#it's not even a critique. it's just lowkey propaganda-

[blind-alchemists]

Inquisition’s Codex on Pride Demons

Spoilers for: Tevinter Nights

I recently dug into blind playthroughs of DA:I on Youtube (an extremely funny activity, I promise you) and came across a guy who – in an effort to rp’ his character properly – reads all codex entries in the game. All of them. Without fault.

Anyway, after the prologue he read the one on Pride Demons and I immediately thought, ‘huh, that’s interesting; I wonder if it’s deliberate’. Like Mother Giselle saying the Chantry teaches that pride is evil. (I posted about it.)

The Codex entry in question:

The most powerful demons yet encountered are the pride demons, perhaps because they, among all their kind, most resemble men; as clever and manipulative as the desire demon, with a penchant for cruel irony that is almost human. While the demons of desire largely engage in the bribery of mortals, pride will use mortals' own best nature against them. Clever men outwit themselves. Strong men crush themselves. Humble men forget themselves. Jealous men fear themselves. They turn corruption and ruin into an art.

[source]

See? It’s interesting; a bit of a shame this is only a Codex Entry.

Anyway, let’s start taking it apart.

The most powerful demons yet encountered are the pride demons,

For one, there is the first part about pride demons being the most powerful (yet). I never really thought about it until now (or until I started my Nightmare playthrough), because the first boss Inquisition throws at you is a pride demon and on lower difficulties, it’s a joke – but looking back at Mother Giselle’s comment (“We teach that pride is evil”), it’s curious, especially if you take into consideration what roles Pride demons have played in earlier games. (Merill’s companion quest comes to mind.)

I’m not denying that Pride Demons may have the standing they have in the hierarchy of strong demons because of the Chantry’s teachings: Much in the Fade is about believing in something, so many people believing Pride demons to be the strongest will obviously give them a huge buff. On the other hand, it’s reasonable to me to assume Pride has always been a strong form of corruption and thus makes strong demons.

I could get into ‘Pride is one of the Worst of the Seven Deadly Sins & the writers obviously borrowed a shit ton from Christianity, so That Has Implications’ but …

(There is a quote I found when re-checking some facts: “It was Pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” (St. Augustine), and Solas being set-up as being prideful in this context of the Sin Of Pride & Chantry = Christianity specifically makes me fear for the turn DA4 will take, and, … no, I’ll already said I’m not opening this can of worms.)

Anyway! Moving on.

perhaps because they, among all their kind, most resemble men;

It’s an icky part. Don’t the other demons and forms of corruption not also resemble humanity? Desire, Sloth, Despair, Rage, Fear, Terror? I’d argue all of these are more often – and deeply – part of human nature than pride is, but maybe that’s just the Christian Influence. (I think some of the writing has also been pushing ‘All Mages Are Arrogant’ narrative too much, especially with the Evanuris, since everything needed for setting up an interesting plot point featuring religious arrogance stemming from fundamentalism is right there, but I digress.)

Another interpretation is that “most resemble men” part is related to the way they act and think. While I do think every demon has some capacity for communicating, especially with mages, Desire and Pride have been shown to be the most “human-like” in that regard. Meaning, high intelligence that allows them to propose deals or try to divide people. Outside of Inquisition, at least; I think a quest involving such a demon would have done some small wonders for the plot.

as clever and manipulative as the desire demon, with a penchant for cruel irony that is almost human.

Now we’re getting to the parts that I find most interesting. Note the traits mentioned here: clever, manipulative, and cruel irony. Note also the comparison to Desire demons. And note the ‘almost human’ part (when has cruel irony ever been not human?).

Trickster archetypes are often set-up as clever and manipulative; I already said in another post that Solas, himself, doesn’t fit that. The Evanuris made him look like he did.

Sure, he’s clever, and maybe you could argue a good case for him being manipulative to some degree because he lies by omission and makes the Inquisition think he’s some he’s not, but I don’t think this part is necessarily about that: It is more about the nature of Pride.

Which doesn’t bode well for the future of Solas’ arc, since the following paragraph in the codex says this:

While the demons of desire largely engage in the bribery of mortals, pride will use mortals' own best nature against them. Clever men outwit themselves. Strong men crush themselves. Humble men forget themselves. Jealous men fear themselves.

Personally, I’m a big supporter of the ‘the greatest enemy you’ll ever face is yourself’ narrative because I have found it to be true. In the same breath, ‘your greatest strength could become your greatest flaw / your greatest flaw could become your greatest strength’ is an engaging way of setting up characters: Having a deep trust in the people you care for is a great strength … until you become so blind you deny their misdeeds, flaws, crimes, etc. Similarly, never trusting anyone at all is terrible for cooperating … until the new member of your group is a spy and you avoid getting your team killed because you never trusted the newbie to begin with.

In the context of DA:I, this takes on an especially interesting turn in the narrative. Through Solas, we know that Wisdom can be corrupted into Pride. Now, putting aside whether you think Solas is a spirit of Wisdom who took a body or not, the man’s name still means “pride”.

And while there is nothing wrong with being proud, Solas looking for the Red Lyrium Idol when he knows how much it’s going to fuck him up is a clear-cut sign of being arrogant. In DA:I, he’s shown himself to be wise and knowledgeable and reasonable, especially in the one banter with Dorian where he says Elvhenan wasn’t any less innocent than Tevinter.

He has also never been boastful about his abilities as a mage (mostly, anyway). But Pride, as the Codex Entry says, will use people’s best nature against them: Solas may think himself wise and knowledgeable and reasonable, and he may think he knows the dangers of Red Lyrium well enough, but despite knowing it’s going to fuck him up, he’s still going to use it. (He’s not happy about it – “I’d rather not have you see what I become” – but this is his regret about the lack of other options since his orb broke; this is not acknowledging that his pride makes him think he could handle it.)

It comes also down to what you interpret his motivations as, and what you think he’s going to do. I believe there is also an element of desperation to his actions, but, ultimately, he is named “Pride” and that will be his downfall.

(I know I said I’m not going there but: In Christian mythology, Lucifer is turned into a fallen angel because of his pride. It is, literally, his downfall. I can guarantee you Solas’ story will show parallels indicating his pride will ruin him – whether it is through the corruption of the Red Lyrium, or whether it is because he’ll fail to tear down the Veil as he imagines it, or whether it is because he has failed to consider the horrors that come after abolishing the Evanuris’ prison I can’t say. I can just guarantee you he will fuck up even more than he did when he raised the Veil and that’s what will cause regret to eat him alive.)

They turn corruption and ruin into an art.

There’s not much I have to say about this except that it’s kind of funny. Kind of, because Solas is an artist and if anyone knows how to turn something into art, it should be the painter.

But it’s also tragic because it’s not going to be one of his murals/frescoes that’ll show his corruption; it’s going to be Solas himself.

I don’t think corruption and ruin is an art form, and I don’t believe there is anything artistic about it; I think it’s just an allegory. Maybe also a little hint and nudge towards the elf named “Pride” who has a hobby of painting in-game, like his line about the Dalish chasing him away due to superstition and the jawbone of a wolf and his excessive knowledge about things no ordinary Dreamer or elf could know.

The breadcrumbs were there; we just didn’t think about picking them all up because what were the chances we’d get a supposed god as a companion? (In all fairness, DA:I being such a vast game where you can spend +30hs avoiding the main plot didn’t help putting all these subtle leads together.)

TL;DR: The Codex entry holds several interesting clues about Pride demons and, further, the nature of Pride (as a form of corruption). Applying that to Solas, though, makes his future arc in DA4 look very grim.

#dragon age inquisition #dragon age meta #solas #pride demon #codex entry #tevinter nights spoilers #long post #i said it was an interesting one #kind of wish the DA writers would have laid off the discount Christianity #it's not even a critique. it's just lowkey propaganda- #since the writing keeps pushing for you to think the Chantry is good or just as bad as the mages- #when it's almost a full-blown fundamentalist religion that balantly twists the words of its prophet to suit its own agenda- #and oppress minorities. #like actual Christian churches! #oh wait. #the games want you to think it's all grey morality #but it really isn't grey morality. because you have state- and church-sanctioned abusers and their victims. #that's why I hate DA lore sometimes #the more you dig the more of this shit you find

[nanowrimo]

Pro Tips from a NaNo Coach: How to Finish Your First Draft

NaNoWriMo can seem like a daunting task sometimes, for NaNo newbies and veterans alike. Fortunately, our NaNo Coaches are here to help guide you through November! Today, author Aiden Thomas is here to share some advice on pushing through to the end of November: Hello Friends! My name is Aiden Thomas, I am the New York Times bestselling author of Cemetery Boys and I’m your Nano Coach for the dreaded week 3 of National Novel Writing Month!

I think most authors would agree that they hit a wall around the 30K mark of their manuscript. You’ve ridden out the high and novelty of Week 1; Week 2 things started to get tricky as you got deeper into your plot; and now you’re on Week 3. Right about now, your stakes are high, your character is facing some challenges, and very likely so are you. At this point it’s easy to get stuck, so I wanted to give you some advice on how to keep pushing forward.

The first and most important thing to realize is that your rough draft will never live up to your vision—and it’s not supposed to! First drafts are supposed to be crappy. The story you have in your head will never be exactly as you want it on the page the first time, and especially not in 30 days! Right now, you just need to get the words down. Stories become beautiful books with revisions, not during a fast draft!

So, how do you keep pushing forward and get that crappy rough draft done so you can hit your NaNoWriMo goal and start revising? I’ve got some tips!

1. Talk it Out

The most helpful resource to me as an author are my writing friends and critique partners! When I get stuck, I usually send them a Google Doc with the challenges I’m facing and we talk them through and come up with solutions. About half the time, I don’t even take their advice, but just bouncing ideas around helps me come up with an answer! Sometimes getting out of your own head and just talking it out with someone—even someone who isn’t a writer!—can give you the inspiration you need to break through writer’s block.

2. Bullet Points

Okay, this is lowkey Plotter propaganda, BUT JUST BEAR WITH ME! I often get stuck with the crushing stress of hitting my writing goal to the point where I freeze up, unable to move forward. Looking at the larger plot can be totally overwhelming, so try focusing smaller accomplishments that feel more manageable. By taking it one scene at a time and really breaking down the sequence of events, you’re setting yourself up for success by hitting achievable goals!

3. Take Note

Plot holes are a total pain and can pop up out of nowhere! When you figure out there's a problem with your plot, or maybe just a detail you realized needs to be changed 20,000 words earlier, don’t get distracted! When that happens, take note of it (either leaving a comment within the manuscript or writing a list) and fix it during the next draft. You probably want to fix it immediately, but now is not the time! This is a crappy first draft, remember? And you’re on a deadline! 

4. Focus Time

Writing sprints are a whole thing in the NaNoWriMo community, but I find them intimidating! The pressure to write a bunch of words quickly in a set amount of time sometimes just makes me freeze up completely and I get nothing written! A lot of folks don’t work well under that kind of stress, especially if you’re “competing” with friends to get the highest word count. What I find MUCH more helpful are doing “focuses”. I’ll pick an amount of time (usually 30 minutes) and commit to doing nothing but writing for those 30 minutes, no distractions! It takes some of the pressure off and it’s a lot easier to reason with myself to get writing done if it’s “just for 30 minutes.” After the focus time, I can get a snack or mess around on Twitter, but for those 30 minutes I am entirely invested in writing!

The most important thing to remember is that by November 30th—regardless of if you hit 50K or not—you will have gotten more of your story written than you did November 1st, and that’s still a success! Take a deep breath, try not to put too much pressure on yourself, and keep moving forward.

Aiden Thomas is a New York Times Bestselling author with an MFA in Creative Writing. Originally from Oakland, California, they now make their home in Portland, Oregon. As a queer, trans, Latinx, Aiden advocates strongly for diverse representation in all media. Aiden’s special talents include: quoting The Office, finishing sentences with “is my FAVORITE”, and killing spiders. Aiden is notorious for not being able to guess the endings of books and movies, and organizes their bookshelves by color.

#nanowrimo #nanowrimo 2020 #writing #amwriting #writing inspiration #writing advice #by nano coach #aiden thomas

[kakitysax]

AVATAR FANFIC :0?????

YEAH BOI

I actually really wanna write this so I'm going to lay out the premise below the cut

Okay so it's about an OC: the next Avatar, a kid from the Earth Kingdom.

Now AtLA was an anti-war show which was good, LoK was a capitalist propaganda show which I lowkey hated, so this fic (if it ever leaves my head) is a critique of the effects of post-industrial life and globalization, particularly on children.

Also, AtLA was set in the tech equivalent of the mid-nineteenth century and LoK was the 1920s, so this is set in the technological equivalent of the 80's.

Main character, who doesn't have a name yet so I just call him Avatar, is a foster kid from the Earth Kingdom (since I wanted to be able to critique the dehumanization inherent in even well-intended systems like child services.)

It's discovered that he's the Avatar when he's like 7, upon which the White Lotus yeets him to their place. But the problem is that the White Lotus' original principles are devolving and they're becoming more of a political organization, with bureaucrats from all the nations breathing down their necks to churn out an Avatar. So they rush him through bending training and force him to go to all sorts of press conferences and basically make him a mouthpiece for their own political agendas, which aren't "bad" per se, but that doesn't make it less fucked-up.

But since he has literally nobody who gives a shit about him because he's HIM and not because he's the Avatar, they only marginally care about his mental health at best. And this kid becomes exactly what society needs him to be - useful, eloquent, and devoid of his own personality.

Right but the story kicks off when the White Lotus gets a new leader, who wants to do things right. At this point Avatar is 15 years old and depressed as hell. So she gives him like three minutes out of her extremely full new schedule to ask if he's doing okay, and quickly learns that this kid never actually learned how to firebend because it's the one the least like his personality.

They were rushing him through the training at a breakneck pace, so when they realized he couldn't grasp firebending they just left it at breathing techniques and fucking skipped it. His education in air and water is pretty lax too, but at least he could like. Move the elements around.

So new leader is like "Find this kid a firebending teacher. The best one we can get, please, he's the Avatar."

Now the first time they supposedly taught this kid the four elements, they had the other nations choose some government-approved dickwad to do it in order to make a political statement.

But THIS time they just go hunting for the best firebending teacher they can find, and stumble across this 19/20-ish year-old prodigy (who may or may not come from the Sun Warriors?) And he's a charming bastard man and kind of a himbo but he's also a brilliant teacher

So this guy rolls up to teach the Avatar and he's like "okay kid first lesson, let's talk about the basic principles of firebending. we learned from the dragons, yada yada yada, but a firebender's power comes from our drive. our conviction and our passion. what are you passionate about?"

And this kid's like ".. u m"

And it becomes pretty clear that this kid is just super depressed and has no personality anymore.

And fireboi is pretty upset about it, and he's a dumbass, and he yells at some people about it but they're like "thems the breaks buddy work with what you got"

And long story short he ends up being like "congratulations, I'm kidnapping you to teach you firebending and also some basic healthy selfishness I mean Holy Shit you're fucked up."

And the rest of the plotline is them dicking around on a journey of found-family, self-discovery, and a critique of the hectic catastrophe that is post-industrial life.

#karkles stop #avatar the last airbender #avatar #avatar oc #atla oc

[narkinafive]

information exchange in the gffa

been thinking about news in the gffa (what else is new) and the conundrum of how no one seems to know anything about the jedi despite the fact that they were fucking around IN LIVING MEMORY during the empire, and it occurred to me that the ONLY information exchange in the republic or the empire comes from the holonet. which i should have realized sooner tbh; i spent all this time thinking that the gffa probably has some sort of social media, except why would they? in the 1970s obviously there was zero concept of a social media-esque system of connection and exchange, and in-universe, we can assume that both the ot and the bulk of the pt are operating under some kind of martial law, which most likely restricts information access as well

in terms of canon telecommunication networks, we’ve got:

the holonet, republic-then-imperial central news agency (like a gffa bbc world news) (we assume that it’s HEAVILY regulated by the ruling state)

infonet, a net specific to the planet of kupohan in order to share weather updates to help ships land (heir to the jedi)

darknet, which hosts the video of the death star blowing up, among other things (from a certain point of view)

shadowfeed, which looks like it could be similar to twitter, was originally used by the separatists to spread anti-republic propaganda, before being mostly shut down by republic intelligence (tarkin, and also my rebel sketchbook)

so while there is some sort of dark-web/underground communication going on, it appears to be EXTREMELY underutilized, if not outright unknown to the general populace. the difference here is that irl, social media is or can be utilized by literally anyone and everyone on the planet, provided they have a phone or a computer and a working network--even in authoritarian or totalitarian regimes, there are people crafty enough to work around internet blocks, so when i say literally anyone, i mean literally anyone--whereas in the gffa, networks like these appear to be only really used by people who a) know about it b) actually understand how it works in the technical sense c) are actively involved in seditious activity... which, if found out, would get you a one-way ticket to a labor camp

while also being a neat little critique of the dangers of hyper-centralized information, this could actually go a really long way to explaining... well, a lot. i don’t have the source on me, but i do recall in sw propaganda that focus on the republic war effort shifted from the jedi to the clones very early on (at the request of the jedi, even), so it isn’t too off to imagine that palps was engineering a mass cultural forgetting of the jedi from that long ago.

another key point that i constantly forget and then remember later is that there just really aren’t that many jedi at any given time. even at the height of republic, 10,000 jedi compared to however many fucktillion sentients in the galaxy, sentients whose news is controlled by a proto-fascist state which is actively committed to both disgracing the name of the jedi and erasing them from existence in order to better facilitate the transition from democracy to autocracy, means that your average citizen just straight up won’t know about them. it seems crazy to us now, but there just really is no free informational exchange in star wars (at least, not in canon; there are several examples in legends, but i’m choosing not to count those for obvious reasons)

which seems obvious but is also just lowkey blowing my fucking mind

#swmeta #i guess? #my posts

[austaylover]

ok this article was lowkey INFURIATING!!!

1. The article makes her out to a calculated and wicked woman whose sole purpose now is to attack politics with a focused look at ‘Only the Young’. IF NO ONE ELSE IS GONNA DO IT THEN GO AHEAD. Taylor has made it clear she wants to educate herself and others through her lyricism. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, then her whole point is proven.

2. It claims art is suppose to be a “wellspring of meaning” and that it shouldn’t “have an agenda” and that “art with a political agenda is hardly art at all...it’s propaganda”. I could think of HUNDREDS of male produced songs with a political agenda that haven’t been poorly critiqued and haven’t received the same backlash. I bet u don’t see these similar songs being branded as “propaganda”. Using lyricism to put out a message is one of the biggest ways to do so and it’s so IMPORTANT. There is an art to portraying such a message and to be quite frank, idk what their idea of “meaning is” but if Tay is trying to educate her audience through her music ISNT THAT A WELLSPRING OF MEANING I MEANNNN. I think the best art has meaning tbh (can i get an amen!)

3. The whole article is just completely and utterly misogynistic and unprofessional. Take a read (for education purposes). It’s pretty awful...

4.

DOES THIS NEED AN EXPLANATION?!?!? “Super adorable”. “Endearing”. These words, to me, seem to inform me that the writers behind this article hate to admit she’s really doing something great here. That she’s being proactively loud. Taylor standing up for herself and others after admitting she regrets not doing it earlier makes her an even BETTER ARTIST. Additionally, putting out the message that being educated politically makes you blend in, claimed and disappear is SUCH A BAD MESSAGE. To anyone voting, I say thank you and keep going. Every vote counts. Learn. Educate yourself. You’re doing a great thing.

5. It also touches on pro-life politicians like Blackburn and whether Tay should be following them cause “only the young can run” and “only one thing can save us, only the young” ??????? So the article is insinuating that if only the young can save us, then shouldn’t you be all for women having children they may not be ready for to help save our future? IF THIS ISNT TWISTING WORDS IDK WHAT IS. Sure, art is about having your own interpretation of it, but this is way too far. Disgusting even. Listen to her in the doco, she makes herself pretty clear.

There’s more parts to it but i thought i’d pull out the big ones. I hate it and the message it puts out to young voters, women (in more the one industry), victims etc. It doesn’t take much to educate yourself. Takes more to really take someone down and just be unnecessarily negative. If you don’t like the song, that’s fine. Don’t listen to it. But to twist it into something repulsive and damaging is just a way to defame someone, lash out and gain publicity. It’s not right.

luv ya all💗💗

#taylor swift #missamericana #netflix #article #taylornation #politics #america

[doggo-fiends-on-a-spaceship]

okay so we talk about all the shadowhunters characters watching mundane movies together before, right (usually star wars or something) but look, recently i was reading a fic and there was a line that was, basically summed up: “a mundane movie?” “are there any other type?” 

what if there was tho

like downworlder movies, run by downworlders. the tragic love story of a warlock and a mundane (that magnus refuses to watch after the first time he cried a lot) or a rom-com between a werewolf and a vampire, or a really bad cheesy flick about two werewolves, or a seelie drama that’s full of dramatic plot twists and love triangles, or a vampire movie that’s just full of puns, or a really sweet chick flick where a vampire falls in love with a mundane and she ends up voluntarily becoming a vampire to be with her vampire girlfriend, or a rom-com between a warlock and a vampire who both think the other is a mundane and keep trying to hide the truth with increasingly hilarious shenanigans, or magnus’s favorite, a buddy comedy about two warlocks. shadowhunters being portrayed as everything from “basically stormtroopers” to “evil and heartless” to that that one series wherein they’re actually characters and no one admits it but they kind of love it because it’s so overdramatic, but also kind of lovable (a downworlder shouting at some shadowhunter “you’ll never be like [insert name of character], you [insert reference]!” and the shadowhunter is just like ???? because none of them have ever seen these movies before.

like just movies made by downworlders, full of downworlders and downworld things. some of them aren’t even set in the downworld, it’s just most of the cast are downworlders. like a movie set in a space station or something, and a vampire plays the lead. a werewolf plays the love interest, and it’s hilarious because they don’t get along at all on set, except that they kind of do. a seelie who plays a ridiculously handsome love interest in a movie about spies. a warlock who plays like, an x-man or something, and mundanes who might see it are like “wow cool costume/makeup” but surprise bitch, those scales are fucking real 

and like after the whole mortal war thing, there’s a series of really bad movies based on it. and like there’s actually a chick-flick based on magnus and alec, which magnus thinks is hilarious. later there’s an actually serious romance movie based on them about a warlock and a shadowhunter falling in love and magnus watches it whenever he misses alec once he’s gone oops i’m crying

and okay this is less likely because of the clave and warrior culture but shadowhunter movies. there aren’t very many of them, and most of them are terrible or meant for children or both, but they exist.

and it’s hilarious because like, half of the characters are always really bad actors with stiff expressions and shit, and the other half are super passionate and like throwing themselves into the role. as a kid, isabelle desperately wanted to star in one of these (and she probably gets to at some point).

but they range from really shitty romances, usually stemmed from arranged marriages or propaganda of some sort, to like actually funny comedies but it’s like, shadowhunter humor, dry and morbid and shit. there’s a few super racist downworlder characters that alec, izzy, and jace look back on wincing super hard because shit, yeah, now that they think about it, vlad the evil vampire and seymour blade the greedy warlock were super racist, wow. 

but what shadowhunters are really good at? war movies. movies about battles and swordfights and shit. holy fuck they’re good at that. they use real blades. sometimes, they even use actual demons. because shadowhunters are fucking badass. and they’re great at the political dramas and tangled webs of conspiracy. there’s this one spy movie that’s basically shadowhunter james bond and it’s amazing. jace and izzy had a crush on the “bond girl” equivalent, a kickass lady shadowhunter, and alec had a crush on the james bond guy, a hot shadowhunter dude who wore eyeliner. but the thing about the movie is the plot is actually really good, even though the actors really suck in places and it’s great

and like okay so now imagine all our faves having movie nights and they just

everyone’s all curled up in magnus’s living room (or they take turns in various places, and god knows what would happen if maryse found out that they’d used the institute once) and magnus has conjured up more space/extra chairs and shit. everyone’s welcome, but people outside their circle rarely come (”are you crazy??? all those shadowhunters and powerful downworlders and shit??? nah thanks”) and like

magnus and alec are cuddled ridiculously close on a loveseat, being sickeningly adorable and kissing each other’s cheek and shit. maia and simon sit on the couch together and get a little closer each time. for a while, clary and jace sit very far apart, but once they start to get their shit together they slowly gravitate closer. raphael sits next to magnus and alec so he can poke magnus and annoy him whenever he wants. ragnor sits next to raphael so he can help. catarina and dot usually sit together on some beanbags because they get along super well, and they enjoy the same kinds of movies so sometimes they gang up on the others and it’s a little terrifying. luke often sits between clary and where simon and maia are sitting, as they are the ones he’s closest to. meliorn sits on a beanbag next to izzy, who sits cross-legged on the floor with a large bowl of popcorn that several people steal from shamelessly. she lets them, and always makes extra (or rather, asks alec to, because she always burns it).

okay but there’s a big mix of shadowhunter, downworlder, and mundane movies? and like you can tell exactly which each one is just by looking at the cover

but like magnus being intrigued by the james bond shadowhunter movie, like “wow i didn’t know shadowhunters were good at spy drama. nice. wow did they really do that stunt? that’s badass”

and maia and simon like the werewolf/vampire rom-com ;) 

and clary just really loves the downworlder movies?? especially the cheesy rom-coms, because those are her favorite. especially when they has happy endings

or maybe luke is the only one of them who’s seen both shadowhunter and downworlder, so he likes watching the mundane ones more, but his favorite will always be a shadowhunter movie he watched as a kid about shadowhunters in WW1 because it was so interesting to him

or alec convincing them to watch the series with the overdramatic shadowhunters and all the downworlders are losing their minds as the shadowhunter on the screen (who is very clearly a seelie with makeup runes drawn on, and half of them are nonsense- alec points this out to magnus, and he giggles and says that’s the best part) does a completely unnecessary backflip and ends it on a cheesy line and all the shadowhunters immediately turn to jace like that’s you. 

meliorn wants to watch one of the seelie dramas because he lowkey loves them and even he can’t predict the plot twists sometimes and sometimes he’s just sort of clinging to izzy like oh my god. oh my god. isabelle. look. oh my god. i think she’s the mother. holy shit. and izzy’s like i know oh my god this is so great!!

dot wants to watch star wars, because she still has a crush on leia and also she just likes the plot. simon enthusiastically agrees. magnus agrees on the condition they watch the star trek movies at some point, too. catarina claims to have dated natalia portman for a short time. no one but simon believes her.

ragnor what do you mean he’s dead? fuck off don’t know what ur talking about wants to watch the warlock buddy movie, because he was an extra in it so you can see him the background for like three seconds at a bar, and he never stops rubbing it in magnus’s face that he was in a movie, ha, and magnus is like “i just haven’t gotten around to doing one yet!” “uh huh, sure”

at some point, they have a disney night and it’s amazing. everyone loves disney night. even though half of it is critiquing and pointing out flaws, they all have a lot of fun, and half of them are singing along the whole time. (magnus singing “under the sea” with way too much enthusiasm, maia sings “once upon a dream” beautifully and simon sings the other part, jace sings “let it go” extremely off-key, clary sings “colors of the wind”... not very well). pirates of the carribean is probably the best-received one by all of the, though, although lilo and stich might have it beat

i know this would probably never happen in canon and i’m just dreaming but i don’t even care i love this idea

#shadowhunters #magnus bane #alec lightwood #luke garroway #dot rollins #clary fray #isabelle lightwood #maia roberts #jace wayland #simon lewis #catarina loss #ragnor fell #malec #maia/simon #meliorn #meliorn/izzy #my writing #sort of