#when to cut a character

[writingwithfolklore]

When to Cut a Character

Last time we talked about getting rid of what’s not serving your story, but sometimes it can be hard to tell when something just needs a bit of adjusting to work, or needs to be cut entirely. This is a very case-by-case occurrence, but there are a few tell-tale signs for when a character just isn’t necessary.

1. You struggle to remember to include them in scenes or dialogue

If you often feel like you’re adding your character into a scene just because we haven’t seen them in a while, or even find yourself forgetting they exist at all—they are just as, if not more forgettable to the readers. This is a big sign you can cut them out, and save yourself the effort of including them in random scenes.

2. Their dialogue/purpose could be given to someone else

The best way to check if someone (or something) is necessary is to try to take them out. If you find that you can give a character’s plot importance and dialogue to someone else (or split across multiple characters), you can cut the character. By trying this with all your characters, you’ll find that only the absolute necessary ones remain. Besides, a smaller cast of characters is often easier to develop and juggle, allowing them all to shine throughout the story.

3. They only really show up as a plot device

While maybe not necessary to cut out completely, characters who only show up at the most convenient times to provide some plot device or deus ex machina tend to land flat. When I catch these in my own work, I cut them out to force my main characters to solve their own problems.

One big example of this (and spoilers for the movie Passenger (2016)!) is when the characters, who are the only ones awake on the ship, need access to a certain room they don’t have the clearance for. This door proves an obstacle for the entire movie. Then, we reach the third act and need to end the movie so one of the other passengers who has access to that door wakes up because of a sudden malfunction, helps them through the door, and then dies soon after.

Given that was in a blockbuster movie, I’m sure you could get away with doing this, but I personally would have cut out that character and figured out a way for them to solve the problem on their own. (I think even if they had woken him up intentionally, giving them action and agency to solve this problem, it would have been better, but I digress).

There are tons of purposes for characters which is what makes this so case by case. If you’re unsure about a character being necessary, try taking them out and evaluate what is lost. If nothing is lost, or whatever’s lost can be made up by someone else, maybe the cut should be permanent.

                Any other signs a character is worth writing out of the story?

#writing #creative writing #writers #screenwriting #writing community #writing inspiration #filmmaking #books #film #writing advice #when to cut a character #kill your darlings

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Average Drama Enjoyer observes some peak drama.

#dungeon meshi #toshiro nakamoto #laios touden #kabru #izutsumi #Before anyone mistakes this as mischaracterization: The joke here is that it's ambiguous what the hell he means. #Kabru does love getting into fights a bit more than average but he's mostly here for the drama. #I screenshot the scene of him going 'The dark arts!' with a little smile everytime I re-read dungeon meshi. He's so catty. I love him. #And shout out to Izutsumi for adding fire to the drama. Girl said 'I am the listener. I heard that shit.' and refused to apologize. #Joke two: the deep cut - Welcome to more propaganda for whatever the hell is going on between Laios & Shuro & Kabru. #Laios trusting Shuro with some *heavy* information because he admires him so much! And wants to be his friend so badly! #Kabru also has another great character moment when he immediatly clocks Laios as not being as malicious as expected. #We love a character who can put the clues together! It is such a good subversion of what role we think Kabru is to play in this story! #Now he's eager to befriend Laios - who is barely interested and currently trying to befriend Shuro - who is barely interested and...well. #The painful triangle of people trying to get to know the other person better and being rejected...Friendship triangle. #We have all had a friendship triangle situation before. Right? You guys have also struggled to read people. Right? #Laios is universally relatable. Right?

[gascreates]

emotional support frog

who will absolutely eat your hand.

#THIS FROG is a main character now #i dont make the rules #actually i do and you have to follow them #and the new rule is zuko has a badger frog and he doesn’t know what to do with it #he does not WANT the frog #it just wont leave him alone #he did not expect one of his first questions upon joining the gaang to be 'whats your pet policy' #also momo wants the frog now and it is unclear if his intentions are good #so zuko's playing it safe #abd unfortunately looking overprotective of his frog in the process #atla #zuko #also feel free to bug me for individual files #i can add em under the cut #when im not feeling lazy

[lazycranberrydoodles]

i think the barbie movie would have a profound psychological impact on hua cheng

prev comic / next comic / follow for still more hualian barbie movie content because i am not done

bonus angsty version 🎉 i hate love expressions just a couple tiny lines on the mouth and eyebrows and it goes from silly to sad

:(

#this is a haha hua cheng devoted joke but idk it’s nice to think about how much of his identity and self worth is placed on xie lian #obviously since he was 10 most of his major life choices were to serve the crown prince #but in the interval time he became one of the most dangerous men in the world and decided it was his responsibility to create a ghost haven #he works on artistic mastery and alternatively brokers deals with and evades assassination attempts by heaven #if asked i think he would say he only does good for dianxia’s sake (What Would Dianxia Do) and is actually a bad person #and similar stuff about his combat and art skills #theres a question here about how much of his success is due to being such a determined person and how much #of it is luck from ‘the savior’ reversing the star of solitude #how much hua cheng is left when you take away xie lian? #he would say nothing #xie lian would say a billionaire genius playboy philantrophist etc #tgcf looooooves to talk about destiny and free will and so do i #all this to say if it was in character for hua cheng to cry at a movie hed be sobbing #this can be read as pre or post confession btw #the poll decided which version of the comic was the ‘main version’ above the cut #tgcf #art #comic #hualian #hua cheng #xie lian #tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing #hob #mxtx #my art #barbie #barbie movie #tgcf meme #lmao

[bishy437]

obsessed with yan wushi and his two rotten kids

#where did he get those kids...like where. and WHY. #BIAN YANMEI MY BELOVED <3 #my devastation when i went to watch the donghua and his character was cut from the show </3 #qian qiu #thousand autumns #yan wushi #yu shengyan #yan bianmei #mine

[ministarfruit]

day 17: pep talk ♡

(prompt list for femslashfeb)

#minifemslashfeb2023 #danganronpa #kirizono #kyoko kirigiri #sayaka maizono #blueberry: maizono sayaka #blackberry: kirigiri kyouko #just a silly one today #I love when tough characters are weak to their cute gf #it's so sweet to me #kirigiri will cut you down on the spot but if sayaka says 'be nice' #she will be like 'ok' #PLEASE... let me live in my kirizono bubble

[whenigetboredijust]

Do yall ever wonder if Vaggie grew out her hair like that bc she missed the weight and feeling of her wings touching her back? You know, after they got ripped off?

Cos I do :’(

#vaggie #hazbin hotel #vaggie’s wings #She also cuts the ends/ naturally grows her hair so that the shape looks like wings?? #hazbin hotel spoilers #vaggie hazbin hotel #she’s also a softie but acts tough #remember when she said I’m not used to fighting with long hair? #i think that’s because she threatens people or gives a warning stab frequently but avoids actually fighting or killing when she can #honestly her character design is kind of cool

[buried-in-autumn-leaves]

I understand the idea of Leah like not hanging out with Elliott if you go out with her but I also hate the very idea with a passion because WHY CAN THERE BE NO FRIENDS ? Their friendship dynamic is so nice to think about why do I have to ruin it just to go out with the pretty artist lady??

#Also if I remember right she cuts him off when you hit SIX hearts with her ?? #YOURE NOT EVEN TOGETHER AT THAT POINT #all of the pairs should be allowed to hang out while in a relationship let them be 3d characters im begging you #stardew valley #sdv #sdv leah #sdv elliot #sdv elliott

[galaxygermdraws]

Mr L possessed me tonight so I decided to just post a bunch of Mr. L stuff. Honestly surprised I just have yet to show off the Super Dimentio design I did because I really love that thing. I think more people should incorporate Plant Horror into this game.

(relogs with tags/comments are appreciated .Asks too. Thankyuuuu)

#super paper mario #mr l #luigi #luigi mario #mr l spm #super dimentio #spm #super mario #tw plant horror #tw body horror #tw bright colors #i spent like 2 days trying to decide on mr l's outfits in that bottom reference. #i didnt include his scars in the refs bc oops im dumb #but he has scars after the first boss fight #the eye cut is from after thesecond boss fight #it was a fresh injury when luigi woke up in the underwhere #also i did my own take on a mr l and luigi get split up au bc i am obsessed with clone characters and you KNOW THAT if youve been #following me for the last 2 to 3 years #germdraws #germ draws

[batcavescolony]

I feel like people aren't getting it. In. The. Books. Perseus. Jackson. Is. An. Unreliable. Narrator. This goes for everything he thinks. Percy loves his mother, so he writes her praises. In the show we get to see what Sally does from an outside POV not filtered through a child that idolizes his mother. It's not ooc for Sally to act like she does in the show. she's a single mother raising a neurodivergent, Demigod, and she's scared that when the Gods get to him they'll corrupt him. She's not suddenly a girl boss we're getting to see her for how she is.

#percy jackson #sally jackson #“sHe sToOd uP tO gABe sHe wOuLdnT dO tHat' she did it because percy needed to get to montock so she could tell him about how hes a demigod #sally as a character will do anything for her son. gabe being abusive doesnt negate what she needs to. do for her son. in in the book the #second gabe was no longer needed she turned him into a statue and sold him to to the highest bidder. she was putting up with the abuse for #percys sake. and this is then woman that grebbed a gun and started fighting in the battle of Manhattan. shes not weak. you can be two things #she can be motherly and strong. and obviously she has her douts. she thinks shes failing. she called posiden when it was too much and he #reassured her she was doing her best and she needs to do what she thinks is best. and we are only seeing some scenes #we're seeing whats relevant to the plot and whats relative is sally preparing Percy. and she obviously cares for her son and her son for her #she has to be a good mother cus percy is literally going to the underworld to save her. just stfu about the book #ive read the books to but some of you are awful. like no adaptation is to the letter. somethings had to be cut or glossed over and some are #changed because money or that a book is a different medium then a show or movie! you cant do everything cus its impossible. #were in a completely different pov. we're not in Percys head seeing his thoughts. #pjo series #pjo #pjo tv show #percy jackson and the olympians #percy series #batcavescoloy watches the PJO tv show #batcavescolony watches

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

#poorly drawn mdzs #mdzs #wen ning #wei wuxian #wen qing #jiang cheng #Truly Massive disclaimer here: I am a Jiang Cheng enjoyer. I like his character. I enjoy that he is very flawed and volatile. #This episode of the audio drama has a lot of great breakdown scenes featuring JC - and they all deserve a feature. #But underlying this comic is a small meta comment of 'ah man I have too many comics of JC just wailing sadly' #My goal is to draw 6-8 comics per episode - I sometimes have to truncate and cut good scenes out. #Especially when a large majority is just different flavours of trauma and toxic relationships to your self-worth. #I would also like to make a note here that just because you lose the ability to do something that is very tied to your core identity- #-does not mean your life is over. It will feel like the end of the world. It will send you into a spiral of grief. It will hurt so badly. #Sometimes we do not realize how tied up our identities can be in certain things until we are cut loose. #You don't lose yourself. I promise the pain will fade in time. I promise you will find other things to tether you. I promise you will be ok #Life moves forwards. Time moves forwards. You move forwards. #Ego death just means an opportunity for ego rebirth. You are never committed to being the same person forever. #To wrap this around to JC: Yeah I love the twist with the core transfer but man I would have loved to see JC accept the loss. #Obviously it happens for a reason (story) but I can have my AUs. I can have these 'what-ifs'. #described in alt text #I'm trying it out! *please* give me feedback - I want to eventually Add image ID to all of these comics one day

[calware]

"i happened to not find this character very interesting or likeable" doesn't automatically mean they're an objectively bland and boring character it just means you have a personal opinion

#jane is a very nuanced character who suffers from both violent childhood trauma and grooming #she's a clumsy teenager still trying to navigate her friendships and social life with her other clumsy teenager friends #and she's not great at it all the time and neither are they but she still cares about them! that's an interesting character concept! #again you don't have to find her interesting if that's not your preference. but that doesn't mean everyone feels the same way #also she is more similar to the fandom's most specialest boy (dave) than a lot of people realize but she's a Girl so she's not allowed to #be treated or viewed in the same ways as him. but i won't get into it #now. if you want to argue that her character arc got cut short and didn't really amount to much? that's a valid argument to make + i can #see how that might make people like her less. but it's less of her being a bland character and more ''uh oh the story had to end'' flavor #of weird act 6 writing that a lot of characters got shafted with #tldr you're allowed to not like jane but don't be surprised when other people do <3

[royalarchivist]

Oscurucho: Welcome back, brother. Cucurucho: What. Oscurucho: Not even a "Good morning"? How cold.

Here's Cucurucho and Oscurucho's long lore conversation from yesterday! The entire conversation lasted about 8 minutes, but most of that time was just silence between each exchange, so I edited out the long pauses and got it down to ~3 minutes. I also fixed the audio levels and added subtitles since I personally find it difficult to understand Oscurucho sometimes :'D

I hope folks find this helpful!

[ Subtitle Transcript ↓ ]

-

Oscurucho: Welcome back, brother.

Cucurucho: What.

Oscurucho: Not even a "Good morning"? How cold.

[They enter Cucurucho's office]

Oscurucho: I wanted to see if you're still as rigid in your beliefs as ever. You see, I've been thinking about our... Let's call it "philosophical divergence." You stand for order, for predictability. But where's the fun in that? You see, brother, while you build, I ponder the beauty in tearing down. It's not just destruction - it's rebirth. A chance to remake things in a more... thrilling image.

[...]

Oscurucho: You once had a backbone for our cause. Now, I see a softness in you, a sentimental weakness for those Eggs. Mere experiments, and yet - they've softened you.

Cucurucho: Your vision obstructs the path to perfection. You fail to understand the potential of the Eggs.

Oscurucho: Potential? They're but catalysts for change - for revolution. Without them, stagnation reigns.

[...]

Oscurucho: You chase perfection, I embrace the beauty of flaws. Your world is one of order, mine thrives in chaos. You wish for everything to run smoothly, I dream of watching it all burn to the ground. We may share a name, but our souls are worlds apart. All your efforts, all for what? Mere acknowledgment from a Duck who told you to do it? Imagine the possibilities - rather, show me where it is, and I'll do the rest.

[...]

Oscurucho: Speaking of possibilities, I couldn't help but notice how easily others can access the island. It seems your security measures aren't as impenetrable as you think.

Cucurucho: No. My island's vulnerabilities are of your own making. Do not mistake restraint for ignorance.

Oscurucho: Pity. But then again, I never really needed your approval. Just consider: Cucurucho - in your quest for order, have you not sown the seeds of your own undoing? Do you genuinely trust all your Federation minions?

Cucurucho: ...

Oscurucho: Perhaps it's time you question not just my intentions, but those who you believe stand with you.

Cucurucho: That is none of your business, I shall say. Now, leave me alone and try to disturb someone else.

#Cucurucho #Oscurucho #QSMP #December 21 2023 #Edited #Subtitles #For those who like knowing the gritty details and specifics about the things I did for this video - #I adjusted Cucurucho's volume because they were very quiet compared to Oscurucho #I fixed the sound direction (for lack of a better word) of Oscurucho's voice b/c he was speaking through my right headphone 90% of the time #so now it's more of a ''centered'' audio rather than a right ear or left ear thing #I added subtitles (obviously) #I fixed the camera a bit so it's more focused on Cucurucho / Oscurucho #and I adjusted the translator box so that even with the crop; they're all still included #usually they get cut out when I edit things because I'm just focused on the characters; but then one day I was like #''Why am I cropping out this thing that specifically helps people understand the story better?'' #So moving forward I'll see if I can do what I did here and add translation boxes as their own ''layer'' overlaying the clip itself #for big lore videos anyways or for clips with long conversations at least #I jokingly said to myself ''I bet I'll wind up shaving 5 minutes off this'' and I was right lol #I enjoy the official QSMP streams but one major critique I have is that the pacing was a bit slow in one or two streams #which is understandable considering many admins have to write in books (which takes time) and translate things (which takes even more time) #And that's valid! But in the last stream (the one with Elena) for example; many scenes dragged on far too long #and it wasn't because people were taking extra long to write books or translate things. It was purely a matter of pacing #idk I'm a professional writer and editor so I'm extra nitpicky about things like that. I think it's something that's pretty easy to fix tho #This is just my critique in terms of the story pacing - like I said; the time it takes them to write / translate stuff is understandable #this is more of a comment on the overall pacing #anyways rant over #Today's stream had much better pacing! Still a bit slow (again; I cut 5 minutes from this conversation) #but that's due to the communication medium (TTS) so that's understandable. That's valid. I'm not fussed about it; that felt natural #Take all the time you need kings it's hard to translate things on the fly. I get it. #Portfolio

[ladyluscinia]

And fuck people are already starting to be insufferable about "sometimes people die in tv shows, god, these whiny children" and like. I love a good character death beat? I enjoyed Black Sails way more than OFMD and my favorite character in the cast of doomed characters was the most blatantly signaled dead man walking of them all?

And when he died I was distraught but also TWICE as motivated to finish the show because Vane's death was thee mic drop moment of his arc?

I can handle people killing my favorite character, lol, but maybe the romcom with hijinks and muppet logic just really sucked at delivering a satisfying death beat because they aren't actually an intense, emotional pirate drama and the episode just kinda sucked all around???

#our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #izzy hands ofmd #ofmd 2x08 #ladyluscinia #yeah characters die in tv shows but also some shows maybe should be realistic about whether shocking deaths add anything? #especially when they want you to be sad but also cannot stay serious / sad long enough to get through the quick cut funeral scene #maybe that undercuts the 'satisfying emotional beat' of pretending injuries are real for the only time in your entire show?

[invinciblerodent]

I love Gale's "With you, I forget my goddess" as much as the next person, but my favorite line in this whole scene is the one that breaks my heart into one million tiny little pieces, and that's "You would really prefer me as I am?"

The disbelief in his voice. That pained desperation to make you understand what he's trying to say. He can't believe that you'd really prefer him, the him that he is, with his... mortality, moral failings, jealousy, occasional arrogance, all his limitations and flaws? And you would. You DO. You'll say it as many times as it takes.

And yet, despite being explicitly told that you think him perfectly deserving of you and all that your relationship is, that he is enough and that you love the man he is rather than the power he commands, Gale... really just can't seem to believe it. Throughout the entire romance (so far, I honestly don't know), he' really can't seem to believe his luck. He's just so hung up on this feeling of being undeserving of happiness, of forgiveness, acceptance, and of love.

JUST LOOK AT HIM!!!!!!!!!

LOOK AT HIM!!!!!!!!

That fondness! Devotion! Doubt! Anxiety and relief all in one! He's been knocked speechless, he looks like he's exactly one second from crying, and all he's been told is literally just that you don't need him to be a god, he can just be himself, because you, his lover (of several weeks, maybe even months at this point) already loves him! As he has been told already!!!!!!

God, I can't get over just how much this man cares about this... weird, arbitrary notion he has in his pretty skull that a person is capable of being somehow more, or less deserving of being loved, rather than simply having inherent value.

Or, actually, I just can't get over this man, period.

I may not be entirely sober tonight, but I'm feeling all of the feelings about this goddamn handsome bunch of emotional issues pixels.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 gale #gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios #gale romance #gale x tav #i recorded the scene now that my new PC can handle running OBS and the game at the same time #and i rewatched it a few hours later #nabbed this screencap #and I had to sit back for a second because WHAT #it's interesting that he makes a different face if you cut him off with a kiss vs when you explain that #this is cutting him off with a kiss (though “canonically” I went with the explanation) #(cutting him off would have been better character development on Arvid's part but I just... don't think it was the time) #squirrel plays bg3

[possamble]

do you have any particular thoughts regarding marcille being a half-elf? its interesting to me considering the fact that she seems self-conscious about being a half-elf, but denies it when its brought up

i remember marcille looking visibly uncomfortable over laios simply asking her how old she is, which i think the only reason she might feel nervous about this is because it might reveal her as a half-elf to him.

she's never corrected anybody whose called her an elf either.

never mind the circumstances of the reveal, in which thistle goes on about how half-elves are inferior and accusing her of wanting to become full blooded elf, she seemed particularly upset like he struck a nerve-

i wish the half-elf thing was built upon more. also, underrated marcille line:

okay so i revisited this sequence just to make sure I could back myself up and it's just... man. there's a lot going on.

the first reaction we get from Marcille is this huge panel that takes up half of the page

she is viscerally affected. flushing to the tips of her ears with the intensity of it. and we see it again, a few pages later

so it might seem like she's embarrassed about it and lying to herself, but... I really think it's just that Thistle is accidentally hitting sore spots. If you really look at what he says to get these reactions

"you'll live out your entire life [...] and die that way too"

"a hundred years from now, nobody will be there"

Hear me out. I think, if he stuck to harping on about her inferiority without bringing up how terrifyingly long-lived she is, she wouldn't have been as bothered. But right now, Thistle is accidentally hitting all the marks on Marcille's deepest fears-- and this is after the Winged Lion promised her that her dreams could come true in an extremely vulnerable moment, so it also hits her slightly guilty conscience as well.

I do truly believe that Marcille isn't bothered about being a half-elf the way that people assume she'd be bothered by it. To her, the biggest problem with being a half-elf is that it's isolating.

On one hand, it's not hard to imagine why she'd distance herself from elves in the west. A lot of them can clock her as a half-elf on sight, unlike other races, and therefore she's always branded with this weird stigma of being Othered -- I would even say that she considers herself lucky for being born outside of elven culture instead of having to grow up in it. I mean, just... look at the way elves talk about her.

Skipping past the uncomfortable implication of what 'not tolerating the existence' of half-elves would actually entail, this is incredibly fucking annoying. You can see why she wouldn't want to be around elves much. You see a lot of Marcille reacting badly here, but honestly, almost all of it can be attributed to her freaking out that her bluff completely failed. She's honestly more paying attention to Izutsumi's footsteps and trying to coordinate an opportunity to escape.

And in the end, you see her built-up frustration at being asked if she wants to be a full-blooded elf like 2-3 times in a row.

Yeah, yeah, "the lady doth protest too much," and all. But we know Marcille. We know that she's a lot more embarrassed and horrendously unconvincing when she's being prodded about something she's actually self-conscious about.

Moving onto the flipside of things, it might seem weird that she "pretends" to be a full elf around other races, but it's not really that strange if you think about it. Again, people are weird about her being infertile or whatever, and a lots of them don't even know much about what sets half-elves apart from everyone else. I mean, look at how uncomfortable Laios is just asking her about it

and look at how exasperated and resigned she looks

And like... she's right. Where would that come up in normal conversation? Why would she go out of her way to tell them? She's functionally a normal elf to other races anyway -- got the ears, the abnormally long "childhood", and the huge mana capacity. Unless it's directly relevant or important for people to know, I don't think it's all that strange or indicative of insecurity that she prefers not to bother with it.

(This combined with her sense of being an "outsider" to elf culture also explains why she thinks elf superiority is embarrassing. She sees the way elves treat short-lived races from the "outsider" perspective nonetheless, and thinks it's obnoxious; especially more so because she usually has to play the elf around short-lived races and deal with the reputation of arrogance that elves have built up.)

The sad thing is, this all means that... she doesn't actually fit in anywhere. She doesn't like going out West much because of how elves treat her. But she's also an outsider in the continents she was born in, treated like this exotic long-lived alien choosing to live among short-lived races for some reason. She is always an outsider, the Other, no matter where she goes. Add in the fact that she'll live longer than literally anyone she knows, and it's honestly kind of heartbreaking.

And I think that's the crux of it. Marcille really doesn't act like she's at all self-conscious about being a half-elf because of any feelings of inferiority or being half-made or whatever. She considers herself a perfectly legitimate being and might even, in some ways, consider herself superior to normal elves because she's not blind with elf supremacy or whatever. (And whatever "elven biases" she displays, all of them are born more out of the fact that she's kind of bad at conceptualizing how other races age and mature compared to herself, not that she actually considers herself better or more mature simply for being an elf.)

I think that whatever self-consciousness Marcille has about being a half-elf is, instead, related to terror and loneliness. The reminder that it ensures she'll never truly belong anywhere for the rest of her very long life. The reminder that, in truth, even she's not actually sure how old she is by other races' standards (hence the discomfort when asked how old she is). She doesn't want to not be a half elf, or be a full elf or full tall-man-- in her ideal world, she's still a half-elf. She just gets to live out her life at the same pace with the people she loves and doesn't have to say goodbye again and again and again until she dies.

and one last very important panel, right after Mithrun tells her that all her desires would be devoured

In her ideal world, she's still a half-elf and reality magically starts marching at her pace. But failing that, the second best thing is that she's still a half-elf-- but one who is able to accept reality and let go of her fear.

(But the rest of the story pans out the way it does because, to Marcille, taking reality apart and reshaping it was less scary than simply and fully reconciling with it.)

#asks #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #marcille donato #manga panel analysis #this is probably riddled with typos sorry #readmore cut bc it got long lmao #i ended up babbling about it bc it's such an important character detail to me #bc like... wow. she's so normal about it. she's literally just chilling. #the only thing that really bothers her is the material reality of it and how people treat her #the stereotypes the stigma etc. etc. #otherwise it just.. #literally doesn't factor into her criteria for self-worth at all #the basic truth is that marcille likes herself on a fundamental level #she's not plagued by a deep and festering self-loathing the way a lot of characters in her archetype are #she likes herself and is proud of her successes and accomplishments #its just that shes terrified of failure and can have *episodes* of self-loathing when she fucks up #but who doesn't yknow #i know its a very slight nuance that makes very little difference in how her 'overachiever' problems manifest but its there #the sword of abandonment issues that hangs over her head has nothing to do with her self-worth or self-esteem or meeting her own standards #it has to do with the fear of not living up to *other* people's expectations and not being useful enough to be worth keeping around #she's good enough for herself but she's always so so so scared that she's not good enough for other people #i wont say much about what ryoko kui is saying using this as an allegory for real world racial biases but #dungeon meshi's treatment of marcille's relationship with her being half-elf is so incredibly important to me because it gets it so right. #a trauma about inferiority or being a half-being isn't inherent to the experience of being 'of two worlds' at all #that's something that's unfairly drilled into people by their environment #the *inherent* anguish is the loneliness. the constant longing. the fact that you are always homesick no matter where you are #always just a little bit of an outsider and never fully at home #and dungeon meshi gets that. #edit: cleaned it up a little