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radio-writes · 29 days

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These asks seemed similar to me so I thought I'd tackle them in one go.

What I think of Alastor The Radio Demon

I've never really done a character analysis before so I'm not sure how to go about it. Honestly, I had to rewrite this several times to trim it down.

I put little footnotes here and there for parts that I think ruined the flow of thought, and weren't essential but still figured were worth a mention. Corresponding footnotes can be found below the lower divider for any interested.

The way I see Alastor, and how I try to write him, is that he's smart—terrifyingly so—and emotional.

I mean we all know he's basically a textbook manipulator. He's charming, great at reading people, and brilliant enough to know exactly what to say and when to say it.

He's so gifted at charming people that a fair portion of the fandom's basically head over heels for him—despite the fact that based on what we've seen in the series, he's an objectively despicable person.

And he's so good at manipulating people that, again, a huge portion of the fandom thinks he actually sees the hotel gang as friends/family now. Hell—a lot of people even believed him when he said he cared for Charlie like a daughter.

Add his brains and his skill of wrapping people around his clawed finger, to his god-complex1 and selfishness, and what you'll see is that, on paper, he should absolutely be the big bad of the show.

Except...he currently isn't; and I don't think he will be although it would surely be fun to see how that would go.

Because as much as he is terrifyingly evil, he is also, extremely driven by his emotions.

I know it sounds like a bit of an ass-pull.

Alastor being emotional? The same demon that doesn't drop his smile even when having a whole mental breakdown? The same demon who doesn't bat an eye at a hotel patron dying?

Well, yes. Because there's more to feelings other than sadness and love and care.

There's anger, there's hope, there's desperation, there's pride, there's hate.

And I think Alastor is absolutely driven by these and more.

As said by the most darling, delightful, dangerous overlord over one side of the pentagram,

"words are cheap, but actions, they speak the truth."

As much as Alastor wants to think he's in control, we've seen his emotions come first before rational thinking.

His pride has absolutely taken over him. He thinks he's above it all, untouchable, unreachable. Because he's so clever, so strong, so charming, and it has more or less gotten him everything he's wanted.

But it's this pride of his that has also lead to his most glaring flaws.

Alastor's first instinct was to lower Lucifer in any way that he could—leverage whatever he did have that Lucifer didn't (height, a relationship with Charlie etc.). Because Al knew that Lucifer was inherently stronger than him, better than him—and he hated that.

His pride couldn't stand the blow, and that—along with feelings of irritation and likely insecurity— is what drove his actions for most of that episode; overtaking even his usually smart wits.2

But it's not just negative emotions.

If Alastor being a mama's boy is still canon, then even his relationships are steered by emotions too, whether he's aware of it or not.

His love for his mother influences his biases towards women. How he judges and approaches them miles more fairly than he does men.

Hell, his whole persona—the transatlantic accent, the radio theme, the over the top silly jokes, his laugh even!—all a by product of his passion for being a radio host.

But why does being emotional mean Alastor won't be the antagonist in the show, you ask?

Well because, being emotional is such a humane thing. It shows weakness, vulnerability. Something the show has often used as leeway to develop and redeem its characters.

While I don't think Alastor has the best intentions coming into the hotel—or even at the point of the season 1 finale really—I do think him being this emotional of a person shows that there is some chance of him genuinely growing fond of the gang, and then settling into the found family at some point in the future.

It may not be a conscious choice, it may take some pushing and pulling, it may take the whole run of the series, but Alastor is capable of caring. And when he feels something he feels it to a point past his own rational thinking.

Would love to see him try to betray the hotel though as some last minute attempt to maintain an evil persona.

Now this doesn't exactly mean I can see Alastor ascending into heaven not unless they drag him kicking and screaming.3 But I do think that in the end, he'll find some sort of other form of "redemption," one that he would actually like.

Perhaps it's coming to terms with the fact that he is mortal and that is okay and it doesn't mean he's any weaker or any lesser. And that even if it did, it shouldn't matter.

Honestly, I'd be more terrified of him once he's come to that point. The only weakness Alastor right now has—aside from whatever deal it is that he made—is his ego.

You could probably get away or manipulate him back if you struck at it, but once he's all done with hotel therapy time and has his emotions under control? That man's going to be unstoppable and I fear for all of hell.

Maybe Charlie should let him keep his issues after all?

1 I find Alastor's god-complex extremely ironic. Oh, he definitely has it. My best guess is that it stemmed from his serial killing days.

If the previous source saying that he killed on a weird moral code (not unlike Dexter) still holds water, then he probably saw himself as some god doing such good work for the people. Judging criminals and delivering punishment.

This whole, "I'm so strong and untouchable even amongst criminals" mentality of his was probably egged on when he got into Hell and he was able to take down big bad overlords with ease. That definitely fed his ego nicely.

Now I say I find it ironic because well, he thinks he's so above it all. So perfect and pristine—nothing like all those other sinners. He doesn't care for senseless killing or stealing jewelry or sex, no he's so much better than that, isn't he?

Well, the way I see it, he's really no different.

*cue angry radio noises*

He cares so much for all the material and outwardly things. Sure, it's not to brag or to be sexy, but you can't tell me that fucker isn't just as vain as say, someone like Velvette.

He'd probably freak if anyone caught him outside of his well tailored suits and impeccable posture.

To Alastor, image and public opinion must mean so much more than he's willing to admit.

And all that killing the bad guys, killing the criminals, killing the scum of the earth. Oh let's not pretend he does it out of any other reason aside from the fact that he loves it.

It's an act for power for him, not actually done to protect anybody.

And considering he eats most of his victims now, I'd say he's actually below your average criminal.

On sex—well, fine. He can have that one, I suppose.

But still, the irony that this man thinks he's so above your common everyday sinner is just hilarious to me, because he's exactly just like them.

2 I have seen people say that this is yet another one of Alastor's cleverly planned schemes. That he kept pushing only because he was confident Lucifer wouldn't smite someone Charlie cared about. Which, sure, I could see that being the case later on in their interactions.

But as an introduction? An opening line? When he didn't know Lucifer's temperament, and Lucifer didn't know how much Charlie valued/cared for Al?

No. I genuinely think, that this was purely a gamble on Alastor's part. A slip, a jab that he just had to make to save his own pride.

3 Personally, while I absolutely love all the angelic designs of Al, I really do not want him up in heaven unless it's for comedic purposes or he's grocery shopping for angel meat.

Dude was a serial killer. Granted, he killed criminals. But I've never been a fan of vigilante killings. I mean, who's to say the person he killed actually did the crime though? What if it had been someone who was actually innocent?

And even if they weren't, can you imagine if he killed your parent in your lifetime for say, stealing some bread to feed you? And you're just chilling in heaven and all of a sudden your parent's murderer is redeemed while your parent still rotted in Hell?

I would just start a riot right then and there, damnation be damned.

Besides, red suits Alastor best, anyway.

Tagging @cofeedaifuku because they were the only one out of the three that weren't on anon. Hope my fellow vien and the other anon find this answer anyway.

#vien answers #i have no idea if i did this correctly but I'm hoping I did #but tldr i think Alastor's a smartass with barely any control on his emotions and hes probably not going to heaven #oh and that he looks good in red #hazbin hotel #alastor #character analysis #i think?

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starlit1daydream · 23 days

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so i finally did it: flowey the flower's classpect & asriel dreemurr

obligatory disclaimer that this post will include massive spoilers for undertale and undertale yellow.

let's get the obvious out of the way first - what is flowey's ASPECT? this is something that i feel is pretty obvious, he's a very clear-cut doom player.

he deals with inevitability and predestination, has a very nihilistic and cynical worldview based on his soulless perception of the world and the repetitions he's gone through, and he's associated a lot with some very morbid and edgy imagery. in particular, i think it's his manipulations with fate and inevitability that solidify him as a player of doom (save states and such). it's for this same reason that i believe sans is a doom player, but that's for another essay.

what's his class? well, let's get into how flowey experiences doom.

flowey's existence, from the very moment of his creation, has been defined by doom. an inability to die or cessate his own existence that leads to a plethora of lives full to the brim with death, experiments with predestination and a general morbid curiosity. flowey does things until he's exhausted every single possible outcome of the situation, and then he moves on to the next until he's sucked all novelty and nuance out of it, effortlessly manipulating doom and making it bend to his whim.

a lot of people would be quick to place him as a witch because of this, but personally i think that flowey's absolute will and dominion places him at an even higher tier.

flowey isn't a witch, he is a lord of doom. he holds absolute control over the aspect of doom, exhibiting full control over inevitability and decay in every facet.

let's just look at some of the things flowey does. he subjects clover to countless resets and deaths at his hand for his own amusement, sets up the denizens of the underground like little dolls for him to play with until they break apart, all the while plotting to grasp more control and seize true dominion. he's a textbook lord, endlessly determined and power-hungry as he lets nothing stand in the way of his goal (acquisition of the SOULs). much in the same way, we see caliborn's quest for power leaving similar destruction in its wake and he holds the same determination, hell, they're even associated with the same laugh soundbyte! the similarities are all there, and the stunted mental development definitely shows for both of them given they're a kid who never properly got the chance to grow up.

in fact, it's the link to caliborn that brings me to my next point. what of asriel?

simple. in the same way the caliborn has his calliope, the muse of space, flowey has his asriel, the muse of life. this may sound contradictory to the asriel we see in the finale of undertale, but i propose that this is an asriel still under the throes of the inversion that brings flowey his classpect.

their true classpect has always been the muse of life, it's merely that flowey's soulless state brings about an inversion that is only 'fixed', if you will, after asriel is brought back to normality.

the real asriel is much like a muse. he is tender, emotional, caring, perhaps a little weak-willed or timid at times. he is the narrative's driving force but in a wholly passive manner. throughout the whole game asriel is the inspiration that hangs over the plot (throughout BOTH games in fact, his role in deltarune very much cements his role as a muse) but we never see him until the final hour. much like a muse, he has become his aspect for the sake of the narrative. life, of course, represents growth, affluence, the natural energy of all things, and uses both baking and plant-life as symbolism. consider what asriel and chara used for their plot, and what flowey is now, and those two symbols make a lot more sense.

so, though asriel and flowey have two separate classpects by technicality, they are still the same person and it's a inversion similar to that people say rose underwent during her descent into 'grimdarkness', going from a seer of light to a witch of void.

now, this is a controversial statement to make because a lot of homestuck fans question the validity of the 'inversion' argument, saying that it's never explicitly stated in canon and to that i say that homestuck is quite possibly the poster child for 'death of the author'. i want you to bear in mind this is my personal view on the subject and homestuck's fanbase has never been one to agree on any concrete interpretations of the classpect system.

that's all from me. until next time, tumblr.

#undertale #undertale yellow #flowey #flowey the flower #asriel dreemurr #homestuck #homestuck analysis #classpect #classpecting #homestuck classpect #lord of doom #muse of life #doom aspect #life aspect #lord class #muse class

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the-irreverend · 1 year

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I am totally gonna get crucified for this…

As I’ve read posts discussing Toriel and Asgore’s morality, I’ve kept thinking back to one thing that Toriel did which always rubbed me the wrong way, something that I feel doesn’t get enough attention in the fandom. And that was the time they physically abused Frisk before they left the Ruins.

Now before you put me on trial for heresy, there are a few things I’ve gotta make absolutely clear.

Is Toriel’s endangerment/abuse of Frisk as bad as Asgore’s attempt to murder them (and the other murders he committed)?

I don’t think so.

Does this mean Toriel is some hard-wired abuser that would eagerly hurt and manipulate every kid that they encountered?

ABSOLUTELY. NOT.

Is Toriel using a fireball to save Frisk’s life from Asgore an act of domestic violence against their ex-husband?

Dude, go to fucking hell and take your slander with you.

I’m not gonna be one of those yahoos who think that Toriel is worse than or is as bad as Asgore because I think that’s a PATHETIC FALSE EQUIVALENCY. Context is critical, but with that said, the context certainly doesn’t help Toriel’s case here.

Aside from being literally the textbook definition of physical abuse, there’s literally nothing about this situation that in any way excuses the violence that Toriel committed against Frisk, literally nothing that prevented her from taking a different course of action.

And she didn’t just hit them; SHE DID IT WITH EFFING FIRE MAGIC. I can’t even begin to imagine what that must feel like for Frisk, not just the physical pain but the emotional or psychological harm that would come from this. And while she certainly didn’t want to kill Frisk, it doesn’t change the fact that she put them at severe risk of dying.

And when you keep this in mind when looking at incidents like the one where she just straight up fires Alphys for unintentionally creating the amalgamates (after Asgore forgave and even hugged her), it does make her look a tad self-righteous and even a little hypocritical. I’m not saying Alphys didn’t deserve to be held accountable; I’m saying that maybe Toriel wasn’t the right person to do that. Besides, I don’t recall her taking accountability for her own actions either.

In the end, all I’m saying is that even though Toriel isn’t remotely pure evil, she’s anything but pure of heart.

But that’s the best thing about Undertale: no one is.

(Except for Papyrus. He is perfect.)

P.S. If you have your own thoughts to share on this subject, by all means go ahead.

#toriel #asgore #frisk #undertale #deltarune #utdr #papyrus #alphys #toriel dreemurr #frisk dreemurr #undertale toriel #undertale asgore #ut toriel #ut asgore #ut frisk #undertale frisk #undertale alphys #frisk undertale #irreveRANTS

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yesimwriting · 6 months

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I don't know if you have any thoughts on this one but if so, can I ask for the "directors cut" on the blurb where reader and the boys were fights and they went to her window to basically suck up am she was on phone, I think it was called "Billy and Stu scare away guys" or directors cut on chapter 5 of the final girl fic or both of you'd like to. I love hearing what you have to say about them and it adds so much insight on how you characterize them, thanks :)

omg hi

"Billy and Stu scare away guys" blurb:

okay so i have a lot of thoughts on that blurb bc there were some details i wanted to work in but couldn't bc they didn't fit

so my main one is the gummy thing at the end, where Stu gives reader a bag of gummies, but the gummies are just the ones that are her favorite flavor and he plays it off by saying that he hates that flavor

in my head, he definitely does not hate that flavor of gummy ( i don't think i've ever met anyone that hates red gummies lol) and that's just another way of him being secretly nice to reader

ik stu's pretty openly affectionate and loves getting credit for being nice, but i feel like when it comes to smaller things that show just how much attention he pays to the reader, he plays it off as much as he can

i talk about this in the actual fic but another detail i feel like keeps coming up is that i headcanon stu as being kind of a textbook early psychopath child and not shying away from taking apart small animals just bc/morbid curiosity,

i don't see billy (even as a kid) going out of his way to do those kinds of things, partially bc i feel like he would've been more hyper aware of the adults/general perception of what's perceived as "normal" as a way to cover himself and stu, but i def don't think he was bothered by it

anyways all of that is background to explain that one of my favorite details is billy being aware that y/n would rather watch a person die in a movie than see an animal get hurt and then knowing to edit the story

okay! now onto the biggest part of the story!! billy dropping the background information on his mom, ik that seemed extremely manipulative, and it definitely was on billy's part, but it was also kind of an accidental admission

you know that quote "the best lies have some truth in them",, well it was kind of like that, while billy just doesn't want y/n to talk to guys at all out of general possessiveness/jealousy, that insecurity about losing her the way he lost his mom is real

that's why i also mention stu being surprised, bc billy rarely alludes/mentions the truth of what happened to his mom, and the situation still felt relatively under control so stu was like ?? now? lol and then after thinking about it stu starts worrying a little bc maybe billy is that upset, it's another one of those moments where they just read each other and manage to work through things they can't say in front of other people

Chapter 5 of final girl:

okay so at the beginning, when stu's still asleep and billy's explaining away how touchy and pushy stu was in chapter 4, it's a key example of the way billy likes to 'get ahead' of things

we all know he's a planner, and so even though y/n's complaint was small, billy's already covering all the bases, emphasizing that stu would 'never hurt her' and framing stu's attention as a good thing while also painting him as sympathetic bc of his parents

also i feel like i've implied this but part of the reason they're always pushing that he'd 'never hurt her' narrative is bc it's meant to assure stu as much as it assures y/n, only stu knows that by 'hurt' he means accidentally kill her or something,, and y/n thinks it's more emotional/in a play fighting way lol

i think this is the first chapter that touches on how much y/n relies on them for a social life, like it was so easy for them to exclude her from that part even though all of her other friends where there

omg and y/n briefly thinking billy was ghost face, i feel like if she had had that train of thought while more sober, billy and stu would have had a much harder time getting through that one

i considered adding a scene where billy calls stu and tells stu that he needs to pull out the voice modulator and call y/n's house QUICK bc i thought it'd be fun to write and i still kind of want to write a scene like that at some point, but i felt like it broke up the suspenseful energy i was going for so i decided not to

#scream x reader #final girl fic #ask

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beehindblueeyes · 2 years

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Finney is Special and The Grabber can’t stand it-

Been wanting to make this particular post for awhile now and I’m finally getting around to doing it. There’s something about the way that the grabber HATES Finney by the end of the movie… there’s a look in his eyes that says he’s going to Relish killing him…but not for his usual reasons. This thirteen year old boy was so annoying, was so bad (not in the ways he wanted) and disruptive that the Grabber just wants to be rid of him. He skips the games , the pop and circumstance and moves straight into buying a tarp to burry him. He’s done! Something about it is mildly amusing in that he bothered him so much he just…gave up. The rest is actually fairly interesting. I’m going to try and dive into that.

CW!-

Referenced canonical CSA

Manipulation/abuse tactics

Generally predatory behavior

He won’t let him play pretend-

There’s something about the way Finney acts from the moment he gets in the basement. He never visibly cracks. Despite being alone, hurt, and in the dark. There’s no whimper, cry or shaking. He just stares at the man barely able to see at all. Finney is never… vulnerable. The only time he is , is when he’s asleep with his back to the door and the grabber takes this opportunity to watch him.

There are tears in his eyes, his voice is soft and fragile. He seems supprimer Finney is upset at all but… the kid won’t go along with it. Short, strick, to to point answers, and he questions him! Drills holes in the mans story over and over again… and again! Only shows vulnerability when the door closes and he shutters and backs against the wall absolutely mortified. I just wanted to look at you…

It’s that Finney never believes or play into his act! He’s not disarmed by the soft voice, teary eyed version of the man who promises never to hurt him or make him do anything he won’t…like. The man that tells him nothing bad will happen here. Finney doesn’t play the game from the very beginning, the whole act the other boys fell for.

Finney won’t let him be the good guy. The nice man who brings food or would like to know his interests. The nice man who promises to take him home. Finney never lets The Grabber play his other game, the game of many faces. Many roles. Nice, mean , sad and bad. Finney forces them all to be the same person when he just keeps pushing! He keeps with the questions, wirh the lack of belief and annoys him- placing cracks in his mask, in his act. Making the soft voice go deep or the normal voice go dark. Forcing the growls, the anger, the bad to the surface.

Finney won’t let him play pretend.

Manipulation, dissociation and abuse-

Oh the grabber has multiple personalities! The grabber has this or that dissorder the grabber- please shut. Shut. No no no. Shut.

It’s simpler and far worse then that. What I prepose, is that he is just simply like that. No greater cause, no rhyme or reason. He’s just a crime of passion killer who happens to be deeply disturbed. He may have some trauma in his past but to paste all of his stuff onto this just feels wrong.

No, I prepose that the grabber is mentally sound. it makes it all the more scarier that he is doing it out of his own fruition, he knows what he’s doing- in fact he’s great at it! It’s not multiple personality’s it’s textbook emotional manipulation abuse tactics!! His goal is to get the boys to separate the part of himself who is nice to them and the part that does all the bad things to them.

He wants trust. He WANTS them to sleep wirh their back to the door, or sit right on the mattress like a good little boy when the door opens… or he wants them to go upstairs, wants them to be bad. He does everything to get them in the palm of his hand… they may think they’re doing everything by their own free will but really they’re doing exactly what he fucking wants. They’re playing his game.

The different masks are a physical representation of the roles he puts on for the boys. Each one has a different purpose. Depending on the face and what part of it he’s wearing. He’s doubling down on the “that wasn’t me it was someone else” by having them not only associate the voice changes but the literal face changes as well.

No mouth- capture. Likely kill as well. Faceless, nameless, no association besides being the first and last thing you see.

Smile(full)- general. Good mood. Brings you food and other things, asks a question here and there, curious and bubbly. Trustworthy/nice

Smile(bottom only)- vulnerable. So you can really see his eyes. That connection of actually seeing his eyes, seeing his tears or his brows furrow, gaining trust. Being “honest”. The kind that gets information out of you…likely more

Frown(full)- disappointment, anger, violence, punishment. Ranges from childish upset to… well…guess.

Frown (bottom only) - rage, panic , his own fear translated into many things

Top only- well this one,,, is special like finney.

I’m even more inclined to believe it’s an act and a tactic rather then disorder from how easily Al shifts out of his voices or attitudes. After getting finney back to the basement after his escape, he snaps at his brother in a voice we’ve never heard before. His regular, although irritated voice. For the first time we hear him not putting on any front, just— annoyed, tired and defeated. Finney didn’t play, he didn’t talk and now he’s escaped! He’s done. No more games. Just annoyance from this point on and I-

Also there’s the thing where, he treats his masks like Michael Myers. Where he’s essentially immobile without them, around the kids at least. To this, I think alongside him ignoring the phone calls from the boys it’s a way for him to ignore his guilt. As, while I believe him to be doing this while largely being stable minded, - there’s still that disconnect. Like with most killers. But I think, apart of him knows it’s wrong and if he does all this to ignore it, never truly shows his face to the kids, doesn’t listen. He can push away the guilt (this can be a whole other post, let me know if you want it)

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ghostabocky · 1 year

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ok that poll got me Thinking again and i wanted to archive this in some way, so. repost of a comment i left on youtube brainrotting over sora Not being the master of masters

Sora being the Master of Masters just does not make any logical, emotional, or thematic sense. If anything, the MoM and Sora have been—and are continuing to be—set up as thematical opposites to one another, the MoM a jaded person who has lost so much to the forces of darkness, to the point where he will manipulate anyone around him in order to reach his end goal of living in a world without it, and Sora a positive optimist who, despite also enduring multiple hardships and losses due to darkness, also goes through many trials that prove that balance between the two forces is important, and that darkness is not an all-encompassing terror meant to be destroyed.

Sora's whole Thing™ is about relying on connections and friendship despite physical distance, the idea that no matter where you are or what happens to you, those connections mattered and will always matter. He believes in individuality, the idea that characters like Roxas, Xion, Namine and even Vanitas are their own people, despite what other people may try and proclaim. Meanwhile, the MoM lives to avenge people who are long gone, forgetting the value of those relationships as they were simply because the people he cared for are no longer physically here. He strips his pupils of their individuality, giving them masks and names at his own discretion, and directing them like pawns on a chess board.

These two are textbook foils to one another. The idea that the Master of Masters is somehow a grown up version of Sora who lost his friends to darkness and became a cynical, jaded mastermind trying to escape the concept of it altogether not only contradicts the existing lore about things like time travel (and specifically how the MoM does it), but is just a complete slap in the face to both of these characters as individuals.

#angel.txt #sora #master of masters #meta & theories #under the readmore bc long-ish and literally no one asked for this sdfsdfds #i feel like i see nothing abt this theory on tumblr and idk if its just bc of the dashboard i curate or just bc ppl here don't care as much #so i may be preaching to the choir or to a brick wall idk sdfdsfds #i just like these Thoughts atm and a twitter thread is. not good for analysis or archiving lmaooo #my brain has gone super brrrr since the kh4 trailer and khux finales too i think #like the more i think abt it the more these two are just direct opposing characters to one another even more so than sora/xehanort #and that's an interesting way to explore ideals and motivations and lines of thought #but if they're the Same Dude then what is the Point #where is the Nuance..... the Intrigue...... the Conflict......#(also this is absolutely Not an attack on anyone who enjoys or engages with the theory #i wrote this weeks ago in response to a yt poll just to explain why i voted no to ''is sora the MoM'' sdfdsfds)

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bluemoondust · 2 years

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✧Corpse Party Characters as Yanderes✧

I have been binge watching a bunch of Corpse Party gameplay and this is the result! Characters are all 20+! (I mean, given the sequel and all,,,) Just wanted to write for some of these characters. I basically hand picked some either because they were main characters or I just really liked them.

If you'd like to see more or other characters for this, let me know! I might actually make a part two to this.

Character(s): Mochida Satoshi, Shinozaki Ayumi, Kishinuma Yoshiki, Nakashima Naomi, Kizami Yuuya, Kurosaki Kensuke, Ōkawa Tomohiro

Warning(s): Kizami is his own warning since,,, you know, Delusional Behavior, Obsessive Behavior, Mentions of Death, Mentions of Violence, Manipulation, Implied Stalking, Suffocating Behavior, Mentioned Breaking and Entering

✧Mochida Satoshi✧

Right off the bat, Satoshi is your typical textbook definition of a yandere, though with some unique traits. When he becomes obsessed with you, it doesn't occur to him that he is. At first he believes it's just him wanting to be a great friend towards you with his insistence on helping you out or being the shoulder you cry on whenever you need it. Eventually, he will pick up on the fact that his feelings for you are much deeper than he had initially thought. Unfortunately he does not see that his behavior is becoming unhealthy. The insistence turns into suffocation as Satoshi continues to pry into your life; seeking more attention from you. He makes up excuses to be around you. I will say, he is slightly delusional but also is aware of your personal boundaries.

Still, he'd like to be closer.

Satoshi as well all know, is a bit of a coward, but his time over the years has changed him. That being said, he isn't one to confront rivals.... Not immediately. I do remember something said (as a hc I believe?) along the lines of Satoshi not one to be violent, but is very good at it. He has high pain tolerance and is able to take down someone (that being Kizami as the anatomical model). Satoshi in the face of rivals will not become violent... But he does has a snapping point. It just takes a lot to get there. Besides, he isn't one to take the first swing.

✧Shinozaki Ayumi✧

Ah... Yeah. Ayumi is an extremely obsessive yandere. To the point where it gets really unhealthy on her end. She goes above and beyond for you as she takes every little thing into consideration. Ayumi always has you on her mind as she goes on her daily like. She wants to make a great impression on you and hates to be seen as useless or a coward by you. If left alone, this can get so bad that Ayumi pushes aside her own needs because she's so focused on yours. This can be pinpointed through her insecurity and fears getting the best of her. It is recommended to remind her to take care of herself, but it would bring immense guilt with herself for making you worry. Besides that, Ayumi makes it her goal to know everything about you. It starts off with getting your phone number, but soon escalates to her owning a small storage of items you own— a shrine basically.

Ayumi... Loathes rivals. They always give her a bitter taste in mouth as she bites her nails profusely. Again, this ties in with her insecurities as she believes she is lackluster compared to them. That you'll eventually chose them over her. It sends her into a panic. That panic will finally get to her as she makes the person disappear. Before then, she's passive aggressive towards them while caring when speaking to you. Erasing them from existence is her way of easing her fears.

✧Kishinuma Yoshiki✧

Acts like your protector. He's also probably the most lucid out of this bunch. These emotions start off simple enough; Yoshiki has this need to protect you and honestly deeply cares for you after what you've done for him. For a while, it doesn't get too bad but when it does, he's taken a back. Why the hell did he think of beating that person to death? Sure, he would be glad to turn them black and blue if they ever attempted to harm you, but man—the fuck? It wouldn't be a surprise if one day he just suddenly does go through with what he's thought of. Just... He'd make sure it was discrete. Yoshiki convinces himself that it was to ensure you were okay. You didn't need that problem in your life.

Even though he loves you, Yoshiki has this doubt that eats at his thoughts; that he doesn't deserve you. He mulls over how he couldn't possibly provide for you, given his job, plus he knows he isn't the most pleasant person on the surface. Sometimes he hopes you'll look past all that and just... Remember the good he's done for you. Still, even if he holds back on pouring his heart out to you, that does not mean he will let anyone else get to you. Not while he's here.

✧Nakashima Naomi✧

I wouldn't exactly call Naomi a controlling yandere despite the fact that she will display traits of such as time goes on, but she leans into smothering territory. She always insists on helping you out with whatever task that requires effort. Seems nice of her, in the beginning. Then it just gets... Irritating. It's almost as if Naomi isn't letting you do any work at all as she takes control of the situation. If you point out this to her, she'll feel guilty and it will show. You feel slightly bad as she says she was only trying to be helpful towards you. Trying to push away her aid multiple times will only lead her to becoming more stubborn; which then has Naomi getting forceful. She's only trying to help! Why can't you just see that?

In the case of rivals, she lets her emotions get the better of her. I will let it be known that Naomi, through this whole situation of her being a yandere, is delusional but at some points has lucidity. So when her feelings that caused her to act in a passive aggressive manner or potentially hurt someone that was getting too close to you, a sense of guilt washes over you. Naomi practically has to convince herself that what she did isn't as bad as she makes it out to be. You have to understand that she is the only one who takes your needs into consideration. Who else could know you so well to do so? You'll eventually know...

✧Kizami Yuuya✧

The absolute worst. Yuuya is a possessive and sadistic yandere. In the beginning, he can't even fathom why he feels this way towards you and probably misinterprets it. Luckily for you, that does not last long as he finally processing his emotions. It's a strange feeling but he looks further into it. In regards to approaching the fact that this is unhealthy, he could care less. Sure, Yuuya would be hiding his yandere traits extremely well, but in truth he absolutely hates having to do so. He deems it an itch that needed to be dealt with and you're going to have to face the consequences for bringing this upon him. Before that, he acts polite and charismatic towards you. He spends his time studying you from afar, picking up certain traits of yours and then eventually breaks into your home now and then. Of course, you're not aware of such, but he'd like to see what you would do—how would you react if you caught him.

This man chooses violence when it comes to rivals. Honestly, they give him an excuse to put his philosophy into practice. This is really thanks to you, darling. It's because of you that they're dead. And oh, he'll make sure to drive that into your mind when you have to face the truth. Yuuya absolutely loves seeing the look of terror you give and does whatever he can to bring it out. He'll invade your personal space, kill your loved ones (who he honestly believes would just kick you to the curve eventually), and play with your mind. Oh, you want him to stop? That's not how this works darling. You belong to him now. He owns you. Don't try to leave him or else he'll have to carve his name on your skin to prove a point.

✧Kurosaki Kensuke✧

Kensuke's feelings for you would be a very obvious observation, even to him. Everyone would find out one way or another, but what they don't know is what lies beneath it. He as well, does not process his yandere traits fully. It's very likely that you two will getting close due to his personality. He just has this way of talking to others, it's surreal. You feel like you can talk to him about anything without the fear of being judged because Kensuke is a very chill/accepting guy. His main concern is to make sure you're well and okay. As long as that's the case, he's happy. Before evening pursuing a relationship with you, he always does favors for you along with... Finding more ways to get to know you. It's something he isn't aware of, but Kensuke often asks your friends about you. It starts off with little things but the next thing you know he 'coincidentally' meets your family and pries information off of them. It was easy. They saw him as a charming friend of yours.

He doesn't really get jealous, well, not entirely. He just does not want to admit that he is feeling this way. Kensuke will sometimes on a whim, drive rivals away with his words. If they try to tell anyone of what he's said, no one really believes them. Kensuke? Threatening them? People brush it off since they would not believe that someone of Kensuke's character would do something like that. He brightens up any room he enters, is very diligent in his work, and always takes on any labor related work when he can. It's just unlikely.

Maybe... Some part of him is aware of how much leverage he has. It can even be used if you ever just attempt to bring light onto his unhealthy behavior. He's got everyone against you, so please just accept his love.

✧Ōkawa Tomohiro✧

Tomohiro views this whole situation like one of his videogames. He's a softer yandere but also more delusional and obsessive. He works hard to gain your affections by picking up on your interests and finding things you like. It requires digging around but he'll manage to reach his objective. Everytime he is successful in making you happy, the more he truly believes you're slowly but surely falling for him. Just like in the dating sims he plays. B-But this is real life! Though... Why wouldn't you love him after all he's done for you? He isn't the bravest, strongest, nor smartest, but he has his own qualities! Just let him show you what he can do!

He follows you around like a lost puppy. Sometimes without your knowledge. It's better to know where you live in case of anything. Tomohiro feels elated.

Jealousy isn't what he feels towards people who hang around you. It's envy. Tomohiro knows deep down, you only love him, so why be jealous? Even so... He envies the people around you purely because he thinks they're better than him. It's something he truly hates to think about; how dull he is in comparison to others. It grows to fear that you'll eventually lose interest and turn to someone better. Which is why Tomohiro pushes himself harder. It's all for you.

#yandere imagines #yandere x reader #yandere corpse party #corpse party x reader #corpse party #yandere satoshi mochida #yandere ayumi shinozaki #yandere yoshiki kishinuma #yandere naomi nakashima #yandere yuuya kizami #yandere kensuke kurosaki #yandere tomohiro ohkawa #male yandere #female yandere

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cave-monkey · 18 days

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Monkey King 2009 Episode 15

So this is basically all the many ways Old White Deer is an absolute ass, the episode, right?

Look, I don't want to feel bad for King Flood Dragon, all right. Dude was having the time of his life terrifying and trying to drown two kids (and succeeding, so far as he's aware), but Old White Deer is just that bad, I guess. I want to slap this dude on the back and pep talk him up. He's a big, strong demon king who doesn't need some old stinky deer making him feel small! He EARNED those powers!

Old White Deer threatening to rip his cultivation away from him, though? Yikes. The fact King Flood Dragon even...look, I guess that's sort of like if your abusive family member threatened to, I don't know, take away your PhD? This thing you worked for and earned, and them thinking they have the power to strip it from you? Them saying that they'll get you fired from your job, discredited, and you not doubting at all that they have the power to do that? It's not hard to take a step to the left and see how this would look in real life. Old White Deer also does that thing where he builds King Flood Dragon up just to smash him back down, then sprinkle the tiniest of approvals in there ("I gave you this important responsibility because I trusted you.") to get him back to chasing that high? Old White Deer might as well have written the textbook for abuse. He's hitting all the dockets. Pitting his victims against each other, deliberately setting them up to displease him and making them feel like it's their fault, making them feel like they have to chase his approval, just...Yikes. YIKES.

But also I'm like...80% sure that him getting pissy at King Flood Dragon for his performance at that overlook they were all hanging out on was maybe a snap decision all because Demon King praised King Flood Dragon's power. This is the same guy who was lapping up a little kid's awe and approval just last episode (ugh) (seriously though he repeated his show like three times and kept asking Six Ears to praise him it wasn't subtle), so I guess having his grandson finding someone else (even if that person is his DAD and HIS OWN SON) impressive was just...too much for him. His ego couldn't bear it. He not only had to crush King Flood Dragon back down but he needed to do it in front of Demon King.

This guy. He's so pathetic but so good at being a manipulative shit.

Oh, right, and they're trying to find the Golden Hooped Rod. Good luck with that, I guess. We know they're not going to succeed. RIP King Flood Dragon. Maybe never come back and also change your address. That might be a good life decision.

Stone Monkey found Ginseng Fruit, though! Good. That's good. And how Stone Monkey's laugh actually sounded kind of thick and broken up when he scooped Ginseng Fruit into that hug. I'm not getting emotional, you are.

And then they meet this little con artist. Biggest takeaway from that scene? Stone Monkey's face going from slightly baffled to delighted the second Little White Dragon opened his mouth and started scamming the shit out of them. The second he started in on his "Oh! The agonies!" Stone Monkey's face split into the biggest grin.

I've said it before, but this kid has a type, I swear to god. All his friends would sell you to satan for a single corn chip, all for their own somewhat horrible reasons, and Stone Monkey loves them for it.

Ginseng Fruit managing to peg him right off the bat strictly because of their flair for the dramatic, though. "WHO ARE YOU ON THE RUN FROM?!" be still his drama-loving heart.

This Sea Demon guy says capture, army immediately begins screaming KILL?, huh? Then they throw a giant death octopus at them? And the "capture" guy busts out with, "Yes. YES. Eat well, Giant Octupus!"? Well, that clears that up. The army knew what was expected of them right away, clearly lol.

Anyway, I thought that discrepancy in commands and actions was weird even before finding out later that the Sea Demon worked for Little White Dragon's dad and was supposed to only be recovering him after he just ran away, but after it's definitely. Something. I sure hope Little White Dragon's right and his dad is going to take this terrible man's shitty behavior seriously now and strip him of his rank, but I'm also remembering the source material and the guy Little White Dragon is meant to be based off of, specifically the death penalty part, and, uhhhh...

Well, we can hope.

Little White Dragon and Stone Monkey being two peas in a pod was adorable, though. Even when we find out that the entire reason Little White Dragon put them through all that was because he was bored. That's it! He didn't want to read and recite books anymore. Stone Monkey (of course, but also ironically coming from the guy out on a dangerous world-spanning quest to go to school) is perfectly understanding, of course, and it's not that I'm without sympathies for the drudgery, but still. They could have died!

Convenient that Little White Dragon knows all about Patriarch Subodhi though, lol. Not even a little vague, either! Right down to his address! The writers needed to get this journey moving.

Ginseng Fruit going max possessive wasn't all that surprising. Them turning into an absolute brat about it was...a little? For instance, their arms-folded-behind-the-back pensively staring into the distance thing. Hilariously ominous! That calm look over their shoulder when Stone Monkey dubiously commented on how good their eyes were after they sent Little White Dragon on a wild goose chase and their serene "Would I deceive you?", too. Absolutely amazing. I busted out laughing.

Can a single one of Stone Monkey's friends not be just a little bit evil? Not be one bad day away from their villain arc? A single one? I mean, apparently not. He does this to himself, though. He's drawn to this kind of thing.

Anyway, I'm glad Ginseng Fruit's lowkey preference for an unhealthy codependent relationship with Stone Monkey got called out, addressed (a little), and that they were neatly reset back to their normal levels of "weirdly intense" and less "budding evil".

It's such a good thing Little White Dragon is cut from similar cloth to Stone Monkey and thinks this is all hilarious. Ginseng Fruit scraped their nerves a couple times (those comments about his people at the Dragon Palace definitely weren't taken particularly well, and no wonder, like, seriously, Ginseng Fruit, don't be a jerk) but overall they had the patience of a saint. I'm pretty sure they're riling them up on purpose at the end. Ginseng Fruit deserves it though, so it's fine. It's good for them.

There was also Old Monkey King sitting on the cliff, watching the ocean, and the four generals begging him to go to bed. On one hand, he did just turn one of his kids loose on a raft on the open ocean, and his concern is totally fair. Him worrying about Stone Monkey is nice. On the other, you have shit to do, my guy. Don't think no one noticed that cough. Go to sleep, and then maybe go check on that other kid you still have. I know he's not your intended successor anymore, but dang.

I realize Old Monkey King probably didn't intend to sign up to be the primary caregiver of two kids, but...well, no one else is going to do it, so he kinda did put himself out there, and he just ripped the rug out of from under one of those kids, and he knows it, because there's no way he didn't know what he was doing when he was training up Six Ears. Has anyone even seen Six Ears since Stone Monkey left?

Old Monkey King, come on now.

The fact Six Ears was actually there the whole time is also kind of...he couldn't have been expecting to really get anything useful out of it? I'm not sure how the magic mind-whammy affects his feelings about things like this, but doesn't that mean he was just...hanging out, watching Old Monkey King watching the ocean, waiting for...something? Just being near?

Because that's kind of sad.

One of the funniest exchanges of the episode though, was probably General Ba girding himself for battle and wading into Old Monkey King's melancholy like a blunt force instrument. "Your kid is SMART. Your kid is FINE. Go to SLEEP." and it actually kind of worked!

(I don't think Six Ears is aware Stone Monkey is supposed to be dead yet. Hm. I wonder what would happen to this level of magic-whammy/corruption/whatever it is if Six Ears found out about that anytime soon.)

#mhw09 personal #abuse tw #I wonder if Six Ears is subconsciously trying to seek comfort in Old Monkey King but can't make himself actually go to him #I wonder if he'd do this when he was younger too - just curl up near old monkey king if he was bothered about something #maybe hoping to be found maybe not #even pre-old white deer six ears was reserved and preferred to hide his 'flaws' and fears than admit to them. a major part of the problem #and now maybe there's this resentment working to keep him away too #ugh it's sad

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benmitchellshearingaid · 4 years

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i aint gonna tag it but i gave in and am watching the emmerdale aaron/robert sl and have just reached the aftermath of katies death and genuinely dont understand how i’m supposed to be rooting for them?

like sure they’ve had some good (ish) moments and it’s an interesting storyline, but everything here is largely one sided on the emotional front, and robert is borderline emotionally abusive? all i’m wanting is for aaron to get the hell away from him. am i supposed to be rooting for them at this point or is this the setup to the redemption and real relationship part of roberts arc?

all we’ve seen so far is aaron admittedly also being a dick by getting with someone he knew was in a relationship and just embracing the whole affair thing, then we’ve seen him becoming emotionally invested while robert has gained all the control over where they meet, when they meet, etc, with aaron having feigned moments where he thinks he’s in control like giving robert an ultimatum multiple times, where robert always talks him round

now someone’s dead, and to save his own skin, robert has decided the best course of action is to take aaron, who he knows has a history of self harm and a tendency already to blame everything on himself, and convince him that the death is entirely on him because he told her where they’d be, despite the fact aaron wasn’t even there when it happened? and now he’s lying to 2 of the only people that stood by him through everything in order to protect robert again? like am i really supposed to like robert by this point? when half of what he does is emotional abuse?

#don't even get me started on the way he plays his siblings and chrissies family like the whole fucking fake robbery thing. like i was #expecting him to have some kind of positive arc this far in but i like him less than i did at the start cause now he's fucking with #characters i was already invested in not just ones introduced for the storylines sake #like he is aware of aarons history with mental illness #there was even a fucking scene where he mocks his scars? knowing full well how aaron got them? and people like him?#does he get one hell of a redemption arc? cause he's gonna need one for me to be convinced he should be within a 100 yards #of any of these people #like some of the things he does is just textbook emotional manipulation #and in the abuse way not the 'oh we're a soap and everyone's sly and sneaky and manipulative for the plot' kinda way #i wanted to like him too #but now i wanna gjve him a slap on his smug fucking face #he's gonna need a good fucking arc to get me on side i won't lie #though i am looking forward to the future aaron sls that ik about #well looking forward to probably isnt the right term but im intrigued by how well they apparently pulled them off

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messers-moony · 3 years

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Help | R.B

Paring: Regulus Black X Daughter!Reader

Summary: At first it was for him, now everything he does is for her.

Warnings: Rape, cursing, death, etc

Being wise comes with living. Dumbledore had lived a lot of years. Everyone knows that. The man worked his way up the hierarchy from being a Transfiguration teacher to the headmaster at Hogwarts. He was even offered a place as the Minister of Magic. What people didn’t comprehend or, rather, didn’t think about was, when living that long you realize every button to push, every nook and cranny to get your way.

Manipulation at its finest. Now, truth be told, manipulation isn’t always evil. It can be good, per se, manipulating someone to stop doing something that’s particularly harmful - alcohol, smoking. But when used negatively, it could make everything worse.

The Order of the Phoenix was manipulated. From beginning to end. Dumbledore convinced the young kids - naive kids - that they were safe and that’s what they needed. These kids needed reassurance that everything would be okay, and Dumbledore assured them that they were safe.

But were they safe when the McKinnon family died? Were they safe when Fabian and Gidian Prewett died? Could James and Lily truly depend on Dumbledore to keep them safe with a newborn?

When Sirius Black joined the order, he had one request. Just one. A linear, singular request. It was saving Regulus Black. That’s all Sirius wanted, was for his little brother to be safe. Sirius knew about Regulus being a death eater, and he needed saving. Regulus didn’t want this life, and he especially didn’t want this with a baby girl.

He was seventeen, and he was forced. Sirius knew it. James knew it. Remus knew it. Regulus had come to the Gryffindor portrait crying on his knees, begging - no - pleading for his older brother. The Fat Lady was cursing him out for not having the password and being a Slytherin. Luckily, James heard the ruckus and ran to his aid. He was yelling for Sirius.

“Sirius! Sirius, I need you!” James had never sounded so frantic, so panicky, “Sirius, now!”

Sirius threw the textbook on the floor. James’ voice reminded him of an alarm - crazed, loud, repetitive. The black-haired boy ran down the dorm steps, almost falling over his feet to see the portrait wide open. Everything went in a vignette, zoomed in and black around the edges. Immediately Sirius was pushing James off his little brother and embracing him tightly.

“S- Sirius.”

Godric, he sounded so broken, “‘S okay, Reggie. ‘S okay. I got you. It’s me, Sirius. You’re safe here, Frère.”

“It- It hurts.” Regulus muttered, his voice shaky and helpless, “Need you.”

“You’re okay.”

Sirius looked up into James’ worried hazel eyes, “C’mon. We’re bringing him up.”

“Are you mental?!”

“James, he’s my brother!”

James scowled, “He’s also a Slytherin!”

“He needs me. I’m not letting him go.” It was the first time Sirius’ voice had gone stern with James, “Either I’m sleeping out here with my brother, or you’re helping me bring him up to the dorm.”

“Fine, fine.”

Sirius looked down at his brother, who was tucked under his chin, silver streams trailing down his flushed cheeks. His cheeks glistened with anguish and pain. His fists were balling the back of Sirius’ white button-up, tightly, stressed.

“Reggie.” For the first time, Regulus didn’t cringe, and instead, he melted into Sirius’ warmth, “James and I are going to bring you into our dorm, okay?”

“Mhm.”

Gently Sirius helped him up, placing an arm around his shoulder. James put his other arm around his shoulder. Both boys helped the sixth year into the Gryffindor common room, getting multiple stares and glares. Regulus managed to up the stairs onto Sirius’ bed, a sniffling and trembling mess.

James smiled gently at them, and Sirius sat beside Regulus on the edge of his bed, “What happened?”

“She- She forced me. I didn’t want to. Please, Sirius, I didn’t want this.”

“Want what?”

“She touched me.” Regulus whispered, and Sirius rubbed his back, “I- I didn’t want it….”

Sirius hesitated, “Did- Did mum have anything to do with this?”

Regulus nodded, and silent tears fell down his cheeks, “She- Mum, is the reason. I was supposed to be arranged to this woman but- but she did this and- and-“

“It’s too much.” Regulus wailed.

Sirius held his brother close until he fell asleep. The trails of tears dried on his cheeks, and Sirius laid his head on the feathery pillow. The fleece comforter was placed over his wrinkled button-up, black pants, and socks. Regulus’ black curls contrasted the pillow, and his cheeks were a pale pink. Sirius had never felt so upset.

Releasing a breath of air, he left the dorm room to go to the common room where the boys were sitting. James perked up, and Remus’ head was pulled into a book, a cup of tea on the table beside him. Peter was playing chess with a fellow Gryffindor across the room, not paying attention to anything but the checkered table before him.

“Is he okay?”

Sirius plopped beside James, “He will be.”

The silence was killing Remus to the point of his curiosity tipping over, “What happened exactly?”

“Some girl, my mum, arranged him with did something that he didn’t consent to.”

The teacup that was in Remus’ hand dropped to the carpeted floor, staining, “You’re shitting me?”

Regulus was in pain, physically and emotionally. Although the boys didn’t understand completely, they understood that Sirius’s time would be dedicated to his little brother. No matter what was going on in the wizarding world at present, Sirius’ time was needed with Regulus.

It was nine months later. Thirty-nine weeks later. Two hundred and seventy-three days later. Left on the doorstep of the Noble House of Black’s residence was a baby girl. Orion and Walburga had left the house previously, leaving Regulus alone with Kreacher, their house elf. The baby girl was crying and helpless.

His lifeless grey eyes met the young girl's e/c ones, and everything clicked. This was the product of his emotional pain in his sixth year. Regulus couldn’t deny the warmth in his heart looking at the young girl. Gently he leaned down to take her in his arms. A pink silk blanket wrapped around her to keep her warm despite the summer months.

Once in his arms, the girls stopped crying. The warmth of his body and the softness in his eyes calmed her down. There was an envelope inside the baby blanket, which Regulus opened after placing the sleeping child on his lap. Essentially the letter was telling him to name the baby girl and her birthday. Along with now that the marriage was called off, she wanted nothing to do with him.

Regulus threw the parchment to the side furiously. Despite his frustration, he picked up his daughter and smiled at her, “I dunno what to name you precious.”

The girl wrapped her hand around his thumb that had been caressing her cheek, “Y/n? I like that name.”

She smiled, and so did he, “You like that too, don’t you, précieux.”

Regulus placed a kiss on Y/n’s forehead, rocking her back and forth, “I love you so much.”

During the school year, Y/n stayed with Sirius, who was overjoyed to stay with his niece. Regulus only saw his daughter one more time before he decided it was his end. Regulus knocked on Sirius’ flat, looking utterly exhausted. Sirius answered with a big smile on his face.

“Heya Reggie!”

Regulus struggled to smile, “Hey, Siri.”

“Come on.” Sirius beckoned, “Y/n is sleeping, but you can see her if you’d like.”

He walked in to see a door open to a small room. Inside it was painted in a pale lavender color with white furniture. Regulus walked inside to find a crib with his one-year-old girl sleeping inside. She made this so much harder. Regulus didn’t want to do this, but he needed to do it if he wished Y/n to have a safe life.

Regulus’ arms cradled his daughter to his chest, “I love you, précieux. I love you too much to express. I know that you’ll never remember me. I’m praying that Sirius will tell you about me.”

“You’re my baby girl. You’ll always be my baby girl.” Regulus’ eyes welled with tears, “And- And I’ll be with you no matter what.”

Y/n’s eyes opened, and she smiled, being cradled in her father's arms, “Dada?”

Regulus had tears streaming down his face, and Sirius watched from the doorway, “Yes, hi petite fille.”

She giggled, and Regulus had the brightest smile on his face; he nuzzled his nose with hers, “Dada’s here, little girl.”

He spent an hour with her. The last sixty minutes of his freedom was spent cooing and coddling. Regulus wanted to engrave her beautiful e/c eyes in his head, her soft smile, smooth skin, and fuzzy hair. Regulus placed his daughter back in the crib and kissed her forehead one more time.

Walking back out into the living room of the flat, he saw Sirius waiting for him. Regulus didn’t make any appoint to try and sit down. That’s how Sirius knew was something wrong. He released an air of breath and dried his tears.

“Sirius, you may have to keep Y/n with you a little longer until it’s safe, okay?”

“‘Course Reggie.”

“If- If I don’t come back-“

“Don't say that, please.”

Regulus looked at his brother solemnly, “But it’s realistic.”

“Okay, just- try to make it back.” Sirius replied.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll try.” He lied, “I- I want you to tell her about me, yeah?”

Sirius chuckled, “You’re her father, Regulus. I wouldn’t not tell her.”

“Don’t let her mum take her. I don’t care what she says Y/n will be in your care.”

Sirius nodded, “One- One more thing. This may sound stupid but, teach her French?”

“Teach her French? Why?”

“It’s how I used to talk to her before seventh year started. I want her to know how to speak it. French was something I enjoyed learning, something that kept me sane at our horror house.” Regulus confessed, “I want her to learn it.”

“If it means that much to you, Reggie.” Sirius replied, and Regulus nodded, “It does.”

“Then Y/n will learn French, after English.”

“Good.”

Regulus began walking out the door when he felt arms around him from behind and a head in the crook of his neck, “Come back alive, okay?”

“I’m gonna try, Siri.”

He never came back alive. Regulus walked toward the entrance of that cave, knowing that today he was going to die. In the start, this was for Regulus to right his wrongs. Now it’s for his daughter. If anything, Y/n deserved a happy, exciting life. Not one of pain and suffering like Regulus had.

The Daily Prophet the next day said everything it needed to, “REGULUS BLACK DECLARED DEAD.” This was it. Regulus had inevitably left his daughter and got himself killed. Sirius cried - sobbed - for his little brother who had a child. He wept for his niece, who would grow up not knowing her father.

Ten years later, Y/n was getting ready for her first year at Hogwarts. Sirius had introduced baby Harry with one-year-old Y/n at the time where they became best friends. Harry was gravely disappointed at his best friend leaving but excited that he’d see her the following year.

In the bathroom, Y/n was sitting in front of the mirror with Sirius behind her. Sirius was brushing her hair, not because she couldn’t do it but because Sirius didn’t really want to let her go. After setting the brush on the counter, he placed his hands on her shoulders, looking at her in the mirror. She looked so much like him. His hands twirled through her h/c hair.

“You look like your father.”

Y/n’s eyes widened, “I- I do?”

“You do.”

“I don’t remember much from him.” Y/n stated, “I remember him calling me précieux, vaguely, which I know now is precious.”

Sirius chuckled, “He also made me teach you, French. It was one of his wishes before he- you know.”

“Why?”

“Learning French is a pure-blood thing. Regulus said it kept him sane.” Sirius answered, “I honored that even if I hated that language.”

It was silent for a while, “You know, sometimes when you’re angry, you just start ranting in French?”

“I don’t!”

Sirius laughed, “You do. You definitely do, amour.”

Y/n giggled, and Sirius began tickling her sides. Her laughter and smile were contagious, just like how Regulus’ was. Regulus had such an infectious laugh and beautiful smile. Sirius was almost glad Y/n inherited it. After tickling her, she melted into Sirius’ embrace, hugging him tightly.

“Je t'aime, oncle Sirius.”

“Je t'aime aussi, amour.”

It was a system Sirius had created with her instead of saying, “Toujours Pur,” like his mother had made him and Regulus say. Y/n is what made him love French again. The way she swore in the language unintentionally. How she’d say the language like a native, just like her father. It meant everything to him.

Years later. Y/n was in fifth year, and the Triwizard tournament members had just been called. Viktor Krum was called first. Then Fleur Delacour. Then Cedric Diggory. That was meant to be the finality, but nonetheless, Harry Potter’s name got called. As all the members walked into a room away from the Great Hall, Dumbledore began speaking to the worried children.

One sentence stood out to Y/n particularly, “Help will always be given at Hogwarts for those who deserve it.”

It brought so much rage in her that she couldn’t help but speak, “That’s bullshit!”

Everyone stared with jaws slack, “My father deserved help! Hell, he needed to be saved, and here because of your bullshit, he died! My father is gone because of you and your shitty manipulative ways!”

“He may have been a death eater, but it wasn’t what he wanted. Godric, he needed saving! His own brother turned on him. So fuck you and fuck your stupid sayings. Because you aren’t a saint, and I don’t have to fall to your knees like a worthless soldier.”

Dumbledore was astonished by her attitude as she began leaving the Great Hall, “That's one hundred points from Gryffindor, Ms.Black!” McGonagall yelled.

“Pardonnez mon français, mais je m'en fous.” Y/n yelled as she flicked off everyone in the room.

Before she left, she turned around and faced everyone, “If anyone- and I mean anyone, touches, talks badly, or even remotely glares at Harry Potter, so help me, I won’t hesitate to hex you.”

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papa-rhys · 3 years

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Thoughts on Jack and His Borderline Personality Disorder and How It Shows Through His Behaviour - Because I Cannot Stop Analysing Things That Ultimately Aren’t Important

Symptoms/behaviours under the cut because holy hell this guy has a lot of them. Like, honey, are you okay?

Okay, so I’m pretty sure I can trace Jack’s BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) back to his grandmother. His mum abandoned him, which shows a reckless/irresponsible behaviour and her mum had fits of rage that didn’t correlate at all with the trigger (ie; drowning Jack’s cat because he didn’t make his bed). So I think he has a family history of it, with both his mother and grandmother having BPD and passing it down to him.

Either way, Jack definitely has it. In fact, he’s a textbook case of it.

Impulsivity

Spending sprees: he bought a pony made of diamonds because he was bored and throws money at all kinds of ventures to keep him occupied and because he wants to. I really don’t know how else to describe this one lol. He bought a pony. Made of diamonds. Because he could.

Gambling: won some of the things on his trophy shelf through poker and owns an entire casino. Hunting the Vaults themselves were a huge gamble too, especially the first two, since he wasn’t truly sure that they existed. He was prepared to sacrifice a lot in order to come out on top in both his career and his social standing. All in all, he’s reckless.

Binge eating: he doesn’t even like pretzels, but still eats them because he’s either bored or stressed. Talks about food quite a bit in conversation, too, especially his cravings.

Substance abuse: admits to being high on uppers for the duration of the pre sequel (and his time on Elpis as a whole) and tells further anecdotes about drugs and getting high in tftbl.

Promiscuity/unsafe sex: nothing about having sex with Nisha is safe lol. But in all seriousness, there’s no way to prove this one. He does strike me as the reckless sex sort though. No proof, just 7 years of knowing him as a character.

Emotional instability

Inappropriate trigger response: he strangles a man to death for simply mentioning his wife, stabs Lilith for talking about Angel, and tries to kill Rhys for not being sure about his grand plan (more on this later). His response to triggers is disproportionate, often resulting in extreme anger over small things that don’t warrant that intense of a reaction. He gets big angry about almost everything; there’s no middle ground. His reaction is never really “you’re annoying me a lot” or “don’t talk about that, I don’t like it.” His reaction to almost everything is “oh my god I will murder your first born child how dare you-”

Quickly changing mood: aside from being prone to fits of rage at the flick of a switch, Jack also flicks back to “normal” pretty quickly, too. He flips between telling you to kill yourself after surviving the train and then talks casually about his day. He’ll be filled with rage after Angel’s death and then suddenly he’s laughing about you jumping into lava and having fun tricking you into visiting his grandmother. He can be intensely angry or sorrowful one moment and then nonchalant and sociable the next. His moods don’t last very long.

Idolisation/devaluation

Jack does this with numerous people across the games, but the two shining examples are Moxxi and Rhys; Rhys being the most notable. He idolises Moxxi, complimenting her on how attractive she is and how smart she is and including her in his circle of close friends/teammates. Then the inevitable happens and she lets him down and he instantly changes his opinion on her as if he’d never thought she was good to begin with. The same happens with Rhys. Throughout tftbl, Jack is best friends with Rhys and seems to form a one-sided connection with him where he idolises him and thinks they’re going to be best friends for ever and that they’re the perfect team. You cannot make him mad at you in tftbl (trust me, I’ve tried). He’s encouraging to Rhys the whole way through, like they’re brothers. Then the second Rhys displays doubts about something Jack is passionate about, Jack reacts violently and completely devalues Rhys, claiming him to be his mortal enemy and trying to kill him. People with BPD do this often. They have strong convictions and have a tendency to feel betrayed by people who go against those convictions. Jack does this regularly and it leads to the breakup of a lot of his relationships.

Paranoia

He vented a room full of scientists into space, just in case. I mean, that pretty much sums it up, really. Jack is under a lot of stress at this point in the game and stress-induced paranoia is a particularly difficult symptom of BPD. With him already feeling the pressure, the mention of a possible mole is a huge trigger for Jack. Especially since he’s reeling from the recent betrayal from a friend. His brain is already working over time, planting uneasy feelings of distrust and being unsafe. So when he’s presented with the idea from an outside source, he runs with it. Betrayal goes on to become a big button to push in Jack’s life to the extent that he actively betrays people before they get a chance to betray him (ie; killing Wilhelm). Paranoia feeds into a lot of Jack’s bad decisions, particularly in the pre sequel era.

Delusion

Jack wasn’t lying when he told us that he’s the hero. He absolutely was not the hero at all, but he wasn’t lying about it. Because lying about something implies that you know it’s not true, and Jack genuinely believes he’s a good person. The best person, in fact. It’s not a lie because in his mind, it’s the god given truth. He’s massively delusional, even before the events of the pre sequel. He’ll spout all the cheesy 80s movie lines about saving the moon and being the hero and he thinks he’s the protagonist of his own big adventure. We know that’s not what’s happening, but Jack doesn’t see it that way. Another delusion is the idea he has about how much everyone loves him. He thinks Moxxi is obsessed with him and he thinks Angel is being forced to work against him. He cannot conceive of a world in which people don’t like him or agree with him. Because why wouldn’t they agree with him? He’s the hero. Everybody loves the hero...

Intense but unstable relationships

Moxxi, Angel, Lilith, the Vault Hunter; I could go on. Jack’s relationships with people are volatile and rocky, even when they’re seemingly on the same side like with Moxxi or even Nisha (who he forms a tight bond with very quickly). People with BPD feel all emotions intensely, which causes a roller coaster. Jack really likes Moxxi, but then he doesn’t want to talk to her, but then he wants her on the team, but then he gets mad at her for calling him a pet name and beign friendly, and then he’s telling her she’s sexy, and then he’s cursing her, and then he’s hanging pictures of her in his casino. It’s the same with Angel - he subjects her to physical torture, then he loves her, then he’s mad at her for helping the Vault Hunter, then he’s doting on her, then he’s manipulating her, then he’s grieving for her. Everything is a whirlwind.

Distorted self-image

Oh boy. Jack has this physically and mentally. Mentally in the sense that he thinks he’s a good person when he actions are abhorrent and also because he’s massively insecure. BPD often comes with a lack of identity, which causes insecurity to begin with. Throw that in a pot alongside some childhood abuse, betrayal, work place bullying, and grief, and you got yourself a big pot of insecurity soup. Put plainly, Jack doesn’t really know who he is at his baseline. His personality and interests and ideas and needs all change on an hourly basis. He morphs to suit his circumstances. He can be open, honest and down to earth when he’s trying to trick Rhys. He can be full of worry and desperation when he needs you to head to grandma’s house. He can be cunning and clever when he’s tricking you into killing Wilhelm. He can be fatherly, he can be nasty, he can be torturous, he can be laid back, he can be clever, he can be ignorant, he can be sheepish, he can be cocky. He’s everyone and no one all at once and this probably leaves him feeling very hollow and empty; which is another symptom of BPD. In the physical sense, Jack issues with self image are pretty clear. He wears a face over his face to hide his face. Yup. And he does this because he thinks he’s disgracefully ugly. This scar he’s so vehemently protective of is something that defines his whole persona going forward. He literally claims himself as Handsome Jack, forcing people to adhere to the idea that he’s so attractive that it should be his title. Even though he doesn’t feel that way and does everything he can to hide the real him. He thinks he’s hideous and he struggles between loving himself and hating himself because of it.

Fear of abandonment

Aaaand here we are at the crux of the problem. BPD boils down to the intense fear of abandonment and this is probably what guides Jack for most of his life. His father died, his mother literally abandoned him, his grandmother neglected him, his first wife died, second wife left, girlfriend and friends betrayed him, and daughter killed herself to get away from him. Abandonment is practically coded into Jack’s DNA at this point and every time it happens, it confirms his fears more. He clings to Moxxi after she betrays him - taking her ideas to try and rile her up and even going as far as to recreate her entire bar in his casino because he wants to keep her presence around. He fights tooth and claw against Angel’s rebellion, begging both her and you to stop what you’re doing and leave. The only time he begs you is when he’s facing perceived abandonment, that’s how strong the fear is. His final words to Angel are “I’ll still forgive you.” Jack isn’t a forgiving man by any stretch, but he’ll say anything he has to in order to prevent her from leaving him. He’ll stalk people, he’ll manipulate them, he’ll lie to them or keep them physically locked up - all to prevent them from abandoning him. The worst possible thing that could happen to Jack is that, and we see the spiral he slips into after Angel. After Moxxi. After the Meriff. After his wife. He can’t bare the thought of someone leaving him and he’ll do anything and everything to prevent his fears becoming a reality.

So yeah! There it is, I finally got around to posting it lol. There’s probably a lot more little details that I’ve forgotten, but I cannot think of them right now. I’ll probably update if I think of any more! The tl;dr is that almost all of Jack’s behaviour can be linked to massively untreated BPD. He needed meds and therapy, but he didn’t get them and he spiralled as a result.

#handsome jack #borderlands #borderlands 2 #borderlands the pre sequel #bl headcanons

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sabugabr · 3 years

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Why the Clone problem in Star Wars animated media is also a Mandalorian problem, and why we have to talk about it (PART 2)

Hi! I finally finished wrapping this up, so here’s part 2 of what has already become a mini article (you can find Part 1 here, if you like!)

And for this part, it won’t be as much as a critic as part 1 was, but instead I’d like to focus more on what I consider to be a wasted potential regarding the representation of the Clones in the Star Wars animated media, from the first season of The Clone Wars till now, and why I believe it to be an extension of the Mandalorian problem I discussed in part 1 — the good old colonialism.

Sources used, as always, will be linked at the end of this post!

PART 2: THE CLONES

Cody will never know peace

So I’d like to state that I won’t focus as much on the blatantly whitewashing aspect, for I believe it to be very clear by now. If you aren’t familiar with it, I highly recommend you search around tumblr and the internet, there are a lot of interesting articles and posts about it that explain things very didactically and in detail. The only thing you need to know to get this started is that even at the first seasons of Clone Wars (when the troopers still had this somewhat darker skin complexion and all) they were still a whitewashed version of Temuera Morrison (Jango’s actor). And from then, as we all know, they only got whiter and whiter till we get where we are now, in rage.

Look at this very ambiguously non-white but still westernized men fiercely guarding their pin-up space poster

Now look at this still westernized but slightly (sarcasm) whiter men who for some reason now have different tanning levels among them (See how Rex now has a lighter skin tone? WHEN THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN KKKKKKK) Anyway you got the idea. So without further ado...

2.1 THE FANTASY METAPHOR

As I mentioned before in Part 1, one thing that has to be very clear if you want to follow my train of thought is that it’s impossible to consume something without attributing cultural meanings to it, or without making cultural associations. This things will naturally happen and it often can improve our connection to certain narratives, especially fantastic ones. Even if a story takes place in a fantastic/sci fi universe, with all fictional species and people and worlds and cultures, they never come from nowhere, and almost always they have some or a lot of basing in real people and cultures. And when done properly, this can help making these stories resonate in a very beautifull, meaningfull way. I actually believe this intrisic cultural associations are the things that make these stories work at all. As the brilliant american speculative/science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin says in the introduction (added in 1976) of her novel The Left Hand of Darkness, and that I was not able to chopp much because it’s absolutely genious and i’ll be leaving the link to the full text right here,

“The purpose of a thought-experiment, as the term was used by Schrodinger and other physicists, is not to predict the future — indeed Schrodinger's most famous thought-experiment goes to show that the ‘future,’ on the quantum level, cannot be predicted — but to describe reality, the present world.

Science fiction is not predictive; it is descriptive.”

[...] “Fiction writers, at least in their braver moments, do desire the truth: to know it, speak it, serve it. But they go about it in a peculiar and devious way, which consists in inventing persons, places, and events which never did and never will exist or occur, and telling about these fictions in detail and at length and with a great deal of emotion, and then when they are done writing down this pack of lies, they say, There! That's the truth!

They may use all kinds of facts to support their tissue of lies. They may describe the Marshalsea Prison, which was a real place, or the battle of Borodino, which really was fought, or the process of cloning, which really takes place in laboratories, or the deterioration of a personality, which is described in real textbooks of psychology; and so on. This weight of verifiable place-event-phenomenon-behavior makes the reader forget that he is reading a pure invention, a history that never took place anywhere but in that unlocalisable region, the author's mind. In fact, while we read a novel, we are insane —bonkers. We believe in the existence of people who aren't there, we hear their voices, we watch the battle of Borodino with them, we may even become Napoleon. Sanity returns (in most cases) when the book is closed.”

[...] “ In reading a novel, any novel, we have to know perfectly well that the whole thing is nonsense, and then, while reading, believe every word of it. Finally, when we're done with it, we may find — if it's a good novel — that we're a bit different from what we were before we read it, that we have been changed a little, as if by having met a new face, crossed a street we never crossed before. But it's very hard to say just what we learned, how we were changed.

The artist deals with what cannot be said in words.

The artist whose medium is fiction does this within words. The novelist says in words what cannot be said in words. Words can be used thus paradoxically because they have, along with a semiotic usage, a symbolic or metaphoric usage. [...] All fiction is metaphor. Science fiction is metaphor. What sets it apart from older forms of fiction seems to be its use of new metaphors, drawn from certain great dominants of our contemporary life — science, all the sciences, and technology, and the relativistic and the historical outlook, among them. Space travel is one of these metaphors; so is an alternative society, an alternative biology; the future is another. The future, in fiction, is a metaphor.

A metaphor for what?” [1]

A metaphor for what indeed. I won’t be going into what Star Wars as a whole is a metaphor for, because I am certain that it varies from person to person, and everyone can and has the total right to take whatever they want from this story, and understand it as they see fit. That’s why it’s called the modern myth. And therefore, all I’ll be saying here is playinly my take not only on what I understand the Clones to be, but what I believe they could have meant.

2.2 SO, BOBA IS A CLONE

I don’t want to get too repetitive, but I wanted to adress it because even though I by no means intend to put Boba and the Clones in the same bag, there is one aspect about them that I find very similar and interesting, that is the persue of individuality. While the Clones have this very intrinsically connected to their narratives, in Boba’s case this appears more in his concept design. As I mentioned in Part 1, one of the things the CW staff had in mind while designing the mandalorians is that they wanted to make Boba seem unique and distinguishable from them, and honestly even in the original trilogy he stands out a lot. He is unique and memorable and that’s one of the things that draws us to him.

And as we all know, both Boba and Jango and the Clones are played by Temuera Morrison — and occasionally by the wonderful Bodie Taylor and Daniel Logan. And Temuera Morrison comes from the Maori people. And differently from the mandalorian case, where we were talking about a whole planet, in this situation we’re talking about portraying one single person, so there’s nowhere to go around his appearance and phenotypes, right? I mean, you are literally representing an actual individual, so there’s no way you could alter their looks, right?

(hahahaha wrong)

And besides that, I think that is in situations like that (when we are talking about individuals) that the actor’s perspective could really have a place to shine (just the same as how Lea was mostly written by Carrie Fisher). In this very heart-warming interview for The New York Times (which you can read full signing up for their 5-free-articles-per-month policy), Temuera Morrison talks a little bit about how he incorporated his cultural background to Boba Fett in The Mandalorian:

“I come from the Maori nation of New Zealand, the Indigenous people — we’re the Down Under Polynesians — and I wanted to bring that kind of spirit and energy, which we call wairua. I’ve been trained in my cultural dance, which we call the haka. I’ve also been trained in some of our weapons, so that’s how I was able to manipulate some of the weapons in my fight scenes and work with the gaffi stick, which my character has.” [2]

The Gaffi stick (or Gaderffii), btw, is the weapon used by the Tusken Raiders on Tatooine, and according to oceanic art expert Bruno Claessens it’s design was inspired by wooden Fijian war clubs called totokia. [3]

And I think is very clear how this background can influence one’s performance and approach to a character, and majorly how much more alive this character will feel like. Beyond that, having an actor from your culture to play and add elements to a character will higly improve your sense of connection with them (besides all the impact of seeying yourself on screen, and seeying yourself portrayed with respect). It would only make sense if the cultural elements that the actor brought when giving life to a fictional individual would’ve been kept and even deepened while expanding this role. And if you’re familiar with Star Wars Legends you’ll probably rememeber that in Legends Jango would train and raise all Clone troopers in the Mandalorian culture, so that the Clones would sing traditional war chants before battles, be fluent in Mando’a (Mandalore’s language) and some would proudly take mandalorian names for themselves. So why didn’t Filoni Inc. take that into account when they went to delve into the clones in The Clone Wars?

2.3 THE WHITE MINORITY

First of all I’d like to state that all this is 100% me conjecturing, and by no means at all I’m saying that this is what really happened. But while I was re-watching CW before The Bad Batch premiere, something came to my mind regarding the whitewashing of the Clones, and I’d like to leave that on the table.

So, you know this kind of recent movies and series that depicted like, fairies in this fictional world where fairies were very opressed, but there would be a lot of fairies played by white actors? Just like Bright and Carnival Row. If you’ve watched some of these and have some racial conscience, you’ll probably know where I’m going here. And the issue with it is that often this medias will portray real situations of racism and opression and prejudice, but all applied to white people. Like in Carnival Row, when going to work as a maid in a rich human house, our girl Cara Delevingne had to fight not to have her braids (which held a lot of significance in her culture) cut by her intolerant human mistress, because the braids were not “appropriate”. Got it? hahahaha what a joy

Look at her ethnic braids!!!

One of the reasons this happens might be to relieve a white audience of the burden of watching these stories and feeling what I like to call “white guilt”. Because, as we all know, white people were never very oppressed. Historically speaking, white people have always been in privileged social positions, and in an exploitative relationship between two ethnic groups, white people very usually would be the exploiters — the opressors. So while watching situations (that every minority would know to be very real) of opression in fiction, if these situations were lived by a white actor, there would be no real-life associations, because we have no historical parameter to associate this situation with anything in real life — if you are white. Thus, there is less chance that, when consuming one of these narratives, whoever is watching will question the "truthfulness" of these situations (because it's not "real racism", see, "they're just fairies"). It's easier for a person to watch without having to step out of their comfort zone, or confront the reality of real people who actually go through things like that. There's even a chance that this might diminish empathy for these people.

Once again, not saying this is specifically the case of the Clones, majorly because one of the main feelings you have when watching CW is exactly empathy for the troopers (at least for me, honestly, the galaxy could explode, I just wanted those poor men to be happy for God’s sake). But I’ll talk more about it later.

The thing is, the whole thing with the Clones, if you think about it, it’s not pretty. If you step on little tiny bit outside the bubble of “fictional fantasy”, the concept is very outrageous. They are kept in conditions analogous to slavery, to say the least. To say the more, they were literally made in an on-demand lab to serve a purpose they are personally not a part of, for which they will neither receive any reward nor share any part of the gains. On the contrary, as we saw in The Bad Batch, as soon as the war was over and the clones were no longer useful as cannonballs, they were discarded. In the (wonderful) episode 6 of the third season of (the almost flawless) Rebels, “The Last Battle”, we're even personally introduced to the analogy that there really wasn't much difference in value between clones and droids, something that was pretty clear in Clone Wars but hadn't been said explicitly yet.

In fact, technically the Separatists can be considered to be more human than the Republic. But that's just my opinion.

So, you had this whole army of pretty much slaves. I know this is a heavy term, but these were people who were originally stripped of any sense of humanity or individuality, made literally to go to war and die in it, doing so purely in exchange for food and lodging, under the false pretense that they belonged to a glorious purpose (yes, Loki me taught that term, that was the only thing I absorbed from this series). Doing all this under extremely precarious conditions from which they had no chance of getting out, actually, getting out was tantamount to the death penalty. They were slaves. In milder terms, an oppressed minority. And again, I don't know if that was the case, but I can understand why Filoni Inc would be apprehensive about representing phenotically indigenous people in this situation. Especially since we in theory should see Anakin and Obi-Wan as the good guys.

(and here I’d like to leave a little disclaimer that I believe the whole Anakin-was-a-slave-once plot was HUGELY misused (and honestly just badly done) both in the prequels and in the animeted series — maybe for the best, since he was, you know, white and all that, and I don’t know how the writers would have handled it, but ANYWAY — I believe this could have been further explored, particularly regarding his relationship with the Clones, and how it could have influenced his revolt against the Jedi, and manipulated to add to his anger and all that. I mean, we already HAD the fact that Anakin shared a deeper conection with his troopers than usual)

Yes, Rex, you have common trauma experiences to share. But anyway, backing to my track

As I was saying, we are to see them as good guys, and maybe that could’ve been tricky if we saw them hooping up on slavery practices. Like, idk, a “nice” sugar plantation owner? (I don’t know the correct word for it in english, but in portuguese they were called senhores de engenho) Like this guy from 12 Years a Slave?

You know, the slave owner who was “nice”. IDK, anyway

No one will ever watch Clone Wars and make this association (I believe not, at least), of course not. But if we were to see how CW deepened the clone arcs, and see them as phenotypically indigenous, subjected to certain situations that occur in CW (yes, like Umbara), maybe some kind of association would’ve been easier to make.

I mean, come onnnn I can’t be the only one seeing it

You see, maybe not the whole 12 Years a Slave association one, but I don’t think it’s hard to see there was something there. And maybe this could’ve been even more evident if they looked non-white. Because historically, both black peoples and indigenous peoples went through processes of slavery, from which we as a society are still impacted today. And to slave a people, the first thing you have to do is strip them from their humanity. So it might be easier to see this situation and apply it to real life. And maybe that could lead to a whole lot of other questions regarding the Clones, the Republic, the Jedi, and even how chill Obi-Wan was about all this. We might come out of it, as lady Ursula Le Guin stated in the fragment above, a bit different from what we were before we watch it.

Maybe even unconsciously, Filoni Inc thought we would be more confortable watching if they just looked white (and because of colonialism and all that, but I’m adding thoughts here).

And of course I don’t like the idea of, idk, looking at Obi-Wan and thinking about Benedict Cumberbatch in 12 Years a Slave or something like that. Of course that, if the Clones were to play the same role as they did in the prequels, to obediently serve the Jedi and quietly die for them, that would have been bad, and hurtfull, and pejorative if added to all that I said here. But the thing is that Clone Wars, consciously or not, already solved that. At least to my point of view, they already managed to approach this situation in an incredible competent way, that is giving them agency.

2.4 AGENCY AND INDIVIDUALITY

So, one of the things I love most in Clone Wars is how it really feels like it’s about the Clones. Like, we have the bigger scene of Palpatine taking over, Ahsoka’s growth arc, Anakin’s turn to The Dark Side, the dawn of the Jedi and rise of the Empire and all that, but it also has this idk, vibe, of there’s actually something going on that no one in scene is talking about? And this something is the Clones. We have these episodes spread throughout the seasons, even out of chronological order, which when watched together tell a parallel story to the war, to everything I mentioned. Which is a story about individuals. Clone Wars manages to, in a (at least to me) very touching way, make the Clones be the heros.

Can you really look me in the eye and say that Five’s story didn’t CRASH you like a full-speed train???? He may not have the same amount of screen-time as the protagonists, but his story is just as important as theirs (and to me, it might be the most meaningful one). Because he is the first to break free from the opression cicle all the Clones were trapped into.

His story can be divided into 6 phases.

1 - First, the construction of his individuality, in other words, the reclaiming of his humanity.

2 - Then the assimilation of understanding yourself as an individual of value, and then extending this to all his brothers, not as a unit, but as a set of individuals collectively having this same newly discovered value.

3 - This makes him realize that in the situation they find themselves in, they are not being recognized as such. This makes him question the reality of their situation.

4 - Freed from the illusion of his state, he seeks the truth about it.

5 - This then leads him to seek liberation not just for himself, but for all the Clones (it's basically Plato's Cave, and I'm not exaggerating here).

6 - And finally, precisely because he has assimilated his individuality and sought freedom for himself and his brothers, he is punished for it.

His story is all about agency. Agency, according to the Wikipedia page that is the first to appear if you type “agency” on Google, is that agency is “the abstract principle that autonomous beings, agents, are capable of acting by themselves” [4], and this abstract principle can be dissected in 7 segments:

Law - a person acting on behalf of another person

Religious - "the privilege of choice... introduced by God"

Moral - capacity for making moral judgments

Philosophical - the capacity of an autonomous agent to act, relating to action theory in philosophy

Psychological - the ability to recognize or attribute agency in humans and non-human animals

Sociological - the ability of social actors to make independent choices, relating to action theory in sociology

Structural - ability of an individual to organize future situations and resource distribution

All of them apply here. And this is just the story of one Clone. We know there are many others throughout the series.

Agency is what can make the world of a difference when you are telling a story about an opressed minority. Because opressed minorities do exist, and opression exists, and if you are insecure about consuming a fictional media about opressed minorities, see if they have agency might be a good place to start. So that’s why I think that everything I said before in 2.3 falls short. Because the solution already existed, and was indeed done. Honestly, making the non-agency representation of the Clones (the one we see in the prequels) to be the one played by Temuera Morrison, and then giving them agency in the version where they appear to be white, just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

And honestly, if they were to make the Clones look like Temuera Morrison, and by that mean, take more inspiration in the Māori culture, maybe they wouldn’t even have to change much of their representation besides their facial features. As I said in part 1, I am not by any means an expert in polynesian cultures, but there was something that really got me while I was researching about it. And is the facial tattoos. More precisely, the tā moko.

2.5 TĀ MOKO

Once again I’ll be using the Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand as source, and you can find the articles used linked at the end of this post.

Etymologically speaking,

“The term moko traditionally applied to male facial tattooing, while kauae referred to moko on the chins of women. There were other specific terms for tattooing on other parts of the body. Eventually ‘moko’ came to be used for Māori tattooing in general.” [5]

So moko is the correct name for the characteristic tattoos we often see when we look for Māori culture.

These ones ^. Please also look this book up, it’s beautiful. It’s written by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, a New Zealand academic specialising in Māori cultural issues and a lesbian activist. She’s wonderful.

According to the Tourism NewZealand website,

“In Māori culture, it [moko] reflects the individual's whakapapa (ancestry) and personal history. In earlier times it was an important signifier of social rank, knowledge, skill and eligibility to marry.”

“Traditionally men received moko on their faces, buttocks and thighs. Māori face tattoos are the ultimate expression of Māori identity. Māori believe the head is the most sacred part of the body, so facial tattoos have special significance.”

[...] “The main lines in a Māori tattoo are called manawa, which is the Māori word for heart.” [6]

Therefore, in the Māori culture, there’s this incredibly deep meaning attributed to the (specific of their culture) tattooing of the face. The act of tattooing the body, any part of the body, is incredibly powerful in many cultures around the globe. The adornment of the body can have different meanings for these different cultures, but all of which I've come into contact with do mean a lot. It’s one of the oldest and most beautiful human expressions of individuality and identity.

And in the Star Wars universe, the Clones are the group that has the deeper connection to, and the best narrative regarding, tattoos. In fact, besides Hera’s father, Cham Syndulla, the Clones are the only individuals to have tattooed skin, at least that I can recall of. And they do share a deep connection to it.

For the Clones, the tattoos (added to hairstyles) are the most meaningful way in which they can express themselves. Is what makes them distinguishable from each other to other people. Tattoos are one of the things that represent them as individuals.

And I’m not BY ANY MEANS sayin that the Clones facial tattoos = Moko. That’s not my point. But that’s one of the things I meant when I said earlier about the wasted potential of the representation of the Clones (in my point of view). Because maybe if it were their intention to base the culture of the clones after the polynesian culture, maybe if it were their intention to make the Clones actually look like Temuera Morrison, this could have meant a whole deal. More than it’d appear looking to it from outside this culture. Maybe if there were actual polynesian people in the team that designed the Clones and wrote them (or at least indigenous people, something), who knows what we could’ve had.

Even in Hunter’s design, I noticed that if you take for example this frame of Temuera from the movie River Queen (2005), where we can have a closer look at the design of his tā moko

Speaking purely plastically (because I don’t want to get into the movie itself, just using it as example because then I can use Temuera himself as a comparison), see the lines around the contours of his mouth? Now look at Hunter’s.

I find it interesting that they choose to design this lines coming from around his nose like that. But at this point I am stretching A LOT into plastic and semiotics, so this comparison is just a little thing that got my attention. I know that his tattoo is a skull and etc etc, I’m just poiting this out. And it even makes me a little frustrated, because they could have taken so many interesting paths in the Bad Batch designs. But instead they choose to pay homage to Rambo. And I mean, I like Rambo, I think he’s cool and all that.

Look at him doing Filipino martial arts

But then, as we say in Brasil, they had the knife and the cheese in their hands (all they had to do was cut the cheese, but they didn’t). Istead, it seems like in order to make Hunter look like Rambo, they made him even whiter???

2.6 SO...

Look, I love The Clone Wars. I’m crazy about it. I love the Clones, I love their stories and plots. They are great characters and one of the greatest addings ever made in the Star Wars universe. They even have, in my opinion, the best soundtrack piece to feature in a Star Wars media since John Williams’ wonderful score. It just feels to me as if their narrative core is full of bagage, and meanings, and associations that were just wiped under the carpet when they suddenly became white. It just feels to me as if, once again, they were trying to erase the person behing the trooper mask, and the people they were to represent, and the history they should evoke.

I don’t know why they were whitewashed. Maybe it was just the old due racism and colonialism. Maybe it was meant for us to not question the Jedi, or our good guys, or the real morality of this fictional universe where we were immersed. But then, was it meant for what?

The Clones were a metaphor for what?

(spoiler: the answer still contains colonialism)

Thank you so much for reading !!!! (and congratulations for getting this far, you are a true hero)

SOURCES USED IN THIS:

[1] Ursulla K. Le Guin, 'The Left Hand of Darkness', 14th ACE print run of June, 1977

[2] Dave Itzkoff, 'Being Boba Fett: Temuera Morrison Discusses ‘The Mandalorian’', The New York Times, published Dec. 7, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/07/arts/television/the-mandalorian-boba-fett-temuera-morrison.html (accessed 15 September 2021)

[3] Bruno Claessens, 'George Lucas' "Star Wars" and Oceanic art' , Archived from the original on December 5, 2020, https://web.archive.org/web/20201205114353/http://brunoclaessens.com/2015/07/george-lucas-star-wars-and-oceanic-art/#.YEiJ-p37RhF (accessed 15 September 2021)

[4] Wikipedia contributors, "Agency," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Agency&oldid=1037924611 (accessed September 17, 2021)

[5] Rawinia Higgins, 'Tā moko – Māori tattooing - Origins of tā moko', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/ta-moko-maori-tattooing/page-1 (accessed 17 September 2021)

[6] Tourism New Zealand, ‘The meaning of tā moko, traditional Māori tattoos’, The Tourism New Zealand website, https://www.newzealand.com/us/feature/ta-moko-maori-tattoo/ (accessed 17 September 2021)

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