#current headcanon until canon contradicts me:

[redwinterroses]

Oh gosh I already have Such Thoughts around Loremaster Pix and I haven't even checked the tag to see what other people are saying yet but hang on gotta braindump--

His whole intro was about the old gods and titans dying and creating this world, their blood and bones becoming the civilizations that followed, which in turn fell and left their ruins to be the foundations of empires to follow. (Story nerd bit: so that means, I think, we are at least in the "third age" of this world: the gods and titans, then the ancients, and now the empires.)

But how does he know these things, unless he was there?

What if Pix is, as he said he wants to be, less a character and more a... a force, if you will. He is the past. He's a forgotten titan, a diminished god, a spirit of time and memory. A lorekeeper, a storyteller, a secret-holder... More and yet less than an emperor, less and yet more than a player in the tale. Maybe he doesn't remember it all -- diminishing can be hard on an immortal. But he remembers enough, enough to tell the story of the world and lead the current inhabitants to uncover the histories of their own lands.

And if I maybe headcanon that the Ancients were Empires s1, and this keeper of ancient stories could be a certain lost and forgotten desert king who vanished when his diminished immortality came sparking to hesitant life... you can't stop me.

#empires s2 #empires smp #empires spoilers #pixlriffs #current headcanon until canon contradicts me: #the Copper King was so intrigued by the concepts of death and rebirth because he was a diminished immortal who didn't remember his own past #the encounters with Xornoth and Aeor and the rest triggered lost memories and he became overwhelmed by the knowledge #fleeing into the desert he's spent the last few centuries slowly coming to grips with his own immortality and the ragged scraps of memories #and now new empires have begun to rise and he looks at them with both the distant fascination of an immortal #someone who has seen these things rise and fall before and will again #and also with the eerie sense that he's seen these SPECIFIC empires #in another time and another guise #the familiarity amongst the strange has drawn him out of his solitude and he rejoins the world of mortals #this time quietly aware that he is Not One Of Them... and yet he might be when he allows himself to pretend #a way for me to keep my copper king and make the storyline one big cohesive thread? yes. shush. you can't take this from me #well. pix can but I'm a fangirl and we thrive on jumping the hoops of Making It Work lol #the empire of the past

[thesmollestsnek]

I’ve seen a lot of fics n headcanons where Dick Grayson has adhd, and I see you. But also. Consider: Tim Drake having (undiagnosed) adhd. As a certified adhd bitch myself, I have A Lot to say about this, so more under the cut.

Before we get into it, just a quick disclaimer: pretty much all of my dc knowledge is from fandom osmosis, so. If you see something that’s ooc or contradicts canon no you didn’t. Now with that out of the way, on to the main event!

Okay, so! First of all, let’s start at the very beginning. That’s right, I’m talking about Tim Drake’s “night photography”! Now I’m not gonna say neurotypical kids don’t get up to some dumb ass shit when left unsupervised for long periods of time, because they absolutely do. But. The complete disregard for the many, many dangers a young child alone in Gotham at night would face is still notable. And he doesn’t just ignore danger - he runs straight at it. That shows an impressive lack of impulse control, and inability to factor future consequences into current decisions, both of which are hallmarks of adhd. Plus, hyperfixation kinda… changes? How you perceive things. So if Tim was hyperfixated on getting the perfect shot whenever a major crime/fight happened near him, he may not have processed that he was danger at all during the part most likely to scare a neurotypical child away.

Next, we have the coffee. Yes, I know the coffee thing is super overblown by the fandom and not really supported by canon but ssshshhhhhh my world my rules Tim drinks lots of coffee. Now, this one’s kinda obvious, but caffeine is a stimulant and surprise surprise so are most adhd meds. I have seen firsthand how ppl with undiagnosed adhd will mainline caffeine as a form of self medication, whether they’re aware of it or not. Some people use soda or energy drinks, but coffee’s also a really popular choice for this kinda thing. So not only is it completely plausible for someone with undiagnosed adhd to self medicate by drinking a shitton of coffee, it’s extremely common.

Next up! We have the insomnia. Which, again, I think might be played up a lot in fic? But this is my world and you’re reading in it, so. Tim’s an insomniac. This is one of the less well known symptoms of adhd, but again I speak from firsthand experience when I say it’s a big one. Insomnia is extremely common among ppl with adhd, for a couple reasons. One is time blindness, which I’ll come back to in the next point. But also? It’s just really hard to turn your brain off. And if a large portion of Tim’s brain space is being devoted to casework, guess what. That inability to turn one’s brain off will manifest as late night case solving blitzes. Not to mention that hyperfixation, again, changes the way you perceive things. When I hyperfixate on something I often lose hours at a time, and bodily needs like hunger, tiredness, the bathroom, etc aren’t just unimportant they straight up don’t register. With the number of times I’ve come out of a hyperfocus to realize that I have a dehydration headache that’s been brewing for at least an hour, or have completely skipped a major meal, or desperately need to pee, I can 100% believe Tim not noticing any sleep deprivation symptoms until he’s finished whatever he was working on. And I, again, speak from experience when I say that if you happen to hyperfixate at something at the wrong time of night you will be staying up way later than is reasonable. Which brings me to my next point of…

Time blindness! My most favoritist thing in the whole wide world! (/sarcasm) This shit can and absolutely will fuck up your ability to be a functioning human if you let it. Having no internal clock causes more problems than the obvious losing track of time. It means your appetite is sporadic at best and you could very easily forget to eat. It means your sleep schedule has a tendency to just disintegrate if you don’t keep on it. It means being completely dependent on external clocks to know how long things are/should be taking, even for stupid shit like cooking food or brushing your teeth. It means that if you don’t set an alarm for something there is a very real possibility that something isn’t happening no matter how much you want or need it to. In short, it completely fucks up your ability to care for yourself without a lot of external regimented support. Now, who does that remind you of? Which member of the batfamily is known for neglecting his own health? I may not read many comics but the sheer number of “Tim Drake subsists solely on coffee and spite” jokes on ao3 and tumblr is very telling.

His brains. Tim is very, very smart. Have you ever heard the phrase “twice exceptional?” It describes Tim Drake to a t. Plus, I’m living proof of how you can be both smart of brain and dumb of ass. This may be more of a “my family who just so happens to consist entirely of twice exceptional adhd dumbasses” thing than something most ppl with adhd experience, but. You can be really smart and incredible at putting together complex plans, both ahead of time and on the fly, and still have. No common sense whatsoever. Which seems to be a lot of Tim’s characterization: incredibly smart while simultaneously being a complete dumbass. So make of that what you will.

And most compellingly? I think it’s funny. This kid is brothers with Dick Grayson and best friends with Bart Allen and especially next to those two people would never expect Tim to be the one with the quote unquote “cant sit still disorder”. Yknow what? Let’s take this a step further. Let’s make Bart autistic. (I don’t know enough about the flash family to say how accurate this is but for the sake of the joke let’s say he is). People see Impulse standing next to Red Robin and they think they know which one is adhd and which is autistic and they are Wrong. Tim n Bart are Completely unaware of this but the rest of their team finds it hilarious. There’s probably at least one running joke about it.

#tim drake has adhd (you can’t) change my mind #btw I don’t mention it here but my version of batman is 1000000% autistic #I’d offer to give headcanons on which batfamily members I think are which flavors of neurodivergent but. #I’m not NEARLY as familiar with any of the other things I headcanon them as #also none of the other headcanons are quite as solid as this one #I think Bruce n maybe Jason are autistic. Damian’s def got Something going on but idk if I care to put a name to it #dick most definitely has some cptsd but also? I think there’s a portion of ‘weird’ things he does that aren’t from anything specific #he’s just Like That #there’s most definitely some more stuff floating around in the family I highly doubt any of them is 100% neurotypical #I just can’t be bothered to figure out who’s most likely to have what and why lol #maybe some of my other nerdy neurodivergent peeps can chime in with their thoughts? #and just to reiterate: #all of my dc knowledge is from fandom osmosis and that’s how i like it #headcanons #dc headcanons #tim drake #tim drake headcanon #red robin #dc red robin #red robin headcanon #adhd #adhd tim drake #adhd red robin #neurodivergent tim drake

[acorrespondence]

@freekicks Oh man I have lots; so many that I’m making this a new post so I don’t clog up that poor person’s replies with 50 messages, haha! Basically, it’s an expansion on the idea that everyone has headcanons/canon details that are absolutely integral to their enjoyment of the story and any transformative works based on it (hard), and headcanons/canon details that they’re fond of but could still get pretty much unaltered enjoyment out of a fic that contradicts them (soft). Obviously all these are just opinions and what I get out of the story isn’t and shouldn’t have to be the same as what anyone else gets out of it.

One thing that sort of falls in the middle of the headcanon/canon divide is Raylan’s age when his mother died. The show contradicts itself on this point several times, and so it’s sort of fungible. I personally find the idea that Raylan’s mother died when he was very young, like younger than Loretta, while it may serve the parallels between them, to be much less compelling than the idea that she died later. It’s just so much more… boring for a character whose mother died when he was ten or so to have a gross misrepresentation of who she was as a person in his mental image of her. It’s much more compelling to me if he held onto that despite direct evidence to the contrary that he was old enough to understand. Of course he’d forget the hatchet story if it happened when he was eight. If it happened when he was eighteen, that opens up a much realer possibility that he just straight up repressed it, which is fascinating. Also, I don’t think it makes sense if he grew up with Helen in the house for the second half of his life there. To me that doesn’t really jive with their current relationship. (And on a less story-driven note, I am fascinated by the idea that, if Raylan’s mother died when he was thirty, he might not have attended her funeral. Because part of him knew it would challenge the version of her he had to remember in order to maintain his black and white perception of the world.)

Obviously, the mine and what it represents is a necessary component (though the time and place less so—my Old Guard au places them in the miners’ strikes of the 30s, and I’ve read a wonderful fic where the mine in question was on a different planet entirely. However, it does have to be placed in Harlan, or whatever approximation of Harlan fits the broader setting). The boys and their relationships with their daddies is another nonnegotiable for me. Specifically, the way they grew up; different times and causes of death for Bo and Arlo can work just as well. If Raylan and Boyd don’t meet until they’re established adults, that immediately kills my interest. Their rich history is so integral to why I’m drawn to the ship in the first place. It’s a hard sell for me to have Boyd leave or Raylan stay directly after the mine, but I’ve been known to make an exception if the story is compelling enough and doesn’t sacrifice characterization.

I think Boyd’s criminal history is important, though the nature of it less so. And even more important is the fact that Boyd never really makes it big as a criminal—making him some kind of fief lord of crime makes him much less interesting to me. His plans only succeed inasmuch as he always manages to survive their unraveling. I think it’s important that he’s spent time incarcerated. I’m not a huge fan of stories where they meet again outside of Harlan and never go back, it takes away the central tension between them and the place that made them that Raylan so struggles with and Boyd embraces so wholly, which for me is a really interesting part of their relationship, this dichotomy. I also don’t care for stories that give them a ton of good friends outside each other, or casual friends who actually know them and hang out with them—they’re too big of assholes for that. Of course, this doesn’t include the characters they’re close with in canon; I love Raylan and Rachel’s friendship, in particular, and their understanding of each other despite their vast superficial differences is fascinating. I guess I should say instead that I don’t buy either of them having typical friendships, period. They’re just too weird and fucked up for that. They trauma bonded at nineteen and it continues to be one of the most important relationships in either of their lives. Winona puts up with Raylan’s relational weirdness for love; no one is doing that for their drinking buddy. So they may have close friendships, but they don’t look the way you’d expect.

I’d never make their relationship uncomplicatedly sweet and unfraught, or sand down the kind of feral edges of it, and I don’t think they’d be much for traditional PDA—I just love the way in canon the physical (and otherwise) manifestations of their intimacy are so outside of what’s expected from buddies OR lovers. In the same vein, I don’t love it when Raylan goes crazy with the terms of endearment, because he doesn’t use them much with his love interests in canon. I have him use them with the girls in heavy heart more as verbal tics he picked up after spending too much time around Boyd, who LOVES to use them, plus I think he models at least some of his displays of parental affection after Helen, who canonically calls him “honey”. I’m fine with Boyd throwing endearments around liberally; I just don’t do it in my own fics because I love the way in canon he twists Raylan’s name itself into almost an endearment. He just can’t stop saying it every other sentence, so why would he give up the chance to say it by replacing it with another word? Plus, it fits in with how weird they are about each other in general.

More broadly, I have never really enjoyed full aus (based on any story) that don’t try to approximate at least the broader beats of place and history from canon, but I really really love stories that manage it. I respect authors who can sort of map canon onto a completely different stage, like the space au mentioned above, so much. I hope that I manage that at least somewhat with catching bullets.

That’s all the big ones I can think of at the moment, though I’m sure there’s more I’ve forgotten (most of the rest fall more under ic-ness vs ooc-ness, which is harder to articulate; “what makes them themselves?” is a much more difficult question). Ultimately, I think probably a lot of these come across through cross-referencing both of my WIPs—basically, if it shows up in both, there’s a very good chance it’s a nonnegotiable for me, and if it changes between the two, then I can obviously live without it.

#blanket disclaimer that these are just my personal tastes and everyone is going to have different things they could take or leave abt canon! #justified #raylan/boyd #yeats freekicks #writing #catching bullets #heavy heart #long post #my fic #caveat to most of these is: without a very good reason that maintains the spirit of the law if not the letter #or is really well explained by the story in a way that acknowledges its importance #but makes the divergence necessary #sorry if this ruins anyone’s dreams of me one day righting a fic where they were never in the mines bc raylan was born to a loving father in #miami and only met boyd the wildly successful drug kingpin when he was assigned to kentucky and had to leave his 137 good friends #the existence and relevance of bowman winona and ava is also important to me #wrt fusion aus i’m just personally looking for ‘what would these elements to *this* story’ #not ‘what would these characters add to this other story’ #because for me pretty much all of who they are as characters is tied to their history so an honest au of this kind REQUIRES ooc-ness #at which point they’re not the same characters #and you’ve lost me completely lol

[tathrin]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love ❤️

Friends, if I send you this but you already answered it, please forgive me; now that the icons are gone, I have no idea who has posted what anymore thanks tumblr.

Anyway anon, thank you so much for the chance to talk about some of my favorite stories!

Star Wars VII: The Dark Reborn — this is literally the best thing I have ever written, I love it so much. I could not adore this story more. I genuinely want to get it made into a paperback and just like. hand it to people or stash it in those little free libraries, I don't know. It's the best damn thing. I'm so happy with it, I love it, I can't even articulate how happy this story makes me, seriously. I should really get back to work on the sequel shhhh.

Five Times Gimli Died (And One Time He Didn't) — this is probably my "objectively best" LotR fic, and I love it for that. I also love it because it was a stretch from my usual sort of thing, and I really love it because it pushes my "mortals don't die in Aman unless/until they decide they want to" headcanon, and thus furthers my "Gimleaf Has The Happiest Ending Of Anyone In Middle-earth And That Was On Purpose" agenda. Also I just really love writing from Gimli's POV, he's such a delight. No wonder everyone who meets him adores him.

To Live In Undying Lands — this story is my current fixation. I was really tempted to put the Zombie Story here instead, but ultimately I decided that at this moment, I actually like this one more. It's another one that's a bit of a stretch for me (I don't generally write "ongoing snippets" without an over-arching plot, and I definitely don't often write stuff that's this domestic) but so far it's been really satisfying. I'm worried that I'm on the brink of running out of steam on it, but I hope I'm not because I really do adore both the concept and the results, and I have a lot more ideas I'd like to do for it if I can keep the motivation/focus engaged!

Twin Faces Of Destruction — I love Boba Fett. I love Boba Fett. The original flavor, "he's no good to me dead," "this is my face," "as you wish" cold heartless hunter Boba Fett, the one who never takes off his helmet and has no interest in anything beyond the job and will walk straight through an Imperial Garrison to get his quarry if he has to. The one who donates money to orphanages (it's canon! wtf!!!). The one who will betray every single partner he's ever had, but who still showed-up to be best man at Dengar's wedding because he doesn't go back on a deal. The one who has literally one moral code, and that is "do the job." No matter what that means. And the honorable helmetless dad-guy we got in the tv show is...not that. Frankly, neither is a lot of the post-AOTC stuff with him. But one of the joys of a bounty hunter who never shows his face and has a lots of other folks out there who have that same face is that it's real easy to find ways to reconcile things like that...and even pay homage to canon (Ailyn Vel! Jodo Kast! Spar/Alpha-Ø2!) in the doing. So this story? This story is just fucking fun.

The Story of Kijimi — there's honestly not much to this one, but I like it more than it probably merits just because I really love paving canon plot-holes, and the "we've made Poe a Spice Smuggler Out Of Nowhere Even Though It Contradicts Our Own Existing Canon Because He's Clearly The Han Solo Of The New Trio, Because We're Stupid And Don't Know How Star Wars Works!" bullshit from TROS is just...so fucking soul-killing and racist and unnecessary. So here's the real story behind that. You're welcome.

#my writing #lotr fanfiction #star wars fanfiction #fanfiction #i probably should have included the Gimli Dark Lord Of Erebor AU fic too #because i do fucking adore that one #but honestly i just felt bad linking to that one while i know it's currently stuck in simmer-state-hiatus #so i dropped in a little ''fuck you rian and jj'' star wars sequel fic instead lmao #gimli #legolas #boba fett #poe dameron #leia organa #revan #five favorite fics

[edaworks]

Thinking a lot about found family today, which led to thinking about RJ and Ben. (Part of my LW's name is a purposeful ref to my own mutually-adoptive older sib, who is currently doing me a huge Big Bro solid) That led to me thinking a lot about other parallels, including some shared characteristics with/reasons I probably find RJ to be a compelling and relatable character. The list of reasons is embarrassingly long frankly? (But so is the list of characteristics not held in common so I guess I'm not a complete narcissist)

Being me, I of course made an actual TVTropes-style list (mostly for reference as a partial list of hc and canon Core Mac Characteristics. A LOT of analysis, particularly at the end, and there is some self-discussion too, so placing under the cut to spare y'all).

-My Brother with 50 Levels in Badass: Absolutely, given my headcanon for Mac and the LW.

-I've Got This: Absurd when paired with the last item, but so goes it. Has a natural aversion to seeking assistance until In Dire Straits. (Thinking of the conversation with Daisy re: gnawed on by ferals during first Med-Tek attempt)

-I Don't Got This: The logical extension of the last one. Capable assistance clearly available? Still tries alone first? Doesn't work? shockedpikachu.jpg

-Good in a Group, Suckish Solo: If I were to analogize my life skillsets to a traditional RP class, I'd basically be a bard. Mac's a sniper. Neither one of us is specced to work outside of a group. (Can we talk about this kid sniper not having a working partner for however long? Yeesh)

-Trust Issues: Self-explanatory. His seem apparent from dialogue, albeit also contradicted by how quickly I seem to get his first affinity dialogue (though that might just be my characters giving off Chaotic Vibes)

-A Lannister Always Pays His Debts: doesn't like owing people? Very much so. There's a reason my SoSu says "fine" and takes the caps back, then promptly reinvests it in weapon upgrades for him and shuts him up by pointing out it's essential for their joint survival

-I Don't Have a Job, Is This How You Get A Job: How am I suddenly in charge of Thing? Because I spoke up about it and then didn't say "no?" I guess I'm now in charge of Thing. (See also 'Accidental Protagonist Syndrome;' 'Lord of the Flies (Averted)')

-Child Leading Children: Obvious, given 'mayor for fucking life.' Relatable content given: me, at age Very Young, ordering around my electrics crew, of age Who is This Kid, and staying in that role until I graduated from college.

-Beat It, Mungo: child who would cut an adult unless treated as a peer. "Look alive, you mopey motherfucker, you've got a mayor talking to you!" Excellent at putting Normie Adults off-balance. Has respect as an adult for kids who Would Prefer to be Treated With Dignity, Thanks (I HC that Mac and Nat Wright get along quite well for this reason)

-Ask Mayor MacCready: people being directed to you with bizarre inquiries? Probably knowing the answer to the bizarre inquiry but confused about why the fuck this person decided to come ask you about it? Relatable content. (See also "What do I look like, your tour guide?')

-Peaked In High School: Probably thinks people who knew him as a kid thought him way more impressive as a kid than they find him as an adult (at least, at this stage of adulthood). Publicly would take the stance "your point?;" privately, see Impostor Syndrome, infra.

-The One Absolute: For Mac the most obvious "inviolable rule" is the promise to Duncan, though he's got several. Relatable content. These rules may seem odd in the context of other rules not followed, but they are very important. (But see 'Loyal Unto Death™,' infra)

-Kathryn Janeway Depressive Disorder: Isolated from peers? Feeling the depression? Debuff acquired: Dark Room - forgets how to peer, forgets how to delegate, forgets how to keep people in the loop, forgets they don't have to do everything themselves, broods - oops

-Remove from VIP Room to Activate Functional Adult: Self-explanatory in part, given the whole "partnering up with you sure beats drinking myself blind in Goodneighbor" thing. Also relatable content. Fun fact: I do not drink when stressed! There's a good reason! Thus far, the rule has held for...fifteen years? But Mac never got that chance, given that he started at age six

-I (Don't) Want to Be Alone: Self-explanatory. Needs people per his own dialogue. Relatable content. For him, it's not surprising given that he basically grew up in a pack.

-Stop Bothering Me About It!: However, give the cat space when it is beneath the couch. (Thinking about how in 3 if you keep talking to him he'll blacklist you from Lamplight for a day) Also hc that the more you pester him about something, the less likely he is to want to address it (also relatable), though he will still do things he finds annoying as long as he can grouse ("Don't make me carry that worthless crap," as he takes the items from me anyway)

-Have Emergency, Will Travel: (immediately and for absurd distances) - self-explanatory

-This Beats Sitting Around: When anxiety, will die if not given task to dump said anxiety. Also self-explanatory

-The Devil's Own Luck Runs Out: has repeatedly survived but chronically Knows They Won't Survive This One, whatever that happens to be? more of a headcanon thing but oh yes

-Impostor Syndrome/'I Don't Know Anymore': sure, definitely a thing for him. Uh. And me.

-The Caves I Grew Up In : super-insulated environment during, and very unconventional, childhood - then unleashed to run about the greater world and wreak havoc

-Report to Baggage Claim Area: Heck we all have something going on -True Facts About: bizarre life experiences coming up in normal conversation that most people think are bullshit until they've known you long enough to realize that you're...actually serious? sure

-You're How Old?: self-explanatory, though I'm now of an age where it happens less thank goodness

-Aposematism: dresses to emit "don't fuck with me" vibes when situationally appropriate

-Loyal Unto Death™: once loyalty has been unlocked, unless an Unforgiveable Act is committed. Then will break otherwise inviolable personal mores to ensure it is clear that Loyalty Has Been Terminated. Will tell you if confronted in no uncertain terms why Loyalty Has Been Terminated -NERD!: obviously

-(longest for the end)This Is A Tree, What Forest?: This man focuses on some things to the exclusion of all others. He has single-minded tenacity for things he designates as high-priority. The flip side of this is that he's blindsided by/totally misses things that seem obvious: he is shocked to speechlessness to find out anyone has interest in him despite the SoSu dropping commuter-train-sized hints. He's definitely spooked by the idea of synths and is very wary of the Railroad, but totally misses the obvious analogy to the LW rescuing kids from (and potentially mowing down the slaver ring in) Paradise Falls. Again with synths - hc that he definitely knows Fawkes after he's released from Vault 87, so the idea of "this being is clearly A Person even though they're a ____" (mutant, synth, whatever) not parsing seems bizarre to me, unless framed as "shit, wow did I forget things I learned as a kid in the face of community indoctrination." Need I bring up his negative reaction to helping the kid in the fridge and certain reactions/dialogue when SoSu is looking for assistance finding Shaun? Speak of missing obvious analogies. I honestly think those are errors/Bethesda-continuity-check failures, but dear Lord. The guy only sees single trees and misses entire forests. He's also a sniper, and I think some of his being suited to that work has to carry over from his personality and how his mind works: he really needs a spotter (probably both figuratively and literally). I imagine his strengths lay in reacting, not acting. This man's biggest motivators are instinctual things: Love, immediate need for food/shelter, anger, fear. Instincts are reactive motivators. That makes him excellent at surviving the wastes, and made him excellent at his job in Lamplight, where quick reactions keep kids alive - plus in Lamplight he had some other Local Leaders around (Joseph, Lucy, Eclair, etc.) to help lay a groundwork to keep the place running. But without that? Boy howdy does he need someone to pick a direction and point him in it. He has excellent technical know-how and skill, and he's been doing his job for so long that routine can sub for forethought and/or for lots of the benefits having a sniper team would provide (assistance in scouting, researching marks, setting up/breaking down/concealing a position/nest, securing said locations, tracking targets, mapping routes, etc), but routine only keeps you alive for so long. For someone of his personality type, if I can be so bold, foresight is a learned skill and he's either put 0 skill points into it, or it's debuffed all to hell due to extreme stress from the circumstances he's in. He tried to Leeroy Jenkins Med-Tek. He's excellent at accruing income, and at bargaining (also a "think fast" reactive skill) but also holy shit does not budget (we know what Taka's noodles cost, and he also knows every bartender in the Commonwealth personally). He joined the Gunners, having grown up with the Capital Wasteland Gunners Talon Company in his backyard. He thinks (although he's not totally convinced) that he can pay off Winlock & Barnes. He needs a spotter, and I think that's critical to why he very quickly begins to work so well with, and click with, either a male or female SoSu. One is an attorney (practicing law is a team sport - my first mentor told me this and they're Words to Live By, I will die on that hill), the other is ex-Army (i.e, used to Working with Others, Or Else Death or Court-Martial), and so either would probably bring balancing skills to the table/be more balanced themselves in return. Even if they have some of the same issues he does, it's always easier to see/call someone on their issues than it is to accurately see/call yourself on them, so the benefits would still attach. This - all of this - is highly relatable for me. Having a team is crucial to my care and feeding. Without them I too find myself getting gnawed upon by ferals.

(tl;dr I'm clearly on the "Mac joins Piper in the ADHD Gang" train. I'd like to say I'm not projecting but that's probably impossible; that said, if you look at DSM-V criteria together with hyperfocus criteria/reactive motivators/what dopamine?/clearly needing to set inviolable boundaries to make himself do or not do things...I'd say he's got some objective ADHD vibes)

#eda speaks #oneifbyland #self-evaluation through works of fiction #headcanon kind of? #introspection through works of fiction #personal #but also fallout #rj maccready #maccready #robert joseph maccready

[zonerobotnik]

Who's the strongest, Bill Cipher, Zhan Tiri, The Collector, Pariah Dark or Sera?

And if you start with your stupid fucking headcanons instead of canon on screen material, you are no longer allowed to write or draw anything in those fandoms!

First of all, fuck you if you think you can actually stop me. I will write what I want when I want and you can scream at me until you explode but you can't stop me. I can just shut you up by turning off Anon.

But, I will indulge your rude demand. Hm….let's see…

Bill Cipher: His origins are currently unknown, however an "Ask Cipher" thing awhile back run by the show's creator heavily implied he came from a world like "Flatland" by Edwin Abbott Abbott. How he become to be so powerful is unknown. He has the appearance of a giant 2D triangle with golden-yellow bricks. He has one large eye with big lashes and black arms, legs, hat, bowtie and cane. He's powerful enough to destroy galaxies and eats planets for a snack. He's older than the Milky Way at least and can go into the dreams of anyone that doesn't take precautions against him. He rules over an entire realm called the "Nightmare Realm" and a powerful being named "Time Baby", who he later destroyed after getting out, sealed him and his followers inside of his realm, but he was still able to influence things going on outside of it. He shapeshifts into various types of triangle forms on-screen and possesses anyone foolish enough to make a Deal with him that lets him into their mind and is able to see into the past, present and future, though that last one is changing so constantly it's difficult to know if what he sees is what will happen. He manipulated various people over various generations and areas of the world until he finally had a portal built that he could escape through and then he took over the town he came out in, completely transforming it and its inhabitants to his liking, but was stopped by a powerful supernatural barrier on the other side that kept him in that town. He was finally defeated by a conman that took advantage of his eagerness to win to trick him into making a Deal with the wrong guy to get that barrier dropped, being destroyed along with the man's own mind, but still may be around due to a prior arrangement he made with a being more powerful than him called "The Axolotl". His body is an indestructible statue in Gravity Falls' woods, perhaps the fact it can't be destroyed is a sign of his eventual return? With "The Book of Bill" coming out soon, I suspect we'll get more information on this particular specimen.

Zhan Tiri: Her origins are unknown but she seems to have been human at some point and wanted power to be as strong as a god. Aside from a giant demonic form of a black squid standing on its tentacles with human arms and the head of a ram, she has the appearance of a gray-skinned woman dressed in purple Victorian-style clothes with purple hair. She has the ability to shapeshift into her demonic form, her human form and supposedly she can change into a blizzard, but that particular part seems to have been confused in writing because the legend says she sent the blizzard, not that she became it. In fact, there are a lot of statements made in earlier seasons that season 3 completely contradicts, so that's corrupted evidence. She has at least three followers seen on-screen with several more in the comics, though we only see two fully in the comics with several others being eyes in the darkness. She was sealed away into another realm that weakened her significantly so that she was trapped in the form of a human, which is why it was believed that she was originally a human being. She escaped by tricking various people into using the clashing of the powers of the Sun and Moon to free her and then was defeated by that same power when she made the mistake of putting the magic stones on her wrists that were later slammed together after her brief victory, destroying her. There is no indication that she will ever return. There is no indication that any further data is forthcoming.

The Collector: Part of a race of powerful beings from another world, he was the odd one out and instead of wanting to simply observe and collect, he wanted to indulge and closely interact. He was tricked into leading the others to his new friends, the powerful Titans, so they could wipe them out and then was sealed away by the only survivor that blamed him for the deaths of his people. He has the appearance of a white-haired little boy dressed in purple, blue and white space-themed pajamas. While sealed away he was able to interact with certain people by creating a shadow of himself but shows no sign of having that ability once unsealed and can transform a portion of the area he is currently in into his playground and turn people into dolls as well as fly around with ease. He has no "Followers", persay, but there is a group of people that completely misunderstand him and want to finish the work he did by wiping out the Titans completely. He was tricked into helping Emperor Belos with wiping out all the Witches, in return he would be set free. when Belos betrayed him, he talked the only living Titan, the child of the one that sealed him, into setting him free, where he proceeded to attack Belos and then took over the area. After his defeat, he turned over a new leaf and began a new life with new friends and no longer having to pretend to be mean to get people to like him. There is no indication that any further data is forthcoming.

Pariah Dark: Origin, unknown. Former King of the Ghost Zone. He has the appearance of a giant Viking in a suit of armor with green hair but black facial hair. He was sealed away for being a tyrant by powerful entities called "The Ancient Ones" and was later freed by "Vlad Plasmius" and defeated by "Danny Phantom". He commands an army of the dead, can shift his size at will and is a powerful fighter, made stronger by the Crown of Fire and Ring of Rage. He briefly took over the town of "Amity Park" while searching for his stolen Ring of Rage, pulling the town into the Ghost Zone to have complete power over it. He was resealed by "Danny Phantom" and, as far as I know, has never escaped since. I still need to read "A Glitch in Time". There is no indication that any further data is forthcoming.

Sera: Origin unknown. She has the appearance of a woman dressed in white and gray with dark-brown skin and long, curly gray hair and white, feathered wings and a glowing, white halo. Among others, she is said to have created the world and humans. Her own individual power is unknown. She can fly. She leads Heaven with "Emily", another Seraph, as well as others. Insufficient data to proceed. More data will hopefully be forthcoming in Season 2.

Who is the strongest, based on this data… As of this collection of data, Bill Cipher seems to be the strongest. Further studies will have to be done to determine who truly is the strongest.

#ask zone stuff

[curedeity]

A few notes/headcanons about nagisa and honoka in my Watashi Wa Pretty Cure Seed universe bc tbh its a fanfic why shouldnt i just talk abt it randomly. Why should i care about spoiling my plans? (Has no plans)

-Nagisa and Honoka decided to go to college together, and by that i mean they decided they wanted to go to college nearby each other so they could live in the same apartment. It was pretty lucky that they ended up going to the same college so they could room together in the dorms.

-They started dating a few months post canon, and kept it kind of secretive until a few months later when Nagisa came out to her family. They were very accepting, ofc, and invited Honoka over for dinner once a week at least. I think they actually do this thing my mom and my dads mom do where she basically calls my mom all the time. Like, Nagisa's mom likes hearing about how Nagisa is doing from Honoka, and also getting to know her daughter's girlfriend. I think Nagisa's mom is also the one both go to for common sense advice, like how to use the washing machines at the college.

-Honoka is double majoring in physics and chemistry. She runs the colleges science club already, and is getting offered a TA position next semester, along with presenting a research subject to a professor for them to work on. She works at the colleges library right now, though isnt the best at it. She just... cant remember where everything is all the time. Shes excited to switch to a TA job.

-Nagisa is a currently undeclared major in on a sports scholarship (do not talk to me about realism). She can get kind of overwhelmed thinking about majors sometimes, but is leaning towards trying to get a degree in physical therapy. Shes in the colleges lacrosse team, and is one of the best team members, though its a very small team and league. She also considering participqting in boxing. She's actually ended up a bit involved in womens sports advocacy, and is a huge proponet of not just gender segregating sports, but is a bit mystified at how to go about change.

-Both are in their second year of college. During their first semester, they tended to come home every weekend to spend time with their families, but now only come home for breaks and holidays really. Nagisa found it hardest to adjust at first, and had trouble sleeping after arriving at college, but shes gotten used to it as the new normal and settled into life there.

-mepple and mipple are both still around. Theyve gotten a bit better at shutting up while their in class, but people definitely think Nagisa talks on her "phone" in the weirdest fucking way

-they rarely transform anymore. They havent used Marble Screw or Rainbow Storm in ages. Sometimes theyll still slip up and Honoka will think of herself as Cure White, or Nagisa will think she can jump further than she can.

-Nagisa has worked in the school cafeteria. Sorry maam. Idk if a line in the fic contradicts this bc no it doesnt. I say so now

-Nagisa likes listening to audiobooks and podcasts and will sometimes put one on in the background while she and honoka are cooking or something.

-they have a weekly documentary movie night

-honokas professors keep asking her to study abroad but she doesnt want to. She hasnt told nagisa because shes worried nagisa will think shes holding honoka back, when its honokas choice to stay.

-they are looking for an apartment to move into next year, as the dorms fucking suck.

-honoka has learned how to fix basic appliances after someone on her floor broke their toaster.

-they dont go on dates often, to the surprise of some of their friends given how stupidly in love with each other they are, but every so often theyll go hiking or picnicking specifically just to spend time outside with each other

-people think nagisa is the jock girlfriend until they watch honoka sling nagisa ober her shoulder like she weighs nothing after falling asleep on a sofa in the common room.

#futari wa pretty cure #watashi wa pretty cure seed #just. wanted to write something about Them

[themagnuswriters]

Writing a Muslim Character

The Mods of the Magnus Writers discord server and community are putting together a variety of resources for Magnus Archives fan creators; these have been collated from articles on the topics, our own experiences, and the experiences of the members of the Magnus Writers discord. These are definitely not comprehensive or the only viewpoints out there, and are by no means meant as a way to police fanworks, but as a way to support and inspire fan creators in creating thoughtful and diverse works. Please note that external links will be added in a reblog to outsmart tumblr’s terrible tagging system, so make sure to check those out as well!

This resource in particular was put together by Mod Jasmine: hi, all! 

While there are no canonically Muslim characters in TMA, Muslim headcanons are common in fanworks—particularly for Basira, and sometimes Jon (which I love to see!). I have cobbled together this post from my own experiences to help support and inform fans in these areas, and as part of my diabolical plan to get more Muslim!Basira and Muslim!Jon fics to shove into my brain.

First, two gigantic caveats:

I was raised Sunni Muslim in Egypt, which is a majority Sunni Muslim country, and still live there. This means my experience will be very different from someone raised in a majority Christian country like the UK, and different again if they are not Sunni and not Arab.

I am currently ex-Muslim. This does not mean I bear any ill will towards Islam or Muslims, just that it wasn’t for me, and I felt it was important to be upfront about that. I’ll be linking to resources by practicing Muslims in the reblog to this post, whether to add to my opinions and experiences or provide you with a different opinion. I am not here to put my voice over that of Muslims, just to do some of the work so they don’t have to. Obviously, if any Muslims have any additions or suggestions for this post, I’m happy to accommodate them.

Alright. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get started with the basics of writing a Muslim character.

(Warning: this is absurdly, absurdly long)

Basics:

Muslims follow two main sources of religious instruction: Quran and Hadith. 

The Quran is the holy book, considered to be dictated by the angel Gabriel to the Prophet Mohammed, who then relayed what he was told to his followers. It is composed of surahs, or chapters, which have individual ayat, or verses. There are no varying versions of the Quran, later additions, or anything considered lost in translation. Any Arabic Quran is considered to be the same text that the Prophet Mohammed relayed, unchanged. As a result, while Muslims can debate interpretations of the Quran (although that’s often still left to the scholars), none debate the actual words of the text.

Hadith, meanwhile, are the sayings or teachings of the Prophet Mohammed. Their validity can be disputed, as they were written by his followers after his death, and mainly depend on having several witnesses for a specific saying or situation. The more witnesses there were, the more valid the hadith is considered to be.

When in doubt or should there be any contradiction between the Quran and Hadith, Muslims will always refer to the Quran first and foremost.

Denominations:

The bigggest (but not only!) divisions of Islam are Sunni and Shia, and both of those have separate madhabs, which are the separate thoughts and stances of specific Imams. When writing a Muslim character, a good first step would be to decide where your character’s family might have come from, as that could help inform which denomination your character might belong to. This will in turn inform things like the beliefs they grew up with, how they pray, their holy holidays, and so on. Obviously, all denominations fall under the bigger umbrella of Muslim, but can vary in practice.

Background:

The intersection of culture and religion affects a character beyond which denomination they likely belong to, such as whether they call prayer salah or namaz, the foods they might associate with Ramadan or Eid, and their community’s stance on things like hijab and alcohol.

One thing to keep in mind is that being Muslim is not synonymous with being Arab and vice versa. Not all Arabs are Muslim, not all Muslims are Arab or even Middle Eastern. In fact, the largest Muslim country in the world is Indonesia. That said, depending on your character’s race and backround, there is the potential they may have faced Arab elitism or other strands of racism within Muslim circles. Please see the reblog of this post for an article about  one Black British Muslim woman’s experience with racism.

And, of course, your character and their family do not need to have been immigrants at all. They or their family may have been converts instead. According to most Muslim schools of thought, all that’s required for a person to be Muslim is stating the shahada in Arabic, honestly and with intent. It goes, “Ashhadu an la ilah illa Allah, wa an Mohammadan rasul Allah,” which translates as “I bear witness that there is no god but God, and that Mohammed is His prophet.” Shia Muslims, I believe, have an additional section, but otherwise that’s it. Recite that in front of witnesses with sincere belief and that’s all you need to be Muslim.

Pillars of Islam:

These are the duties or cornerstones of a Muslim’s faith and considered to be acts every Muslim should strive for. What the pillars are can, I think, differ between denominations, with Shia Muslims having additional ancillaries as well (any Shia readers, please feel free to correct me!) but both denominations agree that the following are important:

Salah—prayer

Sawm—fasting during Ramadan

Zakat—giving a certain percentage of income to charity or the community

Hajj—pilgrimage to Mecca

In all cases, these are considered mandatory only for those who are able. A person who cannot perform hajj, whether due to not being physically able to or lacking the funds to travel, is under no obligation.

Prayer:

Prayer is performed five times a day while facing the Qibla, which is the direction of Mecca. Prayer is formed of units, called rak’at, which consists of a set of actions done in a specific order. The “How to Pray Salah, Step by Step” article linked in the reblog of this post provides fairly good prayer instructions for beginners, so check it out for details!  These include bowing, prostrating, and reciting some surahs. 

Each of the five daily prayers has a different number of rak’at, as well as its own name and allotted time of day, as follows:

Fajr, which means Dawn and can be performed at any point until the sun rises (two rak’at). 

Dhuhr, which means Noon (four rak’at)

Asr, performed in the afternoon (four rak’at)

Maghreb, which means sunset and can be performed at any point until it’s dark (three rak’at)

Isha, performed at night and can be done at any point until dawn (four rak’at)

The specific time of prayer will differ day to day and place to place, according to the sun, but those are the rough timeframes for each. It’s generally preferred that a Muslim does their prayer on time, but in practice some Muslims find it difficult to wake up for Fajr, for instance, and just try to make sure they get a morning prayer in before noon.

On Friday, there is a congregational Friday prayer at Dhuhr in a mosque called the Jumu’a prayer (which, fun fact, literally means gathering and is also the Arabic name for Friday!). Only men are required to take part in the congregation, however.  

In Muslim majority countries, the time for prayer is announced by the adhaan, the call to prayer, from mosques and in media. This won’t be the case in the UK, and the character will likely have to rely on an adhaan app or looking up what time prayer should be. 

There are various requirements for a prayer to be correct, chief of which is facing the Qibla and purity. Before performing prayer, a Muslim must purify themself by performing wudu, or ablutions, which basically involves washing the hands, arms, nostrils, face, head, and feet a specific number of times using clean water. The way I was taught these must be performed in a certain order, and the person shouldn’t speak during or after until their prayer is finished. This may be different for others.

Wudu is considered valid until nullified by bodily functions such as urinating, defecating, vomiting, flatulence, or any sexual activity. For Sunni Muslims, it’s also invalidated by going to sleep. If none of these have happened, a Muslim can perform more than one prayer using the same wudu.

Notably, a Muslim cannot pray if they’re on their period, as they’re considered in a state of impurity. 

Another important requirement is that a Muslim be dressed modestly for prayer. The general guideline is that Muslim men should cover the area between their navel and knees with loose, non-revealing clothing, and that during prayer it’s preferred that they cover their chests as well  Muslim women should cover everything except their face, hands, and feet. This means that a woman who isn’t hijabi would still wrap a hijab for prayer. For nonbinary Muslims, I don’t think there are specific guidelines yet, although please feel free to correct me. 

If praying at home, a family may choose to pray together. In this case, the male head of the household usually stands at the front and acts as Imam, leading the prayer. Other men will tend to be in front of or beside women, as generally women should not pray in front of a man. This is the case even, especially, if he is not praying.

Children aren’t required to pray, as they’re considered innocent and have no obligations, but may want to take part early on or may be encouraged to practice.

Praying is one area you’ll find denominational differences. For example, while Sunnis fold their arms in prayer, Shia keep their arms to their side, and while Shia Muslims make sure their foreheads touch a piece of clay or earth when they prostrate, Sunnis do not. If you write your character praying, keep these details in mind.

Fasting:

During the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims fast from Fajr (dawn) until Maghreb (sunset) every day. This means they abstain from consuming anything—yes, even water, cigarettes, and medicine. They should also abstain from sexual activities and cursing. Most importantly, they must have the intention to be fasting. This means that not eating and drinking because they were asleep for that entire period of time or just lost track and forgot does not count as fasting.

Generally, the idea is more to try to be more pious and avoid sin throughout the month. It’s thought that the shaytan (or devil) is chained up during Ramadan, so any temptation or sinning is a person’s own doing. The way I was raised, I was taught that sawm/fasting is invalidated by sexual thoughts  and raising your voice as well. Many people also try to dress more modestly during Ramadan, with some women opting for looser clothing or a headscarf. Many Muslims will try to read the whole Quran during Ramadan. 

After Maghreb, Muslims break their fast with Iftar (which means breakfast, hah) and have a late night meal called Suhour. Since the Muslim calendar is a lunar calendar, Ramadan is 11 days earlier every year. Depending on when Ramadan falls in the year, there can be barely any time between iftar and suhour in certain parts of the world, as the sun is up for so much of the day. 

Given the length of time and difficulty involved, there are exceptions and allowances for fasting. A person is not required to fast if they are:

A child (up to puberty)

Ill or has a medical condition such as diabetes

Pregnant

Travelling

On their period

In fact, if they are on their period it will not be counted, even if they do fast. That said, sometimes people choose to fast while travelling anyway, as travel is less strenuous now than it used to be. If they’re crossing time zones they will have to consider which time zone they’re breaking their fast to. As far as I remember, it’s based on the time zone of the place they just left or started their fast in. 

If an obstacle to fasting is temporary, such as their period, they’re expected to make those days up with additional fasting before next Ramadan. Otherwise, they are allowed to make up for the lost fast in another way, such as by donating money or feeding fasting people. Whether due to societal pressure (which is formidable in Muslim-majority countries) or out of consideration for others who are fasting, those who are not fasting for whatever reason may often choose to hide this and only eat in secret.

If a person forgets they were fasting or accidentally consumes something, it does not invalidate the fast , and as soon as they remember or realise the mistake they can have the intention to fast again and continue with their day. 

While children are exempt, many families will start them off by fasting for half a day so they can build up to a full day when they hit puberty.

Ramadan traditions vary wildly from country to country and culture to culture, but generally it’s a time for family gathering and celebration. Often there are special Ramadan-specific food, drink, and decorations, and it ends with Eid ul-Fitr which has its own specific foods and celebrations. Basically, imagine if Christmas lasted a month. That’s how big a deal Ramadan is. 

In my experience, the first few days are usually the hardest. Water is what I tended to miss the most, even if I managed to stay up long enough or set an alarm to wake up to drink just before fajr, followed closely by swearing. Anyone who drinks caffeine or smokes cigarettes will likely find abstaining from those more difficult than water. By the end of the month, though, it gets much easier and I often got to the point where I barely noticed. I will say, however, that the longest I’ve had to fast has been maybe 16 hours. A summer Ramadan in the UK would be more difficult due to the much later sunsets.

Halal and Haram:

Halal means “permissible,” while haram means “forbidden.”  You might have heard these words in passing before, such as halal food, but they are used for many areas of life.  

Things that are considered haram include:

Consuming, serving, or trading in intoxicants, such as alcohol

Consuming improperly slaughtered meat or meat from forbidden animals, such as pork

Extramarital sex

Tattoos

Gambling

Men wearing silk or gold

A Muslim woman marrying a non-Muslim man (although it’s fine for a Muslim man to marry a non-Muslim woman)

Being immodest

Modesty is expected of all genders, including men. If you’ll recall from the section on prayer, the general guideline for male modesty is that they should cover the area between their navel and knees with loose, non-revealing clothing. Note that for women, modesty does not necessarily involve wearing a hijab.  There is actually a ton of controversy as to whether the hijab is a fard (requirement) or not, as described in the following section.

The Hijab:

To be hijabi takes more than just throwing on a headscarf. As a word, hijab means “barrier” or “veil,” and a hijabi person would be expected to cover everything except their face and the palms of their hands, and to ensure that their clothes are loose and non-revealing.  It all comes from an interpretation of two verses in the Quran that many scholars nowadays agree to mean the hijab is required, and that some say actually call for a face covering as well, which is called a niqab. 

This wasn’t always the case, however, and these days there is still the occasional controversial scholar (I remember a few kerfuffles coming out of Egypt’s Al-Azhar mosque recently) saying it isn’t and has never been required at all. At least in the Arab world, this is largely due to the wave of Wahhabism (which is a specifically fundamentalist interpretation of Islam) that’s taken over the region in the past half a century. Before that, the idea of a hijab being a religious requirement was less widespread.

I’m not here to argue who’s right or wrong, just to make you aware that the hijab as we know it today hasn’t always been considered a requirement for a Muslim woman. Most of the women of my family never wore any form of head covering, but more and more they are an exception rather than the norm.

The choice of whether to wear a hijab can mean very different things, depending on the surrounding culture. For instance, my grandmother, the strictest woman I have ever known, got married in a very cute sleeveless dress that went just under the knees, and when she grew older she wore a head-covering more as a cultural indication of age rather than any religious reason. In my generation, in a country with a Muslim majority, lack of visible signs of devoutness have become almost a class marker, with some upper-class women using their lack of head-covering as a sign that they are “more Westernized” or “modern.” And again, I want to emphasize that this is the case for my country only. 

This will be completely different for Muslim minorities, where the hijab can become a symbol of pride and unity.

I will say that it’s very rare for women to be forced into getting veiled, whether in Muslim minority or majority countries. I’m not saying it never happens, just that it’s not the “oppressive tool of the patriarchy” outsiders sometimes think it is. Women may face some societal pressure, but by and large it is considered a choice and often an empowering one. In fact, I have friends whose families discouraged them from wearing a hijab too young and emphasized only taking the decision when they were sure they wanted to. If writing a Muslim character when you’re non-Muslim, I strongly suggest not trying to tackle the story of someone forced into a hijab, as there’s a lot of nuance there and it’s very easy to fall into harmful stereotypes. The hijabi woman who gets “liberated” and takes off her hijab is also overdone and harmful. Please don’t.

Everyday Life:

Muslims are not a monolithic entity, and some will be more devout or religious than others. There are those who will pray their five a day and others who only pray during Ramadan or Eid, some who don’t drink and some who do, hijabis who dress only in loose clothing and those who wear tight trousers or show some of their hair, some who have tattoos, and some who may date or even have sex before marriage. However, this isn’t a carte-blanche not to do research when writing a Muslim character, because even if they break a rule of Islam, they will be conscious of it, may be concerned about their community’s response to it, and in any case will be affected by it.

For instance, I know many Muslims who drink alcohol. Some interpret the text differently, saying that since the sin is getting drunk then they won’t drink enough to get drunk, just buzzed. Some only do it on special occasions or on vacation, saying they know it’s a sin but it’s fine on occasion and they’ll repent later. All of them would probably dive under a table if they thought their family was nearby.

For more opinions on Muslims and dealing with alcohol, take a look at the “Islam and Alcohol” article linked in the reblog of this post.

Here are things that a character who is a practicing Muslim might do or be concerned about in their day to day life:

Checking ingredients to make sure they’re all halal. This goes for things like food, drink, medicine, anything consumable. Things like gelatine capsules are only halal if the source of the gelatine is itself halal, for instance.

Keeping up with their prayers. With five prayers a day, some will inevitably happen while they’re out of the house. Some Muslims prefer to just group their prayers when they get home, but since it’s preferable to do prayers on time, others may try to pray while out and about This means considering the following:

Finding a bathroom for wudu. Part of wudu involves washing feet and the head, which isn’t feasible in a public location or if the person is hijabi and doesn’t want to unwrap and rewrap their hijab. In that case, they can generally wipe a wet hand over their socks and top of their head covering. 

They may carry a prayer carpet or have one stashed in a convenient location, but it’s not a must.

Finding a clean and secluded place to pray. Generally, it’s not done to pray in a place where someone will pass in front of you, and a woman must also take care to pray away from men’s eyes. 

Figuring out where the Qibla is. Luckily, there are apps for that.

If a woman is not hijabi, she would have to carry a veil and, depending on her clothes, something to cover up so she can pray.

If they’re hijabi, they’ll probably have to adjust or re-wrap their hijab throughout the day, depending on the material and their activities. This would typically happen in bathrooms or any other space that doesn’t include men, as they can’t reveal themselves to any men who aren’t of their immediate family. For more on the hijab, and the day to day realities of wearing and wrapping one, take a look at the links provided in the reblog of this post.  

A Muslim woman may choose not to accept handshakes from men who aren’t family.  She has probably considered how to deal with that potential awkwardness.

If they’re fasting, they might carry some dates or biscuits or something in case they need to break their fast while on the go.

If making plans, they might say, “Insha’allah” which means “God willing.” I was always admonished to do so to acknowledge the future is entirely within God’s hands.

If asked how they are, they might reply with “Alhamdullilah” which means “Thanks be to God.”

When starting to eat, they may say, “Bismillah,” which means “In the name of God” and when done eating may say “Alhamdullilah.” These can also be invoked silently.

As you might have noticed, Allah’s name is invoked pretty often. While it’s not preferable to swear using God’s name just to make a point (“Wallahi”), there’s nothing against it, really.

Fundamentally, an important thing to remember is that Islam is a religion of ease and not hardship. This is an actual Quranic quote. What this means is, it may seem like there are a lot of rules to keep in mind, but there are also a ton of allowances for when those rules aren’t feasible, just like the case for fasting above. Other allowances include how an elderly or disabled person who may not be able to perform the motions of prayer can pray while sitting in a chair or even lying in bed. If there isn’t any clean water to purify before prayer or if using the water would mean lack of drinking water, a Muslim can use dust or sand to purify, and if no dust or sand is available then they don’t need to purify at all and can simply pray. 

This means that, say, if your Muslim Jon wants to pray while kidnapped by the circus, he can, even without being able to perform wudu, even without knowing where the Qibla is, even without being able to move or say anything at all.

For more day-to-day tidbits, check out the “More on writing Muslim characters” link in the reblog of this post. 

LGBTQ Muslims:

Needless to say, Queer Muslims absolutely do exist, and their being Muslim doesn’t cancel out their queerness or vice versa. While there are Quranic verses that have been interpreted as condemning homosexuality, there are also other interpretations, and queerness has existed in Muslim societies for ages. There was a ton of homoerotic imagery among Abbasid poets during the Golden Age of Islam, for example. 

However, modern-day attitudes can be difficult to get around, and queer Muslims may have difficulty finding their place in both Muslim spaces and queer spaces, the latter which often expect them to reject religiosity.

Although I am queer myself, I don’t feel it’s my place to speak for queer Muslims and their relationships with their communities beyond this, so I’ll let some queer practicing Muslims speak for themselves.  Please see the reblog of this post for valuable contributions from queer Muslims about their experiences.  

Miscellaneous:

This is mostly for all the random tidbits I thought up while writing this that didn’t fit anywhere else and also because I don’t know when to quit apparently, SO!

Allah is just Arabic for God. Muslims can and do use these terms interchangeably, such as saying “God willing,” instead of “Inshallah,” even in an Arabic-speaking country. 

Also, God has 99 names! Just a fun fact for you there. 

The Devil in Islam is pretty different from his Christian counterpart. Referred to as Iblis or Shaytan, among other names, he is not a fallen angel and there is no great revolt story, nor is he considered a root of all evil. Instead, he is a djinn made of smokeless flame who refused to bow down to Adam, as he felt he was made of superior stuff and not about to bow to a creature made of mud. His disdain for humanity is what has caused him and other shayateen/demons to try and tempt humans.

A person’s right hand is considered purer than their left, so it’s encouraged to always eat with your right hand. Unfortunately, this does mean left-handed people face something of a stigma—or at least that’s the case here in Egypt. My cousins, both lefties, both eat with their right hand, though they  do everything else with their left.

Similarly, it is considered better to enter spaces with your right foot, though only the most devout are likely to think of this all the time. This is especially considered for entering a mosque or new home.

A Muslim might say or write “Peace be Upon Him” whenever the Prophet Mohammed is mentioned, written as (PBUH), and “Subhanuh wa Taala” when mentioning Allah, written as (SWT).

The Evil Eye is mentioned in the Quran as “hasad,” and considered to be a very real thing. This jealous or envious energy is considered able to ruin good things in your life, even if the jealous person didn’t intend to. There are some surahs that are considered good to ward against it, as well as incense, the colour blue, the number five, and the symbols of the nazar (which is a round, blue-ringed eye) and the khamsa (an open five-fingered palm, also known as the Hand of Fatima). The nazar, khamsa, and belief in the evil eye aren’t unique to Islam at all. What is unique to Islam is that a Muslim might preface a compliment with “Masha’allah” which means “As God wills it,” to ward off their own evil eye. 

Much of the Quran in Arabic rhymes and is very poetic, which can make surahs easy to memorise by rhythm. It can also make recitations by a skilled reader very lovely.

#the magnus archives #tma #writing resources #muslim characters

[mybrainproblems]

nephil!cas?????? please elaborate!!

This is almost 2k words so most of it is under the cut. I did not include every single detail of canon in this but I'm very good at smashing things together and can probably talk my way around other details I've left out or forgotten. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to actually argue for this batshit idea. I left out everything with Anna bc this was getting too long and linking her in requires a lot more words. I hope all of this makes sense because I cannot edit it any more......

Part of my current (very slow) rewatch of spn is jotting down some notes to see how plausible this theory actually is. So far? I’m only at the beginning of s5 but I think it’s actually a relatively plausible theory/headcanon! I don’t think Cas is a nephil the way that Jack or other nephilim we’ve seen/heard about are. But the way they explain nephilim in canon is that yes, they are the product of an angel and a human reproducing. But what makes them so powerful is the fact that they are a human with a soul while also having angelic grace. A soul and grace are required.

Some of this may not age well as I continue my rewatch and actual canon might contradict me but as of right now, my argument for nephil!Cas (and a tiny fix-it at the end) goes something like this… (also, fuck canon)

So “nephil!Cas” is a little bit of a misnomer, but it's kinda the best I can do using the limited toolbox of spn canon. Also my working knowledge of Christianity is largely limited to whatever is in pop culture. Until I was 18 my knowledge of Christianity largely came from the His Dark Materials trilogy and having to attend my cousins’ Catholic church stuff. Anyway, my headcanon/theory is that somehow Cas ends up with the teeniest tiniest wisp of a proto-soul at his creation. Maybe it’s an accident, maybe Chuck was experimenting and forgot about the Chuckov’s gun he was creating (eyoo). We’ve been told multiple times that souls are tied to morality (also sleep, but we’re setting that aside) and if Cas has that tiny wisp of proto-soul, couldn’t that explain why he needs to get lobotomized constantly compared to other angels? Why he’s the infamous spanner in the works? Why his problem has always been that he has too much heart?

We're told that Cas is completely unique in his ability to exercise free will (the only being in the multiverse!) and is the only version of Cas who was able to fall in romantic love with Dean. Which is made out to be a VERY human emotion within canon. He’s an angel who is in love with humanity in a way that few others seem to be. (I have a way to link in Adam and Serafina but much like Anna... too long to include.) So like, there’s certainly attraction and tension and friendship between Cas and Dean in the first couple of seasons after his introduction but it's only after he becomes human that I think it really becomes less like charged sexual tension and more like romantic yearning on his part. (Love and light but I’m a “Dean knew he was in love with Cas in s8” truther) Which! The fact that he loses his grace and becomes human then catalyzes the change of this wisp of proto-soul into an actual fledgling soul.

You might think there’s a contradiction here because when Jack burns through his grace it ends up being fatal because it is so integral to his being. Why doesn’t this happen to Cas? First off, I think the biggest difference is that Jack is at his base level, a human with grace. Cas on the other hand is an angel with a very tiny wisp of soul. We’re going to get into some psedo-science here so buckle up for this being about as nonsensical as canon. There’s an offhand line that even though Lucifer stole Jack’s grace, it would be able to recharge over time but they don’t know how long it will take and he will die before this happens. Which! That kind of sounds like an immune response! Nephilim are not naturally occurring so to speak, so it makes sense that they need to have their grace and soul be in balance in order to survive.

Which, going back to s6 we know that souls contain an enormous amount of power. So if there’s a tiny bit of grace left that might be trying to recharge, then a soul would see that as a foreign body and much like the immune system raising body temp to kill an infection, or attacking healthy tissue due to a genetic disease (eg Crohn’s), the soul tries to attack something that is a part of the body but that it sees as foreign. Cas on the other hand, has his grace completely removed. There is nothing for his soul to attack. Plus, his body is fully his own at this point and no longer just a vessel. Jimmy died and his body was destroyed, but Cas is brought back with an identical body that is essentially his own. So:

human!Cas -> has a soul but no grace, no immune response

Jack with depleted grace -> has a soul and a small amount of remaining grace, immune response that kills him

Jack using his soul to “create” grace -> has a soul and grace, in balance

soulless!Jack -> no soul, possibly a wisp of grace, no immune response

revived!Jack -> no soul, gaining grace back, no immune response

unity!Jack -> new soul and recharged grace, in balance and at full power

But why does Cas’ power begin to wane in late seasons besides writers not knowing how to write around a powerful cosmic being retaining his cosmic powers? Let’s get weird and justify the writers’ laziness:

Cas’ vessel is fully his and is a part of him as a finger puppet extension of his trueform, it’s not really a vessel in the traditional sense anymore. His human form was molded with his angelic being and is also why Lucifer is able to share it. It's not just a strong vessel, it's one purpose-built for an angel.

Now that we’ve covered that… nephilim produced through the union of a human and an angel are basically human + grace, Cas’ trueform is a wavelength of celestial intent. Two possible explanations for why Cas’ grace has not attacked his proto-soul in the past few hundred million years are: a) a tiny little wisp of soul is negligible to the immune response of his grace or b) heaven is powered by souls and this relationship makes it so that an angel’s grace does not react to the presence of an incomplete/fledgling soul. Cas getting sick from having stolen grace also makes sense because he has a soul but it isn’t his grace, it’s a fully foreign entity. Kinda like an organ transplant: you have to keep taking immunosuppressants otherwise your body will reject that organ. But then once he has his own grace back, that fledgling soul still isn’t “big enough” to trip off the immune response of his own complete grace.

But Cas’ power begins to wane over the years. It happens as his soul has grown large enough to be recognizable as a foreign object in his angelic “body” and is now activating that immune response. However, while it has grown, it still isn’t large enough to be fully in balance with his grace. Since Cas’ general existence, massive trueform and sense of relative time are so different to that of humans, it stands to reason that unlike Jack dying relatively quickly from having his soul and grace be out of balance, Cas’ decline would take much longer. So by s15 he is oh-so-human and oh-so-angelic and his grace is fighting so hard against this soul that shouldn’t be there. But he loves. And it’s so human. The Empty can see that fledgling soul in him when he makes that deal and it’s glad because when this nephil dies or is taken, there won’t be any confusion. Cas will go to the Empty, Jack will go to heaven, the Empty can sleep and not think about it.

It really is that Dean stabs him when they first meet and it just takes years for him to bleed out. But wait, how do we bring Cas back from the Empty? I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED.

Reminder: it is canon that beings that do not have grace and/or have a soul can go to and be kept by the Empty. Billie explicitly tells Dean that him and Sam are going to the Empty in s11 and they are both fully human.

But Cas triggering the deal doesn’t just drag him into the Empty, it also balances him. This is moment is the culmination of a journey that started hundreds of millions of years ago. This is him speaking his truth and accepting himself and stitching together that final bit of soul. This is death; it is also genesis.

Now, this balancing of Cas doesn’t cause the Empty to automatically spit him out, and because of the deal there’s no confusion in whether he goes to heaven vs the Empty. No, Cas is there in the Empty. And being a nephil and the infamous spanner in the works, he does keep waking up but doesn’t fight the Empty when it puts him under again. He is satisfied with the fact that he saved Dean and that makes this worth it.

But then Dean ends up in the Empty. Whether it’s by choice or because all of the reapers do still want the Winchesters to go to the Empty doesn’t matter. He also keeps waking up but unlike Cas, he fights going back to sleep, especially when he’s able to wake up long enough to realize he’s in the Empty and this is where Cas is. Eventually he pisses off the Empty enough that they sit down to have a chat. And I genuinely think that the Empty is so angry about being awake because it’s lonely. Would you want to be conscious when your only companions are the husks of angel and demon trueforms crying out from nightmares? Of course the Empty is pissed off about being awake. And so they talk, and Cas wakes up.

There are a couple of different options here; the bittersweet one is that the Empty puts them both to sleep and allows them to share the same consciousness. The dreams are still not pleasant but they’re together for an eternity and are able to do this because they both have souls and souls are a key part of sleeping.

The completely happy ending is that Cas wakes up and the Empty knows if it came down to it, the both of them could force their way out, but the Empty is petty and angry at this point. The Empty wants to sleep and forget the pain and suffering around them and is ready for a fight but what Dean offers completely throws them both for a loop. He offers to make a deal. The final deal.

He sees the loneliness and pain of the Empty and offers a standing invitation to Sunday brunch with their massive found family.

It’s an ending about seeing that you could fight your way out and choosing compassion. It’s about love and understanding, rebirth and genesis. It’s about Dean not raising Cas from perdition, but them walking through that door hand-in-hand and the Empty not far behind.

final note: i’m actually working on a fleshed out fix-it fic of this! i'll link it here as well once i'm done.

#renu thank you for giving me the opportunity to be an insane person about my nephil!cas theory #i left out stuff bc i haven't rewatched late seasons but also like. fuck canon. this makes enough sense. #certainly better than anything fuckleming ever came up with #if i can convince one other person about this i will be thrilled #if i can get this to be an actual fandom headcanon that a couple ppl take on? i will go bonkers in fucking yonkers #guys. i fixed the whole fucking ending with LOVE AND KINDNESS #i powered UP cas pulling him out of the empty #fuck sacrifice they've sacrificed enough. the brunch deal isn't even cosmically binding #spn #supernatural #castiel #destiel #mbp writes #fic idea #except it's actually getting written but i'm flagging for organization #also he gets his wings back #so jot that the fuck down #spn meta #nephil!cas

[eldrai]

criminal minds random headcanon

(So I’m only on season 5 at the moment and if anything that happens in canon contradicts this, whoops)

Today I’m thinking about how, when Jack reaches that age where kids hang around each others’ houses more than they play around outside, maybe his friend group prefers to go to his.

Maybe Hotch found a different apartment after everything that happened, or maybe his current one has room for his + Jack’s bedrooms and his work stuff and a spare room (the logistics here are kind of irrelevant) but the point is, there’s room for several teenagers to crash out.

I’m thinking about maybe Hotch is glad they do, and he encourages them: keeps the snacks they like (and good God do they go through them quickly) and has enough blankets and pillows for them to settle down in the spare room. Impromptu sleepovers happen a lot. He’s fine with it if they keep it down to reasonable volume and get enough sleep on school nights. It’s easier to keep an eye on them if they’re being stupid in his home rather than somewhere they might actually get into trouble, so if that means he has to listen to them shouting at video games or their... interesting music taste, so be it.

So with time, their apartment just becomes the place to go. Don’t want to go home? Jack’s. Want to hang out? Jack’s. Family drama? Jack’s. Whatever. They can stay the night, they’re welcome to dinner, and there’s usually clothes around somewhere to borrow if they need a shower. I mean, they’re teenage boys so they’re all the same kind of lanky build.

He’s strict but he’s not unfair - very much give them room to make their own mistakes. Don’t drink, don’t do drugs, don’t get into stupid/dangerous situations but call him if they need to get away/out of it and he’ll pick them up no matter what.

He’d given that talk to Jack, at first, but the first call like that he ever got was from one of Jack’s friends. And he’s met the parents, knows they’re all good (both from his own intuition and Jack assures him they are), so it’s sort of a surprise that the kid calls him to say it’s 2AM and he’s not sure where he is and it’s cold -- but Hotch goes nonetheless, makes sure this kid is OK and lets him stay the night and whatnot.

And in the morning he asks Jack if there’s anything going on with the kid’s family and he says no, so he asks why the friend called him instead of them. Jack gives him the most blatant ‘obviously’ teenager look and explains that yeah, their parents are all fine but they trust him because they know he’ll actually follow up on his promise

(”They think you’re cool,” Jack says. “I’ve tried telling them you’re not, but they won’t believe me.”)

And Hotch realises he’s almost... relieved? It takes him a long time to work out why.

Because he knows what it’s like to dread going home. To go home to shouting and screaming and pain. And he knows what the consequences can be, sometimes, for telling anyone. A safe place to get away from it all is exactly what he would’ve needed at that age, so he’s unintentionally created that. They might not have much stability to rely on but at least he can give them food, somewhere to sleep and a hot shower. Somewhere without family.

So maybe they have most Christmases with at least one of Jack’s friends around - Hotch has the team, anyway, and there’s a difference between the family celebration and one with them - and maybe most Saturday mornings he walks into the living room to teenagers asleep on the couch. Maybe he likes the background noise of their talking and laughing, because for a long time, it was too quiet with just him and Jack. 

(Sometimes he gets ‘Dad’ by accident/reflex from one of Jack’s friends. Maybe when they’re like 14/15 they pitch in and get him a present on father’s day and sort of embarrassed explain it’s father’s day because it’s the closest thing they can find to the trust they have - in less words and more awkwardness, but the point stays the same - and he has to walk away for a minute or two. Definitely not because he’s getting emotional. Definitely not.

They do it again the next year right until they leave for college. It still gives him that same reaction.)

I don’t know. I just think he’d be that kind of parent.

#cm headcanon #headcanon #criminal minds headcanon #hotch #aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner headcanon #jack hotchner headcanon #my headcanon #yeah have this rambling mess of a headcanon if you like

[thefangirlofhp]

has a comment someone left on a fic of yours ever made you cry?

if you got a computer virus that deleted all your fics but had just enough time to save one before they were wiped out, which fic would you pick and why?

the “you got kudos“ e-mail is usually much appreciated, but is there a fic you wish you didn’t get these e-mails for? if so, which one and why?

what headcanon will you keep implementing in your fics, even if canon ends up contradicting it?

do you make playlists for when you write? if so, share!

what trope would you refuse to write even if you were paid to do it?

:) go for it!

1) has a comment ever made me cry? Honestly, yes. And very, very recently. It was your request for the entire fall prompts and @offtorivendell ‘s comment about ‘thefangirlofthefangirlofhp’ that spiraled an entire series of hilarious reblogs. It got me. And I don’t mean it in a ‘oh this made me cry!’. I’m a very dry-eyed person, I don’t ever cry, but there’s just something about people you admire in turn compliment you and it came at a sensitive time for me. This entire year has been the hardest of my life and that you entire lot vocally care about this thing I do hits very close to where it hurts. I don’t know, I can’t explain it clearly. 99.9% of the time I receive any form of feedback it’s like overdosing on serotonin, but that time just brought out the tears, sniffles, crying in a corner lol.

2) oh that’s very, very, very hard. Especially since I know the feeling-  my laptop shut down once, something to do with the system and absolutely nothing could be done about it. I was quite devastated as a 15 year old who’s lost a fic of 300 thousand words and my father was very upset about it as well, until I decided to try and do something about it and Youtube saved my ass. But anyways, currently I’d choose the first chapter of the very long, canon Elriel fic (the one this art belongs to) that I’m not posting and its 10,000 word outline lmao. Why? Because: 

“They only forget about you because you let them.” She whirled towards him. “How dare you?” He stood firmly, eyes locked with hers and unwavering. “It’s the truth.” “Oh, do they also forget about you because you let them?” she demanded. “Are you so unremarkable because you let that assumption of you take place?” “Yes,” he answered simply. “What?” she breathed, momentarily distracted from the ache in her. “I need them to forget. For my presence to have little impact.” “Why?” The corner of his lips curved faintly. “You’ve been reading about shadowsingers, you tell me.” Her lashes fluttered like a butterfly about to take flight as she pressed her hand to her chest. “Azriel?” she said, his name a question and a plea all at once. He looked out the arches, and his chest heaved once. “Don’t look so devastated,” he replied. “It’s the cycle.” No. He did not get to do and say that. “The cycle?” she repeated. “Like- Like the cycle of life?” He hummed softly. “So, let’s get you to that party, huh?” “Why-“ her voice hitched as she stepped closer to him until there wasn’t any space and his head reared back at the disappearance of personal space. She clutched the strap that crossed his chest. “Why are you erasing yourself from the memory of your friends but carving yourself in mine?” He looked down the length of his nose at her, jaw tense and clenched and his hands kept out of sight behind his back. “Because I can’t stay away.”

3) the “you got kudos“ e-mail is usually much appreciated, but is there a fic you wish you didn’t get these e-mails for? if so, which one and why? 

Admittedly I don’t care much for the kudos emails. But I specifically wish never to see Skyfall because it reminds me that it’s out there uncomplete lmao. 

4) what headcanon will you keep implementing in your fics, even if canon ends up contradicting it? 

That Azriel is not a toxic fuck boy. I don’t care, I literally don’t care for SJM’s “He’s a freak” revelation and I know that’s how he’s likely going to end up in Elriel’s book. My headcanon is he’s gentle through and through, especially given his torturing livelihood, his tortured childhood, and everything else. I know it’s a given that he’s ‘kinky’ and so is Elain. But not for me. I don’t understand the allure of ‘fucking’ in general. I truly don’t. Apaixonar!Azriel has never even kissed anyone. 

Oh, that and Elain’s a scholar. Mathematician, astronomer, physicist, biologist. Even if her book makes her out to be a gardener only, I’ll still envision her as a philosopher, a lecturer, someone with a deep curiosity. She feels to me kind of like Hypatia of Alexandria. I’ll forever imagine her spending time in Day, in a Prythian version of Library of Alexandria, discussing theories and hypothesis with other scholars. Azriel listening raptly to her talk about star formations, about the theories of multiverses, about her students, not really understanding the semantics but in love with the way she makes him reflect and contemplate. They’re a very reflective, deep thinking couple, aren’t they? I saw a post about their regards of holidays, about reflection and honoring tradition and I know I’ll just love to be their friend.

5) do you make playlists for when you write? if so, share!

You bet your ass I do! Spotify and Youtube hate me lmao. 

6) what trope would you refuse to write even if you were paid to do it?

uuuuuugh idk, love triangles. instant nope from me. fake dating, as well, I think. oh and obviously pedophilia and incest.

#ask #fanfic ask #thank you for asking nike!!

[addictedtostorytelling]

comprehensive addictedtostorytelling csi meta and fic archive (current as of 07.20.21): part iii

_____

here is an archive of all of the csi meta posts, replies, and fics i’ve written since i first began posting commentary on and creative work for the show in 2014.

the archive is divided by subject, and each item is listed with the date on which it was originally published.

unfortunately, tumblr only allows 100 links per post, so i’m going to have to divide the archive up to make it functional.

the other parts of the archive can be found here.

there are currently 403 meta and fic items in the archive in total.

please note that some of these items were composed while the show was still airing and have since been contradicted or made irrelevant by show canon. please also note that all of the views expressed here are my own and should not be taken as authoritative.

some of the views i express in my writings have evolved over time, so generally speaking if there are multiple posts on the same subject, whichever one is most current will be most reflective of my present stances.

items marked with the ☆ symbol are ones i frequently cite, would consider my “cornerstone posts,” and/or are personal favorites of mine.

the symbol is mostly to help me find them quickly when i need them, ngl.

i will periodically update this post in the future as i write more metas and fics.

please feel welcome to send requests any time!

note: even if i have written on a particular character, pairing, episode, season, arc, or theme before, i am always happy to revisit the same topic, go into more depth, touch on another angle, or further explain as needed.

_____

16x01 and 16x02 “immortality” pts. i and ii

short answer: “how come grissom doesn’t seem to know who russell is in ‘immortality’? shouldn’t he have heard of him from sara previously?” (07.02.21)

“what is your headcanon for what grissom and sara do after the events of the finale? do they ever return to vegas?” (04.12.21)

“why doesn’t heather inform grissom that sara is still in love with him after she finds out that such is the case?” (12.05.20)

“does the finale add to/develop/change grissom and heather’s dynamic for you? do you think the show supports grissom’s claim that heather helps him love someone?” (10.06.20)

“what is your headcanon for what happens with grissom and sara after the events of the finale?” (02.05.20)

“what does grissom think of sara’s snarky quips during the events of the finale? also, does sara ever consider that the reason why grissom has been in recent contact with heather is due to the death of heather’s granddaughter?” (05.06.18)

“why no gsr kiss in the end?” (04.22.18)

“what is the significance of the song ‘good morning’ by norah jones playing during that final gsr scene on the pier?” (03.12.18)

“why does grissom return to vegas: for heather or for sara?” (05.03.16)

“why doesn’t heather tell grissom that sara is still in love with him once she knows that she is?” (03.05.16)

“what is going on in the scene near the end of the episode where after the bomber is apprehended, grissom is talking about his motives, and sara is staring at him, until finally he says ‘what?’?” (03.01.16)

“what’s your opinion on how grissom and sara’s storyline ends? does it make sense to you? is their behavior here ooc?” (12.08.15)

“during the interrogation, why does heather ask sara if she still loves grissom, considering that that information is really none of heather’s business?” (11.23.15)

“can you deconstruct the beekeeping scene?” (11.17.15)

short answer: “from whose pov is the song ‘good morning’ by norah jones supposed to be taking place, grissom’s or sara’s?” (11.13.15)

short answer: “is there a butterfly gsr motif in the finale? if so, where?” (11.13.15)

“can you deconstruct the ‘speechless’ scene? also, why does grissom say ‘what?’ when sara is staring at him on the bridge? finally, can you also talk about the catherine and sara scene after sara storms out of interviewing heather?” (11.07.15)

“can you deconstruct the ‘i thought we were talking’ and ‘speechless’ scenes?” (11.05.15)

“did sara’s purported final lines in the finale (‘wait, wait’) get cut? if so, why?” (11.03.15)

“what are some of your favorite scenes from the finale?” (10.28.15)

short answer: “shouldn’t grissom know who ‘db’ is when ecklie mentions him in the finale?” (10.17.15)

“if you were the one to write the csi finale, would you have written grissom in the same tongue-tied, lost-puppy way that the writers did? or do you feel as if how they portrayed him represented a regression of his character?” (10.15.15)

“why do you think grissom talks on the phone to heather before he comes back to vegas?” (10.02.15)

“why does sara ask grissom about his safe word with heather? do you think sara believes that grissom and heather have had sex?” (09.30.15)

“what does sara calling grissom ‘gil’ in the finale signify?” (09.30.15)

“what does grissom’s ‘i thought we were talking’ line even mean anyway?” (09.29.15)

“why don’t grissom and sara kiss in the final scene?” (09.28.15)

“on grissom and sara’s thoughts on the worthwhileness of love” (09.28.15) [also pertains to episode 15x05 “girls gone wilder”]

“bombs & beekeeping: a gsr play-by-play for ‘immortality’” (09.28.15)

“do you think the finale will reveal why grissom and sara divorced?” (09.27.15) [written prior to the finale airing]

short answer: “what do you think about grissom working on a sea shepherd after his divorce from sara?” (09.27.15) [written prior to the finale airing]

“do you think that sara will take grissom back? should she?” (09.11.15) [written prior to the finale airing]

“how do you think everyone at the lab will react to grissom coming back? will they be hostile toward him because he divorced sara?” (09.11.15) [written prior to the finale airing]

“a calm and rational essay about why i am invested in a gsr endgame” (08.31.15) [written prior to the finale airing]

“do you think that grissom and sara will end up together?” (08.24.15) [written prior to the finale airing]

“do you think grissom and sara will get back together in the finale?” (08.18.15) [written prior to the finale airing]

“are you optimistic about gsr in the finale?” (08.09.15) [written prior to the finale airing]

GSR SHIPPER’S GUIDES TO THE GALAXY

a season by season comprehensive guide to every major gsr scene and interaction across the csi: crime scene investigation series. includes meta analysis, timeline information, and overviews of each season’s major themes and developments for both grissom x sara as a couple and grissom and sara as individual characters.

“a gsr shipper’s guide to the galaxy: season one”

“a gsr shipper’s guide to the galaxy: season two”

“a gsr shipper’s guide to the galaxy: season three”

“a gsr shipper’s guide to the galaxy: season four”

“a gsr shipper’s guide to the galaxy: season five”

“a gsr shipper’s guide to the galaxy: season six”

“a gsr shipper’s guide to the galaxy: season seven”

“a gsr shipper’s guide to the galaxy: season eight”

“a gsr shipper’s guide to the galaxy: season nine���

“a gsr shipper’s guide to the galaxy: season ten”

“a gsr shipper’s guide to the galaxy: season eleven”

“a gsr shipper’s guide to the galaxy: season twelve”

“a gsr shipper’s guide to the galaxy: season thirteen”

“a gsr shipper’s guide to the galaxy: season fourteen”

“a gsr shipper’s guide to the galaxy: season fifteen”

“a gsr shipper’s guide to the galaxy: season sixteen”

MULTISEASON ARC QUESTIONS

season 1 to season 2 “early seasons” arc

“at what point does grissom’s behavior toward sara start to change?” (03.25.16)

season 3 to season 5 “gsr dark ages” arc

“why does grissom never tell sara about his otosclerosis/ear surgery?” (11.24.15) ☆

“in what episode does sara start drinking? does she do so because of grissom?” (10.21.15)

“can you talk about grissom’s jealousy toward hank peddigrew and his relationship with sara in s3?” (10.21.15)

“can you talk about the overall gsr arc in s4?” (10.20.15) ☆

season 5 to season 7 “secret dating” arc

“to what extent and what ends do grissom and sara ever discuss their decision to keep their relationship a secret while at work?” (01.26.21)

“why doesn’t grissom send sara his letter with the cocoon during his s7 sabbatical?” (09.08.15)

season 8 to season 9 “depression” arc

“why does grissom not seem to care when sara leaves him in s8 and s9?” (02.10.21)

“with regards to what sara says in her goodbye letter, how is grissom seeing her depression in s8 different than him seeing her depression in s4/s5? why does she react the way she does here?” (09.01.20)  

“what is grissom’s reaction to sara’s depression in s8? does he notice that there’s anything going on with her before she abruptly leaves vegas?” (01.25.20)

“what happens after the events of episode 08x01 ‘dead doll’? how long does sara have to stay in the hospital? does grissom take care of her?” (05.16.18)

“why do you think that prior to the conversation they have in the car in episode 08x02 ‘a la cart’ grissom and sara have decided that grissom will be the one to change shifts?” (12.13.15)

“what is the deal with sara’s relationship with ronnie lake?” (10.10.15)

“on gil grissom’s heroic journey in s9” (05.19.15)

“how much time elapses between sara’s abduction at the end of s7 and her leaving vegas in episode 08x07 ‘goodbye & good luck’?” (03.23.15)

“depression and the s8 gsr storyline” (12.19.14)

season 13 to season 15 “divorce” arc

“is it ooc to grissom to disappear on sara and go incommunicado in the wake of their divorce?” (01.14.21)

“what conversations do you think take place surrounding the divorce?” (06.18.19)

“what is the divorce like on grissom’s end of things?” (05.18.19)

“what is grissom and sara’s dynamic like post-divorce? do they maintain any kind of communication at all?” (02.04.18)

“when does grissom arrive at the conclusion that he’s made a mistake in divorcing sara?” (11.25.15)

“do either grissom or sara have sex with other people after they get divorced from each other?” (11.17.15)

“in s13, why has grissom been ignoring sara’s calls?” (09.30.15)

CSI APPRECIATION WEEK 2015 METAS

day 1: “favorite season: s7” (09.20.15)

day 2: “favorite episodes” (09.21.15)

day 3: “favorite character: sara sidle edition” (09.22.15)

day 3: “favorite character: gil grissom edition” (09.22.15)

day 4: “favorite relationship: grissom x sara (gsr)” (09.23.15)

day 5: “favorite case: the miniature killer” (09.24.15)

day 7: “whatever you want: love letters to the original team graveyard” (09.26.15)

PRODUCTION QUESTIONS

“could morgan have ended up with greg or hodges after the series? why is that whole storyline so confusing?” (05.02.21)

“why did the writers come up with the idea to make grissom and sara’s marriage long-distance in the first place?” (04.24.21)

“why bother introducing keppler only to kill him off just a few episodes later?” (04.04.21)

“why is s10 so bad? what’s the deal with langston?” (10.10.21) ☆

“were grissom and sara’s personal space violations something that the production team planned or were they something billy and jorja just kind of naturally made happen?” (09.10.20)

“what are all of the gsr deleted scenes that we know about?” (02.27.17)

“where were the writers planning on going with the sqweegel plotline of s11? what was the point of that character?” (05.09.16)

short answer: “does liz devine make a cameo in episode 15x18 ‘the end game’? also, how much time elapses between the end of s15 and the events of the series finale? what’s the deal with finn’s death date?” (12.17.15)

“why doesn’t sara get to interact with the abusive husband in episode 14x12 ‘keep calm and carry on’? isn’t keeping her separate from this story a wasted narrative opportunity?” (12.14.15)

“considering that billy wrote the filmed version of grissom’s episode 04x12 ‘butterflied’ monologue himself and jorja wrote sara’s goodbye letter for episode 08x07 ‘goodbye & good luck,’ is it typical for actors to contribute so much to the writing of the show? how did their involvement in the writing process in these cases come about?” (12.13.15)

“why did the writers always leave the matter of whether or not grissom and heather had ever had sex so ambiguous?” (12.13.15)

“why did jorja fox leave the show in s8? why did she eventually return in s10?” (12.13.15)

“was jorja fox on set to film sara’s video message for episode 09x05 ‘leave out all the rest’? before the episode aired, did the fans know that billy petersen was leaving the show in episode 09x10 ‘one to go’?” (12.13.15)

short answer: “was there a big turnover with the writing staff during the later seasons of the show?” (11.17.15)

“why did the writers decide to divorce grissom and sara? how come don mcgill claimed they weren’t divorced (or even separated) after they were?” (11.17.15)

short answer: “can you talk about the paleyfest 2015 interview with the cast and specifically what billy said to jorja about her getting him/grissom?” (11.12.15)

“can you talk a bit about jorja’s acting choices in the series finale?” (11.09.15)

short answer: “why did csi get cancelled?” (11.09.15)

short answer: “why was langston’s integration onto the show so awkward?” (11.03.15)

“why did the writers of the later seasons move away from the traditional a plot/b plot format of the show? also, is episode 04x12 ‘butterflied’ written as if it were a four-act play?” (11.01.15)

“on the set dressings at grissom and sara’s condo” (04.06.15)

“a wishlist for csi s15” (03.07.15) [written prior to s15 airing]

#csi #csi cbs #gsr #gil grissom #sara sidle #sara x grissom #otp: gsr #** #my meta #meta: csi #meta: gsr #my archive #csiverse

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

12.what headcanon will you keep implementing in your fics, even if canon ends up contradicting it?

Oh there are plenty that I keep on the back burner.

Membrane’s Grandparents were poor and/or farmers. 

I know in the latest issue it showed scientist parents... But I like to think the smartest man in the world had a more humble upbringing and his Dad had a very strong work ethic. 

The only thing I don’t really like about the Scientist parent idea that the comics showed really DOES mean that they KNEW what Uranium 238 was, knew that their son asked for it, and gave him a never-ending avalanche of socks for Christmas anyways and said it was from “Santa”

Like.... I assume so, Membrane...

Even then, When my parents personally did the Santa thing, Santa would give me the cool gifts, and then the lame gifts like socks were from the parents... 

I can’t help but view the gift of a sock-avalanche from SCIENTIST PARENTS as nothing but an act of mal-intent, even if the issue doesn’t frame it that way.

There’s also the issue of Membrane inheriting Membrane Labs from his parents when their faces are nowhere to be seen if Membrane just took the reigns of an already established company... Sure, maybe his parents made their son the face of their company like some sort of Wendys situation... but Membrane’s ADULT face is what the face of Membrane labs is...  Wouldn’t his parents use his cute child face for a brand? Even if the company had no branding or merch until Membrane took over the company it just leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

I MUCH PREFER the idea that Membrane built Membrane labs as a company from the ground up based entirely on tenacity, spite and his intelligence. 

The idea that the smartest man in the world just was BORN INTO this lifestyle of science puts a VERY sour taste in my mouth..

ESPECIALLY with the other characters in Invader Zim and in Johnen Vasquez work in general. Characters like Zim and Dib always work hard to get to where they want to be... and I like the idea that Membrane is the RESULT of putting in that hard work, but he completely neglected himself on a social and interpersonal relationship level. 

I’m sure the Scientist parents were meant as a joke to further compare to how Membrane and Dib are alike... and the generational cycle of abuse... and the mean-spirited joke of his parents gifting him socks does fit the IZ world... but I don’t like it.

If his parents were POOR or Farmers, or just didn’t have access to or couldn’t afford Uranium 238, THAT MAKES WAY MORE SENSE to me. 

Then it would seem like his parents did it more as a 

“He won’t ask for anything else.”  or “Naughty children only get socks” thing 

rather than a:

“Yeah, we know exactly what that is and have access to it... but our kid could blow his face off, so have a bunch of socks instead ya gremlin” 

I just like to think Membrane’s childhood was fairly humble, and he was a feral scientist child and really bright and his parents didn’t know how to handle him, and He was an extreme Mama’s boy. Also the Poor upbringing would explain his workaholic tendencies without having the Scientist parents. 

Sorry Eric Trueheart, you can pry ��Poor upbringing” Membrane from my cold dead hands.

I will take those character designs and that Grandpa Membrane smoked a pipe though. Those are amazing. 

Zim’s Computer (and all other irken Computers) AI Brains used to be living Irkens before getting culled. 

I made an analysis about it on my old account, but I can’t find it cause Tumblr really screwed up the search engine on that account. But anyways... in two more chapters in Tech Support, we’ll get to find out Computer’s “tragic backstory” (tm) Like that chapter is coming after the current one I’m writing. 

Irken blood is Pink

I don’t care if Dark Green blood makes sense from a biological standpoint... I just need Vaperwave and Cyberpunk auestetics. It’s more of a visual thing.

I think Dib has the potential to grow into a real caring young man if he’s properly nurtured and learns how to grow and I possess a strong dislike “loser” Adult Dib.

I’m sure you know what I mean... Crackhead Adult Dib, Feral Adult Dib, Miserable adult Dib...

Nothing against those Dibs... It’s been shown on the record that Dib having a miserable adult future is probably what Johnen wants for his character. (The doodles and streams I’ve seen Johnen draw of his characters as adults as drug addicts or just working dead-end jobs wasn’t enough) 

I even like asshole kid Dib, and asshole teen Dib, but I really want to believe Dib will mellow out a lot when he gets older and learn how to be considerate. 

Maybe I’m being too unrealistic, and I know there is a MAJOR market for Rat-man Miserable Dib in this fandom... I’ve seen like so many versions of him. But it’s not for me.

I think it’s partially because Dib is exactly how I was as a kid, and I grew up to be a pretty mellow and caring person. (for the most part) 

I just want to see Dib to grow up to be chill and mostly happy. 

Zim is the most defective Irken in the history of the Irken Empire. HOWEVER: By human standards, Zim is fairly average, just neurodivergent. 

I know that I’ve seen some analysis on how Zim, “Almost works” and while I do agree, I still think that Zim is the most defective of his species. 

He’s the only one who caused the Control Brains on Judgementia to go insane and he tends to be a pariah and a liability to everyone around him. Caused the death of two Almighty Tallest and a majority of other things that take place throughout the show, comics and deleted episodes alike. The Comics even mentioned that Zim is completely delusional and has some core memory issues.

(I’ve never even explained how Zim perceives the Judgementia arc in my au yet simply cause he doesn’t want to talk about or mention it yet... ) 

But a lot of Zim’s issues or “insane”-ness as the Irken empire sees it are fairly Normal issues for humans. Zim is just marked as the “most” defective simply because a lot of his “symptoms” are actually just very normal autistic or borderline/bipolar things. And that’s probably what he’d get diagnosed with by human standards.

Zim just feels things too strongly and has a terrible delusional memory and obsessively lies to himself to try to fit the mold of what a perfect irken soilder should be (in his mind) 

I have a feeling some of Zim’s PAK errors can be things as simple as: “can’t sit still.” “first words: I love you” , “short attention span” “overly emotional” and that’s marked as major concern to the empire.

But there are more serious ones like “Corrupted Memory drive.” “destructive” “delusional” etc...

But a majority of the list of what makes Zim, Zim are VERY common autism traits...

so if you give him that human diagnosis and then just examine Zim under HUMAN standards....

He’s not that bad at all.... 

Irkens can purr, chitter, and make a variety of sounds very similar to ants chittering combined with a cat. But typically, only defective Irkens seem to make these noises, and my Zim makes more of these noises and reverts to more primitive irken behaviors when he feels he doesn’t need to keep up appearances to be “NORMAL” anymore. In Irken Standards or Human standards. 

Zim is a weird Irken and sometimes things he does is not indicative to how other irkens act or behave, even though Dib uses it as a framework for a lot of his research, but a majority of it is just wrong because it’s Zim. 

THE COMPUTER IS A CHARACTER TOO! LET HIM DO THINGS! EVEN IN THE BACKGROUND OR A SUPPORTING CAST MEMBER... PLEASE... (I will die on this hill) 

GIR is smart and extremely perceptive. Also a hill I die on. I got into this fandom writing a thousand word essay on GIR and I still stand by all those points. GIR is smart... he’s just feral. And GIR can tend to notice things other characters don’t just cause his world-view is so simple. Zim and Dib think like one of those Pipe Windows screen savers... While GIR thinks in a straight line. 

Zim would rather create a maze to go through to get the cheese, rather than GIR who would just not bother with the maze and eat the cheese. 

GIR has great moments of clarity throughout the show, such as in Plauge of Babies and Walk of Doom

“Dib’s seen us before and he knows where we live”

“But if the big splody goes fast, won’t it get all bad?” 

Anyways... I think that’s it... I probably have a whole lot more. But those are my main ones. 

#Invader Zim #danachan's replies #danachan's asks #danachan's rants

[itsclydebitches]

On the Anime Slushie guys, I was with them until they said in their V8C9 recap that Yang and Oscar are in the wrong for treating Salem like a monster. Like I'm sorry, but no matter how much hardship she endured that stops being something I expect sympathy for when she's trying to murder everyone, especially when she's in the process of torturing both Yang and Oscar. They even say Ozma's wrong for doing it too which is just... huh?

I haven’t watched any of the earlier episodes yet, but yeah, I personally can’t get behind that perspective. Outside of the general ideas that tend to thread themselves through the RWBY fandom — that all the women are inherently good and forgivable; that if Ozpin is as evil as people claim, Salem must be his contrast and secretly At Least A Somewhat Decent Person — the “poor Salem” viewers seems to rest heavily on (you guessed it) a lot of headcanoning. I can’t speak to the Slushie peeps, but I know many fans have interpreted Salem’s plunge as a total loss of agency: the grimm goop overtook her, forced her to become a monster, and if our heroes could just remove this pesky, magical illness then Salem would go back to being one of the good guys. She’s not a villain, just a slave to evil magic. Which, overlooking her choices made while she was 100% human — I feel for the woman trying to resurrect her lover and deal with a horrific curse, far less for the woman who decided that dealing with that meant lying to a good chunk of humanity so they’d help her commit two murders — this is straight up contradicted by canon: 

“She was wrong. This force of pure destruction could not destroy a being of infinite life. Instead, it created a being of infinite life with a desire for pure destruction.” 

Idk about everyone else, but “desire” sounds pretty attached to agency to me. It’s not that Salem is forced to ruin people’s lives, it’s that her experience created the desire to enact ruin. “But that’s still just the magic taking over!” No, it’s not. We might have gotten that version of RWBY, but then the rest of the episode showed Salem living alone in a picturesque cabin, having tea with Ozma, ruling four girls in peace... Sure, they did some VERY iffy things in terms of presenting themselves as gods to the people, but ultimately Salem was a pretty chill wife/mom for years. Until she realized her kids had magic and decided to replace humanity with her “superior” genes. Until Ozma went, “lol wtf no??” and tried to escape, so she decided to kill him and her kids. Those peaceful scenes showed us that Salem does have agency. She can, at any point, take hold of her destructive tendencies and tell them no, we will not be killing people today. Sorry! Perhaps with more difficulty than the average person... but that’s not an excuse. Yang has more trouble controlling her anger than others, but that difficulty doesn’t give her a blanket justification for lashing out all the time. Salem, no matter what she is now, is 100% making her own choices... so no, no one is required to be nice to her. Especially when she is currently destroying a kingdom, torturing a child, and attempting to kill three of his friends. We should keep these acts into perspective, AKA, horrendously bad things. 

I know I’m a broken record at this point, but it really does boggle my mind that characters like Ozpin are presented as, “I was given the impossible task to save the world and though I’ve tried my hardest for generations, things went wrong :(” and the response is, “You monster! You’d better be punished and beg for forgiveness.” But we’ve got Salem presented as, “I’m the unambiguous Evil Villain of this story who has spent eight seasons doing objectively horrific things on screen without an ounce of remorse :)” and the response is, “You poor thing! You still deserve to be saved. Hey, heroes she’s trying to kill, chop chop. Be nice to her already!” Like yeah, RWBY can absolutely write a “everyone lives/is redeemed/forgiven” story if they want to, but that doesn’t erase that comparatively those responses have been wild. 

#rwby #mymetas #Anonymous

[dashedwithromance]

8,12,14!!

thank you lovely!!

8 - if your computer had a virus that deleted all your fics but had just enough time to save one before they were wiped out, which fic would you pick and why?

oh god i think maybe 'forever is the sweetest con' or 'hold me like you used to (so tight i'd bruise you)' because i think they're my best works and i'm quite proud of them

12 - what headcanon will you keep implementing in your fics, even if canon ends up contradicting it?

i don't know if i have any headcanons for star wars yet? i'm still wildly new to it all and honestly don't know much

and there's no new canon for sjtr (cries) but before ctd came out and i was writing cressworth fics until they came out my ears, one headcanon i'm super attached to is the idea that thomas is demi-aroace. like it's sort of supported by canon (the v-day letter!!) but even if it was contradicted by ctd i'd still stick to it because it makes me happy

also for sjtr, all my convoluted emotional thoughts about jonathon wadsworth and the straight up fucking Tragedy of his story with emma (doing an autopsy??? on the woman he loved??? fuck???)

and for kotw!! i think my current headcanon that i'd lowkey weirdly attached to despite it causing endless pain for wrath is that he was in love with pride's first wife. at first it was because it was just super funny to imagine wrath's reaction to realising he's in love with emilia when she's married to pride be like 'are you fUCKING KIDDING ME??? A WITCH??? MY BROTHER??? AGAIN?!?!' but now i can't imagine anything without it

14 - what trope would you refuse to write even if you were paid to do it?

okay so my gut response was love triangle but there's lowkey (SORT OF) a love triangle in an original work of mine (she's married, he's the worst, it's a marriage of convenience, etc) but i would definitely never write the genuine 'oh i can't pick between two lovers whatever shall i do!' sort of love triangle because je suis Not a fan personally

but in totality i'd never write a friends with benefits fic (nothing against them, i'm just personally not a fan and also i'm so aroace it's not funny)

#thank you for the ask lovely!! #sorry this got sO long #lovely anons

[scrawnytreedemon]

Am I the only one who headcanons Ghirahim as the first hero?

Look, there’s pretty much nothing canonically that suggests it, but I can’t help but think it’s hella neat. Ghirahim is Link’s perfect foil, being loud where he is quiet, eloquent where he is brash, and cruel where Link is kind. He is an adept swordsman with a drive that rivals Link’s when it comes to saving the one he loves. I’m honestly surprised I haven’t seen this talked about, only person I can think of off the top of my head is Golvio(please check out their tumblr! their analysis are top-tier)

Long heavily-biased ramblings ahead, dudeskis. Buckle up.

I am of the belief that the manga serves as a legend for the people of Skyloft-- That is to say, a highly mythologised and romanticised(literally) telling of actual events.

As for the similarities, for one, the hero is seen wearing a red mantle:

Again, probably a stretch, but you can kiiiinda see the similarities. While we’re on the topic of stretches, notice how the Prequel Hero’s hair is light, almost ashy in colour.

I’ve also seen some theories going around about Ghirahim being Hylia’s first blade, and I think this works really, really well here. Could you imagine Hylia crafting the perfect hero, her weapon in every sense, loyal to a fault? I suppose this comes with me taking the more detatched ends-justify-the-means reading of Hylia, but seeing how Zelda admitted it herself I think it’s accurate.

Also, if Ghirahim was a sword spirit super-soldier sent to face off against Demise, it doesn’t contradict their statement:

“You grow more fascinating by the second, human. I never imagined I'd meet one of your kind who wished to stand against me in battle.”

Demise explicitly states that this is the first time a human has challenged them, which contradicts the manga if we take its events literally.

Following that, Ghirahim loses, and Demise being the ever-scornful asshole they are, takes pleasure in taking their nemesis’ creation and twisting it to fit their desires. It may have very well been a practical move, had Ghirahim known there whereabouts of the Triforce. Demise then proceeds to reforge Ghirahim-- if that was even his name until now-- into their own blade, corrupting him. Whether Ghirahim completely loses his memory or gets severely brainwashed is up to interpretation; either way, Ghirahim is reprogrammed to serve Demise til his dying breath, and to hunt down his former mistress.

Fi is created as a backup plan, and sent with the island.

As to why Zelda wouldn’t mention something as important as this, I doubt she even remembers. I don’t think she was able to recover every single memory through purity and prayer, and quite frankly I doubt Hylia wanted her to. What good would it do to remind her next life of so great a blunder, how Demise turned her own creation against her-- All Zelda need know was that a war happened, sacrifices were made, and she must avoid that demon at all costs.

Anyhow, have a Gig. I’ll probably revise this design later, include more armour + a spirit form, and maybe a hat, but it’s currently 1:30am and this shall suffice:

Anyhow, you for for coming to my TedTalk!

#ghirahim #skyward sword #legend of zelda theories #headcanon #analysis #scrawny rambles #scrawny draws #scrawny thinks