#this post assumes you have read part 1 of the language analysis

[notfreetoday]

MPW Language Analysis Part 2

Segasaki x Yoh: Shifts in Emotion and Acknowledging Roles

Masterlist || Language Analysis Part 1 || The Importance of Amae ||

In Japanese, one cannot utter a sentence without communicating at least two things: (1) the actual content of the message itself, the referential meaning; and (2) a metamessage about the relationship between the speaker and the listener, an indexical meaning. A striking feature about Japanese is that it is the latter message that most often assumes greater importance.

From: Creating an Ideal Self: Theories of Selfhood and Pedagogy at a Japanese Ethics Retreat by Dorinne K. Kondo

Every sentence that Segasaki and Yoh say to each other carries 2 meanings - the one we read in the subtitles, and too often, the one that never travels across the screen. The "miscommunication" that many perceive to be happening isn't always just about "using actions vs words" (though there is much to be said about that too) - the words are being used, but it's hard to hear them when said words are in Japanese and packed with information English is simply not designed to carry.

So, with 6 episodes of corrections made and nuances explained, it's finally time to get back to actually talking about how all of this adds to our understanding of the characters and of their relationship. In these 6 episodes, both Segasaki and Yoh have run the entire gamut of speech levels - but where Segasaki shifts consistently and with purpose, Yoh tends to shift as a reflexive, or reactionary response.

Or, what Segasaki choosing to shift up a speech level means to Yoh, and what Yoh's inconsistent shifts tells Segasaki (and us), about his emotional state. I'm kinda sorta not really sorry about this but ah, it's maybe possibly probably even longer than usual??

Quick Recap of Part 1:

We established two key aspects of their relationship:

1) They both acknowledge the power differential between them - Segasaki, by using "rougher" speech patterns, and Yoh, by tending to stick to the more polite end of the scale. 2) They both consider themselves to be from the same "in-group" - Both of them default to informal speech patterns when speaking to each other (even Yoh, despite being the junior/lower on the social hierarchy)

And now on to Part 2!

Changes in Emotion: Yoh

Yoh tends to experience his emotions rather intensely, and through his monologues we understand that he isn't always able to process these emotions immediately. As such, the shifts in his speech levels tend to happen subconsciously - there isn't an immediately obvious, predictable pattern to those shifts, because they are simply a reflection of how he's feeling in the moment.

Y: あ、いや。なんでもない…です* Y: Ah, iya, nandemonai…desu* Y: Ah, no, it's….nothing* The shift to polite form, and the awkward manner in which he does it, reflects Yoh's growing insecurity (See EP 2 for other examples).

From the moment Segasaki starts returning home late, Yoh becomes more and more unsure of where he stands with Segasaki, and this growing emotional distance is conveyed through his speech patterns becoming (awkardly) more polite than in Ep 1. He speaks hesitantly and indirectly, until he gets drunk (and even then, his insecurity still shows in how he barely switches down to rough speech during their not-argument).

In Ep 3, we again see Yoh shifting up to polite forms often, except this time, the shifts show his gratitude as well as sincerity.

Because of how ridiculously expensive the pork bun is, Yoh expresses his thanks by saying the full ありがとうございます (arigatou gozaimasu) here as opposed to just "arigatou" or other more casual forms. In return, Segasaki acknowledges the formality Yoh pays him with a nod (and a mouthful of pork bun).

Y: すいません Y: suimasen Y: I'm sorry This is the more formal version of "I'm sorry" (textbook pronunciation is sumimasen, but textbooks are for nerds Yoh's version is very common as well and still polite)

In both these scenes, Yoh switches to suimasen as opposed to his usual, and more casual, ごめん / ごめんなさい (gomen/gomen nasai), that he also uses in this episode. As previously mentioned, "sorry" in Japanese can also be used to mean "thank you". Here Yoh is doing both - apologizing for Segasaki having to "go the extra mile" to take care of him (ie, he feels he has imposed upon Segasaki - a fear he has mentioned a few times), and at the same time also expressing his gratitude for being taken care of. However, it's the shift up to the polite version that conveys his sincerity, and carries the extra message that - despite his regret at imposing on Segasaki - Yoh still values these moments and feels touched by them.

Both times, you see Segasaki taking note of this, albeit slightly confused, and probably a little shy too (Segasaki is after all, very good at picking up on social cues - especially Yoh's - and spends the whole of Ep 3 doing just that).

Y: 漫画が　とてもだめです Y: manga ga totemo dame desu Y: (My) manga is... really bad.

Yoh spends most of Ep 5 safely ensconced in the informal speech level, switching up only twice - the above scene, and later when he attributes his recovery to Segasaki's care as a way of thanks. The switch in the bathroom is sudden, and adds a sense of certainty to his statement that reflects the intensity of the despair he feels (even though he comes across as more kicked puppy than anything). The formality is also a way to "distance" himself from the reality of it, because it does hurt to acknowledge this.

All of these instances show us that Yoh's shifts up in speech levels tend to reflect when he's feeling vulnerable in some way - when he's insecure, dejected or hurt, or when he feels that he has imposed upon Segasaki.

So then, does Yoh also shift down?

Well, yes and no.

Left (Ep 4): Y: ふざけんな [very rude] Y: Fuzakenna Y: The hell are you doing! Right (Ep 5): Y: バカにすんなよ！[slurred vowels] Y: baka ni sun na yo Y: Don't look down on me!

Even if we include (just barely) the non-argument of Ep 2, there honestly aren't many scenarios in which Yoh shifts down to a "rougher" speech pattern - and he never drops as low as Segasaki does. This has to do with both his acknowledgement of the power differential that exists between Segasaki and him, as well as his less assertive nature. In fact, even when speaking to Man-san, with whom he shares his thoughts more freely, Yoh remains casual, but not rough. (Man-san is waaaay rougher than Yoh, tbh). Hence, when Yoh does shift down, it tends to be explosive and short lived, just like his frustration or anger.

So why "yes and no"? Because being lower in the social hierarchy also introduces another, more interesting way to express yourself - by choosing not to switch up.

We see this in Ep 5, when Yoh tries to lie about going to Man-san's place. He sticks to his baseline informal speech when he announces this, whereas he previously used polite speech in Ep 4. Is it possible that Yoh was simply overcompensating and trying too hard to sound casual to hide his lie in Ep 5? Yes. But before coming to that conclusion, there is another important detail to note - that instances like this, where Yoh doesn't switch up, have gradually been increasing as the show progresses.

In Ep 5 and 6, Yoh uses the slightly less formal gomen nasai to apologize (contrast this with Ep 2's suimasen mentioned earlier). Given that Yoh himself mentions in Ep 5 that he thought Segasaki would be angry, and in Ep 6 clearly underscores his apology with a proper bow (yes, there are standards to how you should bow in Japan) - you would think that these 2 situations would be the perfect time to switch back up again. So why? Once again, the key to unlocking the metamessage is the wider context; i.e., we need to consider what Segasaki has been doing. please indulge my desire to sound cool and mysterious despite already announcing it in the title

Establishing Roles: Segasaki

In direct contrast to Yoh, Segasaki is very consistent with his speech shifts, and a clear pattern emerges. First off - when Segasaki is angry with Yoh, he drops straight down.

Left (Ep 2): S: てめぇ [very, very rude] S: temee S: You Right (Ep 5): S: 分かってねぇだろ　分かってねぇから　泊りで仕事とか言い出すんだろうが [slurred Rs, word contraction, slurred vowels] S: wakattenee daro wakattenee kara tomari de shigoto toka ii dasun darou ga S: You don't do you? You don't understand and that's why you can just say things like you'll stay out to work overnight.

Like, waaaaaaaay down. The argument in Ep 5 is the most obvious example of this, but using "temee" to address someone like he does in Ep 2 is very very rude and, together with the "haaah?!" Segasaki says before this line, also does a lot to convey that he is Not Happy.

S: 明日は仕事すんのか [word contraction] S: ashita wa shigoto sun no ka S: すんのかしないのか、どっちだよ [word contraction, informal, assertive end particle] S: sun no ka shinai no ka, docchi da yo S: Are you working tomorrow? S: Working or not, which is it?

The lines in this interaction from Ep 3 aren't really rude per se - certainly not compared to temee - but they are rougher than his usual and very direct. We've seen Segasaki do this multiple times throughout the episodes - dropping his levels when he's being assertive, and it is in response to that assertiveness, that Yoh gives the following reply:

Y: いや、ないです [plain forms, but with the addition of desu form] Y: Iya, nai desu Y: No, I don't [have anything planned]

Mixing plain forms with -desu at the end makes Yoh's reply a little more formal, and is another way in which Yoh acknowledges the power differential between them. Being higher in the social hierarchy means Segasaki enjoys a greater sense of linguistic freedom, and shifts down in speech level are therefore unsurprising, and indeed, expected.

So, if there is no real need for Segasaki to shift up, then, what does it mean when he chooses to do so?

Left: S: まあ　残念ながら　相手は大嫌いな俺ですけど S: Maa... zennen nagara aite wa daikirai na ore desukedo S: Well, unfortunately, your partner is me - who you hate so much Right: S: 好きにさせてもらうけど...な ？ S: suki ni sasete morau kedo... na? S: I'll gratefully do as I please...yea?

After an entire episode of using Yoh's own words to tease him as a way to try and get Yoh to face his own feelings, Segasaki lands his sharpest and strongest push of the day in these 2 scenes not by reinforcing the hierarchy between them, but by subverting it. Shifting up to a more formal speech level when he doesn't have to, particularly in the second scene where he uses deferential word forms, creates the illusion of elevating Yoh in the hierarchy, which is then immediately undermined by the irreverent tone in which Segasaki says them.

In other words, Segasaki only shifts up as a power play.

S: よくできました S: yoku dekimashita

We first see Segasaki use this formal way of saying "well done" at the end of Ep 3 and again in Ep 4, and it brings to mind the literal stamp of approval that teachers often give to students in school. Here, there is no teasing or subversion of the hierarchy going on. Segasaki is establishing his role in Yoh's life - to provide and care for him - through the use of polite speech, and reinforcing the power differential between them in the most straightforward way possible.

This use of polite speech allows the speaker to indirectly index their social identity - often as one who is in charge or responsible. Within the Japanese household, it also happens when a role/obligation (often parental) is being carried out - eg , a parent might switch to polite speech to indicate their role as provider when asking the rest of the family "What would you like to eat?". Similarly, we again see Segasaki underscore his role in the following:

Left (Ep 5) S: ごちそうさまでした S: Gochisousama deshita S: Thank you for the food Right (Ep 4) S: 寝るなら部屋いきな* S: neru nara heya ikina S: If you're going to sleep, then go to the room alright?

In Ep 5, Segasaki leads the saying of this standard phrase, customarily said at the end of a meal to express gratitude to everything that made the meal possible. It is the use of the full, more formal version (as opposed to just gochisousama) that indexes his role as Yoh's caregiver when he leads in saying this, and indeed he spends most of Ep 5 enjoying that role. In Ep 4, although he does not quite use the -masu form here, the imperative form "ikina" brings to mind a parent trying to coax their child to bed, the same way Segasaki is doing to a very drunk and sleepy Yoh.

This is the key we were looking for - with every episode, Segasaki consistently reinforces his role in Yoh's life, the same way he consistently responds to and encourages Yoh's amae. And with every episode, Yoh becomes a little more confident of his place with Segasaki, a little more willing to believe that maybe Segasaki might really return his feelings. It's easy to look at Yoh in Ep 2, see him push Segasaki away, and think that the same Yoh appears in Ep 5, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Because in Ep 2, a drunk Yoh barely drops to rough speech, whereas in Ep 5, a sober Yoh feels safe enough to even "curse" a little (well, as far as cursing goes in Japan at least, which admittedly is not far). In both word and action, they have both grown, and have both contributed to the strengthening of their relationship.

So! In conclusion (omg we made it to the end) we have established that:

Segasaki has a clear, predictable pattern in his shifts - he switches up to formal when establishing or reinforcing his role in Yoh's life, but when he's serious, or angry with Yoh, he drops all the way down.

Yoh is less consistent, because his shifts tend to be more subconscious and reflective of his emotional state. He's more inclined to switch up when he's in a vulnerable state, eg, feeling insecure or dejected, or when he wants to express his sincerity in apologizing or showing gratitude. When he's nervous, or in response to Segasaki either being direct with him or upset with him, he'll sort of switch up too (ie, he'll mix polite forms with informal forms, or he'll try to say things in an indirect way).

Through the use of speech level shifts, both Segasaki and Yoh indirectly reinforce and acknowledge their individual roles in each other's life, and by observing the changes in these shifts over time, we the audience are able to track the progression of their relationship as well.

In the next part, we'll look at the differences in the way they speak to others versus between themselves - looking specifically at examples from Ep 4, 6 and 7.

As always, thank you for reading, and feel free to ask any questions! (*ˊᗜˋ*)/

#my personal weatherman #taikan yohou #体感予報 #segasaki x yoh #sociolinguistics #japanese language #MPW language analysis #mytranslations #MPW subtitle corrections #this post assumes you have read part 1 of the language analysis #who says MPW is over #it's not over i don't believe it #also this was so long #was it too confusing? should I be less nerdy? #ep 7's corrections will come out next #tumblr's formatting sucks but reddit sucks more lol #i still enjoy writing these posts though #i hope it gives everyone an excuse to rewatch MPW again

[shreya11111]

Shows are not meant to be analyzed deeply and picked apart from every angle with every micro expression studied for some hidden meaning, that’s the tumblrification of media and ultimately bad media literacy. If the audience can’t figure out something just by following along and watching a show’s twist and turns, then it’s bad writing. So I’m sorry to say that Byler can’t happen because it would be fanservice for the very online and the toxic gay nerds who think they know better than the rest of us just because some (usually creepy) “media scholar” tells them the color of Mike’s pants actually means Byler will happen on the summer solstice if you look close. Mike and El are obviously endgame because that’s the story the show is plainly telling 🤷‍♀️

media literacy is…

according to https://www.medialit.org/reading-room/what-media-literacy-definitionand-more

what we bylers do when we analyze stranger things as a show isn’t something new. a lot of us have been part of fandoms where this has been done several times, or we just naturally do it as a part of our media consumption. it isn’t just restricted to tumblr, so idk where you’re getting that from. @naturallybrielle literally has a tiktok account where she makes analysis videos so…

there are also accounts like @causeineedu and @/girlskth that make analysis videos on tiktok on this topic.

how is it bad media literacy to a) do exactly what the definition of media literacy is and b) analyze a show that is clearly meant to be analyzed?

and before you come saying that “it’s not that deep” or that “the duffers wouldn’t put this much effort into the details” i would like to direct you to this tweet:

the duffers themselves have said many times before that they put care into the details of this show. so why are we so wrong to analyze? they clearly want us to.

the fact that noah schnapp confirmed that they’ve been building up will’s feelings for mike since SEASON 1 should tell you this much.

besides, a lot of the analyses and theories i’ve seen in the byler fandom make tons of sense. it’s literally the reason why the byler community has grown so much. and this is coming from someone who used to ship midleven immediately post season 3, but stopped early 2020 (i think?) due to the anti-midleven analyses i read which made so much sense. mike and el are simply not a good couple. they would be so much better off as platonic friends.

also going back to the part about the analyzing of facial expressions - i’m assuming you primarily mean mike’s facial expressions. you see, the thing is that we, as an audience, do not have direct access to mike wheeler’s thoughts. we don’t know what’s going on inside that very complex mind of his. the only thing we have left to rely on are his facial expressions, body language and general actions. we don’t have much other choice BUT to analyze those aspects of him. and when we realize that mike’s actions directly contradict with his facial expressions/tone of voice/just the subtext in general, then what conclusion are we supposed to draw other than him not being genuine?

you also oversimplify the analyses we do in this fandom. it goes deeper than just the color of mike’s pants or whatever. yes, we may bring up color coding when it comes to mike and will but it’s not just some random color is it? it’s typically blue and yellow in reference to the “blue and yellow meets in the west” theory. which, if you actually paid attention to the show, you’d see that it makes sense. there are MULTIPLE times throughout this show (and especially in season 4) where mike and will have been color coded blue and yellow respectively.

aside from color coding, we also look very very deep into the characters, into the overall narrative, into the parallels/foreshadowing/subtext. we spend a lot of time actually trying to unravel what the duffers are trying to say with this story - which btw is completely valid. just like any other form of art that tends to be analyzed, analyzing stranger things (a tv show which is another form of art) makes complete sense.

and come on now, if you think that midleven is endgame because that’s what “the story of the show is plainly telling” then i’d seriously like you to rewatch the show, but this time with no inherent biases and with an open-mind.

in conclusion, byler is endgame and byler nation will never stop analyzing and having fun.

#thank you for coming to my ted talk #byler #byler tumblr #byler nation #anti m*leven #anti milkvan #milkvan #m*leven #anon ask #long answer #long post #mike wheeler #will byers #st4 #anti midleven #midleven #byler is endgame #stranger things 4

[btsandvmin]

BTS&Vmin analysis pt. 3 - Problems with analysis of real people (part 2)

There are many things that make analysis of real people very difficult, and even more so from afar and when they would have reason to hide the things we try to make theories about. (Something I think being LGBTQ+ or in a relationship would likely entail for any BTS member.) Thus I want to properly go through many of these problems that I think too many ship analyzers seem to ignore or forget about.

This is part 2, and if you haven’t read part 1 yet you can do so here:

BTS&Vmin analysis pt. 3 - Problems with analysis of real people (part 1)

Once again I ask you to be critical. Question what people say, their reasons for saying it and remember how easily something can be interpreted differently by different people. This applies to me as well, just because I love Vmin and see something as possible between them doesn’t mean I am an expert with the right answer.

Before I even start doing any analysis I want to mention some of the things that make trying to prove something about BTS as faraway spectators very difficult and what we need to remember as we consume anything fan-created or opinion related.

The topics I will go through for “Problems with analysis of real people” are:

Part 1 (link to part 1)

Culture and individual differences

Keeping up appearances and the created image

Complexity of humans and situations

Screen time and perspective over time

Confirmation bias and Cognitive dissonance

Language

Part 2 (this post)

Dating and unknown relationships

Internal and external relationship with being LGBTQ+

Social norms - What is romantic love?

PR, risk and shipping

Summary

Dating and unknown relationships

I am of the opinion that it's very likely the majority of BTS have dated or have been in some type of relationship at some point (or are right now). Maybe only casual, maybe just sex, but I doubt all of them would have been single since 2013. Thus we can think it's likely they have at some point hidden relationships from us without us noticing it. I am not saying they all must have been in relationships and I am not saying how serious those relationships might have been, only that I think at some point some members have probably dated or at least had casual sex. This shouldn't be too surprising considering how common it is for idols to date, sometimes completely in secret. Sometimes resulting in big scandals when revealed to the public. Either way we can most likely assume BTS members have managed relationships without fans knowing and we have no clue when or who they might have been with.

There are so many relationships in their lives we never or rarely ever see. For example Sungwoon has traveled with Jimin several times now and Jimin was heard in the background of one of his videos. Jimin sang the line "You are me, I am you" from Serendipity when talking about how well the two of them fit together and went to his apartment for his birthday. Taehyung has a close relationship to his Wooga squad and Park Bogum to name a few. They are people he has traveled and spent a lot of time with. Taehyung wrote something like “Honey you've worked hard” in a IG comment to Choi Wooshik and honestly Taehyung has been pretty open with his love towards his Wooga hyungs. I know there are people who ship them for sure, but the numbers are less, likely partly because what we see and can enjoy is less. The point is that people ship them because of them having confirmed interactions even if they aren't as frequent as the inter group ships will provide.

All members know a lot of people, some whom we have no idea even exist but that they surely spend time with. Yet most people don't even look at it as a possibility because other ships, especially within the group, are more prominent. I think Namjoon and his “secret boyfriend” is something that kind of shows both sides here. Fewer people ship them together than Namjoon with the members, but because he shows up in a lot of Namjoon’s content a fair amount assumes he is Namjoon’s boyfriend, simply based on that he shows up a lot. But the amount of visible moments doesn't really have to prove anything. Jimin also has a manager he is close enough with that he got dubbed “Jimin's personal manager”. There are people in their lives they might meet every day and we have no clue about them. And if we consider a female partner the odds of getting any “clues” are even smaller. Taehyung and other members have been caught up in several dating rumors, and so far nothing has been confirmed. Some fans get convinced easily while others deny it at every cost, but in the end we don’t truly know the truth unless we are told directly.

Like I said, it’s highly unlikely that no BTS member has ever been in a relationship. Likely most of them have at least at some point kept some type of relationship hidden. There are so many people in their lives they could be together with and we wouldn't even know. For all we know they could even be hiding in their rooms during vlives and we only assume it is who we want it to be.

We have a ton of moments to look at, but if some members (or at least idols in general) can manage relationships with people they don't see every day, surely it would be odd to assume that if there is a relationship within the group, that they would need to constantly be together. I don't think we can truly know what a hidden couple would choose to do in the situation of balancing working together and being involved in a romantic and/or sexual way. The idea of comparing moments and amount of time spent together between members as a competition for what ship is "the realest" might be misleading. For all we know they could try hard to separate private time and work. Or they might be stuck together every chance they get. But we don't see enough to know either way. Both Jimin and Taehyung could theoretically have completely unknown partners and we wouldn't know. So how can we look at any ship and try to compare as if we assume the moments we get are all there is?

We don't know what any of the members would do about a controversial relationship, and we don't know how they would act or what they would prioritize if they are in a relationship. We also don’t know what their company would do. As usual the nuances and possibilities are too many, but at least we should remember it's not fair to only assume anything only based on what we see. In the end it's basically impossible to know anything for sure, because there are too many missing pieces.

Other idols are doing it, so surely BTS dates too. That much I think we should be prepared for and be willing to accept. I think people should honestly try to not bother with other ships too much and just enjoy their own but without getting certain about their view being real. And always keep an open mind for whoever they might date. If they are happily in love, let them, even if it's not your preference. It's their lives not a fanfiction. They deserve to be happy, and putting your preference above their choice for happiness is frankly selfish and toxic. You should be able to love them no matter who they might love.

Internal and external relationship with being LGBTQ+

I don't want to force any labels on BTS as it's their own private matter, but for any inter group ship analysis it's obviously impossible to avoid the subject. Everything regarding sexuality will obviously only be speculation based on assuming what it might look like if any of them are non-straight. They might not have a label of themselves at all, and how can we as complete strangers then apply any of them?

As for any of the members being LGBTQ+ we can only guess how that would look since we have nothing to really compare with. How it shows could vary a lot depending on the person, if they are out, who might know, the company's reactions to it (if they know at all) etc. It can also change over time. Especially since it seems unlikely all non-straight idols would announce their sexualites to just anyone comfortably. Even coming out to yourself or your family can be extremely difficult. How any individual would handle telling their members, or not telling them, has too many possible outcomes.

But I also think people need to remember that in basically any form of entertainment business the average percentage of non straight people is generally higher. I'd go as far as to say it's likely more k-pop groups exist that have at least one LGBT+ member compared to there being none.

There is likely also a consensus not to out LGBT+ idols within the idol community, which we can see by the fact that no one actually has been, despite some even being open enough to go to gay bars etc. (at least I know this is the case for Japanese idols). So in some ways I suppose they also might not have to be as careful as we might think. It's once again very difficult for us as observers to truly know how the individuals involved and the people around them would act. And also what the industry allows and knows.

What we do know is that being an idol can't be easy and comes with a lot of restrictions, likely including psychological ones. We also know being LGBT+ in general isn't easy, and being so as a South Korean celebrity must be even more difficult in a lot of ways. There is a reason so few LGBT+ idols can be found, and even the ones that are open aren't open without problems, like being black listed from shows, censured and of course the general hate that comes with being LGBT+. When considering a real hidden same-group, LGBT+ couple there are many things we cannot forget or ignore.

(From Holland’s Neverland MV which got a explicit rating simply for including a kiss between two men.)

https://www.koreaboo.com/lists/nine-openly-queer-kpop-idols/

What their sexuality or gender identity is might also be something that they are unsure about or that they accept or express to various degrees. This in turn of course can very much matter for how they act or react to both things LGBT+ or with a possible hidden LGBT+ relationship. Even shippers when looking at the members as parts of ships often seem to assume “gay and happily in love” (even if perhaps forced apart by some evil).

There are possibilities on a very wide rainbow spectrum and how they might feel about relationships. Some possibilities seems to be ignored completely, like being ace/aro or perhaps polyamorous or in open relationships. Being non-binary or bi for example seems to at least be possibilities some fans are open to, but in the end the point is that the image that most shippers see as the most plausible is based on what they want or are used to and sometimes they might not even stop to think about anything except “these two people are in love and in a relationship.” Basically being part of the community can feel and be expressed in so many ways that it's more or less impossible for outsiders to even guess what it might look like. I's really not our place to try and push or guess the labels of people to begin with. Not to mention the fact that often a lot of the problems this would likely make them go through both as individuals, as a couple and for BTS as a group are overlooked for the sake of “true love conquers all”.

One huge issue that many shippers seem to be aware of, yet at the same time seem to underestimate, is the Korean society’s relationship to LGBT+, and how being openly gay would likely be a huge scandal and even lessen BTS’s popularity. Many Korean’s think being gay is a mental illness, and in the military you can even be dishonarably discharged if you are LGBT+ and consendual sex between soliders is a crime. (X) (X) I doubt these things would be taken lightly, and if there are any LGBT+ members, I don’t think they would risk being exposed or outed at the very least before their military service has been done. What we should know is that clearly being LGBT+ in Korea is an issue, and while BTS are international stars the view of their Korean peers, families and fans might not be as supportive as we might wish.

I will talk more about LGBTQ+ and Vmin, but while I am speculating and considering various things they have done that seem possibly queer-coded I am not going to assume it has to mean one thing or the other. After all, we don't know them and their circumstances. However I want to be clear and say that I also won't assume they are automatically straight (straight is a label too so we shouldn't apply it either), but rather I'll be open and happy and support them no matter what they might be.

Social norms - What is romantic love?

I think that it might be a good idea to stop and think about what romantic love really is, and how different it might look to different people. Social norms and views on how we interpret something as romantic (or queer) doesn't have to always apply.

There is the concept of "romantic friendships" which I just want to explain as an example of how our views change how we read certain actions. I want to be clear however and say this is just a term loosely used and not a label, which is common to describe close and intimate relationships, especially from before the second half of the 19th century. These were relationships that had things we today would consider romantically coded, but weren't necessarily at the time. (You can see many examples of very close friendships like this in literature, for example Lord of the Rings). Likely one reason for these intimate type of friendships were due to people not seeing homosexuality in the same way. I also suspect that the reason for Korean men to be able to be closer is partly due to the old idea that "homosexuality doesn't exist in Korea". It's obviously not true, but not being afraid of being seen as gay might allow for more comfortable and intimate expressions of love between men.

Of course it is very difficult to know the true nature of these relationships from a time where such actions were considered normal but homosexuality wasn't. (For example I would personally count works of Hermann Hesse as queer coded, but not Lord of the Rings which revolves about deep friendships, but it's all just interpretations). The point is that culture has over time changed what might be considered romantic or not, and in the west and in modern times a lot of gestures that might have been more common between friends have become associated with couples to the point that people might find them weird between “just friends''. In some countries casual kissing between men is also a lot more common in some cases, like the cheek kiss greeting for example.

Basically this is an example of how culture matters and not every individual will automatically follow the same social norms. But even so there is a definition and a list of things common in these romantic friendships, which Vmin basically fit into, meaning even if they aren't actually in love or sexually involved they still act in some nowadays usually viewed as typically romantic ways.

Here is a description used for romantic friendships:

"The term romantic friendship, passionate friendship or affectionate friendship refers to a very close but non-sexual relationship between friends, often involving a degree of physical closeness beyond what is common in modern Western societies, for example holding hands, cuddling, sharing a bed, as well as open expressions of love for one another." (https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Romantic_friendship)

We see that Vmin (and BTS in general) check every box of these things commonly beyond the closeness we are used to seeing between same sex friends, in particular men. This is why I personally say the intimacy and even passionate way Vmin show their love for each other is at the very least queer platonic, even though it would then partly be because of the toxic views our society might have on masculinity.

This list is not scientific, but I do think it brings up the point that no matter what relationship Vmin has it doesn't appear conventional to the majority of BTS fans based on cultural views and societal norms. And this is also why Vmin (and BTS) in general are changing some views on toxic masculinity.

So since Vmin has this type of relationship they already depart from some of the social norms of platonic friendship. Something that can make things a bit confusing as many will be used to interpret their behavior as romantic. We see BTS and Kpop idols (meaning not just one stand out ship) break a lot of these norms that in the west might seem very obviously romantic. Meaning we can't completely trust the normal cues of what makes something romantic because the culture and Kpop industry has already blurred the lines.

We can probably recognise that the behavior or intimacy, to the levels BTS share, between men is rare. I can’t help but feel that if Vmin were characters in a movie or novel the way their relationship look would be yet another example of queer coding. Where straight people can watch and be happy about examples of non toxic masculinity. They are such good friends, not afraid to show love and intimacy and even call each other soulmates. I’ve literally seen an article like this for Vmin (BTS Soulmates V And Jimin Are Changing How The World Sees Men Holding Hands). The strong focus on friendship would leave many clueless of the codes left that the LGBT+ community would see and relate to. (Basically, Vmin could be the WangXian from the Untamed (Vmin and “The Untamed”) of BTS and it would fly right over many fans’ heads.)

To me Vmin’s relationship is intimate enough to almost come across as passionate, and thus since I can’t actually know if it’s platonic or not even though some things they do might appear romantic, I label it as queer platonic if it isn’t actually romantic. But this is of course something that can differ from person to person, and we all might have our own ideas on what fits into the term or what we see as romantic.

Of course, the real world is something different than movies and fiction. But I also think the same psychology applies in the eyes of the observers, in this case various groups of BTS’s fandom, shippers or non-shippers, LGBT+ or not, often project their own views and feelings about the members. Meaning LGBT+ “hints” might be found if looked for, or go unnoticed under the guise of very close male platonic friendship. If one of Vmin were a woman, would most people still think of them as platonic soulmates? But also, if you are looking for queer representation, you might find it even if that’s not the intention. Basically, in the end there is a problem in BTS being real people but that fans can almost consume in a similar way to characters. Someone we project on and might recognize ourselves in, without it being intentional. An obvious example would be the lyrics of Stigma or Lie, where many LGBT+ fans can recognize themselves in the words and feelings expressed, but where the inspiration and intention is unknown and might be something completely different.

Fanservice alone where some extreme examples have idols kiss on stage should tell you how even clearly queer actions don’t have to say something explicit about the person doing them, just like how actors can kiss or have sex scenes with people they aren’t interested in for real. This has other problems as well as we can see many fans might be very open to shipping or enjoying gay interactions as a fantasy, but would hate the idea of any of their idols actually being part of the LGBT+ community. However that’s another topic.

(JE group Tokio members kissing on stage, the GIF didn’t work on Tumblr)

I want to be clear and say that I do not speak about fanservice as something that might make a relationship seem queer or queerplatonic, but rather just as an example of how difficult it can be to know what these idols even see as romantic (or sometimes borderline sexual) behavior exclusive to a partner in a setting where some of these actions are done for entertainment. Basically the world they live in and the different norms they come across could affect how the people involved view skinship or romantic gestures in other parts of their life as well. Just as us looking at them might be affected by what we are used to and how we see something as platonic or romantic.

We know many members in BTS are extremely intimate with several other members, and I can guess that some things many of us watching might feel would be odd to do with a friend is something they long ago got used to.

All of this being said, there are times BTS have suggested some things to be romantic looking or “couple like” that they have done with other members. They are aware of how some things are viewed as romantic and sometimes even joke about it amongst themselves. Basically BTS are aware of social norms of romantic behavior, but sometimes they cross into that “romantic” territory themselves anyways. So how are we to know for sure where their lines are drawn between what only looks like being a couple and what actually is being a couple?

Of course this doesn't mean we should automatically disregard everything that seems romantic, but it does mean we can't truly be certain. In particular not without other reasons to back up our speculations and when these actions often aren't even exclusive. This is also why judging singular moments based on our preconceptions on romantic or even sexual behavior should always be taken with a grain of salt.

On a small tangent I also want to say that romantic or sexual relationships are not necessarily closer or superior to romantic ones. Even if romantic relationships might culturally be put on a pedestal above other relationships it should not be seen as the end goal of life and the most important thing to all people.

Remember that 1. We don't know what their definition of romantic looks like or what they think is ok to do with "just friends". 2. We should not assume being closer equals romantic or that romantic love is more important than platonic love. And 3. Behavior and actions can be romantic looking in nature without there being romantic intentions or feelings.

It could just be that the members have platonic relationships in ways we aren't used to seeing as platonic behavior, or in short some sort of queerplatonic relationship.

PR, risk and shipping

Now, any romantic (or sometimes even platonic) relationship of any famous person that is supposed to be desired by the masses can become a risk. And even more so when it comes to idols and with how they are viewed by the Korean society. Even though it’s slowly getting better there are countless examples of idols dating which has led to a lot of hate and loss of fans or even going as far as getting them kicked out of their companies. For example, when Chen from EXO announced he is getting married a lot of fans felt deceived and wanted him to leave the group. Or the whole ordeal with Hyuna and E'Dawn ending with both of them leaving their company. It’s a risk both to the individuals and their careers and in extension their whole group as well..

As western fans it is sometimes easy to forget how harsh the Korean fans and society can be, because the culture is so different to what many of us are used to. That being said a lot of idols do date, and it's often in secret, so it's definitely possible, or rather likely, that members of BTS have or are doing this as well. Though I personally think it would look different than a normal relationship for two main reasons, the fact that it would have to be in secret and how little time they would probably be able to spend together due to their hectic schedules.

A relationship within a group is of course even more of a risk considering not only how the people involved would have to hide a lot and be under a lot of stress since they would have to still interact but likely play down their true relationship at least in part, but also due to the simple fact that things can get really bad if two members that have to work together eventually break up. There are even some asian idol groups I suspect could possibly have had really severe consequences because of members getting involved, namely ending up with members leaving the group all together. There is in fact one Korean boy group (K'Pop) where they disbanded because two members were together but one of them cheated on their partner with another male idol (x).

For shippers, but more importantly “believers”, I think it's important to remember that in most cases a romantic relationship has a bigger risk of ending, and particularly ending badly, compared to a platonic one. Especially considering how young the members are. In this way I personally think it would probably be better if no ship at all is real. These are real people, and there is no guarantee for a happy ending. I also think a company would feel the same risks about an inter group relationship.

I think two members of the same sex taking the step to be in a serious relationship would require a lot of thought and in most cases they would probably have people around them be against it as well (if they can talk to someone about it at all). However, it's still love and desire we are talking about and thus what is most logical might not always matter. We also know a lot of people meet their partners in their workplace, including celebrities and idols too of course. And thus it isn't that far fetched for it to happen within groups as well if they happen to fall for each other. So again, while it isn't impossible there is definitely risk involved.

Hiding something like this would also reflect badly on the whole group if it ever got out, and not just affect the individuals involved. Thus I imagine it would very likely require a lot of involvement and the opinions of the group as well, if the company and members are aware at all of course. And if the members involved are serious about their relationship I also think the way they are presented by themselves and the company can be partly intentional. But how they would choose to show it depends on the individuals, the situation, the company's view and many other things.

It’s also a huge personal risk and if their family and friends aren’t open minded they risk getting shunned by their loved ones. I have seen K-netizens call homosexuals “psychopaths” and even though a lot of fans love shipping members they would find it disgusting if it turned out to be real. I know LGBT+ couples in Korea can hardly show affection while being in public and that many have been cut off by their relatives after coming out to them. It’s a big deal, and I don’t know how some fans can say things like “If they were gay they would tell us.” because it’s not that easy. It’s a lot at stake and likely even a huge step to even admit to themselves and close ones if they are non-straight.

Even for celebrities in the west there are countless examples of people hiding their sexualities or relationships because it wouldn't be received well. It's also common in Korea or Japan for gay people to still marry and get children because the pressure and expectations to do so are also very big. In short it's not easy being LGBT+ and perhaps even more difficult in Korea and as an idol. The majority of BTS 'own fans probably also either ship something that goes against a possible real relationship, might be insisting they are straight or call shipping the boys weird to begin with. No matter what ship could be real they would have the majority of their own fans either against them or at least see the possibility as delusional. The pressure to end things if such a ship was found out would likely be big. Even if the company and other members are supportive it's possible that with a group as close and selfless as BTS they might put the best for the group above their own desire or even happiness.

The most realistic approach is probably that even if members were interested in each other they might still not act on it or at least try to keep it secret. However they are only human and they are also young and might act on their feelings despite the risks. It’s also possible that they simply fool around but never take it to the level of an actual relationship. It’s also a possibility that there might have been something but they decided to end it or wait. Or they are very progressive and have decided to be together as an actual couple despite the hardships and risks and even let the company and members know. If two members are involved they could also have different opinions from each other on what they want or what they want to do. There are countless options. So even if there could be something between members we still can't really know in what way. Just because the shipper’s ideal is a romantic mutual official relationship that they want to tell the world about, it doesn't have to be what they have. There are so many different queer or queerplatonic relationships that by just looking at them from the outside it would be very difficult to determine how they would label themselves.

It’s also good to remember that getting questions like “ideal girl” or similar are standard and is in no way proof of an idols' sexuality as it’s basically necessary to answer these questions. This too should tell you something about the heteronormative pressure there is on the idols. However, how a person chooses to answer could possibly be a hint. But nonetheless it will automatically be assumed that all members are single and straight and I think at the very least we need to get rid of that assumption and not label the members definitely at all.

Defending someone's straightness can do a lot of harm, probably more harm than thinking someone might be non straight. Just try not to assume either way and just stay open minded.

Companies can also stage things on purpose like using matching clothes etc just to get rumors going between popular idols for PR purposes. Other groups can also use BTS for PR like this without BTS being involved at all. Because speculations are good promo as long as they are just speculation. Fake dating also happens a lot in the entertainment industry in general. Basically there are a lot of things that can play a part in a group or individual’s image and how they are promoted. I don’t think BTS has to do these things, at least not at this point, but they definitely happen and could complicate things when trying to analyze idols.

I also want to talk about fanservice between members. Fanservice is a huge part of the idol culture, something all BTS members are well aware of, and many (if not all) idols take part in fanservice of some kind with each other (or towards fans). Not all fanservice is bad and I think most of the fanservice BTS engage in nowadays is on their own terms and something they think is fun. I also think that people shouldn’t think that fanservice automatically equals fake, as it can simply be something played up for fun or even something they normally do but maybe not in the same way as in front of an audience.

It’s really difficult to know for sure the line of what is fanservice or not, but in general I would say that if the members are aware of and do something very intimate or romantic-looking in front of an obvious audience or camera it can be called a sort of fanservice. They can still behave naturally of course and that wouldn't be fanservice, but again it can be difficult to know the difference sometimes. Even if they do it without thinking in a way it becomes fanservice as it’s something fans get to see and enjoy. Real feelings can also still be hidden under fanservice, but sometimes fanservice is just fanservice between friends and how are we supposed to know the difference for sure? In my opinion BTS are well aware of the ships and how their fans react. Likely they also have staff for the purpose to follow and report their fandom's reactions, and that includes shipping. Sometimes I also think they avoid shippy moments because they know how fans will view it or they aren't in the mood to do fanservice. But most of the time they just seem to have fun with it.

However, even if they all play into the fanservice, rumors that go too far can also be harmful, especially in a society which still has a long way to go when it comes to people being non straight getting accepted. The companies are all well aware of which ships are popular and how to promote them (but remember that promoting a ship doesn’t mean the relationship is fake). But they also often take precautions like not letting popular members share rooms etc. to keep rumors from getting too bad. So, sharing rooms might be something they act a bit careful about for other reasons than trying to hide a relationship. I think there are probably examples of all ships in BTS (or at least the more popular ones) having weird moments where the members act unsure if they show too much or not. This means that even the odd “why are they being careful” or “why don’t we get to see this” type of moments can also have other reasons than the ship being real. Again, most ships have theories that they are careful or even are kept apart or get edited etc. and if several ships have the same type of narratives either at the very least some are incorrect in their interpretation or incorrect with the reason for the behavior. Unless all the ships are real at the same time.

I want to be clear here though... Even if BTS does fanservice at times I do believe that most of what we see is genuine and something the members do because it is natural to them. Most of BTS's interactions are not fanservice. Especially outside of performing.

Fanservice and more importantly the bonds between the members are a huge part of why BTS are so popular, and that being a selling point is something both they and the company knows about. But they also know some things might not be good to show and thus could show some careful behavior in regards to it. Basically it’s a very delicate balance and I think Big Hit too is very aware and careful about how BTS is perceived by the fans and the public. It is however pretty much impossible to truly know what strategy or what precautions a company like Big Hit would use for an actual couple. Or if they would even know of such a relationship to begin with. It is not unusual for idols to hide their relationships completely from both the company, managers and even their own members. Though this usually doesn't last long. One such example would be Hyuna and E'Dawn.

I personally think in the case of BTS they would know by now if there are any non-straight members. (At least if they have accepted it themselves, because internalized homophobia is a whole other issue). Especially since they all seem to have gotten more and more supportive of the LGBT+ community through the years. I would say Hobi, Jin and Jimin in particular seem more open about it now, starting around 2017, than they were before. It's not impossible learning about other members being LGBT+ could make them want to show more support or even accept being LGBT+ themselves. Or it could be a general stance Big Hit wanted to implement as they became more known globally. Still, even if there is no romantic relationship there can still be plenty of other reasons for the members or Big Hit to play down or be careful with how the boys are viewed. Which means that even if there are odd things about the members or a ship it could have other reasons than it being a real romantic relationship. I think this needs to be taken into consideration when the members might seem to hide, lie or "act suspicious" or when things are edited or avoided. Basically there could be other reasons to act careful or hide certain things even if a ship isn't real. This also explains why more ships than just one can have strange moments.

However I also do have to consider that because the Korean society (and a big part of the fandom in general) is so very against there being a non straight member at all, it’s also possible to get away with a lot. Some things general fans might not even think of or notice because they are completely sure the members are straight, so of course it’s still possible that a same sex couple could act more openly as a couple without getting too much suspicion compared to if it was between a man and a woman. Especially since most members are very affectionate and the Korean culture between men has a lot more skinship compared to western standards. It’s easy to dimiss or explain away “no they are just very close, not gay”. Not to mention the defensive anti-shipping behavior that also spreads in the fandom that makes many fans want to ignore the possibility of non-straight members or a couple even more. But just looking at the members and how they act, how would they or we know what would be too much for an actual couple?

It’s just very difficult to guess where that line would be drawn, between what is ok and what isn’t and which approach the company and the members involved would prefer themselves. Personally I think that this could possibly also apply to Vmin having a very clear platonic label that they can probably partly hide their actions and affection behind if they are together. It’s also something that could change over time, depending on other circumstances or the minds of the people involved. And the way Vmin navigates their relationship could be by slowly trying to see what is ok and what isn’t, which leads to some changes in their actions towards each other gradually over time while they still act careful with doing too much. This is obviously speculation, but something I personally think fits Vmin's behavior towards each other.

We also have to remember that despite what it may feel like the shippers are not most fans. Shippers are a minority and most fans probably don’t care about their personal relationships at all or maybe even want the members to date them or are against shipping completely. Hetero ships are also extremely popular. Basically for the normal BTS fans a lot of things that shippers take notice of they don't even care about or notice at all. It's the same as how many readers failed to pick up LGBT+ themes in old books when being out was definitely taboo and how some still to this day can't see it. For me personally I see Demian as a very LGBT+ themed book, while others might not even think of it. Or how I think the Yoon*kook relationship in the BU is strongly hinted to be between lovers but many fans fail to see it or even call them brothers. So it’s not impossible that most ship interactions simply get blown out of proportion by their own fandom or that the general fans don't even notice or see it as anything special at all. But in the end it is also just a form of interpretation.

And lastly, in regards to shippers in general. If you have to claim most of the members' interactions are fake to make your ship make sense then there is no point in shipping them if you ask me. Because if they can fake all those things how do they know their own ship isn't fake as well?

I mean, at least admit the things they do are legit. I believe the relationships and interactions between the members are genuine and work from there with my analysis and interpretations. That doesn't mean there can't be weird things or that they can't hide stuff or tell lies, or even play some things up. But going out of their way to fake whole relationships just isn't realistic. I also don’t think BTS are good enough actors to fake to this level over such a long period of time. The web of lies would be impossible to uphold if they are to make up things. Leaving things out is much safer and leaves a more genuine impression. Which is why when considering a ship being real it's still important to remember that all members have moments and interactions and that downplaying them doesn't change the fact that they happen.

Summary

There are many things that both affect BTS, a possible couple being in BTS and our own views, interpretations and biases. Be careful of projection of your own wants or feelings onto moments and stay humble and open minded to the many obstacles while trying to discern reasons for people’s behavior.

In short, keep in mind:

Culture and individual differences - The members are all different, and their dynamics with each other can’t be compared to each other 100%. We don’t know their views on various things and we often assume based on our own preconceptions. On top of this most of us come from a different culture, and the group culture BTS has created over many years is on it’s own unique and makes it hard to apply direct comparisons with any viewer’s own preconceptions of behavior.

Keeping up appearance and the created image - BTS are idols, they have their work personas and we know this. I think we can trust what they say, but they can frame themselves in ways that might affect our views and how moments come across. We only have what we see, but what we see can be incorrectly interpreted.

Complexity of humans and situations - We don’t know what personal reasons BTS have for reacting differently, they can be both internal or external. We can’t assume how they think and feel and why they behave certain ways. We can only guess. Context matters and we don’t ever have the full context as outsiders looking in.

Screen time and perspective over time - What we see is only a part of the lives of the members, and even though they get filmed a lot we don’t see everything they do even while at work. Not to mention their private time of course. There are also a lot of problems with our perspective changing and being affected by things like a bias towards the negative, comparing periods or relationships making us feel like something has less meaning or our tendency to remember and put more weight on the most recent moments.

Confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance - We all tend to put more value and trust in things we want to believe in, especially if being shown something contradicting might give us the feeling of cognitive dissonance and emotional stress. We seek out those that think similar and might end up in echo chambers where our belief gets even stronger as we get exposed to others who see and feel the same as us.

Language - Both the language barrier from Korean and the way we perceive information from fans depending how they convey it affect our views. We can be affected and put weight into things based on how it is presented and what we might associate with a certain word or type of language.

Dating and unknown relationships - Dating isn’t easy for any idol, but it’s clearly something they still do. There are risks, especially for someone LGBT+, but they might risk it anyways. We also know most idols date without anyone really finding out about it and we don’t see everyone that BTS spend time with and need to remember that they have relationships outside of the group.

Internal and external relationship with LGBT+ - Being LGBT+ isn’t easy, and even someone who is LGBT+ might not even be comfortable with their own label, let alone have shared it with family, the members or the company. Being officially together with someone and letting the company know, and how that looks can vary a lot depending on the person.

Social norms - What is romantic love? - We might know our own level of normal or what we would or wouldn’t do with a romantic partner. But there are many different queerplatonic relationships or behaviors that might seem romantic but aren't when it comes to their feelings. We can never be sure if the person sees something as explicitly romantic or if they feel open and comfortable to do things that are just normally perceived as romantic in a platonic relationship.

PR, risk and shipping - There are a lot of personal risks involved for any BTS member that is in a relationship, but even more so if they are LGBT+ and even further if it’s with another member. It will also affect all the members’ careers and the company if a “scandal” happens to any of the members. The company might get involved to various degrees or the members themselves might be influenced by assessing the risks a relationship with a fellow member involves. It could also simply be their stance or knowledge about shipping and ships that influence certain moments or actions, and it might be impossible for us to know the difference.

In the end shipping and analyzing of ships are done by individuals with very different views and perspectives. And trying to know and understand a person from afar through limited views of their lives includes so many obstacles that I think too many fans’ forget or overlook.

Looking at and trying to analyze real people without even really knowing what to look for, how they would act in a relationship for example, we should be aware of how many errors could be made because of our lack of context and understanding. We need to remind ourselves of our biases and flaws and try to keep an open mind while remaining skeptical.

Getting stuck on a narrative you like or think makes sense is so easy, and something I constantly have to remind myself of as I discuss Vmin or any other theories I have.

Don't underestimate the power of your or someone else's unconscious desire to believe something. Our brains are wired to make us believe what we want to believe. And always remember that we are talking about real people in the real world and how much more complicated that makes things.

Once again, be open minded, remember you can very easily be wrong and try to not simplify or generalize something as complex as the behavior and feelings of another person. (No matter if that person is someone famous or a shipper writing their theories.)

#vmin #vmin analysis #bts shipping analysis #problems with shipping real people #big vmin analysis #BTS&Vmin analysis #Problems with analysis of real people #btsandvmin

[artemis-entreri]

[[ This post contains Part 2 of my review/analysis of the Forgotten Realms/Drizzt novel, Glacier’s Edge, by R. A. Salvatore. As such, the entirety of this post’s content is OOC. ]]

Genre: Fantasy

Series: The Way of the Drow: Book 2 | Legend of Drizzt #38 (#35 if not counting The Sellswords)

Publisher: Harper Collins (August 09, 2022)

My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Additional Information: Artwork for the cover of Glacier’s Edge and used above is originally done by David Palumbo. This post CONTAINS SPOILERS. Furthermore, this discussion concerns topics that I am very passionate about, and as such, at times I do use strong language. Read and expand the cut at your own discretion.

As of this point, I am still finishing this document. I will be posting the subsequent sections. The table of contents will be updated when it is complete.

Contents:

Introduction

I. Positives I.1 Sublime Similes and Marvelous Metaphors I.2 Other Effective Imagery I.3 Consistent Lore and Decent Worldbuilding I.4 Respectable and Respectful Characterization

II. Neutrals (you are here)

III. Negatives (Technical Writing)

IV. Negatives (Characterization)

V. World Breaks

VI. Religious Commentary

VII. Ego Stroking

VIII. Problematic Themes

IX. What’s Next

Neutrals

In this section, I will discuss the elements of Glacier’s Edge that aren’t intrinsically good or bad. These consist of new characterizations and lore introduced by the book. 

First, Jarlaxle’s wondrous hat appears to have gained a new function. In combination with his portable hole, the mercenary leader was able to utilize this new function to avoid being trapped in an icy tomb at the end of Starlight Enclave. We weren’t given details about how he’d managed to escape that fate in the previous book, but we were able to infer based on how we’ve seen him use his portable hole in the past that Jarlaxle laid it down to literally make a hidey-hole from the storm. Glacier’s Edge confirms this, as well as showing us a new feature of his hat:

This is no mundane umbrella, and not the least because it spends most of its time as a fashionable chapeaux. Apparently, in its umbrella form, the hat can withstand quite a lot of weight. Certainly, this newest function comes at an awfully convenient time, but this is Jarlaxle we’re talking about, and he’s already got so many magical gadgets for every occasion that an additional one hardly causes one to bat an eye. As far as Salvatore-invented magical items go, it’s also not all that ridiculous, so it’s just another feature to add to Jarlaxle’s long list of possessions.

It seems that the canonical appearance of drow is different now. Although they’ve often been portrayed with gray skin by both official and fan artists, prior to the uncovering of the aevendrow, drow have always been described as having black skin, or synonyms of black like ebony and obsidian. They’ve also often been explicitly stated as coal-black. That description is different now:

The unnamed woman in the passage above is Dab’nay, and although we haven’t been explicitly told what her skin color was before, shades of gray were never mentioned for drow by Salvatore prior to the recent drow updates. It doesn’t matter either way, but it’s noteworthy that he’s employing this change.

Aevendrow official stats haven’t been released yet as of this point. It is curious to me though that at least in Glacier’s Edge, it seems that aevendrow do not possess darkvision, or even lowlight vision:

As always, I’d like to play Devil’s Advocate, so let’s examine the above passage from the perspective that what we see here does not necessarily indicate that aevendrow do not have darkvision. Assuming that aevendrow can see in total darkness like their Lolthite brethren can, it’d be a lot less likely for an aevendrow to be afraid of the dark, which Allefaero is exhibiting not only with the squeezing shut of his eyes, but also the description of the darkness “closing in”. When we feel something closing in, the sensation comes from either a literal physical restriction of the space around us, or what feels like such, as caused by a restriction of our ability to see. A creature that can see in darkness would not experience this feeling of being closed in anymore than we would feel that way standing outside under a wide open sky. Assuming that the timid Allefaero is afraid of the dark despite being able to see in it, Galathae certainly isn’t timid, and the darkness is described as closing in about both of them, not just the scared young wizard. 

More telling than that though regarding aevendrow not having darkvision is that Galathae measures their position based on what she feels, not what she sees. The only reason for a creature to rely more on their senses other than sight is if those other senses are more powerful than their sight, and while drow have better senses than humans, we’ve never been given any indication that their other senses are more keen than their sight. Furthermore, Galathae has to feel about her belt to find the lantern instead of just looking down to find it. The fact that she brought the lantern is pretty conclusive evidence that they can’t see in the dark, but perhaps Allefaero is a darkvision-blind individual among aevendrow and the lantern is for his sake. However, this possibility also falls away when we’re told that Galathae only sees things that are glowing, rather than the shades of gray melding into colors where there are light sources, which she would’ve perceived if she had darkvision. It is thus safe to infer that Galathae cannot see in the dark. 

Of course, it is always possible that only Galathae and Allefaero do not have darkvision among the aevendrow, but setting aside how stupid it would be to send two individuals like that into a dark space instead of pairing each with someone who has darkvision no matter how formidable they are, all the other aevendrow teams are similarly equipped, namely, with light sources. All of them need a light in order to conduct a proper investigation of the cave, which they would not need had they darkvision. It is the case that darkvision only allows seeing in shades of gray and that illumination is necessary for seeing color, but the shades of gray of darkvision do not omit any details, it would be the same as looking at a scene under sharp light but without hues. It's worth noting that this is distinctly different from how real life low-light goggles work. Most of the earlier generations of modern light intensification systems required significant training to use successfully as they suffered from issues with edge definition, fine detail, depth perception, and dependence upon moon-reflected infrared radiation. Darkvision is magical in nature, allowing it to not suffer from any of these issues and allows for crisp, clear and easily usable vision. 

Galathae and Allefaero are delving into very dangerous territory, one in which a light would draw unwanted attention to themselves. Logically, they’d only use a light if they can’t see without it, which indeed seems to be the case, further backed by the description of what happens once they uncover their light:

This passage summarily describes the experience of a creature that can’t see in the dark suddenly having their surroundings revealed with light. The position that I took while playing Devil’s Advocate does not hold; aevendrow, or at least Galathae and Allefaero, do not have darkvision. That being said, it’s very likely that they’re not the only two that are that way, as many similar aevendrow exploration teams are being sent into similar caves. 

So, why would aevendrow have lost their darkvision? Perhaps you’re thinking, millennia of differentiation and evolution away from their Underdark counterparts ridded them of the necessity for darkvision. There is validity to that, however non-drow elves have darkvision, and they spend all of their time on the surface world. One could argue that surface elves have darkvision because it’s helpful at nighttime, but the thing is, darkvision under nighttime makes the world look like a colorless version of the world in daytime, with it being painfully bright on cloudless nights. Darkvision is overkill even for fully overcast nights, yet non-drow elves still have it, so it’s pretty odd that aevendrow do not. In fact, it’d make even less sense for them to have evolved out of it while their surface cousins did not, since we’re told that where the aevendrow live, there are entire seasons in which the sun does not rise. Sure, they’ve got the Merry Dancers, but those would be hidden by the numerous ice storms that the region also experiences, and it’s questionable whether aurora borealis would be brighter than Selûne and all of its tears, as well as a night sky full of stars. It could just be something that Salvatore overlooked, as Jarlaxle apparently also lost his darkvision (which I will go into more detail about later). It’s hard to say at this point and too soon to tell for sure, we will have to see when WotC releases official stat blocks for aevendrow.

The final new piece of new neutral impact lore that I’d like to discuss is some new attributes being given to remorhazes, also known as polar worms:

We find out pretty early in the trilogy that polar worms play a big part in the aevendrow storyline, so it’s no wonder that they’re being discussed. However, the passage above also tells us how Callidae will have to open its doors to outsiders from the south lands. It’s very much a having their hands forced situation, as it’s either let out the secret of their existence or have no reason for that secret to exist. They might not know how to deal with excruciating heat, but a people who, oh, I don’t know, literally live with an active volcano that houses a fire primordial, certainly might.

Going back to polar worms, the mentioned information about them does not correlate to what’s been written about them in both the D&D sourcebooks and other official publications. There’s never been any indication that the remorhaz can age and develop without eating for decades. There’s also no precedent for them being able to eat or chew crystals. Up until this book, polar worms are known to prey upon other arctic creatures that shared their environments, such as elk and polar bears. In fact, its hunting tactic is adapted to the acquisition of live prey, as stated in the 5e Monster Manual: “When hunting, a remorhaz burrows deep below the snow and ice and lies in wait for the faint vibrations created by a creature moving above it. While hidden under the ice and snow, it can lower its body temperature so that it doesn’t melt its cover.” The changes introduced by Salvatore seem unlikely, as that would be quite the elaborate adaptation for a creature that doesn’t need to eat for decades, or one that can sustain itself on crystals. However, fundamentally, it’s not a huge deal, and it’s an observation made by a member of a group of people who haven’t had much direct chance of studying a living remorhaz, so it can be written off easily enough as an unreliable narrator’s words.

There is no existing lore about the relatedness of remorhazes and dragons. Dragons can indeed go decades without eating, as there is precedence of dragons slumbering for very long periods of time without waking up to eat. There isn’t much information about whether dragons can grow and develop without sustenance, but given the wide multitude of things that dragons are capable of, that hardly seems like something they wouldn’t be able to do. The lack of previous indication about remorhazes and dragons being related is not challenged here, as the statement is an impromptu hypothesis from Allefaero that we never hear about again. Hopefully it stays that way.

Polar worms making a sound similar to a cat’s purr when they’re chewing or eating also doesn’t have any precedence in existing lore. It is yet another minor factoid that can be attributed easily enough to an unreliable narrator, as Allefaero states they’ve “been known to” rather than testifying to hearing the sound himself. Furthermore, even if the sound does in fact exist, different people often interpret the same sound in different contexts, what sounds like a purr to one person can very well sound like a growl to another.

Although Allefaero’s mention of polar worms “training” their teeth on crystals is presented with a greater degree of certainty than the mention of their purring, this behavior is also one that he has not personally observed. There is, yet again, no precedence in existing lore about whether remorhaz teeth grow continuously, and if they do, whether they grow like rodent teeth or like shark teeth. Rodents do have to chew hard objects to keep their teeth from becoming too long if their normal diet does not do the job, however it is rare for their teeth to fall out. Sharks, on the other hand, grow new teeth to replace ones that have fallen out as a result of getting stuck in their prey. Allefaero likens the remorhaz to both rodents and sharks, which, like much of Salvatore’s attempts to sound deep, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when one puts some thought into it. As I doubt that we’d get an official answer from him about how remorhaz teeth regrowth works, I’d guess that, based on what’s presented in Glacier’s Edge, that a remorhaz’s existing teeth grows continuously like a rodent’s so that they would have to chew hard objects, like crystals, to keep them from growing so long that they stab themselves in the mouth, but at the same time they also grow back lost teeth like sharks do if they lose their teeth from getting them stuck in their prey. While it is true that all of this is stuff that feels like it was made up on the spot to make the plot work, it’s not the most ridiculous thing that Salvatore has done.

All in all, the information discussed in this section are entries that should go into character and creature bibles that the author himself doesn’t seem to keep.

#legend of drizzt #Forgotten Realms #drow #Glacier's Edge #Way of the Drow Trilogy #R A Salvatore #book review #ooc

[reallca-blog]

Unwrapping the Wonka Bar Vol. 1 - Where is Charlie’s Town Located? Part 9

If you haven’t read the previous post, click here for Part 8 to make sure you are caught up to speed. If you’re already read the previous posts, then welcome back and let’s get back to the show!

Exhibit #7: Just Where in the UK is Charlie's Town Located?

While we spent the last couple installments of this volume analyzing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and other sources in order to uncover where Charlie's town located, we have still not yet figured out where exactly Burtonville is located.

A quick rundown of what we do know is that Charlie's town is located somewhere in the United Kingdom, England specifically as the Bucket's nationality is specified to be English in the Factory Handbook and Manual.

And on top of that, we know that Charlie's town has to be relatively close to County Buckinghamshire as the CNG news van can only be seen in Charlie's town during the opening of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory and the morning of the Golden Ticket winner's tour of the factory, as well as in County Buckinghamshire at the Salt Family Manor during their interview when Veruca's claim to the second Golden Ticket was proclaimed to the world.

While this tells us that Charlie's town is somewhere in Southern England, that is still not enough to place Burtonville in a specific place. However, if we apply what we know about the British media landscape in the real world to what we see in the movie, we can begin to narrow down onto an even more specific location for Charlie's town. Since CNG news vans can easily arrive at the Salt Family Manor in County Buckinghamshire, we can assume that the station's broadcast can be received in the posh Home County, and combining that with the reality of the lackluster state of the entire operation, we can also assume its broadcasting headquarters are nearby. Now, when it comes to media markets, or the areas in which a certain television station can operate, is a bit different in the UK as compared to the US. Therefore, we will need to analyze different television stations in the UK to determine how they divide their local stations, and we will do this by analyzing the three largest stations in the country.

Up first is the one, the only, the legendary British Broadcasting Company. Known the world over, the BBC is easily the most famous British television channel of all time, and is thus the most watched in the UK. With such a vast country to provide television to, the BBC broke down their English-language broadcasts in the UK into a series of regions, with the county of Buckinghamshire being divided amongst:

BBC London in the south

BBC East in the...well, northeast

and BBC South in the northwest (I know, confusing).

Note: The borders of County Buckinghamshire are not shown in these maps, but they will be visible in an upcoming image of Southeast England.

Now, while we do not know where in County Buckinghamshire the Salt Family Manor is located, we do know that the Salt Industrial Park, the location of the warehouse where the Salt's Nuts girls spent days shelling Wonka Bars in order to find Veruca her Golden Ticket, is located in the town of Iver, courtesy of the business card Mr. Salt hands Willy Wonka when the tour group reaches the entrance to the Nut Sorting Room as he boasts to the amazing chocolatier about being in the nut business as well.

Interestingly enough, Iver is home to Pinewood Studios, the film studio where Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was filmed. But with regards to our analysis, what you need to know is that it is an exurb of London and located around four miles from London Heathrow Airport, a prime location for say a nut magnate to build an industrial park as it is close to the largest market in the entire UK as well as an international airport to transport their product beyond the immediate vicinity. Now, while it is never stated that the Salt Family Manor is in Iver specifically, it would make sense that the estate would be rather close to Iver as to not cause Mr. Salt, or more likely his chauffer, a long commute to work when he is needed down at Salt Industrial Park.

And now that we know Salt Industrial Park is located in Iver, we can then pull up a satellite map of Southeast England with the border of County Buckinghamshire outlined in black, along with a BLUE dot indicating the location of Iver within it.

Thus, if we use this map, along with also outlining the border of Greater London for reference, and overlay the various maps of the different BBC regions on top of it, we can see that Iver is clearly set, and therefore the location of the Salt Family Manor would most likely be located, within of the region of BBC London.

If we repeat the same process with the second-most popular television channel in the UK, ITV, we see a similar pattern as with the BBC, only this time County Buckinghamshire is divided into three regions:

ITV Anglia in the northeast

ITV London in the south

and ITV Meridian in the Northwest.

And once again, a quick analysis of this map reveals that County Buckinghamshire is still more or less divided into a northern and southern half, with ITV London servicing the southern half, covering the town of Iver and the surrounding rural areas where the Salt Family Manor is most likely located.

And finally, repeating the same process with the third television station in question, Channel 4, was a bit more complicated since the only maps I was able to find on the station's regions were from a document published by a British advertising company.

But after some simple triangulation using the cities mentioned on one of the maps, it was evident that Iver was covered by Channel 4's London Region, while also containing enough of a range to the northwest, comparable to that of BBC London and ITV London, to reach wherever the Salt Family Manor might be located.

Now, seeing as it appears the area of County Buckinghamshire that covers where the Salt family manor is located is dominated by London-based media, that means that CNG is probably a London-based television station as well. Yet, that still is not enough to give Charlie's town a definitive location. We need to look deeper than just what we see on the screen if we want to uncover where Charlie's town is located, we need to study the film's props. One of the most pivotal props the crew created specifically for the film that can help us uncover the location of Charlie’s town was the newspaper Charlie fishes out from the trash and takes home for his dad to announce that Violet Beauregarde from Atlanta, Georgia had found the third Golden Ticket, an issue of the Evening Bulletin.

We actually have images of the various pages of this newspaper available for us online thanks to film prop auctioneers promoting the items they have for sale or collectors sharing their film memorabilia collection with the world, and one of the images shared features what appears to be a map of the region the newspaper covers.

Now, while the map features nothing but fictional locations on it, we gain one important fact from the map that gives us a better insight into the geography of the area of the UK that Charlie hails from. We see that Charlie's town is near the east coast of the UK, and on top of that, there appears to be three bays that dive deep into the land beyond the sea.

Now, these three bays are an important geographical feature when it comes to determining the area where Charlie's town is located because there actually is a place on the UK's east coast that has three bays relatively close to each other, County Essex.

To the east of Greater London, County Essex is known for its suburban commuter towns, although at a relatively more affordable price than the Home Counties in the west which are more upscale and posh, like Buckinghamshire. The southernmost bay actually serves as the county's southern border with its neighbor County Kent, home to Folkestone, the birthplace of David Morris, as well as the hypothesized hometown of Grandpa George Bucket himself. This bay also serves as the mouth of the River Thames, the river that divides London in a northern half and a southern half, as well as having once allowed this northwestern European island nation to develop a mighty navy and dominate the seas. There are two other smaller bodies of water along the coast of County Essex, but the most important one is the southernmost one due in part to its literal connection to the British capital.

However, the similarities between the map included in the Evening Bulletin prop newspaper and County Essex goes beyond them just sharing three bays. In both cases the southernmost bay is the longest, with the central bay being the second longest and the northernmost bay being the shortest. And on top of that, the northernmost bay in both maps actually breaks into two smaller bodies of water that go in opposite directions, kind of like horns, and that is somewhat visible in the case of the northernmost bay on the map from the prop newspaper.

There is another insightful thing about the map in the prop newspaper with regards to trying to connect it to the real world, and that is the placement of a town named Easterbury. Located between the central bay and the northernmost bay well inland, Easterbury is a fictional town created for the map in the prop newspaper.

But such a choice for the name raises questions about what the prop designers had in mind when it came to naming the towns on this map. Seeing as chocolate is a major part of the film, could this be a reference to Cadbury Crème Eggs? Perhaps. Or could the Easter actually refer to an easternly direction? I mention this because in the real world, there is a town a bit north to where Eastebury would be located named Sudbury in County Suffolk, the county north of County Essex.

Additionally, to the north of Sudbury lies another town named Bury St. Edmunds, but that town is a bit irrelevant to this analysis beyond saying that there are other towns with Bury in their name in the region. Furthermore, there is a town named Norbury in the area, but it is actually to the south of Sudbury, being located south of the River Thames in the London Borough of Croydon. Now, while it might seem strange that Norbury, or North Bury, would be to the south of Sudbury, or South Bury, take into consideration that Easterbury, or Eastern Bury, would also be located to the west of Sudbury. Now, I'm not necessarily saying the creators of the prop newspaper did this on purpose, but there is something to be said about these topsy-turvy naming locations. North is south, east is west, up is down; if I may be honest, this illogical naming system fits in pretty well with the illogical worlds of Tim Burton movies.

Now, while County Suffolk is far too north to be within reach of the London-based media, neighboring County Essex is not, and combined with the penetrative waterways whose mouths form on its eastern coast, that makes County Essex a great contender for the location of Charlie's town.

But yet, there is still some more evidence from the film that we need to consider before settling on this rural county as the location of Charlie's town. You see, while I have been referring to the location of Charlie's town as, well, a town all throughout this volume, that's actually a misnomer as the film only ever refers to the settlement as a city, specifically when the narrator describes Dr. Wilbur Wonka as "the city's most famous dentist." All of this means that there must be even more, and even larger, human settlements about than just the few blocks we see whenever a bird's eye view of Burtonville is shown on screen. Now, such an urban description does not seem to fit the mostly rural County Essex. It’s possible that we can rule out the county as the location of Charlie's town, yet we can still use the county as a reference to find the true location.

In order to continue this inquiry, we need to leave the film behind and turn back to the source material for a second, the Roald Dahl novel, because it is there that we get a view into what kind of world Charlie grew up in. Just a few paragraphs into the first chapter, Roald Dahl reveals that Charlie's house sits "on the edge of a great town," something that we actually see adapted into the film as the Bucket home sits on the edge of Burtonville.

Now, if we take a look at the words Roald Dahl used to describe where Charlie lives, a "great town," those words sound pretty similar to a "city," where the place where Charlie lives is described in the film. Perhaps, Roald Dahl meant great as in huge, but perhaps he also meant great as important? But regardless of how he meant it, it is pretty clear that Charlie lives on the edge of a city. And when we consider where CNG would most likely be located and the fact that it is somewhere near County Essex, we have only one viable option for the location of Charlie's town.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I can stand in front of you all today and announce that Charlie, the rest of the Bucket family, Willy Wonka and his Chocolate Factory are all located in none other than...

London!

That’s it for Part 9, click here for Part 10 when we conduct another unnecessarily complex analysis of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in order to uncover just where in the Greater London region Charlie’s town is located in.

Also, if you have better quality images of the scenes from the film I included in this post, feel free to share them with me so that I may replace the ones I used to improve the experience for the reader.

#unwrapping the wonka bar #charlie and the chocolate factory #charlie and the chocolate factory 2005 #unwrappingthewonkabar #charlieandthechocolatefactory #catcf #catcf 2005

[stillness-in-green]

No, Re-Destro Is Not Destro’s Literal Son

and

Yes, I Will Die On This Hill

I have a number of small, persistent quibbles with some of the widespread misapprehensions I see included in BNHA fanfic, quoted as fact in meta posts, even cited on the wiki. Quirk cancellation restraints, what the 20% quirklessness data point means in practice, when Kurogiri comes into existence relative to the time of the Shimura Family Massacre, things like that. My biggest one, though, is as the title suggests: the idea that Yotsubashi Rikiya is Yotsubashi Chikara’s son.

I don’t entirely know where this confusion comes from. As far as I can tell, the early scanlations didn’t get it wrong—one rendered the line in Chapter 218 about Destro having a child he didn’t know about as being children, plural, but otherwise, they were all accurate enough. It seems people just assumed that the child mentioned in 218 must be Re-Destro, who was, after all, right there on the panel. Even though the scanlations never said it, even though the official translation never said it, even though ample evidence in the manga disproves it, the idea still got around that Rikiya is Chikara’s son.

I have and will maintain that this is obviously wrong if you stop to think about it for even a moment, but unfortunately, most people don’t. The error can be found on less well-tended parts of the fandom wiki[1]; it’s in tumblr meta posts about the villains; it’s in fanfic.

And now, god help me, it is on the official anime website, too.

“Stillness-in-green, maybe you should consider that you might just be wro—”

I will face BONES and walk backwards into hell.

But if you want, you can come with me, and I’ll explain on the way. Hit the jump.

Dialogue + Narration

There are two places where the relationship between Chikara and Rikiya is explicitly addressed—the lead-in to the dinner scene in Chapter 218 and the fight between Clone!Shigaraki and RD in Chapter 232. If you include the Ultra Analysis databook, the number goes up to four: once each in Re-Destro and Destro Classic’s character blurbs.

Let’s take a look at each of those places, shall we?

The relevant Japanese text here is in the first narration box: 子ども, kodomo.

Kodomo is not gendered. It literally just means child. The key kanji is 子, ko. Like most kanji, it has a lot of potential readings, and you can add other kanji to it to modify it. Add 息 and you get musuko, son. Pronounce 子 as shi instead of ko, and you get a term that is frequently, though not exclusively, used to refer to boys. Add 女 to that reading and you get joshi, woman/girl. 子 is in a lot of words, many of them gendered! Used for kodomo as Hori does here, though, it does nothing to indicate a gender one way or the other.

Also too, it does nothing to indicate that Rikiya is the child in question; it simply states that there was such a child, somewhere in the world. Now, the natural assumption for anyone who knows how the graphic novel medium works and who understands basic literary analysis would be that the significant character we just met is, in fact, the child in question—except that everything else we learn about Destro and the original Meta Liberation Army here makes it entirely impossible.

I’ll do a full breakdown on why that is in the next section. In the meantime, here’s the next reference:

Here, we’re looking at the phrase the Viz translation renders as, “His blood runs through these veins.” The literal Japanese there is, Desutoro no matsuei chi o tsugu mono! In a literal translation, chi o tsugu mono means, “one who inherits the blood,” or, more loosely, “blood successor.” It’s matsuei—末裔—that’s the key word here.

Japanese has several words to express the concept of “descendant.” Matsuei is one word; the data book uses shison. So what’s the difference? Well, I’ll talk about shison in a moment, but I had an inkling of it just from looking at the kanji in matsuei—“end” and “descendant” respectively, leaving me with an impression of something like a final descendant or the terminus of the bloodline. Further research confirmed it: shison can refer to any lineal blood tie, but matsuei refers to a bloodline’s final inheritor, the person at the end of a long line of many, or even countless, generations. It’s the difference between being able to point to a grandparent and the kind of painstaking genealogical research that lets you[2] point to a famous royal from eight hundred years ago—matsuei is a word that very much assumes the existence of those countless generations.

So not only does Rikiya’s line there not imply that he’s Chikara’s son, but his specific word choice also tells us that he cannot be Chikara’s son. That’s, uh. Pretty conclusive, I would say.

Lastly, though, there’s also the data book. This is, perhaps, the actual closest you’re going to get to a manga equivalent of those character blurbs on the anime website, at least until such time as Hori deigns to give the MLA types character profile pages. (I live ever in hope.)

There are two relevant bits of text, one in Re-Destro’s entry, and the other in Destro Classic’s. The first describes how Re-Destro organizes the MLA as Desutoro no chi o tsugu mono: the same phrase he uses for himself in the manga, minus the matsuei. @codenamesazanka (the one who told me about the databook references among other citations, bless) rendered it as “Destro’s blood successor”; I have also seen it given as “the successor of Destro’s bloodline.” Note again, the lack of reference to a father/son bond.

Chikara’s entry uses that other descendant word I mentioned before, 子孫, shison. Notice that the term uses that ko kanji from kodomo before? As it does in joshi, 子 here reads shi. The other kanji, 孫, means grandchild. Thus, literally, grandchild-child—or, in the vernacular, simply descendant.

And then we have the anime website.

So, for comparison’s sake, the anime website uses 息子—the same combination of kanji that I said earlier gives you musuko, son. Heck, it even uses 父, chichi, for Destro—father. It’s as explicit as it’s possible to be, and I just don’t know why or how the anime website could fuck that up so bad when absolutely nothing in the manga describes the two Yotsubashis that way, and, indeed, one specific word choice actually rules out the possibility.

So, that’s all the manga says directly. It’s not the only evidence there is, though. In fact, the next piece makes it even more clear how colossally and impossibly wrong a father/son connection for Destro and his modern successor is.

Timeline

The long and short of this section is, “Since Harima Oji was Sako Atsuhiro’s great-great-grandfather, there is no possible way that Destro—who pre-dated Harima—can be Re-Destro’s father.” If you read that sentence and nodded your complete understanding and agreement, feel free to skip ahead to the last section. If you’d like the full explanation it takes to reach that sentence’s conclusion, though, read on.

So, aside from the word matsuei, the timeline is the most telling piece of evidence to my eye. I address it secondly rather than firstly because it’s less direct than the explicit narration; it relies on drawing conclusions based on things we’ve been told elsewhere rather than on the immediately relevant text. Oh, Mr. Compress’s relationship to Harima is explicit enough, but on what am I basing my claim that Destro predates him?

Regarding that, there’s no explicit year relative to My Hero Academia’s current events given for when Destro and the original Meta Liberation Army were active; the same is true for Harima Oji’s escapades. However, we are given some broad-strokes information, relative not to current events, but rather to the history of heroism as a legal institution in Japan.

We know that there was a widespread, lengthy period of chaos following the rise of quirks—called meta-abilities in those early years. At some point, however, people began to search for a way for meta-humans to live in peace with non-metas. The compromise that was reached was the foundation of professional heroism in Japan—while the use of meta-abilities would be legal in private settings, it was only by becoming licensed by the state as “heroes” that people could use their quirks in public.[3]

The legislation curtailing the use of meta-abilities—and the appropriation of a dead woman’s language to popularize a law establishing exactly the opposite of what she used that language to call for—is what catalyzed the rise of the original MLA. Thus, we can position Destro as being alive and active around the same time that heroism as a legal institution was being formed. Since we further know that he committed suicide in prison, we can assume that his child was conceived at some point prior to his capture. Ergo, Destro’s child, were they alive today, would be as old as Japanese professional heroism itself.

Next, consider Harima Oji, the Peerless Thief, a criminal who targeted the riches of “sham heroes.” We’re specifically told that he was active in the days in which the current system was settling into place—e.g. he only became active once the Hero System was established enough to have produced corrupt heroes. We’re told he preached reformation—he wasn’t just some pre-existing criminal who saw a shiny new target in heroes; he had specific grievances which he wanted addressed by the system, and which the system was not addressing.

The earliest Harima could possibly be active, then, is concurrent with Destro—Harima fighting against the corrupt people who had found their way into the new heroic institution, and Destro fighting against using the institution of heroism to oppress non-heroes. What I think is more likely, though, is that Harima came after Destro—Harima needed to have had time to realize what kinds of fakes had been drawn to this shiny new career path, maybe even to spend some time trying to change things the legal way.

I don’t suspect they were separated by very long—I would imagine Destro was easily within Harima’s living memory, and might well have influenced why he chose the path of protest that he did—but I do think they were separate.

Moving forward, then, Mr. Compress is four generations distant from his famous ancestor. Thus, even if you assume that Harima is of the same generation as Chikara, that’s what you’re looking at for Chikara’s child: someone who, were they alive today, would be old enough to be the great-grandparent of a thirty-two-year-old man.

Re-Destro’s probably a few years older than Mr. C, sure,[4] but that man doesn’t have Ujiko’s slow-aging quirk. Unless you want to start pulling theories about cryogenic stasis the story for some reason never saw fit to mention out of thin air, Re-Destro is in no way old enough to fit the bill.

This is backed up by one other piece of the timeline as well, and one more place we can look at language:

The small child at the center of the image is Rikiya, so young that he’s in schoolboy shorts for a meeting otherwise so formal that he’s been made to wear a tie. He’s, what, six to nine here, tops? And the adults speaking to him say that they’ve been in hiding for generations—代々, daidai, the kanji for generation followed by a kanji that just means, “See that kanji written right before me? Yeah, just read that one again.”

The original MLA was active for only a handful of years, and, per Chapter 218, they didn’t dissolve until Destro was captured. Thus, we can assume they have been in hiding since then, but not before then. With that in mind, this is another line that renders a father/son relationship impossible.

Remember, Chikara already had a child in the world circa his capture. If Rikiya were Chikara’s son, then Destro’s capture and his army’s subsequent dissolution could not have happened any farther back than nine months plus however old Rikiya was in this exact moment of his youth. Rikiya, who we see here as a child of less than ten.

Ten years in hiding doesn’t make one generation; it damn sure doesn’t make multiple ones.

Now, you could make theories about cryogenic statis that would explain this ludicrous discrepancy, sure. You could also theorize about e.g. artificial insemination,[5] or time stop quirks, or any number of other possibilities in the vast panoply the HeroAca world offers. The point is, though, that you don’t need to. There was, in the manga, no discrepancy that needed to be explained. It is only fanon misinterpretation and a glaring disinterest in the series’ villains from official sources that have presented this issue.

I’m praying that it’s all just a misunderstanding on the part of whoever maintains the website, and that the anime itself will render the relevant bits of dialogue correctly. Given the extreme cuts and alterations that My Villain Academia has been subjected to thus far, though, I’m sure you can appreciate my being concerned.

…So that’s the meat of it. The idea that Rikiya is Chikara’s son is wrong simply on the basis of what’s said in the text, and it’s doubly wrong on the basis of the timeline. There is, though, one other thing I think points towards Re-Destro being exactly the descendant he says he is, not a son playing down the connection out of humility or something. This one is a lot more headcanon-y, though, so I saved it for last.

MLA Social Dynamics

It’s quite simple. We have, in the MLA, a group of people that venerates Destro’s bloodline to an obviously unhealthy degree, putting up portraits of him wherever they can get away with it, tagging his successor with a “Re-” as if to invoke reincarnation or miraculous return, entirely willing to throw their lives away for what they think was his cause, and others’ lives if those others say anything too scathing about the words Destro wrote, quite as if they treat Destro’s memoir as some sort of holy writ.

They venerate Destro that much, and you’re trying to tell me that they wouldn’t just call a spade a spade and acknowledge RD as the son of their great leader? Come on.

Since long before I turned up the matsuei factoid in researching this piece, since long before Mr. Compress gave us such a helpful generational comparison, I’ve held the opinion that, given a group that holds their leaders in such high esteem, with such particular regard for bloodline, the only reason Rikiya does just call himself a descendant, rather than citing the specific term for what he is, is that the specific term is distant enough that it actually does sound more impressive to just say “descendant,” rather than something like, “great-great-great-grandson.” That kind of thing just begs the question, “What took you guys so long?” or, “You and how many other people, buddy?”

Mr. Compress may have the panache to carry off a line like that, but Rikiya’s a different story. If he had something so amazing up his sleeve as, “I am the son of the great Destro,” I have to think he’d just say it proudly, not fall back on the impressionistic vaguery of something like chi o tsugu mono. Even if I had no other evidence to work with, I’d think the same—all the evidence you need is right there in the character writing of who Rikiya and the MLA are and how they talk about the man whose dreams Re-Destro was raised to carry.

A closing note: I will allow that Rikiya is being overdramatic when he uses matsuei and its connotation of countless generations. There are a few other things we can use to trace the history of heroism—Ujiko’s age, and the 18-years-or-less periods that One For All was held by its pre-All Might bearers—and running those numbers leads me to believe that it is, in fact, entirely possible to count the number of generations between Rikiya and Chikara, and the number, while higher than one, is probably not all that high. Certainly matsuei is being more dramatic about it than is entirely warranted, hence the poetic flourish of the official translation’s, “His blood runs through these veins!” The theatricality only makes me fonder of him, however.

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

FOOTNOTES

[1] It was changed and reverted on Re-Destro’s page at least twice before it finally stuck in January of this year. Chikara’s page took until July to be corrected, and it’s still wrong on various other subpages.

[2] Or your kids, if you have those. Only the last generation in the bloodline is the matsuei, but that’s a moving goalpost as long as the bloodline is still propagating.

[3] This summary of events combines what we know from both My Hero Academia proper and the Vigilantes spin-off, which I recommend to anyone who’s at all interested in finer-grained worldbuilding on Hero Society Japan than the main series makes time for.

[4] I personally headcanon him as 42.

[5] To which point I would refer back to the word kodomo, and note that that word choice indicates that Destro had a child in the world. Not a sperm sample kept in a freezer somewhere, waiting for the right would-be mother: an actual child. Some quick research on my part says that the farthest that term stretches is in using it to refer to yet-unborn children, fetuses still in the womb. Seeing as Japan doesn’t even allow inmates conjugal visits in real life, much less in a setting where villains are so dehumanized that Tartarus is an acceptable punishment for them, the line about Destro “having a child out in the world” takes us right back to a date of conception no later than Destro’s final night of freedom.

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha #bnha meta #yotsubashi rikiya #yotsubashi chikara #re-destro #destro bnha #meta liberation army #my writing #i have thoughts on the anime's nonsense too but #hahawow #that's gonna take a little longer to get coherent #preview: it's not about capitalism #it's about fear

[ladyeliot]

Fragile [1/3]

Part Two

Based on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

Summary: Who would have thought that fate would bring you face to face with your father's killer? 13 years old, an orphan girl who was taken under the protection of the United States, who was educated to serve the nation and who was now assigned by the CIA to guard what was once one of the most dangerous men in the world.

Warnings: Mentions of murder, psychological problems, violence.

Word count: 2463

A/N: Post Endgame. Sorry for my spelling and grammatical mistakes, English is not my native language, I am learning.

You are waiting for a plane, a plane that will take you far away. You know where you want to go, where you need to go, but you really have no idea where that plane will take you. But it doesn't really matter now, nothing matters because you've lost everything, you have nothing left. Whatever fate throws at you you are willing to accept it, after all you leave nothing behind. That's what you told yourself when in 2009, at the age of thirteen, you boarded that plane that took you out of Iran, when your nuclear engineer father was brutally murdered by someone you could never put a name or a face to. It was not until much later that you discovered the truth of that moment that marked your life forever.

Call it fate, call it chance, but that plane paved your future path. Your destination was the United States, specifically the city of Washington. At the age of 13, when you were a minor, you were detained by the government, assigned to a foster family, preparing you for your future, which already seemed to be written. At 18, the CIA had your position waiting for you, you had been educated and trained for the job, you never had a different opportunity in front of you, but you didn't really want it either.

Your first years within the Central Intelligence Agency you had to learn and live with all the events that that group, called the Avengers, dropped on the nation and the whole world. However, you were not a part of it until it was all over, for like the vast majority of humanity your body vanished from the face of the earth and did not return until years later. That's when it all began. When your superior assigned you a case, his case, to be the shadow of James Buchanaham Barnes, also known as the Winter Soldier, who was going to rejoin society after being pardoned by the government. You didn't know what that meant, what that entailed.

Your move to New York was sudden, the neighbourhood the man had selected to live in was in Sunset Park, a New York borough of Brooklyn, one of the best known ethnic Chinese enclaves. It was really nice, but the building was far less comfortable than the neighbourhood. When you arrived with barely any hot water, you figured that assuming the building looked like it might collapse at the drop of a hat, the plumbing would be no less so. But at least your CIA team had been able to provide you with comfortable furniture and the necessary equipment to do your job.

You had a plan, the plan, you had been analysing Bucky Barnes, his exits from the building, the places he frequented, which were pretty scarce apart from the therapy sessions and the restaurant across the street, and his social relations, which were even scarcer, however he had forged a small friendship with a neighbour in the same building, Yori Nakajima originally from Japan. You didn't have to work out your first meeting, any self-respecting neighbour would help a newcomer to the building during the move.

A dozen cardboard boxes were scattered around the hall of the building, you looked at them with a thoughtful gesture while biting your nails waiting for your dear neighbour to arrive from the laundry next door. You had kept track of the time, and just as you predicted, he came in through the front door with a basket of clean clothes. You continued to look at the boxes, took a breath and exaggerated your gesture of concern, just as he focused his gaze on you.

"Do you need help?" he asked, putting down the laundry basket and approaching you.

You turned your face, still biting your nails, but pretended to be surprised to find him there.

"Oh, don't worry, I only just realised that this building is so green it barely has a lift," you said with a smile, causing Bucky to grin.

"Yes, we like to do our bit for the environment," he said, putting his hand behind his head and then offering it to you in greeting. "Bucky."

"Susan," you smiled and shook his hand, then returned your gaze to the stacked boxes. Evidently that wasn't your real name, it was the name of the person you had invented yourself.

"Come on, let me help you," abandoning his laundry basket he approached your belongings and with barely a reproach he picked up two stacked boxes.

"Oh, God, don't you think you should...?" you began worriedly as you looked at the weight he had taken into his arms.

"Don't worry," he added. "Do you think you could take my clothes?"

That was how it all began. Maybe it could have started some other way, perhaps a chance encounter at the laundromat next door, or when you came out of your government-assigned therapy, or maybe a night at the Japanese restaurant, but no, it was that way. You had no idea how things were going to develop, you had no idea why you were assigned to the case, you were so innocent that you thought it was because of your positive attitude, your willingness to do something relevant, but there was too much hidden behind it that you had hardly a clue. You and that young man were connected, a blood-soaked red thread linked you, but it wasn't until some time later that you discovered it.

Before you knew it, the boxes had gone from being stacked in the hall of the building to being in your small living room. You barely had to feign the surprise you felt as the young man had climbed all four floors in record time.

"OK, who are you? You don't work for a moving company do you?" you laughed and headed towards the small kitchen that was connected to the living room. "If so leave me your card because you'll be the one I call."

"No, not really," he put his hand behind his neck and looked away, he seemed nervous as you tried to start a conversation with him.

"A beer? It's the least I can do," you said, opening the fridge. "Well, and it's the only thing I have apparently."

"Better another time," he commented looking at the basket of clean clothes you had left in the middle of your living room and approaching it to pick it up.

It was at that moment that you noticed the black leather gloves covering his hands, you guessed the fact, surely they were to cover his left hand which complemented his vibranium arm.

"Oh, of course," you closed the fridge the same way you had opened it and leaned against the kitchen island to watch him in the middle of the room with the laundry basket offering you an awkward smile. "Then it only remains for me to thank you again."

"It's been a pleasure," he said without moving from the spot, which made you bite your lip smiling at his awkwardness. "Uh... welcome."

"Thank you," you added, watching him clumsily walk out the door and close it behind him.

The image of Bucky Barnes you had formed in your mind collapsed as soon as you met him. Everything you had seen, read, heard about the man had nothing to do with what you found that morning. Who was this person and what had he done with the Winter Soldier? As soon as you closed the door you opened the box marked 'FRAGILE' and extracted all the archival material that the CIA had compiled for you, and opening your laptop you began to generate your first report on Bucky Barnes, totally contrary to what you had expected to do.

The following days you took it upon yourself to generate spontaneous encounters in the most common places the two of you might frequent. The laundromat or the supermarket were the best selected, you discovered that his lifestyle could be that of any ordinary New Yorker, there was nothing strange, nothing out of the ordinary. You had explained to him the story you had created for Susan, a young immigrant girl who had been adopted at the age of 5 by an American family and had left her small town in the state of Ohio to come to New York looking to live the New York dream. Bucky didn't really talk much, but he was a really good listener. He tended to be quite expressive with his face and as we met, it wasn't so often that he looked away from you, only when you stared at him, which was quite common as his blue eyes tended to evade you too much.

Two months later you received the desired psychological analysis that the therapist had been working on during her sessions with Bucky. Throughout your years of life you had been trained not to engage in any kind of emotional relationship with the cases you were assigned at the CIA, you didn't realise it at first, but it was too big for you. When you opened the envelope, sat down on the couch and began to read each of the reports you felt it, a slight sigh propitiated what was happening, you had felt compassion for him. But who couldn't feel compassion reading that? Session after session, talking about the numerous nightmares that kept him awake, endless lists of his victims he had killed, the tortures HYDRA put him through... it all made your insides churn.

You dropped the papers on the table and thoughtfully paced around the room biting your nails. You had been longing for a case like this for a long time, you had practically begged for it, and now that you were inside it you didn't know if you would be able to face it with a cool head. It was a difficult two weeks, where every conversation with Bucky provoked associations with what you read in the therapist's reports and that made you think too much about what you were doing.

But something happened, one Saturday like any other, your doorbell rang while you were preparing a report to send to your superior, you closed everything running and approached the entrance. As you opened the door the figure of Bucky stood in front of you, while behind him loomed the small body of Yori Nakajima.

"Hey..."

"Come on we don't have all day!" exclaimed Yori tapping Bucky's back with his particular cane.

"I'm coming..." chided Bucky turning his face towards his friend and neighbour.

"Come on!" exclaimed Yori again.

The situation was quite peculiar even for you, who were used to encountering all sorts of situations in your work. Your eyebrows were arched as you leaned against the doorframe waiting for what Bucky was supposed to say. Your two neighbours made a comical but endearing pair. Bucky seemed hesitant to speak, being rather nervous as he fiddled with his gloves, so Yori tapped him again with the cane to push him aside.

"What he wants to tell you is to go on a date with him," Yori said bluntly, to which Bucky exasperatedly sighed and put his hand to his face.

"A date?" you asked arching your eyebrows even more and blinking rapidly.

"Well, it's not exactly that..." began Bucky but again he received another blow from Yori's cane, "Hey! Stop it," he refocused his blue eyes on yours. "I'm sorry..."

"For what, needing help asking me out on a date?" you asked smiling slightly, causing him to do so as well. "Had you come up with any concrete plans or did Yori have to find it for you?"

Your question caused Yori to laugh and leave the place alluding that his work had already been done. You continued to watch Bucky with your arms crossed as you slumped against the door frame. The whole situation was getting too out of hand without you even realising it. You lied to yourself that it could be good for your mission, but none of it was good. At that moment you were just a young girl getting carried away, being asked out on a date by a guy you found really attractive.

"Maybe... tomorrow at eight o'clock? If not..." she asked, putting her hand behind her neck, causing her white t-shirt to ride up and reveal part of her naked lower body.

"Why tomorrow? Why not tonight?" you asked showing complete confidence in your voice.

"Or... sure, tonight," she rectified, nodding.

"All right," you said, smiling, and closed the door, leaving Bucky standing there.

In the back of your mind you were trying to convince yourself that this would be helpful to the investigation, that what the CIA really wanted was for you to maintain contact with him, that he was under your control, that he wouldn't do anything that the government would regret offering a pardon for, and apparently he was. What you didn't know is that it was you who was falling under his control.

Your love life is not what you could call it, you were not someone of long realizations, someone who opened her heart easily, you had never really opened it to anyone, apparently at the age of 13 your heart was broken and of that loving and shy girl there was hardly anything left. Relationships, yes, you had had them, but they were based only on physical contact, no feelings, no emotions, only physical contact. You were stubborn, obstinate and sometimes a little presumptuous, a trump card you played with Bucky, but the innocence was still inside you even if you could hardly notice it.

But believe it or not, those months you were spending in that practically ruined building in the middle of that Brooklyn neighbourhood were changing the course of your destiny, they were connecting you with the loving girl you had once been. Something inside you prevented you from writing reports providing the information the CIA was asking for, it seemed really absurd, but for the last two weeks you had offered details of the conversations you had with Bucky, you were just giving ordinary data, useless to the government, who expected you to relay everything the former Winter Soldier said or did. You would never have thought that anything, or anyone, would have limited your ability to tackle an investigation, but there it was, Bucky had done it in just a few months. You felt so empty, it was easy to connect with someone as empty as you, him.

To be continue...

Taglist Open (DM)

MAIN MASTERLIST

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes angst #bucky barnes smut #bucky barnes fluff #the falcon an the winter soldier #tfatws #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes fan fiction #marvel x reader #marvel imagine #avengers x reader #avengers imagine #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan imagine #sebastian stan x you #bucky barnes female reader #faw #fatws #fatws fanfic #winter soldier x reader #winter soldier x you #winter soldier imagine #winter soldier #winter soldier fanfic

[a-nice-and-interpretive-fanzine]

[ID: A cream-colored banner that says "A Nice and Interpretive Fanzine: essays and art about the meanings we've found in Good Omens." There is a photo of a book page with a key on it behind the banner text. The photo source is rosy_photo on Pixabay. /end ID]

A Nice and Interpretive Fanzine: Information Masterpost

Welcome!

This is a zine for those of us who love the subtle, complex work that is Good Omens, and who’ve enjoyed the thoughtfulness of the fandom as people interpret how the many moving pieces of the story come together, creating a slightly different meaning for each of us.

To put it simply, it’s a book full of the fandom’s own analysis and commentary about the Good Omens TV show, enhanced with illustrations from our brilliant artists.

This zine is analytical in the sense that all the writers are expressing their own nonfiction thoughts and feelings about the show, rather than writing fanfic, but it is not meant to be heavily academic. Anybody who likes to pick apart the series and discuss it should be able to enjoy it.

The zine will contain essays by fans who are passionate about analyzing and interpreting different parts of Good Omens - the characters, the plot, the writing techniques for the book and script, the cinematography of the TV show, the popular content of the fandom itself. Accompanying these essays will be black and white illustrations from our artists.

How are you organizing this process?

May 1-May 15: Everyone submits their application to do writing or art through a Google form. Behind the scenes, I’ll be setting up a separate email and Discord.

May 16-20: Applicants will be screened during this time.

May 20: I’ll email everyone to let them know the outcomes of their applications. The final participants will get a link to the Discord server for the zine (totally optional, of course).

May 21: If there’s any clarification or solidifying of ideas that needs to happen, I’ll contact you and discuss with you by this point. This is also when artists will be matched up with essays.

May 22 to August 14: This will be a period of just working on our essays and art. The Discord chat and Tumblr will be there for support and for exchanging ideas!

August 15: Participants need to email their full works to the zine’s email address by this date. No special formatting is needed; I’ll do that in InDesign.

August 15 to August 31: I’ll be putting the zine together in InDesign.

September 1: Preorders will open.

September 30: Preorders will close.

October 1: The zine order will be placed!

October 15: Assuming all goes well with printing and shipping, the zines will be shipped out in waves starting on this date. If the printing or shipping from the manufacturer is delayed, then shipping will just start ASAP.

Writer Application HERE Artist Application HERE Asked and Answered Questions on Tumblr The Fanzine's Page on Twitter

Read below for more detailed information about the zine in a Q and A format!

What are the specifications for the zine contributions?

For writers, I’m starting with 3k words or fewer per essay (approximately 10 pages at the size of this book). This depends heavily on how many participants we actually get, so it may change!

For artists, I’d be looking at black and white works, 300 DPI, 5.5 x 8.5 inches or smaller. If your art is supposed to fill up the entire page (i.e. no white space), please make it a total of 5.75 x 8.75 inches with nothing too important around the edges to account for bleed during the printing process.

Can I submit an essay to this zine if I’ve already posted it on Tumblr?

Not as you’ve already posted it. We don’t want to just copy/paste the exact thing that hundreds or perhaps even thousands of people have already read.

However, it IS fine and maybe even a good idea to take the same thought from your post and refine it, preserving your same thesis. For example, a lot of Tumblr posts are just us fans jotting down 5 or 6 paragraphs of random thoughts at 2 AM, but some of them are really cool thoughts! Expanding them and turning them into a bona-fide Essay would make those posts into excellent zine chapters. And you can copy small pieces of your own language as long as the whole thing isn’t just pasted word-for-word.

How long do essays have to be? Is there a limit?

With the number of writers we have, I've calculated that each person should ideally keep their essay to about 6000 words. There is wiggle room.

There’s no real minimum for your contribution; some analytical ideas are really good but can be expressed concisely, so it’s okay if your essays only come out to a few pages typed. For reference, with our book size, a page is about 300 words.

What happens if the zine sells a lot and you end up not only breaking even, but turning a profit?

It’ll go to charity. While I’ll ask the participants what they want to do for certain if we do make enough money, my suggestion will be donating it to Alzheimer’s Research UK in honor of Sir Terry Pratchett.

I’m not really comfortable calling this a “charity zine” up front since I simply don’t know if it will raise a significant amount. For the most part, I just want the thing to physically exist, which means breaking even, and don’t want to make it more expensive for buyers than it needs to be to afford the printing costs.

What kinds of essays are you talking about? What could be included?

In short, any analytical thoughts about the Good Omens TV show - and possibly even the fandom as it interacts with the show - are possible inclusions for the zine.

To expand a bit, think about the meta posts you see floating around Tumblr. Often these involve analyzing characters, or picking up on patterns in the plot. Sometimes fans use their own background knowledge to write posts about the significance of certain costume choices or the way music plays into each individual scene. Some posts examine the ways the series approaches gender, while others might discuss ways that the characters present as neurodivergent. That’s how diverse the pool of possibilities is for subjects in this zine.

How does art come into this?

Images will be black and white, to match the bookish mood of the project overall. Images can range in size from a half page to a full page.

I’m planning to talk to the artists and authors and loosely pair artists with essays that appeal to their personal interests.

I know how to illustrate a story, but how do I illustrate an essay?

There are infinite answers to this! I’ve seen some beautiful symbolic artwork in the fandom already (e.g. a number of takes on Aziraphale munching on an apple with Crowley in snake form curving around him), and there are tons of symbolic motifs to draw from, but these are not the only options. An artist illustrating an essay about cinematography, for example, could draw a well-known scene from an alternative angle. An essay about Heaven as a capitalist corporation could be illustrated with a cartoon of Gabriel giving some sort of excruciating PowerPoint presentation. A character analysis could be accompanied by a simple portrait. And on and on. I’m not interested in limiting the possibilities by trying to make a list, but just know that there are many and you don’t have to make it complicated if you don’t want to.

If the writers can reuse their essay ideas, can artists reuse their drawings?

Similarly to the writers, if you already have an interpretive drawing that you’re in love with, artists can use the same ideas and the same fundamental composition that is present in their own existing work. However, it has to be redone in some significant way. Whether it’s taking something you drew in 2019 and redrawing it using an updated style, taking a sketch and turning it into a lined and shaded piece, or redoing a full-color drawing so it presents more strikingly in black and white, it shouldn’t be identical to the thing you’ve already posted.

So how are you choosing participants here?

It’ll be based on what people are interested in writing about (or illustrating). I’ll be looking for people who are passionate about their essays, but I’ll also be looking for variety. It all depends on what people want to offer, so I won’t know for sure what it will look like put together until everyone’s application is in.

For artists, I’ll be trying to figure out whose style looks like it would adapt well to illustrations in black and white, and also who demonstrates an interest in the same subjects as the writers.

If we don’t get a lot of applicants, I’d love to simply include everyone, but I can’t commit to that without knowing for sure how many people are involved.

Do I have to use a formal writing style to participate?

No. You should use a style that makes your thoughts and ideas as clear as possible, but as long as it’s understandable, you can also get a little artistic with it. You can “write like you speak,” though perhaps in a more organized way. You definitely don’t need to worry about stylistic rules like not using the first person. This is not academia.

Is this zine going to center only on Crowley and Aziraphale?

That remains to be seen! It depends on what ideas show up in the applications. There will be a lot of the ineffable partners for sure, but whether the whole zine will center on them or whether there’s plentiful stuff about other characters will depend on what the participants suggest.

Do we have to agree with all your personal interpretations of Good Omens to be in the zine?

No! In fact, I’m assuming that a number of essays will contradict each other, too, and that’s perfectly okay. The zine is a sampler of fan interpretations meant to inspire, not instruct. It’s not “Here’s a fan-made guide on how to understand this TV show,” it’s “Look at all these moving parts and how many meanings we can find in them. What does it mean to you?”

However, there are some basic rules and assumptions by which I’m working here.

I don’t personally have the energy to include essays that are highly critical (“negative”) in this zine. It’s analytical but also meant to be fun.

I’m pretty focused on the TV adaptation. This isn’t “no book analysis allowed” but just that the essays will end up being weighted toward subjects that apply to either the TV show or both the book and the show.

Each writer should focus on making their own points over disproving other fan interpretations. If you’re writing in an expository style, it’s normal for the essay to contain rebuttals to opposing ideas, but these should be minor supporting points, not the heart and soul of your essay. For reference, I’d say the majority of meta I see floating around on tumblr would follow this rule just fine.

Essay ideas that seem to contain bigoted or exclusionary sentiments will not be accepted (no TERFy stuff, for example).

What kinds of editing will go into the zine? Are you going to argue with us about the contents of our writing?

While I might ask you to elaborate on certain points in your writing or clarify your thoughts about your subject, I’m absolutely not here to ask you to change the thesis, opinions, or headcanons on which your writing is based. If I really have a problem with your initial idea, I’ll tell you that up front and politely decline the contribution.

While formatting the zine, I’ll make minor edits if I think I see a typo or misspelling, something small and obviously unintentional. As with any other zine, your content won’t be changed without consulting you.

Is this a SFW zine?

Yes. If people want to discuss sexuality in a theoretical way, like erotic subtext, that would be allowed. There are canon references like Newt and Anathema’s moment under the bed that might come up, too. But there will be nothing explicit, and since these are essays instead of stories, there will be no “action” going on between characters. Let’s just say sex isn’t a forbidden topic, but it will be like discussing it in English class.

As for other topics that could make the zine NSFW, like gore or extreme language, I don’t think they will be an issue. Some dark topics, like abuse by Heaven and Hell, may be discussed, but they will be warned for, and these are not stories, so you aren’t going to see violent actions playing out.

Will there be any “extras” like charms or stickers?

I’m not sure yet. I’m most inclined to keep it simple, because of the nature of the zine, but would be open to including some bonus items if there’s an artist who’s really passionate about it.

With that said, I am pretty committed to making a hardcover edition of the book available, in addition to the standard softcover version.

You’re doing this with only one mod?!

Yes. I personally find it easiest. While I’ve worked on multi-mod projects in other domains and adore all of my co-mods, it’s a little bit different when it’s a project with this many moving pieces that includes real-life components like printing and shipping. Though there are a lot of individual things to be done, I am experienced with all of them, so it’s less overwhelming to just take on the whole project. That way, I know exactly what needs to be done and when, and there are no issues with assigning tasks.

What qualifies you to run this zine?

The résumé answer: in fandom, I successfully solo-modded a large not-for-profit zine in the past, the @soulmakazine2018, and while I can’t speak for the whole fandom, it definitely seemed to be well-received. <3 In real life, I’m a case manager and this involves coordinating and communicating with a lot of different people including my 100-person caseload, budgeting services, and filling out all kinds of paperwork on the fly, all skills that can be imported into zine work.

The practical answer: well, I’m the one who decided to start this project, so if you like the sound of it, you're stuck with me. I say with encouragement and enthusiasm that if you’d like to do a different take on a commentary zine, you should absolutely do it.

#good omens #ineffable husbands #ineffable partners #fanzine #good omens zine

[screechthemighty]

An Essay About Resident Evil: Village That No One Asked For But I’m Posting It Anyways

So, the Beneviento House is my favorite part of Village for two reasons. One: it’s the scariest part of the game, don’t @ me. Two: On a second play through, it actually reveals a lot about the issues in Ethan and Mia’s marriage. There’s a lot to unpack here with that, but the tl;dr of it is this: I believe what Ethan experiences in House Beneviento is trip into Ethan’s psyche rather than an actual, physical event, and this trip confirms that his arguments with Mia were made worse by a) him worrying about Rose more than he worries about himself, and b) him assuming that Mia is worried about the same things he is; thus, his hallucinations of her are more a reflection of himself than they are of reality.

All of my logic and evidence is under the cut. Fair warning, it’s very long, I am so sorry, I really am. Aso, please note this is NOT a Mia-bashing post. We do not engage in Mia-bashing on this blog. Please go to someone else’s blog if you want to engage in Mia-bashing. Thank you.

There’s two important things to establish here. First: I think that 99% of what Ethan experiences in House Beneviento isn’t real, and is at least partially a manifestation of Ethan’s inner psyche. The evidence is as follows:

It makes no sense that Ethan would lose his entire inventory within the space of 0.5 seconds after the lights shut off. It makes much more sense that mind control made him think he no longer had a gun.

Several of the items and information used in the puzzles are things that Donna, logically, shouldn’t have access to. The music box was still in their home when Chris arrived (which wasn’t that long ago, keep in mind), I doubt Miranda cared enough to find out Rose’s preferred toys and the identity of who gifted them the music box, and there’s no way Donna would be able to get that picture of “Mia’s” dead body. Mia’s wedding ring is tentatively on this list, too; Donna would have access to it, since Mia was being held captive at the time, but I can’t remember if Mia is still wearing it when Chris saves her, so put that one down as a “maybe.”

You stab Angie (or, more properly, stab Donna) for the final time in the back room by the elevator. However, right after stabbing and killing her, you are suddenly by the front door again, the main part of the house is in shambles in a way that suggests a struggle, and you’re not holding the scissors anymore. If you try to backtrack to check the elevator, the door leading to that part of the house is locked (presumably From The Other Side, as they often are in RE).

Additionally, your entire inventory is spontaneously back in your pockets. In Biohazard, if you had inventory taken off of you, it had to be retrieved from a box later. Not this time (though, granted, this game doesn’t HAVE inventory boxes, but it’s an interesting detail when combined with everything else).

All of this, to me, points to Ethan having probably never left the main foyer throughout the majority of that mind trip. As for the hallucinations being fueled mostly by his psyche, a diary entry from the gardener mentions that the plants made him hallucinate his deceased wife, and as mentioned above, a lot of the puzzle relates to things specific and personal to Ethan. While I don’t doubt that Donna could and probably did influence the hallucination a bit (she is a puppet master after all), the building blocks were all there in Ethan’s head.

Second Important Thing to Establish: Ethan was completely missing the point during his arguments with Mia in the lead up to Village.

I’m of the opinion that the fights Ethan mentions in his diary were not a constant thing. I think they only started, at the earliest, while Mia was pregnant, but for sure after Rose was born. This is because pretty much all the canon evidence we see about their fights circles back to Rose. The diary entry where Ethan describes the fight they had is dated four days before Ethan’s death; meanwhile, the flashback fight (which is most likely of that very fight) is triggered by a conversation about Rose’s doctor’s visit and uses language that implies a lot of their talks (and presumably arguments) about “staying positive” have to do specifically with Rose and the move.

It’s also worth keeping in mind how much of Ethan’s thoughts about Dulvey and moving past it are related to Rose. Like, yeah, I’m sure he wants Mia to heal for her own good and he’d like to heal for his own good. That’s to be expected. But whenever he talks about moving to Europe and healing from Dulvey, it’s also about doing it for Rose and for her benefit (“so we can live our lives with Rose without it hanging over our heads” in the diary, “We moved here so that she wouldn’t have to deal with any of that” in the argument with “Mia” at the start). Additionally, in the flashback he says, “[Rose]’s going to be fine, I just know it. What else matters?” Rose is Ethan’s #1 priority and much of his concern is focused on her.

But—and this is the important thing here—not all of Mia’s is. The end of the game reveals that Mia knew, most likely as a result of her pregnancy with Rose, that Ethan was a megamycete hybrid.  In the flashback fight, she says, “I keep telling you, it’s not Rose that I’m worried about”, and the one moment when she truly explodes on him is after he implies that the only thing that matters is Rose’s safety. “We matter, Ethan! YOU matter! You just won’t-” Her exact words. We never find out what the won’t is, but I have a feeling what she’s getting at is that Ethan is unwilling to look past his worries about Rose and always circles the argument back to her. Now, we don’t see this directly, as we’re only privy to one real argument of theirs (Miranda being bitchy doesn’t count), but there’s past evidence to suggest this was probably the case.

The thing about Ethan is that he can be single-minded in his protective instinct, and we’ve known this since the last game. There’s a little throwaway moment in Biohazard where Mia thanks Ethan for choosing to save her over Zoe. He responds “Who the hell else was I going to choose?” with like, zero hesitation, and she seems taken aback by the response. Now, of course, Mia being his choice makes sense, she’s the whole reason he came here, But Zoe did still help him out, and she is still a victim in all of this. She deserved to get out of there as much as Mia did. But Ethan chose Mia without any hesitation, would have chosen her every time, and while he did promise (and keep said promise) to help Zoe, Mia was his top priority. He lost a limb (or two, depending) and dragged himself through hell for Mia—and keep in mind, this is despite him being on some level aware of the fact that she was involved in all that mess (he POINT BLANK ASKS, “You had something to do with all of this, didn’t you?”) and after she’d behaved aggressively towards him (granted, that was while she was under mind control, but that would definitely give some people pause).

Ethan cares about other people in his life first and foremost. Ethan barely cares about himself. He focuses on saving Mia at the expense of his own safety and someone else’s, and when things start getting bad again after Dulvey, his sole focus is on how it could affect Rose. I have a feeling a big part of the reasons the disagreements happened, in addition to Mia keeping information from him, was Ethan focusing on Rose’s safety, as if it’s the only thing that they could have to be worried about, and how frustrating that must have been for the woman who has seen first hand what Ethan is like and how much trouble his intense protectiveness can get him in. (Note: this does not excuse Mia from not just like. Telling him the truth, but I have my own theories about that, so we’ll leave it at “they were both talking past each other in a big way and that wasn’t helping the marriage any” because my analysis of Mia as a character is WAY beyond the scope of this post.)

Now, you’d think, you’d think with Mia having repeatedly telegraphed that Rose isn’t the problem here, that Ethan would on some level be aware of the fact that something else is going on. But he isn’t, or at least, he isn’t aware of the right things, and Beneviento House proves it.

So, Ethan is having a hell of a bad trip based off of his own insecurities and fears: his unresolved issues with Mia and his daughter’s safety. We have established above that Ethan has completely been misreading his arguments, and with that in mind, everything that Hallucination!Mia says from the second you see her gets really interesting. Starting with:

“Rose feels different. Ethan, you have to fix her” and “That’s a kick. […] She’s so energetic, it’s crazy.” Mia most likely caught on during the pregnancy that something was different about Rose. They were already ordering medical reports, including fungal pathogen testing by the BSAA, and her health was a definite source of anxiety for Ethan (his response to reading her medical file being a relieved sigh). Mia notices something is different about Rose, probably works it out, and realizes what the wider implications are for the family. Ethan is just plain worried about his daughter’s health, assumes Mia’s worries match his own, and that assumption is reflected in both the memories that come to the surface and the words his psyche put in Mia’s mouth.

“I can’t tell Ethan anything about this”, “Everyone leaves me, even Rose. I don’t want to be alone” and “I didn’t want to keep it from you. I didn’t want to lose you again. I didn’t want to destroy this family. I love you both so much. I had to. I had to do it.” Now, I don’t think the last two are anything Mia has directly said, but they all could be Ethan’s interpretation of her recent behavior. As mentioned above, he’s already aware that she’s kept at least one secret from him, and seems to know something is going on with Rose. If Mia’s not telling me, it’s because she’s worried about both of us, and doesn’t want to break up the family.

This one is a bit of conjecture and my own personal interpretation of Mia, but you’ve come this far, so hear me out: through these hallucinations, Ethan reads the aggressive secret-keeping as an attempt to keep the family together so that Mia won’t be abandoned again. I think he’s probably at least partially correct in that assumption. However, I think it’s also partially a projection of his own desires and motivations (keeping his family together at any costs). On top of that, he’s definitely missing the fact that Mia knows something is up with him as well. Telling Ethan doesn’t just potentially mean wrecking the family; it could wreck him on a personal level, and put him in a lot of danger. So while Ethan assumes it’s just about the family, there’s a lot more on Mia’s mind. That a lot more just isn’t reflected because Ethan doesn’t know.

The final bits of audio you hear are Mia crying for Rose, then repeating to herself that everything is going to be fine. Again, we know that Mia was worried about more than Rose. Ethan doesn’t. Ethan is worried about Rose first and foremost, has misread Mia due to his singular focus and lack of vital information, and in misreading Mia has created this version of events where Rose is the one who’s really in danger. Despite Mia indicating there’s more to it, he still reads what’s going on as being Rose-centered, and the fact that Rose is now genuinely in serious danger doesn’t help with that.

At the end, when Ethan says “Mia. I’ll make things right”, he’s talking about the wrong thing. He’s saying he’ll protect Rose, he’ll save her, he’ll keep her safe in a way he hadn’t been able to with Mia.

What he’s missing is the fact that, while he might’ve been just worried about Rose, Mia never was. That’s one part he can’t make right. Mia would’ve had to; she just never got the chance.

(Sidebar no one asked for, but I personally think she would have, either of her own accord or because the BSAA fungal reports (which seem to be the test results the doctor wanted to talk to them about if I’m understanding the timeline right) would’ve blown the whole thing wide open for her. It was basically inevitable. Doesn’t excuse all the secret keeping up until that point, but I like to think she would’ve come clean. Freaking MIRANDA JUST HAD TO GO AND RUIN IT THOUGH - )

#resident evil #resident evil village #ethan winters #mia winters #if you read all of this you're an MVP for real #fandom meta

[ot3]

i watched red vs blue: zero with my dear friends today and i was asked to “post” my “thoughts” on the subject. Please do not click this readmore unless, for some reason, you want to read three thousand words on the subject of red vs blue: zero critical analysis. i highly doubt that’s the reason anyone is following me, but hey. 

anyway. here you have it. 

Here are my opinions on RVB0 as someone who has quite literally no nostalgia for any older RVB content. I’ve seen seasons 1-13 once and bits and pieces of it more than once here and there, but I only saw it for the first time within the past couple of months. I’ve literally never seen any other RT/AH content. I can name a few people who worked on OG Red vs. Blue but other than Mounty Oum I have NO idea who is responsible for what, really, or what anything else they’ve ever worked on is, or whether or not they’re awful people. I know even less about the people making RVB0 - All I know is that the main writer is named Torrian but I honestly don’t even know if that’s a first name, a last name, or a moniker. All this to say; nothing about my criticism is rooted in any perceived slight against the franchise or branding by the new staff members, because I don’t know or care about any of it. In fact, I’m going to try and avoid any direct comparison between RVB0 and earlier seasons of RVB as a means of critique until the very end, where I’ll look at that relationship specifically.

So here is my opinion of RVB0 as it stands right now:

1. The Writing

Everything about RVB0 feels as if it was written by a first-time writer who hasn’t learned to kill his darlings. The narrative is both simultaneously far too full, leaving very little breathing room for character interaction, and oddly sparse, with a story that lacks any meaningful takeaway, interesting ideas, or genuine emotional connection. It also feels like it’s for a very much younger audience - I don’t mean this as a negative at all. I love tv for kids. I watch more TV for kids than I do for adults, mostly, but I think it’s important to address this because a lot of the time ‘this is for kids’ is used to act like you’re not allowed to critique a narrative thoroughly. It definitely changes the way you critique it, but the critique can still be in good faith.  I watched the entirety of RVB0 only after it was finished, in one sitting, and I was giving it my full attention, essentially like it was a movie. I’m going to assume it was much better to watch in chunks, because as it stood, there was literally no time built into the narrative to process the events that had just transpired, or try and predict what events might be coming in the future. When there’s no time to think about the narrative as you’re watching it, the narrative ends up as being something that happens to the audience, not something they engage with. It’s like the difference between taking notes during a lecture or just sitting and listening. If you’re making no attempt to actively process what’s happening, it doesn’t stick in your mind well. I found myself struggling to recall the events and explanations that had immediately transpired because as soon as one thing had happened, another thing was already happening, and it was like a mental juggling act to try and figure out which information was important enough to dwell on in the time we were given to dwell on it.

Which brings me to another point - pacing. Every event in the show, whether a character moment, a plot moment, or a fight scene, felt like it was supposed to land with almost the exact same amount of emotional weight. It all felt like The Most Important Thing that had Yet Happened. And I understand that this is done as an attempt to squeeze as much as possible out of a rather short runtime, but it fundamentally fails. When everything is the most important thing happening, it all fades into static. That’s what most of 0’s narrative was to me: static. It’s only been a few hours since I watched it but I had to go step by step and type out all of the story beats I could remember and run it by my friends who are much more enthusiastic RVB fans than I am to make sure I hadn’t missed or forgotten anything. I hadn’t, apparently, but the fact that my takeaway from the show was pretty accurate and also disappointingly lackluster says a lot. Strangely enough, the most interesting thing the show alluded to - a holo echo, or whatever the term they used was - was one of the things least extrapolated upon in the show’s incredibly bulky exposition. Benefit of the doubt says that’s something they’ll explore in future seasons (are they getting more? Is that planned? I just realized I don’t actually know.)

And bulky it was! I have quite honestly never seen such flagrant disregard for the rule of “show, don’t tell.” There was not a single ounce of subtlety or implication involved in the storytelling of RVB0. Something was either told to you explicitly, or almost entirely absent from the narrative. Essentially zilch in between. We are told the dynamic the characters have with each other, and their personality pros and cons are listed for us conveniently by Carolina. The plot develops in exposition dumps. This is partially due to the series’ short runtime, but is also very much a result of how that runtime was then used by the writers. They sacrificed a massive chunk of their show for the sake of cramming in a ton of fight scenes, and if they wanted to keep all of those fight scenes, it would have been necessary to pare down their story and characters proportionally in comparison, but they didn’t do that either. They wanted to have it both ways and there simply wasn’t enough time for it. 

The story itself is… uninteresting. It plays out more like the flimsy premise of a video game quest rather than a piece of media to be meaningfully engaged with. RVB0 is I think something I would be pitched by a guy who thinks the MCU and BNHA are the best storytelling to come out of the past decade. It is nothing but tropes. And I hate having to use this as an insult! I love tropes. The worst thing about RVB0 is that nothing it does is wholly unforgivable in its own right. Hunter x Hunter, a phenomenal shonen, is notoriously filled with pages upon pages of detailed exposition and explanations of things, and I absolutely love it. Leverage, my favorite TV show of all time, is literally nothing but a five man band who has to learn to work as a team while seemingly systematically hitting a checklist of every relevant trope in the book. Pacific Rim is an incredibly straightforward good guys vs giant monsters blockbuster to show off some cool fight scenes such as a big robot cutting an alien in half with a giant sword, and it’s some of the most fun I ever have watching a movie. Something being derivative, clunky, poorly executed in some specific areas, narratively weak, or any single one of these flaws, is perfectly fine assuming it’s done with the intention and care that’s necessary to make the good parts shine more. I’ll forgive literally any crime a piece of media commits as long as it’s interesting and/or enjoyable to consume. RVB0 is not that. I’m not sure what the main point of RVB0 was supposed to be, because it seemingly succeeds at nothing. It has absolutely nothing new or innovative to justify its lack of concern for traditional storytelling conventions. Based solely on the amount of screentime things were given, I’d be inclined to say the narrative existed mostly to give flimsy pretense for the fight scenes, but that’s an entire other can of worms.

2. The Visuals + Fights

I have no qualms with things that are all style and no substance. Sometimes you just want to see pretty colors moving on the screen for a while or watch some cool bad guys and monsters or whatever get punched. RVB0 was not this either. The show fundamentally lacked a coherent aesthetic vision. Much of the show had a rather generic sci-fi feel to it with the biggest standouts to this being the very noir looking cityscape, which my friends and I all immediately joked looked like something from a batman game, or the temple, which my friends and I all immediately joked looked like a world of warcraft raid. They were obviously attempting to get variety in their environment design, which I appreciate, but they did this without having a coherent enough visual language to feel like it was all part of the same world. In general, there was also just a lack of visual clarity or strong shots. The value range in any given scene was poor, the compositions and framing were functional at best, and the character animation was unpleasantly exaggerated. It just doesn’t really look that good beyond fancy rendering techniques.

The fight scenes are their entire own beast. Since ‘FIGHT SCENE’ is the largest single category of scenes in the show, they definitely feel worth looking at with a genuine critical eye. Or, at least, I’d like to, but honestly half the time I found myself almost unable to look at them. The camera is rarely still long enough to really enjoy what you’re watching - tracking the motion of the character AND the camera at such constant breakneck high speeds left little time to appreciate any nuances that might have been present in the choreography or character animation. I tried, believe me, I really did, but the fight scenes leave one with the same sort of dizzy convoluted spectacle as a Michael Bay transformers movie. They also really lacked the impact fight scenes are supposed to have.

It’s hard to have a good, memorable fight scene without it doing one of three things: 1. Showing off innovative or creative fighting styles and choreography 2. Making use of the fight’s setting or environment in an engaging and visually interesting way or 3. Further exploring a character’s personality or actions by the way they fight. It’s also hard to do one of these things on its own without at least touching a bit on the other two. For the most part, I find RVB0’s fight scenes fail to do this. Other than rather surface level insubstantial factors, there was little to visually distinguish any of RVB0’s fight scenes from each other. Not only did I find a lot of them difficult to watch and unappealing, I found them all difficult to watch and unappealing in an almost identical way. They felt incredibly interchangeable and very generic. If you could take a fight scene and change the location it was set and also change which characters were participating and have very little change, it’s probably not a good fight scene. 

I think “generic” is really just the defining word of RVB0 and I think that’s also why it falls short in the humor department  as well.

3. The Comedy

Funny shit is hard to write and humor is also incredibly subjective but I definitely got almost no laughs out of RVB0. I think a total of three. By far the best joke was Carolina having a cast on top of her armor, which, I must stress, is an incredibly funny gag and I love it. But overall I think the humor fell short because it felt like it was tacked on more than a natural and intentional part of this world and these characters. A lot of the jokes felt like they were just thrown in wherever they’d fit, without any build up to punchlines and with little regard for what sort of joke each character would make. Like, there was some, obviously Raymond’s sense of humor had the most character to it, but the character-oriented humor still felt very weak. When focusing on character-driven humor, there’s a LOT you can establish about characters based on what sort of jokes they choose to make, who they’re picking as the punchlines of these jokes, and who their in-universe audience for the jokes is. In RVB0, the jokes all felt very immersion-breaking and self aware, directed wholly towards the audience rather than occurring as a natural result of interplay between the characters. This is partially due to how lackluster the character writing was overall, and the previously stated tight timing, but also definitely due to a lack of a real understanding about what makes a joke land. 

A rule of thumb I personally hold for comedy is that, when push comes to shove, more specific is always going to be more funny. The example I gave when trying to explain this was this:

saying two characters had awkward sex in a movie theater: funny

saying two characters had an awkward handjob in a cinemark: even funnier

saying two characters spent 54 minutes of 11:14's 1:26 runtime trying out some uncomfortably-angled hand stuff in the back of a dilapidated cinemark that lost funding halfway through retrofitting into a dinner theater: the funniest

The more specific a joke is, the more it relies on an in-depth understanding of the characters and world you’re dealing with and the more ‘realistic’ it feels within the context of your media. Especially with this kind of humor. When you’re joking with your friends, you don’t go for stock-humor that could be pulled out of a joke book, you go for the specific. You aim for the weak spots. If a set of jokes could be blindly transplanted into another world, onto another cast of characters, then it’s far too generic to be truly funny or memorable. I don’t think there’s a single joke in RVB0 where the humor of it hinged upon the characters or the setting.

Then there’s the issue of situational comedy and physical comedy. This is really where the humor being ‘tacked on’ shows the most. Once again, part of what makes actually solid comedy land properly is it feeling like a natural result of the world you have established. Real life is absurd and comical situations can be found even in the midst of some pretty grim context, and that’s why black comedy is successful, and why comedy shows are allowed to dip into heavier subject matter from time to time, or why dramas often search for levity in humor. It’s a natural part of being human to find humor in almost any situation. The key thing, though, once again, is finding it in the situation. Many of RVB0’s attempts at humor, once again, feel like they would be the exact same jokes when stripped from their context, and that’s almost never good. A pretty fundamental concept in both storytelling in general but particularly comedy writing is ‘setup and payoff’. No joke in RVB0 is a reward for a seemingly innocuous event in an earlier scene or for an overlooked piece of environmental design. The jokes pop in when there’s time for them in between all the exposition and fighting, and are gone as soon as they’re done. There’s no long term, underlying comedic throughline to give any sense of coherence or intent to the sense of humor the show is trying to establish. Every joke is an isolated one-off quip or one-liner, and it fails to engage the audience in a meaningful way.

All together, each individual component of RVB0 feels like it was conjured up independently, without any concern to how it interacted with the larger product they were creating. And I think this is really where it all falls apart. RVB0 feels criminally generic in a way reminiscent of mass-market media which at least has the luxury of attributing these flaws, this complete and total watering down of anything unique, to heavy oversight and large teams with competing visions. But I don’t think that’s the case for RVB0. I don’t know much about what the pipeline is like for this show, but I feel like the fundamental problem it suffers from is a lack of heart.

In comparison to Red vs. Blue

Let's face it. This is a terrible successor to Red vs. Blue. I wouldn’t care if NONE of the old characters were in it - that’s not my problem. I haven’t seen past season 13 because from what I heard the show already jumped the shark a bit and then some. That’s not what makes it a poor follow up. What makes it a bad successor is that it fundamentally lacks any of the aspects of the OG RVB that made it unique or appealing at all. I find myself wondering what Torrian is trying to say with RVB0 and quite literally the only answer I find myself falling back onto is that he isn’t trying to say anything at all. Regardless of what you feel about the original RVB, it undeniably had things to say. The opening “why are we here” speech does an excellent job at establishing that this is a show intended to poke fun at the misery of bureaucracy and subservience to nonsensical systems, not just in the context of military life, but in a very broad-strokes way almost any middle-class worker can relate to. At the end of the day, fiction is at its best when it resonates with some aspect of its audience’s life. I know instantly which parts of the original Red vs Blue I’m supposed to relate to. I can’t say anything even close to that about 0.

RVB is an absurdist parody that heavily satirizes aspects of the military and life as a low-on-the-food-chain worker in general that almost it’s entire target audience will be familiar with. The most significant draw of the show to me was how the dialogue felt like listening to my friends bicker with each other in our group chats. It required no effort for me to connect with and although the narrative never outright looked to the camera and explained ‘we are critiquing the military’s stupid red tape and self-fullfilling eternal conflict’ they didn’t need to, because the writing trusted itself and its audience enough to believe this could be conveyed. It is, in a way, the complete antithesis to the badass superhero macho military man protagonist that we all know so well. RVB was saying something, and it was saying it in a rather novel format.

Nothing about RVB0 is novel. Nothing about RVB0 says anything. Nothing about it compels me to relate to any of these characters or their situations. RVB0 doesn’t feel like absurdism, or satire. RVB0 feels like it is, completely uncritically, the exact media that RVB itself was riffing off of. Both RVB0 and RVB when you watch them give you the feeling that what you’re seeing here is kids on a playground larping with toy soldiers. It’s all ridiculous and over the top cliche stupid garbage where each side is trying to one-up the other. The critical difference is, in RVB, we’re supposed to look at this and laugh at how ridiculous this is. In RVB0 we’re supposed to unironically think this is all pretty badass. 

The PFL arc of the original RVB existed to show us that setting up an elite team of supersoldiers with special powers was something done in bad faith, with poor outcomes, that left everyone involved either cruel, damaged, or dead. It was a bad thing. And what we’re seeing in RVB0 is the same premise, except, this time it’s good. We’re supposed to root for this format. RVB0 feels much more like a demo reel, cutscenes from a video game that doesn’t exist, or a shonen anime fanboy’s journal scribbling than it feels like a piece of media with any objective value in any area.  In every area that RVB was anti-establishment, RVB0 is pure undiluted establishment through and through.  

#long post #really long post guys. look out ! #rvb

[caguaydreams]

A thorough analysis on why Vah Medoh’s dungeon theme makes me want to cry

Yep, that’s an accurate title. Hi there! do you have a moment to hear about Breath of The Wild soundtrack? posting for yet a third time in hopes that tumblr won't hide it. I'm so tired

What started as a quick and harmless post, pretending to simply point out a couple of things, rolled downhill, out of my grasp and turned into a massive snowball of a short essay. How and why did this happen? Well, I assume a lot of people know about this song, and know what I’m talking about when I say that it makes me tear up and sob uncontrollably with every change in key as the seconds tick by and I spiral down into a dwell of misery from where I struggle to find the exit and to later recover.

……No?…..At the VERY LEAST it makes you a little uncomfortable. And I state this with much certainty, because after reading hundreds of comments everywhere online where this song is present, I picked up on a vast majority of people who expressed to feel the same way I did when it came down to our current music subject. See, statistics don’t lie… normally. So, naturally, my intrigue got the best of me. I wanted to find out exactly why this soundtrack was mercilessly stirring up everyone’s emotions, so I caved in and we ended up with this.

Buckle in, fellas.

Out of all Divine Beasts’ dungeon themes, Vah Medoh’s is the one that I can’t sit through. Not without growing antsy and wanting to turn it off as soon as possible. I find it genuinely difficult to listen to, and it’s not only because Revali is my favorite character and the song is just, plainly put, depressing, mind you.

We’ll start from 0 terminals activated.

It opens up similar to the other three dungeon themes; the pace is slow but eerie, gives off the impression that it sounds broken somehow. Something is off here, and it’s easy to figure out what that is from the get go: you’re basically entering a majestic, ancient, mechanical mausoleum, where everything went terribly wrong a century ago. Someone is gone, someone you knew, someone who was probably close to you, but it’s impossible to be sure. You don’t remember a thing, and this entire ordeal is confusing at best, and terrifying at worst. It’s your duty to make things right again.

It’s the same for all four Divine Beasts upon entering, save for the obvious little differences that separates them from each other and make them unique. Ruta’s is played on a major key, adhering to a sense of hopefulness. Naboris’s begins with a startling smashing of the piano keys, much like thunder of a sudden lighting strike. And Rudania’s theme starts threatening, dangerous, like scalding lava.

But now, back to Vah Medoh. The tone here is… alienating. The dissonant chords are all over the place, and feel disconnected, cold. It’s almost as if someone doesn’t want us to be here, or just like the elusive key, our presence is unexpected. Fitting, for a Divine Beast that’s high above the land, impossible for most to reach, yet we somehow made it. Apart from the piano, we have the occasional hint to rito culture, in the shape of a short, synthetic version of the rolled chords at the very beginning of Rito Village. A quiet reminder of where we come from. There is also, of course, the morse code distress signal, but we’ll talk more about that later.

As soon as this formal introduction is over, we finally get to the more, say, intimate stuff. Oh, and wouldn’t you know, it’s just tragic.

One terminal activated.

There’s no better short way I can describe this passage, other than anxiety-inducing. Especially when the strings come into play, and there’s two reasons I can think of why I feel this is an important thing to point out:

1- Characters and Symbolism.

I tend to associate stringed instruments, all of those which compose the violin family, with rito culture. And Revali, most specifically. In Creating a Champion we can see the early concept art and designs for all or most major characters in the game, and Revali’s highlighted rough design might be the one that changed the most throughout proper development of the character, out of all champions. He looks quite different from our usual depiction of him, it’s fascinating. What truly catches my eye, however, is the design of his bow.

You thought bird puns were bad? Oh boy, how do you feel about Revali having a bow that looks like a violin/cello/viola??? And do you need a bow to play it also??? Like, is it even an instrument or it’s nothing more than a mere fashion statement?-

Anyway. I believe this was originally going to be a not-so-subtle wink to rito culture, being heavily musically inclined as we can see and conclude for ourselves. Perhaps Revali was going to be a musician as well, now how cool it that!

Needless to say, the idea was eventually scrapped. But one detail I am CERTAIN carried over to the character we know and love today(okay not all of us love him but seriously if you dislike him why are you still here lol): strings. The association between bows(weapon) and stringed instruments, aside from being a quite clever and creative one, goes beyond the concept art and remains strong as part of Revali’s character, settling for having a presence via score. After all, Revali is a master of archery, so in that way it makes sense to keep strings as symbolism to reinforce the idea and drive it home.

But can you guess what other thing Revali excels at? That’s right: flying. He’s the only rito we know of who successfully managed to take advantage of wind currents and bend them to his will. And do you know what musical instruments are often used to evoke the feeling of flight and gale? If you thought of bowed strings, you’re correct! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much support on this topic online, so you’ll have to take my word for it. I am most certain that this is fact, although not something worth discussing on the Internet, by the looks of it.

Anyhow, violins/cellos/etc are ever-present whenever we’re close to Rito Village or dealing with a rito related mission. Attack on Vah Medoh, for example, features a sequence of strings that is meant to evoke the strong winds we’re fighting against in that particular moment(*). Another great example is The Final Trial, the song that plays at the shrine of resurrection nearing the end of the Champions’ Ballad. Preceding the activation of each terminal, you’ll notice that a new instrumental element joins the crowd: the first one corresponds to the tambourines, related to the zora and Mipha; the second one are strings, referencing the rito and Revali, etc. I tell you, the moment I heard this during the trial I almost started crying like a baby. And, although strings have a lot to do with Rito culture in general, they tie most strongly to Revali, since he was the champion of his people, and his legacy carried over throughout the years. His accomplishments became material of folk tale, a legend, a source of pride and inspiration for the village. And let’s not forget that, at the end of the day, Revali is the crucial and foremost connection Link has to this place. Other than appeasing Vah Medoh, Link’s responsibility here is to free his past fellow champion’s spirit from Ganon’s malice. The soundtrack is referencing Revali first, and by extension his devotion to his home.

With all that in mind, let’s move on to our next point:

2- Nowhere to Go.

You shoot the canons, land on top of the Divine Beast, do what you gotta do, activate the first terminal and the soundtrack goes off unannounced. Like some sort of surprise anxiety bomb. The rhythm turns fast, the melody erratic, incredibly desperate in its execution. There’s this sheer despair, fear, this feeling of suffocation almost, which are so well achieved in this particular piece.

And that is, partially, because a quite familiar resource is used here as well; one that we’ve heard before in songs such as Rito Village or Revali’s theme. You could even think of it as a motif: two notes are played in an semitone interval, repeatedly and in quick succession. For the sake of later convenience, we’ll call this the Flight Motif, now let me explain why. In Breath of The Wild, this semitone loop is often followed up by some form of resolution. In Rito Village, formerly known as Dragon Roost Island(**), that resolution consists of a graceful descent of the melody, from a high that was built up previously during the motif. On the other hand, if you listen to Revali’s theme, you’ll notice that the interval repeats itself for a couple of times as thought charging up, to then rise fast and determined into a triumphal reprise of Revali’s distinctive assigned melody. This juxtaposition supposes the difference that lays between common rito flight and Revali’s trademark ability; both musical sequences are speaking of flight, albeit in two different languages depending on the way to achieve it. While the rito traditionally use their wings to glide and let themselves get swayed by the air currents Buzz Lightyear style, Revali takes full advantage of his flying capabilities to somehow create an updraft of his own, rising meters above the ground whenever he likes or needs to.

So, now that I layed out my base of thought when focusing on the strings, this’ll be much easier to explain. We’ve settled what the instruments themselves are a symbolic representation of Revali, in this scenario specifically. He was the only one inside Vah Medoh, and the score is, in a way, a retelling of what we can vaguely assume went down here during the Great Calamity, as much as it is what sets the tone and ambience for Link’s mission. But what are we hearing exactly? What we talked about, the Flight Motif, is being repeated nonstop. And that’s the thing, remember how I mentioned that this sequence usually finds resolution at the end? Well. Inside Vah Medoh,… it never does. The melody picks up in numerous occasions, but it’s not nearly as graceful, or calculated, as we’ve grown used to by now. It gets tangled and lost, and then inevitably falls to the ground in disarray. The pattern repeats itself, reaching higher after a handful of failed attempts, but no matter how much it tries, the cycle never ends. What used to tell us about flying and freedom in the skies, has morphed into an almost sinister musical incarnation of a tornado, and there is no way out of this trap. What do you think it must feel like to mindlessly flap your wings against wind currents so strong and violent, that it is impossible to get anywhere nearby, let alone take off every time you lose your balance. Or every time you’re shot down. On top of that, trying to aim and fight back in whatever short breaks and opportunities you get, at an enemy that’s much more powerful and relentless, who’s using your own element as a weapon to destroy you… it’s a risk Revali surely had to take in order to put up a fight. Even knowing full well that the odds were not in his favour, that he was most likely going to lose this battle, that he was going to die. Let that sink in. I’ll skip the activation of the second terminal, since there’s barely any change registered in the theme in general. So-

Three terminals activated.

I know this post is supposed to be a breakdown of the song purely, but that doesn’t mean there’s no place for a little theorising, and the following scrutiny is also quite relevant for our discussion. Bear with me for a bit. I’ve read almost everywhere about people’s most common interpretations on the Divine Beasts SOS signals, and how everyone thinks that Revali’s coming in last (a few seconds later than the other champions) has to do with him holding on for longer. Or, also, overconfident as he was, it means that the idea of calling out for additional support didn’t cross his mind until it was too late, and that’s why the beeping sounds more frantic and panicked than the others’ when it does appear. After giving it some thought myself, I’m betting on the latter option holding more ground, and that’s not all. I want to touch upon a detail of the piece that I never acknowledged was there until very recently(after seeing myself obliged to listen to this song fully and a handful of times, suffering every minute of it for the sole purpose of this analysis. It’s okay I didn’t need my heart anyway). Soon after activating the third terminal, the SOS signal disappears, or grows distant and faint enough that we can’t make it out from the background anymore. In its place, we’re confronted by this… shrill, piercing and painfully slow tune. It sounds synthetic, artificial, devoid of life. And it’s funny, because you know what it reminds me of? I’ll tell you:

A heartbeat flatline sound.

And I want to highlight that this doesn’t happen in any of the other Divine Beasts themes. All their SOS signals carry on, but Medoh’s is no more. This abrupt stop, followed by this bone-chilling tune…. makes me believe that Revali was the first of the champions to fall. A few days ago I came across SuperZeldaGirl’s video on a similar topic, theorising that this could very much be the case. There is not much evidence to support this claim other than some visual cues that could be suggesting to it, but after I found this in the soundtrack, and if we’re to rely on it for anything, I believe Revali was either the first champion to be ambushed by Ganon, or well…. the first to be killed. It is plausible, because short after Calamity Ganon unleashes his power, Revali parts from the group and flies directly to Vah Medoh, and he very well could’ve been the first pilot to arrive.

On this note…. we’ll have to wait and see for ourselves, when Age of Calamity provides long-awaited answers to many of our questions.

Four terminals activated.

An interesting melody is being played on what, for me, would qualify as a glockenspiel or a celesta, which are keyboard based instruments that produce a sound similar to that of a music box(***). If you want to pay more attention to it, I suggest listening to Vetrom’s Instrumental Mix Cover of the theme, where they practically zoom in on this part of the song (keep in mind that it uses the All Terminals’ time signature so it’s being played faster). For some reason, this particular addition makes me feel profound empathy. The sound of this instrument could be described as cute or childlike, magical, even. It is more often than not used to represent innocence, but I highly doubt that’s specifically the intention here. Much like the leading strings’ melody, the melodic contour of this one is trapped in a loop of going up and down constantly, but the difference is that this time around it sounds more under control. And much more uniform too. It doesn’t lose focus or takes risky, fruitless leaps, but rather chooses to stay on a path of waves that consistently rises and falls without taking detours. Like a determined battle strategy, giving it your all. You fall, but get back up again, and try again, and again. It reminds me of Revali’s approach to training, being persistent to the point of overworking himself. He had discipline nailed down to a tee, which I also think served him well in combat. It’s not just about being hard on yourself, either, but being confident and having complete faith in your abilities; believing that you’ll make it.  For this to appear now, that the SOS signal is almost completely gone, is significant because it means that by this point, being so close to success on Link’s behalf, the music is sparing genuine encouragement for once, in spite of the tragic outcome of the past and the danger of the current situation. But, in all honesty, this is probably just me reading too much into it. Perhaps the composer just thought this addition sounded pretty bitching and there’s not much else to it, which is completely fine. Although, intentional or not, sometimes coincidences do happen, and at the end of the day, interpretations like this are a form of appreciation for an artist’s work and for what they can unknowingly accomplish.

All terminals activated.

This is the moment when the song finally lightens up. Notice how the strings abandon the wave pattern for a more even contour. The beat quickens, the melody stabilizes. At first I thought, coming from our flight analogy, that this meant a cease in movement entirely, and it was partly one of the reasons why the song in general makes me anxious. But thinking about it now, …there is something different going on here. The strings are playing on a steady rhythm. It resembles a march, it’s like a pounding heart. It’s a lively, hopeful statement. And what’s interesting is that, up until this point, there was so much fear and helplessness present in the score, even going as far as to reach a dead end when we activate the third terminal. But that’s it, isn’t it? the music just keeps going further. 

It’s saying: this isn’t over yet. Even after complete and utter defeat, there’s still hope and an underlying wish to overcome this predicament, and we started to hear this as soon as a fourth terminal is activated. The melody we previously talked about? it’s here as well, and its beat is much more daring and confident.

And I just want to say… this is so powerful. Because this sentiment is deeply tied to the game’s story and Revali’s character arc. You see, he is introduced as someone who resents Link for being the manifestation of his failure, in a way, because Revali has trained arduously his whole life to be where he is, to be recognised. And yet… this hylian gets chosen by a magic sword and some tale of divine destiny and, apparently, that’s all it takes for him to be deemed the hero that will save the land. In Revali’s eyes, Link has done nothing to prove his worth before him, so it is easy to see why he despises the silent knight so much; he is yet another individual that was born into their destiny. Meanwhile, Revali has had to build his reputation from the ground up, earning him a place among the greatest warriors of Hyrule, and even then he finds himself surrounded by people who grew up praised for being born gifted.  We can see how Revali is the odd one out, and can map out the reason for him acting so antagonistic towards Link.

But once we’re on Medoh, things start to change. When Link enters the Divine Beast, Revali greets him with disdain, as per usual. Of course, Link has no recollection of whatever happened a hundred years ago, other than a small glimpse of the rito champion talking down to him, a memory that came and went in a flash. So as Link, we more than expect Revali to act cold and mocking, which he does. He provides us with as little help as needed in order to free Medoh, reluctantly, shielding his wounded pride over having to wait for Link, of all people, to come to their rescue. But you can hear him starting to open up bit by bit(I wish I could translate his dialogue directly from Japanese but I’ll make do with a couple of dubs and other numerous sources from translators online). With each little step Link takes towards success, activating the terminals, the perception Revali has of him shifts from one of resentment to one of genuine admiration and respect. By the end of it all, he is willing to not only cheer on Link during the boss battle, but to trust him with his life’s worth achievement. And once left alone, he admits defeat and lets go of his bitterness, realising that he was wrong to underestimate Link, and later wishes he could’ve had a chance to measured up to him. To take all of this into consideration and work with it in the soundtrack I think it’s genuinely splendid. And for once, I am grateful that it ends in somewhat of a positive note that puts my soul to rest. I still have a hard time listening to the first two thirds of the entire thing, but now I can look forward to a hopeful and earnestly heartening conclusion for all the pain that this composition puts me in. I must admit that it’s beautifully and brilliantly crafted, and that I am enamoured of it regardless.

That is why I wrote roughly 4k words about it! I hate myself!

If you’re as crazy as me about the soundtrack of this game, I recommend you read the published cd interview with the composers themselves! if you haven’t already. I just found it yesterday(unbelievable but it’s true) and… after writing all of this and checking it out, I felt validated. It sure is a one of a kind feeling. 

Alright folks, we’ve made it to the end. Congratulations for sticking around and thanks being interested in my nonsensical rambling! 

I also hope that you, like me, will now be unable to listen to bowed strings without being reminded of Revali. Good luck!

————– Annotations/Sidenotes/Whatever

(*)The Flight Motif(in point number 2) is also present in this track. We can hear it in the background right after the Rito leitmotif, as per usual. It starts with a clarinet, I think, before the strings take the lead. (**) Note that the Flight Motif only comes into play in the Breath of The Wild rendition of the song. (***)I strongly associate this instrument with Mipha, given that it is used in her theme, in every “response” to the initial melody. It can be heard in Attack On Vah Ruta, as well, it enters the scene when the notes Mi(E) and Fa(F) are played. The initial tune, Si and Do(B and C) are played on a clarinet or oboe, wind instruments just like the flute that leads Sidon’s respective theme. The celesta can also be heard inside Vah Ruta, activating the first terminal…. when the song really takes a turn just like Medoh’s. Mipha has nothing to do with the song of this analysis, however. We must understand that instruments, although they are attached to characters/various story elements in some cases, can always be used outside of that context, for that is the nature of an orchestral soundtrack. If you have this many tools at your disposal, you will make good use of them.

#Revali #Vah Medoh #botw #loz #aoc

[chibimyumi]

Hi!! I've been reading your blog for ours and my eyes are burning but I'm so satisfied!! I recently re read the manga after like 4 years I think? I already knew about the twins ofc but reading it again knowing that is so refreshing and is so obvious now!! Anyway I wanted to ask if I'm not being annoying; at the end of chapter 128 the interaction between o!ciel and Sebastián is not clear to me. Could it be the translation? Why does ciel asks "you wouldn't lie to me, would you?" And Sebastian replies, kinda looking sad, "regrettably I do not tell lies". Do you understand that interaction better? Sorry if I'm missing something obvious here

【Related post: Contract term 1 and Sebas cannot lie, at all!】

Dear Anon,

First of all, thank you so much for your kind words, they are very appreciated ^^ I do send my condolences for your lost hours and visual comfort though. Please take a 20 second break closing your eyes for every 20 minutes you read intensively (*´▽｀*)ノ💊 It is very important in this screen age. I’ve been doing that for the past 2 weeks, and it’s done wonders for me (*~∇~*)

Now without much further ado, your question. Judging from your transcription of the English version I would say it is not badly translated. It just misses a TINY bit of nuance. Just to be sure, let us first look at the original Japanese dialogue and a clinical translation.

お前は…僕に嘘は吐いていないな？

Omae wa... boku ni uso wa tsuiteinai na?

You [of all people]... have not done such thing as lying to me, right?

ええ、残念ながら、私は嘘は吐きません

Ee, zannnen nagara, watashi wa uso wa tsukimasen

Indeed, unfortunately, I [of all people] do no such thing as lying.

1. Explanation Ciel’s text

【Omae wa... boku ni uso wa tsuiteinai na?】

As I have frequently mentioned, Japanese is a null-subject language, which means that a subject is not necessary to formulate a full sentence. When the speaker does add a subject however, it means they are laying extra emphasis on the subject.

In this case, O!Ciel used ‘omae wa’ (you), which is the subject of the sentence. In a null-subject language this part is unnecessary, but as O!Ciel has added it, emphasis is drawn to this subject. So instead of a simple “you have not”, it effectively means “you of all people, you specifically, YOU, have not.”

【Omae wa... boku ni uso wa tsuiteinai na?】

Then O!Ciel says “uso wa” (lying) using the particle ‘wa’ instead of the usual ‘wo’. “Wa” is an emphasising particle, meaning that whatever precedes this particle is basically highlighted in neon, written in bold and italic. So rather than just: “you have not lied”, it is “you have done no such thing as lying”.

【Omae wa... boku ni uso wa tsuiteinai na?】

This last part is the only thing I would say is ““wrongly”” translated in the version you read. Instead of "you wouldn't lie", it should be “you have not lied.” This phrase is in is present perfect, meaning that O!Ciel asks his butler whether he “has lied at all in the past”. Not “you just don’t lie in general, right?” Because this question refers to actions in the past, we can assume this question is meant to refer to any information about what O!Ciel suspected might be relevant to what he is thinking; that his brother is back. More on this below in part 3.

So in short, in O!Ciel’s text, he highlights Sebastian (omae wa) and the lying (uso wa). The meaning of the message here is therefore:

“Other people might have lied, but YOU have not, right? You might have done many things, but LYING you did not, right?”

2. Explanation Sebas’ text

【Ee, zannnen nagara, watashi wa uso wa tsukimasen】

In the version you gave me Sebas says “regrettably”, but I would say that while the translation is not wrong at all, it might be a BIT too strong?

I myself propose “unfortunately”. In Japanese too just like English, ‘unfortunately’ is just a formal prelude to an announcement that the recipient might not like hearing. Like: “unfortunately the X brand toothpaste is out of stock, but we do have Y brand.” But, I am no native-level speaker of English, so I don’t understand all the nuances precisely. Perhaps ‘regrettably’ and ‘unfortunately’ are equally strong. Do tell me if anyone knows whether one is stronger than the other. But either way, in Japanese it is not very strong. It’s just Sebas mentally preparing his master to hear negative news.

【Ee, zannnen nagara, watashi wa uso wa tsukimasen】

Then comes the “watashi wa uso wa tsukimasen”. Like in O!Ciel’s text, here Sebas does use a subject too, namely ‘watashi wa’. As use of subject means emphasis, so it’s not just “I don’t lie”, but “others might, but I, of all people, don’t lie”.

【Ee, zannnen nagara, watashi wa uso wa tsukimasen】

Then there is the particle ‘wa’ again in the second half of the sentence, “uso wa tsukimasen.” Just like in O!Ciel’s text, the standard particle should have been ‘wo’, but as Sebas repeats his master’s ‘wa’, he also lays emphasis on the action that he would not do: “such thing as lying.”

In short, the full message of Sebas’ text would essentially be:

“Indeed, unfortunately (for you/me/us), I of all people, unlike others, absolutely do no such thing as lying.”

3. ‘What’ was not lied about?

Now we’ve broken down all the linguistic nuances and details of the spoken text, let us do some interpreting.

Though there is no confirmation, I think we can assume O!Ciel was referring to the conversation about his brother being eaten: “you told me that the price paid - my brother’s soul - can never return.” Though this was said BEFORE they sealed the first contract term, after signing all terms, Sebas confirmed again that eating Ciel’s soul was indeed taken as ferry fee.

Later again, O!Ciel asks the demon what happens to a soul after being devoured, and the contract-bound Sebas confirms in clear language: “it simply disappears”. This phrasing by Sebas is not open to interpretation.

O!Ciel first saw “who stole the candy from my tummy?” and started to suspect things. Obviously he KNEW his brother was dead, so rationally he pushed that possibility away from his head. But then later he saw Soma who was attacked and holding a piece of the photo of the twins. Seeing that photo gives an explicit connection to his dead brother, and then there’d only be so much O!Ciel could rationally do to wave away the thoughts about his brother. The possibility was screaming at him, after all.

The only source of information he could trust at that point was Sebas. By the time Sebas gave his master the unambiguous answer about his brother’s soul he could already no longer lie. HENCE, Real Ciel is definitely dead.

Then we need to explain the horror struck reaction of O!Ciel upon hearing his butler’s confirmation.

Normally you’d think that hearing somebody is dead would reassure you that somebody cannot come pester you. But to O!Ciel, that R!Ciel is confirmed to be ‘dead’ doesn’t mean he can’t be back; on the contrary. Both O!Ciel and Sebas know painfully well that the scythe-wielding-lunatic who can create zombies is still at large. Zombies can only be made if somebody is dead. Hence, having confirmation that R!Ciel is definitely “potential zombie material” is terrible news. Plus, every time the zombies appear, they are significantly more competent than the previous models.

I think O!Ciel has always had Undertaker’s zombie-creating ambitions in the back of his mind, but it wasn’t until now that the puzzle pieces fell into place. Yeah... that IS indeed awful news.

From Sebastian’s sorrowful expression we can say he is upset for his master’s sake, but I think he is mostly very sad for himself. The first time he tried to fight said scythe-wielding-lunatic he almost died, and the second time his arse was only spared because Undertaker didn’t bother engaging. “Unfortunately” indeed!

Well, that was it (*´▽｀*)ノ Though I am not 100% sure whether I read all of this correct, I at least hope this was some good food for thought. Cheers!

MASTERPOST Furukawa Era Kuromyu

MASTERPOST Gender in Kuroshitsuji

MASTERPOST My Art

MASTERPOST Analyses & Info

Mini masterpost Analysis of sexism in MBD

FAQ Kuroshitsuji facts and info  

#Analysis #Undertaker #Sebastian Michaelis #Lies #O!Ciel #2CT #R!Ciel #bizarre doll #japanese language

[nerdygaymormon]

Do you have a link to your thoughts on the CES letter? Because I'm sure plenty of folk have asked you about it. I'm, struggling.

The CES letter has been mentioned to me a few times in asks, but I don’t recall being asked to respond directly to it. 

Before getting into it, I want to make you aware of this post about Faith Transitions, I think it may be useful to you. 

I read the CES letter many years ago, probably the original version, it’s changed a lot since then. I think the CES letter is sloppy, and twists quotes, uses some questionable sources, and frames things in the worst possible way. It’s basically an amalgamation of all the anti-Mormon literature. But many of the main points of the CES letter are important and correct, even if the supporting details aren’t.

In a way, the CES letter has done the Church a favor. For a long time, Elder Packer insisted that anything which isn’t faith-promoting shouldn’t be taught. As a result, most members of the Church were taught a simplified version of Church history, leaving out anything that is messy or difficult. Although those things could be found if someone was looking for them, I found many of them simply by reading Brigham Young Discourses or other works of the early church. 

With the internet, Elder Packer’s approach to history turns out to be a bad one. This information is out there and now most members learn about it from sources seeking to destroy their faith. One response to this has been a series of essays where the Church talks about some difficult subjects. 

————————————————————

I’m not going to go through all the claims & challenges of the CES letter, but let me address some of the main ones.

1) There are errors in the Book of Mormon that are also contained in the 1769 edition of the Bible.

From the more faithful point-of-view, Joseph recognizes these passages, such as those from Isaiah, and knows they've already been translated into English and copies them from his family’s Bible. The non-faithful point-of-view is that Joseph copied these verses from his family Bible and tried to pass it off as his own translation.

2) DNA analysis has concluded that Native American Indians do not originate from the Middle East or from Israelites but from Asia.

This is correct. The Church has an essay which admits this and then spends a lot of time explaining how genetics works and one day we might find some Middle East connection. I find the Church essay convoluted as it goes through many possible (and unlikely) reasons for why no DNA of the Jaredites, Nephites or Lamanites has yet been found in the Americas.

3) There are things in the Book of Mormon that didn’t exist during Book of Mormon times, or in Central America (assuming this is where the Book of Mormon takes place), such as horses, chariots, goats, elephants, wheat, and steel.

This is also correct. Maybe the translation process was using a common word in English for a common item in the Book of Mormon. Maybe these are errors. Maybe it’s made up. 

4) No archeological evidence has been found for the Nephite/Lamanite civilizations.

Correct. When it comes to archeological evidence, it's true that we haven't found any. For one thing, we don't know where the Nephite & Lamanite civilizations are supposed to have taken place. If you don't know where to look, it's easy to have no evidence. Perhaps Nephites & Lamanites didn’t actually exist and that’s why there’s no archeological evidence. The Book of Mormon does seem to do a decent job of describing geography of the Middle East before Lehi & his family boarded the boat for the Promised Land.

5) Book of Mormon names and places are strikingly similar (or identical) to many local names and places of the region Joseph Smith lived in.

This seems like a funny thing to get hung up on. First of all, it’s not very many names that are similar. Secondly, many places in the US are named for Biblical places & people. If the Book of Mormon people came from Israel, it makes sense they did something similar. For example, the word Jordan is in the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and in many places in America. 

6) He points to obscure books or dime-novels that Joseph Smith might have read and the similarities between them and the Book of Mormon. 

Those similarities are mostly at the surface level. To me it doesn't seem like Joseph plagiarized any particular book, and these specific books seem to not been very popular so difficult to say Joseph, who lived on the frontier, actually read them. Funny how no one from that time period thought the Book of Mormon resembled those books, probably because they hadn’t heard of them. But Joseph did hear and read a number of stories and some of that phrasing or whatever of the time influenced him. Think of songwriters, they create a new song then get accused of plagiarizing because it's similar to another popular song. Even without intending to, they were influenced by things they heard. 

7) The Book of Mormon has had 100,000 changes.

Most of the "100,000" changes to the Book of Mormon were to break it into chapters & verses, to add chapter headings, or to add grammar such as commas and whatnot. There are some changes to fix errors that got printed but differed from the original manuscript. And there's been some clarifications made, but these are few in number. By claiming "100,000" he's trying to make it seem like there's a scam being done. It's easy to get a replication of the first Book of Mormon from the Community of Christ and read it side-by-side with today's version. I’ve done that and occasionally there’s a word or two here or there which differ, but overall it's mostly the same.

8) There were over 4 different First Vision accounts

True. Over the years, the way Joseph described the First Vision changed. I think different versions emphasize different aspects of the experience. I don’t find them to be contradictory. Oh, and the Church has an essay about this.

9) The papyri that Joseph translated into the Book of Abraham has been found and translated and it’s nothing like the Book of Abraham.

This is true. The Church has an essay about it. The Church now says that the papyri inspired Joseph to get the Book of Abraham via revelation, much like his translations of the Bible weren’t from studying the ancient Greek & Hebrew. It is a big change from what the Church used to teach, that this was a translation of the papyrus. The papyri has nothing to do with the Book of Abraham, and the explanations of the facsimiles in the Pearl of Great Price don’t match what the scholars say those pictures are about.

10) Joseph married 34+ women, many without Emma’s consent, some who had husbands, and even a teenager. 

This all appears to be true. Emma knew about some of them, but not all. As for the married women, they were still married to their husbands but sealed to Joseph (I know this is strange to us, but this sort of thing was common until Wilford Woodruff standardized how sealings are done). 

Polygamy was illegal in the United States. Most people who participated were told to keep it secret. So of course there’s carefully-worded statements by Joseph and others denying they participate in polygamy.

The salacious question everyone wants to know is if Joseph slept with all these women. We don’t know, but a DNA search for descendants of Joseph has taken place among the descendants of the women he was ‘married’ to and none have been found. But still, if he wasn’t doing anything wrong, why is he hiding this from Emma? 

11) The Church used to teach that polygamy was required for exaltation, even though the Book of Mormon condemns polygamy. 

This is accurate. The Church says polygamy was part of ancient Israel and so as part of the restoration of all things, polygamy had to be restored, see D&C 132:34. Now we no longer say polygamy is required to get to the highest level of the Celestial Kingdom.

12) Brigham Young taught Adam-God theory, which is now disavowed by the Church.

True. Joseph Smith didn’t teach this and John Taylor & Wilford Woodruff don’t seem to have any time for this teaching. It’s a thing Brigham Young was hot about and taught, but seems a lot of the church didn’t buy it as it was discarded after his death. 

13) Black people weren’t allowed to hold the priesthood until 1978, despite Joseph having conferred it to a few Black people during his life. 

Very true and very sad. This and the Mountain Meadows Massacre are the two biggest stains on the Church’s past. There is a Church essay on Race & the Priesthood. The ban appears to have begun with Brigham Young and he developed several theories to justify it, and these explanations expanded over the decades and bigotry was taught as doctrine. The Church now disavows all explanations that were taught in the past.

No reason for the priesthood ban is put forward in the Church essay other than racism. The past leaders were racists and that blinded them to what God wanted for Black people. There’s a big lesson in that for LGBTQ teachings of the Church.

14) The Church misrepresents how Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. 

The accounts of Joseph Smith putting a seer stone in a hat and reading words from it, that's part of the historic record. Quotes about it don’t make it to our Sunday School lessons, but if you go back to the Joseph Smith papers and other accounts, it’s there to read. Joseph also used the Urim & Thummim, and wrote out characters and studied them, but he seems to have most favored the stone-in-hat method. I think the main problem here is the Church in its artwork and movies does not depict this, and therefore most members are unaware until they see anti-Mormon literature. Why does the Church not show Joseph looking into a hat? Because it seems magical and weird to modern people. But how much weirder is it than he put on the Urim & Thummim like glasses and could translate that way, or he wrote out these characters from some extinct language and was able to figure out what they mean?

————————————————————

A number of the main points in the CES letter are true (even if explanations/supporting details in the CES are problematic). Some of the main points have simple explanations and don’t seem like a big deal. Others challenge what the Church has taught. To its credit, the Church put out essays by historians & scholars, with sources listed in the footnotes, addressing several of these controversial topics. 

————————————————————

Religion is meant to help humans make sense of their world and our place in it. Most religious stories are metaphorical but end up getting taught as literal history and, in my opinion, the same is true of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And that’s why the CES letter has power, it points out things aren’t literally true but were taught by the Church as factual, and the CES letter shows us part of our messy history that the Church tried to hide. 

————————————————————

The story of Adam and Eve can’t literally be true. It doesn’t fit our evolutionary past, but it’s meant to make our lives important, God created us and we have to account to Him for our choices, and it’s important to find someone to go through life with. We can say the same of Job and the Book of Ruth, fiction with a purpose. 

While there are some real events included in the Bible, much of what’s written is there to teach lessons, culture, and give meaning to life. Jesus taught in parables so at least he was upfront that they were stories that contained morals.

Can I believe the same about the Book of Mormon, that it’s inspired fiction with meaning I can apply to my life, or must it be literally history to have value?

————————————————————

I went through a massive faith crisis while attending BYU. I had access to materials that told a different story of this religion than I’d been taught (the sorts of things in the CES Letter) and it threw me for a loop. 

It felt like the floor of faith I had stood on shattered and I fell with no way to stop myself. After I had a chance to process through the things I was feeling, I looked at my shattered faith and picked up the parts that were meaningful to me.

I had lined up my faith similar to a line of dominoes. If the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph was a prophet. If Joseph was a prophet, then this is the true church. If this is the true church, then...

This works until it doesn’t. Once a domino topples over, it starts a chain event.

Now I look at principles and concepts and decide if they’re meaningful to me. 

I love the idea that we can spend eternity with the people we love most. 

I believe we should be charitable and loving to others. 

People on the margins need to be looked after and helped and lifted. 

Poor people deserve dignity and the rich to be challenged. 

We have a commitment to our community and we all serve to make it better. 

All are alike to God, we’re all loved and God has a grand plan for us. 

Those who passed away can still be saved through the atonement of Christ. 

Those are all principles I find in the Bible and Book of Mormon or at church and I find Love flows through all of those. 

This new approach works for me. I don’t have to believe or hold onto problematic teachings. I can drop them and still hold the parts that I find valuable. I can reject the teachings and statements which are bigoted, homophobic, transphobic, racist, ableist, misogynistic. Prophets can make mistakes and still have taught some useful things.

That little voice of the spirit and what it teaches and guides me to do, I trust it over what Church leaders say. Overarching principles are more important to me than specific details for how this gets applied in the 1800′s or 1950′s or Biblical times. 

————————————————————

I truly hope some of what I’ve written is helpful.

There’s no use pretending that the CES letter doesn’t get some things correct. It’s also helpful to understand it’s not just trying to share truth, but has an agenda to make the Church look as bad as possible.

What about the things the CES letter is correct about? 

Has this church helped you learn to connect with the Divine? 

The Church has some very big flaws, but also has some big things in its favor. Some of its unique teachings are very appealing and feel hopeful and right. 

Can you leave the Church and be a good person and have a relationship with God? Absolutely. 

I also know this church is a community and it’s hard to walk away cold-turkey with nothing to replace it, without another network to belong to. It’s as much a religion as it is a lifestyle and circle of friends. 

Are there parts you can hold onto? Parts you can let go of?

You have a lot to think about and work through. 

#long post #ces letter #this is a much longer answer than I thought I would write

[absolxguardian]

Legal question, what would exactly qualify as an accomplice to murder change, legally? Because I've been translating a JP article on the punishments all trilogy crimes would receive under JP law, and Lana and Iris aren't referred to as accomplices in it, just guilty of evidence/body tampering.

Oh boy, I guess this means I'm the person the Ace Attorney fandom comes to for law info now. Thank you for the honor. I do want to clarify that I'm not even in high school pre-law, I just like learning and so end up watching a lot of youtube videos/podcasts from lawyers.

That out of the way, when you help someone commit a crime in English Common Law you're either an accomplice or an accessory (generally after the fact). An accomplice is there at the crime as is punished equally. An accessory assists before or after the committing of a crime. So with US standards, Lana is an accessory to the crime while Iris could be either an accomplice or an accessory.

The thing is that accomplice and accessory generally covers actions that aren't crimes alone, but assists in the principal's (culprit's) crime in context. Being a lookout or driving someone from point a to b isn't a crime, but it is when you knowingly do it in aid of a criminal act. However if as an accessory you also commit a criminal act, you are charged with that act as well. So if Godot gets charged/convicted of Misty's murder (something that's shaky), Iris gets a small part of his guilt as an accessory (or all of it as an accomplice) as well as a seperate charge for obstruction of justice/tampering with/fabrication of evidence. However this depends on the jurisdiction. Some US states have gotten rid of accessory all together and just introduced new crimes like laws against helping another evade arrest. It all depends on the specific state.

However, intricate layered American law is all inconsequential here. The Wikipedia articles for accomplice and accessory I've been using to supplement my memory of things like Legal Geek episodes are both tagged as subpar, with accomplice having multiple issues. However there's an interesting phrase in the article "Under the English common law, an accomplice". This leads me to believe that the idea of an accomplice, who shares equal guilt, is exclusive to common law. Japan, obviously, is not a common law country. The little paragraph about criticism regarding doctrine being too draconian further leads me to believe that such a thing doesn't exist everywhere.

So time to figure out Japanese law. Unfortunately, there are very few English language resources on Japanese law. However the entire penal code has been translated into English. Of course I might be missing some important case law, but my reading on the Japanese legal system on Wikipedia indicates that precedent doesn't form any support beams in the criminal system like it does in the US. So let's go to Chapter XI Complicity

(Accessoryship) Article 62　(1)　A person who aids a principal is an accessory. (2)　A person who induces an accessory shall be dealt with in sentencing as an accessory.

(Reduced Punishment for Accessories) Article 63　The punishment of an accessory shall be reduced from the punishment for the principal.

The penal code does make mention of accomplice in this section

(Complicity and Status) Article 65　(1)　When a person collaborates in a criminal act in which the status of the criminal establishes the criminal's punishability, the person is an accomplice even without such status.

Status has a little pop-up that says "status : 身分(みぶん), 地位(ちい)[原則] / same status, 資格(しかく)[地位としての資格] / status of residence" so I assume that's what it's talking about.

Speaking of pop-ups, many of the words in the code have Japanese pop-ups, which I assume give details on what specific word is being translated into English terminology. Because translating laws can be awkward. I recommend reading the penal code on your computer, even if your Japanese isn't good enough to parse legalese in it. There's also an alternating Japanese-English display mode on the website. However, the word "accomplice" doesn't have a pop-up. On accessory it says "従犯(じゅうはん), 従物(じゅうぶつ)[動産]". Which leads me to believe that the word translated as accessory is actual legal terminology, while accomplice is a generic term in the original text that just means "someone who helped with the crime".

So if my analysis is correct, Lana and Iris could be charged as accessories, the contents the article could be explained by being standard practice to only do so when the accessory hasn't committed another crime. Chapter IX Article 54 of the penal code might be relevant here.

(Concurrence of Crimes) Article 54 (1)　When a single act constitutes two or more separate crimes, or when an act as the means or results of a crime constitutes another crime, the greatest among the punishments prescribed for such crimes shall be imposed.

But I feel like if that's the case, a good article would explain why they're being charged as for their actions vs being an accessory. But many the article does that, and you're only confused about why the author hasn't said anything about them being charged as an accomplice. Which they didn't bring up, as that's not a Japanese concept or something even present in the Japanese pop culture legal knowledge.

I hope this helps and is more or less accurate. I'd love it if you send me the article when you're done translating. I haven't seen any English language posts about real life punishments from a Japanese perspective.

#long post #ace attorney #asks #anon

[xxpinkgalaxykidxx]

why merlin is really sad if you have a basic understanding of history

Please excuse any errors, I wrote this at 5am and did not proof read.

As I was lying in bed this morning, thinking about BBC Merlin, I came to a depressing conclusion. Merlin post series would go through ALOT of shit before we see him at the very end with the truck. (Keep in mind this is from an American; any british/welsh person should feel free to correct me)

First, let’s establish when the events of Merlin took place. If we go off of the dates of the legend of Arthur/when we know the Anglo Saxons started invading, it puts us between the years 491-539 CE. The show takes place over about 7-9 years, so lets put it at the very end of this time line because 1, the quasi-historical records but Arthur and Mordred’s death between 537-539, and we can imagine that Uther and Arthur’s grandfather dealt with the earlier Anglo Saxon invasions/peaceful immigration.

We also know that Avalon is based on a location in Somerset, England. For the location of the Battle of Camlann, the original legend has it either close to/or on Snowdon Mountain in Wales. This might put Camelot in Eastern Wales/Shropshire, (which was once part of Wales,) or Herefordshire. This makes sense because the original tales of Arthur are of Welsh origin and Merlin speaks an older form of Welsh when casting spells. Camelot could also be at Warwickshire castle, where the show was filmed. (It’s also the county where Shakespeare was born!) Either way, it doesn’t really matter, this part is more for fun. What you really should keep in mind is that the whole Camelot gang would have been indigenous Britons, a people we don’t know much about. The Pendragon family likely had Roman ancestors. I’m not sure what language they would have spoke, but my guesses or either Welsh or Common Brittonic. The pendragons religion is a little up in the air since both Christianity and Paganism were both accepted at this time, but given possible roman ancestors and Uther’s hate of magic, I’m gonna say Christian.

So now we have a time and 3 major locations set, let’s look at what would happen post series. Arthur is dead and in the Lake, so let’s assume Merlin spends his time going back and forth between Somerset and Wales/Shropshire/Herefordshire/Warwickshire. After Arthur’s death, the Saxons keep on coming in overwhelming waves until 560, they were finally the dominant group. They would outnumber the Britons about 4 to 1. It’s still debated what exactly happened to the Britons, but we know that some moved to Britainy in France, but most were assumed into the new Anglo Saxon culture. Merlin and Gwen would be in their early 50s, the knights a bit older, and Gaius would probably not be alive. From the records of this time imply, The Anglo Saxons did still allow Briton rulers to rule if they were subject to the Anglo Saxon’s rules, customs and language. Gwen might have even been forced into marrying an Anglo Saxon guy. Eventually as these Briton rulers died off, and eventually all of England became ruled by Germanic kings.

But Merlin would still be alive throughout all of this, wondering how this takeover was not Albion’s greatest time of need. He would have to see all his remaining friends die of war with the Anglo-Saxons or old age. He would lose his Briton-Romanic roots and have to accept the new Germanic culture. He would eventually learn to speak Old English and see the growth of Christianity in England. A lot of stuff would happen but I kind of don’t care for about 500 years. All you need to know is two things: Camelot would basically become a county with little power and be subject to the Houses of Wessex, Denmark, Wessex again, Denmark again, Wessex again, then a random guy named Harold shows up. Merlin would see all this and be like “hey I know who would be a good king right about now but hes lowkey dead so,”

So Merlin would live in Anglo Saxon england for 500 years until William the Conqueror shows up in 1066 and takes over England, and now England is ruled basically from France. Merlin would be like what the fuck Albion is being ruled by some rando, where’s Arthur this is a time of need. No Arthur. Some more bullshit happens after William’s son Henry I dies, (he named his daughter heir and all the men were like “wOmEn CaNt RuLe!!!”) After that, nothing that would pertain to Merlin till 1157. It’s possible Merlin could think Richard I was a reincarnation of Arthur or something like that, but Richard was highkey an idiot and didn’t do anything important besides let his brother John be in charge and John sucked so Merlin would realize Richard does not equal Arthur.

In 1274, Edward Longshanks was king and I don’t think Merlin would like him very much. He colonized Wales and famously was a jerk to Scotland. He idolized Arthur and the knights, which would probably piss off Merlin even further. He would wonder if this was Albion’s greatest hour of need and if Arthur would come. No Arthur.

1337, the Hundred Year’s War Starts. It goes well for England at first and Merlin would think, oh it's just another war. Nope. It goes on in bursts for 116 years, and with the intervention of Joan of Arc, the French win. Merlin would think, “Arthur this might be a good time to come back when we are losing a huge war!” But no Arthur. (I do think Merlin would be sympathetic to Joan of Arc though.)

1455 to 1487 is the War of the Roses. Merlin would have to watch England tear itself apart over the crown and would think, “This is gotta be it. Arthur is gonna be the one to come out of this and fix the country and bring back Camelot.” But he wouldn’t come. It’s possible he could think that Henry VII was a reincarnation of Arthur and would meet him, but it wouldn’t be him.

1553. Mary I becomes Queen of England and kills a lot of people, including Lady Jane Grey. She tries bringing back a religion that was just not working for a lot of people. Merlin would see this and think, “Arthur come back with your tolerance and fix this.” But no Arthur.

1649. The English Civil War Happens. They cut off Charles I’s head and Oliver Cromwell is instated as Lord Protector. Puritanism is the new religion. For Merlin this would be really not great for him. Magic would be even more hunted then before. He would definitely think this is it. Albion’s greatest hour of need! But Charles II becomes king, not Arthur. And Charles II would not be a reincarnation of Arthur, nor would William and Mary later.

Skip ahead to Napoleon’s conquest of Europe in the Early Nineteenth century. I’m not quite sure what Merlin would make of Napoleon, but he’d see the situation as a good time for Arthur to come back. But no Arthur.

Then both World Wars! England was in a lot of trouble both times and it would probably be the time that it would make most sense for Arthur to come back. But he doesn’t. And honestly that makes no fucking sense to me. Wouldn’t it be a great sequel to the show if Arthur came back in 1918, to pick up the mess of the first World War and help fight the second? Am I going crazy? Most likely yes.

Well, this has gone on wayyyy to long so I will end this analysis here. I know I left out alot, but I tried to cover the important stuff. The main takeaway is that Merlin would go through a WHOLE lot. He would change languages at least twice, watch everyone die, and magic wain in use from repeated witch hunts.

#bbc merlin #merlin emrys #arthur pendragon #arthurian mythology #anglo saxon #richard i #war of the roses #mary i of england #english civil war #oliver cromwell #Morgana Pendragon #gwen merlin #lancelot merlin #merthur #gwaine #morgwen #arwen #arthur x gwen #Arthur x merlin

[thecagedsong]

Forgotten Light: Chapter 4: History

A/N: Hey guys! Afternoon update since I was busy with pancake breakfasts this morning. Another Kendra chapter. Ronodin gets a little pushy, but it’s still G rated and won’t ever get worse than this, you’ll see what I mean. Remember, you are supposed to hate him. Still playing around with the chapter title for this one, and some of you who caught my analysis post a few months ago might recognize some themes.

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11

Chapter 4: History

Kendra picked another book off the shelf, noticed it was in a language she couldn’t read, and put it back. Over half the books in this library she couldn’t read, which seems like poor planning on her part.

She wasn’t even sure she wanted to read. It had sounded like a good way to get her mind off her apparently outrageous life story, but there was really no hope of thinking about anything else.

Kendra was the seventeen-year-old daughter of a noble family, very old fashioned, that obtained their status through years of keeping the undead enslaved and trapping dragons and other magical creatures considered dangerous to mortals. Kendra, as the eldest, was expected to follow in her family’s footsteps as jailors, but had grown doubtful that their way of life was right.

Kendra had met Ronodin at the engagement party for her arranged marriage with his cousin, Bracken. Ronodin teased her that his cousin was such an ugly bore, she had fled from Bracken right into Ronodin’s arms. (Kendra had rolled her eyes when he said that). He had been invited, as family, but Ronodin was far from welcome.

He wouldn’t tell her why just yet, but promised to soon, when they trusted each other a little more. Having nearly killed him, she agreed that that explanation could wait.

Ronodin and Kendra started meeting in secret, and talking. They fell in love strolling through the dragon prison her family kept. To throw suspicion off their meetings secret, they told her family that she was fine going through with her engagement with Bracken.

Her wedding was approaching in a couple of months, and they cared for each other more than ever. Kendra knew that not even her family’s love was worth marrying anyone but Ronodin. He had sounded so amazed when he quoted her, awed that someone so amazing could ever feel that way about him.

Kendra had blushed at her own boldness, and simultaneously felt heartbroken over that fact that she had given that feeling up. She was attracted to Ronodin, certainly, but when she tried to summon the life changing love he talked about, she had nothing. Just attraction and the feeling that he was speaking to someone else.

She had apologized, and he said she would just have to let him court her again. He’d do it as many times as it took to stick, he had laughed. He would understand if she wanted to break off their engagement, but he hoped she would still give him a chance.

Kendra promised to think about it.

They devised a plan, to take place just after she and her brother participated in a coming of age trial specific for their family against the dragons of sanctuary. It was a disgusting spectacle, offering the dragons their freedom once a generation, if they can claim the wizenstone first. It would be the last thing her parents ever forced her to do, she had vowed, and arranged for it to look like her servant had kidnapped her in the immediate aftermath.

For, despite everything, Kendra loved her family. They tried to follow the traditions of their ancestors without cruelty, and they had faced hundreds of trials together. By staging her own kidnapping, she would be breaking their hearts, but in a way they would understand. She would preserve their reputation, and be utterly free.

And that was apparently who she was. Kendra hadn’t counted on losing her memory, but maybe she had felt okay doing it for her brother when she knew about her fake kidnapping going to occur. She must have trusted herself to fall in love with Ronodin again, and Ronodin to take care of her. It was a lot of trust to place in someone.

Kendra did wish she had a family picture. If she went to such great lengths to protect them, then she must have wonderful memories of them, locked under the enchantment. She picked up another book, this one in English, The Forgotten Crown.

The library kept with the crimson and black theme, and she picked a black leather armchair by a fireplace. Normal fire, this time, not blue. It was strange, when things were lit by blue fire, it washed out the red and made the black look like a void. Ronodin must have handled the design choices, she couldn’t imagine picking this out herself under any circumstances.

She wanted to warm her feet, but didn’t think she could move the heavy chair, so sat on it sideways. Her black dress rode up her thighs, but the exposed skin felt the warmth from the fire, so she didn’t bother with modesty while alone. Mendigo was standing guard, he’d knock if someone was going to come in.

Kendra curled up with her book, and started reading about what the author called the six great crowns. They were the pillars of immortality that moved the natural world through its extremes: The crowns of the Giants, the Dragons, the Underking, and the Demons, the Fairies, and the Fair Folk. Humans were the interlopers, and the author took a three whole pages to describe why humans were the absolute worst.

Their sins included but were not limited to:

-Having the audacity to not always want immortality

-Ignoring boundaries like disrespectful heathens

-Killing immortals

-Assuming they have purpose

-Not tasting good

And their greatest sin of all: daring to change. Their ability to change affected even perfectly happy immortals, how dare they! After the rant on humans, Kendra got absorbed in the discussion on the powers and functionality of each crown, and there was a diagram of how they related to each other.

It started with an upside-down triangle. Fairies on the top left corner, Demons on the top right, and the Fair Folk at the bottom point. These three crowns were defined by their morality. The Fairy Crown on light, innocence, and creation. The Demon crown on darkness, pain, destruction, and cruelty. The Fair Folk were the forgotten crown, the main topic of the book, after the background was set. They were entirely neutral, and refused to take part in wars, and only ever offered to broker peace. Their power came from their neutrality, and the author recorded rumors of the horrible fall that came from the one time they broke their neutrality.

Kendra was tempted to skip ahead, but the background came first for a reason. The second triangle overlaid the first to create a six-pointed star. They were creatures based on space. Giants were the lower left corner, and took the sky, the Underking on the lower right took the places below ground, and Dragons stood at the top able to dwell high in the air and a ways underground. Their morality mapped the first triangle. Dragons had the capacity to create and destroy, love goodness or love evil, and came in every space on that morality line. Sky Giants tended between creation and neutrality, while the undead and the underking worked between destruction and neutrality.

The first triangle also worked within the second. The fairies tended between the air and the land, Demons below and on the land, while the fair folk, in the opposite of dragons, could only dwell on the land.

The opposites were also important. Dragons were many things, but it was extremely difficult for them to be neutral. Demons and Sky Giants avoided each other’s domains, so it was most difficult to understand their relationship. The Fairy Realm and the Under Realm however, were the most combative pair of opposites. Neither could tolerate the other. Darkness would swallow light, or light banish darkness, it came down to strength, and there was very little middle ground.

What middle ground there was came from the rare case where beings abandoned their magical alignment for the opposite, spiritual alignment. There were rumors of a demon sworn to pacifism, that occasionally helped naiads, and —

There was a single booming knock, the door flinging open with a bang. Kendra spazzed, fumbling her book and sinking into the armchair. The book fell, and Kendra glared at her “fiancé”, who was chuckling at her again.

“You look lovely,” Ronodin said, pausing to take in her disheveled state.

“Your whole ‘let’s make Kendra jump’ deal makes me think yesterday wasn’t the first time I’ve attempted to kill you,” she said. Well, one sleep ago. Time was hard without clocks or the sun.

That made him laugh once more, and Kendra couldn’t help but smile in return.

“No, not the first time, and probably not the last,” he said with a grin, “But you’ve never regretted holding back.” His eyes flicked to her pale legs.

Pale, bare legs. Kendra squeaked, and tried to pull her dress down, but only managed to flip herself onto the floor. She stood up with burning cheeks and a huff.

“I’m sorry, you’re just so easy to rile up. I love that look in your eye,” Ronodin said.

“Mendigo! Come here,” Kendra called, and the puppet came into the room. “Mendigo, next time, please do some gentle knocking yourself instead of letting the guest attempt to destroy the door before entering.”

Mendigo nodded.

Kendra turned and was about to say something when Ronodin squinted at her.

“Oh, right, sorry,” she said, and with a couple of deep breaths managed to dim her own light. It was an odd sensation, like walking around with her fist clenched. She would get into the habit again eventually.

Ronodin led her into another room down the little hallway of their living space, where Chinese takeout was set up for the meal.

“I’m going to take a guess and say my suave fiancé can’t cook?” she said, noticing the cartons.

“If you’re going to be rude, you don’t have to eat,” Ronodin said, pulling out her chair for her.

“Do I know how to cook?” she asked.

Ronodin shrugged, “I don’t think so, you usually had servants for that, and you lost any memory of experiences that would help you cook. We’ll just stick to take out for now.”

“You have any trouble out there?”

“If you mean your family, no,” he said. “You seemed to have pulled it off, and no one knows where you went. It won’t be long, I think, before we can find somewhere else, if that’s what you still want.”

“Yes please,” Kendra said, serving herself some friend rice. It smelled good, even if she couldn’t remember if she liked it or not, “Look, maybe its part of the fairy thing, but I can’t live in hiding forever. This place is really nice, even if it could use some color, but if you’re going to make me fall in love with you again, its not going to be here. Sorry.”

“I’m working on it, I promise,” he said, pulling her free hand into his and giving it a kiss. He pressed it to his heart, like he had done when Seth had made her touch him with the glove, and it made her blush again.

“I need that hand for eating,” she complained, lightly twitching her hand to reclaim it. It wasn’t like she was repulsed by Ronodin, but his overly physical affection got tiresome.

“You can have it back if you promise to hold your chopsticks right,” he said.

Kendra huffed, “Not all of us grew up using these. And even if I had, I lost my memory. You should be giving me a lot more breaks than you are for that.”

He simply waited, smiling, still holding her hand tightly. Kendra sighed, “Fine, show me how?”

Ronodin grinned and helped position her fingers. Kendra ordered the variety that Ronodin had brought in order from most favorite to least, and Ronodin commented on what his favorites were.

“Careful, you’re going to want the left overs,” Ronodin said, when Kendra eyed the remainder of her favorite. “I met with our host on my way back in.”

“Oh? I thought you said I arranged this myself before I came down here.”

Ronodin sighed dramatically, “Yes, and part of your ‘oh so brilliant’ arrangement was to loan your wonderful and talented fiancé out to our host for errands. I have to go out tonight. I don’t know when I’ll be back, but tomorrow night is probably the soonest we can hope for.”

“Oh,” Kendra said. Sure, he was often annoying, but he cared for her and was the only company she had besides Mendigo. “I guess I’ll explore the library some more.” She stood up to throw her dishes in the sink.

“You could do that,” he said, coming up behind her. “Or you can ask nicely for your other present.”

“I have the feeling asking nicely doesn’t actually go very far with you,” she put her hands on her hips and faced him, “And presents are meant to be given, not asked for.”

Ronodin’s arm snaked forward, pulling her into a kiss. She had a moment to flail, then he released her, and it was over. “You’re right, my favors have costs. Lucky for you, you just paid in full,” he teased.

“Ronodin!” she said, flushing and shoving him away. “Don’t do that.”

He just grinned cheekily and held a shopping bag towards her.

Kendra snatched it from his hands. “I mean it. I’ve known you two very stressful days, no kissing yet.”

Ronodin bowed his head in mock humility, “My lady, I didn’t mean to irritate you. I had to try the old fairy tale cure somehow. Alas, it appears true love’s kiss wasn’t the cure to this curse.”

She wanted to protest that of course it didn’t work, she didn’t love him. But she’d pulled that line once before to get him to back off and he always looked haunted when she did that. Haunted and sad, she didn’t have the heart to keep throwing that in his face, no matter how rude he was. This was at least as difficult for him as it was for her. And a small kiss didn’t hurt her, not really.

Instead she changed the subject by looking in the bag. “Wood blocks, books, fabric, and paint?”

“Your hobbies were another reason your family was suffocating,” Ronodin explained, “You liked carving, painting, and sewing more than dragon slaying and ‘monster’ hunting. Each of these materials comes from a magic source. The wood comes from different enchanted trees, the fabric is made from the hair of a goat the size of a house or lotus fibers, and the paints are mixed with tears and blood of various magical creatures.”

“Why is that important?”

“Because you are one of the select few beings that can craft magic items,” Ronodin said, “Part of you is that everfull wellspring of magic. You’ve done amazing at dimming it by the way, your control after just a day is astounding. But you can also recharge magical items that have run out of power, and when using the right materials, you can create new ones.”

Kendra’s eyebrows raise, “I thought…” she chased the elusive fact down, “I thought only wizards can create magical items.”

“They create it by crafting a vessel, using the same materials, and then binding their own magic into the object through an enchantment. You can skip that part, with the unlimited magic source you have at your disposal. You are more limited in what you can create, especially when starting out, you generally have to stick to reinforcing and enhancing the properties of the materials you’re using. When you do it right, the item will retain its magic long after you’ve put it down.”

“Wow,” she said, “And I could paint, sew, and carve?”

He nodded, “Enchanting items wasn’t at all in your family’s plans for you, so you tended to craft in secret. It will probably take you a while to pick up the skills again, but at least you’ll have something to occupy yourself if the library fails. The books in there provide some basic theories that will help.”

“Thank you,” she said, smiling and holding the bag close. “This was really thoughtful. I know that since I gave up my memory and my family in one swoop, I don’t have a chance at getting them back. But little connections like this help me feel…a little less lost.”

“I love you, Kendra,” he said, simply, “I’ll do anything to make you happy.”

Kendra smiled back uncertainly, unable to reply in kind. He seemed disappointed when she didn’t respond, but moved on to helping her set up a crafting room.

What kind of person led the life that she did? What would it take for old Kendra to not be a stranger anymore? Ronodin was a lot of things, but he deserved so much more than to have her break his heart at every turn.

#This is Ronodin at his worst tbh #Forgotten Light #Forgotten Light Chapter 4 #Kendra Sorenson #Ronodin the unicorn #Not my favorite chapter #Mostly background stuff #Might post another chapter tonight if I feel like it #Fablehaven #Dragonwatch