#love as self sacrifice.

[fellhellion]

One of my favourite aspects to Mytho’s character arc is that he has to contend with the fact that he does desire emotional connection? That being a distant marble statue and the pinnacle of self sacrifice is actually kinda miserable and he wants to love other people are more than a figurehead?

#hilariously enough his emotional conflicts are veryyyyy idk how to say this. traditionally feminine ones in storytelling? #the archetype ideal he’s supposed to die for means never having close interpersonal relationships #being this pure untouchable figure who is there to be desired but cannot desire back #where he wrestles with the expectations of the Madonna #Rue wrestles with counterpart of the Temptress #the ‘evil odile’ with her ‘impure’ love <- in Drosselmeyer’s narrative framing which = not dying for love #love as self sacrifice. #rue’s love is tainted by the desire to POSESS yes. but a) this is something she grows from in her arc #and b) she was doomed from the beginning by virtue of her narrative role #tunes talks ptutu

[greykolla-art]

Every day I wake up and think:

“At some point Izzy realised how out of control things had gotten, and started putting himself in between Ed and the crew, as much as he could. Especially when Ed was too drunk/high to even know what he was doing. Cause Izzy doesn’t want the others to suffer more for his mistakes.”

“They are all bonded through shared trauma now.”

And every day I cry like a baby.

#grey art #fan art #ofmd #ofmd season 2 #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd spoilers #ofmd comic #ofmd fanart #can you believe how much I love Izzy??? #and Edward just needs some warm soup #Izzy hands #edward teach #jim jimenez #this season is so dark I’m honestly here for it #whump art #self sacrifice is also a trope I’m very weak for

[twinstxrs]

idk if this is accurate but i’ve felt like in previous seasons riz & gorgug have been one of the inter-bad kids dynamics we’ve seen the least of & this season has been so great in that aspect. gorgug having helped make some of riz’s magic gear. riz helping gorgug with his studies. the shared birthday party. gorgug’s gift to riz being something he himself made to protect riz. riz’s gift to gorgug being something he illegally grabbed to protect gorgug. gorgug who utilizes rage to put his body on the line for his friends & riz who will take deep levels of mental stress for his friends. even though it was within the context of a joke, riz calling gorgug an “absolute sweetie.” like yea they might not be in a band together or both part of a presidential campaign team or owlbears teammates, but they’d go to war for each other, because they’re best friends.

#riz gukgak #gorgug thistlespring #fantasy high #dimension 20 #fantasy high junior year #fhjy #fhjy spoilers #these kids are all so self-sacrificing but i do think riz gorgug are the most clear (& juxtaposed) self-sacrificers #riz will mentally tear himself to pieces and get lost in cases and take on ungodly levels of stress for those he loves #gorgug will use himself as a human shield. he will take hit after hit if it means his friends are okay. #and they’d both do the other thing too. riz would let himself get hit for gorgug. gorgug would pull all nighters & take stress for riz. #even if mechanically they can’t or it wouldn’t make sense. they would if they could. #also #the starstruck barry mechanic of being a guard is so gorgug. it’s soooo gorgug like that’s literally him #anyways love this tall green guy & this short green guy so much #especially because gorgug is tall & considered intimidating but protective in a deeply kind way #while riz is short & underestimated but protective in a deeply vicious way (affectionate) #i hope this makes sense but i think riz is primarily ‘i would kill for you’ & gorgug is primarily ‘i would die for you’ maybe #this does not mean gorgug would not kill for riz or riz would not die for gorgug. they both would. #but those are the primary ways their love manifests due to the nature of their strengths/personalities. To Me #idk this is all just me saying stuff when i should be sleeping 😭 #sorry if i missed a riz gorgug moment in the main post btw i’m tired

[tunapesto]

so when I die which I must do,

could it shine down here with you?

#genshin impact #furina #focalors #my love is mine all mine.... #hhuhuhuhu i just realized how well that song fits furina-focalors as characters and their story #a love for humanity so strong that as a god youd fracture and sacrifice your divine self to live out #the true limits and capabilities of humanity. to feel and love and all there is to know #art #the caption is focalors curse BTW (real information)

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

lethan dating shenanigans

#ethan winters #leon kennedy #lethan #resident evil #resident evil fanart #rebhfun #lethan nation ive returned #insert mercy overwatch gif #leon trying so hard to be a romantic person but hes a total loser flop and ethan knows already #he thinks its very endearing though #he gives leon smooches #leon love language giving people things that mean a lot to him #ethan love language #self sacrifice #errmmm #this just got awkward #ermm #we can look into that later #scratches back of my head

[tubbytarchia]

I don't know what this is all I know is that LimL Joel makes me really emotional

#I know he has a tendency to go deranged on his red lives but idk something about him beginning to lose it after Jimmy died and killing Grian #joel smallishbeans #smallishbeans fanart #trafficblr #Again its his red life shenanigans but... If only Jimmy had known how affected someone was by his death. I'm choosing to believe this #and him then going out like a sad pathetic wet cat even with Grian's sacrifice... He really deserves a win one of these days lmao please #Also I cant stop thinking about how Jimmy wouldn't have left him. Grian was sensible to and most players probs would have #Joel really does become a lost cause so its fair and Grian did still care (and went to say goodbye as well as sacrifice his time for him) #But Jimmy would have stuck by even if Joel were in this state (and they'd both get themselves killed pathetically but) #And Joel having shown such genuine care for Jimmy and concern over his limited time... man anything w Jimmy makes me so emotional lol #I love them so #oh Ig about the art itself. I dont like it but hey thats how it tends to go when you try smth new. And no shame in trying #but if one person likes this then yayy I will still feel accomplished and happy #Im looking at this again and hey its not that bad actually yay I love to approve of my own art. self love hell yea #tubby art

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Assisting Acquaintance Acquired.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

#poorly drawn mdzs #mdzs #wen ning #wei wuxian #Ignore how Wen Ning's hair looks here because I messed it up. Let's pretend he just sported a different hair style for a brief moment. #I am not exactly great at consistency but I am trying very hard to work on that (immediately messes up again). #Absolutely *love* how Wen Ning clearly remembers and admires WWX...who does *not* recognize him. #This is the best day for Wen Ning and it means *nothing* to WWX. A painful one-sided crush made worse. #It is bittersweet to realize that we care about someone more than they care about us. Sometime we pour love into a relationship- #-with someone who just can't reciprocate. It isn't always a conscious things either. Some people just aren't aware we care. #And painfully - so painfully - You can't make them aware. No act of kindness or gift or self sacrifice will make someone care about you. #You can martyr yourself for someone and they will continue on unchanged. #I think a lot about the parallels between WN and LWJ. Not foils - just reflections. A theme repeated. #People who give so much of themselves to someone who doesn't have the capacity to give any part of themself away. #I will die on the hill of 'Wen Ning would be the love triangle romance if that trope wasn't being avoided'. #And to be honest - thank the stars above that is the case. I do not know any good love triangles in media. #We are skipping some of the sad Jiang Cheng content because I really want to finish season 2 before May. #Sorry JC emo moment lovers...I'll deliver another time.

[sandboxer]

Phoenix’s decision to become a lawyer in part to save Edgeworth often is interpreted along the lines of “Phoenix changed his life to save Edgeworth because he’s gay for him.” and while I don’t think this is necessarily untrue, I think a much more compelling and realistic interpretation is that Phoenix’s reaction to seeing somebody he loves in trouble revealed to him his deep-seated desire to protect the innocent from injustice, so he became a lawyer.

Edgeworth has, in the grand scheme of things, very little to do with why Phoenix is a lawyer. he was, however, a catalyst for Phoenix unlocking that part of himself (along with Mia!). and, to me, the sentiment that love reveals who you are is much more romantic than the idea that Phoenix made a sacrifice only to save the man he loves. loving Edgeworth brings Phoenix closer in line with his true self, and it’s through his love that he sees the potential of who he could be. even if he couldn’t save Edgeworth or if he never even came face-to-face with him again, Phoenix would remain changed by his love and would stay on this path he’s realized he’s so well-suited to. becoming a lawyer was never a sacrifice for Edgeworth; it was the realization of who Phoenix is: a protector. that he realized this through his feelings for Edgeworth is almost immaterial.

#let’s also not forget Mia’s role in his self-realization and career change #but I do think there’s a special level of depth in the Edgeworth side of things that goes further than Love = Sacrifice #narumitsu #phoenix wright #c thinks

[rawrsatthetree]

I’ve seen people compare Julian Devorak to Astarion, and honestly I think you’re all embarrassing wrong.

Gale Dekarios is Julian Devorak.

Astarion is Count Lucio

#I could write a 10 page mla cited paper about this #you either don’t get Jules #or more likely you’re woobifying Astarion #i said what i said #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #baldurs gate #astarion #bg3 astarion #baldurs gate astarion #bg3 gale #gale dekarios #the arcana game #the arcana #julian devorak #count lucio #the fact that Lucio can either become better and become an adventure or he can become the literal devil that takes over the city #he’s need to discard his old self and grab for power by making deals with devils #Gale is a genuine that loves wine his cat and his mom #julian is a genious that loves salty bitters his old dog and his sister #both Gale and Julians need to self sacrifice to prove their worth

[boombams]

mothers love

#THIS IS VERY MUCH INSPIRED BY THAT. ONE LEE SOOKYOUNG DRSWING W KIM DOKJA I SAW LIKE ONE TIME... #it really hit me bad but i csnt seem to find it anymore.... but this is very heavily based on it.... plss i need to find it again 😭😭😭 #orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #omniscent reader #kim dokja #kdj #lee sookyoung #my art #oh lee sookyoung. how fucked up u are. how it is that kim dokja learned of self sacrifice as a form of love from you.. #beofre you joonghyuk... beofre han sooyoung.... good god...

[morelikebaldursgay]

Every time I struggle to understand how Gale is so arrogant and so low-self esteem at the same time I just think back to myself in middle school. Like yes his character is well-developed and multidimensional but also it is fundamentally neurodivergent mentally ill gifted kid who thinks they are so much better and smarter than everyone and everything would work better if they were in charge but also thinks that they are the worst person alive.

#Bg3 #gale dekarios #baldur's gate 3 #gale of waterdeep #really grinds my gears how a lot of meta tends to focus on either his insecurity/self-hatred or his arrogance #When it is vital to his character that they coexist and in fact feed off of each other #Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if this is because really high self-esteem is oft seen as unsympathetic and low self-esteem is oft seen as #Sympathetic and fandom LOVES for characters to be morally simple #Frankly I got psychic damage when I realized part of the key for me to understand Gale was for me to think about my middle school self. #I hope you all appreciate my noble sacrifice (lighthearted) (joking)

[veinsfullofstars]

"Still trying to intimidate me? Cute."

(ID: Kirby series fanart of Meta Knight and Galacta Knight based off of a couple dynamics template by @/ReddsMess on Twitter. Original template and source below the cut, as well as a HAL language variant. Top-left panel - high-angle shot of MK lit from above, standing firm and glaring up through his mask, his wings curled out and breaching the panel in places, subtitled "Well well..." Top-right panel - low-angle shot of GK lit from below, looming in the air and leering down through his mask, his wings curled out and his hands spread wide in challenge, both of which breach the panel in places, subtitled "Look who came to see me..." Bottom panel - MK & GK stand next to each other, the latter leaning towards the former and gently caressing the side of his mask with the back of one hand, grinning smugly and wrapping a wing around the knight, subtitled "My Knightmare." MK stands stiffly with his fists clenched at his sides, blushing vividly and glaring away from the warrior. A little flurry of white hearts emanate from GK, while one small one hovers above MK. END ID.)

Started 03/30/24, finished 04/02/24.

---

HAL language variant:

Original by ReddsMess (template link) NOTE: The artist has marked 16-18+ in their bio, so browse at your own risk!

#veins art #veins ships #veins fanart #fanart #kirby series #kirby #meta knight #galacta knight #galacta knight x meta knight #metagala #couple dynamics #couples meme #meme redraw #pose redraw #template redraw #toxic couple or idiots in love? you decide #I'm a sucker for bespoke pet names apparently #real-bat-wings MK my beloved <3 #veins “keeps drawing feathered wings despite how much they hate doing so” fullofstars #also I saw @post-it-notes7's mirror!GK design and now I will never not draw GK in heels #swallow tailed galacta knight #<- (inspired by @starflungwaddledee of course) #*gasp* no sparkles?? #the sacrifices we make for a t m o s p h e r e #hmm I wonder if this is where the Childhood Friends AU would go if MK and DDD never got back together... #(but I get ahead of myself - that's a story for another time) #(me: *slaps self on wrist" veins no! bad goblin! no more AUs! especially not AUs of AUs! stop it!) #veinsfullofstars

[whinyandcheese724]

I think one of the reasons I dislike zutara as a ship so much is because their friendship is so beautiful on its own without romance and such a huge sign of growth and character development. zuko and katara were one of the first m/f relationships I saw in media where the characters weren’t related or love interests. and while there are several other m/f friendships katara was my favorite character when I first saw the show and as such their friendship was (and still is) very dear to me. 

also, I know everyone loves a good enemies-to-lovers, and I do too, but y’all are sleeping on the criminally underused trope of enemies-to-friends. in almost every enemies-to-lovers story I’ve read the reason that they get from enemies to lovers is because of some undeniable and immutable attraction. but what if we didn’t have that? what if you didn’t haunt my dreams at night? what if it wasn’t a struggle to pull my eyes away from you? what if I had every reason to hate you and all you had to give me was a late apology and a promise to do better? what if forgiving you was a choice I didn’t have to make? then what? I’d have to know you on purpose. you’d have to trust me when I forgive you because I’ve thought of every reason not to. 

and I hear some of you saying “oh but that could be a great enemies-to-lovers story too” and maybe it could, but you’re missing the point. the reason zuko and katara hits so hard for me is because they didn’t have to be friends. they both had other friends and other family and they both would have had happy and full lives. but they got past it anyways. and it didn’t have anything to do with romance or love. it was purely growth and self-improvement. zuko didn’t apologize because of a crush on a cute girl, he apologized because he regretted what he did and was maturing into a better and kinder and more thoughtful person. katara didn’t forgive him because he was hot, she forgave him because she understood that her anger and hate was poisoning her and she wanted to move on. 

tl;dr: the beauty of zutara’s friendship is that they became friends because of growth and maturity that had nothing to do with romance and throwing in that they were attracted to or in love with each other cheapens the significance of their character development and shows that romantic love is the only way to overcome personal challenges.

#also I feel like there's this belief that self-sacrifice is inherently romantic #but I think that self-sacrifice in the name of platonic love is just as impactful #and saying that zuko has to be in love with katara perpetuates the idea that romantic love is the only kind of strong love out there #katara #zuko #platonic zutara #atla #avatar the last airbender

[lovesickeros]

☆ from gold, i am undone

{☆} characters tsaritsa {☆} notes cult au, yandere, drabble, gender neutral reader {☆} warnings blood, implied self harm, implied suicide attempts {☆} word count 0.9k

You weren't meant to be here.

You can feel it in the marrow of your bones– it weighs you down like heavy shackles, gold bleeding from your pores until it is all you know. The taste of ichor on your tongue, the warmth of its invasion beneath your skin, that gleam of gold that lingers in the color of your eyes like specks of dust.

You are changed, and you are whole.

But you are so unbearably broken.

A shattered piece of porcelain hastily put back together with gold to fill the cracks.

Decoration, in the end, for you are not fit to walk as "mortals" do. This gold had filled every empty crevice of your body, spilled the red into your frantic hands and made you bleed so it's callous gold could make room inside your body. It has taken from you many things, given many more, but you scratch and bite and tear until it drips onto the floor and even then it never leaves. It stains the floor no matter how hard you scrub– a permanent reminder of the sickening gold that molds you into something that used to look like you– that does look like you. Desecrated, yet so horribly divine.

All you see is a monster.

Something new, something old.

A hollowed out shell, wounds left to rot and fester until you suited the image of the Creator they bore upon statues and murals, the Creator worshiped in prayers spoken in hushed whispers and joyous chants praising your magnificence.

But what magnificence is there in detachment? What joy is there to be found in carving a God out of a human? They kneel like lambs before the shepherd, but the flock has made you– and you want to unmake them. Unweave the tapestry of their being stitch by stitch until it all falls apart and the world knows the cost of casting molten gold into the shape of a human, knows the price that has been left unpaid.

You want to take it from them. Watch them squabble and pray, blind sheep stepping into the wolf's open maw– to tear the seams of their being until the world is unwound by your heavy hands.

But you know it will not satisfy you.

Nothing does anymore.

You are no wolf. Only the shepherd who guides.

And with every drop of blood spilled, they ripped the humanity from your very bones until your body was the cast in which they made something anew– something gold, something horrific. A monster as much a God, a beast as much a man.

There is nothing left but absolute authority.

You try again and again to mend this act of desecration, to peel back the outer shell and rend the gold from your marrow– but your body cannot, will not, die. It mends itself back into place no matter how damaged, and all you feel is the uncomfortable tug of your body forcing itself to live. You cannot die, but were you ever truly alive at all?

Yet with every cycle, you know only one constant besides the thrum of golden ichor in your veins– cold.

Ice that burns, ice that spreads and festers and devours. Claws that pull you apart until the gold runs thick, teeth that burrow into your bones and rip it out from the source..eyes that witness the fall of a God with reverence– hungering, all consuming reverence.

You welcome it.

It is the first time you felt pain since you were cast into an image of a being you were not meant to be. The sting of cold upon your skin makes you shiver, your body tries to reject it, but you want to welcome it– for a brief moment that lasts only as long as it takes for you to blink, you see the glint of something familiar in the reflection of her empty eyes. Something achingly, horribly familiar– something human, all the more terrifying for it.

Even when Teyvat itself crumples like paper beneath the weight of her sins – of this desecration anew, this wretched heresy – you allow her hands to do it again. You grasp her hands in yours like chains, willing her to shackle you, willing her to pull you apart and make you whole again. To break you until the gold cannot put you back together again.

You long, each time, for those eyes like spears that lodge into your skin– burrow deep and sting deeper, making gold flow like water. You long for the biting tongue, the cutting words and those teeth like weapons– long to see the spite and anger and impure disgust aimed at the woman of silver who leads you down a hall that ends only in damnation. You follow each time like the lamb led astray by the wolf, but you do not wail in betrayal when she sinks her teeth into your throat and devours you whole.

For is it a sin if you welcome it? Has their God sinned, in the eyes of the flock, for welcoming such heresy with open arms? For allowing the wolf into their home?

Is it a sin to be broken beneath the only hands that have loved you?

Is it a sin to want to love, too, those hands and teeth stained in gold?

Then you shall be damned, you swear it. Damned, but gold no more.

For death is the closest you have ever felt to being human.

#sagau #genshin sagau #self aware genshin #genshin impact sagau #self aware genshin impact #fic tag #tsaritsa #genshin cult au #genshin impact cult au #tsaritsa x reader #this is. technically not a sequel but not a prequel but a secret third thing (mental health crisis) #kidding i just wanted 2 write the prev fic from more reader oriented pov bc it wasnt fucked up enough!!!!! #i need fucked up reader who is irreparably changed in horrifying ways!!!!!! and they cant die bc teyvat kinda needs them 2 uh #exist at all. and if u die well thats it. hits reset button #the horrifying fate of a mortal forced to be a god against their will and all the drawbacks that come with it #where is love to be found when they all cannot see themselves as anything but beneath you? there will always be imbalance #oh they try. they claw and scramble and beg but being the creator has changed you. #none of their worship. none of their sacrifices and gifts and pleas make you feel a thing and what a haunting thing it must be #do they reject it? delude themselves into thinking that they must try harder? #or do they accept that this is a god? absolute. horrifying in its entirety. something that even the archons cannot truly understand #a manmade god who seeks absolution in only the most heretical. the most blasphemous #literally shaking chewing on the bars of my cage LET ME OUT #i love deep dives like this sorry 2 everyone i made think i was normal my bad #i just think immortality and godhood r funky concepts and i love making them WORSE #also this took so long because i was playing b@Idurs g@t3 3 erm. censored so it doesnt show up in tags PLEASE DONT SHOW UP IN TAGS #taking i need the tsaritsa to bite me to a whole new entirely worse level!! #i just think (starts talking for 5 hours straight and doesnt Shut Up) #this one is also. considerably more openly fucked up then the other fic. even if its hidden behind flowery language uh. take it seriously. #okay im done no more angst its fluff from here on out i need 2 be NORMAL. i am a normal well functioning adult. maybe.

[haunted-xander]

Song of Oblivion

#ooough my poor cataclysmic bird daughter #she loved so much and destroy everything for it #she denounces existance because to exist is to suffer- and suffering is her enemy #not realizing that in doing so she breeds so much of the suffering she hates #several of the fallen stars only fell because her question spurred them into a self-absorbing path #and then... and then the one singular meteia that realize her folly... who could be convinced of lifes meaning #by seeing you continue ever onwards even with your dearest friends' deaths on your shoulder #by seeing how everyone accepts oblivion for another tomorrow- even if they had suffered so much. even if they wanted to die #no matter what they fought. they fought and died and kept marching forward even in death #they loved life enough to sacrifice it. how could she not accept that? #and the realization that the reason she came to the conclusion she did was because she was flawed- bc hermes was flawed #as hermes said- he gave her wings to fly but did not teach her how to tread the earth #she was given freedom to experience the feelings and emotions of the world- but not the groundwork to understand it #she could see. she could hear. but she could not comprehend #she has knowledge- but without context it gets misinterperated and warped #OUGH im going to scream. i miss her. #meteion #endsinger #final fantasy #final fantasy 14 #final fantasy xiv #ff14 #ffxiv #art #my art #xanders art #digital art #fan art

[fauvester]

“you SHOT me!” newsflash asshole, he’s into that!

#ds9 #garak #garashir #finally got to OMB and it is truly everything that was promised #The FACE that garak makes when Julian shoots him SENDS me #garak like Oh! I didn’t realize he felt this way about me 😳😳😳 #i think this is the ep where garak fell tail over teakettle in love. #buth fascinated by this bizarre human and also chastened and challenged by his insistence on sentimental self sacrifice #realizing that he DOESNT have all the answers #that his upbringing may have limited his worldview #julian showing him that ingenuity flexibility and principles are just as important as practicality