#my kingdom for ANY of what happened in the season 3 finale to get acknowledged

[glorytoukraine2022]

1 and 12 for the salt ask.

1-Cassandrian, Cassunzel, Varipunzel, Adira x Hector, Varian x Catalina and New Dream. Now, New Dream fans, PLEASE don’t kill me!!! I do NOT have anything against New Dream. I acknowledge 100 percent that it is the canon pairing and that Rapunzel and Eugene get married in the wedding short. It Just doesn’t have the same affect on me that it does on many others in the fandom. As I said, I don’t hate New Dream. I just don’t find myself enraptured in it the way so many New Dream fans are. That’s all.

Cassunzel, I just don’t like, because the relationship between Cassandra and Rapunzel was never meant to be romantic. It’s one of those ships where people see a very close friendship and mistake the interactions between those people as romance, despite the characters not having those kinds of feelings for each other. Also, given just how toxic and unhealthy Cassandra and Rapunzel were for each other as friends, I shudder to think what a romantic relationship between them would be like. Also, as I mentioned above, I acknowledge New Dream as the canon pairing and have no desire to rip them apart for a ship that is never going to happen.

Now for Cassandrian. I know this is a popular pairing for both Varian and Cassandra, but I said in my other post, I was against it the moment I saw Varian crushing on Cassandra in “Great Expotations.” I know there are fics where people write Cassandra and Varian as a couple when Varian is either 18 or older, and I acknowledge that as one matures, an age gap becomes less of an issue, but it was just a teenage crush. A crush that Varisn got over quickly after Cassandra betrayed him alongside every one else, and never regained, as expected with most crushes. Also, I just don’t see the Chemistry, no matter how old Varian is. He’s dorky, sweet and kind, and Cassandra just….isn’t any of that, and I can’t see their personalities complementing each other in any way, including in an opposites attract relationship.

My dislike of Varipunzel is similar to Cassunzel. It’s another pairing where people see a sweet friendship and assume that they are attracted to each other. Like I mentioned with Cassandrian, I know age gaps between people become less important as one gets older, and the age gap between Varian and Rapunzel is even less than the one between him and Cassandra. However, it’s still odd thinking of them as a romantic pairing due to the age gap, like Cassandrian. Also, as I said above, New Dream is canon and I see them as having a sibling relationship in the show.

I don’t ship Adira or Hector with anybody, much less each other. I loved getting a glimpse of their complex relationship in ”Rapunzel and the Great Tree” and the implications that they had reconciled by the finale, but I do not see them as romantic partners at all. I don’t believe Hector or Adira ever Saw each other in a romantic sense, though I know people love to inclde It to add more drama to their relationship. I will always see Hector, Adira and the Brotherhood as a whole (with the exception of Edmund) as siblings.

I will never ship Varian and Catalina as a result of the age gap between them. Just like with Varipunzel and Cassandrian. While yes, I know that Cassandra and Rapunze were both legally adults when they met Varian, who was still a minor, the age gap between Varian and Catalina is of similar length to the age gaps Varian had with Rapunzel and Cassandra. In season 3, Catalina is a pre teen whereas Varian is already in his mid to late teens. You can see the way Varian towers over the girls, along with his frame being more filled out than either of them.

Yes, Varian and Catalina are both minors when they meet, but one thing that people do not seem to understand (and that I will probably do a post on sometime in the future) is that Varian is NOT at the same stage of development as Catalina. He is still emotionally and physically more mature than her. As I said, Varian is in his mid to late teens while Catalina is a pre teen. There is a significant difference in their stages of development. Like I’ve mentioned with Varian and Rapunzel. I prefer and see them as siblings.

12-This one is tough. I guess I like seeing Edmund bond with Eugene in season 3. I don’t hold the hard feelings towards Edmund that a lot of people seem to have. He never abandoned Eugene out of malice or cruelty. Eugene didn’t have an easy life growing up, but the Dark Kingdom wasn’t a safe place for a child to grow up in. However, I dislike the idea that Edmund should leave his life and legacy behind in order to have a relationship with Eugene. One can have a loving relationship with their child while fulfilling their own commitments, duties and having their own lives. I also like Dark Prince Eugene, but I don’t know if I’d consider it an arc or a popular one or not. As we discussed earlier, so many characters and their arcs were dropped like a hot potato.

#cassandra tts #tangled varian #eugene fitzherbert #rapunzel #tts catalina #adira tangled #tts hector #king edmund #new dream #cassunzel #varipunzel #cassandrian #Hecdira #Catalina x Varian #tts #tangled the series #rapunzels tangled adventure #Salt Asks #ask answered

[itsmymeaningoflife]

I just don’t understand why any of this is needed. Daryl and carol already have a shit ton of baggage to work with before season 10 even happened. Did Connie have to be involved? Does this Leah person have to come into the story? Didn’t we have enough shit to deal with without all this other shit? I’m frustrated. What do you think the purpose is?

Hi friend! I’m gonna start this by saying that I agree that none of *this* is needed plot and it does ultimately make Caryl becoming canon feel so much further out of reach.

However, we also have to acknowledge that this show IS NOT Caryl centric (that’s what the spin off will be for) and I’m sure that this Leah plot line will weave into a bigger picture. Hang with me cause I’m gonna make a few seperate points and try to tie it in at the end.

1. Connie- it’s my belief that they NEVER intended Connie to be a romantic interest for Daryl until the fans blew it up, so they rolled with it and made it a bigger deal in s10 after it sparked conversation during s9. I love Connie as a character and do not support her slander. The bottom line is that I firmly believe Daryl and Connie are great friends (much like how Daryl is friends with Maggie, Michonne, Kelly ect.) If Daryl and Connie were to be a thing, they would’ve used her instead of Leah to explore Daryls sexual adventures. We don’t need to worry about Connie.

2. Daryl and Carol have never really fallen out before now. Since becoming close friends (so after s2?) they’ve always been on the same page and suddenly they’re clashing and it’s hard to see. Throughout s10 Daryl made every accommodation for Carols recklessness yet she still kept pulling away from him. The bottom line is, it is healthy to fight / disagree (to an extent). Their upcoming argument is going to be raw but we’re finally going to be able to address the tension instead of ignoring it. They have to remove this wedge that’s been in between them since Carol decided to go after Alpha alone and it seems like they’re going to need to fall out before they can spring back together. They both have things they need to get off their chest.

3. Leah- we haven’t seen the episode yet and while it looks bad I believe it’s good for us in the long run. All spoilers are pointing towards Leah being toxic for Daryl so I think it’s going to help highlight how compatible Carol is for him. Also, this is a flash back. We’ve had all the content since s9e6 since Leah (check out my pinned post 😗✌🏼) and Daryl has shown us time and time again where his priorities lie (spoiler alert, it’s with Carol). Daryl and Leah happens when Carol is married to Ezekiel and happens after Carol tells Daryl that she can’t keep visiting him. Carol chose a stable life at the kingdom with her husband and son rather than an unsafe and unstable life in the woods with her grieving best friend. I don’t blame Daryl for going off and finding comfort elsewhere. I know it goes against what we thought of his character but for now, it’s something we’re gonna just have to live with.

4. Daryl is the guardian of Judith, RJ and (debatably) Lydia yet he is still willing to drop everything and run away to New Mexico with Carol alone. And as we’re getting a spin off, we know he does.

5. I’ve got a headcannon that they’re setting up Leah as a villain ( and not just because she’s Daryls ex) but that’s a whole other post

So all in all, I think that while this ploy of 10x18 is totally unneeded, I don’t think it’s going to alter the trajectory of Caryl. We have s11. We have our spin off. Would Daryl really abandon the children and run away with Carol if they were still on bad terms? Would Carol leave with a man who is in love with another woman to be 3rd wheel? I don’t think so

We good

Keep calm and stay positive ❤️

Hope this answers your questions btw, I sort of went on a tangent. Drop me another ask if I missed anything xx

#caryl #caryl positivity

[thereluctantinquisitor]

WIP Whenever

Thank you for the tag @captainsaku! At the moment, I’m still limping through the opening chapters of Stonebreaker, trying to get a feel for the story and work on strengthening my atrophied writing muscles. Anyway, I figured I’d share what I have so far of Adiran’s introductory chapter. It’s basically just an awkward, descriptive mess, but at least it’s something. At this point, I’ll count that as a win!

I also put a short glossary at the end in case some terms were confusing. <3

Chapter 3 - A Scene

Be present. Do not cause a scene.

They were simple enough requests, Adiran supposed, as he braced himself and drained his third flute of wine. He knew it was poor form to cringe after swallowing, but the dry white was about as pleasant as a mouthful of sand and only went down half as well. If he was the paranoid type, he’d think the servers were offering him the worst vintages on purpose.

Then again, the celebration had stretched into its ninth day, now. Even the royal cellars had a limit.

Despite overstaying its welcome, the event remained at a predictably lofty height of splendour. In the ballroom - Vetrose’s famed Silver Font -  delicate rivulets of water, no wider than the span of a hand, curled their way across the marble floor, draining into a shallow pool at the base of the royal thrones. Above their heads, weavelight strings were draped elegantly between pillars and across wide arches, their glowing pinpricks joining the blazing chandelier to bathe the room a honey-gold.

Beneath that radiant light, the Talveran nobility moved like swans, jewellery glittering, ankle-length gowns and embroidered jackets flashing enough to catch the attention of nesting crows. Hundreds packed the Font that night - an entirely different crowd to the evening prior, and likely the one prior to that. Attending Talveran court, with its litany of demands and expectations, was an exhausting and expensive affair. Every evening demanded a new outfit. A new glittering showpiece. A new plan for navigating the treacherous waters of social interaction, careful not to show too much interest in any one person. One night was difficult enough to survive. Very few could afford to be present for an entire turn’s worth of celebration.

Unfortunately, Adiran had no choice in the matter. It just had to be his brother returning from the northern border. As if no one else had ever come back from that waste of a campaign.

Another mouthful. Another weary swallow of something half as strong as it needed to be. Honestly, he’d almost rather be swallowing sand. At least that meant he’d be in the arena, getting his ass kicked practicing for something that mattered, instead of wasting his time decorating the wall. Divider’s Own, Lorvain was meant to have arrived by the third day! Adiran might have been able to slip away if he had been around to soak up the attentions of the lords and ladies. But no. The beloved Crown Prince had probably stopped to fawn over milkmaids and shepherds at every town between here and Morgate. Really, they should have accounted for that before throwing such a ridiculous event...

 A prince should want to know his people, Adiran. I thought you understood that?

Threading paths expertly between the nobility were almost three dozen servers dressed in vibrant Volise green. Silver trays were held aloft on the pads of their gloved fingers as they moved in rehearsed patterns around the room, making sure every hand that sought a glass found a delicate stem. It was a different sort of dance; the kind that typically went unnoticed, the same way a clock’s hands are appreciated more than the mechanism behind the face. They knew the position of every crack in the stone; every rivulet.

None of them ever looked down.

Speaking of timing, the only reason Adiran paid the servers any heed was to make sure he got his right. On cue, he finished his wine with a grimace and thrust it towards a well-groomed young woman, her dark hair braided and pinned neatly around her head. Without so much as an errant blink, she bobbed carefully at the knees, accepted the glass, and replaced it with a new one from her tray. 

“Careful not to drop that,” Adiran said, taking the drink and giving it an experimental sniff. Sweeter. Thank the Divider for that.

The server hesitated. They always did. Every night. “Your Highness?” she asked, and her lilt was perfection. Just the right amount of simpering, blended with polite curiosity. Someone had taken her training seriously.

“Am I slurring already? What I’m saying is that if the Crown Prince finally shows up and you’re in the middle of mopping a puddle, the King will have your hide for saddle leather. So...” He extended one bored finger towards the tray, a smirk curling the corner of his lips. “Tread lightly.”

The server’s mouth opened, and for a moment no sound followed. For just one blissful, fleeting second, Adiran thought he’d finally done it. He’d finally won. 

Then, like underappreciated clockwork, her lips shaped themselves into a beatific smile, and she dipped into a curtsy. The tray never even wobbled. “Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. On my word, I will remain diligent. I would not dare bring shame on our King’s house.”

Damn it. The smile Adiran flashed back - half a sneer - could cut glass. But the server had already completed her parting bob and returned to her dance, weaving and gliding among the gaggle of silver-bloods with her tray of weak wine. Expression turning brittle, Adiran huffed and leaned back against one of the massive marble pillars - just one of fifteen lining the room. He’d claimed it on the first evening, like a hound staking its territory. Most people knew better than to bother him once he’d found his haunt, but the serving staff simply didn’t have that luxury. He supposed it was probably unkind, to force them to speak to him. But Divider, he was just so bored...

Scowling, he took a long swallow of his new drink, the chilled, sweet liquid a welcome enough sensation as it ran down the back of his throat.

So he was unkind. So what?

“Are you finished losing to the servers for tonight, or should I come back later?”

A familiar voice, and right on time. Adiran gave no indication of surprise, barely even turning to acknowledge the man. After all, this was just another ritual for them; a way to take a knife to long hours of affluent, barely drunk loitering. “Yeah, I’m done. An earthquake couldn’t shake them.” His gaze finally cut across, delivering what he hoped was a scathing look as Riin settled against the pillar beside him. “Took you long enough. Get distracted by all the pretty gowns and pouting lips?”

Folding his arms across his broad chest, Riin chuckled softly, utterly immune to Adiran’s glare. “Could you blame me if I was? Everyone looks appealing under this light.”

“That’s generous of you.” Sniffing, Adiran glanced up. Even with the smoke-glass covers encasing each glowing orb, he still had to squint against the brightness of the weavelights. “Guess it could be worse. We looked more like corpses before the covers were put on.”

“Really? I’m glad I missed it.”

“Yeah. Being dead inside is more than enough.”

Riin laughed, and a faint smile curved Adiran’s lips. He quickly hid it behind his glass. Truthfully, the entire ‘weavelight saga’ had been ridiculous. The King and Queen had commissioned hundreds of them from Tel Shival, purely because no one else had ever done it. Even the wealthiest families only ever had a few per household, usually kept in a lantern or a sconce in the most frequented rooms. After two seasons of painstaking arrangement that nearly killed two of their staff, the Silver Font soon found itself bathed in a thematically violent silver light. It had been an exciting novelty, at first; nobility flooded in from all over Talvera just to bask in the glow of thousands of wasted sicets. But then they quickly realised that colours didn’t behave the same way. Their favourite jewellery didn’t catch the eye. Their skin didn’t appear as youthful and rosy. Instead, every flaw - every stray hair or unpolished button - was placed on stark display for the vultures to pick at.

The weavelights were as bleak and clinical as a physicker’s ward. They sucked the warmth out of everything they touched.

In Adiran’s mind, the wash of corpse-light over each soiree was a perfectly fitting thing. But, as was typical, no one else agreed. So, they decided to encase each of the weavelights in honey-tinted glass and returned the room to almost exactly how it looked before. Back when it was lit by oil and flame.

That was how things were in Talvera. Decisions were made, sicets were spent, and then everyone just wanted to go back to how things used to be. Like nothing had ever happened.

GLOSSARY

Weavelight - spheres of crystal or glass, with a light-bearing glyphstring engraved by a thaumist specialising in Weaving. Maintains a bright, steady silver light. Cannot be dimmed or turned off at will. Thaumist - a well-trained practitioner of the thaumic arts, capable of manipulating thaumic essence. Turn - ten days. Tel Shival - An independent, famously insular city dedicated to the training and cultivation of thaumists and thaumaturgical study. Sicet - Currency used in the Allied Kingdoms.

---

Tagging: @frenchy-and-the-sea, @leothelionsaysgrrrr, @bladeverbena, @thefluffynug, @rufinagertrude, @arduyn, @anarchyduck, and anyone else who has a WIP they’d like to share!

#wip whenever #(because i always miss wednesday lol) #reluctant memes #stonebreaker series #adiran #riin #the more i read it the more i dont really like it but #just... gotta... MOVE ON.... #hURGH #reluctant writes

[bestworstcase]

replies on this post ( @ngocthach4020​, numbering mine ):

Counterarguments:

1 - While I do agree that Zhan Tiri does a good job making it seem like she does care about Cassandra, the fact that Cassandra trusted a total stranger for over a year in itself makes her intelligence dubious at best. Not to mention Cassandra never asks the total stranger who mysteriously knows this much about her for her NAME during all that time, nor tries to find out anything else about her.

2 - Rapunzel is the heir to the throne. Of course she’s going to get more recognition than Cassandra. Cassandra herself was given multiple guard assignments throughout Season 1, cheered on by the people of Corona even when she came second place to Rapunzel at the Challenge of the Brave, and trusted with leading the assault against Varian in the season finale. This isn’t even getting into how she has plenty of opportunities at Ingvarr or Vardaros.

3 - The people of Vardaros focused on Rapunzel despite preferring Cassandra over her, yes, but that doesn’t change how they treated Rapunzel like dirt and Cassandra seemed to LIKE that.

4 - In the song I’d Give Anything, Rapunzel does acknowledge she wronged Cassandra.

5 - Just because Cassandra has legitimate grievances, it doesn’t excuse her trying to murder people who never did anything bad to her, which she does several times throughout Season 3.

firstly: i mean this in the kindest way possible but none of these are actually counter-arguments to the point i was making, which is that cassandra has very good reasons for her decision to trust zhan tiri and be emotionally vulnerable with her in the house of yesterday’s tomorrow. #2 is the only one relevant to the subject at hand, #1, #4, and #5 all concern things that happen after the incident being discussed and are thus irrelevant, and for #3 it’s unclear to me what point you think you’re countering and also, i have no idea what you’re talking about. 

but as with anything i have plenty of thoughts

#1: i have two thoughts about this one

the first is that this is, first and foremost, a writing issue. for whatever reason, the writing team was not interested in digging into cassandra’s character arc in s3, and they also were not interested in developing zhan tiri as a character, and they really were not interested in elaborating on the cass + zhan tiri friendship whatsoever. the end result of this lack of interest is that all of this character development is gestured at or loosely implied, and the vast majority of their relationship occurs off screen. we are shown their first meeting in relative detail, given a handful of brief glimpses that mostly comprise zhan tiri saying a line or two while cassandra listens and glares, and then given the end result of cass doing whatever zhan tiri tells her to do until a narratively convenient plot device is inserted to make her stop. the character development in this arc is extremely poor. no one is arguing that it isn’t. 

however my second thought is that, as a consequence, “cass travels with this person for almost a year without ever asking her name or trying to find out anything about her” is not, in fact, canon. that’s a matter of interpretation. (eg: i spent the entirety of the first half of the season assuming that of course cassandra knew who zhan tiri was, my reaction to CR in this regard boiled down to “well if cass didn’t already know that was zhan tiri she certainly does NOW,” RTTS did nothing to change my mind, and i was legitimately taken aback when OAH confirmed that cass just didn’t know. all of this was a plausible interpretation because so little of the cass + ziti relationship actually develops on screen. there is SO MUCH information missing.)

the point being: the only canonical information we have regarding zhan tiri’s identity and cassandra’s knowledge thereof is that cassandra doesn’t learn zhan tiri’s true identity until OAH. this does not preclude cassandra pressing the issue and zhan tiri lying to her by telling her a fake name, or feigning ignorance (a la “i’ve been trapped in that house for as long as i can remember and i have no idea where i came from or who i was before then,” which is absolutely a plausible cover story given the kind of things tromus pulled off whilst team corona was trapped in the HOYT and that cass herself has very recent experience with magical memory loss), or masquerading as an aspect of the moonstone itself (which is at least plausible enough that a good chunk of the fandom theorized that that’s who she was in the early half of the season). 

there is, frankly, no evidence to support interpreting cassandra’s “who are you?” as “i’ve literally never asked this question before” instead of “you told me things about yourself that i believed but it’s not adding up anymore so i’m confronting you on your lies” or vice versa, because... we just don’t know. i personally favor the latter interpretation over the former, because it makes more sense to me, but the text is unclear.

all of which is to say: the post was about why cassandra trusts zhan tiri initially, a questions which - as i said in the original post - is answered very clearly on screen. there is not enough canonical information about the development of their relationship afterwards to do anything more than speculative analysis, ie headcanon, regarding how zhan tiri cultivated that trust. for what it’s worth my personal assumption is that zhan tiri continued to act as she does in RR, fostering the emotional connection between herself and cassandra, and that shortly after the stinger in who’s afraid of the big bad wolf (ie their second proper meeting) she gave cass some explanation of who she was and what she wanted. i also make the general assumption that they shared a lot of conversations during the long walk back to corona because it is ludicrous to imagine otherwise. 

#2: cassandra is a commoner who was indoctrinated from birth with the cultural belief that the lives of the royal family are more important and have more inherent worth than her own. this only intensified once rapunzel returned to corona. cassandra exists in a system that chews her up and spits her out without so much as a thank you, and rapunzel is the center around which that system orbits. “rapunzel is the heir to the throne so of course she gets more recognition than cassandra, her servant” isn’t, in fact, a counterargument. that is exactly the problem. the world cass is in is inherently devalues her personhood. even her own father repeatedly prioritizes his duty to the monarchy over the wellbeing of his daughter.

in s1, cass is given guard duties which she is expected to fit around her already extremely busy schedule as a maid and lady-in-waiting to the princess, all without ever being made an actual member of the royal guard. she is given, in other words, all of the work and responsibility without any of the recognition, salary, benefits, or job security afforded to actual guards, and she is expected to do it during her scant time off. and she does it all with the constant unspoken threat of being sent to a convent against her will if she screws up looming over her head. that’s not... privilege or an opportunity, that’s flat out exploitation. 

even in SOTS, she is only put in command of the assault on old corona because most of the higher officers of the guard are out of commission, including the captain. and this happens mere hours after her father forcibly sends her to a convent, which really underscores what little autonomy cassandra has in her life and how capricious and arbitrary any “opportunities” that come her way in corona are. 

yes, she is better accepted in vardaros and the queen of ingvarr did at one point extend an invitation for her to join the battalion in ingvarr, but—again, that’s not really a counterargument. “cassandra would have to leave her home and move to a foreign kingdom in order to be treated with respect and live as her authentic self” is an enormous indictment of corona itself. 

#3: the vardarans are less than receptive to rapunzel attempting to force her sunny demeanor onto them and react with hostile indifference when she persists even after being told—by multiple people including vex, quaid, cassandra, and iirc eugene—that her behavior was not wanted or welcome. they make their opinions known without making any attempt to soften the blow, but—with the one exception of “ya clod” lady—none of them harass or bully her. i’m not sure where you’re getting “they treat her like dirt” from. they treat her like people who are annoyed with having someone else’s culture jammed down their throats by some foreign princess, which,

cass, by the same token, enjoys being surrounded by people she “clicks” with and with whom she can just relax and be herself, and she repeatedly cautions rapunzel against trying to make the vardarans act, think, and feel like coronans... in other words, she advises rapunzel to be culturally sensitive. and she’s right to do so. cass doesn’t start gloating about being better liked until after rapunzel lashes out at her and makes a huge deal out of cass’s events being different / more in tune with vardaran culture than her own. 

#4: things rapunzel does a full year after cass meets zhan tiri in the shell house are not relevant to the question of why cass trusts zhan tiri in the shell house and also lol no... she doesn’t? these are the lyrics of i’d give anything: 

[RAPUNZEL] I know we've grown apart It breaks my heart in two I miss your company The closeness we once knew

I won't pretend to know Just what you're going through But I'd give anything for you Yes, I'd give anything to relive everything with you So if you find that you're in darkness or despair Though you won't turn to me Please know I'll be right there Name any sacrifice I'll pay the price that's due 'Cause I'd give anything for you Yes, I'd give anything to relive everything we knew Yes, I'd give anything For you

i don’t... know how to read an expression of apology or even just acknowledgement of wrongdoing into this song because it... isn’t there. this is the exact same sentiment rapunzel spends the entirety of s3 expressing, which is that she misses her friendship with cass and would do anything to get it back and she doesn’t understand why cassandra is so upset. and frankly it really. does not reflect well on rapunzel as a character because cassandra explains her grievances very clearly at the beginning of the season: “my whole life, i’ve been cast aside for you. no more,” followed by, you know, the entirety of crossing the line.

like even just... compare rapunzel’s lines at the top of crossing the line:

[RAPUNZEL] This has to stop now Whatever it is that you're going through We'll fix it together, me and you Just like we've always done

to her lines in i’d give anything: 

I won't pretend to know Just what you're going through

there has been zero growth. zero recognition of the fact that cassandra has, by the time of i’d give anything, told rapunzel what she’s going through at least three times. (she laid everything out for rapunzel in the dark fortress after taking the moonstone; in gothel’s mirror room in TOTS, cassandra expressed her anguish over gothel’s abandonment and her feelings of inferiority; in OAH, cass used feldspar’s play to fumblingly express her difficulty sharing her feelings with rapunzel; and if you want to count the BVA rock telepathy and cassandra furiously screaming “i don’t follow your orders anymore!” in CR, that brings us to a total of five times that cassandra shares at least part of what she’s “going through” with rapunzel only for it to, apparently, go in one ear and out the other because by plus est raps is still like “what could POSSIBLY be GOING ON with cass.”)

the closest rapunzel ever comes to expressing her own wrongdoing is the mealy-mouthed “we both did things wrong” sentiment in OAH (“maybe you’re right and it is your fault, rapunzel... partially...”), which she then undermines by going essentially “but if you had just told me how you felt then none of this would have happened” (ignoring that cass... did... tell her how she felt... repeatedly... in s2...) and rapunzel acknowledging that it was probably annoying to deal with a sunny “flower child” when she was fresh out of the tower (which is true, but entirely glosses over her treatment of cass in s2). in the former instance it’s unclear what, if anything, rapunzel truly thinks she did wrong (certainly “not listening” isn’t it), and in the latter case she is apologizing for being ~too free-spirited~ in the first couple weeks after the tower which... wasn’t even the problem back then and certainly wasn’t the core problem in s2. and by her own admission in i’d give anything rapunzel still doesn’t even understand why cassandra was upset in the first place, let alone how she may have contributed to it. 

like the utter dearth of development between cass and zhan tiri, this is ultimately a writing problem that reflects poorly on the character, rather than a character problem per se. for whatever reason, the writing team didn’t want to examine the legitimacy of cassandra’s actual grievances—which by extension meant that they couldn’t write rapunzel as having any awareness of those grievances, so the end result is cass obsessing over gothel and rapunzel spending the entire season baffled, just baffled, about what cass is so worked up about, all while sadly pining for the friendship they used to have and vocalizing a desire to get it back but simultaneously ignoring everything cass says about why she’s upset, because rapunzel listening to cass would require rapunzel to genuinely wrestle with her own role in what happened, which isn’t possible because that would loop us back around to all those legitimate grievances that the writers just didn’t want to (or couldn’t) deal with.

but tldr no at no point in the narrative of s3 does rapunzel genuinely acknowledge the actual things she did wrong by cass.

#5: i’m genuinely not sure why you think this is even relevant at all, unless you somehow read “cass did nothing wrong” into the argument of “it is both natural and reasonable for cass to trust the one (1) person who appears to give a damn about how she feels,” which i think says more about you than it does about me. 

#rta

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Lost and Found

Another plot episode and another mountain of missed opportunities, failed set ups, and foreshadowing that goes nowhere. But outside of that it’s pretty entertaining. Are we seeing a pattern yet? 

Summary: Rapunzel and Eugene go on a journey to retrieve the fourth and final piece of the scroll that will lead them to the Dark Kingdom. They receive help from Vigor the Visionary, who reveals himself to be Lord Demanitus himself, the author of the scroll depicting the purpose of the Sundrop and Moonstone. He leads them to the maze that he hid the last piece of the scroll in. Guiding them through the maze, they obtain the last piece, which united the four into one singular map. As they are about to leave, they are attacked by a stone monster.

Maybe That’s Why You Should Have Brought the Only Person Who Can Read It Along?!

Once again, having the characters acknowledge their stupidity in meta dialogue doesn’t alleviate the fact that the audience is going to think them stupid.

Regardless of your personal feelings towards Varian or what he has done in the past that does not change the fact that he is literally the only character in the show thus far who can translate the scroll. The mains knew that before leaving and they knew from the get go that they were going to need the scroll piece which is why they took it from him.  

Not bringing him along, not getting a translation key from him before leaving, nor even showing us a scene of Raps trying to ask him to translate the scroll for them before leaving and then having him refuse to do so, is a plot hole. 

Timeline Hint...Sort Of...

Rapunzel said last episode that it had been almost year since they left Corona, and it’s now close enough to her birthday again that Eugene could be tricked by it but not enough to actually be her birthday. 

So...when are we again? 

I’m going to guess 10 months after Secret of the Sun Drop? Maybe... It could also be 9 or 11 who knows... but I am still seeing fall like trees which is our only indication of a changing season in this show because the creators don’t understand climate apparently.  

Maybe cause we’re now further north of Corona we see fall/winter leaves even into early spring? 

Where Was This Rapunzel In Season 3? 

Rapunzel actually giving a crap about what Eugene wants is as rare as seeing a fawn in the woods. It happens, but most of the time you forget it's even there. 

While come season three, Rapunzel will just shoot the poor deer dead. 

Madame Canardist is a Wasted Character

I’ve already discussed at length the biggest problems with Madame Carnardist in my Vigor the Visionary and Curses reviews. So I won’t rehash those talking points here again. However what I spoke about were larger problems with the media industry and bigotry as a whole and not the specific impact the character has on the story. Which is next to none. 

The crew went through all of this trouble to make a deleted character from the film relevant to the series’s plot, and even there they failed. Madame Canardist is nothing more than a translator for Vigor when Demantius isn’t around. The story doesn’t utilize her properly despite her connections to one of the more plot important characters. 

What is her relationship to Demantius and Zhan Tiri? How did Vigor come into her care? Why is she the only person who understands him when Demantius isn’t in control? If Vigor is centuries old by this point than how old is she? What is her stake in all this and why does she bother with Rapunzel at all if she has nothing to gain from it? Why doesn’t she go along on this important quest through the maze seeing as how she is Vigor’s caretaker? 

She’s not completely useless, but like with Lady Caine, Xavier, and Hector before her, she has far more potential than the series is willing to explore with her.  

So Much For Caring About What Eugene Wants 

Welp that lasted all of five seconds. 

Man, Rapunzel is a shit girlfriend.  

The Pay Off Works, But It Then Serves No Purpose Afterwards 

I don’t mind the idea of Demantius being the monkey. I mean it is one of the very few plot points in the show with proper foreshadowing and follow through. And yes, Demantius does accomplish one thing here, by helping Raps obtain the last scroll piece. 

The problem is, nothing changes with this revelation. 

No one’s perceptions or interactions with Demantius/Vigor are altered after this reveal. No one changes their plans, goals, or motivations afterwards. Things carry on more or less afterwards the same as if they had never met. The only thing of importance here is the scroll pecice and that’s only relevant in Cassandra's Revenge and is then forgotten about completely for the rest of the series. 

What’s the point of having a plot twist if the status quo still remains?    

If the information being revealed doesn’t alter the story then why keep it secret to begin with? 

How Could You Research Them If You Never Found Them?

So did Demantius write the incantations or not? 

He is the one who put them on the scroll, so it’s natural to conclude that he did create them, but he couldn’t have done that unless he had studied both the moonstone and sundrop to see the effects the two macguffins had to the spells. 

Now according to this exposition dump, the sundrop and moonstone had been around for ages before Demantius and had become legends by his time. It is possible that someone else studied the two macguffins before him and came up with those incantations, but who? 

The ancient people of the Dark Kingdom might have studied the moonstone since they were tasked with guarding it, but no one knew where the sundrop was until Gothel found it. 

The audience needs to know this sort of information in order to understand the motivations driving the conflicts of the characters. 

Imagine a Lord of the Rings trilogy that never bothered to say where the one ring of power came from or how it came into Gollum’s possession. You’d be left wondering why everyone was fighting over what amounts to an invisibility spell that once belonged to a small deformed hobbit who used to catch fish.   

This Explanation Goes Nowhere 

Why did the disciples betray Demantius? What did they gain from siding with Zhan Tiri? Why was Gothel with them? Did she betray everyone once she found the sundrop? What was Demantius and Zhan Tiri fighting over to begin with? 

Don’t expect any of those questions to be answered. The series inexplicably makes a big deal over Gothel being connected to Zhan Tiri, but then never actually explains what that connection is, what they’re relationship dynamic was, nor how it connects back to Rapunzel’s and Cassandra’s current conflict. 

That’s the real failing of the show’s lore and backstories. They don’t connect back to the current conflict. It’s just there. 

In a well constructed show, Demantius would have been a parallel to Rapunzel who was also ‘betrayed’ by people she trusted. It would have been revealed that it was Demantius’ own actions that drove away his followers and caused them to side with Zhan Tiri. Thereby serving as a warning to Rapunzel herself and forcing her to realize in the end that in order to save everyone she’s have to apologize to those she hurt. We also would have gotten three betrayals instead of two since that’s more thematically impactful. 

But this isn’t a well constructed show and the characters in it don’t ever evolve.   

This Contradicts What We Find Out In Season 3

We find out in the last season that Zhan Tiri was originally from this world and that the only reason she was ‘bent on destruction’ was because of Demantius ticked her off somehow.  She also had no magical powers of her own until after Demantius had banished her to that other realm where she was imprisoned. 

Also Demantius didn’t use any powers. He just chucked her into a portal he had built without any warning or trail, with zero idea if it would kill her or not, all because she just stood there yelling at him. Like there wasn’t even any physical fighting, so it wasn’t a case of in defense either. 

Demantius should have been revealed to be the real antagonist all along but that would require the showrunners to be actually clever for once and not misogynistic towards their female characters. 

This Makes Zero Sense

First off, when was Zhan Tiri ever looking for Demantius? She’s been too busy trying to escape from her prison and it’s been centuries. She has no reason to suspect that he’s still alive nor does she care. Zhan Tiri’s plans are not dependant upon whether or not Demantius still exists. 

Secondly, how is the host body still alive after centuries? Why go with monkey when I’m sure there are actual human beings out there who would agree to living forever. Does the transfer actually destroy the mind? Cause if not you could have had an actual coherent host that could have helped out when Demantius was dormant.   

And don't give me any guff about ‘ethics’ because this is the man who played judge, jury, and executioner to his supposed friend/possible lover and probably killed one of his disciples as Sugarbee’s spirit was trapped in his device.  

Not the Best of Plans My Dude

So Demantius is basically committing suicide here for no real reason. 

Unless he was just already dying anyways when he made the transfer, then Demantius is drastically shortening his conscious life span. The monkey will live on, but he won’t. 

So why? He had no way of knowing that the sundrop would become a person in the future, it’s completely coincidental that he met Rapunzel just at the right place and time to help her, and as stated above, Zhan Tiri was no longer a threat to him or the world since he imprisoned her and defeated his disciples. 

Like what was his thought process here? “I just really, really want to be a monkey?” 

Eugene Isn't Wrong 

Look, I am a deeply religious person and I have faith in many things, but even I know that critical thought is necessary for basic survival and that scepticism is just plain common sense. Believing in something doesn’t mean shutting your brain off and never thinking for yourself. 

Demantius has yet to give any reason for why Eugene and Rapunzel should trust him. Him saying ‘have faith’ repeatedly does nothing to instill confidence and in fact does the opposite. If you want to people to believe in you, especially in a dangerous situation that you dragged them into, then you need to earn that trust. 

There’s a world of difference in assuming the best in people and being a fool, and Rapunzel is not the better person just because she blindly goes along with anything because she stubbornly wants to do whatever she wants and assumes she’s always right. 

Eugene is Still Right

Is ‘Faith’ the new ‘Destiny’ now? Are we just assigning different meanings to random words in order to push the story’s narrative along? 

This entire maze only involves solving puzzles, answering riddles, and a bit of running and climbing here and there. ‘Faith’ has absolutely nothing to do with it. 

This theme doesn’t even work when you take into account the reveal that it’s Eugene who needs to have faith in Rapunzel. Because Rapunzel isn’t the only one doing these things and getting them through here. 

In fact Demantius being here, and being the one who built the maze in the first place, kind of negates Rapunzel’s importance in this area. Secondly, Eugene is doing half the work anyways so it should be a message about having faith in each other. But they already have that so...yeah what’s the point of Demantius constantly bringing it up? 

Why Are You Caring About Money While Stuck In a Death Trap?

You’re rich now, Eugene. You’re the future prince consort and live in a palace. As soon as you get back to Corona or a place that recognizes Corona as a kingdom you’ll have plenty of money to spare. But you can’t do that if you’re dead inside a maze. 

Moreover, Rapunzel still has money on her. She just threw two coins in to the well; one for her and one for Demantius. You two live together! You’ve been traveling inside a caravan together for over a year now and neither of you work. Ergo, you should logically be sharing your finances at this point in time. Especially since that is what you’ll be doing anyways once you’re married for real, as you’ll both be heads of state.   

That’s Now How Faith Works

Faith is evidence for things unseen, or to put it more accurately the evidence for things that are unprovable. God, death, the future, creation, souls, the meaning of life, ect, are all concepts that can’t be proven nor disproven. No one upon this earth will ever know for certain what happens after death, how the universe was made, or if there is any intelligent life out there beyond ourselves.

People don’t like the unknowable.

Believe systems of all kinds, whether they be religious or not, exist to bring us comfort when face with the dread of such existential questions. Even if that belief system is agnosticism itself.

Gravity, weight, and basic physics however are all provable concepts that have been around since Ancient Greece, if not longer. Man has always known that if you drop something it falls, even if they didn’t have the math to back it. It’s just a fact of life.

‘Faith’ isn’t going to stop Eugene from falling. It’s not going to make the bridge more sturdy. It’s not going to magically make him as light as a feather. It won’t turn the acid below him into water. “Faith’ can’t literally give you wings and make you fly; that’s just a metaphor.

What Demantius is promoting here isn’t faith. What he’s asking Eugene to do is to blindly follow his orders without question.

This is especially jarring when you consider that Demantius is supposed to be a famous scientist. He should know very well the importance of critical thought and that having faith doesn’t mean shutting your brain off.

The Scroll is Such a Let Down

We’ve spent a season and a half finding the pieces for this thing and it won't actually be relevant until the halfway through season three. Mostly because the one person who can translate it isn’t here.

On top of that, it’s no longer important outside of  one episode. It’s an example of  the payoff not living up to its hype.

So This Is a Lie

The scroll only contains four incantations on it, and one is on the back in invisible ink and not the fourth pecice itself. None of those incantations involve combining the moontsone and sundrop together. In fact, after using two of those incantations only once they’re never seen being used again for the rest of the series. Furthermore, once the moonstone and sundrop are combined they only allow the user to perform the healing and hurt incantations, which Rapunzel can do anyways without the moonstone. 

Demantius wrote the dang scroll himself! He should very much know what is on it and what it does. This is yet another case of the writers not planning things ahead. 

Being Good at Riddles Doesn’t Make You ‘Pure of Heart’ 

Being ‘pure of heart’ means that you are kind. One does not need ‘faith’ to be kind. Being kind is doing the right thing and helping others even if it doesn’t benefit you at all.

Not only does running through a maze not have anything to do with faith, it also has nothing to do with kindness.

The only thing it proves is that Rapunzel enjoys running through a maze, and will do so in addition to dragging others along with her regardless if those people want to do it or not.

That’s not being kind.

If anything Rapunzel has only proven thus far in the series that she is a very selfish person who shouldn’t be trusted with such grave responsibility.

But as already pointed out, Demantius doesn’t care about actual faith, kindness, or purity. He just wants blind obedience. He’s mistaken Rapunzel’s exuberant and stubborn nature for nativity; not realizing that her complancany is only because they both desire the same goal.

Had he asked Rapunzel to do something that she didn’t already want to do, she wouldn’t have been so ‘pure’ to his mind.

That Is a Very Valid Question 

Eugene has a point. There’s no reason to go on this quest. In fact knowing about season three in hindsight, turning around now and not going to the Dark Kingdom would be the better option for everyone.

Cass couldn’t steal the moonstone. Zhan Tiri would never be freed. Corona will never be destroyed and the brotherhood never mind trapped. As for the black rocks they will just sit there impotently not doing anything.

Even freeing Quirin, not that Rapunzel cares, only requires the hurt incantation, which she already has.

The only problem is that Cassandra has ZT trapped in her mind but without the moonstone that has no consequences outside of Cass hearing a annoying voice in her head that she is perfectly capable of ignoring. And even that wouldn’t have happen if they had turned around after the Great Tree.

SHOW DON'T TELL

Nothing in the show back up what Demantius is saying here. We haven’t seen the rocks being active since season one. Even when Rapunzel was lollygagging around or going off the path. 

When they do become active again in the next episode it’s to help her, and after that in season three it’s all Cassandra’s doing. 

Also in season three Rapunzel is able to rebuild Old Corona around the rocks with little problem even though she didn’t reunite with the moonstone. 

In a Competent Show This Would Be Foreshadowing. This Is Not a Competent Show. 

I genuinely thought this was hinting at Moon Eugene, when I first saw this. Now couple that with the talk of ‘three betrayals’ earlier and I thought Eugene would be the final ‘betrayal’ and that a true love's kiss, after Rapunzel had apologized to him, is what would reunite the two powers and save the day.

I’m not going to fault the show for not living up to my expectations and predictions, but I will fault the series for failing to utilize Eugene properly and not working him into the main conflict. He’s the duel protagonist of the franchise. He should have just as much weight in the narrative the same as Rapunzel has.  

Oh How I Hate Where This Arc Goes

What the show does wind up doing to Eugene however, is incredibly stupid and frustrating. 

Remember how I said that ‘faith’ in this show is just blind obedience? 

Yeaaaahhh.... 

That’s what Eugene takes from all of this. Not that he should support and believe in his partner, something that he already was doing by the way, but that he needs to be a doormat to her and her whims. 

Like with Rapunzel yelling at Hook Hand in Brother’s Hook, this is the point where Eugene’s character starts to break. You just wouldn’t know it until after watching season three. 

This Is Such a Lazy Cop-Out

Like the audience has these questions too. Neither us nor Rapunzel will ever have these questions answered. You just backed out of committing to any real answers because you didn’t have your story planned out like you should have.

Why Does Everyone Act Like There’s a Prophecy When There Isn’t Any Actual Prophecy? 

Once again, Demantius had no way of knowing that the sundrop would become a person. No one did. There’s no prophecy and there’s zero explanation for his psychic abilities, which are inconsistent at best.  In fact I don't think he does have such powers, otherwise he’d be more helpful inside the maze. I think those are reserved for Vigor only and we don’t know where he got them or if he even is a ‘real’ psychic. 

Tangled the Series wants to act like it’s running on a predestination plot. That events must occur and will occur regardless of what actions you take to prevent it. Now ignoring how that causes problems with the characters’ agency for a moment; you can not have any predestination if there’s no actual destiny. 

Chosen one plots often have prophecies for a reason. Predestination is there to evoke either tragedy that can’t be prevented or present consequences for  if/when the main hero doesn’t follow along. Either way it’s there to establish conflict. 

Everyone in TTS acts like there is a conflict when said conflict hasn’t actually been established! 

This is writing 101. You need conflict. You need to establish shit. You can’t just pretend that a conflict exists where it doesn’t. ‘Fake till you make it’ doesn’t work in long term storytelling and television animation. It has to be pre-planned.  

Also The Timeline Doesn’t Match

Demantius said that it was a millenia when the sundrop and moonstone fell.He also just said he’s been waiting for a millenia to ‘meet the sundrop’. Yet Demantius acted like the sundrop and the moonstone were already legends by the time he started to search for them. That means they had to be around longer than he has. It also brings us back to the first question of who wrote the incantations if he and Zhan Tiri never found them? 

Believing In Someone Does Not Mean Shoving All the Work Onto Their Shoulders

You’re supposed to be in this together. Couples should work as a team. Both of your lives depend upon getting out of here so you should both be coming up with ideas and working together.

Not only does this miss the entire point of what ‘believing in your spouse’ actually means, it’s also incredibly unfair to both of these characters. It’s unfair to Rapunzel for put so much pressure and unrealistic expectations onto her and to have her be the person to carry both of them through when Eugene is perfectly capable of physically doing things. It’s also unfair to shove Eugene to the side and make him a useless character all of a sudden.

Rapunzel Does Nothing To Earn Such Blind Devotion 

Rapunzel’s magical hair has nothing to do with Rapunzel as a person. It’s an entity separate from her being. Literally. The hair can move of its own accord as shown here and it’s possible to physically separate Rapunzel from her powers as seen in the finale.  

Believing in Rapunzel should be about believing in who she is as a human being, about her individual character. It should not be because she has magic glowing hair.  

Not only is this a betrayal of Rapunzel and Eugene’s relationship and why they came to love one another in the first place, but it’s also a betrayal of Rapunzel’s growth as a character. It’s not only Eugene who blindly kisses her ass after this point, it’s everyone, even though she gives them little reason too. 

This the Last We’ll See of Vigor and Madame Canardist

Three episodes spent establishing these characters and now they’re just gone for no reason. They’re never seen of nor mentioned again beyond a single meta joke. Despite the main conflict revolving around Demantius and them both having the closest connection to that character.  

This Is Bad Foreshadowing, But At Least It’s Actual Foreshadowing  

Up till now any ‘foreshadowing’ we got for Cass’s villain arc has been confined to poorly thought out background images; the painting of the moon, the broken mirror in Gothel’s tower, and I won’t even dignify Chris’s bullshit about her handmaiden dress being blue. 

Not to mention all of that was only in season one. Outside of her conversation with Eugene about their parents, way back in Cassandra vs. Eugene, we haven’t had any real foreshadowing until we hit the Great Tree. 

Since the Great Tree we’ve only had a couple of bitch fights with Raps, which I personally don't consider real foreshadowing since no ill will was attached to those, and her glaring angrily at Rapunzel after escaping the shell house. 

In light of that, this scene is at least genuine foreshadowing, it’s just poorly done foreshadowing. 

While the other attempts at foreshadowing were too subtle, this one is too obvious. It gives the game away too early because there’s no other viable options within Rapunzel’s group. Adira comes closest and she’s not actually here and not really considered a friend by Rapunzel herself.  

So what winds up happening is that Cass’s arc feels rushed despite being planned since the beginning.  

Conclusion 

I spent three days fighting tumblr to get this review posted! Appreciate it! 

As for the episode itself, it’s fun to watch in isolation, but it’s such a let down knowing what’s to come from it all. 

#tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #anti-tangled #demanitus

[whattheheehaw]

I’m not good at explaining my thoughts, but can you debunked the whole Jet and Zuko are bad boys claims? People always say this to keep others from shipping jetara and/or zutara or when they want to trash talk Zuko and Jet characters.

Thanks for the ask and I’m sorry it’s taken me a while to answer it! To be completely honest, I’m not great at articulating my thoughts too 😅. However, I’ll try to answer this question as best as I can (given it’s 1am and I get rambly at this hour).

Before we get into the Jet/Zuko discussion, we need to define what a “bad boy” is, because there’s many different interpretations of the term. For this ask, I’ll be using the definition of the bad boy archetype from this site:

The Bad Boy is someone who hides. Something has happened to them in the past or currently is affecting them and they deal with it by putting up an armor around themselves. This armor protects them for those around them who might be able to see who the real them is. The Bad Boy wants to hide away but he must open up to reveal himself... the Bad Boy doesn’t purposely hurt people to make them feel his pain. He rebels instead of living the life he once did. But unlike the Rebel, he doesn’t truly have a cause for his rebellion. He wants to be heard through his rough exterior without being seen.

So I’m going to start off with Zuko, because I’m much more comfortable talking about his character. And this is primarily because Zuko was one of the main characters of the show and didn’t die at the tail end of season 2.

Honestly, I can never understand how Zuko is perceived as a “bad boy” by so many people. I mean, the only time when I can agree that Zuko’s character could somewhat be interpreted as a “bad boy” is during the first half of season 3. Yes, you read that correctly. Season 1 Ponytail Zuko was not a bad boy; he was a homesick, abused 13 year old child trapped in the body of an angsty 16 year old. Season 1 Zuko might have been angsty and broody, but have you ever met a teenage boy? He never even really rebelled. I mean, sure, he did some things that Iroh frowned upon but in Zuko’s mind, he’s still a prince of his nation—banished or not—and he still holds himself to the standards of a prince. The only time that I think he truly rebels is by becoming the Blue Spirit, but even then, he had a cause for donning that mask.

The only episode that I think shows Zuko in a “bad boy” light is the 5th episode of season 3, The Beach. This is when his angst and broodiness reached an all-time high, and he constantly lashed out at Mai, Ty Lee, and Azula for no reason. The episode eventually culminated in a confrontation reminiscent of The Breakfast Club, Zuko’s honesty with himself, and a dramatic “I’m angry at myself!” line, which are all hallmarks of a bad boy character arc. However, this is just one episode out of 61 and solely focusing on one episode to analyze this guy’s character is an insult to Zuko’s redemption arc that spanned the entirety of 3 seasons.

Another reason why Zuko isn’t a bad boy is that he doesn’t do bad things to get attention. Nothing that he does is a plea for help. The “bad” things that he does aren’t bad in his mind. Capturing the Avatar is just something that he needs to do in order to get his father to love him and welcome him back home. If anything, Zuko is just a misguided person with messed up morals that were instilled in him from a very young age. Zuko has a purpose for everything that he does, and usually this purpose is his sense of righteous anger. Both times Zuko confronted Ozai and rebelled against him, Zuko knew that what his father was doing was wrong. Zuko rebelled against those Earth Kingdom soldiers in Zuko Alone because he felt like he needed to stand-up for Lee and his family. And Zuko didn’t pick a fight with Zhao just because he felt like it. He fought Zhao because that guy had personally insulted Zuko, a prince, and his honor. And Zuko could have burned Zhao at the end of that fight, but he didn’t. He already proved himself to Zhao. Zuko has compassion, and shows it to people that don’t deserve it (e.g. in the Siege of the North, Zuko tried saving Zhao from the Ocean Spirit).

And the most important reason why Zuko isn’t a bad boy is because of his redemption arc. By the end of the show, he’s developed many strong friendships and makes an effort to be open and socialize with others. He’s not afraid to share his thoughts and emotions with others. He trusts people. He’s less broody and smiles more often. He acknowledges that he’s done bad things in the past and asks for forgiveness and makes amends. Are these qualities of a bad boy? I think not.

As for Jet, I think he fits the description of a bad boy pretty well. He’s aloof, hot, and angsty. He’s quite dangerous with a pair of hook swords in his hands. He smokes cigarettes He chews on a piece of wheat to be “edgy”. He’s done questionable things like drown a village full of innocent people. He deceives people to get what he wants. He has all of the traits of any popular male protagonist from a published Wattpad “novel”.

However, I don’t consider Jet a “bad boy” because he has a specific cause for his rebellion. Most bad boys participate in petty crimes like shoplifting or vandalism just because they can. Jet? Jet rebels against the Fire Nation because he’s witnessed their destruction first-hand. He lost his parents from an attack by the Rough Rhinos, and he saw his village burn to ashes right in front of him. He actively tries to destroy a system that he thinks can only inflict pain on others. And what does he do with the people (mostly young children) that have lost their homes because of Fire Nation attacks? He takes them in and acts as a surrogate-father-of-sorts. He forms a community with these people, bonds with them, shares meals together, and secures supplies for them. He’s in charge of their well-being and makes sure that everyone is ok. And these people look up to him as a leader and a central part of their family. So Jet? A bad boy? I don’t think so.

Calling Zuko and Jet “bad boys” are terrible misrepresentations of their characters, and if you think they fall under the bad boy archetype, I would suggest a deeper look into their respective character arcs.

As a final note, I’d like to address the shipping aspect of this ask. After being in this fandom for about 3 years, I’ve seen my fair share of Zutara and Jetara fics that have played off of this bad boy/good girl dynamic. And to be completely honest, I don’t think there’s an inherent problem with liking a dynamic like that. I mean, it’s not an accurate portrayal of the characters, but I won’t discourage people from shipping something or creating fan content because they like a certain trope.

#ask #i attempted to answer something #sorry for the giant wall of text #hope this helps! #zuko #jet #atla #drunktextin #again i'm sorry if this is one incoherent babble #i'm very sleep deprived lmao

[alreadyblondenow]

King Taeyong | 4

Taeyong x ballerina!reader //  FLUFF, ANGST, fantasy!au Summary: Deciding for the both of you and to save your life, Taeyong is forced to delete all your memories with him. He gave you a happy life, a life without him. Word Count: 3k Warnings: Mentions of death but no one died hehe Note: This is the last chapter for this baby of mine hihi -The fantasy part is already here. I tried to keep it short and simple, didn’t want to overdo it.  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

After that visit with Ruby, you felt something off with your husband lately. Sometimes you have to call his name several times before he acknowledge what you were saying. It bothers you. “Did something happened, babe? You seem off lately, whats wrong?” eyes full of concern, you came closer to him while watching the sun rise from his room. This is the day you go back to the human world together. Or so you thought.

You cover your naked body while you cling to him, making him tell you what’s bothering him. He forced a laugh telling you, “really its nothing. I’m just spacing out lately because...” he let out a heavy sigh. “Of work. CEO duties you know. Work started to pile up the day I left.”

Lee Taeyong knew all too well that this very moment right now, is gonna be his last memory of you being a married couple. “It’s been only days since we got married, and ever day is still as beautiful as the day I met you” Taeyong started to be nostalgic out of nowhere, your heart sinks and it made you blush.

“You know y/n, my love for you means, watching you perform and support you from your achievements” You remember the night he bravely asked you to have dinner with you and simply turning that shitty day around into something you will never forget the rest if your life.

“My love for you means, spending beautiful mornings with you, a night with just you and me, making love until the morning” he winks and grabs your hand. “You will never be sad, alone or hurt y/n. Thats how much I love you. I will literally die, if I hurt you again.” Hearing Taeyong’s words makes you worry he’s never been like this, “Baby what are you saying? You’ll never hurt me.” He kissed your hands, your wedding ring. “I’ll make you coffee, stay here okay.” He said letting go of your hands, trying to cover your exposed legs and left you in the middle of his huge bed.

Hesitating to pour the potion on your coffee, Taeyong cries as he remembers what Ruby showed him, how you killed yourself. That made him convinced himself to finally pour the potion. He did it with a heavy heart knowing he will never be with you ever again. Im sorry.

You feel the bed dipped beside you, your husband holding a tray with coffees on it. He gave you your coffee and you told him he always makes the best coffees. A he hands you your coffee, Taeyong kissed your lips softly. What was that for?

You smile at him before you took a sip. “Oh that tastes really good” you told him excitedly.

“I love you.” You heard Taeyong whisper beside you. Your head suddenly felt heavy so you decided to close your eyes, smiling at Taeyong before you drift away. You’re sure that you saw tears in his eyes.

Taeyong cries and cries from sun up until he takes you back to your apartment, holding your hand and not letting it go for the last time. Doyoung, Yuta and Johnny was with him, they can only hurt for their friend too. They all saw how the magic works its way to you.  Just like, what happened to Taeyeon your life took a few years back to make way for the life Taeyong has made for you. He saw every memory of him got erased from the moment you first laid eyes on him at the opera lobby to your last memory of him before you close your eyes this morning, watching every moment while crying his heart out.

Taeyong’s heart is broken.

When you wake up, you felt as if like you’re missing something big in your life but you cant point a finger to it. Without knowing whats going on, you’re now living the life Taeyong made for you to save you from taking your own life. A beautiful life without him.

You see Jaehyun sleeping beside you sweetly and peacefully. What a night you thought. Jaehyun indeed worn you out, fucking you until the sun goes up. Little did you know that was Taeyong.

In this life, you happily live with Jaehyun in your apartment ever since you two were dating in college. You’ve been together for 5 years already and you are perfectly happy with him. After graduation, Jaehyun moved in with you and you made beautiful memories in every corner of your apartment. You spend Christmas and New years together just like when you were little kids, the only difference now is that he finally proposed to you and asked you to marry him.

Before getting married, you finished your last season at the company by doing the lead of The Nutcracker. Jaehyun watched every ballet performance you had since college days until your last. After that, you promised yourself that you will try something new that involves making more time with your fiancé. He takes the baking classes with you so he can be a great assistant in the future, and that made your heart bursts into happiness. He bakes cupcakes with you every weekends as part of your quality time at home. He supported and helped you with the success of your bakery.

After getting married for a year, you and Jaehyun had a baby. You told Jaehyun the big news that you’re pregnant and he is really happy about it. But neither any of you two, knew that the father of the baby that you’re carrying is Taeyong’s. Just like what Ruby showed to Taeyong, he will have a child but the child will never knew him as her father.

It hurts Taeyong the most knowing he will never get the chance to take care of his baby. He will never get the chance to tie her hair like how he does for you. Now, you’ve got Jaehyun to do those for you and his baby girl.

Trust the pain and endure it everyday is all he can do now. Taeyong continues being a responsible king to his kingdom, exhausting himself everyday hoping his tired mind can make him sleep well, but it never did. He can clearly remember the last good sleep he had, and that was the night he got married.

Taeyong broke off his engagement to Sorn for Yuta’s sake and for the happiness of them both. The couple are now happily married with joined kingdoms all thanks to Taeyong’s support and help.

The famine did happened, but it didn’t take a while. The 21 kingdoms joined forces to prevented the famine from getting longer and because of Taeyong’s constant presence in his kingdom. He focused all his energy and time on doing king duties. Something he cant do if he continued being with you in your world. And because of that, he is sorry. He blames himself everyday for making decisions that caused his misery now. The once happy and joyful king, is now a gloomy and lonely King Taeyong.

Doyoung told Taeyong the news that you’re pregnant and that Jaehyun is doing a good job taking over his role in your life. Hearing it made him smile. Taeyong visited Ruby to tell her the great news and that the potion that she made did a great job.

“The kingdom is now safe your highness. You can go visit her if you want.” Ruby suggests, as a way to comfort him. “You can shadow her, be with her throughout her pregnancy.” Taeyong followed Ruby’s risky idea. He then visited the human world again with Johnny, Yuta and Doyoung.

“Its funny how in the human world its only been days but in our world… months have passed already” Doyoung says as he walks with Taeyong.

“What if she remembers us?” Johnny asked full of hope. Taeyong thought about it but it’s impossible, he saw the magic work through Taeyeon and she cant remember anything.

“Look! Thats her shop...” Yuta points at a small bakery painted in purple and the smell of freshly baked cupcakes lingers on the street. Taeyong walks slowly as if he’s scared to face and finally see you again. But he has to be strong. You heard the door open and welcomed the customers, “Hello! What can I get you guys? May I suggest our freshly baked red velvet cupcakes?” They all looked like first time customers, they also looked handsome and fine, almost looked like royalty.

You didn’t noticed but Doyoung stopped time, for Taeyong to look at you a little bit longer. Its the only thing he can do for Taeyong. He take a good look at you, happy that Jaehyun is doing a great job filling up for his part. Taeyong wanted to cry, he wanted to hug and kiss you but instead, he just whispered all his apologies to you and that he loves you.

“Doyoung, you can bring back time now” and he did. They were all shocked when they finally see you again, what Doyoung did actually helped them calm themselves and not freak out when they finally talk to you. Johnny quickly asked for a box of red velvet cupcakes to lessen the awkwardness. Doyoung is scanning and choosing his cakes. Yuta is planning to buy cupcakes for Sorn, and Taeyong... Taeyong is watching your every move around your bakery. His heart is happy seeing you do what you want and most importantly, you’re alive.

Johnny snaps his fingers to bring back Taeyong to the current situation. He gave Taeyong an iced americano so he wont look like he’s being awkward. The three princes sigh and gave Taeyong a “tsk” because he’s being weird in front of you.

“Dude order something. Try to make a conversation” Johnny suggests. Taeyong was looking at the freshly baked cupcakes and cakes while you were wrapping Yuta’s order ready to take Taeyong’s order.

“See something you like?” You asked him with a smile.

You. Taeyong thought. “...can I have, all of these?” Taeyong was pointing at the cupcakes fresh from the oven and even the ones on the shelf. “And these...” now he’s pointing at all 10 cakes at the refrigerator. You almost asked him if he’s joking. “Its a lot, but it’s for the kids in this school we are visiting” Doyoung explains. Huh figures.

When Taeyong and the three princes left your bakery, you were happy because of the good sales and hope they would love everything they bought. Jaehyun came in when they left minutes ago and he was happy you sold a lot more than usual today.

“So what are we going to do with all these sweets?” Johnny asked then let out a big sigh “if only the love of my life is still alive -”

“Hey! Dont be sad, give them to me I’ll eat all of them” Taeyong comforts Johnny.

Doyoung was silently enjoying the cupcakes that he ordered and told everyone it was so good, they should eat one now. And they all did. Taeyong fell in love with you more after tasting one cupcake. Yuta on the other hand was happy, “Sorn will like these. She’s been having a sweet tooth lately. I think she’s pregnant” And they were all happy for Yuta for there will be another baby on the way.

7 months pregnant

Being pregnant is hard you thought. You cant bake properly, you cant stay at the bakery and bake nonstop like you used to, you feel fat... but oh the amount of attention you get from Jaehyun is unbelievable. You love how he tries to bake and help at the bakery whenever he can, you love seeing him put cupcakes and cakes on the shelf, he looks calm.

You took a week off from the bakery and Jaehyun got you covered. It was bad timing and Taeyong didn’t know you’re not going to be at the bakery today. He saw Jaehyun serving the customers so he figured you’re not present today “Are you new here?” Taeyong pretends he doesn’t know. “The owner of the bakery is my wife sir” Jaehyun answers politely.

It hurts Taeyong to hear such words, knowing all too well that this is his doing. As usual, he buys everything he sees and reasons out that he is visiting a school nearby. Taeyong got home disappointed because he didn’t get to see you, thinking maybe you’re at home resting and reading like you always do on your free time.

It has been peaceful in Taeyong’s world, the big news now is Sorn is indeed pregnant and Yuta invited him to celebrate in his kingdom. Everyone was happy for Sorn and Yuta’s blossoming married life, and Taeyong cant help but think that if it wasn’t for that stupid famine, he could’ve had spend a beautiful married life with you too and he could’ve made you happy. But now, he’s just miserable.

When the most awaited day has come, Doyoung ran into Taeyong’s office while he was having a meeting with Johnny, Yuta and the other members of the royal court. Doyoung was shouting, screaming at Taeyong that you’re about to deliver the baby today. His world stopped again upon hearing the big news, hands shaking, heavy breathing. The constant want of Taeyong to be with you and your daughter grew stronger.

Calming himself in front of everyone right now, the three princes noticed Taeyong isn’t going to be alright anytime soon. They dismissed themselves and left Taeyong alone. The next day, Doyoung delivered the news to Taeyong that the baby is healthy and its a girl.

“Oh my go-“ Johnny exclaims, “dude! Get your shit together, congratulations!” The three of them seemed happy but Taeyong was still sad about everything. Knowing about Taeyong’s struggle, the three princes made their own way to help Taeyong out. Because Taeyong is still not yet ready to see his daughter, the three of them made sure to guide you and your daughter for all these years.

Yuta visits your daughter’s dreams making sure she has beautiful dreams of the kingdom. For Yuta, it is your daughter’s birth right to know that the kingdom his father rules exist, even if its from a dream.

Doyoung is in charge of helping your daughter grown smart like his uncle. Being one of her teachers all through out of her studying until she graduates.

Johnny became the protector of your family, making sure there will be no danger that will cross your path.

They did this for years and years for Taeyong. For them, they owe Taeyong so much that what they’re actually doing right now is still not enough for all Taeyong has done for their kingdoms. Being good uncles is the least they can do to Taeyong’s daughter.

When time healed Taeyong’s heart completely, he remained in your shadows, secretly sending people to buy in your bakery and bring it to his world so more people can experience your delicious cakes and cupcakes. He is the one protecting your daughter now and not Johnny, thanking Johnny for everything he has done for the past few years.

He even sent birthdays and Christmas gifts to you and your daughter, occasionally visiting your world and just following you around with Doyoung, Yuta and Johnny.

“Your daughter grew up nicely” Doyoung said while watching your daughter read at the children’s bookstore. “She sure is” Taeyong sighs in relief.

When they got back to the kingdom, Taeyong noticed that the gate is slowly having cracks as if its about to self destruct any day. He showed the cracks to Ruby and to the other princes. Ruby discovered that the passage to the other world will close in three days time, destructing itself to maintain the natural order of worlds.

So its time. Taeyong thought.

Given the circumstances that the gate will self destruct, Taeyong gathered his strength to face his daughter for the first time when he visits the human world, for the last time. Letting go of you was hard enough he thought, but letting go of his daughter was harder.

One fine day, you were needed at the bakery and Jaehyun should be the one sending your daughter off to ballet class, but he forgot to tie her daughter’s hair.

This is it Taeyong. He approached her daughter and introduced himself trying not to scare her way. Thanks to Yuta’s help, Taeyong didn’t seem to be a stranger to his daughter. He seemed familiar in her daughter’s eyes.

“I can see that your hair is not yet tied, do you need some help?” Taeyong kneeled meeting his daughter’s level and asked her if he could tie her hair. She nods.

Taeyong was trying to be gentle as possible. The whole time he was brushing her daughter’s hair, he was remembering and savouring the feeling of combing her soft black hair for the first and last time. “There you go” Taeyong said with a smile.

“You did well Mr! Thank you. It’s like how my mom would do it.” She said enthusiastically.

“Is that so?” Taeyong looked into her daughter’s eyes, she has my eyes. Trying not to cry in front of the young girl, Taeyong walked her in front of the ballet studio and talking about random things with he that she gladly answers. “This is as far as I can go.” He pats her head and asked for a hug, the little girl gave him what he asked for.  

“Take care of your mom okay? Tell her she’s doing a great job taking care of a princess.” I love you so much baby. You will grow well. He pushed away slowly from her daughter’s sweet hug and left with a smile not wanting her daughter to remember him frowning.

While watching his daughter during her first day in ballet class, he sees her daughter in you. That she’s so much like you and he wonders what she got from him besides his eyes. After the class, Taeyong cannot believe what he’s seeing with his own eyes. Its you. Wearing a white coat with gold buttons, waiting for your daughter to come out of the ballet studio with that beautiful smile he fell for.

“Mom!” Your daughter shouts in excitement for seeing you.

“Hey baby! How was your class? Did daddy tied your hair?”

Taeyong chuckled hearing your words. Yeah I did.

“Im sorry, I was busy this morning” you apologised to your daughter and showered her with kisses on her cheeks. Taeyong watching you from a far, he will forever remember this until the day he dies.

“Daddy forgot to tie my hair, but there’s this handsome mister who helped me. He tied my hair instead.” You think of punishing Jaehyun later when you get home for forgetting to tie his daughter’s hair. “Oh what a nice mister” you said.

“He called me princess and he told me to tell you that you’re doing good” she explains. You and Taeyong let out a small laugh hearing her explain like that.

You don’t know why hearing what your daughter just said made your heart ache but you didn’t show her. For some reason you felt sad and all of a sudden you feel like crying.

Taeyong finally left and crossed the passage for the last time, the gate is about to self destruct. He was happy and contented for having such good memories with you and his daughter.

11 years later

Your daughter is 18 years old and she’s having her first lead performance tonight at the opera where you used to dance ballet. She was so amazing you and Jaehyun teared up after the curtains fall. Standing ovations, never ending “bravo!” from the audience. You were so proud of her.

“Congratulations baby!” You hugged your daughter and showered her with kisses just like when she was starting to learn ballet. Jaehyun on the other hand is a proud father too, showered her daughter with kisses and hands her the flowers that he got for her.

“Thanks dad! But I thought these are from you...” she showed Jaehyun the beautiful flowers that she’s carrying. “Baby you’re the lead performer, its okay to have lots of flowers!” He said excitedly. “Lets have dinner come on!”

Days after the performance, your daughter decided to go to the flower shop where the flowers has been purchased. She got curious because she never knew who gave it to her, all she wanted to do is to thank that person. “Oh! The buyer was named Lee Taeyong and he instructed to send flowers for every performance you’ll have.” The florist explains.

When she got home, she asked you if you’re familiar with a guy named Lee Taeyong.

Lee Taeyong.

It does sound familiar you said to your daughter however, you just can’t seem to be sure with your thoughts. You think long and hard but decided to just shrug it off. “I’m sorry baby but I dont know any Lee Taeyong” you felt a direct pang of pain in your heart. Your heart knew who Lee Taeyong is. He is the only man you ever loved, showed you how beautiful the world with him in it, and the man who changed your life.

Fin.

-------------------------------

If you finished this baby of mine, I know its a handful and its not that good but I’ve been wanting to write about so I did. hehe. I hope some enjoyed this, and if you did I’d like to hear from you! Anyways, thank you for reading it. <3

#nct-writers #neowritingsnet #cznnet #nct fluff #taeyong fluff #nct angst #taeyong angst #nct #nct scenarios #nct imagines #fantasy au

[smallfrost]

Mother Mycelium Theory; portal to the Otherworld?

MFS Research Institute is open and we have patches! Make sure to use the hashtag #MFS Research Institute when sharing all of your well crafted theories and investigations so everyone can follow along. 

When I first posted the crack theory about Mother Mushroom, I captioned the screen shot of the Necro Mycelium with “The entrance to The Upside Down, probably”. Now, this was meant to be a joke but perhaps it was unintentionally accurate? What exactly is the Mycelium and how may it come into play? Let’s discuss a possibility below.

The thing is, MFS has now established that Mushrooms are very important to witches in this universe; especially Necros. This is first brought to light by Scylla in the graveyard but now Izadora confirms this in the Necro Mausoleum. I’m not going to write about mushrooms here because others already have (here is a great breakdown) but I think we can all agree that Necros have a special relationship with fungi; perhaps as a conduit to channel the resonance of the dead.

If you come to my office, I’ll make you cream of mushroom soup

So here is where my upside-down joke may have stumbled unintentionally onto something. Throughout different mythologies there are Underworlds or Otherworlds that heroes travel through during their odysseys. In order to reach these worlds, the hero needs to travel through some sort of gateway. I’m not convinced that the Mycelium is a gateway to an Underworld because of its fungal nature. I am unaware of a Greek or Roman myth associating mushrooms with an odyssey to the Underworld and journeys there typically require crossing a body of water. Mushrooms instead seem to be very prevalent in European folklore as a source of power and connection to magic. Regardless of origin and culture, however, one thing is prevalent when it comes to mushrooms: they are often associated with hallucinogenic properties and are therefore utilized for visions (by a religious figure head or oracles for example) or that they can be used to enter a spirit realm to commune with the dead.

Therefore, is it possible that the Mycelium is a gateway to the Otherworld; the Orbis Alius? In Celtic mythology, the Otherworld is a place where souls of the dead travel while they wait to be reincarnated or the in between (or limbo) before moving to their final destination. It is a dimensional plane that contains a high concentration of power and magic where the rules of physics may not apply. The Necros in MFS may therefore use this gateway to amplify their connection to the resonance of the dead such that the dead being in closer dimensional proximity to their own plane may aid them in their work. Together with the visionary implications of fungi and mushrooms, this could suggest a potential dreamscape/lucid dream/vision scenario for Raelle due to her connection with the Mycelium.

I could make so many lesbian jokes but I’ll withhold… for now

Aside. Since Scylla has mentioned that “nothing ever really dies” it is possible that in this universe, reincarnation may be a widely accepted belief. This may suggest that my original theory about “resurrecting” Willa Collar may still be plausible (especially now that we know the Mycelium has a memory of a Collar). I’m not unconvinced that this connection won’t serve as a way for Raelle to communicate with her Collar ancestors at some point if they are themselves in the Otherworld. 

Me after I’ve been in quarantine for 5 weeks

Yes, Necros have a connection to mushrooms. And now we know that the Mycelium has a memory of Raelle. This was obviously something that Izadora DID NOT want to have happen. We also know that there is a metaphysical connection between Raelle and Scylla; Scylla has bound herself to Raelle in some way such that she can communicate with her directly. Now listen, this is not some small piece of work. In ‘My Witches’, the only way Alder and Co. can visualize the Kiev raid is through General Clary’s [metaphysical] connection with her daughter. Therefore, this type of connection (where one witch can communicate with another witch almost telepathically) suggests a bond of a different strength. This also implies that Raelle is now Scylla’s family (another theory which I am very fond of).

All of us when MFS season 1 ends

In terms of additional context clues for episode 7, in several different trailers (including the most recent one for ‘Mother Mycelium’), we see a moment when Raelle wakes up rather suddenly, looking as though she was bursting out of a dream or had a sudden realization. She is wearing a grey sleep shirt.

When you remember you left a NSFW post up on your work computer

This appears to be the same shirt she is wearing in the promo pics with her in the Dungeon with Scylla. Two things stick out to me from the following photos:

1) Raelle appears to be asleep or unconscious, with Scylla attempting to get her attention 2) Raelle is unbound and alone in the Dungeon with Scylla

Now, no well-structured military body would EVER lock two hostages in the same dungeon together but especially if they have a relationship such as that between Raelle and Scylla. This show is too intelligent to play into the “they’re locked in a cell together; I wonder what will happen?” fanfiction trope (there’s a prompt, someone go write it). Further, if Raelle WAS a hostage, she also would have been chained and bound. So, for these reasons, together with the context any mythological clues above, I think we are perhaps getting a glimpse at a dreamscape.

EDIT: The final piece of evidence is actually one of the first we ever received. A line of dialogue and later a clip from a trailer where Scylla says “You have no idea how powerful you are”. From this trailer, we can now see that Scylla says this while she is in the dungeon. 

Oh darling, you make me powerless...

It is likely she is speaking to Raelle in this moment because 1) Anacostia has told Scylla directly that she is a gifted student, 2) Abigail has acknowledged she is naturally gifted (and will be seeking her help to save Khalida), 3) We see her use intense power in training (the storm she brews when fighting Abigail, vocal, wind strike training, her power with the scourge, her healing leveling the entire class), and 4) The Spree want to extract Raelle, perhaps because of her power. No one else has been made out to be this powerful contextually yet so we can infer that Scylla is talking to Raelle. So somehow, Raelle ends up in the dungeon, and likely utilized a lot of power to do so. End EDIT.

Raelle, through her metaphysical connection with Scylla and their physical connections to the Mycelium, may enter the Otherworld and be able to travel through this dimensional plane and commune with Scylla. So, is that the real Raelle? I think perhaps it is, but in a metaphysical way. 

However, I am not convinced that all of the promotional photos are from the same scene. Scylla is being tortured in one. Raelle looks like she is being dragged into the dungeon in another. I’m not sure how these all fit together but @pure-gay-fandom-trash​ and I have a hunch that the release of all of these photos serves to throw us off our predictions due to the lack of context. So it is very possible that there may in fact be a faux Raelle scenario as well (which I’ll discuss in more detail in a separate post).

EDIT: All this being said, the fact that Scylla directly states that mushrooms occupy the underworld in the kingdom of plants does suggest the existence of an actual Underworld in this universe. It could be that the Otherworld is the space in between (limbo) or it could be that Eliot is creating an entirely new mythology which I am totally here for. 

#MFS Research Institute #mfs theories #episode predictions #motherland fort salem #motherland: fort salem #raylla #raelle collar #raelle x scylla #scylla x raelle #scylla ramshorn

[soyouareandrewdobson]

100 followers special post: KorraSami Book 1

Today’s entry (sort of a little extra for 100 followers) is rather short and admittedly just the tip of an iceberg I want to tackle later on, as it relates to a certain issue with Dobson in general when it comes to his “support” of the LGBT community. In addition it is not a comic I want to talk about, but rather a picture. To be more precise this one:

Titled “Out of our way” and released around summer of 2015, this picture is obviously fanart in relation to KorraSami, the ship of Avatar Korra and Asami Sato, which unlike other ships in certain fandoms became even canon according to “Word of God” and some post tv series material. Now personally my opinion on KorraSami is a bit “complicated”. I do not hate it nor do I really think it is as “groundbreaking” as many, including Dobson, make it out to be. Reasons for that I am willing one day to discuss in detail, but not now.

And like with KorraSami, my opinion on the picture is also a bit complicated. To paraphrase John Cleese from a famous sketch: I may not know much about art, but I know what I like. So when it comes to things such as posture and linework I can not give too many critical details.

However, even I see from a technical point a few irksome details. Like how Asami’s hips move a bit too much perspective wise to the left, making it look like she would soon slip off the wheelchair, the sparks on the ground looking more like someone inserted shitty fries via MS Paint in the picture and Korra’s face looking like it was hit with a frying pan at least once. But honestly, I think it does not look that terrible and it is at least colorful.

That said, I think it highlights a certain issue with how Dobson perceives the ship.

Independent of my thoughts on the ship, I think Korra and Asami are pretty neat characters personality wise. They are both not flawless (in fact, Korra at the start of season 2 felt like any character development from last season was missing and don’t get me even started on how she would have almost started a world war because she was a whinny ass) but they are pretty strong and independent characters who went through a lot both as friends and as individuals over the course of the show. Well, that and they boned the same guy.

The thing with Dobson is, any time I see him do something with those two, that sort of badassery is not really on display. Instead his KorraSami fanart tends to be just whimsical fluff as seen e.g. here

And don’t get me wrong, I do not think fluff is bad. I like cute pics too and hey, the following two pics in regard of KorraSami by Dobson count for me as decent fluff, even if from a technical drawing point there are likely still flaws in the pic. Mostly because they are also related as pics to the world of the show they are part of, with the first one even showing interaction with someone other than the ship.

 But I also think that just because you ship two or multiple characters, doesn’t mean you can’t also draw something of such characters as a power couple so to speak. In case of those two, perhaps something like fighting a group of Equalists, showing Asami building and working on something with Korra at her side metal binding something according to Asami’s instructions etc. You know, something that is both “cute” because in a way they do stuff as a couple, but also badass because it is about two characters doing something they were born for. Or not even necessarily badass. Just something that shows them in a situation that isn’t just mindless fluff or feels like you just randomly insert the characters into whatever you can think of, thinking that in itself makes it already shipping art.

 Bottomline, Dobson when tackling KorraSami only focuses mostly on the mindless fluff of the ship. Which in my opinion is in so far an issue, as that it reduces this so called “groundbreaking LGBT representation in animation” just further down into something cute and rather shallow Dobson can adore. The characters are not appreciated for their personality, but fo their looks and how cute they look together. And frankly, can something be considered “good representation” when it is just pretty shallow on closer look?

This at least is one of multiple issues I have with KorraSami in general, but also in relation with Dobson. Others I can address later on someday. I also bring it up here mostly, because this “shallowness” is indirectly on display in “Out of our way” once you know a bit about why Dobson drew this and how it may even be a bit insensitive. Not for any living creature, but the character of Korra actually.

See, here is the thing: The inspiration for the pic was two things: A clip from an anime called Gekijouban To Aru Majutsu no Railgun (which I admittedly never saw in my life and do not necessarily intend to) as seen here

 And the fact that Korra spends some time in a wheelchair over the course of the show. And considering that the scene from the anime is actually meant to be funny (as it actually ends with both characters crashing in the gras in a hilarious position), what sort of cartoonish antics resulted in Korra temporarily being in a wheelchair? Did she slip on water during waterbending? Break her leg in some heroic fight but took it in strife and even made fun of her situation? You want to know?

Korra was kidnapped, tortured, poisoned with mercury and almost killed by a group of four terrorists, resulting in her being physically crippled for a long time and suffering from mental trauma, depression and PTSD.

……..ehhhhhhhh….. Funny?

 Yeah, on a technical level I do not think the picture is the worst, but as “fanart” when you consider any canon context involving wheelchairs and Korra… yaiks. I mean, tone deaf is a bit of an understatement.

 And I am not making this up. The plot of season 3 of Legend of Korra involved a group of four elemental benders trying to kill Korra, because their leader thinks that if he kills her he can break the Avatar cycle and that in turn will bring in a new era where people take their lives as a whole in their own hands, instead of the fate of the world depending on a few chosen ones like the Avatar. To do so they kidnap Korra and poison her with mercury, which they forcefully bend into her body. This results in her going full avatar mode and fighting the main villain Zaheer, only to get her ass handed by him thanks to the poison and him almost suffocating her by bending the air out of her lungs. Korra was in fact closer to death than any other character I have seen in the show, including Aang. And the aftermath of Zaheer’s actions were horrible. Season 3 ended with Korra still recovering from the poison (which had been bended out of her body again), by being stuck in a wheelchair and it being obvious she needs to get through rehabilitation. And while she did put on a brave face in front of everyone, the final shot of the episode is her at a ceremony celebrating the air nations rebirth, a single tear going down her cheek, indicating that in a way she is broken. The hotheaded and overall determined Korra at her lowest point.

 I will openly admit, when I first saw that scene, I was taken aback a bit how bittersweet if not outright depressing the ending was. Begging the question, how by the time season 4 would roll in, Korra would have recovered. Turned out, not well. Not only was season 4 set three years after the events of the last one, but the first two episodes showed among other things how Korra went through rehabilitation in those years, how she was on more than one occasion on the brink of giving up and how she essentially went into hiding, not wanting to meet her friends again, abandoning her duties as the Avatar. She was not a sobbing mess, but she was broken. Not considering herself worthy of the title of avatar for the longest time and still suffering from physical and mental trauma because of what had happened to her. In fact, one of the better aspects of season 4 is how Korra tries to overcome her own trauma, in order to be strong enough to take on the fight against Kuvira before she can turn the Earth Kingdom completely into the Third Reich and take Republic City over.

 In short, the picture of Korra in a wheelchair has a pretty significant and dramatic meaning for the character and the show as a whole. It is an important aspect of te shows storytelling and Korra’s final part of her character arc. Something with gravitas a lot of fans acknowledge. But Dobson sees it supposedly as something that gives way for a “badass and fun” pic with his favorite ship. And again, in my opinion, that is just tone deaf.I am not saying you can’t make a KorraSami pic with the wheelchair, but I think something with that motive should out of respect for the actual canon and its characters also be more somber than what we got here.

Which brings me back to how Dobson handles the couple in a shallower manner than it needs to be. Cause if he wasn’t just out for whimsical fun and fluff with his two favorite lesbians from Nickelodeon and would Korra and Asami consider more than just something to fawn upon based on looks, he could have drawn something more meaningful that genuinely showed how both are a decent representation of an LGBT-couple and interesting individuals. Cause being a couple when everything is fun and sunshine is one thing. Being there for each other when things are hard? THAT is the challenge and shows how much you really love someone.

#korrasami #andrew dobson #lgbt representation #lgbt #legend of korra #adobsonartwork #adobsonart #shipping #korra #korra comics #asami sato

[sheblah]

I don't know if my other ask went through but I'm salty too about how DT got shafted in season 5. They were vital to season 4 and then they just only show up for one episode? That's it? Then, we only see them one more time and they don't even have a speaking line? Really?

BIG rant about s5 below, scroll if you don't want to see negativity.

I don't see your other ask :( tumblr is mean

Ok I could go on and on about this. Before I go off (again), let me just say briefly there are a few things I did like about their appearance. I liked that even they didn't want to join Horde Prime after seeing what his side was like. I liked that they just kind of... took an entertainment gig after they were done spying, because the most important thing to them isn't actually destroying lives, it's just using their talents to make a living. I liked how they (Swen) slid Scorpia the microphone and winked at her, implying they were encouraging her to perform and boost her confidence. I liked that, however brief, they were shown using their skills to fight Prime's forces without any ulterior motive that we know of, because they didn't want Prime to take over Etheria either.

That said...

Why the HELL didn't the Alliance hire them? Really, what's the reason? DT had already worked for the Alliance in the past, they clearly didn't have any loyalty to Prime, they proved they were able to gather valuable information while disguised as a clone, the rebels knew personally how powerful an asset their spying could be, and DT needed a new source of income after their last gig got flooded out. There was every reason for DT to offer their services, and every reason for the rebels to purchase them. What, could all the kingdoms of Etheria not scrounge up a modest bag of coins between them? Were they nursing a grudge over the Flutterina thing? Did they decline a potentially tide-turning asset just because they found DT's personality unsavory?

"They couldn't trust them, they know DT is prone to switching sides," I hear you say, and that would be valid except DT already tried to join Horde Prime, didn't like it, and left of their own volition without so much as a counter-offer. They weren't going to switch to his side. "Maybe they didn't want to get involved in the war because it was too dangerous." They already got involved in a war! Heavily! They worked with and against warlords and powerful magical individuals! They fought She-Ra herself in their debut episode! And they seemed to have a pretty great time doing all this!! Danger doesn't seem to be too big a deterrent for them. "Too easy, as usual" - that throwaway line in S4 could have set up spying on Prime as a real challenge for them. The show wouldn't even need to show them or have them talk that much - just quickly establish that they're undercover and occasionally sending the rebels information.

There is not a single reason I can think of why they wouldn't work for the Alliance after that episode. I was honestly blindsided when they didn't appear in the next episode - not even a silent shot of them and Perfuma + Sea Hawk going their separate ways. What happened to them after they escaped the dome? They were partially paralyzed, reliant on the heroes for basic movement, not to mention their job just became obsolete. Where else could they go? How could they leave? How long did Sea Hawk have to transport them before they could walk? Or did the heroes just leave them paralyzed on the ground as soon as the immediate danger had passed?? Cause that doesn't seem like their style.

Or, instead of helping, they could have gotten chipped and become a serious freaking problem for the heroes. Prime could've scanned their mind for the heroes' weaknesses, seeing as DT spied on them for weeks/months. They could've been used to spy on the heroes again, this time against their will, and it would've been especially hard to notice because they could hide the chip with their shapeshifting. I won't go too much into it because us DT stans have created a whole AU about it now, but you can imagine all the possibilities that weren't explored.

Hell, they could've, I dunno, met Catra again? The person they interacted with most in S4? Even if it was just a scene of Catra telling them off and realizing she doesn't need to give her time or energy to someone who never cared about her, I would've been fine with that, because at least that would acknowledge that DT was significant to her in the last season. But no, she never even mentions them. Instead they interact with Perfuma and Sea Hawk, two characters with practically no relevance to them. And they interact with Scorpia, who treats them with hostility even though she's only known them as an ally - they were both in the Horde when they met, and they were both with the Alliance when they took down Hordak's forces. They've never been enemies. Knowing her personality, shouldn't she have been, I dunno... kind of happy to see them, even? Since she seemed to like them in "The Valley of the Lost," and they helped her and Glimmer get into the Fright Zone? I don't know, maybe that's too optimistic, but she was literally the only one of the three who'd ever talked to them in a significant capacity, but based on their S5 interactions alone you'd almost think they had never met face to face...

I know they're not a major character. They were never going to have a ton of screentime. But even the couple minutes of screentime they did have could've been utilized a lot better than, say, appearing in a jokey episode, acting kind of silly (and kind of weirdly incompetent compared to S4?), getting their physical agency removed, and then vanishing until a 3-second silent cameo at the end of the season. If they wanted to keep that episode and just expand on DT's presence a little bit, it would've only taken a few seconds here and there to show that they were doing something important with their time behind the scenes.

This character just had a lot of potential, and I feel almost all of it was wasted, and while the season is very, extremely, historically important for gay media (let us never forget that), it fell flat with the only nb representation it had. I'm not nb, but I felt that pain in my soul. Like... seriously? They were interesting and cool and fun and mysterious and impactful the entire last season, and this is the treatment they get in the finale? They get easily outsmarted, manhandled for two minutes, say a few funny lines, and then just disappear? Weren't they important to the showrunners? From the marketing for S4 you would think so, but now I'm not so sure...

#negativity #double trouble #ask #spop s5 #s5 spoilers #spop spoilers #still salty #rant #long post

[emilyelizabeth2294]

Where Do I Go From Here?

Hello friends! I know a lot of you have asked how I am doing and lately I have avoided answering that question. Here is a not very short update on me. 

For those that do not know, I have been living with my grandma since January to help take care of her while she went through chemotherapy. I grew up right beside her so we have always been close but these past few months have been a blessing. I was given a chance to give back to a woman I think so highly of. A woman that I call my best friend. A woman that has held me together like glue, in times when I felt like my family was falling apart. A woman that has made the most profound impact on my life. 

Yesterday marked two weeks since that woman, my grandma, passed away. 

At first, it was all about what needed to be done. I stayed rather busy organizing and preparing but not acknowledging what I was preparing for. It was easier to not dwell or even think about the loss or pain. So, I did what any stable human being would do and I lost all sight of reality.

I watched movies. I spent time with family. I cleaned out my closet. I drank lots of coffee. I did everything except allow myself to cry. I was genuinely scared that once I allowed the pain to come in, I would have no control to stop it. It was easier to numb myself to all emotion than to acknowledge that a part of me was gone.

To give a little more backstory to anyone that is reading, I used to deal with depression when I was younger. To say that God has saved me time and time again is accurate. He has healed me on so many levels but to say that there aren't still days that life seems too hard to handle would be a lie. 

All of that being said, I was scared. I knew that if I allowed myself to grieve, I would not be able to handle it and that scared me. On the other hand, I also knew that I was not going to be able to move on with my life without having a breakdown and giving myself that mourning period. That also scared me.

I was not angry or upset with God and I was not trying to run away from Him but at the same time, I couldn't talk to Him. I knew that once I started a prayer to Him, I would no longer be able to avoid my emotions and I just wasn’t ready for that. 

So, I started looking for people that I could run to. I wanted to be ready and while I did not know what the future held, I knew that I could not do it alone. I was looking for someone to be there when I finally broke down. Someone to simply hold me and tell me that everything was going to be okay. I did not want someone to tell me to be happy or remind me that I would see her again someday but instead, I wanted someone to simple be there.

Then, it happened. I went to church last Sunday and a song played that spoke about not being afraid. I remember this weird mixture of tears rolling down my face and a kind of peace rolling down my shoulders. Here are a few lyrics from the song, Not Afraid, by Jesus Culture:

“I have this confidence because I've seen the faithfulness of God..

..I trust the power of Your word. Enough to seek Your Kingdom first..

..When I walk through the waters, I won't be overcome. When I go through the rivers, I will not be drowned. My God will make a way, so I am not afraid..

..No place for fear, no place for worry. I stand in your confidence and I know. I know you are the one who has me, who holds me. You go before me, you prepare the way in front of me, Jesus..

..Before me, behind me, always beside me. No shadow, no valley, where You won't find me. No, I am not afraid.”

Was my pain gone and had I allowed myself to grieve? No and no. However, I finally allowed myself to acknowledge the truth and the truth is this:

1. Just like anyone, I have been through a lot of challenges in my life but God has never left my side. He has brought me out of the ashes again and again. When I felt hopeless, He gave me hope. 

2. I believed that I could not handle the pain of loss alone and I was not wrong. I allowed my fear to blind me to the fact that I was not alone. I never had to handle my pain alone because He was there for me. 

3. I have seen the faithfulness of God and I will overcome this, just like the song says. Yes, having someone hold me and tell me that everything was going to be okay sounds nice and I am not saying it wouldn't help. I am saying that my joy isn’t found in someone simply being there. My joy is found in the confidence that I have in Christ. My joy is found in His faithfulness. My joy is found in the power of His word. My joy is found in Him and because of that fact, I will not drowned and I will overcome. I have nothing to fear. 

Now, days after that Sunday service, I have cried. I broke down for the first time last night and it hurts. My chest is heavy and sometimes it is hard to breath. She is gone and I feel the pain from that, which leads me to my title. 

Where do I go from here?

Her schedule, her life, and her presence are all I have known for the last nine months. So before you ask me how I am doing, know this:

1. I am hurting. I lost someone who meant the world to me and I don’t really know where to go from here. I had planned all the things I wanted to do with her to celebrate the fall and winter seasons. I don’t know how to live life without her because it is something that I have never done but I know that I want to live a life that she would be proud of, whatever that looks like. 

2. I am going to be okay. I am going to get through it. I don’t have to be afraid. God will make a way. Even through the tears, He will make a way. He is faithful. 

3. Just because she is gone physically, does not mean that the impression that she has left on my life is gone. I have been blessed. 

Lastly, I need to apologize. I am sorry. I have had many people reach out to me about being sorry for not attending the services and that was all on me. I am the reason you did not know. Because I allowed myself to avoid all emotions, I didn't give my friends or family the opportunity to be at the services and to support me. And to my friends that are just now finding out what I have been going through the last two weeks, I am again sorry. I didn’t tell you because I knew that you could see through my fake smiles and I was not ready to face reality. 

So, thank you to everyone who has reached out and asked how I am doing. I hope this post gives you a little bit of insight in the same way that I believe it has given me a small amount of closure. 

#Godisgood #Godisfaithful #JoyinJesus #Grandma #Beautyinpain #WheredoIgofromhere #Iwillbeokay

[davidmann95]

So it's official, there's nothing left between now and Crisis on Infinite Earths. Any last thoughts before it starts?

A list of wishes, classified by likelihood:

Here’s hoping!

* Brandon Routh and Kevin Conroy get a scene together and are preferably addressed as the World’s Finest, since they’re almost certainly from the same Earth and the clear idea there is positioning the Donnerverse Superman and DCAU Batman as literal peers to match the power of their iconography.

* Earths 1 and 38 merge but the multiverse remains (perhaps reorganized; no reason for Jay Garrick for instance not to be on Earth-2 now that the original trick of switching 2 and 3 no longer serves a purpose).

* The odd contradictory stuff with the Monitor that we’ve seen is revealed to be a product of him and the Anti-Monitor actually being two aspects of the same being.

* Some sort of note of the major Batwoman timeskip given I think everything in that series so far takes place pre-Elseworlds.

* Danny Trejo, a multiversal cop who was already recently brought back, sticks his head in during the final battle to be Danny Trejo in Crisis on Infinite Earths stabbing and shooting the death of all things.

* Lynda Carter shows up even if she likely can’t be acknowledged directly as Wonder Woman. Probably also on the Kingdom Come Earth?

* That guy who we all know is John Stewart becomes a Green Lantern, and he throws up the first time he flies as the culmination of that running gag.

* A solid first onscreen confrontation between Hoechlin’s Superman and Cryer’s Luthor (and for that matter Luthor with Tulloch’s Lois).

* Other DCAU voice actors who have played assorted roles in these shows briefly appear as live-action versions of their animated counterparts, or at least Mark Hamill (at minimum a recording or echoey memory of him laughing on the Kingdom Come Earth, for the love of god).

* Since I hear Black Lightning is set on a relatively realistic Earth without other superheroes, play a lot with him being caught up in all this nonsense with characters who he’d known as fictional.

* Speaking of which, the episode of Black Lightning that I just saw apparently ties in is accessible, since I’ll want to check that out. I hear that show’s really good!

* There’s some sort of at least minor bit of the Supermen comparing costumes, laying the groundwork for improvement on the side of the ‘prime’ guy.

Wouldn’t count on it, but it’s not impossible either!

* Conroy as Batman also meets Welling and Hoechlin, as Welling getting to meet a Batman would be the fulfillment of a longtime dashed dream, and Hoechlin as the best Superman should get to meet the best Batman.

* Some sort of resolution to the occasional light hints that there’s an important reason there isn’t a Superman or Supergirl on Earth-1.

* There’s specification or at least room for interpretation that Lois didn’t necessarily die on Earth Kingdom Come, it seems likely but I’d prefer it didn’t hew quite to that aspect of the source material.

* John Shea’s Lex Luthor shows up, that dude ruled.

* Green Arrow’s “The entire universe needs you” line to Superman isn’t (just) a reinforcement that he’s got an important job he’d better not fuck up or a bolster at a low moment, but a pep talk and/or acknowledgement that he as Superman (and a lead of an upcoming series) is the guy they need at the front on this.

* Since they’re paired in the poster, Superman and Constantine are forced to work together and absolutely hate each other.

* Routh either survives to occasionally guest star as the equivalent of the old Earth-2 Superman on Superman and Lois - maybe he just could be on Earth-2 in a reordered multiverse alongside Conroy, Carter, and Shipp’s Garrick - or plays a suitably major role in saving the multiverse with his heroic sacrifice.

* Lucifer from that show is in this after all and is very pointedly confirmed to have fucked John Constantine.

* Conroy growls “I was Batman”.

* Speaking of Batman Beyond, have Will Friedle make a cameo as Terry, if only in voiceover on a comm link.

* I don’t know the exact limitations of how Batman can appear in the non-Fox TV shows; clearly it’s somewhat porous. Would Conroy in the Kingdom Come Bat-armor be permissible?

* The gathering of heroes here is directly referred to as the Justice League.

* Smallville Clark mentions having dealt with Monitors before in passing acknowledgement of Smallville Season 11, which the writers mentioned they know of and at least won’t actively contradict.

* Welling wears a damn super-suit.

* Everything about the Legion of Superheroes is completely changed; all their history is revised and all actors are recast. I actually have no idea whether this would be a good or bad thing, but tradition’s tradition.

* A subtle shot at Dean Cain given why he’s not showing up.

Sigh. A boy can dream.

* Welling sees Routh and - since it’s technically supposed to be Christopher Reeve - exclaims “Doctor Swan?!”

* The Monitor displays ‘viewscreens’ of other universes, and someone leaps back in shock when George Reeves’ Clark Kent looks directly at said screen and winks.

* Uncle Sam is in this and tells everyone to stop for a second so he can give a speech about how saving the multiverse from the Anti-Monitor is really...about freedom, and Cryer’s Luthor exclaims ‘I hate his guts, but by god he’s right!’ Otherwise this will never be a spiritually true adaptation.

* Ezra Miller puts his money where his mouth is and makes a little cameo.

* The Monitor appears before Barry Allen as he’s about to sacrifice himself and confirms that the actual reason he’s lured him into this is as rightful punishment for his disrespectful Superman impression, and as he’s agonizingly torn apart atom by atom Flash’s final screamed utterance is “I objectively deserve this!”

* Justin Hartley shows up but as Aquaman.

* Oliver Queen survives in spite of cosmic odds to the contrary through naught but his wits and his will, and nothing seems to be standing in the way of him resuming his life and career after all. Except remember when he hilariously puffed out his chest in naked insecurity upon meeting Superman? That, except he meets Conroy’s Batman, and he just starts sobbing and runs away, never to be seen again, and that’s how Arrow for-real ends.

* Burt Ward puts on DKR Bat-armor to join the final battle and kicks an utterly stupendous amount of ass.

* Now that Roy Harper’s doing a Rise of Arsenal, (which is how I learned I am a maniac, given my what I can only describe as childlike glee when I realized what was about to happen in the last episode of Arrow) he injects a shitload of whatever that super strength drug is that gives him Bloodlust™ and goes ham on the Anti-Monitor with a dead cat.

* An unsubtle shot at Dean Cain given why he’s not showing up.

* I can get the damn Walmart tie-in comics. Most of the time the place near me is reliable with those, but they still haven’t gotten the last issue of King/Kubert Superman and I’ll probably just have to give in and get Superman: Up In The Sky #6 to get the final chapter Saturday or Sunday. I’m assuming my luck will hold steady with this.

#Crisis on Infinite Earths #Supergirl #Batwoman #The Flash #Arrow #Legends of Tomorrow #Superman #Batman #Wonder Woman #Green Lantern #Flash #Aquaman #Green Arrow #Black Lightning #Kingdom Come #DCAU #Smallville #Batman '66 #Batman Beyond #fanfic #Opinion

[loopy777]

if you were to rewrite season 3 of atla with taang suprisingly emerging as the main emerging ship, how would you do?

I think you might have checkmated me, here. Given the way the finale of Book Earth goes down, with Katara being described as the love of the Air Nomads reborn, and the way she brings Aang back to life after the issue of his attachment to her, Kataang becomes pretty much guaranteed as endgame. And that's on top of how Katara introduces the whole series in the first episode. I'd sooner reduce Aang's role in the AtLA story than Katara's. Even if I rewrote Book Fire to kill Katara off, it would feel about as natural as any single plot element from Rise of Skywalker.

(Sorry, the RoS novelization is in the news right now, and I’m reminded of how much of an anti-story that abomination is.)

But I’ll give it a go. Note that this isn’t going to work, and it isn’t going to be good, but I’m giving it a try. There are three vectors that need to be handled, and that's the three characters who are involved in this subplot: Aang, Toph, and Katara.

First up, Toph.

This part's easy. We'll say that when Aang nearly got killed but wound up in a coma, Toph realized how much her feelings for Aang have grown. She’s crushing hard on him by the time he wakes up. Instead of blushing and turning away whenever she shows too much concern for Sokka, she’s doing that for Aang. This builds up to the point where, instead of Aang giving Katara a kiss before the Day of Black Sun, Toph makes her move on Aang and kisses him before he leaves. (Yes, she still gets sick on the sub. This is a source of a little humorous tension as she psychs herself up for the big romantic moment and then she starts getting sick.) Aang basically reacts like Katara does, deciding to very quietly Say Nothing for as long as possible. That puts Toph on the right path.

Now let’s get Katara off the path, so to speak.

Even though Katara doesn’t think she loves Aang, by Book Fire she totally loves Aang. It's tempting to try to play up the idea of Aang dying as a reason for her to start emotionally distancing herself from him, but I don't think that rings true. For one, she brought Aang back to life. For another, Jet already died on her, and that certainly didn't derail her life or developing feelings for Aang. I suppose we could kill someone else in her life, but I ain't offing Sokka, and Haru isn't going to cut it.

No, I think we need to force Katara into a choice between her dreams and a romance with Aang, and frame her choice of her dreams as an empowering, correct choice. But we have to be careful not to make the empowering moment a matter of power, because Iroh and the narrative are in agreement that choosing power over love is how you become Ozai. We'll say that bringing Aang back to life interested Katara in all the possibilities of Waterbending and Healing. Then we make 'The Painted Lady' into a major stepping stone for her, where she learns from Sokka how to fight practically. Then, we give her a seperate sidequest spinning out of 'The Puppetmaster'- Katara learns from Hama in some way that there are still Southern Waterbenders being imprisoned, and they're in imminent danger of some kind. Perhaps one of Hama's kidnappings revealed information of this, like she kidnapped someone from the military who recognized Hama as a Waterbender and had the info. This requires a split in the gAang, because the Day of Black Sun is a deadline they can't miss and the Waterbenders are another.

So Katara ends up going it alone.

Or does Sokka go with her? Leaving Aang and Toph alone together for the Day of Black Sun would allow us to concentrate on their dynamic, but at the same time, we're shortchanging some of Sokka's growth by taking him away from the invasion and chance to lead his people. But would he really let his little sister run off into danger by herself? I doubt it.

This? This is why storytellers shouldn't change their minds 2/3 of the way through the show about who the main character is going to marry. It just leaves the whole story a messy, sloppy thing, even if that last third works by itself. The best thing to do is not go hard on the romance and destined lover unless you're 100% sure that you and your audience are going to love the original love interest.

(OH HAI LEGEND OF KORRA.)

Whether or not Sokka goes along with Katara, Aang goes into the Day of Black Sun without his love interest. Ideally, this is where we could clarify the matter of attachments that the Guru brought up in Book Earth. Love isn't bad or an attachment, but blinding infatuation will lead to disaster. Aang recognizes the differences, and while Katara isn't changing the way she feels about Aang, she's avoiding a bad attachment to him. Aang likewise doesn't give up his love for Katara (yet), but he does realize that he needs to keep working on his attachment to her and focus on what he needs to do as the Avatar.

This happens before Toph kisses Aang, by the way. Then the kiss comes, and the back-half of Book Fire.

And that sets up Aang's path through this story.

Once Aang realizes that Toph likes him, he tries to avoid addressing it. Perhaps, after the invasion, he gives Toph a speech about how he's confused just like Katara's in 'The Ember Island Players.' Zuko joins the gAang, and we can do something funny with he tries to give advice to both parties. During all this, Katara comes back to find Zuko a party-member and Aang and Toph all awkward, and she's like, "What have you people been doing while I was away?!" Perhaps that's a lead-in for Aang confessing to her, but something that happened during her 'Katara Alone' arc has her uninterested in any romance; perhaps she had a confrontation with her mother's killer, just like in 'The Southern Raiders' and it didn't resolve as easily, so Katara's in an even more confused state?

Yeesh, this is getting messy. And I've barely talked about Toph. It's all been about Katara.

Well, Toph's doing the Wait-And-Listen approach. Despite her usual aggression and bluster, she's taking it easy on this because even she's not sure what she really wants here. She knows Aang likes Katara, she knows both Aang and Katara are going through a lot right now that has nothing to do with romance, and she's figured out that any advice she's getting from Zuko and Sokka is terrible.

Hm, perhaps that's our finish? Toph finally talks to both Aang and Katara, acknowledges her feelings for Aang, but tells them that they should put all this messy stuff aside and focus on their friendship and their long-term many-year quest to defeat the Fire Lord since we've all decided we're skipping Sozin's Comet, right?

And then Zuko is like, um, what about how my dad's going to burn the whole Earth Kingdom when the Comet comes?

Cue finale.

From there, we just chop out the scenes when Toph was hitting on Zuko, switch Katara's declaration of faith in Aang for an Aang-faith declaration from Toph, and chop out that moment when Katara looks at Avatar Aang on stage while the love-dovey music twinkles in the background. The final scene is similar to what we got in the cartoon, with everyone meeting in Ba Sing Se and Aang kissing his Final Girl, but this time we're doing a time-skip of a year or more, and it's Toph instead of Katara he kisses. We can let the audience assume that everyone sorted out their confusion in the time-skip.

...

I'm sorry, this is awful. I've been plugging away at it for a week, and this is the best I can offer. Full-on AU's are much better for Aang-pairings.

Congrats on finding a rewrite I just can’t make work. ;)

#thekingofwinterblog

[bettsfic]

nobody asked but here’s how i would have ended it

i’ve been thinking about this for the past 12 hours, how one of the many major failings of the finale was that everything happened out of order, and the stakes were distorted. the entire point of the series is that the night king is the biggest threat, and the politics of the throne seem petty by comparison. to defeat the night king and then battle for the throne is completely illogical. so here’s my attempt to put the events in order and pare down the conflict so that it’s manageable to accomplish in 6 episodes.

first i have to retcon a few things:

euron greyjoy either doesn’t exist or isn’t involved

jaime doesn’t leave for winterfell at the end of s7 (but he is strongly conflicted about it)

cersei isn’t pregnant

jon isn’t aegon targaryen (because, again, the entire point of his arc is that a bastard is valid)

bran’s greensight has some value that is an actual threat to the night king, other than being like a dumb hub of all human knowledge 

EPISODE 1

the season starts in king’s landing. the march north has yet to begin (fixing the continuity errors of the back and forth on the kingsroad this season).

dany gears up to take the iron throne from cersei. jon pleads with her to march north instead, but she refuses, so he leaves for winterfell with brienne, sansa, et al to begin gearing up for battle with the wildlings and anyone else who can pick up a sword, even though it is a lost cause.

cersei uses the commonfolk as bait for dany, knowing her weakness is mercy. jaime, believing dany is capable of going mad queen, tells her all the people will die, etc. how could she do this, and it’s the last straw. brienne’s “fuck loyalty” finally lands. his allegiance to cersei is broken, though he makes no indication of it (i believe in nikolaj to be able to convey this without needing any major declaration of it).

melisandre shows up and does some mysterious magic stuff and tells dany a creepy riddle that basically goes, if one of your dragons falls, it will call upon something something, and dany is just ?? lol k.

EPISODE 2

jaime seeks out tyrion to tell him the major deets of cersei’s plan. he gets caught and held prisoner. tyrion finds him, lets him go, and urges him to convince cersei to surrender. 

missandei gives her two cents -- you only need to defeat the queen, not the people. dany gives her “they don’t love me, they fear me” speech and missandei says like, but they will love you. they’ll love you because you’re good. and then there’s some exchange about like, dany realizing no one can be good if they hold all the power. power corrupts, and the idea of the throne has corrupted her. missandei says that dany doesn’t need a throne to lead. she’s already a queen, and always will be.

meanwhile in winterfell, jon is rallying forces to defeat the night king, and working with his siblings (sans arya, who has gone south to king’s landing with the hound) to make a plan.

tyrion then begs dany not to kill everyone if they surrender, bell ringing, etc. the battle happens as it did in canon, except jon isn’t there. without the iron fleet it’s less of a big deal. cersei still believes her armies will prevail. the civilians are still running around trying to find safety, which makes everything chaotic. cersei’s armies (which have elephants!!) are making good headway. things look pretty bleak.

jaime finds cersei and urges her to surrender, believing that dany will kill all the people. cersei refuses, because she’s winning. they have pre-victory sex, but to jaime, it’s sad goodbye sex.

rhaegal gets speared and falls. more battle stuff happens, well into the night and reaching morning (but we can SEE shit because the lighting is GOOD). dany is stricken with grief. then! an ARMY of DRAGONS flies in from the west. they circle king’s landing. everyone is going totally batshit with fear and awe. the bells ring. empowered and angry, dany really wants to murder everyone. cliffhanger.

EPISODE 3

dany makes her choice not to kill everyone. she flies to the red keep and has a confrontation with cersei in the throne room. dany gives cersei the opportunity to bend the knee and join forces so that together, their armies can march north and defeat the night king. cersei refuses. dany threatens to take down the entire red keep. jaime is at his queen’s side, knowing what he has to do, not sure if he’s truly willing to do it.

the hound and arya make it to the red keep. arya agrees to separate and borrow some faces to make her way past the guards, and let the hound in from there. 

in winterfell, bran offers himself as bait to the night king. it’s a shitty plan, but the only chance they’ve got.

the mountain moves to attack dany. drogon, perched outside, screeches a warning. the hound intervenes and attacks the mountain. arya attacks cersei, but jaime intervenes and fights arya. dany hops on drogon and starts burning down the red keep. we hear many dragon war cries of support, lots of screaming, the bells. everything is collapsing and on fire. while fighting, jaime tells cersei to retreat and find safety. cersei is finally afraid, but still somehow believes she’ll win. 

the hound isn’t doing so well with the mountain. arya, seeing that cersei has had basically all her power stripped away, gives up her fight with jaime reluctantly and helps the hound.

jaime, alone now with cersei, offers his final plea -- if they leave now, they can escape, and go make a new life together. cersei, for the last time, says she will not leave the throne. jaime kisses her and stabs her (like the scene with jon and dany, but not that), a mirror of killing the mad king.

the hound is holding the mountain at bay. arya sets him on fire. the hound cuts off his head. together, they make it out of the red keep just in time to watch it fall. they help the civilians to safety. 

dany, seeing cersei dead and jaime huddled over her dead body on the throne (the same position he was in after he killed the mad king), ceases fire, and rescues jaime from the falling keep.

the next morning, dany, tyrion, jorah, varys, missandei, and grey worm approach the iron throne. the remaining unsullied and dothraki are lined up behind her. the remaining lannister army soldiers are being held prisoner. 

dany gives a speech about marching north. she offers the lannister army an opportunity to redeem themselves by marching with her. they agree. 

she approaches the throne, says her little speech about not being able to count to twenty, makes a comment about how it’s not as grand as she thought it would be. we truly believe she has ascended beyond the plight of a petty throne. dozens of dragons are whirling overhead. finally she says something about the throne being a symbol of tyranny, and how she’ll break the wheel. then she commands drogon to destroy it.

drogon melts the throne.

EPISODE 4

jaime marches alone to winterfell ahead of the armies. he arrives and sees bran waiting for him. he feels unworthy to still be alive. he should have died with cersei.

he approaches sansa to tell her what happened. sansa questions his loyalty, if he was willing to kill his sister, why should he be able to fight for them? brienne steps up and defends him, but she’s obviously very worried -- he looks half-dead.

while waiting for the armies, there is lots of braime time. brienne tells him he did the right thing. jaime asks to fight under her, and she agrees. he heals very slowly by the comfort of brienne, though it is apparent he is still planning to die in battle.

theon and yara arrive with the iron fleet and offer to fight for sansa. 

the wildlings find the carnage the wights have wrought and arrive in winterfell to say they have only a few days before the battle comes to them.

dany arrives in winterfell with all of the armies. jon is relieved that dany didn’t go mad queen. sansa is still skeptical, and doesn’t want the north under dany’s reign. 

the rest of the ep is spent preparing for battle. the hound and arya arrive in winterfell. arya makes a teasing comment to the hound about how she’s grown tired of his company, and seeks out jon to have their reunion. then she looks for gendry and asks for a special blade. 

that night, jaime knights brienne. arya fucks gendry. sansa and theon get caught up. jon and dany bang it out. 

we see the wights marching closer. 

EPISODE 5

the battle arrives, and happens pretty much as it does in canon, except BRIGHTER. the dragons cause a lot of damage. 

at one point, jaime is outnumbered, and it looks very much like he might die. we see him give up and drop his sword, but brienne throws them all off and tells him he doesn’t get to die today.

everything is the same, except jon leaves to face the night king. he arrives alone, theon already dead. there’s a big battle and he’s totally outnumbered. then arya sneaks up while the night king is distracted by jon and kills the night king the same way she did in canon.

the wights fall. victory!!

EPISODE 6

nearly everything that happened in episode 4, re: pyres and celebration, except when dany offers gendry lordship, he declines it, knowing arya would never want that life

braime goes canon but like, better. jaime says he should have died, brienne should have let him die. brienne says she’s glad he didn’t. it’s as close as she can get to a confession of feelings.

dany, realizing how loved jon is, offers jon a partnership, to lead the seven kingdoms together. jon declines, and explains that he’s never been able to choose his own destiny, but now he can, and he has a lot of thinking to do. dany respects his decision.

sansa wants the north to secede from the seven kingdoms. dany is enraged by this, and threatens to tear down winterfell. jon says that if dany does that, he will die with winterfell.

dany reluctantly accepts the secession, but threatens to one day return to winterfell and claim it. it is acknowledged that there may be a future war between the six kingdoms and the north.

sansa allows jaime to stay in winterfell. dany punishes tyrion for treason by forcing him to remain hand of the queen. 

sansa is crowned queen of the north. bran is given hand of the queen. arya, gendry, jon, the hound, and ghost lead the wildlings back through the wall.

dany is crowned queen of the six kingdoms, and vows, with the help of her new council, to listen to her people and come up with a better system of rule.

i know it’s not perfect! dany being crowned queen still offers a kind of “the ends always justify the means” theme that i don’t really like, as well as the idea of royal lineage, and if i had the entire series to myself, i would have made it so that her aspirations for “liberation” were more true, and that, once she got into power, she immediately disseminated it. but also there are a lot of foundational problems with the entire premise that i can’t really fix in one season. also there are really too many characters to manage, and i may have still had dany kill more people to show her ruthlessness, but this is loosely how i would have approached a tighter ending. 

#got spoilers #my fic

[twdmusicboxmystery]

TWD 10x04: Silence the Whisperers - Analysis

How did everyone like the episode? As always, I thought it was really good. The first thing I’ll say is that there isn’t nearly as much symbolism in it as there has been in the past few episodes. Not that there isn’t any, but you know how the past few have just been ridiculously overflowing with it? This one just has less. It’s one of those episodes that’s more action-oriented and setting up for what comes next.

***As always, spoilers abound below for episode 10x04. Don’t read until you’ve watched!!!***

Opening Sequence:

So the song playing in this sequence whispers “1, 2, 3” over and over again, which I think it significant. I already talked in an Ask about the wheel decoration behind Daryl, and how I think it represents the death fake out arc, and may show that Beth’s arc is about to come back around. Beyond that, Ezekiel is sad, Magna is having some issues, and a tree comes through Hilltop’s wall.

Hilltop:

We learn that 9 people got trapped in a building when the tree hit the roof and it caved in. They got all the people out, but this could be part of the Hole in the Roof theory. As the episode proceeds, the noise from the tree brings walkers and they’re afraid the whole wall will collapse. It’s already been weakened by the tree and now all the walkers are pushing in on it.

This hearkens back to two things for me. The first is the fallen trees in Them, which I always saw as significant. The second is, of course, when the church fell in S6, bringing down Alexandria’s walls and letting walkers in in 6x08/09.

Why would that be significant? Well, I think it’s obvious why Them would be significant, yeah? I mean, it’s after the storm and the fallen trees that the music box woke up. So if you want to draw a direct parallel, you might argue Beth will arrive after the tree falls. Honestly, I don’t see this as a big enough event to herald that, but it might be one of many small events that lead to her. More on that in a minute.

And how about paralleling it to S6? The biggest thing for me there is that that was smack in the middle of Glenn’s death fake out. After the church fell and let the walkers in, Glenn showed up, miraculously alive, and reunited with Maggie. Just saying.

In terms of the plot, I’m wondering (and this is pure conjecture) if Hilltop will eventually fall too. The Kingdom has already gone down, and I wonder if HT will too, forcing the entire group together at Alexandria. I’m not at all positive that’s where they’re going, but it crossed my mind.

Because the wall actually does collapse, but Michonne’s group shows up to help fight the walkers, and they do talk about fixing it. So we’ll see.

Ezekiel:

Given all the messages and Asks I’ve gotten about this, I doubt I need to explain it in great detail. Zeke has always had heavy parallels with Beth. Just as Daryl and Carol are very similar, so Beth and Ezekiel are too. Here, we have him contemplating suicide, much as Beth did in S2. Much like her, he realized he wants to live. 

As I mentioned in an Ask, this happened on one side of the now-broken bridge Rick was blown off of. So that connects him to Rick. And he wore a green shirt (Beth). So I think that connects him to the death fake outs and this functions as a foreshadow of Zeke’s own coming death fake out.

He also rode a black horse. It ran by Michonne after he let it go. That made me realize something. It’s not anything groundbreaking, but just a detail I hadn’t really thought of before. We’ve always seen as white horse = Beth and black horse = Daryl. The white horse also = life or being alive. But I realized the black horse also = death, despair, lack of hope. That’s how Zeke felt here, and how Daryl felt around the time Buttons died. Again, nothing we didn’t already know, but I just hadn’t thought of it that way before.

When Michonne and Ezekiel talk, she says, “it never would have worked between us anyway. We’re both too stubborn.” He says, “maybe in another universe.” I laughed at that. As in, the comic book universe? It’s obviously the writers’ way of acknowledging that this is a nod to their comic book romance, but it’s not going to happen in the show. (Add that to the list of things TD has been correct about.)

Daryl/Lydia/Alexandria:

This was obviously the biggest story thread in the episode. And I gotta say, I loved it! Gauge and his friends are mean to Lydia and bully her. She talks to Negan about it more and more, which Daryl isn’t happy about.

I was laughing hysterically when Lydia butchered the squirrel in front of them. How much like Daryl is that? Like father, like daughter, I guess. She’s rebellious just like he is. Which isn’t surprising since they come from similar, abusive backgrounds.

Daryl is older and wiser now and advises her not to provoke them, but he himself would have done much the same only a few years ago.

The three bullies attack Lydia and Negan saves her. I gotta say, while I was one who thought it would have been more just for them to execute Negan at the end of AOW, it’s really hard to hate him when he’s being sweet to Lydia. While rescuing her, he accidentally kills the woman who used to be with the highwaymen.

So, remember in episode 1 when I talked about how Negan told FG he didn’t want people’s fear of the Whisperers to blow up in his face so that they blamed him and wanted to string him up? I said that was setting something up and this would happen eventually. So this episode is the fulfillment of that. It truly was an accident and he didn’t mean to kill her, but no way people are going to let it go, now. So Negan takes off.

In truth, I’ve been waiting for him to take off. I’m actually really excited about this story line. Remember last season when Negan escaped and left Alexandria for a while? Judith tried to stop him, and he took her compass? Well, he was only gone a short time, but during that time we saw tons of callbacks to Still, saw him run from dogs, and saw tons of other Beth-ish symbolism. We weren’t exactly sure what it meant at the time, but now I think we do.

That small excursion from Alexandria was a foreshadow of this one. He’ll probably be gone much longer this time and the arc will be much bigger. It’s important to note that we saw not only Beth symbolism, but also saw Negan drink bad water and throw it up. That hints at the radiation/helicopter group stuff.

So I’m not saying Negan will meet Beth in the woods next episode—obviously I’d be great with that, but I’m sure it will be much more complicated and protracted—but just that something about him leaving will lead to Beth. I’m excited to see how it all plays out.

When Daryl talks to Carol, she says all the drama in the communities—both the stuff with Negan and Lydia, as well as the tree situation at Hilltop—are distractions from the true enemy: Alpha. I know there are lots of theories floating around about Carol being the one to have let Negan out. 

While I don’t think we have much evidence of that either way, I certainly wouldn’t dismiss it. It would mirror her killing Karen and David at the prison in 4a. Not that the action is the same, but this wouldn’t be the first time Carol took it on herself to solve a problem in a less than ethical way, because she thinks it’s for the greater good. But no one knows for sure what happened yet. They didn’t tell us in this episode. So we’ll just have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, when Michonne and Daryl talk on the radio, she tells him to protect Lydia. She’s afraid that if anything happens to Lydia, or if she leaves Alexandria, Alpha will attack them. Yeah, once again, that’s a setup. Something along these lines will happen eventually and bring Alpha’s wrath.

Near the end, Michonne, Judith and Luke head back to Oceanside because Rachel radioed to say they thought they saw some Whisperers near where the mask washed up in 10x01. So Michonne is going to investigate. She takes Judith and Luke with her. Where Luke is concerned, I kinda feel like he might die. I hope not, but they sure focused a lot on him saying heartfelt goodbyes to his group (Magna, Connie, Kelly, and Yumiko). That struck me as suspicious. Like that group might not all be together again.

Details:

I won’t do a full details post because there were only a handful I saw worth mentioning.

When Lydia said Gauge and his pals deserved what she did (with the squirrel), Daryl said, “I get it.” Obvious Beth line.

When Siddiq had another freak out, he put his face in ice water. Not a huge deal, but another example of water helping to (temporarily at least) heal him.

When Lydia was in medical, talking to Daryl, we see a bunch of IV bags behind her. Just reminded me of Grady.

Oh, and Lydia played around with a worm when she was talking to Negan. (Worm Theory.)

When Michonne talked to Daryl on the radio, she told him to be her proxy for the vote. This really isn’t anything official, but that word caught my ear. It had nothing to do with Beth in the plot, but how often does TD, in our theories, talk about Beth proxies? And I don’t think I’ve ever heard them use that actual word on the show before. So it just got my attention. ;D

When Negan disappeared, FG said the guards reported that the keys were missing. Key Theory. And reminds me a lot of all the keys we saw at Grady.

When Daryl and Carol talked on the steps, Carol had an interesting line. She said, “it’s like time never moves.” I wondered if that might be a reference to the clocks without hands. She also mentions New Mexico yet again.

We see Michonne and Judith fighting walkers side by side. Just look at this. I think it might be a callback to when Rick and Carl fought walkers together (with guns in that case) at the prison in 4a.

Finally, this isn’t really a TD detail, but they’re definitely setting something up with Magna and Yumiko. Their relationship is in a rocky place, but I feel like it’s mostly because Magna is kind of spiraling. She seems angry and like she just wants to kill everything. I don’t know what they’re setting up there, but something.

When Lydia butchered the squirrel, which I already said was very Daryl-like, it specifically showed that Father Gabriel (embodiment of the Sirius symbolism/Beth) was watching her. I’m not entirely sure what to make of that, but I found it interesting.

I loved seeing Daddy Daryl taking care of Lydia. It’s really sweet and compelling. I’m enjoying his interactions with Lydia. I always feel like he’s on the verge of telling her about Beth. But alas, he doesn’t. At least, not in this episode.

Lydia said she let Negan out, though when Daryl confronted her, she admitted she didn’t. But she ultimately wanted to stay in Negan’s cell because she felt safer in there. It just occurred to me that she currently has a Morgan mindset (from 6x06) where she actually feels more comfortable in a cage. Just kind of interesting.

Ending:

At the end, they repeat the “1, 2, 3” song again. We see Luke saying goodbye to everyone, which I already talked about. Then we see Carol on the roof, looking at a map. (Maybe evidence that she’s systematically looking for Alpha?) Then we see Daryl scrubbing the graffiti off his front door.

Guess what? The vest is back! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

That’s super important, guys. We really haven’t seen his vest in a LONG time. It’s return now, with the missing wing on obvious display, feels really important. Like Beth’s return (the return of his missing wing, perhaps?) is just around the corner.

The camera pans around, showing all the graffiti (there was more than just the stuff on Daryl’s door). It stops on one particular instance of it. And, this might be hard to hear, but if you put on the subtitles, the song ends, followed by the sounds of walkers. Then the subtitles say that a Whisperer is saying, “Shhhhh.”

Yeah, that feels like a very significant setup. I feel like these first three episodes were really intros or setups for the season. Now we’re going to get into the meat and potatoes of things. You know, either really get into the Whisper War, or else something else huge is going to happen. And whatever it is, I think it will lead to Beth. I saw the last sequence of this episode as evidence that the arc where Beth returns is about to ensue. That makes me happy.

Okay. Gonna stop there for today. As I said, I won’t do a details post for this episode. Either tomorrow or Wednesday, I’ll do a post talking about where I’m thinking the events of this episode (such as Negan leaving, Michonne going to Oceanside, seeing Daryl smoke last episode, etc) might be heading. So it will mostly be a predictions post. Sort of. Stay tuned. ;D

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

[killthebxy]

post--- season finale verses

          one important note to remember: for strictly show-based scenarios, i headcanon that Jon died fighting undead!Viserion. everything that i write after this point will be plotted with that specific roleplay partner, and i will NOT acknowledge ANY of the events of episodes 4-6 in the way they were presented. you can find a summary of all my points of divergence from s08 on: this post. with this said, all my post-finale interactions will be placed in one of the following verses --- and everyone is welcome to come plot with me for one or more of them. for organization’s sake, i’m further dividing these verses into two main categories.

interactions at King’s Landing

verse 1           this verse is heavily based on everything @zcldrizes and i have plotted together, and deviates from show!canon for seasons 05-08. while i won’t bore anyone with the details, if you’d like to know more, you are always welcome to poke me about it. the main events for s05-07 remain the same, as well as for s08 episodes 1 and 2. starting with episode 3, the changes are the following:

the battle for Winterfell is lost and the Dead take the castle. Arya does not destroy the Night King, rather his second in command. this causes a great number of the wights to crumble, as they had been turned by this Other --- which, in turn, allows for the humans to regroup a bit and escape. by mounting as many survivors as possible on top of Drogon and Rhaegal, they head for Dragonstone.

at Dragonstone, a council decides that pushing for an alliance with Cersei and her armies is inevitable. Jon and Daenerys head for King’s Landing --- whoever accompanies them is dependent on the thread. having heard news of the fall of Winterfell, as well as the Dead by now being as far into the realm as the Neck, Cersei is finally open to a truce and temporary alliance --- still, she demands Jon be taken as her prisoner till the eve of battle, as a way to ensure none of this is a trick to usurp her throne. this condition is accepted, and preparations begin.

the real battle for the Dawn happens outside King’s Landing, with the rest of Westeros up north, west, and east already overtaken by the Long Night. first battle stage: Daenerys rides Drogon, aided by Rhaegal, to knock the Night King off of Viserion. Viserion is therefore destroyed by his mother and brothers. second battle stage: Jon fights always on the ground, commanding every warrior in the realms of men allied for this cause. the main objective is to get to the Night King. Arya and Jon collaborate for this, respectively as Azor Ahai and Lightbringer --- Arya is the savior who destroys the Night King, Jon is the tool used to bring this salvation.

in post-battle, the fate of every protagonist is dependent on the thread. by default, Jon and Dany get married and rule the realm together. the North and Dorne are given independence, as will any other kingdom who desires so and vows to keep the crown’s peace. Daenerys is the rightful heir and queen. Jon is king consort, but more commonly known as Lord Protector of the Realm. he is also once again elected lord commander of the Night’s Watch (more info on this can be found on the following verses).

verse 2           this verse is similar to the previous one, as far as dynamics go, with the difference that the battle for Winterfell is won. Jon and Daenerys do not grow apart. when leaving for Dragonstone, Ghost goes along with Jon. the deaths of Rhaegal and Missandei are not acknowledged. King’s Landing is taken and, once the bells ring, the surrender is accepted. Cersei’s fate, along with her court, is dependent on the thread. by default, Jon and Dany get married and rule the realm together, in similar terms to the previous verse --- however, i am open to plot a possible marriage/alliance with another monarch.

interactions at Castle Black/ the Wall

verse 3           this verse follows the premise that Jon and Daenerys were never in love/ were never in a relationship. they work together as allies in a way similar to s07 and s08, and the war is won in a way similar to described in verse 2. with peace returned, Jon wants nothing to do with power or ruling or thrones, and he decides by himself to return to the Night’s Watch, as he considers that is where he belongs. my headcanons related to the changes that are implemented on the Night’s Watch from here on can be found on: this post.

verse 4 (warning: explicit mention of suicide)           this verse is the only scenario in which i acknowledge the possibility of Daenerys burning down King’s Landing. it defaults to @zcldrizes ‘s idea that she accidentally sets off the stash of wildfire under the city, provoking a chain reaction along with Drogon’s fire as he burns down the city gate at the beginning of the battle --- although i am open to plot different ideas. in this verse, Rhaegal and Missandei died in the ways portrayed by the show. this grief, together with the loss of Jorah and now the chaos she unwillingly provoked, push Dany past the limit of her mental integrity and she ends up taking her own life in the throne room. Jon, who tried to rush to her, is too late and is unable to change the course of events. Jon is accused of murdering the queen, and he makes no attempt to deny it nor to defend his case --- his own trauma and guilt leading him to believe that, having failed to protect her, he is as good as responsible for her death. in time, his trauma makes him believe he, indeed, killed her by his own hand. the meeting of the council happens as in episode 6, and Jon is sentenced to lifetime exile at the Night’s Watch. the changes implemented are similar to what is described in verse 3.

#long post #「ᵖˢᵃ ᵗᵃᵍ」ᵃ ᵇᵃˢᵗᵃʳᵈ ʰᵃᵈ ᵗᵒ ˡᵉᵃʳᶰ ᵗᵒ ᶰᵒᵗᶤᶜᵉ ᵗʰᶤᶰᵍˢ