#this book was like a forbidden text but like it's also canon
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The bonus chapter that ended Nessian
This is honestly really surprising to me. Apparently there are people out there that think Nesta and Cassian are going to end up together. Have they not read their bonus chapter? SJM effectively ended them.
First of all, the way they think about each other is not romantic at all:
Cassian has no idea where he stands with her, and as you can see, he is so unhealthily obsessed with Nesta that he can't stop thinking about her and literally rushed to interact with her even though she doesn't even like him and is mean to him! If Sarah wanted this be be romantic, she could have made totally different choices. We could have learned they shared secret touches or looks, have their fingers trembling or breath catching around each other. But no, just confusion and unhealthy obsession on Cassian's part. Honestly, he kinda seems like an incel here.
Worse than that, it's clear he obviously only lusts after her:
He literally has not said one thing about her personality! He's just weirdly obsessed with her boobs and her scent and is just thinking about her stroking him. If we were supposed to have gleaned he has real feelings for her, and not just lust, couldn't Sarah have added something more sweet and personal here? I don't know. Maybe he could have brought her a thoughtful present that shows how much he sees and understands her when no one else does. But no. He just wants to get laid and touch her boobs. Honestly, ugh.
And let's not even get started about the Mor thing!
Cassian slept with Mor because he was jealous of Azriel! And if you recall, in ACOMAF Morrigan said Cassian just wants what he can't have and it has driven Cassian crazy for centuries that Mor never wanted him again after they slept together once. Rhys confirms this too.
Nesta clearly is not interested in Cassian. In fact, she knees him in the balls right after this. Honestly? This actually seems like a really toxic perpetuation of the Mor situation. Cassian yet again wants what he can't have, and it is actually in the canon text that he has this problem. Also, notice that he's ashamed of this situation and embarrassed to tell Mor about it? That's not a very good setup for a romance. He should have the full support of his friends and family in order for Nessian to work.
He calls himself stupid, he knows it's wrong, he just doesn't care for a moment because of the lust. Again, Nesta knees him in the balls. Not interested. Take a hint you creepy incel! And even though he was fully planning on devouring her lips, he is clearly not anymore!
But here's the real nail in the coffin:
Nesta forbids him from coming back. She threatens that she'll scream if he does and she is only willing to work with and talk to anyone but him. How is he supposed to get around that? How is their relationship supposed to develop if he is forbidden from talking to her and seeing her? I just don't understand how this is supposed to resolve in the books. At least hundreds, if not a few thousand of the tens or hundreds of thousands of SJM readers have read this bonus chapter. There's no way to come back from this.
Also- did you notice in ACOFAS Nessian's same drama is still playing out, but SJM interestingly enough introduces a character named Emerie and they have a scene together? Seems like SJM is clearly telling us Nessian isn't happening and setting up a new love interest for Cassian. Based on their limited interactions, it's actually really obvious to me that they are a much better fit and there is already a ton of foreshadowing that they are endgame. In fact, I think they are mates!
I swear this has nothing to do with the fact that I dislike Nesta. I mean, do I dislike her, and do I think Cassian deserves better? Yeah. But that's not relevant here. What's relevant is text and foreshadowing and the fact that I don't like Nesta and think Cassian deserves better because I've self inserted myself into Sarah's writing and want her to do what I want and I don't want Archeron sisters I don't like winding up with a bat boy I love.
Wait no... Ignore that second part I didn't mean to type that out.
#elriel#pro elriel#just being silly#i actually love all the sisters and bat boys this is just satire!#elriel endgame#elriel month 2024
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Good Omens: Lockdown, Aziraphale’s SAD-ASS desk, and how they get to 'Our bookshop' in S2
Welcome to part 2 of me reading reeaally far into the Good Omens: Lockdown video! (part 1 from Crowley's POV here) This post assumes the item choices in the Lockdown visuals are intentional. What follows is going to be my headcanon regardless, but if you're into the Word of God, Lockdown is canon 'If you want it to be.' and I want it to be, sooo checkmate! >;D
Also this is something of a long boi (~13 minute read without following the links >.>), so if you're into unhinged analysis of details and literary references that indicate Aziraphale is in his longing era and want to learn more about author and fave-of-Gaiman, G.K. Chesterton, either get comfy or mark this to read later when you have time!
C: What?
A: *somehow surprised even though HE CALLED* A-ah, hello. It's me!
C: I know it's you, Aziraphale.
A: *regaining composure* Yes, well, just calling to see how you were doing in lockdown.
The video starts with shots of Aziraphale and Crowley's da Vinci sketches (and some sushi remnants)... Babygirl is flipping through the time-goes-too-fast-for-me version of a facebook album, thinking about his crush. vERY chill of him. (also the paper looks new and he's eating on top of them, suggesting these are prints and he has multiple copies of them... sooo normal)
If we look closer at the still of Crowley's portrait, we can see part of the spine of a book that reads Kei- Chesterto-. This is, of course, author Gilbert Keith Chesterton, to whom Neil and Terry (and Crowley) dedicated Good Omens:
The authors would like to join the demon Crowley in dedicating this book to the memory of
G. K. Chesterton
A man who knew what was going on.
In this post by @azfellandco about Chesterton, you can see a photo of the dedication page and also read the book excerpt where Crowley describes Chesterton as 'the only poet in the twentieth century to even come close to the Truth'.
C: I'm bored. I'm so very very bored - transcendentally bored. There's nothing to do here!
As Crowley is explaining his nap contingency plan, we get a shot of Aziraphale picking up his mug of hot chocolate, then the image below of the 2/3rds gone bottle of Courvoisier cognac (i mean maybe he is baking with it let's not jump to conclusions), and then the stack of books beside a framed woodcut print of witches dancing with devils...
...that I used reverse image search to trace back to page 17 of a book from 1720 called The history of witches and wizards: giving a true account of all their tryals in England, Scotland, Swedeland, France, and New England; with their confession and condemnation.
Interestingly, the text above and below the picture reads:
At their Meeting they have usually Wine, or good Beer, Cakes, Meat, or the like; they Eat and Drink really: When they meet in their Bodies, Dance also, and have Musick...
Beside the framed print of Aziraphale's idea of a really great night out is a stack of books that includes (going from top to bottom):
Homer's The Iliad, Book 2
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer's Manual of the Fifteenth Century by Richard Kieckhefer
a book by Hilaire Belloc with no visible title
The Club of Queer Trades by G.K. Chesterton
The Iliad (according to sparknotes) has the following major themes:
....Interesting, ok. Book 2 in particular starts with a god (Zeus) messing with someone (Agamemnon) via a dream that says he will be successful in taking Troy if he launches a full assault, balls to the (city) wall. Agamemnon, who is supposed to be leading the Achaean army to conquer Troy, believes the dream but then in a weird twist decides to test his army and be like 'jk actually I'm giving up and going home' and then is mad when the soldiers are like 'sick, to the boats!' Then Odysseus, who sparknotes tells me is the most eloquent of the Achaeans, gives an impressive speech to inspire the troops and reminds them that they vowed 'that they would not abandon their struggle until the city fell.' ...No way that could worsen Aziraphale's internal conflict about being a bad Angel who thwarted the Great Plan. >.>; Orthodoxy we'll get to in a second.
Then there's Forbidden Rites which is a medieval necromancy guide translated from Latin with added commentary - Aziraphale is perhaps studying occult topics in an attempt to understand Crowley better? And then there's the Hilaire Belloc book on top of the second Chesterton book, a collection of related stories/episodes?, The Club of Queer Trades. The book's Wikipedia page says:
Each story in the collection is centered on a person who is making his living by some novel and extraordinary means. To gain admittance [to the Club of Queer Trades] one must have invented a unique means of earning a living and the subsequent trade being the main source of income.
Aziraphale and Crowley have rather novel/extraordinary jobs and they're both peculiar-queer and gay-queer. Neat. The narrator in the book is named Charlie "Cherub" Swinburne - also neat. >.> He goes on an adventure with his friend, a retired judge and president of the Club of Queer Trades, Basil Grant, (who Oct 2021 GoodReads reviewer Cecily said is "described as mad, mystical, and a poet, with almost no friends, but who “would talk to any one anywhere”) and Basil's younger brother, a private detective named Inspector Constable Rupert Grant. The last line of the book is:
Thus our epic ended where it had begun, like a true cycle.
(something something "It starts, as it will end, with a garden.")
Anyway, the Belloc book and The Club of Queer Trades are placed back to back in such a way that they almost look like they could be one book with two different aesthetics, or... two halves of a pantomime beast?! (stay with me I needed a segue)
Belloc and Chesterton have what is essentially a ship name:
It was coined by George Bernard Shaw (if you are like me and didn't know why you've heard of him: he wrote, among other things, Pygmalion, which was adapted into My Fair Lady). Shaw apparently liked to gossip about Belloc and Chesterton with H.G. Wells (again if you're uncultured like me: he wrote, among other science fiction-y things, The War of the Worlds).
In the Feb 15, 1908 issue of The New Age newspaper, Shaw said:
He continued:
"Chesterton and Belloc are so unlike that they get frightfully into one another’s way. ... They are unlike in everything except the specific literary genius and delight in play-acting that is common to them, and that threw them into one another’s arms.”
Shaw says Belloc is 'a bit of a rowdy', and 'cannot bear isolation'. Hmm. Then he says Chesterton is 'friendly, easy-going, unaffected,
gentle, magnanimous, and genuinely democratic'. HMM.
“They share one failing—almost the only specific trait they have in common except their literary talent. That failing is, I grieve to say, addiction to the pleasures of the table.”
Ok ok I think we can see where this is going.
(^ from Staged S3E6)
Now, someone did ask Neil Gaiman about this similarity, and he said the Lockdown video was filmed by Rob Wilkins in Terry Pratchett's library, and that he suspects 'Belloc is there because he was on Terry's shelves beside Chesterton.' And it MAY VERY WELL BE that NONE (0) of the book titles are meant in any way other than 'these are books from Sir Pratchett's library that looked nice on camera and ofc we wanted some Chesterton refs and maybe some demon-y stuff for Crowley' but that is WAY less fun so I am choosing to take them as intentional: these are books Aziraphale is actually reading (along with the sushi and many cakes he is actually eating). Let's put ourselves in Aziraphale's shoes and try to imagine how it would be to read this stuff during lockdown while you pine for a demon with slinky hips after you got in big trouble at work for Armageddoff (and work happens to have defined your worldview and general purpose in life).
C: welll... ngk then people might follow my bad example and get ill. Or even die—
As Crowley acknowledges that he ought to be out making peoples' lives worse, we see Orthodoxy by Chesterton open on the desk.
Orthodoxy is described as a ‘spiritual autobiography’ and is considered a classic of Christian apologetics, i.e. the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines (in this case, Catholic) through systematic argumentation and discourse. Wikipedia also says Chesterton's The Everlasting Man contributed to C.S. Lewis' conversion to Christianity, so overall it sounds like he must've been fairly convincing. (and so maybe reading it also poked at that work-related-but-religious-trauma-adjacent stuff Aziraphale has going on?)
You can read Orthodoxy (and probably any of the books I mention bc theyre all old) on project gutenberg but I will include this part of what is shown on the righthand page bc it just reminds me (and so probably Azirapalala as well) of a certain angel squeaking happily at a nebula:
"I felt economical about the stars as if they were sapphires (they are called so in Milton's Eden): I hoarded the hills. For the universe is a single jewel, and while it is a natural cant to talk of a jewel as peerless and priceless, of this jewel it is literally true. This cosmos is indeed without peer and without price: for there cannot be another one."
Ok great, so Aziraphale is diving into the works of one of Crowley's favorite authors bc he misses him, that's cute. What else? Oh he already wrote him a letter right before calling - THE WICK ON THE WAX STICK FOR THE SEAL IS STILL SMOKING. sO CASUAL asdashgfjds
something something 'either call on the phone and talk, or appear mysteriously; don't do both'
When Aziraphale gets to 'I've never had so few customers, not in two hundred years!' We get a close up of this glass of cognac with droplets still on the side — I take back what I said about baking, Aziraphale is drinking it~
He's not drinking a wine, eg Châteauneuf-du-pape, which would be ~14% alcohol by volume (ABV), or a sherry (15-20% ABV); he is drinking Courvoisier cognac, a hard liquor (40% ABV). Crowley's Talisker whisky is 48.5% while we are on the topic. This is stronger than what Aziraphale usually drinks which means... he could be a bit tipsy.
As Aziraphale starts talking about the would-be cash-box burglary, we get this wide shot of the desk:
In the top left hand corner, we see two stacks of books, most (all?) of which appear to be Chesterton when I zoom in. Some of them have Chesterton's name visible on them, others have the publisher name 'Darwen Finlayson' on them, which according to my googling is a house that published several of Chesterton's works. If Chesterton was truly 'a man who knew what was going on', then perhaps this is Aziraphale seeking not just to feel closer to Crowley, but also to make sense of the warring ideas in his mind. Interestingly, Chesterton has also been described as 'The Eccentric Prince of Paradox'.
C: *clearly amused* Did you smite them with your wroth?
The screen then shows two occult-y books and a flickering candle (lower left image). Then Aziraphale explains about his cake~, and as Crowley cuts him off because he's about to nervously ask to come over bc he is so so lonely & down bad for a certain angelic bookworm, we see a map of Oxfordshire on top of Pilgrim's Progress (lower right image).
The two books beside the candle are Satanism and Witchcraft (presumably the 1862 book by Jules Michelet that comes up when I search the title), and another called Magic: An Occult Primer.
Satanism and Witchcraft is described on Wikipedia as 'notable for being one of the first sympathetic histories of witchcraft' and says 'Michelet was one of the first few people to attempt to show the sociological explanation of the Witch Trials.’ Sympathy for people who like to eat/drink/dance with demons, if you will?
Magic: An Occult Primer is a 1972 book by David Conway, a Welsh (CACHU HWCH!) magus and is described as 'a seminal work that brought magical training to the every-magician'. It also includes an appendix called The Occult Who's Who, which is somewhat reminiscent of Hastur's Furfur's book about angels. In Chapter 11: A Word About Demons, it says in regard to summoning them:
"Assuming that the form has turned up in the right place, it will soon begin to act and talk in a very friendly manner; do not forget, however, that its winning ways conceal a sinister intention-- namely, to get the adept out of the circle, and into its clutches.”
...okay?? Aziraphale's desk has a flickering candle on it throughout the video, and we get a close up of the flame when Crowley offers to slither over:
and just like that, Aziraphale has summoned a demon~~
Naturally, he freaks out:
A: *panicking*Oh I— I— I— I— I'm afraid that would be Breaking All The Rules! *nervous breathing* Out of the question! I'll see you… when this is over.
But why? Isn't this what he wanted? Let's go back to the Pilgrim's Progress shot from right before the successful demon summoning and zoom in:
In a similar vein to Orthodoxy, Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan, is an allegorical Puritan conversion narrative. Christian is the main character / stand in for anyone who wants to be in the allegory and Hopeful is well, hopeful, from what I gather. A slightly larger continuous excerpt is here for the curious, but here are some bits I thought were especially interesting in the part of the book shown above:
Christian: Why, what was it that brought your sins to mind again?
Hopeful: Many things; as,
If I did but meet a good man in the streets; or,
If I have heard any read in the Bible; or,
If mine head did begin to ache; or,
If I were told that some of my neighbors were sick; or,
If I heard the bell toll for some that were dead; or,
If I thought of dying myself; or,
If I heard that sudden death happened to others;
But especially when I thought of myself that I must quickly come to judgment.
Perhaps the pandemic is bringing Aziraphale's "sins" to mind again, on top of the whole choosing faces thing to avoid 'quickly coming to judgment'. And then:
Hopeful: I thought I must endeavor to mend my life; for else, thought I, I am sure to be lost forever.
Christian: And did you endeavor to mend?
Hopeful: Yes, and fled from not only my sins, but sinful company too, and betook me to religious duties, as praying, reading, weeping for sin, speaking truth to my neighbors, etc.
UM??? While I can't say about the praying or weeping for sin, he has definitely been reading and the whole 'giving a good talking to' the burglars could be 'speaking truth to [the] neighbors'...?
Anyway to recap:
Aziraphale has been poring over books about dark magic and demons as well as a ton of books by an author that Crowley loves and who formed a partnership w a very different person in a sort of yin-yang, pantomime beast situation
He has been looking at pictures that remind him of their fun times w Leo in Florence and eating sushi and cake cake cake (and forgiving sinners) and drinking hot chocolate and cognac trying to fill a void but now he's tipsy so he wrote Crowley a letter, stamped it with a wax seal and then thought 'I should call her' BUT
His recent brush with attempted death penalties, the death toll of the pandemic, and some of the religious books he was reading have also filled him with guilt/fear over disobeying Heaven, who he knows could still be watching him and Crowley, so he feels much more conflicted than usual AND
He probably has some inkling that he wants to go ape shit on that ox rib if it comes over to hang out (lol editing to add bc i remembered ox rib discourse: ape shit in an emotional way! whether you hc them as ace or not I just think he really likes him and I’m using ox ribs as a stand in for general forbidden joy/love, not specifically sexy stuff)
So he has to say no.
Anything else might cause him to spontaneously discorporate into a plume of pining and cognitively dissonant gay smoke, which may be all well and good if you only think there's a God, but if you KNOW it and the angels are absolutely recording you and Heaven just tried to kill you and your wife colleague, it's... kind of a big deal.
C: Right. gnnehh. I'm setting the alarm clock for July. Good night, angel.
*dial tone*
We don't get to hear Aziraphale's response, but besties you and I both know he is not feeling tickety-boo. He spent like a month putting off calling Crowley (UK lockdowns started end of March, the call is at the beginning of May), finally got drunk and said what the Hell, it'll just be a fun flirty chat in between his temptations, and then it turned out Crowley was depressed and not going anywhere and Aziraphale made him even sadder. And then it got worse because it wasn't all over in July, or in October, even.
I think Aziraphale ends up with a lot of time and brain space in which to think about how Orthodoxy and Pilgrim's Progress were only written to guide *mortals* and how it really wouldn't be so bad if he spent more time with Crowley, would it? Heaven hasn't reached out in actual years again, things feel safer. Crowley is essentially Good and spending time with him would be sort of ministering to the downtrodden and afflicted, and Aziraphale does miss reporting his good deeds (lol you know, whatever rationalizations you need to get you there).
More than anything, he thinks about how hollow everything feels without Crowley; how no mouthful of food or drink tastes as satisfying in his absence because it wasn't ever just about the 'gross matter'...
So when lockdowns end, Aziraphale begins to summon his demon again, but this time with much less inner struggling. It all comes so naturally, when you let it. By the beginning of Season 2 in 2023, they seem delightfully comfortable with their shared routines and places (see also this lovely post by @nightgoodomens). Our car. Our bookshop.
Aziraphale might take longer to catch up, but he does get there.
(SHHH DON'T THINK ABOUT EPISODE 6! STOP! I'M HANGING UP!)
“The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost.”
― G.K. Chesterton
#good omens meta#good omens analysis#good omens#ineffable husbands#good omens lockdown#ineffable idiots#IF YOU READ TO THE END ILYSM but you're probably sitting like a shrimp now so please stretch and hydrate <3#i've connected the dots#(you haven't connected shit)#maybe i created the dots myself but i connected them#lol i essentially wrote a fixit meta bc the first meta was so sad#long reads#neil gaiman#rob wilkins#tw alcohol#g. k. chesterton#hilaire belloc#the chesterbelloc#aziraphale fumbling a bitch so damn hard#michael sheen's clapped-out sore buttocks
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Hello and welcome to my TED talk today I have decided to write a wall of text about why portraying Dio and Pucci’s relationship as manipulation is actually taking a lot out of Pucci’s agency and character, and diminishing him. Disclaimer that this is not shipping discourse, this is media analysis. I don’t want to talk about whether it is moral or not that they get along, I don’t care, I only want to comment on the media.
So someone sent me a DM telling me that Dio was manipulating an emotionally distraught and vulnerable Pucci into following his plan, and that he exploited him to do all sorts of crimes (framing Jolyne, killing people, stealing discs) by presenting himself as a trustworthy, God-like figure, and called the Heaven plan ‘Heaven’ to get Pucci to follow it by exploiting his religious beliefs.
First of all Dio met Pucci before he was distraught about his sister's situation. After the situation occurred, it is Pucci who seeked him for answers as to why he was alive and not his sibling/s, like he seeked answers from God a few years before by becoming a priest student. Dio left a door open, nothing more. Of course Dio was seeking to be admired, he was also seeking companionship as he has always done ever since he was young, and someone to carry his plan. Pucci was looking for answers, for self-growth, for someone to push him towards the top, towards what he believes is the destiny that was designed for him (the reason he’s alive and not his twin).
Is it forbidden to look for something in someone? Does it make it not genuine? No, we all look for something in a friendship. And this seemed like a fair deal for both. One needs a trusted friend, an ally, but not a blind follower, and as we’ll see later, he needs someone to help him transcend his human? vampire? condition again. The other one needs a reason to live, a quest to fulfill, and hope that he could one day obtain the ‘happiness’ and ‘peace of mind’ that Dio wants so much too. He’s also someone who strives for greatness, who wants to ‘step outside human boundaries’.
Not forgetting that Pucci is someone fueled by a profound curiosity and rationality, it is only natural that he’d side with someone who has the abilities and ambition Dio has. Framing Jolyne, killing people, stealing discs, it is all out of Pucci's agency, long after the death of Dio. He's actually the one who suggested he could store and use Survivor, and he’s the one who asked for it! Dio thought Survivor was useless, that it was only a weakness, and Pucci convinced him with the idea that it could be prove itself useful.
Pucci is shown to have ‘lost’ faith in Christianity very early on, maybe not really having true religious belief at all (as in, the actually believing there’s a God sense.) He got into priesthood for philosophical reasons (seeking answers to an existential question). He seems to be a very pragmatic christian with interests in science that contradicts some of the scripture’s theories.
I don't think calling the plan ‘Heaven’ was a bait based on Pucci's religious beliefs. Over Heaven isn't canon, but it shows Dio having a very Christian mother. He's an intelligent man, born in a very christian time and place, and thought ‘Heaven’ was the name of the kingdom promised to the legitimate ruler of the world, himself. If anything the first time they meet he makes it very clear they're not striving for anything Bible related but for realizing their full potential and finding happiness.
Dio saw very early on that Pucci was not a very faithful catholic, judging by the book he's reading when they meet in the ossuary, and then Pucci commiting crimes even before seeing Dio again (hiring someone to beat up his brother, leaving his brother as dead). He then commits blasphemy by calling him King of Kings and comparing his love to the one he has for God. Pucci does not think of Dio as the christian God, he loves him as he loves God, but he's not blind and misled. He refers to him with proximity terms all throughout the manga (even when he's young), never used honorifics like the henchmen do, calls him 'kimi' (casual/informal ‘you’), 'my close friend'.
Even Dio uses ‘kimi’ instead of the ‘omae’ that shows inferiority that he uses with Vanilla for example. In the way they talk to/about each other, they're protrayed as equals, which once again is very unusual for Dio. All throughout their scenes Dio is shown slightly seductive at first, then not as overtly seducing as he usually is, he’s talking about the plan, and strategy (even though he still maintains physical contact, I mean, it’s still Dio), and then seems to relax progressively by doing activities and chit-chatting, to the point of Dio becoming paranoid that his weakness is known. Yes, Dio was pretty nice and not as big an asshole as usual because he needed someone for the plan, but what did he need? A "friend that he can trust from the bottom of his heart" (信頼できる友), so he tried to make one by not being an asshole, and guess what? He did! And he got scared that he managed to do so, because it's freaking Dio lol. Dio’s life has only been him trying to show dominance, and facing rejection. Heck he was rejected and degraded even when he won that chess game against an adult in the first minutes of the show. But everyone wants friends for a reason! Be it not to be alone, to be loved, to have someone to talk to about certain topics... And we all make efforts and try to be nice to make friends. That's not manipulation that's called not being a dysfunctional piece of shit like Dio usually was shown to be before he met Pucci. Why was he different with Pucci? I'm bringing up the parallel with the Jonathan and Dio scene which really shows that Dio hasn't changed and is acting the way he always has, testing people, he just has never been met with trust and acceptance, only with rejection, unlike what Pucci has done from their first meeting and after :
Scene plays out very similarly at first, except that this time Dio hasn’t done anything wrong, but he was expecting to be betrayed and wasn’t, which led him to get paranoid and set up Pucci so that he’d attack him, which he didn’t. And what did Dio do? Apologize and give him a part of what's literally the most important thing he has, 'his' body.
The fact that Pucci kept his 'sentimentality' towards his friend (I quote), his obsessive affection for Dio, and hope in his plan for such a long time is easily understandable, he had everything to win from Dio's plan (which is very different from nothing to lose, he has quite a lot to lose!). He could be cleansed from his sin, or at least put everyone on his level, be granted the reward of unconditional love, he could grow to a close to godly status or be a messiah carrying god's will (be special, push the boundaries of being human), and maybe, just maybe revive his loved ones too. He could rewrite his destiny at best, and at worst, obtain peace of mind. If anything helping Dio might even have been an excuse for Pucci to lie to himself about his real intentions with this plan (unconsciously : finally accomplishing his destiny of being special over his sibling and basically everyone else, consciously : giving everyone the chance to prepare for tragedy + opening everyone's eyes to the fact that what he did, cause his sister's death, was not really his fault since it was written by fate all along.)
Now if you really have a high esteem of Dio's intelligence you can argue that he did it all on purpose, he gave out his weakness on purpose to mellow Pucci, he called the plan Heaven to cater to Pucci's faith, he talked him into doing crimes, pretended to feel equal/inferior so that Pucci would give him his trust... But 1) Dio's not that good at it, has too big trust issues himself and has other means for submitting people to his will (as seen with Kakyoin, Polnareff...), 2) it's literally written this has to be built on trust which in my opinion completely disqualifies a manipulation aspect to it. Of course there are many other sources that further the idea that they were really friends, I'm thinking about how their relationship is described in interviews or the Jojo Mag, but I wanted this post to focus on canon interpretation.
Thank you for reading my essay, I’m always happy to chat and comment on the dynamics between characters in the material. I am not willing to talk about morality or shipping discourse here so please refrain from sending me such comments.
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mistystar is one of those characters that makes me a little crazy because since she's never really been a main character (aside from her novella) but she is like, a consistently important supporting character and has been in SO many books her whole deal is very... patchworked together. like, her mate being blackclaw. never mentioned or confirmed in text really until leopardstar's honor. in forest of secrets he happens upon firestar and graystripe with mistyfoot's kits, but he shows no concern for the kits, even though they're his. he's also extremely aggressive and xenophobic, especially to mistystar after discovering her heritage, working with hawkfrost to sabotage her position as deputy? from a writing perspective this is because canonically he wasn't her mate when those books were written, but from an in-universe standpoint this kinda implies they split up over her being half clan, and he all but abandoned his kids as well. mistystar outlives all four of her children, three of which don't even make it to adulthood and die offscreen, their causes of death not even explored. did she make reedwhisker her deputy because she became protective of him after losing all 3 of his siblings and wanted to keep him close? does all four of her kits dying tragic deaths, none of them living comfortably to old age upset her? also, her opposition to and trepidation towards code changes on forbidden romance? considering her past and her mate's treatment of her, it's reasonable to assume she has a lot of internalized hatred for her own origins, and wants to side with the more conservative cats to gain their approval. (though its not off the table that the writers just forgot who her parents are since shes been around so long)
i just think about her a lot. old ass bitch
#dia noises#warrior cats#mistystar#i want to do a deeper dive on her its just that shes in so many books getting her whole lfie story requires reading the whole series
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https://www.tumblr.com/freyjas-musings/742671202419605504/im-just-curious-but-why-artists-draw-azs-shadows
https://www.tumblr.com/freyjas-musings/742670976839483392/i-just-cant-deal-with-elriels-anymore-they-want
I agree with these posts! I’ve seen so much fan art of Azriel’s shadows interacting with Elain even thought they skitter away from her and e/riel’s are saying that she will make his shadows go away, but in the beginning of his bonus chapter he talks about how his shadows will always be there with him.
They bring up how his shadows disappear around Mor, and it’s good since he had ( some e/riel’s believe he’s over her🤡) feelings for her, but that happened in ACOMAF when Mor & Azriel were originally supposed to be endgame. They were close with each other and had a deep friendship. His shadows vanishing, at that time since Mor who was his love interest, was probably a good thing and could be looked at differently, however in ACOWAR this obviously changed. Mor has to walk on eggshells with Azriel now. Proof of this is her pov in ACOFAS.
So Azriel’s shadows disappearing around Elain and e/riel’s thinking it’s a good thing because they do that with Mor, who is cautious around him, isn’t actually a good thing in my opinion. But they’ll argue left and right that this is good and that Elain makes his shadows calm, but there’s no canon text that she does make his shadows calm.
However, Azriel’s shadows had calmed, seemed content to watch him interact with Gwyn, which is actually stated by Azriel in his chapter, (and actually appeared to want to stay). They interacted with Gwyn in a positive way. I believe Azriel’s shadows are sentient and an extension of his soul. I think his shadows can sense the mating bond. Not saying that it’s snapped, because I most definitely don’t think it has, but I think it’s in the beginning stages. His shadows sense something is there. Which I think is interesting especially since a few days after Solstice we have that whole scene of Gwyn cutting the ribbon (👀), Azriel’s shadows also dancing again when she asked about a prize, Nesta calling Az the new ribbon, and his interactions with Gwyn pick up. When Gwyn was kidnapped for the Blood Rite (along with Emerie & Nesta) Azriel did react contrary to with e/riel’s say. His shadows AND siphons deepened. There was nothing him or Cassian could do though. Hell, even Rhys couldn’t do anything if they asked him. But both of them trusted in the girls to complete it. They showed their faith and support in them.
I think e/riel’s forget that the bonus chapter took place in the middle of the book, and Az’s interactions with Gwyn pick up after Solstice. Azriel and Elain have not interacted with each other (as far as we’ve seen on page unless it’s happening off page) since Solstice. I don’t think Azriel and Elain are having that secret-forbidden romance (there’s honestly nothing forbidden about it), because SJM writes her romances (and develops) them on paper where the readers can actually read it. Having a romance off page (that isn’t developed) isn’t her writing style. Azriel does say in HOFAS he doesn’t have a mate, but Gwynriel’s are fine with that, because we get to actually see their relationship develop. We get to see them become friends, we get to see them fall in love with each other, we get to see the mating bond snap.
I don’t think Azriel’s shadows interacting with Gwyn like that is her being evil as e/riel’s love to claim. Didn’t his shadows warn him about Koschei and the Cauldron? Surely they would do the same if Gwyn was evil. He felt a spark in his chest, which is how a mating bond is described and if you look at other mated couples, the bond is described to be a song between the souls. The wording with Gwynriel is so similar to other mates, especially Bryce and Hunt.
i agree! it's common knowledge at this point that e/riels steal from the other ships but then try to act as if they thought of it first when, no honey, 1. there's timestamp proof and 2. no e/riel has ever been that creative or paid enough attention to canon to develop widely fanon accepted things
even if moriel wasn't meant to be a thing (and tbh i've always been iffy on it. even back in the acomaf days i didn't really see it on both ends, and i swear a fan at a signing said sjm was surprised people shipped them but meh that's a topic for another day. maybe lol), sjm made certain to show us the difference in his shadows around these two women and tell us how deeply az values them. how they're his closest friends, how they're an intrinsic part of him, how they're not going anywhere. if once, them vanishing was a good thing, it's clear that's no longer the case. hence why they want the shadows to love elain but i'm sorry, that's just not happening lmfao
in my opinion, love is kind and sure and calm so the fact that az's shadows calm around gwyn is a huge green flag. like az is stressed af all the time! he needs to be able to come home and be at ease, to relax and just be az. without all the fancy and terrifying titles. we got this in his bonus chapter and they're trying to say it doesn't mean anything? really?? bffr
the "you're the new ribbon, az" is such an endgame indicator in my opinion. like nesta is telling us that gwyn has her sights set on az and we know how determined gwyn is. it's over for the bread and roses ship, if it wasn't already lol. the thing is, gwyn is a sexual assault survivor, az would never dream of coming on too strong with her so if anything happens between them, the ball is in her court. and then we have az who is canonically attracted to unavailable women, whether that's a coincidence, or some subconscious thing that ties into his low self worth... i don't know but to me, it fits perfectly together. gwyn will be the one making moves on him, or at least be the one to take that first, big step, and i think that will be huge for az who constantly feels he's not worthy or good enough
regarding the blood rite and the "forbidden" romance, there's nothing of substance there. just e/riels lacking critical thinking skills as always. if rhys couldn't do anything to get the girls out, what the fuck was az supposed to do? and no one is stopping e/riel from seeing each other except az himself so... you know. clearly he doesn't care about seeing her that much
why e/riels love the idea of every major moment of their ship developing off page, i'll never know. if i were an e/riel, i'd be so pissed. the fun of romance novels is seeing the characters come together and fall in love. and sjm knows that too, clearly, she's a romance author for christ's sake lol. she's not going to have these characters fall in love, move in together and get pregnant off page. no way in hell. that's also why they can't understand that gwynriels are perfectly content with that "he wouldn't consider her a friend but..." or whatever line because, like you said, that means we'll get to see them become friends. then lovers. then mates. why wouldn't you want that?
az's shadows know everything, that's why he's such a valuable spy. they tell him things he couldn't otherwise know. that's literally explained in the books. i believe they're sentient too, they tell him to sleep when he needs to so they obviously care for him, if gwyn were a danger to az, they would absolutely warn him. also the gwyn is secretly evil theory is shit because she's in part based off of sjm's irl friends and her villains are pretty two dimensional. so yeah, that's never happening lmao. even if (big if) gwynriel doesn't happen, gwyn is safe, so they just look stupid as hell talking about "evil gingers" or whatever the fuck they say these days.
i think that after so many books, true sjm fans know when she's working her mate bond magic. no matter how much others cry about it, sjm is a fated mates author. don't like it? go find someone else's books to read. it's as simple as that
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I have a MDZS question and consider you an expert on all things JGY (he did crimes, good for him) so I hope you have some insight into this: I read that NHS found the Sacrifice Ritual in JGY’s Closet of Wonders, but how did JGY get it? Was it in WWX’s Burial Mounds “library,” and if so do you know where WWX found it?
Thanks, I very much enjoy your content!
hey there anon, it's very kind of you to consider me an expert, but i really am not 😬 i've certainly read, reread, and re-reread both the EXR and 7seas translations of the empathy flashback sequence many, many, many times, in addition to the guanyin temple sequence, because those are the parts of the text where jgy's actions are most frequently criticized and taken out of context. for details like the ones you're asking after, i've got to revisit other parts of the book again because my memory is a tea sieve, and i'm also not immune to medium bleed (no one is). so please bear with me, and keep tabs on the notes of this post for any discussion that follows since my pals often chime in with details i've missed.
first point of contention tho: it is never confirmed how novel canon nhs comes by his knowledge/familiarity of the summoning ritual, though wwx does speculate extensively in the guanyin temple denouement that he hears about the ritual from mo xuanyu himself. i don't think he gets his hands on the ritual himself, and i don't think he has access to the jin sect treasure room either. from vol 5 of the 7seas translation:
So yet another person came to [Nie Huaisang's] mind. Mo Xuanyu, who had been banished from Golden Carp Tower.
In the past, Nie Huaisang might have chatted with Mo Xuanyu to glean information from him. From the mouth of the dejected Mo Xuanyu, Nie Huaisang had clearned that he'd read one of Jin Guangyao's fragmented manuscripts of forbidden magic, in which an ancient, evil ritual was recorded. He had then incited Mo Xuanyu to exact revenge for the humiliation he'd suffered at the hands of his own clan members--to use the forbidden art of the sacrificial ritual to seek retribution.
in vol 1 of the 7seas translation, this is what the text tells us about the sacrificial ritual mo xuanyu uses to summon wei wuxian:
The nature of this "sacrificial ritual" was a type of curse. The caster was to harm themselves with a weapon, making cuts on their body and using their own blood to draw the array and write the spells within. They would then sit in the center of the circle and give up their mortal body to evil spirits, using the annihilation of their soul as the price to summon a nefarious, malicious ghost. This was all done in order to request the fulfillment of a wish. Thus, it was the opposite of "possession."
While both were forbidden magics of ill repute, the difference was that the former was much less popular than the latter. After all, few wishes were so strongly desired as to make someone willingly sacrifice everything they had. This was why the technique had been nearly lost after centuries of disuse. The examples recorded in ancient books had only a handful of cases that were backed by reliable evidence, and every single one of them had been for revenge. Every malicious ghost summoned by the ritual had fulfilled the caster's wishes perfectly, in cruel and bloody ways.
i've been thumbing through the rest of the 7seas volumes as well as the EXR translation, but i don't think there's anything more concrete about where the ritual comes from. i think it is entirely possible that the jin sect found copies of something like this ritual in the burial mounds, sure, but i also wouldn't rule out a ritual like this being contained in the treasure room entirely independent of wwx. there's canon precedent for it; case in point, recall the collection of turmoil in the gusu lan's forbidden section of their library.
anyway that's what i've been able to find today, but i'll keep poking around in the books to see if i trip over a passage that neatly answers all of our questions lol.
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I feel like any common reader whos read acotar, knows the next book will probably be elain/lucien/azriel... its common sense, I fear. Like before I got into the acotar fandom, I knew something was going on with elain and azriel and would've figured out that they would have something in the next book. The moment he gave her truthteller... I JUST KNEW. So the people who say "they dont make any sense" or "they dont have any buildup" PLEASE STOP FR BECAUSE YOU OBVIOUSLY LACK READING COMPREHENSION.
Yes! It truly baffles me how some people can’t/refuse to see it. Like, I’m not against Elucien or Gwynriel because I don’t like the characters or the ships themselves——it’s because it’s OBVIOUSLY Elriel.
I don’t even think it’s a matter of opinion if I’m being honest. People can ship what they want but to say that Elriel isn’t a thing and the others are definitely happening? That’s what gets me cause no matter how they cherry pick or over explain scenes and compare “mate language” (which is dumb and has been disproven) there is nothing to support those other ships in the canon text.
Not to mention just the juicy potential that Elriel has—rejected mating bond, different couple dynamic, forbidden romance, choosing love over fate, fuck the gods type shit.
And it’s even further driven home by Gwynriel at least being a fully online thing—-no reader I have ever met that isn’t in online spaces expects or even thought of Gwynriel—they all think Elriel is next.
Before I came to fandom, I knew Elriel was next and still 100% believe it. I was surprised and flabbergasted by all the Gwynriel. Eluciens I can kinda understand cause they are mates but there’s also not one positive interaction the two have had, no prime material to work with as opposed to all the many many Elriel scenes.
Idk, it is just baffling, irritating, and I can’t wait til the Elriel book is finally announced and while the fandom rages, us Elriels can have inner peace.
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Putting this outside the reblog chains for a couple reasons but @lynmars79 covered my broad views on religion in Exandria. To more specifically cover things in Vasselheim: Vasselheim, canonically, within the last millennium (which...is one generation removed for elves) experienced a near-apocalyptic disaster due to a wizard living within their walls specifically saying "well I will be fine if I open the Forbidden Box because I'm a wizard." And then two thirds of the world died, a continent was destroyed, Vasselheim itself was under heavy assault from the gods for nearly a month, a war of unknown length but heavily implied to be longer than a human lifespan occurred, and every single other city on the planet was leveled.
Is it any wonder that they're pretty jumpy about some of their ancient knowledge and about wizards?
I really do think a lot of people overlay their 21st century, raised either Christian or nonreligious but in a predominantly Christian country experiences over the bulk of fantasy where that is not true and I find this very boring and irritating. The attitudes of Vasselheim (which, below, are much more complex than a half-joking post gets into) is not the homophobic/transphobic bullshit being forced upon the US (and many other countries) by the religious right, nor is it the anti-science bullshit being forced upon the US by the religious right, and, crucially, nor is it a baseless witch hunt a la the 1950s Red Scare or modern-day accusations of socialism. This is a pretty justified paranoia.
It is also worth noting that Vasselheim's position is very much case-by-case. They are not inviting towards arcane casters and, at least as of 810-811 PD, frowned upon arcane magic used casually in public, but there are trusted arcane casters. Allura, Gilmore, and Scanlan's assistance is all appreciated during and following Vecna's attacks, and Zahra is a warlock in the service of the Slayer's Take. Vox Machina is granted access to the Cobalt Soul (they can't take out books but this is no different than a modern Rare Book Room).
The fact is that yes, Vasselheim is slow to act sometimes; but their role in the world is as the city of last resort. Focusing on their own defense and limiting dangerous information is in fact important. Like...as a scientist in the 21st century who works with hazardous materials, my feelings on Vasselheim denying the Grim Verity access to texts on Predathos is not "knowledge should be open"; it is, in fact, "yes, the Grim Verity's intentions are good, but because they are a small organization without our resources, now a hostile group was able to steal the plans for a metaphorical thermonuclear device, which is why we had them locked up securely."
Anyway this is all to say: I have my own complicated experiences with and opinions about religion, politics, and the flow and availability of knowledge, and it's fine if yours are different, but there are so many takes that really do not seem to be able to look outside a very specific modern lens, and that gets very irritating when it's on my posts because the reason I like speculative fiction is for the ability to explore very different perspectives. Like, I am here to avoid exactly what you are shoving into my face.
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Just for argument's sake, what's a sibling incest ship in hp that you think /could/ be compelling?
thank you very much for the ask, anon!
it's certainly an interesting question - which i've popped the answer to below the cut, not only because it's about sibling incest, a trigger warning in and of itself, but because it also discusses physical and sexual abuse.
in the response which inspired this ask, i said that it seems to me that the reason why people ship sibling pairings is primarily because they find the taboo engaging - and "engaging" here can refer to anything on a spectrum from "mildly interesting" to "hot".
and i have no moral objection to this in a fictional context. many of the best books i've ever read - the secret history and ada or ardor chief among them - have sibling incest, and sibling incest which is presented specifically as romantic, as a prominent theme. i've also [like any other millennial with too much time on their hands] seen game of thrones...
but in fanfiction, while i understand the fun of a taboo fantasy in which siblings hook up in an imaginary setting where nobody is getting hurt, i find this quite uninteresting. by which i mean, i don't vibe with the fact that the standard presentation of sibling incest is as something that everyone involved is broadly fine with.
and i think the reason for this is that it ends up being woven - a lot of the time - into the fanon which has sprung up around "pureblood culture", which presents aristocracy as something dark and sexy, the class system as something it's legitimately important to maintain, and notions that pureblood families are genuinely special [i.e. that they have certain "family magics"].
a lot of the time, sibling incest pairings - and parent/child ones - are situated within this context: that it is natural for someone who is special by virtue of their birth to think that the only person worthy of their attention is their own blood relative.
i'm on the record as finding this aristocracy wank uninteresting in general - and so i find it uninteresting in this specific form as well. and it's why i don't vibe with pairings like sirius/regulus or bellatrix/narcissa - they are typically written as making perfect sense.
what I think would be compelling, however, is an approach to such pairings which takes a view of sibling incest closer to our real-world understanding of the phenomenon. not as something which is taboo in a naughty, forbidden way - but as something which is corrosive, almost certainly abusive, and highly like to be accompanied by other forms of violence.
which is to say... there is a sibling incest pairing actually implied in the canon text who i think are fascinating to explore: morfin and merope gaunt.
the gaunts’ extreme incestuousness is played for laughs in half-blood prince:
“Marvolo, his son, Morfin, and his daughter, Merope, were the last of the Gaunts, a very ancient Wizarding family noted for a vein of instability and violence that flourished through the generations due to their habit of marrying their own cousins. Lack of sense coupled with a great liking for grandeur meant that the family gold was squandered several generations before Marvolo was born. He, as you saw, was left in squalor and poverty, with a very nasty temper, a fantastic amount of arrogance and pride, and a couple of family heirlooms that he treasured just as much as his son, and rather more than his daughter.”
this alludes to common jokes in britain about how inbred the aristocracy are. it also winks conspiratorially at the reader about the irony of a family which considers itself to be of such “pure” blood living in filth and fucking their own blood relations - and morfin and merope both have a birth defect associated with inbreeding [exotropia, eyes which stare in different directions] which serves as a visual metaphor for the gaunts' hubristic decline, in that it is written as making them look ugly, simple-minded, and poor.
but there is also a subtext here - in the way that dumbledore talks about the family's increasing isolation from the rest of the world -that the gaunts' incestuousness is narrowing from first cousins to siblings.
[indeed, i always wonder if we're supposed to imagine that morfin and merope's - presumably - dead mother was marvolo's sister, and that's why the siblings have this birth defect while marvolo does not...]
the three gaunts do not appear to go anywhere or know anyone, and morfin and merope evidently did not attend hogwarts. this isolation - especially when coupled with their appearances, since many of the pureblood families we meet in canon are described as being good-looking, and their finances - means that neither child has any hope on the upper-class marriage-market.
but the way that both morfin and marvolo talk to and about merope - especially the way morfin taunts his sister about tom riddle sr. - suggests that this doesn't matter, since morfin and merope will be keeping it in the family...
“‘Darling,’” whispered Morfin in Parseltongue, looking at his sister. “‘Darling,’ he called her. So he wouldn’t have you anyway.”
Merope was so white Harry felt sure she was going to faint.
“What’s that?” said Gaunt sharply, also in Parseltongue, looking from his son to his daughter.
“She likes looking at that Muggle,” said Morfin, a vicious expression on his face as he stared at his sister, who now looked terrified. “Always in the garden when he passes, peering through the hedge at him, isn’t she? And last night - ”
Merope shook her head jerkily, imploringly, but Morfin went on ruthlessly, “Hanging out of the window waiting for him to ride home, wasn’t she?”
“Hanging out of the window to look at a Muggle?” said Gaunt quietly.
All three of the Gaunts seemed to have forgotten Ogden, who was looking both bewildered and irritated at this renewed outbreak of incomprehensible hissing and rasping.
“Is it true?” said Gaunt in a deadly voice, advancing a step or two toward the terrified girl. “My daughter - pure-blooded descendant of Salazar Slytherin - hankering after a filthy, dirt-veined Muggle?”
Merope shook her head frantically, pressing herself into the wall, apparently unable to speak.
“But I got him, Father” cackled Morfin. “I got him as he went by and he didn’t look so pretty with hives all over him, did he, Merope?”
morfin's hatred of tom riddle sr. is obviously driven by his blood-supremacist beliefs. but it is also transparently sexual - he loathes the idea that riddle might "have" merope, he attacks riddle in response to his sister's unrestrained display of romantic/sexual interest in a man who is not him, and he delights in the knowledge that hurting riddle [and telling his father why he did so] will only secure his power over merope.
indeed, merope is "defeated" by marvolo - dejected and broken in his presence and by his violence - but the only person of whom she is "terrified" is morfin.
merope is also treated - as dumbledore says - as little more than an heirloom. she is the conduit for slytherin's blood - and she is, therefore, the person who is the primary victim of her father's desire to keep this bloodline pure. with no other candidate on the horizon, if this pure bloodline is to continue... then it is because she will be forced to bear children for morfin, extending the cycle of abject poverty and pain which defines the decaying last generations of slytherin's line.
and this raises questions which i think are genuinely compelling, both within the canon timeline and outside of it. what understanding of consent and bodily autonomy can merope have, and how does this play into her rape of tom riddle sr.? what happens if merope doesn't escape - if morfin gets away without prison time and returns to the shack? what happens to her and her baby if - when riddle sr. flees her - she is forced to come home? what would her life have been like as a mother to her brother's children - especially if she had daughters she knew would be similarly abused? how might she have resisted - since, if she can brew a love potion, she can brew an abortifacient - if she had been trapped with morfin? what would morfin have done to tom riddle jr. if his nephew hadn't been holding a wand?
and what does the teenage voldemort make of it all? after all, he attacks his uncle, knocks him out and frames him for murder... immediately after morfin has called his mother a "slut".
#asks answered#asenora's opinions on ships#yet another defence of poor merope#i am once again asking#where is the state?
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Okay hear me out, I’ve been thinking about genderbent female Snape, student age specifically, and
imagine Severa(?) gathering potion ingredients for Slughorn in the forbidden forest (extra credit? she also grabs a few things for herself while she’s at it), enjoying it for multiple reasons but partly because she actually feels safer alone in the forest than in hogwarts. She likes being alone and can relax and act however she wants without worrying about who’s watching, she doesn’t have to constantly look over her shoulder for potter’s gang either.
Sometimes Severa makes flower crowns ( lily taught her how and before hogwarts they used to make them together), but flowers can be scarce in the forest so she’ll substitute them for random plants, ingredients she’s gathered even, whatever she can find etc etc; by the end of it she’s wearing a monstrosity (in the best way) worthy of Luna Lovegood. She takes them off before returning to the castle, but she doesn’t always get everything so sometimes there are random bits of leaves, mushrooms, feathers, goodness knows what- in her hair.
Severa is a bit of a weirdo (but that’s just snape), and a loner (again, snape). She writes made up poems and her own notes in almost all of her books (text books especially). Some of the poems she writes are personal or about something in particular, but a lot of them are about potions, plants or other school things, to help her remember or learn things.
Severa isn’t pretty but if she took care of herself, she’d probably be considered decent (but she’s unpopular so people would probably think she’s ugly anyway). Her eyes are her best feature (they, and I quote, ‘glitter’). She doesn’t have many friends, she isn’t as chummy with the girls in her year as canon snape was with the boys (not that they were best friends in the world). The boys wouldn’t have much to do with her outside of death eater stuff.
Severa dislikes Regulus on principle for being Sirius’ brother but she also has a mild crush on him, based on the fact that he’s one of the few boys who are actually decent to her and treat her like a human being. She finds it embarrassing and almost dislikes him more for it.
Also, for reasons of self gratification, her animagus/patronus is a doe
#I just need snape to be a weird forest girl#she eats random mushrooms and other things she probably shouldn’t eat#madam pomfrey is like ‘stop putting random things in your mouth’#‘do you have self control!’#severus snape#female severus snape#pro snape#girl snape#snape headcanons
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For the wip game - You Can Touch, But He's Mine and The Shop At The End pls!!!
@cryingatships thank you for playing the WIP game with me~!
To see all of my WIPs (and maybe make my day and ask about one of them???) check out the full list here~!
You Can Touch, But He's Mine (Deep Night Smutfic)
First, a confession: I got so excited about talking about The Shop At The End, I almost forgot you also asked about this fic 🙈
You Can Touch, But He's Mine is a KhemWela oneshot smutfic born out of my frustration with Khem in episode 3 when he got all jealous and started being a bloody asshole to everybody.
The premise in simple: Khem loves watching Wela work as a host. He loves watching the customers gaze longingly at Wela and his current company, claw for a few hours of Wela's time and spend fortunes for his attention. Khem loves showing those same customers to the taxi stop in the early hours of the morning, loves seeing them off and loves being the one who gets to take Wela home to strip him of his carefully coordinated outfits and host persona.
Also, I should probably mention that Wela's outfit for the night has had me look at these for inspiration:
The Shop At The End
Thank you for asking about The Shop! I didn't realise how much I've missed this story until I started writing about it and couldn't stop myself!
@welcometothelairofthebitchking also asked about The Shop At The End, so you can find a snippet from the beginning of the story over in their answer!
As mentioned in the WIP list, The Shop At The End was originally a fanfic idea. I have plotted, written and rewritten it quite a few times but before I could finish it, I made the desicion to stop writing for that fandom. BUT (as with When I Grow Up) I was too in love with the story to give up on it, which is why I am now considering how I can rewrite it into an original story.
It is (surprise surprise) centered around a magic shop run by Lili, a succubus (we Do Not Ask about her Age) and her young assistant - the main character - who may or may not be an incubus and/or magician and may or may not also be aroace (so many delicious desicions to reconsider now that I'm no longer guided by an existing canon).
Around them circle a cast of social outcasts, including a vampire, a pack of werewolves and a dwarf exiled from the mines. There's also my favourite character, Andrea/Cameron (I keep changing my mind), a nonbinary shape shifter who changes their apperance to fit the extravagant fashion choice of the day. They resigned from the police in a rather spectacular fashion to write erotica and open a book store selling porn as a front for behind the counter (in the attic) forbidden, dark magic texts. They are one of the reasons I can't turn my back on this story.
The plot needs quite a bit of reworking now that it's not going to be a fanfic anymore, but my thoughts keep returning to it for the vibes alone! It's quite comfy to mentally sit in the shop for a while...
Think warm sunlight shining in through the curved storefront and a fat cat sleeping in the display window. Think herbs and amulets and knick-knacks hanging from the ceiling. Think rich, almost ghibli-like interiors with polished wood and brass detailing and light glinting off glass phials. Think hundreds of little drawers all marked with handwritten labels such as human teeth, adult and bone dust, mixed or calws, werewolf and skulls, mice.
Think polite smiles and ironed shirts and buttoned vests. Think black market wares hidden in the back and ingredients measured on brass scales and payments made in gold.
Think shady dealings and questionable favours and bribed cops. Think surprise raids and rumours spreading over pints of beer, rumors about something going on that is keeping the coppers busy, about strangers approaching those around you with promises of change, about the calm before a storm.
And when society comes looking for the main character to be their hero, think: "Why should I sacrifice myself to help all of you, when all you have ever done is shun me?"
#asked and answered#wip tag game#original writing#fanfic#fanfiction#Deep night the series#the shop at the end
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firm believer that hunter would immediately consume All knowledge of the human realm he can get his hands on. He would get in trouble for taking too many books from the library (he does not understand the loan system because the castle library didn’t have one) and camila would introduce him to documentaries. He and gus would nerd out together and go see giraffes.
I’m just a really big fan of hunter canonically reading a lot. He’s shown great curiosity for all new things, from the history of titan blood mining to “forbidden texts”, or wild magic. He’s also generally knowledgeable, like with the flesh-eating plant, mindscapes, etc. The first thing he did after finding out he was a grimwalker was hide out in a dark hole and read a bunch of books about it. The human realm is going to have a lot of new and unknown things, and I can totally see him throwing himself into research, esp with all the bad stuff going on.
#the owl house#toh#hunter the owl house#hunter toh#the golden guard#kings tide#points at neurodivergent character#my child now#hunter and gus brothers#cries
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I always found Ginny and Draco to be a pretty fascinating character study of “forbidden love” between two warring families a la Romeo & Juliet. But I also understand it’s far more popular to pair Ginny with Susan Bones or Luna or something; many believe her to be queercoded in the text.
I don’t care much for her character in general to care either way tbh, just don’t put her with Harry because ugh it’s the hero worship for me — she never fully understood Harry as a person and we were never shown that she does in canon at any point.
Wait, because I like the idea of Ginny and Draco being a thing. Just reading about how Lucius would react would make it all the better. Draco hanging out with the Weasleys would be hilarious, too, because I can imagine him hanging out in The Burrow and trying to accept that these people will be his family if he ends up marrying Ginny.
I say that Ginny was a bit more queer-coded, and then I would put her hero-worshipping crush on Harry as an annoyance of what is expected of a straight girl. Yet that also gives JK Rowling more credit for writing a queer-coded character without acknowledging queerness on her part. I do say that Ginny could be bisexual.
I dislike that Harry ended up with Ginny and the lack of build-up. There was a mutual attraction there, and I won't deny that cause it's in the books, but it wasn't fully shown what led to their love and relationship. We needed to be shown how their connection was truly built out. I just knew that Ginny had a crush on him since she was 10, and then joined them at school, still had a crush, then she was around for certain things, and then she got a boyfriend, and then somehow Harry became jealous, and then bam kisses happened.
Like I always say, I don't acknowledge the epilogue, I didn't back in the summer of 2007, and I still don't to this day. Thank goodness for fanfiction.
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These so called “friends” of MC’s suck. I swear I lose faith in more and more of them with every new chapter. At least we can see who our true friends are I guess since they still manage to be supportive even with any doubts they might have. Too bad there’s very few of them now. Some of them still support Merula but not MC and that stings ngl. How can they stand with her even after everything but can’t do the same for MC? Fuck them.
Whoa nellie, I got like a dozen different messages expressing similar sentiments to this one, including at least a few that specifically targeted Ismelda and/or Beatrice. And hey, you're not in the wrong for how you're feeling, though I'm not sure I agree.
The main issue here is that The Circle of Khanna is treated as a collective. That's been a problem in how our friends were written for quite some time now. What, every single one of them wants to withdraw at the beginning of Year 7? I don't buy that. Penny, sure. But Tonks? Ben? No way in hell. The group is treated as a singular entity which ignores a lot of the nuance and conflict that would arise from this. I suppose something similar happened with the D.A. in the books, and in general, writing large groups of people can be tricky, but still. This is the reason why The Circle (initially) turns on MC. Because they are the embodiment of honoring Rowan. How could they not? I am glad to see that it was only temporary, though.
At the end of the day, I don't think that it's so much that MC is Peregrine's child so much as it is that MC knew and kept it hidden from The Circle. In general, it's not handled brilliantly, because MC didn't know about Peregrine until just a few chapters ago, and I think they can be forgiven for taking some time to process how they feel about this - but then again, the various members of The Circle may also need time to process it, and let their brains catch up with what it might mean. In particular, Barnaby's reaction was probably frustrating for a lot of folks (though it was no surprise to me, at this point) that he had to work out if MC was bad just because their Dad was. Obviously, of all people, he should know better...but then again, does he truly comprehend his own family as being "bad?" Maybe he does and I'm just being stupid, but I don't know. Trying to figure it out is all.
Ben's reaction was the most upsetting to me, but it's not like it doesn't make sense. The Circle of Khanna began that night in the Forbidden Forest, and it began with him, Merula, and MC. Ben is likely feeling quite isolated right now because of these twists and turns. Merula is one of them, and MC might be as well. True, it's not their fault that their Dad runs R, but why didn't they say so? Can he be truly certain that MC is on his side? Because Merula wasn't. Ben hasn't said anything to this effect (yet) but he is the last founding member of The Circle who remains safe. The others are compromised, no two ways about it. MC now has a conflict of interest, and Merula sure as hell does too. How is Ben supposed to feel about that? How is anyone?
As for Beatrice and her line about how "interesting" things have gotten...yeah, that was bizarre. I can offer no interpretation of it that puts Bea in a good light, so I'll just refer to my classic escape route that I've used before and argue that flavor text isn't necessarily canon. It's not part of the main scene, so therefore I choose to ignore it. That might be a little silly, but it's the best I've got. I've talked about Ismelda in previous posts, but the short answer is that I feel like, given her extensive history with Merula...she's perfectly allowed to feel uncertain about this. If MC can feel uncertain about Peregrine, I think that's only fair.
Speaking of Merula...yeah, it is strange that The Circle is more divided about her than it is about MC. But, if it's any consolation, I think time heals all wounds. The Circle of Khanna was initially confused and horrified to learn about MC's lineage, but they came around and pretty much universally sided with them (except Ben) understanding that none of this was MC's fault. Which is a lot more support than Merula got. She only got 50% of the Circle to let her stay. Not to mention, there are pragmatic reasons to keep her around as well. There's no reason to assume that everyone who voted for Merula automatically forgives her, the way the gang seem to have forgiven MC.
It's just a lot to handle. These characters are young. They've lost so much, and grown up in an atmosphere of uncertainty, never knowing who they can trust. Betrayal has been a huge theme in this game. Ben was suspected from Year 2 to Year 5. Rakepick betrayed everyone in the Portrait Vault. Merula has been a spy since at least Year 6. The question of how shady Jacob may be has been central to the entire story. Not to mention that MC has always been a little ambiguous in their nature. They are and have always been a trickster. It's just how the game is written. For better or for worse, they have a lot in common with Jacob, (who went rogue) as well as Peregrine. (Enough said...) Like, MC has the same quality of talking people into doing things for them. We now know where they get that talent.
The Circle of Khanna learned the truth, and experienced a creeping doubt about Jacob's Sibling. But it didn't take long for (most of) them to shake it off and learn to trust MC again.
#The Circle of Khanna#HPHM Analysis#Ben Copper#Merula Snyde#HPHM Jacob's Sibling#HPHM Peregrine#HPHM Jacob#Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery#HPHM Spoilers#Beatrice Haywood#Ismelda Murk
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I already sorta mentioned it in relation to the Adult Mag entry in the boss fight tournament, but it's fun to go over again,
BLUE BOOK is a fun reference to old English almanacs that implies a comprehensive collection of information, suitable for a magical autonomous book of magic.
NECRONOMIOCN taken famously from Lovecraftian lore, and a natural pick for a magical book enemy. Oddly despite the source material, it's not an especially threatening enemy in any of its appearances. Also it does not appear to be bound in human flesh, which is a shame because it could have made for a cool striking enemy model; although the pages of the WA1 model do have giant eyes in them.
TARGUM however is a much more obscure kind of reference. It's the term used to refer to the early translations of the Tanakh from their original Hebrew into Aramaic. I like the idea of it being used here to evoke a kind of ancient foreign magic of which this is the first comprehensible version of it written down for Filgaians. Also it's bound with a Japanese style sidestich rather than with a spine, giving a distinctly antique impression.
APOCRYPHA is a another fun one. Apocrypha can refer to a wide range of things in opposition to "canonical" texts. Probably most notable, or at least most familiar to people, would be the idea of biblical apocrypha; those biblical texts by subject and/or historical era not included in the bible itself, and considered by some to be heretical. It's neat as a magic tome as it implies something more secret, or rejected, or even forbidden.
DE RE METALLICA first appears not as an enemy at all but as the erroneously transliterated "De Le Metalica" dungeon, hidden within a magic book in Wild Arms 1, and subsequently Alter Code F. The real world De Re Metallica was a 16th century text written by Georg Bauer, cataloguing in 12 books all the details of how to find, mine, purify, smelt, and craft metal --a literally earth shattering development in mining and metalwork as it not only aggregated a long history of otherwise disparate and unwritten knowledge but also ventured into the then cutting edge of metallurgy and alchemy that would provide a groundwork for future developments in actual chemistry.
Then of course we have the ADULT MAG. Rather self explanatory, really. SUKEBEBONN[スケベ本]: "Lewd Book" in Japanese, it's a phrase that tends to refer to erotic manga more than the sort of adult photo collections we might think of in the west. In fact the first Dirty Mag model in WA3 actually has "ERO COM," as in "erotic comic", written on its cover. In fact something more in line with Hustler or Playboy would actually be referred to as a "Gravure" magazine.
The COMICBOOK which is again straight forward enough. It's just called MANGA in the original Japanese. If you're not familiar, Japanese serial manga are printed in magazine format, larger size, generally lower quality paper and print, but proportionally lower in cost as well(as little as the equivalent of 5.00USD for ~500 pages), but dozens of titles to an issue. Back when the Japanese and global economy were a little better, and when people still used phonebooks, they were often compared in size, although they tend to be a bit slimmer in recent years. In case it was odd to anyone why the comic book enemy was the size of a regular book. It's a shame this enemy didn't show up in other games.
and finally, STRATEGY GUIDE, which is a fun one. With Virginia and the title "WILD ARMS 3" on the cover. Another fun gag enemy with some 4th wall breaking fun for good measure. Again shame we never saw it make a comeback in any other games.
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i legit felt bad reading your rhea-sieros post from yesterday but knowing that at least wilhelm wanted to hold her hand even if she was not the human seiros pretended to be made me warm.
Hey -
"Hand Holding is forbidden without proper courting", is what Seiros the Warrior remembers from Rhea's brother, Cichol.
He might not be alive anymore, but she intends to respect his wishes and sermons, since it is the only thing she has left of him.
But he never said anything about "naked social bathing", so she can join Willy whenever he invites her!
More seriously...
Another beef I have with Nopes is how Seiros the Warrior transforms in front of everyone - Seiros the Warrior, through her hood in depictions or hair dye, took great care to pretend she was a human, it's not to blow her cover at the first difficulty!
Even if, in FEH, Seiros calls the IO the form "given by the Goddess to protect Fodlan", FE16's Rhea is still very worried about that form, because she is deadly afraid people (humans? Billy?) would reject her if they knew she was not a human and could transform in a "bestial" form.
(Rhea finally dropped the hair dye in 1180 and we know how it ended)
So to Seiros the Warrior? Pretending to be a human is motivated by safety reasons, but also, judging by 1180 Rhea, the need/wish to blend in, and the belief that she will not if "humans" learn what she is - whether they want to turn her in a pair of daggers or just ostracise her because she is "not like them".
(Tru Piss?)
Comes Willy, a human who learnt what she was, and yet, saved, supported and helped her. Willy was apparently not afraid of her alternate form, nor rejected her for being a dragon, because he modeled his crown after her IO form!
Let it be for shallow reasons ("Poor Dumb Willy was manipulated by his peepee :'(" ) or more nefarious ones (he saw an opportunity to become an all powerful emperor and wanted to rule over Fodlan), Wilhelm accepted Seiros the Warrior and Rhea the Nabatean.
Something we do not see anyone from modern Fodlan (bar Billy in their S support?) do - because the devs dgaf about Nabateans, and as a result, their existence and plot importance is completely dropped.
Let it be in AM/AG/VW, the lords and the cast can possibly never know Flayn has pointy ears and how (if it is possible) she can live in a world where the majority of people have round ears.
Honestly, it's a damn shame that the only person who received this "revelation" and had to think/act about the "consequences" of this revelation is a guy who never appears, exists in 3 lines of text and has been dead for more than 1k years.
FE16 has never been a game focused on coexistence between two different races, no matter what the Claude/Clout routes try to sell. As a result, only Wilhelm got to knew (99% canon wise) Seiros was a dragon, and since she didn't conveniently died after the reveal, had to give a reaction bar "surprised pikachu face" and move the goal post about his precious teacher having a rock in the chest.
Fodlan AU : Manuela ultimately learns Seteth is Cichol, and the first thing she asks him is if he really had countless lovers like she read in a very serious book, and if the story of "Liora and the Magic Beast" was based on one of his paramours.
#anon#replies#FE16#if only this game had better writing?#rather if only fodlan wasn't tied to fe16's story#nabatean stuff#is it the wilhelm hour?#whenever Seiros/Rhea thinks too hard and falls in a depressive state#Willy comes in to pinch her ears and tell her they're cute but they'd be cuter if she removed her clothes#for some reason#naked social bathing was very important in Enbarr back then#i'm sure both seiros and cichol cried a lot when they reunited in Enbarr
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