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babybells123 · 8 days

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Regarding the original outline + some thoughts on Jon & Sansa…

This is a long one. Buckle up.

If there is one thing I have picked up on in the ASOIAF fandom, it’s the knee-jerk negative reaction towards any theory/parallel/connection between Jon and Sansa. This was exacerbated by the show, of course but even now - five years later, there is an insane amount of vitriol that my brain is unable to comprehend. And here’s the rub; the infamous 1993 outline is the irony of it all.

In a fandom that is a-okay with *certain* incest ships (r.e D@enerys x Jon, D@emon x Rh@enyra, Jon x Aria), as well as blatantly pedophilic ships (Sansa x S@ndor, Sansa x Littlefinger, Sansa x Tyrio*), how is Jon x Sansa the worst of them all? I’m going to pin it down to audience engagement with the show, particularly around the later seasons when Jon + Sansa reunite and people began to ‘ship’ them. So many believe that is how the ship took off, and thus it is mere crack - but there are posts tracking back to 2012/2013 theorising the possibility of Jon x Sansa. Was it spurred by the show? Certainly! But it does not take away from the fact that people were making valid arguments and essays before the general fandom was even comprehending a Jon and Sansa reunion on screen. And people were open to discussing/debating it with general civility (a far cry from today).

I’m 90% certain people weren’t criticising those who began to believe in Jon x Aria when the outline was leaked…(though there were most definitely shippers before). But we never see the same level of vitriol towards Jon x Aria shippers, which is strange.

In any case, let’s talk about said outline, some of the key points - and how I believe GRRM made the switch from Jon x Aria to Jon x Sansa. I’ll be drawing from GRRM’s past works, interviews, art, and his personal life - as well as other potential literary influences. I'll be linking metas along the way, but without further ado - let's go.

In October 1993, GRRM wrote a pitch outline for a publishing company. It was three pages long and conveyed alongside the first thirteen chapters of AGOT (170 pages). The three paged letter was leaked on twitter in February 2014, though there were multiple aspects parts blacked out. Keep in mind though, this may not be the *only* outline that exists. There are multiple outlines that have never been publicly released (and will likely remain that way).

But let’s just focus on the 1993 outline, since we’re privy to the details. The thirteen chapters attached to the outline did *not* yet have a Sansa POV, and that’s because in this outline, she wasn’t listed as a key character.

The key characters were; Bran, Jon, Tyrion, D@enerys, and Aria.

The first thirteen chapters were; Prologue; Bran I, Catelyn I, D@enerys I, Eddard I, Jon I, Catelyn II, Aria I, Bran II, Tyrion I, Jon II, D@enerys II, Eddard II, Tyrion II.

I’ve seen people claim that Sansa isn’t an important character since she wasn’t listed as a key character, but they conveniently leave out the fact that a) her chapters were not yet written, b)she was given an entirely different more passive storyline in this outline, c) she dies, d) this was far far before GRRM fleshed out his characters entirely - Sansa took on a life of her own and she became her own solid complex character with an arc in 4 out of 5 of the books; 25 chapters.

In fact, since the books have been published GRRM has regarded Sansa and the Starks as a main character as well;

Collider: In creating this world, did you start out with one family and then branch off into the rest of the world?

GRRM: Well, the Starks are certainly the centre of the story, when it begins. It all begins at Winterfell, with occasional cuts to Daenerys across the ocean, because there was no way I could get her into Winterfell. But, we bring all the characters together at Winterfell, and they’re all there for a while before they start to go their separate ways ... .But, the Starks are the centre of the book and, to a lesser extent, the Lannisters. They are still the major players.

Collider: When you went into this, did you intentionally take the children, put them in an adult setting and force them to be in very adult and complex situations?

GRRM: Yeah, the children were always at the heart of this. The Stark children, in particular, were always very central. Bran is the first viewpoint character that we meet, and then we meet Jon and Sansa and Arya and the rest of them. It was always my intention to do that.”

Collider report.

May 2016 - Balticon.

(…) George said he was “pissed” that the outline was posted in the office building and that someone took photos and shared them. He said it was a letter for him and the publisher only. He was very firm when telling this and it showed on his face.

He then said that he is not good with writing outlines, making book deadlines, and that often in outlines he was “making shit up”, and “characters changed along the way”.

He went straight from talking about the references in the actual books, to the “differences” in the outline from then to now. He did say that he still knows who sits the iron throne and the end game of the main 5, but also included Sansa, but did not give any details (for obvious reasons).

[question if he is still going with the 1991 ending]

“Yes, I mean, I did partly joke when I said I don’t know where I was going. I know the broad strokes, and I’ve known the broad strokes since 1991. I know who’s going to be on the Iron Throne. I know who’s gonna win some of the battles, I know the major characters, who’s gonna die and how they’re gonna die, and who’s gonna get married and all that. The major characters.

….

“So a lot of the minor characters I’m still discovering along the way. But the mains-”

[question if he knows Arya’s and Jon’s fates]

“Tyrion, Arya, Jon, Sansa, you know, all of the Stark kids, and the major Lannisters, yeah.”

Balticon report:

“Ah, how innocent I was… little did that guy in the picture imagine that he would be spending most of the next two decades in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros with Tyrion, Daenerys, Arya, Sansa, Jon Snow, Bran, and all the rest.”

GRRM's live journal:

So Sansa has clearly developed into an important character from GRRM’s words, and the key-characters argument can cease, because It’s very tiring to dispel that when the characters and story took on a life of its own. (I mean, Jaime was meant to remain a villain, but he was clearly given somewhat of a redemption arc in the main series).

I paraphrased what was written here for this whole section, so go check out the longer post!

The Aria in the original outline:

*NOTE: I am blacking out her actual names in case the wrong people find this post. None of this anti her, please keep that in mind.*

Five central characters will make it through all three volumes, [...] The five key players are Tyrion Lannister, D@enerys Targaryen, and three of the children of Winterfell, Aria, Bran, and the bastard Jon Snow.

Joffrey will not be sympathetic and Ned [what appears to say] will be accused of treason, but before he is taken he will help his wife and his daughter Aria escape back to Winterfell.

Tyrion Lannister, meanwhile, will befriend both Sansa and her sister Aria, while growing more and more disenchanted with his own family.

When Winterfell burns, Catelyn Stark will be forced to flee north with her son Bran and her daughter Aria. Wounded by Lannister riders, they will seek refuge at the Wall, but the men of the Night's Watch give up their families when they take the black, and Jon and Benjen will not be able to help, to Jon's anguish. It will lead to a bitter estrangement between Jon and Bran.

Aria will be more forgiving ... until she realises, with terror, that she has fallen in love with Jon, who is not only her half-brother but a man of the Night's Watch, sworn to celibacy. Their passion will continue to torment Jon and Aria throughout the trilogy, until the secret of Jon's true parentage is finally revealed in the last book.

Abandoned by the Night's Watch, Catelyn and her children will find their only hope of safety lies even further north, beyond the Wall, where they fall into the hands of Mance Rayder, the King-beyond-the-Wall, and get a dreadful glimpse of the inhuman others as they attack the wilding encampment. Bran's magic, Aria's sword Needle, and the savagery of their direwolves will help them survive, but their mother Catelyn will die at the hands of the others.

Exiled, Tyrion will change sides, making common cause with the surviving Starks to bring his brother down, and falling helplessly in love with Aria Stark while he's at it. His passion is, alas, unreciprocated, but no less intense for that, and it will lead to a deadly rivalry between Tyrion and Jon Snow

Observations:

Exactly how old is Aria? Is she a warrior princess who cries at songs like her aunt? Does she enjoy/yearn for romance? Is she a stunningly beautiful maiden rivalling that of Cersei? How close were she and Jon? Did they have a good sibling relationship? Or were they distant? Does she look physically different to Jon? Does she have red hair?

The Sansa of the Original Outline:

‘Each of the contending families will learn it has a member of dubious loyalty in its midst. Sansa Stark, wed to Joffrey Baratheon, will bear him a son, the heir to the throne, and when the crunch comes she will choose her husband and child over her parents and siblings, a choice she will later bitterly rue.’

Tyrion Lannister, meanwhile, will befriend both Sansa and her sister Aria, while growing more and more disenchanted with his own family.

Jaime Lannister will follow Joffrey on the throne of the Seven Kingdoms, by the simple expedient of killing everyone ahead of him in the line of succession and blaming his brother Tyrion for the murders.

More observations:

How old is Sansa? Is she 16? 17? She’s conveyed as a less important character in this outline - why? Queen of the Seven Kingdoms? She dies? Jaime kills her? What is her relationship with Aria like? Are/were they close? Or was Sansa initially meant to be a two-tone villain who betrayed her family? Is she overwhelmingly beautiful? Or is she the plainer sister?

It’s quite clear that both ASOIAF Aria and ASOIAF Sansa are entirely different characters to their outlined counterparts.

In the outline, Tyrion sacks and burns Winterfell. In ASOIAF, It’s Theon and later Ramsay who does this. In the outline, it’s Bran, Aria, and Catelyn who go beyond the Wall. In ASOIAF, it’s Bran, Meera, and Jojen (and Hodor). There are a couple of other changes made here, but there seems a pattern where certain acts *still* occur in the main series, they’re just given to different characters (which makes sense, as GRRM grows organically with his characters.)

So, when we take into account the fact of ASOIAF Sansa being considered a main/key character, her marriage to Tyrion, and the possibility of her being the first to reunite with Jon - perhaps GRRM did keep a Stark x Snow romance - but gave it to a different sister.

In the 2016 Balticon report, GRRM stated he wished that ‘some past things didn’t have such strong foreshadowing and that newer things had stronger foreshadowing.’ You can make a case for J0nrya foreshadowing in the first book, but I’d argue that ACOK/ASOS is where the Jon/Sansa clues and foreshadowing is rife. (and there are certainly Jon/Sansa clues in the first book as well.)

Now to circle back. The Aria of this outline doesn’t have a personality - none of the characters do, really. We don’t know how old she is. Is she a teenager? Is she close in age to Jon? We know she has her needle, so can infer she is a fighter and spirited, but is there a soft romantic side to her? Does she cry at songs like her aunt Lyanna? Does she yearn for love? Is she immensely beautiful? For a narrative like this? It'd be likely if Jon and Tyrion are fighting to the death over her, sort of like gallant knights fighting each other to win the heart of a fair maiden (very romantic and idealistic, mirroring the songs and the stories).

(This is how I am certainly inferring such a scene would have gone).

The ASOIAF Aria we know and love took on a life of her own. She’s described as plain looking (some envision her to be more beautiful than characters like D@ny, Cersei, and Sansa though). - But just quickly on that matter, Aria is indeed compared to Lyanna in looks and spirit, though Lyanna’s beauty was described as wild and implied as non-conventional; different perspectives have different opinions on her. For example, Cersei, Jaime, Devan, the Maester who wrote the WOIAF don’t consider her anything special. Whereas Ned, Robert, and Rhaegar do. So it’s one of those instances where you aren’t exactly sure. In any case, Aria's looks aren't a driving factor in her arc, and I don’t see ASOIAF Tyrion (as creepy as he is) suddenly falling in love with her due to mere attraction because presently, Aria is all knobbly knees and elbows, stick thin, a child, not a maiden, who will still be a pre-teen at the end of the series, if there is no massive time jump.

SHE'S JUST A BABY.

But then, Tyrion did lust after Sansa, so there’s that… however ….

Sansa’s beauty is a driving force in her narrative arc. She is objectified for her beauty. Preyed upon because of her beauty; in many ways it causes her to suffer. It’s largely why LF is grossly infatuated with her - she’s beautiful like Catelyn. Tyrion is attracted to Sansa and wishes to bed her, the H0und intends to rape her during the Blackwater battle, he also comments on her breasts growing, Joffrey sexually humiliates her in court, Ser Dontos has a pervy infatuation with her, Cersei despises Sansa because she is younger, more beautiful etc which she views as a threat.

So, beauty is pertinent to Sansa’s narrative, and it isn’t vain or shallow to say so because it’s a large part as to why she suffers. And her physical beauty is meant to compliment her indulgence in romantic idealism; knights, chivalry, courtly love, beautiful appearances thus equating to good people. It also contributes to perceptions of Sansa; nothing more than a pretty, stupid girl with naive dreams.

So back to ASOIAF Aria: Her arc largely surrounds nature & nature, mercy, war trauma and survival, friendship, belonging, and family. For the majority of the story, she is a traumatised 10 year old travelling through a war torn country, witness to awful horrors, forced to assume multiple identities, until she goes to Braavos and begins her faceless man arc. But this is obviously not her endgame - she is going to go home eventually, that is quite clear.

You can argue she had a little crush on Gendry (as a 10 year old would) (and perhaps something may happen with him when she is older, I think GRRM has played with it.) But other than that, romance is not a central part of Aria's arc insofar. For outline Aria it was, but current ASOIAF Aria is on a completely different tangent all together.

(and that poor poor child is suffering immensely while this is all occurring). Currently, she has no time for/interest in it. She hasn’t been involved in betrothals/marriages, or had men lusting after her (save ‘Mercy’ and people men making brutalising sexual comments towards her). She disguises herself as a boy for a good chunk of the story as it is safer to travel.

No, I’m not trying to reduce any sexual trauma/objectification she suffers, she’s a little girl for heaven’s sake - I’m merely stating that what she is going through is in some ways similar and different to what Sansa is going through. (Who currently is in a in a very Lolita type situation with LF and men sexually intimidating/abusing her has been a key part of her arc - as I said, she suffers significantly due to her beauty. She is something to possess, she isn't real or tangible, she is a beautiful maid with a vast claim to the North.)

Anyway, ASOIAF Aria finds songs and romance ‘stupid.’

“Sansa would have shed a tear for true love, but Arya just thought it was stupid.” (Arya VIII ASOS)

(but that doesn’t mean she won’t encounter it later in life, it just means that at this point of the story, she isn’t interested/likely won't encounter some epic grand romance that outline Aria was likely destined for. (And she’s 11 for god’s sake!).

‘But Sansa was dreaming of love at that age!’

Sansa has been a romantic idealistic dreamer since she was a little girl. She adored those stories and is the literal embodiment of the mediaeval pre-raphaelite maiden depicted in art. It’s central to her story arc, to her qualities, and how she functions/copes with things around her. “Life is not a song.” Is so fundamental to that.

So to reiterate ASOIAF Aria is a completely different character to outline Aria- for all we know OG Aria was 15 years old, very beautiful to the point of men duelling over her, (just as depicted in art above) likely a romantic heroine, had consistent memory lapses that would cause her to “realise in terror, she had fallen for Jon,” and based off of GRRM’s past works - was probably a redhead.

“But OG Aria has a sword named needle!”

Indeed, but as I stated, we don’t know anything else about her beyond that. Many have theorised that D@ny and Jon are the epic romance of the series, but it’s clear from this particular outline that GRRM intended for it to be Aria and Jon as the epic major romance of the series. That would mean Aria would have to be a somewhat romantically-inclined character, for this development to appear natural and not forced. Based on her current ASOIAF arc, it doesn’t track for her character to make a sudden 180. Her softness and vulnerable moments come from thinking of her family and home. Insofar, this isn’t equated to yearning for love, romance, children, as Sansa has done from the beginning of the series.

Now, we know GRRM is a self-proclaimed romantic, and ASOIAF Sansa exists very much as a deconstruction of romanticism.

“He said he is a romantic, in the classical sense. He said the trouble with being a romantic is that from a very early age you keep having your face smashed into the harshness of reality. That things aren’t always fair, bad things happen to good people, etc. he said it’s a realistic world, so romantics are burned quite often. This theme of romantic idealism conflicting with harsh reality is something he finds very dramatic and compelling, and he weaves it into his work.” (2005 interview).

Sansa is arguably, the embodiment of this dismantling. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that love isn’t real, or that it doesn’t deserve to exist in a gritty world such as Westeros. There were many couples who had good, happy marriages, even after war and loss and trauma. For example, apart from the Jon Snow situation, Ned and Catelyn had a remarkably healthy relationship. So it is possible - the takeaway from the series is not that hoping is meaningless, dreams are meaningless, love is meaningless. More so that it is complicated, and it must coexist alongside all the chaos in order to achieve a sort of

equilibrium. A literal ‘Dream of Spring’ a hope for happiness, rather than happiness itself. It tracks with the bittersweet conclusion to the series ; it is a grimdark story, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be a grimdark ending where everyone good and noble dies and wishes/dreams/innate desires remain unfulfilled.

In fact, I argue that a lot of them will come true - but at what cost? It’ll be at the cost of loss and grief, of suffering upon suffering, but what’s inherently more powerful, what’s more subversive is having those characters persist and rebuild, regenerate, create a new world where love and chaos undoubtedly exist alongside each other, but just because there is chaos, that does not mean the love is miniscule or cancels out entirely.

Because if all these characters have the most unsatisfying, awful conclusions known to man, well - what was the point of everything? What was the point of their journeys? This isn’t a nihilistic story, and it won’t have a nihilistic ending like everyone assumes. It’s far more difficult for an author to craft such an ending, balancing things out whilst acknowledging all the loss and still holding out hope for a better future to come. That brighter days will arrive. That winter will end, and spring will be on the horizon.

“We may lose our heads, it’s true. But what if we prevail?” (Davos I ADWD).

And that right there, sums it up perfectly.

So you need characters like Sansa, characters like Brienne, D@ny, (you know what let’s just add all the Stark children of the series to the list, because every single character arc is about remaining resilient and prevailing in some way or another).

But it’s Sansa who exists as the meta character that embodies/indulges in all those romantic ideals that GRRM is intent on exploring - it thus makes perfect sense for it to be her that experiences the romance arc. Many people think she’ll end up with the H0und, or Harry the douchebag, because it’s a part of her growing up, maturing, learning from her negative biases etc etc but she shouldn’t have to be with abusive or douchy men to learn that. She’s already learned and suffered enough.

“It is my claim they want. No one will ever marry me for love.”

And how utterly heartbreaking that she has resigned to think this, with her arc only mid-way. But importantly, just a few chapters later she enters the garden of undisputed beauty and equates the snow landing on her face with romantic kisses, she dreams of innocence and winterfell, despite lamenting how she doesn’t belong in such a pure world, she steps out into it all the same. And she builds her home in the snow, content and for once - she’s the child she is, the child she is yearning to be.

So Sansa falling in love with Jon makes sense on a characteristic level. It’s something she never would have considered as a sheltered child, not just because he’s her bastard half brother but because he just didn’t exist in her idea of how the world works. He didn’t fit in with her idea of knights, and courtly love and chivalry. He wasn’t a gallant golden prince, he was dark, sulky and brooding. He existed on the parameters of her life, and she was comfortable with that distant association - but she still loved him, and he her.

Falling in love with Jon would equate to a dismantling of these previous prejudices she held; he’s utterly unconventional, the opposite of what she has shown attraction to (despite her first ‘love’ being Waymar Royce, who resembles Jon strikingly). The man she never really considered beyond courtesy and some scarce, fond memories - to be the one who restores her faith in men, in love, in dreams.

“Realising with terror that she has fallen in love with Jon… their passion will continue to torment them.”

tracks with Sansa’s characterisation particularly, her memory lapses, her clouded judgement, and inability to interpret things correctly (and something as confusing as this would certainly cause her to have some cognitive dissonance going on).

Not to mention caution around well… men. Because who would ever marry her for love? Who would ever take her for true? Love her without expectations and judgement? It’s Jon. Who has been there since the very beginning, who has been a silent unconscious hero, the answer to her prayers, who embodies all those romantic and knightly ideals she has so desperately wanted - despite her being unaware. Who has advocated for her claim - above everyone else.

“No one will ever marry me for love.” And that infamous Jon chapter follows. Jon who is never quite far from Sansa’s suitors. Jon, who has a similar dream of rebuilding Winterfell, of having children named after lost siblings, who wants to woo a girl by giving her a rose and loving beneath the heart tree - the heart of Winterfell. Who would undeniably want to have that beautiful soul-nourishing love he never received as a child, that he believes is perpetually unavailable to him.

Above all, they just fit together. It fits with GRRM’s William Faulkner-esque “the human heart in conflict with itself".” And this is a perfectly subversive way of encapsulating that Jon confusing brotherly love and affection with romance, struggling with the shame of it all - especially post-resurrection, the religious disillusionment that would occur, the notion of Jon being loved by the kind of girl he believed he never had the right to, who his deeply romantic heart is yearned for. (There is a reason GRRM let us know how badly Jon yearns for domesticity, Winterfell love, children, and a wife. He associates his love for Ygritte with her singing, her hair, her smile. He dreams of her tending to him with gentle hands) The simple yet meaningful things that have been denied to him because of his bastardry. And god, what better way to torment these two than by having them fall for each other - realising they fit each other so perfectly, yet tormented by their familial relation. Until, as the outline puts, the parentage is revealed.

Do I believe they will act on their feelings pre-parentage reveal? No. It’ll likely exist in the subtext, in private thoughts and actions. Angst, guilt. Again, the stuff that GRRM loves - the human heart is in conflict with itself.

Much like Lord Byron’s ‘The Bride of Abydos.” Where half-siblings fall in love with each other until they realise they are actually cousins. Lord Byron, who was famously in love with his half sister Augusta, who was a stranger to him for a good portion of his life until they properly got to know each other and fell in love. (Who does that sound like?’)

And if you’re wondering how Jon and Sansa could possibly connect to Lord Byron, well there is a ‘Byron the Beautiful’ in Alayne II AFFC, and Alayne I TWOW. GRRM has further instilled characters by the name of “Manfred” which is in reference to Lord Byron’s infamous work of the same name. (I urge you to check out all of Cappy's Byron metas, they are fantastic.

And, Jon has been called a “Brooding, Byronic, romantic heroine whom all the girls love.” GRRM knows what Byronic is inferring - he isn’t daft, he’s a writer - he reads other works and takes influence and sprinkles in so many things.

A Byronic character involves:

. . romantic melancholy, guilt for secret sin, pride, defiance, restlessness, alienation, revenge, remorse, moodiness, and such noble virtues as honor, altruism, courage, and pure love for a gentle woman. (Poetry Foundation, Lord Byron)

“GRRM: I was always intensely Romantic, even when I was too young to understand what that meant. But Romanticism has its dark side, as any Romantic soon discovers… which is where the melancholy comes in, I suppose. I don’t know if this is a matter of artistic influences so much as it is of temperament. But there’s always been something in the twilight that moves me, and a sunset speaks to me in a way that no sunrise ever has.”

Infinity plus:

And isn’t that exactly what he would be exploring with Jon and Sansa? It isn’t a conventional romance by any means. It could never exist normally until Jon’s parentage is revealed. And that is the tormented nature of it, that is the “bittersweetness” of it - it is rooted in realism, yes - and that to me, is Sansa receiving her true love, countering that no one would ever marry her for love. The gods will grant it to her, - but it’s wrapped up in this darker, morally ambiguous thing that is confusing for her, even though Jon would be her dream come true - he isn’t this neat little courtly golden package, but he embodies all those ideals more than any man she’s actually met.

It’s subversive to what both the characters and the readers expect, and it’s just a brilliant plot twist that screams unpredictability whilst fitting together like a perfect puzzle. It creates internal conflict and evokes those themes that GRRM loves to explore. By giving the ‘heroes’ of the series a motif such as incest is extremely bold; because it challenges the reader greatly. Some people don’t want Jon to end up with Sansa because it contradicts the image that they have of him in his head - the heroic male who will save the world with his heroic counterpart and together they shall rule the seven kingdoms. To embrace his father’s family, claim a dragon, fulfil the prophecy, be the third head of the dragon, reject his stark-ness. Very predictable. Done to death a thousand times over, and yet - it is what the general audience wants/expects. It’s what the dudebros who call him the ‘GOAT’ want, it’s what the Targ stans want, it’s what the show watchers wanted - but what does Jon want?

“Yet he could not let the wildlings breach the Wall, to threaten Winterfell and the north, the barrowlands and the Rills, White Harbor and the Stony Shore, even the Neck. For eight thousand years the men of House Stark had lived and died to protect their people against such ravagers and reavers . . . and bastard-born or no, the same blood ran in his veins. Bran and Rickon are still at Winterfell besides. Maester Luwin, Ser Rodrik, Old Nan, Farlen the kennelmaster, Mikken at his forge and Gage by his ovens . . . everyone I ever knew, everyone I ever loved.” (Jon II ASOS).

“I would need to steal her if I wanted her love, but she might give me children. I might someday hold a son of my own blood in my arms. A son was something Jon Snow had never dared dream of, since he decided to live his life on the Wall. I could name him Robb. Val would want to keep her sister's son, but we could foster him at Winterfell, and Gilly's boy as well. Sam would never need to tell his lie. We'd find a place for Gilly too, and Sam could come visit her once a year or so. Mance's son and Craster's would grow up brothers, as I once did with Robb.

"He wanted it, Jon knew then. He wanted it as much as he had ever wanted anything. I have always wanted it, he thought, guiltily. May the gods forgive me. It was a hunger inside him, sharp as a dragonglass blade.” (Jon XII ASOS).

“Red eyes, Jon realised, but not like Melisandre's. He had a weirwood's eyes. Red eyes, red mouth, white fur. Blood and bone, like a heart tree. He belongs to the old gods, this one. And he alone of all the direwolves was white. Six pups they'd found in the late summer snows, him and Robb; five that were grey and black and brown, for the five Starks, and one white, as white as Snow.”

He had his answer then." (Jon XII ASOS)

“He was the blood of Winterfell, a man of the Night's Watch. I will not father a bastard, he told her. I will not. I will not. "You know nothing, Jon Snow," she whispered.” (Jon VI ASOS)

“Ygritte answered for him. "His name is Jon Snow. He is Eddard Stark's blood, of Winterfell." (Jon VIII ACOK)

"Then you must do what needs be done," Qhorin Halfhand said. "You are the blood of Winterfell and a man of the Night's Watch." (Jon VI ASOS).

“You can't be the Lord of Winterfell, you're bastard-born, he heard Robb say again. And the stone kings were growling at him with granite tongues. You do not belong here. This is not your place. When Jon closed his eyes he saw the heart tree, with its pale limbs, red leaves, and solemn face. The weirwood was the heart of Winterfell, Lord Eddard always said . . . but to save the castle Jon would have to tear that heart up by its ancient roots, and feed it to the red woman's hungry fire god. I have no right, he thought. Winterfell belongs to the old gods.” (Jon XII ASOS)

“He sat on the bench and buried his head in his hands. Why am I so angry? he asked himself, but it was a stupid question. Lord of Winterfell. I could be the Lord of Winterfell. My father's heir.” (Jon XII ASOS).

“If I could show her Winterfell . . . give her a flower from the glass gardens, feast her in the Great Hall, and show her the stone kings on their thrones. We could bathe in the hot pools, and love beneath the heart tree while the old gods watched over us.” (Jon V ASOS).

“If he must perish, let it be with a sword in his hand, fighting his father's killers. He was no true Stark, had never been one … but he could die like one. Let them say that Eddard Stark had fathered four sons, not three.” (Jon IX AGOT).

Look, at the end of the day - we don't know how the story will go, but based off of Jon’s character arc? His thoughts? His actions? His relationships with his siblings? The fact that he has warged into a magical beast directly associated with Starks? The North? The Old Gods? The weir wood trees? I think that instead of GRRM having Jon go down the conventional disadvantaged male hero finding out he is a secret prince and thus becoming King and a proper Targ, GRRM will subvert expectations (much to audience displeasure) and do the opposite.

Learning of his true identity will just cause more angst and a major identity crisis. The one thing Jon finds real and solid, that no one can take from him - is that he is Ned Stark’s son. He raised him. Perhaps they don’t share a direct blood link. But that doesn’t matter, what matters is that he was raised by him, loved by him. So instead of choosing his father’s family; embracing the secret prince persona and fighting for the throne - he’ll choose his mother’s family. And I think that is beautifully conclusive.

But back to Jon and Sansa. GRRM is given the opportunity to explore the sort of impact this incest motif has on fundamentally good people. And I think this is what he originally intended to do with Jon and Aria.

Yes, we have Jaime and Cersei, but this is real sibling incest and rife with toxic narcissism, possession etc. We have the T@rgaryens, which are messy beyond belief and practice it due to blood purity.

But Jon and Sansa clearly differ from the rest, and that is because they exist partly as foils as to what we previously have seen. Similar to Jonnel x Sansa. By intentionally refraining from the development of a properly-close sibling relationship, making Jon and Sansa fundamental opposites visually, and associating them with entirely different cultures (yet writing their core personas as the same, their dreams compatible, their thought process and idealism similar).

GRRM manages to pave the way into such a romance that comes as a shock to the characters, the narrative, and readers themselves. Because no one, absolutely no one would see it coming, and the people who have been privy to the theory - immediately dismiss it - and become quite angry when it is brought up. Like I said earlier, a knee-jerk reaction.

To quote this brilliant meta right here:

‘Whether Jon and Sansa fall in love is up to the author and his intended exploration of literary/mythic themes that his predecessors have deployed. He is not writing from (or for) the moral values of show watchers and book readers, or their anecdotal hopes for how things “should be.” He’s writing a narrative that breaks away from conventional storytelling and what we expect from such characters.’

…

‘ I don’t believe the author is giving up completely on the romantic dream. He has made Sansa more cautious, converted her dreams into mere prayers, and has forced her to examine her assumptions, but he’s not turning her into the H0und, who is too pessimistic and fatalistic as a suitor. Sandor’s assertion that all knights are killers makes fantasy so small, it’s eliminated. I think he is setting Sansa on a path where her dreams do die, and her life becomes about as romantic as that smokestack in Cleveland - until they start to come alive again when she travels North to the Wall.’

'That cold, hard reality is still present in the fact that they are brother and sister, but once Jon’s parentage is revealed, this will change. Like an inverted Cinderella (clock striking 12), the reality will become fantasy again. But it’s still inladen with this bitter reality of their relations. So taking this into account, I believe Jon and Sansa could happen because there is no other couple in the series with which GRRM can explore his fascination with fantasy becoming “smaller,” but not completely shrinking altogether. There are no two better characters who represent these ideas, who have the same quietly domestic desires - who do not (at the moment) actively lust for power and cause it to blind them.'

So in essence, Jon and Sansa exist as the subversion of romance. In a twisted, loving sort of way that is morally conflicting to the characters and audiences (for a time). That has existed between the lines, subtly and implicitly. That the audience gives absolutely no thought, because why would they? And if they do, they are abhorred by it - but I’d argue this is the entire point. But not for the reasons you think, not because of the incest - or J0nerys would disgust them.

From the moment he started the series, GRRM has employed incest as a major motif that impacts both the narrative and the characters - the causes the war, that contributes to T@rgaryen values, legacy etc, that propels aspects of narcissism and vitriol for characters like Cersei. It’s really really interesting stuff, as uncomfortable as it is - there are no other works that explore it so messily and beautifully with such nuance.

I believe people seriously underestimate GRRM’s use of omission and subtext. Seriously, just because something is not explicitly stated, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Unfortunately fans have such a surface level reading of the text, that they are unable to peel back the layers and get to its core. They don’t consider literary influences, or art, or the Romantic movement or anything. They claim they want a complex story that is subversive, yet they cheer for the three-headed dragon theory and all the most predictable plot points that have been absolutely done to death. But then they turn up their noses at anything that goes against the grain, or insinuates otherwise.

R + L = J is a great example of existence within the subtext, yet nobody denies that it is there. No one is called crazy or delusional for it. Ned never thinks of Jon’s true parentage despite harbouring that secret for years, because it is buried deep in his subconscious.

And much to the audience’s surprise (and dismay I'm sure) that is how Jon and Sansa will manifest. This is the human heart in conflict with Jon and Sansa, but not just them - the readers as well. It’s pointing to us, asking us how we’ll possibly handle it. We’re meant to feel this conflict of emotions - anguish and torment and yet hope for something ineffable - just like the characters.

To be able to evoke that as a writer is one of the most impressive feats I can think of - and for the majority of it to exist at this point, in a subconscious limbo? How utterly complex and painful and raw and intelligent but oh so very brilliant. Perhaps one of the most compelling things to come out of this entire series, if only the general audience was open to such discussions. But alas, we must contend with the community we have, and hope for a dream of spring to come upon us.

#jonsa #jon x sansa #meta #anti asoiaf fandom #jonsa meta #long post #lord byron #incest motif #original outline #literary subversion #sansa stark #jon snow

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sailormoonrarepairweek · 7 months

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Welcome to the third annual Sailor Moon Rare Pair Week! The event will take place from March 24th - March 30th, 2024, but I'm announcing the themes early to give everyone plenty of time to create their fanworks.

What counts as a rare pair for this event, you ask? Any pairing that isn't Usagi/Mamoru (or any of their incarnations), pretty much! (Don’t get too hung up on the word “rare”. Just roll with it, okay?) They usually have their own week, so this event is a chance for fans to show their love for pairings other than the Miracle Romance, canon or not. You can even include poly, platonic, and cross-over ships, if you'd like! Almost anything goes, as long as you follow some simple guidelines.

Fanworks should somehow incorporate the one of the day's themes. (You can pick just one; you don't have to use both.) How you choose the interpret the theme is up to you!

A non-UsaMamo pair must be the MAIN focus of the work (although Usagi/Mamoru can appear as a side pairing or as part of a polycule).

All ratings allowed.

No smut involving underage characters, which I'm defining as under 18 years old. Otherwise, as long as the characters are portrayed as adults in the fanwork, go wild! Just please make sure to properly tag.

Pairings of all sexual/romantic orientations welcome.

Fanfics should be a minimum of 500 words. Poetry may be shorter, though. (If you would prefer to write drabbles instead, you can write five separate 100-word drabbles about the day's themes, but a day's entry should still be at least 500 words long. You have over four months until the week begins and plenty of time afterward if you don't finish in time. That's plenty of time to write 500 words. I don't think that's too much to ask.) If you're writing fanfic, I REALLY would prefer you post your fics on AO3 or Fanfiction.net and provide a link to your story, but if you must post on Tumblr itself, please make use of the "Read More" option.

Fanart should be a completed drawing. (Any fanart portraying nudity or anything of an R/NC-17 nature should be cropped if immediately visible on your Tumblr post and/or posted with the appropriate community label. You can post the full image under a "Read More" or provide a link to the image on another site.)

Graphics, image boards, playlists, cosplay photos, crafts, meta/essays, etc. are also welcome!

Comments, kudos, and reblogs are encouraged, but don't be a jerk! If you're not a fan of a pairing, please just ignore and move on.

On Tumblr, if you tag #smrarepairweek2024, I will reblog your post. I'll tag explict art and fics reblogs as #nsfw, so feel free to block that tag if you'd rather not see those posts.

Please do not post your works anywhere until the day dedicated to your chosen theme. An AO3 collection has now been set up for this year's event. (Adding your work to the collection will not be required.) If you'd like to look back at the last event's works, the 2023 collection can be found here.

And here is the 2022 collection.

Themes

Day 1: Magic/Mundane Day 2: Hugs/Kisses Day 3: Fire/Ice Day 4: Music/Silence Day 5: Birth/Death Day 6: Break-Up/Make-Up Day 7: Free

(Event Organizer: @kaleidodreams)

#sailor moon #sailor moon fanfiction #sailor moon fanart #smrarepairweek2024 #sailor moon rare pair week #rare pairs

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sevensoulmates · 2 months

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Buddie 7x04 Meta Part 2 (of 4)

Click here for Part 1, Part 3, and Part 4.

Where I left off in Part 1 is that Buck is known for being overly nosey about Eddie's romantic prospects. He does this for Ana a bunch and Marisol too to an extent. But this is the first time that Buck is doing so for a MALE romantic prospect for Eddie.

Even though Buck isn't aware that he's viewing what Eddie and Tommy have to be romantic, the fact that it's written and directed almost EXACTLY how Buck's been about Eddie's other girlfriends speaks volumes. The only added layer here is that instead of being "enthused" for Eddie, he's hostile and upset about it. The new layer here is that Tommy is a man. This once again goes back to Buck viewing only women as romantic prospects for both of them, and placing himself firmly in the best friend category because that's the only place he believes he CAN be (at the moment).

This also marks the first of several callbacks to Eddie's streetfighting arc in season 3 (specifically the famous 3x09 "I could take you" kitchen scene) which was inherently intertwined with what Buck views as one of the biggest mistakes of his life: suing the department, breaking Eddie's trust, and being forced to be away from Eddie and Christopher for an extended period of time.

Last time he and Eddie talked about "throwing punches" Buck said "you ever stop to think that maybe you were throwing punches at the wrong guy?" which is fucking HILARIOUS to me because it has SEVERAL huge connections to this episode. 1.) Eddie dating "the wrong guy" aka Tommy instead of Buck, 2.) Punching/fighting/physical violence as a metaphor for "socially acceptable" M/M intimate touch and 3.) BUCK misassigns his romantic feelings to Tommy aka "the wrong guy" at the end instead of realizing that Eddie is the core of his desire in this episode.

Where's my "Tommy is Eddie in a different font" counter? It is now textual that the writers WANT us to take SPECIFIC notice that Buck views Tommy to be extremely similar to Eddie. And the main thing other than the army that he points out that they have in common is "they both like watching half-naked men pummel each other". This is just pointedly saying Buck thinks both of them are into/attracted to men. Like, is there any other way for this to be interpreted? (It could also be seen as mild internalized homophobia.) Maybe Buck doesn't realize that's what he's saying, but that's what he's saying. Which is once again assigning queerness specifically to Eddie (like in 7x01) even though Buck is the only one of the two who textually experiences MM queerness in this episode.

This line also draws attention to the fact that Buck is jealous because Eddie and Tommy are together in a homoerotic atmosphere. He may even be (unconsciously) thinking about Eddie and Tommy half-naked pummeling each other and no he doesn't find it hot. And this is proven by Eddie confirming that he and Tommy have pummeled each other in Muy Thai. Buck could be thinking of this as him being uncomfortable because he wants to be homoerotic with Tommy, but no, once again the focus of this scene is Eddie. Eddie continues to be the object of his desire.

((Running tab on Tommy's similarities to Eddie: badass, competent, helicopters, army, Eddie-coined phrase, both like watching fights AND fighting together, both like cars, both are attracted to men ))

This line is yet another callback to the famous kitchen scene in 3x09. Buck homoerotically said "he could still take Eddie [in a fight]" and "you wanna go for the title?" implying they'd wrestle. In this instance in 7x04, just like it was in 3x09 wrestling is a (common queer) allegory for gay sex. The kitchen scene in 3x09 was buddie's most sexually charged moment to date. So Tommy being the one here to "go toe-to-toe" with Eddie and "take him" in a fight? Oh buddy boy Buck is PISSED.

This is so funny because Buck clearly doesn't believe his own words here. But it's true in the past. Buck doesn't mind when Eddie makes friends. He was cool with Eddie making friends at the dispatch center, and he was also cool with Eddie going to play basketball with friends excluding him for a LONG TIME prior to now. He was also chill with Eddie being friends with Felisa, and even Marisol. Something has changed now, and I believe that Buck's belief of only being able to be close to Eddie as his "special friend" is changing. He's subconsciously realizing that he could be closer to Eddie than just a friend. But someone else is coming in and swooping Eddie up right out from under him. This entire episode is Buck (unconsciously) panicking over possibly missing his chance of being romantic with Eddie. That's the layer he doesn't realize. Buck DOESN'T usually mind Eddie making new friends, and he even says it again at the end of the episode that he knows Eddie's allowed to have other friends, but he does mind when said "friends" could ruin Buck's chances of being with Eddie before he even realizes he HAS a chance.

This is the first of many callbacks to 2x01 in this episode (but not the first this season, 7x01 was absolutely riddled with callbacks to 2x01). Eddie is thinking about how it feels to "click" with someone and canonically this has only happened to Eddie before with two people: Shannon and Buck. This is also a callback to 6x17 Love Is In The Air where Eddie says he wants "chemistry" and "magic" with someone. And clearly, Buck sees that Eddie has chemistry and magic with Tommy--far more than he has with Marisol. But the most recent time Eddie has clicked so strongly with someone was with Buck, and that's obviously what Buck's thinking about here. Because Buck also remembers what it was like to click with Eddie.

Who else is Buck supposed to be thinking about in this scene? Abby? Natalia? Ali? No, no, and no. He's thinking about Eddie and how they clicked (not immediately) but very soon after meeting in 2x01. And they developed an extremely close bond that's been growing deeper and deeper with each year that passes. And Buck thinks he may lose that special bond with Eddie because now Eddie's developing something (possibly BETTER) with Tommy.

Once again Buck using the same phrasing here as he does with Eddie's previous female love interests. This is how he's asked after Ana in the past. And when Eddie mentions trivia and karaoke, these two things made me think of Madney, another famous pair in the show who DID NOT REALIZE (or want to admit) THEY WERE DATING until someone else pointed it out to them. Sound familiar?

Again, I want us all to give Eddie some grace here. In the past, Buck has been more than happy to watch Chris while Eddie goes out on dates. There's even a famous date where Eddie goes out with Ana and Buck watches Christopher for him "you're a miracle worker". But this time, Buck is unhappy about it. Why? Because he wants to be involved in whatever Eddie's got going on with Tommy, because previously those kinds of things were reserved for Buck (or Buck + Chris together). BUT how is Eddie supposed to know that Buck would feel hurt by it this time? He's never been mad in the past when he asked Buck to watch Chris?

I giggled. Eddie's regulated Marisol to a glorified babysitter. He'd rather go out and date Tommy than spend any time with Marisol and it's so funny. And of course, the implication that Eddie's already had been out two times with Tommy in the little time they've become friends, enough to ask Marisol multiple times to watch Chris while Eddie goes out, something that used to be Buck's job. But to Buck, it's never felt like "babysitting" it feels like spending time with his son.

This scene does something else that makes it indisputable that this episode is not about Buck wanting Tommy. The Christopher layer. Christopher is an extension of Eddie, but at the same time, he's also a little boy that Buck loves separately from Eddie. Buck views him as a son, and he reacts to Christopher finding Tommy cool the same way a parent would react when their kid finds someone else cooler than them. This is in fact the same reaction Michael had to Harry finding Bobby cool in 2x14 Broken. Because now Tommy's not just threatening Buck's place with Eddie, but Buck's place with Christopher too. If the object of Buck's jealousy was Tommy in this instance, why would Buck be threatened by Christopher? It doesn't make any sense.

Buck's aware that Christopher is not the one bringing Tommy in, Eddie is. And he's afraid that if Christopher likes Tommy more than him, Chris will want Tommy as another parent, not Buck. All of this stuff with Christopher has absolutely no romantic underlining, it's all parental. Therefore there's no way this scene can be read as Buck jealous because he wants Tommy for himself.

Additionally, Buck being a parent to Christopher alongside Eddie is one of the few big things that sets Buck apart from just being a "regular" friend to Eddie. Co-parenting with Eddie is one of the most intimate things they do together in their relationship. Losing Christopher as a son means losing Eddie as a co-parent, and again the object of desire here is Eddie.

Another point to this is that Buck gets actively angry at Tommy in this scene. He thinks that Tommy is lying to Christopher's face in order to gain favor with Chris, which gains favor with Eddie. He's basically accusing Tommy of being inauthentic and using phony means to get in with Chris and Eddie. And the kicker is that it's over such a trivial thing too! I swear to you Buck does not really care about which Star Wars movie is superior. He's trying to find something, anything, to indicate that Tommy isn't who he seems to be, that Tommy is using Chris to get to Eddie, that Tommy isn't a good person and therefore should not be the one that Eddie (and Chris) wants. Why on earth would Buck be searching for any little excuse to make Tommy look like a not-great person if Buck really secretly wants Tommy for himself? He wants Eddie and Chris to see that Buck is the "superior" option, and to choose him over Tommy. He doesn't want them to see that Tommy's a sucky person so then they'll dump him and let Buck have him. That doesn't. Make. Sense.

And these lines prove that yes, it was not Christopher going on and on about Tommy but Buck questioning him and Chris just answering truthfully. This is also unprecedented because (as far as we know) Buck's never questioned Christopher about any of Eddie's other friends or girlfriends.

Not to mention this scene parallels Maddie's "does this mean this boycrush on Eddie means you're finally getting over Abby?" It's another instance of Maddie being the voice of truth during one of Buck's many info-dumps about Eddie and Chris over the years. But it's also interesting because this shows Maddie hitting the nail on the head when it comes to this aspect of Buck's problem, and she'll have one more scene with him later in this episode where I actually think she misunderstands the underlying truth, but Buck takes it as fact cuz that's his big sis and she's always right. I'll get to that later.

This line proves that this is not something that Eddie's been doing alone and never wanted Buck to be a part of. It's not like Eddie specifically invited Tommy because he wants to do this specific thing with Tommy. Eddie has invited Buck on MORE THAN ONE OCCASION to play basketball with him, and Buck says no because he's not interested in basketball. Which is a totally fine thing to do if a hobby is not your thing. But it implies that Eddie has wanted to and has actively tried to share this thing with Buck in the past, but Buck has just never taken him up on it. But now that Tommy's involved, Buck's suddenly interested? We also get to see a short moment of Chimney expressing interest in Tommy and thinking he's "so cool" as well, but does Buck really react or care at all that Chimney thinks Tommy's cool? No. Not at all.

And before I get into the next set of scenes, here is where I want to draw attention to something Tim Minear said in an interview about wanting Buck to meet and get integrated with Tommy but through someone in the 118. He didn't just want it to be something where Buck is isolated with Tommy like he's been with nearly all his past girlfriends. But here's the kicker and why I will call Tim on his bullshit. He had THREE OTHER ESTABLISHED CHARACTERS who all know Tommy WAY better than Eddie. Eddie is actually the character that makes THE LEAST SENSE to be Buck's introduction to Tommy as a person. If the writers wanted this episode to be PURELY focused on how Buck is into Tommy but doesn't realize this, they could've had Chimney be the middleman. Chimney could've invited Buck to hang out with him and Tommy, Buck could've gone to basketball to impress Tommy, could've tried to show off with basketball, could've tried to impress Chim on a call to get him to tell Tommy how cool Buck is. But nope.

Or Hen could've been the person to bring Tommy in. We could've seen scenes of Hen and Tommy, showing a bit more of Tommy as an individual, making amends with her. She's also the only openly queer member of the 118 at the moment. She also could've been a POV character to point out Buck's queer attraction to Tommy. They could've openly discussed Tommy's queerness in a much more straightforward way, maybe even have Hen empathize with Tommy (possibly) being closeted when they worked together. If anything, making Tommy make amends and show himself to have grown as a person would've endeared him to the audience of long-term viewers (many of whom don't like Tommy due to his past actions) FAR MORE than what actually happened in the episode. It could've been a great way to integrate Tommy into the core firefam. But nope. That's not the story the writers want to tell.

With Bobby, he makes the least amount of sense of the three, but he still knows Tommy better than Eddie. You could've gotten the same "Buck thinks he's jealous but it's not because he thinks he's losing a friend but because he's into Tommy" story if you used Chim or Hen, but Buck is not in love with either of them. So why is Eddie the one bringing Tommy into the fold if not to provide a clear direction for where Buck's queerness will lead him down the road?

Alright, I'm gonna stop here for part 2 cuz tumblr is once again saying I have too many pictures. Got to part 3 for more.

Part 1, Part 3, Part 4

#911 abc #buddie #911 meta #buddie meta #bucktommy #evan buckley x eddie diaz #buck x eddie #911 speculation #buddie speculation

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kiirotoao · 2 years

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Byler and Confrontation

I feel like I’m stating the obvious, but there’s really something about the way that Mike and Will argue that make their personalities and thoughts stand out. So much.

And I’m not even talking about the “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!” or the “And us?” “We’re friends! We’re friends.”

The thought that struck me today was much more meta but still just as revealing, in my opinion.

Truly, when we look at the Byler fights, they’re fighting, right? They’re mad at each other. Then how do their fights by concept manage to make them seem so compatible? Why does their arguing give off the impression of love despite no outright, “I love you” to be heard? Why do we as the audience root for them to stick together despite their moments of splitting apart? Well, I think that a lot of it comes down to who Mike and Will are in regards to confrontation.

For one, Mike hates confrontation. Fights in general. We focus on him mouthing, “stop it!” when Billy and Steve fight. While Dustin, Lucas, and Max are pleading similarly, I find it interesting how the camera focuses on Mike when the fighting gets more intense.

Then of course there’s Mike covering his ears when he’s scared, no doubt a reflex to loud sounds and particularly yells, such as Will screaming.

We also very quickly see this in the shoot out scene in season 4 when Mike panics and covers his head.

And throughout the show, as much as his expression is funny, Mike clearly shows distaste towards arguing, especially if what people are saying to him seem pointless, sudden, unfounded, or wrong.

Mike is a leader as well as a team player and defender, and he doesn’t want to hurt people. Yes, he does argue and confront, not denying that, but time and time again, we see that he doesn’t do it unless he’s prompted.

Now, there’s Will. Will lives confrontation. His main propensity in the beginning of season 4 centers around calling out people for being ridiculous. That goes for Mike, El, and even Jonathan.

Tied to his confrontational attitude comes sass. I won’t try to fit every moment into this post (but I’ll certainly make an entire separate post on Will’s lovable sass haha), but one of my favorite examples is in season 1, believe it or not, when Will replies to Joyce’s question on why he uses fireballs: “Well, yeah, to burn them to a crisp.”

Even though that isn’t a personal confrontation, we see that Will is able to characterize his cleric with sass and boldness, sweetly smiling at his fictional enemies’ demise. I think that Will’s fearlessness is overlooked, subsumed by his constant turmoil, but truly, this boy packs a punch, and he isn’t afraid to face people with honesty.

And to look even further in Mike and Will’s histories with confrontation, both of them have had it pretty rough with their families. Namely, their dads.

In seasons 1 and 2, we see it illustrated through the Wheeler family dinners how Mike has lived his fair share of being shut down by his dad.

Mike doesn’t fight with his dad. Doesn’t confront. He makes an attempt each time to reason with his parents, but his dad ultimately shuts him down. So Mike either walks away or sits and stays silent.

Will, on the other hand, we don’t see with Lonnie explicitly, thank goodness. But what we do see is him overhearing Lonnie and Joyce fighting. In this flashback, we learn that Lonnie never does anything Will likes, and Jonathan encourages Will not to pretend to enjoy that poor treatment.

And while Will seems to be somewhat naturally quiet, I think that there’s also a spirit of quiet indignation that he’s rightfully and righteously grown through moments like these.

So, all of this to say, Mike is non-confrontational while Will is confrontational. That’s how they’ve been built as characters.

So how does this play into Byler? Well, look no further than their arguments in season 3 chapter 3 and season 4 chapter 2. The non-confrontational Mike meets the confrontationist Will. Things go according to character: Will is calling Mike out on his behavior and ignorance and Mike is leveling it and bearing it as he lets Will talk.

But then, both times they fight, the canvas is flipped. Mike ends up being the final word while Will is left speechless.

These reactions are heartbreaking. They’re supposed to be. They show Will’s defeat and Mike’s regret. They show how much their words affect each other and actively change the way they normally face confrontation.

They could have brushed each other off, in fact, they both had the opportunity in both fights to let the other leave (Will could have biked off without another word from Mike and Lucas in season 3 and Will could have let Mike continue looking for El in season 4). But they didn’t let each other leave. They engaged with each other and made known what was on their hearts in the moment.

So what make Mike and Will so important to each other is that they take each other’s words seriously, to the point that they aren’t afraid to be vulnerable and show each other what makes them upset, upset enough to respectively gain or lose their air of non/confrontation. And even though they don’t say “I’m saying this because I love you” outright, it’s clear that they mean as such because they’re ultimately trying to better each other and understand each other in any way they can, raw and hurtful as it is.

So maybe at first glance, this sounds toxic. Why would I call their raw and hurtful arguing positive and bettering and basically a big, unsaid “I love you?” Well, the thing is that Mike and Will don’t continue arguing. Notice their reactions after each one:

They know that they aren’t being themselves when they argue - they know! After both fights, Will falls into somber reflection, and Mike hastens to apologize.

And what gets me is that fact that the canvas of confrontation flips for their apologies, too. Confrontationist Will takes the pain but the non-confrontational Mike initiates the apologies. Both times. And suddenly, Mike having the final word and Will being left speechless isn’t sad anymore. It’s quite the opposite, actually.

What’s even sweeter is how we see them grow from season 3 to season 4. Where the argument is largely ignored in season 3 because of the Mind Flayer, in season 4, they address their argument and explicitly conclude that they want to be friends. “Best friends.”

So despite the emotional damage they inflict on each other, they come together by the end of it, closer than ever. They want to realign their relationship that’s thrown out of equilibrium. They want to stick together. This proves to me that they have undeniable love for each other and an integral bond (and I don’t know about you, but I think integrity is a major sign of relationship compatibility).

At the end of the day, even without fully looking at what they say in their confronting one another, you can see it in the intimate concept of their emotional separation followed by faithful rectification; they love each other. They know each other. Even at their lowest, even though they face confrontation so differently, they ultimately want to support each other. They pursue each other and choose to stand beside each other.

So yeah. If you ask me, Byler is endgame.

Thank you for coming to my completely unprompted, brainrot-induced TED talk lmao

#I didn’t even talk about the romantic undertones behind each fight #but I don’t even have to #byler is endgame #byler #stranger things #stranger things analysis #byler analysis #mike wheeler #will byers #byler brainrot

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victimsofyaoipoll · 10 months

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Round 2

Propaganda Under Cut

Gwen Cooper

she literally did nothing worse than the rest of the team yet so many people hate her guts and there is a literal gwen bashing tag for her on ao3. just cause she's a complicated character and confident and assertive and oh yeah she had sexual tension with jack harkness who ended up w ianto in the end. god forbid.

fans think she "gets in the way" of the canon m/m pairing of the series just because she has straightbait scenes with one of the two guys. when in reality she literally has a husband and has been nothing but supportive of her friends and their relationship 😭 she tends to be written as like super insensitive and spoiled and its unbearable

An amazing, badass woman who has a complicated relationship with Jack Harkness, 1/2 of “Janto,” the ship she “gets in the way of.” People use this slight complication to decide they HATE HER and turn her into this vile, evil, vindictive person. She often tries killing Ianto (other half of “Janto”) in many poorly-written fics, simply so that everyone can realise how badly they treat poor, poor Ianto. This makes Jack fall harder in love with Ianto xoxo Mwuah Mwuah and Gwen is hated and killed. This occurrence is so common that it has its own tag on AO3: “Gwen Bashing.” The writing, again, is always very bad, and solely created to make people hate Gwen. She’s chill in the actual show though. Very supportive of the two men and their relationship, and is literally happily married. She is not at all like what people make her out to be.

Kairi

kairi is the third protagonist of the kingdom hearts series and the third member of the destiny trio, alongside fan favorites sora and riku. sora/riku shippers HATE kairi, and will go out of their way to discount her at every turn. the hate for her ranges from typical "she's a boring bitch" to fans of soriku making five-hour long video essays reassuring their fellow shippers that the big bad kairi won't show up in the next installment – to quote one video, "she's in a box. she's on the shelf. four walls, no door." kairi is the greatest bogeyman the soriku fandom has ever known, to the point where most of said video essays and fanon meta posts focus not on why sora and riku should get together, but rather on why they don't like kairi.

Literally has a 100+ page Google doc fan theory writing her out of the narrative and putting all of her (few) canonical accomplishments onto half of the popular m/m ship (soriku). Don't even get me started on how her memory was completely written out of the canon plot of re:coded. KH is a nightmare to explain so dude trust me she is THE victim of yaoi

She is so fundamental to the plot and themes and narratives of game and yet it is near impossible to find anything about her thats not ship bashing pre-mlm with the other two characters. I dont even care if she ends up with one of the main characters i just want fans to see her as a cool character to love or like, anything other than “annoying comphet girl.” You can write your mlm but pleaae stop inventing comphet where it doesnt exist. She does not even get to spend time with sora ever?? Why does everyone see her as a threat and a thing to destroy?? Let her have friends so help me

#poll #round 2 #torchwood #gwen cooper #kingdom hearts #kairi kingdom hearts #kairi

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skitskatdacat63 · 21 days

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Tysm for the tags @fernando-jpg and @rubywritten !!!!

F1 Asks:

Who is your favorite driver?

Fernando and Seb! They come as a pair. Do not seperate :)

Do you have any other favorite drivers?

Yep! But mostly retired drivers </3 I love Mark and Jense! And then for current drivers, I like Oscar, and Max a bit as well(I can't help but feel loyal to him bcs he was my first fav)

Who is your least favorite driver?

I dislike being a hater on main but....#3 and #4. Also tbh I feel neutral to dislike about most current drivers, other than my 3 guys, so!

Do you pull for drivers or do you like teams as well?

I'm mostly driver motivated, I think I'd follow Fernando anywhere, and probably Oscar too. I like and support teams as well but mostly just because my guy is there! It's like, I love Aston, right? They support Fernando, they're willing to do so much for him, they love him, the vibe is really good. But if he decided to blow up Aston tomorrow, I'd be like "I'm right there with you!!"

If you like teams, what team do you pull for?

+ HOWEVER! I am an RBR devotee. Like it's not even that much about the drivers, I like Max a lot, but I think I'll always keep my eye on RBR as long as I'm into F1. I just love the history of the team and their vibe. My fav team of all time will always be RBR 2009-2013, just so special to me 🥹 Not that I was actually around for it but, the way they evolved from a team that was mostly there to bring fun to the paddock to one of the most successful teams of all time, as well as being a fucking energy drink company in a sport full of car companies, is just so cool and inspiring to me. And I love the red bull golden boys so much(Seb and Max beloveds!!!) And I also have an addiction to red bull....But I got into them first so I have a special connection, even if I don't root for them all the time. Them and their aesthetic makes me happy :) they are F1 to me :)

How long have you been into F1

Probably over a year and half by now? I wish I could say I've been into it longer but unfortunately I am an American shjfkgkg

What got you into F1?

I've mentioned this several times before but. I read some oneshot in my prev fandom that was an F1 AU. And I was just like, enthralled. The first time I read it, I had to keep looking up stuff, and I kept going back to it. And then I went on the author's blog, and saw they talked about DTS and how to get into F1. So I tried watching DTS and it was alright I guess. But there happened to be an actual race that same weekend, so I tuned in, and was so into it!! Ah man there's nothing like that first race tbh. I knew only one driver, Max, and I rooted so hard for him and he won 🥹 it was just fun back then not knowing enough to be stressed and having pure focus on one guy. I'm happy where I'm at now, but that first race was cool :,)

Do you enjoy fanfic/rpf?

Yes of course >:) I think I probably looked at the ao3 page for F1 before even watching my first race actually, it's very habitual for me when joining a fandom. I draw rpf and write my own AU lore stuff, and meta and all that. And I think I check the ao3 page at least once a day 😭 its an essential part of my fandom experience

How do you view new fans?

Hmmmm sometimes I feel like an old person, even though I haven't even been here that long. I think F1 has such a learning curve and barrier to entry compared to most fandoms. Like you have to learn so much about racing and the drivers as well until you feel like you actually have a good grasp imo. So I guess it's weird for me to see new fans bcs im like, oh god was I like that back then 😭 I'm happy to see new fans ofc!! But it's also like, good luck on your learning journey 🫡

If you could take over as team principal for any team, who would it be and why?

I am not a good leader, I think we'd crash and burn if I took over a team 😭 they'd be like "Catie! What should we do???" and I'd have a nervous breakdown. Go back in time to be TP for McLaren and be like, be careful who you invite to your garage at the Miami gp LMFAO

Are your friends and family into F1 as well?

Yes! My brother was into F1 before me(what a bastard for not getting me into it earlier.) Which is hilarious though because I pay for the F1TV account that he leeches off of. Like, damn who's the real F1 fan 🥱 I got my dad into it last season, and it was a very gradual process. He's a huge Fernando fan though, which is really fun, and sometimes he's much more positive abt the sport than me hahaha. He likes Fernando bcs they're both old men, and getting to see Fernando succeed last year is what pulled him into the sport. Some of my irl friends know of F1 but I don't think they watch all the races.

Are you open to talking to other fans/friends?

Of course!!!!! I am always desperate to talk to new people, feel free to hit me up always :D I will talk about anything F1, Fernando, Seb, Vettonso, etc related whenever :) I remember I got an ask a while ago last yr that's like "are you open to being friends/mutuals w strangers." It's like, um, yeah??? Its a lot of fun to be on here, I love making connections

Hmmmm ive seen a lot of people do this already so don't mind if I tag you and you've done it already aahh. But I will tag @suzuki-ecstar @sansebastinae @boisinnot @astronomical-light @thatdemonbish

#dont ask me who i hate 😭😭#im constantly on the verge of haterism and vague posting rn LOL #fun game!!#catie.rambling.txt

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meeblo · 8 days

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favorite..AND least fav arknights operators?

Favorites gameplay-wise are probably Muelsyse and Jessica the Liberated. Their kits are both very dynamic and fun to use, with a focus on smart positioning I find to be quite engaging, with optimizing the adjacent tiles for Muelsyse's ranged clone to split to or adjacent tiles to use Jessica's shield to allow her to change direction with.

Story-wise, there's too many to really narrow it down, so I'll pick some favorites by storyline. Amiya deserves a mention from the main story, she's a very interesting take on a paragon protagonist with distinct moments of fallibility and an allowance in the narrative for her to be wrong and then change as a result. Kal'tsit and Doctor are both fascinating as well, which is why it's such a shame that Kal'tsit is so maligned for talking too much in the story (she really doesn't) and Doctor is often just boiled down to a self insert (they really aren't). Ch'en wins "most improved" in the main story, I disliked her on her first introduction but really came around as the main story progressed with learning her backstory and scenes such as the end of episode 6/beginning of episode 7 (Dossoles Holiday Ch'en is still lame though). Mudrock is a very interesting figure, especially with how she fits with Big Bob as having chosen to leave Reunion behind and the differing lives they chose to lead afterwards; I'd love if we could get a flashback eventually of Mudrock speaking with Patriot before she left reunion, it would be a fascinating conversation for sure. From the Rhine Lab storyline, Muelsyse and Saria are my two favorites, with Silence earning an honorable mention as well; Muelsyse I wrote an analysis post up about a while ago (pre lone trail but it still mostly holds up). It's hard to boil down why I like Mumu and Saria most of the Rhine Lab storyline in a few sentences, can't think of how to make it succinct. Kroos and Saga are the standouts of the Sui storyline, with Who is Real in particular being the most interesting Sui event in my opinion with the subject matter it covers about morality as related to perception and the nature of value within art. Kroos is possibly my favorite alter in the game with how her files and story in events gives you enough to read between the lines about what changed her to bring her to who she became and what elements of the younger Kroos remain. Goldenglow is a standout lead for one of the best vignette events, it's very interesting structurally with how it nonlinearly shifts PoVs and timeframes by vignette. Texas, Penance, and Lappland all are phenomenal in Il Siracusano, which is in contention for being my favorite event story; it's hard to sum up exactly why other than that Il Siracusano is simply just that good. Jessica in Come Catastrophes or Wakes of Vultures is phenomenal; it's the best event they've released recently (though I was too busy to ready Zwillingsturme so I can't judge there). Exusiai deserves a mention as well; she was my first six star, but she also has a lot of interesting story connections buried beneath the surface despite never truly headlining an event story.

As for least favorites, I don't really have much I outright dislike. I suppose Ch'en alter, if only because it means Ch'en will likely never get a (narratively) good alter now and thus will never be the focus of a story again because that slot was already taken up with a waste of a summer alter. I wish we could have had a main story Ch'en alter instead. In general I hate whenever a limited operator is meta on principle, because the limited operator system is inherently predatory and hostile to people especially those who haven't been playing since year 1, though if I must pick one I'd say Skadi the Corrupting Heart annoys me most because the roles she fills are highly effective and simply cannot be approximated by any other operators. Thank god for the 5th anniversary free character finally alleviating that.

#arknights #ask #there's probably stuff I'm going to realize in an hour “oh shit I forgot x” but for now this is probably good #if any elaboration is requested I'd be glad to explain in more detail

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three--rings · 8 months

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You know what the OFMD fandom experience reminds me of?

My Hannibal fandom experience.

A show I really, deeply love, but reading other fans meta takes on it made me want to fucking throw things.

Hannibal fandom was the reason I joined tumblr in 2013, and I left six months later in a fit of rage when tumblr decided the show was homophobic for having a queer woman (not lesbian, unspecifically queer) sleep with a man once in order to get pregnant. Also when they pretended to kill a female character and people were ranting about the show's misogyny and I was like you idiots she's gonna be alive next week and then she was, cause that happens like 20 times in that show.

I spent the rest of the show's run on twitter, following only cast and crew accounts and like 2 RL friends and only using twitter to liveblog the show.

The way it shook out was all the inane discourse topics of Hannibal fandom were forgotten after the show was finished mostly because people didn't need to make up things to be angry about for a week between episodes and could just focus on fic and stuff. And the angry people moved on to some other show, probably.

And that's what ofmd fandom feels like for me. Do you know how tired I am reading about who is really to blame for Izzy's toe being cut off: him or the man who did it? How tired I am of arguments about morality that totally ignore that the characters under discussion are pirates who have killed like, a lot of people? The arguments with clear ax grinding agendas?

I'm dreading the discussions that are coming and to some extent already happening. I feel like we need a trigger warning for arguing about who is Evil Actually In This Situation. #toegate?

But I'm far too invested in tumblr to ragequit again. And fuck twitter. It's not better there, even if I don't follow anyone.

But yeah, morally complicated shows have shitty meta discussion. And that's too bad because that's what I ENJOY. I desperately wanted people to analyze Hannibal with because god there was so much to talk about, but then people would just pull out some shit like "that queer female character is homophobic because she's too pretty." Yes this is a take I read.

Hannibal is also the fandom where I learned about the curse of S2 in fandom, where fandom declares a new show PERFECTION based on S1 and then S2 comes along and doesn't live up the the perfection they've built up in their mind and then they get mad and tear it apart for everything they can possibly twist into a flaw.

If anything I have a little hope that that won't exactly happen with ofmd because of how toxic the fandom has already been in variously attacking most main characters for their Low Moral Fiber or whatever. Just gotta hope no one's unproblematic faves get complicated, though, or the hell to pay will be epic.

#ofmd #ofmd fandom #hannibal #ofmd s2 #for slight hints #this is the second and much less fighty rant I've written on the topic today #though it's possibly more BITTER #I am however in my 40s so I will be bitter and jaded if I want to #one thing I won't let fandom do #is ruin my enjoyment of a show #made that mistake too often in my 20s

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agentrouka-blog · 3 months

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Hello Rouka :3

I just came across a meta that said that Sansa singing Mother’s Mercy hymn to Sa/nd/or could be foreshadowing for him becoming her knight in the future. Not romantically, but as a part of his absolution. I always thought that the last we see of Sa/nd/or is as the Gravedigger in the Riverlands. What do you think, will he end up as Sansa’s sworn sword in twow/ados?

(I know I have too many questions, I apologise 😫)

That's the kind of take you arrive at when you get really really confused about who the main character in their interactions is, and who the tertiary villain.

If you think Sandor is the one we're supposed to focus on, it may feel a little unsatisfying to see him defeated in his act of forcing himself on a frightened 12-year-old, clothing his intended sexual assault in the language of romance by framing it as demanding a romantic "song", and then being served a religious hymn instead, being shamed into slinking off in tears. Where's his happy ending, you may wonder. Where's his redemption and his reward? Surely, it can't be over between them? He hasn't gotten what he wanted from her! He hasn't been validated!

If you recognize that the protagonist here is the POV character, said frightened 12-year-old girl, who in a situation in which she could have been subjected to horrific assault (which is the logical culmination of all their prior interactions), instead manages to defend herself using nothing but the power of her mind and her voice, well... it feels pretty damn finished. She has been validated. She has gotten her reward, which was her own physical integrity. Sansa defeated the tertiary villain and has moved on to bigger challenges.

And if someone is still confused on the subject: Brienne. Of. Tarth. Exists. She is literally on a quest to save Sansa. You know, like a true knight.

Sansa, though . . . I will find her, my lady, Brienne swore to Lady Catelyn's restless shade. I will never stop looking. I will give up my life if need be, give up my honor, give up all my dreams, but I will find her. (AFFC, Brienne II)

In a knight-off between the gravedigger and the truest knight in the entire book series, Brienne would win easily. But we won't get that knight-off because he's not relevant enough. Brienne is literally on the same island as him, without knowing it, hoping to kill him, and ends up doing much more important things instead. Saving orphans and such. Facing Lady Stoneheart. Things related to her arc that connects her to the Starks.

If there's unfinished business for the Hound to attend to, it's not with Sansa or any of the Starks. It's with himself and his brother and his destructive life choices.

(Also, I love questions, thank you for asking!)

#anti sandor clegane #sansa stark #brienne of tarth

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nonbinaryspy · 8 months

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Meta: Titania and Knightly Devotion

My favorite way to read Titania is that in spirit, she never stopped being a knight. When Ike brings up her past as a Crimean knight, she isn't particularly pleased it's being discussed, and alludes to having a lot to worry about. Still, her Tellius Recollection profile says that "she is not ashamed of bearing the title of 'Paladin.'" Meanwhile, Greil and Elena's past gives a good indication of what Titania might have meant about her worries.

Back when Greil killed Elena and the villagers, and had to flee Gallia with his children—one of whom had amnesia and the other of whom was only a little older than a toddler—I've always assumed Titania went with him. It's stated in the Tellius Recollection book that she has been with the company since its inception, but IIRC, we don't know anything about this time from her perspective. What did she know about the medallion? How must she have felt, learning what Greil had done, when Elena was also her friend? Did she mourn Elena privately for Greil's sake, as she would later try to contain her grief for Greil?

Regardless, leaving the knights to join this broken family was a big decision. She doesn't seem to harbor any ill will toward the royal family or the knights, even getting defensive of them in chapter four while debating how Daein's invasion will turn out. Her choice demonstrates great loyalty to Greil. She certainly admires many things about him—his strength, his love of his family, and his values, which she shares. Those values contain arguably the main difference between her life now and her time as a royal knight.

As the Greil Mercenaries' captain, she helps people regardless of their status rather than focusing on serving the royal family. She serves Crimea and its common good with as much dedication as any knight, but she is able to do it in a more direct way than a knight perhaps would, without the trappings of politics. However, her Tellius Recollection profile lists her likes as justice and honesty, very knightly virtues. One of her design notes even says that "traces of her time in the Crimean Royal Knights remain." I imagine this is referring to elements of her visual design and her proper bearing, but I think it goes deeper.

Parts of the plot emphasize sacrifice as an ideal of knights, while also questioning it when Elincia refuses to let Geoffrey sacrifice himself (A post about this is absolutely coming soon, btw.). Titania, in deciding to follow Greil, sacrificed whatever her old ambitions had been as a knight. She continues to focus on taking care of others while hiding her own feelings. Even when Greil dies, she mourns him in private while working to keep the company together. Though Ike suggests that Titania loved Greil, it seems to have been a selfless love, not one where she looked for anything in return. That said, unlike a knight who might be expected to die for their liege, she lives so she can continue to support the mercenaries. This is even shown in one of her retreat quotes, where she initially intends to sacrifice herself for Crimea as one of its knights would, but withdraws at Ike's command:

Titania: Urgh! Ah… …I can still… …can still…fight… Ike: Stop it, Titania! That wound could kill you! Hurry up and retreat! Titania: For Crimea… I must… This war hangs in the balance… I cannot withdraw… Ike: No, that’s why you have to withdraw! I need you alive! We’ll be all right! Believe in us! Titania: I understand…Ike. And I’m sorry.

Just as Titania is too important to the plot to succumb to permadeath in PoR, she is too treasured within the group for her sacrifice to be accepted.

Titania has many roles within the group. She's a mother figure to Ike and Mist, of course—this is especially apparent in her Mist supports, where she's particularly doting. She tries to get Mist to relax, helps her with chores, goes shopping in town with her, buys her a dress, and even compares her own role to Elena's while offering herself as a confidant. If she left Gallia with Greil, then she would have literally been with Ike as long as he can remember.

But she's also a mentor who helps Ike finish his training after his father dies, and an advisor who guides him in both practical and moral concerns. She represents his conscience throughout the game. Even her Rhys supports feature her expressing concern that Ike may be tempted away from the ideals his father represented re: helping others regardless of reward, though she becomes certain that won't happen. She's Greil and Ike's second in command who they can trust to put in charge due to her calm demeanor and steady ideals.

But if you think of her as almost treating herself like Greil's knight, then doesn't that cast her relationships with Ike and Mist in the same light? She protects them. She supports them without question, and puts her faith in Ike to lead the group on a virtuous path. Despite having very personal relationships with them, she remains formal, stoic, and chivalrous, like a proper knight, rather than fitting the image of a rowdy mercenary. She's been with Greil for far longer than she was a Crimean knight, but she truly earns the title of paladin.

What really sells me on this reading is her A support with Ike, which I'm going to include in its entirety because it's one of my favorites:

Ike: Titania? I wish to thank you. Titania: W-what? What’s with all the formality? Ike: There’s no guarantee that any of us will see tomorrow, and I want to tell you this while it’s still in my head. Will you listen? Titania: Um… All right, but…what’s with you? And what have I done to deserve your thanks? Ike: You have done much. You helped my father build this company. He had lost his wife and had two young children to care for… I wish to thank you for that. Titania: …Oh, Ike… Ike: I’ve taken everything in my life for granted, and it was all possible because of you. My thanks is far too late in coming. Titania: It’s not necessary, Ike. What I did, I did because– Ike: You loved him. Didn’t you? Titania: …!!! …Um… Ike: Perhaps I’m wrong. Regardless… I stand here alive today because of you. And I still want to thank you for it. Had you not lent a helping hand, I would most likely be dead. And my father’s life cut short as well. You helped to keep him alive until the Black Knight brought him down… You made his final years happy. Thank you. Titania: Oh, Ike… …I don’t… …Sniff… …Sniff… …Sniff… Ike: Unlike my father, I lack both experience and strength, but… I’m learning. Please, keep aiding and supporting me. Please… Titania: …Sniff… Of course… Of course I will, Ike.

This conversation demonstrates Ike's thoughtfulness. He acknowledges everything she's done for him and expresses his gratitude, and even guesses at her hidden feelings. It shows the considerate person that he's grown into, in large part due to Titania's influence. In a base conversation, he even finally opens up about the night Greil died, a traumatic moment that Ike has not shared with anyone, because he feels she deserves to know. This helps her come to terms with her grief.

What's relevant about their support here, though, is his formality. Given the presentation of Titania as a motherly figure, and the fact that Ike is even calling out her feelings for Greil, one would expect him to behave more personally here, a step more casual compared to their professional relationship. But instead, he becomes more proper than he is in even meetings with politicians. It's almost like he's recognizing the princely role he plays in her life—the person she's sworn to follow, protect, and advise. That gives him a sense of duty to ensure she's properly appreciated, and that he has properly entreated her for her aid. It's certainly not a role one would expect him to be happy taking on, but maybe that's what happens when the only mother figure you remember is a gallant former knight. Either way, I'm glad her dedication at least gets the recognition it deserves.

#fire emblem #tellius #fe9 #titania #titania fire emblem #path of radiance #ike fire emblem #the moral of this post is that titania deserves a vacation

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shadamyheadcanons · 11 months

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1,000 followers!!!

I can’t tell you how grateful I am. I created this blog during a very dark period of my life. If I’d never been able to share my ideas and get such overwhelming support, well...I don’t know where I’d be right now. As thanks, I’m letting you guys pick what I should focus on next! Not setting any solid release dates, though. Deadlines stress me out.

Teeth headcanon: Shadow invites Amy over to his place for the first time. Afraid she’ll be scared or disgusted by an aspect of his strange biology, he tries to hide it from her. Hurt/comfort. Established relationship. This would be the quickest to write.

Hostile Takeover: My interpretation of what happened behind the scenes of the Sonic Twitter Takeover, in story form. Sonic’s POV. Funny. Very meta. Team Sonic is a Found Family. I’ve been promising this one for a while and it’s half done, so it wouldn’t take too long, either.

Sonic Drive-in (working title): Amy starts working as a carhop. She’s expected to roller skate out to customers’ cars to bring them their food, but she’s terrible at it. Shadow, one of the cooks, offers to teach her on one condition: she’s not allowed to tell anyone he’s working at a restaurant with “Sonic” in its name. Canon universe, believe it or not. Fairly long.

Sweeter Than Honey: Set after The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog. After Amy insists that Shadow accompany her to a Hot Honey concert, one question remains: is it a date? Rouge is away, so Shadow and Omega team up to figure it out before the big day. Includes the trip to the concert, too. Funny with a touch of angst. Long.

Familiar (working title): Witch!Amy rescues a strange dark Chao off the streets and makes him her familiar. His presence brightens her life, and not just because he’s a good potions assistant...but not all is as it seems. Heartwarming, funny, dramatic. Longest. This one...will take a while.

I’ll still be chipping away at other things, too. There are asks I need to get to. Whichever story wins the poll would be my main focus, though.

#not a headcanon #poll #shadamy

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karamazovposting · 3 months

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On Ivan and bipolar disorder (part two)

Before continuing from where I left off in part one I have to say something: I go over some heavier stuff in here. Nothing that isn't already present in the book and that I haven't seen mentioned in other people's metas, but I still want to give you a heads up: the main focus of part two is suicide/suicidal ideation and childhood trauma. I mean, this is a The Brothers Karamazov meta about a bipolar coded character so I think you all already knew these things were going to be in here, but I think that if you have bipolar disorder or are close to someone who has it some things could be upsetting or remind you of some unpleasant (to put it mildly) experiences. Writing certain things hits me at least (though not in a triggering way), but I think it's important to touch certain topics as they are core topics when it comes to bipolar disorder and it's impossible to talk about it without going over the ugly stuff. I've also been on meds and in therapy for years and I'm doing fairly well in life now so that's all in the past. Anyway don't worry, this is the only part of this essay that includes these topics.

This said, here's what I'll go over in this post: mostly what Ivan says in The brothers get acquainted, Rebellion, and The Grand Inquisitor, focusing more on the former two than the latter, as I personally find a particular passage of The brothers get acquainted to be one of the most beautiful and bipolar things I've ever read and we need to talk about Rebellion to further understand Ivan's inner world. The Grand Inquisitor isn't really that useful in this case but there's one thing that caught my attention.

As I already said in part one, The brothers get acquainted is the chapter that made me decide that Ivan is bipolar coded. I've even written a specific part of it down and read it to my therapist because I am, in fact, clinically insane. At this point I don't think I can hide how biased I am anymore, not that I ever really tried anyway, so I'll start by saying that this is my favorite part of the whole book. It may seem strange because it seems like such a small and simple chapter: it's not The Grand Inquisitor, it doesn't have the dreamlike atmosphere of Cana of Galilee or the chaotic passion of Delirium; it's not the courtroom scene or the epilogue. No one's getting murdered or hallucinating the devil or getting falsely accused, just Ivan talking about himself and letting us see his humanity like we had never before. We get to know him in the same way and at the same time his own brother does.

Why is this, in my opinion, the most crucial passage? What does it tell us? This is the first window on Ivan's inner world we get and the first thing it tells us, through Alyosha, is that there's a significant gap between how other people see Ivan and how he actually is. I mean, we already had a glimpse of that in the previous chapters through Miusov, Dmitri and even Fyodor, but Ivan was never there. The difference here is not only that Ivan is present, but also that Alyosha managed to see right through him in a way the others didn't, and it's telling that Alyosha asks Ivan if he'll get angry and feel insulted after hearing what he picked up on, considering that it's just that Ivan is after all a regular twenty-three year old. Alyosha even tells him he's nice! The thing is that Alyosha thinks that to Ivan the offense wouldn't be in what he managed to see in him, but in the fact that he managed to see it in the first place. I think I'll go over this and the other characters' perception of Ivan in part three because it doesn't really fit with this part's themes and also I have a feeling this post will get long even without it (sorry!).

Ivan is not angry at all though, he's amused and he takes this opportunity to open up; after all he did say he wanted Alyosha to get to know him (and viceversa!). I think it's important to note that he ends up pretty much monologuing for three chapters straight, almost as if he's used to bottling up his feelings and keeping his thoughts to himself (I'm pretty sure it's actually stated somewhere that he does, I had some little notes I wrote in my phone mentioning something like that but my notes app crashed before I could save them and I can't for the life of me find it in the book, but I swear it's there).

Here we get to see Ivan's rather unusual attitude towards life: he's not actively suicidal in that moment, but he doesn't exclude the possibility of suicide later in life, and not only this is a very bipolar feeling on its own, but the origin of this feeling and the way he explains his reasons also are. Ivan is very tired, both physically and mentally, it's stated multiple times through the novel, but he doesn't necessarily hate life even though he has mixed feelings towards it; on one hand he says there is no kind of misery, no matter how deep, capable of making him want to stop living (after all, bipolar disorder is all about bouncing back up no matter what), but on the other hand he's repulsed by life and that's why he describes his lust for it as inconvenient and against logic. He wants to live but he hates that he wants to live and he knows he'll eventually get tired of it and just quit, and it's something he feels very strongly, all of it. The thing that really sticks out to me and that struck me is that his passive suicidal ideation is very thought out (unlike Dmitri's which feels more impulsive to me but that's another story for another post), like he's gone through miserable periods of his life several times (I mean, the narrator does also say it) and he came to the conclusion that yes, this is bearable, but only for a limited number of years. He says he asked himself a thousand times if it's worth it and after a thousand times he gave himself the illusion of choice: I will kill myself but I won't succumb to my misery, I'll just be too tired to keep living, it will be my choice. With Ivan (just like with bipolar disorder in general) it's all about control and it's something that hits very close to home to me to the point I had to stop reading to stare at the wall and go he gets it. He really does, this is a very common sentiment and experience among people with bipolar disorder and that's why it's sadly one of the mental disorders with the highest suicide rate (and most historical figures with bipolar disorder I know about actually did die by suicide). The constant up and down is exhausting and that's exactly the feeling Ivan's words gave me, he describes the bipolar experience so well I was genuinely impressed considering The Brothers Karamazov was written and is set in the second half of the 1800s, when psychiatry and psychology were just starting to be born. I think it's also important to mention that he doesn't really give himself much time either: he's only twenty-three and he set his own life to end at thirty. It's only seven years, but seven years can seem like an infinite amount of time when you have to deal with what we have to, especially if we consider my interpretation of Ivan and his childhood. What do I mean by that? I mean that this is about to get interesting (and kind of personal).

Now, in the past almost two-hundred years, no one has still figured out the exact cause of bipolar disorder as the exact mechanism behind it is still unclear (to the point we don't even know why the meds used to treat it work, we just know that for some reason they do) but it mostly comes down to two factors: genetic and environmental. It's usually a mix of the two and it's most likely that once again it varies between individuals, but a very common bipolar experience is the one of a traumatic and overwhelming childhood: many of us had to deal with a mentally ill parent growing up due to the genetic factor and many of us went through so much stress and trauma that the end result could be nothing but bipolar disorder. And this is where Ivan's character stumbles in: I think his protectiveness towards children and his impossibility to accept their suffering stem from his impossibility to accept his own traumatic childhood. Let's be clear, all four brothers had a traumatic childhood, but Ivan seems to be the one who's most impacted by it. Dmitri was abandoned by his mother at the age of three and his father forgot about him (just like he forgot about Ivan and Ivan also seems deeply affected by that considering how he reacts when Fyodor doesn't remember Aleksej's mother was also his own), Pavel never got to know his due to her death in childbirth, and Aleksej's only memories of his mother are fuzzy and dreamlike, which leaves Ivan as the only one who actually has clear memories of his mother: an ill woman who probably couldn't take care of him and his little brother properly because of that and who died young (very traumatic for a child); he probably still remembers her screams. There's a very well written post about how each brother was affected by their respective missing mother figure so I won't go into that because there's no need and it doesn't really fit in here, but I think this is a very important part of Ivan's life that also obviously reflects in his adulthood (again, I'll talk about it in the future), and that we have to take into consideration as an example of what kind of pain a child has to go through to turn out a certain way.

But why am I saying this? I'll be honest with you: mere projection. Ivan's words on the injustice of children's suffering resonated with me so much, especially in relation to his refusal to accept God's existence in a world that allows such things to happen. As you probably figured, I'm an atheist myself and I am for the same reasons he is. There's a quote by Sylvia Plath, who also had bipolar disorder: I talk to God but the sky is empty. I won't elaborate because I don't feel like this is the place, but I relate to it a lot and I think it's applicable to Ivan as well. Mind you that I'm not here to talk about religion, I mean no disrespect and I wouldn't have mentioned my atheism if it hadn't been relevant, so please don't say anything unnecessary about that.

My projection went even further when I realised that Ivan is young (we're the same age actually!), what business does he have to be talking like that? Why does he talk like that but his brothers don't? But I also talk like that so here's that and here's connecting the dots, as I started doing a couple paragraphs ago.

Symptoms of bipolar disorder on average start manifesting during early adulthood, which checks out because Ivan is twenty-three. But he already seems to have a lot of experience "on the field" and it's unusual for someone that age, so it got me thinking a lot, mostly about my own experience. I was "lucky" enough (I still haven't figured out if I'm being sarcastic or not, as it can be both a blessing and a curse, how ironic) to develop symptoms way earlier than the usual onset age of twenty-five, which led me to being diagnosed and starting treatment as a teenager (blessing, the earlier you start treatment the more effective it is on the long run), but which also means I was a terrified child fighting for my life on a daily basis (curse, for obvious reasons) and I thought that maybe Ivan's background could be similar to mine considering what I said earlier about his very strong feelings towards the suffering of children; it's still projection but at least it makes sense. I genuinely don't know how common this experience is, apparently cases like mine are quite rare (I've had this disorder for most of my life), so I guess I also take some sort of comfort in Ivan's character due to this.

And with that, we're done with both The brothers get acquainted and Rebellion, so where does this leave The Grand Inquisitor? As I said earlier, there isn't much to say about it in my opinion when it comes to the point I'm trying to make, but there is one particular thing that I noticed: Ivan thanks Alyosha for listening to him, he thanks him for caring. I found it very sweet but also quite sad and I think it's useful insight about how Ivan lives his life and his relationships with other people. If everything goes as planned, part three should be mostly focused on that and Ivan's particular (and partially self-inflicted) loneliness (which is also tied to how other people perceive him, I already mentioned that, I know) so I won't talk about it now. I also want to highlight that Ivan makes a joke! It's not the usual kind of joke he makes though, as we previously see that Ivan's humor consists mostly of taking the piss out of people he doesn't particularly like or agree with, this time he makes a lighthearted joke about his poem that isn't at the expense of anyone ("that's plagiarism") and he's even described as being delighted in that moment. I personally found that cute and I think we don't talk about this side of Ivan enough.

I'll stop here because I think I covered everything I wanted to regarding these particular parts of the book. I'm not completely satisfied with this, but I got stuck for days because it was a little hard for me to write this part, I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible because I had to treat matters I'm sensitive about (hence the slight change of tone between this and my other posts, I noticed and I hope it wasn't too depressing, I tried throwing in some humor here and there), so I wrote in as little sittings as possible and I barely gave this a couple rereads, sorry. It feels more emotional than part one, which is something I am not a fan of but I'm not surprised and there isn't much I can do about it (other than fix my own discomfort with human emotions I guess but I'm working on it). I wanted to write this but at the same time I didn't but there was no way for me to completely exclude my personal experience as it's the main reason why I saw what I saw in Ivan and I'm writing this essay in the first place, but please don't dwell too much on it. I managed to edit most of it out anyway but still.

I wanted to go over Ivan's implied problem with alcohol as well and also the comparison with Dmitri (I mentioned him at the beginning for this reason) because I see the two of them as being two sides of the same coin, but I didn't really know how to include them (I think I'll briefly talk about the former in one of the next parts but I'm not sure how or when) and then I realised these topics can be treated together (as I think they're related) in a separate and more elaborate post that is not part of this essay, so look forward to that (and the rest of this long ass thing).

#writing this was a pain in the ass because I had to Expose Myself to a certain degree and I hate doing that #but now that I'm done I can finally move on to the other parts of the essay that don't make me think about my own life #the brothers karamazov #ivan karamazov #bipolar ivan karamazov agenda #thoughts #mine

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antiv3nom · 1 month

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asuka ask game? pick your favorite one

ok so i do enjoy asuka guiltygear but i have been thinking REALLY hard about asuka tekken as of late so we're talking about her today

also this took me WAY too long to post i apologize but it Is out here so yaaaay

favorite thing about them:

ok so legally i have to mention asuka's tekken 8 design because motherfucker WHAT were they thinking with that one. what the fuck was the inspiration. but i love it so much i cannot lie

other than that, i really enjoy her rivalry with lili and how moderately insane that bit has gotten, and i like how they've kept her a character who is a) defensively focused in her gameplay even among the generally aggressive play of t8, and b) has a generally down-to-earth feel to her despite. Everything. happening in tekken

least favorite thing about them:

so i was actually talking to a friend about this recently and she explained my feelings really well, its like. asuka feels like the protagonist of another story that isnt being told.

it feels like she has so much stuff that COULD be a really interesting plot focus for her but it just. hasnt been? like everything between her and feng COULD be so neat but its just been sort of...by the wayside for the past few games in favor of keeping up with the mishimas (new sitcom there btw)

favorite line:

asuka's quotes are fun but most arent super noteworthy unfortunately? its mostly pretty standard fare for fighting game open and win quotes unforch :( i will say though, i do really enjoy this win line in t8 from her:

It's not good to fight all the time. Well, see ya!

bc like. girl. what do you think youre out here doing rn. girl please

(note: i dont speak japanese so i couldnt say anything towards this, but i wonder if asuka speaks with a kansai accent/dialect in game? her being from osaka and all, itd be a cool little addition)

brOTP:

omg actually ive seen stuff between leo and asuka that's been fun before i really enjoy that, iirc theyre not super close in the main canon but i wanna say in the non-canon webcomic theyre friends? i think thats right? either way its a fun concept

OTP:

asulili...uwoagh........

fellas is it gay to buy your rival's dojo and fill it entirely with roses to get their attention? certainly not. certainly.

i do wish we saw some amount more narrative tension between them since most of it has sort of dissolved by t8 but i do think theyre really cute and as mentioned before i really do enjoy their whole bit its awesome

SHOUTOUT ASULILI WEEK BTW I DONT HAVE THE TIME TO PARTICIPATE BUT I AM HYPED ABOUT ITS EXISTENCE

nOTP:

i do not think i have been around long enough to see another pairing for asuka, let alone one i dislike, so i cannot answer this question LMAO

random headcanon:

spun my mental wheel of headcanon topics and it wouldnt stop spinning for like half an hour unfortunately so im just telling you that i think asuka would play baiken or may in strive

unpopular opinion:

i still havent been here long enough to know whats unpopular regarding her :,) although i think in terms of gameplay i think she's cooler than most people believe, though i do agree that her current iteraiton in t8 isnt very strong within the meta unforch :(

song i associate with them:

i can nigh on guarantee that it's because ive been listening to this song while thinking about her really hard recently but absolute zero by natori (banger btw go watch the music video it goes unbelievably hard), i think the lyrics arent entirely unfitting though!!!

favorite picture of them:

i really like this profile art option for her, the posing is fun and the textures on the clothing are really impressive

and then also i have to mention her preset 3 outfit which i LOVE SO SO MUCH

(apologies as i cant find a better example pic and do not feel like opening t8 at 2 in the morning on this day)

#ask #ask game #electricgnu #tekken #asuka kazama #your honor i think shes neat...#ive been scrolling through her wiki page as of late

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gold-pavilion · 2 years

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Repost of my old BSD meta post on the 4 main strategists of the series (so far), brought back due to the deletion of my old blog and interest from peeps!!

Plain text version under the cut (thanks to @kaus-quietis ):

Ranpo, Dazai, Fyodor and Mori are the biggest players in the large-scale strategy games in BSD, but the smarts in which they excel and the way they play their hands are widely different. As expected, they’re effective in different scenarios, perform with different methods and have different limits.

Thanks to an ask I recently got about Ranpo, I thought it may be useful to someone to set apart each of them in regards to their individual talents and styles, what they do and don’t do with their own types of genius (as best as I can discern, of course), so… here’s my rundown of the master strategists, with quick n’ easy keywords for simplicity:

RANPO: CLARITY & FORESIGHT

Ranpo’s genius is summed up with the fake ability built around it. Just like Ultra Deduction is supposed to provide him, Ranpo has the clearest of sights: when presented with a scenario, he’ll easily understand every element of it, why things are as they look and what’s beyond that. In this attention to detail and grand understanding, he’s unparalleled. His pure intelligence is the highest of all.

But it doesn’t end there. His deduction abilities also make him capable of projecting ahead, of predicting outcomes and happenings by analyzing the elements currently at hand, so he can look ahead as accurately as he can see the present. And generally, this includes people. He can understand behavior, motivation and intentions just as well as he can make any of his other calculations.

However, he uses this clarity and this foresight usually to expose culprits, to achieve confessions by confrontation or to work on his team’s strategies, but not as a means to control that person. He understands the human element of the equation terrifyingly well, as he understands everything, but doesn’t aim to manipulate it. (Unless, as he explained with Mushitarou, unless it’s absolutely necessary and he’s very very pissed, in which case he’s not entirely against psychological attack, but in general his benign moral alignment and his blunt approach to people don’t mix with that.) Actually, this respect he has for life in general and this upright intention can be considered a secondary skill of his, because they’re the reason his confrontations tends to end with people getting something out of the experience of opposing him and ending up as new strong allies, like Minoura, Poe and Mushitarou did.

DAZAI: FORESIGHT & MANIPULATION

Dazai’s style has a big part in common with Ranpo’s, yeah. Namely, his ability to get ahead of the game by (understanding and) predicting, though in his case, it’s focused largely on behavior, on people in general. That’s where he differs and also where he excels: people. He strategizes a lot based on his ability to tell what individual people will do, how they’ll react, how they’ll think, what they’ll go for or how they’re likely to do it. In a game of strategy where personal motivation and individual wishes move the pieces so much, it’s a fantastic specialty.

This people-based focus shows its full capacity in his manipulation skill. Understanding others so well, it’s easy for him to prepare the stage and move the people through it without even having to tell them what he needs them to do (see: the entirety of Dead Apple haha). He just needs to set the conditions; the pieces will move on their own, in ways he can be prepared for. And if closer intervention is needed… well, part of his manipulation skill is in his charm and his capacity to act, so he can certainly get what he wants out of a person that way, too: with an encounter, a couple of words or a seemingly natural action. More often than not, people manipulated by Dazai will fail to realize they’ve been manipulated, or will only see it when it’s too late/there are no other options.

It’s worth noting that Dazai is very flexible; his intelligence by itself is very high and he has a lot of useful extra skills, like enough physical dexterity to get him out of trouble to a degree, lockpicking/pickpocketing and laying traps, but these are kind of like bonuses. They make him more versatile and capable, but aren’t his main thing.

FYODOR: (DESTRUCTIVE) MANIPULATION & TEMPTATION

It’s probably no surprise to anyone if I say that Fyodor’s style has similarities to Dazai’s haha, but still, yeah. They’re indeed very similar. Like Dazai, he also has a base intelligence level that’s just insanely high (though both to a lower degree than Ranpo, as far as we’ve seen in the midst of the DoA arc) and his own extra skills, such as his capacity as a hacker. This is utilized as an available tool for his schemes, but is also not the main basis they’re built on.

The manipulation keyword is shared between him and Dazai, and in the main gist of it, works the same: understanding people, being able to get into their heads and through that, either implant in them new decisions that fit his agenda in such a way that the person won’t realize they’ve been led, or let them act in their natural way if convenient. Leading a person this or that way as pawns on a chess board. However, there’s a big difference between how Dazai and Fyodor do this, which is what I mean with destructive manipulation: once Fyodor utilizes someone, he’ll usually not even leave the chance to have a new enemy or even a witness, instead he’ll dispose of the person (see: Karma). If not, the way he executes his needs is uncaring, and likely to leave the manipulated person broken; once he’s set up his use, he doesn’t care about their wellbeing or what happens with them (see: Shibusawa). His process of utilization may even involve breaking them (see: Goncharov). He doesn’t take care of his toys.

As for the temptation keyword, it’s the other part of his usual method, so characteristic of him that it stands out to me. Rather than being a huge charmer and an actor like Dazai is, Fyodor is a deal-maker. He finds what someone wishes for or needs (even being capable of isolating them or manipulating conditions to create such a need), and then simply presents it to them as a tempting bargain in exchange for whatever he needs. Sigma, Shibusawa and Mushitarou are big and clear examples.

MORI: STRATEGY & ASSET USE

And then we have Mori, unique even among this small group. His style is mainly what I can only describe as strategy itself, pure and led by logic and probability; theory of game, in a way. Mori also has a great deal of intelligence, combined with a level head that allows him to make sure to act, in every instance, in the way that benefits him (or rather, his organization, since he’s playing for the Port Mafia overall) the most; if unclear, then what has the highest chance of success with the best balance of risk will do. He’s able to understand and foresee enough to determine what that beneficial course of action will be.

Then, there’s his asset use, or what can be called the skill of command. Mori’s method is not independent, he’s the leader of a strong and unified organization (because he’s shaped it so), and as such, will most often be using his various divisions and subordinates and their talents. Seeing what someone is good for and leading them to the role in which their capacities can grow and shine is a true commander’s quality, and he possesses it. Gauging who and what he can dispose of and when to sacrifice is included, as is having a balance of when to control and when to let his subordinates act on their own. Be it goods, influences, situations, persons or anything, seeing what’s available and how it can be matched and used to higher advantage has been part of his modus operandi from the past, all the way to the present.

I hope these explanations put it into good perspective, but I’ll point out, for good measure, that asset use and manipulation are different things. Both involve using people as pawns, but when it comes to asset use, there’s an element of willingness and trust from the subordinates involved that sets it apart. Mori seems to be the hardest one to understand in general, with the most confusion and misinterpretation around him and what he does since he’s controversial to some, but following the principles of benefit and strategy, his genius can easily end up being the clearest.

As always, this is merely my interpretation and a rundown of the ideas I personally use to track of each of the strategists’ characterization. As much as I try to base my reasoning on canon as best as I can, I’m never claiming to have the final word. Grab this if it’s useful for you! But always take with a grain of salt.

#thoughts and talk and so #archiving #edogawa ranpo #dazai osamu #mori ougai #fyodor dostoyevsky #mori #dazai #ranpo #fyodor #bsd #bungou stray dogs #meta #wow me actually saving and recovering one of my posts wowwww

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