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randomnameless · 3 months

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Fates unironically did the "muhritocracy" schtick better than 3H lol; the vast majority of the playable Nohrian characters are commoners who got into high-ranking positions in the Nohrian army due to being exceptional soldiers and getting rewarded as such, whereas the only commoners on Adrestia's side that aren't turncoats (or fodder soldiers that are stated to exist only in throwaway dialogue from faceless NPCs) are Ladislava (non-character with no screentime, personality or even feats to support that she did anything to help the Adrestian army in any significant way), Fleche (slightly more of a character, still does nothing to help Adrestia), Randolph (does nothing to help and isn't even particularly well-recognized or rewarded for his skills, if him being jealous of his superiors is any indication), and Dorothea (only got to a high-ranking position due to prostituting herself in order to get into Garreg Mach, befriending the crown princess of the Empire, and being made into a general of the Adrestian army due to nepotism from that same crown princess).

What makes it even worse is that Nohr rewarding merit for anyone and everyone, regardless of social class or status, is an irrelevant bit of background worldbuilding, whereas Edelgard wanting to reward commoners' merits is one of her most consistently-repeated ideals, but the only non-nobleborn CF playable character only got so far in life due to (literal) peepee-sucking and nepotism, and even the NPCs are either featless non-characters (Fleche and Ladislava) or complain about not being recognized enough despite his skill/is recognized enough and Edelgard just decided a power-hungry, immoral dumbass was meritant enough to be made into a general in her army (Randolph); shouldn't the order have been reversed? Like, the game where one of the main characters' principle ideals is to recognize and reward anyone who's skilled should be the one to have most of her allies be commoners, whereas the one where the concept of merit is completely irrelevant to the story, themes and characters could have just had the characters be mostly nobles instead of consistently making them commoners just for subtle worldbuilding? It's weird.

Want to see an upstanding posterchild of Nohrian muhritocracy?

Chaos will always topple the ones who don't earn their status. It's folks like you and me who rise to the top. And the way we do that is by cutting down all our enemies.

I won't stop at captain. I will keep on climbing!

I'll be a king someday. I'll make it happen—you wait and see.

More seriously -

It's all about the what is actually rewarded.

I've already joked a bit about it, but basically Randolph and Nopes!Caspar want to demonstrate their muhrit by... invading countries, killing refugees or randoms who returned in their home after being ousted by the Imperial army.

Much muhrit, very uwu.

Take Whodislava, as you mentioned, bar being a named NPC who as less screentime than Kronya and is supposed to be a sad casualty for war, while being the posterchild of Supreme Leader's muhritocracy, we don't a thing about her. What has she done to be granted the rank of general? What are her achievements?

At times I'm pretty sure TS was partly written to laugh and mock FE16, but Avlora is basically in the same situation, save that Avlora has more plot relevance and exists bar being a sign the devs hold that's written "please feel bad about this character you've never interacted with and only has 5 lines of dialogue and is only here to garner sympathy when she dies I mean even Fates!Candace had more presence than her".

Avlora was an orphan, trained under Groma - a famous general - who continued to train even when Groma retired, became Adre- Aesfrost's top general and defeated Maxwell in a duel. We have her story - she came from nothing - her feats - she defeated the strongest warrior in Glenbrook - and the entire meritocracy angle sticks : Avlora was a nobody made general because she kicked asses.

The meritocratic Adrestia NPCs?

Randolph... tries to get muhrit, but fails as we protect people and only laments about his status in his House (as he is fucking killing people to gain more status, like dude, priorities?) - so in way, both Randy and Flèche are imo, counterexemples of Supreme Leader's muhritocracy : Randolph kills peons and invades an orphanage to demonstrate his "muhrit" because, otherwise, without any muhrit, iirc it's implied he and his sister will be demoted to randoms in House Bergliez (even if Flèche is supposed to be younger than Cyril iirc? Like how the frick do you want a kid of 12 to demonstrate her muhrit, else she'll be kicked out of her house?).

Whodislava... dies heroically, at least that's what we're supposed to get from her very "please cry" cutscene when she dies in front of Supreme Leader in Tru Piss - as Rhea and her family + knights tried to retake their ancestral home and she prevented them from doing so - or it's the same nonsense as "we killed Ferdie professor :(", we are supposed to feel bad about people who were fighting alongside a demonic beast when, in FE16, we fucking know what they are.

Since the FE5 banner released earlier this week, FE5 paints "honorable" Reinhardt as a pitiful man, because no matter how honorable or kickass or kind Reinhardt was, when it came to defect to protect children from being kidnapped or stop the general nonsense the Empire was pulling in Thracia... Reinhardt refused to do so, pretexting remaining by Ishtar's side, and when that became impossible, he choose death over rescuing toddlers. His situation is supposed to be compared to his sister's Olwen, who, when she discovers the truth of what is happening in Thracia, ditches the Empire to help Leif rescue the children - and, imo, Amalda (who's not in FEH yet!) who is also, basically, a commander who plays a larger Camus role as in, she tries to appeal to her Lord to stop the child hunts, her Lord tells her to eat shit, and when asked why she still fights and why she doesn't defect, Amalda says if she does so, her knights will be killed + Amalda appears as a NPC allied unit in a map to hunt bandits to save a village.

So, compared to those ladies who defect or try to protect whoever they can protect - their soldiers AND civilians who are being trampled by their own army - Reinhardt who doesn't do a thing and picks "death" is, as Olwen's ending puts it "pitiful".

Back to your ask anon, even if I disgress from the meritocracy angle - Flèche, Whodislava and Randy are such non-entities compared to characters with 6 lines from FE5 that even if they try to pull the "I have to do this for my family" or the "I came from nothing and still help my emperor because I am thankful to her for having raised me from being a commoner to a general", our Adrestians NPC feel very, very flat.

Are we supposed to cry for Hans's failed dreams of becoming a king when we kill him? No, but Randy and Whodislava's deaths are overplayed with so much pathos that the game is basically telling you "and here you should feel bad because they died" but... what is more important, the fact they tried to unlock a lot of achievments to demonstrate their "muhrit", or what the hell they were ready to do to unlock said achievments?

As for Doro needing to befriend people to enter Garreg Mach, remember that Doro, being touted as another example of the muhritocracy Supreme Leader's Adrestia aims to be, had to engage in sex work from a young age, to reach the diva status - which has very disturbing implications, that are glossed over because that's FE16 for you. Are we supposed to believe Doro "worked hard" to be able to catch the eye of some deranged fucks when she was a pre-teen to become a diva - or, as Manu puts it in a support that cannot be achieved in Tru Piss, muhrit alone doesn't work to become a diva, and it's actually a pretty font to hide the "dark" deeds young singers in Mittelfrank have to do to reach the "diva" status?

Minor tidbit though, Doro is famous enough for being Supreme Leader's dearest friend but she isn't promoted to "general" in Tru Piss, she's only BESF who's not, at least in her bio, a general Post TS.

Imo the question you raise is actually relevant to how empty Supreme Leader's muhritocracy's ideal is - in both game Ferdie has to remind her that to build "muhrit" or for commoners to be able to gather "muhrit" as nobles do, they have to start at the same lever, and receive education as nobles do.

IIRC, in Supreme Bullshit, despite their feats, Hubert tells Barney they're only a commoner - not even a worthy commoner like Doro - but a fucking random - when muhrit wise, Barney should at least be named general!

In both games, Linhardt is a general... but we don't see anything from him, bar his tropey "i want to study crests and nap and i dgaf about anything else" traits - if that's all there is to him, how and why the crap was he made general??

Why, it's almost as if "muhrit" is a smokescreen to hide the fact that the one who chooses/picks who gets to be important from who isn't does it on their own terms just like irl

What is merit, really? Who gets to decide what is merit from what isn't? Or who is the "best" at doing things, from another?

It's another instance of, imo, Fodlan's artificial feel, the game raises a question/issue, and starts some smoke about it, but without tackling said issues seriously we're left with "I agree and think starvation shouldn't exist anymore" milquetoast and cliché opinions that give the illusion this game is "very deep" when it's just, a puff of smoke.

#anon #replies #fodlan nonsense #those games are so ridiculous tbh trying to 'tackle' this issue with a spoon #and then people buy the 'see this game tackles this issue'#you won't drill a hole in a wall of concrete with a plastic spoon #Hans represents muhrit as in ok he can kill things dead yay #but morality wise? No matter how many people he can kill in one day he was arrested because there are more important things than #this 'he's the best at killing' muhritocratic angle #Amalda and Olwen defect when they are given the occasion and learn abotu the Empire's nonsense #but when Whodislava and Ferdie (and the BESF in general) side with Baldo'n'Waldi they don't?#And we're supposed to cry about their deaths when they fucking use mutated humans as fodder?#like I'm not following jjk that well #but i'm pretty sure Doro's not supposed to go full sad uwus “we've killed mahito professor :'( ”#FE5 #FE5 bestest game ever #they made me merciless on the Camus archetype lol #I really love Amalda and hope she'll eventually be added in FE heroes #FE16 #Avlora kicked ass in TS and even she has the realisation that the fuck she was doing was horrible #and faces consequences for demosntrating her 'muhrit' by slaughtering people

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softquietsteadylove · 3 months

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Hi! Newbie here🙈 it took me months to send my first request. Can I request something like witch Thena randomly seeing Gilgamesh in the forest and playing with her magic so she randomly turned him into a baby bear. And of course she had to face the consequences of taking care of him because bear Gil doesn't leave her alone, he always finds his way to Thena. So Thena finally gave up and took care of him, she hated it at first but bear Gilgamesh is just so cute and is all clingy to her and would also throw cute tantrums. She had to endure how messy bear Gil eats and how he needs to be cuddled up to sleep. And each night Thena tries to put a spell or a potion on him and at one point there's this last potion she has left and it didn't work. Bear Gil was just teary when it didn't work on him and Thena just had to apologize because she turned a random person into a bear forever, she could only cuddle him to sleep. But when she woke up, she wasn't expecting that the small bear she was cuddling last night was back into its original form and still cuddling with her.

And thank you! I hope this is not a lot, bye😭🙈

Thena huffed as a nose nudged her elbow. "What?"

The bear whined/growled at her, her cloak between his teeth.

She sighed. There was once a time she would have given it her coldest glare and yelled at it to get away from her. But she accepted the cloak before pulling it around her shoulders, "thank you."

The bear moaned before lumbering across the fire from her. He sat patiently, knowing how this worked by now.

It was far from their first attempt to change him back into a human.

If she knew how she had turned him in the first place, she would undo it. But it had been reactive--instinctive! She had felt a presence in the precious isolation of her northern forest and responded by sending out a burst of magic as a hand grasped her shoulder. Then, the next thing she knew, there was a small bear lying in the snow.

He was all paws, at first. Clumsy, unused to this body. She reasoned that time as a bear would do him some good! Humans were such terrible creatures, no magic at all, unconnected from the elements and the world around them.

But the bear toddled after her, whining and growling in its frustration. She had slammed her door in its face at first. But when the chill of the night set in, as did her guilt. She had only intended to let it in to warm by her fire for the night. Then she would find it a new home.

But the bear made itself at home. He got into her honey, pawed at her spell books, even made his way to her bed to snuggle up to her! She had half a mind to turn it into a mealyworm for that, but maybe its pitiful little face had gotten to her. She said just that night!

Now it was later, a number of new moons past. She couldn't undo it--she couldn't even figure out what exactly she had done to cause it! And the creature once a human trapped as a bear cub was now a midsize bear. He had acclimated to his new form, and cooperated as she tried to find ways to undo her magic.

It wasn't a spell, because spells wore off, or changed with the condition of the subject. It wasn't a hex, that couldn't be completed by reflex alone. And it wasn't a curse, because nothing had happened to her in the process. Nothing tethered her life to his.

But she had a duty to him, nonetheless. He had gotten too big for her bed, but he still slept by her hearth every night, she still shared her meals and they tried spells and potions every night together.

"This might be it," she dared to speak aloud as the steam from the potion receded. Its colour turned, and she could practically see her face in the surface of the viscous matter. She picked up a ladle of it and offered the bowl.

The bear sniffed it and recoiled, sticking out its tongue.

"Oh, stop," she chided him, still holding it out.

He puffed through his nose before accepting it in his paws. They were twice the size of her hands, now. He sniffed at it a little more before taking a lick.

She smiled as he flinched. "It's steaming hot, you."

He made a variety of sounds, and she wondered if she would ever know what he sounded like as a human. He set the bowl down and took a mouthful of snow before eating the potion with his grotesque teeth.

Thena held her breath, gripping the edges of her cloak as they waited for a reaction. The wind even this far up the mountain was chilly, but he was now to the size where they didn't really want to experiment with spells inside the cottage. The last one had doubled the volume of his fur, creating a mess that took her a week to clean in total.

He looked around him for a few moments, then at his paws, before slumping down in the snow again. It didn't work.

Thena looked down at her feet in the snow as well. Yet another failure. It wasn't just the potion, it was how truly saddened he seemed. Perhaps he was yearning for home. Perhaps it was nearing a time in his human life of significant importance. She hadn't exactly gotten around to asking if he had a family waiting for him.

The bear sat up again, although his ears had a heavy droop to them. He moaned faintly, his breath showing in the cold air from his muzzle.

Thena's throat clenched. For every time that didn't work, this was the worst. Their hopes had been high, and after more than half a year, she really did think she had found the right mix.

She had even gotten his hopes up about it. They had read the spell book together, gathered the ingredients. She had told him that perhaps this would do it--a potion to revert the development of cells. Technically it was for unpickling a vegetable, but she had done her research, and she was confident she could use it on a living subject.

She had practised on fish! All of which went to him as a meal to reward him for his help. But she had successfully used it.

"I'm so sorry."

The bear lifted its head, and even seated, he could see eye to eye with her. Even the breath from his wet black nose was visible in the air.

"I thought-" she pressed her lips shut as her throat squeezed again. She had no right to cry. It was his life which had been changed irreparably. She moved her hand to his head, rubbing the soft black fur there and around his much softer ears. When he would sneak into her bed for warmth, she would play with them while he slept. "I thought this would be the one."

The bear bellowed gently, moving his snout to brush his nose against her cheek before resting his head on her shoulder. His arm tucked her closer to him, his paw hanging loosely so he wouldn't claw her by accident. Bears had amazingly warm bodies.

Thena sighed against his neck. He smelled much better now than he did when he was small, always getting his food everywhere and needing to be brushed. She patted his shoulder, "come on."

He followed her silently, kicking snow up with his paws behind him to douse their fire. It was a sombre occasion; they could come back for her cauldron in the morning.

Thena tried to keep her tears at bay as they walked back into the cottage. She hung up her cloak while her companion lumbered right over to the fire. He dropped down on the rug she had woven for him more heavily than ever. Her heart twisted again.

He stirred as he felt her against his back.

"I'm sorry," she whispered again, pressing the tears she couldn't contain into his fur. He huffed and she nuzzled into him until it rustled her hair, "I'm sorry I have altered your life so. It was never my intention."

He didn't exactly have a reply for her.

"I won't stop," she promised, leaning more heavily against his shoulder. She was exhausted. "I won't stop until I change you back."

Even if he was a human. Even if he hated her. Even if he yelled and screamed at her as soon as he was back to being a man. She couldn't blame him for it, now could she? Even if he returned with a pitchfork to burn their cottage to the ground.

No: her cottage.

She had brought him into her home. But for him, this was just a shelter from the cold, after she had turned him into a beast. Surely he was yearning for his own home. Was he missing a wife who would say soft things to him at night? Did he have children who asked every night where their father had gone? Did their mother tell them stories of wicked witches who snapped away handsome men to be their familiar servants for all their lives?

She would try the potion again. She would test it more. She would test it on more species, larger and more varied. If a witch's life was devoted to magic and the pursuit of its endless knowledge, then she had a new mission. Her only reason for all her days forward was helping this bear become a man again. A man who would hate her and curse her name for generations to come.

She had no idea how she could sleep at all with thoughts like that in her head. But she had indeed slept, her face buried in the bear's soft fur, smelling of the smoke from the fire. But he was just so warm. She nuzzled her face against it again, even coming her fingers through it.

It didn't feel the same, though. And he wasn't as soft as he had felt the night before, either. She winced as she tried to drag herself awake. Potions still required magic, and creating a new potion or casting a new spell every night had her at her limit.

"You okay?"

"Hm," she sighed, blinking as the sun hit her eyes. She was still on the floor, she realised as she looked up at the hearth, eating up the smoke from the fire that had gone out in the night. She should have been freezing, though, if that were the case. Why wasn't she in her bed? She was on the floor. She was on...a chest.

Her head shot up. It wasn't her bear, with his massive black eyes and cold, wet nose. It was a human. A human man with a face, and a smile. It was a nice smile. He had a soft voice.

"Hey."

#Thenamesh AU #thank you for the ask sweetheart!#and thank you for your patience #I hope you like it!!!!!#I love the idea of witch Thena #she lives in solitude in the ice forests #and one day this dude just...wanders into her front yard #and bam!!!!!#a bear #I did change it just a little #because I think for him to keep his memories he couldn't be a cub for long #Gil is himself #just as a bear #He looks through her spell books #he tries to communicate #but she's just like quiet down I'm trying to work #but he grows fond of this...woman #he knows that witches can be merciless on humans #so the fact that she's taken him in #he thinks he can see a soft side in this frosty witch #and he likes cuddling at night #he misses it when he gets bigger and can't fit in bed with her anymore #but she would say goodnight by ruffling the fur between his ears #and he doesn't admit that he was awake on the odd occasion she would kiss the top of his head #also the potion got watered down by the snow so it took a little longer #just by the way y'know

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rathologic · 7 months

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one really funny aspect of danblock to me is that daniil wants to take clara to the capital to run dubious experiments on her and block wants to protect clara with his life because he's reshaped his worldview around her sainthood and clara literally does not want any of this. like complete marital drama about someone who isn't their kid and who lives in a place that fundamentally rejects both of them

#danblock #clara pathologic #she intrinsically can't leave (person who understands she exists in a game)... in bachelor's ending there's no place for him there either..#ALSO the way clara's 100% convinced dankovsky is a spawn of hell and a merciless destroyer incapable of good. smile #I'm gonna be dynamicposting for a bit it WILL be contradictory and it WILL be fun

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yekteniyavii · 10 hours

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guess who finished assembling her model in blender (without any knowledge on it) after 5 hours

for those who are interested in references, i took some unconventional ones; and, if you need anything else feel free to ask!

can we just appreciate her lashes. such a shame they actually have 0 to none sun protection lmao

#it's also curious to see rust and/or dirt on her clothes #time is merciless even in the nightmare #lady maria of the astral clocktower #bloodborne #lady maria #soulsborne #she's such a dusty and bloody creature I Loathe ♡#gleefully picked her apart like playing with lego

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xiiparts · 1 year

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Salvation

#chainsaw man #makima #makima fanart #csm #makima csm #xiip art #I love makima #not in a simp bark bark woof way but in like. a wow she is so twisted fucked up insane merciless<3 kind of way #she’s such a well written character I love her for it #i love biblical references but never really done one berfore but this was heavily referencing a mother mary painting #i dont think this reay counts as csm spoilers other than the pochita heart #csm spoilers #just in case

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murdermitties · 2 years

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frostfur? or snowfur? i rlly <3 white cats that mysteriously aren’t deaf

Frostfur

#frostfur #thunderclan #warrior cats #wc #warriors designs #warrior cats designs #she didnt have a lot of character #i like to think shes a good mom #her and brindle are in no fucking way fuzzy and robins kits #no theyre loners that joined as young kits #she somehow comes across as apathetic??#but like a loving mom?? but also not too bothered with her kits??#cuz cinder and bracken got apprenticed early so #ALSo she was bluestars apprentice!! so shes probably like worth her salt right?#good merciless fighter ill give her that too #btw van point calico dilute silver :]

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transexuality · 4 months

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scott pilgrim takes off was good but i have my issues with it... from eps 1-5 i loved it & its perfect

#im gonna get into spoiler territory in the tags #i love what they did with roxie & todd #i thought wallace shouldve been more of a hater especially towards envy #and there should have been more friendship created on hatred for envy between ramona and wallace #envy was kind of dirty #done dirty*#compared to the comics at least #i love ramona #umm i think thats all #oh and the stuff they did with young neil is so funny considering hes suuuch a bg character in the comics #i think my biggest problems involve gideon & julie... idk why they did that... gideon as a character is better as a merciless villain #i also dont really like what they did towards the end with the future & time travel stuff...#and i think they forced & shoed in all of ramonas characters growth & her arc into the final episode #when it takes 6 volumes for her to grow in the comics #shrugggg #i do like that she was the main character though because shes my faaaavorite can you tell #i wish there was more envy & i wish joseph was there

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rmorde · 9 months

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It may sound weird but I like how short yet impactful Riko's role is in the story.

Objectively, we only spent a very short time with her. So, did Gojo and Geto.

Riko only has barebones of a characterization with no proper arc to speak of.

We know she's only a fourteen year old orphan lovingly raised by her maid. She felt isolated by her specialness and had long convinced herself that she was okay to be assimilated into Tengen.

We know that she loved her friends. She loved Kuroi. She loved having fun at the beach - that one special carefree day at Okinawa stripped her of her own lies about being alright with dying.

We know she was a girl who chose to live at the last second before the end.

Those are the only things we know about her. Too little of a glimpse to truly know and judge her but they were no less meaningful.

Riko Amanai is a fourteen year old girl. She loves her sole family and friends. She wanted to live. That was all the reason Gojo and Geto needed to lay their own lives to protect her. No more. No less.

Riko Amanai was a fourteen year old girl in a story about sorcery. Her role is pitifully short and her background is at best murky. However, we understand, without question, that she deserved more - could have offered more. She wanted to live just as we wanted her to live. No more. No less.

#jujutsu kaisen #riko amanai #i just like what was been done here #the suddenness and pointlessness of her death just highlights her tragedy #i think the entire point of her dying so quickly (contrasting junpei who lasted longer not that it's better) was the unfairness of it #we feel upset how we didn't get to see more of her and i think that just shows how well done her role is #she is a young girl at the cusp of truly living #we wanted to see that and so do geto and gojo #but she was taken away - just like that #whatever we felt as the audience: shock-fury-sorrow-disappointment #those emotions must be exactly what geto and gojo felt just a million times worse #junpei's death was a drawn out merciless torture while amanai's was a quick senseless one #but both deaths just send the same message: it's unfair and cruel for children to die before they could even truly live #reasons and methods do not matter - robbing kids of the life and future they deserve will always be a tragedy

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