mintykiwii

[mintykiwii]

Gotta be honest, the popularity of blond Percy thanks to the pjo show is driving me insane because every time I see pjo fanart, I have a crisis over what little blond boy is being depicted

[mintykiwii]

Everyday I become a little more of a Valgrace shipper

[mintykiwii]

The funniest thing about the dynamic between Roran, Eragon, and Murtagh spending any amount of time together is that anyone of them at any given moment would be entirely justified in looking around and thinking:

“Oh fuck, now there are two of them-”

[mintykiwii]

So I was thinking about the "I'm a demon. I lied" line. Because it's easy to remember the "just an angel/demon that goes alone with heaven/hell as much as he can" parallel, but there's another line that gets repeated twice in the minisode, right?

And the thing that got me thinking is, the first time, well, it wasnt true. When they meet Job's children and Crowley goes "Im here to destrroooyy you all" (10/10 delievery would watch again) and Aziraphale is all "but you said you wouldnt kill them!" and Crowley delievers the first "I'm a demon, I lied" line.... he doesnt kill the kids. He hasnt been lying.

So later on, when Aziraphale confronts him about the lonely line, and Crowley admits to having lied about not being lonely... What if that, too, wasnt exactly a lie?

One thing that didnt sit right for me, with all this talk about lying, is that season 1 Crowley made a point of never having lied to Aziraphale. I cannot exacly remember the line but it was something like "when have I ever lied to you?" and Aziraphale went all "well you are a demon it's in the job description" and Crowley brushed it off with a "well im not lying" and they kept on talking about the hellhound. But Crowley is not a liar: on the contrary, season 1 heavily played with the subversion trope of the angel that lied (I dont know where the antichrist is, Crowley, I dont even like you, Crowley) and the demon who was honest, direct, even trusting.

I get that this wasnt to be taken so literally, and things can have different levels of meaning, but the focus that they put on the lying part is intentional, so that took me back to the original point: what if Crowley, in the Job minisode, hadnt been lying at all?

The thing is, when he almost killed the kids, at first he wanted Aziraphale to believe him. He wanted for Aziraphale to take him seriously as a demon, to frighten him a bit, and he wanted to prove him wrong, to some extent. See, you dont really know me. See, Im not the angel you mentioned before. But at the end of the day, it was a mask. Crowley hadnt lied.

So what about the lonely part? Aziraphale thought he was going to hell, and Crowley swore to not tell anyone. Some could argue it was the first time Crowley actually saved him. Ans then they kept talking.

Now, picture this: you are a demon, who is different from all the other demons, and pretty soon you decided to create your own side, so to speak. You meet this gorgeous angel who gave away his sword and is kind to you and you think that maybe, you know, maybe. Then you meet him again before the flood and you think that you must have been wrong, that he is actually just like the rest of them, because how could he stand there and watch God kill all those people? All those kids? So you truly are alone. But then. But then. Then you see him again and he talk about saving Job's kids, he wants you to go against God's plan, and he eats something that you offer him, and you talk, and you think yes, this one, this one.

That night, when he tells Aziraphale that he is "just a demon that goes along with hell as much as he can", and Aziraphale asks him if he is lonely, Crowley doesnt really have to lie.

And then, on thar bench, in the most absurdly beautiful scene ever conceived, Aziraphale is so distressed when Crowley tells him that he is "an angel who goes along with heaven as much as he can" (basically saying that they are on their own side for the first time but its fine I dont have any strong feeling on this topic or anything).

But Aziraphale looks so sad.

And its clear that its far too early for any of those talks, that Aziraphale is still brainwashed and they have spoken for a total of maybe 4 times in a millennia, so Crowley retreats. And he goes back to the lonely line.

But when he said that he wasnt lonely, he wasnt lying. He has never lied to Aziraphale, back from the beginning.

So that's it, tell me what you think about it! I may be getting it wrong but its been buggering me for a while, and I'd love to hear your opinion on this!

[mintykiwii]

Okay, I’ve just realised something and forgive me if it’s obvious to everyone else.

Crowley is the serpent.

Aziraphale is the angel of the eastern gate, technically on apple tree duty.

Their love is the apple. Their love is the forbidden fruit. It is right there in full view of both of them the whole time. The ultimate temptation. Absolutely forbidden. A betrayal of their God-designated roles and if they taste it, it’ll change everything.

The serpent whispers that they should eat it.

The guardian protects it.

And so their dance continues down the centuries. But they elaborate on it, getting closer and closer until ultimately, it’ll be inevitable. They’ll take a bite.

Makes you wonder what God’s really planning, huh?

[mintykiwii]

Aziraphale’s Choice, the Job Connection, and Michael Sheen’s Morality

Update: Michael Sheen liked this post on Twitter, so I'm fairly certain there is a lot of validity to it.

I’ve had time to process Aziraphale’s choice at the end of Season 2. And I think only blaming the religious trauma misses something important in Aziraphale’s character. I think what happened was also Aziraphale’s own conscious choice––as a growth from his trauma, in fact. Hear me out.

Since November 2022 I’ve been haunted by something Michael Sheen said at the MCM London Comic Con. At the Q&A, someone asked him about which fantasy creature he enjoyed playing most and Michael (bless him, truly) veered on a tangent about angels and goodness and how, specifically,

We as a society tend to sort of undervalue goodness. It’s sort of seen as sort of somehow weak and a bit nimby and “oh it’s nice.” And I think to be good takes enormous reserves of courage and stamina. I mean, you have to look the dark in the face to be truly good and to be truly of the light…. The idea that goodness is somehow lesser and less interesting and not as kind of muscular and as passionate and as fierce as evil somehow and darkness, I think is nonsense. The idea of being able to portray an angel, a being of love. I love seeing the things people have put online about angels being ferocious creatures, and I love that. I think that’s a really good representation of what goodness can be, what it should be, I suppose.

I was looking forward to BAMF!Aziraphale all season long, and I think that’s what we got in the end. Remember Neil said that the Job minisode was important for Aziraphale’s story. Remember how Aziraphale sat on that rock and reconciled to himself that he MUST go to Hell, because he lied and thwarted the will of God. He believed that––truly, honestly, with the faith of a child, but the bravery of a soldier.

Aziraphale, a being of love with more goodness than all of Heaven combined, believed he needed to walk through the Gates of Hell because it was the Right Thing to do. (Like Job, he didn’t understand his sin but believed he needed to sacrifice his happiness to do the Right Thing.)

That’s why we saw Aziraphale as a soldier this season: the bookshop battle, the halo. But yes, the ending as well.

Because Aziraphale never wanted to go to Heaven, and he never wanted to go there without Crowley.

But it was Crowley who taught him that he could, even SHOULD, act when his moral heart told him something was wrong. While Crowley was willing to run away and let the world burn, it was Aziraphale (in that bandstand at the end of the world) who stood his ground and said No. We can make a difference. We can save everyone.

And Aziraphale knew he could not give up the ace up his sleeve (his position as an angel) to talk to God and make them see the truth in his heart.

I was messed up by Ineffable Bureaucracy (Boxfly) getting their happy ending when our Ineffable Husbands didn’t, but I see now that them running away served to prove something to Aziraphale. (And I am fully convinced that Gabriel and Beelzebub saw the example of the Ineffables at the Not-pocalypse and took inspiration from them for choosing to ditch their respective sides)

But my point is that Aziraphale saw them, and in some ways, they looked like him and Crowley. And he saw how Gabriel, the biggest bully in Heaven, was also like him in a way (a being capable of love) and also just a child when he wasn’t influenced by the poison of Heaven. Muriel, too, wasn’t a bad person. The Metatron also seemed to have grown more flexible with his morality (from Aziraphale's perspective). Like Earth, Heaven was shades of (light?) gray.

Aziraphale is too good an angel not to believe in hope. Or forgiveness (something he’s very good at it).

Aziraphale has been scarred by Heaven all his life. But with the cracks in Heaven’s armor (cracks he and Crowley helped create), Aziraphale is seeing something else. A chance to change them. They did terrible things to him, but he is better than them, and because of Crowley, he feels ready to face them.

(Will it work? Can Heaven change, institutionally? Probably not, but I can't blame Aziraphale for trying.)

At the cafe, the Metatron said something big was coming in the Great Plan. Aziraphale knows how trapped he had felt when he didn’t have God’s ear the first time something huge happened in the Big Plan. He can’t take a chance again to risk the world by not having a foot in the door of Heaven. That’s why we saw individual human deaths (or the threat of death) so much more this season: Elspeth, Wee Morag, Job’s children, the 1940s magician. Aziraphale almost killed a child when he couldn’t get through to God, and he’s not going through that again.

“We could make a difference.” We could save everyone.

Remember what Michael Sheen said about courage and doing good––and having to “look the dark in the face to be truly good.” That’s what happened when Aziraphale was willing to go to Hell for his actions. That’s what happened when he decided he had to go to Heaven, where he had been abused and belittled and made to feel small. He decided to willingly go into the Lion’s Den, to face his abusers and his anxiety, to make them better so that they would not try to destroy the world again.

Him, just one angel. He needed Crowley to be there with him, to help him be brave, to ask the questions that Heaven needed to hear, to tell them God was wrong. Crowley is the inspiration that drives Aziraphale’s change, Crowley is the engine that fuels Aziraphale’s courage.

But then Crowley tells him that going to Heaven is stupid. That they don’t need Heaven. And he’s right. Aziraphale knows he’s right.

Aziraphale doesn’t need Heaven; Heaven needs him. They just don’t know how much they need him, or how much humanity needs him there, too. (If everyone who ran for office was corrupt, how can the system change?)

Terry Pratchett (in the Discworld book, Small Gods) is scathing of God, organized religion, and the corrupt people religion empowers, but he is sympathetic to the individual who has real, pure faith and a good heart. In fact, the everyman protagonist of Small Gods is a better person than the god he serves, and in the end, he ends up changing the church to be better, more open-minded, and more humanist than god could ever do alone.

Aziraphale is willing to go to the darkest places to do the Right Thing, and Heaven is no exception. When Crowley says that Heaven is toxic, that’s exactly why Aziraphale knows he needs to go there. “You’re exactly is different from my exactly.”

____

In the aftermath of Trump's election in the US, Brexit happened in 2018. Michael Sheen felt compelled to figure out what was going on in his country after this shock. But he was living in Los Angeles with Sarah Silverman at the time, and she also wanted to become more politically active in the US.

Sheen: “I felt a responsibility to do something, but it [meant] coming back [to Britain] – which was difficult for us, because we were very important to each other. But we both acknowledge that each of us had to do what we needed to do.” In the end, they split up and Michael moved back to the UK.

Sometimes doing the Right Thing means sacrificing your own happiness. Sometimes it means going to Hell. Sometimes it means going to Heaven. Sometimes it means losing a relationship.

And that’s why what happened in the end was so difficult for Aziraphale. Because he loves Crowley desperately. He wants to be together. He wanted that kiss for thousands of years. He knows that taking command of Heaven means they would never again have to bow to the demands of a God they couldn’t understand, or run from a Hell who still came after them. They could change the rules of the game.

And he’s still going to do that. But it hurts him that he has to do that alone.

[mintykiwii]

So, I feel like I’m losing my mind. I keep seeing metas about how Aziraphale wants Crowley to return to Heaven and be an angel again because he wants them to be on the same side/be good/change/etc., etc., etc. but I don’t see that at all. I actually see it as the very opposite.

Aziraphale loves Crowley just as he is. But there’s something more. Something huge.

Aziraphale loves Crowley and because he is an angel who is stuck in seeing things as black and white, he constantly praises Crowley for being nice. For being good. For being kind.

Aziraphale has watched Crowley on and off for 6,000 years. He watched him thwart the plans of Heaven and Hell because it was unjust. He spared the lives of innocents. He did small things that made Aziraphale happy just because (like making Hamlet successful and saving valuable books). And because Aziraphale sees things in black and white, he sees all the things Crowley has done as nice, as good, as kind.

Crowley vehemently attests he’s not nice or good or kind.

He’s not exactly wrong nor is he lying when he says this. When Crowley spares goats during a cruel bet over a righteous man and swallowing laudanum to prevent a suicide, when he prevents Armageddon by working with Aziraphale and stopping the Anti-Christ from being the Anti-Christ, he’s not doing the nice/good/kind thing.

He’s doing the right thing.

Crowley chooses to do the right thing without hesitation. He is better than all of Heaven and Hell who have callous and dispassionate view of all existence because he questions, because he makes choices. Crowley sees the world for all its messiness and he sees himself. He sees a place where he fits in. He sees the blurred edges.

And Aziraphale sees that, even if seeing the blurred edges is hard for him.

But here’s the thing that Aziraphale can’t voice.

It’s the reason why he told Crowley about being allowed to return to Heaven and become an angel again. He doesn’t want Crowley to change. He doesn’t think Crowley is flawed. Or not enough.

It’s something that is so monumental that it cannot be put into words. Because to put it into words would be more than blasphemy. It’s down right unthinkable for anyone in Heaven, Hell, or Earth to say what Aziraphale knows deep in his soul.

God was wrong to cast out Crowley.

Aziraphale believes Crowley can/should return to Heaven because he knows that Crowley should never have fallen in the first place. He wants him to be forgiven because when Crowley fell it was unjust. Aziraphale is trying to correct a mistake. He’s trying to do the right thing.

Yes, Crowley would never accept returning to Heaven. And Aziraphale was wrong to even suggest it (although that conversation is another can of worms to unpack).

Aziraphale loves Crowley. He loves him exactly as he is. He doesn’t want him to change. Aziraphale knows that Crowley the best of all of them. He wants to change Heaven because of it. Because God was wrong and Aziraphale knows it.

Aziraphale may have difficulty seeing beyond black and white, but when it comes to Crowley he sees everything crystal clear and in vivid color.

[mintykiwii]

I will defend Jason Grace with my whole heart forever. oh he's boring? well somebody has to be the boring one--somebody has to be the 'stick in the mud' group leader who is just trying so unbelievably hard to keep everybody safe. not everybody can be making witty sarcastic jokes with every fight :( not everybody is a Percy or a Leo--if we had a team of just Percys and Leos, what would ever get done around here!! he was raised in a military camp all his life, he didn't just get to cultivate a sense of humour and a carefree attitude :(

all Jason has ever tried to do is help people by truly listening to them. he didn't just fight the minor gods, he talked to them, he figured out what they wanted, and he fucking followed through with his promises to honour them!! (or... he was going to.) he wasn't just going to make false promises as a scheme, he was really going to change things and ensure it didn't happen again :(

after everyone shat so hard on Jason for suggesting they not detour to save Nico (which, by the way, yes it could have seemed insensitive to us bc we know and love Nico, Jason doesn't know who this bitch is!! he was trying to be strategical) none of them really seemed to make an effort to figure out... what his deal was? it was Jason who stuck around to put in the effort to really push Nico out of his shell and not just placate his behaviour, which would go on to be such an important catalyst for Nico's recovery and development going forwards :( it was Jason that Nico stayed for :( there are so many moments where Jason is shown so clearly listening to and acting upon other peoples problems throughout the series, and he never really gets that treatment back until its too late,,

and maybe it's just personal. as an older sibling I am so used to getting called boring and being told to let loose or stop being so bossy... Jason is showing his love the only way he knows how... by putting himself second, and by just trying to keep order. it just must really suck. imagine putting your whole heart and soul into protecting your found family only for them to dismiss you as stoic and detached and unfunny. and then to see the whole fandom just degrade his character for it :( I get that maybe his chapters just aren't everyones cup of tea, but I never got where all of this animosity stemmed from.

he's trying his best. he's just a kid, like the rest of them... it seems that when any of the other make stupid decisions, they're forgiven for their age and naïveté, but when Jason does, he's penalized as an adult... which I think is so shameful :( he's allowed to have stupid mistakes :(

he is.... my favourite of the seven.. and I just want to give him a hug. I love u Jason Grace I got ur back always

[mintykiwii]

KNB Characters in ATLA

Okay pretend this is like, when the 100-year war is about to start, so the Air Nomads are still around.

Kuroko: Non-bender from the Southern Water Tribe. He's really determined about stopping the Fire Nation and learns how to use long range weapons that are easy to carry. I really want to say Boomerang.

Kagami: FIRE-BENDER there is literally no other option. He's actually the son of an Fire Nation soldier and Earth Kingdom woman and was supposed to be from the colonies but his parents died, and he got adopted by Alex, who's an Air Nomad.

Kise: Waterbender from the Northern Water Tribe. He's not a prince but he's definitely nobility. He's mastered pretty much every form of sub-bending for waterbending; except the plant manipulation and blood-bending.

Midorima: Earthbender, like, what else? He's the son of an Earth Kingdom nobleman who's ruling a Fire Nation colony, therefore he's sort of friends with Fire Nation royalty.

Aomine: Waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe. His mom is chief and he's a bit of spoilt brat. He's the best bender they have and he's itching for adventure outside of their home to really test out his waterbending skills. He joins Kuroko when Kuroko heads out to check wtf is going on with the Fire Nation recently.

Momoi: Non-bender scholar, trained in hand-to-hand. Though she isn't a bender, she observed the waterbender healers and figured out how to do chi-blocking. She joins Aomine and Kuroko when they head out to ensure they don't do anything extremely stupid and die at sea.

Murasakibara: Airbender who sticks to the the Air Temple he was born in. Hella chill, very mellow, he's an expert in pulling pranks whenever he's bored and very good at baking pies.

Akashi: Prince of the Fire Nation, Firebender. He's mastered lightning-bending and is extremely obedient to his dad. He used to be friends with kids from the other nation(*ahem* GoM) when he was around 10 but his dad cut off all connection because he was, ya know, planning on starting the 100-year war.

Haizaki: Waterbender from the Northern Water Tribe. He's not a noble and is highly competitive with Kise, whom he can never defeat. Their training was very similar and they're both some of the best benders but Haizaki is heavily focused on combat and never even attempts healing(which is why he can't reach Kise's level, Kise figured out newer techniques because of the healing thing).

Kiyoshi: THE AVATAR!!! No it's not just because his name sounds like 'Kyoshi'. He's from an Earth Kingdom town and knows he's the Avatar pretty early but he doesn't make a big deal about it. Then the Fire Nation starts decimating the Air Nomads and RIko urges him to start learning. Kiyoshi is honestly the only person who can be trusted with this amount of power and is closest in temperament to Aang. He's froma humble background and just wants to ensure everyone gets to live peacefully.

Riko: Non-bender who's a student, she learned about all sorts of bending styles out of curiosity and even trained with a sword on her own time with her dad. She's the one who plotted the training regimen for Kiyoshi's Avatar training.

Hyuuga: A Fire Nation, non-bender soldier who Kiyoshi and Riko run into on their travels to find a firebending teacher. Hyuuga is getting very suspicious about his new orders about conquering Earth Kingdom territories, but is initially reluctant to defy. But then he sees Kiyoshi and Riko, and the three get into some trouble and Hyuuga decides to join the two, having realized that the Fire Nation is getting ready for an all-out-war against the Air Nomads.

Himuro: He's the illegitimate child of a Northern Water Tribe noblewoman. She had met a Fire Nation soldier and the two had an affair. She had Himuro but abandoned him, and he was taken away by sailors to be raised in the Earth Kingdom. Himuro grew up on the streets and on pirate ships, with only a betrothal necklace from his mom to know of his heritage which was given by the soldier. He hates the water tribe for abandoning him, and is later taken in by Alex. So he sorta grows up with Alex and he later realizes Kagami's dad is actually also his dad, and that his dad was chased away from the NWT and began another life with Kagami's mom.

Nijimura: Earthbender who's from a downtrodden background. His dad works in crystal mines but is growing weaker. Nijimura had to take over his dad's work and while mining, he became an expert in bending crystals and other non-generic forms of earth.

[mintykiwii]

Leo calling Jo mom is just so special. Like this is a boy who adored his mother more than anything and then lost her at young age, completely believing it was his fault entirely. Since then he’d pretty much swore off the idea of family, running away from each and every foster home due to his horrible experiences and never expressing his true feelings to even his closest friends because he just felt so worthless that the only way he could contribute to the group was by sacrificing himself because he, as a person, was not good enough to just simply be wanted and loved. Then he felt comfortable enough to just call Jo mom in passing?? Sobbing

[mintykiwii]

I wish to use this medium to elaborate *cough rant cough* on a fact everyone should be familiar with by now:

Nico changes with every book he appears in.

We all must've noticed that the Nico di Angelo of The Titan's Curse is not the Nico of The Tower of Nero, and without a doubt, the Nico of The Tower of Nero will not be the same as the Nico of The Sun And The Star.

So you may argue, “Character development and everything—no character stays the same throughout a series.” Then I'll say, “Percy's change isn't as rapid and obvious as Nico's. Why not? He's been through what Percy wouldn't have survived.”

Side note before I'm called mistaken: You are free to convince me that Percy Jackson would've had no trouble losing his closest family at a young age, roaming the labyrinth with a vengeful ghost as a guide, believing that due to his parentage and sexuality he would never be accepted by anyone, and—above all—going through Tartarus willingly and all by himself.

Nico's changes between books are so vivid and regular that I can give a name to him for every book he's appeared in.

The Titan's Curse: Clueless Nico, son of Hades.

The Battle of The Labyrinth: Angry) Misguided Nico, the ghost king (👑).

The Last Olympian: Helpful, Hopeful Nico, savior of Manhattan.

The Son of Neptune: Shady Nico, ambassador of Pluto.

The Mark of Athena: Trapped Nico, hostage of Gaia.

The House of Hades: Survivor Nico, leader of the Argo II.

The Blood of Olympus: Broken Nico, hero of Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter, uniter of the two fighting camps.

The Hidden Oracle: Healing Nico, all titles mentioned above repeated, boyfriend of Will Solace.

The Tower of Nero: Nico On The Brink Of A Relapse, founder of the trogdylytes, savior of Camp Half-Blood and New York.

The Sun And The Star: Nico On A Mission But At The Same Time Hopelessly In Love With Will Solace, rescuer of Iapetus, ghost king (👑), zombie dude, lord of darkness, future husband of William Andrew Solace (💍).

Try the same with Percy or mostly anyone else, you won't get such results.

See? Nico has gone through too much to stay stable. The changes make a lot of sense. The only hope now is for these changes to lead to his eventual happiness.

“Still Standing” by Elton John relates to him perfectly.

[mintykiwii]

Levesquers

[mintykiwii]

Most accurate thing I've read in a while

since i said that nico would have a travel youtube vlog here is

what kind of youtube channel PJO characters would have!!

percy jackson - even for the purpose of this post i can’t imagine him having a youtube i’m so sorry he’s the most anti-social media kid ever

annabeth chase - book reviews, book recs, book analysis. do i even need to explain why.

jason grace - this doof posts study content, but whenever he’s in other videos he’s so unhinged that his subscribers are a little concerned for him and are convinced his youtube personality is a front

leo valdez - he sets shit on fire. you know those videos where they boil iphones? that’s him

hazel levesque - asmr!!!!!! crystals!!!!!!!!! auras!!!! tarot readings and shit!!!!!

frank zhang - also asmr but its the no face no voice kind. none of his viewers know what he looks like. people thirst over his hands anyway

piper mclean - y’all are expecting me to say beauty content. BUT!! she posts movie reactions. everyone asks for her skincare routine and hair routine in every video, so she gets her beauty influencing done that way <3 (if you guys watch trin lovell, piper would make content similar to her)

will solace - farm content. don’t ask me what that means, i don’t know. he just makes content about farms.

[mintykiwii]

YES YES PLEASE YES

aphrodite being played by multiple actresses because beauty and love is subjective PLEASE

[mintykiwii]

“percy is supposed to have black hair” “annabeth is supposed to be blonde” no. the only hair color that matters is that percy and annabeth get their matching grey streaks after holding up the sky in ttc

[mintykiwii]

Annabeth 🧢❤️

[mintykiwii]

I always see so much Jason Grace slander and all I can say is....LEAVE MY BOY ALONE he's in the underworld for god's sake leave him BE....let him sit in a corner wearing his wire-framed glasses, reading comics while he drinks milk in a coffee thermos to look cool

#percy jackson #jason grace #leave him alooooone #pjo hoo toa #heroes of olympus