#this post brought to you by the castle episode of similar plot and me going "what title does eisza have up i forge-oh. OH *ugly laughter* ''

[queen-scribbles]

Random Eisza thought that has the potential to be comedy, drama, tragedy or all three:

She and Theron go to get married and can’t, legally, bc Baroness Eisza Merik married Raffid “no obligation toward fidelity, of course” Girard on Alderaan and, uh, that’s still... in play bc things got chaotic after the Wild Space Expedition and no one on Alderaan had the time to make note of if she was presumed dead or anything.

So Eisza and Theron have to go to Alderaan, track down Raffid(if he’s even alive after.... 8 years? 10?, bc that’s a fucking eternity in Alderaan politics entirely apart from anything else Arcann), and get him to cooperate with divorce proceedings. Or, if he’s dead, get proof of that so she’s a widow and free to marry and idk I just think it could be darkly funny

#queen rambles #eisza merik #eisza/theron #this post brought to you by the castle episode of similar plot and me going "what title does eisza have up i forge-oh. OH *ugly laughter* '' #idk the gffa position on like poly relationships or anything it might not even be a problem but i just think it has potential to hysterical #even if raffid's totally cool with it just FINDING him could be a headache and a half #alderaan is a big place

[slipping-through-my-fingertips]

If Glee did a Taylor Swift Tribute Episode...

Just my opinions, feel free to add on to them. I know I have some fellow gleek swifties following me. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Obviously they have to do some of the hits but I think some people would have some out of the box picks.

*This post assumes all Taylor songs are available to choose from as of May 14th 2021 but focuses on Taylor’s first 6 albums (if you want more glee and Taylor I have fics with that; LOVER and FOLKLORE) and takes liberties with where this episode’s placement is in terms of canon. But since it’s all made up anyway who cares (but Blaine’s involved so I guess season 3 idk).*

Okay, trying to do a full plot here (completely inspired by @kurtdeservesbetter head canon posts. I hope this lives up to her fabulous posts). This will be my version of glee so everyone gets solos and Rachel can’t hog the spotlight. Also, this is about to be super long (both post wise and episode wise).

Let’s open the first episode with

...Ready For It because the New Directions are in their reputation era. Santana does the opening cough centerstage. Everyone in black and/or camo green outfits (can you just see Kurt in a dark green bedazzled snake jacket, Santana in a black leather dress, and Tina digging out some goth clothes for people to borrow?), snakes everywhere, but probably no Karyn (she just wouldn’t fit on the auditorium stage). Santana takes the first verse but we have Blaine step up for verse 2. (I just love their friendship in the Michael tribute, cute little badasses are BACK. Also him singing “Burton to this Taylor” is such a Klaine thing to do).

Everyone is still dressed in their rep outfits but we’re in the choir room now. Mr. Schue is talking about why Taylor had to disappear and clap back with rep, how rough the industry is for women and tries to uplift the ladies in the room and encourage them to not silence their voices (cue snarky comment from Santana about Rachel needing to be silent).

Then, Mr. Schue goes on about how you can only understand how Taylor got to her rep era by studying her earlier music. So we have a performance of Tim McGraw. Simple, front of the choir room performance, maybe Puck does guitar, and sitting on stools.

Everyone is surprised to find out how pumped Sam is for this assignment but he is all over it. “It's about time we did some country in this room.” Cue Sam and Quinn at her locker talking about their ‘date’ last night, Sam’s all cute and teasing and Quinn is not into it. She tells him it was fun but she was wrong, they shouldn’t do this again. In turn, he does a wonderful performance of Bye Bye Baby. He thought it was more but clearly he’s “a part of her past.”

Then, we’re in the empty choir room. Tina and Mike are there. (I love their cutesy duets) They sing Everything Has Changed and it’s utterly adorable. Can’t you hear Mike asking Tina if she’s “good to go” like Ed does? And while we’re on the subject of cute duets and RED, we flash to the courtyard to see Santana and Brittany. They turn Stay Stay Stay into a duet. “I’ve been loving you for quite some time,” “before you I only dated self-indulgent takers who took all their problems out on me,” “no one else is gonna love me when I’m mad, mad, mad,” and “it’s occurring to me that I’d like to hang out with you for my whole life” it’s perfect for them. Adorable ladies kisses are had.

Let’s toss in some boy drama for fun. Idk shit about football but somehow Puck is praised by their coach over Finn, which gets him all pissy, and Puck’s upset and jealous because Finn is back with Quinn now (this is why Quinn shut Sam now earlier, she changed her mind). Can we say duet of Bad Blood? “So if you’re coming my way...just don’t.”

After their dramatics, we have a Brittany solo in the choir room. It’s after school at this point (or whenever glee club is). Brittany does You’ll Always Find You Way Back Home.

When she finishes Mr. Schue tries to explain that it’s a Hannah Montana song. Britt injects that it’s confusing how she’s really Miley Cryus “like how can you be two people at once?”. Before Mr. Schue can continue, Kurt pipes up “you never specified that the songs had to be sung by Taylor Swift, just that they were her songs.” Mercedes adds, “yeah, Mr. Schue, Taylor wrote that song.” Mr. Schue concedes that he has once again been outwitted by Kurtcedes. The friends do their little hand shake thing.

With a sigh, Mr. Schue asks Mike if he’s ready to go and Mike asks to take things to the auditorium for some dancing room. Everyone’s on stage with him and it’s kind of a group number but Mike is the focus. It’s Shake It Off. All inspired by the music video. He’s tried to fit in elsewhere (i.e. football, with the smart kids, etc..) but he’s really himself in glee when he’s dancing.

Part 2 of Taylor Tribute Episodes

We begin with an ALL GIRL NUMBER of A Place In This World. Just because.

Glee is dismissed and we zoom in on Artie. He’s watching Tina with Mike and Brittany with Santana. Both Tina and Britt have broken his heart by this point. So, he’s rolling down the halls singing A Perfectly Good Heart. While Artie’s soloing, we cut to Rachel watching Finn and Quinn chatting. Artie’s song playing over this scene. Rachel is feeling similar to him at the moment.

She’s pretty sure Finn dumped her to be with Quinn again even though Kurt and Blaine told her they saw Quinn and Sam at the movies last night together making out in the back row. Fine, if that’s how he’s going to be, she doesn’t need him anyway. Cue Mr. Perfectly Fine. Uber dramatic solo performance walking around McKinley’s halls watching Finn and Quinn together ending in the auditorium alone. (see what I did there, both broken hearted peeps singing a song with Perfectly in it (this was not at all planned, actually, happy accident))

After some good old heartbreak, we have Kurt and Blaine on screen. Blaine walks into the auditorium to see Kurt sitting on the edge of the stage. “What’s all the fuss?” he asks from the door. Kurt had texted him “EMERGENCY.” The band starts to play and Kurt just starts singing, Enchanted. It’s time to profess their love for each other, just like they sing Perfect together in the car, this duet needs no audience. Blaine catches up and sings while walking towards his boyfriend. It’s very reminiscent of past New Directions competitions where they come in from the back and make their way to the stage. “Wondering if you knew I was enchanted to meet you?” Kurt and Blaine both know the answer to that question now but just a few months ago they were both wondering that exact thing.

They kiss before we cut to Kurt and Blaine walking hand in hand into the choir room where everyone else is already. Mr. Schue is praising the performances thus far and of course asks Rachel if she’s ready to solo (some practice for her completion solo). This causes an uproar from Mercedes and Santana. Another classic argument of how she gets too many solos. Mr. Schue tries to shut them both down but Santana tells Rachel to watch her back, and we get three very different reactions to this. 

All three girls storm out.

First, we visit Mercedes alone in the courtyard. This solo is all about being hurt over this great thing in her life (glee) and her being denied happiness within that club. Thus, Cold As You. (mostly to indulge myself because she’d blow us away with this song).

Next, Rachel in the auditorium. A huge bridge on stage (very Speak Now Tour of her), belting out Better Than Revenge. Santana’s dropped the last straw (the humiliation, name calling, Finn at one point and now solos,) it’s too much this time.

And finally, Santana walking around McKinley, showing us flashes of Rachel ‘outshining’ her and the rest of glee and Mr. Schue being unfair, while singing Look What You Made Me Do.

Tina walks out at the same time as Rachel, Mercedes, and Santana but no one seems to put two and two together. She feels just as underutilized as the latter two do. She ends up in an empty classroom and sings The Outside. “Nobody ever lets me in” and “on the outside looking in.”

Once the 3, err 4, divas have left the room, Finn sticks up for Rachel. Quinn, of course, has something to say about this along the lines of “you always defend her.” Finn, intimated by her ‘scary Quinn’ fumbles and blurts “because she’s my girlfriend” WHICH IS NOT TRUE AT THIS POINT. Quinn dumps him on the spot, cuts quickly to Blaine and Kurt sharing some ‘oh my god, can you believe this’ expressions, and vanishes from the room.

By this point, Rachel is long gone from the auditorium but the bridge is still there.

Here’s where we go way off script but imagine, Quinn has decided to just quit boys. They’ve all failed her anyway, she’s better off being alone. She walks up the bridge and thinks to herself “god Rachel’s so dramatic, where did this thing even come from” before it hits her “fuck, I’m as bad as Finn. I want her.” Then, she starts singing Clean to herself in the auditorium, likely tearing up throughout and ending with a good cry. (Because Dianna would DELIVER with Clean.)

While Quinn is having a sexuality crisis, the rest of glee is still happening. They’re discussing upcoming competition and debating solos and songs.

Kurt’s all: “Mr. Schue, if I may” and performs a lovely rendition of Call It What You Want. Those opening lines are too good. “My castle (ie McKinley) crumbled overnight, brought a knife to a gun fight (ie couldn’t fight off Dave Karofsky), “I’m doing better than I ever was ‘cause my baby’s fit like a daydream,” and “at least I did one thing right.” When he’s done, Blaine’s a mess in the back of the choir room, and Mr. Schue says: “not really what we’re looking for but very nice, Kurt” however, Kurt’s too busy sitting beside Blaine teasing him about blushing.  

Then, the missing girls return to the room having sung out their emotions. Quinn, having realized her feelings for Rachel, ends up soloing You Belong With Me to the New Directions in the choir room. Odd looks all around, no one knows what’s up with her and why does she keep glancing at Rachel? (Faberry just fit so well I had to add it, don’t know if I’m a shipper or not but it’s here now) (also thanks to @spicygemini for pointing out the obvious “Quinn would have ate YBWY”).

Mr. Schue wants to move the group to the audition to perform their final number of the Taylor Swift tribute well but Tina asks to sing first. He’s surprised but allows it, taking a seat with the rest of the New Directions.

Tina sings Beautiful Ghosts. “Watch from the dark, wait for my life to start” because New Directions is refusing to use her talents AGAIN. She’s singing this to Rachel and the girls who were in the Treble Tones. Because she absolutely SMASHES this number, the glee kids agree she gets solo for their next competition (and they deliver on that promise).

To conclude Part 2 of the Taylor tribute episode, we have a group performance of Long Live. “One day we will be remembered”, “all the years we stood there on the sidelines wishing for right now”, “for a moment a band of thrives in ripped up jeans got to rule the world” ie wining completions, “when they look at the pictures please tell them my name...”

#this took so long please enjoy it #Taylor tribute glee episode #glee head canon #gleek swifie #glee #taylor swift

[carinyms]

We're three days from the Loki finale and I’m back to spout more meta and theories about episodes 5 & 6! It’s a long one (again.)

I really enjoyed episode five. People have complained that they felt it didn't do much to move the show forward, but one of the things I've loved most about this show is the time it takes to sit with the characters and learn about their backstory, their feelings. (I'm always a little bugged when critics say that an episode hasn't done enough to move the plot forward, because without adequate character development, why should I care about the plot?) I thought the pacing of it was really well balanced.

….and I have never been so nervous for a finale in my entire life. There’s a lot of reasons.

The first is just the fact that I’ve been waiting for this show for a whole year, and the anticipation and excitement of it literally helped get me through the pandemic--so when those final end credits roll I’m going to be a whole mess no matter what happens. (I really hope the rumors floating around about season two are accurate) I also just feel like it’s somewhat inevitable that this is our final farewell to Tom’s Loki, and like—I’ll never be ready, but especially right now, amidst all the rampant controversy around this show, I’m just not ready to deal with that. I have a *small* modicum of hope that this won't be the case, but it feels unlikely. Anyway, guess I’ll die.

I really want this show to stick the landing, so to say. I loved the last episode, but a lot of the response has been that it felt like a lull in the plot. I want this show to end in a satisfying bang so it can get the credit it deserves.

Also I’m a whole hypocrite eating my words from last week—I’m fully on-board with Loki/Sylvie now (not that I was ever really against it)--I’m not sure why I’m surprised. They’re so adorable and wholesome, and I’m in love with seeing Loki in love. It’s so precious. (Just as a PSA, if you’re not into them that’s chill, and you’re allowed to dislike a ship without trying to justify your opinion by labeling shippers as morally problematic. Selfcest isn’t a real thing, therefore there isn’t a moral high ground to stand on here. Okay? Okay.) Wherever it ultimately leads, their relationship is still a really sweet exploration of them both growing and learning how to love themselves and trust others. Also, them cuddling under a tablecloth is the cutest shit I’ve ever seen with my two eyes.

MY THEORIES:

I love Sylvie so much, SO MUCH — and she is 100% going to stab Loki in the back by the end of the next episode. I don’t think the betrayal is going to stick, and by the end they’ll both be on the same page again, but the conversations on trust have been way too one-sided for my comfort. If nothing else she's going to seriously consider it. Here’s one way I can see that going. Spoiler alert: it hurts.

Sylvie betrays Loki at one point—and we see Loki’s growth and arc come full circle as, even after being betrayed by the person he hinged his entire development around, he still believes in doing the right thing, in saving her regardless. It ends in a heart-wrenching self-sacrifice of some kind, and his actions serve as the catalyst for her full development as well. We keep seeing different versions of Loki die for their ‘glorious purpose’, just like how Classic Loki shouts the phrase as he was consumed by Aloith (RIP King, I love you).

Loki has already called Sylvie his glorious purpose (or inferred it). There’s been backlash around him saying that, but the way I see it, it’s less “I’m obsessed with this girl she’s my purpose now” and more “I believe that she’s the best version of us and I’m going to make it my purpose to help her succeed and be what the rest of us aren’t”. That’s why seeing all the other variant Loki’s at their worst in the Loki clubhouse (? what do I call this lol) only fuels him more to find her. I think about what Mobius told him: “You exist to cause pain and suffering and death, all so others can achieve the best versions of themselves”. I don’t think Loki truly believes he can be the best version of Loki — I think he saw Sylvie and thought, "it's her". He’s decided he’s going to help her achieve the best version of herself, but he'll do it giving her love and trust and devotion, rather than through betrayal, pain and suffering. He’s re-writing his pre-determined role, in his own small way. I’m so proud of him.

So who’s behind it all and what’s truly going on here? (This isn’t really one theory, more like a string of possibilities and I don’t really know how they’d fit together.)

I still think it’s another version of Loki. And if it is, I can’t help but appreciate the connections between his position dictating the end of time in the show in relation to Loki’s role in the Norse myths, where he’s the catalyst for the destruction of all things. It feels relevant, considering the whole idea that ‘the end of time hasn’t been written yet’ has come up twice now. That would be a fascinating tie-in to the mythology. (Also—Alioth looks like a giant dog. And Fenrir’s role in Ragnarok was devouring the world—I realize this is a reach but am I the only person seeing this connection?) The thing I really can’t predict is the motivation. What would cause a Loki to want to prevent Loki’s from changing? Was there something that happened in the sacred timeline this Loki is trying to preserve? (I also like the idea of us maybe seeing another version of Sylvie behind it all, but I’m just going to leave that rabbit hole alone. )

But here’s the theory I can’t stop thinking about. There’s a theory floating around tik tok (by user twelvepercentcredit) saying the ‘castle’ we see beyond Alioth looks like a place called the House of Ideas, something that appeared in a (discontinued?) Loki comic. Here’s the wiki page on it. Just looking at the imagery of this compared to the location we’re seeing in the trailers, it’s too similar to be a coincidence. The huge bookshelves, the towering ceilings.

Here’s a description from the wiki:

“The House of Ideas is also home to a library which archives the exploits of every hero who has ever existed in the form of books, written unconsciously by the collective minds of their believers. This collection is curated by Now and Then, two of the children of Eternity. Now and Then routinely seek out heroes to bring into the House of Ideas to bargain with them and give their collections more pages, therefore more time for adventures and exploits. “

And later on the page on how Loki ties in:

“Heeding the desire in Loki's heart to do more with his life, Now and Then approached Loki and brought him to the House of Ideas,[5] where they struck up with him the deal to give more pages to his collection of exploits, rewriting the Books of Loki with a hero's stories in exchange for an eventual hero's death.”

Are they gonna play with the exact happenings of this? I don't know, but it sounds pretty cool!

It would be gutsy to go this route with the show given how meta it is, but I love the idea of it. Would they put characters that embody the abstract ideas of “Eternity” “Now & Then” into the show in the last episode? I’m not sure. Something I could see as a possibility though is an alternate version of Loki having overthrown whoever was previously guarding the timeline, and Loki and Sylvie will have to take them down in turn, thus ‘releasing’ the multiverse to its default, chaotic state.

What if our Loki’s ultimate destiny, ultimate Glorious Purpose, is to release the timelines--restoring all the variants back to their original timelines--and remain in this place for eternity, guarding the timeline and ensuring the multiverse is allowed to exist in its natural state? It seems a pretty fitting role for the God of Chaos. It would also explain why whoever’s behind the TVA would be so desperate to eliminate all variant Loki, if that was his ultimate destiny.

It would be an effective way to remove Hiddleston’s Loki from the movie-verse without killing him, AND place both Sylvie and any other Loki variants back in the the main timeline for use in future films—which we know has to happen somehow, because Young Avengers is definitely happening, and Kid Loki has got to get out of the void somehow.

And yea, this outcome would hurt like a bitch. Because even though that would truly be a lovely glorious purpose for our Loki, he’d be alone. And the whole point of this show is that he doesn’t have to be alone! It would be a very poetic sacrifice for him to take on the burden of watching over the timelines alone for all eternity so that his other variants could be the best versions of themselves, but I really just want him to be happy. I will be crying my eyes out if this happens. I’ll be proud but I won’t be okay.

And this all is probably speculative nonsense and could go off in an entirely different direction. Who knows. All in all, I just really want to see Loki fully believe in himself and his ability, to truly absorb what he said about being stronger than he realizes, and to take control of his destiny.

WHAT I WANT (NEED) FROM EPISODE 6:

Let Hunter B-15 and Mobius team up to burn the place to the ground. She was nerfed in the time-keeper fight, I want to see B-15 kick some ass.

I kind of want Ravonna to escape and be a character that carries over into the films for her tie-ins with Kang? I want to see more of her.

Give Loki a new badass costume. I’m begging. If he’s gonna go down, he deserves to go down in something other than khakis.

And then I want to see him and Sylvie fighting side by side in matching outfits.

I want a Mobius-level hug between them. Or a kiss. Or both. But I want the hug more. And you know what? I want her to initiate the hug or kiss or whatever it is because I want Loki to experience receiving love and affection from others as much as giving it. He deserves it ok??

I expect Mobius on a jet ski in the post credits and if I don’t get it I riot

@marvel these are my demands.

As always, if you've made it this far I'd love to hear your thoughts!

#these just keep getting longer and longer #next week you can expect a full novel #loki #loki show #loki series #loki meta #loki show meta #loki series meta #loki theories #loki show theories #loki show positive #loki spoilers #loki series spoilers

[swissmissficrecs]

Favorite fics of 2012

2012 was when things really started happening in earnest in the fandom. There was a veritable explosion of fic, and many of the absolute classics were posted. I have something like 15 pages of bookmarks from that year, and as such, it was incredibly hard to narrow things down to a manageable number for a rec list. Here are the ones that I felt are the must-reads, that have stuck with me the longest and strongest.

A Cure For Boredom by emmagrant01 (81K, E, Johnlock, John/OCs) They'd never talked about sex in the year they'd known each other. Well, that wasn't quite correct: Sherlock had never said a word about sex; John had bemoaned his personal dearth of it on many occasions.

A Goose Quill Dipped in Venom by Polyphony (52K, M, Johnlock) Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective, is called in to a very ordinary although brutal murder. Something is badly out of tune with the whole scenario and Sherlock finds himself becoming more and more obsessed with the crime - and also with the victim.

Across the Sky by Mazarin221b (23K, E, Johnlock) Top Gun AU. After an accident that nearly cost the life of his previous RIO, Lieutenant John Watson (Call sign Doc) has grown reckless and arrogant, but an even better pilot than he was before. A heroic maneuver and complete chance sends him and his new RIO (call sign Copper) to Fallon, Nevada, home of Top Gun.  Problem is, the ghosts of John's past could cost them more than just the Top Gun trophy—it could also cost John a chance at happiness.

An Avalanche Of Detour Signs by gyzym (56K, M, Mollstrade) In which Molly Hooper gets a job, gets a degree, breaks a heart, has her heart broken, falls in love, keeps a secret, saves a life, runs a morgue, falls apart, pulls it together, and finds exactly what she didn't know she was looking for--not necessarily in that order.

Applications and Practices of Basic Arithmetic by 1electricpirate (128K, M, Johnlock) After Reichenbach and in order to 1) Keep Sherlock alive, 2) Keep John alive and 3) Get Sherlock home to England as soon as possible, Mycroft devises a plan that will not only incentivise John's continued sanity and survival but force Sherlock to come running. It is a perfect plan, though perhaps less than ethically sound. He has no doubts that using frozen samples of your younger brother's sperm to create children for his husband to care for falls deeply within the realm of socially unacceptable behaviour, but it is efficient, and that is what matters most.

Ava Watson verse by keeliethompson1 (347K, M, Johnlock) Five year old Ava Watson's life is changed forever when her Daddy's old friend comes calling.

Be Here Now Universe by Todesfuge (181K, M, Johnlock) John Watson was already fighting demons when he and Sherlock met. With Sherlock's suicide, it all comes flooding back, forcing Sherlock to intervene before he's solved the persistent riddles of Jim Moriarty and his game. Together they find that something darker lurks behind Moriarty, forcing Sherlock, John, and Irene Adler into an even deadlier game with a much more dangerous foe.  Begins six months after the events of The Reichenbach Fall.

Burn Down & Reignite by augustbird (20K, E, Johnlock) When love isn't enough.

Castle and Sand by grey853 (158K, E, Johnlock) Sherlock and John both have difficult pasts that affect their evolving relationship. When John prevents a mugging, it sets off a dangerous chain of events that not only impacts him, but his whole family. In the end there's a wedding and a honeymoon, but will there really be a happy ending?

Cinnamon series by lbmisscharlie (150K, E, Johnlock) When Sherlock invites John to live with him, he fails to mention that he's a single father to a four-year-old girl.

Collared by VelvetMace (83K, E, Johnlock, John/Sarah) In a world where the British Empire is still strong and slavery is her economic backbone, John has become a terrorist for the abolitionist movement. He is caught by Mycroft, enslaved, and given to Sherlock for training. The goal: To test a new kind of slave collar with the power to break even the strongest willed fighter. One that will make even John learn to love being a slave.

Common Grounds by couchbarnacle (66K, M, Johnlock) John Watson is working at Holmes Manor for the summer and is caught up in the whirlwind that is Sherlock Holmes. Teen AU.

Electric Pink Hand Grenade by BeautifulFiction (67K, E, Johnlock) "If Sherlock's brain is a hard drive, then these attacks are an electro-magnetic pulse." Sherlock Holmes does not do anything by half, not even a migraine. It falls to John to witness one of the greatest minds he has ever known tear itself apart, and he must do his best to help Sherlock pick up the pieces.

End of the Story by kres (53K, E, Johnlock) Post-Reichenbach. The return, the fallout, the pieces you pick up.

Equilibrium by augustbird (12K, M, Johnlock) At Baskerville, John is infected by a virus that turns him into a genius. But when the infection progresses into neurodegeneration, it's a race against time to save himself. Flowers for Algernon fusion.

Given In Evidence by verityburns (97K, M, Johnlock) Coming back from the dead can be a complicated business. With a new case on the horizon, rebuilding a life is one thing... rebuilding a friendship quite another. For Sherlock and John, things may never be just the same...

Hearts At Home series by yalublyutebya (74K, M, Johnlock, Viclock) A series of stories chronicling the intertwined lives of Father John Watson and Sherlock Holmes.

Just a Kiss by emmagrant01 (19K, E, Johnlock) Five times John and Sherlock kissed because of a case and one time they kissed for real.

Limping Forward series by bendingsignpost (58K, E, Johnlock) As the newest instructor at St. Bart's, John has been explicitly warned to never do Sherlock Holmes any favours. Too bad the sex is so good.

More Things Than Are Dreamt Of series by 1electricpirate (37K, E, Johnlock) In which John is (reluctantly) a wizard, Mycroft is (apparently) omniscient, and Sherlock is (surprisingly) oblivious.

Murderous Imprint by MojoFlower (52K, E, Johnlock) Sherlock should be focusing on the series of brutal vivisections Lestrade has brought to him. Instead he's distracted by a most amazing and unexpected experimental opportunity from the basement apartment of 221C. Will he figure out the one in time to stop the other? And does he need help in order to do it?

Renegades by augustbird (39K, E, Johnlock) Sherlock Holmes takes down Moriarty’s syndicate.  He also takes John Watson with him.

School For Scandal (orphaned) (222K, E, Johnlock) Sherlock lusts from afar. John tries to fool himself. (Boarding school AU)

Spectrum series by thisprettywren (95K, E, Johnlock) In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

Stranger at the Gate by bendingsignpost (85K, E, Johnlock) As far as initiation rites go, kidnapping a human doctor from a defended town ought to seem extreme. When James Moriarty offers him the challenge, Sherlock never considers saying no. (Fantasy vampire AU)

Northwest Passage by Kryptaria (95K, E, Johnlock) Seven years ago, Captain John Watson of the Canadian Forces Medical Service withdrew from society, seeking a simple, isolated life in the distant northern wilderness of Canada. Though he survives from one day to the next, he doesn't truly live until someone from his dark past calls in a favor and turns his world upside-down with the introduction of Sherlock Holmes.

Our Brave Boys by unknownsister (29K, E, Johnlock) John worked himself to the bone to get into military school. He meets Sherlock Holmes, who doesn't want to be there at all. Sherlock simultaneously insults him and turns his curiosity up to eleven, in mind and body. As if John doesn't have enough to deal with.

Our Enthusiasms Which Cannot Always Be Explained by withoutawish (32K, M, Johnlock) The list that is tacked haphazardly on the refrigerator of 221B reads, ‘Kidney(s), and/or a full cadaver (preferably male, late 30s, under six feet tall), bag of fresh toes, sixteen cow’s eyes (corneas retained), dual exhaust hand –held flame thrower, an unopened first edition copy of Joseph Conrad’s 'Heart of Darkness', and no less than ten abhorrently gruesome murders in the upcoming month.”  The one neatly hanging next to it simply reads, “Sex.” One of these lists is not John Watson’s. If John Watson were to put what he really wanted in list form, to live in a land somewhere beyond ‘almosts' now that Sherlock Holmes has indeed returned to him, he would never be able to look his flatmate in the eye ever again.

Tennis series by Jupiter_Ash (216K, E, Johnlock) John and Sherlock are professional tennis players and it’s Wimbledon. One is a broken almost was at the end of his career, the other an arrogant rising star tipped for greatness. It should have been a straightforward tournament. It really should have been. How were they to know that a chance encounter would change everything?

The Bone Fiddle by htebazytook, Vulgarweed (61K, E, Johnlock) Appalachian AU! In November 1973, Vietnam vet John Watson returns to his family's old home in Arthel County, West Virginia, deep in coal country. His low expectations include recuperation and boredom. Instead he finds a ruined landscape, a series of grisly murders, and one of the world's weirdest neighbors.

The Brave and The Cunning series by thequeergiraffe (95K, E, Johnlock, Adlock, Sarah/John, Sheriarty) This series will have one fic per Sherlock episode, with series one being set in John's 6th year (and Sherlock's 5th) and series two being set in John's 7th and final year at Hogwarts. Fics will have similar (but nowhere near identical) plots to the actual BBC Sherlock episodes, with most locations being replaced with HP-universe settings. This series is set well after the Second Wizarding War and involves next to none of the HP characters, instead using Sherlock characters and the occasional minor OC.

The Fabric of Life (orphaned) (156K, E, Johnlock) The fabric of life rearranges itself around the re-emergence of Sherlock.

The Good Morrow series by greywash (216K, E, Johnlock) My post-S2 series where everyone has a lot of feels about everything and plausibility is stretched unto breaking. Also: fucking.

The Great Sex Olympics of 221B by XistentialAngst (58K, E, Johnlock; John/OCs, Sherlock/OCs) John Watson thinks Sherlock Holmes should admit that he, Watson, is more of an expert on sex than Sherlock is.  But Sherlock refuses to concede the point.  He comes up with an experiment plan that will resolve the issue.  The results will determine who wins the prize.  But sometimes even the best thought-out scientific study has unexpected consequences.

The Green Blade by verityburns (72K, T, Gen) As a serial killer hits the headlines, the police are out of their depth and the next victim is out of time. With faith in Sherlock Holmes at an all time low, this is a case which will push loyalties to the limit...

The Iceman Cometh by Polyphony (60K, M, Johnlock, Viclock) An intriguing puzzle tempts Sherlock to accept Victor Trevor's invitation to the French Riviera, but all is not what it seems. Frustrated by the case and increasingly concerned about an absent John, Sherlock uncovers far more than he was meant to and is forced to become a fugitive, pursued by those on both sides of the law, as he fights for his freedom and the lives of all those around him.

The Making Of by emmagrant01 (58K, E, Johnlockstrade) In the aftermath of Sherlock's death, John Watson and Greg Lestrade take comfort in each other.  But of course, Sherlock isn't really dead, so this is all about to get complicated.

The Paradox Series by wordstrings (98K, E, Johnlock) In which what's in Sherlock's head is never going to get any better, and John is nearly thrown out of his flat.

The Prize by Trillsabells (101K, E, Johnlock) On 29 January 2010 an unknown Event wiped out 98% of the population. This is the story of the survivors, four months on.

The Quiet Man by ivyblossom (157K, E, Johnlock, Warstan) "Do you just carry on talking when I'm away?"

The Sustain Stories by maybe_amanda (151K, M, Sherlolly, John/Sarah) "So now you're behaving like a six year old 'cause he didn't take you along on his honeymoon?"  Lestrade said.  "Grow the hell up."

Through the Looking Glass by obsidienne (106K, M, Johnlock) When you chase criminals over rooftops, death is always a possibility. We woke up in 1889 instead. Which is not a place two men in a relationship want to be.

To Light Another's Path by BeautifulFiction (128K, E, Johnlock) Teaching John to observe seems to be a losing battle, but when Sherlock falls ill and submits himself to John's care, will he realise that there is more to life than the science of deduction? Meanwhile, there is a murder to solve, and John must try and convince Sherlock not to sacrifice his own health for the sake of the case.

Watches 'Verse by bendingsignpost (66K, E, Johnlock) First, he is shot in Afghanistan. Second, he wakes to a phone call in Chelmsford, Essex. Third is pain, fourth is normalcy, fifth is agony and sixth is confusion. By the eighth, he's lost track.

#rec list #best #post-reichenbach

[helenaklein]

Heya, i come across your blog while talking about nelroche etc. I never know anything about l&l since i never play lovestruck, can someone give explanation which part that is similiar? While idk anything about lovestruck, I found their previous work also has similiar with manga yana of the dawn (which i have read the manga, and yes, they are pretty similiar to called it just coincidence).

okay so fair warning... this is long as fuck because there are more similarities than there are differences lol. also as a disclaimer i’m only invested in this whole thing insofar as it entertains me but if the “””””creators””””” want to fight me because i wrote this post.... they’re welcome to but i promise i’ll have more fun than they will lmfao

l&l’s about a young woman from a major city in our world who one day gets sucked via magical portal into a fantasy world filled with magic and races that are only fiction in ours. once there, she gets mistaken for their most notorious war criminal, an insanely powerful witch who committed a genocide and is center of a cult of worshipers willing to kill and die for her.

this is nelroche’s description, straight from their devblog:

now, if it was a matter of similar basic premises and setups, i’d write it off as coincidence and tell the anons who made me aware of this that i thought they were overreacting. after all, “normal-human sucked into medieval world” and even “mistaken identity” are both very well established tropes that have been done and done again and will continue to be done because many find it compelling. hell, i do too. honestly, if the devs had simply said that they drew inspiration from love & legends, i’d have understood.

but.

the similarities only begin there. and they only get more excessive. coupled with their adamant denial that they’ve never even read it....... it’s just not possible lmfao. even if they decided to change the physical appearances of the characters, the tropes behind them and their personalities are exactly the same.

the nelroche demo has:

1) the lord of a region who’s a massive workaholic to the point of self-detriment, but is very caring towards their people and their inner circle and whom everyone in the group has referred to as a parental figure.

aka.... l&l’s reiner wolfson, who’s described directly from the app as “Reiner is a fair and compassionate ruler who would defend the people of the human domain with his life.”

2) the prickly knight to said lord, who’s fiercely dedicated to their liege, very serious in personality along with stubborn and prideful, but cares deep down once you get past their walls.

literally l&l’s august falke. the demo describes them, literally as “...reminds me of the knights in the fairy tales, except, it seems, not quite as charming” whereas august’s in-app description reads “This knight in shining armor is more aggressive than the story books led you to believe...” I’ll let the similarities there speak for themselves.... lol

3) the energetic and bubbly mage who’s super tiny compared to their companions and avoids serious discussion, who happens to be a bit of a trickster and has a mysterious quality.

l&l’s altea bellerose but make it less pink! altea and “C”s similarities go even deeper but i’ll get into that a bit later.

4) the mysterious and heterochromatic-eyed figure who’s distrustful and initially stand-offish as a result of living through a life of hardship, that is excitable and actually loves to travel.

look no further than l&l’s saerys! M’s eyes are “ocean blue and purple” compared to his blue and red, but don’t let that difference fool you! their introductions are laughably similar (more on that later)... and the “travel” bit lmfao. not to be mean but they couldn’t at least change up his hobbies? come on now, work for that plagiarized bag!

5) the lazy and flirtatious one who’d rather spent their days joking and taking it easy than handling their many responsibilities, who does care but shows it in ways unconventional.

just because their hair is grey instead of white doesn’t mean it’s not l&l’s iseul idreis, babes! i’d know that endlessly frustrating man anywhere! lovestruck’s app description for him reads: “The elven prince is beautiful and cunning with a silver tongue, but his lackadaisical lifestyle leaves much to be desired”. corporate wants you to find the difference between these two pictures they’re the same dot jpg.

6) the complicated and slender blonde who wields both blade AND magic, whose eyes glow, whose power is deemed dangerous, who wears shades of blue, AND is initially described as cold? who seems like she wants to beat the hell out of her compatriots, who she seems to lead, and whose outfit is needlessly complicated?

you think i don’t know a knock off helena klein when i see one???? ME???????? helena’s in-app description LITERALLY reads “cold as ice” and “wielding both sword and sorcery with ruthless precision”!!!!! of alllllllllll the things i’m most offended by this one motherfucker you can’t just fuck around with helena on a whim okay this shit is personal now!!!!!!

7) the creepy, predatory, and combative pale-but-tanned-but-murky-skinned dude who wears robes and a creepy beast mask.

l&l’s jinhai jubal i know it’s you!!!! actually this is probably the funniest thing of the whole situation to me bc this dev decided to remove not-alain as a love interest and seemingly replace him with not-jinhai. secondary poster you a hilarious bitch i’m not gonna lie.

(here’s jinhai in his mask lmfao)

8) the mouse-looking man who seems not as confident as not-helena and not-jinhai, wears full armor AND a double-sided sword strapped to his back.

none other than l&l’s alain richter, back from the dead! im gonna let the next image speak for itself.

still with me? i sure hope so bc it really gets juicy now!!!!! the similarities don’t end with the characters!!!! no, no, no!!!! the plot and progression of the demo are identical to that of l&l’s pilot episode, beat for beat.

in the l&l pilot episode, after the mc stumbles through the portal and into the medieval town, she’s almost immediately accosted by august, a rude mf who essentially acts not very knight-like despite his appearance and forces her into the nearby castle’s dungeon.

once inside the dungeon, the l&l mc is approached by a figure with hetero-chromatic eyes, who seems intrigued and confused by the mc’s lack of knowledge about the fantasy world.

once that person leaves, in comes a bubbly woman who seems to be floating. she asks mc if she’s ready to get out of the dungeon, and mc is like!!!! finally someone willing to help me. only..... uh oh.... she takes her to her lord instead of freeing her, wtf!!!!

once brought to the lord, who seems much more calm and reasonable than his high-strung and feisty knight, he listens to mc’s story and seems to believe her somewhat, but doesn’t want to risk his people.

(he’s even standing at the window LMFAOOOOOOOOO)

then the last remaining figure (iseul) playfully suggests that the lord (reiner) allow the mc to pick which among the group she’d like to guard her while they all determine whether or not she’s being truthful about not knowing anything. this is literally! literally! LITERALLY! how the PILOT EPISODE! of LOVE AND LEGENDS! ENDS!

ARE YOU SERIOUS LMFAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOO. going through all this is literally fucking HILARIOUS to me like ak;sdfjadsfkl;asdfjlasdf how BOLD and BRAVE do you have to be to so blatantly rip something off and then deny even ever encountering what you stole from adsfkjldfasdfkasd,f. i’m not even super mad bc like.... i torment voltage for funsies. but! LMAO!!!!!!!!

lastly..... as an added bonus to all of the juicy, juicy evidence above. l&l mc has a best friend in the “real”, modern world, who inexplicably has a lookalike in the fantasy world. well..... would you believe it if i told you that the nelroche has one just like it???

that’s right! even sophie and solaire made the plagiarism cut! gotta love those girlies, i’m so happy for them :)

the end!

#lvstrck #long post #do i tag this bc i want to cause problems on purpose????? #love & legends #l&l #nelroche #oops! #Anonymous

[blaster-aichi]

Cardfight!! Vanguard Extra Story IF 15 things

belated edition because brain went on a marathon

The opening scene with Aichi appears to insinuate one of two things: either the Sanctuary Knights need Kai-kun to help stabilize his condition or, as part of a theory below, maintaining the IF World is putting a strain on Aichi that’s becoming more than he can handle with time. The latter would solve why the team suddenly intended to have him visit Sanctuary considering the lengths Aichi’s gone to to keep them apart, but just how he could fulfil the role, haven’t been able to think up anything.

Ibuki switching to Aichi’s first name being a permanent thing now. Yes. (It’s a nice idea if they’re going to play on the both switching places from high school arc)

Had theorized Kai-kun was in an otherworldly/pocket dimension location with the colouring of the scenes in the preview but Takuto summoning him begs the question of how much he has as Prisoner; why not summon Emi and the others into the castle? Or Rekka and Ren, as a means of reintroducing them to the story now that their objective overlaps with that of Suiko’s group? Also Takuto being soft mint Takuto, you little shit, don’t just dangle a life like that over a kid’s head when you know it’s more “real” than the dream he’s living in.

Someone actually drag Aichi home, he’s way too dangerous. He’s pointing swords at anyone and everyone. It speaks for how deep the distortion in him is seeping, with the pacifist we’ve seen him be over the years, to raise a sword at even Kai-kun, to attack Ibuki(’s cards, but somehow not his fingers) with it — and tossing Ibuki into the void — one can only imagine how badly he’s going to react to how far off the rails he went if he has a PsyAichi-esque realization.

Kai-kun confirmed to never hold a girl’s hand before.

How dare Bushi make the Kai Parents the softest, chillest parents when we’ve been privy to what their real selves are like. (Papa Kai mixing up Shuka and Emi slays. Sir, do you mix up your employees too?)

SHIZUKA  — seeing her anything other than bubbly is painful, particularly when it’s used to contrast the happiness of the Kai family; it serves to hammer home how only one of Kai and AichiEmi is allowed to have a family remain in tact and their happiness preserved, driving home how the other serves to be a sacrifice.

“I’m not the kind of guy who still plays Vanguard in high school!” a) did he just roast his real self (and 90% of the cast)? b) side-eyes the preview, ahaha.wav

IF then: presents itself as the most light-hearted season to date IF now: threatens murder at every turn and has the two boys who’ve been protagonists in the past both run away from home in a single season

The episode all but said in as many words that the price of Aichi’s creating/altering IF World to ensure Kai-kun’s happiness was his own presence so as not to trigger any awakening to Kai-kun’s Outside World memories, sacrificing his own happiness to be around his friends in order to allow his best friend a content, fulfilling life. But in recognizing that, and willingly giving up the illusion for the sake of someone else demonstrates just how good a kid Kai-kun is, no matter the world, no matter how cold and distant he’d portray himself in the card-centric seasons.       — Season 1 (of 2011, so different continuity but go with it) initially painted Kai-kun as a more selfish individual in order to mask the complexities of his predicament, his goal appeared to be about power in order to topple a rival, but it was demonstrable that his motivations weren’t so cut and dry: it was about getting Ren back from a state that warped him, the fear that the same was happening to Aichi before his eyes and he was scared due to his inability to prevent it. And Link Joker followed the same line of thinking: his giving into Reverse was never about power, but his fear of falling behind and not being able to keep up — bearing in mind, he had done so thus far without the involvement of any power like Ren and Aichi had experienced — his motivations had always been driven by helplessness, fear and any inability to face them head-on, finding it easier to handle if he ran away — which was a big part of why it bothered me that people would nail him as being completely selfish and stupid when giving into temptation and accepting Reverse’s power. IF’s iteration of him gets to demonstrate what would happen if he was able to communicate himself properly and follow through with what he believes, in similar vein to Legion Mate, but without the shackles of guilt and atonement; he’s experienced a happy life, and wishes not to deprive someone else of the same, but without the pride of his usual self, he doesn’t run himself into the ground overthinking, but takes action based on the emotions he freely allows himself to feel and express.

Eager to see the extent of Kai-kun’s power; Kourin stated he’s in an incomplete form, but he’s able to perform the same as Emi without the need for Shuka’s involvement and even Ride units the same way had hoped Emi was going to prior to the season’s airing. Which poses the question of how is he able to and why Aichi would allow it within a world that he tampered with to erase the relationship, unless it’s a facet beyond his reality warping ability.

Kamui’s appearance in the preview brought a thought to mind: although they’re in different branches of the school ordinarily, there’s been no evidence that Kai-kun attends Hitsue within IF, and that, in fact, with his family’s wealth, it’s possible he could even attend Miyaji instead. The line of thinking is wholly dependent on how Kai-kun reacts to Kamui and/or his uniform come epi 16, but it would be a nice nod to the dividing up of the Kai/Miwa/Ibuki trio to have them each in different schools in a similar manner to their initial divided stances in the season’s plot.

Also IF 16? Did someone order extra-cute?

A couple of theories to add to the pile (partially yanked from discord logs)

Aichi:

Something corrupted him and started fucking with his head to implant the insinuation that Kai-kun's life would have been better had he never pursued Vanguard as a hobby and the two of them never met. It could be that Ibuki Deleting Kai-kun and the subsequent struggle he had was the means for this line of thinking to worm its way in.      — In the same vein as VoidAichi, said corruption gave him the ability to warp reality, allowing for a completely happy and harmless life for Kai-kun, though it distorted things around him as a result, hence binding his page in the Akashic Records; that's a defence tactic Aichi took to prevent the change from being recognized by the Tatsunagis and an effort to correct what was clearly altered from their understanding For the sake of not risking himself being a trigger that would bring to the surface any memories of his real life, Aichi ran away from home and holed up in Sanctuary, removing any chance of Kai-kun being enlightened to the truth and allowing his perfectly happy life to continue without a hitch, and by having him get bored of Vanguard, there is no tie between them But the corruption is poisoning him and/or the strain of upholding such a world is taking its toll on Aichi, hence the beginning of the episode, and they already spelled out he himself isn't happy, it kills him to not see the person he wants to most, but sacrifices his happiness for Kai-kun's. Why he wanted Kai-kun brought to Sanctuary, idk, maybe as a brief respite, to serve as a reminder of why he's doing this, and keep his eroding spirit strong      — The corruption is what's turned him into a violent monster who's fine with hurting or pointing a sword at whoever gets in his way. VoidAichi was passive and sealed because he was a threat to his friends' peace, trapped in a position where he was a ticking timebomb, but IF Aichi is proactive and cut himself off because he's a threat to Kai-kun's happiness and can do something about it.

Also it's made pretty obvious that Aichi's tampered with Kourin, Naoki and Shingo's (and probably Miwa's) memories, which is why they're so fixated on his will and their dedication which feels kind of cult-ish, because of Naoki's glimpse of the real history after he lost the fight In his own, even more twisted way than Legion Mate, Aichi thinks he's doing the right thing, and the interference with that dreamworld isn't something he has the patience for due to the corruption, which is why he freaks out whenever Vanguard is brought up or someone opposes him

Ibuki:

The theory is Ibuki's been cast into an illusion where he relives his childhood, or maybe an ideal childhood is given to him in the same vein as IF Kai-kun to lessen his will to fight, whether to enforce just what he's up against and the hurt he could face again or to give him a glimpse of what he could be blessed with if he stops interfering with Aichi's world Shuka seeking out Emi gets a little more strength to it as well, as the only person in the world who would recognize that anything is wrong with the atmosphere at home the way it is after Aichi ran away, and no-one else knowing him because of his isolated childhood, so she's the only anchor to drag him back down.

Courtney also came up with the suggestion that Ibuki might instead be forced to loop through his torment at the Deletors’ hands, living through cycles of his attempt to erase Vanguard, to twist the knife but also try to remind him of why Vanguard is a terrible thing.

Kai family:

“I’ll see you again someday”.

The use of this line as Kai-kun’s parting words to his parents is striking: as given Shuka’s warning, the likelihood of him actually achieving this is minimal, unless for a few scenarios:     — he returns home to be with them as IF World is erased and the timeline corrected, allowing them one last time together     — post-IF, the real Kai-kun seeks out his parents. In doing so, he’s able to demonstrate to them what he was able to grow up into despite their abandonment, even if for that purpose and then to part ways with them. For the real Kai-kun, such a meeting would serve as closure and for the IF version within him, it would be one last show of love and gratitude for the life they gave him. (the latter part could apply to the real Kai-kun, appreciating the childhood he was given until they left.)     — Also the irony that they absconded for selfish purposes, shirking all responsibiliy of their child, left to fend for himself against the ire of his relatives, but when he runs away from home, it's to protect them. What a good boy.

#Cardfight!! Vanguard #Cardfight!! Vanguard IF #cfv spoilers

[elencelebrindal]

Honest Opinion - Wyvern Rhadamanthys

This is a pre-written entry. Due to personal reasons, there is a chance I will not be able to post anything else but the Three Judges. A slight chance, mind you, and maybe only for a week or so, but I wanted to tell you. And now, onto this shady wyvern with too many limbs to be a wyvern.

Also, name change alert! His name in the Italian dub is Radamante, which is basically the same name, but in Italian.

Uhm... there might be some slip ups of me commenting as I went. I normally do that when I write stuff down (and then delete everything), but I am not in the mood to keep an eye out for everything. I’m sorry about that, and hopefully it will just be funnier for you to read. If you see something in these [ ], that’s my commentary. Don’t take it too seriously. 

Overall score (character, not looks): 10/10

You guessed it, I love my goth English gentleman here. I don’t know why, maybe because of all the fanworks around him, but the lone fact of him being a noble English gentleman just... I love it, but at the same time it makes me laugh because this man can crush you to tiny little pieces with his pinky finger.  Anyway, back to the point.

I know he appeared in both the Sanctuary Chapter and the Inferno Chapter, but I will not be splitting this honest opinion like the Bronze Saints. Mostly because he’s the only Specter that really appears in more than one chapter, and I want to keep all the entries similar between them.  So, let’s talk about his first appearance. 

I loved the way he was introduced. Subordinate? Yes. Still demanding people to obey him? Absolutely yes. To me, despite feeling a little frustrated at him for disregarding Pandora’s orders, this described the character as it is.  Later on in the show, we discover that Rhadamanthys is not a calm person. He’s not patient, and he gets violent very quickly (and on a Saint Seiya scale, that’s pretty high). His introduction, with him listening to Pandora but still doing as he pleases, summed him up pretty good. 

And then, we see how powerful he is. There’s a lot of cases of characters who seem intimidating, but then are weak and useless. Rhadamanthys is not one of them.  The “fight”, if we can even call it that, against Aphrodite and Deathmask started off this character completely. Yes, you can argue that those two were weaker than before they died, but I don’t think Pandora would send out the resurrected Saints to kill Athena if they were weak.  Rhadamanthys not only brushed them off like nothing, but he destroyed them with the same exact technique Deathmask tried to use on him. A technique that didn’t work on him.  Again, you can argue that maybe it didn’t work because Rhadamanthys is a Specter and not a normal human being (normal for a Saint standard, not normal normal), but if that was the case why would Deathmask use it on him? So, and I might go a little too much towards him, he has to be damn right powerful.  He is one of the Three Judges of the Underworld, after all. 

Now, with this part... yeah, he was definitely using the barrier around Hades’ castle in hi favor. Because he would never have won against three Gold Saints in their full power and vigor.  Judge or not, no way he would have been able to overpower three Gold Saints. Especially not Milo, Aiolia and Mur together, since they all have different attack and defense techniques. But he played it smart, relied on the barrier, and guess what. He won.  Half an episode later, and BOOM. Three Gold Saints sent straight into the Underworld. Dritti all’Inferno. One way ticket. 

The absolute bullshit of him almost losing against our dear Bronze Saints, though? Yeah, no. They should have all died as soon as he used his Greatest Caution (I am very tired as of writing this, I don’t remember if that’s the actual English name or the original one), but apparently not even a technique like that can kill those four bastards.  I rest my case, they should have died, end of the war because Rhadamanthys would have killed Shun as well.  Well, maybe he could have survived Because of Hades. But still. All dead. 

And this is why I am not taking away points from him. Normally, if a very powerful Saint, or Specter, or whatever loses (or, in this case, almost loses) against a weaker character, i take away some points. But what happened with Rhadamanthys and Pegasus (alongside the energy of his companions? This is too much bullshit already) was so obviously plot driven that I just cannot blame him for that.  This was one of those instances in which you want to yell at the character that’s losing, but you just can’t. Like, physically just can’t. 

But let’s continue.

First of all, his interaction with Lune was good. He didn’t belittle him or anything, on the opposite he got quite concerned upon seeing him like that, in so much distress. And then, of course, his interaction with Kanon.  I loved how quickly he understood the real problem behind Lune freaking out, and honestly I don’t blame him for falling for Kanon’s technique [Fantasma dell’Oscurità, I forgot the English name dammit]. And the way he straight up said “oh, let’d fight later, my boss is more important than you” and teleported away. I just... I know that scene was to be taken seriously, but man it was funny.  It was basically Rhadamanthys saying “you’re not worth my time, hit me up later”, and I loved it. 

And now, we can get into one of the two scenes I loved the most about him. Can you guess it? [Yeah, they can, non hanno un solo neurone come me]

This part right here showed how clever and cautious (get it, ‘cause of the Greatest Caution? I’ll stop now) he is.  This scene was, at least in my opinion, the one that showed us his full potential. It showed us the reason why he is in the position he is. And I know you’re going to say “but insert my name here, it’s obvious that he’s a Judge, look at his mythological counterpart” and you’re right. BUT there is a reason why he is still in the position he is.  Rhadamanthys didn’t blindly trust Orphée [non azzeccherò mai gli accenti su sto nome], but kept his eyes open (quite literally) and didn’t fall for his strategy. Pandora, Minos and Aiacos all fell asleep, but Rhadamanthys? No, he acted carefully, and ended up not only getting rid of Seiya [best part of the show], but also killing Orhpée (through Seiya).  Now that is what I call good work. 

Onward to the next scene on my favorite list (but first let’s talk about what brought him there). First of all, remember when I said that yes he is powerful enough to overthrow [man, i sure hope that’s the right word] both Aphrodite and Deathmask without taking advantage of an outside factor? Well, it makes sense that Kanon got an almost insta-kill on him. Why? Because Kanon is one of the most powerful Saints out there, and Rhadamanthys is not [come si diceva onnipotente in inglese?] almighty.  I liked that he got the shit beaten out of him, because I don’t like characters who always win.  Also, Rhadamanthys getting so angry about the other two Judges cutting in? Brilliant. This character stayed true to his personality from start to finish. 

But let me tell you. The scene that I loved the most about him. The last fight against Kanon. 

His fear was so genuine. Sure, at first he belittled Kanon, laughed at him when he gave up the Cloth and still wanted to fight, but then? As soon as he realized Kanon was not fooling around, and was ready to die just to defeat him, that fear kicked in. Rhadamanthys, despite his rank, despite him technically not being that much alive to begin with, reacted like a proper human being. With pure, unadulterated fear.  He was scared to the point of trying to talk it out with Kanon, dammit. That’s what I liked the most, that’s what truly made him tridimensional and real.  That’s what made him one of my absolute favorite Specters of all time. 

Well, that... and the fact he basically drinks on the job. 

#saint seiya #i cavalieri dello zodiaco #los caballeros del zodiaco #os cavaleiros do zodiaco #knights of the zodiac #wyvern rhadamanthys #my opinion #honest opinion

[shadowed-dancer]

SVTFOE Season 4 Rewrite

Long, long ago I hinted that I’d make this and then I didn’t post it. It’s been sitting in my drafts for months so I figured “hey, maybe it’s time.” Some of you may recall this rewrite I did back in May which changed the events of Cleaved, but I wanted to go further. In an ideal scenario, we never get to the point where Cleaved is a necessary episode because the build up of the season was designed in a way that any resolution ends up being unsatisfying.

For this little writing exercise I’ve decided to undertake, I’d like to establish my ground rules. I will be working with the amount of episodes already allotted to season 4 (21 episodes) and I’ll be writing under the idea that they are aired the same way (two every Sunday, with the finale being aired alone. I’ll put a “-” in between episodes so you know which would have aired together). Some episodes will remain the same, some will be similar but will have changes, some will borrow ideas from real episodes, and others will be the same as episodes we actually got, just shifted to a different point in the season. Some of my episodes will be 10 minutes, others will take the whole 20.

As always, this is just for fun, I still have the greatest respect for the svtfoe team and what they created.

It’s a super long post, which is why it’s under the cut. I worked really hard on this, so any likes and reblogs are appreciated! Alright, without further ado, season 4!

Episode 1: Butterfly Follies

I found that this episode was a lovely reintroduction to the characters, so I wouldn’t change anything about it.

Episode 2: Escape From Pie Island

Honestly, it was fine. I think it tied together the “finding Moon” plot from Butterfly Follies pretty well. I’d include a little more about Festivia if anything.

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Episode 3 A: Moon Remembers

A nice episode as is, I wouldn’t change anything

Episode 3 B: Swimsuit

Also an awesome episode! One of my favourites actually, so it stays (don’t worry, we’ll get to the juicy changes soon enough)

Episode 4 A: Ransomgram

Ransomgram was a cute episode. It helped us take a break from the plot driven drama of the past few episodes. HOWEVER, I would change 1 thing. At the end, when someone has to stay in the ab dimension to repair the damage, I’d have Star do it (like she tricks Marco into leaving, closes the portal behind him, then comes out a few seconds later in Mewni). This way her age evens out with Marco’s. The way it’s currently written actually makes the age gap worse! So yeah, have Star stay behind without Marco.

Episode 4 B: Lake House Fever

A good episode, I loved seeing more of Dave and Wrathmelior, but I would start really foreshadowing that Star and Tom are about to break up. Don’t have the cute “are you an angel” exchange at the end. Instead, let them have the awkwardness of a couple who’s fallen out of love. We want to break people off their desire for Tomstar early, not super late.

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Episode 5 A: Yada Yada Berries

Who doesn’t love a good detective episode? Plus, the events of this will be important later. It stays the same

Episode 5 B: Down by the River

Similar to the original, but now have Moon actually excited to start a new Kingdom. It’s in her nature, she’s been trained to be queen her whole life, so show the establishments of the new kingdom, but with a queen who really wanted it (have her be excited when new people show up, have her eagerly establish living quarters and such).

Episode 6 A: The Ponyhead Show

Same title, different plot. Ponyhead’s new show is set to premiere with it’s first celebrity guest, Eclipsa, but someone cuts the connection. The show was supposed to be Eclipsa’s first official address to her people. This episode’s plot is the characters trying to get the connection back before their allotted time runs out. They end up succeeding and Eclipsa gets to sing her song. Also, cut all the Kelly and Marco interactions, or at least make it super obvious that they are just friends (why not give Kelly a boyfriend? One that isn’t Tad)

Episode 6 B: Surviving the Spiderbites

Perfect episode, wouldn’t change a thing. Absolutely amazing.

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Episode 7: Curse of the Blood Moon

Yeah, I cut the entirety of the original episode 7 and shifted this one up a bit, but can you really blame me? Those episodes were pointless! This episode was good, I wouldn’t change to much, however, make it really obvious that, after the curse is broken, Marco still thinks everything about Star is adorable. She could also feel the same way about him. To make room for this, cut that weird couch segment.

Episode 8 A: Princess Quasar Catepillar and the Magic Bell

This was a fun episode, and since we’ll just be coming off of a plot driven episode, let’s do something cool with Ludo!

Episode 8 B: Ghost of Butterfly Castle

Same as the actual episode, but now we learn that Mina was not only behind the Yada Yada berries, but she was also behind cutting the connection at the Ponyhead Show.

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Episode 9 A: Cornball!

Same as the actual episode we got, but without the whole “Break up buddies” thing between Marco and Kelly (remember how we cut that whole episode?) Now, we just have Marco and Kelly being friends, maybe with Marco hinting that he really likes Star and Kelly giving some relationship advice?

Episode 9 B: Meteora’s Lesson

Same title, but it’s been rewritten! So, the episode plays out the same up until they meet Toffee. In this new episode, they don’t meet Toffee at all! Instead, they travel to Skywynne directly after she destroyed the dimension. Turns out the lesson wasn’t for Meteora, it was for Skywynne. Glossaryck reassures Skywynne that everything will work out between her and her crush and, as proof, he brought her great granddaughter from the future. Skywynne is super confused and attributes the whole thing to being a hallucination caused by her dipping down for the first time (because remember, Skywynne thinks Glossaryck is dead at that point in her life). Glossaryck tries to explain that he’s real and, to prove he’s fake, Skywynne grabs her wand and is about to blast him. Meteora reacts to this and dips down to protect him (like the way it’s described in the book, out of the protection for another). Glossaryck and her go back to their own time, leaving Skywynne really confused. It ends the same way the real episode does.

Episode 10 A: The Knight Shift

I didn’t like this episode, but I like the relationship building between Marco and Star. It ends similarly with Marco saying that, no matter what, he’ll be there for Star and will visit her often. He then gets a call from his parents, leading us to...

Episode 10 B: Mariposa

A completely new episode! Marco and Star learn that his new baby brother is about to be born, so they return to Earth. Maybe there’s some trouble getting there or whatever. It would just be a cute episode, so I won’t go into huge details since they don’t matter, but it would obviously end with the baby being a girl and being called Mariposa! Star decides to stay on Earth for a few days, realizing that she feels more comfortable there than on Mewni at the moment.

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Episode 11 A: Britta’s Tacos

Pretty much the same episode we actually got. I liked it.

Episode 11 B: Beach Day

Again, same episode as what we got in the actual season. However now there is the obviousness of them slowly wanting to be a couple.

Episode 12 A: Gone Baby Gone

Pretty much the same episode because I love getting to see the teen designs for Mariposa and Meteora. However, this time it’s not Heckapoo who leaves a portal open, instead someone (doesn’t matter who) accidentally cuts a rift to the abs dimension. Also, now we’d actually get to see adult Star from when I aged her up back in ransomgram!

Episode 12 B: Sad Teen Hotline

Tom comes to visit Star on Earth and breaks up with her. It’s basically the same as the original episode, but the portals are actually being affected by their emotions (not by Heckapoo closing the portals). It ends with him coming to terms with it and is able to make a proper portal to leave.

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Episode 13 A: Pancake Day

Similar to the episode “A Spell With No Name” from the actual series in the sense that we get to hang out with the spells again. Star’s spells are in a bit of a panic because ownership has transferred from Star to Eclipsa and they fear they may never be used again! To help ease their minds, Narwhal and Spider go out to the other rooms and interview spells from past queens (specifically spells we actually read about in the book) and they get to realize that, even if another princess doesn’t use them, they still can lead good lives inside the wand! To celebrate, the invite their new spell friends back to their room for a pancake day.

Episode 13 B: Junkin Janna

Star needs to accompany Eclipsa to a meeting with the MHC, while Tom needs help keeping his mind off his breakup with Star. Janna tags along with Star to Mewni and offers to take Tom boot sledding. Eclipsa and Star learn that there are readings of magic being emitted from the destroyed Butterfly castle (not the monster temple). Eclipsa and Star say they don’t know who it is, since neither of them had gone back. Meanwhile, Tom and Janna get attacked by the bird and we learn that Mina is creating a giant suit of armour for... something.

Episode 14: General Loveberry

A flashback episode! Yay! This episode starts the same way “Pizza Party” starts, with an introduction to rag peddler Mina meeting Solaria and the promise that Mina will be the fiercest warrior Mewni ever knew. It cuts to a scene at the meeting table (the one from “Moon the Undaunted”) with Jushtin yelling at Solaria that the idea is insane. Mina says she’ll happily risk herself to defend the kingdom, and that perhaps Mewni is lucky Jushtin never became queen. Jushtin stands up and takes Eclipsa from Solaria, saying that it’s his sister’s choice on how to proceed, but that it’s no place for a baby.

We then go through a series of cuts to the different Queens at the table. At each cut, Mina becomes a little more unstable.

We start with Queen Eclipsa and Shastacan arguing about whether to deploy the Solarians. Mina reassures Eclipsa that her armies will destroy every last monster, making Eclipsa squirm. She says that she’s the queen and her decision is final, they will not use the Solarians.

Cut to Festivia and the MHC. True to Festivia’s chapter, Rhombulus is suggesting war, Omnitraxes says to wait, Glossaryck isn’t there, and Heckapoo is being super supportive of Festivia. She decides they will go to war and Mina says her army will fight just as hard, if not harder, than when Solaria had first made them.

Cut to Dirhhennia doodling balls on a piece of paper while Festivia introduces Mina and describes all the valiant things she did. Dirhhennia looks up and shrugs, making some comment or whatever. Festivia and Mina exchange a look and it cuts to the literal same scene, but now it’s Crescenta excitedly listening to the victories of Mina. She says that, with her plans for the kingdom, Mina and the Solarians won’t need to fight, and that they can take a break, but it’s good to know they fought so hard.

Cut to Rhina asking if it’s possible for the Solarians to protect her on a trip to the Underworld. Mina explains that not many Solarians are left, and besides, their job wasn’t escort missions, they were made for battle.

Cut to Celena comforting Mina, as we learn that she is the last Solarian left.

Cut to the MHC arguing again with Estrella drawing instead of paying attention, while Mina tries to explain the benefit of another war.

Finally, we cut to Queen Comet explaining her idea for a peace treaty. Mina tries desperately to change her mind, but Comet refuses and explains how the tension between monsters has been going on for too long. She tells Mina a detailed plan for her trip to make he deal, and is then called in by Moon, who needs help figuring out a pie recipe. Comet leaves and Mina is left to think.

Under the cover of night, Mina goes out to the Monster camp. The Monsters freak out as she walks in, but she explains that she means them no harm... yet. She demands she speaks to the general (Toffee) and she gives him all the details of Comet’s travel plan. She says that a peace treaty won’t benefit either side, and he says he agrees. She tells him to do whatever he wants with that information, before she runs back into the woods.

We then get a cut to the present, where Mina is standing in the garden at night, facing statues of the previous queens that we just saw. She apologizes to Comet, saying that it was the only way to end the war once and for all. She hears footsteps behind her, and Moon appears. She says “I’m ready to help” and Mina smiles.

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Episode 15 A: A Boy and His DC‑700XE

Again, same episode. This was a really nice, fun episode. However, any and all jokes about Tomco are removed, and instead Tom says that if Marco wants to date Star, he can.

(I want to deal with this now, because I know someone will ask. The reason I don’t want any Tomco hints is because, in this fake season, Starco is already under way. I want to minimize the shipping drama and just build as healthy a relationship as possible for Star and Marco, one that the fandom would hopefully be ok with).

Episode 15 B: Return to St. Olga’s

Eclipsa comes to Star and says that Meteora won’t stop crying and she’s not sure why. She gives Star a drawing that Meteora did, which Star immediately recognizes (it’s just a bunch of scribbles, the audience isn’t meant to know what this is but somehow Star gets it). She tells Eclipsa she knows what Meteora wants, and goes to get Marco. They then go back to St. Olga’s and we get to check in with the girls over there (they’re doing well). The details don’t really matter, but in the end they find Meteora’s old car parked out front (the one she used to live in) and in the trunk they find the dolls of Eclipsa and Globgor. They return with the dolls and Meteora begins clapping before hugging them close. Eclipsa expresses her shock, stating that she hadn’t seen those dolls in 300 hundred years. It ends with Eclipsa looking at the Globgor doll and smiling.

Episode 16: The Monster and the Queen

Similar to the real episode, but longer. It ends with Star proclaiming that Eclipsa will receive a proper coronation, and then will become the proper queen of Mewni once again.

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Episode 17 A: Doop Doop

Same title, altered plot. Moon goes to Star and tells her to go on vacation to Earth because the stress of planning a coronation is clearly starting to get to her. Star agrees, saying it would be nice to take a break from planning. Star and Marco go through Mewni and say good bye to all their friends, ending with Doop Doop, before actually leaving for Earth. Once they’re back on Earth, Star says she forgot something and tries to open the portal, but it doesn’t work. She questions if it’s because she’s emotional, like what happened with her break up with Tom. She attempts to call Tom with the intention of having him bring the thing she forgot, but it goes to static. Her and Marco realize something is wrong with the portals.

Episode 17 B: Jannanagins

Same episode, but now Tom isn’t here.

Episode 18 A: Mama Star

Same episode, but Tom isn't here.

Episode 18 B: Ready, Aim, Fire

Similar to the real episode, but Globgor is not free yet. Star, Marco, and Janna all wake up in different places on Mewni (Doop Doop, lint catcher, and Meteora’s nursery). Marco learns that the MHC plans on freeing Globgor, then having the Solarians attack while he’s still disoriented from being freed. Moon is shocked that Star has returned, and Star goes to help Eclipsa, whose castle is under attack. Janna is staying with Meteora while Eclipsa defends her castle and her people.

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Episode 19 A: The Right Way

Star and Eclipsa defeat the one warrior (not with the total annihilation spells, just with something else). Moon shows up to help but slips up and reveals she sent Star to Earth knowing this attack would happen, and that she wanted Star away from the danger. She’s then forced to explain herself and reveals that she (Moon) made the new Solarians with the intent of getting rid of Globgor once and for all. Moon speaks of the horror stories she was told about Globgor, leading Eclipsa to speak up with the truth.

Episode 19 B: Queen of Darkness

A flashback episode, very similar to “Moon the Undaunted” from season 3. This would be the story of Meteora’s kidnapping, Globgor eating Shastacan, the attack on Spiderbite village, and Globgor’s crystallization. The whole episode would end with Eclipsa being crystallized.

Episode 20 A: Here to Help

Moon tries to reason with Mina, explaining that she was wrong about Globgor and that he was just a parent looking out for his family. She takes away the powers of the Solarians, leaving Mina as the only one left. Moon tells Mina that Eclipsa will leave with Meteora and Globgor will stay crystallized forever. Mina complains that they are all being let off too easy and tries to attack, but is held off. The group of heroes fall through a portal like they do in “Pizza Party”, and they meet Heckapoo.

Episode 20 B: The Tavern at the End of the Multiverse

Heckapoo reveals that Rhombulus and Mina are going to destroy Globgor and there’s nothing they can do, so they might as well stay safe until this whole thing blows over, then Moon and Star can return, while Eclipsa and Meteora stay in hiding. Moon is mad until she realizes this is exactly what she did to Star, and suddenly understands Star’s conviction to fight for her beliefs. Star is freaking out over the whole thing and sees Glossaryck, forcing herself into his eye. From there, she tells him she needs advice and he takes her to the grandma room. The ghosts appear similar to the actual grandma reunion scene, but this time Star asks them for help on what to do. A few of them motion to Moon’s tapestry, revealing Toffee can speak. He and Star have a civil conversation which leads to him revealing that Mina gave him the information on where to find Comet. Star turns to ask the ghosts if that’s true, but they’re gone. She sees her tapestry though, it’s her and Marco holding hands while standing on a stage. They are facing away from the audience. Facing towards the audience is Eclipsa, Globgor, and Meteora, being cheered on. Star realizes this is the coronation and that she needs to make this happen. She returns and explains that Eclipsa needs to be the true queen again. When Moon protests, Star reveals that Mina helped plot the murder of Comet. With that, Moon prepares for battle.

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Episode 21: Cornonation

The episode begins with the group of friends all backstage while Eclipsa gets ready. It’s not as huge of an auditorium because they’re trying to keep things pretty quiet so they don’t attract any unwanted attention. (At some point here, Marco can point out the typo of “Cornonation”). Eclipsa learns a string on her guitar broke and runs to go fix it. Star goes after her and finds that Globgor has escaped. It was Mina who convinced Rhombulus to let Globgor out, but they didn’t anticipate he’d be so fast and he escaped. In a panic, he crashes into the coronation stage (rather than running to the swamp) and Mina goes for the attack. At some point, we show Moon returning to Butterfly castle to get her armour, and there can be another scene where she looks at her mother’s tapestry, smiling before going out to avenge her.

At this moment at the Coronation, Eclipsa is being crystallized but suddenly breaks out her butterfly form and dips down for the first time. She and Moon join forces to do the spell with no name but now it's effects are less deadly, it simply destroys Mina’s armour (rather than flying out and melting everything else). Moon can have a cool moment where she confronts Mina about Comet.

The MHC is still fighting Globgor and we get a similar cool fight scene. Tom suddenly flies up (he was back stage with Marco) and summons the dead queens (remember how he did that with Mackie Hand?) Mina is about to deliver the final blow on Globgor, who’s been reunited with Meteora, when Solaria intercepts the blow. Mina asks her why she’s doing this and she just holds Mina’s face in her hands. “You’ve served me valiantly, Mina. But it’s time to rest.” Mina returns to her normal form and looks around and sees how innocent Globgor looks with his family. She runs off into the forest.

The dead queens take a moment to look at their family. Solaria has a touching moment with Eclipsa and her family, showing she accepts it. Jushtin can swoop in and ruffle Eclipsa’s hair, causing them all to laugh. Maybe even Festivia and meet with Eclipsa (just a silent scene), perhaps with a hug from Eclipsa to Festivia. Meanwhile, Star and Moon reunite with Comet. Star finally gets to meet Celena and apologizes to Festivia for destroying her legacy. Star then makes amends with Skywynne, to whom she confesses that she was her favourite grandma. All the queens wave goodbye and are about to leave when Eclipsa stops them. “I know that some of you aren’t my real family, but we were all Queens of Mewni. And this kind of reunion doesn’t happen every day so... will you stay for my coronation?”

It ends the same way the real episode ends, but now we see all the character’s we’ve come to know sitting in the audience (including the queens and including some earth people like Marco’s family). The credits roll as Eclipsa and Globgor continue singing an extended version of their song. The last shot of the show is Star and Marco kissing backstage, with Marco’s cheeks glowing.

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Some Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed! Since I have your attention, I thought I’d justify and explain some of my reasonings for making the changes that I did. If this doesn’t interest you, feel free to click away now

Ending With Globgor’s Freedom

Some of you may be wondering “Why would you free Globgor at the end?! Don’t you want to show how cute he and Eclipsa are?” I do, which is why I extended “The Monster and the Queen” and why I added another flashback episode about them. I want you to think really hard though for one second. After his freedom in the original series, what did he do? He was injured, sure, but that didn’t lead to anything. He was just sort of... there. Did you know that Globgor doesn’t say a SINGLE word in Cleaved? Yeah...

Ending With the Coronation

Think about it. Svtfoe has always been about Star being a magical princess. This is the physical proof that that point in her life is coming to an end, just as the show is coming to an end. When I first watched season 1, I kind of assumed the series would end with Star becoming Queen. After we learned that Eclipsa was still the true heir, it only felt right to end it this way.

Adding “General Loveberry”

This fan made episode was honestly just a way to give the queens voices, but it also helps flesh out Mina’s character and show her descent into madness. She has seen all her fellow solarians die, she has served every queen, give her this recognition!

Making Mina Responsible for Comet’s Death

I had seen this theory floating around, but unfortunately I don’t know who created it. However, I think it adds a valid reason for Moon to turn on Mina. In the original, Moon flips sides too much, and her only reason for betraying Mina is “I didn’t know she would go so far”. HOW DID YOU NOT KNOW THAT? In mine, Mina DOESN’T go that far. She’s ready to do her duty to get rid of Globgor, and that’s all. It’s her past actions that catch up to her.

ALSO it would show Moon that her monster bias wasn’t completely right. I didn’t elaborate too much in the above section, so I’ll do it here. I would make it very clear throughout the series that Moon kind of blames all monsters for Comet’s death, so learning it was actually a Mewman, her trusted general no less, that was truly behind it makes her rethink everything.

Swapping Toffee for Skywynne in “Meteora’s Lesson”

Reason #1 is because I want to hear her voice, and she wouldn’t be in the “General Loveberry” episode. Reason #2 is because I want to see moments of the book addressed in the show. The fact that a queen destroyed a dimension is oddly glossed over in the series. I also think that visiting a past queen is more relevant than visiting Toffee, especially in my rewrite. Originally, Toffee’s appearance felt like fan service, but it kind of reminded people that Toffee wanted magic destroyed. Well now we don’t want to destroy magic, so Toffee can have his appearances in “General Loveberry” and “The Tavern”.

Not Destroying Magic

In my opinion, destroying the magic was NOT a satisfying way to end. Magic had always been a part of this world, so to come to the decision to destroy it  ONE episode in advance, it felt awkward. Keep magic, keep the queens, but now it’s a new generation. A generation where a queen will rule hand in hand with a monster.

Changing “The Spell With No Name” to “Pancake Day”

Is it just me, or did the original episode “The Spell with No Name” feel super over hyped? Like, they foreshadow this horrible destructive spell, and then Eclipsa uses it a few episodes later but nothing happens! There’s no “Oh my corn we need to stop it!” It just flies off, doing who knows what, and it’s never addressed! With my shift to a lighter episode, we get to address something that I assume would be a very real concern for the spells (not being used) and we get to meet some other spells. This also helps ease the audience into the idea of meeting the past queens, so it doesn’t seem as weird when they pop up at the end.

Why not break up Tom and Star even earlier?

I considered breaking up Tom and Star right after the Bloodmoon curse thing, but it felt too rushed. I felt there needed to be time where they're in a relationship, but it’s clear they aren’t super pumped about it. The way I have it, we still get lots of time between their break-up and the finale, plus Star and Marco never actually confirm they are dating. It ends more on the promise of “Let’s see if this works”.

#my writing #svtfoe #star vs the forces of evil #queens of mewni #star butterfly #moon butterfly #marco diaz #tom lucitor #mina loveberry #svtfoe janna #svtfoe kelly #svtfoe meteora #svtfoe eclipsa #skywynne queen of hours #jushtin the uncalculated #solaria the monster carver #festivia the fun #dirhhennia the heaped #crescenta the eager #rhina the riddled #celena the shy #estrella the drafted #comet the chef #svtfoe mhc

[une-nuit-pour-se-souvenir]

THE SAME STORY (1-2)

S02E10 - VALAR MORGHULIS (ARYA AND BRAN)

In S02E10 - Valar Morghulis, Danerys Targaryan goes to the House of the Undying and sees a bunch of riddles and visions. It’s been said that both books and show are different stories, but there are some major common stories including the endgame. What I propose here is an analysis of what is common between them.

A CLASH OF KINGS #47 - Danerys # 4: Danerys visits the House of the Undying and sees some visions that foreshadow her future.

SPINOFF #2: Melisandre’s visions.

S02E10 - Valar Morghulis: Danerys visits the House of the Undying and sees some visions that foreshadow her future.

SPINOFF #1: Arya Stark will kill Danerys with Bran’s help.

S04E02 - The Lion and the Rose and S06E06 - Blood of my Blood: Bran Stark has his first cluster of prophetic visions.

In this third post, I’ll highlight Arya and Bran’s role in specific, how Arya will kill Danerys with Bran’s help.

[02&03] THE HOUSE OF UNDYING

Danerys Targaryan and her bodyguards Jorah Mormont and Kovarro arrive at House of the Undying. Kovarro is wary of the place since he’s superstitious and believes this is a house of ghosts while Jorah is wary since he believes Pyat Pree is a dangerous warlock with powerful magic. Danerys is dismissive of their worries, even challenging these supernatural beings head on and presses forward. Danerys comes closer to the tower and asks if it’s a riddle, then goes around looking for an entrance. Jorah follows her but soon loses sight of her, only finding Kovarro upon completing a full turn. Danerys has been magically separated from Kovarro and Jorah, she’s already inside the House of Undying. She picks up a torch to light the way and she looks around, noticing that she can go either downstairs or upstairs. After she brags about not being afraid of warlock’s magic tricks (Bran Stark) and taunts that they’re scared of little girls (Arya Stark), she hears the dragons screeching and goes upstairs after them.

In the first and second of these posts, it was referenced that the Undying tower represents Bran Starks as the Three-Eyed Raven. [1] In the books, the Qarth warlocks are narrative parallels to the greenseers and Three-Eyed Raven, their concept matrix is exhaustively the same. [2] In the show, the House of Undying is designed and camera-shot to look like the Burned Tower of Winterfell, which is narratively connected with prophecy since this is what allowed Bran Stark to become Three-Eyed Raven.

Moreover, since this is a place where Danerys gets her fortune told yet she’s dismissive of Kovarro’s supervision about ghosts and of Jorah’s fears about warlocks, declaring she’s not afraid of his magic tricks and asking Pyat Pree if he’s afraid of a little girl This is classic Tempting Fate and highly suggests that Danerys’ future will have these threats and they will be her downfall. This is especially fitting since Danerys feels arrogant about her own magic being superior to everyone else’s, so what better way then to bring her downfall than in extremes, either a complete mundane death or an extremely magical one? Why not both?

All it’s left to figure out is what these represent. In hindsight, the scene transition gives it away: Arya Stark and Bran Stark.

THE BURNED TOWER

The Burned Tower of Winterfell is where Bran Stark caught Jaime and Cersei having sex, which led to Jaime pushing him off and paralysing him in hopes of hiding their incest and treason. While this was a tragic event, it’s what allowed Bran to awaken his greensight. In general, the Burned Tower is a narrative synonym with Bran as the Three-Eyed Raven, naughty behaviour as well as conspirations and treasons.

In the show, Cat finds one of Cersei’s hairs on the tower’s floor, which makes her suspect the Lannisters tried to kill Bran and this is why she goes south to warn Ned, leading to them plotting together. In the books, Theon sees sexy times beneath it and meets with Mance who wishes to kidnap “Arya Stark”. In the show, Sansa took this storyline and when she arrives at Winterfell to marry Ramsay Bolton, she visits the Crypts where she talks with Creepyfinger about Lyanna Stark (Jon Snow’s real mother and another “kidnapping” plot), and then later Sansa visits this tower while being harrassed by Myranda who’s jealous of her because of Ramsay. There’s also some inane candle plot that didn’t really go anywhere, but brought attention to the Burned Tower again and with fire, perhaps foreshadowing that something else will happen here (kidnapping plot). Most importantly of all, Bran sees the Burned Tower in prophetic visions, whose contents tell the same story that Danerys sees in the House of Undying.

In the books, there are several important towers which are either burned towers or ghost towers and that could potentially fit: the Tower of the Hand in King’s Landing, the Tower of Ghosts in Harrenhal, the Lord Commander’s Tower at Castle Black (in the books, this is where he finds Ygritte dying), Queenscrown in the North. Two survived the show adaptation, the Tower of the Hand and Queenscrown, where Bran wargs into Summer to help Jon escape from the Wildlings. It’s worth noting that in the books, Danerys also sees a smoking tower in one of the House of the Undying visions (most likely, representing Danerys burning Winterfell) and that in the “show” there’s the Tower of Joy which isn’t burned or haunted, but represents Bran as the Three-Eyed Raven finding out about Jon Snow being the rightful heir to the Iron Throne. This is where where Eddard Stark finds Lyanna dying from giving birth to Jon, the legitimate son of Rhaegar Targaryan, an event Bran witnesses through the Weirwood Network.

In conclusion, the similar design of the House of the Undying and the Broken Tower in the show plus the recurrence of Bran and towers and what he does with them (the same concepts keep coming up, Jon Snow’s real parentage), suggests that Bran Stark as Three-Eyed Raven is the warlock and that greensight and warging will be the “magic tricks”.Accordingly, Danerys seeing the future visions at the House of Undying, which foreshadow that Jon Snow is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne (it’s really circular) follows the scene where [05] Bran leaves Winterfell to become the Three-Eyed Raven.

THE GHOST AND THE LITTLE GIRL

In the books, Ghosts haunting places where there has been bloodshed and/or death is recurrent, which is a natural association in both fiction and real life, the major ones being Winterfell, King’s Landing, Vaes Tolorro, Harrenhal, High Heart, Nightfort, and Blackwater. Only four survived into the show adaptation, the House of Undying, Winterfell (through Jon’s direwolf Ghost), Queenscrown and Harrenhal, through the episode title S02E05 - The Ghost of Harrenhal. In the books, Arya Stark thinks of herself as the ghost of Harrenhal, due to the three deaths that Jaquen H’ghar has gifted her.

Danerys taunting Pyat Pree if he’s scared of a little girl doesn’t really make sense, because she’s about eighteen to twenty at this point, she’s not a little girl but a woman grown. In the show, Arya was cast with a short girl for her age and this is a running gag in-universe. In S02E02 - The Night Lands, Gendry advises Arya against insulting people bigger than her and she complains that she wouldn’t be able to insult anyone then. In S02E07 - A Man Without Honor, Tywin comments that Arya is short for her age as well. In both books and show, Arya becomes a deadly Faceless Woman, so people should be frightened of her even if she is a little girl.

In conclusion, Arya identifying as the ghost of Harrenhal because of Jaqen’s promised kills as a Faceless Man and the running gang of being small in height, suggests Arya Stark is the ghost and the little girl and that she should be feared since she’ll become a Faceless Woman. Accordingly, Danerys going up the stairs of the House of the Undying to go “meet” her future is followed by [04] Arya meeting with Jaqen attempting to recruit her as a Faceless Woman and giving her a coin from Braavos.

[04] THE POINTY END

Arya, Gendry and Hot Pie escape from Harrenhal and find Jaqen waiting for them at the outskirts. Arya asks about Jaqen’s assassination skills as she wishes to learn them and Jaquen tells her she must come to Braavos then. While Arya is tempted, she wants to find her family more, so Jaquen gives her a special coin and the phrase “Valar Morghulis”, to come to Braavos if she ever changes her mind.

The directors have said that they are very careful with transition scenes and that they mean something, this may not be true for all of them, but this one is a strong candidate for several reasons. This scene follows Danerys going up the staircase at the House of the Undying, where she’s getting her future told in allegoric visions and therefore, one of the most important moments in her character’s story. The House of the Undying segment is cut in two when they could have been together, and sandwiches two scenes featuring Arya and a Bran between them. In hindsight, this may foreshadow that Arya will kill Danerys as a Faceless Woman. This is quite fitting since this scene follows [03] Danerys bragging she isn’t afraid of magic tricks or little girls and she goes up the stairs [06] to have her future told in allegorical visions. This isn’t the only instance this is suggested, because there are at least three more “scenes” that foreshadow this, explained in the [A COIN FROM BRAAVOS] section.

ARYA: How did you kill those guards? Was it hard? JAQEN: No harder than taking a new name if you know the way. (...) If you would learn, you must come with me. (...) Far and away across the Narrow Sea to Braavos. ARYA: My dancing master was from Braavos. JAQEN: To be a dancing master is a special thing, but to be a faceless man... that is something else entirely. A girl has many names on her lips... Joffrey Baratheon, Cersei Lannister, Tywin Lannister, Ilyn Payne, the Hound.

In the show, Jaqen recites Arys’s Kill List as well. This is a show-only detail which is suspicious since it excludes Meryn Trant, whom Arya already hates for killing Syrio. In hindsight, the first four names are “stand-ins” for someone else and the last is just there for text flavour since she decides not to kill the Hould.  In hindsight, this list of names is a reference Danerys Targaryen and the reasons why Arya will kill her. This is because Arya’s storyline when crossed with these characters always reference Danerys in an indirect way. This is explained in the [TYWIN LANNISTER], [JOFFREY BARATHEON // ILYN PAYNE], [CERSEI LANNISTER] sections.

A COIN FROM BRAAVOS

[A] S01E05 - The Wolf and the Lion

NED: You're speaking of murdering a child. ROBERT: I warned you this would happen. Back in the North, I warned you, but you didn't care to hear. Well, hear it now. I want 'em dead, mother and child both. And that fool Viserys as well. (...) If she has a son? A Targaryen at the head of a Dothraki army... What then? NED: The Narrow Sea still lies between us. I'll fear the Dothraki the day they teach their horses to run on water. NED: Do nothing? That's your wise advice? Do nothing till our enemies are on our shores? (...) Speak sense to this honorable fool! VARYS: I understand your misgivings, My Lord. Truly, I do. It is a terrible thing we must consider, a vile thing. Yet we who presume to rule must sometimes do vile things for the good of the realm. Should the gods grant Daenerys a son, the realm will bleed. PYCELLE: I bear this girl no ill will, but should the Dothraki invade, how many innocents will die? How many towns will burn? Is it not wiser, kinder even, that she should die now so that tens of thousands might live? RENLY: We should have had them both killed years ago. LITTLEFINGER: When you find yourself in bed with an ugly woman, best close your eyes and get it over with.  Cut her throat and be done with it. (in the books, “When you find yourself in bed with an ugly woman, the best thing to do is close your eyes and get on with it,” he declared. “Waiting won’t make the maid any prettier. Kiss her and be done with it.”)

Robert Baratheon holds a small council meeting where his advisors talk about Danerys being pregnant and he berates Ned for having dismissed his previous worries. This conversation both here and in S01E02 - The Kingsroad is a play by play of Danerys’ invasion of Westeros, take note Robert says back then he should send an assassin after her (”a sharp knife and a bold man to yeld it”). While Ned is appalled that they're entertaining the killing of a child, the rest argue it’s better to kill her now to save thousands that would otherwise perish as a consequence of the invasion (this is an old ethical question, though this case it’s more specific).

Littlefinger makes a sex analogy which represents how sometimes people find themselves in bad situations so there’s no point in dawdling and it’s better to just go through with it. This is exactly how Jon and Danerys horizontal lizard dance went in S07E07 - The Dragon and the Wolf. Danerys isn’t literally ugly but she’s metaphorically ugly, since she’s power-hungry over an iron chair and a violent warmonger. Jon is forced into dealing with her since he believes her army and the dragons are the only thing that can defeat the Night King and the others, so even though she’s "ugly” he has to convince her somehow. Since Danerys is into Jon and pretty obvious about it, he takes advantage of it by seducing her. So when Jon finds himself in bed with this “ugly” woman, he forlornly just gets it over with, it’s so hilariously heavy-handed because Jon closes his eyes and kisses her, just like Littlefinger said. It’s worth noting the same type of title of both episodes and this foreshadows conflict between them.

     Littlefinger was the last. As Ned looked to him, Lord Petyr stifled a yawn. “When you find yourself in bed with an ugly woman, the best thing to do is close your eyes and get on with it,” he declared. “Waiting won’t make the maid any prettier. Kiss her and be done with it.”    “Kiss her?” Ser Barristan repeated, aghast.    “A steel kiss,” said Littlefinger.   Robert turned to face his Hand. “Well, there it is, Ned. You and Selmy stand alone on this matter. The only question that remains is, who can we find to kill her?”    “Mormont craves a royal pardon,” Lord Renly reminded them.   “Desperately,” Varys said, “yet he craves life even more. By now, the princess nears Vaes Dothrak, where it is death to draw a blade. (...) Now, poison ... the tears of Lys, let us say. Khal Drogo need never know it was not a natural death.” (...)    “The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. Look her in the eyes before you kill her. See her tears, hear her last words. You owe her that much at least.” (...)    Ned bowed, and turned on his heel without another word. He could feel Robert’s eyes on his back. As he strode from the council chambers, the discussion resumed with scarcely a pause. “On Braavos there is a society called the Faceless Men,” Grand Maester Pycelle offered.    “Do you have any idea how costly they are?” Littlefinger complained. “You could hire an army of common sellswords for half the price, and that’s for a merchant. I don’t dare think what they might ask for a princess.” ---- AGOT #33 Eddard #8

In the books, Littlefinger says a “steel kiss” which means to kill her with steel but the show uses less flowery language and is more direct, Littlefinger says [T3] to cut her throat. [B] They discuss how to do it, which foreshadows both the first two in AGOT (it’s possible both happen once again in ADWD / season 8) as well as the last one that shall be successful. [1] Renly suggests Jorah wants a royal pardon to come home but Varys says it’s unlikely that he’ll do it (he refuses this pardon to protect her), [2] Varys suggests poison but Pycelle thinks that’s a coward’s weapon (this is the wine-seller ploy), [3] then suggests the Faceless Men but Littlefinger complains they’re too expensive. This foreshadows that a Faceless Man will kill Danerys, which is to say Arya Stark. Of course that in the case of Arya assassinating Danerys on the Starks’ behalf, then there will be no cost whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Ned takes offence and reminds the scheming lot that “a man who passes the sentence, should swing the sword”. It’s not really literal, but more of a responsability. The people who make the decision to sentence another to death should not distancy themselves from the actual killing, they should be there to look that person in the eye and hear their last words, then execute them if not convinced. In season 7, this happened at Littlefinger’s trial. It was Bran who found out the evidence, it was Sansa that convicted him, it was Arya who cut his throat; but the three of them looked him in the eye to hear his last words and took responsibility for their decision. [S1] Ned teaches this lesson to Bran Stark right at the beginning of the series. This is the first of MANY throwbacks to Bran being involved in Danerys’ death as well.

[B] S03E08 - Second Sons

BARRISTAN: Men who fight for gold have neither honor nor loyalty. They cannot be trusted. JORAH: They're called the Second Sons. A company led by a Braavosi named Mero, "The Titan's Bastard." DANERYS: Is he more titan or bastard? JORAH: He's a dangerous man, khaleesi. They all are.

There’s an original show-scene where the Second Sons higher-ranks discuss what to do with Danerys during the siege of Yunkai. Once again, Danerys is dismissive of an opponent, which much like at the House of Undying, is classic Tempting Fate. It highly suggests that Danerys’ future will have these threats and they will be her downfall. In this case, Mero makes up a plan to assassinate Danerys without having to deal with her army, which indicates that Danerys’ fate is to be assassinated. This scene serves the same purpose as the one in S01E05 - The Lion and the Wolf, foreshadowing three assassinations for Danerys and that the last one, by a “Faceless Man” (”the Braavosi does the deed”) will be successful.

The Lannisters played the game of thrones through "legacy”. When one fell, another picked after them and they kept succeeding one after the other, so to get rid of them they had to be culled one by one until there will be none left. The Tyrells played the game of thrones through “unity”. No one fell because the rest always backed each other, so the only way to get rid of them was to destroy them all at once. In contrast, Danerys is a one woman’s show. It’s true that she has a strong army, but since she is stupid concentrates all power in her, that means taking her out destroys her whole faction quickly.

Prendhal acknowledges they can’t defeat Danerys army which has 4x their numbers, but Mero is smart enough to understand Danerys is a war simpleton has a big weakness, so he means to exploit it. He suggests that they only need to kill her and the rest will fall apart, so he proposes one of them will disguise themselves and infiltrate her camp at night to kill her. [B1] They decide who shall do it by draw with three coins and who gets the coin from Braavos does it. This foreshadows that someone from Braavos will kill Danerys.

In specific, the Faceless Men are a religious assassin guild from Braavos that can be hired for a price to kill anyone in the world and they possess the ability to physically change their appearance so that they appear as an entirely new person. In the books, it’s revealed that the Faceless Men came to exist as opposed to dragonlords of Old Valyria (from where the Targaryans come from) and it’s suggested that they may have had a hand in the Doom of Valyria which erased their civilization. The Faceless Men fit into Mero’s plan requirements and they make for the perfect endgame thematic, the Faceless Men erased the Valyrians and their “last” one (Arya Stark) ends their legacy once and for all.

The three coins foreshadow three assassination attempts for Danerys, only the last one shall succeed. The coin from Meereen represents the Sons of the Harpy, an underground insurgency group that revolts against her in hopes of ousting her as queen of Meereen. They attack mostly using guerrilla tactics, but make a full-out attack during the Great Games at the Daznak’s Pit, which Danerys manages to escape since Drogon shows up and carries her away. The coin from Volantis represents the conjoined effort between Volantis and Astapor / Yunkai when they besiege Meereen, in hopes of ousting Danerys as queen of Meereen. They fail because Danerys arrives at the nick of time and roasts them with Drogon. The coin from Braavos coin represents an assassination attempt by someone associated with Braavos and the natural conclusion is it means a Faceless Man. There’s a pattern here, this foreshadows that it will be done hoping to oust Danerys from power and it’ll be a success.

[B2] Mero instructs a bed-slave to close her eyes and that she cannot peek to see her way, which is to say she’s “blind”. [B3] Daario helps the bed-slave by calling her and making him follow his voice. The former can reference Arya’s training as a Faceless Woman where she was blind for some time and had to rely on sound to move. [S2] The latter could be referencing Bran as the Three-Eyed Raven since he can talk to others through the trees. In the books, Arya prays at the Heart Tree and believes the Old Gods sent her Jaqen (which then invites her to become a Faceless Woman), then later prays at the tree again and it responds her with “the lone wolf dies but the pack survives”, which gives her the courage to make her first kill as a Faceless Woman. Notably, these two chapters come along Danerys chapters.

[B4] Daaro is given a coin and says Valar Morghulis, which mimics Arya being given a coin by Jaqen and told to say Valar Morghulis. Moreover, that episode is called Valar Morghulis and that scene is just before Danerys goes up the stairs to be informed of her future through allegorical visions. Furthermore, Arya starts whispering Valar Morghulis every time she kills someone. That’s plenty of Valar Morghulis, which means “all men must men must die” even arsonist lizards. As a side-note, Daario’s prefered weapon is a dagger and [S3] Arya begins using a dagger given to her by Bran.

    Two hours later the commander of the Second Sons arrived alone. He proved to be a towering Braavosi with pale green eyes and a bushy red-gold beard that reached nearly to his belt. His name was Mero, but he called himself the Titan’s Bastard. (...)     But when Mero was gone, Arstan Whitebeard said, “That one has an evil reputation, even in Westeros. Do not be misled by his manner, Your Grace. He will drink three toasts to your health tonight, and rape you on the morrow.”     “The old man’s right for once,” Ser Jorah said. “The Second Sons are an old company, and not without valor, but under Mero they’ve turned near as bad as the Brave Companions. The man is as dangerous to his employers as to his foes. That’s why you find him out here. None of the Free Cities will hire him any longer.” ---- ASOS #42 Danerys #4

    Turning, she glimpsed a tall ragged man with a shaved head and a sunburnt face. “Not so hard,” she started to say, but before she could finish he’d yanked her bodily from the saddle. The ground came up and knocked the breath from her, as her silver whinnied and backed away. Stunned, Dany rolled to her side and pushed herself onto one elbow … and then she saw the sword.     “There’s the treacherous sow,” he said. “I knew you’d come to get your feet kissed one day.” His head was bald as a melon, his nose red and peeling, but she knew that voice and those pale green eyes. “I’m going to start by cutting off your teats.” Dany was dimly aware of Missandei shouting for help. A freedman edged forward, but only a step. One quick slash, and he was on his knees, blood running down his face. Mero wiped his sword on his breeches. “Who’s next?” ---- ASOS #57 Danerys #5

The book’s foreshadowing is different but the sentiment is the same. [1] Arya can be called the Titan’s Bastard, since she’s trained as a Faceless Woman in Braavos but she’s not originally from there. [2] Jaquen calls Arya an evil child and the ghost of Harrenhal says she has a dark heart, that she had enough of grief at Summerhall (where most Targaryans died, therefore associating Arya’s “dark heart” to Targaryan deaths). [3] Arya was one of the few main characters involved with the Brave Companions in the Riverlands (others are Brienne and Jaime). [4] It’s the same assassination scenario, someone disguises themselves and infiltrate Danerys’ camp, in hopes of catching her alone and unprotected, to kill her in hopes of ending the war (in the show) and for revenge (in the books). [S4] Since Mero’s physical description is a redhead with green eyes, this could suggest Arya shall have help from Bran, who’s a redhead and has greensight.

S05E2 - The House of Black and White

Arya arrives at Braavos and knocks at the House of Black and White, but is rejected by an elder man despite showing the coin of Braavos had given her. She begs the man to let her in by saying she has nowhere else to go, but the old man replies that she has everywhere else to go. Arya waits outside the for days while reciting the names of the people she's going to kill, but eventually tosses away her coin and wanders off into the streets of Braavos. Later, she is threatened by some boys, but then they scatter when the old man shows up, taking her back to the House of Black and White and admitting her in.

The doors of the House of Black and White resembles one door at the House of the Undying just before Danerys meets the Undying. In the books, they are described as ebony and weirwood double doors, in the show they have the same pattern. Moreover, in the books Danerys enters the House of Undying in a chapter that is preceded by an Arya chapter, in the show Danerys enters the House of the Undying in a scene that is followed by Arya being invited by Jaqen to become a Faceless Woman and giving her the coin, then there is the Bran scene, and Danerys comes across the door which is similar. As well, this moment where Arya is admitted to the House of Black and White is followed by Danerys in Meereen executing Mossador despite the people asking for mercy, then suffering their wrath (remember those key concepts, Danerys executing someone and the people’s wrath, since this will come later again).

S06E01 - The Red Woman

Arya is blind and begs for money in the streets and an old man gives her a coin from Braavos once again, which is just like when [B4] Daario received a coin from Braavos which signalled he was chosen to kill Danerys. Since they have the same design, this identifies Arya as the “Braavosi” who will kill Danerys, as if that wasn’t obvious enough already. The Waif approaches and asks if Arya can hear the people on the streets, much like [B3] Daario asked the bed-slave if she could hear him and that she could follow the sound of his voice. [S5] This suggests that Bran will “guide” Arya where she should go and when to attack, since he can know everything that is to know and can talk through the trees. The Waif gives Arya a fighting stick but Arya says she can't fight because she's blind, much like [B2] Mero told the bed-slave to close her eyes and that she couldn’t peek. The Waif answers "that's not my problem" and starts beating her. Arya poorly tries to defend herself but fails miserably, though eventually the Waif loses interest and says that they'll meet tomorrow. Predictably, this scene is preceded by a Danerys scene at Vaes Dothrak putting on airs to Mero Moro.

S06E08 - No One

Arya kills the Waif with interesting imagery, since there is a chasing sequence with elements in common with many of Arya’s descriptive “chasing” sequences in the books (going from dark to light and back again, sliding below something, a dark room that she can’t really see, staircases going down, etc) and these most likely foreshadow future events. The most notable are the two in AGOT (one might foreshadow King’s Landing going up in flames by dragon-fire and the Dance of Dragons V2, one might foreshadow the dead coming to Winterfell and Sansa’s kidnapping), but the ones in ACOK are also very interesting since they involve setting things on fire and Harrenhal.

Most likely, they’re trying to replicate the structure of these chasing sequences as a callback to the books (the oranges mean revenge, the green is betrayal for Danerys, etc), but since it comes thematically linked to Danerys (the “following” scene is Danerys burning Meereen in the next episode) and Arya is the likeliest candidate to kill her, this chase sequence might foreshadow Danerys’ death somehow. Since this particular chasing begins with Lady Crane’s murder, an actress who played Cersei Lannister, it suggests this is meant to foreshadow what happens when Danerys burns King’s Landing.

TYWIN LANNISTER

This one is the easiest to figure out, so let’s start here. In both books and show, Arya’s storyline in Harrenhal runs along Danerys storyline in Qarth (they even arrive and leave at the same narrative points), with several transitions and cross-references. This happens in 90% of the time, only a select few scenes haven’t an apparent connection. In specific, Arya bonding with Tywin is a show-only addition, in the books she’s Roose Bolton’s cupbearer instead and they don’t have many conversations.

S02E04 - Garden of Bones

Kovarro arrives with news about Qarth and Jorah says that the only thing he knows about it is the Garden of Bones, a desert around it filled with bones of travellers that are denied entry. Later, Danerys threatens to burn Qarth to the ground once the dragons are grown if she’s not allowed inside. These scenes are followed by Arya arriving at Harrenhal and noticing the melted stone, the result of Aegon Targaryan burning the castle with Balerion’s dragon-fire since he wasn’t allowed inside, as well as witnessing smallfolk being tortured by the Lannister men and starting her Kill List. In both cases, there is a Targaryan wishing to burn places to the ground if they’re not allowed inside and Lannister terrorising the smallfolk, moreover “not allowed inside” leads to a “garden of bones” (this is what Harrenhal looks like after Aegon and Balerion’s attack).

In the books, Arya arriving at Harrenhal with the same thematics described above (ACOK #25 Arya #6) is followed by Danerys arriving at Qarth (ACOK #26 Danerys #2). Contrarily to the show, Danerys is invited to Qarth in celebration and stays as a guest at Xaro Xhoan Daxos’ mansion. While she’s relaxing, she thinks to herself that the dothraki only sack and plunder, that she doesn’t wish to reduce King’s Landing to a black ruin filled with unquiet ghosts, but to make a smiling kingdom like her father did (this is literally what she says, if that’s not foreshadowing I don’t know what is) she must conquer it first. It’s also worth noting that a chapter before, Danerys was crossing the Red Waste and found an abandoned city sacked and plundered by Dothraki, which she names as Vaes Tolorro (“City of Bones”) and that the rest of the Dothraki are afraid off since they believe it’s full of ghosts, so this is even repeated thematic.

This foreshadows Danerys will destroy cities with dragon-fire and the dothraki (in hindsight, this is Winterfell and King’s Landing), as well as Arya wishing to kill her since this threatens her loved ones (iGendry would’ve died if Tywin hadn’t interrupted) as well as the smallfolk. In the show, Danerys sacks and plunders Qarth with the Dothraki before leaving, so there she starts early destroying cities.

S02E05 - The Ghost of Harrenhal

Tywin realises that Arya is a northerner and asks what’s said about Robb Stark. Arya describes Robb rides into battle on the back of a giant direwolf and that he can turn into a wolf if he wants to, that he can’t be killed. Tywin asks if she believes those stories and she cleverly bypasses the former (warging) and mentions the latter only by saying that she doesn’t because anyone can be killed. After this scene, Arya meets with Jaqen again, who declares that he can kill anyone and promises her three kills, and she chooses the Tickler who’s been torturing the smallfolk and almost killed Gendry.

On one hand, Robb’s description is untrue since the Stark kids don’t ride the direwolves, but it’s true for Danerys as she rides into battle on the back of a giant dragon. On the other hand, Jaqen mentions Danerys’ belief that she’s invulnerable to other’s magic indirectly when he says only death can pay for life, which was the process of how she hatched the dragons and survived the funeral pyre. Together, this means that when Arya says that anyone can be killed and Jaqen confirming that he can kill anyone (because he’s a Faceless Man), this includes people like Danerys despite riding a giant beast to battle or believing herself invulnerable to other people’s magic.

In the books, Jaqen killing the equivalent of these don’t come along with any of Danerys’ chapters, but Arya tricking him into killing lots to free captive northerners and Jaqar attempting to recruit her as a Faceless Woman (ACOK #46 Arya #9) is followed by Danerys going to the House of the Undying (ACOK #47 Danerys #4). This block with Danerys going to the House of the Undying as well as Jaqen recruiting Arya and giving her the coin is recreated in the show (S02E10 - Valar Morghulis). In these three chapters, Arya thinks of herself as the ghost of Harrenhal, because Jaqen and his death gift made her brave again and she’s invited to become just like him as well. Interestingly, all three chapters include the Brave Companions, a company of sellswords that oddly have dothraki amongst them and whom Arya absolutely hates.

This foreshadows that Arya can kill anyone as a Faceless Woman and that she will seek retribution against those that terrorise those that she loves and the smallfolk.

S02E05 - The Ghost of Harrenhal // S02E06 - The Old Gods and the New

Danerys telling the Spice King and Xaro Xhoan Daxos that she will conquer the Seven Kingdoms with fire and blood, is followed by Jaqen killing those that Arya has named (Tickler and Amory Lorch) because they terrorised the smallfolk. Once again, this foreshadows that Arya as a Faceless Woman will kill Danerys because she terrorises the smallfolk.

Notably, there is another Arya show-only scene in-between where Tywin and Littlefinger talk about Renly Baratheon and his short reign, with Tywin noting he was murdered by a woman and Littlefinger gossiping that he was murdered with the help of dark forces, then the former comments men love to blame demons when their plans fail. In the books, Arya is dismayed by Jaqen’s powers as a Faceless Man, believing them to be dark magic and the summoning of demons.

ACOK #37 Arya #8: A dozen people got there before her, though none was coming any too close. Arya squirmed between them. Weese was sprawled across the cobbles, his throat a red ruin, eyes gaping sightlessly up at a bank of grey cloud. His ugly spotted dog stood on his chest, lapping at the blood pulsing from his neck, and every so often ripping a mouthful of flesh out of the dead man’s face. Finally someone brought a crossbow and shot the spotted dog dead while she was worrying at one of Weese’s ears.

ACOK #46 Arya #9: She had been avoiding the Lorathi since Weese's death. Chiswyck had been easy, anyone could push a man off the wallwalk, but Weese had raised that ugly spotted dog from a pup, and only some dark magic could have turned the animal against him. Yoren found Jaqen in a black cell, the same as Rorge and Biter, she remembered. Jaqen did something horrible and Yoren knew, that's why he kept him in chains. If the Lorathi was a wizard, Rorge and Biter could be demons he called up from some hell, not men at all.

[G4] Since Bran’s as the Three-Eyed Raven is also considered to be “black magic” and a demon by the narrative (as well as a wizard), this suggests that Danerys’ assassination is a conjoined effort between Arya and Bran. It’s also worth noting that Arya thinks that Jaqen’s ability to turn Weese’s dog against him suggests that Bran’s contribution won’t be only passive through green-sight but active through warging, that he will warg one of Danerys’ dragons and turn it against her (most likely, Drogon). [L1] It’s also worth noting that someone kills the Weese’s dog with a crossbow, this is one of the MANY foreshadowings that Theon Greyjoy will kill Drogon with an arrow-shot.

AGOT #66 Bran #7: The old songs say that the greenseers used dark magics to make the seas rise and sweep away the land, shattering the Arm, but it was too late to close the door.

AGOT #53 Bran #6: Rickon had slashed at them with a rusted iron sword he'd snatched from a dead king's hand, and Shaggydog had come slavering out of the darkness like a green-eyed demon.

ADWD #04 Bran #1: “A friend. Dreamer, wizard, call him what you will. The last greenseer.” The longhall’s wooden door banged open. Outside, the night wind howled, bleak and black. The trees were full of ravens, screaming. Coldhands did not move. “A monster,” Bran said. The ranger looked at Bran as if the rest of them did not exist. “Your monster, Brandon Stark.”

S03E02 - Dark Wings, Dark Words: OSHA: We've got plenty of worries. We don't need to pour black magic on top of them. BRAN: I didn't ask for black magic dreams. OSHA: I know you didn't, little lord.

S03E07 - The Bear and the Maiden Fair: OSHA: You think I can't hear you every day? Filling his head with black magic. Talking about visions and three-eyed ravens and worse.

This foreshadows that Danerys will have a short reign since she will be killed by Arya with the help of Bran, she’s both a woman like Brienne and the two siblings are a Faceless Woman and the Three-Eyed Raven know “dark forces” and “demons” just like Melisandre.

S02E07 - A Man Without Honour

Tywin orders Gregor Clegane to torture the smallfolk so they’ll find out who killed Amory Lorch. When he’s gone, Tywin notices that Arya is small for her age and that she must have been underfed all her life, but she says she eats a lot she just won’t grow. Twyin turns to talk about legacy and the camera-work weirdly focuses on Tywin’s feet while she gropes a knife and eyes the back of his neck. This one clearly foreshadows something important as the odd camera-work spoils it. In hindsight, it identifies Arya as the little girl that Danerys shall fear and foreshadows how Arya will kill her, since there are three elements that keep coming up: [B1] their legs / feet faltering, [B2] stabbing with a sharp object [B3] in the neck.

The two discuss Aegon’s destructive power with dragon-fire which Harrenhal is the blasted ruin proof of, then Arya talks about Aegon’s sisters. She admires Visenya because she was a great warrior and Tywin thinks this endearing (he compares it to her daughter Cersei) because most girls are interested in the pretty maidens from the songs like Jonquil with the flowers in her hair. This one is very interesting but has nothing to do with Danerys herself, it’s meant to reference Jon Snow and his “sisters” Arya and Sansa. The preceding scene is Jon Snow being harassed by a redhead in the Frostfang (his “real” name is Aegon) and the proceeding scene is Sansa being dismayed by a violent knight in King’s Landing (she likes Jonquil and the pretty maids from the songs).

S03E01 - Valar Dohaeris

Danerys is in Astapor to buy an Unsuliied army and she tours their barracks with Kraznys. Afterwards, Danerys and Jorah are walking to the docks and Danerys is distracted by a little girl, who is actually a Qarth warlock in disguise. This is actually a scene that belongs to the Qarth plot in the books, so this is why I’m mentioning it here. It also foreshadows that Arya will kill Danerys, since this is done by a disguised warlock as a little girl. It’s also worth noting that the way Danerys is threatened mirrors the odd feet-knife-neck camera-work of the previous section since [B1] Danerys loses her footing and falls to the floor, [B2] she’s attacked by a manticore (the sting) and Barristan stabs it [B3] someplace below the head and that we could consider the manticore’s “neck”. As for manticores proper, Danerys has extensive imagery of being threatened by scorpions (this manticore, Ghis Harpy and the Sons of Harpy, Scorpion crossbow and Cersei). These all attack with their poisonous sting which can be likened to a needle which they stick their targets with the pointy end. [G1] Since the little girl is a Qarth warlock and these are thematically connected with Bran, it suggests a conjoined effort between Arya and Bran.

In the books, a Sorrowful Man attempts to kill Danerys as she escapes Qarth (ACOK #62 Danerys #5), is followed by Arya killing a Bolton gate guard as she escapes Harrenhal (ACOK #63 Arya # 10). This is notable due to the thematics of [1] assassin whispers and [2] Arya being too short (a little girl). [1] Danerys hears the assassin whisper “I am so sorry”, which is what the Sorrowful Men say to their victims before they kill them, while Arya whispers “Valar Morghulis” as the Bolton gate guard dies. This isn’t a one-time-only either, Arya describes killing with a whisper when she names them to Jaqen, she whispers her Kill List and Valar Morghulis at the end. [2 / B1] Jorah unwittingly pushes Danerys and she stumbles to one knee as she comes closer to the manticore, while Arya tricks the Bolton gate guard to go down on one knee [B2 / B3] so she can slit his throat with a dagger. [G3] Since Arya prays to the weirwood Heart Tree and believes the Old Gods send Jaqen (which makes her brave) and she later talks to it before killing the Bolton guard, it also suggests a conjoined effort between Arya and Bran.

    A Qartheen stepped into her path. “Mother of Dragons, for you.” He knelt and thrust a jewel box into her face. Dany took it almost by reflex. (...) She opened it. Within was a glittering green scarab carved from onyx and emerald. Beautiful, she thought. This will help pay for our passage. As she reached inside the box, the man said, “I am so sorry,” but she hardly heard. The scarab unfolded with a hiss.     Dany caught a glimpse of a malign black face, almost human, and an arched tail dripping venom ... and then the box flew from her hand in pieces, turning end over end. Sudden pain twisted her fingers. As she cried out and clutched her hand, the brass merchant let out a shriek, a woman screamed, and suddenly the Qartheen were shouting and pushing each other aside. Ser Jorah slammed past her, and Dany stumbled to one knee. She heard the hiss again. The old man drove the butt of his staff into the ground, Aggo came riding through an eggseller’s stall and vaulted from his saddle, Jhogo’s whip cracked overhead, Ser Jorah slammed the eunuch over the head with the brass platter, sailors and whores and merchants were fleeing or shouting or both ... ---- ACOK #62 Danerys #5

    When she reached him she pushed back her cloak so he would see the flayed man on her breast. “Lord Bolton sent me.” (...) She could see the gleam of steel under the fur, and she did not know if she was strong enough to drive the point of the dagger through chainmail. His throat, it must be his throat, but he’s too tall, I’ll never reach it. For a moment she did not know what to say. For a moment she was a little girl again, and scared, and the rain on her face felt like tears. (...)     Her fingers dug down beneath her tunic and came out clutching the coin Jaqen had given her. In the dark the iron could pass for tarnished silver. She held it out ... and let it slip through her fingers.     Cursing her softly, the man went to a knee to grope for the coin in the dirt, and there was his neck right in front of her. Arya slid her dagger out and drew it across his throat, as smooth as summer silk. His blood covered her hands in a hot gush and he tried to shout but there was blood in his mouth as well.     “Valar morghulis,” she whispered as he died. ---- AGOT #63 Arya #10

In the books, there are plenty of things in common between the assassinations, from the way the assassins disguise themselves and how they distract their opponent with an object that entices their greed, the way the victim goes down to one knee to come closer to the killing weapon. In the show, they furthered this parallel by replacing the assassin with a little girl and by replacing Barristan stomping with his staff to stabbing the manticore in the “neck”. It can even be argued that since Arya doesn’t kill the Bolton guard in the show, it was replaced with that odd camera-work in S02E07 - A Man Without Honour since it has the same visual elements (also notice the green associated with betrayal).

JOFFREY BARATHEON // ILYN PAYNE

NED: I come before you to confess my treason in the sight of Gods and men. I betrayed the faith of my King and the trust of my friend Robert. I swore to protect and defend his children, but before his blood was cold I plotted to murder his son and seize the Throne for myself. (...) Let the high Septon and Baelor the blessed bear witness to what I say: Joffrey Baratheon is the one true heir to the Iron Throne, by the Grace of all the gods, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm.

When Ned is brought to be “trialled” at Baelor’s plaza, he chooses to make a false confession to save his daughters, saying that he plotted against his king in hopes of seizing the throne for himself. Joffrey acknowledges that Cersei had proposed Ned to be sent to the Night’s Watch and Sansa had begged for mercy for her father, but he believes that treasons must never go unpunished so he commands Ilyn Payne to execute him. Sansa struggles against her captors and screams for someone to stop it, while Arya makes her away towards the crowd while clutching Needle, but neither can do anything about it, so Ned dies.

It’s worth noting a few things about that scene as well. [1] The Night’s Watch is referenced, which alludes to Jon Snow. [2] Bran sees Ned’s execution (meant as a cautionary tale in hindsight) in his prophetic dreams. [3] Ned confesses Joffrey is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne (when he isn’t) and that he was trying to seize the throne for himself (when he wasn’t). This suggests Danerys as the usurper instead of Cersei Lannister. [4] Sansa couldn’t protect her father and she was naive to believe Joffrey would be merciful, but after being trained in political intrigue she will know better. [5] Arya couldn’t protect her father because she was small and weak, but after being trained as a Faceless Woman she can do better. [6] The narrative wheel of Ned protecting Jon is repeated by Sansa and Arya, closing that bitter chapter in their lives.

This foreshadows that Jon is betraying Danerys and that as a last resort he’ll forsake his claim to protect his loved ones, but that Danerys will seek revenge against him because treason must always be punished. It also foreshadows that this time around, both sisters will be able to protect Jon, when they couldn’t do anything for Ned.

Arya is also notable for almost killing Joffrey Baratheon right at the beginning of the series, trying to protect Mycah from him. The way she goes at it is very similar to her grudges with Tywin Lannister, since she gets upset at Joffrey hurting the “smallfolk” and fights him, she actually loses because he’s too strong for her and has to be saved by Nymeria (suggesting ”warging”, it keeps coming up yes), then it ends with Arya holding his own sword against his throat while he’s on the ground.

It’s worth noting a few things about that scene, Jon keeps coming up in the background. [1] Joffrey is actually a bastard posing as a prince (the unrightful heir to the Iron Throne), which foils Jon Snow as a prince posing as a bastard (the rightful heir to the Iron Throne. [2] Their swords are thematically the same, Lion’s Tooth and Longclaw, which is later misnamed for Lion’s Paw. [3] This is the Trident where both Robert Baratheon and Jon Snow became “kings” since this is where Rhaegar Targaryan died. [4] There’s foreshadowing that Danerys fights at the Trident after “waking the dragon” (meaning the Dance of Dragons) and dies next to a stream (the dothraki ride to the stars in their horse when they die). [5] In the show Robert mocks Joffrey for being defeated by a little girl, while the in the books it’s Renly.

ASOS #27 Danerys #3: That night she dreamt that she was Rhaegar riding to the Trident. But she was mounted on a dragon, not a horse. When she saw the Usurper's rebel host across the river they were armored all in ice, but she bathed them in dragonfire and they melted away like dew and turned the Trident into a torrent. Some small part of her knew that she was dreaming, but another part exulted. This is how it was meant to be. The other was a nightmare, and I have only now awakened.

ACOK #47 Danerys #4: (House of Undying visions) Her silver was trotting through the grass, to a darkling stream beneath a sea of stars.

This foreshadows that Arya with the help of Bran will kill Danerys while trying to protect Sansa and/or Jon (Mycah) at (most likely) the Trident. There is equal foreshadowing for Arya doing it by the Valyrian dagger and Needle. I personally think Needle is more thematically appropriate, but I see an argument for both.

CERSEI LANNISTER

In S07E01 - Dragonstone, Arya is riding south to go kill Cersei, when she’s sidetracked by a bunch of Lannister soldiers. They invite her to sit down and give her some food, when they ask her where she’s going Arya tells them she’s going to kill the Queen. These Lannister soldiers allude to the smallfolk being mistreated by war, since they are Lannister and the are later all brutally killed by Danerys, both are allusive to Tywin Lannister waging war in the Riverlands. One of them even mentions that his wife has given birth and that he hopes it’s a girl, because girls take care of their fathers when they grow old (reminding Arya of Ned).

In S07E02 - Stormborn, Arya arrives at the Inn of the Crossroads and meets with Hot Pie once again. The two discuss Cersei and Winterfell, but then Hot Pie reveals that Winterfell is back on Stark hands. Arya chooses to go home to meet Jon (he’s specifically the only one mentioned for this reason) instead of killing Cersei, which alludes to Joffrey Baratheon / Illyn Payne killing Ned for trying to “usurp” a usurper because that’s exactly what’s going to happen between Danerys and Jon in season 8. There is even two guys discussing Danerys’ dragons and how they hope she lays siege to King’s Landing (Arya even [B2 / B3] stabs a pie just after the mercenaries talk about Danerys) and Hot Pie mentions that Cersei blew up the Sept of Baelor but Danerys will trump that by blowing up King’s Landing .

These two scenes actually cleverly reference Danerys, while hiding her under Cersei. All together means that Jaqen listing Arya’s Kill List all the way back in S02E10 - Valar Morghulis, foreshadows Arya killing Danerys and her reasons for it (the smallfolk suffering and protecting both Jon and Sansa).

[05] BURNING OF WINTERFELL

Bran, Rickon, Osha and Hodor emerge from the Winterfell's crypts and find the castle burning. They discover Luwin in the godswood, who insists that the boys must go north to the Wall, though Osha believes they must go south instead. Luwin affirms his pride at having served the Starks before asking Osha to give him a quick death. The lot leaves Winterfell, with the castle smoking in the background.

The directors have said that they are very careful with transition scenes and that they mean something, this may not be true for all of them, but this one is a strong candidate for several reasons. [D1] Danerys is getting her future told in allegoric visions so everything could matter. [D2] The geometry of the place foreshadows that Bran as the Three-Eyed Raven will directly or indirectly set off a war between Danerys and Jon. [D3] One of the visions foreshadows that Jon is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne and that may burn him and/or Winterfell in anger. [D4] The equivalent chapters of both these events happen in very different points in the books yet both events are pushed together and transition from one to the other in the show. [D5] The equivalent chapters of both these events have foreshaded that Winterfell shall burn by dragon-fire.

[D5] In ACOK # 47 Danerys # 4 (middle of ACOK), Danerys visits the House of the Undying and one of the visions is “a great stone beast breathing shadow fire taking flight from a smoking tower”, which could be foreshadowing of Danerys as Azor Ahai (he woke dragons out of stone eggs) burning Winterfell with Drogon’s dragon-fire. In ACOK # 68 Bran # 7 (last chapter of ACOK), Bran is warging into Summer when he sees “a great winged snake whose roar was a river of flame” over a smoking Winterfell and Osha jests that they did enough noise to wake a dragon (which means provoking a Targaryan into a terrible anger), and later in the chapter Bran thinks to himself that there’s nothing like the smell of fire and blood (the words of House Targaryan).

S02E08 - The Prince of Winterfell

Another detail is the camera-work that frames Bran and the rest while they survey the damage caused by the Ironborn / Boltons setting Winterfell on fire, as if someone is watching them from inside the ruins. The “counter” framing is used for Danerys two episodes back, where she’s spying around some ruins. This would be non-consequential if not for the words used for that specific frame as well as the scene that precedes it, as both are show-only dialogue scenes with suspicious context. On the former, Jorah warns Danerys that Xaro Xhoan Daxos owns the city, a man who wished to marry her to control the dragons (who did steal them and is "cheating” on her), and the warlocks of Qarth (thematically linked to Bran) have a thousand eyes on her (thematically linked to the Third-Eyed Raven, as it’s said that's he watches with a thousand eyes). On the latter, Varys and Tyrion discuss Danerys as a future threat to the realm, because when her dragons grow there will be nowhere to hide (Bran and company hid in the crypts so they may survive hiding there after all XD...), and the scene ends with the flames deliberately fanned over Varys and Tyrion. It foreshadows that Danerys will burn Winterfell and King’s Landing both.

YOU MUST GO NORTH

Bran has emerged from the crypts to see a burned Winterfell and he’s rightfully angry about it but since he cannot do anything, he must flee instead and this is where he starts his journey to become the Three-Eyed Raven. In the books, Luwin simply tells Osha to take the Stark brothers somewhere safe, but isn’t specific about where to take them. In the show, Luwin tells Osha that she must take the boys North and she protests that’s the wrong way, they need to go south to find Cat and Robb instead, but he insists that they need to go North to Jon and that he’ll protect them.

This is actually a mirror of Arya’s own storyline. Arya fled Harrenhal which was burned by dragon-fire a long time ago and she’s bitter about the place anyway because so many smallfolk died there and this is where she starts her journey to become a Faceless Woman. In the books, Jaqen invites Arya to become a Faceless Woman but she refuses because she wants to go back to Winterfell. In the show, Arya refuses because she needs to find Cat and Robb instead, as well as Sansa. The thematics are the same, they’re both fleeing places that have been ruined by fire and war, how much this embitters them as well, furthermore they’re both starting their magical journey. Most notably however, is the show-only dialogue since they speak of the same subjects, because they both must find their “mother and brother” as well as a remaining surviving sibling. This most likely foreshadows their role in the endgame because this dialogue is a show-only invention they share and that never went anywhere.

In specific for Bran, as he goes North he meets the Reed siblings, who inform him that he must look for the Three-Eyed Raven (in the books, they actually come to Winterfell before). Unfortunately, Bran’s narrative is very allegorical, so most of it doesn’t really translate well to an audiovisual medium. The show directors must not like him much either, as they’ve destiled this journey of “go to the wall to Jon” to only three subjects: [E1] Bran as the Three-Eyed Raven, [E2] “seeing” Jon Snow and protecting him, [E3] Bran is a major player in the War against the Others.

[E1] The Three-Eyed Raven

In S03E02 - Dark Wings Dark Words, Bran dreams about the Three-Eyed Raven and attempts to hit with an arrow but fails, then he’s told by Jojen Reed that he can’t kill it because the raven is Bran himself. Later in the chapter, Bran does meet the Reed siblings and Jojen tells him that they’ve come to help him in his journey. Even later, Jojen talks about Bran having the greensight and warging. In S03E04 - And Now His Watch is Ended, Bran is having a green dream where he chases after the Three-Eyed Raven. Jojen advises to follow it and Bran climbs the tree where the raven is, when he reaches the top he’s confronted against climbing by Cat and he falls down.

This is pretty straightforward, it just informs about Bran’s power as the Three-Eyed Raven and that he must find him, plus that the Reed siblings have come to help him on this journey. However, Jojen says two things that “spoil” the story, the first is that Bran is the Three-Eyed Raven and that him becoming that amidst all that prophetic nonsense, Bran is the only thing that matters. [S6] There is also yet another moment where Bran is seen with a bow and arrow, which thematically ties him with his sister Arya since the very first episode.

[E2] “seeing” Jon Snow and protecting him

In S03E02 - Dark Wings Dark Words, Jojen taks with Bran about his special powers and briefly mentions Robert’s Rebellion with Bran acknowledging that Howland Reed saved Eddard Stark. In S03E06 - The Climb, Jojen has a green dream where he dreams that he saw Jon Snow on the wrong side of the wall and surrounded by enemies, which is followed by Jon with Wildlings preparing to climb up the Wall. In S03E09 - The Rains of Castamere, Bran’s lot is taking refuge at the top of Queenscrown tower and warging into Summer, allowing Jon to escape the Wildlings captivity. In the books, the former is alluded to when the Reed siblings telling about the Tourney of Harrenhal (ASOS #24 Bran #2), while the latter happens pretty much the same in a dual chapter between Bran and Jon (ASOS #40 Bran #3 and ASOS #41 Jon #5).

This foreshadows that Bran as the Three-Eye Raven will be relevant for Jon Snow. This is especially telegraphed in S03E06, since Jojen dreams about Jon Snow when this is a show-only invention, there would be no way to know what this was about through green dreams because they are highly allegorical (”the sea is coming to Winterfell” represents Theon invading Winterfell). The ability to look into the past or present through the Weirwood Network will allow him to find about the secret of Robert’s Rebellion, that Jon Snow is the legitimate son of Rhaegar Targaryan and Lyanna Stark, therefore the rightful heir to the Iron Throne (this has been confirmed). The ability to warg will save Jon from his enemies as well once again, just like he saved him at Queenscrown. It’s my conviction that Bran will warg one of the dragons, helping Jon escape from Danerys’ wrath, either by slipping into Drogon and swerving it away at the last moment, or by slipping into Rhaegal and fighting head-on.

[E3] The Army of the Dead

In S03E07 - The Bear and the Maiden Fair, Bran’s lot is making camp and when Bran tells Osha they must go beyond the Wall to find the Three-Eyed Raven because that’s all he has left, she refuses and shares a story about her lover becoming a wight (this thematically links them together). In S03E10 - Mhysa, Bran’s lot arrives at the Nightfort and once inside, Bran shares the story of the Rat Cook, who served the king his own son as a pie, then got cursed by the gods because he broke the laws of hospitality and protection (yes, the Red Wedding, again). Later, they meet Sam and ask him to take them beyond the Wall but he refuses because of the army of the dead. Jojen insists because nobody can stop the army of the dead and Sam asks if they’re going to then. Bran says that he must go to become the Three-Eyed Raven.

In the show, there’s actually no good reason why Bran is so adamant in going, nor is there any sort of reason to believe any of this is necessary to fight the Army of the Dead. In the books, either way is much more balanced. Bran is divided about whether going because he's discontent about being a cripple and he’s expecting something that will fix it and not going because he wants to join his half-brother Jon and uncle Benjen at Castle Black. Jojen only feels like it’s his mission to take him to the Three-Eyed Raven and then Coldhands sends for him through Sam, so there is a feeling that Bran must go there and that this is very important. This change was made for the sake of time constraints and because the show doesn’t like the magical plot, but it foreshadows Bran is the only one that matters in the War against the Army of the Dead.

AEMON THE DRAGONKNIGHT

In the show, there is not much foreshadowing about Bran warging a dragon besides one or another detail. He’s the only one of the Stark kids who wargs in the show, so there must be something relevant about it to have it into the adaptation when the others didn’t. Moreover, Bran is shown to warg into ravens not just Summer as well as humans such as Hodor. There is also Bran’s first prophetic vision in S04E02 - The Lion and the Rose where Bran sees the dragon over King’s Landing in the future and his ‘screaming’ leaks into the sound of the dragon’s ‘screeching’ when it’s over King’s Landing and we know that in his case, a human-animal transition also means warging.

In the books, the foreshadowing is wider. There’s his dream to become a knight before he fell from the tower and there’s his wish to fly once he cannot move his legs, plus these two concepts come together a lot (below I only enclose my favourite two but there are more). There’s only one flying knight, Aemon the Dragonknight.

    So long as there was magic, anything could happen. Ghosts could walk, trees could talk, and broken boys could grow up to be knights. "But there isn't," he said aloud in the darkness of his bed. "There's no magic, and the stories are just stories." And he would never walk, nor fly, nor be a knight. ---- ACOK #27 Bran #4

This is Bran clearly tempting fate, because there is magic and the stories aren’t just stories. Ghosts can walk (Jon’s direwolf Ghost walks and in the show his undead arse also walks, Sansa is “dead before her time” and walks, Arya is the Ghost of Harrenhal and walks, Theon is the Ghost of Harrenhal and he walks). Trees can talk since Bran as the Three-Eyed Raven talks to people through the Heart Tree. Such the conclusion is that broken boys can grow up to be knights as well. What’s left to figure is how he’ll become a knight. Interestingly, Bran has already did the first two in the books as well.

ASOS #56 Bran #4: It was not like sliding into Summer. That was so easy now that Bran hardly thought about it. This was harder, like trying to pull a left boot on your right foot. It fit all wrong, and the boot was scared too, the boot didn't know what was happening, the boot was pushing the foot away. He tasted vomit in the back of Hodor's throat, and that was almost enough to make him flee. Instead he squirmed and shoved, sat up, gathered his legs under him—his huge strong legs—and rose. I'm standing. He took a step. I'm walking. It was such a strange feeling that he almost fell. He could see himself on the cold stone floor, a little broken thing, but he wasn't broken now. He grabbed Hodor's longsword. The breathing was as loud as a blacksmith's bellows.

ADWD #34 Bran #3: “You will never walk again,” the three-eyed crow had promised, “but you will fly.” (...) Flying was even better than climbing. Slipping into Summer’s skin had become as easy for him as slipping on a pair of breeches once had been, before his back was broken. Changing his own skin for a raven’s night-black feathers had been harder, but not as hard as he had feared, not with these ravens. “A wild stallion will buck and kick when a man tries to mount him, and try to bite the hand that slips the bit between his teeth,” Lord Brynden said, “but a horse that has known one rider will accept another. Young or old, these birds have all been ridden. Choose one now, and fly.” He chose one bird, and then another, without success, but the third raven looked at him with shrewd black eyes, tilted its head, and gave a quork, and quick as that he was not a boy looking at a raven but a raven looking at a boy. The song of the river suddenly grew louder, the torches burned a little brighter than before, and the air was full of strange smells. When he tried to speak it came out in a scream, and his first flight ended when he crashed into a wall and ended back inside his own broken body. The raven was unhurt. It flew to him and landed on his arm, and Bran stroked its feathers and slipped inside of it again. Before long he was flying around the cavern, weaving through the long stone teeth that hung down from the ceiling, even flapping out over the abyss and swooping down into its cold black depths.

"The power is strong in you.” “I don’t want it. I want to be a knight.” “A knight is what you want. A warg is what you are. You can’t change that, Bran, you can’t deny it or push it away. You are the winged wolf, but you will never fly.” Jojen got up and walked to the window. ---- ACOK #34 Bran #5

This one what really gives it away for me, because it combines all three status together. Bran wishes to be a knight but he’s a warg instead, Bran is the winged wolf but he will never fly. However Bran does walk, he does fly too... by warging. So how does Bran become a knight? The answer is the same, by warging into something else. Now a person... when that’s an abomination, or a dragon when that’s not? I think a dragon and so the dragonknight.

As a side-note since Hodor and dragons are mentioned, there is that stupid theory that Bran is responsible for Aerys Targaryan madness. Bran accidentaly warged into Hodor and took his wits, then Meera was screaming to hold the door and somehow this manages to imprint into his brain in the past. So the theory says that somehow something similar will happen between Bran and Aerys, this is why he keeps repeating “burn them all”. So far so good, I think that’s precisely how it’s going to go, at least in the show. Danerys flies to burn King’s Landing and Bran in his desperation to stop her madness wargs into Drogon, but accidentaly wargs into Aerys in the past and that’s why he keeps screaming “burn them all” (Aerys repeats what he hears DANERYS say, much like Hodor keeps repeating what Meera was saying).

Aerys already wished to burn King’s Landing much before he started screaming burn them all repeatedly. Bran could never be responsible for that decision because Aerys had already decided it. Let’s repeat that in caps. AERYS HAD ALREADY ORDERED HIS PYROMANCERS TO BURN KING’S LANDING WITH WILDFIRE BEFORE “BURN THEM ALL” REPETITION HAPPENED.

ASOS #11 Jaime #2: When Aerys saw the blood on his blade, he demanded to know if it was Lord Tywin's. "I want him dead, the traitor. I want his head, you'll bring me his head, or you'll burn with all the rest. All the traitors. Rossart says they are inside the walls! He's gone to make them a warm welcome. Whose blood? Whose?” “Rossart’s,” answered Jaime. Those purple eyes grew huge then, and the royal mouth drooped open in shock. He lost control of his bowels, turned, and ran for the Iron Throne. Beneath the empty eyes of the skulls on the walls, Jaime hauled the last dragonking bodily off the steps, squealing like a pig and smelling like a privy. A single slash across his throat was all it took to end it. So easy, he remembered thinking. A king should die harder than this.

ASOS #37 Jaime #5: “Somehow he had gotten it in his head that Prince Lewyn must have betrayed Rhaegar on the Trident, but he thought he could keep Dorne loyal so long as he kept Elia and Aegon by his side. The traitors want my city, I heard him tell Rossart, but I’ll give them naught but ashes. Let Robert be king over charred bones and cooked meat. The Targaryens never bury their dead, they burn them. Aerys meant to have the greatest funeral pyre of them all. Though if truth be told, I do not believe he truly expected to die. Like Aerion Brightfire before him, Aerys thought the fire would transform him … that he would rise again, reborn as a dragon, and turn all his enemies to ash.“ (...) “It fell to me to hold the Red Keep, but I knew we were lost. I sent to Aerys asking his leave to make terms. My man came back with a royal command. ‘Bring me your father’s head, if you are no traitor.’ Aerys would have no yielding. Lord Rossart was with him, my messenger said. I knew what that meant.

Does this sound like HODORING? The answer is no. Let’s repeat that. AERYS DECIDED TO BURN KING’S LANDING WITH WILDFIRE ON HIS OWN FREE WILL. What a stupid theory. The poor Targaryans are not at fault, being power-hungry warmongers with delusions they were special for centuries would never breed that kind of stupid behaviour, it’s a little boy stuck in a wheelchair that it’s at fault. What is it even based on? The wishful thinking of arsonist lizard fans that they’re actually the heroes? I can’t wait until they’re all dead and there’s nothing left of them.

#anti daenerys #anti daenerys targaryan #arya stark #bran stark

[sepedarodatiga]

Okay, here we go people, this is peak delulu, be warned! I’m getting more inclined to believe that Jon and Sansa has done the deed, the consummation has happened, the UST has become RST, the fuck plot that was promised has rolled and we weren’t told about it and we didn’t get to see it.

(If I’m wrong about this then I am a doomed delulu, but if I’m right…)

I made prediction that they will consummate their love specifically in 8x02 because I am sure that Sansa will become pregnant and that pregnancy is part of the story, not just an epilogue, therefore they have to consummate early on. Well that didn’t happened while I was SO SURE, so it occurred to me what if they hide the plot so they can make a surprise pregnancy as a plot twist and make people wonder who the father is, especially that Sansa was last seen close to Theon who was impossible to have fathered the child.

I tried to brush off that thought because, please, I could totally be wrong about the pregnancy prediction anyway and making this up would sound like I insisted too much on being right. But then I found this meta by @jonlovessansa who stated that yep the deed is done and this is how they hide it. It intrigued me greatly no doubt and I did a rewatch and found more clues based on the their method. Then I started seeing posts complaining about D&D way of secretive story telling and then, the leaks, specifically the leaks saying that a male/female pairing will have surprise. Plus the fact that with so little time left, how did 8x02 feel like a filler episode? The way Jon revealed his parentage to Dany also intrigued me. Why is he so dead sure and confident that he is Aegon Targaryen? Isn’t he supposed to be angsty about not being Ned’s son? Maybe because at that moment he doesn’t want to be Ned’s son, he wants to be Aegon Targaryen. So I decided to write this meta anyway and risked myself of great embarrassment if I turned out to be wrong.

So the way they hide it is by 1) Using characters stand in and 2) Using callbacks to past scenes.

The first is Cersei/Euron. What did they do in 8x01? Yes they fucked, because Euron didn’t want to wait until the war is over. That is exactly what I highlighted in my consummation meta. And they made Euron say that he will put a prince in her belly. This is the same episode Sam revealed to Jon that he is the true king. Then look at the similarities. This is what Euron said to Cersei when she rejected him.

And this what Jon said to Sansa when she berated him for giving up his crown.

And let’s not forget the twirl, people! And yes it also important that Sansa, Arya and Cersei did the twirl. I will discuss about Arya later because it is more important, but here is Cersei and Sansa.

Oh they break their boys’ heart!

After they have sex, other than putting a prince in her belly Euron brought up two of Cersei’s ex: Robert and Jaime. While Sansa had two husbands. This will become an important parallel later.

Okay so there’s that. Let’s wrap that one up and put a nice little bow on it. Next character parallel is Arya/Gendry.

This pair had their own twirl in 8x01 and done the deed in 8x02 and it’s closer to become the stand in for Jonsa, because I think the timing is matched. Before I discuss Gendrya, I need to point out how 8x02 is filled to the brim with callbacks to Jon/Sansa reunion in Castle Black. I’m sure you all have watched the reunion a thousand times so I don’t have to do a screenshot comparison, right? Here goes the list.

The hug and the soup in front of the fire between Theon/Sansa

The return of Edd and Tormund who was present during the reunion. Jon welcomed and hugged them in the courtyard plus Tormund asking about Brienne bringing back to the hug in Castle Black’s courtyard.

The group drinking in front of the fire and Tyrion complaining about the quality of the drink.

Tyrion and Bran in front of the fire just the two of them

Arya asking for Sandor’s drink, like Sansa was asking for Jon’s drink. Sandor remembering the past that Arya used to never shut up and Arya saying she’s changed, like Sansa apologized for her behaviour towards Jon in the past. Sandor saying that he fought for her. Then Beric comes and they brought up his resurrection. Jon was just being resurrected when the reunion happened and Sansa asked him to fight for her for Winterfell.

Battle plan strategy meeting.

Missandei and Greyworm “where will we go” and Greyworm promised to protect her.

Sam giving her father’s sword to Jorah because Jeor Mormont was like a father to him. Like Sansa giving the Ned fur to Jon in memory of him. Ned is Sansa’s real father and an adoptive father to Jon. “I will wield it in his memory” is Jorah’s “I made it like father’s as close as I can remember”.

Now Gendrya. Callbacks to the reunion also happened during Gendrya’s scene.

Gendry came to give a weapon he made for Arya, like Sansa gave the incest fur she made for Jon. “This will work” is Arya’s “ I like the wolf bit”.

Gendry said that Arya wanted him to come to Winterfell and now he’s there, like Sansa and Jon saying how they want to go back to Winterfell

The connection that can be made between Gendrya and Jonsa during their fuck plot:

Gendry revealed his parentage to Arya

Both Gendry and Jon has a sexual encounter with the Red Woman in this was brought up in their conversation.

Arya also asked how many women Gendry’s been with other than the Red Woman. The answer is three: Ros, Ygritte and Dany. Oh oops, that’s Jon. Yep just like Euron brought up two of Cersei’s ex while Sansa had two husbands.

And again the theme “we’re at war and we might die” that I highlighted shows up in their scene.

Arya was the one who initiate it. I’ve seen many jonsa wanted for Sansa to initiate her intimacy with Jon. I think this is what happened because of this next parallel

In 8x02 there is one other important callback to a scene in 4x09. It was when Jon, Sam and Edd talked.

They were talking about the same thing and in the similar setting. Little Sam and Gilly and whether has Sam had sex with Gilly or not and how they were going to die in this battle. This is important because back in 4x09 Jon asked Sam that if Gilly had offered would Sam break his vows?

I think that this foreshadows that he is going to do it no matter the consequences because they are probably going to die. And he’s going to do it with redhead. Sansa will offer just like Arya offered Gendry. The fact that 8x02 made a callback to this scene tells me that this is what happened during that time and instead of showing or telling it to us, they put all of this cryptic clues.

What do you guys think?

#jonsa

[fullcfterrors]

SEASON EIGHT, EPISODE SIX  ––  CANON DIVERGENCE.

** this blog will not be following any of the events post episode five, unless plotted otherwise. for the general arch of daenerys in my portrayal however, her storyline was incredibly different. this does not mean to say that i would be opposed to following any storylines where jon attempts to murder her, or where she does go mad queen but i will not be explicitly portraying that theme throughout my writing in general plots and threads. this is my canon divergence, the original post which is mostly a rant written after watching the series can be found HERE but for the sake of my new blog, i thought i would type it more clearly !!! this is likely to be an incredibly long post as i have it in my head that daenerys deserved far better so thank you for sticking through and reading this. its hugely important to me. ** in my head, i truly believe that daenerys was not mad. they did not write her to be mad and her storyline was NEVER her turning mad queen. she was simply doing what she thought was right and best for the people of westeros in a way where she got her justice and unfortunately, she did lose her way and became wrapped up in what she believed her ideal world to be. we completely saw in her final scene with kit beside the throne that she was so human and not insane. she was genuinely a human being, asking him to create a better world with her and ... my girl. i would also like to put it out there that i am very happy with the ending. i know there were a few loose ends that could have been tied with more time but i think everybody is where they are mean to be. and there was no better person to rule the six kingdoms than bran stark. jon’s ending was also beautiful but i won’t clog this post !!! give that like button a  ♡  if you do read this  ––  just so i know for future plotting !!!

◈     obviously, daenerys doesn’t die and although it is an incredibly hard decision to make, she asks jon to be with her and to rule with her whilst stood in an intact throne room which is not burnt to ashes. this would happen in the scene where he comes to kill her, only that does not happen. how this unfolds is dependent on the writer who portrays jon if it is being explored in a thread but otherwise, i would imagine it going smoothly.

◈     tyrion urges that she invites the great lords and ladies of westeros to the dragon pit so that they do not feel uncomfortable or on edge with seeing her on the iron throne. the idea of bringing them to a place where her dragons were once held as prisoners is a metaphor for the freedom that she wants to instil upon the seven kingdoms. now that the war has been won, they discuss the nights watch and other worldly issues –– including northern independence, because of jon. 

◈     the main reason that she grants the north their independence is because she knows how much eddard stark meant to him and how the north has been a staple of his childhood and his narrative and she also respects that. she respects everything that he has lost much like her and i think it is important to note that daenerys respects and understands where sansa is coming from. she wanted to take her rightful throne and in the process of obtaining her families kingdom, she wants to give the stark’s what is rightfully theirs too. 

◈     in episode four, she urges jon not to tell his siblings about his parentage. in this divergence, daenerys would still be incredibly concerned about him telling people, not because she believes he would ever dethrone her but more so, because she loves him and is worried that it will ruin things between them. there is something within her that worries for the throne too, which is okay. daenerys is allowed to have that burning dream in the back of her mind because it is all she has ever known. she does not want his family or men to judge him for being in a relationship with his aunt as she had always expected to be married to viserys anyway. 

◈     “because of everything she has been through, because of everything they have done to her.” this is something that she says to jon. daenerys does not feel threatened or anger towards sansa. instead, she actually feels disheartened. she acknowledges that sansa is not being stubborn for no reason, she absolutely understands that sansa has a vision ( similar to her own ) where she wants to best for her people. eventually, i would like a friendship and alliance formed there because daenerys is not here to be sansa’s enemy. she loves her brother and wants peace for all of the seven kingdoms, whether the north is hers or not. they share hardships and more importantly, how they have both blossomed into two leading women of the world. on this blog, we support strong ass, female characters who deserved better. 

◈     daenerys’ small council will have been heavily planned with tyrion by her side. in my canon, i very much imagine jorah and and missandei as having lost their lives but dependent on the thread and plot –– if it aids the other person that i am writing with, we can have them alive. in threads with people who write these characters, just know that daenerys loves you both very much. sharna just likes to live in a world of angst, hurt and upset. if these characters are still alive, it is important to note that jorah would be lord commander of the queens guard and whilst there would be no offical title for missandei, she would always remain her closest advisor and friend. more details about the small council can be found below. 

◈     as the queen of the six kingdoms, daenerys would absolutely appoint master of war to jon snow. in her eyes, there is not a single person more deserving of the role given every battle he has faced. she would not expect him to take it because canonically, targaryen or not, she would like to marry him. if they were to keep his parentage a secret, then it would also serve as an alliance between the northern kingdom and the rest of westeros. 

◈     bronn would remain her master of coin at tyrion’s suggestion, though at first daenerys would be sceptical due to him being part of the sack on highgarden. she does not feel comfortable with the idea that bronn was a part of the sack, murdering her allies and then claiming the castle for himself. but in this ‘new world’ she is trying to build of forgiveness and second chances, it only seems right that bronn is given the opportunity to prove himself worthy. in any verses with margaery writers where she is still alive, she is very clearly the heir to highgarden.

◈     lord commander of the queens guard is greyworm. he was the unsullied who stepped forward to lead the rest, ensuring her that it would be a pleasure to serve her for the rest of his time. one quote that stands out to me is where he tells daenerys he would like to keep his derogatory name because it gives him honour, in being the name he had when daenerys freed him. i believe that appointing him as the queens guard, somebody who is sworn to protect the realm, it is justice for missandei too. 

◈     davos the onion knight, the pirate is the master of ships. i would like to think that daenerys had formed a bond with him, due to him being the one to bring jon to dragonstone. she admired his humour for what it was and more than anything, she admired his bravery as she knew that he had never fought in many fights. i would like to think that they shared memories of dragonstone and seeing as she does not know the castle very well, he would have offered to give her the grand tour of her own home ... telling her stories that shireen had taught him about the night she was born and her families history here. master of ships would also be a way to commemorate his son, in his death through the battle for blackwater bay. 

◈     master of whispers. in this divergence, varys did not die or betray her because she ‘went off the rails’. varys may have lost faith in her but daenerys’ kind nature and desire to give second chances was what gave him the opportunity to see something else in her –– a fire. he could see that daenerys knows what she needs to do in order to make this world far better than she found it and he believes in her to do so. master of whispers was always something that he was good at doing and seemed to enjoy doing. and seeing as he brought tyrion to her ( or attempted to ), it makes sense for him to stick by her side and be part of her small council as the queen. 

◈     master of law is something that i have not yet thought of and whilst tyrion would likely be perfect for the role, he is her hand. i am going to leave this one open as a plotting device to other people so if anybody would like to do a thread surrounding that role, then be my guest. this is also open to OC characters –– including females as we need some more woman on this bloody small council. lyanna mormont would have been perfect for the role had she not died an epic death fighting a giant wight. imagine her rolling up to the small council meetings and putting everybody in their place, sigh. it’s canon now. 

#daenerys on northern independence #daenerys on her small council #aka #probs important to read if we have any s8 verses together !! #... the fire inside of me burns brighter than the fire around me ;; daenerys headcanon. #... canon divergence.

[killthebxy]

a heap of headcanons: the last hours before the Battle for Winterfell

inspired + complemented by @needlcd & @zcldrizes own posts

first of all, all of these come following my personal take on the events of s08, as i am show!canon divergent. this can be found: HERE.

Jon has had A LOT to do, ever since Tormund, Edd, and Beric arrived with the news. as Warden of the North, it falls on him to supervise the setting up of defenses. just as much, he’s been trying to learn as much as he can about the Unsullied and the Dothraki, as to understand how to better place them in the battlefield. he’s also been keeping close talks with Gendry and the other smiths, and helping with distributing dragonglass weapons to everyone himself, in between everything else already stated. for all this, he doesn’t have much free time up until after the strategy meeting we see in episode 2.

even though he concludes such meeting with “let’s get some rest”, he doesn’t follow his own advice really. he’s very antsy and understandably so, and cannot bring himself to stay still --- so he goes on a final round to make sure everything and everyone are as prepared as they can possibly be. this is when he goes to check in on Sansa and Bran, to also ensure they are well and to try and reassure them a bit --- again, as much as possible in the situation.

after this comes the scene we see in episode 2 between Jon, Sam, and Edd. they reminisce about their times at the Night’s Watch, particularly the night that Mance Rayder stormed the Wall --- note that @tymptir and i headcanon Grenn as very much alive and at Winterfell. Jeor Mormont and Mance himself (ft. @starfrckled) just as much, so Jon spends some time with all of them as well. he also finds Tormund (ft. @talltalkr) in between his moments with Brienne & co, and they talk of how they did not survive Hardhome to let the Night King come kill them in their own home now. particularly, while he says nothing about this, Jon prays to the old gods that Tormund will not be made to see/fight his daughters who have been turned into wights at Hardome.

next, comes the scene at the crypts with Dany. based on my divergent background and on my own plot with @zcldrizes, the source of tension between them at this point is the fact that Dany did not tell Jon that she burned the Tarlys for treason. now... Jon does understand this. he’s a commander himself, he’s executed men (and boys) for similar reasons. so what’s driving him off, at the moment, is 1) how conflicted he is, because he does not wish to hurt her but he also does not wish to hurt Sam, and 2) based on my plot with @tymptir, one day before, Sam revealed to Jon in these same crypts that his mother was Ashara Dayne (ft. also my plot with @ashccra). ever since, Jon has been struggling to come to peace with the fact that Ned never told him of it --- and here comes into play the heightened paranoia he was left with after the mutiny at Castle Black and his revival (if you’d like details on how this affects my portrayal of Jon, you’re welcome to read: this meta). Jon has ever felt the need to prove himself, as per his bastard-born nature and the internalization of this stigma (again, a meta: here), but after his own men betray him this grows A LOT worse --- as in, that was an absolute failure on my end and i deserved what happened. at this point, he’s questioning himself if maybe this is why his father never told him anything --- if Ned was ashamed to have him as a son, if Ned saw him under the same light Cat (for example) did and only tried to hide it out of kindness. then, suddenly... he gets told that Dany also hid such a huge fact from him, and this goes even further downhill. it is important to note: right now, after Sam’s revelation (+ the current very stressful circumstances + his own physical and mental exhaustion, as he’s been barely eating and sleeping during the past couple of days), Jon is NOT in his right mind. he’s exhausted, he’s paranoid, he’s dealing with HUGE guilt for being unable to guarantee his loved ones and his people will live to see another day. this is why he’s been avoiding Dany, and this why, even if they do talk right now at the crypts, he’s still very much distant --- it’s a self-defense coping mechanism. Artie and i, therefore, headcanon that, while they do not really fight, they are unable to properly discuss everything, either --- so they agree that they cannot afford to go into this battle whilst angry at each other, and they agree to take some time apart and to finish this talk later --- both of them fully aware that, likely, there won’t be a “later” for either or both of them.

after this, Jon heads for the godswood for a good while. he’s spoken to the statues of Ned and Robb already ( @kingwholost you can be sure there IS a statue of Robb), and now he goes to speak to the old gods. for the most part, though, he does not pray --- not yet. he simply seeks their calm and their peace and their wisdom, and sits under the heart tree honing Longclaw’s blade as Ned so often used to do with Ice, himself. and it does bring him a little bit of comfort.

finally, he heads back to his room and begins donning his Stark armor. and listen. idc what episode 3 will bring, JON -IS- WEARING ARMOR BECAUSE HE IS NOT STUPID. also the stewards @thedolorous & @satincrow are welcome to come help for a bit if they want. eventually, @needlcd comes to join him and he wouldn’t have it any other way --- he’s spending his potential last hours alive with his little sister, his heart, light of his eyes, the person he loves most in this world and quite more than his own life. he doesn’t need more than a look to see how distressed she is and, if nothing else, he’s happy that he can finally be here to keep her safe after all the horrors she’s had to face on her own. there isn’t much talking, as there is not need to be, and he simply lets her snuggle into him as much and for as long as she needs --- he lets her cry if she needs and makes no comment, simply running his fingers through her hair. Jon himself does not cry, not yet, because this moment is for her.

eventually... Arya falls asleep in his arms, Ghost by now also joined into the little cuddle pile, and Jon spends the last hours before the sound of the warhorns with himself. he’s exhausted, but he cannot sleep --- and he does not want to sleep, not when this may be his last chance to have his little sister safe in his arms. he thinks about everything and everyone, at this point. and this is when he prays: gods of my father, protect my people. protect Arya and let her live to see brighter days, she’s been through so much. protect Bran and Sansa. protect Dany and allow her to give justice to her child. protect my good and loyal friends who’ve followed me to the end of the world. i beg you, give me strength and skill to keep them all safe or at least alive. guide my steps and let me save them. and this is when he cries... or as close to crying as Jon Snow ever comes; a few silent, tiny tears rolling down his cheeks, and that he promptly wipes away with the back of his hand. it’s not his first time waiting for the enemy to come, though even wildling hosts pale in comparison to literal Death. at this point, Jon has a very cocky relationship with the possibility of his own dying --- because he has gone through it (twice, as i headcanon that he died in that frozen lake). not as in “i am so tough and death can’t kill me”, no, but in a completely detached sort of toxic mindset --- i have died and they brought me back because they still had a use for me (Melisandre told him this, through different words) --- if i die again and they still need me, they’ll bring me back yet again. but you, Lord Snow, you’ll be fighting their battles forever. he does not feel bitter about it anymore, for the simple reason he has repressed that experience to the point of being numb to it. therefore, right now, Jon is not afraid to die --- his only huge, overwhelming fear is that he will be unable to keep his loved ones alive/ unharmed, especially this skinny little girl currently sleeping in his arms. so, when the time comes, this is why he does not feel any of his fatigue anymore --- a sort of parallel with the wights; our enemy does not tire. Jon himself has become a wight animated by fire, rather than ice. and he will not tire --- not while he has his family and his home and his people to defend, or die in the attempt.

one final note: if there is one thing i do not tolerate in the show, it is the lack of consequences when it comes to Jon’s actions (frozen lake, cough, just to cite the more blatant case). i do NOT write Jon Snow as an overpowered superhero who can recklessly do whatever he wants and does not pay the price for it. i don’t know how the battle will unfold --- for example, if he will be wounded during it --- but i know that, should this be the case and the show does not acknowledge it, i will. in post-battle scenarios, despite what happens, he will suffer physical consequences for his actions --- and, if nothing else, he’s going to crash VERY HARD and go comatose for at least some 24h because his body will have reached the limit of exhaustion.

#GOT spoilers #long post #「ᵐᵉᵗᵃ ᵗᵃᵍ」ᵗʰᵉ ᶜʳᵒʷ ᶤˢ ᵗʰᵉ ʳᵃᵛᵉᶰ'ˢ ᵖᵒᵒʳ ᶜᵒᵘˢᶤᶰ #「ʰᵉᵃᵈᶜᵃᶰᵒᶰ」ᶰᵒ ˢᵗᵃʳᵏ; ᵇᵘᵗ ʰᵉ ᶜᵒᵘˡᵈ ᵈᶤᵉ ˡᶤᵏᵉ ᵒᶰᵉ #the irony of my headcanon tag right now

[dachi-chan25]

GoT S8, Episode 1: The Pointy End Recap Part 2.

-Once they are alone Tyrion muses about her title and she about his while throwing some shade at d, Tyrion says the last time they saw each other was at Joffrey's wedding, Sansa gives a half ass sorry for leaving like that and Tyrion is still salty about it (like fuck off) Sansa is like we both survived so... Tyrion makes a remark about how everyone that underestimated Sansa is now dead and she looks proud (damn right that is my girl) which in this case sounds ominious af for D. Then Tyrion proceeds to show how far he is into the lizard cult, by trying to sell Sansa Stark of all people that bs of Cersei sending the armies, and Sansa in not so many words calls him and idiot (my girl is not holding back her punches and I am here for it) and Bran is just staring at them probably enjoying the drama as much as I.

-Jon is on the godswood in front of the heart tree (you know what? ?? If aegony was real at all she would be there with him, he would like to show her the place where he grew up. he would be like i am really sorry about my people not wanting you here but you'll see they'll warm up to you once they see what a good queen you are or something along those lines, maybe even a kiss in front of a heart tree, a sacred place where you can't lie) but no Jon looks worried and fucking miserable

-Arya sneaks up on him, they banter playfully and can you believe??? He straight up casually mentions he died (👀👀) they hug and it's very heartfelt and brotherly (honestly no stark reunion has been filmed like the Jonsa one, ofc one can argue they were the very first reunion, but duuude the music, the snow falling softly around them, how they get a close up on both Jon and Sansa's face, the nuzzle, and how bloody long is that hug, as well as the fact that neither of them has had a follow up like just drinking having a good time together) they talk about Needle and Longclaw (like if you don't get how different are the Jon - Arya interactions played against the jonsa ones then idk what to tell you) Jon says something that really bothered me at first but then I really thought about it and I came up with why:

1) He is an asshole so far up D's ass he forgets Sansa is the one who really gave him a reason to fight for the living again, and that she literally saved him in the BotB, and that she made him a fur and called him a Stark, or that she has been doing an excellent job preparing for the war against the AotD , but this can't be, I would believe it if this was a season 4 or 5 or even a season 1 and I knew nothing about who Jon is and what he wants, and after seven seasons I know Jon enough to say he would never think this.

2) He is hurt about Sansa still not trusting him to protect her and their home,and is salty cause she really thinks he didn't listen to her when he did. I mean doesn't it remind you of that argument they had about Sansa undermining him, he was desperate to know that Sansa trusted his desicions (super unfair to sansa still cause she doesn't know anything about Jon's plans) he says sansa believes she is smarter than everyone, when he knows she is not seeing he listened to her and is appeasing D so they have a chance against the NK. And i believe this one because it doesn't destroy Jon's character.

Now he says this to Arya and not in the Great Hall (that would have been super shitty of him and would go along with number 1 case) because he and Arya used to poke fun at Sansa's expense when they were kids and he thinks Arya would agree with him and trust him, but she is totally on Sansa's side and defends her (yasss this is what we deserved after last season's shit show) that Jon wasn't expecting it (dude he was joking he doesn't say it with hate or anything like that) much less was he expecting Arya to say Sansa is just trying to protect the family (as if he wasn't) and we see number 2 is real when in a very vulnerable voice he says 'i am her family too' , like he really wanted Sansa's support and trust in the Great Hall and he thinks she is so angry and trusts him so little that she doesn't even consider him family anymore (i'll be crying in the corner excuse me) even more so when Arya makes that remark of not forgetting about that (like seriously we have seen this boy for 7 seasons like how could he ever forget about his family???) And duuude I can't even begin to imagine how sad and alone Jon felt. They hug again and Jon closes his eyes (important detail)

-We cut the scene to Cersei looking like the evil queen she is, smiling while Euron's fleet arrives with the Golden Company when Qyburn informs her that the Wall is no more, and she looks so pleased (dude also in the Recap at the beginning of the episode the really drove home that d was fire and the nk was ice, and i mean GoT starts with Robert's Frost poem about how ice and fire are destructive forces of nature) .

-We get a glimpse of the Golden Company, and then we get a scene with Euron and Yara, Euron is being an annoying piece of shit.

-now we are in the throne room, Cersei welcomes the captain of the Golden Company (his name is Harry but I can't remember how to write his last name) but she is disappointed about not having elephants. Euron is disgusting again, Cersei is savage with him but he starts complaining and is so insistent that Cersei finally gives in and fucks him.

-Bronn is having sex with some prostitutes, the only intresting thing about this scene is the girls talking about the Loot Attack and the horrible deaths of the guys who fought there (apparently Ed Sheeran's character face got burnt off and if that is not an attempt to show D as a villian then idk what that is) Qyburn arrives and says Cersei is summoning him, she is willing to pay and give him a castle if he goes north and kills both Jaime and Tyrion (also I feel Sansa's kidnap plot is gonna happen).

-We get a post-sex scene of Cersei and Euron, and Euron is fishing for compliments but instead annoys Cersei.

-While Euron is trying to measure his dickin' abilities to Bobby B's and Jamie's my boy Theon rescues Yara, who decks him in the face for not fighting for her, but still they escape (I have so many doubts about this, like Theon went to Braavos and back or he just waited, and how did he know he was coming back to KL after he supposedly betrayed Cersei,and if he knew it was a ploy why didn't he warned D or Jon through a raven) Yara wants to take the Iron Islands (I don't believe she gives a fuck about D she just wanted to take back her home) but she knows Theon wants to fight for the Starks so she tells him to go, and it's a good scene.

-More refugees arrive at WF, and we get a sense of the camp and how big is this army, we get a glimpse of Alys Karstark (she is wearing something similar in cut and color to Sansa, and i do believe people are gonna think Sansa is dead at some point) then we get Davos,Varys and Tyrion talking while they watch Jon and D at a distance. Davos tells them the northerns are not gonna like D, Tyrion is worried, but then Dadvos proposes a marriage between Jon and D (duuude I said he was going for this since last season but he only says it until now, this ship is doomed) and this would be a pretty good idea if the people didn't hated her and feared her already but Davos is not a good politician cuz he wasn't raised for it, he is loyal and all you want but he doesn't know the north. Varys is like nothing lasts and I don't blame him cuz he has been unimpresed by D since Mereen, and now he gets to see Sansa's savvy politics and A+ administration while he probably thinks Jon is just another dumb asshole thinking with his dick.

-D and Jon are walking around, and who is brought up in this conversation?? SANSA fucking STARK! !! Even when no northern lord liked her D is just whining about Sansa not liking her (they really trying to sell this triangle when I know, I see I hear with everything Jon does that Jon has no romantic feelings for d at all) and Jon's deadass answer is "well she didn't liked me either when we were kids" (i call bs cuz whe sansa tried to apologize for this he said there was nothing to forgive so this is not serious) he was trying to joke to light the mood, direct the conversation to how alike he and d are instead of a "I'll talk to her don't worry bae" duuude D is really dumb, but she is annoying again implying that if Sansa doesn't respect her she'll do something about it, we don't get to know what but you can see when d is not looking at him that Jon is not happy about what she just said (but also I don't think jon gets that it was a threat cuz he hasn't seen d's uglier sides and I believe he think he has, and he thinks he can manipulate her not to do anything rash).

Some dothraki riders inform D that the Dragon's are barely eating :0:0:0 oh noes!!! If only someone hadn't burned food during the Loot Attack (idgaf about the lizards at all )

Jon and D go to check on the dragons, and D prompts Jon to ride Rhaegal (Jon while not as afraid as before is still weary of dragons) Jon doesn't seem to want to and says what will happen of Rhaegal doesn't want him to and d basically jokes about Jon dying which is not cute or flirty cuz Jon looks scared af. We get further proof D is flying by the seat of her pants and doesn't know shit about how to control her dragons yet she probably thinks Rhaegal likes Jon because they are meant for each other or some other self important bs.

And Jon is not thrilled dude he almost falls off (you ruined horses for me is bs) and we get Varys, Davos and Tyrion see him on the Dragon. Tyrion looks worried.

Jon somehow takes the lead and takes D to some waterfalls, and she is like we could stay here forevaaaaa and he is like we would be too old (the romantic interactions are still at 0 the chemistry is again flat, Jon's responses are awkward and not romantic) he practically tells her she doesn't belong in the north and she asks him to warm her, they kiss (bland passionless) Jon opens his eyes to stare at the dragons, d is like don't be silly darling, he kisses her again and then fucking turns her around so he can stare at her dragons while kissing her. Peak romance amirite ?? Lmaoooo Pol!Jon is real sorry not sorry he had to stare at the dragons while kissing her making the dragons and not the kiss the focus of the scene. I do believe this was just to appease her and keep her happy and commited to the cause after everyone treated her like she deserved.

Gendry is working at the forge, and Arya enters, the Hound is being a cunt, and tells Arya she is a cold bitch for letting him to die and Arya couldn't give less of a fuck. She and Gendry flirt hard like pls make this canon, and pls don't let d burn my boy.

K Imma need a part 3 cuz the Jonsa scene!!!!

#got 8 recaps #season 8 #episode 1 #part 2 #dachi rants #dachi rambles #jonsa #anti-daenerys #anti aegony

[kcwcommentary]

VLD4x03 – “Black Site”

4x03 – “Black Site”

Interesting to note that both this episode and last episode were directed by Steve In Chang Ahn. I haven’t yet seen any other instances within a single season of a person directing back-to-back episodes, so I wonder what this suggests about the production of season four. Also, this episode was written by the show’s Story Editor, Tim Hedrick, which becomes relevant to my criticism of this episode in a bit.

We open with Haggar/Honerva – it is really cumbersome to differentiate with the two names, and I do think this show expects us to do so. She is distraughtly staring into a magical reflective energy bubble (because apparently basic mirrors can’t be bothered with when you’re a space witch) at the brown skin face of an emaciated Honerva. She still has a clawed, purple Haggar hand though. I remain uninvested in Haggar, so the emotion of inner turmoil that the show thinks it’s giving us with her here makes me go ugh. She changes the color of her face to purple, indicating that this is a choice she is making. She is Altean, and it’s been a while since we’ve seen an Altean change their appearance (Allura first revealed this ability in 1x12 “Collection and Extraction,” though such a significant ability has never since been relevant to the story, which seems like a big narrative underuse for something so powerful).

The Druids are still torturing the Galra commander of the base from 3x06 “Tailing a Comet,” who says it must have been Lotor who attacked him. This is a change, since he wasn’t naming anyone when he was tortured at the end of 3x06. I really wish shows would stop aggrandizing the imaginary idea that torture produces true information. Haggar comments, “No one can completely wipe a memory away,” which of course is a narrative double-voiced reference to herself in the guise of referencing the commander. The show tries to write Haggar as being the bad person who doesn’t remember being Honerva, but I really hate that because it’s done to absolve Honerva of her terrible behavior, behavior that began long before she became so poisoned that she lost her memory and started calling herself Haggar. That this show thinks it depicts Honerva to be a good person with no bad behavior – they basically try to absolve Honerva with a Devil-made-me-do-it excuse – disturbs me.

The Castle Ship is landing on Olkarion, carrying more refugees. Coran identifies them as “a few hundred more souls looking for a new home.” Shiro reidentifies them as “a few hundred more soldiers in the fight against the Galra.” It bothers me that the show conflates being a refugee with being willing to fight in war. By definition, war refugees are people who are trying to escape war. But even if Shiro is accurate, and the refugees depicted in this show are willing to fight in the war, the show never shows them fighting. I never get a sense that this billion-member Voltron Coalition contributing to the war is ever any more than a few dozen people.

Pidge returns. Everyone happily runs to meet her. Of course, I still can’t help but to compare this to how everyone reacted in 4x01 “Code of Honor” to Keith returning. Pidge has brought Matt with her (because apparently he can abandon his post as a rebel and come with her). Pidge introduces Matt to everyone, including Allura.

The first time I watched this episode was the weekend after season seven was released. I had gone through the two weeks between San Diego Comic Con and the release of season seven so happy that the show was finally going to have some clear queer inclusion through the revelation about Shiro and Adam. But then, before I could start my viewing marathon to get caught up on the show and watch season seven that weekend, discussion of the realities of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it level of inclusion and the use of the bury-your-gays trope with Adam’s character was happening online. So, by the time I was watching this episode, I was in an aggravated mindset. And then I saw this scene.

The blatant, over-the-top depiction of Matt’s attraction to Allura infuriated me. Watching it now, I can just see the scene as yet another instance of heterosexual privilege, in which the depiction of a man attracted to a woman is not subtle or hidden. It’s glaring. The double standard makes me feel ill. Matt’s behavior is over the top and feels like a celebration of the dominance of men being attracted to women in American storytelling. I can easily imagine that those responsible for this scene – writer, director, executive producer – they all are so ignorant of the privilege afforded to the perspective of men attracted to women that they were (and still remain) clueless to how obnoxious this scene is and how obnoxious they were in creating it.

And of course, Lance is jealous. I haven’t been interested in Lance’s jealousy over Allura before, I’m not interested now.

Matt sees Shiro. This is part of this scene that I really like. Matt holds out his hand to shake Shiro’s, calling him “Sir.” I appreciate that Matt has such clearly depicted respect for Shiro. Shiro shakes his hand briefly before pulling Matt in for a hug. Shiro is not a boring commander-guy character, and moments like this prove it. He has a significant softer side. He deeply cares about the people with whom he serves. Recontextualizing this knowing that this is the clone, he still feels so warmly about people that he wants to hug them, so again, he’s clearly not an “evil thing.” He also expresses a willingness to continue the search for Pidge and Matt’s dad.

And the scene ends with Lance continuing to be jealous.

Zarkon is being put into some new armor, complete with constant quintessence vials built in. Haggar complains to him about Lotor, and Zarkon responds by condemning Haggar’s elevating Lotor to the position of authority that he’s in. “It’s time to relieve my wayward son of his duties,” Zarkon says. This is only beginning to hint at the abuse that Zarkon and Haggar have inflicted over the millenia on Lotor. That this show writes Zarkon and Haggar to be abusive and then ends the show by demanding we absolve and forgive them for their abusive behavior is infuriating. This element of the show’s plot is an insult against every one of us who have been abused by a parent.

There’s a longer-than-it-should-have-been scene of Pidge giving Matt a tour of the Castle Ship. All the information in it is information we viewers have known for a long time, so it’s not adding anything new to the show. Because of that, it’s mostly a worthless scene. The quick cut and tonal shift of the voice acting of “This is our cow,” from Pidge, however is funny.

Lotor’s people are busy working on building another part of the Sincline. Lotor’s been summoned back to Zarkon’s throne. Given how he talks to his generals, he couldn’t care less about Zarkon resuming as Emperor. Narti accompanies Lotor.

There’s a scene with Allura and Coran and the cow. It’s supposed to be funny.

Lotor meets with Zarkon and Haggar. Zarkon relieves Lotor of his position and speaks with clear disdain. Zarkon says both, “Your short reign will be regarded as a black spot on the Galra Empire for years to come,” and, “You are no longer needed.” This is just a glimpse at how he has treated Lotor over the millennia, and it’s already clearly abusive. Lotor’s face as he walks away reaffirms his comment in the earlier scene that he doesn’t view holding the throne right now as being necessary for his plans.

Haggar says, “I sensed a powerful energy on [Lotor] when he entered.” Well, that’s vague writing. She creeps around and stares at Narti. The camerawork clearly focuses in on Narti, not Kova. After departing, Lotor detects and destroys a tracker that’s been placed on his ship.

Between milkshakes and now Hunk lounging with food, none of the Paladins in this episode seem like they’re busy dealing with a war. Large parts of season four have this odd casual tonal quality to scenes and plots that feels so off in an ongoing story about a war.

Referencing an element to the episode 2x07 “Space Mall,” Lance sits in the dark playing the video game he and Pidge bought at the mall. The game is stylized after old 8- and 16-bit RPGs. Given my own history with such games, I genuinely feel nostalgic seeing it depicted this way. Coran and Allura interrupt because they want more milk. So, we get another long scene with the cow. We do learn that Lance knows how to milk a cow, which is not an everyman skill. Coran and Allura react in horror, so we can conclude that Alteans aren’t similar to mammals (why do female Alteans have breasts then?). It’s like they’ve never seen someone consume something extracted from an animal before, but I can’t believe that the two of them are so socially isolated that they’ve never encountered someone who does, even if they themselves do not. I imagine that the writer and director did this scene without much of any thought to the anthropological implications it contains. They just thought it was funny. To me, it just feels out of place. Again, it’s so casual.

Lotor returns to his generals. Axca reports the second “comet” ship is complete. Again, the camerawork focuses on Narti, not Kova, and we see that Haggar is watching Lotor through her. How she can be doing so through Narti, who we know is blind and has no depicted eyeballs, I don’t know. “No!” Haggar says in some raspy, desperate voice upon hearing that Lotor is building ships. She hears the word “comet” and jumps to the conclusion that it’s the same kind of “comet” Voltron was made from. This is another instance of this show having people jump to conclusions because the show needs them to, not because it would be logical that they would make such a conclusion. It’s a cheat, a shortcut in writing.

Haggar tells Zarkon, who assumes Lotor is keeping them secret so that he can use them against the Empire. Again, this feels like a jump to a conclusion, but it also could be that Zarkon is a megalomaniac, so he thinks everything is about him. He orders his fleet to “hunt down Prince Lotor.”

Pidge, Matt, and Hunk do something to improve the Castle Ship’s ability to track Galra ships. They also decipher Galra communications that they had previously been unable to do. They learn Zarkon is alive. They also can see Zarkon’s fleet moving toward Lotor’s base. There’s a team meeting. Pidge finally says she thinks she can upgrade Voltron as a whole with the cloaking technology she’s been using for ages on the Green Lion. She says she’s been working on it for a while but that she can’t pilot the Green Lion and operate the cloaking at the same time. That makes no sense whatsoever since she can pilot Green and use Green’s cloak simultaneously. It’s more contrived writing to put Matt in Green with Pidge.

Lotor’s base is attacked. Voltron shows up, cloaks, and observes from a distance. Lotor moves so that he, his generals, and the remaining part of the “comet” can escape on the two Sincline ships created so far. “How did they find us,” Axca asks. “We must’ve been tracked,” Zethrid responds. Lotor then jumps to the conclusion that it’s because of Narti. The camerawork clearly focuses on Narti, not Kova. Since Kova was with Lotor just as much as Narti was, there’s no reason for him to assume Narti and not the possibility of Kova, especially since Kova originated with Honerva/Haggar. But Lotor jumps to the conclusion that it’s Narti’s fault because the writing is again cheating, and he kills Narti.

This terrible writing was a portent that we can only see in hindsight of how badly the conclusion of the clone plotline would be written. Just like with the clone of Shiro, the show here instantly writes Narti to be worthy of death. No consideration of her innocence. No recognition that she’s being used by Haggar. It’s the same with the clone. The writers of this show think that if you lose your agency, that you are worthy of death. The writers would probably react to this criticism of Narti’s death by saying Lotor’s a villain, but since they do to the clone of Shiro the same thing for the same reason, they reveal through their writing choices that this is how they think. If someone deprives you of agency, you are “evil” and deserve to die.

Also, what message does it send that this show introduced Narti as blind and could have given us an interesting character of diverse representation, but instead they use her as death fodder, with the narrative placing the blame on her instead of on Haggar. It started most definitively in 3x07 “The Legend Begins,” but the writers of this show wrote with the purpose of absolving Honerva/Haggar of her behavior for a long time on this show. I guess it should be no surprise that that absolution is the climax of the series. Writing is about making choices. Every moment like this is a choice. And this episode was written by the show’s Story Editor (at this point in its production) Tim Hedrick.

Lotor doesn’t explain himself, as he walks away after killing Narti, and none of his generals have any reaction. Narti is a woman with whom Axca, Ezor, and Zethrid have been working closely for a long time now. And none of them react to seeing Lotor kill her. None of them demand to know why.

Lotor and his remaining generals leave on the Sincline ships. Despite the hugeness of space, his two relatively small ships fly so closely to Voltron that Voltron sidesteps Lotor’s ships at he last minute. There is literally no reason for this to happen except the writing is contrived. The show wants an excuse to end Voltron’s cloaking. Why Voltron, seeing Lotor’s ships coming at them, having more than enough time to move out of the way, only does so at the literal last second possible is senseless. Again, contrived.

Voltron destroys dozens, maybe even hundreds of Galra ships.

Zarkon issues an Empire-wide message: Lotor is deemed an enemy of the state, and Zarkon wants Lotor killed on sight. This ordering Lotor’s execution and dying in combat with Lotor in episode 5x02 “Blood Duel” are the only significant things Zarkon does in the show after the battle at the end of season two. There’s very little reason for him to have survived the end of season two. And here he is, ordering the execution of his son, and that’s one of his endless horrible actions that he’s absolved of by the show in the final season.

A lot of blame for the bad storytelling in this show goes to the show’s executive producers, absolutely. But I don’t absolve the show’s Story Editor either, especially when he’s the writer of an egregious episode like this.

#voltron legendary defender #voltron #vld #voltron criticism #vld criticism #voltron critical #vld critical #vld season 4 #vld 4x03 #commentary

[leakinghate]

The Depths to which We Sink

Disclaimer: This theory and analysis contradicts some points made in my previous metas, but what’s the fun of speculation if we limit ourselves to having it all gel together?

Nothing in animation is wasted: every action and expression seen on screen is something someone had to draw and something someone had to pay for. Everything is deliberate, from changes in expression to major plot events, and things which do not contribute to the overarching vision of the show will rarely, if ever, be included. Voltron Legendary Defender in particular moves so fast that they don’t have the space to include anything extraneous even when they want to. The showrunners have said in interviews that they’ve had to cut several of their comedy ideas for lack of space.

The exception to this that has always stood out to me as not fitting into the meta narrative is s2e2 'The Depths'. It's mostly plot irrelevant on the whole, with it being notable only for introducing the Blue Lion’s sonic canon. Sure it has some nice character moments for Lance, and the animation is beautiful, but it’s basically filler. It’s almost completely forgotten by the story, only brought up again once, when Lance references the mermaids in s3e2, ‘Red Paladin’.

In preparation for the fast approaching season 7 on August 10th I was attempting to re-watch the entire show up to the end of s6. Most re-watches I do I skip less plot relevant episodes like ‘The Depths’, but I wanted to go through the whole show this time.

But as I was watching this particular episode, post season six. I was struck by an uncomfortable feeling of déjà vu. So what do you do when you think you’ve stumbled upon some heretofore unnoticed foreshadowing? Why, bring it to the Lotura Discord of course! We put our heads together and came up with some fascinating observations, as well as some intriguing possibilities for where the plot might be headed in the future.

On re-watching it again, post season six, 'The Depths’ contains an uncanny amount of foreshadowing to the entire colony plot.

Two of our protagonists unexpectedly stumble upon a completely isolated and hidden settlement after traveling through a strange space anomaly. They are initially greeted by a single member of a race they previously believed did not exist (anymore).

The mermaid civilization is beneath a thick layer of ice, and the Altean colony is inside a dome.

Information received from an erstwhile ally reveals an apparently sinister truth about the actions and motivations of someone in power who had previously acted as a friend. To wit: the authority figure has deceived their loyal subjects for the purpose of killing them.

The ally that provides this information readily admits that they do not know all the facts and that their conclusion is only a theory based on the facts that they do have.

Dialogue from The Depths:

Lance: But what’s the point? Why mind-control the mermaids? Blumfump: To kill them! Lance: Really? Blumfump: Well, we don’t know that for sure, but hundreds of mermaids have disappeared and never come back.

Dialogue from The Colony:

Romelle: My brother was dead. I knew the truth, or at least part of it, but I also knew that no one would believe me without proof. When Keith and Krolia arrived they were my last chance at finding it. I told them what had happened to my brother, and as it turned out, so many Alteans that had been taken before him. As they explained their mission to me, we knew there must have been a connection between the missing Alteans and the pure strain of quintessence.

One of our protagonists is compromised by an antagonist’s mind control and is used to attack and subdue his fellows. The shadows on Hunk’s face when he is under mind control even look like Shiro’s scar.

The physical appearances of several characters are also intriguing. The one character we see fall victim to the Baku, Florona, is the only red-headed mermaid in the episode. A shade of red very similar to Bandor’s hair color.

Plaxum, the most prominent of the ‘cave dwellers’ and the one who eventually directly confronts the queen, has two ponytail-like projections on her head very reminiscent of Romelle’s hairstyle. They also share very similar body language. And Plaxum’s eyes while wearing her jellyfish are the same color as Romelle’s.

In fact, both of these pairs of characters share very similar color schemes; Plaxum and Romelle are teal, pink, and yellow, while Florona and Bandor are red, golden-yellow, and green.

These are all things which have already happened; there is no speculation here, only observation.

Hilariously, this means Bandor has been metaphorically represented by a red fish.

In other words, a Red Herring.

From Wikipedia:

"A red herring is something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important issue. It may be either a logical fallacy or a literary device that leads readers or audiences towards a false conclusion."

This is exactly what we've been saying since season 6 aired. Specifically referring to Bandor’s line after his ship crashed through the dome. The one thing he manages to tell Romelle is: “Lotor... the other colony... It’s all a lie.” Which tells us exactly nothing, but is the evidence that convinces Romelle she is correct to distrust Lotor, and what sets off the chain of events that ultimately led to the s6 finale. It’s also the strongest evidence we as the audience have that Lotor has done something truly monstrous. The scene with Bandor irrefutably connects Lotor to the emaciated Alteans, even if we don’t know precisely what that connection is. It’s easy to assume the worst both in and out of universe.

In cinema characters with red hair are often made to be the red herrings. A red herring may be intentionally used by the writer to plant a false clue that leads readers or audiences towards a false conclusion. Bandor led Romelle to a false conclusion.

Both in and out of the show. Romelle concluded wrong. The paladins concluded wrong. The AUDIENCE concluded wrong.

What’s next? Well, the plot of ‘The Depths’ isn’t a 1-to-1 relation to the Altean Colony storyline, so it’s difficult to say exactly what aspects of the episode’s climactic fight and conclusion will turn out to be relevant. But, we can be fairly certain that the overall narrative is the same.

The apparent villain was actually being manipulated into taking the actions they took by a greater, silent threat. The few rebels our protagonists met were wrong about who was the real enemy. They were right about the issue, but wrong about the ‘why.’ The leader was not at fault because the leader had fallen prey to the creature first and was subsequently rendered powerless to stop it.

Perhaps even, and here we get into more speculation...

The real threat was something that loomed large in the background the whole time, assumed to be providing safety. Fallen from space.

The Baku is referred to as ‘the giver of life’.

That phrase is disconcertingly ominous, considering the only other time we've heard a similar phrase was in reference to Oriande. The Sages, or ‘Life Givers’, specifically.

And what is quintessence, but ‘life itself’.

JDS has previously compared Lotor to Magus from Chrono Trigger, a game I have no personal experience with, but @blackmoonbabe​ provides the relevant info​ here.

What if there's some kind of cosmic horror that Lotor's been fending off with Altean quintessence? Possibly, the only kind strong enough - apart from the rift sourced variety. Extracting it and storing the people in the hopes of eventually restoring them. Only, now that he's gone. There's nothing stopping whatever this thing is. Who knows. It might even be related to the rift creatures.

We still don't know what the Baku was or where it came from, just that it 'fell from space.' The new trailer for season 7 features a similar looking and very toothy one-eyed beastie.

When Lotor is pleading with Allura he says:

"Allura, you must understand I’ve given everything I have to plumb the depth of King Alfor’s knowledge, to unlock the mysteries of Oriande."

It might be that he found something bad while trying to unlock those mysteries.

All of this really makes you wonder why exactly Alfor kept Oriande's existence a secret.

Post season 1, there was an interview where the showrunners said that they had to kill off Alfor's AI because he knew spoilers. Which, okay, that’s fair.

Except... what exactly have we come to know now that only Alfor’s AI could have told us ahead of time?

Everything we eventually learn about Zarkon we find out through Allura and Coran. And everything surrounding Lotor and Haggar  are things that Alfor’s AI wouldn’t have known about because they happened after Alfor’s death. The only outstanding piece of information that Alfor could have know was the location of and the information about Oriande. But, Allura doesn't even think to look for Oriande until mere moments before she and Lotor unlock the map to it. Certainly, the AI could have provided information of the proper way to get past the trials, but that was resolved easily enough in-episode and it was never truly portrayed as a risk that Allura and Lotor wouldn’t return before the castle ran out of oxygen.

If it was true that Alfor knew spoilers... there is something BIG concerning Altean Alchemy that we don't yet know. Not something little. Something potentially game changing.

Even knowing there was a good chance he was going to his death, and Coran and Allura would be on their own, Alfor never told Coran about Oriande. Coran and Alfor have been shown to have a particularly close, lifelong friendship - strong enough that Coran keeps at least two portraits of Alfor in his room above his bed. Alfor trusted Coran to the extent that he entrusted his beloved daughter, the Black Lion, and the future of the universe into Coran’s hands.

And yet.

Alfor didn’t tell Coran about Oriande. The one place Allura might go to strengthen her alchemic abilities and reach her potential. Alfor was faced with the possibility of letting the knowledge of Oriande and Altean Alchemy die, and he chose to risk it.

There had to be a damn good reason he didn't tell Coran about it. He might have known about something bad. It seems like he wanted Oriande forgotten; for Allura to never go there. Or at least, not until she was ready to make some tough decisions. Decisions he would rather spare her.

I’ve been feeling since around season 3 that VLD’s ultimate conclusion will be to show us that there is no true good and evil, that neither violence or pacifism is always the answer, that the world - the universe - is all shades of grey. Allura is our vehicle for that. It’s through her assumed prejudices that the show is shifting our viewpoints. She began the series believing that the Galra were all evil, the Alteans good. As time has gone on she’s improved impressively on her initial bias against the Galra, but has steadfastly refused to acknowledge her own people as capable of similar actions - her response to the alternate reality Alteans was to declare them not true Alteans instead of accepting that they’d become akin to the Galra Empire from her own reality.

It’s clear that Allura will have to face Honerva eventually, and will be forced to confront what the former greatest Altean Alchemist has become. But it’s too easy to dismiss Honerva’s corruption into Haggar as a side effect of the rift - not the willing actions of someone more concerned with knowledge than morality.

For six seasons we’ve seen Alfor as a paragon of good. His one fatal flaw being perhaps too good, too trusting, that he believed his friend’s words over his own judgement. Ultimately damning the universe to ten thousand years of being ground under the heel of a brutal dictator.

Alfor paid for that mistake with his life, with the destruction of his planet and the near extinction of his people. And so, he remains what all good in VLD is measured against, both in our - the audience’s - minds, and in Allura’s.

But just as our ultimate evil, Zarkon, was revealed to be more than just a monster, so too will our ultimate good be made more complex. In season 3 we were introduced to the younger Zarkon. A loyal friend and comrade. Awkward around an attractive woman, afraid of cats, and a dedicated and concerned ruler of his people. He was humanized, for lack of a better word, but we still see in him the man who he’d eventually become.

What better way to finally break through Allura’s idealized view of Alteans than by tainting Alfor’s image in some way? To finally see our Big Good do something morally grey? We’ve already seen it foreshadowed by the corruption of the AI, and the Alteans in the alternate reality.

The first time we’ve heard someone level legitimate criticisms against Alfor was at the end of season 6. Just after Lotor begins his breakdown he says:

"What about your father? He may have been a master engineer, but Alfor was too weak to defend his home world. I’m the one who had to step up and save our entire race. Who are you to question my tactics in bringing peace and prosperity to the universe?"

No one else criticizes Alfor for his choices. Even when they acknowledge he failed, he's always portrayed as having taken the best choice. But, what if Lotor's right? It certainly looks like he is.

If Lotor hadn’t stepped in and saved those few survivors of Altea’s destruction they would eventually have been discovered by the empire and executed. Zarkon had made it his personal mission to drive the Alteans to extinction. Alfor was weak. He surrendered to his fear of what would happen if Voltron fell into Zarkon’s hands and failed to utilize all his resources to defend Altea, his people, and his allies.

This won’t be the only fault we find out he had, mark my words.

There is something dark and unsavory lurking in the truth of Altean Alchemy.

Considering Lotor readily admits that Alteans perished in the process of his quintessence experiments, it may very well be that whatever required such vast amounts of concentrated quintessence is also something Alfor had to contend with in the past. Canonically, as stated in s3e7 ‘The Legend Begins’, quintessence was only first discovered in the course of studying the rift on Daibazaal. Alfor could not have been utilizing quintessence directly, because he didn't know it existed.

So if, whatever Lotor has been having to do with the colony, Alfor may have been having to do something similar...

He was simply sacrificing people.

It’s a lot easier to hide a handful of people going missing when you have an entire planet’s population to work with.

What if this is a thing that had always been happening, and that's why Alfor never told Coran about Oriande?

The thing is, Lotor can't know that now. Or he would have told Allura. To justify his actions, if it was something that Alfor would have dealt with as well.

Lotor didn't have Voltron. If there is some kind of Cosmic Horror beastie out there he might not have been able to fight it, let alone kill it. So he was building Sincline. Hence the urgency to get it completed even after Zarkon was gone. We know he was out of concentrated quintessence as of s4e5 ‘Begin the Blitz’. He was either going to have to access the rift imminently or harvest more people.

The powers that be keep talking about things not being black and white in this show.

Alteans can do bad things. Honerva became Haggar. Allura herself has made some morally questionable choices. Like what she did to Lotor for example.

Allura will need to realize that. The truth will rise from the depths and confront her in a way she can no longer ignore.

Alfor failed. It was up to Lotor to save the Altean people. He did what he felt he had to do, and in many respects, it will turn out he was right.

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#vld #The Depths #Allura #Lotor #Alfor #Romelle #Bandor #Plaxum #Florona #voltron legendary defender #s2e2 #Hate tries to Meta #Lotura Discord Meta #red herring #vld season 7 predictions #vld conspiracy theory #altean alchemy

[whattheklance]

The rest of my season 6 thoughts

OHMYGOSH

what a season

WHAT a season

the next chunk of writing, right below here, was from when i was on the episodes I was talking about before I finished them all

KEITH IS TALLER THAN LANCE after two years

ALSO that means Keith is 21 now, even if no time has passed for everyone else.

man. i think the only reason Lance was "oh look keith's back" was mostly his bitterness over lotor and allura. it's like that bitterness revived his original behavior around Keith from the beginning. even if keith is acting different.

I wouldn't have even thought or noticed Keith was bigger or had grown if fucking LANCE hadn't pointed it out. of course lance is the first and only one to notice. not even in person but via a screen

i also forgot about the cliffhanger already that keith and krolia had found an altean. that d&d episode kinda wiped it from my brain.

and lotor had me fooled too.

though before i started watching i had read someone's post who pointed out how much lotor always told the truth but would lie through omission. not sharing any details that would paint him in a negative light.

is the tenderness he's expressed with allura also part of the lie?? cuz that seemed so genuine.

OHHHHH MYGOSH OHMYGOSH

one of my theories was RIGHT. that the shiro who returned to earth was ALSO a clone!!!

when keith first walked into that room with pods, my FIRST thought was "are all of those Shiros????"

AND OHMYGOSH they were.

when i saw the title of this episode was "the black paladins" my first thought was "does this mean not only keith and shiro, but MULTIPLE shiros will be in this episode???" AND YES. ugh yes.

i don't care that i was right. cuz this was like one of HALF A DOZEN theories i came up with.

i think original shiro NEVER returned to earth

which possibly means that haggar let the blades release A shiro because 1) it wasn't the real one and 2)she might have always intended him to be a paladin.

but i am REALLY attached to the clone shiro we got to know and love and I PRAY that we get to see him again.

and i jumped to a conclusion too quick up there. though a theory of mine was STILL RIGHT, a slight variation on what i just said. I know I have an old post where I theorized that Shiro disappeared because he BECAME ONE WITH THE BLACK LION

AND OHMYGOSH THATS WHAT HAPPENED

it's funny. there was a huge theory going around that something like that could happen to lance and the blue lion, even though there weren't really any solid grounds to think that would happen. But that's what happened to Shiro.

After Keith talked to Shiro and truly bonded with the Black Lion thanks to him. I thought we'd have to say goodbye to Shiro it REALLY felt like he wouldn't be coming back. Like we'd lost him already back in season 2.

and then them having to sacrifice the castle of lions, their home away from home. was even more loss on top of that.

so when we got Allura putting Shiro's spirit from the Black Lion into the clone's body. My heart was swelling. I was so relieved. And I like that it turned his hair all the way white. kinda like when Gandalf the Grey "came back from the dead" as Gandalf the White.

There were SO MANY wonderful beats in this season. Lots of signs of REALLY great storytelling

But I can't help but feel like someone took the great story the team wanted to tell and condensed it way too much. You can still see the elements of what they planned, but lots of important parts felt too rushed

We already know that netflix or dreamworks mandate forced them to bring shiro back a whole season sooner than the creators wanted to. I can't help but wonder what other mandates happened that limited their plans.

The WHOLE Shiro story was a thrilling concept and had some good beats in it. But it also happened a little too fast. Like, Lance's interactions with Shiro in season 5, I felt like that should have led somewhere instead of being dismissed. Even if they wanted the betrayal to seemingly come out of nowhere and surprise the team the way it did, they could've had Lance travel a little ways towards the truth, but have something happen that causes him to dismiss it. It also would’ve amplified his grief upon the betrayal happening, like he could’ve prevented it.

hell even clone shiro. Gonna call him Kuro from now on. He suspected something was wrong. That’s why I thought we were going to get SOME kind of investigation/test, even if it was limited to one episode ANYTHING. i would’ve taken ANYTHING of that nature.

I really wanted Kuro to have some sort of agency beyond his programming. For him to possibly get redeemed or something. I mean, he resisted. He wanted to resist before Haggar forced control. But in the end he was just a device for conflict, and a deus ex machina to resurrect real Shiro. kinda bummed we didn’t get any other clone shiros beyond the sleeping ones in the pods. I liked the idea of a shiro army, good or evil. But maybe they were just empty husks to be used by haggar when one breaks.

It'd be awesome if this wasn't the end of their story, and Shiro in the new body actually had Kuro's voice in his head or something, kinda like 80's Rogue in the x-men with Ms.Marvel's voice in her head. But sadly, it kinda of feels like this is the end of the Shiro Clone Saga.

More on the whole rushing good plot points. The whole reveal of Lotor's true nature with Keith returning. It felt very abrupt, and it didn't help having the D&D episode separating the cliffhanger of Keith and Krolia finding an Altean and the reveal.

Still, even though it all happened faster than I wished, all the beats with the Keith vs Shiro, and Keith discovering real Shiro and unlocking the Black Lion, and even his two year time gap, experience with the Blade and with his mother, crafted him into a confidant fighter who could finally take the lead in voltron, vastly opposite of his pre-blade self. I feel like this character arc, even though it was still too brief init of itself, makes up for some of the lost development from when Shiro should've been gone longer. We wanted to see the new team develop more than we got to. So it was really satisfying seeing them come together now, and feeling like we really saw Keith transform since he last piloted the Black Lion. Even though we had a long keith shortage with seasons 4 and 5, they still managed to have key episodes that developed his arc that led him to who he became in the finale.

though i'm relieved we got original shiro back, i feel like his being brought back was rushed too. Like, I get how that type of scene feels right for a season finale, especially with the fight and losing the castle of lions, but I wish there was more time and development between Keith's discovery of him and his actual return at the end.

KEITH GOT THE GALRA mark from his straining to hold onto his life and Kuro's. I almost was expecting him to fully transform into a galra form of his own. Maybe that's in his future, cuz I think everyone wants to see something like that. I hope the gang comments on his mark in the next episode (did anybody get Star Trek (2009) reboot vibes in that scene?? i feel like there was a scene with Kirk and Sulu that was very similar action-wise with the whole collapsing planet-to-space structure)

Man, so this season Lance had to deal with his Allura feelings and losing her to Lotor. Then Allura had to deal with having her heart broken from falling for Lotor then learning how she was used. Ever since Lance faced his feelings he hasn't been the flirt towards Allura anymore. I hope it stays that way. I love Lance and I love Allura, but I really hope the writers don't take us a romantic route. Like if they did start to do something like that, I'd keep my fingers crossed that its purpose would be to show one or both of them that they aren't right for each other. Like, try to get together only to hilariously fail and decide against it. like Rachel and Joey in friends.

They didn't do anything with Allura presumably learning Lance's feelings from the mice. i’m surprised. i was a little worried when that happened. again, i feel like that not becoming anything could also be a sign of omitted story points.

THEY'RE FUCKING GOING HOME

and i can't help but think how we have seen neither hide nor hair of Sendak's coalition since the episode they fought and ran. They're fully functioning. a huge danger. And I remember reading a meta post after last season talking about how sendak understands better than anyone that to beat voltron is to threaten innocents lives, and to ultimately defeat voltron he'd threaten their home planet. A planet incapable of defending itself against galra tech. He even re-demonstrated those tactics AGAIN this season with the galra shield base. As if to remind us he does that...for next season. where the gang goes home only to find sendak's taken earth or something. or at least has a blockade to threaten it.

this season seriously delivered. Razor's Edge, I stand by as being the best episode of the series thus far. But man The Black Paladins episode was on par with Keith's Blade of Marmora reveal episode in season 2, which I put in the top 5.

Good season, despite the fact that possible executive mandates possibly limiting the writing all around felt VERY visible. Even if it's never confirmed for the things I felt were rushed. I feel like I can see that it’s there. I feel like I can see the story they want to tell, and then everywhere I feel was rushed was like an artificial constraint that forced them to cut something out of the story they want to tell.

Cuz it feels like, from the sheer quality of beats within the characters' arcs, anyone, who could craft what we've already seen, would understand the appropriate amount of story needed to properly depict it, and do it justice, but it's like someone who doesn't have the same understanding has told them to make it shorter, cuz reasons. And that’s how we got the end result

PS. i wonder if Kuro’s sheer blandness as Shiro playing D&D was a reflection of his programming. He couldn’t be inventive or imaginative, and his sole purpose was to be a paladin, to infiltrate, so that’s what he chose every time, constantly the same character. Cuz I feel like real Shiro wouldn’t play the same way. Of course it was funnier having that kind of character, but I really think that might’ve been for that purpose.

#vld season 6 #Voltron legendary defender #project kuron #keith kogane #takashi shirogane #tag commentary #tag commentary has spoilers #my only hope for klance are the paralleling themes of romance in razor's edge #and lance being the only one to notice and comment on Keith being bigger upon seeing him for one second on a screen #now what's going to be the paladin dynamic?? #for some reason shiro's transformation makes me think he might not return as a paladin #one last note on klance. lance pays more attention to keith than ANY OTHER CHARACTER #even allura who he crushed hard for #if they're going back to earth #they better fucking give lance a cuban last name and end that fandom shite once and for all #kill the name mcclain with fire #they can't possibly have them meet whole families and not have last names #come on #if lance is introducing his friends to his family and either stutters and/or pauses when introducing keith 'he's my...' #i will be a happy gal #hunk should also get a last name. cement that samoan heritage #krolia and keith can visit dad's grave together. GIVE HIM A FREAKING NAME #my commentary