#themes of villainy I hope

[our-blood-is-our-ink]

—✧ Day One: Villains ✧—

Wanda finds herself in Westview after her magic saved her from being crushed by Mount Wundagore

She wakes up to discover Agnes has been tending to her for a few days while she had been out cold

For a few weeks, she allows this to continue

But Agatha's voice has been steadily growing louder in her mind

So she releases the Agnes spell, after casting runes to prevent Agatha from immediately attacking her

I won't say I'm sorry, but I can promise to make it up to you, if you swear your allegiance to me.

Only if you swear the same to me, buttercup

They essentially married each other and neither of them have realized it

Agatha still has a lot of FeelingsTM and EmotionsTM about Wanda's treatment of her

She needs an outlet

Wanda, in a stroke of brilliance, points her in the direction of Dr. Strange

Your goals and my goals aren't mutually exclusive. I want my boys, you want to make up for your past mistakes. And he'll try to stop both of us.

Wanda doesn't think she's ever seen anything as hot as Agatha in midsts of magical battle

She actively decides then and there I want to make her worse

World domination, people. She plots world domination.

And for Agatha's part, there's just something oddly appealing about Wanda with a spark of cruelty and deviousness behind her eyes.

She wants to kiss her so bad

They're an unstoppable force, with Wanda's sheer magical power, and Agatha's hundreds of years of magical knowledge

The first time they fuck it's on a battlefield, they've just successfully decimated another country's entire military.

Agatha initiated, but she quickly finds herself on her knees

She had idolized the Scarlet Witch when she was younger, and now that she's older, she knows that she had been right to

Wanda is a proper goddess born of Earth and of humanity, but has ascended and become something more, something beyond. Something ethereal and eldritch, and Agatha craves her in a way she never has craved anything else

The destruction and chaos she wields... Is it any wonder Agatha has found herself as willing a plaything as she could be?

Wanda's expression always softens, just a bit, whenever Agatha submits to her

She knows that to control the dark being on her knees before her is a single found rarity that only she has been gifted with

They get off on being violent, and egg each other on to commit some the worst acts of inhumanity anyone has ever bore witness to

Their fingers stain darker and darker, until it's crept up past their elbows, until they live and breathe darkness

Unhinged dark wives fr fr

The Scarlet Witch's destiny is either to destroy or rule

Why not both? Agatha whispers in her ear. Why can't we have it all, after everything that has been taken and stolen from us?

Agatha's destiny is to stand side by side the most powerful being the universe has ever seen

They're hella possessive of each other too

Constantly marking the other up, constantly wearing hickies and love bites as badges of honor, of pride, of she chose me over everyone else

Their love for one another is twisted and warped, but it's stronger than anything the world or universe has seen

#wagatha week #wagatha #harximoff #wandagatha #agatha harkness #wanda maximoff #agatha harkness x wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x agatha harkness #sky writes #sky's headcanons #c: agatha #c: wanda #c: wandagatha #c: harximoff #c: dark!harximoff #i am sorta burnt out in terms of writing so this has like #themes of villainy I hope #wagathaweek #wagathaweek2023 #wagatha week 2023 #wandagatha week #wandagatha week 2023 #wandagathaweek

[prince-kallisto]

Crowley’s “Piece of My World”: The Twisted Storyteller of Twisted Wonderland

This is a continuation of @moonlightequin1’s and I’s previous theory right here regarding Realm Dominance and “Piece of my World!” For further context, I recommend reading that one first. And to @camrastuff, I hope this post answers your questions on our take of Crowley’s magic!

Ray and I truly discussed a lot about Crowley and what the purpose of his Unique Magic could be for. As a small recap of the previous theory, we think that theme song for TWST, “Piece of My World,” is the name of Crowley’s Unique Magic. This is all tied back to Realm Dominance, a rare and ancient class of magic brought up in Book 7 regarding Malleus’ Overblot powers and how he puts everyone in his barrier asleep. Crowley’s “Piece of My World” has not only created the pocket dimensions inside the dorm mirrors, but may also have a similar potential to Malleus’ magic- as in it could take over the whole world.

It’s the “Villains’ World,” right? A world where there is a “true happily ever after.” A world where the OG Disney Villains won and are viewed favorably as a good people. But the game acknowledges that this isn’t the truth- through Yuu. Why can Yuu see the truth behind the Great Seven’s actions if it wasn’t accurate to Twisted Wonderland’s lore? That’s where Crowley’s Piece of My World comes in. Ray and I think that Crowley has been using his magic all along, and is quite literally the key and heart to Twisted Wonderland. Crowley constantly being associated with a bird with a key in its mouth is far more literal than it seemed.

Crowley IS creating the current world as we know it- through Realm Dominance that can literally change the world to what the caster desires. He is creating this artificial “happily ever after” for the students of NRC, where they can prosper and live as the people they are because of the deeds of this Great Seven. This world is not meant to be, but if he can imagine it, he has the power to change it.

Ray pointed out to me that so many of the game mechanics reference storybooks. The main game storylines are literally called “Books,” and blot is a very inky substance as well! And in the opening animation, there’s a very quick set of frames of an open book and spilled bottle of ink, before flashing to an image of NRC and then Crowley, in that order. The animation may be trying to hit that Crowley is literally writing the story of Twisted Wonderland. Crowley even points out that mages write or draw to improve their magic! Magic is all about imagination, after all.

But like Leona said about Azul in Book 3: magic is not invincible and has its limits and weaknesses, no matter how powerful it may seem at first. “All Magic’s got a loophole.” I think this is especially applicable on a world scale, where the magic is highly instable. It’s why the conflict of RSA vs NRC still exists, as a sign of the world where the villains lose. It’s why Yuu has the dreams and the visions of the actual villainy in Disney canon regarding Great Seven- they are able to see through the cracks of Crowley’s magic because they are an anomaly in Twisted Wonderland.

This all sounds too good to be true at first, especially for Crowley who is notably morally grey character throughout the storyline. He has little to no qualms of using Yuu as his pawn, with sly threats of removing Ramshackle, food, and money from them if they don’t carry out his dirty work. He’s very detached from someone who is the protagonist of the game. But that’s exactly what still makes Crowley a flawed character despite deeply caring for the rest of his students- he is willing to sacrifice the few for the majority.

Yuu quite literally is not from this world and was brought here unwillingly, and Grim is an artificial creature (a magical and likely forced fusion between an animal and a Direbeast) with no knowledge of his own past. Crowley also consistently refers to Grim as a “monster,” whereas the other characters through main story more respectfully call him a Direbeast and are overall chill with him.

Yuu and Grim are not the people Crowley is trying to save. They are pawns he picked out on purpose to sacrifice and serve the greater good, even if his plans don’t serve in THEIR best interest. But how exactly are Yuu and Grim Crowley’s pawns? Why does Crowley let the students Overblot if he’s trying to save them?

This is where to oh-so famous Time Loop theory comes it. It’s a popular theory that Twisted Wonderland is “looping,” with a world-ending calamity that forces the story to restart. This disaster is currently theorized to be Phantom! Grim seen in the prologue. Yuuya in the TWST novel also starts off with experiencing this event, referring to Twisted Wonderland as being a “wasteland from the start.” Hehe the way it says “anything that had ever been was merely an illusion.” I feel rather validated with this theory now \(//∇//)\

If Crowley is truly using Realm Dominance across the entire world, twisting its history and its people, he may essentially be “rewriting” the world over and over again in order to reach the happy ending. Crowley’s magic isn’t invincible- there must be a point in time where everything comes to a breaking point. The truth keeps forcing the nature of their villainy to light and bringing them to a bad end, because villains aren’t meant to have a happy ending. But he keeps going, turning back the pages to achieve a good ending.

Yuu has the dreams of the canon Disney villains and their crimes because that’s the truth behind Twisted Wonderland. It is also why in Book 5, they have a flashback of Phantom Grim. It’s not Yuu seeing the future- it’s Yuu remembering the previous versions of Twisted Wonderland before Crowley restarted the story. Yuu was brought into this world from a whole different one by the Black Carriage, a system Crowley has control over. Crowley is essentially writing in a new character into the story to help save the others. The Dark Mirror even considers Yuu a “blank slate.” It doesn’t matter if Yuu perishes or receives a bad ending, as long as everyone else is saved. As long as Yuu can be the “Beast Tamer” to control Grim and being the others together, that’s all that matters to Crowley.

Edit: I’d like to add I got a bit carried away with this point haha! I think Crowley’s relationship with Yuu and Grim is far more complex- and not him being a heartless person. It’s a very strange mix of Crowley indeed having a level of care Yuu (notable in the novel where he’s very kind to Yuuya and supports him in a gentle manner because of Yuuya’s skittish personality), but also willing to take a level of risk for their fate. There is the possibility that no manner what happens to Yuu in the world of Twisted Wonderland, they can be returned to their own world safe and sound. It’s just an overall complicated relationship, because Yuu’s distrust of Crowley in the main story has certainly grown, and I can’t blame them. There’s many sides of Crowley they just can’t see from their perspective, with Book 4 definitely feeling like a final straw of sorts. I hope Crowley’s care can come to light one day, because there’s a lot more there than he lets on.

Him trying to save the students seems ironic with all the Overblots going on at NRC, doesn’t it? But that’s exactly his way of saving them, while also sacrificing Grim. The Overblots, while extremely life threatening, have served each character and their respective dorm mates a lot of purpose. They've all grown more into their own people since their incidents, even it some progress doesn't seem as notable at first. And I think this extreme way of emotional outlet has improved the characters magic quality as well, from what we can judge from Book 6 and STYX. The characters working together to defeat the Titans and then Overblot! Idia and Phantom Ortho, to even Vil sacrificing himself for Idia. It’s so much progress!

If there is a bad end the students are forced to confront, Crowley is preparing them for the worst. Their magic levels, their bonds, how to face Overblots when there is no one else to rescue them. He is trying to prepare them for the future they must face and surpass in order to reach their happy ending. Because even if Crowley himself prevents the individual Overblots, the bad ending will always be inevitable, so he’s essentially brute forcing it for the slight possibility a good ending is near. It’s like Vil said in Book 6: even if there’s a 0.001 chance, it’s better than zero. In an older theory, I elaborate far more on the idea that I think Crowley is even causing the Overblots on purpose 👀

This where Grim comes in. Grim is eating all the Overblot crystals, crystals that Crowley knew about and was trying to collect himself. Crowley could easily intervene whenever Grim eats the crystals- it’s quite literally a running gag in the main game that Crowley pops up whenever he wants and conveniently at critical points of the game! How does Crowley know when to show up when there’s conflict or the characters are asking questions and confused? As the “storyteller,” he is essentially popping in the aid the characters and coax them towards the storyline they’re supposed to go to. But he won’t involve himself in the actual story, as he’s essentially an omniscient narrator, who knows things that the characters and the MC themselves don’t.

So back to Grim, Crowley doesn’t intervene because Grim is essentially storing all the blot inside him, preventing any contamination of the already unstable world of TWST. Grim is already a magical fusion between an animal and Direbeast, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the 1000 year old ancient magic used on him was done to force his body to be capable of retaining all the blot. Phantom Grim is a creature made up of parts from all the Overblots, like a Jabberwocky. In Alice in Through the Looking Glass (Official sequel to Alice in Wonderland. “Coincidentally,” the Looking Glass world is a world where everything is opposite as it should be) , the Jabberwocky is a creature that can only be slayed by the Vorpal Sword.

Ray and I think that Crowley’s plan is for the characters to slay Grim, as he is the disaster preventing them from their happy ending. Swords have become more prevalent in Book 7, with Silver and the Dawn Knight and even RSA’s logo being the sword. Since the Jabberwocky can only be defeated through very specific circumstances, it goes that Grim is the same way too.

But if Crowley is in control of the world, why not stop Grim himself? That’s exactly the thing- his magic is not invincible. Grim is an accidental side product of Crowley rewriting the world to be the Villains world. Grim must be the culmination of consequences for doing such a drastic thing with magic, and will always exist in every version of the story. He is the blot, he is the “ink” that’s being used to write these pages. It is the one primary thing that Crowley cannot overwrite, no matter his control at the omniscient narrator. The only way to not have Grim is not change the world at all, which is not what Crowley wants.

I know this idea seems complicated and overwhelming haha! Ray and I got pretty overexcited and yelling at each other through DMs, but it’s different trying to thoroughly word this out for theories! I will post the third and likely final part to this MAIN theory soon, which Ray also wrote a thread in Twitter. There’s so many side parts to this theory to cover, as we think it’s critical to the end game. Thank you reading all the way!! \(//∇//)\ I love hearing everyone’s thoughts and questions! ^_^

#twisted wonderland #twst #twst theory #twst analysis #twst dire Crowley #twst Crowley #dire Crowley #twst grim #twst phantom grim #twst yuu #kallistopost

[comicaurora]

I watched Castlevania: Nocturne the otger day and liked it a lot less than you seemed to, so I want to hear a more detailed opinion if you have one. Am I in the wrong to think it was more shounen and less "deep" in some way?

I'd say it's definitely more shounen. Introducing the "Richter can't do magic because unresolved trauma" thing right from the jump meant a Believing In Yourself powerup was pretty much inevitable, but I liked the execution of that scene enough that I didn't mind much.

It doesn't quite have the backbone of the original Castlevania, which was grounded so strongly in Dracula's apocalyptic grief - a motivation the audience is directed to find deeply understandable from minute one - that it gave the characters a solid thematic core to play off of. This let the writing stay pretty tight by letting Trevor serve as a foiling mirror for Dracula in their mutual disgust with the failures of human kindness, Sypha for Lisa in their altruistic use of their knowledge and their vilification for "witchcraft", and Alucard in the middle torn between worlds.

Nocturne is more loose and character-driven, but it still has a core theme - the argument over "the natural order" and how that plays into a fear of change from those currently on top. However, Richter doesn't really have a horse in that race, since his motivation starts and ends at Kill Vampires while everyone around him is more complex, trying to overthrow the aristocracy and free the enslaved and such. I think this makes Richter feel a little less important than Trevor was, narratively, because he sort of stands apart from the core philosophical debate at play. It took me a few episodes to get what his deal was and start caring about his self-actualization, and I think he's definitely got further to go. Possibly Alucard's presence in season 2 will give him more to play off of.

I think Nocturne has several independently interesting villains instead of one really good villain, which is a complaint I also saw about Castlevania season 4 - I liked Death just fine, but he really didn't work for everyone, and the secondary villains like Saint Germaine were much more interesting and complex. Nocturne does, however, pull off something Castlevania didn't as much, which is most of the characters acting on their own internal consistent motivation without cleanly falling into the "good guy" or "bad guy" box, causing them to slide into and out of conflicts and alliances depending on the circumstances.

I feel like Bathory is kind of a weak core villain with almost no human-level motivations or ideas beyond General Villainy, and the extent of her development being a darkest hour shonen villain powerup/frieza transformation doesn't help much, which is why I'm kind of holding out hope that they just bite the bullet and bring back Dracula. He's the nemesis from the Castlevania games, and while they gave him and Lisa a happy ending in Castlevania season 4, I don't think they need to keep him on the bench forever. It's been 300 years, Lisa is almost certainly long dead again and Dracula doesn't need to be full Mad With Vengeance Burn Down The World to still be a credible problem in need of a little Belmonting.

I had fun with season 1 of Nocturne with the understanding that the first four-episode "season" of Castlevania wasn't representative of the final shape of the story either. Sypha's character, for instance, was very flat before she and the gang went on their season 2 bonding adventure, not much more than some banter and infodumps. I think Nocturne did solid setup of the cast and the theme they'll be unpacking, and it has lots of room to explore these characters in interesting ways once they energy-ball-tennis Bathory out of the way first.

#asks #not aurora #media recs

[class1akids]

What do you think of AFO's backstory ?!

I thought it was pretty interesting lore-wise:

AFO being before the Glowing baby and possibly being the "original" or one of the originals makes me wonder what happens once AFO is destroyed

AFO and Yoichi being twins (very Romulus / Remus vibes!!!) means they share the same genetics, so clearly their quirk is connected somehow. Whether it's the same quirk split into two parts (AFO's ability to take and give quirks, Yoichi's hidden quirk of being able to pass his quirk) or whether AFO together with the nutrients syphoned the quirk from Yoichi originally other than that little room OFA is walled off in. There are lots of possibilities, including that there is a lot more to Yoichi's quirk than just the ability to give it, and Izuku will be the one to unlock that ability.

AFO's psychology is also interesting - clearly another case of nature vs nurture. Even if AFO taking his mother's quirk as a baby, that's not to mean he was born evil with no hope. Remember Eri also killed her father when her quirk came in, but with nurture, she got better. I think the lack of nurture for AFO with a clear predisposition to selfishness that spiraled out of control. So I feel like wanting everything to exist for his sake kind of leads back to trying to fill the hole he was missing.

Is their mother still inside AFO as a vestige?

How did they survive as babies? I have so many questions…

Again - Yoichi and AFO coming from the same backstory finding inspiration in the hero and the villain fits with the overarching theme of the story - where keeping your eyes fixed on a hero can be saving in itself.

The last image is pretty brutal - cutting off Yoichi's hand that reached for someone else and generally his obsession with his brother to me speaks to a deeper need than just "one tool he possesses". Maybe here the important thing is that Yoichi kept having hope for him despite all the evidence to his villainy.

Hope that we will get to see what happens exactly during the escape and how Yoichi manages to pass his quirk to Kudo. With him bleeding out possibly, maybe it's that blood, together with a dying wish is what leads to the "birth" of OFA.

#c1a asks #c1a reads bnha #bnha 407 #bnha manga leaks #bnha manga spoilers #afo

[lillified]

Oh!! Btw! I'm a drag artist and I'm doing a drag cosplay of starscream for pride and tfnation 2023 and sometimes when I question if the look is too fem or cutesy shaped, I think about your starscream and I remind myself that I'm serving cunt actually. Thank you for your service

hi!! I absolutely love both of the asks you sent but I hope you don’t mind me responding to this one with a little bit of personal musing—specifically about Starscream and femininity, lol. (long post warning!!)

I cannot stress enough how generally positive and supportive reception to my changes has been, especially in the case of Starscream—that being said, I do think about the occasional pushback I get every so often, and how it feeds into why I make the choices I do

starscream has always been a feminine character, which I think is part of why a lot of people are drawn to it in the first place—even talking to older fans, who grew up with the original show, there seems to be this implicit understanding that Starscream is something “other” (“pretty poison” as a beta name should tell you quite a bit). this is something that has remained relatively consistent in the entirety of transformers—albeit in, I’d argue, the worst way possible.

there are a lot of character decisions I dislike on a thematic level that vary across continuity, but one extremely reliable element of any Starscream is the way femininity defines their villainy. you’re never supposed to like the “feminine” traits. they’re played for jokes and comically exaggerated at best; at worst, any and all Starscream redemption arcs are completely dependent on grappling with emasculation, and shedding the feminine. Even in continuities where other characters (a whole other ballpark) are murderous, abusive, and violent, Starscream is canonically regarded as morally lesser, specifically because their villainy manifests in the feminine. masculine, “active” displays of malice are more noble and admirable than the “passive” and “feminine” act of quiet scheming and deception.

I’m not saying that Starscream doesn’t do bad things, obviously, but this is such a constant theme that it has thoroughly leeched its way into fan spaces as well. I’m not really active in fan communities anymore, but I will always feel frustrated with how the character’s femininity is simultaneously misunderstood and exploited, because that is the natural reaction to femininity. it is inoffensive and clean and neat, and it fits into one of very few digestible archetypes, because it is not perceived as a natural form of expression, but an other. it is only allowed when it is attractive and easy to understand.

this is something that extends to women, as, obviously, in a performative binary womanhood is a shorthand for femininity. “woman” is an other, and feminine women exist in palatable, digestible archetypes. even with all the progress we have made it is really not common to see women or feminine characters in general treated with equal respect or interest, and, the more you pay attention, the more you’ll notice a total apathy for their feelings, struggles, and complexity.

I know this is all really dense, but I bring that all up to say that there is a reason I want to spotlight and elaborate on Starscream’s femininity. it’s a trait that is inherent to the character, but I’d argue that there hasn’t ever really been a moment where that femininity ever manifests as something positive. it’s a derogatory label, but never something the character owns.

I want to see a Starscream that is confidently feminine and “cutesy” because the character has never been afforded that luxury! moreover, I want to portray a fully femme Starscream because there is no reason that should change the character’s complexity or their queer association! (I once saw the argument that making Starscream a girl would be “erasing the character’s queer history” and that kind of sums up the casual effect of misogyny in these weird online spaces, lol. granted that doesn’t mean you can’t project or imagine any gender identity you want for the character—I think that’s very good, actually!!) even though I have never personally been a feminine person, I’ve always been really attached to Starscream’s femininity and the idea of a femme-presenting version because there was a sorely lacking character type I desperately wanted to see—a messy, bitter, and by all means “evil” person who was also feminine, without those things being linked via cause and effect. I hope that makes sense?? essentially, a very feminine girl whose femininity wasn’t the implicit or explicit cause of their moral failings, and was instead treated as. yknow, a neutral mode of expression

anyway, I am very sorry for saying so many words about something pretty trivial here. if you couldn’t tell transformers was the thing that first got me thinking about gender and themes and media critique as a child, so i have feelings like this, lol. none of the problems I listed here are ultimately all that serious and they certainly aren’t exclusive to the robots, but it’s something I really wanted to talk about!

TL;DR: Starscream’s gender is what you make of it and i think you shouldnt stop yourself because it is accurate to the character, actually! I hope that I can encourage people to think outside the box of what rigidly exists in writing and expand their horizons to what the art is trying to say, and how your experience is important :)

sorry again for the long post jeez!!

#transformers #ask #starscream #text post #text #long post #long #i am so sorry for talking at you oh my god

[follows-the-bees]

Weekend at Bobby's aka How Bobby Got His Soul Back is such a pinnacle episode for both S6's plot and characters.

It is one of the rare episodes that doesn't revolve around Sam and Dean. Part of this is because it was the first episode Jensen directed & less screentime helps.

Characters

Many characters are brought front and center this episode.

Jody is brought back and is shown to already be an ally to Bobby and the Winchesters. She tried to help with the FBI agent and also risks her career to save Rufus from jail. Her and their loyalty will just grow stronger as the show goes on.

Rufus is also brought back here and we get to see Bobby with his oldest friend. Their chemistry is unmatched and they should have had more episodes!

Garth is mentioned for the first time.

And of course Crowley. We learn about his past, his name, son, where he's from, as well as that he has been promoted as the King of Hell.

Sam and Dean get their asses handed to them by Bobby because he is right. Sam and Dean can be selfish, I would argue that that is a small theme of the season that leads to the ultimate conflict with Cas at the end.

But mainly we get to see Bobby in his every day element. How many other hunters he helps, always answering the phone, staying up late into the night to help, even breaking into the library. I love this character deep dive of him we get.

Foreshadowing

- Burning of bones. We learn that you can burn a demon's bones. Later used as the reason why Bobby & Sam suspect Cas of betrayal.

- Crowley becoming King of Hell, making him a big bad for further in the season/series

- When Bobby is yelling at Sam and Dean about their selfishness, he mentions how he does everything for them. He is always there to help them when they need it. This same sentiment and words will come out of Cas' mouth later that season when he talks to Dean.

- Did I mention Garth?

Comedy

The amount of dry and dirty jokes in this episode is high. Crowley is just dripping with semi dirty jokes, from the I hope this is paint, to the reason he sells his soul, he is at peak evil villainy. I love it.

WAB offers so much as an episode and it deserves to be in the top episodes of the season.

Camerawork is used to create visual gags, there is even physical comedy with Bobby going through the window.

Sam and Dean are brought into the plot and only really shown through phone calls.

Overall, the style of this episode is different than others and makes it standout.

#Jensen really came out swinging in his first directing job #weekend at bobby's #supernatural #spn #dean Winchester #bobby singer #castiel #jody mills #crowley spn #rufus turner #episode 6x4

[forthegothicheroine]

Let's make a Villain!

Last time we made a henchwoman player character for Henchwoman RPG, a hack of Maid RPG. This time we will make a villain the players can work for! You don't actually have to fully roll up a villain for this game- as an NPC, they can be limited to a general concept and a few stats- but it's always fun to see what the dice give you.

By popular demand (my husband's) we will be making Mr. Sparkplug! But how seriously should we take this often-rebooted criminal? There are two things to determine this, their Level and Tier. First, the level- how long have they been at this?

To determine this, roll 1D6. We rolled a 3, meaning he's an Apprentice! If he keeps this up, maybe he'll get all the other villains not to laugh at him!

Now for the tier...

On 1D6, we rolled another 3, making him a C-Lister- which is frankly better than he should have hoped for. He's not a complete joke, but a lot of his villainous schemes will probably be about improving his name recognition.

Next up, let's give him two Special Qualities!

Roll 2D66 to determine special qualities! We rolled 2 and 4 for Musical, and 3 and 2 for Ridiculous Prop! Wow, what a guy! Let's say he carries around a big, silly steampunk lightning rod, and oh how he likes to make it sing!

But what, exactly can he do? Let's give him a Power or two! A villain starts with two powers by default, though I may change this to add or subtract powers based on level and tier. For now, Sparkplug gets two of these.

Roll 2D6 twice for this table. In our case, we got 2+1 for 3, Brilliance, and 6+4 for Wackiness! (I promise I didn't fudge that roll!) He has a very stupid gimmick of making electrical outlets turn off and on, but damn it, he's going to find the cleverest uses of that power he can!

Now we go over to the Henchwoman tables to finish him up. First, his Stress Explosion.

Rolling 1D66 for this, we got 2 and 2, meaning he burns off stress by Gambling! Let's hope he gets away with rigging the slot machines' power outlets before the mob catches him.

Now, the Color table.

Rolling 3D66, we got 1 and 6 for vermillion eyes, 6 and 3 for gold hair, and 6 and 2 for an indigo outfit. Looks like he's aiming to be the next tumblr sexyman!

Finally, his actual Attributes. This is important to understand- a villain's stats will almost always suck compared to a henchwoman's. Villains are meant to be cool but useless, reliant on their henchwomen to pull off pretty much anything. Athletics, Charm, Skill, Cunning and Luck are each 2D6/4, and Will is automatically 2 (Spirit is 20, based on this.)

Rolling down the line, Mr. Sparkplug has Athletics 2, Charm 1, Skill 2, Cunning 1, Luck 2, and Will 2. He's going to need those henchwomen if he wants to get ahead in villainy!

A few notes at the end:

We rolled a Theme for our henchwoman, and it makes sense if all the henchwomen and the villain share that theme. However, that is not necessarily true. Sometimes villains put together teams of minions with different wacky gimmicks. Sort of like some kind of "high risk of death gang" or something...

Once upon a time, villainy was a boys club, and being a henchwoman was the next best thing for a villainous woman. Times have changed, and the field of big time villainy is much more egalitarian now. Henching remains a pink-collar profession, however. Obviously your characters may be any gender, and can care about default expectations as much or as little as you want.

Next up, I'm working on the lair creation and random event tables. Updates to come!

#henchwoman rpg

[opal-inna]

I was thinking of Megamind’s theme of heroes being made instead of born and the parallels between Megamind and Hal.

You can see how Megamind is trying his best, but Metroman is more privileged, so Megamind gives up. He had always had bad luck, compared to Metroman, so he thought it was his destiny to be a villain. So when Hal seemingly has everything delivered to his doorstep, it’s destiny that wanted this to happen. Megamind believes that it’s up to forces greater than him that make heroes or villains. And Hal had all the gifts Megamind hadn’t, and he chose to use them for evil.

But then I looked deeper into it. I compared Hal with Megamind. Both of them were social outcasts. Both of them were nerds. Both of them were in love with Roxanne. Both of them were rejected by her. And both turned to villainy when things didn’t go as they had hoped. In a dark twist of fate, one could recite the famous cliche  “we’re not so different, you and I!”.

But obviously, they are so different. So what sets them apart?

Both of them wanted approval, but Megamind seeked acceptance from society and Hal sought to win love from another person. Both of them had a skewed idea of how human relationships work and both tried to follow in Metroman’s footsteps to get there.

But obviously, they failed. Because it’s not how it works. Again, they’re similar in this department.

And then it hit me.

Both of them tried to imitate Metroman to gain something- gain approval in their example. But you can’t just win someone’s approval, it’s up for them to decide whether they give it to you or not. And you may only get it by being genuinely good yourself. Even if both chose villainy, time and time again, Megamind proved himself to be good and Hal proved himself to be evil.

Here’s what I found so far.

Hard work

Megamind had worked hard and it gave him no results, so he thought it was meant to be. He put a lot of effort into creating devices that were supposed to imitate Metroman’s powers. Hal had everything given to him, which made him feel entitled to everything he desired. 

Humility

Both of them had been rejected and degraded. But Megamind had enough humility to reflect on himself. He didn’t blame Roxanne for rejecting him (albeit the scene where she tells him to apologize and Megamind misunderstands and turns it around is hilarious). Rather, he blamed his status as a villain. Though he didn’t blame his choice to become a villain, but his destiny to be one- “Villains don’t get the girl”. However, Hal had an advantage of a status of a ‘hero’- one given to him, not the one he chose. He feels entitled to her love, so when she turns him down, he blames her. He played his part of being a ‘hero’, but she didn’t play her part of being a prize. She broke the rules.

Megamind had also reflected on what Roxanne told him. He corrected his mistakes, cleaned up the city and returned what he stole. He didn't have to, but he did it to make her happy and made an effort to be actually good.

And Hal has been actively gaslighting and lessening her, just to protect his ego.

Relationship with Roxanne

Obviously, I also had to include their relationship with Roxanne, and oh boy.

I know I’ve talked about it for the entire time, but I need to go in depth, because it’s a whole thing. Bcos Hal didn’t just have had his powers handed to him. He was also privileged even when it comes to their relationship with Roxanne. Hal had lots of time to form a real connection and friendship with her, but he chose to treat her like a prize he could win if he played the game right.

Megamind was doomed from the start, because he’s a villain. Yet when given a chance, he showed her his true self, became vulnerable with her and they shared each other’s nerdy passions. Though under another person’s skin, he showed her his soul and they formed a genuine bond. Megamind proved to be a better person, because he showed her true respect, valued her for her positive traits and just treated her as a person. 

#megamind #megamind fandom #roxanne ritchi #hal stewart #analysis #honestly #I probably couldve used gifs or better quality screenshots #but im too lazy #so this is what you have to deal with #Im so normal about this movie #I love it so much #theory #I also noticed so many little details #but that would be off topic #but like hal constantly contradicting himself #like when megamind said 'would metroman have kept me waiting?' #and later when hal is threatening to kill roxanne he says 'don't keep me waiting' #or when he invited roxanne he said that he invited a wedding photographer #in case they wanted to have a photo to keep 'forever and ever' as a reminder #but when she rejects him he threatens to destroy metro tower #because it's a reminder of a day she rejected him #and he 'hates reminders' #food for thought #dreamworks

[mylittleredgirl]

previously on mylittleredgirl: [four seasons of m*a*s*h] [six weeks of screaming about margaret houlihan]

i have now finished season five disc one and a bullet point recap is due! [yeah there's more screaming in it]

bug out was a fucking DELIGHT

god i was so worried though when klinger had to trade all his dresses i was wailing internally. what if he just wears fatigues forever!?!??? but it's all okay!!!! that tassel mod dress he has on in "the abduction of margaret houlihan" healed me ten times over. his outfits have been 🔥 this season.

such a mix of really dumb slapstick comedy and "oh god the war is Right Here" drama and little character sweetness... love it.

and the family reunion happiness at the end!!!! god bless. i left my body for like thirty-six hours.

i really really love the tone they're striking with frank this season. they've walked back the cartoon villainy of late season four, so he's once again a relatively harmless clown. i breathed a huge sigh of relief. he's soooo much more fun this way.

margaret's engagement: bonkers. delightful. she's unbearable. there is so much wrong with her. i want to study her in a jar. i will never shut up again.

with this put together with some bits later in the disc (including that cut scene crayon joke lmao), did she somehow manage to trade DOWN from frank? is that even possible??? it's either that or this new dude is actually just The Exact Same Guy, but now she'll be the fool wife at home instead of the beloved mistress.

i mean personally if i were louise burns i'd be very happy for my dumbass husband to fuck around on the other side of the world for as long as possible while i enjoy the $35,000 house and two cars without him, but for someone like margaret who is far more interested in being wined and dined than running a household, this... may not be the field promotion she thinks it is.

hawkeye rising to frank's defense and him and b.j. enabling frank's little takedown of margaret at the end felt very real. sure, in the grand scheme of things, margaret is Annoying and frank tried to have hawkeye executed last season, but bros before hos.

okay how FUNNY would it be though if the "little redheaded nurse" frank planned to seduce was baker-from-the-nurses, because she would have scratched frank's eyes out for trying and not felt bad about it

and actually, that's a plausible backstory for the extra bad blood between her and margaret, too??? oh yeah. that definitely happened.

i actively missed frank/margaret as the disc went along though. maybe the show had stretched the tension of that relationship as tight as it could go, and it's nice that they get to do new things... but they're so funny and awful together and i miss them sharing scenes!!!

i really assumed - like frank did lol - that they would continue to rabbit around together, only now she would also get to string him along with the jealousy game, but...... well, i'm glad it's still hanging out in the background of the narrative, anyway. i live in hope that they will slip and fuck and it will be soooo messy.

FUCK is it possible i shipped that for real???? god. i don't know if my family name can bear this dishonor.

out of sight, out of mind...

...has taught us the very important lesson that hawkeye is 9000x more annoying without something to do (annoying to everyone else i mean!! not to me. i will happily watch him annoy everyone.)

him asking b.j. to visit him a million times a day 🥺

i'm almost satisfied now by the "doctor-experiences-the-role-of-patient" theme that i didn't get in "hawkeye." i suppose hurt/comfort fic can take it from here.

however i'm totally satisfied by how sweet it was to see everyone taking care of him!! and how much they love him!!

lt. radar o'reilly... devastating. i mean funny and delightful but it's mean!! so glad that boy is back in stripes. however they could have at least promoted him a little for his trouble. sergeant o'reilly???

i have already said more about the nurses (post here) than ever needed to be said. and yet. i'm quite sure i could say more if pressed

the abduction of margaret houlihan

........ will i never be free of colonel flagg episodes 😞

i love the continuing evidence that she has invested time in learning korean, and i really really really love the slow expansion of our perspective to include like oh yeah. there's a village where people live full time and it's literally right here.

imagine if after the war she becomes an ob nurse...

on the one hand, how do they not make frank do gun handling training. on the other hand they probably don't because it always ends with stitches and an accident report.

i sometimes wonder if mash was like jury duty for asian actors in the 70s. you probably won't get to say anything but they call you up and you just have to go.

dear sigmund!!!!!! this is another episode where people were staring at me through the window so i'll comment a little more:

the fandom's favorite guy sidney freedman deserves that crown. what a weirdo. talk about a busman's holiday for a psychiatrist to come to the 4077 for a vacation and psychoanalyze everyone. but for fun!

i really don't have a proper sense of the geography at play here because he really does like. just come by to play cards once a week. and drives through a war zone i guess to do it? he has probably sacked out in the swamp before when the air raid situation changes but this time he just... doesn't leave.

and aaaa!! margaret took her very special episode about How To Make Friends to heart!!!! she joined the poker game!!!

she had plenty of time to work on that lesson though because the jeremy bearimy time shenanigans are in full swing here at the 4077. we went from midsummer in 'the nurses' to a bitter cold march two episodes later.

i always kind of assumed the mash weather was loosely inspired by real human weather, but no, in fact the actors just have to randomly suffer in parkas or getting sprayed in the face to look sweaty in alternating weeks regardless of the surrounding conditions.

SUFFERING for their ART

also jfc b.j.!!!! dunking frank in cold water in freezing temperatures is a serious health and safety concern my dude!!!!

i'm afraid b.j. is still not beating the little brother allegations, he has just aged up from innocent baby to fucking gremlin

(i should confess that my little brother diagnosis is guided by the fact that in my complex family and housing history i only ever lived with "brothers" younger than me, and never older ones. but the innocent baby and prank gremlin stages are real.)

i made a note here of "margaret randomly drinking gin in the swamp now!!?!??" like the poker game was one thing, people could strong-arm her into that while she feigns protest, but ma'am WHO are you and what have you done with— and then the next note is "oh good she's still insane"

potter named his horse sophie <3 also he's collecting granddaughters, i think the count is up to 3 now. or baby sherry is experiencing a temporal anomaly of her own!

the letter radar wrote to the dead guy's parents and potter reading it... fucking ended me. please let harry morgan do serious bits more often, it's outstanding and far too rare.

it's not surprising that frank's wife changing (wearing pants! doing activities!) would stress him out, and not just because he's a dick. any of them would struggle with their families growing without them, because that means they can Never Go Home to the life they left!! (e.g. trapper losing it because his girls were getting older.) but it is kind of fascinating that he loves both his wife and margaret, and even said mid-fever that he wanted them to be friends, but he also wants them to be NOTHING alike.

all in all it's understandable that sidney would check in to the no boundaries motel to have his poker buddies shake it out of him, but he could also have taken his leave somewhere with indoor heat. so he's as crazy as the rest of them. <3

also they're not his patients he's just observing them like zoo animals so forget confidentiality he's absolutely gonna write a book about them someday.

mulcahy's war: i don't know why i have been misspelling his name with an 'e' the whole time because it was literally in the end credits of almost every episode for four seasons.

oh god he's so precious i don't talk about it enough. playing poker for orphans. feeling like he doesn't do enough while potter thinks he has the hardest job. that unrelenting positive regard for everyone. always with that little grin.

that little grin in FULL PLAY as he sneaks out of the house to go off to war when dad's not looking

radar should never be sent on a mission where people are bleeding when will they LEARN

corporal cupcake deserves every medal he gets!!!!

frank's foot fetish becoming his one true medical specialty is just. i don't know what to do with this. good for him??? do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life???

speaking of unrelenting positive regard, margaret's policy of nurses never talking back to the doctors in the operating room sure has taken a hit. i realize this is about frank being an intolerable ex, but i choose to believe that the detente between margaret and her nurses has turned the O.R. into a pvp zone. the next time hawkeye tries to seduce a nurse over an open body, he's gonna get wrecked and margaret's just going to shrug pretty and look the other way.

in conclusion: season five is soooo gooooooood!!!!! can't wait for disc two!

#mashblogging #it's about time i watched mash #if you read all this you get a medal 🏅

[denimbex1986]

'Last month, the BBC offered an apology of sorts after a red-carpet reporter at the Baftas asked Andrew Scott, star of the film All of Us Strangers, about fellow Irish actor Barry Keoghan’s appendage. This had been the subject of conversation thanks to Keoghan’s naked dancing in the film, Saltburn, in which Keoghan’s floppy bishop steals the final scene. To settle this nagging concern the BBC turned to a gay man. ‘There was a lot of talk about prosthetics. How well do you know him?’ the reporter asked an annoyed Scott who shook his head and walked away.

Had a female actress been asked to authenticate another woman’s breasts, the scandal that would have ensued goes without mentioning, but the BBC dusted it off. ‘Our question to Andrew Scott was meant to be a light-hearted reflection of the discussion around the scene and was not intended to cause offence,’ the organisation said.

The gynarchy has made clear that objectifying men is perfectly fine and, after all, what’s a little light-hearted homophobia when gay movies are having a renaissance? All of Us Strangers – nominated for six Baftas but ultimately snubbed, and Saltburn, nominated for five – joined a handful of other gay titles that studios have banked on attracting an audience beyond the 4 per cent of the population who might traditionally see those films.

Where the box office didn’t pay off, critical acclaim largely has. 2020’s Supernova, staring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as a 60-something gay couple, and last year’s drama Passages directed by Ira Sachs, have also inched into a market where such movies typically didn’t belong.

‘Why are gay movies always so sad,’ people used to ask in the 1990s. Thirty years later, nothing has changed. Gay flicks tend to have three themes – loneliness, death, and villainy – and this recent batch of movies is no exception. The miniseries Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, released last month and based on writer Truman Capote’s final years, nicely encompasses all three.

‘New film All of us Strangers centers on gay loneliness and trauma,’ a headline on NBC News read, as though that’s anything new. And while I don’t know what ‘trauma’ is, I do know that gay people have always fixated on it and, increasingly, so does everyone else. Gay films haven’t changed, but the audience has. Women are lonelier, more promiscuous, and more atomised than ever and now they’ve discovered a whole sub-genre of cinema speaking to that and aiming to nurture those anxieties. Just a hunch, but the ladies sobbing along at home to Supernova are probably childless and spend many hours a week on Zoom calls.

When a gay film meanders too deeply into gay insider baseball, like Billy Eichner’s 2022 romantic comedy Bros, it bombs. The most resonate gay movie of all time might continue to be 1970’s The Boys in the Band, but the 2020 remake flopped, probably because it’s a story devoid of hope and beauty, only messiness and casual destruction –something gay men understand but remains far too raw and excruciating for women to enjoy.

Then there’s the other side of it – the neutered gay fan fiction written by and for women, like Amazon Prime’s horrendously stupid 2023 film Red, White & Royal Blue, which offers women magical gay pets to carry around in their dreams. When I asked the feminist writer Louise Perry about these films, she said:

"These are usually gay relationships represented in a uniquely feminine way: intensely emotional, no casual sex, very unlike gay porn for men.

I suspect that young women find these gay fantasies attractive because they’re scared of the asymmetries inherent to straight relationships, in which women are always the more physically vulnerable party. So, they invent fictional gay men and give them a style of sexuality more typical of women.

She continued: ‘Will & Grace was obviously created for women because the gay male characters are weirdly asexual,’ reiterating something gay men have speculated for some time, noting that the bitchy and boozy, heterosexual Karen Walker was the only character they gravitated toward.

That’s not to say women can’t write great gay stories. Brokeback Mountain, the most critically acclaimed gay movie of all time, was based on a short story by Annie Proulx, who revealed in a 2009 interview her frustration with fan letters wishing the story had ended on a positive note. Those ‘idiots’ who want a happy ending, she said, overwhelmingly tended to be men.'

#Andrew Scott #BAFTAs #All of Us Strangers #Saltburn #Will & Grace #Brokeback Mountain #Annie Proulx #Karen Walker #Red White & Royal Blue #Supernova #Passages #Feud: Capote Vs The Swans #Bros #The Boys in The Band

[grishaverse-chaos]

The Darkling

why I like them: could have been SO GOOD in theory okay? I will never shut up about this because "character who everyone thinks is evil is actually just the victim of a smear campaign and some really bigoted propaganda" is SUCH a good character concept and I wish darkling fans were right about him because it would be so fucking cool and aesthetic

why I don't: he uh. he isn't that. he could have been so fucking iconic and instead he was just a vicious murderer. who grooms teenage girls.

favourite episode/scene: LOVE the bit where alina stabs his hand in s1e8. tbf that's more of a fav alina moment than anything else lmao, let me think... okay fr I love the "fine. make me your villain" scene bc it just really showcases who he is as a character and how he sees himself (hint: those two things are not the same)

favourite season/movie: imo he's better written in s1 of the show than in s2, idk though. and I do love his story in the kos duology lmao

favourite line: that one bit in rule of wolves where he says "everything I have done has been for ravka" because it's so clearly Not True and yet.... he clearly thinks it is.... so where does intent stop and impact begin...... it's deep okay

favourite outfit: purely for shits and giggles I'm going to say his black kefta in s2 where there's bits of gold bc I loveeee people being haunted by those they've wronged and I think alina haunting him really fits into that theme

otp: no thank you! in all honesty he prob could have been Fixed™ if he'd had a genuine relationship at an earlier age but he didn't so I refuse to inflict him on any other character. darkolai is interesting to consider though bc I feel like the ways they see themselves clash so heavily.... it's about self image and it's about villainy and law and justice and power and and and. they would Not be a good relationship but I think they should interact more for the Narrative

brotp: his sister ulla! they'd have such a fun sibling dynamic lmao I think it'd be sweet

headcanon: tbh I don't tend to think about him much beyond the big narrative stuff so I'm struggling to think of something that fits the genre of "headcanon".... but let's humanise him a little! I bet he reads really literary fiction and gets ever-so-slightly pretentious about it lmao

unpopular opinion: is it unpopular to say that despite his original good intentions he's a bit of a dickhead and not as smart as he thinks he is? in some corners of the fandom it totally is but idk

a wish: at this point there's not much more that could be done with his character beyond what's already been set up (him being mercy killed so he's not suffering in the thorn wood for all eternity) so I'm going to say that I hope his stans get better reading comprehension bc dear GOD some of the takes I see (posted in the alina tag btw I'm not deliberately seeking them out) are absolutely horrendous. is that too salty? perhaps. idc though it's my blog and darkling stans are free to block me if they don't like my takes

an oh-god-please-don't-ever-happen: I swear if he goes NEAR alina genya or zoya again I will reach through the fourth wall to kill him myself. only half joking btw I'd be so pissed. imo they've all had the closure they need narratively and for him to seek them out again would be a dick move of the highest degree

5 words to best describe them: used to have good intentions. that might be cheating but idk if I can pick 5 random adjectives lmao

my nickname for them: I call him darkles sometimes (bc it's funny and also I think it'd piss him off if people called him that in-universe) also a lot of less positive nicknames ("that prick", "shithead" etc) but idk if that counts

#anyways sorry this took FOREVER it's been sitting in my drafts for weeks #but this was fun to think about! he's not my fav character as a person but holy shit is he interesting to analyse #anti darkling #<- just to be on the safe side #mayhem.txt #answered

[randomidiocyncrazies]

lmao guess who binged the Migi & Dali manga

i enjoyed the ride! it was entertaining and had some really compelling moments (especially near the end). I love how fun the genre fusion is—it's legitimately tense as a thriller, but there's also absurd jokes thown into the mix that reminds the readers that they are kids despite the seriousness of their goal and the chaos around them

however [spoilers]

MAN it was annoying that the big bad was essentially "crazy perfectionist woman who can't have kids"

the whole thing re: Dali pulling a honey trap on his own brother(s) is also a little disturbing, though to be fair he hadn't known about Eiji at the time. I wasn't sure if Akiyama's comment about Dali cross-dressing 3 times that week was meant to be joke, or a sincere indication of Dali exploring his gender/presentation, or a hint that he wants the reunion with Eiji to go well, or something else entirely. I personally think it's the Eiji thing, with Dali hoping they could lay all the ghosts between them to rest?

i mean, i think you can have commentary about how the role of a 'perfect woman' can put so much pressure on someone that they turn into monsters in an attempt to fulfill those expectations, but as it stands it kinda comes across as she's a freak because she can't have bio kids, even though i don't think that's the author's intention at all? like, she's clearly meant to be a foil to the Sonoyamas, who similarly don't have blood children but are loving parents to their adopted child(ren). the work is definitely not insinuating that all women who can't have children are unhinged evil murderous schemers, and I think Eiji's mom is an interesting antagonist, but it's still kinda annoying that The Crazy Infertile Woman is the antagonist

(I mean. I get that the themes of motherhood and children's bonds with their mothers are central to the work, so it makes sense why she's the big bad? I guess i wish there was more emphasis on society's role in her breakdown/turn to villainy)

the ending arc with the Sonoyamas having figured out the twins and loving them regardless, and the twins acknowledging that they're different people but will always be important to each other was really good... I wonder what Sano Nami would've made next if she had not passed away

#migi to dali #ric reacts

[tortoisesshells]

top five deleted lines from potc?

please, imagine me dragging my hands down my face and sighing the most aggrieved, soulful sigh. i don't understand the editing choices at all.

(1) "Those that have done things to you, you tend to forget. It's the things you've done to others that ... those are thing things that hang on." perfect compliment to "It's not about living forever. It's about living with yourself forever." ~themes~.

(2) "After all, when goods don't cross borders, then armies will." c'mon. let the villain monologue. Beckett sees the world he wants to benefit by very clearly, and I certainly hope a summer blockbuster movie based on a theme park ride isn't the beginning and end of most people's engagement with 18th century history (or history in general), and, arguably, this has a lot to do with the early 21st century in the US, but. c'mon.

(3) "People aren't cargo, mate." by the same token as the above. even more so, even. I can understand, to an extent, why the theme park movie shies away from being too serious, but it's irresponsible on the one hand, and blocking its own shots with Beckett's villainy on the other.

(4) "Better mad with the rest of the world than sane alone." it's just good characterization, chief. and it's bad editing taking it (and the larger conversation about the church & the colonization of Isla Cruces) out.

(5) "He'll obey; it's what he does." unfortunately I have not known peace since the release of the DVD in 2007. I don't think it's as particularly important to the world or the themes as the other cut lines, it's just so Important. To Me.

#mixed bag: some things that are by my lights important to the story. and some that are just For Me. #ask meme #polkaknox talks #thank you for the ask kind friend!

[gwaedhannen]

Maedhros & Maglor Week day 4: Heroism/Villainy (also WIP Wednesday)

Couldn't get the idea I had for today's @maedhrosmaglorweek prompt to work, so instead have a WIP about the day after the Third Kinslaying, which fits the theme well enough. Not like Maedhros or Maglor were in yesterday's post either.

Warning for a suicide attempt and a bit of gore.

It’s not the leap which haunts Elwing for the rest of her eternal life—a last defiance (if they will murder her hope then she will murder theirs)—a bitter Doom as befits her line (“By Dior my father and Tinúviel Bondbreaker, you shall have neither the Silmaril nor me!”)—a terrible promise (my loves, I will see you soon); nor the impact—bones shattering ribs piercing lungs collapsing the sea invading choking subsuming taking burning; nor the transformation—(are not you of our kind?) (is this not your Song?) (did you think you could choose?) (did you think you were free?)— It’s the next day, in a borrowed tunic too large and a wrapped sail for a skirt, looking east towards the plume of smoke that once was her life. Trying (failing) to recall all the names of those she saw slain. Trying (failing) to not guess at who may yet live. Trying (failing) to not feel the pair of steady heartbeats alongside her own (of all that she might have inherited from her mothers’ kind, this?) and not know that her sons were spared, that they may be safe without her, that they may be among her murderers, that they— That they live and she is not with them—that they live and she tried to die— (And if she was dead she could avoid the shame) But she lives. “What is this,” she whispers to the sea, throat too torn from screams and smoke and sobs to give more, “that you call mercy? What have I ever done to deserve it?” There's no answer.

#silmarillion #tolkien #silm fic #elwing #suicide tw #maedhrosmaglorweek #wip wednesday #stormwritten #if they start charging for em-dashes I would go broke #what is it about Elwing and Earendil that makes me write absurd run-on sentences #seriously that first paragraph is 101 words

[bamboozy]

People out here arguing that Lestat is worse than Armand or Armand is worse than Lestat.

No, shut up, listen.

They're both trash. Let them be messy.

You know who's ACTUALLY the worst?

Marius.

I really hope the show frames him as a villain. The kind of villain who doesn't realize he's a villain because he's so full of himself he honestly thinks he's wise and noble and tragic.

But actually, who started this cycle of abuse? By grooming, turning, and then abandoning Armand to a cult for centuries? By telling Lestat to withhold information from his fledglings?

Marius, the Roman colonizer. The slave owner. The pederast.

There is so much to be mined there. Especially with the themes of race the show is exploring and with Armand being Muslim. It adds layers to Marius' playing favorites with Lestat, like choosing to seek him out and save him after ignoring Armand's plight for literal centuries.

I've seen some people speculate that since Armand is older in the show, that his trauma with Marius will be softened or abandoned somehow. But I think there's still plenty of room for Armand to have been groomed and used as a sex slave in his youth. And judging by Armand's reaction to the rent boy comment, i assume they are going to run with it somehow.

Assad looks young enough to pass for early to mid-20s, which means Armand still could have spent his teen years with Marius before being turned. There's still room for all that abandonment trauma.

But anyway that's really all I want. For the show to call Marius and his bullshit the fuck out. Repeatedly. And for it to be framed as the villainy it is.

#interview with the vampire #iwtv spoilers #iwtv speculation #the vampire lestat #the vampire armand #the vampire chronicles #marius de romanus #lestat de lioncourt

[kellyvela]

Hi. Sorry to bother you with this, but I'm wondering if you know any interview where GRRM confirms that Jaime's is a redemption arc? I don't doubt it, and I'm not denying Jaime can't be redeemed, but I think we will only know when TWOW drops. Right now it doesn't feel line redemption just because he ignored cersei's call. But fans are claiming GRRM did confirm it, so I thought maybe you can help me find the source?

Hello, Anon!

I don't think GRRM confirmed anything about this, as far as I know.

Some Jaime fan tried to make him give a direct answer in 2006, but this is what GRRM said:

JANUARY 27, 2006

VERICON (HARVARD UNIVERSITY, MA; JANUARY 27-29)

So he said that he likes to paint characters in shades of grey (recurring theme of the weekend, yay! so refreshing from these damn didactic TV show runners... anyway....). And that even what seem like the most horrific people have other sides, aren't pure caricatures of evil, that even Hitler had his nice moments. And he wanted to explore what might cause that kind of villainy, because no one just wakes up and says "I want to be evil today," and that Jaime didn't start out evil--that he actually was a very idealistic young man who was disillusioned by life, and that there was always much more to his killing of Aerys than just "evil."

Since he was going on so much about Jaime as "exploration of evil" (and I certainly don't think Jaime is evil anymore!) I kind of tried to ask "Do you think he's changed?" to get him to talk about Jaime's redemption arc, so he said something like he wanted to explore the concept of forgiveness and whether it's ever possible to be forgiven for doing such horrible things, and that his goal was to ask the question, not give an answer.

Um, so that was neat. (Well, except for the fact that Hitler came to his mind when talking about Jaime!)

[Source]

And six years later, in 2012, GRRM still called Jaime Lannister a villain:

JUNE 22, 2012

SWORD & LASER VIDEO PODCAST

GRRM: I am sometimes surprised by the reactions, of women in particular, to some of the villains. The number of women over the years who have written to me that their favorite characters are Jaime Lannister or Sandor Clegane [the Hound] or Theon Greyjoy… All of these are deeply troubled individuals with some very dark sides, who have done some very dark things. Nonetheless, they do draw this response, and quite heavily, I think, in the case of some of them, from my female readers in particular.

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From this post:

He will never give a direct answer about this particular matter, as you can see in this interview from 2002:

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Hope this helps you!

#anon asks #grrm #asoiaf #jaime lannister #villains #lol they even asked him about 'jaime's redemption arc' in some brown university debate . . . . #see more quotes in the reblogs #grrm didn't forgive that michael vick guy #and i doubt he will forgive the man that attempted to kill his main protagonist leaving him a crippled . . . .