#being selflessly loved and treated like a human being what gives characters who have never once been shown that before without having to | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

codecicle · 4 months

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Swag, tell me about your BG3 character, I’m curious about what you play !! :D

rubbing my hands together evil style. wampus you have no idea what you've unleashed

this is my bastard son: Samuel Alastine :D he goes by Sam but everyone calls him Sammy ^_^

his personality is like if you combined chip jrwi + sokka atla and made a really sappy fucked up love child. he's such a sarcastic little bitchboy at all times who loves being a bastard and charming his way into and out of situations (the consequences of his actions). he really focuses on the actions of the people and how they treat others as a sign of if he should trust them or not, when asked by Withers the question on how much a single human life was valued i had his answer READY lmao he was instantly responding with "it depends on the person's actions." he definitely has a weak-spot for kids though, he went through a rough childhood, but he doesn't consider it "important" and he trys to keep it as close to his chest as possible.

he's a tiefling sorcerer and i decided to make his sub-race a dragonborn tiefling so he could get the specific type of spells i wanted. i think my plan for progressing him is to focus my general skill-tree to be skewed towards how his personality would fight instead of whats most practical, and for him that definitely means wiping out multiple people in one flashy go with ZERO back-up plans. the amount of times he's had to get one of the other party member to revive him is insane, so he tends to leave that part out of the big flashy tales about his adventures. he loves showing off and bragging so much genuinely again think sokka atla just an absolute loser bastard who tries to take credit in a loving way. he would kill and die for his friends he just shit-talked as beneath him and side characters 5 seconds ago, and if someone else tries to also talk bad about them he's throwing hands and swinging on them in an instant with his whole 8 strength

speaking of which i skewed by skills so badly by putting the free +2 modifier to charisma to give him a 17 bro i coulda blanced his skills a little more and made all of his attacks do more than a grand total average of like. 2. maybe 3 if youre lucky but i DIDNT because im not a COWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!! so now he just flops over if he gets breathed at wrong or is out of spell slots like god intended. but at least he knows how to flirt GODBLESS

also also i definitely think his current party is going to remain his favorite and most trusted for the whole game. he's adventuring with Shadowheart, Wyll, and Astarion right now and they fit him so perfectly its actually insane. he loves how forward thinking Shadowheart is and is willing to follow her, and respects her for keeping her secrets while still letting him make fun of how closed off she is. (realizing now that my playful banter i try to give him might be the romancing options. but like. yeah he would try and do that she would never go for it though.) ((maybe)) and he absolutely adores Wyll's heroicism and looks up to him in a way, full of nothing but respect for how selflessly he acts and how he fights with confidence. he's an especially big fan of how he treats kids, knowing he never would have gotten that same kindness and it was nice to see the cycle be broken and someone make a change. and astarion he just wants to fuck LMAOOOO he loves the conversations they have and while astarion saying "oh yeah btw how do you wanna die when that worm in your brain spreads. like do you want poison or a knife" should normally be offputting thats EXACTLY his kinda humor and flirting. he said knife btw ^_^ purely because at the beginning where astarion jumped him he pinned him to the ground and held a knife to his throat and he really wants that to happen again but you didn't hear that from him. nuh uh.

anyway im having so much fun playing this game fully in character i see why the council did it that way now !! this is so silly goofy and fun i love going "oh wow any normal self respecting person would NOT say that to the random person they just met. i dont want to pick this option but youre not gonna believe this chief, its What My Character Would Do" every 5 fucking minutes for a new dialog this game is awesome im gonna go die in a combat now goodbye [vanishes into the woods] [the camera very clearly shows me hiding behind a tree thats too skinny for my body asking someone off screen if he's gone yet]

#i make yet anothet post just for me 👍#we have mail :]#INFO DUMPPPPP MY BAD DUDE #THANK YOU FOR ASKING THOUGH im so insane about him #i love little bastards in media can you tell. i was so hyped to design him #genuinely hes just an amalgamation of all the things i love in this type of media. but cooler and My Writing/Character Edition #also im sick and dying like i am every christmas for some reason the curse is real so i have nothing better to do than scream on tumblr and #play this game >:DDDD #was gonna design him as one of my oc's but their stories don't fit dnd really well :(( maybe mutants and masterminds or some really really #fucked up version of coc

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qqueenofhades · 3 years

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did you watch lucifer season six and what are your thoughts pls and ty

Ahaha. Yes. Yes I did watch it. Then I cried for a literal hour and attempted to compose myself, only to start crying again when I lay down and kept on thinking about it. Then I had more feelings. Then I slept like the dead due to emotional trauma. Then I reblogged gifsets and had More feelings. Then @buffaluff and @flynnanimal watched it and also required emotional support due to drowning in their own tears. So, uh... we're all fine here now. How are you?

My main takeaway from the final season was the sheer amount of love for the characters, story, and fans that you could feel shining through all the episodes, and which made SUCH a refreshing change. I had feelings in my tags the other day about how a show about the devil was constantly goofy, hopeful, loving, and uplifting, rather than all the grimdark nonsense they could have easily done with it. (As I said, just imagine it as written by the GOT idiots?? NO THANK YOU.) The writing really loved everyone and wanted to give them a proper ending and emotional journey, and it wanted to show the fans that they weren't stupid for having invested six seasons of effort and emotion into this, and just... that is so much rarer than it should be? Compare all the movies and TV shows that treat their fans like the enemy, that want to outsmart them at all costs even if it means changing major plot elements, that ferociously guard spoilers and think that "shock value" means good writing, by throwing hackneyed cliche upon cliche and making everything Depressing, and just... Lucifer had its hiccups and slow points and missteps, of course, but I am SO glad they didn't do that. The entire show consisted of Lucifer slowly but steadily progressing toward being a better man, despite mistakes and setbacks and sometimes a little too much will-they-won't-they. (Season 3 was the only one where I got bored and skipped over the filler episodes with Pierce/Lucifer/Chloe in order to get to the end).

That is an essentially simple premise, but they stuck to it, and they didn't try to create more drama by randomly wrecking what they had already established. I wrote a fic all the way back in mid-season 2 (In Nomine Patris) that ended up predicting quite a few of the future characters who had not yet appeared on the show at that time, including Eve, Michael, and Azrael, and several plot points, including the very major one of Lucifer returning to hell for the sake of his daughter with Chloe. And while this might mean that I am just that good at guessing TV shows (I would like to think this....) it also means that the writers set expectations, followed through on those expectations, and didn't suddenly derail everything or turn it totally on its head just for the sake of cheap shocks. As we can all attest, they certainly caused PLENTY of drama, anguish, pain, and suffering, but they did it in a way that remained faithful to the overall premises of the story and the characters, and wanted to see them become the best versions of themselves. I cried my eyes out at the end and then thought, "hey, I might want to watch the whole series again," which, if you ask me, is the mark of doing your job right. There have been so few TV endings recently where I didn't immediately swear off the whole thing or have to pretend that canon didn't exist, so yeah.

As I said, it was just refreshing to watch something that had that essential deep generosity at its core, where the message is that everyone is worthy of love if they make the hard and painful effort to change and become better, and that even if earthly things feel small next to all this messy celestial drama, they still matter, and that you are loved no matter what. I loved that Amenadiel became God and Lucifer returned to hell as a choice in order to help all the trapped souls be able to work through their guilt and go to heaven. There were obviously certain echoes of The Good Place in that ending; I don't know if it was something they had planned all along or if the success of TGP, another series asking deep questions about life, death, morality, and human nature within the framework of a goofy heaven-and-hell sitcom, influenced it, but either way, it worked so well. Even if it tore my heart out and stomped on it on the ground, it was fitting and oh so lovely to see Lucifer, once the most selfish being in the entire universe, following in Linda's footsteps and becoming selflessly dedicated to helping other people. Just. Chef's kiss.

And of course, Deckerstar. The Hades and Persephone vibes were IMMACULATE this season, and while it did take Lucifer and Chloe the best part of four seasons to get together, they never significantly backslid, never had third-party issues or cheap cheating storylines once they were officially a couple, and Tom Ellis and Lauren German REALLY killed it this season in particular. It was never easy for them and sometimes the drama went on a little too long over the course of said six seasons, but the love story was beautiful and incredibly meaningful and always true to the fact that the actors and characters and writers (not to mention the fans) all loved it so much. They were so much the emotional heart of this, and when they went to hell together in episode 6x03 (where they turned into cartoons because wHAT even IS this show), Joe Henderson said in an interview that this was to give the fans a view into Lucifer and Chloe's future (after) lives post-6x10, and to offer them a basis to write fanfiction. I mean... the showrunner saying to the fans "here, we love you, have something to write fic about!" is likewise pretty shockingly rare. It's again an example of how this show always audaciously poked fun at itself, never took itself TOO seriously, and was always welcoming its fans and the people who loved it to do so, rather than making them feel stupid or taking joy in wrecking beloved characters or plots.

Obviously, I loved Rory, the badass lesbian half-angel goth Deckerstar child straight out of My Immortal (seriously, she was SO edgy, it was amazing), because of the fact that Lucifer's entire arc was always about feeling abandoned by his father and that he was going to have to face it for himself. Dorky Devil Dad Lucifer trying his absolute HARDEST to bond with his daughter was simultaneously hilarious, adorable, and heart-wrenching, and yet again, the Growth. We all remember when he could barely tolerate Trixie touching him, and now we're here. Also, any variation whatsoever of "this is just a brief moment of time that we must be apart, love is eternal and stronger than death and we will never really leave each other" as a line is guaranteed to make me bawl my eyes out. So that was fun.

I got a big kick out of Ghost Dan running around and trying to get everyone to see him, and had feelings about seeing him in heaven with Charlotte and his beloved Pudding Pops at the end. I had feelings about how they handled Ella finding out the truth (or rather demanding to know why nobody had told her) and of course, I obviously loved Maze and Eve and their goth/femme wedding and the fact that they got a good three-season romantic arc (indeed, I wanted more of them). My god, Trixie is SO BIG, she used to be a tiny little nugget. I love that Linda was the moral and emotional rock all along, from the first episode to the very last, and that Amenadiel was Deeply Vindicated when Charlie's wings appeared at his first birthday party. I love how Lucifer in s6 is absolute thousands of light years from Lucifer in s1. And as ever, Chloe was Perfect. I am happy that I spent six seasons with these characters and saw them become better, and that I was never made to feel like an idiot for trusting the writers to end everything in a beautiful and emotional way. Because, well. They did. Sure, maybe I could go back and pick at a plotline here or a detail there, but I don't terribly feel the need to do so? It might not have been perfect, but it was perfect, and I am so grateful that it existed.

#lucifer #lucifer spoilers #deckerstar #anonymous #ask

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makeste · 3 years

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I read the meta you reposted about anyone being able to become a hero, and I would just like to give some thoughts. I agree it is wrong to think in terms of good vs bad victims and measure everyone as the same. Just because Shoto never killed anyone in response to his abuse and Toya did doesn't mean that Toya was always an evil person looking for an excuse to break bad. Different people break from different things.

these are all good, well-reasoned points, anon, but I disagree with a few of them. let me try to explain.

so the thing about this whole atonement process is that it’s hugely complex, and there isn’t really any kind of roadmap for Endeavor to follow when it comes to trying to make things right. I actually appreciate that his arc is written in such a way that his epiphany doesn’t just happen all at once, and you can see how his approach gradually turns from one that’s still mostly selfish and centered on him, to one that’s actually focused on his kids and what they need. you can see the stages he progresses through as the series goes on.

1. I’d argue that it all starts when he first gets yelled at by Deku (“Todoroki isn’t you!”). he realizes that maybe this kid has got a point, and that treating his son as an extension of him rather than as his own person might just be sorta shitty. so he files that away, but we don’t really see much of a change in him yet.

2. then a few months later he gets thrust into the #1 hero role, which has the interesting psychological effect of forcing him to see past himself and his ego for perhaps the first time in his life. he suddenly finds himself in this position as the new Symbol, and starts to feel the responsibility of that, and it basically triggers the entire rest of his redemption arc. because once he starts looking outside himself, he starts to realize the impact his actions have on other people, including his family. for the first time, he starts looking at the situation with fresh eyes, and realizes how much he’s hurt them.

3. quick little detour here, I feel like it’s important to note that Endeavor -- like many abusers -- actually does love his family and never intentionally set out to hurt them. but the problem is that he is so self-centered for most of his life that he never stops to consider that his family and his kids don’t simply exist to serve his own purposes. he abuses Shouto during his training but I’ll bet you he himself never thought of it as actual abuse, just him being hard on him in order to toughen him up. he thinks he’s doing what’s best for Shouto by making him strong in the hopes that he’ll one day surpass All Might, because that’s always been his goal, and so he just unilaterally decides that should be Shouto’s goal too. he wants the best for him, but it never enters his mind to consider that his son is his own person who, gasp, might not actually want the same things that Endeavor wants. btw I should clarify that absolutely none of this excuses anything he does, holy shit. but I feel like it’s important to mention, because many people complain that the change in Endeavor happens too abruptly and is too unrealistic, but I don’t think that’s true at all. it’s just that people don’t like to acknowledge that abusers are still human (meaning that anyone can become one if they’re not careful to consider how they treat others). Endeavor’s actions are monstrous, but they stem from realistic places, and I think that it’s a very well-thought-out character arc.

4. and so basically, once that change finally starts happening, it’s not that he suddenly starts loving his kids all of a sudden out of nowhere. it’s that he finally starts loving them for their own sake, rather than his. for the first time, he starts loving them selflessly rather than selfishly. and it’s not a change that just happens overnight, because he is so used to everything revolving around him that even after he starts realizing what he’s doing wrong, it still takes him a while to break free from those patterns.

5. and so for example, he suddenly becomes wildly supportive of Shouto and his training and attempts to go full-blown helicopter parent. because clearly that’s what Shouto needs, right?? all those years he was trying to make him into his own personal mini-me rather than loving his son for who he was and supporting him as his own person. and so we see him hounding Shouto in texts to let him teach him his Ultimate Technique (but not because he wants him to surpass All Might, but because he just wants him to be the best hero he can be! it’s different now!), and attending his training sessions to cheer him on from the stands like an obnoxious soccer mom. and afterwards he tells him he’s proud of him, and that he wants to become someone Shouto can be proud of.

6. so you can see there’s some progress at this point, but at the same time he’s still making a lot of the same mistakes. his intentions by this point have genuinely changed! but he’s still looking at the situation from his own point of view, and not taking into consideration how his son feels about the forced attempts at reconciliation. he’s thinking ‘I was a shit father, I need to make it up to him by being supportive.’ but he doesn’t stop to consider that Shouto might not WANT his support by this stage in the game; that he might, in fact, not want anything to do with him at all.

7. and this doesn’t change until after his battle at Fukuoka, when he has dinner with his family and Natsuo blows up at him. he basically lays it all out on the table, but this is the most important part:

I am willing to bet that he did not, in fact, get it until pretty much that moment, actually. because up until this point, he’s been doing exactly as Natsuo said -- trying to make nice, trying to show that he’s changed, and to be a good father now. but he doesn’t stop to consider (a) just how much hurt he really has caused them, and (b) just how impossible it is to simply erase all of that. the pain Natsuo’s expressing here isn’t something people can simply get over. and I don’t think Enji realizes until this moment that he was still going about this in the wrong way.

8. and that, lastly, is what finally leads to this:

he finally realizes that it’s not about him. and apologizes, but makes it clear that Natsuo does not have to forgive him, and that he doesn’t want to burden him by making him feel otherwise. he acknowledges Natsuo’s feelings, acknowledges the pain he’s caused, and realizes that what he and the others need is space. and this is when he makes the decision to build the new home for them and Rei, so that they can finally start to move on -- without him, if that’s what it takes.

so this is basically the progression of Endeavor’s redemption arc up to this point. and I’m sorry it took so long to recap, I didn’t mean for it to lol, but there were a lot of parts I didn’t want to just gloss over. so now, here are a few last points I want to make about his arc.

1. first off, it’s important to consider the timeline here. when making your point earlier, you talked about Endeavor building the new home for his kids, but how “on the other hand” he kept trying to force his relationship with Shouto. however the order of these things is switched around. because Endeavor building the house is something that happens at the end of his arc. and in fact we have not seen him try to force anything with Shouto since then. this is important to acknowledge because it shows that he is learning and that it’s not just an insincere case of one step forward, two steps back. the progress he’s making here is genuine; he really is trying not to be selfish anymore.

2. I know I said “the end” of his arc just now, but in fact we have no reason to believe that this is the end of it. every time I see an argument about “well why hasn’t he done this yet, or why hasn’t he said this”, I wonder why people assume that just because he hasn’t done it yet, it means we’re never going to see it. for instance, he still hasn’t apologized to Shouto specifically for the way he abused him all those years. but just because we haven’t seen it yet doesn’t mean that it won’t happen.

3. fandom has this tendency, when it comes to characters they don’t like and don’t want to see redeemed, to continuously move the goalposts so that no matter what that character does and how much they change, they can continue to justify why it’s not enough. I’m going to take a quick break from Endeavor and use Bakugou as the example here instead, since I think it’s easier to summarize.

“Bakugou is such an asshole, all he cares about is himself, he’s definitely going to become a villain.”

[Bakugou refuses to join the villains] “well whatever, he’s still a jerk, just look at how he can’t even work together with others and refuses to help anyone.”

[Bakugou learns to Win and Save, and unlocks the Power of Teamwork] “well whatever, he still doesn’t care about anyone else. look at how he’s still an asshole to Deku even now.”

[Bakugou starts helping Deku train and learn how to control OFA] “whatever, that’s literally the bare minimum, there’s still no proof that he even cares about him.”

[Bakugou literally takes a life-threatening blow to save Deku] “whatever, it’s like he said, his body moved on its own so there’s still no proof he really cares.”

[Bakugou wakes up from a two-day coma, immediately asks about Deku’s health, and rushes to his bedside] “whatever, I don’t know why everyone is making such a fuss over it, he hasn’t even apologized to him yet.”

and so on and so forth. and I guarantee that once he finally does apologize, it will then shift to “well why couldn’t he just have done that in the first place.” but you get my point.

basically, there are certain characters whose redemption arcs fandom will actively continue to deny no matter what. Bakugou is one of those characters, and so is Endeavor. and I’m not saying that in order to call those people out, because everyone has their own boundaries of forgiveness, and I don’t have the right to dictate anyone else’s, just like they don’t have the right to dictate mine. everyone has their own line, and where it’s drawn is different for each person. like for me, the one particular character who can fuck off for all eternity as far as I’m concerned is Overhaul (although I admit I am still curious to see what Horikoshi has planned for him post-prison break in spite of all that). and there are a lot of other people for whom Endeavor crosses their own personal line. and you know what, that’s fine.

but here’s the thing -- if you actually want to debate his redemption arc with people, you should be willing to do so in good faith. meaning that if you really do think Endeavor is unforgiveable (and I’m speaking now in general terms, not addressing you specifically anon), just go ahead and say so! but don’t come up with an arbitrary list of criteria that he needs to meet in order to qualify for redemption, only to keep on adding more and more items to the list. and most importantly, don’t assume that your criteria are the only valid criteria and that you can speak for everyone else. and especially don’t act like you have a right to go around slapping people with labels like “abuse apologist” just because they don’t share the same opinions as you about a fictional character.

anyway! so as usual, a post that I originally meant to be only a few paragraphs long turned out to be a whole damn essay, I apologize. but anyways anon, basically I share the same opinion as you as far as the mindset that Endeavor needs to have for his atonement (i.e. that it’s not about him). however, I think he’s made more progress than this ask gives him credit for, and I don’t think any of it has been fake. that being said, it’s still a process, and his biggest tests are yet to come. whatever ends up happening, I hope the outcome ends up being one that the rest of his family can find peace with.

#endeavor #bakugou katsuki #'makeste why is the bakugou tag there this is supposed to be a meta about endeavor' yes; well; uh; you see; er...#anyways #bnha meta #endeavor meta #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #asks #anon asks

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2am-theswifthour · 4 years

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The 8 Theory-Folklore’s Commentary on Youth

Yesterday, I took note of @taylorswift and her careful attention to the number 8.

“Not a lot going on at the moment” had 8 words. The 8th track is “august,” which is also the 8th month in the year. She has 8 deluxe editions of her album. Many attributed this to Folklore being Taylor’s 8th album. I thought it meant either a.) we needed to pay very close attention to track #8 or b.) that 8 references infinity, a.k.a “forever and ever.”

To my surprise, I was actually selling Taylor Swift short.

When listening to the album, there’s a lot of back and forth in emotion and circumstance. I was confused about the order, especially when the strikingly sobering “hoax” followed the self-aware almost-tranquility of “peace.” Then it hit me. There are two schools of thought going on.

There are 16 tracks on Folklore (excluding the bonus track none of us have heard). 16/2=8. This means there are 2 equal emotional song threads on the album. In other words, you can get two drastically different lessons listening to each group of 8.

When you separate the even numbered tracks from the odd numbered tracks you get the following:

Odd

the 1

the last great american dynasty

my tears ricochet

seven

this is me trying

invisible string

epiphany

peace

Even

cardigan

exile

mirrorball

august

illicit affairs

mad woman

betty

hoax

Odd Interpretation:

Starting with “the 1” and “the last great american dynasty,” the lyrics are very upfront in showing that the protagonists are making fully intentioned mistakes. “the 1” says, “in my defense, I have none for never leaving well enough alone” (I see you “ME!” reference). In “the last great American dynasty” it says, “she had a marvelous time ruining everything.” These characters’ folly is their youth-induced selfishness. They’re casual in the harm they cause because they distance themselves from it. They’re fine with what they don’t look at closely. When you’re young, you make a mess of things in service of YOUR need. Your need for companionship. Your need for the thrill of danger. Your need to make your mark, to be somebody, to leave something behind. The marvel of the excitement and the chase and the very vitality of teens to 20-somethings’ shenanigans blinds us to the scale of our destruction…

…until you have no choice but to face the consequences of your recklessness.

The next track, “my tears ricochet” is not your average track 5. It functions as a pivoting point. Now our narrator is the hurt party, the one baring the brunt of callous treatment. Fickle mistreatment is no longer so casual. Now it’s a torment, and the tormentor learns the scale of their damage. So much so, that they get burned too. They learned their lesson at a terrible price, but what’s most important is that they learned.

“seven” is a long-overlooked memory revisited. In this picture of naïve innocence, the narrator tells of their childish belief in the impossible. Through magic and play pretend and fantasy they are invincible. They have all the control in the world to control the world they live in. Obviously, this is a flawed perspective that everyone eventually grows out of. Fairy tales don’t solve real problems. The point is that their sense of self-importance is in service of a stronger moral compass than the first two songs. If we accept our responsibility to others, to do what we can to ensure their welfare, are we not better and more satisfied people for it?

“this is me trying” hears that lesson and attempts to walk the walk. Part of being responsible to your fellow human is taking accountability when you fumble. The narrator doesn’t know what to say or how to make it right. What they do know is that they’re here, they’ve put the bottle down, and that they’re willing to try what’s necessary to heal what they’ve hurt.

“invisible string” gives us the reward we’ve been waiting for. The narrator says, “cold was the steel of my axe to grind for the boys who broke my heart, now I send their babies presents.” This is someone who has gone from lashing out in anger at a partner from a burned relationship to genuinely wishing them well in their next stage in life. It’s a powerful testament when you can recognize that youth drives us all to make hurtful decisions and that no one is immune to change if they truly want to change. When you let the anger and lies go, the strings that tied you to them fade away. All that’s left is the string you want to hold onto. The string tied to the one who matters, because you’ve made the conscious decision to deduce that their worth as a person should equal yours. It’s a painful path to traverse through, but when you do it’s all worthwhile. That’s why the narrator can say with confidence “hell was the journey but it brought me to heaven.”

In any other album, a song like “invisible string” would be the quintessential emotional payoff for this story arc. However, because this album is a masterpiece, we have a different payoff point in “epiphany.” “epiphany” takes us out of the world of a romantic relationship. We hear descriptions of war and nurses dealing with the despair of this international pandemic. This point in this emotional thread is that it powerfully declares it’s not enough to do no harm nor is it enough to just empathize with your romantic partner. You MUST show your responsibility to your fellow man. Stand beside them. Empathize with them. See them as whole human beings. Do good by them. In other words, it is our duty to do right by everyone, for everyone bleeds, loves, and dies.

The 8-song selection ends with “peace.” The song begins by saying that their, “coming-of-age” has come and gone.” I believe this (along with “invisible string”) to be the most overtly “Taylor Swift” track in perspective. This is her speaking as herself. She lets us know that she’s grown through taking her mistakes, and the mistakes she learned through folklore, into account. She is overly aware of her flaws and feels she pales in comparison to her partner. Rather than allow those insecurities to manifest in unchecked rage or resentment, she takes it as a challenge for herself to do better. She knows she can never give him complete peace (due to inside and outside factors), but she can make the choice to give him unselfish promises and embrace the entirety of her partner’s life. This is a person who has learned the value of selflessness in love and life, which makes this whole thread worth everything.

Even Interpretation:

“cardigan” foreshadows the eventual failure of the even path. The odd interpretation I just described culminated in the narrator finding their place with “the one” because they’ve left everything petty and casually cruel behind. In “cardigan” it says “chase two girls, lose the one.” On top of this directly referencing the first track, it also implies the partner’s self-destruction. By toying with two girls, James is losing “the one.” I don’t think losing “the one” means that you keep one of the two of them. I think it means that engaging in that kind of behavior makes you into a person that isn’t ready, or worthy, of “the one” that they are meant to be with forever. Meeting and keeping “the one” has to require each partner to love themselves and their partner wholly, truly, and selflessly. They can’t be a cardigan you pick up and only wear on the weekends. They must be a wholehearted commitment.

“exile” shows the blowout from “cardigan.” The two couldn’t stay together, and Bon Iver’s (character’s) toxicity comes out full force. He thinks her new man is lesser than him. He’s prepared to throw punches despite being at fault over a hundred times. He’s seen the film before, and he didn’t like the ending because it didn’t work out for him. He wants her under his thumb, not having learned from his prior relationships that that just can’t work. They leave out the side doors, neither fully ready to confront the problems head on.

“mirrorball” is daring in its shift of focus. While all of the tracks I’ve mentioned thus far have dealt, in some way, with the problems that result from a young person’s selfishness, this song doesn’t do that. This song illustrates an extreme that young people participate in at the opposite end of the spectrum; radical selflessness. To be selfless means that you should never allow something that harms someone else to happen just because it benefits you. Young people, girls in particular, are often groomed to interpret selflessness differently. Their definition is synonymous with accommodation. Change your looks, change your personality, don’t object, and embody what your partner wants so that they’re happy. That’s why the symbol is the mirrorball in the song. It reflects everything in the room but itself. By explicitly not factoring in their own sense of self-respect in a relationship, they are unknowingly and tragically enabling their partner’s mistreatment. To be clear, that doesn’t mean abuse is their fault if they have low self-esteem. It’s not, even remotely. But not having the capacity to defend your self-worth is what keeps so many drawn into toxic relationships there for so long. This radical selflessness manifests itself in the other woman too. In “august” it explicitly says that she was living on the, “hope of it all” and that she would cancel plans in the name of a potential hookup with someone who was never hers. The idea of radical selflessness culminates in “illicit affairs” when one of the women deals with their addictive compulsion toward someone who treats them like a cheap lay. Their relationship is a secret that leaves her feeling used in parking lots and as though any trace of her is gone. These three songs have taken the desperate hopelessness of “Abigail gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind” to the extreme.

Many have speculated that “mad woman” is a commentary on the Taylor/Scooter conflict and I’m inclined to agree. However, if I were to assign an interpretation that goes with my theory, I would say that “mad woman” details the unforeseen consequences of a tormentor’s abuse. When a toxic partner performs bad behavior, their expectation is that they will always be found in the right. After all, Taylor noted on her previous album that for men, “everyone believes [them].” So in the face of lies about her character that everyone believes, she gets rightfully angry. Her anger is their affirmation. For many, a woman being angry on her own behalf is “crazy” and “irrational.” What kind of a society have we set up? A society that promotes women to lack self-worth and, should they find it, they’ll meet a whole other exile.

“betty” is our complete look into James’ perspective. On its own, it sounds like a big romantic gesture to get behind. However, this path is very clear to put “cardigan” first. “cardigan” says, “I knew you’d miss me once the thrill expired and you’d be standin’ in my front porch light.” Lo and behold, in “betty” he shows up to her party when she doesn’t want to see him and asks if she would, “kiss [him] on the porch in front of all [her] stupid friends.” It’s an absolute punch in the gut. Betty knows in “cardigan” that he would come back after he had his fun with another girl, but that she would take him back when he saw momentary value in her again. James in “betty” claims he didn’t know anything, but that’s just an excuse. He knew what he was doing, he knew that he would be able to pick up her broken pieces with ease, he knew he could isolate her from her friends, and he knew that he could capture the imperfect “comfort” of that cardigan again.

This path ends in the final even-numbered song, “hoax.” In the odd numbers, “peace” shows a lesson learned. This even path shows what happens when we don’t learn. The seeds of youth-driven mistakes have led us here. The narrator wants nothing outside the pain of this faithless love. Without learning what it means to be selfless, the traumas of these young relationships create a never-ending cycle. The narrator knows that the “love” is a “hoax” but doesn’t care because that’s all they have. There’s no point to wanting anything else. Without the perspective of age, of truly going beyond that, they’re stuck in a truly dark place.

Final Thoughts:

Taylor Swift is an exceptional artist for a lot of reasons. No one makes albums this good this far into their career. Most artists teeter off after two or three because they retread. Their audience inevitably gets bored of them e same thing time and again. Repeating themselves is something that a lot of artists do because they want to go with the formula of what works. With Folklore, Taylor has done what few artists have dared to do. She’s allowed her discography as a place to uncompromisingly expand her worldview and challenge her listeners. She’s not reiterating previous lessons to make another quick sale. Instead, every album prior has been a steppingstone. As she said at the Time 100 Gala, she has truly turned her lessons into her legacy. From a variety of narrators, she has brought what I decree to be her best album to date. This wouldn’t happen for anyone else 8 albums into their career, but she’s done it by devoutly embracing age’s wisdom.

Learn from the highs and lows presented in these paths. As all good folklore does, it teaches us how to live better. It is our duty to live selflessly and with self-assured dignity. These writings, I have no doubt, will become integral to the legend that is Taylor Alison Swift.

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kisilinramblings · 3 years

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I saw many people tweeted that Chloe is not deserved the threatment she received in the show (i.e being her miraculous taken from her, being bashed, etc), she helps lb selflessly only for lb to take her only way to redeem herself, to show she can be better person and the only reason why she's treated badly is because Thomas hate her, that's why he refused to give her a redemption arc and instead keep calling her a villain. What do you think of it? And what do you think of Chloe as a character?

I’ll come off clean right away. I too believed in Chloé. I too hoped for her to get better and gave her a chance. Was I disappointed by the turn she took? Yes. Just like Ladybug and Chat Noir too were disappointed I’m sure. Was I surprised by this development though? No.

It all comes down to 3 things that lead Chloé’s development to this result.

Chloé’s traits and motivations.

What the Bee Miraculous represented to Chloé

Chloé’s trust toward Ladybug

Let’s go back to the beginning of Chloé’s development. Despair Bear. Chloé is forced to make an effort and be nicer otherwise she will lose Adrien’s friendship.

Chloé : How can [Adrien] do this to me, Jean-Michel?

She doesn’t understand why she has this ultimatum. She isn’t reflecting on her actions. She just want Adrien to be her friend again. With the help of her butler though, Chloé works her way through. It’s a bumpy road and she obviously doesn’t like doing this. At. All. She always questions the point of this nice action or that other one, but she forces herself only not to lose Adrien’s friendship which obviously means a lot to her, but she finds this whole experience is annoying.

During the Akuma attack though, she does rescue Ladybug from being Catalysmed by a Chat Noir controlled by Despair Bear, but what does Chloé say immediately after she has realized she had been actually helpful for once?

LB : Thanks, Chloé Chloé : Hey! I was really nice just then! Did you see? No?

She boasts about her actions, wanting people to notice her. The whole audience doing the Anime Fall™ illustrates that boasting about being nice defeat the initial purpose. Doing nice actions should be because it is the right and natural thing to do, not to expect glory and reward afterward, even if Chloé instinctively wanted to protect someone she deeply idolizes.

After helping Ladybug out to defeat Despair Bear, Chloé realizes there are some benefits to being nice, yes, but what does Chloé do after showing she is capable of making an effort and secured back Adrien’s friendship? She sighs of relief, a burden lift out of her shoulders, and reverts back to her usual self.

Now I know people will say “It’s just to maintain the statu quo”. But when you look back at this episode after Miracle Queen or even after Miraculer, you realize Despair Bear had a lesson in it that concerns people like Chloé. That is they can make an effort to be nicer and can sometimes be helpful but if they don’t want to become a better person, to be kinder to others, then they won’t change.

Over S2, we see Chloé under a new light. She isn’t just a spoiled rich bully. She is human too. When she is hurt, she hurts back. Marinette -- and by extension the viewers -- learns to see that side of Chloé and empathizes with her. But while it explains it, her snobbish, mean and entitled attitude still isn’t acceptable. Not when living in society.

But Chloé does make some some progress through S2. Small. But still, progress. Like during Zombizou, where Chloé admits for the first time her actions has hurt people.

Or the end of Queen Wasp where Chloé finally accepts to give back the Bee Miraculous she had found to Ladybug, admitting she had been irresponsible with how to use that power.

Or during Malediktator, when Chloé opens up to Ladybug, telling her the truth and how useless she feels.

That was a start. Chloé showed us she was capable of doing that when renouncing or not expecting to have a Miraculous. However, after Queen Bee is officially recognized as one of Ladybug’s allies, something else happened.

After actually saving Paris during Malediktaor, Chloé got a party celebrating Queen Bee, celebrating her.

Marinette was trying to do some positive reinforcement to encourage Chloé.

Marinette : Well, she did save Paris, so... maybe she just may be able to save herself too, am I right? [...] If she feels like she can be useful, I’m sure she’ll change her attitude.

“[Chloé] just may be able to save herself”

It isn’t Ladybug’s responsibility to change Chloé so she could become a better person, but Chloé’s. Ladybug can help her a bit, by showing support and guiding her, but it is ultimately Chloé who has to work on herself in order to save herself AKA to begin redeeming herself if she wants to. Like how Chloé desired to save her dad and fix her mistake. However, Chloé’s secret identity being publicly known has jeopardized that process.

Look at the ending of Malediktator. Chloé has a party but instead of taking pics with her and the crowd, or with people she cherishes or is thankful about, what do we get?

A selfie of her with her with no one else around her posted on her social media, showing us her self-centred image.

This behaviour repeats itself during Heroes Day as well. Everyone has prepared a nice action for the day and what was Chloé’s? Accepting to sign autographs since now she is a superhero.

And at the end of the finale, yes, she is included in the group picnic, but how is she staged on the set?

She sits on a lounge chair, not directly touching the ground where everybody else is sitting. She refuses to eat home-made meals, preferring fancy sushis. And finally, she has her butler break apart her chopsticks for her, without even politely asking him by looking him in the eyes.

What does this scene tells the audience compare to the scene where Chloé is dismantling her Bee “Lair” without any help at the end of Malediktator, telling her butler she’ll do it because she has to do this herself. (Translation : I have to fix that error of mine myself”).

As S2 concluded, since Queen Bee is now officially one’s of Ladybug superhero teammates and that everyone knows QB is Chloé, she feels above everyone else, refusing to sit at the same level as them. She still doesn’t care about others’ feelings. She expects people to serve her. Even her “benevolent” action of signing autographs for Heroes Day revolved more around herself than acutally helping others.

This is where Chloé’s character stands. This is what she values. Herself. Her needs. She feels morally superior. She has ascended to greater heights. She acts entitled because Ladybug has trusted her with a Miraculous once or twice. And it is this attitude Chloé never tries to fix and that has lead her to her descent.

The people who are mad about Chloé’s development throughout S3 often misinterpret the real reason why Chloé constantly wanted to be Queen Bee to begin with. What the Bee Miraculous truly represented to her.

Chloé didn’t want to be a superhero because she wanted to help people nor was it because she felt bad about how awful she had been to everyone in general and wanted to make amends. Chloé didn’t need a Miraculous for that. She could have accomplished that progress simply as a civilian if she had wanted to.

It wasn’t because Chloé still had something to prove to her mother either. That was settled at the end of Queen Wasp. Her mother had acknowledged her and was staying in Paris, with her. Audrey finally gave the recognition Chloé longed for. (Though I admit “you are exceptionally mean like your mother” is a shitty reason, but hey! At least Chloé got her mother’s attention and love now, so little yeah...?) And in Malediktator, we see Audrey taking Chloé’s side, agreeing they should leave for New York together.

As for wanting to be loved by others, Chloé has already the affection and attention from other people such as her butler, Sabrina, Ms Bustier, and even her father who overly spoils her, satisfying every of Chloé’s desires. They were there for her even before she got her hand on a Miraculous. And it wasn’t because Chloé wanted the power to protect the people she cared about either nor was it her symbol for a second chance.

No, Chloé only cared about herself and the reason why she wanted to be Queen Bee everytime she could is because, to her, having a Miraculous means you are part of the elites.

Miraculous Holders are chosen ones. Litterally! There are only a few select of them. They get to be famous, glorified, celebrated (Heroes Day). They get movies made about them (Animaestro). They get to be on the news, interviewed. To have their image show everywhere. To have fans. To be adulated, respected, listened to. They are exceptional. Superior.

And this isn’t new with Chloé. Ever since S1, fame and status has always been a motivator for her to do things. To be exceptional. Not just to be seen by her mother (though it started it like that), but for everyone to see it.

In fact, when there is an Akuma attack, is Chloé helping others around her or is she abandoning everyone and heading straight to light her bee signal while buzzing with excitement? Does she stay steady just in case Ladybug needs her or is she expecting Ladybug to ask for QB’s help every time? Is Chloé resilient about QB not being needed all the time or frustrated to sit on the bench? What does Chloé do to fix this? Does she give herself a purpose as a civilian or does she cling even more to Ladybug to bring her the Bee Miraculous?

Basically when Chloé is offering her help, in reality, she just want to be a superhero for the glory of it rather than actually caring for or helping people around her.

When Chloé asks for “her” Miraculous and constantly clinging for Ladybug to give it to her, it means she only sees value when she is Queen Bee. And when Queen Bee wants to be reliable to Ladybug or fears to disappoint her idol, ultimately, Chloé wants to not screw her chances to be Queen Bee again.

Thus, yes, Queen Bee does her part when battling Akumas, but does Chloé actually grow as a person after Malediktator events? Did Chloé work on herself? Does she continue reflecting on her actions? Does Chloé even sometimes try to help her classmates with their normal problems or is she resting on her laurels? How does she treat others in general? Did Chloé truly become kinder or humbler or did she instead got the big head and still is rude to them? Does she views herself as a normal person or as a superior being? If you are unsure about any of the answers, just rewatch Startrain.

Chloé just stops improving because she took her Miraculous for granted. She is an hero recognized by Paris and therefore deserve the hero treatment and doesn’t need to continue to work on herself.

Sure, Chloé isn’t provoking as much akumatization as in S1 and S2, but she didn’t become better either by receiving a Miraculous. In fact, she is even more condescending. She is Queen Bee, she is a superhero thus she is better than you, peasants!

Chloé : In this world, there are those who work and those who shine. Forever there would be this division between us, Dupain-Cheng.

And this mentality contributed to Chloé’s sense of entitlement to the Bee Miraculous, calling it hers and expecting to have it back as if it was her rightful right. Except Miraculouses belong to no one as illustrated by the Turtle Miraculous who gets shared between Master Fu and Nino. And initially, LB wanted to hand over the Bee Miraculous to Alya because LB needed help and Alya had already been trusted with another Miraculous before.

Anyway, during Heroes Day, it was part of Scarlet Moth’s plan to use the Bourgeois against Queen Bee. To destabilize her and it worked. And if he could do it once, he could attempt something again.

And this is what motivated Ladybug to be careful and ideally not give back a Miraculous to anyone who’s secret identity is known by Hawkmoth. And for the record, yes, Chloé is the first one truly affected by that rule, but she isn’t the only one through S3.

This decision is made by LB with CN’s approval because they wanted to protect Chloé and her loved ones from HM. And unbestknown to them, their doubts were found as Chloé was being watched over by HM and Mayura.

So it wasn’t because Queen Bee was doing a poor job, nor because Chloé's attitude was getting worse. This was done to protect her. Except they couldn’t protect Chloé from herself.

Yes, Ladybug did a mistake which is to not inform Chloé of this decision earlier. As a result, in Miraculer, Chloé felt ignored. Rena Rouge and Carapace were often called to help while Chloé was standing there waiting next to her bee signal.

But even if LB had told Chloé sooner, chances are the result would have been mostly the same. Because Chloé has an inaptitude to let go of things she desires.

After learning the truth, Chloé was clearly not satisfied by this decision. And while Chloé cooperates and hands back the Bee Miraculous, she is in denial.

Chloé : I understand, but I’m sure you will need me again, Ladybug. I know that I will be Queen Bee again someday. I’ll always be Queen Bee.

What allowed Chloé to not be akumatized during Miraculer was precisely because she still had faith in Ladybug then, despite being mad at her. She is still convinced LB would come ask for Queen Bee’s help again. But after that revelation, once Ladybug has left, Chloé tears apart the picture she had hold on to the entire episode.

By S3 finale, we see Chloé never accepted the reality of ever be Queen Bee again. And since the finale theme revolved about loss, well, it was time for her to be confronted to it.

We all agree that Hawkmoth exploited the situation during Heart Hunter. He planned the Akumatization of André and Audrey Bourgeois. Nathalie was on place to sabotage of the Bee Signal. And finally, they planned to find the Guardian to get the Miracle Box and offer the Bee Miraculous to have Chloé on their side.

Everything was there to manipulate Chloé, play with her emotions in order to turn her against Ladybug. But keep in mind that during that scene where HM is meeting Chloé, everything he says rings true to Chloé because this is what she internally feels. What he did was only amplifying the feelings Chloé already has since Miraculer and even a bit before that.

Chloé felt ignored, rejected, not allowed to be a superhero, to be a Queen. When Chloé answers Ladybug has done nothing for her, we know it’s not true. Ladybug gave her a second chance. We also know Ladybug is avoiding to give Chloé a Miraculous because she is trying to protect her and her loved ones from HM. Chloé knows that since the end of Miraculers events, however when her loved ones are indeed in danger during Heart Hunter, Chloé expected this would be THE occasion to be Queen Bee again and prove Ladybug wrong by helping Ladybug save her parents.

Now, Ladybug has been distracted and didn’t think of things clearly and yes, there is a chance that on other circumstances she might have picked the Bee Miraculous to give it to Chloé, but there is also the fact Chloé kept repeating the same mistake.

We have seen through S3 Chloé is constantly building her expectations up, only to set herself for disappointement. And instead of realizing that about herself, especially after Miraculer, she continues doing that and gets angry and put the blame on others. The only one making Chloé wait is Chloé herself. All the other temporary Holders have other things to occupy themselves and they do what they can as civilians, not expecting LB to come and give them a Miraculous.

But Chloé’s entitlement to the Bee Miraculous clouds her judgment there and now, HM is there is offering Chloé something Ladybug has denied to give her again.

So, Chloé prefered being Queen Bee over doing the right thing. She had the chance to double cross HM, but she didn’t because of how hurt and furious she was at Ladybug. And even after being deakumatized, that angers and feeling of betrayal persist.

And this is where Chloé’s action matters the most here. Chloé not only tries to be reakumatized by choice again, she blantantly explains she isn’t on Ladybug’s side anymore, doesn’t care if HM who terrorizes Paris is the ennemy, that she will keep the Miracle Box for herself. Chloé also rudly orders the Kwamis around without knowing how it works. She even tries to run away with the new Miracle Box and finally, when everything is falling appart and doesn’t go her own way, Chloé throws at tantrum at Ladybug, insulting her and the other temporary Holders and affirm she will leave with the Bee Miraculous to New York.

Even HM who laughs at this at first, commenting he doesn’t need to do anything, that Chloé is one of the bad guys, eventually is disappointed before leaving her behind.

Ladybug? She tries to reason with Chloé, giving her another chance to fix her mistake like at the end of Queen Wasp. When Chloé is putting all the remaining Miraculous of the Box on her, LB asks to stop because she knows how dangerous it is to combine their powers and still doesn’t want Chloé to get hurt. It’s only after Chloé tries to run off with the new Miracle Box that Ladybug stops her. And when Chloé is done talking, LB has no choice to stop this and take back herself the Bee Miraculous from her, even apologizing for doing this.

Ladybug has been very patient. She knows Chloé. She knows she is hurt and is hurting other because that’s how she copes, but Ladybug cannot let Chloé keep that Miraculous. Heck, she even feel sorry for Chloé when she finally leaves.

Is that truly the face someone who is satisfied with this result? This wasn’t what Ladybug had hoped for Chloé either.

If, through S3, it was no one’s fault for the Bee Miraculous to not be given to Chloé, her being destituted of the Bee Miraculous at the end of S3 was the consequences of Chloé’s own actions and her refusal to change. And all of this could have been prevented if Chloé didn’t become entitled to the Bee Miraculous, if Chloé had found another purpose AS A CIVILIAN rather than to depend on the prestige of her Queen Bee persona

This isn’t the end though. It only means Chloé has more work to do about herself. And that giving Chloé a Miraculous isn’t the solution to improve her.

#Anonymous #miraculous ladybug #chloé bourgeois #ml analysis #sorry it took so long anon #here you are #I hope you enjoy!

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ellana-ravenwood · 4 years

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Batfam moments I think about a lot and wish we'd have more stories of...

1. Bruce Wayne learning how to "dad" and making SO MANY MISTAKES. But we see him evolve over the years, and slowly getting used to it. He will always have communication problems, and have moments when he's a total jerk. Let's not forget he's only human, and we all have bad moments. Buuuuut, he’s the kind of father to go make a detour to buy his kids their favorite dinner (and yes, all of them, like before he comes home to Wayne Manor, I can see him go to différent take aways and bring back their favorite food haha).

Or like, remembering exactly what they’re into lately and looking stuffs up on the internet to get up to date. I bet sometimes they’d talk about a band or video games and Bruce would be like : “Oh yes, I particularly like the battle mode of this blahblahblah” and they’d all be stunned haha. I think he has a special way of loving. It’s not always obvious, out there right in your face, but it’s most definitely there.

His children are his strength (as shown in many stories... In more stories in fact, that the ones that exists where he's a total dick to them). And he cares for them in his own way, which can sometimes appear cold and such, while it's just that he doesn't always know how to react. Like. We have to remember his background, it's not really surprising he has communication problems and such things. But he cares... So much.

He's thé kind of dad that goes out of his way to please his kids, even if said kids don't even notice the small things he does for them because ya know, hé just does it and they're used to it and it's only as they grow up they truly realize how out of his way he went for them etc etc. À discreet , pure and différent way of loving. He knows them, hé truly does. “You don’t even know me !” one of them would say after a fight, out of anger, and he would answer : “I do.” confidently, and they’d be like : “PROVE IT THEN !” and Bruce would enumerates everything he can think of about them. Favorite color, favorite meal, favorite book, favorite tv show, hobbies, crushes, fears etc etc...Anyway. Yes.

I just want scenes of him slowly learning how to be a father, and not being the best about it all the time, yet trying his best and it’s obvious he does. We forget sometimes what he went through, and what it truly means for him to adopt and take care of those kids. We forget often that he became Batman, mainly because he does not want any other kid to experience what he went through. Bruce as à father is far from perfect, and hé makes shit tons of mistakes, but he tries, and hé loves them deeply. I think that's why I really hate canon lately, they turned him into à mindless brute who genuinely abusés his kids. It's so, so, so bad, and goes against decades of stories. It's written by people that think "edgy" is à personality trait and what people nowadays love (which is totally false). I'm pretty sûre that for all the canon examples of him being à jerk to the Batkids, I can pull out about ten times more examples of him being à good dad. Again. He's flawed because he's human, and he's difficult to understand at times... But no one will ever make me believe he doesn't love his children with all his heart.

2. Young Jason being super surprised that Bruce is actually a very good cook because he always pictured filthy rich people never doing anything themselves...and Bruce being like : “You know, I was mostly raised by Alfred. Of course he would teach me basic house skills.” while flipping expertly the food in the pan. Alfred one day telling the kids something like : “Everyone always think Master Wayne is a bubbly idiot who cannot work his way around a house, but this is very wrong. He has been changing his own sheets ever since he was 7, and his parents already made sure that he would know what house work is, so he could treat the servants right by seeing how difficult it can be. When his parents died, I took care of him, and there was a long moment he would follow me around everywhere, maybe in fear that I would go, too...During those moments, I taught him a lot.” And then just Bruce showing à few things to his own kids, as à parallèlism to how him and Alfred were (and still are) ❤️.

3. A direct follow up of the one above, Bruce teaching his kids all kind of stuffs. How to play piano, how to fall without hurting yourself, how to cook, how to fight, how to ride a bike for those who didn’t know etc etc...A perfect mix of totally normal domestic stuffs, and of night vigilante stuffs. I bet he’d make up “escape games” for his kids on boring Sunday afternoons, because it’d develop a lot of their skills needed to be Robins (or whoever) AND is fun. I think the reverse totally works too, the kids teaching him things. Like, how to play that video game, how to use slang without sounding like an old man, how to paint his nails, blahblahblah. Just moments together, because they spend so much time with each others like, come on. They have hobbies too. And care about each others enough to want to know about it, and share stuffs etc etc. Growing together, ya know ?

4. More crossover moments with the entire family, not just one or two character : John Constantine being there to ask help for a thing (or not asking help but Bruce wouldn’t let anyone “tamper” with Gotham without him being there so...haha). Zatanna coming around to teach the kids some magic (just like her dad did with Bruce...not “real” magic but like, escape magic and all), or something. Green Arrow making à courtesy visit with his wife, son, and sidekicks. The Superfam and their strong bonds with the Batfam being shown more, and not always in that “rival” way. And like, all of them, not just one or two characters at a time. Sunday lunches at the Kent farm, gaming nights (to which Bruce is dragged to), friendly compétitions, blahblahblah.

5. “Baby” Dick having nightmares in the middle of the night of his parents’ death, and Bruce always being there. How Bruce understands and is always around for him. And reassures him. And on that note : I’m sure most of the kids have nightmares during the night, and Bruce becomes better and better over the years at soothing them. Oh also, if Dick, after he goes and lives in Bludhaven comes to sleep at Wayne Manor for any reasons and has a nightmare, Bruce will just automatically go to him...awkward and cute scene ensues haha.

6. Cass’ first words to Bruce. A very emotional scenes because...it’s the first time she speaks. And it’s clumsy and she’s not sure of herself, and her voice trembles a little. But she’s talking. I’m not sure what her first words would truly be, but most definitely something that touches Bruce. That move him. That make him realize how much he loves that kid.

7. Bruce taking Jason to a baseball game (pre-death Jason) for his birthday because that’s what the kid wanted as à gift. And then later, them going to a game once again after their reconciliation. A very big parallel between the two scènes ya know, as Bruce reminisces. Both end up with Jason hugging Bruce because his favorite team won. In the first scene it’s little 8/9 years old Jay excited and is all cute. In the post-death scene, it’s a grown up Jason who had been angry at Bruce for so long and finally forgave him, and who hugs Bruce without even realizing he does it, because he’s just happy...And it ends on Bruce’s face smiling like, he finally got his boy back.

8. Tim and Damian bonding. I hate it when they're only represented as hating each others 24/7. They had à rough start, sure. But they grew à lot... I just wish we could see them more actually learning to be brothers, accepting each others etc etc. Now of course they'd bicker. Like any siblings. But I bet they'd have à lot of common intérests and such. That they'd like to tease each others, but would genuinely like hanging out and all.

Also Tim is à very understanding sweet person, hé might be annoyed with Damian at first... But he would be amongst those who get it, ya know ? Who gives him time/à chance ? Like Bruce at first did everything wrong with Damian. He was harsh and violent and used intimidation (things Damian was too used to...) thinking he needed that to get Damian to lose his old ways (until he realized how wrong he was and apologzed and took à gentler way...ah that was good shit right there, Bruce acknowledging it all and trying to be better... Not like this current canon Bruce who's an asshole and never suffers any conséquences of it...). Well I think Tim would be more understanding and realize... Damian is just à kid. And Tim is à big brother now ? His older siblings were there for him, it's time for him to be there too. Know what I mean ? So yeah. I wish we'd have more of them actually being brothers and bonding.

Same for Dick and Jason. I wish we had more of them together before Jason's death, and after too... They've been brothers for à long time, their relationship from start to Jay's death to him coming back... Is so interesting. Also, same goes for Cassandra and any of them.

9. Tim getting genuinely interested about Wayne Enterprise, and going to work with Bruce. Asking à million questions and mimicking à lot of B's mannerisms. Dick never showed much intérest in the company, and Jason could've been à great "heir " to it all had he not die and all... I don't think neither Damian nor Cass would care much. But Tim ? First canonically he is interested. But even so, he's just that "type" of kid ya know ? I bet he'd be very excited about the charity side of it all, and find novel ways to to make the world a better place. After all Tim is thé only one of the Robins to not have à tragic background (at least at first, after je was also hit with loss and pain... ) when he first became Robin, and who helped Batman and all completely selflessly. Because it was the right thing to do, and for no other tragic reasons.

10. Damian learning/enjoying really normal basic things gives me life ? Like the boy grew up in such à specific environment, there's so many things he must've missed...Disney movies marathon, vidéo games, just having fun without any other purpose than to have fun (no training), knowing what it is to feel safe and warm... You know. I wish we'd just see Damian understanding and learning things he was just never given, that are just... Nice. Of course being Batman's son means his life can never be completely normal (and I'm not sure he could fully adapt to à normal life... People always seem to forgét the deep traumas he went through during his childhood, which is why he was how Hé was at first...aaaah Damian came à long way), but you know, hé can still expérience so many new things, with his siblings and all ? With his father who tries really hard ? With Alfred ? Just. Seeing truly Damian have that character development without backtracking on it all the time (you know how in canon stories he's à total brat, then gets better, then back to à friendless brat who hates everyone and so on and s forth :/). Seeing him wanting to become better, and actually having à nice évolution.

_____________________

When I'm sad, I like to headcanon scènes about the Batfam, stuffs I wish we could see etc etc haha. Here's just à few I thought about today. I just.. Love them so much, love to share my love for them, and néed to escape current canon a lot haha. Anyway. Here we are.

PS : Sorry for any typo, I wrote this on my phone, and since I'm French, the autoccorect is changing almost every English words to French ones and I might've missed à few mistakes it made ( which drives me crazy haha. And is why I only put 10 "scènes" and not more... Ah, for another post ?).

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carewyncromwell · 3 years

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5, 13, and 20 for the potter asks?

Pro or anti Marauders?

Pro overall, but let’s break this down by characters --

Remus Lupin is my favorite male character in the entire book series. He not only reminded me of my best teachers growing up, but I felt so, so much for him as a character too. I always felt kind of marginalized and different from my peers growing up, so it’s kind of unsurprising that I’ve had a soft spot for “outcast” characters since I was very little, and Remus is no exception. I completely understood why his friends meant so much to him and therefore felt SO much for him that, in the end, he had to lose all three of them and end up alone. Even his flaws, showcased best in the Snape’s Worst Memory chapter of OOTP and especially in Deathly Hallows, only serve to make him more real and human -- it broke my heart when he considered leaving Tonks and Teddy to help the Trio with their Horcrux hunt, but Remus wanting to “bury himself in his work” (which, honestly, this was -- he was a member of the Order, after all!) rather than face his worst fear of possibly dooming another person (namely, his son) to live a life like his made perfect sense with the characterization established, however horrible and wrong of a choice it was. It made me side with Harry so much in scolding Remus, yet I also felt compassion for the feelings behind Remus’s initial impulse. And of course, I was so proud of him when he overcame that fear and stood by Tonks and got to know his son before he died. I’m still not over the fact that my bb Remus had to die, AUUUUUGH, he and Sirius and Harry should’ve lived together as one happy makeshift family togetherrrrr. DX

Peter Pettigrew...that bloody rat. >> I’m sure just about everyone feels a lot of justified resentment toward Peter for what he did to the Potters, and I definitely agree with that sentiment...but at the same time, there’s still a part of me that finds him very interesting. Mainly because...I’d love to see him at his best, now that we’ve seen him at his worst! He was a Marauder, same as Sirius, Remus, and James, and we should never forget that -- he might have been a bit of a tag-along, but none of the other three, Lily, or anyone else thought that Peter would ever have been the type to turn on his friends. McGonagall disparaged Peter for his magical talent, but she openly grieved for him when she thought Sirius had killed him. Everyone was ready to believe Sirius -- who clearly adored James -- could be the traitor, before suspecting Peter. Sirius even suspected Remus before Peter...and this is when their connection in the books is so strong that HP fans have shipped Wolfstar since POA was first published back in 1999! Even when you read the books, you can see flickers of remorse in Peter at points, if you’re reading carefully. In Goblet of Fire, Peter seems noticeably uncomfortable around the rest of Voldemort’s supporters -- his efforts to bring Voldemort back to his body really seem to be out of obligation rather than any kind of enthusiasm. And of course, as we see in Deathly Hallows, Peter even as a Death Eater still retains enough honor to hesitate when Harry reminds him that he owes him his life. Gryffindor house does preach chivalry as well as courage, and in a twisted way, one could read Peter’s “loyalty” to Voldemort not just being about desperation as his friends now want nothing to do with him, but also because Peter’s standing by the choice he made...not unlike how Percy stood by the Ministry as long as he did, rather than by his family. This doesn’t justify what Peter did at all -- he is a despicable coward who destroyed so many lives and is responsible for bringing back the Dark Wizard whose return resulted in even more deaths -- but it does give his characterization as a villain interesting nuance. There’s a well-established internal logic to how Peter behaves, one I would frankly LOVE to see more of in a future Marauders-centric property.

Sirius is arguably the most polarizing of the Marauders, but honestly? I love him to pieces. He is a very, VERY flawed character -- he’s got a real mean streak, a hot temper, and more aggression than the average person. Him encouraging Snape to “go after Remus” was an indisputably terrible, stupid, callous thing to do, not just because of the endangerment to Snape’s life, but the flagrant betrayal of Remus’s friendship. The way Sirius treated Kreacher was completely uncalled for, regardless of how much the elf reminded him of his terrible home life. Sirius also can be really immature and can get really surly and passive-aggressive when he’s upset. But despite all of this, I love Sirius anyway. In a lot of ways, Sirius reminds me of my father, who I also love a lot despite his many flaws. Sirius lacks empathy for those different from him, but he’s also the only member of his immediate family who rejected the idea of pureblood superiority and fought in the Order of the Phoenix against Voldemort. Sirius was a bully and even as an adult could be incredibly petty and mean-spirited, but he also was the first person in Harry’s life who really felt like family to him -- who he could write to for help when he was sad, afraid, or insecure. Sirius was a hot-tempered, rash person who rarely thought through the consequences of his actions, but he also would’ve done absolutely anything to protect the people he loved. He without question loved James, Lily, and Harry more than his own life. Despite being raised in a cold, hate-filled, prejudiced, unaffectionate, abusive home, Sirius understood unconditional love, and he understood his godson in a way no one else could, not just because he was such close friends with the parents he’d lost at such a young age, but because he’d lived Harry’s experience as a neglected, unloved child himself.

And now we come to the often maligned James Potter. Honestly, this guy gets such a bad rap in the fandom, almost exclusively based on Snape’s memories, and I don’t think it’s really fair. Snape is really the only person who has a sour image of James, and even if we disregard the testimonials of fellow Marauders like Sirius and Remus, people like McGonagall, Dumbledore, Mad-Eye Moody, and even Cornelius Fudge had nothing but nice things to say about James, and those people don’t have reason to speak well of James at Snape’s expense. And of course, even Snape’s perceptions are bound to have their own slant to them. Pensieve memories are just that: memories. A Pensieve is not a pocket dimension that perfectly recreates the past, hence why Slughorn was able to badly modify his memory, Hokey the house elf’s memories were tampered with by Riddle, and even in Snape’s own memory, we follow Snape throughout the memory and we’re only able to hear what the Marauders are saying because he was close by. And if we judge James solely based on his no-doubt worst moment in Snape’s Worst Memory, we’re bound to get an incomplete picture -- just as we did for Hagrid, after seeing Tom Riddle’s memory of him confronting Hagrid for supposedly opening the Chamber of Secrets. Would we judge Harry solely for Malfoy’s recollection of the Sectumsempra incident, or Hermione solely for Marietta’s recollection of the time Hermione hexed her face to read “SNEAK” across it? Of course not. James was a bully and what he did in Snape’s Worst Memory was no doubt horrible -- but this is also a young man who without hesitation gave Sirius a home after he ran away from his terrible family, who supported Remus financially when he couldn’t find work, and who selflessly put himself between Voldemort and his family just to give them a chance to escape, even though he didn’t even have his wand on him. I would frankly love to learn more about James and see more of the arc he must’ve gone through as a character for someone like Lily to have fallen in love with him and for people like Remus and Sirius to feel such strong platonic love for him themselves, if a Marauders-centric property was ever created.

Who was the bravest character in Harry Potter and why?

Oh gosh...hm...that is a real challenge. There are a lot of very brave characters! Harry, Ron, Hermione, Remus, Sirius, McGonagall, Hagrid, Dobby, Cedric...but I think I’m going to nominate Neville. While Hogwarts was taken over by Snape and the Carrows and the students were no doubt being brainwashed a la the Hitler Youth to regurgitate blood-purist talking points rather than learning anything that could defend themselves against the Dark Arts or that was even remotely true about Muggles, Neville decided to face that undeniable hopelessness -- worsened all the more by the students’ lack of independence and freedom while being housed in the castle’s walls without their families and the threat of losing both their families and all hope for a future constantly dangled over their heads -- head-on and reform Dumbledore’s Army with Ginny and Luna to stand against it. Then, even as his group’s members got picked off one by one and were forced to hide in the Room of Requirement, he stuck to his guns and kept resisting because he knew -- as a Pureblood -- he was in a position he could use to fight for others and wasn’t afraid to stand up for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves and others. It was only when his grandmother was forced to flee and the Carrows realized that Neville was too much of a threat to keep in check that he went into hiding himself. Then, when everyone thought Harry was dead and many others would’ve despaired, Neville fearlessly and fiercely stuck both by Harry, his parents’ memory, and his own convictions and refused Voldemort’s offer to join him, even keeping his head enough after getting burned by the flaming Sorting Hat to fulfill his promise to Harry and kill Nagini. And this was the kid who people said shouldn’t have been Sorted into Gryffindor at all, in his first year! What a beautiful transformation.

Favourite Death Eater?

*cringes* Mmm...well, character-wise, I’d say I’ve always found Lucius a very compelling character, in the books. The Malfoy family in general struck me as interesting anti-villains, since they are indisputably unpleasant, prejudiced, awful people, but their one silver lining to me is how deeply and sincerely they love each other. That aspect is really lost in movie!Lucius, since the films try to portray him much more two-dimensionally bad and that interpretation has since colored the fandom’s view of Lucius as an abusive father when there is NO textual evidence of that in the books. And I kind of find it a shame, because as much as I adore Jason Isaacs in his role, it did serve to make Lucius a bit less complex and interesting in the films than he was in the books. Admittedly as well I have a bit more of a soft spot for Lucius after taking on the challenge of writing the guy and his family a redemption arc in my way-too-long AU fic Harry Potter and the Lack of Lamb Sauce. XD

HP Ask!

#hp ask #opinion #ooc #lucius malfoy #sirius black #remus lupin #james potter #peter pettigrew #neville longbottom

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warwaged-archive · 4 years

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THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm. tagged by: @theharellan ty so much! tagging: if you read this entire post I’m tagging you

My muse is: canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless / complicated

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO. Velanna is minor enough there isn’t a lot of talk about her either way (and I get it, given she’s a dlc character from Origins it’s understandable not as many people even know her), but I definitely see more dislike towards her than appreciation.

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK. Honestly do not know! I have seen Debates about her personality and actions, but I don’t recall seeing people comment on her looks.

Is your character considered strong in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK. Not particularly as far as I’ve seen, though I haven’t seen people say she’s weak either. Tbf given her introduction has you investigating murders that no one seems to think were caused by a single person and she literally turns a forest against those who pass through it, I think it’s hard to deny she is strong, though.

Are they underrated? YES! / NO / IDK. Like I said, there’s very little talk about her at all, and very little appreciation. Velanna deserves more love c’:

Were they relevant for the main story? YES / NO. She isn’t relevant for the story of any of the main games, given she isn’t even in any of them askdjfnskndf She is relevant to Awakening’s story, given she causes some trouble on the road to Amaranthine, and that’s how you meet her. You can kill her on that encounter, though, so for the rest of it she’s not essential (but killing her is boring guys why would you)

Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG. In a way, since she’s causing some of the problems the Warden-Commander has to solve. Other than that, it truly depends on how you play it.

Are they widely known in their world? YES / NO. Nope. Just a Dalish gal who became a Grey Warden.

How’s their reputation? GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. I lean towards neutral because Velanna isn’t a widely discussed character either way, but I would say it leans towards bad. Many people dislike her actions, and many more dislike her for her harsh ways towards the PC in the beginning (a non-dalish PC, that is). Velanna is very opinionated and angry and a lot of people seem to think that makes her annoying. A bad take imo but I think that’s pretty obvious dkfasndkfjanskdfjn

How strictly do you follow canon? — For the most part I follow it, only expanding it for what we haven’t seen and filling the blanks.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals. — I don’t know how to sell her to others so I will just talk a bit about what made her interesting to me. When you meet her, she’s so angry she’s been terrorizing the road and nearby villages so much people don’t even know what (what, not who) is responsible for the bloodshed. If you don’t bother to get to know her, it’s easy to think she’s just the anger, but if you do, eventually you learn a lot that might not justify her actions but makes them understandable, and that she’s so much more than Angry™. Velanna cares so much! For the Dalish, and preserving their magic and culture; for her clan, in spite of the fact her sister was the only friend she ever had; for her Keeper, even though they parted on bad terms; for Seranni, even after she chooses to leave with the Darkspawn instead of leaving with her. She’s outspoken and a great defender of her people, but not in a blind or arrogant way, and not in a way that causes her to inherently resent humans (it’s not history that causes that, but her own experience with having humans act violent against her clan and prefer to destroy the land to drive them away than attempt peaceful coexistence). She’s not driven by personal retribution, but by a relentless pursuit of justice that indeed is twisted into something more akin to vengeance. She acts on anger but she learns to be better. She’s been an outcast all her life, well before becoming the only Dalish in her group of Wardens, and she learned to be harsh to defend herself. She’s not easy to love, but she’s capable of loving deeply, and her loyalty to those dear to her is unwavering. She can be harsh because she’s so used to keeping people away in self defense, even if she’s lonely, even if it’s clear all it takes to get past that is treating her with kindness and respect. Velanna has a good heart, but that doesn’t mean she’s only capable of good.

In game, her growth depends on the PC of course, but the way I see it (and write her) there is no reason why her connections to other characters, such as Sigrun and Nathaniel, wouldn’t be just as important for it. They allow her to see beyond her anger, to move past her resent, and to stop judging people as if they were all equally bad. She goes from someone terrorizing humans in a forest and nearby road to someone who selflessly stands to defend them, even should it cost her own life. She goes from joining the Wardens as a means to finding her sister to actually taking on the role and its duties, not just as in fighting the darkspawn, but in being a protector.

And the way she values history, but not just the actual facts, the tales and legends and culture, how she understands their place as something of great importance definitely helped a lot in endearing her to me. According to Velanna, "Stories connect us to our past. They shape a people in profound ways. Without them, we are lost.” and I think about that a lot you know? It really gets to me c’:

Also she’s an awesome powerful mage who could and has killed a man (uh many men actually) but who blushes and stutters if you call her pretty because what are compliments she is not prepared to deal with those

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?). — Velanna killed people so she’s evil and deserves no forgiveness ever (which isn’t always similarly applied to other characters BUT ANYWAYS). She’s angry and mean towards the protagonist and because of that she’s not cool. She’s whining about the Dalish all the time too so she’s just annoying. Also I never tried to talk to her and often don’t even leave her alive after the Wending Wood. aidsnfkajsdnfkjn seriously though, I can see why people might not like her, as she isn’t made to be likable initially and you gotta get past that to get to the more interesting bits. Velanna is indeed very much tied to her Dalish background, as it is not only her culture and origin, but also a great motivator for her actions, and often even the means through which you get to know her, so if you’re not interested in the Dalish I guess she wouldn’t be an interesting character (but imo, it’s only natural her culture is so important to who she is, given her background and her own feelings about her people. she’s so proud of her heritage, even if being part of that people makes her a target for no other reason than prejudice. even then, she’s so proud of it and so ready to fight for and defend her people and speak and stand for them! I just love her a lot but ok I realize I should be talking about why people might not like her so let’s get back to that). She’s not funny, she’s not friendly, and she’s actually rather angry and outspoken, and I feel like that ends up pushing her to the more ‘controversial’ side instead of being part of the popular or likable characters.

What inspired you to rp your muse? — Literally just played Awakening and ended up like OH I WANNA WRITE ONE OF THEM and I wasn’t sure about who. It wasn’t clear to me, at least, so I ended up thinking about them and at first I was like hm maybe Nathaniel, but it didn’t feel right even though he was the first one I thought I wanted to write. So I thought about Velanna, and the more I thought about her the more invested I became so I was like yeah that’s the one and added her here aksjdnfkjasndf

The first thing that got me really invested in her while playing was the conversation you have with her when you gift her the diary. I just really love her talking about the Dalish and preserving what they have and how important and meaningful stories are. That said, the moment I met her in the Wending Wood I immediately wanted to get to know her.

I’m just a big fan of elves in case you guys haven’t noticed yet asksjnfsjkdnfkdjfn

What keeps your inspiration going? — replaying DA, but specially Awakening, Dragon Age content in general, discussing her with others (talking about my muses is always very helpful to me in that sense), and honestly, others being interested on her too. Discussions about the Dalish or headcanons or other people discussing Dragon Age and their respective characters also help my motivation too tbh! I’m always the slowest to answer to anything, but that’s just how I always am. Those are all things that keep my love for her alive, and thus great part of my inspiration for her.

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice? YES / NO / I TRY!

Do you frequently write headcanons? YES / NO / SORT OF? when the inspiration hits I literally cannot shut up

Do you sometimes write drabbles? YES / NO. I’m usually more about them 5 page headcanons and threads and ask answers than drabbles

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO. she lives in my head rent free (as do most if not all of my muses tbh askdfnaksdf)

Are you confident in your portrayal? YES / NO / SORT OF?

Are you confident in your writing? YES / NO / SOMETIMES. Depends but not usually askndfkajs

Are you a sensitive person? YES / NO / SORTA.

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal? — Depends on what that criticism is and if I asked for it? aksjdfnkjfn I do ask about my portrayals sometimes, and in that case I’m open to constructive criticism --- if there’s something you think I could do better and you can explain why in a nice way, I’ll definitely listen (though I may disagree, so there’s that). But if it comes down to rudeness or ‘you’re not writing her like I think she is’ then well that’s not my problem, I write her how I understand and interpret her.

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character? — I LOVE THEM! Send me questions about my muses literally any time I absolutely love them!!

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why? — Depends, again. I’m not against discussing it, hearing what other people have to say and why they disagree (and if they say they disagree, I’d probably want to know why), but ultimately, again, it’s my portrayal so it might just be a case of seeing things differently. Like I said, I don’t mind discussing it, though.

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it? — As to this, I just honestly expect people to act the same way I act when I disagree with someone’s portrayal, which is just moving on with my life and not interacting kasjafksdnfjk

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it? — Depends. They don’t have to like the character, but if it influences IC interactions or if it’s just people who hate a character getting off of bashing them through IC interactions even if it doesn’t make sense that’s a no for me. I don’t like seeing people hating on characters I love, but people are free to do post what they will. If there’s a tag and I can block it that’s fine by me, if it isn’t tagged I’m likely to unfollow.

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors? — If it’s done politely I don’t mind. English is not my first language and learning about errors is a way to improve, to me.

Do you think you are easy going as a mun? — I think? For the most part? I do tend to get defensive over characters I love and asks that aren’t clear in tone and come across not so nicely (OOC asks, I mean), but other than that I think I’m pretty chill? Idk though you guys tell me aksnkajdsfnkjan

#* muse: velanna / STORYTELLER.#* out of character: the mun / THAT GLOOMY GIRL WHO SIGHS A LOT?#dash games tag tbd.#this was very fun tbh #thanks for tagging <3 #sorry for taking forever aksjndfkjasdnf

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bigfan-fanfic · 5 years

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What I’ve Learned from Disney Princesses

Sorry - super long post that isn’t a fic and doesn’t have anything to do with much. Just a rant - something I thought about and had to write down.

I firmly believe that in life, we are always learning. And from a young age, I have been learning from Disney - I think that my rather large vocabulary comes from learning Disney songs by heart at a young age - there are some pretty complicated words in there, people!

I was born and currently identify as male, but the Disney Princess movies have taught me valuable lessons over my life. The Princesses espouse admirable qualities, teach life lessons, and introduce us to the harsh truths of life. I’d like to share with you what I found the message these characters send to be, and maybe see if anyone feels the same?

So, under the break, I’m going to discuss all 12 of the official Disney Princesses, as well as Elsa and Anna, because I feel they have a lot to offer as far as life lessons go.

1. Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)

Snow White does teach valuable lessons. She is just a young girl during the movie, but she shows remarkable fortitude in her ordeals. She does put herself in a servant role to the Dwarfs, but think about it -she’s been made a servant by her stepmother, so it’s likely the only thing of use she knows how to do. Not to mention she’s paying for her lodging and food by working. Snow is a princess, but she shows remarkable humility by being willing to work and earn her keep.

Snow’s story also teaches us the downfalls of seeing the good everywhere. A little bit of cynicism is healthy, and keeps us alive. Snow’s willingness to see the good is what allows her to be so cheerful and loving towards the Dwarfs, but also makes her an easy target for a certain apple salesperson.

Be humble. Be fair. And don’t be so trusting.

2. Cinderella (Cinderella)

Cinderella might seem to be a passive, submissive example of a princess who “needs a man to rescue her.” But I think differently. Cinderella shows courage and strength in doing the only thing she can: surviving. Think about it: Cinderella has basically no other option but to be slave to her stepfamily. Her mother and father are dead. But does she complain? Does she give in to the idea that there might not be a single human left in the world who cares about her?

No.

Cinderella teaches us the quiet strength of endurance, of compassion and love even when we don’t receive any. Cinderella remains positive and hopeful in the face of adversity, and she is rewarded.

Cinderella teaches us the harsh truth that sometimes, we have no other option but to muddle through and hope. Dreaming and wishing can be our refuge, and we must not let ourselves be broken by our circumstances. We must always show compassion and love where we are shown none, to those that need and deserve it. Cinderella cares for her animal friends, even though they can not conceivably do anything for her, and this “paying it forward” is rewarded.

And yes, Cinderella does have to depend on the kindness of others. But this in itself is a lesson. We, like Cinderella, do not always have agency over our lives. Sometimes we are kept from the ball. Sometimes the spell has to end at midnight. But Cinderella’s endurance and spirit is what sees her through.

Be strong. Be kind. Be like Cinderella.

3. Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)

True, there isn’t much to take from Aurora’s actions, due to her getting little screen time. But, Aurora teaches us the power of intent. She has been sheltered all her life and cut off from contact. And yet, she is unafraid to dream of finding more. And she does, though probably not how she expected to.

Aurora teaches us the harsh truth that we can be punished for something we had no control over. She was cursed to effectively die for an insult her parents gave! (Incidentally, a lesson I learned from Sleeping Beauty was to show respect at all times, to avoid grudges)

Aurora may not teach us much directly. Her lessons involve having no control, and just having to deal with it.

So, yes, there will be times when your life won’t be fair. And, sorry, but you’ll just have to hope for the best. Hold on to your dreams for when life hits you hard.

4. Ariel (The Little Mermaid)

For a long time, Ariel was my least favorite Disney Princess. She’s the “girl who has everything” but can’t appreciate it. She’s got material goods, family who cares, friends, a killer singing voice, but she takes it all for granted. Not to mention she skips out on prior commitments for selfish reasons. But Ariel teaches us a lesson about parenting that we would do well to remember:

Share with your child. Ariel’s curiosity about the surface world stems from her father’s insistence that she should never come in contact with it. Triton could’ve avoided a whole lot of trouble by maybe showing Ariel the human world a little at a time, or told her about why Ursula was so bad.

Ariel also a lesson of her own: that it is okay to depend on others. Yes, she needs Sebastian to help her romance Eric. Yes, she needs Eric to help her defeat Ursula. But these do not make her weak. Ariel’s pure love and curiosity for whatever she happens to come across is her strength, and is what charms everyone around her. She is willing to selflessly defy her father in order to save a surface person from almost certain death. We all need to realize that we are not alone in this world, and it is okay to rely on those we can trust. When, like Ariel, we are voiceless, we should be able to count on our loved ones for support.

So, parents, share and be honest with your children. Kids, know that you aren’t alone, that it’s okay to rely on your parents and friends for stuff. You aren’t weak. We all need each other.

5. Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

Belle is possibly my favorite Disney Princess of all time. She’s got it all: brains, confidence, beauty. But the real virtue she shows us as people does not come from her book learning. It comes from emotional intelligence. Belle’s greatest quality is her understanding.

Belle lives in a small town full of “little people,” and she is insecure about how different she is from them. The repetitive life they lead is not enough for her, and she wonders if anyone can understand her. There’s “no one [she] can really talk with.” And later, the villagers will state in “The Mob Song” that “we don’t like what we don’t understand; in fact it scares us, and this monster is mysterious at least.”

She is the only one who can see through the facade that Gaston puts on for all the villagers. She is able to see through the Beast’s posturing and get him to become the man inside. Belle sees Cogsworth’s pride and uses it to get him to show her the castle, and recognizes that the Beast won’t hurt her. Her understanding of people, and her ability to look past the outer shell is her greatest power, and ultimately allows her to break the curse by recognizing her love for the Beast, despite how mean and vicious he may appear. Belle shows us the value of attempting to understand those that may look and behave differently from us, and how reaching across that divide may not be as difficult as we think.

Belle’s story also teaches us the harsh truth that talent and wisdom often go unappreciated compared to beauty and looks. No one believes “Crazy Old Maurice” when his word is against Gaston, the village golden boy. None of the villagers see anything other than a scary, mysterious castle with a vicious beast in it. Even the Beast himself was cursed due to his inability to look past the Enchantress’ disguise.

So seek to understand those you meet, both their flaws and qualities. And don’t judge a book by its cover.

6. Jasmine (Aladdin)

Jasmine is pretty cool. She has a pet tiger, so...

Anyway, Jasmine shows us how to be free. She doesn’t want to be wed to someone she doesn’t love, and so she tries to escape her life. She has Rajah attack suitors who try to get too close. She doesn’t take anything from anyone. Jasmine is generous and righteous, and although she might get into trouble due to her sheltered upbringing, Jasmine teaches us that we can’t let people deny us our freedom.

But Jasmine’s story teaches us the harsh truth that there are people out there who will stop at nothing to get what they want. Jafar resorts to manipulation, mind control, and then outright force to get what he wants. Even Aladdin uses the Genie’s incredible power to deceive his way to Jasmine. But even though Prince Ali seems perfect, Jasmine doesn’t really start to like him until he semi-reveals himself as Aladdin by asking her “do you trust me?” And Jasmine defies Jafar, even when he has the Genie’s power, even when he has her father under his power.

So, even when the greedy and selfish seek to use you, remember to hold on and exercise your freedom. It’s your life.

7. Pocahontas (Pocahontas)

Pocahontas is possibly the most controversial on the list, but I think that she is important in the lessons she can teach.

Pocahontas is independent and true to herself, but she also wrestles with tough inner conflict from duty. She wants to hope that something “waits just around the riverbend” but is in conflict with her tribe’s mantra of keeping steady and not rocking the boat. But her greatest virtue is her commitment to peace.

Pocahontas not only promotes peace between cultures, but peace between man and nature. “We are all connected to each other/in a circle, in a hoop that never ends.” Pocahontas believes in this value of peace so much that she is willing to sacrifice herself for love rather than live in a world where war has broken out among the two sides. Her main adviser is not a human, but a spirit of nature itself.

And the movie reveals harsh truths about how people treat those they do not understand. The song “Savages” is especially poignant, as Pocahontas deals with her inability to save John Smith while both sides abandon any hope for peace/cooperation and prepare for war. A strain from “Listen With Your Heart” plays before the second part of the song, showing that Pocahontas will either prove that peace is possible or die trying. As the end of the song arises, Pocahontas throws herself onto John Smith, forcing her father to either choose to back down or to kill his own daughter.

Yes, Pocahontas sanitizes a lot of the struggle of the period. But the idea that one selfless act has the power to affect change is a powerful one. Pocahontas shows us that peace is an ideal worth dying for, even when it seems that no one will listen.

8. Mulan (Mulan)

Mulan starts her film chafing against her society’s constraints, unable to be herself and attempting to force herself into the mold of “perfect porcelain doll” that she is expected to be. Mulan’s love for her father is what motivates her to join the army in his place. Ironically, as her story deals with deception and deceit for the greater good, Mulan teaches us to be true to ourselves.

While she masquerades as Ping, Mulan is largely ineffectual, starting a camp-wide brawl on her first day and earning enmity from her comrades by adopting an overly-macho facade. It’s only when Mulan uses skills from her true personality that she thrives. Her ingenuity is foreshadowed in the way she does her chores by setting up Little Brother to do them, her sense of fairness is shown when she gives a little girl back her doll, and her incredible persistence is shown in the way she steadfastly goes through with the matchmaking ceremony, even when she has to resort to cheating to get through it.

Mulan’s creativity allows her to climb the pole to retrieve the arrow, and her victory against Shan Yu in the mountains is brought about by her creative use of the cannon to cause an avalanche.

Mulan teaches us the harsh truth that there are things in life that we will just not be good at. Mulan does not excel at the memorization and graceful movements that other girls in her society are expected to use. But she does excel at tactics, thinking creatively, and adapting to situations as they come. And though her society prevents her from using her true talents, she finds a way to break out of that box and use her abilities to their fullest extent.

We all have our strengths and talents, and we must find a way to use them rather than be constrained by the norms of society. “The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.”

9. Tiana (The Princess and the Frog)

Tiana is different from the other Princesses because her best quality is also her flaw - she is focused and hard-working. Tiana is so diligent towards achieving her goals that she doesn’t allow herself to enjoy life. Tiana mostly teaches others how to focus on what they really want, but she’s got her own lesson to learn.

“I remember Daddy told me/”Fairy tales can come true,/ But you’ve got to make them happen/it all depends on you.” Tiana has learned this lesson that blood, sweat, and tears are dependable - fairy godmothers are rare. It is hard to determine what Tiana needs to learn because she has so many good qualities - responsibility, self-sufficiency, diligence

“Blue skies and sunshine” are what Mama Odie recommends to her, and Tiana realizes that she doesn’t have to deny herself fun to achieve her goals. She starts out with several jobs to save up for her restaurant, and it all turns out to be for nothing. Tiana already knows that she must rely on herself to make her dreams come true, but she needs to learn to stop and smell the roses. She learns that she doesn’t have to solely dedicate herself to one thing. She can take time for fun, time to dance with her mother before getting back to work.

But Tiana’s story also teaches us the harsh truth that people are often far too open to temptation. “This whole town can slow you down/People taking the easy way...” Dr. Facilier and the Friends from the Other Side take advantage of what people want but don’t want to work for in order to manipulate them. “You got what you wanted/But you lost what you had.” Tiana, however, recognizes the value of hard work and does not give in to the Doctor’s manipulations. Even when Facilier gives her her restaurant, where she is loved and respected and dressed up, she quickly realizes it is nothing but an empty offer. Tiana does what none of the other characters tempted by Facilier have been able to do - say no.

So, work hard, but don’t forget to play sometimes. And know that your dreams won’t come true overnight - hard work is often needed.

10. Rapunzel (Tangled)

Rapunzel’s story teaches us perseverance. Every year, the king and queen send up lanterns for the lost princess - never losing hope that their daughter is out there. And it is these very lanterns that draw their daughter back to them. Rapunzel perseveres in her tower, waiting for her life to begin. And when opportunity finally strikes, Rapunzel seizes it. She doesn’t just grab the bull by the horns, she swipes it upside the head with a frying pan!

Rapunzel teaches us the harsh truth that trust is never to be taken for granted. Even the people who are supposed to love us and care for us might not always have our best interests at heart. Rapunzel spends much of the movie fearful that she is betraying her mother, only to find out she was lied to her whole life. The folks at the Snuggly Duckling encourage her to chase her dreams, but also inadvertently set Gothel on her trail. And Gothel is easily able to manipulate Rapunzel into distrusting Eugene.

So never give up, and be sure that those you place your trust in deserve it.

11. Merida (Brave)

Merida, like Mulan, struggles with societal constraints. Like Ariel, she can be flighty and irresponsible. But ultimately, Merida teaches us about the give and take of relationships, even among parents and children. Merida feels her mother lacks understanding. And her mother feels the same. Their relationship, once so close, is broken by the divide between them, represented by Merida’s damaging of the tapestry her mother made.

As Merida and Eleanor go through their journey, Merida learns about her mother’s strength and power, which comes from calm words and the bearing of a leader

12. Moana (Moana)

Moana is a really great addition to the lineup. She’s strong, funny, and smart, and she is wise. Moana, unlike Mulan, does not struggle with fitting in to society. She is able to competently assume the role of chief under the guidance of her father. And it is important to note that when Moan first tries to go to the sea, she fails. It is only when she does so in order to save her people that she succeeds.

So, Moana’s virtue is also her tough lesson. There are things in this world more important than ourselves. Maui’s need to be loved is also the source of his great insecurity, and led him to steal the heart of Te Fiti. Te Ka’s anger nearly prevents Moana and Maui from restoring her heart. Moana’s grandmother and mother teach her the power of selflessness. Moana’s grandmother is the one to teach her about their people’s past as voyagers, and Moana’s mother - though she may fear for her daughter’s life - allows her to go and helps her pack for her journey. And Moana teaches Maui about doing things for others, not for gratitude, but because it is right.

And Moana leads her people into voyaging once more. Not because she desired to go to the sea, but because it is the way of her people that was forgotten. Because it was the only solution to save her people when they began to overfish and helps spread them across the world. Moana’s motivation grows from a selfish one to a selfless one. And in a weird way, this comes from self-acceptance. “I Am Moana” is what she learns, that she can do things, and her talents are to be used to help her people, not just herself.

Be yourself. Use your talents and follow your dreams. But never forget to use your abilities and gains for the good of others.

13. Elsa (Frozen)

Elsa is forced for much of her life to live in isolation, even from her beloved sister, which practically destroys their relationship. “Let It Go” may be a song for accepting herself, but it also occurs in isolation. Elsa feels the only way she can be herself is through this isolation. “Yes, I’m alone, but I’m alone and free.” She’s not really accepting who she is, but rather accepting the idea that she’s a dangerous monster, but when no one’s there for her to hurt, she can be happy.

Elsa learns through her sister’s love that she isn’t a monster. And she learns that love is how she can control her powers. Her parents worry that her powers will make her a target, but the fear of herself instilled in her makes them more uncontrollable. After all, if Elsa’s had these powers all her life (and shows remarkable control over them at a young age), the loss of control is directly linked to self-suppression. It is only when Anna sacrifices herself that Elsa regains true control - because Anna repeatedly shows that she loves her sister, no matter what. And this unconditional love makes Elsa truly believe that she isn’t a monster.

So, Elsa teaches us that to truly accept ourselves, we need to accept others. You don’t have to be as cheery and personable as Anna, but isolation isn’t healthy.

14. Anna (Frozen)

Anna, meanwhile, learns a similar lesson. Also forced into isolation, Anna desires to have experiences, to live life. “For the First Time in Forever” really indicates Anna’s longing for connection and experience. Part of why she’s so willing to love Hans and believe he loves her is because of this isolation. In her point of view, Elsa rebuffs her one day with no warning, and practically never even sees her again for years. “Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?” shows Anna’s regret and sadness as the years pass, and is heartbreaking as she slowly stops trying to communicate with her sister.

Anna teaches us about trying to communicate, about showing unconditional love. “Please don’t shut me out again,” she begs Elsa. And even though her sister has (accidentally) hurt her, Anna consistently tries to bridge the gap.

Anna’s arc shows us the tough truth that relationships, even close ones, can decay. The close sisterly bond has all but faded between them. But Anna also shows us that no matter the difficulty. At the final scene, when the tune of “Do You Wanna Build a Snowman” plays, it signifies that Elsa and Anna have finally repaired their relationship, that they finally can be family again.

So, we learn from Anna to give our love unconditionally. Because forgiveness, trust, love, and most importantly the desire to make a connection all help us repair our broken relationships.

#super long rant #my thoughts #disney princesses

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gin-no-bara · 5 years

Text

The Sakamakis as Parents

I got an ask for some Pregnant Yui headcanons and for the brothers as fathers but I accidentally deleted it. I'm not that great at headcanons so this came out as more of an analysis because as usual I am way too passionate about looking at a fictional series through a realistic lens ><. Be prepared, this won't be a popular opinion. This is based on the og dialovers personalities from Haunted Dark Bridal.

So, the Sakamakis all have issues with control, and they use fear and intimidation as a way to keep that control. They've done that for hundreds of years, and as unpleasant as it is to think about because we love these characters, they probably aren't going to change their sadistic abusive behaviors just because they become fathers.

In HDB, Yui didn't change the brothers with her love. That kind of thing came in later games. In HDB, she had to change herself in order to survive. She had to throw away her religion, her sense of self, to adapt to the particular brother that she chose. The brothers weren't the ones who changed -- and they remained abusive all the way through.

And I don't think they would be any different if they were to become fathers.

I do believe that all of them would feel far more protective of Yui and their children.. but they aren't going to suddenly turn into men who have mutual respect and love for Yui. They see Yui as a possession, someone they own, and I think there's a good chance they'd view their children the same way.

Obviously I don't think they'd be that way all the time. Even in the game they aren't always abusive; as with all abusers, they have their moments. And maybe those moments would be more frequent with their children. But being a parent is a trying thing even on the best of days. I worry how they would be on days where kids are being kids, pressing all the wrong buttons. I cannot imagine any of the brothers dealing with that in a healthy, calm, disciplined way that validates their children in a positive manner.

I don't think they'd treat a pregnant Yui much different either. They've never learned how to behave selflessly, and they've never been around pregnant humans. They aren't going to be aware of Yui's needs, nor be willing to give up their own needs to serve hers. (The exception to this would probably be Reiji. He would likely read everything there is to know about pregnancy and would ensure that Yui got proper rest and nutrition. He might rub her feet out of necessity to help the cervix ripen rather than to help her feel better. Subaru too might treat her with more care, though I could also see him avoiding her, afraid that he might ruin the child inside her or that it might be a monster just like him.)

Yui would do the best she could, and she would try to make things as good as she could for the kids, but parenting is the hardest job in the world -- and she would have to do it while fending off abuse herself.

Ultimately she wouldn't be able to stop the damage. And in some ways, that could make it worse if the kids didn't understand that she didn't have a choice. They might end up blaming her someday for never leaving, as abused kids often do.

In fact, much of the abuse doesn't even need to happen to the kids. All they have to do is witness it happening to Yui and they'll be traumatized.

The kids would never know what a healthy, respectful marriage would look like. So the cycle of abuse would likely be perpetuated, probably with daughters ending up in abusive relationships and boys ending up as abusers.

Parenthood can also be triggering for parents that were themselves abused in childhood. It is entirely likely that the brothers' trauma would be triggered by their own children. It is not uncommon for children to become the target for their parents' misplaced rage and ptsd that they might have towards themselves and their own parents.

As much as we all wish the opposite were true, I just can't see the brothers suddenly stopping their sadistic and abusive behaviors just because Yui gets pregnant.

So since his went on long enough, here are some individual headcanons I did manage to make:

Shuu:

Leaves most of the parenting to Yui

Might feel anger towards a lazy child (because he sees too much of the things he hates about himself in his kid)

Might have difficulty connecting with a child who bottles his emotions the same way he does, creating a nonexistent father/child relationship

On the flip side, a child with Reiji's work ethic might be disgusted by having Shuu as a father, causing them to have a fractured relationship

Reiji:

Would be an authoritarian, controlling parent

Would be overly critical

Would be critical of Yui's parenting

Would berate Yui in front of the kids

Would openly despise a lazy child

Ayato:

Gets jealous of the time, attention and affection Yui gives his kids

Verbally berates Yui in front of the kids when he is pissed at her

Continues to call her Chichinashi in front of the kids (for those that don't know, that literally means Titless. Imagine your dad calling your mom that ><. Not a great role model for respect)

Would get pissed at his kids if they didn't practically worship him as the best father

Kanato:

Gets ragefully jealous of Yui's attention that the kids take away from him

Would have major issues with a boisterous, loud child

A shy, sensitive child would be even more anxious and fearful with him as a father

Would scream at them for breaking his dolls

Also would teach them how to make dolls

Laito:

Would be too permissive, letting the kids get away with way too much

Would undermine Yui's parenting boundaries, such as letting them stay up way too late and eat candy when she said it was time for bed.

But he would lose his patience with them when they go too far

Continues to call Yui Bitch-chan in front of the kids

Doesn't alter his language in front of the children

Is wildly inappropriate around them (doesn't hide his pevertedness)

I want to say that Laito would never sexually abuse his kids. But I truly don't know about that. For Laito, love equals sex. I wonder if he would have issues understanding where to draw the line.

Subaru:

Would lose his temper around kids when they press his buttons and would later feel guilty about it but not know how to apologize. This would cause rifts with his children

He would probably further avoid them, to avoid "dirtying" them.

Would scare a shy child with his temper making them more fearful

(Also none of this takes into account whether Yui is a vampire or not. That could possibly change the dynamics. Might also make their kids more murderous and messed up. Either way, sad to say but the kids are not gonna turn out fine 😢)

#don't hate me for this #just an opinion #darkdialovers #ask #diabolik lovers #my analysis

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hxlfsoul · 5 years

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😱 = What does your character fear most in their world?🐉 = Of the fantastical elements in their world what does your character actually find strange, or hard to believe?

♡ / accepting / @entangledheroes

These are all for fantasy verse 01.

So, first off, he fears his family first and foremost. The burden of having to rule a kingdom lead by an unloved king, a tyrant who was cruel even to his own children, those he should have protected as they would lead the future and decide his fate after he stopped being king. Shoto, truly, would have lead a coup against his father if he wasn’t set to become the king as soon as he turned 16, as by his father’s wishes for Shoto to make some use of himself.

He’s scared of what burden that will bring. Those in the kingdom have no faith in his family and none have ever seen him, considering he was never supposed to leave the castle or interact with commonfolk, those things being against his father’s express wishes no matter how much Shoto wishes he could go against them, the idea of disobeying and the punishment that would follow is enough to cause him to fall into submission. After all, a dead prince could not lead a country out of ages of darkness, could he?

So I suppose, in short, what he does fear would be ruling. He fears that he won’t be good enough, that they won’t trust in him, that they’ll kill him, that his father’s court won’t listen to his own opinions because they’re vastly different to those of his father’s. Most of all, he’s afraid of what comes after - if he’s spent all his life trying to be a good king and then becomes king and manages it, what’s the purpose he has left in life? That’s all he’s wanted, to be a better king than his father, to treat others kindly, but once he’s fulfilled that desire there’s nothing left for him and he doesn’t want to have to face the rest of his life unsure of what he wants out of it.

His own insecurities terrify him to his core, the thoughts that run wild through his head, the ideas his mind makes up on trivial things. He fears going on quests with knights and adventurers and failing them, he’s afraid he’ll let people die for him over and over again, he’s afraid that in the end his efforts to make a difference won’t be enough and he’ll burn out, fall from grace and that he’ll be forgotten by everyone the moment it happens.

Most of all, he’s scared to meet people, to trust them, to be around them because he’s never known others, never had friends or seen family other than his father, never gotten to socialise. He’s afraid that people will use him, that he’ll be naive, that people will grow tired of his inexpressiveness no matter how he tries to show emotion.

Truthfully, Shoto is scared of few things. His father, his future, his thoughts. Most of all, he’s afraid to fall in love with someone and lose himself in that feeling. However, something specific to his world he’d be scared of - something physical - would have to be the monsters that lurk in the woods. It would be the evil creatures that pretend to have humanity, the not-quite-human shifters to the west, the fae. He’s afraid of the world because he never experienced it and that’s something that will show to be rather limiting when it comes to his decisions as a king.

He’s terrified he will fail to keep peace, that he’ll fail to create peace, between magical creatures and humans, between himself as a mage and other beings. He’s terrified to be rejected simply because he was born with magic, to be outcasted by regular humans, by those who are weaker and assume he is their king, he is the son of Enji, and he must be exactly like him.

He fears being seen as the very man he’s grown to hate, to be seen as simply another mad king, and he’s terrified he already is, because he doesn’t want to be anything like that— he never will.

Something Shoto finds particularly odd in his world? Well, not much, really. He’s lived with the idea that stuff like magic and creatures like dragons, faeries, etc etc, are completely normal. He’s unaware to the idea of anything out of the ordinary because his ordinary is vastly different to the real world we all live in, you know? Everything in his world is a constant.

Something he finds strange is people. Their customs, their traditions - Shoto never got to partake in things like full moon dances and offerings, in winter festivals and other holidays, such as Hiems, Calor Frigus, Carimare etc.

He isn’t used to them and their behaviours, strange compared to his own - although he is called odd compared to most - and those of his family, who have always held on as if they have pride, an illusion to hide the brokenness of royalty and the fears of life, the uncertainties of all they have lived through.

He finds people odd, as some can be cowardly while others brave, some selflessly kind while others are brash and insensitive to the struggles of those around him. The variation between every person, between strength, what matters most, their morals - all of it is foreign to him, to the point he cannot view it as normal because he isn’t used to it and he’s not sure there will ever be a day where he isn’t awed by the individuality of others.

For some clarification:

The full moon dance festival is known as

Following winter festivals and markets, there are the holidays known as Hiems and Calor Frigus. Hiems is a holiday preceding Calor Frigus, taking place on the 17th day of December. It is a romantic celebration in

These are named by:

Hiems - Snow (Latin). Hiems is a day in which snow/ice mages and magic users will combine their power to create snowfall across the entire kingdom for a day, regardless of whether there is natural snow or not. This is mostly centered around children, to give them something to entertain themselves with while adults prepare for the gifting season, as well as the meal to be eaten at the end of the day during sunset. The evening meal, known as Coaespa (a hybrid between the words coena and vesperum. Coena is a Latin word for meal, while vesperum means evening) consists of several dishes.

The first course, a starter, is often a salad - this is traditionally made with carrots, bell peppers, cucumber, a leafy green (lettuce, spinach etc) and local meats. The exact recipe may differ by region, as other ingredients - whether fruit, vegetable or others - may be added, as well as variations in the meat. These may also differ by class. However, the core ingredients remain the same regardless of area, making it recognisable. This salad is known as as Hiemsilis (a hybrid between hiems and exilis, a word meaning ‘small’ in Latin).

The second course is traditionally a carbohydrate dish, often consisting of noodles, a dipping sauce - varying by region, some may contain alcohol, some may be sweet, some savoury, consistency differences etc - in which the various vegetables cooked with the noodles are dipped, left in large pieces for convenience. There is rarely meat served with this course, known as Hiemsilva (a hybrid word between hiems and silva, a word in Latin meaning ‘plant’), as it is strictly a plant-based dish. Some, however, go against this tradition. The vegetables prepared depend on region, class and what is available. Some regions have broader ranges of vegetables, but may not use all of them. However, others may have smaller range and buy from those with more vegetables to include more in dishes, and so on.

The third course is typically a cake, created with fine ingredients. There is a specific quality of flour, sugar etc that is kept an eye on specifically for this dish. On top of the cake, these will be small pastries, often filled with melted chocolate and it will be topped with something akin to glace, however made with milk and icing sugar instead of water. Ingredients for this must be advertised as so and the royal family often pay half of the original price to allow those who are poor to afford them, where they may be unable to - for example if one ingredient is expensive, it will be subsidised with payment directly to the seller to be kept at an affordable price for the general public. It is not eaten at any other point in the year and is made as a sponge cake with the finest made jam used in the middle, much like a victoria sponge, and cream mised with fruit pieces strewn throughout the centre, which is hollowed out - in smaller or larger circles, depending on the baker, but never more than half. This cake is known as Hiemsli (a hybrid between hiems and libum, a Latin word for cake) and it is specific to this holiday.

Calor Frigus - Warmth Cold (Latin). This is a gift giving season lasting from the 20th day of December until the 20th day of January. This is when materialistic gifts will be exchanged, often handmade. It is a time to show appreciation for loved ones, whether by showing thought for something they may like and buying it for them or by constructing artworks, ornaments or other items specifically for them - although, the latter is more common.

The gift giving period for family members lasts until December 26th.

The gift giving period for friends lasts from December 27th until January 2nd.

The gift giving period for rivals and/or enemies lasts from January 3rd to January 9th.

The gift giving period for lovers/crushes is January 10th to January 16th.

The last few days - January 17th to January 20th - are used to give gifts to those who have been away, to the sick or to leave flowers/food offerings/gifts at the graves of deceased loved ones. This is often a time of mourning, used to remember those who have left the world, who have disappeared and to wish well those who are ill so that they may recover.

Carimare - a hybrid of the words Caritas (Latin) and Amare (Latin), both being words meaning ‘love’. It is similar to valentines day. However, instead of gifts and confessing, it is only celebrated by couples who are courting each other. It is a celebration of their love, rather than a gift giving occasion, in which both will plan a day out together, but without anything materialistic. It’s a show of how happy a couple is together, how well they know the other etc, how they can make them happy without the need for material items and gifts from the other. It’s all about the slowness of love, the subtly of knowing someone well, lingering glances and gentle touches, soft kisses and hand holding. It is a holiday about emotional intimacy and gentle affection. People are often discouraged from confessing on this day as it is a celebration of existing love and peace between people rather than for new love and fleeting interest.

No gifts are exchanged on Carimare, which takes place on March 27th. All gifts given to lovers are given during Calor Frigus, other than the typical courting gifts.

#003. message received — ask answered #entangledheroes #god i am sorry this is a hell of a read #209. & there are universes in your mind — worldbuilding

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baenxietydad · 5 years

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Bae Mu-yeol/Marlin Bae Personality Profile

Slytherin Primary, Ravenclaw Secondary, Hufflepuff Secondary Performance - Type 5 - ISFJ-T - Neutral Good - Taurus Sun, Aquarius Moon, Libra Rising

Psychoanalyzing Marlin is interesting because there exists two Marlins - if not three - inside the same person at the same time. There’s the Marlin that he originally grew up to be and in some ways still is underneath all the layers of grief and trauma that have warped him into a different kind of person as a base, and that warped version of him has been further twisted by both himself and all of the lies he’s telling Nemo, and by fairy society’s stipulations for being allowed the safety of a Hollow.

To talk about Marlin, you have to talk about him like Shrek. Bitch got layers. And all of his layers are there for a reason. Some are like a peacoat, worn mostly for the Look ™ , but kept safely in the coat closet when not necessary. Others are are permanent as the bones beneath his skin.

What is your character’s Hogwarts House/Hogwarts Houses? What trait do they most relate to? What trait do they least relate to?

Slytherin Primary, Ravenclaw secondary, with a Hufflepuff Secondary Model (or Performance hm)

Y’all. I straight wasn’t even gonna touch Sorting Hat chats because it honestly confused/es the hell out of me. But I braved it and holy COW did I come up with some stuff for Marlin! Actually. It more jumped out at ME like “HEY HELLO YES.” So now here’s my super extra ™ analysis.

I initially through Marlin was a Ravenclaw Primary with a Puff Secondary, but it quickly became clear to me that a bitch was way off.

The below excerpt from Sorting Hat Chats is what made me realize Marlin was very much a Slytherin primary.

A Slytherin does not generally feel guilty for valuing themselves [...] or for sacrificing other things for the safety and happiness of the people they love […] An exception to this is a Slytherin who’s managed to kick themselves out of their inner circle. For whatever reason, they don’t feel like they deserve their own help or kindness. Their “me and mine” priorities are still apparent but now it’s only “mine.” They fiercely and selflessly prioritize the individuals they love, value, or feel responsible for, while excluding their own self.

Marlin’s “mine” is only one person right now. His son, Nemo. Nemo is his entire world and everything he has done since losing his wife has been in an attempt to keep Nemo safe and make him happy. Marlin is perfectly content with living a lonely existence in a Hollow where few fairies want much to do with him, if it means Nemo is safe. He misses his parents, cousins, siblings, and friends from his Hollow in South Korea, but he feels no guilt for literally ditching all of them to whisk Nemo away to Swynlake’s Hollow because he deemed Swynlake a safer place to raise his son.

As a Constructed House, Slytherins build a morality system to follow and make judgements with. Unlike the Ravenclaw, who holds this built system at the heart of the way they interact with life, this is a supplemental thing for the Slytherin. Their core morality is felt, an empathic need to protect and support their own, but that strong sense of personal loyalty gives little hint about what to do in situations that don’t involve the Slytherin’s people directly.

Marlin’s self-sacrificing nature led me to believe he’d be a Hufflepuff at first. But it soon became clear to me that Marlin would only help the bleeding man on the road to Jericho if doing so would not cause any harm or any potential for harm to his “mine”, to Nemo. If presented with the hypothetical of pulling a lever to heal all the sick in the world at the cost of Nemo, Marlin wouldn’t pull the lever and would not at all regret it. While Nemo would probably beg his father to trade him to the literal rest of the world, Marlin would never even consider it.

Regarding his Ravenclaw secondary which I thought was his Primary:

Ravenclaws’ efficacy often relies on what situation they are in: what the problem is they have to solve and whether or not they’ve prepared the proper tools for that problem. [...] Do they know how to ride horses? Speak Greek? Do they have contingency plans for earthquakes, zombie apocalypses, or a surprise visit from the in-laws?

If they’ve already built themselves a tool set for a situation, they’re likely to excel at it. If they have not, they’re likely to blink a few times while they try to either invent something new for themselves or to cobble up something approximate from their existing resources.

Marlin is a jack of many trades and a master of few. He has a wide set of skills he’s picked up largely out of necessity. In order to make enough human money to pay for his son’s dance classes, Marlin has to occasionally find work outside of the Hollow. Over the years he’s done yardwork, has worked some construction jobs, was a seasonal laborer on a farm in Besydus, occasionally works with temp agency in NTO primarily at banquet halls, and has thrown himself into learning new skill sets all the time because he needed the money to make Nemo happy.

While he’s learned few of these skill sets to perfection, he learned them well enough to get what he needed.

Socially, Marlin can navigate the social politics of fairy society and talk with humans about topics he’s versed in - literature, music, East Asian particularly Korean culture, philosophy - but he would (figuratively) die if asked if he supported Liverpool or Manchester.

He isn’t an improviser at his core, he likes to have a plan, but he can sometimes improvise by pulling on his previous knowledge.

As for his Performance/Model of Hufflepuff Secondary. Fairies are communists. They put community first. And Marlin is a very bad fairy communist. He values him and his above the rest of the community. His being his son. And having lived in mundus Seoul for years with his wife, he became accustomed to treating community as important but not the end all be all. But in order to keep being allowed to live in the Hollow, he’s crafted a nice respectable fairy of himself.

What is your character’s Enneagram? How does the “basic fear/desire” influence their actions?

Enneagram Type 5w6 - The Problem Solver

Perceptive, Innovative, Secretive, and Isolated

Basic Fear: Being useless, helpless, or incapable

Basic Desire: To be capable and competent

Fives are alert, insightful, and curious. They are able to concentrate and focus on developing complex ideas and skills. Independent, innovative, and inventive, they can also become preoccupied with their thoughts and imaginary constructs. They become detached, yet high-strung and intense. They typically have problems with eccentricity, nihilism, and isolation.

Honestly, this Type 5 page read Marlin for filth, y’all. I believe that this is probably the most...consistent one. Meaning, he’d still have been this personality type even if he hadn’t lost his wife and developed the depression, PTSD, and anxiety following that. Because while current!Marlin has given into isolation most, ideal!Marlin would have more of a nihilist streak, and both versions of Marlin are/would be quite eccentric.

Negative-to-neutral qualities of Type 5s would have manifested in less severe ways in Marlin without his big trauma, but have just run wild in him now.

The basic fear and desire bit is interesting because like. Marlin in the state he is now literally only cares about Nemo and taking care of him. Untainted Marlin was just so vibrant and chased after several interests outside of his son, but now, he only cares about being a good father. So literally every action is an attempt to be good to Nemo because that’s the only thing, to him, he is even capable of being good or bad at is being Nemo’s father. He has no worth or purpose apart from raising his son.

What is your character’s MBTI? Out of the four elements, which is strongest and which is weakest?

MBTI: ISFJ-T- The Defender

Love only grows by sharing. You can only have more for yourself by giving it away to others. - Brian Tracy

I- 81%

S - 51 %

F - 60%

J - 69% (nice)

T - 68%

Damn, so honestly I feel like Marlin’s personality type either changed over the years, or, his inclination toward certain traits changed. Particularly, the introvert v. extrovert one. Marlin has always leaned more toward the introvert side, however, 81% is high for Marlin in his natural ,untraumatized state.

He has always been someone who needed to rest after being extra social and recharge, but he used to genuinely enjoy things like parties, events, concerts, and even hosting groups of people at his and So-yeon’s home. Like, I’d say he naturally would exist at about 60% introversion, but because of over a decade of isolation and extreme loneliness on top of his depression and PTSD amplifying his need to not be too drained too often by other people/fairies, it’s got him at over 80% now.

His lowest being Sensing v. Intuition at 51% toward the Sensing side honestly tracks. Because he does lean more toward that side but not strongly. He’s damn near in the middle here. From myersbriggs.org,

Sensing (S)

Paying attention to physical reality, what I see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. I'm concerned with what is actual, present, current, and real. I notice facts and I remember details that are important to me. I like to see the practical use of things and learn best when I see how to use what I'm learning. Experience speaks to me louder than words.

And

Intuition (N)

Paying the most attention to impressions or the meaning and patterns of the information I get. I would rather learn by thinking a problem through than by hands-on experience. I'm interested in new things and what might be possible, so that I think more about the future than the past. I like to work with symbols or abstract theories, even if I don't know how I will use them. I remember events more as an impression of what it was like than as actual facts or details of what happened.

Marlin leans toward the first just barely.

What is your character’s moral alignment? How does this affect their decision-making process? What about their relationships to authority, their family, their friends?

Projection: Lawful Neutral

Self: Neutral Good

Fairy society is Lawful Neutral and you can’t change my mind:

Lawful neutral is the philosophy that law and order are desirable ends in and of themselves. It is a philosophy of pure equitistic collectivism. This philosophy holds that the best way for all beings to pursue a rational self-interest is within the framework of a strong social order. By putting the needs of the state or social order ahead of individual desires, each being can advance the self-interest of the collective as a whole. Lawful neutral can also be associated with ethical equitism and natural law philosophies. As the philosophical "average" of altruism and egoism, equitism holds that harm to others should be minimized when advancing the self and that harm to the self should be minimized when advancing others.

Lawful neutral philosophers generally maintain that there is metaphysical order in the multiverse and thus may support doctrines of hard determinism, predeterminism, fatalism, predestination, and/or necessitarianism. They may believe in fate or destiny. They tend to be moral objectivists, holding that values exist in the external world independently of and external to our comprehension of them; that they can be found and known; and that they must be used as principles for human judgments and conduct.

Marlin himself, however, is Neutral Good, which can sometimes conflict with expectations from fairy society.

Neutral good is the philosophy that goodness should be advanced by using whatever means provide the most benefit. It is a philosophy of altruistic consequentialism. This philosophy holds that people should behave altruistically and balance the needs of the collective as a whole and the needs of the individuals making up the collective. Neutral good can also be associated with act utilitarianism and ethical altruism.

Neutral good philosophers generally maintain that there is metaphysical balance in the multiverse and thus may support doctrines of soft determinism, pragmatism, conventionalism, and/or instrumentalism. They may believe in free will or choice. They could also embrace skepticism or suspend judgment on philosophical issues. They tend to be moral relativists, holding that values differ from society to society, from person to person; that they are conditioned by the peculiarities of the society in which they arise; that they are not universally applicable at all times or in all places; and that they are correct or incorrect, desirable or undesirable only relative to whether or not they conform to a common norm or to common acceptance.

What is your character’s sun house? What trait do they most relate to? What do they least relate to?

Taurus Sun short description:

He is strong-willed. He has charm, and he is tolerant and stoical. He likes pleasure and the

good things in life. Appreciates the Arts.

Weaknesses: obstinacy, laziness. He can be materialistic.

Aquarius Moon short description:

He is sociable, intelligent, and lucid. Thanks to great sociability, he has many friends. He is

modern, original, inventive, non-conformist, and is likely to bring new life to everything he does.

Potential issues: He is eccentric with sharp mood swings. Complex love life.

Ascendant is Libra

Everybody seems to like Libra Ascendant natives. They just come across as nice, pleasant, and fair. Look a little closer at their lives, and these nice people may have had quite a few problems in their relationships. Some of them have had a string of relationships, and it can be hard to imagine why! These natives attract others to them effortlessly. Besides, they simply don't know what to do with themselves without a significant other. Libra rising generally appear to be smoothing everything over. They have charming smiles, a gentle approach with others, and an easygoing image. Even if they were not endowed with good looks, they are attractive. Most pay a lot of attention to their personal appearance -- the colors they wear, their hair, the way they walk.

HONESTLY. Marlin’s entire natal chart read him for filth.

-81 Opposition between the Sun and Lilith

There is a self-destructive side to you that should be managed by confronting your fears.

FFS this is an ATTACK.

#bdrptask #&&...hc

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echodrops · 6 years

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A random thought I had what if the final “boss” Of Noragami turns out to be not father, but Izanagi. And the guy who set up the Shinto system was the worst Child abuser of them all? (Ebisu and Kagatsuchi could vouch for Izanagi’s propensities) Would that change your thoughts on the Tsukiyomi Theory? I admit I don’t have much to support it. Just I think that in a series that deals with child abuse as seriously as this one. It’s weird that Izanagi would fall off the radar like he does in myth.

Gonna answer two asks in one here, since they’re both about the Tsukuyomi theory.

I’ve toyed around with the idea of Father being Izanagi for a while–there are definitely some connections there:

1) “Father” as a name and a role in the story; as far as dads go in Japanese mythology, Izanagi is definitely the most well-known.

2) The idea of “culling the herd” is so opposite of Izanagi’s stated goal of giving life to 1,500 new humans for every 1,000 Izanami claims that it almost seems to fit with Noragami’s theme of the gods being completely different in “reality” compared to the way humans perceive them (Izanami only wanting friends, Bishamon being a gorgeous lady, not a bearded warrior male lol)

3) The complete lack of mentioning Izanagi in the manga so far has been a bit odd, given that we have seen Izanami and others related to that family.

4) Izanagi does basically deserve “shit dad of the era” award, so if Fujisaki doesn’t have anything to do with Izanagi, then they should totally take it behind the nearest Denny’s and fight it out for world’s worst dad title.

But especially with the events that have unfolded lately in the manga, I’m leaning away from this idea. Mostly because of this:

We’re shown a corpse beside a lake at the same time we’re shown Father holding the woman he (very likely) was in love with. Considering that it appears shinki who die without turning into ayakashi don’t leave bodies behind and we know gods don’t leave bodies, the woman Father loved was more than likely really a human. While I don’t think it would be completely impossible for Izanagi to fall in love with a human and end up standing against all of Heaven for that somehow, that feels like a somewhat unlikely series of events, particularly because it would mean that Amaterasu would have subjugated her own father, which is kind of iffy in terms of the tradition of Japanese filial piety.

We also got a couple more hints about what Father might be over the course of the recent chapters:

Father repeatedly describes himself as being “forsaken” or “forgotten” by Heaven. Yato mentions that “normal” humans shouldn’t be able to use the Koto no Ha. Amaterasu, who clearly knows gods can come back from the Underworld freaks out because she didn’t think there was any way for humans to return. Father can name shinki, possess human bodies, control ayakashi, recognize spells, and battle (almost) on par with Bishamon, the strongest god of war. He knows about the concept of god’s greatest secret, understands the inner-workings of Heaven (aka what determines which gods will reincarnate and who won’t, why Heaven needs humanity, etc.). Furthermore, Father repeatedly expresses concern that Yato won’t be able to reincarnate…

What is the “threshold” for reincarnating? How much belief/how many followers does a god need to really reincarnate? Is being in even one human memory enough, or do you need a ton of people? This isn’t clear. But I do think it’s odd for Yato’s self-proclaimed “lifeline” to be thinking his pet god can’t reincarnate. Maybe it’s because Yato doesn’t have enough followers–or maybe it’s because Father isn’t human at all, and therefore couldn’t help Yato reincarnate even if he wanted to?

Honestly, I really don’t know what Adachitoka have up their sleeve. They’ve done a fantastic job of keeping Father’s identity and motivations a secret–even when they reveal things like the flashback above, the “reveals” tend to bring up more questions rather than answers! There is so much conflicting evidence supporting either side at this point that it’s really just a matter of “We have to wait and see.”

Father could be a human who found some way to seize the powers of the gods for himself, possibly by being a holy man (such as a buddhist monk, I saw a pretty convincing post about this) or just out of sheer hatred for the gods lol. He clawed his way back out of the Underworld with the Koto no Ha, and is now taking corrupted souls aka ayakashi out of hell and unleashing betrayed and upset former-humans on Heaven and the living world.

Or he could be a god who was punished for doing something against Heaven’s rules, was subjugated/killed by Heaven, and subsequently ignored and allowed to stew in his hatred and desire for revenge to become the monster we know today, but I would somewhat doubt whether he really could be Izanagi without anyone having noticed.

Making a long story longer, ultimately I don’t really think that Father is Izanagi, so I personally wouldn’t be leaning on that for the Tsukuyomi theory. (And even if Father was Izanagi, Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu are like… some of the only children Izanagi didn’t treat like shit, so wouldn’t it make more sense for Father to be more directly connected to other children he mistreated aka Kagutsuchi?)

So what about Yato’s fate if his Father is defeated and Yato isn’t Tsukuyomi?

Well, that whole thing hinges on whether or not you believe that Father really is Yato’s lifeline in the first place. If Father turns out NOT to be a human, then the whole lifeline thing would have been a lie in the first place, and Yato will be in no more danger (in fact, significantly less) after defeating his Father than he would have been otherwise.

If Father really is his lifeline, Yato states that he has Hiyori. He’s also becoming an increasingly well-known god with a new official godly name, etc. If Yato continues to do good work with Yukine and increase his status, he’ll probably begin to work his way into the consciousness of the human world and gain enough followers to secure his safety. Hiyori could also establish him as the personal god of her family or something. He has options.

And anyway, as I mentioned in my original post on the Tsukuyomi theory, just because I don’t personally like it doesn’t mean I don’t think it has some basis. I honestly could see it happening–but that doesn’t mean I have to like it when it does. XD

The other thing I wanted to address was the idea of “change” that was brought up in the second ask, which I think is odd, because as far as I’ve seen, one of the number one things that Tsukuyomi theory fans say is that “Yato won’t change even if he is Tsukuyomi!” Like, if we’re talking about the moon god having to do with change, then that’s one thing, but as far as I can tell, the number one defense of the theory being okay story-wise is that it wouldn’t actually cause Yato to change, so…

Just on a personal level, I don’t understand the viewpoint that Yato wouldn’t change significantly if he was revealed to be Tsukuyomi. To me, this is the equivalent of saying “This poor person had amnesia for 15 years… Now they’ve suddenly remembered their entire past, who they were before, and all their previous lifestyle… but nothing about them is going to change, promise!”

Even if we completely ignore the possibility of Yato having to go back to being Tsukuyomi in the future, just revealing that a character had a whole other life is enough to change who that person is in the readers’ minds and how they think of themselves. Revealing that Yato was really Tsukuyomi all along would mean potentially revealing previous relationships with other gods, previous shinki, previous homes, previous worshipers, previous powers, previous attitudes… Unless we just collectively agree to pretend that Tsukuyomi sat in the same spot and never interacted with anyone else for thousands of years, then revealing that Yato is Tsukuyomi would mean revealing that he had a previous life, and that would be a big change in how we view his character–and what his current friends, beliefs, and situation actually mean in the grand scheme of the story.

Honestly I’m kind of confused about the whole thing anyway–people want Yato to be Tsukuyomi… but then multiple people who support the theory say they don’t think it will cause Yato to change, so… People want him to be Tsukuyomi, but not live like, act like, or in any way fulfill the role of Tsukuyomi in the Heavens? Doesn’t that just actually mean “I want Yato to become the god of the moon,” rather than “I want Yato to be Tsukuyomi”?

I just personally can’t imagine any reveal of Yato being Tsukuyomi that doesn’t also include some kind of flashbacks to the person he used to be–or Yato somehow regaining knowledge of his “true self”–and I can’t see how people think this won’t affect who he is and how he thinks of himself. The only way I could see that happening is if Yato actively chooses NOT to return to being Tsukuyomi.

(But in that case, what’s the point of being excited about the theory if the only thing you want out of the reveal is for him to reject that past identity?)

And I mean… are there fans that are okay with the idea of Yato flat out refusing to do Tsukuyomi’s job? Do people really want him to find out who he is and just go “Nah, thanks guys, but I think I’ll just stay Yatogami and let that whole Tsukuyomi thing sort itself out?” To me this seems not only contrary to Yato’s own wish to be a well-known and loved god, but also contrary to his powerful sense of duty.

One of the most central facets of Yato’s character growth has been learning to look beyond his own self-serving ends, to put aside his own wants and needs in order to genuinely serve and help others. From the boy who is willing to kill for praise to the boy who covets money to build his own shrine to the boy who selflessly risks his own life to save a friend in need–Yato’s whole track as a character has been learning to do what’s right, even when what’s right doesn’t have any immediate benefits for himself, such as when Yukine told him to keep killing ayakashi and Yato wondered how that would help him become a god of fortune.

I can’t see Yato in his present state (as a character who has grown to the point of being selfless enough to risk his life to save Heaven from his own Father), being completely okay with ignoring Tsukuyomi’s role or responsibilities. He would be expected to return to Heaven among the other ancient gods. He would be expected to answer the prayers of people at Tsukuyomi shrines. He would expected to conduct himself like a god known by every single Shinto believer in Japan. He’d likely have to like… do something with the moon…??? And I just can’t see Yato looking at all this and going “I think Heaven should just deal with not having Tsukuyomi around despite the fact that I’m technically back.”

I think that if Yato discovered he was Tsukuyomi, he would do his best to fulfill the role he was apparently born to fulfill–and as a reader, I don’t think I’d be happy if he didn’t, if he shirked his duty to humanity intentionally.

If we buy into the idea that the gods exist for a reason–that they exist to fill important roles in human consciousness and life–then I can’t imagine as a reader that I would ever be okay with Yato finding out he’s the god of the moon… And then refusing to be the god of the moon and all that entails. And that would mean that he would change, not gradually, but abruptly.

So that’s my two cents on the whole “change” and Tsukuyomi theory. As I mentioned before, as possible as I think it is, the whole thing just confuses me entirely from a writing/narrative standpoint.

#noragami #noragami meta #tsukuyomi theory #noragami manga spoilers #yato #tsukuyomi #fujisaki kouto

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gch1995 · 5 years

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Hook/CS Fan in response to me on Reddit that CS ruined this show: As I recall the writers gave plenty of support to CS, even before Nealfire died. You can’t blame one ship for everything that the characters end up doing later.

Me: I do think that a big part of it was A&E and these writers sheer lazy inability in coming up with any sort of new organic character development after two-and-a-half seasons (the Neverland arc), and their total inability to stick to their own rules of magic in favor of their contrived magical prophecies, macguffins, and twists. Recycled arcs (Aesop’s Amnesia) via cheaply shocking, forced, nonsensical, and/or wildly ooc derailment to achieve re-railment through bizarre contrivances and plot twists became a major problem in the writing for every remaining main character that lasted on this show past season three ish. It was not just a problem in the writing with Rumple and Belle post S3 ish, but Emma, Regina, Snow, David, Henry, and even and even Hook, Kitsowitz and these writers favorite, as well. They clearly ran out of story to tell after the Neverland arc, and they didn’t know where else to go from there after they achieved the ultimate endgame arcs they always intended for these main characters to have in a relatively consistent, dynamic, and relatable way from S1-3A. Instead of letting the story unfold in a way that incorporated compelling, organic, and relatable growth from there, they kept trying to retread the stories they had already told for Emma, Regina, Rumple, Belle, Snow, David, Henry, and even Hook throughout 3B-S7 over and over and over again in increasingly contrived, repetitive, and ridiculous ways.

However, I also feel a lot of the injustice done to Nealfire, Rumple, Belle, Rumbelle, Emma, and even Hook himself from 3B-S7 had to do with the writers wanting to prop up Hook onto a pedestal since they were too lazy to actually develop him into a better person, who was genuinely worthy of redemption.

You just cannot convince me that there was any other reason why Nealfire “had” to die than the fact that the writers “needed” for Hook to be in the place of Emma’s main love interest and Rumple’s son in the narrative because the writers were too lazy to develop/redeem Hook organically as an individual character without demonizing Rumple and/or getting rid of Swanfire competition.

If they were good writers then they could have found a way to easily keep Bae alive, while also having CS at the same time. Rumple could either RIP on the show after his well-earned redemption in 3x11, and/or Rumple could have had more time with his son and Belle, while also struggling with this whole “love versus power” thing in a more consistent, in-character, organic, and sympathetic manner from 3B-S6, rather than having him die selflessly to save everyone in the 3A finale.

You just cannot convince me that they suddenly started framing Rumple as a wildly OOC bizarre cartoon mustache twirler villain, who supposedly wanted power for its own sake “because it’s who he was” and “world domination” when he was sitting besides Hook the whole time in 4A, and his big schemes with magic had always been framed as family oriented and sympathetic beforehand, even if they were selfish and shortsighted.

Rumple had just gone through a horrific ordeal with Zelena, and he’d just lost the son he spent three centuries searching for, and A&E the writers pretended it never happened because it didn’t matter to them as writers since it got in the way of how terrible Rumple “had” to be made to look to make Hook look better.

Even more than that, the entire remaining main cast, including Belle his true love, just suddenly began to get away with treating Rumple as less than a human being, but a monster who was unworthy of compassion, emotional support, empathy, mercy, and understanding, even when he reached out for it from S4-S6 now when David used to be buddies with him, and Belle used to tell him that he could tell her anything back in S2.

From S4-S6, no one cared when he reached our for understanding and emotional support about his fears on Once Upon A Hook, including Belle, who was suddenly such a “hero” for needlessly making a choice to recklessly endangering her true love’s life by banishing her crippled husband with nothing for what was supposed to be forever to make Hook look better when just in the episode before of “Family Business” the narrative had made it clear that it was morally wrong for Belle or anyone else on this show to use the dagger on Rumple when it was used in a needlessly cruel, controlling, reckless, and hurtful manner. So why was it suddenly “okay” now for Belle to get deemed as “heroic” and “strong” for needlessly making a choice to recklessly endanger Rumple’s life by forcibly banishing him from his home with nothing when he could have, and almost did, die out there because she left him without any means to protect himself? Why?

Belle forcibly banishing Rumple from his home with nothing was not heroic and strong of her to put Rumple through because she was angry he deceived her. It was a needlessly cruel act that would technically qualify as an act of domestic violence via reckless endangerment of his life by forcibly throwing him out of his home with nothing in real life. She could have even gotten charged with manslaughter via reckless endangerment of his life/abandonment, if Rumple had actually died out in New York because she left him with nothing in real life. So yeah, it was wildly ooc and incredibly fucked up for Belle to banish Rumple with nothing like that. Sure, Rumple deserved to be dumped by Belle for being a shady shit behind her back, and not letting her in on what he was planning to do by taking her and Henry from SB, only to leave behind the rest of the town under a curse cast by Ingrid that made everyone else see the worst in each other. I was expecting and even hoping Belle would dump Rumple for awhile after he deceived her like that, even if Rumple was my favorite character, and Rumbelle was my favorite ship. But to recklessly endanger Rumple’s life by forcibly banishing him with nothing, and then to get written off as “heroic” and “strong” for it in the narrative? Completely fucked up and wrong.

And why was it suddenly “okay” to for the other characters to mistreat Rumple from the end of 4A onwards, including Belle? Was it because Hook became Rumple’s victim in 4A after getting away with being a douche, so suddenly treating Rumple with this bizarre and unfair set of moral double standards was “okay” now.

Hook was literally being no better in this situation than Rumple in 4A when he was the one who needlessly blackmailed Rumple to give him his hand back by threatening to tell Belle about the dagger when a true friend would have just told Belle the truth either way about her newly wed husband being a shady little shit.

You cannot ever convince me that Rumple would disguise himself as Hook to get the dagger from Belle, and that Belle would give it to him, just like that, as if it was no big deal that she could have sold out her true love and her own safety to one of Rumple’s worst enemies.

You cannot ever convince me that Belle would just stand there passively while her “friends” insensitively talked about killing Rumple in 4B instead of defending her true love.

You cannot convince me that Belle would just stay on Hook’s ship when she was fully convinced that it would hurt Rumple if he found out the truth about Hook letting her stay on his ship, sit there and trash talk about him like it was no big deal because of a dream, and refuse to hear him out when he initially tried to reason with her gently when she was in danger from Hyde by verbally bitchslapping him with needlessly bitchy, cruel, and spiteful belittlements about how she and their child didn’t need his protection because she had her “friends” protection because of what a dream said. She basically was acting like his say didn’t matter in their child’s life, so he could fuck off, even before he started losing it. Rumple overreacted with the ship spell, Belle had every right to be wary of him after that in 6A, but she was not a needlessly cruel, petty, spiteful, or stupid bitch.

You cannot convince me that Belle would actually let it slide when Hook let it slip that it would be an “added benefit” for him to get back at Rumple. Belle has self-respect. This was not self-respect or strength. This was Belle deliberately enabling a douche who didn’t respect her or her loved ones, and being a petty bitch to Rumple. Belle is neither of those things when she is in character.

Rumple had lied to Belle in 4A, which was awful, but you cannot convince me that he would ever so much as threaten to recklessly harm her in a needless panic over a dream zygote for a pair of scissors he plotted to use that he’d never been seen using before on the show in the past FTL flashbacks before without looking for any concrete evidence first, doing research, and asking obvious questions about how bizarre and stupid his whole thing was with the baby before losing his shit over it. This was even more ridiculously ooc and stupid than that dumb hat plot he had back in 4A, and at the very least then there was legitimate concrete evidence in flashbacks that he had used it before, and so it was easy to believe he knew what he was doing with it. At least, it made some sense that he wouldn’t want to be controlled again after the fact that Zelena controlled and imprisoned him with the dagger for a year, though the framing of his motives came off as very bizarrely and uncharacteristically cartoonishly evil and unsympathetic.

In 6A, he just decided, “I’m going to take these random scissors from the EQ to brainwash my son to love me to save my family, even though I’ve legitimately never been shown using them before in the past, and this is probably the most bizarre and stupid idea the writers ever forced me to have for the PLOT with magic to cartoon vilify me?”

You cannot convince me Rumple would ever say shit to Belle like “Call it what you will, but everything I do, I do out of love for you” in response to her getting angry over him putting that bracelet to trap her to keep her from attempting to run away their unborn baby in 6x08.

Rumple seemed just fine in the UW after taking back the curse a few weeks ago in the timeline, he had never so much as considered harming Belle even when his heart was almost pitch black and we were supposed to believe this was literally the same dude who wept over her calling him a “Pathetic dog, begging for scraps” in 4B when Regina pulled out her heart to get leverage over him.

Rumple had never tried to use magic to “make someone love them.”

His entire thing was that “All magic comes with a price, but love is free.” He had never been cold or scary to Belle in their present day relationship, and even back in the Dark Castle, it had been increasingly obvious that it was a playful joke the more he fell in love with her, but now they were suddenly framing him as a wildly OOC cold, controlling, restrictive, reckless, threatening, and borderline manipulative deranged jackass? This was literally the entire opposite of five previous seasons and three episodes of established characterization for Rumple, and it was obvious A&E and the writers were deliberately tainting the one last consistently credible sympathetic thing about his characterization in the narrative that they hadn’t ruined yet from S4-S6 with the purity of his true love for Belle from 6x04-6x09 to make Hook/CS look better after 5A.

And I do get that Rumple’s biggest flaw is that he believes he’s unworthy of love, but the writers had flanderdized it to ridiculous lengths now that made him seemingly oblivious to all common sense and obvious solutions to bizarre magical shit and problems when he was supposed to be a mad genuis. Now, he was just acting like a deranged and reckless idiot in 6A.

Yet wasn’t it convenient that they were having Rumple suddenly go off the rails in 6A after how far they had taken CS in 5A the season before, and now Hook was the “good guy” in a “healthy” place with Emma a season later, in spite of still being a douche himself and getting away with it?

And Emma...Don’t get me started on Emma...She started out being a badass, compassionate, selfless, and empathetic heroic young woman who stuck up for the underdog, helped people out, even if she didn’t trust them, and put Henry and her family before everyone and everything else in her life...By the end of 5A, however, she was selfish, petty, and only interested in Hook.

In short, I don’t think that CS was the entire downfall of this show. However, I do think it was a part of it, especially in regards to the character assassinations for Rumple, Belle, Emma, and even Hook himself from 3B-S6 (and even S7), and Nealfire’s death.

#anti cs fandom #anti cs #anti hook #i do think a lot of it has to do with the fact that a&e and these writers suck at character development #and literally could not come up with anything else after the Neverland arc #but come on we all know that nealfire was killed off and rumple emma belle and rumbelle were character assassinated deliberately for hook

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ukibum2-0-blog · 5 years

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Happiness cannot be found in the material, but only by living modestly and meaningfully.-E.P.

As the Christmas season is upon us we all begin to wonder, “What kind of gift should I give?” A good book, a thoughtful picture frame, or a fancy wishlist gift? Have you ever thought about the simple gift of a smile, a true blessing of kindness? The audience can grasp many blessing theme’s in the Quran, a book about life’s principles sprinkled down by God, that continues to pass on the original passages about love, life, and light. The Bible is a less dense version of the Quran: if you didn’t know this then you should definitely tune up your philosophy research and check it out because it can give you a new perspective on life, love, and how you treat other people. Using the Bible to read the Book of Ruth, you may find numerous themes about relationships, love, loyalty, redemption, and the iconic ego.

The Book of Ruth is centered around the story of Naomi’s love, loyalty, and blessing’s towards her family and friends. Naomi is a noble woman, the mother of two sons that passed, step mother to Ruth the Moabitess who sticks to Naomi like glue after her husband dies. The journey from Moab to Bethlehem demonstrates an iconic theme of Redemption brought upon by famine. In today’s society people redeem many things from idealistic values versus materialistic values such as a new job, self worth, love that was once lost, or they redeem respect. From the perspective of Naomi her positive ego’s redemption was given back by God: portrayed through the process of migrating to Bethlehem with Ruth after her two sons had passed away and the fields began to dry. During this period people valued each other and their crops more than we value or iPhones and Cars. The death of the Mother’s two son’s became such a burdon that she turned to her daughter in law Ruth for confinement and redemption from God to bless not only Ruth, but the land she cultivates and the people she comes into contact with. Putting yourself into the mindset of Naomi and how blessful she is being towards her daughter and the future she encounters is overwhelmingly heart warming because in today’s society people are not completely mindful of every single human being they come into contact with. The spiritual and physical blessing placed upon Ruth by Naomi is such as blessing to both of them, but one can see how one action of Redemption can be so blissful towards both souls to where it can light up a whole new village. As Naomi and Ruth head to Bethlehem after the loss of brothers and friends due to famine the themes of Love, Family, Friendship, Brotherhood and Sisterhood are all themes very relevant while they travel to their new land in search of a good life given by the word of God. As God gives us each other for life and eternity to make us happy, we give one another love and this is what makes us humans Holy and Whole. The gift of love is as strong as light: light cultivates the land to turn soil to harvest our crop. The crop is then spread to share during supper over smiles and laughter, ideally just to gather. To gather is to share, your love, your light, your findings and joy’s of the day. The theme of Brotherhood and Sisterhood is strongly suggested not only through the whole entire book, but through the relationships between characters the reader can see how much people depend on each other for happiness. One may not have the strength to pull crop if they are alone, then again God may not bless your land and blow forth a famine to hinder the minds of those who are not being honest and blessful. The blessing of God, who sees everything what one person truly beholds, can understand how the theme of Brotherhood and Sisterhood is very prominent throughout your whole life. A single person cannot be successful on their own, just think, you were not born by yourself. God, the creator of light, let your parents meet one day and conceive a baby by pure love and joy, or like Jane the Virgin you were artificially and magically created with a snap! Although the second option is very unlikely… You are not a plant, you do not just grow… Although, God does that too with tremendous amounts of love! Love is only given by the blessings of Friendship and Family, self love is very important too, but how selfish would it be to hold onto all of your light to your own? Naomi knows how the blessing of life can create joy, and so after the death of two sons she was devastated. Being blessed by the friendship Ruth gave Naomi: Naomi began to speak to God directly wishing and blessing Ruth with good fortune, luck, and love for the rest of her life by directing her to move onto a new land and life in Bethlehem. Their love for eachother stronger than ever, luckily they moved onto their new land to spread their power and light for not only themselves, but for the City of Bethlehem. The relationship between Ruth and Naomi is strengthened upon their long walk to the new land: not only are they being blessed upon the grace of God, but they are more of a blessing to each other than the new found city they are being blessed with. Naomi and her daughter in law, Ruth, are very caring, faithful, and respectful. The two have so much genuine love and care for eachother, only to be amplified beyonds stars compare because they only have each other at this point..The loyalty and care the two of them have for each other is greater than the journey from Moab to Bethlehem itself. Upon the journey Naomi tells Ruth that she has a man who is a kinsmen of the city and a gentleman. Welcoming and displaying friendlyness and respect to not only the city, but to God the two women are treated with the most respect and care. As Ruth gleans in the field of Boaz and he treats her kindly. In the second chapter the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him who I shall find grace.” In this verse Ruth is displaying how her work ethic, love, and light towards her work in the field is motivated by the thought of Boaz. Although, Boaz is not directly mentioned because Ruth’s diction refers to a very broad him. Him being at this point the almighty God, Boaz, and or the whole city of men that live in Bethlehem to protect the women, children, and fields of crop. The relationship between two people can ignite such a light between the two it sparks a fire within their souls. As the day goes on Naomi spreads the message across Bethlehem for the men to not lay a hand upon Ruth because she wants Ruth to stay true for the man God has made for her. This act of Loyalty demonstrated by both brothers and sisters of the city is a sign of tremendous respect towards Ruth and her future husband, Naomi, and God. A sign of loyalty, faith, and trust that God has someone for all of us and to stay true until you believe you have found the one is a very rewarding act of loyalty. The men of the city being loyal to Naomi do not touch or bother Ruth, saving her pure touch for the grace of the field and the love for her husband. Ruth is being very loyal to Naomi, God, and herself because she is infatuated by the grace of Boaz, she is patiently saving herself for the man Ruth’s soul belongs to. Boaz, a kinsman redeemer, kind to the living and the dead was closely under the watchful eye of Ruth as she watched him from afar. In the middle of the night Ruth snuck into Boaz’s bedspace and laid at the feet of the Kinsman, startling Boaz he then asked her, “who are you?” Ruth replies with, “I am your servant Ruth, spread your garment over me to bless me.” Boaz then continues to “this kindness is greater than ever, my daughter don’t be afraid. All my townsmen know you are a woman of noble character. Lie here until morning and I will bless you with a kinsmen.” Boaz then continues to spend the next day searching through Bethlehem in search of the Moabitess true mate. God has personally blessed Ruth with two loyal relationships. Without Naomi she would have never been invited to leave the famine strucen Moab, and she would have been alone and lost without such a caring and faithful friend like Naomi. Naomi knowing the true character of Ruth, her courage and pure kindness drew Naomi to seek a kinsman to bare her a child. The life long blessing Naomi had in mind for Ruth stretched far beyond the original blessing of a new city life. A simple act of moving into a new city with her dear friend became a blessing of a new city and another new loyal friend, Boaz. As for God’s blessing upon Ruth, He blesses Ruth with the nobleman Boaz with dignity, strength, and loyalty. Boaz decided to not only give Ruth the joy of looking over the corn field, but to seek a man to bless her with life is a blessing of love and kindness. To Ruth’s surprise Boaz found one man who was suitable for Ruth, not mapping out correctly Boaz decided to take Ruth in as his own wife. God then blessed Naomi as a Godmother, giving her the chance to help Ruth take care of the son Boaz helped her bare. The best aspect found within the literature of these chapters was the way the scriptures addressed human life itself. Not to find personal pleasure or to continue a popular trend, but to selflessly add to the human experience of love and light- to create joyus marvel in hopes of spreading more light upon the city. Many people in today’s society can learn a lot from this literature within two short themes, pure kindness and selflessness. Being kind to our surroundings, being kind to our spirits, al while being kind to one another. During this period every single person has a job to do, only to contribute to a bigger picture. They did not look for love in middle school only to break up over recess, they waited and longed for the right day and time to have God give grace and light upon their life and bless them with the right person- the one. Personally, I do not believe anyone has a child for selfish reasons because I have more faith in humanity than anyone else. Although, when you see someone smoking with two kids in the back seat you begin to question yourself.. The selfishness circulating within our current culture can be portrayed as greed: greed in politics over policies, greed selfishness, and hatred within the peacekeeping in South Africa regarding the current Genocide, as well as greed within American culture towards children not being cared for properly. As a psychology major, Professors address the line, “The children are the future, we are learning for the children to protect the children.” This statement is beyond words the mirror reflection of symbolic light found within the Bible, precisely parallel to the selfless act of childbirth only to spread joy throughout the community, to keep the older spirits alive in order to keep the cycle of great thinking alive, to pass down rituals and beliefs, and to conceal the knowledge and practices humans have been developing over the centuries. To keep the soil alive, the plants watered, and the roads clean we need to recycle humans- as disinteresting as it sounds… but we don’t do it for money, we do it for love. The take away from the Book of Ruth is a tremendous amount of love concealed into many religious and spiritual themes, but ultamilty it breaks down to the human nature of kindness and love. Only to keep eachother alive and happy, to see a smile in the light of the sun every morning, to keep eachother company, to enjoy nice meals after a long day of work, and to keep eachother warm at night. That is what life is about, enjoying each other, embracing our loved ones, and being happy. Everyone's muse is different, but in today's chapter I would really just like you to focus on one thing: What is it about human life that makes you happy? If you learned anything, it should’ve been that all we need in life is already right here, we have each other! Everything else is just a distraction, so this Holiday season I ask you to put your phones away and talk about the simple things, take your time in the morning to drink your coffee, talk about the past, talk about the future, walk slow, don’t speed, be mindful, and be caring- love the simple things in life and enjoy every moment you have with your friends and family: every second, every minute, everyday subtle things change- embrace it.

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