#and i'm curious as fuck

[toriangeli]

How Armand's AMC background might work with the changes

TW: Mentions of physical, sexual, and religious abuse.  You know, Armand stuff.

Age

First off, it’s not that big a deal for Armand to be aged up for his turning.

I’ve said it before, but being turned, especially very young, can be considered analogous to arrested development caused by trauma.  In the books, getting this across is helped by repeatedly describing a teenager doing/saying these immature things.  In live action media, though, it can be conveyed in a performance.  A bit like how The Umbrella Academy removed Klaus’ ability to float because it was a metaphor for him being constantly high, and Robert Sheehan’s performance conveyed his state of mind so well they didn’t need the visual aid.

Armand is still developmentally frozen in places at those times some new trauma came about—pre-adolescent with the sheer hardship of his childhood, thirteenish with the monks (or equivalent in the show if they keep that bit), also thirteenish getting sex trafficked, then again whenever the Children of Darkness/Satan overturn his life.  Throughout this entire time, the only time he was safe enough to have normal-ish emotional development was during his relationship with Marius, and it didn’t happen because his need for safety meant him foreclosing on whatever identity he thought Marius would want him to have, and relying on Marius to regulate his emotions instead of learning to regulate them himself.  No matter how safe Marius is compared with the rest of Armand’s life, Marius isn’t a psychotherapist and is too flattered by Armand’s total dependence on him to reliably break him of it.  He’s too busy cuddling him and feeding him soup instead of teaching him how to self-soothe, having the same expectations of him as he would have with an adult: that he already knows how to do the things he needs to do in order to be a person.

All this to say Armand isn’t necessarily going to be significantly more mature just because he was turned older, especially since Marius was enabling his emotional dependence on him.

The only difference I could see miiiight be if he spends significantly more time under Marius’ tutelage.  Marius is the only person in his entire life who actually tries to teach him right from wrong, and it’s pretty critical to his character that it didn’t take.  Marius himself notes this at one point during the “banquet” scene, seeing Armand is trying to react how he thinks his master wants him to react, not being properly horrified by people dying.  If Marius has time to actually correct this (which, who knows how long that would take, Armand has been stuck permanently in this state for a long time already), that could make a difference to his characterization.  But the likelihood of Marius successfully teaching him right from wrong was always pretty damn low, given how his method is “Do something heinous, get mad if Amadeo doesn’t cry.”

Origins

This is a little tricky, but it ultimately boils down to one thing: religion.

He’s Turkic, and it’s plausible for him to be Crimean Tatar, but he couldn’t have been trafficked by them the way he was in the books.

Among Turkic people in Armand’s day, an extremely common language, both speaking and in literature, was Chagatai.  This was spoken among Muslims in eastern Europe, as well as central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Ottoman Empire.  Today, Chagatai is a dead language, and while there are experts, it’s entirely possible your dramaturg won’t be able to contact one.  If that’s the case, what modern language is the most similar?  Turns out, Uyghur and Uzbek.

What language does Armand end his prayer in in Dubai?  Uzbek.

If Armand is indeed Muslim (which would be the most narratively satisfying option—for him to be forcibly converted in his early life and find his own religion again later), you did have a more diverse population among Crimean Tatars back then than we have today, especially since Stalin’s genocide.  You had some who came from as far south as Iran, where you can get people as dark as Assad, even if it’s uncommon.  But it being uncommon (aka “exotic”) would be all the more reason he’d get targeted for sex trafficking.

Speaking of.  Islamic and Christian laws forbade enslaving someone of the same faith.  So whoever kidnaps him in this version of events is almost certainly Christian.  The Venetians had a slave trade that was leaving the area for Africa due to the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans, but with a little wiggling of decades, we can imagine there were still Venetian slavers raiding the Black Sea.  Since Armand ends up in Venice, this would make particular sense.

One more thing remains: the monks of the Caves.  An order which, as far as I’m aware, only existed in Kiev.  Why would a little Muslim boy be tempted to join an order of Christian monks?  I mean, Islam definitely has its own brands of asceticism, but if we’re trying to make as few changes as possible, I’d still buy it being these monks.  Speaking as someone who was raised evangelical, children are often targeted in the hopes of converting the entire family.  I have no idea how likely that would be for a bunch of Eastern Orthodox monks and a Muslim family way back when, but personally, I’d buy it.

Realistically, would he still live near Kiev (which was part of Lithuania at this time) if he’s from the Crimean Khanate?  Probably not.  But I wouldn’t sweat it.  And I can’t find whether there were any other Muslim groups who lived in/near Kiev.

Timeline

Show!Armand was turned older, so there are years that must be accounted for.  I think he must have been trafficked at a similar age as in the books, because it makes the most sense—he’s very young, but old enough that he doesn’t have to be “raised” anymore.  So he either spent longer in the brothel, or with Marius, or the years are split between.  If it’s at the brothel, they might kick him out once he gets older, and Marius rescues him off the streets instead of from the brothel.  Instead, or in conjunction, he could spend more time with Marius.  My concern is, if the underage aspect of their relationship is cut, it could sanitize Marius too much.  Armand isn’t meant to have any models for healthy relationships in his history, and Marius expecting a kid to meet his emotional needs the way an adult would, in addition to the power discrepancies so typical of pederastic relationships in Marius’ time, explains a lot about both characters.

On the other hand, I don’t want too many flashbacks where a younger actor is playing Armand.  I want to see Assad tackle as much as possible.  He is so damn good.

Then there’s also the complication mentioned above of how vital it is that Armand never learned right from wrong.  And they are still bound by what the network will permit (a reason I’m not sure Claudia’s “surgery” will take place).

It’s possible they could just leave the timeline vague.  Assad is babyfaced enough for it to be ambiguous how old he is at any given time.  I wouldn’t want it to be too vague, though, lest the effectiveness of either possible version of events be diminished.

Conclusion

I don’t have any conclusions about what they’ve chosen to do.  These are all just possibilities.  I think that’s valid in its own right.

All in all, I think they have a great opportunity to flip the stereotype of the brown person becoming more “civilized” because of white people and show Armand’s problems as being caused, in significant part, by losing his own identity and culture, and in total part by the imperialist ideals of the West.

Reading up on all of this history to figure out the possibilities has given me a greater appreciation for why they would make the choice to cast Armand as non-white.  Armand may be white in the books, but he’s not Western, and even though I’m sure she didn't mean to, Anne did tap into that “the West is here to civilize everyone” narrative.  It’s actually something Marius is (intentionally hypocritically) big on—“civilization.”  He took this wild Eastern European kid from the shitty life that came to him because of non-white slavers (who were very much a big deal at the time, but they’ve been used to justify the beliefs of white supremacists since the time of Hitler) and gave him a happy, comfortable life, albeit via a deliberately creepy relationship.  Here in the US, we don’t think of Eastern Europeans as “not white enough” the way they’ve been historically seen in Europe, so I doubt Anne realized she'd accidentally written a story about the “savage” child being victimized by a tribe of "evil" Mongols and rescued by an ”enlightened” white guy (though if you haven’t read the books, keep in mind that Marius is not nearly as enlightened as he believes and doesn’t spend all that much time in the “civilization” he supposedly treasures).

Flip that, make him Islamic, and his slavers must by necessity be Western, so the people who take apart his life are all coming from that angle of “we have the right to do this because we are better.”  And it does not stop after he becomes a vampire. What’s harming Armand isn’t a series of unrelated catastrophes, but an entire culture of imperialism.  The Golden Horde doesn’t exist today.  Actual Crimean Tatars in the 21st century are oppressed minorities.  But the imperialist mindset in Western culture remains, this idea that we are more “civilized” than others.  And that’s something this show can actually speak to that will resonate.

#iwtv #amc iwtv #armand #the vampire armand #iwtv speculation #stuff nobody asked for #marius de romanus #please do not treat me like an expert #i tried #this is just a blitz of ideas #partly brought on by the frustration that i will be out of the country when the season premieres #and i'm curious as fuck

[roz-ani]

ASHNJKDJFNJ- I ADORE THE CHANGE OF EXPRESSION XDDD

He just wanted to be all mysterious and get the attention XD

I honestly didn't expect Alastor to be so... goofy in a way? I thought they'd give him some less serious moments, but I was convinced (for some reason) he'd be less active. More of a power figure overlooking the hotel with some mystery in the background. I'm not complaining though! It makes his character even more fun and appealing!

#Aren't you curious? I bet you're curious! Well I'm not telling you shi- #We don't give a fuck #*utterly offended* #alastor #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel spoilers #carmilla carmine #mine

[fernsnailz]

ok wait what's everyone's character assassination pet peeve. like a trait writers or fans will give a character that is fairly insignificant but so blatantly ooc that it ignites the most primal of rage. mine is whenever i see sonic the hedgehog smoking

#HE WOULD NOT FUCKING DO THAT #HE THINKS IT'S UNCOOL AND STAINS YOUR TEETH #my man looks and acts like a walking anti-drug psa from the nineties AND YOU THINK HE SMOKES???? i'll smoke YOU #but i'm legit curious if anyone else has anything similar for any character #ferntext

[c6jpg]

FURINA ❖ Endless Solo of Solitude

Just trust in me, your Archon, never mind whether you can truly convince yourself to or not.

#genshin #genshinedit #genshinet #genshin impact #furina #focalors #m:gifs #m:* #m:gifs:furina #flashing tw #i'm sooooooooooo fucking curious what her whole story is #m:1k

[hyacinth-sims]

sims 2 premades as memes/texts/posts/etc. (-slides u a note during class- do u still think i'm funny y/n edition)

#yall there were so many fucking memes i made that I'm gonna have to split it into two posts although I'm gonna need more for that second one #ALSO THERES NO TYCUTIO MEME HERE IM SORRY THE ONE I HAD GOT PUT INTO THE NEXT BATCH #the sims 2 #ts2 #ts2 premades #veronaville #tybalt capp #mercutio monty #pleasantview #sims 2 #romeo monty #lilith pleasant #pollination tech 9 smith #johnny smith #tank grunt #ripp grunt #general buzz grunt #almeric davis #herb oldie #patrizio monty #benedick monty #loki beaker #circe beaker #strangetown #vidcund curious #puck summerdream #hal capp #bianca monty #kent capp #regan capp

[saintfaulkners]

#let's fucking go guys #I'm really curious about this one #for me personally it's such an easy Frankenstein win #Frankenstein #mary shelley #dracula #bram stoker #the picture of dorian gray #oscar wilde #classics #literature #polls #gothic fiction #op #*

[ssaraexposs]

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THEY'RE ACTUALLY TALKING, WITHOUT FIGHTING EACH OTHER OR SCREAMING INSULTS

#it's so beautiful #this is my favorite sskk joint mission #they're actually acting like partners here #they're opening up and being completely honest with one another #the fact that aku's asking those questions so calmy #without insulting him or using rashomon #and atsushi is actually answering his questions in his own way #aku's genuinely curious about atsushi #it took them just a few near death experience to actually talk #i'm so proud of them #sobbing and tearing up #i love them #i love sskk so fucking much #that's progress y'all #they're partners your honor #SSKK #SHIN SOUKOKU #SSKK S3 #BSD S3 #BSD #BUNGO STRAY DOGS #ryuunosuke akutagawa #atsushi nakajima

[snackugaki]

surprise my other hobbies are window shopping and fashion

#something something having hobbies across fields genres media and subjects can only enrich and influence your artmaking #because Mikey strikes me as a maximalist #Donnie gives me vintage and statement pieces feelings #Leo... minimalist with a sprinkling of avant silhouettes and a dash of retro #Raph... just wears what April suggests with the barest idea of what he likes #wherein my iteration April is deep in the goth an punk scene so she gotta drag this turtle man through her closet #legoclacking my usual linework with fashion illustration was a fkkn trip #god there's a look from Balmain RTW AW 2016 i wanna put my Leo in..... #fuck it I will who's gonna stop me? #balmain? #i'm so curious what the kids will tag this as #i say tagging everything but what this is #snack iteration? #my iteration? #i know the red blue glasses is gonna get one of these kids tagging it as rise #others gonna clock their li'l dumpling heads and tag as 03 #what they don't know is my iteration is mainly based off Archie run comics and Next Mutation #mehehehehehehehehe #...hiiiiiiiii kiiiiiiiiiing #OuO #accessories was tough because I like it costume and avant #so it was a miracle finding a “normal” bracelet #and a bigger miracle it happened to feature the water trigram #mwah mwah beautiful coincidence #weekend negates demon hours stop snitching

[ceaselesswwatch3r]

i have come to the conclusion that neil gaiman and taika waititi should make something together and my reasoning for this, is just because

#also they've both made shows where straight is the minority #and i'm just curious to what it would be like #i have a feeling it would be so fucking funny #but in a way you wouldnt expect it to #idk #neil gaiman #taika waititi

[5-pp-man]

they really said "it's better to live life while imperfect and disgraceful than to die perfect and beautiful without ever really living at all."

#migi to dali #THIS FUCKING EPISODE MANNNNN #cried again. #i like how his expression isnt perfectly symmetrical as he says this. helps drive home the point even more #akiyama kun came in clutch again. i like how he literally only addressed migi though. like he did not even look at anyone else in the room. #AND THE GHOST OF MICCHAN SAVING THE BOYS. I COULD CRY. #one more episode. just one more. lord help me I'm gonna miss these little freaks. #ON GOD WE'RE GONNA GET THESE BOYS AND THEIR FRIENDS AND FAMILY SOME CHERRY PIE!!! #the thing I'm most curious abt is seeing the sonoyama's reactions to their son being two people. #well technically three and one is in jail now so. yikes. #tedpost #tedtalks

[here2bbtstrash]

so i have the strangest question of all time and i'm going to blame it on the fact that i can't stop bingewatching survivor (and who knows maybe this could become a fic 👀)

feel free to reblog with additional commentary/reasoning for why you made your choice, or if you want to rank all 7 from "absolutely nothing to worry about" to "oh we're entirely fucked" sdkgnffdjglkj

#mposting #fuck do we have a polls tag??????? #anyway i am withholding my opinions so as not to sway the vote 🙈 #but i'm curious to hear what y'all think hehe #and pls help me i am like 5 seasons deep into this dumb show

[sergle]

BRO, CRANE FLIES DO NOT EAT MOSQUITOS......... "skeeter eaters".... THEY DO FUCKALL. they eat plants... until they become adults. and then their mouths are too small to eat at all.

#HELPPPP I didn't know this was a belief #they are predators to no creature on god's earth. their mouths aren't even big enough to try. they die immediately #this is so funny to me but I was curious so I've been going through the tags on that post and I'm DISTRESSSSSSED #at the confidence with which you fine folks are like ah yes! it is good to keep them around for mosquito population control :) #for WHAT NOW. for HUH #by the time they are big enough to look like Large Mosquitos their only job is to die. (and fuck)

[lexosaurus]

this girl, for reference

#danny phantom #poll #REDOING THIS POLL CUZ I FORGOT A POPULAR ONE #ok #as i said before #i personally hc that she eventually settles on Elle #because it gives her her own sense of self and identity away from Danny and all that #and I also hc that Valerie was the one who started calling her that first #cuz she was like 'fuck no im not doing three Danny's' #but I'm curious to see what you guys think

[chrisrin]

in stars and time is ruining my life what do you mean i'm at 28 hours played and still don't seem to be near done yet when the average person on howlongtobeat finishes the main story in 19 hours, and with side quests in 26 hours.

what do you mean i've stayed up until 4am the past 3 nights playing. what.

#i am NOT DONE WITH THIS GAME YET #NO SPOILERS!!!! #i'm fucking obsessed and insane about it oh my god #i have so many theories #i have so many... thoughts #i just. i dont know. theyre all in my head #also i took one look at isabeau and was like #oh this is why kinning exists #yeah #hes just like me fr #for anyone curious im on act 4 #with 133 loops

[onesidedradiostatic]

What's your opinion on valastor (val x alastor)?

I'm assuming you're not a regular over here but uh I don't like any reciprocated romantic alastor ships, and the only alastor qpr I like is radiorose

I AM interested as to what their general relationship would be like though, cause so far alastor has NOPED out of any episode val strongly features in (episodes 4 and 6) and has obviously interacted with vox and been in the same room as velvette, making val interestingly the only vee alastor has not been seen in the same room with.

I think it's also very interesting that they're essentially connected by 2 factors

vox

huskerdust

which are 2 potentials of forcing an interaction between them

also I think val would maybe generally acknowledge alastor as being sexy but be uninterested otherwise (that is vox's thing).

also it's kinda a gag here that val is an alastor repellent because alastor has fourth-wall-breaking sex repulsion.

but aside from that joke, I don't think val is the kind of person alastor would like (although he did use to associate with vox it's kinda ???? on the info we have regarding that, whether vox became worse over time or if vox was like "that one oomf who low-key breaks your dni but you keep him around cause he's chill" until he wasn't), only info we really have regarding alastor's perspective on him is his general view of the vees "nobody important" "he'd (vox would) be powerless without the other vees" which doesn't really tell us much of anything.

we do have a bit more with val's side but he generally doesn't seem that interested but presumably might've been partially involved in the time alastor "almost beat" vox, "he owes us much more than money", I know there's a theory the reason his and vox's left antennae are fucked up is because of that. and val is actually seen smiling at alastor's downfall in episode 8 (he only loses the smile after vox does his weird shit LMAO but if you look at the beginning of each scene you can see he's smiling at the screen like he's enjoying alastor's suffering too. just not to the insane extent of vox) and he celebrates alastor fleeing, together with vox. so there's?? something there that shows they're enemies obviously but he doesn't have that same personal connection vox does

oh yeah I also find it incredibly funny there may have been a time pre-radiostatic-fallout that overlapped with post-voxval-meeting, so there could've been a time vox tried to introduce val to alastor. and (I brought up this exact thing in a previous post but I'm too lazy to find it) I think the moment anything sexual came out of val's mouth alastor would've immediately wanted to stay far away from him (thus starting val being an alastor repellent)

valastor is definitely vox's worst nightmare though. luckily for him it would never happen.

#rb #why the FUCK did I end up writing an essay about this #anyways no I do not like the ship but I'm curious about their general relationship is like #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #alastor #hazbin valentino #hazbin hotel valentino #valentino #hazbin vox #hazbin hotel vox #vox

[saucy-mesothelioma]

People who don't watch Mystery Science Theater 3000, explain what's happening in this scene:

#believe it or not this actually does make some sense in context #but I'm curious to see what people think #Joel always gets me in this scene #I aspire to be like him one day #I have no clue what to tag this #do I even tag MST3K if I want people who don't know the show to answer? #fuck it who cares #mst3k #mystery science theater 3000 #YouTube