#SHE SURPRESSES HER OWN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

shotorozu · 3 years

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heyy! i'd like to request headcanons of bakugo, deku, and kirishima with s/o who has a powerful quirk but its power is derived from her emotions? kinda like,, the more she suppresses her emotions, the more powerful she gets? so as a result, she's always completely calm and smiling like 😊😌😀 even when there's complete chaos going on. i'd like for the boys to encourage her to open up about her feelings tho because suppressing your emotions is unhealthy ;((

this idea has been living in my mind rent free for a very long time now,, so sorry if it's a long request (?)

i love your writing btw 🥺💓 hope you take care <3

s/o that’s emotion deprived

character(s) : bakugou katsuki, midoriya izuku, kirishima eijirou

legend : [Y/N = your name] f!reader at the request of anon, quirk description is mentioned above— but for this alone; we’re gonna call it deprivation

note(s) : i made Y/N kinda like a kuudere in here?? i know kuudere is a different thing but it sounds similar. and the calm and smiling part lowkey reminds me of shinobu from kny

——

bakugou katsuki

my little heart divider thing isn’t working fsr, so please discard that for now

anyways, your quirk sounds like an honest nightmare to him— he can’t imagine not being able to show his emotions.

you could be in the loudest room that had to exist, and you’d still be like 😀 “so what’s next?”

like.. he’ll never admit this, but props to you for being able to deal with this quirk for the majority of your life.

but at first, he was really irritated. because you were just :) or :| the entire time he was there.

and before you guys were dating, he always tried to get you to react— but it never worked because your skin’s thick

little did he know, your calmness was what he needed the entire time

but even after you guys get together, he wishes you’d at least retort back to him

katsuki was still really annoyed by it, until he realizes that you’re surpressing your emotions

like yeah.. you’re powerful. he’ll give you that— but he doesn’t want you to surpress your emotions or anything.

so he’ll talk to you one day, probably when you guys are just chilling. he’s not gonna make the intervention fancy or anything

he’ll spit it out, telling you it’s fine to loosen up a little from time to time.

but you’re like.. “but i’ll become weak if i don’t hold back my feelings?”

he’ll just scoff, rolling his eyes in fake annoyance as he pinches your cheek, saying “it won’t be the end of the world if you suddenly become weak”

because he’ll be there, right?

katsuki will try to do things differently. he’ll be nicer, and he’ll try to tease you to get you laughing or at least irritated.

just anything

so when he sees you express your emotions openly, he’s just like :)) “damn right i did that”

midoriya izuku

he was really unsure on how to approach you at first like.. are you mad? what are you thinking right now?

then he’s like “oh. that’s their quirk.”

your quirk is really interesting, so this causes him to start writing pages upon pages of your quirk in his notebook.

and despite your exterior, you’re really nice. you just don’t express your emotions

which is a real shame because.. you’re such a good person??

he’ll eventually be worried (like the sweetheart he is) because yes

deprivation is powerful as heck, as it feeds off your lack of emotion. but it’s not the healthiest mentally

so he checks up on you a lot, and he gets especially worried when your face goes neutral out of the sudden

he doesn’t know what you’re thinking!!

his constant worry of you caused him to develop feelings for you, because he’s always thinking about you

this doesn’t change when you guys get together, and he can only worry about you more.

so this causes him to go into a dilenma, actively trying to make you laugh— anything. even making the all might face

but you’re just like :) and he’s so sad whdnwns

he gets real defensive whenever someone calls you a robot like?? you’re not! you’re the sweetest person alive

unlike bakugou, his intervention is a lot more planned— izuku will take you to the park and he’ll tell you there

“Y/N, please don’t be afraid to express your feelings, suppressing your emotions isn’t healthy!”

he’s so sad sndnwndn

but luckily, the intervention goes well— because you can genuinely tell that he cares a lot

so he’s over the moon when you start laughing, or when you cried from watching a sad movie for the first time.

you don’t care that you feel weak at that moment, because izuku will hold you closer to him— almost protecting you from the world.

kirishima eijirou

he wasn’t afraid to approach you, because you seemed very laxed and calm all the time

even when mineta is bothering you, even when denki and bakugou are being very loud— to the point even the calmest people are irritated

you’re still there like :) very calm and level headed

like woah.. that’s so manly.

your quirk seems really difficult to deal with, and sometimes he finds himself wondering if you’re okay.

he’s always nice to you, even with the lack of reactions and emotions to the things he says

the first one to always say hello, and if you wanted to train with him.

you’re such a good listener to him, allowing him to rant about whatever problems you have.

but when it comes to your problems.. crickets.

was he kinda surprised when the both of you guys confess your feelings at the same time? yes.

he didn’t think it would happen!

okay but into the relationship, he started thinking about your lack of emotions. not in a bad way like he’s reconsidering things!

like.. “is Y/N really okay? i know deprivation is really strong and all but.. i’m worried that she’s supressing her feelings all this time.”

kirishima gets it, because in middle school, he too had trouble expressing himself often— sometimes even in the present he struggles a bit

but due to your calm demeanor, you’ve listened to his problems— and you allowed him to let it all out.

so he wants to do the same to you, telling you one day when you guys are snuggled up, watching a movie.

so you hug him, promising that you’ll be more expressive from then on

it feels like the weight on his shoulders were relieved when you started expressing yourself.

and he loves seeing you be this expressive and carefree. but just so you know, he’ll never allow you to be in dangered— so being vunerable to bad situations is very unlikely.

——

likes and reblogs are appreciated, thanks for reading!

i do not own bnha/mha and it’s characters. boku no hero academia/my hero academia belongs to horikoshi kohei. i only own the writing.

do not plagiarize my work :))

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thisismytrashok · 2 years

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Y'all idk whether I'm just morally unaware but I didn't really understand how some of y'all went on to immediately bash Yana for Bard's backstory.

Like, yeah, natives have set villages and stuff on fire. That's a fact. And Bard was effected by it. Ofc you'd be mad if you were him that your family died bc of that. As if you'd think "yeah bc of my ancestors past and our blindness to this problem, I can understand what happend and will quit mourning for my loved ones". Bard lost comrades, who are still his friends, and his own established family and managed to come to terms with it, even accepts that not only his POV was filled with grief. Many ppl do not even dare to look for the logical reason of someone's death bc "death is death and there should be no reason to take it away early or before fate/God/whatever does". Yana could've decided to depict exactly that if she was as cancel-convenient as y'all said but you didn't even give her the chance or time to show that Bard has been through character development already.

What do you expect authors, artists, mangaka, creative ppl to do?

To serve you every problematic topic on a silver plate with satin gloves and safety cutlery? From what I can tell, Bardroy's development and thoughts in each of his life's phases is realistic. Some/many ppl prob grew into the hate they felt for the ppl who killed their family.

But not Bard. Doesn't that already say alot about him and how important it is for Yana to self-reflect and change perspectives? What else do you want her to do? Not talk about this at all and change his past story instead? Pretend like ppl aren't allowed to be mad at the ppl who killed their loved ones, even if they were natives/socially surpressed ppl? Pretend like these fires never happened?

Bardroy's backstory wasn't even finished and y'all jumped into conclusions. Yana depicts a trans woman, ptsd-effected ppl, individuals and cultures from all over the world accurately (from what I can tell) and now you wanted to draw a line? I mean yeah, just bc the mangaka ist open-minded and fascinated by different cultures and whatnot doesn't mean their opinion and pov on everything is right. However, in case of Yana I doubted she had bad/morally incorrect intentions and didn't really wanna judge until she concluded Bard's backstory.

that's all I wanted to say.

#kuroshitsuji #black butler #yana toboso #manga #anime #bardroy

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borisbubbles · 3 years

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Character analysis: Vivienne de Fer (Dragon Age Inquisition)

So, if you’ve wondered where I popped off to the past two months or so, I’m going to give you an answer - I finally bought Dragon Age Inquisition (legit on my gaming wishlist since its 2014 release) and I’ve been obsessed with it ever since.

The main draw to this game however, isn’t so much the gameplay (if you want a game that feels similar but has better gameplay - Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is what you’d want instead), but the storytelling and particularly the character development are top notch. All nine companions are fascinating and fleshed out in such a realistic manner I’m still gasping in awe on my fifth playthrough. Thus, a post on it is in order. It’s a bit different from my usual content, but don’t let that discourage you - clearing my head from Dragon Age will allow me to let Eurovision back in and continue my unfinished 2020 ranking. In this post, I will be analyzing one of DAI’s most interesting characters - none other than Madame de Fer herself, Vivienne. Now, I’m under the impression that this is a rather unpopular opinion but I absolutely love Vivienne. And no, I won’t apologize for it. As a Templar-thumping elitist with a icy, sardonic demeanor the sheer ‘Idea Of A Vivienne’ is meant to make your head spin. Dragon Age has always been a franchise in which mages are a socially surpressed group and to be confronted with a socially confident enchantress who likes Templars and seemingly supports the social shunning out of her own ambition is the walking embodiment of flippancy.

and yet, I feel a lot of sympathy for Vivienne.

Yes, she’s a bitch. She knows she’s one and she’s a-ok with it. I won’t argue with that. Sadly, the “Vivienne is a bitch” rhetoric also drastically sells her short. Vivienne is highly complex and her real personality is as tragic as it is twisted.

Madame de Fer

So let’s start with what we are shown on the surface. Vivienne is a high-ranking courtier from an empire notable for its deadly, acid-laced political game. She seemingly joins the Inquisition for personal gain, to acrue reputation and power, and eventually be elected Divine (= female pope) at the end of the game. She presents herself as a despicable blend of Real Housewife, Disney Villain, and Tory Politician, all rolled into one ball of sickening, unctuous smarm. Worse, the Inquisitor has no way to rebuke Vivienne’s absurd policies and ideas. You can’t argue with her, convince her to listen to your differing viewpoints or even kick her out the Inquisition. She has a way with words where she can twist arguments around in such a fashion that she lands on top and makes the other person look like the irrational party.

“Thus speaks the Inquisitor who has made so many mature and level-headed choices so far. Such as releasion malcontents upon the population without safeguards to protect them should they turn into abominations. Very wise. I rearranged some furniture. Lives aren’t thrown into jeopardy by my actions. Perhaps a little perspective is needed.”

She’s Cersei Lannister on creatine, Dolores Umbridge on motherfucking roids. If you look at merely the surface, then yes, Vivienne looks like the worst person ever created. I love a good anti-villainess however, and she’s definitely one.

Yet, she never actually does anything ‘evil’? Yes, she is ‘a tyrant’ as a Divine, but 1) the person saying this is Cassandra, whose dislike for mage freedom is only matched by her dislike of being sidelined 2) Divine Vivienne isn’t bad to mages either? (hold that thought, I’ll get to it). She never actually sabotages the Inquisition, no matter how low her approval with the Inquisitor gets. She never attempts to stop them, no matter how annoyed she is. She’s one of the most brutally honest companions in the cast, in fact. (It always surprises me people call her a ‘hypocrite’ - you keep using that word and it doesn’t mean what you think it means.) The ‘worst’ display of character is when she attempts to break up Sera and the Inquisitor and even then - are we going to pretend Sera isn’t a toxic, controlling girlfriend with a huge chip on her shoulder? I love Sera, but come on.

Vivienne is a character where the storytelling rule of Show, Don’t Tell is of vital importance. The Orlesian empire is an empire built around posturing and reputation. Nobody really shows their true motivations or character, and instead builds a public façade. It’s like how the Hanar (the Jellyfish people) in Mass Effect have a Public name they use in day-to-day life, and a Personal Name for their loved-ones and inner circle. Vivienne’s ‘Public Visage’ is that of Madame de Fer - this is the Vivienne who openly relishes in power, publicly humiliates grasping anklebiters with passive-aggressive retorts, the woman who is feared and loathed by all of Orlais, and this is the Face you see for most of the game.

The real beauty of Vivienne’s character and the reason why I love her as much as I do (which is to say - a LOT) are the few moments when - what’s the phrase DigitalSpy love so much - Her Mask Slips, and you get a glimpse of the real woman underneath the hennin.

This is the Vivienne who stands by you during the Siege of Haven and approves of you when you save the villagers from Corypheus’s horde.

This is the Vivienne who comforts you when you lament the losses you suffered.

This is the Vivienne who admires you for setting an example as a mage for the rest of Thedas.

This is the Vivienne who worries about Cole’s well-being during his personal quest, momentarily forgetting who or what he is.

This is the Vivienne who, when her approval for the Inquisitor reaches rock bottom, desperately reminds him of the suffering mages go through on a day-to-day basis because of the fear and hatred non-mages are bred to feel towards them and how this can spiral into more bloodshed without safeguards.

This is the Vivienne who shows how deep her affection for Bastien de Ghislain truly is, by bringing you along during his dying moments. I love this scene btw. This is the only moment in the entire game where Vivienne is actually herself in the presence of the Inquisitor - needless to say, I consider anyone who deliberately spikes her potion a motherfucking psychopath ^_^)

“There is nothing here now” fuck I *almost* cried at Vivienne, get out of my head BioWare, this is WRONG -- people who delude themselves this is an irredeemable character.

So, who is Vivienne really?

Understanding Vivienne requires recognizing that the mask and the real woman aren’t the same person. I think her relationship with Dorian is the prime example of this. I love the Vivienne/Dorian banter train, obviously - an unstoppable force of sass colliding with an unmovable wall of smarm is nothing short of a spectacle. However, there’s more to it than their highly entertaining snipes. As the incredibly gifted son of a magister, Dorian represents everything Vivienne should despise, and should be a natural enemy to her. And yet, she doesn’t and he isn’t.. Their gilded japes at each other are nothing more than verbal sparring, not dissimilar to how Krem and Iron Bull call each other names when they beat each other with sticks. In what I think is one of the most brilliantly written interactions between characters in DAI, I present Vivienne’s reaction when the Inquisitor enters a romance with Dorian:

Vivienne: I received a letter the other day, Dorian. Dorian: Truly? It's nice to know you have friends. 🙄 Vivienne: It was from an acquaintance in Tevinter expressing his shock at the disturbing rumors about your... relationship with the Inquisitor. Dorian: Rumors you were only too happy to verify, I assume. 🙃 Vivienne: I informed him the only disturbing thing in evidence was his penmanship. 🙂 Dorian: ...Oh. Thank you. 😳 Vivienne: I am not so quick to judge, darling. See that you give me no reason to feel otherwise.

Madame de Fer can never be seen directly expressing approval to a relationship between the Herald of Andraste and an ‘Evil’ Tevinter ’Magister’. By this subtle, subtle conversation, Vivienne indirectly tells Dorian that she considers him a good match for the Inquisitor and approves of the romance. It’s one of those reasons why I could never truly dislike Vivienne - between the layers of elegant poison lies a somewhat decent woman who never loses sight of the bigger picture. Not a good person maybe, but not one without some redeeming qualities.

The crux of Vivienne’s personality is that she, like all DAI companions, is a social outcast. She’s a mage in a fantasy setting where mages are psionically linked to demons, and grew up in a country where the majority religion has openly advocated the shunning and leashing of mages (’Magic exists to serve man’ - the Chantry is so, so vile in this game.). Vivienne’s “gift” was discovered so early in her life that she can barely remember her parents. Vivienne grew up in a squalid boarding school, learning from a young age that she’s dangerous and her talents need to be tamed and curbed. She is also terrified of demons, as her banters with Cole point out:

Cole: You're afraid. You don't have to be. Vivienne: My dear Inquisitor, please restrain your pet demon. I do not want it addressing me. Inquisitor: He's not doing any harm, Vivienne. Vivienne: It's a demon, darling. All it can do is harm. Cole: Everything bright, roar of anger as the demon rears. No, I will not fall. No one will control me ever again. Cole: Flash of white as the world comes back. Shaking, hollow, Harrowed, but smiling at templars to show them I'm me. Cole: I am not like that. I can protect you. If Templars come for you, I will kill them. Vivienne: Delightful. 😑

Vivienne’s Harrowing is implied to have been such a traumatizing event to her that she’s developed a pavlovian fear of demons ever since. (Hence her hostility towards Cole.). Vivienne is fully aware of the inherent dangers of magic, and projects this onto all other mages.

Besides, given how Dragon Age has a history with mages doing all sorts of fucked up shit, ranging from blood magic, murder, demonic possession and actual terrorism (yes, *ElthinaBITCH* had it coming, but let’s not pretend like Anders/Justice was anything other than a terrorist), Vivienne’s policies of controlled monitoring and vigilance are actually significantly more sensible than the options of ‘unconditionally freeing every mage all over Thedas’ and ‘reverting back to the status quo before the rebellion’. They’re flawed policies, obviously. When Vivienne says “mages” she pictures faceless silhouettes foremost and not herself. Regardless, unlike Cassandra and Leliana, Vivienne is aware of the fear others harbour for her kind, and how hard it is to overcome such perceptions.

Additionally, Vivienne’s a foreigner. She is an ethnic Rivaini, a culture associated with smugglers and pirates (Isabela from DAO and DA2 is half-Rivaini). This adds an additional social stigma, again pointed out by Cole:

Cole: Stepping into the parlor, hem of my gown snagged, no, adjust before I go in, must look perfect. Vivienne: My dear, your pet is speaking again. Do silence it. Cole: Voices inside. Marquis Alphonse. Cole: "I do hope Duke Bastien puts out the lights before he touches her. But then, she must disappear in the dark." Cole: Gown tight between my fingers, cold all over. Unacceptable. Wheels turn, strings pull. Cole: He hurt you. You left a letter, let out a lie so he would do something foolish against the Inquisition. A trap. Vivienne: Inquisitor, as your demon lacks manners, perhaps you could get Solas to train it.

This is the only palpable example of the casual racism Vivienne has to endure on a daily basis - Marquis Alphonse is a stupid, bigoted pillowhead who sucks at The Game, but remember - Vivienne only kills him if the Inquisitor decides to be a butthurt thug. She is aware that for every Alphonse, there are dozens of greasy sycophants who think exactly like he does, and will keep it under wraps just to remain in her good graces.

Finally, there’s the social position Vivienne manufactured for herself, which is the weak point towards her character imo. Remember, this woman is a commoner by birth. She doesn’t even have a surname. Through apparently sheer dumb luck (or satanic intervention) she basically fell into the position of Personal Mage to the Duke of Ghislain. Regardless, ‘Personal mages’ were the rage in Orlesian nobility, and the prestigious families owned by them like one may own a pet or personal property. By somehow becoming Bastien de Ghislain’s mistress and using his influence, "Madame de Fer” liberated herself from all the social stigmata which should have pinned her down into a lowly courtier rank and turned the largely ceremonial office of “Court Enchanter” into a position of respect and power. This is huge move towards mage emancipation by the way, in a society where, again, Mages are feared and shunned and are constantly bullied, emasculated and taught to hate their talents. Vivienne is a shining example of what mages can become at the height of their power. Power she has, mind you, never actually abused before her Divine election. Vivienne’s actions will forever be under scrutiny not because of who she is, but because of what she is. The Grand Game can spit her out at any moment, which will likely result in her death.

Inquisitor: “You seem to be enjoying yourself, Vivienne?” Vivienne: “It’s The Game, darling. If I didn’t enjoy it, I’d be dead by now.”

Whether Vivienne was using Bastien for her own gain or whether she truly loved him isn’t a case of or/or. It’s a case of and/and. The perception that she was using Bastien makes Vivienne more fearsome and improves her position in the Grand Game, but deep down, I have no doubts truly loved him. Remember, Vivienne’s position at the Orlesian court was secure. She had nothing to gain by saving Bastien’s life, but she attempted to anyway. That Bastien’s sister is a High Cleric doesn’t matter - Vivienne can be elected Divine regardless of her personal quest’s resolution. She loved him, period.

No, I don’t think Vivienne is a good person. She treats those she deems beneath her poorly, like Sera, Solas, Cole and Blackwall (characters I like less than Vivienne), which I think is the #1 indicator for a Bad Personality. But I don’t think she qualifies as ‘Evil’ either and I refuse to dismiss the beautiful layering of her character. I genuinely believe Vivienne joined the Inquisition not just for her personal gain, but also out of idealism, similar to Dorian (again, Cole is 100% correct in pointing out the similarities between Dorian’s and Vivienne’s motivations for joining, as discomforting it is to her).

In her mind, Vivienne sees herself as the only person who can emancipate the mages without bloodshed - her personal accomplishments at the Orlesian court speak for themselves. Vivienne isn’t opposed to mage freedom - she worries for the consequences of radical change, as she believes Orlesian society unprepared for the consequences. Hence why she’s perfectly fine with a Divine Cassandra. Hence why her fellow mages immediately elect her Grand Enchanter of the new Circle.

Hence why Vivienne is so terrified by the Inquisitor’s actions if her disapproval gets too low. The Inquisitor has the power to completely destroy everything she has built and fought for during her lifetime. Remember: Vivienne’s biggest fear is irrelevance - there’s no greater irrelevance than having your life achievements reverse-engineered by the accidental stumbling of some upstart nobody. This is the real reason why she joins, risks her life and gets her hands dirty - the only person whose competence Vivienne trusts, is Vivienne’s own.

Even as Divine Victoria, I’d say she’s not bad, at all actually. Vivienne has the trappings of an an Enlightened Despot, maintaining full control, while simultaneously granting mages more responsibility and freedom, slowly laying the foundations to make mages more accepted and less persecuted in southern Thedas. Given that Ferelden is a feudal fiefdom and Orlais is an absolute monarchy, this is a fucking improvement are you kidding me. (Wait did he just imply Vivienne is secretly the best Divine - hmm, probably not because Cass/Leliana have better epilogues - but realistically speaking, yes, Viv should be the best Divine and it’s bullshit that the story disagrees.)

Underneath the countless layers of smarm, frost and seeming callousness, lies a fiercely intelligent and brave woman, whose ideals have been twisted into perversion by the cruel, ungrateful world around her. Envy her for her ability to control her destiny, but know that envy is what it is.

The flaw in Vivienne’s character isn’t so much the ‘tyranny’ or the ‘bitchiness’ or the 'smarm’. Her flaw is her false belief that she is what the mages need the most. Her belief that her competence gives her the prerogative to serve the unwashed mage masses... by ruling over them. For all intents and purposes, Vivienne is an Orlesian Magister and this will forever be the brilliant tragedy of her character. She was created by a corrupt institution that should, by all accounts fear and loathe her but instead embraced her. It’s that delirious irony that makes Vivienne de Fer one of the best fictional characters in RPG history. the next post will be Eurovision-related. :-)

#RPG #Dragon Age #Dragon Age Inquisition #Vivienne #Vivienne de Fer #Madame de Fer #DAI #Dragon Age 3 #BioWare

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prancing-uboot · 4 years

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Satsuma Dads Timeline

You know how Golden Kamuy is an awesome manga full of amazing (and super-hot) characters and a great main storyline? So what do I do with it? Naturally I obsess over those two old gremlins: Koito Heiji and Hanazawa Koujirou the fathers of Second Lieutenant Koito and Ogata.

It's probably the most niche pairing ever, and I thought it was just me fixating on that one panel where Tsurumi mentioned they were close friends from Satsuma. But the more I read about the history of Satsuma and the times they lived in, the more I’m becoming convinced that there’s so much of their story written between the lines and that their relationship and tumultuous past is what actually caused and keeps together most of the GK plot. But nobody else seems to see it!

So what do I do with that? I spent my nights in front of my crazywall of historical research, trying to recreate an entire universe of events 50-years before the gold plot starts, just to be able to present to you:

The Satsuma Dads Timeline

Why you Should Care for Heiji and Koujirou

~1850

Koujirou and Heiji* were born around 1850** in Kagoshima.

Heiji might have been older then Koujirou, but not more then 5 years. They were both sons of high ranking samurai (noble bloodline), serving the Shimazu clan.

* Most likely they went by other names in their youth and then changed them a bazillion times to make stuff confusing, but let's skip that.

** That would make them around the same age as Tougou Heihachiro and Nogi Maresuke ** - the chief players in the Russo-Japanese war for the navy and army. Both share a lot of biographical motives with Koujirou and Heiji and Noda might have modeled them a bit after them so I'll include the parallels where possible. I'm not sure Nogi even exists in the GK universe or was he replaced by Koujirou completely. Tougou was recently confirmed to exist. He was also a Kagoshima-boy, and grew up in the same circles so it's impossible that he and Heiji didn't know each other from childhood.

1856-65

Koujirou and Heiji train in the same gochu in Kajiya-cho*. Gochu was a Satsuma-specific education system, relying on small neighborhood study groups in which the older samurai spent a part of their time teaching the younger everything they knew. Starting from penmanship and Confucian doctrines and ending with swordsmanship, and the unstoppable Jigen-ryu.

Teenage Heiji develops a Koito-crush*. on Saigo Takamori (20 years his senior) and follows him around like a lost puppy. Koujirou makes fun of him, but in reality he feels a bit jealous.

* Kajya-cho was a Kagoshima district known now as "Home town of Revitalization" as most of the influential Satsuma leaders of the Meiji Revolution came from there. That also meant that they directly taught the younger generations as part of the gochu. For example Tougou also came from that area. I'm not that sure Heiji and Koujirou were actually from Kajiya-cho, but it being 3km downhill from the Nanshu Cemetary would fit in nicely to the place where Tsurumi and Otonoshin first met so it's likely.

** Gochu was a completely male oriented environment, so homoerotic relations bloomed and were even encouraged (think ancient Greece), hence the term "Satsuma habit" was later used as the synonym of homosexuality in Japan. But for them then it was just a natural thing they sometimes did, and not really an orientation. Koito Otonoshin crushing on Tsurumi might be a bit old fashioned but it's just a Satsuma thing, so of course his dad is cool with that.

1866-67

Both go to Kyoto to serve Hisamitsu Shimazu and there they experience the tension of the Bakumatsu period first hand. They soak up the patriotic moods of the Sonno-Joi fraction, they hear of the the assassinations by the Shinsengumi, they feel a revolution brewing. Being a hot-headed youth in those times made keeping out of trouble very difficult.

1868-69

The Boshin War breaks out. Satsuma, Choshu and Tosa fight to abolish the Tokugawa shogunate. Heiji and Koujirou join up and dispite their young age are given officer commissions*. Coming from a long line of Satsuma’s military commanders it is what they were raised up to do. This war however is nothing like the stories they grew up on. Instead of swords it relies more on modern weapons guns and artillery. What was supposed to be a short battle with the Shogun's forces, turns into a lengthy nationwide campaign of crashing shogunate loyalists long after the Shogun himself resigned. Koujiro and Heiji fight side by side and survive all the way to see the end of it in Hakodate.

* Only the oficers wore the super cool Satsuma black koguma wigs and I definitely do need fanart of that.

1870

Heiji and Koujiro come out of the war victorious. Most of the positions in the new government are taken by Satsuma and Choshu men, so practically any career path is open to them. Koujiro stays with the Imperial Guard while Heiji joins the Imperial Naval Academy in Tsukiji, Tokyo. They compete for the most ridiculous facial hair* and spend their off nights “drinking green liqueurs under red lanterns”

Ogata's grandfather fought** on the other side for the Mito clan (the last shogun was from the Mito-Tokugawa branch). After the defeat his family falls into poverty. They sell their daughter to an okiya because they cannot support her ***.

* The Haitourei edict from 1871 allowed samurai to cut of their chonmage and encouraged them to experiment with western haircuts.

** I’m guessing he was active in the Boshin by the fact that he had an old gun lying around.

*** This "Ogata's mom comes from a fallen samurai family" theory has been going around but I'm not super sure about the time frame here. Usually maiko get promoted to geisha when they're 20-21. That means to already be a geisha when she gave birth to Hyakunosuke she must have been at least 12 when she was sold. That's quite late for a geisha to start her education. Or I might be wrong about Hyakunosuke's birth date, but I'd really like it to be 1879, so I'm in a pickle here.

1873

Heiji finally finds the guts to propose to Yuki, his Kagoshima sweetheart. They marry and a son is born to them - Heinojou *.

Koujirou's family chooses a wife for him **. She's from a good family, likely Choshu to have some useful connections. Heiji comes to their wedding in his fancy navy uniform to congratulate them and say goodbye. He'll be going to study abroad in the France ***. Koujirou feels like it's his funeral wake.

* Heinojou's birthdate is the first solid date we have for them from the canon, so I'm basing the whole “born in the 1850s” on the fact that the expected age of a man to marry was their early 20s.

** Arranged marriage was the most commonplace in Japan then. The families picked the brides because they were most likely to spend more time with her then the husband, taking care of the house and such.

*** In 1871 Tougou went to study abroad with 14 other cadets to Greenwich Naval Collage and that would fit so nicely. The problem is that they went 1871-1878 and Heinojou was born in 1873 *shakes fist*. There were also individual exchange programs though and since in canon Heiji is mentioned to have some french friends I figured he was sent to France.

~1876

Koujirou is stationed in Tokyo, while his wife stays in Kagoshima, taking care of the family home. He begins an affair* with Tome**, a geisha from Asaskusa. With Heiji gone she's the only person he can open his heart to.

After abolisment of the clan system and privileges of the samurai, the dissatisfied Satsuma samurai quit the Imperial Guard en-masse and go back to Kagoshima to gather around Saigo Takamori and brew a rebelion. Koujiro - by then a major - is faced with a choice: to go back with his childhood friends, or to stay loyal to the government. He chooses his career.

* I'm guessing he must have been married already when the thing started, because marrying a geisha wasn't that unheard of and wouldn't really cause a scandal or hinder his career. All three of the Meiji prime ministers Hirobumi Ito, Taro Katsura and Yamagata Aritomo ended up marrying geisha. So Tome being a geisha was not a problem - Koujiro already having a wife was.

** Tome is a random name that Ogata used in his Sugimoto self insert fic. I love the headcanon that it's his mom's name. Because of course he makes everything personal.

1877

In January the Seinan War breaks out. Koujirou fights against his clansmen and his former war comrades *. By September most of them are dead. He is there at Shiroyama where Saigo makes his last stand. Heiji is never going to forgive him that.

When he comes back to Tokyo, Tome doesn't ask, she understands and prepares him angler nabe while he sulks.

* Koujirou's situation is by no means an unusual one. Many of the Satsuma samurai landed lucrative jobs under the new administration and didn't share the dissatisfaction of their disenfranchised clansmen. Even Saigo's own younger brother Judo stayed as a lieutenant-general in the Imperial Guard.

1878

In May, Okubou Toshimichi, the lord of home affairs, who took personal command of surpressing Saigo's rebelion is assasinated, branded in Satsuma as traitor.

Koujiro is not welcome in Kagoshima anymore*. His wife moves to Tokyo to avoid harassment. Keeping his affair with Tome is becoming more difficult. Especially when he learns that Tome is pregnant **

In December Heiji comes back to pick up the pieces.

* Both Okubo and Saigo Judo moved their families to Tokyo because of this situation, so I'm guessing that was a thing. They received some backlash from their compatriots but eventually things normalized (for Judo at least, because Okubo was, you know, slashed up dead in an alley). By 1898 Saigo was acknowledged by the government as a tragic hero and bygones were bygones. Yet Heiji still talks with the Satsuma dialect, while Koujiro doesn’t even have a trace of it left.I wonder if he still used it when talking to Heiji.

** Geisha were not supposed to have sex with their patrons. The fact that she chose to give birth to Koujirou's son tells that she dared to hope that he'll at least acknowledge him.

1879

In January Hyakunosuke is born*

* Ogata's birthdate is a shot in the dark. He could be anywhere between 1878 and 1883. I just really like the idea that he was born right into the middle of such a chaos.

EDIT: GoldenKamuyHunting pointed out that Ogata had to be born after 1881, since Noda placed him as Older than Usami. This ruins the timeline a bit, and I’ll have to think of the way to reorder it to fit. For now, treat the 1879 as canon-defying :(

~1881

After pressure from his parents and from Heiji, Koujirou comes clean and learns to make his official family work. Koujirou's legitimate son, Yuusaku is born*.

From now on he effectively ghosts Tome. Her mental health** begins to waver. Tome quits being a geisha and moves back to her parents in Ibaraki ***.

* Also a shot in the dark. This would make him 23 when he died and 2 years younger than Ogata.

** Before the 20th century the white makeup geisha wore was made out of lead, making them more likely to develop lead poisoning, the first symptom of which is the decline of intelectual ability. Fun fact: lead gets passed down in breastmilk in quantities super-harmful for the baby, so if we go with the theory "Tome went crazy because of lead poisoning" than that would explain so much about Ogata...

*** This is likely due to her health, not due to giving birth. She could have just sent Hyakunosuke to her parents and kept working. God knows how they made ends meet after that. Before they were be so poor that they had to sell their daughter. Now they were much older, she was sick and unable to work, and her child was another mouth to feed. Not to mention the cost geisha education was worse then US collage loans so she most likely had a large debt she barely started to repay. Was Koujiro at least decent enough to pay child-support? Oh god *realises* it was Heiji who was paying them, wasn’t it? *heart breaks*

1886

Heiji and Yuki's second son, Otonoshin is born, 13 years after the first. What's up with that, Heiji?

1887

Koujirou goes to Germany* to study military tactics.

Hyakunosuke (8) feeds his mother rat poison. Koujirou doesn't come to the funeral.

As a result Hyakunosuke is brought up by his grandparents alone. He likes his grandma. They might instill in him the same kind of dislike for the new government as in the case of Kadokura. They definitely install a dislike for his deadbeat dad.

* Japan sent most of the promising officers abroad to soak up the knowledge how to run a modern nation. The army was mostly modeled after Germany (the Japanese were impressed by their recent victory against France) so it's the safest bet that Koujirou went to study there sometime in his life. In 1887-88 Nogi and Soroku Kawakami were sent to Germany. So it still depends if Nogi exists in GK universe and Koujirou just tagged along with them, or are they completely interchangeable.

1888

A new division is formed in Hokkaido. Tasked with guarding the north and developing the land.

1889

Heinojou (16) passes the Naval Academy entry exams with highest marks, determined to follow the footsteps of his father.

1894-95

The first Sino-Japanese war breaks out.

Heiji and Heinojou take part in the Battle of Yalu River. Heinojou is stationed on the flagship Matsushima under admiral Ito Sukeyuki. Matsushima gets badly damaged. 57 men die (including three officers) and 54 more are wounded.

Heiji silently watches his son burning from his ship. Comes back a wreck of a man. Gets awarded a title of Baron under the kazoku system *.

No clue what Koujirou could have been doing then. It’s likely that he was part of the army that conquered Port Arthur (back than still called Lushunkou) the first time around in only 3 days **.

* I need to double-check that with the raws since I'm not sure Tsurumi calling him "lord" is meant to imply he had a noble title, or if it's just a honorific. Many of admirals had titles so it would be highly likely someone with a lineage and a service record like Heiji also got one.

** this experiance would make him a pefect choice for later leading the operation in 1904 so this would make a lot of sense, but it would also be a pretty heavy take, since that would mean he was present during the Port Arthur masacre. And as a senior officer too, so it’s hard to find any excuses for him if that was the case. Did witnessing the atrocities there influence his later opposition to the Japanese expansion into Manchuria? Was his instruction for Yuusaku not to kill anyone motivated by trying to protect his son from sharing his guilt?

1895

Tsurumi comes back from the war and joins the 7th (actually more like he’s demoted out of the 2nd). By then Koujirou is the head of the division *

* I’m guessing Tsurumi had to have enough time to work on him, to be able to learn all about the Koito family troubles and come up with the plan how to use them. Did he get into Koujirou’s confidence? Or was he just reading his private letters?

1900

Heiji stays in Kagoshima and spoils/neglects his second son. Tsurumi "accidentally" meets Otonoshin and they visit Saigo's and Heinojou's graves.

Later that year the whole Koito family moves to Hakodate and Heiji takes control of the Ominato torpedo division *.

* The Ikazuki was a new class of light destroyers specifically made not to repeat the tragedy of too large and too slow Matsushima. No wonder Heiji was willing to move across the country for that.There were 6 of them made in total. Cool factoid: One of those destroyers sunk after a crash with a civilian steamship off the coast of Hokkaido in 1909.

1902

Ogata (24) joins the army and specifically volunteers for the 7th division planning god-knows-what. By conscription he would have landed in the 2nd (Kantou region).

Koujirou doesn't acknowledge him. Tsurumi does.

The Great Hakodate kidnapping takes place. Koujiro sends his best intelligence officer from Tsukisappu to help his friend and keep things discreet. Afterwards Heiji learns to appreciate the son he has left.

Later that year Otonoshin passes the exam to join the Army acedemy.

Fresh out of the academy Yuusaku (21) joins the 7th division. His father, plagued with guilt and bad life choices instructs him not to kill people and not to sleep around.

Yuusaku meets Hyakunosuke. Hyakunosuke tries to get him to kill people and sleep around.

1904-05

The Russo-Japanese war.

In February the war starts with Japan launching night torpedo attacks on the Russian fleet stationed inside Port Arthur. Heiji leads the third destroyer squadron aboard the Sazanami*. They continue the attacks over the next months trying to impose a blockade. After the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the victorious Japanese Combined Fleet effectively traps the remaining Russian warships inside Port Arthur. The Russians can't get out, the Japanese can't get in. Heiji can only wait and watch as the Japanese Army struggles to capture Port Arthur by land.

Koujirou leaves the 7th division behind when he is promoted to a member of staff of General Nogi’s 3rd Army. They land in Incheon in April and reach Port Arthur in August to start the siege. It is a drawn out blood bath. After wasting tons of lives in pointless assaults, the Japanese realize quite late that the key to victory lies in capturing the 203 Hill overlooking the harbor. Koujirou is made chief of staff for this operation.

In October they get the news that the Russian Baltic Fleet has left Tallinn and is on its way to reinforce the besieged Pacific Fleet. The race starts. If Koujirou fails to capture the hill before the Baltic Fleet arrives, the Japanese Fleet will be annihilated, and Heiji along with it.

In November the 7th division arrives in Port Arthur. They don’t get special treatment from their former commander and they’re sent head first to the 203 Hill. They capture it on 5th December, only after the artillery stopped caring weather they hit their own or not**. From their new position they destroy the whole Pacific fleet.

The death toll is 80 000 soldiers. More than half of the 7th is gone. Among the fallen are second lieutenants Hanazawa Yuusaku and Nogi Yasusuke - general Nogi's only remaining son (the first one died earlier in the same war).***

Hyakunosuke thinks that the losses wouldn't have to be this high if they just had more snipers like him. But nobody listened.

* All of the Ikazuki-class destroyers were quite active during the war. I placed Heiji on the Sazanami just because there’s the most info about what she did and when.

** The winning strategy was implemented by Kodama Gentarou. He was sent to Port Arthur with the authority to replace Nogi. He had enough guts to sacrifice soldiers falling to friendly fire in one coordinated assault instead of bleeding them out by continuous suicidal frontal assaults. He didn't officially replace Nogi though, and he let him take the credit for the victory, because they were friends. It's a really cool story.

*** Interesingly enough Yasusuke, was also shot in the back of his head. His father when he saw his body asked only “Was it after he had completed his task, or was it before?”

1905

The 7th move on to Mukden. Koujirou and Nogi along with them.

In May the Baltic Fleet arrives. Without Port Arthur, they try to get to Vladivostok to resupply. Tougou's fleet intercepts them in the Tsushima strait and despite their smaller number, crushes them decisively. Heiji's destroyer Sazanami, captures the destroyer Buyini with the wounded admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky **.

In September the Treaty of Portsmouth is signed. The Trans-Manchurian Railway gets handed off to the Japanese. Later Koujirou strongly opposes the plan to develop it ***.

** Heiji's torpedo division was also responsible to delivering the finishing blow to the flagship Knyaz Suarov. Later this was written on Knyaz Suarov's last moments "While she had a gun above water she fired, and not a man survived her of all that crew, to whose stubborn gallantry no words can do justice. If there is immortality in naval memory it is hers and theirs". Gives me the chills.

*** Did he see that it would lead to more war? Mantetsu was the reason behind the Manchurian Incident in 1931 and later for the breakout of the second Sino-Japanese war, where a really ugly face of Japanese imperialism saw the light of day. So, was Koujirou a good guy all along? This I hope will be explained in the manga.

1906

In January Nogi returns to give a victory report to the Emperor *.

Koujirou "commits seppuku" by his son's hand. "Writes" a sappy goodbye letter to Heiji (probably also by Ogata's hand).

Heiji gets seduced by his son's dashing young commander and does some stupid-treasonous things for him, convinced that Central Command was to blame for pushing Koujirou to suicide.

In November Mantetsu is established.

* Nogi breaks down while making the report and asks to be allowed to commit seppuku for allowing such high casualties. The Emperor forbids him. Nogi waits 7 years until the Emperor dies and commits seppuku on the day of his funeral.

Disclaimers

I would say half of this consists of what already is in GK canon (even if it’s written between the lines) or history. The other half are my free guesses for what I personally think would make a better story ;)

I tried and tried to do thorough research, but in the end I’m just a humble fangirl, and not a historian, so if there’s something I got wrong, missed or misinterpreted please correct me - learning history is a never-ending story.

Sorry for linking directly to the scanlations. Support the manga by buying the volumes if you can.

This list will most likely be growing since I will eventually figure out what Koujirou did during the Sino-Japanese war, and I’m only starting digging in to the details of the Boshin War, so I’m sure I’ll expand upon that.

If anyone ever wants to use this information for a fic, please do. Copy it all if you want to. I don’t mind the slightest. I’ll love you to pieces for writing anything for them at all!

#golden kamuy #hanazawa koujirou #koito heiji

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palomafxrd · 3 years

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* ALEXA DEMIE, CIS-FEMALE + SHE/HER | you know PALOMA FORD, right? they’re TWENTY-FOUR, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, all of their life? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to CASH RACE BY TINASHE like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole A HONEY TONED VOICE SPEWING HARSH WORDS, FRESHLY PRINTED PROTEST FLYERS, PINK GLOSSED LIPS SMOKING A ZOOT IN A BRAND NEW LAMBO, thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is JULY 24th, so they’re a LEO, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( zoey, she/her, 23, cet )

♡ pinterest to be shared tomorrow !!

hello hello !! <3 my name is zoey and i am very excited to join this group. there’s so many of you, ahhh. i’m not going to lie to you, going through the blogroll was almost intimidating BUT i am happy to be here and introduce you all to my newest darling, paloma ford. down below is a short summary of all the things you need to know about her ( this post will be edited and extended to a more complete character biography later. i’m just very tired and wanted to get this post up before bed lol ). now, please excuse me whilst i go read all of your intro posts and get to know everyone.

EARLY LIFE: ( location: lilac ridge )

paloma ford is the only daughter to two illegal immigrants from mexico.

her parents arrived in north carolina when paloma’s mother was nearly nine months pregnant, living undocumented for years

growing up, paloma’s family got little to no financial aid or help to integrate into society. her mother barely left the house and did not speak english. she worked as a maid at the palm motel whilst her father worked a mechanic job at a car rental place in town.

it did not take long before the financial struggles began to take its toll on the family. paloma’s father became heavily relient on alcohol and marijuana to function. the poor man would sometimes leave his family for days on end to drink with new-found friends, leaving his wife to vent for herself.

HIGH SCHOOL / COLLEGE:

as soon as paloma entered high school, the young woman knew that she wanted to be an activist of some sort.

her father left when she was fifteen and, realizing that she could never afford to go to college (and study politics like she wanted to), the teen turned to quite a fascinating side hustle.

in her senior year and college days she was notorious for ‘dating’ older men for their money. despite rumors spreading around town that she was selling her body for materialistic gains, the truth of the matter was that she never took part in any sexual activities with these men, she simply accompanied them to diners and sat pretty. the goal? save up enough money to build a better future for herself (and get that fendi bag whil she’s at it, ya feel me?)

today, at twenty-four years old, paloma has recently graduated from college with a major in public policy.

paloma is working on starting her own non-profit organisation dedicated to help children of illegal immigrants.

her ultimate goal is to become a prominent figure in local (perhaps even national) politics. she wants to improve labor laws for illegal immigrants and strive towards immigration reform.

big dreams for a young woman, ay? she’s feisty, hehe.

ABOUT PALOMA:

however, paloma did not grow up from her troubled childhood unharmed. it was hurtful to lose her father to addiction at such a young age and she has never forgiven him for leaving her and her mother (hello d a d d y issues).

because she grew up in quite a disadvantaged position compared to her peers stemming from richer or more established households, paloma has always suffered from great self-confidence issues.

paloma feels that she can’t show weakness. she needs to portray herself as a woman that has her shit together. if she does, she falls three steps behind everyone else.

thus, she may seem like a stuck-up, arrogant, overly ambitious brat sometimes but it’s quite the facade.

deep down inside she is such a sweetheart though. :’-(

all she cares about is taking care of her mother, her career and good times on the weekends

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS:

over the past years, paloma has been focusing solely on her education and career. this has lead to her surpressing a lot of negative emotions and traumatic experiences stemming from her childhood.

now that she’s graduated, paloma likes to surpress said emotions by drinking fancy cocktails over the weekend. lately it’s gotten so bad she’s been smoking marijuana on the regular.

now for the great cliffhanger: will she go down to the same drugs that ruined her father? (i don’t think she will skcjakjd she just needs some good friends ok)

i want ALL the plots. if you are interested in plotting, please like this post and i will messag you when i get back from work tomorrow. if there is one particular connection that you are interested in or would like to know more about please don’t be afraid to holla at me !! and if you have any fun, toxic, dramatic, angsty, lovey-dovey, wholesome ideas i am all ears. <3

WANTED CONNECTIONS: ( + more to be added tomorrow )

best friend // childhood sweetheart // high school sweetheart // sibling relationship // party friends // exes (good and bad) // friends with benefits // enemies // frenemies // drug dealer // lifelong friend // neighbours // roommates // smoking buddies lol

#addiction tw #drugs tw #♡ paloma. -> introduction.#irvingintro

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freewilllife · 4 years

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What are the things you like/dislike about soowon

I start with this the “dislike” first, since there are far fewer points:

1. The >>Crimson Illness<<

I think it is a convenient way to get rid of Soo Won...I mean how troubling would it have been if Yona and Hak had to really come to terms with Soo Won? And not to say, that there were pretty much no symptoms present. So yes...that he is supposed to literally die at such a young age...man!

2. The relationship between Yona and Soo Won

I do like their relationship,

since Yona and Soo Won both are compared to each other and not due to their different sexes!

since it is a pretty complicated relationship that changed over time...

First Yona was in love with him, then she fears him, then she hates him, then she realizes his reasons and understands him partly, but she cannot fogive him, yet she cannot forget his kindness...This is truly beautiful!

And Soo Won...he cares for her like a “mother”, but also wished for her warmth..He took care for her in the past, yet simultaneously, he is being taken care for...

Neither of the three realize how much they still mean for each other!

What I don´t like is that this relationship is rather sidelined...Hak and Soo Won´s relationship is more prominent up until now...

Things that I do like about him...Boy! Too much to mention, so I will only address the most important points...

1. Soo Won as an antagonist

Soo Won is not a typical villain who thinks it is so funny to be evil or who only thinks about himself, yet he is able to realize that there are consequences of his deeds that he has to accept...

Soo Won is clearly portrayed to react to his circumstances and I do think that some of his features can be easily explained by his past.

2. Soo Won possesses a wide range of relationships with all the different characters...(I mean I like the relationship between the 3 mains the most!)

Of course this is only a part of these various relationships...

3. Soo Won demonstrates many opposing features and I do consider this especially human and it is exciting to read about him...

Soo Won is a kind person at heart, but chose to be ruthless (He more or less had to surpress the kind part of himself

(Honestly I do wonder if not the relationship of his parents are a reason for that feature of himself...

He pretends to be silly and foolish...though I do think that he partly is such a person, but it also is a cover he uses to trick his enemies and potential followers...

This and that picture below are actually only one shot apart...

He loves people, but still keeps his distance...

4. Soo Won is more or less the person that drives the story forward...

Soo Won has a clear aim in mind that illustrate his past experiences...

His father used to be the protector of his country...and in order to do that, he committed horrible deeds

...Now his father was murdered by his uncle who put the country in danger...

So Soo Won whose sole existence as his mother´s son is a reason for the difficulties between his uncle and his father. Soo Won hates King Hiryuu and the curse he has placed upon his descendants....

Therefore it is really understandable that he truly favors the deeds of human beings and wants to have nothing to do with King Hiryuu...

But his aim or his plan are also the trigger for Yona´s journey and her decision to find the dragon warriors...(Also he really fulfills his plan...Yona often get involved with certain stages of it)....But that is the funny part...since Soo Won actually fears that development...

5. I love Soo Won´s weaknesses and insecurities...

Soo Won is pretty capable and somtimes he is even able to use his own weaknesses and turn it into a strength...like with his appearance and that his enemies often underestimate him...

But I also love that he cannot completely abandon neither Yona nor Hak...

That he adores his father extremely, yet I do think he is pretty much aware of his father´s shortcomings...Or how would you explain that face?

If Soo Won was completely sure that it is completely wrong and nothing could be said against his father, he would have not a face like this...(Though I still do think it would be funny if his cruelty was the reason, since I cannot remember a person that didn´t become king, because he was cruel to his enemies...However,..I do think his relationship with his mother and probably Soo Won were Yu hon´s weaknesses and that may be a reason, why he looks like this).

6. I love his stupid faces

#akatsuki no yona #soo won #su won

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myheroblogs · 4 years

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How Izuocha will go in the rest of the story? Uraraka's Character Development

This was meant to be a short post, but this turned into an essay real quick. (Oops)

It occurred to me for a while that Midoriya and Uraraka may be parallels to Nana Shimura and Gran Torino.

Nana Shimura's quirk is confirmed to be Float, which seems kinda similar to Uraraka.

Midoriya's technique of using OFA: Full Cowl is based off of Gran Torino's.

(This gave me the headcanon that Nana's fighting style with OFA is also martial arts like Uraraka...)

However, roles seemed switched here. Nana has OFA, like Midoriya. While Uraraka and Gran Torino originally had more "selfish" reasons why they chose to become heroes, with Uraraka originally choosing to be a hero for money, while Gran Torino became a hero just so that he could use his quirk. And in the end, they ended up staying as heroes to support someone else. (Gran Torino with Nana, Uraraka with Midoriya).

These parallels may hint that Uraraka may find out about OFA and become on of Midoriya's prime supporter as the 9th holder. But this is not what I'm actually implying here....

The thing with Gran Torino and Nana Shimura here is that.... They're friends.

I'm not saying that's a bad thing! Its actually nice to see this kind of team up with there being no particular romance in between. It's quite refreshing actually!

What I'm saying here is that that's how it may go for Midoriya and Uraraka's relationship. They'll actually end up being just friends, not lovers in the end.

Nana Shimura, who may have some parallels with Midoriya, is MARRIED, and has a CHILD. This may hint that Midoriya may end up finding someone else as his love interest in the future.

But also note that Nana Shimura and Gran Torino's friendship may be a sign it won't be the case for Uraraka and Midoriya.

Because MHA is a series that always heavily shows how the newer generation goes on, fixes the mistakes of past generations and surpass them. Nana and Torino were the previous generation, and Midoriya and Uraraka are the newer generation.

Maybe we will see Midoriya and Uraraka actually become more than 'friends'. But these parallels with Gran Torino and Shimura Nana gives me an impression that them working together may be more important than we think.

The way they interact now may seem bland, but things don't always stay the same in the long run.

I tend to be very unbiased when it comes to ships, I guess. I could see these two becoming a thing, but I wouldn't mind if they don't either. Both ways would still be good for their character development.

Uraraka admiting her feelings to Midoriya would actually be good character development for her.

Uraraka has been surpressing her feelings for Midoriya, but ironically, I think that's what hindering her from moving on from him. (Talking from experience here.)

So this character arc requires her to actually confess the feelings she has towards Midoriya, or at least accepting them rather than surpressing them. MHA has this theme of telling the reader that feelings aren't invalid and its okay to show them.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with admiring someone and liking them. She's been surpressing her feelings, and her letting it out is the only way for her to finally let go and have some peace of mind.

How their relationship will go all just depends on how Midoriya would react if Uraraka does confess. It could go in two ways. Midoriya hasn't talked to a girl before Uraraka, so I think if he actually did liked Uraraka back, he wouldn't actually recognise that's how he felt until someone points it out, like how it was with Uraraka.

It could throw him into the exact same position where Uraraka was in, realizing he likes her back and the whole thing all over again, or he could accept how she felt and they both move on, but of course, still including the freaking out and getting flustered, cause of course Midoriya has absolutely no knowledge how to deal with this stuff.

I wouldn't mind their relationship being either friendship or something more. But if Hori really is intending this, then GEEZ, this is actually a good set up for both characters and their relarionship if he is genuinely intending Uraraka and Midoriya to be a thing. Hori stated he's not good with writing romance, but this is still pretty good.

Also, this post was only intended to point out Midoriya and Uraraka's parallels with Nana and Torino, and what it may mean for their relationship, but this got longer than intended. Lmao

So for those who think that Uraraka seem to be bland cahracter now, since her character arc is now only focusing on Midoriya, well that may be true for now.

But Uraraka's character arc here is actually about accepting your own feelings, and how its important to accept them to finally move on.

This also ties in with how Midoriya's character development may be going. He was taught to "not cry" and just "smile through it", when there's actually nothing wrong with crying. In fact, those who tend to cry more actually tend to be more mentally strong than others.

Acceptance is always needed to move forward.

#bnha #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #midoriya izuku #deku #uraraka ochako #deku x uraraka #izuocha #bnha meta #bnha manga #gran torino #shimura nana

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classified-bluerose · 5 years

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put me back together - quentin beck x reader

a/n: (mild) spiderman: ffh spoilers ahead. probably a very OOC quentin but hey... the man got me clownin’.

quick notes: reader is an avenger, quentin is quentin, this is far too soft tbfh but it’s fanfiction so \_(0-0)_/. just suspend your belief & hope u enjoy!

a/n 2: unedited, unbeta’d. idk man. i’m just in love w jake gyllenhaal (gylenhaal?) and mysterio is hot as hell.

(GIF is not mine)

—

chapter one: breathless

—

quentin beck is a meticulous man - he planned every facet of his revenge plot down to the smallest of details. arranged contingencies and back-up plans and waited, with the patience of a saint, for the correct moment to strike. he ensured any and all top-tier avengers were MIA, left it just long enough for SHIELD to pull together some semblance of it’s former operation but short enough so they were still finding their feet in the aftermath of the Blip. getting around the kid, parker, would be easy enough. he’d been through a tremendous amount of trauma, and quentin could use that to his advantage.

the one thing quentin beck didn’t count on, though, was you.

you, an avenger - or a former avenger, at least - who fell somewhere in the middle of all the others. not by power level, simply by how known you were. the widow and the hawk were rarely spotted and little was known about either, whilst iron man and captain america owned the heart and soul of the entire nation. banner was known for his destructive capabilities and thor worshipped for his literal godliness and appearance.

how shallow the common folk can be, quentin always mused.

then you - powerful, but not plastered across billboards or tv ads. quiet and lowkey, but not quite invisible. quentin was aware of your existence but never paid much attention to it, having heard that, following stark and roger’s deats that you’d quit the superhero charade and disappeared into the ether.

so, the man of mysteries found himself more than a little surprised when fury showed up mexico, with you in tow.

a little bit of panic hits as he watches you appraise the scene - this could be a problem, he thinks to himself, scanning his brain for any possible solution. it is only when he begins to interact with the shield agents that he notices something.

although you are standing in his presence, alive, solid, real, it‘s pretty obvious you aren’t exactly there. haunted images flicker across an otherwise stoic face as shoulders bow from the weight of grief and guilt and trauma. glassy eyes stare through and not at, words mumbled in montone in response to fury.

okay, quentin thinks, hiding a smirk, i can work with this.

—

the plan changes ever-so-slightly before venice. it is simple but brilliant, even if he does say so himself. having already laid the groundwork for his tragic backstory, it is easy to weave your character into the tapestry he was creating.

pained glances, longing expressions, a hesistant greeting - all little, subtle clues hinting to the fact that quentin knew you in his alternate world.

fury picks up on it first, of course. the spy who’s secrets have secrets still has the eye for detail he’s famous for. you, on the other hand, are oblivious to quentin’s actions - obvlious to pretty much anything happening around you. you don’t speak unless directly spoken too, don’t offer insight or advice on how to defeat the elementals. it‘s almost like fury has dragged you here in a bid to convince you to return to the fold.

quentin learns as much as he can about you as he flies over the sea to italy; not much could be gleaned from online sources but he pulls out just enough information to put together a rough sketch of who you are, what you wanted, what you’d lost.

you’d worked with the avengers since 2012, sided with stark in the infamous civil war years later - the idea of you being close to that man was enough to set quentin’s blood boiling - and had fought in both battles against the mad titan thanos. your powers were certainly impressive - your ability to conjure and manipulate fire set off a fresh worry. the final elemental that mysterio would face off against was the one made of ‘’flames’’ - what if you decided your powers would help with the destruction of the molten man?

quentin files that thought away for later as he clicks on a rare picture printed on some trendy news site. he almost doesn’t recognise the girl in the photograph as you. you were younger, looked lighter, did not carry as many ghosts on your back. and you were smiling. wide and bright and shining and quentin struggled to pull himself away from the sight.

when he did, he itemised the information he’d gathered into what he could and couldn’t use to win you over. after all, every superhero needs a love interest to protect, right?

you were close to stark, that much was painfully, bitterly obvious. newsreports following the aftermath of the last battle hinted at an intimate relationship with the black widow, too. both those people were dead and gone and that meant there was something missing in her life. an empty space that quentin was certain he could fill. the battle had caused some damage to your powers - almost like a battery, the effort and strain of fighting thanos had drained your energy quite significantly. you were slowly returning to your original state, but right now you were weakened, hurting. vulnerable.

perfect for quentin.

he gathered his information, updated the team on this latest development, and braced himself for what would come next.

—

when he reaches venice, it’s clear that fury has mentioned to you that quentin has taken an interest. you seem slightly more alert, meeting his gaze for periods longer than a half-second. your body language changes minutely - your arms, usually crossed tight across your chest, now hang looser at your waist, fingers interlaced. it is by no means a huge shift, but enough for quentin to make his move.

after a meeting with agents, fury, and spiderman, he hangs around the base setup, lingering at consoles and waiting for the last of the people to trickle out. you have stayed on to keep an eye on quentin - fury is no fool and recognised that this stranger from some other world could turn out to be just as much a threat as the monsters he was fighting. quentin couldn’t surpress a smile as he thought, oh, you don’t know the half of it.

he quickly rearranges his face when he clears his throat and approaches you, slowly. you glance up. he took his time to savour this moment - this scene he was most excited for.

he smiles, softly. ‘’ hey. i was hoping i’d a get a chance to talk to you. ‘’

no verbal response; you simply gaze at him expectantly.

quentin let his eyes take in every inch of your face - not a hardship, in fairness, you were beautiful in every way to him. if any other world really did exist she’s the girl he’d approach at a bar and offer to buy her a drink.

focus, quentin, he reminds himself, and breathes out a short laugh. ‘’ it’s so good to see you. ‘’

again, no real answer. just a tilt of the head, confusion in the eyes.

he let his fingers fall to the simple silver band on his left finger, twisting the metal around. your gaze follows the movements and there’s a brief moment where quentin swears he can see the cogs turning in your brain.

the blank expression breaks - a frown furrowing your brow, lips parting in a silent ‘’oh’’. excitement brims low in his belly - it’s working. she’s already figured it out.

you take a breath and turn your head away. when you look back, your face is neutral once again. but there’s something there - a softness that’s new. a tiny chink in the armour, all that quentin needs.

‘’ i’m sorry for your loss, ‘’ you tell him, ‘’ but i’m not her. ‘’

he nods quickly, ‘’ i know, i know. it’s just ... you look like her. ‘’ he falters in his words and feels tears building behind his eyes. seeing his watery gaze you clam up and he curses himself for getting too into it. after a second, however...

‘’ i know how it feels. to lose the one you love. to feel like it’s your fault, like you could’ve - should have - saved them, ‘’ you sigh and rub your face, tiredly. ‘’ but that’s not gonna help you save this world, quentin. ‘’

the sound of your name leaving his lips sends a tremor through his heart. he freezes momentarily - what is this feeling? - but quickly shakes out of it as you continue.

‘’ you gotta move on, ‘’ your voice is nothing more than a whisper, ‘’ you have a chance, now, to win, and you can’t let bad feelings ruin it. ‘’

you meet his gaze almost shyly, and he feels physically drawn in to you, doesn’t even realise his feet are moving until he’s barely a breath away. startled by the sudden closeness you take a step back and harden your features once again.

quentin apologises, sounding sincere, ‘’ i didn’t realise ... you’re not like her, not entirely. she was ... she didn’t have powers. ‘’ he lets the ghost of a fake memory flutter across his face. ‘’ but she was still the strongest person i knew. ‘’ his voice splinters on the last word and tears slip down his face.

you hesistate, he senses the uncertainty, and moves to turn away as though ashamed.

his stomach does a victory flip when your hand comes to touch his armoured shoulder. from underneath long, damp lashes he peeks down at you. you look as though you’re hurting for him and something harsh twists in his chest. he doesn’t have time to think about it, though. not when your hand slides down the material of his costume and finds it’s way into his.

you squeeze it gently, the unnatural warmth of your skin almost burning against his palm. quentin finds himself feeling comforted, tries to climb out of the moment and remember that this isn’t real -

he slips a little bit when you squeeze his hand a second time, and say, ‘’ just make her proud, quentin. you can save this world. do it for her. ‘’

his breath leaves him and he’s silent for a long moment as he gazes down at your face. he feels cracked open, raw, vulnerable. eventually, he nods, waits for his voice to even out. squeezes your hand back, a little tighter than necessary.

‘’ i’ll do my best. ‘’

|| Part 1 of ? ||

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just-a-regular-fan · 3 years

Text

A thing about Sasha in Turning Point

I was surprised to learn that there are people who thought that Sasha's character development in Turning Point was rushed. It most certainly wasn't.

She literally had her doubts since the Reunion and she expressed them with one of my favorite lines in the show:

But she literally surpressed her own character development after that because she still was certain that she is always right. Of course she had her doubts again in the Third Temple, but still she just kept surpressing her personal growth because she liked the way she was She was certain that all of her plans are good. And even though she was right about that they should overthrow Andrias, Anne still didn't want to listen to her because she simply betrayed her way too many times.

And because of that the entire Amphibia is in danger, that Marcy was killed right in front of her, that the only place her and Grime could hide in after all of this was the place filled with frogs they once attacked. And those frogs showed them kindness because of Anne, person she betrayed and deceited just several hours ago. It's quite much to handle for a 13 yo kid.

I know that people might be disapointed that she simply read a page from Anne's jorunal and that was something that triggered her character development. It wasn't. That was something that finally made her snap.

Anne triggered her character development back in Ture Colors:

And it was painful for Sasha because she still cares. She just has no idea how to show this in a healthy way. That is why reading Anne's jorunal was so important to her. She realised that Anne wanted to return home with her and Marcy. After all the terrible thing she's done to her. And then she betrayed her once again.

The moment she reads the jorunal she finally accepts the fact that she needs to change.

She needed that final push. And in my opinion this was such a satisfying moment.

And this is where my favorite thing comes - music writing. When we finally got Sasha's theme I was surprised that I haven't heard it yet in the show but I wasn't sure so I rewatched the whole thing. And I was laughing like mad. Because this show is just so damn clever. Sasha's leitmotiff is just a combination of two musical motiffs, one of them is quite grimm but the other one is warmer and it is also Heartstomper. I was baffled by the fact that we hear the first half several times. When Sasha agrees to join Grime back in Prison Break, when she was manipulating Anne in Reunion, when she lied to Percy and Braddock in Barrel's Warhammer about calling off the whole thing out if they give her signal.

It was used when she made bad choices, and when we finally hear the full version of her leitmotiff it pays off amazingly. Because the second part is Heartstomper. The song that she played with her friends. It is something that connects her with Anne and Marcy.

#THIS WAS ACTUALLY A COMMENT ON YOUTUBE BUT i'M SO DAMN PROUD OF WHAT I WROTE I JUST HAD TO POST IT HERE #I JUST LOVE WELL EXECUTED CHARACTER DEVELOPMENTS #amphibia #amphibia spoilers #sasha waybright #anne boonchuy #marcy wu #amphibia season 3

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kob131 · 4 years

Text

When I say I’ve heard hundreds of bullshiit criticisms about RWBY, I fucking mean it.

Jaune is a self insert (Bullshit because self inserts are suppose to be fantasies of some kind and no one would want to be Jaune.)

Jaune never owns up to his mistakes (Bullshit because Jaune repeatedly insults himself for his failures)

Jaune has an OP semblance (Bullshit because it has failed before like with the Leviathan)

Jaune never suffers consequences (Cardin)

Jaune gets too much focus (Jaune barely appaeared in Volume 7)

Nora is annoying (subjective)

Jaune said that Ren’s hometown was creepy. (That was Oniyuri, not Kuroyuri)

Ruby’s semblance is just ‘Rose Petals’ (unfounded and probably a lie)

Ruby doesn’t develop as a character (she’s repeatedly shown to have a different worldview than before and trust me, that is a fucking hard thing to accept)

It makes no sense Ruby can’t do hand to hand because she beat up Junior’s men (the men shown to be untrained grunts)

It makes no sense for Illa to camoflague in the dark because Blake has night vision (not how camoflauge works)

RWBY stole assets (a lie)

Pyrrha was killed off for Jaune (Until Volume 6, Ruby had more a claim to Pyrrha’s death than Jaune)

Ozpin should have been in Ruby’s head (Ruby’s role in the story and Ozpin’s role are completely different and are incompatible)

Ozpin should have been in Jaune’s head (people bitch about Jaune being too important already)

The Vytal Festivial makes no sense because people could get butthurt about losing (We have the Olympics despite having people more violent and more volatile than the Grimm and yet we’ve never had a problem before now.)

People should be tested for their Semblances (never shown t be possible and incredibly invasive)

People should just surpress their emotions in Remnant (tried that in both Remnant and the real world: both failed.)

The Grimm just randomly attack (have been said to attack human structures)

We don’t know what Dust does (elemental gunpowder)

Aura is passive and yet people need to use it (doesn’t actually contradict all definitions of passive)

Aura was retconned (a lie)

Yang had no other options in her first meeting with Adam (Bullshit)

Taiyang left his kids alone and that’s how Yang got away (She waited for him to leave)

Qrow used his niece as bait for Tyrian (Didn’t even know who Tyrian was and didn’t expect him.)

Qrow drinking doesn’t make sense because alcohol is a depressant (it numbs emotions, not causing them. Also self destructive behavior)

Illa is a psycho lesbian (she’s not psycho and her sexuality was brought up ONCE.)

Blake was an orphan but retconned (never said)

Blake being the daughter of a cheftian means she doesn’t have a right to call out racism (Marti Luther King Jr came from a place of privilage too)

The WF doesn’t act like a Civil RIghts Movement (They’re a racial supremacy group and they certainly do act like one)

The WF’s depiction is racist (*points at BLM*)

Adam was retconned (no he wasn’t, that’s just your headcanon)

Adam was Blake’s mentor, not her boyfriend (Arkos)

Adam could have shot Blake (RT already made a joke about shotguns and long distance.)

Adam could have beaten Yang and should have been able to take more damage (Any time Adam is hit, he takes serious damage.)

Adam was retconned in Volume 3 (He was violent and psychotic in Volume 2 and the Black Trailer)

Someone hacked Vale and yet Atlas held an electronic election (We never saw them hold the actual election and we still hold them despite hackings in our world.)

And this is all just from a minute of thinking. Scratching the surface of the top of my head, let alone all of the arguments I have archieved over the years of making posts.

This is why I don’t take criticisms of RWBY at face value. I’ve seen literal HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of arguments all fail to basic knowledge and logic.

Convincing me isn’t hard since all I need is a quote but the number of times people have been able to do it hasn’t even broken 20.

The ratio of good criticisms of RWBY and bad criticisms is fucking astronomical. I have every reason to be skeptical if not outright cynical at this point,

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aloluptitude-blog · 5 years

Text

Oil and Water: An Obito Uchiha Character Analysis

The following are my scattered thoughts on the layout and progression of Obito Uchiha's character. I’ve previously posted this a while back on a forum like a year ago but found that I wanted to share with a wider audience, if I should be so fortunate. With that out of the way, here we go. And warning, it’s quite long.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first lesson Team 7 had to learn as shinobi was teamwork. They initially all fought for their own self-interests, which prompted Kakashi to tell them about the memorial stone.

Later, once Sasuke and Sakura sacrifice their food for Naruto, Kakashi unexpectedly passes them and reveals to them his philosophy in life.

His mystery is further compounded with the reveal of his Sharingan, as well. Kakashi is built up as a man of mystery throughout Part I, and after the Third Hokage's death he is shown mourning at the grave of someone called Obito in a very somber scene.

(Note that the chapter in which Obito's name is first mentioned is the chapter in which Akatsuki first shows up. Likely coincidence, but interesting nonetheless) So, tons of shit happens, and the darkness in Sasuke grows. He eventually abandons Konoha to join Orochimaru. The cast is left crestfallen after his betrayal, with Naruto promising to bring him back no matter what. The chapter in which this resolution occurs, releasing shortly before Kakashi Gaiden, starts off with this:

The remaining pages revolve around Naruto's conviction to keep his promise to Sakura, and about comrades who have fallen into darkness. I hindsight, this was effective and subtle foreshadowing for Obito’s role to come. Next, immediately sandwiched between Parts I and II, we have the Kakashi Gaiden, revealing the character of Obito for the first time and showing his role in shaping Kakashi's life. Obito's character, from beginning to end, centered around the themes of injustice and cherishing one's comrades.

He not only vowed to "crush" the shinobi that diverged from his dogma, but he was able to gather the resolve to kill someone in order to protect Kakashi (this was likely his first kill). At this point, it is of course important to touch on Obito's love for Rin Nohara. Obito was a kindhearted Uchiha with big ambitions to be Hokage and end the war. But among the prestigious Uchiha clan, he was a washout. A disappointment. For a long time his only real support was Rin, and so he became attached to her.

Obito's insistence on rescuing Rin in the Gaiden was not, however, just because of his feelings for her. They played a role, but she was also a comrade of his, much like Kakashi. They did, however, play a larger role in his request to Kakashi. Obito ended up being smashed by boulders in the process of saving Kakashi. The two had formed a bond by then, so he entrusted his eye to Kakashi, telling him they would "see the future together". Even though he had been very mature throughout this experience, however, Obito was still a child at heart and told Kakashi to protect Rin at any cost.

Now, it’s very important to note Obito's last thoughts before being supposedly killed.

His most desperate wish is to survive so he can spend more times with the people he cherishes, which will become his main drive when rehabilitating in Madara's cave. Afterwards, a battle ensues and Kakashi moves to protect Rin. He later wakes up with Minato sitting beside him, and wonders if he survived.

However, he was not the only one to survive. Obito found himself in a very similar, but less fortunate situation:

He awakes in an underground cave with Madara Uchiha. He is relieved to be alive, but is constantly driven by the desire to return to his comrades and protect them with his newfound power. Madara reacts to this by telling him his hopes are futile and reality is cruel.

But Obito, of course, would not pay heed to this until much later.

The only thing giving Obito hope and strength during this drawn on underground recovery, with half a body and surrounded by strangers and pessimism, is the thought of returning to his comrades. That thought is what keeps him going during his time spent down under.

Obito's most prominent trait for a while now has been hope. He's put all his being into reuniting with his comrades and escaping from this creepy geezer. But the reality ended up being far harsher.

Obito's entire world was shattered in this instant. The power he had entrusted to his newfound friend Kakashi to protect Rin was robbing her of her life (Obito’s Sharingan perfected Kakashi’s Chidori). Not only did Obito lose the one he loved, but his view of the world was shattered. All his hopes were crushed in that instant. But what happens here is one of the key differences between Obito and Madara. Obito does not lose hope in the world; he denies that he has it. He refuses to accept the reality before him.

Obito was in an unfamiliar place in unfamiliar circumstances, and his life just fell apart before his eyes. His immediate response is to reject what he sees. In contrast, Madara slowly but surely lost hope in the world over time. He accepted what the world was (or rather his perception of it). Obito couldn't. He never developed, or had time to develop, the mental state for it.

The person he loved most was killed by his best friend, and all his efforts had proven useless. Unlike Naruto, Obito was alone, and the people he did have, well it's self explanatory what happened there. Obito from this point on started operating in the shadows towards the completion of Madara's plan. Obito's general persona from this point on slowly becomes more detached and warped. He gains a sarcastic/sadistic bend to his personality and becomes increasingly divorced from reality, as he has abandoned (or rather surpressed) his hope for the world.

He still is fixated on and values camaraderie, but it's not in the same way he did before. It's more self-serving now.

He values loyalty, so long as it's loyalty to him. However, when double-crossed he will be merciless. The seeds for this were planted earlier though, albeit in a more innocent form.

This is an important divergence from Madara, who didn't really care about the loyalty of his comrades so much as their usefulness to him. As seen by him giving no shits when learning of Nagato's betrayal and not caring about Obito having his own plans either.

Obito's also become quite deluded by this point, choosing to consider the real world and its inhabitants "fakes" and the Mugen Tsukuyomi world to be "truth".

Basically, he considers bonds and interpersonal relationships to be a farce, because he believes the world will sever those ties, without fail, and cause people to sink into despair. Thus, uniting together would eliminate that and create harmony.

The way Obito sees it, this shinobi world that doesn’t align with how he thinks things should be is “false”, and the Moon’s Eye Plan / Tsuki no Me Keikaku is the remedy. The thing is, while Obito did initially defect due to the shock, trauma, and despair induced by everything to do with Rin’s death, he still did not have the hardened outlook on the world he would display in his adult years. As he made moves towards the completion of his plan, Obito observed the shinobi world's workings and it only served to deepen his conviction.

Obito, though not as far gone as Madara, steeped himself in the darkest areas of the Shinobi world. What he saw just reinforced his belief, or rather he made it so. He surrounded himself with fallacy (his identities of Madara and Tobi) and negativity. Even when seeing the brighter aspects of the world, Obito would brush it off. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias This shared outlook on the world may be why Obito considered Kisame "the person closest to him".

So, we’ve established what Obito is like by the time the main story unfolds. However, something starts to happen in Obito after Nagato’s betrayal at the end of the Pain Invasion arc.

Obito is bothered that Nagato, who was quite similar to him, was convinced to switch sides. This sort of reignites the doubt in Obito's heart, and so he goes to ask Naruto about it. Naruto, the boy who was so much like Obito and inherited the younger Obito’s ideals by way of Kakashi.

Of course Naruto cuts him off, and so Obito gets no immediate answer. His anxiety and anger towards Nagato and fixation on Naruto escalates when he fights Konan.

This, of course, would come to a head in the Fourth Shinobi World War, where the two shinobi finally clashed head on and pit their ideologies against each other. Interestingly, Obito also sees himself in Sasuke. Both were motivated by the death of someone they cared about, but chose to nullify their sacrifice for the sake of their personal ideals. Compare the following pages

to this exchange

Obito was asking Sasuke if he had the resolve to shit on the sacrifice of someone he loved for the sake of his own motives. Basically asking if he was like him. And well

Obito’s corruption of Sasuke is even a direct mirror of when Obito awoke in a cave with Madara, who had sinister plans of his own for Obito.

So yes early as the Gokage Summit arc, the conflict in Obito was making itself apparent. The fight Obito attempted to orchestrate between Naruto and Sasuke was a microcosm for Obito’s own inner conflict that would come to a head in the War Arc, specifically when Kakashi and Guy arrived on the battlefield to help Naruto.

He struggles harder than he'd anticipated in his battle with Naruto, who begins to gain traction in their clash and amasses chakra from almost all the other biju as well as finally synching with Kurama.

These past few panels are from Chapter 573, which contains Naruto’s comrades running to his aid and ends with this panel

You’ll see later why this and a later panel perfectly bookend the meat of Obito’s journey to find himself again. Now, Obito still manages to somewhat retain his composure in this chapter, but by the time the story next cuts to the battle his detachment has lessened. His lunatic rantings increase in intensity, and he becomes more invested in Naruto and Kakashi. He was probably having those Rin flashbacks people love to criticize too but they couldn't be shown then for obvious reasons.

Once his mask is finally broken, Obito can no longer really run from his insecurities and grief. After all, now that he's unmasked he won't be able to escape more personal questions from Kakashi. He has to address things in more detail than he’d like to, at least to some extent. Although, he initially maintains some remnants of the detachment he'd held til then.

However, he soon fights Kakashi one-on-one and his rage boils to the surface.

Now I only posted enough of this to get the point across. But this man really beat the living shit out of Kakashi. He’s angry, despite his prior claims to have cut himself off from personal ties. At any rate, towards the conclusion of their scuffle, Naruto joins in and starts touting his resolve to protect his comrades and defeat Obito and Madara.

Now, it's around this point that Obito really attempts to crush Naruto's ideology, as it's basically his own (formerly of course). But Obito desiring to twist Naruto and in turn solidify his own conviction was first hinted during his fight with Konan, where he swore to "fade him into darkness".

He believes Naruto, and basically every shinobi, is destined to turn out like him (scum, basically. At least, I doubt he meant everyone would become a psychotic masked murderer).

Itachi earlier foreshadowed this same thing to Naruto, warning him of what would happen if he forgot the people that got him where he was.

Obito recognizes that Naruto's ideology was basically the mirror image of his own, among their other similarities. By this point his resolve has wavered a good deal, so he resorts to trying to break Naruto's spirit in order to convince himself his path isn't mistaken.

This is a good time to bring up something I don’t think I can fit anywhere else. While trying to convince Naruto to abandon reality, Obito brings up the deaths of Minato, Kushina, Jiraiya, and of course Neji. All things caused, directly or indirectly, by Obito himself. This is why the act that Madara orchestrated Rin’s death is irrelevant.

It’s beside the point of Obito’s despair and I dare say if he learned of this while still “evil” he wouldn’t have changed. He didn’t even like or trust Madara to begin with. It was the fact that such things occurred at all that raked at Obito’s mind. After all, it’s not like Obito has never manipulated people for his own ends.

So this moment is more meant for Madara’s development, because it demonstrates his extreme arrogance which is shattered when he is betrayed by Black Zetsu and learns he was the biggest pawn of all.

Anyway, soon enough the Ten Tails starts to go out of control. This prompts Obito to commence with his plan of making Kakashi stab through Madara's puppet seal, which would enable him to become the Jinchuriki.

I'm pretty sure I've covered all the relevant characterization focused on in his battle with Kakashi in previous parts of this, so I'll just speed ahead to after that. Obito comes out of the Kamui dimension and is immediately assaulted by Madara, who wants Obito to Rinne Tensei him.

This point marks an interesting shift in the way Obito is portrayed. He is seen struggling against Madara's rods and relying on the memories and thoughts of his former comrades to propel him forward and resist the takeover.

It’s moments like this that almost makes him feel like the protagonist. But even with that, Obito still retains a villainous aura, as seen when he confidently declares that the war hasn't reached its end.

Yet even after succeeding in becoming the Jinchuriki, his ego was still under siege by the Ten Tails. And once more he draws on his memories of his comrades to resist and regain control. This frequent blending of heroic and villainous portrayals makes his eventual change feel even more organic in my opinion.

Obito's newly acquired power makes him the focus of the war, although Naruto, Sasuke and others start to gain on him and even the playing field. Obito becomes more agitated at Naruto and his constant interfering with his aims.

His frustration and fixation with Naruto has grown to an insane point. And it started with something so small and seemingly trivial:

So anyway, Obito continues to question and nudge Naruto in order to reach a conclusion about his own choices.

Now, the "my ninja way" thing may come off as bullshit and might not seem like a good answer. But the thing is, Obito isn't asking Naruto how to fix the shinobi world's problems. He's simply trying to see if he has the will to persevere no matter what the world throws at him. And by this point, Obito is almost convinced. Obito was never about grand visions concerning villages and government. That was Madara. Obito was always more intertwined with the personal aspect of suffering, which is why Naruto’s refusal to break infuriates him. Before:

After:

By this point Obito's resolve has wavered considerable, resulting in his defeat.

So this is the part where the main "TnJ" or "Talk no Jutsu" stuff comes in. Through the contact between their chakra, Naruto and Obito enter a sort of shared mental space. There, having connected to his memories, Naruto confronts Obito, frustrated that someone so like him turned out how he did. A lot of the shit discussed has already been covered though, so this'll be brief. I'll just post some interesting tidbits I may not have covered well enough earlier. First is this:

Obito viewed himself as the second coming of the Sage. Looking solely at the first image, you might think he was referring to Madara. But as shown in the second from his talk with Naruto, he really was referring to himself. He also refers to Nagato as the “Third Sage of the Six Paths” after his fight with Konan, presumably as someone who also carried his will.

Why did he not include Madara as a Sage? Well for whatever reason, Obito never seemed to trust Madara. He never wanted him revived, and has stated he never saw him as an ally

Might have something to do with that puppet seal Madara planted in him to prevent him from becoming the Jinchuriki himself. Another interesting point in Obito’s talk with Naruto is this parallel with the Kakashi Gaiden. Chapter 241:

Chapter 653:

Slick. So at the end of this talk, Obito is more conflicted than ever, and with the combined power of both Kurama and the Allied Forces, The Biju are released from Obito. It works well thematically as an end to Obito's threat, because Naruto both utilized the power of all his comrades on the battlefield (in the ultimate triumph of Obito’s original philosophy over his new one), and Kurama's power, which was originally placed in Naruto for the purpose of defeating Obito in the first place.

Having been definitively beaten, Kakashi has a final talk with Obito about the path he chose.

And guess what the chapter ends on?

Our friend, the panel from Chapter 573. Fucking slick and thematically poignant. At this point, Obito finally accepts that his path was wrong, and the whole Nagato thing that jumpstarted his indecision is given a conclusion as well.

He resolves to give his life to Rinne Tensei his victims in the war, but Black Zetsu intervenes and forces Madara's resurrection. Obito is put out of commission for a while, but eventually regains his senses, and uses Madara as a means to steel his resolve. Sure, he had switched sides, but he was mellow, depressed, and wrought with guilt. He didn’t even believe himself worthy of redemption.

But by talking with Madara, Obito contrasts Madara's ideals with that of Naruto (and also his own original ideals), and finally reclaims his identity as Obito Uchiha, resolving to do his best and end the war.

This layout with Obito caught between Naruto's (in actuality his own) and Madara's ideologies is a small scale representation of a major theme of his character. Same with his fascination with Naruto and Sasuke, seeing a part of himself in both of thmm. Obito is the man on which the core of the Naruto series hinges. Even how his literal physical body was half Uchiha and half Senju DNA. He has always been a man of duality, represented by his association with the concept of Yin and Yang:

Yin and Yang, or as Obito himself is fond of saying, Oil and Water.

Obito proved to be an extremely valuable ally in the fight against both Madara and Kaguya, and gave his life one more time to protect Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke. He fought on with everything he had to redeem himself for even a fraction of the damage he’d done. He died not as the Masked Man or the harbinger of calamity, but as Obito Uchiha. Obito, in my opinion, is the best written character in Naruto. There’s way too much unjustified hate and too many misconceptions about the character. I put this together out of my recognition of that and desire to share my passion for this boi. Thanks for reading all the way through (if you did) or even reading just a bit.

#obito #madara #tobi #naruto #uchiha #character #analysis #meta #anime #manga

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