#he was the main character of the og trilogy

[tending-the-hearth]

Bail saying that Leia is just as important as Luke nearly made me cry, because she IS just as important as him, she is JUST as powerful as he is, thanking the Kenobi show for the Leia content we deserve 😤

#sassy leia my beloved #listen if all we see of luke is just that little moment of him pretending to fly a speeder?? #i'll be absolutely happy with that #he was the main character of the og trilogy #so i'll be more than happy if leia is one of the main focuses of the kenobi show bc she deserves it #we know so much abt how luke grew up and his relationships with everyone #but leia's childhood doesn't have many details #so i'm so excited to see more of her #leia organa #bail organa #obi wan kenobi #kenobi show #kenobi series #kenobi spoilers #luke skywalker

[killjoy-prince]

them announcing games 4-6 as an a/po/llo j/us/tice trilogy is so funny like i get why they marketed it like that but only 1 1/2 games are about him and the one where 1/2 the games about him only focuses on him in the second and last case

#prince's talk tag #im not gonna get the game tho bc i did not have a lot of fun playing those games #the 4th game had good main characters like the ones that were in the game for more than one case #but the case only characters i wasnt fond of most of them #the 5th game has my favorite prosecutor in the new trilogy and nick's bf reveal was cool #but i dont think i can make myself go through the rest of the game again just for those snippets #and forget the 6th game. I had the least fun playing that one #the only things i like were maya's return which with the music made me cry bc i love her so much #but then she ended up in Maya's Greatest hits with the accusations of murder and getting kidnapped #it wasnt until the DLC where we got her as an assistant for a case and that wasn't bad #but that case was for the people that loved the og trilogy (me) #i do remember a funny bit where Athena kept begging to join the case and Phoenix essentially banished her to be Trucy's magic assistant #much to Athena's dismay which I thought was kinda funny #anyway the real showstopper moment in the 6th game was the 4th case bc while it had jack to do with the plot #and you could skip it without missing anything (the game wont let you but you could) #it was the most fun I had playing that game #the banter between the defense and prosecution was so fun and the part where Simon grabs Athena and shakes her but its from her POV #so its like he's shaking the player (me) #i think about that part A LOT #i even look up that part from time to time to relive it bc yes #anyway the banter between simon and nahyuta was what gave birth to my OTP in the new trilogy #it was a fun case 8/10 #but its so funny that this means Polly and Trucy will never learn theyre half siblings LMAO #if they made a 7th game its gonna be a whole new cast but tbh i dont even know if I want a new game

[plasma-studios]

ok but Suzanne Collins made the right choice setting the prequel in/from the Capitol's perspective. Aside from giving Snow his villain origin story (i personallly think he's always had villainous traits, but if the idea of control hadn't been instilled in him by Dr Gaul, he might not have grown into a fully fledged villain) it really expands on the perspective of Capitol citizens.

It's so easy to think of such a group of characters in dystopian settings as a mere plot point to 1) back up the main big bad 2) show a contrast against the suffering of the "common people" (i.e. the districts). However, it's really easy for this to become a black and white comparison, esp since a lot of dystopian books fail to capture the nuance of THG and see dystopian setting as aesthetic backdrops, not as a way to criticise and point out real world issues as THG did.

The issue with the black and white comparison is that it often doesnt delve into the actual reasoning and factors behind how and why the Capitol became what they were in Katniss' time, and as we know, history almost repeated itself with Coin.

I'm not saying the Capitol was justifed in their actions, I'm saying TBOSAS showed how it got that far. By Katniss' time, the Capitol had become so powerful they held the "big bad" role of the villains in most dystopian worlds, but that naturally resulted in a pov that couldn't explicitly flesh out the factors behind the Capitol's moral degradation. Although by the end of Mockingjay, seeing the same things pop up in the rebellion and Coin definitely called it into question (and with enough reading comprehension one also wouldve extrapolated it from the og trilogy anyway). Whether or not there was light in the Capitol's darkness, whether or not there were those who fought against the Hunger Games, in the end their darkness still swallowed the light.

i get that people (by people i mean me) want installments of characters that we already know (e.g. Finnick, Johanna, Haymitch, etc) or even new characters with a perspective that we're used to (e.g. maybe a victor from another district, but still from the districts), but I truly think that the impact would not be as powerful as either the original trilogy or TBOSAS because, we already know the districts are suffering. It's made abundantly clear, the cruelty and exploitation. It's so cruel that one thinks, how did things get to this point?

Then you look at TBOSAS and think,

oh, thats how.

#finnick odair #johanna mason #katniss everdeen #the hunger games #spoilers #the hunger games spoilers #tbosas spoilers #tbosas #coriolanus snow #president snow #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #ballad of songbirds and snakes #bosas #bosas spoilers #hunger games prequel #hunger games #thg #suzanne collins

[antianakin]

Had a thought, I think what's bothering a lot of people about recent Force stuff is that Filoni/new shows are treating the Force like a "soft magic" system. As in it's flexible to whatever the plot is and the few rules can change. Vs the more solid "hard magic" system the original stuff operates on. Only certain people have it, there's established things it can do, and it's main point of flexibility is that if you don't think you can do a thing with the Force, you can't.

Like movies/clone wars/even Rebels establishes that having the Force is an innate thing and while non Force users can "hear" the Force (various other practices we see like Chirrut) they can't utilize it. That there's certain abilities are things everyone has and more rare abilities exist but don't seem to be learned (at least not easily). I'm even willing to say Force Healing works in the og system set up in that it's a rare ability and it takes energy. You can't bring someone back from the brink of death without killing yourself or someone else.

But things like Sabine suddenly able to use the Force or Ahsoka able to use abilities out of nowhere and established to be innate and rare basically throws the hard rules out and gives it a confusing inconsistency that just makes it unenjoyable.

I think the problem is, in part, that canon itself treats the Force as both soft AND hard, depending on what aspect you're talking about, because Star Wars runs on Rule of Cool sort-of above and beyond anything else sometimes. For example, the Force Ghosts. Even within the original trilogy, the implications about how the Ghosts work seems to change from ANH to ROTJ, and then you get into the prequels and TCW and the sequels and now the Mandoverse and the Ghosts are just... wackier and wackier every time. There are NO RULES for the Force Ghosts beyond that the person ghosting should be definitively dead, not a Sith when they died, and they should look bluish. Like that's... really it. Beyond that, everyone seems to do whatever the fuck they want with it and they always have, even Lucas himself.

And then you have other things that seem to have remained fairly static this entire time even if they went unsaid, like who is capable of wielding the Force and who isn't, whether it's something you're born with or just something some people can learn easier than others. Up until the Ahsoka show, everybody seemed to agree on this one, so even though it's never been outright stated in canon that you HAVE to be born with the ability to wield the Force or you'll never be able to, it's just a generally accepted part of the worldbuilding and one that a LOT of the character narratives sort-of rely on. BUT, because it's never been outright stated and OTHER elements of the Force and how it's used can be pretty "soft magic", I suppose it's not shocking that eventually someone would try to switch this one up. It's infuriating and it's bad writing just because what little we DO know about it is so important to how these storylines go, but it's not shocking.

It's not like I hate "soft magic" systems in general, but in a lot of those stories, how the magic WORKS isn't actually important to the story being told most of the time. Like in Lord of the Rings, how Gandalf can do magic is completely irrelevant to the themes and messages sent through the story of Frodo and the Ring and the Fellowship. It doesn't MATTER.

But in Star Wars, the way the Force works is baked into the themes and messages of the whole ass story. What darkness is, where it comes from, what balance means and how it can be achieved, all of this is VITAL to the story being told throughout the first six films. And so a lot of the little stuff that gets added to the overall "how the Force works" stuff (psychometry, midichlorians, etc) should all sort-of work within those overall themes already set up. Midichlorians are important because Anakin is DEMONSTRABLY super powerful, more than anybody else in history, and it DOESN'T MATTER. He's literally MEASURABLY more powerful than anybody else and he still fails to do anything he actually wants to do. His power makes it so that his choices change the fate of an entire galaxy, but they're also completely useless in any way that actually matters to him. The fact that they can measure his power helps that message get across. Psychometry takes a lot of the stuff about how the Force allows you to dial into the emotions of other people and just takes it up an extra notch to really hammer home some of those themes about control over your own power and being connected to the world around you.

So Star Wars, in many ways, DOES have a "soft" magic system, it always has, but the things that are changed or added to it SHOULD generally still fit within the overall themes and messages that Star Wars has set up prior to this. Sabine being Force sensitive randomly very explicitly goes AGAINST all of these themes and messages and that's why it sucks. Changing the system so that literally ANYBODY could have the Force if they just worked hard enough at it (and having Sabine gain her ability to wield it only when she FEELS the most emotions as opposed to when she CONTROLS her emotions the best) completely fucks up a lot of the narratives for other characters. What makes Luke so special if literally ANYBODY could have just learned to do what he did, but apparently they just weren't trying hard enough? If Ahsoka felt this way this entire time why wasn't she training up TONS of people in the Rebellion to utilize the Force, why was she HOBBLING the Rebellion by keeping this from them? It's just... SO so stupid in so many ways. Why does Filoni seem to think that fans want the space wizards to be LESS special? It's ridiculous and it's insulting.

I think that at this point we're also just VERY tired of Filoni's blatant favoritism for his own characters and the ways he very intentionally will bash other characters in order to lift up his own faves, and quite honestly THAT'S what pisses me off the most about the Ahsoka show. Sabine and Ahsoka can't be special on their own, they HAVE to call the prequels Jedi failures because they were elitist in order to make Sabine and Ahsoka seem like they're so much better and more enlightened than those OTHER Jedi. And that honestly just stinks of a lack of imagination on Filoni's part. If he can't figure out how to make these characters feel special without tearing down other characters in this franchise to do it, then maybe he's just not that good of a fucking writer to begin with.

So while I'm not PERSONALLY a fan of the way the Force is often very "soft" in the way it's written, that doesn't make it bad in and of itself, but Filoni (and the Mandoverse in general, but mostly Filoni) feels like he's actively flipping the bird at prior accepted assumptions about the worldbuilding and the way those things really helped build the NARRATIVE just because he wants to insist that HIS characters are NOT IRRELEVANT and are in fact more important and cooler than everybody else. When I consume a Star Wars story, I'm EXPECTING something about how it's better to accept and acknowledge your own darkness so you can let it go and control it rather than letting it control you. I'm EXPECTING something about being selfless and compassionate over being selfish and greedy. I'm EXPECTING something about how destiny exists but it isn't everything and your choices still MATTER (both good and bad). And that's just... not what Filoni gave me. The things he changed DON'T suit the narrative of Star Wars, regardless of whether the Force is a soft magic system or not.

#star wars #dave filoni critical #filoni critical #mandoverse critical #ahsoka show critical #anti ahsoka show #ahsoka tano #jedi #pro jedi #sabine wren critical #sabine critical #so for example: sabine being force sensitive COULD'VE been... fine #it still would've been STUPID to retcon her into a force user but it's not any stupider than bringing maul back in tcw #BUT #sabine being force sensitive SHOULD'VE still worked the same way it always works #she should've been born with it but for whatever reason just had been weak enough in it that no one noticed it or something #she should've had to learn to control her own emotions #she should've had CONSEQUENCES for her selfish choices #ahsoka should've been RIGHT about letting go of ezra the first time and sabine should've let AHSOKA go later #like making sabine force sensitive was (no pun intended) forced and always would've been so #but it still could've been done RIGHT without violating some of the primary themes that make star wars what it is

[lyrainworld]

Based of OG Ace Attorney cover, here's Leorio Paradinight crossover!

It was part of the HxH Game crossover event I 've decided to take part in.

If you want to learn more about this au, please click read more

About this au, some things are changed some stayed the same but just so you know, characters are kind of based on:

^Phoenix Wright - Leorio, aspiring defense lawyer, he wants to protect those whom people are averting their eyes from. He more or less willingly gets mentored by the stupidly smart brat Killlua who seems to know any law term and norm. They banter a lot but actually become decent friends.

^Maya Fey - Gon, a spiritualist of a world-renowed family Freecss with traditions. The rumors say they can contact the true spirit and connect with the netherworld. Has been saved by Leorio and Killua both, joins hands with them afterwards

^Edgewotrth - Kurapika, got mentored by the Zoldycks on how to become top prosecutor. He's utmost driven to not let any true criminal go unpunished. Gathers renown until the day he'll be able to catch Phantom Troupe and bring justice to the fallen, has a companionship with Killua bordering on sibiling bond

^Mia Fey and Franziska mix up - Killua, he has a pivotal role in leading Leorio's carier and actually becomes his mentor after triyng to cut off his ties to his inheritance as the Zoldyck heir, a true tycoon of the prosecution world. During trials if he decides to participate he takes on a role of a consultant.

As you can see, though Leorio is the titular attorney, Killua is the glue connecting everyone in here. But that just leaves all the more unresolved conflict because he hides the truth of his heritage. He found Leorio by chance and he got impressed by him after a second third take with the attitude he has, how it's not about money but bringing the truth to the table, pretty much opposite of the Zoldycks. I'm not good at writing but I'll try to say few things about their cases? It's more or less basing of "The Trilogy"but with the spin of HxH characters being themselves, it sure would reflect in the plot,

-A case about mysterious animal being spotted, the legendary Chimera Ant! Gon is a huge deal on this case because his spiritualist power call back to the wilderness and all the instinct one gets from it.A lot of logic/belief topic going on here and killugon spotlight

-A case of murder on the "Hunter X" movie plan, it's related to Gon because he was there to meet the main hero, Kite, his godfather. He gets roped into the investigation and is considered suspect for some time before

-Another case in which Gon is the main suspect. Since he's from family of spiritualists, vibing with the nature and otherworld. So when there's a case against him Killua is determined to find his innocence. Even if it means going against Kurapika. That's also the case that showcased Leorio and Kurapika's banter and whatnot so major old marriage leopika vibe

-There's a huge final case in which member of the PT's is murdered and who would have guessed, Kurapika is found bloodied on the crime scene. This is a very turnaround case because the one responsible for prosecuting it, is no one else but Killua after he disappeared (made a tactical retreat) from Leorio's side. Perhaps family pressure? Illumi blackmailing him? Being ashamed of 'tricking' Gon and Leorio and leaving Kurapika to deal with everything alone? All of the above, because now he stands against everyone he grew to be fond of. Eventually, the true killer gets found giving a chance to mend strained bonds, by joining hands in catching the real culprit all along that was hiding among the witnesses. The fake group member [wink] -Ps, Netero's just playing along for the trial's sake even if he's got the truth like way earlier, he's not naive, but likes seeing 'entertaining trial' as long as it's goes the right way eventually

-Leopika & killugon featured, all aged up, imagine lots and lots of banter and sexual tension in the court

That's it, thank you for reading my thoughts <3

#hunter x hunter #killua zoldyck #gon freecss #leorio paradinight #kurapika kurta #hxh #crossover #hxh crossover #ace attorney au #ace attorney crossover #my art #lyra archive #killua #gon #killugon #gonkillu #leopika #leorio #kurapika #i tried to draw #hxh game crossover

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

FLORA REINHOLD (PROFESSOR LAYTON)

1.) I MEAN WHERE DOES ONE START!

Okay so in the first game (curious village) she’s locked in a tower, cut off from civalisation because her dad died and he wants her to find a worthy suitor. Not a suitor her age, a suitor who’s nice just a suitor who can solve lots of puzzles. Flora is so ill equipped for the real world because of her father. AND her dad definately set up this marrage trap when she was under 10. I mean it’s a woman who’s left in a tower for a worthy suitor. She’s not even trusted to go into town alone! The town is full of clockwork people! No one is even real!

Then in the next game she’s left behind because mystery solving is just to much for her dainty self! So she sneaks on after them, claiming she doesnt, “want to be left all alone again”. In the same game she’s kidnapped, has her identity stolen and no one notices because her only characterisation is she likes pretty things and then when they finally do notice and find out she was abandoned in a barn no one cares! SHE’S IMMEDIATELY LEFT ALL ALONE AGAIN. :(

In the third game Professor Layton lies to her to give her the slip. He has never lied in the entire series but he lies to her because she couldnt take going on this latest adventure. She’s the only character to faint during time travel (which doesnt even make sense) and KEEPS GETTING LEFT ALONE. She’s even left in a cage with her kidnapper who’s apparently only helping them for Flora. I mean she’s deeply uncomfortable when she’s caged with him, no one gave her a heads up that she would be caged with him.

She’s the only female character with the professor in the main trillogy who isnt a housekeep or secutary and her only characterisation ever is she likes pretty things and cant cook.

Thw writers then go on to make Katrielle’s game. A game about the Professor’s daughter. Not Flora the person he took into his care this entirely new character. My argument on why she’s a victim of mysogony there is they wrote her in outdated form and upon reciving critisism decided to sweep her under the rug and replace her with other characters. >:(

2.) Shafted SO hard because the writer’s immediately didn’t have any more ideas about what to do with her. She was set up as a mysterious character in her first appearance, and actually had plot relevance and a lot of potential moving forward. (Light PL spoilers)

However! In the next game, the main character just immediately leaves her at home to ‘keep her safe’, despite bringing a boy younger than her with him. She follows them, gets to join their investigation for all of about maybe an hour of gameplay, and then is promptly kidnapped unceremoniously, and literally locked in a barn for the rest og the game. When the other characters realise she is missing, they do literally nothing and don’t go to collect her until the next day DURING THE GAME’S CREDITS.

In the next game, and the final one of the trilogy she appears in, the main character and his apprentice (once again, a boy younger than her) literally run away from her whilst she’s making them sandwiches. Just so they don’t have to bring her along. She’s also kidnapped AGAIN, and does absolutely nothing about it (doesn’t even attempt to struggle) so that the main character can come in and save her. :|

Additionally, she’s never put in any side material set in the right time frame for her to be there, including not even being MENTIONED in the spin-off sequel (although that game is weird about what references it makes anyway), except for the movie, where she’s in it to once again be told to stay behind, and she gets a single word long line.

A lot of people come out of these games complaining that Flora has no personality, because the writer’s were apparently so determined to keep her off-screen that it was easy for people to question what kind of a character she even is. (She has one, they just don’t show it often enough.)

3.) She is constantly left behind and treated like a little girl even though she’s older than Luke, while he is respected as Layton’s apprentice. They don’t even eat her sandwiches :( They also have a running joke of her being really bad at cooking, but that’s literally the only thing they let her do! She also gets kidnapped TWICE (that is, every game she’s in but the first one) and the first time she gets impersonated by the bad guy and NO ONE NOTICES for most of the game.

Also in the Japanese version she’s “of marriageable age” and apparently really wants to marry Layton when she’s older… and that’s one of her key character traits in that version. She has a really cool backstory but after the first game she’s reduced to “girl whining about how they leave her behind all the time”. It’s like they wanted to fridge her but realized they couldn’t do that to a little girl.

DEANNA TROI (STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION)

1.) Apparently, Deanna was originally intended to be TNG’s Spock replacement, a highly intelligent and rational character. Unfortunately, because she was a pretty woman, the decision was made to put her in a skin tight jumpsuit, at which point all that went out the window. Her actress has complained about this and is the source for her being originally intended to be similar to Spock but being written differently after the costume decision. She’s constantly being put through godawful plots where she’s victimized in ways that male characters - and even the other women who aren’t treated as sexy props - are not, she’s constantly being badgered to get married, she’s constantly being given love interests who there’s no reason whatsoever for her to be interested in.There was one scene where she had to eat ice cream and she kept having to spit it out off screen because the outfit they put her in was so tight she couldn’t eat. She’s an interesting character who is frequently relegated to sexy lamp status even though when she IS written well she is very competent and has skills no one else on the crew has. She literally gets teleported out of her clothes in one episode. Justice for Deanna

2.) She is an underused and underdeveloped character compared to her male counterparts. She is the only character who wears a deep-cleavage suit instead of a standard Starfleet uniform (thankfuly she does wear an uniform in latest seasons). Whenever she gets more screentime it’s only to have her body or mind violated. She is a psychologist with empathy powers, but it feels like writers didn’t really know what a counselor is for in a futuristic spaceship full of men who don’t go to therapy, so she barely has anything to do except having her powers conveniently blocked, weakened or taken away by alien of the week.

I love her because she was such a sweet, caring and intelligent character, but the writers clearly wanted her to be a hot babe of the show.

Saving grace: she really does improve in the laters seasons.

3.) She is mostly relegated to being a potted plant or a sexy lamp. She is supposed to be an empath, but mostly she gets to go “captain, i think he might be lying” about characters who everyone can see are definitely lying. AND everyone else in the show gets to wear a uniform and she doesnt for NO REASON untill the second to last season of the show (and even then it isnt Her Choice, but a man makes her do it) (and the female uniform is a catsuit for no reason, the male uniform is. a shirt and pants at this point). OH and maybe 75% or her plotlines are either men assaulting her in some way or another

#polls #round 2 #week 3 #new

[warsamongthestars]

ON CHIPS AND CROSSES

Crosshair's episodes are always a treat.

But, they're under cut by one of the largest issues with the Bad Batch Show, and that's the Chip.

( Warning, we're about to hit hard on some heavy shit. Reader discretion is advised. )

The Inhibitor Chip already has a very important slot in Star Wars lore. Its the very reason for Order 66 and the massacre of the Jedi, one of the largest backstory elements of the OG Trilogy, and the end result of the Prequels.

It was discovered by the character "Fives", who, introduced in Season 1, was one of the biggest Audience Surrogate Characters for the Clones' side of the War--even outpacing Captain Rex in this case. Both him and Echo.

( So it makes Thematic sense to have Echo as a main character in a Clonecentric Show, because he is an Audience Surrogate Character, and the only surviving one out of the Clone Wars Show--which makes his character neglect all that much more worse in TBB )

As something like the Inhibitor Chip does not exist in real life, there are several elements of imaginative fiction and real life that come into play with its concept.

Brain Tumor (Real Life)

Altered State of Consciousness caused by External Factors (Real Life)

Non-consentual substance-induction which causes Consciousness / Behavior alteration (Also known as "Being Drugged") (Real Life)

Mind Control (Fiction)

Possession by Exterior Force (Fiction)

Possession by Interior Force (Fiction)

Any kind of fucking Possession that involves overriding consciousness (Fiction)

Most of these elements, especially the Real Life ones, already put a character under that situation that clearly states "cannot be responsible for judgement calls" / "is not of sound mind".

The prior show, The Clone Wars, took steps to show and explain the chip and what it does.

It's entire purpose, narrative-wise, was to avoid the situation of "The Clone Troopers were complacent in Genocide". As well as the induced plothole that such a circumstance would cause. Because the Clone Troopers were being developed as individuals, who merely in poor circumstances and making the best of it (as real people tend to do), as opposed to indoctrinated disposable soldiers who were little better than Stormtroopers.

( Even my younger self pointed out to Revenge of the Sith and went "Hang on, I thought they were friends! It must be a Darkside Trick that caused these friends to do that! All the Anime Says So!" )

So.

You have this Brain Tumor that drastically alters the behavior of someone, and in this case, its a specifically-programmed tumor that ensures certain behaviors.

The Bad Batch Show even walks us through the scene. It does so clumsily, because it seems to never want to have any kind of serious discussions ever, but it still takes the steps to do so.

And one of those steps is Enhancing the "programming" of one Crosshair's chip.

It "grew".

I don't know about anyone else, but this scene is kind of an odd Grinch moment, where his "tumor" grew "Three fucking sizes that day". Life Day is gods damn Doomed.

Then, we get to spend the season without Crosshair.

Then the moment we meet Crosshair again, reunited (and it feels so fucked up), he says that the Chip was removed, and refuses to elaborate how, why, and implies that all he did was his own choices.

... even though, as I pointed out above, that is not the case. The very show itself even makes it a point that its not only not the case--but that Crosshair got the Super Tumor instead.

But since then, the show has made it a point to forgive every Clone but Crosshair, and then ignores the fact that it gave Crosshair the super tumor, something that is in recording, something that I have clearly caught a part of in picture--and instead, places all of Crosshair's actions on himself, and even Rides an Arc of "Redemption" for his "judgement".

( Even though, the act of removing a Super Tumor in this case, would still have the Super attached. If you Super Something in a story, that means you have to take the extra steps to handle the Super part in order to keep relevance and impact. )

It has even ignored the one person that is, thematically and narratively, related to a story like this--Echo, who has had the Most Extreme Variant of this theme (from fictional cyborgification to the real life "non-consensual body alteration").

Whatever the hell the Bad Batch Show is doing and has done, it has done it damnedest to utterly destroy any impact, to the cost of the characters, the story, the significance, their legacy, and more.

#star wars #star wars the clone wars #star wars the bad batch #the clone wars #the bad batch #the inhibitor chip #analysis

[crimsonxe]

FF7 Rebirth spoilers below the cut:

I don't have a clue wtf just went on with Cloud deflecting Masamune but also not leading to Aerith's death but not. Its a such a bullshit thing that tries to have its cake and eat it too; but at least the other Aerith is still technically alive waiting to be woken up in one of the multiple worlds. And I guess "ghost Aerith" is technically still around too. Regardless to the "Aerith has to die" crowd: FUCK YOU. The reality is that she didn't actually need to die, there's not a damn thing that required that outside of edgelord incel shitbags that have a death kink. Which ironically fucking enough the ending of Rebirth even backs up cause there's even fucking LESS shown as to why she died. She sure as hell isn't going to be stopping Meteor nor would that require her dying; instead she does so because incel shitbags wanted it & the OG game did it. Interesting originality be fucked, instead stick to the same goddamn bad end route bullshit as the OG game. I'll stick around to see the trilogy finished, but I'm openly stating now that I'm 1/3rd checked the fuck out. Also just going to put this out there: don't even mention Cloti anywhere near me cause that's been thoroughly ruined and I don't look forward to whatever happens in part 3. And just ftr no I'm not a Clerith and actually ship Cloti in OG, but not in the R-trilogy where Aerti has shined far more via their closeness.

Hope it was worth it writers, you had the chance to actually do an interesting alternate route that rewards people that have been hoping for a "good end route" and who liked/loved Remake for its unique interesting new storyline. But instead chose to throw it away in such a bullshit manner to appeal/line up with the same shitheads that bashed Remake for daring to do its own thing; or to repeat the same goddamn story as before rather than forge a new path. And I can't stress enough how the way it was done is such a shitty ass manner. Either Cloud deflects Sephiroth's sword and Aerith lives or he fucking doesn't and she dies; either fate is changeable or its not; either there's a multiverse of unlimited potentials including Aerith living or there isn't; etc. Fuck 5% of Rebirth, the other 95% is great. Such a goddamn waste. If Nomura is the one responsible for Remake's "fuck Fate, let's make our own path" aspect, then plz let him be the main one heading up Part 3 to try to course correct back from the betrayal of the concept that Rebirth's last 5% did. Show the timeline where Cloud did indeed save Aerith and have that Aerith join the team; have them break Fate instead of treating it as some immutable thing cause fuck that; and no more bullshit like having someone block a strike then having the story backhand via shitty ass reality rewrites (a la Masamune stuck in the ground to the side from an unharmed Aerith that suddenly is reality warped to have blood on it and Aerith being hit with a phantom stabbing cause "Fate"). I'll easily take Remake's vision over Rebirth's last 5% (I have to stress this cause 95% of Rebirth is fantastic, its only the last 5% that is incel edgelord nihilistic garbage to justify killing off a character cause "that's what happened in OG".

And let me be clear on this: my anger isn't where it should be which at Sephiroth as the one that did the deed as the villain aka proper narrative writing. My anger instead is aimed at the bullshit method of how it was done, which isn't how a narrative should come across. All I see if the very blatantly check off box that was bent to reach. Remake was 95% good, 5% mindblowing and getting me heavily invested; Rebirth 95% great, 5% bullshit and throwing away an entire section of investment. I really am having to work to give a shit about the remaining characters, cause the writing's failing caused that level of collapse.

Since this is the rant post: While I give credit for mostly shying away from sexist incel tropes in regards to the femme characters; don't even think for a second I didn't notice the little things that are there still. Shiva having jiggle physics; and even Tifa being hit with them during particular side quests. Edit: So from what I've gathered the main case of Tifa having them is a matter of you're expected to have her swimsuit on at that point, instead of her regular one; so while still annoying cause jiggle physic shouldn't be there at all its at least not in defiance of her sports bra that'd be more egregious.

I'm fucking done.

The really infuriating part is that I'd STILL give Rebirth like an 8/10 or even 9/10; cause as I've repeatedly mentioned 95% is just THAT damn good.

#final fantasy vii rebirth #final fantasy 7 rebirth #ff7 rebirth #ffvii rebirth #spoilers #rant

[2dou]

im keeping this out of the main tag and under a read more bc op asked for no spoilers for the games that come after aa4 but. oh my god

crying laughing I'm so sorry op. I'm so so sorry. none of that shit ever comes up again

this is a big part of why i dislike dd and soj; like. Capcom asked takumi to make More Ace Attorney after he finished phoenixs story, made him include Phoenix, and then Completely Sidelined everything aa4 setup just to make phoenix wright a main character again while also Regressing back to his og trilogy characterization. literally finishing aa5 and aa6 was like this for me

#shoosh vale #imagine.

[kitkatt0430]

Wedge, Lando, Mara Jade, and Chewbacca for the character bingo!

Wedge:

I know Wedge best from the X-Wing books I've read and a few other Legends books here and there. And I always get SOOOOO excited to see him pop up in the books. Usually leading Rogue Squad. Except when he's leading Wraith Squad.

He is absolutely the reasonable adult in the room and accidentally dad to his Rogue & Wraith squads. But oh, he gets the angst as bad as anyone who gets main character status in the extended Star Wars universe. At least one of his love interests is murdered :( poor dear.

He has to put up with being tangentially associated to Jedi nonsense through multiple characters - most notably Luke Skywalker and Corran Horn - but because he's a good friend and a good person to have your back in a crisis, he never complains. They're his people, he's gonna be there for them.

Lando:

He's a con man turned legit business owner, though it's a different business every time I check in on him in Legends. lol

So he spends some time in Legends dating Mara Jade. This is later retconned into the two of them going under cover with fake dating to do some recon and Mara was probably plotting his murder the entire time. Though she only wore his clothes (better than him) and probably stole a few of the man's true love interests (his cloaks). But Lando definitely sees himself as the suave playboy, which I enjoy about him so much. (Leia/Han/Lando please???)

Lando is often the adult in the room. He has no idea how this happened and is in perpetual fake it 'til you make it mode when it happens. I love this about him and I'm always excited to see him get put in a situation. Especially when Han and/or Leia are involved. And if he gets whumped... ;)

He introduced Luke to hot chocolate, canonically (Legends), and I adore that because he looked at this Jedi of growing legendariness and accurately diagnosed him with 'perpetually a farmboy at heart'.

Mara Jade:

Ah, my favorite Emperor's Hand, given the final mandate of killing Luke Skywalker upon the Emperor's death. Quite likely my favorite of Timothy's Zahn's Star Wars OCs, (though Karrde and Thrawn are close seconds) and she is absolutely a bit feral. Cryptid energy absolutely.

I adore that she spends so much of the Thrawn Trilogy (Legends) being driven by the Emperor's final command to kill Luke while also fighting it pretty hard while Luke is just, like... batting his eyes and going 'is this friendship? This is friendship. Leia, look at my new bestie!!!' (While Leia watches in bemusement before heading off on her own weird adventure. While being a badass pregnant woman the whole time.)

She is a trouble magnet in much the same vein as Luke too. Which is fun. I'd say she's an unapologetically Mary Sue character, which is well done here. She's a nuanced character with flaws, no one seems sure why they like her at first but she grows on them while she's actively fighting them growing on her too, and she is absolutely the one with the brain cell on Karrde's bridge every time he pulls some crazy stunt.

She's the only love interest Luke has that I don't wind up getting bored with, so it's convenient that she's the one he actually marries... and the way they go about it is they're besties and not romantic at all, but then realize that they're just... happier together and they get married once they're out of danger. Married QPPs anyone???

If not autistic then Mara definitely has some kind of neurodivergence going on, she has that ND putting up with nonsense energy so hard.

Chewbacca:

I love Chewbacca so much. Definitely can do no wrong. Oldest character on the OG main cast, fought alongside Yoda in the clone wars, taken from his home to be enslaved, rescued by this idiot child (Han) whom he becomes a parental/older sibling to because goodness knows Han would get himself killed once a week without Chewie there looking after him.

He's definitely playing up the Wookie stereotypes on occasion for the fun of it, exuding cryptid energy in the process. Is he feral? Is he just playing on stereotypes to win at space-chess? C-3PO & R2 would certainly prefer not to find out the answer.

#thanks for asking :D #blorbo bingo #kitkatt0430 answers #star wars #wedge antilles #lando calrissian #mara jade #chewbacca

[professional-sephiroth-scrungler]

I finally finished rebirth! Here is my unsolicited review cause i don’t want to melt my brother’s ear drums with my rambling

First off, Rebirth is a wonderful game. It’s not perfect by any means but it’s still great. The graphics are stunning, the soundtrack is absolutely amazing, and all the issues i had with story flow and confusion in the OG are basically fixed.

Story: I’ve got so much to say but thats mostly theories so i’ll keep it brief. I love where they are taking things. They’ve done a wonderful job of blending the OG story with the new stuff and the new directions its going. We arent really gonna full know whats happening until its all wrapped up but I am here for it!

Gameplay: its a good improvement on what they did for the first part. I however, have slow reflexes with the bumper and trigger buttons so they milliseconds they give you to block for immunity is not great for me. Dodging around is really fun though

Side quests/world intel: the side quests and world intel are hit or miss for me. Most of the stuff that doesn’t enhance the story, give lore, or deepen character relationships feels like a chore sometimes. Getting all the lifesprings, phenomenons, summon alters, and intel fights is repetitive and annoying sometimes but its easy to fall into the groove of if you have something playing in the background for the dull bits and running around the world to get to another story/side story beat.

Characters: Wonderful, amazing, exceptionally characterized. The nuances of the cast have been fleshed out a lot and it’s great. Even with their limited screen time, Vincent and Cid have so much substance and i am extremely excited to see where the story takes them. No, i am not ignoring one character in particular, what do you mean? None of the characters have made me seethe and mald at all and make me want to stop playing because of how annoying they are! And im definitely not afraid of the wrath my opinion of the character will bring if i say who! … Fuck it.

Yuffie: Yuffie definitely has more character than in OG and has sure been fleshed out since Intergrade… In the sense they took the happy go lucky, hyper, materia obsessed kid and multiplied it by 1000. It doesn’t help that she is also inserted into situations she 100% does not belong in. What could have been bonding moments for Aerith, Tifa, Barret, or Nanaki, what would’ve fit well in those situations, have Yuffie instead. And it seems her story is not until part 3 so why is she here so much? During tense or sad moments, she says stuff that ruins the vibe or is just irritating. Many time, she would say something during the story, and right after i would think that the moment would’ve been 10 times better if she was not inserting herself into it. Sometimes it feels like the writers are partially writing her as the main character when in the OG, she was an optional side character. Its not to say its all bad, she can have some funny moments. Except those where near when she just joins the party and the more those “silly moments” happen, the more grating they become. I hope that whenever her story arc happens in part 3 or a dlc (god i hope not a dlc the game is already $70), she has some growth and mellows back at least a bit. But who knows, maybe this is just a personal thing and she is actually a fine character. If you like her, thats fine. In the end, her character just isn’t for me and i just dont understand. These were just things that annoyed me personally and if you are fine or like how much more Yuffie there is in the remake trilogy, thats perfectly ok. Anyways

Expectations vs Reality: my only real gripe with the advertising is around Sephiroth and him being called a “protagonist” and supposedly us learning more about him in some english translations ive seen of interviews. I don’t quite understand where the protagonist thing came from. He is still very much the penultimate antagonist. But i expected to at least be able to read some in the manor about his childhood and play as him in combat a bit more. Maybe some TFS promo material got mixed up in my brain. If not, the best i can come up with from where the protagonist thing came from is that Sephiroth believes he is the protagonist, that he is doing the right thing, that he is the hero saving the planet and all other worlds through his twisted vision. And i guess through that, we have learned a lot about his motivations now and how he currently sees things. Not the backstory stuff i was hoping fore, but still really cool to see and analyze.

Over all, i would say Rebirth is an 8.5/10 for me. Some stuff dragged, was fluffed out a bit much in parts and such but over all a great game!

Actually, no. Sephiroth didn’t fast ball a materia at us in the basement. Maybe that will happen in Part 3. But that loss makes it a 0/10. RIP baseballiroth

#final fantasy 7 #ffvii #ff7 #final fantasy vii #ff7r #ffvii rebirth #ffvii rebirth review #my thoughts #final fantasy vii rebirth #mostly serious review except for the last part #please dont come for my throat yuffie fans #ff7 rebirth #final fantasy 7 rebirth #final fantasy vii remake #ffvii remake #review

[teecupangel]

I've been dying to read Desmond's adventure in star wars, but all fics i found were not finished ; (

Could you give me some inspiration plzzzzz

You’ve probably already read this but just in case, esama’s Sailing the Stars is complete so if you want a Desmond-centric fic set during the Clone Wars, go check that out.

So I was thinking where I would punt Desmond into the Star Wars ‘verse and a part of me wants to punt him during KOTOR’s storyline just because that is my favorite Star Wars game (also, just imagine Desmond being mistaken as Darth Revan with amnesia???) but then I realized after checking AO3 that most seem to be set during the prequel trilogy + clone wars so… may I suggest…

Desmond getting punted into the Star Wars OG Trilogy timeline? XD

In this setup, Desmond could wake up on some random planet and he’s just trying to get back to Earth but no one seems to know where and what Earth is (unless we count non-canon but sssshhhh, let’s make it a mystery).

So Desmond does what he does best, he starts gathering information and keeping himself afloat by stealing from the rich.

Now, to ensure he gets sucked into the main plot, we can do the following:

Desmond gets in contact with Han Solo who suggests he joins the Millenium Falcon after Han realizes Desmond has a knack for seeing danger before it approaches and he suggests that Desmond would have a better chance of finding this ‘Earth’ planet of his if he joins them since they do travel everywhere.

Desmond has the habit of being a stowaway whenever he wanted to go off-planet and the Millenium Falcon was simply the next ship he boarded. Old Ben is the one who noticed him when he was just hiding and waiting for Han to finish his business in Tatooine because Desmond didn’t really feel like getting sand all over.

Desmond ends up owning the cantina where Han ends up shooting Greedo and he goes on the run because that incident caused the Imperial soldiers to snoop around the cantina and Desmond, technically, owned the cantina… sorta illegally… So he hitched a ride on the Millenium Falcon since he figured Han owed him… without anyone knowing he was even there until Old Ben saw him.

Unorganized Notes:

Desmond has been assassinating the really bad ones on whichever planet he’s been on. That’s why he mainly hitches rides. On the other hand, if he was the owner of the cantina, he had taken over the cantina to have a ‘base of operation’ while gathering information he can use as part of his plan to assassinate Jabba the Hutt.

Desmond could totally be a Jedi if you want him to be but anyone who trains him will notice the darkness inside him. While he’s mostly chill, he’s an Assassin and that means he would be willing to use anything to finish his mission and survive. He won’t be tempted by the dark side though. It would be more like… he can control the dark side… but that makes him dangerous.

Desmond and Luke would have a more or less brother-like friendship. He could easily influence Luke to be less honorable though, especially if he stays with Luke during the whole ‘Yoda training’ part of his character arc.

On the other hand, Desmond and Han would have a more of ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ kind of business relationship that would thaw to a bash brothers type. He, Han, and Chewie share one brain cell and it bounces off each of them. If Desmond had joined them before the start of the trilogy’s story, Desmond would be their lookout and their ‘bodyguard’. He’s fine with all the smuggling as people do need to eat but… if a really bad person dies during one of their runs, well… Han will definitely say ‘no love lost’.

Desmond and Leia would start with snark-to-snark combat which would later turn to respect and trust. If Desmond stayed with Leia and Han’s side of the storyline instead of Luke’s, he’d be more of the shadow of the rebellion.

Desmond will definitely build a Brotherhood during the rebellion and they would be more into clandestine and guerilla tactics. He and Leia won’t always see eye to eye but Leia knows that Desmond’s plans would benefit the rebellion.

Desmond doesn’t see Leia as a princess. She’s a leader of the Rebellion first and foremost and Desmond definitely hides whenever the topic of making him and the Brotherhood officially part of the Rebellion comes up.

If Desmond learns about Darth Vadar’s true relationship with both Luke and Leia, he would have flashbacks of Haytham and, since he doesn’t know who Anakin Skywalker truly was, he would warn Luke that ‘Some people cannot be reasoned with nor can they be saved.’, hoping that Luke wouldn’t feel the same pain Ratonhnhaké:ton felt after killing Haytham.

He would still be glad to learn he had been wrong after Luke tells him how Anakin Skywalker saved him in the end and tell Luke that at least he had a ‘less shitty dad’ than Desmond.

Ben/Jacen would probably end up as an Assassin with Uncle Desmond instead of a Sith… just saying.

#anakin solo can be whatever he wants though #for those who don’t know #in the expanded universe (or whatever they’re calling it nowadays) #leia and han had three children: jaina jacen and anakin #idk #assassins feels more sith-ish than jedi-ish for me #desmond would definitely want a lightsaber though lol #assassin's creed #desmond miles #teecup writes/has a plot #fic idea: assassin's creed #ask and answer #fic idea: star wars #fic idea: crossover

[crisiscutie]

The story of FF7 is not only about Cloud. It's about Cloud, Aerith, and Sephiroth. The developers always state this is damn near every interview. Lastly, that interview about Sephiroth being the most evil was from an interview a while back. I find it interesting how people in this fandom can never make up their mind about Sephiroth. When he's being evil it's a problem, when there's talk about redemption there's a problem. Chile...

Yet Cloud's character arc is the most pivotal among all the main characters in OG FF7. His sheer presence and the bonds he forges with other characters drive their stories forward, as well as his personal development. Even 7R Sephiroth knows this! It's why he tries to break Cloud much sooner to secure his victory. In the 7R trilogy, the devs did acknowledge Sephiroth as a potential protagonist after Cloud for Rebirth, as his actions in the story are incredibly important. But I didn't hear anyone else being called a protagonist.

And isn't it normal for people to engage in debates/ponder about the morality of a complex character? Sounds like Sephiroth is doing a great job to generate such discussions and reactions. What is exactly the problem with that?

#sephiroth #final fantasy 7 #ff7 sephiroth #ff7 #cloud strife #final fantasy vii #ffviir #ffvii

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

FLORA REINHOLD (PROFESSOR LAYTON)

1.) I MEAN WHERE DOES ONE START!

Okay so in the first game (curious village) she's locked in a tower, cut off from civalisation because her dad died and he wants her to find a worthy suitor. Not a suitor her age, a suitor who's nice just a suitor who can solve lots of puzzles. Flora is so ill equipped for the real world because of her father. AND her dad definately set up this marrage trap when she was under 10. I mean it's a woman who's left in a tower for a worthy suitor. She's not even trusted to go into town alone! The town is full of clockwork people! No one is even real!

Then in the next game she's left behind because mystery solving is just to much for her dainty self! So she sneaks on after them, claiming she doesnt, "want to be left all alone again". In the same game she's kidnapped, has her identity stolen and no one notices because her only characterisation is she likes pretty things and then when they finally do notice and find out she was abandoned in a barn no one cares! SHE'S IMMEDIATELY LEFT ALL ALONE AGAIN. :(

In the third game Professor Layton lies to her to give her the slip. He has never lied in the entire series but he lies to her because she couldnt take going on this latest adventure. She's the only character to faint during time travel (which doesnt even make sense) and KEEPS GETTING LEFT ALONE. She's even left in a cage with her kidnapper who's apparently only helping them for Flora. I mean she's deeply uncomfortable when she's caged with him, no one gave her a heads up that she would be caged with him.

She's the only female character with the professor in the main trillogy who isnt a housekeep or secutary and her only characterisation ever is she likes pretty things and cant cook.

Thw writers then go on to make Katrielle's game. A game about the Professor's daughter. Not Flora the person he took into his care this entirely new character. My argument on why she's a victim of mysogony there is they wrote her in outdated form and upon reciving critisism decided to sweep her under the rug and replace her with other characters. >:(

2.) Shafted SO hard because the writer's immediately didn't have any more ideas about what to do with her. She was set up as a mysterious character in her first appearance, and actually had plot relevance and a lot of potential moving forward. (Light PL spoilers)

However! In the next game, the main character just immediately leaves her at home to 'keep her safe', despite bringing a boy younger than her with him. She follows them, gets to join their investigation for all of about maybe an hour of gameplay, and then is promptly kidnapped unceremoniously, and literally locked in a barn for the rest og the game. When the other characters realise she is missing, they do literally nothing and don't go to collect her until the next day DURING THE GAME'S CREDITS.

In the next game, and the final one of the trilogy she appears in, the main character and his apprentice (once again, a boy younger than her) literally run away from her whilst she's making them sandwiches. Just so they don't have to bring her along. She's also kidnapped AGAIN, and does absolutely nothing about it (doesn't even attempt to struggle) so that the main character can come in and save her. :|

Additionally, she's never put in any side material set in the right time frame for her to be there, including not even being MENTIONED in the spin-off sequel (although that game is weird about what references it makes anyway), except for the movie, where she's in it to once again be told to stay behind, and she gets a single word long line.

A lot of people come out of these games complaining that Flora has no personality, because the writer's were apparently so determined to keep her off-screen that it was easy for people to question what kind of a character she even is. (She has one, they just don't show it often enough.)

3.) She is constantly left behind and treated like a little girl even though she's older than Luke, while he is respected as Layton's apprentice. They don't even eat her sandwiches :( They also have a running joke of her being really bad at cooking, but that's literally the only thing they let her do! She also gets kidnapped TWICE (that is, every game she's in but the first one) and the first time she gets impersonated by the bad guy and NO ONE NOTICES for most of the game.

Also in the Japanese version she's "of marriageable age" and apparently really wants to marry Layton when she's older… and that's one of her key character traits in that version. She has a really cool backstory but after the first game she's reduced to "girl whining about how they leave her behind all the time". It's like they wanted to fridge her but realized they couldn't do that to a little girl.

AGENT SOUTH DAKOTA (RED VS BLUE)

1.) She literally got shot in the head and then her body was blown up for shooting someone in the back (who didn't even die - and as a way to save herself from dying) for comparison Wash (a dude) literally killed one of the main cast members (Donut - he ended up living later but he was like at deaths door and survived pure will) for no reason other that to prove that he was serious about killing them and he gets seasons long redemption arcs

2.) she's portrayed as an arrogant, aggressive, incompetent, savage bitch with zero character depth or thoughts to her motivation

#polls #round 1 #week 1 #new

[ceaselxss]

//As the credits roll I'll give my quick, overarching reaction to the game

I have the same line of thought regarding most remakes - they don't erase the original game. You can dislike all of this game, and you still have OG 7, untouched. It's not just a remaster, they're going to do things differently.

I love this game, its gorgeous and its interesting and its fun. I think its okay for a game to be confusing, i think its okay for things to be vague and not spoon fed - especially because this is very very much a middle piece. It's setting up the finale; its going to offer questions to be answered, its going to build up concepts to be explored in the next game. I tend to find middle segments to be the least satisfying of most trilogy setups; books, games, movie, ect.

That said, I do feel like it fell short in a few places. Something I liked about Remake was that it felt like it heavily acknowledged the side material for 7. Characters exclusively from the novels, connections to Crisis Core, to Dirge of Cerberus. That fell off heavily in Rebirth, at least for the main storyline. You can somewhat see it in the world building but after Remake and with the release of Ever Crisis and Crisis Core Reunion, I was expecting more connections. Putting Zack in the focus, acknowledging Crisis Core existing, I wish he just once mentioned Angeal. I had hoped for Genesis after Intergrade; but not even the Tsviets came up again outside of Yuffie's trauma. And yet they love their First SOLDIER...

Even Cissnei's existance felt quite lacking.

I think some of the characterisation of the party was rough, Aerith in particular which is hard when she's one of the ones you need to care about the most. Similarly, I agree with Moogle that Roche would hit a lot harder if he had more characterisation

I think a lot of the changes they made are based around common knowledge changing; all the things that were reveals in the original are known by the fandom now. FF7 is THE final fantasy. Even if you're barely in any nerd spaces, you know who Sephiroth is, you know who Cloud is. Cloud's memories being fucked, the fact that he isn't a SOLDIER, Jenova not being Cetra, a lot of the things they changed are just because these things aren't a twist anymore. They're just parts of a story most fans know.

It's not a perfect game and it feels very much like a middle part, which is all to be expected.

I love this game. I am disappointed by a few things, but overall, I will remain hopeful for the third one.

#rebirth spoilers

[jackoshadows]

I do remember that GRRM said he wants the books to have a bittersweet ending like Lord of the Rings. Okay Lord of the Rings… the only Fellowship member who died was Boromir. The reason the ending was bittersweet was because sweet: Sauron was finally defeated for good, Aragorn became King like he was born to be, the Hobbits were recognized as heroes of Middle Earth, peace was restored. But bitter: Frodo’s wound never fully healed, the Fellowship was ended and they went their separate ways, Frodo and Gandalf and Bilbo and the Elves all leave Middle Earth never to return (man Gandalf saying goodbye always makes me cry). Perfect bittersweet. Which makes me think… GRRM won’t have any of the Key Five die (Dany, Jon, Arya, Bran, and Tyrion). Sweet: They will become the heroes of the Realm as the ones who played a huge part in destroying the Others. And they’ll survive and be able to live good lives. But bitter because they’re gonna have trauma to deal with forever, many of the people they knew died, and it will be a LONG time before Westeros and Essos are back to normal. I do not know if Jon and Dany will become King and Queen like I want but that would be part of the sweet. Still if they all survive, the Key Five, that’s really all I need. And I know Jonsas won’t be stopping with their bs but I would take immense pleasure knowing that they were wrong and their dumb theories were all proven false

@whitedragonwolf4961 Sorry for replying to your ask after a looooong time!

So yeah, I personally think that the key 5 will survive. I base this off the story so far in five books and also on GRRM's leaked 1993 original outline for the story, considering he has always insisted that he is heading towards his 1991 ending.

In the leaked outline, all of the key five survive. GRRM admits to using main characters like Ned, Robb and Catelyn to get the readers thinking that anyone can die while there's a set of characters - the key 5 - who will make it through all of the OG trilogy.

And yes, what would make it bittersweet would be the deaths of loved ones, friends and family, the large scale destruction that they would need to rebuild, their ongoing trauma - they have all gone through so much in these 5 books - the sacrifices they would need to make, the compromises. In that sense it's not going to be wholly happy - they are not going to come out in the end unscathed. Jon Snow has even died and we don't even know what version is coming back!!

And remember, reform and change is a major aspect of these characters:

Five central characters will make it through all three volumes, however, growing from children to adults and CHANGING THE WORLD and themselves in the process. In a sense, my trilogy is almost a generational saga, telling the life stories of these five characters, three men and two women. The five key players are Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, and three of the children of Winterfell, Arya, Bran, and the bastard Jon Snow. All of them are introduced at some length in the chapters you have to hand.

The Key 5 have big political arcs, are involved in major events and are proactively in control of their own subplots in the books. The youngsters in particular - Dany, Jon, Arya and Bran - are angry about injustice and want to change how things are always done. Dany and Jon have big leadership arcs which are particularly about reforming city states and institutions. Arya's arc with the smallfolk is about her connection with them and the injustice they are facing. As Prince of Winterfell, Bran's empathy for his bastard brother Jon Snow means he signals that Lord Hornwood's bastard can be heir to the Hornwood lands.

I think that's the difference between the previous generation and the current one is that now our main characters don't look past terrible stuff happening and justify it in the name of 'I didn't know' while looking the other way or 'The oaths make it so I should let bad things happen' or 'This is how it's always been so let it happen'. They look past class and gender barriers and do things differently.

And after the Long Night, is when major reform and rebuilding needs to happen. Westeros needs leaders who are angry about what the smallfolk are experiencing, who put the people first, who have the leadership experience to rebuild and reform, in administration and politics and diplomacy, who can build bridges and enact laws - and GRRM has written all that for the key 5.

If they die at the end, then what's the point? So yes, they are very much surviving - in some form or other - though I suspect there will be a lot of sacrifice and compromise that will indeed be very bitter, precisely because good leaders/rulers care about the realm.

#ask