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im-no-jedi · 6 months

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I have Crosshair on the brain today for literally no reason and was really struck thinking about that moment with Wrecker and Tech in Kamino Lost. mainly how, yet again, Tech perfectly sums up what it's like being someone with a mental disability.

Wrecker breaks character a bit and gets angry at Crosshair for being such an ass, and especially for not putting an effort into leaving the Empire once his chip was removed. an understandable and valid reaction.

Crosshair doesn't have time to respond before Tech steps in though.

Tech straight up tells Wrecker to let it go. he doesn't need Crosshair to say anything because he already knows what Crosshair might say. despite not agreeing with him (as he later stated), Tech understands why Crosshair is behaving the way that he is. this indicates that Crosshair has behaved similarly in the past and therefore is no surprise to someone like Tech, who has the same problem. and he tries to explain that to Wrecker.

Tech outright states two of Crosshair's major character traits. two traits that can be seen both as positive and negative. neurodiverse people often have traits like this that manifest outside of their control, causing them to behave in ways that come across unnatural. it often takes an outside source, like Tech is doing here, for the person to even realize that those behaviors can be a bad thing. Tech even confirms the fact that it's simply a part of who Crosshair is.

but he doesn't stop there. because this goes beyond simple character traits, which can often be changed or altered in some way.

Tech starts by telling Wrecker that he can't change how Crosshair is. this is honestly good advice in general, but it especially applies to mental disability. no amount of work or effort can fully change how a neurodivergent person behaves. it's literally wired into their brain. sure, things like therapy and medication can help. but like a stubborn stain or a deep scar, those traits will never fully go away.

and Tech confirms this with one final statement.

Crosshair himself can't even do anything about it. and this to me is the real attribute of mental disability. it's simply something that's out of everyone's hands. it's also interesting to note Crosshair's expression here. he seems genuinely intrigued by Tech's statement, like he's just heard something he wasn't expecting to hear. Crosshair ends up asking why Tech "stood up" for him, but I think it goes beyond that. I think Crosshair hadn't considered that fact that things were out of his control. which we end up seeing in season two with his eventual strained relationship with the Empire.

now, this isn't me saying that we should excuse neurodivergent people for their behaviors. everyone, regardless of circumstance, should take responsibility for their own actions. and it's moments like this that are actually helpful in understanding how to deal with mental issues. I say this as a mentally disabled person myself. having that outside source to point out those behaviors, regardless of whether or not they were intentional, still have consequences. clearly, the consequence for TBB was the separation of Crosshair from the rest of the squad. he made that choice, but it was due to natural traits that were out of his control (among other things). hopefully he'll eventually realize this, but that remains to be seen.

it's no secret that I personally headcanon the entire Bad Batch as being neurodiverse. Tech may be the most obvious example, but the signs are there for the others as well. and this moment just further validates it for me. at the very least, it's an excellent comparison to mental disability, whether intentional or not, just like Tech's line in The Crossing. and I'll be forever grateful for a show like this giving us that representation 💙

#the bad batch #star wars the bad batch #tbb crosshair #tbb tech #tbb wrecker #sorry if this isn't very coherent lkdfjgkfdlsd #I needed to get my thoughts down before I forgot them #anyway you can pry neurodivergent TBB from my dead hands thanks #those boys ain't right in the head (affectionately LOL)#Mr Snarky Sniper #Muscles™#Goggles™#star warz

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explodingstarlight · 1 year

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ngl I was in the mood to draw an unhinged character today and I’ve been eyeing @snailsnaps "Programmed Obsolescence" AU for a hot second so,,,

AU Playlist (for funsies)

#error 404: brother not found #i allowed myself to go a bit wild with the color palette cuz I don't think there's a colored ref for donnie yet #but if there is: whoopsie doopsie 💀🖐️#i'll have you know that i did in fact have to redo the headgear lineart a bit cuz my muscle memory had me drawing his goggles agshshsh #i may or may not have made a whole Au playlist to get in the zone while drawing #that's a secret i'll never tell (lying)#unhinged mad scientist AUs are my bread and butter despite the Pain and Agony ™#rottmnt: [exists] the fandom: i can make it sadder :3c #and honestly? im here for it #what else are we to do but shove our favorite characters into a metaphorical hydraulic press???#explodingstar art #programmed obsolescence #rottmnt #rottmnt au #rottmnt fanart #my art #i did this in the wee hours of the morning so hopefully it turned out alright lmao #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #tmnt donatello #rise donnie #villain donnie au #tmnt #proau #proau donnie

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gogglesloveblog · 2 years

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please send help i cant take it anymore

#goggles speaks™#splatoon 3 #splatoon #1k

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coockie8 · 1 month

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i once had an anti tell me to stop sexualizing their trauma on a story i wrote that was a word for word retelling of my own actual trauma but with names changed and its been 2 years and i still cant stop thinking about that

Ah, yeah... Unfortunately a non-insignificant number of antishippers seem to genuinely believe they own the concept of trauma, so any story they read that they believe to be portrayed in a romanticized or sexualized light therefore must be romanticizing/sexualizing their trauma specifically.

I couldn't tell you the amount of times I've gotten the "stop sexualizing my trauma!!!!!!" or adjacent comments from antishippers that universally garner a response that basically boils down to

Like, bitch! I'm talking about my trauma! I literally did not even know you existed until you fucking commented!

#proship #proshipper #anti bs #just anti things #glad to know antis assuming every story about trauma must be about them specifically seems to be a universal proshipper experience lol #like *how* am I sexualizing *your* trauma when I literally do not even know who you are?#like if you hadn't commented I would've gone my entire life not knowing you even exist #if I had omnipotence like that I certainly would not be using that power to sexualize the trauma of some random fucking stranger! lol #you think my petty ass would be doing *that* instead of the infinitely more infuriating thing of spoiling every show you love at any chance #jokes aside though like seriously get fucking real #I hate to burst your main character syndrome bubble but nobody fucking cares about you #not in the ''nobody loves you and you'll die alone'' sense #but in the ''you are just Some Guy™ and the 8 billion other people on the planet have their own problems to worry about'' sense #if someone is writing about trauma maybe take your self-centred goggles off for 5 fucking seconds #and maybe you'll realise that it is 1000000% more likely this random stranger is writing about *their* trauma #and *not* the trauma of a person whose entire existence they are not even aware of #I do believe the tiktok trend of referring to strangers as ''NPCs'' has at least contributed to this epidemic of main character syndrome #people you don't know are *not* ''NPCs'' you fucking robot!#they are human beings just like you with lives and dreams and loved ones #you just don't know them #sorry but I genuinely think I'd go to jail for murder if I ever heard someone refer to me as an ''NPC'' out in public #'cause genuinely who the fuck do you think you are!?

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hobbitunderthemountain · 1 year

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i gave in and decided to put on a hades playthrough while I've been working this week and i just saw the first interaction with thanatos and I'm 😳😳😳😳😳

#I DON'T THINK I SHOULD BE SEEING THIS #MOM AND DAD ARE FIGHTING AND CLEARLY IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING #i was like 'oh yes here he is. let me watch this with the Shipper Goggles™'#turns out shipper goggles were not needed #LIKE I KNOW THE ROMANCE IS POSSIBLE IN THIS GAME I JUST DIDN'T KNOW WE'D START THERE OF ALL PLACES #kat watches hades #also. all i can see while watching this is miles edgeworth in cosplay #he just. he is.#and zag does have some phoenix wright vibes so.........#im seein it y'all

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simpletoymaker · 1 year

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I think he deserves to kill just a lil as a treat

#ooc™ ☆ « social media manager »#[ new wonder/tainment product drops and its just pyrovision goggles #[ the kids get to try a lil bit of violence as a treat as well #[ its an important part of development <3

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icannotgetoverbirds · 2 years

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quick question

can i use the men's restroom as a pre-op pre-hrt trans man in arizona or will i get arrested if i get id carded or...?

#i can't get a clear answer from the Goggle™#(google)#so like. am i gonna get in trouble for using the men's restroom?#i think i might actually try it

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sirfrogsworth · 5 months

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Woke Goggles™ strike again.

Also, he really set himself up with that movie list. Hoo boy.

Like, I knew the trap I created was not going to work out for him. And it was extra fun how confident he was with "I dunno" and "need more?" All while setting me up for the spike with an oversized beach ball.

#long post

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julesarago · 25 days

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On this week's episode of @thebatchpod I made a Very Good Joke™!

Canon in-universe search engine is called Goggle, right?

#the bad batch #star wars #sw tbb #bad batch #star wars tbb #tbb #crosshair the bad batch #tech the bad batch

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gallusgalluss · 5 months

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i know its cuz they got those big ass goggles as compared to snorpy's glasses but i like how floofty Eyes Big while snorpy Eyes Small. y'see

YEAAAA im glad someone noticed that :]!! snorpy's eyes are like that both because of how I stylize glasses and cause i wanna make his eyes small compared to Floofty's giant ass eyes. Their pupils are that dilated like 99% of the time, makes bright lights a massive annoyance for em

the Fizzlebean Stare™

#look i also remembered snorp's extra lenses for once lol #askums #anon cannon #bugsnax

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im-no-jedi · 1 year

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TBB headcanons: Physical and Mental Traits

I was originally gonna break these posts up by character, but it’s more fun just categorizing everything (plus I get to make more posts this way hehe)

anyway! here are some traits I believe each of the boys have:

Hunter

Oldest of the og four (CT 9901)

All of his senses are heightened, which makes him more sensitive to things (smells, sounds, touch, etc) but he’s REALLY good at hiding it

Occasionally experiences sensory overload, but has several techniques to keep himself calm (stimming with his knife, meditation, isolation, listening to music, conversing with one of his bros or Omega)

Is autistic, but is good at masking it most of the time

Very, very rarely experiences panic attacks from overstimulation (happened mostly as a child, has only happened once during the war)

Has a high level of tolerance for pain, despite his heightened senses (mostly is just good at hiding it though)

Has a scar over his left eyebrow that he got due to accidentally cutting himself with a knife when he was younger (he has perfectionist issues because of this); has other various scars all over his body (main ones being on his left pectoral from getting shot by Cad Bane, and slight burn marks on the palm of his right hand from the Zygerrian whip)

Fairly introverted; he likes his solitude but gets lonely at times and can NOT be away from the squad for too long or he’ll go crazy

Tech

Second oldest of the og four (CT 9902)

Retains information the first time it’s told/explained to him (the recording thing is literally just a hobby, he doesn’t need it LOL)

Obsessively researches things in his free time

Basically blind without his goggles; he’s semi colorblind, which is why the lens are tinted

Is very autistic

Stims with his tools

Has an average level of tolerance for pain, doesn’t like to make a big deal out of it and straight up ignores it most of the time (“I pretend I do not see it”)

Has a few scars on his hands from tinkering, but are mostly healed (lotion works wonders my dudes)

Completely introverted, please leave him alone thanks

Wrecker

Second youngest of the og four (CT 9903)

Is constantly hungry because of his size and high metabolism

Gets muscle aches if he goes too long without being active

Has ADHD and autism

Stims via working out or playing with Lula (or any of Omega’s other toys when she’s not playing with them)

Has a low level of tolerance for pain, but tries to act otherwise (and does a terrible job at it LOL)

Got his face scar on their first mission ever, doesn’t regret it and thinks it makes him look cooler

Has various scars all over his body, as well as stretch marks from growing so big so quickly

Very extroverted, gets lonely easily

Crosshair

Youngest of the og four (CT 9904)

Gets frequent headaches because of his superior vision (which is why getting the Order 66 headaches didn’t seem out of the ordinary to him)

Gets sore limbs sometimes, especially his legs, from how long they are

Is autistic

Stims by chewing on his toothpicks

Has an average level of tolerance for pain but is really good at hiding it

Has a few minor scars on his body but mostly stretch marks from growing so tall so quickly

Very introverted, but gets lonely at times (and will NEVER admit it)

Echo

Oldest of the entire group overall

Suffers from “ghost limbs” with his scomp arm and legs sometimes

Will get eye twitches sometimes from his brain “short-circuiting”

Makes jokes about his disabilities to cope (“you wouldn’t hurt a disabled man, would you?”)

Has PTSD, mostly from what happened after the Citadel explosion

Distracts himself from the Horrors™ by running ship diagnostics and rereading manuals (which he already liked doing, of course)

Has an average level of tolerance for pain and likes to hide it behind his jokes (“tis but a flesh wound!”)

Has some scars all over his body from the Citadel explosion and his implants

Big extrovert, HATES being alone, please don’t leave him alone OMG

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helsensm · 1 month

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hate to break it to you, but liu kang and kung lao are actually cousins. i enjoy your art a lot and scrolling through your blog, so seeing you and your friends support liulao makes me concerned. i hope you understand and are mindful about what you ship going forward <:(

I sense some condescension, anon, but since text messaging cannot accurately convey tone, I’ll take this as a genuine warning. Thank you for your concern, but do not worry, I’m old enough to be mindful about my ships and I do my research, since I have no interest in shipping relatives in any media, and it CAN be tricky with the universe as complex and lore heavy as mk.

With that being said, here’s where you are wrong, anon. Liu Kang and Kung Lao are canonically NOT related – at least the versions of them that people ship.

Just a week ago, lovely user rasta-bot covered the “cousins issue”, you can check this post or I’ll just repeat the main idea here. They were only made cousins in the original 1995 movie because this specific universe (and by extension MK Conquests universe since it's a prequel to the movies) has Liu Kang as the Great Kung Lao's descendant as well. However, this is what the mk co-creator and Lore God™ John Tobias said about this change:

In no other game Liu Kang was the descendant of GKL or Lao’s relative. In the original (and prev) timeline he was an orphan, raised by Shaolin monks.

And if you are referring to the 2021 movie, alas, you’d be wrong again. In the movie Liu Kang has no family, he tells Cole about his past, but people love to refer to the scene with a translation error. The mistake was pointed out by several native speakers online, but everyone can easily check it by themselves, even if they are not familiar with the language, just by doing a quick google search. This took me 2 minutes:

1. Turn on the Chinese subtitles.

2. Look at the first results of “師兄 meaning” goggle search.

source: wiktionary.org

source: chinese.yabla.com

source: hinative.com

It is totally fine if you don’t feel like shipping these two, you have all the right - everybody has different preferences. I also don’t like certain ship dynamics even if they are “legal” in any way. 😁 But I never encountered liulao shippers who would endorse inсеst, and it’s sad to see how this confusion nearly becomes a witch hunt, scaring and demotivating artists and writers.

#thanks for coming to my TED talk #all the typos and mistakes can be explained by me being drunk for 12 hours and hangover for 12 more #also me not speak englesh perdon #my asks #mortal kombat #kung lao #liu kang #non art post

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gogglesloveblog · 1 year

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we need to add a bit of red... bc yknow color theory

#goggles speaks™#splatoon 3 #splatoon #splatoon 3 side order #nintendo direct #nintendo direct spoilers

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cleradin-archive · 2 years

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i’m sorry but after doing a complete byler-goggled rewatch of stranger things with my best friend and talking about this shot after will yells ”forget it, mike!”, i am willing to bet my life that this is the first time will has EVER yelled at mike, and mike most definitely does NOT know what to do about it

so, naturally i had to gif it, and after slowing it down you can really see the sequence of emotions that flash across his face, even in this brief period of time. he starts off shocked ( even appearing to flinch slightly ), before his expression turns to a look of anguish, followed by what literally looks like total heartbreak. he almost looks lost, in disbelief, shaken up, confused

and when you think about it, this is mike’s best friend in the whole entire world of nine years, who again, i can all too easily imagine has rarely so much as raised his voice at mike outside of playful banter and dnd enthusiasm. their entire relationship has revolved around such love and care expressed towards one another, and when taking into account that not only does mike have a well-known will voice™, but will 100% has a mike voice™ that’s much the same in tone, being yelled at like this by him is detrimental to mike, and understandably so

kind, compassionate, soft-spoken will byers, reaching the end of his rope to such an extent that he’s lashing out like this directly at the person who means absolutely everything to him, the person he’s in love with, who has always been there for him up until this fateful summer, in which he feels like he’s losing him along with the last fleeting remains of a broken childhood that has already been so tragically ripped away from him. this is not to fault him for such a reaction in the slightest

i’m not okay

#stranger things #st #mike wheeler #will byers #byler #💚 // byler.#🎨 // will byers.#🌌 // mike wheeler.#🔎 // analysis.

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ifishouldvanish · 3 months

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Some Mizrak / Mizrox Analysis and Headcanons

I know, I know, I'm That Alurox Blog™, but I'm just gonna take off the rarepair goggles for a bit to take a closer look at Mizrak and his relationship with Olrox as it's presented in canon. I feel like there's a tendency for his character to be reduced to just the 'repressed gay monk' archetype and it does him a disservice because he's way more interesting than that!!!

Anyway probably not as cohesive as my Olrox analysis because I don't really have specific headcanons with regard to his backstory yet but here goes:

1. Mizrak FUCKS!!1!

All the "haha the Catholic monk folded and had gay sex with a hot vampire in .2 seconds" jokes aside... I think Mizrak really does fuck. Like I'm not convinced at all that he is some repressed virgin who just got his world rocked for the first time.

First of all, he takes like, zero convincing to jump in bed with someone who has just established themselves as an enemy. We get the little fight in the courtyard, Olrox saying, "let's do this somewhere more comfortable" and next we see them they're already post-coitus. Furthermore, Mizrak is like... pretty fucking casual about it? Like, he's the one brushing a clingy Olrox off in the morning. I'm sorry but I don't see any evidence in that scene that suggests he hasn't done this sort of thing before. This man has had casual sex before, presumably with other men.

Sure, we get a few shots of him being mopey and conflicted in the morning after scene, but these are brought on by Olrox watering the seeds of doubt he already has about the whole working with Erzsebet thing; not Catholic Guilt over knocking boots with a vampire.

Also just... from a writer's perspective, if you have some repressed monk character and he's gonna get carnal with a vampire, you are MILKING that shit for all it's worth. You're gonna lay on the angst, the temptation, the moral quandary of giving into the sins of the flesh. But all of that is markedly absent in these scenes. We just see two grown men who think each other are hot and decided to have sex about it.

2. A Foundation of Mistrust

The first thing either of these men learn about each other is that they are on opposite sides of the same conflict (and it don't stop them from fuckin' 😌)

Olrox's mistrust is born out of his experiences with colonization by the Spanish, and an understanding that imperialism is the ultimate goal of Erzsebet's mission. Mizrak's distrust is born out of Olrox being a vampire, and the antagonistic nature of their first meeting.

But there's still a draw, of course. Despite going along with the abbot's plans, Mizrak expresses some misgivings about the whole thing. He doesn't want to work with Erzsebet—they just have no other choice. This is probably a position that Olrox knows all too well: just as native Americans were divided on whether or not to help the American colonists, just as some states in mesoamerica decided working with the Spanish was a good opportunity to strike blows to the increasingly powerful Mexica Alliance.

A telling thing Mizrak says to Olrox is, "There's evil everywhere we look, so we use our heads." In the context of their conversation, he's referring to the arrangement with Erzsebet—but I think it's also his general attitude toward Olrox as well. He's willing to get close to him, but he's going to keep his wits about him and not lower his guard.

They don't trust each other, but they do begin to understand each other. For what it's worth, I do think Olrox grows to trust Mizrak by the end of the season (otherwise he wouldn't have put his cards on the table to protect him during the battle), but it's clear from Mizrak's reaction that he has not grown to return that trust yet.

Which isn't to say that Mizrak is being unfair here. As far as he's aware, Olrox really hasn't done anything to earn his trust yet. Pulling him out of battle was supposed to be Olrox's gesture of "see? I'm sticking my neck out for you!" but to Mizrak it's just cowardice. Which... I'll touch on later.

3. "Is that what you have planned for me?" / "Of course not, I'm not in love with you."

Again, jokes about Mizrak having the absolute balls to be like "oh so ur in love with me?" after like, two nights aside... This is a really interesting exchange they have here??

For me, Mizrak's line here is just an expression of his distrust. Olrox has just told him about the only man he's ever loved, and this??? THIS is his response???

Hoo boy. This isn't "well, we are having sex and hanging out so obviously you're falling in love with me 😌". This is "I think you're just trying to manipulate me into believing you actually have a conscience/are capable of compassion, and I'm not falling for it." Mizrak thinks he has Olrox all figured out. Thinks he's calling a bluff.

And so with that framing?? Olrox's response, "Of course not, Mizrak. I'm not in love with you," is a FANTASTIC rebuttal. This isn't "oops, you caught me slipping and catching feelings, time to deny, deny, deny!!!" This is, "Of course you can trust me. I'm not trying to lure you in with romance or manipulate you into temptation—we both know I didn't have to do any of that to get here. I'm just here to tell you like it is, and you know in your heart that I haven't told you a lie yet."

Mizrak is accusing Olrox of trying to manipulate him into developing feelings for him, and Olrox is saying, "Gods no, I know you're smarter than that."

Which... is SO delicious in that I'm sure this is the line that will prove to be a lie. It's just not one yet. Ooh the foreshadowing and dramatic irony of it all gives me goosebumps!!! (Have I mentioned that I love Olrox and everything about the way his lines are written??? 🫠🫠 THE character of all time I love him sm)

4. Mizrak Has Nothing to Lose (History of the Knights of Malta Speedrun)

We know that Mizrak and the abbot came from Malta, and the 8-pointed cross they bear identifies them as part of the Order of St John. The history of the Order and of Malta is basically a centuries-long back and forth between the Ottoman, Holy Roman, and Byzantine empires. The Order is founded in Jerusalem 1023 with the mission of preserving the faith, aiding the poor, and providing care to people making pilgrimages to the Holy Land, regardless of faith. But they turn into this sort of paramilitary outfit during the crusades—granted authority by the pope to sort of act on its own without any real checks and balances. In short, they are tasked with defending the Catholic church independently of any conflicts between individual European/Christian nations, and European powers grant them land and financial support so they can carry out their mission.

Eventually the Ottomans expel them from Jerusalem (and a few other places), and the Order makes its new home on Malta, where they are tolerated by the locals in exchange for establishing some infrastructure (hospitals, schools, etc) and boosting the economy. The Order famously defends Malta from another Ottoman attack in 1565 and they're heralded as heroes of the church (but let's stick a pin in that for now)

As the centuries go by and the conflict between the Muslim world and Christian world kinda fizzles out, the Order becomes an outdated relic of a bygone era. The Catholic church lost some traction in the protestant reformation, and a more complex political landscape has the knights taking arms against other catholic entities (particularly the Franco-Spanish war). In fact, by the time Nocturne is set, the Order had already established a protestant division because they just REALLY didn't want to lose the support of Germany and England. France, who had been one of the Order's strongest supporters, forms an alliance with the Ottomans, and they just kinda have to look the other way.

As a sovereign entity that's no longer needed or even really wanted by mainland Europe, the Order decides to use its advantageous location to take on the responsibility of intercepting Ottoman ships—confiscating goods and taking slaves, to the extent that Malta becomes something of a major slave trade hub in the Mediterranean. The age of piracy is in full swing, and the Order earns itself a not so great reputation of effectively being pirates themselves, as even Christian ships start complaining that they're getting raided by the Knights. This campaign was called the 'Corso', and despite the Order's vows of poverty, it entitled them to a portion of any spoils they confiscated during a time when the Maltese economy was doing poorly.

Their souring reputation creates a cyclical effect where more and more countries drop their financial support for the Order, and the Knights have to lean further into the piracy and slave trade stuff to support Malta's economy. Not only is Catholicism losing ground, but the Order's mission: preserving the faith and aiding the poor, has become more of a loosely interpreted suggestion. The meaning of the 8-pointed cross gets diluted, as non-members of the Order are able to fly the flag—for a fee.

So imagine you are Mizrak, and you're a devoted Catholic who's committed himself to the Mission™ only to find... It's pretty much bullshit. No one cares, least of all the Knights of Malta who are more interested in engaging in legalized piracy and slave trade than God. You've lost all sense of purpose. But then... Some abbot named Emmanuel comes along and HE is legit. HE believes in the power of God and Faith and the Church. HE sees the way the world has turned its back on God and HE has a plan to fix it.

Sure, it involves allying with a vampire and creating a demon army for her, but that's hardly any different from anything else the Order's been up to for the past two centuries or so. At least this time it's For The Cause. You have to believe Emmanuel is doing the right thing, that he's in this for the right reasons—because if you can't have faith in that, then what else is there? The world has already abandoned you.

(The history of Malta and the Order is pretty wild honestly. Here are some sources to check out:)

History | The Knights of Malta

r/AskHistorians - What Were the Knights really like?

The Decline of The Order (PDF)

Noble Slavers: The Knights of Malta and Slavery in the 16/17th Century

Tragic Tales of Slaves in Malta

5. Courage as a Virtue and Redemption

So back to courage, and back to that pin from the Order's history.

The Ottoman Empire was massive, and during the Great Siege of Malta in 1565, they vastly outnumbered the Knights. Ottoman forces had about 30-40 thousand soldiers while the Knights had six thousand—half of which were Maltese civilians who were called upon for service. The siege lasted four months, and ended in a decisive victory for Malta.

This was an epic underdog story that turned the tides of the conflict and revitalized Christian morale across Europe. And I think this story is what drives Mizrak. This is why he became a Knight in the first place. What he believes the Order is capable of, what he believes Emmanuel is fighting for.

To be clear, I think Mizrak is disheartened by what the Order and church has become by the 18th century. So Emmanuel's plan, as sketchy as it is, is an opportunity to restore it to its former glory and rally people around the church again. To return the sort of disgraced Order to its original mission: preserving the faith and protecting the vulnerable.

This is his Moment to serve his God in the fullest extent of the word, to take a stand for what he believes in. Anything short of that is cowardice. And that's why he's so offended that Olrox would pull him out of that fight.

And if we take all this context from the previous points here and we circle back to his and Olrox's first meeting, it adds a new layer of meaning to, "It doesn't sit well with your faith" and Mizrak's defensive, "What would you know about faith?" — Mizrak has likely already had to compromise his morals on more than one occasion, with his faith being the one thing he still has to hold onto to justify it.

6. So What Is His Deal?

Honestly, I really don't know. The history of Malta and the Knights is so long and winding, the show could do just about anything with his backstory and I'd be like, "yeah, that checks out."

What I do think we can take away from canon is:

He's a True Believer and defender of the Catholic faith. One of his first lines to Olrox is his "faith is a foundation" speech where he quotes Isaiah 43:2. In the finale, we got his call to the other Knights to put down their swords and pray with him for forgiveness to stop the madness. When Olrox presses him about why he's forging night creatures, he explains that Catholics are being executed.

He's a pragmatist. Despite his devotion to the church, he demonstrates some moral flexibility so to speak. There's the "use our heads" line, of course. But there's also this line during the meeting with Drolta: "We don't have to pretend to like each other. This is an arrangement convenient to us both because we share a common enemy." Devoted as he is, this man is not a purist.

... But he still has lines he will not cross. Earlier in the season, we see the abbot express discomfort about Drolta attacking Maria, about harming children. But by the end of the season, he's justifying sacrificing her to Erzsebet. Mizrak however, remains steadfast in the "killing children is wrong, even if they are part of the 'godless mob'" position. Holding this line is what pushes him to deflect from Emmanuel and Erzsebet.

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