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wataksampingan · 1 year

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This was supposed to be some form of Therdeo Dane Lapileon Defense Thesis but my brain cannot pull off all the necessary research to do it justice.

So I guess let’s just brain dump all my thoughts and feelings?? About this manhwa?? (Spoilers for the story up to episode 63 on Webtoons and 66 on Naver Webtoons)

...this also gets FAR too long so cut is here for sanity’s sake. Tl;dr Theo Lapileon is a wounded puppy and I want him to be happy gdi

I need to preface the Theo content by saying that I adore Pereshati. I think she’s one of the more realistic heroines that I’ve read, in the sense that she’s plucky and determined but she damn well knows how the game is played. Every move she makes is plagued with doubt and uncertainty coz she’s only a minor noble, and one with an unbelievable story at that. (Resurrecting after being fed poisonous blood and getting thrown back in time is a stretch for anyone). But whenever she does decide to do something, she handles herself with the kind of poise you’d expect from a grown woman who knows how polite society works. It’s the kind of elegance and maturity that the novel’s Perry doesn’t have.

I wonder very much how seungu would have thrown Perry into Theo’s way if they had had full control of the adaptation because the first... 10? episodes or so reads very much like a typical isekai manhwa: she’s murdered, she awakes, and then immediately besieges Theo with a proposal, simply because he needs to marry someone to get the emperor/princess off his back. The Perry we see currently in the latest chapters would likely have done something smarter/more socially acceptable/conventional simply because imperial pressure or no, why the fuck would the grand duke entertain a minor noble they’ve never met before?

Granted, this is quite in line with Theo’s character in the first few episodes as well (which is lampshaded in a later chapter AND I LOVED IT) whose excuse for entertaining her absurd request/proposal is just “I got curious about the woman who kept bombarding us with messages”. The Theo we see later, who just burns letters from the Fourth Princess Dodolea without even thinking about it, would have hardly buckled under that kind of insistence.

This is all pure speculation of course because the artist, seungu, has no social media I could trace. The original novel’s writer, Han Yoonseol, has Twitter and various socmed that show an active writing career and interest in the MILAOWM webtoon. But the artist? Nothing, apart from their work. They’ve completed a previous series (Google translated to “New Year’s Taste”) but that also seems like an adaptation. I have no access to their thought process, rationale or any inkling of why certain decisions were made.

Whatever the case though, those decisions so far have me hooked. They’re making changes that reflect something more... realistic, with higher stakes and actual consequences for the actions of the characters. E.g. you can’t humiliate, much less threaten, members of the nobility at a public function in front of a crowd without some sort of retaliation. Theo in the novel actually threatens to kill a nobleman in cold blood in front of a gathered audience whereas Theo in the manhwa does this in private.

Well, I say threaten. In the manhwa, he has just a fraction of the dialogue Novel!Theo says. Just one or two lines before he snaps and is about to decapitate a mofo before being restrained by his guards. The bullying incident that precipitates this is also dealt with realistic actions and importantly, contains a reflection on Perry’s part about the power and privilege the Lapileons have in this universe. I don’t know if this foreshadows anything but my mind has gone as far as the dissolution of the empire/defection to an enemy kingdom (and the loss of their noble titles) by the end of the whole manhwa. Far-fetched? Maybe, but I have so much faith in seungu by now and so little idea of what they’re planning that I won’t be surprised.

Manhwa!Therdeo Lapileon is also extremely taciturn and poker-faced, to all the natural disadvantages this sort of personality entails. Everything we know about him is told in silent images, or expressions we explicitly don’t see. This is a man who believes in actions over words, who has no idea that open communication is a Thing and that doing stuff behind a person’s back without telling them can backfire at times (”I’m gonna have someone follow my wife’s ex-fiance around without telling her, and that got her kidnapped. SHIT.”) And all the backstory that’s been hinted at so far gives us very sad explanations how he turned out this way.

One could very justifiably argue that actually, the entire Lapileon family is a collection of sad iron woobies. Saoirse lost her husband and only son because of her own blood, Phineas is doing his level best to save his family but keeps seeing them die despite his medical expertise, Gloria probably had a HELL of a marriage to survive this long, and the poor children have had their own bouts of suffering and daddy issues. And of course there’s also Pereshati who’s been murdered about 3-4 times at this point, and lost a most beloved father to a stepmother she loved to the moon and back.

BUT. Theo.

If the housekeeper’s flashback in Episode 47 is anything to go by, and if I’m guessing right, Theo and Saoirse’s father (maybe grandfather? Unclear at this point but let’s go with father for now) was a nightmare of a man. Slaughtering servants for infractions was probably a regular threat in the Lapileon home, and judging from that flashback during the episodes when they first find Islette, so was torturing and testing his younger son’s limits. His survival in the family was due to his “usefulness”.

One can suspect that of the three siblings, Theo was the one with the softest heart. We have no idea what his older brother (Celphi’s dad) was like yet and Saoirse is a Lapileon to the core: toughened enough to do what is needed, hardened even further by tragedy. She’s also a mom, which is why harming Islette earned Gen a rightful and vicious stiletto-heels-to-the-face-ass kicking. It also gets Theo a reprimand: get his shit together or step down from the headship of the family.

(And I’m just. Saoirse, honey, I love and respect you immensely and to be stepped on by your footwear of choice would be my honour. But that’s your younger brother we’re talking about. And he’s been emotionally sucker punched in just about every aspect. He’s trying, okay?)

I’m just saying that when you’re a child, and abused to that degree, sympathy from the devil is still sympathy. Of course it echoes to the present day even as a full-grown, supposedly rational adult. Of course it’s going to fuck you up.

You were also probably raised to put family above all (witness Theo not trusting Perry with the full truth of Celphi’s condition until circumstances force his hand, Saoirse only fully warming up to her once it’s clear she loves Celphi without any ulterior motive, Gloria immediately expecting her to be wrong about the family blood being sold, only to be confounded by the awful truth that this stranger to the family was right). You’ve been operating on the full expectation that any Lapileon would follow that creed. How could they not? Their curse is too great a responsibility.

Then you’re forced to confront the devil who once gave you rare comfort as a child, and that devil bears your family name and blood. Not only does he spout the most heinous things you’ve never imagined, he also manages to hit you where it hurts: you have used your blood. You have used it for your own benefit. Are you truly no better than he is? Who are you to judge him?

(Never mind that the devil is a liar and is trying to save his own ass which is why Saoirse, who has a better understanding of her own identity and self-worth, doesn’t give him enough time to say anything - she just kicks the shit out of him)

Is it any wonder Theo hesitates to do anything harsher?

Everything he does implies a reluctance to inflict lethal force if it can be helped. Perry remarks on it when he first removes Schiff without killing him the day they got married. He doesn’t even draw his sword on the assassin at the parade, merely KICKING HIM INTO ORBIT subduing him long enough to be taken in by the guards. The only times he has killed someone in the story is Perry’s ex-fiance who had kidnapped and blackmailed her, and... well, Perry herself.

(Which again goes back to that weird early episode installment - how do you reconcile him feeding her his blood in such a cavalier manner with the gravity of his responsibility as head of the family to ensure their blood isn’t used exactly like that?

You give him a HUGEASS dose of remorse and guilt later on when Gen accuses him of also using the blood to his own advantage, and then have him offer a sincere apology to the woman he experimented on.)

He also very nearly murdered the father of the child who bullied his ward. But even that was prevented by Raymon, the guard. This is more speculation on my part but his personal guards - who are all loyal to him beyond a doubt - may have been instructed (by him?) to restrain Theo, maybe to make sure he doesn’t repeat the sins of his father who just murdered people as and when it suited him. I don’t know if seungu would even bring this up at some point but I’ll be thrilled if that is the case.

This abusive childhood is compounded by the trauma of war. Theo specifically is credited with just swooping in out of the blue and ending the conflict between the Castor Empire and the kingdom of Schwartz. His reaction to being hailed a hero is to show up covered in blood to report to the emperor, and then disappear back to the country without attending any ceremonies. It earns him the notorious reputation of being “the bloodthirsty war fiend”.

Judging from Episode 13, what he really earned was a lifelong diagnosis of PTSD and various other neuroses. “Fuck this noise, I’m going home” was a reasonable reaction from a man who has no care or time for polite society. I'd go a bit further to suggest he also didn’t want to hear his actions being lauded as heroic when all he experienced was violence and death (re: that line about him being glad his statue was destroyed, that it’d been a stain on his honour). Whatever he did was to satisfy the emperor who has some form of hold over him, and absolutely no respect for the Lapileons (every single reaction from any imperial family member, even creepy Dodolea, has been sneering condescension or reluctant compliments). So from that perspective, why the hell would he have stayed to schmooze at the castle?

There are no therapists in Castor clearly coz Theo does what most soft-hearted introverts do and represses the shit out of his trauma. Just... stuff it WAY down into the depths of his subconscious and never address it because what the fuck else would you expect him to do? Talk about his ~*~feelings~*~ in the Lapileon house where weakness is a death sentence? No, he bundles it all behind his iron mask and resigns himself to literal nightmares for the rest of his existence.

The timeline has yet to be properly established, but I'm guessing that he comes back from war only to find that his brother has died and sister-in-law has just upped and left. Which means baby Celphi is left in his care. I’m not sure why Saoirse wasn’t the one to adopt him, but I’m guessing since he’s the next in line to the grand dukedom, it ‘makes sense’ that Grand Duke Therdeo has to be in charge of him. (Saoirse not being able to become head of the family just because she’s a woman is another sticking point that I suspect will be key to resolving this entire mess) (how/when exactly he becomes Theo’s ward is subject to many theories since the timeline of the story hasn’t been actually clearly explained; a guess that a friend and I have settled on is perhaps at the time, securing Celphi’s place as a ‘spare heir’ after Saoirse, Saoirse’s son and Theo in the line of succession would have been a practical decision. Either that or, more plausibly, Theo saw Celphi in himself and just decided to adopt the boy. Which makes this next part even more tragic)

The image of Theo in a soldier’s uniform looking helplessly into the cradle, with baby Celphi reaching up to him, broke me when I first saw it. It explains every mistake Theo made in trying to raise him.

He was a soldier. What the hell would he know about raising children (even if the theory that he chose to adopt this boy is correct)? He loves this tiny child with every breath, and he’d do anything for Celphi - but most of what he knows is how to fight and die. How the fuck does that help?? Not only that, his only experience of fatherhood is the shadow of a man who abused him so severely. What is that supposed to teach a man about parenting?

Clearly not much, considering his very shocked reaction when Celphi ends up demanding what he was supposed to think when his guardian/uncle kept ignoring him all the time while he was growing up.

And the boy is correct. Theo has no answer. He fucked up (again), and he didn’t know he was fucking up so hard.

But my god, he keeps trying to make up for it. It’s awkward and uncomfortable, but Theo shows up every day to pick him up from school with Perry; he’s even glad Celphi yells at him about killing Perry because that means he’s not turning out to be Therdeo 2.0. Celphi is expressing feelings and opinions and even if they turn the boy against him, so be it - at least it’s coming out. It may be too late for Theo to learn how to express emotions but at least his ward won’t make the same mistakes.

Which is why IT HURTS SO MUCH IN EPISODE 63 TO SEE HIM SO CRESTFALLEN. After suggesting to Perry she stay away from the Lapileon house for a while, she says she will and the dialogue translates to:

“Thank you for your kind consideration.”

THERE ARE THREE - T H R E E - PANELS where his face/expression isn’t shown at all but you can ABSOLUTELY TELL HE’S 360 DEGREES OF ANGUISHED.

This woman - this beacon of hope that he’s come to have feelings for (all the subtle blushing and unseen pining looks have been sprinkled very well throughout the chapters so far) - has just had to go through the ordeal of a trial (along with months of preparation before that) where she had to send her stepmother to 35 years of hard labour, among other things, for the murder of her father. She's just had to reconcile the mother she knew with the killer sitting in the dock, and the cries of a stepsister she once loved. And all this with the knowledge that it's the Lapileons’ blood that ultimately killed her father. There’s a stray thought that poisonous blood or no, her stepmother would have found some way to kill her dad.

But it doesn’t change how it was their blood - his blood - that killed Count Zahardt. It is Lapileon blood that has tortured Perry, the woman responsible for bringing out the best in his adopted son, discovering little Islette and bringing warmth back to this frozen wasteland of a household (to paraphrase Daniel Molton who is a treat of a character, I love him so much).

Yes, he's essentially thrown his immense resources into legal recourse, released her from their obligatory contract, and offered her help in being independent and free from them. He's done many, many things to try and make her current situation comfortable.

Yet the fact remains that she basically rescued so many parts of his life, and he inadvertently destroyed hers. Nothing he does will bring her father back.

Yet she won’t curse him or his family, won’t demand any form of recompense, won’t even give him the cold shoulder, despite everything in her that says she should. Her line “leave me be so I can resent you” is so good and so sad and my HEART disintegrated.

The most ironic thing is that Theo would’ve probably understood that reaction better. The justified reaction would have been to storm and rage at him. He knows what to do with anger.

Instead, she said thank you for your kind consideration.

And he can’t say anything to that as she walks away.

HIS LIFE HAS BEEN AND IS FUCKING SAD. AND IT’S GOING TO GET WORSE.

Episode 64 is already up on Naver and Dodolea is about to do a NUMBER on his ALREADY VERY FRAGILE PSYCHE. What she calls love - and what some of us may have suspected as straightforward obsession for his attentions - is seeming more and more like a love of torturing him, and watching him squirm.

He has to sit for a portrait in the palace (emperor’s orders probably because he just wants to jerk Theo’s chain around), and cannot escape when she comes into the room to sit and watch. There’s no good reason for him to leave, so he just has to grit his teeth and bear it.

And she laughs at his discomfort. She laughs and calls it “cute”.

The rage and fear in his face when she does so is alarming from someone whose poker face is usually immaculate. It sucks so much strength/spirit from him that it alarms Daniel who greets him at the house. I have a feeling that he’s about to just shatter into pieces since Episode 66′s thumbnail has him turned away, lying on a pillow. And then I will shatter, coz this dude CANNOT catch a break.

At some point, I came to the conclusion that Theo was soft-hearted and I cannot tell you when exactly that was. It's testament to how seungu weaves in his quiet charm throughout the chapters so we can see why Perry might possibly fall for him apart from his handsome face (even if at this point, that is the FURTHEST thing from her mind). There are huge things of course like rescuing her from her kidnapping and financing her legal battles.

But the little warm things speak volumes: learning how to dance so he could accompany her to a ball, saying yes immediately when she suggests maybe he could just reply to people, telling the servants to make her special tea when he found out she also had trouble sleeping, bringing a hot water pack(?) to ease her cramps, rushing back for her auction, squeezing her hand as he helps her into the carriage because that’s all he can do after the trial. (seungu did you also watch Pride and Prejudice (2005)? Did you see the hand flex scene and immediately decide to use this? Inquiring minds must know. Also inquiring minds screamed when they first saw that scene becausE HAND TOUCHES ARE GOLD BULLION IN SLOW BURNS) And just his face (?? back of his head?? seungu never gives us any idea what he looks like when he’s in ‘oops fell in love AGAIN’ mode)

BUT SOMEHOW YOU CAN JUST TELL:

They all tell the story of a broken man who has made so many mistakes, but he can be kind and attentive, and tries hard to do what’s right (even if it takes him awhile to figure out what’s right, coz again: he’s Fucked Up). He’s also a socially awkward dork who ignores people at parties coz he doesn't know how to behave as expected. And resembles a really sad puppy when he disappoints Perry.

I could speculate a lot more on what/who the fuck Dodolea actually is and how she’s related to the Lapileon’s curse, but I also know this manhwa has steered some distance away from the webnovel. So I cannot really tell if the plot lines will be similar.

I’ll probably be back after the plot progresses further so I can scream some more. I’ve been shrieking on Twitter but that site is subject to a hungry ghost’s whims and I can’t hide spoilers/rambling behind cuts there. So here it will have to be.

Hang in there, your grace.

#theo lapileon #pereshati jahardt #is this character analysis? plot analysis? the ramblings of a diseased mind??#ALL THREE?#episode 63 sent me into the stratosphere #which is why you get this disorganised tangled mess of word vomit #my in laws are obsessed with me #my in-laws are obsessed with me #MILAOWM #apparently it should have been Theodore Lapileon and Princess Dahlia??#that makes way more sense #OH WELL dodolea is funnier anyway LMAO

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crash476 · 1 year

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Conspiracies and the Problem of Peggy Carter

I bounced really hard off the Captain Carter version of Peggy Carter. For me, it felt like the triumph of her style over any quality she had as a character. I’ve spoken about this before, but I think giving Peggy dementia robbed her of her voice, unable to speak to her past, and thus providing a blank canvas for the writer and audience to use with as they will.

My biggest critique of Peggy’s fans have been this sense that they love her aesthetic and the platitudes over the substance of the character. She became 2010s girlboss. The Agent Carter series did provide the potential to further explore her as a character. It could give her a past pre-dating Steve, show the history of SHIELD, show her as a leader, and delve into the moral complexities of the MCU intelligence side. But that never happened. The show was canceled after two seasons and all we had left was a very marketable aesthetic.

We have some vague notions of what she did during her time as director of SHIELD, but nothing substantial. Then Endgame happened, Chris Evans left for other projects, and the Russos, Markus and McFeely seemed to have scrambled for a way to write out Steve. Steve’s exit seemed like an afterthought at best. As a consequence, whatever lore Peggy had in the main MCU timeline got completely thrown out. This is because Steve Rogers is a heroic paragon and his designated love interest must be above reproach. She is little more than a sexy lamp and when Captain Carter got attention in the What If... series, well she’s even more marketable now!

The thing that gets me about Peggy’s haters is the level of reaching done to justify their dislike. I’ll get to some of my critiques on how Disney/Marvel Studios handle the espionage side of the MCU (not well). But stay with me here. I need to do some comic book history.

The MCU Peggy Carter is an amalgamation of a number of love interests Steve’s had over his publication run. Earth-616 Peggy is a retcon love interest. She was introduced in 1966 after Steve’s book was essentially rebooted. Captain America was popular during WWII, but the initial post-war years weren’t kind to superhero comics. Atlas Comics (who later rebranded as Marvel Comics in 1961) tried to rebrand Steve from a Nazi puncher to a Commie smasher that went over like a lead balloon. His book was canceled in 1954 and Stan Lee and Jack Kirby revived Steve in 1964. They came up with the “on ice” backstory we saw in the TFA. The 50s Cap was explained as having been a succession of other characters acting as Steve, such as Jeffrey Mace (Patriot), William Naslund (Spirit of ‘76), and most infamously by William Burnside.

Anyway, during the 50s, Bucky got shot and was replaced by Steve’s then girlfriend, Betsy Ross (then known as Betty and later goes by the code names Agent 13 and Golden Girl). She is THE original love interest and first appeared in Captain America Comics #1, published in December 1940, created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. She basically did everything in the 40s comics that Peggy in the 60s (and the MCU by extension) was said to have done. The reason you’ve never heard of her is because of Betty Ross Banner - The Hulk’s main love interest. 40s Betsy got retconned into a relationship with Jeffrey Mace (one of the guys who was a retconned 50s Cap) and now lives in a retirement home.

Sharon and Peggy Carter get introduced in 1966. Sharon’s got a complicated story that we don’t have time to unpack so I’ll just say, Sharon is messy and that’s good. I think it’s good that she’s the Power Broker. Steve later dated glass-blower turned lawyer Bernie Rosenthal, who was introduced in 1980. He’s had an on/off relationship with former villainess Rachel Leighton, aka Diamondback (who was introduced in 1985). And there were romances with fellow super heroines like The Black Widow, Wasp, Rogue, and The Scarlet Witch.

Now we move onto the conspiracy theory Peggy Carter haters adore: Cynthia Glass.

Cynthia “Cindy” Glass was created in 1991 by Fabian Nicieza and Kevin Maguir for The Adventures of Captain America #1 - #4. She had four total appearances before she was killed. There was apparently a guid book for the MCU where she was mentioned as an inspiration for MCU Peggy, but I’d like to see those receipts before I make a call on the veracity of the claim. But I can see why the Peggy haters claim her as the true inspiration of MCU Peggy. Cynthia kind of looks like Hayley Atwell (if you squint) and is revealed to be a Nazi double agent who gets shot.

Look, if you don’t like a character (and maybe their actor, too), it’s fine. Just don’t fuck with them and move on, don’t make up shit about a character being a secret Nazi when there’s no actual proof. And don’t say that Cynthia Glass was Cap’s first love when she was a clear retcon that completely contradicts previously established canon regarding Betsy Ross and Peggy Carter. Especially when anyone can look up the publication history. At most MCU Peggy kind of looks like Cynthia and met Steve just before he got the serum. The decision to keep Atwell’s brown hair could easily have come down to “she looks better as a brunette.” Film production decisions are often not that deep.

Peggy Carter was probably the most convenient love interest to adapt for TFA. She doesn’t have Betsy’s name problem. Sharon needs to be established as being Peggy’s niece to explain why they look so similar. You need to justify a face-turn for Rachel. And the only people who know about Cynthia Glass are those who read the original limited run she was in during the early 90s as it looks like it wasn’t collected into a trade paperback until 2018. Again, film production devisions are not often not that deep.

So now we get to my critiques of how Disney/Marvel Studios have handled Peggy and just the spy genre in general. Spy fiction can vary wildly in terms of tone and just how heroic the protagonist is, but generally the genre leans towards a cynical world view. This is fueled by the author’s own politics, and by their own experiences if they worked in intelligence themselves (ie: John le Carré and Graham Greene). The genre also borrows heavily from hardboiled detectives (think the works of Raymond Chandler) and film noir. In any case, the protagonist is, at best, an anti-hero and sometimes a terrible one. The nature of intelligence work requires moral compromises, both in and out of fiction. If you actually look into how that world operates, it’s honestly more like organized crime backed by a nation’s treasury and given the fig leaf of respectability because you’re “fighting for a cause.”

This runs headlong into the MCU retcons when it comes to Peggy. By making SHIELD older than originally implied and putting Peggy in charge during the early days, she now has a fuck ton of skeletons in her closet. The problem is that Disney will never produce anything that is critical of the US government or could be as cynical as the spy genre demands. Yes, there was Agents of SHIELD, but that show (and I say this with love) has more in common with NCIS than The Sandbaggers or Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Disney is too scared of biting the hand that feeds. They’re scared of getting cut off from Pentagon money. This is Disney’s lone fear, and it shows how toothless The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was. They just come up to the edge of valid critic, actually showing how the empire works.

Bringing this back to the problem Peggy, because the Russos, Markus and McFeely needed her to be morally pure so she could be Steve’s perfect love interest. She can’t have a past, red on her ledger, or anything that puts her into a compromised position. It’s probably why Steve goes back to 1949 and gets with Peggy before SHIELD really starts. That way, Peggy hasn’t done anything wrong. The audience is asked to forget about Zola and the HYDRA infiltration (though it’s never explained what she knew when). The Bucky situation is a bit different, and the Cynthia Glass conspiracy requires you to forget that in universe the Winter Soldier is treated as an urban legend within the intelligence community. Natasha brings up in TWS that no one can agree if he’s real. Given the few crumbs we have on Peggy’s tenure as director of SHIELD, the most I’m willing to say is that she might have know that the Winter Soldier was real. But with hindsight, I think the HYDRA infiltration was pulled off badly.

Like if I had my way, the Peggy Steve meets after he’s unfrozen would be played by an older actress like Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, or the late Diana Rigg. That way she can speak for herself in the present. If I had my way, Agent Carter would have lasted longer and Peggy would have become something along the lines of DC’s Amanda Waller mixed with Dench’s M with a dash of George Smiley’s moral grounding. We could get a more accurate understanding of Peggy and SHIELD and even if you still don’t like her, she’s still a character with actual depth. And maybe Captain Carter would just be a fun “what if...” and not a free mulligan.

Cause it really feels like Disney wants to wipe the slate clean and rewrite Peggy as a morally uncomplicated heroine who can be Steve’s un-problematic girlfriend.

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acourtofthought · 8 months

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Hi I hope you're doing well :) I just wanted start by telling you that this blog is my daily serotonin boost. I love reading your analyzes so much. So thanks for sharing them <3

Annnnd I have a silly question. I love Elucien and I'm at the point where nothing else in the Acotar universe (or sjm multiverse swh) interests me anymore. I just wanna see their storyline. I've never read Crescent City series and since the next book is the closest thing to getting an update on how our fox boy is doing I'm considering giving it a shot. But I don't what to read a bigilion pages about how perfect and smart and winged and dark and well-dicked some guys are and a little plot that doesn't make any sense by the next book. Do you think I should just stop complaining and give it a shot? Or maybe it won't worth it since the next book won't even mention Lucien 😒 Do you think he will be in it?

Thank you for your message!!!! I'm sorry I've been a bit absent from blogging the last few weeks, I hit one of those slumps where I'm frustrated with the lack of ACOTAR news. Like you, I adore Elucien and considering they have been an unanswered mystery since 2016 (I feel empathy for anyone who has been waiting for answers since then!!), it gets to a point where the not knowing can be aggravating. As to your question about Crescent City, I don't think we're going to see much (if any) Lucien in Crescent City 3. Lucien shares information about Spring and the Human Lands with the IC but we've yet to see that in reverse, where the IC shares information with Lucien. He wasn't included in the discussion about the made weapons, he wasn't included in their plans for Nesta's training, etc. Which I understand because he's not really part of the IC. I think after Bryce's arrival in Prythian, the IC is going to want to keep it as much a secret as they can (for now) until they can figure out exactly what consequences her arrival could have for the rest of their world. Announcing that they had a visitor from outer-space would only cause panic among the courts at this point (the courts are already struggling to figure things out after the war and the wall having come down) and Rhys tends to hold information close to the vest until he figures out the next steps. Maybe Helion will make an appearance in CC3 but I can't see any other side characters outside the NC being brought into the crossover in January. I do think Lucien will eventually learn of everything that happened in CC3 but in a future ACOTAR novel. And I don't think when the next ACOTAR novel starts, it will delve right into the crossover. SF ended with the characters worried about Beron allying with Koschei, with the fae on the continent refusing to sign the treaty and with Spring still in shambles. There are ACOTAR only readers (you being one of them!) and many are not in the fandom so it doesn't make sense to start the next book after Bryce's arrival in Prythian where the characters are discussing an alien visitor. That's much too big of a plot jump forward. To me it would make sense if SJM started the next book sometime between SF and the crossover, then eventually leads up to what happened in it.

Now if you're a fan of Urban Fantasy and looking for a new read, you may want to read the Crescent City series for that fact alone. However, if that's not your thing I think you'll be able to get by on learning about what happens in the crossover through the fandom. I think most would also be willing to share whether there are Lucien appearances (if I'm wrong and he does show up). Personally, I've struggled with CC. I really don't care for Urban Fantasy and I'm not a fan of Bryce. She reads as the most immature SJM heroine to date and though I'm all about feminism and someone being an independent woman, a character constantly having to proclaim herself as such misses the mark. I also think there's just way too much being thrown into the series, sort of like "everything but the kitchen sink" all in one book. I got through book 1 but have only been able to tolerate paragraphs here and there of book 2. But, I think most of the feedback I've seen is in favor of the CC series so I realize I'm probably in the minority! It's funny because I've always loved the bat boys and the IC but at this point, her series feel oversaturated with them which has made me like them less. "Too much of a good thing" and all that. I really would like to see her explore characters outside of the IC to give us a breather. Eris, Lucien, Vassa, Jurian, Helion, the LoA, etc. And Elain of course because she's not really coming off as "one of the IC". She's given us crumbs for these characters for so long without ever giving them a chance to tell their stories and it feels like it's time.

#elucien #pro elucien #eris vanserra #helion acotar #vassa acotar #lady of autumn #jurian acotar

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regardstosoulandromance · 4 months

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review: once upon a broken heart by stephanie garber

As someone who is a little too online in the bookish community, I've been hearing people sing the praises of Stephanie Garber’s Once Upon a Broken Heart since its publication in 2021. Although the spin off to the Caraval series, general conscientious is that it’s not required to read Caraval before Once Upon a Broken Heart. It was an easy read I tore through one afternoon while sick on the couch, this highly popularized novel was not worth the hype it gets.

For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings... until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.

Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.

But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game—and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after or the most exquisite tragedy… (summary via Goodreads)

Once Upon a Broken Heart would be an amazing fantasy novel, if you’ve never read a fantasy novel before. Unfortunately, the world building is messy and nonsensical, prioritizing aesthetics over substance of any kind, character, plot or otherwise. Instead of a narrative that makes sense, Evangeline Fox is a heroine with pink hair and pretty dresses, Jacks is a cocky magic boy who always seems to have an apple at hand and a detailed description of his mouth.

Evangeline’s motivations are clear, because she tells us constantly, but there’s no emotional depth. She originally visits Jacks because she believes her boyfriend Luc has been bewitched into marrying her step sister Marisol. What’s so great about Luc, you may wonder? I’m not sure, Evangeline likes him, but we don’t meet her beloved Luc until nearly two thirds through the book, and he’s only one the page in a single chapter.

None of the character relationships are fleshed out, instead relying on fairy tale tropes to fill in the blanks the lack of development leaves. Evangeline’s step mother is cartoonishly villainous, Marisol is predictable the villain, and after Evangeline’s original visit to Jacks she lets the story take her along instead of controlling her own narrative.

Jacks is a Fate, a trickster demigod also known as the Prince of Hearts. He’s cocky and crafty and as in folklore, making a deal with him often comes with unintended consequences. He likes apples and if he kisses anyone but his One True Love, they’ll die. He’s the annoying bad boy character to a tee complete with a tragic backstory as to why he’s heartbroken and I just didn’t care for him. I don’t care for his kind of over confident character type and I will admit that’s more of personal preference than anything else.

Then, inexplicably, they introduce vampires two thirds of the way through. Fates are immortal yet can be killed, adding some stakes to Jacks existence, but they can also be turned into vampires? So in this world, vampires rate higher than the god-like characters. The inclusion of vampires was just too random and strange, kind of a pointless addition for the drama and creepy aesthetics of it all.

A big draw of this trilogy is the slow burn romance between Evangeline and Jacks. In this first book, the pair are barely friends, more like reluctant allies. This is fine, totally in line with a slow burn narrative, but neither character was interesting on their own let alone together.

The concept of the novel was an interesting one; a fairy tale land, the pink haired heroine, making a deal with a magical prince of hearts are good ingredients of a story. But where Once Upon a Broken Heart falls flat is in the execution. It’s equal parts confusing and unnecessarily convoluted while being boring and mediocre. My biggest complaint about the book is that the writing style is utterly insipid. It’s basic and lifeless, without anything interesting about the narration, sounding far too young for a young adult novel. It truly feels like baby’s first fantasy novel with all flash and no substance.

#book talk #books #book review #anti ouabh #sometimes you just gotta write an angry review for the shitty book you read while sick #im getting back into writing book reviews but trying to keep it from feeling like a job

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crqelsummer · 1 year

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I am listening. Tell me abt the kiddos

HELLO! Hi 👉🏿👈🏿 <3 Thank you for asking!!

the AU entitled 'our hero academia'! it takes place 30 years after the events of MHA, where most of the main cast is in their mid 40s. it'll cover the next generation, including their children and themselves as the world shifts and changes around them. it's admittedly still a little here and there only because i haven't caught up on MHA yet and the series hasn't finished!

our MC, midoriya kimiko, the only daughter of pro heroes thermo + deku (midoriya shoto and izuku respectively). born with a weak quirk, she's primarily grown up in musutafu with her parents. with the media's eyes on her since day one, she's been scrutinized and criticized for her almost lack of quirk.

however she's never alone, with kirishima makoto by her side, who's three days older than she is, the younger sister to the quirkless kirishima takato, and the daughter of dynamight and red riot (kirishima katsuki and eijiro respectively). they're the best of friends since they were babies, and they apply to UA after a disastrous school trip that leads to kimiko manifesting brand new and all powerful parts of her quirk.

the pair make acquaintances with other legacy students, including two parts of the new big three, iida ryosei (with iida tenya and ochako as parents) and ojiro reiko (with ojiro mashirao and toru). class 1-a is made up of tokoyami rin (daughter to tokoyami fumikage and tsuyu), sero haruko (son to ashido mina and sero hanta), tetsutetsu daisuke (son to tetsutetsu tetsutetsu and itsuka), yaoyorozu seiji (son to yaoyorozu momo, jiro kyoka and kaminari denki), shinso yuto (son to shinso hitoshi and neito) and aoyama elle (daughter to aoyama yuga and monica). taught by yamada aiko, the daughter to yamada hizashi and aizawa shota -- the new generation of 1-a is facing everything from exams, new and old relationships, and the consequences of a quirk heavy society all coming down on their young shoulders.

with the clock ticking on an organization determined to make it known just how poorly society treats them, the commission coming down hard on the heroes it claims to help, and villains on the rise, it's a matter of time before we see the next generation rising to the occasion.

the question is, are they ready?

other fun facts!

kimiko and mako's arc concerns kimiko's lack of emotional boundaries with mako, who eventually steamrolls over them as they grow up together. chaos ensues with the development of the embers of OFA.

haruko's arc concerns his disdain for teamwork and how he only ever wants to work by himself because he thinks that's how a hero should be -- only able to rely on themselves.

rin's arc concerns her learning to be more confident in herself as a hero. she's good at many things, but worries about being a good enough heroine to save people

yuto and elle's arc are concerned with the latter discovering herself properly, as she is whether people pay attention to her or not -- while yuto learns its okay to need other people and want to be there for them.

seiji's arc is all about learning how to accept the pitfalls of himself and recognize his own strengths for what they are.

daisuke's arc is all about defining himself, instead of being what people need him to be at any given time.

moriko's arc is currently about learning to atone for past behaviors, regardless of her situation when she was younger (there's a notable line floating around where she says to kimiko, "no, midoriya, maybe the problem was that i wasn't yelled at enough.")

iwao's arc is all about him being less afraid of his quirk. rin and his overlap a little, but he has to learn to not be scared of the possibilities, and embrace them as they come.

aiko's covers her really facing what happened almost twenty years ago (the death of a classmate in her final year at UA, she blames herself) and the ramifications of running away when she was so young and scared.

eri's covers her own history with the shie hassaikai and unravelling her past the best she can. eri is very much a 'im 36 and have been to therapy' sort of character in oha, but it is acknowledged that she still has scars from all those years ago.

for now, chisaki gou (the son of chisaki kai and an unnamed woman) and takami hitomi (the daughter of takami keigo and todoroki touya [though he's gone by a different name since years before she was born]) share an arc as both spiral towards self-destruction. hitomi just wants to do what she can against a corrupt comission and gou knows this is basically his only purpose, as far as he knows.

other characters, such as the other children of 1-a and 1-b are largely unfleshed out for now. iida misato (the daughter of iida tensei and fuyumi) is the current english teacher to the heroics course, kirishima takato is the comic relief most of the time, and three unnamed miritama kids are pretty close to joining the cast.

[also idk if it has to be said because i am adapting this from a pretty old work of mine, i imagine so far into the future everyone has ways of having children biologically. none of the characters in oha are trans, but their kids are theirs and thats all that matters <3. just means i handwaved away some stuff.]

#au: our hero academia #bnha fankid #mha fankid #mha oc #bnha oc #bnha next gen #mha next gen

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into-september · 3 years

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PUT YOUR MONEY ON LADYNOIR, KIDS

(This has been sitting around in my drafts for a while, but in light of how many people were surprised by S4 starting with lukanette bombing, it felt like a time as good as any to clean it up and post it.)

There is much to be said about the Love Square being the heart of Miraculous Ladybug, but I’ll leave it at the central point: The Love Square isn’t just “the big ship”, it is a quintessential element to the self-perception of both our heroes in seasons 1-3. The three-and-a-half different relationships that Marinette and Adrien have between them each reflect not only the two of them relating to each other, but speak volumes about how the two of them see themselves playing the different parts that they do in and out of their masks. And that, in turn, is key to understanding one of the questions the series does discuss on a meta level: when all the world’s a stage, what is our sincerest self?

Ladrien is my personal heroin and marichat might be the fandom’s jam, and the end result is and will always be adrinette. But I’m fairly confident that none of them will be the first to pass the finish line, for two reasons.

The first is all in the telling: having Ladybug and Cat Noir literally transform into Adrien and Marinette’s alternative love interests as Snake Noir and Dragonbug is fairly solid foreshadowing that ladynoir will happen before The Reveal.

The second is all in what is being told, because looking at the difference between how Adrien loves Ladybug contra how Marinette loves Adrien, that’s probably how their relationship has to happen. Miraculous Ladybug does a solid amount of commenting upon the parts we perform in the different situations we navigate in life, and no-where is that more obvious than in the way its two main characters love each other and keep walking into metaphorical walls as they pursue that love.

So find yourself a “hits from 1997″ playlist and sit down for 4.2k meta about how Adrien loves Ladybug contra how Marinette loves Adrien and how that means ladynoir is - at least in line with how the two have been portrayed on the show this far - building up to be a narrative necessity.

1. BYE BYE BUTTERFREE I wasn’t surprised to see lukanette end before it ever really began, because to borrow the words later used about the romance in a certain '97 literary debut... those weren’t “hints” dropped, those were anvils. The official S4 summary takes special care to mention that as the guardian, Marinette is “too busy" to pursue Adrien. The new OP is mostly identical to the old one, maintaining both the start and the ending where Marinette is swooning over a clueless Adrien. The NYC special happened. The last TV episode before it ended with Marinette and Adrien both moving on from an unrequited love and trying with someone else, yet the symbolic ice cream symbolically didn’t replace their supposedly abandoned love interests with their new ones, but with themselves. The romantic pacing might have shifted, but the subjects remained.

Luka’s relationship with Marinette existed for the purpose of failing. It changed preciously little in Marinette, who did nothing more than say “okay” in order to win it, faced no challenges or difficulties or even any hard choices in deciding to go for it, and lost nothing significant when it ended. There were absolutely zero negative consequences to any part of it. No matter how clearly she was into someone else, no matter how badly she treated him, no matter that she dumped him. He’s not bitter, he’s not jealous, of course they’ll still be friends.

The point of The Big Lukanette Episode never was Marinette’s relationship with Luka. When it ends, Marinette isn’t sad because she can’t be with Luka, she’s sad because she can’t have a boyfriend. That was the extent of Luka’s entire existence in the show until this point: he was an easy option if she wanted to hold hands and go on dates. The fact that her collection of Adrien pics remains during their entire relationship speaks for itself.

"Truth” was about sinking lukanette but actually it was about sinking pre-reveal adrinette. For good and bad, this episode persisted in painting Luka as the most selfless and patient person in the world. When not even he could put up with Marinette’s double life, what are the hopes of Adrien Agreste doing so? As has been obvious to anyone with eyes, Adrien is ten times more important to Marinette than Luka ever was. A relationship with him would come with far higher stakes, and would end with a far bigger heartbreak. What Marinette can take away from her relationship with Luka, is that it won’t even be worth trying with Adrien.

Adrien’s photos are going away only after she ended it with Luka, because only now does Marinette truly embrace the fact that a relationship with Adrien can’t happen even if he were available. What changed with “Truth” is the reason Adrien is out of her reach. Where it used to be because Marinette failed at making her interest clear, the obstacle now is circumstances that she cannot change. She can’t have Adrien because being Ladybug is incompatible with having a normal life. Being Ladybug comes with a line of secrecy that is keeping her away from being truly close to others.

Except, there is someone who shares those secrets. And this someone is a boy who loves her, and who has shown again and again that he’s happy with as little or as much as she can give him. And who she’s kissed, and who she fell in love with in a future that won’t happen, and who is at this point probably her closest friend outside of Tikki. Who is, in fact, the person she cannot be without: Marinette can give up on Adrien. But she can’t be Ladybug without Cat Noir.

2. SHOULD HAVE SEEN JUST WHAT WAS THERE AND NOT SOME HOLY LIGHT For much of the run of the show, the timing of Marinette getting together with Adrien would be irrelevant. She’s adorable about it, he’s immensely fond of her, they’d grow into each other and figure things out together. But with the darker turn things took in parts of S3 and beyond, it’s clear that the answer is no longer that simple. Marinette needs to sort herself out, and her feelings for Adrien are everything but sorted.

Marinette’s crush on Adrien is certainly both hilarious and heartbreaking, but it is also, well... deluded, for lack of a better word. Strangely so, in fact, considering its origins. Marinette fell for Adrien the moment he proved her prejudices wrong. She jumped to conclusions about him based on his background (rich, famous, friend of Chloé) and initially refused to even consider otherwise. Acting on Nino’s instruction to “just be yourself, dude”, Adrien showed Marinette that he wasn’t the person she thought he was, and Marinette - well, from the looks of it, she pretty quickly jumped from one extreme to the other. Much as she might know him personally, the boy Marinette serenades is the one on the fragrance ad. The pictures on her walls are cut-outs from fashion magazines. She’s in love with the boy, but she focuses a lot of her attention on the fabricated images of him, rather than the classmate who gave her his umbrella. She conflates the boy in school with the boy wearing the mask of the professional, which of course makes it absolutely no surprise that she won’t even consider him when he’s wearing the mask most unlike his everyday one. No single scene highlights it better than the opening of “Frozer”, where she turns Cat Noir down while eight (8) different ads for “Adrien: The Fragrance” are in the frame.

We might laugh (or, as I understand is more common, cringe) at Marinette’s speech at Adrien’s “statue” in the wax museum, but no matter how make-believe the tableau was, it was an apt allegory of the real situation: Marinette loves an idea of Adrien constructed in part of her friend in class, in part his well-documented public persona, in part her own delusions of him (the perfect guitarist, of course!). It was cute when Marinette’s universe was the limbo of self-contained monster-of-the-week episodes. It is very, very unhelpful when the save point of status quo is gone.

There were some internet tears shed when the first S4 teaser showed us Marinette’s room without her photo collection of Adrien. I was honestly more surprised to see the photos still around in the lukanette teaser - I’d have thought they'd be gone after the NYC special. The photos are the physical manifestation of what has been keeping Marinette from being with Adrien for real. She can’t have a real relationship with him before she sees that he’s a real boy, not an airbrushed image come to life. For that to happen, the photos have to go.

“I’m so secretive,” says her role-play version of Adrien in “Animaestro” - the episode where Adrien makes his debut as an actor, ironically playing Himself. But Adrien continually shows Marinette his true self; she just too devoted to her fantasies to notice him.

Contrast Adrien: “Whoever she is beneath that mask - I love that girl.”

3. PLANT A SEED, PLANT A FLOWER, PLANT A ROSE Let me stress this point: The moment Adrien realises his feelings for Ladybug, he vocalises it. And what he says, is explicitly that it’s not Ladybug he loves, but the girl behind Ladybug’s mask.

Because of course he knows everything about wearing masks; Adrien Agreste is a boy whose life was the mask of the son his father demands him to be for years before he donned the costume of Cat Noir. Adrien doesn’t just love the amazing superhero, but the girl he knows is somewhere behind the persona - the girl about to break down in tears because she thought herself unworthy of her powers, who pulled herself together and told the evil supervillain exactly where he could shove it before she singlehandedly owned his ass. Where Marinette doesn’t even realise that masks are being worn, Adrien - used to wearing them as he navigates the different stages of his life - considers them to be meaningless. Where Marinette can’t imagine an Adrien who is less than perfect, Adrien is painfully aware that Ladybug is as flawed as all of us. Unlike Marinette, who demonstratively views Adrien and Cat Noir very differently (oh hai thar, “Desperada”), Adrien sees Ladybug and Marinette from a fairly similar perspective, down to explicitly comparing Marinette to Ladybug and having guessed her identity twice.

This difference in perception isn’t just the result of Marinette’s absurd idolisation of Adrien Agreste, though that definitely is a huge part of it. The fact of the matter is that it took until "Glaciator”, a third into the show’s current run, for Marinette to fully realise that the jokester beside her in every battle is a boy who can love and hope and hurt. As Ladybug, her relationship with him had consisted of the banter as they fight monsters together. This was the first time she saw that Cat Noir is a real boy who exists outside of akuma battles, and it probably isn’t a coincidence that he shows this vulnerability to Marinette, and not to Ladybug. Marinette is a trusted friend; Ladybug is the girl he desperately wants to impress. Marinette might be afraid that Adrien doesn’t like who she is, but Adrien - consciously or not - is putting on a show of what he thinks Ladybug wants him to be. (and well, as of “Truth”...)

But at the same time as Cat Noir’s persona is clearly a roleplay (”I didn’t think he was her type...”, emphasis mine), Adrien desperately wants Ladybug to see him for himself. Like he loves the girl behind the mask, he wants her to love Adrien. What Adrien needs to realise, is that unlike his father, Ladybug won’t judge him for having “emotions”. Here is the greatest irony of all the layers of irony crossing in the love square: Ladybug already loves him. She fell in love with him because he showed that he’s just as insecure and vulnerable as she sometimes is.

4. SWING IT, SHAKE IT, MOVE IT, MAKE IT Marinette’s neurotic self-doubt around Adrien is perhaps the longest persisting part of who she was before she became Ladybug. I can’t say whether the story continually stressing this is as an intentional parallel or not, but whatever the case, it does stand as an apt illustration of the mental obstacles Marinette has had to tackle this far in her journey as Ladybug. In essence: Marinette has a history of doubting herself not just as her worth as Marinette, but in fact doubting her very existence as Ladybug. Her story as Ladybug started with her pulled into battle literally because she didn’t know how to get the spots off, giving up on her powers the instant she thought she’d messed up, and only truly claiming the role of Ladybug once she realised that it gave her the power to save the things important to her - first Alya, and then the decency of the city.

At three seasons in, what little development has been explored in Miraculous has been Marinette’s growth into Ladybug (and its bleak mirror in Chloé’s rise and fall as Queen Bee). This was the entire point of the S1 finale (that is, the story’s beginning), and the culmination of the S3 finale was that there is no going back: Ladybug’s burden now rests inescapably on Marinette’s shoulders. This growth was initially straightforward: Just believe in yourself, and you can be anything! The problem in “Origins” boils down to the fact that Marinette doesn’t believe that she can be Ladybug; she doesn’t take Tikki’s word for it, she doesn’t trust the praise given by Alya, she's ready to quit the instant a critical voice is raised. As will be a recurring event throughout the series, it is Cat Noir who puts her back together: He doesn’t for a second doubt himself, and Marinette trusts him. And when she believes in him who believes in her, she becomes more than she’d ever thought she could be - as Ladybug, but also as Marinette.

Except, for some reason, in front of Adrien Agreste. He is the actor capable of reducing Marinette to an insecure, self-doubting wreck. If Marinette’s journey is the journey to solid self-confidence, the final boss isn’t Hawkmoth, but the cute boy in front of her in class.

The S3 finale and the S4 trailers both signal a change of pace: Sitting on what is essentially a box of magical WMDs, Ladybug’s problems are of an entirely different nature than before, and Marinette’s life will never be the same. Already before Master Fu leaves, Marinette grieves about having to “put up a front” and “never being able to be who I truly am”. Marinette’s double life is taking a toll on her, but here, then, is the question: who is it that Marinette “truly is”?

In a superhero show literally titled “Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir”, the answer is a given. In “Origins”, Tikki’s presence and the power of the miraculous transform Marinette both physically and mentally. In the span of a day, the meek and insecure girl of the morning is gone and replaced with the bold and confident heroine. Of course, Marinette is no more “really Ladybug” than Adrien is “really Cat Noir”, but the context of the complaint makes it plain: why on god’s green earth would she complain to Luka that she “can’t be herself” if she were talking about Marinette? Marinette is herself around Luka, to a far greater degree than she has been with Adrien up to this point. The part of Marinette that she has to hide is the literal source of her power and confidence. Marinette can’t go back to being just a normal girl with a normal life, and as of “Feast”, it’s been unquestionably a fact that she wouldn’t do so either, if given the choice. And we know that she’ll grow up and she’ll grow into her part; we know that Marinette will continue choosing Ladybug. At some point, she’ll have to learn to find the balance between life as Marinette and the duties of Ladybug. What the teasers we’ve got of S4 seems to make clear, is that she can’t do it alone. Her secrets are forcing her to isolate herself from her friends and family, but sharing them would put any recipient in danger.

And here is the core of why I expect ladynoir to happen before any other side of the Love Square. Because Marinette “can’t be who I really am” Dupain-Cheng is known as who she truly is by one person only.

Cat Noir is the only person who knows Marinette not as just a normal girl with a normal life, but as the superhero devoted to saving the city. And unlike everyone else in Marinette’s life, Cat Noir knows that there is an entirely different side of her. He knows that she carries an immense burden that nobody else in her life knows about. And he knows that there is a girl who is insecure and who doubts and who sometimes gives in to despair - and Cat Noir loves that girl, too. More than either of them know, in fact, because we know that the girl who he loves is also his treasured friend who can make anything happen.

Please take a minute to compare that to Marinette’s besotted fantasies about Adrien.

5. FOR FRIENDSHIP, PERHAPS One tangential note to how Adrien and Marinette view their love fundamentally differently: The place of friendship. Says Marinette while hanging her head after overhearing Adrien praise her to Kagami, claiming to “like her a lot” and that she’s “a very good friend” (”Riposte”):

“Very good friend, huh (...) Great, so he likes me, but I don’t want him to just like me, I want him to LIKE me!”

Adrien, on the other hand, in response to Ladybug rejecting his confession of love:

“Your friendship means everything to me” and then later, to Plagg: “Her friendship is the best gift of all”.

Adrien, who already sees Marinette/Ladybug for who she truly is and who loves her for being nothing more and nothing less than that, is satisfied with being “just” her friend. Marinette, in love with her own fantasies about Adrien rather than the boy literally right in front of her, struggles with acting like a normal person around her good friend Adrien who is just a friend!

But in stark contrast to the mess she is with Adrien, Marinette’s friendship with Cat Noir is solidly rooted. We’ve seen it grow from the shock with which she treats his confession in “Glaciator” to the despair when he leaves her in the NYC special, and “Truth” brought up an incidentally dropped line from the previous episode where Marinette was about to be crushed from the pressure of her life: “Gamer 2.0″. Once again, Cat Noir tells her that the best time of his life is when he’s fighting monsters with her - twice in the same exchange, this time. And this time, she reacts to it: she questions what his life must be like if akuma battles are the highlight of his days. Jokingly, true, but this marks a change of pace from the sharp divide that she has previously set up between private lives and superhero business. For the first time, she acknowledges out loud that Cat Noir has a life outside of being Cat Noir.

If this is a path that will be pursued in S4 - if her isolation from her friends and family will bring her closer to Cat Noir - then it is only a matter of time before she’ll realise that Cat Noir is not okay. And that will inevitably force her into reassessing everything that is her relationship to him, because Marinette is Ladybug becaues she’s someone who always does what she can to help others. She can’t do anything about Cat Noir’s life because she can’t know anything about it. But she can do the one thing that the NYC special made very clear that she’s still struggling to do for Adrien: To just be his friend when he truly needs it. Because if S4 is going the way I think it is, then Cat Noir will very much be there for her.

6. WHEN YOU SEE ME LIKE THIS / AND WHEN I SEE YOU LIKE THAT I don’t think pre-reveal adrinette will happen because the S3 finale and the NYC special both make it a Point that for Marinette to grow, she needs to reassess her feelings for Adrien and to put them in a different frame. When S4 started with crushing any subconscious hopes she might’ve had about being with him, it opens up for exactly the thing that Marinette needs: to stop seeing Adrien as the boy she wants to be her her boyfriend, and instead recognise him as just the boy who’s been in front of her all along. That is not to say that she’ll fall out of love with him, becaues I absolutely don’t think she will. But she’ll love him in a different way, one which will be far more sincere than her current infatuation.

The show is likewise clear on the fact that Adrien does not have this problem. There is no need for Adrien to “grow into” his love of Ladybug; he is already comfortable and confident in their relationship, whichever form it has. And “Cat Blanc” bluntly makes the point that Adrien also doesn’t need to “learn to love” Marinette, because he fulfils the prophecy he made in “Origins”: Upon finding out who Ladybug was, he promptly loved the girl behind the mask, because he has always, on some level, seen through it.

7. AND SOON ALL PARIS WILL BE SINGING TO YOU This all amounts to is speculation, but I’d like to think that it is at least speculation that is founded on what the show has given us so far. The question that remains is: will Marinette truly change her target - and if so, why?

Marinette knows that she ended up kissing Cat Noir after they’d presumably been running around as amnesiac civillians, and she knows that they were in love after he discovered her identity. (also there was the True Love’s Kiss in “Dark Cupid”, even though she clearly hasn’t dwelled on those implications yet) What she doesn’t know, is that these things happened not becaues Cat Noir is Cat Noir, but because Cat Noir is Adrien.

As I said, I don’t think Marinette will stop loving Adrien, but I think there is a lot of foundations laid for her to start considering Cat Noir. She has already decided to move on from Adrien, and by now, she has probably given up on him, too. Marinette can’t be anyone’s girlfriend, but half of Paris already thinks that Ladybug is dating Cat Noir.

Moreover: One of the people who doesn’t believe they’re a couple is Gabriel. That much is plain in how he talks about their “secret love”, clearly acknowledging that at least Ladybug’s denial of their relationship is real, and equally clearly knowing that on some level, Ladybug is in love with the catboy after all. He knows that through their partnership runs a string of romantic tension that he might yet be willing to yank in order to bring them both down, and I very much expect that sooner or later, he will at the very least try. At that point, it is their friendship that will be up to the test. But if Hawkmoth will try to use their romantic feelings to run a wedge into their partnership, it’ll probably be at some point when Marinette at the very least has acknowledged to herself that those romantic feelings are there. If Cat Noir’s side of things was the only thing needed, Hawkmoth would have used it long since.

Another option that I rarely see discussed, is that of a partial reveal happening: Where Ladybug knows Cat Noir’s identity, but he doesn’t know hers. This seems to be the scenario in “Ce mur qui nous sépare” - which might count as a massive spoiler or not say anything at all, since AFAIK the song was written for the film, which might very well play out any reveals and romantic endings along different beats than the TV show will. But the one time we saw Marinette and Adrien be a couple on the show, it was exactly in that scenario, albeit the other way around: When Adrien discovered her identity in “Cat Blanc”.

It would be the simplest way to finally let Marinette discover that Adrien Agreste isn’t at all the boy she thought he was - and to realise that he’s been waiting for her all along.

#miraculous ladybug #ladynoir #adrinette #mlb meta #ml meta #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #i ship it #blah #mlb spoilers #ml spoilers #love square #miraculous love square #party like it's 1997 #ml speculation

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elainsshadows · 3 years

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I want to talk about Elain today and her role in future books. I will also be talking about other ships at the end of this including: Lucien x Vassa, Lucien x Elain, and Azriel x Gwyn. These are merely my opinions and thoughts, this is not me trying to bash anyone else's opinions. I am open to having discussions as long as you are kind and respectful.

This is going to be long as a warning. Let's begin.

Quiet Strength

My friend recently start reading ACOTAR and she came to me one day and said that she had found a quote that she really liked. That quote was:

"She had looked at that cottage with hope; I had looked at it with nothing but hatred. And I knew which one of us had been stronger" ~ ACOTAR, pg. 259

I know that a lot of antis like to bring up the fact that Elain didn't do anything but plant flowers and such while Feyre was out risking her life to put food on the table. Why hadn't Elain planted food instead? As someone who tried to garden vegetables with her dad one year I can tell you it's not as easy as flowers.

Maybe Elain was trying to bring some color into their drab little existence like Feyre had done with the paints. Maybe she wanted one thing to make her happy.

When Feyre comes to see them in ACOMAF, to ask for their help, it was Elain who said that they should help.

"If... if we do not help Feyre, there won't be a wedding." ~ ACOMAF pg. 247

"Feyre gave and gave - for years. Let us help her. Help... others." ~ ACOMAF pg. 248

Elain was risking a lot by saying they should now help their Fae sister. She was going to be married to someone who's family hated the Fae. If they found out what Elain and Nesta were doing it would probably be the end of her engagement to Graysen. They would become Fae sympathizers and like the Children of the Blessed we see mentioned throughout the books.

Would a coward risk all of this? Not to me they wouldn't.

When Rhys, Az, and Cassian arrive once Elain had cleared out the servants. Elain, while scared, still tries to be a good host to the four of them. I want to come back to this scene when I discuss Elriel because this was the moment that I first started thinking that they would make a good pair.

But while Nesta and Feyre are more bold with their actions like wielding swords, bow and arrows, knives, etc., Elain doesn't necessarily back down from a challenge. When given Truth-Teller she simply states that she doesn't know how to use it. She does not shove it back at Azriel and refuse it, she simply informs him she doesn't know how to use it.

Also when they had been captured by Hybern and all that mess was going down. Tamlin had been gunning for Feyre and it was Elain who did this:

"But Elain's cry - a warning. A warning to- To my right, now exposed, Tamlin ran for me. To grab me at last." ACOMAF pg. 602

Elain, despite being scared in this highly stressful situation, saw her sister in danger and tried her hardest to warn her. If it had not been for Elain, Tamlin might have been able to grab Feyre at that moment in all the confusion and chaos. Despite being in her nightgown and terrified she still tried to protect her younger sister.

Once again when people are in danger once the Wall had been taken down it was Elain who spoke up. She knew that Graysen's family's estate could help protect those closest to the Wall and from any Fae that may come to do them harm.

"Glamour me," Elain said - to Rhys. "Make me look human. Just long enough to convince him to open his gates to those seeking sanctuary." ~ ACOWAR pg. 471

"It's already ended badly. Now it's just a matter of deciding how we meet the consequences." ~ ACOWAR pg. 471

She's Fae now. If Graysen or any of his family or those working for them knew this (which we see that they did) then they might kill her on sight. She risked her life to make sure defenseless humans remained as safe as they could with the oncoming war.

When Azriel and Feyre go to Hybern's camp to save Elain they also save another human. They are being pursued and clearly, the human girl is terrified of them, but it is Elain that says this:

"Grab onto him!" Elain ordered to the wide-eyed human girl as Azriel thundered toward her. *skipped ahead* "Elain screamed at her, "If you want to live, do it now!" ~ ACOWAR pg. 577

She also does this when the King of Hybern's beasts are upon them:

"Elain moved. As Azriel battled to keep them airborne, keep his grip on them, my sister sent a fierce kick into the beast's face. Its eye. *Skipped ahead* "Elain slammed her bare, muddy foot into its face again. The blow struck home." ACOWAR pg. 577

Knowing that their lives are in danger and that if this beast does anything to Azriel's wings they are all going to die. She does not hesitate and does not back down as she goes after the beast with her barefoot.

She slays the King of Hybern as well:

"Elain stepped out of a shadow behind him, and rammed Truth-Teller to the hilt through the back of the King's neck as she snarled in his ear, "Don't you touch my sister." ~ ACOWAR pg. 652

She has a protective streak in her and she will go down swinging if she has to.

And this I just found interesting. Everyone seems to shy away from Amren, but in ACOFAS this happens when they're all eating together:

"Elain, to my surprise, held Amren's gaze." ~ ACOFAS pg. 108

I just like that she held Amren's gaze.

Being Feminine Isn't Boring

I see a lot of people saying that Elain being feminine is boring, that she isn't an exciting heroine. Yes, Elain isn't one of SJM's typical heroines, but I think that makes her all the more interesting. We've never seen someone who isn't like Aelin, Bryce, Feyre, and Nesta from SJM.

"Elain stood between Nuala and Cerridwen at the long worktable. All three of them covered in flour." ~ ACOWAR pg. 386

"Elain was in the kitchen, helping Nuala and Cerridwen prepare the evening meal." ~ ACOFAS pg. 101

"She'd been toiling in the estate gardens since dawn." ~ ACOSF pg. 28

"Elain had already departed with Feyre, claiming she had to be up with the dawn to tend to an elderly faerie's garden." ~ ACOSF pg. 311

Do I think Elain's entire book will be based on her baking and taking care of gardens? No, I don't. I think she is capable of more than that and that is going to lead into my next point.

Elain Archeron, 007

This is not a new theory and it isn't even one that I came up with. Many lovely Elriels have pointed out comparisons to Azriel and Elain and how he may even teach her how to be a spy. I think it is a perfectly lovely idea. Let me show you some quotes from the book that make me think that this could be a possibility.

"Elain spoke from the doorway, having appeared so silently that they all twisted toward her, "Using me." ~ ACOSF pg. 230

They were talking about looking for the Dread Trove here and scrying. They were debating who should do it when Elain stepped up. She has done this before and with her seer abilities she is a perfect choice for the job. Obviously several characters aren't thrilled with the idea (Nesta and Azriel being two of the ones that don't like the idea).

"Azriel stiffened, an outright sign of temper from him as he said quietly, "There is an innate darkness to the Drea Trove that Elain should not be exposed to." ~ ACOSF pg. 311

"Elain saw every single thing Nesta had done, and understood why." ~ ACOSF pg. 470

"You came," Elain said behind her, and Nesta started, not having heard her sister approach. *skipped ahead* "Wondering if she'd been taking lessons in stealth either from Azriel or the two half-wraiths she called friends." ~ ACOSF pg. 595

We see that even Nesta is questioning whether or not Elain has been having lessons. She very well could have or this could be a hidden talent that Nesta has never gotten to see or never cared to see because she viewed Elain as someone who is innocent and needing protection.

Nesta mothers Elain throughout the series, we constantly see her coming to Elain's defense, stepping in front of her, talking for her. And while Elain used to let that slide we can see now that she is coming into her own and not letting Nesta walk all over her.

"Elain said, "You can't have it both ways. You cannot resent my decision to lead a small, quiet life while also refusing to let me do anything greater." ~ ACOSF pg. 232

I think Elain has been denied many things in her life because she has been seen as the most beautiful. Her own mother seeing her as nothing more than a pretty face that would be easy to marry off once she was of age. What will she do now that she has more freedom than she did before? Now that she will not become some lord's wife?

I do not see Elain as a warrior who is ready for battle, but I see her being ready for a different kind of battle.

"It took hours for Elain to work her charm on the staff to swiftly pack their bags and leave, each with a purse of money to hasten the process." ~ ACOMAF pg. 250

You know who else is charming? James Bond.

Being another pretty face has something going for Elain. No one would look at her and think "Yeah she's totally a spy." She can charm people, make them feel more at ease, and get them to open up. Maybe even enough that they think nothing of divulging things in front of her that otherwise shouldn't be overheard.

Maybe she can learn to glamour herself so that she is not recognizable to others. Who knows but I'm sure we'll find out when her book happens.

Welcome To Spring

One of my least favorite theories I've seen is that Elain will leave the Night Court and her family to go to Spring. Even going as far as saying that she will wind up with Tamlin. I don't think Feyre would let her sister wind up with her abuser plain and simple. Nor do I think Elain would fall for her sister's abuser just because he lives in a land of eternal spring and has flowers.

In ACOSF Nesta has this thought:

"Elain would love this place. So many flowers, all in bloom, so much green, *skipped ahead* But Elain... The Spring Court had been made for someone like her." ~ ACOSF pg. 454

While I do believe that Elain would love the Spring Court I do not think she would ever leave her family or friends behind.

"Two half-wraiths she called friends." ~ ACOSF pg. 595

"Cassian kissing Elain's cheek in greeting. *skipped ahead* Amren came next, giving my sister a nod. *skipped ahead* The Mor, with a smacking kiss for either cheek." ~ ACOFAS pg. 105

We also know that the sisters tend to consider one of the brothers friends. Feyre with Cassian, Nesta with Azriel, and I believe Rhys and Elain will also be friends. He seems to like Elain (certainly more than he likes Nesta).

Plus now there is Nyx in the mixture and why would she leave and miss out on her nephew growing up? What about if Nesta becomes pregnant and has a child? So no I do not believe that Elain will leave the Night Court.

Shipping Time

Here is where opinions and feelings may vary and people might not like what I have to say. Just know that these are merely my feelings on a ship. Ship what you want to ship, I am not here to gatekeep. These are merely my feelings on the matter. I'm going to start with the two ships I like: Elain x Azriel and Lucien x Vassa.

Elain Archeron x Azriel

I mentioned this earlier but I've been shipping them since ACOMAF. I saw the potential for them from the moment they began to interact.

"Elain rasped, "Nice to meet you," before hustling after her, the silk skirts of her cobalt dress whispering over the parquet floor." ~ ACOMAF pg. 253

I like the symbolism in this line. Cobalt = Azriel's siphons. Whispering = Azriel's shadows. While it might not be that deep as a writer I like the small things like this in my works. Things that later when you come back to them after something important happens that is a callback to something like this you can go "ooooh that makes sense now, yeah." We also do see other mentions of Elain wearing blue, but this post is long enough and it's only a few more times so I don't think it's worth noting. This part just sticks out to me because it's the first time they're meeting and like I said I love symbolism.

"Elain said to Azriel, perhaps the only two civilized ones here, "Can you truly fly?" ~ ACOMAF pg. 256

Elain who has been taught to fear the Fae is talking to him, also probably leaning around Cassian - who she is seated next to and also has wings - and asking if he can fly.

Azriel responds on the same page saying, "We're born hearing the song of the wind." And her response of, "That's very beautiful." This is the same male who famously said he wouldn't need poetry to woo a woman. Maybe he's not trying to woo her here, but he's trying to impress her.

"Elain, noticing Azriel's ease as proof that things weren't indeed about to go badly offered one (a smile) of her own as well." ~ ACOMAF pg. 258

She seems mighty comfortable with a Fae she just met. Which leads my into my two mate theory that I've had for some time now.

We know the tweet where SJM says that someone can have two mates. This was during a time when one of the TOG novels was about to come out and was probably referencing something in there, but I think it would be interesting to see play out in this situation as well.

We've seen several times people questioning Elain and Lucien's mating bond. Feyre and Azriel both do it. Feyre during ACOWAR and Azriel in his bonus chapter from ACOSF.

We also know that not all mates are happy pairings ie. Rhysand's parents and Tamlin's parents. We also know that sometimes it's based on who would have the strongest offspring. We can see this reflected in both Rhysand and Feyre's mating (he's considered the most powerful High Lord and she has abilities from all seven HLs).

But what if Elain and Lucien aren't true mates? True mates to me is a happily mated pair like Feyre and Rhys as well as Nesta and Cassian. Azriel questions why his brothers were mated to two sisters while the third was mated to another. (Pardon me for not using quotes here, I do not have the bonus chapter so I am going from memory.)

Why indeed? And I think it was because he was on the floor dying at the time. We know that the Cauldron loves Elain, so if her true mate was on the floor dying and there was no guarantee for survival it would make sense for the Cauldron to gift Elain another mating bond.

I will talk more about this in the section where I discuss them as a ship, but I wanted to briefly mention it here.

We also know the scene where Azriel hands over Truth-Teller to her, something that shocks all of them. I think of Truth-Teller like Azriel's security blanket. Something that brings him comfort and he never ever wants to part with it. But he gives it to Elain.

After she was taken by the Cauldron and held captive at Hybern's camp. After she says this:

"She shook her head, devouring the sight of him as if not quite believing it. "You came for me." The shadowsinger only inclined his head." ~ ACOWAR pg. 573

Why did she look only to Azriel? Why did she seem so surprised that he would come for her? Kind of like how a princess might not believe that her prince has come for her. (Love me some Disney princess movies)

To me these two just fit together. And to me they are more like Hades and Persephone than Feyre and Rhysand are. And hear me out: Elain as Persephone, goddess of spring. Azriel as Hades, god of death. (Feyre once calls him Death when thinking of a painting of him and Elain. Death and the lovely fawn she called it). Some might see Azriel and Elain falling in love as stealing her away from her mother (or mate in this case).

Also if you want another mythology reference. Paris (Azriel), Helen (Elain), Menelaus (Lucien). Helen was considered the most beautiful and was stolen away from her husband Menelaus (though I think she went with Paris willingly so there's that.)

I see so many parallels and signs that point toward an Elriel endgame. We know Elain's book is in the works and I'm pretty sure it's next since Sarah has talked about doing research for her book. We also know that Sarah is excited to work with Azriel as well.

Moving on.

Lucien Vanserra x Vassa

I've been shipping them since ACOWAR. So not as long as Elriel, but since a bit. I think this was the line that did it for me:

"Indeed, Vassa still remained inside, chatting with Lucien animatedly. *skipped ahead* Lucien, surprisingly, was chuckling, his shoulders loose and his head angled while he listened." ~ ACOWAR pg. 690

Unlike with Elain, he seems comfortable around Vassa.

"Even with Elain here, he's become close with Jurian and Vassa. He's voluntarily living with them these days, and not just as an emissary. As their friend." ~ ACOSF pg. 57

I'm a sucker for the friends to lovers trope (it only falls after the enemies to lovers trope). And while we do not have a lot on them I can see the two of them being happy. I can see Lucien trying to find a way to make her immortal if that's what she wants. And I just want the two of them finding their HEA together in the final book.

My theory is that Vassa will be the MC of the last book and will deliver the killing blow to Koschei (as she should). I would love to see their journey together and their time together in the mortal lands especially since the mating bond would be severed at this point if Elriel is the book before this one. I want Lucien to be happy and I think that he could be happy with Vassa.

Elain Archeron x Lucien Vanserra

We know that Elain and Lucien are mates. He announced this on page 608 a little bit after Elain had come out of the Cauldron. But these two do not seem to fit together in my opinion. Now please note I have nothing against Elucien, I even like some of the fanart and the theories I have read are wonderful. I'm just personally not a fan of these two because of how they were thrust together.

When comparing Jesiminda and Elain, Lucien says this:

"Elain had been... thrown at him." ACOWAR pg. 249

I know Lucien wants to be happy and I know mates are special, but I don't necessarily think that Elain will be his happiness. I think that the way they met ruined that for them.

"But Elain blinked slowly, "You were in Hybern." *Skipped ahead* "You betrayed us." ACOWAR pg. 250 - 251

Lucien, however willing or unwillingly, did play some part in Elain being turned Fae. He was one of the reasons she could no longer go home or marry Graysen. I don't know if that's something that could be overcome especially since Elain is still dealing with the events of that day.

We also know that Elain tends to avoid him, shrinking in on herself when he's around. Another reason why I can't ship this is because I've been in a similar situation where people were pressuring me to be with someone I had no interest in. I know what it's like to hear "you two are perfect for each other", "you should give him a chance", "just try".

Their relationship is not evolving naturally like Feyre and Rhys's did or Cassian and Nesta's. I don't think Lucien would ever push the mating bond onto Elain, but I do think since it's something special to Fae he may cling to it more than she will.

Another thing about their bond that doesn't sit with me is how it is described.

"It felt... strange," Elain breathed. "Like you pulled on a thread tied to a rib." ACOWAR pg. 301

"There's a bond - it's a real thread," he said, more to himself than us." ACOWAR pg. 301

Other bonds have been described as "so much golden thread" or an "unbreakable chain". But Elain and Lucien's is described as a singular thread that feels as though it were attached to a rib. To me mating bonds are like soulmates, why would that bond be attached to a rib and not the heart or her being?

I believe that once again either the Cauldron created this bond between them or maybe they are not what's considered a "perfect match" like Elain's sisters with their mates are.

I will say this: If Elain and Lucien do wind up together I won't be mad. Sure they are not my preferred ship, but they both deserve happiness and can find it together then good for them. We will just have to wait and see where SJM takes them.

Azriel x Gwyn Berdara

I've lowkey been dreading talking about them because of how toxic this fanwar between Elriels and Gwynriels gets. Once again this is just my opinion and my theories. No hate or shade to any of the shippers. I will not be bashing theories. If you don't want to read my thoughts then please just leave now and pretend you never saw this.

I do not like Azriel and Gwyn as a ship for one very big reason: power imbalance. Azriel saved Gwyn from a highly traumatic experience. Now before I go any further let me say that I brought this up to my mom who also reads the series but isn't a shipper, she just reads them to enjoy them. I asked her what she thought of Az x Gwyn as a pairing and if she would like to see that and she said no that she also felt there would be a power imbalance.

Gwyn is a strong character, but I do not think I could get behind her and Az as a couple because of how they met.

I also do not believe that Gwyn will be the MC of any of the last books there are. We still have Elain's book, possibly a Mor book, or even Vassa. There are too many people from the original trilogy that we need to see books for. While I will not rule out a book in the future I don't see her getting one now.

I know the necklace is a hot button issue, but I also don't believe that Clotho gave it to her. We never hear it mentioned in the main portion of the book and I think Clotho knew how troubled Azriel was and thought that she should hold onto it just in case.

"You're the new ribbon, Az," ~ ACOSF pg. 623

Gwyn is a competitive person, to me this line that Nesta says is here merely telling Az that Gwyn's next challenge would be to prove him wrong about the training course. Nesta knows of Azriel's feelings for her sister by this point, so I don't see this line as her teasing Az about Gwyn possibly having a crush on him.

But again these are just how I interpret things between them.

These are all my thoughts at the moment that I'm going to share. If you would like to have a discussion my ask box is open. Hate will not be tolerated though.

#Elain Archeron #Elriel #Azriel #pro Elain Archeron #pro Azriel #pro Elriel #ACOTAR 5 #ACOTAR 5 predictions #ACOTAR theories

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ramblingguy54 · 3 years

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True Colors: An Emotionally Fantastic Serious Game Changer.

If we’re to look back at Reunion as Season 1′s dramatic pay off for Amphibia’s message of toxic friendships, as Anne & Sasha’s conflicting dynamic showed us, then True Colors is a colossal expansive note on this big theme of the series. True Colors makes Season 1′s finale look like a walk in the park for what angst goes down between our three main heroins in Season 2′s climatic resolution. Everything that can go wrong does go oh so painfully wrong for these three kids. Anne, to no one’s surprise, gets double crossed by Sasha leaving things between them a Hell of a lot more bitter than they were previously, as if that couldn’t already be topped when Sasha tried to kill the Plantars before. Anne has had enough of her lies and manipulation not being afraid to tell Sasha straight up how awful of a friend she’s been in general, even hitting her where it hurts most of all saying, “No, I’m done listening to you! I’m done trusting you! You’re a horrible person and I am done being FRIENDS with you!”, going so far as to get a shaken reaction out of Sasha dropping her brave face act, making this girl try to wipe away the frog family.

Right off the bat, True Colors makes it highly evident this isn’t just another story of stopping a bigger threat, but one hitting much closer to home, overall. Yes, King Andrias is certainly a dangerous villain, who makes his presence and intimidating nature known to the others by True Color’s final act, which despite this Amphibia isn’t entirely putting him at the forefront, rather focusing on a more intimate study of Anne, Sasha, and Marcy’s big emotional conflict. This finale knows exactly where to put its focus of importance on, so I love that instead of it being action packed we’re getting the spotlight shined on just how screwed up these three of a friendship have, in spite of Marcy claiming in The Dinner episode, “We’re supposed to be friends for life. We don’t split up!’ . Very ironic stuff right there, indeed.

True Colors’ most powerful strength it adds to Amphibia’s ongoing profound story about healthy friendships is the thorough deconstruction of these girls defined “ideal relationship” as people. Before Anne came to the world of Amphibia this kid was afraid to stand up for what she believed in, even knowing especially well that stealing the calamity box was morally questionable, but did it anyway. Sasha was super manipulative, abusive, and used her power to control people, like she did a lot of toward Anne in their lives. Marcy, while very smart, wasn’t the most competent physically, who soon grew into being more independent without needing to rely on Anne always having to be there for her. These three were changed immensely by the events of being thrust into this world of sentient amphibian creatures. Anne benefited morally most out out of all three in taking up the mantle of responsibility and ironing out her own issues. She’s become a much stronger person all around.

This episode asks us an important question though in nutshell with, “Have Sasha & Marcy truly changed for the better?”, since Anne has reached a point in her arc feeling genuinely content with who she’s become and the bonds that have been made with the Plantar family shown most notably with Sprig Plantar. Hence the whole purpose behind the song, It’s No Big Deal, with Anne feeling proud for who she is, yet not noticing a bigger issue right underneath her nose. That previous episode was meant to bring Anne’s happiness up only to bring it all crashing down in a devastating display of new revelations in True Colors. Every dramatic emotional beat isn’t just earned. Each significant moment is completely knocked out of the park by terrific voice acting, beautiful animation, and music composition that gave me serious emotional goosebumps. True Colors did exactly as Not What He Seems accomplished for Gravity Falls in shaking up its own respective dramatic stakes just when you thought it couldn’t get any higher for these protagonists. Shit seriously hits the fan here.

Did it ever occur to you, Anne? Sasha? That one of you knew more, than she was letting on? That ONE of you might’ve gotten you stranded in Amphibia on purpose...?

The big bombshell twist of Marcy playing a part too in getting them into this whole debacle completely flips everything upside down. Sasha pushed Anne into taking the Calamity Box, yes, but if Marcy never sent that photo because of her desire to stay with them together forever, then they wouldn’t have been stranded in basically a world full of dangerous creatures and who knows what else. Easily my favorite part of the episode, considering it adds more nuance to a situation that defined Amphibia’s story. It wasn’t just one person’s fault at the end of the day. Sasha bullied Anne into taking the box, Anne didn’t put her foot down to make a stand for something morally questionable, and Marcy took advantage of them both to benefit her own selfish desires for supposedly a “happy ending” not involving them staying apart, due to her parents moving away for a new job. All three girls played an important part on why they got landed into Amphiba. It’s why Anne’s statement to King Andrias, “The three of us may have made some mistake, but you...You’re evil and I’m gonna stop you!”, holds such a real weight to it, as this story continues to solidify how genuinely fleshed out their dynamic is.

Marcy’s super desperate plea to be understood by Anne & Sasha when Andrias revealed her getting them thrown into Amphibia purposefully was hard to watch. On one hand, I felt for Marcy because she didn’t want real life circumstances to tear apart that close connection she had to Sasha & Anne. Sure, she could’ve just kept in touch with them over the phone or chatting online, too. However, Marcy had known them since very early childhood. When you’ve been so attached to someone it can be a devastating thing, depending on just how vulnerable you are emotionally, to start drifting apart. Marcy represents that embodiment of toxic need for togetherness and couldn’t bear to let a possibility, like moving away, throw a wrench into her happiness and friendship, as well.

Never mind Marcy wanting to stay permanently in a different reality, rather than face her’s, but it made this person feel like something more. It gave her a chance to feel truly special in being able to live out a fantasy dream of having such power and freedom that a kid, like herself, couldn’t have had. The freedom to know she is plenty capable of making it out there on her own without Anne having to watch this kid like a hawk. So, to have someone, or something, try taking it away from her terrified Marcy of facing a terrible truth. That she isn��t strong enough after all to live a life without Anne & Sasha by her side completely, where Marcy will never feel truly worthy enough to blossom into her own person. It’s why that line, “I just...didn’t want to be alone...”, carries such a deep pain to it all. Marcy just crumbles into pieces accepting her greatest weakness. As much as Marcy fumbled the ball big time, it’s so easy to empathize with her on the idea of feeling competent enough. Marcy never meant to hurt Anne or Sasha, but the sad crushing punchline is she very much did.

Speaking of which, Anne had every right to be upset and mad, obviously. Anne has been missing so many things from her life before everything went off the wall. Hopping Mall especially highlighted Anne’s emotional desire to give anything just to hear her mother’s singing again. This teenager has been really dealing with a lot of grief in general quite honestly. Anne got into a high stakes battle against Sasha to save new friends, who’d practically became like an adopted family, which left the poor girl traumatized and heartbroken over the end result. She thought finding Marcy would help compensate for it and eventually be able to mend those complications with Sasha to boot. It’s simply painful to see it all blow up in Anne’s face to know not only Sasha betrayed her trust yet again, but realizing Marcy also played a part of responsibility in getting them thrown here. Matt Braly really just decided to slap future trust issues onto Anne finding out Hop Pop, Sasha, and Marcy were all super dishonest in their intentions at one point or another. Damn, I feel so bad for her.

It makes their embracing hug back in Marcy At The Gates so much harder to watch. Anne was super glad to see her again. Anne had wondered what became of Marcy or even possibly started to think she could even be alive at all. Then come to find out later on Marcy having intentionally ripped her away from a normal life must’ve felt worse then what happened with Sasha. Anne, already done with all of Sasha’s bullshit, thought she could at least expect better from Marcy not letting her down, but that too wasn’t the case. Marcy is very much as flawed as Sasha in what she has done. To think, Anne wanted so badly to get back home, yet she’s staring the very person dead in the eye, who ripped her away from it to begin with. Marcy knew Sasha would talk Anne into taking the box from that thrift shop, even if she wasn’t completely certain it would successfully teleport them away. Regardless of whatever good intentions someone can have in why they did what they did, it still doesn’t absolve them of said mistake. Fact of the matter is, Marcy tragically made her own bed, by choosing to mess with forces she couldn’t begin to comprehend and now has to face consequences, in spite of her not deserving them.

What really got to me was when Marcy tried to spin around Anne’s personal growth and close friendship with the Plantars as all entirely thanks to her. When she said, “I gave you this! I gave you everything!”, I was like, “Nope, that couldn’t be any further from the truth.”, seeing everything that has culminated in Anne’s journey of bettering herself. Marcy didn’t give Anne anything, but a one way ticket to cutting the kid off from her family, presuming she’d be fine with this idea. It’s all kinds of messed up, however what it boils down to is Marcy undermining Anne’s independence and agency. Anne’s moral judgement in decision making was what allowed her to create this new life she made for herself in Amphibia. Anne’s honesty as a whole led her down a path of togetherness, while Marcy’s lying landed her in a result of not wanting to be alone, costing her so much.

“I don’t believe this. We were so focused on each other we couldn’t see what was right in front of us!”

True Colors excels at earning each of its emotional beats because they line up with character motivations down to the last letter. Anne doesn’t want to trust Sasha anymore because of their already rocky past, which leads to her helping King Andrias regain control of his kingdom. Sasha not keeping a lid on her temper, wanting to rule over Amphibia, and trying to reinforce that power dynamic with Anne & Marcy only made things worse for her image of a changed good friend. There wasn’t a chance in Hell Anne would hear Sasha’s reasoning after she flat out tried to take away her frog family, by attempting to use the Calamity Box a bit ago in the episode. Marcy wanted to believe there was a happily ever after in seeing this world traveling idea as their only chance for salvation as friends for life, but it turned out to be something much more sinister, when learning of Andrias’ backstory and his true scumbag nature. All three of their motivations come clashing together, blinding them from a much bigger danger. Something that effectively puts everyone at stake.

Amphibia’s Season 2 finale works so excellently, given it covers important dramatic elements it’s been stirring around since Season 1′s early rumblings. Amphibia is a story centered around people’s need for emotional connections. True Colors builds miraculously off what Reunion already did quite well in showing friendships can become rough and they are never easy to deal with. When you have to make a stand it can be a tough pill to swallow on the reality check of maybe this “good friend” of your’s isn’t as nice as you previously thought them to be. Anne having been hurt one too many times now by her former friend sends that message close to home, so much so even Sasha begins to question her morality as a human being. It poignantly encapsulates how this trio’s complex friendship is a serious growing issue needing to be reexamined, overall.

What if Anne’s right..? What if I am a horrible person...?

Something I absolutely love to pieces about True Colors, also a testament to Season 2′s darn good writing, is how much introspective we get from each character on what they’re feeling. We’ve seen plenty of Sasha’s vulnerability before in other episodes centered on her issues, but now we’re getting to the root of it. Sasha is really taking everything more to heart, little by little. Sasha’s understanding what kind of an effect she has on people, seeing the damage it has caused made evident by Percy and Braddock in Barrel’s Warhammer. Grime once told her, “Some dreams have a price and not everyone is willing to pay it.”, where she’s questioning that idealism every passing minute the invasion plan proceeds further into reaching success. Sasha isn’t sure what to do with herself anymore feeling aimless. Those previous episodes had a real impact on her priorities more than she cared to let on with Sasha’s typical tough girl act. This kid has let her guard down more, which scares and confuses Sasha. She’s always used to playing the role of protector it contradicts everything Sasha stands for when the roles are totally reversed because now Anne has made her feel the tremendous change in their growth as individuals.

Sasha’s lifestyle has been all about control that after somewhat learning to be more considerate to Anne & Marcy’s feelings she feels beyond conflicted about what truly matters to her. The most screwed up part of it all is Sasha didn’t want to fight anymore, taking up a pacifist approach after seeing what King Andrias had been hiding from everyone. It’s a fitting punishment for Sasha to try bringing Anne over to work together once more, but getting her pleas for companionship outright ignored. Anne was correct that Sasha had wasted all the chances to be reasonable. Boonchuy tried to hear out Sasha before at The Third Temple. One wanted to start things over again to iron out their serious issues, but the other was driven by bitterness, while only remorseful to a degree at best, of seeing their once weak friend become so independent, mature, and stronger that it drove her up wall. Sasha wanted to take away that “problem” being the Plantars, since in her eyes they’re the source of Anne’s strength, driving a wedge further between the two girls in their heated Reunion 2.0 battle.

True Colors demonstrates the horrific price of no trust, communication, nor teamwork from the three main girls that Andrias smoothly took advantage of, as if they were fiddles.

“That’s the thing about friends isn’t it? The more you love them, the more it hurts when they go.”

King Andrias is quite literally what I wanted Lunaris to be, where DuckTales’ Season 2 finale didn’t impress me on doing. He’s a serious big baddie to the main cast, who follows through on his threats of violence to demonstrate his wide array of arsenal and power. Andrias doesn’t just emotionally manipulate characters, like poor Marcy, but utterly crush them without an ounce of remorse for his actions. When he dropped Sprig out that window after Anne willingly let him have the Calamity Box back I thought they were legit gonna kill this boy off. The way Anne’s flashback montage of her good times with Sprig were eerily shot really didn’t help either on that note. Anne’s Calamity power finally activating is easily up there among stuff, like Dewey risking his life for Della’s disappearance in Last Crash, where the cinematography is shot and animated brilliantly. You feel Anne’s blind raging sadness in every hit she landed on those robots and Andrias. If anyone didn’t believe Sprig was like a little brother to Anne, then I dunno how anyone couldn’t view their bond anymore as such after this hugely defining scene. Anne went bloodthirsty when she believed Sprig to be dead further evidenced when she hugged him in relief afterwards exclaiming, “Sprig!? You’re alive!? Oh, thank goodness...”, which cuts deep so damn much.

Anne was ready to fight every one of Andrias’ troops in that castle to the death, if need be. Before Sprig came back from falling, thanks to Marcy’s quick acting, to comfort Anne, her only goal was to slaughter every opponent in that throne room, along with making Andrias pay dearly for even daring to lay a single finger on anyone of the Plantars. I’m not gonna lie, this pivotal power up reminded me so much Gohan turning Super Saiyan 2 after Cell curb stomped Android 16 into pieces with a smirk on his face. Anne Boonchuy’s maddening outburst is a classic testament to the idea of, “Piss off the nicest person and they’ll make it their mission to instill the biggest kind of fear/terror into you.”. showing this kid at her most vulnerable mental state, yet. Sprig & Anne’s cathartic embrace really messed me up in reinforcing just how these two respect, love, and would go above any of their limitations to help the other out. Sprig’s “death” scene was a masterful bait by the writers into making us think someone was gonna die and it was gonna be a poor kid, no less.

However, it was actually all just a bait and switch for the real, “Oh, shit. They really just did that”, moment with Marcy unexpectedly getting run through with Andrias’ gigantic sword. In a last ditch effort, Marcy wanted to atone for what she had a hand in getting them all into. Marcy was ironclad determined in making her own stand for what was right trying to save the people she endangered. Akin to what Sasha did in Reunion for saving Anne’s life, Marcy does the exact same here. Although, unfortunately this time, no one is here to protect Marcy from escaping death, like Grime catching Sasha from plummeting at Toad Tower. Marcy couldn’t react in time because she was so focused on helping her dear friends out. She wanted to prove to herself at least one time, “I’ve screwed up so much stuff with my friends. Maybe, just maybe. If I get my friends back home, it’ll prove I’m not an entirely crappy person for setting these events into motion.”. Marcy’s own deep seeded remorse is what saved Anne & the Plantars, while being the cause of her own untimely demise at Andrias’ hands.

This scene is what no doubt encouraged the warning sign for younger viewers Disney decided to make for them. It’s impressive how far Matt and his crew are willing to go for intense dramatic content. Andrias trying to crush Polly with his fist after destroying Frobo with casual ease, dropping Sprig out of the window from up sky high, and stabbing Marcy with his powerful sword displays his cold blooded brutality. Doesn’t matter who you are. If you get in the way of Andrias’ plans for multiverse domination, then he’ll throw anyone into their own grave, be it man, woman, or child. That’s the mark of a truly terrifying antagonist.

Andrias didn’t care who had to be hurt or manipulated to get back the box, so he could invade other worlds with Earth being his next prime target for invasion. Marcy’s fate is a horrifyingly poetic statement, since Sasha stated to Anne in a flashback from Marcy At The Gates, “One of these days, she’s gonna get herself killed.”, with True Colors tying back to this line in a disturbing manner. Something that sends chills down my spine is we get to see the full extent of how far Andrias shoved the sword through her body. We don’t just see the entry point of where it hit her, but it even zooms out to show the whole thing. Real talk, I got serious Avatar The Last Airbender vibes from this scene. Reminded me so much of Aang getting suddenly zapped with lightning by Azula when he tried to enter the Avatar state. Marcy didn’t want to be alone so badly she ended up inevitably dying alone trying to send Anne back home to their reality. One Hell of a way to close off Marcy’s last moments in Season 2, until her inevitable resurrection happens in Season 3 now that King Andrias has her in a tube tank that looks tied to his master.

True Colors ends on a deeply bittersweet cliffhanger leaving the fates of Sasha & Grime totally unknown if they’ll get away by the skin of their teeth, or get captured by Andrias’ soldiers and robots. Anne finally returned home with the Plantars, but at a deadly cost of leaving her other close friends behind in Amphibia. After all the isolation, heartbreak, and endurance she went through with her frog family Anne finds herself at a total loss for words. Once again, Anne is in a state of solitude of not knowing if her friends are really okay or not, mirroring the start of Season 1 when she landed into Amphibia’s world. It’s safe to say to say that, “Finally me and it’s no big deal.”, lyrics have aged terribly for Anne’s realization of finding her own identity came at the expense of getting separated from friends she’s known since kindergarten. Definitely see Anne becoming a lot more protective of the Plantars now more than ever after watching Marcy drop to the ground from being stabbed in front of her eyes.

Amphibia’s Season 2 finale is exactly how you capitalize on a winning story telling formula of dramatic writing, lovable characters with layered depth, and increasing the stakes of your story in an organic manner. True Colors is a finale that should be talked about for a long time to come, as it not only showed how worth the wait it was, but reinforces why Amphibia is a truly great series. It’s unafraid to take its characters to dark places in a way that feels totally earned.

Amphibia Season 2 is everything a sequel to a first film should be.

#amphibia true colors #amphibia spoilers #amphibia season 2 #anne boonchuy #marcy wu #sasha waybright #sprig plantar #polly plantar #hop pop plantar

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onlyanidala · 3 years

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onlyanidala fic archive

These are fics with titles E-I.

A-D J-P Q-T U-Z

searchable desktop version available here

more anidala fics can also be found in our fic tag!

the link for each fic can be found by clicking the title!

Title: edges of the world Author: glompcat Status: WIP/Unupdated Rating: T Summary: Leia Organa finds herself stuck in a strange alternate/parallel universe where the Empire never came to exist. Meanwhile, trying to navigate a galaxy ruled by the Sith weren’t exactly the Jedi Trials Leia Skywalker had expected. Or: Leia from a universe where Anakin never fell and canon Leia switch places. Now the two of them - and everyone else around them - have to deal with the consequences of their dimensional swap.

Title: eros turannos Author: emerald-leaves Status: complete Rating: R Summary: Love the Tyrant. Oderint dum metuant- Let them hate as long as they fear. AU set in time around the Clone Wars. Note: This fic has unfortunately been removed from Fanfiction.net. However, a PDF is available upon request.

Title: the exchange Author: misslearn Status: WIP Rating: T Summary: The Daughter has a bad day and it irrevocably changes the fate of the galaxy, twice over. Or: ROTS Obi-Wan and Anakin are swapped with their younger, TPM, selves. It changes things, in both parallels.

Title: five weddings and a funeral Author: skywalkersamidala Status: complete Rating: T Summary: Padmé's feeling gloomy about her perpetual singleness, but everything changes when she meets an attractive stranger at her sister's wedding.

Title: flat tire Author: skywalkersamidala Status: complete Rating: G Summary: Who knew something as simple as getting a flat tire could change the entire course of your life?

Title: for a moment Author: shelivesfree Status: complete Rating: T Summary: And, just for a moment, all the worries and concerns that troubled the young couple cease to exist. Fade away to just this. Husband and wife. Asleep. Dreaming of the sweet little life they will soon bring into the world and into their hearts.

Title: for a sith to love a jedi Author: silverdaye Status: WIP Rating: R Summary: Jedi Knight Padmé Amidala, the Heroine with No Fear, has crash landed on a moon after a starship fight with Darth Vader. Now the two enemies are stuck on a strange moon with strange rocks that prevents them from accessing the Force. They form an uneasy truce to leave the other alone. Yet after Vader sees Amidala bathing, she keeps coming back to him and he can't keep his mind off of her.

Title: for you, i’ll risk it all Author: estrangedlestrange Status: complete Rating: G Summary: Darth Vader was certain he had killed Padmé Amidala on Mustafar, but when a rebel broadcast reveals she is alive, he will stop at nothing to free her from what he assumes is captivity. Former Senator Padmé Amidala was certain her husband had been killed on Mustafar, but after seeing Vader across the room during a mission, she is sure that she had been lied to. Knowing the truth, she seeks out her husband, either to bring him back to the light or kill him, which ever was necessary.

Title: friendly competition Author: skywalkersamidala Status: complete Rating: T Summary: Playing Quidditch is awfully difficult when you’re in love with the rival Seeker. Snapshots of Anakin and Padmé’s 7 years at Hogwarts.

Title: fruits of malice Author: therealthing Status: complete Rating: T Summary: In an alternate universe, Anakin Skywalker was taken from his mother at the age of four. He was raised as Darth Vader in a loveless, brutal environment. His life takes an interesting turn when he has an encounter with a certain senator from Naboo.

Title: future imperfect Author: therealthing Status: complete Rating: T Summary: A time travel story in which Anakin Skywalker is sent to the future to witness the consequences of his actions.

Title: fundamental force carriers Author: tanarill Status: complete Rating: T Summary: The Sith Lord Darth Vader lived his life. He probably didn't live it well, but he lived it as well as he knew how. At the end there, he'd even managed to woman up and kill Sidious. But he was dying, and at peace with the past. The past wasn't at peace with him.

Title: getting home to you Author: irnan Status: complete Rating: T Summary: Anakin always said it was Padme's fault, but he was the one who spotted that broom closet. Fluff.

Title: the girl from harvard Author: shelivesfree Status: complete Rating: M Summary: Absence makes the heart grow fonder. It also makes it grow more paranoid. Padme is in her last year of Harvard. Anakin has just started at the University of Chicago. Though they won't admit it, their long-distance relationship is taking it's heavy toll. Will their love prevail or will the distance prove too much for both of them?

Title: give me a signal Author: stranestelle Status: complete Rating: T Summary: When Padmé Amidala is unable to contact Coruscant while negotiating a loan on Scipio, the Senate suspects trouble, and sends Anakin Skywalker to go check on her. Of course, the resourceful senator isn’t really in any trouble – don't flatter yourself, Rush Clovis – but there’s definitely some brewing.

Title: hand in my hand and we promise to never let go Author: gemma Status: complete Rating: M Summary: Anakin Skywalker was sent to build an elite Jedi team to help end the ten-year Clone Wars. Jedi Knight Naberrie trains hard to be selected and grows closer to the Jedi Master in the process. But with Jedi falling every day in battle, is it safe to follow your heart? Or will war take what's most precious to Padme?

Title: the hardest path Author: catiiasofia & misschrisdaae Status: complete Rating: G Summary: Padmé does what she has to for her family. Series: Three Paths Not Followed

Title: heart of a sith Author: therealthing Status: complete Rating: T Summary: Fourteen years have passed since the inception of the Empire. Darth Vader has been asked to go to Alderaan for an unusual reason, one that Vader soon discovers will change his life forever.

Title: heirs of light and darkness Author: skywalkersamidala Status: complete Rating: R Summary: After escaping the Jedi purge two years ago made him the most wanted fugitive in the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker has at last been captured by the Empire. He expects to be killed, but Lady Padmé Amidala, the imperial heir, has other ideas.

Title: heretic pride Author: fialleril Status: WIP/Unupdated Rating: G Summary: Like most Republic citizens, the Naberries have never spent much time thinking about the Jedi. But that changes with the birth of their daughter Ilaré. (Or, the AU where the third Naberrie daughter is a Jedi, Padmé offers Naboo as a sanctuary for runaway slaves, Shmi is a conductor on the Tatooine freedom trail, and Anakin jump starts a reformation. Or maybe a heresy. It all depends on your point of view.)

Title: hidden Author: disco shop girl Status: complete Rating: T Summary: Anakin is woken from his dream before it can warn him of his fate. Without that fear hanging over him he feels a disturbance in the force, and chooses to leave before it can manifest itself.

Title: high above the clouds, my love for you is eternal Author: rogue darth skywalker Status: WIP/Unupdated Rating: M Summary: Modern Aviation AU. Anakin is a pilot, Padme is a flight attendant. When they meet for the first time he is captivated by her. But much to his surprise she has a young son. This is a story about how bonds are broken, how families are made, and how sacrifice is sometimes necessary to get people where they are meant to be.

Title: hold me in your arms and i’m home Author: gemma Status: complete Rating: M Summary: It's the ten year reunion for students from Coruscant high and more importantly, a long awaited reunion for two former lovers.

Title: home Author: skywalkersamidala Status: complete Rating: G Summary: In which "Darth Vader" is no more than Anakin's playtime alter ego (happy Skywalker family AU)

Title: hypnotic takin’ over me Author: gemma Status: complete Rating: R Summary: "By the Force… Just how many times had he seen her like this in his dreams? How many times had he run his fingers over her skin? Filled his hands with her perfect backside? Yet, when he was, by some mercy or a cruel joke, granted true sight of her, he was oblivious."

Title: i do take two Author: skywalkersamidala Status: complete Rating: T Summary: Thirty years after their clandestine wedding on Naboo, Anakin and Padmé decide to finally do the proper wedding ceremony they never got to have, with all their friends and family present.

Title: i know your type Author: shelivesfree Status: complete Rating: M Summary: "Am I dead?" It slips out, accidentally. She turns her head towards me, a confused look on her face and tips her head. "Excuse me?" Flashing her an impish grin, I lean casually against the wall. "I must have died and gone to heaven, because you look like an angel." The look she gives me is far from impressed. "Do you use that with all the girls, or am I just lucky?"

Title: i wish i could rewrite the stars Author: gemma Status: complete Rating: G Summary: Suddenly, forever felt like something that could be real. They could make it real, the two of them together and out of nowhere, tears stung at Anakin's eyes. It just meant so much. Padme loving him too was the stuff of his dreams; something he'd only just dared to believe was possible. But she did.

Title: if blood be the price Author: cadesama Status: complete Rating: T Summary: Anakin promised to free all the slaves and it is a promise he intends to keep. Struck by visions of a slave uprising on Tatooine, he runs away to join the fight. Five years later, it his new alliance of former slave worlds that the Republic fears, rather than a Separatist threat. Enlisted to negotiate a peace treaty, Senator Amidala is dispatched to find Anakin, alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi, who only wishes to bring his former Padawan home.

Title: imperial obligations Author: skywalkersamidala Status: complete Rating: R Summary: Padmé's advisors suggest that she get rid of Vader and make a politically advantageous marriage. The Empress is less than pleased. One-shot.Series: The Empress and Her Sith Lord.

Title: in his very soul Author: catiiasofia & misschrisdaae Status: complete Rating: R Summary: Ten years ago, the effort to liberate Naboo from Trade Federation control failed. Chancellor Palpatine managed to rescue the young Queen Amidala and two of her handmaidens, formally adopting her as his own. The new father and daughter quickly manipulated the Senate into granting him emergency powers and creating the Grand Army of the Republic, letting the Clone Wars begin. Now, assassins are coming for Padmé Palpatine, and her father has entrusted her safety to his mysterious enforcer, Darth Vader. While neither bodyguard nor charge is happy about this arrangement, there is an attraction they cannot ignore.

Title: in search of absolution Author: rogue darth skywalker Status: complete Rating: G Summary: Padme bit her lip as she placed one last post-it that had the name 'Shmi Skywalker' written on it. She didn't speak. She knew he needed a moment to think - to process what she was silently asking him. 'Are you ready to accept her forgiveness'"She'd want to come to her only son's wedding," She said. He shook his head, "I don't think so. After everything…"

Title: in the past Author: silverdaye Status: WIP Rating: T Summary: It's been two months after Bespin, and Luke Skywalker is trying to come to terms with the events that happened there. During a dogfight with Darth Vader, both of their fighters crash. When they recover, they both find themselves on Coruscant at the end of the Clone Wars. Vader still aims to claim his son, but Luke has been taken to the Jedi Temple where he meets Anakin Skywalker.

Title: it’s a dangerous love affair Author: gemma Status: complete Rating: M Summary: Lies, masks, blood and sex. The criminal underworld will swallow you up and spit you out again. One wants revenge and the other wants peace. Can their affair bring the downfall of the two biggest gangs of the underworld?

Title: it’s like deja vu all over again Author: shadowsong26 Status: complete Rating: M Summary: Three days ago, Padme Amidala closed her eyes for the last time in a sterile white room on an asteroid at the edge of nowhere. Three days ago, she opened them again on a sleek, chrome starship, watching Dorme putting on the finishing touches to Corde's headdress, her own weighted braids a comforting blanket on her back. Padme decides to change things, decides she can save Anakin (and the Galaxy) this time. Except, as time passes, she starts to realize things aren't happening exactly the way she remembers...

Title: (it’s not so bad) being dead like me Author: estrangedlestrange Status: complete Rating: T Summary: Recently deceased Anakin Skywalker (killed in an taco truck explosion) finds himself not in the after life but recruited as the newest member of the undead, he’s become a grim reaper. He’s told that it’s his destiny but really he thinks it’s just rotten luck. Rotten except for the fact that one of his fellow reapers is Padmé Amidala, the most beautiful woman Anakin’s has seen, dead or alive. As he struggles to come to grips with his death and his new role in the universe, Anakin finds that taking souls isn’t the easiest job out there, he also finds himself falling in love. One-shot.

#anidala #fic rec #anidala fic recs #onlyanidala fic recs #star wars #sw #fanfic #sw fanfic

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dwellordream · 3 years

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I've never read sjm's books, what's so bad about them? mostly I just see people complain about them being too mature for teens

In regards to the maturity discourse I think people get aggravated because she started off her series marketing it strictly as light and breezy YA lit and then shifted kind of abruptly to actual adult fantasy within the same series (insofar as graphic sex scenes) without that really being made clear

and many people feel that teens or even preteens might be reading the books expecting more age appropriate fantasy adventure and suddenly getting smacked with sex. Kind of like if HP suddenly turned into graphic Drarry fanfic within the last two books.

But honestly that’s the least of her problems with writing. I read the first half of ToG and all of ACOTAR and good lord it’s a shit show.

Feyre is a pretty classic example of a ‘not like other girls’ heroine who manages to have no personality beyond liking art and hating her bratty sisters, the male characters all fall into the categories of brooding love interest or snarky comic relief, everyone is hot, white, skinny, sparkly Fae, there is little to no world building beyond the map being an outline of fantasy british isles, and the prose itself is just not great.

The descriptions are lacking, the dialogue tends to be incredibly cringey and forced, the romances have very little chemistry beyond breathless descriptions of how hot everyone is, etc.

The actual character development is subpar because none of SJM’s heroines are ever really allowed to be wrong or make mistakes with any real consequences and her idea of ‘positive and feminist’ relationships are, to say the least, fucked up and just as abusive and controlling as the relationships her narrative condemns as patriarchal and misogynistic.

Her work bills itself as being a more progressive and female empowering version of LoTR and ASOIAF but manages to fall incredibly short of that vision of truly inclusive epic fantasy.

#anti sjm #ya lit #ask #anon

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forasecondtherewedwon · 3 years

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Our Names in a Heart

Fandom: WandaVision Pairing: Wanda Maximoff/Vision Rating: G Word Count: 1190

Summary: Wanda watches sitcoms. Vision watches Wanda.

“Wanda, may I say something?” Vision asks.

His host halts in the process of queuing up the next episode of I Love Lucy. Oh, he does enjoy this show, particularly the zany moments of tension arising from the heroine failing to effectively synchronize her actions with those of the machine at which she works. People and technology are able to exist so harmoniously now, he thinks, expression soft as he studies Wanda’s face.

“Alright.”

She gives him a reassuring smile and his own grows in confidence. He’s noticed this about her: she’s usually more at ease the further back into television history they probe. Though still frequently standoffish, and even cold, when questioned directly about her past, she has revealed bits and pieces to him, enough that he understands the significance of sitcoms in her life. They are a tie to her childhood, a reminder that comforts rather than aggrieves. She is less defensive as she retreads the familiar ground of the Ricardo residence with her eyes.

“I’ve noticed a pattern with many of these shows. Now, I know I’m not meant to be analyzing them,” he adds before she can interrupt. “Believe me, it’s nothing so very astute. Perhaps so obvious that you would not consider it anything worth remarking upon.”

“Well, now I’m curious,” Wanda says, leaning back against the wall and holding a cushion to her stomach.

He has observed this behaviour in her before, but it’s gentler now. She doesn’t squeeze the cushion to her body or grip until the ends of her fingers turn white. The motion is relaxed, like her posture. Vision has been entirely alert to the gradual changes as they pass largely conversation-free hours watching television together. The way Wanda leaves the door to her room open in invitation when she desires his company. The fact that they’re no longer seated on the edge of the mattress but all the way back, the stand on which her television sits wheeled to the foot of the bed. With these physical signs, she’s begun to let him in. Her thoughts though… her feelings… They are not so easily accessed.

“You tend to prefer series featuring… families.” He hesitates briefly before the last word, wary of upsetting her, but the lull of the 1950s sitcom they’ve been watching appears to hold.

“Yes, they… remind me of better times.”

“Of course. Frequently, these families have children.”

Wanda smiles absently, staring at nothing.

“Pietro and I used to replicate what we could. I’m not sure which was the greatest gulf to span—limitations because of the war that raged around us or the differences between Sokovian and American culture. Certain children’s antics are universal, though they only ever made Mama and Papa laugh rather than scold, but we would also pretend that Pietro had to practice for football tryouts, or that I had some trivial crisis the day before the prom. We had such an incomplete picture—” Though her laugh is short, it warms him. “—but that imaginary world seemed so rich, so big.”

“Do you see yourself in them still? The children?”

Yesterday, she introduced him to The Brady Bunch. There were so very many children in that series into whose lives she may have wanted to step.

She blinks and Vision’s sorry to have pulled her from her memories.

“Somewhere in between,” Wanda says. “It’s the feeling of it. The completeness. The children will always cause trouble, the parents will always protect them. The parents encounter their own obstacles, which are always hidden from the children. It’s all ridiculous, but… the love is real.”

“Especially on this one,” he suggests, gesturing towards the television. “The stars were married in real life.”

“True. Even when they’re just actors, the illusion can be enough.”

“You were never bored? Some of these series ran for many, many seasons. The children grow up.”

“And the parents grow old.”

A tear escapes the corner of her eye and Vision leans towards her, alarmed, but she swipes it away on the cuff of her shirt.

“They begin to, anyway,” Wanda corrects, that momentary pinch of melancholy vanishing from her features. “The shows always end while the actors still look young.”

“Hmm. Yes.”

Vision settles back against the rails of her bedframe. He won’t press her any further, doesn’t want his perhaps needling questions to perforate this sanctuary she seems to construct every time they sit down next to each other and fix their gazes on the glow of the screen, laughing at so many silly, happy families.

Wanda sighs and shifts. Their hands brush and Vision stares at them, flying rapidly through his established protocols in search of a suitable reaction, but she slips her fingers between his before he has an answer. The music of the next episode starts and he sees the heart appear on the screen, his eyes following the path of the line that traces it. How safe the actors’ names seem within it. A cartoonish symbol of love, yet also promise, stability, and one that is never misunderstood.

He never tells her, but part of the reason for this routine of imposing his presence in the evenings is to help her through the loneliest hours. If he remains with Wanda until she begins drawing her blankets up over her legs and closing her eyes during the title sequence, Vision knows she’ll fall asleep soon after he departs. Before this began, it was during these hours that he would hear her muffled crying. He doesn’t mean to impede the natural course of her grief. He hopes he isn’t doing that. He only intends to smooth the road she must take, ideally by distracting her with the occasional discussion on the periphery of her feelings, or else by simply sitting quietly at her side.

Tonight, he drifts out of her room with an idea. A foolish idea, an incomplete plan. The kind of ill-conceived scheme that a character on one of Wanda’s favourite shows might attempt and face the obvious consequences of shortly after. He’ll keep it private. He’ll “oh, nothing” it away when she catches him staring at her consideringly and asks what he’s thinking about. But on the inside, Vision will dream.

It will begin with an evening like this. The two of them, watching television. A room where she can feel at home within a building where she feels safe. He will find the walls and she will be the life between them. It will be after all of this conflict, when her grief is smaller and her love doesn’t have to work quite so hard to persevere. Returning her family’s home to her is impossible, but a different one? With a love just as real? One where the years may pass and pass and pass, his own face unchanging, his back never to hunch and his heart never to tire? Will she accept this clumsy charade of how it could be to grow old together when he offers it?

Could she sleep where the door was always open?

He never wants to be more than a room away when he leaves her.

#my writing #wandavision #wandavision spoilers #wanda maximoff #Vision #crying through ep. 8 hell yeah

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minettestan · 3 years

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Do you have a tag for games you recommend? I'm always looking for new games and my experience with point and click or 90s computer games is sorely lacking.

💕My favorite question💕 I took one of my old posts and updated it, so here!

💕 Personal Favorite

💀 Scary Content

👧 Female Protagonist

✨ Important to the genre’s history

📚 Tricky for new players, look up controls or a walkthrough to get started

❕ Difficult

👿 Potential insensitive content

The Colonel’s Bequest (1989) $5.99 💕✨👧💀❕📚

“It is the year 1925, and the roaring '20s are well underway. As Laura Bow, young college student, you've been invited to visit the Colonel's isolated estate. Watch as the Colonel announces his intention to bequeath his millions to all present!”

The classic Sierra murder mystery game, developed by the mother of the genre Roberta Williams. Laura Bow is a sorely overlooked female protagonist. The game works by navigating Laura and typing in commands, kinda of tricky at first. Tons of game overs are a hallmark of a Sierra adventure game so save often! If you play the GOG.com version you get the benefit of autosaves. This game runs a timer, the events of the night will unfold with or without you so stay on your toes and keep moving! The game can be found for free here, but imo the $5.99 is worth it for the easy of access.

The Dagger of Amon-Ra (1992) $5.99 👧✨❕📚👿💀

“Laura Bow, intrepid heroine of The Colonel's Bequest, is back! This time she's trapped in a huge, imposing museum in the dead of night, surrounded by socialites, miscreants, thieves...and a cold, relentless murderer.“

Roberta Williams is back! Iconic game, iconic heroine. It’s still a Sierra game so like TCB there are tons of (iconic) game overs, so save often. Solving puzzles in this one gives me a great serotonin rush. Unfortunately, this game has some racism issues, particularly with the characters Lo Fat and Ramses. While an important game in the genre take it with a huge grain of salt and maybe turn of the (kind of awful) voice acting and enable text-only mode and you’ll avoid some awful accents.

Sam & Max: Hit the Road (1993) $5.99 💕✨

“Sam (a canine shamus) and Max (a hyperkinetic rabbity thing) are hot on the trail of a runaway carnival bigfoot across America’s quirky underbelly in this deranged animated adventure!“

Sam & Max are truly my favorite characters in all of fiction. I have the box art to this game as my phone case. I have Sam & Max action figures, a plush Max on my bed, a print edition of Sam & Max Freeland Police Special #1 framed on my wall. From comics, to games, to cartoons I love these guys. Sam & Max: Hit the Road is a classic of the Lucasarts adventure games. That being said, it’s the least user-friendly of the Sam & Max adventure games and the slowest. I still love it to bits and it’s important to the genre’s history imo.

Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (1993) $5.99 💕💀👿

“The adventure of Gabriel Knight starts with gathering materials for his new book, and ends up becoming a fight for his very soul. He must now face countless dangers in New Orleans, Africa and Germany, each bringing him ever closer to unraveling the mystery behind suspicious voodoo murders. Haunted by nightmares, he won't give up until he reveals the truth. “

Another Sierra game directed by a woman, Jane Jenson. Gabriel Knight, voiced by Tim Curry, is one of my favorite adventure game protagonists of all time. This game is scary and gory so enter at your own risk! I love the gameplay in this one, I love the narrator, I love the puzzles. But it seems Sierra games have some problems with the representation of minorities. The game is set in New Orleans and focuses on a voodoo cult. Which means consequently the game's major antagonists are all black. Unlike the Dagger of Amon Ra, Sins of the Fathers actually employed black actors to play black characters. There’s a lot to be said about the ways in which white media demonizes voodoo and those who practice it. If you play this one, remain critical. And for the love of god, don’t play the 20th anniversary version.

Day of the Tentacle: Remastered (1993/2016) $14.99 ✨👧❕

“Originally released by LucasArts in 1993 as a sequel to Ron Gilbert’s ground breaking Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle is a mind-bending, time travel, cartoon puzzle adventure game in which three unlikely friends work together to prevent an evil mutated purple tentacle from taking over the world!“

Another classic LucasArts game! This was the first game co-headed by Tim Schaffer who would go on to make the outstanding Grim Fandango! This one is exceedingly wacky and the remastered version has made it more user-friendly than ever.

Toonstruck (1996) $9.99 💕

“Drew Blanc is a cartoon animator and the original creator of the Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show.. Drew's boss, Sam Schmaltz, sets him the task of designing more bunnies to co-star in the Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show by the next morning. However, the depressed animator soon nods off, suffering from acute artist's block. He wakes early the next morning to inexplicably find his television switched on, announcing the Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show. Suddenly, Drew is mysteriously drawn into the television screen and transported to an idyllic two-dimensional cartoon world populated by his own creations, among many other cartoon characters.“

If you’re a fan of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? you’ll love this. Christopher Lloyd is Drew Blanc (ha) trying to save a cartoon world through inventory item puzzles. Truly wacky, zany, and ani-mainy. I played Toontown as a kid so I’m predisposed to like this one. This is also the only game with Full Motion Video I’m putting on the list because FMV games can be an acquired taste.

Grim Fandango (1996/2015) $14.99 💕✨

“Something's rotten in the land of the dead, and you're being played for a sucker. Meet Manny Calavera, travel agent at the Department of Death. He sells luxury packages to souls on their four-year journey to eternal rest. But there's trouble in paradise. Help Manny untangle himself from a conspiracy that threatens his very salvation.“

Yesssssssss! I LOVE Grim Fandango! The iconic game directed by Tim Schaffer has received the best remaster I’ve seen a point n’ click receive. I cannot recommend Grim Fandango enough! Stick with it through the forest section, trust me.

The Last Express (1997) $5.99 ❕ 📚

“Paris, 1914. The world is on the brink of war and this train could push it over the edge. You are Robert Cath, a young American urgently summoned by your old friend Tyler Whitney to join him aboard the Paris-Constantinople express, departing from the Gare de l'Est on July 24th. Arriving late, you discover something has gone terribly wrong. Now you must untangle a complex web of political intrigue, suspense, romance, and betrayal. Every move you make could bring you closer to the truth or your own demise. Bon voyage! “

Ooooh I love a murder on a train! This game features rotoscope animation, which I love. Like The Colonel’s Bequest this game runs in real time, meaning the events of the game will unfold with or without you, depending on where you are at what time you’ll receive different information or see/miss different events. Very replayable with several different outcomes.

Sam & Max Save the World (Remastered) $19.99 💕

“ Sam is a six-foot canine detective with a love of justice. Max is a hyperkinetic rabbity-thing with a taste for mayhem. Together, they're the Freelance Police. And they're about to save the world.”

Sam & Max Save the World, originally released in episodes from 2006-2008 has been remastered and looks AMAZING! After LucasArts was shut down their game devs formed Tell Tale Games and produced three seasons of Sam & Max sequel games, all of which are great. But TellTale was shut down (and screwed over their employees) in 2018. Since then some of their devs have formed Skunkape Games and are currently remastering all of Tell Tale’s Sam & Max series (I’m thrilled). They’ve also adjusted some aspects of the game to make the game more inclusive and less **offensive. So imo it’s worth it to wait for the release of the other seasons to experience Sam & Max in pristine condition. Save the World is the only season out now, but you can get the non-remastered versions of Beyond Time and Space, and In The Devil’s Playhouse, here and here.

**I should note the “offensive” material in the original is not as egregious as say, The Dagger of Amon-Ra, but it’s just a nice change to see especially in a game I hold dear.

Emerald City Confidential (2009) $9.99 👧

“Explore the underbelly of Oz as Emerald City's most cunning detective! As Petra, you'll be lured deep into mysteries involving new foes and familiar faces; Scarecrow, Lion, and Toto included! This is Oz as you've never seen it before! Solve the mystery and unravel a conspiracy of magic and intrigue! Follow a case through five chapters full of puzzles, witnesses, suspects, and allies in this twist on a timeless classic! “

We’re moving out of the 1990s now. Emerald City Confidential is the Wizard of Oz meets film noir. I played this as 13 year old and have revisited it as an adult and I still eat it up. Wadjet Eye makes consistently good adventure games so check this one out!

The Blackwell Series (2006) $14.99 💕👧

“Meet Rosangela Blackwell, an embittered writer who just found out that she is a medium and that it’s her mission, whether she likes it or not, to assist tormented spirits and investigate other supernatural goings-on. She is assisted by the sardonic Joey Mallone, a ghost from the 1930s.”

Another Wadjet Eye game! I’ve seen these games recommended amoungst the Clue Crew before and I’ll just throw my own endorsement on the pile. Yeah I’m in love with Joey Mallone. What about it?

The Charnel House Trilogy (2015) $5.99 👧💀

“Witness The Charnel House Trilogy, the chronicle of one fateful night aboard a train bound for Augur Peak. Three thrilling, horrifying adventure games in one, from the depths of the Sepulchre.”

Plays like Blackwell, has a Blackwell reference at the beginning, okay you got me. This is a good, if kinda short, game. It’s very creepy, involves murder and has some gore/violence so watch out! I’m still waiting on the sequel Owl Cave!

Thimbleweed Park (2017) $19.99 👧

“A haunted hotel, an abandoned circus, a burnt-out pillow factory, a dead body pixelating under the bridge, toilets that run on vacuum tubes... you’ve never visited a place like this before.“

Made by Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick the creators of the classic games Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island Thimbleweed Park is a love letter to the classics of the point and click adventure genre. Features 5 different playable characters, ala Maniac Mansion, who and how many you play is up to you! This one also has stand alone DLCs!

Unavowed (2018) $14.99 👧

“ A demon possessed you one year ago. Since that day, you unwillingly tore a trail of bloodshed through New York City. Your salvation comes in the form of the Unavowed – an ancient society dedicated to stopping evil.”

Okay I haven’t actually played this one, but I want to. Its a Wadjet Eye so you know it’s good. From the reviews I’ve seen this is the Blackwell Series meets Dragon Age. A point and click that incorporates RPG elements, I love that.

I also have a love of the more, strange, and unusual adventure games that I can't necessarily recommend with good conscience. So if you want bizarre 90s and early 2000s games of dubious quality hit me up.

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honeycomblattice · 3 years

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why i didn’t like hunger games as a kid as a way to think about what is amazing about it (part 3)

4) katniss has to do horrible things. and this book never shames her for that, even as it grapples with the consequences of what she has had to do to survive. i think specifically i am thinking about the hunger games (book 1) where katniss is never expected or shamed for killing the other tributes (and by expected, i mean she doesn’t have any type of thoughts that are like what if i could save everybody, every human life is precious). she obviously at times feels regret and sadness about it, but the book is never trying to play the card that a series like avatar the last airbender plays, where you treat violence and death as these untouchable things (even though logically, the avatar gang must have killed tons of people just in their other battles before aang has the crisis about killing ozai). no the hunger games is like no death and violence are inevitable part of oppressive regimes and you can’t not participate in them. and that is part of the cruelty of the capitol. katniss and peeta never get the luxury to not kill other kids or to even really think about it? and i’m not saying that is a good thing, it is obviously a bad thing and that is what makes the cruelty of the hunger games and the capitol so much more apparent.

i think as a young teen a lot of books about other teen heroines written by adults felt like they had to give some kind of message to kids that actually ~*love*~ always wins and human life should be treated as eternally sacred. when actually under capitalism we all live in a perpetual state of indifference to human death and that’s something you are taught from when you are a kid that (or at least i feel like i was implicitly taught). and the hunger games is an exaggeration of that but it is a much more realistic and radical world to present to kids. to say, i see that ways you have been taught not to care about human life and so do these kids in this exaggerated sense that allows you to grapple with your own, twisted, culpability. not to have some lovey series where the heroes are constantly concerned with preservation of human life and that is something that they are validated for, for the most part, by the writers of the series.

and as a kid i just couldnt really grapple with katniss as a killer? as someone who murdered other kids (not by choice necessarily) because in some ways it hit too close to home for the world i was becoming more and more conscious of, and of myself as someone who is indifferent to other human being’s lives ALL the time (again not by choice, but still). as in like if I were in katniss’s position i simply would have not killed any of the tributes (including the ones who specifically attack her) and i simple would have risked my life every single time for a random tribute. i also don’t want to pretend like katniss is supposed to be me metaphorically, i think its clear that i would be considered the capitol citizens. im just speaking about how i felt about it as a kid and what i couldnt articulate yet.

#thg #thg meta #does anyone even read all this text lol #rosie

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acourtofthought · 1 year

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I guess it's just not "exciting" to have a character who is "good" without also being somewhat bitter and badass (i.e Katniss Everdeen) or a rage filled warrior (as was the case with Nesta).

I feel like I'm in the minority where I actually love the thought of someone outside of the typical warrior heroine mold making a difference through things like intelligence and love. Who would never choose violence unless it was a last resort in order to protect a loved ones. Who, despite the fact that other characters understand the need for darkness to get things achieved, still prefers to look for solutions that avoid it. There has to be balance and for all the awesome but somewhat jaded (though brave) warriors in this series who are willing to do WHATEVER is necessary to protect others, I love that there is a character like Elain who chooses to focus on the good. She's not naive like Feyre once thought, she's fully aware of everything going on around her but still tries to focus on the positive.

Elain sometimes just … didn’t grasp things.

“People acted as if we’d all just been ill for eight years, or had gone away to some distant country—not that we’d been a few villages over in that cottage. You’d think we dreamed it all up, what happened to us over those years. No one said a word about it.” “Did you think they would?” If we were as rich as this house suggested, there were surely plenty of families willing to overlook the stain of our poverty. “No—but it made me … made me wish for those years again, even with the hunger and cold. This house feels so big sometimes, and father is always busy, and Nesta

“Nesta,” Elain said again, twisting her hands. “If … if we do not help Feyre, there won’t be a wedding. Even Lord Nolan’s battlements and all his men, couldn’t save me from … from them.”

if Feyre needs to be in and out for meetings, she’ll send word ahead, and we’ll clear them out. Make up excuses to send them on holidays. Father won’t be back until the summer, anyway. No one will know.”

“Feyre gave and gave—for years. Let us now help her. Help … others.”

“And as for Feyre’s hunting during those years, it was not Nesta’s neglect alone that is to blame.

"we failed her. Both of us.”

“His father has high walls—made of thick stone. With space for plenty of people and supplies.”. They have defenses, stores …” A shallow breath. “And a grove of ash trees, with a cache of weapons made from them.” “There are escape tunnels.

“If—if you and … they”—a glance at Rhys, my friends—“come with me, your Fae scents might distract the dogs.”

Just long enough to convince him to open his gates to those seeking sanctuary. Perhaps even let you set those wards around the estate.”

“It’s already ended badly. Now it’s just a matter of deciding how we meet the consequences.”

Elain seemed to realize it, too

Elain silently surveyed the tent.

Elain offered a half smile. “I suppose that war makes wanting things like that unimportant.”

Elain had seemed more than content to simply watch the humming city, to take in the sparkling strands of faelights strung between buildings and over the squares, to sample any tidbit of food offered by an eager vendor, to listen to minstrels busking by the now-silent fountains.

“It’s their tradition, though,” Elain countered, her face still flushed with the cold. “One that they fought and died to protect in the war. Perhaps that’s the better way to think of it, rather than feeling guilty. To remember that this day means something to them. All of them, regardless of who has more, who has less, and in celebrating the traditions, even through the presents, we honor those who fought for its very existence, for the peace this city now has.”

“Because you’re the foundation, the one who lifts us. You always have been.”

“No one but the King of Hybern is to blame for that.”

You cannot resent my decision to lead a small, quiet life while also refusing to let me do anything greater.”

“I am not a child to be fought over.”

“I always thought she was born on the wrong side of the wall,” Elain admitted. “She made ballrooms into battlefields and plotted like any general.

“The duke was vain, and Nesta played into that.

“Nesta never spoke of it afterward,” Elain said. “I just observed.”

I’m very pleased to hear of this Valkyrie business. I’m happy that Nesta finds interest in something again. And might channel all of … that into it.”

Elain saw every single thing Nesta had done, and understood why.

“Maybe you’ll become interesting at last, Elain.”

those years of poverty hadn’t stripped away that light from Elain. Perhaps buried it a bit, but she was generous, loving, and kind

Elain had said she missed it, and I wondered what she saw when she looked at the cottage. If she beheld not a prison but a shelter—a shelter from a world that had possessed so little good, but she tried to find it anyway, even if it had seemed foolish and useless to me. She had looked at that cottage with hope; I had looked at it with nothing but hatred. And I knew which one of us had been stronger.

She had been always so full of light.

"What can I get you, Elain?" Elain shook her head once more. “Sunshine.”

She was a rose bloom in a mud field.

Elain was a blooming flower in this army camp.

“Grab onto him!” Elain ordered. Elain screamed at her, “If you want to live, do it now!” Elain’s pale hands lurch—gripping the girl by her neck, holding her as tightly as she could. The girl screamed, but Elain moved. My sister sent a fierce kick into the beast’s face. Its eye. Another. Another. It bellowed, and Elain slammed her bare, muddy foot into its face again. The blow struck home.

Elain threw her arms around me. I did not remember when I began to cry as I felt those slender arms hold me, tight as steel.

Elain stepped out of a shadow behind him, and rammed Truth-Teller to the hilt through the back of the king’s neck as she snarled in his ear, “Don’t you touch my sister.”

found her so lovely it had wanted to give her something …

Elain quietly washed his face. Combed out his hair and beard. Straightened his clothes. She found flowers—somewhere. She laid them at his head, on his chest. We stared down at him in silence. “I love you,” Elain whispered, voice breaking.

a rose carved from a dark sort of wood. “He made this one for Elain

the carved wooden rose she’d placed upon the mantel, half-hidden in the shadows beside a figurine of a supple-bodied female, her upraised arms clasping a full moon between them. Some sort of primal goddess—

she pulled the small, carved rose from her pocket and set it upon the gravestone. A permanent marker of the beauty and good he’d tried to bring into the world.

It was a small, flat rose fashioned of stained glass (glass is fragile, breakable, exactly how others view Elain), designed so that when held to the light, the true depth of the colors would become visible.

There are people like this in real life too. Where you hear about the horrible things they've experienced in life and you're amazed that they greet every day and every person with a smile. Who choose to focus on the positive rather than be held back by the past. I find that inspirational.

And when it comes to Mates, I love that Lucien compliments her personality because he's the same way. He's had so many horrible things happen to him yet he's not bitter or angry (to an extreme amount). He's still a good friend, a voice of reason, a logical observer and someone who doesn't want to resort to violence.

There are so many references to Night and Shadows, Darkness and Rage in this series and that has been great for the characters we've read about so far. But I LOVE that Elain and Lucien are the power couple representing the balance to all that. Light and Sunshine and a bit of necessary softness and understanding which can be just as much a measure of strength than even the strongest of warriors.

#pro elucien #elain archeron #elain x lucien #lucien and elain #lucien vanserra #elain and lucien #lucien x elain #pro elain archeron #pro elain #acotar

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ladyhindsight · 3 years

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I have no love lost for Clary. In the two previous books she has been rather annoying, waltzing into situations just because, and has contributed very little to the main events in the books aside from blowing up Valentine’s ship/boat in the end of City of Ashes. She’s always just there but does fuck all.

In City of Glass, she’s finally taking an active role in her life instead of being swayed and lead here and there on other people’s account and decisions and Destiny. And yet. This time Clary is the most heinous, vile, obnoxious, self-centered, awful person she’s ever been on the series so far. In City of Bones, Clare interpreted Isabelle’s confidence as arrogance, yet here she’s mistaking Clary’s arrogance for confidence. I’m at loss for words as to describing how on the brink of bursting my aneurysm is.

We start the chapter with a nonsense sentence. → “Afternoon light woke Clary. A beam of pale brightness laid itself directly over her face, lighting the insides of her eyelids hot pink.”

Independent body parts. Funny mental image, though.

Why? It’s not as if Clary isn’t allowed to rise from the bed and look around. Why does she have to pretend to be on the bed instead of looking out of the window? Whyeee

Amatis has just brought Clary food. First thing Clary does is demand to know where Luke is. The verb indicates a brusque tone which is not nice, Clary. Aside that she has already broken some law and having been impetuous brat by creating a portal and coming to Idris, she’s really not winning any points here by being rude to someone she doesn’t even know.

Comma abuse continues.

My actions... have consequences? Unbelievable.

Clary is a teen, a frustrated and whiny one at that. But she’s also a heroine and supposed to be a likable one. Her 100-page-or-so tantrum does do wonders to give an opposite image of that.

The use of punctuation marks are abysmal, as always, in Clare’s writing. Hence I am filled to the brim by these em dashes she keeps throwing around and interrupting sentences.

→”There was a white dress in layers of tissue papers. A wedding dress, Clary thought and laid it aside carefully.” (Notice no comma before ‘laid’)

What greatly amuses me is that Clary did not only act like a thankless, surly teenager towards Amatis after she offered her food and clothes, Clary also takes her gear and runs off with it.

It’s great that Jocelyn has done all these amazing and badass things but not matter how you dice it, her character is the blandest to ever bland. She is nondescript and undistinguished and continues to be so even later. Her absence (previous and the following) doesn’t do her any favors in that regard.

And I beg you to stop with those dashes.

No pre-comma before ‘like’ when it means ‘as’.

CcCcLeArLy. Thanks for spelling it out for my dumb brain. The context wasn’t enough to show that so it must be told. Give readers some credit. On another note, Aldertree is a hoot. He’s character is well-defined in just couple pages though his personality is somewhat exaggerated, which also could be why.

*Slow motion noooo!*

Commas are great for pacing the way a character speaks, but there is absolutely no reason to use it here. And that em dash has become my mortal enemy.

Tell me why “and never more than in politics” sounds like an independent clause to you?

This is how it could look to everyone else in the Clave. Of course we know it isn’t true at all, but the Lightwoods and co. have no substantial evidence to defend themselves from Aldertree’s “story” because all of what has happened relies on narratives and beliefs that no one can substantiate concretely in any direction. This is actually a great take and a point because it depends on what anyone chooses to believe.

Which is why I’d like to hear what those holes are. Justify!

Writes the author who blamed flaws in Clary’s character on the Lightwoods in City of Bones and never made Clary own up to her faults.

Light can’t be sweaty.

→ “His sweaty face shone with a light.” (???)

Hell yeah he is! At least Simon knows what’s up.

“Not even false kindness” is ineffectual to add. If the point is that there wasn’t any kind of kindness to be heard in Aldertree’s voice: → “There was not even false kindness in his voice.”

The final paragraph works without sounding pretentious because of Aldertree’s previous exaggerated and feigned kindness and worry. The moment he drops the act, his tone is rather surly. He is then blunt and pitiless yet devoid of any pretentious suaveness and villainy, for which these lines don’t sound the same coming from him, especially when compared to Valentine’s or Sebastian’s Evil Monologues.

It’s not necessarily a clause to go after, but this is also telling something when it could be shown. For example: → “After approaching the woman, without a trace of hesitation she gave Clary her hurried series of directions.”

Indigo is blue, you pompous artsy asshole. In regards to the ostentatious declaration about lemon yellow and saffron, I don’t think people generally really confuse them a lot:

This is truly the peak of Clary being the most obnoxious person. She just does what she wants with no regard to anyone else and doesn’t even reason with the readers why. She just doesn’t know where the stubbornness is coming from! Earlier Clary’s insistence on going to Idris was about wanting to be the one to help her mother, to be there when what needs to be done is done, yet here she has absolutely no reason for her behavior. She doesn’t bring up Jocelyn at all to Isabelle.

Of course Clary should get to be there. She was supposed to be there from the start. But that was in legal means...

Oh, sorry. This was the peak of obnoxious behavior. It’s strange that the writing is fully aware of Clary’s tactics but at the same time, I believe, Clary is supposed to be liked??

So, Clary just barges in, filtering her point of view. The first two clauses should just be taken out as they really provide nothing. → “The house was built like Amatis’s, tall and thin...”

If it appears to Clary that he’s reading a book, that should be fine on its own.

This is just a clusterfuck of a sentence. WORK IT IN! → “with an unusual amount of anger even for her.”

Here’s another slap of truth to Clary’s face, yet she just brushes it off and it amounts to nothing. Nothing Luke or Isabelle has told Clary will change her or make her more considerate. In fact, she’ll just continue on like this. Why make such good points but then not develop the character?

No comma before ‘Sebastian’. When the information provided by the clause beginning with ‘who’ is required to define a person or a thing, there should be no commas.

Also, I have yet to see any serious evidence of this. Clary once again narrates another character who has yet to be more defined to the readers.

Also, everyone brushing Max off? Sad. Even Jace, his favorite big brother.

ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING.

I am baffled, truly. Like, what am I supposed to think and feel about this? The tone here is dramatic. The paragraph closes the chapter with a shocking reveal of Jace embracing another girl while, last time we checked in, being deeply infatuated with Clary, his supposed sister. But why would I feel for her?

The narrative has done a poor job of portraying Clary and Jace’s relationship as anything to hope for after the sibling reveal, yet here I am supposed to be SHOCKED and sympathizing with Clary because the boy, her supposed brother she likes is in the arms of another girl. Right.

#Clary Fray #Jace Herondale #Simon Lewis #Isabelle Lightwood #Amatis Herondale #Max Lightwood #Sebastian Morgenstern #City of Glass #CoG Chapter 5

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