#selective validation

[raayllum]

also cause I'm not there yet in my 5x08 liveblog but because even just a whiff of "Callum gave Finnegrin the spell" made the fandom troll come running into my inbox to say otherwise, just wanna clear up a few things for peace of mind before we get there

The first is that I know it was the fandom troll because of the timing & presentation, not necessarily because the now deleted/blocked ask had the "Callum purposefully gave Finnegrin the wrong spell" take. While that was an indication to me that this was probably the fandom troll since they seem to take issue with my characterization of Callum in particular, perfectly smart reasonable people have also proposed that possibility of the spell ingredients being not entirely accurate as purposeful; it's not exclusive to crappy people by any measure.

With all that in mind, I want to discuss how I view the scene (and indeed how I think it's meant to be interpreted per a casual viewer reading) as well as why I think Callum giving Finnegrin a not word-for-word accurate actually kind of makes his choice more morally questionable, not less

So let's begin

1) I don't think the scene's intended takeaway is that Callum gave Finnegrin the wrong spell

I think Callum panicked, and he folded, and he would've told Finnegrin anything the pirate had asked for in that moment to try and spare Rayla's life. While TDP is an immensely detailed show in many ways (hell I have a tag dedicated to just those details), every scene still has to ultimately work for a casual viewer. I don't think this scene is any exception. One of the first things in the series that we learn is that humans took down the King of the Dragons with dark magic and it's a repeated fact throughout most of the first season, and into the third when we see the events that transpired exactly.

So when Finnegrin mentions it, we're probably going to remember that was a thing that happened and it involved Harrow and Viren, but we're probably not going to remember the specific ingredients. Therefore, like Finnegrin, most audience members are going to take Callum at his word, especially since throughout most of his conversation with Finnegrin, Callum is arguably far more honest than he needs to be (fessing up that he did dark magic at all, mentioning that he studies all the primals, that he did the spell to save a friend at all - which is exactly why Finnegrin sets him the hand cutting test to try and break him, etc). The scene - again, for the audience's benefit - even as Callum clarify for those that wouldn't remember why he was spouting things about dying breaths and unicorn horns, because again, I do think this is the Intended Takeaway:

Part of the reason I think Callum panicked (other than Jack de Sena's wonderful voice acting and uneven breaths) is because, if Callum was thinking clearly enough to withhold information purposefully, he could've considered 1) that Finnegrin is bluffing about threatening Rayla (Callum cannot see her or any of the others, so that could be the case) and 2) Finnegrin would have limited means to know that Callum was lying if Callum said exclusively the wrong ingredients and sent him on a wild goose chase. To give as much as he did accurately was dangerous (but we'll talk more about that in a second).

We also know from instances in the previous seasons and just the prior episode that Callum doesn't have all sky spells (ones that he can do whenever he wants basically) memorized either, and that it's not out of the realm of possibility that Viren would've fudged a little to Harrow about some components of the spell (such as emphasizing love and hatred) because he was actively trying to convince - somewhat guilt-trip and manipulate - Harrow into doing something didn't really want to do, but ultimately couldn't say no to.

However, one of the things that's the most fun meta is reading into things deeply, looking at various character interpretations, and seeing what we can find below the surface level / casual viewership read. Just because something may not be the 'intended takeaway' (which can already be hard to define) doesn't mean it's not a real possibility, especially if enough dots connect, and doesn't mean it's not worthwhile and or without merit.

So let's look at the scene from the assumption that Callum is giving Finnegrin a not totally accurate spell On Purpose - what does he omit, what does that tell us, and where does that leave us from a character standpoint?

2) Haha, jk, unless...?

First things first, let's look at what Callum says vs what Viren says

No, no, wait! A dying breath. Blood filled with hatred. And a unicorn horn. That's the dark magic you want.

In her final moments, I captured something that I hoped we could use later. It contains her dying breath. [...] Claudia captured a unicorn and brought me its horn. The dying breath. The unicorn's pure horn. There's one last component I need. The undying hatred of one who loved the victim. Your blood.

Now, even Viren's stance and the circumstances of the spell isn't entirely clear. We don't know if any dying breath would do, or if it had to be Sarai's (and had to go her killer, as opposed to someone else). We don't know if the spell requires the unicorn's horn to be 'pure' (I'm assuming not already corrupted somehow with dark magic) or if it would work regardless. And we don't know whether the hatred or love is more important, or just one, or if they're equally important. It's quite a list, after all.

Which is why I think in some ways Callum's lack of specificity actually makes what Callum told Finnegrin more dangerous, whether you read the minor omissions as intentional or not.

Cause think of it this way, you're a pirate lord and you want to kill your enemy. You heard from this mage kid that any dying breath would do. What's your next move going to be? You're probably going to murder a random member of your crew and collect the breath because you were never told it had to be your loved one's final breath (which would make the spell impossible).

So that's one murder down, bare minimum. Then you're going to either send people out or word that you're looking for a unicorn horn at a port where people already canonically smuggle dark magic supplies (Chasing Shadows, TDP reflection). This will either lead to you hiring people to eliminate one of the - it appears to be - few remaining unicorns that still exist to bring you the horn, or if you've put out a reward, multiple dark mages / mercenaries may try their hand at killing one and bringing the horn to you. That's probably 1-5 unicorn murders as a result, if the mages are working not in communication with each other and all vying for the reward. This is also assuming that none of the mercenaries or mages come back empty handed and get harmed or killed because of Finnegrin's anger at their failures.

You also might torment and torture someone else to get them to hate you before you drain them of blood / take their blood for the spell, again not realizing that 'love' has to be a facet of it. At best, that would maybe be what you do to the crew member before you kill them for their final breath.

Then, once he has all the ingredients (and he'd need some sort of incantation, because dark magic is a lot of steps and processes) there's two main avenues.

Either these all work and he successfully has his weapon of vengeance needed to kill Domina Profundis, because what was given was enough. This would mean Callum's actions led to about 2-3 successful murders of mostly innocent people and possibly more political upheaval at the death of another archdragon (the ocean would certainly be out of whack, but it's not clear how much, if any, political power Domina still holds).

It doesn't work and Finnegrin, stubborn as he is about control and loathe to admit he can't commandeer something (magic and wills included), figures that something went wrong and tries again, having to collect the ingredients all over again. Depending on how many times he'd try (I feel like maybe 2-3 max), this could put those murders up to maybe nine innocent individuals, assuming Finnegrin's worsening temper over his failures doesn't increase the tally.

Rattling off the accurate spell ingredients could've actually minimized the damage, because any of the specifics might've stopped Finnegrin in his tracks. If Finnegrin just needed hatred of one who loved the victim, he could've fulfilled that on his own with some of his own blood ("I loved that crab" and her definitely hates Domina Profundis). The one that could've entirely halted his plan is if the dying breath had to come from the victim, in which case the chance to avenge his beloved crab is long gone. Finnegrin could've heard the list of very specific ingredients, deduced that he would not be capable of carrying out the spell, and been on his merry way to use Rayla as revenge fish bait.

But by giving Finnegrin an 'imperfect' list, Callum made the pirate captain more likely to engage in the violence required to get there, without an actual textual guarantee to the audience that what was given wouldn't have worked, either (aka we have two ingredients list and without a third to tip the scales, it'll always be a technical 50-50, maybe 60-40 read in favour of Viren).

So where does that leave us?

With these two readings in mind, you have two options:

Callum is willing to sacrifice Domina Profundis', and a few unnamed innocent lives/creatures, to save Rayla and thereby gave Finnegrin a dangerous in its own way, if not more dangerous because of potential increased collateral damage, list of spell ingredients, because he acted entirely out of emotionally fuelled panic where he wasn't totally thinking clearly

OR

Callum is willing to sacrifice unnamed innocent lives and creatures, but not Domina Profundis', in order save Rayla, because he decided on purpose to give Finnegrin a more achievable sounding list of ingredients that would increase collateral damage, but not let him kill the dragon, because he made a calculated decision on purpose that those lives were worth less than Rayla's and Domina's to him (for some reason, as she's a stranger to him)

To be clear, I would love the second option as an interpretation because I do think Callum can be calculating and I do think that's the far more Viren-like option - choosing what to sacrifice for other people in the mindset of harm mitigation ("A thousand men and women are prepared to fall protecting you tonight, but you won't let one sacrifice their lives for you?" / "If you must choose, choose the egg").

But again, given the framing of the scene I think the first reading is 1) more sympathetic and speaks to Callum's more compassionate emotional nature and 2) is the intended takeaway, but if people want to read it as Callum strategically deciding that certain lives - other than Rayla's - were worth sacrificing that so she and Domina Profundis wouldn't be killed, that is absolutely a valid prerogative.

It's just not mine

#tdp #the dragon prince #mini meta #analysis series #5x08 #s5 #arc 2 #analysis #dark magic #tdp callum #tdp meta #callum #like at most if you do the purposeful read he spared domina #but that just means he still threw under strangers under the bus #and decided this one stranger meant enough he'd send finnegrin on a wild goose chase #which is valid! of course he doesn't want to cause more harm to more people than he has to #but if you read it as on purpose i do think that's actually making him far more calculated / selectively loyalty #than he already is #& saved the ask just in case it's insinuated for some reason that i am lying (just i would not put that above ppl)

[st-just]

You read a lot of books of mostly dubious quality

Look if you (I) only read stuff that's good then you're (I'm) almost axiomatically playing it too safe and missing out on potential gems. It's a sacrifice you (I) have to be willing to make.

#so like yeah valid lol #reply #anon #identify my trademark ask meme #this applies to my selection fo books and not any other medium #each of which follow their own bizzare internal logics

[fruit-kick]

ngl i hate it when u bring up how fucked up the show and fandom treats jermy and ppl respond w/ "he makes out w/ his dog" like idk how to tell you that jermy is not A Real Guy who made out w/ his dog the same way Dolph was not a kid who happened to look like hitler.

like both of those things are deliberate choices made by the writers to justify shitty, bigoted choices in the story and i need all of you to stop falling for it when people bring up the fact that it was fucked up.

also, other hot take that i think should be cold: people doing fucked up things does not justify bigotry. if the writers put in a trans caricature, misgendered them every step of the way, and then threw in a "they kiss dogs" ya'll would know thats bullshit. (or at least i hope you do) so put in the same fucking energy.

#🍊​fruit.posts🏀 #camp camp #jermy fartz #queued #no hate to the blog owner of the hot takes acc #but seeing people post the most abysmal takes on anon #and respond in the comments w/ the most ridiculous statement #it made me wanna punch this fandom in the face so hard #like some of you SUCK. #and i hate it when someone posts something so horrid on anon and i cant block them #literally so annoying to see valid criticisms of the show and fandom be drowned out by mindless discourse #a select few of u lack literacy about anything that isnt shipping discourse #you'll post paragraphs upon paragraphs explaining why a ship is toxic #but the moment racism; ableism; fatphobia; anti-semitism; etc #the moment any of those things come up its either radio silence or 'okay but...' #annoying

[barbiegirldream]

i dont think sapnap is the devil i just think hes stupid and irresponsable. i also dont think tubbo is the perfect guy, hes been famous online since he was 16 i dont think he'll ever be the perfect guys and always word things well but at least i recommend reading what tubbo has been saying to kicks ceo on twitter if you want more context

Can you guys go ask Elon Musk why he wants to kill all trans people and why they reinstated a bunch of Nazis and Pedos onto their website and then also cancel everyone who uses twitter. and especially pays for it

#your concerns are valid but they only exist in a vaccum of personal comfort #stop pretending about a moral high ground when you use selective services that are just as bad

[fairyofthehollow]

how do i know if im bisexual or gay or straight help

#help #helppppo #I see a gorgeous woman and im like #do I want to BE her #be WITH her #or be her best friend #idk i made a bumble account for finding friends #but did the dating thing just for fun #like just to see who’d pop up and i selected im interested in anyone bc i rlly haven’t explored romantically #or sexually like #at all in any way #so i was like yeah why not it’s possible I could be attracted to everyone #and then i saw guys like me and i was like awhhh sweet and felt flattered #but when i saw women liked me #OMG #first off they were stunning and i was like no wayyyyy #no way YOU like me #and just felt 2000% more flattered and giddy bc omg!!!! #you think im interesting and pretty and want to get to know me more? 🥹 what #idk or maybe it’s just from feeling validated #i never felt pretty when i was younger #i still don’t #ugh idkkkk #♡ fairy speaks ♡

[arcadia-angel-222]

Selective School Vaunt

I GOT INTO SELECTIVE SCHOOL!! I got accepted to my first preference. I am so grateful that I got in. Isn’t it so wonderful that I got in? The law of assumption is fail-proof. I have persisted in my assumptions perfectly. The law can never fail me. I am so excited to be going to my dream school. I am completely ready to go to selective school. I am overjoyed. I am so relieved that I got in. I already attend my chosen selective school. The selective schools are practically BEGGING me to attend. My desired school desires me. I am so grateful for everything. This is further proof that the law of assumption works flawlessly. I passed the entrance exam with full marks. I am the god of my reality, therefore whatever I say is an automatic fact. I am the god of my reality, therefore I cannot be denied ANY of my desires. Creation is complete, the acceptance email is just waiting for me to read it. I’ve already been accepted. I’m getting my uniform ready. A huge weight has been lifted of my shoulders. Getting into selective school is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Everyone who reads this post also wholeheartedly believes in me.

Thank you so much <33

#selective school test #academic validation #academia #law of assumption #manifesting #manifestation #affirmations #vaunting #loa

[the-travelling-witch]

We’re allowed to look at ur masterlist? /j

ALL JOKES ASIDE, sometimes I just do it for fun^ I like that website u made for the event u held a few months back it’s always fun to play around on that

i know you’re joking but ngl sometimes i do wonder if people just don’t do it or if they don’t find them or if they’re too hard to navigate bc some asks… let us say, they make me channel my inner saint of patience

i think you’re like one out of two people who has seen that site so it feels like i’ve flushed a lot of time down the drain for nothing (and it’s also the reason i’m not updating it lol)

#┊✩彡 divine correspondence ♡ #┊✩彡 unsigned letter ♡ #speaking of updates and masterlists #i still need to redo tokyo ugh #also i’m not trying to be mean #but it genuinely feels like people on the internet as a whole need to be retaught how to look for answers themselves #i can’t nor do i want to hand every answer to someone on a silver plater #this is not a blog phenomenon thank god or i would start to wonder what i’m doing wrong #but i’ve also been told by a few moots already that they would not have been as patient if they got the same asks as me #which validates some of my feelings #i have thought about being more selective and just not putting up with it if an ask just makes me groan #but like what if it makes someone sad #(someone that’s not me yk)

[thepoisonroom]

probably taking your post too seriously, but it’s really nice to have a friend who says “can I kill them for you” when you tell them about a shitty person in your life. like I’m sorry, I’m sick of the therapy talk. tell me how you’d gut my boss because he yelled at me.

lmao no genuinely like when you've been hurt sometimes you need someone to be like "that person is a shithead for hurting you i'm gonna clothespin them upside-down by their toes" none of this mutual friend diplomatic neutrality where they're like "omg that sucks but there ARE two sides to every story so i AM gonna fuck with this person still lol"

#the one time i was in a legitimately emotionally abusive situation it did help that that guy like. didn't have any other friends #so i didn't have to listen to anyone defend him when i was already struggling to feel like my hurt was legitimate #i can't imagine how much harder hearing that would've made things for me #so i do err maybe too much on the side of being like okay i will validate these negative feelings bc my loyalty lies with my friend #like i'll tell people if i think they're being shitty or thinking in extremes in a way that's hurting them #but i am never gonna be the blandly neutral person i suspect #anonymous #ask and receive #i have to admit that sometimes when i talk to my friends who ARE good at bland neutrality about things that upset me #it can make me feel like they think my hurt feelings matter less than every single other person's feelings in the world #like you could just say 'damn that sucks' #but that's why you aometimes have to be selective about where you go for validation instead of resenting people for acting as they always do

[iaminatree]

i think there is a massive lack of genderbent ace attorney both thru fics and fanart and i am shocked like. cmon ik like half of you are lesbians wheres all the women in suits?? grrrraaaaaggghhhhh

#ace attorney #aa #i have to do everything around here #like it doesn't even gotta be full genderbend either #wanna make everyone women? amazing! girlbosses! #wanna turn all the pretty girls into malewives? go ahead it was inevitable! #not a big fan of genderbends and would rather just hc select characters transfem/transmasc? valid!! #all im saying is its ace attorney and there are so many options

[ilovethecolorpink]

i’m like anti elitism in academia and dont believe that school smarts = worth buuut today i got an email notifying me i’ve been elected to join the phi beta kappa society and i am.. quite proud of myself! which i rarely ever feel so ! :)

#and like i was reading about my school’s selection process and idk i guess i just feel validated #bc sometimes i feel like i didnt do much in my 4 years here but it feels good to know i’ve gone noticed by my professors and they see me as #worthy of something this … esteemed? i hate using that word but its the best ive got #i think academic validation is going to be my achilles heel for too long #mine

[florencewellch]

No, but those polls are so fucking weird because they're like "yeahhh N*cki M*naj is an-anti vaxxer who's married to a rapist and even harassed his victim or M*lanie Martinez was accused of rape, but TS is annoying and makes music I don't like so voting against her"

#don't get me wrong there are valid criticisms to be made of her extremely selective approach to activism and how she turned a blind eye to #m/tty's behavior while dating him #but how are those as bad as rape/rape apologism?? #and like most of those people don't even cite the valid reasons to not like her in those polls where they explain why they hate her #rape tw #jake.txt

[nickblaine]

is this O-T thing going around right now what you were told about with the mistreatment? If that is true I don't think I can support this show anymore

i was sent the same rumor about OT. i get sent a lot of rumors, actually. i don't post them unless i have a reason to believe them or i'm trying to get in contact with the anon for more info.

the anon who sent me tea about Max a month ago didn't say who mistreated him except cast & crew. i had reason to believe them, but afaik they never got back to me with further details so i have nothing more to say about it.

the OT rumor sounds untrue to me. that's just my personal opinion. i asked a few close friends for their opinion, and they agreed with me. so i didn't feel right about posting it.

look, i have no way of knowing what's true or what's not, but i do know how intense fans can get. you all know i don't have the highest opinion of OT - my beef with him is personal. i have no problem spreading the word about that experience because it really happened. but i'm also not comfortable being responsible for inciting pitchforks over what is (literally described by the anon as) hearsay, especially with how high tensions are in the fandom right now.

it sounds like someone else was willing to do that, and that's fine. but if i posted every "rumor" i was sent that could easily be fanfiction, there would be riots. i'm not Deuxmoi lol. i love goss but i try to maintain at least some credibility (lol) and mind my karma with what i put out into the internet. i like to hope that attracts honest info in return.

#asks #no offense to u OT anon. i believe you were repeating what you heard which is valid. i'm just selective aboutwhat i choose to post publicly #hope this post makes sense i'm literally dying from a cold

[spoonietimelordy]

I know my grades will only be visible at 2pm, do I still refresh the page every 20min to check? Yep

#charlie is rambling #this is a weird feeling because I have been accepted into my postgraduate degree already #but I still dont know if I've validated my last semester! #i'm sure I've validated it because the people who have selected who got in are my professors so they know if i have failed or not #but i'm still worried

[redvelvetwishtree]

woke culture in a nutshell, but glad someone actually spoke out

#they're players who want to play football ??? #woke western people want everyone to follow their exact version of wokeness and political correctness #get over yourselves #also idk how they feel happy when others are forced to show activism or whatever #or how movies and shows are forced to have woke topics and politically correct casts or whatever #everyone just does it because a few loud people on the internet whose entire personalities revolve around being woke online #cancel everyone left and right for not conforming to their version of wokeness #when will everyone stop taking the internet so seriously #it's a fckng football tournament #and the selective activism and criticism is blatantly obvious too btw #hope the players are able to ignore these performative entitled wokes and just play #it's always like this... there's valid reasons sometimes to criticize something #but the way these internet woke people from certain countries do it is so obnoxious and idiotic #smh #qatar #fifa wc 2022 #fifa world cup #hugo lloris

[mouseiero]

i submitted some of my poetry to be published by a local book store and i need to know if they chose it but i know its only gonna be a few days and the next volume of the zine doesn’t come out for a few months but i need to know

#i need the validation #i wanna hear that my poetry is good #especially good enough to be worthy of being published #even if thats only in a small local zine #ahhhhhhh #even more nervous because i purposefully didn't select my favorite of my own poems b/c it was unclear #if i was forfeiting sole publishing rights if my poems are choses #like i have better stuff but i want to keep that for myself if that makes sense

[anxiouslyextroverted]

Do you think george is a bad friend to quackity?

i dont know and neither do you

#ask #realistically theres like 20 diff interpretations on what happened #saw ppl mad at george for not opening up enough but this is a subjective and selective thing. #some friends open up to some friends #some friends dont open up to some other friends #saw ppl mad at q for being upset over george not opening up but like #its valid for a friend to be upset over another friend not opening up too #its still not my business #so i dont know