#i am told this is from spoiler

[isolophilian]

i think we need to understand the gravity of how quickly Percy blames himself and his disabilities for the way his world is. how he's been made to believe over years and years that he's weird, that there's something wrong with him. Percy saying he should've been paying attention. Percy saying there's something wrong with his brain. Percy calling himself broken.. he's just a kid man

#this is so unbelievably important #goes to show how the treatment of disabled kids can harm their self esteem so much #he's literally twelve?? #this kid has been told his entire life that there's something wrong with him #and he believes it #you can see how upset Sally is that he thinks that #like that's her little boy #i would riot so badly if my child ever had any reason to say that about themselves #also brunner calling him “special” earlier in the episode probably aggravated his reaction to getting the same statement from sally #god he's just a baby #he doesn't deserve this #this show is going to jumpstart such important conversations about a wide variety of things and I am so here for it #renew it already #percy jackson #sally jackson #walker scobell #virginia kull #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo tv show #pjo tv spoilers #isoceratops

[lucabyte]

i feel like people are sleeping on the occam's razor situation of how buckwild it is to outright accuse a guy of being a clone of your friend even if you DO have a lot of circumstantial evidence. there's other options is what im saying. they could just be like. a guy. that's a sensible deduction. you should explore that deduction. ignore my shirt that reads I <3 RED HERRINGS.

i still think odile has the correct theory on lock but she's smart enough to know it needs like... a real smoking gun to be able to bring it up without sounding insane.

anyway. (mirabelle voice) i know its rude to speculate but has anyone else noticed the grieving? they seem to be grieving. does anyone have any thoughts on the grieving? i have some thoughts on the grieving.

#[isabeau voice] am i insane or does sometimes loop talk like they might have killed their whole family. is that just me? just checking. #nille design highly inspired by @kiwibrain's since its the one that imprinted in my mind. liberties taken since i didnt look @ reference #anyway i have a lot more thoughts on this? i guess ill hide them in the tags...? scroll down i suppose. #isat #in stars and time #isat spoilers #in stars and time spoilers #isat act 6 spoilers #isat loop #isat siffrin #isat bonnie #isat nille #isat fanart #in stars and time fanart #doodlebyte #---------------------------------------------------------------------- #anyway the extra thoughts. are literally just my general thoughts on postcanon. (and thus are the context for all of my postcanon doodles!) #which is i think nille joins the party before loop reappears for a start (either from a period of nonexistence or just wandering around) #and that like. i think the party should be able to integrate loop as a completely new person. because they are! the secrecy isn't great but #They and Siffrin shuffle into different ecological niches in the party (eg. i think sif is more squeamish after it all but loop isnt) #and while it's not *exactly* what Loop wanted they get that beggars can't be choosers. and its pretty good #(i am glossing over how i think loop's reappearence drags both them and siffrin into a massive behavioural backslide and is likely a bit #distressing to watch go down. cycle of argument -> lovebombing -> normalcy -> repeat. etc etc. but since they are no longer literally #stewing in the worst pressure cooker of all time they do resolve it via productive conversation on their own time. its fine) #the party well-meaningly tries to deduce things from loop's vagueries and are able to pin down the DEAD FAMILY vibe pretty quickly. #but eventually the question of their prior identity falls by the wayside because well! they're just their friend loop! (also change belief) #as for how The Truth Come Out... this is what i mean by The Isabeau Torment Nexus(tm). which is that i think... isiloop should almost occur #BEFORE isabeau knows who loop is. he's just genuinely charmed by them eventually and tries to close the open end of the polycule #which FREAKS LOOP THE FUCK OUT because thats just too genuinely sick and wrong. and obviously w emotions high its not a great confrontation #ANYWAY told u i had more thoughts. if i were normal itd be a text post but.

[brainlessbaguette]

Finished this doodle way sooner than expected but seriously who dressed Finn in the new show. I don't know whether to be scared or proud. This is our boy that wouldn't wear the lady armour even to save himself! (Note I have no idea what's happening in Fionna and Cake, it might not be OUR Finn, but still the statement stands)

LOOK AT HIM! THE JEANS ARE ROLLED UP! I LOVE IT!

Also a moment to appreciate the fact that the moment adult Finn puts back on the hat it looks like the same boy face we know + a fake beard slapped onto a GIANT man body. I think all the other times we've seen him older he wasn't wearing the exact same hat, and I now understand why. It's just so silly.

#Even with the hat Adult Finn is still hot tho #and I am so mad that I find him attractive #mostly because 13yr old me that crushed on younger Finn would 100% be flipping me off going “I told you so” #and I gotta just keep going with that knowledge #like the burden of my own existence wasnt enough #I missed the boys and that new trailer was dope #fionna and cake #adventure time #I know this was from the trailer but Im gonna tag this as spoilers just in case #spoilers #there I did my part #dont @ me about not being considerate #finn the human #finn mertens #jake the dog

[alchemania]

Finally got enough energy to talk about Furina's SQ and while I loved her and the troupe, MC and Paimon were .... Not Great. I talked about this with friends but in Paimon's case especially, the way they interact with Furina feels like people who just don't understand trauma and depression and then engage with someone suffering from both in all the wrong ways.

Talking about how much of a downgrade her house is from the opera house, making fun of how she can't cook, pushing her to act when she's set a very clear boundary and then guilt tripping her after she's stuck to her guns, shaming her for not being able to fight well (Paimon literally talks about how second hand embarrassment is overwhelming and I'm just like ?????), telling her she's "not acting like herself" when she attempts to open up and be vulnerable....it's just really rough. That and the MC asking "is something wrong" when Furina gets sad over Poission ..like bro people died and she couldn't save them and she's tearing herself apart over it. Those people are never coming back and you know it and you have the gall to ask her is something wrong??? Of COURSE there is!!

It just feels especially odd because we literally get to see all of Furina's suffering and Paimon in particular is. SO mean? Like she was more understanding with Wanderer and Ei and THEY'VE tried to kill us multiple times!! I don't get it, and honestly I'm very proud of Furina for refusing to waver. Let her rest!! She's tired and depressed and she needs time to heal; and honestly fuck Paimon for trying to make her feel bad. Furina's worked harder than she EVER will.

#as someone with depression and who's highly sensitive this story quest hurt a LOT because ive also encountered people who don't understand. #i've been told i need to get over my anxiety. i've been asked what am i so tired from since i just lay in bed. #so furina's character and how she was treated hit very very hard for me. she's isolating herself and not coping well but she is TRYING. #she's trying so hard and she equates her worth to her role. like she literally tells you that she serves no more use to anyone. #and i wanted to shake her so hard. because it's not about what she can do #she has worth simply because she exists. full stop. she is loved and she is appreciated just for being herself #her worth isn't decided by her power yk?? #i hope she can rest and heal and find some good friends - after the way mc and paimon treated her i honestly don't think they should be #or if they are; they'd have to work to earn her trust cuz good LORD. they treated her so weird and so tone deaf!! #i've seen a lot of people complaining about it too so im glad im not alone. #anyway. there is something wrong with me i have cried actual tears over furina please god she needs a hug #and to be told she did a good job and she can rest now and things will get better #4.2 spoilers #genshin impact #furina

[baron-fromthebaronies]

If we throw a cupcake into the briefcase once in a while will you be happy enough to not watch us sleep or is that a requirement. -Fig

Watching Riz Gukgak and his friends in their sleep was commanded of me by my aunt Kalina and to disobey her would be to disobey my Stark Father...the cupcakes, however, would be appreciated.

I cannot open or close my mouth...I will keep them on a shelf and dust them when the bell rings.

#:| #<- i am smiling #ask #dimension 20 #fantasy high #fantasy high junior year #d20 #fhjy #baron from the baronies #fhjy spoilers #ooc: no one told them you are called The Bad Kids...

[anonyanonymouse]

It's crazy to think how altered my perception of all this would be if they showed us the full story between Malleus and Lilia before they showed us the full story between Silver and Lilia

#it's getting late and I don't think I can properly expand on this but #maybe I would have felt just as betrayed for Malleus as I am now for Silver if we saw the story between Lilia and Silver after theirs #they both need Lilia to tell them that he loves them and to tell Lilia that they love him #they both deserved so much more from him and they were both lied to #but I think both stories on their own with how they are expressed #give the impression that Malleus/Silver are the most important thing (singular) to happen to Lilia #and obviously that Lilia was the most important thing to happen to them #it's hard to say because that's not the story we were ultimately given #but regardless the more I think about it the more firmly I come to the conclusion that there is no most special boy #Malleus taught him to love and Silver taught him to be loved #Lilia told Malleus to stay alive no matter what and Silver told Lilia to stay alive no matter what #and now Lilia has to learn how to be loved by Malleus and how to truly love Silver #twst book 7 #book 7 spoilers #twisted wonderland book 7

[intelligent-jump]

#tgaa2 spoilers #asougi kazuma #kazuma asogi #ryunosuke naruhodo #naruhodou ryuunosuke #dgs 2 spoilers #dgs2 #dgs #dgs spoilers #asoryuu in a way???? idk tbh #asoryu #the great ace attorney #first post aaah #is this obvious already and am I just oblivious #tgaa2 #dai gyakuten saiban #asoryuu #wait nobody told me tumblr fucks up quality #can yall even read what it says #it's from that time ryu says they're both defence lawyers #ace attorney #gyakuten saiban

[utilitycaster]

lmao, I saw (and subsequently muted) someone on twitter who was like "they ENABLED each other!!!" in the stalest, most black-and-white morality way, and then immediately came here to see your much more nuanced, reasonable takes, thanks as always

Hey, thanks!

I hope you don't mind but I've been sort of talking about this all day in the DMs and this felt like a reasonable starting point, but this episode feels really illustrative of why, this campaign, I've started being so insistent on people having an idea of what they want to see or why specifically they feel a certain way.

I've been leaning into Orym pretty heavily but I think he's gotten the bulk of the weird takes. Anyway, here are some questions I'd need answers to re: black-and-white morality, or enabling:

Has Orym done anything that was unkind? What specifically?

Do you believe kindness must be applied to all people equally?

Do you practice this in your life?

Are you familiar with the Paradox of Tolerance?

Has Orym done anything that is abnormal for a 'heroic' character in this specific genre?

Do you expect people to be objective in the face of death?

Do you practice this in your life?

What defines vengeance? Does this mean that any action against someone who hurt you is vengeful?

Do you believe vengeance is evil, or can it sometimes be justified? If so when is it justified?

If your friend is engaging in an act that you have determined is vengeance, can you be sure that is the case?

If so, do you have an obligation to stop them?

Is all violence evil? If not, when is it good or justified?

If you believe all violence is evil, how do you reconcile that with a D&D show that has a heavy focus on combat?

If you've answered that things are good or evil in this series of question, under what authority are you the arbiter of such?

If it is unkind or enabling to commit violence against those who do violence, what sort of consequences do you believe that might bring about? Who will be the victor in this paradigm?

#answered #Anonymous #idk how to put this but like. I do actually go through this kind of thought process when posting #not like. every shitpost. but if I make something longer? this is the kind of stuff I am considering! #it does wonders for like. clearing out your personal wish fulfillment or at least making you frame that as such #separating what you believe personally from the story being told #critical role spoilers

[winepresswrath]

I do gotta say tho, even tho I’m mad at aziraphale because he’s being a terrible boyfriend like what you said about the “I forgive you like” because WHAT. But also I really like the way the show really demonstrates the underlying cruelty of heaven and it’s angels. Really shows the hypocrisy of a group of beings who are supposed to do good, especially aziraphale who really buys into the heaven propaganda, who hurts people, particularly the person who means the most to him. Because like you said he fully just takes advantage of that devotion Crowley has for him. Insane, this shwo makes me INSANE

I missed this anon and yeah! The angels were one of my favourite parts of the season, and I think the strongest element aside from Neil Gaiman deciding he's just a simple man who wants to put his otp in situations. They are deeply awful and I kind of love them. They are the exact kind of moralizing hypocrites who are callous and cruel precisely because they think being on team good means everything they do is justified and it's actually impossible for them to be in the wrong (they're angels! is it even possible for them to do the wrong thing?).

but!! To me, they also seem like they're basically kids? Obviously they're not literally children, but there is this very consistent reoccurring joke about how childish/sheltered/immature they are. Muriel is the most obvious example, but the archangels come off like bratty twelve year olds to her sweet little kid.

Gabriel is basically teenager in love flipping off his family as he runs away with his backstreet guy. Uriel is constantly picking at Michael, Michael is playing at being in charge like it's a game, and it's ridiculously easy for both Aziraphale and Crowely to trick them obvious half assed lies. They're not allowed to ask questions! The Metatron treats them like badly behaved kids out past their curfew. At any point an old man with a beard may pop up to scold them and send them home, and they're all scared of doing something wrong by his standards and getting in trouble with this guy who is pointedly not God but who lines up exactly with the pop-culture idea of god the father, and who offers Aziraphale, among other things, a respite from the hard work of figuring out what the right thing to do is for himself. It's fine! You don't have to question the belief system you were born into or make a painful break with everything you've ever known! Aziraphale has had six thousand years on earth to grow up, but the other angels have been sitting in a sterile white box playing "i'm not touching you" games with each other and filing paperwork.

And I think that's extra interesting because this season also really emphasizes:

Heaven has Institutional Problems

Aziraphale isn't the only angel who's unhappy in heaven. Gabriel and Muriel were both completely miserable. They just didn't understand that they were unhappy because they'd never experienced anything else.

Angels who aren't Aziraphale can change and grow! There's very explicitly Gabriel being changed by love and Muriel growing up a bit on earth, and from a more fan-theory angle there's also Jimbriel, who I think is probably basically Gabriel minus the war and six thousand years of playing referee for Michael and Uriel while unleashing an assortment of plague and calamities on earth because that's God's will! Buck up champ.

We also get Gabriel and Beezelebub talking about how their underlings basically live for Armageddon, "if you can call that living." This is so bleak. They've all been on a six thousand year time out just dreaming of the day they get to beat the shit out of each other until they feel better, but it won't work because eternity is just more of the box.

Anyway I think it's going in a distinctly eden adjacent direction. Aziraphale is going to tempt those angels with knowledge and the capacity for change. I have veered so far from your ask anon i'm sorry you're right heaven really went all out on sucking this season & while Crowley and Aziraphale are both fucking it up Crowley refrains from being spectacularly cruel to Aziraphale about it and Aziraphale should learn to return the favour. I forgive you!! I forGIVE you. I forgive YOU. "you can be an angel again" is actually a worse thing to say than "you're a demon. i don't even like you." when he finally picks crowley over heaven i'm going to lose my mind.

#good omens spoilers #good omens season two spoilers #idk it makes me sad that i didn't like the humans very much this season because i think ideally they're central to this whole how to be #a person question i also hope we get to see more of hell next season because i do think they're stuck in basically the same place #with a different aesthetic! and the stick being #thrown into a torture pit instead of thrown into hell #or like. mindwiped and locked in an office for all eternity #gabriel broke my heart which is embarrassing but when he goes from not even understanding what music is to experiencing #the simple pleasure of sharing a song with someone for the very first time and almost immediately hits repeat for eternity... baby. baby bo #i would also like more crowley! this was very much the season of aziraphale #which is fine but i missed him yelling questions at god and the bits where it seemed he really wanted aziraphale's opinion instead of just #wanting aziraphale to develop better opinions #next season had better be crowley wrestles with the universe i am telling you!!! #remember three months ago when i was like eh... another good omens season #i bet it'll be cute but i'm content with my book #i don't go here i said strapping on my clown shoes #seriously though i do think crowley is scared to admit to wanting to be good both because god rejected him and he doesn't want #to be a sucker for her (he is only interested in being a sucker for aziraphale) #and like. chase after something he's barred from and has already been told isn't for him. #and that's why it's so hard for him to admit even to himself that he too would be unhappy ditching earth #in ways that parallel aziraphale's unwillingness to let go of heaven as a source of moral authority and goodness #but the way aziraphale goes oh no! i cannot trust my own judgement and desires. They are suspect! #my judgement is that crowley is good and also funny and sexy. my desires are for his company and also his body #therefore the source of these desires is also maybe bad. i mean he's a demon. he's got to be bad #right??? but no. but i saw him do a good thing. but maybe i didn't? I should probably take a stance on this. #and he makes this crowley's problem until the apocalypse but then the second he gets the chance to cram crowley and his feelings for him #back in a heaven approved box he jumps at it in a way that requires just being WILDLY insensitive and dismissive of crowley's feelings #he's not just being a dick about their relationship he is being a dick about crowley as a person. and he should know better but is choosing #not to because he wants the easy out so badly. anyway i love him he was my favourite character all season no notes #good omens

[monstrsball]

the olruggio backstory crumbs in the most recent chapter...

#witch hat atelier #witch hat atelier spoilers #i have thoughts but i can't put them into words but. god #i've been wondering about olruggio's history since that One chapter.... #i am calling them crumbs bc it wasn't from his pov yk. but it still told us a Lot about him

[i-bring-crack]

Okay but here's to more fun ideas about Esil being brought to the human world, Jinwoo putting all the backpacks on his inventory because no, he doesn't have THAT much room and like 90% of the things she has won't be useful here or would be a waste of space.

He has enough money to afford a room for her, and luckily it is right next to Jin-ho's! So Jinho and Esil are now neighbors! Jinwoo now has two adults (sister and brother but he won't sayyyy ittt) to take care of so he tells them to get a job.

Never having experience with costumer service before or any kind of social working job they think is going to be very easy to work at MC Donalds. Shenanigans ensue.

Or maybe a post rewind where Jinwoo is working as a batista, Esil wants to get acquaintances with the only royal (not of her blood) there is so that she can help mend deals in the Cracks between dimensions and Jinho needs a job quickly because his father has kicked him out of the house and took all his inheritance.

Because this AU is wildly out of control, Jinah and Songi are professional gamers who go to Jinwoo's working place because he has the best wifi and makes the most delicious cake couples with his high energy drinks that are just *chefs kiss* perfect!

Haein and Jinchul are the usual costumers. Haein always loves his ice creams with tea and some appetizers. She tries to sometimes buy her way out of training by asking for the best cappuccino for his manager Jongin.

And Jinchul always comes peak 6 AM, 1 PM and 11 PM at all times exactly at that hour. It took a few tries for Jinwoo and him to strike up a conversation. And Jinwoo who knows pretty well just how horrible his job is based on his face, his dark complexion, his uninterest in talking and somber mood (and totally not because his shadows keep telling him about this hardworking detective out to hunt his criminal activity.) He tends to take pity on the guy and make the most relaxing and soothing coffees for him. Heck he even throws in a few foods (like salads and some of Heejin's restaurants wonders) for him. You know, just because.

Heejin and Jinwoo sometimes share meals because one time they went ice skating together when they were young and had accidentally wandered into a dangerous place with bears. Of course Jinwoo helped her out and they didn't Meer again until years later when Jinwoo started to work as a barista next to the White Tiguer Restaurant! What a coincidence it's also where she works! So of course she often gave him some spicy kimchy and they became good friends afterwards. (Heejin doesn't know Jinwoo is horrible at handling spicy foods so he gives it the unbeatable wall that is Jinchul or sometimes Haein, both their spicy tolerance are as high as Jinwoo's alcohol tolerance. When she isnt playing LOL, Jinah is very much researching what is wrong in everyone's stomachs)

Juhee is a medicine student who also needed the job at the Ahjin Coffee shop, and she got accepted pretty easily, the manager's standards aren't that hard in the first place. You just need to say yes to the last question when he says "can you look into the eyes of death and face adversity against all odds? Or do you know how to make coffee?"

Juhee is the second oldest worker here, Jinwoo is the first, Esil and Jinho are the youngest. Mr Ashborn the manager (No one questions why he has such a weird name he is probably a foreigner) has had quite a lot of people looking for this job but for some reason they don't stay for more than 3 days. Huh. She never encountered a problem with being here, maybe they just weren't cut out for this. Jinwoo agrees.

Well she doesn't mind it!

Juhee also has some friends which come to the coffee shop a lot to buy her exquisite teas and famous lemon pies. (She is always glad to point it out that Jinwoo taught her those!) Like Min Byung Gyu, who is secretly a famous world renowned surgeon, and Lim Tae Gyu who's also a professional archer and tennis player. ( she guesses the latter came from Haein's recomendation tho) and Eunseok who is... actually just a normal psychology student. Huh. Somehow he got a lot more big shots as friends as well, Michelin and mysterious chef Baek Yoonho and even Famous 7 year unchallenged judoka master Ma Dong Wook.

Juhee finds it hard to believe all those titles are real tho. They seem so stupid sometimes.

Anyways Jinwoo often takes the night shifts alone because Juhee has to go and study. Jinah and songi as well have to leave. Esil needs to go to her real world, Jinho needs to sleep after dealing with too many karens. Past 11 PM the last one he meets is always Jinchul who one day strikes up a joke saying its weird how no one has ever seen him leave the job. Jinwoo just smiles and cleans his cup. And when the last person walk out that door, the ghost come to life.

The coffee shop of the living is now closed, and so Ahjin's coffee shop of the underworld is opened to those poor souls whose death had come through a brutal means and need a cup of vengeance.

#solo leveling #sung jin woo #au promps #see i TOLD you i do better promps when sick and beddridden #cha hae in #woo jin chul #post alot of things #Ashborn aint alice actually but he aint dead either jinwoo just wanted to seperste his soul from Ashborns memories so that he doesnt suffer #a lot of the emotionless backlash he has had over the eons. so that he can still stay human. #solo leveling spoilers #lee ju hee #esil radiru #yoo jin ho #jinwoo does go back to his house at around 1 AM because his work is done withing the time and space weird thingy #he does post canon where time amd space freezes. #he does get breaks as well dont worry. #and 'Ashborn' is also in a weird recovery of his own trying to gind new meaning past dying and AB

[kawaii-butt-crust-core]

That crippling realization that bakudeku will not be real and Bakugo is probably gonna have this wife/ gf that only comes at the end of the series because he can't pull anyone but men in 1-A

#this is gonna end like narusasu and i am so sad tbh 🤞🏼 #bnha #bakudeku #doesn't change the fact ghat they are soulmates idc #honestly they remind me of mickey and ian from shameless LMAOO like they are so fucked up and they *might* have made each other worse at #some points but they also bring out the best in most. i can rant about these fuckers for hours #if you told 12 year old me “ you're a MASSIVE bakudeku shipper ” i would have passed out and woke back up to beat your ass #deku #bakugo #kaachan #izuku #mha spoilers

[msviolacea]

A not-so-short word vomit on a complaint I saw about 6.3. It was just a couple of people, so this is definitely not a “why is fandom like this” sort of thing, but the conversation I saw just made me think and I don’t have the time or energy to engage in a direct back and forth on Discord right now. So, I word vomit here, as one does.

I saw a thing the other day (here? Twitter? who knows, time is an illusion and brain cells are in short supply) that asked if you’re the kind of person who came to FFXIV from Dragon Age versus ... somewhere else. I am obviously from the Dragon Age side of things. And if there’s one thing DA fandom taught me, it’s that a game suffers when all players are expected to know what happens in ancillary non-video game materials in order to fully appreciate the story. Thus, I come down hard on the side of “what the game itself says is exactly what the characters should be expected to know and reference.” 

And the FFXIV spoilers begin below. Assume spoilers for everything through 6.3 here. 

So 6.3 - and 6.2 to a lesser extent, thanks to Zero - is full of references to Zenos and, quite frankly, what a terrible person he was. And that’s perfectly understandable, given what everyone knows about him in game. (And even what we know about him out of game, but more on the nuance of that later.) Yes, our WoL knows that he made one big gesture at the end of his life that helped us save the world. That’s great! But after that, he immediately challenged us to a fight and very nearly killed us - would have killed us if not for semi-divine intervention. Because in the end, he didn’t come to the end of the universe because he’d discovered a conscience. He came because he was a deeply selfish man who only cared about getting One Perfect Fight, and Alisaie’s words stuck in his head only to the point of “well if I do a thing for them, they’ll do a thing for me.” He only progressed to the point of understanding equivalent exchange in a similar way to the voidsent of the 13th.

That may have been vaguely fine for a character in another position, but he was supposedly running a country. Whether he wanted that is something else entirely, and we’ll get to a bit of Emet Selch and his crimes in a bit, but regardless of what he wanted, he had an obligation, and he failed it entirely - he refused to even consider it. And an entire nation suffered for his lack of care. That was one of the points of this patch. We met Zero in 6.2, learned that she’d been attached to Zenos against her will. That was mostly background to the rest of the dragon and void stuff in that patch, but in this patch, we bring her to Garlemald, where she sees more of the consequences of Zenos’s selfishness, outside of her own situation. And after observing us, our friends, and the people of Garlemald trying their best to survive together, she shows that she can choose something different - that despite the many, many years of darkness and selfishness she’s had to survive in the 13th, she has the capacity to desire something different. 

Maybe Zenos would have displayed that same capacity if he’d had more time. But that wasn’t the story this game was telling. Not every character is going to get the same opportunities. 

Not every villain gets to be redeemed. 

I understand that we have a relatively robust history of redeemed villains in this game, compared to others of its kind. But that’s been a mixed bag. Emet Selch is one of the best examples of villains in general in the video game genre - the game itself showed exactly why he was the way he was, without excusing the atrocities that he committed along the way. (Fandom is a different story on the excusing - I am deeply uncomfortable with the “but he didn’t see humans as equals” argument being used in earnest - but that’s a different post.) And then they gave us an opportunity to see who he was before the sundering, before the trauma, and that once his full memory was restored and he had the opportunity to understand the full scope of what happened, he would gladly (though with characteristic grumbling) help us put the world to rights before his truly final curtain call. 

Zenos did not have the same narrative opportunities. If that disappoints you, I understand. But it’s not a failure of the game, it’s just a narrative decision. 

(Briefly - Gaius is a very, VERY different story, and one that I think is actually a failure of the game’s narrative. Gaius Baelsar should have remained dead, and the person we met in the Burn should have been an entirely different Garlean leader who defected and decided to help us. That one change would have saved that entire storyline.)

But, Zenos. We, as players, have the opportunity to read some ancillary materials to understand more about him. Side stories, lore books - we find he was neglected as a child, raised by narcissists and molded to be the person he was, to a certain extent. We can sympathize, we can understand the narrative threads that denied him a real chance at being a good person. But do not confuse what we the players know - or even the space the game writers give us to play with our headcanons - with the knowledge and opinions the characters should reasonably be expected to express in in-game dialogue. 

What does the Warrior of Light know about Zenos in game, through actual in-game sources? He’s the great-grandson of Solus/Emet, his father was a xenophobic zealot, he gave zero shits about anything other than fighting and let a lot of really shitty people do his governing for him, he killed a ton of people and threatened many, many more, the Ascians brought him back to life and as soon as he got his body back, he allied with Fandaniel and let a civil war turn Garlemald into a smoking crater just so they could get to Zodiark, and when Fandaniel used Zodiark for his own purposes, he just shrugged and went wandering on his own because nothing in Garlemald was any use to him anymore. That’s pretty much it. Yes, he came to our aid at the moment we needed it most, but he did so for his own ends, and we gave him what he wanted. You can headcanon the reason why your WoL did so, but that doesn’t change the basic facts we know from in-game sources. 

Your WoL doesn’t canonically know anything about his childhood. And, quite frankly, even if they did, do you think it would be reasonable to “well actually” Zero and the Garleans in dialogue at this point? 

Zenos is a tragedy. Zenos also caused tragedy, and those two concepts can coexist in our minds as players. But in-game characters can’t be expected to view Zenos in a sympathetic light, not even our WoL. External lore sources are not in-game lore. Our headcanons are not in-game lore. The writers cannot avoid every single instance of our dialogue possibly deviating from our headcanons, not without eliminating dialogue entirely. 

(There’s an ancillary topic here, about how the current shape of the world makes it very inadvisable for writers who give a shit about society to gloss over atrocities committed by a rich ogliarch in their narrative, no matter what players headcanon about that character, but that’s an aside to the points I’m making. But while I’m all in for villain-fucking and blorbo-appreciation in a fannish space, fandom is a totally different space than canon.) 

In the end, Zenos died a villain. A complicated, interesting one who made a fascinating decision at the end of his life, but a villain nonetheless. We can do whatever we want with him in fandom - that’s what fanworks are for. And we can be disappointed that the canon narrative doesn’t share our points of view. But we should also understand that there are very good reasons for those POVs, and that not sharing our POV is not a failure of the narrative. 

#jaime plays ffxiv #ffxiv #ffxiv spoilers #6.3 spoilers #that's a lot of words #but they were in my head #and needed to get out #i am a big proponent of divorcing your own feelings about a character #from what is good or expected from the narrative that's being told

[rohirric-hunter]

I love how we have explained absolutely none of this situation to Horn and Sigileth is already like, "Would Corudan help you? Well? Would he?"

#lotro #spoilers of umbar #horn: *confused sounds of fear* #because like theres no way he knows whats going on with corudan rn #also he was almost certainly told that sigileth was dead #this is very aggressive sigileth #and it does not sound like you are abstaining from the judging #i mean neither am i im super judging #although my judging is more along the lines of hey bro where the FUCK is your pregnant wife #did u even look for her #dont answer that

[technicalthinker]

Since I see a lot of reactions on articles/quotes from the Loki crew and cast, here are some general reminders when it comes to stuff like this;

There are so many people working on a show/movie and everyone make decisions creating the final product we watch. Of course they do a lot of work to unite their visions and make it cohesive, but "contradictions" may still happen. We often talk about the obvious people behind a show, the actors, writers and directors, but there are also costume designers, composers and editors, etc. All of these people can have different perspectives and pull things in different directions, that just sort of comes with the nature of making such a big show.

And then it comes to producing a show itself. Productions are messy. Things get reworked on the spot because what might've worked on the page didn't work in practice, props break and need to be changed, actors can't be in for the day, etc. All of these affect the final products in chaotic ways. Sometimes unpredictable things like this may get in the way of or improve the story.

And finally articles/interviews purpose is to provide this one specific person's perspective and promote the show, or engage fans.

So take these things with a grain of salt. You don't need to base your entire view on the show on statements from cast/crew. Is the line less meaningful because it was improvised? Should we consider an episode to be less canon because it was apparently rewritten a lot from its original state?

Your fan experience will likely be healthier and more fun if you try to mainly engage with the art you have in front of you. If you read quotes from creators and feel frustrated that they are inconsistent with the art - first of all, art is subjective, it just comes with the territory. But my main point of the post is that even if a person is working on the show, it doesn't mean that their view is 100% represented within the text. You don't need to go full Death of the Author here, but you gotta remember there isn't just one author and that author's intent at work here, there is a production, with all that comes with it. And honestly? That's what makes it interesting. All of these visions coming together to create art that we get to take part in, and whatever vision we're getting as a viewer might be something completely unique.

#marvel blogging #loki #loki spoilers #KINDA #marvel #this is a long way to say: you dont need to go death of the author but it is more fun that way #IDK I CARE A LOT ABOUT THIS TOPIC SO I NEEDED TO PUT IT ALL DOWN #ive struggled with this before. getting bummed out by weird comments made by cast or crew but like. it aint HEALTHY. it aint fun. #i wanna be clear this is NOT a 'lokius truthing' post #this is NOT a 'dont worry it is canon dont listen to them!' post #im also feeling a lot for the sylki fans who are being told it was abt their romance when s2 very much downplayed that aspect of the writin #this is just like. #literally a reminder of how productions work #I AM A DESTIEL AND THE HOBBIT TRILOGY ENJOYER. I KNOW WHAT I AM SPEAKING OF. #hearing bts stuff from both spn and the hobbit (AND LOTR) has made me realise how much of the good that is happy mistakes basically #if you get something FUN from cast and crew? ENJOY IT. enjoy that laugh at it and feel seen #but if it makes you feel shitty it might be better to just leave it at the door #like it isnt just more fun and healthy that way i think it leads to more interesting conversations about art #thinking abt how the destiel 15x18 handprint was an accident of them realising they had to change the location of the confession #bc they had earlier fucked up a door and the script had missed it. #and tHEN it lead to the bloody handprint

[anneapocalypse]

Anyway sorry for the lack of Dragon Age posting, I'm busy lying on the floor about FFXIV right now. Nearing the end of Heavensward. If you know you know.

#i was spoiled on this and i am still DEVASTATED #ariane has now lost TWO npcs she was in love with #at least this one she told #ffxiv #heavensward spoilers #though not really #ffxiv spoilers #anne plays ffxiv #anyway i'm taking a break from scrolling past bad dragon age takes to deal with free company drama instead #peace! #ariane clairière