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maideninorange · 1 year

Note

for the ask game, not sure what you would do with this prompt but i'm curious anyway!

16. “You don’t have a choice.”

Oh my! I wasn't sure either for a while there! Sorry about the long wait (even by my standards)! But I came up with a decent idea in the end, so here we go!

(TW: Just some somewhat graphic death threats, choking imagery, and mild blood. Nothing too dark here for this one, because I was more in the mood for something humorous. Also, Maiden getting too into her worldbuilding, even by her standards.)

It was a little embarrassing, in Tenkai's humble opinion, to get so absorbed in their grumbling over misplaced things on the shelves that it took them until the knife at the back of their throat presses in for them to realize it was even there.

They raise their arms up, "Not even gonna bother by the spell card rules?"

"And put myself at a disadvantage? Why would I do that?"

Ah, they recognize that voice. So they've been ambushed by that scoundrel? Well, it was only a matter of time before they got the bright idea to try picking on them. This was gonna be fun.

"Ah, the Black Shitodo has finally decided to threaten me? Remaining a scoundrel I see," Tenkai can't help but smirk as the knife presses a little further into their neck, "Still 'accquaintances' with Saragimaru there?"

"I don't exist." And the snake is here too then. This oughta make their week.

"Shut up and keep watch," Kuroji's attention turns back to Tenkai, "Now Zuifeng, if you don't comply, no amount of danmaku will help against a simple knife. You'll-"

"I'll be nothing but a mere corpse on the floor? Have the snakes been rubbing off on you or something? You can't even be creative in how you're gonna kill me like Orochin usually gets!"

"...?!" Speaking of snakes, that must've got Saragimaru's gears turning. This'll make screwing with these scoundrels extra fun.

"Unlike Yaorochi, you'll find that I prefer much more simple measures of murder. So do you truly want to test me?"

Ouch. And now there's some blood gushing out from where Kuroji pricked them, making their point. They let out a nervous chuckle, "Geez, not gonna even give me the illusion of free choice?"

"You don't have a choice."

They gathered that much. But confirmation is always nice.

Tenkai takes a step forward, not quite sure what direction they wanted them to go in yet, "So what are you guys after this time? Money? Powerful artifacts? My pride?"

"Knowledge, actually," the scoundrel answers with a light hum, "Sources say Azumaterasu has a rare book cataloguing the Senri family line all the way back to the very first priest of Mugenri."

"And by sources you mean some poor village historian you extorted that information out of."

"He didn't even try to fight back. Just gave in begging for his wealth to be spared," Saragimaru grumbles, confirming what they already knew.

Tenkai was even pretty sure they knew who that someone was. Always was a snivelling coward. How anyone could've entrusted him with such important information is beyond them.

But even so...Ooh, this was definitely going to be fun!

They bite down a mischievous grin, "Let me guess, trying to one-up the current priest? I never knew you had any sort of interest in history!"

"I don't," A low growl hisses in their ear, "I simply see the value in learning all I can about this world. The rarer information I know? The more of a bargain it will be, if you know what I mean..."

"And to make that worthless priest they won't shut up about jealous. Or something." They can just hear Saragimaru shrugging.

Tenkai suppresses a loud chuckle at Kuroji's annoyed shout. Oh, make no mistake, it would be awful if they got ahold of it. The untold havoc that scoundrel would wreck simply by having one of the most important pieces of documentation the Senri clan ever entrusted to their family cannot be underestimated. And their superiors would have their head. That too.

But that implies they plan on letting them get ahold of it in the first place.

"Can't let ya pass on that one," they exclaim, trying to sound at least a little worried, "Even if I wanted to, that book is under lock and key. Sorry!"

"Allow me to repeat myself, just this once: You don't have a choice in this."

"Or what? You'd actually slit my throat? I mean, you are a scoundrel, so..."

And there's the knife drawing blood again. Ouch.

"As a matter of fact, yes. Yes I would. So start marching."

Tenkai obeys, legs automatic, "Sheesh! Someone needs to learn better manners!"

"Don't you know manners and this scoundrel don't mix? Not that you would know much more about manners yourself."

Tenkai can only click their tongue at that. Tsurubami would've been proud.

Kuroji drags them deeper into the bowels of the shop. The "Employees Only" scroll on the door was cheerfully ignored, and they were taken in and out of various rooms in less a sinister waltz and more a clueless stumble. They even start making low growls as the charade goes on. They oughta be glad Tenkai was left to their own devices (miraculously) today, otherwise they would be very, very dead right about the second room. Maybe the third if they want to be generous.

Oh, make no mistake, their superiors are gonna be pissed if they find out Kuroji decided to break into Azumaterasu, and at them especially if they find them compromised like this. The aftermath would not be pleasant if they get caught.

But then again... it's been a good while since someone tried to knock those arrogant asses down a peg. So why not give them a little helping hand, by a certain definition?

The dizzying constant shifting of their surroundings only stops when a loud crack rings out, causing both of them to look in its direction.

...Oh darn, the snake knows a thing or two about picking apart barriers. Not much, clearly, as Tenkai can easily bypass that particular barrier without busting it so loudly, but they did know how to destabilize the inscriptions at the very least.

Saragimaru turn to look at them, the blue glow at their fingertips fading away, "...Found it."

And by the grin returning to Kuroji's face, it seems Tenkai's reaction had given it away.

"Oh my oh my Saragimaru, how did you ever know the entrance was right there?"

"The melon took me into this very room when we met the first time. Something about the inscription working best in that room... though they were lying so..."

Saragimaru fixes them with a harsh glare. Tenkai can only give a half-hearted shrug, unapologetic, "So you can remember how to break the barrier like I showed you, but can't keep track of prices. Suits ya pretty well if you ask me~!"

"...! Why I oughta-"

"Put the sword down. We still need them to bypass whatever traps these old farts put in order to gatekeep us."

Saragimaru lets out a loud groan as they sheathe their kodachi, their jaw clenched. Kuroji hums in their ear a moment later, "But don't worry! Once they disable all the traps it should be perfectly alright to take care of them then!"

... Okay, now this is just downright hilarious. Last time they got held at swordpoint, the youkai were all cheerfully talking about dismembering them once they served their purpose. These guys are just being more polite about it!

Needless to say, Tenkai bursted out laughing. As if these two could ever be the death of them! They kept laughing as they were ushered through the library doorway and down the stairs.

It wasn't until their laughter became full blown wheezing that they were asked by their current captor, "...What's so funny?"

"You..." They wipe a tear from their eye, less walking down the steps and more skipping down them, "...You plan to kill me once I've outlived my usefulness. Are you sure you won't consider a career as a comedian?"

Judging by the low hiss, like a little bird trying to sound bigger than it really is, Kuroji was making, they weren't too impressed by their wit. The knife presses into their back, forcing them down two at a time.

"...Huh. I now see why you want to kill them. All this time I thought I was craving bread, not blood."

"I told you they were better off dead!" Their eyes bore into them from behind, "So don't tempt me! I will if I have to, consequences be damned!"

"Bloodthirsty now, I see?" Tenkai snickers, "See what I mean? Utterly hilarious! Seriously, both of you might have a future in comedy!"

"Shut up..." They both mutter in unison. That will probably be the first and last time they ever agree on something, to boot.

Tsurubami would definitely be proud. They've come a long way since...

Their feet touch down on smooth stone. They swallow hard, knowing where they are and what they'll have to do.

"March," Kuroji whispers in their ear. The knife digs into their back, and Tenkai obeys.

Tenkai roams the long corridors of books and scrolls, one foot firmly in front of the other. They knew exactly where the book in question is. Tsurubami had quite a few suggestions for it when they stole that very book the third time they met. Their superiors didn't know it, but they had gleefully heeded their suggestions.

Not that Kuroji knows that. Nor do they intend to let them know and ruin their fun.

Tenkai guided the scoundrels over to the bookcase in question. The one at the very back, the oldest and mustiest.

Oh, and the only one concealed behind a very obvious and visible barrier. Can't forget that part!

"...So what happens if you touch that barrier there?" Saragimaru asks.

"You rapidly age as your future death plays out right before your eyes."

"Even to the ageless...?"

"Then just the vision of your future death," Tenkai smiles as a loud sigh rolls by their ears.

Okay, they've never actually seen what happens when an actual intruder like these two tries to touch that barrier in question before. They do remember only getting a small shock as a kid when curiosity got the better of them though. One of their...more overdramatic caretakers did spin that story to scare them away, so perhaps there's a grain of truth in it?

Not that it really mattered. They aren't hearing any protests from them, that's for sure.

"Well I happen to like being the age I'm at," Kuroji huffs, "So...? Are you going to grab the book or not? Because if you're not, I presume you know-"

"You'll slit my throat and then leave me to bleed out and die. Yadda yadda yadda," Tenkai rolls their eyes, "If you're gonna actually go ahead and kill me, at least do something more fun than a simple knife to the throat."

"Believe me, the possibilities for me killing both of you are endless if I had it my way," Saragimaru deadpans, as if they actually had the power to follow up on that particular threat.

"I'm well aware. You've told me plenty of them already," Kuroji sounds way too chipper when refuting their wayward servant in Tenkai's opinion, "But unless you would rather be the one to try and break that barrier there, I would -"

"I lost the right to share my opinion. Got it," The butt of a wooden pole jabs against Tenkai's back, making them take a step forward, "...Hey melon, if you find a way to throw this scoundrel into that barrier, please do. Preferably at once."

A huff, "Ignore them. Try that and I'll show you 'creative'."

"I make no promises!" Tenkai grins, flexing their fingers, warming up with power, as they strut towards the barrier.

In theory, this barrier, designed to keep important books under lock and key (and far away from the nose of their least favorite apprentice), is one of the sturdiest, most complex constructs second to only the Great Barrier itself. It contains dozens of inscriptions, and many riddles to keep intruders (and certain smart alecks) from easily confusing and breaking it. Few should be able to access it without an elder's say so.

Keyword: should.

In practice, this barrier was merely further proof that their superiors have never actually fashioned a complicated barrier in their lives. Perhaps it was Tenkai's genius getting the better of them, but this barrier was about as complex as the one on their safe box of gag gifts ill fitting for someone like them to hold onto. It does it's job against one who knows jack about breaking barriers, but only serves as a fun puzzle for a professional barrier breaker.

Tenkai just so happened to be one such professional barrier breaker.

The runic inscriptions light up with a quick swipe over the barrier's surface. Glowing orange fingertips scrawl over it, seeking out the vaguest, frailest sentences.

...Found one.

A twisted grin sprung to Tenkai's face as they began to pour all their energy into it. The inscription glowed brighter and brighter, until it was almost blinding. And then, right before this section could crack, disabled, under the pressure, they let up.

They then reach inside the glowing section of barrier, and yank the target book out.

"You insult me," They huff as their handiwork fades, leaving the barrier like it was never touched, "I could break barriers like that in my sleep."

"...All you did was reach through the barrier and make the room smell like melons," Saragimaru pinches their nose, "You less broke the barrier and more bypassed it."

"And alert my bosses that they were being robbed the moment it shatters? You really ought to be thanking me for not blowing your cover!" They let out a small chuckle at Kuroji's low growl, "Breaking barriers is child's play. Now bypassing barriers? That's a completely different skillset! I put in all this hard work for you guys, and you're too greedy to even thank me?"

"The book. Now." Considering the knife now back at their throat, they guessed so. Kuroji is, at least. Saragimaru is more easily manipulated than greedy.

But nevertheless, Tenkai deposited the book into Kuroji's waiting hand, whistling a small tune as they cast their glance at a nearby bookshelf. It immediately vanishes into their electric purple jacket, never to be seen again.

"Thank you. Cooperating wasn't so bad, was it? Less painful," Kuroji's focus turns to Saragimaru, "Now tie up this loose end here. We don't need all of Azumaterasu coming down on our heads, now do we?"

"On your head. This feels a little too easy, knowing Tenkai Zuifeng. Don't you think they got something else up their sleeve? And don't mix me up in the consequences of your own actions!"

"Oh no, they'd definitely come after you too," Tenkai clasps their hands together, doing their best imitation of the grin Tsurubami typically wore when about to discipline troublemakers, "An excuse to go after one of the last remnants of Yamata-no-Orochi's lineage? It would be a crime to let it go to waste! And then both of your families for good measure! ...Just speaking from personal experience here."

They conveniently left out the time they went after Tsurubami once, for the exact same crime by raw coincidence. They were pretty sure Saragimaru and their beloved Yaorochi would be able to keep their hubris unscathed (unfortunately). Now Kuroji? ...A little more debatable. But that scoundrel's upset worse people before and their superiors are all old farts, so who knows?

It did the trick though. Saragimaru's eyes widened a little, "They'd go after Yaorochi-sama?"

"Loose end. Tie it up," Kuroji deadpans, their gaze flitting between Tenkai, Saragimaru, and the room all around them."

"So I can finally kill this obnoxious melon?" Saragimaru's voice lightens notably, a fang nicking their lip as they bite it.

"Tempting, but no. Leaving a body behind is the exact opposite of a clean break-in. You're going to tie their tongue up so they can't say we were here."

They put their naginata back in its sheathe, restrapping it to their back, "Ugh...Why do I always have to cast the curses? You can cast them too. I've seen you do it."

"...Because your curses are more effective, obviously," Kuroji's gaze turns back to Tenkai, nostrils flared.

"Translation: They can't cast magic like you and I can there, Saragimaru," Tenkai jeers, snorting at the death glare Kuroji then gives them.

"I mean, we all know that...I was just wondering why they weren't gearing up to-"

"Shut. Up. Both of you. You've lost the right to speak," They turn their back towards Tenkai, "Now curse them. Then let's get out of here."

"... Yes Your Excellency," Saragimaru grumbles, stepping towards Tenkai. A blue glow, like rainwater, emits from their fingertips, ominously pressing closer and closer to them.

Or at least, it would've been ominous if they haven't been so desensitized to the dark side of magic. Thanks Tsurubami.

"Sheesh, you guys are so mean! Can't take a little joke or-"

The glowing blue hand closes in around their throat, "Shut. Up."

Tenkai suddenly felt like they were choking on something. They tried to laugh through the pain of talons digging into their nape, but every sound they tried to make sounded garbled. A small white cloud puffs from their mouth, like breath on a cold winter day. Saragimaru's teeth gnash together, and soon enough Tenkai's throat felt clogged with them.

They gargle, clouds bursting from their mouth in a rapid stream like bubbles, purging their tongue of what occurred in this library. And then, just like that, it was all over and the magic all dissipated, their windpipe clearing of misplaced weather.

Saragimaru lets go, the glow of their magic fading, and Tenkai's body drops to the floor with a thud, as if they had dropped them. Air flows through their lungs like sand, black spots dancing in the corners of their vision as they watch their tail sway gently from side to side.

"There. If they say anything about our robbery and hostage taking, the heavens shall rob them of the ability to speak the truth. ...Poor thing, I'd feel bad if it wasn't for them being Tenkai Zuifeng..."

"Good enough. We got all that we need, so let's leave them here."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? People are going to know someone was here once they notice your stupid book is missing..."

"But will they be able to tell it was us specifically? Besides, it's not like we can't pin this on Tsubakura when all is said and done. They say the Senri priest has some kind of right to this book, don't they?"

"I thought this whole pointless excursion was to make that dumb priest you are so obsessed with jealous. Blaming them for your crime sounds very counter-intuitive."

"And that's enough out of you. Let's make our exit while this place is still clear of those elders we're supposed to fear."

"...Did I actually curse the right person?"

"Oh you're such a tease! Didn't you know my body can be just as loose as my lips?"

"Ugh..."

Tenkai clamours to their knees, watching the scoundrels march up the stairs, bickering all the way there. Right as they both reached the top, Kuroji whirls around, and tips their hat to them.

Then, the scoundrel and their swordsnake vanish.

Tenkai pushes themself to their feet, coughing up one more cloud as the curse rolls around their throat and onto their tongue, tasting of smog. It was a pretty unpleasant feeling actually, but Tenkai has been under enough of these sorts of curses to know a strong one from a weak one. And if Saragimaru really wanted them to shut up, they'd be coughing up clouds and hail for weeks on end for daring to think of the forbidden object in question.

It would also be much harder to unravel than this, going by the magical handiwork now decorating their throat and along their chin. Though going by their few unpleasant encounters with that scoundrel, that wrench in their plans was well deserved.

Not as good as the one Tenkai threw though. They can't wait to see the look on Kuroji's face when they realize they handed up a rulebook instead of the history book they were actually after.

Tenkai wobbles over to the bookcase off to the side. They pluck a certain book off the shelf, and with a wave of their hand, the barrier vanishes, revealing A Brief History of the Senri Clan in all its musty glory.

(It hasn't been updated since the fifth priest before the current ones. Tsurubami had ranted to them long and hard about that once they finally got their hands on the book.)

Like Tsurubami had suggested a long, long time ago, Tenkai had the book swapped out for a conveniently dense decoy, disguising both with a cloaking barrier as the other. Not even their superiors had figured out the swap, but that won't last much longer once someone finally realizes they're missing a book or two.

Especially not after Kuroji's plan blows up in their face and they inevitably throw caution to the wind over it. Tenkai can just picture their rage now. The way their cheeks puff up and turn red when angered had always made them snicker.

They blow the dust off the cover before tucking it under their arm. Oh, they couldn't wait until their little prank is discovered. People like those two are way more fun to manipulate than some of the other idiots that occasionally try to make use of them. It's going to be great.

But right now...What exactly should they do? Their superiors are going to be pissed either way, even though they have dozens of those bloated rulebooks lying around in here. Should they put this book back and let sleeping dogs lie for a little while? Hm...

Their attention turns to the old forbidden bookcase it should be on. A smirk plays at their lips.

Perhaps the scoundrels can serve one more use to them after all? They may not know it yet, but they've already humiliated their superiors once today with their crime. What's a little more to teach those hags a well overdue lesson?

...Tsurubami would definitely be cackling at what they've done if they were still here. They'll definitely have to tell them about this when they meet again.

#ask and you shall receive (writing requests)#len'en #len'en project #len'en fanfiction #tenkai zuifeng #kuroji shitodo #adagumo no saragimaru #(tsurubami is mentioned quite a bit here)#(because Tenkai)#(but I'm not tagging them lol)#Seriously I'm really sorry this took so long!#This thing was a complete asshole to finish #Ideas would not flow for a while there lol #I wanted to try something new #(and keep from pigeonholing myself)#and decided to flex my skills at comedy #not sure how funny this actually is #but I gave it my best shot!#...and got a little too into my worldbuilding again (Oops!)#the magic imagery was fun though #and hey! Kuroji finally got to be a bitch in a fic I wrote! Hooray!#Victory all around!#(Even if they didn't win)#(but they don't know that lol)#tw death threats #tw choking #(more imagery than actual but still)#gratuitous worldbuilding #a scoundrel and their swordsnake (slaver team)#the old dictators (tsurubami & tenkai)

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bookwyrminspiration · 2 years

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Wings AU Nonsie once again, and I’d just like to say, of course I have art of the fic! /gen /pos I remember checking out the first chapter before I even had Tumblr and I thought to myself “An odd premise but okay.” And I’ve stuck with the story ever since. I haven’t actually gotten to writing a comment yet, but it will come… at some point. (If I ever win against my executive dysfunction.)

Overall though I’m in love with the characterization and sort of dystopian but not really kind of premise. I don’t know how to explain it, but you achieved a vibe with your story that’s so unique that it still sticks out as one of my favorite fics to joy read.

It also happens that I tend to make art for fics I like, so I do have some art of Shattered Upside Down! I’m truly disappointed because I don’t have the specific sketchbook with me, but I’ve done my own renditions of some of the wings, the dragons, the places, and a lot of Echo. (And by that, I mean a page dedicated to the creature because I feel an intense affection towards it <3)

Anyway, I don’t know where I was going with this but yeah! You have a talent for worldbuilding, and storytelling and I absolutely fell in love with the premise from the beginning. I’m not very vocal about it because I don’t want to come off as annoying, but please know that I’m a huge fan of the story!

:0000 hold on I am. I am losing my marbles right now they are gone /pos. I was at the library this afternoon and the whole time I was like "this ask is in my askbox right now" I could not stop thinking about it this is so sweet I'm--

(I started talking a lot so I'm putting it under a cut!!)

"An odd premise but okay" you are so so right. The world the wings au is set is in a result of me trying to create a situation that would justify them having wings because it felt illegal to just give them wings, like no there's gotta be something to it. And thus, all this fuckery has been haunting me for the past 2 years, and now it's been like a year and a half of writing and I am still going. And you've stuck around!! That absolutely blows my mind I can't believe that.

Also hot tip writing comments/sending asks is like the best way to get more info about the wings au because I will start talking about things at any cue. No pressure to send/write any of course, they just always make my day!! It's a little sign to me that people are reading! All I can see anytime I post a new chapter is that the number of hits go up, but I've got no clue if people are reading it through or liking it or anything. Comments are so <33, they are never annoying and they're so fun to respond to

One of my favorite things is when people point out lines or interactions that they like. It wasn't from the wings au but Izzy commented on my melves fic, Going Home, that the line "You could cut yourself on the wind and bleed dry in the deserts and the Earth would simply grin" made her starstruck and every since then it's also been one of my favorite lines I've ever written. Specifically because she commented about it, it's just !! ahh!!

You are so overwhelmingly sweet (/pos) !! I'm so glad you like the characterization and the world, so much of it has developed as I was going so it's wonderful to hear I'm doing something right!! There's so much romantic tension in canon that I wanted to explore what would happen if I simply removed it. No romance, no secret crushes, just a bunch of people who fiercely love and trust each other who are struggling, trying to figure out who they are now. That was like all the conflict in the beginnings!! Lot of self-reflection and questioning before it started getting into Neverseen and Phoenix things where we now are.

Sort of dystopian is an excellent descriptor--someone once called it a soft apocalypse and that's one of my favorite ways to think about it. Like yes everything has been overrun by monsters and the surface isn't safe just like an apocalypse, but it's not like a gritty survival? if that distinction makes sense.

And it's one of your favorite joy read fics?? that is. such high praise I gotta take a minute to stim about that (in a good way). Unique vibes and joy reads, your compliments are going to fuel me for weeks!! My brain is struggling to make words rn and just going :DDDDD !!!!

Also?? that is so much art I am so honored. Whenever you have the chance I'd love to see it and compliment it, whatever you're comfortable sharing!! Being a writer and having someone make art of your art is always such a rush, like oh my god you liked the thing I made enough to make things about it??? Now you're making me want to do more art of the au!! I haven't drawn for it in so long but like it's so dear to my heart and you've drawn things for it so I wanna match you!!

You're so right though Echo is just incredible. Huge kudos to my partner for helping me get through my writing block that one time by suggesting I add a cat, because it resulted in the best character I've ever made. Echo may not be a cat but iergoia!! i don't normally like to spoil anything for the au, but because you've dedicated an entire page to echo in your sketchbook, I will inform you that Echo is going to be making some appearances in the next chapter or two !! And it has been an absolute delight to write it's just !! ah!! I love Echo so much. If I ever publish I book I'm going to find a way to put Echo in it.

Also please don't worry about being annoying! You could not possibly annoy me when it comes to the wings au, I love it when people are vocal about it and we get to talk about it. In case you can't tell from my response I am very enthusiastic about it, and it's so reaffirming and comforting to hear that you've fallen in love with the story because it's been so much fun to share it!!

everytime I get an ask or comment about it my day is absolutely made and I literally go "wings au ask/comment!!!" because I don't get the chance to talk about it with others very often--because I'm worried about annoying you all with my incessant ramblings and stories

I'm going to be rereading this ask for weeks Nonsie, this seriously means so much to me

wait hang on I'm gonna give you a quote because this is so nice:

“Oh so he’s an idiot idiot,” Tam noted beside her. “Like we needed that confirmed again.”

you can probably guess who he's talking about :)

#kotlc wings au #keeper of the lost cities #shattered upside down #quil's queries #quil's queridos #nonsie #I tend not to talk about it if not prompted because I feel like I'm annoying people #like 'yea yea quil the wings au we know it's been a year'#no ones ever said that but i have social anxiety and it messes with me sometimes. this is one of the things it messes with me about #so knowing you like it is so <333 #so so good. it's so comforting #I hope you enjoy this weekends chapter #it's got the crew being idiots and serious conversation and echo #i cannot stop happy stimming this ask is so nice #was stressed about my essay this morning but not anymore!! today is now an excellent day!!!

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problemswithbooks · 2 years

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He did not make Japan dependent on America hori did what most mangaka do when it comes to America and I read enough manga that when they do foreigners it very cringe and annoying I say this as a Chinese American and made them stubborn and follow there own thing plus he did a sort of homage to American comics

Star looks like captain marvel mix with GI Jane I felt she was thrown in to show homage to comic books and lady nagant was based on wanted movie with Angelina Jolie hori was definitely having fun with those girls too bad he basically wasted them they could both be so interesting

Different asks, but related.

Yeah, Hori was defiantly paying homage to American comics with Star. I genuinely liked how she looked and was a little annoyed when I saw some people said she was ugly. Like, I get people were annoyed because she was American, but her design was cool, and to me it's a little insensitive to call a more masculine looking woman ugly.

I don't know where people got the idea it made Japan dependent on America. She died for one, and second, Japan is actively asking for help. People acted like she just showed up for zero reason--America butting in where it's not wanted. Said she was a bad Hero because she tried to kill Shigaraki, even though she never actually put anyone in harms way to do so.

As for Nagant--yeah, I knew about him basing her off of a movie he saw. Was not surprised in the slightest.

Personally, if you asked me who to remove from the story it would be Nagant, because without a huge story overhaul she doesn't really belong there. Her design and concept are great, but Hori broke the story by including her and her backstory.

I've seen people complain that the fandom forgets the fact that Society was so blinded by All Might they didn't notice all the murder, but the story does that too. Mainly because, as you said, Hori watched a movie one night and wanted to put it in his story even though it didn't fit.

Star wasn't needed, but even so she didn't disrupt the story by bringing it anything ground breaking. Her Quirk was ridiculously OP but it died with her. Star being in the story doesn't retroactively add a whole lot of worldbuilding that was never even hinted at before. She's just there and then gone again.

As much as nothing scenes and characters are annoying, they are skippable. Lady Nagant is weird because she is both super important, yet also disposable. Her plot line did nothing to really change anything, or give Izuku some epiphany. She, and anything related to her backstory is promptly throw out the window as soon as she explodes and goes off into that black void Hori likes to store his adult female characters.

#ask #thanks for the ask!#bnha #mha #bnha critical #Sorry for the Lady N rant #but her character still really bugs me #mainly because she could have been really cool #and been used better by the story #but Hori didn;t actually want to explore a super corrupt HPSC #he just wanted to have his sexy lamp #be an assassin like in a movie he saw #clearly didn't think through all the implications of adding that in #like Star was unnecessary #but you can just skip the fight if it annoys you #you can with LN to but say that alone shows how poorly integrated she was #you should not be able to skip the part where it turns out a major government agency has been killing people behind everyone's back #but in mha you sure can

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telafel · 4 months

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okay I'm back home and my classes just started today so perfect time to procrastinate out the gate with rambling about ACOTAR

Spoilers ahead.

so I went into this book kind of doubtful that I'd like it, but with an open mind of like "hey, I like romance, so maybe this will be some sort of indulgent thing that i like. nothing wrong with that!" sort of vibe.

and I genuinely enjoyed how it started off. You have a protagonist that is working her ass off to defend and provide for her family in a tough time and puts herself in danger just so they can eat and have some money for basic comforts. The family dynamic is strained and messy, and all of them are very understandable, if frustrating. I was like 'yeah! this is interesting!'

Then it kind of goes downhill as soon as the faeries show up. It was cool when it was like big ass bear thing busts in the door and demands and life for a life, but then it immediately tapers off when it's like "oh there's a loophole, come live with me in the faerie lands forever" which could have been an interesting moment if it didn't kind of negate the whole "you killed my friend and I'm enraged over it" entrance. The reveal later about WHY he extends this offer doesn't make this scene any better because like. Why does he make this whole front of scaring her in the first place.

I thought it would be cool if like, the faerie lands were somehow very different and dangerous in certain ways and just inherently weird and off, but no. It's just a rich mansion and the MC gets to live in luxury and her only worry is how her family is surviving without her, which is very quickly brushed away because her Love Interest is just ungodly rich and takes care of them too. There are a few monsters and dangers that show up but they don't have much staying power.

From this point on it's kind of boring tepid "romance" stuff. I never get a strong sense of Feyre as a character. She is in survival mode at first and then isn't but most of her character boils down to like... "I think Tamlin's hot and I like to paint" which isn't very interesting. Tamlin also doesn't come across strongly either. He's just kind of a stoic, aloof guy that protects his realm and protects Feyre from being stupid. Oh and he's essentially stupid rich.

Which reminds me a lot of this section of the book is Feyre being told not to do something, without anything being explained to her- and then she does it anyway and her getting scolded for it.

The romance is bland, I never feel like they're actually interested in each other beyond basic physical attraction, and there is zero worldbuilding besides some basic holiday celebrations and throwing fantasy names of monsters in But They're Faeries Now(tm). All the background is just vague and lacking and the story dump later makes this more annoying.

Oh and also the magic system is incredibly vague and annoying to me. I don't mind a soft magic system but I want some consistency and sense to it. Having Tamlin be like "I can't heal big wounds" but he can shapeshift and still heal stuff regardless... and then have Rhys show up and be able to literally crush minds even when his power is limited like Tamlin's is like. Huh? (Also like. Why does Rhys go through Feyre's mind and not pull out a name? I guess you could argue it's because he wants to depose the evil woman faerie I guess but still. Also how does he get fooled/can't sense a simple glamour, but can easily dispel it????)

So when shit starts hitting the fan there's the expected "I'm sending you away tomorrow, let's fuck tonight" scene with a not very sexy sex scene.. and Feyre goes back to her family who are now also wildly rich and never have to struggle and of course it's not good enough for Feyre because they're normal and mundane humans and not the humans-with-pointy-ears faeries that can just forever live in excess for no reason.

And of course Feyre goes back to the faeries to try to save the day and get berated and info-dumped on about the stupid as fuck Curse. "Oh Tamlin was cursed to lose his power unless he fell in love with a human that killed a faerie and had hate in her heart (because Amarantha's sister fell in love with a human and the human betrayed her so Amarantha wants to mimic this exact same scenario with this curse. No we couldn't talk about her before this moment either, so here is her whole backstory too) and also he's forced to wear a mask covering half his face to make it even harder to fall in love with him because obviously all attraction is just physical and skin-deep, so he was intentionally sending scouts out to try to force the scenario to break his curse, so this whole thing was set up for you to be here and be made to fall in love with him and we were all cursed to not be able to talk about the curse but you, you stupid human, should've picked up on it despite us not really giving you any hints at all and should've told him you loved him, why didn't you, stupid selfish human."

Oh yeah and at no point does she ever question or consider the fact that her being there in the faerie lands was entirely manufactured and her falling in love was manipulated just so Tamlin could break the curse and get his power back. No thoughts, head empty. That's HER high lord and him telling her he loves her is unquestionably true!

We also get info dumped about the antagonist which of course is an evil, spiteful woman that wants Tamlin for herself. And all the other courts have male leaders, so it's extra evil that this silly woman is manipulating them because the womanfolk should be tending to the house and caring for children (not really, but one of the only other female faeries we encounter is a maid at Tamlin's court who is caring for her nephews and the fact that pretty much any other figure in power is a man kind of paints this type of picture to me.)

So Feyre gets captured, of course, and doesn't listen to any of the advice she's given and enters a bargain with the Evil Queen, and this starts the more genuinely interesting sections of the book. I like all these trials she has to go through and how to get through them she has to make some other deals with morally questionable people that are just using her. She has to struggle!!! It's interesting!!!

Anyways, I do find it funny that she's just so motivated to save Tamlin and meanwhile Tamlin is kind of just a stone that does nothing this whole time. Like go girl, give us nothing! She's risking her life for you and you can't even try to sneak away to see her (except of course when he's horny and wants to bang her in a closet right before her final trial which is basically the 3rd month she's busting her ass to try to save him. We love mid men.)

What weird is that I feel like she has more interesting moments and more chemistry with Rhys in this section of the book than she does with Tamlin the rest of it. It's not a very healthy relationship, but it's certainly more interesting. Rhys actually risks his skin to help Feyre, even if it is a bargain that would benefit him.

I did find it funny that at the start of these trials Feyre is given a riddle to solve and if she solves it she and Tamlin will instantly be freed. It's an incredibly obvious riddle if you have any braincells but Feyre unfortunately does not, so she doesn't figure it out until the very last second.

But of course Feyre wins her trials and solves the riddle and the evil powerful woman is nothing compared to the men's power so gets murdered by the strong man folk, but oh no Feyre dies! But don't worry the incredibly vague magic system, and the high lord come to her aid and resurrect her as a high fae herself woohooo.

I was reading this last night in a hotel room with my boyfriend and I flopped my kindle down and went "this is so fucking stupid," and my boyfriend laughed.

The aftermath was kind of interesting. I mean she's getting used to a new body with heightened senses and it seems like it's overstimulating for her and she seems almost distant about the whole thing. But don't worry it doesn't last long. she's with her lover and everything is fine, it's okay now. Also Tamlin has his mask free and is just totally handsome wow who would have guessed.

The start and towards the end of the book are probably the best parts because Feyre actually has to have some struggle, the middle parts she is literally just living in luxury and like, I suppose it's supposed to be her coming out of her shell but it all feels very surface level and like boxes being ticked for Romance Development.

Once Feyre is able to paint that's like an entire cornerstone of her personality and of course she just gets handed a full private studio space to work in. A lot of her internal narration turns into how she wants to paint x and she'll never be able to paint y and like... as someone who is an artist I can kind of understand it. I'll go places and be so amazed by the scenery it will inspire me to want to render it, but in this book is feels so weird and all consuming for the pages she's able to paint.

And Feyre in general is difficult to connect with as I've said, she's shown at the start to have some street smarts, she learns to hunt, she knows how to bargain at the markets, she picks up on gossip and knows people around town. She does not keep these properties because it's like all her sense and braincells leave her. She doesn't think of the consequences of her actions until way after the fact. She straight up is responsible for an entire family + staff getting killed and their estate burned- the daughter tortured and killed in Feyre's place and she doesn't even feel bad until she sees the body of the girl. She doesn't hold that guilt for more than a chapter at most. Her resourcefulness comes into play with one of the trials but yeah.

And of course all the men just want to fuck her for some reason.

Also, there is this incredibly weird vibe through the whole story where people are always referred to as male or female. It's squicks me out A LOT in this whole biological essentialism sense, sprinkled with heteronormativity vibe. It feels like a very cold way to refer to people and has almost this animalistic feeling to things. Like the male will mate with the female, sort of thing. I don't know if I'm conveying the vibe at all. I remember seeing this exact point mentioned by other people and I didn't think much of it, but in context I very much understand it now. There is no reason I can understand why Feyre would have this sort of verbiage when she grew up in a wealthy family and around human beings that largely wouldn't use these terms exclusively for descriptions. (The only reason I could think is that she was hunting, but still, it's a weird choice.)

The core of this story comes down to feeling like the usual escapism romance trope of 'a mid woman gets swept away by a stupidly rich and handsome guy' but with Fantasy set dressings to make it different. It's just bland to me. All the wants and needs are taken care of and it's just boring. The faerie aspects aren't even that expanded on either.

I will give the fact that Tamlin is probably not as creepy as other male love interests, but he still tries to force himself (it's mostly that he pins her to a wall and grinds on her, it's not super egregious as far as male love interests SADLY) on her once and even hurts her by biting her neck. And of course she just finds that hot and goes on to try to rile him up after that. I think that's why I don't like this romance. A lot of it is just physical lust and being horny with only a little bit of emotional connection in spots that feel more forced than natural and organic. I dunno tho.

I am half tempted to read the second book because I did quite enjoy Rhys, I love me some morally dubious men, but I don't think I could put myself through another one of these stories. Maybe I will see if a library has it to borrow so I don't feel bad for spending money on it.

Well maybe the next book I will genuinely like. Hopefully. I'm tired of being disappointed by books.

#tel babbles #tel's book reviews

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inexplicifics · 2 years

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hello! first off, just wanted to say, i absolutely adore all your works so very, very much! but i was thinking about the warlord au and i had a question, and who better to answer it than the original, and best warlord worldbuilder there is?

so i'm wondering — in versions of the warlord au where geralt has mages working with him, how does their mind-reading work exactly? is it all-powerful or does it have limits? are there ways to block it? if someone were to send a spy into the witcher's keep, would they have any way to keep their secrets secret? and if the warlord's squad were to meet with a foreign ruler scheming against them, would someone like yennefer be able to figure that out immediately?

basically i'm very curious if it's possible to keep things hidden where mages and witchers are concerned — again, you're amazing, keep up the great work!! <3

So I'm not entirely sure how this works in canon, but in the AW AU, a mage's mindreading is a conscious thing - they aren't just reading everything all the time. They'd go quite mad, I expect! And I suspect at least the casual sort of surface reading that doesn't require much effort also can't go too deep, so if someone was, say, concentrating on an annoying song, that might be the only thing a mage could find without some serious work on their part.

I suspect unless the mind-readee is themself a mage or has gotten a mage to help them shield their mind, a mage who really concentrated could get anything they wanted, but it might be hard.

And of course mages have different skill sets, so some mages are probably worse at mind-reading than others.

Yen, I think, probably doesn't bother to read Witchers' minds for the most part, now that she's well settled, but when they're doing Important Political Negotiations, I suspect she's got a constant low-level sort of scan up for anyone starting to think things like, "Hey, we should start that assassination attempt," or, "Hah, he didn't spot the Nasty Clause we put in!" or things like that.

I hope that helped!

#questions answered

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nellynee · 3 years

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The makings of greatness, or why, as a ride or die Treasure Planet stan, I’m glad there’s no Treasure Plant 2

You ever see somethings that makes you unreasonably angry? Yes I understand exactly what I’m saying, and how that indicates that my emotions and opinions on this are exactly that. Opinions. There’s a good chance I have some objective truths mixed in, but that does not make my opinions based on those truths truth. If you disagree or have different tastes or opinions or interpretations, cool, let me know! maybe you’ll change my mind. That being said.

The plot synopsis for the Treasure Planet sequel makes me angry. Not like, actively so, just annoyed enough to be in a bad mood. And now you guys all have to be in one as well. Why?

Reason 1, and probably least important: Disney sequel syndrome.

Ok so Disney sequels aren’t inherently bad. I’ll stan the Aladdin sequels to my grave, who knew Cinderella could world build, obligatory Rescuers Down Under (the first one was better) blah blah blah.

But there is an inherit problem with sequels in general, and that usually has to do with cast and crew. An original piece of fiction has to grab the audience yes, but there’s also freedom in that. Media touches people in different way. The worldbuilding can mean more to some than others. Some are in it for the animation, or the character developments, or relationships. What connects with one person won’t connect with another. The problem with sequels is that different people who worked out the original material might and usually do not work on the new. And those new people are already working on that new material with their own personal lenses and experiences and interpretations coloring the old. The reason sequels (and remakes, and big budget presentations of other materials like books into movies) tend to bomb hard is because you are essentially being forced to accept someone’s fanfiction into the canon material. Usually, there’s a pretty strong correlation between more successful franchises/extension material, works staying true to the core material, original crew working on the material, and the enjoyment of the audience.

And sources say very few of the original crew remained. Some yes, but mostly voice cast. Even worse, TP2 was a DisneyToon production, not even a mainline feature. Now I’m not saying the new people weren’t talented, or passionate about the project, or were lacking in experience. It doesn’t really matter if any of those things are true or not. It’s the warping of their personal lenses I don’t trust. Fanfic I can disregard, meta I can disregard. This would have been canon.

And reading the Artbook makes is abundantly clear that the parts that touched me personally would have been missing. The very core of Treasure Planet for me was the relationship between Jim and Silver (and their exquisite animation budget). However you choose to interpret that relationship, you can not deny that Treasure Planet is a powerfully emotionally romantic movie. It’s quiet moments and emotional resonance shaped my views of intimacy with a sharp and fine touch. Silver and Jim’s bond is as undeniable and powerful as it is compelling and awe inspiring to witness unfold.

And a lot of that is owed not only to the voice acting of Joseph Gorden-Levitt (Jim) and Brian Murray (Silver), But to animators Glen Keane and John Ripa, who were the head animators of Silver and Jim respectively. Not only did Gorden-Levitt and Brian Murray deliver stunning performances, but made sure to work together and jointly play off each other in ways most voice actors don’t have the opportunity to do. And the Masters Keane and Ripa took an already stellar and carefully crafted vocal rapport and took it one step further. I highly recommend the Artbook as a good read, both Keane and Ripa talk about the journey of discovering who Jim and Silver were with delight, acting out entire scenes together using their own body language to build the characters together, using the same animation reals to animate, tag teaming in and out of the program rather than do it separately, becoming so attuned with their characters attitudes and mannerisms that you can tell they poured entire pieces of themselves into Jim and Silver.

I’m not saying the Sequel would have been inherently bad because it’s a sequel, or because a new crew worked on it, but I am saying I wouldn’t trust it with a ten foot pole.

Reason 2: Thanks I hate it (I’m saying it’s inherently bad because the plot is bad and I hate it)

I’m sorry for the length, but for you to really understand just how bad this is, I actually have to pick through every single line and tell you why it fails critically at some junctures and where it would be so simple to fix. For those of you who were unaware that there was a sequel in the works at some point, I’m pulling these quotes pretty much wholesale from the AnimateVeiws article Buried Treasure: The ill-fated voyage to Treasure Planet 2, specifically the interview with Jun Falkenstein who was set to direct the now canceled sequel. Spoiler warning, I guess?

So, from the begining

“The sequel was to pick up where the first film left off, with Jim Hawkins going to the Royal Interstellar Academy. At the Academy, he is a hotshot “natural,” but he doesn’t follow the rules very well.” - Strong start but then dropped the finish. I think the interstellar academy would be a very compelling starting point. I see no fault in it at least, it’s a good opportunity to world build. Clemence and Musket like to make a point that Jim was crafted to connect with the emotionally wounded and distant youth in a age of divorce, so showing what happens when that youth hikes up their britches and gets to work can extend on that theme aaaaaaand you dropped it. Dropped that strong start. Yes, Jim was more than a bit of a bite back rebel in the film, but that was a reactionary response to the bad place he started in. Jim was abandoned, and tied his self worth into that abandonment. His kickback against society was a reaction stemming from an inability to see his personal worth and any sort of future he could craft from it. He outgrew this, his very character development was about this in the film. His character arc was about realizing his inherent worth, embracing a sense of confidence and learning what he could do. Even disregarding that, bonus material outside of the film shows that Jim has a very strong sense of respect for Captain Amelia, her military career, and the hard work she put into it, and he’s there on her recommendation. Why would he act out in this? He is a natural yes, but the film shows he’s incredibly sharp and intelligent, if unlearned, and more than ready to learn given opportunity.

“Hence, he gets off to a shaky start – especially with his classmate Kate, who is very smart and has a type A personality. Kate’s father is Admiral Blake, the Commander of the Navy. Jim and Kate vie for top of the class but have very different skills.” - So building off this to fix the problem before. I guess the dynamic they are going for is something like “the kind of a jerk hotshit hotshot who’s got it all figured out and the straight laced rule fallowing stick in the ass rival”? I’m not apposed to to a rivalry, but lets tweak this, given how “hot shot natural jerk” isn’t really where Jim settles at the end of the film. Jim is a natural talent, who excels under tutelage, but more importantly, he has practical experience. While the time period spent on the RLS Legacy is not defined, they do sail to a deep and unexplored part of the galaxy, probably well outside of regular settlements, so no small distance, though Jim is young enough that a very long period of time would be noted in physical growth. Given comparisons to classic nautical sailing of the source time, months, perhaps up to a year? That’s a long time to spend, learning the rough and tumble basics, tying knots, experiencing food and water rations, extreme temperatures, playing with the rigging and mechanical aspects of the boat. Jim knows what it’s like to actually sail. Meanwhile, this is the Royal Academy, who probably takes in upper class second born children and pumps out military accolades for well learned mathematicians and strategists. Jim doesn’t fit in because he can visualize, he can think outside of the box, he can weld a damn engine to a hunk of shrapnel and ignite it freefalling against a metal hellscape and outrace a boat in a high adrenaline situation. He adapts where the other’s frantically look through their notes for the answer. Worse yet, he’s poor and not classically educated. Make it a class issue. In this aspect I do like Kate. Being the Daughter of the Commander of the Navy, she probably has a very technical and far more expansive understanding of navel ships, particularly the running of them. In this way Jim and Kate are perfect foils. Jim representing the poor, instinctually and practically knowledgeable crew, and Kate the upper-class, technically knowledgeable command, a dichotomy representing the haves and have nots in their skills, experiences, an class.

I don’t want to post a picture and break the post, but I do love Kate’s design. I do recommend looking up the article and checking it out. that being said, being a feline species, they messed up not spelling it Cate.

“Captain Amelia is dean of the Academy, which has a brand-new vessel: the Centurion.” - I… why, why is Amelia the dean? Additional material shows that Amelia broke ties with the military because she didn’t like their rule stickling ways and red tape. Why would she want a red tape position? She helped with a war and then bailed first opportunity to become a freelance captain so she could fallow her own rules. Even if you don’t know any of that additional material, you do know that she is a freelance captain. Why is she dean? what happened to the old one? Are they dead? Did DisneyToon kill them? Did Disneytoon kill the old dean?

“Designed by Doctor Doppler, the Centurion is the fastest ship in the galaxy.” - HE’S NOT THAT KIND OF DOCTOR!

“B.E.N. is its pilot”. - NO

In all seriousness all three of those statements show a serious problem, in that none of those characters are in fact those things. Amelia I’ve already explained. But Doppler was a debatably youngish bachelor with too much money who was fascinated by astronomy specifically and who suffered from ennui. And BEN was a navigational unit, so maybe it makes sense for him to be a pilot, but why is a robot who was functioning under a galaxy feared pirate for who knows how long given any kind of agency over a brand new incredibly important ship? These decisions were probably made to incorporate as much of the old cast as possible, to not exclude fan faves. But any decision that makes BEN a prominent part of the plot and thus gets more screen time is a BAD one.

“The pirate Ironbeard desires to commandeer the Centurion. This ruthless villain is relatively all iron – almost nothing of whom he originally was, inside and out, is left.” - On the one hand, I have a weird feeling that this would somehow violate the 30-70 rule. Buuuuut on the other hand, the Artbook does describe the decision making process of what and how was mechanical on Silver (my favorite tidbit was the wheel on his head representing his constant thinking and assessing) and states that that they in a way represent the pieces of humanity he gave up looking for Flint’s Trove. Extending that to a pirate who has given up everything could be a powerful thematic tool if used right (or intentionally)

“He leads a group of pirates to hijack the Centurion while Jim and Kate are aboard.” - ok, yeah, I’ll buy that. If they are butting heads constantly, I could see them sneaking off to the new piece of hardware to one up each other on who knows their stuff, or maybe bond over wanting to learn about the said new tech and being frustrated with restrictions.

“The Navy can’t catch the Centurion, due to the vessel’s speed and armor.”- sure

“Jim and Kate escape the Centurion. Jim decides he needs a pirate to help catch pirates. They find his old buddy Long John Silver in the Lagoon Nebula, where he is running a smuggling ring. “ - So what Jim just goes “I know just the pirate to help us” and then finds him? That journey of itself deserves it’s own movie, anything less is a disappointment. Alternative. Jim and Kate escape onto a particularly lawless planet. Jim has some tricks to keep them safe and fed, maybe he even excels in ways he’s been straight up stop gapped at the academy. Maybe his knowhow is appreciated by others who society also rejects. But Kate is a frustrating fish out of water, getting offended and worked up over things that are big deals to an average citizen but not criminals and pirates. But such reactions are putting them in danger and she needs to get perspective fast. It’s plausible maybe that Silver tracks them down through interesting rumors, but more than that, let it be fate. Neither having any idea the other is there till the second they see each other. Bonus points if Jim and Kate get in a bind and Silver is the leader of the harassers. Better yet lets add some thematic mirroring not only to the scene where Silver saved Jim from Scroop, but directly contrast it to the scene where Silver doubled back and down against the notion of caring for Jim when called out before the mutiny. *kisses finger* Touching and hilarious.

“ Silver agrees to help when he hears about the Centurion. “ - Silver agrees to help when he hears about the Centurion without Jim even having to ask. Storywise, lets make some kind of deal over how Jim, an upstanding enrollee of the academy, apparently is chummy with a pirate. Tension doesn’t just have to be external, and Kate is the daughter of the Commander of the Army. Maybe she’s recognized and this gets them in trouble. Maybe Kate has issues with her identity outside of her father’s career and need to learn a lesson about being outside of a rigid social structure?

“Jim and Kate receive a tracking signal from B.E.N. – who is currently hostage aboard the Centurion – and follow via Silver’s creaky vessel. They discover the Centurion docked near the Botany Bay Prison Asteroid. “ - While being the fastest ship yet is a good excuse for wanting it to get stolen, my suspension of disbelief breaks a little at any ship, let alone a creaky little pirate vessel, catching up to the fastest ship yet, or the tracking signal being the only way to track it to a guarded prison. Seeing as how I’ve written BEN out of this scenario lets fix it. After the events of the movie, the Royal Military swoops in after to confiscate the debris of Treasure Planet. For those in the know, canon lore states that the Planet was a giant computer, and it and the map were the byproducts of an ancient and advanced civilization. Studying the debris led to the Centurion, notable not for it’s speed, but for it’s stealth. It can cloak itself. Which is why no-one can find it. Meanwhile Silver lets it slip that he snagged the map from it’s pedestal as they escaped the planet as a souvenir. (handwave why the portal was still open with a “the whole thing was exploding, the computer froze). The map is able to track the remnants of said planet, aka the Centurion, meaning Silver has the only means of tracking the cloaked ship

“Ironbeard is using the Centurion to disable Botany Bay’s security systems. Jim, Kate and Silver sneak aboard the Centurion, where Silver reveals to Jim that he wants to take the Centurion for himself. He asks Jim to join him.“ YES. YES YES YES YES YES YES! Understanding that Jim’s decision to not go with Silver in the first movie is key here. He rejected Silver’s offer the first time because Silver had shown him he had intrinsic value, and Jim finally felt that the natural gifts he had were worth cultivating, that he did have the chance to explore who he could be on his own terms. Jim was comfortable being on his own, because he felt capable. Now, Jim and Silver bring out the best in each other, and the time apart has done them harm. Jim’s strings of social rejections are starting to fell like a glass ceiling he can’t overcome, and is finding more and more comfort in being a big fish in a pirates small pond, and the emotions of of being wanted that come with Silver is a powerful drug. But it’s a one way ticket away from any opportunities he could work towards, not to mention his barely repaired relationship with his mother. Meanwhile Silver has been slowly slipping back into the colder, more selfish self he was, a necessity for his lifestyle, and doesn’t want to loose his connection to Jim and what Jim brings out in him, but is still far enough gone to make the offer and try for the boat anyways, even if he knows it’s not what’s best. It’s an emotionally compelling decision. You want them to say yes, you know they shouldn’t

“Kate overhears this and is horrified, especially since the two have, of course, started falling for each other during the adventure.” - Hate. this I hate. Leaving shipping to they way side, what’s that “of course”? why do they have to fall for each other? Why the Disneytoon sequel love interest? I have a feeling her characterization would come at the cost of it. Why can’t they be rivals? why can’t they develop a mutual respect outside of attraction? Why can’t they both learn an individualized lesson about finding their own place in the world outside of social constraints as foils without macking? I hate this concept. Kate overhears, and is horrified, because Silver is a Pirate which is actually in universe get yourself hanged offense, and Jim is considering this, and they are going to steal a VERY IMPORTANT BOAT and and leave her stranded in a dagerous prison, and are making an objectively morally bad decision.

“Ironbeard discovers the intruders, charging into a fight in which Silver is injured. Meanwhile, the other pirates throw down ladders to the prison below, allowing swarms of elated prisoners to climb up into the ship. Silver, Jim, and Kate exit the Centurion amidst all the confusion. However, Ironbeard shoots down Silver’s ship. They plummet to the prison asteroid below, crash-landing” - cool. Drama. But for my purposes, lets tweak it so Silver isn’t injured yet. But I really want to emphasize that this attack does not interrupt before Jim can react to Silver’s offer. Even something as tentative as “I’m not sure” has consequences. None of this “misunderstanding” BS.

“ Kate is angry at Jim and storms off. “- again, make it clear that Jim showed a real chance of agreeing to steal the ship. if she’s angry before he had a chance to answer that’s contrivance for drama’s sake. Give her a reason to be mad

“ Jim is about to blow her off as well when Silver tells him to give her a chance. He reveals a part of his past through a flashback, when a young (non-cyborg) Silver screwed up a relationship with the love of his life – a decision which directly led to his life of piracy. “ - nope. nope nope nope . I’m gonna put a big old * here because this is reason number 3 why I hate this potential movie, and I will get to that believe me, but here’s me, putting a pin in it. That being said, have Silver selfishly try to double down on getting Jim to join him in a three way argument instead. This is the conflict of the film. Kate, who was learning to grow outside of the strict restrictions of her life and do her own work, make her own way, is being rejected. She is as morally repulsed as she is hurt that she wasn’t included, and hates herself for that hurt as well. Jim is torn between the freedom of what he could be after the academy paired with the strict social constructs around it, and the freedom of a life “full of himself and no ties to anyone” but running from the law and the two friends they represent. Silver is the aggressor here. He likes Kate, he does, but he loves Jim and only has one place in his heart, and has spent his life being selfish. There’s already a crew on board, and Iron beard is hooked into the Centurion. With having the only other means to navigate, they take down ironbeard, the rest will surely fall in line. This is paydirt. A fantastic ship, a bloodthirsty crew, and Jim.

“Silver has a very dangerous cargo with him that he had been trying to smuggle and sell for a fortune, which has the power of a neutron bomb. Jim, Kate and Silver reconcile and work together to fix Silver’s ship and prevent the Centurion, filled with the most evil pirates in the galaxy, from going on an insane robbing-and-killing spree. At the last second, Silver reluctantly gives up his “retirement fund” in order to destroy the Centurion, with Ironbeard and all the pirates on board.” - this entire section needs rewritten. That’s a mcguffin Silver put it away. I have retconned the mcguffin to be the old map, so that is now moot. Now to not blow up the ship. Afterall, Silver and Jim have both already overcome what Treasure Planet represented with it’s destruction. Rather, B plot

If we are that desperate to have past characters in, let’s have Amelia and Delbert back home. When the Centurion is captured, Amelia immediately volunteers to fallow, feeling responsible for Jim and secretly pining for some adventure. Delbert feels the same, and he to a bit of an adrenaline junkie after the events of the first movie, but they have the children to think about and only one can leave. Delbert is the one chosen to help by the navy officials searching for the Centurion. While Amelia bickers with the Admiral Blake over his pragmatic but emotionally distant decisions over the situation of his missing daughter, Delbert is an astronomer, and is blah blah blah science meta, fallow the flashing and bending lights around the cloaked ship to find it. As in Delbert is helpful. Amelia in a reflation to Admiral Blake, is torn between her family and commandeering her own ship to help. Blake is frustratingly headstrong in his decisions, and the script makes it seem like that emotional distance is disinterests, but reveals to the audience that it incorporates a great deal of suppression of his anxieties and worries over his daughter, and trust in her abilities, though he has issues expressing this pride to Kate herself. Amelia, Delbert and fam make what is probably a poor decision in commandeering a ship and leaving on their own to track the Centurion, the navy hot on their heels.

Back to A plot, the navy is approaching. Jim has to make a decision. He is the only one who knows how to unmask the ship using the old ones tech without training, as it’s based off the map. While Kate and Silver are distracting iron beard, he has to either steal the ship and sail off, or uncloak it for the navy. Iron beard is taken down, but not without Silver getting injured. Jim decides that Silver’s life is worth more than anything, and after agreeing with Kate that she’ll commandeer a doctor and wont let Silver die, uncloaks the ship. The Centurion is retaken in a blaze of naval glory that is the action climax. The pirates fight back up are over run. Maybe Kate gets taken hostage as the Admirals daughter, as an opportunity for a resolution with her arc as Blake’s distant daughter, though obviously said resolution comes at her showing her abilities in taking care of herself and the practical skills she has learned.

“Silver again parts from Jim and Kate, telling them to take care of each other. A few years later, Jim and Kate graduate with honors, while a proud Silver secretly watches from the shadows, smiling” - Boooooo. Kate and her dad make up, and she challenges him that she’s going to one day Captain the Centurion, with him understanding that she needs less a mentor and more an emotional support while she works her way up the ranks. She invites Jim to be her first mate, to which Jim accepts as a navigator, (a thing I’ve pointed out to be his real strength in another post). But to Silver, who has been “pardoned” for his part in retaking the Centurion, the movie hinting that he to would be on the eventual crew there I fixed it fic to come I s2g.

yeah there’s a lot of good there, but it’s so easy to fix the bad it’s frustrating. which brings me to

Reason 3: that little pin

Nope nope nope I’ll tell you why.

First of all, sources like the artbook say that Jim is so Important to Silver because he’s the first person Silver has ever let become important. he’s specifically stated to have no family, never married, no children. And that’s something he cultivated actively. His life of piracy, his metal limbs, his loneliness and moral failings were all gleefully accumulated for one reason and one reason only

Treasure Planet.

Treasure Planet was the great love of Silver’s life. It was a lifelong obsession. It destroyed his body, took his youth, his opportunities and nearly his life. He broke Jim’s heart over it.

And he let it go. For Jim.

And Jim understood this

This is the crux of treasure planet’s very themes. This is where Jim found self worth. Another person finally looked at him and said “you matter, you matter more than anything. I like being around you and I choose you first.” and it made Jim realize he’s someone worth choosing.

The treasure was EVERYTHING to Silver, and Silver let it go, for Jim.

That one line there, attributing the start of Silver’s fall to a girl? that actively retcons the entire theme of the previous movie. IT rewrite the emotional linchpin of Silver’s sacrifice of the gold. And actually fuck that. right into the ground. I do not accept. I do not pass go. I refuse. Fuck you non existent movie. That makes me mad. every single time. Hate I shall never let go.

#Disney #Treasure Planet #Jim Hawkins #long john silver #john silver #long post #meta #god I hate this non existent movie #This outline is the closest I've ever come to writing spitefic and its still up in the air #Treasure Planet is such a romantic movie and you come into my house and try to shred the emotional core and themes by recontextualizing?#fuck off #Fuck I love Treasure Planet #sequel synopsis can die in a fire tho

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evilmortys · 3 years

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okay, so, here are my thoughts on the finale,

i’m gonna start with the things i didn’t like, just because of who i am as a person! my feelings are mixed, but... looks lovingly at evil morty. he truly was the only exception as usual ♥

i’m not going to lie, this whole thing felt. rushed. although some of rick’s meta commentary about not touching citadel shit because it was canon and he and morty were supposed to be going back to lighthearted one off adventures, and “the second he reveals that he’s evil, we’re out” made me laugh, it also felt very disingenuous and ham-fisted. having him do all these fourth wall breaks honestly took away from the impact of what this episode could have been, but whatever.

i just got the vibe that they wanted everyone to stfu about the citadel and evil morty, so they quickly stuck together this episode that dealt with fans’ demand in one fell swoop so they could move on from the existence of both plotlines. i honestly thought it was a bit wasteful since tales from the citadel resonated with a lot of fans and it was an interesting bit of worldbuilding with compelling narratives going on.

you already all likely know how irritated i am with morty’s character degrading so much once again. this entire season has been building him up to becoming so much more capable, only to wrench it away from him again by instead having his co-dependency with rick ramped up to the point it was literally out of character. this has come out of nowhere. at no point in the show’s entire run has morty ever been this needy with rick.

again, i feel like this may have been written around what eventually ended up happening at the citadel, with the revelation that mortys are ‘bred for forgiveness.’ it would have been far more compelling for our morty to have continued to go down the path of being decidedly unforgiving of rick’s bullshit, thereby making him deviate from the norm in a similar way to evil morty himself and implicating that the cycle of a morty going to these extremes is going to be repeated once again.

rick did not deserve or earn voicing the recognition that his dynamic with morty was toxic, and abusive. are you fucking kidding me? the smartest man in the universe only JUST clocked onto that? bullshit! he’s known all along, and he’s been using it for his own gain! he doesn’t get to just say it with that regretful voice as if he’s been clueless / oblivious to it this entire time. they just wanted the audience to feel sympathetic for him by throwing in this tidbit and a tragic backstory, as if that even sort of makes up for everything he’s put his family through.

abandoning the people you’ve hurt is ALSO abusive and toxic behaviour! he’s done it time and time again! how is acknowledging the fact that you hurt people, that you hurt your family, the people that love you despite the fact you objectively don’t deserve it, then ditching them once again instead of staying with them and improving as a person and helping everyone heal from what you’ve put them through, ANY BETTER?? he never changes!!

i also couldn’t really process the fact that rick just handed morty his portal gun like it was nothing-- i feel like him topping it off and using it behind rick’s back should have been a bigger deal than what it was. also, morty would not break a guy out of a mental asylum without a second thought. he simply wouldn’t do that.

we’ve fallen right back into the status quo of morty being stupid and rick being the smartest one in the room who always knows what’s going on, even when he actually shouldn’t for the sake of a few meta jokes. which is more annoying than i can put into words tbqh

obviously i hated all the parallels they were attempting to make between rick and morty having a romantic relationship and “breaking up.” never has morty behaved so uncharacteristically in any other episode of the show. it honestly felt disrespectful to all the growth he’s had as a character to reduce him to something so pathetic.

i guess this is less of a thing i disliked, and more of a commentary on rick’s character? but once again, his hypocrisy really leapt out at me once it was revealed that he always has a hand in bringing together beths and jerrys in order to ensure that more mortys will end up in the multiverse. i find it unbelievably sad that he’ll willingly ensnare the two of them in the throes of a relationship that he knows is likely to become toxic and cause the both of them to be miserable throughout their time together; they’re rarely happy / compatible together and always end up sticking it out for the kids. it also makes his constant shitting on jerry even more egregious and almost serves to call his love for his daughter into question for me. he’s using her as a means to his own ends by manipulating situations so she’ll meet jerry and they’ll likely end up together.

don’t get me wrong, i actually really loved the fact he had a hand in founding the citadel he now loathes so much, and i think the constant creation of mortys as grandsons ‘bred to forgive’ ricks is so fucked up and awful in the most intriguing way. it’s akin to him fiddling with the concept of keeping mortys in constant pain to cloak his comings and goings around the multiverse (on paper, morty, on paper!), except this time he did it in reality.

evil morty. oh my god, evil morty. my saving grace. my ray of light. i’m so, so, so pleased with the way he was handled. while i admit i was looking forward to more of a slow - burn thing, getting a bit of insight into his presidency and possibly exploring a dynamic with him and c-137 (we’ll get to that)... i honestly still really loved what ended up happening with him, even though i still believe on some level that they just wanted to tie up his narrative thread so fans wouldn’t remain fixated on him.

of course he did. of course that motherfucker rick created a boundary within the infinite multiverse that ensured he’d always be the smartest man within it as far as mortys and other people in his life were concerned. i’ve always found it odd that such universes were never brought up even in passing; the nature of infinite possibilities always dictated that someone smarter than him must exist out there, and that worlds existed where he was nobody special.

him being morally gray. i could cry. i was clinging on to the hope that it would be shown he hates ricks more than he looks down on mortys, and it absolutely was. while he was okay with killing and hurting mortys to achieve his own “selfish” ends, it’s clear that he’s unhappy with the cycle of abuse from their infinite grandfathers that pushes him to these extremes, loathes the concept that mortys are not supposed to defy their ricks. “if you’ve ever been sick of him, you’ve been evil morty too.” he hates ricks FAR more than he does mortys, and you can pry that from my cold, dead hands. he believes mortys are beyond help because of the way they stick by rick-- the fact they’re literally created with being yes-men for rick in mind.

he didn’t seek to make changes for the greater good of other mortys within the citadel. i think he understood on some level, it was impossible. i think he has this belief that other mortys are part of the problem, because they perpetuate the cyclic dynamic of toxicity and harm-- they don’t move to break free from it the way he does, and so he feels no guilt leaving them behind while he breaks into the aspect of the multiverse where rick has no power. it’s honestly heartbreaking that he’s come to have a mindset like that.

i think seeing c-137 reach out to help rick up once again instead of accepting what i hope and pray was a semi - genuine offer to join him as he departed was just yet another instance of him witnessing a morty doing the most to save the man who makes their lives a living hell. if he was truly unsympathetic, he’d have made no such offer. if he thinks a morty is capable of pulling away from the hold ricks have on them, he wants them out of this shit just as much as he himself wants to break free from it. i think he has the mindset that i know they tried to play it off with “haha the other seat’s a toilet,” but i don’t think that was the case and they were once again just undermining the moment for no good reason. SCREAMS!! don’t get me wrong what he did WAS selfish and evil. but in a way you can understand where it derives from

again, it REALLY irritates me they’ve undone so much of morty’s character just to ensure he wouldn’t end up taking evil morty up on his proposition. if morty had retained even a tenth of the character growth he’s been having from late season four until towards the end of season five, wherein it began to unravel, he’d have left rick. undeniably.

the yellow portal. oh my god............

it made me so fucking emotional to see that. he’s won. he’s free.

#rick and morty #evil morty #okay this isn't even all of them but it will do #alex talks!

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rosemary-is-in-pesterquest · 3 years

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okay I gotta get something off my chest about Eridan's pesterquest route cuz I never see anyone get annoyed about it and it drives me nuts. y'know how he talks about liking wearing feminine clothing and talks about gender identity stuff? it's been forever since I've revisited this, but basically, I thought it was super weird the first time I played that route cuz it kind of like... mischaracterizes Alternian society?

like, hear me out cuz this shit gets a little odd. first of all, gender arguably meant very little to the trolls in terms of social restrictions or roles and expectations, and I think that's because of the broader theme of the trolls having different issues than the humans. see, it was always sort of a part joke, part worldbuilding, part social commentary sort of thing, that some things that were a big deal to humans weren't a big deal to trolls, and vise versa. for example, sexuality is basically a non-existent issue for trolls, and due to the way reproduction and genetic diversity works in their species, it's basically impossible for them to care about incest as we know it, and gender doesn't seem to matter as much to them socially when it comes to dating. meanwhile, the humans don't understand anything about the hemospectrum, and the complicated web of issues faced by those lower or higher on that spectrum. we see everyone struggle with their position, from Feferi putting in the work of staving off genocide by keeping her lusus fed, to Equius's trouble reconciling his natural inclination to behave subserviently with his class's expectation that he subjugate those lower on the spectrum, to Vriska's own struggle to survive by ruthless means... high bloods don't necessarily have things easier. but those lower on the hemospectrum are subjected to a lot of cruel systemic threats, which are often the direct result of the expectations that high bloods face. it's all pretty complicated, and the human kids are at a total loss... they have no clue about any of this.

so with that being the case... the things that Eridan was saying about his gender identity just seemed like they were issues imported from human society, rather than issues that would actually manifest that way on Alternia. on Alternia, it's doubtful that anyone would give a shit about gender identity, to the point where I doubt there'd really be much discussion around it. Alternia is kind of a rude and ornery place by nature... part of the joke is that Altenians may be literal aliens called trolls, but their society also produces a population of rude and ornery people that communicate primarily online... making them also internet trolls in the expected sense. therefore, if they find something that they can pick on you for, they will do it. Vriska clearly displays that this is a no-holds-barred kind of bullying, when she harasses Tavros for having a disability that she caused... and that makes cultural sense because Alternia has such a heavy focus on resilience, and physical strength. they're very survival oriented, so making fun of someone for a perceived physical flaw is very in character, no matter how horrible it is. but nobody makes fun of anyone over, say, sexuality. because it is literally unremarkable, and it would not get under anyone's skin to mention it. it's not even out of benevolence that nobody touches that topic... it's literally not on anyone's radar, because it doesn't matter. and I think gender identity is the same way. the only mention of gender I even remember from the trolls in homestuck, was Karkat telling Tavros that he should stop playing games that are for girls... but what Karkat meant was "stop playing games where you're likely to get murdered" because the girls he was talking about were TEREZI AND VRISKA. the game is called FATAL live action role playing, and Vriska explicitly uses the game to KILL PEOPLE. and that's literally the only thing I can remember about the trolls mentioning gender amongst each other. outside of that, it seemed similarly off of their radar, and a lot of the troll girls are so excellent as characters because they aren't subject to the narrative making them adhere to human "girl expectations".

and all of this makes it a lot more transparent that what the writing in Eridan's pesterquest route was really trying to do, was retcon the whole "March Eridan" meme of old, into something more progressive than it actually was. originally, the joke was just "boy in awkward looking drag = funny joke" and/or people finding it hot, which is like... standard fare for that era of fandom, but your mileage may vary on how irritating you find it. they could've just left that whole thing in the past, or just mentioned that he had the outfit in his wardrobe as a cheeky little wink/nudge to people who know what it's getting at... but no. they had to have him go on some lengthy monologue about gender identity, which Eridan in actual homestuck probably wouldn't have thought about for 2 seconds... and then they follow it up with the whole Sollux conflict?!??!!!

I'm sorry, Eridan barely knew Sollux existed and probably would never have given him the time of day before he got involved with Feferi. and Sollux and Feferi similarly had absolutely nothing to do with each other until he saved her as they were entering the medium. he literally died for her, but prior to that, I'm pretty sure they didn't know each other at all. and, and, AND. Sollux mainly needed Feferi as a rebound to help him fill the void left behind when he lost Aradia! Aradia has not died in pesterquest! Sollux has a bit of a thing for girls with chipper demeanors who act as a counterbalance to his negative outlook. but tbh, Aradia is a better fit for him because she acknowledges macabre and depressing things, but doesn't let it get her down. Sollux's troubles are acknowledged with a genuinely warm response, rather than glossed over with a coat of sunny optimism. Feferi tries to help Sollux, but it isn't perfect... and then Eridan crashes into the middle of it all expecting even more wild shit from Feferi, who honestly just can't catch a break.

so basically, if Aradia hasn't died, then Sollux has no reason to be interested in Feferi. and if Sollux isn't interested in Feferi, then Eridan has no reason to give a shit about Sollux. and when you add that to the gender thing... Eridan's whole route totally unravels. I'm not saying I don't support the idea of Eridan being GNC or trans in some way... I'm saying he probably doesn't have an oppression narrative because of it on Alternia. the whole point of the difference between Alternia and Earth standards, is to lampoon the importance of both of their issues, by showing a contrasting society that just doesn't have the hangups that the other side considers to be SO fundamental and SO important. it's like whoever wrote that route didn't understand this at all.

OOOO THIS WAS A VERY INTERESTING READ

#eridan's pq having him be oppressed for being gnc was indeed very weird

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rallamajoop · 3 years

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The Witcher: The Games vs the Books part 2 – Characters and Accents

So, I've already talked at length about the relationship between the Witcher books and games, but how well they captured individual characters is its whole own subject – and you’d better believe I have enough thoughts on it for a whole extra post.

Andrej Sapkowski's skill for creating vivid and engaging characters really is so much of what brings the books to life, and no matter how much work an adaptation might put into worldbuilding and plot, it's the characters you've really got to nail to get the long-time fans on board. Especially when you’ve done what the games have, framing themselves as a direct continuation of Sapkowski's story. Nothing invites comparison to your source material like basically forcing fans to read the original novels to understand even half the backstory alluded to in-game.

So how did they do? I can only offer my opinion – characterisation is necessarily going to be a lot more subjective than just telling you what plot points the games contradicted outright – but like any fan, I have opinions in plenty.

Of the main cast, I feel Yennefer is the character they've captured the best. They've done just as well with some supporting players – I have no real complaints about Dijkstra or Phillipa, for example, who are favourites of mine in both games and books. For the main players though, Geralt and Regis seem to be the ones who's differences I'm most inclined to forgive, whereas I don't feel like they've done Ciri justice at all. Book!Geralt is much less of a smartarse, for one thing, whereas Book!Ciri is much more of one. But if we're talking about the differences, I’m afraid we really need to start with Dandelion.

Dandelion

For all the genuinely good work the games do with characters, old and new, I don't think I can overstate what a disservice the they've done Dandelion, who I could not stand in TW3, but is now one of my favourite book!verse characters. Alas, Dandelion is a prime example of something the Witcher games really don't do well: camp. Being the archtypical bard, Dandelion is about as flamboyant as any enthusiastically-heterosexual man can be: you should be able to spot this guy by body language alone, he should be flouncing around and he should talk like a spoiled noble auditioning for Shakespeare. Book!Dandelion is over-the-top and ridiculous and just so much fun, and I loved him well before I'd even really gotten into the rest of the books around him.

Here's just a bit of dialogue from one of his first appearances, to give you a sense of how he and Geralt play off each other.

The bard seized the fingerboard of his lute and plucked the strings vigorously. ‘How would you prefer it, in verse or in normal speech?’ ‘Normal speech.’ ‘As you please,’ Dandelion said, not putting his lute down. ‘Listen then, noble gentlemen, to what occurred a week ago near the free town of Barefield. ‘Twas thus, that at the crack of dawn, when the rising sun had barely tinged pink the shrouds of mist hanging pendent above the meadows—’ ‘It was supposed to be normal speech,’ Geralt reminded him. ‘Isn’t it? Very well, very well. I understand. Concise, without metaphors. A dragon alighted on the pastures outside Barefield.’

Though TW3's Dandelion certainly looks the part, you have to go hunting through art from the Gwent cards to find much that comes close to really capturing his personality (see left pic below – though even there, a Dandelion who'd voluntarily break his treasured lute is a very hard sell). Though a lot of fanart does better (right-below – credit goes to Tatiana Ortaliz).

But as poorly as the games capture his flamboyance, they're not that much better when it comes to taking him seriously. TW3 left me thinking he was all talk and no substance; the books make abundantly clear that he really is renowned enough to be welcome in courts across the continent. Though he often overestimates what he can talk himself out of, he isn’t stupid either: he's lectured at Oxenfurt, spied for Dijkstra, and then there are the moments where the frivolous playboy mask slips and you realise he's sometimes much better at understanding people and relationships than Geralt will ever be (which is honestly kind of funny considering how many of Dandelion’s relationships end with plates being thrown at him from an upper story). He's not at all above mocking Geralt when he deserves it either (and especially his personal and relationship issues) – Geralt will happily mock him right back.

We never do learn how they became friends (I'm pretty sure the incident listed in the wiki is just the date of their first expedition together, not their first meeting), but Geralt just doesn't form lasting friendships or romances with anyone he can't have an intelligent conversation with. And Dandelion is a damn good friend to Geralt – one who, despite being a helpless, squishy little bard, will keep Geralt's secrets under torture, or will follow him into Nilfgaard in the middle of a war simply because you don't let a friend make a trip like that alone. (Seriously, I don’t ship it nearly as much as some, but hot damn there is some material in here if you do.) In short, it's basically inconceivable that he'd leave an amnesic Geralt wandering around Vizima alone, as he does in the first Witcher game – which is the kind of thing I can mostly forgive as a gameplay conceit, only it doesn’t really get better from there.

He’s also supposed to be blond, something I don’t think is technically specified until fairly late in the novels, but 100% what I’d been picturing since his first description as a man in a colourful bonnet with cornflower-blue eyes (let’s face it: Dandelion’s hair isn’t the only thing about him that screams ‘blond’). It’s a shame no-one from the games to the show to the novels’ cover artists seem to have noticed – but at least there are some fanartists out there who were paying attention (credit for these goes to Asphaloth, Ghostcupdraws, Hvit-ravn (tumblr deleted), 94355 and itsmespicaa).

As for the games? Well, I cannot speak to how Dandelion came across in the original Polish, but I think it speaks worlds about the priorities of the English version that they didn’t even bother to cast someone with a halfway-decent singing voice as their master bard. There are isolated moments of dialogue that come close to sounding like book!Dandelion– mostly in Witcher 2, which comes closer to capturing the spirit of the books than either 1 or 3, or his attempts to convince his captor he's a disguised noble when you rescue him TW3 – but his voice actor is just painfully ill-suited to the role.

Geralt

Geralt fares much better than Dandelion, though he’s still a little hard to square with the Geralt of the books. Book!Geralt spends a lot more time sulking, just to begin with: he sulks because his job is complicated and gets him no respect, and because the world is unjust and unfair – and, most of all, he sulks because Yennefer has dumped him again. He also gets mocked for sulking, and usually deserves it. Book!Geralt is generally a lot more taciturn and a less prone to making smart comments just to have something to say – arguably because in book!Geralt's world, making smart comments often ends at the gallows, or at least with some corrupt official making your life much harder. Book!Geralt's world kind of sucks, and he's just got to put up with it.

As much as he often plays into the expectations of being an uneducated monster hunter, he's also got a more of an intellectual streak than you’d guess. He may prefer to stay out of politics (because damnit, his job is to save people from monsters, not people who are monsters), but he attended school at Nenneke's temple and has even taken classes at Oxenfurt academy, and there's a lot of thoughtful nuance to his opinions – his speech to Ciri about why he can't in good conscience take a stronger stance against the Scoiata'el contains a wealth of historical perspective, just for one example. Even his smart comments tend to be, well, somewhat smarter in the books.

Book!Geralt’s explicitly a lot younger than Yennefer – around 50 is the usual estimate, falling far short of the 100-ish the games suggest (the scandal of having a man fall for – gasp! – an older woman clearly didn’t bother Sapkowski one bit). You don’t see nearly as much "I'm getting too old for this" from book!Geralt, who's really not that old by witcher standards, and is apparently still hunting monsters long into his future. I'm also a little annoyed by the way they play off his hatred of portals like he's a grumpy old man who doesn't like mobile phones, when his distrust originally came from having seen the gruesome deaths that result when portals go wrong. This is not to say Book!Geralt lacks other ordinary human flaws, however – twice in the last two books of the main saga, he gets severely sidetracked after his ego gets the better of him (in the adulation he receives after being knighted, then after arriving in Toussaint), and it's quite some time before he properly gets back on track for that whole rescuing-Ciri thing again. He’s also pretty hopeless when it comes to romance and relationships – breaking things off gracefully is really not in his skillset.

So why does game!Geralt not bother me more? Well, he's the main player character of a game franchise, and one who has to carry the experience largely solo. Some adjustments for genre are pretty much inevitable in that position. He's certainly fared better than Meve, for example, who's been softened far more from her book characterisation for her PC role in Thronebreaker. Then there's the whole amnesia thing – it's easy to believe that sort of experience would change a man – and if he doesn't sulk so much as he used to, maybe he's grown up a bit. Geralt's also in many ways the straight-man of Sapkowski's Witcher universe – there largely as the reliable centre for other, louder personalities to play off. But I expect the real bottom line here is that I do still like game!Geralt enough to forgive him a lot of what he lacks.

The books never do describe Geralt as being very attractive – something book-based fanart often tries to reflect. The point has been made before that the rather-alien-looking Geralt of the first game (left pic above) is probably a lot closer to his book-description. However, the main distinguishing factor you’ll see in book-based fanart is probably the ubiquitous headband, which genuinely is what book!Geralt wears to make his hair behave (the example on the right above comes from Diana Novich).

All that said, if Sapkowski really wants me to believe that nearly so many women are eager to jump into bed with him, I’m going to have to shallowly assume our witnesses are unreliable on this front, and Geralt is at least as attractive as Witcher 3′s take on him. Nothing else makes sense. *g*

Regis

Regis varies mostly in that book!Regis is a lot more smug, sometimes verging on obnoxious – and a lot keener to make fun of Geralt (who generally deserves it). But then, Regis is old and wise and superpowered enough to dance rings around most everyone else – can you blame him? By Blood and Wine, Regis' overconfidence has been recently smacked down hard after his near-death-experience at the hands of Vilgefortz, and that kind of thing could knock some chips off anyone's shoulder. Throw in the fact that with Dettlaff, we have a situation not even Regis could make light of, and the changes to game!Regis make a certain amount of sense.

I do feel it's a bit of a shame that the vocal direction didn't work just a little bit harder to capture some of Regis' smugger side, or emphasise that his long-winded philosophising on human behaviour is supposed to sound a bit pretentious. This is actually something I suspect they were going for a few times in the script, but which didn't come through in the dialogue quite the way it was meant to. Still, again, I'm sure I'm biased by the fact that I like game!Regis far too much to find much fault in what they've done with him. They've done a lovely job capturing his friendship with Geralt too.

Looks-wise, there's a tendency in book-based art to portray Regis with long hair (even some pre-Blood-and-Wine Gwent art did so – see the two pics on the left above, from Gwent and early B&W concepts. The right-most pic is cover art from the books). I couldn't rightly tell you where long-haired-Regis comes from, though – perhaps it's described more explicitly in the original Polish, or perhaps it comes up in passing in some passage I've forgotten, though it may just as well just be a fannish meme.

The books do describe him as looking rather like a tax collector, slim, middle-aged, with an aquiline nose, prone to wearing black, and his hair as 'greying' or 'grey streaked', so presumably somewhat younger-looking than the game would have it. The hammer-horror-esque sideburns are likewise a game-verse addition, though I do like the look they went with – it's distinct from Geralt in a way that making him another long-grey-haired man wouldn't have been, and that's probably the point.

Being the hopeless Regis fan I am, I have quite the folder full of different fanart takes on book!Regis, so have a selection – art here is by gellihana-art, justanor, greysmartwolf, Nastyaskaya, NatalyLanier, beidak, natalliel, ellaine and afternoon63. For what it’s worth, I feel beidak’s (bottom pic, second from the left) comes the closest to what I’d have pictured personally, based on how he’s first described.

Ciri

I find it much harder to rationalise the changes to game!Ciri, who I didn't exactly dislike, but found stuck too close to the role of generic-macguffin-girl-who-just-wants-to-be-normal to be very interesting. Having read the books, not only do I much prefer book!Ciri, I'm not sure I can emphasize enough how much the game did NOT prepare me for utter gauntlet of whump and misery that girl survives in the last four titles. Book!Ciri is a character who works for me mostly because of the same flaws the game mostly strips her free of – TW3 makes some token noise about how you can't tell her what to do, but she’s an utter little royal brat when we first meet book!Ciri, and it’s so much of what brings her to life. She throws herself into her witcher training with the enthusiasm of a kid going completely native, but still revels in getting to be girly for a change when Triss first arrives at Kaer Morhen. She hates Yennefer at first, but soon bonds with her just as strongly as she ever did with Geralt, picking up some of Yennfer’s haughty mannerisms along the way. And then she gets thrown through a portal and lost in the distant wilderness, and the whole world comes down on her head.

The build up to the first time Ciri actually has to kill someone is intense... and things only get worse from there. Steadily. For another couple of novels at a stretch. Seriously, a major caveat that pretty much has to go into any rec for these books (and I will absolutely rec these books) is that Ciri's story gets heavy. So heavy one finds oneself using phrases like, "that time that one guy died of his wounds on top of her while semi-consensually feeling her up was honestly one of the less traumatic incidents in the period."

By the end of the novels, Ciri has nearly died of thirst, been beaten, tied up, dragged around the country as a prisoner, run with bandits and killed innocent people for the fun of it, done fantasy-cocaine and got a tattoo, fought off more than one attempted rape, been drugged, lain for multiple nights next to an impotent elf who completely fails to impregnate her, watched the bodies of her friends and girlfriend being mutilated in front of her, and did I mention where she got that scar? She has survived hell, and it is absolutely a testament to her own strength that she somehow comes through it and puts herself back together at the end. When Geralt finally arrives to rescue her, what matters most isn't that her ordeal is over, but that she finally knows she hasn’t been abandoned by everyone who’d ever loved her after all.

The Ciri of the books is fierce and wild and arrogant, but she's learned her morals from the best, and she holds onto them until she can't, then picks them back up again when she can, and above all she survives. For all that her story turns arguably too much of the last two books into a slog of misery, oh boy does it pay off at the end. And that's probably about as much as I can say about her Big Moment in the last book without spoiling too much, so suffice to say that by the end of the saga, Geralt has pretty much become a supporting character in Ciri's story, not the other way around. (Seriously, you’d be surprised how few chapters of the last two books he’s actually in.)

Finding art which captures the aspects of Ciri’s character and history which are missing from the game has turned out to be pretty hard, though the fanart above from her bandit phase takes a decent crack at it (credit to Loles Romero and NastyaSkaya). I do rather like that one shot of her on horseback beside her girlfriend too, which comes from Denis Gordeev’s illustrations for the novels (below).

How much of this does TW3 get across with her portrayal in the game? Well, she's still pretty headstrong, I guess. And they let you give a 'sorry, I like girls' answer in one bit of dialogue, so they remembered her girlfriend existed. That's nice. But game!Ciri still has a kind of wide-eyed innocence that book!Ciri lost years ago, while book!Ciri is a little force of nature in ways the games hardly even hint at, and that's a really shameful loss.

You'd think, with a character so young, it ought to be easier to imagine she's simply grown up since we saw her last, but so much of what's changed about Ciri feels like a step back rather than forwards. I can shrug off Geralt and Regis' differences and still enjoy their game-verse-selves, but Ciri leaves me genuinely disappointed.

I’d say the official art that comes closest to capturing book!Ciri is that one portrait of her as a very grumpy young child (right above). Some of the early concept art (left above) feels a little more like it has her attitude, though she’s rather too yellow-blonde – not to mention too pretty. I think it also bears pointing out that Ciri isn’t really supposed to be the kind of beauty she is in the game – even before she gets what’s meant to be a seriously ugly and disfiguring scar. (Fanart below by justanor and bobolip)

But of course, the male gamer fanbase can’t be expected to give a fuck about a girl they wouldn’t want to fuck, so game!Ciri must be generically gorgeous. Le sigh.

Triss

I suppose I should at least touch on Triss, too, though she's a very odd case. She's so out of character in the first Witcher game that I am wryly amused that the biggest thing they arguably do get right is that taking advantage of Geralt the moment he showed up with amnesia is... pretty well in-character for her (look, I gotta be honest here, I'm not much of a fan of Triss in any of her incarnations).

The second game does a much better job with her – she actually feels like book!Triss, she has some good dialogue, we're finally dealing with some of her conflicted loyalties to the Lodge and to Geralt – though by the third, her characterisation has been so softened into “the nice one” that none of that potentially meaty conflict is ever resolved, or even really mentioned. Perhaps there's more buried in the Triss-romance path, which I've never bothered with, but the writers seem to have just given up on dealing with anything that might make her look less than wholly sympathetic. Heck, we hardly even get a clear statement about why she and Geralt broke up between Witchers 2 and 3.

Even speaking as such a not-a-fan of Triss, I promise there is more they could've done with the character the books give us. There's her ongoing trauma in from the Battle of Sodden, where she was injured so badly she was memorialised as one the dead: the 14th of the hill. There's her furious impatience with the neutrality of both the witchers and the Lodge: Triss has fought and died for a cause, and is ready to do so again. The second game sort of gets into this, but by and large, the games really aren't up to tackling the moral complexity of having such a theoretically-sympathetic character as Triss, who was still broadly willing to go along with the Lodge's plans to pair Ciri off and get her pregnant as soon as possible – her own wishes be damned. No, instead, Triss has conveniently left the Lodge before the rest of them go spiraling into abject villainy in the second game, clearing all that messy grey stuff out of the conflict.

Of course, the really big unresolved plot point still hanging over book!Triss is how badly she needs to terms with the fact Geralt's just Not That Into Her, and never has been – but since the games want Triss to be a serious romantic option, that's definitely not getting the resolution it could've used.

Book!Triss also pointedly avoids any outfit with a plunging neckline because her chest is covered with the ugly scars she received in the Battle of Sodden, something the games did not have the guts to reproduce. In a more confusing note, the books do consistently describe her hair as 'chestnut', which we'd usually think of as meaning 'brown' – though it turns out the games actually may not have been wrong to make her a redhead, since in Poland 'chestnut hair' apparently mean dark red hair (google some pictures of actual chestnuts, and you'll see why). Still, the firy-red-haired Triss of TW3 who wears nothing but plunging necklines remains a bit of a stretch, however you slice it. Once again, TW2 gets her best (and I must say, gave her the nicest outfit) – though even here she's conspicuously unscarred in all her sex scenes.

(Leftmost pic above is official Witcher 2 art, whereas Triss-with-scars fanart comes to us – once again – from nastyaskaya)

Shani

Shani sort of falls into a similar category as Triss as someone who isn't terribly well-served by any of her appearances, given that both exist in the first game largely to compete for Geralt's attentions. But I can't honestly say I find Shani’s portrayal in the Hearts of Stone expansion to be much better – the degree to which either version exists solely to fall all over Geralt is a bit painful, especially given that their relationship in the books is limited to a single, undramatic hook-up. Book!Shani really only appears in a couple of chapters: we meet her as a medical student friend of Dandelion's, who's been surreptitiously selling pilfered university supplies to fund her degree, then later see her again in the final book, where she proves herself as a battlefield medic during the climactic Battle of Brenna. She's pragmatic to a fault, and I really can't see her as the type who needs Geralt to point out to her that her patient is dead, for example, or who'd subject a guy with Geralt's problems to such an extended feelings-dump as you'll get out of her during the wedding.

Shani is a reasonably logical book-character to bring back, if only because she’s one of those who explicitly survives the ending, but for my money, "serious contender for Geralt's affections" is just not a role she works in.

Anna Henrietta

The duchess of Toussaint, Anna Henrietta, is another case who differs more from her book counterpart than you might think. In the books, the duchess is by far the least competent of the (pleasantly many and) various female leaders and rulers we meet – she comes across as rather young and naive, and every bit as absurd as everyone else in the ridiculous fairy-tale duchy she rules. She is, for example, most displeased to learn that Nilfgaard's war against the north is ongoing (something her courtiers have carefully avoided mentioning in her presence), because she'd long since sent the Emperor a stern note demanding he brought it to an end. She promptly has one of her ministers sent to the tower for misinforming her, and demands the others prepare an even sterner note for the emperor, which will surely do the job.

After Dandelion (inevitably) cheats on her, she has him repeatedly sent to the gallows, only to change her mind and send him a reprieve at the very last minute each time. Picture yourself a much younger and prettier version of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, and you've about got her general vibe.

Blood and Wine sort of waves at this part of her character when she first speaks about Dandelion, and again in suggesting there's a widespread feeling she lacks compassion, and once more as she proves utterly immovable on the subject of her sister. But the generally sensible and insightful woman you deal with for most of the main story is a far cry from her book-verse characterisation. That’s a bit of a shame, because I feel like there's a lot more they could have done to blend the two versions of her. Still, it’s hard to argue the duchess we get suits the story being told around her.

Other characters

Much as I love Yennefer, Dijkstra and Phillipa, I don't really have much more to say about them because I feel the games have done such a good job. The Yennefer of the books gets to show a lot more depth and complexity simply because she has more scenes and more space in which to do so, but when ‘there isn’t more of her’ is your biggest complaint, the game is officially doing pretty well. I could certainly gripe her about how “dresses in black and white” seems to have been taken as “dresses in black with maybe a trace of white trim”, or how Yennefer and Triss seem to be the only sorceresses in the world capable of wearing pants, when Phillipa (just for one) is in sensible men’s clothing the very first time we meet her, but that’s getting into serious nitpicking territory.

(Not that Yen can’t look amazing in outfits with more white – art by Emily Caroll, theclashofqueens, BarbaraRosiak, and cosplay by greatqueenlina)

Vesimir, Lambert and Eskel, Geralt's fellow witchers from the School of the Wolf, fall into a similar category for me – though we spend far less time with them in the books, everything we see of them in the games feels like a fairly logical extension of their book-roles. Vesimir is somewhat over-played as the old fogey, and his death is painfully cliched, but the impact on the characters and Kaer Morhen still hits home – and the games do some especially great work expanding Lambert into a much more complex character. To my mind, the only shame is that more of the book-original characters didn't get the same treatment.

Who have I missed? There's Avallac'h, of course, but I think I've got him pretty well covered by that last post. Zoltan, perhaps inevitably, has had his personality largely flattened into 'generic dwarf', with nothing better to do than hang around Geralt and Dandelion. You wouldn't know Book!Zoltan was apparently incapable of turning away women and children in need, for example – even human women and children with the chronic inability to say thankyou for his help. Or that he eventually admits to Geralt that the luggage he and his friends are carrying comes from a decidedly unsavoury source for such a supposedly charitable, upstanding guy. Yes, even Zoltan gets to be a morally complicated character in the books – who knew?

Speaking of dwarves, pleased as I am that Yarpen Zigren gets remembered in TW2, he's an odd one to talk about, since even in the books, he appears to have had a substantial personality transplant between his two main appearances. Yarpen’s a largely comedic figure in The Bounds of Reason short story, where he cheerfully admits to having considered letting his men knock down a particularly pompous aristocrat and piss all over him to teach him a lesson, but he’s evolved into a studious voice of reason against the scoiata'el by Blood of Elves. TW2 doesn't do a particularly good job of capturing either version, which I suspect probably bothered me more than most people – I liked the later book-incarnation of Yarpen immensely (and not even just because he's one of few ever to really call Triss out on just how much she needs to stop misreading Geralt's friendship as anything more than it is). His chapter in Blood of Elves packs a hell of a punch.

On the subject of accents

I do have to wonder if I'd have warmed up to characters like Triss, Shani and Dandelion (or even Letho) more if they'd only had halfway decent voice actors. It's not just that none are exactly leading the talent at the acting part of the job, it's that their American accents stick out in TW3 like a sore thumb.

Geralt mostly gets away his own US accent by dint of being the very first character we meet, so we've gotten used to the way he talks long before we notice how he stands out – hell, maybe that's just how they talk down in Rivia (hilariously, book!Geralt eventually reveals he's not even from Rivia, but simply picked the place and taught himself the accent so he could feel a bit less like the abandoned foundling he is, which only gives us yet more excuse for why his accent might sound a bit weird). More importantly, Geralt is meant to stand out, to be the outsider wherever he goes, so having him sound like no-one else fits the character.

But neither Triss or Dandelion are "of Rivia", and by the time they show up we've had dozens of hours in a game where literally everyone else sounds British, or Scottish, or Irish, or vaguely-eastern-European in the case of the Nilfgaardians. So why do these weirdos sound like no-one else on the continent?

The short answer seems to be that every character with an American accent in TW3 is someone who had an American accent in at least one of the previous games, which were way looser with their casting and had enough incidental American accents around that they didn't stand out. Clearly, by TW3, consistency with prior games has been prioritised over consistency with literally anything else we’re hearing.

Gaetan is an exception to the rule as the only new character (at least that I caught) with an American accent – presumably because between Geralt, Eskel, Lambert, Berengar, and Letho (and cohorts), some sort of 'witchers have American accents' rule has been pretty well established (another random American-accented witcher shows up in Thronebreaker, just to underline the point). We're going to mostly ignore Jad Karadin here, since his British accent is presumably a recent affectation to go with his new identity, and so makes sense.

This still doesn't really work though, since Letho’s school is all the way down in Nilfgaard (land of the Eastern European accents), while the oldest witcher from Kaer Morhen (Vesimir) is the one guy with a British accent. He sounds nothing like any of his students, despite the fact he's logically the guy they ought to have learned their accents from. So the logic falls in a heap however you slice it, and I'm thrown right out of the game.

With TW3 as your intro to the series, it feels almost as if characters like Triss and Dandelion have been assigned American accents because they're just too important to be saddled with the same pedestrian British accents as everyone else, which did nothing to endear them to me. The only one I eventually warmed up to was Lambert, and then only because he's just such a bitter asshole that he eventually goes full circle and comes out the other side (somewhere around when you've heard his miserable backstory, then gotten drunk together and told him how much you love him, man). Gaetan similarly snuck in under the same clause – American accents clearly work better for me in this series when attached to characters you're supposed to find pretty insufferable on first impressions.

Some final notes

To conclude, it seems only fair to throw in a quick nod to some of the more memorable book-characters who don't appear in the games. Neither Mother Nenneke (Geralt's sort-of-surrogate mother) or Vissena (Geralt's biological mother) ever appear either, alas – Vissena doesn't even merit so much as a Gwent card, which seems quite the wasted opportunity.

Milva, Cahir and Angouleme – the three remaining companions of Geralt’s who died alongside Regis but who were not so easily resurrected – naturally don’t appear. But nor are even really mentioned in all the games, which seems rather less than they deserve after giving their lives to Geralt's cause.

Cahir and Angouleme do at least have pretty badass Gwent cards to their names, though I am properly offended that Milva (who has the dubious honour of being my very favourite book character who doesn't ever appear in the games) is stuck with a card of her freaking death scene – which not only gets the scene wrong (believe me, there was no grimacing and gripping the arrow buried shallowly in her chest for poor Milva), but doesn't even bother to get her hair the right colour, for fuck’s sake. Basically, Milva was a stone cold badass and absolutely deserves better. #justice4milva

One can only guess how I'd have felt about some of these characters had I read the books before playing the games – I am obviously biased towards forgiving changes to characters whom I liked in their game incarnations, regardless of how they compare. Still, I think it does speak wonders that there still all these characters who suddenly made sense only after I'd met them in the books.

Even if only for Dandelion and Ciri, I can only dream of seeing a bit more of the book-original characterisations make it into the collective fannish consciousness. There's nothing wrong with getting into the canon purely based on the show or the games, but having read Sapkowski's novels, it's no longer any mystery how they spawned this massive franchise. That the saga wasn’t even fully available in English until well after Witcher 3 was released – a solid couple of decades late, and long after it had already been translated into Russian, French, German, Spanish and more – is a real shame. For once, it’s us in the anglophone world who’ve been missing out: these books deserve so much more than to be thought of as a footnote to the games or the show.

#Dandelion #Witcher novels #Jaskier #Ciri #Regis #Geralt of Rivia #meta #The Witcher #long post is even longer this time #I blame everyone who gave me such lovely feedback on that last post *g*

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