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yupuffin · 7 months

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New favorite scene, probably in the whole game. Absolutely flawless.

I've been playing Genshin Impact for about two years and eight months now, and this is the first scene in the whole game that actually made me cry while I was playing it.

The buildup. The framing. The pacing. The timing. It's so poignant. Not because it's particularly sad. (It's technically about Neuvillette mourning, but it ends up feeling more contemplative than anything else.)

And it's not because it's a big dramatic reveal either. Indeed, that's part of what I love about this scene.

One of my online friends has what I think is a very apt description for Neuvillette's identity: an "open secret."

Even just looking at him, it's obvious he's not a typical human: The pointy ears. The extra-intense slit-pupiled eyes. The super strong eyelash game. The otherworldly elegance of his silhouette. The separate sections of his hair that look suspiciously like antlers, or something similar. (Rhinophores, anybody? Okay, I'll go sit down. 🤣)

Indeed, we get several scenes hinting at Neuvillette's identity, and each gets progressively, tantalizingly closer to the truth without outright revealing it.

Of course, we start with Freminet's retelling of the legend of the Hydro Dragon, for context. Purportedly, whenever the Hydro Dragon of Fontaine weeps, the skies cloud over and pour out rain. (Coincidentally, it seems to rain after trials a lot.)

But it's just a myth... right?

We meet Neuvillette in the opera house, and we know right away there's a lot more to him than there seems to be on the surface. We get the mysterious yet charming incongruity his presence filling the room with a magnanimous silence, only for him to begin apologizing profusely, as he did not realize his reticence was contributing to the awkward atmosphere. He's not Lyney's friend, but sure, he'd be delighted to reciprocate if Lyney offered to befriend him.

Oh, and he's the Chief Justice. But since everyone attending opera house performances has reserved seating, he's not all that special.

Supposedly.

The next scene that continues to unravel the truth behind Neuvillette's identity was among my previous contenders for "personal favorite scene in the game," and not just because of how strongly it resonates with me as a person with blunted affect. Neuvillette tries to extend his sympathies to Navia for dealing with her father's death, but this only incites her anger, which she directs at him for his alleged complicity in said tragedy--he's too callous, too apathetic; if someone as powerful and influential as him had just tried, just cared, he could have prevented it.

Neuvillette faces her in silence, not refuting her accusations, offering only further apologies.

This conversation takes place indoors.

And once we step outside...

Guess what.

Okay, I love this scene, because the way the question of Neuvillette's identity is addressed at this point is already so poetic.

Indeed, due to his blunted affect and his reticence, while we can certainly make educated guesses, we don't get a conclusive read on Neuvillette's feelings about the conversation. What we do get is that, despite the earlier fair weather, it's suddenly precipitating when we step back outside.

And our other hint? That legend Freminet told us.

But we've already left Neuvillette's office, so we can't observe his emotional state firsthand and take that final logical step that would confirm our conjecture. We can only infer that, if the legend is true, the confrontation with Navia led Neuvillette to experience profound grief.

...That's if the legend is indeed true.

Later, we have Neuvillette using a mysterious, supernatural power to subdue Childe during his trial in the opera house. It happens too fast for anyone to witness properly, and when confronted, Neuvillette only extends that of course he's powerful enough to do this, because he's the Chief Justice and maintaining order is part of his job. Anyone in his occupation should be able to do what he did.

Still not a straightforward confirmation that he's the Hydro Dragon, but by now it's just one step down from explicitly stated. All of the evidence considered, it just makes way too much sense. Unless it's all a really, really big coincidence.

So then we spend a couple of Archon Quest acts doing some other adventurous stuff around Fontaine, with the stakes to address the grave prophecy growing ever higher. Depending on how quickly and frequently you play the game, this might take you a couple of hours, or, if you're like me, a few weeks or even months.

Then, during our investigation of the Fortress of Meropide, an insurmountable disaster looms.

Wriothesley's instructions? Go fetch Neuvillette.

Sure enough, the virtuous Chief Justice appears in the nick of time to quell the impending disaster... alone.

That's basically as close to solid proof as we've gotten that there's something truly exceptional about Neuvillette. In a situation that Wriothesley and Clorinde, both capable warriors, couldn't fully address even with their combined efforts, Neuvillette has no other backup.

"So, what's your secret?" Wriothesley quips. "Let me guess..."

There's two or three seconds of silence before he comments, inconclusively, "Maybe it's just your sense of responsibility."

That's another aspect of these scenes that I absolutely adore: they give you time to think. Yes, there's urgency and drama, because the single wall between an apocalyptic scenario and all of Fontaine is on the verge of collapse. Even so, the cutscene gives us space to briefly consider:

Just who or what is Neuvillette?

Is he really a singular being, or is that merely what we're led to believe with the evidence we've happened upon so far?

On one hand, yes, it's obvious that he's, if not the Hydro Dragon, someone unimaginably powerful and special.

On the other... is all of this any more than a glorified assumption? After all, we still don't have explicit confirmation.

Until.

UNTIL.

All of the pieces finally fall together.

The pacing in this scene is, in my opinion, immaculate.

Considering Arlecchino's speculations about Neuvillette's identity, we're led to confront Neuvillette himself: first, about the possibility of him, rather than Furina, being the true Hydro Archon. At first, he deflects, avoiding the question with silence, and Paimon apologetically redirects the conversation. This tension is briefly resolved as Neuvillette remarks, humorously, with a touch of resentment, "If, by 'you guys,' you mean Furina and I ... I must clarify that I do not share her positions on a multitude of topics."

There's another exchange about the situation in the Fortress, and then Neuvillette comments on the impending disaster: "I mourn this turn of events."

And then? AND THEN?

It IMMEDIATELY starts raining. As in, so fast, I thought I'd simply blinked when he tipped his chin up to look at the darkening sky.

Even then, as the players, we're given time to think. The Traveler, observing the abrupt change in weather doesn't instantly inquire about Neuvillette's identity. They contemplate the legend and indicate their thought process to Neuvillette, who only responds, "You may be closer to the truth than you think."

In spite of all of the all-but conclusive evidence we've amassed up until this point, Paimon, hilariously, hasn't caught on yet, and asks the Traveler what they're thinking.

Well, the Traveler responds after a second, "...He's the Dragon Sovereign of Water."

You can practically see the gears turning in Paimon's head as she considers this, and then, a few seconds later...

Paimon is the MVP for comic relief. Even Neuvillette himself concedes that it's really not all that surprising (my initial screenshot). Sure, he's keeping it a secret as far as not speaking of it to anybody, but also... it's so easy to tell.

Which was exactly my experience up until now.

I just adore how this entire issue proceeds. Fitting to Neuvillette's quiet, contemplative character, the buildup of dramatic tension surrounding the question of his identity gives the player ample time to ponder the evidence--to sit with the uncertainty of having a reasonable inference, but lacking the conclusive piece to outright confirm it. And there is tension here, because it's clearly a question he's sensitive about; he doesn't go around telling everybody that he's a dragon. At the same time, given his reclusive nature and influential status, it's not a question we have the opportunity to address him about to his face.

And the resolution of all that tension, while far from explosive--despite the urgency of the impending Fontaine apocalypse--is, in my opinion, incredibly satisfying. Instead of hitting us in the face with a revelation that makes us want to go lie down for a few hours, the story takes time to lead us to that conclusion, and then, in a peaceful scene that is, nevertheless, full of emotional vulnerability and intimacy, sets that final piece of proof gently in front of us, so, rather than being rushed with information, we're given our own time to consider it and process its significance.

Something about that still left me with a sense of awe at learning that Neuvillette really is the Hydro Dragon, almost identical to, but perhaps even more gratifying than, the one I might experience if it really was a big dramatic surprise.

And, to prevent the scene from falling too firmly into melancholy territory (given the nature of the emotions that lead us to this conclusion), we have the best traveling companion, Paimon, to offer her humorous commentary, in the form of being absolutely flabbergasted, a visualization of that theoretical "instantaneous revelation" that probably none of us experienced.

I just love how intricately touching it is. And, of course, I love Neuvillette.

Incidentally, Furina walks by towards the end of this scene, indicating that she's heard at least part of this conversation. While it's not clear from her conduct how much she knew beforehand, her presence seems to imply that Neuvillette's identity is, to some extent, a revelation for her as well, which would add so much depth and drama to their relationship as officials of Fontaine. (Remember that video where she scolds him for truncating a stressful trial?) That said, while I have my fair share of speculations about Furina as a character, I'm not particularly dedicated to/invested in her, and I'm still processing this whole "Neuvillette is a dragon" thing, so, rather than commenting further on this development, I'm just going to put it out there that I'm curious to see where it ends up.

#genshin impact #neuvillette #genshin impact spoilers #4.1 spoilers #neuvilette genshin #neuvillette propaganda

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annoyinglandmagazine · 2 months

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Where is Your Rider

Summary:In the midst of the Dagor Bragollach the leaders of Beleriand are left reeling and communications between factions have broken down so their only hints of each other is smoke in the distance. In this state of despair a captain rides with tidings from Himring and Amras is reunited with one of his brothers.

Lagorthel’s breath was ragged both with the blanket of putrid smoke rolling over the hills with no sign of letting up and the merciless force with which she had ridden these past two days, enough to set aches in the bones that gave her some sympathy for her elder contemporaries. There were many messengers of varying ranks swarming out across all sides but when she had heard no tell of others yet returning. Perhaps more ominously she had met no others on her errand, despite the fact all the realms of Beleriand must be in a similar state of disarray and be just as desperate to consolidate information.

She would have expected just as many riders to be sent from every realm capable of it and it did not bode well that she had been the first to arrive at Himring; for as much as their ‘High King’ may hold the official seat of power on the matter of the war everyone knew Lord Maedhros was the one to consult. It had been an effort to get through to someone of rank, everyone that could not wield a sword had been withdrawn into the fortress while many of the soldiers were being hastily dispatched and those left behind were in a state of- well panic could never be used to describe those in Himring, their lord quite insisted on being able to keep a level head, but they were certainly in a rush.

The Gap had fallen. Once she’d finally managed to pull General þámondur, one of the few who recognised her as a captain of Estolad, aside for any additional information other than this incredulous and horrified mantra sweeping over the ramparts he’d told her that they had good reason to believe there were significant amounts of survivors coming towards them now, their patrols were going out to escort them, but only the very old or the very young. This led Lord Maedhros to believe that the Lord of the Gap was buying those seeking refuge time, along with all his warriors, as some kind of heroic last stand.

þamondur said this with the touch of exasperation only afforded to him as one of the few left who was old enough to get away with making it quite clear, while not saying it outright, that he thought one of the Sons of Feanor to be behaving like an errant child. She had inferred over the years that he was one of the chief reasons that her own lord had made such an effort to surround himself with people like her who were far too young to do the same.

She imagined her lord would be about as happy to hear that as the Lord of Himring sounded to be but perhaps slightly less murderous. Þamondur had it on good authority that the messenger dispatched north was to inform the Lord Maglor that if he did not begin his retreat by nightfall he would have more than Morgoth to worry about. He’d muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘The finest diplomatic leader of Beleriand at work,’ under his breath while none too subtly nudging her towards the steps with a guiding hand on her shoulder so he could get back to work.

She’d taken the hint and gathered herself out of her shock enough to saddle up her horse, apologetically ruffling its mud caked coat for the lack of respite between journeys, and he’d sent her off with as little fanfare as she’d arrived to. It may have just been her new awareness of the urgency of the situation but she believed she saw even more burnt out villages, hordes of roaming orcs and the like traversing back over the land even just with that brief lapse in time.

She noticed as she crested the hill that the valley was dotted with tents that had decidedly not been there when she left. So Maglor’s Gap had not been the only place with displaced inhabitants. As she manoeuvred through the impromptu camp she eventually obtained the location of her lord and entered the indicated tent with no prompting. She haphazardly bent one knee in an informal bow for when they did not have time for such finicky matters before addressing her lord, ‘My lord-,’ she looked at him more closely and frowned, ‘Are you bleeding my lord?’

Lord Amras paused in his interrogation of one of his generals long enough to glance at her, ‘Hmmm?’

She hesitated briefly, not sure if pressing the point was of much worth, ‘There’s blood my lord. On your leggings.’

He glanced at his calves where, as she had said, there were cuts from where his boots rubbed against his skin. Had he stopped moving at any point this week? She doubted it, there was that crazed, distracted glint in his eye that she saw on him rarely but had been informed was characteristic of Feanorians when with a singular focus. He waved his hand dismissively, ‘Oh, yes, it seems there is. I’ll sort that out later. What news of Himring Captain Lagorthel?’

He did not take it any better than she expected. She was not formally dismissed but she had scarcely finished when her lord was barking out orders, striding off with a flame red braid streaming out behind him. She set out to report to a superior for where she would be of most use, they would need all the able hands they could get in this state of affairs, and to get her bearings of the situation.

The fortress not a days ride from here seemed perfectly intact from what she could see and this was not a strategic location for the lord to be running their operations from so he mustn’t have been here long. On a cursory examination she noticed more insignias indicating fealty to Lord Caranthir than she would have expected. If Thargelion had not fallen it was certainly not faring well and there was just as conspicuous a lack of any soldiers among those in the camp as with those from the Gap.

It was not hard to surmise the source of her lord’s unease; he dashed around with a furious and crazed pace, coordinating with all the emissaries directly as if there had been a complete break down in the chain of command. Himring had seemed more together in comparison, but then those further north were more accustomed to a spectre of overarching doom, a sense of despair with all the world’s dark shadows crushing in around them. The more seasoned warriors were closer to the front lines, Ossiriand’s forces were comprised mostly of green elves like herself, archers, hunters, more suited to quenching smaller uprisings, rogue servants of the Morgoth, than this kind of overwhelming force. She had never seen anything like this; but he had.

If it kept advancing like this soon enough they may be a great deal closer to the front lines than before and Lord Amras may find himself as a leader of much more of an army than he’d ever needed. They had yet to hear anything from a Nolofinwean or Arafinwean sector. She almost let the thought occur to her that surely the abdication would have to be reversed if no alternative remained but dismissed it as spending too much time with Himlad’s entourages this past decade.

*******

He was near to abandoning his futile attempt to pluck some solution from the air around him, as everyone seemed to be expecting him to be capable of all of a sudden, to how inadequate supplies in the healer’s tents were for dealing with the kinds of ailments they’d found in those fleeing Thargelion. He only caught glimpses, his focus was being pulled many directions at once, but the destruction seemed to surround him enough for the general impression to sink in. The very air and water had turned putrid, deadly and sickening around them, blistering their skin and settling heavy into their lungs with unrelenting hacking coughs.

Finally, Amras heard the sound of more hooves thundering towards them and in that moment he really couldn’t find it within himself to care if they were belonging to the enemy; he needed to shoot something, feel the blood hammering in his veins and splattering against him from all sides, anything but this dread, this waiting for the news that he was all that remained and he’d have to discover how to do this on his own.

He flung the flaps to the tent open and strode in the direction of those approaching; people scattered in his path with an unspoken obedience and reverence he had never seen from them before, at least not towards him. He saw, with the especially keen eyes of a trained hunter, that they were carrying scarlet banners to match his own.

Even as the shouts of those warriors riding along in front coordinating with his own grew louder, a mingling of commands in Sindarin and Quenya and the cries of those reuniting with their loved ones and wailing of those who couldn’t everything went still and silent for Amras; his heart lurched in his chest as he waited to see who led them.

The scarlet cloak was scorched, the armour beaten and bloodied, the swift black horse was not one he recognised, the posture was slumped with exhaustion and a helmet covered the face but he knew that sword. Curufinwë Feanorian had made it for his brother, as surely as he had made the one on Amras’ own belt (not his weapon of choice but you never knew when you may need a close range weapon). Maybe.

The helmet was tossed aside just before he flung himself off his mount and Amras stood still for one moment longer. The darkest black braids, freckled with blood, grime and sweat, tumbled over the shoulders of the cloak. Yes. He found his legs moving instinctively as his brother conferred in brisk tones with one of his generals; he had not seen him yet. His general moved to step aside as he approached and his brother frowned before following his gaze to where Amras was restraining himself from breaking into a run.

He felt some foreign pressure crushing down on his throat, there wasn’t that much smoke, everyone else was breathing just fine, so why did it feel like he was at the docks, with flames roaring on all sides and smothering his wretched screams, his hopeless screams at the night air; it had been many long and hard years surely the ashes of their sins, the ashes of him could not still carry on the wind to engulf him in his moments of despair? They should have been settled in the sea by the time they had lost Maedhros but they still found him as he grasped at the armour he left behind. They always found him.

Caranthir met his gaze, must have seen something disturbed and wild in it that he recognised, and he held up a single impatient hand to halt the discussion in favour of waiting expectantly for the realm’s lord to approach him; efficiency was key at this moment and there was little need for them to deal through subordinates when Amras stood but a few paces away.

He heard clashing swords, howls of agony, felt his skin burn with an unbearable fire; there was blood so much blood, defiling every inch of his flesh, dripping into the marshy land at his feet to take the place of the clear morning dew, his mouth tasted of sickening metallic crimes- hadn’t he paid yet? Hadn’t he paid in his blood, with half his own soul, in the sword dangling over his head every fucking minute of his life since he’d spoken those damning words, in the agony of waiting and doing nothing while Maedhros was taken from him, had he not yet done enough with all these years at the helm of a land that he made prosper, years of toiling to repair relationships between peoples predisposed to despise him?

Had he not done enough to keep what little he had left? He hadn’t lost- not yet. He didn’t know much, he didn’t know if Maedhros would hold out (wasn’t that a horrifying thought to entertain, if Himring fell who stood a chance? They’d all fall to pieces, Maedhros was the one thread all their tenuous relationships were hanging off, the one person that they could not afford to lose strategically even if any of them would be able to bear it a second time), he didn’t know if any of his other brothers yet lived, he didn’t know if he’d have a realm to govern at all this time next year; this may very well be the end of times and the air held a suffocating air of doom.

He did know that before him stood his brother, looking fit to pass out from exhaustion, drenched in blood (some of it certainly his own), slightly singed around the edges and hiding the lost, haunted look in his eyes a great deal worse than would be expected of him; but he was undeniably here and it was also undeniably him so all was not lost in this moment. Caranthir was here and that was something, something that went relief coursing through him but nowhere near enough, he needed so much more assurance and certainty to even make it through the day when dawn had only just broken.

With an undignified degree of urgency he closed the space between them and wrapped his arms around his brother’s shoulders; Caranthir let out an odd little choked noise that he did not like the sound of at all, especially since the embrace couldn’t surprise him too much after the ordeals of the past few days. In his next panicked train of thought he couldn’t help but be reminded of that stiff way he’d stood leaving his hand on the saddle of his horse, a set look to his face that could have been resolve holding back a wince; he felt his respite being ripped from him abruptly as it began, cradling a brother’s corpse breathing the last words as his father had, cradled in their arms while they watched helpless, so close yet so far-

He felt more than heard a hoarse whisper by his ear, ‘Be quiet about it. I don’t want them to know I got injured,’ well if he was able to be such a Maedhros about it it couldn’t be too life threatening, he rationalised even as he was trying to hold back blind terror. Caranthir seemed to be trying to get enough air to speak, which led Amras to the revelation that clutching him even tighter was counterproductive; though he was reluctant to relinquish his hold even a hairsbreadth he tried to force his arms to loosen just barely.

Caranthir’s next whisper was clearly meant to be placating, with a smidge of softness that he’d never heard employed like that before from him, despite the shakiness and it was accompanied by one hand moving from his back to stroke lightly over the back of his head in a gesture that he remembered distinctly from Ammë, ‘I’ll be alright, Pitya. Let’s just breathe a moment, it’s all going to be alright.’

He’d found a way to get his cheek against his brother’s neck just so that his face was hidden in the fur lining of the scarlet cloak which was just as well because at the sheer desperation to feel the pulse and breath as irrefutable proof of life; those hands, the burning skin that felt so familiar, a certain permanent implacable, unidentifiable scent, he was softly sobbing at being able to close his eyes and know without question whose arms he was in, that as long as he stayed right here he could know that they were both safe. Not that they were, even remotely, but he it felt true even if it wasn’t so just for now he didn’t care.

They pulled back with reluctance and one slight little gasp told him that it may be best to keep his arm around Caranthir’s waist until they could get some bandages, something he didn’t have much of an objection to at all as it allowed him to be of some sort of a use. His family all had far more practice than he would like with trying to take someone’s weight without making it obvious that they were in any way incapable of doing it themselves.

His job was made easier by the fact that most of the soldiers had resolutely decided that they had somewhere else to be looking at some point after it had been made clear to them that their lords were going to be taking a few moments. With the amount of them that had their own families to reunite with, factions mingled after all especially those that were so closely linked as theirs, they did not seem to mind and any who might have were not suicidal enough to say so.

The comparison had been made, popularised in a rather unflattering ballad by some Sindarin minstrel that Maglor seemed to consider his nemesis second only, if even, to Morgoth, between the Feanorian lords and wild animals that became more feral and volatile the worse they were beaten; he was self aware enough to see some glint of truth in it as a hunter himself though he imagined Celegorm saw things differently. You did not test a wild animal when they were bleeding but above all you did not try to rip one from its threatened kin; they tended to get defensive and all the more aggressive for it.

By the time they managed to deal with the more immediate problems and duck into a tent with some medical supplies Caranthir wasted barely a moment in sinking onto the floor while stumbling over the clasps to his armour, perpetually steady hands straining under sheer exhaustion, to reveal the familiar blossom of bright red staining the side of his undershirt. Amras was pleasantly surprised as he set to work to see the wound was not as abysmal as he’d been dreading, painful of course but clean, nothing vital was hit, there were no indications of any infection or poison, manageable. They could certainly do with manageable right now.

They spoke little as Amras steeped rags to cleanse and salve the wound; just how Celegorm had thought him and Amrod on those hunting trips where the three of them would disappear for weeks into the wilderness, he could have done this blind but it served as a reminder of Celegorm’s uncertain fate. While Caranthir helped him measure and cut the bandages he finally broke the silence with a soft question, ‘What now?’

Caranthir sighed and simply shook his head in resignation, ‘I’m not sure. Maedhros- Nelyo will figure something out. For now we must hold out here, the Enemy can’t be allowed to advance any further.’

‘What will you do if Thargelion can’t be saved?’

‘It’s gone Amras. You haven’t gazed upon it, there’s no hope there, trust me on that,’ he paused a moment to ensure that it had sunk in, silently challenging Amras to offer any form of condolences. They did not bother with pleasantries like that any more, at a time like this they were superfluous and would only grate on him by giving the ever feared impression of pity. Pity meant loss and loss could only be a result of failure. The sons of Feanor could not fail.

‘I hoped that,’ his voice cracked and he hesitated, before steeling himself and narrowing his eyes, trying to establish as firm an elusion of power as he could when he was not only in the weakest political position he had been for quite some time, as of this morning his chief titles were lord of a place that seemingly no longer existed and prince of a city that he was exiled from, but also currently being tended to on the floor of a tent by the person he was trying to convince of his invulnerability.

‘I believe that the people of Thargelion might be of some help in Estolad. It is a well ordered, experienced army that would be able help your response to future attacks as they will inevitably come closer to your fortresses over time. There is also a not insubstantial amount of wealth accumulated through trade that could be negotiated with for an alliance, the people will need land but over time it should work out in your favour I think.’

It took a moment for it to catch up with him why his brother was so uncertain about his response to a plea for shelter when he wanted nothing more than to have him near, to have his counsel and company while he faced these new threats; he could cope like he had many times before but he certainly would not object to the occupation of one of the guest quarters near his room, he’d sought Caranthir’s arms on many a sleepless night while they waited for news of Maedhros’ recovery and it would be of great comfort to have him by his side now.

That wasn’t even to count the priceless practical value of Caranthir’s experience and capabilities, there was a reason they had all been indebted to his treasury for decades after all. It was not his brother staying here that may present obstacles; Caranthir had run through the logistics in his head as Amras was doing now and come to the swift conclusion that even if they had salvaged more of the famous riches of Thargelion than he’d expect it would be a great challenge to Amras’ realm to take in so many at once and settle them with land.

Caranthir would seek out the best possible deal for his people and this would certainly put him in conflict with Amras as the lord of Estolad, he was a harsh negotiator and unused to approaching a discussion where he was dependent on another’s generosity for anything; even less so when the other in question was his much younger brother who he had been offering not particularly subtle unsolicited financial advice to for several decades now. It would be a struggle for both of them, for him to retain authority when so many in his lands would be loyal to another and even his own may feel the urge to defer to greater experience and for Caranthir to relinquish it, to go from sole leader of his own realm to sharing power in another’s.

‘Of course. We can work out the particulars once we’ve solidified our borders but you’re very welcome here Moryo.’ ‘You’re certain? You don’t need to make promises you can’t keep in the heat of the moment.’ Well if that wasn’t pointedly bitter.

‘I’m hardly going to turn you away am I? Maedhros is in one of his protective moods apparently, I’m not quite insane enough to bring him down upon me.’ He offered an arm to assist him to his feet as they readied to muster their forces and just before they returned to the fray he mumbled softly, ‘I am glad you’re here. I know it’s awful of me but I’m sure you understand.’

#amras #silmarillion #tolkien #sons of feanor #feanorians #caranthir #Finally wrote something #After months of writers block

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piratejenna · 1 year

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Prompt: favorite spooky/creepy/unsettling fic

Title: For Pennies

Author: @phantomrose96

Fandom: Danny Phantom

Rating: Teen and Up

Word Count: 1272

Summary: The Fentons were selling their house for pennies. When it sold, it sold to a man keen on flipping properties in need of a touch up. The Fentons--husband wife and daughter--met with him to sign the final paperwork. They had only one request for him: that he not enter the basement.

-------

Decided to save this one for Halloween, so now I present to you my favorite creepy and unsettling fic!

I'm not a huge fan of outright horror, but a love a good creepy, unnerving story that just sits with you. And Chrissy (Phantomrose96) is an expert at those kinds of stories.

I could honestly pick almost any of Chrissy's stories for this prompt, but this is my current favorite for the way that the horror slowly builds up over the course of the story.

This is one of those fics I would strongly urge you to read first if it sounds interesting, cause I am going to mention spoilers and it plays so well the first time through when you don't know anything. But, again much like the rest of her writing, the story is still fantastic on a reread where the subtle hints towards the conclusion stand out more in retrospect.

This fic uses one of my (previously mentioned) favorite tropes of the outsider pov and masterfully uses it to the suspense's advantage. The most clear example of this being the comment about the Fenton's daughter, which flew by on my first read through, but still leaves a bit of unease even if you don't notice (cause why does it only mention Jazz?).

Even as you may start to piece together what's happening, the suspense and horror lasts up to the last line, because the story is playing off a familiar fandom trope without ever explicitly confirming it. That's probably one of my favorite parts of the fic; that even though we do know basically what happened, it's all inferred. We don't know for certain and we never see it. And that just adds to the way this fic sits with you after reading.

And, again a common factor in Chrissy's writing, the last line really sticks the landing. It's such a gut punch when you read "The brand new hardwood flooring that stretched through the whole first floor was immaculate." Cause when that factor was mentioned earlier, you might suspect something. And we can infer why the floor was replaced. But I think it's genius to leave all of this unsaid. It's never outright stated. You are left to make that connection on your own.

I strongly recommend this fic if you're looking for something unsettling and creepy (and honestly check out the rest of Chrissy's stuff too).

Happy Halloween!

#october fic recs 22 #danny phantom #the genre of danny phantom fics that explore horror but in a subtle way is probably my favorite #not super here for the more overt horror or gore #but this more implied horror is super my jam

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theggning · 2 years

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Continuing to bang the Miego pots and pans together loudly in the hallway, I’ve seen a lot of people griping about how little screentime the two of them have post-coma.

Which is true. Mia and Godot only speak face to face onscreen twice:

- At the end of 3-2, Maya!Mia states the defense has the right to cross-examine Atmey’s final statement.

(Godot is visibly stunned to see her, and then, seemingly uncharacteristically, agrees with her.)

- Near the end of 3-5 (after her epic beyond the grave verbal smackdown), Pearl!Mia asks him if he’s really okay continuing the trial, and he says yes.

The Miego nonbelievers cite this as evidence that they barely know each other, or Mia hates him (???) or some other stretch. However, there are actually extremely logical basic storytelling reasons why they don’t get to interact more, why Mia doesn’t outright talk to him onscreen, etc etc.

T&T is structured in a way that keeps Godot’s real identity part of the mystery. Via dramatic irony, the player will find out who he is long before Phoenix & company do, which adds to the tension of 3-5 in particular.

In service of this mystery (but explained, in-game, as Maya feeling uncomfortable about Kurain things after JFA), Mia’s channeled screentime is pretty limited in T&T. She only shows up in the above moments, and also for the waitress uniform joke in 3-3 (this is balanced out by the fact you actually play as her via flashback in 3-1 and 3-4.) Because for understandable reasons, it would sort of spoil the mystery if Phoenix asked a channeled Mia “hey Chief, what the fuck is this guy’s problem”

(Genuinely though, especially on a replay, notice how Godot is stunned to silence upon seeing her in the courtroom in 3-2. And imagine how Mia feels, called back from the dead to rescue Phoenix again, only to find the guy at the prosecution bench is her boyfriend, awake, on his feet, looking completely different, and competing in the Drama Queen Olympics where he’s winning the gold medal in Not Coping Well.)

Though she does not stop the story cold in 3-2 to explain at length what this guy’s problem is. Because Phoenix is in the middle of a trial, about to lose, and his client’s life is on the line. It would be an EXTREMELY inappropriate time for her to interrupt with irrelevant exposition about the prosecutor. The last thing Mia Fey would ever do is co-op Phoenix’s trial, and Ron DeLite’s potential freedom because she needs a moment to put a leash on her nutty boyfriend.

And even if she did, can you seriously picture Godot continuing with his bullshit after an actual talk with Mia? The man’s entire damage is desperation for purpose and closure after having his life triple-ruined. Getting to have an actual conversation with the woman he’s mourning in the most over-the-top fashion possible would completely change the course of events for the rest of the game. (You’re welcome for the “if only” AU fic ideas.)

Mia and Godot’s relationship isn’t the only thing in this series, and especially in T&T that are told via inference and not shown onscreen. But in this case especially, it’s for really obvious structural and storytelling reasons, not because it doesn’t EXIST. The AA trilogy is legendary for the original devs’ lack of time and space to fit the story they needed to tell, so they depend a lot on inferences and hints and the player picking up on the mystery to tell the whole tale.

(And boy, ask me about the foreshadowing and inferences in 3-1 sometime!)

#ace attorney #t&t spoilers #ace attorney spoilers #mia fey #godot #miego #ace attorney meta #tl;dr: they can't talk onscreen because mia would ask him wtf he was doing in 2 seconds and then the plot is over #i would give anything to witness when they do talk though #in angsty sad fluffy fic form even #diego armando

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freakadr0id · 2 years

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I think one thing I think is really interesting about Rise is how it has this subtle not so subtle look into the turtles different psyches and how they cope with or without each other. They really don't know how to overall function living without each other. Which makes the bad future from the movie even more interesting because Leo and Mikey had to cope (but we didn't get to see much of it). I also think Donnie and Raph being the dead ones seems right since they acted the most protective.

Oh absolutely! I was told going in that Rise had an excellent portrayal of siblings, but I was surprised at just how well they explored it in the show (and movie) - they made it more than them just being goofy siblings. There is actual depth to the way each of them sees their family and their interactions.

All of the brothers to each other in different ways and for very different reasons and I think it's wonderful that they worked to make that distinction with each character. I think that dependence they have on one another could definitely make for some really angsty comics or stories exploring those ideas.

You're completely right in that Raph and Donnie would be the first ones to go in the bad future. They are both incredibly protective of their family and even they show it in very different ways, the movie demonstrates that they both share an instinct to put themselves in harm's way for the sake of their brothers. There are some really interesting comparisons to make between how Raph and Donnie are protective of their brothers and it will be something I want to look at more in-depth [hint hint].

Random side note: It's a bit of a controversial take, but I actually like how future!Raph and future!Donnie's deaths are addressed in the movie. It is never outright stated in the movie that Raph and Donnie died first, yet we *know* that they did. We're given enough subtle clues throughout the movie that tells us that they died, AND we can infer the reason they probably died as well (like Anon said, to protect their family). From a writing standpoint, this was a very smart move.

Yes, it would have been cool to see a glimpse at future!Raph and future!Donnie, or for Donnie to put two-and-two together like we see in that storyboard animatic, but unless they were to directly tie their future deaths into their character arcs, having them explicitly tell the audience or the characters would have been an unnecessary and kind of pointless interaction to have.

Sorry to put that last bit in an ask that wasn't really talking about it, but I felt like it was relevant enough to point out. I know it's a bit of an unpopular opinion, so hopefully you aren't too upset that I put that in.

#rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #ask #kind of

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cptn-m · 6 months

Text

One Piece chapter 1098 review

This is your content warning. I assume everyone who goes through these posts has read the relevant chapter first. You know what was in it. You know what I'll be discussing. Proceed at your own discretion.

This is a big one. Lots to talk about, lots to think about. A lot of… interesting reactions from fans on all corners of the internet that I want to reflect on. The first thing that stands out is the art. While mistakes have happened and corrections have been needed, the is the first time in 26 years we've seen Oda submit an unfinished manuscript. Other authors have done this in far rougher states far more regularly, but it's still a shame to see Oda break his streak. I wonder if something happened. A health issue? Scheduling with the live action? Perhaps a staffing one. The primary inking seems to be done across most of if not the whole chapter. What's missing is the erasing of pencil shading and sketch lines and the application of screen tones, which I understand to generally be the staff's job. Whether Oda finished the inks so late that these final touches couldn't be added, or if something happened to the normal screen tones guy, it's hopefully a one off.

If it's not a one-off (and a handful of panels with leftover pencil shading from the last chapter do suggest a slightly more ongoing deadline crunch) we might be back to two weeks on one off from next year to keep this from happening again. But that's a concern for after the November/December break season.

Oda delves into some heavy topics this week, and the collective gut reaction of the fanbase has been explosive. It's interesting to look at how much of an impression this particular chapter has made, given that we've been able to infer that these sorts of things happen for a long time now, after seeing the Celestial Dragons taking slave wives at Sabaody, the Boa sisters' slavery-related trauma that left them distrustful of men, and the story of the girl who took her own life after being freed that one commoner sought revenge on the Donquixotes for. Perhaps it was the degree of ambiguity the previous hints afforded. Sure, you have to stretch for it, but you could say those older examples don't have to lead to sexual assault. Ginny returning with an infant who very obviously takes after her is a tougher hurdle to throw 'he wouldn't really put that in a kids' series' at. Even so, Oda is careful about nowhere coming close to even using the word 'rape,' let alone actually depicting it. The reader is still expected to connect the dots. It's a nonconfrontational method for putting this dark subject on the page in a way that will hopefully not disrupt its young adult rating or alienate the portion of its audience that's sensitive to the topic.

Looking over the weekend's spoiler discussions, some of the fanbase is kinda treating this like Oda put a Berserk-level scene in the series out of nowhere, when the truth is that he's done everything he can to hold the subject at arms' length. Never shown or stated, but told through heavy implication. Ginny comes back ravaged by a disease (despite what some people are saying, there's no real reason to believe it's an STD) that conveniently disfigures her beyond the point that any distressing physical wounds from her abuse as a slave would be recognisable and kills her outright before there's any chance to dig into the trauma, the feelings and the ordeal of recovery and living on. One Piece is not talking about rape this week. It doesn't want to. There's an almost mystical, stork-like quality to the way Ginny vanishes for two years and returns with a baby and no chance to say more about where it came from beyond what we think filled in that gap in her timeline. The inferred conclusion is easy to see for grown adults like I assume most of us here to be, who've seen this subject matter covered before and have no allusions about the small, personal evils humans are capable of inflicting on one another. But I do wonder how much of the series' younger audience, that makes up so much of the Japanese readership, is going to be able to read between the lines, or what their prevailing interpretation will be. If you're fanciful enough, (like the people who think Mother Caramel and the other orphans simply ran away and hid instead of getting eaten by Big Mom) you can headcanon up a version of events where Ginny smuggled out the child of another slave, or found an orphan she couldn't abandon on the way back to Sorbet, and while evidence in canon will strongly resist those ideas, it doesn't outright contradict them.

And I'm sure debates will rage about whether or not this was an appropriate way to handle a topic so sensitive to so many. I don't think there's any such thing as a qualification to objectively judge such a thing. What shocks, what feels blunted and what does and doesn't scan as sincere is going to vary for each and every one of us. For me, while I definitely wouldn't point to this chapter as a go-to example of handling rape in fiction, the implications-only, arms-length approach keeps it from feeling like an edgy shock value move. For a series that doesn't have the tone or the time to go all the way into the tempestuous introspection of real sexual violence-related trauma but still wants to be true to the darker corners of its established world and the history it draws on, this was probably the safest option, and smartly chosen.

It's a shame to see Ginny go so abruptly and so badly though, right after two chapters of getting to know her. For all my overanalysis and cautioning above, my gut reaction sits as the first reply to the Arlong Park Forums spoiler thread, and holds true to the full chapter release. "Fuck me, that's dark." My mouth fell open as I realised the story being told. No one should be surprised that Ginny died, but I expected it at the climax of the flashback, with at least a chapter's warning that it was all coming to a head. I am well and truly caught off guard by this one, a swift jab in the gut out of nowhere, and the flashback isn't even done yet.

On Ginny's death, we have the also somewhat sensitive topic of female characters being 'fridged.' That is, being assaulted and killed for the sake of giving a male character something to angst over, a trope that gives some readers a feeling women are being treated as disposable. I may be swinging at ghosts here, but I feel like I've seen just enough people mention this (and the following point) on different corners of the internet that it's on my mind. I'm not going to say that Ginny doesn't tick the boxes for this trope, but I also have to wonder what the small number of people saying this were expecting. One Piece is an action adventure story that puts death and maiming on the line as the ultimate stake and consequence for its characters regularly. It has a 26-year theme of inheriting the will and goals of loved ones who were unfairly snuffed out before their time. If you're doing these things in a story, putting death on the line and defining your cast by the vows they made to the fallen, unless you make every character a man, you're going to end up killing off a woman for the sake of another character's growth at some point. Ginny joins the likes of Bellemere, Hiruluk, Tom, Olvia, Scarlet and Cora in dying tragically so a more main character can grow. Complaining about this in One Piece is the equivalent of asking for horror movies with more queer characters and calling it 'bury your gays' when typical horror movie things start happening to those characters. Context is important for judging the use of tropes like this.

And finally, there's been some chatter about Bonney's depiction in the story now that we know her true age. Egghead's costume design has been very biased towards female fanservice and low camera angles, and it does scan a little offputtingly to have included her so heavily in that. Especially with some people noticing Sanji acting significantly less heart-eyed toward her than most women, implying she's exempt from some of the stuff normally aimed at adult female characters. But my gut reaction isn't as visceral as others' have been. Like, usually the skeevy anime trope is the opposite, the young-looking character who's really a hundred years old, reading like a truly desperate attempt to justify gawking at kids if they're just 'wise beyond their years' or some shit. But the opposite scenario, someone being this much younger than they appear, is so outside the realm of reality that it's not really worth discoursing about.

And there is a weird vibe in some of the comments on that. Especially when they're saying 'how could Oda draw a 12 year old like this' but the example used is just her normal outfit, which is just short shorts and a tank top that could easily be worn out in pubic on a hot day. Feels like they're saying 'how dare a person I'm ultimately not compatible with initially seem attractive!' Like it's somehow confusing that Bonney would look good at a glance and then not be actually appropriate to be with when you learn more about her. Acting led on by it even. Strange and uncomfortable take from certain corners of the internet. How do these people deal with seeing in the real world who look pretty but have an incompatible personality, or interests, or politics, or lifestyle? Sure, the reason isn't normally going to be 'turns out she's mentally 12,' but you're going to struggle if you can't mentally pivot from 'looks interesting' to 'off limits' easier than that.

With all that heavy stuff out of the way, let's enjoy some worldbuilding and fun details. Did you notice in the montage toward the end of the chapter that Kuma actually got that iron cage crib built? Cute, but you have to wonder the impact of sleeping behind bars on a baby's development. How about the crucifix on the church wall? It's got split ends like the cross seen on Oars' loincloth and carved on the walls of the secret straw hat room, and where the arms meet is a symbol not unlike Alabasta's flag and the Kozuki Family crest. Could Kuma's religion be more than just a stock standard Christianity stand-in?

The contrast between the shots of Kuma's home life with Bonney and his battles as a revolutionary makes for a fantastic montage through the middle of the chapter. The wartime shot at the top of page 9 is super intense, it's going to absolutely be a highlight when it's funny cleaned up. Bonney makes for a cute and charismatic kid, with the emergence of her present-day brashness a comedic highlight. Where does a girl raised almost completely indoors pick that stuff up?

And we go from the extreme gestures right back to scenes of childishness as she grapples with her developing illness and naively misunderstands the timeline she's been put on. Poor girl. The Sapphire Scales illness is an interesting addition. Like I said above, it doesn't scan as an STD-analogy. Transmissibility is never brought up as an issue in all of Kuma's time in close quarters with Bonney, and comparisons are made to White Lead Sickness. That makes me think it's a genetic issue. And what better kind of malady to bring Vegapunk into this flashback to treat, given his work on genetics with MADS. I don't think it's her Devil Fruit keeping her alive in the present. If anything, rapidly aging to appear as an adult would force the disease to advance faster. Having the skill to age up herself while ageing down the disease isn't outside the realm of possibility for shonen writing, but I wouldn't expect it of a five-year-old. Plus, the disease didn't return to an unaged state the same way she did when the sea water (presumably) nullified her powers.

Bonney not being Kuma's biological child is an interesting development given her distorted future that took on his body shape. But then, it's not like we've seen enough Buccaneers to know for sure that the bulky frame is a trademark of the race. Sure, they're said to be tough, but this is One Piece. Scrawny characters have shown incredible strength and durability, and many obstinately normal humans have had proportions far more variable and exaggerated. I see no reason a (one Piece world) human couldn't achieve Kuma's body type with the right gym routine and a bit of dedication. But we'll see.

And we end on a stinger for the next chapter, with King Becori's return. Where did he go, I wonder? Up to Marie Geoise for who knows how many months or years of bootlicking? And who ruled while he was gone? But with this, we can perhaps see the rest of this flashback taking shape. Kuma, in no mood to see his daughter's limited time get cut any shorter, confronts the king directly, inadvertently ends up put on the throne, perhaps similar to how Dalton was able to be legitimised after ousting Wapol. With Government connections, he's able to reach Vegapunk and petition to have Bonney's life saved. But because of his history as a Revolutionary, the Government doesn't let him have what he wants for free. But who could refuse, in his position?

I remember writing during Oden's flashback a few years ago that I was enjoying the scenes playing out and seeing the long-hinted at backstory getting filled in, but that I was in no danger of weeping for Oden. There was an emotional investment that I never quite made in that story. Maybe it was because we knew about about Oden's death in advance that it was too foregone a conclusion, or maybe it just wasn't the right story to appeal to my tastes. The contrast here is that I'm genuinely feeling things at the twists and turns of Kuma's flashback. This is not just a good read to quietly enjoy, it's getting a genuine emotional rise out of me. Highs and lows of Wano be damned, Oda's still got it.

As a final thought, this installment brings us to the 10th chapter of volume 108, but probably not the last. This doesn't feel like an ending cliffhanger yet. But I can't see the flashback ending in one more chapter either. Are we going to get two 12-chapter volumes in a row, or will the volume gap simply cut through Kuma's story?

Older chapter reviews and other writing on my Wordopress!

#one piece #one piece spoilers #OP1098 #One Piece 1098 #Jewelry Bonney #bartholomew kuma #CW: Rape

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kingofkingdom-archive · 3 years

Text

Your Wish Is My Command

Pairing: Maxwell Lord (WW84) X Fem!Reader

A/N: Thank you all so much for the love on my last story! I’m grateful for all the feedback and can’t wait to get back to anyone who’s replied or reblogged it or whateva. This one’s pretty different - Recovery was mainly plot with a bit of porn, this is... well, the opposite of that. ;) As always, heed the tags/warnings, and again there is no use of Y/N here.

Rating: Explicit (18+ only!)

Summary: You have a gift - a powerful, unique, dangerous gift, and King Maxwell wants to take full advantage.

You’ll let him.

Warnings: mostly smut, Maxwell being an absolute jackass (no redemption arc here folks), you encouraging and very much liking the jackassery, brief mention of abuse/trauma, greedy authoritarian behavior, kinda spoilers for ww84

Tags: semi-public sex, exhibitionism, royalty kink (?), unprotected sex, implied and/or inferred consent (i.e. not explicit but there), Maxwell’s POV (until very end), fingering, p-in-v sex, come marking

Word Count: 3.4k

"The messenger you requested, reporting back from the northern provinces, sire."

King Maxwell of the house Lord, sitting in the throne gifted to him by birthright, dismisses the servant with a wave of his hand. He's become quite irritated with the futility of his efforts concerning this matter, and therefore has little patience for further delay. The future of his lands, his wealth, his power, rests on the shoulders of these menial workers and the news they provide. It bears no repeating that should they continue to come up empty-handed, someone is going to lose their head.

He needs the girl, and then it will be sealed. He will crush all opposition and assert his dominance over the entire region, coast to coast.

The messenger, a boy no more than 15, scurries into the room. His hair is tousled under his cap, which he hastily removes in the presence of the king. He bows, deeply and with a flourish, before standing upright.

Max watches with disinterest, legs spread over the velvet seat and head resting on his fist. His rings dig into his temple.

"We believe we've found her, sire."

That grabs his attention. He sits forward, both hands gripping the arms of his throne.

"You believe you have? Have you or have you not?"

The boy swallows, growing pale. "We-we have, your majesty. It's just, uh, we-we can't p-p-prove it's her until she demonstrates the gift."

The king groans, rolling his eyes and rubbing a hand over his face. These people are impossible.

"Where is she, then? Have you at least brought her along?"

The boy nods frantically. "Yes, your majesty. She's been quartered in the guest wing, with two guards to watch her."

Immediately, Maxwell stands. Everyone in the room looks up at him, and he adjusts his sleeves. The boy is nearly trembling.

"Well, then take me to her," he orders, and the boy hesitates.

"Now!"

The messenger boy practically trips over his own feet in haste to correct his error. He sets a quick pace to the guest wing in order to account for the king's long strides, head bowed and arms stiff as he does so.

The room is located to the east of that which houses his throne, on the third floor, overlooking the orchards. Maxwell follows the boy, wooden-soled shoes echoing on the gleaming marble floors of his palace. Mirrors line each hallway, along with fine art ranging from rare vases to family portraits.

Maxwell sees the door as soon as they turn a corner, identifiable by the armored men who stand at either side of it. The boy stops and gestures to the door with a shaking hand.

"Just in here, y-"

"I can see that," the king barks, ignoring the boy completely. "You are dismissed."

He hears footsteps retreat quickly down the hall as he checks his appearance in a mirror. Not a hair out of place, not a wrinkled seam in sight. The king sighs, smiling as he admires himself. He takes a moment before turning to the door, the door that hides behind it wealth and prosperity like nothing he's ever known.

The guards simply bow as he approaches them. Maxwell knocks twice on the door and pushes it open.

Inside there is a single room, with a bed and chest of drawers and a vanity. There is a balcony, with glass French doors, through which he can see the shape of a woman standing and looking out over the scenery.

She leans one hip against the stone railing, and as Maxwell walks forward he can see that she holds a goblet of wine in one hand. Her dress flows in the light summer breeze, and her hair is decorated in intricate braids, ribbon laced throughout.

The girl does not see him, yet. He stands in the doorway, hands clasped behind his back, watching her.

"Is it true?" he asks, after he's looked his fill.

The young woman starts, a gasp escaping her lips. She turns to look towards the voice she has heard and startles again, seeing the king himself staring quite intently at her.

"Your majesty," she breathes, a smile ghosting across her lips. She bows deeply and then looks up at him, eyes bright and playful.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, my dear. I've heard many... extraordinary things about you."

Maxwell is immediately taken with her. Not only is she quite beautiful, despite her pauper's clothing, but she is one of few who have not reacted to him with fear or malice. Most begin shaking when they see his face; she, however, seems quite happy to see him.

"Oh, sire, the pleasure is entirely mine," she responds, voice soft, like music to Max's ears. "What things could you have heard about someone as lowly as I?" Her words are humble, but he senses a hint of teasing in them - as though she knows exactly what he's heard, but just wants him to say it.

"You are rumored to possess a very unique skill, one that I am most interested in learning about." He plays along, because her elusiveness frustrates him much less when she's right in front of him.

The king is a very visual man.

He steps forward, fully onto the balcony now. She backs up until her back hits the railing, smile never leaving her face, even as the king crowds into her.

"I possess many skills which I would be happy to demonstrate to you," she says, and Max does not miss the meaning she intends to convey in those words. His eyes darken, his blood running hot at the thought of the many things she could give him. The things he could take from her willingly, without the hassle of a fight.

"It is said that you grant wishes," he murmurs, looking down at her. Max finds he quite likes this view, her looking up to her king. "One must only touch you and state their wish, and it will be so."

The girl chuckles, and daringly takes a sip of her wine. Maxwell grins, before reaching a hand up and grabbing the wine from her grasp. He tosses the liquid out over the ground below and carelessly throws the goblet over the edge to follow its contents.

The girl does not bat an eye.

"What you have heard," she mutters, eyes slipping down to his lips and back up again, "is true."

The king runs his hand up her side, settling at her ribs just beside her breast, savoring the way she shivers at his touch. His fingers splay out over the bare skin of her back, warm and soft and hinting at more.

He dips his head down so that his nose brushes against hers, mouths nearly touching.

"Is there a limit," he breathes, because he knows he must ask this, "to your generosity, my dear?"

The girl smiles, placing a hand on his bicep. Her small fingers feel divine against him, even there.

"No," she whispers back.

Maxwell hums, stroking his thumb idly along her warm, soft skin. He needs to confirm that she's telling the truth, as tempting as it is to believe her outright. The way she's looking at him... she'd let him do anything to her. The thought is as enticing as it is dangerous.

"I wish to find a raven's feather in my shirt pocket," he says, and then feels a slight breeze on the back of his neck.

The king reaches into his pocket, and his fingers brush against exactly the object he wished for. He pulls it out to show the girl. She smiles and runs a hand up to his shoulder, resting her wrist there. His loose linen shirt, which flutters lightly in the wind against his tanned skin, is perfect for a summer's day like this - and when he feels the warmth of her hand through it he thanks his past self for selecting it this morning.

"What a remarkable gift you have," he comments, and tucks the feather behind her ear.

An endearing blush rises to her cheeks, and though she ignores it, the king takes notice. "Thank you, your majesty."

At that moment, an idea forms in his mind. It's devious, downright lecherous and more the act of some tavern drunkard than a king, but she is sure to react well, if he's gauged her correctly.

"You said there's no limit on the wishes you can grant a single person?"

"Yes, sire. I did."

A smirk forms on the king's face. "Then I wish, my dear, for you to be naked."

The wind around them picks up again and the girl gasps. In the blink of an eye, her plain, beige dress has disappeared, leaving nothing behind. She is a vision, bare and beautiful in the midday light like this.

Maxwell is immediately hard. Not only is there a gorgeous, naked woman before him, but his absolute, unlimited power has just been confirmed and lies at his fingertips. He is unstoppable now, now that he has her.

The girl's hands fly up to grasp at his shoulders as his own trace over her curves. Her hips, her waist, her thighs - one of which he brings up to hook around his own hip - all of it is open and shimmering before him.

"They said - in my village, they said you are a monster," she says, though her words trail off into a moan as one of the king's hands finds her breast. He tugs at her nipple, squeezing and pulling at the supple flesh, drawing sweet sounds from her pink mouth.

"Is that so?"

She nods. "I would look at your portraits and - and think... I'd think, no... no man so handsome could be so evil."

The king laughs, dipping his head to lick at her neck. She tosses her head back, giving him full access to the elegant column of her throat.

"And even... even if you are what they said... I don't - I don't care."

Maxwell groans just as she says it, biting a bruise into the junction between her shoulder and neck. He trails bites and kisses down her collarbones, leaving his marks across her unblemished skin.

"I am," he murmurs into her ear, smoothing a hand over her stomach so that his middle finger comes to glide over the thick hair that covers her mound. He dips it into her folds, rubbing softly at the wet, slippery flesh there until she moans, high-pitched and needy. He grins, licking his tongue into the shell of her ear.

"I am a monster, my dear," he whispers. "Every vile thing they said about me is true. And... I wish to fill my personal vaults with triple the gold. I wish to increase my fleets tenfold, with loyal soldiers to match. I wish to never see you leave these palace grounds so long as I live."

The wind picks up considerably around them. The king presses a finger against her opening, hot and dripping for him, and slides it in. Her moans are heavenly, loud and unashamed as he violates her in the open, where anyone could look up and see them. Her cunt opens for his finger, the gold and precious jewels of his rings swallowed by her sweet embrace. Her hands grip at his neck while her leg draws him closer. He adds a second, and it enters just as easily.

The king begins to fuck her with his fingers, watching as the muscles in her stomach tense and her eyes go glassy with the feeling.

"I wish to never be challenged by anyone for the throne," he grunts out. The girl moans at his words, and he realizes that she likes it. Not just the way he's touching her, but that he's making his wishes as he does it. He grins at her, predatory, and cups her ass with the hand not currently knuckle-deep in her pussy. His fingers dig in, sharp and strong and unyielding, surely leaving bruises in their wake.

"You like granting my wishes, darling? You enjoy giving me power, worshipping your king?"

She nods, mouth half-open. "Yes, your majesty." Her voice is breathy, the sound of it nearly knocking him out with the way it draws blood from his brain to his cock.

Speaking of which.

Maxwell thrusts a third finger into her cunt, the stretch made easy by the slick leaking out of her profusely. She wails, hands scrabbling at his neck and shoulders and back and the collar of his shirt.

"Take me out," he orders, and she pauses to look at him, confused. "Take me out of my trousers, my dear. Feel how hard I am for you."

She gasps and her hands fly down to the button at the crotch of his pants. Quickly she fumbles it open, and his hard member pushes up into her palms. The girl gives the king's dick a squeeze, and he grits his teeth, moaning.

"I wish to claim all of the lands in the south as my own. I wish to have loyal subjects in every village and town, that no one may ever defy me again. I wish to have any traitors killed without question."

The girl's moans have increased again as she rubs and caresses his cock. Her hands disappear for a moment as she leans back, licking a long stripe from her wrist to fingertips, and returns to her task.

Maxwell groans, dropping his head forward to press his nose against her skin, breathing in. She smells faintly of lavender, a crop that grows abundantly in the north, sweet and fresh. His tongue darts out to lick away a drop of sweat that rolls down her collarbone. Her hands squeeze and pull at his cock, thumbing at the head and slit and dipping down to fondle his balls on every other stroke.

It feels positively exquisite, but he wants to put his dick to use elsewhere. Somewhere tighter, warmer, wetter.

The king removes his fingers, drawing a whine from the girl. The noise of it is obscene in itself, squelching and sticky as her cunt tries to cling to his fingers and the jewels that adorn them. He chuckles, lifts his head to meet her gaze, and brings his fingers up to his mouth and licks away her essence. She watches, rapt, as he makes sure to get every inch of the three digits that were inside her. The sight of it makes her keen, high pitched noises spilling out of her lips and eyes watering with desperation and need for him.

The king laughs, the taste of her on his tongue. Someday, he swears, he'll taste this sweet nectar straight from the source.

Now is not the time.

He brings his spit-soaked hand down to his red, throbbing cock, giving it a few strokes. His other hand slips up to grasp her waist. The girl lifts her leg further, resting her heel against his ass, helping him to guide his length into her.

"What else do you wish for, my king?" she asks, just as the head of his cock notches at her opening. With a grunt, Max pushes in.

Her words, combined with the feeling of her pussy stretched around his dick, causes his vision to blur and images to flash in his mind of what's now possible with her gift at his disposal. He pushes in further, drawing another moan from deep within her throat.

"I wish... I wish..."

"Your wildest fantasies, my king..." she urges, grip tightening on his neck and shoulder. "Anything is possible. What do you -- oh!"

As her words soak into his skin, he pushes in further and further, until his balls are nestled squarely at her ass. She's pushing him to take, rather than to give, unlike so many who surround him. It breathes fire into his veins, this woman who's encouraging him to do all the selfish, power-hungry things he'd do anyway, all while he fucks into her like this.

The king draws out and pushes back in in one smooth motion, stealing the breath from her lungs. He presses his lips against hers as he speaks, as he sets a rough pace, fucking her into the stone railing.

"I wish to never fall ill or suffer injury in battle. I wish to have the unwavering allegiance of every foreign leader, and that they will defer to me in all international affairs. I wish for my reign to be the longest this nation has ever seen. I wish to live longer than any other man, and I wish to have you here at my disposal for the entirety of my long life. I wish to never succumb to old age."

By now, the wind is tossing her hair and whistling around them, but Maxwell does not care. He's thrusting into her roughly, recklessly now, and all he can hear are her sweet, delicious moans. Her pussy clenches his cock just so, and he sees nearly sees stars at the feeling. Her tits bounce as he fucks into her, her nudity on full display but only to be taken advantage of by him.

Maxwell adjusts his grip on her waist and thigh, maneuvering her around so that now he's taking her from behind. She leans forward on the railing, looking out over the palace grounds.

"Isn't it beautiful, darling?" he breathes, gripping her ass cheeks now, pumping in and out with increased fervor. "Looking out onto your lands, as far as the eye can see..."

She merely responds with moans, punched out of her with each thrust, and Maxwell feels her cunt throb in a way that tells him her orgasm is imminent. He reaches a hand around and searches for her clit, knowing he finds it when she shouts out. He rubs a finger against the sensitive, pulsing nub until she comes apart, writing and screaming on his cock.

Max feels his own climax approaching, and just before he tips over the edge, he withdraws his cock. Taking himself in hand, he strokes a few times and cums directly onto her ass and lower back, marking her up with his potent, royal seed.

Chest heaving, the king runs his hands through his own semen as it cools on the girl's backside. He rubs it into her skin like a masseuse might a fragrant oil.

Maxwell steps back, admiring his conquest. The girl is still leaning against the railing, head bowed and naked as the day she was born.

"I wish for you to be my queen."

The words are a surprise even to him, though he's not shocked at his own impulsivity; that is a trait of his that has followed him from childhood onward.

The girl turns to look at him.

"You have to be touching me for it to work, sire." She doesn't sound angry with him, which is a relief, though he'd never show it.

"I know, my dearest. I wish it, but I won't compel you."

At that she turns to face him fully. She's got that fucked-out look on her face, to be sure, but now there's something else in her eyes.

"Are you asking me to marry you, King Maxwell?" Her smile is sly, something befitting a woman of much higher status than herself. It makes his cock twitch in a valiant effort to get hard again.

"I suppose so."

"In that case, my answer is yes," she says, and pulls him in by his shirt collar for a searing kiss.

The next morning, you wake up sore in an unfamiliar bed.

You look around for a moment, taking in the luxurious decor and faint smell of roses, until you remember where you are. Who you are, now.

Your head rests not on a pillow - something much warmer than that. It rises and falls softly, and then you realize there's a weight around your waist that feels distinctly like an arm. Lifting your head just slightly, you see the king himself asleep above you, face soft and youthful in rest.

As you lay your head down on his chest to fall back asleep, you can't help but think of the people back in your village. The horrors you endured at their hands once they learned of your gift. The nightmares you still have because of what they did.

You think of how much they suffer under the rule of the king - of your husband - and you fall asleep with a smile on your face.

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your-pal-crow · 3 years

Text

In this post, I will be analyzing and creating hypotheses on the species of Double Trouble from "She Ra: Princess of Power"; including diet, hunting, and behavior/interspecies interaction

(I will also be shortening their name to DB because Double Trouble is a lot to type. also since the name of their species is never outright said, I'm going to refer to the species as "shifters")

Diet and Hunting:

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Looking at DB's anatomy we can determine (within a reasonable degree) what shifters eat and how they hunt their prey.

Judging by the teeth we can infer that they're carnivores, as no molars (teeth used for grinding plant material) are shown in the mouth, only incisors and/or canines.

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By looking at the color of their skin and hair, we can make an educational guess and hypothesize that shifters hunt in areas with lots of greenery. Most likely in a forest of some sort, also possibly shown in the ears, which are leaf-shaped and slightly pointed to the ground.

The hair could also provide a camouflage similar to penguins. If in a tree, from below the green would blend in with the trees, and from above with dead plantlife or straw.

This brings me to another point, that shifters are most likely ambush predators. Along with the evidence stated above, the chameleon-like tail implies they spend a lot of their time in the trees where they can more easily hide from other species. This is useful for both ambushing prey and avoiding other predators.

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Behavior / Inter-species Interaction:

Next, I'll be analyzing how shifters might interact among others of their species.

One huge clue would be the eyebrows, their very existence implying important things about shifters' society.

1. Facial expressions/emotional intelligence is necessary

2. Number one itself implies that the species is very social (at least among their own kind.)

This is because eyebrows are a huge emotional signifier, a large part of recognizing different emotions (along with differentiating one person from another) is in the eyebrows.

Another hint that the species values FE/EI is the tail, which can be slightly curling up in excitement, another emotional signifier.

This information leads me to believe that shifters are a social species, that may also hunt in packs. They are lightweight and thin, so multiple could fit in a tree at once, it would also explain the need for emotional signifiers. Being able to communicate in this non-verbal fashion would be useful for pack-bonding and successfully ambushing prey in silence.

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You may be asking, then why did they evolve/develop the ability to shapeshift if they're already camouflaged? My answer to that is that many species have more than one way to hunt, including humans, hyenas, and cats. Additionally, it could also be used as another way to express playfulness and humor, similar to how DB briefly shifted to the form of Glitter, Adora, and Bow to amuse Catra.

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This concludes my analysis of the shifters, I hope you enjoyed reading. And if you have any feedback I'd love to hear it and add to what I've written!

#she ra #double trouble #fantasy science #double trouble she ra #she ra princess of power

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rachelbethhines · 4 years

Text

Tangled Salt Marathon - The Alchemist Returns

Strap in folks, cause this is going to be a long one. In truth, there are very few flaws in this episode, but in order to explain them I have to really get into some character analysis first.

Summary: Varian comes to Rapunzel for help in finding the remnants of the mystical golden flower, which may hold the key to stopping the Black Rocks. Working together, they venture through the old tunnels beneath Corona. Meanwhile Cass and Eugene work together to figure out who drugged the castle’s populace with a truth serum.

Behold! The One and Only Time Frederic is Called Out on His BS; and Nothing Comes of It.

Rapunzel finally, finally stands up to her dad and points out both his abusiveness and his poor leadership. It doesn’t affect the narrative in anyway. Neither character learns anything from this nor changes their points of view. This conversation might as well not have happened given how the characters behave in later episodes/seasons.

The only reason this scene exists is to give Rapunzel motivation for stealing the flower within the episode. A goal that she changes her mind about towards the end. Thereby walking back on such motivation and putting us back at square one with her development.

Rapunzel Isn’t Being Truthful With Herself Nor the Audience

So people aren't always one hundred percent truthful about what they want and their goals. Especially if it involves admitting something about yourself or a loved one that you don’t want to acknowledge. Fictional characters are meant to give the illusion of being real so they can sometimes mimic this behavior.

Throughout the episode Rapunzel keeps on assisting that she’s doing this ‘for Corona’, but we’re given context clues along side that to tell us that her real reasons are about her relationship with her father.

Unfortunately, the show has a bad habit of not communicating information clearly and also has a history of expecting the audience to take what the characters say at face value. Ergo, it’s easy to miss Rapunzel’s true motivations and thereby fail to fully understand her actions and decisions throughout.

Once Again, These Prophetic Dreams Go Nowhere

Dream Varian mentions Rapunzel has a ‘destiny’ but the show never spells out what that destiny actually is nor why she needs to fulfill it. Sure there’s a big quest for the moonstone in season two, but the rocks stop being a threat by then so really, she doesn’t actually need to go on that quest. In fact, she would save a lot of people at lot of trouble if she did nothing at all. That’s poor storytelling. You need something driving the action; a reason to motivate the hero.

Secondly, we never get an explanation for why she randomly has these dreams in the first season but for none of the others. Nor why Varian is at the center of the them when it’s other villains she needs to actually be warned about, like say Zhan Tiri.

No, the real reason why this dream sequence exists is just to reiterate Rapunzel’s internal conflict. She wants a relationship with her Dad, but he’s a male Gothel, and she’s now caught in the middle of his and Varian’s conflict because she failed to take responsibility when she needed to. And is still failing because she doesn’t want to shatter her illusions about Frederic.

Shoving the main protagonist’s driving conflit into a subtextual dream sequence is lazy. Especially since we get no official resolution to said conflict. Rapunzel never acknowledges the problem here, never follows up on any type of action, and she never faces any true consequences for ignoring the issue.

She carries on believing in her fantasy version of Frederic, even as he continues to do harmful things, and the narrative just rewards both her and him for it.

There Should Have Been an Episode Showing the Audience Varian’s Side of the Story

What happened to Varian in between Queen for a Day and this episode is told only through context clues. Nothing is stated outright, meaning the audience has to rely too heavily on inference and are left to piece together what happened on their own like a puzzle. That’s poor writing.

Even something as simple as ‘how much time has past’ (its three months btw, S1 is six months long and QfaD is the meant to be the midpoint) is left up to the viewer to keep up with rather then being clearly stated. This is made even harder to do by the marketing team showing most of the episodes out of order.

You need to clearly relay information to your audience. That means repeating said information in a variety of ways over the course of the story. Have those context clues, but also have more overt hints, and direct reveals interspersed along with that. Especially when dealing with the motivations and goals of the character driving the main plot.

Even if you attribute the lack of a Varain episode to the ‘twist’ in this one, (a twist that was revealed in QfaD anyways) there’s still no excuse for why we didn’t get a flashback episode afterwards to fill this hole in narrative out.

Don’t Pretend Ignorance Rapunzel

Nigel literally repeated the rumor to her face last episode. She knows her father is lying about the rocks and attacked her for the scroll. She knows from the letter that those same guards were chasing down Varian for said scroll. She knows about Corona’s laws and what would happen to Varian if the guards caught him.

There is zero reason for her to be acting like this is new information. Let alone have any right to feign concern after three months of ignoring his plea for help.

That’s what I mean about the series not communicating clearly and wanting the audience to take things at face value. The show deliberately has the characters say things that contradict established events to try and get the audience on their side.

The episode is trying to telling us, ‘See! Rapunzel is innocent in all this cause she didn’t know, but she’s trying to make up for it now’. Yet, if you’ve been watching and paying attention to the details, you know that’s not the truth here.

Good writing is about communicating ideas to your audience. But this show can’t decide on which idea to communicate. Is Rapunzel at fault or no? You can’t have it both ways. Either she screwed up and thereby caused the conflict in question now or she didn’t. If she didn’t, then events shouldn’t progress like they do. If she did, then it needs to be acknowledged and she needs to held accountable by the narrative.

More Hints into Rapunzel's True Motivation

I can’t stress this enough. Rapunzel’s reasons for stealing the flower has nothing to do with Corona. That is an excuse. It’s about trying to find out what her Dad is hiding from her and why he’s lying to her. This comment right here is what compels Raps to go along with his plan.

Also...

Varian Isn’t Lying Here

I also want to make it perfectly clear that Varian is being upfront with Raps. He tells her his plan is to steal the flower and why. She’s the one that makes the assumption that this entails them only taking one petal and the assumption that ‘all our problems’ only means saving Corona. Even though saving Corona and saving Quirin are the same problem. (more on this later)

It’s important to understand Rapunzel’s thought process and her true motivations in order to make sense of her actions later in the story.

Rapunzel’s internal conflict is her need for autonomy versus her fear of rejection. The ‘for Corona’ and ‘one petal’ excuses are used because she thinks they’ll play well with her Dad. In order words, they’re reassurances to her that should she get caught and have to face her father’s disapproval then she could counteract his arguments with his own belief system about ‘putting the kingdom’s needs first’ and ‘following your own inner voice.’

And yes, both Rapunzel and Frederic are big fat hypocrites for this, but Rapunzel hasn’t acknowledged that fact to herself and is trying to convince herself throughout the episode to believe in her own excuses.

Why Do You Care About Treason Rapunzel?

For context, treason is the highest crime in any country. It’s punishable by death, even in the real world. Now each country has its own legal definition of what constitutes as treason. Here in a America, in Article III, Section 3 of the United States Constitution, treason is specifically limited to levying war against the US, or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. And only during a time of war. Legally, a time of war has to be approved by the US congress. Technically, congress hasn’t declared war since World War II. This is why certain people haven’t been convicted of treason like acts both in, and out of, later US conflicts because the definition is arguably too narrow and specific. But it’s intentionally that way to help prevent false accusations and to keep people in power from murdering their political opposition.

Before the US, treason just meant opposing the ruler of the land in any way. The founding fathers committed treason just by signing the Declaration of Independence. They all would have been executed had the US lost the revolution. Here in Corona, that old definition still stands. Simple theft of royal property, a non violent act, is considered treason and we already know it’s punishment. Eugene stole royal property and was almost hanged for it in the movie.

Now Rapunzel though, she is royalty. This stuff she’s stealing is technically her own property. She’ll inherit all of these things once Queen. Moreover, we all know that Frederic wouldn’t harm Rapunzel let alone kill her. She’s not in any real danger here. So why does she care?

Remember that Rapunzel’s internal conflict is personal autonomy versus her fear of rejection. She only hesitates in her pursuit of answers when reminded of Frederic’s possible disapproval. That’s why she stops under his frowning picture to say this. “Treason” only means possible rejection or disapproval from her father. The worst thing she faces is another argument with him.

Meanwhile, Varian’s life is very much at stake here. He is risking everything, quite literally, to save his father. But his life was arguably forfeit as soon as Frederic decided he wanted the scroll. What’s to prevent the king from claiming that as his own property even when it’s really not? If he’s already sent guards after Varian and the scroll then that’s precisely what he’s already done.

The series is acting like Rapunzel is the reasonable one here because she questions stealing, but the reality is she’s being selfish and willfully obtuse. Multiple lives are at stake here, including the one of the person she is talking to right now. Breaking the law, defying her father, in order to save those lives shouldn’t even be in question at all.

Corona and Quirin Aren’t Conflicting Interests.

Quirin and Corona are both facing the same problem. Solving one will inevitably mean solving the other. Any distinction between the two is solely created within Rapunzel’s own mind.

She does this to to hide her true motivations and conflict from herself. The show does this to try and villainize Varian over Frederic.

There’s a clear bias in who the series wants you to root for and so it skews the perception of what’s actually at stake by creating a non-existent competition between Quirin’s life and the country’s safety. Even though Quirin, Varian, and Old Corona are all apart of the kingdom. They’re all Rapunzel’s and Federic’s responsibly too. Saving Quirin’s life should be more than reason enough to steal the flower on it’s own.

But this is ‘Rapunzel’s show’ and according to the creators, that means that her personal feelings are more important than actual human lives. Not really, but that’s their mindset and approach to conflicts in the show.

Rapunzel’s True Motivation is Revealed

So we’ve followed the hints, but here it is stated outright. This was never about Corona, the rocks,Varian’s safety, nor Quirin’s life. This is about her need for autonomy. Her own personal quest for assertiveness. She’s been bullied and abused by two steprate parental figures now and she’s growing tired of it. Which is understandable and valid, but it shouldn’t be made more important than everyone else’s problems. Everytime Rapunzel says ‘for Corona’, she really means ‘for herself.’

Rapunzel Shouldn’t be the Only Person Solving the Obstacles Here

Varian is just as smart as Rapunzel, if not smarter. This has been established throughout the show both before and after this episode. Meanwhile, Rapunzel is more physically adept than Varian. This whole sequence in the tunnels should have been both Rapunzel and Varian teaming up and complementing the other’s skill sets. They need to be on equal footing in order to sell their conflict later on. But the show deliberately down plays Varian’s competence in this episode in an effort to make Rapunzel look good.

‘Girl power’ shouldn’t mean making the character perfect. It especially shouldn’t mean making other characters weaker in comparison. Women want equality. That means we want to see female characters treated as people. That means we want female characters to be flawed while still contributing to the plot same as the male characters. That doesn’t mean we want to be paraded around as the only competent person in the room. We want to be on the same level as the boys not above them.

Over idealization and glorification of ‘strong’ female characters is just as problematic as damsels in distresses.

Writers like Chris Sonnenburg grew up during the heyday of Third-wave Feminism. Right on the cusp between second-wave and third-wave points of view as women really started to challenge Hollywood’s portrayal of themselves as homemakers and love interests. They wanted to be the heroes for once. Starting in the 60s and reaching pick popularity in the 70s and early 80s, film makers responded by making female characters who could physically fight but either failed to give them any sort of depth and/or made them the only archetype available.

Chris, and several other male writers who lived during this era, have internalized this approach by default without actually examining how it came into existence nor why women would no longer be satisfied by this portrayal of them, if they ever were. All we’ve done is trade one stereotype for another, as male creators fetishize what was once meant to be an attempt to empower ourselves.

Had Chis actually brought more female writers onto the show and listened to the criticisms from his female crew, he could have better avoided problems like the one above. But instead he dug in his heels and insisted that he already knew what we wanted. He doesn’t.

Why Would You Assume This Eugene?

Varian hasn’t actually done anything wrong yet. His worst crimes are drugging people with a magic potion, which is what Xavier did without consequence only two episodes ago, and attempting to steal a magical healing flower that the king has been hoarding from his subjects anyways. A king who has been persecuting Varian unfairly and they know this because of Quest for Varian.

Eugene of all people should be sympathetic towards Varian’s plight. He’s been there himself. He should also know that the rumors about Varian attacking Rapunzel are untrue because Raps told him about the events of Queen for a Day herself.

Meanwhile Cassandra was actually there. She knows Varian’s problems and is supposedly his ‘friend.’ She has even less reason to be hostile towards him.

But once again, the series has the characters respond to things that contradict established events in order to create a bias in the audience. “See, Eugene and Cass doesn’t trust Varian and neither should Rapunzel. See, how evil he really is?” It tries to tell us. In order to convince us to excuse Frederic’s behavior so that when the series does just that through Rapunzel choosing his side we’ll be on board with it. You know, unless you have been paying attention, already have a developed moral code, and the reasoning facilities of an adult.

Rapunzel Lacks Empathy

Keep in mind, ‘for Corona’ really means ‘for herself’. The only competition between Quirin and the kingdom is one that she’s fabricated in her own mind. Varian not caring about the island punctures holes into her excuses. Even though Varian is a fourteen/fifteen year old who holds no responsibility for the safety of a whole country. Especially one that’s mistreated him. Of course his father’s life is going to be more important to him.

What Rapunzel is really asking here is, “Why don't you care about what I care about?” “Why aren’t you concerned about my feelings over your own?”

Which makes sense for her character. She’s a woman who has been trapped in a tower her whole life. She lacks the experience needed to be an empathetic person. She��s never had to grieve before. The only permanent death she’s known is that of her abuser. Her trauma over nearly losing Eugene and Pascal was the fear of loss, not the actual process of living without someone. Rapunzel has no framework of reference in order to truly understand what Varian is going through.

Sympathy is feeling sorry for someone. Empathy is understanding how a person feels. Rapunzel may be a sympathetic person but she’s not an empathetic one and there’s a difference between being ‘nice’ and being kind. The show presents to us a woman who needs to learn that difference. The problem is that she never does.

This is actually a brilliant conflict and point of characterization. It’s taking what we already know about a character and expanding upon it to give us believable flaws that impact the story. I actually like this conflict. I like this portrayal. I initially preferred the series over the movie because of this.

I want Rapunzel to be flawed. I want her flaws to to inform the plot. I want to like her as a character. But I can’t. Because the show never acknowledges these flaws, never has her grow as a person. She remains unempathetic and selfish till the end even as she gains more experience, and the show acts like she is justified in hurting others.

This exchange is the quillivant of a rich person who donates money to environmentalist causes trying to shame a poor child for daring to ‘waste water’ in order to take a bath, even while ignoring their own factories spewing pollutants into the local river. The show tries to claim that classism is okay so long as it’s perpetuated by the creator’s favs.

Varian is in the Right

First off he never claimed that he was only going to take one petal. Rapunzel just assumed that. Also, he’s right there is no difference. Once again Rapunzel has fabricated a distinction in her mind in order to have an excuse to sell her dad. She only hesitates now because taking the whole thing means there’s more risk of getting caught and less possibility of weaseling out of punishment through deniability.

Never mind that Frederic doesn’t own the flower anyways. He stole it from Gothel first, outside of his land’s borders. Never mind that him taking the flower actually causes harm to others while stealing it back does not. Never mind that breaking a law to save a human life is not only justifiable but preferable. Never mind that the king is essentially hoarding medicine from the populace, thereby breaking the social contract of a leader towards his people and becoming a despot instead.

No, Varian hurt Rapunzel’s feelings so he’s evil don’t you see? He placed his needs above the main character’s wants and desires, ergo the series treats him as a villain.

Look, I’m not saying that Varian is without fault nor that everything he does is justifiable. But the show (and certain fans) goes out of its way to demonize the character even when he’s doing what’s actually morally right. This isn’t the point when Varian falls to the darkside, that’s yet to come, but it is the point where the series starts to play favorites with its characters at the expense of teaching coherent lessons.

Inconsistent Messages

Yes, how dare he do the exact same thing as Pascal and Max did two episodes later. Don’t you know, he’s the villain; even though he actually has more reason to use the truth serum than they did the mood potion.

The problem of centering so much of the conflict on Rapunzel’s personal feelings means that Rapunzel and the show has double standards for how characters are treated. Friends of Rapunzel gets free passes. Lack of friendship means you’re now the enemy and can’t be excused. Even though in real life that is what we call nepotism and an abuse of power.

Authoritarianism Vs Consequentialism

When you mention the word authoritarianism to someone they automatically picture in their head armed men in uniforms marching in the streets attacking innocent people on behalf of a dictator’s orders. Yet, that’s not what authoritarianism is. That’s fascism, which can spring forth from authoritarians gaining political power but it’s not the only manifestation of this philosophy.

Authoritarianism is the belief system that the ‘authority’ is always right, even when wrong. An authoritarian will find any excuse to follow and believe in their chosen authority even when that authority has failed them or others.

The opposing philosophy here is consequentialism. That’s the belief that right and wrong are directly linked to consequence. To their minds something is morally wrong if the action has a bad outcome for others.

To illustrate the difference let's look at a near universal rule.

“Murder is wrong.”

Now both the authoritarian and the consequentialist will normally agree with this. But the ‘why’ to them couldn’t be any more different.

To an authoritarian ‘murder is wrong’ because the authority has deemed it so. That authority can be anything that the anthoritian has personally chosen; God, the government, their parents ect. It’s completely arbitrary and subject to change on a whim. The authoritarian lacks consistency and conviction and will often have multiple chosen authorities that will contradict one another. If one of those authorities came out in favor of murder then there’s a strong chance that the authoritarian will change their position or belief as oppose to denouncing their chosen leader.

Meanwhile, ‘murder is wrong’ to the consequentialist because there are clear irreversibly bad consequences for doing it. It removes a life from the world. All possibilities for that person are now forever snuffed out. It hurts those left behind. ect. The consequentialist is consistent in their beliefs so long as the consequence remains the same. They can’t be swayed by mere orders. That’s not to say that consequentialism is incorruptible. A consequentialist can easily become a knight templar if they are forced to weigh consequences against each other. Then it becomes ‘murder is still wrong unless it achieves this arbitrary goal’.

In truth, morality is a sliding scale for most people and you normally hold more than one ethical belief system. However history has proven that authoritarianism is the more often dangerous and corruptible philosophy as it relies heavily on peer pressure, groupthink, and yes, abuse. Most authortians don't come from healthy loving homes. Either they were abused or are abusers themselves. When conducting studies on authoritarianism psychologists and sociologists use questions about parenting in order to pinpoint who is and isn’t an authoritarian as most people aren’t going to just come right out and claim we should go back to feudalism and the divine right of kings.

An out of control authoritarian is a bully with power. An out of control consequentialist is just a vigilante.

Frederic and Varian are the representatives of the two sides of these opposing belief systems and the representatives of what happens when people with those belief systems become corrupt. By having the main character choose between the two of them and siding with the her father, the authoritarian, the show is now validating this philosophy.

Breaking an unjust law shouldn’t be presented as a bad thing here. Blindly accepting Frederic’s rule shouldn’t be the end result of all this. Excusing his abusive behavior shouldn’t be the finale outcome of the story. There’s not a single thing that Frederic, and by extension Rapunzel, does that hasn’t been done by corrupt governments in the real world. Their reasons for doing so be damned.

Given the current political landscape and the increasing push to give real life anthortirans more power, this was absolutely the wrong message to put into a children’s show. It’s not that children will grow up to become authoritarians themselves by just watching the show, but it can condition them to go along with authoritarian abuse if they are now familiar the excuses abusers use to validate their actions. Especially, if they are already trapped in an abusive environment and are being fed these excuses by their current abusers.

I've already seen this toxic thought process played out by younger members of the fandom who are only just now forming their moral codes. “Accept what’ve you’ve been given.” “It’s okay, your parent (the authority) loves you and knows what’s best” “Hurting people is alright because they’ve been hurt you need to ofter up understanding”

NO!

Theses aren’t good lessons. These are the lies fed to you by abusive people. And the show repeatedly validates, justifies, and excuses both abuse and political corruption. Whether the creators believe this philosophy or not, they just approved of it anyways through their own incompetence.

Varian has Every Reason to Not Trust Rapunzel

This the third time in three months that Rapunzel has backed out of helping him. All for increasingly flimsy reasons. She’s making a lot of promises here but not offering up any concrete solutions. Remember she’s not ready to confront her father yet, and neither of them know that she’s the sundrop herself. So what is her plan here? How is she suppose to recuse Quirin and prevent Varian from being unjustly punished if she can’t stand up to the one person who is responsible for causing these problems in the first place.

Can you really blame Varian for going through with what he does here given how she has treated him thus far and would most likely continue to treat him? Yet that’s precisely what the show wants you to do because ‘stealing is wrong’ even though in this case it actually isn’t.

This is Out of Character

Once again, both Cass and Eugene have no reason within the current narrative to be so hostile towards Varian, yet. They’re only doing so now to create bias in the viewer. For Eugene this is especially out of character. I mean we’ve already seen Cass place her ambitions of above others people’s needs both before and after this, but Eugene is constantly written as the heart of the show. He’s suppose to be the most empathetic and caring person in the group, and yet here he is trying to arrest an orphan who’s only stealing to survive. Sound familiar? He of all people should be the first to defend Varian not attack him.

Excuse You, Raps!

You know very well what he is. He’s a child. A lost, lonely, grieving, and desperate child who’s been let down by everyone who is responsible for him including yourself. But far be it for the show to actually point this out by stating it plainly and show you for the self centered ass you really are.

Scenes Like This are Why Varian Should Have Been the Deuteragonist

His story maybe connected to Rapunzel’s but it doesn’t revolve around her. He has his own stakes and conflicts that happen to intersect or oppose with Raps given whatever point in the narrative we’re at. As such we gets scenes like this one in his lab where he is the sole focus and is pushing the story forward. No other character actually gets this.

Eugene’s arc has little to no bearing on the overall plot and Cassandra’s solo scenes in season three do nothing to further push the story nor give new insights into her character, as her given goal and motivation is too dependent upon Rapunzel herself to be shown separately.

Out of all the main characters, Varian’s conflict is the only one that holds enough tension to maintain a separate story line. He needs this focus in order to make sense of what's going on with the larger picture and to resolve his conflict in a satisfying manner. Had the the creators been smart enough to follow through with Varian’s story till the end instead of dumping it at the last minute in season two and hastily rewriting a half-arsed resolution it in season three, then we’ve could have gotten the Disney equivalent of a Zuko vs. Aang, Loki vs Thor, or even Duck vs Rue/Fakir arc. As is, we’re only left with the table scraps of several loosely connected stories none of which are very satisfying to watch.

Conclusion

I still like this episode and Varian’s arc overall but I can't in good conscience call it well written knowing now where it all leads to. Nor can I in could good conscience recommend the show knowing the awful morals it touts. And that makes me angry. Angry that I was fooled into thinking that this show had depth and maturity. Angry that I ever once held this show up as being good. Angry that I invested myself into believing that this show would finally give me a decent Disney anti-villain that I could like. Angry that trusted the creators not to be raging arseholes who made poor creative decisions based off of ego and questionable ethics...

I started this marathon so that I could vent my feelings and gain some closure, while also opening up a frank discussion about how bad creative decisions can lead to bad lessons in children's media. This show has many of the same problems as a lot of current tv series do but all condensed down into one place and there are things to be learn from that.However after this series of reviews are over I doubt I’ll ever watch the show again. It’s honestly not worth the time.

#varian #rapunzel #anti-tangled #anti-rapunzel #tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #review #character analysis

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producer-miss-chips · 4 years

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Analyzing Helios’s Words- About Kiro and Helios’s Origin Story

Please be warned that this theory includes spoilers from a few of Kiro's dates and from the general story!

So after finishing Chapter 21, I decided to try and share this theory that started when I heard Helios's words.

The writing here made it clear that Helios is speaking from personal experience. His words are a mix of earnestness, harshness and worry.

And since Helios is actually Kiro (somewhat xD), we can infer from that a bit more about Kiro's past.

Discerning Kiro's Past

From bits of information we learn throughout the dates and stories, it's clear Kiro grew up alone. He hints to that a few times: whether the fact that he doesn't know his own birthday, (as seen on his "Birthday Date"), the fact that he always had to spend holidays and birthdays alone (as seen in "New Spring Date" and "Confession Date"), or his story of wishing to "not always be alone" (in his "Old Friend Date").

In his "Confession Date", Kiro pretty much says this fact outright:

(Screenshot from Lucien's Wife's Youtube channel.)

In this screenshot, I want to point out one more thing: the start of his sentence.

"My memory may be a little hazy..."

Psychology has proven that when someone experiences something very traumatic, their body may try and forget what happened and when. So the fact that Kiro experiences memory problems about his childhood, may mean that he went through some pretty harsh stuff as a kid. These experiences were so scarring, his body decided that it was better to forget them than remember.

I mean, just the fact that he had to spend his whole childhood alone is really harsh. He literally had no one to turn to. You can really see that in his story in "Old Friend Date".

We know Kiro had a mentor who was really important to him. Kiro may not talk about him a lot, but from the little we've seen, it's not hard to see how much he influenced Kiro's life. Heck, he even named Kiro.

It almost seems like this guy was Kiro's father, in some way. Or the closest thing to a father figure that Kiro had.

But then he disappeared, and Kiro was left all alone. For years Kiro never really had someone he truly trusted. YEARS. Only when MC entered his life again, did he finally have someone he could lean on.

It's impossible to go through such a harsh experience without being affected. You have to develop some way to cope with it, and Kiro found his way: happiness, love and music.

But that doesn't mean the darker part doesn't exist.

And that's where Helios comes in.

Kiro vs. Helios

As said before, it's impossible to go through something traumatic without getting scarred. And, if you miraculously manage to survive what you went through, you learn to develop a thick hide.

Both Kiro and Helios show signs of this: Kiro in a more subtle way (he never complains, for instance), while Helios... is outright about it (does he even try to hide his harsh behavior?).

Everyone has a dark side: even angels like Kiro. Helios is this side, a person that stemmed from everything Kiro experienced. He's the side Kiro hides, and he shows us our blonde angel has a lot more depth than it may seem on the surface.

After everything Kiro experienced, he had a choice: do the hard thing and be kind to everyone, in order to fix what he went through; or close off and just stay away from any person who could be a threat. Kiro chose to go the kind way, spreading love and laughter to everyone. That doesn't mean that he couldn't have chosen the latter. It doesn't mean that he doesn't feel Helios inside him. If that was the case, how could Kiro even become Helios?

(As mentioned in this theory, the Helios in chapters 20-21 may actually be who Kiro would have become if he didn't choose this path.)

And then, we have the rest of Helios's words.

For convenience purposes, I'm dividing this into parts:

Use your strength, every method you can think of.

As pointed out before, both Helios and Kiro have strengths. Kiro's strength, being kind against all odds, may be less appreciated, but that doesn't make him any less impressive. And that doesn't make Helios's cold facade bad, either. It just means that they have different advantages:

Kiro has the strength to overcome his demons and give to others against all odds.

Helios has the strength to make sure others don't mess with him.

So when Kiro's strengths don't work out, he reverts to Helios and vice-versa. That's how, at the end of the day, Kiro uses all his strength. He knows one way is never the complete answer, so he has no problem trying the other way too.

The difference in these situations is which side is more dominant: the light one, or the dark one; Kiro, or Helios.

For example, the story shows us how Kiro is tangled up in Black Swan, even after he chose the path of kindness. From the endings of some of the earlier chapters, we can see quite enough proof: how Kiro wrote Helios's name in something relating to Black Swan, how Helios shows up amongst the organization, and many more.

I mean, in Chapter 17 Kiro says he fights Black Swan for MC. He had to have some way, some connection to them for him to do that, right?

These facts further prove my point: Kiro was never completely perfect. He always had a Helios side to him, MC just never got to see it. And, maybe, we can say the same about Helios: he was never completely bad. Otherwise, how would the Kiro moment have happened in Chapter 17?

My conclusion from this part, and this sentence of Helios, is that over here we can see how Kiro navigates the world. He uses the strengths of both his identities, and by that is flexible enough to use any method he can think of (Kiro method vs. Helios method) to do it.

That way, he learned not to be weak.

Abandon your past... even abandon yourself.

Kiro never really talks about his past. He prefers living in the moment, spending the best time he can with MC. And when he does mention a tidbit about his experiences, it's in one of two situations:

A casual mention or something he could laugh off.

When he's at his most vulnerable with MC.

Examples for the first part can be when he first mentions he doesn't know his birthday in the "Birthday Date". The way he said it sounded a lot like a happy coincidence. "Hey, since I don't really know my own birthday, let's celebrate our birthdays together!"

As you can see, this harsh fact is hidden very well in his words. He could've said it in a self-pitying way, but he chose not to. It almost seems like he's afraid of being 100% vulnerable with MC.

We'll get to that later, but first let me point out an example for one of Kiro's vulnerable.

In Kiro's "Old Friend Date", he tells MC a lot about how lonely he felt when he was 16. It's a heartbreaking story: he was just a kid, making his second album, but still felt lost. Because he had no one to guide him. So one day, he went to the shrine and wished to not always be alone.

Pay attention to the wording: Kiro didn't ask not to be alone, he asked not to always be alone. This word may not seem like much, but it shows a lot.

In his position, no one would blame Kiro if he would have wished not to be alone. But the angel was so desperate, he asked to not always be alone. That's the equivalent of saying "I know this may be an inconvenience to you, so I'll make it easier on you. I'm not asking to have someone constantly by my side, but I need someone to spend at least a bit of time with. Please."

The reason I'm emphasizing how harsh his reality was, is to raise awareness to this part, and how much Kiro downplays the whole story:

The moment Kiro sees the gravity of his story sink in, he laughs it off. Notice the amount of reasons he gave as to why MC shouldn't worry.

I was purposely exaggerating to make it interesting.

I was a teenager. I didn't know what I was doing. Now I'm much more mature! It was just something stupid that would never bother me today.

He was so desperate for MC not to take him at his word, that he gave two reasons as to why she shouldn't make a big deal out of it. Once again, Kiro does this, even if he was vulnerable at the start.

And even in other moments, where he's completely vulnerable with MC, he changes the topic really quickly. The moment the information sinks in, he's already changed the topic, laughing as if nothing ever happened.

So, in both situations mentioned above, we see how Kiro is never fully vulnerable. This means two things:

Kiro has trust issues because of his experiences.

He prefers running away from his past.

We already touched conclusion 1 before (somewhat), so for this we'll address only conclusion number two. It's an important point we'll come back to later.

Helios is a completely different story.

In the short amount of time MC spent with Helios, we learned almost as much as we did in all the time with Kiro. Just see how much Helios hinted to in these few sentences.

So saying that he's running from his past would be a lie. On the contrary: I think Helios is so connected to his past, he won't let anyone in. He just can't ignore the warnings his traumas whisper in his ear.

But there's one thing Helios does run away from, and that's himself.

One of the first recurring things Helios tells MC is "I'm NOT Kiro". In Chapter 17, every time MC mentions that possibility he denies it: over, and over, and over again. And at the end of MC's time with Kiro (in that chapter), when Kiro turns bavk to Helios, it describes how the tenderness in Kiro's eyes is replaced with cold apathy.

If Helios completely forgets what he, as Kiro, felt toward MC, I think it's safe to say that he's turning his back on himself.

So while we could say that Kiro is abandoning his past, Helios abandons himself.

And now, for the last sentence:

Helios is right. If MC can't survive in this cruel world, the harsh place he endured, then she has no place to be there. Because he grew up in a dog-eats-dog world, where every day was a fight.

And that is why Kiro chose to sacrifice himself for her, as stated in Chapter 17. He knew that harsh world didn't suit MC. He wanted her to stay safe and live in her bubble of happiness, give her a bit of peace and quiet, while HE faced the cruelty MC was fighting.

While Kiro did transform to Helios a few times before Chapter 14, it seems like it was for short bursts. But now, his transformation is for much longer: and it's all for MC.

But he can't protect MC forever, and it seems like Helios has started to realize that.

Thank you for reading this theory/analysis! I hope you liked it, and I'd love to hear what you think! ❤

#mlqc #mr love: queen's choice #mr love queen's choice #mlqc kiro #mlqc theories #mlqc analysis #mlqc helios #mlqc spoilers #mr love spoilers #mr love kiro #mr love helios #mr love #kiro x mc #kiro x producer #chapter 21

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dragon-ball-meta · 4 years

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Just discovered your blog today and am enjoying it immensely. I do have some questions about which is more "valid" between the DBS anime and manga though. The manga at least on a surface level has a tighter adherence to the manga's continuity, such as the lack of Gregory, no showing the Trunks' first SS transformation from the anime version of his past, and the SS Caulifla and Kale fusion churning out a SS fusion, which would seem to be what Old Kai meant when warning Goku and Vegeta 1/2

“2/2 But those are ultimately minor I suppose and perhaps they have explanations like "Trunks wasn't transforming for the first time in the Super flashback". I'm not a Toyo stan by any stretch and can't stand how he butchered my boi GOATku among other things but it seems like the manga would be just as valid/canonical as the anime. Toriyama works closely with Toyo as with the anime team and calls the manga a continuation. Sorry if this has been asked before, and keep up the good work“

Well first and foremost, welcome. Glad you’re enjoying this blog. As for the question, I’ve touched on it before, but I’ll dip into it again. There’s definitely a bit more of a hierarchy than people want to admit, at least in terms of which would be “more canon” when it comes to the mediums of Super. To that end, I like to look at continuity, characterization, and lead platform. See, the thing about Super, as it stands, is that it was never meant to have an ongoing manga. At all. It was written, conceived, and meant to be an anime series with Toriyama’s involvement. The “manga”, as it were, was originally meant solely to be a preview/promotional series for said anime, something to hint at things to come. That’s why the Beerus arc is so short and rushed. When it came to the Resurrection F arc, however, that was when Toyotaro pitched the idea of letting him turn the series into an actual, full-fledged series, something Toriyama was ok with more or less because it meant that at least he wouldn’t have to draw it, and because he was interested in seeing how the anime and manga writers respectively would adapt his storyline ideas. In that sense, the anime was the original, intended medium and means by which the series was meant to be carried forward, hence why I would consider that the lead platform. Beyond that, let’s look at continuity. Truth be told, neither manga nor anime are 100% flawless in it, making references to things that were filler in the name of comedy, or simply forgetting or ignoring a detail or two from the past. But even in cases of references to filler, I’d argue that they don’t INHERENTLY represent continuity errors per se, as they don’t directly contradict events depicted, and on occasion don’t even necessarily indicate that the exact filler events actually happened; in some cases, they’re just in-jokes or references for longtime fans and viewers. Trunks’ “first time” transformation also doesn’t necessarily pin it as his first time in continuity, so much as simply reuse the animation and have the boy transform in a moment of grief. Don’t recall any direct reference to that being his first transformation at all. Similarly, I wouldn’t say Gregory inherently means Filler Gregory is meant to be who this one is, as Gregory in Super really doesn’t speak or have anything close to the same personality. Similarly, Android 18 being as mad as she was about the mispronunciation of Marron as Maron can be seen as a nod to Krillin’s filler ex-girlfriend without actually acknowledging her. (As well as clearing up the whole “she’s named after her” thing since even the pronunciation is different in Japanese.) They’re not necessarily baking these things into continuity, just referencing them. One big problem the Super MANGA has, however, in an internal continuity issue. Toyotaro often feels a need to EXPLAIN things that don’t necessarily need to be explained, in an effort to feel like he’s fleshing things out more. The problem is... he often writes himself into a corner that way, as he doesn’t seem to run his ideas by Toriyama or check them against the man’s notes as much as he should, and thus finds himself in trouble later. Case-in-point: His decision that Super Saiyan Blue’s use had a mandatory cooldown period between uses, or else the multiplier the user receives from the form drops exponentially each time. Seemed a good way to potentially limit the form at the time, keep it from being “overused”, except... they very quickly found themselves in situations where it would HAVE to be used, to say nothing of the narrative issue of having Vegeta be in a reduced state of Blue by the time he faced Hit, thus making Hit’s win less shocking, and Hit himself a bit less formidable, to say nothing of downplaying Goku’s skill and reaction to it; he should have had a far easier time naturally, after all. This also causes some issues with Vegeta’s tactic vs Zamasu of popping into SSG for a speed advantage and then quickly in and out of SSB to strike, as that should have lowered the effectiveness each time, and THAT was done to deal with ANOTHER restriction Toyotaro had baked into the form of it draining ki almost as quickly as SSJ3 had back in the Buu arc, and that Godly Aura was actually just wasted ki. All of this then had to be negated via Toyotaro’s own version of SSB Kaioken, which was just... “Perfected” Blue. Which is just Blue without an aura. Which then leads into Goku knowing how to use Hakai despite not actually being a God of Destruction, not having ever even practiced it to know if he could do it, and only allegedly having seen Beerus use it once offscreen, which has to be inferred by the reader. These are actually just a FEW of said issues in the manga version of things, but in my opinion, the biggest signifier and offender comes in the final category: Characterization. It’s no real secret that Super does retread some characterization ground, but there’s a reason for that. New viewers, same characters, etc. Vegeta was sort-of given a full arc already, but due to popularity and ‘demand’, he has to be given a central role and can’t sort of fade back like Piccolo, Krillin, Tien, etc. were able to do once their respective arcs were done. (This also allows their own mini-arcs in the anime to feel more fulfilling as they’re not constantly shoved in your face, and they can touch on things happening or building up in the background of episodes, BUT, let’s move on.) As a result, one of the purposes of Battle of Gods, and how it was handled as an arc and the eps that followed it, was to establish a new sort of rivalry between Goku and Vegeta so as to renew that arc/dynamic for this particular series.

And that’s where the manga... sort of falls flat. Vegeta is kept in prominence despite a lack of any sort of established/renewed rivalry with Goku; BoG was done in shorthand, after all, and the events following that, as well as the entire Resurrection F arc, were skipped wholesale. In fact, Vegeta himself seems to have gone through a VERY radical personality shift in that... he’s... nice. And I don’t mean nice-ER, he’s outright nice. He shows open affection for his family, he literally runs over to embrace his baby in happiness and rejoices that it’s a girl, he engages in pleasantries with the rest of the cast before the Tournament of Power and asks about their wellbeing, he’s got almost none of his original character traits other than a flair for the dramatic... and bear in mind, Vegeta still has that hardass-ness to himself in the End of Z, which these events are supposed to lead into. And this isn’t even touching on how the narrative seems to shift frequently toward him being THE hero of the series, often actually placing Goku in near-helpless situations and having Vegeta inexplicably bail him out, or just have Goku be in awe or starstruck at how awesome Vegeta is now. The Future Trunks arc, for example, has Vegeta healed only to the point of being able to stand, yet when Goku is shrinking back in fear at the sight of TWO Fused Zamasus coming at him, Vegeta... transforms, swoops in, rescues Goku, AND nukes both Fused Zamasus with a single blow. (It doesn’t “win the day”, no, but it’s a mite riduculous). The current arc is also trying to wholesale shift focus away from Goku onto Vegeta in a leading role, which is a distinctly non-Toriyama move. And now, let’s talk Goku himself. HOO boy, where to begin... For all the talk of flanderization of Goku in the Super anime (which I could write entire rants on but I’ll refrain for now), the manga does him ten times worse. Almost every negative fandom meme or interpretation of Goku is reinforced in this arc, sometimes even to the point of literal, direct lampshading of it. For example: Goku in the anime makes a comment on how he doesn’t see why Bulma would “kill” Vegeta if he’s not right there when Bulma starts labor, as he was dead when Goten was born and Chi-Chi doesn’t hold ill will over it. The manga? It quite literally has Goku state he wasn’t around for the birth of Goten OR GOHAN. He couldn’t even be bothered to be there for the birth of his son he was alive to see. When Whis pops baby Bra out via magic so Vegeta can attend the ToP, Goku is... apparently still so dumb that he legitimately wonders aloud if that’s how ALL babies are born. Goku, in this same tournament, has ZERO strategic or technical skill, and relies solely on brute force and powerups (which is actually how VEGETA typically fights but I digress) and even has both Roshi admonish him for it and even has Goku agree with it and declare himself a “bad student” and say that he’s “done letting everyone around him down”. This manga also has Goku and Gohan’s relationship visibly strained, with Goku seemingly trying to cut himself out of Gohan’s life completely as the kid has no interest in fighting. To top this off, rather than attending the tournament in a gi fashioned after his father, whom Gohan canonically does admire, the manga has him deliberately ask to have another carbon copy of Piccolo’s. Hell, Gohan is so far from Manga!Goku’s mind here, that it doesn’t even occur to Goku to ASK Gohan if he wants to fight in the ToP after Buu falls asleep. In fact, Piccolo suggests it... and Goku PROTESTS the idea, saying the kid’s got no stomach for fighting and they should look elsewhere. The only time Goku seems to show an interest in Gohan is when he shows off his power in a fight vs Kefla. This is distinctly, demonstrably, simply NOT Toriyama’s Goku, in any way, shape, or form. Now, to speak on the other characters and their characterization... when it does exist, it’s one-dimensional and also often based around fan conceptions and memes. Krillin? Comedic coward who can’t fight. Goku even says that he thinks Krillin’s sole usefulness in the ToP might come in the form of him “being really good at running away”. He’s literally only in because Toriyama said so, and is literally immediately ringed out before he can so much as move. Tee hee so funny. Tien, who has no personality of note, is then also immediately out. Piccolo is just Gohan’s coach, really. Android 18 shows no emotion at all, even for her brother’s apparent death; this is later played off as her knowing he didn’t have his bomb anymore (something even Krillin somehow forgot???) so knowing he couldn’t have self-destructed... even though there are other ways to do that besides a bomb but w/e. 17 literally shows more care and affection for 18′s husband than she herself does as well, and their bond is pretty much non-existent. Chi-Chi and Goten pretty much do not exist. Trunks’ reunion with Gohan, meeting his family? Never happens. And Bulma... OH BULMA. What he did to that woman is criminal. She mostly plays the role of the worried Soldier’s Wife, fretting as she awaits her dashing husband’s return from war! The Bulma that wouldn’t take no for an answer? The Bulma that always insisted on going to the front lines to try to see things for herself? The Bulma who would be eager to see this future and see if she could find the notes of her other self and what else she may have discovered? That Bulma does not exist in this manga. HELL, the Bulma who was the smartest woman in the world barely does; what was Pilaf noticing one small math error in an equation in the Super anime becomes Pilaf “WELL ACKSHUALLY”-ing both Bulma and Future Bulma here and PERFECTING Time Travel so they can go to any point they desire, with Bulma being visibly upset about being upstage-aaaaaand she’s pregnant. It’s just... not good at all in this arena. Now one last thing to mention: Toriyama himself actually did explicitly state that his canon Broly movie, which he did write himself, was set to follow the events of the Super anime specifically, with him saying the manga would probably continue telling its own story. And indeed, there are things about the Broly movie that do tie into what people thought to be just “filler” in the anime, such as the number of wishes Shenron had left tying into the episode where they summoned him and then fought over wishes. The fact that he DOES specify that he wrote it to follow the anime, however, seems like a firm establishment of heirarchy to me personally. I’m sure some will disagree but... that’s life. lol Anyways, hope that helped clarify my stance on it, at least.

#Goku #Son Goku #Gohan #Son Gohan #Dragon Ball Super #DBZ #Dragon Ball Z #DBS #Dragonball #Dragonball Z #Krillin #wtf toyotaro

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mugen-monogatari · 4 years

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Monogatari: Themes of Self-Help

It’s okay to ask for help. It’s okay to rely on others. But the only one that can save you.. is yourself.

That is the ultimate statement I feel Nisioisin wanted to make with his hit series, Monogatari. For those of you that have read the novels, or watched the show, you’ll see this theme a lot. From being outright said, to more subtly hinted in the very structure of every arc, this motif of self-healing is the ultimate thesis of our beloved show.

At first, Monogatari may not necessarily come across as a series about mental health issues, but I believe it is. It’s not the first to delve into this territory, but It is one of the more unique ones, in that it actually has a message. Take a series like Tokyo Ghoul. While the manga can be a really interesting take on mental health issues, Monogatari not only deals with the same themes of depression, isolationism and self-preservation, but actually gives advice on the matter.

Koyomi Araragi has vampiric powers, enough to the point where he could help people physically in ways others can’t. In simple terms, he could save people, much like how a superhero could. However, you’ll notice in the series, this never happens. He can remove someone from physical harm, but that doesn’t ever solve the larger problem. Just like in real life, the emotional strain a person suffers takes far more to heal than any physical wound. Fear, or distress can be a heavier burden than the physical pain that accompanies it. Koyomi acknowledges this himself, stating multiple times, he can’t save someone, they can only save themselves.

But what does that mean? It’s easy enough to say something like that, but anyone who’s struggled with mental health issues knows just how difficult that is to come to terms with. Some things aren’t so simply put into words. Thoughts, especially negative ones, can be intensely hard to comprehend or confront. They become even harder to express to others. I feel as if even the author knows this, often choosing to portray a character’s problems as monsters and aberrations, instead of through lengthy dialogue or flashbacks. Take Tsubasa and Her aberrations, the Tiger being her innate anger and the feeling of ‘schadenfreude’, or Cat, who’s the middle ground between the persona/front she displays to others, and the desires of Tiger. But at the same time, this is never directly stated, instead inferred by the audience, as well as through how other characters perceive it. No character really sits down and explains exactly what their issue is in length, many other series often choosing instead to just outright state it, or have completely non-subtle displays of common symptoms of a condition.

Negative thoughts and mental health issues aren’t always as simple as words, they’re ideas. Pictures, images, actions, fleeting thoughts that are often hard to grasp, hard to explain. They can feel like an ocean that you’re drowning in, one that everyone else seems to be able to breathe in, until you realize they’re not in the same ocean as you.

The author understands that, not even trying to describe a person’s suffering directly, at least not from their perspective. But he also understands that the person who can save you, the person that helps; is yourself. It’s fine to rely on others, it’s fine to ask for help, people can assist you, but ultimately, the person that holds you back is yourself. Taking the example of Tsubasa for example, her resolution comes not from Koyomi defeating her aberration, but from her confronting the fact that it is a part of her, that she needs to look at the bigger picture. She developed as a person, in a way that no medication or physical action could.

Which sounds almost blunt, but then again, Nisioisin isn’t really a stranger to being straight up and a little controversial. Like when Oshino and Araragi discuss whether or not Tsubasa’s abuse is justified or not, when looking from different perspectives. But I think the author finds a perfect balance between relying on external and internal support in this case. Araragi is always there for her as a friend, he frets and stresses over her. He is the stepping stone that helps her to realize she can be herself around him, that she doesn’t have to hide behind a persona. This sets her onto the path of self confrontation, which ultimately resolves in her becoming happier and more resolute.

This is even more obvious with other characters. Hitagi is a stand out for this. She was a character who was burdened by the past, a character who was always carrying trauma. Her whole arc deals with her denying the bad in her past, which led to her not being able to see the good in her future. Again, Koyomi isn’t the one that saves her, she ultimately has to confront herself, and realize that the past doesn’t make you who you are, and even with the problems that existed then, there was still happy memories both then and to come. Your past doesn’t decide how the future plays out. She has the confrontation with the con-man, but meeting Araragi helps her come to terms with the fact that there are completely normal, good men too. But she comes to that realization on her own, with the assistance of Araragi, and not because of him solely.

But I think one of the best, more subtle arcs that covers this- is Hanamonogatari. This arc doesn’t even feature our main protag, best boy Araragi, and yet the story is still very similar in ideas it has. The theme of it, is wishes. But more specifically, how wishes aren’t necessarily something that just comes true, instead that even just having a wish will set you down the path towards completing it. I think that’s a very sweet message to send, that even just having a goal, whether it’s unrealistic or not, will set you on the path to achieving it. The idea that if you really genuinely wish for things to change, you will ultimately set them in motion to change through your own power.

That if you want to feel better, to overcome whatever it is you may be struggling with, look inside yourself, because you are far stronger than you think.

It’s just little things like this that make me love this series, and why it’s probably my favorite. These little ideas and messages that are so prominent in the series, that leave a really profound meaning with you.

But that’s it for now guys. Sorry this is so rough around the edges compared to my other pieces, but thank you for reading nonetheless. I plan to post fairly regularly again, at least once or twice a week, and I hope you all stick around to see that.

Remember to take care of each other, and for anyone who reads this and would like some support themselves, feel free to message me.

Saki~

#monogatari #bakemonogatari #senjougahara hitagi #hanekawa tsubasa

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mmmmalo · 5 years

Text

This is a (meandering, non-exhaustive) overview of Homestuck’s use of

by which I do not mean examples of psychological realism in a character’s words and deeds, but rather the various means by which characters’ psyches are expressed outside of themselves. I wish to elaborate on how thoughts, feelings, and desires may find expression in the environment, in the medium of the story itself, and in the form of other characters.

That’s perhaps a little vague, so here’s a ready example of what I mean: brainghost!Dirk. He talks with Jake, but since he is a construct of Jake’s mind, Jake is essentially talking to himself. Brainghost!Dirk is an alienated medium for voicing Jake’s own thoughts, irretrievably distorted through its intermingling with what Jake thinks/wishes Dirk would say (not unlike a puppet). I am claiming that this mode of characterization is not a unique to Jake; the blurring of inner and outer voices is omnipresent throughout the story.

Or, rephrased: what I hope to show is that a great deal of Homestuck is haunted with brain-ghosts, of one kind or other.

An early example of this kind of storytelling in science fiction would be the film Forbidden Planet (1956). The film contains a pair of conflicts which eventually reveal themselves to be one: the scientist Morbius wants some space explorers to get off his planet, and an immense monster (pictured above) appears during the night to attack the explorers. Morbius, it turns out, has been experimenting with a machine capable of turning thought into reality. So when Morbius sleeps, his dream of driving off the trespassers materializes in the form of beast that forcefully enacts the wish.

The beast is declared a “monster from the id”, the “id” being a concept borrowed from Freudian psychology, indicating the part of the mind responsible for the unfiltered generation of impulses, of urges. In the film, this passing mention of psychoanalysis precedes the revelation of Morbius’s link to the beast.

Homestuck hints towards its own mixing of thought and reality with a device similar to Morbius’s dream machine: Sburb.

A snapshot of Dave’s Sburb client (1519) shows that the final subprograms launched during the games installation make reference to terminology associated with Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. The terms suggest that Sburb interacts with the ideas in the kids’ subconscious minds (archetypes) and brings symbolic representations of these ideas into conscious reality (manifests the ideas). The game alters the means by which reality is constructed. As with Forbidden Planet, a major result of this is id monsters.

When John slips on a staircase, he flips out (left, 560). And when he nearly launches himself into the abyss with the Pogo Hammer, he has to take a nap before he has calmed down enough to continue (center, 637). Immediately following both moments of vertigo, massive ogres appear. The eventual fight with the ogres begins after John looks over the edge of the platform above his house, into the abyss (right, 662).

All of this suggests that Sburb is reacting to John’s emotional state (fear) to produce in-game content. The game functions as a waking dream.

It should also be noted that Sburb provokes the reactions it elicits. Karkat once mentioned a nagging feeling that the game was mocking him by giving him a planet covered in the candy red blood he had spent a lifetime attempting to hide (2301). Karkat’s paranoia seems to be correct here, and moreover applicable to the cast in general -- John’s house was likely placed atop an immense spire /in order to/ bring John’s dread of falling into sharp relief. The suspicion can be substantiated with a few related motifs.

The story provides two likely origins for John’s fear of heights: his own fall from the slime pogo as a child (2626) and the death of Nanna, which John believed resulted from her falling from a ladder and being crushed by a book (52). What’s more, Sburb’s invocation of the Fall of Man (Adam and Eve being cast from the Garden of Eden) via biting into an apple hints that there is an allegorical significance to John’s more literal fear of heights.

We can apply these patterns to other characters in an attempt to learn more about them. LOLAR being covered in ocean suggests that Rose is afraid of water, with the likely cause of Rose finding Jaspers dead and washed up on a riverbank (presumed drowned). Dave speaks openly about how his sword fights with Bro left him anxious of metal sounds (7749), meaning the grinding gears of LOHAC were a personalized hell for Dave. Jade’s first imp manifests in response to the sight of a yellow aurora (2998), inviting the reader to investigate why that image invokes a fear response.

But we won’t get to into all of that, not for now at least. Let’s take a step back.

For my reading of the imps as manifestations I’ve been leaning heavily on a piece of film theory devoted to the effects of sequential images. The sequence above constitutes two observations. One, that by this arrangement the viewer will infer the old man sees and reacts to the middle figure. Two, that the viewer’s impression of the old man will change based on the content of the central image, even if his expression is the same. Is he smiling at Nepeta or warm embrace Marvus’s armpit? The answer may influence your interpretation of the little smile.

The neat thing about montage is that the interrupting frame need not bear any obvious relation to what precedes or follows in order to be subject to a causal reading. Moments that occur sequentially can be read as triggering one another, even if what follows any particular moment appears to be a break rather than a continuation.

Example: There’s a moment where Aranea walks into Jake’s dream, and brainghost!Dirk immediately starts razzing Jake about his attraction to the alien girl and threatening to give him a boner. The scene is interrupted by Jack committing a series of gratuitous murders. We then cut back to Jake, and bg!Dirk is now teasing him about his dirty thoughts.

DIRK: You have got to be kidding. Did you seriously just think something THAT dirty? DIRK: You must be doing this on purpose to spite me now. I mean, just wow dude. That was x-rated as fuck.

JAKE: (No no stop. See youre talking about it and now i cant help it!) JAKE: (You are psyching me into having dirty thoughts get fucking lost you interloping brain douche!!!)

DIRK: Don't worry, I'm gone. It's like a goddamn peep show in here and I feel like a sleazy piece of shit watching this from a dark corner of your mind. DIRK: You have a graphic imagination, English. I'm kind of impressed.

JAKE: (Shut up theyre just thoughts its not even like im trying to have them THEY DONT MEAN ANYTHING!)

The ostensible joke is that bg!Dirk is exaggerating or outright fabricating his account of Jake’s thoughts in order to hassle him. But by way of montage, one can infer that we /have/ seen Jake’s dirty thoughts, in the form of Jack’s display of overwhelming bloodlust. Violence is superimposed over the sexually explicit.

Whether the scene literally takes place in Jake’s mind is secondary (though such a reading would explain why Jake’s brain ghost is even aware of Jack) -- the use of montage allows Jack’s actions to function as a /metaphor/ for Jake’s thought.

Another example of Jack functioning as a murderous/libidinous avatar would be the death of Mom and Dad. At their little tea party, Dad spills some wine on Mom’s clothes and declares that she must disrobe immediately (so that Dad might launder the garment). Mom calls the aromas wafting from his pipe sensuous. The two clasp hands and declare that all they need is eachother. Then they die! The joke is that while Bec Noir is ostensibly an interruption to date night, he also functions as its culmination, with murder acting as substitute for the sex act.

The link between violence and sexuality is perhaps a hard sell, but I hope to convince you that the reading holds merit. Let me emphasize that the very act of Mom and Dad holding hands was itself sexually loaded.

I owe to HS liveblogger elfstuck the insight that John’s linear 3 card sylladex is a reflection of his short attention span. Consider how John’s role as a game character means he is thrown all around his room, back and forth, as the player figures out what to make of the situation. If you ignore the fourth wall, you’re left with an extremely distracted person, who attention flows easily from one object to another. Accepting the object-in, object-out nature of John’s sylladex and the resulting shenanigans as a metaphor for this, it would follow that the sylladex in general can offer an abstract representation of thought.

In passing, I can mention how the enormity of Jake’s sylladex (it cannot even fit on the page, and contains an object that exceed most players’ size limits) would imply that despite evidence to the contrary, the boy likely has a big brain (and perhaps its being offscreen suggests Jakes own unawareness of much of his own thought). Dirk’s comment about avoiding items that are difficult to shoehorn into his mnemonic schema (4535) could be read as a difficulty maintaining information that doesn’t fit into his personal mental models. The sylladex becomes a metaphor for the mind that requires interpretation.

Under this mode of thought, the moments when Jade’s pictionary modus fails to correctly interpret her drawing become akin to a mental slip-of-the-tongue. For the Tanglebuddies to be misread as enmeshed hands implies an association, in Jade’s mind, of horny Squiddles and clasped hands. John affirms the association much later by miming Tanglebuddies as he attempts to grapple with the question of whether Jade and Davesprite are sexually compatible (5294):

JOHN: how do things even work if you marry a sprite?

JADE: what do you mean

JOHN: i mean... JOHN: ok, he has a ghost butt, for one thing.

JADE: uh JADE: so

JOHN: a GHOST BUTT, jade!

JADE: SO WHAT IF HE HAS A GHOST BUTT!!!!!

JOHN: i'm just saying...

JADE: WHATEVER YOURE JUST SAYING, JUST STOP SAYING IT! JADE: and whatever youre trying to gesture with your hands there, stop doing that too!

It should also be noted that before launching into her “daring dream”, waxing poetic on the miraculous union of the human and the animal with her hands clasped in wonder, Jade successfully captchalogued the Tanglebuddies (796). And more to the point, Jade’s pose in reproduced during discussions of cherub (5961) and leprechaun (6007) reproduction. Hand-holding becomes representative of an (oft-sexualized) union, underlining the euphemistic nature of Mom and Dad’s post-contact demise.

The next example of using montage to communicate thought requires a little more buildup.

There’s a gag in Rose’s introduction where the reader tells Rose to play with her writing journals, and scoots the journals under the bed and retorts that she would only do that if no one were watching (220). At first glance, the moment scans as a minor meta joke in a story filled with meta jokes -- but the trick is that Rose does not /know/ herself to be a video game character, her every movement controlled and observed. Rather, she /believes/ this to be true -- the joke about being watched establishes that Rose is paranoid, as will become apparent in the hostility she assigns to Mom’s every action.

The command prompt and narration are themselves brain ghosts of a sort: the voice deployed in them is always linked to the present point-of-view character. The insults that precede character introductions ( “Zoosmell Pooplord”, etc) become marks of anxiety, an intrusive proclamation of what the kids at times think of themselves (and/or what they think others think of them). “Nice time management skills, sweetheart!” becomes a bit of self-deprecation Rose as she procrastinates, which Rose experiences as having been voiced by some objective observer who judges her deficiencies.

A blurred line divides characters from the voice at the back of their head, belonging to the (presumed) omniscient, omnipotent author-god. This is why avatar!Hussie is dressed as Calliope when he is killed by Lord English. Both Calliope and Hussie are a voice in Caliborn’s head, and thus both present apparent obstacles to an unmediated self.

The left panel (3219) foreshadows the right (3358). Gamzee is not being declared the objectively most important character in Homestuck. Rather, Gamzee is declaring himself /to have been declared/ the most important character in the story. The line establishes that Gamzee believes himself to be in a story (with an author!) and that this author has declared him paramount. Furthermore, “fondly regarding creation” is an modus operandi of Problem Sleuth’s Godhead Pickle Inspector. Applying that turn of phrase to Gamzee’s actions further establishes that Gamzee believes himself to /be/ the god-author declaring his own importance. So it should come as no surprise that 137 pages later, Gamzee outright proclaims himself to be the god(s) he worships.

Going back to montage, it becomes interesting that this snapshot of Gamzee’s megalomania is inter-cut with the creation of Jadesprite -- the moment that dead!dream!Jade merges with Bec, forming a unity with a deity not unlike the unity Gamzee claims with his mirthful messiahs. The interweaving would suggest that Jade and/or Jadesprite experienced analogous thoughts of megalomania upon the moment of ascension.

This would be a good point to mention that not only imps and ogres, but trolls also function as manifestations for the people they impose upon. Karkat is not only an interruption here, but also a continuation. He points out that Jade’s self-loathing, that she cannot safely distance herself from the qualities of Jadesprite she finds distasteful. This is precisely why Karkat ends the conversation by telling Jade to turn off the fourth wall (which divides the self!), as well as the reason he imagines Jade making out with herself: Karkat is on every front presenting the prospect of union with oneself.

The notion of trolls as manifestations first emerges clearly when Rose and Dave receive their packages from John. As they finish reading John’s letter, each is suddenly contacted by a troll and greeted with the command “Answer.” Critically, by word alone it is ambiguous as to whether the command refers to answering the troll or the letter. And as it turns out, these answer occur simultaneously: Rose and Dave’s responses to the letters are embedded in the subsequent conversations.

Rose receives a letter poking fun at her pretensions, claiming that her attempts to hide her affections for people are futile. In response we get Kanaya, who imperiously proclaims her disdain for Rose, only to suddenly change tact and explicitly seek Rose’s friendship, an entreaty which the oft paranoid Rose accepts. Dave receives a letter imploring him to let go of his insecurities and express himself. In response we get Tavros, the very picture of insecurity, who is fixated on the idea of making Dave shit himself (as part of an ‘emotional constipation’ motif that follows Dave). And Dave complies, in a sense, by way of the quasi-ironic gay treatise that compels Tavros to block him. Each conversation addresses the issues laid out in John’s letter.

Examples can be found throughout the comic. Equius remarking that he talks to Gamzee every day (2220) establishes that Gamzee is regularly haunted by the thoughts of domination that Equius voices -- both in the literal and metaphorical sense. Erisolsprite referring to Dirk as a rock 2oliid piiece of a22 and then calling himself 2ociiopathiic for even thinking something so callous (5516) expresses a conflict already present in Jake’s own mind, echoing the frustration with his own dirty thoughts expressed by the argument with brainghost!Dirk. Feferi’s pronounced enthusiasm for the imminent apocalypse should cause you to question Kanaya’s seemingly neutral resignation towards the end of the world, since Feferi manifests for Kanaya (2328). And so on.

The person being trolled is always being confronted with thoughts or feelings or memories already present within themself. Alien contact always doubles as a brain ghost haunting.

Another example, with some buildup: Karkat invokes the phrase “PERFORATE MY BONE BULGE WITH A CULLING FORK” to express his contempt for Vriska, and on subsequent pages we see Feferi pointing her culling fork at a cuttlefish (2181), as if to suggest that the creature symbolizes the bone bulge. Fast forward to Kanaya, who has just gotten through a conversation with Vriska and finds herself haunted by Eridan, who keeps going on about his romantic desperations and insisting (correctly) that Kanaya’s crush on Vriska is itself romantic. That his notification erupts from an image of cuttlefish held at Kanaya’s waist adds to the air of yearning, as though her own bulge is rumbling. The scene is capped off with a double entendre: “its hard and nobody understands” is playfully poignant jab at an inability to understand one’s own desires (among other things).

And Homestuck devotes a lot of attention to desire.

It’s long been acknowledged by the fandom at large that Kanaya’s attraction to Light players functions as a joke on the proverbial moth-to-the-flame. As reconciliation with the fire destroys the moth, there’s a morbid tinge to the attraction, as though it doubles as a death wish. And the wish is granted -- when Kanaya dies in Homestuck, she dies to light, either from Eridan’s wand or the laser blasts unleashed by HIC. Even the death of Kanaya’s lusus pertains to light -- the matriorb ripped from her innards is shaped like a miniature sun, as if to establish some loose link between the notion of motherhood and the incandescence Kanaya eventually achieves.

This can be generalized into a principle wherein lusii (and the circumstances of their deaths!) can functions as analogies for the desire of the wards.

Vriska, for example, desires execution. When offering Terezi a flimsy apology for crippling Tavros and proxy-murdering Aradia, Vriska offers to slam her head against her desk in penitence. This moment should be read against Vriska’s addiction to breaking 8 balls, and leaving the broken shards lying around as though she’s inviting the “bad luck” of stepping on them. It /is/ an invitation. Vriska seeks love via violent retribution against herself. This is why in the right panel, Vriska’s blood-spattered head is juxtaposed with a broken 8 ball: the blood came from Spidermom’s execution (which characterizes Vriska’s desire), and motif of 8R8K H34DS connects the moment to Vriska’s idea of apology.

Like Kanaya, Vriska (to a degree) seems to structure her love life along these lines. In the words of @azdoine:

like ppl are actually out here writing Vriska as the top as if her entire Act 5 character arc isn’t about bratting out until Terezi has no choice but to punish her

“oh noo, I, the thief of light, stole all of your luck, and made the coin land on the scratched side! now you have to kill me! but I’m probably going to get away with everything, because you don’t have the guts to stab me with that sword of yours!!!!!!!! if only there was somebody, like you, who could prove me wrong!”

EXTREMELY SUBTLE THERE, VRISKA

Vriska’s approach to wooing Tavros also revolves around baiting execution:

The scene: Tavros leads a horde of imps and ogres into a mystery cave, the top of which is adorned with kissing lizards and an alchemical symbol. Tavros is putting a puzzle of a frog together, but Vriska has already pieced together the puzzle: making a frog universe is, in part, a cipher for personal reproduction. The Ultimate Alchemy is making a baby! And as Vriska says, “real gamers cut to the chase. They power through all the nonsense and go for the gold.” So she brings Tavros to LOMAT and makes the moves on him.

Tavros is equated to a treasure chest by the repeated use of framing and Vriska is GOING FOR THE GOLD, like a WINNER. Tavros later reaches into the same chest for his lance before heading off to attempt to kill Vriska -- affirming that the treasure Vriska seeks here is Tavros’s “lance”.

This setup was suggested by the conversation accompanying the kissing salamanders: Vriska gives Tavros a map with a big red X, saying he should take his legion of imps through the gate and go defeat his denizen. The gate actually leads to Vriska, but she isn’t lying. She is positioning herself to be Tavros’s final boss. The imps are manifestations of Tavros’s pent up rage (much of which was generated by Vriska’s harassment), and Vriska wants Tavros to take that anger out on her. Hence the later panel which uses Vriska’s boots to place a big red X directly over her groin, making explicit the implicit goal of Tavros’s trip to the windmill X-gate.

This pursuit of love through violent comeuppance may have something to do with Vriska’s bitter disappointment that ghost!Aradia did not seem to hate her.

An intermission/introduction of sorts, as we bridge from one discussion of desire to another: did you know that Michael Bay’s Armageddon (1998) structures itself in part around Freud’s Oedipus complex? I say this in total sincerity.

The plot: a meteor the size of Texas bears down upon the Earth, threatening armageddon. Luckily, a crew of rough-and-tumble oil drillers are ready to fly into space and split that mother in two. Oh HELL yeah.

Except, wait, the movie’s actually about family drama: Bruce Willis finds Ben Affleck sleeping with his daughter Liv Tyler; Willis proceeds to chase Affleck around the oil rig with a shotgun, bang bang bang. Not Allowed. The Protective-Father-Hates-Your-Boyfriend dynamic is presented as an Oedipal triad of sorts: although Tyler is not literally Affleck’s mother, she performs the mom-function of “forbidden object of desire” -- and Willis opening fire is equivalent to the castration said to await trespassers onto maternal soil.

The above reading is buttressed by jokes: Armageddon appears to function within an implicit dream machine, such that the characters’ thoughts and fears can become manifest in their environment. So when it comes to pass that whenever Affleck climbs into a hole (heehee), a pipe breaks (hoohoo), and suddenly everything goes boom, I read that as Affleck reliving the consequences of boning Tyler, packaged in such a way that the Freudian fear of castration is more explicit. (The relevance of Oedipus to the proceedings adds some humor to Steve Buscemi declaring the entire disastrous situation a “Greek tragedy”)

At any rate, after some shenanigans, Willis comes to accept Affleck’s claim to his daughter and confers the deed, as it were. Willis gives the young couple his blessing and they get married. Hooray!

Except, wait, the movie’s actually about the perpetuation of the oil industry: the dream machine was declared at the beginning of the movie when a petty street-side argument triggered the first barrage of meteors. The meteor the size of Texas (aka Dotty) is triggered by conflicts that haunt the central cast -- namely Willis, who enters the film hitting golf balls at a Green Peace boat. On a metaphorical level, Dotty is a golf ball the size of Texas, striking directly at the Earth instead its self-declared representatives. There’s a certain irony here: the film lampshades that the men who are destroying the world have been tasked with saving it.

The family drama folds into the environmentalist angle: Liv Tyler is a symbol of the earth (which gets drilled). This is the joke when Affleck is bouncing animal crackers around on her belly like she’s host to the Savannah: she kind of is! It’s no coincidence that Willis confers ownership of the oil rig at the same moment that he offers his daughter’s hand in marriage: the motifs are being discussed simultaneously.

But enough of all of that: back to Homestuck.

Armageddon’s simultaneous casting of Liv Tyler into the roles of earth and mother offers a glimpse at the interpretive possibilities made available by Hussie’s statement that Homestuck is in a way a synonym for Earthbound (an RPG in which “homesickness” is a status ailment which can be cured by calling your mom). Stuckness or boundness can be deployed to communicate a sense of longing for “home”.

A good chunk of Homestuck is built upon feelings of nostalgia, taken to mean a sort of intense separation anxiety with the past. John speaks about this when he watches Con Air with Jade – John wants the movie to feel like it did when he watched it with his Dad long ago, but the feeling from when he was a kid is gone. This upsets him. Moreover, John’s freakout starts at the moment Cyrus puts a gun to the bunny’s head (5286): Con Air itself is partly about Nic Cage trying to return to the life he lost when he went to jail, and ‘putting the bunny back in the box’ is a metaphor for the attempt. Cyrus, in threatening the bunny, is highlighting his role as a force preventing things from going back to how they were. Thus, if we are to believe that John is responding to the movie thematically, Cyrus confronts John with his own inability to go back to a happier past – his inability to go home -- and this recognition is met with anger.

In making the leap to the psychoanalytic motifs, it helps to recall the part where baby!Dirk responds to being born by cracking open his ectotube and crawling back inside. Dirk, who aspires towards his “ultimate self”, illustrates here that he envisions his ascension as a return to the ‘essence’ of Dirk from which he (and all other iterations of himself) arose, as represented by the ectoslime. Baby!Dirk gestures at unity with his ectoslime/essence by crawling back into the place from which he was born, which I’m basically claiming is a “return to the womb” on a symbolic level, or at least that this is a useful parallel to draw. (A related motif to think about: Dirk decapitates himself by sticking his head inside a box, which as per Con Air symbolizes the place you wish to return to)

[Hella Jeff sez: “i took (my pants) off because i was banging your mom for a minute there..... AND NOW YOU ARE BANGING HER”]

Castration becomes unavoidable as you try to relate all of this to Dave, whose occasional references to banging hot moms are part of an ongoing reference to the Oedipus Complex. Critically, the complex is not /just/ about wanting to bone your mom, but also fear that your dad will chop your junk off if you do. The breaking of Dave’s sword on the rooftop is a realization of this fear (yes, we’re doing the “swords are phallic” thing). But Dave has no mom that he knows of, so what gives?

The answer is in the way Bro inexplicably breaks the record emblem on Dave’s t-shirt, as though he has introduced a fissure into Dave’s very identity. Life with Bro has made it very difficult for Dave to be honest with himself, which is to say, Dave pictures Bro’s abuse as having divided him from an ideal “true self”, which can feel emotions without all the anxious ironic detachment. I mentioned before that seeking unity with that from which you came is a “return to the womb”. This is the sense in which the Oedipal mom attraction becomes relevant: the return to the past is sexualized. The ‘home’ Dave wishes to return to is /himself/, and in this sense Dave is his own hot mom (which is related to how often Dave compliments his own looks, as well as the above gif suggesting Dave’s boner – he is literally/metaphorically “attracted” to himself).

(Incidentally: this model of desire, in which a broken subject attempt to become whole again by seeking out its lost half, is basically the concept of the soulmate, as laid out by Plato. Cherub reproduction turns the metaphysical pursuit of one’s lost half into a plot-level objective)

John’s entry item (apple) was linked to fear embodied in a childhood trauma (the Fall), and the same can be said of Dave. Hatching from the shell that contained your primordial goop (Dirk) is analogous to being violently separated from yourself (Dave), which is why Dave’s entry item (an egg) hatching coincided with Bro slicing the meteor in half: the abuse that divided Dave from himself, his “castration” by Bro, is simultaneously the “birth” that separated Dave from his “mother” (which is also Dave).

The general idea is that birth = self-alienation = castration, insofar as all are depicted as modes of being separated from oneself.

The broad motif of ‘being separated from oneself’ can be very useful for identifying brain ghosts in unexpected places. Take for example, Roxy’s fenestrated planes: when they are introduced the narrative is quick to tell us that if someone were caught half in/out of one of the windows when the power cuts out, they would be sliced in half. By the rule of Chekhov’s gun, this introduction should mean we should eventually see someone get gorily bisected by the window, but alas we never do.

Instead, when Gcat warped the panel away, trapping Roxy between the windows, we were shown the image of a bisected horse puppet in Dirk’s apartment, This signals that Chekhov’s gun has indeed gone off. But rather than splitting a body, it split a soul: Meenah’s introduction follows the sequence because Roxy has generated a shadow of herself, a doppelganger. This is not without precedent: an earlier portion of this post was devoted to exploring the fourth wall as a mode of self-alienation. Roxy’s panel mishap can be considered part of that pattern.

If Meenah functions as an extension of Roxy, all of her actions can be read as bearing some relations to Roxy’s own latent thoughts and desires. Prior to the epilogues, for example, Meenah imploring John not to give her the ring seemed to be yet another Fuck You to the late Chekov: the issue never comes up again. But a psychic link between Meenah and Roxy would suggest that John broke his promise to Meenah by giving the ring to Roxy, and that whatever motivations compelled Meenah to make her request in the first place would also apply to Roxy.

Decapitation is yet another mode of self-alienation, and thus can be construed as a mode of birth. Hence the image of Lil Sebastian hatching from his shell of taxidermied man meat. That’s a motif unto itself, but what I wish to call attention to is the match-cut from John’s broke body to Jake’s broken tower. The juxtaposition collapses the images into metaphor, such that Jake’s loose dome in the woods becomes a decapitated head -- an appropriate addition to the pumpkin patch it rests in, given all the Headless Horseman jokes. We can look to Dirk for for another example of a headless horse-man of the house echoing the head: for a guy who idealizes decapitation to such a degree, it is striking that Sburb aims to provoke him by reattaching his beheaded apartment to its underlying units.

Houses act as metaphors for heads, then “Homestuck” could also interpreted as “head trapped” -- like the title emphasizes confinement within one’s own mind. Such a reading offers up Failure to Launch and Arrested Development (posters on John and Jane’s walls) as alternate synonyms for Homestuck, as each satirizes (or outright mocks) potential failure states in the process of inter-personal and mental development (ie “growing up”). Like Earthbound, both lean on a sense of homesickness in characterizing despondency, as though characters are haunted by the needs that defined their childhood -- or else find themselves needing that childhood itself.

But collapsing nostalgia into infantile regression is far from the only way to approach the house/heads equation. One might read the transformation and growth of houses with Sburb as metaphors for expanding the mind. One might infer that the choreography of events within houses can map out thoughts like dancing bees. One might take the metaphor as a foothold for interpreting the significance of the Sburb logo being at once a house and a window. \I have my own thoughts about Homestuck’s brain-ghost haunted house-minds, but for now, I only hope that this document has raised some interesting questions -- and ideally, that the interpretive approaches I’ve described might be useful in seeking answers.

#homestuck #homestuck meta #this is basically the contents of the stream #movies #john #rose #dave #jade #jake #dirk #roxy #gamzee #vriska #4th wall #psychoanalysis #house as head #plato

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