#neither character's arc is tied to the throne

[hamliet]

Rereading A Game of Thrones

In light of my recent Fire & Blood reread, I decided to reread the whole ASOIAF series because, well, why not. Below are some general observations/musings on the themes, character arcs, alchemy, and foreshadowing of book 1. I'll do this for the others as well. It's not really a meta so much as observations and thoughts.

Themes

Good Intentions Pave the Way to Tragedy

The most basic storytelling in existence tells us that protagonists have plans work out for them, just because they're good people with good intentions. Martin's whole schtick with A Game of Thrones is turning this on its head.

So many POV character's arc ends with their best intentions blowing up in their faces.

Ned tries to do the right thing and appoint the rightful heir. Robert's will was given to him, after all. He then even confesses to treason to save his daughter. He's still executed.

Catelyn leaves Winterfell as a mother to get justice for her child who was almost murdered. As a result of lies, she ends up unjustly arresting Tyrion and unwittingly helps set in motion a chain of events that results in the loss of her husband, risks to her daughters, and the potential loss of her eldest son, who crowns himself king in the north.

Daenerys saves Mirri Maz Duur and Eroeh and uses MMD to save Drogo. It just results in more death; the khalasar consumes itself, she loses Drogo and her child, and learns how little a life is worth when everything else is gone. Eroeh even faces a worser fate.

Sansa only wanted a happy ending like in the romantic songs she listens to; she accidentally gives Cersei the warning she needs to arrest her father. She then pleads for mercy and is rewarded with her father's head. Sansa had no bad intentions, but she lost her family and her freedom for this.

Arya intends to be a strong warrior and hates when others are bullied. She kills a boy at the end out of fear. She just wants to save herself. She didn't do anything wrong per se, but it will haunt her and influence her negatively down the line.

Good intentions, even righteous actions, guarantee nothing. But that doesn't mean they are pointless, either. Why? Because, Daenerys's arc shows us what you can do when only the dead and stone remain, when she arises from the ashes like a phoenix. Jon's arc shows us that others can pull us back, make loss bearable.

Duty vs Love

Duty vs. love is one of the main elements of a Romantic story, and Martin's identified himself as a Romantic. Guinevere and Lancelot, anyone? The love that cannot be, the love that is doomed because of duty--there's conflict. Courtly love is a key piece of this, and it's literally defined as:

a highly conventionalized medieval tradition of love between a knight and a married noblewoman, first developed by the troubadours of southern France and extensively employed in European literature of the time. The love of the knight for his lady was regarded as an ennobling passion and the relationship was typically unconsummated.

(Also yes the Romantics drew heavily on medieval tradition.)

It ties into the motif of the human heart against itself. Ned, the most honorable man, in the end chooses love over duty (Sansa's life over his honor). Arguably, he chose both, because his duty as a father is to protect his child first and foremost.

Yet those who eschew duty for love completely aren't framed positively either: see, Cersei and Jaime, Robert over Lyanna, etc. Neither, of course, is eschewing love for duty. Stannis, we know from the show, will in the end choose duty over love (burning Shireen), and it will be for nothing.

Instead of "duty or love," what Martin seems to be trying to do is explore the nuances of individual situations and choices, and to suggest that duty to others' wellbeing can't so easily be separated from love.

Jon, after all, ends up trying to choose between duty (the Night's Watch) and love (helping Robb become King of the North). In the end, though, it's the love of his friends on the Night's Watch that brings him back. It's not just because he said some words. It's their love, and it's the reality of the Others' threats--since the Others threaten them all, including every person Jon loves.

Justice and Mercy

It's a tale as old as time (or at least as old as the Bible): justice vs. mercy. Can true justice exist without mercy? Or is that just abuse itself? Is mercy really the exclusion of justice?

Stannis, for example, is said to be the full embodiment of justice. And notably? That's not a good thing:

Lord Stannis in particular. His claim is the true one, he is known for his prowess as a battle commander, and he is utterly without mercy. There is no creature on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man.

Just as we in the real world struggle with this question of when mercy becomes injustice, and when justice becomes injustice without mercy, so the characters struggle. Even Ned's honorable justice--executing Garen at the start of the book--turns out to have been wrong, and he's executed in a similar fashion at the end of the book. But it's not ironic justice; it's just sad.

Ned is caught precisely because of both, just like love and duty: justice, in that he refused to act in time to get Joffrey under his wing, but would have saved his life if he had. But it wasn't just to put Joffrey on the throne, so he doesn't.

He also tries to show mercy to Cersei by encouraging her to leave with her kids. He just misunderstands Cersei and assumes that, as a mother, she will prioritize her kids' lives first and foremost. Except, the tragedy is that Cersei has never had her father prioritize her life as anything more than a pawn to be used, and so Cersei calls Ned's bluff: "what of my wrath, Lord Stark?" It'd be easy to say Ned underestimated Cersei because he saw her as a role and not as a person, but I don't think that's quite true either. The reality is... Ned had good intentions. It just didn't work out, because injustice is the opposite of justice and of mercy, and injustice isn't a force of mindless orcs from a foreign land to be brought down. It's among us and it's within each of us.

The Outsiders

The real heroes of the story, the ones I'll call the Big Six, are Jon, Daenerys, Tyrion, Arya, Bran, and Sansa. Interestingly, all of them are outsiders--except Sansa. Jon is a bastard. Daenerys is an exile. Tyrion is a dwarf. Bran is crippled. Arya is a girl who doesn't like society's rules--and Jon directly compares her situation to his: "Arya never seemed to fit, no more than he had."

But just in case we were tempted to brush off Arya and especially Sansa as being not truly outsiders, we have Daenerys' chapter where she eats the horse heart which tells us exactly why Sansa is also an outsider to a degree:

If she choked on the blood or retched up the flesh, the omens were less favorable; the child might be stillborn, or come forth weak, deformed, or female.

Yep, female is seen as weak and a poor omen.

If I Look Back, I Am Lost

This is the line Dany repeats to herself after Drogo's death. She can't bring herself to look back at what she could have done differently. In the moment she says this, it makes sense: she can't bring Drogo back, and she can't undo what she's done already. She can only look forward. However... she's going to have to look back at some point, probably in TWOW, and that should provide a wake-up.

The most notable other character doing this at this point (don't worry, everyone will end up here by book 5!) is Tyrion. His proposal to Shae--that she act like his lover with romance--is essentially him reenacting his trauma with Tysha. A whore pretended to be your wife, so now you're asking Shae to pretend to love you. It should be clear from the start that this isn't going to end anywhere good.

Alchemy

Dismemberment of a "good man" is usually a symbol in alchemy for what needs to happen in order for the process to go. The man's parts are scattered. and he is killed, but from that scattering, everything will be purified and then brought back together. Pretty clearly the Starks (and also Tyrion and Daenerys, whom Ned tried to save).

The Process

When Jon says his vows in the godswood, it's clear that the weirwood trees are designed after the three stages of the alchemical process: "The forest floor was carpeted with fallen leaves, bloodred on top, black rot beneath. The wide smooth trunks were bone pale, and nine faces stared inward." The black stage is associated with death and decay, the white with skeletons (rinsing away of impurities). Red is the final stage.

The city of King's Landing also emphasizes these three colors: the Sept on Visenya's hill is white and crystal; the Dragonpit on Rhaenys' hill is black, and the Red Keep on Aegon's is, of course, red.

When Sansa finally gives up on her delusions of Joffrey, she "g[ives] herself to the darkness," which could be read as giving herself over to the black stage, to being transformed.

Green is the color of the prima materia, or the substances that will be made into the philosopher's stone. Tyrion fights at the Greek Fork. Bran is referred to as a "only a green boy with the smell of summer still on you." When Daenerys sets out on the Dothraki see, she has the following conversation:

"It's so green," she said.

"Here and now," Ser Jorah agreed. "You ought to see it when it blooms, all dark red flowers from horizon to horizon, like a sea of blood.

To me, this seems to indicate where Daenerys's arc will go: red completion.

The Wind

Again as @argentvive has pointed out, Dany being born in the middle of a terrible storm is likely a reference to the line from the Emerald Tablet about the Philosopher's Stone being "carried by wind". But there are actually a lot of references to wind in AGOT, like this Bran conversation:

Bran listened. "It's only the wind," he said after a moment, uncertain. "The leaves are rustling."

"Who do you think sends the wind, if not the gods?" 

Maybe Bran will be an alchemist for Daenerys? Because her association with wind is strong in this story. When Khal Drogo gives her the silver horse, she says "Tell Khal Drogo that he has given me the wind."  Indeed, he's given Dany what she needs to start her journey, and he will give her even more. When she tries to convince her husband to go to Westeros, she tells him ships are "Wooden horses with a hundred legs, that fly across the sea on wings full of wind." Drogo never takes Dany to Westeros, but this is how sailing works. Dany will arrive in Westeros carried by wind.

Also of note: the sea in alchemy can be representative of the mercurial waters, the substance that the stone is dissolved in before being coagulated. The Dothraki fear the sea, but Dany needs it.

Markings

The philosopher's stone, and most romantic couples, in alchemical stories, are made of characters with opposite "markings." These alchemical opposites are:

Male: Sun, sulphur, fire and air, hot and dry, red, gold, heart. Female: Moon, mercury, earth and water, cool and moist, white, silver, mind.

Arya is heavily marked as water and earth. Syrio Forel tells her she must become a "water dancer," and that's precisely what she does.

Pretty much all of the Starks of import are white. Sansa wears white silk. Bran wears silver pins. Jon is also water (snow). However:

Bran often dreams of wings and flying, which might indicate a future air marking for him. Daenerys has a similar dream about wings and flying. Yes, crows vs dragons, whatever. I genuinely wonder if Bran might switch markings at some point like Dany does.

"A dragon was air and fire."<--actual quote.

Daenerys's Rebirth

So as mentioned above, Dany undergoes a switch in her markings. This is also something argentvive has covered extensively. Drogo rides a red horse; Dany silver. Drogo is the "sun and stars," while Dany is the "moon of [his] life." But, as the story tells us through this myth, a moon can become a sun:

Once there were two moons in the sky, but one wandered too close to the sun and cracked from the heat. A thousand thousand dragons poured forth, and drank the fire of the sun. That is why dragons breathe flame. One day the other moon will kiss the sun too, and then it will crack and the dragons will return.

Towards the end of the story, Dany becomes red, sulfur, the sun, fire, and air; she even becomes heart via literally eating a heart. During the Mirri Maz Duur scene, it's noted that Drogo is forced to soak in a tub, and:

Her handmaids filled the tub with tepid water that stank of sulfur, 

After this, Drogo's red horse is killed, because he will no longer be red; Dany will. The entire tent becomes bathed in red, and just in case we weren't aware this was a rebirth scene, Daenerys literally gives birth.

The blood had gone everywhere. Even the sandsilk walls were spotted with red, and the rugs underfoot were black and wet.

But her birth is not finished. No, it's dissolved, but not coagulated. Hence, the fire.

She climbed the pyre herself to place the eggs around her sun-and-stars. The black beside his heart, under his arm. The green beside his head, his braid coiled around it. The cream-and-gold down between his legs.

The eggs are interestingly placed by the three principles of alchemy: heart, mind (head), and body (since body characters can be, um, lusty). When Dany is reborn through the fire, she is naked like a baby, both child and mother (she's noted to be lactating, which she will use to feed her dragons).

Ser Jorah Mormont found her amidst the ashes, surrounded by blackened logs and bits of glowing ember and the burnt bones of man and woman and stallion. She was naked, covered with soot, her clothes turned to ash, her beautiful hair all crisped away . . . yet she was unhurt.

The Show That Shall Not Be Named (Mixing references here I know)

In regards to that dreadful show citing Viserys' death as an example of Dany being "cold" to her enemies... whew. So not true. When Viserys is executed, Daenerys does exactly what Ned Stark says anyone who executes another should: look him in the eye. She's asked to turn away, and she refuses. In other words, there's zero framing that we should be disturbed by her reaction--in fact, we should see her as honorable for it. It's also noted that Dany's handmaidens note that Daenerys's grief is real: "You have not laughed since your brother the Khal Rhaggat was crowned by Drogo," said Irri. "It is good to see, Khaleesi."

Rather than Dany's reaction being a sign of her nonexistent coldness, I think it's more another example of the main theme mentioned above: Dany kept trying to protect her brother by not telling him the truth about how the khals viewed him ("Khal Rhaggat"), even though 1) if she had, he'd have hurt her, and 2) he really should have been able to open his eyes and see the truth, but he willingly blinded himself not unlike Robert Baratheon. She had good intentions. It just didn't mean that there weren't extremely negative consequences. That also doesn't mean she should have told him, either.

Insofar as Bran ending up as some kind of king, Tyrion's line in the show was something about how Bran had the best story. A joke in the show, but possibly something like this will be said in the books (and, y'know, make sense). Bran is told by Old Nan: "My stories? No, my little lord, not mine. The stories are, before me and after me, before you too." Stories matter.

Foreshadowing:

It's hard to know what is accurate foreshadowing. There are some elements of George's original plans in this book that have clearly been scrapped. It's a retcon, but also not, because the retconning is less about changing the endgame and more about changing the steps along the journey. For example, the line about Jaime looking "like a king" at Winterfell, Jaime being appointed Warden of the East, etc, all seem to line up with Martin's original plan to make Jaime a villain to take the throne.

That said, for stuff that does pay off:

Jon wondering about his mother is followed up within three short paragraphs with a switch to the line "They said it was Donal Noye who'd forged King Robert's warhammer, the one that crushed the life from Rhaegar Targaryen on the Trident." He's your daddy, Jon.

Varys is associated with the scent of lilacs from his very first scene. Lilacs are only else used to describe... the color of Dany and Viserys's eyes. He had Targaryen (or Blackfyre) connections from the start.

Jon and Dany have an interesting parallel that may or may not be alchemical: both are associated with bears. Jon is mentored by Jeor Mormont, and Dany inspires Jorah Mormont.

#agot #a game of thrones #agot meta #asoiaf meta #kinda #a song of ice and fire #daenerys targeryan #jon snow #tyrion lannister #sansa stark #cersei lannister #arya stark #bran stark #varys

[randomidiocyncrazies]

DONE with the Octopath 2 demo, i had a great time with it! assume spoilers for everyone’s chapter 1

overall impressions

it was so fun! the Day/Night mechanic is an interesting choice, and the fact that each character has 2 path actions, dependent on time of day, opens up a lot of flexibility. I wonder if the Day/Night thing will be thematically important or be tied to lore, since from Ochette’s chapter 1 we know an apocalyptic(?) event called Night of the Scarlet Moon is coming (heck, Ochette’s two animal companions are introduced with companions to the Sun and Moon respectively.)

multiple path actions arguably have the same outcome (Partitio, Agnea, Temenos and Ochette all have path actions that basically make an NPC follow them). there are times when NPCs are only receptive to certain types of path actions, so you might have to backtrack to do something to an NPC if you didn’t have the relevant MC in your party initially? i haven’t run into this problem in the demo, but i wasn’t actively doing side-quests

slightly more specific thoughts and rankings

i only have access to everyone’s chapter 1 (and Osvald’s chapter 2), so all my opinions are based the contents of the demo only.

most wholesome route

Agnea wins this one. it’s kind of funny how low-stakes her story is, but not in a bad way? sometimes you need a gal who wants to become a star just like mama in the middle of all the angst and mysteries

most emotionally hurtful route

throne throne throne... girl had to kill her best friend who’s like a brother to her bc he’s in despair and can’t see a future where neither of them have to die... the way he hesitates to attack before committing to this fatal fight despite Throne pleading for him to not do this... they way they both have to do things that deeply hurt them in order to survive...

most hurtful route/route where i died the most

i died the first time I fought Pirro as Throne, but i was constantly on the verge of dying as Agnea during the exploration stage after beating the boss and had to flee from most battles

most homoerotic route

Temenos’s route is extremely fruity (“my little wayward lamb” COME ON), followed by Castti and whatever heated drama she had going on with Malaya (who i think is Castti’s hallucination and not actually there? she disappeared in a flash at the end of chapter 1......)

favorite character to play as

Ochette!!!! i love the beast lore mechanic SOOOOO MUCH, exploring is fun when you’re also collecting different critters along the way

favorite plot hook

Castti’s, followed by Temenos’s—I like mysteries, even though I’m not great at solving them. both of these routes also used gameplay segments creatively, which was cool af

favorite character theme

oooo they’re all great, but I’m gonna go with Agnea! i love fiddles okay

favorite location/region theme

hmmm it’s a toss up between Ochette and Hikari’s starting territories... i think Ochette’s wins out juuuuust slightly, though it might be affected by how much I enjoyed running around the island as her

favorite main character (so far)

auuugh they’re all soooo good??? all very compelling in a specific way

that said, my favorite female character is Castti—love a woman with a mysterious past and a big fuckoff axe, and her voicelines are INCREDIBLE. “no mercy, only pain” and “i know no cure for evil” lives in my head rent free. i’m also really attached to characters who have to relearn who they are with fresh eyes, making a decision about whether they want to keep being that person and where they’ll go next—I’m really excited to learn more about her past, and how she has to confront the possibility that she might’ve had a hand in unleashing something devastating on the populace (though my guess is that she had never been evil, and Eir’s Apothecaries had been framed by the true arc villain and/or misunderstood by the general populace).

favorite male character is probably Temenos? I really like the concept they went with for his character, being a man of the cloth who is extremely irreverent but still dedicated to the ideals of his religion, and i do love me some sleuthing. he’s also kind of really ruthless in his interactions with other people—the Coerce path action and the farewell with Mindt, where he very clearly keeps her at arm’s length and lies to her—which is an interesting trait to give to the cleric character. (Mindt totally notices that Temenos is putting up a wall between them, though I also think she’s kind of a busybody—like chill out lady, i was just chatting with the pontiff, we’re not discussing state secrets.)

favorite temporary party member (so far)

Crick the little wayward lamb without a doubt!!! i’ll give my whole heart for earnest naive knights who are in over their heads, who strives to do good wholeheartedly and holds themselves to a standard that they aren’t quite capable of reaching yet, who has their expectations challenged immediately upon their first real assignment as a member of the organization they’ve pledged themselves to...!!! his “Naive Newcomer & Sly Cynic” dynamic with Temenos is really fun

(Rai Mei comes very close though! woman with a giant polearm who calls herself a weapon to be used in someone else’s hands? instant hearteyes)

most shady NPC (not counting the ones outright stated to be villains)

lol it’s a toss-up between Deputy Cubaryi in Temenos’s chapter and Cohatzen(? the human leader) in Ochette’s. I’m like 90% certain that they’ll both be revealed as villains in due time

like, Cubaryi’s hostility is partially explained by the interdepartmental tensions between the Inquisitors and the Scared Guard, but it seems more sinister than just that, considering the timing of her introduction. and the human leader might’ve intentionally orchestrated things so that the magic lion who protects Ochette’s tribe would be weakened in the fight, making it easier for her to take over the beastlings’ village

this is all just speculation though (and i don’t want to be spoiled)

#octopath 2 #ric plays octopath 2 #ric plays #8path #octopath traveler ii

[qqtahng]

im going to put some octo2 thoughts here now that i’ve had time to digest it. there will be spoilers

overall i think i liked octo2 as a game more than 1. im sad they (understandably) changed some (kinda broken) mechanics from the first game (sp steal/share on thief and tomahawk nerf..............), but we got some great qol updates, like no more purple chests and the hunter’s monster system got LEAGUES better. all the jobs got more powerful overall despite them nerfing some aspects (i dunno if like a 1.5/1.5 turn kill on galdera was possible in the first game....... insane), the new parts were so fun to use (vengeful blade!!!!!!! arcanist as a whole!!! aaa!!!)

the music and art too oh my goddd. i didnt think it could get better but somehow it DID and i just. its amazing, aesthetically, on all fronts. yasunori nishiki could tell me to kms rn and i would. gladly. for all the work he put into the ost. just, chefs kiss. i dunno what else to say.

love love love the new travelers tho. they’re all very colorful and whlie i do like some more than others (hi tem, hi castti) i cant say i actively dislike any of them. thats not much different from the first game.

the writing was overall more enjoyable than 1 too imo, tho i dont get why they had the split route thing when they had progression recommendations for them anyway and it ended up being like... not much of a choice. the crossed paths were really nice. it would’ve been a Lot of work but i wish we had one for every combination of traveler rip. throne and tems was so good tho, definitely my fave of the bunch.

that aside im not gonna lie, i did not vibe w hikari partitio or agnea’s stories very much.

hikari’s story i think just did not fit the 5 chapter format very well. it felt really rushed to me and like it didnt have much depth to it. it was serviceable but didnt feel exciting to me.

paritio’s was... idk it felt a little repetitive?? hes a funny guy i like him but i think his goals were just a little too mundane and also global to be very interesting. like compare “i wanna get rid of poverty” to “im on a journey to unravel the mystery of who i once was”. like one of those is more intriguing and believable :/

agnea’s just felt way too low stakes compared to everyone else’s. i did see someone point out that the game might’ve felt a little too dark without it, which is... fair?? i guess?? the first game was also pretty dark it just took a little while longer to see compared to like, half the cast having a murder happen in their ch1. anyway, my girl just did not have an interesting story arc. it was all “i wanna be FAMOUS” without very many trials and tribulations tbh. not enough character struggle for me personally.

the final chapter was interesting. it was really cool to see everyone band together narratively to fight vide. mechanically, i also thought vide’s fight was cool as shit. all 8 on the field at once!! wow!! i do think the first game tied everyone in to the Big Bad better tho. bc like, wtf are u doing making fucking *npcs* the relevant ones from agnea and partitio’s stories?? like even in the first game the traveler’s that had weak ties to galdera’s revival were still like... idk it was still *them* and it was formative to their characters?? we have a reason to like graham via alfyn, and a reason as to why hes important via tressa, arguably 2 of the most indirect ties to galdera in 1 imo--graham also inspired alf to save others, and his journal eventually helped tressa learn the value of things that arent contemporarily accepted as treasure. idk i also felt like ori’s personality switch was so last minute. same for tanzy’s backstory tho the tragedy as to why she would follow through makes more sense. neither of them really had any impact on their respective traveler’s character either. like they didnt do anything to change their goals or personality. very weak.

i also dont know wtf was up w that alfred hornburg thing. like hello??? wtf are YOU doing here sir, u have gone and messed up my placing of the game in the series timeline/universe

but yeah. that last little bit of negativity aside, octo2 kinda just does what the first one did but better in most aspects. great game would recommend if u played the first. if the first didnt vibe w u, maybe would rec if u didnt vibe w the first bc the second is less frustrating mechanically.

#ungracefulness #i do think positively on the game but i do elaborate a lot of my complaints here #i still love this game to bits

[worstloki]

*wakes up in the middle of the night* no but when Loki was offering Thor the throne at the end of The Dark World as Odin he said one son wanted the throne too much while another would not take it but in that moment neither Thor nor Loki wanted the position because now both know the burdens that come with it and how Odin had ruled and Loki hadn’t ever wanted the throne for itself but to be an equal to Thor and in Thor 1 Thor had been impatient and arrogant and started a war over being denied his place as King so the phrase not only doubles over to call Thor out on flaws he now himself admits to since there is only one Odinson but it is also an open admission that he himself sitting there right now does not want the crown because he is ‘another’ and Odin’s legacy in the end, right there, right then in that scene was amounting to neither son wanting to be a part of what Odin had built through his imperialist practices (even if Thor was only just coming to terms with that) and through disregarding the lives of others and that’s something both sons, Thor included, now sees and THEN Thor replies with how he’s try to live with honour as Loki died and acknowledges them both on equal footing which is all Loki had wanted and hearing “Is that not legacy enough?” before being offered the hammer, the fr*ckin hammer that Odin had put between them to declare Thor more worthy, and Loki declines taking it from Thor because he never wanted to drag Thor down or take the throne from him but just having it was the chance to prove that he wasn’t less and it reflects how now he doesn’t even see the need to compete and he finally thinks his brother is capable of ruling well without starting wars and suddenly there’s no one who wants the dumb chair just Loki knowing that he doesn’t need to be Thor and Thor taking the time to reflect on himself and admit that the brother he knew and cared for was still there and hoping to make himself equal to Loki and Loki who still looks up to Thor and it’s the perfect complementary half to the way their developments in Thor 1/Avengers 1 had them mirroring each other and taking the place the other was in because now they’re both on the same side and they got there themselves and the words of their shared antagonist “our survival will be your legacy” apply to Thor and Loki too because Frigga died and Odin isn’t to be looked up to as a pillar of strength and what these two brothers have is a relationship that was put through the blender because of secrets and lies but neither cares for that because even when he thinks him dead Thor sees Loki’s worth and Loki knows the death effected him enough to try and change more and now Thor is rejecting his birthright and just handing it to Loki without knowing it’s him but it’s the same birthright that Loki had argued with Odin on only earlier and so you have both of them who would take up the responsibility but doesn’t see it as their place and that’s why Thor and Loki working together from the get-go when more secrets and lies came forth in Ragnarok with Odin’s actual death should have been the natural progression in both of their arcs and in reconciling their relationship they should have either shared or abolished the throne by the end of the trilogy because literally one person would want the throne and it would be Hela as a symbol for what Odin stood for which only makes Thor’s role as an inheritor of a colonial empire trying to make amends and Loki’s role as the colonized relevant again from Thor 1 and should have tied the loose ends up with Mjolnir’s destruction having no significant impact because it also stood as a symbol of the wedge drawn between Thor and Loki which they already shared sentiment enough with each other to have agreed on as not a determiner of worth and this makes Endgame even worse because Thor has fallen back on letting the hammer be an indication of worth while avoiding acknowledgement of Loki at all while also being King after the both of them already expressed no interest in having the position and they were finally so close to being seen as equals in each other’s eyes and were respecting each other and both had decided to move on from the ideas they had been raised on and only had each other left because they always end up with each other again and 

#was thinking about the line ''one son who wants the throne too much and another who will not take it'' and I-- #and then just like with Cap and Tony the entire idea of a Grand Legacy that is being left behind comes in #but Loki and Thor #their legacy isn't supposed to be built from what exists for them it's supposed to be completely new and built from nothing #Tony gets his father's company + makes his way presenting himself a certain way and building an image and decides to stop the weapon section #he makes a name which overshadows the one he inherited but he stopped being proud of how he was making money or whatever #that's where his redemption arc leaves him and he's got harley and peter and morgan and the whole theme of that #you've got Cap with his shield and what that means for the country and how others and Sam struggle with what it stands for #but with Thor he's all set to become king in ragnarok/iw/endgame #but by the dark world that's not where his arc is going his arc is going towards him wanting to be 'a better man' #neither character's arc is tied to the throne #it's an insignificant plot device-y detail that comes in and no one *wants* to take the throne even before the history is 'revealed' #Thor and Loki's arcs were intertwined with each other with Thor only becoming better in Thor 1 because of Loki #Loki's entire downfall occurs because of what he was doing for Thor and then with him trying to prove himself just as worthy #Avengers 1. Loki's back from a year of torture and the act he puts on of taking over earth has elements of the black order and THOR. #there's am entire scene where Thor and Loki skim over details of their issues and never address them and in Thor 2 it's similar #in Avengers 1 though Thor is disregarding Loki's trauma because he's trying to attack a planet and even Thor sees Loki's mind isnt right #another break at the start of Thor 2 and Thor is miserable and Loki is rejecting he's Odin and Frigga's son and that's his right ya know #but when Thor needs help he still shows up at Loki's cell and Loki despite being offered nothing for himself helps #their interactions are great they get together well there's chemistry and you can TELL these are brothers who can still get along #Loki provokes him and unlike the last time he did so in Thor 1 Thor isn't tricked into attacking and looks at himself instead #Loki dies and Thor may not still be processing the death but he says that Loki died honorably and he doesn't want the throne #and Loki's done here too and died and doesn't want the throne but he can't leave it with no one but at least if he must Thor can handle it #there's TRUST there . even when on opposite sides they KNOW the other. there's an intimate understanding that isn't going to go away #even when angry at each other there's undertones of not WANTING to hurt the other and wanting the other to be BETTER than this #thor lost a brother to not understanding what was going on because of odin's lies and loki lost a brother to the same thing #that ragnarok was missing so many things about their relationship is a shame #I would've LOVED a proper reconciliation where Thor accepts that Loki was hurt and Loki admits to not being in control during New York #just Thor explaining that he didn't see the imagined slights/wrongs he had done Loki before and wants to stay brothers despite their past #because they were brothers for a thousand years and i can't believe that was reduced to a nothing-speech on reverse psychology and torture

[midnight-in-town]

About the current (last?) arc of AnY and going full circle

Sorry if some fans already mentioned those ideas but I’ve been rereading the current arc, because it’s been quite long and the pace has its flaws sometimes, so I wanted to broaden my perspective on the story. 

First of all, as an introduction can I just say that I’m, as always, impressed by Hak’s character. He had so much cliché and shallow potential when the story started (I really used to roll my eyes at him), but he became one of my absolute favorite by how deep and strong-hearted he actually is, once he allows people behind the walls he built around him. Anyway, my love for his character & development knows no boundary. I had to say this, ok. I’ll explain why later in the post. Moving on. 

A conflict of generation

If there is one thing I love about Kusanagi-sensei, it’s the feminine touch she adds to her writing. For example, when she naturally addressed periods during the Xing arc and it fit perfectly, because that’s just how her writing goes. In this arc, it shows through the initial bold move to tell us readers about the past through the thoughts and words of a character we’ve never met, that is to say, Yonhi, Yuhon’s wife and Suwon’s mother. 

And yet, it made absolute sense, because Yonhi was the reason behind the cataclysm that eventually led to Yuhon killing priests, as well as the falling-out between him and his younger brother, Il. All along, Yonhi was the silent but pained witness to this feud, watching as the ego of two brothers destroyed everything when none of the two backed down, leading to first Kashi’s death, then Yuhon’s murder and finally Suwon’s coup. 

So, in a way, even if I think Suwon makes a far better king than Yuhon or Il, his circumstances kinda precede the logical decision to get Il out of the picture before he completely annihilated his own kingdom in poverty and war, because there is too much resentment and hatred that fueled Suwon while growing up, even if we readers know that his motivations are primarily about saving Kouka from war against the Kai Empire.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely despise both Yuhon and Il but, unfortunately for Suwon, Yona growing up sheltered and mostly unaware of the horrible truth highlights her own decisions throughout the series to be completely selfless and wanting to own up to her father’s misjudgement, rather than trying to get back at Suwon, effectively breaking the cycle of hatred amongst the royal family. 

Why the Wind Tribe kept on supporting Il when everyone else could notice that he was betting on his daughter as the reincarnation of King Hiryuu to save his country is beyond me (Mundok plz explain). Not that Yuhon was better, preaching wars, and I’m glad that Il eventually reconciled with Yonhi, telling him that he would accept Suwon’s judgement but...

...I can’t forgive him for his words. 

Like Yonhi, I’d rather he would have hoped that his conflict with his brother did not reach his children than entertaining it the way he did.

Hopefully though, now that Yona read Yonhi’s memoirs, she will work towards achieving that goal. Not that I have any doubt, since she never really managed to hate Suwon. 

Speaking of the past generation, reading the latest chapters I couldn’t help but wonder about Yona's sad dream... could it be that she inherited Kashi’s gift? Kashi did say that she had these prophetic visions since very young which doesn’t seem to be Yona’s case, but I’ll keep the idea in mind, because it’s interesting. I mean, from Yonhi’s memoirs, it seems that Kashi envisioned that the child she would have would be Hiryuu’s reincarnation (whoever the father was going to be), so Yona inheriting the same prophetic gift from her mother would make sense. 

What an ironic parallel to Suwon inheriting the Crimson Illness from Yonhi if that’s the case, am I right? 

Yona as Kouka’s next Queen

And by that I do not mean Keishuk’s plan to marry her to Suwon, because of her popularity with Kouka’s people. Obviously, the story always was to conclude in Yona getting her throne back and that’s even easier to imagine with Suwon’s disabling illness, but becoming a ruler is tough work and Yona had no real experience acting as a leader for an entire country. 

She didn’t know much before her father’s murder and, even after she became a runaway with Hak and the rest of the HHB, she finely dealt with crises affecting some parts of the kingdom but never the whole kingdom at once, like it’s doomed to happen with the war against the Kai Empire. 

So I really appreciated her stepping up when Suwon couldn’t, because that’s definitely good training and we see the results in the latest chapters:

To be fair, I always thought that Keishuk would be the biggest thorn in Yona’s side during this arc but, as many characters have said in this arc, he’s rather clever and honest about what he intends to achieve, which is why it’s not in his interests to get in the way of Yona if they share a similar goal. 

Looking forward to her facing even greater challenges. Good luck, Yona. <3

War against the Kai Empire: there is strength in unity

The Kai Empire has been depicted as the story’s big bad for a long while now and the common goal for which Yona’s faction and Suwon’s allies could unite, but I’m glad to get more specifics and new characters to explore that part of the plot.

Namely, Mei and Vall. With Chagol, they seem like the perfect foil trio to Suwon, Yona and Hak, except that Chagol seems like a real thorn in the other two’s backs, when a strong bond still ties our main trio in spite of the sad circumstances of the beginning. I particularly love the mirroring reflection between Mei and Yona...

&

...except that Mei is not at odds with one kingdom but with two and that she also deals with the Crimson Illness. :/

Now that war has started, the big threat that South Kai represents will obviously be dealt with, but Kouka kingdom will need more than its five tribes to win this. That’s where I’m sure we all expect to see old “enemies” come back, namely Xing Kingdom, since Kouren signed a military agreement with Suwon, thanks to Yona and Tao. I would bet that this won’t be enough either, but Xing are the only known allies that Kouka kingdom has. 

There is another “enemy” we know from the previous arc though, who have strong feelings against the Kai Empire, specifically about rulers treating their women badly and they are...

...Ying Kuelbo and the Tully tribe. 

The big difference between Xing Kingdom and the Tully tribe is that Suwon never met or dealt directly with Kuelbo the way he did with Kouren and Tao. The Tully tribe lost and Kuelbo ran away, betrayed and having to find a new way to take on the Kai Empire. That’s why I think the Tully tribe would eventually make for a good ally in this war: it showed good promises when Yuran and Yona got along and I think Yona understood where Kuelbo was coming from, especially now that Mei is with them and can probably tell them in details about Chagol.

Not saying this will happen soon, but since there is someone who met and fought against Kuelbo, probably gaining his respect, if this person was to seek the Tully tribe to make them Kouka Kingdom’s ally on Yona’s guidance, I think Kuelbo would give it a thought. That’s right, I’m talking about Hak, who’s currently on his way with Yoon to the Earth Tribe to fetch a drug that will not be able to save neither Suwon nor Mei, thanks Zeno for spoiling us. 

That’s what I meant when I said that Hak slowly became one of my favorite characters throughout the story. While the Sky Tribe seems to be taking bets on who between Yona and Suwon will eventually sit for good on that throne, there is a good chance that Hak will be one of the key players when it comes to winning that war against South Kai. Not that we should expect any less from the Thunder Beast. <3

To be very honest though, I expected this arc to be very tough for his character, because the truth behind Il’s death and Suwon’s coup would never be easily understandable to him (Yona’s own words, not mine): 

Yet, surprisingly he was able to at least listen and, no matter if he will ever understand Suwon’s choice or not, he decided to trust in Yona’s decision to back Suwon in the rising political issues.  

In general, I love how Hak is the least bound by the past before Suwon’s coup. He did respect Il as his king, but he did not protect Yona in the beginning for anyone else’s sake but her own. Just like Kashi once asked him to always protect Yona (which is sweet since she could see the future) but, considering he never even thought about her words once in the story, it’s likely he doesn’t remember that at all, making the choice to be by Yona’s side defined as solely his own. 

It’s this strength of his that eventually led him to say recently that he would go fetch that drug with Yoon, knowing that it was for Suwon’s sake (surprising Suwon himself), just like he will definitely fight for Kouka Kingdom, not because Yona wants him to but because it’s clearly his own desire (see ch211 where he let Yun go alone so that he could help the Earth Tribe fight):

All that makes Hak the wildest card of every agency in the plot, not simply because he’s strong and reliable and the biggest worry of the Sky Tribe, but because...

...Yona and the four dragons will never give him up.

Through Hak, Yona will be able to assert her political weight and he will be there for her, like he always was, making it impossible for their little group to lose. What a power move, I love it. 

I think I should stop there because I already rambled so much. Looking forward to the rest of the arc, it’s going to be a wild ride!! 

#akatsuki no yona #hak #yona #suwon #yuhon #king il #yonhi #kashi #any theory #as of: #any211 #my analysis

[shoezuki]

Tommy's prison/revival arc isnt well written actually

Anyways ive been wanting to talk on it a while for a bit here but havent had the Time or like. The thought to. But im gonna go off now.

First off im gonna say im ASSUMING this stream and plot of tommy being in the prison with dream is written entirely by tommy and dream. Wilbur May be involved in the latest stream but im not sure.

Bringing tommy back to life after only three days of him being dead did practically nothing to progress plot, the characters, or audience's understanding. In fact i feel that it damaged Other characters' potential and plot and already established plotlines.

The 'development' aspect

A really, really easy way to see if anything has changed or developed through an arc or plotline is to straightup just compare the 'beginning' to the 'end' in terms of the barebones situation. So;

Beginning: tommy is trapped in an isolated prison cell with dream, his own abuser who has hurt him in the past, for an unknown amount of time. He's terrified of dream and being stuck there with him.

End: tommy is trapped in an isolated prison cell with dream after being killed then revived by him, his own abuser whos hurt him in the past, for an unknown amount of time. Hes terrified of dream and being stuck there with him.

Okay. This is simplified obvious. But the point stands. ALTHOUGH the troupe of 'going back to the beginning' is common in the heroes journey its. It doesnt work here. Has tommy learned anything? Has he changed as a character? Is the severity of their situation any different? Have we, as the audience, learned anything new?

Im going to expand on that last point because i think it has the strongest potential argument. Technically for progression in literature and development of plot/characters, things can Change without them being Aware as characters. It can change just by the audience's perception changing or being challenge.

Slight example: i've been reading a webcomic called Your Throne. Its a fantasy/political drama about a noble lady who entered a competition with another noble lady to become the empress. The main lady lost despite her being a better fit, and the comic starts with the main lady trying to assassinate the empress. Its assumed and stated by the main lady that she 'ruined her life' and so thats all the readers know. However, later in the novel we see flashbacks to the competition itself and find that the two ladies were extremely close friends, neither wanting anything bad for the other, but it was the emperor himself who manipulated both of them for his own agenda. Those flashbacks gave us an entirely different idea of who the real antagonist is and completely changed the two main ladies' relationship. THAT is how the audience's understanding of the plot and novel can be used to change the entire story. We dont get such here though

Some things that were brought to light during tommy being dead/revived:

Dream is capable of reviving people infinitely

This was already implicated and assumed. The book dream has being a means of reviving people has been around Technically since schlatt's death. This just 'confirmed' what was known

Time works differently/feels longer in the afterlife

This doesnt really impact much beyond emotions and implications. If we had more insight into what the 'afterlife' is like beyond nothingness perhaps so. But really it just makes it so wilbur being dead for what feels like 9 years and tommy having been dead for 2 months appeal to emotions.

Wilbur is evil

This one fuckin sucks i cant lie HSKSHSISSGEGDV. Like i was gon go on bout it and i will but it jus sucks. We have nothing to go on besides tommy's word, no examlles of what Horrible things wilbur said could make tommy assume this, etcetc. Ill most likely make a seperate post on how this feels like we're just going to get 'wilbur is a horrible villain' type with him. But still. I feel wilbur Not Being Good isnt a new development.

Dream is going to revive wilbur

This doesnt feel new either, part because phil had wanted to revive wilbur before (ill get to that more later) and that tommy had kept dream alive/initially imprisoned him with the idea of him reviving wilbur.

Dream believes wilbur will break him out of prison

Okau this makes no sense to me actually. I cwnt understand How exactly wilbur would be able to do this? Or why dream believes he even Could? Mans been dead for like 9 years and all we Know of the afterlife is that its black... nothingness. How would 9 years of that make wilbur capable of busting the prison open?

So. Yeah. All in all this plotline hasnt done anything new, developed things, or altered people's perceptions. We just ended up back at square one. Back to tommy being traumatized, dream being 'evil' and horrible and doing villain monologues, and them being stuck together.

Other characters and plotlines

Im pretty damn sure tommy's revival fucked up a LOT of other characters' plotlines and potential development. Honestly i feel this has a lot to do with the writers not communicating with other ccs well enough. But Ill talk about specific characters from least to most fucked over in my opinion:

Sam

He's the best off. He hqd been there during tommy's death, had been close to tommy, had majorly blamed himself and his own mistakes for tommy's death. His grief and self hatred was actually really heartbreaking and well done. The attached character of Sam Nook being unaware of tommy's death and simply waiting for tommy to return was a really good parallel to sam's own grief and anger. like it really snapped sam the guy who cares for tommy and wants to do Right by him back together with him as the Warden of the prison. Mixed personal life with 'just business'.

I feel it wouldve been nice to have him like. Have more time to grieve properly and come to terms eith tommy's death and his own involvement/influence over the events. Him finding tommy alive again Could be a means of him like. Facing his own grief head on if done well.

Ranboo

Mostly in the context of him and sam's argument do i feel it got screwed over. The weight of them yelling at each other and trying to find who to blame and the implications that Maybe ranboo was the one who caused the security breach that closed down the prison on tommy just.... doesnt hit so hard anymore. Because how can there be blame and arguments and a 'who done it' mystery when tommy popped up all fine again?

Puffy

I dony know much of her involvement or how she found out tommy died (besides metagaming shhhhh) but i saw her monologuing of how they 'failed' tommy and like. Her whole 'he was so young we the Adults failed him' spiel is like........... inconsequential? Now??? Like no dont worry he died but hes alright now.

Philza

BET YOU DIDNY EXPECT TO SEE THIS FUCKER!!!!!! But actually though i want to talk bout how this ties into phil. A LOT. for Zalbr ❤. But also because i see ppl tying phil to tommy's death n like nah shutup u doin it wrong. Ill go off more in a Wilbur Post. But essentially: i dont like that dream is now going to revive wilbur. I feel they arent going to tie philza into this Despite phil having originally been trying to revive his son and studying on it and Attempting and Failing. But now suddenly dream can just. Say some magic words and Poof wilbur lives? So we're just going to Kill philza's revival attempts plotline and leave that hanging? This made his efforts seem pointless and Wack like oh why didnt you just Say The Magic Words phil????

Niki

I feel really bad for niki. She hasnt been able to do a lore stream during tommy's 'death' (she tweeted she wanted to but her computer wasnt working) and considering her entire character.... that shit is important. We seen it with Jack Manifold how tommy's death impacted Him considering he literally wanted tommy dead. And since niki is in a similar boat to jack of trying to kill tommy and it being her Only goal...... thats extremely important.

BUT. i feel there wasnt any communication. Did she or anyone even know tommy would be revived? Did no one consider they could At Least let her do a single stream on it? Like jack manifold????

We couldve gotten a Really good niki lore stream. I genuinely was so excited for it and i dont regularly watch her. But we seen it with jack manifold which is why i dont feel he got screwed because mans genuinely did So Good he could pop off with anything n i think it works in His favour. But now........ for niki. Canonically she never even knew tommy was Dead. So its like nothing even happened for her. Is she just supposed to continue on trying to kill tommy with no progression?

What i think would work

This is more me being like 'hey @ the dsmp writers let me in' type speculation sbosegussgs. But i was thinkin on a Really easy way to 'fix' this without rewriting lore and the streams.

Dream should kill tommy again now that he's been revived and Leave Him Dead.

More development for the characters who are affected by his death Especially niki. More time for grief and self reflection and development

A chance for the audience to figure out what the 'afterlife' really is.

Dream is supposed to be smart and a master manipulator or something right? Why doesnt he use being able to revive tommy as a bargaining chip with sam for his own freedom?

The audience would now Know dream's intentions with tommy better, that this death isnt 'final', but we could still see other characters' grief and reactions and coping without it feeling cheap. Ive seen some 'but people dont know tommy is alive so hes still dead in their mind' but that sucks imo.

We'd know more on dream's ability to revive people and that he can just Do It on a whim (which i think sucks but hey im trying) but no one else would know this canonically

Okay. Im done. If you read this. Thankyou. I love you. Hmu.

#mcyt #dream smp #dream smp critical #tommyinnit #dream #im puttin this in main tags took me too fuckin long to write for me Not to #death mention #ask to tag

[mc-critical]

Hi darling, Idk if you talked about this before, but what do you think about Rumeysa (Mustafa's concubine)? Do you think they planned to make her Mustafa's wife untill the actress was changed? And also, if she would've become his wife, how do you think she'd act in comparison to how Mihrunnisa (queen) acted? We didn't really see a lot of her but I wanted to know what do you believe they wanted to do with her character

Hey, dear! 🤗 No, I haven't talked about Rumeysa in here. I'll cover the S03 one and the S04 one separately, because in practice, they're both very different characters.

I strongly dislike S03 Rumeysa as a character, to be brutally honest. She goes all good, nice and innocent, when secretly she's sneaky and even manipulative in order to fulfill her goals. The thing that annoys me the most is not necessarily her fixation on Mustafa and how she wants to get him, because after all, it's a harem and everyone wants to get him, but how nearly inexplicable her whole motivation is, in spite and outside of that.

I feel Rumeysa's arc could be split in two almost separate halves - her set-up in the harem (pre-E93) and her as a favorite in the harem. (post-E93). The most interesting things about her were precisely her set-up and backstory. The way she was sent to the harem, the way she was tied to signora Gabriella, the way both of them were about to reunite and when that happened, Rumeysa was just confused more than anything... The idea of sisters finding each other within these harem walls was fascinating, but that was seemingly dropped. I feel even from this point on that the show tried to make a case of a person who's been long in the harem and has lost the touch of a free life to the point of being afraid to leave, but her confusion on the signora and her refusal to go with her was the only part they pulled off. (not to mention they executed that concept much better with Sümbül!) Then begins the second half of her arc that went in another direction the writers didn't succeed to make me get. I didn't get why she wanted Mustafa so much. She said she wanted and appreciated Mustafa a lot and that was why she wanted to leave and this trainwreck began all of a sudden! That doesn't make any sense! She had no (or at least not pivotal) scenes with Mustafa before E93, she neither experienced a desire to get Mustafa, nor was it shown to the audience in any way before the convenient moment. Her build-up was never about Mustafa before then. Her arc was never about Mustafa before then. And yet Mustafa became the center of her character, to the point it's as if they were like: "let's have another woman for Mustafa, but this time with an even more overexaggerated you might think it was Turhan Hürrem-esque arc, so we can make her his full on woman!". She was paving her way through sneaky methods to the point of hypocrisy for no reason, she didn't even have much of a threat, either. Ayşe Hatun put pressure on her once in a while, but it felt understandable when she had a child from Mustafa and that, Rumeysa started acting this confident just like that. I get that in the harem you have to be sorta like that in order to survive, etc., but with Rumeysa that wasn't enough of a motivation! She seemed just fine under Mahidevran and taking care of Nergisşah before then, she could calm people down, what happened? And notice how in the second part of her arc these scenes were lowered to the minimum, or recontextualized, at the very least, so you can't buy anything with her anymore.

But wait, what if she always wanted Mustafa when she arrived? Then every moment of kindness she has shown, even to the little child, becomes even worse in retrospect, because it would either just suit her interest, either become a jarring contrast with what she has shaped up to be. But wait actually, that effect is achieved even without her arc being split in two halves! I would've sympathized with her much more if there was some additional motivation, like everyone else basically, but honestly, the harem excuse is all we could use with her and in her case, that just doesn't suffice, especially for such a big shift in storylines. And then after building up to a halvet, we had the halvet and it was over and left me very unsatisfied. (okay, that's probably because of the actress, but still)

She was screwed up spectacularly at best and downright horrible at worst. Her early concept was way too good to be left out like that and since that leaving out was maybe inevitable for the writers, they had to do this transition better and have the first half of the arc be focused on Rumeysa, as well as Gabriella, instead of making this whole line with her being Gabriella's sister she was searching for more of a plot twist than an organic build-up, because Gabi was the one click baited to want Mustafa! This character ended up being defined by her goal she was trying to fulfill and nothing else, not any redeeming quality whatsoever.

I think Rumeysa was the least suited woman for Mustafa, yes, even less than Fatma. Because if Fatma had some love for him and was genuinely trying to calm him down after Efsun at first, with Rumeysa we simply had steps to get him right from the start and an entire ordeal that wouldn't sit well with Mustafa. We didn't even know not only why she wanted Mustafa, but also what was it she had with Mustafa - was it love, was he just a vessel for her to rise in the hierarchy (that's probably it for me), what was next when he was all hers etc. We have no feelings, no insight here and Mustafa himself was only slightly intrigued at best. And even if she were there for the battle of the throne, she would definetly scheme even more actively than anyone else and that would seriously clash with Mustafa's desires. I don't think she would suit S03B Mustafa's level of maturity, either.

Yes, I would say S03 Rumeysa could very well be the endgame for Mustafa and become his wife if it wasn't for the actress leaving and stuff, because of how she was framed to succeed. This part of Rumeysa's arc existed in a vacuum, it was a tiny victory after a tiny victory due to sly thinking that she was always allowed to get away with somehow. Again, the way she was slowly, but surely getting her way reminded me of all the Hürrem-esque arcs in the series that did end up with these women becoming the total favourites and I wouldn't be surprised at the least if they kept that pattern of success with Rumeysa, since it was very present in her arc.

[While we're at it, I didn't get why Mahidevran believed her so much. On one hand, yes, character development, because, as seen with Mihrünnisa later, as well, Mahidevran no longer gets suspicious of the nature of these women and only intervenes when she sees a decision of Mustafa's regarding them that could potentially be dangerous for his future, coupled with the fact that Mahidevran values loyalty a lot and she has seen nothing but that with Rumeysa. But on the other hand... Mahi is usually so perceptive when it comes to women that could actually be problematic or dangerous for him and Rumeysa being the only exception then was as much character development and the chance of lowering her guard because of the calmer environment as it was.. way too convenient, since we saw Rumeysa was playing a game behind the curtain. Especially the situation when Rumeysa provoked Ayşe Hatun on purpose for Mahi and Musti to see and Mahi not listening to Ayşe or Fidan's warnings about Rumeysa, along with her fully adapting to the harem laws she was previously against and taking on her role as a Valide in Mustafa's harem, was almost like Plot Armor for Rumi similarly to how Hürrem acted accordingly when she saw SS listening to her in the candle mirror in E44, albeit in the opposite way. I view that as a clear recipe for narrative favor and I was appalled that it had to be with such a character.]

If S03 Rumeysa became his wife, I don't see her acting much like Mihrunnisa. First off, due to how her arc was framed, Ayşe Hatun would have very much stayed as an antagonist of hers (even though Rumi wouldn't view her as one in their confrontations) and would try to eliminate her in a secret, subtle and cunning way. While Rumeysa would definetly try her all to keep Mustafa safe and would try to win Mahidevran's support for the marriage the way Mihrunnisa did, Rumi would have more of an agenda of her own she would follow. I won't be surprised if she tried head down on the path to overpower them all in her influence of him, either. Mustafa and Mihrunnisa were partners more than anything, with the same ideals, aspirations and desires. They were very close in their way of thinking and how they would approach problems, that's why they had such a deep bond. S03 Rumeysa would get further and further away from Mustafa's personality as his wife and if the other S04 events are canon, she would probably indeed go and reveal Bayezid's marriage with Huricihan the moment Mustafa refused to and act herself instead.

S04 Rumeysa is barely there, but I like her a bit better. She is an entirely different character with her consistent worries for the future, her more caring and protecting nature and even Mahidevran's more "I'm fed up with all this" attitude to her. Even if we add S03 Rumeysa to the mix, we get at least more feeling out of her and what was she all about and we get some other contrasting facets of hers as a bonus: in contrast to Rumi calming Mahidevran down when Mustafa disobeyed SS's order in E91/2 (my favourite S03 Rumeysa scene, but it was also kinda ruined post-E93), now Mahidevran tells her not to worry so much. Thing is, S04 Rumeysa could very well work without S03 Rumeysa both because of the different actress and the different characterization that could only loosely recontextualize S03 Rumeysa at best, and since there was a time skip, some random concubine and favourite Mustafa slept with and she became pregnant wouldn't be out of the question at all. Yes, her death would probably have less impact that way, but nor could I ever bother with S03 Rumeysa, nor would it be weird because of her different dynamics, which made her look almost foreign in comparison. (that's not on the actress, both Rumeysas were great!) And it would be as impactful as it would've been for Mustafa and Mahidevran, because the loss of the child would be just as devastating for him and was still tied to the mirror of sin.

If S04 Rumeysa didn't die and became Mustafa's wife, I think their bond would be focused more on their future child than anything. Rumeysa would probably act similarly to S03 Ayşe Hatun, only in a more secure position, I see a lot of similarities there. I don't think their bond would be as deep, but they could have the chance to get close for a little bit. I see Rumeysa refraining from acting so much, because of her worrying for the consequences, but when that fear gets the best of her, she could take desperate measures.

#magnificent century #muhteşem yüzyıl #muhtesem yuzyil #rumeysa hatun #ask #queen-deter #that's basically why S03 Rumeysa annoys me so much #actually strongly disliking her is an understatement #i may overexagerrate but she indeed is one of my least favourite characters in the show #the interesting thing is that Firuze had similar problems with her ambiguity #but not only is she an antagonist rather than one we're supposed to root for in narrative #we see her helping nature outside of her plan which helps us buy it much more and actually be a more functional contrast #unlike rumeysa #and while she was written in two halves as well i'll probably call them pre-plan of twist and post-plan of twist #the build up was slower and more detailed since it was framed as a mistery we weren't supposed to buy #so her motivations were more interesting to decipher #and she had a personality outside of the schemes that could work outside of the planning issues #rumi is more like Turhan in comparison #a much softer version ofc but still

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - The Lost Treasure of Herz Der Sonne

So now we get to what is, in my opinion, the best episode in season three. However, it’s still season three, so that’s damning with faint praise. 

Summary: Rapunzel tasks the kingdom with refurbishing the throne room. While breaking down a wall, they find a map to the Lost Treasure of Herz Der Sonne and Rapunzel decides to set up a race to the location. The teams, which consist of twos, are only allowed to look at the map briefly before the start of the race. However, Rapunzel's partner, Feldspar, brings a copy of the map with him and he warns her that the treasure is cursed. 

Why Are You Just Getting to This Now? 

It’s literally been months since you defeated the Saporians. Edmund had to have time to travel all this way to Corona and you’ve rebuilt an entire village since then. We’re talking at bare minimum three months or more. 

Who just leaves a gapping hole inside their home for three months? Where did you conduct the government’s important business during that time? Is there any other structural damage to the castle or the town outside from previous battles that you’ve just left unattended? I understand that rebuilding Old Corona is important but those villagers have been evacuated and living elsewhere for a year and a half now since Queen for a Day. It wasn’t a priority, but this is. 

Also this episode has to come after The Return of the King and Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf because Red, Angry, and Hamuel exist. It can’t just be slotted in somewhere else in order for it to make more sense. The writers genuinely planned for Rapunzel to be this disorganized and didn’t think to give a logical reason as to why. 

Also Why Are You Conscripting Regular Citizens Instead of Hiring Professional Contractors?

Unlike Old Corona, which is a full on community that would require multiple building projects going on simultaneously and therefore could use volunteers, this is a single government building. It’s Rapunzel’s job as leader to make sure that that building is kept maintained and up to code. It’s her responsibility not the regular average citizen’s who has their own jobs to do and zero experience with construction.  

Rapunzel is literally forcing these people to be slave labor for her under the pretense of ‘community’. She’s taking their time away from their own busy lives, forcing them to work a dangerous job, and not compensating them for that time, effort, and risk. And no, they’re not just volunteers at this point; because as acting queen, no one can safely say no to her nor can they just leave even when they’re clearly annoyed and fed up at having to do the work.  

Lastly they’re untrained. They lack the skills and tools to this job. You need an architect, you need a safety inspector, you need actual carpenters and masonries ... maybe even an interior decorator... The point is you need trained professionals and part of being an administrator is using government funding to hire these people in order to make sure the work gets done safely and efficiently and create jobs and keep money circulating through the economy.       

Rapunzel may not mean any harm. She might just be oblivious and untrained herself. But this is terrible leadership and the show never points that out. It never has her learn how to be a better a ruler so by the end of the series you don't feel she’s earned that title of Queen and you fear for the kingdom’s continued existence.   

So Why Is This Here?

Why would there be a Saporian map to a king of Corona’s tomb hidden in the wall? What’s the story behind this? 

Yes we know his wife was Saporian, but that doesn’t explain anything. Why would she need a map on the wall to her own husband’s resting place; assuming he didn’t out live her himself. Why would said map be carved into the wall of Corona’s castle and not written on a scroll? Why is it in Saporian when they don't speak that language in Corona? 

Like I could come up with explanations and create this whole backstory for Herz Der Sonne and the first Saporian/Coronian War, but at this point I’d just be doing the work of the writers for them. They’re the ones who introduced this lore and had it inform plot points and character motivation; and then failed to explain any of it to the audience and adequately have it all connect back together in a way that makes sense. 

The Moment When You Realize This Whole Episode Exists Because Zachary Levi Enjoys Doing an Ed Wynn Impersonation 

Ok time to explain some behind the scenes Info.

This is Ed Wynn. 

As you can tell from the gif above, he’s famous for voicing the Mad Hatter in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland. He’s also done a whole bunch of other stuff and was well known even before working with Disney, but the Mad Hatter is his most well remembered role today. 

Many actors, particularly voice actors, like to do impressions of him because he has such a distinctive voice. Including Eugene’s VA, Zachery Levi.  

Now I don’t know if the character of Feldspar was created specifically because the creators were inspired by Zachery Levi’s impression, or if they had this character already planned out and just casted him in the role since he could do it and it’d save them money. Either scenario is plausible and not unheard of in animation. But the long and short of it is, as a shoemaker, Feldspar is intended to be a parody of the Mad Hatter. That is why the character exists. 

Now as I said, this isn’t unusual for animated tv shows. Quite often you get main cast members to voice secondary and/or one off characters because it’s convenient, efficient, and doable when working with audio recordings. Also quite often voice actors will do impressions of other famous people to flesh out these background characters. It’s also not out of left field for these secondary characters to get an episode of focus if they’ve been around for awhile and keep popping up in the story. 

What is unusual, however, is to focus on said character in the final season when there are a bunch of other more important characters with unresolved arcs that need the screen time more. It’s an incredibly odd decision to highlight Feldspar here when we still got Varian readjusting back into society, Red and Angry settling into their new home, and Edmund running around off screen. And while some of these character feature in the episode, they’re just there for the jokes not for any development. 

What’s a “Sap Pond” and How Does That Even Work?

Ok its a fantasy world, I get it. But the franchise does try to have a distinction between the magical and the mundane. Or at least pretends to try and have a distinction. There’s to my knowledge no such thing as a ‘sap pond’, and if such a thing does exist I doubt it’s an actual deep pit full of tree sap as shown here. 

If you want characters to still be surprised by out of the ordinary occurrences and have the supernatural world be separate from the regular world; then you need to have the mundane world grounded in our known reality. Nature needs to function as real world nature would. If something exists in your world that doesn't in ours, then you need to either explain it or have the characters responded appropriately to it. 

But You’re a Prince Now?

Look, I’ll buy that season one Eugene didn’t have unlimited access to the royal treasury as he and Rapunzel were still new to their roles and their relationship. But it’s been over two years since the movie ended. 

Since then Eugene and Rapunzel have lived together, shared finances together, and currently are co-acting rulers of the kingdom. He’s also a bonified prince in of itself on top of being practically married to princess/queen. 

Yeah I said it. Part of what makes season three so frustrating is that Rapunzel and Eugene are functionally married at this point, they just haven’t gone through the ceremony yet, and there’s no stated reason for why they keep dragging things out.  

This is why we get out of place jokes like this that no longer reflect who Eugene is now as a person and feel like they belong back in season one or the even the movie itself. 

I can understand if he wanted to join in the competition because it’s fun, but he’s not poor. Neither he nor Rapunzel needs the treasure. I’m not sure even Lance needs it because as Eugene’s best friend/adopted brother he’s piratically nobility at this point as well. 

Royalty and the rich are not and never will be underdogs show. Stop trying to make them such. 

So Why Feldspar Again? 

This is such a half assed plot point. 

Remember Rapunzel literally pulled out a book earlier to translate the map.  Xavier not only knows the legends about the Saporians, but also keeps a book of magic lying around, and the Saporians are the only human people who have functioning magic in the show as part of their culture.    Varian spent a year living and working with the Saporian leader, and knows how to decipher ancient scrolls written in dead languages.  And said Saporians, are being currently held in the dungeons of the castle.  

But you’re telling me that only a random cobbler can read the warning clearly written on the map? 

They give some bullshit reason as to why Feldspar knows Sapoprian but it doesn’t matter. It’s a forced and contrived excuse to get the character involved in a plot he has no business being in. The story fails to justify the use him over the other more prominent characters who have closer ties to this particular subplot. 

And We’re Suppose to Believe That Herz Der Sonne Was a Good Guy?

Why would a benevolent king who supposedly brought peace to a warring land have a doomsday curse involving zombies? Why would said king be enshrined a tomb that’s not native to his culture? What even is the treasure and why be buried with it? 

There’s clearly more going on here regarding Corona’s past and the treatment of the Saporians as a people in their own right, but the show never does anything with it. Why introduce these complexities and world building if you’re not going to tell a story with them? Why have the Saporian subplot at all in a series already over stuffed with villains if you aren’t going to have them challenge your protagonist and have her grow into a more mature person? 

I’m not dunking on the series for being ambitious nor for having flavor text to help flesh out the world, but it so aggravating that there’s no follow through on the show’s set ups and narrative promises. If you’re not going to give the needed focus to something then just don’t put it in. Cause once it’s aired you’re committed to it and the audience is going to hold you to account. 

I haven’t seen plot mismanagement this bad since the 80s; back when cartoons had to battle network syndication, episode commissions instead of contracted seasons, and could be canceled at any time without prior notice. Now there’s still plenty of bad practices going on in the industry, especially as the move to streaming messes with things, but Tangled does not have the same excuses as say Johnny Quest, Dungeons and Dragons, or even Gargoyles did. 

How Do You Even Know That Would Work, Rapunzel?

No seriously, how does Rapunzel know that putting the treasure chest back on the pedestal will stop the cruse? That hasn’t been established yet by any known source of information. Heck no one knew what the curse actually entailed until it was activated. Except for Xavier who oh so conveniently didn’t say anything until the last moment. If anyone should have the knowledge to on how to end the curse it’s him. But nope we gotta make the Rapunzel the infallible hero who is always right for no logical reason.  

I don’t know how to explain this to you show, but perfect is boring. No one wants a flawless protagonist who can do it all 24/7 without any help whatsoever. And it becomes down right annoying to watch a hero who is clearly flawed still put upon a narrative pedestal as if they weren’t. 

So Why is Varian Suddenly Useless In This Fight?

This entire climax is about showcasing the ‘power of teamwork’ by having the characters use their various skills sets and work together to defeat the enemy. 

Except for Varian. 

He’s treated at best as a spectator to the unfolding events and at worst as a damsel in distress. 

Varian. You know the guy who is the series most competent and threating antagonist. Who brought an entire kingdom to it’s knees, twice. The only other character besides Rapunzel herself who could and does hold his own against other major antagonists, including super powered ones.  

If this was just a one off incident, I’d just shrug it away as him being a glass cannon; insanely overpowered when well prepared but easily out of his depth when not. But that’s not what’s happening here. 

Season three constantly nerfs Varian’s abilities, same as they did back in The Alchemist Returns, and there’s three reasons for this. 

The first is to try and stop him from overshadowing Rapunzel and Cassandra. The writers don’t want to give him any more story focus for fear of him being more popular the the two girls. Which is a ridiculous and petty reason to write a character OOC but there you go. 

The second is the on going issue of making Rapunzel needlessly the center of any and all solutions to every problem regardless of her level of involvement in the initial conflict. Yes, it’s her show, but she’s still not the whole world. Other people exist outside of her and it’s not fair to anybody when the writers ignore that simple fact.   

Last is the writers sacrificing established character for a joke. And as already pointed out, even in this very review, Varian’s not the only character to fall victim to this. It’s just bad writing. Yeah the joke might be funny in the moment but you run the risk of jarring you’re audience’s immersion. In a series like Tangled where you’re constantly asking the audience to suspend their disbelief, humor needs to be firmly rooted in the characters natural behaviors and must evolve to match any character development.   

Why not just have Varian throw a chimball or two, run out cause he wasn’t planning on fighting anybody that day, and then have the other characters rescue him? It’s not that hard to work in a joke while still being respectful of the characters.  

So What Does Anybody Learn From This Episode?

Yeah the other characters learn some vague lesson on teamwork and getting along or something, but they’re not the focus of the episode. What do Rapunzel and Feldspar learn? 

Unlike some people I don’t mind Feldspar’s existence. When’s he’s kept as a background character he works. In fact he’s one of the few townspeople who do work as intended, because he’s representative of the everyday citizen who’s often on the outside looking in on these fantastical events and therefore gives insight into what’s going on and the populous’ opinions on things without being a major player in anything. 

That's fine, needed even, and I don’t mind him getting a single focus episode to gain a greater insight into how this world works or even flesh out his character more, but that’s not what we got. Feldspar doesn’t grow as a character because of this episode. I, as the viewer watching, learn nothing about him nor his life that I didn’t already know. This resolution with him resolves nothing cause it’s a ending for a conflict that was never established beforehand.  

In fact what even was the main conflict of the story? Rapunzel being annoyed by Feldspar? Ok and..? Did she need to learn not to be annoyed by him? Was that a thing that needed to be addressed? Hasn’t Rapunzel already put up with annoying people before now? Was was this deficiency of character actually solved by this one interaction? Has she learned to be more appreciative, attentive, or open minded of others? 

If you tell me it’s Rapunzel’s show then I expect Rapunzel to actually learn shit! 

I expect the external conflicts to tie back into her interpersonal conflicts. If the external conflict does not do that than there better well be a another character who gets that focus instead without her hogging the limelight. 

This Dynamic Adds Nothing

They set up this friendship with Varian and Xavier and it doesn't go anywhere. It never comes back into play and we never see them interacting on screen together again. It also undermines a future plot point that’s coming up later. 

More over it doesn’t further either of their characters. 

Xavier is still an extraneous exposition fairy. Turning his flat characterization into a one note joke does not erase that fact. Giving him a kid to tell stories to doesn’t explain his place in the narrative or give him purpose to the story. We still don’t know why he has these connections to magic nor how he knows all the this lore, and he doesn’t push the plot forward. 

Meanwhile Varian maybe lonely but that doesn’t mean he needs yet another mentor figure in his life. We already have his father, who we barely see him interact with since coming back, and all his other ‘friends’ are way older then him already as well. Rapunzel’s the closest in age to him and she is constantly condescending to, well everybody, as she pretends to be more mature than she actually is. There’s no one in the story who Varian is on equal footing with, and no Angry and Red don't count as they’re far younger than him. 

I don’t know what this series has against teenagers but it showcases some very unhealthy depictions of them; ether by constantly infantilizing them, traumatizing them while subjecting them to parentification, or just flat out ignoring their existence all together. 

Teenagers exist and they need to be treated as teenagers. I don’t know how to put it more simply than that. Teens aren’t children. Teens aren’t adults. They’re teens. And when writing for them you need to understand that difference and acknowledge that they have a completely different phycological development and placement within society to anybody else. That’s why the category of adolescence exists separately from childhood and adulthood in the first place.   

So to tie things back to the first point. The concept of Xavier and Varian having a friendship is not a problem. But as with so many things on this show, it’s the surrounding context and lack of follow through where the issues arises. 

Varian needs a friend his age, who is his equal, more so than a mentor; if indeed Xavier is even intended to serve that function as he doesn’t do any real mentoring. This should have been an opportunity to bring Faith in and establish her better. In fact it’s reasons like this why she should have been a bigger character all along but we’ll get more into that as we get to her only ‘focus’ episode. 

Conclusion 

It’s fun seeing all the various character interactions and unique team ups. Also the humor does work. The jokes do land even if they do bulldoze through established canon. Plus seeing Rapunzel actually annoyed by shit going on around her is always entertaining as it humanizes her. If watched in isolation from the rest of season three, this is an enjoyable episode. But that’s it’s core problem. I shouldn’t have to find filler to keep me going in the last leg of the show. 

This was pretty short comparatively speaking with the rest of the ones I have to write for S3, but longer ones are going to come out more slowly just due to real life and time. As always though you’re support is helpful in keeping going, and if you feel like you can donate to my Ko-fi and leave a tip there. 

https://ko-fi.com/rachelbethhines

#tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #rapunzel #varian #anti-tangled #feldspar

[drazavonia]

She will no longer "Embrace Destiny"

Destiny is more often that not a goal or fate one's life is chained to. If destiny is a force of the universe, no one can "control" destiny so to speak. However someone of a higher power, domain or "providence" can change the destiny of one with lesser power, control and/or knowledge (of their own destiny).

Kairi was only four years old when Apprentice Xehanort took her, experimented on her and shipped her off of her world for two purposes apparently:

1) For her "Heart of Pure Light" to resonate with the "key bearer" and lead Xehanort to them.

2) As of Melody of Memory, apparently Apprentice Xehanort also wanted Kairi to arrive in a world of neither light or darkness which could possibly be The Final World. Ironically, this would mean he was successful on both accounts by the end of this game.

However, it's clear up above Kairi is upset and that line of "You're the one who keeps messing with my fate" implies much like how Aqua finally figured out in Kh3/Remind that Xehanort possessed Terra, Kairi will finally find out how and why she was ripped away from her grandma and home of Radiant Garden. Not only that, but it shows us she never really had a choice in how her fate was twisted and manipulated to whichever way the Xehanorts needed at the time:

- Apprentice Xehanort shipping Kairi off to Sora and Riku

- Ansem SOD/Riku sacrificing Destiny Islands causing Kairi's heart to take refuge in Sora's heart.

-Xemnas and Xehanort taking Kairi to crystalize her heart to use as a final gambit to open Kingdom Hearts.

The next lines "If it weren't for you Sora and everyone would be safe...I won't let you walk away" indicate for Sora, her friends and herself, she will no longer allow anyone control over her destiny. She has the strength and determination now to make her own destiny and fight against anyone who messes with her fate again.

This is the reason I can see Kairi getting a new keyblade.

A lot of the main characters' keyblades are symbolic of their hearts and roles within the series, as well as how they've grown and evolved over the course of their journeys.

The most obvious case being Riku.

Riku

Kingdom Key> Soul Eater

The Kingdom Key was originally meant for Riku, as he was the keyblade's chosen. But when he chose to give in to the darkness the keyblade went to Sora instead, and of course Soul Eater was a weapon of darkness given to him by Maleficent to signify his alignment with her.

Soul Eater> Way to Dawn

It's in the name.

But seriously Way to Dawn is a perfect symbol of Riku's journey of acceptance of his darkness and redemption from kh1 to kh2. The keychain is the dark heart on his "Dark Riku" form which signified his complete fall to darkness. But from the keychain upwards we see the "Gazing Eye" encircled by an angel wing and demon wing, symbolizing Riku's decision against alignment with light or darkness. Afterwards majority of the blade is the demon wing from Soul Eater largely because Riku's role within kh2 is him working from the shadows undercover as Ansem and doing his best to distance himself from his friends who walk the path of light. However at the very end, an angel wing meets the large demon wing which is symbolic of us teaming up with Riku finally, as he showcases his mastery of light and darkness alongside Sora and friends.

Way to Dawn> Braveheart

In DDD, Riku materializes Soul Eater and questions his worthiness as a keyblade wielder. He still has doubts but still continues to hold on to his true motivations being to protect Sora. Riku accepts that he can use the power of darkness while standing firmly on the side of light to protect his friends. He no longer needs to find or follow the way to dawn, because by the end of DDD came the Dawn of Riku, a Keyblade Master and Guardian of Light.

And "Braveheart" is pretty simple. Riku found the strength to protect what matters, and it's perfectly symbolized by Riku's sacrifice for Sora.

"I'm ready now, I'm in control now."

Terra and Aqua (technically Ven as well) have never left home by the beginning of BBS and throughout the game they experience trials and tribulations that challenge their friendship and we see by their Keyblades at the end the results of these trials.

Terra

Earthshaker> Ends of the Earth

Strong and powerful, after hearing Riku's motivation for strength being his friends he bestowed upon him the keyblade which reignited his devotion to his friends. This is also symbolized with Lingering Will, as that's the keyblade he's left with. He'll go to the ends of the earth to save his friends and right his wrongs.

Ends of the Earth> Chaos Ripper

Terra's devotion to protect his friends turns into rage against Xehanort for killing Eraqus, taking his home and manipulating him. Allowing darkness to further consume his heart.

Aqua

Rainfell> Stormfall

Aqua's journey mostly consist with things happening around her and to her friends. Aqua being the only master of the three and worried for their safety, Aqua does her best to assume responsibility and watch over them. Much like rain, it was a light and simple task. But Xehanort's manipulations and temptations with both Terra and Ven, increased Aqua's worry and need to have control over her friends to keep them out of danger. Unfortunately certain seeds had already been planted amongst them, causing Aqua's worry and concern to come off as patronizing and distrustful of her friends. This weakened the trust in the bonds they share making her job to protect them even more difficult and adding to the weight of responsibility she carries.

Stormfall> Brightcrest

Terra and Ventus have both lost their hearts to darkness. With Venuts sleeping in Castle Oblivion and Terra taken over by Xehanort, Aqua was their only chance of ever coming back. She was the only one who knew how to find Ventus and the only one left to defeat Xehanort once and for all. She stood tall and was willing to risk it all for her friends, she was their "light in the darkness".

Ventus

Wayward Wind + Lost Memory

Ventus' keyblade is the only one that doesn't evolve or change throughout the game. Instead Lost Memory is gained when Vanitas forces Ventus to remember how he came to be. Ventus gains a newfound acceptance for his fate with this knowledge and only cares if his friends are safe.

Axel/Lea (Dark Rescue)

Flame Liberator

Axel betrayed the organization. Axel did everything he could to keep Roxas and Xion unaware of the truth so they could live in blissful ignorance (or be happy). He saved Sora at the last minute in DDD and made it his mission in KH3 to get Roxas back. He even declared to Saix that he would bring him home as well. His keyblade represents his determination to save and free his friends from a cruel fate.

Destiny's Embrace also tells a story for Kairi, but much like how she got it, the symbolism isn't representative of her personal journey.

- The keychain of Destiny's Embrace is funny enough, a popular fruit. When two people share paopu fruits, their destinies become intertwined.

- The chain, unlike many others is a red thread in knots, most likely representative of the Red String of Destiny. The "Destiny Knot" (pokemon references ftw) is what ties two people together romantically or what ties two destinies together.

- The hilt of the keyblade is the King chess piece. The king in this case referring to Sora (Crown, Throne, Holds his keyblade like King Arthur in artwork). To me this is symbolic of how Kairi has literally held Sora's fate or destiny in her hands at certain points in the series.

• In kh1, Kairi reverts Sora back from a heartless/the darkness after sacrificing himself to restore her heart.

• In khcom, in order for Sora to regain his memories, he has to focus on his "light in the darkness".

• In kh2, it's not until after reading Kairi's letter to him that the Door to Light opens the way for Sora and Riku to return to Destiny Islands in the realm of light.

• In kh3, it's Kairi's light that keeps Sora from fading away within the demon tide and holds him together so he can save the other guardians.

- Surrounding the grip is a heart with half of it having a sea/ocean/wave aesthetic. It could be representative of Kairi's heart and the heart of her nobody counterpart Namine, whose name means wave.

- Half of the heart with the vine extending down the blade is identical to the keychains of Sora's Ultima Weapons in kh1,2,DDD,3.

The crown connects to the heart which belongs to both Kairi and Namine which makes sense because Sora and Kairi together created Namine.

- I'm not sure what the blade symbolizes aside from maybe fire because of her entanglement with Axel (doubt) or more likely the fires of Kairi's determination to improve, so she can stand by Sora and Riku.

- The flowers at the end with "logo" heart of course represents Radiant Garden. I think Nomura always planned to explore Kairi's past at some point especially with how connected it is to Union X, and that Kairi as well her grandma would be the bridge connecting the past and the present.

However, because of kh3 and most likely M.O.M, I think Kairi will quite literally be freed from "Destiny's Embrace", both Xehanort and the keyblade.

Like I said before, a lot of the symbolism for Destiny's Embrace is externally based. Mostly because Kairi never gets the chance to shine nor do we get to see what's going on inside of her head. Some of this is also because of Kairi's reluctance to bring up her past trauma when asked about it.

• Sora is gone, no need to be a plot device/motivation for him. Instead it's the other way around.

• Namine is her own person now.

• Melody of Memory will finally tackle and resolve Kairi's past.

Everything Destiny's Embrace represents will be resolved by the end of Melody of Memory. So just like how Riku completed his Darkness character arc by the end of DDD and got Way to Dawn replaced by Braveheart as a symbol of his newfound growth, either by the end of M.O.M or in KH4 Kairi will be rid off all of the things holding her character back from truly growing on a narrative and meta level and the keyblade that symbolizes all of those things:

Destiny's Embrace

*This is the other part of the Melody of Memory sticker post.

(Credit to Hartmann-lionhart for their Destiny's Embrace/Ultima Weapon Analysis)

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 3 #kingdom hearts 3 remind #kh kairi #kh3 kairi #kairi kingdom hearts #kairi #sora #sora kh #namine #namine kh #riku #terra #aqua #axel #lea #ventus

[wiseabsol]

WA Reviews “Dominion” by Aurelia le, Chapter 16: Ties

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6383825/16/Dominion

Summary: For the Fire Nation royal siblings, love has always warred with hate. But neither the outward accomplishment of peace nor Azula’s defeat have brought the respite Zuko expected. Will his sister’s plans answer this, or only destroy them both?

Content Warnings: This story contains discussions and depictions of child abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and incest. This story also explores the idea that Zuko’s redemption arc (and his unlearning of abuse) is not as complete as the show suggested, and that Azula is not a sociopath (with the story having a lot of sympathy for her). If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, I would strongly recommend steering clear of this story and my reviews of it.

Note: Because these were originally posted as chapter reviews/commentaries, I will often be talking to the author in them (though sometimes I will also snarkily address the characters). While I’ve also tried not to spoil later events in the story in these reviews, I would strongly recommend reading through chapter 28 before reading these, just to be safe.

Now on to chapter 16!

In the time it’s taken me to write this review, I started a new job, wrote many pages of worldbuilding notes for a fantasy series, played through Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye (I choked up on a live stream, gentle readers), and discovered that my veins are too small to donate plasma. That is a thing that is possible, who knew?

Anyway, we’re on to chapter sixteen, “Ties.” Let’s see, anything in the A/N I should comment on? Hmm, this is mostly talking about the sex scene in chapter seven and how dubious the consent in it was. I’ve given my thoughts on this already, but I do think we’ll get some interesting takes on this when other characters learn what happened between Zuko and Azula. Apparently, there was also a harem suggestion from a reviewer, which—I feel like there’s a percentage of readers for Dominion (probably on the younger side) who think that the story might fall into fanfic genre conventions, rather than literary ones. I think there’s a whole slew of fanfic tropes we can throw right out the window because this fic isn’t attempting to be light, sexy fare. It’s more of a serious character study and family/political drama than anything else. Meneldur is also to thank for how much of June we get in this story, which 0% surprises me, given what I know of his tastes. Love you, buddy, never change.

On to the chapter itself. Iroh is meeting with the Beifongs, which I’m sure is going to go great. He finds the size of their throne impressive, even without any flames, and realizes he should probably treat them like the royalty they basically are if he wants this meeting to go well. But Lao Beifong immediately shoots down the idea that this is going to be a nice, fun conversation by calling Iroh “the Butcher of Ba Sing Se.” From the meta I’ve been reading over the past few months, Iroh’s siege was ridiculously long, so he earned that epithet in spades. Let’s not forget that this is a dude who was gung-ho about a war of conquest and imperialism, and joked about burning down the largest city in the Earth Kingdom, until the cost of the conflict became personal. Iroh has grown a lot as a person since then, but none of the people he hurt are obligated to forgive him.

This epithet doesn’t sting him as much as it used to—liberating Ba Sing Se with the White Lotus probably helped ease Iroh’s conscience. The White Lotus were also the ones who suggested and arranged this meeting. Iroh decides not to use his genial grandfather persona in favor of being open with the Beifongs. He mentions that his reputation must precede him—because really, how else do you respond to that? A denial would infuriate the Beifongs more and also be untrue, but this irks Lao all the same: “‘My own cousins were murdered, their lands and estate burned in your army’s ruthless advance to Ba Sing Se,'” he says. I can’t say I blame him for his anger, given this information. He then calls Azula a war criminal like Iroh, which isn’t accurate, given that she conquered Ba Sing Se through espionage rather than through bloody conquest. I don’t think any Earth Kingdom civilians were even harmed by her? It’s been a while since I watched the show, but I’m pretty sure she just fought the Kyoshi Warriors, who are independent of the Earth Kingdom, and Earth Kingdom soldiers. And I don’t think any of them died.

Iroh points out that the Beifongs have already helped Azula, which needles Lao. “‘My wife has a soft heart,’ Lao spoke tersely, in a tone that seemed to imply, And a soft head. Poppy watched him silently from the corners of her narrowed eyes, and Iroh got the impression Beifong had had to repeat this same argument many times in the weeks since Azula left Goaling. ‘It is not her fault or mine the princess deceived her.’” I would not be surprised if Lao has been sleeping on the couch for the last few weeks, because this is just rude.

Poppy, bless her, interjects, saying that she didn’t think that Azula lied about everything—not about seeking out Ursa or about her “condition.” Lao cuts her off before she says that Azula is pregnant, saying that they don’t want any part in “dynastic disputes of the Fire Nation.” Iroh has no idea what they’re talking about, and not because they’re concealing it from him. I think they’re under the impression that he already knows. He tries to ask them what they mean, but they continue to argue instead of answering his question.

Iroh wonders if the “condition” they’re talking about is Azula’s mental instability. “Madness didn’t elicit sympathy in most people”—there or in our world—“but then, Poppy Beifong had surprised him more than once today.” I would love it if Poppy was sympathetic to people with mental health issues, but I don’t know how much that topic is understood in universe. I’m guessing there isn’t much study on it yet, but that all of the war veterans coming home will raise awareness about it. Also, the fact that Poppy surprised Lao and Iroh by speaking up at all makes me both irritated with them and at the cultural norm in universe that would encourage Poppy to stay silent.

Poppy is extremely irritated about the lives that get destroyed over “blood feuds and thrones,” and how Azula being pregnant wouldn’t stop revenge-horny people from murdering her. Lao is annoyed that she cares, given who Azula is and how much Azula lied to her. Plus, she doesn’t just know Toph—she FOUGHT Toph—and she’s the Fire Lord’s daughter. But Poppy is in the middle of projecting some of her own angst onto the situation, arguing that Ursa must be out there somewhere, wanting Azula back as badly as Poppy wants Toph back. Which…assumes that Ursa and Azula had a good, loving relationship, so clearly Poppy didn’t realize that Azula was laughing sardonically over how Ursa didn’t care nearly as much as she should have. Poppy assumed that that laugh was criticizing her instead.

Poppy actually stands up and shouts all of this at her husband, and I’m glad there’s someone here who is looking at the emotional component of this situation, rather than just the political implications. She is arguing for compassion, which I don’t think it ever wrong to strive for, especially when it comes to, you know, deciding whether or not a NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD WOMAN SHOULD DIE!

Poppy adds that Azula’s words gave her the courage she needed—more like the kick in the pants she needed—to write to Toph. Poppy then gives Iroh the information he’s looking for, although she doesn’t say that Azula is pregnant. Lao is dumbfounded by this, and then Poppy turns on the charm, taking his hand and smiling at him and telling him that no one needs to know that they were the ones who gave Iroh the information. “And Iroh thought her husband should be struck dumb on receiving such a look from such a beautiful woman, if he were any kind of man.” I have to laugh at this, but this also makes me wonder if Iroh could have married someday and been happy, if only he’d found the right partner (namely, a cunning one). Of course, monogamy really isn’t for everyone, so maybe being a player suits him better.

Lao clears his throat “conspicuously”—it’s cute that he’s still so into her after so many years of marriage—and says that in return for Iroh not blabbing about their help, they won’t turn him in to the war crimes tribunal. Oh, lol, Earth Kingdom, you have a war crimes tribunal? Tell me you started with trying the Dai Li, who abducted and brainwashed your own citizens, and also lied to your monarch during a time of war? Because while you absolutely can be pissed at the Fire Nation, you should clean up our own mess, too. Of course, history has a way of showing us that only the war criminals on the losing side of a war get punished for their crimes.

Iroh is also not allowed back in Gaoling. Honestly, fair, the Earth Kingdom might be a bad place for you to retire to, Iroh (except maybe for Omashu, until Bumi kicks the bucket). I was going to suggest that he slum it on Ember Island when this is all over, but I do wonder if the Fire Nation isn’t that much safer for him? He did provide aid to enemy forces, overthrew Fire Nation rule in the Earth Kingdom, and sent a known traitor to take Azula’s—the Fire Lord’s heir’s—throne, with another of those enemy agents accompanying him. While we know this meant more freedom and peace for the world at large, and thus is a net good for the people of the ATLA world, it’s a BAD LOOK in the eyes of Fire Nation loyalists. And since some of those people still have power, there’s always a chance that someone could try to take Iroh out if he’s close at hand. I don’t know that they would succeed—he’s much cannier than Zuko about threats to his person—but if you keep sending assassins, one of them is bound to get lucky.

We switch over to Zuko, who is renting a room with June at a local inn. June’s been pestering him. It “reminded him of how Azula used to tease him, though he’d never not taken offense at that.” It’s normal for siblings to tease each other, so I wonder if Zuko’s resentment of Azula was what made him inclined to blow up in response? In any case, we’re told that the room they’re in is grody. June implies that she had wild sex on one or possibly both of the beds the last time she stayed there, so Zuko should take the couch to be safe. June’s dad is off getting their tickets and arranging for shipping Nyla back to the Fire Nation. Zuko didn’t leave home with any money because his household servants usually handle that kind of thing. I wonder if Iroh carried the coin bag when they were on the run?

June says that they need to talk and runs the tip of her boot up his pants leg, which makes Zuko bolt away. That annoys her, but honestly, June, just because he cheated on Mai with his sister doesn’t mean he’ll sleep with you. Even if he does have a leather fetish. They start talking about how dangerous Azula is to fight, and that June doesn’t want her dad involved in that fight. Zuko thinks about how he wouldn’t want Iroh in that fight either, since he’s in the habit of thinking of Iroh as his dad now.

Zuko starts poking at June’s backstory—turns out her dad, a bounty hunter, adopted her after being sent after her birth parents, who were Fire colonials who got involved in embezzling. June describes this as “small minds, small crimes,” which makes me wonder what she thinks a big crime is. Given the recent war, probably something involving violence.

Zuko thinks that she seems “remarkably undisturbed” by what might have happened to her family. For someone who has a strained relationships with most of his birth family, as well as his adoptive family in the Gaang, I find Zuko’s confusion over this point ironic. Sometimes your family by blood just isn’t good for you or even important in your life. June is building to this point—that you can choose who is and who isn’t your family—and that if Azula doesn’t want Zuko in her life, he should respect that. After she point blanks says as much, she spots something in the window behind Zuko—her father, it turns out—who hits Zuko with a poisoned dart to knock him on his ass.

June proposes the idea that Zuko let Azula escape for a conjugal visit, which is laughably absurd, in part because if that’s really what Zuko wanted from Azula, he would have had much better access to her in the asylum. He’s also the Fire Lord, so he might have been able to keep it quiet by getting rid of any staff members who figured it out. You know, like his dad did! (Shudders.) Anyway, June strips Zuko of his clothes with “a gusto that went beyond disturbing” and reassures Zuko that she’s not going to hunt Azula for any other clients, since Zuko did help her rescue her dad. Zuko tries to persuade her to find Azula for him, saying he’ll pay her well, but June is pretty sure she’ll wind up dead if she takes the job. She’s heard about the general who was executed for ratting out Azula, and since Zuko wouldn’t have tortured the man to death, that leaves people who are loyal to Azula. And they won’t be happy if she hands Azula back to the brother who imprisoned her for years.

By this point, June’s dad has joined the party, and the father and daughter compliment each other on trussing up Zuko so thoroughly. June’s grin at her dad makes her look ten years younger, which is cute. Apparently June’s dad took down a hog monkey the previous night using the dart technique, and the venom was strong enough to lace the meat afterwards, making Zuko’s tongue go numb. Zuko remembers Azula pranking him and Mai when they were kids (the fountain incident), and interestingly he thinks that Mai was Azula’s best friend back then. I do think that Ty Lee is definitely her best friend now, but this does make me wonder if Azula and Mai genuinely were closer than Azula and Ty Lee at one point (that or Zuko couldn’t tell who Azula was closer to). It occurs to me that we haven’t seen any flashbacks to strong moments of friendship between Azula and Mai, and I’m guessing this might be due to denial on both of their parts. It’s easier for both of them to pretend that there was something insincere about their friendship, because remembering the good things would also mean feeling their grief over one another again. It’s easier for them to be angry than heartbroken.

Anyway, Zuko thinks that June and her dad’s prank on him is worse. June makes it worse by fully stripping him, much to Zuko’s mortification. Her dad doesn’t seem to care, saying he’s only got himself to blame for June’s uncouth behavior, but he doesn’t feel that bad about it, considering how Zuko turned out. So yeah, he definitely knows that Zuko slept with Azula. They could blackmail him with this, though it seems like they’re more inclined to peace out instead.

Zuko is pissed at this point and considers breathing fire at June, but figures he’d be at her or her dad’s mercy if he did, and so restrains himself. So again, we see that he’s capable of not being violent with someone he’s angry at, but he failed to be so restrained with Azula. June then drags him onto the bed and handcuffs him to it. She’s surprised that he’s confused over what she’s doing, since he’s “kinky enough to keep it in the family,” which…I feel like calling incest a kink is weird and smears the good name of kink, but I’m also not willing to Google that. Nope. Not doing it.

June figures this scene will keep Zuko from calling out for help, given how it looks, since he could burn away a gag. To which I say, depends on the gag! (Waggles eyebrows.) Zuko reminds her that he could chase her when he gets free, while thinking to himself, “Where did she get off talking about what happened with Azula, like she knew anything about it?” Zuko, say that she DID know something about it. Wouldn’t that make you look worse, given that the consent around the encounter was sketchy at best?

June sits him up cross-legged, puts the key between his legs, and places a pillow over his dangly bits. Apparently she’s also been numbed by shirsu venom and tied up like this, which, yeah, sounds kinky (though she could very well just be messing with him). She makes a few more comments about how she wishes she could ride him, and that Zuko would love it if she did, and adds, “'Unfortunately, time’s come to get as far away from you as possible. But you’re used to that be now, aren’t you?'” Savage!

She adds that if he tries to come after her, she’s telling everyone she meets about him sleeping with Azula. I’d feel bad about him being blackmailed like this, but he did this to himself and hurt Azula in the process. What’s an even better threat, though, is her threatening to tell Aang about how he tortured a member of the Dai Li. Zuko needs Aang’s friendship and support, both personally and politically, and if he doesn’t have that, he probably won’t last long in this conflict.

We return to Azula’s point of view! Yay! She’s in a bed draped with mosquito nets and someone with a country drawl greets her. The woman is cheerful and makes a joke about how now she knows that it’s true that firebenders rise with the sun. Azula is disorientated—she has an amusing thought that she’d never feel deprived if she never saw the color green again—but ascertains that she’s in a village in the swamp. Since she’s not in a prison cell or bound, she figures they must not have realized who she is, but then realizes that doesn’t jive, since the woman—Anyu or Annie, as she prefers to be called—knows that she’s a firebender. Annie assures Azula that her baby is fine, making her yet another person who now knows about the pregnancy. Azula is weirded out by the fetus being called that. She then assesses how sick she feels. During this, she notes that her breasts are bigger and she’s just barely starting to show, and panics at the thought of how much time has passed since she was brought to the village.

Annie comments on how it was a close thing for Azula and her “little Firebug”—a nickname Azula doesn’t like. Azula doesn’t know if she’s feeling relieved or disappointed that she didn’t lose the baby, so she decides to repress her feelings instead. Annie says the baby will be a person someday, and Azula quickly changes the subject to ask how long she’s been there.

After Annie tells Azula that she’s been there for about two weeks, Azula realizes from the blue eyes that Annie is a waterbender—something she’s not pleased about. Thanks, Katara! Not that having blue eyes always mean that someone is a waterbender. Look at Sokka. When Azula notes that water-healing doesn’t take weeks, Annie explains that that wasn’t what saved her. No, turns out that the Foggy Swamp Tribe got a shipment of medicine and food from the Fire Nation, specifically from Zuko, including the quinine that saved Azula’s life. This makes Azula almost cry and then start to hysterically laugh, because the irony is too much.

We shift over to Iroh, who barely has any tea left in his cup, a sight “more mournful even than the sun setting on another day of fruitless searching.” Iroh likes tea a little too much, methinks. Seriously, Iroh, why you didn’t settle down with a tea cultivator is beyond me. He’s on the edge of the Si Wong Desert and traveling alone but for an eel hound. Way to make yourself a target, dude.

“He should have found his niece by now. It if were anyone else, he would have. But Azula confounded his plans as she would do, and had been doing since she was old enough to talk.”—Iroh, I think this was an indication that she was brilliant from an early age and would have done well under a tutor who nurtured her.

“Not only in herself, but in the strong reactions she elicited from just about everyone. Foremost among these, Iroh had to acknowledge, was unreasoned hatred. At least here in the Earth Kingdom, where she had most unhelpfully decided to flee.”—This is rich coming from the man who claimed Azula was crazy and needed to go down. Also, the hatred he mentions is present both in the story and in the fandom.

Iroh guesses that his information is outdated because he fell for the false trail Azula left outside of Senlin Village—seriously, buddy, I think she’s smarter than you—because he had to fight other pursuers, and because he was briefly imprisoned? I don’t recall this, but maybe this is in reference to his time with the Beifongs?

Moving on, he thinks, “No, the urge to blame Azula’s own manipulations for his continued failure was tempting, but not wholly accurate.” Some of the blame, he thinks, rests on the limitations and biases of other members of the White Lotus: “Members of the Order were supposed to forsake ties of family and nation in joining, or at least not let these blind them to the pursuit of truth and beauty that was the stated goal of their society. But Iroh need only look at himself to know that that didn’t always happen. Zuko may have been suspect for his heritage, but it was one that had visibly rejected him; Iroh had heinous deeds to his name, but he had put aside that life and suffered public disgrace for it. And so he and his nephew had received the sometimes grudging help of even Earth Kingdom initiates to the Order. But Azula was neither of those cases.”

The integrity of any institution is ultimately determined by the integrity of its members, and Azula represents the Azulon/Ozai regime much more than Iroh and Zuko do at present. It’s unsurprising that the White Lotus is reluctant to help her. Zuko did admit that Azula had been institutionalized, but loyalists to the regime didn’t believe it, and it didn’t soften the Earth Kingdom to her. Iroh thinks that if Azula renounced her father and the deeds she committed in his name, that might change things, but of course Azula would never do that. Why would she? She was indoctrinated into believing that she was doing what was best for her family and country, and she never really had the chance to cut ties with either long enough to see the conflict from a different perspective.

Due to this, the White Lotus isn’t telling Iroh what they know about Azula. Iroh isn’t going to tell Zuko that, since Zuko is on edge enough as it is. Iroh has other sources—he remembers, suddenly, Azula’s comment about cultivating a “network of allies and economy of favors,” and thinks she was too young to already be that deep into court politics. There is a grain of truth to that. Ideally, Azula should have been able to be a child at fourteen. But sixteen is the age of majority in this universe, and if you aren’t familiar with the machinations of court and have people in your pocket, you probably wouldn’t survive the upper echelons of the Fire Nation for long. Zuko is discovering that to his woe.

The scrivener Azula went to earlier is now enjoying a boost of business as bounty hunters try to trace where Azula went based on the maps she consulted. Iroh is pretty sure she laid another false trail with these, but sent Sokka and his team that way anyway (he also told Sokka to pass on that Toph’s mom had written to her). Iroh is following the less certain trail, thinking that he has a better chance of subduing Azula if he finds her. Since Iroh guesses that Azula might be heading back to Omashu, he’s asked Katara and Aang to meet him there.

Iroh doubts that Azula is really searching for Ursa, thinking that it’s just a ploy by Azula to earn Poppy’s sympathy: “Iroh had known his niece to be so manipulative in the past.”—I suspect this is a reference to when she tried to trick Zuko into coming home with her by exploiting his daddy issues.

“Perhaps she hoped to find the closure she needed to heal her mind, in finding her mother? Iroh could not imagine what else would spur Azula to seek her out, when from what he had seen, their relationship was antagonistic at best.”—Oh ho, Iroh is right on the money and recognizes that Ursa’s and Azula’s relationship was rocky!

Aang and Katara arrive and call Iroh “uncle,” which is sweet. “Iroh loved it when Zuko’s friends called him uncle. It just reinforced that his nephew had found a family in them, such as Iroh always wanted for him.” Awww!

We get this line, which makes me cackle: “[Katara] still kept her willowy figure though, and Iroh recalled a little wistfully how he had once wished her for Zuko.” SAME, IROH, SAME! I SHIPPED THEM, TOO! Though honestly, Katara deserves better than this Zuko, so I’m glad she’s with Aang here.

I need to groan at his follow-up: “If only Mai could be reconciled with his nephew….” Everyone needs to leave Mai alone, or at least get her a mai-tai to take the edge off (sorry not sorry). There is this sense that no one except Ty Lee understands and supports the Zuko/Mai relationship, because they don’t think that Mai is good enough for Zuko. Which is sucky of them, and the fandom too for that matter, since they do the same thing. Mai and Zuko might not be one of my ships, but that’s more because Zuko didn’t trust her enough in canon, which is more on him than her. There’s nothing actually wrong with Mai (besides supporting the Fire Nation’s regime, but ALL of the Fire kids were indoctrinated into doing that, so eh).

Katara notes that they have an urgent problem on their hand, then apologizes for referring to Azula that way. Iroh admits that his niece can be “problematic,” and while a part of me is like, “which type of problematic do you mean?” I know he probably means all of them.

Iroh then shares what he couldn’t say in his letter to them, and we shift back to Zuko’s perspective. Zuko arrives back to the Fire Nation and finds an honor guard and Mai waiting for him. He thinks maybe this is a sign that Mai is softening towards him, but realizes she’s just keeping up appearances when she gives him the cold shoulder. Zuko is concerned about her cut hand, which Mai snaps was a mistake, though she doesn’t pull her hand away, either.

“And Zuko wondered with dread if she had heard the rumors that sprung up in his departure from the Earth Kingdom, about a liaison with June.” The cut is about you, Zuko, but not due to that. We’re then treated to an entertaining account of how Zuko tried to free himself from the handcuffs, using his toes to transfer the key to his teeth. He thinks that “if he were a circus freak like Ty Lee or willing to dislocate his shoulder, he might have been able to do it.” To be fair, Zuko, Ty Lee hasn’t been a member of the circus for years. Also I am appalled, appalled I tell you, that you weren’t willing to pop out your shoulder to escape that bed. Desperate times call for desperate measures!

As it is, a chambermaid walked in, saw him trying to free himself while buck-naked, ran out screaming, and got the hotel manager. The manager helped him from there and congratulated Zuko on his “conquest,” all while the chambermaid passed Zuko some clothes and apologized for screaming. Zuko wanted to “burn [the manager’s] stupid face off,” which again shows that he’s not so different from Ozai, though Zuko is fortunately much more restrained.

By the time Zuko gets to Fire Fountain City, rumors about this incident have spread and been exaggerated, saying that Zuko freed himself by fucking June so hard that he snapped the cuffs. It’s too bad that Zuko isn’t a bachelor, because then I would be like, “No, Zuko, tell them they’re right, people would like you better for your prowess.” But he’s married and worried this will upset Mai more, so instead Zuko is a grumpy monkey about it.

Mai leads Zuko into Azula’s chambers once they arrive back at the castle, since the servants, at Zuko’s orders, don’t go near them. Everything in there is dusty. Zuko in uncomfortably reminded of the beach house. He quickly tries to explain that he didn’t sleep with June, but Mai interrupts him: “I know you didn’t have kinky bondage sex with some bounty hunter, okay?” MANY PROBLEMS WOULD HAVE BEEN AVERTED IF YOU TWO HAD HAD SOME KINKY BONDAGE SEX INSTEAD! I kid. It wouldn’t have helped at all. Zuko’s issues run too deep for that.

Mai then drops the bombshell that “she’s pregnant,” which initially confuses Zuko, who thinks she’s talking about June. “Mai looked as if she’d like to cut him”—I do not blame you, Mai, though I appreciate that you didn’t. “—when she spoke his sister’s name like a curse.” Yeah, I don’t blame her for being mad, this is devastating to their family both personally and politically.

Zuko doesn’t take the news well. He crumples and thinks, “Of course this wouldn’t end in any but the worst possible outcome.” He then reminds himself that no, Azula could be dead or might still die. This is a surprisingly quick self-correction on his part, so kudos, Zuko, I notice and acknowledge your growth!

Then Mai makes me want to throttle her by saying, “‘Still think she didn’t plan this?’” ARE YOU KIDDING, MAI? It’s moments like this that the monster Mai has built Azula up in her head to be becomes blindingly apparent.

Zuko protests that Azula wouldn’t have planned this, and that she probably wants to forget what happened, but now can’t. He remembers that Azula cried while visiting Ty Lee, and correctly guesses that this was why. As bizarre as it is, at this point Zuko understands Azula better than Mai does, because he’s started to see her as a person, and a hurt one at that, while Mai is blinded by her hatred.

Mai asks if he thinks Azula will get rid of the baby. “He wanted to throw up just thinking of her getting an abortion—she was still his little sister, after everything.” GOD I WISH YOU HAD REMEMBERED THAT BEFORE YOU FUCKED HER. But also, this is genuinely sad, because it shows that some part of Zuko does consider Azula his baby sister. Zuko also doesn’t know at this point, like we do, that Azula had an abortion at the age of twelve. It’s awful.

He thinks she will have an abortion because she’s “always done what she has to to survive.” Ah, see, he recognizes how much duress she’s been under, and that this could mess up her chances of survival. Mai notes that in this one instance, they should be glad of Azula’s ruthless streak. As if you can talk, Miss Let’s Quietly Send Assassins After My Ex-Best Friend. Seriously, I’m betting their mutual ruthlessness is part of why they bonded in the first place, and why they like Zuko and Ty Lee so much, as their squishy cinnamon rolls. I am admittedly a simp for the trope of the Spicy Mean One likes the Nice Sweet One.

ANYWAY, Zuko tries to shut down the conversation, but Mai presses him on it, because they can’t afford to ignore what might happen if Azula keeps the baby. “‘Do you think she would use this child against us [ . . . ] or Lu Ten?’” she asks.

Zuko is shocked by this and thinks that what he really wants to ask Mai, in that moment, is “What’s wrong with you?” and “When did you become this person?” Both of those are fair questions. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: Mai has let her anger against Azula steep for so long that it’s making her unrecognizable to the people who love her. She’s acting like a betrayed lover, though (sadly) we know that nothing like that ever happened between Azula and Mai.

Mai points out that if Azula shares who the father of her child is, Zuko will be discredited, because incest is illegal in the Fire Nation. When Zuko says that Azula would just be discredited too, Mai corrects him, saying she wouldn’t be if she claimed that Zuko forced himself on her.

“Zuko sprang to his feet as if under physical threat. ‘I told you, I didn’t—’” He desperately doesn’t want to think of what happened between him and Azula as rape.

Mai shuts that down by adding that it doesn’t matter what he says—it’s what people believe that will matter, and Zuko will need to come up with some answers that won’t get their family into hot water. Zuko says that it’s not like Azula could prove that the baby is his, but Mai counters that he can’t prove that it’s not, especially when he is so terrible at lying. One look at his face and people will know its true.

Mai adds that she’s not sure why Zuko is so certain the baby is his, anyway. Zuko mutters, “‘She wouldn’t be with someone else,’” which probably comes across as a little romantic to Mai, who snarkily responds, “‘Because what you have is just so special?’” This could and probably does refer to Zuko and Azula’s relationship, but it’s funnier and meaner if you imagine this line is about Zuko’s dick.

Zuko points out what a disaster Azula was at the beach party years ago, and Mai retorts that that didn’t seem to hurt Azula’s chances with him. Zuko loses his patience, saying, “‘Stop it, alright? [ . . . ] I said I’m sorry, and I meant it! I’d apologize a hundred times if it could change what happened, but it can’t! [ . . . ] And torturing me about it isn’t going to change that either.’” And I think he does have a point. Mai’s feelings are understandable, but she’s not helping the situation by dragging Zuko about what happened every chance she gets.

But Mai also makes a good point when she says: “‘You really think that’s what this is about? But why not?’ She sneered with such venom that Zuko let go of her in shock. ‘Because everything’s about you. Are you really so wrapped up in your own personal tragedy that you haven’t even considered how this will affect me, or Lu Ten?’” Which is totally fair. Zuko has been so concerned with how the incident affects him and Azula that he hasn’t given much thought to his wife and son.

Then Mai reveals something that has been eating at her, and probably has been for a long time: “‘Why would you? You only forget you’re his father half the time!’” IT’S TRUE. However, I doubt it would be true if Zuko weren’t busy ruling one country and appeasing two others.

“‘Just like you forget I’m your wife [ . . . ] It’s bad enough you act with no thought to your own position; you could at least give a thought to ours,’” Mai adds. She’s right—if Zuko had thought about his family, he would have waited for back-up when he realized where Azula might be, rather than confronting her on his own and getting drawn into the hate well with her. However, I also feel like Mai is assuming that he had more time to think than he did, and wouldn’t have fallen into a similar hate well if she’d confronted Azula instead. I don’t think that would have ended with Azula and Mai sleeping together (though someone please write that angsty bisexual AU), but just look at how pissed Mai is. She probably would have done something stupid, and maybe a part of her knows that. Sometimes we get the angriest when we recognize that someone did a bad thing that we would have also done in their situation, and we’re as pissed at ourselves over that realization as we are at them.

If you can’t tell, I’m warming to this idea of Mai as a bisexual disaster. I could absolutely see her as having been in love with both of the Fire Siblings, but chose Zuko because he was the safer option (emotionally, because Azula was a mess; physically, because Ozai wouldn’t have approved; and socially, because the Fire Nation seems too patriarchal and sexist to be cool with their princess being in a gay relationship). Again, someone write that AU or find me a fanfic rec. I need it in my life.

Zuko replies with, “‘Like it’s so easy being Fire Lord and a father, or a husband too?’” Reason 1001 why monarchies suck. There’s a theory that royals having higher indexes of mental illness wasn’t just a product of cousin marriage and recessive genes, but also from the sheer amount of responsibility put on their shoulders, and the difficulty of having a private life when your life is always in the spotlight. I buy it, given that we see something similar happening with celebrity breakdowns in the present. Balancing all of those roles would be very hard for Zuko.

But he also sounds like he thinks she should be grateful that he spends as much time as he does with her and their son, and grateful that he’s never cheated on her before, “even though [he’s] had plenty of chances.” I know keeping mistresses was the norm for kings and emperors, but buddy, this is a bad look. You’re showing your ass here.

Mai then brings Ozai into the argument: “‘Say what you will about your father, he never ran off sowing scandal and making bastards—'” So this is meta knowledge from Aurelia, but Ozai never had any bastards because he murdered most of the women he slept to make sure that didn’t happen. I think this will be implied later in Dominion or in The Road, but yeah, Ozai wasn’t loyal. He just covered his tracks well.

Zuko blows up at this, saying, “‘No, he was too busy abusing the shit out of my sister for that, wasn’t he?’” Mai is either pissed that he’s arguing with her about this, or embarrassed that she brought up Ozai and an argument weak enough for Zuko to counter, because “the back of her bare neck flushed red in the light of the setting sun.” It’s probably a mix of both.

When Mai says that she can’t talk to him when he’s like this, Zuko counters, “‘When I’m like this? [ . . . ] You’re supposed to be the rational one!’” I feel like this was a joke they made at better times in their marriage, but in this instance, it reads like he wants Mai to do all of the emotional labor and stay calm, even when her anger is, again, understandable.

Mai gets the knock-out punch in, though: “‘And you were supposed to love and honor me [ . . . ] so long as we both shall live.’” Oof. I don’t blame Zuko for getting the fight knocked out of him. When Mai turns to leave, Zuko asks where she’s going, and she says she’s going to give him time to think and come up with a plan. When he has one, he can talk to her again.

“‘Don’t you [have a plan]?’ Zuko tried, with his best attempt at a smile. It probably ended up looking more like a grimace, and her answering quirk of the lips was less than friendly. ‘I do,’ his wife said simply, in a tone that indicated, but you wouldn’t like it.”—Ouch. This stings in part because he’s trying so hard to reach her, but also because Mai is already planning to kill Azula to end this conflict before implodes on them.

Zuko apologizes again, and Mai, in essence, says that him being sorry isn’t good enough. The only way to make this right is for him to do something to fix this, which—as far as she is concerned—would mean killing Azula or allowing her to be killed. That would cause a lot of unrest that they would need to deal with, but less so than if the incest came to light.

Mai leaves Zuko to his thoughts. Zuko sits on the top step leading up to Azula’s bed and feels like he shouldn’t be there. He remembers the last time he was here, when he barged into Azula's room while she was sleeping and demanded answers to why she lied to their father. “He had thought nothing of it at the time. They grew up only two years apart. And even if Zuko bristled at her stealing his stuff or bothering him when he didn’t want her around, he could admit neither one of them had ever given much thought to the other’s privacy.” This is normal teen sibling stuff, but I’m alarmed that Azula either had no lock on her door or wasn’t allowed to lock her door at night. It wasn’t as if the palace was safe!

“It was just one more thing that changed while he was banished, even if he only realized it that night. It felt wrong to be there. And the way she reacted to his accusations, her tone of voice and mannerisms, it felt…wrong. Zuko knew now what had changed, in the three years she spent alone with their father. He was the signs he should have recognized so much earlier, the seductive behaviors inappropriate to her age. Behaviors their father had trained into her.”—I feel like Zuko is being hard on himself here, because how could he have put words to something unthinkable? He was sixteen and self-absorbed, but now has the knowledge that comes with age, experience, and context. Perhaps Iroh could have realized what was amiss, but would he have been inclined to see Azula as an abused child, or as the seductress Ozai trained her to be?

Instead of thinking about the future the way Mai wants him to, he remembers that night on Ember Island and “how warm and soft Azula felt, curled against him.” So inappropriate, Zuko! He’d felt “almost…content. That wasn’t something he was used to feeling around his sister, at all.” Maybe because all of your pent-up emotional baggage came out, among other things? Yeesh. So many problems would have been solved if you two had just gotten drunk and screamed at each other for a while, instead of fighting and fucking. But noooo, you royal screw-ups can’t have it out with your family like us peasants do, can you?

(Sigh.) Again, I kid. But get therapy. Both of you, just…get therapy.

“Zuko couldn’t bring himself to agree with what Mai and his father called it, but even he could admit now that his motives were not what they should have been. He had an advantage in all this that Azula didn’t. He knew what a healthy relationship looked like. He knew what sex was supposed to be. That was how he knew that what they did, it wasn’t an act of love. It was an act of hate.”—I TOLD YOU ALL IT WASN’T ROMANTIC OR THEM LOSING THEMSELVES IN THE THROES OF PASSION! ZUKO GETS IT! THIS TIME, HE GETS IT!

It was rape, though. I know you don’t want to acknowledge that, Zuko, but that’s what it was. Azula was disassociating and not capable of consenting at the time.

“Except that somewhere in the midst of their furious coupling, something changed. Or he never would have fallen asleep beside her. That wasn’t something Zuko had felt comfortable doing for a long time, almost longer than he could remember.”—This is so sad, but also like…I think you two just exhausted yourselves and didn’t really want each other dead.

“It was an act of hate, and his uncle—his mother—taught him that hate brought nothing but destruction. And yet…. They made a life.”—Ursa would have some things to say about this, given that Azula is heavily implied to be the product of rape. Don’t romanticize conception, Zuko.

Zuko doesn’t think the baby will be born, ultimately. It could be too sickly or deformed to survive, or Azula could decide that her life is too fucked to bring a child into, given how many enemies she has. But really, Zuko thinks she’ll get rid of the baby because it’s his: “Azula hated him. She didn’t want his help, his care, his company. She didn’t want his love….”—Why would she? All of those things have sucked for her! But also, this might be the first time that Zuko admits that he loves his sister, which is heartbreaking.

“She didn’t want any part of him, Zuko thought painfully. So what could she possibly want with his child?”—It’s HER CHILD TOO, DUM DUM. She’s probably thinking about it that way. Not everything is about you!

We then switch back to Azula. Apparently, no one bothered to tie Azula up because they knew the fever would kick her ass. She has trouble doing more than hobbling around the village with Annie’s help. They know who she is, too: “She supposed she had been outed by those members of the tribe who fought on the Day of Black Sun, and whose incarceration she had overseen. The irony was not lost on Azula.” How the tables have turned!

Annie only takes Azula on her walks when the men are out hunting. Azula wants to have a say in what happens to her, but so far, she hasn’t been allowed at the table to discuss it. She’s been informed that she had “swamp fever”—malaria, fun!—and is now drenched in mosquito repellent to prevent another infection.

I have to chuckle at this encounter: “Azula had been found and carried back to the village by one of their men, whom Annie explained could bend the water in vines to attack any trespassers to the swamp. The pot-bellied tribesman [Huu—also, sorry, I have to mention this, but when I looked up who this character was, I saw that the Avatar Fandom page has a Korrasami kiss as its header image, bless] had ducked his gray head into the clinic on the second day, as Azula was about to doze off from her earlier walk, to apologize for frightening her. He bit his lower lip when he smiled, and spoke with a bashfulness so at odds with his state of undress that Azula could not manage much more than to nod once in acceptance, staring openly. He explained that he had not meant to hurt her, only to restrain her and stop her from burning more of the swamp. He also offered to let her meditate at the banyan grove tree, whatever that was, before Annie shooed him out with the warning that his offer was premature. And then glanced worriedly at Azula, like the princess wouldn’t know what she was talking about.” Not only do I find this precious, but this offer would help Azula with her mission if she pursued it. I think the implication here is that Azula isn’t strong enough to make it up the tree yet, though.

“Annie took a seat besides her and chatted happily on about the swamp and the history of her tribe”—pay attention, Azula!—“and Azula found the forbearance to endure it only by reminding herself that at least this one wasn’t as intrusive as Rai—The cook, she corrected herself sternly.” Aw, Rai made an impression on Azula. Good for you, Rai! I don’t buy that Azula didn’t like her at least a little, given that her first instinct is to remember Rai by name.

Azula is paying enough attention to the conversation to interrupt and ask for clarification at a few points. Turns out Annie’s mom was from the Northern Water Tribe, but married into the Foggy Swamp Tribe. I think her and Kanna would have had a lot to talk about where NWT sexism is concerned. Annie further explains that the Foggy Swamp Tribe is descended from NWT explorers, some of whom settled in the swamp, while others went on to found the Southern Water Tribe.

When Annie comments that it’s weird that her tribe still waterbends, despite intermarrying with enough Earth Kingdomers that they resemble them more than Water Tribe folks, Azula corrects her: “‘There are theories in the Fire Nation about how bending is passed on. Most scientists believe the ability to bend is inherited, but the element you bend depends on your culture and upbringing.”—YOU HEAR THAT AANG? TIME FOR YOU AND KATARA TO ADOPT LIKE, 1000 KIDS. Or at least open up a school or two.

Annie thinks that theory ~holds water~ (sorry not sorry), given that the Foggy Water Tribe honor where they came from and value family highly. Azula asks if that’s why they don’t seem to hate her like other Earth Kingdomers do (look, I know you’d be found if you stayed with these people, but maybe you should stay with them for a while, Azula. Have a nice vacation in the fantasy Everglades). Mostly they don’t hate Azula because she looked like a drowned rat when they brought her in. She was “‘Still askin’ after some girl and yer brother…’” at the time. See, Azula is also hung up on Mai! It goes both ways!

Azula freezes up. Annie assumes she’s ashamed that she was calling for her family, even though that’s a natural thing to do when you’re scared or in pain. Azula almost cries at this, then thinks, “What was there to say about it to someone like Anyu, anyway? Oddly enough, Azula didn’t find herself thinking of these people as peasants very often, even if they wore next to nothing and walked around with their bare feet caked in mud.”—Perhaps because they’re being kind to her and she’s spent enough time around them by now to see them as people. “Perhaps it was the lack of any privileged ruling class that didn’t lend the tribe to such comparisons. Even so, their way of life here was alien enough”—also better, none of these people are horribly traumatized by feudalism—“that there seemed little to gain by explaining herself or any part of her situation to them.”—I can see why Azula thinks this, given that she seems to be surrounded by functional families here, so it might be difficult for them to relate to how messed up hers is. Of course, the opposite might also be true. Perhaps when abuse happens in families in the Foggy Water Tribe, they deal with it decisively, rather than ignoring it. Maybe they would take someone like Ozai out into the swamp, slit his throat, and bury him in peat.

“It wouldn’t have mattered even if they were Fire Nation, Azula knew. Her family was royal, they weren’t like other people….”—Ah, look at that exceptionalism. Azula, hon, your family isn’t special. It’s a nightmare.

Azula changes the subject, asking what they told the earthbenders who were chasing her. Annie explains that the swamp is too big for the earthbenders to search thoroughly, especially when the Tribe gave them guides to “'make sure they on’y see what we want ‘em to see.'” Azula is impressed by how crafty they’re being. Again, Azula, maybe you should hang out here for a while. There are worse places to raise a kid. Like, you know, the Fire Nation. Six years ago, you could get sent to the coal mines for dancing at school. It sucks!

Annie explains that they’re also doing this to make sure the earthbenders don’t hurt themselves chasing visions. This catches Azula’s attention, since she thought she was just hallucinating Mai and toddler Zuko. Annie doesn’t have that context, though, so she’s confused by Azula’s startled, “‘Other people…see things here?’”

When Annie confirms this, “Azula exhaled as abruptly as if she’d been punched in the gut. She wasn’t crazy. Or at least, no worse than when she escaped from the asylum. These visions were caused by the swamp somehow, and would stop when she left it. Granted, she had not seen Mai or her brother since her fever broke and she recovered consciousness, but she anticipated their return with dread and other, less identifiable emotions.”—Somehow, I think one of those emotions might be longing. Just a guess.

“She had begun to think the medication might be suppressing her hallucinations, but realized now that wasn’t right. Or she would not have woken yesterday to find Ursa sitting at her bedside, leaning over Azula to stroke her damp hair back from her face and hum a lullaby, the way she had seen their mother do for Zuko whenever he was sick in bed. Azula never used to get sick.”—Probably because her internal fire burned too hot for her to get sick, ala the Targaryens. But also, it’s super sad that Ursa never stroked Azula’s hair and sung her a lullaby. Ursa, you sucked as a mom to Azula!

Annie interrupts Azula’s musings, explaining, “‘I s’pose it mighta scared ya sum, seein’ dead folks and such [ . . . ] The swamp sends us visions of people we lost, jest when we need ‘em the most. Now ya found the help ya needed, I bet ya don’t see ‘em no more.’”—A couple of things here. Azula is still seeing Ursa, so it’s clear that even though the Foggy Swamp Tribe is helping her, their efforts aren’t enough to bring Azula true peace. Second, WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT AZULA NEEDED MAI IN THE SWAMP? WHY NOT TY LEE? HOW MUCH ARE YOU REPRESSING ABOUT YOUR FRIENDSHIP WITH MAI, AZULA?

“But Azula just looked out over still water choked with algae, and considered that the people in her visions weren’t dead. Not dead, she thought dully. Just lost to me.”—OUCH!

At this point, one of Anyu’s sons approaches them. “It was easy to forget sometimes how old the waterbender actually was, until you realized her children were all grown men.” Yeah, would not have pegged Anyu as being that old, but it makes sense, given how self-assured she is. Apparently Anyu’s son, Tho, spent a month in Fire Nation custody, so he’s not fond of Azula. He might also just be unhappy with the situation, though: the earthbenders are getting restless and might not follow their guides for much longer, but Azula is still recovering from malaria and might not be up for traveling. It’s a sticky situation for them and her.

Azula, as they talk, doubts they’ll just “let her leave,” which shows that she’s paranoia-poisoned. Tho explains that they’ve called a council and want Azula there “‘to make account a herself.’” Azula doubts that they really mean to give her a voice in the discussion. Oh honey, you really don’t know what to do around honest and open people, do you? Aang would give you an aneurysm.

“Even so-called selfless acts routinely had a selfish motive, Azula knew, and were rarely sustained when the cost of satisfying that selfish motive became too great.”—Oh look, more Ozai Kool-Aid. Sometimes people are nice because they don’t want to see someone in pain, Azula. It doesn’t have to be complicated.

“They may have saved her life, but Azula suspected their generosity only extended so far. Now that they were under threat, she supposed she would see just how far.”—I doubt the earthbenders would attack the Foggy Swamp Tribe. If they did, I don’t think they would win.

The three decide to go join the council. “Annie linked arms with her, and Azula, though irritated by the implication that she needed support, did not bother to shrug her off.”—Because you appreciate Annie and her support and are too much of a tsundere to admit it.

“Instead she followed her scantily clad captor along with most of the village to the heart of the swamp, walking lockstep with a waterbender toward the next part of her journey. And possibly the last.”—First, I hope this helps curb Azula’s hatred of waterbenders. Second, you’re going to be fine, you big dramatic baby. “And possibly the last,” oh please! They used their quinine on you, they’re not going to chuck all of their efforts down the drain by killing you now. But I get it, you’re not used to people helping you, so your kneejerk response is to assume the worst. Here’s hoping that someday you have enough confidence in the people around you to rely on them.

(Side-eyes Mai.) This is 5% your fault, by the way. Azula’s family did the heavy lifting, but your betrayal didn’t help. Yes, I know, you had to save your boyfriend from being boiled alive, but still. Someday you’re going to have to acknowledge that you were the straw that broke the camel’s back.

And that’s all for chapter sixteen! See you all in chapter seventeen, “A Kindness.”

#Dominion by Aurelia le #Azula #avatar the last airbender #Fanfiction Review #WiseAbsol

[terramythos]

TerraMythos 2021 Reading Challenge - Book 7 of 26

Title: The Shadowed Sun (Dreamblood #2) (2012)

Author: N. K. Jemisin

Genre/Tags: Fantasy, Third-Person, Female Protagonist.

Rating: 7/10

Date Began: 2/15/2021

Date Finished: 3/02/2021

Ten years have passed since the events of The Killing Moon. Imperial Kisua rules the once peaceful and deadly city-state of Gujaareh. But war stirs on the horizon. Wanahomen, the exiled heir to the Sunset Throne, seeks to reclaim his disgraced father's legacy. And with his unexpected allies-- the so-called barbaric Banbarra tribes--he might just succeed.

To assist his gambit for the throne, the priesthood of Hananja sends two of their own into the Banbarra canyonlands. Hanani, the first female trainee of the order, has to contend with an unfamiliar culture and the arrogant whims of the Prince in order to succeed. But her greatest challenge comes from her self-doubt-- and events that will challenge the very core of her faith.

Meanwhile, a mysterious plague strikes Gujaareh. Transmitted through dreams, it afflicts nearby sleepers and casts them into an endless nightmare. If they are to retake the city, Hanani and Wanahomen must find the disturbing source of the sickness before it's too late.  

If only the poisoned fruit did not keep ripening in my time. 

Full review, some spoilers, and content warnings under the cut.

Content warnings for the book: Some sexual content. Domestic/child abuse. R*pe via inc*st and threatened/attempted r*pe. Graphic violence (including police brutality), murder, warfare, body horror, and death (including child death). Structural/social misogyny and ableism are discussed and challenged to varying degrees.

I'm in the minority when it comes to The Shadowed Sun. While there are aspects of the novel that I really enjoyed, I had a hard time getting into the story. My main issue is that there were three separate plotlines, but they didn't really connect to each other until the last third or so of the book. The primary plot was also the one I found the least interesting, which didn't help. A lot of this is personal preference; I'll go into specifics below.

Unlike my experience with The Killing Moon, characterization was one of the strongest parts of the book for me. Sunandi and Nijiri returned as important side characters rather than leads, and I found I liked both of them more in this story. They were even sort of friends after ten years, which was fun when compared to their tense and mildly antagonistic dynamic in the last book. 

Instead, The Shadowed Sun starred newcomer Hanani and Wanahomen--a very minor character from The Killing Moon. What's interesting about these two is neither were especially likeable characters to start. Hanani initially came off as painfully timid, submissive, and naïve. Wanahomen began as an arrogant, sexist asshole. But both of them went through significant emotional development over the story, and I really liked the sheer character growth. 

Wanahomen in particular was a hard sell for me, but Jemisin put in the work. He did let go of some of his worst traits pretty easily-- like his hatred of the Hetawa and reverence for his father-- considering that they were beliefs he'd held for most of his life. I'm also a little torn on his eventual romantic relationship with Hanani, due to a particularly horrible act of his that she quickly forgave. But ultimately I chose to let these details slide because I liked his arc. Hanani took me a little longer to appreciate, as she spent most of the novel in various states of emotional trauma. But her arc of self-acceptance and reclaiming her womanhood was SO cathartic by the end. Their eventual banter-filled dynamic reminded me strongly of Sophie and Howl from book!Howl’s Moving Castle. Of all things. 

I also appreciated the stronger focus on narcomancy and dream worlds, which were sadly lacking in The Killing Moon. It was cool to see more firsthand perspective on the workings of dream magic. In particular, the nightmare world during the climactic chapter of the book was disturbing, imaginative, and emotional. That entire chapter just slapped from start to finish-- I loved that the solution was ultimately kindness and compassion. 

There were lots of small details I liked as well. The Banbarra being loosely based on the Anasazi was really cool to me on a personal level. Cliff dwellings! Fuck yeah! What other novel can I read that has fantasy!Egyptians and fantasy!Anasazi interacting with each other? Wanahomen's daydreams served as a subtle but important hint for later stuff, which was cool. The theme of fatherhood at its worst and best--and all the complicated emotions that entails--was something that didn't hit me until after I finished the book. The title is a fucking pun, so thanks for that. I was also surprised to see a mostly happy ending in an otherwise dark series.

A lot of my struggle with the book came down to pacing. As I mentioned, there were three story threads. There was Hanani and Wanahomen hanging out in a canyon. There was miscellaneous political intrigue around the upcoming coup in Gujaareh. And finally there was Tiaanet's story + the magic dream plague + its disturbing source. But the primary story was the canyon one... which I just didn’t find interesting. Lots of sitting around, cultural clashes, and horrific personal trauma. This was fine for a while, but once I reached the 2/3rd mark, I struggled to get through it. The plots also felt disconnected from one another until the end, so scenes from the two more interesting stories seemed sudden and sporadic. It tied together pretty well in the strong last third of the book. But there was a long investment to reach that point. 

There was also a lot of r*pe in this book; way more than anything I've read by Jemisin. On a literary level, I get it. A central theme in this book is misogyny, and there's lots commentary around that. Both Gujareen and Banbarra society revere women in different ways, yet they have very limited social roles. Sexual violence happens regardless of how much women are supposedly admired by their cultures. And in the book, it was rightfully portrayed as disgusting and traumatic. But this content was emotionally exhausting and uncomfortable. It's probably the main reason it took me so long to get through the book. Tiaanet's arc was especially disturbing, though it ended in a very cathartic way. 

So yeah, mixed feelings on this one. In terms of themes and ideas, The Shadowed Sun did a lot right; so I can't justify anything lower than a 7. But story-wise, I really liked the last third of the book and kind of wished the rest was like that. Jemisin's writing usually clicks with me more, so this was an odd exception. If you're interested in this series, it's not for the faint of heart. Please mind the warnings on both this and my review of The Killing Moon.  

#7/10 #2021 reading challenge #i usually write these in present tense but decided to switch it up #taylor reads

[dalekofchaos]

My critique of the Sequel Trilogy Lightsaber duels

My biggest problems with the Sequel Trilogy are the blatant rip off and unoriginality, no clear plan at all, lore breaking bullshit, lack of worldbuilding and poor executions of great character concepts. In this post, one of my My biggest gripes with the Sequels is the terrible Lightsaber fights.

The only good duel in my opinion is Finn vs Kylo Ren. This feels raw and powerful. A hardened soldier who has just became familiar to Lightsaber combat vs a trained dark side warrior. Despite Ren's years on training, though, Finn puts up a good fight and is able to hold his own before having his back sliced up. But.....that's what kills the fight for me. Finn's injuries. If this were in the first 6 movies or anywhere in the EU, Finn would be in a wheelchair or in a bacta tank for life. And guess what? A movie later and Finn’s injuries are never brought up again or treated with any severity.

Like Finn’s injuries, Finn’s rivalry with Kylo Ren is dropped for no reason whatsoever and never mentioned again. Finn and Kylo Ren are narrative foils, yet after TFA it’s dropped??? From the start they have been prominent foils to each other: dark from light and light from dark, both in the First Order but in drastically different positions. And Kylo too obviously has strong feelings about his defection. I also believe that Finn is the awakening in the force that Kylo and Snoke felt. Perhaps that is why Kylo focused on Finn and is so angry about him. Finn is also the first person to use the legacy lightsaber and is the first to actually fight Kylo. TLJ could've focused on Finn and Kylo being  narrative foils having a force connection and Kylo wondering why Finn would switch to the Resistance while Finn wonders why Kylo joined The First Order and  Rey standing in the middle of it all wondering with the new realization that her family has a mixed past of good and evil and her questioning where exactly does she belong? The way at the height of tfa when Kylo Ren rejected Han Solo’s offer for redemption and killed him he looked over and noticed Finn. Like they both locked eyes and in that moment was a surge of emotions between them— shock (and some fear) on Finn’s end, and anger on Kylo’s as he shouts at Finn that he’s a traitor— and those circumstances set Finn and Kylo up to be the dynamic for the sequel trilogy. They were foils, and the trilogy had the potential to truly expand on that and see their development in a final standoff/rematch at the very end. But it was wasted, because why have good movies.

Rey vs Kylo Ren. This duel was bullshit from start to finish. Okay, I don't care how force sensitive she is. I don't care that she downloaded Kylo's abilities in the interrogation. ANd I don't give a fuck WHO she turned out to be related to. If you are thrown into a tree, you are gonna be out for at least an hour. I will hand it to them that it feels like a genuine fight, but it just feels cheap when Rey won. It also doesn't make it any better that Kylo's injuries doesn't force him to wear the helmet at all times, his facial wounds are non-consequential. Rey has no prior training. Never held a lightsaber. Rey fighting off thieves with her quarterstaff is not the same thing, it is understandable that Kylo was struggling because of his injuries, but Rey didn’t struggle against Kylo. Even Luke struggled with Vader and Anakin struggled with Dooku. What should have happened is as it looks like Kylo is about to win, Chewie from the Falcon fires his bowcaster to keep Ren at bay and both Rey and Finn make it to the Falcon. This way we can keep Kylo Ren strong and show Rey struggling to overcome Kylo. It will also show This is how powerful he is when injured, so imagine him at his peak. Instead we get a pointless fight instead of Rey and Finn just escaping Starkiller base while Ren collapses due to injuries and Rey beating Kylo served no purpose(the end goal to destroy Starkiller Base was already accomplished) and helped derail their villain of the trilogy.

The Throne Room Duel. Everyone knew that Rey and Kylo would kill the Praetorian Guards. This is a fight with absolutely zero stakes. It's one thing if Rey and Kylo dueled Snoke himself, that might be a good fight. But come on, did anyone REALLY think they would lose? There is no tension in the scene and it is pointless. Kylo Ren and Rey are fighting a faceless a group of guards that we know absolutely nothing about and have literally no purpose in the entire story except for this one fight. We know neither of the characters are going to die because these are just faceless red shirts and there is still like 30 to 40 minutes left of the movie. Terrible editing takes away any enjoyment one might have with the fight choreography, if you've got to literally photoshop out the bad guys weapons in post production to not look stupid you might need to recoreograph the shot. There are multiple times where Rey, Kylo and the guards are just doing motions and actions because they look cool but serve no purpose but to look cool. Kylo stabbing the ground? Pointless. Rey twirling her rave stick around while someone falls behind her, pointless. Not even once do we see them displaying their powers is what cheapens the fight. Kylo Ren is powerful enough to freeze a blaster and a person in place and Rey herself unlocked Kylo’s powers, so the two of them could have easily ended the fight sooner than it was dragged out. Kylo is powerful in the force but he SERIOUSLY could not stop a Praetorian Guard choke holding him and Rey struggled with a guard? Rey and Kylo were stronger in TFA and are just made weaker in the duel with the Praetorian Guards. Kylo could have frozen half of the guards and Rey could have mind tricked the other half into killing the frozen guards and Kylo and Rey could have finished them. They are masters of light and darkness, but they are made weaker. The throne room scene is a symbolization of everything wrong with the movie. It’s all flash, but no substance and the more you think about it, the worse it gets.

All this duel makes me believe is that Rey and Ben should’ve both switched sides in TLJ. Rey gives in to the dark side and Ben returns home. Rey is the most Sith like character if you obey the rules of George Lucas for Light and Dark sides of the force. Ben Solo is more Jedi like throughout the movie until the end. Let me explain. Rey throughout the sequel trilogy has given in to her passion and anger. In the end of TFA Rey gave in to anger and hate to defeat Kylo. and in TLJ she is shown to use anger and hate throughout the movie. She is shown to as Yoda put it “take the quick and easy path to the dark side” gives in to anger and hate in almost every scene before she boards the Supremacy and gave in to the temptations of the dark side water cave. Her dark side actions in TROS speak for itself. Ben is calm and clear minded like a Jedi, he even wants to cut all ties to attachments like a Jedi. Everything we were told of the Jedi and how disciplined they are, Ben displays that in TLJ until after the Throne room fight. Hell, EVEN THE THRONE ROOM FIGHT SUGGESTS THIS. Think about the fact that Ben really does not move or even engage. He just stands there and dodges and swings once when the guard rushes him. Contrast that to Rey, who is clearly being more aggressive with her lightsaber and attacking rather than just being passive. How again is Rey the Jedi and Kylo is the dark side force user in this movie? They’re fighting in the exact opposite way they should be. Rey fights for the kill while Kylo gets a glancing blow in the armor in the opening fight. Their style of fighting in the Throne Room with the Praetorian Guards really suggests that they should’ve switched sides. What they should have done is have Ben realize that Snoke was evil and shows regret for his actions and turn to the light. While Rey feeling betrayed by Luke and the revelation of her family turns to the dark. This would not only be unexpected but would even rival Vader’s “I am your father” twist. And it would logically follow what we’ve seen of these two characters leading up to this point. Rather than just out of the blue Kylo turns angry and irrational and Rey is calm when Ben was calm and rational throughout the movie and Rey was full of anger and hate throughout this movie. You have them follow an arc that makes sense for their individual personalities. Ben is always calm, but he felt betrayed by those on the light, but he comes to realize that betrayal was an incorrect perception and he desperately wants to make amends to Luke and Leia and therefore he should rejoin what he knows in his heart is good. While Rey is full of passion and anger and as that builds up and she realizes that even the great Jedi Luke Skywalker is a disappointment and her family abandoned her, she knows the only person who can live up to her own expectations is herself and that self-centered attitude leads her to the dark side. That would make sense and we would have something to fight for, save Rey from herself or stop her.

Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren. Originally, I thought they were gonna have Luke first send the Walkers’ turboblasts right back at them and use the force to bring down the transports, TIEs and the shuttle and then toy with his nephew like Vader did to him and leave Kylo Ren in defeat and his ruined fleet. In a way he did(minus the ruined fleet), but it took away any tension away by having Luke just be a force projection. He wasn't there. His moment with Leia and 3-PO doesn't feel genuine anymore. And the "duel" if you can call it that is just bad. Luke doesn't have his Green Lightsaber and their blades do not clash. A Jedi is all about defense. But a Jedi will also fight in self-defense to defend others. The argument that Luke did the "most Jedi thing ever" is bullshit. A Jedi will stand up for what's right and face the threat. Instead Luke pulled a practical joke and died pointlessly. I mean if he instead pulled the X-Wing out afterwords and told R2 "Come on R2, we've got work to do." I would forgive that and then we could've gotten a genuine master and apprentice relationship between Luke and Rey and a proper reunion between Luke and Leia. But no, he has to die of force exhaustion. If Palpatine, who uses the force like crack didn't die of force exhaustion, then why did Luke?

The duels in TROS are all equally terrible. Not once did I felt any excitement between Rey and Kylo's duels as I did with Finn and Kylo from TFA. Every Lightsaber duel is forgettable. The fight in Ren's Quarters is just bad. The fight on the Death Star Ruins is just terrible. It's like they both got high on deathsticks and could barley remember that they are both trained with a Lightsaber. Fighting in ruins surrounded by water SHOULD BE EXCITING! But they did everything in their power to make this duel boring, mediocre and lackluster. They act as if they are swinging bats, not Lightsabers. Lightsabers aren’t baseball bats, stop treating them like they are!  

The worst part is that THIS was the final Lightsaber duel of the Star Wars saga. A huge step down if compared to Obi Wan vs Anakin in Mustafar and Darth Vader vs Luke Skywalker in the Emperor’s Throne Room, which unlike the previous prequel, had awesome shooting and use of the soundtrack, also being very lengthy.

Then we get the Luke and Leia flashback. The ONLY well choreographed fight scene is a fucking flashback.

Then Ben Solo and the Knights Of Ren. Again, we know the Knights are gonna die. If JJ Abrams bothered to characterize the Knights, then yes they might've had a chance, but like the Praetorian Guards, they exist for background and die pointlessly.

Of Course we don't get to see Palpatine duel wielding his twin Sith Lightsabers and fighting Rey and Ben, cause JJ mr I hate the Prequels can't give the fans any decent Lightsaber fights. Instead of Palpatine facing Rey and Ben in an epic climatic final battle, we get Palpatine killed by his own lightning.

The fights in TFA is adequate at best. TLJ is meaningless. TROS is absolutely terrible and forgettable.

John, Daisy and Adam deserved better choreography than they were given. There's no excuse for the lackluster duels we see in the ST, whether from Rey, Finn or Kylo.

One of the biggest complaints for the Prequels is Lightsaber fights is "they are too choreographed" and anyone who believes this is an idiot. What? You wanted Jedi in their prime to slap sticks like old people? You wanted them to fight like drunken hobos? One of the best things in the prequels was finally getting to see the Jedi finally go all out in some awesome lightsaber duels. The Jedi should be masters at Lightsaber combat. Fight choreography is a good thing. Look at the duels in the prequels. You can like or hate them but the duel between Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon and Maul was great. As was Obi-Wan vs Jango, Yoda vs Dooku and every duel in ROTS. Even The Clone Wars had great fight choreography. There was more planning and choreography in The Clone Wars S7E10 than in the whole sequel trilogy.

Seriously, why wasn't Nick Gillard contacted? He is the main reason why the Lightsaber duels in the prequels were so good. I don't care if too many Lightsabers were a big complaint amongst the Prequel haters, the duels were good. So instead of great fight scenes, you traded great fight choreography for mediocre baseball bat fights?

The choreography is not the issue alone. There is no emotion. In TFA. Starkiller Base was already set to blow, so the fight was pointless. In TLJ there is no emotion at stake for the Throne Room fight and the Resistance already got away prior to Luke's pointless death. Rey vs Kylo doesn’t even matter because the characters HAVE THE SAME GOAL. Both want to get to Exegol via a wayfinder before the duel and both get to Exegol with a wayfinder (or memory of it) at the end of the duel. While Kylo gets redeemed, the duel wasn’t necessary for this part as Leia just needed to talk to him and then give him the force induced memory. The only thing this proves is that Rey is not a Jedi because she gives into anger and blind rage to start the duel.

The duels in the prequels and originals had themes, emotion and meaning. Not just that but they looked damn impressive and was the spectacle that helped made Star Wars, Star Wars.

There isn't any good musical scores for any of the Lightsaber fights either or at the very least, nothing memorable. Nothing as iconic as Duel Of Fates, Battle Of Heroes and the Throne Room fight in ROTJ. I don't remember any themes in the Sequels and that's a problem.

And it doesn’t help that these duels have no meaningful deaths either. A bunch of faceless guards and Luke (through indirect means) are the only deaths via a duel. But this is what happens when you hide the mentor archetype on an island and have the hero and villain go at it for three films.

The Lightsaber duel is no longer an emotional spectacle and a grand duel to the death. It's a bunch of idiots high on deathsticks fighting pointlessly and fighting for absolutely nothing. Rey fights like a Sith but she's a Jedi. Ben fights like a Jedi but is leading the First Order? They don't matter anymore and the duels in the sequels are the most forgettable thing about them.

#Anti Sequel Trilogy #Anti TFA #Anti TROS #Anti TLJ #Rey #Finn #Kylo Ren #Ben Solo

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #474

Top Ten Characters Who Came Back from the Dead

I am stunned – stunned! – that I’ve not done this one before. I mean, come on! It’s right there.

So there’s obviously a thematic resonance going on here. This weekend – the weekend you’re meant to be reading this – is famous where I come from because of a story where someone came back from the dead. Unlike other holidays – Christmas, Halloween, the release of a Star War – I’ve actually been a little slow off the mark in making lists that celebrate Easter. I’ve done eggs and bunnies, but incredibly I’ve never done resurrections, which really is the day’s whole deal. I mean, if you get down to brass tacks, it’s kinda the big selling point of the entire religion really. I hesitate to say “USP” because, well, it’s been done elsewhere, but it’s still supposed to be one of the big Christian takeaways (there’s definitely a chain of Christian takeaways in the States, isn’t there?).

Anyway, resurrection. It’s actually more common than you might think. Certainly in terms of comics there are probably more characters who’ve “died and come back” than have never “died” at all. But! And this is where I get pernickety. Most characters who “die” don’t actually die. Take Batman for instance: he’s shot in the face by Darkseid, and then Superman ups and finds his charred corpse, but – shocker! – he’s not actually dead, he was just sent back in time, where he Quantum Leaps his way back to the present day, accumulating enough Omega Energy with each leap that by the time he reaches the present day he’s blow a hole in reality. Or something, I’ve not read that story for quite a few years. Anyway: he wasn’t dead. Neither was Sherlock Holmes, or for that matter Dirty Den. Generally speaking, if someone dies in a story and then reappears, they’re not dead. Not really.

So this list here is supposed to be people who actually died. Now, even here, it’s debatable; I mean, is E.T. dead, or does his body just go into some kind of hibernation? If Optimus Prime’s brainwaves survive, does he ever really die? Is a clone someone coming back to life or not? It’s all a bit wishy-washy really, which kind of makes sense when you’re talking about resurrection. And let’s not get onto the chief resurrector, the Doctor; do they die every time they regenerate? Or is the regeneration itself a way of staving off death? When David Tennant turned into Matt Smith, did the Tennant-Doctor die? “I don’t want to go,” and all that; there’s always a subtle (or not-so-subtle) change in personality. Does that count? Well, for the purposes of this list, I’ve kinda decided it doesn’t. But it’s an interesting discussion to have, if you’re a big old nerd like me.

So yeah: people who have died – properly, I suppose – and then come back to life. That’s the list. No fakery, to mistaken identity, no alternate universe shenanigans; they were dead but they got better (no Chev Chelios either; sorry, Stath stans). No zombies either! Or vampires! They’re not undead; they were dead, and now they’re alive again. That’s the rule. Also I’ve seriously tried to limit comic book characters. And I’m sure there are some big omissions (like, I know there’s one from Game of Thrones that’s not on here, but that’s because I’ve not seen that far into the show yet; I know, I know). But I reckon these are the best at being back.

Optimus Prime (Transformers franchise, from about 1987): OP is the OG when it comes to coming back to life. Dying and then stopping being dead is pretty much his thing. Technically the first time he came back from the dead was in the original animation; famously being offed by Megatron in The Transformers: The Movie (1986), he came back to life a year later. Subsequent media have frequently killed him and brought him back, even in the live-action movies, but I want to talk about the comics. Because the original Marvel run killed off Optimus at a similar time as the cartoon; he’s blown up in slightly contrived circumstances, but his brain is saved on a floppy disk. Two years later he has his body rebuilt and his brain restored and he’s off to the races once more. Then in 1991, when facing down planet-eating mega-bastard Unicron, he sacrifices himself again, but this time his personality has begun to merge with that of his ostensibly-human companion Hi-Q. Hi-Q/Prime is converted/rebuilt into a new body, and he wins the war. So there you go: even in this one sliver of continued continuity – not including off-shoots or spin-offs, let alone other iterations of the overall franchise – Optimus Prime died and came back to life twice. Beat that, Easter.

E.T. (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982): not much to say here that we don’t already know from the Book of Spielberg. E.T., doddery little alien magic-man, grows sicker and sicker as he’s stuck on Earth, until in a thrillingly-edited set-piece he seems to expire, human doctors unable to help him. “I know you’re gone,” says best bud Elliot, “because I don’t know what to feel.” But then! His heart glows! His colour returns! And he positively yells, “E.T. phone hooooooome!” – and Elliot’s euphoric laugh is just devastating. The whole sequence – what is it, ten minutes? Fifteen? – is masterful in every way, from the technical to the performative to the emotional. Bloody magic is what it is.

Gandalf (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, 1954): Gandalf the Grey famously leads the Fellowship of the Ring across the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, where he faces off against a Balrog. After a bit of “you shall not pass” and all that, they both fall from the bridge, battling each other on the way down, before both perishing at the bottom. Gandalf, though, is not really Gandalf, but Olórin, one of the Maiar – basically a kind of angel, I guess. He is returned to Earth by the powers-that-be to complete his mission, and is promoted to Gandalf the White, supplanting the corrupt wizard Saruman. This new iteration of Gandalf is a bit more serious and steadfast, although he does retain his fascination with hobbits. Regardless, he gets a terrific death scene and a triumphant resurrection, and how it ties into Tolkien’s wider mythology is interesting.

Superman (DC Comics, 1993): comic book characters die and come back all the time; it’s pretty much a staple of the medium. I guess Jean Grey/Phoenix is probably the most famous, but they’ve all done at some point (even if, like in my Batman example earlier, sometimes they don’t actually die). Anyway, Superman died, very famously, after getting into a tremendous barney with genetically-engineered super-git Doomsday (as famously, and atrociously, depicted in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice). The whole “Death of Superman” arc is interesting and entertaining as an example of mid-nineties big-panel EXTREME storytelling: as the issues tick down to the fateful scrap in Metropolis, the number of panels-per-page is reduced until the final issue is basically just full of splash pages. It’s a terrific, exhilarating rumble, really selling the heft of the confrontation. Interestingly, the comic spends a lot of time afterwards dealing with life without Superman, as a raft of imitators/wannabe successors emerge from the woodwork; these include the best-ever Superboy, Conner Kent, and Steel, who’s basically Superman meets Iron Man. Eventually, of course, Superman comes back, his body essentially having been sent to a Kryptonian day spa to recuperate; he emerges clad in black and with a mullet, so death obviously has some lasting repercussions. Overall, it’s a whopping arc with long-term consequences, and whilst it’s easy to make Christ parallels when discussing Superman, this story doesn’t really hew that way (unlike the Snyder-verse which really goes all-in on that plot point, much to the films’ detriment). One of the better aspects is how, even in death, Superman is an inspiration, which in itself has a long trail; leading, eventually, to Batman’s famous withering diss, “the last time you inspired someone was when you where dead.” Anyway, I’ve gone on about this far too long.

Spock (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, 1984): let’s start by acknowledging just how great Spock’s death is in Wrath of Khan. As a plot point within the film, as a piece of staging and performance, and as a landmark moment in this franchise, it was seminal; a death for the ages (as an aside, it’s crazy to think Star Trek as a whole was only sixteen years old when Spock died; the MCU was eleven when Tony Stark clicked the bucket). Anyway, they built an entire film around how to bring him back, and Spock as we know him is absent for much of it; a presence looming over everything as he rapidly ages, going through his Vulcan super-puberty and everything. It’s actually a rather sombre film as Kirk’s son is killed and the Enterprise blows up; bringing back Spock comes with a very real cost. Trek III is not one of the top-tier films – in the loose trilogy that comprises Khan, Spock, and The Voyage Home it’s certainly the weakest – but it’s still pretty good, often underrated. And, of course, it brings back Spock, which is nice.

Agent Coulson (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., 2013): Coulson’s death in Avengers comes as a huge shock, one of the fan-favourite characters being brutally offed in surprising fashion. In a film chock full of super-people, it’s the ordinary guy who buys it tragically. However, did any of us really think he was dead-dead? And so barely a year later he pops back up in the TV series Agents of SHIELD. However, his reincarnation became a recurring plot point; his references to spending time in Tahiti (“It’s a magical place”) becoming increasingly sinister as we come to understand even he doesn’t know how he’s back up and running. The eventual truth – Nick Fury using painful and transformative alien tech to basically bring Coulson back to life – may be a bit underwhelming, but it gave Clark Gregg a lot of meat to chew on dramatically speaking, and it underscored a lot of his character development going forward (especially when he, yes, died again, and then sort-of came back, twice).

Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 2001): full disclosure: I never watched Buffy religiously. I think I just missed it at the start and it was only when all my friends were talking about how great it was that I started tuning in more regularly. Weirdly, I think the most I watched it was around the time Buffy died and came back. It’s fascinating, really, and full credit to the show for the way they explored it; in a series full of magic, the afterlife, and the undead, bringing a character back to life isn’t too shocking. Willow, Buffy’s witchy mate, resurrects her with magic; but in an excellent twist, it turns out that she was in Heaven, and is super pissed off to be pulled out of paradise and stuck back on Earth, leading to her feeling depressed and alienated all season. That’s a great hook for bringing a character back, and leads to some meaty stuff for Sarah Michelle Geller to do.

Agent Smith (The Matrix Reloaded, 2003): do you ever feel that The Matrix has slipped from popular culture a little bit? Twenty years ago it was ascendent, rivalling Lord of the Rings for the title of “the new Star Wars”. Everyone was copying it. but now hardly anyone talks about it. probably because it hasn’t had a multimedia shelf-life comprising dozens of games and spin-off shows. Maybe the new film will change that. But I digress; Hugo Weaving is tremendous as Agent Smith in the first film, and is exploded at the end (spoilers) by Keanu Reeves’ Neo. Unsurprisingly – especially as he’s, well, just bits of code – he’s back in the sequel. However, he’s now been corrupted; he becomes, basically, a virus, self-replicating and threatening not just our heroes but the Matrix itself. This builds across two films, as Neo has to fight dozens of Smiths in the famous “Burly Brawl”, before the final conflict in The Matrix Revolutions when it seems everyone in the program has been Smithed. It offers Weaving a lot of scenery to chew on and makes for some great set-piece battles, even if the films themselves are a little disappointing.

Olaf (Frozen II, 2019): let’s not beat around the bush here – Olaf carks it in Frozen II. Okay, maybe Elsa dies; maybe Anna dies in the first film. They’re frozen, right, but I feel like it’s “magic ice” and there’s something going on there. Do they come back to life or were they ever really dead? Anyway, Elsa is effectively “gone” but we get a protracted death scene for the comic relief talking snowman. He literally fades away, slowly dying in Anna’s arms, and melts into a flurry of snow that blows away. People talk about Bambi’s mum all the time, but mark my words; “Olaf’s death” is going to be cited as a major traumatic incident for twenty-year-olds in 2030. His resurrection, truth be told, is slightly less great, Elsa just straight-up bringing him back to life, reminding us that “water has memory” to let us know that it’s the same Olaf and he remembers everything (including, presumably, dying? That’s creepy). And that, to be honest, is where I draw the line; sentient wind and rock monsters I can handle, but we all know homeopathy is bollocks.

Emperor Palpatine (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, 2019): look, I hate this. But let’s deal with it anyway, because I have a funny feeling it’s going to lead to some quite interesting stories being told in spin-off Star Wars fiction. I personally feel quite strongly that Palpatine should have stayed dead. And maybe he did? We are led to believe that the Palpatine we see in Rise is a clone; there are jars of stilted Snokes floating in the background. He’s all knackered and broken, eyes blackened and fingers dropping off; clearly he’s not well. So is he really the same character at all? Is his Sith essence somehow fed into this new body, the way Prime’s mind is downloaded from a floppy disk (“run prime.exe”)? Let’s say it counts, let’s say he’s the same slimy Palps we know and love. He is, at least, a sinister presence, and like I say, the whys and wherefores of how he came to be back is quite interesting. There’s a fascinating story to be told about the rise of Snoke and the seduction of Ben Solo – a more interesting story than anything told in The Rise of Skywalker, for starters. Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian seems to be researching cloning and seeks to extract midichlorians from a Force-sensitive being; are we to conclude that this in service of making a new body for the Emperor? All this – stuff hinted at but not explored in the film itself – is, like I say, interesting if not outright fascinating. And I agree, there is a certain degree of circularity in bringing back the series’ Big Bad for the final instalment. But I still feel, hand on heart, that it undoes a lot of the victory of Return of the Jedi (as did The Force Awakens, if I’m honest), as well as throwing away all the development of Rey and Kylo in The Last Jedi. So: Palpatine is cool, his presence and backstory in Rise of Skywalker is suitably creepy and interesting, but on the whole it’s crap and they shouldn’t have brought him back. The end.

Ten people who definitely died and definitely un-died! What could be more Easter-y? Honourable mention goes to the episode of Red Dwarf where Rimmer changes history and ends up not being a hologram, only to accidentally blow himself up in the final seconds.

#top ten #dead characters #alive characters #easter #back from the dead #resurrection

[falconstarfall]

1) Regarding your last q on Arya's endgame, like you I would be open to her being queen (as long as Sansa got to fulfil her own dreams) if I thought that was where her arc was going- but it's just not. There's a reason why Sansa is surrounded by rulers, is getting lessons in politics & diplomacy. Her connections to WF are overlooked because the fandom considers her least Stark but these connections are no less significant & they matter thematically (her narrative ties to Ned, a former ruler)

2) I've read meta on it & some of the arguements they use is weak IMO. Yes, A does have queen imagery - but you can find that in other major characters. Jaime - sitting on the Iron Throne, Jon thinking he looks like a "proper king." Jon thinks of how Tyrion almost stood as tall as a king. However neither Jaime or Tyrion are going to be rulers. Regarding the will, I've seen them argue that she isn't included - even though Robb flat out says to Cat she's dead, so the will would reflect that.

Agree with all of this. If you can find Queen imagery in Arya’s chapters you have to acknowledge the same for several other characters... Sansa included. The difference is that there so much of it in Sansa’s + it fits with her political arc and her learning curve.

#sansa stark #anti arya stans #anti arya stark #to be safe #cheriesteph

[capsiclesteebrogers]

Bastard Turned King

So, here is another post nobody asked for, but I’m making it because I see a lot of people ignoring Arthur or saying he is not an interesting character and I can’t stand behind this slander. So I’m here to show support for this wonderful character.

SPOILERS FOR CURSED DOWN BELOW!

Again, if you haven’t watched the show, I do not recommend reading this because I will give spoilers.

In a previous post I made I compared The Weeping Monk to Jaime Lannister and it got me thinking about the parallels between Arthur and Jon Snow. I thought of them during the show as well, but only now are they more clear to me and I can make a somewhat coherent post. So let’s dive in.

1) Bastard (Lowborn) becoming King

This may be the most obvious parallel between Arthur and Jon. One is a born a bastard who later on becomes King on his own and the other one is lowborn who will, in the future, become King. Jon lived all his life with “bastard” associated with him and people having a lot of prejudices against him because of his status and he always tried to be more and prove himself much like Arthur, who alligned himself with the wrong people and has his father’s debts on his name.

Both characters work hard to prove themselves and show people their worth. They are honorable men who fight for their people and want what’s best for them. As we all know, Jon is elected King in the North despite his status as bastard (I will talk about his true parentage later on) and I strongly believe that Arthur will become King through his own actions and will demonstrate his worth and inspire people with his good heart.

2) Being accepted by people who initially hated them

This came to me just the other day when I was thinking about them. Jon is accepted by the wildings and they later on become loyal to him and even support him in his quest to regain Winterfell and the Fey embrace Arthur and even trust him enough to be led by him to the ships.

Both proved to this people that they want to help and are not prejudiced against them. The Wildings helped Jon regain his ancestral home and without doubt the Fey will help Arthur in his journey to become King because he gained their trust and loyalty through his actions. 

3) Their swords

We know that each King has his own sword with great value for them. And it is the same case with Jon and Arthur.

Jon received Longclaw from Jeor Mormont and became his. He even altered the bear to a direwolf because it reminded him of Ghost. Now this ties to Arthur and The Sword of Power/Excalibur. We know from the legends that Arthur wields both swords and proves himself worthy by doing so. In the show, he already had for a little while The Sword of Power and if I remember correctly (I may be wrong) it didn’t seem to corrupt in the same way that it corrupted Merlin and sometimes Nimue. Yes, he stole the sword from Nimue but he did so because he wanted to become an honorable men and do right by his father. But it still seemed to have no negative impact over him. I do believe Arthur will wield that sword again and maybe later on he will receive Excalibur before becoming Kind. Swords have meanings, especially for kings.

4) Red Paladins and White Walkers

I already linked the Red Paladins with the Lannister army, but they also have similarities with the White Walkers. Both want to exterminate a race (the Paladisn want to eradicate the Fey and the White Walkers want to eradicate the humans). And obviously, our heroes are trying to stop them and save the persecuted. Jon succeded (obviouslt with a lot of help) and of course Arthur will succeed as well.

5) True parentage

This may be the most important one and I saw few people discuss this. As we all know Jon is actually Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark’s son and he had a legitimate claim to the throne. Now this storyline was ignored in season 8 (and I am still mad about it and won’t shut up about it) and it strongly believe that Arthur is more than he seems. 

We know who Arthur’s father was, but do we know anything about his mother? I may have forgot if there was anything said or shown about his mother, but I believe we know close to nothing about her. Mothers are equally important as fathers as we can clearly see in Jon’s case. This may be important later on.

And for now we have two kings fighting for The Sword of Power/Camelot. Uther is a bastard and not the rightful king as we were already been told and Cumber claims to be the true heir of House Pendragon but he doesn’t have any proof? Like what makes you the true heir? Neither of them are fit to be king. Enter Arthur! He may be exactly what the people need and even a member of House Pendragon as well (I really hope this is true).

Also, people love triangles and they are often shown on TV. You really think the fight will only be between Uther and Cumber? Also, Nimue doesn’t wish to rule upon men so we will exclude her from this. The two “pretended” kings will have to face Arthur later on and it will come as a surprise to them. 

This also reminds me of the triangle between Sansa/Cersei/Daenerys. One was queen and sit on the throne (Cersei/and in our case Uther), one wanted it and claimed to be the rightful heir (Daenerys/for us Cumber) and one didn’t want it and became queen on her own (Sansa/later on it will be Arthur). And we all know which of the three survived.

Now that I’ve presented my arguments, I can tell you that I think Arthur’s arc is incredibly interesting and will develope more in the future. Arthur is a good person who made mistakes and has time to prove himself and bocome the King he is meant to be. It hurts me that people push Arthur aside and consider him boring or not intersting enough (and focus on the antagonist) when he clearly has more planed for him in the future and his story is only at the beginning.

I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Arthur and where his story will go. Let’s show some love for this character and start acknowledging his importance.

#cursed netflix #cursed spoilers #cursed arthur #king arthur #jon snow #JON DESERVED BETTER #i hope they do my boy arthur justice #he deserves the world #stop ignoring him because has so much potential #i love him with all my heart #HE IS A MAIN CHARACTER WTF #and everyone treats him like he's barely there #y'all are clowns

[youmaysurviveus]

Hear me out. 08×04 was good.

Ripped our hearts out at points. But life isn't fair, and GOT was never meant to be fair either.

On Jon + Ghost

Yes. Maddening. How could Jon leave Ghost behind?

But guys. That shot of Jon walking away was a shot of Sam and Gilly, Tormund, Ghost, and Winterfell. It was a shot that sums up who Jon has been all his life. It is a metaphor for him walking away and leaving this pasr behind.

With all the behind-the-scenes pressure on Jon (Varys wants him to be King, Sansa conspires for this as well, Arya does not trust his Queen, darker Dany implications), obviously he will have to make some crucial decisions. And I think, he will do what he thinks is right, he will despise the idea of power even further, and will return to the North. Like Ghost, he does not belong to the South. The seemingly careless goodbye is a metaphor of him abandoning who he is, only to return where he truly belongs.

And that's Jon's arc now. His war is over, and he will decide who he is. Stark or Targaryen or Snow? Ruler or warrior? Etc.

On Missandei

Heartbreaking. Absolutely heartbreaking. She was good and loyal to the very end and brave and deserved better.

Unfortunately, life does not give us what we deserve and neither does GOT. At this point, it makes sense that Cersei would take someone Dany cares about. It makes sense that she would kill her. It was, truly, awful and painful, but not untrue to the story. And that's all that is to be said.

On Jaimie and Brienne

I know. When they got together I swear my heart was racing. And when Jaimie left I was like... what the hell.

But it makes sense. Jaimie, as much as we love him, has done some inherently unforgivable things. His fate has always been tied to Cersei. But he isn't going to save her now. Not this time.

It's not clear to us yet what his intentions are. Is he going there just because their fates are tied? Is he going there to save her? Is he going there without really knowing why?

Either way, Jaimie now knows what man he wants to be. He's already left Cersei when he saw who she was. He also knows who he is.

I am firm in my belief that Jaimie will kill Cersei. Yes, I think he will die; he leave the world as he reached it, with Cersei, but finally free of her influence. Not a good man, because he is not. Not a bad man, because he is not that either.

Jaimie's story has been about freeing himself from Cersei; he does this by fulfilling the valonqar prophecy. Brienne could not have her happy ending with him for this to happen as much as she deserved better. And it makes their stories (Jaimie's redemption and Brienne's true love and abolition of black-and-white morals) all the more tragically and heartbreakingly beautiful.

On Cersei

This. Was. Peak. Cersei.

The smart evil queen we love to hate, who knew Dany would go to Dragonstone, took down one of her dragons, and then her entire flee. Because she is smart. This is the strategy GOT was missing in battle.

On Dany

Ok. I've talked about this before. I knew she was going to go dark. And you know what? I love that they are not fucking up her arc by not doing it or by doing it in a black and white sort of way. Doing it like this is an unseen plot twist: a character poised to be the protagonist becoming someone she never wanted to become.

And the best part is you can feel for Dany. She does have a good heart. She is charismatic. As great as Jon, if not better, because not only she inspires love and rides dragons, she birthed them while she had nothing.

And now, no one appreciates this. Nor do they give her enough credit for the battle against the WW. On top of this, the one thing she wants her entire life is threatened by the man she loves. The only one she has left, as well: Dany is left alone, without those who have been with her forever. With 2 dead children, Jorah and Misandei gone.

It is not an excuse per se. But you see where she is coming from. You are tempted to excuse her. You can't hate her. This is tragic. Because you can see how Misandei's Dracarys can haunt her. And even if it will mean the death of innocents, I can imagine many good people still saying it, because this is how much they loved and fought.

That is peak GOT. Complex arcs. Tragic arcs. Villains you can understand: villains who were never meant to be or wanted to be villains. Not just "mad". That would be boring af.

Tyrion and Varys

Ok. FINALLY some good dialogue. FINALLY some ethical discussions. Who deserves power? How far should you go to ensure the right person is on the throne? Missed you, Game of Thrones.

(Also. Tyrion. Never wanted power. Always accepted sitting on the sidelines to correct other people's fuck ups, but always with good itnentions. If Jon doesn't want the throne, could Tyrion get it? If there's a throne at the end of this.)

Sansa, caring about her family but playing the game, because this is how she's learnt to survive.

She has not hesitated to do what she thinks is right to protect her home the same way she did not in the Battle of the Bastards. And if it means playing the game behind Jon's back... well. This is who she is. A player of the game, who knows all too well what happens if you fight with honour.

Arya turning down being a wife at a castle, because this really is not who she is.

The Hound and Arya marching to KL to finish business. Because Arya is capable of love, but, from the very start, has never been one to settle down. And this has not changed yet. As she said to Ned in s1, that is not her. As she said to Nymeria, that is not her.

Guys. This was an episode loyal to character development. It was not fan service. It was nothing like episode 2/3. And I liked it. Because these arcs make sense, even if they are painful. And we cannot blame GOT for being this show, because we did not love it for bringing our ships together or for being nice to our favs or anything like that. We loved it for being realistic and painful and complex. And that's what this episode was, and I loved it for it.

#game of thrones #jon snow #got season 8 #jonsa #sansa stark #game of thrones season 8 #episode 4 #got spoilers #arya x gendry #arya stark #gendry baratheon #gendrya #gendry waters #daenerys targaryen #dark!dany #dark!daenerys #misandei #theon greyjoy #grey worm #the hound #jaimie lannister #brienne of tarth #jaime x brienne #ser brienne #brienne the beauty #unpopular opinion #no more fan service #ted talks #got meta #mine