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svsss-fanon-exposed · 1 month

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Exposing SVSSS Fanon: 25/∞

VIOLENCE AS COURTSHIP IS A PART OF DEMON CULTURE

Rating: CANON

A nearly universal trope, especially in Moshang fics, is the fact that courtship is performed through violence in demon culture, and that the misunderstandings between the pair are because of cultural differences. The fact that demons mistreat the targets of their affection is canon, however, it is important for fans to note that this sort of characterization and worldbuilding is rooted in racial and ethnic stereotypes.

This is one of the most-requested topics I've ever written on this blog, and I took a long time to think about how best to approach the subject in a way that both keeps to the intention of this blog (referencing canon & providing quotes) as well as raising awareness to the very real problematic aspects of what is a well-loved and often-used trope in fanon that I don't think most western fans are aware of.

First, the canon analysis:

“If you hold unique feelings for a certain person, how can you make them understand your intentions?” Luo Binghe asked. Obviously, no one dared to tear down Luo Binghe’s facade and expose him directly, but this question was really very…unsuited to the demonic approach. After a long moment, not a single person had answered. In fact, the answer was so simple that any normal human could have given it to you. If you liked someone, you should just tell them. Unfortunately, there was not a single “normal” person on the scene—and aside from Shang Qinghua, there also were no “humans” either. Mobei-Jun thought about it. With the paths his mind was given to take, there was no telling how he had interpreted “unique” feelings. “Beat them up three times a day?” (7 Seas, Ch. 26)

Most of the fandom remembers this passage, and some may think that this is where the interpretation of violence as courtship comes from-- however, that is not the case. This passage might actually not refer to courtship at all-- while that is one possible interpretation, Mobei-jun could also be interpreting "unique feelings" to mean something different than "romantic feelings," since Luo Binghe didn't specify romance directly.

The "violent demonic courtship" idea actually originates much earlier in the novel, just after the invasion of Qiong Ding Peak:

In truth, Shen Qingqiu didn’t intend to tease; he thought himself very straightforward. The one who’d tampered with Luo Binghe’s dream realm was Sha Hualing. Though she did have some harmful intentions, her underlying motive was obvious. Naturally, she was driven by a young girl’s secret yearning for love. Otherwise, she would have directed her aggressions toward others, not specifically Luo Binghe. Demons were compelled to viciously bully the person they liked. Only if the object of their affections failed to die would the demon accept them. If their target died, that meant they were useless and not worth nursing any lingering affections for. (7 Seas, Ch. 3)

This, in fact, has somewhat more serious connotations than the way I have often seen it interpreted in fanworks-- it is not merely beating up a potential partner, but pushing them to their limits, nearly driving them to death, and it is certainly implied that it is not uncommon for the object of a demon's affections to actually die.

Now that the canonical basis of the idea has been established, let us move on to the second, and arguably more important part of this post: the racism.

I would like to add a disclaimer here-- I am going to discuss this in hopes of raising more awareness in the fandom, but I am not North/West/Central Asian myself, so I will only mention things in brief and somewhat generally-- if anyone who belongs to the affected cultures would like to make corrections, or more detailed explanations, or any other additions to this post on this topic, I greatly welcome that, as I feel it is an important issue that should be addressed.

In Chinese fiction, particularly fantasy genres like xianxia/xuanhuan/xiuzhen, but also in historical and wuxia fiction, there is a pervasive, prevalent tendency for authors to use racial and ethnic stereotypes against Central, Northern, and Western Asian cultures such as Mongolian & Arab cultures in their worldbuilding regarding the North, while stereotypes against Southeast Asian cultures are used in worldbuilding regarding the South. These stereotypes are most typically applied to villains and villainous groups, and are so widespread as to be ubiquitous within the genre. MXTX has used these tropes before-- notably with the Banyue people in TGCF, with adaptations of both TGCF and MDZS including design stereotypes, such as CQL's portrayal of the Qinghe Nie (combining their tendency toward violence and 'unnatural' cultivation method, with design traits typically associated with Northern/Central Asian cultures).

It is worth noting, though, that most authors do not intentionally use these traits as racist stereotypes in their worldbuilding, especially when regarding a non-human species-- in the same way that western fantasy authors use goblin and orc characters and tropes without realizing or acknowledging their racist origins and connotiations, these stereotypes have simply become genre tropes without that direct connection to their origins. Nonetheless, it is still worth noting-- and worth trying not to fall into the trap of leaning into stereotypical traits in fanworks' character portrayals.

Stereotypes include but are not limited to barbaric and brutish cultural traits, association with animals/having animal features, dark or corrupt magical/spiritual practices, certain types of braided hairstyles & other fashion choices, and originating from the far north or south.

Some of the prejudice and stereotyping of Northern Asian cultures likely originates from the fact that in the past, China was invaded and subjugated by peoples from the north (under Mongolian rule during the Yuan dynasty, and under Manchurian rule during the Qing dynasty) as well as having many conflicts with these peoples throughout history. In fact, the Qing dynasty only ended in the early 1900s, so some of this oppression is still in recent memory-- nonetheless, people belonging to ethnic minorities in China are still affected by this negative stereotyping today, so regardless of the origin, racism is still racism and should be addressed, and China today is a majority Han Chinese nation-- even if Han Chinese are considered a minority and affected by systemic racism in other places in the world.

Additionally, many tropes specifically applied to the southern demons, but also used for demon culture as a whole, are tied to stereotypical portrayals of Southeast Asian culture, which is rooted in a long history of Imperial China's invasion and oppression.

All of those stereotypes listed above apply to SVSSS' demon culture. Even in Mobei-jun's name-- 漠北 meaning "northern desert," which is the real-world name for a region in the north of the Gobi desert in Mongolia.

Therefore, it is important to remember that though violence-as-courtship in demon culture is canonical within SVSSS' setting, it nonetheless originates from harmful racial and ethnic stereotypes. It would be a good idea for fans to keep this in mind when creating their fanworks, and to treat the topic with sensitivity-- but I will leave any direct suggestions on how to handle this to those who are actually part of the affected groups.

(thanks to @flidgetjerome for additional notes regarding SEAsian stereotyping and author intent!)

Also, to be absolutely clear: I am not saying that svsss’ demons are specifically coded as any real ethnic group— it’s only that in many ways the portrayal is similar to the common portrayal of various ethnic groups in cmedia. I don’t believe they are specifically meant to parallel a real life group, unlike for example TGCF’s Banyue— but it’s worth questioning why these traits, why these characters.

#svsss #fanon exposed #svsss demon culture #mobei jun #canon #I don't know if I did a good job addressing the sensitive topics here so please feel free to correct anything I got wrong #or if I've overstepped anywhere #i just want to use the platform i have to bring this to the western fandom's attention since i don't think it's widely known #i will very gladly reblog any additions from fans who wish to weigh in but definitely don't feel pressured to do so

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genericpuff · 20 days

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CHAD ANON-

Alright so I've been meaning to post about this for a couple days, but we gotta talk about what's been going on in the /r/webtoons subreddit the last couple days.

Every now and then, the heavens part and an anonymous creator will descend with their experiences with Webtoons. And they're almost never good. And that's good in the long run, because that means we have more ammunition to support Webtoons being an ass platform that benefits no one :))

Obviously the anons here are risking a lot posting this sort of stuff, so before I go ahead, let it be known that I'm gonna try and keep speculating to a minimum and just touch on what anon has provided. When it comes down to it, this post hasn't been verified in any way, so it might not even be 100% real, though there's a lot of evidence to suggest it is based on the responses from other users that validate many of the points anon makes.

I will also mention that any opinion I have regarding the contract outside of what's been provided by anon is from reading other accounts from creators who have spoken up and just generally being a community member for a long time who's been around the bend and heard a lot of shit from Originals creators. I am not an Originals creator and I have never been offered any of these contracts.

So let's get into this!

The contract 'evolving' over time was definitely something that a lot of us were at least semi-aware of, as it seems that a lot has changed since 2020 as verified by many creators who have spoken up on their contracts (or at least said what they could in light of the NDA's that WT uses to prevent them from saying anything). But I had no idea the extent to how far WT was going with it, how much they were trying to get away with. Automatically having the ability to buy 100% of the creator's IP? That is a huge, massive no-no. I've had some creators heavily imply to me in the past that they've sold off portions of their IP, but WT being given the automatic pass to buy 100% is severely unethical.

For anyone out of the loop, IP means Intellectual Property. It means whatever content is being made, it belongs to the person making it. Lore Olympus is Rachel Smythe's IP. City of Blank is 66's IP. Of course, copyright law gets dicier when it comes to stuff like fair use, trademarking, etc. but for the sake of this topic, IP just means "if you made it, you own it". Webtoons typically buys digital print rights, meaning if you sign on as an Originals, that means you can only post that comic that you sold to the Originals section. It doesn't mean you can't use other platforms for other comics, just that for the comic you sold, you have to post exclusively to Webtoons.

Webtoons is essentially trying to take that from creators by going "if you sign on as an Originals creator, you don't just lose your distribution rights, you lose all of your rights." They might still be able to run Canvas comics separate from Originals, but whatever they sold to Originals is no longer theirs to own. And the kicker is that it's, of course, for a very low fee. Buying out 100% of someone's IP should NOT come cheap, but WT is undoubtedly offering pennies in the hope that someone bites for that 'exclusive' Originals offer.

This. This is a big one. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure this is massively ILLEGAL.

Just like with the IP rights, creators should not automatically have their printing rights taken from them by a digital publisher. They can make offers, sure, but they can't force creators into giving up their rights for physical publishing when they themselves are not a physical publishing house. Some series do get physical prints through other publishers like Random House (ex. LO) but a digital printing platform should NOT be able to restrict the printing rights of a creator who has only sold their series for the purpose of digital distribution. Especially because, again, printing rights are usually sold for massive gains for the person selling them - not a portion of month's rent for people living in a shitty New York apartment in 2024. That is what Webtoons thinks your printing rights are worth.

This is one that I've been very certain of for the past little while, particularly due to my past discussions regarding LO's merch. Because let's face it... it isn't good.

But I don't hold Rachel accountable for this shit because she's not the one making it, it's almost certainly some in-house designer at Webtoons or some other third party through Random House Worlds. Sure, it says "By Rachel Smythe" but that's more so just for marketing at this point, because no one wants to buy merch made by Chuck the Penguin House merch guy.

Remember when I said LO's partnership with Inklore / Random House Worlds was gonna be purely for cheap merchandise in the realm of cookbooks and card decks?

Yeah.

Point is, it's clear a lot of creators who are part of Webtoons' merch program may not even have any say or choice in the matter. Of course, I don't know what Rachel's contracts specifically are like, so I won't speculate on that too much, but there's a lot of evidence to suggest that she may not own as much of LO as she used to. She was definitely a part of the older contracts from 2018 at one point that didn't have the more predatory tacked on bullshit like the Minimum Revenue Threshold, but... she's renewed her contract since then. So it begs the question of how much LO has suffered not just on her account of being bad at managing a team and writing a long-form story, but at the hands of Webtoons dipping too much of their hands into her work.

Oh look, another highly unethical if not outright illegal thing! Digital print publishers can't be your agent! Repeat after me -digital print publishers CANNOT be your agent! As anon explains here, it would make it far too easy for publishers to steer their creators into directions that only benefit the company. Agents are like lawyers for artists, their job is to protect writers, actors, artists, anyone who's trying to enter some kind of media industry. Most publishing agencies won't take unsolicited manuscripts for publishing, which means writers need agents who are willing to vouch for them and help them connect with publishers. Webtoons being the publisher AND the agent for creators... seriously, that's fucked up. It means Webtoons can direct creators to do whatever benefits the company itself, not the creator. But hey, we already knew that was the case as soon as we saw "Webtoon would be able to automatically buy 100% of your IP" LOL But if you needed more to support the sheer predatory audacity of Webtoons as a company, there it is.

This is the sad reality for a lot of content creators. Comics aren't a new industry, but webcomics are and a lot of the people going into them are either extremely young or just never learned how to navigate the professional world. We talked about this issue last week and now here it is in action - a lot of creators don't even realize they're supposed to hire lawyers for contracts like these, and those who do... can't afford them.

And again, I'm very aware that this reddit post isn't exactly substantiated by anything beyond anon anecdote (such as a copy of the actual contract) but a couple other people in the thread who were offered contracts also came forward to express the similarities - and differences - between what they were offered and what OP was offered.

(these responses are actually gone now but that's why we have the power of screenshotting as the thread was happening LMAO yay me)

This thread is also being discussed on Twitter:

For those who are as old and falling apart as I am (/hj) and remember when Youtube was still coming into its own as a platform, what Webtoons is doing to webcomic creators is very similar to what businesses like MakerStudios did to Youtubers back in the day - signing creators into predatory contracts with the promise of fame and fortune, just to pull the rug out from under them with shit pay, shit management, and less perks than they had just doing it all on their own time and dime.

Webcomics, as a blooming industry, are now going through the same problem as Youtube did back in the late 2000's/early 2010's. No one knows how to navigate the industry. A lot of people and businesses don't even know how to profit off it, at least not sustainably (and for some platforms definitely not ethically). Very few people have come out of this industry with the money and fame they were seeking in the long-term, both because it's easy to burn out quickly but also because there is no long-term yet due to this being such a new industry... and those who have come out with those victories are often people who are still just pursuing the traditional comic publishing ways of glory, by seeking out agents, signing print deals, and doing everything that any other freelance or contracted comic creator would do, because it's safer and offers more structure than what webcomics are offering on their own. There are no regulations, no protections in place looking out for creators, it's basically just a free for all of young people looking to monetize their creations and businesses willing to take advantage of those people for a quick buck.

I don't think any of this means that webcomics have to be exclusively relegated to being a "stepping stone" for traditional print comics or grander media like film and television. They're a medium in and of themselves, a very accessible medium to boot, that welcomes anyone regardless of their status, technical skills, or background. They're wonderful for that and I think more people should be willing to give webcomics a try as a medium if they want to express themselves on their own terms.

But as I've talked about in the past time and time again, there's still going to be a separation between doing webcomics as a passion project or a hobby, and doing them as a profession. When it comes to the latter, you have to be willing to treat it professionally. You have to recognize that there will be those out there who will take advantage of you for money, because that's what the professional world is all about. This is unfortunately something a lot of creators just don't realize, because we're going through those same growing pains a lot of Youtubers have gone through (and still go through) - learning how to navigate our passion as a job, with all of the legal mess, dotted lines, and legal stipulations that come with it. And we're in the midst of that learning now, by seeing the actions of companies like Webtoons that only seek to exploit creators rather than foster them. It unfortunately will take more creators getting screwed over before anything changes. But we have to be willing to talk about it, every single time. We have to be willing to separate the creator and their own faults from the faults of the platform that's hosting them - a creator can be both lacking in their own skills as a creator as well as lacking in support which makes it impossible for them to hone those skills.

And yes, I say all of this because it concerns the criticisms I make of creators like Rachel Smythe. I think there are a lot of things she does that are indicative of her as a creator and her inability to act professionally in this industry, from LO's rampant misogyny and objectification of women to her own misfires when interacting with her fandom. But there are also just as many things that can be potentially traced back to the platform - it's hard to make better content when you're constantly being exploited and hung out to dry.

Like anon, I too hope that more creators will be willing to stand up and speak on behalf of themselves and their peers, to push back against these contracts. It's gonna suck. It's gonna be hard to want to make those moves when just about every creator is just trying to put food on the table. But for every anonymous creator who stands up and speaks, for every person who isn't willing to sign those contracts and talk about the reasons why, for every storyteller who uses their skills to spread the message, the power they have grows. We have to make it impossible for Webtoons to continue to ignore.

After all, it would be a real shame for more of these stories to come to light just as Webtoons is seeking an initial public offering in the stock market. Wouldn't that just be so unfortunate for them? :)

#webtoon #webtoon critical #fuck webtoons #support small platforms

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madamekaji · 3 months

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— Does Heiji Shindo hate Abijah Fowler?

Yappathon incoming… Fowdo posting, unsurprising, but mostly focusing on my view of Heiji’s character and “feelings.”

CW • Old man yaoi /j

Then why would he betray him? Why would he attempt to scheme behind his back, and plot his murder? Does this not scream hatred?

No. Rather, I believe it screams survival. I believe it was, in Heiji’s mind, the smartest move to play to ensure that he ended up on top. Though, let’s start from the beginning.

They live together in an oddly culturally blended home for 1600s Japan. And while Fowler has to remain in this castle, as it is- in his words, “his cage”- Heiji is by no means held to this same standard. He can come and go as he pleases, and yet he has his very own furnishings in the castle of the man he claims to despise.

When does this point of contempt get mentioned first, anyways? It is during the tea party with Mizu in 01x03. And why is it mentioned? Once again, survival. It is worth noting that rather than being upfront with such a proposition, he tries to manipulate Mizu out of hunting him- And Fowler- down with bribes of great wealth and a strong title. Though, when this offer does not work- as I am sure he had hoped it would- he is then forced to come up with another plan. And what better way than to play off of then someone’s feelings?

Mizu hates Fowler, this much is obvious. Heiji is trapped down in a canyon with two well trained and skilled fighters, and while he does have archers hidden in the cliff face around them, there is surely no way that they can fire their arrows without either him being killed before they even get the chance, or him being killed by the barrage of arrows from above. He realizes that he can’t influence this impending storm with commerce, so he instead chooses the next best thing, and attempts to align himself with Mizu, believing that this would earn him her favor.

Once inquired why he wants Fowler dead, his response is that it is personal. And once further inquired, he states that his reasons are his own. Then, there is a pause; and after the pause, he contradicts his original statement by saying “no.. no, they’re not.” Every one of his reasons for “hating” Abijah are vague in nature and enunciated with far too much drama, as if he is trying to convince Mizu that he was being truthful. While I would never expect someone such as Heiji to pour his heart and soul out to… Anyone, it is interesting to note that he can’t seem to come up with any real reason as to wishing him killed.

His promises are flimsy. He can’t commit to the idea of genuinely helping Mizu, and it’s apparent. Once questioned by Taigen about what would happen once Mizu kills Fowler, all Heiji can muster is that he can guarantee “her safety to a blades length of Fowler’s neck.” He wipes his hands together indicate that business is done, before walking away. It is notable, that from Taigen inquiring on, Heiji begins to become more agitated; indicating that he most likely never intended for Mizu to leave the castle. If he even would somehow slip Mizu through all 8 levels of security to get to where Fowler was, I do truly believe Heiji expected Fowler to kill her. However, he needs her to believe that he is on her side; because if she doesn’t, it very well could be his head.

Maybe if he had stuck with his original statement- “My reasons are my own”- it could have been believable. Maybe, if Mizu had not approached him and asked the question that essentially sealed his fate, things could have worked out for him. Maybe, if he didn’t continue to wear the flower Abijah had pinned oh so lovingly to his robe, his lie wouldn’t have been so obviously seen though.

If Heiji truly hated Abijah he wouldn’t be living in his castle, wearing his flowers, eating at his dining table and having any level of faith in his overarching plans. If Heiji hated Abijah, surely his lip would curl upon being so up close and personal with “That Stink.” If Heiji hated Abijah, surely some level of distaste for his explosive tantrums and overtly offensive.. Everything, would put him off. Heiji has not been shy to complain, to express agitation and distaste. Surely, if he truthfully hated Abijah, he wouldn’t have put himself on the line for something that- ultimately- had nothing to do with him. He didn’t hate Abijah, and it cost him his arm. It almost costed him his life.

So now we ask the question again. Why does Heiji betray Abijah?

Understandably, his faith in Abijah is flimsy. Nothing about a human trafficking murderous drug lord with a sick kick for sadomasochistic tendencies screams trustworthy. Though while he was not off put by the things he should have been- if anything, probably finding solidarity with it- he was rattled by the fact that his relationship with this man had nearly killed him. And while I definitely think the illusion of being untouchable shattering right in front of him was the final straw, It is worth looking at who Heiji is as a person.

He is self serving, weasly, charismatic, cunning and a complete and total control freak. And while he isn’t as obvious about it as Fowler is, it is displayed multiple times in the show. When he feels as if he is not being listened to, he responds explosively, and being foolish enough to grab the arm of an armed stranger while trying to force them into a barrel is a pretty good example of how reason is lost whenever he begins to panic.

Fowler is not ideal or trustworthy. And while he is.. Fond of him, so to speak, he doesn’t mean much more to him other than an avenue to success, with bonus perks like flattering attention.

Now this is where we start to get into speculation.

Heiji is dependent on Abijah for success, to attain his goal. Without his European asset smuggling in trump cards, there would be no way to overthrow the shogunate; at least nothing someone like Heiji could string together on his own. Abijah, for years, made him richer than imaginable and essentially promised him the world and more. And Heiji lived lavishly in luxury and comfort, anxiously anticipating his future role as the Shogun. Though why would he ever put all of his faith into a man who thinks just as he does?

I think Heiji believed that their relationship was only a transactional one (in a way he is most definitely right) and that Abijah saw him just as he saw Abijah: an Asset. Why would such a domineering and controlling man ever share such power? He’s a remorseless killer, Heiji has seen what he is capable of. He never truly knows if he’s safe with Fowler because he is incapable of trusting him, and that is safest. For him, it was kill or be killed. And the closer to their metaphorical D-Day, the more this realization dawns on Heiji. Their time together is running up.

But even if Fowler didn’t kill Heiji when his usefulness expired, surely someone would. To have a foreigner in such a position of power would be certain to cause revolts, and their siege of the shogunate would surely inspire many. Even if he didn’t die in some coup, his connection with such a controversial face would surely put a target on his back. So with the combination of (fair) paranoia and of being scorned, as well as a lack of any real emotional connection in the first place, it would be easy to turn on him so quickly.

Then why would he want to kill him? He specifies in his letter to Chiba that he would have the pleasure of killing Fowler himself.

Personally, I think it is because he believes that he is the only one who should be able to. Their relationship, however you wish to view it, runs deep and is as personal as someone with the emotional capacity of a grape can get. They have been up each other’s asses for AT LEAST ten years, possibly longer. Heiji is just as sadistic as Fowler is, and watching the life drain from those green eyes is probably something he has fantasized of for a long time. No one else deserves such a privilege other them him.

Does Heiji Love Abijah? No, he’s incapable. But does he hate him? No. Abijah is a means to an end. An interesting and attractive (to him) means to an end, an entertaining one, but at the end of it all he was just a chance that Heiji took to actually become something more then what he was, a pathetic salesman.

Unfortunately for him, he got to learn the hard way that he was never the one in control. Fortunately (?) for him, Abijah decided to give him another chance. And Heiji learned very quickly to not make a mistake like that again.

#blue eye samurai #fowdo #heiji shindo #abijah fowler #long post #i dont know what to call this #theory #(????)#headcanon #(?¿?¿?)

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thelordofgifs · 1 year

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A Completely Objective Rating of Gil-galad Origin Theories

So! My Research(tm) has informed me that Tolkien conceived of at least four potential parentages for Gil-galad, last High King of the Noldor, at various points. This plothole/controversy/mystery is deeply, deeply funny to me, so I decided to make a post arbitrarily rating various Gil-galad theories and providing examples of fics where they appear.

Some disclaimers:

I am very very new to the silm fandom and also tumblr and don't actually know anything! so there is a very high chance something will go wrong here

in compiling this I was very much indebted to this post by @sweetteaanddragons and this one by @tanoraqui

your headcanons, of course, are extremely valid! no shade at all to anyone who likes one of the theories I’ve rated a bit lower, and thank you for doing your bit to deepen the controversy. the more Gil-galad theories the better

Unsurprisingly, this turned out LONG. I split the parentages into four sections: Part 1 covers supposedly canon/canon-adjacent Gil-galad theories; Part 2, popular fanon theories that I've seen in a variety of places; Part 3 will cover rare fanon theories that I've only seen basically once, and ideas I literally just made up myself.

Baseline assumptions I'm using:

The "historical record", in-universe, is primarily the Quenta Silmarillion which states that Ereinion Gil-galad was the son of Fingon; and other documents variously suggesting that he was the son of Orodreth or Finrod, or a descendant of Fëanor. Sources give him the additional names Finellach and Artanáro/Rodnor.

It's fairly widely agreed-upon that Gil-galad was an adult and the High King by the time of the Third Kinslaying, when he was based on Balar and came too late to Elwing's aid.

(This means I won't further consider some rather fun, cracky theories that are based on the argument that Gil-galad only became the High King after the War of Wrath. That seems like a slightly excessive amount of historical revisionism for my taste, when he's named as the High King well before the WoW.)

So, with those established, what makes for a good Gil-galad parentage theory?

It has to make the confusion in the historical record, in-universe, make some sort of sense. Would someone with this parentage have a claim to the crown? If not, do they have a solid motivation to lie about it? Providing a neat explanation for other aspects of Gil-galad's characterisation and the way he rules would also be a bonus.

A storytelling concept I call weird questions must have weird answers. Neat origin theories that "make sense" tend to score low on this metric. The Gil-galad controversy is funny and needs to be kept that way.

How narratively satisfying is the theory? Does it ruin anyone else's arc, or fanon I personally like? Then it's scoring low.

This is already so long-

Time for looking at the four canon-ish Gil-galad parentages!

Gil-galad son of Fingon and, presumably, some unnamed wife. This is rubbish. Makes no sense. Not a fan. No. Primarily, it is boring, the death knell to any Gil-galad theory. Also, Fingon is never actually mentioned to have a wife because he's married to Maedhros and, while textual ghosts are obviously common in the Silm, I find it slightly harder to believe that a High Queen of the Noldor managed to escape being named anywhere. You could, I suppose, argue that she died before Fingon became King, but I don't want to. The confusion in the historical record also seems unnecessary here, because Fingon's son would presumably have a pretty ironclad claim to the crown after his death and certainly after Turgon's. No fic recs here, I don't like this theory. 2/10.

Gil-galad son of Orodreth and brother of Finduilas. Even more boring, and also makes less sense. Was Gil-galad in Nargothrond during Leithian and up to its fall? In that case, why wasn't he mentioned at any point, and if he survived the fall of Nargothrond and escaped, why didn't he go after Finduilas? If he wasn't in Nargothrond by the time of Turin, we can at least forgive his failure to rescue his sister, but why was he sent away from Nargothrond when, prior to the building of the bridge, everyone believed it was safe - and why wasn't Finduilas sent away with him? Again, there's no particular reason for obfuscating this parentage, so it fails on that metric too. At least Artanáro/Rodnor is a good Finarfinion name. Fics which use this theory: What is Wrought Between Us by @nikosheba, which voids all these objections of mine quite nicely - Gil-galad son of Orodreth, adopted by Fingon and Maedhros! Also it's one of the most heart-breaking, beautiful, canon-compliant Russingon series around, go and read it. That excellent example aside, 3/10.

Gil-galad son of Finrod and (iirc) a wife called Meril. An earlier version of the legendarium discarded when Finrod was made childless. This is potentially my least favourite of the four canon-esque theories, because Finrod's childlessness is imo a fairly important part of his arc, and Meril was replaced by Amarië, to whom Finrod was very much not married at the time of his death. Pretty much the only positive is that, again, Artanáro/Rodnor suits well as a name for Finrod's son. I don't think many people like this theory - we need not consider it further here. No fic recs. 2/10.

Gil-galad descendant of Fëanor. By far the most intriguing and also most implausible canon-esque theory, and as I understand only from one early draft of the legendarium. But there is so much to play with here. If Gil-galad's father is one of the sons of Fëanor, he has a rock-solid reason to lie about his parentage. His claim to the throne is also dubious, because Maedhros abdicated on behalf of the entire house. This gives excellent con-artist Gil-galad flavours to play with. On the narrative/emotional arc metric, this one falls a little short, though. We don't need another descendant of Fëanor in the Second Age struggling with the dark and messy legacy of their family - we have Celebrimbor! And Celebrimbor's status as the last scion of his house, and how his eventual tragedy owes so much to his heritage, is very important to me. Besides, the house of Fëanor going from 7 sons in the first generation to literally just one grandchild is so haunting. On a more practical level, I also don't think Gil-galad reads as particularly close to Celebrimbor? They seem more "distant relations" than first cousins. On the other hand, if Gil-galad simply doesn't know who his parents are, a lot of these problems disappear. We can also double up a few textual ghosts by making his mother one of the unnamed wives - preferably Maglor's or Caranthir's, because Gil-galad son of Curufin feels. doubtful. Fics which use this theory: A Gift from Father to Son by @amethysttribble explores every single potential Fëanorian parentage which is very fun, for a value of "fun" involving "sobbing on the floor about how terrible all these people are". Check it out! Theory as a whole gets 5/10.

#silmarillion #meta #fic rec #gil galad

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kingofthering · 3 months

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@moonshynecybin I was about to send you an ask but then it got long and tumblr was all about characters limit and whatever, so, making this a text post.

I was having thoughts about the insanity that must be going on inside of Marc's brain in the forced to come out AU and then I saw your "last Rosquez sex pre-Sepang" ask and it gave me even more thoughts.

In my head, Marc is unable to have meaningless or hate sex meanwhile Valentino can go for it easily (or so he thinks until our protagonist meets Marc, anyway) so obviously, Valentino is the one who guides them into sleeping together again in 2016 (can't decide if it's as early as the tests or if maybe Barcelona makes his last reserve break or something but— details). And if he promised himself in October of 2015, that this was the last time he was having sex with Marc, but then he lets them be together again and that leads them to being caught? Well, I am not an expert in Valentino & guilt but that sure is something interesting to consider.

Do I believe that Valentino is agreeing to the fake dating plan out of guilt? Maybe just a tiny bit. For the most part it's because he cares about Marc and can't stand to see him go through this alone/in the worst way possible (not that he can recognize that at the beginning, of course, but you know).

I loved that you mentioned the idea of Yamaha telling Valentino he could deal with this alone/didn't have to go with the plan with Marc (and it would of course be easier for him). There is a part of me that wants to push things and say the photos identify Marc very clearly but like, there could be ~reasonable doubts about Vale (not to take things too far and make him too much of a "hero" here but, that's an option, I guess).

Anyway, back to what this was originally supposed to be about : Marc's brain. All considerings, things went like this :

the man he idolized all his life became his friend and then they started having sex and Marc thought they at least were friends and understood each other in the fields that mattered to him

same man betrayed him in front of the whole world and basically called him a dangerous rider that he doesn't want to share tracks with him [and obviously this leads to all the backlash Marc had to go through but I think what stung the most, at the end of the day, was the realization that Valentino thought of him like that]

at the end of the day, I don't think Marc is one to hold grudges [or I am projecting my own self here, my bad] and if Valentino comes up to him and wants him in some kind of way? of course Marc is going to take what he can have, even if he quickly realizes Valentino is not open to the two of them talking

Valentino agreeing to the two of them fake dating? it makes absolutely zero sense, there is a part of Marc that sees this as a sign of hope and it's bad because the last time Marc hoped they had a good thing going on, Valentino destroyed him in public without any kind of warning

"Risk Management is new to the Marc Marquez system" is a quote that I absolutely adore and that he let out into the world in 2023 but I can see home boy showing some kind of self-preservation in this scenario [and Marc initially struggling to be close to Vale (like you showed so well in your short post) is part Marc not being a good actor/feeling uncomfortable demonstrating PDA in public and part Marc trying to protect himself from his own feelings for Vale] [is Marc aware of the extent of his feelings? of course not, but still]

also, like, let's be real, this is the whole fantasy Marc never really allowed himself to think about and to "live" it in those conditions? yeah, not exactly easy on the heart and brain

I have no idea where I was going with all that but in any case, I know they have a fight one day where Valentino is like "Marc, you need to put in more efforts" and "I'm doing this for you" [he didn't mean for those words to come out but oops] and that has Marc calling him out on his hypocrisy.

On a very unrelated note, I'm very curious about when they have sex again in this AU (or even when they kiss, will have to think about that).

#rpf #4693 #writing stuff #this took forever to write and I'm not even sure it makes sense I'm sorry #forced coming out au #would love to write that scene but no idea how vale would defend himself because as I said I have no idea how this man's brain works

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blueskittlesart · 1 year

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what do u think totk is gonna b about

OH WOW I AM SO SO SO GLAD YOU ASKED!! HERES THE ESSAY I TOTALLY DID NOT HAVE PREWRITTEN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT!!

so arguably the biggest mystery left unsolved at the end of botw is the origin of ganon as we now know him -- "calamity ganon." in all other games (and by extension all known previous incarnation cycles) where "ganon" was the primary antagonist (incl. all ganon and ganondorf variants) ganon was something real, physical, and ALIVE. a man or a boar-monster, usually, but always something that was bound by the laws of nature to some degree and could be physically killed. botw departs from that formula (and by extension botw's CYCLE departs from the usual governing laws of its own universe--i'll come back to this point) by showing us a ganon that is far less human than any other known incarnation of demise. even in name, this incarnation of ganon is given no personhood--it's a calamity, a force of evil with no origin and no complex thought beyond a need for destruction.

The thing is, for all the game wants the player to understand this ganon as nothing but a mindless, monstrous force of evil, it also makes a point to identify this force as GANON, incarnation of demise. seasoned zelda fans will relate the calamity back to ganondorf the human king at the first mention of its name. anyone familiar with the cyclical lore or even just the basic formula of zelda games will recognize the cycle's steps being played out in such a way that the calamity plays the part of the king of evil. for those who don't make the immediate connection, urbosa's final line after the player frees her in vah naboris cements the calamity's former personhood: "it was written that calamity ganon once adopted the form of a gerudo." it's a deliberate hint to new players that the form we see ganon take in this game is not his true one.

So what is calamity ganon? what turned the newest human incarnation of demise so deeply inhuman? what happened to the human that calamity ganon once was? why, when the calamity struck, did it rise from underneath hyrule castle, with pillars full of armed guardians ready to aid it in its destruction? these questions are what i expect will be the main focus of totk. as for their answers, i only really have my own speculation, backed by some evidence from trailers and botw, which i'll outline now because that's the whole point of this post.

botw is 10k years removed from the last known instance of an incarnation cycle, a fact which is crucial to its story and worldbuilding. while there's no official source on how long periods of peace usually last between cycles, it's obvious from context that botw has gone much longer without a new cycle than any previous game before it, if only because of how much information about the cycle itself has clearly been lost to time. this lack of information is what causes a majority of the problems link and zelda face in botw. But it raises a question for those of us who follow the lore and have noticed the discrepancy: why was hyrule able to forget this information in the first place? Why was there such a long period of peace when the cycle ought to have continued? there's no other instance in centuries of documented hyrulian history where enough time passed between cycles for the idea of the TRIFORCE to be lost to time. how did it happen before botw? the answer, I think, lies with the hero and princess of 10k years ago.

there's a LOT we don't know about the hero and princess who came before botw, obviously. and I believe their story is going to be incredibly important in totk, given how it was teased in botw. we can assume, from context, that the incarnation of demise that this hero and princess went up against was the gerudo incarnation of ganon mentioned by urbosa. What botw tells us about this cycle is that ganon was powerful enough to need legions of guardians and four divine beasts ALONG with a presumably fully-realized hero and princess to defeat him, but that, with these resources, the hero and princess triumphed. what is not confirmed, however, is what exactly HAPPENED to ganon after his defeat. one could assume that he died, because hitting a human man with a sword enough times will usually kill him. however, there's another important piece to the puzzle when looking at loz cycles: zelda and her goddess power. the thing i'm going to be focusing on here is the fact that throughout botw zelda's power is referred to specifically as a "sealing power." it's significant to me that the concept of SEALING surivived when so many other crucial pieces of the cycle did not, because, in multiple previous games, "sealing" ganon does NOT mean he dies. in both oot timelines in which link DOES NOT return to the past at the end of the game (defeat & adult), the official explanation as to ganondorf's fate is that he is "sealed" in some form, either in the sacred realm or the twilight realm. (if you don't know what those are don't worry it's not important, what's important is that he is sealed.) alttp and twilight princess, follow the aftermath of these two timelines, in which ganon has been "sealed" but not killed. in both stories, ganon (specifically the SAME INCARNATION OF GANON AS OOT) eventually frees himself from the confines of the seal and continues to terrorize hyrule. so "sealing" is not necessarily synonymous with defeat or death, and it doesn't reset the incarnation cycle for demise's spirit, it just keeps the current incarnation dormant for a while.

i hear you saying, "blue, why the fuck does any of this matter? ive been reading for so long!" and i am sorry. i promise i will get there. the important point at this point is that SEALED does not mean DEAD or even DEFEATED, and that zelda's power in botw is exclusively referred to as a SEALING POWER. we can assume that this terminology is left over from the hero and princess from 10k years ago, because, by virtue of a 10k-year period of peace, most everything that botw hyrule remembers about the cycle appears to be left over from only that previous cycle. What this means is that, upon defeat 10k years ago, human ganon was not killed, he was sealed. and as i've already mentioned, there's a precedent in these games for a sealed ganon to come back to terrorize a new cycle's hero and princess. I think it's pretty obvious that the mummified gerudo skeleton seen in the totk trailers is that sealed ganon from 10k years ago. but those trailers take place AFTER link and zelda defeat calamity ganon in botw, so why is he still there, sealed but not dead?

the most obvious explanation to me is this: calamity ganon is not ganon. botw's blights give us proof that ganon is capable of somehow reproducing itself in smaller, less powerful doses to deal with immediate threats without having to leave its shelter in hyrule castle. if you recall, calamity ganon's first phase underneath hyrule castle is essentially a rehash of the blight fights, with ganon cycling through attacks previously used by its blights (and adding some new ones into the mix, obv.) One thing that struck me when fighting it, though, is that the fight lacks one signature mechanic that's been a staple of ganon battles in the zelda franchise since at least alttp: sword pong. in almost every game involving a fight with an incarnation of ganon, there's an attack pattern in which the player and ganon have to deflect a ball of energy between each other via their weapons until one of them eventually misses a swing and gets hit. calamity ganon doesn't have this attack in his arsenal, which is strange to me because it's an iconic move for loz final battles. the only ganon battle i can think of which DOESN'T involve this mechanic is oot's shadow ganondorf, a PROJECTION of ganondorf rather than the real thing.

can you see what i'm getting at here?

I don't think botw's link and zelda have gone up against their real incarnation of demise yet. I think the calamity was one of two things: either a genuine expression of rage/escape attempt by the sealed human ganon, or a calculated attempt by him to get modern hylians interested enough in the origins of the calamity to investigate and free him accidentally. The way the pillars rose from under hyrule castle, the fact that calamity ganon smashes through the floor of the sanctum and forces link to fight in that underground chamber, it all seems to beckon you to dig deeper. we know that that mummy is somewhere under the castle. Calamity ganon was a shootoff of its power meant to lead hylians to it. this is what i meant way back when i mentioned that botw's cycle departs from the usual governing laws of its own universe--link and zelda haven't actually played out the full cycle at all. what they've done is essentially the precursor to the main event--they've defeated agahnim, or zant, or ghirahim, but the true evil of this cycle has yet to be revealed. to that point, it's worth noting that, excluding shrine mini-dungeons, botw has WAY less dungeons than your average zelda title. most new-cycle titles (by which i mean games that weren't direct sequels featuring the same incarnation of a given link) are divided into 2 sections of dungeoning - the first section having 3-4 dungeons containing prize items needed to unlock some late-game functionality, and the second half having 5-7 dungeons and being accessible only after the player has completed the first section. botw has four dungeons TOTAL (not counting hyrule castle), meaning formula-wise it's essentially the first half of a cycle. i believe totk is going to be the second half of this cycle, with link and zelda having to fight the true evil -- revitalized HUMAN ganondorf.

so now we need to bring this all back to my initial point--why was there a 10k-year period of peace pre-botw, and how does any of this effect my predictions for the story of totk?

in simple terms, i think that the reason there was such a long period of peace was because 10k-years-ago-princess sealed ganon REALLY well. she probably came the closest anyone in hyrule's history has ever come to a TRUE defeat of ganon, because she managed to keep him ALIVE so he wouldn't reincarnate and SEALED so he couldn't hurt anyone for a really long time. what this implies is that 10k-years-ago princess knew on some level about the reincarnation cycle. she understood that if she couldn't keep ganon alive and incapacitated, he would revive and the cycle would start over anyway, so she did everything in her power to stop that from happening, and she did a DAMN GOOD JOB tbh. better than anyone who tried this shit before her. there are other bits and pieces of botw's story that point to the hyrulean civilization 10k years ago understanding the potential of a ganon reincarnation, most notably the fact that they buried guardians and divine beasts seemingly purposefully for later hyruleans to find and use should a new threat ever arise. this implies that 10k-years-ago hyruleans had a REALLY HIGH level of awareness about the cycle, in direct contrast to modern hyrule's REALLY LOW understanding of it. this is really important when we start thinking about totk.

we already have a decent amount of evidence suggesting that totk will deal with the events of 10k years ago and the hero involved in them. In several trailers now we've seen modern link's arm become weirdly, creepily fused with/corrupted by the arm that was holding mummified ganon in place under the castle. i think this arm is going to serve two purposes in totk. the first is a practicality thing: from gameplay footage it looks like the arm is going to basically take the place of the sheikah slate. the second purpose i think it'll serve is to be link's (and by extension the player's) connection to the events of 10k years ago. I've seen plenty of theories thrown around about what the arm is, but my personal theory is that it's some sort of prosthetic or tech that originally belonged to the 10k-years-ago hero. the way it's holding mummified ganon in place in that first teaser trailer looks less to me like an evil influence and more like something physically holding ganon down; a seal of sorts. (and in most games both the hero and princess's power is needed to seal ganon, so perhaps this is how the hero and princess managed to keep him dormant for so long: adding a physical piece of the hero to the mix?) in any case, i think that after establishing this physical connection to the 10k-years-ago hero, modern link is going to get some knowledge and flashbacks (potentially in the form of memory-style cutscenes like botw) that will serve to basically fill in all the cyclical lore that has been lost in-universe over the past 10k years. I've talked at length about how i believe link and zelda's initial failure in botw was due entirely to their lack of knowledge of the hyrulean creation myth and the REASON behind the motions they were carrying out, and i believe that by witnessing the 10k-years-ago hero and princess's journey, modern link will be given the knowledge he needs to defeat ganon.

#im normal. i am normal. i am NORMAL #zelda analysis #if im wrong about this im going to pretend it never happened btw #asks #totk predictions

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ladylingua · 1 year

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I have a very genuine question about the tipping post I promise I didnt read it in bad faith: are people who simply cannot afford to tip not “allowed” to eat out? I’m just thinking about how it works where I am from and while tipping is the norm here if someone doesn’t tip because they can’t afford it it really isn’t a big deal (+tipping norm here us only 10%). so if a poor family goes out to eat to celebrate something and they can barely afford the meal would they still be expected to tip 20% because they shouldn’t eat out if they cant afford it? thank you in advance I’m really curious

If it helps, don’t think of the tip as a separate thing. It is part of the cost of your meal. So if you cannot afford to pay for the cost of the meal including the tip you cannot afford to eat at that restaurant. This is something I myself have to calculate when I’m deciding if I want to eat at a particular restaurant- if I have $15 I can’t go to a restaurant and order a $20 entrée and then refuse to pay the remaining cost, and likewise if I have $15 I can’t order a $15 entrée and expect not to pay the server for their service.

Now that doesn't mean families who can't afford a pricy restaurant can't eat out at all. Since it is a % of your bill you can try to go for a cheaper restaurant (smaller bill = smaller tip), or if you go to a counter service place where you serve yourself you’re not expected to tip 20% (sometimes they have a jar out you could kindly throw a dollar or more in, but there is much less expectation to tip because the workers at a place like that receive a full minimum wage, more on that in a sec). I will also say in my lived experience poor families in America understand and tip well, I’ve almost exclusively been under tipped by wealthy people (which is what kicked off the debate on twitter- if your bill is $700 then you obviously can afford to tip a full 20%, no destitute families are spending $700 on one meal).

Technically speaking you can get away with 18% as a tip, and if you go down to 15% your waiter will think you’re cheap and be annoyed (15% definitely implies you were unhappy with their service) but that is the lowest possible threshold of acceptability. 10% is not an acceptable rate here, and 20% is now the expected norm for good service, and going up from there for great service. And I would never, ever not tip at all. I can only imagine not tipping if like the server had done something deeply offensive or dangerous or something. I've never encountered a situation where I felt the server didn't deserve any tip at all.

Because you’ve asked in genuine good faith I’m going to provide some more context to help you understand a bit more why this is the way it is-

Waitstaff in america are wildly underpaid. Our federal government assumes the tips are part of their expected income, and so a) they are taxed on assumed tips and b) it is legal to pay them less than standard minimum wage. Currently the tipped federal minimum wage is $2.13/hr. Now, states set their own individual rates so some states do better, but $2.13/hr is the lowest they can all legally go. And you’ll notice in that link it mentions the assumed tips and taxing them. I said on my original post, when I worked as a tipped waitress I made $2.68/hr and sometimes my biweekly paycheck was like $60 total. Imagine trying to survive on $120 a month, you absolutely cannot. Tips made up my actual wage, and were the paycheck I depended on to pay for my basic needs. I relied directly on customers to choose to do the social convention of tipping for survival, and when someone would choose to do otherwise it was utterly devastating.

Another thing customers sometimes don’t realize is your waiter may not be allowed to keep all of the tip themselves. It’s a common practice to pool tips amongst all the waitstaff and then divide them equally, and many places require that you tip out other employees there. So if you give me $10 as a tip I might be actually giving a large chunk of that to bussers, bartenders, etc. Or maybe we pool tips and someone else stiffed my colleague so now all of us are sharing your $10 tip. So also keep in mind that the money you leave as a tip very often does not go entirely to the actual waiter, so a big tip can actually become pretty small much faster than you would think.

(and that's just legal practices, wage theft and illegal practices run rampant in the restaurant industry, just fyi)

If you are wondering why tipping culture here is so grim, it is because of slavery. Tipping got big here as a way to keep forcing Black Americans into working for free, now with a small tip but still no actual wage. It was designed for oppression. Waitstaff are overwhelmingly not wealthy people. It is very common for them to be on food stamps, require housing assistance, or to otherwise be living under the poverty line. If you are eating out and not tipping because you yourself are poor, you are taking money out of someone else’s poverty wages to do so. When we debate minimum wage here in america, conservatives are really good at painting a picture of waitstaff being perky middle class college kids making an extra buck, or teens from wealthy homes wanting some spending money. There is an implication that they don't really need the money that badly. That is not the reality of who makes up most serving jobs in america. Minimum wage workers are likely to be in poverty, they’re likely to be women and specifically they’re likely to be women of color. Americans of color are significantly more likely to be working at minimum wage than white americans. There is a pretty sizeable number of minimum wage workers who are over 50, and a not insignificant amount of them who are mothers who support their families. There are also those teens who just want extra cash, and they deserve good compensation for their hard work too, don’t get me wrong, but they are only a portion of who makes up the minimum wage workforce.

If you’re like “But that’s such a shitty system, you’re saying it’s pitting poor people against each other for basic human comforts!” yup. I 100% agree. I am a vocal proponent of raising the minimum wage for that reason. I also advocate for a Universal Basic Income, because I understand that when it comes to small mom & pop restaurants the owners aren’t always making a ton of money either and it seems like truly no one is winning in this system. It is set up to oppress and to demean and to grind us all down. There are lots of orgs in America that are fighting to improve the system, or to radically change the system. There are also restaurants that have tried to do things differently- there’s a wine bar in my city that says specifically on their menu that their wine is more expensive because they pay their workers a true livable wage so there is no tipping there. Instead as a customer I pay a higher upfront cost that covers the true expense of running the bar- including server wages. I love that, I wish more places would do things like that. In the meantime, when I’m choosing where to eat I factor in a tip of 20% when calculating my estimated bill, because paying for service is part of the cost.

Refusing to tip fully in america is not doing anything to change the system. It does not make restaurant owners rethink their pay structure, it does not put pressure on our government to fix minimum wage, it does not make a political statement. It just means your server is going home wondering if they can afford their own meal that night.

Thank you for asking for clarity, I hope this helps. Please feel free to ask more if you have any remaining confusion or are curious about other aspects of american culture. If I can answer and the questions are respectful, I am happy to reply!

#also fwiw #you know those big american chain restaurants people like to make fun of?#like olive garden or red lobster or applebees or whatever?#a lot of the appeal of those types of restaurants is they make a big production over you as a customer like you're at a high end restaurant #but the prices are much lower than an actual nice restaurant #so that is why so many americans view going to outback steakhouse as a big treat #it's not that we don't know what a good steakhouse is #it's that those places give you that service but your steak is $20.99 #and if you are like 'ha! my family wishes they could afford chilis"#no yeah those places are not cheap i feel you #but that's exactly the appeal of those big chains #a real nyc steakhouse starts at like $40 for steaks #and goes up from there #now look at outback's menu #now you get it?#so yeah if you're not a wealthy family and you have a celebration coming up you look for a restaurant in that vein

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ingravinoveritas · 5 months

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Is there any consensus or speculation on whether D & M have been intimate? I've always gotten the sense that they have and their wives know about it. Having worked in the film industry for a decade, I have witnessed these open secrets first hand. And a little part of me hopes these 2 have 'connected' in a physical way.

Hi there! Well, you've very much come to the right place. Haha. My blog has pretty much been speculation galore for the past four years as to whether David and Michael have been intimate. My #ineffable lovers tag is probably the broadest in terms of my thoughts on Michael and David potentially being together (said tag originated from Michael calling David his lover in 2019, and I basically haven't been able to not think that they've hooked up ever since). For something more specific, you may want to check out my timeline of the polyamorous dynamic between Michael, David, and Georgia and how this has evolved over the past few years to strongly suggest that such an arrangement is, in fact, in place.

One tiny point of clarification, however, because you will notice that Anna is not included in the timeline post, and I keep seeing people make this assumption and it's slowly driving me crazy: Michael is not married. Anna is his girlfriend, but they are not married and never have been. So to your point of her knowing about it, I fully believe that is the case, but that the dynamic with her, Michael, and David is vastly different (and not nearly as amiable) as the one with Michael, David, and Georgia.

I am intrigued by your mention of working in the film industry, and of witnessing similar 'open secrets' in action. I have also strongly had the vibe of whatever is between Michael and David being an open secret, especially given how often they keep popping up on each other's television appearances and how mentioning one when the other isn't there seems to be a repeated and deliberate occurrence. So I would certainly be interested to hear any other insights you might have in this particular area, if you're at all inclined to share.

But to your last sentence...boy, am I with you there. Obviously, there are all kinds of relationships and dynamics and not everything has to necessarily be sexual, but there is such an incredible component of physical attraction to whatever is between Michael and David that it seems nearly impossible to think they wouldn't have connected in that way by now. There's also the fact that we know they have kissed on screen, but the evidence of their off-screen attraction is plentiful: Michael calling David's hips slinky (twice), talking about David's "sylph-like" chest, calling David the "thin dark Duke" and how he made the decision to touch his chest in a scene in GO 2, David putting his arm around Michael, David leaning/melting into Michael when Michael had his arm around David's waist...it just goes on and on.

So yes, I have speculated greatly about all of this for some time now, and it seems that recently a lot of other folks are starting to see that there is something special between Michael and David and asking questions of their own. Glad to have you here on my blog to keep the conversation going!

#anonymous #reply post #michael sheen #welsh seduction machine #david tennant #soft scottish hipster gigolo #throuples are totally cool now #or 'V style' as I now understand it #there's teasing the fandom and then there's whatever these two are doing #truth disguised as a joke #also you don't typically call someone your lover if you don't want people to think that person is your lover #michael is about as subtle as a drunken llama on roller skates #ineffable lovers #discourse

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luckytidbit · 1 month

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Food for thought.

Ok so I've seen an anonymous ask on someone’s blog recently about people being rude in the unwind community, (which first of all, if you’re being rude, shame on you.) I've seen mention of, actually no I’ll take it verbatim. “I like scrolled by multiple of peoples posts and fics about like theories and stuff, and most of them have people getting mad over them or feeling the need to prove it wrong? Like I get it, but it's just an idea 😭” This community is pretty small and I haven’t seen any other unwind theory posts lately (Unless this person is talking about ao3, I’m not on there.), so I’m left to assume this ask is about the “Connor’s brain coping after his unwinding theory.” And the reblog I left on it, so let’s break that down shall we?

Personally, I grew up on Film and Game Theory so I’ve never seen debunking a theory as something that’s rude, just a part of a community helping another have the correct facts. Which by the way, @korokeea, if I’ve upset you, I am deeply sorry, it was never my intention to do so. My reblog was supposed to be seen as playful banter. (Side note, dream endings are very amateur, don’t do them unless you know what you’re doing. Even I wouldn’t do them, (I think I’m amateur anyway <:D.))

Also wanted to add that I should be using tone indicators, and that also I’ve seen examples of people whose first language isn’t English not understanding Western satire, so my apologies if I’ve confused you.

Now that I’ve addressed the main point, there was also something else I wanted to bring up.

This is obviously a parody of LIVE SLUG REACTION I used to add to my reblogs of Conland content (Connor x Roland), I also might have confused people doing this. I don’t think Conland is anyone’s cup of tea, personally, I see it as a crack ship that lives rent-free in my head, but I can understand how I could’ve confused someone. I honestly do like A Dog With A Bird At Your Door A Lot, even if the notes say “I hate gay people.” (Like, C’mon now Kuromi.)

Honestly, I came here to create art and not be judged for it, I have one to two irl friends that I see almost daily. The rest of it are just classmates that will turn on me the moment I say something that doesn’t fit their dialogue. (If you get what I’m saying, I have to say the right thing or they’ll look at me funny.) I’m honestly super stressed and pretty prone to anxiety right now, graduation, prom, removal of wisdom teeth via going under (anaesthesia), you name it! So you can see why I find a great sense of escapism in Tumblr.

Lastly, I wanted to say that in this community it is almost impossible to create micro-communities because of our small size. You CANNOT be vague or make inside jokes because almost everyone follows each other. On the original ask post that I first talked about, the responder mentioned a “that one guy” and my poor mutual @bopeisdope thought they could be that one guy. (Which is completely wrong, she and @lazysailor are the sweetest people I have ever met here. Oof sorry side tangent.)

Anyway If you made it through this thing, thanks for letting me get this off my chest.

#I’m aware I’m being a hypocrite by being vague #But think we all know who made that post #I’m still gonna be hella active on here #When you stop being vague you’re free to come at me fuckers #lol no #I don’t need more stress in my life #unwind dystology #unwind #apology

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bestworstcase · 4 months

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Heya, so your meta on RWBY alluding to "The Marvelous Land of Oz" has been rotating in my head like a baked potato for the past few days and I'm all about it. One question that I've come away with though is where exactly does Theodore fit into all this? Everyone assumes he's Dorothy but obviously that wouldn't quite work given the parameters. I was wondering if you could maybe share your thoughts on Theodore and his role in the story to come. Thank you and have a pleasant day :)

there's this thing rwby does with the classic lit allusions—they did this with alice in wonderland too—where the true reference is to the original text and that is layered under an allusion to the better-known pop culture. i think the pop culture layer serves a few key purposes:

it flags the correct allusion for viewers who may not be familiar enough with the original text to recognize the allusion otherwise,

it creates opportunities for narrative sleight-of-hand, both setting up red herrings and rewarding viewers who are familiar with the original texts (<- this was part of what made V9 SO much fun for me as a Wonderland Person), and

it enriches the wider narrative themes about the power of storytelling to shape perception and the idea that truth is hard to find and things are not always what they seem by actually doing that with the key allusions.

for example: in V9, jaune presents as the white rabbit... but his white "rabbit" steed is actually a jackrabbit—i.e., a hare—and after falling backwards in time he became stuck in a metaphorical "time loop," going in circles doing the same things every day without reprieve or any real chance for escape. he lost a quarrel with time and in a sense he is being "punished" for a crime he hasn't yet committed but remembers having committed in the future—that's the hatter / hatta, not the white rabbit. (the alice in wonderland allusion also has a third layer of reference to the frank wildhorn musical, and that layer does some really neat stuff that deserves its own post.)

<- i first noticed this in V9, in part because the wonderland allusion is contained within the arc of a single volume and thus the layering is easier to spot, and in part because i'm better versed in wonderland than i am in the land of oz; but there are also—now that i know what to look for—some obvious signs that the ozian allusion is layered in the same way.

the clearest of those being glynda goodwitch. as i've mentioned before, the classic film adaptation combines glinda and the good witch of the north into a single character and thus creates the problem of why glinda didn't simply tell dorothy from the beginning that those ruby slippers could carry her home. in the book, the good witch of the north directs dorothy to travel to the emerald city to seek the wizard's help because she believes that he's a powerful wizard who will know of a way to send dorothy home. glinda—who is the witch of the south—knows that the wizard is a fraud and does not come into the story at all until dorothy seeks her out after the wizard has been revealed as a fraud and left her behind in oz.

oz is divided into four color-coded provinces: in the north, everything is purple; in the west, yellow; in the east, blue; and in the south, red. the emerald city, in the center, is made to appear entirely green because the wizard "put green spectacles on all the people" to "make the name fit better."

so, in the first episode, rwby introduces:

glynda goodwitch—whose clothing and magic are purple, and who is established in opposition to a mysterious adversary clad in red.

ozpin, the headmaster of beacon academy—note the wizard's initials are OZPINHEAD; his full name is oscar zoroaster phadrig isaac norman henkle emmanuel ambroise diggs.

glynda brings ruby to ozpin and over the course of the next few volumes it's established that she is not only ozpin's deputy but also part of his inner circle and unwavering in her faith in ozpin himself. her narrative role is that of the good witch of the north—not glinda—but her name references the pop culture composite character invented by the classic film.

'the marvelous land of oz' begins after the wizard's departure from oz. insofar as the beacon arc culminates with ozpin's death, this part of the story correlates to 'the wizard of oz'—although it is not 1-to-1 and i would argue that the role of dorothy is diffused between all of team RWBY and JNPR because the only part that matters is how the story utilizes the end of 'the wizard of oz' to subtly insinuate salem into the role of glinda.

see, the wizard intends to bring dorothy with him in his balloon when he leaves oz, but she's delayed—searching for toto—and the ropes anchoring the balloon snap before she can come aboard, leaving dorothy stranded in oz. eventually someone suggests that she ask glinda—the witch of the south—for help. glinda is said to be "the most powerful of all witches" and there is a bit of ambiguity as to whether she is a good witch or not:

"Glinda is a Good Witch, isn't she?" asked the child. "The Quadlings think she is good," said the soldier, "and she is kind to everyone. I have heard that Glinda is a beautiful woman, who knows how to keep young in spite of the many years she has lived." "How can I get to her castle?" asked Dorothy. "The road is straight to the South," he answered, "but it is said to be full of dangers to travelers. There are wild beasts in the woods, and a race of queer men who do not like strangers to cross their country. For this reasons none of the Quadlings ever come to the Emerald City."

(note how she's "the witch of the south"—unlike "the good witch of the north" and the wicked witches of the east and west.)

dorothy and her friends set out on the dangerous journey south to find glinda. the beacon arc ends by setting RWBY and JNR on a course to discover salem, whose existence is revealed to the audience in the last moments of V3. the kids, collectively, are in dorothy's shoes and like glinda, salem is the one person on remnant who understands what the shoes are and how to use them properly—figuratively speaking.

<- so the purpose of glynda goodwitch is to articulate an important thematic conceit: she's glinda the good witch of the north, a character who does not exist in the original book yet dominates the pop culture frame of reference for the land of oz, a character who is also embodies a narrative problem introduced by the conflation of two different characters who fulfill contradictory roles (one believes in the wizard and cannot help dorothy; the other knows he's a fraud and can help dorothy). glynda goodwitch is not just a red herring; her character allusion also comments thematically on ozpin's use of fairytale to distort and control the narrative regarding salem.

anyway.

the salient point with regard to theodore is that while rwby is retelling 'the marvelous land of oz,' it also alludes to the classic film in service of both the retelling and its own deeper themes.

i bring that up because theodore—on top of literally being named dorothy-but-backwards—is described like this:

Finally the double doors to the headmaster's office opened and Theodore strode out, his glittering red-gloved fists raised above his head like he had just one a fight. [...] A flowing gray-blue cape, the color of a stormy sky, was clasped around his shoulders with a silver chain. He had a silver belt with a round buckle, matching boots, and bright white slacks with deep side pockets, all carefully orchestrated to draw even more attention to himself.

his appearance is clearly intended to call the pop culture image of dorothy to mind. the glittering red gloves evoke the classic film's ruby slippers, and dorothy is of course transported to oz by a storm.

but mind the details.

theodore fastens his cloak with a silver chain. his belt is silver. his boots are silver (and that is stated obliquely, easy to miss if you skim over this description). silver silver silver. in the original book, the magic slippers are silver, not red. and his wardrobe is "carefully orchestrated" to attract attention.

the land of oz is surrounded on all sides by desert, impassible except by magical means. when dorothy uses the silver slippers to travel back to kansas, they fall off her feet en route and are lost in the desert forever. theodore is the headmaster of shade and de facto king of vacuo—which is a inhospitable wasteland surrounded on all sides by harsh desert. he wears ruby gloves... and silver boots. like glynda goodwitch, his attention-grabbing outward appearance locates itself in a contradiction between the book and the film.

which dorothy is he?

trick question. he represents the silver slippers, fallen to rest somewhere in the desert separating oz from the rest of the world. this serves two important, and interlocking, purposes:

it tells us not to look for a dorothy—because dorothy isn't here. she went home. she's in kansas. dorothy doesn't figure at all in 'the marvelous land of oz' except insofar as the scarecrow and the tin man remember her fondly. (the god of darkness is the real dorothy—because he's gone.)

it marks vacuo as the desert outside of oz—not part of oz.

the second point matters because marvelous land's climactic sequence begins with glinda chasing mombi all the way from the emerald city to the desert past the edge of oz, where mombi collapses from sheer exhaustion and glinda binds her and hauls her bodily back to the emerald city to account for her wrongdoing. this weaves the ozian narrative together with the maiden-in-tower allusions and the little prince like this:

glinda must subdue mombi in the desert before ozma can be released from her curse;

rapunzel's prince is blinded and wanders alone in a wasteland until her voice leads him back to her and her tears restore his sight;

the pilot is stranded in a desert and must learn to see with his heart instead of his eyes in order to find water.

if we examine these together, understanding salem as glinda and rapunzel, mombi as the god of light, and ozma as both the prince and the pilot, that is very strongly suggestive of what is going to happen in vacuo. should rwby continues to follow the plot structure of 'the marvelous land of oz' as closely as it has been, i predict that:

salem will take cinder and return to vale, where her villain -> hero arc will begin facilitated by character development in relation to cinder and summer rose;

they will identify what sort of "deception" ozpin used to hide the relic's location, realize that the extra layer of defense cannot be circumvented, and go to vacuo. (specifically, i suspect ozpin incorporated the branwen twins into the crown's protections);

in vacuo, salem will put all her cards on the table, tell everyone what she is trying to accomplish and why. negotiations ensue. the possibility of freeing ozma from oscar is introduced and possibly carried out. the god of light is symbolically defeated—everyone rejects the divine mandate.

everyone returns to beacon to bring the crown of choice out of its vault and initiate the final confrontation with the god of light.

with most of the curve balls coming from what the vacuo coalition faces while salem is preoccupied with the beacon relic and how everyone reacts to the olive branch of summer rose being... alive.

insofar as theodore figures into this, given the prominence of silver in his character design i wonder if he won't turn out to represent not just the silver slippers that were lost but also the silver wishing pills.

in marvelous land, tip comes into possession of a set of wish-granting silver pills that can grant any wish after being swallowed. when he and his friends escape the conquered emerald city, they accidentally overshoot glinda's home and fly all the way to the far side of the desert before crash landing in a nest of antagonistic jackdaws. tip tries to use one of the pills to get them home, but when he swallows it, it hurts him so badly that he cries out in pain and wishes that he'd never taken it in the first place—which comes true at once. the pill is uneaten. then the woggle-bug uses the same pill to repair their flying contraption* so they can escape from the jackdaws and return to oz.

(*it's called the gump and it's two couches lashed together with leaves for wings, a broom for a tail, and a stuffed elk-like head for a head, brought to life by magical powder. it defies easy description)

so there is some obvious overlap in role between the silver shoes and the silver wishing pills in that both are magical silver items the main characters use to get home—and like the slippers, the pills are lost during the journey home. (the characters conclude that tip must have left them behind in the jackdaws' nest by mistake.)

but the interesting part, as it pertains to theodore, is that when tippetarius tries to use one of the pills, it poisons him. there is nothing actually wrong with the pill itself—the woggle-bug uses it without coming to any harm. the incident is not really explained, but of course tippetarius is under a curse that hides his true identity as the princess ozma and later in the book glinda implies that certain kinds of magic simply do not mix well together; for all her great power, she cannot undo mombi's curse herself because her own magic abhors deception and illusion. so perhaps the silver pill poisons tippetarius because he is not himself. the curse mombi placed upon him blinds him to his true self.

now in rwby, theodore is the last headmaster standing and the effective ruler of vacuo, and the sword of destruction that ozma last used to end the great war is locked in a vault underneath shade academy. if salem does not arrive to lay siege to vacuo as the coalition expects her to, the coalition will face pressure to do something in order to counteract the fraught social and political divisions threatening to tear vacuo apart—remember, this is a country on the brink of civil war that weathered a failed popular coup during the events of V7.

that creates strong incentives for a counter-offensive. to find out where salem is "hiding" after her (as the coalition will see it) pyrrhic victory in atlas and take the fight to her—which sounds great on paper but becomes a rather fraught proposition once salem is discovered to be at beacon. if the vacuo coalition attacks her forces at beacon, vale gets caught in the crossfires—and attacking beacon of all places will not be good for the morale of the coalition's fighters either. but doing nothing may still be the worse option, because that risks the coalition breaking apart without an immediate common enemy to confront. and theodore—as characterized in 'before the dawn'—very much seems like the type of character to favor a counter-offensive under these circumstances.

and that's tip's poison pill—ozma's submission to the divine mandate and the distorted narrative he's constructed around salem prevent anyone on his side of this conflict from seeing another option besides "defend" and "counterattack," when the true solution is "negotiate." the woggle-bug—raven—is able to find the true solution because she holds knowledge about salem (and summer) that the other characters do not. if theodore and his silver trappings represent the pill tippetarius cannot use, then summer and her silver eyes represent the pill the woggle-bug can.

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goth-pod · 3 months

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Goth-Pod Ep 4: Community

Welcome back to Goth-Pod!

After the recent rogue attacks, Juda Boone is asking to listen to YOUR Gotham troubles! Head over to our page and click on the "Talk to Juda!" button to submit your trademark-Gotham questions, comments, concerns.

We look forward to hearing from you!

[goth-pod is a fictional in-universe podcast based on the DC comics universe. Juda Boone is an original fictional character, not based on any real person or known comic book character. The mentioned "Gotham City's Best" is not a real podcast, that I know of.]

Transcript under the cut

Hello everyone and welcome back! This is Goth-Pod, your gotham-based podcast. Speaking to you today is your favorite nocturnal mammal and host, Juda Boone.

A week ago, Rouge "Dr." Hugo Strange- and as we are in a non-visual media space, I hope you can pick up on my air quotes- “Dr.” Hugo Strange kidnapped all of Gotham's known therapists and held them hostage.

For full coverage of that story, remember to check out Gotham City's Best: A True Crime Podcast run by my friends Holly and Spence.

This ordeal was thankfully resolved quickly by the Bat and his baby bird, Robin. But the question arose: Would it be ethical for these therapists to all go back to work so soon after a rogue attack?

Obviously the answer is no. And if you are someone who is in need of mental health resources at this time, please take advantage of Wayne Enterprise's efforts- completely free to sign up.

On the lighthearted side of things, we here at Goth-Pod saw something of an opportunity. Gothamites still need a way to feel connected, to feel heard and to know they’re not alone.

We’re our best selves when we lean on our community.

So, for a limited time, we have opened our services to listen and respond to the trials and troubles Gothamites are going through. With a post that read: “Send your messages to Juda now! They are not a licensed therapist, but neither is Hugo Strange!”

I know, I know. I spoke before in a previous episode about how I do not intend to rile up any of Gotham's rogues. But I am a Gotham citizen and we tend to go down swinging.

In the next episode, we will be offering advice or just a listening ear to some of your send-ins.

I'm Juda and this is Goth-Pod. Until then, stay safe Gotham.

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sectumsempress1 · 8 months

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Good Omens Season 3: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Sectumsempress1, Hag

Or that one time I watched Good Omens, felt the claws of hyperfixation sink into my flesh for the first time in years, re-watched Good Omens more times than I care to admit and then drowned in a mind palace of analysis and delusion, resulting in this season 3 predictions bingo card coupled with unnecessarily long explanations for each square.

I'm gonna post these explanations one or two squares at a time, and honestly my first theory (probably not mine, I'm sure others have also come to this conclusion) deserves its own post because wowee I'm insane about this one.

Let's talk about why I think Crowley may have been Jophiel or Jeremiel before they fell.

I have seen endless theories about who Crowley could have been before The Fall; Lucifer, Barachiel, Raphael, Samael... and I see some evidence for all of these. However, I raise you;

Great question babygirl.

Okay me when I lie.

Yes, I took this throwaway line and went insane over it don't worry about it. Anyway. First J angel that I think could make sense is:

Jophiel "Beauty of God"

Jophiel is described in some texts as the guardian of wisdom and a teacher of languages to souls at the dawn of creation. She is also recognised as a teacher to Noah's children (specifically Shem) by C.E. Clement, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Thomas Rudd.

And yes I am aware this is post-Fall Crowley and not the angel they were, but it's interesting that Shem was mentioned specifically regardless. Neil has wounded me so, I just feel that nothing is unintentional. Anyway, any iteration of Crowley as a teacher just feels right based on all we've seen of them.

(How he acts with Muriel, answering Jim's questions, showing Jesus the kingdoms of the world.)

Jophiel is also heavily associated with beauty and creativity.

Okay Mr. 'Pointedly Unusual Imagination.' Bit beautiful and creative of you.

Now here's where it gets buck wild. So Jophiel is not explicitly mentioned in the bible (in fact only Michael, Raphael and Gabriel are consistently mentioned) but scholars interpret Genesis 3:24 as referring to him.

"He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and aflaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life."

Yeah. It is widely agreed upon that Archangel Jophiel wielded the flaming sword and cast Adam and Eve out of Eden. Now, obviously, in Good Omens canon, Aziraphale did this. But... what if that wasn't the original plan? What if, after Jophiel and the others were cast out, the work rosters in Heaven had to be shuffled around a bit? And what if Aziraphale, having met this beautiful, curious starmaker so long ago took on their role himself?

What if Crowley and Aziraphale began the arrangement long before either of them had the words to understand what it was? All because the angel couldn't understand why he felt so drawn to the Fallen who couldn't remember.

(Edited because I've already come up with a new theory. I still stand by all of this and want it to be true so badly, but I think that Crowley does remember. I think Aziraphale is the one whose memory may have been tampered with. That doesn't change the core of the Jophiel theory, I just think that upon reflection, a personal relationship with Crowley is not what caused Aziraphale to take his old job.)

It also makes sense to then make Crowley the Serpent of Eden, if they had perhaps already planned to go to Eden anyway.

Jophiel is also widely known as Metatron's companion, which explains why he is so aggressive towards Crowley in a really cold, personal way. Yes, Metatron knows of everyone and everything so him knowing Crowley's story isn't odd in itself. But the glare...

To me, this reads as "I know you. I've known you. I know exactly what you're capable of and I will not take it. Not again. Behave." It's like a glare a parent would give their toddler for misbehaving in public. It feels pointedly personal. Almost as though they've worked together in the past in a way that ended badly for Metatron and he is on high alert to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Again here. Metatron doesn't speak about Crowley in a general 'all fallen angels suck' sense. It's personal. His choice of words, the tone, everything points to him having been personally wronged by the angel Crowley was.

Also just look at Jophiel's goddamn curly little red hair are you kidding me right now Neil Gaiman I am in your WALLS.

Also some more fun facts: Jophiel is shown as male and female presenting, leads people to a deeper understanding of the beauty of the universe, is regarded as an angel of wisdom, is known to protect those who seek truth, battles against forces of darkness and ignorance... and is strongly associated with the colour yellow.

Nice eyes babe.

Anyway, I am so delulu about this specific theory because if it is true it would show Aziraphale and Crowley's grand cosmic connection in a way that is honestly just ineffable.

But however much I long for Jophiel to be it... there is also some evidence for it being:

Jeramheel/Jeremiel "God shall have mercy"

In religious texts, Jeremiel is known as the angel who presides over true visions, often appearing in dreams and visions to bring truth. He appears to decipher Baruch's visions and give him a tour of heaven in the book '2 Baruch', and God sends him to answer the prophet Ezra's questions regarding the apocalypse in the book '2 Esdras'.

He also served as an angel of death, watching over and guiding souls to heaven and helping them learn from their earthly experiences.

This again goes back to Crowley's belief that everyone has the right to answers and being a good teacher because of that. It would make sense for them to have had this role in their angelic days as well, despite it eventually coming back to bite them.

Jeremiel is often depicted with a book or a scroll, symbolising the importance of knowledge.

Also, while Zadkiel is known as the angel of forgiveness and mercy, many people also consider Jeremiel (god shall have mercy) in this role... which would make Aziraphale's constant attempts to forgive him and his insistence that he is unforgivable even more devastating, and why I have ongoing theories about a role reversal occurring when it comes to this theme of forgiveness (more on this later).

Right. So I am obviously clutching at my delusion of it being Jophiel, but Jeremiel is a wider known angel with more canonical basis for actually being an archangel, which is why he also makes a lot of sense to me.

Thank you for joining me in this downward spiral into insanity. Look forward to part two!

#good omens #aziraphale #crowley #good omens spoilers #good omens predictions #good omens season 3 #angel crowley #good omens theory

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ragingstillness · 1 year

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BSD 107 - spoilers and meta

Ok I’ve scrolled down enough to tell that no one else is talking about it so I’m gonna lose my mind here. I am very very biased.

So obviously we’re getting parallels between skk and sskk in that they’re both fighting each other and trying to get the other out of some sort of danger caused by Fyodor and/or Fukuchi. Have we considered the zskk implications of this?

I’ve been saying all along that I think Mori’s gonna be a huge part of saving the day in this arc but the way it’s going a/sagiri might agree with me.

Because up to this point Mori is the one thing Fukuchi hasn’t accounted for. To our knowledge. Obviously if Fukuchi’s done any research on Fukuzawa he’d know that the two of them have a contentious relationship at best but that can be explained by their status in Yokohama. Their true past, fighting together as reluctant bodyguard and reckless doctor, was dictated by Natsume and idk exactly why but I don’t think Fukuchi was able to get into anything of Natsume’s (quite possibly because Natsume’s a fucking cat most of the time lol). Not to mention that while Fukuchi would have access to most military records, I don’t think he’d have time to read through them all, and would have to justify accessing the top secret ones. One of which is Mori’s involvement in the war. We’re still not clear on why Mori was a top secret military asset but it’s not super important. Obviously Tachihara would be able to pass some information onto Fukuchi but Mori seems to have been aware of Tachihara’s background and ability and would have taken measures to guard against that, not to mention Jouno could also intercept the information.

All this to say that I don’t think Fukuchi is as aware of Mori as he should be. I think he’s taken control of so much of the Port Mafia by turning them into vampires that he’s written them off, unaware that when he closed his net, the puppetmaster slipped out. And as far as we’ve seen, aside from Dazai’s rebellion and a few small independent actions by ppl like Kouyou and Aku, the loyalty Mori’s cultivated is absolute, especially among the higher echelons. Fukuchi can’t control the Port Mafia, not really, without wresting control of it from the man who already has that control.

Mori is the king of pragmatism, the knower of all secrets. He sees where the tide is turning and throws his support behind whoever is going to let him come out on top. And tellingly, even at the beginning of this arc when everything was going to shit, Mori picked the Agency over the Hunting Dogs. He went personally to rescue Kenji when last we saw him. It gets mentioned in that recap that Mori going personally is something Fukuchi wouldn’t be able to predict. He’s the fly in the ointment, he’s the important piece Fukuchi’s forgotten and it’s going to stab him in the back. Knowing Mori, likely literally.

Especially now that Fukuchi’s stabbed Fukuzawa. Now I can debate about how romantic zskk is all day, but regardless, Mori seems to keep a particular eye on Fukzawa at all times. So if Mori remains free and not a vampire at this point, do we really believe he doesn’t know Fukuchi’s stabbed Fukuzawa? Hell no. I fully expect Mori to interfere in that fight very soon and we’ll get to see just how unstoppable the two of them were when they fought together in the old days. The tiny flashbacks we’ve seen where Mori mentions how unstoppable they are take place post the destruction of an entire organization by Mori and Fukuzawa alone. The only people to have ever done that before are Chuuya (accidentally in Suribachi city), Dazai and Chuuya (working together on Mori’s orders), and Odasaku (on a suicide mission). We are long overdue a look at the original soukoku.

Sidebar, there’s also significance to Mori’s specific ability. Elise is, as of right now, one of the only abilities we’ve seen that can speak and definitely the only one who appears to be able to take independent action. I fully believe that we have never seen her used to her full potential. Which would be very in character for Mori to keep in his back pocket. But clearly, a/sagiri is pulling out all the stops this arc, no reason to believe he won’t pull this one.

tl;dr I am very excited by this arc and think that now we’ve seen Aku and Atsu, Dazai and Chuuya, we’re going to see Fukuzawa and Mori, and it’s going to be amazing.

#bsd #bungo stray dogs #bsd spoilers #bsd manga #bsd meta #skk #sskk #zskk #soukoku #shin soukoku #zenki soukoku #bsd 107 #dazai osamu #chuuya nakahara #atsushi nakajima #akutagawa ryuunosuke #fukuzawa yukichi #mori ougai #fukumori

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feartoxinjelloshot · 2 months

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honestly i am not a fan of how this drawing turned out BUT i did invest some time into it so i would be amiss not to post it for posterity if nothing else.

context:

so, i spent a long time ruminating on what to do with the league of assassins in my au. obviously, a lot of the canon material concerning it is staggeringly racist, not to mention just kind of stupid overall, so i knew that i wanted most of it to go out the window off the bat. at the same time there were certain aspects of it that i knew i wanted to retain - the immortality, the lazarus pits, talia's original antihero stuff, damian being a weird little knife child, etc - so eventually i decided that the "league of assassins" as it were doesn't really exist; ra's has simply operated im plain view for long enough that people who were paying enough attention went "hey, what the hell, he has a guy lined up for everything, surely he's running some kind of secret evil shadow organization?" he's not. he's really not. he's just been alive long enough that he has a lot of personal favors owed to him at this point. his actual "organization" is like, at maximum three people who owe him life debts at any given time. he's also not really evil per say. he's just really weird.

what ra's is actually doing (amidst some good old garden variety ecoterrorism - if ivy can do it so can he, and it was a core aspect of his motivation for several decades) is acting upon the pathological obsession he has with the lazarus pits. the lazarus pits in my au are a mix of the birth of the demon and BTAS lore surrounding them: they are natural deposits that must be manually dug out from underground wellsprings to be used, but they are also deeply connected to earthly magnetism and can be located via complex leylines and other ambiguously supernatural means. ra's, from his first discovery of them, has been dedicated to obsessively cataloguing and "deciphering" what he perceives to be the grand mystery of the natural world we live in, and that once he "solves" it, he can show the truth to others and the planet will be transformed into a paradise. (you may note this is not dissimilar to the riddler's pathos concerning patterns - more on that point later probably). this also has ties to his mortal occupation as a physician. he has a strong lingering investment in finding new ways to cure ills, and sees death as the ultimate ill, and therefore he wants to find a way to universally cure death.

now, a lot of this is directly informed by his backstory from birth of the demon, which happens to also contain the sole appearance of the other character in this image, Huwe (we aren't given another name for him to my memory, so i'm forced to assume that's his only one). huwe was an enemy-turned-ally of ra's who eventually became immortal alongside him up until the mid 1800(???)s, where they had a fight that ended in ra's killing huwe by stabbing him with a fire poker. i thought the dynamic between them was really interesting and underutilized in that comic so i decided to bring it back - it goes pretty differently in my au but i have not worked out the specifics to any degree of clarity yet so i will leave that for another post.

there is also more going on with talia and damian in this au, but this is getting long and they aren't even in this post so ill give the cliffnotes version: talia was raised to be more or less a 'warden' of the lazarus pits and she is immortal like ra's, albeit much younger chronologically. she has a vested desire to lead a "normal" life and live and die as a mortal. after having damian, who is ostensibly supposed to be her successor, she sends him away to live with bruce as a form of achieving her dream vicariously through him - as long as he remains mortal and lives as he wishes to, away from the inherited responsibility of the pits, she can bear the weight of it knowing he's out there somewhere. ra's's side of this is a whole other thing about immortal loneliness and his family being the only ones who he can relate to at all after all that he's done and a weird amount of parallels to the joker of all people but this is getting WAY TOO LONG.

TL;DR ra's (long hair) is a strange immortal doctor and the other guy is huwe, his totally-not-gay-and-also-immortal friend.

#scribbles #clipsverse #ra's al ghul #huwe #footnote do NOT ask me wtf they are wearing in this image. i made that shit up so hard. ill figure out actual outfits for them later

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rainy-painter · 5 months

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Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Extended Character Sheet (Gen 9)

Pokémon Fans of Tumblr: After a joke gone awry I have spent more than five hours working on extending the PMD roster to be up to current date with Pokémon (gen 9). And to not feel like my time has totally been wasted on a nerdy thing, I present to you my results.

(Keep in mind this is not official at all and just my personal pickings.)

I will put thoughts and other boring stuff under the cut, should you be interested to read about all the thoughts and decisions I made.

We good? Okay, you asked for it! So;

As mentioned before this all started with a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon joke with pointing out a few innocent behaviors and going: "You seem to be the-"

And then it hit me- The nature-to-pokemon roster of PMD hasn't really been updated since Explorers of Sky, which only went up to generation four.

And from there it went down hill:

"Wait! The list doesn't even include all available natures!"

"Okay, so there are 25 natures in all, but the number of starter pokemon alone are 29 so... I guess I'll make up some natures?"

"I need enough natures to also include some classic Pokémon protagonist options such as Pikachu... And oh no, just HOW many options were there from Gen 1?"

"-And there are barely any extra options from the other generations?"

"WHAT THE [Redacted] HAPPENED TO THE ROSTER IN GATES OF INFINITY?!"

For this project I had to lay down a few rules:

The list had to include all starter Pokémon.

Include at least two additional Pokémon from each generation.

Try to balance out Pokemon Types as much as possible, as well as making them decent starter pokemon.

No gender exclusive Pokémon.

Trans males are male and trans females are female.

Added Non-binary option for the quiz.

Extra added things to note:

The list is mostly based off the one from Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky.

Missing Natures from the original list are grayed out for convenience.

New natures, added out of necessity, has its own list.

I also have a list of honorable mentions and cut Pokémon.

Note: Pokemon greyed out on the list above is to indicate generation changes.

My thoughts on the cut pokemon:

Obviously there are way too many Pokémon from gen 1 for them all to make it to the list. Pokémon such as Cubone and Phanpy could have made the list more diverse, adding the ground type to the options. Togepi and Sneasel were chosen over Phanpy for their less common Typings. However after cutting Cubone and adding Ralts to the roster it could be argued Phanpy should have been added back instead of Togepi.

What am I? The Officer Jenny? If you feel Phanpy or, hack, any other pokemon fit the roster more than my pickings, feel free to edit or make your own roster! :) /Genuine /Positive

I really like Vulpix, however there were already a lot of fire types. The reason why Charcadet is on the list is because I felt like I didn't have enough options from Gen 9 that I felt would fit as a main character, be strong enough or not too strong for the theorized adventure.

Most Nominee were chosen for being decent base form Pokémon and being dexterous enough for a human turned Pokémon to not feel completely claustrophobic in their body: I figured a bipedal or quadrupedal Pokémon would feel more natural than pokemon like Bronzor or Ekans.

(Looks at Snom) I said most nominees. Snom was chosen for their special typing and cute appearance. However stats and weakness wise I found it hard to defend it.

For my final thoughts on this list:

I doubt by far I'm the first to make an extended list for the PMD franchise, but I haven't seen many lists on this website and I did the work anyway, so why not post it?

You are more than welcome to comment on it or make your own! ^^ I welcome creativity and I would be more than excited to see the thoughts other people would put into a list like this!

A lot of thought has been put into the list, especially nature to Pokémon wise. If it wasn't on the official PMDE list, the Pokémon placements have a 80% chance to have a sort of reference from the anime or in game ability, or just how I could see them. (As well as other obscure trivia. Like how Chikorita is on the Lonely category for being perhaps the least picked starter Pokémon.)

And hey- If you feel like your Pokémon self isn't on the list, then that's completely fine! ^^ The list is more of a guideline than actual rules- Hack it's meant only for fun! And I'm glad you know what Pokémon you'd be!

I didn't include Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Keep Going! Blazing Adventure Squad, Let's Go! Stormy Adventure Squad and Go For It! Light Adventure Squad in my research because it wasn't released outside of Japan (To my knowledge.) It also featured a very specific art style, so I considered them kind of their own spinoff franchise at that point.

No, I'm not going to make a quiz to fit the extended list. c': Anyone wanting to make a quiz based off this list is more than welcome though!

I am currently making lists for specific pronouns such as Necrom (With Ghost/Dark/Poison type or death themed Pokémon) and Fae (Fairy/Normal/Psychic type or fairy themed Pokémon). Unlike the Gender themes these will contain pokémon outside of the normal roster. So in a way I kind of walked back on the "no gender exclusive" rule, but hey it's all in good fun!

I'd love it if you guys have any other pronouns you'd like me to work on! ^^

I also worked on an "it" pronoun with genderless Pokémon, however even when the list included Steel/Rock/Ground types and object Pokémon I had a hard time making it work. I'm open to any suggestions on how to expand the list and still keep it in theme. c':

And lastly: No, I never did get back to my friend about what nature xey'd be. c':

#Pokémon #Pokemon #pokemon mystery dungeon #PMD #Nature Sheet #Pokemon Personality #Personality Sheet #rainy painter #PMD Extended Character Sheet #Please I spent like over five hours on this #A like would be appreciated c':#And a share would be extremely lovely!#That said I don't believe this post will get far with how rare I upload anything.#Oh well.

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