Tumgik
#I want more emperor romance content so badly
littlemonday · 2 months
Text
Tumblr media
Get someone who looks at you the way The Emperor looks at Seren.
26 notes · View notes
pricemarshfield · 3 years
Text
captain
Written for Day 7 of @acocweek​; Romance + Saccharina. Read on AO3 here.
"I'll be sending Annabelle Cheddar as my diplomat for the discussion of how Candia's new borders affects the Dairy Islands," says Primsy Coldbottle in her letter. It's not a big deal, thankfully. The Dairy Islands hadn't really lost any land, or even much sea, after Liam's Wish. It mostly dug into Fructera, into Ceresia, even into the edges of Vegetania. Considerate, to leave the Meatlands and the Islands out of it.
But magic's always been a good thing, so Saccharina's not surprised.
"Cool that I get to see Annabelle again," says Ruby. "Did I ever tell you Jet had a crush on her? I mean, I'm pretty sure anyway."
"No," says Saccharina. "This is the Annabelle Cheddar who rejected her throne because she didn't want to get married, right?"
"Yeah! Don't talk to her about it, though. Jet brought it up during the tourney and Annabelle asked her not to again." Ruby's face twists a little, like it always does if they talk about Jet, and adds, "Guess she won't."
"Well," Saccharina says. "Thank you for telling me. You said Jet liked her?"
"She just really wanted to impress her," says Ruby. "I mean, I did, too, but Jet fully gave her Emperor Uvano's boon and told her she wouldn't marry anyone in front of everybody."
Saccharina laughs. As always, Jet sounds like someone she would've loved to meet, to know as a sister. It doesn't hurt in the same way everyone who knew her hurts, Saccharina knows that, more a dull ache than a stabbing pain, but it's still...rough, sometimes. "So. Anything else I need to avoid for Annabelle?"
"I'll be honest," Ruby says. "I don't think you can do worse than we all did already. Theo insulted her honor pretty badly. Liam propositioned her using his parents."
Saccharina snorts. "Sounds like him."
"He's a weird guy," says Ruby fondly. "But I think that's everything. Just don't be--you know. 'Candian'." She says that with exaggerated air quotes. "Apparently pissing contests aren't a literal thing in other places in Calorum."
"I know!" says Saccharina. "I grew up in the Dairy Islands, remember?" She can't quite make eye contact with Ruby when she says it, and it comes out a little higher-pitched than she meant it to, but Ruby doesn't push, and they get through it with neither of them crying or pulling weapons.
"There is one thing," Ruby says. "Um."
"Did she know about--Amethar and Caramelinda's wedding?" Saccharina asks. It's still a point of contention, even though it ended up not mattering too much, with Amethar as Emperor.
"No," Ruby adds, and Sacchrina breaths out a sigh of relief. "But she was as upset about Port Syrup as I was."
"I didn't--"
"I know," Ruby says. "And Cinnamon's different now, and you weren't there. But she probably doesn't know that."
"Great!" Saccharina says. "I've got a lot of experience with people I admired and wanted to meet hating me. It'll be fine."
"That's--wait, you admired Annabelle?" Ruby asks, skipping over the part Saccharina already regrets saying. "Why?"
"She didn't want to do what they wanted her to do!" Saccharina says brightly. "I heard about it when I was still captain on my first ship. Plus, her navy never bothered me."
"That's because you mostly raided Candia," Ruby points out, and Saccharina shrugs.
"I wish she'd have been queen instead," Saccharina says with a little sigh. Ruby narrows her eyes. "I love Primsy, but it would have been fun to have another ruler around my age, you know?"
"Not really," Ruby says, voice gone conspiratorial for some reason. "Why?"
"Just would be," Saccharina says. "Why's your face doing that?"
"Doing what?" Ruby asks, failing to hide her smile. "I'm just thinking about how much you're like Jet."
"Thanks?" Saccharina says, knowing that to Ruby, that's the highest of compliments. But it doesn't really fit the conversa--wait.
"I do not have a crush on Annabelle Cheddar."
"Are you sure?" Ruby says, and dodges when Saccharina sends a handful of harmless sparks her way. "I mean, you just seem like you'd like to have an excuse to see her. It's not like Liam's the only one of us who can have a political marriage."
"Liam liked Primsy and you know that," Saccharina says grumpily. "Also, I'm the Queen and I have a dragon. I don't need to marry for political reasons. And I wouldn't anyway! And neither would Annabelle, that's why I even heard of her!"
"Sure, sure," says Ruby. "Don't worry. I get it."
"I don't think you do!" Saccharina says, and even though she's annoyed, there's a little rush of warmth at the banter, at getting to be teased for something so simple. Especially since it's completely ridiculous.
---
Annabelle Cheddar is tall and handsome and Saccharina maybe gets where Jet was coming from, is the thing.
"Your Majesty," she says. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"You as well," says Saccharina. "I've heard of your accomplishments from my sister. Thank you for helping my family after--well. After."
"Of course," Annabelle says with a little nod. "It was the right thing to do."
Saccharina's not sure if Annabelle means right morally or politically, but either way, she'll take it. "Still. Candia appreciates their allies in the Dairy Islands."
"Hopefully for these taxes," Annabelle says with a small grimace. "I have to say, this political stuff isn't exactly my forte."
"Aren't you a sailor?" Saccharina asks, lounging in the comfiest chair she's found so far in Castle Candy. Annabelle sits across from her, sword at her side, casual in a way Saccharina still can't quite manage, even with family around her.
"I was," Annabelle says, and there's open grief in the way her head ducks. "My ship, the Colby, sank after House Bleu attacked us to try and kill Primsy. I'm very glad your sisters were there to help us; we wouldn't have been able to save her or ourselves without them."
"I'm glad," Saccharina says, because she'd never have gotten this far without the support of the Dairy Islands, and also because it's very, very cool to see the woman sitting across from her.
"What about you?" Annabelle says. "Captain of the Frosted Fleet's in one of your titles, isn't it?"
Saccharina nods. "I haven't been on the Dairy Sea in so long, but I met most of my people when I was still--"
"Pirating?" Annabelle says, and Saccharina nods with only a little embarrassment. She's past being ashamed of what she needed to do to survive, but it's a little harder to connect to it from a castle rather than a cave. "Well, thanks for not attacking the Islands as much as you could."
Saccharina had drowned an island and doesn't regret it to this day, but she hadn't wanted to attack anyone other than the nuns. Some small and stupid part of her had hoped that her mom was alive, would come back to her if she held back the worst parts of herself.
"My issues were always with Candia," Saccharina lies, and Annabelle laughs.
---
The border issues are easy; they both still pay the same amount to the Concord, because the Dairy Islands lost almost nothing to Candia's borders changing, and none of the other nations are willing to muscle in on the oldest and strongest alliance between any two nations of Calorum.
But Annabelle doesn't just leave. When Saccharina works up the courage to ask her about it, hoping it won't come across as asking her to leave or, worse, hoping she'll stay, Annabelle just says, "I don't have much else to do. Primsy's been enjoying ruling and she's more than safe with the spirits of the wide sea protecting her. Thanks for that, by the way!"
"I think that one's Liam's fault, actually," Saccharina says. "I helped wake a few of the Meatlanders beast spirits, but Liam's wish spread magic as well as sugar."
"Sweet of him," Annabelle says wryly. "If he hurts Primsy, you know we'll go to war for it, right?"
"If he hurts Primsy, I'll be on your side," Saccharina says, and Annabelle claps a hand on her shoulder. Saccharina's face is so warm, what the hell, she normally runs almost freezing.
"Good woman," Annabelle says, and Saccharina turns her head just long enough to see Ruby make another face at her. "What's that about?"
"Just sister things!" Saccharina says quickly. Too quickly? She doesn't want to embarrass herself in front of a new friend(?), even if it's just because Ruby has a ridiculous guess about something that isn't even a real thing, anyway, so it isn't a big deal.
"I wouldn't know about that," Annabelle says, voice heavy with regret.
"We've never talked about--you know," Saccharina says.
"Just with leaving it at that, you've had more tact than the rest of your family put together, your Majesty," Annabelle says. "I'd rather not discuss the great shame of my life in a room with other people."
"Great shame?" Saccharina asks, disbelieving, before shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to pry."
"Forgiven," Annabelle says, a smile at the corner of her mouth. Saccharina keeps her eyes on it for a little long; she has a nice smile, that's all. "I might retire for the night; Candian celebrations are a bit much for me. Good night, your Majesty."
Then Annabelle does the wildest thing; takes Saccharina's hand, gently kisses the back of it, and leaves while Saccharina stares into nothing about it.
"So," Ruby says, and Saccharina does not hit her with the Winterscoop, because she is a good and forgiving person. "How's that not-having-a-crush-on-Annabelle going?"
"I--don't," Saccharina says, but this time it comes out weird and stilted. "I mean, anyone would be flustered by Annabelle Cheddar kissing their hand."
"No," Ruby says, then pauses. "Well, yeah, but it's not just that. You spend so much time with her, and she doesn't even have a reason to be here anymore!"
"She's just bored," Saccharina says. "She's not in charge of running the Dairy Islands, she's basically just on vacation."
"Saccharina," Ruby says. "I say this as your sister, who l--I say this as your sister."
"I'm going to be distracted by that until you finish the thought."
"I don't think I can right now and if you push it I will tell Annabelle that you stared off into space for a solid minute after that," Ruby says, and Saccharina should've let Cinnamon eat her, probably. "But listen. I really think you should just tell Annabelle you like her."
"I don't even like her," Saccharina says. "Also, even if I did, hypothetically, she's pretty vocally not interested in romance. Besides, I'm busy with Candia. And I still have to try and bring back magic in other countries, too."
"Wow," Ruby says. "Do you have any other excuses, or do you think you're all done?"
Saccharina crosses her arms and tries to glare at her sister, but it's hard to stay annoyed when the person you're mad at keeps giggling.
"Trust me, okay?" Ruby says. "Tell her."
---
Saccharina does not tell her anything. There isn't even anything to tell. It's not as though Saccharina's never had crushes before--when she met Gooey, she wanted to be just like her for the first few months until their relationship mellowed out into friendship and fierce loyalty.
This isn't that! It's just respect and admiration for someone who helped make sure that her family was safe, helped her win a war and take a throne, albeit indirectly.
It's just that she's getting used to having Annabelle around, even if she's not quite used to everything Annabelle does. Annabelle, who sits at her side every dinner after the hand kiss incident, who tells her stories about storms on the sea that make them sound like something new to Saccharina, who listens when Saccharina tells her about what magic feels like.
"I wish you had it," Saccharina admits, hopes Annabelle doesn't hate her for it. "I know magic is--I know not a lot of people in the Dairy Islands trust it. But it's something beautiful."
"I won't pretend I didn't have my suspicions," Annabelle says. "Especially after Port Syrup."
"Oh, you don't need to worry about Cinnamon," Saccharina interrupts. "He ate from Liam's weird tree so now he's not connected to the Hungry One anymore."
"...right," Annabelle says. "I don't think I'll ever get used to you Candians, actually. Sometimes you open your mouth and the most wild assortment of words I've ever heard comes out and you act like it's totally normal."
"It is normal," Saccharina says. "That's--it's hard to say, but magic is normal. It was just buried. I'm trying to unbury it. Everyone should have it, not just Candians."
"You sure?" Annabelle asks. "Because you know the other countries might come after us if they have magic enough to make a real go of it."
The thing she should focus on in that sentence is not us, but Saccharina's heart flutters a little at it anyway.
There might be something to Ruby's theory.
---
"You're leaving?" Saccharina asks, feeling, irrationally, betrayed. Annabelle had never promised to stay by her side, all but admitted she was only waiting for something better to come along so she didn't have to stay with the wild Candians. But it hurts anyway, knowing someone else is leaving Saccharina.
It doesn't help that Ruby's found that flyer for the Swirler Sisters, either. She loves Cinnamon and he loves her but it's not the same without people around.
"Primsy's built me another ship," Annabelle says. "It's not--nothing will replace the Colby, but my crew's itching to get back to sea, and I am, too. You've been incredibly welcoming, Your Majesty, and this is not at all about your hospitality."
"Good," Saccharina says, because she does still take pride in their guest rooms. "I--it was good to get to know you. I'll miss you."
"You've got those white chocolate ravens, yeah?" Annabelle asks, standing a little straighter.
"I--yes," Saccharina says, confused by the non-sequiter.
"Can they carry letters?"
"I don't see why not," Saccharina says.
"Good," Annabelle says, and tilts up Saccharina's face so that she's looking right into Annabelle's eyes. "Now I hope I'm not misreading things."
"Um," Saccharina says, heart beating so fast she can feel it in her ears.
"And I still don't plan to marry, even if it is to a woman as impressive as you," Annabelle continues, and Saccharina feels lightning spark in her fingertips. "Bulb above, Candians."
"I'd love to send you letters," Saccharina says, brain finally catching up, and Annabelle grins. "Are you going to kiss me or am I just going crazy?"
"Well, crazy is part and parcel of your family, your Majesty," Annabelle says, and kisses Saccharina's frown away.
---
"You owe me thirty gold pieces," Ruby tells Swifty, staring at this from the ramparts. Saccharina really needs to learn to have private conversations in places where there aren't any hiding places for her.
"I could just push you off," he says, gesturing with his knife to emphasize it, but throws some gold at her, so Ruby doesn't think he's actually that upset.
15 notes · View notes
mermaidsirennikita · 3 years
Note
Hello, I hope I'm not bothering you, but do you have any good "enemies to lovers" recs, may they be books or movies?
I neeeever am bothered by people asking for recommendations.  Those are my favorite asks because I am nothing if not in love with my own opinions, lol
Books
Obviously, The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn, the best Bridgerton book, because I’ve been blogging about it lol.  If you haven’t read it, it’s basically “rake tries to seduce the beauty of the ton, beauty’s older sister cockblocks him, he realizes that He Is Into It” 
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne is a classic.  Very light and fluffy contemporary, two people who’ve always hated each other begin competing for the same job and fall in love.
Kate Quinn’s Mistress of Rome series is a saga and the initial big ship of the first book (which you do have to read lol) is not enemies to lovers.  However, the NEXT ship which dominates the last two books of the series (which is four books long, and tbh... I recommend the second book but it’s a prequel and can be skipped technically) is SOOOOOOO GOOD.  It’s really “childhood friends to young lovers to SEVERE ENEMIES still secretly in love” and it’s literally epic lol.  Essentially, the series is set in Ancient Rome and Sabina (very bitchy Roman noblewoman) and Vix (child of a former gladiator, soldier) are friends who I think lose their virginities to each other?  And are in love as kids.  But then she fucks him over and marries the emperor.  Who he actually begins to loyally serve!  But he haaaates Sabina because she.... constantly backstabs him lol.  But he also looooves Sabina and gets off on everything she does.  And she wants him so badly.  And it is delicious.  And I live for it.
Both of the Evie Dunmore books I’ve read, Bringing Down the Duke and especially A Rogue of One’s Own are very enemies to lovers.  In Bringing Down the Duke it’s a bluestocking versus a duke who for political reasons is her enemy.  In A Rogue of One’s Own it’s another bluestocking versus a rake who has known her basically all their lives.  They have to begin working together and fall in looove.
Sarah MacLean LIVES for this trope lol.  Her first true enemies to lovers was Twelve Scandals to Start to Win An Earl’s Heart, in which the heroine is a scandalous young woman and the hero is a duke determined to avoid scandal--and he rebuffed her before the book began, so they hate each other.  But he also has a massive boner around her, of course. 
My favorite MacLean book, A Rogue By Another Name is another “childhood friends turn enemies to lovers”.  The leads, Penelope and Bourne (last name lol) were best friends as kid and he basically fell off after life set in.  Her family now has hold of his ancestral lands, and Bourne essentially blackmails Penelope into marrying him so that he can get those lands, after which she DESPISES him even though they had..... extremely great sex lol.  It’s SUPER GOOD, and it involves borderline voyeurism, which is great.
Then No Good Duke Goes Unpunished is very enemies to lovers.  The heroine was set to become the hero’s stepmother--then he woke up covered in blood with her missing. He then finds out, after years of being despised by society as a presumed murderer, that she is very much alive with a fake identity lol.  It’s WILD.
The Rogue Not Taken is an enemies to lovers roadtrip romance.  The heroine thinks the hero is a horrid rake who purposefully ruins marriages.  He thinks she’s a stuck up brat.  They end up journeying together and he eats her out in a moving carriage.
Theeen there’s Daring and the Duke.  The hero literally thought the heroine was dead (MacLean loves this) and is OBSESSED with her, but she hates him because the man who raised them both basically pitted them against each other after their days of being childhood sweethearts.  It’s very dark and delicious, and there are blow jobs!  Blow jobs don’t happen enough in romances, especially historical romances.  More BJs!  They are fun!
If you’re interested in a dark and BONKERS romance, Desperate Measures by Katee Robert is a retelling of Disney’s Aladdin about a modern Jafar and Jasmine getting together after he takes over her father’s criminal empire.  It’s definitely extremely explicit and a bit fucked up.  The book comes with content warnings; the first sex scene is dubcon.  (Like you’re reading from her perspective and she WANTS IT but she says no.)
Beach Read by Emily Henry is a cute contemporary in which the hero is a literary author and the heroine is a romance novelist.  They find themselves in neighboring beach houses and basically challenge each other to write in the other person’s genre.  Very light enemies to lovers.
A Heart of Blood and Ashes is a fantasy romance by Milla Vane!  Essentially, the hero’s parents were killed by the heroine’s father and he’s out to kill her father and overtake his throne.  Luckily, she’s on board.  But he needs to marry her in order to accomplish his goals.  They do not trust each other whatsoever and torment one another a lot.  For context, within the first fifty pages she gives him a handjob while her hand is covered in her own brother’s blood (and yes, he did kill her brother).  It’s great.
The Worst Best Man is about a wedding planner who suddenly finds herself needing to work with her ex-fiance’s brother... who she holds responsible for her fiance leaving her at the altar.  Very fun and sexy contemporary.
The entire Four Horsemen series by Laura Thalassa.  In each book, the heroine falls in love with a literal embodiment of one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, who is here to bring the end of the world.  VERY heavy enemies to lovers.  Kinda dark at times?  Kinda fucked up at times?  I love it a lot?  It begins with Pestilence; War and Famine have already been released, but Death has not.
From Lukov with Love by Marina Zapata.  It’s a figure skating romance; a down on her luck skater pairs up with a male skater who is extremely successful, and who she’s known for years and hated.  Verrrrry slow burn, but fun.
Movies
The Proposal, of course, starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds.  You’ve probably seen this, but the setup is that she’s his evil boss, he’s her assistant, and she’s about to lose her visa so she bribes him into marrying her so that she can get citizenship.  But ruh-roh, they have to go to Alaska for his family reunion and he’s also got a great body and is like, an Alaskan Rockefeller?  
Obviously, Clueless which is enemies to lovers by way of former stepsiblings, and also by way of the only valid retelling of Emma.  Emma itself is not enemies to lovers, really, but Clueless amps that aspect up a bit.
If you want a super tragic version, warning lol--House of Flying Daggers.  It’s a wuxia movie, so melodramatic to the max.  She’s a blind daughter of the leader of a vigilante group, he’s a soldier who’s gone undercover to follow her to their stronghold.  Many reveals and one of my favorite dramatic love stories ensues.
Princess Diaries 2, duh.  Baby Chris Pine?  Anne Hathaway?  PLEASE BITCH.
365 DNI.  If you haven’t watched yet, watch it and thank me later.  The greatest cinematic contribution of the last decade.
Down with Love.  It’s a delightful take on like, 50s/60s sex comedies in which the heroine writes a book that convinces women to ignore love and men, which makes the hero look bad and makes it difficult for him to get laid.  So he sets out to basically.....  wear a different persona?  And seduce her?  It is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, and I adore it.  Renee Zellweger and Ewan Macgregor have great chemistry in it too.
The Thomas Crown Affair, starring extremely hot Pierce Brosnan and Renee Russo.  She’s an insurance investigator, he’s a billionaire who basically is suspected of stealing priceless works of art because he’s bored.  She investigates him and immediately begins fucking him.  Has a scene where she dances with him while wearing a completely transparent dress.  Then they fuck everywhere in his house.  I have never wanted to be between two people more.
The Painted Veil.  A socialite marries a dorky scientist for convenience, then cheats on him.  He finds out and basically forces her to go to China with him, where he is fighting the cholera epidemic, as an extremely long and petty murder suicide attempt.  But they get to know each other!  And the ice begins to melt!  Warning: tragic but lovely.
Casino Royale YES I SAID THAT.  The James Bond reboot movie that explains why he’s such a whore!!!  HE WAS BROKEN!!!  Basically James Bond is not like... a learned man... in this movie.  So he’s a cocky bastard and the Bond girl is impossibly sexy Eva Green as Vesper, who’s the “money man” on his mission.  They begin as bickering assholes and then fall in love.  But also!  Tragedy!
The animated Anastasia movie is one of the finest enemies to lovers movies of any time, I will defend this forever
Anyway....  Hope this gives you some ideas!  Lol
25 notes · View notes
gascon-en-exil · 4 years
Note
I suppose you can call me "villain Dimitri anon" now, but I actively dislike Azure Moon for the narrative perks that you and other fans insist it has, but I can't see. What back and forth does Dimitri have with his retainers that aren't confined to supports? There's just Gilbert, Rodrigue, and Byleth ignoring the one-eyed elephant in the room.(1/2)
What support network does Dimitri have? A bunch of badly abused subjects at the end of their rope who don't have the guts to abandon him or give him a wake up call. Dimitri's redemption in the rain makes zero sense as the scene progresses, and outside of some lip service in a support, he's so cured of any trauma that not even getting the truth about Duscur fazes him. What's worse, this redemption is the main idea of the route. (2/3 now)
The back and forth is in reference to how the army in AM feels directionless and disagrees on whether they should liberate the Kingdom or rescue Rhea first. This gets references both in story cutscenes and in the exploration of dialogue of numerous characters, heavily reinforced by many of these same characters remarking on how off-putting Dimitri’s behavior is. This stands in contrast to CF never questioning Edelgard’s actions even as they’re far more systemically terrible with the work of Hubert and the Agarthans behind the scenes; even VW offers a number of scenes and exploration content of characters questioning and critiquing Claude’s actions. Felix’s mini-arc outside his support line with Dimitri is the clearest example, because he’s the loudest voice of opposition and because if you trigger their supports some of the dialogue changes to reflect that, while Rodrigue plays a predictable but workable role as the doomed mentor figure whose death forces Dimitri to confront how his obsession with revenge is hurting the people he loves.  This is all unfortunately somewhat undermined by Byleth’s presence and the need for self-insert romance, with them supplanting Dimitri’s established support network and worst of all leading to Dedue being killed off by default and then never re-integrated properly into the story lest his intimacy with Dimitri pose an obstacle to the expected lord/Avatar romance (that can’t even be pushed in the same way that Edeleth can in all routes, incidentally, because Dimitri can’t S rank m!Byleth). This is a genuine problem in AM, but curiously it’s one that I see brought up almost exclusively by fans of Dimitri and his route rather than those who hate AM and/or rail against Dimidue as an allegedly racist pairing.
None of the other Blue Lions gets a single meaningful word in in the main story cutscenes. You can get some character development for Ingrid, Sylvain, and Felix in monastery dialogue and DImitri's supports and that's it. Not to mention, gameplay-wise, dealing with Dimitri is just no fun, and there's no choice to get fed up and leave. With all of Crimson Flower's problems, at least you had to actively choose to go on that route. (3/4 now)
I wouldn’t say that’s all that different from how the other routes handle their chorus of minor characters, especially CF which again minimizes any sort of friction the Eagles might have with Edelgard even when she’s outright lying to them. There’s a reason that SS is sometimes cited as a better characterization showcase for the Eagles other than Edelgard and Hubert, particularly for Ferdinand who actually gets to be the contrarian #3 on that route. Gameplay is more subjective, although I’d rank being unable to instruct Dimitri or have him engage in monastery activities for four calendar months is more than offset by CF being exactly that many months shorter than AM or VW. Also, in terms of building characters Gilbert is far, far less of a pain in the ass than Jeritza, and I say that as someone who’s painstakingly gotten every character in the game to all ranks at S+ and all classes mastered over many NG+ runs. Having to pick CF is also an inconvenience that screws with the flow of Chapter 11 since you need to waste a battle weekend going to Edelgard’s coronation lest you miss out on instruction weeks or later weekends doing it at the start of the month. It’s kind of a moot point to argue about this anyway as the Deer have it the best when it comes to unit development, with neither of these restrictions as well as the longest route and no Part 2 exclusive to worry over.
Crimson Flower had a "big picture" war story, Verdant Wind had good character balance and exposed the truth about the player character. Azure Moon was just all DImitri. Not to mention, my own political philosophy and real-world history interests make me biased against Dimiri and his stance. (And no, I'm no fan of dictators, just not of a fan of Fearghus-style feudalism) (4/5)
I do like redemption stories. But I've seen them done better elsewhere. Dimitri's character is interesting, but his route isn't. All routes on Three Houses have problems that I nitpick about, but as thing stand, I can support Claude and Edelgard in achieving their ideals, i cannot in good conscience support Dimitri as king. Nurse him back to sanity, maybe, but put him in charge of other people's lives? No. (end)
Eh, SS is the route you’re looking for if you want the full story of Byleth’s origins and their connection to Rhea; VW’s endgame exposition dump is more about the true origin of Crests and Relics and general worldbuilding which is why I’d call it the big picture route over CF which kicks one of its major antagonists to an offscreen postgame. I also question why you single out the quasi-feudalism of Faerghus when that’s the established standard for all of FE and for most of the fantasy genre overall. Fire Emblem is notoriously reactionary when it comes to its politics, such that Dimitri’s solo ending suggesting the beginning of a participatory government might be the single most concrete move toward democracy of any lord in the series. Even as tiny a step as that is it’s more than can be said for Edelgard not delivering on her rhetoric of abolishing the nobility and...whatever she plans for the church (since she vacillates on whether she’s fine with the Seiros faith but only takes issue with the church or whether she thinks humanity has no need for gods, and the only CF ending that re-establishes the church has it run by the state which is some prime dystopian stuff). Claude similarly suffers in that his plans remain ongoing at the end of VW and lack any concrete shape beyond opening the borders and forcing people of different nations and cultures to interact and get along - a well-intended idea, but not one that will lead to serious change without a lot of work and oversight. 
Dimitri lacks such grandiose ambitions, and once he’s moved beyond his need for revenge his goals center around alleviating the suffering of the Kingdom and of his loved ones, but on a meta level that’s kind of all he needs to do. One of the reasons that AM’s story structure is more coherent and well-paced than that of the other routes is that it’s extremely well-trod ground for IS: “blue lord takes back invaded homeland from red emperor with the Power of Friendship” is the standard FE plot going back all the way to Marth, and Dimitri’s biggest deviation from that model is the somewhat realistic depiction of his struggles with mental illness. That’s probably why many longtime veterans of the series favor AM, because we know it’s the type of narrative IS excels at and we’re not expecting anything more politically revolutionary. Hell, the proto-democratic ending was as unexpected to me as Dimitri’s strong queer notes...which is why I prefer him over the other two incidentally, not because of his politics which are just fantasy boilerplate of a good king being restored to his throne, and there was much rejoicing, etc. There are gender-based readings of AM that I and others have made, not to mention people who enjoy the homoromantic push and pull of Dedue and Felix on Dimitri and how those relationships develop against one another, and I think it’s telling that those unconventional analyses of Three Houses’s most typical lord and most typical route are still more plausible than all the additional motivation and setup you’d have to throw in to make Dimitri a proper villain, or even just an antagonist for the length of more than one chapter.
65 notes · View notes
theshijlegacy · 3 years
Text
6.2 thoughts & stuff
J’iro once again got the honor of being my first toon through the latest content.  Spoiler city below the cut!
Okay.  Anyone at Bioware or any Bioware-adjacent companies, if you’re listening or can get this message to them somehow:
PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GROGU CAN WE STOP FIGHTING THE SAME TWO GUYS FOR A WHILE?  I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THE EMPEROR AND DARTH MALGUS TO LAST ME A LIFETIME.  IT’S BEEN 9 FUCKING YEARS.  CAN WE *PLEASE* MOVE ON?!?!?!????
*ahem*
Now that I got that out of the way...
Yeah, I am totally over Tenebrae/Vitiate/Valkorian popping up in Yet Another Goddamn Form Because He’s The Emperor And Fuck You.  All of the cameos at the end of the final-no-really-we-mean-it-this-time fight (Syo!  Suri!  Master Surro!  etc!) were cool, but I’m so done with this guy I all I could think was “oh hey it’s GamemasterAnthony’s Birthday again.”  And killing every form of the Emperor at once felt a lot like the ending of Season 1 of Legends of Tomorrow, when they had to kill Vandal Savage in three time periods to finally get rid of him.  (...maybe that’s not the best analogy, since he popped up again in a later season.   oh fuck now I’ve done it)
As far as other reappearances go:
Revan. I actually said “this motherfucker AGAIN?” out loud when he showed up.  Not quite as tired of him as I am of the Emperor, but let’s give this dude a rest, PLEASE.
DARTH MARR!  One of the few characters I don’t mind seeing pop up again, because he’s always been way too good for everyone around him.
Meetra Surik!  In non-ghost form!  I am down for this.
Vaylin/Thexan.  Mixed reviews on these two.  First impression, “didn’t we settle their shit in KOTET Ch 9?”  Thought it was really nice that you could finally apologize to Vaylin; doesn’t quite make up for how badly she got treated but it’s something.  Seeing Arcann and Thexan fight together was pretty cool.  And of course I took the [Flirt] option with Vaylin.
Satele.  The only one we knew would come back.  Nothing unexpected, I guess, but THANK YOU for not killing her off.
That final fight, when you get all those temporary abilities for your buddies?  I got click-happy and just hit whichever one was off cooldown.  XD  Way too much happening for me to do much other than “take cover, shoot, shoot, Hightail It to get out of shit, repeat.”  I’ll have to take a closer look at the abilities on a later run.
Disregarding my feelings about That Fucking Guy coming back again, the story was pretty good.  The ship that Satele and her students were on was appropriately creepy, and I do like that the Hand and the Scions - possibly the most fanatical of That Fucking Guy’s followers (aside from those poor Zealots stuck on Nathema) - were the ones to find it.  And then we got to trip balls inside Satele’s head!  Another appropriately creepy locale.  Between the ship and the mindscape I spent damn near the whole run waiting for some creepy shit to jump out.  A+ mood, can’t wait to freak myself out again.
The new flashpoint definitely had me hooked (despite the excessive trash mobs) - it’s really too bad that it’s bugged, I want to see how things go with Marshal Kol!  Cool concept, cool layout, cool new character.  A bit of platforming to get your heart rate up, and later an intentional huge drop to REALLY get your heart rate up, and lol I’m a Gunslinger so I’ll just Hightail It away from the tentacles.
The best part about the new stuff?  The visuals.  The look of everything was fucking top-notch. 
The creepy-ass ship that had a lot of STUFF in it, crates and supplies and a whole crapton of other things you’d expect in a ship that’s on a journey of indeterminate length.  The members and minions of The Hand, lots of distinctive looks in faces and armor yet still unified.  The overall feeling that something here has gone horribly wrong.  
Satele’s mindscape that was its own unique thing, and still had echoes of other places - KOTET Ch 9 of course, but also KOTFE Ch 2, KOTFE Ch 12, and the Raptus & Calphayus fights in Dread Palace.  The stark contrast between the dim rocky landscape and bright memories of Tython.  The creepy mobs.  Lots of places to fall to your death, several times.  Even the little glowing bits (fungi?) felt not quite right.
The ships in the Spirit of Vengeance!  More ships that felt lived-in; lots of supplies and weapons and mobs (even if you have to fight a billion of them.)  Again, a super-cool layout overall.  And I could have spent hours just looking around The Fortune’s Folly!  (To-do for future runs - cheevo hunting!)
Overall, mostly good, and as always I’m eager to see how things turn out with different characters.  J’iro romanced Akaavi, sided with the Republic on Iokath & Ossus, and rejoined the Republic at the end of Onslaught so he’s now Commodore.  It’ll be fun to see how this goes with a Force-user, a Saboteur, an Imperial-aligned toon, a Theron/Lana/Kira/Scourge romancer, etc.
5 notes · View notes
usagi-mitsu · 4 years
Text
This is something I never thought I would ever write – or would have even considered writing down even a few hours ago. But I feel like this needs to be addressed and I hope you all can forgive me for venting my feelings – about art, the reader/author relationship, art-theft, and the following consequence: deleted art.
And… this is also some kind of diary entry for me, to never forget.
About three to four hours ago, an artist who I truly admire, closed their account on Wattpad. Wattpad is not my personally preferred platform, simply because I’m not sure it’s ok for them to monetize an authors content the way they do – and that is a topic for a whole different discussion. But they had pulled their stuff from fanfiction.net a few years prior and (if it even was their account) even from AO3.
The last message they posted on Wattpad reads as follows:
“DUE TO PEOPLE CONSTANTLY TRYING TO STEAL MY FICS AND CLAIM THEM AS THEIR OWN, I HAVE REMOVED THEM ALL FROM THIS PLATFORM. VERY SORRY TO THOSE WHO HAVE READ AND ENJOYED THEM BUT ALREADY MULTIPLE TIMES MY WRITING HAS BEEN STOLEN AND IM DONE.”
 The author I’m talking about was called “Lusterrdust” on Wattpad and wrote the very popular Skyrim Romance Mod fanfiction about their Dragonborn Niamh and the mods main character Bishop. Their first story “Ranger of the Woods” covered the whole of the mod in about 52-53 chapters and told it beautifully: From when Niamh and Bishop first met in Riverwood (?), to them fighting side by side, him leaving her to go fight Alduin alone, them reuniting a few months later, the journey to Solstheim, the battle with Miraak and finally a small wedding far away from the public. The second story was called “Saviour of Tamriel” and was set about four years after the first one, with Niamh yearning to be a mother, while the Aldmeri Dominion was planning on slowly expanding it’s … well … dominion across the continent, with Niamh and the High King Ulfric receiving death threats, her actually getting pregnant and Bishop trying to keep his family as safe as possible. A meeting with the emperor Titus Mede was on the way and I think Niamh and Bishop were about to drop their baby boy Julian off with the greybeards to keep him safe, since the Dominion had already put a hefty price on the not even three month old infant.
 The reason for why I write this, why this is affecting me like this, is that Lusterrdust was the first author I ever interacted with: I wrote comments when I read the story and I left my impressions and came back to read it again and again. I even dropped theories in the comments, even though I knew the story was not yet one and when I left my ideas and theories at the end of one of the last chapters, they even asked me, if they could use my idea. And my comments were not there anymore, since I offered them to delete them – just so that nobody else would be spoiled by my … inspirational rants at the end of each chapter. (Which is why I assume Niamh and Bishop were in Ivarstead at the end of the last chapter – it was my suggestion to place the baby with the Greybeards. Who better to look after a baby, than a bunch of super powerful elderly men and an elder dragon..?
But aside from having a baby at the worst possible time, aside from Niamh and Bishop still trying to learn how to communicate with her being the Dragonborn and therefore a person of public and political interest, aside from a potential alliance with Titus Mede and a hopefully good ending for them all.. there was so much more: There was the sub-plot with Breezehome being remodelled to be an orphanage, Niamhs brother having been brainwashed by the dark brotherhood, Lydia and Farkas having a third baby, Vilkas being with a Mere (elven woman), the implication of Ulfric slowly growing old and openly admitting to wanting Niamh to be his High Queen …
There was so much yet to explore.
But the author stopped updating in 2018, when their grandfather died. Which was ok. And everything was still ok to this day. At least for me: Even though they did not publish any new content, I still had all those many chapters to read again and again in my own time, whenever I got to it.
And it inspired me. It inspired me so much, that I went ahead and dove head first into Elder Scrolls Lore. A few years back, I could name all the Daedric Princes (Sanguine is the god of tits and wine – change my mind) and tell you which of Tamriels nine gods ruled over which dominion and why the fight between the Elves of Summerset and the other peoples of Tamriel was utter religious bullshit.
It even inspired me to think about my own Dragonborn, a nord woman called Kahira van Rae, and what she would do in a situation like Niamhs. A train of thoughts, that lead to me having RP sessions with my friends via WhatsApp and hour long talks about the politics of fictional lands. It even made me call my new character in the next fandom I’d dive into “Shia Tamriel”. In honour of a story and fandom I had come to love deeply.
And while it has been some time since I last checked in with these stories, I never forgot them. I did keep on coming back, enjoying them again and again. And every time I read them, I discovered something new.
These two stories were important to me.
The author was important to me.
 And now, all of those things are gone, because someone apparently copied their work and posted them as their own.
And that’s what really gets me.
Some random person out there on the internet thought it was ok, to simply copy-paste another persons hard work and put their name on it.
And let me put this as simply as possible:
THAT IS NOT OK! NOT IN ANY WAY!
 Because of your selfishness, a few hundred people will never get to know the end of Niamhs story.
Because of your selfishness, a few hundred people will never get to reread the story.
Because of your selfishness, an author was hurt and annoyed so badly they decided to pull all their content.
You should be ashamed.
You stole someone’s precious art that they decided to share with the world and let me be clear – just because they shared their art, you are not allowed to simply make it your own!
 Copyright is an iffy topic in fandom culture, with different countries having different rules and different companies going after fan works in highly differing intensities. But it should be common curtesy to not simply steal another persons art! Be it literal artworks as in pictures or edited videos or cosplay ideas or written art like fanfiction!
If something inspires you, that’s great! But you always ask consent before doing anything with the art! And if asking consent is an entirely new concept to you, I’d like to ask you kindly to go educate yourself on it. It will not only pop up in fandom culture.
 To conclude this…
I’m just sad at this point. I remembered the story two nights ago and I jumped right back into it at some random point and read it. I even put up with Wattpads shenanigans like forcing me to log in to keep on reading or requiring me to download the app so that they can show me stupid 30 second long ads in between reading.
I know that the world is not ending because of this.
I am well aware of the fact, that it was just a story.
And I truly support the authors decision.
 But until they pulled all the content, until they deleted their account, I had always hoped to maybe one day read more about Niamh and Bishop. And Bragor and Julian. About their Ulfric and Ralof, Lydia and Farkas and their children. I had hopes to discover their Titus Mede and how they were going to resolve the conflict between Skyrim, the empire and the Dominion
But now I cannot even go back and reread the sassy exchanges between Casavir and Bishop. I will never again be able to experience Bishops anguish when Niamh receives an almost mortal wound. I’ll never again know the inner thoughts of the Dragonborn, who thought she was barren, getting told that she is pregnant.
 I think the author did the right thing. It saddens me nonetheless.
 So let me end this here with one last plea to everyone in every fandom out there:
Do not steal art.
 Thank you for reading.
27 notes · View notes
shaldreth · 6 years
Text
I fell in love with Lotor and then realized he's a fucking idiot
AKA: a (bad) dissertation on Lotor's potential as a character and how his motivations basically undermined all of it. 
Tumblr media
Spoilers through the end of season 6; written pre-season 7.  
Let's just get my credentials out of the way first: I recently watched Seasons 1-6 of Voltron in the span of about 2 months. I am vaguely aware of some fandom discourse. I know very little about the original Voltron show or its plot except what I've gathered from a single day browsing the wiki. And finally, I love manipulative trash cans. Doesn't matter if they've got gray morality, complete amorality, or if they're just plain evil: I unironically enjoy their existence (the only exception is Ni Jianyi who terrifies me, but, well, I attribute that to good writing). 
So imagine my delight when in his very first episode, Lotor demonstrated that he'd been very competently keeping tabs on the political status of the central Galran Command even while exiled by: rooting out his main opponents, publically humiliating them, and positioning his Generals strategically in the audience to ensure that the crowd's response was positive and enthusiastic, all within probably a quintant or two of getting back. ....And then he blatantly admitted to manipulating public opinion not five minutes later. ....While looking unfairly gorgeous. 
Tumblr media
As character introductions go, it set a really fucking high bar, and I think a lot of people were immediately invested in learning what his endgame was. Regardless of whether his ultimate goals were ‘good’ or ‘evil’, people expected them to be competent and..... worthy. Worthy of all the time and effort that was put into this character, and the show in general. And then S6 happened. So buckle up friends because we’re gonna take an in-depth look at his journey from potential political mastermind to... merely obsessed, like his father. 
Immediately after being appointed Emperor Pro Tem, Lotor goes out and retakes a recently liberated planet to bait out Voltron. Which is.... something that we never actually saw his father do. Ever. Zarkon seemed content to let rebel planets stay lost, which is really silly and not at all a sustainable method of ruling an empire (suggesting that Zarkon probably would have lost control of a large portion of the Empire sooner or later anyway even if Voltron hadn't managed to destroy him in Blackout). Anyway, it showed that Lotor is a competent tactician, since he gets exactly the information he needs and does way more damage to Voltron than he probably expected to. He even follows up properly by calling in reinforcements to save his ass fortify the newly retaken planet, which may have given him a nice boost in popularity back home. 
Tumblr media
(It also set up a number of obvious parallels between Lotor’s Generals and the Paladins of Voltron. Excellent teamwork and loyalty? Check. Cheerful personality? Check. Big strong type? Check. Brooding, dark-haired second in command? Check. ...Wait, that makes Narti Pidge’s parallel. Or maybe Shiro’s, since she’s sometimes mind controlled....? ANYWAY. )
We start to see a couple cracks in episodes 4 and 6, because it becomes clear that Lotor is actually not spending that much time managing the Empire. He's way more interested in getting the materials to build the Sincline ships. At this point in the series he's still doing a great job of evading detection and throwing misdirection everywhere to keep Haggar from guessing what he's up to, so it starts to look like he's trying to undermine the Empire from within. I mean, think about it: he set himself up publically as a celebrity to strengthen the Empire, and then he disappeared and did none of that. He even exiled Throk, one of his biggest political enemies to Buttfuck, Space - Population: Ice Worms after his public humiliation. Which is a really bad idea if you want to keep a guy out of trouble, but a really good idea if you want to give a guy the time and space he needs to get angry, start another rebellion, and further destabilize the Empire. 
Lotor has lived in exile for years; he himself is the perfect example for how people rebel when sent to some corner of the universe with minimal supervision. He should know better than anyone that exile is a bad way to actually get rid of someone, yet he does it anyway. 
Tumblr media
Season 4 pretty much cements the idea that Lotor never actually wanted to rule the current Galra Empire, and was only using its resources for his own gain. He's removed from the position of Emperor Pro Tem with minimal fuss, and probably would have been quite happy to lay low for a while afterwards.... except that his dad then tries to kill him and he does the really dumb thing. I think almost everyone agrees that killing Narti was one of the dumbest things Lotor could have done. He could knock her out? Kill the cat??  Anything other than ruin his own party???
But nah. He stabs Narti and immediately the parallels between his group of Generals and Voltron shatter, because they betray him and try to turn him in to Haggar. Or, rather, he betrayed them.... .....actually maybe the parallels still apply, because I'm pretty sure that if Kuron had actually stabbed any of the Paladins at any point, the rest would have flipped out as well, so really the entire arc may be more of a statement on Galra culture as a whole..... 
ANYWAY, the whole Narti thing might look like the place where everything starts to go south, but it actually doesn't ruin any of Lotor's potential. Killing Narti could either be the callous act of someone who's bad at communication and doesn't actually care about his team (which is his team's interpretation, and a fair one), or it could be taken as a really stupid moment of panic, which I’d argue is a little more interesting, since Lotor never panics. But either way, the outcome was the same: as soon as he had control taken away from him, he turned desperate and all his flaws started to come out. Narti's death was one of the dumbest things Lotor ever did, but I also want to argue that it's the one act that opened up his narrative potential the most, because it could have sparked some interesting discussion about whether all of his actions are due to being arrogant, maladjusted, and self-absorbed... or if any can be attributed to fear.
Unfortunately, while fanfiction capitalized on that potential immediately, the show never really did. I was hoping for a season of self-reflection as Lotor used his intelligence and manipulative skills to sway Voltron to his side and overthrow Zarkon and Haggar in retaliation for his one miscalculation of the series. I wouldn't even have been mad if he had betrayed Voltron again at the end, because it would have been in keeping with his suggested characterization so far, and I like competent opponents with actual realistic goals.
Tumblr media
Season 5 looked like it was on track! Lotor was clearly still doing his best to manipulate Voltron as much as he could from a prison cell, furthering his goals despite his enormous setback. It's not really clear how many of his accomplishments during this season are due to careful planning and how many are due to luck; did he know Zarkon would offer the prisoner exchange? Did he know Sendak was going to be at the Kral Zera? Did he know Shiro was Kuron and would secretly hand over the Black Bayard so he actually had a fighting chance against Zarkon? ....Probably no to the last one, since it hinged on Honerva remembering her son, but who knows. 
Regardless, Lotor takes a lot of risks and makes a lot of progress. He actually becomes Emperor. Dude, holy shit, congrats. Take a breather and regroup!! That big of an milestone should have been enough for anyone, but instead he pushed his luck searching for Oriande, becoming completely dependent on Allura for her guidance and her protection, and then he failed the White Lion's trial. Like, completely whiffed it. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. The S6 finale makes it clear that Lotor's morals and goals are almost completely opposite Allura's, and that should have been the perfect place to start developing him further as.... you know, an actual emperor and moral counterpoint?
Instead, we got Season 6, where Lotor turned his fakeness meter up to 11 to seduce Allura. ...Badly. Like... really badly. ... Okay, listen the nanny thing was weird, there’s no denying that. She showed up for one episode out of completely nowhere and was never mentioned again. But Lotor felt more natural during that first episode of S6 than he did the entire rest of the season while romancing Allura, and I think that was probably on purpose. His voice and his face and his smile when he spoke with Allura were all the same ones he used during his first scene in the gladiator ring, when manipulating public opinion. I don’t think we were ever really meant to believe in Lotor’s feelings for Allura when his very character was introduced with the same sort of deception. 
Tumblr media
And all of that would still have been fine if he hadn’t had such a stupid final motivation. I suppose Season 6 makes sense when you consider that his ultimate goals actually had nothing to do with the Galra Empire, but it doesn’t feel like a good culmination of his character arc. So, knowing that his ultimate goal was the creation of a new Altean Empire, Let’s briefly review: 
- Lotor spent three seasons manipulating the public to gather support and popularity. The conclusion of this was Kral Zera, where he actually became Emperor. But none of this matters. “Emperor of the Galra” is actually unrelated to “Emperor of the New Alteans”, or whatever. Unless his plan was to marry Allura and spend the next 10,000 years carefully integrating his Alteans into the Galran Empire while giving them every advantage possible, becoming the Galran Emperor didn’t actually have much to do with his Altean goals. His Alteans aren’t Galra citizens. So why spend that much time making himself popular with a race he hated? Narcissism??? 
- Lotor may have also spent three seasons subtly supporting rebellion across the Galran Empire, because he made a couple conspicuously bad decisions when it came to handling his political opponents/rebellion planets. Conspicuously bad enough to be deliberate, given what we know of him as a competent tactician. But supporting rebellion would only have helped him if he had planned to use rebellion to take over, and we just established that being the Galra Emperor doesn’t actually help his main goals. So does that make all the seasons of subtle rebel support.... a side-effect? Carelessness? Supporting the Voltron Coalition didn’t really matter if he intended to replace Voltron with his own shiny robot. 
- Lotor’s generals are all half-galra. Originally, it seemed like he had chosen to align himself with societal outcasts because he could inspire loyalty and comraderie in them, and because after a lifetime of discrimination at the hands of Central Command, they’d probably be willing to support his rebellion. That’s, like, a huge fanfic canon. But instead, his final, power-driven speech suggests that he chose half-galra Generals simply because he couldn’t stand to work with full-blooded Galra. Which makes his close-knit team and all their beautiful parallels with Voltron... accidental??
- Lotor spent let’s say... a season and a half? trying to seduce Allura.  This makes the most sense out of all of his goals, because marrying into the last remaining full-blooded Altean royalty totally fits with the New Altean Empire. What’s stupid here is how he handled it. Instead of coming clean about his Altean colony and, I don’t know, properly hiding his tracks as soon as he realized he could marry royalty?? He left the quintessence farm up and running. We know Lotor can get into and out of the rift way faster than Keith and Krolia, so there was really nothing stopping him from going to hide a couple skeletons in his closet sooner than never. He could probably have won Allura’s loyalty forever if he had presented her with an Altean colony and pretended to need her help restoring Altean culture; instead, he did dumb. 
Tumblr media
I’m just... I’m sad, okay? I’m not sad because he was evil; I’m sad because he didn’t want to be his father, and he absolutely turned into his father, and there were almost no signs of that until the very end. He could have been evil and still competent! While there are parts of Lotor that are really well written, it seems like they were all pushed to the side to make way for his obsession - an obsession he wasn’t even that obsessed about previously!!! - in the final couple episodes of Season 6, and he just... does so many stupid things. 
So really, in conclusion, either Lotor got quintessence sickness, Haggar made a Lotor clone while he was visiting her that one time, or we should all be more sympathetic of Zarkon's stupidity in Seasons 1 and 2 because clearly Galra politics are infuriating enough that being Emperor for a couple pheobs was enough to make Lotor lose his McFreaking Mind. Zarkon had been Emperor for 10,000 years; it's understandable that he was a little quirky.
Also, I saw a post a few weeks ago that basically said “the worst thing that can happen to Lotor is that he comes back from the void and gets obsessed with Allura like in the original show”, and I wish I could find it again, so if you know that post, pls link me. And I agree, that would really really suck, I don’t want that. But I’m hopeful that the writers just decided to adapt his character a little, so that instead of being obsessed with the Altean Princess, he was instead obsessed with Altea, and therefore that arc is already over. But I guess we’ll find out soon! Fingers crossed. 
Feel free to comment with alternate interpretations of everything here!
2 notes · View notes