#Meta | a worthy expose

[soppybitorag]

The Captain as Man, Mirror, and Medals.....

a 🚨Red Lever🚨 meta on The Captain appearing in a mirror (and a cracked one at that) in the opening credits of Ghosts and what that could mean in the context of s5e5 and beyond :-D

What do mirrors symbolise?

Briefly, they outer vs. inner perception; who we are vs. what we let people see/want people to perceive us as. Mirrors Cannot Lie, and thusly expose our reality. Reflections are often said to be a persons True Soul, an idea across many early civilisations. It wasn't reflected light rays hitting your eyeballs, it was you seeing your Soul.

But also, we are 'mirroring' people when we copy them, appearing unoriginal and inauthentic.

Captain as Portrait and Mirror -

Now, ghosts can't see their reflections or be captured on camera/film. We don't see Captain looking *into* the mirror, just what is shown to us: the outer self/controlled perception. Also, the way he is framed makes it look like a portrait, something signifying power, virtue, and importance.

What we *see* is a middle-aged man of supposed stature, with a collection of earned medals (reflected, they'd be the right way round, which they aren't irl).

A soldier.

A Truth, as Mirrors Can't Lie.

Portraits can be twisted, however, such as The Picture of Dorian Gray. In it, Dorian's portrait grows more grotesque because of his sins and vices, whilst retaining his external beauty over many, many years.

Captain, likewise, is forever going to look the age he died, much like how Dorian is forever the age of when he got the portrait made. (Not saying they're similar in personality or really any deeper than that, just thought it note worthy.)

It'd be remiss to forget that in the opening creds, Robin is next to the mirror, flickering a lamp.

He is litterally shedding light on the mirror, implying a deeper meaning/more to be understood about what's there. There's also the fact that the mirror is cracked (cracked? definitely distorted).

Cracked Mirror Symbolism -

Cracked Mirrors can be seen as a form of deception: if distorted they can warp the image presented (even when we expect the truth from them), making things appear closer than they actually are (a common occurance in fairytales, for example), or taller/bigger/wider/fractured.

Some people believe broken mirrors weaken the spirit of a departed person. Oscar Wilde famously used this belief to mark a characters' death in, you guessed it, Dorian Gray.

It's worth noting that Dorian Gray is also the story that led to Wilde's imprisonment for homosexuality.

Cracked Mirrors are notably bad luck in many cultures, too. Romans believed that Gods observed them through mirrors, so breaking them was severing that connection, thusly having the Gods curse you with bad luck.

Ultimately, cracked mirrors present a fractured sense of self, where the inner and the outer are at odds with one another, or there is discontent in one or the other. Perhaps both.

What does this mean for Captain?

Well, we *see* a man of stature/inportance with war medals. Virtuous.

In actuality, the medals were always forever out of his grasp (making things look closer than they are) as he never left Britain, as much as he maybe would have liked to. He stole the medals to deceive the Veterans by façading (being inauthentic/copying/mirroring) as one of them, but bad luck had him put them on clearly wrong to all but him. If he had a mirror, he could've fixed it.

He was most likely one of the lowest ranking people in that room, in a house he once had control over, but no longer did.

Those actions directly led to his death, where he forever is entrapped with and condemned to wear unearned medals.

Of course, he most likely wanted to be perceived as integral/noble by people, but he just wasn't. He thinks himself a coward, wearing a mask, and forever will be. It's no wonder that in his purgatory/button house afterlife, he elects to seek control over how people see him. He's just The Captain.

some extra things I wanna throw in here

Captain died looking into Havers' eyes. He could probably see his own reflection at his end. But at least it was in the eyes of someone who truly knew him and loved him. For him. Told him as much. Because Mirrors Can't Lie.

Also, one way to rid yourself of the bad luck caused by breaking a mirror is, apparently, touching a tombstone with one of the shards and burying it deep down innthe ground where spirits can't find it, at nighttime.

So here are some completely random images.

#captain #bbc ghosts #red lever #ben willbond #the captain #bbc ghosts the captain #bbc ghosts havers #caphavers #capvers #bbc ghosts s5 #bbc ghosts series 5 #bbc ghosts spoilers #bbc ghosts s5 spoilers #bbc ghosts meta #bbc ghosts analysis

[fandom-reblog-central]

Fandom (dpxdc) Thought 2.5:

Context: Halfa!Jason Todd, ghosts communicate through emotions, liminals can do it to a lesser extent

Jason unknowingly keeps trying to push emotions to his family, not realizing he’s trying to communicate. With his family’s awkward outward reactions combined with the lack of response to his core, he feels isolated. Even thought it’s an accident on both ends, it has an effect on him.

To make it a bit worse, the batfam is liminal with all the death in the family and Lazarus exposure. They accidentally reject the emotional conversation from Jason’s core, so neither party knows why Jason is so on edge, but they don’t push for answers.

Danny (bad reveal, good reveal, literally Just Vibing in Gotham—whatever works) hears Damian’s core humming or trying to trill/chirp, and of course he has to help the sick liminal/baby-halfa core. With a LOT of bonding, Danny gets Damian to drink some healthy ectoplasm, and he feels a lot better. He even brings Jason over, knowing the connection to the Pit was stronger in his older brother and wanting to extend an olive branch after the… everything.

Once Jason starts feeling better and Frostbite is brought into the conversation, Damian realizes he can’t hide this from Bruce forever. And, with how many people in his family—hell, his contact list—had been exposed to the Lazarus pit, or gotten caught up in time shenanigans, or had been killed, it was best everyone knew. With Danny’s only request being “say I’m a meta instead of a ghost,” Damian goes to his father’s study.

(Forgive the ooc/awkwardness I don’t normally write fanfic lmao)

Damian entered Bruce’s study. “Father. I have something to inform you of. We have made a terrible mistake with Jason.”

Bruce’s train of thought pauses at hearing his youngest call Jason “Jason” instead of “Todd.” He looks up from his WE paperwork. “What is it, chum? Is he okay? Are you okay?”

“We are both well, Father. It is…” He grimaced and visibly tensed. “You have to promise to not be angry with me.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow at hearing his youngest say such a “childish” phrase. “I will do my best. I’ll at least let you finish talking first.”

He knew this was the right thing to say when Damian relaxed slightly. Therapy was a wonder.

“Um…”

Oh. Oh no. Damian Al-Ghul-Wayne was not one for uncertainty—especially not in a conversation he started.

“Go on, lad, I’m listening,” Bruce said in as gentle a tone as he could (without getting too patronizing for his proud little Robin).

“I met a meta of a ghostly nature. He assessed that there was Lazarus Water in my body, and when he replaced it—“

“He what.”

“You said you’d let me finish.”

Bruce pulled out a notepad, jotting down bullet points to return to.

[Pit in Damian?? REPLACED?? Unknown ghost meta]

“Once he replaced it with the healthy alternative, I found…” He swallowed. “I found that I could more easily accept and show love. My time in the League played a part, of course. However, the Lazarus Pit had an effect on me as well, latching onto my desire to be worthy of a place here. I essentially have a rudimentary organ that runs on and communicates via emotion. Jason does as well, and his is stronger than mine. We have unknowingly been rejecting this more emotional form of communication, making him feel unaccepted and misunderstood.”

[emotional organ??? Accidental rejection? Possible to learn emotion communication?]

Damian shifted his weight under his father’s intense and worried Interrogation Glare™️. “Now that we know the problem, and are attempting to rectify it, we feel much better. Due to everyone around us being exposed to death, the Pit, or time travel, Jason, the meta, and myself thought it best if everyone was made aware. Our meta friend has a doctor who has specialized in this organ and the culture surrounding it for decades. He can apparently better help us manage our health alongside a regular physician.”

[meta doctor. Contact… everyone]

Bruce set his pen down and didn’t move for a few moments. “Are you finished?”

Damian nodded. “Are you angry?”

Bruce let out a long breath, closing his eyes. “I can never tell. Fear and rage feel a lot alike when it comes to protecting my family and my city. You’ve gone against a lot of my training, which displeases me, but I still love you, and I always will. We’ll see what your punishment is when I get more details. I don’t want to punish you for good outcomes, but the methods are important, especially in our work and at your age—“

“You can stop now, Father. I understand now what Drake means when he says he doesn’t know how to respond to the sincerity therapy has given you. I’ll gather the family for a debrief.”

Bruce opened his eyes to see his youngest wincing a little at the emotional vulnerability, but something else caught his attention.

His son’s green eyes faded to blue.

#hhhhng I tried #dpxdc #this is longer than I thought it’d be oops #beta read by the CUTEST boy #I’m so sorry everyone #the thought w/o the fic is posted separately #chaos reigns with a wobbly wrist #I did it like this instead of reblogging it bc tumblr only lets me copy one paragraph at a time and I wrote this first #I am too lazy to copy all of this for later but at least I know now

[radioactive-earthshine]

Political Thriller AUs..... where the Arranged Marriages are more lethal than the cyanide-laced donuts. How are you feeling around this AU?

10/10

Arranged Marriage AUs or Betrothal AUs are sort of a weakness of mine particularly when the author is wise enough to include more of the political reasons behind the union rather than "force my idiots to fall in love" which is the common path a lot of these AUs take. It's not a BAD direction and I do sometimes want to see End Game of my idiots falling in love but that's not necessarily what's important.

It's the why, what is this world, what are the stakes, what's going to be broken if one, or both REFUSE, do they have other people they want to marry etc.

There's a lot you can do with these AUs other than "teehee they had no choice but to fall in love"

As for who I would do this to I have a Konbart one pingponging in my head that the concept is Krypton never was destroyed, Tomar-Re managed to stabilize the planet and save them all, but Jor El sent Clark to Earth anyway because he was certain it was going to happen, and the fallout afterwards was a lot of political upheaval and he was caught in the crossfire and was murdered (possibly by Dru). Things unfold more or less identically except Clark finds out where he is from, that they are all alive, has his own adventures there as a adopted child meeting the bio fam and their culture some 25 years later, meets his mom who did manage to survive the post-near-apocalyptic event. He has a lot of inner struggles of 'what is home' and knows in his heart it is with the Kents and his mom knows this too.

Eventually Kon comes along, but he's created on Krypton, not on Earth, as a sort of co-opt project between planets. Krypton wanted a way to try to genetically engineer Kryptonians to be able to have their powers AND live in any environment regardless if they have a red sun. Earth was needed because Krypton does not have as advanced of knowledge on genetic manipulation as Earth does, and use with the Earth Metagene was something even their own geneticists were curious about. The only way they were able to do this was cooperation between planetary governments. Kon was a secret side project that when exposed blew up because 1.) they used Kal's dna 2.) they were successful and 3.) they have a fucking clone running around and Krypton had actively BANNED cloning due to the last time they dabbled it and it ended badly.

Clark finds out about this clone and storms there like WTF - It's a mess. There's back and forth bs on what to do with him - some politicians are just 'kill it' but most are 'well no hold up, he actually has some intriguing abilities, we can use this!' Meanwhile Clark is just - 'sort this out, now, or I'm taking him to Earth.'

So they agree, he is an El, so he is released to Lara to protect and raise. Lara by now has high status (for now) and power under her so while critics might grumble, there is nothing they can do less they be shot off to the Phantom Zone.

Things settle down, but only so much.

Earth starts becoming a bigger presence in the interstellar community, Krypton is ever paranoid that Kal on Earth with an endless supply of Metas is a threat to them and so tensions begin to rise.

Some of the more warmongering Kryptonians want to conquer Earth, its conditions are ripe for them to be as their ancestors should have been under a young sun, and humans are soft and need help from aliens and only a spare few of their own kind are even worthy their grace as something approximating equal (metas, Amazons etc).

Clark knows if he just evacs Kon and Lara from the growing tensions on Krypton it would send a message to various Kryptonian politicians that Earth just may be that shady after all and Clark really is plotting against them so he works with his mother to try to find a solution. What would make the tension lesson so diplomacy talks could go positively.

Lara suggests an arranged marriage, because nothing makes Kryptonian's more excited than the prospect of legally bound by blood and law cooperation.

Clark says no before he even hears who or why. Lara persists and explains that while he, who was raised among people that do not partake in arranged marriages, and he who has a very singular mindset of what a marriage should be, arranged marriages are common among Krypton and nothing will show the wide majority of their people that Earth is willing to be neighbors and allies than by participating in one of their most time honored traditions.

Clark relents, and asks who. It is Kon. He has to think about it because that's his little brother. After much self reflection and dismantling his initial responses to the suggestion he relents that it is not a bad idea.

The hard part is deciding who would be a good match for Kon - but the fact that any gender is open for consideration makes things easier. After weighing all the options they have, and getting a lot of "wtf no!" Bart is suggested partly as a joke by [redacted].

Fucking Bartimus. At first he is written off as absolutely NOT eligible due to his more or less canon impulses but out of all the suggestions between metas and Amazons and Atlanteans Bart is the one who is in a position best suited to protect himself against literally everything. No one can touch him unless he wants to be touched. He's also from prominent Hero Family and has a name for himself on Earth as Impulse so it's not as if he's really ineligible.

So they agree.

Bart's not happy about this AT ALL and he thinks they chose him just to get rid of him because this takes place just little while after Max vanishes and he's feeling like he's being yanked around (he is 18 though, he just had longer with Max) and he's had so little control of his life this is just one other thing he has to deal with. Wally tries to explain but he does it badly so he pisses him off even more. Iris explains and he's beyond listening at this point. It takes Helen letting him rant at her and talking through things for him to come down that maybe they really don't HATE HIM.

So he shows up and lets Clark explain it and he, after thinking about it for 2 seconds (for Bart he was going back and forth for about 20 minutes though) agrees that this will be interesting and might just be the right thing to do - and because no one else will I guess it should be him.

Kon meanwhile wasn't taking the whole thing seriously enough because he didn't honestly think it would happen.

He was wrong when Lara told him they found him a husband. Cue record scratch, glass shatters and a cat yowls sound effect. Cue panic. Cue the last 5 years of being totally out of control of his life and being yanked around by anyone and everyone as a political pawn exploding.

It takes a long time for Lara to calm him down but she has a tough job because everything that Kon is freaked out about is TRUE. She reminds him that this good for him and their people, that she too was from an arranged marriage, and that the match they secured for him was a good one and it is for the good of everyone and, dickishly, what would Kal do?

So Kon is sort of guilt bullied into it even though he agreed to it in the first place (very quickly and was just like 'hey just so long as they're hot!') and knew it was happening but he didn't think it would actually happen.

Seeing Bart's picture does dispel some of his anxiety, he is cute, he's attracted to him, he has a nice bod, super speed sound pretty neat and he knows Clark wouldn't choose someone who was creepy.

Little does he know Clark didn't even choose Bart at all at first and Bart wasn't even an option until everyone said NO.

So there they are, both initially GRRRRRR about the whole thing not because of the other but because of the situation. Kon feels like he just a tool to be used, and Bart feels like everyone just wants him gone even if everyone has done everything to explain that's not the case and they believe in him. Bart's older and wiser to know that if they really did believe in him, he would have been up for consideration at the start instead of [redacted].

Overall the stakes are pretty basic - get married just to open the door to start a meaningful conversation. Not even to STOP a conflict, just to hopefully get communication better. If either Kon or Bart balk on it it has the potential to exacerbate tensions between Earth and Krypton though Earth has more to lose.

In the end Kon and Bart do find love.

And that's what I have for this Arranged Marriage AU on my spreadsheet that MAY or may not ever be written, and as always some details may just change entirely.

Send me a fanfic/media trope or theme and I'll rate and tell you what I might do with it or something.

#konbart #bartkon #arranged marriage au #kon el #bart allen #long post #i put some more effort into world building this one folks

[eddiesisterhandsthtdanceslikeabb]

im high pls dont make me name my batjokes meta

this post may be implicit/common knowledge, but having not seen much discourse around the mechanics of batjokes' dynamic compels me to catalog. there's sm to unpack here, so excuse lapses in structure or flow.

first off and most importantly, joker's battle with bruce is an existential one, he wants to justify himself in the eyes of his maker, his reshaper, whose perpetual control and prowling enabled, and ultimately exposed, the failure of his veneer of heroism and ability/adeptness, and birthed a distillation of that failure. the failure to circumvent criminality and violence, continually indulging retaliative brutality and unresolved anger, edging catharsis in assuming a protective and dominant role as to compensate for his loss and pantomime vicarious past reclamation and authority. constantly stagnant, incessantly unfulfilled, an everlasting outburst if you will, addressing not his material conditions but feeding his metaphysical ones. joker moulds himself around bruce's worldview, concerning himself with the salvation eternally eluding bruce, achievable through the violence that birthed batman and reinvented joker in turn.

this is a dialectical affliction, one desperate in nature, to validate that he wasn’t a mistake, a deviancy, to prove that a singular, perhaps seemingly insignificant element can transform anyone, unchain them, and joker refuses alternatives because batman forever dances, is forever chained by both his insistence on normalcy, but also his neglect of it. joker wants foremost, to matter to his creator, to break perfunctory monotony and elicit true understanding and oneness, have his existence be purposeful and intentioned, proving himself worthy, the one that finally cracks the elusive figure and chiefly, achieves ordainment in the eyes of his saviour — embrace, his personhood returned to his creator’s hands as to ascend batman into godhood, inextricably coalescing them.

it’s a labour of love, devotion, joker truly loves THe BaTmaN, bleeds and lives and offers up gothamite sacrifices as to resuscitate his vacancy, bless him with unadulterated purpose, validate the meaningless of the earthly. ultimately, batjokes are cyclical, that: from ash you were birthed and to ash you shall return, sh1t. what confuses that however, is how dialectical they are (as aforementioned), they embody a yin & yang dynamic after all. however, ultimately, joker wants to birth the batman who laughs [like when you think about it — batman realizing joker's philosophy and transcending humanity], to eliminate bruce's restraint and contradictory morality as to, ironically, create a pure, militant reaper encompassing gotham's brutality and abandon. joker is fighting for gotham's soul in more ways than one, on the physical level — crippling its normative function, inundating it with senseless violence, and on a metaphysical level, fighting for its symbol of order and constraint, someone who arose as an abstract embodiment of gotham's institutional enforcement, a distillation of authoritative fear, gotham’s punitive restrictiveness, the abstraction of otherworldly, insurmountable power, an inverted reflection of the very thing bruce is and was unable to overcome, aiming to strip them of their defences as to coax their primality, a violent denuding as to be sculpted anew, the same enlightenment he was afforded. to be broken so thoroughly that you become pure. to shatter pretence and baptize gotham, or its seemingly intractable moral paragon, in hedonistic freedom, uniting them with his gory rebirth. and joker, with this hedonistic perspective, recognizes that capacity in batman, recognizes it as his truth as one who was born from that brutality and violence and continues to endure it, seeing it as the purest form of expression and the underlying nature of existence.

he glamorizes his own death at the hands of the one who rebirthed him bc it will rebirth his creator in turn, allowing him to fully embody his godhood. it will afford the joker true meaning — once again my metas coming back to the struggle for existence but universal themes gonna universe [with the melody] — however, bc of the dialectics of batjokes, the struggle is a testament to their bond, it’s a seduction, a courtship, its authenticity and potency dictated by scale and intensity (aka their Stockholm is mad), the commitment to enduring joker’s forcible conversions, and foremost, to joker martyring himself to batman’s perpetual aggrieved ministrations, the irony in trying to fix someone through cruelty, conflict everlasting in one’s subjugating machinations. the more joker seizes, the further his cost sinks. bruce becomes steadily entrapped with and by the one person who can never leave him, the magnitude of those around him continually strained against the joker, the onus to humanize a sadistic, inhumane murderer forever ballooning. joker’s mortality, his humanity becoming further pathologized, his undying ceaselessness a type of consolation, a mark on bruce’s own consciousness, to save the one person forever bound to him, justifying his heroism and the incongruity between them, the fundamentalist moral dividing them: do not kill. batman's consideration, thusly, is birthed from a deep resentment, the flagellation of abstinence, maintaining the one thing delineating human from unfeeling instrument [of violence]. that resentment festering into a neurotic sort of dependency, joker acting as his NorthStar of morality, subsuming his sense of self, entrancing and ensnaring him. without the joker, batman is slowly cannibalized, unable to exist. whatever, i’m tired. this better be good enough cause its going up either way.

to conclude, this song [pay for it by jeff and the mindful selfless chastites]

encompasses batjokes perfectly. the eternal struggle, the damned position and conundrum batjokes find themselves saddled with, their respective lives being their sort of penance, an inability to ever truly connect without eliminating the other, love transmorphed into a twisted, destructive passion disinterested in its untainted iteration and consequently further estranging them.

(there was another song too but i forgor 🤷🏿‍♂️ [AN: not bc i was high, i could not conceive of this high)

#batjokes #batjokes meta #batman x joker #bruce wayne #the joker #batjokes analysis #why is that not a tag #listening to attention by newjeans rn its heavenly #joker analysis #batman analysis #dc batman #dc joker #the joker x bruce wayne #bruce wayne x joker #tagging this took me half an hour ffs

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

LXC and JGY anon - I was just wondering which of Jgy's crimes LXC knew about pre-guanyin scene, from where he said something along the lines of "I knew you had done some things but I trusted you had your reasons." I'm not sure that his wen torturer shenanigans or killing that one captain were even mention-worthy given the circumstances and LXC clearly didn't know about anything revealed during wangxian's investigation, so what questionable/immoral deeds was LXC referring to?

Hello there! Glad this one came through!

In regards to when he had said he knew Jin Guangyao had committed questionable things, I assume he was speaking of when Jin Guangyao had been caught by Nie Mingjue for killing his Jin Commander. He had found them both in the middle of their fight after all when Nie Mingjue was close to killing Jin Guangyao as it was.

He had even asked for Nie Mingjue to not hurt him, as Hi Guangyao must have had a reason for it all. Which of course is what made Nie Mingjue storm away finally as, Lan Xichen stopping him is what probably saved Jin Guangyao, and even during this Lan Xichen n is unsure of his own self, yet due to his passivity, does not ask for anything further from either man.

I also believe it is aa you had said, with his time as Wen Ruohan's personal torturer, it was assumed after all by the world as a whole, he had only done all of this as a way to undermine the Wens. Which, while true, was another show of Jin Guangyao sneaking his way into places that would make him profit from the outcome of either side. If Wen Ruohan won, well, he would still have a defined role with the Wens and a well off position without being exposed as a traitor. If his plan of sabotage and covertness worked, he'd be called a hero for his role of killing Wen Ruohan. As was depicted in his own murals he commissioned.

There was also the death of Jin Rusong which due to Jin Guangyao's apparent "grief" it was not questioned heavily when Jin Guangyao took out an opposing Clan against him. Each of these instances of conveniences, in Jin Guangyao's favor to garner pity, still had something strange about them that Lan Xichen ignores.

He is able to straddle that line of "doing the questionable for the seemingly good". As Wei Wuxian points out, he would not have believed his schemes either if it weren't for seeing it all first hand in empathy. And one of the largest pitfalls of this, is that thanks to empathy not being clouded by the "point of view" of who owns those memories, Wei Wuxian is able to become the omniscient narrator of events previously. A nice little meta twist on what it means for the "unreliable" theme that the plot pokes at and readers fall into themselves.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #i hate jin guangyao #jin guangyao stans block me (｡･ω･｡) #snake of the plot #jin guangyao should be the definition image of 绿茶婊

[djrenard]

Titans East (a post-Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths team):

Thoughts: Operating out of Nightwing’s bunkers on the East Coast, a small community of Titans protect the most vulnerable as they gather around millionaire philanthropist Dick Grayson’s Haven outreach in urban centers. I’d love to see the We Are Robin kids again, The Movement, The Green Team, and Gotham Academy alumni. The Terror Titans and their meta-human fighting rings would present worthy conflict for the team.

Bunker (Miguel Barragan) will take the psychological barriers that he’s internalized and literally throw them in your face, brick by brick. He defines his own barriers, makes them true…and then tears them down when he gets bored.

The Signal: Duke Thomas just knows what he needs to be doing; exposing injustice, inconsistencies, and lies; shining a light on what others might overlook.

Bolt (Alinta) sprints away from her trauma filled past. Ever looking forward and never quite settled, she throws herself into her new identity before properly dealing with the betrayals of her past.

Blue Jay II (Jack Abrams): His father (Jay Abrams) is an avian, size-changing, multiversal traveler. His mother is a deserter of the Thanagarian special forces. Together they’re an unlikely couple who found love and hid it away in the heart of America.

Indigo (Brainiac 8): For the fourth time she has pieced herself back together. This time however, she chooses to exercise her creator’s hold over her in the process. Will it take? Can she be trusted? Yeah. She’s actually a pretty decent person.

Red Devil (Eddie Bloomberg) chose to change his physical form to better match how he felt on the inside, and he has zero patience for the shame you lobe his way. He does have a sense of humor about it though.

Chlorophyll Kid (Ral Benem) is a joke in the future, the 31st century to be exact, but he’s willing to put in the work to change that opinion. While searching for other plant elementals to guide him and to grow his power, he instead finds a whole community willing to nurture him.

Stitch sees the wider view of things, how it all comes together…but how do they fit into that grand design?

#titans #titans east #bunker #the signal #bolt #blue jay #indigo #red devil #chlorophyll kid #djrenardteam #teen titans #duke thomas #nightwing #brainiac #the legion of super-heroes #kid devil #stitch #teen titans academy #we are robin #terror titans

[cimmeriana]

I don't think people realize that even as Bhaal's Dark Urge, Melinoe was actually very sad and suffered from anxious-avoidant attachment type.

She still does now, it's just a little more easy to spot because she's been wiped clean of Bhaal's brainwashing.

Melinoe has always just wanted to be loved, respected, and wanted. She's honestly so much like her sister Orin, except Lina was able to break out of that brainwashing.

I was talking to @lordgortrash about this and, frankly, Lina's relationship with Gortash was a huge turning point for her because it was the first time she was actually given respect and had autonomy, the first time she was regarded as Melinoe rather than The Dark Urge of the High Priestess of Bhaal's Temple or the Chosen of Bhaal.

Lina actually has a very malleable mind in where she takes her social and moral queues from the people around her, which is especially true post-amnesia. Dark Urge Lina was as intense and morally bankrupt and unhinged as she was because Bhaal isolated her and brainwashed her. His grip on her started cracking when she became exposed to others, and especially once she started spending massive amounts of time with Gortash to constructive their massive plot.

I go more in depth in this in my meta, but yeah.

Melinoe comes off as just very carefree, sexual, sexual, and playful - which is true - but she's also very anxious and lonely with a desperate desire to connect to others, to be accepted, and to belong.

She's constantly looking for people to fill the void in her that her mother and her father Bhaal created because they were incapable of genuinely loving a daughter the way that a daughter needs to be loved by her parents.

Which is why she can be so theatrical and so hyper-flirtatious and hyper-sexual and hyper-playful.

At the end of the day, Melinoe wants people to pay attention to her and really see her, and for that to be good enough for her to be worthy of love.

#hc ; flesh and bones #penned by grim ;

[queen-scribbles]

🟡 Yellow- What is something your OC wants but knows they can never have? How does it feel to never get this specific desire?⚪️ White- When was a moment in your OC's life that they felt the most vulnerable and exposed? Were they alone or surrounded? 🪩 Disco Ball- What was an achievement that your OC felt worthy of celebrating? Was it a personal victory or a big impact on everyone around them? for Ody, please :)

Oh, these are good ones for her. (Also, sorry for the delayed reply)

🟡 Yellow- What is something your OC wants but knows they can never have? How does it feel to never get this specific desire?

I mean, aside from Chance, which is the obvious answer, future peace. I touched on this a little in the KotFE 12 meta, but Ody is convinced she missed her one opening to walk away from this responsibility. Chance offered, after Ziost. Both of them retire from their government positions and go do their own thing together. She said no bc she was mid-hunt for Vitiate and needed Sith Intelligence's resources. Which led to the Wild Space Expedition. Which led to being Outlander/Alliance Commander. It's too late now, she's stuck in this position of responsibility in the spotlight and can't just walk away any more. She is never going to get to "just do her own thing", with Chance(bc he's dead) or on her own(bc she's too public now). I think she went through the five stages of grief over that dream concurrent with grieving him.(KotFE 10-16 was a rough patch for my girl) She's come to terms with it, but there's still this sense of melancholy resignation whenever the thought crosses her mind.

⚪️ White- When was a moment in your OC's life that they felt the most vulnerable and exposed? Were they alone or surrounded?

Toward the end of chapter 2 in the class story. She knows about the mind control. She knows Kothe and Hunter will both use it. She's taken steps to break free, but has to wait for the IX serum to do its work, there's nothing she can do but play along in the meantime. They can make her do anything they want and she can't stop them and she can't tell any of her crew about the details of it, so she's in this on her own even surrounded by people she mostly trusts. On top of that, she's coming to terms with the fact the Empire doesn't care about her. The Empire she's bled for, lied for, killed for, dedicated her life to protecting, will punish her for being too good at her job. (Also, Chance, the person who seemed most sympathetic to her situation a) is gone and b) still used her keyword.) Intensely vulnerable feeling, those two things going on at the same time.

🪩 Disco Ball- What was an achievement that your OC felt worthy of celebrating? Was it a personal victory or a big impact on everyone around them?

When she finished her Intelligence training. Her family is... well-established in Kaasian society; her mother's an opera singer and her dad's just below the Minister of Defense(I feel like there's a specific title I'm blanking on😅), her older brother's in the military. So it was very much a carrying on the family tradition moment, like Elara. It was a more personal victory bc obviously you don't make a big deal out of your new spies. Kinda ruins their ability to be covert.

OC Asks

#more oc asks #odessa isric

[monstersqueen]

anyway the way i see things, no one was trying to get odasaku killed in dark era. that was just a by product of each of the three organizations' plan :

mimic and gide want to die. They want to find a worthy enemy. Having found him (odasaku), they need to convince him to kill them.

the special division wants to protect yokohama. for that they need someone to take down mimic. the mafia is their only choice.

mori wants to protect the mafia. for that he needs something from the special divsion, in exchange he will take down mimic. after inviting mimic. (odasaku's fighting and dying is apparently an additional bonus, but i haven't figured out what he gains from that; i think it's more that odasaku, refusing to kill, is of no worth to th mafia, so him dying is no loss compared to the gain of the Permit)

None of those are 'yeah let's go kill this random mafia member'. Odasaku is of no consequences to any of them. What they need is ODasaku killing Gide. If he dies in the process then. *shrugs*

...if you look at it this way, the outcome was inevitable, when all three organizations involved have the same goal : odasaku killing gide.

You know what's interesting though ? despite that, odasaku doesn't cross mimic's path until ango is captured. I posit that ango does have an agenda and a plan during dark era, and it is : protect his friends, which he intends to accomplish by using his position as a triple agent to make damn sur odasaku stays the fuck away from mimic. He's no hindered by mori yet, because mori doesn't have yet the cards he wants before mimic is dealt with. Mori wants mimic dealt with, but not before he gets the permit.

But the timing works, doesn't it ? until mimic finds out ango is a mafia spy, odasaku doesn't go anywhere near them. he's shot by mimic ; that goes with 'ango is a mimic spy'; he ends up nearly blown up in their hideouts on 'no, ango was spying on mimic for the mafia', and meet gide when he and dazai have to get accept the 'ango was spying on the mafia for someoene else (the government)' thing, and the final combat with gide happens after dazai and odasaku confirms ango's identity as a triple agent.

In short, as ango's triple spying is progessively exposed, odasaku and gide/mimic's paths start crossing more and more closely. I kinda like the hyposthesis that ango went 'to hell with makign odasaku fight gide and die in the process. i'm making sure they don't meet' and then mori leaked his identity to mimic and started the whole thing, taking away from him what control he had so inevitably odasaku end up fighting gide.

anyway at a meta level it means that odasku's fight against gide becomes more and more certain as the buraiha trio progressively dissolves. So, you know. At a meta level. it is ango's betrayal that killed odasaku.

(meanwhile odasaku has an agenda; it's saving ango - which he manages - and helping dazai - which he manages too - and a few otehr things - helping the kids, becoming a writer, etc - which he doesn't)

(so does dazai - it's also 'protect my friends' and his plan is 'figure out what's going on and who needs protecting from whom' and he fail just like ango because he figures it out too late)

#myposts #bsd march 2023 not lb

[simpsonpridgen9]

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[merrill05mahler]

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[tidefated]

TideFated Comprehensive Timeline

This post is primarily for my own personal reference on this blog ( meaning I would appreciate it if it were not reblogged, and also that it may contradict information found elsewhere ) so that I can stop acting like time is a wobbly thing that doesn’t exist. It covers major plot points/happenings of all the fandoms on this blog in one place, as well as some relevant real-life events for a sense of scale/scope, and is liable to be expanded upon over time, as presently it only covers the bare skeletal minimum. Note that for all PotC dates I have chosen to follow the timeline set by @oceanfoamed [x]. 

1665 ― Armando Salazar is born

1696 ― Henry Avery makes a deal with Nassau's governor, Sir Nicholas Trott, enabling the beginning of the ‘pirate issue’ on Providence Island. [historical]

1683 ― Honjô Souma ( Joji ) is born.

1686 ― Cutler Beckett is born.

1709 ― Armando Salazar sails into the Devil’s Triangle.

1714-1715 ― PotC: The Price of Freedom

1715 ― Black Sails: S1-S3

1715-1716 ― Black Sails: S4

1729 ― PotC: Curse of the Black Pearl

1730 ― PotC: Dead Man’s Chest

1730-1731 ― PotC: At World’s End

1750 ― PotC: On Stranger Tides

1750 ― Edward Pellew is born

1752 ― PotC: Dead Men Tell No Tales

1754-1763 ― French and Indian War. [historical]

1767 ― William Bush is born

1775-1783 ― American Revolutionary War. [historical]

1793-1794 ― Hornblower: The Even Chance

1794-1795 ― Hornblower: Examination for Lieutenant

1795-1798 ― Hornblower: The Duchess and the Devil

1798( August 03 ) ― Under the command of Admiral Nelson, the British fleet destroys the French navy in the Battle of the Nile. Napoleon’s army is cut off from supplies and communication. [historical]

1798-1801 ― Hornblower: Frogs and Lobsters

1801-1802 ― Hornblower: Mutiny/Retribution

1803-1815 ― Napoleonic Wars. [historical]

1803-1804 ― Hornblower: Loyalty 

1804 ― Hornblower: Duty 

#meta | a worthy expose #reference | how to tie a proper knot #//tbh half this info is courtesy of the wonderful Holmes- I just needed it all in one place @@ #//wanna know something scary? #//excluding Avery's deal with Sir Trott and Nelson's Trafalgar the historical events listed above #//these are basically the only 3 major events of the time period that were covered in my schooling #//and for the most part they were only minimally covered #//which means I have so much research to do just to run this blog & not look like an idiot #//and I just felt that ought to be known ;v; #//tl;dr my middle/highschool education is a nightmare and basically nonexistent

[ferrousstars]

On LeFou and The Gay™

Meta 

When the film came out, there was an over-all negative response to LeFou’s LGBTQ status as advertised by Disney, and the purpose of this post is to address that discourse & establish my thoughts so as to not have to address it on this blog again at any point.

While I do believe that we were promised more than we were given ( “An explicitly gay moment” which was little more than two men dancing ) , I do not think this makes LeFou bad representation. Subtext makes a plot good, makes it dimensional, and honestly, LeFou couldn’t have been gayer if he’d danced around in a rainbow tu-tu, rather than a pink ribbon, and waved a pride flag. I think people are too focused on the promise/outcome issue and not the fact that throughout the entire movie LeFou was very blatantly queer.

The other issue people seem to take is that LeFou, in the 1991 animated film, was nothing but a dopey sidekick and the butt of a queer joke at best, and extending that assumption of him to the 2017 live action film. This is a very incorrect approach? All of the characters have seen an improvement in their development in this film(backstories, motivation, conflict, etc), and LeFou is no exception, meaning that the argument that he is bad representation because he’s “just a dopey sidekick” is null.

TL;DR - I’m not saying we’ve reached the peak of representation perfection in LeFou, and I’m definitely not saying Disney didn’t set us up for disappointment, but LeFou was as good a piece of representation as we could expect from a film whose primary focus was a heterosexual romance.

#General BATB | tale as old as time #LeFou | fears the wrong monster has been released #Meta | a worthy expose

[tidehearted]

Important Information: Salazar’s Curse

I must, once again, insist that my disclaimer be heeded- my interpretation of Armando is based strictly off film canon- which I have also altered, and at times chosen to ignore. Should this be a problem for you, I ask that you kindly block his tags or unfollow. The novelization holds no bearing on the version of Armando Salazar or the crew of the Silent Mary, nor does any form of fanon.

Covered in this headcanon you will find information about who Armando was prior to the curse, what it made him into, and the specifics of its effects and rules. With all that said, on to the actual meat of this writing.

Before the Curse

Prior to sailing into the Devil’s Triangle and becoming trapped by the curse, Armando held the rank of Capitán de Navío, and Capitán of one of the most powerful ships in the Armada of Spain. He was a determined, and unyielding man, with a singular focus on eliminating pirates. The ferocious hatred that drove this goal was brought on by events of his youth, the witnessing of the brutal murder of his father by a band of pirates who flew a red flag, and the knowledge that his grandfather- a merchant- had suffered a similar fate.

Though he was considered something of a hero to many of the people in Spain- particularly to merchants and others who had lost goods or loved ones to pirates, in the navy Armando was considered something of a dark horse- he was among the few who had risen so far without much in the way of politics ( for in fact he abhorred politics and held a distaste for academia, preferring instead to focus on martial skill and taking action ), and though his efficiency earned him much respect, his impatience, temper, and single-minded focus were the bane of many of his superiors and equals.

The Crew

Armando held the full respect of his crew- and in life he would never have abandoned them. The Silent Mary sailed into many dangers, but she did so because her crew was, hands down, the best there was. Her crew was hand-chosen by Armando and so was comprised of only the most dedicated, the most disciplined and the most skillful of men, who had served together for years by the time the Silent Mary sailed into the Devil’s Triangle. The loyalty between Capitán and crew was unshakable, and so too was the efficiency and dedication- and this is what made them so deadly that they could take on a fleet of ten pirate ships alone and come out victorious, were it not for the ingenuity of Jack Sparrow. In fact, together the crew had taken on similar situations many times, and come out on top.

The Triangle and the Source of the Curse

Canon has not given us much to work with on the subject of the Devil’s Triangle or the curse, and much of what has been given is inconsistent with earlier work, or simply doesn’t make much sense, so I have chosen to create a more sensible lore around it.

The Devil’s triangle was a dangerous outcropping of rock, seemingly in the middle of the caribbean sea. In fact it had long stood, the result of shifts in tectonic plates forcing the rocky floor up above the water level, atop a long-dormant underwater volcano. Rumours surrounded the strange outcropping- which was deadly for unskilled crews to navigate, for the dark water disguised many hidden dangers, and the cave roof was unstable, which often saw large stalactites falling onto and even through unsuspecting ships.

Rumours circulated that it was many things- the birthplace of the devil, or a secret hideaway of his. That it was inhabited by a trio of wretched sea hags who tended a vile demon, and fed to it unsuspecting sailors. That the rocks themselves had once been mighty ships of centuries past, since turned to stone.

But for all the rumours, none came quite close to the truth. For in fact the triangle was more a passive container of massive energies, simply waiting for the right trigger. It had, for many centuries, been the site of many a dark rite performed, and many a curse, and it was the remnants of such spells that laid the groundwork for what would become Salazar’s Curse.

For the curse was, in fact, enacted by Armando and his crew, by their own oaths, sworn before every voyage, never to die until their task was complete, and the sea was free of pirates. And it was this oath, combined with the desperation of the men, and Armando’s own pure rage and burning hatred at the moment of his death which preserved them all precisely as they were in that moment.This is NOT a known fact, however- and even the most skilled of witches would be hard-pressed to determine it without witnessing the advent of it themselves. The true origin of the curse is shrouded in mystery to most, including Armando and the crew.

The Curse and its Effects

The curse took effect at the precise moment of death for each member of the crew of the Silent Mary, beginning with Armando- meaning there are, indeed, some men who did not rise, as they died before him. Each man is preserved exactly as he was when he died, and animated only by his own will to live. The men with the weakest wills faded quickly- becoming true shades of their former selves, while those whose wills burned brighter retained a sense of self. Those who lost themselves were but as the ship- hollow shells, while those who did not were shadows of the men they once were- insubstantial, but alive so much as they could be.

Other than keeping their bodies animated with power beyond their reckoning, the curse did these men no services. It did nothing to block out the pain or the agony they felt in death- every man whose body was torn to shreds by the explosion of the gunpowder upon the ship has felt that agony every second of every day that has passed since.

What this means for Armando in particular ( AKA a catalogue of Armando’s injuries at death ):

The cause of Armando’s death was the explosion which hit him while he was underwater, destroying his skill and rather literally blowing his brains out of his head. This actually does affect his ability to process thoughts- there will be a full breakdown on this in another headcanon, but the short version is that while the curse keeps Armando’s spirit alive and functioning, it does not preserve his mind quite as well, and this leads to some major differences in thought process, behaviour, and understanding.

Both of his legs were shattered in the explosion as he fell from the ship, leading to the limping gait we see in the film.

Armando suffers severe internal bleeding, as the force of the explosion also shattered his spine, and crushed his organs- this is what causes the black substance his blood has become in his half-life to well up in his throat and pour from his mouth, at times, particularly when he exerts himself, as his blood and organs are getting squished around in a show of exactly why one ought to remain still when injured so severely.

He was also underwater at the moment of his death, though he did not have the time to drown, this is reflected in the way that everything about him seems to float, as though he is still beneath the waves.

Those affected by the curse were also granted certain abilities as supernatural entities, and those abilities are listed below:

The full crew was granted an immediate understanding of their situation, upon awakening- once their spirits had settled and begun to register that they were not simply alive and in excruciating pain.

Walking on water. This is less in defiance of gravity and more because they are, in essence, a part of the water. There is a certain lack of logic to it, which at once feels logical- and thus going forward this will be referred to as ‘ghost physics’.

Passing through solid objects. This one is tricky- the men all exist on the same plane, and thus cannot pass through one another, or through the Silent Mary- in fact, they even walk upon seemingly nothing where her lower decks used to be. The longer an object has been at sea, the more ‘real’ the curse considers it- in this case, it is assumed the bars which held the young Turner had been replaced recently, and thus not exposed to the sea for long. As they were at sea, they did no harm, but they did not count as fully ‘real’, and so with focus, Armando and his men were able to step through them as if they were not there.

Possession. This ability came with a number of stipulations.

Only a living human could be possessed.

Only those of the greatest will could possess a human- meaning there were perhaps four men in total aboard the Silent Mary who could successfully possess a body.

Once possessing a body, it could not be exited, through any means but the will or power of a  greater being, such as Calypso/Tia Dalma, or the Trident, which is an extension of Poseidon himself.

The spirit would remain trapped within the body even after it died, and unlike their ghost bodies, this one would decay, and eventually become useless- leaving the spirit an entirely immobilized observer.

Attempted possession also ran the risk of being overpowered and consumed, if the owner of the body held a stronger will than the spirit possessing it.

The final stipulation was that the spirit would not be freed of their pain- though the body lived, their soul was still dead, and no true feeling could be brought to it from a living body which was not their own.

Breaking the Curse

For the sake of a more logical plot, I have chosen to adjust the exact parameters for the breaking of the curse. There are, in total, four possible ways for Armando and his crew to be freed, in varying capacities. 

The first is the only one of which they are aware, and that is that the object of hatred must reach what the curse understands as their lowest point. It has nothing to do with the compass itself, so much as the situation required to cause one to betray it, for the compass itself has no ties to the Devil’s triangle, and therefore no ties to the curse. This will break apart the triangle and unleash the men as shades upon the seas to find and destroy the target of their hate.

The second is for the triangle itself to be destroyed- however this would require a force of violence only possessed by extreme natural disasters, at the time- though an inordinate amount of explosives may do the same. This is because the triangle itself houses the power of the curse. This will set the men free upon the seas as shades, though their direction may falter more than if the curse is affected by the object of their hate.

The third is the breaking of the trident, which will return all the men to their former states, as the same action would do to all suffering under a curse of the sea.

The fourth is by a power of the sea higher than the curse- such as Calypso/Tia Dalma. Such a being could put whatever stipulation they pleased, however most likely this would result in the breaking of the triangle and the return of the men to their former state.

#Salazar Headcanons | the path for vengeance always has a first step #long post for ts #Meta | a worthy expose

[elia-de-silentio]

The overarching themes of Vanitas no Carte: Identity

The Case Study of Vanitas is a very good, too little known manga (I hope the anime changes something), with some central themes than are exposed in different ways through different characters. In this meta, I want to explore one that was brought to my attention pretty recently: here a little examination on the various ways to face one's own identity in The Case Study of Vanitas.

The Stable Identity( Noè)

Let's start off with the positives, shall we? Noè has probably the most secure personal identity of all the bunch.

And this is pretty amazing, considering everything he went through. He has no memory of his birth family, but gets adopted by some nice people - who die shortly afterwards. Right at their graves, he is kidnapped by slaves, in an accident that left him injured. Then he is bought by someone who actually treats him nicely and is a good mentor for him, he finds many friends his age - and then one of them, the one he was closest to, turns out to be a cursebearer, kills all of the others and then tries to kill him; he is saved by the mentor, who beheads the friend right in front of him. The most immediate emotion is relief for being alive, and he will always feel terrible for that. Then, he has to witness his surviving friend try to cope very badly with her mourning by repressing her identity and try to substitute it with that of her dead twin. That's a lot.

And Noé reacted to all of this by becoming a confident person, kind and attentive to others, but not to the point of being a pushover. I'm not saying he walked away unscathed from the events of his childhood: he regrets the way he handled things with Louis, the way he didn't understand him, and has developed quite the savior complex as a result.

What I'm saying is that he is probably one of the very few well-adjusted people in the psychiatric ward that is Vanitas no Carte. He is still questioning himself, but in a normal way for a nineteen-years-old that has just left a sheltered environment for the big wide world. He is aware of some of his strenghts (his naivete) and is realizing others (putting unfair expectations on other people, underestimating other people due to racial biases); but most importantly, when he realizes these mistakes, he doesn't run away from them or obsess over them believing they make him a horrible person: he recognizes them, apologizes to the wronged person if necessary, and works on improving them.

This isn't to say he's completely happy-go-lucky with no regrets; he feels guilty about being relieved that he lived while Louis died, and he has a lot of uncertainties regarding his identity as an Archiviste and the impact his powers can have on other people. But he managed not to tie his entire identity to that guilt; and as for the second point, Teacher helped him rationalise that and figure out a conduit that didn't undermine him and at the same time showed respect for others. Noè went through several traumas, but received one thing most of the cast didn't: guidance and support from his environment. Whatever Teacher's actual motives are, he shaped a well-balanced person.

The Group Identity (The dhamps, appearently 99% of vampirekind)

"Us dhams are only loyal to each other!" This is what Dante says in one of the first chapters, giving us the first clues to their status as outcasts.

The war between humans and vampires ended up with each deciding to keep to themselves, but dhampires are the living exception to that silent agreement. So, both societies decide to reject them, and they can't find a place in the world unless they stick to others of their own kind. This common history of traumatic experiences of abandonment and subsequent resentment of both human and vampire society for it goes on to create a very strong group identity: the only ones they give a damn about are those like them, everyone else is a potential enemy and is only good to be exploited.

Then, we have the vampire culture. I mean ... it might be because insofar we have met almost exclusively aristocrats obsessed with their respectability ... but they have a lot of prejudices.

You're born under a uncommon moon? You're a pariah. You're mixed race? You're a pariah. Your parents committed a crime? You're a pariah, and are used as a tool. You're born as part of a set of twins? Either you or your sibling are killed at birth, because of something that is SAID, not even a certified element of vampire biology. You're stuck with a curse? You're executed, no attempts to heal you.

Their society seems to run on an ideal model of person which depends on factors outside the individual's control, and whoever doesn't fit this description and deviates from the group in any shape or form gets ridiculously fierce punishment. They make the freaking Church look good by comparison, at least their repressive and racist side is composed of extremists instead of everymen.

The Clan Identity (Chloé, and partially Noé again)

Chloé identifies with a group of people too; but it's not a race, it's a family. The D'Apchier family, the nobles who are responsible for Gevaudan. Her father made sure she had this idea in her right from the start, and she interiorized it.

And this had mixed results: while on the one hand she was chained to self-loathing by the guilt of having accidentally caused the massacre of the family and was only saved by Jeanne and Jean-Jacques reclaiming her as part of theirs, on the other she was able to resist to Naenia because of the love and responsibility she felt towards the people of Gevaudan. Chloé is, at this point, the only curse-bearer who managed to trick and attempted to fight directly against Charlatan.

Then there is Noé in relation to his Archiviste identity. He seems to think of it mainly in negative terms, very conscious of the living invasion of privacy it turns him into ... and nothing else. We have never seen him wonder about who his birth parents were, ask himself why he doesn't remember anything, why was the clan exterminated, or how he feels about being a survivor, one of the only ones if not outright the only. He sees his heritage as a burden,and hasn't thought of it in any different term. I wonder how a change in perspective could impact the above 'stable identity'.

The Someone Else's Identity (Vanitas, Dominique)

I already dedicated a whole post to this trait they share, so I'll be short: both Vanitas and Dominique hate themselves and try to become something worthy by taking elements of people they admire: Louis for Dominique, a combination of his birth father and Luna for Vanitas.

The Object Identity (Jeanne)

The very first thing Jeanne was said in her whole life was that she was an object. A vessel for something (or someone?) else, who mustn't have feelings or desires of her own. Encouraging, isn't it?

Luckily, this wasn't all she got in life. Soon afterwards, she was adopted by Eric and Louise, who loved her a lot, received kindness by Ruthven, met Chloé who became an older sister to her. Unluckily, all of this was taken away from her in the most cruel way possible.

She couldn't make any sense of her parents's betrayal and death, and the way her life suddenly changed; she rationalised it by telling herself that it was her fault, if she had been just the good object everyone told her to be nothing would have happened. So she accepts the Object Identity: she is a tool, so she doesn't feel, she exists only to obey orders, and as long as she is nobody else will ever suffer. It gets even worse after she fails to kill Chloè: she couldn't fulfill her duties, and both her and her big sis suffered for it. This mindset traps her in a world of pain, but also prevents her from facing the fact that she is subject to a senseless injustice, one she has no control over.

Vanitas managed to help her with that. He validated her feelings, and showed her that nobody had to die if she had them, solving the situation with Chloé and Jean-Jacques. This gave her a nice confidence boost, returning her to the cheerful attitude she had as a young girl; the consequences of this change remain to be seen.

The Unknown Identity (Luna)

This one is interesting because Luna themselves is pretty explicit about it. They see themselves as something 'other', who is outside commonly used categorization; starting with 'male or female' (and here I am left wondering if they had specific sexual characteristics but didn't feel like they 'fit', or were intersex and nonbinary, or had an entirely different biology from both vampires and humans).

Luna doesn't like this condition: they said they tried to figure out what they were, to understand themselves, and they regret doing so now. Why? Maybe they didn't find any answer and were left perpetually unsatisfied, or they found an answer, and they found it to be awful?

Still, this indicates Luna has never been particularly happy with themselves, and this found no resolution. And then they died. Nice, uh?

Well, I think this was all. There are other characters I would like to know more about in regard to this, like Ruthven, Marquis Machina, and Mikhail, but there is still time.

All in all, I'd say Vanitas no Carte explores the theme of identity pretty throughly; many character arcs are still in progress, and I'm interested about how things will develope especially for Vanitas, Dominique and Jeanne.

Thanks to anyone who bothered to read my ramblings!

#vnc #vanitas no carte #the case study of vanitas #vnc meta #vnc analysis #vnc noe #vnc chloé #vnc vanitas #vnc dominique #vnc jeanne #vnc luna #elia's recaps

[theggning]

Perfect timing for me to ask you this: what's your thoughts/opinions on Deacon?

It's always a good time to ask me to tl;dr, friendo, I love never shutting up, ever.

Ah, Deacon. The man of mystery, the liar, the Railroad's number one agent (though he'd rather you not believe it.) Everybody's favorite egg in shades. I really like Deacon. He's hilarious, handy in a fight, his voice acting is phenomenally fun, and has a lot of wise things to say about the lies people tell you to make you act in their interest.

Of course, Deacon's main character trait and personality is that he lies constantly. He is, admirably, upfront about the fact that he's a liar, and doesn't expect anyone to trust him. Sometimes his lies are clearly meant to be a joke. Sometimes they're a test, to teach the Sole Survivor a lesson about spycraft. But when it comes down to it, Deacon doesn't lie about important things, or things that will get someone in danger. He lies, with varying degrees of believability, so that when he *needs* to lie, nobody will know whether or not to believe him. He disguises himself, often poorly, so that when he *needs* to disappear, nobody will spot him.

But the thing Deacon lies about the most is himself. As with all the Railroad agents, his name is a pseudonym. He lies about being a synth (he isn't) and going places and seeing things. He lies about escapades he's been on and missions he's run. Even his appearance is a lie, as he admits he undergoes surgeries to change his face every so often. Every one of his affinity conversations ends with a charisma check revealing that he was lying.

And lies are all that you get from Deacon, until you reach his final affinity conversation. There, Deacon, unusually emotional and distraught, confesses that in his youth, he was a member of a gang called the University Point Deathclaws-- a hate group that targeted synths. After a particularly brutal murder turned Deacon away from the gang, he met and married a woman named Barbara. But years later, his old gang showed up at their doorstep and murdered Barbara-- as it turned out, Barbara was unknowingly a synth. Deacon proceeded to butcher every one of his former friends-- and impressed by his prowess and believing him to be sympathetic to the cause, he was then recruited by the Railroad.

If you believe that this story, too, is a lie, then we're left scraping for a motive or a baseline or just, anything we can actually use to pin Deacon down as more than a fleeting shadow.

People much more eloquent than me have dissected this reveal and all of their points are good and sourced, and they will do a much better job of it than I could, but in short, I do believe Deacon is telling the truth about his past. Everything from the acting to the expressions on his face to terrible things he confesses about himself point to real, genuine heartache under his usual glibness, and it also provides us a motive, one magical golden key that unlocks the most important facet of Deacon:

This man hates himself.

Deacon absolutely fucking hates himself. He hates his past, he hates his choices, he hates how he used to behave and believe, he hates what it did to the woman he loved. He views his service to the Railroad as atonement, that he also doesn't deserve and never will. Not only does the Railroad necessitate secrecy, making up lies, changing his face, turning himself into a mystery, but it also allows Deacon to pretend to be anybody else but himself (as MacCready ice burns him in one of their exchanges.) He fears that if anyone finds out the truth about him, spots even a small sliver of his real self, they will hate him as much as Deacon does. And he'll deserve it. The only future Deacon sees for himself is to die in service of the Railroad, in service of freeing the synths that he used to hate and victimize, in service of an organization he feels he's completely unworthy of belonging to.

This, I'm sorry to say to his fans, is the actual characterization/meta reason why Deacon isn't romanceable. Deacon hates himself so much that he's unwilling to let anyone know who he really is. He only barely feels comfortable exposing part of his past to the Sole Survivor at the end of the affinity conversations-- a romance would require letting someone in further than that, and Deacon not only refuses, but feels like he doesn't deserve it. Like, I cannot stress enough that in a canon full of companions struggling with self-image and varying degrees of hating themselves, Deacon is the undisputed Grand Champion of hating himself. He has a LONG way to go to finding even the slightest bit of worthiness in himself.

And that's really the sad and poignant part of Deacon. We can believe Deacon is a fun and likable guy with good intentions and a good cause. We can believe that a person can change at heart, can try to make up for their mistakes by doing good things. (I believe it!) But the tricky part is making Deacon believe it-- a man so thoroughly sunk in his own self-hatred that he truly doesn't believe he deserves to be forgiven.

Well, that was kind of a downer, so I'll rattle off some other fun facts about Deacon to close this out...

Deacon seems to be very well-read, with an interest in pre-War literature. OR MAYBE HE'S LYING?!

He is, however, very likely the same person as John D., a Railroad agent mentioned in Desdemona's terminal who came up with the dead drop system, the pyramid structure of secrecy, was the only survivor of an earlier Institute raid on Railroad HQ, and was also instrumental in rebuilding the organization. This raid took place in 2266, over 20 years before the game starts, so it's actually very likely that Deacon is in his 40s or even his 50s.

We all know Deacon (poorly) follows Sole through the early parts of the main quest, but he's been following them a lot longer than that. Deacon discovered the Institute's apparent interest in Vault 111 and theorized there was something inside that they wanted. This led Deacon to stakeout Vault 111, where he apparently sat and watched the doors for some time until the Sole Survivor emerged. (You can find his spot in the trees on a hillside overlooking the Vault doors. There's a chair, a few bottles of water, a sun shade, and the Railsign for "ally" carved nearby.)

And stolen verbatim from the wiki:

At one point in 2275, Deacon was kicked out of HQ by former leader Pinky Thompson because he was "sick of the lying, face-changing son of a bitch," after Deacon had spent a month as a ghoul, which "freaked a lot of people out."

#gg answers #fallout 4 #fallout meta #deacon #fallout railroad #poor deacon #i hope his past story is true because i like the themes that people can change and do better #and also if it's not then we just have nothing to work with #but deacon would want it that way #sighs loudly