#ship name: weapon plus?? lol

[mattzerella-sticks]

Wolverine from X-Men: Evolution was a gay man, or at the very least queer. My evidence is as follows:

No defining/memorable romantic relationships with women AT ALL during the show's run. Jean was a teenager, he was an adult, and - unlike the Ultimate X-Men comics which served as inspiration for this series - these two did not have a romantic relationship nor did they have any romantic tension, the relationship between them instead mirroring a brother/sister one. The same can be said about Logan's other high-profile comics romantic interest, Storm, where their relationship was more like siblings as well rather than anything with romantic undertones.

This scene with Captain America -

#x-men #x-men evolution #wolverine #x-men logan #x-men evolution is probably one of the best logan reps which is funny because he's based on probably one of the worst versions #gay wolverine #gay logan #queer wolverine #queer logan #of the few characters I ship wolverine with captain america is one of the top 2 #wolverine x captain america #logan x steve rogers #ship name: weapon plus?? lol #just look at how logan's hand rubs the part of the case over cap's chest #brother in arms? more like oh brother they held each other in their arms every night #logan didn't date in the show because his heart is in that frozen coffin #marvel comics #marvel animated universe

[cebwrites]

Red Hair pirates anon here! that's totally fine! I get not wanting to jump into something without being more sure, since Shanks wasn't on the masterlist I debated at first but glad to know!

instead of that crew then what about the Strawhat crew then? Luffy invited new crew member after (incident they met/beat up the same person lol) then Luffy convinced this complete stranger to join the crew. its clear they're nervous/not so open in the merriment then it's revealed it's cause they're trans.

a much smaller crew/ship nothing stays secret forever, even if the Strawhats are friendly, new crew member can't help being wary from past rejections.

can do, anon~

coming out to the strawhats as transmasc

various trans/queer hcs for the strawhats word count: 1k

My readings of characters tend to lean very queer anyway, so you honestly could come to me and say that the SHs were an all trans crew and I'd take your word at face value - lets take a “”conservative”” estimate though and propose that it’s, say, only Zoro, Franky, and Robin as binary-ish trans folk

And Sanji (after the timeskip and a LOT of tumultuous unlearning of embarrassing amounts of internalized trans and homophobia) and Luffy as the sort of nebulous genderfucks; Sanji has the vocabulary to describe his disconnect with gender, Luffy however is completely feral and doesn’t care - one of those “ate my gender like a beetle last week” lil guys

Point is, no one on this fruity little crew would judge you for it, some might need a bit of explaining (namely Luffy) but honestly it wouldn’t change anyone’s perceptions of you afterwards - Luffy would just hit you with the ol’, “oh, so just like Ace, cool!” and then ask if you’d like to see the bug he found under one of the floorboards

Least of all the older members; you don’t get to Warlord status like Jinbei and still have trans people elude your periphery when you’ve got people like Iva running about, and Brook? Well, even if he set sail a lot earlier than everyone else on this crew, pirates are meant to be wild and free, who cares about what’s in someone’s pants so long as it wasn’t a weapon

Plus, looking at him now, what does gender even matter to Brook anyway? He’s a bag of bones! Yohohohoho!

It’s easier said than done though, I get it, not everything is outwardly supportive and you can’t always be sure from the jump - depending on when you join, too, it might just be you and the East Blue crew and it’s not like Zoro’s particularly talkative about his experiences

When the man comes back post-timeskip with top scars from the vampire dad himself, though, that line of dialogue might be a little easier to have; he’s very matter-of-fact about it, talking about what it was like growing up in the kind of environment his master’s dojo fostered, how stifling it could be at times, Kuina, and how he vowed to rise above it all in spite of that, for the both of them

It’s a tender moment Zoro doesn’t have easily, but if it’s with nakama he’ll manage, just maybe don’t mention the emotional vulnerability in front of anybody else, okay?

Sanji’s love language, as it’s always been and not always romantically, is through food and cooking for those close to him, he won’t mention it unless you bring it up but he does see you hanging back a little bit, understandable since not everyone is able to match the Strawhats’ bombastic energy right off the bat, but he does bring little snacks to you and make small talk in the hopes that you’d come around

He’s reassuring, joking about how the best of people probably wouldn’t adjust to this wild crew all that easily but you’d find your footing soon enough, share his reason for joining and you’d see the way he lights up when Sanji talks about the All Blue - nothing about gender was actually mentioned, but by the end of it you’d feel just that much warmer

Usopp and Nami have responses not dissimilar from each other but approach it from different angles - they’d have an inkling of what’s going on but not really the tools to help, maybe even turning to Franky and Robin respectively as the resident trans parents to help out with the situation, but ultimately handle it in ways both unique to each other

Nami would huff at Luffy and the other’s antics from the shade of her Mikan trees while you were nearby, tsk’ing about potential collateral damage once Franky and his weapons join the fray before pushing down her shades and asking if you’d like to join them, when you decline, she smiles knowingly and mumbles that she supposes there can be exceptions to boys being boys

Usopp is a bit more skittish around the idea, as he usually, is but it doesn’t take long for him to fire off into one of his tall, unbelievable tales about how he’d fought and taken down giants before you joined the crew (not entirely wrong depending on when this is), how he was determined to be a brave warrior of the sea just like his father, but most importantly he wanted to be a man that his crew could depend on

All three of them, Sanji, Nami, and Usopp, don’t address the root issue, but their intentions are clear - they want you to feel welcome on this crew, make it your home as much as they have

Post-Enies Robin would be more willing to help, although a repertoire would have to be built up first - that’s more on her own issues surrounding trust and being vulnerable - she’d be a lot more open about it after the timeskip, talking you through potential ways you’d be able to tell the rest of the crew and calmly soothing your worries about any potential (non-existent in this case) backlash

If you came to Franky at any point about it, he’d be SUUUUPER supportive from the start, surprisingly good at keeping secrets despite his usual bluster; he kept Pluton out of the WG’s hands for that long before it’s eventual burning at Enies Lobby, no? Franky’s the best hype man once the cat is out of the bag too, you don’t really get much “bro”-er than the SH’s loveable (suuuuper) Cyborg

Chopper would also be overjoyed to help out his nakama as the crew’s resident doctor, maybe a little too excited at first and you have to remind the little reindeer that you’re not ready for everyone else to know yet, but once he’s calmed down your health, happiness, and confidentiality is 100% in good hands

All in all, your crew will support you with whatever decision you make regarding this going forward (just like they always have for any of their own’s wishes), and hey, if you need a little extra reassurance, all you’d have to do is ask and they’d be more than willing to shower you in it

#cebwrites #one piece #one piece imagine #platonic x reader #straw hat pirates #one piece strawhats #straw hat crew #straw hats x reader #x reader #one piece x reader #trans zoro #trans reader #trans robin #trans franky #queer headcanons #one piece luffy #luffy #one piece zoro #roronoa zoro #one piece sanji #black leg sanji #one piece nami #one piece chopper #nico robin #cyborg franky #op brook #knight of the sea jinbe #op jinbe #usopp #aroace luffy

[anruraiocht]

miranda and her friege-isms

We know precious little about Ulster!! It's fine though!! I'm the only person alive who cares, but I care quite a bit!!

What we do know is that anywhere from 762 (765 if we think kaga is insane for thinking a two year old and three year old had enough developed long term memory to be able to recognize each other a decade later. Engage confirms this later timeline, more or less.) House Friege executes the king of Ulster and then Bloom moves right into his house.

Where does that leave the princess of Ulster, who was taken hostage?

Mental illness.

Whether she likes it or not, Miranda was more or less raised by House Friege (and Conomor) from age 2~5 to age 13~14* and this has irreversibly changed her as a person, reflected through gameplay.

Mage Knight

Miranda's promoted class, Mage Knight, is overwhelmingly associated with House Friege. As in, almost every other named Mage Knight throughout both Jugdral games belongs to House Friege, with the sole exceptions of Azelle and Miranda.

I stress the named part because one of Conomor's NPC bozos (Ulster aligned) in chapter 19 is a Mage Knight. He has Tornado and a Great Sword, if you're curious. The Mage Knight (Friege aligned) associated with Amalda in chapter 19 has Thoron instead, consistent with most of the other Friege aligned Mage Knights.

...Of course, we must remember that Ulster has been under Friege control for 13 years at this point, which muddies the waters on whether we can consider this sufficient evidence that Mage Knights are also common in Ulster or if this too is another case of adapting to the environment.

At most, we can prooooobably assume that one or both of her parents were a magic user in some way? Just due to the way class inheritance tends to happen between parents and children in Jugdral.

Wrath

While in her native FE5, Wrath as a personal skill is kind of just handed out to whoever (Miranda and Sara are the only two girls in FE5 who have Wrath as a personal skill, fun fact), in FE4, Wrath is locked to the playable members of House Friege minus Amid, plus Julius... who is neither playable nor a member of House Friege, betrothal aside, but I thought it was funny to bring up. Two ships passing in the night.

The Ethnia Issue

I just think Umemura made a really poor choice in reusing names here lmfao. Miranda has no Holy Blood to speak of, is unable to wield the Bragi Sword, and the timelines simply just don't line up. We know that Miranda was in Ulster at the time of the assassination attempt because that's how she knows Leif and co. This would have required Ethnia(F) to abandon Miranda by herself in Ulster to run away with Linda and Amid to Silesse and then be dragged back to Ulster with Linda anyway.

This also would create an awkward situation where Linda, who would also be one of Ulster's heirs, is able to act freely (I use this term very loosely lol) while Miranda is treated fully as a hostage which ?????????

And...to be quite honest, I think Miranda's base E rank for thunder magic just does not track with having Thrud blood. Tine and Linda start at B and A respectively, while Arthur starts at B and Amid.......who mysteriously only has access to thunder magic on promotion, will then get it at rank A. Miranda does get thunder magic weapon experience on promotion (along with fire magic weapon experience, which she already has a head start in), but it's certainly not enough to take her from E to B.

It's an interesting hc for sure, but I think it's genuinely more impactful for Miranda to not be related to House Friege in any way. I am much more invested in Miranda's relationship to her captors being based in nurture rather than nature and the stress of turning out more like the people who raised you than your actual parents.

*Did you know that promotional material lists Miranda as 14 but in 16A Conomor explicitly refers to her as "only 15" implying her birthday happened sometime after the start of the game but before May (17B)? I think that's so funny way to continuously kick her down the stairs kaga. you can only find out her birthday passed if you leave her to rot isnt that so foul

#👑 hc/meta #👑 ooc #//this is a lot of words to say yes miranda was raised unwillingly by house friege no i dont think shes related to them

[thisispoggers]

What do you imagine a Geronimo Stilton Pirate AU to be like?

Soda you are about to awaken the AC Black Flag Whore inside me

The ship’s name would likely be The Rodent’s Voyage lol a little something from its original source

In true fashion, Geronimo is the unwilling captain of a ship lmaoooo but id say that Geronimo is gonna be hella different than usual since he is gonna be raised as a pirate

Pirates in history is known for catching navy ships and looting them so G would be a lot more aggressive compared to his other counterparts which is a saying something lmao

G would have to be really ruthless, strategic and has great fighting skills just to be able to lead a gang of pirates but that doesn’t mean that G has to be like hella rude (tho he has to be hella loud lol)

Which can be in their favour cuz if he can speak the gentleman’s language then he will be able to gain a whole lot of allies despite being a criminal of the sea

But while he is bound by contract on land, that doesn’t mean he is bound by contract at sea because it can be a lot easier to hide crimes at sea cuz many people in the old days are unable to swim (unless you’re a pirate or work on the water)

While Geronimo might be a pirate, he always is true to his promise because for him “a true man keeps his words” which is hella rare for pirates at the time so his crew would definitely be hired for a whole lot of dirty work by corrupted officials that doesn’t care how the work is done as long as it is on the down low and done quickly so he definitely has a lot of favours he can ask to be able to get out of certain situations

Of course G would not be trusting any of his allies with his life nor any of his family’s life so he always carries a weapon on him in case they try anything cuz he might be the only pirate captain working for anyone with money, he is still a pirate so if he gets caught or arrested, he will be shot on the spot

Anyways to the family!

Peepaw would definitely be retired but as he was the previous captain, he would definitely be the boatswain of the ship, essentially he is the manager of everything on the ship so he is always checking in on the ship’s condition, supplies, crew and most importantly Geronimo (the other option for him is that he retires somewhere nice and secluded but that’s boring I need Peepaw screaming at the crew)

Thea is gonna be the Helmsman of the ship as well as being the Sailing Master as she is great with navigation as well as finding new places to check out and loot from plus she is the best fighter of the entire crew, she essentially drives the ship as well as set the crew in the course that she agrees upon with Captain Geronimo

Trap is the cook no explanations needed screw this guy

Fine he is also the Master Gunner, he just maintains the ship’s weapons

Benjamin is most definitely and irrevocably gonna be somewhere else that is not the ship cuz as much as the family would like to be close to the little man, they ultimately will not want him anywhere in harm’s way so they got someone else raising him in a far away but safe location away from the pirate’s enemies cuz they will not take any chances that he would get hurt or worse

I think most of the family’s riches are concealed away from the rest of the world in the safest location and that location would be some type of mansion or villa they built in an extremely secluded but safe location known only by Peepaw, Thea and Geronimo in which there is a secret room where the money is in gold and precious items like gold swords, crowns and the likes (Trap is not to be trusted screw him)

This is also gonna be the place Benjamin will be living in and raised to not be a pirate by Aunt Sweetfur and eventually Professor Von Volt

Prof Volt probs got trusted because he is indebted to Peepaw or something like he grew up poor and he got what it takes for a medical degree and Peepaw pays for it or something and that’s why he is loyal idk

Which can also open up to some kind of storyline that Benjamin is now a grown young man and wants to learn about his family’s history only to figure out that his estranged family members were a bunch of pirates which can be a cool story or something

#went a bit too long on this one lmao but the notion is pretty fun #Rich little boy discovers his family were a bunch of criminals more at 10 #geronimo stilton #trap stilton #thea stilton #William Shortpaws #benjamin stilton #Professor Von Volt #pog writes #<- for long posts lmao

[butterflydm]

wot reread: winter’s heart (chap 14 - chap 27)

spoilers through winter’s heart. There is also a section at the end with spoilers through a memory of light, because I have some strong spoiler-based reactions to some of the scenes but I have it set off with spoiler space.

1. We are introduced to She Who Owns Many Slaves, Tuon herself. She’s currently having her head shaved by one of her slaves, Selucia. She’s the official herald of the Return (the actual settler invasion), as opposed to the Forerunners (the scouting invasion).  One of Tuon’s big things is omens. This is not something that has been hugely focused on by other Seanchan PoV characters, but Tuon is obsessed. The main thing that I notice about this, of course, is that we do have some other characters who also obsess and worry over signs and portents: Rand (the Prophecies of the Dragon), Elaida (her Foretellings), Egwene (her prophetic dreams), and Min (her viewings).

2. Tuon gave a command in anger the previous night and it has made her feel off-balance, as if she’s lost honor. We casually learn that she has a total of ten slaves here specifically as maids, but Selucia always dresses her personally. We are also reminded that those maids of hers are da’covale and they are only wearing translucent white gowns at all times, so their bodies are always on display. Tuon is used to seeing nearly-nude ‘property’ all the time, so public nudity isn’t a thing that really bothers her. We also learn that her slaves have been picked out for their attractive appearance as much as their skills.

3. Tuon is a good rider, a good wrestler, and can handle weapons well, but she wishes that she didn’t look like a mischievous child whenever she forgets to keep on her stern emotionless mask, she wishes she were taller, and she wishes she had bigger boobs. She has ‘trained her mind’ as much or more than any of her other weapons. Selucia has been her personal bodyguard and nursemaid since she was ‘in the cradle’, given to her by Selucia’s mother. Violence is embedded in how children of the Seanchan Blood are raised; they are beaten when they are unruly and expected to thank the slaves who were assigned to beat them once they turn sixteen (which is when they are ‘presented’ as an adult).

4. She saw her mother twice a year when she was growing up, and her brothers and sisters were her rivals for her mother’s favor. We know from TPoD that the current Empress has been ruling for at least thirty years and she’s spent those thirty years planning and building and hyping everyone up for their invasion of the Westlands. Two of Tuon’s siblings died in power struggles; three of her siblings have tried to kill her; a brother and a sister have each been made into slaves and had their names stricken from the records. We also learn that anyone who is discovered to be able to channel is also stricken from the records. Tuon is aware that a single misstep on her own part could lead to her death or to her being ‘stripped and sold at the public block’ as a slave. Again, the Seanchan continue to be The Actual Worst, literally no matter what your place in the society is.

5. We learn that she has a symbol of Raven-and-Roses (which just makes me think the Shadow plus Andor lol) and she tells her slave Selucia that she needs to be veiled (she needs to ‘restore balance’ and believes her other option would be asking for a penance from her relatively new Soe’feia, who she doesn’t quite trust). The Veil thing is basically a big piece of theater, where everyone has to playact that they don’t know exactly who she is, even though literally all of the Seanchan know exactly who she is. It’s a big meaningless gesture that makes her feel better about herself. Tuon thinks about how she has definitely regretted punishing Selucia more than Selucia herself regretted being punished, the two times that it happened. (x) doubt.

6. When she leaves the cabin, we learn that she has six damane slaves with her on this ship. So that’s a total of 17 personal slaves for this one person so far. One of the damane is crouched over and weeping. She ordered the damane beaten with a cane last night because she asked for a prophecy and disliked the results. Conclusion: Tuon is not as ‘gentle’ with her slaves as she personally believes herself to be. Even when she’s trying to ‘comfort’ the beaten slave she hurts the woman more by making her sit up on her still-painful welts. We learn that these six slaves are not her only damane but are her ‘best’ and they have been broken to eager, groveling servitude, where they kiss Tuon’s hand and thank her for letting them have make-up treats after she’s had them beaten.

7. “She found as much enjoyment in training damane as in training horses”. We learn that Tuon tested successfully for being a sul’dam, though her high place in society means that she can’t actually be a sul’dam, so we know right away that she is CAPABLE of channeling and there is an implied narrative that should happen for Tuon, given all the information that we have about Seanchan society and its secrets. Finding out that Tuon is actually a channeling learner is one of the big things we find out about her in this first chapter of hers. And yet!

8. One of her favored damane is called Mylen by Tuon, but her real name is Sheraine and she was abducted by the Seanchan during their invasion of Falme (it is not mentioned yet in the narrative, but I refuse to call her by the name given to her by the people who tortured and broke her into accepting it). Tuon bought her when she was ‘half-dead with shock and fear’, refusing to eat or drink, and she is very proud of herself for training Sheraine into a properly obedient and eager slave, when most sul’dam had given up hope of being able to train her into obedience. Tuon is aware that Sheraine was Aes Sedai.

9. Tuon has over five hundred of the Deathwatch Guards as her personal slaves as well. It’s noted that they will “die if she dies”, which we remember from what happened at Turok’s place back in The Great Hunt. Selucia is probably also trained to kill herself if Tuon dies. Two dozen Ogier ‘Gardeners’ (actually also killers & soldiers) also follow her, but they alone are not slaves among all the people she has with her.

10. We learn that her secretary (not confirmed that he’s a slave but he probably is) is also the person who runs her personal complement of Seekers for the Truth (who are all slaves to the Empire as well). Because Tuon is wearing a veil, she gets slight bows from all the rest of the Blood instead of them groveling at her feet. Again, it’s so meaningless -- every one of the people here knows who she really is, so they aren’t REALLY going to ‘treat her like an equal’ when they know full well that she can take off the veil whenever she wants and then it’s groveling time all over again. Tuon might be fooling herself here, but she’s not fooling anyone else.

11. Tuon thinks again about how she is afraid of her Truthspeaker. Her old Truthspeaker died less than two years ago and her new one was appointed by the Empress unexpectedly, as there had already been a ‘Left Hand’ ready to take over. Anath is tall and dresses all in black silk. Anath points out literally the same thing that I did in the previous point, lol, that Tuon is just doing some meaningless virtue signalling here. All anyone else knows about the fortune that was told to Tuon was that it made her ‘throw a tantrum’ (I know Anath is not a good person but I can't help but agree with all her opinions on Tuon lol). Tuon says she will wear her veil until she receives an omen to remove it. Anath continues to tell her what a fool she is for several long minutes. This is a long tradition of her family, to have a ‘Truthspeaker’ who is allowed to say whatever they want and not get punished for it.

12. So, the Consolidation was only two hundred years ago, but Tuon’s family has had the Crystal Throne for much longer than that, as Tuon thinks that it was a thousand years ago when a man last sat on the throne, and it’s been all Empresses in the time since. So they must have ruled a much smaller portion of Seanchan at that time.

13. Tuon says that she needs to contact the Dragon Reborn as soon as possible, so that he can kneel before the Crystal Throne before the Last Battle (or all is lost). Speculation: Tuon specifically was sent with the Return after Rand and Aviendha’s honeymoon trip to Seanchan revealed that it was the Dragon Reborn who turned back the Forerunners at Falme? I might need to reread that chapter to try to confirm what information they might have figured out from Rand there. Anath tells Tuon that she must be careful not to reveal to the Dragon Reborn how dangerous that she is to him.

14. So, overall, this is a genuinely good introduction for this character - it has a lot of fascinating Seanchan lore and ends on an ominous note for both Rand and Mat with the reveal that she’s the DotNM plus a threat to Rand. I thought Tuon was quite intriguing back when we were first introduced to her and thought she had the possibility of having some very interesting and compelling stories ahead of her. We’ll, uh, see how that goes.

15. Since I was keeping track of whether or not people thought about Mat while he’s been missing, I will also keep track of whether or not he thinks of the people that he’s been separated from.

16. Most of chapter 15 is, unfortunately, the book establishing what a horrific nightmare that Mat is currently living in, a month or so into the Seanchan invasion of Ebou Dar. Tylin has taken advantage of him being injured and left behind and ‘as good as has a leash around his neck’ and has dressed him up as an obvious ‘pretty’ to the extent that strangers on the street will openly mock him and sexually harass him because they know he’s someone’s sex toy (Mat attempts to laugh this off in his internal narration when it happens). He broke his ribs and one of his legs when the building fell on him and he has ‘mostly healed’ but still feels the pain of the injuries from time to time. His hip hurts if he sits in one place for too long. It’s implied that he had to offer Tylin humiliating sexual favors (beyond what she normally demands) in order to keep his outfits from being even worse than they currently are. And, as a reminder, this all started as soon as he was healed enough to move out of the bed at all. As soon as he was slightly mobile, she dressed him up for her pleasure and started raping him again. He still needs to use a staff to help himself walk and he limps and he doesn’t believe he’s currently capable of riding a horse for further than a mile.

17. In other news: The Illuminators’ Guild essentially doesn’t exist anymore. The Seanchan destroyed the main chapter house in Tanchico when the Illuminators resisted the invasion. Every Illuminator who didn’t die was enslaved by the Seanchan as da’covale. And here I thought ~for most people, life was ~better. Anyway, Mat is trying to convince Auldra to teach him the secrets of fireworks so that he can turn them into a war weapon. She tells him that if he can tells her what she could do with a bellfounder, then she will tell him all her secrets. At this point in time, btw, he wants very much to use the weapons AGAINST the Seanchan. Just to establish his emotional starting point.

17. Mat thinks about how all his friends are probably doing just wonderfully right now, while he’s trapped as Tylin’s ‘pet and toy’. Thinking about Rand and Perrin makes colors swirl in his head. He still desperately wants to escape Ebou Dar - he’d like the secret of fireworks too but “he would take escape any day”. And Beslan is still hounding Mat’s steps and has insinuated himself into Mat’s life. Ugh, I also hate what this series has turned Olver into as a character, so I’m going to mostly ignore him from now on.

18. Mat was hoping to use the circus as his means of escape and Valan Luca is willing, for a price... but doesn’t plan to leave until spring. Mat despairs over this in his head but, out loud, he tries to pretend it doesn’t matter (I suppose he has to, since Beslan is RIGHT THERE). We learn that Beslan thinks that his mother is “a little too possessive” of Mat but otherwise is fine with what she does and worries that she’ll marry Beslan off to someone he doesn’t find attractive if she finds out he's helping ‘her pretty’ escape and that he thinks it’s good she has someone to rape to take her mind off dealing with the Seanchan. Mat is actually actively wishing he could be back in the Two Rivers right now, so I will note that down. Mat hates being in Ebou Dar, hates being Tylin’s pretty, and is doing everything in his power to escape as quickly as possible and anything to the contrary that the narrative tries to tell us later is revisionist history. The chapter ends with the dice starting in Mat’s head.

19. We are once again boldly told that ACTUALLY, the invading slaver culture did BARELY ANY DAMAGE and why are you all so fussed about being invaded and enslaved anyway? Okay, narrative, sure. You literally just told us about them completely destroying an entire subculture in the last chapter and there are heads on pikes right outside the city walls, but sure. Barely noticeable. Honestly, the Seanchan invasion and Mat’s abuse are treated the same very odd way -- the readers are clearly shown the damage that was done, but then it gets brushed off by the narrative as if we weren’t just shown how horrible it is. Jordan shows how terrible it is, and then immediately tries to soften it. Like in last book, we saw how uncomfortable and miserable Mat was during the entire section of the book when he was being raped and abused... and then, at the end of the book, we have Mat ~genuinely realizing he will miss her~. ??? wtf, Jordan! And we got a lot of that same stuff going on with the Seanchan now, too, where we see how horrific the slavery is... and then get the narrative cheerfully going, “but it’s not so bad; chin up!” And that’s really a situation where the note that the narrative ENDS on tends to be the note that is remembered the best, which is... unfortunate, in this case.

20. We learn that Mat used to go down to the docks to longingly look at the ships that he wasn’t allowed to leave on, but he doesn’t do that anymore (I think we learn later that Tylin punished him for doing this, so... yeah, whether or not Mat is ‘technically’ a slave right now is really a distinction without a difference, because Tylin definitely treats him like her sex slave). I note that Mat places ‘Tylin’ in the same category as ‘building falling on me and leaving me horrifically injured’.

21. Olver’s complete obliviousness to how horrific Mat’s situation is seems... unrealistic? He’s not a sheltered rich kid; he’s an orphan who has gone through war trauma. And he’s now in a city that was recently invaded and his mentor figure suffered horrific injuries as a direct result of the invasion and Olver is just... la-di-da, I will skip to-and-fro and do my best to flirt up all the grown women in sight. This child’s soul got sucked out of him sometime between LoC & ACoS. Like, I don’t genuinely think that Olver is to blame for Mat being stuck in Ebou Dar (despite my jokes about it) but I find it difficult to believe that OLVER wouldn’t think that? Mat was only still in the city because Olver wandered away from his minder, and then Mat had a building collapse on him. And I feel like most kids would internalize that somewhat and feel to blame, even though they aren’t. And that Olver not only hasn’t done that but is super-carefree and only cares about Hot Grown Ladies right now feels... frankly, just weird. I don’t think he even ends up being aggressive towards the Seanchan at all, at least not that I can remember, despite that being something that would absolutely be in character (he tried to kill Aviendha because his parents were killed by Shaido Aiel invaders).

22. A shitton more Seanchan arrived while Mat & Co were out at the circus (Mat is allowed to leave the city, but has to take Beslan with him, is I think the implication we’re given here) - the Return has officially arrived in Ebou Dar, with all the invading settlers who are here to steal the land from the people who already lived here (more ‘manifest destiny’ type stuff) - Mat realizes that this is an invasion force harder to fight than just soldiers, that it’s a settlement, complete with livestock, etc. We also learn that Beslan was whispering to Thom about potentially rebelling against the Seanchan invasion. Ah, here is where we learn that Mat got punished when he tried to buy passage on a ship before and we also learn that (now that Elayne and Nynaeve are gone) Tylin openly sexually harasses Mat in public, not caring who is watching. Mat is terrified that Tylin might marry him and make it even harder for him to escape and actually finds some reassurance in his fate-assigned marriage because At Least It Isn’t Tylin. Honestly, I’ve always felt that this is part of the reason Tylin exists as a character, so that Mat would feel somewhat relieved about whoever else it was who was the ‘Daughter of the Nine Moons’ because at least it wasn’t his rapist, no matter how awful she might be otherwise. Tylin sets Mat’s bar for ‘acceptable wife’ basically in the dirt, so all Tuon has to do is not be personally raping Mat in order to be considered ‘better’. A very very low bar. tbh, Tuon is kinda the queen (empress?) of ‘just barely clearing the lowest bar possible and then the narrative pretending that she broke the record for high jump’.

23. Aww, Mat has a lot of faith (or maybe just desperate hope) that Rand will ‘take care of’ the Seanchan invasion force. He also has a much more poetic description of the colors in his head than Perrin did, lol. I wish his faith in Rand had been rewarded here.

24. We’re reminded that anyone who fails to take the oath to await and serve immediately gets enslaved to do hard labor. Because, you know, life is better for (almost) everyone under the Seanchan. I do appreciate Mat pointing out that this oath taken under extreme duress is not a valid oath to him. We’re also reminded that the Listeners could be literally anywhere and that one of them overhearing something suspicious can immediately get your head put on a pike. Because, you know, things are so much better now that the Seanchan are here. Anyway, yeah, despite the narrative trying to talk about things being ~a little better~ for the common folk, sounds to me like that climate of fear, mistrust, and paranoia that Fain loved so much in Falme is getting set up again right here in Ebou Dar. At this point in the narrative, the cheerful ‘chin up, could be worse’ vibe can definitely still be read as Mat desperately lying to himself, since we do get hints of tension and wariness being thrown at us. Mat is very anti-Seanchan at this point and very anti-slavery, but he’s trying to keep his head down while he arranges his escape.

25. Ugh, the way in which Mat is constricting his movements so not to anger his abusive rapist ‘partner’ is really painful. He doesn’t even dare go too close to the docks, because he’s ~learned his lesson. What Mat absolutely did NOT need after what happened with Tylin was yet another woman who believes absolutely that she has the right to own people. Almost anyone else would have been better. Elayne, Rand, Talmanes, Aludra, NYNAEVE, I don’t care. But not another woman in Tylin’s mold. This is such a fucking horror show and I don’t understand how Jordan could write this and then undercut it later by his various narrative choices in this and in Mat’s later ‘relationship’. We just really see Mat cutting off pieces of himself in order to try to make Tylin less angry with him, because he is trapped and it’s clear that she’s willing to do some horrific awful things to him all while telling him that she’s just ~having fun and ~why is he objecting. (it really is treated just the same way as the Seanchan invasion). Mat is literally trying to figure out how to have a place to stash his running away money; this storyline just bleeds domestic abuse in every aspect. Tylin is still starving him when he displeases her.

26. Mat gets attacked by the gholam. It runs away when they start to draw attention and Mat chases it. It escapes into a hole much too small for it to fit through naturally and Mat meets the man who tricked it into thinking that people were coming around: Noal Charin. I’ll be honest with you - I do not have the emotional energy to care about Noal, lol. But he’s here and Mat’s met him, so I guess that’s nice. Mat notes that the dice are still tumbling in his head, so whatever it is that stops them is going to be worse than the gholam. So true.

27. Even seeing the title of this next chapter kinda makes me want to throw up. Summary: I hate Tylin and the way that everyone in the palace treats Mat like her property and is happy to serve him up for her to rape if it helps keep her temper away from them. I hate that Jordan decided to start off Mat and Tuon’s relationship (not a spoiler, since he already revealed to the reader that she’s the DotNM) with Tuon trying to BUY HIM. I hate hate hate Tylin pretending that she doesn’t think of Mat as property even while she blatantly does so, and I hate us needing to go through Mat dreading her punishments of him. We do get Mat seeing Teslyn in one of the damane collars and trying to convince himself that it’s better than her being dead (he can’t quite do it). re Teslyn - “She had done him no good turns, and maybe some bad, but he would not wish this on her.” Mat is currently anti-slavery, even of people he doesn’t like. Just marking that down again. Also, he thinks in this chapter that he would rather face the gholam again than be alone with Tylin.

28. Next chapter. Apparently now, after months of letting Olver press his face into her breasts, Riselle has finally asked and been told that Olver is ten. How old did she think he was? No idea. This is such a fucking weird subplot, the story of how ten year old war-orphan Olver is Obsessed With Breasts and doesn’t seem to have noticed that the city he’s living in has been invaded and his mentor was horrifically injured during said in invasion and that the whole reason he is being Deliberately Distracted By Boobs was so that his mentor could be raped by his distraction’s boss. This kid seemed so much more aware of his surroundings and the realities of war back in LoC.

29. Back when markantonys was first reading ACoS and feeling despair over the Mat & Tylin situation, I had to break the unfortunate news that Tylin raping Mat is actually plot-relevant -- and it is; that’s the whole reason that Mat is trapped in Ebou Dar in this book. Even with his injuries, if Tylin weren’t caging him here so that she could rape him on a regular basis, Mat would be long gone by now and unavailable for Tuon to stalk. So, this is me, trying to think of how the show might handle this entire horrible situation. I can think of a few possibilities:

tighten up the timeline: if Tuon & the Return arrive in Ebou Dar with the initial invasion force, then Mat doesn’t need to be living in Tylin’s cage in order to meet her. honestly, it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to kill off Suroth in TGH-ish area and simply have Tuon be the one leading the Seanchan in all future appearances. And this method would keep Mat & Tuon’s meeting intact without Mat needing to be raped and abused by Tylin.

Cut out Mat & Tuon’s relationship. Unsure how likely this is. If we don’t get Mat hearing the DotNM prophecy in Tear, then this is likely the road that is being taken. This road would probably mean that Ebou Dar would be truncated or skipped entirely, which might be a good idea if the show instead decides to make Dumai’s Wells more of an ‘all hands on deck’ situation and Elayne, Nynaeve, Aviendha, & Mat all end up there. Mat doesn’t need to have a romance - we don’t need to pair-bond everyone. Rand has enough romance to cover everyone else lol.

Keep the general story as-is but don’t soften it the way that Jordan kept doing: show that what Tylin is doing is horrific and don’t sexualize it; show that what Tuon is willing to do (re: slavery) is horrific and don’t romantize it. What Jordan does in the books to try to ‘soften’ the Seanchan does not work, imo (and it SHOULDN’T; they are slavers) and the show should steer clear of doing any of those same things.

30. Mat notes that he’s learned from the various soldiers here that the continent of Seanchan has “almost constant rebellions and revolts that kept its soldiers’ skills keen” (matches what we heard in the Seanchan PoVs in TPoD). So we are still undercutting what the narrative tells us on one hand (life is ~better~ under the Seanchan) with the realities of what rule under the Seanchan is actually like on the other (constant unrest against the oppressive heavy hand of the Empress). I really am going to be keeping an eye out to see if/when this nuance gets lost in the story, along with keeping an eye out to see if/when Mat loses his loyalty to Rand & the Westlands and turns his coat to the Seanchan/slavers side, since he is prophesied to marry one of them and all. But, yeah, on my first read through of this book, I don’t think I was worried about either of those things happening at all, since Mat is so clearly miserable in Ebou Dar and miserable around the Seanchan.

31. Mat hears various rumors about Rand but does his best to dismiss them -- even ignoring the colors, he’s convinced that he would KNOW if Rand were dead. This is so much more ridiculously romantic in Mat’s PoV than it is when Perrin is thinking about it. Perrin literally took two sentences to dismiss Rand & the colors and Mat needs an entire page. We also have Mat thinking “whatever Rand’s situation, he could do nothing about it in Ebou Dar”. Aww. He’s worrying about Rand. It’s very sweet. Given what a horror story the rest of Mat’s chapters have been so far in this book, between the rape and the Seanchan, getting to see Mat thinking about Rand is a very nice page-long breather before we dive back into the horror.

32. Mat is now legitimately traumatized by the color pink. He not only burns all the pink ribbons that she... used on him, he burns every other piece of pink clothing that she’s added to his wardrobe. Again, things to remember for the future. Honestly, this almost feels like another Tylin-Tuon metaphor at this point -- the use to which pink was used makes Mat have such a distaste for it that he’s relieved to put on the garish clothing that he despised the day before, as long as it isn’t pink. Before Tylin, I don’t think anything Tuon could do would make Mat look at her with anything but disgust for being a slaver. After Tylin -- At Least It Isn’t Pink/At Least She Isn’t Tylin.

33. Mat finally gets his cubbyhole of safety, at the Wandering Woman, where Setelle Anan is relieved to hear that (as far as Mat knows) The Kin all escaped with Elayne. Her inn has pretty much been completely taken over by Seanchan, including lots of sul’dam. “He was happy too” [about the Kin & Elayne & co escaping the Seanchan] “just not happy enough to put himself in chains for joy”. Anan is also the first person to mention that, traditionally, pretties are supposed to have CHOSEN it and be allowed to leave when they chose, so Tylin has been breaking tradition this entire time by forcing Mat into it. So I will also note that for the future: Setelle Anan is aware of the fact that Mat was forced into being Tylin’s ‘pretty’ and not allowed to leave when he wanted to leave. But Setelle Anan also requires Mat to ‘pay’ for his cubbyhole by sexually harassing him too (forcing him to display himself in his clothes for her). So. Yeah. Ebou Dar is such an awful place. I hate this city. Anyway, Mat arranges for the two valets - Nerim (who works for Talmanes) and Lopar (who worked for Nalesean) to move his old clothing -- which Tylin surprisingly did not burn but did hide with Prince Beslan’s old childhood toys -- over to the cubbyhole at the Wandering Woman piece by piece so as not to arouse suspicion.

34. “Light, it would be nice to think that he had more to look forward to than scars and battles he did not want. And a wife he did not want or even know. There had to be more than that.” I definitely agree with @essie007 and markantonys that Mat’s narrative does frequently come across as a queer narrative - him fighting against What Is Supposed To Happen For All Young Men, of trying to resist folding into that stereotypical narrative of toxic masculinity and forced heterosexual monogamy. There has to be more to life than warfare and a wife. There must be, he thinks. But the narrative refuses to let him choose his own path and, when we actually get to the moment of decision... well, we’ll get there. But there’s a strong Min comparison in that moment that I’m already pretty sure I will be making (and Perrin too). But his narrative here is (deliberately?) a traditionally feminine one -- he needs to navigate around the whims of a powerful figure who rapes and abuses him, sock away hidden run-away money and clothes, and try to figure out how to escape without letting his abuser know what his plans are. I am wary of thinking this was deliberate just due to how it ends, though.

35. Mat and Aludra do spend some time kissing in secret, we learn. I honestly hope that they both enjoyed it a lot, because* (reason popped down below for spoilers through AMoL). It sounds like they both enjoyed it, even if Auldra is sadly also of the same school as Min/Egwene and believes that men shouldn’t be told more than “they need to know” even if they’re literally trying to help you.

36. Tylin is adapting to the Seanchan culture more and more, spending much of her time closeted with Suroth (darkfriend) and Tuon (who told Tylin to think of her as like a sister), laquering her nails and making plans to shave parts of her head in the future. Beslan is currently very upset about that, as he’s still unhappy about his city being invaded by slavers for some reason. Tylin is also seriously considering the idea of enslaving Mat and turning him into da’covale because her possessiveness and paranoia is ramping up. Note here how easy it is implied for a member of the Blood (or at least the High Blood) to enslave someone. She doesn’t need a REASON to make Mat property; she needs to want to enslave him and it will be done. Mat tries to insist that he’s not unhappy about his situation because he dislikes being bedded by Tylin (despite all the evidence that he actually dislikes ‘being bedded’ by Tylin a great deal and constantly attempts to sneak out of the palace before she has a chance to summon him); it’s just that she tries to take up so much of his time. The maids always summon Mat to Tylin with ‘broad grins’ because him being raped is a good thing to them, because it calms Tylin’s temper.

37. Mat begins to note that it seems like Tuon runs across him too much for it to be chance. Tuon tells him that she will buy his raven-inlaid spear for ‘ten times’ what he paid for it, and he tells her that he didn’t pay in gold and refuses to sell it. This section here, with this sort of cat-and-mouse isn’t poorly done. Again, it could be the start of a character arc for Tuon, running into this person that she thought perhaps she could intimidate or buy and finding out that he won’t let her do that. It could make her maybe rethink some of her assumptions about the world, especially this new continent that her people have invaded.

38. Mat visits the Wandering Woman to check on his stash but Anan is out, so he goes to the kitchen instead and gets a meal there (he missed breakfast because he slipped out before Tylin could see him again). And he is ~luckily~ there long enough to see Anan come back with a hooded Joline (the other of the Aes Sedai who was originally here from Elaida’s embassy). She’s actually here specifically to meet with “a man who might take her with him when she leaves Ebou Dar” though she wasn’t expecting it to be Mat. At first Mat thinks that she’s the one who slipped him that note, but her reaction makes him realize that it must have been Teslyn. And between the two things there -- promising to help Joline and realizing that Teslyn tried to warn his friends back in ACoS -- Mat now has a new obligation that he needs to try to meet.

39. But first we are reintroduced to Bayle Domon and Egeanin. Doman has... embraced Seanchan culture? idk why. And he’s Egeanin’s Voice now. Last I remember, they were planning to drop the SAD bracelets in the ocean forever and NOT hang out with the Seanchan but I guess that plan went out the window (or I’m forgetting something in their narrative). Anyway, Mat almost but doesn’t quite recognize Bayle, and the pair of them end up leaving the kitchens without Bayle seeming to recognize Mat either. Which makes sense! He hasn’t seen him since EotW, I don’t think.

40. Mat forces himself to go into the damane kennels to talk to Teslyn (and he does have to force himself -- he even thinks being raped by Tylin again right now might be preferable to needing to go there). He’s horrified by it all! He hates that he doesn’t feel like he has the power to save them! He’s disgusted even at the thought that he might want to have sex with someone who has been enslaved and had their choice to say ‘no’ stripped away from them when Tuon mentions that some people do that sort of thing. Mat in Winter’s Heart is ANTI-SLAVERY.

41. It really is horrific. They’re kept in tiny wooden cells, and the Windfinders have all had their cultural jewelry stripped from them. Mat can hear some of them crying. The rooms are small enough that the woman inside can reach everywhere she needs to with her a’dam bracelet on its peg. This is what Tuon actively believes should be the fate of every woman who is capable of channeling. Egwene, Elayne, Nynaeve. Every Windfinder. Mat’s sister and every Aes Sedai. Aviendha and all the Wise Ones. But, hey, if you torture them enough and convince them that there’s no hope, they’ll kiss your hand and beg you not to uncollar them so... yeah. I really hate the Seanchan. I really hope the show does better with their narrative arc than Jordan and Sanderson did. Because this, all of this in Ebou Dar, is a HORROR STORY and it deserves to be treated that way as the story continued forward.

42. Mat tells Teslyn that he will help her escape, if he can, and she promises him that she will do anything he asks of her in return. She tells him, in horror, that she’s found herself looking forward to getting treats from the sul’dam because it means that she’s pleased them. She can feel her spirit starting to break. She tells him about another sister that she wants him to save, Edesina, and, with sadness, that there are two others who have already had their spirits broken and respond only to their slave names and Teslyn is unhappily certain that they would betray any escape.

43. On his way out of the ‘kennels’, Mat runs into Tuon, who is probably here to creepily think about how much she loves owning all these poor ladies and how much ~better life is for them being trapped in tiny wooden cells than living free lives. We get a genuine ‘cultural misunderstanding’ here between Mat and Tuon, where he is disgusted at her bringing up the idea that anyone would want to sleep with someone who has been enslaved and has no choice while Tuon is relieved that he isn’t a pervert who sleeps with ‘animals’. Again, this is something that COULD have been built on in the future when Tuon was forced to confront that she herself qualified as less-than-human by her own definition, since we the readers already know that she’s capable of channeling. At the time this story was published, I’m pretty sure that I assumed that it would be something that Tuon would be forced to confront about herself (oh, I was searching for some factual info about Tuon a couple of months ago and came across a hilarious old forum thread where people were arguing, with complete sincerity, that Tuon actually WASN’T capable of channeling; lol we literally learn that she’s a channeling learner in her first PoV chapter).

44. Now we flip over to the Seanchan side of things. Bethamin is with Renna. Renna is one of the two sul’dam that got leashed with their own a’dam at the end of TGH (the other, Seta, is assigned to Suroth, we learn in Bethamin’s narration). “A new name was a useful tool with the most difficult cases, creating a break with what was done and gone.”* This chapter is mostly useful for what it teaches us about how the Seanchan break their slaves (from the side of the slavers). It is... unpleasant. Have I mentioned recently how much I hate the Seanchan?

45. Teslyn has been renamed ‘Tessi’ by the sul’dam and Bethamin notes that she doesn’t seem as miserable as normal and is responding like a normal damane and not reluctant to say the proper forms. She suspects that ‘Tessi’ is pretending to play along, so Bethamin writes a note that her training and punishments are to be redoubled and her ‘treats’ to be sporadic, in order to keep her off-balance and crush her spirit. “She would be happier for it, in the end," Bethamin tells herself.

46. Now we get Bethamin finally getting herself think about that day in Falme, when she had gone upstairs to check on Egwene (”Tuli”) and seen Renna and Seta collared and desperately trying to remove the collars from each other’s necks. And it made Bethamin question everything she knew about being sul’dam, about how something she felt like she could ~almost see weaves. I... do not remember where this plot thread goes from here, but I feel like if it had a satisfying conclusion that I WOULD remember it? But we’ll see, I guess. We learn that the empire yearly tests sul’dam until their ‘twenty-fifth name day’ for the spark and she thinks about how if the Empire finds out about Renna and Seta, that testing won’t end at 25. So it sounds like some damane in the empire are learners who accidentally opened themselves up too much and so got caught. Because women generally spark around 16, I think we’re told, so every sul’dam who is caught in that yearly testing afterwards was a learner and not a sparker. I wonder who instituted the 25 year rule originally.

47. She has figured out that Alwhin must have found Renna and Seta and told Suroth, so Suroth knows the truth and is keeping it a secret. She believes that Suroth is keeping the secret ‘for the good of the Empire’ so as not to undermine their war machine by revealing that their soldiers are actually supposed to be guns instead. Bethamin thinks about how she is “dedicated heart and soul to protecting her own freedom” rather than protecting the Empress and the Empire as she should. Again, again, this book promised so many things in the future narrative.

48. We see here how readily the average Seanchan just crumbles when confronted with a Seeker for the Truth. She was ready to defend herself, but he shows his little badge and she turns into a meek kitten. Seekers for the Truth are allowed to torture even the Imperial family, if they decide they need to. But once she realizes that he doesn’t actually know that she knows dangerous things, she IS brave and bold enough to lie to him here. Oh, wow, so Egeanin was rewarded by High Lady Suroth (darkfriend), was she? Um. Anyway, Bethamin is ordered to renew her old friendship with Egeanin and report back to the Seeker whatever Egeanin says and does, and Bethamin is so internally relieved that the Seeker is after Egeanin and not her. Because it’s so great to be under Seanchan rule, everyone! Look what a lovely government they have in place! “In the Empress’s name, he could take even Suroth to the question, or Tuon herself.” Anyone at all can be tortured if they are suspected of stepping out of line (except the Empress herself)! Ah, we get the whole story of how Egeanin bought Bayle after their ship was boarded by the Seanchan.

49. Now we flip over to Egeanin’s PoV. I have to admit, I appreciate on some levels that we’re getting this Seanchan storyline (since it is being honest about what the Seanchan are like)... but I wish Mat weren’t trapped in it*. Of course, a main character kinda HAS to be stuck in it in order to justify all the pages that Jordan clearly wanted to spend on it (not that this stopped him from spending so much time on the Shaido before Faile and Perrin got involved...). Anyway, Egeanin lied her ass off to Suroth and thus was rewarded with her promotion to Low Blood and orders to go to Ebou Dar and await more orders. We learn that Bayle, at least, resists being treated like Egeanin’s slave -- the one time she ordered him beaten, he refused to sleep with her until she apologized for it (and obviously she hasn’t done it again, from what she says here). Oh, fuck, here is also where we learn that Suroth has the SAD bracelets that can control Rand, because Egeanin and Bayle were found by the Seanchan and got out of the mess by saying “oh, look, we have a gift for the Empress!” So, yeah, an easy way to condense A Certain Plotline after Tanchico is just to have Bayle and Egeanin actually be able to complete their mission and dispose of the collar & bracelets. Oh, eeek. Part of the reason that Egeanin talked Bayle into giving up and handing over the bracelet is because some part of Egeanin DOES think it might be necessary for Rand to be collared for the Empire. Hate this song. Hate it to pieces. Honestly, bringing Egeanin back into the story is already started to tear down the plotline that she’d had before about getting deprogrammed from the Seanchan, because it’s clear that her promotion to Low Blood has put a lot of that programming right back in (though not all of it). There’s a lot of memes about her being a ~friend to channelers, so I hope she deprograms again, but I do not remember a surprising amount of Mat post-WH storyline, I have to admit. My dislike of Mat & Tuon kinda blots out everything else.

50. Bayle sort of asks her to marry him, and points out that it would require her to free him in order to do so. She thinks about how she had wanted to marry him, before he’d gotten sold at block and she’d needed to buy him, but hadn’t known enough of his customs to get around to asking. But now: “She wanted wholeheartedly to marry the man Bayle Domon. She was bitterly unsure she could bring herself to marry manumitted property.” They’re literally sleeping together but her belief in the Seanchan slavery system is SO STRONG that even though Bayle has only been enslaved a matter of months, it has so completely changed the way she looks at him that she’s unsure if she could bring herself to marry him once he is ‘freed property’. (also this kinda shows another of the lies in the Seanchan fairytale -- the idea that slaves can be freed, because we see here that even once a slave is freed, they aren’t seen as a person again but as ‘freed property’ instead. Once you become property, you are never really a person again in their eyes*).

51. *sigh* We now have the FIFTH romance where a woman punches a man in the stomach. Faile-Perrin; Min-Rand; Nynaeve-Lan; Setelle Anan-Nameless Husband; and now also Egeanin-Domon.

52. Oh, Bethamin WAS in trapped an a’dam as well - in Tanchico. I... absolutely do not remember that storyline at all. Anyway, Egeanin freed her. This is now the scene where Bethamin has come to befriend Egeanin. Bethamin is absolutely up-front and honest about the Seeker telling her to come and renew her ‘friendship’ with Egeanin. Love to see some honesty. Bethamin tells Egeanin about Renna and Seta as well. “The empire depended on sul’dam; its strength was built on them. The news that sul’dam were women who could learn to channel might shatter the Empire to its core.” There is so much rich storytelling meat being set up here. We have been promised a specific story about the Seanchan since BOOK TWO and it is getting reaffirmed over and over in this book that this is the story that we’re about to be told about the Seanchan. All the puzzle pieces are in place to tell this story. Ah, and we learn here that Bayle did recognize Mat back in the Wandering Woman, so that’s how the two storylines will collide again. And Egeanin does understand the difference between the genuine affection of a man who does not actually think of her as his owner and the enforced and trained affection of a slave when she sees the way that Bayle says that he wants to help her. And Egeanin is committed to her own freedom here as well, “whatever it took”.

53. Ah, and now we are in Rand’s sidequest about hunting the traitor Asha’man. I feel like this whole traitor Asha’man thing could and should have been wrapped up in a single chapter (and not been placed in Far Madding), so we could move on to the cleansing. The side-quest vibes in this storyline are just as strong as the ones in Perrin’s ‘kidnapped wife’ plotline. I will summarize the bits that stood out to me:

It is hilarious that Rand thinks that dying his hair black makes him unrecognizable. His face was bannered across the sky in fire! He’s basketball player levels of tall!

Nynaeve is with Rand in his storyline (she’s the one who dyed his hair) and yet still has not told him about Mat being left behind in Ebou Dar. Rand feels like she’s behaving ‘weird and mysterious’ like she’s given up who she is to be Aes Sedai.

It’s so ridiculous that Rand took Min along to Far Madding, given his feelings about putting Elayne and Aviendha in danger and the Asha’man definitely all know what Min looks like because she is his famous breeches-wearing mistress.

Oh, he does still have his sword from Aviendha!  And is capable of having an independent thought about her! That’s nice.

Rand literally decided to set his trap in a place where he knows that the people in charge would truss him up in a cell for Elaida (and where the Power doesn’t work so they would actually be capable of it). wtf.

Ah, here is where we get Taim and Demandred talked about clearly as two distinct people who are both giving the traitor Asha’man orders, with Demandred apparently unaware that Taim is also a Darkfriend. Moridin is ALSO giving this Darkfriend Asha’man orders, btw. Talk about overkill! Three sets of bosses all giving him orders about Rand. Anyway this one gets killed by Fain anyway, so I guess he was just here to establish that Taim and Demandred are definitely seperate people.

Min takes over folding Rand’s laundry, because heaven forbid we forget for a single moment that she is Here For Her Man and now cares about all these domestic things that she used to hate.

Oh, Luc/Isam has returned to the plotline and we get some vague details on How His Thing Works. It’s also confirmed that he killed the Black Ajah sisters back in the Stone of Tear way back in TSR. He also was the one who killed the Gray Man in the White Tower in... TDR, I think it was. He’s in Far Madding to kill Rand and Min, but accidentally kills some randoms instead. Anyway, he’s basically the Shadow’s elite assassin, it sounds like. You’d think he’d be better at finding his correct targets.

Don’t understand how Rand could have his first PoV chapter after the bonding and yet we don’t really get his thoughts on it at all except in passing. wtf. It’s like a non-event to him, especially since he’s going to continue to only hang out with Min and just occasionally think about Elayne and Aviendha.

54. I don’t care about anything that happens in chapter 23. I’m over the Windfinders. I’m over Cadsuane. This chapter shouldn’t exist, only exists to make this book even longer by feeding into Rand’s upcoming new plot event that also shouldn’t exist.

55. I also don’t care about anything that happens in chapter 24. If Jordan wanted us to know about Far Madding so desperately, he should have thought of a reason to involve it that didn’t mean re-treading already-done ground or making Rand act even more reckless than the taint makes him act at times (why in the world would he go to a place where he can’t channel and where he is also aware that if he were to be captured he would likely be given to Elaida?). I think this entire subplot is meant to sell us on Cadsuane’s usefulness/ruthlessness but I just find myself annoyed and bored that I’m being forced to endure it. The only person in either of these two chapters that I care about even in the slightest is Verin.

56. Chapter 25 is mostly pointless, though at least it has Rand. Notable things:

He’s playing his flute again now; he’s playing a song Lews Therin knew. Something that he knows would have scared him once, but now he takes it in stride

Min threatens Rand with a dagger to make him stop playing his flute and jams it into a doorframe when he gives her a silent look over the threat. Something like this is inevitably going to make me think of Tylin when it happens in the same book as Tylin using her knife to communicate to her servants when it’s time to fetch Mat to rape him. I’m still unsure why Jordan decided to make knives a thing for Min in LoC, especially when they have yet to actually be useful for her.

Min provides yet another viewing that’s bad for Rand’s mental health -- Alivia is going to ‘help him die’ which kinda feeds into his self-sacrificing/self-loathing stuff, as Rand thinks about how death would probably be a relief.

while Elayne saw the importance of getting Rand’s consent to bond him, Min says she would have been willing to bond him even without his consent. Good thing she can’t channel, I guess, because she would have been just another Alanna. Probably would have force-bonded Rand that very first day she showed up in Caemlyn.

Rand forces himself to endure Cadsuane’s company entirely because of Min’s viewing. Literally the only reason that he’s enduring her and trying to ~spark her interest is because he trusts Min.

Cadsuane hits Rand in this chapter. Honestly, a lot of how Cadsuane treats Rand is also reminding me of Bethamin’s Rules For Breaking A Slave that we went over a few chapters ago.

Verin almost kills Cadsuane but decides not to at the last moment. We also find out she’s a ~wanted woman~ in Far Madding. Verin and Rand are the only interesting people in this chapter.

Min’s loose lips strike again: she told Cadsuane that she told Rand that he needs Cadsuane. Rand is literally the ONLY person that this woman can keep a secret from!

57. Elayne!!! My dearest!!! I’ve missed you so much! Elayne is talking with Egwene in TAR, where they are walking in the dream version of Emond’s Field. Elayne feels saddened by the changes she notes in the village (Oh, I think Nynaeve showed her Emond’s Field in TAR a couple of books ago, yeah?) and Egwene is completely shocked to the point of losing control of her appearance in TAR. It isn’t a village anymore but a prosperous town. A thick stone wall is being built around the town and Egwene is particularly struck by the battle monument. 

58. Elayne misses Rand. Continue to be gutted out of how much she gets cheated out of spending time with him. Aviendha, too, but we get Aviendha PoV much less frequently than Elayne.

59. Elayne thinks about how the Red Eagle being raised in the Two Rivers is a Complication that she needs to deal with, because it challenges Andor’s rule too much. She also reminds Egwene that she could Travel to see her home, if she misses it and wants to find out how her family is doing, but Egwene is of the opinion that she Can’t Go Home because she’s changed too much. Oh, and Elayne’s section here is set in the past from where we ended off with Egwene at the end of TPoD, because the army hasn’t shifted over to Tar Valon yet. So Egwene’s last bit of TPoD is actually running AHEAD of Rand’s plotline in Winter’s Heart, because Rand’s bonding of Elayne anchors that moment in time. We are currently in Egwene’s past right now. Everyone is still catching up to Egwene’s timeframe. It has been “a few days” since Elayne saw Rand.

60. Elayne gives Egwene an impulsive hug and tells her that she trusts that Egwene will make the right decision. Egwene tells Elayne that if Rand “comes to her again” then she must inform Egwene and tell her anything that might give Egwene a hint as to what Rand is planning to do or where he’s planning to go. And Elayne thinks here, slightly guilty, that she has told Egwene ‘almost everything’ about Rand’s visit, but did not tell her about the group bonding. I’m glad she was willing to keep at least one secret for Rand’s sake. Gives her a leg up over Min, anyway, who is willing to tell pretty much anyone all of Rand’s secrets at the drop of a hat. Elayne doesn’t say anything to Egwene here about how Rand mistakenly thinks that Mat is with her and her army, btw, and Egwene mentions nothing about her dreams of Mat “pale and in pain”. Egwene DOES very ominously say that she does not plan to heal the White Tower just so Rand can chain Aes Sedai like damane and then disappears from TAR before Elayne can ask her what rumours she’s heard to make her believe that’s possible.

61. Aviendha and Elayne are sharing a bed. <3 lol, Elayne forces Aviendha awake because if SHE has to be awake, so does Aviendha. And Aviendha is only annoyed that she slept so late. Aviendha has special permission to sleep with Elayne in the palace but now needs to rush back to her Wise One training. Wish we saw more of that. I’m also curious if Aviendha is as open about Rand’s secrets with the Wise Ones as Elayne was about most of his secrets with Egwene (and as Min is about all his secrets with literally anyone). See, the thing is... having people to confide in is important, right? But it’s sensitive information getting shared with people that Rand doesn’t trust that makes me grumpy. Especially since Rand himself doesn’t seem to ever get any benefits of his secrets being known -- he doesn’t get comfort over them, or the chance to process them, or anything like that.

62. Okay, now we begin the incredibly weird saga of Woman Less Than a Week Pregnant Already Considered Nothing But a Vessel For Her Fetus(es), as Elayne doesn’t get to eat a real breakfast anymore (????). Genuinely do not believe that Jordan talked to anyone actually capable of being pregnant when he wrote the entirety of this part of Elayne’s storyline because it is BIZARRE as fuck. I’m going to mark down any pages about this in unnecessary but just know that I am thinking wtf??? during almost every moment where Jordan talks about the Extreme Baby-Coddling Lengths that we must go to when Elayne is literally “a few days” pregnant. I do not blame Elayne for any of her later pregnancy-related shenanigans tbh because the way she is treated by the people around her is RIDICULOUS (and genuinely makes no sense). I am including the whole “desperately pick a random man to be the fake dad for her future kids” under this entire weird saga btw.

63. Also, the only reason people know that Elayne is pregnant is due to... you guessed it... Min’s loose lips. The ONLY people that she didn’t blab to were the ones who left with her to be in Rand’s storyline (because Rand isn’t allowed the hope of knowing he’s going to be a dad, I guess, and because Only Min is allowed to be ever-present in Rand’s thoughts and if Rand knew Elayne was pregnant, Jordan probably would feel obligated to actually have him visit Elayne every now and then and not just hyper-focus on Min).

64. But luckily we do get to focus on other things in Elayne’s plotline as well! I do like hearing about the political stuff that Elayne is dealing with. We never really focus on any one specific thing long enough for me to get bored about it. Elayne worries about Rand alienating the Aes Sedai but doesn’t worry about how the Aes Sedai may have potentially alienated him (which they... have). They’ve uncovered nine spies and dealt with them by NOT dealing with them. “A spy is your enemy’s tool until you know her but then she is your tool,” her mother told her, and Thom had given much the same advice as well. Ha, this is basically exactly the approach that Rand took with Aviendha when he viewed her as the Wise Ones’ spy in his tent. Since he knew she was the spy, he was content to keep her where she was so that they wouldn’t send another, unknown spy (which I guess they ended up doing when they started interrogating Min last book). The merchants are nervous that Elayne might choose to anger The Dragon Reborn, which would have a huge impact on trade. She does want she can to reassure them that she plans to ally Andor with him in due time (presumably after she is crowned) but they are not fully reassured. Ironically, the merchants would probably find it very reassuring to know she has a personal connection to TDR but I do absolutely understand her not wanting to lean on that connection and to instead make sure she has the crown under her own influence and power, and not Rand’s.

65. Some nights, Aviendha half-carries Elayne to the bed that they share because Elayne is too exhausted to get there on her own. Yeah, it will be so easy for the show to make Avilayne full canon. They are literally a kiss away. This is one change that I really do feel like we’re definitely going to get; it just seems like such an obvious update to the relationships as presented in the books. And we could also actually have MIN bond with Aviendha at some point and become her first-sister, so that we still have a first-sister relationship. But Avilayne should be canon and I have strong feelings that it probably will become canon.

66. Merilille returns from talking to the large Borderlander army to the north. She can confirm that all four rulers of the Borderlands are there, just hanging out with their armies. Hate that Mellar is here... not just because we know that he’s secretly a Darkfriend but because he has no business being in Elayne’s meetings with people! Why is she allowing this! There are at least two hundred thousand soldiers with this army. And she spotted “at least ten” Aes Sedai sisters (we know that there are 13 total). They want to talk to Elayne because of her ~connection to Rand (though Merille speaks around his name) and because they know she was at Falme? I genuinely do not know how they know that Elayne was at Falme; we might find out, because Elayne finds this mysterious as well. Elayne decides to go back and meet with the rulers immediately.

67. Interesting. She plans to approach them as “Elayne Sedai” and not “Elayne, Daughter-Heir”. She is going with Aviendha and Birgitte, with Merilille going ahead with a letter. She has dressed all in green to emphasize that she is Elayne of the Green Ajah. She is able to meet with the four rulers directly, without all the pomp and circumstance that would be needed if she were coming as the Daughter-Heir.

68. Elayne starts off on the offense and soon learns the reason that they’re all here -- to find the Dragon Reborn, and they thought he might be found in Andor, due to the rumors. They’re looking for him mostly to figured out why he is ignoring the Borderlands and the Blight, where it seems most likely that the Last Battle will take place. She says that she will give them the direction that she believes that the Dragon Reborn is currently in, if they will cross Andor without a fight. King Easar and Queen Ethenielle realize that Elayne plans to use the potential threat of the Borderland armies to unite Andor and then ‘negotiate’ with them once they are near Caemlyn and ‘convince’ them to leave without a fight. And both sides hopefully get what they want -- the rulers of the Borderlands will be heading in Rand’s direction and Elayne will be Queen of Andor.

69. Tenobia wants to talk to her uncle on the way, and Elayne says she can tell her where Bashere is located (at the center of the encampment of the Legion of the Dragon, I’m guessing, since Elayne says he’s near Caemlyn). However, Elayne doesn’t actually tell them where she feels Rand is located (in the direction of Tear) but sends them towards Murandy instead. Okay, wait, let me check something. Okay, per the map, Far Madding is basically exactly between Murandy and Tear, so they actually WILL be a lot closer to Rand if they go that way... as long as he doesn’t Travel out of the way before they get there. Elayne does want to try to figure out how to warn Rand but isn’t sure how to do so safely. Take care of him for us, Min, Elayne thinks, once again being the person holding this polycule together by her fingertips.

70. And when she gets back to the palace, she gets the urgent news that armies are approaching from the EAST (competely different army) and should arrive in a week. Despite her exhaustion, she kicks herself back into gear to begin preparations to defend Caemlyn. Twenty or thirty thousand soldiers are approaching and it is unknown who they follow. I think this might be the end of her storyline for the book, but it was quite an exciting ending! Elayne is doing her best to hold up this entire story by herself and I thank her for it from the bottom of my heart.

Tuon’s omens:

a soaring albatross means victory

an owl calling at dawn means death

rain without clouds means an unexpected visitor

ants and beetles are both involved in omens though we don’t get the details

broken nails are very bad luck

three gray porpoises rising once means to hold to your course

Mat mentions:

Nynaeve x5

Egwene x1

Talmanes x1

Elayne x5

Rand x12

Perrin x2

Asha’man in general x1

Things Mat considers preferable to or the same as spending time with Tylin:

facing Moghedien

facing the gholam

a building falling on him, leaving him with horrific injuries that take well over a month to heal

Unnecessary scenes:

the Mat-Tylin horror show: 1 (9 pages), 1 (1 page), 1 (4 pages), 1 (4 pages), 1 (12 pages), 1 (2 pages), 1 (3 pages), 1 (6 pages), 1 (1 page)

Far Madding nonsense: 1, (10 pages), 1 (21 pages), 1 (16 pages), 1 (18 pages)

the weird way Elayne’s pregnancy is treated: 1 (4 pages), 1 (1 page), 1 (1 page)

Spoilers up through A Memory of Light below

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* on Mat & Aludra in chapter 18:(includes post-canon speculation with post-canon spoilers)

this is probably the last time Mat gets to kiss a woman purely because they both want it, with nothing hanging over his head telling him that he better like it or else (unless I’m forgetting someone else in the future). It makes me so sad, honestly. Because Mat doesn’t want the future that we know he gets at the end -- Tuon wants to retake Seanchan, which will mean endless battles and scars for him (and if they stay in the Westlands, there’s a very uneasy peace between Tuon’s slavers and... all the people who don’t want to be slaves). And though Sanderson tries his hardest to make us believe that Mat loves Tuon for whatever inexplicable reason, the original Mat (the real Mat), as we can see here, is horrified by slavery. So as soon as the 'marriage/infatuation’ high wears off Mat’s character, he will be horrified again and baby-trapped into his literal worst nightmare -- a life of scars and battles, with a wife that he doesn’t really know. Mat ends up in his own Worst Ending and it makes me so sad.

After a bit of searching, it looks like it’s even semi-canon that it’s Mat’s Worst Future, because the two sentences that Jordan provided about how the outriggers would begin included Mat in a gutter, having gambled everything away... apparently including his iconic hat:

Interview: May 24th, 2013

Phoenix ComicCon Report - KakitaOCU (Paraphrased)

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Lastly, and IMO, most important. While he stated he was paraphrasing from memory, he revealed the "two sentences" that Jordan had left for the outriggers. The first was a scene of Mat in a wool cap laying in a gutter having gambled away everything. The second was a scene with Perrin on a ship thinking that he was going to have to go kill a friend. (source is here: theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=999 -- that same source actually says that Siuan’s death was Harriet’s decision and not in Jordan’s original notes, which is... interesting)

So it sounds like if the outriggers had been written (they were supposed to start 5-10 years post-canon, I think?), it would have opened on Mat being miserable in Seanchan (possibly having run away from Tuon given that apparently he doesn’t have access to the resources of the Empire) and Perrin potentially on his way to kill Mat, perhaps because they think he’s a mastermind behind horrific slaver crimes of some kind but don’t realize he’s ~left Tuon’s service~? idk but Jordan did apparently realize that he was sentencing Mat to a miserable life when he married him off to Tuon, at least that’s what ‘in a gutter’ implies to me. It also kinda gives “Sam Vimes at the start of Discworld” vibes to me, and Mat is kinda a Vimes-y character anyway, when he’s at his best; I could picture Older Mat kinda going through a similar character arc as Vimes, as long as Jordan or Sanderson kept their hands off him.

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* on Setelle Anan and Mat in chapter 19:

In addition to Mat’s character getting butchered to make Tuon look better, Setelle Anan gets character assassinated as well -- she goes from being willing to risk her life to save an Aes Sedai who is hiding from the Seanchan slavers to buddying up with the future head slaver of them all and being protective of her. There are things I dislike about Anan (she’s yet another of the increasing trend of women who are legit abusive to the men they’re in relationships with) but she is firmly anti-slavery here and while she puts on a show of being welcoming to the Seanchan, we see her true colors behind the scenes. And from what I remember of CoT/KoD, she’s just... genuinely on Tuon’s side because Woman Good, Man Bad.

And Mat, here seeing Joline’s absolute terror at the idea of being caught by the Seanchan and then seeing Teslyn in the ‘kennels’ later in this chapter as well. It just makes me want to spit rocks at what I remember happening in... Knife of Dreams, I think it is, where Tuon is allowed to collar someone and hurt them and get away with it because Tuon is Our Special Princess Who Never Gets Consequences For Her Actions, even when she’s literally torturing someone that she wants to enslave. And then she gets rewarded with Mat being more attracted to her because of it! The narrative REWARDS her for being the type of person who tortures and enslaves other people, because, hey, she’s ~pretty when she smiles~ and Jordan has decided that THIS is how low Mat’s morals have fallen, despite there being absolutely no reason for Mat to have changed this way. (it’s almost funny that Tuon has such a tragic and interesting and compelling backstory because wow does the narrative pull every possible punch when it comes to her actual in-book storyline; it’s like Jordan used up all the good writing on her backstory and didn’t have any left over for now!Tuon, who mostly acts like a coddled spoiled brat who refuses to grow up, from what I remember of CoT/KoD)

Like... I understand why people get mad at Sanderson’s portrayal of Mat, but Jordan is the one who started dragging Mat’s character into the mud, not Sanderson. Sanderson accelerated a process of moral decay that Jordan started. And while there is a sexism leap in TGS (from what I remember), Mat has been getting progressing more sexist the last couple of books as well, so that’s not something Sanderson was pulling from thin air either. He exaggerated it, because he exaggerated everything about Mat, but Jordan is the one who put it there when he decide that a pretty smile outweighed Mat’s morals about slavery. Mat feels a VISCERAL DISGUST about slavery in Winter’s Heart (as well he should). But that was inconvenient for the “falling in love with a slaver” plotline, so Jordan warped Mat’s character in CoT & KoD, and then Sanderson continued that process in TGS-AMoL. But Jordan started it.

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* from chapter 20 - on slave training and Mat & Tuon’s relationship

So this is a thing that I do not believe was intentional on Jordan & Sanderson’s part but, wow, after rereading chapter twenty, it is impossible for me to get it out of my brain:

One of the points that Bethamin makes is how getting a slave to accept their new name is one of the ways that you can ‘break’ them from their old life. This is definitely a technique that we see Tuon use with Mat in CoT-AMoL (and he is answering to his assigned name in aMoL, like an obedient slave). I think one of the ways that I am going to survive through the rest of the Mat sections of my reread is marking out every place where it feels like Tuon is using slave-training techniques on Mat to break him to her will. Every time she uses ‘Toy’ instead of his name, every time she throws him off-balance to get him to obey her, etc. It will be depressing but hopefully distracting as well (honestly, it might be too depressing for me to actually do this; we’ll find out!).

So, things we know are used in training a damane:

they need to be completely removed from their previous, non-slave life

they must depend on you for their everyday needs

teach them to respond to their owner-given name

reward them when they obey you and work to please you (I believe Tuon uses kisses for this in KoD), but sporadically, so that they have to be constantly pleasing you to get even a small occasional reward

punish them when they disobey you or disrespect you

teach them to show proper respect to you and your position above them

and then use them to teach other, newer slaves how to behave properly (which reinforces proper behavior in them)

Thinking back, I’m pretty sure Tuon uses most if not all of these techniques on Mat throughout CoT-aMoL (and, according to what we hear from Bethamin here, Tuon treats Mat as a ‘hard case’ that needs to have his spirit thoroughly crushed in order to gain his loyalty and make him meek for her hand). And, honestly, in a lot of aMoL, from what I recall Mat is basically responding like a trained slave -- by the end of the series, he removes himself from his former life (doesn’t go to his best friend’s funeral); he accepts the name his mistress gives him and says he finds it pleasing, no longer protesting that he wants her to respect his own choice of name; he guides his actions by how much they please his mistress; he judges other people on how well they are showing respect to his mistress and iirc thinks about how he’ll need to teach Min the proper way to behave around his mistress.

There are a handful of moments where it feels like Original!Mat breaks through, but overall... it kinda does feel like his spirit has been at least half-broken to slavery by the epilogue (and while part of that can be chalked up to Sanderson, again, it started with Jordan). Which, you know, I hate. Absolutely hate. Literal worst ending that he could have gotten. Dying would have been better than living like this (as Mat himself realizes in Winter’s Heart when it comes to the damane), a shell of himself who exists only to please his mistress and eek out what tiny bits of happiness and contentment that he can salvage in his gilded cage, stronger than Tylin ever managed to make hers.

And if this is supposed to be ‘love’... it looks a lot like a leash. Just... I hate that a story that could have been about toppling or undermining a slaver empire instead became a story about how we all just have to live with slavery and accept it. Mat’s storyline post-LoC is just one damn depressing thing after another and it culminates in this depressing as fuck ending where he’s essentially a slave to his ‘wife’/empress but has convinced himself/been convinced that he’s okay with it. Escapes one abusive relationship only to end up in another one, more subtle but also harder to escape.

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* On chapters 20-21 and Mat

Of course, the frustrating thing is that, from what I remember, all this set-up that we’re getting in these two chapters is going to end up have a very disappointing narrative conclusion. I don’t remember ANYONE successfully standing up to Tuon during the circus arc (which is one of the reasons that the circus arc feels so pointless for her; there’s no character growth, just her realizing that Mat is a more useful and dangerous tool than she’d first realized), so I feel like both Bethamin and Egeanin just crumple like wet rags in front of Tuon and then just stay that way, instead of rallying the way that Bethamin does at the end of her chapter?

Maybe I’m wrong - my memory of Mat’s storyline in CoT is basically just “ugh, why is Mat courting a slaver, why is Mat completely ignoring that she’s a slaver who is actively enslaving someone right now” (Tuon basically stays glued to her slave’s hip during the whole journey iirc) and my memory of his storyline in KoD is “why is Mat being TURNED ON by a slaver actively treating someone like a slave wtf wtf wtf?? who IS this person? this is not Mat Cauthon” so it’s possible that the background characters did have a good story and I just missed it in all my visceral disgust at the Mat & Tuon storyline. I will find out!

But, yeah, from what I remember, this all ends up dying in an unsatisfying whiffle, so all these elements that I thought were actually a deliberately horrifying but compelling start to a potentially fantastic storyline are just... disappointing during this reread. Again, I ask, wtf happened to Jordan in between writing Winter’s Heart and writing Crossroads of Twilight? Why did he have Mat go from vehemently anti-slavery to where Mat ends up in KoD? Because Winter’s Heart!Mat would be sickened by Knife of Dreams!Mat and probably straight-up lose his lunch if he knew about A Memory of Light!Mat willingly using damane in battle and giving up his own name for a Seanchan name. Ugh, I hate what a frustrating experience rereading Winter’s Heart is now that I know how disappointingly this storyline ends, at least from what I remember.

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* On the subject of freed property (and Mat and Tuon)

Egeanin’s feelings here, that she is unsure if she can ever actually see Domon as a person again, despite obviously being in love with him, is something that is also very difficult for me to untangle from the upcoming Mat and Tuon ‘love story’. Once property, always property even if freed, seems to be how the Seanchan view things. Tuon spends two books (I think?) calling and thinking of Mat as ‘Toy’, as Tylin’s property that ran away from her and that Tuon is considering claiming for her own. Even when she completes the marriage ritual... does she see him as a person or does she still see him as escaped property that she is reclaiming for the Empire because he’s useful and maybe she wants to have sex with him in the future?

#wot #wheel of time #wot reread #winter's heart #wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #mat cauthon #slaver empress tuon #seanchan content warning #i am still on vacation but i have my phone! #tylin content warning as well #the wheel of time

[sonicasura]

I swear I tend to gravitate towards series which has stone based/related characters that it ain't even funny. And three are in my top favorite interests too!

Knack (Main character has the same name as title is a golem or my personal species Relican(Relic Human))

Trollhunters (Supporting characters are trolls but the main character becomes a half and full troll)

And Journey To The West (The most popular of the main characters is Sun Wukong, a stone monkey. Cover is from the 1996 tv show based on the book. One of my favorite incarnations alongside Hero is Back movie/game Sun Wukong.)

If it ain't stone related characters, then the series either has geology or fossils being important items to the sole basis of the entire lore/story/worldbuilding. Put me in the same room with Toby Domzalski cause we'll be nerds together in our two shared interests lol.

Unrelated note, Sun Wukong would definitely adopt Jim and Knack if the three ever met. Any interesting person is enough to have the Monkey King's attention since monkeys are curious creatures. What's more interesting than a teenage warrior with a magic amulet(half troll or not) who fights evil and a relic golem who can go from 2 ft to 36 ft alongside using physical elements as armor?

Plus Sun Wukong is a family man as he calls his subjects 'his children' but also ask to be referred to as 'Father' or 'Grandpa Sun' in the original books. He will kill for them and done so many times. Human, demon/yaoguai, immortals, even other gods aren't safe from Sun Wukong's wrath.

Rip everyone that stirs trouble with either boy because the Monkey King will be upon them in seconds. This is a 5x immortal who literally wreaked havoc in the Heavens and only Buddha himself could stop Sun Wukong. Arcane Order are misbehaving children when it comes to him. I'm pretty sure Bellroc and Skrael can't turn into a 3 headed six armed behemoth nor their Titans can stand up to something like that either.

Knack would be the mature sibling who join Jim in his antics. Hides in his Trollhunter brother's travel bag as his smallest form can easily fit inside. Strength and durability testing with Half Troll Jim would be easier since Knack is able to shift into a suitable size. (Certain sizes changes his appearance drastically)

I also believe he might have the key to providing sunlight immunity as the golem can use sunstones. Sunstones are crystallized sunlight in the games that allows Knack to utilize various techniques or Super Moves: Relic Shockwave, Relic Tornado, Sunlight Blades, Relic Blast, Sunstone Barrier and Invincibility with a Super Sunstone. (I just realized Knack can essentially be considered an 'Anti-Troll Weapon' since the sunlight isn't converted into any other energy.)

Definitely teases Jim about Claire and totally ships Jlaire. Knack also uses his ability to change size to be an utter gremlin. Shifts until he's either tall enough that he can use Jim's head as arm rest or pluck him by the scruff. Never fails to irritate and embarrass the Trollhunter. You can consider Knack Jim's own Titan if ya want, especially if he gets ahold of giant relics again. Can I say a Knack bigger than the largest mountain would be enough to scare someone shitless? Jimbo is in very good hands.

That's my personal opinion.

#sonicasura #knack #playstation knack #tales of arcadia trollhunters #toa trollhunters #trollhunters #tales of arcadia #toa #jttw #journey to the west #fandom interests #i'm a nerd #knack ps4 #knack 2 #knack videogame

[kaiowut99]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Episodes 89 and 90 Subbed (Finalized)

(Previously: Episodes 87 and 88 Subbed [Finalized])

(Check out my Subbed!GX Stream Masterpost!)

TURN-89: The Hell Kaiser vs Darkness Fubuki

Ryou, now the Hell Kaiser, has returned to the Academia to take part in GeneX.  His best friend Fubuki, scoping out the situation, decides to confront the Hell Kaiser, hoping to return the favor after he had helped save him from his fall to the dark side before.  At last, Fubuki and Hell Kaiser begin their duel, and Fubuki intentionally uses the power of Darkness, summoning Red-Eyes Black Dragon.  Meanwhile, the Hell Kaiser uses...

TURN-90: The Academia’s Pride

Chronos and Vice-Principal Napoleon, anxious about the Academia’s reputation worsening as their students lose to Pro Duelists, get certain characters to take part in GeneX--as their secret weapons.  Meanwhile, Junko and Momoe were dueling the Pro Duelist Sommelier Parker, and just as they were about to surrender their tough bout, Asuka, thought to have entered the Society of Light, appears.  Asuka then takes over Junko and Momoe’s duel and takes on the Sommelier.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next duo of episodes is finalized~

Episodes 89 and 90 are a good time; 89 explores more of Ryou’s personality shift (and how sinking so low fighting with his ideals and then discarding them to actually think of winning now has him obsessed with the feeling that comes with it) and the new Cyberdark deck he took from Samejima, along with showing that Darkness is still very much around despite his defeat to Judai in S1 (mainly because for some reason Fubuki kept the card he was trapped in around, though I suppose logically to avoid Darkness potentially getting to someone else lol) which’ll come into play again in Season 4 (better than never, really).  90′s a fun time with more of the tournament currently going on playing out, we get to see Taizan and Motegi again which is nice, and Asuka shows some of her pre-SoL personality is still in there, like with Manjoume.  Also nice to hear Camula’s Theme again as she takes out Sommelier Parker.  The flashback scene with Ryou and Fubuki is also nice (”Just as this lighthouse guides ships at night, everyone’s feelings were the glow that brought me back”) and it would’ve been nice to get that properly after Fubuki recovered, but it works well here.

Editing-wise, there wasn’t too much to fix in 89, though there was a unique one that I wanted to do my best to fix; 90 saw a bunch of card fixes along with one or two quality-of-watching fixes, plus a big translation edit revamping one of the first on-screen ones I’d done when I first subbed episode 90 back around 2012 that looks pretty good now, if I may say so myself, lol.  Details below the cut, as usual, for the interested!

(As a side-note, Sangre Guerrero in 90 is... interesting; the credits list his name as “サンブレ・ゲレロ”/“sanbure guerrero”/”Sombre Guerrero,” which is what I’d originally used, but then I saw Crunchyroll go with “Sangre,” which isn’t what the katakana would back up [”sangure”]--but the more I listened to Manjoume saying his name, the more it did in fact sound like “Sangre.” It wouldn’t be the first time I’d run into a typo in the ending credits--a lot of the animation staff tend to have typos on their names every so often, so it takes me a fair bit of looking into which spellings end up sticking later in the series to decide on consistency--but it was a potential first for a character name, and Japanese Wikipedia and most sites, along with Yugipedia, had spelled it as “sanbure” pulling from the credits.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a profile on the official YGO site, and I don’t think he’d had one on any official Japanese one to verify, being such a minor character.  But “sangre” would make sense given his “hot Latino blood” line [”sangre” being Spanish for “blood”], so, given all that, I went with “Sangre” as well. 

Also, I did end up finally catching that the name for Junko’s VA is Tomomi Yachi and not Tomomi Taniuchi as I’d been using per AnimeNewsNetwork; I was hoping that “Yachi” could’ve been a more recent change, but I clicked into her JP Wikipedia page and saw her blogs going back to the time GX was airing in the mid-00s referencing “Yachi,” and Yugipedia does have “Yachi” too, so... going with that now.  I might decide to revise her other episodes, but having lost my OP/EN credit sub files for S1 and early S2, and given she only finally spoke again in 90 after not doing so for... over 30 episodes, I might just end up leaving it.)

Anywho, enjoy, folks--91 and 92 are on tap for next time, ft. our Grim Reaper one-hit card-slinging-slasher one-off, and Pegasus actually dueling as Chronos and Napoleon duel him for a job worrying they might be fired; should be fun to revisit!

Fixes/Edits! (89)

As Fubuki and Ryou are about to begin dueling, they jump together on a split-screen to turn on their Disks and shout, “Duel!”--but just before Fubuki’s starts to turn on, there’s one frame (held still for a few frames) where it’s not fully drawn in its off state; fixed by painting in the rest in Photoshop, then throwing the fixed frame into the footage in Sony Vegas.

Later, once Fubuki lets Darkness consume him thinking it’s the only way to help Ryou now, Ryou brings back Cyberdark Edge using Call of the Living Dead; Darkness!Fubuki notes the futility of it when facing his Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, and Ryou clicks into a split-screen to surprise him by summoning another new Monster in Cyberdark Keel, but a few things happen here--mainly, once Ryou clicks into his split-screen with Fubuki, the entire shot keeps panning to the right towards Fubuki.  Then, a few frames before Fubuki reacts to Keel, it shifts downward and to the right, and as Fubuki’s saying, “Another new Monster?”, the shot keeps panning towards him, before the split-screen then splits apart, but not before we get a quick frame of them splitting into green before the right whooshing background’s in there in the next frame to lead into Keel being summoned.  As I hadn’t worked on a fix to a split-screen error like this yet and thinking I might not be able to do too much, I initially mitigated it by using Vegas to fix it such that the shot stopped moving once Fubuki started reacting, repositioning three frames of his face and lip-flaps (closed, semi-open, and open) and masking them onto a still, recycling as needed to match his original flaps before letting the split-screen split out--but I was inspired on Friday to give it more of a try, and I think it came out nicely after 3-4 total hours late Friday night and early yesterday, lol. 

In addition to what I first did there, I went and first took the starting pan of Fubuki as he notes the futility of the move and moved it slightly so that Fubuki’s final position in the pan, before Ryou clicks into the split-screen, matches the position I had him in just before he reacts which I’d kept him still at--but doing this left a bit of the shot, along the top and right, unaccounted for with missing pixels; to deal with that, I used the aforementioned frame of Fubuki’s final position and redid that initial panning with it by keyframing it for most of its 105 frames, then put that in a layer under the repositioned pan--this allowed it to fill in the rest of the shot seamlessly, so Fubuki and the background were fully moved.  Then, after Ryou clicks in, I masked in a still of him prior to holding up Keel over Fubuki, then masked in and repositioned his rising hand with the card, along with his face and lip-flaps which I recycled as needed; this made it so Ryou held up Keel and said his line while everything else in the shot stays still.  I applied some additional masking over these layers during the split-screen to keep their hair and the backgrounds behind them consistent, too.  There’s still a slight amount of movement for the 5-10 frames of Fubuki reacting that I couldn’t edit out, but all the previous editing combined with what I’d done before made this shot much more consistently still overall. (Hopefully that makes sense, lol.) Also fixed the quick green-bg frame error.

Fixes/Edits! (90)

For the hardsub, as I detailed here, I took the computer screen Samejima’s scrolling through as he laments how only some of the students are winning their GeneX duels, showing how Judai and the others are doing on that front, and freshly translated it; as mentioned up top, this is a revamp of one of my earliest on-screen translation edits, necessarily redone because, for some reason, I thought it smart to save the original edit with Samejima’s line hardsubbed onto it... but also given the difference in video quality with the DVDRip I used here, lol.  Where initially I mainly used Sony Vegas to manipulate the existing footage to get things blanked, borrowing from how the dub wiped the text in spots, to then add the translated text in Aegisub, this time I used Photoshop exclusively to blank the Japanese text and then add the new English text, after first stitching together the entire screen with everyone’s profiles, using Sony Vegas to redo the scrolling or touch up for consistency a little as needed.

Also for the hardsub, for the scene just after the title card as Samejima scrolls from Misawa’s profile to Saiou’s, I was able to get that freshly translated as well, as detailed in the update to the post I linked in #1 above. (I also created this video to showcase both edits, as well as mockups I did of what the English dub could’ve done if they wanted to translate it vs what they actually did [blank all the text but mysteriously leave empty name boxes intact] and comparing them to my initial edits from 2012.)

As Chronos and Napoleon run to see Taizan duel with Mathematica, we see the current status of their duel with their LP counts, but while Taizan has Big Shield Guardna out in Defense Mode on his field, his card under it is facing Mathematica as if in Attack Mode; fixed by first making a proxy, then using AfterEffects to put it in place in Defense Mode on one frame during the panning shot, with the effect box facing us the viewer, and then masking Big Shield Guardna on top of it--once done, I took that frame into Sony Vegas and redid the panning shot with it, masking in the LP counter on top as needed.

After activating Illegal Summon and summoning Middle Shield Guardna to Taizan’s field, Mathematica has Taizan summon a Monster to his field for its second effect, and he goes for Drone; as it gets summoned, its card is missing on Mathematica’s Disk.  Fixed by using AfterEffects to first put a proxy I made for it in place on his second Monster Zone before the DEF counter covers it, brightening it as the light from Drone’s summoning reaches it, and exporting that; I then exported a single frame of it in that position, which I threw into Vegas, where I redid the slow zoom that happens here as he activates Death Calculator with it, and combined it all.

Some seconds later, as Mathematica activates Transistor the Survey Warrior’s effect (tributing Drone to attack Taizan directly), a few things happen: 1) a repeat of #3 happens with Defense-Mode Drone, whose card under it is facing Taizan as if in Attack Mode, and 2) Taizan has the just-summoned-to-his-field Middle Shield Guardna where Big Shield Guardna should be on his Disk, in Monster Zone 4.  Fixed in two parts: 1) I used AfterEffects to apply a proxy for Drone under it in Defense Mode (name box facing our left) for a frame and masked Drone on top of it, then taking that frame into Vegas to redo the panning shot here with it, masking Big Shield Guardna and his shield over it and fading it out as Drone gets tributed and disappears; 2) luckily, as this shot gets recycled a bit later, and it correctly has Middle Shield Guardna and Big Shield Guardna in Zones 2 and 4, respectively, on his Disk there, I was able to use that and use Vegas to reposition it and then redo the panning here with it before just masking them out--though the repositioning meant that Big Shield Guardna wasn’t fully on Taizan’s Disk (as I had to move it a bit upward, leaving empty pixels under), but I used AE to slap a proxy on in one frame, then redoing the pan again using that frame to handle that.  Combined both parts in Vegas, and voila. (Quite a bit of fun keyframing involved here as a result, but the result looks good)

After summoning Drawler, Taizan uses its effect to add his hand back to his deck, but two quick things happen: 1) there’s a few frames of his Disk showing where Big Shield Guardna is missing from his Disk (Fixed in AfterEffects by just slapping a Defense-Mode proxy in Monster Zone 4), and 2) for a quick frame as he lifts his head, the pupils of Taizan’s eyes are black and not white (fixed by just recoloring them in Photoshop, then mixing the fixed frame into the footage in Vegas)

Later, during Motegi’s duel with Sangre Guerrero, the Latino Pro Duelist [what Elvis impersonation] tries to get Motegi to feel worried, but notes how he’s taking the fun out of it for him by being so chill; as the split-screen between them while this happens starts to split, there’s a quick frame where the border is missing from Guerrero’s side.  Fixed in Vegas by masking in his side of the split in the next frame with the border and repositioning it into place.  I also re-slid his side to fix some coloring issues I noticed with him.

Later, once Asuka and Sommelier Parker are dueling, after Asuka summons Benten, Parker notes that she would be “medium-bodied” as a wine compared to his “full-bodied” Bacchus, before the Parker/Bacchus split-screen splits to show Judai, Shou, and Manjoume, as Shou turns to Manjoume wondering what the “bodied” talk is about--but two little things happen here: 1) a frame before the split starts to split, there’s a little flicker along the border (fixed just by holding the previous frame over this one), and 2) after Shou turns to Manjoume, after he says his line, he jitters and turns slightly from Manjoume, where he stays until after Manjoume’s line, when he and Judai turn back to the duel, but this jitter desyncs Shou’s movement from Judai’s there (fixed by first masking Shou so that he stays in his pre-jitter position, then using that jitter position to make it so he and Judai start turning back to the duel at the same time).

9-11 here happen in the same scene, but I can’t do sub-bullets on Tumblr here, so I’ll split it into a few points for readability.  As Asuka tells Parker that Cyber Tutu’s about to end the duel, he slides in on a split-screen to question that, causing Asuka to react in surprise before the split splits out to show a drunk dizzy Cyber Tutu--except Asuka’s side of the split takes a frame longer to leave the screen, as they started splitting a bit unevenly.  Fixed by using Vegas to mask and redo the split-out slightly so that the two start splitting more evenly, letting Asuka’s split leave the screen with Parker’s.

After we see drunk Cyber Tutu, the two’s split-screens start sliding back in, but Parker’s is uneven with Asuka’s; fixed in Vegas by masking his full split and repositioning it to redo it slightly.

Once back on their split-screen, after Parker comments that Cyber Tutu has had a bit too much of his Bacchus Banquet’s sake, they start to split out to show the Bacchus Banquet card behind them on Parker’s field, but the border that should be on Asuka’s side is disconnected from her.  Fixed in Vegas by masking out the border and attaching it to Asuka, masking in the new scene behind them to wipe it away from the middle.

A bit later, Parker has Magna Mutton attack Cyber Tutu, but Asuka has her Holy Life Barrier Trap to avoid damage; as she gets ready to activate it amidst Magna Mutton’s attack, she’s missing Cyber Tutu in Monster Zone 4 on her Disk. Fixed in AfterEffects by just slapping a proxy on.

During her last turn, after Asuka uses Fulfillment of the Contract to bring back Idaten, as she explains that her effect lets her re-use a Magic Card in her Cemetery (going for Pot of Greed), along with missing Cyber Tutu in Zone 4 of her Disk again, a bit of an oddity happens here in how her Idaten card starts to... slide off her Disk, lol.  There’s also a quick frame where the Pot of Greed she’s grabbing from her Cemetery disappears in the slot before it reappears there as she moves her Disk.  Fixed by first using AfterEffects to put Cyber Tutu in place, which I then repositioned during the light zoom-out in AE, then in Vegas holding Idaten in place by masking its Monster Zone into another layer on top for the rest of the shot, and then holding Pot of Greed in place for that one frame.

During the preview for episode 91, an error happens as the Blue student Tachibana is dueling gets impacted by an attack he made in which he has a Magic Card in his Disk’s Monster Zone 4.  This was fixed in 91 proper, as it’s Armed Samurai -- Ben Kei there, so I fixed this by using that footage in Vegas and masking in the Japanese “Preview” text over it, using a fair amount of feathering so it blended in.

#GX #yugioh #ygo gx #yugioh gx #ygo #yu-gi-oh gx #my subs #Ryou Marufuji #Fubuki Tenjoin #Asuka Tenjoin #[if you enjoy the fix-edit breakdowns you'll probably enjoy some of the ones here lol] #that 4Kids Elvis impersonation tho #0/10 wiping Latino representation smh #still such a shame how Camula's Theme has gone unreleased all this time #be nice if we got some OST releases for GX's 20th anniversary next year but somehow i doubt it #also don't get why CR does 'my boy Judai' or 'my boy Johan' for Pegasus's -boy shtick #when they kept it in their DM subs lol #anywho lemme see how the new Ghost Game is

[kai-keda]

since we've got the discussion ball rolling, what did you think of macaques arc through season 3 and embrace your destiny?

i personally really enjoyed it! i think the writers did a good job not using him too much during s3 and loved the way his demeanor completely changes in ep9. i liked his "redemption" in EYD because it wasnt even really a redemption. hes not a good guy now hes just not a villain any more.

i think its also a plus that unlike some villain-hero team ups *cough* she-ra *cough* none of the cast (except maybe mk but thats up for debate) immediately (or at all) even like macaque, swk doesnt like him, pigsy doesnt like him, it feels more natural i guess?

im asking cause i remember you posting about want a sacrifice-redemption for him.

(sorry for all the long asks also)

Don’t apologize for these asks! I love them! They fuel me!

I don’t have much to add to this one, though, cause I agree with everything you said lol

I think they gave him the amount of time he needed and no more. I didn’t feel like anything with Macaque was unnecessary, especially considering how complicated his relationship with the heroes is. (Like how he started out purely wanting to mess with Wukong via using MK as a tool for that (cough-cough MK was Macaque’s weapon against Wukong) and then was dragged into fighting them because of LBD.

The moment where MK tells Macaque “Then be a warrior.” was SOOOOO satisfying and awesome and I’m pretty confident in saying THAT was the moment his arc came to a satisfying conclusion.

I wouldn’t say even MK immediately liked Macaque, though. I think he’s just more open to him by the end due to a character trait of being more emphatic to others. I mean, he was kinda yelling and fussing and acting frustrated with Macaque when they had him tied up. MK literally told him to shut up cause he was in time-out.

As for my posts about there not being a god-dang point if we didn’t get an ending that would match with “Leave Out All the Rest” from Linkin Park… those were mostly a joke.

Yes I really wanted that and was heavily advocating for it but I was also, much more quietly, bringing up the “Goes off to live isolated from everyone else and occasionally helps the gang in ‘enemy of my enemy is my friend’ style with bonus points if he causes minor mischief from time to time” possibility. (Heck, that possibility is what I was already going with for my stories with my spicynoodles fankids and having Xiaobo sneak off to bug Macaque into training him. The cast basically has a “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” relationship with Macaque in that universe)

The only thing I knew I 100% did NOT want from Macaque was for him to completely join the good guys and be considered a member of the team. Worse yet if Wukong’s mistakes with how he treated Macaque were treated as worse than how Macaque has responded to and treated others because of it. ESPECIALLY if Wukong never gets a chance to tell his side of what happened. (I am still holding strong to the theory that Macaque is an unreliable narrator)

It feels like making him a hero on the team similar to A:TLA’s Zuko would have cheapened Red Son’s arc since he is so clearly on that path and much further along it.

I’m glad we got what we did, even if I would have LOVED a redemption sacrifice.

Note that I never actually watched She-Ra and know so little about it that I thought the main character’s name was Catadora until I learned about a year ago that that was actually the ship name between the characters Catra and Adora

#lego monkie kid #monkie kid #lmk #lmk macaque #lmk six eared macaque #lmk character analysis #lmk liu er mihou #kai keda analysis

[msbarrows]

I posted 3,032 times in 2022

That's 378 more posts than 2021!

347 posts created (11%)

2,685 posts reblogged (89%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@katschy

@iapetusneume

@ltleflrt

@gingersnapwolves

@sarasa-cat

I tagged 3,024 of my posts in 2022

#tumblr - 250 posts

#no man's sky - 240 posts

#lol - 143 posts

#starships - 140 posts

#euclid galaxy - 133 posts

#the untamed - 117 posts

#this! - 115 posts

#also - 89 posts

#writing - 89 posts

#fanfiction - 82 posts

Longest Tag: 132 characters

#be very sad when i go to eat lunch and discovered what happens to a soft banana inside a lunch box that was used to bludgeon a bully

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

See the full post

38 notes - Posted July 21, 2022

#4

See the full post

39 notes - Posted October 22, 2022

#3

See the full post

50 notes - Posted June 13, 2022

#2

My latest gaming addiction - No Man’s Sky. Bought it on Steam in sales last week and after an initial “not sure if like or dislike” I’ve spent a disturbing number of hours running around and finding stuff and building mini-bases all over my starting solar system. This particular one is at the site of a crashed space freighter I’m salvaging stuff from (my only base so far in a second solar system is positioned at same). I have several sites I’ve named “Drydock” that were claimed just for the purpose of salvaging a wrecked ship and warping it to the space station to melt down for scrap (best haul so far netted me > 5 million units plus a storage upgrade for my own tiny ship). At some point when I have a lot more in the way of resources and technology, I might try actually repairing one of the crashed ships. Because why not.

I also like having bases handy to specific material types - like the one super-weird planet covered in coral-like desiccated creatures that are formed of both carbon and ferrite (two of the three main building materials, the other being silicate sand you can dig up anywhere), making it an awesome place to farm for more building materials any time I start running low. So much easier and faster than running around mining them from random plants and rocks on other planets, and I can just use my teleporter to step to there from any of my other bases if I need to gather more

So far if I had to describe my character I’d say they’re conflict-avoidant. Happy enough to just ignore the battles occurring around them, scavenge for salvageable crap, and build micro-bases. I am looking forward to unlocking more of the decor items so I can make bases that look comfortable, not just functional (I blame many years of playing The Sims for that interest...).

I’ve barely set foot outside my starting system yet, and don’t really have any interest so far in following the main storyline assignments or getting into any fights. I’ve only killed one pirate so far - mostly I just scram away from them as fast as my tiny ship can go - but I may beef up my weapons and shields a little, because being randomly attacked when I’m just minding my own business mining asteroids (for gold so I can build more solar panels) is getting old.

50 notes - Posted June 5, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Been wanting this print from @theshitpostcalligrapher‘s Etsy shop for most of a year now; finally picked up a copy this month as a birthday present to myself.

I’ve put it in sight of my bed, so I’ll see it first and last thing every day, and some day (hopefully soonish) when I get my shit together enough to move out into my own place again, I will probably make a point of it being the first decorative item I set out.

(Also I love the pretty tiled frame I bought to put it in)

222 notes - Posted August 15, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #Tumblr #Tumblr 2022 #My Year In Review #Long Post

[rosesaudio]

headcanons? info? about my 2 yautja ocs

Alright, I know I’m super super new to this community, but I still am a whore for making ocs so here I am lol. Sharing info about my guy and gal! I’ll tackle I’stui first then head over to Exile (name still in the works) Istui - Is surprisingly short for a female yautja, standing at only around 6′3

-Grew up in a cave dwelling clan, who would leave the caverns at day to hunt, and eat their kill with cave mushrooms added at night

-Due to her origins, she has a skin tone that can be more effective in the dark, allowing her to stay hidden while she can see almost perfectly in near pitch blackness

-Has her own ship. It’s a medium sized housing cruiser, about the size of a railjack in warframe. Has her bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, living area, and a dual library/trophy room. She uses her library mostly for keeping cultural writings from different human countries, as well as to organize her thoughts and research

-Doesn’t have a castor or bracer blades, her only weapons being her combistick, claws, and sharp ass teeth

-She actually enjoys eating cooked meats, aside from raw, and will often eat vegetables and fruits as well. Although, she has a particular hatred for citruses and strawberries

-Doesn’t have any actual friends. Yautja or not. Since she gets caught up in her research, often spying on people for weeks at a time, she hasn’t made the time to socialize or talk to anyone, but will sometimes considers the humans she watches ‘unrequited friendships’

-Due to this loneliness, she can get *very* attached. If she meets a human and decides she likes them, they’re not getting a moment of time away from her. She’ll do her best to appeal to others, just for the tiniest morsel of a chance for a friendship

Exile - Exile was raised in a mesa dwelling clan, making his skin a hue of dark oranges and reds. He is also fairly tall due to this, standing at nearly 8 feet tall

-He became a bad blood many many years ago, several generations by human standards. It’s been so long, that nobody really remembers him or his crime anymore, aside from the rare historian.

-He became a bad blood by killing an Elder in broad daylight, and when the Elder was not prepared for a fight. He had grown upset at some of the newest rules and legislation the Elder had put in place, spurring him on to attack and kill them to take things back to the way he wanted

-He quickly ran, of course. Taking a small cruiser, he flew to random planets, hopping between each one before finally running out of fuel

-With no fuel, and low battery on his armor and castor, he knew he wouldn’t have much of a chance of getting off the final planet. So, he improvised. Making his bracer blades into dual daggers, he started to live off the land and make it his

-Exile does everything he does for a reason. Everything is deliberate, and when it isn’t, you won’t know. If he spares someone, it’s cause he’ll use them later just to kill them or throw them to the wilds once he’s done. He’s angry, cruel, and a tough ass shell to crack.

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

So yeah! There they are! A crash course on my two Yautja, I’stui and Exile. I’m hoping to start a series with Exile as well, but I wanna get a few more parts of I’stui’s thing out. Plus! I wanna hear what people wanna see! So, ask for scenarios and I’ll be more than happy to oblige!

#predator #alien vs predator #yautja #yautja oc #oc #headcanons #lore #prey #istui #exile #badblood #writing

[dany36]

i did it!!! after 62 hours (162 in total), i completed new game+ in ultra hard!! wow, i didn't think I was going to be able to do it cus of what I had been hearing about it (plus i thought the game in normal was way harder than zero dawn in normal), but well, it's been done!!! and i'm really proud that i did it without using any of the legendary weapons. i didn't really wanna use them cus upgrading them was gonna be such a hassle (ESPECIALLY in ultra hard are you kidding me) and it uses so many sludges that i would rather keep for my new favorite weapon which got me through this ultra hard mode...the spike thrower!!! <3

i don't ever bother with "ultra hard" modes or 100%ing achievements, but i love the horizon games so much that i just can't help myself. overall i enjoyed this second playthrough just as much as the first one. knowing what was coming and being able to appreciate the cutscenes while recognizing the songs that would play from the OST (LIKE HELLO TILDA SAYING "YES, A SECOND CHANCE TO DO WHAT'S RIGHT" TO ALOY TWICE AND--OMG--THAT'S THE NAME OF THE SONG FOR THE FINAL BATTLE ALSDKJFLASDJFSDF) just made me love the game even more.

anyway, more random junk thoughts below

first time through i really didn't see the whole tilda-being-evil coming. i mean the game hints at it right before leaving to the zenith base but i really liked her character (plus carrie-anne moss plays her, hello) and i was really wishing that she was helping aloy and her friends because she really wanted to make up for her past. PLUS when aloy tells her that lis regretted how things ended between them, how tilda reacts is so LASKJDFLASKJDFLASKJDF like IMAGINE tilda regretting for 1000 years how their last conversation ended and then aloy's like "yeah lis was sad about it too" like i would personally just go insane (well i guess tilda did actually lol). so in the end when she reveals she actually just wants aloy i was like damn...why are u like this. oh well...thanks for saving aloy from the zeniths even if it was for a super selfish purpose i guess. ;(

THEN AGAIN i also totally missed the implied relationship between tilda and lis until aloy spelled it out for me. i was seriously like WAIT WHAT, I thought they were just seriously gals being pals!!!! so i mean i am not the brightest at picking up hints, so i certainly wasn't gonna pick up on the fact that tilda was going to be, in fact, evil and not doing it out of the pure goodness of her heart.

why did they make erend's dialogue to the zenith base so whiny. i was like omg erend plz stop. especially the part where he's like "you know, there's one thing i'm gonna regret about all of this" and i was like oh crap something deep is coming and even aloy's "what is it" sounded annoyed, so when erend says "all this climbing we had to do" i was like sir....please. you're not helping.

i love sylens's character so much. i swear every cutscene he was in i would just have the goofiest grin on my face. the way he expresses himself is just so damn entertaining to listen to. the banter and remarks between him and aloy are just the best. when sylens finally arrives at the base and teases aloy about the company she keeps, "are you going to actually ask a question or are you still playing catch-up", "stop waxing useless nostalgia and get back to the task at hand", like oh my god i think next time i play (once i FINALLY get a ps5) i'm going to have to record my favorite cutscenes/lines of him. i loved how aloy actually ASKS him to stay since they could really use his help against nemesis and then HE DOES STAY ALKDSJFLASKJDFLJAS hell yes!!! no i do NOT ship them like some people do but i REALLY love their....weird-ass-friendship-or-whatever-the-hell-they-got-going-on and i'm so glad we'll get to see more of sylens!!!

alva is hands down my favorite character from the second game (silga is close but alas she's just a sidequest character ;( ). like holy crap her voice actress really did such a fantastic job at making her so damn adorable, charming, and relatable. i would always look forward to any new interactions with her back at the base, and it's so cute how protective aloy is of her whenever you're on a mission with alva since she knows alva is not exactly a fighter. if alva didn't already have a gf i'd definitely be on the aloyxalva ship.

also i realized alva's theme song is "The Eye that Reveals" and just ugh that just made me love her character even more because that's one of my favorite songs from the OST even though it's so short alsdkjflsdkjflaskjdf 😭

although i'm extremely sad that talanah and petra didn't have more involvement in the main plot, i'm glad they at least didn't get the nil treatment. i honestly didn't even know he was in hfw until i finished the game and i started browsing the tag and saw people mentioning him. i was like WHAT the hell?? i avoided the racing game like the plague since i had zero interest in it so then there i went, racing with machines so i could watch the cutscene. i'm not a nil fan by any means but i was really curious as to how he would explain his change in career lol.

ultra hard mode in hfw was definitely harder than hzd ultra hard mode. despite this, i definitely died way less than when i played it in normal mode (i like to think i improved lol). the purple-level spike thrower became a must against any big machine cus i mean, that thing can knock down ANYTHING, even specter prime!! plus the explosive ones do some incredible damage. really glad i discovered its usefulness cus otherwise with just a normal bow+arrow i would have been done for, especially since they nerfed the ropecaster so much in this game.

i was doing most of the sidequests+errands in new game+ cus i thought there was going to be more use for the campion's tokens but...i got all the weapons, dyes, and face paints and still have like 30+ tokens with me PLUS i didn't do like 5 or so sidequests+errands so there's still definitely more i could get but...it looks like they give you more than you really need...

anyway, enough babbling about hfw for now. time to put this game to rest until dlc comes out. i'm kind of anxious at how the third game will wrap things up--for the second game i was really looking forward to it, but for this one i'm scared that they'll screw it up. oh well, hopefully the dlc for forbidden west will be just as amazing and fulfilling as frozen wilds was!!

#horizon forbidden west #hfw #horizon #junk #i'm on horizon-thoughts-only mode

[worldismyne]

For the shipping bingo game: Soul/Maka, Black Star/Maka, Kid/Maka. Heheheh.

Oooo full Maka sweep.

SoMa first

I am very much a fan of Maka having a crush on Soul and Soul trying to matrix his way into staying friends and not hurting her feelings lol.

I saw Stein say they seem to resonate, but don't and took that to heart.

I don't think it would work long term because Soul is very passive/cut off and Maka's insecure about their relationship from day 1. Very teen sweet hearts that break up after they stop sharing classes coded to me.

Still, I think the fandom has used the ship as a jumping off point to make great stuff. But I firmly believed fanon Maka/Soul > canon Maka/Soul.

Next Kid x Maka

On paper and politically, I think this would work. Especially post time skip. There's a reason I had them briefly arranged/engadged in my first fic. I think they could be good together.

I just hardcore ship them with other characters too much to make them endgame. Bonus points for Kid being an eldirch being that only appears human and ages/grows differently while Maka stays human. Love me some immortal watching their human loved ones die angst.

MaStar

Listen, my fic is breeching novel length, so I'm abt to go off.

But I will leave above the cut that this niche part of the fandom deciding his government name is Blake is a huge pet peeve of mine. Like, him choosing to identify as Star Clan with the name he was given and still holding his head high and demanding people recognize him on his terms is like, really important to his character. And 4kids-ing his name kept me away from a lot of the best written fics.

*inhales*

So I initially had this as a fringe one-sided ship in my first fic. I just kinda left them there on the chessboard and didn't think much of it.

Then after editing my old fic years later I wanted to do a sequel and that story beat was the only thing I had left open ended and when I thought abt it...

Maka and Black Star have such serious abandonment issues and workaholic tendancies, I can only see them getting together with someone after years of sniffing them out from afar.

So I did my lil one-shot of what I thought everyone would be up to after 20 years of 'peace' and realized as adults they'd be perfect for each other, since being the best at what they do is one of the most important things to them. Their general life goals lined up.

And I've been obessed with banging out this concept ever since.

Do I think they would have worked during the timeframe SE took place? Hell no. That would have been a flaming friendship ruining disaster.

Like post time skip he seemed a lil protective of her in canon, plus they constantly compare themselves to each other in the manga. But the manga left off with Black Star being a teen parent and Maka stuck spinning her wheels post time skip, still unable to shake this fear of failure. It seemed like a good way to tie off those plot threads (meanwhile Soul and Kid seemed to have pretty finished off arcs by the end). Been really enjoying having these two be equally stubborn about wanting them to work without ever saying it directly, and doing mental gymnastics to avoid acknowledging they're dating.

Both canons have Maka punching a god and fighting it head on, you can't tell me that power obsessed goober wouldn't find that hot.

Side note - I noticed while rereading Soul Eater miester/weapon romantic pairs/trouples were common, but in all iterations I don't recall seeing any meister/meister or weapon/weapon romantic pairs. So that's been an interesting concept to play around with too.

I fully acknowledge that this will always be a rare-pair. Though I value the 10-12 people consistently reading my fic abt them. I see y'all. I thank y'all!

#Soul eater #Ask game #Soma #Mastar #Kid x maka #Idk what the ship name for them is

[kadoodles-on-ao3]

So uh... How do you feel about Nikol's existence?

I technically shouldn't know who that is yet but... I do. And. Well. You can probably guess by how you worded this ask hahaha.

Not surprised at all, if you like them as a couple then good for you and hope you're enjoying the DLC, you don't need me on your side because they're canon so that can satisfy you content-wise plus my opinions are silly and don't matter, etc etc, all I've said before applies here.

Honestly, if anything, the only unique thing I have to add here* is how his design really demonstrates how much Shulk and Fiora look like siblings lmao. There's even a (really cool!) fan mod to alter Fiora's hair and skin color to look more like her (actual) brother, so I'm not alone in seeing this haha.

So, Nikol. He sure does exist. Dude looks just like Shulk because his dad and mom both look like Shulk so what else could he look like. That's about all the thoughts I have haha (at least until I actually play more of 3 and see what he's like).

Non-ask-related ramblings under the cut because it's me, of course I rambled haha.

As I really don't like to nor want to rain on anyone's parade, as well as enjoy talking about the ship I like (because of course), I've made an effort to mentally retrack my train of thought (? idk how else to describe it lol) whenever my NOTP comes up by converting it into an opportunity to talk about my OTP instead of complaining. (See also my comment on What If We Kissed In The Weapons Development Lab where I mentioned going back into my fic and adding more details of Shulk being enamored by Melia whenever I came across Shiora while writing it lol.)

So, Shulkelia kids! I'm personally not one for creating OCs, in general or for media I like. Not that I dislike them or even the thought/process of making them! It just doesn't come to me as easily or interest me as much as digging into canon details and playing around with them. But I did come up with a couple rough concepts for what they might look like and how their parents might decide on their names... if they even would want to have kids in the first place, that is, I'm still unsure about that haha. But fanfiction can be whatever you want it to be and that's the fun of it, so maybe sometime I'll try developing those small ideas into something more (especially if it's something people are interested in reading)! If anything I'm most attached to my little blurbs I wrote about how they and their kids would interact with Reyn and Sharla and their kids, lots of cute potential there :)

(*Well, I can add something more, and I originally was going to do it! Not to contradict my whole don't-like-raining-on-anyone's-parade point, but again I want to stress, my intention with this is I just really enjoy analyzing details and understanding why I react to things in the way that I do. But I did mention to a previous ask that I have in-game writing reasons for why I dislike Shiora, it's not just personal experience from my life outside of the fandom or in observing it. In fact on my first playthrough of the game I was all for it and even saved a bunch of fanart of the two together on my phone, I see it when scrolling through my gallery all the time! It really fascinates me how drastically my perspective shifted after just one small moment at the very end of the game, and then on replaying it everything fell apart like a house of cards to me, wild stuff I can't compare the experience to anything else haha. Anyway if anyone's interested in seeing my take on that aspect of their writing, once again, feel free to send me an ask about it!)

#ask #xenoblade chronicles spoilers #xenoblade spoilers #xenoblade 3 spoilers #xenoblade chronicles 3 spoilers #xc3 spoilers #thank you for the ask! hope my answer was satisfying despite being what you probably were expecting to hear haha #honestly i am a little conflicted on whether i want to keep playing 3... outside of how big of a time commitment it would be #it also really touches on something that is a major part of how i enjoy the media i do: #i'm very much a fan of stuff that is quite open to interpretation where they give you just enough fascinating details to act #as puzzle pieces that you're free to put together yourself or not or add your own pieces in that you made yourself if you want #see my undying love of the mother series haha #but xenoblade 1 very much taps into a lot of that for me #in fact that's basically what the prologue i'm writing right now is: me putting a magnifying glass on interesting #details and implications from the game about characters you don't see for half of it and putting together #my idea for what they could have been doing that we didn't get shown by the game #and one of the many (many many many) things i adore about 1 is its quite-open-ended conclusion #so to have a sequel that is basically directly telling you how the world and characters ended up years on #(especially when it was likely not planned from the start of writing 1's story as well #no hate or disrespect at all but you can just tell when it's something extending a story that wasn't originally meant to keep going) #it's hard for me to not lose some enthusiasm/interest in it #which is sad! i want to play it! i want to experience it how the devs and writers intended! #i want to join in and be hyped and happy and loving everything like everyone else seems to be! #i like the new characters more than i thought i would! the gameplay is great so far and there's a lot of good qol stuff there! #the music is phenomenal and i hear they reincorporate leitmotifs from 1 and 2 in key areas related to the themes and locations that #said leitmotifs are for and that sounds *incredible* to me as a musician and lover of orchestra/scoring! #but also i just can't help but feel like in the back of my head ''leave the story alone it was so good you don't need to add more'' #and ''please god let shulk and melia rest they look so tired'' lol #also it doesn't help that i have a pet (lmao accidental pun) peeve that i hate catgirls with a fiery passion so. yeah

[bonsai62]

I just realized something... I was talking to this person one time on a post before and as I was typing that’s when i realized something:

This is for my fellow Nobamaki & Itafushi shippers! If you guys don’t ship it then it’s okay! This is just like a small analysis in my eyes and the way I read things! I can be wrong or just love reaching on a shit ton of things but this is all for fun and I love sharing with you guys!

Let’s get started! Also, this contains spoilers!

Do you guys realize that Nobamaki/Itafushi actually parallel to each other? Let me explain in shitty English and basic grammar and vocabulary lol:

As I watch and read Jujutsu Kaisen I see a lot of parallels between characters; Gojo with Megumi or Yuji, Getou with Megumi and Yuji or Nobara and Maki... but what I want to parallel between characters is:

Yuji & Maki

1. Raw strength:

Both are hella fucking strong and for people who don’t have cursed techniques, they know how to kick fucking ass. What made me realize that both of them are the same is honestly during the baseball game. I like how we were able to see Maki and Yuji making a home run... okay well Momo fucked up Maki’s groove! Haha! But during the Tokyo vs Kyoto event, Maki and Yuji go ham on their enemy.

Yes, Maki used weapons but still, we can’t deny she got good speed and strength that is similar to Yuji’s. That’s why I wish I can see them both doing a bad ass duo fight together.

I have a small headcanon that Yuji actually enjoys training with Maki the most because I feel like he can understand someone who shares similarity in natural raw strength and speed. And Maki feels the same way and it’s a good excuse to bully Yuji as a joke. I would honestly love to see that! Lol!

2. Their story:

Yuji and Maki honestly have it bad. Yuji loosing his only family member (his abuelo) and becoming Sukuna’s vessel which leads him to a future execution. For Maki is the fact that her family treated her like garbage and having to leave her sister behind and eventually her sister dying.

Both Maki and Yuji share that same pain when it comes to loosing someone. We saw Yuji with Junpei and in the Shibuya Arc with Nanamin and Noabra. Again, Maki the same with Mai.

I think what made me even realize it MORE on how alike and how they parallel with each other are these images right here and how they worded their final saying:

In the Shibuya Arc, Yuji lost it. He lost it with Nanamin and Nobara (but luckily for Todo, he was able to pick his feet back up).

If I was Yuji, I would’ve reacted the same way because imagine having the idea you want to save people no matter what but people keeps dying around you or by you? It’s tiring and I would’ve had a mental breakdown too.

After kicking Mahito’s ass, Yuji says there is no reason anymore. For me, when Maki’s arc came it really reminded me of this:

When Mai died and was killed by her own dad. Her dad took away someone who was precious to Maki no matter how much they didn’t get along. Maki really wanted to create the Zenin clan just for Mai to be safe and free.

Again, same with Maki, I would’ve killed the whole clan too because of how in general the Zenin clan is and how they treat people.

3. Having a “curse”:

Nanamin to Yuji: “You’ve got it from here”

Mai to Maki: “destroy everything”

I don’t necessarily mean a curse curse but it’s more like final words that someone important to them said before dying.

For Yuji, he won’t die because Nanamin believes that Yuji can move forward and save the world.

As for Maki, Mai tells her to destroy everything in order for things to change (I might be wrong). It’s for the Zenin clan to start fresh. That is another way I kinda Interpreted (again, I can be wrong). Maki still isn’t done with destroying things plus she is going to move forward just like Yuji. 

I have a thing that if the higher ups find out about Maki, she would be on the verge of being executed as well. So imagine both Maki and Yuji together being executed.

Now on to the next pair!

Megumi & Nobara

Again, this is just me analyzing. But if you ship Itafushi and Nobamaki, you can actually see another pair that parallels to each other but so far I haven’t seen anyone compare them yet, or it’s just me lol!

1. No rivalries:

I think what I love about these ships so damn much is that there is NO RIVALRIES. Even if you don’t ship them you have to admit it is amazing seeing a m/m or f/f getting along without being damn rivals. I’m glad Gege decided not to do that especially towards the women because it does get so tiring that two women don’t like each other for no damn reason or fighting over the main guy or other main guy. At least when Nobara didn’t like Mai or Momo, she had a reason for not liking them.

And don’t get me started with Megumi and Yuji. I was so happy to finally see two boys be friends instead of the usual, boring rivalries. I’m a be honest with you, I was pretty shocked that Gege was able to make Megumi and Yuji be so close and trust each other as friends. It’s a breath of fresh air for the two ships like omg I was happy not seeing the basic shonen bullshit with the f/f and m/m relationship.

2. Hyping up their pairs:

What I mean by hyping them up, I’m talking about the potential that Maki and Yuji has that Nobara and Megumi sees from them. Nobara since the start acknowledge that Maki is strong and vice versa with Megumi with Yuji. What made me see that Nobara knows that Maki is just amazing and strong was during the baseball when Maki was able to hit almost a home run. Nobara just knew that Maki would be able to make that home run but again Momo ruined her moment! Lol!

As for Megumi, we see while the Tokyo students came up with a strategy to win against the Kyoto students, we see him saying that Yuji can actually beat all their asses without curse energy or energy(one of those). Megumi reassures to people that Yuji can take care of himself and is very useful. Another time Megumi reassured that Yuji is strong is when he was in his bed healing from Hanami’s attacks and when they fought tiger against that one dude (forgot his name)

3. Thinking about them/defending them:

Now… this is really what made me think why Nobara and Megumi parallel with each other

It’s becasue I feel like they’re the ones who are more attached and over protective with Yuji and Maki than how Maki and Yuji are with them.

Now, I’m not saying it’s vice verse with Maki and Yuji. But I’m talking about how Nobara and Megumi expresses it. Let me explain:

While reading and watching JJK, we see how Nobara is with Maki compared to anyone else. And no, I’m not saying that Nobara isn’t overprotective with Megumi or Yuji but just the way she is towards Maki. I would honest love to see how these girls got along and how they became close!

Ever since Maki and Nobara had that deep conversation about why Maki choose to be a sorcerer, that is when I actually started shipping them because of how much respect Nobara has towards Maki and it continues to develop more and more with the two of them. We saw how Nobara got super defensive when she fought against Mai (First time) and started dissing Mai. The second time was with Momo, when she was straight up talking shit about Maki.

I love how when Nobara was talking about Maki and Yuji when fighting against Momo. However, I felt a different vibe towards it as well. What I mean by that is that I got more of a “big sister vibe” toward Yuji and a “I love and respect Maki”

But again, I feel like Nobara had some sort of feeling and attachment toward Maki ever since that fight with Momo and more than anyone else too. However, that is just me though! You do t have to agree with my reaching!

For Megumi and Yuji… First of all… Megumi would not hesitate to pull a trigger if anyone is trying to harm Yuji. What made me see that was against Kamo and the Kyoto students. I swear that day Megumi was literally about to commit murder.

Yeah, Nobara got pissed but she went easy on them, but Megumi didn’t. Oh no, he was about to commit a felony. He wanted all the smoke. He wanted that curse. I swear I even felt how pissed he was. I just feel like every time and separates, shit goes down the wrong way and everything goes wrong.

For me, shipping Megumi and Yuji is a whole ass different post but I won’t do that lmao same with Nobamaki because I can write a whole ass essay why I love how compatibly/perfect for each other lol

Bonus:

But guess what… during the Kyoto and Tokyo event, same shit happened with Megumi like Nobara: Megumi was thinking of Tsumiki and Yuji. And again, I felt like it was still different when Megumi was thinking of Tsumiki and Yuji. I find it crazy how Nobara and Megumi were thinking about two people during that event:

Nobara: Maki & Yuji Megumi: Yuji & Tsumiki

This is my personal favorite image of Nobara and Megumi. *wink wink* it’s basically the same image on who is important to to them.

Again, for Nobara and Yuji’s relationship, I just love the way it is. She gives me “big sister” energy towards Yuji and vice verse. Yuji and Nobara are those chaotic siblings that are the hyper ones while Megumi and Maki are the chill ones that can actually keep them down. There has been one occasion where both Megumi and Maki calms Yuji and Nobara down because of how they were acting and I’m not gonna lie it’s kinda cute lmao:

4. Not leaving them:

During the Shibuya Arc, Maki and Nobara separates but at one panel, Nanamin was telling Nobara and Nitta that he was going to join the Zenins. Nobara quickly picked her head up and suggested that she wanted to join him in order for her to be with Maki (this is a stretch but hey Iike being dramatic) however, Nanamin quickly declines her and tells her that it’s too dangerous. I think she was disappointed that she couldn’t go, but hey, Nanamin is a gentleman and he knows when a child is gonna end up getting hurt. I thought it was cute that she was super worried about Maki and just doesn’t care and wanting to join her.

Now, up the recent chapters, Megumi really shows us that he doesn’t want Yuji leaving him or he wants to stay by his side. Those few chapters really made my heart feel some type of way because it just the way Megumi is for Yuji and I can honestly feel how much he cares for him. As I mentioned above, I feel like everything goes to shit when those two aren’t together and I hope that they develop more and more. There has been two more occasions where Fushi doesn’t want Yuji to be left behind; one during when they were in prison and the second during the fight against Hanamin. The eyes that Fushiguro gives Yuji is full of trauma and careness.

In conclusion, I can’t wait for Nobamaki and Itafushi to develop more and more in future chapters. Again, you guys don’t have to agree with me on this. This is just for fun and sharing is fun too! If I’m overreaching then I’m sorry I just can’t help it :(!!

I hope you guys enjoyed my lil analysis! I’m sorry for the bad writing, I’m not very good at translating my feelings as I’m typing because my brain goes all over the place lol! But please, feel free to comment or give me an ask! I’ll be happy to elaborate more for you guys!

Stay safe y’all! And good night or morning!

#jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen manga #jjk anime #jjk manga #jjk #itadori yuji #fushiguro megumi #kugisaki nobara #maki zenin #itafushi #fushita #nobamaki #makinoba #i’m just a mess #I don’t make sense #i’m sorry for being like this #I just want them to be happy

[sessrin-eternity2]

Yashahime Ep 36 English Dub

Part 1

Sesshomaru, Rin, Setsuna, Jaken, Moroha, Takechiyo, Hisui, Kohaku

Kyaaaaah! I love David so much! He done a great job with Sesshomaru! As did the rest of the cast for their characters. I love and admire this scene of how fast Sesshomaru is flying to save his wife's life, he isn't wasting no time, he is speed flying! Lol, Jaken struggling as he's hanging onto his Mokomoko is really funny to me.

Ouch... the way Rin weakly mentions Towa and Setsuna's names.... (ノ﹏ヽ) I'll cry all night, I never heard Rin speak in such a weaken voice before.

Jaken assuming Sesshomaru was flying fast to grant Rin's dying wish... Nooooo! Omgoshy don't! Why would you even say or think that Jaken?! (つ﹏<。)

It looks like Sesshomaru was having some trouble finding his daughters, it may had been the fact that Towa and Setsuna were in their human forms for a whole night or the fact they used that hand cream all night. Lol, poor guy. Well, the ogres did Sesshomaru a favor by talking about their plot, he overheard them and changed direction without even hesitating.

Yet again, Jaken has spilled the tea on Sesshomaru's actions... aww! He wasn't giving up on his wife Rin, he never wants to lose her, she is his everything. And now thanks to the official interview, we found Rin is Sesshomaru's heart. 💜 She is apart of him and his reasoning for living, it's just so beautiful! If he had of lost Rin forever from the silver scale curse or anything, it would probably straight up kill Sesshomaru, literally. That's like, pretty much saying he would die without her existence.( ˃̣̣̥ω˂̣̣̥ ) This man is in love! Rin is his soulmate.

Lots of Antis were so angry that Sesshomaru didn't do what Rin wanted him to do, they made up such ridiculous stuff about him having her imprisoned in the tree of ages... No, they just wanted her to die, they said many times while trashing Rin as a character. They just ticked off their theory didn't come true about if Rin dies, Kagura will be living through her from now on.

(I hate Kagura now thanks to them...hopefully it's temporary since I do in fact ship her with Adult Kohaku, I find them being a good positive ship, so it should be temporary since I'm still hyped about drawing them together one day. Anyway, I use to only like her as a character, I felt bad for her because all she truly wanted was freedom, she got it but in the most sad and tragic way. But then Antis with their horrible obsession with SessKagu had to destroy her character for me... They've put me and great fans and artists through a lot heck. (SessKagu in my opinion is one of the most Toxic ships ever... I had to block all of it's tags, especially blocked Kagura's too. And I'll be honest, I don't see Sesshomaru and Rin being with other people. I'm completely against seeing them with other characters as a ship but I never go harassing people, I just simply ignore it, block or mute because I find blocking some people or accounts is too harsh, especially if they aren't an Anti. I just prefer blocking Antis to keep them away me and so I can't see their posts anywhere. Plus, it's discouraging for my inspiration to see them with someone else other than each other, I've met a few artists and fans who feel the same way, so it's always best to feed your inspiration and not the stuff that discourage it.) So yes, Antis got mad at Sesshomaru for this, it was ridiculous. He didn't want his wife to die and also Rin didn't want to die either, she cried when Sesshomaru had to cut the dream butterfly to help Setsuna out with mastering her weapon. She knew what was gonna happen once that was done... The silver scales would start to cover her whole body until she rot away. Sesshomaru is and will always be a wonderful husband. ♡️

Aww, Moroha is just too gosh darn cute! And she even sounds concerned of her Aunt Rin, it's very sweet, she loves her family so much.

Lol, Kohaku is a Sesshomaru fanboy. He was probably cheering on the inside to see Sesshomaru after all these years, you can actually hear the excitement in his voice and he wanted to fight beside him, it's cute!

Sesshomaru is not showing favoritism in Setsuna by going to her first, this was a bad misinterpretation. He loves both his baby girls very much and probably wants these hardships to end as soon as possible so he and Rin can finally be with them. I'm sure he's curious of how to be a father to them and still needs his beloved's guidance and influences to help him understand it. The concern in his voice and the way he closed his eyes, worrying about Towa... really makes my heart melt on how caring he is, he has came a long way, I'm very proud of him. ♡(.◜ω◝.)♡ He's a great father in his own way. I always love how softly he speaks to his daughters, he's gentle and patient, it's beautiful. He truly knew Setsuna is the only key to calm Towa. And wow, I could hear the tension in his voice when he was taking out the ogres, he's definitely under a lot pressure with all the situations going on.

Part 2 ↓️

#sessrin #Yashahime English Dub Clips #sesshomaru #rin #towa #setsuna #jaken #moroha #yashahime #inuyasha #sessrin positivity

[haircoveredwriter]

I can’t escape Caryl even on vacation (not that I would want to but it’s not important). I had a dream the other night about what I could see/wish would happen in episode 11x07 and of course I’ve come to word vomit it here for all you lovely people because it’s all I know. This is going to be more in point formation to make it easier plus my internet is spotty out in the woods with no telling when it will pack up up and ship off.

Fair warning this will contain presumed spoilers from other eps which have and have not aired as well as theories so if you don’t want to know then this is your stop, time to get off the bus. Okay here we go.

****************

-Gabe chooses to go out and get captured by the Reapers so Maggie/Elijah/Negan can get away from the stash house basement, and meets Pope back at Meridian.

-Daryl goes out hunting with Leah for more info/tracking (maybe based on bad “intel” Gabe gave or they decide to go back to the area where Leah “found” Daryl. All still in the name of vengeance against Maggie yet we still don’t know why (though I think we’ll get tidbits from the reaper POV about why)

-Suddenly Leah pulls up her gun and Magna/Kelly/Carol emerge from the woods, causing Daryl’s eyes to blow wide. He plays along, raising whatever weapon they have him as Leah continues to shout at them, trying to find out who they are.

-Magna/Carol spin a whole story about how they’re not part of a bigger group, just the 3 of them after losing people along the way. Kelly keeps looking around at Daryl confused, signs to other woman about “what’s going on?” and how they need to get out of here.

-Leah yells at her, not knowing what’s going on and Carol responds with that Kelly is dead and then how they are out here trying to find her sister who they lost, but now they have a lead.

-Carol and Daryl keep passing glances(you know they ones), not needing to say anything but she does seem a bit shocked/hurt when he purposefully says Leahs name to let Carol know.

-Leah spots the crossbow over Carol’s shoulder and turns her attention and weapon towards her. Wants to know where she found it (with a few of the questions ‘asked’ by Daryl to keep up his charade).

-Carol gives her some sass back saying she found it and how do they know this is really theirs and that they’re not just going to steal their stuff and kill them, which pisses Leah off more and she steps forward moving the gun closer to Carol.

-After worried looks from Kelly/Magna she says “it’s okay, you can trust me” when in reality she signs as well “it’s okay, I trust Daryl”.

-Daryl shifts and gives that Carol look, obviously a little upset at himself for the situation they are in. Leah tells him to take his crossbow to which he replies “they don’t seem to know anything” and “they should let them go”. All the while Carol stands perfectly still despite Leahs growing frustrations.

-He gives in and goes up to Carol, coming face to face -inches away from the other- and removes the crossbow from her. But in doing so it shifts her shirt and Leah catches a glimpse of the knife she gave Daryl (noticing the engraved hilt) (the camera zooms in on it too)

-Cue the monumental freak out and starts losing it on Carol, yelling at Daryl that they need to take them back even as he tries to say there’s no point (act confused)

-Either Magna/Kelly try to take the gun away from Leah and they struggle before Carol jumps in to distract her so they can get away, and Daryl is too busy “helping Leah” from Carol to chase them. (Lol)

-Carol gets grabbed and Leah passes a dirty long look to Daryl but only says that their taking her with them….how she knows Carol has info they want.

Cue screen fading to black.

#caryl #carol peletier #daryl dixon #carol and daryl #twd #twd spoilers #twd speculation #twd theories #twd season 11 #the knife has to come back into play #and Carol won’t just let Daryls crossbow stay out in the cold #soo many meaningful glances #and looks that don’t need words #caryl is endgame #caryl theories #i need it