#exile meta

[nekropsii]

what are some common character misconceptions that you often see get thrown around in the fandom?

#homestuck #homestuck meta #homestuck analysis #homestuck fandom #homestuck polls #alpha trolls #alpha kids #beta trolls #beta kids #the exiles #nekro.sms

[outofangband]

Been thinking about Morwen’s line to Túrin “if you wail, other things will find you first”, said to him when he starts to cry before his departure to Doriath

It’s harsh certainly and it’s also undeniably true.

I am thinking, Morwen definitely heard this herself, as a child fleeing the Bragollach with other Bëorian children. Perhaps she even witnessed this statement come true, the cries of her younger kin attracting the attention of enemies or even simply of wild animals.

I think Morwen at her age, eleven or twelve, might have been among the oldest children and more capable than some of the elderly, many of whom I believe died on the road to Brethil. Of the burdens that might have been placed upon this newly orphaned, possibly injured child; to gather materials and other chores she would have been used to, but also to keep watch, to keep children quiet, to dig their graves… all without tears.

I have been thinking a lot lately too about how a lot of her later approach to things could have been influenced by Emeldir…very interested in them having an incredibly complicated, almost contentious relationship; a mutually respectful one, For the most part and she’s learned so much from her but Emeldir absolutely knows that she’s potentially causing a lot of damage to young Morwen and also that she doesn’t really have a choice because the alternative is worse. And Morwen’s awareness (or lack thereof, especially in the beginning) of whether it was damage further complicates things

Anyways I love Morwen very much

#the silmarillion #musing and meta #the children of húrin #morwen #emeldir #houseless for exiles

[tobi-smp]

while I'm talking about c!alliumduo [Link]

my dream animatic for their first meeting and the prank on george's house would be at bizarre angles as it becomes increasingly obvious that we're being shown this through dream's perspective while he spies on them

it starts out cute and fluffy, and Ranboo And Tommy stay light. with an emphasis on it just being goofy fun between teens (the Flaming Penis Towers and silly signs are very important to me), but the tone starts ramping up and getting more and more uncomfortable with the editing. uncomfortable angles, breathing and Scraping sounds while he claws around, eventually cutting in and out with first person scenes of the person we're watching through Destroying other bases with puffy and clearly writing tommy's name down

we don't actually See dream until the very end, walking out of george's house once they've actually left

we Know that dream was spying on tommy at the time, and we Know that dream had a strange fixation and involvement with ranboo, and we Know that dream was intentionally framing tommy to try to get him exiled

combine all of these for something Tense that beautifully sets up what was to come <3

#dream smp #tommyinnit #ranboo #dreamwastaken #exile arc #meta #dream smp animatic

[ospreyeamon]

the falls of the revanchist jedi

The narrative doesn’t directly examine why the Jedi who followed Revan and Malak fell. It is spoken of as a given – they followed Revan into war, so they followed Revan into darkness. That’s not how people work though. That’s not even how people under the influence of the Dark Side of the Force work. Spending twenty years as Palpatine’s thrall didn’t prevent Vader from throwing his Master into the reactor shaft to save his son. Revan can murder every NPC available to be murdered until reaching Rakata Prime only to pull a 180, redeem Bastila, and be feted as a hero of the Republic, Sith-eyes and all.

All but one of the surviving Revanchist Jedi who followed Revan and Malak into the Mandalorian Wars followed them again into the Jedi Civil War. Even the Exile, that lone dissenting actor, can say that they would have fought with their fellows against the Republic had their connection to the Force not been severed; that they were unable, not unwilling. Yet, the Exile can also say that they would not have followed Revan and Malak in attacking the Republic, that they went to war to defend the innocent. Many of the other Jedi who joined the war effort alongside them must have felt the same way, in the beginning.

Many of the soldiers of the Republic like Carth Onasi returned home after the Mandalorian Wars were over, even those like Saul Karath who would bow to Revan again. What then are the factors that led every surviving Revanchist Jedi, save the Exile, to follow Revan from the Mandalorian Wars into the Jedi Civil War?

1) The Mandalorian Wars changed the Jedi who fought in them. The Exile’s dialogue provides the different reasons why they might have left to fight in the war – to protect the innocent, to test their power, to defend the Republic, to win glory – reflecting varying motivations of Knights and Padawans recruited by Revan and Malak. However, despite the differences in the initial reasons for defying the Jedi Council to answer the Republic’s call, they all would have gone through similar uniting experiences during the war. Terrible experiences. Shared hardship often serves to reinforce group identity.

Older Jedi like Kavar and Arren Kae had fought wars before, but the initial expedition led by Revan and Malak was almost entirely composed of young Knights and older Padawans. Military morality, ethics in warfare, tends to be rather twisted from the perspective of modern western civilian morality. Your ability to prosecute the war and the safety of your soldiers takes priority over the lives of enemy, and sometimes even allied, civilians. Ruthless is more than a virtue, it’s a necessity. Collateral damage is an inevitability. For young relatively inexperienced Jedi, raised on ideals of valuing all life and always seeking non-violent resolutions, the transition to military command positions where they were not only required to kill, not only required to led troops to their death, but required to give orders which they knew would directly result in the deaths of civilians would have been distressing.

We know that the Exile once led troops directly into a minefield during the Battle of Dxun, but I think that barely scratched the surface. We aren’t given the full laundry list of the Mandalorians’ war crimes, but at the very least it includes the crime of aggression, murder of civilians, use of child soldiers, and conscription of captured civilians into the Neo-Crusaders and for forced labour. Given this disregard for the lives of civilians, I consider it likely that the Mandalorians also used hostages and headquartered themselves inside buildings like schools and hospitals. I suspect both sides used poison weapons, nuclear weapons, torture, and executed prisoners of war.

2) The Battle of Malachor V was a purge and a crucible of conversion. Kreia, HK-47, and the recording of Bastila Shan all say it; “a series of massacres that masked another war, a war of conversion”, “the intention was to destroy the Jedi, break their will, and make them loyal to Revan … Revan was "cleaning house" at Malachor V”, “to convert the last of the Jedi who fought beside [Revan] – and murder those who would not”. The Jedi in the radius of the Mass Shadow Generator would have included the Jedi Revan did not believe would agree with the plan to invade the Republic.

I think many of the Revanchist Jedi had already been falling by inches before Malachor. The Mandalorian Wars were brutal and one of the major symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is emotional dysregulation. Irritability, anxiety, depression, guilt, anger – the ongoing effects of trauma make a person more susceptible to inadvertently drawing on the Dark-Side of the Force. Using the Dark-Side of the Force was forbidden by the Code enforced by the Jedi Council, but the Revanchists had been pressured to compromise their ethics in other ways to effectively prosecute the war.

For any Jedi who had not already fallen, the detonation of the Mass Shadow Generator was a final blow they could not withstand. They all fell – into the Dark-Side, into death, away from the Force.

This was the conversion that Revan desired. The moral conversation – the acceptance of actions that violated their previous moral code, the previous moral code that would not have permitted making war on the Republic. The conversion in the Force – pushing Jedi to the Dark-Side ensured that they would not be accepted back into the Order by the Jedi Council even if they desired to return.

3) The Jedi Council’s decision to exile the Jedi who returned to face them was a gift to Revan and Malak. The Council’s judgement might have been rooted in their discomfort with what the Exile had become but the reason they publicly gave is that the Exile disobeyed the Council to follow Revan to war. That reason applied equally to every single other Revanchist. By exiling the one Revanchist to return the Jedi Council exiled them all, whether or not they intended to. They may not have, but by deciding to keep secret the true reasons behind their sentence of exile they ensured the other Revanchists could interpret their judgement no other way.

Telling the Revanchist Jedi they would never be welcome to return to the Jedi Order ensured that they would never go back. Onwards was the only path left to them.

4) Revan was extremely charismatic and competent. The Revanchist Jedi had already decided that Revan and Malak judgement was better than the Jedi Council’s when they chose to defy the Council’s orders to follow them to war. Revan, Malak and the Revanchists then won the war for the Republic. In fact, Revan even discovered the shadowy threat the which had been the Council’s justification for sitting out the war through engaging in it, while the Jedi Council remained ignorant.

The Republic government probably bungled the early stages of the Mandalorian Wars by not intervening sooner. The Mandalorians were committing more than enough war crimes for them to justify it, but they allowed Mandalorians to expand their territory, build their forces and industry, and entrench their advantage. When the Republic did enter the war, it wasn’t because the Republic leadership had made a strategic decision, or even a moral one; it was because some corrupt politicians organised bribes to fast-track Taris into the Republic because it was under threat and they wanted to protect their business holdings there. The Jedi Council was also tangled up in the culture of corruption; Lucien Draay was given a seat on the Council even though he’d been accused of planning and assisting the murder of four Padawans because of his powerful family connections.

The Old Republic was more an aristocratic republic than a democratic one. Alderaan, Onderon, the Empress Teta system – they were all monarchies during this period, not democracies. If aristocrats could hold power through right of blood and plutocrats through wealth, then why shouldn’t Revan lead the Galactic Republic by right of merit and conquest?

Revan was secretive, but at least some of the other Revanchist Sith knew about the shadowy threat – the True Sith Empire. If the Republic was going to need to fight another war against an even greater enemy, surely it would need better leadership. Leadership like Revan.

#Meanwhile in a Galaxy Far Far Away #kotor meta #Revanchist Jedi #Revanchist Sith #Revan #the Jedi Civil War #the Mandalorian Wars #the Battle of Malachor V #Darth Malak #The Jedi Exile #knights of the old republic #war crimes cw

[novafire-is-thinking]

Idealistic and Stubborn

In TFP, one of the defining aspects of Optimus’ characterization is his stubborn belief that Megatron is not lost—that he can overcome his lust for power.

By the end of Predacons Rising, he was proven correct, but there was very little beforehand that gave any indication that Megatron would change.

In spite of this, Optimus refused to believe Megatron had fallen beyond redemption.

Potential, Potential, Potential

“Everything always fools you,” Makeshift said. “Megatron was right about a lot of things, but he especially knew you. Naive, he said. Vulnerable because you keep on insisting that the best in bots might show through even when all the evidence is to the contrary. (Exiles)

Optimus views the world and other people in terms of their greatest potential for good. He can’t help but look beyond the present reality and see a perfect ideal. He then finds it nearly impossible to let go of this perfect ideal, no matter what reality looks like.

But I Can Change Him!

Peace with the ones with whom war had been waged for eons. . .The Autobots might have believed it to be impossible, but Optimus was willing to give it a try because whatever anyone else might say, he knew that Megatron wasn’t entirely evil. (Retribution)

There was absolutely nothing anyone could have said that would have convinced Optimus that Megatron was evil to his core. This strength of conviction made Optimus a force to be reckoned with. I can only assume that after a while, those under his leadership gave up trying to change his mind. They recognized his incredible strength of will as an asset to the Autobot cause, even if they didn’t agree with him when it came to Megatron.

“Idiotic” Instincts

What happened next was pure instinct. Optimus reached out and grabbed Megatron with one arm, then used his legs and other arm to climb, pulling them both out of the rising white water. A dazed Megatron looked around.

“What are you doing?” he yelled.

“Saving your life,” Optimus told him.

“You’re an idiot, librarian.”

“Thanks for your opinion,” Optimus said. (Retribution)

This was only one of several times Optimus could have ended Megatron’s life.

However, the belief that Megatron could and would change was so deeply embedded in Optimus’ psyche that even though he may have reasoned Megatron’s death was best, his instincts overrode everything.

At that point, Optimus was operating on the old assumption that there was still a part of Megatron left untainted by the lust for power. I believe some part of Optimus hoped that the act of saving Megatron’s life would make the warlord reevaluate things. Optimus was blind to the reality that Megatron’s purely opportunistic mindset would just see it as an opportunity to continue working toward his twisted personal vision.

More than once in TFP, we saw Optimus hesitate to kill Megatron when he could have done so and ended Megatron’s reign of chaos and destruction.

Optimus did eventually snap and confront Megatron as Unicron was awakening, but by then, it was too late. Megatron had grown too powerful from giving himself fully to the influence of Dark Energon and Unicron himself.

Responsibility vs. Hope

Megatron’s obsession with Unicron disturbs me. I see that he is convinced that awakening the monster would grant him the power he’s always desired. Only I know the absolute naivete of that assumption. Still, nothing I can say alters his course. You can tow a bot to knowledge, but you cannot make it think. He has had a taste for Dark Energon for a while now, and constant exposure to it only accelerates his departure into delusions. Must I wait for one of his aides to start an insurrection, as his madness increases? What is the likelihood? Starscream is too fearful, Shockwave is served well by Megatron no matter how insane, Airachnid has failed and must be considered out of play. Soundwave—well, who knows what goes through his mind since the war? The rest are too small-minded to organize a rebellion in a tack factory. No, it will not be any of them who topple him from his throne. Rightfully the deed is mine, though I did not make him into what he is; he was my friend, and once my brother. I would not see him fall farther, but at the same time, I find no way to hold him back other than by recruiting the humans to the Autobot cause, if not for our survival, then certainly for theirs. (CoP)

Megatron refused to allow anyone but himself be the one to kill Optimus. Similarly, Optimus believed the responsibility to stop Megatron fell on him alone.

For Optimus, there was a constant inner war between his sense of responsibility telling him he was the “right” one to stop Megatron, and his instincts rooted in idealism telling him that Megatron still had the potential for change.

When Strength Becomes Weakness

Optimus’ refusal to believe Megatron had fallen beyond redemption was closely tied to his difficulty unseeing potential and seeing things as they were. This stubborn idealism was one of Optimus’ greatest strengths and one of his worst weaknesses. It enabled him to survive the most brutal of circumstances, but it also enabled him to allow Megatron’s reign of terror to last much longer than it would have otherwise.

“Megatron has fallen, Optimus.”

“I cannot bring myself to believe that.”

✧ ✧ ✧

series master post

#transformers prime #maccadam #tfp #tfp optimus prime #tfp orion pax #tfp character analysis #tfp meta #aligned continuity #tf aligned novels #tf exiles #tf retribution #the covenant of primus #the one and only op ❤️💙 #who is TFP Optimus? series #long post #nova’s nerding out again #it’s been ​almost 4 months since I wrote anything for this series #but I’m hoping to finish it this week

[cupcraft]

It is crazy to me cdream apologists existed at all but esp in 2023 like what is going on with your media literacy and fear of enjoying villains...?

#cup.dsmp #discourse #exile meta...later...i am strugglign withnschools

[rotzaprachim]

the thing about andor season 1 being a moses arc is that cassian andor literally is moses. once you mention that moses’s rise to leader serves as scaffolding to almost every major character moment for cassian well you just can’t unsee it

#cassian andor #even the changes i'm still hmm on #his backstory is so extremely moses coded! there's a foreign woman who takes him from his culture and people and language #he might live because of it but his perpetual cycle of fleeing and exile and exodus starts as a child #she gives him a new name and takes his past #as an adult he kills the guard(s) #he flees into the wilderness #he becomes a shepherd (even if its just undercover) #his people are living in the house of slavery #he becomes a prisoner #he uses water- small and massive unthinkable amounts of flowing water- to lead an entire prison revolt #he ends up in exile and diaspora again and again #and the season ends with a miniature exodus of his comunity from ferrix with bix and brasso and jezzy and wilmon and b2emo #but on a meta level like: this entire season is cassian at the burning bush #he's a man with unclean lips who neither thinks himself worthy of being the hand of deliverance #nor does he think exodus is possible #like even that very meta arc change from dyed in the wool born revolutionary to good man in constant exile who finally turns and faces the #burning bush #that is MOSES coded. i don't know how to feel about those changes but i DO love the idea that #it's cassians' imperfections and time as an ordinary man among the people that give him the radical empathy and experience precisely to #/become/ this leader I OF UNCLEAN LIPS etc #also well does he ever reside in the promised land

[variousqueerthings]

I assume part of 15's narrative is going to revolve around the post-identity crisis that arose within 14 around the timeless child arc, and possibly some kind of search to discover their origins... im fascinated by this coming up in 15's arc, in the sense that it makes it seem like 14 was perfectly happy to park those questions and just have a nice time doing self-care for x amount of years, so all of these feelings were lying dormant because 14 didn't feel the need to know, and then perhaps resurfacing now as 15 is (re)building a (new?) sense of self and isn't so goshdarn tired of things. is this the first time the question on doctor who has genuinely revolved around the "who" part for the doctor as well as for the characters they meet? (no shush the stupid "doctor's name" business doesn't count, that wasn't about identity, that was m*ffat's weird penchant for randomly inserted destiny that never really went anywhere)

it's a bit angsty yes, but it's also very invigorating that part of the source of travelling is this genuine mystery after a nice long rest, and not bone-weary exhaustion and regret at the past. it's inherited from previous who, but it's got a lot of potential to go anywhere

#well there's the mysterious figure when 4 regenerates and the valeyard as the shadow self (which i dont know a lot about yet) #but really as *reasons the doctor is out there travelling* i like this one a lot #there's travelling as running -- travelling as exile -- travelling as lost -- travelling as sharing -- travelling as joy -- #travelling as home -- etcetc -- travelling as search of the self #doctor who #dw #rambleramble #doctor who meta #rtd inheriting a bunch of weird new lore: *cracks knuckles* im about to make things so much weirder (im sure) #i assume w 15 going to do some of this arc because they mentioned it in the christmas special

[sadcharactersrmykryptonite]

Sand and his generosity.

Sand is a great character and I find it interesting that even though he did a crime, is actively doing another crime the majority of the fandom is behind him being such a good guy, and he is. But it got me thinking. Why is he so generous towards ray?

Now 14 yr old me would have instantly said true love but now I know a lot more. Something about his care for ray feel so familiar. Like he knows exactly what to do with someone like ray, on the verge of an alcoholic spiral 24/7.

The first few episodes we see them connecting but even if they did connect more then the other couples, there was something huge missing. Sand didn't know the extend of rays addiction. And then we see sand processing it and then top comes barging in and derails him and the entire trainwreck that resulted and sand had understood just how gone ray is. That boy needs rehab asap.

But sand goes after him, he saves him, he takes care of him, he bends to his every whim and is happy to do so, only to be tossed aside. And it's in the way he takes care of him. He knows how to take care of a drunk person , he knows how to be gentle with them , he knows how to scold them without coming across as demeaning or prejudice. He has the patience of someone who's already dealt with circumstances like these. Of taking care of a loved one who is an addict.

You can see it in the way he doesn't bring up the outburst. He bought up the drunk driving because it has the potential to cause lasting harm. But an outburst in a bar will be just that an outburst. Sand doesn't know that ray had told mew about topton, but he doesn't give the outburst much thought when ray had attacked him directly. And that's where I think he knows what to except from an outburst from an addict and is choosing to not take it personally. And that level of insight is not typical in a 20 something college kid , even if the college kid works in a bar , because ray targeted him specially. Nobody would have blamed him if he didn't go, heck rays friends who he have known for years didn't go but sand a recent acquaintance went.

Now it can be said that sand has seen the good side of ray, and he has. When it comes with dealing with addicts most people focus on changing the bad side and forget about the good side. But sand didn't , he saw the good side, liked it and is trying to get that back. That smile in the bathtub, he thought he was getting it back. But then he saw raymew dancing and that look is so interesting. Because there's no anger, there's sadness, and heartbreak and disappointed. And there's resignation. He predicted it would happen and it did.

He wasn't disappointed with ray, he was disappointed in himself. He was dealing with an addict, trying to save him when the person doesn't want to be saved. Something he has done before. Something he so familiar with he was anticipating the heartbreak when he and ray had hooked up. It's exactly like playing with fire.

So why did he jump right in when he knows the pain, because it's familiar to him.

So who's this person who has given sand the experience with working with addicts . Either his mom who's the closest person we have seen to him or his ex.

Imagine if it was his ex , someone he loved , cared for and has helped with a recovery process but then top comes and takes him away. By using drugs.

Which would explain why sand is so mad at him , why he insisted that top stole him.

Sand saw the good side with his ex , helped him get back and all that was tossed away for the next fix that top had with him. And he fought tooth and nails for him , but the ex chose his next fix and not him.

Then his eyes fell on a boy similar to his ex , who's also going through addiction and sand wants to help him since it's so familiar. And he knows it's a bad idea and he is watching the exact same thing happen away and this time he's so resigned and too tired too fight.

His generosity is not just because he's a good person , it's because he's used to it, it's because it's familiar to him.

#i was listening to exile when i wrote this can you sense it #only friends #only friends the series #only friends ray #only friends meta #only friends sand #only friends spoilers #ofts #ofts sand #ofts ray #only friends sandray

[blissfali]

Ive always thought about how, since the first time i eevr experienced and watched exile, that c!tommy never specifically built a houise in logsted. he built a tent, and when he built that tent, he built it specifically with the idea in mind that this would be temporary (i cant remember the exact words but i know for sure there is a quote about him saying something like this before he builds it).

in ctommy's mind, exile was never supposed to last forever. if he had to think about it as an indefinite amount of time, it wouldnt really make sense to him. instead of accepting cdream's "you leave when i say you can leave", he builds this hope throughout the entirety of it that he will be going home to l'manberg, at some point, whether it be in one day or one year. he held onto that hope that there would be a foreseeable end in sight, and thats why he only built a tent. he did not build a house or a shack, and he did not move into the house/van that ghostbur built for him, because moving into an actual home in logsted would mean it lasting "forever". he needed some kind of date in his mind that would mark the end of it, and by building tnret he kind of had a symbol for the fact that he would be leaving at some point.

there was no idea in his mind that ctommy would be barred from l'manberg FORever. he would go back even if he was in his 30's by then. it didn't matter when or how, it just mattered that that date Existed.

#dsmp #dream smp #exile arc #this is one of the things that always got me #he didnt build a tent just to build a tent he built a tent because a tent symbolizes a temporary stay #and in his mind exile was always temporary no matter what cdream or anyone else #dsmp meta

[covenofthearticulate]

“During our recent convocations, many of the old ones had offered Louis the power of their ancient blood.”

Girl please I need to know just HOW MANY older vamps offered up their necks to Louis like oh my god. We joke about him being the it girl of vc from his love affairs with Lestat and Armand, but deadass every single vampire out there has made some sort of pass at him!!!!! And he refused them ALL!!!!! this man is so hot and so suicidal it’s off the fucking charts 

#i'm so obsessed with him it is UNREAL #also god just. all the implications of this passage make me insane. #the fact that he refused maharet and then essentially got like?? fucking exiled??? #david just casually mentioning 'oh yeah the queen of vampire-kind refuses to acknowledge louis' existence and is affronted by his presence.' #like girl WHAT— #also the fact that she 'pressed him in the extreme' to drink from her like. what does that MEAN. what does extreme mean. #david i need to KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #Louis de Pointe du Lac #meta #vampire meta

[nekropsii]

More Reminders:

Karkat is a bootlicker. This is a prominent character trait. He’s rooting for the Alternian empire- yes, even though it’s ruled by a system that wants him personally dead- and really wants to be a part of its military.

Eridan has a “genocide complex” and is able to be roughly described as the troll equivalent of a white supremacist. This is one of the first things we learn about him.

The Beta Trolls are 13. All of them. This includes Equius. This includes Eridan. This includes Vriska. This includes Gamzee.

99% of Gamzee’s character is racial caricature. No, he is not intended to be a Dionysus parallel. He is intended to be a “satirization” of Black people.

Sapphic pairings have always held precedent over MLM pairings. They’ve always been more important to the plot, been handled with much more grace, and had more screen time. This isn’t a bad thing.

Doc Scratch is a child predator. This is an incredibly prominent character trait of his, and you’re way past due for a reread if you’ve forgotten. He has a particular fixation on, as canon puts it, “little girls”, and targets both Rose and Kanaya. Do I even have to bring up what he did to Damara?

Regarding the previous point, Rose and Kanaya both get very traumatized during the course of Homestuck’s story. They’re not well put together sophisticated “mom friends”, they’re 13 year olds just like almost everyone else is, and they’re going through hell. Rose in particular makes the effect all of this trauma has on her very well known. This is what Grimdarkness is.

Cronus is a child predator, too. During the course of the Openbounds and Ministrife, we see him unabashedly predate on three specific kids, and this behavior is made out to be extremely creepy. These three kids are Karkat, Tavros, and, yes, Eridan.

The Exiles were incredibly important to the plot, actually. You guys are just mean.

Almost every relationship in Homestuck is flawed in some capacity, that’s the point of a tragic drama. The main cast is literally nothing but traumatized and/or mentally ill 13-16 year olds. A good chunk of them aren’t even socialized, or grew up in an actively hostile environment. Or both. No shit characters mess up sometimes, or have unhealthy behaviors- it’s just natural in that situation. Some dynamics are substantially more healthy than others, but the main appeal of Homestuck is that everyone is flawed and damaged.

A good majority of Vriscourse was just people leaping at the opportunity to express pure, unabashed misogyny. I don’t think I have to elaborate upon this.

No, Jane is not a fascist, nor is she racist. She’s never been either of these things, that’s something that was invented out of left field by the Post Canon writing team. Being a fascistic racist was never within the scope of Jane’s character. No, it being “a result of her having grown up being fed propaganda by The Condesce” does not explain that plot thread in Post Canon for a single second, because Jane experiencing a major personality shift because of HIC literally already happened in canon with her going Crockertier, and she came out of that a stronger person. Never once has “racism” been on the list of problems she has.

Hemoloyalty is not intended to be a 1:1 metaphor for racism, nor is it intended to be a 1:1 metaphor for classism, or any other type of oppression. It’s not a 1:1 metaphor for literally anything, it’s intended to be flexible and contextual. This is not a bad thing, and is, in fact, a common storytelling method used by a lot of fantasy/sci-fi writers. Condemning Hussie for a lot of things in their writing is valid, but Hemoloyalty not being strictly analogous to only one type of real world oppression is patently not one of them. You do not know how metaphors work.

Official =/= Canon. No one is calling Pesterquest canon. You really shouldn’t be doing the same for Post Canon. The Homestuck Epilogues and Homestuck^2 are Official, but they are definitively not Canon. This is literally the first thing you learn about either of these projects. This doesn’t invalidate anyone’s enjoyment of any of these properties, of course, but it has to be stressed: Official does not automatically mean Canon.

#i said id make a new reminders post. here it is! #homestuck #homestuck meta #homestuck analysis #beta kids #beta trolls #alpha kids #alpha trolls #karkat vantas #eridan ampora #equius zahhak #vriska serket #gamzee makara #doc scratch #rose lalonde #kanaya maryam #cronus ampora #tavros nitram #the exiles #jane crocker #post canon #dubcanon #nekro.pdf #nekro.txt

[outofangband]

The sheer magnitude of Morwen’s losses even before the Nírnaeth is just hitting me tonight

Everyone she lost in the Bragollach, whether they were killed or she was separated permanently from them.

Lalaith obviously; I am not a parent and thus cannot even begin to imagine the extent of that grief and pain, let alone in the context of what has already happened, of that loss occurring when she should have been safe

And of course Not just people but home, community, childhood possessions, sense of safety and security, the cultural losses

And the story proper hasn’t yet begun…

#the children of húrin #morwen #the silmarillion #musing and meta #houseless for exiles #I’m sorry I’m very tired and can’t say anything substantial but having emotions about this

[lunarrepel]

i think i might write this shadowheart as exile path only.

#꧁༺ 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏༻꧂ ◤ ooc ◥ #[ i think it's safe to say ~most~of us spared aylin. myself included ] #[ i also have posted metas about this on my multi and while i understand not wanting to woobify shadowheart ] #[ it's also what shadow will do if you don't influence her in any way so it IS her choice ] #[ i simply think this is the best and happier path for her ] #[ me saying this while NOT HAVING exile icons is wild ] #[ me @ u: please use your imagination until i get there in game uwu ] #[ i've never played her origin with DJ. only my paladin tav ]

[writing-for-life]

Why The Order Of The Last Three Issues Of The Sandman Matters...

... at least to me (I totally appreciate that people might see it differently. Maybe that’s the whole point, and where we come full circle when we talk about “stories”).

And as always: Send me asks about everything Sandman-related!

Major comic spoilers… I know that the question: “What happens to Morpheus after he dies?” is one of the ones most frequently asked. And I also know that a lot of people want him to walk off into the sunset with Hob (especially the Dreamling shippers, but I’m not going to go into that).

I personally think that the last three issues of The Sandman (#73-75) are in this order for a reason

I find it really hard to take Sunday Mourning/Hob’s dream and say: ”This is it, this is the end, he is a dream entity now and wanders off into the sunset with Hob” (and Destruction, but I’m not even go into that right now because I have too many thoughts on that one, so that might be a diff post altogether).

Yes, he (in one way or another) lives on in Hob’s memory/dreams. And also yes, it is the epilogue to The Wake and concludes it, but if what comes after didn't matter, it wouldn't exist. Everything matters when Neil Gaiman writes ;)

He also lives on because time is warped and not linear (#74, “Exiles”). You need to read it to understand it, and I won’t go into too much detail here because it will get too long. Suffice it to say that in Exiles, two things set in very different timelines happen at the same time for a person. So Morpheus can live on like that. Even if he is dead.

But I personally think the most important truth is to be found in The Tempest (#75). In my opinion, it is the last issue for a reason (otherwise, we could have just left on the note of Sunday Mourning). It’s about STORIES, and that stories live on forever. We come from them, and we RETURN to them. And Morpheus, the Prince of Stories himself, is now also a story - something he never wanted to acknowledge, but I'll get to that in a minute.

The Tempest is about the parallels between Morpheus and Prospero. Prospero gets to leave his island. Morpheus says he will never leave his.

From the epilogue to The Tempest (you can also read it on the last two pages of #75):

I think this is the most important bit (bold by me): “Now I want spirits to enforce, art to enchant And my ending is despair, Unless I be relieved by prayer, Which pierces so that it assaults Mercy itself, and frees all faults. As you from crimes would pardoned be Let your indulgence set me free."

Dream IS Prospero here (although he tells Shakespeare he cannot/MAY not recognise himself in stories. The sad thing is that he won’t acknowledge he also has a story because he is so wrapped up in his sense of duty and responsibility). Even after death (I repeat, this is the LAST ISSUE for a reason, and IMHO, we do not need to worry about when this takes place), he feels guilt. Just like Prospero in his epilogue.

In my view (personal as it may be), existing as a dream entity, no matter in whose dream, with his memories intact (because that’s what I read so often when it comes to him having some sort of future in Hob's dream) would be absolute torture for Morpheus. It is largely what led him to give up in the first place. That’s why it leaves me… uncomfortable? Dissatisfied? I can’t quite put it into words, and I also totally get that these feelings are my problem.

I know some people like to see Sunday Mourning as a confirmation that he ultimately does leave his island, and maybe that’s also true in a way. But I personally cannot get over Shakespeare saying “All MEN can change”, and Morpheus replying that he is not a man (as in a mortal human). That men have stories, that men can change, but he cannot. Or even if he has changed ("I was no longer the same" #69), he still has obligations, so it ultimately can never be unless he dies. It is what he staunchly believes in, until the end.

This is how we leave the story in #75 - again, it doesn’t end in #73.

And while all three ways of “living” on (memories/dreams, warped time and story) are true in a way, the ultimate way he lives on is as a story in my view.

He lives on as someone who matters as the protagonist, who makes us feel, who isn’t just the narrator. And that's beautiful - to me even more beautiful than some straightforward, flat happy ending. But I appreciate that mileage might vary, and that people will see things differently, depending on their own experiences. (I first read the comics when they came out in the 80s/90s, and no matter how many times I re-read, I always find something new, I see things differently with the passing of time, and it never loses its grip on me).

We are the ones who forgive him - he will only be free if we do. We see that he has changed, no matter if he believed he did or he didn't. We, the audience (who were even at his wake; we are the last dreamer to wake up), are the ones who decide if it was “worth it”.

That’s how he leaves his island, and That’s why “It is never just a dream” in my opinion…

I think @onehundredandeleventropicalfish also wrote on the topic a while back if I remember it correctly, but I can’t seem to find the post in question right now. I just remember I related a lot.

#sandman meta #sandman spoilers #sandman #morpheus #dream of the endless #the sandman #the wake #exiles #the tempest

[novafire-is-thinking]

Slave of Destiny

He considered the question, thinking back to the great wealth of Iacon’s Hall of Records. The shipping manifests and customs logs of Cybertron’s Space Bridges were all dated millions of cycles before the coming of the civil war. He could not remember the exact date, but the scholar within him suddenly wanted to dig into those records and see if that date could be recovered.

But it would be a long time before Optimus Prime could be a scholar again. Sometime in the distant future lay the moment when he could bequeath the mantle of Prime to a worthy successor. Until then, he would wear it with pride and resolve. And until then, his wish to bury himself in records and research would take a backseat to the overriding imperative to bring the AllSpark home and restore Cybertron to its long-lost state of peace and prosperity. (Exiles)

Destiny called Orion the scholar to be Optimus the world changer. Orion abandoned his safe haven of knowledge to lead an army into a war that would determine the fate of more than one world.

Megatron insisted on choosing how he would serve destiny. Optimus did not.

Orion the Dreamer Dutiful

Optimus Prime looked around the tomb one more time. It was beautiful in its way, austere and silent. Beauty was for another time, though, and although it pained the curious nature that had led Orion Pax on the path to becoming Optimus Prime, he knew this was the moment for direction, not reflection. (Exiles)

Optimus is the sort of individual who, if given the chance, would be happy doing nothing but learning and thinking. Countless times during the war, he had to cut himself off from his contemplative nature in order to keep moving forward. If TFP is any indication, things got to a point where ignoring and suppressing the desire for reflection had become a cruel, unwanted second nature.

Scholar of Stories and Secrets

The scholar in Optimus Prime, the remnant memory of Orion Pax who lived for nothing but knowledge, burned to know what was within Vector Prime’s mind at that moment. So much history, he thought. So much lost because those who could tell it preferred to remain silent. Could he provoke Vector Prime to tell the story? He did not know, nor did he know if he should. Perhaps long-held secrets should remain secret. Releasing them back into a world that had turned its back on them could have unforeseen consequences, and Cybertron had seen enough unforeseen consequences in recent times.

Still, he could not entirely let go of the desire to know. (Exiles)

Optimus experienced the most joy and fulfillment when he was collecting and studying stories—stories of history and people and their experiences. More than anything, he longed to peer behind the veil of life and study its secrets.

When he set aside that core desire to answer the call of a destiny so much bigger than himself, he got far more stories and secrets than he bargained for with no time or space to reflect on them.

It’s an understatement to say this took a heavy toll on him. By the time we see Optimus in TFP, he’s a mere shell of who he once was and is far from who he wanted to be.

War is a brutal thing that makes warriors out of scholars and tyrants out of poets.

✧ ✧ ✧

series master post

#transformers prime #maccadam #tfp #tfp optimus prime #tfp orion pax #tfp character analysis #tfp meta #aligned continuity #tf aligned novels #tf exiles #the one and only op ❤️💙 #who is TFP Optimus? series #long post #nova’s nerding out again