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raayllum · 1 year

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Quick run down: 4 is the lowest typical score given, 10 the typical highest score given (although you can technically go up to 12). Making my post because I noticed Callum’s Justice ranking was at 6 (lower than I’d expected) and I always meant to do a lil more formal comparison between the trio so here it is I suppose.

Devotion: This is value is about duty, faith, and friendship. You’re motivated by the bonds of loyalty and your love for others.

Truth: This value is about fidelity, certainty, and authenticity. You’re motivated by finding strength in facts and by the principle and pursuit of knowledge

Glory: Have you ever wanted to be celebrated by history? This value is about legacy, fame, and fortune. You’re motivated by praise, acclaim, and your desire to be remembered.

Justice: Have you ever been compelled to fix what’s wrong? This value is about balance, virtue, and reward. You’re motivated by adherence to fairness and what you think is right.

Liberty: Have you ever resisted the control of others? This value is about freedom and autonomy. You’re motivated by a world without oppression or suppression.

Mastery: Have you ever needed to rise above your own limits? This value is about control, achievement, and skill. You’re motivated by power, growth, and progress.

Similarities:

Glory is a 4 for all of them. Utterly unsurprising I think - they’re all willing to do things regardless of recognition and aren’t motivated by any real self importance

Truth is a 6 for all of them. I find it interesting that Callum gets the “hide the truth to protect others” rather than Rayla, but we do see elements of that in TTM. For Ezran, it has less to do with a moral truth (Rayla) or how to handle the truth (Callum) but more to do with maturing to see the truth (“I ignored something that is true” —4x03)

For anything other than their Most Important Feature, everything else has roughly an 8. This makes sense as it is still a core value, i.e. Callum jumping off the mountain is very devotional, Rayla works very hard to find real justice, Ezran cares a great deal about placing autonomy in other people’s hands (S3), etc.

In Betweens:

Ezran and Rayla both have Mastery at a 6 with Callum having it at an 8; this makes sense as he is driven to look for knowledge and power (through magic) in ways they are not / are mostly settled and/or disinterested in

Ezran and Callum both have Devotion resting at 8 - high, but not their highest values. This makes sense as according to the game, Devotion is how obligated you feel to others. Ezran feels beholden to Katolis but that’s something he’s largely grown into, and he feels a wider responsibility to the world at large, moving in between them as he can. Callum is very devoted to his loved ones (mainly Ez and Rayla, but also Zym in a lot of ways) and his desire for freedom often interplays with a desire to have autonomy/capability to protect and/or provide for them in key ways.

Rayla and Ezran have Liberty at an 8, showing that they value freedom (Rayla’s bio includes her goal to free all people from terrible fates like the one she almost had with the binding ceremony, we’ve gone over Ez’s, etc) even if it’s not as high as Callum’s - but more on that later

Highest Values

Ezran’s is Justice at 10. This makes sense as he is the series’ embodiment of Justice thematically as well as the series’ Witness. This reflects his role as the peace maker for elves and humans and dragons, both politically and interpersonally with Callum and Rayla in S1 and S4 in particular. It is also embedded into the fact that his death itself would have been Justice and his survival is what allows true justice to actually continue, his decisions as king, and the fact he’s king at all, per Harrow’s words: “My father told me that about all, I must be a Just king.”

Callum’s is Liberty at 10. This foreshadows his arc in season four in terms of a complete loss of control/freedom and why it screws with him so royally. While many of the characters agonize over making the right choice (or a choice at all), not having a choice at all is what torments him the most: “I can’t do anything!” (2x07) particularly when it comes to protecting or helping his loved ones. We see this especially in his quote under Liberty in which despite being crown prince and heir to the throne, he states that he is beholden to his inner circle rather than a sense of duty. In S4 he is concerned about Aaravos hurting his loved ones, and that fear of doing awful things to other people is what has him so especially worried over the situation, reaffirming his statement that “I value those close to me more than anyone or anything” certainly.

Rayla is Devotion at 10. At first glance it’s easy to take her “My only allegiance is to my heart and those that know it” as a similar kind of sentiment to Callum’s “I value those close to me” statement, but we know what Rayla’s heart is aligned with: “My heart for Xadia.” Her heart is given to whatever she feels her duty is, to what feels right, hence why she risks everything for Phyrrah, someone she doesn’t know at all, simply because leaving the dragon there results in “every fibre in my body is telling me this is wrong.” Bloodmoon Huntress also expands on this further, drawing comparisons to her and Runaan’s sense of duty and love for the whole world, as well as precisely what led her to take on the assassination mission in the first place. In S1-S3 Rayla gets better at listening to her heart rather than shutting it down, although this has changed in S4. She’s learning to prioritize her loved ones more and more, but at the cost of her actual heart.

Misc Notes:

For Callum, it’s worth noting that Devotion and Mastery (magic) are of equal value to Callum and are definitely two cornerstones of his more hands on arc. Thus, we can likely deduce that as much as Callum undeniably values Liberty, the fact it’s his highest value is also because it’s the value that informs and guides his arc the most Thematically. This means that his desire to learn magic and be there for his loved ones is of equal measure in terms of his decision making, but we also see him clearly prioritize his loved ones in ways he does not do with his own pursuit of magic.

[ Side note: And just as a comparison, Claudia - Claudia’s - devotion is also an 8, but Mastery is her 10, even though so much of her arc is driven directly by devotion to her family (although her bio makes it clear it is supporting her family and her father, not merely her valuing them, as the distinctions are important too). ]

Following this “Two Pillars holstered by One Theme” logic, we can break Ezran and Rayla down into a similar manner.

Rayla is defined by her initial quest of Justice and a growing sense of Liberty (cue: being literally freed from her binding, other symbolic cycles, etc) but this is bound together and streamlined through her Devotion to a cause to people and her family. We can see S4 bring this together directly in her devotion to Callum and her family and how they are both either already literally or becoming entangled / entrapped in forces beyond their control with Rayla wanting to free / protect all of them.

For Ezran, this means he is defined by his place as Justice thematically first and foremost, with Devotion and Liberty as his two tether-hooks: re a child king being put in chains to try and give his people a choice > forced conscription, as well as the work he’s doing to try to create peace and a Narrative of Love (devotion) in S4.

Thus, the highest value for each of the Trio is what informs them at their core and subsequent thematically, with their two respective pillars as how those things are motivated and manifest throughout, with of course a good dose of overlap beyond all three. But either way, I just thought it was Neat™

Closing Note

One thing I found interesting when actually going each beat of their bios is that Rayla and Ezran are inverses of each other and very closely aligned. They share the exact same 3 values, all in similar amounts (either 8 or 10) and just rotate one out for their respective highest: for Rayla, Justice is at an 8, and for Ez, it gets bumped up to a 10 and his devotion down to an 8. This closeness between them, and how Callum diverges, lines up with how I’ve thought of and how I’ve written each of the trio for a while now, re: meta dated September 2021 about this exact difference, well before TOX came out.

Because Callum, strangely enough, does not have Justice™ as a particularly high value. It’s actually on the lower end of his scale, with other heroic characters like Amaya, Janai, and Aanya having it as a 10, an 8, and 8. The only none villain adjacent character (Soren, Viren, Claudia) with a Justice as low as Callum’s is Lujanne, and Callum’s justice ranking is the lowest of the trio’s. This is interesting particularly because Justice is defined by fixing what’s wrong/broken, a sense of fairness and balance. And while Callum wants to have positive impacts on the world and make things better, it shows that his big heart is also equally if not more so tethered to pragmatism, perhaps, compared to his family, even in decisions made like leaving with the egg in the first place being what was also safest for the egg and particularly Ezran during the attack on the castle.

And well, if you know, you know ;)

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gummy-sharks666 · 3 months

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He’s finished look at him!!!

#bakugan #bakugan battle brawlers #gundalian invaders #jesse glenn #bakugan gundalian invaders #the love of my life #my artwork #my art #procreate #yeah I changed up the feet a little #I like the idea of gundalians being more dragon related with their horns and claws #also wanted to incorporate foot wraps for the gundalian outfits #24 yr old Jesse is def an English major

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unexpectedbrickattack · 1 year

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Oooooh do you think gnomes would have their own language/dialect??

Short answer: Yes. Technically.

Long answer: I have. Feelings. About how language is treated in fantasy. Like “this race has their Own language” despite living in vastly different areas of the same world. Like. Humans having their Own language. Elves having their Own language. Elves, orcs, etc etc. Its not Bad but its definitely like A Thing that pokes at my sides a little lol.

Humans have hundreds of spoken and visual languages! Id like to imagine that in a world with other races, they would have their own variety of spoken language 😊 So yes; Gus does speak in his own native tongue. And he has absolutely badmouthed someone who got on his nerves without them realizing it lol

#answered #chattin #gustavo #theyre like WHAT and hes like what? just talkin out loud :0 #anyway #not to point fingers at popular properties bc basically ALL major games and shows do this #let ur races get confused as hell when they travel the planet lol #gustavo travels to an entirely different continent w like an adventuring group or something #and theyre like hey! theres a town full of gnomes here; maybe u can chat them up #and hes like. i dont know what the fuck theyre saying im so sorry #while were on the subject I love love love that he has such a deep voice #its very strange (obviously from sound clips being distorted)#but like i can imagine he doesnt really come across easily to alot of people #like he talks slower than usual but its also just very deep and he can often slur words together #and for some reason i keep hearing him w a southern (ish) accent in english?? i dunno how to make it stop 😭😭😭#like very deep very gentle and hospitable…..if theres an italian equivalent of that hmu lmao #this is like COMPLETELY different from Vigis bc he sounds southern and deep too #but like he speaks WAY faster and he sounds completely incoherent when hes angry/yelling #YOU KNOW WHAT #im going to just say Gus being an adventurer #he is just a polyglot #and very fluent in those languages #justifying my sweet southern boy gus! voice agenda lmao

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malewifesam · 3 months

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BOBBY SPEAKS JAPANESE! and he's pretty good at it, too! "君なんか生まれる前からずっとだよ😒" should've added a 小僧 lmao

#sorry sorry i majored in english-japanese can't help being excited #anyway bobby is so cool! i love bobby!

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therainbowwillow · 3 months

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Seeing people remain interested in literature and art created hundreds of years ago makes me so happy. There is still fanart for the Canterbury Tales. There are recent fanfictions for most of Shakespeare’s plays (hell, I’ve written some myself!) We still love these characters, flaws and all. We still see ourselves in them. That overwhelms me with joy.

#literature #classical lit #shakespeare #the Canterbury tales #I LOVE BEING AN ENGLISH MAJOR!!!!

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morethanwonderful · 2 months

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ALSO while I'm losing my mind over the Note of Desolation page and how it lays out John's arc: look at this!

One fundamental underlying aspect of John is that I think he feels really lost when he's not given external purpose and doing Main Character Stuff. He seems to just kind of stall and wallow at home in his depression during the end credits and pre-prologue epilogues. He has a huge breakdown seemingly out of nowhere after two years of idling on the ship between worlds. And here, we see that's not just something that comes from the trauma of his first session of the Game.

To some extent, for the whole first twelve years of his life before sburb, John Egbert has felt like he's missing something.

There's two different ways that you can read this, and I think they work in tandem.

On one hand, there's the meta reading. John as a person was born to be The Main Character. Sburb's whole thing is meta narratives and turning its players into characters in a creation myth. John is the main character of his story. He's the first to boot up Sburb, the first to enter the medium, and the first to go god tier. He's the friendleader. He's the one that does his world's ectobiology. Of course, in the context of Sburb and its narrative, he always feels like something is missing from mundane life. He exists to play the Game and serve its story, and he's divorced from his purpose if he's not Being The Protagonist.

But at the same time, this also works really well as a mundane symptom of depression. For as long as he's existed and had the capacity to feel complex emotions, John has felt like something is missing from his life. The Game only works as a temporary distraction from this feeling. Sburb gives him urgent concrete goals to focus on, and it's hard to feel empty and listless when you're constantly in crisis mode trying to keep yourself, your friends, and your universe from dying. But running on adrenaline and living a task-driven life can't actually cure his depression, and in the quiet moments between sessions and after Game Over, he's left with that same feeling of something missing. Something empty.

Given all that, it's fitting that this emptiness is first raised as an issue when John looks in his mailbox and sees that Sburb isn't there. In line with the meta reading, it's impossible for him as an entity to feel complete when he's missing the Game because he's the main character. Not getting his hands on the physical game might not be the cause of his listlessness, but getting divorced from his protagonist purpose is. He's nothing without Sburb.

Yet, we're told Sburb isn't really the true cause. He feels desolate before the game, he feels desolate at points during the game, and he'll feel even more desolate after. He feels like his life is a trick played on him by some "unseen riddler," whatever thing that might complete him held constantly out of reach. Not having the game, be it the physical disc or the Game that gives him purpose as a god, is ultimately just one more frustration in a life full of the feeling of lack.

John's the Main Character and incomplete without his protagonist role to play, but he's also depressed. And in the end, even becoming a god, creating a universe, and fulfilling his glorious purpose can't fix the sense of lacking in his life.

It's a cruel trick—fulfilling the plot contrivance that helps bring about his sense of Absence in the first place cannot actually fill the hole or help him move forward. Not in any long-term sense.

#andie loses it over the note of desolation: part two!#I love close readings I love reading into things #it feels like almost silly doing close readings for this page since it feels like the sudden seriousness of the narration is half sincere #and half ironic joke about its own pretentiousness (see the falsely attributed quote downpage)#but I as a reader am endlessly sincere and I will do whatever I want forever #whatever I want in this case being really in-depth unironic close readings and making myself sad about John Egbert #john egbert my beloved #john egbert #homestuck #homestuckposting #andie rereads homestuck #homestuck 82 #english major hours #ID in alt text

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mobius-m-mobius · 5 months

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To input another pov to the s2e5 conversation, I personally brushed off the single dad comment from earlier in the ep, chalking it up to clunky exposition dialogue (oh they need to show how he has his hands full in one line and make it make sense) and THEN the fit check happened and my eyebrows raised to the my hairline, and THEN Don dropped that "[...] or did you follow me home? ;)" line with THAT attitude, and my had to cover my mouth going, what's going on...?? lmao from an extremely jaded tv watcher who almost never ship anything except canon events.

Truly think the world collectively shook that night thanks to the number of viewers leaning forward in their seats with hands over their mouths and awe in their eyes 😂💖

But really though, there will NEVER be proper explanation for what happened in ep 5 other than Loki's canonical impulse to impress Mobius at any given moment finally extending to 90s Hugh Grant rom com territory (as anything should, tbh) or it being a hint that on Don's timeline he'll eventually meet *his* Loki and the two of them will settle into suburbia with the kids and jet ski off into the sunset as fandom intended and I'm personally fine with either option lol

#oh and for the record I still think it's completely possible don's loki is or is at least similar to the loki who took over nyc #bc if anyone isn't gonna miss a beat being down to fix a villain it's don as long as said villain looks like loki am i right 😉#also for another fun little pov i rewatched this ep right after airing while helping my mum with her physical therapy #her english is a bit limited and she rarely if ever understands what i see in the majority of shows/actors i like #but when i tell y'all loki did that fit check and her eyes got as wide as saucers lmaooooo that scene opened a whole new world for her #thanks so much for such a fun ask and i couldn't agree with you more about what a life changing moment that was for us all lol #lots of love to you and hope you're got an amazing day ahead! 💖💖#ask

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starlightkun · 8 months

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okay bc im genuinely curious:

english-speaking kpop fans, if there's an english version of a song (that was released first/primarily in korean, NOT an english song put out only in english) by a kpop artist, do you usually listen to the english version or the korean version? and do you speak english as your native language or as a second/third language?

#rb and leave your top eng versions (or hot takes on eng versions) in the tags if u so choose <33 #talk #polls #mine #kpop #ex: for me i usually exclusively listen to the kor vers bc those tend to come out weeks/months before the eng vers #so im used to singing/half-singing along to those and then the eng vers doesnt sound right to me #the only exceptions being regular by nct 127 and levanter by skz #those just get me just right mhm #but like not even love talk lol i listen to the original even tho its the eng vers thats the most streamed nct song #also eng versions tend to fall in like the uncanny valley of language for me?#like they technically make sense grammatically but thats not really how those words would be used #idk its probably the former english major in me #also somebody has probably done a poll on this before apologies to them if so but im doing my own

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fishandshesmygills · 8 months

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i love college. it was the first discussion day in my english class and my professor had to lead us gently to a queer reading of frankenstein like a herd of scared little lambs but immediately we were all like YEAH i noticed that >:)

#theyre so awesome #love being in my intro english class when i havent done actual literary analysis since ap lit and im a bio major

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abnormalpsychology · 3 months

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I ❤️ you so much literature analysis. I ❤️ escaping the world into one specifically built by someone else to mean something very specific. I ❤️ already feeling deeply then putting the puzzle pieces together that allows me to access even deeper feeling about a work. I ❤️ finding yourself in another person’s created world. I ❤️ seeing other people’s hearts through words and characters and pacing and existing under a different sky for a moment. I ❤️ getting a break from being myself and instead getting to be a guy having it about 50 times rougher and helping him figure out. I ❤️ emotional support through fiction. I ❤️ self recognition through the other. I ❤️ seeing the truth made more clearly through the lens of fiction. I ❤️ being an English major

#finished Giovanni’s room in other words fbsjwjej #I ❤️ having my mind blown by books written decades ago and being like ‘wtf has anyone else read this’#literature analysis I will always love you the most more than anything aaaughhhhh #stories i love you more than anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#shrimp emotions #classics #english major #literature analysis #media studies #literature #bbge.text

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raayllum · 1 year

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Gosh yes, your tags on that last post. Like, I don’t blame people for liking Viren, for enjoying his character, for finding him sympathetic (or attractive, even if I personally don’t). He’s a compellingly written character! But don’t be offended if people hate him or find him evil… he’s the villain, that’s literally his role in the story

"How dare this villainous character do villainous things" / "how dare the protagonist get narratively rewarded for making good choices" like do y'all even hear yourselves sometimes, y'know?

especially when - and i cannot stress this enough - tdp is for children and will ultimately have a happy ending. this isn't a grown up drama or tragedy or even a grimdark fantasy by any means. it's a hopepunk high fantasy story. people who further retaliation and violence and push people into inherently defensive positions are the 'bad guys'

like i love viren! i think he's very well written and interesting. he's a great examination of how we can lie to and martyr ourselves in a search for security that is also about status & wanting to feel special, about the harm done when trying to win a rigged system rather than solidarity in tearing a system down and making a new one. i appreciate his dry/deadpan sense of humour. he's also one of two primary antagonists in the first 3 seasons. and like, all that can coexist? it's multifaceted character writing? we all presumably passed grade 10 english class?

i also cannot emphasize the importance of being able to separate audience reaction or response from what a piece of art is actually doing or saying enough. "this story is bad because it was personally upsetting to me" without examples given or analyzed it is not well, analysis, it's just a currently very unfounded opinion. and sometimes stories are supposed to be personally upsetting, so like. you also gotta know your lanes

it's why subjective analysis is very useful but learning structural (objective) analysis is arguably more important. something can be structurally pretty weak but very enjoyable (frozen). something can be abysmal enjoyment wise but very structurally solid (1984, which i'd argue isn't meant to be enjoyed, either). and it's important to know the difference if you want to write actual analysis rather than opinion based stuff. analysis isn't necessarily better than opinion based pieces but analysis is more expansive because it can cover the subjectivity and the objectivity and more. which is precisely why i can read "the iliad" and think "wow that was good" but if i wanted to write an essay on it i'd have to do a lot more thinking because i'm demanding something greater of that artistic experience by virtue of wanting to expand on it

a lot of people take "art for art's sake" as a statement regarding the fact that art - which is inherently symbolic in its construction, even in what meaning we construe to words themselves - doesn't have to mean anything and fighting back claims that art should mean something. but i think of "art for art's sake" is more worthwhile to examine under the lens of "this art doesn't exist for the sake of capitalist consumption, but amid it, or sometimes precisely in spite of it" and like. very few things artistically have zero meaning precisely because meaning is also "what was the reasoning behind this" and if there is none (think a tattoo you got "just because") that's typically a subjective reflection of the creator and still indicative of their personality. sometimes the meaning is meaninglessness (nihilism is still a creation in response to us searching for meaning, after all)

i'm getting into the weeds now but the point is that there's definitely been an upswing in recent years of people thinking opinions = analysis and while that often is the case (particularly if that opinion is expanded upon enough to be grounded in the text and the text's context) it absolutely is not as often actual analysis as people think it is

#the english major strikes again #thanks for asking #i was in the atla fandom casually from 2013 to 2016 and when i say Head Empty fandom dear g o d #and ppl get very butthurty about it y'know? which i think stems from a general anti intellectualism #bc who needs the fucking humanities and History in times of crisis am i right #but like. legitimate experts in their fields do know more than 16 yr olds online who think #the curtains aren't blue for any particular reason #like to engage with a text you have to operate under the assumption that Everything has meaning and then #parse out the patterns and then debate what meanings are being ascribed #how they may be integrated interpreted or completely unintentional b the author but still very much ther #tag ramble #anonymous #i feel like ppl very much shield themselves with their own perceived intellectualism and #i know so many ppl who are significantly smarter than me and i fucking love it bc i get to learn #it's not a threat it's an opportunity #what's that one socrates quote??? 'the first step to knowing is knowing you know nothing'#or something along those lines

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