accessibility tweaks required to let him play with them. Which Scar didn't see. Scar's worst nightmare would be getting written off as "too difficult or dangerous to play with" which, as we saw in Chapter 4, breaks Scott's heart. Scott knows that if he comes out as an allay hybrid, Scar will instantly put up walls and avoid playing with him so he (vex Scar) doesn't corrupt Scott's player file and turn him into a vex too. Scar genuinely has a positive personality, but it doesn't change the fact that his disability is real... and it does affect him. He has VERY messy feelings... especially about politics.

We'll see some of that next chapter ("Charred") when he mutters to Lizzie that he hopes his "character arc in this series" doesn't get boiled down to "Scar glitched things" because he doesn't want to be defined by that. It's important to Scar (and to me) that he gets plenty of characterization and story content that's unrelated to his disability (He has a whole arc with Mumbo that's fun)... but yeah, he does have a little heartache and it does impact the way he interacts with the world and his friends.

From a writing perspective, I very much enjoy upping the threat level. 3rd Life is a series where deaths are important because lives are limited and it doesn't take long to get cut from the server for good.

I really like how Dog's Life balances the in-game threat of "not getting to play anymore" against the out-of-game parallels of fantasy politics and character drama. I feel like this story weaves really well between "ha ha funny play time," "aww cute moments because everyone is friends outside the game," and "uh-oh political drama" and "oh this is a legitimate threat." I'm really enjoying it <3

Conclusion

Technically the question was "what do you need to know before you start" and I'd already written the first two chapters of this story, but... I think nailing down characterization is so important. Everything I did for Chapter 3 of Dog's Life (i.e. Scar glitching the server) was made up as it unfolded (rather than outlined in advance) and I went with it because it felt right. But I couldn't have done any of that if I hadn't taken the time to do my little character study on Scar.

The same thing happened with Joel damaging his vessel body at the end of Chapter 5- it wasn't in my outline (my OG draft just ended with him trotting back to spawn to taunt Lizzie for dying) but this... felt right. The characters shape the worldbuilding, which in turn is the thing that shapes the plot, which in turn creates the story.

Character is king :) And sometimes you throw away your original plans and follow the new trail. If you really know your character, they'll show you what makes them tick, what they truly want, and what their nightmares are... and then you just guide the story so they experience things you know are hard for them.

Knowing the character is particularly important for a series, I think, because I could pick up any character I've fleshed out and plop them down in any one-shot. They could be a side character in someone else's story and still be nicely polished and well-rounded, or so I hope.

I'm deliberately writing Dog's Life with the goal of giving every character layers of backstory. My goal is that every chapter makes it obvious why the POV character is the POV character for that chapter - because something unique is happening with THEIR story - but I also want the other characters to feel so interesting that it makes the reader say "Oh, I'd love to read from their POV" or "I hope we get to see a conversation with that character in it." That's what makes them feel alive... and that's what makes writing with large casts fun, I think :)

I'm enjoying what I did with Scar and hopefully it comes across well. I think I have enough moments of other characters making good, healthy accommodations for Scar (and plenty of scenes where Scar's glitch disability isn't a factor on the plot, his character arc, or the worldbuilding whatsoever) that it balances out Scar's occasional self-deprecating moments... Scar has good friends who love him. Scar loves himself... But on occasion, especially when under stress, he struggles with his self-image and emotions, just like all the other characters do when it's their turn to be POV character.

Thanks for the Ask and I hope this was helpful and interesting even if you're reading it out of context for this fandom and 'fic!

[Current Ask game]

#Ask box games #GoodTimesWithScar #Grian #ridwriting #Dog's Life #Director's cut #Dog's Life spoilers #asks #Anon #FAIRIES!#ridspoilers #trafficblr #traffic life smp #mcyt #/stares into the void because you already know I'm going to say it...... when will Keep Reading stop glitching out

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codgod-moved · 2 years

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okay so i’m a lil bit hyperfixated on sdv at the moment and in honour of those portraits i drew and precisely one person mentioning something about it and firing up my neurons here’s how i think the boatem members would work as stardew valley npc’s but it got kinda long so it’s under the cut

i feel like scar would be like the travelling cart lady, but rather than being in the same spot every week for two days a week he has 3 or 4 set spots around the map that he turns up at at various times so you can almost always find him it’s just a matter of where. though unlike the travelling cart lady, if you can’t find his shop you can still find him wandering around town so you can befriend him. his heart events almost always end up with you getting some rare unique item. romanceable, gives you copper ingots sometimes after marrying him. he does still do his rounds in the cart though so he’s not actually on the farm often

i think after initially meeting him grian would try and lay out some sort of prank on your farm, and as part of one of his daily routines you see him setting up pranks and games around town and if you watch long enough you see some of the other townspeople interacting with them (this maybe only happens one day a season though). his earlier heart events also involve tricking the townspeople in various ways but then at like his 6 heart event or something you find him looking rlly sad out at a lake and he alludes to his Tragic Backstory. as time goes on you end up learning abt these weird spirits called the watchers. you can marry him but like shane he will lose almost all personality and character development if you do (but he does occasionally give you duck feathers and wool so he’s good to marry for tactical reasons in early game). before marrying him he lives up in the mountains in a cave under where linus lives

mumbo spends most of his time in cindersap forest and initially lives in a van nearby the secret woods, but after one of his heart events that ends with the van being destroyed robin (or ig whoever would be her substitute here if i’m replacing ppl?) fixes up the hat mouses house for him and he lives there (the hat mouse is replaced by jellie in this scenario so she goes off to live with scar). he has a shop in town where he mainly just sells junk alongside bombs and building supplies, but after completing the community centre he also sells stuff like crystalariums and seed makers and other useful machines. also able to be married and you get a discount at his shop if you do, as well as him occasionally giving you rubies, bombs and farmer’s lunches

impulses factory is in a whole new area that can be accessed via a path near the joja mart, and it’s Massive. it’s both a shop and his house and you can explore the whole thing. its pretty much as you’d expect, he sells chocolates and lollies and things out of it. one of his heart events involves the whole fizzy lifting drink thing. non-romanceable, he’s got a factory to run lol

disclaimer once again that i don’t watch pearl so this one is maybe a little off jhsvjd. i think she could also live up in the mountains, maybe in a new area above the adventurers guild that’s only accessible to you using the minecart system so you don’t get to actually meet her until a little later in the game, though the other characters mention her sometimes. once you do gain access to her house she lives on a farm herself and sells llamas. the llamas make llama wool which makes a different type of cloth that you can make special clothes out of that give you various stat boosts, usually the same way boots do where they add defense and immunity but some add like +1 luck or speed. non-romanceable

#.txt #hermitcraft #comments and critiques welcome #i’m supposed to be doing a skin commission but instead i did this #so i’m gonna go do that now

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detroitbecomeyhs · 3 years

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Since I'm terrified of interacting other blogs I follow, I'm just gonna write it here where I most feel comfortable interacting even if it is anonymously. I have this made up backstory for Grian that has been living rent free in my mind and just thought to share with

Grian is actually a princess of Aether with a different name who is decent at redstone and amazing at pvp passing technoblade and dream by miles (please, I like a badass princess). Aether is a kingdom lived mostly by watchers and the admins somehow managed to gain control(I really want the watchers to be good in here). So Grian ran away during the war and developed a persona and crossdress as a male that is the gremlim we know and love. I imagine her personality would be more cold and harsh but still kind and just to the people of her kindom. (For additional angst if you want, her father was abusive and their parents fought when she was young hence her scar over the eye that she covers with makeup).

Feel free to tell me, I'll be happy to share it more in depth.

please do, I’d love to hear more good Watchers in Grian’s lore (though I do headcanon him as trans or genderfluid)

badass Grian is an absolute favourite of mine and I think I remember Grian having a couple of basic Redstone videos back when he was still new to youtube

#grian #grian lore #tw abuse #good watchers

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mediaevalmusereads · 3 years

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Black Sun. By Rebecca Roanhorse. New York: Saga Press, 2020.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Genre: fantasy

Part of a Series? Yes, Between Earth and Sun #1

Summary: In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world. Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: blood, violence, gore, body horror, drug/alcohol use, self-harm, suicide, mutilation, reference to child sex slavery

Overview: I came across this book while looking for fantasy novels set in non-European-inspired worlds. I got really exited about the premise: a pre-Columbian, indigenous-inspired story? With multiple perspectives? And crows? It sounded great! Unfortunately, I couldn’t give this book more than 3 stars for a number of reasons: I felt like the writing could have been a little bit better and that character motivations could have been more clear; and I ultimately didn’t feel like the story was a true race-against-the-clock until the end. While I’m intrigued enough to pick up book 2 in the series, I do wish this book had done a little more to make me feel connected to the plot and the characters.

Writing: Roanhorse’s writing reminds me of some New Adult prose styles: it feels straight-forward, clear, and well-balanced, but sometimes tends to tell more than show, especially when it comes to emotion. I really liked that I could follow the prose without issue, but I often felt like Roanhorse was dumping some info on me and expecting me to absorb it right away. For example, Xiala (one of the protagonists) tells us that she’s always felt like an outsider and that’s why she has such an immediate connection with Serapio (another protagonist), but I didn’t exactly feel that. There were also some worldbuilding details that seemed to be inserted to flesh out the world - which was great - but ultimately didn’t feel relevant to what was going on in the plot.

This book is also told from multiple perspectives and flashes forward and backward in time. While I personally was able to follow the voices and time skips just fine, some readers might find it a challenge.

Also, without spoiling anything, the end of this book seemed to rush by WAY too fast, and I honestly didn’t feel like most of the book was building to it.

The worldbuilding, however, was wonderful. I really liked the way Roanhorse described the look and feel of everything from the tastes, smells, sights, etc. and I loved how diverse and rich everything felt. While I don’t know enough about various Indigenous groups to comment on whether or not the cultural elements were incorporated well, I did like that various populations didn’t seem to be monoliths and varied in terms of social structure, dress, and custom.

Plot: The plot of this book follows two-ish threads: in one thread, Xiala must get Serapio to the city of Tova in time for “the Convergence,” a time when the celestial bodies are aligned AND there’s a lunar eclipse. In the other, Naranpa must navigate a plot to oust her from the priesthood while also dealing with rising opposition from clan Carrion Crow (and their cultists, with whom Okoa is involved).

Because of the many POV characters and the flashbacks in time, it was difficult to feel any sense of urgency in either plot thread. Xiala and Serapio’s thread was a travel narrative, and most of the conflict stemmed from the fact that the crew just straight up did not trust Xiala. At first, I thought we were getting a narrative where the crew mistrusts Xiala because she’s Teek, but then they appear to be ok with her in what was a pleasant subversion of my expectations. But then something happens and we’re back to what I expected, and it proves inconvenient for getting Serapio to Tova in time. Because I didn’t feel like I had much of a reason to want Xiala and Serapio to succeed (Serapio’s motivations are mysterious and Xiala mostly wants wealth), I felt pretty “meh” about them potentially missing their deadline. I would have much rather seen Xiala (and perhaps the crew?) be challenged and grow from the setbacks she experiences at sea, and for her to become more personally connected to Serapio so the journey shifts from one done to earn untold wealth to one where Xiala wants to help her friend (even if said friend ends up being deceptive).

The Tovan plot is likewise a little “meh” because there wasn’t a huge sense of urgency or suspense. I felt like I didn’t know the clans enough to feel strongly about their politics (aside from understanding that killing people is bad in the abstract), nor did I have a concrete reason for wanting the institution of the priesthood to remain (once I learned more of their history and the fact that most priests - called “Watchers” - would rather be elitist than minister to the people).

Perhaps that’s why I felt a little underwhelmed by the plot as a whole: while things certainly happened, I ultimately didn’t feel like they impacted the characters’ inner lives much, or if they did, that evolution was told to us more than shown. While I understand that Black Sun is the first book in a series, I still would have liked the plot to have more of an impression on the characters.

Characters: I think it’s safe to say that this book follows 4 main protagonists: Xiala (a Teek sea captain who fills the Han Solo archetype), Serapio (the mysterious blind man with crow-themes magic powers), Naranpa (the Sun Priest who struggles against traditionalists to make the priesthood more active in people’s lives), and Okoa (the son of the murdered Carrion Crow clan matriarch). While I liked all of these characters, I do wish they had been a little less dependent on archetypes (lusty sea captain, Chosen One, etc). Maybe things will change as they develop in later novels, but for now, they’re fun and certainly likeable in their own ways, but not mind-blowing.

Xiala is likeable in that she’s a hot mess with a heart of gold. She drinks, swears, and gets into trouble, all in the pursuit of earning enough wealth to make a living. She is also Teek - a member of a (rumored) all-female island clan, whose members have special sea-based magic. I liked Xiala’s connection to the sea and the way she communicates her people’s stories and cultural values. However, I do wish she was challenged a little more to want something more than material reward.

Serapio is an intriguing character in that he fits the archetype of dark, mysterious Chosen One. While I appreciated that he wasn’t a gruff loner (instead, he seemed eager to connect with people while recognizing that his appearance might unsettle them), I also think his backstory is a little too “edgy” for my tastes. His motivations were somewhat shrouded in mystery, which made it hard to know whether or not I wanted to root for him to succeed, but because he’s not a complete jerk, I found him interesting enough.

The connection between Xiala and Serapio could have been a lot stronger than it was. While I liked that they bonded over their “outsider” statuses, I ultimately felt like this was told to us rather than shown. Thus, when they kind of sort of “get together” later in the novel, it doesn’t feel earned. I didn’t understand what Xiala saw in Serapio other than his physical attractiveness and (maybe?) feeling like he didn’t treat her as a foreigner. While fine, I wanted Xiala to be more attracted to Serapio’s personal qualities, not just that he was nice to her. Same thing for Serapio: I didn’t get the sense that he had genuine feelings for Xiala personally, just that she was intriguing because she was Teek.

Naranpa, the Sun Priest, was an interesting figure in that she was caught up in the politics of the priesthood. While I liked watching her navigate the various setbacks and conflicts with traditionalists, I ultimately wish I had been given a more compelling reason to root for Naranpa to succeed. Trying to make the priesthood more hands-on and philanthropic is all well and good, but it felt too abstract. I wanted Naranpa to have more personal stakes - because she comes from the “gutters” of the city, is she more invested? But if so, how does she reconcile that with her decades-long absence from where she grew up? There was a little of that, but ultimately, I didn’t feel like I had a reason to want the priesthood to continue. I didn’t understand why Naranpa was so attached to the priesthood as an institution; why didn’t didn’t she cut her losses and go elsewhere?

Okoa is something of a late addition. His perspective doesn’t appear right away, but I think that worked out fine, considering when it appeared. Okoa is a warrior who finds himself torn between keeping peace between his clan and the Priesthood and joining a rebellious cult who wants to restore the old religion and seek revenge against the Priesthood for past trauma. While I think his perspective was important, I didn’t personally feel invested in this plot or Okoa’s dilemma. Perhaps it’s because I didn’t feel like the rebels were treated as having a real grievance; we’re told about the past and told that it was harmful, but because we don’t get the perspective of someone dedicated to the Cause, I didn’t feel like I could sympathize with it. Okoa himself is resistant, calling the rebels “cultists” and saying that though he understands their grief, he doesn’t want to support violence. Perhaps if Okoa felt threatened by the cultists, or if their cause was a true threat to the stability and well-being of the clan, then I could feel more involved. But as it stands, Okoa was somewhat wishy-washy, and I couldn’t quite understand the stakes to make his indecision feel justified.

Side or supporting characters were interesting. I really liked that Roanhorse included plenty of queer characters, including trans and non-binary/third gender characters who use pronouns like xe/xir. My favorite was probably Iktan, the head of what is essentially the assassin’s branch of the priesthood.

TL;DR: Black Sun is an intriguing fantasy with intricate worldbuilding and premise. While I personally felt like the inner lives of the characters could have been more developed and the plot more compelling, I think this book (and author) will satisfy many fantasy lovers, and I look forward to picking up the next novel in the series.

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queen-scribbles · 4 years

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⛔⏳🔗 for your Watchers please!

⛔️ - How does your muse react to others breaking the law? If they would do it themselves, what is their reasoning?

Adi answered here

Tavi’s not particularly bothered by it unless you’re harassing or harming/trying to kill someone innocent, especially if they can’t defend themself from you(in which case she’ll happily step in on their behalf). She’s chaotic good for a reason. :P She’s barely fazed by the times she’s broken the law(which is actually not as high a number as one might think for her).

Emiri feels bad for people who break the law out of desperation and is angered by those who break it out of arrogance and/or selfishness, so her reaction is going to differ greatly depending on which of hose groups you fall in. She’ll only break the law herself if she’s tried everything else inside it and nothing’s worked. And even then, she’s careful to do as little harm as possible.

Kei.... Kei frowns upon lawbreaking, but she’s also a kind person at her core. So she’ll intervene if she catches someone breaking the law, but--like Adi--if it’s someone stealing food bc they’re starving and broke she’ll offer to pay for it (and probably offer to find you a job while she’s at it). And like Emiri, she’d only break the law if she’s trying to help someone and has exhausted all legal recourse, but she would also have to feel it was an unjust law to begin with. If the law in question has a clear moral and necessary purpose she’s not going to break it

⌛️ - How often does your muse think about death? Do they think about it at all?

None of them really think about it much outside of circumstances where they’re directly confronted with it(so, when Tavi’s family or Kei’s husband died) or there’s a particularly close call(Emiri escaping the sinking pirate ship or the fight where Tavi got the scar on her chest >.>)

🔗 - What are your muse’s standards for meaningful relationships? How quickly do they form relationships like these?

Compatible morals and interests are big ones for all of them; Tavi has to really feel like she can trust you to watch her back, Adi and Emiri kindness is a big point, for Kei it’s valuing and respecting the worth of others.

Adi can form relationships pretty quickly; she’s so open and friendly it doesn’t take long to get a good sense for people.

Emiri is a little longer, because she’s quiet, but she is a cipher, so even if she’s not actively trying to read people she still gets an idea of what they’re like, and she’s very big or thinking the best of people, so it doesn’t take her terribly long to start forming meaningful relationships.

Kei it’s not terribly fast, but not super drawn out either. She’s a little trickier to get close to bc she’s more focused and no-nonsense when “on the job”--whether that’s smithing or accomplishing some task adventuring--but she’s very warm and friendly(and flirty, if there’s romantic interest involved) once she’s moved into relaxing or just hanging out with friends. So she’ll get there, and she’s not a complete hardass about her standards, but it takes a while.

Tavi’s been made pretty paranoid about the “watching her back” aspect of her standards, and it’s a pretty high bar she expects people to reach before she’d call the relationship meaningful. So not quickly at all. It took months before she fully let her guard down with Silversteel, and almost as long with the Dyrwood companions(except Edér and Aloth. It honestly kinda threw her how fast she trusted to two of them). Deadfire’s a little easier bc she’s had a good five years of minimal attempts on her life from Those People from her backstory, and has several people she trusts on Caed Nua’s staff and has relaxed the wariness to a healthier degree.

Thought Provoking Headcanons

#headcanon meme #tavi illani #emiri #adela tecalie #kei ghan #orime-stories

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ampleappleamble · 4 years

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🖊 + vaargys, tell us more about this tall-haired bastard (i say with fondness)

Yesssssss Vaargys the Tall-Haired Bastard Man~

Vaargys came out of a desire to explore Glamfellen, the White That Wends, Wael, Rymrgand, and playing a character that was less similar to myself than Axa. (Axa Does Not Lie, and I myself am an absolutely terrible liar <:3) Beast of Winter had just been released when I came up with him, so of course he's heavily influenced by Vatnir and Rymrgand, as well as all the other adorable little dudes at Harbinger's Watch. I don't remember when I decided to make him Axa's ex-fiancé, but once made, the decision seemed so Right I couldn't imagine a time when he hadn't been part of her backstory. For the record, Vaargys is a Priest of Wael with a Mystic background. His eyes are gold due to that one default male elf portrait I use for him, and his hair is tall because I figured "lol priest of Wael so randum" means a huge pouf of blue-white hair with some blond highlights in the front. After playing with him a bit more, I decided that his wild hair was only partially the result of being a devotee of Wael, and it was mostly his decades of wandering the Land alone and in permanent survival mode that resulted in poor hygiene and no haircuts. By the time Axa meets him and properly grooms him for the first time, his hair is already in perma-crazy mountain man mode and there ain't no goin' back ♡

Vaargys was born, raised, and orphaned in a small community of Glamfellen that travelled the northern coasts of the White That Wends. He was a troubled child who suffered strange, prophetic dreams, and he never really fit in amongst his clanmates. He resigned himself to living a solitary life early on, but found that both the crushing loneliness of pariah life and the bleak rhetoric of his clan's patron god, Rymrgand, was too much to bear without any kind of support at all. So, shortly after hitting puberty, he had a revelation (or maybe a nervous breakdown/ panic attack? he couldn't really tell you) that revealed to him his life's purpose. He announced to his clan elders that he was to be a priest of Wael, and his mission was to spend his life urging others to embrace chaos and uncertainty, and thus balance nihilism with absurdism!

So after his clan exiled his crazy ass for his unorthodox views (and just because he was weird and difficult to live with anyway), Vaargys spent a few decades wandering, surviving, getting scars, learning how to serve Wael, and growing entirely too much hair. One day, after getting driven off from yet another Glamfellen trading post, he met an orlan woman from a faraway land who was studying local communities and dialects. They bonded over their shared outcast status, and what was at first a friendship quickly turned into a romance. After two years, when Axa told him she had to return to Ixamitl and compose her thesis on the Ordhjóma language for submission to her lore college, he begged her to let him accompany her to the land that revered Wael so. He need not have begged; Axa had been planning to ask him to come with and was overjoyed that Vaargys wanted to join her.

But their life together in Ixamitl was wrought with misfortune. Axa didn't have much family, and what little family she had neither liked nor trusted the strange elf she'd brought home from the frozen wastes with her. Her colleagues at the lore college respected her, but told her to keep an eye on him and not to rely on him so much. He didn't know why everyone seemed to hate him so, but he did start to hear stories about things he'd apparently done that he didn't remember doing. Axa would tell him he said things he didn't remember saying. Was Wael working through him? Was he losing his mind? Was Rymrgand taking revenge on Vaargys for turning his back on him all those years ago, showering his patented Beast of Winter brand Bad Luck on the hapless lad? He never found out, because Axa discovered that about 2/3rds of her thesis was based on complete horseshit Vaargys had told her, consciously or otherwise, and she kinda lost her shit.

Now it gets a bit interesting here. Because I have a branching timeline~

In one timeline, Axa cannot salvage her academic career. Her reputation is ruined, all anyone has to say is "I told you so about that elf", and her fiancé has beat a hasty retreat to Wael-knows-where. So given a choice between joining this caravan to the Dyrwood she'd heard about and committing suicide, Axa chose to move to Gilded Vale and become the Watcher of Caed Nua. But in the other timeline...

Vaargys only ever wanted to help Axa. Sometimes she would ask him a question about etymology or how a certain turn of phrase might be used. Sometimes he didn't know the answer. Sometimes he did know the answer, but but he oversimplified it, or extrapolated far too much and made the answer as much fiction as fact. More than anything, he wanted her to want him, to have need of him and keep him near her, to be the family he'd yearned for all his life. In the end, his fibs and fantasies ruined her, and he knew she'd never forgive him. He just wasn't meant to be among kith. So, with neither an argument nor an explanation, he apologized for making such a mess of things, bid farewell to the only person he'd ever loved, and sought yet another new beginning in the Dyrwood.

Phew! It feels super good to write all this down finally. ♡♡�� I'm finding things out about these guys I never really considered before! Big reason why I reblogged this ask meme, actually: to force myself to write about my Watchers so I could practice my rusty old writing skills and maybe figure out their personalities a bit more. Axa and Vaargys are by far my most developed Watchers/OCs, so my answers about other characters I've come up with probably won't be as involved as my answers about these two. However, more specific questions about Axa and/or Vaargys might be fun to try to answer! Regardless, if anyone has any more questions, please feel free to ask! And thank you for your ask! :3 Vaargys is indeed a tall-haired bastard man, but his heart's in the right place ♡

#pillars of eternity #watcher vaargys #his feelings towards rymrgand are... complex #and even more so in poe2 and deadfire #lore #thanks for the ask ♡

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minyocs · 3 years

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Name: Morgana Vistel Fandom: Dungeons & Dragons (Homebrew game)

Age: 22 Occupation: Adventurer Species: Half-elf Gender: Female Family: Thane Vistel (older brother; living), Evey Vistel (younger sister; deceased), Unnamed parents (deceased), Damon Vistel (ancestor; deceased; Watcher) Physical Description: Lithe and fair skinned with shoulder-length, thick, black hair and golden eyes. She has a scar on her chin from a previous skirmish she was in alongside her brother. Pretty features, slightly pointed ears. Hair usually very messy. Personality: (following a 1-2-3 Model). Value - Family. Flaws - Ruthless and Headstrong. Traits - Compassionate, Sincere, and Loyal. Sexuality: Demisexual Backstory: When Morgana was a child, she grew up in a fairly well-off town (Argenhold) that was known for the beautifully ornate jewelry that the artisans produced. This town was located along the mountains of Gentian. Growing up with her older brother (Thane) and baby sister (Evey), she was a happy child who was beginning her studies to become something of a medical professional. She always wanted to help people. When she was fifteen years old, a terrible plague swept through her town, and the powers that be (presumably The Empress) decided the only course of action would be to destroy the town entirely and all of the people in it. Everyone was locked inside the gates, and the entire town was set ablaze, the citizens shot with arrows from the top of the walls if they were caught trying to escape. Morgana and Thane were the only ones who survived the massacre, having hidden themselves under the corpses that were being carted out when all was said and done. Morgana and Thane traveled together after that, having only each other in the world. Both handled the trauma differently, with Thane swearing revenge on the people who murdered their family, and Morgana falling silent for nearly two years as she followed her brother. Her brother became quite the battlemaster, while she turned her talents to the art of being hidden and striking swiftly and silently. The ghosts of their shared past haunted them all along the way. Two months ago, Thane and Morgana were caught in a fight that was over their heads against a band of slavers. This was around the strait between Arvensi and Argoseris. Thane was captured, but caused enough of a commotion for Morgana to be able to escape. He screamed for her to not look back. She ran as far and as fast as she could, vowing to find a way to free him. Ongoing Story: Morgana arrived on Ralek to try and do some work that would get her a diviner to help her find her brother. Along the way, she met Nerida (a Sirenian Divination wizard), Aedan (a human fighter, later revealed to be Jago Lejune, nephew to the Empress), Shepherd (half-orc druid), and Alistair (satyr bard). While traveling with them, they lost Alistair to a monster, and were shortly after joined by Damien, an elven blood hunter. The party is working to find the lost god-city of Dur, but have been waylaid by a lead on finding Thane. She has also recently learned that Thane’s Watcher was the first Emperor of Altaine, and that Damon (her Watcher/ancestor) was his best friend and Commander during the rebellion that founded the empire. Likes: Archery, medicine Dislikes: Slavers, the Empress’ family line (for now). Strengths: Stealth, lock-picking, archery Weaknesses: melee combat Notes: Ever since the destruction of Argenhold, Morgana has been able to see spirits, specifically Watchers (spirits of love meant to watch over a mortal). Her own Watcher is her ancestor, Damon Vistel. Her brother’s Watcher is Corasand (Cora for short), and was the first Emperor of Altaine. She doesn’t know yet, but Damon was in love with Corasand in life.

Misc Questions: • KIND OF CLOTHING?: Usually pretty simple. She has been traveling with Thane for the past seven years, so she’s used to traveling light most of the time. She wears studded leather armor. • WHAT ELEMENT WOULD THEY BE?: More likely fire. • THEME SONG?: “Courage” - P!nk • ALIGNMENT?: Chaotic Neutral • DEADLY SIN THAT BEST REPRESENTS THEM?: Wrath • HOBBIES?: She used to enjoy learning about medicine. • SPECIAL SKILLS / TALENTS?: She’s very skilled with a bow. Also very good at stealth and picking locks after the past seven years on the road with her brother. • PATIENCE LEVEL?: Usually pretty high, but it’s been wavering. • REGRETS?: Leaving Thane behind. • ROLE MODEL?: Damon and Cora • MODE OF TRANSPORTATION?: On foot, lately. • PETS?: The party pet seems to be Argos the dog. • WEAPON: Primarily bow & arrow, but she is proficient with a rapier and daggers. • HOW DO THEY FEEL ABOUT LOVE?: She’s a bit resistant to it, after all she’s been through. • HOME TOWN?: Argenhold. It no longer exists. • WHERE THEY LIVE NOW?: Nowhere, really. She’s been homeless and traveling with Thane since Argenhold was destroyed. • MAKES A LIVING BY?: Adventuring/hunting creatures. • BAD HABITS?: She’s gotten into the habit of speaking to Damon (or other Watchers/spirits) without much regard for who might hear her. • DOES THEIR UNIVERSE HAVE A GOD?: Yes, but she puts no faith in the gods. She feels as though they abandoned her, so she’s turned her back on them. • DO GHOSTS OR SUPERNATURAL ENTITIES EXIST IN THEIR’ WORLD?: Yes. She sees and speaks to ghosts on a regular basis. • OUTLOOK ON LIFE?: Despite everything she’s experienced, she still believes that there has to be good in the world. She is outwardly warm towards people, and has even told Nerida that “Sometimes allowing people to be close to you is painful, but it’s always worth it.” • MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THEIR LIFE: Thane. • WHAT WAS YOUR CHARACTER LIKE AS A CHILD?: Very outgoing and curious. She wanted to learn a lot. • WHAT IS SOMETHING OTHER PEOPLE ASSUME ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER?: She has a haunted look about her, so people are often kinder towards her because they assume she’s seen some shit. They have no idea just how much. • LANGUAGES SPOKEN: Celestial, Common, Elvish, Goblin, Sylvan • ENNEAGRAM TYPE? Reformer • SIBLINGS?: Thane (living), and Evey (deceased) • HAVE THEY EVER WANTED TO COMMIT SUICIDE?: She seriously considered it after what happened in Argenhold. It was Damon talking to her that kept her from going through with it. • CLOSE FRIENDS?: Damon and Cora. But living, she’s starting to grow closer to Nerida. • AS A CHILD, WHAT DID THEY WANT TO BE WHEN THEY GREW UP?: She wanted to be a doctor. She had just begun an apprenticeship when Argenhold was destroyed. • BELIEF IN AN AFTERLIFE?: Yes. • WANTS TO GET MARRIED?: She hasn’t considered it. Subconsciously, she wonders if she’s too broken for anyone to love her. • WANTS TO HAVE KIDS, RAISE A FAMILY?: Again, she hasn’t considered it. • SWORN ENEMY?: Admiral Navarch, for destroying her home. Edwin “Eddie” Bellamy, for taking her brother. • IS THEIR NAME A PUN OF ANYTHING?: I technically tried to derive her name from Morgan le Fey. Also, she sees dead people, so I wanted to play with the sound of “morgue” • MOST TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE?: The burning of Argenhold. • FAVORITE MEMORY?: When she was a little girl, Thane brought her into town to take part in a festival that was being held. She still looks back on that time fondly, thinking of the bright lights and colors floating overhead. • ARE THEY TICKLISH?: Yes. • IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN THEIR LIFE: Thane, Damon, Cora. She’s starting to feel like Nerida, Shepherd and Aedan/Jago are important, but she’s not there yet (especially with Jago. She feels pretty betrayed by finding out he’s actually related to the Empress) • IF THEY COULD HAVE ONE THING IN THE WORLD?: If anyone were to actually sit down and ask her, she would tell them that she just wants family and a home. • WOULD THEY DARE KILL SOMEONE?: With ease, if it meant getting Thane back. She’s not proud of it, but she would also be very willing to torture to get him back. • INVOLVED WITH MAGIC OR WITCHCRAFT?: Not technically. She has some ghostly-related abilities, but they aren’t inherently magical.

#Mogana Vistel #DnD #Single Characters

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onebadwinter · 4 years

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Name: James Buchanan Barnes

Meaning of Name: James: It means "supplanter," one who follows., Buchanan: The place name is thought to derive from the Gaelic elements buth, meaning "house" and chanain, meaning "of the canon.", Barnes: Warrior, Nickname(s): Bucky, Winter Soldier, Captain America, The Man On The Wall, Bucky Barnes, Buck, Sarge, Prisoner #56898,, Солдат, The Asset, The New Fist of HYDRA, Fallen Comrade, The Shooter, Ghost, Manchurian Candidate, Semi-Stable 100-Year-Old Man, Canary, Sidekick, W.S., Jim Barnes,

Age: Unknown, a few years younger than Steve Rogers, originally. But willing to make fit Steve’s age, properly if requested and I’m willing.

Birthday/Place: Unknown, March 10th or 20th, 1910-30s. Shelbyville, Indiana.

Species/Nationality: Human/Super Soldier, American, Ice Elf on his mothers side, American, Badoon, German, The Chosen, Canadian, Scandinavian

Accent: American

Language spoken: English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese,Galician, German, Russian, Ancient Greek, Latin, Thai, Japanese, Old Norse, Aramaic,

Powers/Abilities: Super Human Strength, Enhanced Reaction Time, Sensory Array, Extended Reach, EMP Discharge, Expert Spy, Electrical Discharge, Bionic Arm, Master Martial Artist, Expert Marksmen, Expert Assassin, Skilled Shield Fighter, Acrobatic, Advanced Scouting, Peak Human Condition, Enhanced Durability, Enhanced Reflexes, Enhanced Endurance, Enhanced Stamina, Regenerative Healing, Cybernetic Enhanced Physiology,

Pet: Mole (Orla)

Illness/Allergies: Not prior to, or after, being genetically altered. PTSD, Brain Damage. Apathy.

Occupation: Solder/Assassin/ Experiment

Faceclaim: Sebastian Stan

Description: Looks just like Sebastian Stan in his twenties. Has blue grey eyes, light to dark brown hair, has a metallic robotic arm. Scars litter his body from injuries sustained during the plane explosion that had originally killed him, plus wounds that followed from his time as a Winter Solder, and a wound between his shoulders from his time as Captain America, as well as several others.

Outfit/Accessories/Jewelry: Tactical outfit, casual clothing, half face mask, goggles, Bionic arm, guns.

Height: 5′9″

Weight: 234 (Counting Cybernetic arm)

Body Build: Athletic

Backstory/Background:

James was born James Buchanan Barnes in Shelbyville, Indiana in the early to late 1920s. Where he was raised on Army bases by his mother Winifred and his father George. He was born the eldest of four children. For most of the beginning of his life he and his family moved from base to base, as most army family's tended to do. Along these moves James had grown up being an Army brat, picking up on and getting actively involved in the army, even for such a young child. The happiness of course, as in most cases, didn't appear to last for too long. As in his young age his mother had died tragically early in his life. Leaving the young James to help in raising his younger siblings while his father had continued to work in the army.

This had affected James' early maternal emotions in wanting to protect others. James had learned these skills while taking care of his younger siblings through the years. As well as picking up how to fight in a skillful manner. To the point that he became a sort of mascot to the base his father seemed to come to settle on. On this base it is here that James comes to meet a boy only a few years older than himself, Steve Rodgers. Here they begin to form a close friendship. James coming to learn all about Steve's home life, and eventual becoming an orphan, as well as Steve's weakened sickly life style. This is until they are both eventually separated off and on until James is older.

This too, also did not last very long, either. When tragic news had come to the teenaged James that their father had died in an accident while away training on another base in a base in Virginia where they had finally moved to. After this event, James, old enough to not be sent to an orphanage has his siblings taken away from him, where they are sent away and eventually taken in by other families. James chooses to remain on the base and indulge in his enjoyment of the man who everyone called Captain America. Which James had been a huge fan of for the last several years since Captain America had started to appear on magazines and on bases.

During these days he tended to get into some trouble but showed he had the potential of being great, one day, if he had worked hard enough and remained focused on joining the army as more than just a mascot. At some point however, while Captain America had been visiting a base, James took the chance to actually meet his 'hero', and when offered a training position on a S.A.S Unit, he took it. Leading him taking fighting lessons from the very same people who also trained the Sentinel of Liberty.

During this training James was considered to be a perfect match in partnering up with Captain America. This all in mostly an attempt to capture the attention of America's you, so they would invest in the building war against the Axis. But it also was to the dirty work. While fighting against the axis. James and Captain America, who James had accidentally stumbled upon one evening when walking in on Steve getting dressed, found out that Steve, his friend from many years ago had gone on to become Captain America, his hero. Which was a bit weird, he had to admit in some part. But eventually he got over it, because it was also so cool.

The two eventually ended up fighting the Nazi's, and doing other heroic things in attempts to protect America and strike down evil. All that *Yawn* hero stuff, you want to know more about, read a Steve Bio. Anyway, eventually while trying to take down Baron Zemo who was trying to destroy and experimental Drone Plane, James had tried to stop the explosion and ended up getting blown the fuck up, as you do. With Steve being tossed into a frozen lake and freezing. James had apparently died. Or well, he literally died.

For quite a few years that followed James' death, he had remained frozen in the icy waters that his body landed in after Baron Zemo had blown the plane up. All but his right arm had frozen over in the icy coffin, as it had somehow become severed before the soldier landed in the waters. Upon being discovered by Hydra, James was soon revived but had suffered from severe brain damage and amnesia following his revival. This of course had lead to James no knowing who he was for many years to follow. During his time with Hydra they had used him to assassinate other political or enemies in general of their interest.

That was until one mission led to James kidnapping Sharon Carter, many years after James' death and revival. Afterward the young woman brought it up to Steve and several others, which prompted Steve to look into it himself and finding out that it was indeed his former best friend. Which would lead to Steve trying to protect and save James, and several attempts to try and bring the other man back to his senses, or as the case was, remember who he was before all of these tragic events happened to him. However, in Steve's attempt to reclaim his friend he had managed to do a bit more damage. Which results in the Cosmic Cube that James had on hand, being shattered.

In the years to follow James had tried in mostly success, at being the hero he had always dreamed himself of being in his childhood. At first he had to do this from within the shadows as the people had still not trusted him. Nick Fury had given him his missions and the chance to redeem himself, however. But these circumstances did not last long when it appeared that Steve had been assassinated, one day while going to trial for having instigated the Civil War over some accords, against the US Government and such else in the like. James had witnessed Steve's assassination and quickly, with the help of others he had befriend that were also Steve's friends, taken revenge on the person responsible, Crossbones, and Sharon?

However, it came to be found that Steve was not necessarily dead, just stuck in a time loop and Sharon was being manipulated and then framed for the assassination on Steve. Whose body had been taken over by Red Skull. James at this time was portraying himself as Captain America and was sent to fight off the Possessed Steve, who had by then started a Hydra Empire in the United States. During this fight James had sustained quite a lot of damage in order to give Steve enough time to fight of Red Skull. After this James decided to then go after sleeper agents for a while until Natasha got her own memories wiped by the last remaining of them, which ended fairly well for James in the end, not so much Natasha herself.

James continues on about whatever doing his Winter Soldier thing, going to prison, breaking himself out, with the help of Natasha, before she got he brain wiped of all memories of him that is. Things are good? Well as good as they can be for a short while. That would be until Kobiks arrived on the scene and started doing whatever it is she enjoys doing. She's made out of the shards of Cosmic Cube, by the way. Steve, who keeps retiring, not retiring and now is the director of S.H.I.E.L.D since Nick killed a Watcher and James confronted him before Nick eventually peaces the fuck out to REPLACE the Watcher he killed, and left James to take Nick's place as "The Man on the Wall". Anyway. So Kobiks revitalized Steve, making him YOUNG, again, because Steve keeps getting older and James is has Infinity Formula in his vains from having died prior, again.

Moving on, James and Steve and everyone of their besties fight Kobiks new band mates who I guess then becomes protectors of Earth. But who cares about that. What's important to note here is that Helmut Zemo, son of Baron Zemo, he's mad, okay. He tries to kill James with the same plan his father tried to do before, intentionally this time, blow up a fucking plane. This family is absolutely, #Original. However, the plan fails, much worse this time, for Helmut because James manages to escape with his life from the explosion and takes out Zemo for daring to even try to front him. With having survived all of the attempts on his life, and mortal wounding up until now, and being abel to stab God Steve with a shard of the Cosmic Cube, since God Steve is all " Let me be a fucking asshole."

Afterward, all is returned to peace and Steve is back to not being a fucking asshole again, as well, they save Kobics by once again reforming the Cosmic Cube. But wait, there's more. James and Hawkeye soon team up to go on wild and crazy adventures together. Also, Thanos comes along and dusts most of everyone and Steve brings them all back, with the help of whatever Heros managed to not get dusted. It's a happy ending for all involved, except for Thanos,...and ...his army. But who cares about anyone of them? I am sure they'll be back, right?! James now lives a moderately 'peaceful life', continuing his teamwork along side Hawkeye and occasionally teaming up with other heroes on the fly every so often, as he would see fit. ....But I don't know, how would you guys feel about this being an evil run? Hehehe.

Quirks/Savvies/Other:

Knows a lot about Weapons.

Is good in a fight, just using a hunting knife.

Likes Heroics and Idolized Captain America in his youth.

Probably pretty good at engineering and science, but had never been trained in it. He is a Fixer, however.

Acts stupid, but is actually very intelligent.

Believes in mythology.

Interested in conspiracies.

Tinkers with things when he’s nervous.

Believes in magic.

Becomes tired when it’s too hot.

When he’s bored he will rearrange things.

Sings to himself.

He believes in dragons.

Is annoyed by Stuttering.

Interested in fairies.

Bothered by not knowing things.

Swears at every opportunity.

Extremely flexible.

Names and talks to his his personal weapons.

Gets uncomfortable in places with no windows.

Dark sense of humor.

Personality:

Charming, Honest, Ruthless, Punctual, Brave, Loyal, Elegant, Brutal, Forgetful, Resilient,Driving, Headstrong, Dangerous, Rustic, Elusive, Unfathomable, Objective, Aggressive, Distant, Sadistic, Ashamed, Just, Earthy, Honorable, Erratic, Self-Contained, Depressive, Tainted, Unlucky, Sarcastic, Moralistic, Tense, Light Hearted, Casual,

Likes: Taking care of his family, Adventure, Tigers, Gothic Literature, Botany, Mathematics, Cats, Science, Technology, Philosophy, Weapons, Peace and Quiet, Taking care of the people he loves, Protecting Others, Captain America,

Dislikes: Goldfish, Hydra, Centaurs, Winter, Jack o'Lanterns, Vampire Hunters, Shoes, Television Comedies, Politics, Performance Arts, The Guilt of what he’s done, Steve getting them into trouble,

Fears: Deep Water, Windowless Rooms, Being Trapped, explosions, Extreme Heat, Strange Noises or any noises at all in the middle of the night, Being held Captive.

Personality Tests: ESTP/INTJ-T, Type 8 The Challenger, Type 7 The Enthusiast, Type 5 The Investigator, 8w7,

Other: Pisces, Tropes,

Spouses: N/A

Children: One or more.

Significant Other: N/A

Parent(s):

-> Father: George M. Barnes

-> Mother: Winifred C. Barnes

Sibling(s): Rebecca P Barnes, Evelyn Harlee Barnes, Harrison Douglas Barnes

Starters

Chat’s

Para’s

Face

Stuff

Information

Asks

All

Alternate Universes

#Bucky Barnes #Marvel RP #Marvel #Indie Marvel #Winter Soldier #Based on Bucky Barnes from Marvel for the most part #BuckyBio #Bios #And yes I did make him be part alien because #I wanted to #Fight me #You won't XD

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inkdrinkershadowsinger · 4 years

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Thoughts/ Background The Deathly Hallows Part One

We get this first look at the new regime. If something were ever done like a fanfiction where Muggles did find out, you could copy this speech word for word, and it would have the same effect.

We see the Muggle family murdered, and then you see

Harry looked out that window countless times to see his “family” leaving on trips or outings without him, but this is one that he can’t take with him, no matter what.

To be fair, Voldemort would torture the Dursleys for fun merely because of what they are.

This just seemed out of character for Petunia. She hasn’t talked about Lily in anything but derogatory terms for years, and then suddenly she’s “my sister”. Please. Then again, the shock of being forced out of her home, with her family, but without Harry, the special one, like Lily was might have triggered some old memories. We never really learned what the whole relationship between these women were especially when they were older. I just don’t care for Petunia overly much. Dudley, on the other hand, exhibits some potential.

This is also a nod to the books, Mr. Weasley here isn’t merely tinkering with his workshop, but fashioning a way for his family to communicate with one another, and for others to communicate with the Order when things get bad. He is planning ahead.

Hermione had to do something here that most people, one, wouldn’t have had the skill to do properly, and two, would have been incredibly hard on them. She vanished all thoughts of her from her parents minds. She took a very logical step and executed it for the safety of her parents. She did what was necessary, and her logical brain made that possible.

Snape just blows through the wards around the Dark Lords home because he is a bad ass. Then the look on his face when he sees Charity Burbage is just heart wrenching. You can think of any number of backstory for these two that you want. But she specifically refers to Severus as her friend. Not her co-worker.

The Malfoy’s are not amused. This is the stiff upper lip of the aristocracy, and also, the fact that they are both extremely uncomfortable and frightened.

The only thing Pius is thinking is, “Don’t let the snake eat me. Don’t let the snake eat me.”

A wizard or witches wand is one of the most important things to them. It is an extension of their body. They have it since they turn eleven. It is always beside them, and to use another person’s wand is both extremely intimate and vile when you consider taking this extension of someone away.

How Snape looks at her….. He shows his emotions on his face as much as Draco in this scene for me. He might have perfected that frightening teacher gambit because his emotions are so full and available on his face. He perfected that scary act because he couldn’t have people looking at him for too long or else they would see everything.

Harry packs up nothing from this room. He has Hedwig and his trunk, presumably.

He looks in his cupboard one more time. The place where he spent so many years. The toy soldiers are still there. The sword here in the toy’s hand looks like a wand.

Love Mad-Eye

I’m sorry, but you can’t even see the scarring on Bill’s face. That always pissed me off. He is shown for four minutes maybe in this movie, they could have made him look like he did in the books, truly ravaged.

Tonk’s pregnancy. Another nod to book readers.

Hermione is sneaking up on him while Mad-Eye talks to Harry. She is eyeing him as Harry is preparing to monologue.

Mr. Weasley is guarding the doorway just in case behind Fred and George.

Harry knows this is serious, but still can’t hide his fascination here.

Tonks is calming Remus in the background because he knows that they all are about to undertake something that could be very dangerous.

“I know Ginny was lying about that tattoo.” Another nod to the books. I love these. I live for them in this movie and in the next one.

Harry lets Hedwig out to fly one more time. He probably thought that she would go off without him, and meet him at the Burrow, but animals are so receptive that she stuck by her friend because she knew that something was off.

Sirius, in a very real way, brought Harry to Pivet Drive, rescuing him from people still loyal to the Dark Lord, and then Sirius’ bike takes him away, and rescues him from the Dark Lord.

Hagrid takes the bike to a Muggle road where they could in theory hide in plain sight, just like Harry did at the Dursleys.

That must have been one powerful stunner to knock Hagrid, the half giant out.

Do we ever really get this phenomenon explained fully? Why Harry’s wand acted of its own accord, and defended himself against Voldemort? Is that because of the twin cores? Because Voldemort was using someone else’s wand.

Mrs. Weasley is such a strong character. To have to stay home, and take up the position of watcher and waiter and potential triage if help is needed. It took almost more courage to stay behind then it took to go.

Why did Mundungus flip? What offer was made for him to be swayed to the other side. He is old enough to have lived during the first war he would have known what it was like back then.

Mr. Weasley must be having some serious flashbacks right now about losing someone. He was married to Molly who lost both of her brothers in the first war. They were twins, and now his twin son has just been injured. I wonder how close the four of them were? Odd purebloods who wanted to fight against the oncoming horde. Did they house them or the Marauders at one point in time? Did Arthur provide cover for them? This is why we need the thing, and so, I did THE THING if you would like me to send you some of the thing, message me.

Harry is presenting some very valid points here. They need to get going, but Ron is showing some rationality here that is uncommon for Gryffindors. He is saying, “Let’s take a second, and try to think this through.” A vast contrast from what happens later on.

The Burrow looks more modern and less cluttered in this movie compared to the second. Then again, this is after the fire in the sixth film, and thus, in theory, they have lost a lot of their possessions. Things would look differently.

Ginny is a minx, and I love it. “You ain’t gonna pay attention to me? You really think so?”

Harry is changing his tune about weddings after he sees Ginny in that dress.

George winks at them!!!! That always kills me. Before he gives Harry the “Older brother” look.

George two seconds later, “I’m going to get a commendation.”

The deluminator finally making another appearance.

As a bookworm, I can think of no better gift then someone who loves books giving me an annotated copy of their favorite book.

I like that the fact that the sword of Godric Gryffindor can come out of the sorting hat seems to be common knowledge.

They have guards outside of the tent.

Hagrid and Madam Maxime.

Is that Fleur and Bill’s cake behind Hermione? Or something else?

Nice close up of the symbol.

If that is the cake, I feel like it probably does something spectacular to make it more grand.

You can see Mrs. Weasley behind Aunt Muriel being the fantastic mother of the groom making her rounds.

Death Eaters AK first, as questions never.

The waitress is me at work…. Lol if only we could wear air pods and block everything else out.

Harry, you know your girl Hermione has got your back.

Harry is very practical here. I don’t think he cares one way or another about whether these death eaters live or die.

Hermione is the best at spells is the same as saying she is the best at everything.

You can see Hermione having a flashback to her parents here.

Who created these wizarding laws? It would have Voldemort if they could have kept the trace on Harry. How do they enact these laws? Enforce them? What magic is used in their creation?

This is the first time that Harry has been back in Grimmauld Place since Sirius died. He goes to Sirius’ room first. I wonder why Mrs. Black did rid everything of Sirius’ presence from her house after he defected. Did she have some sort of hope that he would come back?

The nameplates on their doors are so different. Sirius’ is plain and boldfaced. Regulus’ is curvy and fluid, full name present.

Look at Grimmauld Place in Ootp and then look at it now. Mundungus robed the house blind. I wonder how he managed to make out with so much when Kreacher was there. Unless Kreacher was under some sort of enchantment to not harm any wizard in the household unless directed otherwise. It seems like something that house elves would be forced to comply with.

He calls him little master Regulus,,,,,,, I will never forgive the filmmakers for not letting the creatures have their final stand at Hogwarts in the movies like they did in the books.

Neville is just fed up with this bullshit. He’s a pureblood. He knows that he is too valuable to the new regime to incapacitate. But this still takes some guts.

The statue in the atrium has been replaced with wizards crushing the muggles and creatures.

The way that a corrupt regime tries to take over is by not only changing the narrative in the media, but by also changing the culture. They change the art and the books, the burn whatever they don’t like. They make you think that something has always been there even when it has just been replaced. Think 1984 by Orwell.

Umbridge is just so pleased with herself. She needs another vacay with the centaurs.

The way that Ron looks Hermione makes me want to sob. It is so beautiful.

Okay, how long in advance did Jk Rowling plan this series? It is not a surprise to me at all that she went ahead and is now writing the Cormoran Strike detective novels. Her mind works in deep layers of plot and intricasies of detail that I can barely fathom. She must have been planning this for years. To have the resurrection stone open not at touch, but when Harry puts it to his mouth because that is how he caught his first snitch in the first novel. This woman is a bloody genius, which is why I reading The Cormoan Strike novels and taking notes son, I’m not sleeping on this woman anymore.

Mundungus is sneaky, but Hermione is smart as shit. None of them are fooled by his idiot act.

I love Dobby. And Kreacher. Without these characters, the story of Harry Potter wouldn’t have been as good as it is.

When I watched this movie, I was like, dang!!! Of course, it is Umbridge.

These high ranking ministry officials are the definition of getting too comfortable. You really about to let yourself get abducted in broad daylight.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione taking out the trash.

What happens if a Muggle wanders into this bathroom? Or a Muggleborn who hasn’t got their Hogwarts letter yet? Do they think they are just taking a wee, and then get spat out at the Ministry of Magic? That would be quite the story.

I love that Harry and Ron don’t even question if this method of getting to the ministry is going to work or not. They just automatically stand in the toilet.

Also, the statue makes it seem like the Muggles are fighting one another. That would be something that Voldemort’s regime would want. They would want it to seem like the Muggles are low, petty creatures who would rather save their own skin then another of their kind. It would inspire a sense of community even subconsciously among those that saw it.

Poor Ron. Didn’t they research these people? They got two high ranking people, and then poor Reg Cattermole.

Where Ron gets out of the elevator. These office doors? Look almost like entrances to banks or crypt vaults. Very secure looking.

I know this is another actor acting like Harry, but that was a pure Harry Potter face when they saw Umbridge.

That pamphlet reads: Mudbloods and the dangers they pose. Perfect Pureblood Society./ They are mass producing propaganda.

I wish some mention of this being a WWW product could have been put out there.

Umbridge would be OCD. She is the type that needs to be in control of everything, and that would translate into her surroundings.

These books in Umbridge’s drawer look old. They don’t look freshly printed. And why would such a neat freak have old books in her desk? These might have been from the first war with Grindlewald. When Muggles attack. Mudbloods: How to spot them. These could easily be reworked into new propaganda. Umbridge is a racist who relies on “research” to assert her ideals.

Umbridged marked out Mad-Eye’s, Sirius’, and Dumbeldore’s faces in red ink like she was crossing something off of her grocery list.

Ron is this close to his dad, and yet, he can’t say anything to him. It might have led somewhat to him feeling like he does later on, and eventually heading out.

Ron and Arthur have the same sense of humor and I love it.

Arthur was ready to throw down with Runcore as Harry. Mr. Weasley gets a lot of flack for being soft, sweet Arthur, but he definitely has a side of steel when he thinks that he or someone in his family is being hurt.

The death eater trials seen back in Goblet of Fire were full of paperwork, trying truly to determine guilt or innocence. This trial, there are no witnesses, hardly any paper work, and no proper jury. Clearly a farce. Umbridge is judge and jury. She is absolutely horrid and I hate her.

Umbridge must get a serious tick anytime anyone says the word, “Lie”.

Ron is trying his best to get this lady understand that they are facing tough, unfair times. I hope that they took the advice and got the heck out of dodge.

Copies of Harry’s face hiding Harry’s face from view is amazing.

They land in such a calm looking place, but the reality is that everything has just got a heck of a lot harder. They have been forcibly evicted from Grimmauld Place, and now, one of their number seriously injured. Everything just went from bad to worse soon to be deplorable.

I like that Harry refers to Voldemort as Tom here. Saying, “You Know Who” makes it seem like he is far removed from the rest of humanity, but saying, “This belonged to Tom’s grandfather. This belonged to Tom himself.” That humanizes this monster like figure, both in that it makes it seem like he can be defeated, but also that, it makes it seem possible that he can be redeemed which seems to be what Harry at least attempts in the eighth film.

Harry just looks at Ron, like, “Yes, fucker, it does bother me.” It takes very little time for people to start turning.

Like, why didn’t they just tell Ron that they had a run in with snatchers. Shouldn’t he have been alerted to any new threats?

Are there really just miles of abandoned trailers somewhere like that?

Hermione is keeping the peace the best that she can, but she has a lot against her, the two fragile, male egos not the biggest concern.

I never liked this scene of them fighting each other in the woods. But it sort of turns that feeling of fighting for pretend or something to do to really trying to harm each other, and letting the resentment that the two men feel towards each other and towards other people come to the surface.

They cut the scene of Ron and Hermione skipping rocks out of the final version of the DVD, and I have always hated that because it is so cute.

When Ron leaves, Harry is truly terrified that he is going to hear two snaps of apparition, and that Hermione will leave him too.

She ties her scarf around the tree because she hopes that Ron will come back and see it. It reminds me of that, “Tie a yellow ribbon round an old oak tree…”

The contrast in the tent here between this tent in all its beige glory and the tent that was used in Goblet of Fire at the Quidditch World Cup is stark. One is clearly bright and fun, and this one, like their circumstances is just bleak.

I know that JK Rowling loves this scene, but I don’t. I always thought that it was out of place in this film. Hermione is just torn up because Ron, someone who she has deep, deep feelings for of friendship and something more has just left them, her, and Harry decides that now is a great time for a dance. And the way that Harry looks at her is just a little too personal for me. It feels like the end of the world. The only justificiation for that look that I can think of, is Harry is feeling so hurt by Ron that he intends to wreck what is left of their friendship before Ron can, and what faster way than ruining what Harry knows Ron feels for Hermione. That is a really dirty interpretation though, so, Idk. It’s better to think it is just an odd scene and odd acting on DR’s part.

I feel like Harry and Hermione had a renewed sense of determination to start getting stuff done since Ron left. They wanted to try and make progress, subconsciously thinking that somehow that might get them all back together. Work so you don’t think, maybe.

You can see the snow start to fall at the end of this scene, and then they apparate into a snow covered Godric’s Hollow.

I love Harry’s insistence that he is not going to polyjuice himself or anything like that because he wants this visit to Godric’s Hollow to be authentic.

The Peverell tombstone, a nod to the books that I don’t think gets fully explained in the films.

So, Nagini is a horcrux. Nagini was once a person. Nagini is a snake and Voldemort’s familiar. Now, we know that animals can be transformed into goblets and plates or whatever, but animals can be transfigured into a person? That’s what happened here with Bagshot, right?

Bathilda Bagshot straight up had a blue steel picture of young Grindlewald in her house. And I don’t blame her. This version of Grindlewald is far superior.

Skeeter’s book, another nod to the book.

She is speaking parseltongue , but Harry only hears English. This is where, us, the viewers, promptly start freaking out.

Harry gets thrown into a baby boy’s nursery then proceeds to fight against a piece of Voldemort’s soul. Irony.

THE DOE!!!!

Some people deal with tension using humor. Ron is one of those people. I am another.

Some people deal with tension with conflict. Harry is one of those people.

It looks like the piece of Voldemort’s soul in the locket literally tries to beat down on Harry, but it is rebuffed by the piece of soul that he already has inside of him.

Locket Hermione’s voice here is so different then her actual speaking voice.

This scene where locket Hermione and locket Harry are making out makes me want to vomit. It is so cringey that this was even included in the movie tbh.

“HEy,,,1,/ehdzjh,samdlas”

Ron’s like, “Mate, when we walk up I need to hold the destroyed horcrux and the sword, you know, for maximum effect.”

I like that they said that Ron was at a pub instead of home with the Weasleys like he was in the books.

“Just my name.” The way Ron says this makes my heart melt. It says so much in so few words.

I like that there is magic in this universe, and then there is magic. There is that little ball of light that floated from Sirius’ lips when they were being attacked by dementors in Prisoner of Azkaban, there is the veil in the department of mysteries, and the ball of light that Ron talks about here. Explanations are provided for so much in this series, but there are still magical things that even the characters don’t know the whole of.

Hermione is like, “Heifer, please, you ain’t getting any of my time yet.”

I have a feeling that Hermione is right for the next ten years after the behavior you have exhibited Ronald Weasley.

Luna. My baby. My girl.

The fruit on the plants are floating. If I grew up in house like this, in a place like this, I would believe in a lot of things that other people may not. It seems like a place where imagination is really allowed to flourish.

The animation used for the “Tale of the Three Brothers” is absolutely stunning. It is why people have it tattooed on their skin. It’s breathtaking.

He says, “The most powerful wand ever made.” He doesn’t say created. There is the theory that it did come from death, but then that the brothers were merely fantastic inventors. I don’t know which the truth is, maybe some of both. It would make a wonderful fanfiction.

At the wedding at the beginning, both the Lovegood’s are wearing yellow and they’re bright and happy, and then you have this scene where everything is dark and gloomy. Some beautiful non-verbal storytelling.

You can see just how wrecked Xenophilius is. He is desperate to get Luna back he is wandering into an attack zone.

People who are desperate don’t have the reason available to think, “Oh, what if these people don’t actually care about my concerns.” They have a single track mind in getting what they want.

Grindlewald is still a cocky bastard even after decades in prison. This old man looks more the badass than Depp.

Fenrir Greyback is just standing there, second fiddle to this random, purple scarf wearing snatcher. What the heck?

This scene always baffles me. Lucius has seen Ronald Weasley and his family for years. Lucius taunts Arthus on a regular basis. Lucius has heard repeatedly that Hermione and Ron are Harrys friends from Draco for at least six years. They KNOW FOR A FACT that this is Ron and Hermione, who do they think the third person is going to be?????????? It should have been a high enough possibility based on their presence alone to call the Dark Lord, but none of them do it because they have to make sure????

Draco has stared at this face for SIX years. I mean, Draco is just prepping himself to lie this whole time if he can get away with it.

Bellatrix ain’t no fool though. She figures out about the stinging jinx. The only thing that saves them is her seeing the sword.

Snape is the best potions master around. All of them probably have heard of veriterserum, and none of them thought to have it on tap?

It pisses me off to no end that we didn’t get to see Pettigrew strangle himself.

Dobby is a king!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I saw this, I died.

Dobby is like, “Harry Potter, sir, duh.”

WE MISSED OUT ON A LUNA AND DOBBY BROMANCE AND I AM FUCKING FURIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like having Pettigrew just pass out or whatever was such a cop out, but I understand what it would have done to the tone that had already been established in this sequence.

Even then, Draco isn’t ready to fall into line with Bellatrix’s plans.

Dobby is a king, and I love him.

DOBBY HAS NO MASTER. DOBBY IS A FREE ELF. DOBBY HAS COME TO SAVE HARRY POTTER AND HIS FRIENDS.

I love Dobby. I want to cry no matter how many times I watch this scene because he is so small and vulnerable and honest, and he just loves Harry so much. And he did so good. And he saved them, and Harry wants so badly to save him back, but he can’t.

Harry has just lost so many people. In the next film, when he is speaking to everyone in the house Harry seems almost militaristic in his approach and demeanor, but when you think about what has just happened, Dobby’s death, that harshness and straight to the point approach seems more realistic and warranted definitely.

This scene where Voldemort breaks into Dumbledore’s grave: I read something that commented on Voldemort like hovering over Dumbledore’s body to get to the wand. Then it was like, well, he could be straddling him. I have honestly never been the same since. I laughed so hard.

#Harry Potter #Harry Potter and the deathly hallows part one #Harry Potter thoughts #Harry Potter anaysis #Harry Potter background

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vrenaewrites · 4 years

Text

CARAVAL thoughts:

FULL VIDEO HERE.

Confession: I DNFed caraval about 2 years ago. I even included this book in a video called “reading 5 star reviews of books I hate” (either screen record and insert the clip from that vid or link in the cards skip to like 6:40 or both)

Chapter 1

We open with letters that our main character Scarlett has written to the caraval master Legend

She really wants him to come to her island but he hasn’t

She finally gets one back with three tickets for her Tella and her fiancé

Chapter 2

Scarlett’s feelings came in colors “urgent red of burning coals, frenzied yellow of a flapping bird’s feathers”

She goes to tell her sister Tella and finds her making out with a dude lol

Julian is his name

The edges of the paper “blazed a shimmery gold, the color of magic and wishes and promises of the things to come”

Tella hates the count Scarlett is betrothed to but Scarlett wants to leave their home so bad she doesn’t care who she ends up with

“Gods teeth!” Is the expletive…

The prize of caraval is one wish

They have to leave the isle within 3 days which would be impossible before getting married

Tella’s lips “shifted from broken to unbreakable” NO

Last time they left Scarlett’s dad did something terrible to her

Julian offers to smuggle them to the island for caraval on his sailor ship (pirate ship??)

“Goldenrod desire lit up inside her”

Wishes were about as real as unicorns

Their dad shows up with gloves “the shade of bruises”

Tella accuses Scarlett of hooking up with Julian RUDE!!!!

And Julian agrees!

Ohh because the dad beats the other sister so they’re trying to protect each other by accusing each other

Her marriage is 10 days away

Chapter 3

Her fathers perfume smelled like the color of his gloves

Julian decides to take them off the isle for free after witnessing this

Tella says if she leaves she will never return

“Her world was a grand game board, and her father believed this marriage would be his penultimate move”

“More than your sisters face will bleed” is their dad assaulting them?? Did I just gloss over that when reading this the first time??

“Weather worn white archways” loved

Governor dragna sounds like judge frollo

Their mom disappeared 7 years ago - abandoned them

They have priests and piety and the devil but they don’t use the BC AD calendar instead going by seasons and rulers...why

Chapter 4

She felt the lie from childhood “sneaking into her slippers and moving between her toes” no you didn’t

“A broken dock like a massive tongue jutted out to stones that reminded Scarlett if uneven teeth”

It was nights like these she could smell the moon - I wrote taste at first and taste fits better imo

A friend tried to help them escape once and the governor drowned him for it, Tella didn’t know about this

She meets Julian here at midnight and barters all 3 tickets to keep him from helping Tella escape

Julian and Tella ambush her and knock her out

Chapter 5

“A pock marked moon winked in the glass”

She has a dream about their nana telling them how legend got his name

First of all, legend is a bad dumb name and you should feel bad about it, Stephanie Garber. Caraval is also a bad name.

He was in love with a woman named Annalise and would perform at a coronation to earn her fathers respect, but he needed a witch to grant him a wish of talent

He had to choose between fame and love

So his name is legend because his magic is legendary? How tf did John legend not sue over this?

“Behind her a cloud drifted over the moon, covering all but two tiny points of light, which hovered behind her silver hair like devil’s horns” love this visual

I’m calling it now, we’re getting this flashback because somehow, the dragna sisters are related to Annalise or remind legend of Annalise and this is why Tella gets taken

Chapter 6

She wakes up in a rowboat with Julian after 2 days which is always a good way to pass the 2 days journey it takes without having to make anything happen lol I respect it

Julian calls her crimson instead of Scarlett - hated it then hate it now

Trees “rose toward the sky like massive emeralds” and the waterfall “streamed down like melted peacock feathers” no it didn’t because that makes no sense

Legends private island is called the island of dreams in Spanish

Tella has set up a kidnapping so Scarlett can go back without getting In trouble

“The image of a purple fire breathing dragon came to mind, coating her vision with ashy shades of anxiety”

I remember stopping very shortly after this and now I remember why - I can do purple prose but DAMN

Their mom had “vanished taking nothing with her, she disappeared like a broken star leaving the world untouched, save for the missing bits of light but no one would ever see again” Good purple prose

We get some backstory on how her Nana was more involved after her mother left, and we get to hear again about how great her stories are, even though we just spent a chapter getting that first hand from a flashback

She barters with herself to stay only one day and then go home for her wedding

There’s a hole in the boat so they swim but she didn’t take her dresses off so she starts to drown

“You deserve this” because of Phillippe, like hands the water pressed her down down down

Julian saved her and cuts off her dress which she finds very intense

Chapter 7

So much description of the snowy frosting sand pick one

I get that it’s a magical island but every descriptor up until the sand made it sound like a tropical paradise, and then suddenly the sand is snow and there’s ice and snow on the trees which were just giant emeralds so I’m confused

Because being wet and cold is more scary

“ The snow on the rooftops rested like dust on abandoned storybooks“

A very diagon alley sitch where there are magical stores but none are open...because it’s caraval guys. They’re at the games

They go into a clock shop where there are clothes waiting along with food roses and a note from legend

They change and she sees awful scars on his hot muscly back

Her dress is lame despite every YA trope about the heroine having a princess moment, that’s fun: just kidding it changed colors and shape to fit her perfect

And Julian’s outfit is super hot

He stole a pocket watch

Scarlett was a pretty girl but she tried to hide it, her eyes were too honest, no one noticed girls in ugly clothes

“Scarlet wondered if she had found a way to escape her fathers deadly games only to become a well costumed piece on a new game board” no shit Scarlett you came to the island for the game…

Also you were in such a hurry to find Tella and get into the game before it was too late and now you’re waxing poetic about how hot Julian is and how you’re hot but you don’t wanna be

Chapter 8

“Sage shaded colors of suspicion” I really hate this device she’s using. I’ve used it to describe the colors my mind reading characters see in people's minds. But it’s like twice a book, maybe, to express extreme emotion. Not every time your feelings change.

Some guy comes in and offers them a portal into caraval and Scarlett is like “sure thing” and Julian is like “ummm dumdum” and he leaves

The guys like “oh you just gonna listen to that random guy?” And I’m like as opposed to you, another random guy?

He wants her voice okay Ursula

“A passionate sky made of melting lemons and burning peaches” or say yellows and oranges…

“Until the door was no more” love this, sounds very fairy tale

She leaves and it's like night already, she only has til midnight

Scarlett and Julian get in by him pretending to be the count, her fiancé

They take the path of the players, not the watchers

Chapter 9

“A panicked Vermillion moved inside of her chest as she thought of how specific legends letter had been”

Julian admits he’s played caraval before and Scarlett is like *gasp* but HELLO how did you think he knew all the shit he knew?

He keeps calling her crimson like every time he speaks to her, annoying

“Julian’s smile turned seductive, all shameless curves and immoral promises”

Chapter 10

“Soft golden lights licked her arms with gentle kisses of warmth”

I’m very bored when this house is supposed to be EVERYTHING

The guy who was giving them the rules says, “don’t let your eyes or feelings trick you” And then jumps off the balcony and Scarlet freaks out… He just told you not to trust what you see

Scarlett is the most annoying person

Their instructions are to get to the end by sunrise or they’ll be locked out in the streets, but she’s wasting time wanting to look for her sister - and Julian is telling her that her sister is probably staying at the same place and she doesn’t believe him despite the fact that he’s already done this game before, just trust him???

“A searing green door watched Scarlet like a glowing eye”

This just made me figure out why I don’t like that she’s using colors as an emotional device, because the main character is named after a color, and so it’s just way too many color descriptors

Julian got trapped outside noooo

Chapter 11

But it’s fine because she tells the innkeeper they’re guests of legend - which they are - and he’s let in. Great. Glad there are no stakes. They also used legends name to get the boat to the inn for free.

The hallways in the inn “smelled like the end of the night, sweat and fading fire smoke mixed with lingering breath from words whose ghosts still haunted the air” no

Julian was “poison in an attractive bottle”

Their rooms are actually one room oops

Chapter 12

“But legend saw all during caraval”

She got a message from legend: it’s a key with tella’s name on it

Lmao tella is having sex behind that door for sure

“She felt five different shades of berry colored foolish” this is so stupid

Every time something happens between tella and scar, we get a whole expository moment about how this is related to their mother or their father or the relationship between the sisters… We know. we can tell. we are not stupid.

“Warmth licking her cheek” this metaphor is too specific to keep using it

Some tattooed dude finds her - Dante - and is like “sleep in my room”

He asks her out but she declines because the count

Damn her dress has transformed to be like see through which is why he was into her lmao

She has a dream that legend is a creep lol

Chapter 13

Scarlett totally changes her tune re: enjoying herself

She passes tella’s room and finds a wreck

“Feathers covered the carnage as if a rebel Angel had gone mad” this is so dumb

The key she got with tella’s name was a clue, that other people also got

A pregnant girl offers to help scarlet, and a man steals scarlets favorite earrings from her mother

Then the pregnant girl steals that stuff

She realizes there’s a postcard in tella’s room that isn’t hers

Chapter 14

Tella only loved mermaids, and the postcard is of a castle, which was Scarlett’s thing

The castle is a place on the isle that Julian recognizes

Dante shows up and Julian is like hell nah

Dante won last time Julian was here and it cost him a lot

“Shops wrapped in colors like a birthday presents, cerulean blue apricot orange saffron yellow primrose pink while the canals remained midnight dark” SHUT UP dude

This woman got like a color wheel or a color dictionary for her birthday the year she wrote this book

Time moves fast in the castle

What’s really annoying about this book is Stephanie Garber spends a lot of time talking about things that are boring, and one sentence on something like hummingbird-sized elephants and tigers

There’s a kissing tent and she’s like fuck yeah let’s go there

You’re engaged

Julian sees where she’s looking and is like yeah??

A tingle of periwinkle curiosity

Chapter 15

She goes into the tent of a half naked dude who could tell her fortune

This is all very boring

He has incense that makes people tell the truth and she admits Julian is the hottest guy ever

She asks what’s the man she will marry really like?

He’s not a good person

She’s covered in only pictures he can see instead of pictures only he can see…

She had 2 questions but the way she asked used them up so she doesn’t get to ask about tella

Chapter 16

He tells her to follow the boy with the heart made of black...obviously Dante, she thinks Julian

She walks into a potion tent and finds an elixir of protectio

She mentions her father and feels “anise and lavender and rotting plums”

She describe the woman who works in the potion tent as having “bottle green” eyes, but this entire paragraph has the word bottle in it like 1 million times because shes describing a tent full of potions...all these colorful words you’ve used and this is where you use “bottle green”

I don’t mind the descriptor, my own eyes are bottle green, it’s very vivid, but badly placed

She chases Julian to a decrepit garden with a fountain, and sees a glass button

She also saw a glass button in tella’s room...is this how legend spies on her? Is this where tella is being kept?

“Dreary yellow hopelessness” infected her

She sees the symbol of caraval inside the fountain and touches it, revealing a staircase

Someone screamed as hot and bright as fire

It’s madness tunnels

The inn “smells of laughter and boasts laced with sweetened ale” this doesn’t make seeeeeennnnnnnnse

She finds Julian, but it’s actually Dante and he’s mean to her and she cries but it makes her mad at Julian?????? Stupid

Chapter 17

Julian finally shows up, super bloody but he just had a head wound

She cleans him up and is getting super horny lol

He got her earrings back!!!!!

The fire dies sending up a plume of smoke “the color of things better said in whispers”

She tells him about the tunnels and he says legend treats his prisoners like guests

Julian’s eyes are the color of “caramel and liquid amber lust”

He almost kisses her and then seems to wake up, leaves and “disappointment wraps around her in cool shades of forget me not blue” STOP

Chapter 18

She wakes up to white roses with red tips

Julian is supposed to meet her but doesn’t

A girl shows up “pretty as a watercolor and dressed as bold as a trumpet” DUDE

“Oh poor you, here you are on a magical island, and all you can think of is what you don’t have” get her!

Dante shows up and she realizes he has a black heart tattoo which DUH SCARLETT

chapter 19

The night is “brittle, crisp like the first bite of a chilled apple, smelling just as sweet with hints of burnt sugar weaving through the charcoal night air” THIS IS GOOD PURPLE PROSE! I can taste this!!!!!!!

She’s chasing Dante and finds a cider seller who’s drink will help her see things more clearly, the price is her last lie

She drinks it and loses the color in her vision

The game is constantly working against you?????? How?! You’ve stumbled across tons of clues without any work and there are no believable stakes to this game, this drink is the first time you’ve had a struggle…

Iko holds a journal that’s brownish green, “the color of forgotten memories, abandoned dreams, and bitter gossip”

Even in black and white we get this heavy handed color shit

She realizes anything in color is important

She also sees the red roses on a carousel and the red cravat on a mans neck

He makes her feel perilous shades of silky black - is Stephanie Garner an artist? Does she have synesthesia or something?? What is with this device!!!!

She looks in Iko’s book and sees pictures of her, the special guest

Sour shades of yellow green made her stomach roil with trepidation - HUH????

She’s like “why would he make the game about me?” You’ve been begging him to bring you caraval your entire life, why do you think?

I think I remember the nana saying annelise had blonde hair, and so does tella...are they related to her? Is she nana?

Iko tells her the notebook also holds all the true stories of caraval

Iko will give her the notebook if Scarlett will buy 2 dresses because the changing dress bothers her (??)

Iko takes her to a dress shop where the dresses are “the color of late night laughter, early morning sunshine, and waves crashing around ankles”

The dresses cost nightmares or secrets or fears

She owes her worst fear and greatest desire, or she can pay 2 days of her life per dress

It works but her greatest desire isn’t to find her sister, so she pays with 2 days of her life, not at the end of her life but at the end of caraval

“Panic came in hemlock green, the color of poison and terror”

“Something acidic and moldy and burnt bubbled up in Scarlett’s throat - the taste of death” like this

Scarlett’s body dies but her mind will exist in a dream world

Chapter 20

Dante finds her and drags her into the inn

Julian hits Dante because he won’t let her go hell yeah

She tells him what happened

Julian tried to give Scarlett a day of his life by having her drink his blood from his finger and she’s like “I wanna fuck this duuuude”

“His voice is so gentle, made of gentle” I liked this

Then he drinks her blood from her finger, and the world shatters into a million shards of colored glass

He lays down with her and holds her while she dies

Chapter 21

Death was the color purple.

She sees tella in the dream world, and tella has a huge dark book that swallows her and Scarlett

They see young nana in a house similar to the one they entered at caraval, entwined with a young man

Her grandma is Anneliese DUH

Then she’s at the funeral of the woman who died at caraval before

Rosa was in love with legend and he rejected her so she killed herself

Dante was rosa’s fiancée

Legend is julian?!?!?

Loved This entire chapter but then it means nothing because none of this is real it’s all part of the game so it’s not really story development

Chapter 22

They both wake up

Scarlett tries to convince herself the game is messing with her

Then she remembers what the dream people said about legend loving to make girls fall for him

She has a grey streak in her hair now

Her dad is there!

She finally puts it together - her nana is anneliese

“She could see the sting of her rejection in shades of stormy blue ghosting over his heart like sad morning mist” roll my eyes

But then she remembers that he gave a day of his life for her and is like why would he do that if he was legend

Now she’s changed her mind, so she goes after Julian to find him leaving Dante’s room and walking into tella’s

She goes in after him to hide from her dad but the room is empty

She finds another secret staircase like the fountain

She trips over Dante’s dead body and finds Julian standing over it

Chapter 23

Julian grabs her and is like “I didn't kill him, we were working together”

He shows her a white rose tattoo he has, Rosa was his sister!!

She asks why he had been acting weird and he basically says he didn’t want to have feelings for her because that wasn’t why he had come to caraval

Scarlett is like let’s get this fucker back, but she hears her dad’s footsteps in the tunnel

Chapter 24

They start running, and they hide in a weird alcove from her dad that starts to squish them

She realizes it’s feeding off their fear so they relax and it lets them out

They end up in the sand tunnel and Scarlett is like how could you know I was going to caraval if you were already at our island when I got my tickets

Julian explains that legend is punishing the descendants of anneliese and he invited her to caraval to stop the wedding

Legend had never responded until she signed her full name on the last letter, mentioning her wedding

Julian is the fucking count dude calling it

“His steady gaze reached out to the broken parts of her like a caress, a type of touch that moved through damaged flesh, past fractured bones and into a person's wounded soul.” WOW

Scarlett hears tella’s voice and almost runs straight off a cliff

“Tella loved danger the same way candle wicks loved to burn. It never seemed to scare her that some of the things she lusted for might consume her like a flame” Christ

Julian knew tella would be taken during caraval

Chapter 25

She had to find tella before legend consumed her like a flame burning a candle” you just used a candle metaphor like one page ago my dude.

She gives herself one minute to cry and scream and Julian hears her so he barges in, worried

He apologizes and she gives him the grace I’ve been waiting for as soon as he said he knew what would happen to tella: he had to avenge his sister. Everything they’re both doing is for their sisters, she should be more understanding

Julian is “all kinds of tragic and lovely”

The box was “flat black, the color of failure and funerals” shut UP

Like if you wanna use the color device to describe your protagonists feelings stop being so fucking flowery with every single color in the book it is soooooooooooooooo distracting

It’s the other dress Scarlett has bought but now it’s white

Chapter 26

There’s a note in the box from legend that makes “invisible spiders crawl over her skin” ok

She thinks the dress is the 5th clue - the buttons on the dress reminds her of the buttons leading to the hat store

Chapter 27

They go to the top hat place and Julian is like “this is all wrong”

Iko appears looking like “a teardrop the moon had cried” love it

She tells them not to go into the hat shop

Let me guess, despite both of these omens Scarlett is still gonna go in

“Scarlett had an emerald green premonition that she would make a discovery inside” sure why tf not gotta keep the story moving somehow

She sees the store owner and was like LEGEND and he’s like nah dude I’m just wearing a hat

But he is the guy that was wearing the red cravat and eyepatch from the day her vision went gray

He is the count!!!!!

Chapter 28

Nicholas Darcy

And her dad is there!!!!!!!!!!

Julian gets her out but the count chases her and they get on a boat

She sees her dad and he looks afraid but she blames it on the rain

They row to the castle and Julian convinces her to get inside to hide from the lightning

And they argue about if she’s still planning marrying the count and she’s torn which hurts him

He says “are you sure you want this?” Before kissing her and like is it a consent thing or is it him asking if he’s what she wants either way I love it

“The boy who had saved her from drowning in more ways than one” explain…

They kiss and “every touch created colors she had never seen” that’s so anticlimactic

Chapter 29

The stones fall through the hourglass like “drops of falling rose petals” that makes no sense but we have to include it because...

She finally realizes the roses that have been EVERYWHERE are part of the game duh

She takes Julian to the fountain where the tunnel entrance is

She feels ochre shades of uneasy

Only NOW she’s giving pause at the idea of winning because she could wish them safe...shoulda been your goal all along. Should have been equally as important as finding tella since if you find her you win the wish….I’m signing heavily atm

The governor and the count are there!!!!!

Swear to god if Julian dies I’m going to fucking riot

She wants to split up but Julian is like fuck no

The count catches up to her and the governor pulls her by her hair up the stairs

He punches her in the stomach to warn Julian and she gets back up, with the count trying to protect Scarlett

“A slick mud colored feeling coated Scarlett’s insides” because the governor is holding a knife to Julian’s throat

He cuts Julian’s face NOOOOOO

The governor takes Julian to his room and let’s the count sleep in Scarlett’s room because “he’s already paid for her, he can enjoy her a few days early”

Scarlett stands up to her dad!!!! And then she remembers tella’s words: what if the count is worse?

Scarlett tells the count if she makes her dad stop, she’ll be a good wife but if he doesn’t she will never be his obedient wife

“Do you really want a bride who will only sleep with you because someone will be tortured if she doesn’t?” YES

Chapter 30

The count is like “listen I am NOT like your dad I’m sorry” and she’s like yeah but you’re not Julian

The count starts undressing and Scarlett aims a poker at his eyeball lmao

She finally remembers the elixir of protection in that dress from the tent and soaks the count

The count is like “you’re playing into legends hands” and Scarlett is like “nah he did me a favor by getting rid of you”

Chapter 31

Julian’s cut isn’t that deep thank god but he’s still woozy

“He tasted like midnight and wind”

Leap of faith - roses - it’s Rosa!!!!! She has to ask how Rosa died and Julian says she jumped off a balcony

They decide to sneak out using the tunnels to go search all the balconies

Chapter 32

The town during the day looks like a “faded memory”

She hears music from the rose colored carousel

The musician has been asking for coins the whole time but nothing else cost money

They jump onto the moving carousel and end up in the roses where Scarlett finds the caraval symbol

They have to jump, Julian gives her coordinates to a boat in case they get separated but they run out of time and she has to go in

She lands in a river and lands at a staircase guarded with statues that are definitely frozen people

Legend is there ofc

Chapter 33

She’s a little star struck by legend

His laugh is a rich spicy sound that echoes until he snaps his fingers

Homeboy is mad

Julian ends up there, dry, and...he’s working with legend...NOOOOOOO

Dante and Valentina were also part of the game

Rosa was not his sister...DUDE

She clutches his pocket watch and legend opens it - Julian’s voice comes out apologizing for betraying her

He does love her HE IS ENCHANTED!!!!!

LEGEND STABS JULIAN?!?!?!?!?!?

Oh fuck he is spitting blood oh fuck oh no

Scarlett you got him killed you dumdum

Chapter 34

I’m FUCKING FURIOUS

she remembers that she gets one wish, and she wants to use it to bring Julian back and I swear to goooooddddddd if he doesn’t come back I’m gonna throw myself out the window

Legend is gone, leaving a funeral invitation for tella set for tomorrow this guy is a MONSTER

Chapter 35

She ends up on a huge rooftop way high up

“The air felt soft and poisonous”

Tella is there feeling like “softness and sunlight and seeds for growing dreams”

We just used soft a sentence ago!!!!

Tella is like “you’re confused, the game is playing tricks on you”

Scarlett tells her about their grandmas history with legend

She shows tella the invitation and it now says it’s to a party not a funeral

Chapter 36

Tella has met a boy that’s not legend...it’s a guy she met right before she got taken for the game…

She’s engaged to him??

Scarlett is like maybe tella is right and this is all part of it...Scarlett DUDE

Scarlett has a bitter yellow puddle of dread in her stomach

If Daniel is Dante or Julian I’m gonna scream

Chapter 37

It’s legend of course

Duh

He tries to convince tella to tie Scarlett up you better NOT

TELLA

YOU DUMB BITCH

legend dares Scarlett to walk to the edge of the balcony to prove she loves her sister, so that he can feign worry to tella

They tie her up

The governor and the count show up FUCK

finally legend admits to tella who he is and she just breaks poor baby

Tella backs up to the ledge and says if the governor or the count touch Scarlett she’ll kill herself!!!!!!!

“Silver slippers sliding” toward the balcony

Scarlett breaks free but tella FUCKING JUMPS

Chapter 38

So now who is Scarlett gonna use her wish on?!

Her father looks like “a dragon with no fire and broken wings”

The governor slaps Jovan and legend is like imma fuck you UP

The governor killed Dante!!!!!!

She blackmails her dad with Philippe’s death

She remembers her wish...but who does she use it on?!

Which oof, oof, OOF

Tella is a brat lmao

Legend won’t give her the wish!!!!!

He’s...fading??

Scarlett goes to give tella her blood

She wishes her impossible wish but it doesn’t work

Chapter 39

She goes back up to get tella’s stuff and finds a caraval box with a letter inside from tella to legend that she didn’t know about

Chapter 40

She goes to see legend and finds out he’s actually some dude named Caspar…that was why he couldn’t grant her wish

There’s a stack of letter between tella and legend that basically illustrate that tella was willing to die for legend to get them to caraval

Tella is alive?!?!?!?!?!?

This was all a fucking game?!

Her impossible wish came true, but she had actually died

Tella orchestrated their dad getting to caraval so he could see her die, and so he would leave Scarlett alone

Chapter 41

So Julian is not really dead, but tella wanted anyone who made Scarlett love them to be taken out, that way she wouldn’t get hurt by someone who was just pretending

So she somehow warps this into meaning that Julian didn’t actually love her? Go...ask him??????? The fuck

God poor Scarlett…

So people can die in caraval, but when the game is over, they come back...so there were no fuckin stakes except for tella’s death

Chapter 42

They go to legends party in the forest and Scarlett sees Julian

Iko is there like go talk to Julian dumdum

“Shades of the rich ruby love she’d felt mixed with deep indigo hurt turning everything just a little bit violet” I don’t care I want them to kiss Stephanie

Julian is so hurt that she thinks she doesn’t know him

He’s related to legend…

Rosa dying changed his opinion of legend

He tried to leave the game right before this caraval

Legend is his brother!!!!!!!!!

He couldn’t leave Scarlett because she loved her sister like Julian loved his brother

He stayed because of Scarlett despite how it hurt him to lie to her

Yaaaaaay they kiss yay omg

Epilogue

Tella is dancing drunk at the party and is dancing with a new guy who dances her to the edge of the party...then he’s gone?

He dropped something into her pocket...a coin with a note…

From legend!!!!!

You can see your mom soon if you keep up your end of the bargain!!!!!

#book review #bookreviews #booktube #cringe books #cringe review #stephanie garber #caraval #legendary #finale #negative review #spoilers

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